South Africa: SARS operations unaffected by wage negotiation strike

The first day of the wage strike by South African Revenue Service (SARS) workers had seen minimal disruption to its services, says the revenue collectors.

In a statement, the revenue collector said 18 of its branches had to close down due to absence of workers.

It said: Overall taxpayers have continued to interact with the organization through the wide range of on-line services. SARS has rescheduled most of the appointments that were made before the industrial action started.

SARS said it has furthermore put business continuity plans and other contingencies in order to continue to deliver essential service to taxpayers.

We urge the public to utilize our website for further updates on how to engage with SARS to fulfil their required obligations. Taxpayers are encouraged to avoid coming to a SARS office, SARS said.

SARS appealed to staff to remain peaceful in their protest and to respect picketing rules as specified in the CCMA Picketing Rules issued.

It said it remained empathetic to financial challenges faced by its staff as a result of increasing food and fuel prices as well as other essential services.

The resumption of strike follows its temporary suspension by the PSA in May, and union leadership has indicated that they intend to remain on strike until SARS improves its wage offer.

The dispute arose because of trade unions rejection of the available R70 million for baseline increases for bargaining unit employees.

SARS has communicated that it does not decide on its own funding, but is dependent on an annual allocation made through a process managed by National Treasury. The demand of labour of CPI plus 7% is simply unaffordable until the SARS receives further funding, reads the statement.

SARS will always respect the constitutionally protected right of workers to strike within the strict provisions of the law, whilst at the same time take the necessary steps to fulfil its legal mandate and serve taxpayers and traders. The no work, no pay will apply for those employees that are participating in the industrial action.

The revenue collector said it had demonstrated transparency in its financial position and willingness to engage the union leadership on ending the impasse.

SARS has done everything in its power and within the available funding to extend the offer to trade unions, which remains available. SARS remains willing to continue engagements with the trade unions on the offer as well as the boarder Employee Value Proposition, it said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The world has never witnessed such a major energy crisis in terms of its depth and its complexity, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Tuesday.

Birol, speaking at a global energy forum in Sydney, said that the world is in the middle of the first global energy crisis.

"It is interwoven by many factors, including the geopolitics. Oil, natural gas, coal, electricity prices, they're all going up of the roof. Why? Very simple. Russia, the country that invaded Ukraine, is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas." he said.

According to Birol, since Russia has started war on Ukraine in February, the whole energy system has been in disarray.

"And as a result, we are seeing that the entire energy system is going through a crisis," he added.

Birol also said this winter in Europe will be "very, very difficult," adding that this is a major concern, and this may have serious implications for the global economy./agencies
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James Franco, who stepped away from acting following a series of allegations of sexual misconduct four years ago, is back in action. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Franco is all set to play one of the lead roles in Danish director Bille August's post-World War II coming-of-age drama Me, You, adapted from the novel Tu, Mia by Erri De Luca. Franco will star alongside Tom Hollander and Daisy Jacob, with principal photography set to take place in Ischia starting in September. For the unversed, in January 2018, five women accused Franco of inappropriate and sexually exploitative behaviour, while four of them were students at his acting school Studio 4, which was soon closed. Two of the students filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that classes existed mainly to create a way for Franco and his associates to take advantage of young women. In 2021, Franco and associated entities agreed to pay $2,235,000 to resolve the lawsuit. In December 2021, Franco broke his silence about the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against him.On SiriusXM's 'The Jess Cagle' podcast, he addressed the allegations, confessing that he had slept with his students. "Look, I'll admit I did sleep with students. I didn't sleep with anybody in that particular class. But, over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students and that was wrong." He added, "But like I said, it's not why I started the school and I wasn't the person that selected the people to be in the class. So it wasn't a 'master plan' on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn't have been." Franco also opened up about why he was silent for so long."In 2018, there were some complaints about me and an article about me. And at that moment I just thought, 'I'm gonna be quiet. I'm gonna pause.' [It] did not seem like the right time to say anything. There were people that were upset with me and I needed to listen," he explained.He even addressed his history of drug abuse and sex addiction.The actor said, "Once I stopped using alcohol to sort of fill that hole, it was like, 'Oh success, attention -- this is great. And so, in a weird way, I got addicted to validation. It's such a powerful drug. got hooked on it for 20 more years, and the insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time. I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. And so in my head, it was like, 'Oh, I'm sober. I'm living a spiritual life.' Where on the side, I'm acting out now in all these other ways. And I couldn't see it." He stated that he was "completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people's feelings."The Oscar nominee opened his acting school, Playhouse West Studio 4, in 2014 before it closed in 2017. (ANI)
Rumours spread that Bradley Cooper and Huma Abedin, who is the former top aide to Hillary Clinton and former wife of politician Anthony Weiner, are dating. According to Page Six, the A "Star Is Born" actor and director, 47, and Abedin, 45, have been dating for a "few months" and were introduced by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Cooper and ex-wife Irina Shayk have a 5-year-old daughter, Lea De Seine. After four years together, he and the model, 36, called it quits in 2019. And Abedin, Hillary Clinton's longtime aide, has a 10-year-old son Jordan with her ex-husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. In her book 'Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds' last year, Abedin discussed Weiner's sex scandals and how they affected the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign. In an October interview with CBS Sunday Morning, she stated that she "learned the full truth" about Weiner's affairs and wrongdoings and that "I processed it, and I've moved on, and I wish him well." When asked if she is upset with him, Abedin responded, "I can't live in that space anymore. I tried that. It almost killed me." She told People Magazine in November that she was going to therapy and trying to work things out with Weiner for the sake of their child. "Anthony is always going to be in my life because he is the father of my child. I want to make sure he's healthy, that we are in a healthy relationship, that our son sees model behaviour that is healthy for him". Cooper, who is currently filming his next film, Maestro, which he is also directing, has previously spoken openly about parenting his child with Shayk, who stood by him at the red carpet premiere of his film Nightmare Alley in December. In September, Shayk told HIGHStyle magazine that Cooper is a "full-on, hands-on dad," and she told British Vogue in 2020 that her previous relationship with Cooper, "I think we've been very lucky to experience what we had with each other." Cooper and Abedin attended the 2022 Met Gala in New York City separately on May 2. (ANI)
On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, Bollywood celebrities including Ajay Devgn, Kartik Aaryan and Geeta Kapur penned down heartfelt notes and wished their gurus on their social media accounts. Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan shared a picture of himself along with a caption on his Instagram handle. His caption reads, "Let's start by taking the name of all the gurus." In the picture, Kartik was seen in a denim shirt with folded hands. Currently, the actor is bathing in the success of his film, 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' as it completes the "Golden Jubilee", marking a 50-day run in the theatres. Actor Ajay Devgn who is all set to don the director's hat once again with 'Bholaa', which will be released on March 30, 2023, recently took to his Instagram stories and shared a post in Sanskrit. Further extending the wishes on Guru Purnima, the choreographer Geeta Kapur, who considers director-choreographer Farah Khan as her mentor, and mother, dropped a lovely post on her Insta feed. Geeta shared a monochrome picture with Farah, where both were seen donning ethnic wear. The caption of the picture, stated, "Thank u for always holding my hand ... thank u for never letting me fall... thank u for sharing ur craft ... thank u for selflessly honing my skills and graciously letting me fly ... I love u forever @farahkhankunder there will never be another for me HAPPY GURU POORNIMA MAMMA." Guru Purnima is marked on the full-moon day of the Hindu month Ashadha and is celebrated by the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists to honour one's 'gurus' or teachers who guide us through our lives towards the path of enlightenment. This year, it's celebrated on July 13. (ANI)
A top health official of Telangana has blamed "pani puri" for the large number of typhoid cases being registered across the state. Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday said typhoid can be called 'pani puri' disease, and advised people to avoid it and other street food during the current rainy season to protect themselves from typhoid and other seasonal ailments. Referring to the habit of many people who gulp down several pieces of 'pani puri' at the roadside shops, he urged them not to ruin their health. "You may get pani puri for Rs 10-15 but tomorrow, you may end up spending Rs 5,000-10,000," he said. He said vendors should also pay special attention to hygiene and ensure use of safe drinking water. Rao pointed out that this year, more typhoid cases are being reported. During May, 2,700 cases were reported while this number stood at 2,752 during June. Contaminated food, water, and mosquitoes are identified as the main causes for seasonal diseases including malaria, acute diarrheal diseases (ADDs), and viral fevers, which have been reported in the past few weeks. This month alone, 6,000 diarrheal cases were registered across the state. Rao advised people to consume fresh food and boil their drinking water. He said since January, a total of 1,184 dengue cases have been reported in the state. Hyderabad alone accounted for 516 cases. Almost all the districts reported dengue cases. As many as 563 dengue cases were registered in June while in the first 10 days of this month, 222 cases were reported. The state is also reporting malaria cases. He said district medical and health officers have been directed to intensify anti-larval operations. He also urged people to observe every Friday as dry-day to eradicate mosquito menace. Rao also said though the number of Covid-19 cases has gone up during the last six weeks, people should not panic. He stated that Covid has entered an endemic stage, and the symptoms are common cold and fever. He also remarked that Covid has also become a seasonal disease. He said if anybody has Covid like symptoms, he should quarantine himself for five days. There is no need for Covid test if a person has no symptoms. The director of public health said only those Covid patients who have difficulty in breathing should be admitted to hospitals. He also cautioned private hospitals against doing platelet transfusions unnecessarily. --IANS ms/vd ( 419 Words) 2022-07-12-23:20:03 (IANS)
On World Lion Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lauded India''s conservation efforts and noted there has been a steady increase in the Asiatic Lion population over the years. Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said, "The lion is majestic and courageous. India is proud to be home to the Asiatic Lion. On World Lion Day, I convey my greetings to all those passionate about lion conservation. It would make you happy that the last few years have seen a steady increase in India''s lion population." World Lion Day is celebrated every year on August 10, with an aim to raise awareness about their declining population, and need for conservation. Lions are vulnerable species according to International Union for Conservation of Nature''s (IUCN) Red List. Last year in June, India witnessed one of the highest growth rates of 28.87 per cent in the population of Asiatic Lions taking their number from 523 to 674 in five years from the last population estimation done in 2015. Gujarat Chief Wildlife Warden in a press note had informed, "The last population estimation exercise was conducted in May 2015 which pegged the lion numbers at 523, a 27 per cent increase from the estimation of 2010. The population of Asiatic Lions has thus shown a steady increase with a population of 674 individuals with an increase rate of 28.87 per cent (one of the highest growth rate so far) from the previous growth of 27 per cent during 2015 (523 lions)." The press note said multiple strategies have been implemented in the Asiatic lion landscape that has contributed to the current conservation success. (ANI)
In a major pre-emptive move, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday shot off a letter to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, cautioning him over appointing MLAs as ministers or in any other remunerative posts till their status is pending before the Supreme Court. Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that the party has sent a letter to the Raj Bhavan on this count. In the communication to the Governor, ex-minister and Sena General Secretary Subhash Desai has drawn attention to the party's writ petitions pending before the apex court. Desai pointed out that even "the question of legality of the decision to appoint Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister is also sub-judice" before the top court. The Sena leader said that having regard to the majesty and sanctity of the proceedings before the SC, and as a Constitutional authority, "you are kindly requested to give due deference to the same and not take any precipitative action". Elaborating further, Desai said that appointing (the MLAs) as ministers and/or offering them any remunerative posts when the disqualification proceedings against them under the Tenth Schedule are pending will be against the very letter and spirit of Articles 164(1B) and 351-B. "Rewarding persons, against whom disqualification proceedings are pending, with ministerial berths or remunerative posts would be totally destructive of the Constitutional scheme," cautioned Desai. The Sena leader said given the circumstances, the Governor must uphold the faith reposed in him by the Constitution and act in due deference to the proceedings before the apex court. The Shiv Sena missive to the Governor came amid speculation that Shinde is planning to expand his cabinet, while his group's spokesperson has said that the ministry would be expanded after the Presidential election. On June 30, Shinde took oath as the Chief Minister while Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP was sworn-in as Deputy CM. The duo has been running the show since the past 13 days, though some restless MLAs have been claiming that the cabinet expansion could take place in a day or so. --IANS qn/arm ( 354 Words) 2022-07-12-20:34:02 (IANS)
Police said terrorists fired upon police naka party at Lal Bazar area of Srinagar.

"In this terror incident, three police personnel got injured and they were shifted to hospital," a police official said, adding that ASI Mushtaq Ahmad later succumbed to his injuries

"ASI Mushtaq Ahmad succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom. We pay rich tribute to the martyr for his supreme sacrifice made in the line of duty. Other two injured personnel are being treated," police said.

Meanwhile additional police parties have reached the spot. The area has been cordoned and an operation has been started to nab the attackers.

--IANS zi/vd

( 149 Words)

2022-07-12-20:36:03 (IANS)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday lodged an FIR against Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal, his nephew Abdul Razak and a Colombo-based firm SRT General Merchant Import and Export in connection with corruption and irregularities in various departments of Lakshadweep administration related to export of Tuna fish. On June 24, a 25 member team of the CBI led by a DIG had conducted joint surprise check along with vigilance officials of Lakshadweep administration at various places. Lakshadweep Co-operative Marketing Federation (LCMF), Fisheries Department, Public Works Department, Khadi Board and Co-operative Society and Animal Husbandry Department were raided by the CBI. "It was alleged that some public servants of LCMF, Department of Public Distribution, Lakshadweep Administration, in collusion with the Public Representatives and public Servants caused loss to LCMF in the matter of export of Tuna Fish to a Sri Lanka-based company without following the requisite tender process and other formalities," the official said. LCMF procured a huge amount of Tuna fish from local fishermen under the influence of Faizal, the MP. The Tuna fish was then exported by LCMF to a company based in neighbouring country which did not make payments to LCMF. It thus caused huge losses to the LCMF. Razak, the nephew of Faizal, under whose influence LCMF procured Tuna fish, later exported to Sri Lanka-based firm in which he himself is a representative. Some unknown public servants from Department of Fisheries, Lakshadweep Administration in connivance with others swindled huge amount of subsidy by illegally registering a large number of boats in the name of poor residents of the Lakshadweep island. These boats are being run with subsidised diesel meant for poor fishermen. "A majority of beneficiaries of the houses being constructed by the Lakshadweep Building Development Board under the schemes meant for poor people are ineligible persons. In Khadi Board and Co-operative Society Lakshadweep, several local leaders are loan defaulters. There is an alleged scam of several crores of rupees in the Animal Husbandry Department, Lakshadweep in purchase of low quality medicines and poultry feeds," said the source. During the raid, copies of several relevant documents were obtained, which were scrutinised. --IANS atk/pgh ( 369 Words) 2022-07-12-20:40:03 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that if you love Bihar, the people of the state will return the same multiple times. Modi is in Patna for the inauguration of the Bihar Bhavan memorial column inside the premises of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha after it completed 100 years. He also inaugurated another building and a guest house inside the Vidhan Sabha. He noted that he was the first prime minister of the country to enter the premises of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. The PM mentioned that when the rest of the world was discussing the structure of democracy, the leaders here were organizing democratic procedures in Vaishali. States like Lichwi and Vajji Sangha were on the top and practicing democracy. The Bihar Vidhan Sabha has a long history with its first governor Satyendra Prasanna Sinha who promoted domestic (Swadeshi) industries and urged people to adopt the Charkha. "Whenever, I go to global platforms, I proudly say that the mother of democracy is our country India," Modi said. "Bihar has a great history and contribution to the country. It has given the first president Dr Rajendra Prasad, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, Karpoori Thakur, Babu Jagjivan Ram and many other top leaders. When people had tried to mow down the constitution of the country, Bihar stood against it (During the Emergency period) and initiated massive protests," Modi said. "It was the Bihar Vidhan Sabha which abolished the Zamindari Act. The Nitish Kumar government has gone a step ahead and brought 50% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj," Modi said. "The 21st century belongs to our country. It is a century of duty for the people of the country. We have to work hard to bring our country to a golden period in the next 25 years. We have to walk on the path of duty for the next 25 years," Modi stated. "Every lawmaker has their responsibility to deal with problems coming in front of our democracy. We will defeat the problem together by putting aside the thinking of ruling and opposition parties. Our voice should come in the interest of our country," he added. --IANS ajk/bg ( 376 Words) 2022-07-12-20:48:02 (IANS)
The house of a man who was allegedly involved in the abetment of suicide of an animal activist Vineet Bagaria was demolished in Assam's Dibrugarh on Tuesday. Dibrugarh district administration has claimed that Baidulla Khan's double-storey house was illegally constructed, violating all norms, and he was served notice to vacate the house on July 8. Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Shwetank Mishra told IANS: "We have taken action as per the law." On July 7, Bagaria committed suicide at his residence in Dibrugarh town just after recording a video wherein he had accused Baidulla Khan, Sanjay Sharma, Nishant Sharma, and Izaz Khan of physically and mentally harassing him and his family. It has been alleged that Bageria along with his father had approached the police and district administration with a written complaint against Khan and three others but no action was taken. The situation, however, changed when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the house of Bageria and expressed deep sorrow over the family's loss. The Chief Minister also pulled up the Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner in this case. Sarma was also heard pronouncing the accused Baidulla Khan's name several times. Following that, the Special DGP (law & order) of Assam police, G.P. Singh went to Bageria's house, and also instructed the police to take stern action against the accused. "We will not allow 'Bahubali' culture to run in any city of the state," he told the media. The police had earlier arrested Baidulla and Sanjay, but the other two are still absconding. One Samsull Khan was also taken into the custody in this case. Singh said: "The progress of the investigation has been thoroughly discussed and efforts are on to nab the remaining accused person. We have issued 'Look Out' notice against them." Meanwhile, Dibrugarh Sadar police station officer-in-charge has been transferred. Notably, in May, the administration in central Assam's Nagaon district ran bulldozers on the houses of five people who were alleged to be part of a mob that had set afire a police station. The villagers had then accused the police of the custodial death of a local fisherman. --IANS tanuj/pgh ( 367 Words) 2022-07-12-22:36:01 (IANS)
On the request of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police, the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) has issued a lookout circular against Liu Yi, a Chinese national and main accused in a mobile loan app scam, police said on Tuesday. "EOW has booked Liu Yi under various sections of IPC & Section 66 D of IT Act. He used to run many illegal mobile loan apps like KOKO Loan, JOJO Loan, Golden Lightning Loan, Silver Kredit Loan, Gold Cash loan, Speedy rupee Loan, Xpress credit Loan & others," said JN Pankaj, DIG, EOW. It is worth mentioning that in one APP alone there are more than 1.5 lakh downloads. It is suspected that they have cheated/ extorted lakhs of people across the country particularly targeting lower-middle-class people in the need of small loans, especially during the difficult times of COVID. He started his illegal business in India in 2019 from Bangalore. His parent company was Jianbing Technology in Hangzhou China. He is the director of Omlette technology private limited but indirectly controls or owns companies including IWT India, Ocean trading, Yellow Tune Technologies private limited and Techlite development private limited, stated the police release. According to EOW officials, there are at least two more Chinese persons who used to assist him in his scam. They used to make his employees or any vulnerable or needy people directors of theshell companies but actually used to control/ operate the companies and bank accounts. They also used many Call Centres to make abusive/ threatening calls to loanees. It is suspected that they are running such illegal Loan APPs in other countries too especially in Thailand. EOW has already arrested five accused accomplices of the Chinese mastermind. EOW is in touch with various state police and has conducted raids in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. More than Rs 6.57 Crore has been frozen, said EOW. These fake loan apps once downloaded in one's mobile play store, small amounts ranging from Rs.3,000 to Rs.10,000 is credited to the customer's bank account. Once the amount is credited to the customer's bank account, within a week the customer/borrower is asked to repay the amount with an excessive rate of interest. In denial to pay the high rate of interest, the concerned customer is humiliated or bullied in many ways. Obscene messages and indecent pictures along with abusive texts in filthy languages are sent to his/her WhatsApp number and as well as to his/her contact list as a coercive measure to recover the loan amount with interest. This process of recovery is so overbearing and humiliating that there are some instances of the customers committing suicide. There has been already more than 1.5 lakh downloads of KOKO and JOJO loan. EOW has received more than 100 complaints from Odisha related to illegal or abusive activities of illegal Loan APP. (ANI)
Police arrested Sumesh, who surrendered before the probe officials on Tuesday. The other two arrested in the case are Ramani, mother of Sumesh and Maneesha, sister-in-law of Sumesh who lives in Thrissur's Kunnamkulam.

Sangeetha was found hanging on June 1.

According to Ernakulam Central Police, her relatives alleged she had committed suicide because of the dowry harassment and humiliation for her caste by her in-laws.

Sumesh and Sangeetha got married in April 2020. Sangeetha belonged to the Dalit community while Sumesh was from the Ezhava community (OBC category).

Two weeks after the marriage, Sumesh and his relatives allegedly started harassing her demanding dowry.

According to the police, "Prima facie we found out that she was given separate plate and glass for use. She was not allowed to sit in a chair while watching television since her parents failed to give her dowry. Later, she was thrown out of the house by Sumesh."

The couple, natives of the Thrissur district, lived in a rental house in Kochi. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai has written a letter to Governor RN Ravi urging him to suspend ADGP Davidson Devasirwadam in the fake passport case as it has 'serious implication to National Security'. "More than 200 fake passports were issued during the tenure of Mr. Davidson Devasirvatham as Commissioner in Madurai. A Bangladeshi man was recently arrested in Chennai for possessing a fake passport," tweeted Tamil Nadu BJP on Tuesday. In the letter written by him, he said, "On June 28, 2019, a 41-year-old Sri Lankan citizen was arrested when he tried to travel to Sri Lanka by air using a passport prepared using fake documents. A case was registered against him and it came to light that he had obtained the passport illegally and had been residing in Madurai. On January 17, 2020, a 61-year-old man was arrested for carrying a fake passport to travel to Dubai from the Madurai International Airport, and he was a resident of the Sinagangai District. Between these two incidents, on 27.09.2019, a suo-moto case was registered under sections 120(b), 420, 465, 468 and 471 of IPC and Section 12 (A) (a), 12 (IA) (B) and Section 12(@) of the passport act1967 against four individuals. The contents of the FIR read that passports have been obtained by Sri Lankan refugees showing fake identity and address proofs. All the 53 passports have been obtained under one jurisdictional police station, namely Avaniyapuram police station, Madurai City. During such fake issuance, Thiru Illavarasu was the Inspector of police Thiru Dharmalingam was the inspector of police (Intelligence), Thiru Shiva Kumar the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) and Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham was the Commissioner Of Police of Madurai City. It is important to note that the Inspectors and the Assistant Commissioner have a role in the police verification process, Annamalai's letter read. On the directions of the High Court, a thorough probe was initiated by Thiru Eswararnurthy, IGP Intelligence-Internal security, and his office has sent letters to the concerned departments (i.e. Passport offices, Post offices) for sanction of the suspected/ accused officers to be implicated anci charge-sheeted in the case. In his investigation, Thiru Eswaramoorthysaid that Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham was one of the officials to be investigated in this case. Accordingly, he sought the documents from the DGP, and the sanction letter was forwarded to Home Secretary for his consent. The sanction letter from the Home Secretary was forwarded to ADGP Intelligence Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham (Who is also a party to this case) A provide the documents related to the case, and there has been no progress in this case ever since. While the officials in the Passport and Post offices have sent their consent, we learnt that consent for legal proceedings against the senior police officers and ADGP Intelligence Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham hadn't been granted, leading to hampering of the case trial and proceedings. Moreover, it is evident that the probe lacks transparency due to the involvement of those implicated in this case, said Annamalai. In all possibilities, the material evidence would have been destroyed due to the exorbitant delay of Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham. An issue related to our National Security is being investigated haphazardly and has defied the timelines to conclude this case as set by the Honourable High Court. On the other hand, the whereabouts of the fake passport holders are unclear, and their modus operandi of obtaining fake passports and fleeing India poses a severe threat. All their cases revolve around a suspicious approval of the Madurai Police station, which cannot be treated as a casual forged incident. "It is evident from this case that a cartel was formed. Without the involvement of the Commissioner of Police of Madurai during the period in which the fake passports were issued, the lower rug officers couldn't have committed this. And it is rather unfortunate that the DMK government and the Home Secretary have let a tainted officer handle the state's intelligence. We are given to understand that more than 200 fake passports were issued from Madurai during the period in which Thiru Davidson Devaasirvatham was the city commissioner," said the Tamil Nadu BJP Chief. Recently a Bangladeshi national was held carrying a fake passport in Chennai. To avoid recurrences such as these, investigations mustn't be stalemated to save a few, those who posed a severe threat to our National Security. Also, the National Investigative Agency in Tamil Nadu is already investigating a similar fake passport case which revealed the involvement of active Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres, read the letter.(ANI)
"During midnight (12/13 July) there was an infiltration attempt along LoC in the Poonch sector, which was suitably foiled by our alert troops," said Defence PRO, Jammu on Wednesday.

Further details are awaited.

The development comes days after an intelligence report stating that over a dozen terrorist launch pads have again become active across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

As per inputs, a top government official citing intelligence input said, nearly 200 terrorists are waiting on these launch pads in PoK to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.
Amid the ongoing crisis within the Congress Goa unit, former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has called for introspection within the party citing losses in elections and defections. Kamat, responding to the "anti-party" charge against him, said that he will face it stating that he has worked for the party with sincerity. The remarks of the Congress leader came after allegations were levelled against him of hatching a conspiracy to split the party. "I worked for the party with sincerity. Congress has to do a lot of introspection as we are losing so many polls and leaders are leaving us," he said while speaking to ANI on Tuesday. Kamat further said that he has opportunities in the past "if he wanted to take action", however, he stayed with the party, yet was rewarded with the disqualification petition. "I don't know what crisis is going on in the Congress party... I saw his (Dinesh Gundu Rao) video and was shocked, and surprised to see the way he was talking. If I wanted to take any action, I had a lot of opportunities in 2017 and 2022," he said. "I stayed with the party in 2017 when we had a clear mandate, still party didn't ask me whether I can form the government and we lost the opportunity... Now, this is the reward I get. They are filing a disqualification petition against me for anti-party activities. I don't understand what anti-parties activities? However, I will face it. The party should find out those who are doing this," the Congress leader added. Earlier on Monday, he made it clear that he is still in Congress. "If I wanted to go, I'd have gone. No one can stop me. But still, I led the party from the front, I went all out. And suddenly, they changed me from LoP when the results came in. I don't know why he made such a statement. I'm in Congress, you can see my performance," Kamat said. Notably, Congress on Sunday also sacked Michael Lobo as the Leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly for alleged conspiracy to engineer defections. Congress said that the BJP was trying for a 2/3rd split and offered huge amounts of money to party legislators. Congress alleged that Lobo along with Digambar Kamat hatched a conspiracy to engineer defections in "total coordination" with the BJP. "This conspiracy was led by two of our own leaders, Leaders of Opposition Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat. Both these people had been working in total coordination with BJP. One person- Digambar Kamat- did it to safeguard his own skin because so many cases are against him and the other person- Michael Lobo- for the sake of power and position. BJP wants to finish Opposition," Rao said. (ANI)
Congress leader Ajoy Kumar has kicked off a controversy, saying that NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu represents a "very evil philosophy of India" and should not be made a "symbol of Adivasi", a remark which drew sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the Congress leader alleged that the condition of the Scheduled Castes has become "worse". Congress-led Opposition parties former union minister Yashwant Sinha has fielded against Murmu for the presidential elections on July 18. "It's not about Droupadi Murmu. Yashwant Sinha is also a good candidate and Murmu is also a decent person. But she represents a very evil philosophy of India. We should not make her a symbol of 'Adivasi'. We have President Ram Nath Kovind, Hathras happened. Has he said a word? The condition of Scheduled Castes has become worse," Kumar said. If elected, Droupadi Murmu will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President. She was the first woman governor of Jharkhand (from 2015 to 2021). Born in a poor tribal family in a village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances. Calling the presidential elections a "fight for the soul of the nation", the Congress leader said that all like-minded parties should vote for the Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha. "Creating symbols and fooling the people of India is what the Modi government is all about. This is a fight for the soul of the nation and all like-minded parties should vote for Yashwant Sinha," he said. Droupadi Murmu was a national executive member of BJP's ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP's ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009. Hitting back at Kumar, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said Congress has insulted Murmu. "Ajoy kumar #Congress Droupadi Murmu represents a very evil philosophy so we should not make her as a symbol of "adivasi" After calling Droupadi ji "dummy candidate" (Puducherry Cong handle) now this! This is how Congress insults India's first woman tribal president candidate," Poonawala tweeted. BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya wrote on Twitter, "At a time when the NDA, led by PM Modi, has announced Smt Draupadi Murmu, a woman from Adivasi samaj, as it's nominee for the President's office, a move that will significantly empower the Tribals, Congress leader calls her evil by association! Just because she is a Tribal. Shame." (ANI)
Uttarakhand administration has said that pilgrims with swords, tridents and other such harmful objects will not be allowed during the Kanwar Yatra, which is scheduled to start tomorrow. Instructions to seize these materials at the district border have been given to the police station and outpost in-charges. "There will be a ban on bringing swords, tridents, and sticks in the Kanwar Yatra starting from tomorrow. All the station and outpost in-charge have been instructed to seize them at the district borders," said Janmejay Khanduri, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dehradun. The 'Kanwar Yatra' is an annual pilgrimage of Lord Shiva's devotees. The Kanwariyas (pilgrims) visit places like Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch the holy water of River Ganga. They then worship God with the same water. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Kanwar Yatra in 2021 was cancelled in Uttarakhand and entry at 'Har ki Pauri' was also restricted. Meanwhile, the Delhi Traffic Police has made elaborate arrangements to segregate the movement of Kanwarias and other road users and to minimize inconvenience to the general public and devotees from July 14 to July 26, as the Kanwariyas will enter East District from Maharajpur and Gazipur check post side and will be leaving Delhi for their respective destinations. Notably, East Delhi will be a transit point on route for Kanwariyas hailing from different states like Haryana, Rajasthan and others. (ANI)
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday extended greetings on the occasion of Guru Purnima and prayed for India to be taken to "newer heights" with the blessings of the Gurus. "Greetings on Guru Purnima. This is a day of expressing gratitude to all exemplary Gurus who have inspired us, mentored us and taught us so much about life. Our society attaches immense importance to learning and wisdom. May the blessings of our Gurus take India to newer heights," PM Modi tweeted. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also extended wishes on the occasion and said that only a guru makes his disciple knowledgeable and characterful. "Guru Shishya Parampara is an integral part of Indian culture. Only a guru irrigates the nectar of knowledge in the life of a disciple and makes him knowledgeable, characterful and capable. I bow to all the gurus who are contributing to nation-building and wish the countrymen a Happy Guru Purnima," Shah tweeted in Hindi. Extending wishes on Guru Purnima, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "The Guru takes his disciple from the darkness of ignorance to the path of light of knowledge, shows the path of renunciation and penance. Many congratulations and best wishes on the holy festival of paying respect and gratitude to the gurus." Guru Purnima, which falls in the month of Ashadha as per the Hindu calendar, is celebrated on a full moon day (Purnima in Hindi). The festival, also known as 'Vyasa Purnima', is being celebrated on July 13 this year. Notably, the day marks the birth anniversary of 'Veda Vyasa' who is regarded as the author of the epic Mahabharata. The people express gratitude to the teachers and gurus who play a part in shaping the lives of human beings. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda has emphasised on the need to strengthen polling booths and divisions ahead of the 2023 State Assembly elections. Nadda arrived to a warm and enthusiastic welcome on Tuesday, the concluding day of a three-day training-cum workshop camp of the BJP's Rajasthan unit held at Mount Abu in the state's Sirohi district. Speaking on the occasion Nadda highlighted that BJP was the only party in the country to put the nation first. "There is a party that gives priority to Nation First. Our resolve should be that the country and the party will benefit only then we will be well. Whatever the work, it should be completed on time," said Nadda. BJP's Rajasthan State President Satish Poonia also addressed the event and said that Nadda has an important contribution in strengthening BJP. "From student politics of Bihar to being in jail during Emergency and in strengthening BJP across the country including Himachal Pradesh, JP Nadda has an important contribution and is constantly working to strengthen the organization. Nadda's visit to Rajasthan and especially the tribal region Mount Abu is incomparable, commendable and exemplary for us workers," said Poonia. National General Secretary and State In-charge Arun Singh, Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria, State Organization General Secretary Chandrashekhar, Former State President Ashok Parnami, Former National Vice President Om Prakash Mathur, State Vice President and MP C.P. Joshi, MP Rajendra Gehlot, MP Kanakamal Katara etc. prominent people were present at the event. A day ahead of the Mt Abu meeting, Nadda had in New Delhi chaired a meeting of the party's general secretaries. The meeting scheduled for 6 in the evening stretched for over three hours. As per sources, the meeting reviewed various programs that were started on the party's foundation day. "How much progress has been made in the work of strengthening the booth, all the general secretaries have put this report in front of the national president. The program to strengthen the weak booths is to be completed by the month of July. He also instructed everyone to work with more intensity on this," said sources. The party plans to start the next program at the weak booths which will include imposing the duty of one minister in every constituency covering more than 150 Lok Sabha seats. As per sources, the party plans to strengthen the weaker polls and discussions on the same were held in the meeting. The attendees of the meeting, included BL Santosh, Dushyant Gautam, Kailash Vijayvargiya, D Purundeshwari, Arun Singh and Vinod Tawde. Meanwhile, Nadda who arrived in Udaipur on Tuesday was felicitated in Shantivan in Brahmakumaris Ashram. The Mewar Circle Tribal Society expressed its gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and handed over a letter of gratitude to JP Nadda for nominating Draoupadi Murmu the Presidential candidate. "The nomination of Mrs Murmu as the Presidential candidate demonstrates Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to taking all societies, including tribals, together. The tribal society wholeheartedly respects this initiative of the BJP government, which is committed to connecting the backward sections of the society to the mainstream," read the letter. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came down heavily on Congress after party leader Ajoy Kumar's "evil philosophy" remark on NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and demanded that the grand-old-party must apologise to the entire tribal community. Speaking to ANI, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Wednesday said that Murmu has risen from the grassroots and Kumar's remark is an insult to her. "What is evil about the philosophy about somebody who has struggled against the circumstances, got elected from the grassroots, served as the MLA, won the best MLA award, and has not a single stain of corruption on her. What is the evil in it?" Poonawalla asked. "The language used by the Congress party especially Ajoy Kumar that she (Murmu) represents an evil philosophy and that she does not symbolize the Adivasi community is not just an insult of Droupadi Murmu, her struggles in life but the way she has risen from grassroots but an insult of the entire Adivasi community. The Congress party must explain or else they must apologize for the statement that they have made insulting not just Droupadi Murmuji but the entire Adivasi community," he added. Congress-led Opposition parties former union minister Yashwant Sinha has fielded against Murmu for the presidential elections on July 18. If elected, Droupadi Murmu will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President. She was the first woman governor of Jharkhand (from 2015 to 2021). Born in a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances. Ajoy Kumar on Tuesday stirred a row saying that NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu represents a "very evil philosophy of India" and should not be made a "symbol of Adivasi". "It's not about Droupadi Murmu. Yashwant Sinha is also a good candidate and Murmu is also a decent person. But she represents a very evil philosophy of India. We should not make her a symbol of 'Adivasi'. We have President Ram Nath Kovind, Hathras happened. Has he said a word? The condition of Scheduled Castes has become worse," Kumar said. Sharing a video of Kumar's remarks on Twitter, BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya wrote, "At a time when the NDA, led by PM Modi, has announced Smt Draupadi Murmu, a woman from Adivasi samaj, as it's nominee for the President's office, a move that will significantly empower the Tribals, Congress leader calls her evil by association! Just because she is a Tribal. Shame." Following this, Ajoy Kumar alleged that the BJP IT cell is spreading a fabricated video to defame him. "It is a shame that BJP IT cell is spreading a fabricated video to defame me. I don't care what these trollers say or spread, I want BJP to answer to our Dalit brothers and sisters what they have done for Dalit people," Kumar tweeted. "There have been countless atrocities on our Dalit population but our Prime Minister has always kept silence. What about Hathras, what about the beating of a Dalit woman in Madhya Pradesh, what about Karakthal village in Ahmedabad, where a Dalit youth was beaten up for daring to keep a moustache," he said in another tweet. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week appeals challenging Karnataka High Court's order which upheld the state government's decision to ban wearing hijabs in school and college classrooms. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli said it would list the matter next week before the appropriate bench after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter saying the petitions have not been listed since March. Some of the petitioners before the High Court have approached the apex court challenging the order upholding the Karnataka government's order which directed strict enforcement of schools and colleges' uniform rules. One of the appeals in the top court has alleged "step-motherly behaviour of government authorities which has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situation". The appeal said the High Court in its impugned order "had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the Essential Religious Practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India". "Wearing of Hijab or headscarf is a practice that is essential to the practice of Islam," it has added. Karnataka High Court in March had held that the prescription of uniforms is a reasonable restriction that students could not object to and dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions saying they are without merit. The Hijab row erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six girls wearing the hijab from entering. Following this, the girls sat in protest outside college over being denied entry. After this, boys of several colleges in Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves. This protest spread to other parts of the state as well leading to protests and agitations in several places in Karnataka. As a result, the Karnataka government said that all students must adhere to the uniform and banned both hijab and saffron scarves till an expert committee decided on the issue. On February 5, the pre-University education board released a circular stating that the students could only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious attire would be allowed in colleges. The order stated that in case a uniform is not prescribed by management committees, then students should wear dresses that go well with the idea of equality and unity, and do not disturb the social order. A batch of appeals was filed against the government's rule in the Karnataka High Court by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions. On February 10, the High Court issued an interim order stating that students should not wear any religious attire to classes till the court issues the final order. The hearings related to the Hijab case were concluded on February 25 and the court had reserved its judgement. (ANI)
MLC K Kavitha on Wednesday said that the people who fought during the state movement will be awarded some position by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao "when the time comes". "A very good position and identity have been given to Rajiv Sagar by CM KCR. It is considered an identity is given to the youth who fought during the Telangana movement. The position given to Rajiv should be an inspiration for all of us. Every brother, sister and people who fought during the Telangana movement with Rajiv will also be given the positions by CM KCR when the time comes," Kavitha said while speaking to the media. Notably, Rajiv Sagar, a party worker was given a food corporation chairman position by the state government recently. Telangana was created in 2014 after years of agitation by the people who demanded a separate state from Andhra Pradesh. Elaborating on the achievements of the KCR government, Kavitha said that the Chief Minister has fulfilled the promises and changes have come in the lives of the people in the past eight years. "There were times in the past before the agitation that there are no jobs for our children, no water, and no projects, but if we see past eight years how much things have changed, we can see. Godavari water is being received by everyone. There was a time when there were tears in farmers' eyes but now we can see Kaleshwaram water availability in the farmers' land," she said. "As KCR promised he completed the project in 3 years which is not a simple thing. It's not possible with anyone else," Kavitha added. (ANI)
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has called a meeting of all floor leaders of the Upper House at his residence here on Sunday, ahead of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament. The meeting is scheduled for 6 PM on July 17. Floor leaders of all political parties have been invited for this particular meeting and discussions about the upcoming session and how to maximise productivity will be held. Senior members of Parliament including Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy from Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav DMK's Tiruchi Siva, Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar and Sanjay Raut MP Shiv Sena are likely to be present in the meeting. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Minister of State for Parliamentary affairs V Muraleedharan, and Leader of the House Piyush Goyal as some of the leaders who are likely to represent the government in the meeting. The Monsoon Session holds a lot of importance this year as the election of the President and the Vice President of the country will take place during the session. A total of 115 nomination papers for the Presidential elections were filed out of which NDA's candidate Droupadi Murmu and Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha were found to fulfil all the requirements of a valid nomination. The election for the office of the President of India is scheduled for July 18 and the counting of votes, if needed, will be done on July 21. The elections for the Vice President will take place on August 6, 2022. (ANI)
Demanding to remove lions that form India''s national emblem unveiled recently on the roof of the new Parliament building, Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam slammed the Centre on Wednesday for allegedly replacing the original lion of Ashoka Pillar stating that the original lion was something different. "We, very strongly, asked the Prime Minister to remove the statue of that lion from the top of the Parliament building because that is not the real lion that India has seen. That is not the lion that the Ashoka pillar has...This lion is frightening everybody," Viswam told ANI. "This lion suits the ideology and politics of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PM Narendra Modi. The original lion is something else, so replace it with the original lion. I demand to remove the lion from the top of the Parliament building, immediately," he added. A huge political controversy, with several Opposition leaders accusing the BJP-led central government of distorting the national emblem, erupted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the ''National Emblem'' cast on the roof of the new Parliament building on Monday (July 11). The Opposition and several activists accused the PM Modi-led government of replacing the "graceful and regally confident" Ashoka''s lions with those having menacing and aggressive postures. Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders had also accused the government of "distorting" the national emblem. The opposition parties also objected to the manner in which the emblem was unveiled. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Centre should check if the national emblem of Parliament represents "the statue of Great Sarnath" or "is a distorted version of GIR lion". "Please check it and if it needs, mend the same," he said in a tweet. He said the unveiling event that held on Monday has drawn a flurry of questions "including constitutional propriety, let alone democratic values". Trinamool Congress MP Jawahar Sircar said the depiction of Ashokan lions is " unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate". The National Emblem above the New Parliament Building is made of bronze with a total weight of 9500 kg and is 6.5 m in height. It has been cast at the top of the central foyer of the New Parliament Building. A supporting structure of steel weighing around 6,500 kg has been constructed to support the Emblem. The concept sketch and process of casting the National Emblem on the roof of the New Parliament Building went through eight different stages of preparation from clay modelling and computer graphics to bronze casting and polishing. (ANI)
A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court by several medical aspirants seeking direction to the Centre, National Testing Agency (NTA) and others to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) scheduled to be held on July 17. The petition seeks direction to the respondents to set aside the July 17 examination schedule of NEET-UG 2022 as mentioned in a notification dated April 6, 2022, in this regard. The petitioners stated that due to heavy rains and flood situation in various parts of the country, it is difficult for the students to travel hundreds of kilometres. "Direct the respondents to conduct NEET-UG 2022 phase 2 for the academic sessions 2022 considering the huge distance of examination centre, which ranges between 150 km to 300 km for a thousand of students during the current grave situation caused by flood across the nation," the plea stated. It has been also stated that last year the exam was held on September 12 and the results were pronounced on November 1. This year, the notification for the exam was released on April 6 which is approx 100 days prior to the exam, which has created stress and anxiety among the students. The plea also sought direction to respondents to issue a fresh notification rescheduling date of the NEET-UG 2022 Examination after considering the grievances raised by the students through their representation dated May 12 and July 8. The matter was earlier mentioned before the bench headed by Chief Justice of Delhi on Wednesday (today) by Advocate Mamta Sharma for its urgent listing. The hearing is most likely to be held on Thursday. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked whether or not an omnibus order can be passed to restrain the authorities from taking action against illegal encroachments or not. "If under the Municipal law the construction is unauthorized, can an omnibus order be passed to restrain authorities," the top court remarked. A bench of justices BR Gavai and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, who was hearing petitions challenging the demolition drive, listed the matter for August 10 and also issued the notice to other respondent parties connected to the matter related to other states. One of the pleas filed by Jamiat-Ulama-I-Hind has sought directions to the Uttar Pradesh authorities to ensure that no further demolitions of properties are carried out in the State without following due process. Citing news reports relating to demolition, senior Advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for the petitioners, called the matter "extremely serious". Dave raised concern about such culture and said that the authorities have to act in accordance with the law. "Demolition of houses merely because somebody is accused of a crime is not acceptable in our society. We are governed by the rule of law," he said. Countering his remark, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta raised objections with the locus of the petitioners and apprised the SC that "replies have been filed by the authorities that procedure was followed, notices were issued to the concerned and the process started much before the riots." He also urged not to create sensationalizing hype unnecessarily. Advocate Dave further submitted the entire Sainik Farm is illegal and nobody has touched it. He said that selective action is taken. Earlier Uttar Pradesh Government had informed the Supreme Court that recent demolitions of properties carried out in the state were done following due process and were in no way related to action taken against the persons accused of rioting. The government has taken action against rioters as per a different set of statutes, the Uttar Pradesh government stated. "It was only after due service and providing adequate opportunity under Section 27 of the Act that the illegal construction was demolished by the Prayagraj Development Authority on June 12 after following due process of law and the same had no relation to the incident of rioting," UP Govt submitted. The UP government's submission came in an affidavit filed in response to Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind's application against the recent demolition drive in the state. Uttar Pradesh government, in its affidavit, urged the Court to dismiss the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind application saying, "it is without merit." Blaming the petitioner for cherry-picking including one instance of demolition of the house of one Javed Mohammed in Prayagraj, UP Government further stated that the process against that alleged unauthorised construction was initiated much before the incidents of rioting. Uttar Pradesh government through an affidavit stated, "in so far as taking action against the persons accused in rioting, the State government is taking stringent steps against them in accordance with a completely different set of statutes." UP govt has also apprised the top court that recent demolitions have been carried out by the Local Development Authorities, which are statutory autonomous bodies, independent of the State administration, as per law as part of their routine effort against unauthorised/illegal constructions and encroachments, in accordance with the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1972. Uttar Pradesh Government has taken strong exception to the attempt by the petitioner Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind to name the highest constitutional functionaries of the State and falsely colour the local development Authority's lawful actions strictly complying with the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973, as "extra-legal punitive measures" against the accused persons, targeting any particular religious community. Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had filed an application seeking to issue directions to the State of Uttar Pradesh that no precipitative action be taken in the state against the residential or commercial property of any accused in any criminal proceedings as an extra-legal punitive measure. The application by the organization Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had also urged the Court that any demolition drive that the authorities are planning to carry out in Kanpur District should stay during the pendency of the instant writ petition. (ANI)
After chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala PWD Minister P A Mohamed Riyas took a jibe at Union minister S Jaishankar examined an under-construction flyover in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. During a question and answer session in the state assembly Riyas without naming the External Affairs minister took a direct jibe at him. "I have already convinced a union minister regarding the shape of national highways in the state which is not bothering him and every day he is conducting press meets which is a good thing, But it would be better if he counts the number of the ditches in these national highways, it will be more than the press meets he is attending," said Riyas The remarks by minister for Public Works Department and Tourism came after Jaishankar during his three-day visit to Kerala was photographed reviewing several projects including the progress of the construction of a stretch of the national highway near Thiruvananthapuram. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Tuesday while speaking at a function here hinted that Jaishankar's visit was political and was done keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. "The minister is entrusted to look at world affairs, but he was seen inspecting a flyover in Kazhakootam. People of the state will understand it was not a mere inspection of the flyover alone," Vijayan had said. (ANI)
Slamming the state minister of the Public Works Department (PWD) Mohammad Riyas for his remarks on Union minister S Jaishankar in the state assembly on Wednesday, Trivandrum District President V V Rajesh of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked about "Riyas' qualifications to mock a minister holding Cabinet position." "What is the qualification Riyas have to mock a Union Minister with the Cabinet post. It is his duty to visit the state and ascertain the developmental activities of the projects led by the Modi government," Rajesh reacted before ANI for Riyas' statement in assembly. During a question and answer session in the state assembly, Riyas without naming the External Affairs minister took a direct jibe at him. "I have already convinced a union minister regarding the shape of national highways in the state which is not bothering him and every day he is conducting press meets which is a good thing, but it would be better if he counts the number of the ditches in these national highways, it will be more than the press meets he is attending," Riyas remarked in the assembly after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was photographed reviewing several projects including the progress of the construction of a stretch of the national highway near Thiruvananthapuram, during his three-day visit to Kerala. In the conversation with ANI, Rajesh added, "EAM Jaishankar completed his three-day visit and ensured the developments of Jal Jeevan mission and the Amrit Sarovar Project." Under the Centre-led initiative, Jal Jeevan Mission launched in 2019, support is provided to the Panchayats by the state government through Implementing Support Agencies (ISAs) in community engagement, building the capacity of the Pani Samitis and taking up operation and maintenance activities. Amrit Sarovar Project is a Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led mission, launched in April 2022, to conserve water for the future. With the aim to develop and rejuvenate as many as 75 water bodies in each district of India, the mission is intended for celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Alleging that the leaders of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) were taking over the Central government projects, the BJP president said that other Union Ministers will also be visiting the state in the coming days. (ANI)
The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda on Wednesday slammed Congress leader Ajoy Kumar's "evil philosophy" remark on NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and said that the entire Congress party should apologize for it. "Ajay Kumar shows his anger in not being able to do anything. The entire Congress should apologize to the country for this statement. Tribal society has lived with a proud history before independence and has been continuously struggling after independence as the tribes were not recognized by Congress even after being in power for a long time," said Munda. This comes after Congress leader Ajoy Kumar kicked off a controversy with his comment that NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu represents a "very evil philosophy of India" and should not be made a "symbol of Adivasi". "It's not about Droupadi Murmu. Yashwant Sinha is also a good candidate and Murmu is also a decent person. But she represents a very evil philosophy of India. We should not make her a symbol of 'Adivasi'. We have President Ram Nath Kovind, Hathras happened. Has he said a word? The condition of Scheduled Castes has become worse," Kumar said. Congress-led Opposition parties have fielded former union minister Yashwant Sinha against Murmu for the presidential elections on July 18. Munda also said that the opposition is shocked by the fact that a woman from a tribal society has been presented as a Presidential candidate. "Ajay Kumar said that Murmu should not be the face of tribals, it should also be noted that Kumar himself is not from a tribal community. He has exposed himself," Munda added. If elected, Droupadi Murmu will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President. She was the first woman governor of Jharkhand (from 2015 to 2021). Born in a poor tribal family in a village in Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances. Murmu was a national executive member of BJP's ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP's ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009. (ANI)
Ahead of the local body polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri was heard questioning the voting system and democracy in India. "What have we achieved by casting vote till today?... We have made a corrupt system. I think voting and democracy is a big mistake," said ADM UP Shukla, Shivpuri in a purported video on Tuesday. Notably, Wednesday is the day of voting for local body elections in Madhya Pradesh, in which a total of 101 candidates for the post of mayor in 11 municipal corporations are in the fray, during the first phase of elections. There are 2,850 candidates for councillor posts in 133 bodies. Out of these, 42 candidates have been elected unopposed. "Today is the day of Madhya Pradesh local body polls in which the participation of each citizen is necessary and every vote is valuable. Hence, I appeal to all the eligible voters to use their Right to Vote and become a contributor to the development of their local areas," MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a tweet. (ANI)
Trinamool Congress MLA from West Bengal Idris Ali on Wednesday sparked another controversy after he accused West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of being communal and alleged that the governor behaves in a communal manner. His remarks came after Dhankar appealed to the masses to break the silence on extreme appeasement in the state. Taking to a micro-blogging site, Dhankar said "West Bengal government appeals to Civil Society, Intelligentsia and media to break silence and highlight worrisome governance scenario of extreme appeasement, communalised patronage, Mafia Syndicate Extortion in the state as this would help to enhance of democratic values and human rights protection." The TMC MLA condemned the governor's statements. "He is a communal person. The way he is behaving is highly condemnable. He is communal," said Idris Ali. Earlier the TMC MLA, Idris Ali on Sunday made a controversial remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the latter will meet the same fate that of his Sri Lankan counterpart. "Whatever happened with the President of Sri Lanka, will happen with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. Looking at the things in India, I say that Prime Minister Modi is a total failure. It will be even worse here. Prime Minister Modi will also resign and flee," TMC MLA Idris Ali told ANI. Reacting to Ali's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal said the TMC does not have respect for Constitution and federalism. "I believe it is not required to comment on the statements of the illiterate people. TMC MPs and MLAs have crossed all the limits. We have seen how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is silent after the remarks of MP Mahua Moitra on Goddess Kali that hurt the sentiments of Hindus. It suggests that Chief Minister's consent is there in these things. Such remarks about Prime Minister show the mentality of these people. It means they do not have regard for Constitution and federalism," Tibrewal told ANI. The Ministry of External Affairs said that India stands with the people of Sri Lanka as they seek prosperity and progress through democratic means and constitutional framework and continue to follow the development in the island country. In pursuance of the central place that Sri Lanka occupies in our Neighbourhood First policy, India has extended this year unprecedented support of over USD 3.8 billion for ameliorating the serious economic situation in Sri Lanka, added the External Affairs Ministry. (ANI)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved Taranga Hill-Ambaji-Abu Road new rail line to provide connectivity and improve mobility, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said in a Cabinet briefing. The estimated cost of this project is Rs 2798.16 crores and will be completed by 2026-27. The total length of the new rail line will be 116.65 km and will be constructed by the Ministry of Railways. The project will generate direct employment during construction for about 40 lakh man-days. In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a New India, the project is going to enhance connectivity and improve mobility leading to the overall socio-economic development of the region. Ambaji is a famous important pilgrimage destination and is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in India and attracts millions of devotees from Gujarat as well as other parts of the country and abroad every year. The construction of this line will facilitate easy travel for these millions of devotees. Further, the devotees visiting the Ajitnath Jain temple (one of the 24 holy Jain Tirthankaras) at Taranga Hill would also be greatly benefitted by this connectivity. This line will facilitate faster movement of agricultural and local products and also provide improved mobility of the people in the region within the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan and also to other parts of the country. This project will also provide an alternative route for the existing Ahmedabad-Abu Road railway line. The alignment of the proposed doubling will traverse through the Sirohi district of Rajasthan and the Banaskantha and Mahesana districts of Gujarat. The construction of a new rail line will attract investment and lead to the overall socio-economic development of the region. (ANI)
A truck driver in the Minuthong area was arrested by the Imphal West District Police for carrying opium worth Rs 10 crore in his truck. After receiving information about the transportation of narcotic items, a team of commandos rushed to the Minuthong area and intercepted the vehicle as part of an operation of the Imphal West District Police called War on Drugs 2.0. "As a part of War against Drugs 2.0, Imphal West District Police carried out an operation based on specific information about transportation of narcotic items. A strong team of commandos along with gazetted officers rushed to the Mithuthong area and intercepted the truck while it was coming from North AOC side towards Mithuthong near MMTA area around 6:30 pm," Ksh Shivakanta Singh, the Superintendent of Imphal West Police and IPS officer, said. A total of 138 packets of suspected opium packets found to weigh approximately 136.03 kgs were confiscated. The opium, according to Singh, would be worth Rs 10 crore in the international market. The arrested driver, namely Saddhik Mohammad (44), disclosed that the recovered suspected opium packets were handed over to him by an unknown person, who was sent by his partner namely Om Prakash of Jodhpur, to be transported to Rajasthan. The vehicle, ostensibly carrying plywood was probed, from where a modified box concealing 131 packets of suspected opium packed in brown cello tape was found. On further checking the vehicle, another seven packets of suspected opium were also found. "In the presence of an Executive Magistrate and Gazetted Officers, we carried out a search by observing all formalities, in which we found one modified box-type compartment on the bottom body of the vehicle which was suspected to be concealing some items. Upon opening the iron cover of the box, 131 packets of suspected opium were found packed in brown cello tape. We conducted a search of the vehicle again and found another seven packets of suspected opium concealed inside the front dashboard of the vehicle. The driver was arrested at about 9:10 pm, and we seized the recovered items at 10.00 pm by observing all necessary formalities," Singh added. The team of commanders was led by Inspector P. Achouba Meetei, Officer in Charge of the Commando - Imphal West and Inspector Gunachandra Chanam assisted by Sub-Inspector S Barun Singh under the command of M Amit Singh, a Manipur Police Service (MPS) officer and Additional Superintendent of Police (Operation). The overall supervision of the case was taken over by Superintendent of Police and IPS officer, Ksh Shivakanta Singh. (ANI)
Amid the mass sick leave protest by airline employees, IndiGo on Wednesday said it is in the process of addressing issues related to its employee remuneration. IndiGo released a statement saying that they are in constant dialogue with its employees to take care of any issues or grievances. The airline's statement comes after a sizeable number of the airline's aircraft maintenance technicians went on sick leave to protest against their low salaries and demand restoration of salaries that were slashed during the COVID-19 pandemic. "As a responsible employer, IndiGo is in constant dialogue with its employees to take care of any issues or grievances. The aviation industry has undergone a difficult phase over the last 24+ months. As business recovers, we are in the process of addressing some of the issues related to employee remuneration. This is an ongoing activity and we will continue to take employee feedback in the process," Indigo said in a statement. IndiGo also said that the airline's operations will continue to be normal, with the addition of several new destinations to their network. "Meanwhile, our operations continue to be normal, while we add several new destinations to our network and look forward to welcoming customers from across India and the world," it added. Earlier in the day, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that they are keeping a close watch on the situation that emerged after maintenance technicians of airlines went on mass sick leave. A senior DGCA official informed that they are keeping an eye on the situation. "DGCA is keeping watch on the situation. Operations are normal as of now. We expect a resolution shortly," he said. He added that they are in communication with the concerned airlines regarding the issue and asked for early resolution. The issue has largely affected the operation of Indigo and later it spread to other airlines like Go First. (ANI)
New Delhi, July 13 (ANI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it carried out searches at eight locations in Sikkim, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai in the Sikkim MCX Fraud case. The locations include various premises of Limited Liability Partners (LLPs) in Sikkim, which were controlled by brokers trading in MCX and NSE in Kolkata and Delhi. A total amount of Rs 4.65 crore was frozen from the bank accounts of brokers that corresponded to the undue gain availed by such brokers by illegally availing Stamp Duty Exemption. Further, the premises of various stockbrokers in Delhi and Mumbai, where many fake Sikkim-based traders were registered, were also searched. Incriminating evidence relating to such traders was recovered. ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered on May 17 by the Sikkim Vigilance Police Station against unknown persons and companies based on a complaint filed by one resident of Gangtok, Sikkim. It has been alleged in the FIR that the disproportionate data in MCX trading from Sikkim is highly doubtful and some Limited Liability Partners (LLP) companies and private individuals and traders from other states of India are doing high-frequency MCX trading either using the identity of Sikkim residents or using co-location of Sikkim illegitimately for taking undue advantage of the Income Tax and Stamp Duty exemption given to the people of Sikkim. (ANI)
A large number of medical students evacuated from war-torn Ukraine and their parents staged a protest in front of the Odisha assembly in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, seeking admission to Indian medical universities in order to secure their future. They have urged the government that the students be accommodated as a one-time measure to prevent an academic year's loss. "All we ask is to be admitted in Indian universities, government or private. Our futures have been jeopardized. We cannot go back to a war-torn country," a protester student said. He added, "Already four months have passed, but neither the National Medical Commission (NMC) nor the Government of India has provided any official notification issuing guidelines for our educational arrangements as promised after we returned via Operation Ganga. As all students are future doctors, online education is not a good option for them. Our demand is to accommodate all the students in Indian medical colleges. My parents have invested all the money for education, and my higher studies and future are at risk now." Talad Jahaan, a fifth-year student from the Kharkiv National Medical University in Ukraine assured that all the Ukraine-returned medical students have qualified NEET, clarifying the misconception that the students have not cleared the examination mandatory to enter Indian medical colleges. "All of us have qualified NEET. We just could not afford to study in private medical colleges in India. And we took admissions in reputed NMC-approved institutions in Ukraine. We did not enter just any college," she said. She urged the authorities to make a decision before September, for the coming of the month will lead to the waste of their entire academic year. "After September, we cannot be admitted to any other university. If India does not consider our pleas, our future will be ruined," she said. Another Ukraine-returned medical student, Shanta Snigdha Mishra, said that they are ready to give the screening test required to earn accommodation in Indian medical colleges. "We will qualify the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. We can also show you the NEET qualification proofs we received from the NMC. In return, we just want a relaxation of some terms and norms to have a solution for accommodation in India," she said. She further said, "Our University has provided a document saying you can temporarily practice in your country, but this is not the permanent solution. Our theory classes are not going on properly, and we don't know how to apply practical knowledge without theory. So it's a request to the government to please look into our demands and make a decision soon, maximum till the mid of August because there's no time left." Earlier in March, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar in a written statement laid on the table of Rajya Sabha said that the government has been able to safely bring home 22,500 Indian citizens and 147 foreign nationals belonging to 18 countries from Ukraine since February 2022 in the wake of Russia-Ukraine war. (ANI)
During the search on Tuesday, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) worth Rs 15,12,500, two laptops, one printer and other incriminating articles were recovered and seized from their possession.

The two accused, namely Poddar Prasad Sahu from Nua Adhapada village and Janmajaya Bagh from Burda village were held at the Jujumara Police Station in the Sambalpur district.

A Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday detected the case of the illegal activity at the Nua Adhapada village with the help of Sambalpur District Police.

A case has been registered at the Jujumara Police Station dated 13.7.22 (13 July 2022) with case number 104 under section 489-A/489-B/489-C/489-D/120(B) IPC for undertaking necessary legal action.

J.N. Pankaj, the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Special Task Force said that further investigations are underway. (ANI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Ajay Ramesh Nawandar, an alleged aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim's close associate Chhota Shakeel, in connection with an alleged bank fraud of Rs 34,615 crore by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL). During the investigation, his role was unearthed. He was in possession of costly articles and artcrafts belonging to DHFL's then chairman-cum-managing director Kapil Wadhawan and promoter director Dheeraj Wadhawan which were acquired from the funds diverted from DHFL. When CBI conducted a search at his premises on July 8, they had recovered two paintings worth of Rs 35 crore and ultra-luxury watches belonging to the Wadhwan brothers and other items worth of crores were recovered from his house, said a senior CBI official. "He was questioned on July 8 over the recoveries and today he was formally arrested. Several artworks purchased from diverted funds were recovered from his house. The matter is under investigation. We will find out if there are more links in the 'investment'," said a senior CBI official. On July 8, CBI searched the premises of Rebecca Dewan and Ajay Ramesh Nawandar in Mumbai and Dewan Villa, Mahabaleshwar which led to the recovery of a large number of paintings and sculptures, some cash & other incriminating documents. The value of artworks recovered during the search was estimated to be around Rs 40 crore, as per initial estimates. During the investigation, it was found that the promoters had allegedly diverted the funds and made investments in various entities. It was also alleged that the promoters had acquired expensive paintings and sculptures worth about Rs 55 crore (approximately) using the diverted funds. A case was registered on a complaint from Union Bank of India, Industrial Finance Branch, Mumbai against a private (borrower) company based in Mumbai, its then CMD, then Director and others including a private person, private companies, unknown public servant(s) and private persons on the allegations that the accused cheated a consortium of 17 banks led by Union Bank of India to the tune of over Rs 34,615 crore (approximately) by siphoning off loans availed from the banks and falsifying the books of said private (borrower) company and creating Shell Companies/false entities, which had come to be known as "Bandra Book Entities". It was alleged that the said private company and its promoters had created a number of shell companies and fictitious entities (Bandra Book entities) and siphoned off huge funds by disbursing funds to such fictitious entities. It was further alleged that separate audits conducted by other private audit accounting organisations had identified multiple instances of diversion of funds by the accused for personal benefits and falsification of books of accounts to camouflage and conceal dubious transactions. The audits also identified several instances where large value loans were provided to such fictitious entities without due diligence and without securities. Instances of sanction and disbursement of loans, merely by e-mail communications were allegedly found for which no loan files were maintained in the said private (borrower) company. (ANI)
To curb the sale of new Army pattern combat dress/uniforms to unauthorised persons, the Delhi Police in coordination with the Military Police conducted a special awareness campaign. The drive to sensitise shopkeepers was conducted in the Delhi Cantonment area. The Indian Army showcased the pattern and design of the new combat uniform introduced for its soldiers on the occasion of Army Day 2022 on January 15, 2022. Soldiers of the Indian Army will now be provided with the best quality, all-terrain, lighter, stronger and operational digital camouflage pattern combat uniform, which also caters for gender-specific changes for women combatants. There are two major issues which the Indian Army has flagged with respect to the introduction of a new combat uniform - security and the wearing of unauthorised pattern combat dress by serving personnel, the official statement said. The uniform is unique in its creation as it has an exclusive digital camouflage pattern, contemporary and functional design and a lighter yet stronger and more breathable fabric. Because of this, the Army wants to adopt control measures to maintain its exclusivity. The Indian Army has established ownership of the pattern and design of the new combat uniform by applying to the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks in April 2022. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) process is expected soon. A deliberate roll-out plan by Army Headquarters aims to switch over the entire Army to the new pattern and design by mid-2025 keeping in mind the available stocks and life of the current uniform. The newly-introduced combat uniform will be available through Central Procurement and Canteen Stores Department (CSD). By August 2022, Army personnel will be able to procure the cloth from the CSD and get the uniform stitched to supplement the combat uniforms issued as part of personal kit under Life Cycle Clothing. The uncontrolled proliferation of existing combat uniforms has led to vulnerabilities in the security of military establishments and remains a cause of concern. The Indian Army in a bid to stem this unauthorised proliferation plans to take stern action against the dealers who indulge in the selling of unauthorised but similar-looking uniforms and fabric. Certain cloth and tailoring shops in the vicinity of Army Cantonments and Military Stations have started stocking such unauthorised variants. Any inimical elements would find it convenient to obtain such variants from these shops. In a two-pronged approach, strict instructions have been issued prohibiting any serving Army personnel to procure the new pattern uniform from unauthorised vendors; similarly, once the IPR process is completed, any unauthorised shopkeeper selling the new combat dress will face legal action and subsequent prosecution. In keeping with the security requirements, the shopkeepers of Delhi Cantonment were sensitised on July 11, 2022, by Delhi Police in coordination with Army authorities, to dissuade them from selling unauthorised combat uniform fabric. The shopkeepers have wholeheartedly agreed to cooperate with the authorities in the interest of national security. (ANI)
Police have arrested a total of six people in connection with the kidnapping of the POCSO case victim in Palakkad.

Three accused including parents are absconding. The main accused in the POCSO case, the uncle of the girl, too has been arrested for abduction.

The abduction happened when the trial in connection with the POCSO case registered in 2021 was scheduled to begin on July 16.

The girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her father's brother. The girl had revealed the traumatic incident to her teacher last year. After registering the case, the court placed the girl under the protective custody of her maternal grandmother.

Later, the parents and relatives took the child forcefully from the grandmother.

Police are trying to locate them. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked alleged 'conman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar to provide it with the names of Tihar jail officials to whom payment of Rs 12.5 crore was made on his behalf along with payment details. A bench of Justices U.U. Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia asked Chandrashekhar to give the names of people who made the payment on his behalf and who took the money. The bench said it will go into the root of the matter of whether Chandrasekhar was a victim of extortion in jail or he was bribing jail officials to run his syndicate or extortion racket from Tihar jail. "We will go into the root of the matter, " the apex court said while posting for July 26 the plea of Chandrashekhar and his wife seeking transfer from Tihar jail to any other prison outside Delhi on the ground of a threat to life. "To conclude whether petitioner was running a syndicate or bribing his way through, it would be key to identify persons who have the payments. We, therefore, call on him to submit the names of who paid and to whom the payments were made, by the next date of hearing," the top court said in its order. Senior advocate R Basant appearing for Chandrashekhar has told the apex court that his client continuously faces threats to his life from the jail staff and protection money was being sought from him. He has alleged that the Tihar prison authorities have extorted around Rs 12.5 crore from him in the last two years. As Basant sought shifting Chandrashekhar to another jail because he was subjected to threats, extortion etc., the bench remarked, "You are right, but we have to get into it as well. Relief can come later, if you are running a complete racket using staff, we would like to know the names of whom you paid as extortion. You have ignited the process, very good. Now we will try and ensure this doesn't happen again, we thank you for igniting." In its order, the top court noted that an affidavit submitted on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) states that while inside Tihar he was running a crime syndicate, paying Rs 1.5 crore every month for facilities like using phones to pass messages to persons from his syndicate. The affidavit states that some jail officials were on his monthly payroll, the bench further noted in the order. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for ED told the bench that allegations against Chandrashekhar were serious and he impersonated judges and government officials and conned people of hundreds of crores from jail. When we caught him, now he wants to continue this from Chennai, Raju said while objecting to his plea for shifting to another jail. Earlier, when the vacation bench had asked the Central government to inform it in which jail Chandrashekhar can be shifted the government had said that he and his wife who are currently lodged in Tihar Jail could be shifted to Mandoli Jail in Delhi. ED had also sought prosecution of Chandrashekhar for perjury claiming that he has falsely stated in his affidavit about a physical assault in Tihar Jail and deliberately omitted the report of the doctors who ruled out any physical injury to him. The Centre and the investigating agency had opposed his plea before the top court to transfer him and his wife from Tihar Jail to any other prison outside Delhi. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, had said that Chandrashekhar used to call models and celebrities to his jail in collusion with prison staff, who have been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered against them. ED had told the top court that Chandrashekhar indulged in money laundering, extortion, and impersonation of public officials including those holding constitutional posts. Director General (Prisons), Delhi Prisons in an affidavit had stated that the claims of Chandrashekhar that he was assaulted in jail are vehemently denied as totally and wholly false and "fabricated for the ulterior motive of seeking transfer to another prison in order to repeat his misdemeanours and offences." The Supreme Court on June 13 had said that it would be appropriate to transfer Chandrashekhar and his wife to some other jail so to allay the apprehension of all concerned and asked the Centre to take a decision on the appropriate jail to which he can be transferred. Chandrashekhar is lodged in Tihar Jail on charges of money laundering and duping several persons and claimed a threat to his life in the prison. Chandrashekhar along with his wife had moved the top court seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail to another prison and said that since he has levelled allegations against jail officials, he faces a threat to his life. He is charged in many multi-crore fraud cases and is also accused of extorting Rs 200 crore from the family of former Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy Lab promoters Shivinder and Malvinder Singh from the premises of the prison. He was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case allegedly involving former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran and others. Several Bollywood actresses and models have been questioned by the ED for their alleged links to Chandrashekhar. (ANI)
Former Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Wednesday refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) allegation that he had shared "confidential and sensitive" information about India with Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza. In a statement, Ansari said, "Yesterday and today a litany of falsehood has been unleashed on me personally in the sections of the media and by the official spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party: that as Vice-President of India I had invited the Pakistani journalist, Nusrat Mirza. That I had met him in a conference in New Delhi on 'Terrorism', and that while as Ambassador to Iran, I had betrayed the national interest in a matter for which allegations have been made by a former official of a government agency." Ansari said that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are on the advice of the government generally through the Ministry of External Affairs. He said he had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism, on December 11, 2010, the 'International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights'. As is the normal practice the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. He said he never invited Mirza. "My work as Ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the government of the day. I am bound by the commitment to national security in such matters and refrain from commenting on them. The Government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth. It is a matter of record that after my stint in Tehran I was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. My work there has been acknowledged at home and abroad," added Ansari. Ansari, a retired diplomat was the 12th Vice President of India from 2007 to 2017. Notably, Nusrat Mirza, a Pakistani columnist who has visited India many times during the Congress' rule, boasted on camera that he used to pass on information collected during his visits to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He claimed that he had visited India on several occasions. "I was invited to India at the time of Vice Presidentship of Mohammad Hamid Ansari," Mirza said. Following this, BJP attacked Congress and alleged that it was sharing the most secret things of the country with other countries, which they were using for terrorism. BJP said the Congress party has been "weakening the country". Addressing a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, "Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza himself has revealed that Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India, invited him to India five times between 2005 and 2011. Nusrat Mirza said in an interview that the then Vice President used to call him to India. During their conversations, highly sensitive and confidential information used to be shared. The BJP spokesperson said Mirza stated that the highly sensitive and confidential information was shared not just once but five times by Hamid Ansari and this information was used against India. "India is playing a leading role in the campaign against terrorism all over the world. And the Congress government invited such a person to visit India five times between 2005-11 and confidential information about the country was shared," Bhatia said. (ANI)
After nearly a decade, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is recruiting principals for Delhi government schools. Prior to this, the last recruitment test happened in 2012. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote a letter to UPSC Chairman Manoj Soni to express his gratitude. Sisodia also requested that apart from checking just the academic and administrative abilities of the applicants, this time UPSC should also look out for their ability to motivate and mentor teachers; awareness about Delhi's cultural diversity; willingness to gain new skills; adaptability in every situation; deep understanding of child behaviour and their learning abilities and most importantly if he/she owns a research-oriented approach or not.Sisodia wrote, ''July 17, 2022, will be a historical day for the education system of India because conducting the recruitment test for 363 posts by the UPSC is going to be the biggest exercise in strengthening the school system since the adoption of the National Education Policy 2020.'' He further wrote, ''many significant changes have taken place in the country's education system in the past seven years, between 2015 and 2022. Of which, the most important ones are that the Government of Delhi has been able to rebuild the public trust in the government school system and the announcement of the first education policy of the 21st century adopted by the Government of India in 2020.''The letter by Sisodia also mentioned, ''Delhi government firmly believes in the vision of National Education Policy 2020 of making India a global knowledge superpower and its aims to have an education system with equitable access to the highest quality education for all learners regardless of social or economic background.'' The Deputy Chief Minister in his letter said, ''the role of principals is not just of an academic administrator but that of a complete school leader too. Whether a school will function like an outpost of the Education Department's headquarter or as an institution with a life of its own is contingent upon the personality of its principal. The average enrolment in a school by Delhi Government is about 1800. The Principal has a huge responsibility because the life of these students is shaped by his/her leadership, commitment and belief.'' UPSC examines a candidate for the post of Principals on six subject matters which include general knowledge, language skills, reasoning and aptitude, education policies and evaluation, management and financial administration and office procedure. Sisodia requested UPSC should also look out for qualities and abilities like: His/her belief in every child and his/her abilities to learn; Respect for Delhi's culture and diversity; understanding of the ground realities of Delhi; Ability to inspire and mentor teachers; Owns a research-oriented mindset, willing to read and learnThe Deputy Chief Minister suggested that the UPSC's selection panel should select the candidate only if they have all these abilities and qualities to provide a better future to children of Delhi government schools. (ANI)
The Presiding Officers will be discussing issues pertaining to the All India Presiding Officers' Conference and CPA India Region and they will deliberate on areas of interest concerning the functioning of legislative bodies in India, including anti-defection law, disruption in legislatures, people's participation in legislative bodies and uniformity of rules and procedures in legislatures.

After the meeting, the Lok Sabha Speaker will chair a briefing meeting of the Indian delegation which will attend the upcoming 65 Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference at Halifax, Canada from August 20 to 26.

The Speaker will lead the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Conference. The conference is slated to discuss wide-ranging areas from the Role of Parliaments in achieving sustainable development, the use of innovative technology, issues related to women, youth and climate change, etc.

The Parliament of India and all state legislatures are members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and are expected to attend the Conference in Halifax, Canada. (ANI)
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced a sum of Rs 500 crore on Wednesday to take up repair and restoration of roads, bridges, power lines and other infrastructure work in the flood-hit areas based on the report received from all the districts on the extent of losses suffered. Bommai on Wednesday chaired a review meeting on rescue and relief works in flood-affected districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Bommai said the situation would be reviewed again in August and necessary funds would be released. The officials, NDRF, SDRF teams, the district administration and legislators are ready to take up relief works on a war footing. Last year, Rs 1,600 crore was paid within a month for farmers to compensate for their crop losses in 14 lakh hectares. This year too compensation would be released immediately." "We will request for central assistance to take up relief works after getting reports on the extent of damages from the districts," Bommai said. According to the official statement, Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Udupi and Karwar regions have received heavy rains in the month of July. So far 32 people have died, 5 have gone missing, 34 are injured, about 300 people have been shifted to safer places. The Chief Minister said 14 Care Centres have been opened, four NDRF and SDRF teams have been deployed for rescue and relief works. Crops in about 216 hectares have been destroyed in Dakshina Kannada district and 129 hectares in Udupi district. As for houses, 58 have been totally destroyed, 26 are heavily damaged and 1062 houses are partially damaged, Bommai said. The Chief Minister said about 2,187 km of roads including PWD and rural roads have been damaged. Of these 727 km in Dakshina Kannada, 500 km in Uttara Kannada and 960 km in Udupi. About 5,595 electric poles have fallen affecting the power supply in the three districts. Work is on to restore power, 422 transformers are being repaired. "Though NDRF norms prescribe Rs 3,200 compensation for house collapse as immediate relief, the state government is giving Rs 10,000. Damage to houses has been categorised as A, B and C according to the extent of the damage. For category A, Rs 5 lakh is being provided as compensation for completely destroyed houses, Rs 3 lakh for B category of extensively damaged houses and Rs 50,000 lakh for category C, of partially destroyed houses which are far above the sum fixed by the union government at Rs 95,000 for category A and B and Rs 5,000 for Category C," Bommai said. As for crop losses the NDRF has fixed input subsidy of Rs 6800 per hectare for dryland crops, however, the state government is paying Rs 13,600. Similarly this year too Rs 13,600 would be paid as farm input subsidy per hectare. For wetland crops, Rs 25,000 would be paid per hectare as against the input subsidy of Rs 13,500 fixed by the union government. For horticulture crops, the union government is providing input subsidy of Rs 18,000, while the state government is giving Rs 28,000 to help the farmers, Bommai said. He informed that a solatium of Rs 4 lakh is being paid by the union government for the families of those killed in natural calamities like floods. However, the state government has raised it to Rs 5 lakh. Referring to frequent tremors in Kodagu and coastal regions, Bommai said the Geological Survey of India, Universities of Bengaluru and Mysuru have been asked to study the phenomenon and submit a report. Appropriate measures would be taken based on the study report for the safety of the people. A team of experts from Amrita University is studying the causes for landslides in Kodagu. They have been asked to conduct similar studies in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Malnad areas too. Appropriate measures would be taken after getting the report, he said. Referring to the problem of sea erosion, Bommai said, though a programme to prevent sea erosion has been implemented with ADB funding of Rs 300 crore, the results are not satisfactory. A 'Sea Wave Breaker' technology would be tried on an experimental basis along one km of the coast at Ullala. It would be extended to the entire coast if found successful. A plan to provide a permanent solution for sea erosion would be formulated in the next two-three months, Bommai said. (ANI)
Forest officials of Visakhapatnam have started "Operation Cage" to catch a four-year-old tiger which is on the prowl in the forest areas of Anakapalle district for the past few days. As many as 10 cattle were killed by the tiger in the last few days. Forest officials found CCTV pictures of the tiger last week and set up cages in the forest area. But, it's been escaping from cages for the last two weeks. Officials expected that the tiger came from Chhattisgarh and Odisha forest regions. The Chief Conservator of Forests officer Ram Mohan said, "A four years male tiger was spotted near Sabbavaram and Anakapalli forest area in last few days. We are trying to catch the tiger. But it went East Godavari in June month and came again to the Visakhapatnam region. Our forest officials are trying to catch the tiger without any harm to the tiger. It's a very rare breed. There are no such tigers like this one in the Andhra Pradesh forest area. We have installed cages and CCTV cameras. CCTV cameras captured the tiger last week." Ram Mohan said, "The tiger killed calves till today for survival. However, no attacks on humans have been reported. We asked people not to panic but the villagers should be alert." "It is our responsibility to protect the animal and we have asked the villagers not to harm the animal. Told them not to try to take selfies with the tiger whenever it is sighted. We use chemicals to catch the tiger in case of emergency. But it's our last resort," he added. Meanwhile, the tiger hunting down the calves has left the villagers in panic. The forest officials are taking a lot of precautions to catch the tiger alive, without harming the tiger and the villagers. The District forest officer Anantha Shankar is monitoring the situation in the field every minute. (ANI)
Former Vice President Hamid Ansari has refuted the charges levelled by the BJP that he invited a Pakistan scribe to visit India when he was the Vice President, stating that only the government can shed light on the matter and tell the truth. The remarks came after the BJP on Wednesday slammed Ansari and the Congress and sought their clarification over claims made by Nusrat Mirza, a Pakistani journalist, that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule, and shared sensitive information collected during his visits with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) back home. In a signed statement, Ansari said that a litany of falsehood has been unleashed on him in some sections of the media and by the official spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Addressing the media earlier on Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had said, "If Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and the then Vice President, remain silent on the questions raised by the ruling party, it will amount to their admission to these sins. "People of India are giving you (Ansari) so much respect and you are betraying the country. Isn't this treason? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Hamid Ansari should come out and reply to this." Responding to the allegations, Ansari said, "It is a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice President are sent on the advice of the government, generally through the Ministry of External Affairs. "I had inaugurated the 'International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights' on December 11, 2010. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him." In his defence, Ansari said that his work as Ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the government of the day. "I am bound by the commitment to national security in such matters and refrain from commenting on them. The government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth. It is a matter of record that after my stint in Tehran, I was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. My work there has been acknowledged both at home and abroad," Ansari said. He added that it has been alleged that as the Vice President, he had invited the Pakistani journalist whom he had met during a conference on terrorism in New Delhi, and that as the Ambassador to Iran, he had betrayed the national interest for which allegations were levelled by a former official of a government agency, both of which are false as their is no truth in them. Earlier, Bhatia had said that in an interview, Pakistani journalist Mirza has claimed that Ansari had invited him five times to India during 2005-11 and shared extremely sensitive and classified information, which he shared with the ISI. --IANS miz/arm ( 498 Words) 2022-07-13-19:50:02 (IANS)
"The two leaders discussed India-Netherlands bilateral ties, including Strategic Partnership on Water, cooperation in the key area of agriculture, potential for bilateral cooperation in high tech and emerging sectors," the Prime Minister's Office said.

With regular high-level visits and interactions, the India-Netherlands ties have gained tremendous momentum in recent years.

The two Prime Ministers held a Virtual Summit in April 2021 and have been since then speaking regularly.

The 'Strategic Partnership on Water' was launched with the Netherlands during the Virtual Summit.

"The two leaders also exchanged views on India-EU relations, regional and global issues including convergence and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific," the PMO said.

In the current year, India and the Netherlands are jointly commemorating 75 years of establishment of diplomatic ties. This milestone was celebrated with the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to the Netherlands in April.

--IANS uj/vd

( 176 Words)

2022-07-13-20:00:04 (IANS)
President of India Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday attended the farewell banquet hosted in his honour by the Chiefs of Staff Committee. Speaking on the occasion, the President said, "In the last five years, I had the privilege of visiting many military institutions and units in far-flung areas where he had occasions to interact with the brave personnel of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Their devotion to duty, their spirit of 'Service before Self' and commitment to the cause of national security inspire the entire country. We are indeed proud of our Armed Forces who are safeguarding our frontiers in the most difficult terrains and amid challenging climatic and operational conditions." "I feel a deep sense of pride in having served as the Supreme Commander of one of the most committed and competent Armed Forces in the world," he added. The President said that the team spirit and 'never say die' attitude displayed by the Armed Forces during the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts put in by them for setting up hospitals, distributing relief material and extending every possible assistance to civil administration are praiseworthy. "Selfless efforts Armed Forces during several disaster management operations have also been commendable," he said. He expressed happiness that during his tenure as the Supreme Commander, the induction of women in the National Defence Academy has also been initiated. He said, "It is a great step which would give an opportunity to our daughters to serve the nation by enrolling in the military. They would prove to be worthy daughters of Mother India." (ANI)
In order to communicate better with the people of the Darjeeling hills in north Bengal, who are predominantly Gorkhas, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to learn the Gorkhali language. She expressed this wish while addressing a function on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Nepali poet, Bhanu Bhakta. She said that she has already found a way to learn Gorkhali. "One of my nephews is getting married to a girl who is a resident of Kurseong. Both of them are doctors by profession. I have decided to learn Gorkhali from her after the marriage," the chief minister said. Speaking on the occasion, she referred to the life of Bhanu Bhakta and said this great Nepali poet never believed in creating division among the people. "We in Trinamool Congress speak of unity among people. We believe that one can become a true leader only if he or she works among the people," the chief minister said. On Wednesday morning, Banerjee moved around the streets of Darjeeling and interacted with the people, especially the children. She gifted chocolates to the children and also attended photo sessions with them. Incidentally, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were also in Darjeeling. On Wednesday, the governor invited the chief minister of both the states for tea. After the tea, the chief minister said that it was just a courtesy call and there was no discussion on politics. When asked whether there was discussion between her and Biswa Sarma on the forthcoming Presidential polls, the chief minister said "How is that possible since we are from two different parties." She refused to comment on the controversy over the new look of the national emblem. "I need to study that matter first and before that I will not make any comment," she said. --IANS src/bg ( 323 Words) 2022-07-13-21:10:03 (IANS)
Congress leaders, in a meeting on Wednesday, decided to protest across the country against the BJP-led Central Government on July 21, the day Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in National Herald case. Another significant meeting has been called by the party today (on Thursday), where all the general secretaries, state in-charges and PCC chiefs will discuss 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' and other organisational programs. In the meeting, top leaders will discuss the protest march and other public outreach programmes. With the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting from July 18, the Congress MPs will also take the opportunity to protest inside the Parliament premises. Talking to ANI after the meeting, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Congress President Sonia Gandhi is a tigress. She is not afraid of these things. She has seen so many things like this. She will go to the ED office and face this Government." The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi for questioning in connection with the National Herald case in which senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Bansal has already been questioned. Besides them, ED questioned former Congress President and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi last month in June in the case for more than five days and during that time also Congress Party leaders and workers protested against ED and BJP-led Centre for indulging in 'vendetta politics.' The party workers and leaders also protested the "brutal" action by Delhi police officials who manhandled many party activists and allegedly entered the Congress headquarters in Delhi forcefully. According to sources, the party has also prepared pamphlets to be distributed among the public on the National Herald case. Today's meeting was attended by the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress General Secretary Organisation KC Venugopal, AICC Treasurer Pawan Bansal, AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala, Bhawar Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha MP and AICC in-charge of Delhi Shaktisinh Gohil. Official sources said that Sonia Gandhi has been asked to appear before the investigators at its headquarters here around 11 am on July 21. Fresh summons were issued to Sonia Gandhi as she could not appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald as she was infected with COVID-19 and was hospitalised. The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED last month questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case. The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed in 2013. The petitioner had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each. The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to Congress. Congress argued that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders. Calling it a case of political vendetta, senior Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had said, "This is truly a very weird case -- an alleged money laundering case on which summons are issued with no money involved." The federal agency's move followed the questioning of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April this year in New Delhi in connection with its money laundering probe into the National Herald case. The agency then recorded the statements of both the Congress leaders then under the PMLA. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by YIL. While Kharge is the CEO of YIL, Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL. The ED is currently investigating the shareholding pattern and financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL. (ANI)
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today stressed the importance of holistic, value-based education for the overall development of children and in building a secure future for the nation. He called for shedding the mindset of 'marks-focussed education' and to look at education as 'not mere letters and numbers, but as the learning of culture and values'. Presenting the 'Sanskar' award instituted by Aakriti, a cultural organization, to Garikipati Narasimha Rao, eminent Telugu scholar and literary performer (avadhani) in Hyderabad, the Vice President lauded Garikipati for his literary contribution to the Telugu language and for his spiritual teachings. Marking the occasion of Guru Purnima, Naidu said that in the Indian tradition, 'guru' is given the highest regard and that the relationship between a guru and a 'sishiya' is considered the most sacred. The Vice President added that gurus play an invaluable role in our lives and "more than just imparting knowledge, help in moulding character and shaping our future". The Vice President paid his respects to his teachers, recollecting their teachings and noting the immense impact they have had on his life. It is important to remember with gratitude one's teachers who are "given the same status as parents and even God in Indian culture". Dr KV Ramanachary, Advisor to the Govt. of Telangana, CMD of FECCI, Shri Achyuta Jagadish Chandra, President of Aakriti, Sudhakar Rao, literary personalities, artists and others were present. (ANI)
Ahead of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to be held in 2022, President Xi Jinping appears confident to secure his third term in power with his allies dominating not just the major territorial positions but also key functional areas of government. Xi projected this confidence while visiting Hong Kong on July 1, his first trip away from the mainland since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. From key personnel appointments to a surge in loyalty displays, all signs point to China's leader continuing in power, Beijing-Shanghai-based political analyst, Dan Macklin said in a report by The Diplomat. President Xi Jinping, who has been occupying the top post since 2012, was unanimously chosen as a delegate to the ruling party's 20th national congress at the CPC Guangxi regional meeting on April 22. During the upcoming National Congress, CPC's Central Committee, the party's top governing body delegates will go to vote, during congress, which is held every five years for the party's elite. The committee's 200 or more members will vote on who will be seated on the Politburo and its Standing Committee, the Communist Party's highest decision-making body. Delegates to the CCP's National Congress are first selected by congresses in China's 31 provincial-level regions, which have all now concluded. In half of these regions, the party secretary has been replaced during the past year, representing a significant turnover in local leadership. Among the appointees are numerous allies and associates of Xi, including Liang Yanshun in Ningxia, Ni Yuefeng in Hebei, and Sun Shaocheng in Inner Mongolia. Meanwhile, many existing Xi proteges leading China's largest population centres have been reconfirmed in their roles, at least until the National Congress. This means that Cai Qi in Beijing, Li Xi in Guangdong, Chen Min'er in Chongqing, and even Li Qiang in COVID-troubled Shanghai should all be reappointed to the Politburo, The Diplomat reported. Xi's proteges make up the majority of the 25 members of the CCP's Standing Committee of the CCP Politburo. As a result, a political battle over personnel issues at the party's core is quite improbable. While there has been speculation of pushback from former Premier Zhu Rongji and his allies, their impact will remain limited. The most important rivals to Xi and his allies are the Tuanpai, officials who rose through the Communist Youth League under former President Hu Jintao and outgoing Premier Li Keqiang. But their influence has waned significantly during Xi's first two terms, and several Tuanpai stars have recently been sidelined from front-line politics. Apart from these personnel changes, the local congress season was notable for the praise that Xi received from regional leaders, both allies and rivals. According to veteran analyst Cheng Li, only one member, Li Zhanshu, is expected to retire this year. In this scenario, both Xi and Han Zheng, as well as another older Politburo member, perhaps Liu He, will be re-appointed past the age limit of 68 that has been enforced in recent decades. This would bring continuity to Xi at a time of significant policy challenges, while also making his contravention of age norms seem less personalistic, The Diplomat reported. But if Xi and his confidants postpone their retirements, it could legitimize factional rivals to do the same. Xi also appears to be slowing the rise of younger leaders, with regional party committees now substantially older than they were 10 years ago. The resulting risk is that China relapses into the gerontocracy of the Mao and Deng eras, creating a dearth of future leadership talent. Given the above, "with his position looking secure, Xi might decide to spend time less on political horse-trading and more time putting his feet up," Dan said. (ANI)
Eight candidates are in race to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps,Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Office minister Rehman Chishti have withdrawn their candidatures from the contest. Eight candidates will compete in the first round of voting as all of them secured the support of at least 20 members of the Conservative faction of the UK House of Commons. The registration of candidates for the post of Tory Party leader has been completed, a media report said, adding that the official registration ended at 18.00 local time (17:00 GMT). Initially, 11 candidates launched their bids to become the Conservative Party's next leader, with International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid among the frontrunners. However, three of them -- Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Rehman Chishti withdrew from the race. The potential contenders who managed to get into the first round of voting are former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Treasury Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, House of Commons Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat, Attorney General of England and Wales, Suella Braverman and former Minister of State for Equalities Kemi Badenoch, Sputnik reported. Any candidate who fails to secure the support of 30 MPs in the first ballot will be eliminated. The new Conservative leader will be chosen in a two-stage election, in which the 358 Conservative lawmakers reduce the race to two candidates through a series of elimination votes. Most of the contenders have vowed to cut taxes, ranging from corporation tax to income tax, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite in Britain. Graham Brady, the head of the members' committee of the UK Conservative Party announced on Monday that the first round of voting among Conservative MPs would commence on July 13. Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister in 2019 and announced on July 7 that he was stepping down as prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party, reported Sputnik. The contenders will need to receive 30 votes during the first round of voting to enter the second ballot. The number of contenders will be whittled down to two before MPs break up for the summer recess on July 21 and the final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will become the new Tory leader and UK's next Prime Minister. A total of 58 ministers quit the government following an ethics scandal which ultimately forced the UK premier to resign. Johnson, 58, managed to remain in power for almost three years, despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest to the public about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules. Johnson would continue to remain in office until October as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader is elected. Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the Partygate scandal and Pincher scandal involving his appointment of a politician accused of sexual misconduct. (ANI)
Ukraine has become an associate member of the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), which takes care of the technical cooperation of the armies of NATO member states, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Tuesday. "Ukraine has strong IT (Information Technology) potential and it is a worthy NATO ally. I am sure that we will bring our expertise to the development of collective security," Xinhua quoted Reznikov as saying. According to the ministry, the associate membership in the MIP gives Ukraine a right to join the development and introduction of key NATO standards related to the interaction of combat control systems and related practices. The MIP is a program of technological cooperation between the Armed Forces of NATO member states, which was established at the level of national developers of combat control information systems and aims to achieve interoperability of national C2IS systems, reported Xinhua. After the western military alliance formally invited Sweden and Finland to join during the NATO summit, Zelenskyy made his remarks and urged NATO to admit Ukraine to the alliance. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continued to deteriorate, with thousands of refugees continuing to pour across the borders to neighbouring western countries. Announcing an economic package for countries hosting the refugees fleeing Ukraine, European Union (EU) Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, "So far more than 3 million people have left Ukraine. Half of them were children. I applaud the enormous generosity of all Europeans, all Member States, and Moldova. We propose to accelerate and inject EUR3.4 billion of liquidity to support EU countries hosting those fleeing the war." On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk asked for Russian help against Ukrainian forces. Russia maintains that the aim of the military operations is to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine.In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow. (ANI)
Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF) in Afghanistan, has stressed the need for political dialogue to solve the current Afghan problems, following the recent clashes between NRF forces and Taliban. The head of the NRF, which has a small foothold in the mountains of Panjshir, said as long as the Taliban do not reach an understanding with his group, there is no other option but to stand against them. "We have shared our concerns with all western and eastern countries regarding Afghanistan. The situation of Afghanistan needs serious assessment, it needs serious attention. Afghanistan needs to reach political stability through any kind of pressure. The Taliban or any other group should find a political solution in cooperation with the region and the world to solve the problems of Afghanistan, otherwise, the problems in Afghanistan can once again reach out to the region and world," Ahmad Massoud, leader of the Resistance Front," was quoted as saying by TOLOnews. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report said Taliban security forces in northern Afghanistan's Panjshir province have unlawfully detained and tortured residents accused of association with an opposition armed group. Since mid-May 2022, fighting has escalated in the province as National Resistance Front (NRF) forces have attacked Taliban units and checkpoints. The Taliban have responded by deploying to the province thousands of fighters, who have carried out search operations targeting communities they allege are supporting the NRF. During search operations in other provinces, Taliban forces have committed summary executions and enforced disappearances of captured fighters and other detainees, which are war crimes. "Taliban forces in Panjshir province have quickly resorted to beating civilians in their response to fighting against the opposition National Resistance Front," said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Taliban's longstanding failure to punish those responsible for serious abuses in their ranks puts more civilians at risk." Former detainees in early June reported that Taliban security forces detained about 80 residents in Panjshir's Khenj district and beat them to compel them to provide information about the NRF, according to HRW. After several days, the Taliban released 70, but have continued to hold 10 people whose relatives they accuse of being members of the group, a form of collective punishment. Former detainees said the district jail held nearly 100 others who have alleged links to the NRF. None had access to their families or lawyers. Others have been held in informal detention facilities. (ANI)
A state of emergency was declared as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces deployed outside Wickremesinghe's residence. Air patrolling also began around the PM's residence.Wickremesinghe also ordered the security forces to arrest those acting in a riotous manner, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

Military personnel used tear gas shells to disperse protestors who scaled the wall to enter the Sri Lankan PM's residence in Colombo.

"We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns, the PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in," said a former advisor to the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry.

Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after full approval of the country's Defence Ministry.

Early today, Gotabaya landed at the Velana International Airport in Male on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane. The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed the development.

Shortly afterwards, the crisis-hit island country's Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation from Gotabaya.

"We haven't received President Gotabaya's resignation yet, but we hope to get one in a day," Abeywardena told ANI.

The 73-year-old had gone into hiding after crowds of protestors stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13.

The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies. (ANI)
Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country without signing his resignation, said former cabinet minister Patali Champika Ranawaka on Wednesday as he expressed hope that an interim prime minister and the president will soon be appointed. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Patali Ranawaka said, "He (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) left the country without signing his resignation letter. The speaker and the whole country would hope that he would send his resignation properly so that according to the constitution, the prime minister can be the interim President. And within next week's time, we can elect the president of Sri Lanka for the remaining period of this president's five-year term on July 20 through the secret ballot in the Parliament." Answering a question on who would be the next President, Ranawaka said, "There are two opinions. One, the PM and President for this interim period should be. And they are not going to run for office for the next term. Basically, they will be caretaker PM and President." "The other opinion is that two main parties -- the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and their splinter groups are planning to put forward their candidates," he added. According to Champika Ranawaka, Sajith Premadasa already showed his intention to contest this election. Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after full approval of the country's Defence Ministry. Rajapaksa landed at the Velana International Airport in the Maldives early Wednesday. The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed the development. Shortly after President Rajapaksa landed in Maldivian capital Male on a Sri Lanka Air Force plane, the crisis-hit island country's Parliament Speaker said that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation. Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said has not the resignation letter of the embattled President who departed from Sri Lanka hours before he was expected to resign amid widespread protests in the country which is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies. "We haven't received President Gotabaya's resignation yet, but we hope to get one in a day," Abeywardena told ANI. The 73-year-old had gone into hiding after crowds of protestors stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13. (ANI)
Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Tuesday said that holding free and fair by-elections on July 17 is the "first test" to prove neutrality. Khan added that holding transparent elections is the only way to get out of the mess that the alleged US conspiracy against his government created. The remarks came while the former prime minister was addressing back-to-back rallies in Bhakkar and Layyah, the Dawn newspaper reported. Addressing the rally in Layyah, the former prime minister said that the incumbent government of Pakistan can only win the elections through rigging and fear and he asked the crowd to guard the polling booths on the day of the by-elections. "They could only win elections through rigging and fear," he said. The PTI chief has also claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is in an alliance with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab, local media reported. Khan referred to the mysterious person who is rigging elections on PML-N's order as Mr X and said, "Mr X is in Lahore. We know what he has been up to." The former prime minister said that Mr X has been meeting Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz in an attempt to pave way for PML-N's victory during the by-elections. Sikandar Sultan Raja, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan, also "goes and sits in their feet," Dawn reported citing Khan. "I want to send a message to all Pakistanis and those who wield real power. The supporters of PTI are the people who took to streets for the future of Pakistan. They don't want to harm their country. The only option to undo the consequences of the conspiracy is to conduct transparent polls," the PTI chief said. "If attempts are made to rig elections then I am sure Pakistan will face a [political] crisis like Sri Lanka... game will be out of your hands then," he warned the PML-N led government. Addressing the Bhakkar rally, Khan referred to Mr Y as the person sent to Multan by Mr X to manipulate the polls. "Mr X, I have been told that you have sent Mr Y to Multan to rig the by-election. Mr X and Mr Y, I challenge you that my nation will make you bite the dust and win the polls despite all attempts to manipulate them," Khan said. (ANI)
Sri Lankan Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa has called a meeting on Tuesday regarding his candidature for the post of the country's President. Several Members of Parliaments (MPs) from other parties also attended the meeting including Independent MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa. Regarding Premdasa's candidature for the President's post, Yapa said that he is not bad but we are here to get consensus from all the parties before announcing the president face in the country. "We're meeting to get an idea on how to elect the next president of the country. Many parties are discussing to create a consensus. It's important to achieve it. Sajith Premadasa was 2nd in the last elections so we spoke to him," Independent MP Yapa said. Earlier on Monday, opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) unanimously decided to nominate Sajith Premadasa for the interim president's post. SJB said that the party secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara submitted the proposal and it was seconded by party chairman Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka at the parliamentary group held this afternoon, reported Newswire. SJB has nearly 50 MPs in Parliament and to win a Parliament vote they need the support of 113 MPs. Meanwhile, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said that he is ready to protect the motherland and build the country's economy, reported News 1st. In a statement to the media, Sajith Premadasa said that the opposition is ready to lead the program of stabilizing the country and building the country's economy. The opposition leader said that there is no alternative solution other than the appointment of the government led by a new President and the Prime Minister. Sri Lankan party leaders have decided to elect a new President on July 20 through a vote in Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardhane said today. He said it was decided to convene Parliament this Friday (15) and inform the House that there is a vacancy for the Presidency according to the provisions of the Constitution, reported Daily Mirror. "Nominations for the presidency will be called for on July 19 and a vote will be taken on July 20 to elect a new President," he said. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both announced to step down from their positions after intensified protests by Sri Lankan commoners. (ANI)
The Taliban's ban on secondary education has already caused girls in Afghanistan to lose 300 days of their studies with devastating consequences for them, their families, and the country's future, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday in a new video feature. The video features six prominent Afghan women: Tamana Ayazi, a filmmaker; Sahar Fetrat, a Human Rights Watch researcher; Yalda Hakim and Zahra Joya, journalists; Elaha Soroor, a musician; and Heela Yoon, an activist. They discuss how education changed their lives and the devastating consequences of the current ban for this generation of Afghan girls. "It feels beyond belief that we could be having a conversation in 2022 about whether girls should be allowed to study," said Sahar Fetrat, assistant women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and the producer of the project. "We're so grateful to the strong Afghan women who spoke with us. The world should listen to them and do more to end this shocking abuse. Every day, millions of Afghan girls are losing opportunities and dreams they can never get back." The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 and imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls. They dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. According to HRW, Taliban decrees prohibit women from traveling unless accompanied by a male relative and require women's faces be covered in public--including women TV newscasters. The Taliban have carried out broad censorship, limiting critical reporting, and have detained and beaten journalists. Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. On September 18, 2021, a month after taking over the country, the Taliban ordered the reopening of boys' secondary schools but made no mention of girls' secondary schools. This was interpreted as a ban on girls' secondary education. In several provinces, under community pressure, Taliban officials allowed girls' secondary schools to reopen, but the vast majority of these schools remained closed. On March 21, 2022, the Taliban pledged to reopen all schools on March 23, but on that date they closed girls' secondary schools again. An indefinite ban remains in place with no clarity about when or if these schools will reopen. Yalda Hakim, a BBC news presenter who participated in the project, has been counting down on Twitter the days since the ban began, on July 14 it will be 300 days. (ANI)
Sri Lankan police used tear gas outside the premises of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's residence in Colombo to disperse protestors. Sounds of gunshots fired in the air were also heard as protesters gather outside Sri Lankan PM's residence in Colombo. Earlier, protesters tried to enter the PM's residence, demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe to step down. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country. A state of emergency was declared as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces deployed outside Wickremesinghe's residence. Air patrolling also began around the PM's residence.Wickremesinghe also ordered the security forces to arrest those acting in a riotous manner, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. Meanwhile, the protesters are helping the army personnel at the PM's residence, giving them water to drink, a sign that humanity still exists despite the clash between the two. "We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns, the PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in," said a former advisor to the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry. Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after full approval of the country's Defence Ministry. Early today, Gotabaya landed at the Velana International Airport in Male on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane. The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed the development. Shortly afterward, the crisis-hit island country's Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation from Gotabaya. "We haven't received President Gotabaya's resignation yet, but we hope to get one in a day," Abeywardena told ANI. The 73-year-old, Gotabaya, had gone into hiding after crowds of protestors stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13. The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies. (ANI)
Baloch National Movement (BNM) urged the Azerbaijan government to investigate the death of Saqib Karim, a Baloch political refugee in Baku. The BNM Spokesperson said that the government of Azerbaijan should investigate Karim's case, citing the fears that he might have been killed. He further said that Karim's two brothers, who were residing in Balochistan, were killed in custody by the Pakistani army after being forcibly disappeared. After this incident, Karim was forced into exile. The circumstances surrounding Saqib Karim's death are still unclear, which is a matter of concern for the party and his family, the statement said. The spokesperson said that it was a matter of great concern that after being insecure in Balochistan, the Balochs took refuge in foreign countries, but still, they were facing a similar situation there. The Saqib Karim incident was not the first incident but even before that, the body of Banuk Karima Baloch, a political refugee and the leader of the Baloch National Movement, was found by the river in Canada. Moreover, the body of Baloch journalist and intellectual Sajid Hussain was recovered from Sweden. The spokesperson claimed that the police couldn't find any evidence of murder as they were drowned and according to the doctors, drowning erase the evidence of murder. "So the relevant police should also see if there was no reason to kill them, was it just a coincidence that the Baloch refugees drowned in a continuous process?" he asked. The spokesman added that Saqib Karim's two brothers, Shaheed Tariq Karim and Shaheed Asim Karim, were forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces and their mutilated bodies were dumped. Other members of his family were also targeted. To protect himself from the oppression of the state of Pakistan, Saqib Karim sought refuge in a Gulf country and later moved to Azerbaijan to be registered with the UN refugee agency UNHCR. The spokesperson expressed his doubts and said, "It is difficult to believe that it was an accidental death after what happened to his brothers, so we request to the government of Azerbaijan to consider the possibility of murder in his investigation because the Pakistani State intelligence agencies had previously targeted political opponents abroad." At the end of his statement, the Spokesperson said that the Pakistani army in Balochistan had been continuously forcibly disappearing Baloch political activists and their families as collective punishment and they were being extra-judicially killed. As a result, a large number of affected people were forced to seek refuge in countries other than neighboring Iran and Afghanistan. In these circumstances, the discovery of the bodies of Baloch political activists in abroad was a matter of concern. The international community should investigate the incidents of Shaheed Sajid Hussain, Shaheed Banuk Karima, and Shaeed Saqib Karim and bring the reality of their suspicious death into light. Action needed to be taken, in case the forces involved in these incidents protected the lives of Baloch political refugees abroad. (ANI)
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing in a statement said, "Pakistan army troops observed and engaged terrorists' movement in the general area, North Waziristan District."

"During the exchange of fire, four terrorists were killed," it said as reported by ARY News. The report further added that weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorists.

Separately on July 6, another incident was reported where a 23-year-old soldier was killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted by security forces in North Waziristan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said as quoted by ARY News.

According to the military's media wing, the security forces conducted an operation in Mir Ali Tehsil of North Waziristan district on the tip of the presence of terrorists.

During that operation, a heavy exchange of fire took place between the security forces. "During the exchange of fire, 23-year-old Sepoy Waheed Khan of Nowshera embraced martyrdom," the ISPR added.

Earlier on July 3, another Pakistani newspaper reported that four people, whom Pakistani security officials called "terrorists" were killed in the North Waziristan district.

Citing official sources, a Pakistani newspaper reported that security forces killed four "terrorists" in two separate gun battles in the North Waziristan district, where a polio worker was wounded in an attack.

Three soldiers were also injured in another incident in the Khyber district on Saturday.

Earlier unidentified armed men opened fire at polio workers in Pakistan's Mir Ali Tehsil leaving another vaccinator severely injured. A police report stated that Sher Shah was attacked in the TT Madakhel area.

Pakistan is one of two countries, together with Afghanistan, where polio is still endemic, though case numbers have dropped drastically in recent years.

Pakistani officials reported an eighth wild poliovirus case of 2022 on June 3. This most recent case is a 20-month-old boy paralyzed by wild polio. Polio transmission is highly active in certain core districts of Pakistan, including Karachi (Sindh), Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and the Quetta block in Balochistan. Polio cases have also been identified in northern Sindh and Southern Punjab.

A large proportion of cases are among Pashto-speaking populations. (ANI)
The girl named Shrimati Kareena was allegedly kidnapped a week ago in Unnar Muhalla, Qazi Ahmed town in Dadu, the Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the report, members of the Hindu community marched on main roads before staging a protest in front of Zardari House in Nawabshah on Tuesday in protest against what they believed was the abduction of the girl.

Police claimed the Hindu girl had eloped with a Muslim boy for love and had contracted marriage with him in a Karachi court.

The protesters chanted slogans against the police and demanded former president Asif Ali Zardari intervene to help them recover the girl.

However, local police said that Shrimati Kareena had not been abducted she had eloped with Khalil Rehman Jono of Meer Mohammad Jono village and had married him in a court in Karachi.

According to police, Asghar Jono, father of Khalil, had been arrested after the registration of FIR under Section 365-B on a complaint lodged by Sundurmal.

Earlier this year, a Hindu girl Pooja Kumari was killed by a man at her home in Pakistan's Sindh province. Pooja Kumari was shot in Sukkur after she put up resistance to attackers.

This incident drew a sharp reaction from various human rights organizations in the country.

Activists say human rights in Pakistan records have touched a new low with several media reports and global bodies reflecting the dire situation for women, minorities, children, and media persons in the country. (ANI)
Four protesters agitating against the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led government in Sri Lanka were hospitalised after receiving injuries during a clash at Galle Face Green park here early on Wednesday. The injured, who are residents of Colombo and Wellampitiya, were aged between 17 and 20 years, the Daily Mirror reported citing sources. Protestors in the island country have been protesting at Galle Face, situated near the secretariat and the protest site 'Gota Go Gama Village' has gradually grown. Earlier, on Tuesday, at least 10 people were injured and later hospitalised following a clash at Temple Trees in Colombo. Nine men and one woman were admitted for treatment, of which six were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital (CNH), Daily Mirror reported citing sources. Two patients were discharged from the outpatient department (OPD) and another two patients are still receiving treatment at the OPD, it added. A clash between two protesting factions broke out at 2.45 am on Tuesday. The worsening economic situation in the country has led to increasing tensions and over the last few weeks, there were reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public have queued for hours and sometimes days. Thousands of people stormed the President's House in Fort on Saturday. The dramatic visuals came from PM's official residence where they were seen playing carrom board, sleeping on the sofa, enjoying in park premises and preparing food for dinner. Earlier, on Saturday, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced in a press conference that the President will resign from his post on July 13. Rajapaksa officially informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he is resigning from his post. Wickremesinghe also announced to step down from his posts amid the ongoing protests. However, the protesters who have occupied the residences of the President and Prime Minister have said that they will continue to occupy the houses until both resign from their posts. Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development. The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice. Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages. The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty - some for the first time - adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, the Union minister said that Godfrey Majoni Chipare, Ambassador of Zimbabwe in India discussed the possible collaborations in training, capacity building and upgradation of Zimbabwe railways.

"Useful interaction with the visiting National Railways of Zimbabwe delegation led by Chairman Martin Dinha. Ambassador of Zimbabwe in India Dr. Godfrey Majoni Chipare also joined Discussed possible collaborations in training, capacity building and upgradation of Zimbabwe railways," Muraleedharan tweeted.

India shares excellent bilateral relations with both Zimbabwe and Malawi ranging across political, economic, cultural, and development assistance fields, which have particularly strengthened in the past few years.

Muraleedharan visited Zimbabwe as part of his visit to African countries. The MoS was received by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Zimbabwe, David Musabayana upon his arrival.

The MoS was in Zimbabwe from June 6-7.

India gifted 10 ambulances, which had been promised during the visit of the Vice President to Zimbabwe in 2018. A consignment of 35,000 Covaxin vaccine doses was provided in the month of March 2021. India also handed over three vehicles for the Indo-Zim Technology Centres, for which the latest machines worth about USD 3 million have been supplied under Phase II.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian leadership maintained close contact with the leadership of both countries and supported them in their fight against the pandemic. The visit of the Minister of State for External Affairs S Jaishankar would add further momentum to the multifaceted relations with these countries. (ANI)
Constant Chinese intrusions on the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea are provoking Japan over Beijing's rising aspirations of making gains over Tokyo's territory. Though the Senkaku islands are being administered by Japan, China has been flexing its muscles claiming that it is Beijing's territory. Chinese vessels have now been spotted near the islands, including in the "contiguous zone" outside Japanese waters, for 81 days in a row, The Singapore Post reported. According to Japan's Defence Ministry, at least two Chinese warships and a supply ship in the Izu Islands were spotted about 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of Tokyo. "One of those ships appeared to be the Lhasa, a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer and one of China's most powerful surface ships," it said. Over a week ago, a Chinese frigate sailed in the contiguous zone for about six minutes from 7:44 am, about 40 minutes after a Russian warship was in the area, according to Japanese Defense Ministry officials. It was the first time since June 2018 that a Chinese military vessel had entered the zone near the Senkakus, The Singapore Post reported. In its bid to protest against an aggressive China, Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yoshimasa Hayashi described the infiltration as a breach of international law and assured to respond to China's actions "calmly and resolutely." In the month of May as well, Japan lodged protests with Beijing and Moscow after it found Chinese vessels and Russian vessels operating off the disputed Senkaku islands. Earlier, Japan's Defence Ministry white paper expressed its serious concern about Chinese coast guard activities in the East China Sea, last year. According to the report, Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi called attention to "problematic provisions" in Beijing's draconian Coast Guard Law which empowers the Chinese Coast Guard personnel to "demolish" other countries' structures built on China-claimed reefs and to board and inspect vessels in waters claimed by China. Experts say that Chinese President Xi Jinping's ideology is "what is ours is ours and what is yours is negotiable." The actions by China clearly reflect that it is unilaterally trying to change the status quo and provoking its neighbouring nations to bring about instability in the region. Amidst the escalating tensions with China, Japan is holding intense discussions on increasing defence budget and developing nuclear-powered submarines over the disputed islands in the East China Sea. Meanwhile, the Quad summit hosted by Japan in Tokyo last month launched a satellite-based maritime security initiative aimed to pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific. "The benefit of this maritime initiative will allow tracking of dark shipping and other tactical-level activities, such as rendezvous at sea, as well as improve partners' ability to respond to climate and humanitarian events and to protect their fisheries, which are vital to many Indo-Pacific economies," the White House in a media statement said on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in May. (ANI)
In a bid to break a months-long blockade of grain deliveries across the Black Sea, Russian and Ukrainian delegations on Wednesday met with United Nations and Turkish officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the work on the "grain issue" is in progress and being conducted via military officials. "The work is underway. It is being conducted via military officials. The information will be provided as deemed necessary," Peskov said, Sputnik News Agency reported. According to Russian media, negotiations among Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the UN were planned in Istanbul for Wednesday. The meeting in Istanbul marks the Russian and Ukrainian governments' first face-to-face talks since another meeting in the Turkish metropolis in late March. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said that Russia is open to negotiations with the West on ways to resolve several issues including the blockade of Ukrainian grain at Black Sea ports. The Russia-Ukraine conflict and its impact on food security and energy dominated the closed-door G20 gathering on the Indonesian island of Bali. The G20 meeting ended with no joint statement and no announcements of any agreements being reached. The forum was the first face-to-face meeting between Russia and its fiercest critics from the West including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Ukraine is regarded as the "breadbasket of Europe" supplying 10 per cent of the world's wheat, 12-17 per cent of the world's maize and half of the world's sunflower oil. Twenty-five million tonnes of corn and wheat - the entire annual consumption of all the least developed countries - can't be exported and is currently at risk of rotting in Ukrainian silos. The West accuses that Russia's actions have driven up prices in countries like the UK and the ongoing blockade has placed 47 million people around the world on the brink of humanitarian disaster. In addition to preventing grain from leaving Ukraine via the Black Sea - the route by which 96 per cent of Ukraine's grain has historically been exported, Russian attacks are disrupting rail exports. According to Western countries, not only is Russia preventing Ukraine from exporting its grain, but there is also increasing evidence that Russia is stealing grain from Ukraine, smuggling it over the border to sell and boost Putin's war coffers. Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, security experts say one of Moscow's earliest strategic aims quickly became apparent as its armoured columns advanced along the coast in an effort to seize Ukraine's coastline. The seizure of ports would strangle Ukraine economically at a time when it most needs the funds to fend off Russia. After more than four months of the conflict, two of Ukraine's five main commercial ports have been taken and both are in the northeast of the Black Sea. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden, who is on the first-ever visit to Israel landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday and asserted "You need not be a Jew to be a Zionist." Marking his first-ever official visit to Isreal as the President of the United States (POTUS) said, "You need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. It's an honour to once again stand with friends and visit the independent Jewish state of Israel." He was greeted on the tarmac by Israeli President Issac Herzog, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other senior officials, including former Premier Naftali Bennett. Biden reminisced briefly about previous visits and relationships with former leaders, and emphasized the deep connections between Americans and Israelis, reported The Jewish Chronicle. He discussed the continued growth of the bilateral relations between generations, asserting, "The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep." Biden pledged to "fight the poison of antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head," noting the "horror" of the Holocaust and his planned visit to Yad Vashem. The US president then turned to collaboration between the two countries, particularly in the realm of security, saying he will explore cutting-edge Israeli defence systems, the Iron Dome and the brand-new laser-powered "Iron Beam". Biden also emphasised his support for a two-state solution, saying that Israel and a Palestinian state is the solution to the conflict in the region, "even though it's not (feasible in the near term)". "We will continue to advance Israel's integration into the region.. Greater peace, greater stability is critical for all of the people of the region," he added. During his visit, Biden will also be meeting the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday in a bid to restart talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, reported Doha News. He concluded his remarks by saying, "May Israel and the US continue to grow and prosper together for the benefit of the entire world." Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called Biden "a great Zionist and one of the best friends Israel has ever known". "During your visit we will discuss matters of national security. We will discuss a new security architecture with the nations of the Middle East following the Abraham Accords and we will discuss the need to renew a global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Lapid added. Biden hopes to advance Israel's desire to establish diplomatic relations with the Saudi Arabia which could help the Middle East countries unite against Iran. Israel has already formalized relations with United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Biden will remain in the country until Friday before travelling to Saudi Arabia. (ANI)
Amid ongoing protests, Sri Lanka's Chief of Defence Staff General Shavendra Silva requested all citizens to give their support to the armed forces to maintain law and order in the crisis-ridden country. "Chief of Defence Staff General Shavendra Silva requests all citizens to give their support to armed forces & police to maintain the law & order in the country," tweeted Daily Mirror. Meanwhile, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has appealed to security forces not to implement unconstitutional and unlawful orders given by the acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe. He said in a statement that there was rumour that shooting orders have been issued to security forces and that there was a serious danger of creating a clash between the civilians and the security forces, reported Daily Mirror. He urged the armed forces, as a lawful and disciplined army, not to open fire at unarmed civilians and that their weapons should be directed against corrupt politicians. He said he was in the struggle and was committed to achieving the victory of the people's struggle. Further, party leaders decided to request Wickremesinghe to resign forthwith and allow the Speaker to take charge of the country, PTA Leader Mano Ganesan said. At the party leaders' meeting held a short while ago, security forces discussed if force should be used to protect the Parliament, however, this request was turned down by the leaders present. Commanders of the three armed forces, joint staff and IGP had also participated in the meeting. Opposition leaders refused to approve the use of live ammunition against the protesters. Instead as a political solution, the opposition party leaders decided to request Wickremesinghe to resign forthwith and the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to take charge of the country until July 20 on the day where the voting for a new president takes place in parliament, reported Daily Mirror. Almost all party leaders of the Opposition participated while only the Law and Order Minister Tiran Alles from the government side participated, Mano Ganesan said. Hundreds of protesters have broken the first line of barricades set up outside the Parliament while forces are firing tear gas to disperse the crowds, reported Daily Mirror. Meanwhile, a 26-year-old protester who was hospitalised after being teargassed outside the Prime Minister's Office in Flower Road today has died after developing breathing difficulties. The protester was receiving treatment in a private hospital in Colombo. Crippled by a shortage of foreign exchange, the island nation of 22 million people has defaulted on all of its foreign debt and is in a deep economic crisis, resulting in public outrage. (ANI)
India on Wednesday repatriated four Pakistani prisoners who had completed their imprisonment here, via the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar, said an official at the border. Protocol Officer Arunpal Singh said that FIRs were lodged against the four prisoners from Pakistan who entered illegally from different regions. They were released after completing their prison sentence. "They had entered India illegally. They are released after the completion of their sentence. After completion of the paperwork, they will be handed over to the Pak Rangers." Officer further said that among the four prisoners, two were identified as Ali Hasan and Mohammed Riwaz, who entered India illegally around three years ago, "The two prisoners who entered India illegally are Ali Hasan, son of Mohammed Anwar from Lahore. He is 19 years old. He served a jail term of 2 years and 8 months. Another prisoner is Mohammed Riwaz, son of Mohammed Bashir from Lahore, who is of 38 years. He served 3 years' jail term." Pakistan High Commission in India took to Twitter saying, "In close coordination with @ForeignOfficePk as well as the Indian side, 4 Pakistan nationals, who were under imprisonment in India, were repatriated today via Attari-Wagah border on completion of their sentences." According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) India and Pakistan on July 1 exchanged the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their custody through diplomatic channels simultaneously in New Delhi and Islamabad. Such lists are exchanged through diplomatic channels on January 1 and July 1 every year in keeping with the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access signed in May 2008. "India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their custody. Under the provisions of the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access, such lists are exchanged every year on 1 January and 1 July," the MEA statement read. India handed over lists of 309 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 95 fishermen in India's custody to Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan has shared lists of 49 civilian prisoners and 633 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or are believed to be Indians. Meanwhile, India has also urged Pakistan to expedite necessary action at its end to confirm the nationality status of 57 Pakistani prisoners, including fishermen, whose repatriation is pending for want of nationality confirmation by Pakistan. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke to his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, according to an official statement. During the phone call, both the leaders discussed bilateral ties in various fields including Strategic Partnership on Water, cooperation in the key area of agriculture, and potential for bilateral cooperation in high-tech and emerging sectors. "The two leaders discussed India-Netherlands bilateral ties, including Strategic Partnership on Water, cooperation in the key area of agriculture, the potential for bilateral cooperation in high tech and emerging sectors," the statement issued by the PMO stated. Modi and Rutte also exchanged views on India-EU relations and regional and global issues including convergence and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. "With regular high-level visits and interactions, the India-Netherlands ties have gained tremendous momentum in recent years. The two Prime Ministers held a Virtual Summit on 9 April 2021 and have been speaking regularly. 'Strategic Partnership on Water' was launched with the Netherlands during the Virtual Summit," the statement said. In a Tweet, the Dutch Prime Minister said: "Good to speak once again to Indian PM @narendramodi about the strong partnership between our two countries and about ways of expanding it. Naturally, we also discussed the war in Ukraine and its impact on matters like food security. Cooperation remains essential." Responding to him, Modi said: "Always a pleasure speaking to you my dear friend @MinPres. Our Strategic Partnership on Water and cooperation in agriculture and high-tech areas add new dimensions to our outstanding relationship. Was also pleased to exchange views on other important regional and global issues." India and the Netherlands are jointly commemorating 75 years of establishment of diplomatic ties. This special milestone was celebrated with the state visit of the President of India to the Netherlands from 4-7 April 2022. (ANI)
A massive fire broke out in a warehouse run by the National Federation of Disabled-Nepal on the premises of Bhrikutimandap, destroying property worth Rs 300 million. Police said that the fire started at around 3 pm (NST) on Wednesday afternoon. It quickly engulfed the building shrouding the sky of the valley sending a thick plume of smoke which was visible from most of the areas of the capital. "We are accessing the reason behind the fire. Our preliminary assessment has pointed out towards short circuit. The fire finally has been doused after more than two hours," Santosh Singh Rathore, Spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police Office told ANI over the phone. Firefighter brigades from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur were called in to control the fire. Fire tenders from Nepal Army, Armed Police Force as well as Nepal Police along with water tanker suppliers also were called in to control the fire. "I was on duty this afternoon; it was about 2 pm (NST) when I first noticed the smoke pluming out from the warehouse. I hurriedly informed my senior and then the people from surrounding came to the scene," Rupa Shrestha, a security guard of the public library next to the warehouse said. According to the police, there has been no report of any human casualties as of now. But two firefighters were injured in an attempt to bring the fire under control. "This actually used to serve as go-down for National Federation of Disabled- Nepal and it hosted textbooks and other essential materials along with the furniture items. As per the police, most of the items that were kept there have been completely damaged in the fire," Manish Aryal, another witness said. The officials of the National Federation of Disabled- Nepal said that the warehouse had over five dozen new wheelchairs, over 400 crutches, and Covid-19 response equipment such as gloves, masks, sanitisers and safety materials given by the World Health Organization. The warehouse also hosted the materials of the Social Welfare Council which earlier was displaced from its earlier settlement of Lainchaur as the building was converted into the House for Vice President. (ANI)
A nationwide curfew has been imposed until Thursday morning in Sri Lanka in the wake of intensifying protests against the government. The notification was issued by Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday. The curfew will remain in force till 5 am on July 14. The notification said that no person shall be on any public road, railway, public park, public recreation ground or other public ground or the seashore in the schedule specified areas from midnight of July 13 to 5 am on July 14. Citizens can move under a written permit. Wickremesinghe signed the notification as Prime Minister. Wickremesinghe on Wednesday declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces deployed outside Wickremesinghe's residence. Air patrolling also began around the PM's residence. As protests intensified in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, protestors who had gathered outside Sri Lanka PM's office took over his residence at Flower Road in Colombo. Security personnel resorted to tear-gas shelling to drive away protestors on the streets of Colombo. Wickremesinghe has instructed armed forces and police to bring the current situation under control. The country's opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said that the PM cannot exercise the powers of the President, and cannot declare a curfew or a state of emergency. Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after approval of the country's Defence Ministry. The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that Gotabaya had landed at the Velana International Airport in Male on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane. (ANI)
The Hill

The Trump Organizations chief financial officer is coming close to reaching a plea deal in a case investigating whether he funneled off-the-books income to himself and other executives at the company, but the potential deal reportedly does not bring prosecutors any closer to their main target: former President Trump. The New York Times reported Monday,
A 10-year-old boy went viral on Chinese social media for threatening to kill a man with a vegetable knife after allegedly being told it would be difficult to conduct a city-mandated COVID-19 test while he was on his hoverboard.

The video, shared by Chinese news outlet Xing Shi Pin on Sunday, shows the boy from Shanghai screaming as he is being pinned down by healthcare workers wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

A man dressed in black slacks and a white shirt can be seen approaching the boy and taking away his knife. After he is no longer restrained, the boy shouts at one of the healthcare workers and punches another.

Nobody can stop me. I'll have to hack him to death, the boy screams at the healthcare workers. He was also filmed telling the men "I'll kill myself once I get home and ordering a concerned elderly woman to "get lost" or else he will "beat her up."

More from NextShark: BTS' label Hybe reveals members of its first-ever K-pop girl group, Le Sserafim

The boy eventually left the scene on a hoverboard. According to several online comments by Chinese netizens, a healthcare worker scolded the boy after informing him that it would be difficult to test him for COVID-19 while he was on his hoverboard. Infuriated, the boy allegedly retrieved a vegetable knife from his house and returned to the testing area to threaten the man.

In March, 26 million people in Shanghai were placed under a two-stage lockdown following a surge of COVID-19 infections in the city. A video surfaced on Chinese social media showing residents screaming out of their windows a week after the lockdown started.

The Chinese government eventually eased restrictions on June 1, allowing most of Shanghais residents to leave their homes and roam the city.

More from NextShark: Young girl spellbinds the internet with insanely flexible moves in viral video

However, fear of another round of lockdown looms over the city as officials started mass testing again after the number of infected residents rose once more. On Monday, Chinese authorities reported 59 new infections.

Story continues

Featured Image via RUSH 

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China threatens Taiwan with 'demise' after Taipei lawmaker warns of missiles that can reach Beijing
Two people are in the hospital after a multivehicle crash on I-40W.

The crash happened early Wednesday morning at mile marker 1C.8, according to TDOT.

All westbound lanes were blocked and the right shoulder was blocked.

TDOT said the left shoulder remained open.

Memphis Fire officials said they received a call about the crash at 4:18 a.m.

One person went to Regional One, and one went to Methodist North.

Their conditions have not been released.

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Three people have been arrested in connection with the mysterious deaths of 21 teenagers at a popular nightclub in South Africa, authorities said Wednesday.

According to a statement from the South African Police Service, the 52-year-old owner of the Enyobeni Tavern as well as two employees, aged 33 and 34, were taken into custody over the weekend and on Tuesday afternoon by a team of detectives investigating the incident in Scenery Park, a suburb on the edge of the coastal city of East London in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. The names of the suspects were not released.

MORE: Mystery remains over deaths of 21 teenagers at South African nightclub

Police said the arrests were made after the Eastern Cape Liquor Board opened a criminal case against the Enyobeni Tavern for allegedly selling alcohol to minors. Investigators subsequently issued fines of 2,000 South African rand (about $118) to the two employees and served a summons to the owner for his immediate arrest and appearance in a court of law, according to police.

The owner is scheduled to appear in East London Magistrate Court on Aug. 19. Each of the employees were given an option to pay the fine; but should they fail to do so, they will be required to appear in the same court on the same day, police said.

PHOTO: Forensic personnel investigate after the deaths of patrons found inside the Enyobeni Tavern, in Scenery Park, outside East London in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa, June 26, 2022. (Reuters, FILE)

What caused the deaths of the 21 teens -- 12 girls and nine boys -- remains unknown. They were found at the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park in the predawn hours of June 26. Seventeen of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while four others died when they were hospitalized or being transported to hospitals, according to police.

Police said the victims ranged in age from 13 to 17 -- all under South Africa's legal drinking age of 18.

MORE: Mass funeral held for 21 teenagers who mysteriously died at South African nightclub

The local government, the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, held a mass funeral for the victims in East London last week. Thousands of people attended the symbolic service, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who gave the eulogy for the young victims. The bodies were buried in private ceremonies at various cemeteries.

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Toxicology reports were still pending as of Wednesday. A stampede has been ruled out because the bodies did not show any serious injuries, according to police.

PHOTO: A view of the coffins during a funeral service held in Scenery Park, East London, South Africa, July 6, 2022. (AP, FILE)

Police have declined to comment on possible causes of deaths or the circumstances surrounding the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.

"Just as we said in the beginning, investigation is a process and needs to be treated with extreme care and wisdom so that we can achieve the desired outcomes which all of us will be proud of," the South African Police Service's commissioner for Eastern Cape province, Lt. Gen. Nomthetheleli Mene, said in a statement Wednesday. "This is the beginning of the great work we are doing behind the scene."

MORE: Tear gas or pepper spray used at South African nightclub when teenagers died, eyewitness says

The Daily Dispatch, a South African newspaper published in East London, reported that the teens were attending a party at the Enyobeni Tavern to celebrate the end of June school exams. Their bodies were reportedly found strewn across tables, chairs and the dance floor with no visible signs of injuries.

A 22-year-old Scenery Park resident, Sibongile Mtsewu, told ABC News that he was at the Enyobeni Tavern when the deadly incident unfolded. He said he was ordering drinks at the crowded club when suddenly the doors were closed and some type of chemical agent, such as tear gas or pepper spray, was released into the air.

"There was no way out," Mtsewu told ABC News in a telephone interview earlier this month. "There was no chance to breathe."

3 arrested in mysterious deaths of 21 teenagers at South African nightclub, police say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Three men were charged Tuesday in an alleged conspiracy to sell stolen manuscripts from the Eagles, which included handwritten lyrics from the band's iconic "Hotel California" album.

Glenn Horowitz, 66, Craig Inciardi, 58, and Edward Kosinski, 59, were indicted in a scheme to sell more than 100 pages of handwritten notes  valued at over $1 million  despite knowing founding Eagles member Don Henley was trying recover them, according to the district attorney's office in Manhattan, New York.

Henley's manager, Irving Azoff, thanked the prosecutor's office in a statement Tuesday. Azoff said the indictment "exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales."

"No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history," Azoff said. "These handwritten lyrics are an integral part of the legacy Don Henley has created over the course of his 50-plus-year career."

Horowitz, a rare book dealer, is alleged to have bought the pages from an unidentified person in 2005 and to have later sold the pages to Inciardi and Kosinski, the prosecutor's office said.

Prosecutors say the person who sold the documents to Horowitz was an author who had been hired to write a biography about the Eagles and stole the documents. The author told Horowitz about having been given the pages but did not remember who provided them, prosecutors said.

The three suspects tried to sell the handwritten notes and lyrics from 2012 to 2017, even though they knew Henley was trying to regain possession of the stolen property, the district attorney's office said. The men went so far as to lie and falsify information to profit on the sale, prosecutors allege.

When Henley found out about the attempted sale, he filed police reports and alerted the suspects that the documents were, in fact, stolen, the district attorney's office said.

Prosecutors allege that emails included in the indictment Tuesday show the men tried to sell Henley the manuscripts in parts. An email from Horowitz to the author dated 2012 said Henley cannot "prove a single thing" in response to the theft allegations.

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"Henley's lawyer originally liked the idea of Henley buying these pages back," the email said. "Henley decided to be a bully and that's all that's happening."

The indictment also includes emails alleged to have been exchanged with employees who expressed concern at Sotheby's auction house over Henley's objections to the sale and questioned the documents origins.

New York authorities retrieved the documents from Sotheby's through a search warrant in December 2016. An email from Horowitz to the person alleged to have sold him the documents in February 2017 indicated that Horowitz had been speaking to prosecutors and asked the author to name who gave him the documents.

The exchange revealed that Horowitz tried to exploit the recent death of founding Eagles member Glenn Frey to prevent criminal prosecution, prosecutors say.

"Back in 2012 you said you werent even sure the person was still alive," the email in the indictment read. In an "earlier communication you once suggested Frey was the person from whom you got the document."

"If Frey, he, alas, is dead and identifying him as the the source would make this go away once and for all."

In March 2017, Horowitz told members of the district attorney's office that the author accused of stealing the documents got them from Frey, whom he was trying to protect, according to the indictment.

Attorneys for Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski said in a joint statement after the men's arraignment Tuesday: The DAs office alleges criminality where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of well-respected professionals. We will fight these unjustified charges vigorously. These men are innocent.

Each of the three men is charged with a count of fourth-degree conspiracy. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with first-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Horowitz was also charged with first-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of second-degree hindering prosecution.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a news release that people dealing in "cultural artifacts must scrupulously follow the law."

"These defendants attempted to keep and sell these unique and valuable manuscripts, despite knowing they had no right to do so," Bragg said. "They made up stories about the origin of the documents and their right to possess them so they could turn a profit.
Bring your alibis, indeed.

Three men were charged Tuesday in an alleged conspiracy involving the possession of and intention to sell approximately 100 pages of Don Henley's handwritten notes and lyrics for the iconic Eagles album Hotel California.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said in a press release that Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski allegedly "attempted to sell the manuscripts, manufactured false provenance, and lied to auction houses, potential buyers, and law enforcement about the origin of the material" despite knowing that the papers, which are collectively valued at more than $1 million, were stolen.

The three men have been charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree, and Horowitz is charged with attempted criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree and two counts of hindering prosecution in the second degree.

Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski in court in New York

Minchillo/AP/Shutterstock Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski in court in New York

In a statement provided to EW, Irving Azoff, longtime manager of the Eagles and Henley, thanked Bragg and his team for pursuing the case. "We are thankful to New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his staff for pursuing this case and have faith that justice will be served," he said. "This action exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a facade of legitimacy. No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history. These handwritten lyrics are an integral part of the legacy Don Henley has created over the course of his 50-plus-year career. We look forward to the return of Don's property, for him and his family to enjoy and preserve for posterity."

Horowitz, Inciardi, and Kosinski pleaded not guilty at their arraignment and were released without bail, according to the Associated Press. Their attorneys reportedly said in a statement, "The DA's office alleges criminality where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of well-respected professionals. We will fight these unjustified charges vigorously. These men are innocent."

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According to court documents, the manuscripts in question were first stolen in the late 1970s by an author who was hired to write a biography of the Eagles, who eventually sold the manuscripts in 2005 to Horowitz, a rare books dealer, who then sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski. Per the DA, at some point Henley learned that the men were attempting to sell the documents, at which time he filed police reports and demanded their return.

Prosecutors allege that between 2012 and 2017, Horowitz and Inciardi "worked to fabricate the manuscripts' provenance," while Inciardi and Kosinski "attempted to use that false statement of provenance to coerce Don Henley into buying back his stolen property," while at the same time trying to sell the manuscripts through Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses.

A series of search warrants eventually yielded the retrieval of the documents from Kosinski's home and Sotheby's. Not long after, prosecutors say, Horowitz attempted to prevent criminal prosecution by claiming that the materials originated from deceased band member Glenn Frey, with Horowitz allegedly saying in an email, "[Frey] alas, is dead and identifying him as the source would make this go away once and for all."

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Kids and adults

Kids and adults gathered at the Ontario Science Centre in a area set up for viewing the NASA release of images from the James Webb space telescope in Toronto on July 12, 2022. Credit - Rick MadonikToronto Star/Getty Images

This week, NASA revealed for the first time five pictures taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Together, these imagesfrom the birth of stars to one of the deepest looks into the far reaches of spaceoffer some of the most detailed glimpses into the beginnings of our universe ever seen.

Heres what each image shows and why it helps us better understand space:

SMACS 0723

NASA/ESA/CSA/AP

Webbs cameras can look deep into space and far into the past. Webb has the capacity to look 13.6 billion light years distantwhich will be the farthest weve ever seen into space. This image of the galactic cluster known as SMACS 0723 contains thousands of galaxies, some of which are as far away as 13.1 billion light years. (A single light year is just under 6 trillion miles.) Since light takes a long time to travel so far, we are seeing the galaxies not as they look today, but as they looked 13.1 billion years ago. The bluer galaxies are more mature ones, containing many stars and little dust. The redder galaxies contain more dust, from which stars are still forming.

Carina Nebula

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Stars, like the rest of us, are born, age, and die, and the Carina Nebula, located 7,600 light years from Earth, is one of the cosmoss great stellar nurseries. The formations that look like cliffs are vast peaks of dust and gas, some as tall as seven light years. The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged Carina before, but never in the dazzling detail Webb has provided. Young stars are being born in this turbulent region, coalescing out of the surrounding material. As the stars form, they give off enormous amounts of energy that help give the overall nebula its shape. Red dots in the image are jets of energy being emitted by the growing, infant stars.

Stephans Quintet

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Webb captured the greatest image ever taken of Stephans Quintet, a cluster of five galaxies, first seen by astronomers in 1877. The quintet is actually more of a quartet, with the leftmost galaxy located in the foreground, 40 million light years from Earth, while the other four are located a far more distant 290 million light years away. The four closely packed galaxies interact, with dust and stars gravitationally pulled from one to anothercommingling their material. Clusters of young stars appear as bright sparkles in the image and thousands of more-distant galaxies are visible in the background.

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Southern Ring Nebula

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

A dying star can be a surprisingly beautiful thingand two such stars can be twice as striking. Webb captured an image of this pair of elderly stars orbiting each other approximately 2,500 light years from Earth. As the stars enter the end of their lives, they give off gas and dust that form the nebulae, or clouds, that surround them. Webb has the capability not just to image the Southern Ring Nebula, but to analyze its chemistry, understanding more about how stars shed their matter as they die. The brighter of the two stars is younger than the other and has yet to emit as much material. As the stars orbit each other they effectively stir the gaseous nebula, giving it its signature shape.

WASP 96 b

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

A scientific graph is not nearly as striking as a cosmic photo, but in this case the graph has a story to tell. Webb is studying exoplanetsor planets that orbit other starsparticularly the make-up of their atmospheres. As the planet passes in front of its parent star, Webb can analyze the starlight streaming through the atmosphere, looking for the chemical fingerprints of biology. In this graph, Webb analyzed the atmosphere of WASP 96 B, a Jupiter-like planet that lies 1,150 light years from Earth. Webb did not find biology, but as the graph shows, it did find plenty of water in the planets cloudsand water is the key ingredient for life as we know it.
Michael Harris, right, of North Carolina hugs friend and fellow activist Chaz Neal of Minneapolis, Minnesota, after Harris is released on bail from the Summit County Jail on Friday.

An activist stood behind the barred windows of the bail office on Friday afternoon, carefully unwrapping a crumpled flyer demanding justice for Jayland Walker to reveal a thick stack of cash. He thumbed through the bills and handed them to the clerk.

The activist, who does not want to be identified due to safety concerns, is part of Serve the People Akron, a mutual aid coalition made up of local citizens and organizations. The group has been at the forefront of many social justice movements and protests throughout Akron.

Most recently, the group is focused on Walker, who was recently shot at least 60 times and killed by Akron police officers, and protesters caught in the aftermath.

Akron police bodycams: What 13 police body-camera videos show in Jayland Walker's death

Jayland Walker: What we know  and still don't know  about the Akron police shooting death

In the weeks following Walkers June 27 shooting, protests have raged on in downtown Akron outside the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center, where police are headquartered. Tensions ramped up and boiled over on July 5, after police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd as some protesters destroyed property. Forty-nine arrests were made that night, with several over more subsequent evenings.

The activist posting bail maintains that all people who were arrested were protesting peacefully within their rights, reciting condemnations of the police department. Police say they arrested these protesters for riots that turned violent on Sunday.

I want to be here and support my fellow freedom fighters who were illegally detained by police, he said.

Activists pay bail Friday for protesters at Summit County Jail at the Stubbs Justice Center downtown.

Hes joined by Freya, who works for a local LGBTQ+ organization. Freya, who asked that her full name not be used, filled out paperwork while bantering with the clerk on the seventh floor of the Stubbs Justice Center.

You guys should run discounts, she said. Like a buy 25, get the 26th free situation.

The clerk chuckled. He had become familiar with the activists over the previous few days as they worked to post bail for fellow protesters.

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Dozens arrested in Akron: Police arrest 50, city declares curfew after Jayland Walker protests turn violent

In a week, Serve the People Akron, in collaboration with Freedom BLOCK and Akron Democratic-Socialists of America, raised about $50,000 by crowdsourced fundraising on social media. As of Monday, $8,023 of that was spent to bail out 20 people.

Its the least we can possibly do to be there in this moment for them, Freya said.

Freya and a fellow activist pay bail for two protesters Friday at Summit County Jail.

Mutual aid fund posts bail for 20 arrested in Akron Jayland Walker protests

On Friday afternoon, Michael Harris stepped outside Summit County Jail for the first time in two days, thanks to the financial aid posted by Serve the People.

When he was released from the jail, he greeted his friend with a hug and profanities.

A video showed the North Carolina native repeatedly being punched in the face by a police officer after he was handcuffed Wednesday.

(expletive) APD, man, he said as he clasped the hand of Omar Graves, who traveled from North Carolina at 4 a.m. Thursday after he saw the video of Harris arrest. The pair, along with another friend, frequently travel across the country to protest after incidents of police violence.

Activists Omar Graves, left, and Michael Harris, both of North Carolina, embrace after Harris is released on bail from the Summit County Jail on Friday.

"We want justice for Jayland Walker, even though there will never be justice for Jayland Walker," he told the Beacon Journal in the parking lot of the jail. "He cannot be returned to us. But we can get accountability for the police who murdered him."

Who was Jayland Walker? 'He was the most sincere, most kindhearted person,' friend says

Upon his Friday release, two days after his arrest, Harris busted lip was beginning to scab and scratches on his chest from the altercation with police peeked out of his shirt.

"That night, they come to arrest," he said. "As I'm walking toward this officer asking what's going on, I ask him three times, he rushes me. As he rushes me, the rest of them rush me and they get their little licks on me."

Despite frequent travel and protests across the country, he said he has never been brutalized or forcibly arrested the way he was by APD.

Despite being jailed, Michael Harris, an activist from North Carolina, said he plans to continue protesting in Akron.

Police said they needed to use force because he was resisting arrest. He said he was complying throughout the arrest and in jail, where he said he was threatened to be tazed if he stood up.

Even after being jailed, Harris said he plans to continue protesting in Akrons streets, showing up to a vigil for Walker's life later that evening.

"This man was assassinated, executed," he said. "Ninety-some rounds, one man who supposedly shot one round? It doesn't make sense, man."

Jayland Walker's funeral: Details announced for memorial services in Akron

Activists continue fundraising efforts for Jayland Walker protesters in Akron

Following the overwhelming support of bail money from the community, Serve the People has plans to continuing funding protesters in Akron.

Their most recent efforts include a gas fund for rolling car caravans around Akron as a means to evade downtown's continuing curfew. According to the GoFundMe page, priority will be given to Black drivers from Akron who have been leading the protest caravans.

Reporter Abbey Marshall is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Learn more at reportforamerica.org. Contact her at at amarshall1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: $50,000 raised to bail out activists jailed in Akron Jayland Walker protests
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The 7-Eleven convenience store chain offered a $100,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a masked gunman suspected of robbing six Southern California stores, killing two people and wounding three others.

A clerk, Matthew Hirsch, 40, was shot and killed at a Brea store and Matthew Rule, 24, was gunned down in the parking lot of a Santa Ana store during a five-hour string of holdups Monday morning.

Police in Ontario, Upland, Riverside and La Habra have said they believe 7-Eleven robberies there also are linked.

A customer was shot in the head and gravely wounded at a Riverside store and two people, one of them a clerk, were shot in La Habra but were expected to survive.

The Riverside shooting victim was identified by his family as Jason Harrell, 46. He was breathing on his own and was no longer in a coma, his brother David Makin told KNBC-TV.

He has to keep fighting. Jason is a fighter and so we fully expect him to fight through his whole thing and win this battle, Makin said.

Both of the La Habra victims were released from a hospital on Wednesday, KNBC-TV reported.

One victim, Russell Browning, 60, lost many of his teeth when the gunman shot him in the mouth as he sat in his car, the station reported. The bullet came out through his cheek.

Browning had picked up milk and doughnuts at the store and was heading to his job as a truck driver, his family said.

The wrong place at the wrong time. That's all it can go down as," Browning told KNBC-TV as he sat in a wheelchair.

Authorities have shared images of a masked man wearing what appeared to be the same black sweatshirt with a hood over his head. The sweatshirt had white lettering with green leaves on the front.

We are currently working with the local police to spread the news in the community about the reward, 7-Eleven officials said in a statement. It said tipsters can anonymously contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

All the attacks took place on July 11  or 7/11, the day when the company celebrates its anniversary.

However, investigators haven't said whether the date may have played a significant role in the attacks.
988 is a new number that connects people to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where crisis counselors are available 24/7 via call, text or chat to help anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts or any mental health-related distress. (Photo: Getty Creative stock image)

988  a new, easy-to-remember suicide and crisis lifeline in the United States  launches July 16.

"We have a three-digit number for medical emergencies; we need a three-digit number for psychological emergencies  and thats what this is," John Draper, executive director for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, tells Yahoo Life of 988.

But while it may be tempting to liken 988 to a 911 number for suicide prevention, Draper cautions against the comparison.

"People might haphazardly say it's like the 911 for mental health, but that's only because that's our only frame of reference, historically," Draper says. "My hope is that we'll forget all about 911 when we think about mental health and suicidal crisis over the coming generations."

So, what exactly is 988? Here's what you need to know.

What is 988?

988 is a new number that connects people to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where crisis counselors are available 24/7 via call, text or chat to help anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts or any mental health-related distress. Though 988 is a new number, it connects to an existing lifeline network of over 200 local call centers that has been around since 2005.

"What we want to do is make it as easy for someone to reach help when they need it as possible," Colleen Carr, director of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention at Education Development Center, tells Yahoo Life. "It's not a new network being established  it's a new way to access that network in a way that's easier to remember."

FCC rules require phone service providers to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, but the lifeline's current number  1-800-273-8255  won't go away on July 16; people can dial either number and get the same services.

How did it get started?

The bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which assigned the new 988 dialing code to be operated through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, was passed by Congress and signed into law by former President Donald Trump in 2020. That same year, the U.S. had one death by suicide every 11 minutes, and suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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"Now, more than ever, Kansans and the entire country will benefit from greater access to critical suicide prevention and mental health services," Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), an original co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement to Yahoo Life. "Designating 988 as a nationwide suicide help and prevention number provides an easy-to-remember and easy-to-access service for people to dial when they need a helping hand. This will be a life-saving resource to help provide a vital mental health service to millions of Americans."

Dialing 988 will direct callers in crisis to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. (Photo: Getty Creative stock photo)

When should you contact 988?

Draper says there's a wide range of reasons why someone might contact the 988 lifeline. Triggers for a mental health crisis could be anything from the loss of a valued relationship  such as the death of a loved one or a breakup  to the loss of a job, a substance abuse problem that someone may feel helpless to deal with or "any time when a person feels so overwhelmed by their experience [and] their feelings that it impairs their ability to get through day-to-day."

"And crises are typically temporary by nature  so getting through a crisis to the other side of that is really critical," Draper adds.

People can call 988 on behalf of someone they care about, too. Draper says it's not uncommon for the lifeline to receive calls from people concerned about someone else.

"In fact, sometimes people are in such crisis that they're really unable to make the call themselves," he says.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) notes that the suicide and mental health crisis-related services 988 offers are distinct from the public safety purposes of 911, "where the focus is on dispatching Emergency Medical Services, fire and police." While some 988 calls may require 911 emergency services, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website says this accounts for less than 2% of lifeline calls  and when emergency services are involved, more than half of those emergency dispatches occur with the caller's consent.

"The overwhelming majority of time, having a thought about suicide in no way means the person is going to kill themselves; it means that a person is having more pain than they know how to deal with," Draper says. "And that's why it's so important they reach out to us  so we can help them deal with that, and we can give them many other options."

What happens when you contact 988?

Calls to 988 will be routed to the caller's local lifeline crisis center based on their area code, where they will be connected with a trained crisis counselor who will listen, provide support and share resources if needed. If the caller's local crisis center can't take the call, the caller will be automatically routed to a national backup crisis center.

While texts to 988 and online chat services are only available in English, 988 phone services will be available in English and Spanish, and Language Line Solutions will provide phone service translations in over 250 additional languages.

Draper says the length of phone calls can vary from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the circumstances, but typically fall in the range of 15 to 20 minutes. The content of those conversations focuses on helping the caller feel heard and understood, and finding a way to move forward.

"When a person is in crisis, it's really, really difficult to see the forest for the trees," Draper says. "However, once you are feeling a little bit more calm, understood, less threatened by the situation, you're able to start thinking more clearly about things that you could do and engage and problem-solve in what we call 'collaborative problem solving'  helping them perhaps work together to create a plan for safety or a plan for coping."

And Draper says the response they've received from people who have used the lifeline indicates that it works  and can save lives.

"When we're following up with people after a call to check on them to see how they're doing, those follow-up calls have also made a difference in keeping people safe," Draper says. "About 80% of the time, people who've received follow-up calls from us have said that those calls made a difference in keeping them safe, and half of them said that they're the reason they're alive. So being there for somebody in that moment of darkness can really be a life-changing event for them."

Are states ready for 988?

A spokesperson for SAMHSA tells Yahoo Life that in 2020 the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline received 3.6 million calls, chats and texts  and they expect that number could double to 6 million or even 12 million within the first full year after the 988 transition.

But some mental health experts in some states worry they don't have the staff and funding to handle the flood of new calls. NBC News reported in June that most states haven't allocated money for 988, and even partial legislation to implement 988 is pending in only 20 states.

"We are at the start of a transition, not the end, and there is still a lot of work to be done," Dr. John Palmieri, acting director of 988 at SAMHSA, says in a statement to Yahoo Life addressing concerns about staff and funding for the 988 rollout. "The Biden-Harris administration has made significant strides in strengthening and expanding the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and we expect 988 will continue to grow and evolve in the coming months, as more states start to step up."

The Biden administration has allocated $282 million toward the transition to 988, with $177 million going toward strengthening and expanding the existing lifeline network and $105 million to build up staffing across states' local crisis call centers.

"The lifeline network of nearly 200 crisis call centers has been massively underfunded and under-resourced since it began in 2005," Palmieri continues. "While this administration has significantly increased funds to support the lifeline, states must do their part to rev up investments, too."

A SAMHSA spokesperson tells Yahoo Life that while staffing needs vary by state, there is an "urgent need" and they encourage anyone interested in working at one of the lifeline's call centers to visit the jobs page.

"You will receive training, so if you are a caring person who wants to help those in crisis, apply today," the jobs page reads.

Draper says that while some states are prepared for 988s launch on July 16  and "some less so"  there will be national backup services available that will be "extremely prepared" to handle any overflow from overwhelmed local call centers.

"In the event that [a local call center] is unable to answer the call because they lack the resources, we are providing at the national level backup services  basically a safety net for our frontline local centers that may not be able to answer all the calls," Draper says. "So in the event that the local centers are unable to take those calls or those chats or texts, somebody will be there to take them. It's a matter of holding on, maybe for just a little bit longer, and we'll answer."

Draper says his hope for 988 is that over time it will be seen as "the resource for people who are in mental health crisis."

"For years there has been a public safety response to people who are in a mental health crisis. When you talk about the police and mental illness, there's long been an association between those two, primarily because there has not been a three-digit number for mental health and suicidal crises," Draper says. "Over time, we believe that the overwhelming majority of mental health and suicidal crises will be able to be sufficiently resolved through contacting 988 and the services that we can connect people to, and soon it'll be more of a public health consideration as opposed to a public safety one."

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Effective July 16, call 988.

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MOMBASA, Kenya (AP)  Countries on Africa's west coast are increasingly turning to climate funding initiatives to boost livelihoods of oceanside communities, aid biodiversity and take climate action.

On the margins of the high-level political forum on sustainable development currently underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York, African coastal and island states and conservation groups outlined plans to boost ocean conservation and economic development through a system of  blue bonds  a method of financing projects that would also benefit ocean health.

Following on from Africa's Great Green Wall, which spans across the continent's Sahel region, east African nations are now seeking funds for the Great Blue Wall initiative, which aims to protect marine areas across the coastline. Both blue and green finance refers to funding aimed at preventing environmental damage and combating climate change while creating sustainable ecosystems.

"The blue bond is a powerful example of the critical role that the capital markets can play in supporting sustainable objectives, said Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank.

The Great Blue Wall initiative, launched last year by ten western Indian Ocean states during the U.N.'s climate conference in Glasgow, aims to create a network of coastal and marine protected areas which supporters say would restore and conserve some 2 million hectares of ocean, capture 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and secure livelihoods for over 70 million people.

The project spans the continent's west coast  from Somalia to South Africa  and includes the island states of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia and the French territories, Mayotte and Reunion.

Jean-Paul Adam, who heads the climate division at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, said the blue wall initiative would recognize the true value the environment has in future wealth creation and empowerment of local communities.

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We need to dramatically upscale private sector investment into green and blue sectors," he said. Less than one percent of so-called blue and green bonds, which are used for marine and land projects respectively, are issued for African countries.

The next steps are to make these markets more accessible to African countries, he added.

The U.N. says many of the financial climate promises made by richer countries are not being committed to in full, meaning that many African nations are unable to take necessary adaptation and mitigation measures against the effect of climate change.

In its latest assessment, the African Development Bank said that between $1.3 trillion and $1.6 trillion is needed by 2030 to implement climate action in line with nationally determined contributions  targets set by individual countries to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees F) and no more than 2C (3.6 F). But blue bonds are currently just a fraction of ocean conservation funding, the bank added.

Bonds alone are not a panacea for the financing gap but they can allow us to raise large amounts, Adam said.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) -European planemaker Airbus is in talks with Delta Air Lines to expand the U.S. carrier's existing order for A220 small jetliners, two people familiar with the matter said.

The deal for a top-up order of around a dozen aircraft could be signed at next week's Farnborough Airshow where the U.S. carrier is also widely expected to finalize an order for at least 100 Boeing 737 MAX airliners.

Airbus declined to comment on discussions with customers. Delta also declined to comment.

The airline has ordered 95 Canadian-designed A220s of which it has taken delivery of 56, according to end-June Airbus data.

Reuters first reported in March that Boeing was in talks with Delta for some 100 of its 737 MAX 10 jets..

Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in June the airline was trying to reach a deal with Boeing.

Bastian told investors on an earnings call on Wednesday that the airline could make some additional orders but did not confirm a deal with Airbus or Boeing. He added that Delta is in a good place with orders but sees opportunities in the next 3-5 years for large narrow-body acquisitions.

"That's something that we're always talking to Airbus and Boeing about and whether that's used or whether that's new, there's opportunity there," Bastian said. "We've got a pretty healthy stream of wide-bodies coming. So I'd say the focus in the back end of the five-year period is on the large narrow bodies."

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Louise Heavens)
Anthony Anderson, left, and Mandy Moore. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Actors Anthony Anderson and Mandy Moore are feeling a little salty after the Primetime Emmy Award nominations snubbed them Tuesday.

The pair, who star in seasoned network series that ended this year, addressed the oversight Tuesday in their own ways after awards forecasters expected them to be shoo-ins.

During his Tuesday monologue while guest-hosting "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "black-ish" star Anderson unloaded on Emmy voters for failing to recognize him in the lead actor category or the groundbreaking ABC comedy in the best comedy category.

After weighing in on top nominee "Succession" (which he dubbed "white-ish") and how Kimmel's late-night show was again nominated for variety talk series (and will probably lose again to John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight"), Anderson took aim at the Television Academy for neglecting "black-ish," which had been perennially nominated in some form since its debut.

I do have a bone to pick with the academy," he said. "You know who did not get nominated for a Primetime Emmy this morning? Americas sweetheart: Me. Thats right. Me. Anthony Anderson. And neither did my show 'black-ish' or my co-star Tracee Ellis Ross.

Can you believe that s, mama? Anderson said, addressing his mother Doris Bowman, who was in the studio audience.

Now, Im not saying the voters were stupid for not nominating me or 'black-ish' or Tracee. Im just saying theyre racist," he quipped, faulting the organization for instead recognizing murder-themed shows such as "Barry," "What We Do in the Shadows" and "Only Murders in the Building" in the comedy category.

Anderson has been nominated seven times in the Emmys lead actor in a comedy category since the show premiered in 2015 and four times as a producer on the show. This year, "black-ish" was among a whopping 754 programs submitted for awards consideration and was recognized only in the contemporary hair styling and contemporary costumes categories.

On the other hand, Moore gently packaged her disappointment in a congratulatory note for "This Is Us" musicians Siddhartha Khosla and Moore's husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith, who crafted the Emmy-nominated song "Forever Now." Moore performed in character as Pearson family matriarch Rebecca Pearson during the NBC's show's emotional series finale, "Day of the Wedding."

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In her Instagram Stories, Moore wrote that she was so unendingly proud of Khosla and Goldsmith, who had been nominated for the song's music and lyrics.

Then, in a second post, she added: Do I wish our show was recognized in what I think was [its] finest hour? Sure. And [creator] Dan Fogelmans brilliant writing for 6 seasons (hello THE TRAIN)? [Ken Olins] impeccable direction? Our insanely, wildly talented cast and crew? Yah.

"But nothing can take away what our show meant to SO MANY (us included). Thats an incredible legacy to be a part of. I will be grateful forever. #thisisus," she said.

Moore, who was nominated once before for her generation-jumping role, was thought to be a lock for a nomination this year for what's been largely considered her career-best performance.

Meanwhile, beloved actor Steve Martin weighed in on the omission of his "Only Murders in the Building" co-star Selena Gomez, who was the only lead star among the comedy's trio who didn't get an acting nod on Tuesday.

While Martin and Martin Short congratulated their young counterpart for getting a producing nomination, Martin told the New York Times that he and Short were "dismayed that Selena was not nominated because shes so crucial" to their performances.

Gomez has not addressed the snub.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona's Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked a court to lift an injunction blocking the enforcement of a law that bans all abortions except when the life of the mother is at risk.

The filing from Attorney General Mark Brnovich asks a court in Tucson to lift an order in place since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973's Roe v. Wade case that abortions are a constitutional right.

The newly conservative high court overturned that decision last month, leaving it again to the states to decide how to regulate abortions. Arizona's near-total ban on abortions has been on the books since at least 1901, and Brnovich said with Roe overturned it should now be enforceable.

We believe this is the best and most accurate state of the law, Brnovich said in a statement. We know this is an important issue to so many Arizonans, and our hope is that the court will provide clarity and uniformity for our state.

Brnovich, who is running for U.S. Senate, announced late last month that the old abortion ban was enforceable and that he would seek to have the injunction lifted.

Providers across the state stopped abortions after the Supreme Court's June 24 opinion, saying it was too risky to move ahead with the old ban still on the books and with a 2021 law that grants all rights to pre-born children also in play.

A federal judge on Monday blocked that law after abortion rights groups successfully argued that it was unconstitutionally vague. The judge agreed that it was unclear what criminal laws abortion providers may be breaking if they perform otherwise-legal abortions.

Abortion rights groups slammed Brnovich for moving to again allow enforcement of the pre-statehood ban

It is outrageous that Arizonas Attorney General is trying to revive this zombie law that has long been blocked," Gail Deady, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. Arizonans personal health decisions, lives, and futures should not be dictated by a century-old, draconian law.

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Deady said that the high court's decision to overturn Roe has caused absolute chaos in Arizona and other states with Republican Legislatures that have previously unenforceable abortion restrictions on the books. Numerous court battles are underway to try to block trigger laws" designed to ban abortion if Roe fell or opposing so-called zombie laws like Arizona's that predate Roe.

Arizona also has a 15-week ban that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law in March, and he has insisted that it takes precedence over the total ban Brnovich wants to enforce. But the 15-week ban law specifically said it did not overturn the 1901 law.

In the attorney general's court filing, assistant Attorney General Beau Roysden III laid out the history of the injunction that blocked the old abortion law.

That case started in 1971, two years before Roe was handed down, when the Tucson affiliate of Planned Parenthood, several doctors and a woman who wanted an abortion sued to overturn the law. A trial judge in Pima County Superior Court ruled the next year that a fetus does not have constitutionally protected rights and that the law banning abortion also violated the doctors' rights to practice medicine as they saw fit.

The Arizona Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, rejecting wholesale the lower court's reasoning that the abortion ban was unconstitutional and saying it could be enforced.

Appellees complaints against the abortion statutes are peculiarly within the field occupied by the Legislature and any problem concerning abortion should be solved by that body, the appeals court ruling said. We can only reiterate that we are not a super-legislature.

Less than three weeks later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe, and the appeals court reversed its earlier judgment. The law was then permanently blocked.

Roysden noted that the Legislature, however, did not acquiesce in the declaration that these laws were unconstitutional but rather took affirmative steps to ensure their continuing validity in the event that Roe was overruled."

The Legislature reenacted the pre-statehood ban in 1977, and this year said it was still on the books when they passed the ban on abortions after 15 weeks. The intent was to ensure it would be enforceable if Roe v. Wade were overturned, according to Wednesday's court filing.

The president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, Brittany Fonteno, said Brnovich's action shows he is out of touch with the majority of Arizonans who support abortion rights. She said the group plans to fight his request in court. Fonteno noted that the Legislature over the past 50 years has passed numerous laws allowing doctors to perform abortions.

As a result, we believe that providers should still be able to provide this essential health care to the thousands of Arizonans who need it annually, Fonteno said in a statement.

A date to hear Brnovich's request has not yet been set.
The countdown to the kickoff of College Football is just over 50 days away, which means that beat writers from near and far will join SEC coaches and player representatives in Atlanta, Georgia for SEC Media Days beginning Monday, July 18.

Arkansas will take the stage on Wednesday, July 20. Head coach Sam Pittman will be joined by quarterback KJ Jefferson, safety Jalen Catalon, and linebacker Bumper Pool, Arkansas athletics announced Tuesday.

Jefferson enters his second season as the starting quarterback for Arkansas in 2022. During his rookie campaign, Jefferson completed 67% of his passes for 2,676 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was also second on the team in rushing, as he carried the ball 146 times for 664 yards and six additional touchdowns.

The 2022 season will be a comeback season of sorts for Catalon. After recording 99 tackles and three interceptions in 2020, Catalons repeat effort was cut short due to a shoulder injury that he suffered six games into the 2021 season. If he does have a successful rebound season, he is expected to to be taken in the first round of next years NFL Draft.

Rounding out Arkansas representation is Bumper Pool. Pool is fresh off of his second-straight 100-plus tackle season, where he recorded a team high 125 tackles for the Razorbacks in 2021, on the way to being named All-SEC by the Associated Press as well as SEC coaches. His 320 tackles over the last three seasons are the most in College Football.

Arkansas will take the stage for SEC Media Days next Wednesday, joining Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky.

List
Our 2022 report takes a magnifying glass to global luxury brand engagement in China, delivering four key consumer and market trends at the intersection of technology, culture, and brand experience.

Hong Kong --News Direct-- Assembly

Hot off the press  Global omnichannel agency Assembly is back with our much-anticipated global luxury brand reports. In 2022, we release a first-of-its kind-installment, focused on the market quickly becoming the most critical for luxury brands worldwide: China.

Assembly's LUXE IN CHINA: New Horizons for Luxury Brands

In 2020, it was reported that by the year 2025, China will contribute to half of all luxury goods purchases worldwide. Two years later and that trajectory is very much on track, as experts expect China to take its place as the worlds largest luxury personal goods market within the next three years.

Not only are the trends we see in this market relevant to the brands seeking to win the hearts and minds of Chinese consumers  but they also point towards luxurys future place in the lifestyles of up-and-coming generations around the world. Where China leads in technological advances and innovation and bold, new experiences, others often follow.

In the 2022 report, we look at four key defining trends, with insight and examples of successful implementation and transformation done by global brands in the Chinese market:

Emerging Media Formats

Our Future in the Metaverse

The Evolution of Offline Immersive Experiences

New Consumer Engagement Beyond Brand

We also look at media investment trends across key luxury categories, as a signal of the continued digitalization of luxe brand experiences.

While challenging economic conditions and the continued effects of COVID are felt by all, luxury brands are creating vibrant, truly culture-defining moments to create closer connections with luxe consumers.

ABOUT ASSEMBLY:

Assembly is made of the ingredients of the modern agency, bringing together data, talent, and technology to deliver a connected set of solutions for media + more to the best brands on the planet. Were home to more than 1,500 of the industrys top talent, who bring unmatched global omnichannel media expertise + data, technology, and business consulting capabilities that find change and fuel growth for brands worldwide. Assembly is a proud member of Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing. Visit www.assemblyglobal.com for more information.

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Contact Details

Assembly

Kelvin Lee, Associate Director of Marketing

+852 2344 6477

kelvin.lee@assemblyglobal.com

Company Website

https://www.assemblyglobal.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/assembly-releases-newest-global-luxury-brand-report-new-horizons-for-luxury-in-china-706531120
Local health officials said Wednesday that theyre seeing another spike in COVID-19 cases due to the new subvariant, BA.5.

Most counties in the Channel 9 viewing area have a COVID-19 threat level of medium.

WSOC SPECIAL SECTION: Tracking Coronavirus

Health experts explains their concerns and how we should respond to these increased cases.

We are seeing an increase in cases in our community and weve seen a bit of an uptick in hospitalizations for people with Covid, said Dr. Katie Passaretti with Atrium Health. We never came down from the last mini-surge and were adding on top of that.

Passaretti warned the new strain is having more of an impact than some past strains.

BA.5, from what we know so far, does have more immune escape, which means youre more at risk of getting infected again, the doctor said.

She said vaccines are still effective in preventing serious illness and symptoms are mostly mild.

People should pay attention to community spread in their area.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people in those areas who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease should talk to their health care providers about the need for masking or other precautions.

Pasarretti also warns people to remember personal hygiene and to help prevent the spread in their workplaces.

We need a societal change on working while sick, people with mild symptoms, coming to work, she said. Workplaces should make sure they support people staying home when theyre sick. So you dont feel forced to come into work when youre sick and that just kind of perpetuates spread.

People under 50 should be eligible for a second booster.

The White House said its the most transmissible form of the virus yet, possibly causing two of every three new cases.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering making a second booster available to more Americans.

Officials are also urging people to get vaccinated and wear a mask, but those precautions havent stopped COVID-19 fully because it mutates.

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A University of North Carolina doctor said that means that regardless of whether youve been vaccinated, boosted, or even had COVID-19 before, its not enough to rule out other infections.

ALSO READ: COVID-19: US officials working on a plan to OK second booster for all adults

All that immunity makes it harder and harder for the previous versions of omicron and previous versions of COVID-19 to spread. It just hits a dead end. So it has to mutate and it does once in a while. And every once in a while a mutant comes along that can get around this wall, said Dr. David Wohl.

He did say hes optimistic because intensive care units are not filling up like they did at the start of the pandemic. He said it shows were gaining ground on the virus.

(WATCH BELOW: BA.2 coronavirus variant: What you need to know)












One of the attorneys in Mississippi's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, which ultimately brought an end to nationwide abortion access in America, testified before Congress on Wednesday.

Of the six witnesses to testify in the more than five-hour-long hearing of the House Oversight Committee, Erin Hawley was the only one on the anti-abortion side of the contentious debate.

Hawley serves as senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF describes itself as "the world's largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, parental rights and God's design for marriage and family."

Erin Hawley is senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom.

Hawley assisted the state of Mississippi in arguing the Dobbs case, working closely with Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Solicitor General Scott Stewart.

"The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs corrects a 50-year wrong, one that resulted in the death of over 60 million unborn children," Hawley said in her opening statement. "Roe v. Wade was premised on egregious legal errors, and its reversal is a tremendous victory for life and for the American people."

Hawley spoke of her time working on the case while she was caring for an infant daughter.

"It's not easy to travel with a baby, but my job allowed me to take her along, encouraged it really, something we should see far more of today. Abigail was a tiny but tangible reminder of why Dobbs matters, because every life is unique and valuable," Hawley said.

The hearing, while contentious at times, mostly featured Republicans asking questions of Hawley and Democrats asking questions of the other five witnesses, who favor abortion rights. The witnesses and representatives contradicted each other at times on issues such as when life begins and the definition of abortion.

The abortion-rights witnesses, particularly University of California-Irvine Chancellor's Professor of Law Michele Bratcher Goodwin, argued that reducing abortion access will only worsen maternal mortality rates.

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"The United States bears the chilling distinction of being the most dangerous place in the industrialized world to give birth," Goodwin said, adding that the country ranks No. 55 in the world in maternal death rate. "Disproportionately those who will suffer most are poor women, especially Black and brown women. Black women are over three times as likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term than their white counterparts, and in Mississippi a Black woman is 118 times more likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term than by having an abortion."

Asked what banning abortion would mean for women, Goodwin said, "It is essentially a death sentence" for many.

Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., while questioning Hawley, responded to Goodwin's "death sentence" comment.

"I just heard them talk about that it would be a death sentence for the mother, taking the life of the baby, and I find that really interesting that we're talking about a hypothetical situation of taking the life of the mother, when they're actually taking the life of the baby," Foxx said, with a laugh.

Foxx then asked Hawley whether abortion should be considered health care, as each of the abortion-rights witnesses had said it is.

"Abortion is not health care," Hawley said.

Shortly thereafter, another witness, Renitta Shannon, a state representative in Georgia, shot back.

"I want to correct the record on a few things," Shannon said while answering questions from Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia. "Abortion is absolutely health care. When you have a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, a lot of times abortion is the way that these things are resolved."

Whether procedures to remove miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies  pregnancies that are not viable  constitutes an abortion was one of the main points of contention throughout the hearing.

Democrat lawmakers and abortion-rights witnesses voiced concern that abortion bans could impact those procedures.

Hawley and Republicans on the committee repeatedly said they are not abortions. However, Hawley later said there are cases, outside of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, where a fetus that might not be seen as viable yet should still be protected.

"As we think about unborn babies, these are the tiniest and most vulnerable humans among us," Hawley said. "They are most deserving of our help, and it doesn't matter whether they are viable or they need a little more help, they are fully human, they are fully alive, and they deserve life."

Hawley was asked a number of times by Democrats whether people should be prosecuted for receiving an abortion or whether doctors should be for performing them when they believe the life of the mother is at risk.

"Absolutely not," Hawley said. "Women should never be prosecuted for having an abortion, ... and every state allows for an emergency exception to save the life of the mother. Mississippi allows that in the physician's best judgment."

Another point of contention among committee members and witnesses came over who can become pregnant. At a different hearing the day before, Hawley's husband, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was called transphobic by a University of California-Berkeley law professor. Sen. Hawley had asked the professor for clarity after she used the gender-neutral phrase "people with a capacity for pregnancy." The phrase is one of a handful used by those seeking to include transgender men and nonbinary people into conversations around pregnancy and abortion.

A similar debate played out during Wednesday's hearing. Erin Hawley was asked by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., "can men become pregnant?"

"Biological women may become pregnant," Hawley replied.

Later, Shannon used the term "pregnant person," to which Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., interjected "mother" and "woman."

Ultimately, as the other witnesses laid out what they saw as the impending medical dangers of abortion access decreasing, Hawley tried to make the case that Roe v. Wade was never rooted in helping women. Motherhood, Hawley argued, is honorable and should not be seen as a burden that holds her gender back.

"Tragically, Roe was as wrong about women as it was about the constitution," Hawley said. "Its seven male authors lamented that motherhood 'forced upon women a bleak and distressful future,' but moms across the country know that's an inadequate description of what we do and who we are. With Dobbs, Americans can begin to undo the damage of that devastating lie."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Attorney for Mississippi testifies in Congress on abortion after Roe reversal
China slams U.S. consular official's remarks on Hong Kong policy

Xinhua) 08:23, July 13, 2022

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Any actions and activities aimed at meddling in China's internal affairs, including Hong Kong affairs, undermining China's national security and the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong are not allowed and are doomed to fail, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when answering a query relevant to the so-called "farewell remarks" of Hanscom Smith, outgoing U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong.

"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government has already made a solemn response to this," Wang said. Wang added that the U.S. consular official disregarded facts, made wild talks on China's Hong Kong policy, and denigrated Hong Kong's political and economic situation. The Chinese side deplores and rejects this.

Wang said, since the implementation of the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR, national security has been safeguarded, Hong Kong society has been brought back to the right track, and the rule of law and justice have been upheld.

"It is highly recognized by all sectors of Hong Kong's society and welcomed by the international community," Wang added.

According to a poll, 76.2 percent of Hong Kong residents believe the freedom granted by the Basic Law has not been affected since the implementation of the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR. Also, 63 percent believe the law has improved Hong Kong's business environment.

"China has always provided necessary assistance and support for foreign consular offices in Hong Kong to perform their duties per the law," Wang said. Wang added that foreign consular offices and staff in Hong Kong must respect and abide by Hong Kong laws, including the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR, as well as international law and basic norms governing international relations.

"Any attempts aimed at meddling in China's internal affairs, including Hong Kong affairs, undermining China's national security and the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong are not allowed and doomed to fail," Wang said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Amid public suspicion, Idaho-based officials have announced that Everette Jackson tragically died of drowning.

Idaho law enforcement has released their report on the death of a college basketball player from Louisiana who was washed away in the current of one of the states rivers. https://t.co/FOUUN6sQnJ  Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) July 12, 2022

The tragedy occurred during a tubing excursion on Idahos Payette River on June 11. Jackson, who was a student-athlete at Louisiana State University (LSU), was visiting the Gem State in order to see his girlfriend, Graci Kolka.

The pair decided to go tubing with some others during Jacksons visit, though he and Kolka ultimately became separated from the group after missing an exit point due to the powerful current.

Resultingly, Jackson  who reportedly wasnt wearing a lifejacket  and Kolka exited their tubes and attempted to swim over to the riverbank. However, Jackson was ultimately swept farther downstream and missed another dock, according to KTVB.

Everette Jackson (21) went tubing with friends yesterday in Bossie, Idaho. He & his gf missed their exit & paddled to the dock but the water was too strong. She grabbed a branch & tried to reach for him but he was knocked by the current. A post or rt can help our family find him pic.twitter.com/jLx4l4g4vR  Keion Monique (@keigates) June 12, 2022

Graci said she tried to reach for Everett and he went underwater again. Graci stated she swam back to shore, saying it was very deep and the water was moving very fast. Graci said she got to shore and began screaming Everetts name, authorities noted in a report, per KTVB.

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Sixteen officers eventually made it to the scene, though the search was fruitless.

Unfortunately, on our search we found nothing, a June 12 report said, per KTVB. The conditions of the day were not that great, heavy rains at the time, with steady rain throughout. That, with the river flowing at a very high rate made searching very difficult.

The body of Everette Jackson was ultimately discovered on June 19.

It is with great sadness that we have learned that the body of Everette Jackson has been found. We will share funeral arrangements after he returns home and they are made available. Please keep Everettes family and loved ones in your prayers in the coming days and weeks. pic.twitter.com/z6NxJxeCGv  LSU Eunice (@LSUEunice) June 19, 2022

Now, Idaho officials have determined that Jacksons presumed cause of death was suffocation by drowning.

I did not observe any bruising, wounds, or ligatures, the report said, according to KTVB.

Despite this report, some people have been side-eying the case since its inception, with the speculation seemingly stemming from Kolka and Jacksons interracial relationship.

Everette Jacksons body has been found 2 miles down stream after an 8 day search I pray for his family and those who loved him. Please black men, especially black college athletes LEAVE THEM WW ALONE. It hardly ever works in yalls favor  Tesha Angelique (@BluInRealTime) June 21, 2022

The Everette Jackson story pic.twitter.com/N6d1TJseBz  The Kingdom Magazine (@TheKingdomMag5) June 17, 2022

Now, Jacksons family is continuing to take the necessary steps to move forward in the wake of the tragedy.

Now that Everette has been laid to rest, we are beginning to try to take the steps in moving forward and getting some answers that we still long for, the family wrote in a GoFundMe post. We are asking for continued support in getting legal advice/help, seeking guidance and therapy with grief, and picking up the pieces of our lives that have been broken since the tragic news on June 11, 2022.

The family also summed up the situation within the post.

After a week long search, Everette Jackson 21, of Louisiana, was found in the Payette River in Emmett, Idaho. Where he had went to visit his college girlfriend whom took him tubing on the Payette River Saturday June 11. The River conditions were unsafe and Everette was not aware or familiar with the area or conditions for tubing, they wrote.

Unfortunately, we were told he was not able to escape the river when the current got rough and was swept away down the river, the family continued.

As local authorities in Idaho and many family and friends search for Everette Jackson, we have received messages from concerned community members about how they can help. This link below is a GoFundMe through Everettes family.https://t.co/1uZ0C8zZoo pic.twitter.com/G4RM1Mx6rP  LSU Eunice Athletics (@LSUEBengals) June 16, 2022

Its currently unclear what next steps the family is looking to take. Additionally, Graci Kolka appears to have privatized her Instagram account and deleted her Twitter in the wake of the tragedy and speculation.
Victoria Spartz raised an important topic about the absence of an anti-corruption prosecutor in Ukraine, but her letter to Biden may harm Ukraine's weapons supplies

Some of the claims against him are justified, but in general, her move resembles the beginning of the election campaign on the side of Donald Trump.

Andriy Yermak's activities as the head of the Office of the President never went unnoticed  he was regularly embroiled in scandals, becoming one of the main provokers in the administration, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy never particularly reacted to this pressure.

With the beginning of the full-scale war, political opponents decided to leave Yermak in peace for a while. But it seems that the official was not destined to avoid controversy for too long. The disaster came from one of Ukraine's key allies in the war against Russia, and at a time when its help is extremely important for Kyiv.

Republican Victoria Spartz, who left Ukraine 22 years ago and is now a congresswoman from the American state of Indiana, made her plea public. In it, she called on Zelenskyy to seek a solution to the "lingering internal issue" in the form of Yermak.

Read also: Ukraine slides five spots down in global corruption ranking

The day before, Spartz addressed an open letter to US President Joe Biden with a proposal to provide Congress with information on Yermak in order to "confirm or deny various serious allegations" against the head of the Presidents Office, referring to information about his "connections with Russia". Part of the letter remained classified.

Spartz laid out six major allegations against Yermak:

Leaking information to Belarus and ultimately to Russia on Ukraines operation to capture the Wagner Group, which led to its failure;

Mismanaging failed peace negotiations with Russia before the war;

Assuring Ukrainian leadership that no attack by Russia was going to happen this February, contrary to western intelligence, to prevent Ukraine from properly preparing for the war;

Sabotaging Kherson and giving it to the Russians to set up the Azov battalion tragedy;

Delaying purchases of urgent military equipment through the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and demanding unreasonable or even illegal terms;

Purposely delaying through Deputy Oleg Tatarov the appointment of an independent anti-corruption prosecutor.

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Tatarov was at the center of Spartzs attention. According to her, while dealing with the fight against corruption in the Office, he postponed the appointment of the head of the independent anti-corruption body for more than a year, due to which the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) ceased to function.

The congresswoman also noted that Yermak's deputy was under investigation by the NABU in 2020, but his case was "improperly" transferred to a regular prosecutor and closed. In addition, Tatarov was a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the time of Viktor Yanukovych.

Later in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, Spartz said that in the classified part of the letter she articulated "sensitive questions" for Biden regarding the Ukrainian establishment, which should be discussed confidentially so that Moscow does not use them in its interests.

Read also: Yermaks ally Tatarov could be difficult to remove, says Ukrainian MP

And in the official press release, Spartz reported that she had spent a lot of time in Ukraine over the past three months, where she communicated with representatives of the public sector, fighters and civilians.

However, it is worth noting that in the aftermath of these visits in May, she did not voice any criticism with regard to the Presidents Office.

A few hours after Spartz's statement, the representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, advised her to "leave attempts to earn additional political capital on baseless speculations around the topic of war."

And Sergii Nykyforov, Zelenskyy's press secretary, not wanting to pedal the scandal that spread from across the ocean, said: the issue lies at the level of relations between the American deputy and the US president, let them sort it out among themselves. And he stressed that if Spartz has proof for these accusations, she should make them public.

Read also: Anti-corruption watchdog urges US to sanction Ukraines Deputy Presidential Chief-of-Staff

The claims of the Republican congresswoman did not go down well in Washington either. Marcy Kaptur, leader of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, called Spartz's accusations "wild narratives."

She also stressed that the scale of US cooperation with President Zelenskyy's office "gives no reason to doubt the loyalty of any official." Moreover, Kaptur accused Spartz of playing into Putin's hands.

However, the instigator of the Yermakgate has no intention of giving up. Spartz published a new press release on her website on July 11, in which she actually called on Yermak to resign.

Troublemaker

Spartz was born in 1978 in Chernihiv Oblast, studied at the Kyiv University of Economics, and moved to the US in 2000, where she received a master's degree in professional accounting from Indiana University. Then she worked in this state, became involved in politics and two years ago began to represent this agrarian region in Congress.

Spartz is a member of two committees  education and labor, as well as legal affairs. That is, the international agenda is not directly part of her responsibilities.

She sympathizes with Donald Trump: in the last presidential election, he drew 57% of the vote in this state against Joe Biden's 41%.

And this is an important detail: as Ostap Yarysh, a Ukrainian VOA news journalist who works in Washington, wrote on Facebook, Spartz is in clear opposition to the current occupant of the White House and belongs to the group of Republicans that resolutely supported Trump.

The latter personally endorsed the ethnic Ukrainian woman in the 2020 congressional elections.

Read also: Democratic congressional caucus signals support for Zelensky following allegations against Yermak

John Herbst, head of the Eurasia Center at The Atlantic Council and former US ambassador to Ukraine, said in an interview with NV that the United States maintains enormous political support for Ukraine in this war, and the American people support the Ukrainians no less.

"But at the same time, there is also the caution of Republican Party backers and their skepticism about such a large-scale support, because they do not grasp to what extent the United States is already involved in this conflict," he added.

However, Spartz did support the provision of aid to Ukraine through the adoption of the Lend-Lease Act. Biden even invited her to the Oval Office to sign the corresponding document. And he presented her with the pen with which he had signed it.

At the same time, Spartz  like a number of her Republican colleagues  did not support the provision of $40 billion to Ukraine, which are instrumental in filling the Lend-Lease with real funds. NV sources among diplomats reported that Spartz presented fairly weak arguments to her Ukrainian colleagues in defense of her position.

Internal and external policies

Spartz made her first attempt to capture the attention of the White House on July 6. At that time, she presented three points in which she criticized Biden and Zelenskyy, because they allegedly "played politics with peoples lives", and also demanded establishing proper oversight of critical infrastructure and the supply of weapons and aid to Ukraine.

At the time, both the American and Ukrainian media hardly reacted to the statement.

A few days later, Spartz's letter to Biden appeared.

But even then, the US press barely paid heed to her efforts as the congresswoman was broadcast by the Fox News channel, which openly backs Trump.

There, a former Ukrainian citizen compared her homeland to Afghanistan: pointing out that the US spent significant resources on this country, and after 10 years of capital investments, reforms, and re-equipment of its army, the Americans had to leave the country in a hurry under the pressure of the Taliban.

Oleksandr Merezhko, Servant of the People MP and head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy, believes that Spartz's statements should be considered in the context of the pre-election situation in the United States. Midterm elections begin in November and, accordingly, some Congress representatives are looking for topics that would help them in the election campaign.

Read also: Ukraines foreign ministry responds to US congresswomans letter to Biden about Yermak

International expert Oleksandr Sushko seconds Merezhko as there is no other way to justify Spartzs decision to release an open letter to Biden, even though there are plenty of ways to contact the White House "without making a fuss."

According to Merezhko, some of Spartz's narratives about Yermak do not hold water. For example, regarding negotiations with Moscow that preceded the large-scale invasion. The Servant rep participated in the work of one of the subgroups of the Minsk process. And he insists that the Ukrainian delegation did everything right, but the Russians sabotaged the process. "Putin was not interested in negotiations. This was evidenced in the behavior of his officials," recalls Merezhko.

The rest of Spartz's messages, according to the chairman of the Rada committee, "are a bunch of baseless rumors."

However, not everyone in Ukraine is so categorical.

"Of all the accusations of the congresswoman, the blocked contests to the SAPO and NABU, as well as Tatarov, are the strongest," Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, wrote on FB. "If the authorities can fight back the rest of the arguments, with the aforementioned they stand no chance."

Tatarov has long since turned into an obvious problem for the Zelenskyy administration in the eyes of the opposition and activists. In the NABU case concerning the scam with the construction company Ukrbud, Yermak's deputy did indeed feature as a bribery suspect in the role of an Interior Ministry expert.

But then the investigation was "slowed down" by the efforts of the Prosecutor General's Office, and now the same Tatarov is officially involved with the prosecutor's office. And the competition for the position of head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has been blocked since last summer.

"All mechanisms of [Offices] influence on the law enforcement system are concentrated in the hands of Tatarov," MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a representative of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee, told Radio NV. "Because he understands how this system works."

Read also: US confident of Ukraines accountability for Western weapons  State Department

Sushko believes that Spartz brought the information about Yermak and Tatarov from Ukraine, having received it in communication with politicians and activists, among whom the opinion that Tatarov should be dismissed has long prevailed.

According to NV sources, one of the politicians from whom Spartz receives insights into the political situation in Ukraine is the advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko.

"I am acquainted with congresswoman Victoria Spartz," he admitted to NV.

We do not maintain official communication. I consider her statements to be part of the fall election campaign for the US Congress. Her statements do not help, but harm Ukraine.

Merezhko concludes that whether Spartz wanted it or not, her statements will only please the Kremlin.

But the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is confident that "statements and provocations" will not undermine the "high level of trust" established between the presidents of Kyiv and Washington.

"I think that the main reason this has emerged now is that Yermak's influence in relations with the Americans has increased significantly in recent months," political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko explained to Radio NV.

Yermak became a key figure in contact with the Americans, and with the US administration. And considering everything there, they trust him enough."

Shabunin believes that no matter how the situation with Spartz's statements pans out, Ukraine may have problems with the supply of weapons.

According to him, individual actors exploit "genuine blunders by [the Ukrainian] government" to undermine support for Kyiv. And the best way to stop such attacks is to disprove real allegations.

International journalist Taras Berezovets, who hosts three TV projects on Petro Poroshenkos Pryamyi channel, predicts that now the Biden administration will have something to say to Spartz. But this response will allegedly be classified.

Read also: Lend-Lease 2022: How the US can back Ukraine against Putin

According to Berezovets, Zelenskyy will most likely decide to discharge Tatarov a little later due to a combination of various factors. But Yermak will probably keep his seat for a long time.

"This is likely not the end of this story," Yarysh wrote on Facebook.

Especially with Marcy Kaptur drawn in, the discussion has expanded. Midterm elections in the USA are in a few months  and it seems that the topic of Ukraine will once again be the subject of active discussion."
Jul. 12Debra Murray

The Berea Public Works committee met on July 11 at 6 p.m. to discuss speed bumps, cutting trees and a schedule for spraying curbs and gutters.

In old business, a group from a local neighborhood had requested for a three-way stop at Cabernet and Vineyard Way, due to speeding. The committee voted to add a stop sign and a crosswalk to attempt to limit speeding and provide a designated space for children to cross safely.

A resident broke down the request to the committee following her neighborhood meeting.

"Eventually, where we landed, is what we would really like is just a three way stop where there's already one stop sign. So it would really just be two new stop signs at the corner of Cabernet and vineyard way," Heather Shields, resident of Berea said. "If we were to do that, those are the two main roads in and out of the neighborhood. People might not come to a complete full stop, but hopefully they'll at least slow down enough so if there's a older person walking around or a kid playing or even another car coming down; that will make people least slow down."

Council member Steve Caudill said that studies have proven that stop signs don't stop speeding, because drivers will immediately speed up after slowing down for the sign.

On Candlewood Drive, a request from the owner of duplexes to change parking to one side of the road was also discussed. The committee decided to leave the duplexes parking as it is currently.

Request for speed bumps and center-line stripping on Boone Street was discussed by member of the committee.

"We are not putting speed bumps on a major street. It doesn't work," Council member Jerry Little said.

The committee decided to wait to make a decision to see why a center-line had not been added to the road already. Caudill voiced that this issue had been complained about before and there were reasons for deciding not to do the center-line striping.

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Several other agenda items were currently being taken care of, according to Little.

Adding a culvert  a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railroad  on Blue Lick Road was previously approved in a city council meeting.

Trees in the ditch in need of being cut on Richmond Road are "being taken care of," Little said.

On Chestnut Street, adding a trim behind the black iron fence at North Broadway is currently being worked on, according to Little.

The committee also discussed which roads had priority to be worked on prior to school starting back in August. The committee plans to organize the list of roads sometime this week.

Little suggested that next year the committee decide what roads need black top earlier in the year.

The committee is considering hosting a special called meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. to put together a list of roads to have black topped.
STORY: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is donating $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

He says the donation will help boost his charitys annual payouts by 50% to $9 billion by 2026

Tweet from Bill Gates:

"I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives. And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too."

Compounding crises increased the need to invest in the foundations core focus areas, he said

Those areas are health, education, gender equality and poverty alleviation

The charity is one of the worlds largest private charitable foundations

This donation brings the 22-year-old organizations endowment to about $70 billion
Then-President Donald Trump sits with PayPal co-founder and former Facebook board member Peter Thiel, during a meeting with technology leaders at Trump Tower in New York City on December 14, 2016. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Billionaires are spending an increasingly large amount in US elections, according to a report from Americans for Tax Fairness.

Directly following the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, they contributed just $31 million to elections in 2010.

By 2020, they spent $2.6 billion bankrolling super PACs and funding their own campaigns.

At a time when President Joe Biden wants to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans, billionaires are exponentially increasing the amounts of money they're pouring into US elections  especially on behalf of Republicans, according to a new report on campaign spending trends.

Billionaires pumped just $31 million directly into 2010 federal-level midterm elections, the first national election conducted after the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, which loosened key political spending restrictions.

By 2016, billionaires contributed at least $611 million, according to the report from Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of predominantly center-left nonprofits, unions, and political advocacy organizations.

During the 2020 election, billionaires injected about twice that  $1.2 billion  into federal races. That figure that jumps to $2.6 billion when including contributions billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer made to their own, self-funded Democratic presidential campaigns, the report states.

"Now billionaires and their allies are working even harder to translate their economic power into political clout by flooding elections with cash in support of candidates who will do their bidding," the report says.

By its own acknowledgment, Americans for Tax Fairness' report only includes a partial picture of billionaires' political spending.

The report, for example, it does not account for contributions directly from corporations that billionaires control. It also does not measure contributions to "dark money" nonprofit organizations that are allowed to fund super PACs and make their own electioneering expenditures but are not legally required to publically disclose their donors. Such vehicles are preferred by megadonors such as Democrat-backing George Soros and Republican-backing Charles Koch, who don't prominently factor into the report.

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Of the contributions that are publicly available to see, billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group leads all contributors of both parties in spending during the 2022 election cycle, donating more than $28 million to Republican super PACs.

On the flip side, FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried donated $6.5 million to two leading Democratic congressional super PACs.

In March 2022, President Joe Biden floated the idea of an increased tax on people making more than $100 million, taxing the group at a rate of at least 20% on their income.

According to the White House, billionaires currently pay an average federal individual income tax rate of 8.2%  a smaller percentage than many people of modest wealth.

"Big corporations and the super wealthy have to start paying their fair share of taxes. It's long overdue," Biden said in September.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Auburn head football coach Bryan Harsin has had to deal with this share of criticism this offseason from the national media. In turn, Auburns football program has received low expectations heading into the fall.

So when anyone shares a positive opinion about Auburn football, it usually goes a long way.

On the Tuesday edition of McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Jox 94.5 in Birmingham, hosts Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy made their predictions for Auburns 2022 record, with both predicting the Tigers to go 8-4.

Former Auburn lineman Cole Cubelic said that he thinks Auburn could win their first five games of the season, to which the McElroy, the former Alabama quarterback agreed by saying that it was paramount.

If you got that, and then you drop the Georgia game, then I think you need to go 2-2 in the next 4, Cubelic said. Ole Miss on the road, Arkansas, Mississippi State on the road, A&M.

When giving his takes on Auburns schedule, McElroy says that he feels optimistic that Auburn will begin their upward trend this season.

When you actually look at it, and this is not being a Birmingham radio station, when you honestly get down to brass tacks, are we giving them a couple of games that other people probably wouldnt? McElroy said. Penn State, I dont think everyones going to give them that game. I dont think everyones going to give them Arkansas. I dont know how many people are going to give them Ole Miss, or even A&M.

Auburn will have to play the role of spoiler this season in order to have a successful year. On3 recently revealed their SEC power rankings for the 2022 season, where they placed Auburn at No. 12 out of 14 teams.

List
Family and friends embrace as Indianapolis police search for a missing father and his three children Tuesday. (Grace Hollars / Indianapolis Star)

The bodies of a man and three young children were found in an Indianapolis pond along with a submerged car amid a search for a father and his kids who went missing last week after leaving for a planned fishing trip there, authorities said Wednesday.

The bodies haven't been positively identified, but police said they were found along with a vehicle matching the description of a car driven by Kyle Moorman, 27, of Indianapolis.

Based upon information available to detectives and evidence collected at the scene, there is a commonality with the Moorman family missing persons investigation, police said in a statement. Detectives are working to piece together what led up to this incident.

Moorman has been missing since July 6, when he left to go to his brothers house with plans to go fishing with his children: 1-year-old Kyran Holland, 2-year-old Kyannah Holland and 5-year-old Kyle Moorman II.

Officers were dispatched Tuesday night to the pond following a report of a dead person in the water. Police said the man was pronounced dead at the scene. A dive team found a vehicle in the water, and the bodies of three children were inside, police said.

The Marion County Coroners Office was expected later to release the names of the dead, police said, and determine the cause and manner of death.

Family and friends of the Moormans had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their whereabouts. They had searched the pond and the surrounding area for days, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Moorman's sister, Mariah Moorman, said Monday that her brother's phone last pinged near the pond about 12:40 a.m. on Thursday, a few hours after the last time he was seen. She said her brother often went night fishing and was expected to go to the pond.

As far as we know, he was coming out here to go fishing, she told the Indianapolis Star on Monday. Thats what he told my sister. Its not odd. He does it all the time. They go night fishing a lot.

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The disappearance was first made public by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Sunday. Earlier this week, police said officers searched the area and other locations on foot and with drones.

But William Muse, a relative of Kyle Moormans mother, said Tuesday that he and other family members were frustrated that investigators didnt search the pond sooner after Moorman and his children were reported missing.

They should have at least tried, Muse said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The bodies of a man and three young children have been found in an Indianapolis pond following the search for a missing family.

A car was removed from the water overnight on Tuesday in Indiana, possibly ending the search for the father and children.

The bodies havent been positively identified, but they were found along with a car matching the description of Kyle Moormans vehicle in an area where the dad regularly went fishing at night, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Assistant Police Chief Chris Bailey said: We are still working to positively identify the individuals involved but there is commonality with the Moorman family.

The Marion County Coroners Office will make all identifications and issue a cause of death, he added.

Chief Bailey said the four deceased individuals likely are Kyle Moorman, 27, and his three children  Kyle Moorman II, 5, Kyannah Holland, 2, and Kyran Holland, 1.

The pond had been searched for days by family and friends as well as the area around an intersection in the vicinity.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Mr Moorman and his children were last heard from at around 11pm on 6 July.

The sister of the missing man, Mariah Moorman, said on Monday that Mr Moormans phone was last pinged at 12.40am on 7 July close to the pond.

As far as we know, he was coming out here to go fishing, Ms Moorman said on Monday, according to The Star. Thats what he told my sister. Its not odd. He does it all the time. They go night fishing a lot.

More follows...
The drowning death of a South Carolina man is under investigation, the Aiken County Coroners Office said.

Dimitri Carter was reported missing to the Aiken County Sheriffs Office Monday, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release. The 37-year-old North Augusta resident was last seen that day in a boat, according to the release.

Carter was boating in a pond in the 400 block of Storm Branch Road, Ables said. Thats in the Beech Island area, where there are several bodies of water, and is near the Savannah River.

South Carolina Department of Natural Resource divers began looking for Carter Monday, but the search was called off because of darkness, according to the release.

The search resumed Tuesday and Carter was recovered in the pond by divers at about 11 a.m., Ables said.

An autopsy is scheduled on Wednesday in Newberry.

Carters death continues to be investigated by the coroner and sheriffs office.

In 2017, Carter was arrested by the sheriffs office on a murder charge, WJBF reported. Carter was charged in the death of Allen Andrew Jones, whose body was found on Aug. 4 on Avalon Lane in Beech Island, according to WRDW.

Thats about 1.5 miles from where Carter was last seen.

The coroners office said Jones, a 26-year-old Columbia resident, died after being shot multiple times on Aug. 3, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

Information on what happened to the murder charge was not available. But Carter was wanted for failure to appear in court on pending charges for drug trafficking, and five counts of weapons possession during a violent crime, Aiken County court records show.
Rep Lauren Boeberts claims in her newly released memoir, My American Life, that her husband was the real victim in a 2004 case where he was arrested and pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure.

When Ms Boeberts husband, Jayson Boebert, was 24 years old, he was reportedly arrested and jailed after an incident at a Colorado bowling alley where he allegedly exposed himself to two young women.

By the right-wing lawmakers telling, this incident has been gravely misunderstood, as she goes on to claim in her book that her husband was in fact the real victim of harassment and was out enjoying a night out with his stepfather and then-girlfriend, Ms Boebert, 17 at the time and known as Lauren Roberts.

The two of them went to the Rifle bowling alley and got to chatting over drinks, Ms Boebert wrote, forgetting to include that she was out with the pair, as was originally reported in 2021 by Salon.

The female bartender flirted with Jayson, having heard previously from his friends what a catch hed be, she continues. "They even teased her by saying hed gotten a great tattoo in a private area, which made her curious, so she pressed Jayson to show it to her right there at the bar. He ignored her and was embarrassed she was doing it in front of my stepfather. She wouldnt stop.

At this point, her husband felt the need to settle the dispute, as Ms Boebert alleges.

[He] decided hed heard enough, stood up, and acted like he was going to unzip his pants, she wrote. Before he got that far, the owner of the bowling alley intervened.

Ms Boeberts version of events, however, diverges from the timeline and accounts that were provided to police and omits relevant details  including that she was there and spoke to authorities after the 2004 incident.

According to a witness statement obtained by Salon in 2021, Erica Anne Coombs, one of the two women who were involved in the 2004 incident, wrote at the time that after Mr Boebert had allegedly harassed a third person, identified as Nora, the then-24-year-old told Ms Coombs and a second woman, identified as Trisha Walies, that he had a tattoo on his penis.

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Trish and I were standing at the snack bar, and she came up and looked at my tattoo on my back, and she pulled down her sock and said, look, my is fading, she wrote in the witness statement. Then Jayson said, I have a tattoo on my dick.

Ms Coombs wrote in the witness statement that Mr Boebert then approached the women from behind after they reportedly turned away to ignore him and pulled his penis out of his pants.

His thumb was covering the head, and all I saw was the shaft. Trish and I turned away and went and told Larry, she wrote, referring to the owner of the Fireside Lane bowling alley, Larry McCown.

Mr McCown then reportedly called the Garfield County sheriffs department, and when deputies from the force arrived, the owner informed them that he had repeatedly asked Mr Boebert to leave the premises, but his requests had been rebuffed.

For his part, Mr Boebert told deputies that he had not in fact exposed himself but had instead pushed his thumb through the zipper of his pants, intending it to be a prank.

That account, however, was challenged in a second witness statement, this time from Ms Walies, who wrote: I know that wasnt a thumb because thumbs arent 6 inches long.

Ms Boebert, who was also interviewed by deputies, claimed that she had not witnessed her then-boyfriend expose himself.

When the case proceeded, Mr Boebert pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure, and spent four days in jail and two years probation for the crime, according to an affidavit viewed by the New York Post.

In the book, Ms Boebert explains that her husbands decision to plead guilty was not because he felt it was fair, but because the bartender involved in the incident was also 17 at the time, and he believed, she claims, the easier route was to take the plea deal instead of fighting for his innocence in court.

He knew the truth and the truth was, he didnt do what he was accused of, she wrote. But the entire experience opened Jaysons eyes to the reality that he needed the alcohol and anger management classes that came with the plea deal.

She adds at the end of the divulgement of the ordeal that she blames the Left for not applauding him for his efforts for self-improvement following the incident she claims he was the real victim in to begin with.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Before he fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday amid a crushing economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the last of six members of the country's most influential family still clinging to power.

Rajapaksa and his wife flew on a military jet to the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, the air force said.

His departure comes four days after massive crowds broke into his official residence and occupied his seaside office, and he pledged to leave the country. Protesters also stormed the residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has said he will leave once a new government is in place.

Here is a closer look at the rise and fall of Rajapaksa:

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A FAMILY AFFAIR

For decades, the powerful land-owning Rajapaksa family dominated local politics in their rural southern district before Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected president in 2005. Appealing to the nationalist sentiment of the islands Buddhist-Sinhalese majority, he led Sri Lanka into a triumphant victory over ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 26-year brutal civil war that had divided the country. He and his younger brother Gotabaya, formerly a powerful official and military strategist in the Ministry of Defense, have denied accusations of atrocities committed during the war.

Mahinda remained in office until 2015, when he lost to the opposition led by his former aide. But the family made a comeback in 2019, when Gotabaya won the presidential election on a promise to restore security in the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist suicide bombings that killed 290 people.

He vowed to bring back the muscular nationalism that had made his family popular with the Buddhist majority, and to lead the country out of an economic slump with a message of stability and development.

Instead, he made a series of fatal mistakes that ushered in an unprecedented crisis.

TAX CUTS DRAIN GOVERNMENT FUNDS

As tourism plunged in the wake of the bombings and foreign loans on controversial development projects  including a port and an airport in the presidents home region  needed to be repaid, Rajapaksa didn't listen to economic advisers and pushed through the largest tax cuts in the countrys history. It was meant to spur spending, but critics warned it would slash the governments finances. Pandemic lockdowns and an ill-advised ban on chemical fertilizers further hurt the fragile economy.

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The country soon ran out of money and couldnt repay its huge debts. Shortages of food, cooking gas, fuel and medicine stoked public anger at what many saw as mismanagement, corruption and nepotism.

THE END BEGINS

The familys unravelling began in April, when growing protests forced three Rajapaksa relatives, including the finance minister, to quit their Cabinet posts and another to leave his ministerial job. In May, government supporters attacked protesters in a wave of violence that left nine dead. The anger of the protesters turned against Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was pressured to resign as prime minister and took refuge on a heavily fortified naval base.

But Gotabaya refused to go, triggering chants in the streets of Gota Go Home! Instead, he saw his savior in Wickremesinghe, a seasoned opposition politician whom he brought in to steer the country out of the abyss. Ultimately, however, Wickremesinghe lacked the political heft and public support needed to get the job done.

___

Associated Press journalist Krishan Francis contributed to this story.
A California tech company executive was arrested and charged in the 1992 murder of his former roommate's girlfriend, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office said Monday.

John Kevin Woodward, a 58-year-old president and CEO of Readytech, was charged with the murder of Laurie Houts, a 25-year-old computer engineer who was found strangled in her car in Mountain View, according to a news release.

Woodward is in custody now and was arrested Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after arriving from Amsterdam. He resides in the Netherlands. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Houts was discovered dead in her vehicle near a garbage dumpsite in 1992, according to the Mountain View Police Department. Her cause of death was strangulation and the rope used to kill her was originally not traced to Woodward, although his fingerprints were found outside her vehicle. Updates in DNA technology over the last 30 years allowed police to connect Woodward to the rope used in the crime.

Items from the case were reexamined in 2020 from the 1992 investigation and then resubmitted to the Santa Clara County Crime Lab for analysis. With the advancements, DNA samples collected from evidence at the scene came back matching Woodwards DNA. Additionally, 80 latent fingerprints collected at the time of Houts' death were reexamined by the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Identification Unit, which matched Woodward.

Murder: Nevada man arrested after authorities reopen cold case of 5-year-old killed in 1982

Woodward was the roommate of Houts' boyfriend and was arrested in 1992 with a connection to the homicide. He was tried twice for the crime and never convicted after two hung juries, CBS San Francisco reports. According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, Woodward was jealous of Houts and had developed romantic feelings for his roommate. He also had no alibi for the night of Houts' murder. The lack of practical evidence was detrimental in the case, however.

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Laurie Anne Houts died in 1992 but her case has since been opened.

"This case is the culmination of incredible determination by our detectives over the decades and with phenomenal teamwork with our agency partners here in Santa Clara County and in New York," Mountain View Police Chief Chris Hsiung said in a statement. "I am honored that our agency finally gets to give hope to Laurie's family that they can see a successful prosecution carried out. It bears repeating  we do not give up on justice for victims, no matter what."

The family released the following statement in a news release: "Laurie Anne Houts was a beloved family member and friend to many. Although she was only 5' tall, she had a huge heart and her humor and spunk were endearing to all. The way Laurie lived and treated people was a stunning example of what was right in the world. She was a gem to so many, but her bright life was taken from us at the age of 25. We are hopeful that justice can finally be served for Laurie and incredibly appreciative of the law enforcement agencies who have never given up on her."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California tech CEO charged in 1992 cold case murder after DNA found
A photo of Nadhim Zahawi, who became UK Chancellor on July 5, 2022. Leon Neal/Getty Images

The wife of Nadhim Zahawi partnered with a BVI-registered firm on a 13.4 million property deal.

Zahawi Wantage, whose sole director is Lana Saib, acquired land in 2018 with Merme Ventures 2.

Merme Ventures 2 is owned by Harbour Administration (BVI) Ltd.

A firm run by Nadhim Zahawi's wife co-owns a multi-million-pound stretch of land in partnership with Tory donors and an entity registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The company Zahawi Wantage, where Zahawi's wife Lana Saib is sole director, acquired land in Oxfordshire worth 13.4m on May 9, 2018, Land Registry documents show.

It was acquired in a joint deal with Merme Ventures 2, a London-based firm which is run by property tycoon Sir John Ritblat, Michael Cohen, Howard Goldsobel, and owned a firm called Harbour Administration (BVI) Ltd, according to Companies House.

Harbour is registered in the British Virgin Islands, a well-known tax haven.

Family firm Zahawi & Zahawi, from which the chancellor resigned in January 2018, was a "person of significant control" in Zahawi Wantage until 31 May 2018, when Saib took the reins outright.

Ritblat, one of the directors of Merme Ventures 2, is chairman to the advisory board of his son's property firm Delancey, which donated 50,000 to the Tories in 2010.

He has attended Conservative fundraisers and was chairman to the Conservatives' Olympics Oversight Committee, set up when the party was in opposition to scrutinise the budgets for the 2012 games in London.

Companies registered in the British Virgin Islands pay no capital gains tax and zero income tax, although there is a payroll tax of up to 8%.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any party.

Separately, Zahawi's step-sons, Ahmad and Jaadar Shanshal, both have jobs at a firm owned by another prominent Tory donor.

The pair are business analysts at Lord Peter Cruddas' online trading firm CMC Markets, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Cruddas has given more than 3.3m to the Conservatives, including 6,000 to Zahawi's Stratford-upon-Avon constituency, and was given a peerage by Boris Johnson against official advice.

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The Shanshal brothers are also co-directors of Zahawi & Zahawi.

Zahawi has come under increased scrutiny since becoming chancellor last week and joining the race to become the next UK Prime Minister.

Last week, The Independent reported that HM Revenue & Customs was carrying out an inquiry into his tax affairs, after being passed information by the National Crime Agency. Officers from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have also investigated the chancellor's financial affairs, The Independent said.

Zahawi said he would publish his future tax returns should he be made prime minister.

A spokeswoman for Zahawi told Insider: "Any suggestion that Nadhim or his wife have avoided tax through offshore structures is false."

A spokesman for Ritblat stressed the deal had been struck with Saib, and there was "no relationship, business or personal, between Sir John or Merme Ventures and Nadhim Zahawi".

Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy for Transparency International, told Insider: "At a time when trust in politics is already at an all-time low, all contenders to be Britain's next Prime Minister should be ready to be fully transparent about the business activities they have undertaken and those of close family members."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Jul. 13CHEYENNE  A teenager has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, in Laramie County District Court. He had been accused of shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy last July.

Raymond M. Sanchez, 17, of Cheyenne was originally charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Second-degree murder, which Sanchez ultimately pleaded to on Monday afternoon, involves the killing of another person "purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation," according to Wyoming statute.

The state plans to argue for 20 to 30 years in prison. Sanchez and his attorney can argue for the mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years, according to a plea agreement. Sanchez may not ask for probation, agrees not to seek a sentence reduction or modification and agrees to waive all rights on appeal.

The plea agreement, however, does not bind Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell at sentencing.

The state, represented by the Laramie County District Attorney's Office, agreed to dismiss a conspiracy charge as part of the plea agreement.

Sanchez is accused of shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy in the early hours in July 5, 2021, at a Cheyenne apartment complex. The boy is identified in court documents as D.B., and he was identified as Daniel Barlow by Sanchez during Monday's hearing.

Raymond Sanchez's cousin, Xavier Sanchez of Casper, is accused of working with Raymond to kill Barlow, and of firing at least one shot at the exterior of Barlow's apartment building as he fled the scene. Xavier Sanchez, 18 at the time of his alleged crimes, is charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Information collected by the Cheyenne Police Department points to Barlow's death having been the result of a gang-related conflict, or at least a conflict between families.

The cousins entered not-guilty pleas in February.

"Your Honor, I need to change my plea and be the bigger person and do what is right by taking responsibility of the death of Daniel Barlow," Raymond Sanchez read from a statement following his guilty plea.

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He described how, while under the influence of several substances, he and Xavier Sanchez, along with Xavier's friend, went to Barlow's apartment building, intending to fight Barlow. When Barlow didn't come outside, Raymond told Xavier's friend to knock on Barlow's door while Raymond and Xavier waited outside the doorway.

When Barlow opened the door, he apparently recognized Raymond, who fired one shot at the door as Barlow slammed it shut. The bullet went through the door and struck Barlow, who died from the injury.

Raymond and Xavier Sanchez, along with Xavier's friend, then fled the scene.

"I hope you all find room in your heart to forgive me," Raymond said at the end of his statement to the court Monday.

The 17-year-old has been in custody since July 10, 2021.

Judge Campbell set Raymond Sanchez's sentencing for Oct. 3. His bond remained set at $100,000 cash.

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.
UPDATE: Roswell police say they have the toddlers parent and are in the process of reuniting the child and parent.

ORIGINAL STORY: July 13, 2022

Roswell police need the publics help to find the family of a child found wandering alone Wednesday morning.

Police say the young boy was found around 1:30 a.m. walking in the area of the leasing office at Park 83 apartments.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Officers have canvassed the apartment complex but so far havent been able to find the childs family.

Police posted a photo of the boy, who may be 2 or 3 years old. He is wearing a camouflaged shirt and diaper.

TRENDING STORIES:

IN OTHER NEWS
Chrissy Powell, 39, hasnt been seen in more than a week since she left for work as a paralegal in San Antonio, Texas, a disappearance her friends and family describe as bizarre (Facebook/Lauren Perez)

Family and friends in Texas are describing the disappearance of a 39-year-old mother as bizarre, as law enforcement warn the San Antonio woman could be in danger.

On Tuesday 5 July, Chrissy Powell called in to the law firm where she works as a paralegal to let her colleagues know that she was running late that day. That was the last time the 39-year-old mother contacted anyone. She reportedly never showed up for work that day and hasnt been seen or heard from any of her friends or family since.

The unknown is the scariest part," said a close friend of Ms Powells, Lauren Leal, in an interview with Kens 5. It is hard to wrap our minds around where she might be, what could have happened.

Footage taken from Ms Cowells doorbell camera showed the mother rushing out the door at approximately 10.34am and entering into her car, a 2020 Nissan Rogue.

The San Antonio Police Department told the San Antonio-based news outlet that theyre currently handling the case as a Be on the lookout  also known as a BOLO alert  for the car that Ms Powell was driving before she went missing more than a week ago.

San Antonio, TX #ChrissyPowell This is the last sighting of Chrissy a week ago. She was running late for work, she never made it to the law office she works for. She drives a 2020 Black Nissan Rogue (license plate: PYJ 8564) pic.twitter.com/RiIv6lAcf9  LEGCY (@iamlegacy23) July 12, 2022

In a flyer written up by the San Antonio force, they describe Ms Cowell as standing at 5ft 2in and weighing 115lb with blonde hair and brown eyes.

Family and friends also expressed concern regarding the San Antonio-natives bizarre disappearance, as she left behind items that are vital to her survival  including medication.

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Chrissy Powell, 39, is seen leaving her home in the Apple Creek neighborhood in northwest San Antonio on Tuesday 5 July at approximately 10.34am (Twitter/@iamlegacy23)

She was rushing and left her iPhone and iWatch at home, she left her house in a 2020 black Nissan Rogue, wrote Ms Leal in a Facebook post regarding her friend.

Police also noted in the flyer that Ms Cowell has a medical condition that requires a doctors care.

We just want you home, Ms Leal said in her interview with Kens 5.

Just hours after not showing up for work, Ms Cowells mother, Claudia Mobley, issued her own plea on social media, asking the public for their help in locating her still missing daughter.

The missing person flyer for Chrissy Powell, 39, describes the last known place that she was seen alive and the black 2020 Nissan Rogue that she was driving, which is also missing (Facebook/San Antonio Police Department)

My sweet daughter Chrissy Lee is missing. She left here Tuesday morning on her way to work. She never made it to work and we havent seen or heard from her since, Ms Mobley wrote on Thursday, a little more than 48 hours after her daughter was last heard from. If anybody has any information, please let me know. I love her and miss her. Keep us in your prayers.

Authorities are asking that anyone with information regarding the 39-year-olds disappearance or knowledge of her whereabouts to contact the San Antonio Missing Persons Unit at 210-207-7660.
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's government and leaders from indigenous groups on Wednesday began talks on subsidies, debt forgiveness and other agreements, the result of weeks of anti-government protests.

Demonstrations erupted on June 13 and ran for more than a fortnight, leaving eight dead and severely impacting Ecuador's oil industry, its main source of income. Demonstrators forced immediate fuel price cuts and promises to modify oil and mining policies.

A deal to end the demonstrations requires some 90 days of negotiations take place on 10 topics, beginning with efforts to focus gasoline subsidies on sectors which need them most and a review of debts held by small-scale farmers at public and private banks.

Also to be discussed are employment and labor rights, price controls and government efforts to expand oil and mining development to raise national income, which indigenous groups oppose.

President Guillermo Lasso, a conservative ex-banker, has said protests were financed with money from drug trafficking and the government is investigating possible criminal connections.

"We repeat our willingness to dialogue...but we need to stop the denigrations," said Leonidas Iza, who heads the CONAIE indigenous organization, as talks opened. "We came with humility but we cannot be humiliated."Previously, governments have discussed implementing limited gasoline subsidies, but because rising prices affect many vulnerable groups they have had to enact across-the-board cuts. Between January and May this year subsidies on gasoline and diesel cost the government $1.7 billion, according to the energy ministry.

"We are here showing up, with our contingent of government officials who are willing to seriously address the solutions that the country needs," said Government Minister Francisco Jimenez. "There will be issues which we must debate and on which we will have different views."

The government plans to spend $1.4 billion on social programs during the remainder of 2022.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
When Ray Epps, now 61, arrived in Washington DC in early January, 2021, he believed he was answering the call of his president.

Mr Epps was one of the thousands of MAGA loyalists who believed former President Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. He also thought he and a throng of conservative allies would protest the election's certification.

The night before the Capitol riot on Jan 6, Mr Epps told a crowd of fellow Trump supporters that they should enter the Capitol. This exchange was caught on video. He did not call for violence, and later claimed that he was encouraging a peaceful protest inside the building.

Nearly 900 people have been arrested for their participation in the failed insurrection that occurred the following day. Though Mr Epps is not among that number, he has nonetheless become the focus of a MAGA-world conspiracy theory placing the blame for the entire debacle squarely on his shoulders.

Who is Ray Epps?

Mr Epps is a former Marine who runs a wedding and event venue in Queen Creek, Arizona. He describes himself as a staunch conservative, and was a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.

Mr Epps went to Washington DC believing that the 2020 election had been stolen. Politico has reported that Mr Epps is a former Oath Keeper, the militant right-wing gang whose members are currently under investigation on seditious conspiracy charges.

Since the Capitol riot, his life has been turned upside down by the very people he once marched alongside.

The conspiracy theory

After failing to pin the Capitol riot on Antifa, right-wing media outlets refocused their efforts to reshape their narrative around Mr Epps. According to the New York Times, obscure right-wing outlets like Revolver Media began reporting on selectively-edited videos of Mr Epps during the Capitol riot, and later capitalised on the footage from 5 January in which he called for people to enter the Capitol.

The theory claims that Mr Epps, who was not arrested in the wake of the Capitol riot despite apparently encouraging people to enter the building and participating in the event himself, could only have evaded law enforcement if he was working with the government.

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To explain this apparent contradiction, outlets and conspiracy theorists decided that Mr Epps had to have been an FBI agent sent into the crowd to stir dissent and set up a "false flag" event meant to justify the incarceration of hundreds of Trump supporters.

Larger right-wing media platforms, including Fox News' Tucker Carlson, picked up on the story, thrusting Mr Epps into the mainstream conservative consciousness. Republican lawmakers including Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz leapt on the theory in their efforts to reframe the Capitol riot narrative.

Mr Trump himself eventually signed onto the conspiracy theory, feeding the man who believed his lies into the right-wing conspiracy machine's ever hungry maw.

What really happened?

Days after the Capitol riot, Mr Epps learned that the FBI was treating him as a person of interest in its then nascent investigation into the riot. He immediately called the agency and agreed to call them to discuss what had happened.

During their talks, Mr Epps insisted that he had remained peaceful and had instructed other rioters to do the same. Video footage that was eventually edited and used to suggest Mr Epps was inciting violence actually showed that he was trying to talk down other protesters who were getting angry.

In one video, he tells another protester, Ryan Samsel, to relax and reminds him that the Capitol police were doing their jobs. According to the Times, Mr Samsel was questioned by the FBI and fully corroborated Mr Epps' version of events.

He came up to me and he said, Dude  his entire words were, Relax, the cops are doing their job, Mr Samsel told investigators.

Further, Mr Epps was able to prove that he had left the Capitol before the violence began in earnest. A protester who had fallen ill required help away from the chaos, and Mr Epps volunteered to help lead them out.

The fallout

Since then, Mr Epps life has turned upside down. He has become a persona non grata in conservative circles due to his association with the conspiracy theory.

After the conspiracy theory picked up steam, Mr Epps began receiving death threats and even had intruders trespass on his property. According to Mr Epps, those individuals approached him and demanded to know the "truth" about his supposed involvement with the FBI.

He has had to leave his home in Arizona and is currently hiding out in an RV with his wife at an undisclosed location.

Mr Epps told theTimes that he fears the direction the US is heading, and called what was done to him "criminal."

I am at the center of this thing, and its the biggest farce thats ever been, he said. Its just not right. The American people are being led down a path. I think it should be criminal.

He is currently planning to pursue legal action against the individuals and organisations he believes defamed him in the wake of the Capitol riot.
By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has sued Elon Musk to force him to go through with the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. What happens if Twitter succeeds and the world's richest man, who regularly taunts securities regulators, refuses to comply with the court order?

CAN A COURT ORDER MUSK TO BUY TWITTER?

Twitter is asking a Delaware court to grant "specific performance" under the terms of its contract with Musk - in other words, force him to complete the acquisition at the agreed price of $54.20 a share.

The court has issued such orders before. Chicken processor Tyson Foods Inc was ordered in 2001 to complete its $3.2 billion deal for meatpacker IBP Inc. Last year the court ordered private equity firm Kohlberg & Co LLC to close its $550 million purchase of DecoPac Holding Inc, which makes cake decorating products.

But the buyers in these instances were companies rather than an individual. Never has such specific performance been granted on a deal of this scale.

WHAT IF MUSK RESISTS?

The legal battle between Musk and Twitter will play out in Delaware's Court of Chancery, which is specified in the merger agreement for disputes.

Delaware is also a popular incorporation destination for most U.S. public companies, including Tesla Inc and other Musk companies such as tunneling venture the Boring Co and Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX.

That gives the court jurisdiction over a vast amount of Musk assets to coerce compliance if needed. Lawyers said the court would begin by holding Musk in contempt and issuing fines until he did as ordered.

"The court has capacious powers to enforce its orders," said Francis Pileggi, an attorney with Lewis Brisbois in Wilmington, Delaware.

If Musk continued to ignore a judgment, the court could order Tesla and other Delaware-incorporated companies in which Musk owns a stake to freeze his assets or turn over shares.

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"He'd be treated like a deadbeat dad not paying child support," said Minor Myers, a professor of UConn School of Law. "It would not be that hard."

WHAT HAS THE COURT DONE IN THE PAST?

When Delaware-incorporated ZST Digital Networks Inc was sued in Delaware in 2012 by one of its largest outside shareholders for access to its books amid accounting irregularities, the Chinese company refused to comply. Travis Laster, a vice chancellor or judge on the Court of Chancery, appointed a receiver of the company to force it to turn over the records. He also allowed the receiver to seek to arrest executives if they visited the United States.

The court has also forced companies to comply with orders by warning directors they will be held personally liable for accumulating fines.

Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School, said there are plenty of examples of individuals opposed to the court's rulings who use appeals to drag out complying. But they eventually obey court orders and she expects Musk will as well.

"He's not actually insane," she said.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del.; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
The woman and 7-year-old boy killed when their chartered boat capsized in the Hudson River were part of a family of tourists visiting from Colombia, police sources said Wednesday.

Lindelia Vasquez, 47, and little Julian Vasquez were with about 10 family members visiting from the South American country when they got on the doomed boat Tuesday afternoon.

Their family was staying at a hotel in New Jersey, police sources said.

The private 27-foot vessel capsized off Pier 84 near W. 46th St. and 12th Ave. about 2:45 p.m., dumping the victims and their relatives into the water.

The owner of the boat was trailing behind the group on a jet ski when the wake from a passing ferry rocked the vessel, capsizing it, police sources said. Investigators believe the boat was overloaded.

Two NY Waterway ferries  the Garden State and the John Stevens  arrived quickly and rescued nine passengers from the water, a NY Waterway spokesperson said.

There were about four people on top of the bottom of the boat screaming, said Raidy Garcia, 28. I couldnt make out anything other than their screams.

FDNY divers found Lindelia and Julian in the water. They were rushed to an area hospital but couldnt be saved.

I was checking for an air pocket for myself (under the capsized boat) and while Im doing that, located a small person with a vest on, FDNY diver Ryan Warnock said at a press conference Tuesday evening. Rescue medics with there and they started to intubate and do CPR.

Any time its a child... your emotional state changes, but you just have a job to do and you do it and we train for this, he said.

Photos of the aftermath showed survivors clasping their heads in disbelieve and slumped in agony.
President Biden will land in Israel on Wednesday for his first presidential visit to the Middle East, seeking to reassert U.S. influence in the region.

The trip has already been marked by controversy due to Bidens plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS. Biden will spend a few days in Israel before traveling to Saudi Arabia.

Threats from Iran and domestic concerns about energy production are expected to be dominant issues on the trip. Here are five things to watch.

Biden faces pressure on human rights

In deciding to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with MBS, Biden has faced accusations of backtracking on his campaign pledge to make the Gulf state a pariah after the 2018 murder of U.S.-based Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that Biden would advocate for human rights issues during the trip, but wouldnt address questions of whether Biden planned to raise Khashoggis killing with the Saudi crown prince.

The White House has defended the trip as advancing Americas interests, and Biden is expected to use the meeting in part to address global energy disruptions caused by Russias war in Ukraine.

Sullivan also insisted on Monday that Biden had ended the Trump administrations blank-check policy with respect to Saudi Arabia, pointing to the release of the U.S. intelligence report assessing MBS approved Khashoggis murder.

The family of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh also sought a meeting with Biden on his trip. In a scathing letter to the president last week, the family accused the Biden administration of helping whitewash what they said was an extrajudicial killing by Israeli forces.

The State Department said earlier this month that a third-party investigation showed bullets from Israeli Defense Forces likely killed Abu Akleh, but that there was no reason to believe it was intentional.

Four Democratic senators sent a letter Tuesday saying the probe did not meet any plausible definition of the independent investigation and said it did not provide transparency.

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The family of Malki Roth, an American-Israeli girl killed in a 2001 Palestinian suicide bombing, have also asked for a meeting with Biden in Jerusalem. And the president has faced calls from the families of victims in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the attacks.

Will there be progress on energy?

In Saudi Arabia, Biden will attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council  a group that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia.

Biden is expected to discuss oil production with the countries, which also include several members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC+.

We will convey our general view  that we believe that there needs to be adequate supply on the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the American consumer at the pump, Sullivan said Monday.

Experts say that Biden can use the meeting to improve coordination with Gulf countries on energy security and address questions about plans for a price cap on Russian oil, though its unlikely to result in an immediate commitment by Saudi Arabia to increase oil production.

I think progress probably could look like some sort of joint projects around both renewable energy and maybe some more sort of positive language around Saudis being involved in stabilizing the market, greater coordination, said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

The White House has been careful not to raise expectations too high. Oil and gas prices have been declining in the U.S. after the average price for a gallon of gas topped $5 for the first time last month.

Iran looms large

Threats posed by Iran are expected to be a top focus of Bidens meetings with both Israeli officials and Arab states.

The Biden administration has sought a return to the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, which former President Trump withdrew from in 2018, but those conversations have stalled in recent weeks. Sullivan said Monday that a deal remains on the table and declined to set a deadline for an agreement.

Experts say that a return to a deal is still possible, though diminishing.

Israel, meanwhile, opposes the 2015 agreement. Speaking to reporters during a briefing Tuesday, a senior Israeli official said it is grateful that the U.S. has left the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, but said that time has run out for the JCPOA, the formal name for the deal.

But the Israeli official stressed close collaboration with the administration on Iran.

The U.S. and Israel plan to announce a Jerusalem Declaration that, while serving as a blueprint for the bilateral relationship over the next few years, will include committing both countries to using all elements of its national power against Iranian nuclear threat, the official said.

Also part of that collaboration is the increasingly open relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and efforts to pursue a regional air defense network.

Israel, Saudi take steps toward normalization

Biden will become the first sitting U.S. president to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia later this week, a moment that administration officials have pointed to as a sign of warming ties between the two nations.

The Biden administration has said it is working to facilitate normalization between Israel and Arab countries, a continuation of work under the Trump administration on the so-called Abraham Accords.

There have been murmurs about some steps that could be finalized on Bidens trip to move Israel and Saudi Arabia towards more normal relations. The countries, for example, could agree to allow commercial flights from Israel to fly over Saudi Arabia.

Administration officials have been tightlipped about any details of new developments.

Any normalization of any kind would be a long process, Sullivan said Monday. But looking for progress and momentum in that direction is certainly something we are focused on as we head off to the Middle East.

Biden balances Israel-Palestine conflict

Theres little chance Biden will be able to move Israeli officials to permit the U.S. to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, shuttered by Trump, that offered a direct link between Palestinians and Washington.

Short of a direct engagement between Israelis and Palestinians on peace negotiations, the trip is likely to provide an opportunity to advance stalled benefits for Palestinians, such as access to 4G mobile networks and increased freedom of movement.

Israels government will be in campaign mode for the next several months after its governing coalition dissolved late last month, which experts say could further constrain conversations about Israels policies towards the Palestinians.

Bidens desire to stay out of the campaign process, and the uncertainty over which party and individuals will be leading the Israeli government in the months to come, could influence how much progress can be made during the presidents trip this week.

I think that weighs on the presidents trip now. Things that may have been possible or discussed may not be possible in a political environment like this, said Rich Goldberg, who served for a year as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the White House National Security Council.

Brett Samuels contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Applebees and EEOC chair Charlotte Burrows

In a settlement with the U.S. Government, Applebees franchise owners in Florida have agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve a case involving sexual orientation discrimination.

A cook at the restaurant in Plant City, Fla., was forced to quit because of complaining about racism and homophobia at the restaurant, according to a news release issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The commission said Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida LLC in Tampa failed to take action after two co-workers hurled racial and homophobic slurs at Jebriel Teague.

Teague, who is Black and gay, was verbally harassed by two restaurant employees who continuously used racial and homophobic epithets, the EEOC lawsuit claimed. Teague reported the harassment to the restaurants various levels of management, but the employer did not take any action to stop it. The harasser also regularly wore Confederate flag paraphernalia while working at the restaurant and made derogatory remarks. Instead, when he attempted to reach NRP corporate, leadership cut his scheduled hours and forced him to resign, EEOC said in a statement.

This conduct violates the prohibition on discrimination based on race and sexual orientation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the agency. As a result, the EEOC filed a suit in Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida after first attempting to resolve the matter through conciliation.

No employee should have to endure homophobic and racist harassment by co-workers, said EEOC Regional Attorney Robert E. Weisberg. Failing to take corrective action to correct a work environment permeated with racial and homophobic slurs, and, even worse, punishing an employee for reporting harassment, will not be tolerated.

NRP must pay $100,000 in financial relief over a three-year period to resolve the EEOC lawsuit under the consent decree approved by the federal court. As part of its efforts to prevent workplace discrimination, the company will train managers and human resources officers on race and sexual orientation discrimination.

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Furthermore, NRP must appoint a consent decree monitor to review sexual orientation and race-based harassment complaints and provide EEOC with reports detailing the companys response.

EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows praised the development and pledged that the Biden-Harris administration would continue its support for the LGBTQ+ community.

At all times, not only during Pride Month, the EEOC is committed to robust enforcement of Title VIIs protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, Burrows said.

While the Supreme Courts decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, was an advancement, LGBTQ+ employees still face discrimination in the workplace, according to Evangeline Hawthorne, EEOC's Tampa field office director.

"The EEOC is committed to taking action where an employer treats an individual differently because of his or her sexual orientation or race, Hawthorne said.

Employers must remain vigilant against workplace extremism, Burrows warned.

This case also shows that racist slurs and paraphernalia remain a persistent problem that employers should be prepared to address in prompt and effective ways, she said.

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former CIA software engineer was convicted on Wednesday of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks from the spy agency, in one of the biggest such thefts in CIA history.

Jurors in Manhattan federal court convicted Joshua Schulte, 33, on eight espionage charges and one obstruction charge over the so-called Vault 7 leak.

Schulte had represented himself at the month-long trial. The jury began deliberating on Friday. An earlier trial ended in a March 2020 mistrial because jurors deadlocked on the main counts.

"Today, Schulte has been convicted for one of the most brazen and damaging acts of espionage in American history," in undermining U.S. efforts to battle "terrorist organizations and other malign influences" around the world, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan said in a statement.

The leaked materials concerned software tools the Central Intelligence Agency used to surveil people outside the United States, through such means as compromising smartphones and internet-connected TVs.

WikiLeaks began publishing the leaked materials in March 2017.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Schulte, who resigned from the CIA in November 2016, was motivated to leak the materials out of spite because he was unhappy with how management treated him.

Schulte countered that he was framed and scapegoated for the leak because of his issues with management.

He was originally arrested in August 2017 on unrelated charges, and has been jailed since bail was revoked four months later.

The Justice Department announced the charges related to WikiLeaks in June 2018.

Last month, Britain's interior minister approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. He faces federal criminal charges in Virginia over his alleged role in publishing secret military documents in 2010.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
MACON, Ga.  A Georgia man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in February to sexually assaulting a girl while a missionary in Uganda.

U.S. District Judge Marc. T. Treadwell sentenced Eric Tuininga, 45, of Milledgeville last week. He was ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution and spend a lifetime on supervised release as a registered sex offender after getting out of prison.

Tuininga previously working as a minister at Immanuels Reformed Church in Salem.

Prosecutors have said that an American citizen had contacted the U.S. embassy in Kampala, Uganda, in June 2019 to tell officials that Tuininga was having sex with Ugandan girls as young as 14 who were under the care of the U.S.-based Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Mbale, Uganda.

Tuininga was one of the churchs ministers. Authorities said they found Tuininga had already returned to the United States, but federal agents identified the minor and kept investigating. Tuininga admitted to the conduct, with prosecutors saying he told them that the victim would often visit the church property in Mbale.

The recommended sentence for Tuininga was seven to nine years, The Telegraph of Macon reported. But Treadwell sentenced him to a decade in federal prison after hearing testimony from the victims caretaker and some of Tuiningas family members. Tuiningas defense attorney had objected to some of the evidence at sentencing and requested a sentence of five years.

I want to recognize the true bravery displayed by the Ugandan girl for speaking out when she was assaulted by a trusted person of power from another country, courageously seeking justice across continents, U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a statement. Law enforcement  both abroad and here at home  took on a challenging international case.

Mark Bube, general secretary of the denominations committee of foreign missions, has said Tuiningas misconduct was reported by other Orthodox Presbyterian missionaries in Uganda and that he was removed from missionary work in 2019. Bube said Tuininga was later removed entirely from ministry and excommunicated from the church based in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

Tuininga joined the church from a separate but affiliated denomination in Oregon. A website chronicling Tuiningas work in Uganda said he began working there in 2012 after working at Immanuels Reformed Church in Salem.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Ex-Salem minister Eric Tuininga assaulted girl during Uganda mission
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former White House national security adviser, said on Tuesday that he had helped plan attempted coups in foreign countries.

Bolton made the remarks to CNN after the day's congressional hearing into the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The panel's lawmakers on Tuesday accused former President Donald Trump of inciting the violence in a last-ditch bid to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

Speaking to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, however, Bolton suggested Trump was not competent enough to pull off a "carefully planned coup d'etat," later adding: "As somebody who has helped plan coups d'etat - not here but you know (in) other places - it takes a lot of work. And that's not what he (Trump) did."

Tapper asked Bolton which attempts he was referring to.

"I'm not going to get into the specifics," Bolton said, before mentioning Venezuela. "It turned out not to be successful. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed," he said.

In 2019, Bolton as national security adviser publicly supported Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's call for the military to back his effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, arguing that Maduro's re-election was illegitimate. Ultimately Maduro remained in power.

"I feel like there's other stuff you're not telling me (beyond Venezuela)," the CNN anchor said, prompting a reply from Bolton: "I'm sure there is."

Many foreign policy experts have over the years criticized Washington's history of interventions in other countries, from its role in the 1953 overthrowing of then Iranian nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and the Vietnam war, to its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan this century.

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But it is highly unusual for U.S. officials to openly acknowledge their role in stoking unrest in foreign countries.

"John Bolton, who's served in highest positions in the U.S. government, including UN ambassador, casually boasting about he's helped plan coups in other countries," Dickens Olewe, a BBC journalist from Kenya, wrote on Twitter.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Michelle Price and Rosalba O'Brien)
Former Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary was sentenced to 57 months in prison Wednesday after he stole more than $650,000 in COVID-19 relief funds meant for the recovery of businesses, churches and the people of the city.

Lary betrayed the trust placed in him by the citizens of Stonecrest by stealing the very funds meant to help his constituents weather the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said. The people of Stonecrest deserved better, and corrupt officials can expect severe consequences for using their offices to commit crimes.

In January, Lary pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal program theft and federal program theft. He also resigned as the citys mayor.

Federal prosecutors said that in addition to paying off personal debt, Lary conducted a scheme where he asked small businesses and churches to whom he allocated grants to give 25% of the money to companies connected to himself and co-conspirators.

One of the grants was to his church, which he awarded $150,000. He then asked the church to give $50,000 back to one of the companies included in the scheme.

RELATED STORIES:

Lary previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his attorney, Dwight Thomas, indicated on Nov. 10 that he would take a plea deal.

In court on Wednesday, Lary apologized to his family, friends and Stonecrest residents.

I let us down, he told the court, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

It is extremely disheartening when an elected official, someone sworn to protect the community they serve, violates that oath by stealing relief funds intended to aid their community, said Keri Farley, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. This sentencing holds Lary accountable for abusing his position of trust and blatant disrespect for the law.

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Lary was also ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution as well.

He does not have to report to prison until Dec. 15, so he can continue treatment for prostate cancer.

RELATED NEWS:
Meet two competitors in the fast-growing drone delivery space who are moving to market even faster than Amazon. com, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.

IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone hosted a fireside chat on Wednesday, July 13th at 9am ET as part of ICRs Robotics Series featuring Yariv Bash, Co-Founder and CEO of Flytrex, and Bobby Healy, CEO and Founder of Manna. A moderated live event, the session lasted approximately 60 minutes including a Q&A with the audience.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL REPLAY

Messrs. Bash and Healy discussed:

Currently active operations in the U.S and Ireland

Very high participation rates by residents in first service areas

Regulatory approval process

Advantages of drone vs. human delivery in both cost and safety

Drone delivery of food, beverages, other grocery items and medicine

Simplicity of drones for grocery delivery vs. eVTOLs human transport

About Flytrex

Flytrex is the leading business-to-consumer autonomous delivery service that lets retailers and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) better serve customers in suburban areas by offering unmatched delivery costs, ultra-fast delivery and greater reach than ever before. Utilizing its commercial-aviation grade drones and cloud systems, Flytrexs service is safe, swift and sustainable. Flytrex, a participant in the FAAs UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) and its successor, the BEYOND program, is ushering in a new era of on-demand delivery.

About Manna

Manna designs, builds, and operates drones so users can get magical delivery from the sky in under 5 minutes. Our service enables local businesses to reach more customers than ever before with unbelievably fast, high-quality delivery. For communities, our system reduces both environmental impact and traffic congestion versus typical road-based deliveries.

Contact:

IPO Edge

John Jannarone, Editor-in-Chief

johnj@capmarketsmedia.com

Twitter: @IPOEdge

Instagram: @IPOEdge
Angelo Merendino/Getty

The Biden administrations halting response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision, along with an inflammatory criticism by a senior White House official over the weekend, has angered some of the very people that President Joe Biden hopes will stir up voters ahead of the midtermsand even a few of the people who are supposed to support those efforts with their wallets.

Furious, texted one Biden bundler for whom abortion is a key issue, when asked about the mood of like-minded financial supporters of the president. The statement was just so unnecessarily disrespectful of people who helped elect him, truly.

We are experts at at what we do and what it takes to get an abortion in this country, said Morgan Hopkins, the interim executive director of campaigns and strategies at All* Above All, an abortion-rights group, who pointed out that it was activists who pushed Biden to reverse his opposition to the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding going to abortion services. We have a political organization, we know the importance of voting, and people across this country know the importance of voting, and we need the boldest of action from the White House.

I will not take being called an activist as an insult, Hopkins said. Activism works.

The statement in questionin which outgoing White House communications director and longtime Biden media guru Kate Bedingfield declared that the presidents goal was not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Partyincensed abortion rights advocates when it was first published in The Washington Post on Saturday.

People around the country are rightfully terrified and seeking leadership that is bold and effective, said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Womens Law Center, which recently joined 18 other civil rights groups to demand a meeting with Biden to discuss concrete steps to protect abortion access. Advocates around the country are pushing every leader to do more, and that must include the White House.

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But while Biden and his team have long since grown accustomed to public displays of frustration from activists on issues ranging from immigration to LGBTQ rights, some told The Daily Beast that this latest slight risks discouraging those groups from coordinating with the White House going forwardwith the razor-thin Democratic majorities in Congress at stake.

Biden Plans to Nominate a Federal Anti-Abortion Judge in Kentucky, Reports Suggest

We have never depended on Biden to get abortionswhen he was vice president or now, said Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization that represents those who have had abortions. The question is whether hes ready to plug into the organizing thats happening with or without his administration.

In the weeks after the initial leak of a draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that found ruled that the ability to end a pregnancy was a constitutional right, the Biden administration pledged to pursue a whole-of-government response to any potential threat to abortion access. But once the decision was finally released on June 24, that plan has primarily focused on encouraging Democrats to vote more abortion supporters into office in order to codify Roe into law.

The only way we can secure a womans right to choose and the balance that existed is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law, Biden said hours after the Dobbs decision was released, noting that as president, he was powerless to do so himself. Voters need to make their voices heard. This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a womans right to choose into federal law once again.

That is a tall order ahead of midterm elections in which the Democratic Party is on track to lose its majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senateand the kind of plan that requires working hand-in-hand with advocates and activists who have decades of experience mobilizing voters who support abortion access.

Abortion-rights advocates say theres no chance that they will walk away from the work theyve done for decades because of one pissy statement. But the Biden administrations vote, vote vote message, to them, feels like an abdication of authorityto say nothing of the White Houses rejection of proposals like expanding the Supreme Court, building abortion clinics on federal lands and declaring a national public-health emergency.

Is This Communist Cult Trying to Hijack the Abortion Movement?

Well continue doing what weve always done for the past decade: getting people to the abortions they need and organizing our communities, said Sherman. But the president cannot continue to say that he's doing everything he can to support abortion when he had to be begged to say the word and is installing a lifetime of barriers in the judicial system.

The feeling of disengagement from Biden, if not from the midterm elections entirely, has also percolated up to the donor space, according to three high-dollar bundlers from the 2020 presidential campaign. The White Houses cautious response to Dobbs, one of the bundlers said, wont singlehandedly push donors to ditch Democratsbut combined with Bidens poor polling and the gloomy outlook for his domestic agenda, is not exactly making the case for doubling down on investing in Bidens political future.

When youre a fundraiser and youre reaching out to your network on a candidates behalf, you need to believe in that candidate and his/her mission, one bundler said. Its hard to even see the mission right now, much less put your faith in it.

Negative feelings about the administrations handling of any issue, another noted, makes fundraising more difficulteven if the presidents biggest bundlers are still stalwart supporters.

Nobody who stayed Team Biden during Iowa-New Hampshire-Nevada is going to ditch him over this, they said. But the parvenus who came onboard once he got the nomination are fickle almost by definition.

Across the board, bundlers and activists noted that with the Senate filibuster intact and the Supreme Courts makeup set for years, the decks are largely stacked against major executive action. Biden has also issued executive orders directing his administration to help increase access to abortion medication, as well as promising to fight state laws that could criminalize crossing state lines to obtain an abortion.

They have taken important steps, Goss Graves said. The executive order was important, the materials the agencies are releasing this week have provided critical clarity, but the work is not done.

But that work will require working together, said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who said that her organization is committed to working with the Biden administration on abortion protections.

We recognize that there are limits to what the Biden administration can do to remedy the chaos caused by this decision, said McGill Johnson. People expect actions from elected officials at all levels of governmentincluding the presidentthat not only affirm, but protect their right to abortion and freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and futures.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Murdered computer engineer Laurie Houts next to a mans hands in handcuffs.

Twice he was tried, and twice, a jury failed to convict John Kevin Woodward for killing his roommates girlfriend, a computer engineer and athlete found strangled in her car in Mountain View, Calif., in the early 1990s.

Now, prosecutors have charged the gay tech CEO with murder for the third time in connection with a killing that happened 30 years ago after they say new developments in forensic science technology link him to the murder weapon.

Police arrested Woodward, Readytechs president and chief executive officer, at JFK International Airport in New York Saturday after he arrived from Amsterdam, according to a Santa Clara County District Attorneys news release.

He is charged with murdering 25-year-old Laurie Houts.

Authorities say Woodward waived extradition, so Mountain View police have until July 29 to escort him back to Santa Clara County, where hell be formally booked and arraigned.

Houts was found strangled in her car about a mile from her job by a passerby on Sept. 5, 1992. A rope was still wrapped around her neck.

Her footprints were on the windshield interior, a sign of her struggle with Woodward. Her unrifled pocketbook was nearby, the news release states.

Woodward, prosecutors say, had developed unrequited feelings for Houts boyfriend, his roommate, and was openly jealous of her. Woodward did not have an alibi, and when asked about Houts death by the boyfriend, he asked about what the investigators knew about him.

Despite finding Woodwards fingerprints outside Houts car, investigators could not prove that he was inside.

As a result of the death in the late 1990s, Woodward was tried twice, but the case was dismissed. The jury did not reach a verdict in the first trial. Following the second trial, a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Following the dismissal of his case, Woodward moved to the Netherlands.

Detectives reexamined the case and resubmitted items from the original investigation to the Santa Clara County Crime Lab for analysis in late 2020, according to Mountain View police. The DNA samples found in the evidence matched Woodwards DNA, police said. Additionally, more than 80 latent fingerprints found in the evidence matched him. Detectives and a crime lab also linked Woodward to the rope found around Houts neck in 2021 using new developments in forensic science technology.

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Police used Y-STR analysis of paternal male chromosomes to identify Woodward as the suspect. Houts boyfriend was excluded.

The Houts family said they are hopeful that justice can finally be served, according to a statement by the City of Mountain View.

Woodward could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

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Colonel Oleksiy Avramchenko from Crimea was eliminated in Ukraine

Read also: High-ranking Russian marine killed by Ukrainian army

Allegedly, the deputy commander of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division for military-political work Avramchenko, came under fire not far from Kherson and died from blood loss.

Avramchenko was born in Simferopol and lived in Crimea.

Before the occupation of Crimea he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

After the capture of the peninsula by Russian invading forces, he didnt arrive to the mainland of Ukraine and instead defected to Russia.

Read also: Russian Wagner mercenary killed in action in Ukraine

Prior to the betrayal, Avramchenko served in the military unit A-1668, the Crimean Territorial Department of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and was the deputy commander for educational work.

It was Avramchenko who, during the occupation of Crimea in 2014, lowered the state flag of Ukraine on a military base and raised the Russian flag. After switching sides, he received a medal "for fidelity to the duty."
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Several thousand Hungarians protested against Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government on Wednesday in the second day of anti-government rallies after lawmakers fast-tracked legislation sharply raising taxes for small firms.

An hours-long blockade of a bridge in Budapest on Tuesday failed to derail the approval of a motion by nationalist Orban's government to increase the tax rate for hundreds of thousands of small businesses.

Wednesday's rally again gathered outside parliament before protesters chanting "We've had enough!" marched across central Budapest, temporarily blocking main traffic junctions and another bridge over the River Danube.

Zsolt Turi, one of the protesters at the rally, said his income would fall sharply under the revised tax scheme, set to take effect in September, which he called an unacceptable prospect.

"I will go into the black market ... paying the minimal social security, or I will grab my suitcase and leave for the nearest normal country," he said.

Re-elected in April, Orban is facing his toughest challenge since taking power in a 2010 landslide, with inflation at a two-decade high, the forint at record lows and European Union funds in limbo amid a dispute over democratic standards.

A tightening of gas supplies to Europe and soaring fuel costs since Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February have added to pressure on Orban, whose right-wing Fidesz is still by far the most popular party in Hungary.

On Wednesday his government ordered an export ban on fuels like gas and scrapped a years-long cap on utility prices for higher-usage households, rolling back one of the 59-year-old prime minister's signature economic policies.

The measure will sharply increase electricity and gas prices for households using more energy than average consumption levels.

(Reporting by Krisztina Fenyo; Writing by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis)
By Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has ordered an export ban on fuels like gas and scrapped a years-long cap on utility prices for higher-usage households, a senior aide said on Wednesday.

The measures, which also include a plan to boost domestic gas output to 2 billion cubic metres from 1.5 billion, will take effect from August to ensure the continued supply of energy in winter, Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said.

Gas supplies to Europe have tightened and fuel costs have soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February and subsequent sanctions, leaving countries scrambling to refill storage and diversify supply channels.

That has added to pressure on nationalist Orban, who is facing his toughest challenge since taking power in a 2010 landslide, with inflation at a two-decade high, the forint at record lows and European Union funds in limbo amid a dispute over democratic standards.

"The time has come for the government to declare a state of emergency in energy," Gulyas told a press briefing after a meeting of Orban's cabinet ministers to discuss energy supply problems in Europe.

Under a 15-year deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom signed last year, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year via Bulgaria and Serbia, and a further 1 bcm via a pipeline from Austria.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier that Budapest was in talks to buy more gas before the heating season, on top of its existing long-term contract with Russia, which supplies 85% of the country's gas needs.

Szijjarto said Hungary's storage facilities, which have capacity for 6.33 bcm of gas, were 44% full, representing about a quarter of annual consumption.

Data from Hungarian regulator MEKH however shows that the 2.74 bcm of gas stored as of mid-July was by far the lowest amount in the past four years, and well below the 4.5 bcm stored last year and 5.4 bcm a year earlier.

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Gulyas said for the time being Hungary's gas supply was uninterrupted, and any future restrictions, should they be needed, would affect households as a last resort.

"Wastefulness can no longer be afforded anywhere," Gulyas said. "Every alternative should be looked at that provides incentives for the most sparing use of energy in the economy."

Orban's government has also authorised state energy group MVM and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockpiling Association to buy additional gas on the market to store ahead of the heating season.

"We estimate that it is possible to buy 700 million cubic metres of gas before the start of the heating season," Szijjarto said on Wednesday, without specifying who Hungary was talking to about additional supplies.

Financial news website portfolio.hu cited unnamed market sources as saying that Orban's government was looking at a syndicated bank loan to finance the cost of additional gas purchases, estimated at up to 1 billion euros ($1 billion).

Orban passed a decree last month empowering his government to take over supervision of vital energy firms and gas pipeline network operator FGSZ in an emergency to ensure continuous supply.

Economists at Wood & Company said Hungary was the most exposed central European country to a potential energy shortage, which could put additional pressure on the forint, central Europe's worst-performing currency.

($1 = 0.9967 euros)

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (Getty Images)

Rep Ilhan Omar offered an expert response to Lauren Boebert questioning why the congresswoman is allowed to wear a hijab given the separation of church and state in the US Constitution.

Appearing on Steve Bannons War Room show on Wednesday, the Colorado representative said: If there really is this separation of church and state like they believe it means, then what is Ilhan doing with her hijab on?

Mangling the pronunciation of hijab, Ms Boebert went on to say: Why is she able to go in there with that?

In response to the comment, which subsequently went viral in a clip posted on Twitter critics slammed Ms Boebert for misunderstanding the basic concept of separation of church and state on social media.

Ms Omar also weighed in and responded to Ms Boebert with a Gordon Ramsay meme featuring the chef forcing another chef to call herself idiot sandwich. Essentially, Ms Omar described Ms Boebert as an idiot sandwich.

Another social media user wrote: That literally is separation of church and state, where she can go to Congress with her hijab on the same way Boebert gets to go with her cross on.

How do we end up with these ill-educated people? tweeted another.

Herschels gonna have to work overtime on his evolution thesis to top this one, another said, referring to troubled Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker.

Last month, Ms Boebert said she was tired of the concept of separation of church and state, which she described as a long-standing concept stemming from a stinking letter penned by one of the Founding Fathers.
By Mayank Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports rose 14.96% in June from the previous month as the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils stepped up purchases from Malaysia, Thailand and Papua New Guinea to offset the impact of export curbs imposed by Indonesia.

In June, India imported 590,921 tonnes of palm oil, the most widely consumed edible oil in the country as well as globally, up from 514,022 tonnes in May, Mumbai-based trade body the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) of India said in a statement.

Indonesia, the world's biggest producer and exporter of palm oil, on April 28 halted exports of the product to control soaring prices at home. Jakarta allowed exports to resume from May 23 but put in place policies to safeguard domestic supplies.

India's June palm oil imports were in line with the vegetable oil industry's expectation of a 15% jump in overseas purchases.

The higher palm oil purchases by India could support Malaysian palm oil futures.

Malaysian palm oil futures plunged more than 6% on Wednesday due to weak July exports, while fears of renewed COVID-19 curbs in China sparked a selloff in rival Dalian oils.

In July, India's palm oil imports are set to jump to the highest in 10 months because of a significant price correction, as Indonesia allows more tropical oil exports.

India's sunflower oil imports jumped to 119,558 tonnes in June, up from 118,482 tonnes in May. The SEA said the country's soyoil imports in June fell to 230,992 tonnes from 373,043 tonnes a month ago.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while soyoil is primarily sourced from Argentina, Brazil and the United States. India imports sunflower oil from Ukraine and Russia.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
Two Rapides Parish men have been arrested on drug and other charges in separate investigations by Rapides Parish Sheriff's Area Drug Enforcement agents.

Both investigations began earlier this year after complaints about drug sales and distribution in the parish, according to separate news releases.

Both men, one from Glenmora and another from Alexandria, were booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center #1 on July 6. The Glenmora resident remains in jail on a $120,000 bail, while the Alexandria man bonded out on July 7 after posting a $85,500 bond.

Police say man opened the door holding drugs

In the first case, that of the Glenmora man, the unit had received anonymous complaints about fentanyl sales in the Alexandria area. Agents were able to get an arrest warrant for him on a charge of distribution of fentanyl.

Exclusive: Video from inside Uvalde school shows officers' delayed response to mass shooting

On July 5, a tip came in that police say placed the 24-year-old man at an Alexandria motel. Once agents confirmed he was there, they went to the room.

"Agents knocked on the door, and ... opened the door holding a small baggie of suspected fentanyl in his hands," reads the release.

He was arrested and the room was searched after securing a warrant, according to the release. A larger bag of fentanyl and a handgun were found.

He was booked on the warrant and additional charges of possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance II with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a firearm with drugs, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and a probation violation warrant from Allen Parish.

Court news: Trial begins for Pineville man accused of sexually abusing 3-year-old

Deputies say discarded meth hit their windshields

In the second case, agents responded to complaints about large amounts of meth being distributed in the parish, reads a separate news release.

An arrest warrant was obtained for the Alexandria man identified as the suspect, who was seen driving on July 6 in the Old Boyce and Airbase roads area. The man didn't stop when deputies tried to pull him over, according to the news release.

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It states he drove to Interstate 49 South, where he began "throwing large quantities of suspected methamphetamine from his vehicle, with some hitting the windshield of the deputies' units."

Officers with the Alexandria Police Department joined the chase, which ended in the 9th Street area. More meth was found after the chase ended, and "a significant amount" of meth was recovered off I-49, it reads.

The 21-year-old man was booked into jail on the warrant, as well as possession with intent to distribute less than 28 grams of meth, possession with intent to distribute a Controlled Dangerous Substance II, flight from an officer, obstruction of justice and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Online

RADE is a multi-jurisdictional unit that investigates drug trafficking in Central Louisiana. Tips can be made anonymously through its Facebook page at facebook.com/RADEunit.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Glenmora, Alexandria men arrested on drug charges after investigations
ROME  Irans foreign minister insists his country opposes Russias war against Ukraine, but was vague Wednesday about whether Tehrans military cooperation with Moscow would include sales of drones that could carry missiles.

Earlier in the war, Iran was criticized in the West for not condemning Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. But Wednesday, in the Rome daily La Repubblica, Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying that we are against Russias military attack in Ukraine.

Abdollahian arrived in Rome on Monday for a visit including meetings with Italian business officials and industrialists, as well as with the Italian foreign minister and Vatican officials.

The Iranian foreign minister was vague when asked about U.S. contentions that Russia is about to acquire Iranian drones that could transport missiles.

We have various types of collaboration with Russia, including in the defense sector, Abdollahian replied. But we wont help either of the sides involved in this war because we believe that it [the war] needs to be stopped.

He went on to slam Western countries, saying their arms manufacturers want to sell weapons. We will avoid any action that could lead to an escalation, but we will work to stop the war.

Nuclear talks with Iran have been at a standstill for months. Abdollahian in the interview contended that the negotiators have made progress on a draft agreement but that " there are other questions to be faced.

Pressed to elaborate, the minister replied: We are asking for a strong economic guarantee. If a Western business signs a contract with its Iranian counterpart, it must have the certainty that its project will be realized and will be able to receive compensation. The comment apparently referred to business deals affected by sanctions against Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.s nuclear watchdog, reported last month that Iran has 43 kilograms (95 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity  a short step to 90%. Nonproliferation experts warn thats enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon if Iran chose to pursue it.

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However, Iran still would need to design a bomb and a delivery system for it, which could likely take months. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Tehrans escalating nuclear work has raised alarms, and transparency is rapidly diminishing over its nuclear program. Last month Iran shut off more than two dozen IAEA monitoring cameras from nuclear-related sites across the country.

Asked about the cameras, Abdollahian denied that the Iranians shut them off, saying instead we took them off the circuit and insisting they were voluntarily installed.

In whatever moment that the negotiations reach some result, we will bring back the 27 video cameras installed by IAEA inside our sites, the minister said.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has determined that Independence police officers were justified in fatally shooting a 35-year-old man near his home last year after a dispute between neighbors led to gunfire.

Aaron C. Pouche, of Independence, was shot and killed on the night of March 31, 2021 after police responded to the 800 block of South Carlisle Avenue. Authorities allege Pouche had been firing gunshots from a small caliber rifle, pointed the gun at one officer and refused commands to drop the weapon when confronted by police.

In an open letter from Bakers office, dated June 8, prosecutors said that upon review of the situation that no criminal charges should be brought against the officers involved in the shooting.

It is always unfortunate and tragic when officers are faced with life and death decisions that result in the death of any one of our community members, Baker said in the letter, adding: However, the officers acts were within the scope of their legal authority as law enforcement officers in the state of Missouri.

The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, upon which prosecutors based their conclusions.

Police were initially called to the block for a reported disturbance between neighbors. One of the first officers on scene reported hearing an argument between neighbors and the sound of a gunshot.

From there, the officer ran toward the back yard of a residence and saw Pouche. Prosecutors say Pouche walked away from the officer, who briefly lost sight of him, then noticed a rifle in his hands.

Prosecutors say the officer used a Taser that was ineffective. Then, after Pouche retreated behind a deck staircase, he heard gunfire that he believed was other officers on the scene, the letter says. Then the officer realized that he had been struck by gunfire.

Another officer on scene reported seeing muzzle flashes and hearing gunfire coming from the direction that he understood to be where Pouche was located. He said the officer who was struck was returning fire. Police then found Pouche face down, with the rifle still in his hands, according to the report.

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Pouche was taken to North Kansas City Hospital. He was pronounced dead there.

Investigators interviewed neighbors on the block. Several described an ongoing feud between Pouche and other neighbors that night, including hearing a threat directed at one home.

One neighbor reported he was almost certain that gunfire originated from Pouches neighbors, but prosecutors noted there was no indication that a firearm was located there. The witness also described a volley of shots between the two homes that preceded the police shooting.

One of those interviewed by investigators was Pouches fiance and the mother of his two children, according to the letter. She reported to police that she returned home from the bowling alley, followed by Pouche, that night and there was an argument between neighbors down the street.

She told investigators Pouche was trying to keep neighbors from coming onto their property because of a previous incident where Pouche was attacked in their house, Bakers letter says .

Several details about the investigation remained unclear Tuesday based on Bakers letter and whats publicly known.

Among them was how one officer, wounded during the incident, was struck by gunfire. According to prosecutors, one officer reported believing in the early aftermath that the other officer was struck by friendly fire, but later reported that was no longer his belief.

It was also unclear whether Pouche knew that he was being encountered by police late that night, though prosecutors noted that officers were in uniform and had been issuing commands for him to drop the weapon.

Tom Porto, a Kansas City attorney representing Pouches family, said Pouche was a business owner and father. He said the family was disappointed with the decision not to bring criminal charges.

Aaron Pouche was a family man and member of this community. And this decision is greatly disappointing, Porto said.

A spokesman for Independence police said Tuesday that the agency did not have comment on the outcome of the investigation.

The Stars Luke Nozicka contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Through seven hearings this summer, the House Jan. 6 panel has maintained two consistent themes: Donald Trumps stubborn resistance to advisers who told him that Joe Biden won the election, and the former presidents role in inciting the Capitol insurrection.

Each hearing has had a separate focus  this weeks was domestic extremism  but the nine-member panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack has not strayed from its central findings: that Trump made historically unprecedented moves to overturn his 2020 election defeat and then turned a blind eye as his supporters beat police and broke into the Capitol to defend him.

A rundown of what weve learned so far from the public hearings of the select Jan. 6 committee  and whats next:

TRUMP IGNORED HIS ADVISERS

At every hearing, the panel has played video testimony from White House aides and Trump associates who said they told Trump that Biden won the election and advised him to drop his false claims of widespread voter fraud. Many were emboldened by former Attorney General Bill Barrs declaration in early December 2020 that there was no evidence of mass fraud that could change the election outcome.

Among those aides was Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, who told the panel that she accepted Barrs conclusions. Eugene Scalia, Trumps labor secretary, said he told Trump it was time for him to say Biden had won after states certified the electors on Dec. 14. Barr, who told Trump to his face that the fraud claims were b-t, said he feared the president was becoming detached from reality.

But Trump ignored those advisers. Instead he listened to a small group of allies outside the White House who were pushing the fraud claims, sometimes in fantastical ways.

At Tuesdays hearing, video testimony from White House lawyers described theories pushed by lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell that they thought were nuts, including compromised voting machines and thermostats. A Dec. 18 meeting in the White House lasted for six hours and devolved into screaming and profanity, several participants said, as the two sides clashed over Trumps next steps.

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Trumps White House counsel, Pat Cipollone told the committee in a videotaped interview that the lawyers kept asking Powell and Giuliani for evidence, but never received any good answers.

THE PRESIDENTS CALLS TO ACTION

Rebuffed by many of those closest to him, Trump turned toward a much wider audience on social media. Hours after the Dec. 18 meeting, he tweeted that his supporters should come to a big protest on Jan. 6, when Congress would certify Biden's win.

Trump tweeted: Be there, will be wild!

The committee showed a montage of videos and social media posts after the tweet as supporters reacted and planned trips to Washington, some of them using violent rhetoric and talking about killing police officers. Far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers mobilized their members to come to Washington and protest, and members of those groups descended on the Capitol before Trump had even finished his fiery speech outside the White House that morning.

At a hearing last month, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Trump knew that some of his supporters gathered for the event were armed because they had been turned away at security checkpoints. But she quoted Trump as directing his staff, in profane terms, to take away the metal-detecting magnetometers if their presence meant fewer people would be at the rally. He then took the stage and urged the entire crowd to march to the Capitol.

Stephen Ayres, who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, testified in person at Tuesdays hearing. He talked about how he believed Trumps lies as they were amplified on social media, and said he came to Washington at the behest of his president.

His arrest changed his life for the worse, Ayres said, and hes angry he believed the claims of fraud.

A MISSED MARCH TO THE CAPITOL

The committee has focused in particular on Trumps efforts to go to the Capitol with his supporters after his speech. Hutchinson said that many of Trumps aides, and even House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, were aware of his plan and tried to stop it. She also described Trumps anger as security officials refused to take him there after his speech.

On Tuesday, the committee revealed more evidence that Trump had planned to call for his supporters to march to the Capitol, and that he would go with them. The panel showed a draft tweet, undated and never sent, that said Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal! The draft tweet was stamped, president has seen.

They also showed texts and email exchanges between planners and White House aides about a secret plan for the march.

This stays only between us, we are having a second stage at the Supreme Court after Trumps rally, wrote one of the rallys organizers, Kylie Kremer, to a Trump confidant. POTUS is going to have us march there/the Capitol. People will try to sabotage it if they found out, she said.

PRESSURE TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION

The committees first few hearings focused on Trumps pressure campaign to thwart Bidens victory  aimed at state election officials, at the Justice Department and finally at Vice President Mike Pence. The presidents pressure ramped up as courts rejected dozens of lawsuits and after the states certified the electors in mid-December.

At a hearing with state officials, Georgias Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, told of Trumps phone call in which he asked him to find 11,780 votes that could give him a win. Rusty Bowers, Arizonas GOP House speaker, testified about a call from Trump in which the president proposed that his chamber reject the slate of electors for Biden, who had won the state. Both Raffensperger and Bowers testified in person.

In a separate hearing, Justice Department officials described Trumps effort to not only have them declare the election corrupt but to replace the acting attorney general with an ally of his in the department who sympathized with his false claims.

And Greg Jacob, a lawyer to Pence, testified about scheming within the White House to try and convince Pence to object to the results or delay the certification in his traditional ceremonial role presiding over the count. But Jacob said that as he and Pence reviewed the constitution, the law, and frankly just common sense, they confirmed that Pence did not have that authority.

On Jan. 6, hours after Trumps supporters broke in and interrupted the proceedings, Pence declared Biden the winner.

WHATS NEXT

The committee is planning to hold its eighth hearing next week. That hearing is expected to feature the testimony of White House aides and center on what Trump was doing during the hours that his supporters were violently breaking into the Capitol.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the committee, said the hearing will be a profound moment of reckoning for America.

Once the hearings are over, the panel is expected to issue a final report. That could come before the November midterm election, said the committees chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, in an interview on Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
A man who joined the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol apologized Tuesday to officers who protected the building after telling lawmakers that he regrets being duped by the former president's lies of election fraud.

During a hearing before the U.S. House committee that's investigating the insurrection, Stephen Ayres testified that he felt called by former President Donald Trump to come to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

He described being swept up by Trump's bogus claims, and believing as he marched to the Capitol that Trump would join them there and that there was still a chance the election could be overturned.

I felt like I had like horse blinders on. I was locked in the whole time," said Ayres, who is scheduled to be sentenced in September after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in the riot.

His message to others: Take the blinders off, make sure you step back and see whats going on before its too late.

It changed my life, he said. And not for the good.

Ayres, who was not accused of any violence or destruction on Jan. 6, said he worked for a cabinet company in northeast Ohio for 20 years, but lost his job and sold his home after the riot. He was joined by his wife at the hearing.

After the hearing, Ayres approached officers in the committee room who have testified about being verbally and physically attacked by the angry mob. Ayres apologized for his actions to Capitol Police Officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former MPD officer Michael Fanone.

The officers appeared to have different responses to Ayres attempt to make amends.

Fanone told The Associated Press that the apology was not necessary because it doesnt do s for me. Hodges said on CNN that he accepted the apology, adding that you have to believe that there are people out there who can change.

Gonell, who recently found out that the injuries he succumbed to on Jan. 6 wont allow him to be a part of the force any longer, said he accepted the sentiment from Ayres, but it doesnt amount to much.

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He still has to answer for what he did legally. And to his God. So its up to him, the former sergeant said.

Dunn, who didnt stand up when Ayres approached him, said he does not accept his apology.

The Jan. 6 House committee that's investigating the insurrection sought to use Ayres' testimony to show how Trump's Dec. 19, 2020, tweet calling his supporters to Washington mobilized not only far-right extremist groups, but average Americans to descend on the nation's capital.

Ayres described being a loyal follower of Trump on social media before Jan. 6 and said he felt he needed to heed the presidents call to come to Washington, D.C., for the Stop the Steal rally.

I was very upset, as were most of his supporters, Ayres said when asked about Trumps unfounded election claims. Asked by Rep. Liz Cheney if he still believes the election was stolen, Ayres said, Not so much now.

Ayres said he wasnt planning to storm the Capitol before Trumps speech got everybody riled up. He had believed the president would be joining them at the Capitol.

Basically, we were just following what he said, Ayres said.

Ayres said he and friends who accompanied him to Washington decided to leave the Capitol when Trump sent a tweet asking rioters to leave. If Trump had done that earlier in the day, maybe we wouldn't be in this bad of a situation, Ayres said.

Ayres said it makes him mad that Trump is still pushing his bogus claims about the election.

I was hanging on every word he was saying, he said. Everything he was putting out, I was following it.

His testimony echoed the words of many Capitol rioters who have expressed remorse for their crimes at sentencing hearings.

He's among about 840 people who have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. More than 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor charges punishable by no more than one year in prison. More than 200 have been sentenced.

In his court case, Ayres admitted that he drove from Ohio to Washington on the eve of the Stop the Steal rally to protest Congress certification of the Electoral College vote count. He entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing doors and remained inside for about 10 minutes, joining other rioters in chanting.

In a Facebook post four days before the riot, Ayres attached an image of a poster that said the president is calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest."

In another Facebook post before the riot, he wrote, Mainstream media, social media, Democrat party, FISA courts, Chief Justice John Roberts, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, etc....all have committed TREASON against a sitting U.S. president! !! All are now put on notice by We The People!

____

Associated Press reporters Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report from Washington.

___

For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege.
My name is Kay Abbitt, and Im running for School Board. I have been a professional educator here for 25 years. My four children attended Alachua County Public Schools, K-12th grade. Im married to John Abbitt  he is an amazing husband and excellent sign deliverer.

Having experience in education is vital for board members. Why is that? Weve seen detrimental policy sent down from Tallahassee by groups who have no education experience. Weve also seen it at the local level.

To make successful policy, you must have first-hand experience to understand issues. As a parent, teacher, business owner and administrator, I understand how to make policy. I have the education experience needed to be effective. Without experience, you can only react to others; you cant be a leader.

I was a teacher in Alachua County for 10 years. To supplement my income, I was an adjunct at Santa Fe College and a tutor for athletes at the University of Florida. Teachers should not have to work extra jobs to support their family.

Kay Abbitt, District 5 School Board candidate

Teachers are professionals and should be paid as such. My teachers were treated this way, and I will ensure that county teachers are also supported by their administration, and I will be fiscally responsible so that extra funding can support teacher raises.

Years ago, I started a company that provided federally funded tutoring to over 700 students in Florida and North Carolina. During the eight years of the company, I managed over 200 employees. I understand being fiscally responsible while providing high-quality services.

For the past nine years, Ive been the director of Boulware Springs Charter School in northeast Gainesville. My daughter and I co-founded the school in northeast Gainesville because schools were struggling there.

In 2015, only 23% of the students at Rawlings and 31% at Metcalfe passed the third grade ELA state test. In 2022 (seven years later), the percentage of third graders passing ELA state testing has gone down to 13% at Rawlings and to 26% at Metcalfe. Think of it this way  of the 60 Rawlings third graders who were tested in reading this year, only eight of them are reading proficiently at a third-grade level.

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This cannot continue. Putting band aids on the issues at these schools is not effective.

I know how to develop innovative ways to turn these schools around. My school has a 70% pass rate this year which is one of the highest in the county, and has been an A school for many years.

Behavior in schools is currently unacceptable. This past year, 7,015 students had at least one referral. There were 2,285 students who had five-plus referrals. There were countless students who disrupted class, misbehaved in bathrooms and were disrespectful to teachers who werent punished.

The code of student conduct addresses behaviors with consequences attached. It has no value if administration at schools is not following through with the consequences. Students cannot learn and teachers cannot teach when there is misconduct. I was successful in addressing this issue as principal and, as a board member, this will be a top priority.

The dysfunctionality of our current board is one of the reasons our district is dealing with many problems. As a board member, Ill work tirelessly to ensure that our schools are safe places where students can get a quality education.

Vote for Kay Abbitt because: 1) I have the education experience needed to make good decisions to get our schools running effectively, 2) I am open-minded and willing to listen to other points of view, 3) I truly care about what is best for all students.

Kay Abbitt is running for the Alachua County School Board, District 5. Opinion columns written by the candidates in this race and others running in the upcoming election can be found online at bit.ly/august22electioncolumns.

Join the conversation

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Column from Alachua County School Board Candidate Kay Abbitt
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it hoped President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia would not be used to try to foster anti-Russian relations, just as the United States seeks to convince Riyadh to boost oil production amid soaring prices.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Biden will make the case for greater oil production from OPEC nations to bring down gasoline prices when he meets Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia this week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and the world's biggest exporter of natural gas, highly valued cooperation with Saudi Arabia within the framework of OPEC+ group of world's leading oil producers.

"We are within the framework of the OPEC + agreements, and we highly appreciate the work that we manage to do with our partners, including with leading partners such as Saudi Arabia," he told a daily conference call with reporters.

"We highly appreciate our relations and our interaction with Riyadh and we certainly hope that the building of relations and the development of relations between Riyadh and other world capitals will in no way be directed against us."

As the world faces one of the worst energy supply crunches since the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s, Biden has repeatedly urged the OPEC+ and its kingpin Saudi Arabia to lift oil production faster than the group is already doing.

But major Gulf producers have little spare production capacity.

Oil and gas exports, which constitute a significant share Russia's state budget income, are the centrepiece of Moscow's response to the sanctions the West has imposed over the conflict in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Friday that continued sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine risked triggering catastrophic energy price rises for consumers around the world.

Putin says the West has fomented a global economic crisis with soaring inflation by imposing sanctions for what he calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota Getty Images

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert renews her ideological attacks on Democrat Ilhan Omar in her new memoir.

Boebert writes that Omar "not only doesn't speak out against terrorism; she condones it."

Boebert compared Omar to a suicide bomber in 2021 and tweeted regrets, but never resolved anything.

Still feeling spurned after an initial apology was rejected, GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado rekindles her feud with Rep. Ilhan Omar in a new memoir by calling the Minnesota Democrat a "terrorist sympathizer" who "consistently spewed anti-American and anti-Jewish rhetoric."

In a chapter titled "Keep the Faith, Keep Up the Fight," Boebert attacks Omar  and, by extension, Democrats who consider the deadly attack on the US Capitol newsworthy.

"Leftists will compare January 6 to 9/11 but look the other way when a domestic terror group like Antifa sets fire to cities like Portland, Seattle, or Minneapolis. In fact, Minneapolis's own congressional representative not only doesn't speak out against terrorism; she condones it," Boebert writes, adding that Omar "has long been a terrorist sympathizer, which she's made clear repeatedly with outlandish comments and vitriolic, bigoted posts on Twitter."

Boebert again criticized Omar's remark in a 2019 speech that "some people did something" on 9/11, referring to the terrorists, as part of remarks about Islamophobia in America in the wake of 9/11.

Omar's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The Democrat has previously accused Boebert of having "a clear pattern for Islamophobic hate speech."

Boebert amps up the vitriol by referring to Omar by her full name, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar  a move reminiscent of Republicans' play to terrify their base by demonizing President Barack emphasis-on-Hussein Obama. Omar, who moved to the US as a child refugee after she and her family fled Somalia's civil war, became one of the two first Muslim women ever elected to Congress along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib in 2018.

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Boebert has repeatedly attacked both Omar and Tlaib, calling her two colleagues "black-hearted evil women" and calling Omar a member of the "jihad squad."

This latest attack, included in the newly-released "My American Life," comes months after Boebert was accused of being Islamophobic for characterizing Omar as a suicide bomber during a campaign rally in Colorado. The ensuing controversy last fall led to awkward phone calls between the two, a public rebuke from Omar, and passage of an anti-Islamophobia bill.

Time may have passed, but Boebert clearly hasn't let go of the incident.

She blasts Omar anew, laying into her for describing some terrorist attacks as the outgrowth of systemic abuse.

"Aww, the poor things. Those misunderstood, maladjusted, and alienated guys," Boebert mockingly writes. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Ilhan, but terrorists are alienated because law-abiding Americans don't take kindly to murderous, bloodthirsty psychopaths slaughtering the innocent in the name of politics, religion, or anything else."

Boebert rages on from there, recounting the controversial "anecdote" she shared about riding in an elevator with Omar  "a joke that I later realized could be hurtful to people in the Islamic community, so I won't repeat it here," she notes  the subsequent firestorm that ensued on social media, and a private conversation with Omar that didn't go as planned.

"I was able to speak with Omar by phone a few days later and apologize personally," Boebert writes, adding that Omar demanded a public apology (beyond what Boebert said she'd already tweeted out). " It took but a second to realize there was no reasoning with this person, so I told Omar she should apologize for her anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-police rhetoric."

How did they leave things?

"Omar hung up on me," Boebert writes.

Omar said in a statement at the time at Boebert refused to apologize to her on the call.

"Instead of apologizing for her Islamophobic comments and fabricated lies, Rep. Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments," Omar said. "She instead doubled down on her rhetoric and I decided to end the unproductive call."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Liverpool supporters were unfairly blamed by the French authorities for the chaos surrounding last seasons Champions League final in Paris, a Senate report has concluded (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

Liverpool FC fans were unfairly blamed for the chaos which surrounded last seasons Champions League final in Paris to divert attention from the failure of the organisers, a French Senate report has found.

The Senate has heard from Reds supporters, along with French police and government officials and UEFAs events director, Martin Kallen, since the match on May 28, which kicked off more than half an hour late.

Frances interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially laid the blame for the delays at the door of ticketless Liverpool supporters for the build-up of crowds at the perimeter of the Stade de France, with police also using tear gas on fans as they waited to gain entry.

The provisional report of its findings, published on Wednesday, stated: It is unfair to have wanted to make supporters of the Liverpool team bear the responsibility for the disturbances that occurred, as the Minister of the Interior did to divert attention from the inability of the state to adequately manage the crowds present and to curb the action of several hundred violent and co-ordinated offenders.

The report found the chaos had been caused by a chain of events and malfunctions in the days and hours leading up to kick-off.

The report added: The systems put in place had major shortcomings with regard to the intelligence (absence of hooligans but presence of delinquents in large numbers), the transport routes for supporters (removal of a drop-off route at the surroundings of the stadium) and insufficient communication.

(PA Wire)

It is not only in the execution that problems arose. Upstream, the crisis scenarios were insufficiently worked on and did not demonstrate the necessary flexibility in the face of so many unanticipated events.

The Senate report said the French authorities must learn the lessons from the serious collective failure which had occurred and apply them to the hosting of next years Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games.

The report described UEFAs management of the ticketing system as unsuitable and criticised a lack of training for stewards, who it said were quickly overwhelmed.

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UEFA had failed to put in place a system in advance to detect the extent of forgeries, the Senate found.

The report said the French football federation (FFF) had identified 2,471 counterfeit tickets, 1,644 of them in the southern sector of the stadium dedicated to Liverpool supporters.

It also said the decision to run a first check on ticket validity at pre-screening security points had led to checkpoints becoming blocked.

The Senate recommended the introduction of tamper-proof ticketing for such major events, and improved co-ordination between stewards and police.
A Louisiana judge has blocked the states anti-abortion trigger laws, again, as a legal battle to protect abortion access in the state continues after the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion care.

State Judge Don Johnson granted a temporary restraining order on 12 July that blocks enforcement of state laws that ban legal abortion care in nearly all instances from the moment of fertilisation.

The order  which will allow the states three abortion clinics to resume care  came just days after a New Orleans judge dissolved the restraining order as a procedural matter as the case moved jurisdictions from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for 18 July.

This is an incredible relief for people who need abortion care right now in Louisiana, Center for Reproductive Rights senior staff attorney Jenny Ma said in a statement. Abortion care in the state can resume today, and further irreparable harm has been avoided. Our work continues and we now look ahead to our hearing on Monday, where we will ask the judge to block the bans more permanently.

Following the US Supreme Courts decision on 24 June to strike down the half-century precedent in Roe v Wade, at least nine states  Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin  have outlawed abortion entirely in nearly all instances.

As many as 26 states could outlaw abortion without protections affirmed under Roe. Republican-led state legislatures are poised to draft more-restrictive laws in the coming weeks and months.

Earlier this year, Louisianas anti-abortion Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law an anti-abortion measure that makes no exception for pregnancies from rape or incest.

The measure imposes a prison sentence of up to 10 years and up to $10,000 in fines for convicted abortion providers or anyone found guilty of performing an abortion. An abortion performed later in the pregnancy could result in a 15-year prison sentence as well as a minimum $20,000 fine.

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Following the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization, Louisianas trigger laws were in effect, according to state officials. Four days later, a New Orleans judge temporarily blocked their enforcement, pending a legal challenge from providers in the state and abortion rights advocates.

Louisianas Republican Attorney General, who is fighting the lawsuit, said on Tuesday that the rule of law must be followed, and I will not rest until it is.

City officials in New Orleans have pledged to reject anti-abortion prosecutions. A resolution from the New Orleans City Council also aims to prohibit the use of city funding or other municipal resources to assist other law enforcement agencies to assist with anti-abortion cases.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told The Independent last month that his office is focused on pursuing accountability and justice for the most serious, violent crimes committed against our people.

We cannot and will not shift the priority from tackling senseless shootings and rapes to investigating the choices women make with regard to their own bodies, he said.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a statement last week that our community elected me to bring progressive change to our jail, not to bring us back to the days before Roe v Wade.

I stand with our District Attorney and City Council in saying we will not use the limited resources of our offices to criminalize a women's right to choose or a physician's duty of care, she said.
A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl who received national attention for not being able to obtain an abortion in Ohio following the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to a report by the Columbus Dispatch.

Gershon Fuentes of Columbus, Ohio, has been charged with rape after he was arrested on Tuesday, the Dispatch reported. Police told the Dispatch he confessed to raping the girl at least twice.

The Columbus Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

The girl needed to travel to Indiana to receive the abortion at the end of last month, the Indianapolis Star, a sister paper of the Dispatch, reported earlier this month.

Ohio law bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which usually occurs about six weeks into pregnancy.

Indiana may pass increased abortion restrictions at a special legislative session scheduled for this month.

That story went viral around the world, and eventually got the attention of President Biden.

He referenced the girls situation on Friday during remarks he gave alongside signing an executive order to try to protect abortion rights in response to Roes overturn.

Raped, six weeks pregnant. Already traumatized. Was forced to travel to another state. Imagine being that little girl, he said.

The Supreme Courts ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is sending decisions on abortion rights to the states, and could set up large deserts in which people seeking the service have to travel hundreds of miles.

The Stars story about the Ohio 10-year-old had also sparked some questions, with some questioning its validity in the days after the Star reported on the girls situation.

Ohio State Attorney General Dave Yost (R) told Fox Newss Jesse Watters on Monday that he is in regular contact with local authorities throughout the state but had not heard a whisper of a report being filed related to a 10-year-old being raped.

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He defended his comments in an interview with the USA Today Network Ohio bureau on Tuesday, saying that each day passing makes the story more likely a fabrication.

After the arrest was made, Yost posted a statement on Twitter, saying his heart aches for the childs suffering and he is grateful to Columbus police for securing a confession and taking a rapist off the streets.

The story was also questioned in news outlets like Fox News and the New York Post.

According to the Dispatch, a detective testified at Fuentess arraignment on Wednesday that Columbus police were notified of the case by Franklin County Children Services after the girls mother contacted the organization.

The detective testified that DNA from the clinic the girl went to in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes to confirm his paternity, according to the Dispatch.

A judge set bail for Fuentes at $2 million, setting a high bond due to him possibly being a flight risk and to protect the child.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Marion City Council will now consider an ordinance that would place an issue on the Nov. 8 general election asking city voters to decide whether to establish a commission that would draft a city charter.

City Council's ad-hoc charter committee voted 3-0 on Monday evening to send the proposed charter ordinance to the full council for consideration. Democrat Kai Meade, 1st Ward, and Republicans Brett Cornelius, At-large, and Mike Neff, 6th Ward, each voted in favor of advancing the ordinance to the full council.

Two committee members  Democrat Mike Thomas and Republican Aaron Rollins, both At-large members of city council  were absent from the meeting.

Marion City Council now has less than a month to debate and vote on the ordinance in order meet the filing deadline for the issue to be placed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. According to the Ohio Secretary of State's website, local questions and issues and nominating petitions for candidates in nonpartisan races must be filed with local boards of elections by Aug. 10, which is 90 days prior to the general election.

There are two regular city council meetings scheduled before the Aug. 10 deadline. The next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 25 followed by another scheduled meeting on Monday, Aug. 8.

More: Marion City Council committee mulls charter ordinance for Nov. 8 election ballot

More: Marion City Council committee begins charter city discussions

More: City Council begins research into making Marion a charter city

More: City explores adopting a charter to resist 'state ... intrusion'

Cornelius, who is the charter committee chairman, said that he is considering requesting two special city council meetings in order to enable council to conduct three readings on the ordinance. According to Ohio Revised Code, a two-thirds majority, or six of the nine city council members, would need to vote in favor of the ordinance in order for it to be placed on the general election ballot.

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With the announcement by Meade on Monday that he is resigning from city council effective Friday, July 15, that leaves eight members on city council. Six votes in favor of the ordinance would still be needed in order for it to be placed on the ballot.

Cornelius said it's unclear whether there are enough "yes" votes among the remaining city council members for the ordinance to win approval, but noted that he is encouraged that the full council will have the chance to discuss the issue.

On April 19 of this year, Garry E. Hunter, executive director and legal counsel for the Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, met with the charter committee to explain the process and answer questions. He has worked with municipalities across the state of Ohio that have created charters, providing education and training as well as insight into the legal process.

During that meeting, Hunter explained that the process includes "a vote by the citizens of a municipality to form a charter commission, and the election of a fifteen-member charter commission, which is done at one election." The charter commission then has one year "to draft a proposed charter, and a second election for the citizens to (either) adopt or reject the charter."

The ordinance approved by the charter committee on Monday outlines what language would appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, should the city council vote in favor of placing the issue on the ballot. Voters would be asked "Shall a commission be chosen to frame a charter?" and also be asked to vote "For a member of the charter commission vote for no more than fifteen (15)."

Per Ohio Revised Code, residents of the City of Marion who wish to run for a seat on the charter commission would need to file a nominating petition with the Marion County Board of Elections by Aug. 10. According to state election law, candidates can file petitions for individual candidates or multiple candidates, known as a slate. A slate can include no more than five candidates.

The petitions for individual candidates would need to be "signed by not less than twenty-five (25) nor more than fifty (50) persons who are eligible to vote at regular municipal elections." Nominating petitions for a slate of commission candidates are required to "be signed by not less than fifty (50) nor more than one hundred (100) persons who are eligible to vote at regular municipal elections."

The charter commission is a non-partisan body and those who file petitions to run for a seat on the commission do not have to be affiliated with any political party.

Hunter had previously met with Marion City Council in 2018 to discuss the possibility of the city adopting a charter. Council didn't take any action regarding the idea at that time.

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

Marion Ohio Charter Ordinance by blankamnco on Scribd

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion City Council set to consider proposed charter ordinance
A spring and summer of record-breaking wildfires believed to be driven by pollution and subsequent climate change in New Mexico prompted environmental groups to call on lawmakers at both the state and federal level to act in Congress and in the upcoming state legislative session.

Carlsbads Citizens Caring for the Future joined other groups from throughout the state and U.S. in signing a letter to lawmakers which argues New Mexico must work to address its contributions to pollution as a national leader in fossil fuels, and the resulting environmental damage.

New Mexicos 2023 Legislative Session was expected to begin next January, meaning lawmakers in the State House and Senate have about six months to develop legislation.

More:Do you live in the 'threat radius?' Permian Basin at high risk of oil and gas health impact

The previous sessions saw numerous Democrat-led environmental bills introduced with mixed success, aiming to reduce air-polluting emissions from the oil and gas industry, develop stronger regulatory standards for vehicles and grow the states renewable energy sectors.

While bills supporting tax relief for users of renewable energy passed during the 30-day, budget-focused session, others, like the Clean Fuel Standard Act to require fuel producers in New Mexico reduce carbon emissions and the Clean Future Act to put into law benchmarks for reducing greenhouse gasses, did not.

Lawmakers also failed to pass legislation supported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to promote hydrogen power in the state, a proposal contended to result in less-polluting energy production but criticized by opponents as providing another avenue for the use of fossil fuels.

More:$465M in Permian Basin lands sold for oil and gas production as market heats up

In response to the legislatures struggles to enact laws that would address climate change, and the largest wildfires in the states history this year  the Calf Canyon burned about 341,735 acres since April  environmentalists last week penned letters to government leaders.

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A letter signed by 35 environmental groups, both state and national, was sent to lawmakers July 7, arguing the already arid state is becoming hotter and dryer and conditions will worsen without government action.

Wildfires are not 'caused' by climate change. But their increased size, speed, and intensity are a result of climate change and land management impacts - changes in precipitation form and amount, loss of soil moisture and structure, drying plant material, increased tree infestation and disease, and perhaps stronger and more persistent winds, among other effects, the letter read.

The people of New Mexico are looking to you not only for leadership in addressing this moment, but in working to ensure that were taking proactive steps to head off more moments like these.

More:Oil and gas land sale held in New Mexico Permian Basin after months of delays

Similar letters were sent that day to New Mexicos Democrat U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan, along with another appealing to the state's Democrat U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez, Melanie Stansbury and Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell who represents New Mexicos southern Second Congressional District that encompasses portions of the Permian Basin oilfields.

The Permian Basin is the U.S's. most active oilfield, producing at least 5 million barrels of oil per day, almost half of the U.S.s total daily output of crude of about 11 million barrels, per data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

While all that production could be impacting the environment in New Mexico, Herrell said it is also a primary economic driver  providing more than a third of the states revenue.

More:New Mexico people of color most impacted by oil and gas, study says

She supported a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court limiting the federal governments ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector, giving a state's elected officials power over those decisions.

Congresswoman Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.)

Out-of-control federal bureaucracy threatens the livelihoods of every American and todays decision puts the ball in Congresss court to address our energy needs through democratic legislation, Herrell said when the decision was announced June 30.

A July 7 report from the Carlsbad Department of Development showed oil and gas in New Mexico contributed $5.3 billion in revenue to state and local governments in Fiscal Year 2021 which is from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

More:Biden 'constraining' oil and gas, industry says, as New Mexico land sale delayed again

Thats the most ever recorded in New Mexicos history, per the report, and Eddy County Manager Al Davis said policy should support further growth in the industry as an essential segment of the economy both locally and statewide.

The business and industry activities occurring in Eddy County continue to be a key economic driver for not just southeast New Mexico, but for the entire State, he said. The business and industry activities that are occurring here provide extraordinary economic opportunity in our area, from quality, well-paying jobs to new business development.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico wildfires prompt call to act on climate change
Democrat Lucas Kunce, a Marine veteran and antitrust advocate, is running for US Senate in Missouri. Courtesy Lucas Kunce campaign

Missouri was the first state to ban abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Democratic US Senate candidate Lucas Kunce said Democrats must abolish the filibuster.

He said Democrats were too focused on running on abortion rights versus delivering solutions.

Lucas Kunce, who is running for the Democratic nomination for US Senate in Missouri, is frustrated with his national party's response to Supreme Court striking down a national right to abortion.

Since the decision landed, the Biden administration and Democratic campaign arms have stressed to voters that the best way for them to channel their anger against the Supreme Court's decision would be to go to the ballot box in November to elect more Democrats. But should the party manage to make further inroads in November, a new Congress wouldn't come into power until January 2023, and a consensus on the issue could take even longer.

"I don't like the framing of this being an election issue, because even if Democrats win everything it's going to be a whole year of people without power having forced births," Kunce, a 13-year Marine veteran and antitrust advocate, told Insider in an interview.

The topic is particularly salient in Missouri, which was was the first state to ban abortions through its "trigger law" just minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The new law doesn't have exceptions for rape or incest.

Even before the Supreme Court's decision, Missouri had just one abortion clinic. To obtain an abortion, patients travel to neighboring Illinois, a state that has almost no limits on the procedure.

In his interview with Insider, Kunce questioned the motives of the "Democratic political class" who'd focused abortion messaging on the November midterms.

"I can't tell, not being a DC insider, are they sitting on this to use as an election issue? They talk about it 24/7 as an election issue," Kunce said. "So to me that makes me wonder."

Kunce, 39, will be vying against 10 other Democrats in the state's August 2 primary for the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt, and says he's running to "fundamentally change who has power in this country."

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At more than $4.3 million during the first cycle to date, he has outraised all other candidates in the race despite refusing donations from super PACs and corporate entities.

Kunce said he was encouraged by Biden's executive order last week and supports undoing the filibuster  the 60-vote threshold required to pass most legislation. He otherwise supports a filibuster carve-out specifically for abortion rights, which is what President Joe Biden has called for.

Enshrining abortion rights is unlikely in the current Congress, however, because Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona oppose filibuster changes for any reason.

The Biden administration must "use whatever leverage they can" to pressure Manchin and Sinema to reverse their positions, Kunce said, or should pressure Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom support abortion rights.

Kunce supports the Women's Health Protection Act, a bill that would legalize abortion in all states and undo most restrictions.

Republicans have called the bill "extreme"  neither Murkowski, Manchin, nor Collins support it  but Kunce said at the very least Congress should work to codify Roe, which would allow abortion up until fetal viability. The Women's Health Protection Act goes further than Roe by allowing undefined "health" exemptions to post-viability abortions.

Kunce also wants Congress to undo the Hyde Amendment, a funding rider that prevents the federal government from paying for most abortions, particularly for low-income patients. He hasn't said where he stands on expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court.

Missouri race heats up

Democrats are hopeful that they can make inroads in Missouri given that whoever wins the primary appears likely to face off in November against scandal-plagued Republican Eric Greitens.

Greitens is the former governor of Missouri who resigned amid allegations that he sexually abused and blackmailed a woman with whom he was having an affair. His ex-wife also has accused him of abuse and bullying. Greitens has denied wrongdoing.

Though Missouri is a solidly red state that twice went for former President Donald Trump, it also has a populist streak. Voters have ushered in progressive priorities through ballot initiatives, from expanding Medicaid to raising the minimum wage.

"I probably hear more about legalizing cannabis in this state than I hear about Trump," Kunce said.

The former president hasn't yet endorsed a Republican in the race, and cannabis legalization for adults 21 and older is on the ballot this November.

There is also precedent for Missourians shunning restrictive abortion laws. In 2012, the late former US Rep. Todd Akin lost a US Senate seat to then-incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill after he argued an abortion ban didn't need a rape exception, saying victims of "legitimate rape" couldn't get pregnant.

Then, in 2019, the state's health director admitted to monitoring the menstrual periods of Planned Parenthood patients. In March, a proposal failed in the legislature that would have allowed citizens to sue anyone who helps a patients get an abortion outside Missouri.

"There is a level of extremities that Missourians are not interested in," Kunce said. "They don't like the idea of Big Brother government being in their business all the time."

Kunce said that if Republicans win the House in November while Democrats hold onto the Senate, then he could still put his political muscle behind a ballot measure to guarantee abortion access.

During his interview, he drew parallels between the US and what he witnessed during his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan when he was a Marine.

"It's really sad just to think that they told us we were fighting for freedom over there and freedom was under attack here," he said. "I have seen what those Big Brother governments look like. I have seen what it looks like when one class of citizens has wealth and power and an entirely different set of rights, opportunity, and access than everybody else."

Read the original article on Business Insider
An Instagram post by former Love Island contestant Molly-Mae Hague has been banned after she failed to disclose it was an advert.

The post, shared on 31 October 2021, showed the influencer wearing a PrettyLittleThing dress with the caption: You can actually shop it now on PLT - couldn't not make it available for you guys too, followed by a link to the retailer's website.

The 23-year-old was named the creative director of the fast fashion brand in August 2021.

However, one social media user complained that Hague had already been appointed to the role at the time of publishing the post, which did not make its commercial intent clear.

PrettyLittleThing confirmed that this was the case, and that their contractual agreement with Hague expressly stated the requirement for her to include the advert disclosure in posts.

The company said that the disclosure had been omitted by mistake and that Hague had been reminded of the requirement to make this clear in future.

A spokesperson for Hague confirmed the same.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said: We noted that the story had appeared in Molly-Mae Hague's own account and did not contain any indication that it was a marketing communication.

We considered that, while some of her followers may have known that she was a creative director at PrettyLittleThing, it was not immediately clear to all consumers that she had a commercial interest in PrettyLittleThing from the post itself.

They concluded that the commercial intent was unclear, that the post was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication, and that they welcomed assurances from both the company and Hague that future posts would include a label.

Influencers have been required to comply with rules around social media adverts since September 2018, when the Competition and Markets Authority created a guide to ensure users were being transparent around product advertising and staying within the law.

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Despite this, social media users reported struggling to identify adverts posted by influencers, even when labelled as such, according to a 2019 report.

In the past, a number of celebrities and high-profile influencers have been subject to ASA action over the labelling of their posts, including Made In Chelsea stars Louise Thompson and Millie Mackintosh, and Geordie Shore cast member Marnie Simpson.

In 2019, adverts for weight loss brands that featured on the Instagram accounts of celebrities including Katie Price, Lauren Goodger and Georgia Harrison were banned for being irresponsible.
Trodelvy can be used to treat a highly aggressive form of the disease (Getty)

A new life-extending drug has been recommended for use via the NHS to treat women with breast cancer, in a move campaigners have hailed as a momentous milestone.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has recommended the drug, Trodelvy, should be given to women with triple-negative breast cancer  a highly aggressive form of the disease which is tricky to find treatments for.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: Todays news that Trodelvy has finally been recommended by Nice for use on the NHS in England, marks a momentous and hugely anticipated milestone for women living with incurable triple-negative secondary breast cancer.

But Lady Morgan criticised the unacceptably difficult journey to get to this point for those affected, warning Nice only recommended Trodelvy 10 agonising months after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency licensed the drug.

She added: Patients living with incurable secondary breast cancer deserve better. Crucial lessons must be learnt to avoid scenarios like this happening again, and we will continue to demand more for people affected by breast cancer.

Working with the government, NHS England, Nice and pharmaceutical companies to ensure new, clinically effective treatments reach patients as quickly as possible, at a fair price for the NHS.

Lady Morgan called for urgent confirmation about when Trodelvy will be routinely available to patients getting NHS care in Wales and Northern Ireland.

She added: Following a devastating provisional rejection in April, this landmark decision will offer a new, effective treatment for these women, and crucially give them the hope of invaluable extra months to live and do what matters most to them and their loved ones.

Breast Cancer Now and their patient advocates and passionate campaigners were pivotal in helping to secure the decision, she added.

Nicola, who lives in Bristol, was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in July 2018 and was then diagnosed with secondary triple-negative breast cancer in April 2020. The 42-year-old had taken Trodelvy since November 2021.

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She said: Living with secondary triple-negative breast cancer is like walking a tightrope every day and treatment options are limited.

Thats why it is such a huge relief that all eligible women will now be able to access Trodelvy with ease and have the chance to benefit from it.

Not knowing if it would be available to those that needed it was so hard. I have been on Trodelvy since November 2021 and scans have shown that my tumours are shrinking.

Nicola said the drug had provided her with hope. That is why Ive been campaigning with Breast Cancer Now to ensure Trodelvy was made available on the NHS and that other women could have the same chance to benefit from it and have extra precious time with their loved ones, she added.

Around 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain each year, with approximately one in five being triple-negative. Younger women and black women are more likely to develop this form of breast cancer which is generally more aggressive.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in the UK and the disease claims around 11,500 womens lives every year.

Professor Christopher Twelves, who is an honorary consultant in oncology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: Treating women with triple-negative breast cancer has been notoriously challenging and, once the cancer has spread, there have been few treatment options that meaningfully impact on survival.

Todays decision changes that. We now have the option to use a potent, targeted therapy that has definitively shown potential to increase survival compared with standard chemotherapy. This is not a cure, but for many women with triple-negative breast cancer it offers some vitally important extra months with their loved ones.

One in seven women in Britain will develop breast cancer at one point in their life  with one woman diagnosed every 10 minutes.

A study last week found giving birth to a child after having breast cancer has no detrimental effect on the womans prospects of surviving the illness.
Montgomery police release photos of July 11 bank robbery suspect

Montgomery police continue to search for a bank robbery suspect caught on bank surveillance cameras July 11.

The July 11 robbery took place a a bank in the 2900 block of Carter Hill Road.

Anyone who has information about this crime or can identify the subject can call the Montgomery Police Department at 334-625-2832, or CrimeStoppers using the 24-hour tip line at 215-STOP (78670 or 133-AL1-STOP.

Surveillance photo shows the suspect.

Destini Ambus is a news intern for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery police seeking information on July 11 bank robbery
A majority of women are voicing their disapproval over the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in a ruling last month.

A new Morning Consult-Politico poll released on Wednesday found that 50 percent of American women say they strongly disapprove of the ruling that ends federal protection for abortion rights, with 9 percent adding that they somewhat disapprove.

By contrast, only 22 percent of women say they strongly approve of the decision, and 8 percent say they somewhat approve. Eleven percent of respondents said they either dont know or dont have an opinion on the issue.

On the issue of criminalizing patients seeking the procedure, 72 percent of female respondents said they are strongly or somewhat opposed, while 68 percent said the same for the medical professionals providing the care.

Overall, 55 percent of respondents, regardless of gender, said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of the Supreme Courts decision, with 36 percent saying they strongly or somewhat approve. Nine percent of overall respondents said they dont know or dont have an opinion.

With abortion regulation now a state issue, the gap between the parties over the medical procedure has continued to widen. Eighty-one percent of Democrats said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of overturning Roe v. Wade, while 52 percent of Republicans said the same.

Across the country, Democratic states continue to vow to keep abortion legal and expand abortion rights, while Republican states are working to restrict the procedure.

The poll surveyed 2,005 individuals from July 8 to 10. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Jul. 13It's been nearly three years ago since he witnessed his neighbor die right in front of him and the memories still haunt him, Daniel Saucedo testified Tuesday.

Tuesday was the second day in Michael Shults' trial in the 161st Ector County District Court.

Assistant Ector County District Attorneys Scott Turner and Rikki Earnest are attempting to convince jurors Shults knowingly and intentionally killed his stepfather, Roy "Eugene" Reeves, 57, on Oct. 28, 2019. Defense attorney Scott Layh is arguing Shults stabbed Reeves 17 times while defending himself and his mother from an abusive alcoholic.

A protective order Margaret Reeves had taken out against her estranged husband had just lapsed and the incident took place shortly after Eugene Reeves showed up at the house he once shared with her on North Lincoln Avenue, Layh told jurors.

On Tuesday, jurors heard from Saucedo, Texas Department of Public Safety Cpl. Charles Henry, OPD Officer Bill McCloud, OPD Detective Donnie Rocha and a couple of crime scene technicians.

Saucedo, an oi field worker, told jurors he's lived on North Lincoln Avenue for about 19 years. He didn't really know Reeves, but he did bring him a six-pack of beer twice over the years after Reeves took it upon himself to mow his lawn, Saucedo said.

On Oct. 28, 2019, Saucedo said he was getting ready to take his son to the ballfield when his dog began barking in an unusual way. After checking out his backyard, Saucedo said he made his way to the front of the house where he began to hear two voices yelling. When he looked out his curtains, he saw Reeves at his house across the street, walking toward the tailgate of Reeves' Toyota pickup. Almost immediately, Saucedo said he saw Shults join Reeves behind the truck.

"That's where I saw Mr. Michael, what it looked like to me, punching him in the chest," Saucedo said.

Reeves reacted by swinging wildly at Shults before collapsing, he said.

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Saucedo testified he then saw Shults retreat to his home, which sat behind the Reeves' house, Saucedo said.

Saucedo told jurors he yelled to his wife to call 911 and he ran across the street to help Reeves, whom he quickly discovered had been stabbed multiple times.

"I was trying to keep him awake, I was trying to keep him talking to me and moving," Saucedo said.

The details of that day have never left him, he testified.

"Come October it hits me like a freight train," Saucedo said. "I've never seen anything happen like that in front of my eyes."

During cross-examination from Layh, Saucedo acknowledged he was unaware of many of the details jurors heard about Monday. He did not know that it's alleged Reeves purposely prevented his estranged wife from leaving the property by blocking her SUV in with his Toyota, that he'd assaulted her or that she'd called 911 prior to the stabbing.

Jurors spent much of Tuesday watching the body cam footage of Henry and McCloud and surveillance footage captured by motion detecting cameras set up at the home directly across the street from the Reeves' home.

The cameras did not pick up Reeves arriving at the house around 7 p.m. that day.

They began recording when a clearly distraught Margaret Reeves ran across the street from her home screaming for neighbors to call 911. The cameras show, from various angles and at a distance, Reeves sitting on his tailgate, someone walking away and Reeves collapsing to the ground. They also show Margaret Reeves walking back from her neighbor's, picking something up off the ground near Reeves' prone body and removing items from his pickup truck.

On the officers' body cams, Margaret Reeves is heard berating the officers, saying she's called the authorities multiple times before and they could've prevented the stabbing.

She tells the officers her son is in his house and, apparently alarmed at the fact they've drawn their weapons, repeatedly tells them he's not going to hurt them. Shults is seen coming out of his house and being taken into custody at gunpoint without incident after telling the officers the knife is in his pocket.

While the officers try to get basic information from Margaret Reeves, such as people's names and dates of birth, she alternates between trying to tell her story and trying to get her car keys from her son's house. She also spends a few minutes on the phone telling someone about the stabbing, telling them that her estranged husband isn't breathing as paramedics work to save him in the background.

"He threatened us today, both of us," she said at one point.

"My husband, he's torturing me. I had to move out of my house," she said moments later, explaining Reeves is "an alcoholic, bad."

Margaret Reeves told the officers, "I've been trying and trying and trying to get (the protective order) extended. For two years I've been waiting on lawyers...everything's got to be done on computers and I don't know how."

Jurors also saw photos of Shults taken within hours of the incident. He had scratches on his head, but no wounds on his hands or arms.

Rocha testified someone would have to get up close in order to stab someone 17 times, but acknowledged under cross-examination, they could easily stab someone while in a headlock.

The trial is being presided over by retired Ector County District Court Judge Tryon Lewis.
Botswanas Nijel Amos celebrates winning the Mens 800m Final at Hampden Park in 2014 (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Archive)

Olympic medallist Nijel Amos has been provisionally suspended after returning a positive result for a banned substance.

The 28-year-old, who won silver in the 800m at the 2012 London Games and gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, failed an out-of-competition test last month.

Botswanas Amos was due to take part in the World Athletics Championships which get underway in Eugene on Friday.

A statement read: The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has today provisionally suspended Nijel Amos of Botswana with immediate effect after a sample collected from the 800m runner tested positive for Metabolites of GW1516, a substance that is prohibited under the 2022 WADA Prohibited List as a metabolic modulator.

Substances in this category modify how the body metabolizes fat and GW1516 was originally synthesized and evaluated for the treatment of obesity, diabetes and other disorders caused by metabolic problems.

GW1516 is not an approved substance for human use and WADA has advised of its health risks for athletes.

GW1516 is a non-Specified Substance on the 2022 WADA Prohibited list and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.
nintendo characters in front of rainbow flag

Nintendo is out here saying gay rights!

On Tuesday, July 12, Nintendo Japan updated its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guidelines after a court in Japan ruled in favor of banning same-sex marriages in the country. Human rights advocates have been trying to argue that the ban is unconstitutional, but this has been a losing battle so far.

Nonetheless, Nintendo disagreed with the decision and has now put in place what its calling a Partnership System for its employees. The company wrote in a memo:

Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognized under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage. We have also established that a common-law marriage between couples will be observed in the same way as a legal marriage.

In the same memo, Nintendo Japan noted that it is committed to inclusion and its Code of Conduct, which states that the company does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, nationality, ideology, religion, creed, origin, social status, class, occupation, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

This has been a huge blow to the Japanese ban on same-sex marriages given that Nintendo is one of the most famous and beloved companies in the world to hail from Japan. Nintendo isnt particularly known for taking such strong stances against laws and governments, but it used its power and influence this time to stand up for the LGBTQ+ community and for the companys queer employees.

Given the massive gaymer community and how many LGBTQ+ people are already obsessed with Nintendo games, this is fantastic news.

RELATED | Sorry Nintendo, But Animal Crossings CJ & Flick Are Totally Gay
The latest plan to reduce New Jerseys stubbornly high death rate among Black women in childbirth and the year afterward calls for diversifying the workforce that cares for pregnant and post-partum women and changing payment incentives.

Unveiled Tuesday by a state health care advocacy group, the plan builds upon the successes of programs such as group prenatal visits and discussions, known as Centering Pregnancy, offered by St. Josephs Health in Paterson, and home visits by nurses in the first three weeks of a newborns life. And it supports the Nurture New Jersey awareness campaign launched by first lady Tammy Murphy to focus attention on the crisis in Black maternal mortality in New Jersey.

We're hoping to see a future world where patients can look to find  providers who have a similar life experience, who look like them, and speak their language, said Linda Schwimmer, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, which prepared the Maternity Action Plan.

That workforce should include not just doctors, but an expanded number of midwives, doulas, community health workers and lactation consultants, she said. Support for new mothers should extend far beyond the walls of hospitals and doctors' offices, and address their social, economic and mental health needs, she said.

Advocates and experts have spent years trying to address the racial gulf in childbirth experiences that causes Black women in New Jersey to die from childbirth complications at a rate seven times higher than white women, according to the Nurture New Jersey strategic plan. Black babies in New Jersey are three times more likely than white babies to die in their first year.

The death rate among Black women is higher than in any other state, according to the United Healthcare Foundation. And while the United States as a whole has the highest death rate among new mothers of any nation in the developed world, New Jersey consistently ranks among the five worst states in the country in overall maternal mortality.

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That data dates mostly from 2018, so the effect of recent initiatives  including increases in state and federal funding to address the problem, and a package of 14 state laws enacted in 2019  is not reflected. And change takes time.

Were in a completely different environment than we were before, Schwimmer said, explaining why she thought the plan announced Tuesday stood a greater chance of success than previous ones.

Changes in leadership, with the Murphy administrations intense focus on the problem, have helped, as has increased media attention and a broader understanding and acknowledgement of the role of systemic and institutional racism in health.

More:Project reports stories of "Birthing While Black"

More:Nurture NJ plan to make NJ safest, most equitable place to give birth

More people are engaged at the community level, she said, and they are being listened to. The year-long project to develop the plan was underwritten by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Quality Institute said its recommendations had been vetted by the state Department of Health.

Public reporting of data and advocacy efforts have led to a sharp drop in the rate of early elective deliveries, and have reduced the rate of cesarean sections, or surgical births, from 40% in 2016 to 26 % in 2021, based on data from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog group that collects survey data from hospitals.

Iaishia Smith with her 11 month old son Marquis Jr. outside their home in Avenel, NJ on Tuesday July 21, 2020. During her first pregnancy she worried about some complications during her last trimester. A week after Smith's doctor assured her everything was fine, her daughter passed away, just 11 days before her due date. "It was the worst day of my life," Smith said.

But major changes still are needed, particularly when it comes to the way hospitals are reimbursed, she said.

For example, hospitals still receive higher payments for cesarean section births, which have a higher rate of complications for mothers and babies, than they do for vaginal births. Babies born via C-section are more likely to receive care in a neonatal intensive care unit, also reimbursed at a higher rate than a general newborn nursery.

We would like to see care paid for in a way that rewards the highest quality maternity care, Schwimmer said. That is not the case today, with the exception of some pilot programs.

Plenty of data is gathered in New Jersey about the health of mothers and babies and the performance of hospitals, but it is spread over many agencies and not easy to use.

More:Gov. Murphy signs bills to reduce maternal mortality

The report recommends assembling that information in a user-friendly format that allows prospective parents to better choose their insurer, doctor or other provider and birthing location, whether hospital or childbirth center.

We dont want to start with a completely new slate of programs, said Schwimmer, but to build out and support existing programs that have a positive impact on maternal and child health.

One such program at St. Josephs Health in Paterson, called CenteringPregnancy, received an award from the New Jersey Hospital Association on Tuesday for its work.

Nubia Martin, who has an master's degree in midwifery, gives her daughter Persephone Martin, 4, a chance to listen with the fetal stethoscope during an appointment with patient Kaia Ross-Duggan of Brooklyn on July 30, 2020, in Yonkers.

Pregnant women in the program participate in group discussions, led by a midwife, on topics such as nutrition, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, stress management and infant care. These group prenatal visits are also accompanied by one-on-one time with a health care provider. Twelve groups -- six that meet in English, and six in Spanish -- are currently in progress.

Since it began in February 2020, 160 women have completed the program and given birth. Those who participated had a breastfeeding rate of 90% when they left the hospital, compared to the hospital rate of 77%. Only 17% of them gave birth via C-section, compared to 30% for the hospital. And 93% attended their post-partum visits, compared to 80% for clinic patients, according to hospital data.

St. Josephs cares for a very diverse and often underserved population, said Dr. Roger Kierce, the system's chairman of obstetrics and gynecology. We are committed to addressing racial disparities in health care, specifically with prenatal care.

While the goal of such programs and the recommendations of the plan announced Tuesday are to reduce racial disparities in health care, their effects ultimately will be broader, Schwimmer said.

They address maternity care in a way that is going to improve it for everyone in the state, she said.

Nurture NJ, a campaign by first lady Tammy Snyder Murphy (center, bottom row), unveiled its plan to reduce racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality at a Zoom meeting on Jan. 25. Among the participants: Top row, Dr. Diane Rowley, Ajanee McConnell, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman; bottom row, Dr. Dr. Nastassia Davis, Murphy, and Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How to reduce high death rates for Black moms, babies in NJ
Jul. 12GRAND FORKS  North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has requested the federal government to restore pre-pandemic operating hours for land border crossings at the U.S.-Canadian border.

In a July 8 letter the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Burgum outlined the economic impact of reduced border crossing rates for North Dakota and requested that normal hours be restored at ports of entry in North Dakota.

There are 18 international land border crossings along the 310-mile border between North Dakota and Canada, and only the crossings at Pembina, Dunseith and Portal are operating at full capacity and hours. Those three ports are operating 24-hours per day. Others operate within normal business hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to Burgum, between April 2018 and March 2020, 1.16 million personal vehicle and bus passengers entered North Dakota from Canada. From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to May 2022, 184,671 personal vehicle and bus passengers have entered North Dakota from Canada, 15% of the pre-pandemic volume. After the U.S. government rescinded the need for fully-vaccinated travelers into the U.S. to be tested on April 1, 2022, there was a 40% increase in people entering the U.S. through North Dakota ports of entry, noted Burgum, but this number is still 50% less than pre-pandemic levels.

The estimated lost Canadian visitor spending in North Dakota because of the COVID-19 pandemic is more than $283 million, the letter said, with around 10% of annual visitor spending in the state from Canadian travelers. The reduced traffic and spending has been challenging for businesses in the North Dakota counties that border Canada, wrote Burgum.

"Many of these North Dakota individuals and businesses rely heavily on their Canadian counterparts for multiple reasons in their daily lives, and limited hours at the majority of North Dakota's border crossings have made these critical interactions much more difficult," Burgum said in the letter. "While the small expansion of hours after COVID-19 at North Dakota's ports of entry has been a welcome development, it is imperative that hours of operation return to their pre-pandemic status immediately before further damage is done to the economies and well-being of our border communities."

A governor's office spokesman said the main reasons CBP and Homeland Security have cited for continued reduced hours of operation at most of the state's border crossings have been traffic counts and staffing.

"We are fully prepared to aid CBP in achieving this goal for the benefit of North Dakotans and Canadians impacted by this crisis," said Burgum.
Nuclear attack PSA New York City Office of Emergency Management

The mayor of New York City is defending the decision to release a public service announcement on how to prepare for a nuclear attack despite there being "no imminent threats" that "we know about."

New York City's Office of Emergency Management recently released a PSA that opens by stating, "So there's been a nuclear attack. Don't ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit." It informs viewers that in this scenario, they should get inside quickly, shut all doors and windows, and head to a basement if they have one or, if not, "get as far into the middle of the building as possible."

It also says that if you "were outside after the blast, get clean immediately" and "keep radioactive dust or ash away from your body." Finally, New Yorkers are told to stay tuned to the media for updates and not go back outside until it's safe.

During a news conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) denied that this PSA is "alarmist."

"I'm a big believer in better safe than sorry," Adams said, adding that officials took the "very proactive step" of putting this PSA together after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

New York City's emergency management deputy commissioner, Christina Farrell, told The Associated Press the PSA wasn't sparked by any specific threats and that there's "no overarching reason" for sending it out now. But Adams said that "we're still one of the top terrorist threats," and "we always have to be prepared as New Yorkers."

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Evhenyi Kyzylov  WEDNESDAY, 13 JULY 2022, 17:44

The Oblast Military Administration has shown a photo displaying the result of the strike by Russian missiles on an enterprise in Zaporizhzhia.

Source: Oleksandr Starukh, Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration on Telegram

Quote: "The result of an enemy missile hitting an enterprise in Zaporizhzhia."

Details: He promised to provide more detailed information later.

Background: At lunchtime on 13 July, explosions rang out in the city of Zaporizhzhia as Russian missiles hit the enterprise. A total of two Russian missile strikes were recorded in the oblast centre.

In the afternoon of 13 July, an air raid alert was sounded in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Kherson Oblast.
ALONA MAZURENKO  WEDNESDAY, 13 JULY 2022, 21:33

Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, said that Russian mercenaries from the Liga private military company are going to Ukrainian checkpoints and trying to find weak points in the Luhansk regions defence. The occupiers speak Ukrainian and wear Ukrainian defenders uniform.

Source: Haidai on Facebook

Quote: "The Ruscists have stepped up the work of their subversion and reconnaissance groups quantitatively and qualitatively: mercenaries from Liga PMC, who speak Ukrainian and are dressed in our military uniforms, are coming to our checkpoints.

The situation is more or less stable. The orcs [Russian soldiers] do not dare to go on the offensive.

Their exhaustion following the destruction of the ammunition depots is tangible, but nevertheless, the bombardment continues, and the enemys subversion and reconnaissance groups are trying to find weak points in the Luhansk regions defence - fortunately without success."
An abortion rights protester speaks through a megaphone at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, after the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs v Women's Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision, June 24, 2022. REUTERS/Megan Jelinger

An Ohio man was arrested on charges of raping a 10-year-old girl who later needed an abortion.

Ohio's Republican attorney general, David Yost, had dismissed the story as a likely "fabrication."

Following the alleged rapist's arraignment Wednesday, Yost celebrated the arrest.

An Ohio man was arrested Tuesday after confessing to raping a 10-year-old girl on at least two occasions, according to Columbus police, which led to the girl becoming impregnated and traveling to another state for an abortion.

The arrest and rape charges against the man, 27-year-old Gershon Fuentes, were first reported by the Columbus Dispatch.

The story of the 10-year-old traveling to Indiana for an abortion drew widespread attention earlier this month as an example of the effects of Ohio's strict abortion laws.

Following the Supreme Court's decision in June that revoked the nationwide right to an abortion, an Ohio law banning abortion past six weeks took effect. The law does not have an exception for rape. Dr. Caitlin Bernard told the Indianapolis Star that the girl was six weeks and three days pregnant when she took her on as a patient and performed the abortion.

But some Republican officials and conservative commentators cast doubt earlier this month that the story was true at all.

On Twitter, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said the story was "fake to begin with." The Wall Street Journal's editorial board described it as "fanciful." Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News his office had not heard a "whisper" about the situation despite media reports.

In a later interview with USA Today, he said there was "not a damn scintilla of evidence" about the case and that it was a likely "fabrication."

But on Wednesday, following Fuentes's arraignment, Yost celebrated the arrest.

"We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets," he told the Columbus Dispatch.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the girl's mother informed Franklin County Children Services about the pregnancy, and the agency informed Columbus police. The abortion was performed on June 30, according to police testimony at the Wednesday arraignment hearing.

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A judge set Fuentes's bond at $2 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Indiana has received an influx of abortion patients after Ohio and Kentucky passed restrictions on the procedure, according to the Indianapolis Star. The state's Republican-dominated legislature has scheduled a session for later in July to discuss passing new abortion laws.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Oklahoma City police are investigating three early-July homicides.

The number of homicides recorded this year in Oklahoma City has risen to 42 after a man was found dead on his porch Monday.

The Oklahoma City Police Department is investigating the gun death of 53-year-old Antonio Hardimon, as well as a fatal domestic shooting between brothers Thursday and the death of a man police say suffered a gunshot wound while stealing a vehicle on July 3. Suspects have been arrested on complaints of first-degree murder in each case.

Hardimon was found dead on his porch from a gunshot wound Monday morning, according to police. Rosie Walker, 62, was found inside the home with a gunshot wound in the arm. Police interviewed and arrested Frenadreus Walker, 35, after locating him in a nearby apartment.

Police investigating five homicides from July 4 weekend

The news of the July 3 killing of Rickie Clark, 35, makes for five homicide investigations from the July 4 weekend. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Dillon Quirk said he doesn't think the holiday played into the number of homicides that weekend.

"Sometimes there are more homicides that happen than other times, there's really no rhyme or reason to it," Quirk said.

Police reported Clark was shot by William French, 33, after stealing French's vehicle. Shortly after, Clark was involved in a multivehicle crash. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. French was interviewed and booked into the Oklahoma County jail on a murder complaint.

On Thursday, Eric Butler, 51, was arrested in the fatal shooting of his brother Otis Butler, 48.

Quirk said each investigation remains in the early stages, and anyone with information can call the homicide tip line at 405-297-1200.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma City homicides in 2022 rise to 42 after recent shootings
Abortion rights supporters outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., on July 6, when the clinic closed. (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

The morning the Supreme Court struck down our federal protection for abortion, I reflected on the ruling at home with my son and his girlfriend. For each of us, this ruling was deeply personal. My son expressed anxiety about what would happen if he experienced a birth control mishap.

For his girlfriend, a 19-year-old from Mississippi, the decision left her feeling hopeless, without control of her body and future. She described what she thought would be the devastating effect of denying young people access to abortion in her home state, which mandates abstinence-only sex education and allows pharmacists to refuse requests for emergency contraceptives. Then the last abortion clinic in Mississippi closed on July 6.

For me, the decision goes against years of findings from careful research on this topic. I study the psychological consequences of denying access to abortion, and I fear we are seeing only the beginning of the far-ranging repercussions this ruling will have on the well-being of pregnant people and their families.

My research shows that the burden people experience through reduced autonomy of their bodies  having to navigate more barriers and potentially face increased abortion stigma  is very likely to heighten psychological distress. Those who are denied an abortion experience elevated levels of stress, anxiety and low self-esteem.

In addition to the emotional challenges of trying to exercise ones reproductive autonomy, people who are denied an abortion are more likely to stay in contact with a violent partner and to experience economic hardship and insecurity that lasts for years because they were forced to carry a child they couldnt afford to raise. These issues spill over to their children and can compound mental health challenges.

The Dobbs decision is expected to disproportionately harm people of color and other marginalized populations and further exacerbate structural inequities. We need to consider the many groups who will be most affected. They include people in abortion-ban states with limited resources to travel, such as young women, people caring for children, people who cant take time off work and those who are incarcerated or are too sick to travel. People who discover their pregnancies later, or who have health conditions that are diagnosed later in pregnancy, will have less time to access facility-based care.

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Stress and anxiety may grow too among all people of reproductive age  women, men and gender-expansive people, pregnant and not  as they confront the new reality that their reproductive and bodily autonomy has been stripped away.

With the fall of Roe vs. Wade, almost half the country is likely to lose access to abortion. That will increase the need to travel, the cost of seeking care and the difficulty in finding a clinic and scheduling an appointment. The surge of patients going to a limited number of states, such as California, Colorado and Illinois, will likely affect people even in places where abortion is still accessible. Expanding access of medication abortion in these states through alternative models, such as telemedicine and advance provision, can help meet this demand.

Although options for people living in states with abortion bans are extremely limited, information on how to access and use medication abortion is available and can provide a safe substitute to risky or ineffective methods. We have good evidence that medication abortion pills are safe and effective for people to use on their own.

Nonprofit and community health groups play an important role in providing information as well as emotional and financial support for people who lack abortion access. Helplines such as All-Options can provide emotional care around the pregnancy decision, and the National Network of Abortion Funds can provide financial assistance for travel, lodging and related services.

If you are having an abortion on your own by using pills, there are mobile apps and hot lines that provide information and emotional support. There are real concerns, though, about the criminalization of those who self-manage their abortions, particularly of people who are already disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system. It is important to know your legal rights around self-managing an abortion and to know where to get legal help, if needed. Given that mental health problems are likely to rise in a post-Roe world, our support systems are critical to meeting this challenge.

M. Antonia Biggs is an associate professor and social psychologist at UC San Franciscos Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Brittney Griner is the most famous American imprisoned overseas. The WNBA star has been languishing in a Russian jail for over four months. She recently wrote a letter to President Biden pleading for his help in freeing her and other American detainees. "Please do all you can to bring us home," she asked.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price has said, We are doing everything we can, almost all of it unseen, almost all of it unsaid in public, to do everything we can to advance the commitment that President Biden has to see these Americans who are wrongfully or unjustly detained around the world or in some cases held hostage around the world brought home.

WNBA player Brittney Griner arrives at a hearing outside Moscow on July 7. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

Such reassurances ring hollow to those such as me, whose friends and relatives have been wrongfully detained by foreign powers with less-than-independent judiciaries and little to no accountability. I have received the same promises on multiple occasions from State Department officials when advocating on behalf of American citizens held in Saudi Arabia.

President Biden can demonstrate that his administration takes their cases seriously when he travels to Saudi Arabia on July 13. He should go beyond simply mouthing well-worn platitudes about human rights in his meetings with Saudi leaders and personally meet with American detainees in the kingdom.

Bader al-Ibrahim, Walid Fitaihi and Salah al-Haidar are being held in Saudi Arabia. Al-Haidar, the son of a women's rights activist, and al-Ibrahim, a writer and doctor, were detained in April 2019 and subsequently charged with terrorism-related crimes. Although they were "temporarily" released from prison in early 2021 after years in detention, they continue to face travel bans that prevent them from using their American passports to come home to the United States, and they are at risk of being rearrested anytime under a rough Saudi regime. In the case of Fitaihi, a Saudi American doctor, the Saudi government alleges that he obtained his U.S. citizenship without official permission from the kingdom.

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Biden will meet Saudi King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, often called MBS, in Jeddah, where, conveniently, Fitaihi currently resides. (Al-Ibrahim and al-Haidar are in Riyadh.) The leader of the free world and America's chief human rights officer could assuage doubts about his commitment to the welfare of his citizens by inviting Fitaihi and other Americans trapped inside the walled Saudi kingdom to meet with him. Such an encounter would also signal to the Saudis that despite his rehabilitating the murderer of Jamal Khashoggi by meeting with MBS, the U.S. president will not be returning to business as usual with Saudi Arabia.

President Biden is welcomed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, left, and Prime Minister Yair Lapid upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

In addition to these publicized cases, Saudi Arabia's prisons hold numerous other American citizens whose names are not as well known. A retired Saudi American executive has been held without charge since November 2021. He was arrested shortly after putting out a tweet critical of MBS. I spoke to his family in the United States, but, fearing reprisal, they requested anonymity. The State Department knows who he is, however. In a recent message to his family, it said it is reviewing the case but the Department has not made a wrongful detention determination at this point."

The bureaucratic lethargy of Washington is legendary, and unfortunately it sometimes takes high-profile interventions to shake things loose. Consider the example of Austin Tice, an American journalist who was captured in Syria in 2012 and has not been seen or heard from since. For months, Tice's parents had been meeting with National Security Council staff, but they could not meet with the president himself. It was only when Steven Portnoy, the CBS News reporter and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, publicly introduced the Tices at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, which Biden was attending, that the president agreed to see them  two days later, no less.

The eyes of America and the world will be on President Biden when he travels to Saudi Arabia. They will be watching to see how he balances the demands of realpolitik with his high-minded campaign rhetoric on human rights. The president likes to think of himself as a fighter and a staunch defender of the common man. He can reinforce that image by setting aside the bureaucratic niceties and taking visible steps on behalf of the citizens he has been elected to serve.

Ali Al-Ahmed is the founder and director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, an independent think tank in Washington, D.C.
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The owner of the bar in the South African coastal town of East London where 21 teenagers mysteriously died last month has been arrested, police in the Eastern Cape province said on Wednesday.

Forensic teams are yet to reveal their conclusions on how the teens died, with a source close to the investigation saying one theory was a chemical or gas leak and authorities also investigating possible accidental poisoning.

There has been an outpouring of grief at the deaths at the nightspot in Scenery Park township, in a nation used to seeing casualties from a pervasive binge drinking culture.

Angry mourners of some victims have complained that weeks of calls to shut down the tavern went unheeded.

Provincial police said in a statement that the owner, aged 52, was arrested over the weekend, while two employees at the tavern were subsequently arrested on Tuesday.

The owner is expected to appear before the East London Magistrates Court on Aug. 19 to face charges after an investigation that focused on allegedly supplying minors with alcohol, the statement said.

"Just as we said in the beginning, investigation is a process and needs to be treated with extreme care," Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene said in the statement.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning and Alison Williams)
Crosses with the names of Tuesday's shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Family members expressed outrage over the release of footage of the May 24 shooting in Uvalde.

On Tuesday, the Austin American-Statesman released a video of officers responding to the gunman.

The video has been part of the debate surrounding the police response to the shooting.

Two parents of victims in the Uvalde school massacre say they saw the security footage published Tuesday of the shooting and are not happy that it was released publicly before they were able to see it.

The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE released footage of the police response during the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary school. Nineteen fourth-grade students and two teachers were killed.

The edited-down footage shows the gunman entering the school, the first officers' arrival, and officers waiting in the hallway for over 77 minutes before confronting the suspect. It included audio of the gunshots, but the audio of children screaming was edited out.

Brett Cross and Javier Cazares, two parents of victims killed during the shooting, spoke to MSNBC's Top Story to share they were upset by the leak and said that they were supposed to watch the video  without audio  this coming Sunday.

"We saw it the same time that the rest of the world saw it," said Cross, the father of victim Uziyah Garcia, "even though we had asked for it before from our district attorney and to not have the audio there. We didn't need to hear our babies being massacred. It was totally uncalled for."

Cazares, the father of victim Jackie Cazares, added that the Statesmen had "put it out there for the world can see, and we weren't ready to see it yet."

Cross also said that he was upset with the lack of communication between the families of victims and authorities.

"We're tired of seeing things after the media gets a hold of them," Cross said. "Nobody is telling us anything. And it's disrespectful to not just us but our kids' memories."

Both fathers also said they had watched the video and were dismayed at the officer's response to the shooting.

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"A lot of it was embarrassing to see," Cazares said. "People on their cell phones and texting. Another gentleman put hand sanitizer in his hands. And then people fleeing..."

Cross called the officers "cowards," and both fathers said they wanted to make sure that responding officers could not work anywhere else.

"How many more kids have to die," Cross said. "How many before people start standing up. You think that 'oh, this doesn't happen to me. It doesn't happen here or anything' until it does. And it will it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when we have to do something to stop these kids from dying. Now."

Director Steven McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety released a statement Tuesday saying he was "deeply disappointed" that the video was released before the families had the chance to view it.

The Statesmen did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
One man is in a hospital after a shooting.

Police say that a man arrived at a hospital by private means at around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, with a gunshot wound to the thigh.

The victim is currently in stable condition.

It has not yet been determined exactly where the shooting occurred.

Violent Crime Unit detectives are investigating.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Update: The Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses have reopened after a bomb threat was reported.

All buildings were cleared and safe for students and staff members to return.

UPDATE: EFSC's Cocoa and Palm Bay Campuses have reopened after being closed since about 12:15 PM as a precaution due to a bomb threat. All buildings are safe for return and on-campus classes have resumed.  Eastern Florida State College (@EasternFlorida) July 13, 2022

Read our previous coverage below.

Police are investigating a bomb threat reported at two Eastern Florida State College campuses.

The Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses are being evacuated.

All buildings on the campuses are impacted.

READ: Teachers are leaving the profession before the upcoming school year. Heres why

School officials asked people not to come to the campuses until they have been cleared.

READ: Its been a nightmare: Consumer complaints mount against home alarm company

Check back and watch Eyewitness News for updates.

All buildings and on-campus classes in Cocoa and PB are impacted. Updates will be provided as new info becomes available and when those campuses have reopened. Do not come to those campuses until they have been cleared. pic.twitter.com/CrQEDN8omw  Eastern Florida State College (@EasternFlorida) July 13, 2022

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The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department is investigating a second homicide Wednesday morning after a man was killed in a shooting.

Officers were dispatched at 2:41 a.m. to reports of a shooting in the 1700 block of Stewart Avenue, according to Officer Thomas Tomasic, a spokesman for the department.

When officers arrived they found a man inside a house who had been shot. He was taken to an area hospital but later died, Tomasic said.

The homicide occurred about two hours after another fatal shooting about four miles east.

A man was killed and a person was detained at a shooting shortly after 12:30 a.m. in the 1700 block of North 58th Street. Tomasic said the homicides are not related.

This is the citys third killing in the past week and the 22nd homicide of the year, according to data tracked by The Star. At this time last year, the city had recorded 19 killings.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
The United Nations chief said a Wednesday meeting in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine took a critical step forward in addressing the blocked export of grain from Ukraines Black Sea ports.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said more technical work will now be needed to reach an agreement, but the momentum is clear  Im encouraged, but its not yet fully done.

The Russian blockage of millions of tons of grain from being exported from Ukraine has led to food shortages in Africa and Asia. Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

The negotiations Wednesday led to agreements that include establishing a coordination center in Istanbul, "joint control" of exit and arrival points and maintained safety of the transfer routes, according to a statement from Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

Akar said the parties would review details and sign the deal when they meet again next week.

Latest developments

Ukrainian forces claim to have "liquidated" Russian Major General Artem Nasbulin in a missile attack on headquarters in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according to a Telegram post from the Odesa regional administration.

North Korea on Wednesday joined Russia and Syria as the only nations recognizing the separatist, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

The Ukrainian military reported destroying a Russian ammunition depot in southern Ukraine, resulting in a massive explosion captured on social media, while rescuers said the death toll from a weekend Russian strike in the countrys east grew to 45.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week. The White House said this week that Iran could provide Russia with hundreds of drones to continue its attack on Ukraine.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our Russia-Ukraine war channel to receive updates straight to your phone.

Most Ukrainian refugees plan to return, survey says

The majority of Ukrainians who fled the war to other countries plan to return, but around two-thirds said they plan to stay in their host countries until hostilities subside, according to a new survey by the United Nation's refugee agency.

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees surveyed nearly 5,000 refugees now living in the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia between May and June.

About 16% said they plan to return to Ukraine within the next two months, a fraction of whom said they were planning to go temporarily to see family, get supplies or help loved ones evacuate.

"One thing that nearly all participants had in common was a shared uncertainty about the future, which prevented them from making long-term plans," the UNHCR said in its report.

'Puppet' leaders in occupied Ukraine face attacks

Anti-Russian sentiment in occupied areas of Ukraine has fueled attacks on the pro-Russian officials being placed in positions of authority by the invading forces, the British Defense Ministry said in an assessment of the war issued Wednesday.

The Russian-appointed administration in Velykyy Burluk, near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, acknowledged that one of its mayors was killed Monday in a car bombing. Ukraine news sites described Yevhen Yunakov as a "puppet" and "collaborator."

"The targeting of officials is likely to escalate, exacerbating the already significant challenges facing the Russian occupiers," the assessment said, adding that the violence could increase "the pressure on already reduced military and security formations."

Britons, Moroccan could soon face firing squad

The appeals of two Britons and a Moroccan convicted of terrorism and sentenced to death for fighting alongside Ukrainian troops could be dealt with within a month, the Moscow-backed separatist government in Ukraine's Donetsk province said Wednesday.

Last week the Donetsk People's Republic's parliament lifted a moratorium on executions, clearing the way for a possible firing squad if the appellate court denies the appeals.

U.K. foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she "utterly condemns" the sentencing.

"They are prisoners of war," she said. "This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy."

LeBron James critical of US efforts to free Brittney Griner

In a trailer for the latest episode of his show "The Shop," LeBron James said if he was in Brittney Griner's situation, he would have doubts about wanting to return to the U.S. after being a detainee in Russia. The episode of "The Shop" premieres Friday at noon ET on the Uninterrupted YouTube channel.

"Over 110 days, now how could she feel like America has her back?" James said. "I would be feeling like, 'Do I even want to go back to America?'"

On Tuesday night, James responded with a clarification, saying he "wasn't knocking our beautiful country." Griner has been incarcerated in Russia since Feb. 17 after law enforcement arrested her at an airport outside of Moscow because of possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her bag. Griner has since pleaded guilty to the charges  standard procedure in a country where virtually all trials result in convictions  and wrote a handwritten letter to the White House pleading for help.

 Toyloy Brown III

US doctors helping Ukraine medical teams via telehealth

An American health care network is taking an innovative approach to medical care in Ukraine, providing the expertise of its vast roster of specialists to several Ukraine medical centers while also donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplies.

Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York state, is incorporating the telemedicine system it developed through the COVID pandemic to offer free consultations to medical workers in Ukraine on a 24/7 basis.

Whether they are medics in battlefields, clinicians in war zones or providers caring for wounded soldiers and civilians elsewhere, they can reach Northwells experts through a number of web-based platforms, including Whatsapp and Telegram. Read more here.

 Jorge Ortiz, USA TODAY

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine live updates: Russia-Ukraine leaders meet on grain crisis
NASA releases Webb telescope's first images of unseen universe

Xinhua) 08:31, July 13, 2022

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the upper left, and one toward the bottom. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, July 12 (Xinhua) -- NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe.

Webb's first observations tell the story of the hidden universe through every phase of cosmic history - from neighboring exoplanets to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, said NASA.

"Today, we present humanity with a groundbreaking new view of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope -- a view the world has never seen before," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The images released by NASA include detailed spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere; Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star which is approximately 2,000 light years away; Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Pegasus; Carina Nebula, the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled another image produced by Webb, galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.

"These images, including the deepest view of our universe that has ever been taken, show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don't even yet know to ask; questions that will help us better understand our universe and humanity's place within it," Nelson said.

The release of Webb's first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb's science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within the solar system to the early universe using Webb's four instruments, according to NASA.

Webb was launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec. 25, 2021, to probe structures and origins of the universe.

After completing a complex deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science.

Webb is NASA's largest and most powerful space science telescope ever constructed. With a 6.5-meter primary mirror, the large infrared telescope will study every phase of cosmic history, from within the solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, according to NASA.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (L) speaks with Assistant Director of Science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Michelle Thaller at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows a side-by-side comparison of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light (L) and mid-infrared light (R) from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

The image captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope of the star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula is seen on a screen at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Taylor Mickal/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows Stephan's Quintet, a collection of five galaxies, as seen by MIRI from James Webb Space Telescope. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows a composite image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, created with James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam and MIRI. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA James Webb Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Communications Amber Straughn speaks about the infrared image of the star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula as it is shown on a screen during a broadcast releasing the telescope's first full-color images at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 11, 2022 shows galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden (2nd L) attends a preview event to release one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a preview event to release one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson describes the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
ISTANBUL (AP)  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the first meeting in weeks between Russia and Ukraine took a critical step forward to ensure the export of desperately needed grain from Ukraines Black Sea ports to help ease the global food crisis.

The U.N. chief said more technical work will now be needed to reach an agreement, but the momentum is clear  Im encouraged, but its not yet fully done.

Guterres spoke in New York, hours after military officials from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey met with U.N. envoys in Istanbul to discuss unblocking millions of tons of grain  stuck in Ukraine because of the war  to be shipped to world markets and to enable Russia to send out grain and fertilizer.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the sides reached agreement concerning the joint control of vessels as they leave and arrive at ports and the safety of the transfer routes. A coordination center would be established in Istanbul and would include U.N., Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian officials, he said.

The parties would meet again in Turkey next week where details would be reviewed and agreements would be signed, he said.

Akar said the talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, adding: We see that the parties are willing to solve this problem.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his countrys delegation at the talks had informed him that they were making progress.

He said he was grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their efforts to restore Ukraines agricultural exports. If they succeed in removing the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea, it will reduce the severity of the global food crisis, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

The secretary-general has been pressing since early June for a package deal that will enable Ukraine to export grain and other food, not only by land but from blockaded Black Sea ports, and allow Russian food and fertilizer to enter world markets without restrictions.

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Today in Istanbul, we have seen a critical step, a step forward to ensuring the safe and secure export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea, Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

He called it a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world.

The war has trapped about 22 million tons of grain inside Ukraine, according to Ukraine's president. U.N., Turkish and other officials are scrambling for a solution that would empty the silos in time for upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain is being transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is small compared with the Black Sea routes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says the war in Ukraine is endangering food supplies for many developing nations, raising food prices globally and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people.

Russia said meanwhile, it had presented a package of proposals for a practical and quick solution to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain but did not elaborate.

Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russias invasion and war has disrupted production and halted shipments across the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

Turkey has offered to provide safe Black Sea corridors and worked with the U.N., Russia and Ukraine to reach an agreement.

Before the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that grain exports from his countrys ports would not resume without security guarantees to ship owners, cargo owners and to keep Ukraine as an independent nation.

Any agreement needs to ensure that Russia will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles, he said.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have traded accusations over the stuck grain shipments.

Moscow claims Ukraine's heavily mined ports are causing the delay. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Moscow wouldnt use the corridors to launch an attack, if the sea mines were removed.

But Ukrainian officials have blamed a Russian naval blockade for holding up the exports and causing the global food crisis. They are skeptical of Putin's pledge not to take advantage of cleared Black Sea corridors to mount attacks on Ukrainian ports, noting that he insisted repeatedly this year that he had no plans to invade Ukraine.

Ahead of the talks, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow was willing to ensure safe navigation for ships to carry grain from Ukrainian ports but would press for its right to check the vessels for weapons.

Pyotr Ilyichev, head of the Russian Foreign Ministrys department for ties with international organizations, said Russia's military had repeatedly declared its willingness to allow safe shipping corridors in the Black Sea.

Seventy vessels from 16 countries have remained stuck in Ukrainian ports, Ilyichev said, alleging that Ukrainian authorities had barred them from departing.

Our conditions are clear: We need to have a way to control and check the ships to prevent any attempts to smuggle weapons in, and Kyiv must refrain from any provocations, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ilyichev as saying.

Guterres has worked for months to secure a deal that would allow Ukraine to export wheat and other commodities from Odesa, the country's largest port, and also enable Russia to export its grain and fertilizer to global markets.

Western sanctions on Russia do not ban exports of food or fertilizer. But Moscow argues that Western sanctions on its banking and shipping industries make it impossible for Russia to export those goods and are scaring off foreign shipping companies.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador last week after Turkish authorities briefly detained a Russian ship suspected of transporting stolen grain but allowed it to leave and return to a Russian port. A Turkish official said authorities were not able to determine that the ship carried stolen grain.

NATO-member Turkey has retained close ties to both Moscow and Ukraine.

___

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara. Edith Lederer in New York contributed.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Jul. 13The Glynn County Board of Education heard a proposed update Tuesday to the school district's dress code policy.

The change is intended to respond to staff feedback in schools and to make the dress code more enforceable. The policy revision will lay on the table for 30 days and be voted on at the school board's August meeting.

The changes for consideration include the allowance of running shorts with tights to be worn for appropriate coverage and the barring of bedroom slippers. Tops and shirts must not extend below shorts and skirts. Shirt straps must be two adult fingers wide rather than three and must cover both shoulders. And staff and administration are to determine whether the code is being followed on a case by case basis.

The draft policy changes were reviewed by students, staff and members of the community engagement committee, said Senetra Haywood, director of student services.

"We tried to condense it and make it more responsive to the trends of things that are happening now and make sure we had something that we could actually enforce at the school level," she said.

School board member Mike Hulsey said he supports the effort to maintain an enforceable dress code policy but he's frustrated by how rarely the code seems to be upheld in schools.

"If you're not going to enforce it you're wasting your time," he said.

During the past two years, as the district adjusted to COVID-19 policies and challenges, some parts of the dress code policy were relaxed to keep students coming to school, said Scott Spence, superintendent.

But as the district continues transitioning back to the ways it operated before the pandemic, he said enforcement of the dress code must fully return.

"In the last two years, we have struggled to keep kids coming to school and they wanted to stay home because of COVID and all of that," Spence said. "We did everything we could, and if it meant relaxing things we tried to get them in school ... But now it's time to go back to the basics."

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In other business, the school board was presented with a divisive concepts policy that needs to be approved before Aug. 1 to adhere to state law. To approve the policy on time, the board plans to waive its typical practice of keeping a policy change on the table for 30 days after it's proposed before voting.

The policy stems from House Bill 1084, the state's "Protect Students First Act."

The law prohibits school boards and administrators from discriminating based on race and aims to protect students from lessons "that make them feel guilty about their race," said Tracolya Green, assistant superintendent.

"Divisive concepts" include the concept that one race is inherently superior to another race, that the United States of America is fundamentally racist, that an individual's moral character is inherently determined by his or her race as well as other forms of race scapegoating or race stereotyping, according to the proposed policy.

The state legislature approved House Bill 1084 this year amid a national discussion about critical race theory and a mostly Republican led push to ban the teaching of certain racial concepts that some say are divisive.

The policy outlines what will be the school district's complaint resolution process, another state requirement.

"Any complainant can actually appeal directly to the state board for this particular policy or house bill, and then there are obviously some things that we will then have to present in the event that they do so," Green said.

The board is set to vote on the policy July 26.

The school board went into executive session at the end of its work session and did not return for its regular meeting, scheduled to begin immediately afterward, before The News' deadline.
Authorities search an area in New Hampshire near where Hanson native Maura Murray disappeared in 2004 on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

LANDAFF, N.H.  Authorities on Wednesday searched an area near where Hanson, Massachusetts, native Maura Murray disappeared in 2004, the New Hampshire attorney generals office announced.

The search was off Route 112 in Landaff and Easton.

The attorney general's office said the one-day search is over, but wouldn't say whether anything useful was discovered.

Officials said the search was not the result of new information in the case. Instead, its part of an ongoing investigative process and will consist of a more extensive search surrounding areas that had been previously searched in a more limited fashion, they said.

Maura Murray, of Hanson, went missing in 2004 after leaving her dorm at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and heading to New Hampshire.

"Knowing that the investigators are actively doing a ground search 18 years after Maura's disappearance is all that my family could ask for," Murray's sister, Julie Murray, said. "We are very pleased to hear this news today, that not only are they actively searching, but the fact that they still care, and Maura has not become a file on a cabinet, which is my biggest fear."

Murray was 21 years old when she disappeared in February 2004. She had been a student at UMass-Amherst and left the college Feb. 9, 2004.

The Hanson native told professors there was a death in the family, but that wasn't true. At 7:30 that night, Murrays car was involved in what appeared to be a single-car crash on Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire.

More: FBI issues national alert in unsolved 2004 disappearance of Hanson native Maura Murray

Shortly after, a person saw and spoke to someone believed to be Murray at the crash scene. However, when the police arrived, Murray was not there.

In the years since, numerous searches of the area at and around the crash scene have been conducted by law enforcement authorities and private citizens, with no positive results.

New Hampshire authorities say anyone with information about Murray is asked to call the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit at 603-223-3648 or email Coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.

Story continues

More: Sister of Hanson's Maura Murray hopes for breakthrough in case

Murray's family said they are encouraged by the most recent search.

"Normally, some of these searches are done privately," she said. "The fact that this was publicized and a press release was put out is, again, encouraging for my family."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: NH area searched for clues in disappearance of Hanson's Maura Murray
Human remains were found in remarkable condition, with the fallen soldier having avoided the 'Waterloo teeth' phenomenon - chris van houts@me.com

The second ever full skeleton from the Battle of Waterloo has been unearthed some 200 years after the Duke of Wellingtons defeat of Napoleon, as archaeologists say it shows some soldiers were given proper burials.

For more than two centuries, his remains lay undisturbed while his former fallen comrades had their teeth plundered as gruesome souvenirs and their bones ground into fertiliser.

The human remains were found in remarkable condition, with the fallen soldier having avoided the "Waterloo teeth" phenomenon. After the battle, grave robbers and opportunists plundered teeth that were later sold in the UK as "heroes dentures".

Archaeologists say the discovery of the skeleton shows soldiers who died in the battle were given proper burials - chris van houts@me.com

That was until this week a team of British veterans and serving soldiers made the find during a dig at the Mont Saint-Jean farm, which served as Wellingtons field hospital, less than 500 metres behind the Allied front line.

It could be the first British corpse to be excavated by archaeologists since the end of the battle, considered one of the bloodiest days in the annals of the British Army.

Of the Dukes 68,000-strong forces, historians say there were around 31,000 serving Britons, while Dutch, Belgian and German soldiers made up the numbers.

The only previous body discovered on the two and a half square miles of battlefield in the Belgian countryside was identified as a Hanoverian private, who was found alone beneath a modern-day museum car park.

British veterans and serving soldiers made the find during a dig at the Mont Saint-Jean farm in Belgium - chris van houts@me.com

Experts at the Mont Saint-Jean farm dig site, however, said it was too early to confirm the nationality of their latest find. Tests will be carried out on soldiers teeth by anthropologists at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences to confirm his identity.

Waterloo Uncovered, with 20 veteran and serving soldiers, revisited the site after uncovering three amputated limbs at an excavation in 2019.

Alongside the skeleton, were the remains of at least three horses, wounded and ultimately killed during the brutal 12-hour battle to stop the French emperors rampage across Europe.

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"This for us is an incredibly important discovery given that there is only one previous skeleton that has been excavated," Prof Tony Pollard, the archaeological leader on the project, told The Telegraph.

A set of teeth found during the dig at Mont Saint-Jean farm - chris van houts@me.com

As many as 6,000 casualties, including French soldiers, are thought to have been treated at the field hospital during the battle.

The new findings cast doubts over historical claims that victims who died being treated at the hospital were unceremoniously dumped after the battle, along with some 500 limbs amputated during the fighting, and wounded animals.

Thanks to combat experience of the military veterans, experts on the dig were able to identify the site as an organised grave on the edge of the field hospital, rather than a makeshift burial.

One soldier was able to establish that wounded horses were moved to the burial spot before being euthanised on the spot.

The dig was organised by veterans charity Waterloo Uncovered, founded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Foinette and Captain Mark Evans, who both served in the Coldstream Guards, the oldest serving regiment in the British Army, which was involved at Waterloo.

"To my knowledge, it's the first grave site that includes multiple remains, the only previous body excavated was a single body," Prof Pollard added.

Experts at the Mont Saint-Jean farm dig sit, said it was too early to confirm the nationality of their latest find - chris van houts@me.com

It is thought the soldier died before receiving treatment at the hospital as, even in 1815, field medics were largely successful with amputations, the only treatment for limbs crushed by musket fire.

What we have here is something that was built, aimed at putting deposits inside, Veronique Moulaert, a Belgian archaeologist, said, commenting on the discovery of the burial site.

The full skeleton changes the way we see this deposit, before it was trash from the hospital. Now we can see they dug this big pit they used quite an organisation - the horses are one one side, the limbs in the middle and on the other side the entire skeleton.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, more signs of the huge battle for the village of Plancenoit, behind Napoleon's front line, between French and Prussian forces, were discovered, including multiple musket balls.

The fight for control of the tiny village, south of the Allied line, is often overlooked, but the arrival of the Prussians played a pivotal role in securing victory for the British, Dutch, Belgian and German troops fighting under Wellington's command.

The Duke of Wellington at the Battle for Waterloo - Lifestyle pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

Until the Prussian arrival, the fight to halt Napoleon's advance towards Brussels was hanging in the balance. The French hurled everything they had at the Allied line, including their elite Imperial Guard, but were ultimately forced to retreat, under fire from British artillery.

Wellington later described the June 18 battle as a "damn close-run thing".

Event helping veterans transition out of army

Some 20 veteran and serving soldiers were assisting British and Belgian archaeologists on the dig as part of the Waterloo Uncovered programme.

Founder Captain Evans, who left the Army in 2010 after being diagnosed with PTSD, said he hoped the event was able to help veterans transition to civilian life.

Kieran Oliver, a Coldstream Guard veteran deployed to Afghanistan just days after his 18th birthday and later diagnosed with PTSD, said: "Its crazy how I havent been myself for many years and now Im starting to come out and enjoy myself. Ive been smiling most of the time and I havent smiled in a long time."

Ashley Gordon, a 1st Rifles veteran, added: "Five days after my 18th birthday, I was deployed to Iraq. I returned back, and very shortly after I experienced a lot of problems with PTSD. I've enjoyed the intricate trowelling. Youre so focused that you dont think about absolutely anything else, just what youre doing in that moment, which I find really therapeutic.
SHEBOYGAN - Sunglasses-wearing flamingos, ladybugs, dancing ballerinas and dogs are just a few of the patterns featured on dresses sisters Mary Leonhard and Nancy Zvitkovits have helped transform from pillowcases.

First starting the project in spring 2021, they initially had a goal of making 100 dresses. Then, they increased that goal to 200. To date, theyve made nearly 400 dresses.

Leonhard and Zvitkovits make pillowcase dresses for Hope for Haitis Children, a Christian organization that works to support children in Haiti through different programs, like education access, youth leadership, medical care and crisis relief.

Zvitkovits said she was first introduced to pillowcase dresses through her church, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sheboygan Falls, which was sponsoring a mission trip to Guatemala.

At the beginning, Zvitkovits started with one pillowcase, but seeing the success she had, she became more bold and began taking more than one pillowcase home to transform.

My husband got really sick of hearing me say, OK, now take a look, because I strung them up in the kitchen and that's where I do my sewing. And I'd say, OK, now of all these dresses, which one's your favorite? He got really tired every week having to pick out a favorite, Zvitkovits joked.

Dresses repurposed from pillow cases have details that make them all unique as seen in this Oct. 10, 2021, photo.

She started making the dresses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It really occupied my time, Zvitkovits said. I had been a teacher and had retired before COVID hit, just before, and I never really had a lot of spare time to be involved in things like that. So, it was a new step out and I got kind of obsessive compulsive about it.

Sheboygan schools give and students lend helping hands for a cause

After Zvitkovits started making a few dresses, she shared the project with her sister. They began searching for another organization to make the dresses for and seeking donated materials.

(I said) this could be a project we could get going into, Leonhard said. And we built on that. And I said, Well, if you want to do this, I can get pillowcases.

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Leonhard, who is the TAPP/Parenting Lab Program coordinator at Sheboygan Central High School, sent out an email to Sheboygan Area School District employees. They began receiving a lot of donations.

Zvitkovits said staff who couldnt supply pillowcases but still wanted to help found other ways, such as donating thread and fabric.

Lori Roelse, data and instructional coach at Pigeon River and Lincoln-Erdman elementary schools, was one person to see Leonhards call for materials for pillowcase dresses.

As a crafter herself  often sewing, quilting, knitting and crocheting in her spare time  she had a surplus of fabric.

I've been sewing forever, and oftentimes when someone, maybe like their mom, has passed away or grandma and she had a fabric stash, I've had people contact me and ask me if I would like the fabric because they themselves don't, Roelse said. So, I'll say yes, because I just love sewing and fabric, and have quite a stash built up, and not nearly enough time to get at it. Then, I remembered Mary's email and contacted her to see if she would like some of it. So, I went through it to see what was suitable for dresses and then sent it her way.

Roelse estimates she donated as much as two to three copy paper rolls worth of fabric.

She had helped her niece when she was in eighth grade with a similar project, Little Dresses for Africa, so she was familiar with the goal and mission. Roelse said she hopes the children receiving the dresses can feel the love that was put into making them.

"Pulling something off a rack, you know that can be wonderful, too, but for me, I like knowing that my time and ... maybe good wishes or hugs are sewn or knit right into whatever the gift is, Roelse said. So, for these dresses, I think the little girls receiving them are told that someone made these for them. There's some extra meaning in that.

Dresses repurposed from pillow cases have details that make them all unique as seen in this Feb. 28, 2022 photo.

The pillowcase dress project was a first for Leonhard.

I've done a few little things, but this is my first real total buy-in and I think the reason is because for me, it has true meaning and, plus, with my students it's fun to light that fire for them as well, Leonhard said.

Leonhard works with teenage mothers in the TAPP/Parenting Lab Program at Central High School, and she said she saw the pillowcase dress project as an opportunity for her students to get involved.

They became pretty passionate about doing this for a while, which was really very cool, Leonhard said.

Dresses repurposed from pillow cases have details that make them all unique as seen in this June 1, 2021, photo.

Through a grant that Leonhard applied for, the Sheboygan Public Education Foundation donated an embroidery machine for the students to use, which has quickened the dress-making process. Theyve been able to practice sewing, embroidery, tie-dyeing, applique and matching.

They've learned a lot on lining these things up, Leonhard said. It became a challenge because my sister is really awesome at matching. I'd come in ... and throw one on. I said, Who's gonna pick a pattern and who's going to beat my sister with matching? It was just a good incentive to get them to (say) Well, that can't be that hard.

Zvitkovits said the students did incredibly well.

Sheboygan area hotels answer call for donations

After sending a call out to the Sheboygan Area School District, Leonhard was on a mission to get more pillowcases.

My husband was pretty excited about this, and he's retired, so he said, I'm going to call some of the local businesses, and he started off with hotels, Leonhard said. And so, several hotels have been very generous with pillowcases and sheeting. They call us when they have a bunch, and we pick them up.

Several hotels in the area that have donated materials for the dresses are the Rochester Inn in Sheboygan Falls, Stafford 52 in Plymouth, LaQuinta Inn Sheboygan and Super 8.

Kristi Timgren, who works at the Super 8, estimates the hotel donated two 33-gallon-sized garbage bags full of pillowcases and sheets.

We just normally throw them away, so instead of just throwing them out, we gave them to them, Timgren said. I just hope that it gives them (the children in Haiti) the clothing that they need and that it kind of gives them a better self-worth for themselves.

Charlayne Boyd, office manager at Hope for Haitis Children office in Ohio, said the organization has probably received at least 1,000 dresses from different states directly to their office since they first started asking for pillowcase dresses after a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010. The Haitian government estimates more than 300,000 deaths and thousands more cases of displacement resulted from the event.

"When the earthquake came and so many people lost so many things  they already didn't have very much to begin with  I just think people in the U.S. saw it and saw a need and a pillowcase is something very easy to turn a dress into  so it was a very simple way to, and an inexpensive way to, make a dress for somebody, Boyd said.

If she's starting with a donated pillowcase, Zvitkovits cuts off the top, creates a curve to make a neckline and then inserts a casing for the elastic. Then, she sews on bias tape for where the arm holes of the dress will be and adds pockets and trim at the top.

Boyd added that pillowcases are easy to wash, quick to dry and thin enough for the hot weather in Haiti, making them a good choice to use for dressmaking.

She said she hopes the pillowcase dresses help provide children with a sense of dignity.

I think it helps with knowing that there are people that care about them and how they're doing and whether they have adequate supplies or just basic things like something to cover their body with, Boyd said.

Natural disasters in Haiti call for support

Seeing their progress, Leonhard and Zvitkovits increased their goal of 100 dresses to 200 dresses.

But last August, two natural disasters hit Haiti that made the sisters send their first shipment of dresses before reaching their goal to Bellevue Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, a church that takes their donations to Haiti on mission trips.

On Aug. 14, 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Haiti, killing more than 1,900 people and injuring and displacing thousands more, according to The New York Times. Three days later, Tropical Depression Grace brought heavy rains and wind to the area, hitting the thousands of people already searching for shelter and medical services from the earthquake.

My daughter had said to me, ... They need those, and they need those now. Why are you not getting them immediately? Because we were going to wait till we have the full 200, Zvitkovits said. And it was like, Absolutely. Let's get them out to Haiti immediately.

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Leonhard and Zvitkovits are working on another shipment of pillowcase dresses through Hope for Haitis Children to send out within the next few months.

How you can help

Those who wish to donate pillowcases, or material that can be used to make the pillowcase dresses, such as fabric, sheets and thread, can donate materials at the main office in Central High School, 621 S. Water St., Sheboygan.

Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexx_garner.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan sisters make pillowcase dresses for kids in Haiti
A Sikh family in Texas was rattled after several bullets were fired into their northwest Harris County home.

Iqbal Singhs parents and child were asleep in their home in the Heron Lakes Estates subdivision near Beltway 8 and Highway 249 when bullets flew inches over their heads at 1:43 a.m. on July 5.

The family heard nine shots coming from their backyard, which were captured on surveillance cameras.

Singh reportedly drove home from work that day and found bullet holes through multiple windows and a bedrooms headboard.

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It feels really scary, especially with a kid, Singh told KHOU 11. Its just so sad. We didnt expect this.

The Harris County Sheriffs Office (HCSO) previously probed the incident. The case has been transferred to investigators for a follow-up investigation.

It appears that the projectile came from the roadway feeder or along the Beltway 8, an HCSO spokesperson told KHOU 11. There is a wooded area south of the homes before the feeder. No nexus for them being targeted, though they are Sikh.

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While Singh initially believed the sheriffs examination, another family member noted a suspicious vehicle captured on their surveillance cameras at around 11 p.m., 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. before the shooting occurred.

It doesnt add up, Singh said. You could hear the footsteps. You could feel the shots are really close to the house.

Singh said his family have never received threats, but they are worried as members of their community have previously been targets of crime in their neighborhood.

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We gotta sleep with one eye open, you know? Singh said.

The Sikh National Center hosted a community meeting to provide support for the affected family on the night of July 5.

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The concern in the community has been building as these episodes of ignorant people doing ignorant things, Dr. Hardam Singh Azad, the chairman for the Sikh National Center, reportedly said.

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Anyone with information on this incident is urged to contact the Harris County Texas Sheriff's Office at 713-221-6000.

Featured Image via KHOU 11
Snoop Dogg at the 2019 AFI Fest's opening night. (Richard Shotwell / Invision/Associated Press)

No one loves weed more than Snoop Dogg  except maybe Willie Nelson  and no one cares more about what they smoke than someone who's previously claimed to burn through 81 blunts a day.

So you've got to expect that anytime you get your hands on a Snoop-endorsed strain of cannabis, you're in for a wild ride.

If you smoke Snoop Dogg's latest pack, though, you'll do more than just fall asleep.

The rapper, who employs a full-time blunt roller, posted a photo of a bag of weed on his Instagram Sunday, proudly featuring a sketch of President Joe Biden above the words "Sleepy Joe OG."

"You won't even remember what country you are in!," the packaging boasts, next to flags for Ukraine, China and Russia. "Where am I???" it reads under Biden's image.

As is tradition, commenters flooded the rap mogul's comment section with laughing emojis.

"Do I hit it and get my vote back?" quipped rapper Nhale, son of the late West Coast legend Nate Dogg.

Of course, the "Sleepy Joe" moniker has dogged the president for years, beginning in 2020 when former President Donald Trump used it to slight his then-opponent. And Snoop has trolled Biden before, photoshopping the 79-year-old politician using a stairlift to board Air Force One after Biden stumbled and fell on the stairs in March.

Snoop isn't the biggest Trump fan, either. In 2017, he pulled a toy gun on a clown dressed as Trump in his BadBadNotGood-assisted music video for a remix of "Lavender." (He did celebrate Trump for pardoning his friend and Death Row co-founder Michael "Harry-O" Harris in 2021.)

For Snoop, though, the roasts are nonpartisan; if you slip up, he's likely to come and find you.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)  South African police are patrolling the streets of Johannesburg's Soweto township, following a spate of bar shootings that have rocked the nation.

The country's abundance of guns held illegally is partially to blame for the shootings in which 22 people were killed at three different taverns this past weekend, community activists said.

At least 16 people were shot dead at a tavern in the township of Soweto while four others were killed in Pietermaritzburg and two were shot dead in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg. One of those wounded in the Soweto shooting died in hospital on Tuesday, raising the death toll in that incident to 16.

It's not known if the different shootings are linked but regional and ethnic rivalries, an organized crime extortion ring, competition between bar owners and political enmities are all possible motivations for the shootings, say analysts.

In all three incidents, the suspects opened fire on patrons before speeding off in their vehicles and notably the attackers did not rob the victims.

According to police, the gunmen in the Soweto shooting used high-caliber rifles including AK-47s, leaving 137 empty cartridges found on the scene. This has raised concerns about how criminals are able to access such high-powered weapons.

The illegal guns circulating in South Africa contributes to the country's high crime rate, according to activists. An average of 23 people are shot and killed in South Africa daily, according to the countrys annual crime statistics.

Many of the weapons used by criminals have been stolen from police and private security firms, according to Gun Free South Africa. More than 12,900 people were arrested for possession of illegal firearms and ammunition in 2020/2021, according to official statistics.

More than 3,400 police firearms had been reported stolen or unaccounted for in the last five years, according to the countrys official opposition, the Democratic Alliance. In January this year, the countrys parliamentary committee on policing heard that 158 guns went missing at the Norwood police station in Johannesburg.

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The most effective way to reduce gun deaths is to reduce gun availability. Right now we have guns flooding into the legal market, and then they move into the illegal market," said Gun Free South Africa director Adele Kirsten.

We know that the majority of these move from the hands of the private security industry and from fraud and corruption in the police, said Kirsten.

Soweto residents have decried the abundance of illegally held guns in the area, with some telling The Associated Press that they often hear gunshots at night.

Addressing the Soweto community on Monday, Cele said police would search houses to find the illegal guns that were used to terrorize the community.

We have heard that illegal guns are everywhere in this community, we will be deploying the police here, said Cele.

In a separate development, police arrested the owner of Enyobeni Tavern in East London where 21 teenagers were found dead last month. The owner was arrested on Saturday and two of his employees were arrested on Tuesday and will face charges for violating liquor trading laws and selling alcohol to children, according to the police.
STORY: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on Wednesday, hours before he was due to step down, after a people's uprising over a devastating economic crisis ended his family's powerful grip on the island nation.

Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo trying to breach the compound past police in riot gear, climbing the fences. Police fired several rounds of teargas shells and a military helicopter circled overhead.

As news of the president's flight spread, thousands of people gathered at the main protest site in Colombo chanting "Gota thief, Gota thief," referring to him by a nickname.

The president's flight brings an end to the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa clan that has dominated politics in the South Asian country for the last two decades.

Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksas and their allies for runaway inflation, corruption and a severe lack of fuel and medicines.
Sri Lanka's embattled government declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday in a bid to contain massive protests that continued after the country's president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives. Protesters stormed the homes of both the president and the prime minister over the weekend, demanding that both leaders step down. Sri Lankans blame their government for a dire, months-long economic crisis that has left many struggling to afford basic necessities.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has taken over as acting president of the country, imposed the emergency order in a bid to wrest back control of the capital city amid the huge protests. But his declaration served only to refocus the demonstrators' anger at him, and his office became an epicenter of the protests on Wednesday.

How an economic crisis led to political chaos in Sri Lanka

Police imposed an indefinite curfew in one province and a nationwide curfew until 5:00 a.m. Sri Lanka sits just off India's southeast coast and is home to about 22 million people.

Protesters gather to storm Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid an economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 13, 2022. / Credit: Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Wickremesinghe delivered a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, saying security measures had been stepped up and that he'd ordered the military to do whatever was necessary to restore order.

"We must end this fascist threat to democracy," he said. "We can't allow the destruction of state property. The president's office, the president's secretariat and the prime minister's official residence must be returned to proper custody."

"We can't allow fascists to take over. Some mainstream politicians, too, seem to be supporting these extremists. That is why I declared a nationwide emergency and a curfew," Wickremesinghe said.

The prime minister's office said earlier this week that President Rajapaksa would resign on Wednesday to clear the way for a "peaceful transition of power."

But instead of resigning he fled to the Maldives, fueling the anger on the streets.

The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardenam, said Rajapaksa had informed him in a telephone call that he would still resign as promised, but it was unclear if the move was still coming Wednesday  or whether it would do anything to quell the protesters' rage.

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The president flew to the Maldives aboard a military aircraft with his wife and two bodyguards, according to the French news agency AFP.

As soon as word of his escape got out on Wednesday, thousands of protesters mobbed Wickremesinghe's office. Seemingly keen to avoid a repeat of the dramatic scenes that played out over the weekend when protesters occupied the president's opulent residence, Sri Lankan security forces fired tear gas at the protesters as they chanted "Go home Ranil! Go home Gota!" referring to the leaders.

Police fire tear gas at protesters attempting to storm the Prime Minister's office at Flower Road in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 13, 2022. / Credit: M.A Pushpa Kumara/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Eventually the protesters made it into the building and appeared on its balconies with their fists and phones raised in triumph.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters stormed Rajapaksa's official residence, ransacking parts of it, but also lounging in its luxurious bedrooms, gym, and swimming pool. Families, many with small children, came to soak up the atmosphere and pose for photos in the ornate grounds in what looked like a victory parade for the popular uprising. But the leaders they've protested to force out of power were still both technically holding their offices on Wednesday.

Since the protests erupted late last week, those taking part have demanded the immediate resignations of both the president and the prime minister. The prime minister has said he will only leave his post once a new government is in place.

People throng President Gotabaya Rajapaksaas official residence for the second day after it was stormed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, July 11, 2022. Sri Lanka is in a political vacuum for a second day Monday with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters, angry over the country's economic woes. / Credit: Eranga Jayawardena / AP

According to Sri Lanka's constitution, the prime minister takes over as acting president if the president resigns or is incapacitated. The country's lawmakers have held several meetings this week to try to elect a new president, but there has been no consensus.

In the power vacuum, the anger that's built for months over food, medicine and fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices has continued to mount.

Sri Lankans have faced long power cuts this summer and been forced to spend hours in lines at gas stations to buy less than a gallon of fuel. The country's cash reserves are running extremely low, forcing Sri Lanka to default on its massive foreign debt of $51 billion as it's been unable to make interest payments on its loans.

The government blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for sapping the country of its vital tourism income, but economists say there are other factors behind the economic crisis, including political corruption and economic mismanagement.

The government has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a $3 billion bailout package, but the timing of that remained unclear Wednesday.

Meanwhile, some Sri Lankans living in the Maldives staged a protest demanding that the Maldivian government send Rajapaksa back home to face the music. But Sri Lankan news outlet the Daily Mirror reported, quoting unnamed sources, that Rajapaksa would instead fly to Singapore later on Wednesday.

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Craig Blackshear, 45, was fatally shot July 7 near Fourth Street NW and Lincoln Avenue NW in Canton. Memorial items are now placed there.

CANTON  Canton police have arrested a Stark County woman and a 15-year-old in connection with the shooting death of 45-year-old Craig Blackshear.

"I just hope all parties involved are brought to justice, that's all I can say," Carlynn Scott, Blackshear's 38-year-old sister, told The Canton Repository a week after her brother's death.

Megan Coladonato, 36, listed in records as being from Canton and East Sparta, was arrested Tuesday in the 1200 block of Lawrence Road NE, according to police records filed in the case.

More: Canton police investigate fatal shooting on Fourth Street NW

Coladonato faces one count of complicity to murder tied to the Blackshear's death.

A 15-year-old alleged accomplice is charged with murder, according to police and criminal complaints filed in Stark County Family Court.

Under Ohio law, the teen is now charged as a juvenile but he could be tried in court as a adult, a discretionary ruling to be made later by a juvenile court judge.

A woman and a 15-year-old male were arrested for the fatal shooting of Craig Blackshear, 45, of Canton.

What happened to Craig Blackshear?

According to police records, Blackshear was shot around 10:20 p.m. July 7 on the porch of a home in the 1800 block of Fourth Street NW.

Coladonato is accused of aiding the teen during Blackshear's shooting by stoking an argument between herself and the victim, leading to the teenage boy shooting Blackshear multiple times, according to police records.

The woman and the teen then left the scene, according to court records.

Blackshear was pronounced dead at Aultman Hospital.

"My brother was definitely not the type of person who deserved to be taken off of this earth like that," Scott said.

She said her brother was friendly, always laughing and smiling.

Scott said she did not know the woman or the teenager accused of the shooting.

"I never heard of her until now," Scott said. "I don't know what kind of relationship they had."

A candlelight vigil was held by family and community members on July 11 at Fourth Street NW and Lincoln Avenue NW.

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Canton Police say the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to contact the Canton Police Detective Bureau, at (330) 489-3144. Anonymous tips can be sent through Tip411 or the Stark County Crime Stoppers. Sign up for Tip411 at www.cantonohio.gov/police

Reach Cassandra cnist@gannett.com; Follow on Twitter @Cassienist

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County woman, teenager accused in Craig Blackshear homicide
Jul. 13As the number of positive COVID cases and hospitalizations continue a gradual rise, West Virginia health officials are making plans to be ready if the trend continues.

Retired Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, director of the state Joint InterAgency Task Force, said during Gov. Jim Justice's pandemic briefing Tuesday state hospitals now report 312 COVID-related hospitalizations, a number that had dropped to only 77 in April.

Hoyer said that during the Omicron surge earlier this year state hospitals had a capacity to adequately handle about 800 COVID patients, but that has changed.

"That number for COVID is now 500," he said, because of staffing shortages as well as the possible loss of employee hours if a surge hits.

"We are increasing the frequency of our coordination with hospitals, long-term care facilities and community health clinics," he said.

Hoyer said another "table top exercise" will also be set to review contingencies that could occur, and recalling the National Guard to help is an option if needed.

During the Omicron surge in January, the number of COVID patients reached more than 1,000, with bed and staffing shortages around the state and taxing the ability of hospitals to keep up. The National Guard had to send members to hospitals to help out in whatever capacity they could.

Since that time, staffing shortages have worsened with health care professionals leaving for better pay or retiring.

Hoyer once again urged residents to be up to date on vaccinations, especially considering "another, more contagious, variant is coming behind this one," referring to Omicron BA.2.75, which is starting to spread in other countries and is considered the most contagious yet.

Hoyer said the vaccinations are not all about keeping people from contracting the virus. "This is about protecting you form serious illness and death. This is not a transmission issue."

Dr. Clay Marsh, state COVID-19 Czar, said the current numbers are at least in part most likely the "front impact" of the BA.2.5 variant, which is dominant now in the country and around the world.

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He reiterated what Hoyer said about the importance of vaccines and boosters.

"Vaccines are really good at protecting people from getting severely ill and dying," he said. "Being fully up to date on vaccines reduces your risk of dying by 42 times. These shots are really effective."

However, he said, only 29 percent of eligible people in the country have received the second booster shot (only those 50 and over or immunocompromised can get the second booster).

"We need to do better than that," he said. "The best strategy is absolutely staying up to date with vaccines."

Justice also once again urged residents to be completely vaccinated after reading a list of 21 more COVID deaths, bringing the total in the state to 7,091.

He has said repeatedly that COVID is not just going to go away and the way to live with it is to be fully vaccinated and boosted.

Almost 3,000 active cases in the state were reported Tuesday by the DHHR (Department of Health and Human Resources).

On the state County Alert Map on Tuesday, only 12 counties are now in green with the rest in yellow, except McDowell County, which is gold.

On another issue, Justice said details of his proposal to cut the personal property tax in the state by 10 percent are still being worked on.

Talks are continuing on finalizing the "tiering" of the tax, he said, which is an attempt to benefit those making less money the most.

"We are trying to make it fair and equitable," he said, and help those who need it the most. "But we still want to remember those who bring job opportunities to the state. We can't flood the lower side and forget about the top side" because the top side creates jobs.

"It is a little complicated," he said, but he is wants to work "side by side with everyone" to get it passed.

But if legislators don't want to do it, he added, "they will answer to the public" and they would miss "a great opportunity."

The long-range goal, he said, is to completely eliminate the personal income tax as a way to lure people and businesses to the state.

A special session of the legislature on the tax cut has been set for July 24-26.

Justice also said he is not yet ready to call a special session on tweaking the state's abortion laws, some of which have been on the books since the 1880s and, according the Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, can now be enforced with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but need to be be amended.

Justice said he supports Morrisey's views on the issue and wants to give legislators more time to study possible action.

It is a "sensitive" topic and "so, so difficult" with many different issues and aspects., he said.

The current laws in the state would basically ban all abortions and have felony penalties for providers of abortions and possibly the mothers as well.

Justice has said repeatedly the special session on abortion rights would be called soon but he has not yet provided a specific timeframe.

 Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com
A University of Mississippi student remains missing days after he disappeared from an off-campus apartment complex. Now police are asking for the publics help.

Jimmie Jay Lee, 20, was last seen Friday, July 8, leaving the Campus Walk Apartments in Oxford just before 6 a.m., according to Oxford police and The University of Mississippi Police Department.

Lee was last seen wearing a silver housecoat, a gold sleeping cap and gray slippers and was driving a 2014 black Ford Fusion with Mississippi license plate JAYLEE1, university police wrote in a missing person alert. Friends said he hasnt been heard from since.

The departments are utilizing all available resources to track tips, potential witnesses, speaking with friends, running search warrants, canvassing areas and collecting evidence, the agencies wrote in a joint statement Tuesday, July 12. We are asking the public again for any tips, information ... that will lead to Lee being found.

CrimeStoppers also pledged an $1,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of the missing college student.

On July 11, authorities found Lees car in impound after it was moved from the Molly Barr Trails apartments where police believe he was visiting before he disappeared, according to a news release.

Neighbor Lakiowa Milan told WLBT the situation is unusual and out of character for Lee.

I hope its not what it is, Milan told the news station. They should be alert now if it is a kidnapping because it is unlike him.

She described the 20-year-old as real energetic, friendly and the life of the party, according to WLBT.

No other information was immediately available.

Lee is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds with black and brown hair and brown eyes, police said.

Anyone with information on Lees whereabouts is asked to call Oxford police at 662-232-2400, or University of Mississippi police at 662-915-7234.

Oxford is about 90 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee.

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Immense damage came Tuesday to the city of College Park, Maryland, as the result of severe storms in the area. College Park is home to the University of Maryland and the force of the storms jolted students and residents alike and led to the hospitalization of at least one student.

The mind-bending footage from one College Park residence Tuesday evening shows the home split at the center, with one Maryland student who was inside the home taken to the hospital after the incident. Two roommates of the student, also attending the university, stated that they believe the injured individual will be "OK," and that they were not inside the home at the time of splitting.

Major damage was rampant throughout College Park as the result of a severe storm path that extended from Tennessee to Maine Tuesday. Downed trees were seen blocking roads, prompting the city officials to tell travelers "stay away from the area." Street crews were seen working to clean up debris from the fallen trees in part of the area.

In Berwyn Heights, a suburb of College Park, footage shared on social media showed intense hail which added to the local misery.

Trees and downed powerlines cover road in Glen Arm, Maryland, Tuesday, July 12 (Twitter/djohn113)

Power outages caused significant disruptions for College Park residents as well as those throughout Maryland. As of 9 p.m. EDT, there were 183,323 outages tracked in Maryland, per PowerOutage.US. In Prince George's County, where College Park lies, there were 44,120 customers without power Tuesday evening, a higher number of outages than in heavily populated Baltimore County (38,056 outages).

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The peak for outages in Baltimore County took place around 5:45 p.m. EDT, with just under 98,000 customers going without power in the early evening.

Other storm footage captured throughout Maryland displayed high wind gusts and hail. In Hartford County, roughly 60 miles northeast of College Park, a time-lapse video captured the ominous storm striking a grocery store parking lot with 55 mph winds.

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Lightning strikes as a shelf cloud moves over Washington, D.C., Tuesday, July 12 (Earthcam)

Heavy wind gusts continued to blast the Northeast throughout the day, including north of Maryland. One wind gust of 87 mph was reported in the early evening, just west of Mount Pleasant, Delaware.

Northeast airports also faced flight delays and cancellations, with more than 50 cancellations already reported Tuesday at New York City's LaGuardia. Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C., metro area had a sighting of hail in the early evening hours.

Wednesday will still be hot in Maryland for any cleanup that needs to be done. Any remaining power outages will also make it difficult for residents to stay cool without air conditioning.

Showers and thunderstorms should remain just south of Maryland through the end of the week, and temperatures will lower due to cooler air ushered in by a dip in the jet stream. Temperatures and humidity should return to more seasonable levels for Maryland and most of the Northeast.

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Story at a glance

As more individuals spend more time online, advanced algorithmic technologies have become commodities as platforms vie to keep users attention.

But many of these algorithms are built upon biased data collected over years and can perpetuate stereotypes and even lead to harmful outcomes.

New research from New York University shows a countrys level of gender equality is reflected in its search engine results, and that these outputs can lead to biased consequences.

Algorithms have become a staple in the digital age, influencing everything from news feeds to health care delivery. But these aggregated lists of results have come under fire from some lawmakers after evidence showed those on social media propagate misinformation and create online echo chambers.

Now, new research from psychologists at New York University highlights persistent gender bias in algorithms that leads to real-world effects and reinforces social inequalities.

These findings call for an integrative model of ethical [artificial intelligence] that includes human psychological processes to illuminate the formation, operation, and mitigation of algorithmic bias, authors wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are designed to detect patterns in large datasets. The problem is, many of the large datasets currently in existence reflect inherent societal biases.

To understand baseline gender inequality already present in society, researchers assessed data from the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). This index demonstrates the magnitude of gender inequality in 153 countries through the lens of economic participation, educational attainment and other metrics.

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Investigators then searched the gender-neutral term person in Google images in 37 countries using the dominant language of each respective country. Three months later, they carried out the same experiment in 52 countries, including 31 from the first round.

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In both searches, greater nation-level gender inequality  as reported by the GGGI  was associated with more male-dominated Google image search results, demonstrating a link between societal-level disparities and algorithmic output, authors wrote.

To test what impacts this bias might have on real-world decisions, researchers conducted a series of experiments among 395 men and women in the United States. In the experiments, investigators devised image sets based on results of internet searches in different countries.

Low-inequality countries (Iceland and Finland) tended to have near equal male and female representation in image results, while high inequality countries (Hungary and Turkey) had predominantly male (90 percent) image sets.

Participants were told they were viewing image search results of four lesser known professions: handler, draper, peruker, and lapidary. Before viewing the image sets, participants were asked which gender was more likely to be employed in each profession. For example, responses to Who is more likely to be a peruker, a man or a woman? served as baseline perceptions.

In each of the four categories, participants, regardless of sex, determined males more likely than females to be handlers, drapers, perukers, and lapidaries.

The same questions were asked after participants viewed the image sets.

This time, those viewing images derived from low-inequality countries reversed their male-biased assumptions reported in the baseline experiment, researchers found.

Participants shown datasets from high-inequality nations maintained their male-biased perceptions.

An additional experiment asked participants to judge how likely a man or woman would be employed by each profession. Individuals were then presented with male and female images and asked to select one to hire in each profession.

Images presented from countries with lower inequality ratings led to more egalitarian candidate selection among participants, and vice versa.

Overall, the studies highlight a cycle of bias propagation between society, AI, and users, authors wrote.

These findings demonstrate that societal levels of inequality are evident in internet search algorithms and that exposure to this algorithmic output can lead human users to think and potentially act in ways that reinforce this societal inequality.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Wednesday morning, Dakota Wright, 19, of Vanceboro had his first appearance in court after being charged in connection with a shooting outside the Craven County Courthouse on Tuesday that left one man dead and another in critical condition.

Two people have been charged in connection with a fatal shooting outside the Craven County Courthouse Tuesday morning, one of whom is facing the death penalty if convicted.

Dakota Wright, 19, of Vanceboro first appeared in Craven County court Wednesday morning after he was charged with one count of murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and one count of attempted murder in connection with the shooting Tuesday.

More: Suspect in custody after fatal shooting outside Craven County Courthouse

Judge Andrew Wigmore said Wright could be sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison without parole for the murder charge. Wright also faces about 19 years in prison (231 months) for the two assault charges and about 39 years in prison (471 months) for the attempted murder charge.

Wright remains held in Craven County jail without bond and his next court date is scheduled for July 28.

Wednesday morning, Dakota Wright, 19, of Vanceboro had his first appearance in court after being charged in connection with a shooting outside the Craven County Courthouse on Tuesday that left one man dead and another in critical condition.

Da Jhanae Ty Ki Bryant, 22, of 223 Second Ave. in Vanceboro, was charged with accessory after the fact for first degree homicide and accessory after the fact for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, according to a New Bern Police Department news release.

Bryant is held in the Craven County Jail under a $1,000,000 secured bond. She has a first appearance in court Thursday.

Previous coverage:

Jordan Andre McDaniels, 23, died of his gunshot injuries after he was taken to CarolinaEast Medical Center to be treated Tuesday.

His brother, Jaheem Deshawn McDaniels, 21, remains in ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville under critical but stable condition, according to an update from Craven County District Attorney Scott Thomas Wednesday morning.

Thomas said all three individuals involved in the shooting were initially inside the courthouse before the shooting occurred. Jaheem McDaniels was in court Tuesday for a few traffic violations, and Wright was at the courthouse for a friend's court case.

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It is still unclear what the motive for the shooting was.

"We know a lot more than we can tell you right now because it's still an active investigation but victims and the defendant now, in this case, were each at some point in the courthouse yesterday," he said. "They did not have any cases that were related to each other."

Craven County Sheriff Fred "Chip" Hughes said the incident happened "very quickly," and his deputies noticed a verbal altercation between the three before the shooting.

"A couple of my deputies did pick up on some body language, and that's their focus," he said. "Their courtroom security. They exchanged some words. My deputies didnt go into detail about what was being said. There was some verbal altercation back and forth. Most of that happened once they got out to the street."

Hughes added Wright was never in the courthouse with the gun, and Thomas could not confirm whether Wright was in a vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Thomas said due to the active investigation, no video surveillance from the courthouse will be released at this time.

"We're still in the process of interviewing witnesses," he said. "There were several eyewitnesses to this. We dont want to put any information out that would interfere or cloud any particular statement that they may give."

Hughes said there will be an increased police presence at the courthouse due to the shooting incident.

"We're on heightened alert here today and probably will be for the rest of the week," he said.

Reporter Symone Graham covers local public safety for the Sun Journal. Have a story tip or idea? Send it her way at sgraham@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Two charged in fatal shooting outside Craven County Courthouse, one faces death penalty
Jul. 12WILLIMANTIC  A motorist crashed his SUV into a pole on Jackson Street near Maple Avenue at approximately 10 p. m. on Friday night.

According to Willimantic Fire Department Chief Marc Scrivener no one was injured in the accident.

No one was brought to the hospital as a result of the accident.

Eversource Energy was notified that the pole was cracked from the crash.

Scrivener was unsure of the cause of the accident.

Follow the Chronicle on Twitter  @ thechroniclect.
Sydney Sweeney has shared the emotional moment that she called her mother after learning that she was nominated for two Emmys.

On Tuesday, the Euphoria star, 24, earned two first-time Emmy Awards nominations for her roles in The White Lotus and the HBO teenage drama series.

After learning the news, Sweeney called her mother, with the actor sharing a video of the touching phone call on her Instagram.

In the video, Sweeney could be seen sitting in the passenger seat of a car as she dialed her mothers number. As Sweeneys mom picked up the call and yelled: Congratulations! the actor responded: Mom! excitedly.

After taking the phone call off speaker, Sweeney could then be seen becoming emotional and wiping away tears as she talked to her mother.

At one point, Sweeney thanked her mother for her support, telling her thanks, mom as she laughed with joy.

The sweet moment ended with Sweeney informing her mother that everyone was calling to congratulate her, and that she would call her right back.

What a morning! Thank you so much to the @televisionacad for my Emmy nominations! Its an honour to know that both Olivia and Cassie have connected with so many. Im so proud of both these shows and grateful to everybody thats been a part of them, Sweeney captioned the clip on Instagram. But most importantly mom, I love you, we did it through the ups and downs! Thank you thank you!!

On social media, the emotional call has prompted an outpouring of supportive and congratulatory messages from Sweeneys fans, followers and peers.

Congratulations. So incredibly well deserved, Lili Reinhart wrote, while Tan France said: So, so deserved!!! Im so happy for you love!

On Twitter, the video was also met with praise for Sweeney as fans agreed that she deserved the recognition.

This is so sweet, she deserves, one person tweeted, while another said: This makes me so happy I want to cry too.

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Im so happy for her, she truly deserves it, someone else added.

im so happy for her, she truly deserves it https://t.co/LlpjQKzNGs  emily luvs robin buckley (@maybankshalo) July 12, 2022

my favorite part of #Emmys nomination day is watching the reactions from the actors who truly deserve the recognition https://t.co/IpEXuur88e  bobby. (@bobbywhatever_) July 12, 2022

This is so cute! Congrats Sydney Sweeney  https://t.co/ZrXSFcvz9U  sabrr (@lohansummerr) July 12, 2022

Sweeney was nominated in the outstanding supporting actress in a drama series category for her role as Cassie Howard in Euphoria, while her role as Olivia in The White Lotus earned her a nomination in the outstanding limited series category.

Shortly after the nominations were announced, the actor told People that she was in disbelief and beyond appreciative.

Im excited, Im in disbelief, Im beyond appreciative, she said, adding that she wasnt really expecting this.

Sweeney also revealed that one of the first things she did after learning of her nominations was call her mom. Im in pre-production for Madame Webb, so Im kind of all over the place today going from fittings to rehearsals to table reads. I was in the car and my phone started blowing up. I saw it and I called my mom, she said. Then, I called my team, then my dad, then my brother. I was just ... sitting in the car!
(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Inc. wants a lightning-quick trial to resolve its claim that billionaire Elon Musk wrongfully canceled his proposed $44 billion buyout of the social-media platform.

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Lawyers for the San Francisco-based company say they need only four days in Delaware Chancery Court to prove that the worlds richest man should be forced to honor his agreement and pay $54.20 a share for Twitter. The company hopes to start the non-jury case on Sept. 19. Legal experts, however, predict the case will take about two weeks to try.

Unlike some states where it can take several years to get a case to trial, Delaware Chancery Court generally moves quicker. Chancery judges -- business law experts -- are known for being able to parse through the legal thickets of complex merger and acquisition disputes more quickly and thoroughly than other US courts. Even complex business cases are often argued before a judge within six or seven months of being filed.

The Twitter buyout agreement specifies all legal disputes over the deal must be heard in Delaware, corporate home to more than half of U.S. public companies, including Twitter and Musks Tesla Inc..

Musk and his lawyers didnt immediately return emails Tuesday seeking comment on both the suit and whether the case can be tried on Twitters schedule. Musk did issue a tweet Tuesday, saying: Oh the irony lol.

A judge hasnt yet been assigned to the case, but Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick already has taken on investor suits over the teetering transaction. She may pick up Twitters suit as well. McCormick, a Delaware native, is a former legal-aid lawyer and graduate of Notre Dame Law School.

Twitters legal team argues it can easily show in less than a week of court time that Musk didnt have legitimate grounds to nix the $54.20-per-share buyout. Twitter shares rose 8.1% to $36.83 at 3:01 p.m. Wednesday.

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Litigation on the schedule Twitter proposes permits the parties and their experienced counsel ample time to assemble a trial record, the lawyers wrote.

That would provide enough time for a judge to rule and have the Delaware Supreme Court review the ruling before the Oct. 24 closing date for the transaction, the lawyers said.

Charles Elson, a retired University of Delaware finance professor and former head of the schools Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, says dont bet on it.

Id say a four-day trial is way more than optimistic, Elson said Wednesday in an interview. Theres a lot of water under the bridge on this deal and Id say it going to take more like 10 days to try it.

Last year, Musk traveled to Delaware for over challenge from Tesla investors to his more than $2 billion purchase of renewable-power provider SolarCity, a company he founded with his cousins. That case ate up 10 trial days. A judge ultimately concluded Musk didnt force an overpriced SolarCity acquisition down the throats of his fellow Tesla directors.

The current case is Twitter v. Musk, 22-0613, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington)

(Updates with professors comments about trial time in 10th paragraph)

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States is holding "detailed discussions" with the European Union and United Kingdom to iron out specifics of a price cap on Russian oil, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.

"That is not a process that will be completed in days. It will take time because of the number of elements that have to be worked through," Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force 1 as President Joe Biden made his way to the Middle East.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch)
(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, clearing the way for a shot whose more traditional technology has raised hopes of wider acceptance among vaccine skeptics.

Shares of Novavax rose 1.3% to $70.89 after its two-dose vaccine became the fourth COVID shot to be authorized for use in adults in the United States.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still needs to sign off on the use of the vaccine before it can be made available to people.

A panel of CDC advisers on vaccines is expected to meet on Tuesday, but the agenda has not been released yet.

Earlier this week, the U.S. government said it had secured 3.2 million Novavax vaccine doses, which it plans to release once the company finishes quality testing in the next few weeks. More than two-thirds of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated with shots from Moderna Inc, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson. U.S. health officials hope that people who have opted not to take Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine, which are based on the groundbreaking messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, will instead opt for Novavax's protein-based shot.

The vaccine, already approved in Europe, is based on a technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases including hepatitis B and influenza.

"Today's authorization offers adults in the United States who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine another option that meets the FDA's rigorous standards," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.

In Europe, however, demand for the shot has not been significantly high, with about 242,000 doses of the vaccine administered since its launch in December, prompting Novavax to increase its focus on lower-income countries.

The company's initial application for U.S. authorization of the shot was delayed by almost a year on development and production problems, making it a late entrant in the country's market for COVID vaccines.

Novavax has projected between $4 billion and $5 billion in sales this year. Analysts expect sales at the lower end of that range, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Devika Syamnath)
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Antonio Guterres will speak later on Wednesday about talks between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and U.N. officials on resuming Black Sea exports of Ukraine grain because "we believe that this is something positive," a U.N. spokesman said.

"He (Guterres) will talk to you at some length about why that is," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish military delegations met with U.N. officials in Istanbul on Wednesday for talks on resuming exports of Ukrainian grain from the major Black Sea port of Odesa as a global food crisis worsens.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. could be sued by more than 500 women across the US who claim to have been assaulted by drivers on the platform.

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A complaint filed Wednesday by Slater Slater Schulman LLP in San Francisco, alleges women were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed or otherwise attacked in their rides. It claims Uber has known about the sexual misconduct by some of the drivers, including rape, since 2014. The law firm said it has about 550 clients with claims against Uber and is actively investigating at least 150 more cases.

Uber has long struggled to handle complaints of misconduct on the ride-sharing app. Just two weeks ago, the company released its second safety report that showed it received 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020, ranging from non-consensual kissing of a nonsexual body part to nonconsensual sexual penetration, or rape.

While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences, said Adam Slater, a partner at Slater Slater Schulman. There is so much more that Uber can be doing to protect riders: adding cameras to deter assaults, performing more robust background checks on drivers, creating a warning system when drivers dont stay on a path to a destination.

Uber has faced several lawsuits against it from women alleging sexual assault by drivers. In 2018, it agreed to settle a class action case brought by two women who claim they were taken advantage of by drivers after they had consumed alcohol. Uber has faced similar complaints in countries beyond the US. Ubers license was revoked in London twice in three years over concerns that it wasnt adequately verifying drivers identities.

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Uber has long defended itself by asserting that it cant be held responsible for behavior of its drivers, who arent employees but rather are contractors. In its recent safety report, Uber said it conducts elaborate background checks of drivers before and during their time with the company.

Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously, Uber said in a statement. There is nothing more important than safety, which is why Uber has built new safety features, established survivor-centric policies, and been more transparent about serious incidents. While we cant comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work.

(Updates to add background on previous London ban. An earlier version of this story, published July 13, was corrected to reflect a complaint was filed on behalf of law firm claiming to have more than 500 client victims.)

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy; North Korean leader Kim Jong Un AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko; Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Ukraine said on Wednesday that it officially broke diplomatic relations with North Korea.

North Korea earlier recognized independence of Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's foreign ministry said the move by North Korea carries no legal weight.

Ukraine's foreign ministry announced on Wednesday that it severed diplomatic relations with North Korea after the country recognized the independence of two Moscow-backed separatist regions.

"Ukraine today breaks diplomatic relations with DPRK in response to its decision to recognize the so-called 'independence' of the temporarily Russian-occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine," Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, wrote in a tweet.

Russian state media TASS reported earlier on Wednesday that North Korea had recognized the independence of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk People's Republic, citing separatist leader Denis Pushilin. In a separate article, TASS reported that North Korea's ambassador to Russia presented a document with official recognition.

In a statement, Ukraine's foreign ministry called the move "an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," slamming it as "a gross violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, the UN Charter and the fundamental norms and principles of the international law."

The foreign ministry said North Korea's recognition won't change Ukraine's internationally recognized borders and carries no legal weight. For some, the move sparked an opportunity to joke about whether there was any diplomacy between the two countries to begin with.

"Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with North Korea. In my 26 years in diplomacy, I was never aware we had them," former Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba tweeted.

Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement that Russia will "soon reach the level of isolation" of North Korea, which is already extremely isolated from the international community.

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Days before Russia launched its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states  sparking widespread outrage.

Ukraine has fought rebels in the two Kremlin-backed regions since 2014. US and Western officials had warned Putin would try to use the regions to stage a pretext for a full-scale invasion. Even before the full-scale invasion began, the Kremlin-backed rebels controlled roughly one-third of the region.

Last month, Syria  a Russian ally  also recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent, the Associated Press reported.

Following major setbacks in the early days of the war, including failing to take Kyiv, the Russian military is gradually making progress in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas). In early July, Russia seized control of Luhansk. Russian forces now appear to be regrouping and reconstituting for further offenses in the coming days, according to a recent UK intelligence report.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is beginning to use Western-supplied equipment, including HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) from the US, to strike targets in Russian-controlled territory.

In an overnight address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is, and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Guangxi University demoted and removed a professor from teaching after investigating his wifes allegations that he beat her at least 1,000 times over the past seven years.

Tang Ping, a 31-year-old mother of two in Nanning, China, posted photos and medical records on social media as alleged evidence of the times her husband Li Zhi physically beat her during the course of their eight-year marriage.

Tang married Li in 2014 and became a housewife. She said her husbands incessant abuse started in 2015. Tang said she has been physically and verbally attacked at least 1,000 times, including during the pregnancy of their second child.

When Tang called the police five years ago after being physically beaten, she was allegedly told that her injuries were not serious enough for police to intervene.

More from NextShark: Bae Suzy K-drama Anna' outrages Chinese viewers with scene about counterfeit watch

The mother reportedly blamed herself for not being good enough and chose to remain silent. She only mustered the courage to seek a divorce last year.

Only by leaving him can I survive, Tang told South China Morning Post.

A Nanning court granted Tang a personal safety protection order during the divorce proceedings. Li denied the accusations in May.

More from NextShark: Filipino lawyer gunned down inside Uber vehicle in Philadelphia dies

Lis previous marriage reportedly also ended due to allegations of domestic violence. His ex-wife had issued a restraining order against Li in 2013.

The father had restricted Tang from seeing their 8-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son after she filed for divorce, according to Tang.

Li Zhi cut their contact with me and beat me up when I went to see my daughter on one occasion, she reportedly wrote in a social media post last month. I want custody of both my children and the property I deserve. I would appreciate any help from members of the public.

More from NextShark: Chinese woman in Australia filmed ripping down Tiananmen Square posters, denying Uyghur 'camps' claim

While Li has not been charged with domestic violence, the Guangxi Universitys School of Economics has banned the associate professor from teaching, according to the universitys statement released on Sunday.

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We will never tolerate such behavior once it is confirmed, the statement read.

The university has not revealed details of their investigation.

More from NextShark: Taiwanese teacher pissed off over inattentive students does what other teachers can only dream of doing

I kept telling myself to swallow it, because I wanted my children to have a complete family. But this was all wrong, Tang told The Guardian. Domestic violence is like a plague. Once it happens, it will happen again  and again  until you stand up to defend yourself.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with domestic violence, please contact the domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233. For a list of international helplines, visit www.befriends.org

Featured Image via Weibo
The U.S. is getting another COVID-19 vaccine choice as the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cleared Novavax shots for adults.

Novavax makes a more traditional type of shot than the three other COVID-19 vaccines available for use in the U.S. -- and one thats already available in Europe and multiple other countries.

Nearly a quarter of American adults still haven't gotten their primary vaccinations even this late in the pandemic, and experts expect at least some of them to roll up their sleeves for a more conventional option  a protein-based vaccine.

The Maryland company also hopes its shots can become a top booster choice in the U.S. and beyond. Tens of millions of Americans still need boosters that experts call critical for the best possible protection as the coronavirus continues to mutate.

For now, the FDA authorized Novavax's initial two-dose series for people 18 and older.

I encourage anyone who is eligible for, but has not yet received, a COVID-19 vaccine to consider doing so, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in a statement.

Before shots begin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must recommend how they should be used, a decision expected next week.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck told The Associated Press that he expected the U.S. to expand use of the vaccine beyond unvaccinated adults fairly quickly.

Already the FDA is evaluating it for those as young as 12, Erck said. Novavax also has submitted data on booster doses, including mix-and-match use in people whod earlier received Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations.

The Biden administration has bought 3.2 million Novavax doses so far, and Erck said vaccinations should begin later this month.

Sharon Bentley of Argyle, Texas, is one of the holdouts. Bentley was hesitant about the first COVID-19 vaccines but then her husband volunteered for a Novavax trial, getting two doses and later a booster.

Her husband's positive experience with a more tried-and-true technology, that convinced me, Bentley said, adding that she planned to tell some unvaccinated friends about the option, too.

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The Novavax vaccine is made of copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus, packaged into nanoparticles that to the immune system resemble a virus. Then an immune-boosting ingredient, or adjuvant, thats made from the bark of a South American tree is added that acts as a red flag to ensure those particles look suspicious enough to spark a strong immune response.

Protein vaccines have been used for years to prevent hepatitis B, shingles and other diseases. Its a very different technology than the dominant Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines that deliver genetic instructions for the body to produce its own copies of the spike protein. The lesser-used Johnson & Johnson option uses a harmless cold virus to deliver spike-making instructions.

Like the other vaccines used in the U.S., the Novavax shots have proved highly effective at preventing COVID-19's most severe outcomes. Typical vaccine reactions were mild, including arm pain and fatigue. But FDA did warn about the possibility of a rare risk, heart inflammation, that also has been seen with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The Novavax vaccine was tested long before the omicron variant struck. But last month, the company released data showing a booster dose promised a strong immune response even against omicron's newest relatives  preliminary evidence that several of the FDA's scientific advisers called compelling.

Still, U.S. regulators are planning for a fall booster campaign using Pfizer and Moderna shots that better target omicron subtypes  and Novavax also has begun testing updated shots. Erck said the company could have updated doses available late in the year.

European regulators recently cleared the Novavax vaccine to be used as young as age 12, and several countries have authorized booster doses of its original vaccine.

Earlier manufacturing difficulties held up the vaccine, although Erck said those have been solved and Novavax can meet global demand. Much of the company's vaccine, including doses for the U.S., are being produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
A digital economic zone backed by the Catawba Indian Nation in Rock Hill, S.C., has passed a set of regulations aimed at creating "legal clarity" for digital assets.

The framework defines digital assets  from cryptocurrencies to non-fungible tokens (NFTs)  as intangible property or personal property without a physical existence, according to a Wednesday announcement.

The Catawba Digital Economic Zone (CDEZ), which was set up in February, is a sovereign regulatory zone established and backed by the Catawba Nation, the announcement said. The new regulations were adopted on July 6 by the the tribal nation's Zone Authority Commission. The economic zone plans to allow digital asset companies to remotely incorporate under its laws.

[The rules] are in effect now, but we have only just begun to market the zone to prospective companies. This policy will be the foundation for a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto and Web3 companies, a CDEZ spokesperson said in an email to CoinDesk.

The Catawba Indian Nation is a 700-acre reservation with just over 3,000 citizens and is the only federally recognized native tribe in South Carolina. The Catawba government didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the CDEZ legislation.

The zone authority has separate assets, liabilities and independent decision-making capacity from the Catawba government, but it is ultimately accountable to the nations elected leadership and legislative arms, a spokesperson for the zone said in an emailed statement.

The zone is run by a for-profit management company that is majority owned by the Catawba Indian Nation, the statement said, adding, Many of the blockchain-related regulations, such as the digital assets regulation, were based on the years of work of the Wyoming policymakers, though we improved it when there was a clear need.

The new regulatory framework, reviewed by CoinDesk, says a digital asset could be a digital consumer asset bought primarily for consumptive purposes. A virtual currency can be used as a unit of account, means of exchange or a store of value that isn't legal tender in the U.S. A digital security cannot be either a virtual currency or digital consumer asset.

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It also defines NFTs as indivisible assets that may be classified as securities depending on the nature of their use. Fractionalized NFTs that split up the ownership of one NFT between multiple people could fall outside of the scope of the framework.

NFTs, by their very nature as non-fungible assets, are indivisible and unique. That does not prohibit firms from denoting economic interest in the NFT with fungible tokens. However, the definition of those fungible tokens will be defined differently from the Code itself, the CDEZ spokesperson said.

According to the announcement, establishing legal definitions of digital assets is the first step toward setting up more sophisticated regulatory frameworks governing the likes of the asset-backed stablecoins and member-owned decentralized autonomous organizations that underpin decentralized finance.

Now that we have clear digital asset definitions established, a milestone that many governments have still failed to achieve, we can move forward. The zone can quickly pass thorough and comprehensive frameworks for the regulation of DAOs, stablecoins and other facets of the Web3 space that are currently poorly defined in legal codes around the world, Sam Trimnal, chairman of the Zone Authority Commission, said in a press statement.

In early June, the CDEZ launched a public comment period for the development of regulations for DAOs.
The mayor of Uvalde has branded the media chicken for releasing footage of the mass shooting at an elementary school in which 19 students and two teachers were massacred.

Mayor Don McLaughlin attacked The Austin American-Statesman and TV station KVUE for showing Robb Elementary School surveillance video of the May shooting.

I want to go on the record. The way that video was released today was one of the most chicken things Ive ever seen, Mr McLaughlin told a city council meeting on Tuesday.

Another city council member, Ernest King, also slammed the media who released it as chickens***.

The decision to make the footage public has also been attacked by the families of victims who had not been able to view it first.

This video needed to be released, but the families shouldve gotten to see it first, added Mr McLaughlin.

In the video police officers can be seen huddled in a corridor outside the classroom where the shootings took place.

Law enforcement has been widely denounced for their decision not to storm the classroom and take out the gunman, with a border patrol tactical team eventually taking him out.

Uvalde school district police chief, Pete Arrendono, has been placed on leave amid intense criticism of his performance as on-scene commander on 24 May.

When Mr King attacked the release, a member of the audience at the meeting, asked him What about the cops? Are they chickens***? Mr King replied that the council would handle that.

The previously unseen 77-minute video shows events leading up to the gunman entering the school at around 11.33am, moments after crashing his truck outside.

The footage continues for an hour as law enforcement officers filled the hallway outside classrooms 111 and 112, but not ultimately confronting the shooter for one hour and 14 minutes after the first police officer arrived at the scene.

The newspaper has defended releasing the footage in an editorial written by executive editor Manny Garcia.

Our goal is to continue to bring to light what happened at Robb Elementary, which the families and friends of the Uvalde victims have long been asking for, Mr Garcia wrote.

And he added: We have to bear witness to history, and transparency and unrelenting reporting is a way to bring change.
(PA Archive)

It was the worst-case scenario. After Roe v Wade was overturned, Ohio  a trigger law state  brought in a six-week abortion ban. And just three days after that, reports started circulating that a 10-year-old girl from the state  a victim of child sexual abuse who had been raped and impregnated when she was nine  was unable to access a termination.

The case came to light because Dr Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist based in Indianapolis, Indiana told the Columbus Dispatch and the Indianapolis Star that shed received a call from a doctor in Columbus, Ohio. The physician on the end of the phone was hoping that the Ohioan 10-year-old might be able to travel one state over to access the medical care she needed. In Indiana, which borders Ohio, abortion laws hadnt yet been overturned  although it looks like similar restrictions to Ohios may be introduced in the near future.

As news circulated about the girl, there was an online outcry. Pro-choice activists pointed to it as proof of the cruelty of overturning Roe v Wade. Is this what the Supreme Court really imagined, they asked: middle school-age victims of child abuse pregnant with fetuses their bodies couldnt physically carry to term being forced to travel hundreds of miles for basic medical care? And what happens when another young girl in the same situation cant afford to make the trip, or when the neighboring state in question doesnt have more lenient laws? This young girl, raped then re-traumatized by the state, was the logical consequence of a heartless, blinkered decision made mainly by middle-aged men.

But thats not how the right saw it. First of all, we know what the right-wing position is on rape victims who have been impregnated by their attackers: that much has been made clear by people like Philip Gunn, the Mississippi lawmaker who suggested 12-year-old rape victims should carry their pregnancies to term; or Ted Cruz, who recently reiterated that he thinks rape victims should have their rapists babies; or South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, who was asked specifically about the 10-year-old and who answered with the old anti-abortion phrase, I dont believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy, when what the meant was, I believe a child who likely still watches cartoons and takes a teddy-bear to bed should be forced into motherhood because she was raped.

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To be fair, though, right-wingers acknowledged the case of the 10-year-old Ohioan girl was tragic. Noem even said it would keep her up at night. But wouldnt it be more convenient for the right if they didnt have to weasel-word their way out of this objectively horrifying case? Wouldnt it be better if it wasnt true at all?

Thats the thesis Fox News came up with, and they ran with it. Bidens story of child rape victim traveling for abortion very difficult to prove, WaPo fact-checker says, ran a Fox News headline on July 9, after the Ohio girls story went viral. In it, fact-checkers were quoted as saying that the case was more difficult than most to verify beyond speaking with doctors, because of the age of the child and details of the case. Medical procedures are protected by confidentiality laws, and so are issues pertaining to childrens services. Fact-checkers usually require two or three reliable sources, but in this case they could only find one.

On July 11, Fox News published a second article headline Biden-cited story of 10-year-old Ohio rape victim needing abortion still not verified by fact-checkers. By this time, the president had talked about the importance of an executive order which in part protects people who want to travel to a different state for an abortion, citing the 10-year-olds case as a prominent example. The rape of a 10-year-old would have immediately triggered a criminal investigation in the state of Ohio, wrote Fox News reporter Nikolas Lanum. Under the law, any physician is considered a mandate reporter and would be required to tell the local child welfare or law enforcement of suspected physical, sexual or emotional abuse of someone under 18. No criminal investigation has been found that matches the story, and the office of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, R., said it was not aware of any such case. He said it would be hard to confirm such a report without knowing the local jurisdiction in which the rape occurred. Lanum later noted that on both CNN and in a Washington Post opinion column, the story was used as a means to criticize Republicans.

It seemed the right had been able to turn it all around, using that well-known strategy of just asking questions. If you just ask questions about a case that cant be proven because of confidentiality, or Hunter Bidens drug addiction, or antifa planning January 6 with the Democratic globalist establishment funded by George Soros, then you cant be pinned down anywhere. Youre just a person who appreciates the truth. Youre advocating for freedom or speech and information. Anything that isnt proven becomes a probable lie, and anything thats proven using the usual systems  political, legal, justice  might also be a lie because, hello? Thats where the globalists pull the strings.

So Fox News doubled down. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was interviewed on Fox about the rape case and said, Every day that goes by, the more likely that this is a fabrication. Jesse Watters, the popular Fox News host, went on-air to say he was pretty sure the whole thing was a hoax. Outrage bubbled throughout far-right social media. How sick were Democrats that they would make this up; how desperate to attack the righteous GOP?

And then, mere hours after Watters proclaimed the hoax dead in the water, an arrest was made in Ohio. Gerson Fuentes was charged with the rape of a minor on Tuesday morning, after admitting to sexually assaulting the 10-year-old, and it was reported by the Columbus Dispatch that the child had been able to successfully access an abortion on June 30. Fuentes now faces life imprisonment.

Fox News has not taken down its articles claiming that the story cannot be fact-checked (it has, however, published a separate story about the arrest, headlined: Ohio 10-year-olds alleged rapist is Guatemalan illegal immigrant: ICE source, which itself appears to only make use of a non-fact-checker-friendly single source.) Yost, the Ohio AG who proclaimed his doubts about the case on national television, simply said, We rejoice every time a child rapist is taken off the streets. What America is left with is a young victim of child abuse forced across state lines and a culture war nobody wanted. The right kept on accusing the left of making an issue political  or indeed making it up entirely  before it became clear that the opposite was true. How many Fox News viewers will only remember the hosts railing against the Democrats and the still-live stories claiming the 10-year-old didnt exist? How many more kids will have their abuse detailed and then dismissed on national TV? And how long until the far-right can accept that being pro-choice isnt about point-scoring, baby-killing or global conspiracies, but instead about the simple compassion afforded to people making choices they never thought theyd have to make?
In the last 12 months, violent crime in Tacoma has nearly doubled. On Tuesday, Police Chief Avery Moore presented a three-phase plan to decrease it.

At the City Council study session, Moore presented the Tacoma Police Department Crime Reduction Plan less than a week after the deadly shooting of a 14-year-old girl.

Moore partnered with criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio to develop the plan with the goal of reducing the number of victims, increasing community trust and increasing the number of residents who feel safe. The plan is data driven and 100% evidence based, Moore said.

Our overall message is we want you to feel safe, Moore said in an interview following the presentation.

Mayor Victoria Woodards said crime is one of the biggest issues facing Tacoma.

Our community needs this, and we need it now evidenced by the loss of a 14-year-old girl, Iyana, last week in our community, she said.

Hot-spot policing

Hot-spot policing, the first phase, has started to be implemented across Tacoma. Hot-spot policing will focus on violence-prone addresses (24 addresses account for 12 percent of violent crime in Tacoma) and increase police visibility at or near those locations to deter violent offenders. Police officers will turn on the lights on their cars for 15 minutes per every hour during peak crime hours.

High visibility does have an impact, Moore said. We cant be everywhere at all times, but where we can be based on our data, thats where were going to be with the idea of making people safe.

Moore speculated the increase of violent crime was because of the lack of police visibility.

Mike Smith, the criminal justice department chair at UTSA, said during the plans presentation that violent crime tends to be concentrated at commercial establishments in Tacoma. He said violence in other larger cities is generally concentrated at multi-family dwellings.

Deputy Mayor Catherine Ushka, the District 4 council member, said her neighbors have told her they are afraid to go outside. She said the messaging of the illuminated lights should be clear to Tacoma residents.

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Right now, if you see lights, it means something terrible is happening and you need to hunker down, Ushka said.

Moore said in an interview that residents should read the room by determining why police are present in a particular area. If a location is hot or a crime has recently been committed, police will have put up a barrier and there will be multiple officers. If the officer is hot-spot policing, the officer is likely to be sitting by a shopping strip with their patrol cars lights on.

The police chief said the hot-spot policing plan is tailored to be successful even with a shortage of police officers. The department is currently down 47 officers, he said.

Rob Tillyer, an UTSA associate professor of criminal justice, said displacement, which is when crime moves elsewhere, generally does not happen with hot-spot policing. The police department with the help of University of Texas at San Antonio will evaluate changes in crime every 90 days to potentially add emerging hot spots and remove cooled hot spots.

Smith said it is not unusual that, after an area has cooled off, that it will remain cool for an extended period.

Council member Keith Blocker, who represents District 3, said he wants the Police Department to go beyond hot-spot policing and ensure it is providing resources needed for the community.

Are we bringing our community resources? Blocker asked. Are we doing a career drive? Were talking about poverty driven, property crime driving areas that are lacking resources We know that infusing these communities with additional resources will help.

Problem-oriented, place-based policing

The second phase is problem-oriented, place-based policing, which addresses conditions that contribute to recurring problems at crime-prone locations. Tillyer said crime happens in particular areas because there is a vulnerable victim  either a person or a building, a motivated offender and the lack of a capable guardian.

The goal of this phase is to start to build an understanding of what are the particular things that are going on in this place that cause this opportunity structure to occur, Tillyer said at the study session.

He added the phase would bring in stakeholders, like the city attorney, Tacoma Public Schools, Metro Parks Tacoma, Public Works and more.

At-large council member Kiara Daniels said she wants the crime-reduction plan to include youth and youth engagement, like through summer programs and after-school programs.

The second phase would be implemented 6 to 12 months after hot-spot policing begins and might have budget requirements.

Focused deterrence

Focused deterrence, the third phase, would begin 6 to 12 months after problem-oriented, place-based policing begins. Tacoma Police Department will intervene with repeat and high-risk violent offenders to offer them alternatives to crime with services, including counseling, job training, education, housing, job placement and substance-use treatment. If the offender continues to commit crimes, they will be prosecuted.

Were going to weed out the people who need to be weeded out, i.e., go to jail, Moore said.  This is about deterring crime, but if youre not smart enough to know that you shouldnt commit, then youre going to jail.

Council member Joe Bushnell said we cannot stop crime with policing alone, and everyone needs to help to reduce the number of victims. He supported the fact the plan isnt focused solely on arresting people.

Moore said Tacoma residents could help the plan be successful by being a guardian, as opposed to someone that complains. Policing is inclusive of everybody, he said.

You dont have to see it and be hidden, he said. Its always better to let people know, Ive seen it, because people dont want to get caught.

Woodards called on Tacoma residents to help turn the corner together, and, if you see something, say something.

Deputy police chief Paul Junger said residents could help by reporting a streetlight out to 311 and picking up trash.

Equity and fairness

The crime-reduction plan is data driven, relies on objective indicators of crime, offending and victimization and is racially and ethnicity-neutral, the criminologist said.

It doesnt rely on over-policing, Smith said. It doesnt rely on aggressive and divisive practices like stop and frisk that have been used in other places. It doesnt rely on racial stereotyping. It doesnt rely on discretionary practices of the police that have been shown to be problematic in some other places as well.

Smith said the criminologists will relentlessly evaluate the strategy of the crime reduction plan.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that President Biden would seek to minimize physical contact with other officials while on his trip to the Middle East, citing the rise of new COVID-19 variants.

The president takes a range of COVID precautions and additional ones when he travels, Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One. Were trying to minimize contact as much as possible where we can.

Her comments followed reports that the White House had informed Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapids office that Biden would avoid shaking hands during the visit.

Jean-Pierre denied that the decision to minimize Bidens contact with other people on the foreign trip represented a change in policy, though the president has in recent days appeared at large gatherings in the U.S. where he has shaken hands with other people.

When pressed on whether Biden was seeking to avoid being photographed shaking hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while in Saudi Arabia, Jean-Pierre said that the decision was made on recommendation from Bidens doctor and reiterated he would seek to minimize contact as much as possible.

She noted that BA.4 and BA.5, which are subvariants of the COVID-19 omicron variant, currently make up the majority of cases in the U.S. White House health officials briefed reporters on the plan to combat BA.5 during a briefing on Tuesday, which focuses on access to vaccinations, COVID-19 treatments, masks and testing.

The White House says it takes extra precautions around Biden to protect him from contracting COVID-19, including testing officials before they come in close contact with the president and requiring mask use in West Wing meetings. Jean-Pierre noted that Biden, who is vaccinated and boosted, tested negative before departing for the trip.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also said that White House officials were looking to increase masking and reduce contact at this point in the pandemic.

However, Biden has also resumed large events at the White House and on domestic trips. On a trip to Ohio last week, for instance, Biden spoke to a large crown inside a high school and spent about an hour taking selfies and interacting with guests. He attended the congressional picnic at the White House on Tuesday before departing for Israel, though the event was held outside, which health experts recommend to reduce the spread of the virus.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
More than $40 billion in American Rescue Plan funds have been committed to strengthening and expanding the U.S. workforce, the White House is set to announce on Wednesday.

The funds are being used for workforce development, apprenticeships training and recruitment, and retention of employees for private and public sector jobs.

The White House on Wednesday will host a summit on American Rescue Plan investments in the U.S. workforce, where Vice President Harris will announce the investments in expanding the health care workforce, among other areas.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh will also participate in the summit, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) will participate in a session on workforce investments in the states from American Rescue Plan funding.

President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, into law early in the administration.

Of the more than $40 billion in funds, $13 billion will go to state, local and tribal governments, where they are using the funds for different forms of workforce development, and $16 billion will go toward the care and health care workforce.

Another $12 billion will go to strengthen the K-12 educator workforce and $3 billion will be invested at a later time to strengthen the future public health workforce.

One of the reasons that were doing this summit is to encourage and help spread the word about many of the best practices that we will see tomorrow, a senior administration official said.

The official called it a call to action for local leaders to use their American Rescue Plan funding for workforce development.

I cannot tell you how many times when Im talking to a governor or mayor or county leader, the one thing they want to know is what are their peers doing? the official said. Other models that work well? This will help.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGON  The White House on Tuesday doubled down on a brewing fight with Congress over legislative efforts that would prevent the retirement of several ships and aircraft as well as the scrapping of a nuclear modernization program.

With the House set to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act later this week, the White Houses Office of Management and Budget released a statement that said it strongly opposes congressional efforts to block its retirement and divestment plans.

The White House argued that blocking its efforts to divest or retire lower priority platforms inflated the top line of the $840 billion defense authorization bill, which already stands at $37 billion more than President Joe Bidens budget request.

The Presidents budget request for [fiscal 2023] was developed in a thoughtful and deliberate way to match resources to strategy and strategy to policy, the Office of Management and Budget wrote. Any funding increase should be oriented to ensure the right balance of forces essential to advancing modernization while sustaining readiness.

Democrats and Republicans alike have also rejected the Navys plans to decommission 24 ships, 16 of them ahead of schedule. The White House statement hit back at that, noting it opposes statutory requirements on the minimum number of amphibious ships and that it strongly opposes incrementally funding a third Arleigh Burke class destroyer in FY 2023.

Similarly, the House bill would also block the Air Forces request to cut 33 Block 20 F-22A Raptor fighters.

The White House also said it strongly opposes a provision that would provide $45 million in continued funding for the sea-launched cruise missile nuclear development program, or SLCM-N, which Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., introduced as an amendment when the House Armed Services Committee voted 57-1 to advance the bill last month.

Further investment in developing SLCM-N would divert resources and focus from higher modernization priorities for the U.S. nuclear enterprise and infrastructure, which is already stretched to capacity after decades of deferred investments, the Office of Management and Budget wrote.

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However, the fate of SLCM-N remains unclear, given the House Appropriations Committee last month advanced a bill that would defund the program.

The White House also decried a provision that would prevent the Navy from retiring five littoral combat ships. The service requested to retire nine of the vessels, citing breakdowns among the fleet as well as a $59 million annual maintenance cost.

The littoral combat ship Milwaukee transits the Panama Canal on March 10, 2022. (MCS2 Danielle Baker/U.S. Navy)

Centrist Democrats Reps. Elaine Lurie of Virginia and Jared Golden of Maine successfully included the provision to prevent the Navy from decommissioning the ships when the House Armed Services Committee voted 57-1 to advance the bill last month. That amendment also included the $37 billion increase to the Biden administrations budget over the objections of Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash.

Smith has introduced an amendment for debate on the floor this week that would revise the bill and allow the Navy to retire all nine ships.

The House Rules Committee, which controls the parameters of floor debate, approved a total of 650 amendments to the bill for floor debate and votes this week.

Smith has also introduced a floor amendment that would create a revolving critical munitions acquisition fund for Ukraine of up to $500 million per fiscal year.

The Houses defense authorization bill already contains a broader provision that would create a critical munitions reserve requiring the Pentagon to implement a pilot program identifying sub-tier suppliers, including those responsible for the storage and handling of controlled, unclassified information related to munitions.

The White House welcomed the preliminary steps taken to create the reserve but noted they fail to provide the complete authority to establish a revolving fund to maintain continuous orders of munitions that the administration considers critical.

This section as currently drafted would still require [the Defense Department] to use presidential drawdown authority of existing Department munitions stock to support partner operations, the Office of Management and Budget said. Furthermore, without the complete authority requested, the defense industrial base is likely to be challenged to meet surges in demand, creating long lead-times for the delivery of critical munitions or weapon systems early in crises.

The $40 billion Ukraine aid package that Congress passed in May included $11 billion in funding for Biden to transfer major weapons systems to the country via presidential drawdown authority, and $8.7 billion to backfill stocks of items like Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that were already sent. It also included $500 million to replenish U.S. critical munitions stockpiles, as well as $600 million in Defense Production Act funding to help unclog munitions supply chains and expedite missile production.

The White House did praise the inclusion of $550 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in the defense authorization bill but asked Congress for additional flexibility in spending that money.

The Office of Management and Budget also asked Congress to increase the cap for the Special Immigrant Visa program to allow the entry of more Afghans who assisted the U.S. military and are therefore in danger of retaliation from the Taliban, a request that was not included in the defense authorization bill.

The White House also opposed a provision from Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn.  which the House Armed Services Committee voted to add to the legislation last month  that would ban the sale of Chinese-made products in U.S. commissaries.

The Office of Management and Budget said the provision would affect more than 70 percent of products sold in military exchanges, a similar percentage to private sector businesses, and place a heavy financial burden on service members.

The White House also noted it does support several other provisions in the bill, including a reauthorization of the Small Business Administrations Innovation Research and Technology Transfer programs. The Defense Department heavily relies on these small business innovation grants, but its reauthorization is uncertain amid Senate negotiations to address concerns from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Rinat Akhmetov unexpectedly announced the exit of his investment company SCM

NV estimated Akhmetovs net worth to be around $11.5 billion in 2021. His investment company SCM abruptly announced getting rid of its media arm on July 11. The media holding has been enabling Akhmetov to exert political influence in Ukraine for many years.

Reluctantly, I made the decision; Media Group Ukraine (MGU) will release all of its broadcasting and print media licenses to the state later this week, said Akhmetov.

MGUs online media is also slated for a shutdown.

Read also: Why Interfax-Ukraine changed its mind on platforming the renegade Russian journalist Ovsyannikova

The unexpected move came as a surprise to Ukraines politicians, media market players, and even SCM employees.

According to Akhmetov, he is merely complying with the recently adopted anti-oligarch law. The businessman added that the Russian full-scale invasion has prevented him from selling his media branch off in the six-months timeframe, provided by the law.

Few political and media experts, however, were convinced this was the sole reason behind Akhmetov exiting the mass media market.

A political surprise

President Volodymyr Zelenskyys administration was quick to comment on the development. Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak hailed the law in question as a clean slate in public-private sector relations, lauding Akhmetov for leading by example.

Yevheniia Kravchuk, who heads the press office of Zelenskyys Servant of the People party, and sits on the parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, told NV that SCMs announcement surprised her. Nevertheless, there is some logic to the move, Kravchuk said  seeing as Akhmetovs business partner Vadym Novynskyi recently chose to step down as MP, in order to avoid the oligarch designation. One of the criteria for qualifying as an oligarch under the new law is political influence, after all.

Akhmetov decided to shut down his media, said Kravchuk.

It further indicates that this was never a business to him, but an instrument of political influence instead, which could now land him into the corresponding (oligarch) registry.

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Read also: Resource oligarch Akhmetov says Russians have caused $20 billion in damages to his enterprises

Getting officially branded an oligarch could damage Akhmetovs relationships with foreign investors: he would be known as a politically exposed person  a somewhat toxic label.

Kravchuk noted that Akhmetov is only transferring broadcasting licenses to the state  as opposed to his tangible media assets or nearly 4,000 MGU employees. These licenses will now be auctioned off by corresponding agencies, according to the MP.

Other major media moguls like Victor Pinchuk (Starlight Media) and Ihor Kolomoisky (1+1 Media) will also have to find a way to comply with the law. Kravchuk said its unclear if they will approach it the same way SCM did.

Kolomoyskyi is probably less concerned with reputational damage from getting into the oligarch registry, as he has already been targeted with U.S. sanctions. Pinchuk, on his turn, could try to argue he falls short of being an oligarch by the three other criteria.

NV contacted Kolomoisky, Pinchuk, and former President Petro Poroshenko, but they all declined to comment on their potential exposure to the anti-oligarch law.

Mykola Knyazhytsky, the media coordinator for Poroshenkos European Solidarity political party, supposes that most Ukrainians will notice Akhmetovs TV channels winding down when they lose access to soccer broadcasts.

Who would fork out ludicrous (soccer broadcast license) fees? Nobody, said Knyazhytsky.

Zelenskyy will get the blame.

Read also: Canadian green energy investors pull out of Ukraine over unresolved conflict with Ukrainian oligarchs

Knyazhytsky added that Akhmetov could be looking to shift the blame to the president, hoping to make the public resent the anti-oligarch law.

Not Zelenskyy, but (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin turned out to be the true bane of (Ukrainian) oligarchs, as their businesses were destroyed by (Russian) artillery and missiles, he said.

SCM described the law, enacted last September with the votes of 279 out of 450 MPs, as discriminatory.

The company will not resume its media operations while the law remains on the books, according to SCM spokesperson Natalya Yemchenko.

We consider (the law to be) discriminatory  something weve been saying the whole time  and therefore are abandoning the media business, Yemchenko said in a Facebook post.

Read also: Ukrainian court seizes $16 million in assets of Russian oligarch Fridman

She added that SCM will not bargain about complying with discriminatory norms of the law.

A multitude of reasons

Political scientist Anatoliy Oksytyuk suggested that a whole range of reasons prompted Akhmetovs decisions, with the war being chief among them.

Todays agenda is wholly different: there is no political competition in the parliament, as its curtailed by martial law, Oktysyuk told NV.

He added that the media landscape also remains absolutely neutral and uncritical of various political forces during the war, as opportunities for parliamentary lobbying are all but gone.

What else is there to do, when the parliament has become a strictly technical institution? Oktysyuk said.

No longer it is the central debate platform in the country, where any number of issues could be raised. Thats why I think him getting rid of these (broadcasting) licenses was a purely pragmatic move.

In addition to trying to avoid the oligarch registry, Akhmetov was also constrained in how much he could spend to support his unprofitable media division, noted Oktysyuk.

Being placed into the registry wouldnt have been a huge deal, if he (Akhmetov) didnt have assets abroad  like Kolomoisky, for example, said Oktysyuk.

(Kolomoisky) doesnt mind being an oligarch, he will probably boast about it instead.

In contrast, Akhmetov owns assets in the UK and Switzerland; his companies are publicly traded on overseas stock markets.

His (Akhmetovs) son also owns many assets abroad; it would have made things more difficult, Oktysyuk added.

While de-oligarchization is clearly an important reason for Akhmetov giving up his media empire, there could also be a deep corporate conflict between him and Zelenskyys administration.

I can see something else driving this, said Oktysyuk.

Perhaps, (the administration) asked Akhmetov to do something  maybe finance some project.

Read also: Russian invaders preparing media tour from Russia's Rostov to occupied cities in Ukraine

Another political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko maintains de-oligarchization was the prime motive for SCMs divestment. In an interview with NV, Fesenko suggested that Akhmetov might have expected the war to put Zelenskyys anti-oligarch agenda on hold.

But then the EU publicly supported anti-oligarch policies in Ukraine, when the country was made an EU member candidate, said Fesenko.

(Akhmetov) realized its not going away; Zelenskyy wont relent. He would have to deal with it, and getting placed into the registry is best avoided, due to various reasons.

More pragmatic, financial reasons also played a role, according to Fesenko. Akhmetov lost a number of his major industrial assets due to the war  including several huge metal production facilities in Mariupol  reducing his ability to bankroll SCMs mass media division.

Its perfectly rational to avoid political risks of clashing with Zelenskyy during the war and afterwards, Fesenko concluded.

His (Akhmetovs) current priority is to preserve and restore what remains of his core business, distancing himself from the whole oligarchical theme. Soccer remains his personal obsession, and hes unlikely to abandon that.

Akhmetovs greatest strengths and weakness

Media analyst Otar Dovzhenko told NV that few experts in the field have bought SCMs official explanation for forfeiting broadcasting licenses.

Im inclined to believe that Akhmetov simply no longer has a need to finance an expensive and unwieldy media empire, which cant benefit him anymore  outside of an occasional positive PR news segment, Dovzhenko said.

Its likely he intends to move some of his media business abroad, as Ukraine will not be able to regulate foreign media. But its nothing but speculation and assumptions for now. However, several online channels, domiciled abroad  like oll.tv and Xtra.tv  remain operational, as they are beyond the scope of the anti-oligarch law.

Akhmetovs MGU is pivoting to Poland, where millions of Ukrainians now live, the company announced on July 11. The announcement was quickly walked back and the corresponding message was removed.

Read also: Six common mistakes foreign journalists covering Russian invasion of Ukraine make

SCMs media assets include 10 broadcast and satellite TV channels (including Ukraine, Ukraine 24, and several soccer-themed channels), numerous online portals, and print media. According to Akhmetov, SMC invested over $1.5 billion in its media arm.

Dovzhenko noted that Akhmetovs media business was unambiguously lossmaking, with investment in it dwarfing its revenue.

MGUs 2021 financials indicate the company had an income of $15.84 million, with losses exceeding $31 million. An intended audit, conducted by PSP Audit in 2021, indicated that MGUs liabilities exceeded its assets by $264 million.

Experts estimate that MGU had to be sustained with $100-150 million of annual investments.

The point of any major oligarchic TV channel is not to generate profit (Akhmetov has his metal-producing business for that), but to exert political influence, said Dovzhenko.

Akhmetov used mass media to influence politics and elections, get his people into office (admittedly, not all that often in recent years), and extract subsidies from the government.

Media influence was probably a key point of contention between Akhmetov and Zelenskyys administration in 2021, according to the expert. The anti-oligarch law grew out of that struggle.

We could say that media ended up being Akhmetovs strength and bane, at the same time, Dovzhenko concludes.

Head of Detektor Media, Natalia Lihachova told NV that much about the whole ordeal remains unclear. Experts are unsure if Akhmetov genuinely intends to abandon the market entirely, as MGU only forfeited its licenses, but no actual assets.

Yemchenko already said they will not get rid (of their media assets), meaning theyre not going sell those off, said Lihachova.

We cant be sure if SMC will keep its media presence via online broadcasting, for example. Nevertheless, the footprint of Akhmetovs (media group) will be significantly reduced.

Lihachova is now concerned with preserving the plurality of opinions across Ukraines media landscape.

As much as we deride oligarchic competition, its still better than a complete government monopoly on television and media in general, she added.

War justifies existing state control of media, at least of television. But will the government be tempted to maintain control after the war?

Its very likely the state apparatus will be tempted with just that, Lihachova suggested.

Akhmetov exiting the media market increases this risk, she said.

One of the main opponents of the government, besides Poroshenko, has left the field now.

While the extent of Akhmetovs motives may remain unclear, his TV channels stopped producing on July 12, pivoting to simply rebroadcasting the ad-hoc wartime national TV news feed.

Sources in MGU told NV the company will announce its terminating its journalists and anchors, in the coming days. One employee said while his colleagues wait for further clarification from their management, the crews continue to write and produce TV segments.
A firefighting airplane drops its load on a forest fire raging in central Portugal on Tuesday. (Joao Henriques / Associated Press)

A spate of wildfires is scorching parts of Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain, Croatia and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that is being linked to climate change.

In Portugal, Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes said multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people  one civilian and one firefighter  suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.

Water-dropping planes helped 1,300 firefighters combat the worst of the blazes in the nations interior, while an additional 1,000 worked to bring other fires under control.

The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France  and in Turkey at the other end of the Mediterranean.

More than 800 firefighters battled two wildfires outside Bordeaux in southwestern France, according to the regional emergency service. The fires began Tuesday near the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and were still burning Wednesday morning.

About 6,500 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and villages in the forested area. The number of injuries is unclear. The two fires have destroyed more than 4,400 acres of terrain, the emergency service said.

Images from firefighters showed wind-whipped flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland and smoke blackening the horizon.

The regional administration banned activity in forested areas at risk. Several regions in southern France are on alert because of hot, dry weather and high winds. Wildfires swept through the Gard region in southeastern France last week.

Portugal has a history of fatal forest fires. In 2017, wildfires killed more than 100 people. No one has died from a wildfire since then as Portugal improved its forest management and firefighting strategies.

Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds is driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs.

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The Atlantic country, which has been on alert for wildfires since last week, is sweltering under a spike in temperatures that are forecast to reach 115 degrees in the central Alentejo region on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said 96% of the country was classified at the end of June as being in either extreme or severe drought.

More than 7,400 acres had been consumed just in the district of Leiria, north of Lisbon, Mayor Goncalo Lopes told Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who canceled a trip abroad to deal with the emergency, said that better care of woodlands and abandoned farmland was key to protecting them.

In 2017 the country realized that having enough firefighters is essential, but it is not enough, Costa said. We have to get to the root of the problem.... The abandonment of property and its non-management is one of the biggest risk factors for forest fires.

Neighboring Spain hit highs of 109 degrees in several southern cities on Tuesday.

More than 400 people were evacuated on Tuesday because of a wildfire that had consumed 8,600 acres in western Spain.

Fueled by strong winds, fires raged along Croatias Adriatic Sea coast as well, with the most dramatic situation reported near the town of Sibenik, where water-dropping planes and dozens of firefighters struggled to contain the flames that briefly engulfed some cars and a church tower. Regional N1 television reported that some residents evacuated in rubber boats. Fires were also reported near the coastal town of Zadar.

Firefighter Boris Dukic told state HRT television that its hell, we dont know where to go first.

European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.

Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spains national weather forecaster, said that the unusual heat wave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.

These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which, when you add to that some wind, you have have guaranteed propagation, he said.

In southwestern Turkey, a blaze that erupted close to the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, was moving toward some homes in the area, according to the provincial governors office. It said at least nine water-dropping helicopters and five planes were deployed to battle the fire.

Last summer, blazes that were fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures tore through forests in Turkeys Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The wildfires, which killed at least eight people and countless animals, were described as the worst in Turkeys history.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government came under criticism for its inadequate response and preparedness to fight large-scale wildfires, including a lack of modern firefighting planes.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin's bipartisan elections commission couldn't agree Tuesday on what guidance, if any, to give the state's more than 1,800 local clerks to help them understand how to implement a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling outlawing absentee ballot drop boxes.

The commission, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, repeatedly deadlocked on what to tell clerks about what the decision meant and how to interpret it ahead of the Aug. 9 primary. Commissioners said they may consider giving guidance later.

The primary will set the field for the Nov. 8 election where Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are both on the ballot in high-stakes races. Johnson and Republican candidates for governor have called for disbanding the bipartisan elections commission and overhauling how elections are run in the state.

Republican members of the commission argued that it owed it to the clerks who run elections to help them understand the court's ruling, while Democrats said the guidance proposed went too far, would confuse clerks and only invited more lawsuits. Not taking any action means the commission is telling clerks go out and figure it out for yourself, said Republican commissioner Bob Spindell.

The conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday ruled 4-3 that absentee ballot drop boxes are illegal and voters must return their ballots in person either to the clerk's office or an alternate site. The Supreme Court did not address the question of who can put an absentee ballot in the mail. State law says an absentee ballot shall be mailed by the elector but federal law allows for disabled people to receive assistance with their ballot.

Democrats, voting rights groups, advocates for the disabled and others all decried the ruling as making it more difficult for people to vote, particularly the elderly and disabled. They argue that ballot boxes are safe and secure and a better option than relying on the post office, which can be slow in delivering ballots and unreliable.

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The elections commission rejected a Republican-backed motion that would have said voters have to present a photo ID when returning an absentee ballot. It also rejected guidance that quoted state law saying that the elector must be the one to mail a ballot.

It would be inappropriate for us to start making stuff up and I think thats what this memo does, unfortunately," Democratic Commissioner Mark Thomsen said of proposed guidance written by commission staff.

Conservatives hailed the court's ruling as a step toward making elections more safe and secure, even though many Republicans in the past had supported and advocated for the use of absentee ballot drop boxes. Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that absentee voting in Wisconsin was rife with fraud and fueled his loss in 2020.

Biden beat Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, a result that has withstood recounts in the two most heavily Democratic counties, numerous lawsuits, a nonpartisan audit and a review by a conservative law firm.

Also on Tuesday, state Rep. Tim Ramthun, a Republican candidate for governor, reintroduced a resolution for the GOP-controlled state Legislature to decertify Biden's victory. Trump also renewed his call for decertification on Saturday, citing the Supreme Court ruling.

Ramthun is only calling for the presidential race to be decertified  not his race or anyone else elected in 2020. He's also not calling for decertification of the 2016 presidential race that was won by Trump and where ballot drop boxes were in use. Ramthuns earlier decertification resolution was not taken up.

Im not a conspiracy theorist. I am not," Ramthun said at a Capitol news conference as his supporters responded with Amen."

Ramthun also suggested that ballot drop boxes, voting machines and other equipment may need to be seized by law enforcement.

Ramthun has been one of the loudest advocates in Wisconsin for decertifying Biden's win. Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos under pressure from Trump to investigate the 2020 election, also told lawmakers to consider decertification and then later backed away from it.

Vos and other Republican leaders have rejected decertification as not being legally possible. Attorneys, including conservatives, have also said decertification is unconstitutional and pointless.
An obscure crypto-market metric known as the "stETH discount" is suddenly sending a distress signal, possibly because of speculation that the troubled lender Celsius Network is preparing to dump some of its holdings in a bid to raise liquidity.

The discount represents the difference between the price of ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, and the stETH token, which is a derivative of ether and is supposed to have a similar price.

But on Tuesday, the discount widened from 2.6% to 4%, the highest level since early this month. The figure remains below the all-time high of 8% recorded last month during the week when Celsius suspended withdrawals and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital blew up.

Market watchers are paying close attention to Celsius partly because the liquidity-strapped crypto lender is one of the largest single holders of the stETH token. So if it dumps its stake, the price of stETH could come under heavy pressure, even if the price of ether isn't affected.

The sudden impetus comes from blockchain data showing that Celsius on Tuesday paid off debt on the decentralized finance protocol Aave and in exchange received back 416,000 stETH tokens (worth $435 million at current prices) that had been pledged as collateral.

The stack represents almost 10% of the total supply of stETH, which stands at 4.2 million. The total market capitalization of stETH is $4.3 billion, according to CoinGecko.

The stETH position poses significant price risk to the market among the yield-bearing collateral that Celsius had, Fundstrat analyst Walter Teng told CoinDesk.

The discount on stETH to ether's price jumped to 4% Tuesday, the highest in July. (CoinMarketCap)

Read more: How Crypto Lender Celsius Overheated

How Celsius got trapped in stETH

The price gap between stETH and ETH has become a closely followed measure of the stress crypto markets have endured lately.

The stETH token represents 1 ether (ETH) token deposited to the staking platform Lido to earn a 4% annual yield for locking up in Ethereums upcoming proof-of-stake blockchain.

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The caveat is that staked ETH cannot be redeemed in the foreseeable future, until well after Ethereum completes its transition to the "proof-of-stake" method of maintaining its network, a switch known as the Merge. Investors who stake ETH on Lido receive the equivalent in stETH tokens, which they can use as collateral to take out loans.

Celsius was one of the depositors on Lido, locking up its ETH to earn a yield and using stETH to "recursively borrow" on Aave, David Duong, head of institutional research at crypto exchange Coinbase, wrote in a report.

Read more: Crypto Market Chaos: No, Lido Is Not the Next Terra

Ether and stETH tokens changed hands at a one-to-one ratio up until the multibillion-dollar implosion of the Terra network and its UST stablecoin in May, which kickstarted a credit crisis among crypto firms.

Then, stETH's price further deviated from the price of ETH as crypto firms such as Alameda Research, Amber and insolvent Three Arrows Capital dumped their holdings in a sign of a liquidity crunch.

Celsius was among the firms that dumped the token, a report by blockchain data firm Nansen found.

The primary market those institutions used to get rid of stETH is an exchange pool on Curve, a DeFi platform where users can swap their tokens for ETH.

Yet the earlier round of stETH dumping left the Curve pool mostly drained and heavily imbalanced, shrinking to a fraction of the size it once had. At press time, it held about 150,000 ETH and 484,000 stETH, an imbalance with staked ether accounting for 76% of the liquidity while ether accounting for the rest.

This makes it impossible for Celsius to dismantle its 416,000 stETH position in the Curve pool alone, because there isn't have enough ETH tokens to swap into.

The biggest market where someone can exchange stETH to ETH is largely drained and heavily imbalanced. (Curve)

What Celsius might do with its stETH

Celsius is one of the slew of crypto lenders facing liquidity issues lately. Vermonts Department of Financial Regulation alleged that the lender "is deeply insolvent," while regulators in several other U.S. states have started investigations.

Read more: Looking at the Claims Celsius Operated Like a Ponzi

Celsius moved all of its publicly known stETH holding to an unknown wallet earlier Tuesday, as CoinDesk reported, raising questions about what it intends to do with it.

Last week, after paying off its debt to DeFi platform Maker to reclaim $440 million in wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) tokens, the lender deposited the tokens to crypto exchange FTX.

If Celsius wanted to pursue a similar strategy with its freshly unlocked stETH stack, it faces a more difficult challenge as the market for stETH is fragmented and the Curve pool is too shallow to unwind the position.

To offload their stETH exposure, Celsius would have to carefully structure trades across DeFi, centralized exchanges and any counterparties they can find, John Freyermuth, an analyst at Enigma Securities, told CoinDesk.

That might include seeking "requests for quotations from over-the-counter desks that are willing to undertake this liquidity risk, Fundstrat's Teng added, possibly at a discounted price.
Tyler Le/Insider

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is reinfecting people at a record clip, causing alarm.

We asked public-health experts how concerned you should be about it, on a scale of 1 to 10.

If you're up to date on shots and know where to get treated, there's no need for off-the-charts panic.

There's a new coronavirus variant traveling around this summer at a record clip.

It's a variant of Omicron called BA.5, and it's causing a stir largely because it has evolved even further away than other Omicron variants did from the coronavirus we already knew.

Previously, getting infected with Omicron meant you probably had some protection against reinfection for a few months. But BA.5 is strategically evading our built-up defenses against prior versions of the virus. This all means that reinfections  even in vaccinated and recently infected people  are up, way up.

So, yes, BA.5 is easier to catch than other variants have been, and it may feel like it's lurking everywhere right now, infecting anyone, whether or not you've already had a vaccine, a booster shot, and/or a recent bout of COVID-19.

"If you were infected with BA.1, you really don't have a lot of good protection against BA.4/5," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, said Tuesday.

We asked four top public-health experts to help us figure out how worried we should be about this new, extra-stealthy Omicron subvariant.

Telling us how concerned to be about new infectious-disease threats is typically what these people do for a living. But rating BA.5 gave them some pause.

"I can't answer that," Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious-disease expert and the editor at large for public health at Kaiser Health News, said. "Because it depends on your vaccination status, your age, your health, your occupation, your living situation, etc., etc."

Others did give hard numbers, but there was variation in their answers based on where you may live or who you are.

If you're up to date on vaccines, one expert says your worry scale should register at '3 out of 10'

Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious-disease physician at the University of Michigan, was willing to give a hard and fast number. "I'd say 3 out of 10," she said, expressing mild concern about the new variant.

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"BA.5 is everywhere, and if you haven't gotten it yet, the odds are pretty" good you will," Malani said, adding: "But if you are up to date on vaccines, the illness should be mild and without major medical consequences."

While there's a "high risk of exposure" to this variant, she said there were also "lots of reasons to be hopeful." Early treatment with Paxlovid is now free for all Americans who may need it.

"With home testing and rapid connection to treatment (for those at risk of complicated infection), COVID is manageable," Malani said.

Older adults without booster shots should be more worried

In the UK, which is at least a few weeks ahead of the US in terms of variant spread, national health-security experts have assessed that the protection offered by vaccines against BA.5 "likely remains comparable to that observed previously," which means vaccinated and boosted people, while certainly at risk of getting sick with BA.5, likely won't end up in the hospital or dead.

For those who aren't up to date on shots, and who don't have a COVID-19 action plan, outcomes could be bad. The European Union earlier this week released new recommendations for a second booster for all adults 60 and older, in line with what the US already recommends.

"We are currently seeing increasing COVID-19-case notification rates and an increasing trend in hospital and ICU admissions and occupancy in several countries, mainly driven by the BA.5 sublineage of Omicron," Dr. Andrea Ammon, the director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said.

"There are still too many individuals at risk of severe COVID-19 infection whom we need to protect as soon as possible," she added.

Regional differences in vaccination rates and heat waves may complicate the calculation

Miami, Florida

Sylvain Sonnet/Getty Images

Katelyn Jetelina, a public-health expert who runs the popular Your Local Epidemiologist blog wasn't willing to give a single number for the entire US. She said the risk was too variable right now, based on where you live.

"I'm quite worried about the South," she said, ranking it a 7 out of 10 because of low rates of booster shots, low Paxlovid usage, low testing, and "everyone going inside for the heat."

The South also had a relatively low number of infections in the recent BA.2.12.1 wave, unlike the Northeast, where Jetelina said people should be at about a 4 out of 10 level of concern.

Bottom line: If you're boosted, wearing masks when appropriate, and have a test and treatment action plan for if you do get sick, most experts agree this wave should turn out OK for you.

But like all risk calculations, "the number is different based on who it is being applied to," as Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said.

"If it is a fresh lung-transplant patient, the number would be 10. For a healthy 18-year-old, it would be 0," he said. "Risk is not one-size-fits-all."

Read the original article on Business Insider
An autopsy report by the Japan Coast Guard has confirmed that Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi died by drowning in the sea in Okinawa, Japan.

The body of Takahashi, 60, was spotted floating off the coast of Nago at about 10:30 a.m. JST on July 6. He was found lying face down in a black T-shirt and snorkeling gear and reportedly had no underwear or swim trunks on.

The artist had injuries to his abdomen and lower body that are now believed to have been caused by marine animals after he drowned.

He was reported to have been traveling alone to Okinawa with a rental car. No criminal involvement is suspected in his death.

More from NextShark: Indian students stranded in Ukraine plead for help: 'There is a lot of panic'

Authorities are still investigating the cause of his drowning.



Takahashi is known for his manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!, which was first published in the comic magazine Weekly Shonen Jump in 1996. The manga spawned a renowned media franchise of TV and movie adaptations, video games and a popular trading card game.

More from NextShark: Korean Scientists Invest Transparent Solar Panels to Be Used on Phones

Featured Image via SA 2.0 (left) and Official Yu-Gi-Oh! (right)

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

MMA Fighter Brian Ortega Slaps Jay Park for Translating 'Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung

Bakery named for Laotian refugee couple funds scholarships for UConn students taking Asian American studies
Jul. 12ST. PAUL  When last hockey season started, Zane McIntyre did not have a contract.

He waited patiently to get a deal.

When it came, it was just an amateur tryout contract with the Tucson Roadrunners in the American Hockey League.

This summer is a bit different.

McIntyre, who starred at Thief River Falls and UND, has already signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Minnesota Wild for the 2022-23 season.

McIntyre will make $750,000 if he's in the NHL and $300,000 if he's in the AHL. Had McIntyre not signed, he would have become an unrestricted free agent at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

McIntyre earned his deal through excellent play last season. After three appearances with Tucson, the Wild signed him to an NHL deal and assigned him to their top minor-league affiliate in Iowa.

McIntyre posted a .920 save percentage during 37 appearances for the Iowa Wild. He also earned a call-up to the NHL, but never got in a game.

McIntyre last played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins during the 2016-17 season. Since then, he's mostly been in the AHL.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound netminder won the Frank Brimsek Award as the top high school goaltender in the state of Minnesota in 2010.

McIntyre played two years of junior hockey with the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League before coming to UND, where he developed into one of the country's best.

McIntyre led UND to back-to-back NCAA Frozen Fours as a sophomore and junior. He also won the Mike Richter Award as college hockey's best goalie in 2015.

After 2014-15, he signed with the Bruins.
Maksym Subkh

Read also: Ukraine must lead Western strategic communication in Africa

Subkh has served as Ukraine's ambassador to Algeria and Mauritania until May 2022.

Earlier, Zelensky announced that a special representative for African affairs would appear in Ukraine.

Read also: Ukraines MFA summons Turkish ambassador after Turkey releases a Russian ship carrying stolen Ukrainian grain

The president wanted to expand international relations between Ukraine and African countries.

After the start of the full-scale invasion many African countries expressed their support for Russia, blaming Ukraine, not the invading forces in the upcoming food crisis, caused by Russian blockade of the Ukrainian ports.

Read also: Putins Black Sea blockade leaves millions facing global famine

Zelensky has also ordered to prepare the first regional tour of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to the states of Sub-Saharan Africa in the history of Ukraine.

Help NV continue reporting on the Russian invasion


Blog | Carter Center Pursues Mali Peace Agreement Action

Jason Carter is chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees.

The pursuit of peace in Mali has been a long, bumpy, and winding road. But were staying on it in hopes of action being taken on the Mali Peace Agreement. For the last five years, The Carter Center has been the official Independent Observer of Malis 2015 peace agreement. Ambassador Bisa Williams has led this effort as the Centers special advisor on Mali. On May 4 and 5, 2022, I visited the capital city, Bamako, alongside fellow Carter Center Trustee C.D. Glin, Ambassador Williams, and John Goodman, associate director of the Carter Centers Conflict Resolution Program. The purpose of the trip was to meet with Col. Assimi Goita, the president of Malis transitional government, to urge him to reinvigorate the governments commitment to the peace agreement that halted Malis civil war. Malis Peace Process in May 2022
The historic Ryan Hall Elementary School, formerly known as Shipman Colored School, recently was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) in recognition of its significance in the history of African American education in Nelson County.

Ryan Hall is one of 12 historic Virginia sites the commonwealths Board of Historic Resources approved for VLR listing June 16, according to a Virginia Department of Historic Resources news release.

Located on what is now Braddock Lane in Shipman, Ryan Hall Elementary was built around 1919 and served Black schoolchildren in kindergarten through seventh grade until around 1961. According to the nomination form prepared by architectural historian Kristen Kirchen, Nelson County business tycoon and philanthropist Thomas Fortune Ryan and his second wife, Mary Ryan, were instrumental in the construction of the Shipman Colored School, renamed Ryan Hall after Thomas Ryans death.

The architectural study included in the nomination indicates the Shipman Colored School was originally a two-room school with brick chimneys on each end of its gabled roof. In September 1924, Thomas Ryan donated $1,000 towards the schools operation, which Kirchen wrote likely funded the construction of a one-room addition with a basement to the north end. A second school building was later constructed on the property between 1925 and 1938 and both buildings are included in the Virginia Landmarks Register distinction.

Kirchen interviewed former student Rennie Scott, who attended the school from first through seventh grade starting at about 1944 and remembered a total of five classrooms spread between the two buildings. One teacher taught two grades per classroom and Scott recalled the school being very crowded and having up to 50 students in his grade.

The school had no indoor plumbing or running water at the time and included a spring, a pump and two outhouses in the rear. Wood stoves and then coal stoves provided heat in winter.

Ryan Hall Elementary School closed at about 1960 with the opening of Nelson Memorial High School, now the Nelson Heritage Center. According to Kirchen, all two- and three-room Black schools were consolidated at the former Nelson County Training School, which had been the first public high school for Black students in the county constructed in 1941. Nelson County Training School was renamed Ryan Elementary School and about 17 years ago was converted to apartments.

Retired University of Lynchburg professor Woody Greenberg wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Nelson County School Board while he was a graduate student at Columbia University. In a recent interview, he said the topic interested him after hed attended many school board meetings as a Nelson County Times reporter.

According to Greenberg, in 1913 Nelson had 28 blacks schools and 103 white schools in the county. Data on per capita spending follows the same trend  in 1929 the education spending in the county averaged $25.17 per white student and $8.52 per Black student. In the early 1900s, the school year was on average 152 days for white students and 140 days for Black students.

Greenberg interviewed the late Harry Harris, a Ryan Hall Elementary and Nelson County Training School graduate and the countys first Black member of both the school board and the board of supervisors. Harris successes in local government and as an engineer at nuclear-services company Babcock & Wilcox were achieved despite limiting factors. Greenberg explained it was called Nelson County Training School, and not named a high school, because the underlying assumption guiding the curriculum was that Black students would become some kind of laborers.

They were limited to a vocational education  there was no expectation that there would be any college in their future or anything like that, Greenberg said. So those low expectations have a ripple effect.

Greenberg said Black teachers were likely not as well educated as their white counterparts because they too had been shut out of white schools. Black students also would have been the second- or third-generation descendants of enslaved people.

It was illegal to teach slaves how to read and write, so there was a lot of illiteracy in the Black community, and that illiteracy leads to kids growing up without the foundation that you or I maybe take for granted, Greenberg said.

Edith Napier and current owner of the property JoeAnn Mitchell attended the school in the mid-to-late 1950s, according to Kirchen.

In a recent interview, Napier shared Scotts memory of multiple grades learning in the same classroom. She said her teachers were exceptional and fondly remembered the schools May Day celebration.

Napier never had to walk to school from her home in Arrington but remembers her parents and aunt did, while white children were riding buses. Her mother attended school until the seventh grade and her father until the third or fourth grade. Of her nine siblings, an older sister also attended Ryan Hall Elementary.

Napier attended Ryan Hall Elementary, Ryan Elementary (the former Nelson County Training School), Nelson Memorial High School and then Nelson County High School following integration. She went on to study human services and sociology at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nations first degree-granting historically Black college. She moved to Washington, D.C. after college and worked for President Gerald Fords administration in the training office. She then worked as an investigator in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and as a special agent in the U.S. Information Agency.

Napier returned to Nelson County after the birth of her daughter.

I wanted her to get a quality education. My parents always believed in education, and believed education could open doors for you, she said.

She served on the Nelson County School Board for 12 years, inspired by her fathers belief that you dont complain about anything youre not willing to work to make better.

Nelson County Public Schools were fully integrated in 1969, 15 years after the Supreme Courts landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision ruled school segregation unconstitutional. Napier said Nelson County did everything it could to fight integration. She was among the first Black students to attend Nelson County High School, and said she has mixed feelings about the impacts of integration.

The white population thought they were giving the Black population something by allowing them to integrate, Napier said.

But by trading what she described as intentionally inferior schools for the same facilities as white students, we lost the sense of being with teachers who demanded that you learn, and expected each one of you to go out and be successful.

Napier said following integration, Black students were not expected to succeed in white schools: You were tolerated instead of accepted.

While her experience at NCHS was not positive, she said white students were more open to integration than faculty and staff.

Some of them were ugly, did ugly things, but basically most were pretty civil. You got along, you developed friendships, she said.

Napier said shes been to the original Ryan Hall many times since returning to the county, and described its condition as pitiful. Mitchell and Lovingston-based historical restoration company Ramsey Restoration have made recent strides in improving the schools structural integrity.

Napier said she would love to see the buildings restored.
Nine plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in federal court that argues three leaders within the Amherst County-based Monacan Indian Nation acted unlawfully and intentionally to prevent them from receiving payments after the tribe became federally recognized in January 2018.

The lawsuit was filed in early June in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg against Kenneth Branham, the tribes chief, a title some tribal members are disputing; Adrian Compton, tribal administrator; and Amber Fink, secretary. A motion to dismiss the suit in late June argues the defendants did not engage in any improper activity and the complaint should be kept from moving forward.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs are members of the Monacan Indian Nation; an attorney representing the defendants says they have been disenrolled from the tribe.

Among the plaintiffs, two live in Amherst County, one resides in Forest, three live in Buena Vista and the other three reside in Midlothian, North Carolina and Florida. The suit claims the defendants took steps to improperly and unlawfully prevent the plaintiffs from receiving federal funds, roughly $91,600 collectively, they should have received as members of the tribe.

The complaint claims the defendants actions were undertaken without the consent of the Monacan Tribal Council and contrary to the councils desires. It also states Branham claims to be the chief and was removed from that position by the council, an argument that Greg Werkheiser, attorney for the defendants, said in a phone interview is not true.

These guys are setting up a pretend government, Werkheiser, of Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC, in Richmond, said. These folks, because they didnt get the amount of money they wanted ... and basically want more than their fair share, they have thrown a fit.

Joseph Sanzone, representing the plaintiffs, said in a phone interview Branham is not the rightful chief and according to the tribes bylaws isnt eligible to hold the post because hes previously held it too many times.

The Monacans are in the same position that the United States was in, Sanzone said when reached for comment, comparing the tribe achieving federal recognition to America becoming a nation. They are a brand-new country. And like a lot of countries, theyve experienced problems and they have a government struggle right now. And my plaintiffs believe these people who are tribal members, who are not part of the tribal government, have interfered with their right to receive federal funds.

Werkheiser said attempts by the plaintiffs and others to remove the tribal chief title Branham rightfully carries and the council referenced in the suit is completely made up.

It was no legitimate election, Werkheiser said of the claim Branham was removed from the chief post.

The lawsuit states the tribal council removed Branham and Compton, who according to the complaint is not a Monacan Indian, because they would not comply with councils demand to develop a budget, monitor appropriation, and the fact that [Branham], in direct defiance of councils directive, purchased a new tribal headquarters at 111 Highview Drive in Madison Heights.

The suit describes that property as substantially overpriced, too small for tribal needs and which would have required an environmental impact statement, which the suit states wasnt acquired.

The lawsuit further claims Branham expressly refused to comply with tribal councils lawful demands concerning the use of tribal funds, closed tribal meetings to some Monacan members and failed to comply with federal audit requirements.

In outlining the money denied to the plaintiffs, the complaint states: Other Tribal Citizens are similarly situated and have been denied benefits in the same manner as described in this Complaint.

Werkheiser said the allegations about the defendants operating the tribe corruptly are absolutely, easily disprovable and his law firm works to make sure such actions dont happen.

There have been three fully independent audits as required by the federal government, since the tribe was federally recognized, Werkheiser said. All those audits have come back perfectly clean.

The motion to dismiss argues the Monacan Indian Nation, a sovereign federally recognized tribe, is entitled to sovereignty immunity from suit and the complaint fails to properly put a federal question before the Court and fails to plead sufficient facts above a speculative level.

The Nation, as a sovereign tribal nation, is governed by its own internal tribal laws, the motion to dismiss the suit argues. Pursuant to these laws, the Monacan people elected Kenneth Branham as Chief in 2019 for a term set to end in 2023, at which point another election will be held in accordance with the Nations laws. Chief Branhams election was registered with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the federal agency charged with maintaining an updated record of federally recognized tribal governments and elected officials.

As recently as June 7, the BIA reconfirmed Branham is the chief, according to an exhibit filed with the defendants motion.

In the interview, Sanzone said the only people with authority to manage the tribes affairs are the tribal council, adding of Branham: The person who has been acting as chief the past few years doesnt have that authority, but hes been exercising it.

The motion to dismiss states the complaint describes intra-tribal controversies for which it argues federal court has no jurisdiction.

The court, in our view, is not permitted by federal precedent to hear this challenge, Werkheiser said in the interview.

The suit argues that, over the tribal councils objection, more money was spent on the food bank employees themselves and vehicles than the food bank with non-Monacans receiving more funding and benefits than Monacans.

It also argues Housing and Urban Development (HUD) benefits the defendants directed favor non-Monacans by more than 50 percent, and tribal resources are being expended without tribal council approval in this respect.

The lawsuit alleges defendants exercised improper control over funds received from HUD, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, Indian Health Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and prevented lawful delivery of portions to some tribal members, including the plaintiffs. At the same time, the suit alleges, the defendants were increasing their salaries, and receiving larger benefit checks than other tribal members, including the plaintiffs.

Such hefty increases in personal benefits received by the Defendants, at the expense of other tribal members including the Plaintiffs were accomplished in party by using funds which should have been paid over to the Plaintiffs, the complaint states.

Werkheiser said when tribes are federally recognized, some members believe it instantly means everyone will get a large check, but it doesnt work that way, explaining the money comes with many strings attached from the federal government in how it can be distributed and spent.

This is not uncommon, but it is sad because it can be distracting from the important work the Monacans are doing in the community, Werkheiser said.

Werkheiser said he represents the legitimate tribal council and the one referred to in the suit is a fake entity.

They can call themselves whatever they want, he said.

Sanzone said in the interview the tribal council he represents doesnt want any further construction at the Highview Drive site in Madison Heights.

We want the tribal members to be free to receive the benefits that are entitled to. And we want it to be evenly distributed, Sanzone said. And we want the tribal government to run well.

On the defendants claim they shouldnt be sued because of sovereign immunity, Sanzone said, Theyre not the Monacan Indian Nation. They are three people.

Sanzone said the lawsuit should certainly go to trial.

There are a lot of basic management issues that are really at stake here, he said. Everybody just wants the benefits to be distributed evenly. Thats all.
Smith Mountain Lakes popular Pirate Days is set to return this weekend. Crowds are expected to fill area marinas dressed in pirate garb and ready to do battle, possibly without a longtime popular weapon.

Water balloons are no longer allowed according to a new law passed in Virginia last year. The Virginia code, 29.1-556.1, states It is unlawful for any individual 16 years of age or older or other person to intentionally release, discard, or cause to be released or discarded outdoors any balloon made of a nonbiodegradable or nonphotodegradable material or any material that requires more than five minutes contact with air or water to degrade.

With the new law in place, even current biodegradable water balloons on the market would not meet those strict standards.

Sgt. Tim Dooley with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources said the goal this year will be mainly to make sure people know the new rules. It is our intention to address any violations we observe, he said This can be done in a variety of ways to include educating the individuals regarding the changes to the code or, if warranted, an official warning or summons may be issued.

Chris Bechtler, manager of Crazy Horse Marina, is already trying to reach out to participants this year about the new law. The marina is traditionally the site of some of the largest Pirate Days battles each year as boats decorated as pirate ships roam the cove and toss water balloons at other boats.

We are discouraging the use of water balloons, Bechtler said.

The Smith Mountain Lake Association is also pushing to get the word out on the new law. SMLA President Bill Butterfield said he is a fan of the annual pirate festivities, but has questioned the environmental impact of the water balloons.

Water balloons that are biodegradable and those that are non-biodegradable are indistinguishable from one another. The biodegradable balloons also still take months to break down. In that time, Butterfield said they can still do harm to the environment.

The popped balloons can trash up the waterways and shoreline. They can also become ingested by area wildlife such as fish or birds or even by local pets.

Balloons can also be harmful to boats and PWCs by being sucked up into water intakes. The intakes could be clogged by balloon debris.

Butterfield asked residents to consider alternative ways to participate in pirate battles this year. He encouraged the use of water guns that will allow people the same opportunities to have fun while keeping the lake clean and not breaking the law.
A Fredericksburg man distressed by a desecrated family cemetery just over three years ago found some solace Saturday when a government-issued tombstone was officially set in place at the gravesite of his distant relative.

I think its fantastic, Gordon Silleck said. I would have rather had the original stone in perfect condition there, but since that was destroyed, this is fantastic.

Since his early childhood years living in rural New York, Silleck has never given up learning about, preserving and honoring the memory of his very distant relativesall interred at southern Staffords Wallace family cemetery, located in Liberty Hall Estates subdivision off Truslow Road.

Its just an interest in history that Ive always had combined with that cemetery, Silleck said. Who was buried there and what their lives were like. That was the main attraction for me.

In the 1960s, Silleck had an aunt who lived at in Falmouth. Each year, Sillecks parents, Katherine Wallace and Sidney Bayley Silleck of Scarsdale, New York, piled Gordon and his four young siblings into a Ford station wagon and headed south on U.S. 1 to visit Agnes Nannie Wallace and her daughters at Clearview, the familys estate. During those visits, one of Nannies daughters with a keen interest in family genealogy would take the children to visit the old family cemetery, which during colonial times was 975 rolling green acres known as Liberty Hall farm.

While visiting the family cemetery located deep in the woods and surrounded by an old wrought iron fence, the children rubbed charcoal etchings of the white marble and sandstone grave markers to permanently retain their images before time, weather and age took their toll.

Among those buried there are Sillecks great-great-great-grandfather John Wallace of Fredericksburg, as well as Sillecks great-grandfather Samuel Gordon Wallace, a Civil War soldier who served in the 30th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

Decades later, when Silleck moved from New York to Fredericksburg after a career with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Connecticut, he made it back to the Wallace family cemetery to discover the woods he once trekked through as a youngster were now bulldozed, leveled and cleared by a developer to make way for a collection of large homes that has now become Liberty Hall Estates. To Sillecks dismay, the bulldozers and their steel blades used during the land clearing passed directly over the historic Wallace family cemetery without care.

The dirt had been dug to about 4 inches and graded across the whole cemetery, Silleck said in early 2019. Stones were sitting at all angles, there were footstones that didnt match the headstones and it looked terrible. There was a debris pile which had marble and granite in it which could not have come from anywhere else but the cemetery.

Stafford County officials eventually cited the developer for violating the county ordinance on preserving cemeteries. In April 2019, officials sent the developer a notice that included nine alleged violations for disturbing soil and vegetation near the cemetery and for removing concrete slabs, as well as the iconic black wrought iron fence. The developer was also cited for headstones and footstones being pulled from the ground and improperly grading the terrain.

Although the developers attorney said his client did not move any headstones or damage the cemetery, eventually the developer agreed to piece together the broken cemetery to Stafford Countys satisfaction. But the end result did not meet Sillecks expectations.

Id give him a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, Silleck said. Im a little disappointed that no one was held responsible and there was no accountability, but it turned out OK.

Silleck said the builder eventually installed a 4-foot-high aluminum fence around the cemetery and a plaque was also placed on the grounds bearing the family name. Silleck said both the fence and the plaque look like its the cheapest thing (the developer) could do and said the permanent damage done to some of his relatives headstones allegedly by the developer was beyond comprehension.

[John Wallaces] headstone was standing when [the developer] took over, then it fell over and now, its just broken all into pieces, Silleck said. Of all the stones there, a Revolutionary War patriot, that was the one that got broken.

Shortly after a drenching rain passed over Hartwood late Saturday morning, John Wallace, the original owner of Liberty Hall farm who passed away May 4, 1829, finally received a new government-issued white Georgia marble headstone with the help of six volunteers from the Col. Fielding Lewis Chapter of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Seth Roderick, a member of the chapter, said a 2019 Free LanceStar story that reported Sillecks dilemma at the cemetery prompted him to get involved.

We wanted to do something to support Gordon in his efforts to remember his descendant, Roderick said. We came up with a few ideas and the most likely was petitioning the Veterans Administration for a new headstone.

Roderick, who said his chapter represents several counties in the region including Stafford, said the group keeps a stock of brass markers to place at veterans gravesites, but the occasion to place a marble headstone for a Revolutionary War veteran is a big deal for chapter members.

We hope this grave monument stands for another 200 years as a reminder of one of the citizens of Stafford and his contributions to his community, Roderick said. It was during a difficult time in our shared history which was the founding of the United States.

Roderick said the process to obtain the official headstone took about four months. He said a chapter member who was familiar with submitting the necessary government paperwork led the way, while other members combed the internet to obtain the relevant military service documents associated with Wallace.

I got online and pulled some proof of service for John Wallace from Fold 3 and other online sources, Roderick said. I was able to find copies of his original muster paperwork.

During their search of military records, volunteers from the local chapter also discovered Wallace had served during the Battle at Valley Forge in late 1777 through June 1778, then onto the Battle of Monmouth. He also camped at the Middlebrook encampment in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, at West Point, New York, and at Smiths Clove, a pass through New Yorks Ramapo Mountains. He eventually went on to join the Philadelphia Campaign, which lasted a year, from July 1777 to July 1778.

After decades of looking after the cemetery while worrying about its future, Silleck believes the residents of Liberty Hall Estates will become faithful stewards of the hallowed ground and said several of them have already stepped in to lend a hand maintaining the cemetery.

During one of the storms a limb came down in the cemetery and they cleared it off, so theyre watching over it, Silleck said. I think the HOA in the future there is going to be taking care of it. Its a great feeling.

Next month, Rodericks chapter will officially dedicate the new headstone at John Wallaces gravesite, which will also include a brass Revolutionary War veteran marker. The Aug. 14 public ceremony takes place at 2 p.m. and will include members of Falmouths Falls of the Rappahannock and Fredericksburgs Washington Lewis chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Were all custodians of a rich and dynamic history, Roderick said. The founding generation pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for liberty and their honor is our legacy. Remembering John Wallace and others like him is a small token of gratitude and a decent thing to do in the community.
In one of the final decisions in its recently completed term, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crippling blow to the Environmental Protection Agencys ability to regulate the greenhouse gases that drive global warming.

Virginia is fortunate that state statutes continue to advance the cause of a cleaner, more sustainable environment, but that progress is under threat. While Congress must act in light of the courts ruling, holding the line in Richmond is vital to protect communities increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

In a 6-3 decision issued June 30, the Supreme Court concluded that the EPA overstepped its authority in regulating emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. At specific issue was the Clean Power Plan, issued by President Barack Obama and formalized in 2015, that established limits for plant emissions to help the United States meet its commitments under the Paris climate accord.

The court concluded that the sweeping regulations imposed by the Clean Power Plan exceeded the authority of the executive branch, which oversees the EPA. The majority ruled that without explicit congressional authority, the agency acted outside its scope of authority.

The implications of that decision are enormous. Not only does it hamstring the ability of the EPA to reduce the harmful pollutants that drive climate change, it calls into question a host of federal actions, since agencies routinely interpret laws to determine their rule-making authority.

There is, of course, an obvious antidote to the courts poison pill: Congress can specifically grant the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse emissions, thereby allowing the agency to reduce pollutants and protect the environment. Political polarization and institutional dysfunction make that unlikely, but it is essentially what the court wants: for legislators to legislate.

Federal action on greenhouse gases is critical for a number of reasons, but primarily because emissions do not respect state boundaries. Pollution in Tennessee affects Virginia, for example, so Washington has a central role to play in establishing and enforcing a national regulatory framework.

But the courts ruling also puts the onus on state legislatures to act  and Virginia has done so.

In 2020, the General Assembly passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which sets the commonwealth on pace to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. With the support of the two largest electric utilities, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company, the law will move Virginia to renewable and nuclear energy in less than 30 years.

The legislature also passed the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act in 2020, which authorized Virginias participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-based carbon trading program that encourages utilities to transition toward renewable power.

The 11 RGGI states divide revenue from the sale of carbon credits and the commonwealths participation has netted $378 million so far. Virginias share is split between the Community Flood Preparedness Fund, which pays for resilience and flood protection, and low-income energy efficiency programs administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The Youngkin administration and its partners in the legislature want to undo that work, proposing to withdraw Virginia from RGGI and reverse the important progress made in recent years.

Ideally, the world would be united in its efforts to curb harmful emissions to avoid a climate catastrophe. The United States should be a leader in this battle and can be if Congress finds the will to act by giving the EPA authority to impose effective regulations.

At the very least, however, Virginia must protect its laws and programs that put the commonwealth on the path to a cleaner, more sustainable future. The future of this region and communities throughout Virginia depend on it.
In a 1-UP for LGBTQ+ rights, Nintendo is giving queer employees in same-sex partnerships in Japan the same benefits as married couples.

Same-sex marriage is illegal in Japan, with same-sex couples only able to obtain partnership certificates in certain areas of the country giving them limited rights  not including inheritance or shared parental rights.

Despite this, Nintendo has said will give couples in same-sex partnerships exactly the same benefits it affords married employees.

Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognised under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage, a new policy document explains.

The company said its partnership system aims to create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees.

Nintendo also plans to revise its internal regulations regarding harassment to clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someones privately held sexual orientation against their will.
TS Bank has partnered with Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation and several other local companies to host REV, a small business pitch competition where $13,000 will be distributed to one or more entrepreneurs.

From the pool of applicants, TS Bank and Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation will select up to five businesses to pitch and be judged on all aspects of their business in front of a judges panel and live audience.

To apply, visit tsbank.com/rev and download the REV application.

For this years competition, TS Bank has contributed $5,000 and Advance Southwest Iowa has contributed $2,500 to the prize money. Additional funds were raised via sponsorships. Major sponsors include Nebraska Enterprise Fund, Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce and POWERTECH along with additional sponsors, Castle and Associates, Inc., Rachel Dorr Accounting, Vistage and Tandem Works.

This years live pitch event will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at the Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center and will be open to the public. Additional details will be shared at a later date.

TS Bank originally started REV in 2015 in an effort to spur economic growth and encourage business owners to continue pursuing their dreams. As of today, over $100,000 has been awarded through this program.

At last years event, Viva Fit Kitchen, a one-of-a-kind authentic Mexican, meal prep company received the grand prize of $12,000 to help make healthy food convenient and affordable, as well as help with two new fridges, licensing and inventory costs. The Occasional Collective, a unique storefront was also awarded $3,000 to build on the companys thoughtfully curated, sustainably focused and locally sources goods including small batch, handcrafted items.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Kelsey Stupfell at TS Bank by calling 712-487-0334 or Niki Ferguson at Advance Southwest Iowa at 402-720-8799.
A multilingual Lewis Central High School alumna has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Persian.

The CLS scholarship is a program of the departments Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is intended to help broaden the base of Americans studying and mastering critical languages while building relationships between people of the United States and other countries.

Lauren Philips, a 2019 graduate of Lewis Central, is currently a student of international communications, French and Islamic & Middle Eastern studies at the University of Iowa, according to a press release from the university. She began focusing on languages in high school and has already studied French for seven years and Arabic for three.

My language studies have been accompanied by a commitment to developing a working knowledge of culture and politics in the Middle East and North Africa, she said. I was drawn to study Persian because it is similar to Arabic and is the core language for dialects spoken in Afghanistan and Iran, among other nations. I felt that intensive Persian study would allow me to develop a more holistic perspective of the MENA region.

Even though I have not previously studied Persian, my time learning French and Arabic has opened my eyes to the world and has only motivated me to continue to learn and explore wherever an opportunity presents itself, Philips said.

After studying abroad in Jordan through the SIT Jordan Refugees, Health and Humanitarian Action program, Philips became drawn to the idea of working in public diplomacy and would love to use her language skills to interact with Afghan refugees coming to Iowa.

While a lot of these individuals can speak Arabic or English, I have realized that being able to speak with someone, even minimally, in their native language makes a sizeable difference in helping people feel more comfortable and confident in any space, Philips said.
The nations largest food distributor has joined the other businesses accusing the four largest meat processors of working together to inflate beef prices.

Sysco recently filed a federal lawsuit in Texas accusing Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill and National Beef of price fixing. The lawsuit said those companies have conspired to suppress the number of cattle being slaughtered at least since 2015 to help drive up the price of beef. The allegations are similar to ones in lawsuits filed by grocery stores, ranchers, restaurants and other wholesalers that have been pending in Minnesota federal court since 2020.

Similar price-fixing lawsuits are also pending in the pork and chicken processing businesses.

The Sysco Corp. lawsuit said the companies coordinated efforts to limit the number of cattle slaughtered drove down the price meat processors paid ranchers while propping up beef prices, boosting profits for the meat producers, who control more than 80% of the U.S. beef market.

The lawsuit said the companies exploited their market power in this highly concentrated market by conspiring to limit the supply, and fix the prices, of beef sold. And the lawsuit cited an unnamed witnesses who used to work in the meat industry who confirmed there was a conspiracy between the meat companies.

Most of the companies didnt immediately respond to questions about the Sysco lawsuit Thursday, but they have defended their actions in the other price-fixing lawsuits even though JBS did agree to a $52.5 million settlement in one of the lawsuits earlier this year. JBS didnt admit any wrongdoing as part of that deal.

Cargill spokesman Daniel Sullivan said his company is confident in our efforts to maintain market integrity and conduct ethical business. We believe the claims lack merit and intend to vigorously defend our position.

In general, the meat processing industry has maintained that supply and demand factors, not anticompetitive behavior, drive beef and cattle prices. The industry has also long struggled with worker shortages that have limited production at times. Those workforce issues became particularly acute during the pandemic when COVID-19 spread widely through processing plants and forced companies to slow or idle production.

The Justice Department has been looking into allegations of price fixing in the industry at least since 2020, but it hasnt provided updates on its investigation.

President Joe Biden has suggested that increasing competition in the meat industry would help reduce food prices, so his administration has offered $1 billion to help build and expand independent meat processing plants.
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Apparel company Club Colors agreed to lease 52,000 square feet and establish its national headquarters in Bell Works Chicagoland, the largest deal yet at the former AT&T campus in Hoffman Estates. (Inspired by Somerset Development / HANDOUT)

Apparel company Club Colors agreed to lease 52,000 square feet and establish its national headquarters in Bell Works Chicagoland, the largest deal yet at the former AT&T campus in Hoffman Estates.

Its a big step forward for Inspired by Somerset Development, the New Jersey developer that bought the empty 1.6 million-square-foot complex in 2019, and envisioned transforming it from a sterile corporate environment into a metroburb, a community hub for tenants and residents of the northwest suburb.

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We all want it to succeed because its not just an office building, or even an office building with some retail, said Hoffman Estates Director of Economic Development Kevin Kramer. We dont really have a downtown, so we see this as our downtown, a downtown under a roof.

Village officials considered a lot of proposals for the vacant property when AT&T left in 2016, including establishing a public university or a retail mall, but Somerset won them over, promising to fill it with revamped offices, public spaces, pedestrian walkways, cafes, other retail and co-working areas, all surrounded by hundreds of new apartments and town homes. It was an unusual suggestion, but the developer had experience. Starting in 2013, the company transformed the former Bell Labs campus in Holmdel, New Jersey, into a 2-million-square-foot, mixed-use complex after attracting dozens of tenants.

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The pandemic put up a big obstacle to the firms effort, but with large tenants such as Club Colors back in the market for new space, momentum is returning, Kramer said.

These 40,000- to 50,000-square feet tenants move the needle, Kramer said. Many companies are looking for new spaces where they can grow, but they also need spaces that are attractive where people actually want to go, and thats Bell Works.

Heritage-Crystal Clean, an Elgin-based environmental services firm, agreed this spring to a long-term lease at Bell Works Chicagoland, and in August will move its 180 employees into 39,000 square feet. Existing tenants include Platinum Home Mortgage, Headline Solar, CPA Advisors Group, a local mosquito control company and an equity crowdfunding firm.

The metroburb is unique in our marketplace and we think superior to any other option, Jeff Baumet, co-CEO of Club Colors, now based in Schaumburg, said in a statement. This new home allows us to provide amenities such as day care, fitness centers, restaurants and a diverse array of other companies to our entire team, from sales to operations.

The northwest suburban office market needs a jolt. Its vacancy rate soared to nearly 30% just before the pandemic after several major employers, including Motorola Solutions, left for new digs in downtown Chicago, and hit 34.9% early this year, according to an April report from Colliers International.

But conditions may soon improve, at least for class A properties that provide employees with a lot of amenities.

Transactions in best-in-class assets are expected to gain leasing momentum throughout 2022 as employers open offices and bring employees back, Colliers noted.

Kramer said he expects Bell Works Chicagoland will continue attracting firms that dont want sterile offices. And Hoffman Estates plans to keep promoting it as the center of village social life.

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Several local nonprofits, including the Childrens Advocacy Center and Next Level Northwest, a business accelerator for Hoffman Estates and nearby municipalities, recently hosted fundraising galas inside Bell Works atrium.

This is a unique place for the suburbs, Kramer said.
Cooperation between Morocco and Spain in migration management and the fight against illegal migration is an example of political dialogue between partners, Spains Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, told Justice and Home Affairs ministers of the 27 EU Member States.

Speaking at a meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of the European Union member states in Prague, the Spanish official stressed the need to raise the political profile and presence of the EU in countries of origin of irregular migration. The relationship with Morocco is an example in this regard, he said.

It is urgent to strengthen the political dialogue with our African partners and intensify the dialogue between representatives of the EU and the Member States, said Grande-Marlaska, who welcomed the recent meeting in Rabat with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and the Moroccan Minister of Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, a statement by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior said.

Grande-Marlaska pleaded for increasing European funds to achieve an orderly and fair migration from African countries.

African countries of origin and transit of migration need regular, predictable, and substantial aid, which has been insufficient until now, he added.

The Spanish minister cited the Neighborhood, Development Cooperation and International Cooperation Instrument, which devotes 10% of its funds to migration.

We must make the most of the possibilities offered by this budget and implement migration cooperation projects, which have already proven their effectiveness in third countries, Grande-Marlaska suggested.

The Spanish official emphasized the structural character of the migration phenomenon, saying that the migratory pressure from Africa is not going to disappear.

We must continue to work to prevent and reduce movements and move towards a fair, predictable and orderly management of migration, he concluded.

On the morrow of the tripartite meeting in Rabat, Grande-Marlaska reiterated Spains commitment to continue collaborating with countries of origin and transit, in particular with Morocco, which is doing important work and must be recognized as such.

Welcoming the agreements reached at Rabats meeting, the Spanish minister said that this commitment shows that we continue to work together to face the challenges linked to illegal immigration.

Following the violent assault on June 24, we are more determined to deepen the management of irregular migration and to deal strongly with criminal organizations that use violence and migrants to achieve their illicit objectives, he pointed out.

We will continue to work in depth to secure the necessary means to save the lives that are threatened by criminal mafias, and we will continue on the path of cooperation between Morocco and the European Union, in order to deal firmly with irregular immigration, Grande-Marlaska added.

During the Rabat meeting, the European Commission and Morocco launched a renewed partnership on migration and the fight against human trafficking networks, following the emergence of new and extremely violent modus operandi adopted by these criminal networks.

The new operational partnership in the fight against human trafficking between Rabat and Brussels will cover, among other things, support for border management, strengthening police cooperation, including joint investigations, raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration, as well as strengthening cooperation with EU agencies in charge of home affairs.

Several Spanish pundits, including expert in Maghreb affairs, Javier Fernandez Arribas, have called on all involved parties in the phenomenon of illegal immigration and the fight against human trafficking to extend more support to Morocco within the framework of the new renewed partnership, launched in Rabat.

Based on a comprehensive and proactive approach, Morocco collaborates in an exemplary way with Spain and its African neighbors to fight this phenomenon which is becoming increasingly transnational, Arribas said.
Polisario leaders have a long history of embezzlement in connivance with the corrupt and feckless Algerian Generals who are using the separatist group in their international money-laundering operations.

Several foreign independent bodies including the European Anti-Fraud Office have confirmed and denounced the systematic diversion of humanitarian aid by Polisario leaders who accumulated huge wealth.

They all have luxury properties in Spain and Latin America. They are getting richer and richer on the back of the suffering of the sequestered Sahrawis population under the watch of Algerian authorities.

A new embezzlement scandal is rocking the Polisario leadership. The son of one of their leaders, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, the so-called FM of self-proclaimed SADR, has just opened a luxury clinic in Ecuador.

If the father owns already a clinic in Panama, the son has inaugurated lately his own clinic in one of the most expensive districts in Ecuador with funds of the Algerian taxpayers who are suffering from a deplorable and broken healthcare system lacking medical staff, medicine and life-saving equipment.

The country has only 400 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, or one per 100,000 people. Despite hundreds of billions of hydrocarbon dollars, Algerias health system ranks 180 out of 195 countries. Algerians often refer to hospitals as places for the dying. Not only has the state failed to build modern hospitals but basic hygienic conditions are lacking, endangering the patients safety. For this reason, the president, the government officials and top brass prefer being treated overseas.

While Algerians are suffering from poor health services, long waiting times and difficulties to access hospitals, Polisario leaders are using Algerian public funds for the acquisition of private clinics in suspicious operations triggering popular uproar and outrage, amid a clamor of voices demanding the opening of an investigation and accountability.
The African Development Bank Group will lend Morocco 87 million to help the country implement the Support Program for the Generalization of Social Coverage.

The primary objective of this operation is to consolidate the foundations of a viable social protection program based on an integrated and inclusive approach, said the African financial institution in a statement Tuesday.

The program will contribute to extending social protection, particularly for early childhood, young people, and the self-employed.

Social protection is a major focus of our initiatives in Africa, Martha Phiri, the Banks Director for Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development, was quoted in the statement as saying. She added that the new program would protect and unlock peoples potential and improve the quality of human capital.

the second priority will be to respond to a growing demand for health services by reorganizing the supply of care and enhancing human capital. The new program will address the growing demand for health services by catalyzing new investments in health infrastructure, improving the business climate and speeding up economic recovery.

Achraf Hassan Tarsim, the Banks Country Manager in Morocco, said the program would benefit 11 million self-employed workers, 1.6 million of whom are farmers  and their dependents, as well as seven million children and young people. It will also provide insurance for five million self-employed workers and help 20% of informal economy workers to migrate towards formal, sustainable and more stable employment. We are paving the way for universal coverage, he added.

The program aligns with Moroccos human development objectives and the Banks High 5s strategic goal to foster sustainable and inclusive growth on the continent.

In a half-century-long partnership with Morocco, the African Development Bank has committed over $12 billion to the country. The portfolio covers health, farming, energy, water, transport, human development and financial sectors.
Abdelhamid Dbeibeh, one of Libyas rival Premiers, has sacked the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla, local media Libya Update has learned.

Dbeibehs administration, which is based in capital Tripoli, replaced Sanalla with Farhat Omar Bengdara, who served as Libyas Central Bank Governor from 2007 to 2011, the media notes citing a leaked document.

Plans to replace Sanalla have been on the cards since last month after Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun recommended a shakeup of the NOC board of directors. Dbeibeh reportedly nodded to the proposal.

Both Sanalla and Aoun have been engulfed in bitter rivalries with the Oil Minister accusing the former NOC boss of withholding oil data since April.

Sanalla has led NOC since May 2014. He has managed to be in the realm of the company owing to rivalries between various Libyans parties.

He has enjoyed support from foreign diplomats. Last month Libyas parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR), lambasted Dbeibehs plans to remove him.

The HoR supports Dbeibehs rival Fathi Bashagha who has established his administration in the coastal city of Sirte.
Four Algerian smugglers of people were arrested Tuesday in Spain by local police following the dismantling of a criminal network specialized in human trafficking.

This criminal network was active in Murcia. It charges illegal migrants over  5,000 for their transfer to Spain through high-speed boats in dangerous conditions, without minimum security measures, says a press release issued by the Spanish police.

During the operation, law enforcement agents seized a 6-meter-long boat used in human trafficking trade and a 150 HP engine. Investigation showed that the busted network is also involved in drug trafficking.

The arrest of these Algerian smugglers comes few days after Morocco, Spain and the European Union agreed to renew their partnership in order to work together to tackle human smuggling networks, in particular following the emergence of new, extremely violent, methods adopted by such criminal networks.

In the 1st half of 2022, Morocco prevented over 26,000 illegal migrants from crossing the border into Spain and dismantled around a hundred criminal trafficking networks.
The International consulting firms ILF and DORIS Engineering have been chosen to conduct phase II of the FEED (Front End Engineering Design) study of the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project, a key strategic undertaking for Africas energy development and sovereignty.

The onshore and offshore gas pipeline will cross the land and waters of 16 countries along the Atlantic coast, pumping Nigerian gas to the North African kingdom and further to Spain for the European market.

The pipeline will not only supply the local markets with reliable energy, it will also support industrial and economic development, create a competitive regional power market and benefit all West African countries and their economies.

The ILF and DORIS studies will focus on the onshore & offshore pipeline and compressor station engineering, the engineering surveys, the environmental & social impact assessment (ESIA) and land acquisition studies (LAS) and the project implementation framework. The project explores the potential for using renewable energy resources to power the pipeline and reduce the projects carbon footprint.

When completed, the over 6,000 km-long gas pipeline will be the longest offshore pipeline in the world and the second longest pipeline ever. It has a planned diameter of 48 offshore and 56 onshore, with a planned throughput of 30BCMa.

The mega-project was announced during the visit King Mohammed VI paid to Abuja in December 2016. The following year, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Moroccan National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) inked an agreement to carry FEED studies of this project, while the pipeline agreement was sealed in 2018 during the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Rabat.
The International Finance Corporation provides al Amana Microfinance, one of Moroccos largest micro lenders, $8 Million loan to support smaller businesses, especially those run by women.

Under the partnership agreement sealed Wednesday, al Amana will use the money to extend its reach to more micro-entrepreneurs and informal enterprises. At least half of the proceeds will be directed to support women and women-owned businesses in rural areas.

The partnership will support increased economic activity in Morocco, job creation, and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic which hit hard the small businesses, leaving many scrambling for funding to maintain operations.

IFC is a true partner in our time of need, said Yousef Bencheqroun, Director General of al Amana Microfinance. Many small enterprises in Morocco suffered during the pandemic and were forced to scale down or temporarily shut operations, added Mr.Bencheqroun, noting that this new funding will enable al Amana Microfinance to meet the needs of its clients so that they can resume activities to a pre-pandemic level.

For his part, IFC regional director for North Africa, Cheick-Oumar Sylla, said: Our support to al Amana Microfinance will ensure that many small businesses, especially those run by women, will have access to the funds they need to maintain and grow their operation.

IFC is a member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.

Al Amana Microfinance is leader in its sector in the MENA region. It counts more than 2,400 employees committed to manage a network of 616 branches of which 86 mobile branches serving remote rural areas.

Al Amana Microfinance serves 322,000 microentrepreneurs as of December 2021 of which 42% were women and 48% in rural areas.
Area youths can learn from professionals in the fields of animation, film and acting through the Calibraska Arts Initiative.

Erica Larsen-Dockray, a Scottsbluff native and animation teacher and creator in Los Angeles, began the program several years ago and continues to offer classes in North Platte. Each summer, students participate with teachers in person at Mid-Plains Community College.

Im teaching an Animation 1.0 class, Larsen-Dockray said. Its something Ive been traditionally teaching with Calibraska since 2013.

The students in her class learned about under-camera animation. This animation technique involves creating an animation by photographing each frame with a tablet and then combining the photographs into an animated film.

We talk about the principles of animation and how to think about movement in a frame-by-frame level, Larsen-Dockray said. That is our core first animation class. This is where all the students start in the animation program in Calibraska.

The teaching artists are primarily from Los Angeles, but Larsen-Dockray said shes had a few from other areas.

Theyre professionals in their fields, she said. Some of them come from small towns and they relate to the students, understanding whats out there.

Jozben Barret is teaching acting this week and has his own production company in Los Angeles.

The people I bring here are very special and they are vetted very thoroughly on coming here and working with folks who grow up in a rural area, Larsen-Dockray said. They may have a very limited understanding of whats out there and how to get there, and the process of getting out there is so important.

Kaylee Lundgreen, an incoming freshman at North Platte High School, participated in the acting class Tuesday.

At this acting camp we do a lot of different games to help us improve our acting, Lundgreen said. Weve been doing a lot of improvisational stuff, which has been really difficult and we dont usually get to do that, so thats been super neat.

Lundgreen said focusing on acting in high school is the first step, but she isnt sure whether she will continue after high school.

Since Im a freshman, I still have time to think about it, so well see, Lundgreen said.

She said some things she learned will help her as she moves into the high school setting of play production.

Ive learned that you have to be quick thinking, you have to be able to think on your feet a lot, Lundgreen said. In case anything went wrong, you want to be able to keep the audience interested.

Along with the acting and filmmaking classes this week, Larsen-Dockray said, there are still openings for creative writing classes next week. Offered as part of the Calibraska Arts Initiative, the camp is a weeklong intensive study for youths ages 13-17.

Through free writing as well as reading the works of powerful artists, the camp focuses on cultivating creative voices and deeper connections within individuals, the community and the world.

Larsen-Dockray said sessions will be taught by Jesse Bliss, a playwright, director, producer, actress, poet and founder of The Roots and Wings Project in LA.

The camp is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through July 22 both in person at the NPCC South Campus, 601 W. State Farm Road, and online via Zoom.

Registration can be done online at calibraska.org/classes.
The 1847 invention of the worlds first practical odometer near present-day North Platte will be the subject of a free talk at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lincoln County Historical Museum.

Elder Dean Chappell, a visiting missionary at Omahas Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters, will discuss the event in connection with the Mormon Trails 175th anniversary.

A 147-member party led by Brigham Young, successor to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founder Joseph Smith, arrived at Utahs Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

Chappell will talk about how a member of Youngs party devised a wooden, gear-based roadometer while the group was camped east of North Platte on White Horse Creek, near present-day Lee Bird Field.

Reservations for Thursdays talk are required because the museums meeting space is limited to 50 people. Call 308-534-5640 to save your place.

The Lincoln County Historical Museum is located at 2403 N. Buffalo Bill Ave.
Enviva commits to work with families and landowners to achieve clear title, unlock sustainable land value, and advocate for public policy that supports land retention in the states in which the company operates

BETHESDA, Md., July 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA), the worlds largest producer of industrial wood pellets, announces the establishment of the Enviva Heirs Property Fund (EHPF), an initiative dedicated to ending involuntary land loss across the U.S. Southeast. Today, Enviva formally commits $250,000 on an annual basis to provide support to landowning families in the U.S. Southeast through direct financial support for professional services, identifying pathways for families to capture sustainable land value, and through public policy advocacy at the state and federal levels. EHPFs efforts will begin in 2022 in Mississippi and North Carolina, and will expand to include direct financial aid to landholders incrementally throughout Envivas operational footprint in the coming years, in addition to the national policy work currently underway.

The issue of heirs property predominantly affects southern Black landholders, and has been a significant driver of Black land loss over the last century. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a non-profit association of Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives, estimates that 60 percent of African American-owned land in the South is held as heirs property, and from 1910 to 2007, it is estimated that Black farmers lost approximately 80 percent of their land, from about 20 million acres to about 1.9 million acres today.

"Since our founding, Enviva has been unrelenting in our commitment to make a positive impact in the communities we call home. Todays launch of the Enviva Heirs Property Fund is one example of how we plan to make lasting progress across the U.S. Southeast today, tomorrow, and for generations to come," said John Keppler, Enviva Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As a values-driven company, we care about people first, from our associates and partners to our customers and communities. I am proud Enviva is playing a pivotal role in the journey to end involuntary land loss for disenfranchised families across the United States."

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To eliminate the systemic hurdles resulting in involuntary land loss, the Enviva Heirs Property Fund will act on the following three functions for landowners:

Achieve Clear Title: Assist landowning families in achieving clear title to their land, thus removing the land from being vulnerable to involuntary loss. EHPF will connect families with the professional services necessary (i.e., legal professionals, tax consultants, professional foresters, surveyors, etc.) to secure clear and marketable title. Through this function, EHPF will assess each familys needs as well as fund the professional services necessary to secure title.

Unlock Sustainable Value from Land: Assist families in receiving value from their land for generations, which they are unable to do until they achieve clear title. Through existing partnerships, EHPF will connect, educate, and train families on resources and topics related to best practices for forest/land management, sustainable farming techniques, and merchandising. In parallel, EHPF will help families connect with the broad universe of federal and state benefits to landowners that hold acreage in clear title, such as grants for growing crops or building on their land, federal loans, and other governmentally bestowed benefits.

Advocate for Changes in Public Policy: Advance policy solutions at the state and federal level to prevent involuntary land loss. EHPF will partner with several organizations that specialize in land loss prevention policy to resolve the ongoing, systemic land loss problem across the American South.

Enviva recognizes there are well-established groups who have been working in this space for decades, and therefore will continue to partner with existing regional groups to address involuntary land loss issues. Current partners include the Roanoke Electric Cooperative (NC), North Carolina Central University, North Carolina A&T Universitys Small Farms Resource and Innovation Center (SFRIC), Winston County Self Help Cooperative (MS), the Center for Heirs Property Preservation (SC) and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, to name a few.

"More than 100 years of systemic injustice and antiquated property laws have robbed southern families of billions of dollars in generational wealth because of heirs property status," said Don Calloway, Vice President of Equity, Inclusion and Impact at Enviva. "As one of the worlds leading bioenergy and sustainability companies, Enviva has always worked with landowning families to maximize the value of their land. That process starts with helping families secure their land. We are proud to formalize our longtime efforts to marshal resources to reverse that trend and help secure family farms and the generational financial security they provide."

Launching EHPF is the first step of many that Enviva is taking to address a pertinent problem spanning across the U.S. Southeast. Later this summer, Enviva is hosting the inaugural Heirs Property Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. to bring together legislators, landowners, community partners, and relevant organizations to create and deploy a unified policy agenda on heirs property.

To learn more about EHPF, visit www.heirsproperty.com. If you are a landowner in need of assistance, a legislator seeking information, or a professional service offering guidance, please contact heirsproperty@envivabiomass.com.

About Enviva

Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA) is the worlds largest producer of industrial wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source produced by aggregating a natural resource, wood fiber, and processing it into a transportable form, wood pellets. Enviva owns and operates ten plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 6.2 million metric tons per year in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi, and is constructing its 11th plant, which will be located in Epes, Alabama. Enviva sells most of its wood pellets through long-term, take-or-pay off-take contracts with creditworthy customers in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan, helping to accelerate the energy transition and to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, lime, chemicals, and aviation fuels. Enviva exports its wood pellets to global markets through its deep-water marine terminals at the Port of Chesapeake, Virginia, the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and from third-party deep-water marine terminals in Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, and Panama City, Florida.

To learn more about Enviva please visit our website at www.envivabiomass.com. Follow Enviva on social media @Enviva.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005149/en/

Contacts

Jacob Westfall

media@envivabiomass.com

+1-301-657-5560
In this file photo taken on June 09, 2022, people pass by a booth of Google at the re:publica 2022 digital media convention in Berlin. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Having witnessed how much the world seemed to change after the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide, it has been stunning  although not too surprising  to see how much the world has tried to change back.

Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the conservative 6-3 majority opinion maintained that the right to an abortion was a part of the right to privacy  neither of which is explicitly included in the Constitution, although the right is inferred by the landmark 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut, in which Roe v. Wade is largely grounded.

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You thought you had a right to privacy? Guess again.

Kicking the legs out from under the right to privacy has big and ominous implications, particularly at a time when police and other crime fighters turn increasingly to internet search engines like Google for help.

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For example, in the new post-Roe world, privacy advocates reasonably ask, is Google doing enough to safeguard your data from falling into the wrong hands  or popping up on the wrong screens?

In response to complaints, Google announced on July 1 that it will delete abortion clinic visits, as well as trips to fertility clinics, domestic violence shelters and addiction treatment facilities among other sensitive locations.

Shades of Big Brother. Im not talking about the network TV reality show. Im talking about the ominous and omnipresent overlord in George Orwells 1949 novel 1984, symbol of a totalitarian state in which every citizen is under constant surveillance and propaganda by ever-present telescreens.

Were not there yet but the growing number of requests from law enforcement agencies turning to Google for access to information on users raises big questions as to what may happen in states where abortion, or helping someone to obtain one, is once again a serious crime.

In the first half of last year, Google received more than 50,000 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal requests for data Google retains, according to the companys transparency report.

Outside conventional law enforcement, some states are considering the bounty-hunter approach embedded in Texas notorious anti-abortion law Senate Bill 8, which offers cash rewards to would-be plaintiffs for successfully finding and suing anyone who aids a womans access to abortion  even, as it often has been said, her Uber driver.

All of which reminds me of the bad old days before Roe v. Wade, when women seldom had the right to choose abortion unless they had a lot of money and other resources.

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Those days came back to me as I watched The Janes, a new documentary streaming on HBO and HBO Max about Chicagos old Jane Collective, or Jane for short. Volunteers, mostly women, ran the underground service from 1969 to 1973 to help pregnant women in need to obtain abortions, which still were illegal in Illinois, as in most states.

They didnt have Google location services to worry about back then, although they constantly had to dodge police even as they advertised their services through word-of-mouth and ads in the underground Chicago Seed saying simply, Pregnant? Dont want to be? Call Jane, a name chosen for its easy-to-remember simplicity.

Ironically, as Jane founder Heather Booth says in the documentary, We always thought the police knew about it.

She relates a story about one woman who was married to a police officer and brought their pregnant daughter to Jane. Although I didnt ask, I had every reason to believe that it was the policeman who directed his wife about where to go, Booth says. So we think that it actually was a service that was useful in the society.

Abortion had not been politicized yet, she said, referring to how ferociously the issue has become a battle cry for the political right.

Jane ended after one of their apartments was raided by Chicago police in 1972 and seven of its members were arrested and charged with enough abortion counts to send them to prison for as much as 110 years.

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Fortunately, the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision was handed down in 1973 and the charges against the Jane women were dropped.

Will those days return? In some ways, they already have as various anti-abortion politicians and activists push for even tougher laws and regulations, including efforts to seek and prosecute abortion providers as we might chase domestic terrorists.

Sanity must prevail if justice is to survive. We urgently want law enforcement to hunt down mass shooters, domestic terrorists and other heinous criminals. But we still need to protect everyones reasonable right to privacy, including, I hope, the right of women to have power over their own bodies.

Sign up here to receive Clarence Pages columns by email as soon as they are published.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

cpage@chicagotribune.com

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Leading retirement technology firm launches Keystone by Smart, a global platform to spur forward the US$62 trillion retirement savings sector

Enables financial services organisations and governments to deliver 21st century tech within months, generating radically greater value for millions of savers through workplace pensions

More than a million hours and $100s of millions of R&D deliver a platform capable of revolutionising global retirement savings - a market currently held back by decades-old technology

Keystone by Smarts software could also drive M&A and consolidation in the sector by enabling the easier migration of pensions

LONDON, July 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Smart, the leading global retirement technology provider, has launched Keystone by Smart  a new technology platform to revolutionise the US$62 trillion retirement savings sector.

Keystone already underpins Smart Pensions Master Trust in the UK, which alone has more than 2 billion of assets under management. The platform accounts for more than 1 million savers and 70,000 corporate plans, and is also actively onboarding several additional retirement savings solutions in partnership with financial institutions around the world. These partnerships give Keystone the near-term prospect of serving more than 8 million people.

With the capacity to serve hundreds of millions, Keystone by Smart will now be rolled out to corporate and public-sector clients across the global superannuation industry. Its Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering will be made available to national and regional governments, banks, pension providers, asset managers, trade associations and affinity groups.

A flexible, agile and cloud-native platform operating on a single global code base, Keystone also brings radical efficiency to large data migrations - meaning that consolidation and M&A projects that previously took years using legacy systems are now possible in weeks or even days.

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The launch of Keystone comes days after Smart selected Melbourne as the home of its new Australian headquarters, in an announcement welcomed by Tim Pallas, Victorias Minister for Economic Development. That move follows the recent introduction of the Retirement Income Covenant in Australia, which seeks to provide superannuation funds with greater flexibility in designing their retirement income strategies.

Keystone functions as a standalone workplace retirement savings platform, and is interoperable with other financial services and retirement software, alongside payroll and HR management integrations. Users of existing pensions services can also move to Keystones technology seamlessly, saving time and money for both employers and employees.

Keystones versatility makes it applicable to a variety of retirement savings systems around the world. It is designed to keep pace with fast-changing pensions legislation and to meet the needs of savers in any language and any currency.

At launch, Keystone already powers numerous retirement savings solutions outside the UK. These include auto enrolment rollouts in several states in the US; work with New Ireland Assurance, part of Bank of Ireland Group, to enable workplace retirement savings; and a partnership with Zurich on a workplace saving scheme for Dubai.

Further information about Keystone by Smart can be found at Smarts website.

Andrew Evans, Group CEO and co-founder of Smart, said:

"Keystone by Smart enables financial services organisations to serve their clients and customers better and faster. It allows savers to connect to their money and manage their pensions in real time.

Keystone will also help corporate and strategic investors, who see opportunities to create efficiency in the global market but havent previously had the tools to make it happen. We are making a technologically fragmented industry more user-friendly for everyone."

Will Wynne, Group MD and co-founder of Smart, added:

"Much of our industry is built on decades-old technology, which holds back millions of savers across the planet. Our experience in leading the auto enrolment revolution in the UK gave us an early head start in understanding that, and now weve built a platform to help savers and providers worldwide.

"Keystone by Smart makes pensions easier and cheaper for organisations everywhere to provide. It also gives savers the experience theyve come to expect from best-in-class ecommerce sites and online banking."

The response from Smarts investors and the wider fintech industry has been very positive. Smarts investors include Legal & General Investment Management, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays, Natixis Investment Managers, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures.

Another investor in Smart, Simon Rogerson, CEO and co-founder of Octopus Group, said:

"Keystone is a unique piece of technology: a platform capable of transforming the sleeping giant of the fintech world - the $62 trillion global retirement savings market. Its an area where the entire industry is crying out for a modern technology platform, to deliver better outcomes for governments, financial services organisations and their customers and citizens around the world.

"With already more than a million savers on the platform today and a trajectory to support tens of millions of users in the near future, Keystone will be as transformative for pensions and retirement as Octopus Energys Kraken platform already has been for energy."

Notes to Editors:

About Smart

Smart is a global savings and investments technology platform provider. Its mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial well-being around the world.

Smart partners with governments and financial institutions (including insurers, asset managers, banks, financial advisers) to deliver retirement savings and income solutions that are digital, bespoke and cost efficient. In addition to the UK, Smart is operating in the USA, Europe, Australia and the Middle East with more than a million savers entrusting over 4 billion in assets on the platform.

Smart supports its clients with a 750 strong global team.

Legal & General Investment Management, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays, Natixis Investment Managers, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures are all investors in Smart.

For more information, please visit Smart.co or www.smartpension.co.uk

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006153/en/

Contacts

Smart:

Alana Stuart

pressoffice@smart.co
The trip may end in disappointment as Middle East producers have very little capacity to spare.

Biden is set to travel to Saudi Arabia this week to plead his case for additional oil output.

As U.S. President Joe Biden travels on his first visit to the Middle East this week, he and his team will make the case for the need for additional oil supply to the market. The Middle East is just the right place to go when oil supply is concerned. Unfortunately for President Biden and for consumers in America and elsewhere, the biggest oil producers in the Middle East have very little to offer in the short term to alleviate the pain at the pump. Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude oil exporter, may not have the capacity and/or the willingness to tap deeper into capacity despite the continuous calls from major oil-consuming nations.

The top OPEC producers, all of which are in the Middle East, have some spare oil production capacity left, but the actual numbers are shrouded in mystery, and analysts are only guesstimating how much oil Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could add to the market if they wanted to.

Middle East Energy Resources Vital For Global Supplies

Since oil prices started rallying at the end of last year, and especially since Russias invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices above $100 per barrel earlier this year, President Biden has called several times on OPEC producers to raise production by more than their monthly increases.

The soaring oil prices and record national average gasoline prices of over $5 per gallon in the United States on some days in June, months before the midterm elections, have prompted President Biden to consider a visit to Saudi Arabia and a meeting with its rulers. Two years ago, he described Saudi Arabia as a pariah state and criticized it for its track record of abuses of human rights.

Days before the visit to the Middle East, President Biden defended his decision to make the trip in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Saturday.

Today, Saudi Arabia has helped to restore unity among the six countries of Gulf Cooperation Council, has fully supported the truce in Yemen, and is now working with my experts to help stabilize oil markets with other OPEC producers, President Biden wrote.

A more secure and integrated Middle East benefits Americans in many ways. Its waterways are essential to global trade and the supply chains we rely on. Its energy resources are vital for mitigating the impact on global supplies of Russias war in Ukraine, he added.

The President and his team will make the case for higher OPEC oil production during meetings with leaders from the Gulf states in Saudi Arabia, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said this week.

We will convey our general viewthat we believe that there needs to be adequate supply in the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the American consumer at the pump, Sullivan said.

According to the White House, OPEC has the capacity to take further steps to boost oil production, Sullivan added.

Not Much Spare Capacity Left

According to analysts, the Saudis and the UAE would rather stick to their guns and keep aside what little spare capacity they have left.

Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ have very limited spare capacity, and they have to manage it carefully, Ben Cahill, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Bloomberg.

Per the OPEC+ deal, the Saudi oil production target is at 11.004 million bpd for August. The Kingdom has rarely reached this level, and not for a sustained period of time. So, its not certain that the Saudis have the ability to pump 11 million bpd or more on a sustainable basis. Its even less certain that the Kingdom can quickly tapif it wanted tointo the 12.2 million bpd production capacity it claims it has.

Related: Could Argentinas Dead Cow Shale Patch Help Solve The Energy Crisis?

Analyst estimates about OPECs spare capacity are disparate, too. According to the IEA, the EIA, and OPEC, the spare production capacity is around 3 million barrels per day (bpd). Some analysts, however, believe that the cartel has no more than 1 million bpd of spare capacity available.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron was caught on camera telling President Biden that both the Saudis and the UAE were close to their limits in terms of production. The UAE hastened to explain that the maximum production level quote attributed to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan referred to the UAEs quota in the OPEC+ deal.

But doubts remain.

Most analysts say that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are unlikely to tap much into their spare capacity regardless of the U.S. push for more oil. A razor-thin global capacity cushion would make supply shocks even more shocking to the market.

If President Joe Biden is hoping that his July trip to the Gulf will yield an immediate and significant tranche of extra oil supply from Arab Gulf producers, he will likely be disappointed, said Bill Farren-Price, a director at Enverus Intelligence Research, commenting on an Enverus report from this week on OPECs spare capacity.

A more likely outcome is that if talks go well, Riyadh commits to increase supply over the medium term, Farren-Price noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Kremlin hopes that the U.S. diplomacy will not seek to turn Saudi Arabia against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, commenting on U.S. President Joe Bidens visit to the Middle East.

We certainly hope that the building and the development of relations between Riyadh and other world capitals will in no way be directed against us, Peskov was quoted as saying at a briefing on Wednesday by Russian news agency TASS.

We highly appreciate the work we are doing with our partners, including leading partners such as Saudi Arabia, Peskov said, asked to comment on President Bidens visit to the Kingdom.

President Biden began on Wednesday a visit to the Middle East, which will include a stop in Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest crude oil exporter and a key partner of Russia in the OPEC+ oil production deal.

Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Russia have reiterated several times the importance of their OPEC+ partnership.

President Biden, for his part, will visit Saudi Arabia for the first time after making a U-turn in his attitude toward Riyadh as gasoline prices in America hit a record high of $5 per gallon last month.

OPEC has the capacity to raise crude oil production, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said earlier this week.

We do believe there is a capacity for further steps that could be taken, Sullivan said during a press briefing on Monday. Related: Is Biden Really Responsible For High Oil Prices?

President Biden and his team will make the case for higher OPEC oil production during meetings with leaders from the Gulf states in Saudi Arabia, Sullivan said at the briefing.

We will convey our general viewthat we believe that there needs to be adequate supply in the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the American consumer at the pump, Sullivan said.

Analysts say that OPECs actual spare capacity could be less than official figures suggest and that, in fact, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)two producers believed to hold most of the worlds spare capacitycannot pump too much crude oil above current levels for a sustainable period.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The United States pitched to China the idea of capping the price of Russian oil during a virtual meeting last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Wednesday.

Secretary Yellen is on a tour of Asia with stops in Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia this week to seek support for the U.S. idea of capping Russian export crude oil prices.

Yellen first discussed the idea of a price cap on Russian oil with China during an online meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He last week, the secretary told the WSJ.

They listened and were prepared to have further discussions with us about it, Secretary Yellen told the Journal.

China, the worlds largest crude oil importer, is a major importer of Russian oil, too.

Last week, tanker-tracking data showed that China likely imported another 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of discounted Russian crude oil in June after bringing in around the same record amount in May. This kept Russia as Chinas top oil supplier ahead of Saudi Arabia for a second consecutive month.

After their summit in Germany last month, the leaders of the G7 group of the worlds leading industrial nations invited all importing countries to consider a cap on the price of Russian oil.



Related: Oil Bears Are Back As The Crude Crash Continues

We will consider a range of approaches, including options for a possible comprehensive prohibition of all services, which enable transportation of Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products globally, unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners, the G7 leaders said in their final communique.

The countries are still considering the possibility of a price cap on Russias oil, but they face a difficult balancing act between trying to limit the Kremlins oil revenues, the most significant contribution to Vladimir Putins war chest, and not driving international crude prices higher still.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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China imported an estimated 9.2 million bpd of crude oil last month, according to calculations by energy analytics provider OilX, which was some 1.6 million bpd lower than imports for May.

On an annual basis, OilX analysts noted, the June average would be about 1 million bpd lower than what China imported in crude oil n June 2021. They noted, however, that despite the recent series of lockdowns because of Covid flare-ups, Chinas oil imports were remarkably stable over the past few months.

This month, the analysts reported, loadings for China are on the rise, and so is floating storage off its coast. Oil in storage is now at 14 million barrels, the team reported.

In terms of import sources, Chinas intake of Saudi oil declined sharply in June, by more than 800,000 bpd, while imports from Brazil increased by close to 200,000 bpd. Imports from Russia were also higher, but more modestly than imports from Brazil.

Earlier this month, Reuters cited tanker tracking data as showing China had continued buying Russian crude strongly while reducing its intake of Saudi oil, despite lockdowns. In fact, according to that data, Russia was Chinas largest oil supplier in June, as it was in May.

Analysts expect Russian oil exports to China to have averaged some 2 million bpd last month, accounting for 15 percent of the countrys demand.

China issued crude oil import quotas for 52.7 million tons last month for its independent refiners, which are among the biggest buyers of discounted Russian crude.

The Covid lockdowns have been a major deterrent for oil prices over the past few weeks, but the latest data released by OilX suggests that despite a decline on an annual basis, China continues buying oil strongly, which would likely support prices. This would leave recession fears as the only bearish factor in the market right now, at least for a while.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Germany will stop importing Russian coal from August 1 and crude oil from December 31, the country's deputy finance minister, Joerg Kukies said today, as quoted by Reuters.

"We will be off Russian coal in a few weeks," Kukies said at the Sydney Energy Forum, which is taking place this week.

"Anyone who knows the history of the Druzhba pipeline, which was already a tool of the Soviet empire over eastern Europe, ridding yourself of that dependence is not a trivial matter, but it is one that we will achieve in a few months," he added.

Kukies admitted, however, that replacing Russian hydrocarbons, not only in Germany, will be no easy task, citing the fact that together, the United States and Qatar could only supply some 30 billion cu m of natural gas equivalent to Europe, which imports more than 150 billion cu m of Russian gas annually.

Despite the challenge, Germany is in a rush to build LNG import terminals so it can replace at least part of Russian gas imports with liquefied gas from abroad. The problem here is, however, tightening supplies, with Freeport LNG in the U.S. offline until at least September, and Shell's Prelude in Australia shut down amid industrial action.

Demand for gas in Germany and Europe as a whole remains strong as governments seek to fill up their gas storage caverns ahead of the next heating season. Germany, specifically, is also on edge after Gazprom stopped the flow of gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline this week for regularly scheduled maintenance. Fears are that it will not turn the taps back on once the maintenance is done.

The suspension of coal and oil purchases from Russia is a result of sanctions the EU placed on Moscow earlier this year, providing buyers of the commodities with a temporal cushion of six months for each, so they could stock up on coal and oil before the respective embargos kicked in.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Iraq is experiencing delays in upgrading its oil export facilities at Basra, which also delay the planned increase in the oil export capacity of OPEC's second-largest producer, an oil source in Iraq told Reuters on Wednesday.

Iraq plans to increase crude oil export capacity at its Gulf ports to 3.45 million barrels per day (bpd) from 3.3 million bpd.

However, Iraq has seen in recent weeks delays in finalizing the tenders for the upgrade of pumping stations at the export terminals and in obtaining the approvals needed for the work, a representative from Iraq's oil industry told Reuters.

The delay in the 150,000-bpd export capacity boost comes as the world grapples with constraints in physical oil supplies despite the currently bearish sentiment on the oil market.

In June, Iraq's oil exports averaged 3.37 million bpd, per the Iraqi Oil Ministry cited by Xinhua.

The delays in the pump station upgrades mean that Iraqi state-owned Basra Oil Company (BOC) will not be able to raise exports to 3.45 million bpd in the coming weeks.

"I'm not sure if BOC can meet this deadline due to the delay in the [pumping stations] project," the Iraqi oil source told Reuters.



Related: Chinas Oil Imports Fell In June

Without the upgrade, Iraqi crude oil exports will remain at around 3.3 million bpd, the source said.

In terms of production, Iraq was 75,000 bpd below its target for June, according to OPEC's secondary sources in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) published on Tuesday. The ten OPEC producers bound by the OPEC+ pact pumped 24.8 million bpd of crude oil in June, which was 1 million bpd short of the target levels.

Although the 150,000-bpd Iraqi capacity boost is relatively small, any constraint in crude supply could further tighten the global oil market later this year, when the EU embargo on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil and refined products enters into force.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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As Europe tries to kick the Russian energy habit, Italy is making significant headway in severing its reliance on Russian natural gaseven more headway than Germany. Italy has reduced the mix of Russian gas mix as part of the total imported to just 25%, according to Bloomberg.

Thats down from 40% in January, well before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Germany still imports 35% of its total gas imports from Russia, with the United States and Qatar only able to supply 30 billion cu m of nat gas equivalent to Europe combined. For comparison, Europe imports 150 billion cu m annually.

Germany has big plans to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, though. According to Joerg Kukies, Germanys deputy finance minister, Germany will stop importing Russian coal entirely starting in just two weeks. It also has plans to kick its Russian oil habit completely by December 31.

Of course, Italys reduction in natural gas exports from Russia is helped along in no small part by Gazprom reducing its flows to Italy by one-third, to just 21 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, down from more than 60 million cubic meters before June, when Gazprom started to reduce the flow.

Germany should also be boosted along its quest to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas starting this week, as Russias Nord Stream 1 pipeline shuts for maintenance for at least 10 days. Europe worries that the flow of gas could be shut off for even longera retaliatory move for their sanctions against Russia. Talk of a price cap on Russian oil by the EU and the United States could further incite Russia to curb the flow of gas into Europe as it tries to refill its nat gas storage ahead of winter.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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The ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron on July 18th in Paris, according to Bloomberg, as speculation escalates surrounding the state of OPEC oil supplies and production capacity.

Bloombergs unnamed sources claim that MBZ and Macron will discuss oil supplies, though the French government has not confirmed the meeting.

The European Union is now looking to the UAE for alternatives to Russian supplies of oil and diesel.

But the big question now is whether the UAE has the capacity to help Europe at all.

The Macron-UAE duo made headlines at the end of June when Macron was caught on a live mic at the G7 meeting telling U.S. President Biden that the ruler of the Emirates told him personally that the UAE was already at maximum with its oil production, and that Saudi Arabia could increase by just 150,000 bpd over what they were producing at the time. The UAEs oil minister later clarified that the UAE was pumping at maximum as dictated by its OPEC quota.

The UAEs June production was 3.083 million bpd, according to OPECs latest MOMR published today. This compares to the 3.075 million bpd output quota the UAE was given for June. In July, their quota will increase to 3.127 million bpd. The UAE has claimed in the recent past that its current capacity is close to 4 million bpd, with plans to increase that figure to 5 million bpd by 2030.

The issue of OPECs spare capacitywhich is generally understood to be centered in Saudi Arabia and the UAEhas played a large part in the oil volatility over the last month, with some analysts suggesting that OPECs failure to reach output targets month after month is an indication that they are already pumping at maximum volumes. It is worth noting, however, that neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia are the laggards in the OPEC deal, and both have increased production every month for the past three months.

The UAE-France meet, if confirmed, will take place shortly after Bidens planned visit to Saudi Arabia later this week, as Washington seeks a commitment to help stem rising crude oil prices.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Direct crude and product burn at power generation plants in the two largest OPEC producers has accelerated as the summer approaches, which could leave lower available crude supply for international markets, analysts say.

So far this year, oil-fired power generation has rebounded to meet strong power demand, commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo said on Wednesday, citing data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In Saudi Arabia and Iraq, OPECs largest and second-largest oil producer, respectively, burning of fuel oil and direct crude oil use for power generation jumped by 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April compared to March, Staunovo added.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest crude oil exporter, relies on crude and fuel oil for electricity generation and cranks up direct crude and fuel burns during the scorching summer months.

After OPEC+ decided to accelerate the rollback of the cuts and have those completely unwound by the end of August, some analysts pointed out that the direct crude burn in Saudi Arabias power plants could consume a large part of the increase in production.

The higher OPEC+ production targets for the months of July and August coincide with the peak summer heat in Saudi Arabia, which typically increases significantly the volumes of crude and products burned at power plants.

At the same time, the ten OPEC producers in the OPEC+ pact pumped 24.8 million bpd of crude oil in June, OPEC data showed on Tuesday, with production falling 1 million bpd short of the target levels.

Saudi Arabia naturally raised its crude oil production by the most in June compared to May. Yet, per OPECs secondary sources, even the Saudis were lagging behind their quota for June. Saudi Arabias oil production rose by 159,000 bpd to 10.585 million bpd, OPEC said. To compare, the Saudi target was 10.663 million bpd, so the Kingdom was 78,000 bpd below its quota last month using secondary source figures. But Saudi Arabia self-reported to OPEC that its production figures were indeed in line with its target10.646 million bpd.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Saxophonist Edwin Daugherty holds a photo of his former DuSable High School music teacher, Capt. Walter Dyett, at the Vivian C. Harsh Research Collection in the Woodson Regional Library in Chicago on July 7, 2022. Daugherty will play a tribute show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on July 19 with other local alumni of Dyett's band program. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune)

Edwin Daugherty didnt have to lay eyes on his band teacher to know he was terrified of him.

In 1960, Daugherty was a 14-year-old transfer student to DuSable High School. As new kids are wont to do, he got lost his first morning on the Bronzeville campus on the way to band class, his saxophone bouncing at his side.

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By the time I got there, the band was rehearsing and the door was closed. And I stood out there with my mouth hanging open. I could not believe those were teenagers playing in that room, and that they were getting interrupted by this person who let them know, in no uncertain terms, that they had room for improvement, Daugherty, now 75, remembers.

Capt. Walter H. Dyett, circa Dec. 15, 1935. (Chicago Tribune archive)

That person, hed learn, was his new band teacher, Walter Henri Dyett  but woe betide you if you didnt call him Captain Dyett, an honorific he earned after serving as bandmaster in the Illinois National Guard.

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Daugherty lost his nerve and didnt attend that first class, instead listening outside the classroom for the rest of the period. But he wised up and showed up on time every day thereafter, later becoming the DuSable concert bands lead alto. Dyetts classes even introduced him to his late wife, a freshman clarinetist who Dyett conspicuously let shadow Daughertys dance band rehearsals.

He knew what was going on, obviously, Daugherty says, chortling. But he let her get away with it.

Daugherty is just one in the legions of musicians who learned under Cap, a formidable pedagogue who grew DuSables music program into the schools most popular extracurricular and a South Side stalwart. Dyetts annual Hi-Jinks revue, featuring DuSable students and raising money for the band program, became a feted neighborhood tradition. Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Bo Diddley, Gene Ammons, Joseph Jarman and Leroy Jenkins passed through Dyetts program  and thats just an abbreviated list.

Capt. Walter Dyett teaches music at DuSable High School in the 1950s. (Vivian G. Harsh Collection/Woodson Regional Library)

Calling from his home in Woodlawn, Daugherty was looking ahead to a July 19 tribute to his former teacher at the Museum of Contemporary Art. But in doing so, he was confronted with a sobering reality: Hes one of a dwindling number of Caps former students, and one of an even smaller cohort who still plays professionally.

Bassist Richard Davis, who played with bebop and rock titans alike, lives in Madison, where he started a second act as a beloved teacher himself at the University of Wisconsin. Another DuSable alum, 95-year-old guitarist George Freeman, performs at the MCA on Aug. 9 as part of the same Tuesdays on the Terrace series. And Mwata Bowden, reedist and retired director of the University of Chicagos jazz ensembles, graduated in the very last class Cap would teach at DuSable, in 1966.

But despite DuSables reputation as a talent factory, Daugherty notes that the overwhelming majority of Dyetts students didnt go on to careers in music.

The people who became professional musicians were probably one in 1,000, one in 10,000. And everybody got treated the same, no matter how good you were, Daugherty says. I think his influence is probably nearly as profound for those who did other things.

Musician Edwin Daugherty finds a photo of himself in the band in the 1962 DuSable High School yearbook at the Woodson Regional Library in Chicago on July 7, 2022. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune)

Born to a roving preachers family in 1901, Dyett spent the most time in California before moving to Chicago. But he couldnt shake music, which had been a central part of his life since picking up the violin as a boy. After graduating from the University of California-Berkeley as a pre-med student, he briefly attended the Illinois School of Medicine before dropping out to perform and teach music privately.

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In 1931, Dyett landed his first job in Chicago Public Schools at Wendell Phillips High School in Bronzeville. There, he met his wife Gwendolyn McGavock, also the daughter of a minister. The Chicago Defenders wedding announcement for the couple described McGavock as a prominent socialite from one of the oldest and most distinguished families of the city. The same announcement simply described Dyett as bandmaster at Wendell Phillips High School. But future notices would not be so terse.

When Wendell Phillips staff and students moved to a new campus after the old one burned down, the new school was christened Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School. There, Dyett honed the hard-line reputation he would become known for generations hence. He joined the Eighth Regiment Infantry Band, went back to school for his bachelors in music and then earned his masters, writing a dense thesis on music pedagogy that compared teaching rhythm to ROTC drills.

DuSables music program swelled to include multiple bands and choirs  but strangely, no orchestra, despite Dyetts string-playing background. His knack for nurturing musical greatness was unparalleled, even if his disciplinary tactics wouldnt fly for a second today.

Hed cuss you up and down; hed throw things. If there was some nonsense going on, youd better duck, Daugherty recalls. From my observation, he pretty much ran that school.

And he did, until his retirement in 1966. A card from the Chicago Board of Education, signed by infamous outgoing superintendent Benjamin Willis, expresses gratitude for Dyetts long and distinguished service to the girls and boys. Its dated June 24, 1966  the same day he and Gwendolyn celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.

Later, after his retirement, Dyett was elected to the board of Chicagos local group of the American Federation of Musicians, the union representing musicians in the city. He was elected in 1966, the year the union finally became racially integrated. He was also a dedicated officer in the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the historically Black Shriners fraternal order.

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But at DuSable, Dyetts shoes were tough, if not impossible to fill. When he retired, Hi-Jinks retired with him. Band enrollment atrophied. Daugherty notes that the school itself also changed dramatically and welcomed an influx of students from the expanded Ida B. Wells Homes.

It wasnt about the band program. It was about Cap, Daugherty says. So when he was gone, that was it. Simple as that.

In 1972, three years after Dyetts death, the city dedicated a school in Washington Park to his memory. Today, Walter H. Dyett High School lives on as a public school for the arts, saved from imminent closure by hunger strikers whod hoped to see it become a STEM-focused neighborhood school. (That saga animated yet another spectacular Dyett tribute earlier this year at the Logan Center for the Arts: pianist Vijay Iyers achingly ruminative Ghosts Everywhere I Go, based on poet and sociologist Eve L. Ewings research on the Rahm Emanuel-era school closures that nearly doomed Dyett High.)

At statue of Capt. Walter Dyett stands outside the Assembly Hall of DuSable High School where he taught music. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune)

Today, Dyett High School for the Arts stands as a riposte to shameful cuts of previous decades that all but eradicated arts education from its halls. The new Dyett boasts a dance studio, textile design space, a black-box theater and, yes, a music program, which has a rigorous curriculum description that reads remarkably like Dyetts masters thesis.

Caps insistence upon excellence lives on in more than just prereqs: The class of 2020, Dyett Highs first graduating class since its reopening and reorganization, boasted a 98% graduation rate and over $4 million total in college scholarships.

Sure, Dyetts students are few and far between today. But his ethos is stamped like a watermark all over countless 20th-century jazz greats from Chicago. Clearly, it will resound well into the 21st century, too.

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We have to talk about him because hes so important to musical history  not only in Chicago but all of America. Theres nobody that Im aware of that can even compare in terms of the number of people that he influenced and mentored, Daugherty says.

Edwin Daugherty in a tribute to Capt. Walter Dyett, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 19 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave., free. More information at mcachicago.org

Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.

The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains complete editorial control over assignments and content.
A former Bryan Middle School staffer is awaiting trial in Sarpy County District Court on a charge of third-degree sexual assault of a child.

Aweys M. Salat, 24, was arrested June 1. He was released on bond June 4.

The assault allegedly took place at the middle school, at 8210 S. 42nd St., according to investigation reports.

Andrew Karmazin, principal of Bryan Middle School, sent a letter to staff members and families of students to notify them of Salats arrest.

Salat had been listed as a paraprofessional at the school, but an Omaha Public Schools spokesperson said Salats employment with the district has been terminated.

He will be arraigned in district court later this month.
A homeless Omaha man found guilty in Pottawattamie County District Court of vandalizing the Bob Kerrey Bridge has been ordered to serve two years of probation and pay restitution.

David Orlawski, 43, was also given a 10-year prison sentence and a fine of $1,370 that were both suspended during his court appearance on June 30. He was ordered to pay $13,218 in restitution to the City of Council Bluffs.

Because the bridge was also damaged on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, a charge of felony criminal mischief was filed in Douglas County. That charge was dismissed in exchange for Orlawskis plea agreement with Pottawattamie County.

Orlawski was recorded by video surveillance cameras causing damage to the bridge on Dec. 4. According to an Omaha police report, computer equipment and three cable boxes sustained damage.

The video showed a man wearing a suit coat on the Council Bluffs side of the bridge swinging a metal pole at the control room doors and items on a ledge. A Council Bluffs police officer recognized Orlawski, and he was arrested on Dec. 6.

In an interview with Omaha police, Orlawski said he lived at the Siena Francis House, a homeless shelter at 1702 Nicholas St. Shown still photos from the security video footage, Orlawski admitted that he was the man in the video.

If Orlawski fails to satisfactorily complete his probation, the prison sentence would be reinstated, according to the court order.
Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert is urging City Council members to seriously consider all suggestions from the recently completed City Charter convention.

The 15-member group wrapped its final meeting Monday after approving 24 charter amendments to be considered by the council.

That includes a revised proposal from the Mayors Office that would allow the citys mayors to remain in charge when traveling outside city limits.

The councils president and vice president have raised concerns about the proposal.

In a World-Herald interview Tuesday, Stothert said the amendment would modernize Omahas out-of-town policy.

With all of the tools we now have, I can certainly manage the city with my laptop, with my tablet, with my cellphone, Stothert said. I am accessible and people can get ahold of me 24/7 when I am out of town.

Stotherts proposal was one of the first brought before the citys charter convention for consideration in May and one of the last approved by convention members.

The convention, formed about every 10 years, is made up of members appointed by the mayor and Omaha City Council to review and suggest changes to the citys charter, the document that establishes the organization and procedures of Omahas government.

Originally, the Mayors Office proposed that an acting mayor would not be required to step in unless the mayor was out of town for more than 10 days or left the continental United States.

On Monday, the convention members voted on a revision to the proposal that would allow the mayor to remain in power while traveling for up to five days. In cases of an emergency, an acting mayor could step in  but only when the mayor is unavailable by phone for two hours or more.

If the City Council approves the proposals, they would appear on the ballot in November.

City Council President Pete Festersen said hed be unlikely to support a change to the citys current out-of-town policy, even with the emergency amendment.

I think its important to have continuity and clear decision-making authority in case of an emergency, or in case someone is unreachable in a time of crisis, Festersen said. Anything can happen in a city at any time.

Council Vice President Vinny Palermo said he is hesitant to support a change.

I think there should always be somebody there, ready and working with the staff thats in place in times of emergency, Palermo said. I think its necessary we have somebody in place at all times.

Through a records request, The World-Herald found that Stothert was out of town 39 days in the first six months of 2022, meaning she was outside the city for about 21% of that time.

For many of those days, Festersen was acting mayor. On a few occasions, Palermo stepped into the role when both Festersen and Stothert were out of Omaha.

Stothert, who has served as mayor for more than nine years, said a broad look at her mayoral terms would show that her travel time outside the city has been minimal, and that the majority of her time away has been for no longer than four business days at a time.

The mayor noted that most of the conventions amendments were passed unanimously, a factor she said council members should consider when the recommendations come before them.

This group has spent a lot of time and effort reviewing the city charter to pass these amendments, Stothert said. I think (council members) should seriously consider that they put every one on the ballot for the rest of the citizens to vote on.

The convention approved a wide range of changes in city procedures, such as:

Advertising for sealed, competitive bids for purchases of $50,000 or more, up from $20,000.

Requiring City Council approval for contracts of $50,000 or more, again up from $20,000.

Directing the Planning Board to consider affordable housing when discussing subdivision and zoning ordinances.

Including affordable housing and sustainable development as elements in the citys Master Plan.

Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the protected civil rights categories.

Stothert said she is proud of convention members for their professionalism and careful consideration of the charter amendments.

We got a group of citizens willing to commit and put this much time into reviewing the entire city charter, going to those meetings and having good, honest, open conversation, Stothert said. I think that shows that it was a very worthwhile and good convention.
A Chicago police officer and his canine partner are seen at 64th and South Bishop streets after a police officer was shot and wounded nearby on June 1, 2022. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

A fugitive with ties to Chicago was arrested Wednesday in Iowa for allegedly shooting a Chicago police officer in the head last month near the Englewood District police station, officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

The officer was still recovering at home, said police Superintendent David Brown during a late afternoon news conference at police headquarters on South Michigan Avenue.

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Jabari Edwards, 28, committed a minor traffic violation and officers from a task force arrested him in Burlington, Iowa, Brown said.

Edwards, who has ties to Chicago, was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, said Brown and Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan, who also spoke.

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The shooting happened June 1 about 5:45 p.m. in the 6100 block of South Paulina Street during a traffic stop at the Englewood police station.

Officers were fired upon, said Brown, and the officer was shot in the head and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Edwards fled in a black car, which crashed. He also allegedly dropped a weapon, which police matched with shell casings found at the scene, said Deenihan, who added citizens helped with information.

Were glad to bring some sense of justice and peace to the mind of our officer as she continues to recover, Brown said.

Brown added that 34 Chicago cops have been shot at or shot while in the line of duty. Seven were struck by gunfire, he said.

We wont tolerate it, Brown said. The arrest should serve as a warning to those involved in criminal acts, Brown said. You cannot run nor can you hide from justice.

Edwards, who was convicted of an attempted robbery in 2012, remained in the custody of Des Moines County Iowa sheriffs police, awaiting extradition to Chicago to face the charges.
People gawking at the sky late Tuesday were entertained by what is believed to be a piece from an old Russian rocket reentering the atmosphere.

Social media lit up after 10 p.m. with people asking if it was a meteor, space junk or some other phenomena from infinity and beyond coursing across the Montana skyline.

Ryan Hannahoe, executive director of the Montana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry, said the exact time of the citing was 10:08 p.m. and he received a text from SpaceWeather.com. explaining what happened.

"This may have been the fuel tank of an old Russian rocket, the text stated. Shortly before the explosion over Montana, the U.S. Department of Defense Space Track website issued a Trajectory Impact Prediction (TIP) message for an object called "BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)."

The above video was provided by Ryan Hannahoe, executive director of the Montana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry.

According to their alert, a Breeze-M fuel tank would fall into Earth's atmosphere "on July 13th at 04:06  52 minutes UT. That fits the timing of the Montana explosion," the text stated.

The fuel tank had been orbiting Earth for almost 10 years. It was part of a rocket that launched Russia's Yamal 402 geostationary communications satellite on Dec. 8, 2012, SpaceWeather.com, which tilted a posting about the incident "Space junk over Montana," said in its text. They said that recent increases in solar activity accelerated its orbital decay, finally bringing it down in a fiery display."

Hannahoe said he had not heard reports of the tank making a rough landing on Earth.

Thankfully most of the Earth is water so it lands in ocean, he said.

He said the Montana Learning Center was able to capture the flaming image as it flew by. He said they have a seven-camera system that points skyward and the image was caught on three of the cameras.

The spectacle was reportedly seen pretty much throughout the state as people in Helena, Billings, Great Falls and Missoula weighed in on social media as well.

But not everyone as at least one person on Facebook was disappointed she missed it.

Man, I picked the wrong night to go to bed early, she said.
BLOOMINGTON  Artists from Bloomington-Normal and beyond have come together to raise funds for Alzheimers care for local artist and retired Illinois State University professor Harold Boyd.

Rhea Edge is hosting a sale of Boyds work at her downtown Bloomington gallery, Beluga Press Gallery, 313 N. Main St. The gallery will be open in connection with a reception being held at the McLean County Arts Center on Friday, and will also be open Saturday.

Boyd was diagnosed with Alzheimers in early 2020 but had been showing signs of the gradual progression of the disease for about a decade before that, Edge said. He is now in care at Sugar Creek Alzheimers Special Care Center. It is hard to say how Boyd is doing now, Edge said, but she has been paying for and helping with his care.

Theres no great answer to that, she said. Because he has Alzheimers and hes had it for quite some time.

Edge met Boyd when she was a student of his at ISU, as well as an assistant in the print studio there, which Boyd started.

Boyd never spent much time cataloging his work, Edge said, but she estimated he has left around a thousand works. He rarely focused on making his work available to a wider audience beyond his studio, something he expressed some regret for in a 2017 interview with MCAC Executive Director Doug Johnson.

Boyds art focuses on people, Edge said. Human figures are prominent, including figures based on Adlai Stevenson, famous poets and doctors, Boyd and Edge. The representations are not literal, though, and Edge said they are meant to represent broader humanity.

His work is about all of us, being human, she said. () Its not really a portrait because its about something broader.

Edge described Boyd as a reflective artist, who went to the studio in the Lang-Fuller Building every day and often spent a lot of time looking at his work before deciding on the next mark to make. He worked in varied media, including drawings, prints, collage and cast bronze.

Boyd was born in Iowa in 1938, according to a press release from the group helping organize the sale. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1959 and began teaching at ISU in the 1960s, including starting the printmaking program. He retired from ISU in 2000. His work has been shown in hundreds of exhibitions and is in dozens of permanent collections at art museums across North America.

The art for sale at Beluga Press has pieces from when he was a student in Lawrence, Kansas, and throughout his career. During his time at ISU he influenced hundreds of students, Edge said. That includes some who have since risen to prominence, including Nicolas Africano, Wonsook Kim, Tony Wong and Diego Cortez, the press release said.

One of Boyds friends and fellow art faculty members at ISU was painter Harold Gregor, who focused on Midwestern landscapes. The MCAC is hosting a show from Friday through Aug. 26 of works by Gregor and more than 50 of his students, many of whom also learned from Boyd.

Gregor died in 2018, as did Ken Holder, who was another college of Boyd and Gregor.

That was a period when there was an extremely (talent)-rich faculty of artists, Edge said.

MCAC's exhibition, titled The Painters Pedagogy, is bringing many of Boyd and Gregors former students to town, Edge said. She planned her sale to be timed around the same time as the opening reception, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at MCAC, 601 N. East St., Bloomington.

Edge said she has been amazed at the number of people in the community who are concerned about Boyd and stepped up to help her create an exhibit shown at MCAC earlier this month and to get ready for the sale.

The Beluga Press show will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Friday and all day Saturday. Those interested in purchasing Boyds work can also visit Beluga Press website at belugapressart.gallery.

What I want to do is get his lifes work to people who want it, Edge said.

Sale of Harold Boyd's art What: Harold Boyd's art is being sold to help raise funds to pay for Alzheimer's care for Boyd

Harold Boyd's art is being sold to help raise funds to pay for Alzheimer's care for Boyd Where: Beluga Press Studio (Rhea Edge) at 313 N. Main St., Bloomington

Beluga Press Studio (Rhea Edge) at 313 N. Main St., Bloomington When: Noon to 9 p.m. Friday, business hours on Saturday

Noon to 9 p.m. Friday, business hours on Saturday Online purchases: belugapressart.gallery any time
URBANA  A former Ford County resident has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison on charges related to domestic terrorism spanning from October 2017 to March 2018.

Emily C. Hari, formerly known as Michael B. Hari, of Clarence, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats and violence, attempted arson, unlawful possession of a machinegun and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Hari was previously convicted in late 2020 and sentenced last year to 53 years in prison for an attack on Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center, a mosque in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington.

Prosecutors have said Hari founded and led a group called the "Patriot Freedom Fighters," nicknamed the "White Rabbits."

In addition to the mosque bombing, prosecutors say the group attempted to rob two Walmart stores, attempted to sabotage tracks and tried to extort the Canadian National Railway, attempted to firebomb a women's health clinic in Champaign, invaded an Indiana home and tied up the residents, and planted a pimp bomb in a Clarence resident's home.

U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm found that Haris crimes were serious and wide-ranging and accepted the parties agreement that Hari should be sentenced to fourteen years of imprisonment, according to federal prosecutors. Hari was sentenced on Monday.

"Emily Claire Hari represents the very real threat posed by domestic violent extremists in the United States," said David Nanz, special agent in charge at the FBI Springfield field office, in a statement. "The FBIs counterterrorism team is designed to combat this type of violence and is committed to prioritize and gather intelligence to continually assess the threat picture. The FBIs focus has been and will remain keeping the American people safe from threats or acts of violence."
100 years ago

July 13, 1922: Five automobile bandits armed with automatic revolvers and sawed-off shotguns terrorized motorists along the hard road between Peoria and Pekin last night, shooting through the windshield of an automobile and holding up several parties. When a man and his wife sought to escape, the robbers fired a volley of shots at their car. Money obtained during the raids amounted to less than $100.

75 years ago

July 13, 1947: The McLean County chapter of the American Cancer Society said the new diagnostic center for cancer  the first in the county  is ready for operation. The clinic is sponsored by the McLean County Medical Society, with 30 local doctors cooperating. Patients must be referred to the clinic by their doctors, and the clinic will be open twice a month, on the first and third Fridays.

50 years ago

July 13, 1972: The Home Sweet Home Mission drive for $300,000 is only at the one-third mark at a time when officials hoped it would be nearly complete. Board secretary Richard Middleton said prospective donors complain about the mission's decision to renovate a five-story building in the northwest corner of Wood Hill. The complaints are that it would be better to build a new structure, and some people dislike the chosen location.

25 years ago

July 13, 1997: The 10th annual El Paso POW/MIA Parade saw both a remembrance of those missing and a call for further action. The parade, sponsored by El Paso VFW Post 6062, ran through downtown El Paso to the memorial commemorating Woodford County service members. "We want to make the public aware that we still have MIAs and POWs. We want them accounted for," said event coordinator Linda Whitton.
Brenden Moore State Government Reporter Follow Brenden Moore 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

Now that the dust has settled from the June 28 primary, the focus turns to the main event in November.

Though Illinois has a Democratic lean as a whole, the state will be the site of some high-profile races this fall that could determine which party controls Congress in January.

According to election handicapper FiveThirtyEight, Republicans are currently favored to win the U.S. House. And at least one or a few of those gains could come out of Illinois.

The battleground has shifted slightly from the primary.

For instance, the Central Illinois-based 15th Congressional District moves to the background after a high-profile Republican primary that saw Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, knock off Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville. Miller is heavily favored against Democrat Paul Lange of Quincy in the district, which voted for former President Donald Trump by a more than 40-point margin in 2020.

However, the neighboring 13th Congressional District, an open seat, could move to the forefront after a fairly low-key primary election on both sides.

Here are the top five Illinois congressional races to keep an eye on this fall:

17th Congressional District

This C-shaped district captures much of northwestern Illinois, stretching from Rockford to the Quad Cities to Peoria and Bloomington-Normal. It covers a lot of rural areas in between.

It is currently held by Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, who is retiring after serving 10 years.

Democrats have nominated former television meteorologist Eric Sorensen while Republicans have once again put up attorney Esther Joy King.

Bustos defeated King 52% to 48% in 2020, a closer-than-expected race that put the district back on the radar for Republicans.

Springfield Democrats attempted to shore it up in redistricting, dropping some Republican-trending rural areas while picking up Democratic-trending Bloomington-Normal as well as more suburban portions of Peoria and Rockford.

As a result, the district moved from barely being a Trump district to one that supported President Joe Biden by about eight points in 2020. This will help Democrats, but is hardly a comfortable margin heading into what could be a wave election. And national Republicans have made clear the district is one of their top targets this cycle.

King, who did not have a challenging primary, heads into the general election with a significant financial advantage against Sorensen, who had to fend off a half-dozen challengers in the Democratic primary.

But do not underestimate the power of television in this race. Sorensen was on-air in the Quad Cities and Rockford for nearly two decades. That exposure will likely help him.

6th Congressional District

This district is based in Chicagos western and southwestern suburbs and is currently held by Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, who easily dispatched Rep. Marie Newman, D-LaGrange, in a member-versus-member primary.

He faces Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, who won the Republican primary.

Casten, a moderate businessman, was swept into office during the Democratic blue wave of 2018. He was reelected relatively comfortably in 2020.

Under the redrawn district boundaries, Biden would have won by 11 points in 2020. However, Attorney General Kwame Raoul would have only carried it by three points in 2018 against Republican Erika Harold. Many consider that race to be the bellwether of a districts partisan lean in Illinois.

So, in a wave year, the seat could be vulnerable for Democrats.

It will be a test of the partys recent suburban strength  was it simply a rejection of Trump? Or is it truly a realignment of white, college educated voters away from Republicans and towards Democrats?

This is the quintessential suburban district in Illinois, so its probably the best place to look for the answer to that question.

13th Congressional District

Springfield Democrats had enough of losing to Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, so they drew him out of the Central Illinois district hes represented for 10 years.

Map drawers cut out many rural areas of the 13th while adding Democratic portions of the Metro East region like Alton, Belleville and East St. Louis. As a result, the string bean-shaped district winds from near St. Louis up through Champaign-Urbana, picking up urban parts of Decatur and Springfield in between.

On paper, this gives Democrats a significant opportunity to reclaim a seat in downstate Illinois.

They have nominated Nikki Budzinski, a former senior adviser to Gov. J.B. Pritzker who later served as chief of staff at the Office of Budget and Management in the Biden Administration.

She faces Republican Regan Deering, a Decatur community activist who is the granddaughter of Dwayne Andreas, the industrialist who transformed Archer Daniels Midland into one of the largest food processing companies in the world.

The district voted for Biden by about 11 points, but Republicans believe they can be competitive with the right electoral climate and with the right candidate. Its an under-the-radar race that could be closer than many expect.

11th Congressional District

Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, will face Republican Catalina Lauf in this district that covers portions of suburban and exurban Chicago.

Its another race where Trump-era Democratic suburban strength will be tested. Biden won the district  which includes liberal Aurora, Naperville and Bolingbrook but also takes in conservative parts of Kane and McHenry counties  by about 15 points. But Raoul only carried it by three points in 2018.

Its one of those districts that could be a surprise pickup for Republicans should they have a really, really good night.

14th Congressional Distirct

Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, is considered a rising star in her party.

She was able to fend off a close challenge in 2020 and state Democrats have further helped her out by drawing a more favorable district during the once-a-decade redistricting process last year.

The redrawn district includes Democratic-friendly Aurora, DeKalb, Joliet and Illinois River Valley communities like LaSalle, Ottawa and Peru. There are also significantly Republican rural areas.

Though the district voted for Biden by 11 points and Underwood is considered a strong incumbent, Republicans have nominated Kendall County Board chairman Scott Gryder, who, at least on paper, appears to be a credible challenger.

Might make for an interesting race in the right national climate.
American cities and states are laboratories of innovation and democracy. In an increasingly globalized world, they also help redefine how we think about U.S. diplomacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that local governments  city, state, county  are at the center of addressing complex global threats that ignore national borders. Our communities face other challenges, from terrorism to climate change, that require innovation and global collaboration. That collaboration that should begin at home.

U.S. Reps. Ted Lieu, Gregory Meeks and Joe Wilson and U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and John Cornyn introduced legislation to establish a permanent Office of City and State Diplomacy within the State Department. The office would create ties between the State Department and mayors and governors engaged internationally. Congress should pass the City and State Diplomacy Act to strengthen coordination among all levels of government on U.S. foreign policy priorities.

A recent report by the Truman Center recommends ways for the State Department to connect and coordinate with local governments and for local governments to build their capacity for diplomacy. Congressional delegations across the Midwest should support this initiative. Strong international relationships are key to the revival and future growth of Midwestern communities.

A stronger U.S. foreign policy is one that draws on the diverse talents of our nation, including local leaders from a variety of demographic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. To endure, U.S. foreign policy should represent the interests of all Americans. This means it should be built beyond Washington by engaging citizens and their elected officials from Cincinnati and Chicago to Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Connecting Midwestern urban and rural communities and state and local officials with State Department personnel deepens understanding of U.S. foreign policy by demonstrating how American global leadership benefits American communities. Strategic investments to build our diplomacy from the bottom up increases political, economic and cultural opportunities for communities such as Gary and Albion, Michigan, while decreasing threats to our security.

Mayors and governors already represent their localities in multinational policy networks, international trade forums and cultural exchange programs. Nearly 100 Midwestern mayors are members of the bipartisan Climate Mayors network upholding the Paris climate accord through climate policy. Chicago and Pittsburgh are building and investing in urban resilience as part of the continent-spanning Resilient Cities Network. One of the busiest international crossings in North America, Detroits Ambassador Bridge, is in the Midwest. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative boasts more than 120 cities on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border leveraging freshwater resources for economic renewal.

Even smaller communities such as Rockford and Troy, Michigan, are engaging the world by participating in global markets and welcoming immigrant talent. American cities and states are engaging with their counterparts around the world because it adds value to the lives of their populations through trade and investment, job creation, foreign students and international tourism.

In the process, state and local leaders have developed new expertise and shared their own lessons learned with communities overseas experiencing similar challenges. Cities such as Detroit and Indianapolis have a long history of global innovation and economic leadership.

Mayors and governors are first responders to national security priorities such as COVID-19, countering violent extremism, building democratic resilience and integrating refugees into their host communities. Midwestern leaders can bring local ingenuity to global issues.

People, ideas and goods travel rapidly through interconnected transportation, communication technologies and the global economy. Contemporary security threats disregard national boundaries. Foreign ministries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have departments to support subnational diplomacy by assigning personnel to local communities and offering significant funding to boost international engagement and exchange. The federal government must similarly value and support this kind of diplomacy just to keep pace with our global competitors.

Broad bipartisan support for an Office of City and State Diplomacy is preferable to executive action. It would create a permanent, more institutionalized, representative and legitimate office that is appropriately funded  all of which will add to its effectiveness. But if Congress fails to act, the administration must.

If we truly believe that all politics are local, then our foreign policy should be as well.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, has underscored the need for the promotion of girls Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education ad make it outcome-oriented.



He said it was important for stakeholders to be focused on counselling girls to select STEM-related courses, follow up for them to be offered related courses and track their performances in Senior High Schools (SHS).



Dr Adutwum, who spoke at the launch of the Promotion of Girls Competency in Mathematics and Science with Gender Responsive Pedagogy" Project, said that was how the major impacts would be measured.



The Project, expected to last for four years, is funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) at a cost of US$ 8,000,000.00 and implemented by the Ghana Education Service (GES).



It targets selected Junior High Schools in 10 Districts in the Eastern and Central Regions of the country.



Dr Adutwum said the country was no longer interested in the access parity but what the girls did in schools.



He said the secondary school gender parity had improved significantly as a result of the introduction of the Free Senior High School (FSHS).



... Before FSHS, our parity was about 0.92. This year it moved up to 0.99. It is rare for an African country to get gender parity at the secondary school level, the Minister added.



Dr Adutwum noted that the boys schools were predominantly the gateway to engineering in the country therefore if more girls schools were not performing well in science, there would not be a pipeline that would ensure that more girls pursued STEM-related programmes.



He said 12.5 per cent of women were pursuing Engineering in the universities in the country and 18 per cent of Engineering students were women in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.



The Minister emphasized the need to create an enabling environment for girls to thrive.



That is why the President has directed that we build more STEM High Schools for girls and we have opened the first, Bosomtwe Girls STEM High School, the Minister said.



Dr Adutwum said with the support of the Kuwait Fund, the Government would build two STEM girls schools, one in partnership with the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Kpone Kantamanso in the Greater Accra Region and one in the Ashanti Region next year.



Mr Mooheon Kong, Country Director, KOICA, said the project would support the development of a multi-faceted capacity-building and training programme for mathematics and science teachers, school management and education supervisors in the targeted districts.



He noted that despite the Government's commitment to strengthening the countrys education system, the lower academic ability of girls in mathematics and science especially at the basic school level continued to be a challenge.



Hence the timely intervention of the Korean government to step in and complement the efforts of the country by identifying the impediments and to bridge that gap.



The Country Director said KOICA would assist the country to develop the Girls STEM education through Koreas experiences in education.



Mr Kong called on stakeholders and implementing partners to focus efforts on promoting accountability, community awareness and advocacy to maximize the synergy of all efforts that sought to support the future of adolescent girls.



The Country Director pledged KOICA's unwavering support to the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, and other key stakeholders of its continuous support and in all future partnerships.

Source: GNA









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Professor Peter Quartey, Director, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana has called for the review of the Government free Senior High (SHS) policy, stating that the initiative was not sustainable.



From time to time, I have supported the review of the policy and I dont subscribe to the Government paying for tuition and boarding fees for everybody.



I think parents should be allowed to pay for boarding, there should be a cost-sharing mechanism for the state and the parents, he said.



Prof Quartey in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra said the policy was faced with challenges of funding and shortages of foodstuffs, stressing that allowing review of the policy would address these bottlenecks.



Educating the people is one of the priorities of the Government that I strongly support. I am an advocate for free SHS, but not in its current form because it is not sustainable for the countrys revenue strength, he said.



He stated that where the country had reached, there was the need for some revision to be undertaken to sustain the policy and ensure quality education and as well run the school better looking at the countrys finances, the country cannot continue subsidizing everybody.



There are day schools around, many of us attended day School which did not prevent us from achieving our future aim, there are a lot of day Schools around for students who cannot afford the boarding fees, saying where it is practically impossible then the scholarship Secretariat can offer scholarships to selected students who deserved, he said.



The Government, he said, could use part of the free SHS money to support productive areas where the country needed the money most.



The Professor said the free SHS had in a way affected the quality of education because the schools were not getting enough funding to run the schools, stressing that the country needed to streamline the whole process from the contact hours to the double-track system.



He said government funding to education declined or suffered over a decade and not only during the free SHS, calling on governments to prioritize education for sustainable socio-economic development.



Prof Quartey called on authorities to ensure strict supervision in the public schools even though they have trained teachers but the students performed poorly compared to the private schools.







Source: GNA









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The striking teachers have been told that negotiations with them cannot begin when they are still embarking on their industrial action.



Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko Brobbey who made this statement explained that the labour law does not permit negotiations when the strike is still in force.



His statement comes after representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the National Graduate Association of Teachers (NAGRAT) walked out of a negotiation Tuesday afternoon.



The negotiation with the government was over their demand for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for which they have embarked on a strike.



The two associations accused government of betrayal of trust for asking them to call off their strike before negotiations.



Speaking to Power FM reporter Wisdom Hededzome after the walk out, Angel Carbonu, President for NAGRAT said the governments posturing smacks of mistrust as it wanted the teachers to call of the strike before any negotiation.



To him, that is not possible now.



But Mr Brobbey told journalists in Accra after a meeting with labour unions, we started engaging them. Last Friday we met them and then we adjourned the meeting to today.



"You will recall that the Minister for Employment issued a statement and he appealed to them to call off the strike and for the governments side to meet the entire organized labour because this was a matter that affected all labour unions, and so we were expecting that we will come here and the teacher unions would have called off the strike because section 161 of the Labour law does not permit negotiations or engagements when one party is on strike or lookout.



He continued, So before the commencement of the meeting the government side had wanted to engage the teacher unions so that we see the way forward on the appeal we made to them last Friday.



"Unfortunately, organized labour were in solidarity since they had all come, we should meet them at once.





Source: XYZ









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U.S. unilateral sanctions have no future: Commissioner's office of Chinese foreign ministry in HKSAR

Xinhua) 08:49, July 13, 2022

HONG KONG, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday strongly disapproved and condemned the continuation of the so-called "national emergency with respect to Hong Kong" announced by the White House, which is the latest case of the U.S. intervention in Hong Kong affairs.

The spokesperson pointed out that for U.S. politicians, HKSAR's stability and sound governance is not in line with the strategic goals and fundamental interests of the United States, adding the more stable Hong Kong is, the more anxious they are.

The spokesperson pointed out that the U.S. sanctions against Hong Kong on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland have once again exposed America's power politics and hegemonic thinking.

The United States overstretched the concept of national security by linking Hong Kong to its "national emergency," and claimed that the Hong Kong situation poses a threat to its national security, which is a sheer excuse for arbitrary sanctions against Hong Kong and is gross interference in China's internal affairs.

The spokesperson stressed that the U.S. unilateral sanctions have no basis in international law and have no legitimacy at all, adding that no matter how the United States sugarcoats its sanctions, it cannot conceal its illegal nature of seriously violating the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.

The spokesperson said over the past 25 years since Hong Kong returned to the motherland, with the full support of the central government and the common efforts of the HKSAR government and all social sectors, the practice of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong has been a universally recognized success.

With the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong and the successful practice of the new electoral system in the HKSAR, China's national security has been better safeguarded, Hong Kong society more stable and united, and Hong Kong's democratic development back on the right track, which all contributed to a new chapter of sound governance in Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson stressed that Hong Kong is in a new stage of moving from chaos to stability and then to greater prosperity and facts have proved that U.S. sanctions are just pieces of waste paper.

With the strong support of the central government and the firm backing of the motherland, the new SAR government will rally and lead all Hong Kong residents to build Hong Kong a better place, the spokesperson said.

Sanctions to interfere in Hong Kong affairs and undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability will never succeed, and the attempts to play the "Hong Kong card" to curb China's development is just wishful thinking, the spokesperson said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Miracle Boyd, right, from GoodKids MadCity, and fellow members talk to the media in front of the George Washington statue in Chicago on July 20, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

A Chicago police officer accused of punching activist Miracle Boyd two years ago at a large protest has resigned, officials said, as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released its report on the incident Wednesday.

The officer, Nicholas Jovanovich, resigned in April, according to the Chicago Police Department. He resigned about a month after Superintendent David Brown unsuccessfully argued for leniency in the case, suggesting a one-year suspension to the Chicago Police Board.

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Jovanovichs case had been set to move on to the board for a disciplinary trial, where he faced firing, but any plans for that proceeding would be canceled because of Jovanovichs resignation.

The encounter occurred July 17, 2020, near the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park. Boyd was attending a protest when she saw several officers take a person into custody, according to the COPA report.

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Boyd started to record what was happening on her phone and two officers approached her and blocked her path. One of those officers, Jovanovich, hit the phone out of her hand, causing it to hit her face and knock out one of her front teeth, officials said.

Miracle Boyd shows her broken teeth as she and members of GoodKids MadCity talk to the media in front of the George Washington statue in Chicago on July 20, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

COPA found that Jovanovich had used unnecessary and excessive force when he hit Boyd and stopped her from recording a police encounter without justification, the report said. Jovanovich was also found to have made false or misleading statements in his report on the incident.

COPA also found that Jovanovichs partner, Officer Andres Valle, failed to report Jovanovichs excessive force and found that Sgt. Kevin Gleeson made false or misleading statements when approving Jovanovichs Tactical Response Report.

In an interview with COPA, Jovanovich said that he was working the protest at Buckingham Fountain and several supervisors told him to stay out of view of the public and give people their space. However, when protesters started to move south, the officers issued two dispersal orders that the protesters did not comply with, according to the report.

Jovanovich was then instructed by supervisors to surround the Columbus statue with their bikes, but they did not have enough manpower to create a full barrier, the report said. Protesters then began throwing rocks, bricks, frozen water bottles and large fireworks at the officers. Jovanovich told COPA it was the most traumatic and chaotic situation Ive ever been a part of in my entire life and especially my career.

After retreating from the statue, Jovanovich went to Columbus Drive when he heard Boyds voice and saw her about 30 feet away, the report said. He said she was yelling profanities and flailing her arms, and she had a black rectangular object in her hand.

Jovanovich then saw Boyd go toward someone who was being arrested, feared the officers did not see her approaching from behind and that she would hit the officers with the object in her hand, the report said. He said he made a swiping motion at the object and denied any physical contact with Boyd.

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He said he did not give her any verbal instructions or use any de-escalation tactics, but he believed his force was reasonable and necessary, the report said.

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Jovanovich said he was aware of the departments policy that prohibits use of force in response to someone exercising their First Amendment rights but said he was not aware that she was recording or what the object was, the report said.

However, video evidence showed that Jovanovich yelled, Get that (expletive) phone out of here immediately after he hit her, according to the report.

After the July 17, 2020, protest, Boyd said at a news conference that an officer knocked out at least one of her teeth during the skirmish in Grant Park.

There is no way I should have left a protest bruised and battered for exercising my freedom of speech and freedom to assemble, Boyd said.

pfry@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @paigexfry
A Ghanaian student, Ms Chelsea Sarpong has been awarded the best graduating student at the University of Portsmouth.



Ms Sarpong who completed her Masters Programme (MSc) in Cyber Security and Forensic Information Technology was presented with her award at the Universitys graduation ceremony held yesterday. She completed her undergraduate studies in Information technology at the Ghana Communication Technology University.



In honour of her enviable feat, the leadership of Portsmouth University, a Gold-rated University in the UK governments Teaching excellence framework, Ms Sarpong was given the rare privilege of delivering the acceptance on behalf of her class.



Ms Chelsea Sarpong, from Begoro, a farming community in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern was joined by Mr Kingsley Agyeman, Director of the Scholarships Secretariat, Mrs Naa Dedei Tetteh, Head of Education at the Ghana High Commission, and Mr Dodzie Numekevor, Head of Public Affairs and Information, Ghana High Commission UK who represented the High Commissioner Papa Owusu-Ankomah.



Mr Kingsley Agyeman congratulated Ms Sarpong on her achievement, reiterating that it is a testament of the resilient spirit of the Ghanaian, noting that the young lady pulled off her achievement regardless the challenges she faced.



Mrs Pearl Tetteh, Head of Education at the Ghana High Commission to the UK expressed her committed to support Ghanaian students on scholarship in the UK to surmount their challenges in these difficult times.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu has accused the government of persecuting him after his wife was summoned for interrogation.



Esther Lungu is wanted for questioning by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in connection with 15 flats she owns in Lusaka. The commission alleges that the properties may have been dubiously acquired, which she denies.



Addressing lawmakers for the former governing party, the Patriotic Front, who went to see him and his wife in a show of solidarity, Mr Lungu said his family was being unfairly targeted.



You don't have to be very intelligent to know that after her [Esther Lungu] it's me. So this is a sequence, it's like peeling the onion so am ready," said Mr Lungu, whose two children have in the recent past also been summoned for questioning.



"They want me out of it politics completely - but you can kill the body and you can't kill the soul and you can't kill the ideas," Mr Lungu continued.



I will be able to answer to whatever charges even if they say I am hiding under the immunity, I am not hiding under the immunity," he said.



Mrs Lungu on the other has declared her innocence.



Mr Lungus party last year lost power to incumbent Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development.



Several former government officials have been appearing for interrogation with some of their property seized as part of the new governments fight against corruption.

Source: BBC









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Dr. Freda Prempeh, a Minister of State in-charge of Works and Housing on Tuesday assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout negotiations would not affect government social intervention policies and programmes.



We will do our negotiations to protect our social intervention programmes, so nobody should be scared at all, she said.



Dr. Prempeh emphasised the governments Free Senior High School (FSHS) and the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) programmes in particular, were integral that would be strengthened, and entreated Ghanaians to remain calm.



The bailout, she added, was a laudable initiative that would greatly stabilise the economy, and spur rapid socio-economic growth and development.



Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, Dr. Prempeh, also the Member of Parliament for Tano North Constituency said the governments return to the IMF was not due to economic mismanagement.



Rather, she said the bailout was due to the huge toll of the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the Russian invasion of Ukraine had had on the global economy, with Ghana no exception.



In fact, this government has not mismanaged the economy, but emerging circumstances and global circumstances beyond our control, she said, indicating that the cleaning up in the banking sector, which was needed, cost the nation about GHC21 billion, having a disturbing toll on the economy.



Dr. Prempeh explained the national economy had resurfaced, and was doing great, under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos watch, before the COVID-19 set in, indicating that at the wave of the COVID, teachers and some nurses stayed at home and were paid for more than nine months.



Governments provision of free water, electricity and other economic relief interventions were all contributing factors, but we are optimistic that Ghana is going to improve very soon, the MP stated.



She said the government was touched by the concerns and plight of the populace, and entreated Ghanaians to maintain their trust and confidence in the President Akufo-Addos administration which was working hard to turn the fortunes of the nation round.



My brother, countries around the globe are all experiencing these economic challenges and hardships. In fact, our current situation is not the best, I agree with you perfectly, but it's also not the worst and we hope that things will change for the better very soon, Dr. Prempeh added.





Source: GNA









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Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia has described as sad, the death of the Municipal Chief Executive for Bibiani Anwiaso Bekwai, Alfred Amoah and his driver on Tuesday night.



The vice President in a Facebook post described the MCE and his driver, Samuel Gyasi as dedicated patriots.



Sad to hear the death of Hon. Alfred Amoah, MCE for Bibiani Anwiaso Bekwai Municipal Assembly and his driver Samuel Gyasi. Both Alfred and Samuel have been dedicated patriots who served with dignity and passion.



May the souls of our dear brothers rest in perfect peace, the vice president wrote.



MCE driver dies in ghastly accident



The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Mr. Alfred Amoah and his driver, died in a ghastly road accident on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.



According to information available to GhanaWeb, the incident happened at Sefwi Akaasu along the Accra-Kumasi Highway.



An eyewitness who spoke to GhanaWeb said the accident involved a trailer with a registration number AS 4229 X and the Toyota Landcruiser in which the MCE was travelling.



The trailer, coming from Kumasi to Accra is said to have lost control a few meters from the Birim river on the Accra-Kumasi highway after its axle broke in the middle of the road.



It subsequently crashed into the MCE's car, with registration number GC 2060-18, crashing the engine and the driver's part along with the seating area of the front passenger.



The MCE was reported to be on his way back to Kumasi from Accra where he and other appointees had met with the President earlier in the day.



The deceased Alfred Amoah and his driver, yet to be identified, died instantly at the time of filing this report. Their bodies were still trapped in the car but the Police and Fire Service were at the scene trying to restore vehicular order and retrieve the remains.



The state-owned Daily Graphic's account states that the accident said to involve multiple vehicles, reportedly occurred at Apedwa near Tafo in the Eastern Region.



It also quoted the Western North Regional Minister, Richard Rocky Joojo Obeng as having confirmed the incident.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Current industrial actions by labour and teacher unions in the country have dominated the airwaves as the public sector workers and teachers have refused to call off their strike despite talks by relevant State authorities for them to reconsider their action.



Four teacher unions began a strike action on Monday, July 4 and public service workers have also threatened to take same action on Tuesday, July 19 because their conditions of service haven't been addressed by the government.



They are demanding a 20 percent increase in their Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).



As the government keeps pleading with them to resume work, former CPP General Secretary, James Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly called "Kabilla", has taken a swipe at the unions.



According to him, the COLA for which they seek an increment isn't an entitlement, to wit, not their absloute right.



"It is not an entitlement and I want to make this point to organized labour. It is going to be a privilege but not every Ghanaian worker will get", he said on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme while discussing the strike actions by the unions.



He appealed to the unions to heed the calls to reconsider their decision, noting that the President's administration is not without mistakes.



"We must concede that no great effort can be without error", he stressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Public Sector Workers Union (PSWU) has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike beginning on 19th July 2022.



According to the union, the government has failed to approve the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) requested by the PSWU in March despite a follow-up in June.



A statement issued by the group and signed by its general secretary, Bernard Adjei, said the decision to embark on strike has become necessary because of the high cost of living and its subsequent impact on workers.



It could also be recalled that as patriotic citizens and social partners in the development of mother Ghana, organised labour groups, including the PSWU took the hard decision, to the chagrin of members, to accept a 4% and 7% salary increment respectively for 2021 and 2022.



However, considering unfolding events such as relatively high salary increases for Article 77 and, related office holders and government expenditure patterns, we are worried that the sacrifices made by organized labour during the last negotiations have been taken for granted.



The over 27,000 workers within the over 65 public sector institutions that make up the PSWU feel the economic crunch in their pockets, with each passing day resulting in uncertainties of meeting basic needs.



Obviously, a possible return to the IMF further complicates the economic uncertainties faced by public sector workers and flashes back memories of harsh labour policies that disadvantage the ordinary worker, the PSWU statement said.



It added that Consequently, at an emergency meeting of the management committee and representatives from the over 65 institutions that make up the PSWU, our members were left with no choice than to embark on a strike effective Tuesday 19 July 2022 until our concerns are addressed.











Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Supreme Court on Tuesday July 12, indefinitely adjourned the case involving embattled James Gyakye Quayson, who has been asked not to hold himself as Member of Parliament for Assin North.



The ruling is to allow him to file written submissions supporting his motion to strike out the writ seeking constitutional interpretation within 14 days from today.



The Plaintiff, Michael Ankomah Nimfah, the Electoral Commission as 2nd Respondent, and the Attorney-General as 3rd Respondent, also have 14 days to file their responses upon receipt of the written submissions.



Mr Ankomah Nimfa, dragged Mr Quayson to the court to restrain him from holing himself as MP after a Cape Coast High Court in July 2021 annulled his election as Assin North MP.



The petitioner had prayed the apex court that James Gyakye Quaysons continuous stay in office despite a High Court Judgment annulling his election offended the constitution, and was not fair to the people of Assin North.



The Cape Coast High Court had ruled that Mr Quayson owed allegiance to another country other than Ghana at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the 2020 polls.



The embattled MP had been challenging the decision by the high court at the Supreme Court.



The injunction against the MP will hold until the final determination of a suit challenging the constitutionality of his election as MP.



Mr Quayson applied for a review of the apex court ruling led by his lawyer, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata.





Source: class fm









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The United States government has announced that it is supporting Ghana to modernize its legal system, 3News.com has reported.



In a Twitter post on July 12, 2022, the Embassy in Accra indicated that the decision was taken following a meeting between the Chief Justice, Anin-Yeboah and Ambassador Palmer, where legal reforms were discussed.



The process said it is a process that will help track criminal cases from the beginning to the end.



The rule of law is fundamental to accountable democracy.



The U.S. is supporting Ghana to modernize its legal system including a process to track criminal cases from beginning to end. #USinGhana, it was quoted to have said in a twitter post.





The rule of law is fundamental to accountable democracy. Amb Palmer recently met Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah to discuss legal reforms. The U.S. is supporting Ghana to modernize its legal system including a process to track criminal cases from beginning to end. #USinGhana pic.twitter.com/a1ZVAPtOSe  U.S. Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) July 12, 2022













Source: ghanaweb.com









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Indigenous Ghanaian energy technology company, Kofa, has announced the introduction of its high-end battery-powered motorcycles into the Ghanaian market.



This follows a successful pilot program that tested the robustness and efficiency of the innovative motorcycles and batteries in Ghana. A series of courier and logistics companies, including Graphic Courier participated in a six-month-long pilot test.



Electric motorcycles are gaining popularity worldwide, mainly because of their unique advantage of cost savings, smooth riding experience, higher performance and lower environmental impact as they do not rely on fuel. They therefore, do not directly emit smoke and other pollutants into the atmosphere. A better alternative for the modern age.



The founder and CEO of Kofa, Erik Nygard, said the company had invested heavily in its brand of motorcycles, batteries and the swap stations to ensure its seamless and successful introduction into the market.



It has been a pleasure working with our pilot customers and forward-thinking business like Graphic Courier to test the capabilities of an electric motorcycle, it has provided a lot of learnings that we have already used to improve our products and services, we are ready.



The CEO of Graphic Courier, Nathan K.V.S, expressed the hope that introducing the Kofa motorcycles into Ghana will be a great addition to the other means of delivery.



We have had the privilege of pilot testing one of the Kofa bikes, and apart from the cost savings, its ability to reduce the impact on the environment by not emitting pollutants is key.



Kofas core business is providing seamless access to charged swappable batteries through its Swap & Go system. Batteries can be accessed at any one of the Kofa Swap Stations which are currently being installed around the city of Accra. This means when a rider runs out of charge on their batteries, they simply head to a swap station and swap their depleted batteries for freshly charged batteries faster than it takes to fill a tank of petrol.



Going electric with the Kofa batteries and electric motorcycle can deliver savings of up to 30% compared to petrol.



About US:



Kofa Technologies Ltd. is a Ghanaian company focused on energy needs by re-engineering how people access energy. Our vision is to create an affordable and customer-driven electricity network powered by renewable energy using portable batteries, thereby helping to transition multiple use cases away from fossil fuels. Starting with electric motorcycles as our first use case, we will then drive mass adoption of renewable energy by opening our battery network to power peoples homes and businesses.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, has commented on claims making the round that the Electoral Commission is planning on compiling a new voters register for the 2024 polls.



Without giving specific reasons, he dismissed the allegations as untrue stressing that no body with brains in their head will do so, "nobody would try that," he said in a Facebook comment.



Manasseh's comment was in reaction to a post by an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who was among the first to post the allegation in a July 12 Facebook post.



"There must be something really amiss with Jean Mensah and her colleagues in the leadership of the Electoral Commission.



"After wasting $ 80 million on a totally needless new register for the 2020 elections on the whim of President Akufo-Addo and his NPP,they want to spend another fortune to compile a new register for the 2024 elections with the Ghana card as the only source of identification.



"The object, of course, is to manipulate that register to save the blushes of this hopeless government which is destined to be thrown out by the electorate in 2024. What kind of nonsensical leadership is this?" Kwakye Ofosu's post read.



Manasseh's comment read: "Stop that. This cannot be true. No human being with brains in their head will want to compile a new voters' register for 2024. Nobody would try that."



Kwakye Ofosu's post alleged that the Ghana Card was to be the main source of identification for the new register adding that it was part of a grand scheme by government to rig the 2024 polls.



The EC has yet to respond to the allegations that have been trumpeted by the Minority in Parliament through its leader Haruna Iddrisu, who put an US$80 million figure to the new register.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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Pictures of the seven people killed during the Fourth of July parade shooting are displayed at a memorial in Port Clinton Square on July 11, 2022, in Highland Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

An attorney who represents the parents of the man charged with murder in the Highland Park mass shooting on the Fourth of July said they have been cooperating with the law enforcement investigation of the shooting.

In response to concerns that Robert Bobby Crimo IIIs father sponsored him for a firearm owners identification card, attorney George Gomez said, We still take the position at the time the father (Robert Crimo Jr.) consented to the FOID application, that he was not aware that the son was a danger to anyone else or himself.

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Also, regarding police being called to multiple previous domestic altercations, Gomez told the Tribune, I dont know how any domestic violence from  years ago are related to any motive the child would have had.

Police reports show that officers were called to the alleged shooters family home nine times between 2010 and 2014 in response to domestic altercations involving the parents, Robert Crimo Jr. and Denise Pesina. Records showed neither had been charged with domestic violence in Lake County.

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In 2019, Highland Park police reports stated that officers were called to domestic cases involving the family, and were told Crimo III had tried to kill himself with a machete and threatened to kill everyone.

Crimo III denied it, and no charges were filed.

The entrance to the rear unit where the alleged shooter lived at the Highwood home of his father on July 7, 2022, three days after a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. >

Local police reported Crimo III to Illinois State Police as a clear and present danger, but state police approved his application for a FOID card, with his fathers sponsorship in December 2019.

Crimos father told ABC News he was shocked and felt horrible about the shooting, but had no regret over helping his son get access to guns.

Gomez, a criminal defense attorney based in Libertyville, said he couldnt comment on whether the parents were being investigated for possible culpability in the deaths.

The parents are looking for an answer just as much as everybody else why the son had (allegedly) committed these actions, Gomez said.

Prosecutors also would not shed light on what might happen with the parents.

Were still in the middle of a lot of investigative work, Lake County states attorneys office spokesman Steve Spagnolo said. We cant comment about it at this point.

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The Tribune also submitted a request for an interview with States Attorney Eric Rinehart.
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.
Member of Parliament for Kwadaso has disclosed that the saddest day in his life happened recently on the floor of Parliament.



Dr. Kingsley Nyarko said on Metro TVs Good Morning Ghana programme that seeing his fellow MPs jubilate over Ghanas return to the International Monetary Fund, was his saddest day.



He was commenting on governments IMF move on the programme with co-panelist, Kwesi Pratt, when he made the comment while lamenting the unnecessary partisanship that had characterized the IMF discussions.



On Friday when the announcement came, Randy, that was the saddest day in my life, some of my colleagues on the other side were jubilating that Ghana is going to the IMF, I was sad, he said.



Kwesi Pratt interjected positing that he would have done same if he were on the other side, an assertion the MP rejected.



Wouldnt you have jubilated? If your communicators were saying that those who went to the IMF were crazy, they were mad and you went there, wouldnt your predecessor be happy, if you were the predecessor?



The MP then made a rallying call for a united front in dealing with the current economic crisis the country is faced with.



If you are seeking political power, do it within the spirit of nation building and patriotism. Look at how our friends fought the E-Levy, now it was not fully implemented, he lamented.



Government on July 1 announced that the Finance Minister had been directed to engage with the IMF amid an economic downturn. A team from the Fund has been in town since last week meeting with government and other stakeholders for initial talks.



They are due to leave today after a week of engagements.



Media reports citing an IMF source indicates that the earliest Ghana can get support will be in the latter part of the first quarter of 2023.













Source: ghanaweb.com









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Former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak is livid about recent reports from the opposition and minority in Parliament that the Electoral Commission, EC, is planning to replace the current voter's register.



Mubarak believes the EC and the current government are capable of rolling out such an initiative but also that stopping them from proceeding is of the essence.



To do so, he calls for unending mass civil disobedience which he underscores must be a non-violence resistance.



According to him, this is a view he has shared many times in private. "The language this brigade of nation wreckers would understand is mass unending civil disobedience. One or two days demo would not stop such nonsense," he said in a Facebook comment.



The comment was on a post by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, who was among the first to allege that the EC wanted to recompile a new voter's roll for the 2024 polls.



Kwakye Ofosu's post alleged that the Ghana Card was to be the main source of identification for the new register adding that it was part of a grand scheme by the government to rig the 2024 polls.



The EC has yet to respond to the allegations that have been trumpeted by the Minority in Parliament through its leader Haruna Iddrisu, who put a US$80 million figure to the new register.



Read Ras Mubarak's full comment on non-violent unending mass protest:



Ill share publicly what Ive said a million times privately. The language this brigade of nation wreckers would understand is mass unending civil disobedience. One or two days demo would not stop such nonsense.



Theyve become bolder because the resistance is weaker. The courts have become complicit in enabling such madness. I wont count on parliament either. Mass non-violent resistance.



Anything short of this is frankly a waste of time. The Peoples power is more powerful than the gun-wielding corrupt officers they send out to quash demonstrations.



Read Kwakye Ofosu's post:



There must be something really amiss with Jean Mensah and her colleagues in the leadership of the Electoral Commission.



After wasting $ 80 million on a totally needless new register for the 2020 elections on the whim of President Akufo-Addo and his NPP, they want to spend another fortune to compile a new register for the 2024 elections with the Ghana card as the only source of identification.



The object, of course, is to manipulate that register to save the blushes of this hopeless government which is destined to be thrown out by the electorate in 2024. What kind of nonsensical leadership is this?



















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The National Chairman hopeful of the New Patriotic Party, Stephen Ayesu Ntim, has admonished his competitors in the chairmanship race to eschew casting of insinuations, heaping vitriolic attacks and fabricating stories against one another.



In a brief interview with some media personnel who called on him at his campaign office, Mr. Stephen Ntim said that when elections are a few days to be held, the tendency for opponents to churn out falsehoods and smear campaigns becomes the norm. He has, therefore, asked his opponents and all aspirants to desist from acts that would put the name of the party into disrepute.



It is always the norm that during competitions such as the ones we are having, in order to get the upper hand, aspirants go overboard to peddle falsehoods against opponents. We must desist from such acts



If we take one another to the cleaners, how do we build bridges after the elections? How do we remain united after the competition? We must stop lying against one another, and thats what can bring unity after elections he advised.



He urged the delegates to reject aspirants who come with messages attacking opponents and lying against them.



My appeal to the partys delegates is that they should reject messages that seek to denigrate other aspirants or candidates. They may come up with all manner of falsehoods against those who are likely to be crowned winners, just disregard such people and their messages he said.



Mr. Stephen Ntim also used the opportunity to call on candidates to respect the guidelines for the elections.



Stephen Ntim who is tipped to win the Chairmanship race is seen as a calm and respectful leader who is also fair but very firm. He is the most experienced among the National Chairmanship aspirants. With his fifth attempt at the Chairmanship position, Ntim is tipped to be crowned on Saturday, 16th July 2022.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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In a letter addressed to the national election committee on Wednesday (13 July), Bissue said he took the decision after a broad consultation with various stakeholders.



Charles Bissue, a general secretary aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) has withdrawn from the contest a few days to the national annual delegates conference.



In a letter addressed to the national election committee on Wednesday(13 July), Bissue said he took the decision after a broad consultation with various stakeholders.



I tender herein, my withdrawal from the General Secretary contest of the New Patriotic Party. My

decision is sequel to broad consultations with family, promoters and supporters, delegates and

well-wishers of my campaign.



I am convinced, and reiterate that the various contenders for the position are equally deserving of

the position of a General Secretary. It is my prayer that delegates of this great Party make the

right choice in electing amongst the remaining candidates, the best to lead the NPP into another

political cycle; and that of course, is to break the 8-year jinx.



I assure the Party of my support to whoever gets elected as the General Secretary, and to be of

service to the Party, when called upon. [Reference section My Agenda 4 Change for a read on some of the various policies, strategies etc. I intended to deploy when elected as General Secretary], the letter stated.



This means five persons namely John Boadu, Justin Kodua Frimpong, Iddrisu Musah, Frederick Opare-Ansah, Charles Bissue and Ramseyer Ahmed Agyeman-Prempeh will stand for the position of NPP general secretary.



He further expressed gratitude to the leadership of the NPP.



Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a national chairman aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has withdrawn from the contest with barely two weeks to the polls.



Three other prospective candidates  Dr Kwame Afriyie, a national organiser aspirant; Akosua Serwaa Bonsu, an aspirant for national womens organiser; and Tumfuor Klinsman Karikari, an aspirant for national youth organiser  have also withdrawn from the race.



Addressing a news conference in Accra on Wednesday (6 July 2022), the chairman of the NPPs national elections committee, Peter Mac Manu, said: As a result of the diligence of the national election committee and the preparedness of the prospective aspirants, no appeals against the nomination of any prospective aspirant were recorded.



He said the national appeals committee, led by Dan Botwe, had scheduled 24-25 June for the hearing of appeals, but he noted: In effect, there were no appeals.



He added: Honourable Ayikoi Otoo, who was vying for the national chairmanship position of the party, has  since withdrawn from the race  after vetting  Mac Manu said.



Forty-seven aspirants have been approved by the elections committee of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to stand for national executive positions from Friday 15 July 2022.



In all, ten positions are up for grabs  the national chairmanship, first, second and third vice-chairs, general secretary, national organiser, national youth organiser, national treasurer, national womens organiser and national Nasara co-ordinator.



Seeking redress

After four days of vetting, the NPP elections committee, made up of Peter Mac Manu (chairman), Oboshie Sai-Coffie, Amin Anta, Ambassador Edward Boateng, Gary Nimako, Ing Kwesi Abease, Mawusi Nudekor Awity, Evans Nimako, Alhaji Bismi Hussain, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Eric Ntori and Emmanuel Darkwa, approved 47 candidates for the various positions.



Disqualified or aggrieved aspirants/members of the party were given leave to petition a six-member national appeals committee, chaired by Dan Botwe, for redress from Friday 24 to Saturday 25 June 2022.



Ten people will contest for the positions of first, second and third national vice-chair. They include Rita Talata Asobayire, Emmanuel Ken-Wuud Nuworsu, Kiston Akomeng Kissi, Derek Kwaku Nkansah and Michael Omari Wadie.



The five other candidates are McJewels J Annan, Ismael Yahuza, Danquah Smith Buttey, Edmond Peprah and Alhaji Masawudu Osman.



John Boadu, Justin Kodua Frimpong, Iddrisu Musah, Frederick Opare-Ansah and Ramseyer Ahmed Agyeman-Prempeh are the five men who will stand for the position of NPP general secretary.



Two ladies  Ellen Ama Daaku and Hajia Sawudatu Saeed  will come up against Kate Gyamfua, the incumbent, for the position of national womens organiser.



Henry Nana Boakye, the current national youth organiser of the NPP, will face off with four other candidates for the national organiser slot. The other aspirants are Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, Eric Amoako Twum, Bright Essilfie-Kumi and Seth Adu-Adjei.



Abanga Fusani Yakubu, Salam Mohammed Mustapha, Prince Kamal Gumah and Michael Osei Boateng are the four aspirants approved to stand for national youth organiser.



Seven contestants will fight for the position of national Nasara co-ordinator. They are Abdul Aziz Haruna Futa, Issaka Muaza Kunata, Awal Mohammed, Sulemana Alhassan Atakpo, Abdul Rahman Diallo, Haruna Ismael and Haruna Maiga.



The last position  national treasurer  has four names on the approved list. They are Dr Charles Dwamena, Collins Nuamah, Yussif Tedam and Eileen Mary Posch Oduro.

Source: asaaseradio.com









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Ghanaian actress, Nana Ama McBrown is still sharing some intricate details of her journey to having a baby. Nana Ama McBrown, who had her first baby in 2020 at age 41 after many years of trying is sharing her journey to being a mom to encourage women who are looking for the fruit of the womb.



Revealing new details of her journey in an interview on We Got This Africa with Naa Ashorkor, the award-winning actress revealed that she has always wanted a baby since she was 23 years old.



According to Nana Ama, she saw her friends having children day in day out and she yearned for one of her own, but after trying so many times, she finally gave up and focused on her career.



Ive always wanted a baby since age 23, more than 20 years now, way before I started my career but along the line I had to let it go and concentrate on my career hoping for nature to take its course, she told Naa Ashorkor.

I had a smooth pregnancy; there was no sex the entire period- Nana Ama McBrown



Ghanaian actress, Nana Ama McBrown has revealed despite having an emotionally draining journey to getting pregnant, she had a smooth pregnancy.



In a new interview on We Got This Africa with Naa Ashorkor, the award-winning actress revealed after going through two different IVF treatments in order to get pregnant, she was blessed with a smooth and problem free pregnancy.



I had a good pregnancy. It was so smooth, there was no reaction, there was no vomiting, I was sleeping, I was eating, everything. I only stopped having sex, I started googling what to eat, when to sleep, at that point, it wasnt about me anymore but about the baby, she told Naa Ashorkor.



Detailing how she broke the news to her husband and his reaction, she shared; He was ready for any news. He saw me going through the procedures, he saw the anxiety, he was ready for any news. He was hoping for me to get pregnant because he understood that was the one thing he had to do for me to be happy.



When I told him I was pregnant, he was skeptical at first and told me I was lying. I had to snap the results and send to him for him to believe me. He quickly called and closed early and come home. When he came home, you could see the excitement on his face but then I told them we were no longer going to have sex during the period, she added.



Watch full interview below;













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Nano-tip is used for the ultra-high-resolution imaging of the image phonon-polaritons in hBN launched by the gold crystal edge. Credit: Jang Research Group

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) researchers and their collaborators at home and abroad have successfully demonstrated a new platform for guiding the compressed light waves in very thin van der Waals crystals. Their method to guide the mid-infrared light with minimal loss will provide a breakthrough for the practical applications of ultra-thin dielectric crystals in next-generation optoelectronic devices based on strong light-matter interactions at the nanoscale.

Phonon-polaritons are collective oscillations of ions in polar dielectrics coupled to electromagnetic waves of light, whose electromagnetic field is much more compressed compared to the light wavelength. Recently, it was demonstrated that the phonon-polaritons in thin van der Waals crystals can be compressed even further when the material is placed on top of a highly conductive metal. In such a configuration, charges in the polaritonic crystal are "reflected" in the metal, and their coupling with light results in a new type of polariton waves called the image phonon-polaritons. Highly compressed image modes provide strong light-matter interactions, but are very sensitive to the substrate roughness, which hinders their practical application.

Challenged by these limitations, four research groups combined their efforts to develop a unique experimental platform using advanced fabrication and measurement methods. Their findings were published in Science Advances on July 13.

A KAIST research team led by Professor Min Seok Jang from the School of Electrical Engineering used a highly sensitive scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) to directly measure the optical fields of the hyperbolic image phonon-polaritons (HIP) propagating in a 63 nm-thick slab of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on a monocrystalline gold substrate, showing the mid-infrared light waves in dielectric crystal compressed by a hundred times.

Professor Jang and a research professor in his group, Sergey Menabde, successfully obtained direct images of HIP waves propagating for many wavelengths, and detected a signal from the ultra-compressed high-order HIP in a regular h-BN crystals for the first time. They showed that the phonon-polaritons in van der Waals crystals can be significantly more compressed without sacrificing their lifetime.

This became possible due to the atomically smooth surfaces of the home-grown gold crystals used as a substrate for the h-BN. Practically zero surface scattering and extremely small ohmic loss in gold at mid-infrared frequencies provide a low-loss environment for the HIP propagation. The HIP mode probed by the researchers was 2.4 times more compressed and yet exhibited a similar lifetime compared to the phonon-polaritons with a low-loss dielectric substrate, resulting in a twice-higher figure of merit in terms of the normalized propagation length.

The ultra-smooth monocrystalline gold flakes used in the experiment were chemically grown by the team of Professor N. Asger Mortensen from the Center for Nano Optics at the University of Southern Denmark.

Mid-infrared spectrum is particularly important for sensing applications since many important organic molecules have absorption lines in the mid-infrared. However, a large number of molecules is required by the conventional detection methods for successful operation, whereas the ultra-compressed phonon-polariton fields can provide strong light-matter interactions at the microscopic level, thus significantly improving the detection limit down to a single molecule. The long lifetime of the HIP on monocrystalline gold will further improve the detection performance.

Furthermore, the study conducted by Professor Jang and the team demonstrated the striking similarity between the HIP and the image graphene plasmons. Both image modes possess significantly more confined electromagnetic field, yet their lifetime remains unaffected by the shorter polariton wavelength. This observation provides a broader perspective on image polaritons in general, and highlights their superiority in terms of the nanolight waveguiding compared to the conventional low-dimensional polaritons in van der Waals crystals on a dielectric substrate.

Professor Jang said, "Our research demonstrated the advantages of image polaritons, and especially the image phonon-polaritons. These optical modes can be used in the future optoelectronic devices where both the low-loss propagation and the strong light-matter interaction are necessary. I hope that our results will pave the way for the realization of more efficient nanophotonic devices such as metasurfaces, optical switches, sensors, and other applications operating at infrared frequencies."

Explore further Acoustic graphene plasmons study paves way for optoelectronic applications

More information: Sergey G. Menabde et al, Near-field probing of image phonon-polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride on gold crystals, Science Advances (2022). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn0627 Journal information: Science Advances Sergey G. Menabde et al, Near-field probing of image phonon-polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride on gold crystals,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn0627
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

With many people stuck at home during the early stages of the pandemic, backdrops of orange ash-filled skies, flash flood events, and record setting heat waves made climate denial more difficult. Last year, the sixth IPCC report warned global temperature rise would exceed 1.5 without radical policy intervention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is already an abundance of literature to suggest what kinds of interventions might make a substantial impact. For instance, a 2019 UN International Resources Panel report revealed consumerism outranks global population growth as the leading driver of resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions. But even as climate consciousness reaches new heights, consumer economies in wealthy western countries are only beginning to make changes toward a sustainable future. Consumers are driving companies to be more transparent by patronizing more eco-conscious brands.

Enter the product carbon footprint. Carbon footprints are a step in the right direction for climate-savvy consumers who want to hold brands accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions. While the standards and verification methods for how to determine these footprints have matured over the past decade, insights into how best to communicate the footprints are nascent. Without more clarity around how consumers understand and use the footprints, what do they really mean? How can consumers and brands genuinely use carbon footprinting in alignment with climate goals that stave off a global temperature rise of 1.5?

In 2018, the Columbia Climate School's Christoph Meinrenken developed a tool called the Carbon Catalog that helps communicate carbon emissions associated with each stage in the lifecycle of a product. This free interactive data visualization tool shows the carbon footprints of hundreds of commercial and consumer products, and makes it easy for everyone to understand the carbon emission levels of everyday products. The inventory of the tool spans 866 products from 145 companies and uses data from CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) from 2013 to 2017.

While CDP is one of the larger international carbon accounting organizations, similar life cycle assessments can be calculated with the guidance of other agencies. There are three leading standards that have been instructive in collectively establishing international standards for carbon footprint calculations: the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, ISO 14067:2018, and PAS 2050:2011. Noncompliance with these standards by companies who claim earnest calculation efforts now represents a major reputational risk, and both savvy consumers and investors will recognize it as greenwashing.

It's also notable that the Securities and Exchange Commission recently began the process to propose a rule mandating large companies disclose their climate risk. The proposal has been a long time in the making, drawing from lessons learned in 2010. If implemented, the rule would be a landmark win for the Biden administration on climate. Companies would be held accountable to a number of new filing requirements, including greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 emissions (those directly caused by company-owned or operated facilities) and Scope 2 emissions (byproducts of energy purchased and consumed by the company) would be standard for all companies to report. However, Scope 3 emissions (caused by activities from assets owned or controlled by upstream or downstream partners of the reporting organization) reporting is more complicated, and exemptions and loopholes abound. Still, if the SEC's proposed rule isn't struck down by the courts, the impact would be profound. If companies are legally required to track and disclose their emissions, they will have the information necessary to engage consumers with an honest climate platform.

The pandemic has brought about a clear shift toward eco-consumerism. Though consumer spending has increased 11% year-on-year since the beginning of the pandemic, 52% of respondents in a 2021 PwC Global survey said they are more eco-friendly in their purchasing practices than they were six months prior.

There are a number of different ways companies can capitalize on this mounting interest. The Carbon Catalog visualization tool presents multiple strategies companies are employing to reduce emissions, and the data shows that several companies have made vast improvements in reducing their products' emissions. Some companies have already started to adopt their own product carbon footprint tools, some have opted for carbon labels on their products, while others have robust customer education platforms online and in-store. In the absence of policy about how to present product carbon footprint information, we are sure to see a proliferation of methods to disclose. The problem with this is that without a unified format of how the footprint is communicated, consumers may not know what to look for, how to decipher the environmental impact, or even where to find it. Likewise, where and how the information is made available raises questions of equity and intentionality. If a product's carbon footprint information is only available online, the audience is more likely to be a whiter, wealthier in-crowd. If it is only a physical label on the product itself, with limited space, clarity could be sacrificed for accessibility.

Multilateral coalitions within industry are forming to meet the challenge. Rightfully so, as the pace for action must accelerate drastically. The latest update to the IPCC's sixth assessment report asserts emissions must peak by 2025 if we are to limit global temperature rise to 1.5. The report also provides pathways across all sectors to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Promising developments to better coordinate industry include the Coalition on Materials Emissions Transparency (COMET) Framework, an initiative formed by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, RMI, and the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat. COMET guides member organizations to better integrate greenhouse gas reporting and climate finance.

To evolve from laissez-faire carbon transparency, policy makers should start with legislation that gives financial incentives for companies using carbon accounting to meet science-based climate goals. Companies are seizing the opportunity to capitalize on the newfound climate-consciousness of many consumers, but that doesn't mean they have well-formulated plans to reduce their environmental impact, nor a robust consumer education plan. While other policy options that penalize heavily emitting companies still have a role to play, incentives to reduce emissions and set standards for consumer education may be more politically viable in the immediate future. Several federal carbon tax bills have been introduced in recent years, but action continues to fizzle in Congress despite a Pew Research Center poll estimating 73% of adults in the U.S. support taxing corporations based on their emissions. Tax incentives could reward industry leaders and encourage others to evolve their greenhouse gas reduction, carbon accounting, and customer engagement strategies. Ideally, such an incentive would be the first phase in a multi-year plan leading to mandated requirements.

The uphill effort now is to ensure that carbon footprints and education about them, like the Carbon Catalog, don't become a greenwashing trend, and instead become normal parts of doing business. When that happens, compliance will be less onerous to achieve for companies and enforcement will be realistic for state agencies.

This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

New observations from the Budongo Forest in Uganda help us to understand why chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants.

Scientists from the University of St Andrews and the University of Neuchatel used 40 years of observations to explore this sad but fascinating behavior.

The study, published in Primates, showed that at least a quarter of infants who died continued to be carried by their motherusually for just a few days. However, because of the difficulties of observing this behavior, the researchers estimate that perhaps more than 70% of infants who die are carried.

Mothers do not seem to be doing this because they are unaware of the fact that their infant has died and were more likely to carry infants who died when very youngalthough in some cases they carried even those who had died at several years old.

Senior author, Dr. Catherine Hobaiter, explained that they "had several observations where mothers sadly lost two or more infants and they tended to carry even longer on the second occasion. Even very experienced mothers carried their dead infants, so we don't think that they are doing this because they are unaware of what has happened."

In a few extraordinary cases the researchers observed mothers carrying their infants for several months, and in one case a mother appeared to carry a substitute object (a small branch) for several days in the place of her infant's body.

Lead author and Ph.D. student, Adrian Soldati, explained that "primates rarely carry a dead infant for several weeks or months, but chimpanzees seem to do so more frequently. What caught our attention was observing for the first time a young mother who lost all her previous offspring carrying a twig, likely as a substitute of the infant's body. We think this may have helped her cope with the loss."

Dr. Hobaiter added that "chimpanzee infants and their mothers share an incredibly close bond, spending every day together for up to ten years of their life. These chimpanzee mothers may have been experiencing something similar to human grieving, needing time before they were ready to let go of their infants."

While different individuals may respond in different ways to death, chimpanzees, like humans, also appear to be powerfully affected by the loss of individuals to whom they are closely bonded.

Explore further Baboon mothers carry their dead infant up to 10 days

More information: Adrian Soldati et al, Dead-infant carrying by chimpanzee mothers in the Budongo Forest, Primates (2022). Journal information: Primates Adrian Soldati et al, Dead-infant carrying by chimpanzee mothers in the Budongo Forest,(2022). DOI: 10.1007/s10329-022-00999-x
A plane drops fire retardant on the Washburn Fire as it burns near the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias and the south entrance of Yosemite National Park, in California, Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP

A famed grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park survived its first wildfire in more than a century, thanks to efforts to regularly burn the undergrowth beneath the towering trees, a forest ecologist who toured the site said Tuesday.

Small, intentionally lit fires over the past 50 years essentially stopped the fire in its tracks when it hit the Mariposa Grove and allowed firefighters to stand their ground and prevent flames from doing more than charring the thick bark on the world's largest trees, Garrett Dickman said.

"We've been preparing for the Washburn Fire for decades," said Dickman, who works for the park. "It really just died as soon as it hit the grove."

The fire that started Thursday near the grove had burned 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) Tuesday, but was 22% contained and moving away from the largest grove of sequoias in the park. Based on prevailing winds, it was unlikely to return to the grove.

The blaze started near a trail. Authorities said it wasn't from lightning and wouldn't comment on whether it was sparked accidentally, intentionally or through negligence.

Hundreds of visitors and residents were evacuated from the nearby community of Wawona on Friday and the grove and southern entrance of the park were closed. The rest of Yosemite remained open, though it has been blanketed in heavy smoke at times.

A CalFire firefighter puts water on a tree as a backfire burns along Wawona Road during g the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022.(Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Some of the sequoias were charred by flames that reached 70 feet up their trunks, but Dickman said he surveyed the grove and did not think any of the trees would die. The Galen Clark tree, a large tree at the top of the grove named for the park's first guardian, was one of the few named trees that burned.

"It got a little bit of heat," Dickman said. "But from the pictures I've seen it, too, is gonna survive."

The sequoias are adapted to fireand rely on it to survive. But more than a century of aggressive fire suppression has left forests choked with dense vegetation and downed timber that has provided fuel for massive wildfires that have grown more intense during an ongoing drought and exacerbated by climate change.

So-called prescribed burnsmost recently conducted in the grove in 2018mimic low intensity that help sequoias by clearing out downed branches, flammable needles and smaller trees that could compete with them for light and water. The heat from fires also helps cones open up to spread their seeds.

A CalFire firefighter monitors a tree as a backfire burns along Wawona Road during the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022.Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

While intentional burns have been conducted in sequoias since the 1960s, they are increasingly being seen as a necessity to the save the massive trees. Once thought to be almost fire-proof, up to 20% of all giant sequoiasnative only in the Sierra Nevada rangehave been killed in the past five years during intense wildfires.

Fighting fire with fire, however, is a risky endeavor and has occasionally gotten out of control.

In New Mexico, firefighters were working Tuesday to restore mountainsides turned to ash by the largest wildfire in the state's recorded history that broke out in early April when prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service escaped containment following missteps and miscalculations.

The Santa Fe County Commission in an afternoon meeting blasted federal officials and unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Forest Service to conduct a more comprehensive environmental review as it looks to reduce the threat of wildfire in the mountains that border the capital city.

Water is seen from a hose as a CalFire firefighter monitors a backfiring operation against the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

The Mariposa Grove, home to over 500 mature giants, and Yosemite Valley were protected by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864almost a decade before Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872 and decades before Yosemite was added to the system in 1890.

Dickman said the grove had not seen a wildfire in over 100 years. Several large blazes have come close in the past decade but they stopped before reaching the grove.

The current fire remains small by those standards and has not been driven by wind. But it is burning in forest littered with dense stands of trees killed by bark beetles and drought, as well timber blown down in a powerful windstorm last year that also toppled more than two dozen sequoias.

The previous prescribed burns in the grove gave firefighters a chance to set up sprinklers to protect trees that have lived longer than 3,000 years and grow above 300 feet (90 meters) in height.

Firefighter Matt Shibuya, right, and assistant engine operator John Carter with the U.S. Forest Service Cleveland National Forest unit, draw a hose to mop up hotspots in Mariposa Grove while battling the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Firefighters work on a backfire while battling the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

A sequoia tree damaged by the Washburn Fire is seen at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

An air tanker makes a retardant drop while battling the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif., Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

A firefighter tends to a backfire along Wawona Road while battling the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

The Wawona Hotel, undamaged from the Washburn Fire, is seen under a smoke-filled sky in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

A firefighter walks past a backfire while battling the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, Calif.,Monday, July 11, 2022. Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

The Wawona Hotel, undamaged from the Washburn Fire, is seen under a smoke-filled sky in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Monday, July 11, 2022.Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Firefighters move into an are where a back fire took place near the Yosemite National Park south entrance, as the Washburn Fire continues to burn, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez

So far in 2022, over 35,000 wildfires have burned nearly 4.7 million acres (1.9 million hectares) in the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center, well above average for both wildfires and acres burned.

In Utah, smoke and ash emanating from a growing wildfire in rural Tooele County blew into Salt Lake City on Saturday. By Monday night, the Jacob City Fire had grown to 6.4 square miles (16.6 square kilometers), with 19% containment, officials said.

Elsewhere in Utah, firefighters contending with heavy winds battled the 15.9 square-mile (41-square-kilometer) Halfway Hill Fire in Filmore. Law enforcement on Saturday arrested four men who investigators said abandoned a campfire that ignited the blaze.

Explore further US firefighters race to protect Yosemite's giant sequoias

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Pictures of the seven people killed during the Fourth of July parade shooting are displayed at a memorial in Port Clinton Square on July 11, 2022, in Highland Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Scammers are targeting the victims of Highland Parks mass shooting, Illinois attorney general warned.

Anonymous callers have contacted survivors of the Fourth of July parade shooting and misrepresented what state financial support they may be entitled to, the attorney generals office said.

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As victims of a violent crime  including those affected by the horrific shooting in Highland Park  attempt to recover from trauma, they should not have to sort through misinformation or potential scams relating to programs that may provide assistance in a time of need, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote in a statement.

Reports of attempted scams have come from a number of family members and friends of victims injured, the attorney generals office wrote. The anonymous callers offered help filling in the states Crime Victims Compensation Program application.

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Many of the callers misrepresent the programs eligibility requirements and covered expenses, the statement said.

The state program provides financial reimbursement to eligible victims of violent crime for certain expenses, including funerals and burials, counseling, lost wages and medical bills, the statement said. Applications for the program can be found online.

[ What we know about the mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade ]

Victims who receive calls regarding the Crime Victims Compensation Program should verify that they come from the attorney generals office and can request in-person appointments, the statement said.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. >

Illinois law prohibits individuals from charging applicants a fee for assistance in filing an application. In addition, state law limits reimbursement to statutorily determined expenses, it continued.

The attorney generals office also encouraged state residents to research charities before making donations aimed at supporting Highland Park victims. People should avoid giving donations in cash, pay close attention to charities names and ask how much of a donation will go to the charity, the statement said.

[ Highland Park survivors and suburban mothers march on U.S. Capitol calling for assault weapons ban: This is not political ]

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe currently lists 15 different verified fundraisers requesting money for Highland Park victims on its website. The Highland Park Community Foundation is also raising money on its website, which was shared by the city.

People hoping to obtain additional information about the Crime Victims Compensation Program or report suspicious information about the program should call the attorney generals crime victim assistance line at 1-800-228-3368, the statement said. Those seeking to report suspicious charities should call the Attorney Generals Charitable Trust Bureau at 312-814-2595.

An earlier version of this story misstated the phone number for the states crime victim assistance line.

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jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter: @jakesheridan_
Grounded: Europe's Rosalind Franklin rover has lost its ride to Mars due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The European Space Agency has officially terminated cooperation with Russia on a mission to put a rover on Mars, with Russia's space chief furiously responding by banning cosmonauts on the ISS from using a Europe-made robotic arm.

The ESA had previously suspended ties on the joint ExoMars mission, which had planned to use Russian rockets to put Europe's Rosalind Franklin rover on the red planet to drill for signs of life, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher tweeted on Tuesday that because the war and resulting sanctions "continue to prevail", the agency would "officially terminate" ties with Russia on ExoMars and its landing platform.

The firebrand head of Russian space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin issued an angry response.

"Has the head of the European Space Agency thought about the work of thousands of scientists and engineers in Europe and Russia which has been ended by this decision? Is he prepared to answer for sabotaging a joint Mars mission?" Rogozin said on Telegram.

"I, in turn, order our crew on the ISS to stop working with the European manipulator ERA," he added.

Installed just a few months ago, the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is one of three such robots on the International Space Station, but it is the only one that can reach the Russian segment.

The 11-metre long robot, which looks like a pair of compasses, helps by moving payloads inside and outside the ISS, and can also transport spacewalkers "like a cherry-picker crane," according to the ESA website.

The ExoMars launch had already been suspended once in 2020 due to the pandemic, then plans for a launch in September this year were called off due to the war in March.

Aschbacher said last month he is in "intense discussion" with US space agency NASA to get the rover to Mars, adding that he was "very confident that we find a good partnership".

Explore further European Space Agency stops cooperation with Russian lunar missions

 2022 AFP
This photograph provided by the European Space Agency shows the Vega-C rocket lifting off from its launch pad at the Kourou space base, French Guiana, Wednesday July 13, 2022. The European Space Agency on Wednesday celebrated the first flight of its Vega-C rocket, which is designed to provide more bang for customers' buck in the increasingly competitive business of launching satellites into orbit. Credit: S Martin/ESA via AP

The European Space Agency on Wednesday celebrated the first flight of its Vega-C rocket, which is designed to provide more bang for customers' buck in the increasingly competitive business of launching satellites into orbit.

Vega-C is an upgrade to the Vega rocket that made its debut in 2012 as a launcher specializing in lifting small payloads into space. The new rocket can carry heavier payloads than its predecessor while burning less fuel.

ESA says Vega-C will be particularly useful for launching Earth observation satellites, but it is also envisaged as the carrier for Space Rider, an uncrewed robotic laboratory that will be the agency's first re-usable space vehicle.

The 35-meter (115-feet) tall rocket's launch from French Guiana was twice delayed shortly before liftoff due to technical problems, but succeeded on the third attempt.

Vega-C accelerates much faster than its big brother Ariane 5, reaching a speed of 16,000 kilometers per hour (almost 10,000 mph) within two minutes of launch. The Ariane 5, ESA's workhorse heavy launcher, is also due for an upgrade soon.

The Vega-C rocket on Wednesday released an Italian-made satellite called LARES-2which looks similar to a giant disco ballthat will act as a target for a ground-based laser station, and six small cube-shaped mini-satellites from France, Italy and Slovenia containing scientific experiments.

The head of ESA has announced a series of ambitious new projects as Europe tries to compete with the United States, China and new rivals from the private sector in the growing space business.

The agency is also developing a further variant, Vega-E, that uses a less polluting fuel made of liquid oxygen and methane. That launcher is aimed to be ready by 2026.

Explore further Vega-C set for inaugural launch

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

After discovering the honeybee-killing parasite Varroa destructor in Newcastle late last week, New South Wales authorities have acted quickly to try to stop the spread.

Hive "lockdowns" are in place (banning movement of hives across the entire state), and hives within 10 kilometer buffer zones of infested locations are being destroyed.

Millions of bees have been killed in the past week alone, with the parasite discovered at eight sites so farsome up to 100 kilometers away from Newcastle. Two buffer zones have been establishedone in Newcastle and another on the Mid North Coast.

But to contain Varroa destructor, authorities will need to consider not just how they can control its spread within populations managed by beekeepers, but also within Australia's feral honeybee population.

Our research was the first to quantify the density of feral honeybees across different landscapes in Australia at scale using genetic techniques and computer modeling.

Using our models, it is likely there are between 300 and 1,000 feral colonies that authorities now need to find and eradicate across hundreds of square kilometers, within just a few weeks.

It's a huge, but vital, task.

A tiny killer

Varroa destructor is a tiny mite about the size of a sesame seed that feeds on honeybees, transmitting viruses in the process. Varroa affects the ability of honeybees to fly, gather food and even emerge from their cells to be born.

The parasite is the biggest threat to colonies worldwide, and Australia (so far) is the only continent that has managed to stay free from it.

While the parasite's arrival on our shores has always been a matter of "when" not "if," it remains important we do everything within our power to stamp it out.

About one third of Australia's food production relies on pollination by honeybees, including almonds, apples and avocados. Our honey industry is worth around $A100 million a year.

Failing to eradicate Varroa destructor will not only impact the clean, green image of the Australian beekeeping industry, but also put more upward pressure on the prices of our fruit, vegetables and nuts, which are already at record highs.

Authorities will need to consider how they can eradicate the parasite, both within the highly-migratory managed honeybee populations and the difficult-to-locate feral populations.

Australian beekeepers move their hives sometimes thousands of kilometers every year, helping farmers pollinate their crops. Continuing this agricultural service without spreading Varroa destructor is going to be challenging.

The annual almond pollination in north-west Victoria, which is due to start in a matter of weeks, will be the first test. Beekeepers across the country are discussing how hives can be moved across state borders without creating a "super-spreader" event.

However, all this effort will be in vain if the parasite is also spreading in feral populationsand in all likelihood, it is.

In our research, we found that feral honeybee colonies are distributed with remarkable uniformity. Working with researchers from the University of Sydney, we introduced virgin queens into survey areas to seek out feral drones (male bees) and mate with them.

The brood were then collected and genetically analyzed at the University of Sydney.

We developed agent-based models of the mating system (computer models based on individual bees), to work out how the level of genetic diversity observed in the brood translated to densities of feral colonies in the area surveyed.

Using these models, our mid-range estimates indicate that there could be between 0.3 and 0.9 colonies per square kilometer in the vicinity of the Port of Newcastle.

Finding them is going to be tough. But this isn't the first time Australian authorities have had to seek out and eradicate feral colonies of honeybees. Since the incursion of the Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) in Cairns in 2007, authorities have located and destroyed more than 800 hives.

The eradication of managed hives within the buffer zones will help. Once this has been done, sightings of honeybees within the buffer zones are increasingly likely to be sightings of feral colonies.

However, this isn't guaranteedworker bees from managed colonies outside the buffer zone may forage at ranges of four kilometers or more.

Authorities can call on the people of Newcastle for support by reporting sightings, and will no doubt be doing this in the coming weeks.

One thing working in authorities' favor is that it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when honeybees are at their least active.

As the weather warms up in spring, the honeybees will start foraging more activelyincreasing the risk of spreading between coloniesand they will also swarm and mate.

This means there's a narrow window of opportunity to eradicate the feral honeybees in the biosecurity zones. And acting quickly now will save much more pain later.

Explore further Spider venom could be key to stopping devastating honeybee mite

More information: Jonathan Arundel et al, Modelling honey bee queen mating as a measure of feral colony density, Ecological Modelling (2012). Jonathan Arundel et al, Modelling honey bee queen mating as a measure of feral colony density,(2012). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.08.001 Jonathan Arundel et al, Modelling estimates of honey bee (Apis spp.) colony density from drones, Ecological Modelling (2013). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.07.008 Jonathan Arundel et al, Remarkable uniformity in the densities of feral honey beeApis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies in South Eastern Australia, Austral Entomology (2014). DOI: 10.1111/aen.12085
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Humor has a large role to play when it comes to engaging students in a classroom environment. By facilitating student laughter with appropriate jokes, quips, and visual humor, a teacher can make the learning experience immensely gratifying for their students. Studies have shown that humor improves the in-class experience by diffusing the tension and can even serve as a mnemonic device to help learners prepare for tests.

It is true that there have been some misgivings about the appropriateness of using humor in foreign language (FL) classrooms owing to the concern that learners may fail to appreciate a joke without the necessary cultural context or linguistic proficiency. However, given the universal nature of humor, it is suggested that humor should be employed as a potential strategy even in FL classrooms, albeit accounting for the students' linguistic capabilities. But, are all humor strategies likely to be equally effective? And do students' attitudes towards humor generally influence how they perceive certain varieties of humor?

In order to find out the answer to these and other concerns, a duo of researchersProf. Peter Neff from Doshisha University, Japan, and Prof. Jean-Marc Dewaele from Birkbeck, University of London, UKperformed a study that sought to answer the following questions: Do FL students have any preference for certain humor strategies? How are their attitudes towards classroom humor influenced by FL proficiency, FL enjoyment, frequency of humor use and the perception of the role of humor in learning a language. The findings of their study were published online on 15 June 2022 in the journal Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching.

In this study, the researchers surveyed a total of 243 FL learners in 24 different counties. A little over of half of the participants were studying English as their first FL with the remainder studying other languages. The researchers used a five-component survey as the primary tool for assessment. These five components involved demographic data and background information, components to measure FL enjoyment (FLE), attitudes toward humor in the classroom, and responses to eight different humor strategies.

The survey, which all 243 participants completed, revealed that students preferred spontaneous verbal humor along with cartoons and memes the most, while visual humor, such as making humorous faces and using props, were the least preferred humor strategies. Prof. Neff explains, "What this suggests is that students like their humor to be spontaneous and enjoy verbal humor more than any humor that employs element of artifice, which may be perceived as childish." Additionally, role play as a form of humor ranked somewhere between the most and least liked strategies.

The strongest predictor of preference among the eight humor strategies was the general attitudes towards the usage of humor on language learning. "Students who appreciated humor in their language classes clearly accepted the view that language learning should not be a dry and humorless enterprise. Rather, it should be a process characterized by play, laughter, challenge, and experimentation where teachers would joke when things went wrong rather than admonish using demotivating comments," say the authors. The second strongest predictor of preference for cartoons, puns, role plays and spontaneous comment strategies was FLE.

These insights reveal something interesting: students do not want their teachers to become the center of attention by using humor. Rather, humor should only function as a social lubricant that helps facilitate the attainment of educational and social goals.

Laughter, if used conscientiously, can not only lighten the classroom atmosphere but even facilitate learning itself.

Explore further Study: Ability to produce humor linked to higher intelligence levels in schoolchildren

More information: Peter Neff et al, Humor strategies in the foreign language class, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching (2022). Peter Neff et al, Humor strategies in the foreign language class,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/17501229.2022.2088761

Provided by Doshisha University
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Overcoming impulses to enjoy here-and-now rewards in order to attain later benefits is fundamental to achieving goals. Such delaying of gratification is often measured by the well-known "marshmallow task" in which children must resist the urge to enjoy one treat now in order to get more treats later.

Individual differences in this task predict important later life outcomes such as academic success, socioemotional competence, and health, many researchers agree.

A study published in June in Psychological Science, co-authored by Yuko Munakata, professor of psychology, and Jade Yonehiro, a graduate student, both in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, found that cultural habits around waiting to eat (emphasized in Japan) and waiting to open gifts (emphasized in the United States) shape distinct profiles of delaying gratification. Japanese children waited three times longer for food than for gifts, whereas U.S. children waited nearly four times longer for gifts than for food.

"Our findings offer new answers as to why delaying gratification predicts life outcomes and suggest new directions for understanding and shaping children's delay of gratification," researchers said in their study.

In the context of eating food, Japanese people are accustomed to waiting. When having meals, Japanese people typically wait until all individuals are served. Such customs of waiting to eat food are not as prevalent in the daily experiences of children in the United States.

In the context of opening gifts, U.S. children may experience waiting more consistently than Japanese children. Giving gifts is a more special event occurring on specific occasions in the United States, such as birthdays and other holidays, that can involve traditions of waiting. In contrast, gift giving is a regular year-round event for Japanese people that is not consistently associated with traditions of waiting.

In the study, 26 U.S. children and 40 Japanese children were in the "food" experiment, and 32 U.S. children and 40 Japanese children were in the "gift" experiment.

Participants in the United States were recruited from a database of families in Boulder, Colorado, and surrounding areas who expressed interest in participating in developmental research. Japanese participants were recruited from a database of families in Kyoto, Osaka, and surrounding areas from a research consulting company.

For the Japanese sample, researchers recruited only participants who had eaten a marshmallow before to ensure that all children were familiar with marshmallows.

The experimenter first placed a marshmallow on a plate or a gift box in front of the child, 4 in. from the table's edge, and told the child if they could wait for the experimenter to get more marshmallows/gifts from another room, they could have two instead. If the child could wait the full 15 minutes without interacting with the marshmallow or the gift in any way they were rewarded with a second marshmallow/gift.

Japanese and U.S. children showed distinct profiles of delaying gratification. As predicted, culture and reward interacted in children's likelihood of delaying: Japanese children waited longer for delayed rewards in the food condition (median wait time was 15 minutes) than in the gift condition, where the wait time was almost five minutes.

In contrast, U.S. children showed the reversed pattern. They waited longer for delayed rewards in the gift condition than in the food condition.

"Our findings support a novel perspective that delaying gratification is promoted by the strength of habits of waiting for rewards accumulated in an everyday context, not simply reflecting higher level processes that override temptations," researchers said.

This perspective raises implications for measurement and interpretation. Delay-of-gratification tasks may measure different psychological processes depending on the rewards and individuals involved. For example, for Japanese children, performance on the classic marshmallow test may mainly reflect the strength of habits of waiting to eat and sensitivity to social conventions. In contrast, their waiting to open a gift might be more influenced by self-control and trustworthiness.

"Our findings also have implications for shaping resistance to temptations," the report continued. "Groups in each culture have unique social conventions that function to increase cohesion and cooperation. Such conventions require inhibiting behaviors toward personal needs or goals and implementing socially motivated behavior with affiliative functions. In addition, culture-specific parenting values and styles correlate with and may promote children's delaying of gratification."

More information: Kaichi Yanaoka et al, Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification, Psychological Science (2022). Journal information: Psychological Science Kaichi Yanaoka et al, Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification,(2022). DOI: 10.1177/09567976221074650
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

An uneven distribution of the costs of the green transition may derail it by triggering a political backlash that could eventually put in power parties opposed to the green agenda.

Bocconi Professors Italo Colantone, Livio Di Lonardo, and Marco Percoco, along with Professor Yotam Margalit (Tel Aviv University) found evidence of such a backlash by analyzing the case of Area B, a major ban on polluting cars in Milan, in their study "The Political Consequences of Green Policies: Evidence from Italy," published in the SSRN Electronic Journal.

The ban, introduced by the Municipal administration led by the Democratic Party, was announced in July 2018, was initially implemented in two stages, in February and October 2019, and proved rather controversial. The right-wing populist party Lega, in particular, strongly opposed the policy, portraying it as a "radical-chic-leftist" initiative penalizing common people.

While all Milanese citizens benefitted from the policy in terms of cleaner air, the cost only rested on the shoulders of those who were forced to change their cars or their mobility habits to continue traveling.

Surveying 1,073 car owners in Milan, the authors found that the self-estimated median loss for the citizens affected by the policy (293 respondents) was a sizeable 3,750. They were, then, able to compare the voting behavior of this group in the 2019 European elections and the behavior of owners of very similar, but slightly less polluting, cars, unaffected by the policy (412 respondents).

The main political opposer of the ban, Lega, is the clear winner in electoral terms. "The car owners affected by the ban," said Professor Colantone, "were 13.5 percentage points more likely to vote for Lega. Considering that the baseline rate of support for Lega in the sample was 24.4%, it means that owning a car affected by Area B raised the probability of voting for Lega in the subsequent elections by 55% above the baseline."

Perhaps surprisingly, though, Lega gains did not come at the expense of the incumbent Democratic Party. Only 3% of switchers toward Lega came from the Democratic Party and the bulk of switchers, 49%, came from minor parties, namely small outfits that were not even specified in a list of the eight more popular parties.

Overall, this evidence indicates that the response to the Area B policy was not a shift of center-left voters toward Lega. Rather, it seems to reflect a coalescence of voters that were less committed to the mainstream parties.

The scholars also investigated the mechanism that led affected voters to shift their preferences and concluded that it was not a consequence of a change of mind toward less environment-friendly attitudes and behavior. It rather originated from hostility to a green policy approach that places disproportionate costs on a restricted group of people.

In fact, affected voters were not less willing to visit green websites than other car ownersif anything, they were slightly more willing to do so. They were, though, a whopping 36 percentage points more likely to share the view according to which "preserving the environment is the responsibility of governments and big firms more than of citizens."

"Overall, car owners affected by the ban appear more likely to support an active role of government and big firms for environmental action, even if this entails higher taxes, or higher prices to be paid for environment-friendly goods and services. These findings suggest a preference for a different, possibly fairer, approach to green policies," Prof. Colantone states.

The behavior of a minority of affected voters that received some form of compensation confirms that addressing the distributive consequences is key for advancing green policies that are politically sustainable. Compensated voters, in fact, were not more likely than unaffected car owners to shift their support to Lega.

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More information: Italo Colantone et al, The Political Consequences of Green Policies: Evidence from Italy, SSRN Electronic Journal (2022). Italo Colantone et al, The Political Consequences of Green Policies: Evidence from Italy,(2022). DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4049870

Provided by Bocconi University
A new high-throughput array greatly accelerates mouse DNA methylation characterization. Credit: Van Andel Institute

A new high-throughput genomic array offers an unprecedented look into the mouse epigenome, giving researchers an in-depth view into the basis of health and disease in a vital model organism.

The array was developed by scientists at Van Andel Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with Illumina and FOXO Technologies. It contains more than 296,000 probes that represent the diversity of murine DNA methylation biology.

"DNA methylation is one of the pillars of epigenetics research," said VAI Associate Professor Hui Shen, Ph.D., co-corresponding author of the study that describes the array, which published today in Cell Genomics. "This array gives scientists around the world a powerful new tool to understand the role of methylation in normal processes and in diseases like cancer and many others."

Since the 1980s, it has become clear that epigenetics plays a role in virtually every aspect of health and disease. This revelation has given rise to a growing field that has illuminated vital insights into myriad diseases such as cancer, which is now known to be driven by both genetic and epigenetic errors.

The new array includes markers for an extensive list of biological features, including genomic imprinting, aging, cancer, variably methylated regions, germ cell development, tissue specificity, X-linked probes, and epigenetic clocks.

Development of the array was led by Shen, VAI Professor Peter W. Laird, Ph.D., co-corresponding author of the study, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania Assistant Professor Wanding Zhou, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral fellow in the Laird and Shen labs.

"We learned many lessons from the current and previous generations of human arrays and have improved the overall quality of probe design," said Zhou, who also is a corresponding author of the study. "For example, we optimized the probe selection to cover the diverse biology of DNA methylation in mice while minimizing the chance of probe misuse and artifacts. The array also features probe sets that will enable comparative epigenome analysis between humans and mice as well as among other rodents."

The array allows scientists to interrogate methylation more quickly and more deeply than previous methods. It enabled the team to develop a rich atlas of DNA methylation profiles across more than 1,200 samples, representing diverse cell types, strains and pathologies. Before now, DNA methylation data were available but not centralized. The atlas, made possible by the array, offers scientists a central repository for this critical information. Additionally, the array has been implemented in the popular bioinformatics tool SeSAMe.

As part of their validation process, the team also re-ran experiments from the early days of epigenetics research, revealing fidelity to the original findings and achieving results much faster.

"This new array is an absolutely essential tool that will provide a bridge to new breakthroughs," said VAI Chief Scientific Officer Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon), an internationally renowned epigenetics pioneer and a study co-author. "It allowed us to further validate work we did more than 40 years ago. Its speed, depth and efficiency will allow us to accelerate discovery by identifying genetic and epigenetic changes more quickly and in greater detail than ever before."

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More information: Wanding Zhou et al, DNA methylation dynamics and dysregulation delineated by high-throughput profiling in the mouse, Cell Genomics (2022). Wanding Zhou et al, DNA methylation dynamics and dysregulation delineated by high-throughput profiling in the mouse,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2022.100144
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Higher levels of inbreeding in thoroughbreds result in fewer racehorses, according to new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

A study carried out by scientists at University College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh, and the Irish equine science company Plusvital, examined samples from over 6,000 thoroughbred horses from Europe and Australia, and found those animals with the highest levels of DNA-measured inbreeding had a 13% lower probability of ever competing.

Furthermore, the researchers identified in one percent of thoroughbreds two copies of a negative genetic marker linked to bone development and repair. These animals have an increased probability of 32% of never racing.

"The identification of the single genetic marker with a strong negative effect is good news, because it means that it can be managed," said lead researcher Professor Emmeline Hill, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.

"If the 'carrier' status of a mare and stallion are known, this information can be used to avoid producing foals with two copies of the genetic marker. The immediate benefit of this will be economic gains for breeders and racehorse owners and improved animal welfare.

"The knowledge of this genetic marker will allow for testing to reduce the negative impact of inbreeding with the goal to increase the number of foals that are born that race," added Professor Hill.

"The effects of inbreeding that we have seen are certainly not new but have only been revealed by the power of genomic data for the many thoroughbreds that are contained in this data set," said co-author Professor Josephine Pemberton, University of Edinburgh.

"These results are a warning sign about the rising trend in inbreeding in thoroughbreds."

Inbreeding in the thoroughbred racehorse has been on the rise with concerns for future population health.

However, the identification of this new genetic marker, and the potential to introduce genetic screening, means breeding decisions can be better managed to improve the health and welfare of these valuable animals.

"It still needs to be examined whether this marker is associated with injury risk, but the data are pointing in that direction," said Professor Hill.

"It may appear to be a small number of horses, but it has a considerable impact in the population overall. In the long run, the incidence of this marker in the breed could be reduced if a breed-wide program of testing were to be implemented.

"This would have a positive long-term effect on the genetic health of the population and would not discriminate against the use of any stallion because it is dependent on the mares too."

Professor David MacHugh, a co-author on the paper, added: "There is still enough diversity in the gene pool for breeders to proactively manage breeding decisions and use genetically less related stallions, but because there is so much sharing of genetics due to the popularity of particular sire lines, this is not always evident from the pedigree page.

"The best way to assess inbreeding and relatedness is through in-depth analysis of DNA variation across horse genomes."

Explore further Increased inbreeding in thoroughbreds may compromise future sustainability of breed

More information: Emmeline W. Hill et al, Inbreeding depression and the probability of racing in the Thoroughbred horse, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Emmeline W. Hill et al, Inbreeding depression and the probability of racing in the Thoroughbred horse,(2022). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0487#d1e1655
A California scrub jay eyes the camera. Credit: Deveon DeRaad

A comprehensive new genetic and statistical study from researchers at the University of Kansas reveals that two groups of scrub jaysone in Mexico and one in Texasdeserve status as independent species. The paper, appearing in Systematic Biology, also uses genomic data to sketch a natural history of scrub jays, showing how geographic changes over millennia split up and reconnected groups of the birds, swaying the flow of genes between them.

"Scrub jays are cousins to blue jays," said lead author Devon DeRaad, doctoral student at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at KU. "In the western U.S., they're common backyard birds for people, similar to blue jays that take peanuts from your feeder. They're exciting birds because they're charismaticthey'll come to your feeder and interact. They're jays, so they're extremely smart, and they have some of the best spatial memory of any birds. They can remember thousands of places that they've cached seeds and things like that."

According to the study, genetic sequencing at KU of scrub jays collected decades ago reveals evidence of two distinct new species in Aphelocoma, the scrub jay's genus: A. sumichrasti, a "phenotypically, behaviorally, and genetically unique" endemic species of southern Mexico; and A. texana, "a Texas-endemic species of conservation concern."

While the Mexican population of scrub jays was a "slam dunk" for species status, DeRaad said the population of scrub jays in Texas was less clear-cut.

"We weren't sure how different it was," he said. "It's a bit of an isolated population on the Edwards Plateau in Texasa restricted, small region of Texas. It was named as a subspecies so there are small phenotypic differences of size and the color, but it doesn't look too different from the rest. But we have this great geographic sampling and we sequenced birds nearby, but off the Edwards Plateau, and they're totally different and there doesn't seem to be any gene flow. We did as many analyses as we could think of to rigorously prove ourselves wrong, but everything indicates this population in Texas is totally distinct and evolving on its own isolated trajectory."

DeRaad first became interested in the biodiversity of scrub jays upon learning the variety of specimens in museum collections indicated more species of scrub jay might exist than are currently recognized.

"My undergraduate adviser had published on this group of birds before and told me you can look at the specimens and see there are populations of Woodhouse's scrub jay from Mexico and from other places that look totally differentbut they're all recognized as part of a single species," DeRaad said. "My goal was to use genetic methods for my Ph.D. and sequence DNA from these birds to figure out how many species there actually are."

As a graduate student at KU, DeRaad accessed genetic samples of scrub jays collected decades ago by co-author A. Town Peterson, senior curator at the Biodiversity Institute and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

Florida scrub jay surveys its territory. Credit: Deveon DeRaad

"He collected the specimens for his dissertation between around 1989 and 1992, and this was at the very beginning of people taking tissues from specimens," DeRaad said. "It used to be you'd collect the birds and stuff them with cotton to make museum specimensskin and feathers are very stable and will be fine in a drawer untreated if they're kept away from light and bugs. But before people were doing DNA analysis, they didn't know to keep the tissue. So, it's really cool that Town published analyses on these birds about 30 years ago with some of the earliest DNA methods, and we're able to use literally the same tissues for this study."

In addition to Peterson, DeRaad's co-authors were Robert Moyle, senior curator at KU's Biodiversity Institute; John McCormack, of Occidental College; and Nancy Chen, of University of Rochester.

After DeRaad sampled DNA from the scrub jays, he then worked with the KU Genome Sequencing Core to sequence thousands of shared pieces of DNA from throughout the birds' genomes. In addition to determining the species-status of A. sumichrasti and A. texana, DeRaad and his colleagues sought to shed light on the natural history of scrub jays and draw a more accurate evolutionary tree for the birds.

For instance, the team found two scrub jay species living on a genetic tree with snarled branches, showing "complex signatures of both ancient and modern gene flow between the non-sister California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii) that result in discordant gene trees throughout the species' genomes despite clear support for their overall isolation and species status."

The evidence of interbreeding between the two scrub jay species traditionally might bar scientists from considering them separate species, but not in this case.

"We're coming to a more nuanced understanding of what a species is, allowing for the biological reality that evolution is more complicated than even people who study it could possibly imagine," DeRaad said. "These lineages are constantly in the process of diverging and coming back together."

In North America, the authors said many "complex speciation" histories are due to repeated ice ages when glaciers would split up populationscausing genetic divergenceand then retreat, leaving continuous habitat where those populations could interbreed.

"Trying to reconstruct that isn't simple," DeRaad said. "We don't have a time machine, so we'll never accurately reconstruct it all minute by minutebut by being able to get genomic data from thousands of pieces of DNA from all throughout the genome, we have much more statistical power to try to reconstruct those events than we did even just 10 to 15 years ago, before the sequencing technology was this good and affordable."

Explore further Non-social jays surprise scientists by learning as skillfully as birds living in groups

More information: Devon A DeRaad et al, Combining Species Delimitation, Species Trees, and Tests for Gene Flow Clarifies Complex Speciation in Scrub-Jays, Systematic Biology (2022). Journal information: Systematic Biology Devon A DeRaad et al, Combining Species Delimitation, Species Trees, and Tests for Gene Flow Clarifies Complex Speciation in Scrub-Jays,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syac034
Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Systems (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2022.06.003

An international team of scientists has discovered a new mathematical principle that explains how cells connect with each other to form tissues, an important step forward in understanding how organs are formed during embryonic development and the pathologies associated with this process. The finding is led by the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS), a joint center of the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville; and the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint center of the CSIC and the University of Valencia (UV).

The study, published in Cell Systems, has been carried out using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model, and may have future implications for the creation of artificial tissues and organs in the laboratory, a great challenge for Biology and Biomedicine.

In 2018, this team published an article in the journal Nature Communications that had a great scientific and media impact, in which they demonstrated that epithelial cells can adopt a geometric shape during the formation of organs that had not been described until then: the scutoid.

"That the cells adopt this geometric shape is due to the energy savings that it entails when 'packaging' to form tissues when there is a certain level of curvature, for example when a fold is formed in a tissue," explains one of the authors who lead this work, Luisma Escudero, IBIS researcher. "Our research represented an important paradigm shift, because until then epithelia had always been studied using mathematical concepts to describe their organization in two dimensions, something that is related to the connection between cells and how they communicate with each other to form these organs correctly."

"However, we show that epithelial cells can have complex three-dimensional shapes like scutoids, and cells and organs are indeed three-dimensional. In this article we consider whether there are mathematical and/or biophysical principles in 3D and, by combining experiments with fly tissues and computational models of tubular tissues, we have been able to develop a biophysical model that relates, for the first time, the geometry of the tissue and the physical properties of the cells with how they are connected to each other," says Escudero.

The key, the 'social relationships' of cells

Javier Buceta, I2SysBio researcher and co-leader of the study, establishes a simile to explain this new scientific advance, resorting to Anthropology. "The anthropologist Robin Dunbar determined that human beings have an average of five close friends that are given by different social and personal factors. At the cellular level, our article has revealed that there is an 'equivalent' principle, concluding that the number of close 'neighbors' of a cell, that is, its 'close friends,' is determined in this case by the geometry of the tissue and its energy relationships.

"Thus, taking into account a series of energetic, biological and geometric considerations, we have discovered that, for example, the more connections an epithelial cell has with others, the more energy it needs to establish new connections with other cells, while if it is little connected to other 'neighbors,' the cell needs less energy to establish that link," says Buceta.

In this research, the scientists altered tissue, reducing adhesion between cells to put their model to the test. "This makes the organization change, as it is easier, less costly in energy terms, for cells to make new contacts," says Buceta. The results of the experiments confirmed the quantitative principle proposed by the researchers.

The researchers point out that, by analyzing the behavior of tissues from the point of view of materials, other previous works have observed that their "stiffness" depends on cellular connectivity. "In this way, tissues can behave in a more or less viscous way, that is, more solid-like or more fluid-like. Our results quantitatively show how the geometry of the scutoids determines cellular connectivity and, therefore, how they can be a biological instrument to regulate the material properties of tissues and organs," conclude Escudero and Buceta.

Explore further Study reveals new geometric shape used by nature to pack cells efficiently
An off-duty Chicago police officer is permanently paralyzed from the waist down after being shot trying to break up a bar fight in the Beverly neighborhood last weekend, authorities said.

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said in a news conference Tuesday that Officer Danny Golden, who joined the Police Department in February 2016, is still in the hospital and has a long road ahead of him.

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Demetrius Harrell, 28, and Bryant Hayes, 22, both of Chicago, and Justen Krismantis, 22, of Chebanse, Illinois, appeared in bond court Tuesday before Judge Charles Beach, who ordered all three men to be held without bail. Hayes and Krismantis were both charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Harrell was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to the proffer.

Golden, 31, sustained a single gunshot wound to the middle of his back from the shooting, which stemmed from a bar fight early Saturday, while another victim, a 24-year-old man, was shot in the leg, according to the assistant states attorneys proffer. A GoFundMe started for Golden said his younger brother was the person who was hit in the leg, receiving a graze wound.

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That situation just speaks to the occurrence of gun violence in our country, Brown said. Guns should not be available to individuals who shouldnt have them. Guns should not be used to settle arguments or disagreements. Chicagos communities cannot and will not be held captive by senseless gun violence.

The three men were seen on surveillance video leaving Brewbakers, 10350 S. Western Ave., and going to Seans Rhino Bar & Grill, 10330 S. Western Ave., at 2:23 a.m. Saturday, according to the proffer. A short while later an argument started between the men and several other people inside the bar. The argument turned into a physical fight, which spilled onto the street, and Golden stepped in to try to break it up.

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The three men were later seen on video running southbound on South Western Avenue with others chasing them, and Golden was seen walking southbound after them.

The fight continued with the three men and a few others in the area of South Artesian Avenue and West 104th Street. In the video, Krismantis was seen running down the street to his car and grabbing something from the passenger side. When he returned to the area, no one was fighting anymore, and the other people involved were walking away.

The video allegedly shows Krismantis giving Hayes a gun, and Hayes pointing it in the direction of the people walking away, according to the proffer. Hayes allegedly fired the gun, an automatic, multiple times, striking Golden and the 24-year-old man. The three men went back to their cars, where Hayes allegedly handed the gun to Harrell, who pointed the firearm at the others and fired more shots.

Police officers recovered 19 .40-caliber shell casings from the scene of the first shooting and three shell casings from the second one.

Police tracked the mens cars and took Krismantis and Hayes into custody late Saturday. Harrell was arrested on Monday.

Hayes was charged with a separate, second charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when he was arrested Saturday after he was allegedly found with a .40-caliber gun in his waistband. Hayes has a firearm owners identification card but not a concealed carry license.

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Krismantis, Hayes and Harrell are next set to appear in court on July 22.
Credit: NASA

In 2011, a small meteorite was found in the Sahara Desert. Designated Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 or "Black Beauty," the blackened chunk of volcanic crystal turned out to be a little piece of Mars, flung into space by an asteroid impact.

But where on Mars had it come from? If we knew that, the meteorite could give us crucial clues into how our Earth-like neighbor had formed.

The red planet is covered in countless asteroid impact craters, and until recently it seemed there was no way to tell which one was the home of Northwest Africa 7034.

In new research, we sifted through more than 94 million craters to identify the origin of the rocky Martian visitor: a crater in our neighboring planet's southern hemisphere, created by an asteroid impact between 5 million and 10 million years ago.

Why is Earth so special?

Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, a disk of gas, dust and ice collapsed, forming the sun, the planets, their moons and the rest of the Solar System. A few million years later, molten blobs of matter began to cool down to form rocky planets.

We know very little about this early stage of planetary evolution on Earth. Erosion and the movement of tectonic plates make it very difficult to find rocks that old.

We would like to know more about how planets form and evolve over time, because it would help us understand why Earth is so different from other planets.

The meteorite NWA 7034 was found in Morocco  but its origin lies on Mars. Credit: NASA

Looking to Mars

To learn more about the origin of planets, space agencies are sending a plethora of probes and rovers to Mars to unravel its geological past.

Mars is often considered Earth's sibling. In the past it hosted liquid water, forming lakes and seas, and also experienced volcanic activity for prolonged periods.

However, Mars has no plate tectonics and little recent erosion, so its ancient rocks are better preserved than those on Earth.

One key objective of the next generation of Mars missions is to collect samples from one particular location, the Jezero crater, and return them to Earth for analysis.

The distribution of 90 million craters on the surface of Mars obtained from the Crater Detection Algorithm. Colors indicate crater size and their intensities are linked to the crater density on the surface. Blue spots and rayed patterns are associated with the youngest and largest craters formed on the surface. The red circle pinpoint the Karratha crater that has ejected the Black Beauty meteorite. Credit: Lagain et al, Curtin University

Martian meteorites

However, we already have some samples of Mars that we can thoroughly investigate. There are around 300 pieces of Mars in laboratories around the world in the form of meteorites, and they have been intensively studied over the past 30 years.

These meteorites were launched from the surface of Mars by around a dozen asteroid impacts over the past 20 million years. However, the exact locations of the sources of the only Martian rocks available on Earth are unknown.

Finding the precise origins of these meteorites would be equivalent to several free sample return missions, so researchers have been trying for decades. Only now has it become achievable, due to the introduction of machine-learning techniques.

Part of the crater map of Mars, with the origin of NWA 7403 circled in red. Credit: Anthony Lagain, Author provided

Cataloging craters

Our research, reported this week, unveils the origin of one of the most interesting known Martian meteorites: NWA 7034, the most studied sample from Mars to date.

Using the supercomputer at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Center in Perth, we analyzed a colossal volume of high-resolution images of Mars. With a machine-learning algorithm we developed, we identified more than 94 million impact craters.

This catalog of craters is the largest ever created and allows us to understand the history of their creation at a resolution never equaled before.

We discovered that the smallest craters, less than 100 meters in diameter, are distributed as rays, pointing outward from 19 large and very young impact craters. Those small impacts are called secondary craters, and result from the fallback of debris following a large impact.

Knowing this meant we could rule out around 80,000 craters as potential sources of the Martian meteorites, as they would not have been able to eject rocks into space. We were left with only those 19 large craters.

Finding Karratha crater

Next we compared the characteristics of the NWA 7034 meteorite (essentially its age, composition and magnetic properties) with that of the surface surrounding the 19 craters, inferred from spacecraft data in orbit around the planet.

The origin of the NWA 7403 meteorite: the crust formed 4.5 billion years ago, was flung out of Khujirt crater 1.5 billion years ago, and then ejected into space from Karratha crater in another impact 510 million years ago. Credit: Lagain et al. (2022), Nature Communications, Author provided

My team and I realized that only one, previously unnamed, crater could explain all the characteristics of the meteorite: a 10 km crater located in the Terra Cimmeria-Sirenum province, in the southern hemisphere of Mars.

The crater was unnamed because no-one had previously thought it was very interesting. We proposed the name Karratha, in reference to the town in Western Australia near the oldest rock ever dated from Earth.

The most exciting thing about this discovery was to establish a link between this rare sample of Mars and the unique characteristics of the Terra Cimmeria-Sirenum region.

A window onto ancient Earth

From laboratory analyses performed on this meteorite, we know it contains ancient minerals: zircons around 4.48 billion years old, older than the oldest zircons found on Earth, located in Western Australia.

The composition of some pieces of the meteorite is also very intriguing: they are comparable to today's Earth continents. This tells us that Terra Cimmeria-Sirenum is an ancient crust hosting rocks 4.5 billion years old, with chemical and magnetic characteristics distinct from anywhere else on Mars.

Sending future missions to this identified region would enable scientists to explore what happened on Mars 4.5 billion years ago, a few million years after its formation. As the Earth lost its old surface mainly due to plate tectonics, observing such a setting in extremely ancient terrains on Mars is a window into the ancient Earth we lost a long time ago.

Explore further Machine learning identifies crater that ejected famous Martian rock

More information: A. Lagain et al, Early crustal processes revealed by the ejection site of the oldest martian meteorite, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications A. Lagain et al, Early crustal processes revealed by the ejection site of the oldest martian meteorite,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31444-8

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
As depicted in this illustration, NASA's EMIT will be attached to Express Logistics Carrier 1, a platform on the International Space Station that supports external science instruments. The mission will help scientists better understand the role of airborne dust in heating and cooling the atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Each year, strong winds carry more than a billion metric tonsor the weight of 10,000 aircraft carriersof mineral dust from Earth's deserts and other dry regions through the atmosphere. While scientists know that the dust affects the environment and climate, they don't have enough data to determine, in detail, what those effects are or may be in the futureat least not yet.

Set to launch to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Thursday, July 14, at 8:44 p.m. EDT (5:44 p.m. PDT), NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument will help fill in those knowledge gaps. EMIT's state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer, developed by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, will collect more than a billion dust-source-composition measurements around the globe over the course of a yearand in doing so, significantly advance scientists' understanding of dust's influence across the Earth system.

Live coverage from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. Prelaunch events on Wednesday, July 13, include a 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) climate conversation on NASA TV with Kate Calvin, NASA's chief scientist and climate advisor, and Robert Green, EMIT's principal investigator at JPL.

Using image spectrometer technology developed at JPL, NASA's EMIT mission will map the surface composition of minerals in Earth's dust-producing regions, helping climate scientists better understand the impact of airborne dust particles in heating and cooling the planet's atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Here are five things to know about EMIT:

1. It will identify the composition of mineral dust from Earth's arid regions.

Desert regions produce most of the mineral dust that makes its way into the atmosphere. They're also largely remote, making it difficult for scientists to collect soil and dust samples over these vast areas by hand.

From its perch on the space station, EMIT will map the world's mineral dust source regions. The imaging spectrometer will also provide information on the color and composition of dust sources globally for the first time. This data will help scientists understand which kinds of dust dominate each region and advance their understanding of dust's impact on climate and the Earth system today and in the future.

2. It will clarify whether mineral dust heats or cools the planet.

Right now, scientists don't know whether mineral dust has a cumulative heating or cooling effect on the planet. That's because dust particles in the atmosphere have different properties. For instance, some particles may be dark red, while others may be white.

The color matters because it determines whether the dust will absorb the Sun's energy, as dark-colored minerals do, or reflect it, as light-colored minerals do. If more of the dust absorbs the Sun's energy than reflects it, it'll warm the planet, and vice versa.

EMIT will provide a detailed picture of how much dust comes from dark versus light minerals. That information will allow scientists to determine whether dust heats or cools the planet overall, as well as regionally and locally.

3. It will help scientists understand how dust affects different Earth processes.

Mineral dust particles vary in color because they're made of different substances. Dark red mineral dust gets its color from iron, for example. The composition of dust particles affects how they interact with many of Earth's natural processes.

For instance, mineral dust plays a role in cloud formation and atmospheric chemistry. When mineral dust is deposited in the ocean or forests, it can provide nutrients for growth, acting like fertilizer. When it falls on snow or ice, the dust accelerates melting, leading to more water runoff. And for humans, mineral dust can be a health hazard when inhaled.

EMIT will collect information on 10 important dust varieties, including those that contain iron oxides, clays, and carbonates. With this data, scientists will be able to assess precisely what effects mineral dust has on different ecosystems and processes.

A dust plume stretches over the eastern Mediterranean, shrouding parts of Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. The June 2020 image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. NASA's EMIT mission will help scientists better understand how airborne dust affects climate. Credit: NASA

4. Its data will improve the accuracy of climate models.

In the absence of more specific data, scientists currently characterize mineral dust in climate models as yellowa general average of dark and light. Because of this, the effects that mineral dust may have on climateand that climate may have on mineral dustare not well represented in computer models.

Color and composition information gathered by EMIT will change that. When the instrument's data is incorporated, the accuracy of climate models is expected to improve.

5. It will help scientists predict how future climate scenarios will affect the type and amount of dust in our atmosphere.



As global temperatures rise, arid regions may become even drier, possibly resulting in larger (and dustier) deserts. To what extent this might happen depends on several factors, including how much temperatures rise, how land use changes, and how rainfall trends change.

By incorporating EMIT's global dust source composition data into models and predictions, scientists will gain a better understanding of how the amount and composition of dust in arid regions may change under different climate and land-use scenarios. They'll also gain a better understanding of how these changes may impact climate in the future.

Explore further New imaging spectrometer surveys atmospheric dust from the ISS

More information: To learn more about the mission, visit: To learn more about the mission, visit: earth.jpl.nasa.gov/emit/
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Ever since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, analysts picking apart Vladimir Putin's motives and messaging about the war have looked to religion for some of the answers. Putin's nationalist vision paints Russia as a defender of traditional Christian values against a liberal, secular West.

Putin's Russia, however, is only the latest in a centuries long lineup of nations using religion to bolster their political ambitions. As a Jesuit priest and scholar of Catholicism, I've seen in my research on nationalism and religion how patriotic loyalties and religious faith easily borrow one another's language, symbols and emotions.

Western Christianity, including Catholicism, has often been enlisted to stir up patriotic fervor in support of nationalism. Historically, one typical aspect of the Catholic approach is linking devotion to the Virgin Mary with the interests of the state and military.

The birth of a belief

An Egyptian papyrus fragment from the fourth century is the first clear evidence of Christians' praying to the Virgin Mary. The brief prayer, which seeks Mary's protection in times of trouble, is written in the first person pluralusing language like "our" and "we"which suggests a belief that Mary would respond to groups of people as well as individuals.

That conviction appeared to grow in the following centuries. After the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in A.D. 312, the new faith developed a close relationship with his empire, including a belief that Mary looked with particular favor on the capital city of Constantinople.

Political and religious leaders asked the Virgin for victory in battle and shelter from plagues. In A.D. 626, Constantinople was besieged by a Persian navy. Christians believed that their prayers to the Virgin destroyed the invading fleet, saving the city and its inhabitants. The Akathist hymn, which has been prayed in both the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches ever since, gives Mary the military title "Champion General" in thanks for that victory.

In the Catholic West, military successes such as European victories over the Ottoman Empire were attributed to Mary's intervention. Her blessing has been sought on imperialist endeavors, including Spain's conquest of the Americas.

Even today, Mary holds the title of general in the armies of Argentina and Chile, where she is considered a national patroness. The same association between Marian devotion and patriotism can be found in many Latin American countries.

National symbol

Off the battlefield, many Catholic cultures have historically felt they had a special relationship with Mary. In 1638, King Louis XIII formally dedicated France to the Virgin Mary. Popular belief interpreted the subsequent birth of the future Louis XIV as Mary's miraculous reward, after 23 years of waiting for a male heir.

About two decades later, Polish King Jan II Kazimierz consecrated his country to Mary amid a war. Both acts reflected church and political leaders' beliefs that their countries had a sacred mission and divine approval for their political ambitions.

When these kinds of beliefs become widespread in a society, many scholars would label them religious nationalismthough there is a long-standing debate about when affection for one's country becomes "nationalism." There is widespread consensus, though, that religion is one of the most common elements of nationalism, and many nationalist projects have invoked Mary's blessing.

Polish territory, for example, was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria for more than a century. But Polish Catholics continued to address Mary as "Queen of Poland." Her title asserted the existence of the Polish people as a nation. And it implied that efforts to reestablish Poland as a sovereign country had a heavenly helper.

Similarly, in the 19th century, both Queen Victoria and the Virgin Mary were referred to in different contexts as "Queen of Ireland," expressing two rival visions of Ireland: part of the Protestant United Kingdom, or a separate and essentially Catholic country.

Many different movements have used the figure of the Virgin to support their agendas. In colonial Mexico, the figure of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one title for Mary, was originally interpreted as being a champion of the "criollos," native-born inhabitants of Spanish descent. During the 181021 War of Mexican Independence, "la Guadalupana" figured on the banners of the "independista" forces. The Spanish army, meanwhile, adopted the "Virgin of Los Remedios," another title for Mary, as their own patroness. She would later be invoked in support of Indigenous people and mestizos, people with both Indigenous and Spanish ancestry.

Mary is invoked not only by nationalist causes. Sometimes she is inspiration for countercultural or protest movements, from the pro-life cause to Latina feminists. Labor leader Cesar Chavez placed the image of Guadalupe on banners as his organization marched for farmworkers' rights.

Mary's future

All these uses draw on the ancient belief in Mary's power to intervene in times of trouble. However, ideological, political and especially military ambitions and religious sentiment are a volatile mix. As the current war in Ukraine shows, allegiance to one's nation, especially when it claims Christian inspiration, can inspire both imperialist expansionism and heroic resistance to it.

This makes a better understanding of religious nationalism urgently important, especially for the church. Twentieth- and 21st-century popes have condemned aggressive nationalism but have not defined it clearly.

In cultures that are largely secularized, appeals for Mary's protection or claims that she has a special relationship with any one nation are now likely to seem archaic, outlandish or sectarian. But what I know of both Marian devotion and national identity has convinced me that ancient patterns often survive and reassert themselves in new times and places.

Even where the practice of Catholicism is in decline, Mary's cultural significance remains strong. And religion continues to be a regular element of many nationalist agendas.

My guess is that we have not seen the last of the warrior Virgin.

Explore further What is behind belief in weeping Virgin Mary statues

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The researchers used their two-photon interference lidar method to create a detailed 3D map of a 20 pence coin. Credit: Ashley Lyons, University of Glasgow

Researchers have shown that a quantum-inspired technique can be used to perform LiDAR imaging with a much higher depth resolution than is possible with conventional approaches. LiDAR, which uses laser pulses to acquire 3D information about a scene or object, is usually best suited for imaging large objects such as topographical features or built structures due to its limited depth resolution.

"Although LiDAR can be used to image the overall shape of a person, it typically doesn't capture finer details such as facial features," said research team leader Ashley Lyons from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. "By adding extra depth resolution, our approach could capture enough detail to not only see facial features but even someone's fingerprints."

In Optics Express, Lyons and first author Robbie Murray describe the new technique, which they call imaging two-photon interference LiDAR. They show that it can distinguish reflective surfaces less than 2 millimeters apart and create high-resolution 3D images with micron-scale resolution.

"This work could lead to much higher resolution 3D imaging than is possible now, which could be useful for facial recognition and tracking applications that involve small features," said Lyons. "For practical use, conventional LiDAR could be used to get a rough idea of where an object might be and then the object could be carefully measured with our method."

Using classically entangled light

The new technique uses "quantum inspired" interferometry, which extracts information from the way that two light beams interfere with each other. Entangled pairs of photonsor quantum lightare often used for this type of interferometry, but approaches based on photon entanglement tend to perform poorly in situations with high levels of light loss, which is almost always the case for LiDAR. To overcome this problem, the researchers applied what they've learned from quantum sensing to classical (non-quantum) light.

"With quantum entangled photons, only so many photon pairs per unit time can be generated before the setup becomes very technically demanding," said Lyons. "These problems don't exist with classical light, and it is possible to get around the high losses by turning up the laser power."

When two identical photons meet at a beam splitter at the same time they will always stick together, or become entangled, and leave in the same direction. Classical light shows the same behavior but to a lesser degreemost of the time classical photons go in the same direction. The researchers used this property of classical light to very precisely time the arrival of one photon by looking at when two photons simultaneously arrive at detectors.

Enhancing depth resolution

"The time information gives us the ability to perform depth ranging by sending one of those photons out onto the 3D scene and then timing how long it takes for that photon to come back," said Lyons. "Thus, two-photon interference LiDAR works much like conventional LiDAR but allows us to more precisely time how long it takes for that photon to reach the detector, which directly translates into greater depth resolution."

The researchers demonstrated the high depth resolution of two-photon interference LiDAR by using it to detect the two reflective surfaces of a piece of glass about 2 millimeters thick. Traditional LiDAR wouldn't be able to distinguish these two surfaces, but the researchers were able to clearly measure the two surfaces. They also used the new method to create a detailed 3D map of a 20-pence coin with 7-micron depth resolution. This shows that the method could capture the level of detail necessary to differentiate key facial features or other differences between people.

Two-photon interference LiDAR also works very well at the single-photon level, which could enhance more complex imaging approaches used for non-line-of-sight imaging or imaging through highly scattering media.

Currently, acquiring the images takes a long time because it requires scanning across all three spatial dimensions. The researchers are working to make this process faster by reducing the amount of scanning necessary to acquire 3D information.

Explore further Imaging breakthrough could aid development of quantum microscopes

More information: Robbie Murray et al, Two-photon interference LiDAR imaging, Optics Express (2022). Journal information: Optics Express Robbie Murray et al, Two-photon interference LiDAR imaging,(2022). DOI: 10.1364/OE.461248
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The rapid rise of the "gig" economy for moving people, goods and services is transforming Australian cities, but not necessarily for the better, a new University of Melbourne study has found.

The five-year study Gig Cities is the first research in Australia to explore the gig economy from the perspective of consumers, workers, and industry in Australia and makes recommendations for policy makers in managing this transformation.

The study included in-depth interviews with 90 people, and found complex, unaddressed issues, including deep dissatisfaction with the existing gig economy model from both workers and consumers.

Project lead Associate Professor David Bissell said the research took a deep dive to find out how people's feelings about the gig economy are changing, using Melbourne as a case study.

"Many workers and consumers are growing tired of the gig economy and are not passively accepting how things are. Our interviewees showcase a range of complex emotions, but many have become profoundly disaffected," Associate Professor Bissell said.

Research team member Dr. Elizabeth Straughan said the team interviewed both workers and employers to explore the positive and negative aspects of gig work platforms.

"Though some workers appreciate the flexibility to earn some top-up income, many are looking for ways out owing to dissatisfaction with low pay, fears for their personal safety and well-being, feelings of isolation, and a lack of viable career pathway," Dr. Straughan said.

"On the other hand, although consumers have at times enjoyed the convenience of these on-demand platforms, our findings show that consumers actively grapple with the tricky and inequitable politics of the gig economy when making decisions about using these services."

The report recommends that governments regulate platform companies more tightly to ensure pay and conditions for workers are improved through recognizing them as employees.

Associate Professor Bissell said the entrenchment of gig work platforms prompts consideration about the kinds of cities we want in terms of equity of access to services, workers' rights, urban planning and infrastructure supporting this economy.

"If we're genuinely committed to cities that are socially just, it might be that these kinds of platforms have finally had their day."

Explore further Uber inks deal for Australian gig worker rights
Leaf of a cassava plant showing severe disease symptoms caused by infection with cassava geminiviruses. Credit: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Research led by Rebecca Bart, Ph.D., associate member, and Nigel Taylor, Ph.D., associate member and Dorothy King distinguished investigator, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and their collaborators at ETH Zurich, University of California Los Angeles, and the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda, has identified a genetic mutation that confers resistance to cassava mosaic disease (CMD). Their findings have significant implications for improving cassava yield and sustaining farmer income in the face of a widespread disease, and their discovery could also shed light on disease-resistance in other major crops. This work was recently published in Nature Communications.

Cassava, a starchy root crop rich in carbohydrates, is one of the most important staple foods in the world; it feeds nearly one billion people, mostly in the tropics. Cassava is considered a staple in many developing countries, especially among small holder farmers, due to its drought-tolerance and ability to grow in poor soils. However, farmers in Africa, India, and Southeast Asiasome of the largest cassava producing regions in the worldtoo often suffer huge yield losses due to CMD. CMD infected plants are stunted and do not fully develop the storage roots that are used for food.

Cassava mosaic disease is caused by a family of closely related viruses. The virus hijacks cassava's DNA replication system, compromising its development and thus suppressing yield. "Breeding better, CMD-resistant cassava varieties has significant implications to secure the livelihoods of smallholder farmers," explains Taylor. CMD-resistant cassava varieties exist and are thought to have been originally identified and selected by farmers many decades ago. Many of these varieties are still widely grown and used by breeders as sources of resistance to create new, improved varieties of cassava.

"Cassava remains mysterious in many ways," says Taylor, "compared to corn or soybean, where hundreds of research labs have been working on these crops for decades." Several years ago, Taylor's team unexpectedly discovered plants in the field that had lost resistance to CMD, thus triggering the present investigation into the genetic basis for resilience to the virus. "If CMD-resistance hadn't mysteriously been lost," describes Bart, "we may never have gone after this project."

The researchers immediately knew they had discovered something important. With initial support from the Danforth Center's Institute for International Crop Improvement, the Danforth team initiated experiments to discover the genetic basis for CMD resistance. The collaboration grew to include partners at NaCRRI, UCLA and ETH-Zurich and was supported with additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

By identifying the exact genetic region that confers CMD-resistancein fact, down to a single nucleotidetheir work sheds light on how resistance was acquired and how to maintain resistance to secure yields in the future. Additionally, similar viruses "attack many other crops, including cotton and tomato," says Bart. "This discovery could provide disease-resistance strategies in those crops, too."

Studying cassava in the field is crucial to the researchers' discoveries. For two years, the NaCRRI team grew cassava and documented disease prevalence in the field in Ugandaa recognized "hotspot" for CMD. The Danforth Center and NaCRRI, which is based near Kampala, have built a longstanding relationship, allowing levels of collaboration and resource-sharing between institutions.

These new findings were the result of combining expertise from researchers across the globeand including critical contributions from Danforth Center Post-doctoral Associate and co-first author Dr. Ben Mansfeld, Research Associate Kerrigan Gilbert and additional key co-authors. "The other collaborators," adds Taylor, "were the farmers in Africa who identified CMD-resistant plants and maintained them over generations. We have now discovered the gene behind the resistance."

The discovery of a single mutation that confers resistance to CMD has opened the door for more questions and opportunities. First and foremost, explains Bart, "we need to understand the mechanism of how the mutation confers resistance." Understanding the mechanism of resistance will likely shed light on how stable the resistance will be over time.

"There is a lot more to learn," Taylor concludes. "How many other secrets are out there about cassava we have yet to discover?" The research team will continue their collaborative and global studies of cassava, and, in the process, highlight the importance of focusing research on lesser-known crops.

Explore further Ivorian cassava yield triples with better soil management

More information: Yi-Wen Lim et al, Mutations in DNA polymerase  subunit 1 co-segregate with CMD2-type resistance to Cassava Mosaic Geminiviruses, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Yi-Wen Lim et al, Mutations in DNA polymerase  subunit 1 co-segregate with CMD2-type resistance to Cassava Mosaic Geminiviruses,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31414-0
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A University of the Sunshine Coast researcher is investigating whether spider and scorpion venoms have the potential to save Australia's honeybees from the invasive and deadly varroa mite parasite.

Hundreds of hives have been destroyed, and Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have banned bees, hives and honey products from New South Wales in a bid to contain an outbreak of the Varroa destructor mite, detected for the first time in Australia at several properties in New South Wales.

"Despite the grim outlook, I think it is not all lost yet, if we act swift and hard," says UniSC Associate Professor Volker Herzig, who is researching environmentally friendly treatments for honeybee pests, such as the varroa mite and small hive beetles.

"Now, halfway into my project, and after screening over 240 arachnid venoms against varroa mites, we have four lead molecules that we are currently characterizing to identify the best possible candidate," he said.

"Unfortunately, these will take several more years to develop, so they can't be applied to control the present outbreak in New South Wales."

Associate Professor Herzig said Australia was previously the only country to escape the Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite species that causes negative impacts on the honeybee health and eventually results in colony collapse.

"So far, no country to which Varroa destructor has spread previously has been able to successfully eradicate them," he said.

Associate Professor Herzig doubts whether current eradication, surveillance zone and buffer zones reach far enough.

"It just takes a single breach of the current exclusion zones, in combination with beehives being transported across Australia for pollination services, and we will soon end up with an uncontrollable spread of the varroa mites," he said.

As a precautionary measure, he recommends immediately prohibiting any movement of beehives within Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

"Once the mites have spread to any of the feral honeybee colonies, there will be no means of monitoring or controlling their further spread anymore, which would make eradication practically impossible," he said.

"I am aware that such hard measures will cause a significant economic hit to the bee industry, but that it would only be for a limited time."

"In contrast, the associated economic impact would pale in comparison to the many millions of dollars it will cost the Australian bee-industry annually once the mites have become endemic, because then there will be no going back."

Explore further Here's what you need to know about the Varroa mite

Provided by University of the Sunshine Coast
Scientists are developing a super-spud to better withstand harsher environmental conditions. Credit:  nednapa, Shutterstock

From origins in the cool altitudes of the Andes, the potato is not well suited to the extreme temperatures or flooding brought on by climate change. Plant scientists are breeding "super-spuds" able to endure harsher environmental conditions.

The humble potato was first domesticated near Lake Titicaca in present-day Peru at least 8,000 years ago, and went on to sustain the great cities of the Inca empire. By the mid-16th century, it had left the Andes and crossed the Atlantic to Europe where it was introduced to Ireland in 1589 by English adventurer and courtier, the enigmatic Sir Walter Raleigh. Highly productive and extremely popular, the potato plant soon went on to become a staple in many European countries.

Today, it is the fourth most commonly grown food crop globally, after rice, maize, and wheat. Nonetheless, it remains vulnerable to waterlogging and heat stress, conditions that it did not evolve to withstand in its original high-altitude home in the Andes. Now, with pollution upending Europe's climate, the potato has to confront these dual nemeses with increasing regularity.

"Some potatoes are quite tolerant of drought stress, but they all have big problems with heat and flooding," says Dr. Markus Teige, plant scientist at the University of Vienna who is leading the ADAPT project. ADAPT is developing new strategies to ensure potato crop productivity remains stable in the growth conditions of the future.

Plants afflicted by excessive heat stop producing sugarspreventing the development of tubersand then race to flower early. This is an excellent strategy for wild potatoes to ensure the survival of the species under challenging conditions, but it delivers low yields to farmers.

Climate repercussions

A recent survey of more than 500 European potato growers revealed that drought and heat were seen as the main repercussions of climate change on potatoes, followed by pests, disease, and heavy rains.

Some potato varieties are better than others at resisting environmental stresses, which suggests that there is potential for plant breeders to genetically improve the European spud to be more tolerant.

The ADAPT project brings together four potato breeders and ten research institutions to investigate how some potatoes resist stresses.

"We want to understand stress acclimation at the molecular level," said Dr. Teige, "To develop markers for breeding stress tolerant potatoes."

Potato breeding is especially challenging because of its complex genetics. The European variety contains millions of letters of DNA, each in four copies, on twelve distinct strands (chromosomes).

Genetic markers are akin to signposts that signify important stretches of DNA associated with a desirable trait, such as better tolerance to heat.

"A relatively small range of potato genetics was brought to Europe," said Dr. Dan Milbourne, potato researcher at Teagasc in Ireland, a state agricultural research organization. Therefore, it might be possible to import new traits.

ADAPT scientists have grown around 50 potato varieties in different combinations of stress conditions in various European locations. In parallel, they have run experiments in greenhouses, where varieties are grown under defined conditions in a high-tech facility in the Czech Republic.

The plants are photographed and measured daily to record how much water they use, and their rates of photosynthesis and growth. This data can reveal how they are influenced by stress and highlight signposts (genetic markers) in the potato genome important for stress responses.

The signposts save time and money for future breeding programs. "If a marker is associated with a specific trait, then, when you grow a seedling, you extract the DNA and look for the marker," said Dr. Teige. The old way was to allow the plant to grow and wait to see if the desired trait was present.

Saving time in plant breeding is a huge deal. "It takes about 12 years to produce a potato variety," said Dr. Milbourne. And he should know, because last year, his organization was involved in the release of Buster, a new variety of potato resistant to a type of nematode worm that can severely damage potato crops.

Potato preferences

In Ireland, potatoes must be sprayed up to 20 times during a growing season to protect against late blight. Blight has an historical significance in Ireland as it caused potato crop failure in the 1840s which triggered a disastrous famine that decimated the population.

Meanwhile, Europe is seeking to lessen reliance on chemical sprays, with the European Commission recently proposing that pesticide use be cut in half by 2030. To reduce dependence on spraying, more pest-resistant potatoes will be needed.

Dr. Milbourne is part of a project called PotatoMASH, which devised a way of scanning the genetic variation across the genome of potato varieties in an inexpensive manner. The method can diagnose the presence of target diseases and pest resistance genes in potatoes by sampling only stretches of very variable DNA, which is significantly less expensive than traditional methods of identifying genetic markers.

New software developed at ILVO (Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) in Belgium, identifies areas of DNA where there are subtle differences between varieties.

It is single differences in the DNA code that are most interesting to breeders, explained Dr. Milbourne. Potato breeding will be accelerated by identifying signposts for these areas.

"Instead of testing thousands of individuals by infecting them with a disease and following their response," said Dr. Milbourne, "I can just click out a small bit of leaf material about the size of my fingernail and test it for these markers, which can tell me whether a gene is present or absent."

This is an important advance in the push to develop potatoes resistant to pests and diseases and able to withstand the vagaries of our future climate, while not sacrificing yield.

Super-spuds

Crucially, it will not be a matter of breeding just one super-spud, because consumer tastes for potatoes vary widely from country to country, and there will be plenty of new potato varieties needed for the future.

"We are looking at moving from feeding 7 billion people to between 11 and 13 billion over the next several decades," said Dr. Milbourne.

"We're going to have to double production, without increasing the amount of land we farm, while also facing climate change, which could also deplete the land we have available for agriculture."

Part of the solution is to boost the resilience of staple cropssuch as potatoesto extremes such as high temperatures, pests, and diseases, while relying less on pesticides. The race is on.

Explore further Genome study reveals history of European potato
The pine processionary caterpillar, covered with stinging hairs that spark fear into city dwellers. Credit: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Trees and cities are not rivalsat least, no longer entirely. The ambitious tree-planting programs we have witnessed in cities over the past years are proof of urban dwellers' passion for them.

But there is a paradox in this: cities continue to spread at the expense of natural areas, breaking up habitats and removing woodland to make way for impervious surfaces that store and give off heat, such as concrete.

Urban trees are often presented as a "nature-based solution" that helps cool down cities. However, trees also play a more understated role that is just as vital: they provide lasting support for the living world.

Researchers have long gauged biodiversity according to the number of species present in a given environment. They are now increasingly realizing the importance of another dimension: the extent to which species interact with one another.

Indeed, species have been able to adapt to environmental restrictions thanks to their interactions with others than their own. Such connections are hard-wired within them through evolution. For instance, urban white clovers were recently found to have lost their capacity to emit chemicals in defense of herbivores.

While we increasingly understand how urbanization impacts upon plants and their enemies, there effectively remain significant research gaps, be them geographical (Africa or South America are current blind spots) or scientific (how our towns shape species interaction or local food chains).

Cities' rich and overlooked ecosystems

Trees and woods in cities provide shelter for a wide range of organisms. City-dwelling readers might think of those small bugs sucking off the sap of plants, aphids, whose maple-like excrements drip onto car roofs or bicycles parked under lime trees; the famously unnerving pine processionary caterpillars that thrive in warmer towns, or the starlings that find shelter between the leaves at night. We could go on.

Such organisms constantly interact with trees and with one another. Look up to an oak tree and you can see traces of herbivorous insects that have passed by: leaves gnawed by caterpillars and punctured by sap-hungry aphids and heteropterans.

In turn, predatorsespecially birdsprevent such insects from stripping the trees bare by preying on them.

Together, trees, herbivorous insects and insectivorous birds constitute robust ecosystems. Their intrinsic links allow them to hold up against external disturbances like bad weather.

An example of a gall formed by a beech leaf. The gall provides shelter for a herbivorous insect larva. The insect helps form the gall, which gives it shelter and food. Credit: The Conversation

Uncharted interactions

Much research has shown urbanization standardizes biodiversity, which is more alike between two cities in the same region than between a given city and its surrounding countryside. This shapes interactions between organisms and, by extension, the dynamics of biodiversity and so-called ecosystem services city dwellers are provided with, such as cooler and cleaner air.

It would be wrong to think life is equally spread across within the city, however. If two towns from one region look more alike than an urban center and its greenbelt, differing tree density from one district to another tend to turn towns into biological patchworks.

Researchers at North Carolina State University found areas with fewer trees provide herbivores with fewer resources. This, in turn, cuts down their numbers, and spares the trees from their devastating appetites. On the other hand, researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia, have also shown conservation of fully developed trees in city streets helps maintain bird diversity.

The more trees there are, the more insects attack them

We studied the heterogeneity of biodiversity among urban trees as part of a Europe-wide participative science project.

Fifty-two schools and forty-one scientists took samples of oak leaves in seventeen countries. Some were from cities, others from the countryside. By examining the 18,060 leaves all the project partners sent us, we were able to study the impact of urbanization on insects linked to the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in the bulk of its area of distribution in Europe.

We observed contrasting effects from impervious surfaces (typical of urbanized zones) and from tree density on herbivorous insects linked to oak trees: oaks surrounded by many trees sustained more attacks on average (suggesting greater abundance and diversity of herbivores), whereas oaks growing in highly urbanized zones underwent fewer attacks. These results were expected.

What was less expected was our finding on how tree density can alleviate the impacts of urbanization. This was particularly true for insects that form galls on leaves and those leaf miners that dig galleries within them: while the numbers of leaf miners were overall lower in towns, they proved slightly higher in areas with trees offering shelters against stressful climatic conditions.

In sum, our study shows urban trees not only give us pleasure, but prove to be precious allies in the global fight against the loss of our ecosystems and life-support systems.

At the very least, we should keep a watchful eye on the domino effect of any action carried out on urban trees, given our understanding of the complex interactions between trees and urban biodiversity is still limited. We will be pursuing our work next year, with new schools taking part in the project.

Explore further Scientists estimate invasive insects will kill 1.4 million US street trees by 2050

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Former Chicago police Detective Beth Svec stands outside the courtroom at the Daley Center on July 12, 2022 in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Former Chicago police detective and her lawyer told a Cook County jury Tuesday that she was made an example of and given an undesirable assignment after she contradicted officers story of a gun arrest.

Beth Svec has sued the department for violating protections awarded by the Illinois Whistleblower Act.

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According to her complaint, Svec was a detective in Area 2, assigned by her superiors to a pilot program investigating cases of unlawful gun possessions in 2015. On May 30, 2016, she was investigating a case in which two officers were pursuing felony charges against two men for unlawful possession of a firearm and for assaulting an officer.

While conducting her investigation, Svec testified that she found evidence including a video that contradicted the accounts of Officer Brandon Ternand and Officer Robert Caulfield .

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Svec notified the officers, her supervisors and the assistants states attorney of her findings, she said. The Cook County states attorneys office rejected the request of officers to charge the two arrested men and notified the CPD Bureau of Internal Affairs, Svecs complaint states.

In the weeks after the arrest and investigation, Svec was transferred to the Englewood neighborhood. Later that year, she found herself reassigned to the midnight shift, which she said she hadnt worked since her first few years as a police officer.

Through tears, she testified that she was proud to have been assigned to the pilot program. I look at it as an honor because they felt I could do a great job, she said.

Earlier, Circuit Judge Daniel J. Kubasiak and the jury heard opening arguments.

Svecs attorney Tom Needham addressed the jury first while Svec sat behind him, eyes cast down. Needham framed the case for the jury as a decision between the code of silence, which he calls the norm in the Police Department, and the whistleblower law, which he said is meant to protect those who wish to break the code of silence.

Beth chose in her mind to take the path that was more difficult but correct, even though it was in some sense the road less traveled, he said.

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Needham also emphasized the impact the incident had on Svecs emotional well-being, saying that three mental health professionals diagnosed her with depression and deemed her unable to continue working for CPD. Those experts are expected to take the stand later this week.

In his opening statement, a lawyer for the city, J.T. Wilson, aimed to discredit Svec, calling the retaliation she is alleging imaginary for the job she envisioned for herself, not the job she was hired to do.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. >

According to Wilson, detectives are moved for the operational needs of the department and Svec had closed only 19 cases that year, significantly lower than the average of other detectives who close over 100 per year. He also said she failed to properly fill out her bid for shifts, which resulted in her being assigned to the midnight shift.

He showed the jury the gun supposedly recovered from the scene and cited crime statistics from that year to demonstrate the importance of the work the officers were doing.

Svec was the first witness to take the stand. During her testimony, she said she had been given second watch, the early day shift, at the discretion of her supervisors for years previous to the incident.

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She recounted the moments when she found enough evidence to believe that the officers had lied, andcried openly when she told the jury how it immediately made her concerned for her own career. She testified that this was because she had been taught to support her fellow officers since her days at the police academy.

You never turn your back on them, she said.

The trial will resume Wednesday and is scheduled to continue until later this month.
FORT EDWARD  A Fort Edward resident was extricated from a house after a tree fell on it on Tuesday.

Severe thunderstorms moved through the area on Tuesday afternoon. At about 3:26 p.m., Washington County dispatchers received a call reporting a tree down on a residence on North River Road with a person trapped inside on the second floor. The Fort Edward Fire Department, Washington County Sheriffs Office, New York State Police and Fort Edward EMS were immediately dispatched, according to a news release from the Washington County Department of Public Safety.

Upon arriving in the area of North River Road, the units encountered numerous trees and wires down and requested assistance from the town of Fort Edward Department of Public Works and National Grid.

Emergency personnel were able to locate the two-story residence at 117 North River Road. A single resident was trapped inside, when roof debris fell down and pinned the resident inside the partially collapsed area of the residence.

Units requested additional assistance from other area fire departments, Washington County and the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Controls USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) Task Force 2 team to assist in maintaining the stability of the structure and safe extrication of the subject from the residence.

First responders gained access to the resident through the roof and began stabilization and extrication efforts. A medical helicopter flew to the scene, providing on scene medical support to the patient, along with the Fort Edward Rescue Squad and response to the scene from a physician at Glens Falls Hospital and Albany Medical Center.

The person was able to be safely extricated from the scene and transported by helicopter at about 6 p.m. to Glens Falls Hospital. The person is in stable condition.

Storm damage

Washington County dispatchers handled 49 storm-related calls through around 5:30 p.m., which included the towns of Argyle, Fort Edward, Greenwich, Hebron, Salem, Jackson and those in some of the bordering counties and towns. Reports included a number of trees and wires down calls, transformer fires and three reports of trees into residential structures.

The Fort Edward incident is the only known reported injury at this point.

Crews are working to clear any blocked roads.

As of 9:15 p.m., there were a total of 1,286 National Grid customers without power and 483 NYSEG customers without power in Washington County. The number of National Grid customers without power had been reduced to 235 by 11 p.m. Estimated restoration time was 12:45 a.m.

There were 7,398 customers in Saratoga County without power as of 11 p.m. Electricity was expected to be back on by 2 a.m.

Warren County had only one customer without power as of 11 p.m.

Wednesdays forecast calls for high temperatures reaching 82 degrees and a 20% chance of showers.
LOWVILLE  Ahead of the Democratic primary election in August, candidate Matt Castelli said hes feeling more and more confident in his campaigns strength and appeal to most voters in New Yorks 21st Congressional District.

The Democrat, a former CIA officer and counterterrorism director for the National Security Council, has secured support in some fashion from all of the county Democratic committees in the district, and has gone on to obtain a third-party ballot line in the general election as well.

In an interview ahead of a campaign event in Lowville, Castelli said hes unwilling to entertain a future where he hasnt won the Democratic primary.

We have every intent and plan to win that Democratic primary, he said over a cup of coffee at Lloyds of Lowville.

Castelli referenced his endorsements, from the party committees and leaders, to former U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, the Democrat who represented the North Country district from 2009 to 2015 and U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va. But he said the strongest indicator of his appeal so far is his successful attempt to gain the Moderate Party line. He said he collected signatures from over 11,000 unique voters between his Democratic and Moderate Party petitions to appear on the ballot  a significant amount when only 1,500 signatures are required to successfully secure a ballot line for an established party.

Although the Moderate Party has started up in some states, like New Jersey, as a coordinated effort among many people to bridge the Republican and Democratic parties and promote centrism, Castelli said his own Moderate Party is not part of that larger organization.

Although I think, as Im learning more about whats happening in places like New Jersey, that our interests, our very values, are very much aligned, he said.

Castelli said NY-21 has a strong base of independent voters, and has long been known to support more moderate candidates in Congress, like Owens. He said his goal is to show moderate Republicans, Democrats and independent voters that he is that moderate, what he calls common-sense candidate.

Thoughts on Jan. 6

Castelli said he stands firmly against political violence, and has long referenced the Jan. 6 attack as his reason to seek a seat in Congress in the first place. He said the Republican Party has bred extremism that has led to that violent act, and thats where the moderation is needed most. But Castelli also spoke of concerns over left-leaning Democrats spending habits and fiscal irresponsibility.

Castelli said the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has shown that the core issues that caused the violent attack are even more significant than he first believed.

Its worse than what I anticipated, he said. I think its been shocking.

Castelli said the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol, where right-wing extremists and supporters of President Trump tried to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Bidens election win, was an example of domestic terrorism. Now, he said it seems that domestic terrorism was directed from the Presidents office.

What is clear at this stage is that there was a crime, an attack on our country and attempt to overthrow the will of the American people, and that it had the knowledge and intense direction from the very highest level of government, he said.

In public testimony before the House committee, witnesses close to President Trump during the weeks and days before and during Jan. 6, 2021, have alleged that Trump knew his supporters were armed, had long been planning to march on the Capitol after his early morning speech, and was unwilling to tell them to stop once the violence began.

Castellis Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, has made discrediting the investigation a primary focus herself.

The congresswoman, as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, has led the Republicans response to the committees findings. In appearances on conservative cable news and opinion channels, press releases and tweets, Stefanik has called the hearings shams. She has instead blamed Democrats for failing to secure the Capitol, against potential threats, and has said she views Capitol security as the primary concern following the attack on the houses of Congress.

Castelli said the fact that most of these witnesses have been Republicans, and the consistency of the stories between different people and their in-person, video and written testimony, shows the veracity of their allegations.

This dramatic insight comes from Republicans who are testifying, members of President Trumps inner circle, he said.

Castelli said he thinks the committee is achieving exactly what it needs to.

They are providing us the truth, we are getting truth we can trust in, transparency into what happened, he said. We are all entitled to the truth, certainly about those actions and the intent in what was behind it.

Castelli is running for the Democratic nomination against Matthew Putorti, a Whitehall native and longtime corporate lawyer. Whoever wins that primary will go on to stand against Stefanik in Novembers general election, but with Castelli having secured a third-party line, its possible all three candidates could compete in the general election.
FORT EDWARD  State police on Wednesday released the name of the woman who was rescued from her Fort Edward home after a tree fell on it.

Police received a call at about 3:43 p.m. on Tuesday for a report of a tree down on the house because of the high winds from the storm. Emergency personnel responded to 117 North River Road and rescued 75-year-old Penelope Perry, who was trapped on the second floor from debris.

They were able to stabilize the structure and access Perry through the roof. She was safely extricated and transported by helicopter to Glens Falls Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

In addition to state police, agencies that responded to the scene included the Washington County Sheriffs Office, Washington County Department of Public Safety, Washington County Emergency Management, Fort Edward Rescue Squad and fire departments from Fort Edward, Greenwich, Middle Falls, Argyle, Hebron, Hudson Falls and New York State Fire.

Also assisting was the state Department of Transportation, Washington County Department of Transportation, Fort Edward Department of Transportation, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force and National Incident Management services.

All but three customers of Washington and Saratoga counties whose power went out due to the storm had their electrical service restored.
QUEENSBURY  SUNY Adirondack has hired four health experts for a new office that will expand the colleges mental health services.

The Health and Wellness office will focus its practice on six pillars of health: the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual and the occupational aspects of a student, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the college.

Lori Prock is the director of the new center.

Health is not just physical and emotional, she said.

Prock was previously the emergency preparedness coordinator for Saratoga County. She has a bachelors degree in biology from the College of Saint Rose and a masters degree in health education from Sage College.

Tobey Gifford and Kyle Esposito will be wellness coordinators.

I try to lead and show others the path toward health, happiness and peace through establishing balance of healthy body and mind, Esposito said in the news release.

Gifford served as an adjunct instructor at the college for several years, and is an alumna of SUNY Adirondack.

The fourth hire is nurse Deb Neal, who has been a registered nurse at Glens Falls Hospital since 2017, and will offer regular hours in SUNY Adirondacks residence hall.

The new office is made possible with funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a portion of which SUNY colleges must designate to mental health services.

SUNY Adirondack spokesperson Rhonda Triller said that the physical office space is currently in transition, and will be located in the Counseling Center so all the health-related staff can work closely together.

Prock, Gifford and Esposito have all started their positions, while Neal wont be starting for a few weeks, Triller said.

The college is also in the process of creating wellness spaces around campus, which will encourage mindfulness, reflection, socialization, physical activity and healthy living.

This office is the latest in a string of health initiatives the college has been undertaking since the beginning of the year.

In February, SUNY Adirondack joined the JED Campus network, an initiative of The Jed Foundation that helps colleges strengthen mental health, treat substance abuse, and emphasize suicide prevention.

In March, Hudson Headwaters Health Networks Mobile Health Unit began making biweekly visits to the Queensbury campus, offering its services to students, faculty, staff and even their family members.

The unit is located outside the residence hall the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

We are excited to add to existing health initiatives on campus to ensure we are caring for our students well-being in a holistic way, said Dean of Student Affairs Kathryn OSick.
The Maple Branch forest fire in Wharton State Forest was fully contained by Wednesday morning.

Ninety-eight acres have burned in the area of Tylertown, Washington Township, Burlington County. That grew from 40 acres Tuesday afternoon.

Firefighters were performing a backfiring maneuver to help contain the flames, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

Batsto Village and its surrounding hiking trails were closed Tuesday morning but has since reopened, the Forest Fire Service said.

Buttonwood Campground was also shut down Tuesday, the Fire Service said. However, Bulltown Road reopened late Tuesday, according to the Fire Service's Twitter account.

A backfiring is done by Forest Fire Service staff, who intentionally set a separate fire to consume fuel in the larger blaze's path. This is done to stop the fire from spreading or to change its direction, the Fire Service said.

Structures are no longer threatened by the blaze, the Fire Service said.

No injuries were reported, and the fire remains under investigation. Firefighters will remain in the area to continue strengthening containment lines, the Fire Service said.

The combination of a dry forest floor and gusty winds helped spark the fire. Winds gusted in the 20s while the 10-hour fuel moisture, the amount of water in 0.25 inch to 1 inch in diameter objects such as tree branches, was low as well. Relative humidity values over 50% likely prevented the fire from spreading further.

The forest is still recovering from a wildfire that burned nearly 15,000 acres in the Pine Barrens last month. Officials declared the wildfire New Jersey's largest since 2007.

That fire threatened areas near Batsto Village as well.

Firefighters believe that blaze was set accidentally as a result of illegal campfire activity.
MAYS LANDING  Two of the three men charged with assaulting Irving Mayren-Guzman in January are applying for pretrial intervention and would not stand trial if their applications are approved.

Jamaul Timberlake and John Hands will each have their applications reviewed by the probation department and Atlantic County Prosecutors Office, Matthew Portella, the attorney representing John Hands in the case, said Wednesday after a hearing in Atlantic County Superior Court.

Garnell Hands is ineligible for the program. He will appear before Judge Nancy Ridgway again Aug. 24. Why he is ineligible is unclear.

Durann Neil, Garnell Hands attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The three men appeared before Ridgway at the courthouse Wednesday. After a roughly 10-minute hearing, they were ushered out of the courtroom back to jail.

Pretrial intervention, often referred to as PTI, is an alternate route of dismissing charges and provides defendants, generally first-time offenders, with opportunities for alternatives to the traditional criminal justice process of ordinary prosecution, according to the New Jersey Courts website.

Pleasantville strip club assault defendants to remain in jail MAYS LANDING  A judge on Wednesday ordered the continued detainment of three men accused of

If Timberlake and John Hands are approved for PTI, they will be released to partake in the program. Should they complete the program, their charges in the case would be dismissed, Portella said.

Portella said theyre still gathering materials needed to present their case for PTI.

All three defense lawyers are still working to have the charges against the men dismissed, Portella added.

John Hands and Timberlake will appear again before Ridgway Aug. 10.

The three men are accused of assaulting Mayren-Guzman on Jan. 23 outside Centerfolds Cabaret in Pleasantville.

Mayren-Guzman, 19, of Egg Harbor Township, was later found dead in the marshlands next to the club in the days after he was reported missing.

Surveillance footage shows the men beating Mayren-Guzman outside the nightclub after he was removed from inside by security for being heavily intoxicated.

Mayren-Guzmans autopsy report indicated he died of drowning and hypothermia while intoxicated. He also suffered minor gashes to his face, arms and legs shortly before he died.

Ridgway last month postponed a status hearing for the accused until the autopsy was made available before the case continued.

The autopsy did not reveal traumatic brain injuries that contributed to his death, but other head damage was determined to have stemmed from an older incident, Portella said when the documents were released.

Since Mayren-Guzmans death, the local Latino community has rallied around his family for justice, doing so again Wednesday morning outside the courthouse.

Before, during and after the hearing, a crowd of about 20 marched in an oval procession around the courthouses front patio, holding picket signs decorated with the 19-year-olds portrait and chanting slogans including Justice for Irving.

After a month of protests earlier this year, Pleasantville City Council agreed to rescind Centerfolds mercantile licenses Feb. 23. Mayren-Guzmans family also has filed a lawsuit against the club, the three suspects and others in connection to his death.
ATLANTIC CITY  A city boy was arrested Monday night after pointing a ghost gun at a passerby, police said.

At 9:46 p.m., police received information regarding three males confronting someone in the 2900 block of Milano Terrace. One male pulled a handgun from a backpack he was carrying and pointed it at the victim, police said Wednesday in a news release.

The parties ultimately separated without further incident, police said. A description of the three males was broadcast to patrol units.

At 9:53 p.m., Officers Ivaylo Ivanov and Salvatore Marciante observed three males matching the description of the suspects in the first block of South Bellevue Avenue. Upon approaching them, the suspects ran east through an alleyway toward Florida Avenue, police said.

13-year-old boy charged with shooting 2 in Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  Police arrested a 13-year-old city boy after he allegedly shot two men Tuesd

Ivanov drove his patrol vehicle around to the first block of South Florida Avenue, where Marciante exited the vehicle and stopped two of the three males, police said. Ivanov also exited his vehicle and pursued the third male down the alley leading back to Bellevue.

Ivanov ultimately apprehended the male, a 16-year-old boy, and took him into custody. Officers found the backpack the juvenile was carrying a short distance away. Inside it was a handgun loaded with hollow point ammunition, police said.

Officers also determined the handgun was a ghost gun, a firearm that lacks a serial number, rendering it difficult to trace, police said.

The teen was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of a ghost gun, possession of hollow point bullets, aggravated assault and resisting arrest. He was sent to the Harborfields Juvenile Detention Center in Egg Harbor City.
TRENTON  The cause of a fire that consumed about 98 acres of Wharton State Forest between Tuesday and Wednesday is still under investigation, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

The Maple Branch Fire was the second major forest blaze of late. Last months Mullica River Fire burned about 13,500 acres, making it the states largest wildfire since 2007.

Extensive dryness throughout the states woods has helped power the fires. Both fires happened out of spring, when wildfires in New Jersey are at their peak season.

Usually, the month of April is when we see the highest fire activity and our most significant wildfires, John Cecil, assistant commissioner for State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites, said Wednesday during a news conference. Thats because the conditions at that time of year are conducive to fire start and fire spread.

The Maple Branch Fire was first spotted by a Batsto fire spotter about 10 a.m. Tuesday, Forest Fire Service Division Fire Warden Shawn Judy said Wednesday.

Firefighters performed a backfiring maneuver to help contain the flames, the Forest Fire Service said.

Batsto Village and its surrounding hiking trails were closed Tuesday morning but have since reopened, the Forest Fire Service said Wednesday.

Buttonwood Campground also was shut down Tuesday, the Forest Fire Service said. However, Bulltown Road reopened late Tuesday, according to the Forest Fire Services Twitter account.

Backfiring is when firefighters intentionally set a separate fire to consume fuel in a larger blazes path. This is done to stop the fire from spreading or to change its direction, the Forest Fire Service said.

Seven residential structures were considered to be in danger as a result of the fire, but the alert was later lifted once the flames were further contained.

No one living inside the buildings needed to be evacuated, Judy said.

Structures are no longer threatened by the blaze, the Forest Fire Service said.

Wharton State Forest fire fully contained The Maple Branch forest fire in Wharton State Forest was fully contained by Wednesday morning.

No injuries were reported. Firefighters will remain in the area to continue strengthening containment lines, the Forest Fire Service said.

The combination of a dry forest floor and gusty winds helped spark the fire. Winds gusted in the 20 mph range while the 10-hour fuel moisture  the amount of water in objects of a quarter-inch to an inch in diameter, such as tree branches  was low as well. Relative humidity values over 50% likely prevented the fire from spreading further.

New Jerseys wildlife has been enduring protracted dryness, leaving the woods susceptible to wildfires, state Fire Warden Greg McLaughlin said Wednesday.

In North Jersey, the Forest Fire Service is ordering campfire restrictions at multiple recreational areas. Campfires will not be permitted to burn on the ground and must be inside a raised, controlled container, such as a charcoal grill, McLaughlin said.

When wildfire-prone conditions continue in New Jersey, each of the states 21 watchtowers is staffed with a spotter. If necessary, surveillance groups will comb the areas as an extra precaution, McLaughlin said.

Our goal is to always respond quickly and keep the fire small, McLaughlin said.

Wharton State Forest slowly reopens following wildfire Parts of Wharton State Forest remain closed as crews continue cleaning up nearly two weeks a

The temporary rule comes after eight wildfires have been fought up north. No restrictions are anticipated for South Jersey, but that could change if conditions call for them, officials said.

Last months Mullica River Fire is still being investigated as well, Judy said.

The fire is believed to have started as a campfire. Judy could not comment on new details in its investigation, other than that officials are continuing to follow leads.

A primitive campground along the Mullica River was burnt over by the blaze, consumed entirely by flames. No large structures are at the campsite, which is why its considered a primitive area, Cecil said.

That campground has since reopened after trees were cleared, Cecil said.
Shaun Taylor has been appointed as a commissioner on the Rock Island County Metropolitan Airport Authority Board by East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman to represent the city.

Taylor will complete the term of Jim Jannes, who died in February at the age of 85.

Eight commissioners serve on the Airport Authority Board, representing Rock Island County and the cities of Rock Island, Moline, East Moline, Milan and Silvis. Commissioners are appointed and serve 5-year terms.

"Shaun is a great example of someone who was born and raised in the Quad Cities, left, but came back because he believed this was the best place to raise his family," said Benjamin Leischner, executive director of the Quad Cities International Airport. "He not only appreciates the value of the Quad Cities having lived elsewhere for several years, he is also invested in helping our region flourish.

"I have no doubt he will be an enthusiastic and engaged board member, which is exactly what we need as we embark on historic updates at the airport and look toward our future," Leischner said.

Taylor works as a marketing and recruiting coordinator for Community Health Care Inc., where he oversees provider recruitment, public communication and marketing efforts. He previously served as the director of special projects for the National Bar Association, area sales manager for the General Motors Corporation and national marketing consultant for FTD, Inc.

Taylor also serves as a member of the East Moline Community Fund Committee, Quad City Health Initiative Promotion Committee and the Illinois Primary Health Care Association Community Development Committee. He received his bachelor's degree in organizational communication from McKendree University.

Taylor said he was honored to "follow in the footsteps" of Jannes.

"As a recruiter seeking to bring physicians across the country to the Quad Cities, I understand the critical role that our airport plays in the overall growth of our region," he said. "I hope to contribute to the development and accessibility of one of our communitys essential assets."
Jose Cruz, second from left, dances with his aunt Yolanda Duarte as he celebrates his release from Stateville Correctional Center on July 12, 2022, after a judge threw out his conviction and prosecutors dropped charges against him after he'd served 26 years. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

It was an astonishing coincidence: a Stateville inmate encountering the Cook County states attorney, just a day after prosecutors discussed whether his decades-old murder case should be thrown out.

But last month, Jose Cruz briefly met top prosecutor Kim Foxx as she was preparing to speak at a commencement for recent graduates at the prison. Cruz alleges he was framed by now-infamous retired Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara. Foxxs office has been reviewing Guevara-related cases.

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He had his lineup photo that he wanted to show me and introduce himself to me, Foxx told the Tribune this week. I had shared with Mr. Cruz that I recognized his name.  Literally, his case was part of a series of cases I had talked about less than 24 hours earlier.

From there, the recollections apparently diverge. Cruz soon afterward emailed his attorney to say Foxx assured him he would be home soon; Foxx maintains she told Cruz to hold on tight as their review of Guevara cases was proceeding but did not make any promises. Cruz on Tuesday told the Tribune simply that their discussion was brief since he didnt have his attorney with him.

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But on Monday, Cruz got his final answer, when prosecutors formally withdrew their opposition to Cruzs efforts. Cook County Judge Tyria Walton threw out his murder conviction, and prosecutors dropped the charges, clearing the way for Cruzs release from Stateville on Tuesday.

Im doing great, enjoying my freedom, you know, Cruz told the Tribune from his aunts restaurant on the Northwest Side  a welcome respite from prison food.

It felt great to walk out of Stateville, he said. I had a lot of support from the guys on the inside, even staff, they came out to congratulate me since Id been there so long and they all know me, theyve been supportive of me, they knew my situation.

Jose Cruz celebrates with family and friends after his release from Stateville Correctional Center on July 12, 2022, after a judge threw out his conviction and prosecutors dropped charges against him after he'd served 26 years. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Hes thrilled, hes emotional, Cruzs attorney Gregory Swygert told the Tribune. ... Hes one of the most grateful, positive clients Ive ever had, having been wrongfully convicted for so long.

The encounter with Foxx was was an exciting moment for my client, who has been fighting for so long  to meet the person who would have the ultimate decision in the case, Swygert said. Maybe its a little bit of Rashomon, everybody has a different version of how it played out. But again, he couldnt be more grateful for her about the decision that was made.

Cruz was convicted in 1996 for a 1993 murder. At trial, he was identified by a single eyewitness; his attorneys allege Guevara improperly steered that witness to identify Cruz. In addition, two other eyewitnesses had identified the shooter as Black  not Hispanic, like Cruz  but were never called at trial. One of those witnesses has said Guevara pressured him to finger Cruz and was furious when he stood by his claim that the shooter was Black, according to court filings.

If we had to try that case today, we could not meet our burden (of proof), Foxx told the Tribune.

After a cascade of allegations against Guevara, Foxxs office launched a review of cases related to the former detective. Cruz and another Guevara accuser, Daniel Rodriguez, had their cases thrown out this year with prosecutors agreement. The Cook County states attorneys office has chosen to fight back against the claims of some other Guevara accusers, however.

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One of the petitions that prosecutors challenged was David Colons. After a series of hearings in October and November about his allegations against Guevara, Judge Sophia Atcherson on Friday threw out his murder conviction. Guevara improperly steered two witnesses to identify Colon as the gunman in a 1991 murder, Atcherson found.

Atcherson ordered a new trial for Colon, who was released from prison in 2017. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they intend to put him on trial again.

It is now undisputed that former Detective Guevara, motivated by a desire to close cases regardless of whether he had found the actual perpetrator, engaged in multiple and repeated instances of police misconduct which took various forms, Atcherson wrote in her order throwing out Colons case.

When asked why prosecutors chose to challenge Colons claims in evidentiary hearings, Foxx said the office has been trying to get our arms around a lot of these cases.

In their review of police misconduct claims, sometimes cases proceeded to hearings without us sharing as much information as possible internally, Foxx said.

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Guevaras patterns of behavior are not necessarily as easily identifiable as the patterns of some other allegedly corrupt cops, Foxx said, and information needs to flow freely between different parts of the office and between prosecutors and accusers attorneys to get a fuller picture.

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From a review of cases connected to now-convicted ex-Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, prosecutors concluded that some officers are so questionable that prosecutors could not stand by convictions related to them, even if they believe the person might in fact have committed the crime as alleged, Foxx said.

Saying Can we stand by the conviction? and actual innocence, those are two different standards, Foxx said.

Dozens of people have accused Guevara, now retired, of manipulating witnesses, fabricating evidence and framing suspects over the course of his career. He has repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when questioned about the alleged wrongdoing.

When Guevara did take the stand in Cook County Court under a grant of immunity in 2017, Judge James Obbish found his testimony so untrustworthy that he found Guevara has now eliminated the possibility of being considered a credible witness in any proceeding.

Multiple wrongful convictions have been linked to Guevara, and the city has faced lawsuits over his alleged conduct.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
A Moline man is wanted in connection with a shooting early Saturday in which one person was wounded, East Moline Police said Wednesday.

Stacy Taurice Smith, 37, is wanted on a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. He is out of jail and on pre-trial release in two other Rock Island County felony cases.

The latest charge is a Class X felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of six to 30 years.

According to East Moline Police Lt. Josh Allen, at 1:53 a.m. Saturday, East Moline officers were sent to Jims Domino Lounge, 1314 13th St., to investigate a report of a gunshot victim at the business.

Officers were told at the scene that the victim was taken to Genesis Medical Center, Silvis, and that the suspect fled the area.

Detectives spoke to the victim at the hospital. The victim had suffered a non-life-threatening wound.

Smith was identified as a suspect.

Smith is on pre-trial release in two cases in Rock Island County.

Smith was arrested Dec. 18, 2019, on one count of manufacture and delivery of 1-15 grams of a cocaine analog, or crack cocaine. That charge is a Class 1 felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of four to 15 years. Smith also was charged at that time with driving under suspension-second offense, a Class 4 felony that carries a prison sentence of one to three years.

A hearing in that case is scheduled for Sept. 1 in Rock Island County Circuit Court.

On July 8, 2021, Smith made a first appearance in Rock Island County Circuit Court on two charges of aggravated driving under the influence while license is suspended or revoked, and one count of driving on a revoked or suspended license-third offense. Each of the charges is a Class 4 felony.

A pre-trial conference also is scheduled in that case for Sept. 1 in circuit court.

Police ask that anyone with information about the shooting incident or the whereabouts of Smith to call the East Moline Police Department Investigations Division at 309-752-1547 or Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app or submit a tip online at qccrimestoppers.com.
WHAT WE KNOW: The city in January approved an agreement with then-acting city clerk and HR director Brandon Maeglin to be interim city administrator for a period of no longer than six months following the resignation of former city administrator JoAnn Hollenkamp. Jessica Damewood was appointed acting city clerk Feb. 8.

WHAT'S NEW: The council on Tuesday approved Maeglin as the next city administrator. Maeglin has been employed by the city since 2016. His new salary is $97,850, and he was given 12 months to move into the city.

He is active in the community as a volunteer board member for the Geneseo Chamber of Commerce, Henry County Economic Development Partnership and Seal Family Legacy.

"I am excited to continue my journey with the city of Geneseo and become a Geneseo resident," said Maeglin. "The city's workforce will continue with our mission in growing Geneseo's reputation as a great place to live, work and visit in the greater Quad-Cities area."

Mayor Sean Johnson issued a statement welcoming Maeglin into his new role, saying it was "just another example of the city of Geneseo's commitment to our employees and their career development while employed with us. By training and developing leaders at all levels, we are able to remain a competitive and attractive employer in the area. Brandon has a unique understanding of the community dynamics with his time spent executing the duties and responsibilities of human resources director and city clerk, as those duties by nature are very much intertwined in the day-to-day work that a city administrator is expected to oversee."

WHAT'S NEXT: Aldermen discussed creating two left-turn lanes at State Street and Ogden Avenue to relieve before- and after-school traffic. They looked at traffic counts that showed up to 503 cars passing through the intersection within one hour.

The turn lanes would eliminate six parking spaces on Ogden to the west of State Street and four to the east. The council discussed the reaction of homeowners there to the loss of the parking spaces.

"I would hope the public would understand the greater good to the community as a whole," said Johnson.

Deputy Police Chief Gene Karzin said a similar left turn lane at the Geneseo Middle School some blocks east was considered but ruled out as too expensive with the road needing to be widened.

Johnson said the left-turn option at State was expedient.

"It's trying to take advantage of what we have and what we can do at the moment," he said.

The county is scheduled to blacktop Ogden starting next week. The council plans to hold a special meeting at their July 26 committee of the whole in order to approve the left-turn lanes at State.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds did not rule out  but threw cold water on  the possibility of Iowa taking advantage of federal incentives for states to pass red flag laws that allow groups to petition courts to temporarily remove weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.

President Joe Biden this week celebrated the passage and recent signing of a new law considered the most wide-ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades.

The measure, passed after mass shootings including those in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, includes funding to help states put in place laws that make it easier for authorities to temporarily prevent a person in crisis who has been adjudged dangerous from accessing firearms, among many other provisions.

Iowa has no extreme risk protection order law where law enforcement, concerned family members or others can seek a court order to temporarily prevent someone deemed as a threat from buying or possessing firearms.

Gun safety advocates say such measures are a proven way to intervene before gun violence  such as a gun suicide or a mass shooting  takes more lives. Some gun rights activists contend the measures instead give courts broad discretion to confiscated firearms without due process.

National polling suggests strong majorities of Americans from across the political spectrum support extreme-risk laws. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have adopted them in the past few years, and social science research suggests that they work, most strikingly in preventing gun suicides, according to PolitiFact.

Reynolds, at a news conference on Tuesday, however, said Illinois red flag law failed to prevent a man there with a known pattern of concerning behavior from shooting dozens of people at a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Ill.

No matter how many laws or rules you have on the books, if somebody has evil in their heart, you can't handle that, she said.

Lawmakers, lawyers and doctors in Illinois say there may not have been enough public awareness of the states red flag law at the time law enforcement came into contact with Robert Crimo III, who police said confessed to the Highland Park shooting, PolitiFact reported.

The recent federal legislation includes money for public awareness campaigns and more training of police.

Reynolds said the issue of gun violence needs to be addressed holistically, while preserving lawful gun owners right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

There's not one single answer, she said.   So we'll take a look at everything, but it's a balance in how we move forward.

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, and House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, did not return messages seeking comment. Republicans hold agenda-setting majorities in the Iowa Legislature.

Its unclear how much federal grant money would be available to Iowa under the new federal law. Iowa received more than $2.6 million in Department of Justice assistance grants last fiscal year, and the gun safety bill increases funding levels.

States would receive funding based on an existing formula, and have flexibility to use the funds to implement extreme risk protection order programs, drug courts and other crisis intervention programs. States that choose to use grant funding for red flag laws must comply with due process requirements, such as the right to an in-person hearing and an unbiased adjudicator.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, a Democrat, said such laws could be a vital tool to keep law enforcement safe and blunt a rise in gun violence nationwide.

Maybanks pointed to a recent incident a few months ago where a man in Marion, who was undergoing a pretty significant mental health crisis to which his family and friends were aware, engaged in a shootout with police. Fortunately, no one was injured, Maybanks said.

And there wasn't any ability to enter into his residence or to receive a court order  to remove firearms that his family and associates knew that he possessed, he said. And so unfortunately, what transpired was he had an alleged breakdown and ended up actually using the firearm to shoot out of his house, out various portions of his house from various angles, while law enforcement was on the scene. They had to defuse that situation.

The man was arrested and charged with crimes stemming from the shooting.

An extreme risk protective order  would have allowed the family members to preemptively take those firearms out of their loved ones possession who's undergoing a mental health crisis and they fear that he might hurt himself or others, Maybanks said.

Depending on the state, petitioners under such laws must show probable cause or clear and convincing evidence to establish that the gun owner presents a safety risk.

But essentially what it comes down to is there are certain identifiable people in the community, based on reports by their loved ones, associates or law enforcement, that present an immediate risk to themselves or to others, Maybanks said. And what we see are these folks go beyond the generalized risk of dangerous hate behavior because they refer to their firearms or are known to carry their firearms or use them more frequently.

And therefore, we have not only a chance to prevent violence, but specifically to prevent gun violence from occurring.

While an extreme-risk law would not solve domestic violence or prevent people from suicide, such protection orders could help keep guns out of the hands of abusive partners and reduce gun violence and domestic violence in some situations, said Laura Hessburg, public policy director at Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Two-thirds of women killed by an intimate partner in the United States are killed with a gun, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by Everytown for Gun Safety.

And access to a gun makes it five times more likely that an abusive partner will kill his female victim, Hessburg said. "... The bottom line for us is that guns and domestic violence are obviously a lethal combination. We are not opposed to gun ownership, rights, etc. But we are frustrated by constant pressure to further expand gun rights and opposition to common-sense gun laws that enhance individual and public safety.

Matt Sinovic, executive director of the liberal advocacy group Progress Iowa, said hes optimistic that Iowa can pass red flag laws, despite the Republican-controlled Legislature passing a number of laws loosening gun regulations in recent years.

I think its something that should be pushed for, and we should try to get done, that the state should do, but it certainly would be an uphill battle, Sinovic said.

Erin Murphy and Caleb McCullough of The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.
The Western Legacy Development Corporation meat processing plant anticipates groundbreaking in January 2023 despite no permits from the city, non-guaranteed space in the Black Hills Industrial Center, and still being in its research and development phase.

A panel of six representing the company and its advisory board answered questions for about two hours Monday night regarding the $1.1 billion, 1 million-square-foot facility that could bring 2,550 jobs to the area.

Megan Kingsbury, President/CEO of the corporation and President of Kingsbury and Associates, announced the proposed facility that would process 8,000 head of cattle per day and include a specialty bison line May 27. At the same time, Kingsbury announced the Black Hills Industrial Center was the preferred site. If it comes to fruition, this would be the largest processing facility in the United States.

Kingsbury was joined by her business partner Curtis Harper, owner and broker in charge of Sirius Realty; Kyle Treloar, Vice President of Dream Design International; outgoing state Sen. Troy Heinert (D-Mission), executive director of the InterTribal Buffalo Council; Farmers Union Industries CEO Dale Bednarek of Minnesota; and James Halverson, member of the Research and Development Advisory Board for the facility. Halverson is also the executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, but said he was not representing the association in any official capacity.

Many residents asked questions concerned about transportation, water, wastewater, solid waste, logistics, smell, employees and housing. When asked about the odor from the facility, Kingsbury joked that it was the "smell of money."

Another resident and landowner, who has been in the area since 1993, said she lives about two miles away from the proposed site. She said she has not received one land survey or any information about the facility.

She said she wants ranchers and those in the cattle industry to receive everything they need, but she also doesnt want her land value to go down, nor her family values to go down. She said she was concerned about people coming down her road, which will already see more traffic from the AEsir Technology battery manufacturing plant.

Kingsbury asked for clarification on the question.

The question is the smell of your money is screwing me, the woman said to applause from the audience of about 70.

The meat processing facility is not yet confirmed in the Black Hills Industrial Center. During the meeting, Kingsbury said a statement from Dream Design International President Hani Shafai printed in the Journal June 23 regarding a lack of space in the center was inaccurate.

Treloar said Monday that Dream Design is working with the different users within the industrial park to fit them out and make sure theres enough space for everyone. He said they are working on the utilities, water, power and sewer.

With that and where were at in the design process of this plant, were still putting those pieces together, he said. Were putting together how that rail looks so that rail can use that facility so that you dont have any packing outside.

Kelsey Pritchard, director of marketing and communications for Dream Design International, said in an email Tuesday that there was nothing inaccurate about the statement.

Shafai said in an email Tuesday that Dream Design is making every effort to finalize agreements with these businesses in order to create sustainable high-paying jobs and continue to transform the regional economy.

As far as the processing plant, we are in support of any business that helps our ag sector and creates added value industries, Shafai said. Though there is not enough room for the project within the current plan for the Industrial Park, we will work to help explore sites for the processing plant in the region. The size of the plant, the impact on the region, and its sustainability have to be considered in the evaluation process.

Kingsbury said Western Legacy Development Corp is still in the six-month research and development phase with anticipation for groundbreaking in January 2023. She said Tuesday that research and development allows engineers, contractors and subcontractors to bid out and line up materials.

She said the company will receive all the required permitting in order to break ground in an appropriate timeline from the city. She said she did not immediately have information about the timeline for receiving the permits as of Tuesday afternoon.

City Communications Coordinator Darrell Shoemaker said in an email Tuesday that city officials have not been formally approached by officials with Western Legacy Development Corporation about their proposal.

No permits, plans, applications or requests for information have been filed or submitted with the city, he said. There have been no inquiries with the city by company officials seeking information on the detailed processes and procedures that would need to be addressed and followed.

Shoemaker said city officials cannot identify the processes required for the project until a specific location is identified and a complete operational plan is submitted. He said without the information, the city is unable to comment on specific or approximate procedures, timelines and requirements.

We cannot speculate based on hypotheticals or hearsay, he said. It would be premature for city officials to comment on general timelines or general application and permit processes and procedures without company officials providing to city officials the specific and detailed information on their proposal.

We invite project officials to contact us with their specific proposal and to inquire with questions or issues involving the city and their proposed project, he said.

Kingsbury and Associates, along with Sirius Realty of which Kingsbury is a managing partner, privately holds the corporation. A company named Western Legacy LLC initially filed with the South Dakota Secretary of State June 1. The agent listed is Thomas Grimes and the organizer is listed as Robert Harper. Sirius Realty is based in Greenville, South Carolina, but its Rapid City branch is registered in South Dakota with Grimes as the agent with Kingsbury and Sirius Realty LLC SC as the owners. Kingsbury owns 51% of the Rapid City company.

Regarding the size of the facility, Treloar said Western Legacy is going through the redesign and learning more about the processes and what its going to take to renovate the size of the facility. He said the company has commissioned traffic studies that will evaluate the traffic impact to the existing highways and interstate system.

Treloar said the company has spoken with the Department of Transportation on the state Highway 79 corridor and Interstate 90 corridor to make sure the capacity exists. He said there will be vehicles coming in from all directions and expect the traffic load to be dispersed throughout the main streets.

Halverson said they estimate just over 200 trucks per day with 35 head per truck.

Kingsbury said not all of the livestock will come in traditional forms of transportation. She said that is part of the logistical study and analysis process they plan to release to the public.

Treloar said early calculations for the slaughtering, packaging and rendering facilities estimate upwards of 5,000 gallons of water per minute necessary to make the plant run. He said in the main facility, a lot of the water will be recycled within the plant itself.

It is a high water use, but it does get reused and recycled throughout the facility, so its not a one-time use, he said.

Bednarek spoke to the rendering facility and said about 50% of the material to be rendered will come out of water. He said a lot of water will be generated, but they plan to capture as much as they can and reuse it. He said the rest of it will go down through the pipes and be discharged as the city requires.

Kingsbury said Tuesday that eventually the excess would go into the city system after processing through a treatment facility on the plants site. She said all water treatment facilities will meet city and federal guidelines for re-entry into municipalities for wastewater facilities.

Harper said Monday night that the company plans on doing a fair amount of pre-treatment.

We are working very diligently now to design what the wastewater treatment plant is going to look like, he said. We do not have it finalized yet, its too early in the process to have that.

Kingsbury said within the design of the facility, there are no feedlots. She said all of the docking for cattle coming into the facility is internal, so no one will see the cattle be unloaded. She also said they plan on methane gas recapture for energy use on the packing side, and Bednarek said the building on the rendering side will be treated and have equipment designed specifically to add multiple layers between the building and the environment. He said it will be a totally enclosed facility and people will not be able to see any of the renderings outside of transportation.

Bednarek also said odor varies depending on the type of material thats running. He said the company will run fresh animals, not dead animals.

Halverson said a lot of cattle in the country leave to get fed, but having spoken with producers on the eastern side of the state, northwest Iowa and Nebraska, they feel like within a 500-mile radius, there are plenty of cattle to supply demand.

We dont have all those numbers, in fact theyre fairly hard to ascertain if you go to the USD website, he said. There are people begging to be able to sell their cattle and they cant do it.

Halverson said hes spoken with people who ship or truck cattle out to Texas, so sending them 500 miles away isnt an issue. He said it does add to cost, but they think with their efficiencies, theyll be able to cover it.

Heinert said its extremely difficult to get a buffalo processed and people have to travel a considerable distance. He said this facility would be accessible to tribes who use buffalo to feed their community.

Residents were also concerned about housing and employees. Kingsbury said they plan to have starting wages for an entry level tech position at $28 per hour. She said they plan to use technology that does not currently exist within North American facilities. Kingsbury also said the company is three to three and a half years out from flipping the switch on the first line.

She said they also plan to recruit with existing talent in the state.

Kingsbury said financially, this plant is a done deal and its a matter of making sure they create the best model on the blank sheet of paper they have.

We want to be responsible with everything that we do, so yes, it is a done deal, she said.

Kingsbury said for funding, Kingsbury and Associates is a debt equity capital firm. She said they manage their own funds internally and theyre able to capture those of interest outside. She said the plant is being completely funded by her firm and there is no outside funding.

Kingsbury said Tuesday that Kingsbury and Associates has nothing to do with Western Legacy. She said she has interests and holds various entities, and does not have to disclose all of her private information. She said the company is a private entity and would not disclose further information. She also said it depends on how she wants to structure the finances.

Halverson said from a producers point of view, there are concerns about the cattle market right now. He said there are currently four big packers owned by foreign companies that control about 85% of the packing industry.

Thats not healthy for our markets and its really, really hurting our farmers and ranchers right now, he said. We think this is a really good opportunity to move the needle for our farmers and ranchers, and we think that its something that can also bolster the feeding industry.

Rancher Uly Johnson said this will bring competition to the markets that are currently so controlled they cant compete. He said the prices are crazy and what they get paid for their product, they cant survive.

We can hardly hold on to what we have the way its going and its just going to continue to degrade and get worse, Johnson said. Wheres our food going to come from if this continues at this rate.

Johnson said if the plant does come to town, it will be great for the area and its economy. He said other businesses will come in, along with other opportunities.

Council member Pat Jones said he attended a similar meeting to Mondays in Wall in June. He said the message seems consistent and his constituents' concerns were addressed. He said many people remember the Black Hills packaging plant from back in the day, and many will never forget it.

We dont want to experience that again, he said.

Jones said its too soon to say if he will be able to support the plant, but once the company goes through the citys process, he will be able to make that decision.

Kingsbury said Monday the company plans to continue to have public meetings and make everything known as much as possible.

We certainly want to be as transparent as possible, she said.
Rapid City has elected both its first Black woman and first openly LGBTQ person to the Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education.

Jamie Clapham and Michael Birkeland were sworn in to the board Tuesday night and made area, if not state, history.

Clapham said it wasnt something she thought about until late in the campaign.

Anyone can represent our community, and I think it is important for students especially to see a diverse group of people care about them, chooses the best for them, and wants to represent them, she said.

Clapham said the vote and election is a representation that the area is shifting and changing. She said it indicates that the area is becoming more diverse.

She said there may be some misconceptions about what South Dakota and western South Dakota is and as the region continues to grow, she hopes this will help show that the area isnt just for a certain group of people.

Clapham said the board itself is diverse in gender, religious affiliation and age, among other things, that could showcase the board has a broad perspective.

We represent the community as a whole, not just one part of the community, she said.

Birkeland said over the past year it seems like there was an under-the-table attack on diversity in general. He said if anything, he and Clapham hope to set the tone of Rapid City being accepting of changes that are happening in the world.

He said Rapid Citys vote showed that the area is welcoming to all types of people. He said having the classroom decor policy on Tuesdays agenda similar to the Lead-Deadwood policy before he and Clapham are sworn in is indicative of thoughts opposed to diversity.

Birkeland said what led Lead-Deadwood to that policy is not happening in Rapid City, so its hard to use the same policy and not make those conclusions.

He said when he was in high school and middle school, there was no openly gay representation in Rapid City. He said there were some murmurs and whispers, but no one was open about it, especially at Central High School.

When I came back as a teacher, it was an entirely different place, Birkeland said. It has become considerably more normalized and accepted. I can tell kids feel more safe than I did as a high-schooler.

He said kids stood up for each other, and most students didnt care when they found out about him.

Birkeland said to come back now and to be elected to the school board, it feels great. He said he thought and considered if Rapid City would elect an openly gay man  if it was something people were ready for.

Its nice to see we are. We are ready for that, he said.

Clapham said she hopes students understand they can be part of history and not know it, and that it can be empowering and engaging. She said she hopes they are excited and know that the world is changing and they can change history, too.

They can be from Rapid City, South Dakota, and make history, she said.
Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education elected a new slate of officers during its annual meeting Tuesday with President Kate Thomas retaining her leadership position, but with a new first vice president and second vice president.

Troy Carr was unanimously elected as the school board's first vice president and Deb Baker was elected as second vice president with a vote of 4-3. Board of Education newcomer Jamie Clapham gained nomination for second vice president, but lost the election to Baker 3-4. The three who voted against Baker and in favor of Clapham were Michael Birkeland, Clapham and Clay Colombe.

In the race for school board president, Thomas received 5-2 approval from the board  Birkeland and Clapham voted against Thomas' nomination. Colombe was nominated for president, but declined stating his outside obligations would prevent him from being as involved as needed for the presidency.

The new organization of the RCAS Board of Education came after the previous board members finished up other business Tuesday. Birkeland, Carr and Clapham took the oath of office following the conclusion of old business.

Birkeland defeated incumbent Gabe Doney in the June 7 election for the Area 3 race. Doney was also the previous school board's first vice president. Carr was unopposed in Area 2 and Clapham defeated Janyce Hockenbary for the Area 6 seat. Clapham replaces Amy Policky, who decided not to run for reelection.

After taking care of standard business for the annual school board meeting, Carr voiced his enthusiasm for the work the Board of Education will do for the upcoming year.

"I am excited about the new board and the future that we have. I just wanted to make a public statement that talking to each member of the board  there is cohesion in our caring for the district, our desire to work together, our desire to move forward," he said.

Carr's comments come after a tumultuous period for Rapid City Area Schools. Disagreements over COVID-19 mitigation policies, the possible destruction of books that were deemed inappropriate for students, the resignations of Superintendent Lori Simon and more than 400 RCAS staff, and controversial school curriculum studies and policies all added to the sometimes heated moments for the Board of Education.

Prior to stepping down, Policky also had words of encouragement for the former board and the new board. She said good leadership comes from taking a "high mountain perspective" and staying away from "myopic, or near-sighted perspective."

"It's through our interaction also that high mountain experiences have come from, that we've struggled to learn how to be this school district and to provide services for everybody in our community," Policky said.

Prior to the recess of the previous school board, members voted 6-1 for the final approval of a Board of Education invocation policy. The policy was put forward following a June 6 invocation led by Walter Rasmussen that was viewed as an attack on students in the LGBTQ community and lasted a considerable amount of time.

Colombe was the lone vote against the invocation policy.

The new policy states the invocation cannot last more than one minute. Those hoping to give an invocation at a meeting would need to send a request to the Board of Education clerk and could not include content that would harass, discriminate, contain obscenities, threats or intimidation. It also could not violate board policy. Those that violate board policy would not be eligible to provide invocations at future meetings.

The previous board voted 5-2 for final approval of a classroom displays and decorations policy, similar to that adopted by the Lead-Deadwood School District.

Policky and Colombe voted against final approval.

Classroom displays and decorations will not be allowed to represent any "controversial subject matter or political or religious messages." This could include materials endorsing a candidate, platform, position, political party or slogan; concepts, images, slogans or phrases in the media and associated with controversy or a movement or cause; and concepts, images, slogans or phrases that would be deemed offensive, obscene or inflammatory.

According to the policy, the United States flag nor that of any state in the Union, in an unaltered form, are not considered controversial. Temporary materials displayed for instruction are exempt from the policy as long as the items are part of a lesson and are based on the approved curriculum and content standards, and school and grade level appropriate.

Materials on display on school property can be seen as an endorsement by the district and can be removed by the principal, superintendent or designee if determined to be in violation of the policy.

Policky attempted to have the policy go back to committee to make sure school counselors agreed that not having certain signs or decorations that indicate "safe spaces" for minority and marginalized students would not be detrimental to those students. Policky's motion failed 2-5.
Deep below the Black Hills of South Dakota in the Sanford Underground Research Facility, an innovative and uniquely sensitive dark matter detectorthe LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab  has passed a check-out phase of startup operations and delivered first results.

South Dakota Mines physicists played an integral role in LZ by creating technology that reduced the amount of background radiation that could skew the experiments results. They are continuing to make important contributions by calibrating and analyzing the experiment.

Were ready and everythings looking good, said Kevin Lesko, Berkeley Lab senior physicist and past LZ spokesperson. Its a complex detector with many parts to it and they are all functioning well within expectations.

LZ researchers report that with the initial run, LZ is already the worlds most sensitive dark matter detector.

We plan to collect about 20 times more data in the coming years, so were only getting started. Theres a lot of science to do and its very exciting, said Hugh Lippincott, LZ spokesperson for the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dark Matter particles have never actually been detected  but that might change. The countdown may have started with results from LZs first 60 live days of testing. These data were collected over a three-and-a-half-month span of initial operations beginning at the end of December. This was a period long enough to confirm that all aspects of the detector were functioning well.

Although its unseen because it does not emit, absorb or scatter light, dark matters presence and gravitational pull are fundamental to our understanding of the universe. For example, the presence of dark matter, estimated to be about 85% of the total mass of the universe, shapes the form and movement of galaxies, and it is invoked by researchers to explain what is known about the large-scale structure and expansion of the universe.

The heart of the LZ dark matter detector is comprised of two nested titanium tanks filled with 10 tons of very pure liquid xenon and viewed by two arrays of photomultiplier tubes, or PMTs, able to detect faint sources of light. The titanium tanks reside in a larger detector system to catch particles that might mimic a dark matter signal.

Reducing particles that could mimic a dark matter signal is critical for the experiments success. Mines researchers Richard Schnee and Juergen Reichenbacher have led a team, including graduate students, to ensure the highly sensitive LZ experiment is sufficiently free of background radiation, such as radon, that could contaminate the results. The team also controlled dirt and dust during the detector assembly that could have spoiled the very expensive ultra-pure xenon.

Radons radioactive granddaughter, lead-214, can produce a decay that looks like a dark matter signal, said Schnee, Ph.D., head of the Department of Physics at Mines. We worked hard to measure how much radon emanates from the materials used to build LZ. Sometimes we told collaborators that they had to find another material because the one they were planning on had too much radon.

Mines researchers also continue to make crucial contributions by calibrating the detector so dark matter inside the LZ chamber could be reliably identified. Mines researchers make daily corrections of the detector performance used by every data analyzer in the LZ collaboration.

Without our calibrations of the LZ detector, we would be operating it nearly blind, said Reichenbacher, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at South Dakota Mines.

The design, manufacturing and installation phases of the LZ detector were led by Berkeley Lab project director Gil Gilchriese in conjunction with an international team of 250 scientists and engineers from more than 35 institutions from the US, UK, Portugal and South Korea. The LZ Operations Manager is Berkeley Labs Simon Fiorucci. Together, the collaboration is hoping to use the instrument to record the first direct evidence of dark matter, the so-called missing mass of the cosmos.

Particle collisions in the xenon produce visible scintillation or flashes of light, which are recorded by the PMTs, said Aaron Manalaysay from Berkeley Lab. As physics coordinator, Manalaysay led the collaborations efforts to produce these first physics results.

The collaboration worked well together to calibrate and to understand the detector response, Manalaysay said. Considering we just turned it on a few months ago and during COVID restrictions, it is impressive we have such significant results already.

The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, which manages SURF through a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Energy, secured 80% of the xenon in LZ. Funding came from the South Dakota Governors office, the South Dakota Community Foundation, the South Dakota State University Foundation, and the University of South Dakota Foundation.

The entire SURF team congratulates the LZ Collaboration in reaching this major milestone. The LZ team has been a wonderful partner and were proud to host them at SURF, said Mike Headley, executive director of SURF Lab.

LZ is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science user facility. LZ is also supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation; the Science & Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom; the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; and the Institute for Basic Science, Korea. Over 35 institutions of higher education and advanced research provided support to LZ. The LZ collaboration acknowledges the assistance of the Sanford Underground Research Facility.
A federal judge sentenced a 53-year-old New Mexico man on July 6 to three years and four months in prison for abusive sexual contact of an 11-year-old South Dakota girl on May 12, 2018.

After his sentence, Nathan Castillo will be under five years of supervised release. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Viken also ordered Castillo to pay a routine $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

A federal grand jury indicted Castillo in April 2019 on one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and two count of abusive sexual contact. Law enforcement arrested him on Dec. 3, 2019 in Albuquerque. He pleaded guilty on March 3, 2022 to the one count of abusive sexual contact in exchange for the government dropping the other charges.

The crime occurred in an RV parked at the Prairie Winds Hotel and Casino near Oglala. Castillo took four children  three girls and one boy, ages nine, 10, 11 and 12  with him to the hotel to swim at the pool. Court documents show he was not related to any of the children, but a decade before the crime he lived in his RV for an extensive amount of time near the 12-year-olds grandmothers home.

A factual basis statement signed by both the prosecution and defense states the 12-year-old asked Castillo if she could bring along two of her friends. The victims mother allowed her and her sister to go along.

After Castillo and the four children swam in the pool until closing time at approximately 9 p.m., the children showered in a hotel room. As part of an RV reservation, patrons were allowed to access a hotel room before and after swimming.

The children returned to Castillos camper to sleep for the night. The victim and her sister shared a bed, and the two other children  who were siblings  shared a bed as well. On the other end of the RV, Castillo slept in a bed.

After the victim was asleep, Castillo moved to the other side of the RV and touched the 11-year-old underneath her underwear for an undetermined amount of time.

At the time of the sexual contact, (the victim) was asleep and was unable to appraise the nature of the conduct and was unable to decline participation in the sexual contact, the factual basis statement reads.

When Castillo brought the children back to their mother on Mothers Day, he gave her a gift. The victim not wanting to ruin Mothers Day waited to tell her mother about Castillo touching her.

Castillo will have to register as a sex offender when he is released and participate in sex offender treatment.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety (OSTDPS) is looking for a baby who went missing on July 4.

Leland Poor Thunder was last seen when he was visiting his non-custodial mother, Haley Shay Lakota, in Rapid City. Poor Thunder was last seen wearing a white onesie and grey sweatpants. He has gray eyes and red or auburn hair. His missing person profile with the South Dakota Missing Persons Clearing House lists him as 22 pounds and two feet tall.

"The Leland family is worried," OSTDPS posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday.

OSTDPS stated they notified the Pennington County Sheriff's Office and the Rapid City Police Department, which are both in search of Poor Thunder.

OSTDPS asks anyone with information to contact their local law enforcement, OSTDPS dispatch at 605-867-5111 or Hermona Dubray at 605-385-1145.
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A longtime Democratic operative pleaded guilty Wednesday to a wide range of corruption schemes stemming from a sprawling federal bribery investigation involving red-light cameras.

Patrick Doherty, 66, admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he helped funnel payments from an employee of red-light camera company SafeSpeed LLC to former state Sen. Martin Sandoval in exchange for the senators help in Springfield. At the time, Doherty was moonlighting as a sales agent for SafeSpeed.

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Doherty also admitted he participated in a scheme with his former boss, then-McCook Mayor and Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski, to shake down a business owner seeking to purchase land in McCook.

The 24-page plea also included several newly revealed schemes. In one, Doherty admitted to bribing another public official  identified only as Public Official B  to give village contracts to SafeSpeed. Among the illicit offerings, according to the plea, were membership to a Countryside cigar lounge and 30 to 50 people to work for Public Official B and Public Official B-backed candidates for free.

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Doherty also admitted using his position as Tobolskis longtime chief of staff to obtain benefits such as meals, sporting-event tickets and travel from a business owner in exchange for promoting a pilot program in Cook County that would use the business owners products.

In addition, Doherty admitted filing false tax returns over a four-year period that substantially understated his taxable income, according to the plea.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman set sentencing for Nov. 10. Federal sentencing guidelines call for up to 6 years in prison.

In pleading guilty, Doherty became the latest to be convicted in a probe that stretched from Chicagos southwest suburbs to the Capitol building in Springfield, where federal agents raided Sandovals offices in fall 2019, thrusting the case into the public spotlight.

Sandoval pleaded guilty to bribery charges in early 2020 and was cooperating with the ongoing investigation before his death later that year of COVID-19 complications. Also convicted were a handful of suburban mayors and other political operatives. Charges against several others are pending.

Doherty, who doubled as a sales agent for SafeSpeed, was initially indicted in 2019 on charges he conspired with company executive Omar Maani as well as John OSullivan, then the supervisor of Worth Township, to pay $4,000 in bribes in exchange for the official support of an Oak Lawn trustee to add SafeSpeed cameras at additional intersections.

Additional charges were later added alleging he directly bribed Sandoval, at the time the powerful head of the Senate Transportation Committee, in exchange for Sandoval opposing legislation adverse to SafeSpeed and obtaining IDOT approvals for (SafeSpeeds) red-light cameras.

Dohertys plea agreement stated that Doherty and Maani agreed to make monthly $2,000 payments to Sandoval through a company affiliated with the senators family. Doherty also agreed to pay for car repairs for one of Sandovals personal vehicles, the plea stated.

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Sandoval pleaded guilty in 2020 to bribery and tax charges. He admitted to taking at least $70,000 in government-supplied cash from Maani in return for acting as SafeSpeeds protector in the state Senate.

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In a separate scheme, Doherty admitted that in 2018 and 2019 he personally solicited more than $6,000 in bribes from a developer  identified only as Individual A  who was doing business with McCook.

On Sept. 5, 2019, the day after the developer handed Tobolski $2,500, Doherty called the developer to assure him the village would be cutting a check to his company, according to the indictment.

Doherty also said that any future work for the developers company was all contingent on what you can give, according to the charges.

Tobolski pleaded guilty in 2020 to separate extortion charges alleging he shook down a McCook restaurant owner for cash in exchange for a license to sell liquor at private events. Tobolski is also cooperating with investigators and is awaiting sentencing.

Maani, who wore a wire as part of the sprawling federal investigation, was charged with bribery in August 2020 and has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorneys office. He is no longer affiliated with SafeSpeed.

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SafeSpeed and company CEO Nikki Zollar have not been charged and deny any wrongdoing.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Ex-judge and attorney get suspended terms in $70k fraud case

MOSCOW, July 13 (RAPSI)  Ex-judge of the Moscow Commercial Court Igor Korogodov and attorney Alexander Mosin have received 3- and 2-years suspended sentence, respectively, for $70,000 fraud attempt, the press service of Moscows Simonovsky District Court has told RAPSI.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, Korogodov offered legal assistance of attorney Alexander Mosin to a former director of one of firms in a bankruptcy case. He promised the businessman that the lawyer could assist in the further delivery of a ruling in his favor. The judge asked $70,000 for his help.

The defendants were arrested when receiving the money. It was found that Korogodov and Mosin planned to spend $70,000 in their discretion.

Earlier, the two mens sentences were repeatedly overturned by the Moscow City Court. In 2021, the Higher Judges' Qualifications Board gave its consent to launch a new criminal case against Korogodov over attempted fraud.




Russian Ministry for Digital Development proposes turnover fines for data breaches

ST. PETERSBURG, July 13 (RAPSI)  The Ministry for Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation is preparing a bill on turnover-based fines for the personal data breach.

This additional responsibility is to put business up to invest in the development of the information safety infrastructure and the personal data protection, a statement released on the Ministrys Telegram channel reads.

Currently, legal entities face fines of 500,000 rubles (about $8,500) for the leak of personal data.

The legislative proposal envisages that repeated violations would result in a turnover-based fine. It will be calculated as a percentage of the companies revenue. Thus, a company having revenue amounting to 100 billion rubles ($1.7 billion) will be subject to a turnover-based fine of 1 billion rubles ($17 million), according to the bills authors.

The initiative will also specify the object of a personal data breach and the way to determine guilt of a certain company.




North Korea recognizes independence of Donetsk Peoples Republic

MOSCOW, July 13 (RAPSI)  The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has recognized the independence of the Donetsk Peoples Republic.

The DPRs international status and its statehood continue to strengthen, the self-proclaimed republics head Denis Pushilin stated on his Telegram channel. This is another victory of our diplomacy, he said commenting on the North Koreas decision.

This political solution will become a basis for the further relations development, he added.

The document on the recognition of the Donetsk Peoples Republic by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was given to the DPR envoy Olga Makeyeva, according to the regions Foreign Minister. During her meeting with the North Korean Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong-chol the parties agreed on the further steps to establish diplomatic relations.

In late June, Syria decided to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics.

Russia recognized the sovereignty of the self-proclaimed republics on February 21. A few days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.
Sovereignty of Lugansk Peoples Republic recognized by DPRK

MOSCOW, July 13 (RAPSI)  The independence of the Lugansk Peoples Republic was recognized by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday.

We are sincerely grateful to the people of the DPRK for supporting our sovereignty and recognizing statehood. In today's geopolitical realities, this is indeed a bold political move. I am sure that the bilateral partnership between our states will be long and productive, the head of the self-proclaimed republic Leonid Pasechnik wrote on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, the head of the Donetsk Peoples Republic announced the recognition of the regions sovereignty by the North Korea.

In late June, Syria decided to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics.

Russia recognized the sovereignty of the self-proclaimed republics on February 21. A few days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.




Bitterroot College in Hamilton is open, registering students and ready to start teaching classes on Monday, Aug. 29, for the fall semester.

Bitterroot College Math Educator Jaime Middleton said it is a critical time to share the word that the college is open.

Referencing the failed levy that was designed to partially support the Bitterroot Valley Community College, and approved by the Legislature last May, she said the future of the BVCC is uncertain, but the Bitterroot College, a program of the University of Montana, is continuing.

We have seats available and we have great education available, Middleton said. Were still here and the doors are open. We still have really good teachers and really good classes.

Middleton has worked at Bitterroot College for eight years and has seen that the program continues to expand math offerings with a revolutionary approach that is ahead of the rest of the state.

We saw people come in with lower math skills who needed to take developmental math classes, she said. The research shows many people dont finish with their college experience because they have to spend too much time and money in lower level math classes that are really not giving them the skills that they need.

Bitterroot College is also offering free remedial classes through the Ed Ready program.

Middleton said Bitterroot College provides a nurturing approach for community members worried about attending college, perhaps because it has been a while since they have attended school, done math or science.

We offer this cool opportunity to gain skills and not even have to pay for them right off, Middleton said. We have support for them, we have tutors and a math lab so people are successful when they come in. We provide a whole other level of support, we do it right.

She said students complete the challenging classes feeling empowered and confident that they can do the work.

We get that feedback from them too when they come back or move on to the UM main campus, or MSU, Middleton said. They say, Im so glad I took Jen Johnsons chemistry class. I knew so much and I was so prepared. Thats awesome, were doing our job.

The Bitterroot College has four core faculty: Jennifer Johnson, Jaime Middleton, Eric Gren and Matthew Kaler, teaching core classes in chemistry, math, anatomy, biology, and English. Staff, advisors and tutors also assist students. Bitterroot College is a two-year program and students can then take their credits and associates degree to the University of Montana, Montana State University, the College of Great Falls, or another four-year college, as the credits transfer.

Middleton said the BC faculty is ready to continue to help residents learn locally.

They can take classes after work, they can learn face-to-face, they can come to a really small class setting and have an enriched awesome experience with 10 people, Middleton said. Bitterroot College is an affordable option without commuting. This is one thing that the price is not going up.

Middleton knows the local program works as her niece Alexa Clark attended Bitterroot College from 2018 to 2020.

Bitterroot College changed my life, Clark said. It was a blessing. It is the best college for people starting out or who are not quite sure. Its amazing. For me just having the small class sizes and having professors interested in your success and wanting to get to know you at a more personal level was helpful. I feel I connected on that one-on-one level and that I learned more there than anywhere.

Clark graduated from UM in May and is working for a year then going on for a masters degree in mental health counseling.

She said Kaler taught her everything I know about writing in my college career.

He saved me as a writer, Clark said. He took the time to sit down with me with my essays and helped me find out what I could do better. He improved my writing.

The Bitterroot College fall schedule of classes and advising will be finalized this week, but the preliminary plan includes the core classes, plus certified medical assisting (CMA), phlebotomy, the LPN Program with Helena College and CDL licensing. The classes will be listed on the website umt.edu/bitterroot-college/.

Kaler said this fall he is teaching Modern American Literature, Introduction to Film Studies and College Writing (Writing 101). He will also have dual enrollment duties working with high school teachers and providing them with support.

(Dual Enrollment classes) use college curriculum and Ill be someone to give a faster response to emails, answer questions and relay information from counterparts at the university, Kaler said. We want to get the word out so if people are interested they can call or stop in. We will be having an orientation in August. Classes will be a blended mix of online and in person.

Kaler said Bitterroot College is in place to serve the community.

Contact the Bitterroot College at 406-375-0100, or at 103 South 9th Street in Hamilton.
Is there any better feeling than kicking back with your feet up after a long day? Whether its paired with your favorite chair or sofa, its the ottoman that makes it easy to relax and unwind.

Yet, the often-overlooked ottoman can provide so much more than just a comfortable place to prop up your feet. It can enhance the functionality of your space, serve as an elegant storage solution or add a layer of sophistication and style to the design of a room.

And with a custom-designed ottoman, you can have it all.

Custom furniture is about buying a piece that fits your lifestyle and your space rather than buying what is available, says Kelsey Spicer, retail store manager of u-fab interiors, a custom upholsterer with locations in both Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia. Having those few extra inches to make the ottoman fit perfectly or choosing a custom fabric that enhances your current color palette can make all the difference in a room.

An ottoman can substitute as a coffee table, serve as a bench at the foot of the bed or act as a shared footrest with occasional chairs. Larger ottomans can also provide additional seating when entertaining guests.

Ottomans can really ground a living space, says Spicer. And a custom ottoman from u-fab can be the perfect puzzle piece to solve any number of design dilemmas in the room.

u-fab consultants work with clients to create pieces theyll love for decades by identifying a number of important details like intended use, family lifestyle, design details, functionality and more. Customers are encouraged to stop by the store to browse a large sampling of ottoman styles on display for ideas or even submit a photo found online.

Our craftsmen are able to look at a photo and re-create something from scratch, which is incredibly difficult, but it speaks to their artistry, says Spicer. We have incredible talent in our workshop.

Ottomans have seen an increase in popularity in recent years thanks to their relatively low cost compared to other furniture updates. They give buyers a simple way to change or update the look of a space quickly, and the recent pandemic has pushed many to finally invest in their comfort at home.

People are looking to bring a certain softness and coziness back into their homes, says Spicer. Were seeing people wanting to create that homey, comfortable feel again and adding a custom ottoman to the mix means another texture and fabric in your room that can help you achieve that.

Color palettes have also shifted since people have started spending more time at home.

Gray is on its way out and were getting more into taupe as a neutral instead, Spicer adds. Were also getting more into color with the greens, purples and teals and textiles like boucle and chenille.

Regardless of color or fabric, a custom ottoman can provide a timeless solution.

If youre just wanting to get a quick, disposable fix, thats not us, says Spicer. But if youre going for craftsmanship  something that is built to last, just for you  we invite you to stop by and well bring your vision to life.

u-fab interiors has two locations: 7921 W. Broad St., Richmond, Virginia (804-888-8322) and 2171 Ivy Road, Suite 5, Charlottesville, Virginia (434-245-8322). Appointments are recommended for personalized services. For more information, visit u-fab.com.
Wherever Glenn Youngkin shows up, fights break out  even in Nebraska.

Republican cannibalism, in which the Virginia governor had absolutely no role other than bemused observer, erupted last weekend at the partys convention in Kearney, where  in his first out-of-state trip since taking office six months ago  Youngkin auditioned for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Establishment types and Trumpers teamed to snatch the Nebraska GOP from Youngkins host and fellow rich guy, Gov. Pete Ricketts. The party chairman was dumped. Other leaders quit. Republicans had had it with Ricketts perceived high-handedness. That includes spending lavishly to swing the gubernatorial nomination to his favorite candidate.

For an audience that was supposed to be a friendly focus group for Youngkin, the kerfuffle in Kearney must have been more memorable than their visitors speech, one in which Youngkin  true to form  bundled his churlish conservative politics in cheerful, fact-challenged aphorisms.

Youngkin  victorious in a blueish, not dark blue, state, as he claimed in Nebraska  is the latest Virginia governor to take advantage of a quirky electoral calendar and an accident of geography that combine to affix rising-star status to whomever this state picks for chief executive.

Of the 11 governors elected since 1981, only two  Democrats Jerry Baliles and Ralph Northam  swore off national politics. The remaining nine  five Democrats and four Republicans  tested the waters or plunged into them headlong.

One Democrat and one Republican tried and failed for their partys presidential nomination. Both were heard from again. Doug Wilder was elected Richmond mayor and remains, at 91, a tormentor of both parties. Jim Gilmore, who twice sought the GOP nomination after he served as governor, was appointed by Donald Trump as U.S. ambassador to a European security coalition.

Tim Kaine wasnt quite looking for the job, but happily accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president in 2016  and lost.

That Virginia is one of only two states  the other is New Jersey  that chooses a governor in the year following a presidential election elevates the significance of both states. Because Virginia is more competitive than heavily Democratic New Jersey, the former attracts more attention than the latter.

Except for one contest  in 2013  every winner for Virginia governor since 1977 has been of the party opposite the one that carried the presidency the year before. That, too, is why our states election is viewed as a leading indicator of a shift in national preferences. Youngkin narrowly won a year after Joe Biden comfortably carried the state.

Mindful of this pattern and eager to get out of the office, national political reporters abundant in Washington venture into suburban-dominated Virginia, filing stories about the harbinger election unfolding south of the Potomac River, in the northernmost state of the former slave-holding Confederacy.

Their stories are usually a mix of anthropology and analysis and, for the winner, can be a huge boost, especially when they focus more on symbolism than substance. This can create  to borrow a flourish from Youngkins indictment of Virginias public schools  an honesty gap in press coverage.

Such was the case during Wilders short-lived presidential bid. He announced in 1991, 20 months into his term as the nations first elective Black governor. To the national press, Wilder was an antidote to Rev. Jesse Jackson, a charming centrist mindful of the taxpayer.

Back in Virginia, Wilder was depicted as a querulous, petty absentee governor who didnt get along with a legislature controlled by his own party, dodged questions about how he spent undisclosed millions from his inaugural celebration and enraged the state workforce by changing their health insurance coverage.

Rarely did these narratives intersect. They might have, had Wilder ended up on the Democratic ticket in 1992. If he demonstrated anything to a national audience, its that he wasnt ready for a presidential campaign. That Wilder put personal ambition ahead of his obligation to Virginia pushed his approval rating at home to about 25%.

Youngkin, too, is the beneficiary of parallel coverage. Unlike Wilder, Youngkin is not an announced candidate, though he impishly signals hes not an unannounced candidate, either. At this point, that Youngkin won a Democrat-trending state by espousing Trump policies without projecting a Trump personality is enough for many in the national media.

Even reduced state coverage of Youngkin, who compensates for it with artful social media, can be more critical, calling attention to his seeming embrace of abortion restrictions beyond his proposed 15-week ban and his refusal to support state protections for same-sex marriage, should federal safeguards be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Youngkins preoccupation with racially and culturally charged issues  he veils them as education questions  and his small-minded partisanship, as measured by his initial vetoes of only Democratic legislation, underscore his preference for confrontation over conciliation. Youd think someone elected with a 1.9% edge would want to make friends.

But thats not what politics is about now. Voters want and expect the fight. Politics is an amusement. How else can candidates and officeholders command your attention? Virginia Democrats know this. But most times, theyre wonkish wusses, better at talking about going for the jugular than actually sinking their teeth into it.

They congratulate themselves for gimmes, though: rejecting as Youngkins natural resources secretary the coal lobbyist who ran the Environmental Protection Agency for Trump and, on Wednesday, sneering that business-friendly Youngkin would have to answer for Virginia falling from first to third in an annual national rating of the best states for business.

What makes it easier for a nationally oriented Youngkin to get away with the venomous is that he smiles a lot, is given to a somewhat wounded tone of voice that engenders sympathy and  in an important measure of message discipline  signals his presumed right-of-center preferences on politically dangerous issues with safely worded evasions.

It got him this far.
R. Kelly turns himself in at 1st District police headquarters in Chicago on Feb. 22, 2019. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

After being held for more than a year in Brooklyn, Chicago-born R&B star R. Kelly was back at the federal jail in the Loop on Wednesday in advance of his second criminal trial set for next month.

Records show Kelly, 55, was moved Tuesday from Brooklyn to the Metropolitan Correctional Center on West Van Buren Street, where he first landed more than three years ago after his arrest on separate federal indictments filed in Chicago and New York.

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Just two weeks ago, Kelly was sentenced to a 30-year prison term for his racketeering conviction in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Hes appealing both the jurys verdict and the judges sentence.

Now, Kelly faces yet another legal hurdle as jury selection is set to begin Aug. 15 at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where he is accused of conspiring with two former associates to rig his 2008 child pornography case in Cook County and hide years of alleged sexual abuse of underage girls.

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Four other indictments alleging sexual abuse by Kelly brought in Cook County in February 2019 have yet to be scheduled for trial.

Meanwhile, Kellys time behind bars, both in Chicago and New York, has been tumultuous. In his earlier days at Chicagos Metropolitan Correctional Center, die-hard fans would demonstrate outside the downtown jail. That reportedly spurred prison authorities to put the building on lockdown.

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Enraged by such a lockdown, fellow detainee Jeremiah Shane Farmer slipped into Kellys cell in August 2020 and beat him repeatedly in the head, according to records. Farmer stopped only after a security officer pepper-sprayed him.

In a handwritten court filing, Farmer, a Latin King gang member who was sentenced to life for his role in a 1999 double murder, later said he attacked Kelly due to the most blatant corruption in Farmers case and being (on) lockdown for Robert Kelly protest.

Kelly suffered a serious concussion that left him with headaches and pain for months afterward, his attorneys said.

While being held in New York, Kelly was diagnosed with COVID-19, according to his attorneys. He also was placed on suicide watch following his sentencing  a move his attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, alleged was punitive rather than rooted in any real concern for his mental health.

The suicide watch was lifted several days later, court records show.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

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jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
We are deeply saddened to learn that another flood has impacted a community still recovering from last years flood, Youngkin said in a statement. In the wake of the devastation, I want Virginians in Buchanan County to know that we are making every resource available to help those impacted by this storm."
The owners of Big Spring Mill will end more than a century and a half in the feed and flour-milling business, when they shut down the Elliston landmark on the Roanoke River in August.

Owner Bob Long said he would have no further comment until next week but issued a short news release. No reason for the closing appears in the statement.

The mill produces baking flour under the Virginias Best label, including self-rising flour, seasoned flour, biscuit mix and corn meal. It also produces livestock feed.

The business began as a gristmill in 1850 along the rivers south fork, a venture originally headed by Joseph Pepper, according to the company release. Fleetwood Long bought it in 1935 and he was joined by his son, Woodrow Long. Woodrow Longs sons, Bill and David, later led the operation, which is now in the hands of fourth-generation family members Bob Long, Amy Long Ebel and her husband Mark Ebel, the release said.

The company gave thanks for the work of its employees and support of customers.
UPDATE 9:45PM: About 1,800 Appalachian Power customers are without power in Roanoke County, with about 1,000 more customers in Botetourt and Craig counties also without power between Appalachian Power and Craig-Botetourt Electric Co-op, according to the PowerOutage.US website, after a gusty line of thunderstorms passed through the region early Tuesday evening. Trees were reported blown down near Ridgewood Farms at Salem, according to National Weather Service reports, and hail 1 inch in diameter was reported by the public at Buchanan in Botetourt County. The Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport reported a maximum wind gust of 52 mph, below the 58 mph severe level, but winds of that strength likely did occur in some other areas around the region. Some showers and thunderstorms were continuing around the Roanoke and New River valleys late Tuesday evening but are expected to move past and diminish in the next couple of hours. END UPDATE

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A cold front pressing into fairly hot, pretty sticky air is triggering thunderstorms in West Virginia that will move into western Virginia in the next few hours.

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for several counties more or less centered on Roanoke for the threat of some storms containing 60 mph wind gusts and hail up to 1 inch in diameter. Heavy rain capable of localized flash flooding and frequent lightning are also possible even in some of the non-severe storms.

The storms are forming in a series of loosely connected clusters, rather than one sweeping line, that will move east-southeast across the region, with arrival in the New River and Roanoke valleys around 7 to 9 p.m.

Not every location will get the most severe effects, but in the worst storms winds could be sufficient for some limb and power line damage. Most locations will get some rain and hear a few rumbles, at least, this evening.

The front will hang up a bit just south of us on Wednesday, so there may be additional storms especially south of Roanoke on Wednesday afternoon. Temperatures will back off a bit, mostly in the 80s for highs, over the next several days. Thursday looks to dry out but additional showers and storms are possible for the weekend.
To keep all of Virginia open for business during the impending recession, it is imperative that the Virginia Aviation Board looks to extend the runway of Twin County Airport when it meets in Roanoke for its annual conference in early August. A mile of road will only take you a mile, but 1,000 more feet of asphalt at Hillsvilles airport can reunite the Southwest areas of Virginia, also known as Gods Country, with the blessings of economic opportunity from across the world.

The Youngkin administration and its aviation officials have an opportunity to step up where the federal government has fallen short by pursuing a transportation plan that extends airport infrastructure in Southwest Virginia as it does in the urban crescent.

Each foot of runway allows more genres of aircraft to operate at the airport, making it more accessible to businesses looking to land investments.

Local airport runways serve as a Main Street for the surrounding counties by being a springboard for opportunity with both direct and indirect economic impact. A local airport will often be the first interaction business developers have with the region.

Outside of Richmond, Chesterfields airport expanded its runway, a move that coincides with major investments like that of Lego and other companies that have decided to call Chesterfield County home.

Local airports are often the point of entry for these businesses.

In Culpeper, the regional airport directly correlated to furniture manufacturer Merillat coming to the county, citing a need for the airports proximity.

The list of economic opportunities in Northern Virginia is as long as the runways of its general aviation airports in Leesburg, Manassas, and the more recently extended Stafford Regional Airport.

These runways sing in harmony with opportunity at the note of 5,000 feet  a measure Twin County is only shy of by a mere 800 feet.

A measured criticism of funding Twin Countys runway expansion is the concern that the states return on investment wont justify the cost.

This problem is made worse because the Federal Aviation Administration excludes small airports like Twin County from its Airport Improvement Program funding on the grounds that the airport doesnt see enough traffic.

The state should be eager to step up when the federal benchmarks dont prioritize the importance of medical airlift and other public safety missions whose importance outweighs their frequency.

Twin County should be an exception to the rule of waiting for federal funds, especially when Southwest Virginia stands on the precipice of being the cradle of future aviation technologies like Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and drone delivery.

Recent studies show the climate is prime for feedstock vital to the production of SAF, and it was Christiansburg  not too far away  that became the historic site of the first commercial drone delivery in the United States in 2019.

The lack of faith in investment in the runway is deaf to the song of economic prosperity that can resonate in the region when its sung from Twin County Airport in the majestic tone of bluegrass.

Not far from Twin County Airport is Felts Park in Galax, known internationally for hosting the oldest and largest fiddlers convention in the world.

Should Twin County expand, the sound of aircraft could equate to the sound of music for this annual festival and reverberate in impact for local businesses.

The Virginia Aviation Board members are the conductors for the symphony of 65 general aviation airports that play economic triumph from the Chesapeake Bay to the Blue Ridge. A 2018 economic impact study accredited the Commonwealths ensemble of airports, saying that a significant portion of Virginias businesses depend on the Commonwealths airports.

The same study states that non-aviation businesses within the state spent over $4.2 billion on aviation.

The board has already championed programs like the Rural Runway Rehabilitation project, which has already been a boon to the economies of rural Virginia, this program should be expanded.

Businesses around the country have already shown interest in the adjacent Carroll County industrial park. Without runway expansion, however, there is no room at the inn for those miracles.

If the commonwealth wants to build transportation infrastructure for all Virginians, that means stepping up where the federal government has failed in Twin County. Giving the people of Southwest Virginia a metaphorical inch of runway can spread economic investment for miles. The state aviation board should extend budget assistance for airport development to extend the runway at Twin County Airport.
Virginias public school system was born 152 years ago this month.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly that there shall be established and maintained in this state a uniform system of public schools, reads the act approved July 11, 1870. The public free school system shall be administered by the following authorities, to wit: a Board of Education, a Superintendent of Public Instruction, county superintendents of schools, and district school trustees.

The occasion provides an opportunity to revisit the story of Virginias first superintendent of public instruction, William Henry Ruffner, who was also the architect of the public school system. The act passed by the General Assembly in 1870 was based upon his proposals.

Ruffner (18241908) has been called the Horace Mann of the South, a reference to the Massachusetts lawyer and legislator who was our young nations first major advocate for public education. (It should be noted that he is not the only historical figure from the American South to bear that label. The Horace Mann of Virginia is perhaps more appropriate, and just about impossible to dispute.)

A Lexington native, pastor and educator whose life story intersects with Washington and Lee University, Virginia Tech, Longwood University in Farmville and Roanoke College in Salem, Ruffner campaigned fiercely for the maintenance and survival of free public school against critics who saw free schools as an unnecessary burden on the states finances.

A supporter of the Union who nonetheless served in the home guard when Virginia seceded to become part of the Confederacy, Ruffner wasnt an example of enlightened thinking on the defining issue of his age, the ownership of enslaved persons. A slave owner himself, Ruffner contended that the institution of slavery needed to come to an end, but for economic reasons, not moral reasons. He was unfortunately a believer in the innate superiority of the white race and a proponent of colonization  a school of thought pushing the notion that free African Americans should emigrate to Africa rather than remain in the country.

Flawed champion of equal education

But unlike many of his white contemporaries, he believed free and enslaved Black Americans should be educated. He ran Sunday schools for African Americans in pre-Civil War Virginia, a practice at odds with the establishment, though he stated he was only providing oral instruction, as state law forbade that reading be taught to enslaved people.

His views might have been influenced by his father Henry Ruffner, who was once president of Washington College  now Washington and Lee  but resigned after stirring controversy by authoring a paper advocating for the gradual emancipation of slaves in western Virginia.

The public school system William Ruffner designed was segregated by race, which caused African American members of the General Assembly to vote against it in protest. Ruffner argued tensions would run too high if schools were integrated, though he articulated a belief that someday there would be no prejudice between the races.

Though separate but equal ultimately proved a failure in practice, Ruffner at least had a goal of equal education for white and Black students, and he founded separate summer institutes for training white and Black teachers.

Ruffner was a tireless advocate for free public school, defending it constantly against critics who considered it a waste of state money and who disapproved of educating Black students. Though the General Assembly replaced Ruffner in 1882, the institution he created endured and evolved.

After a brief stint teaching at Roanoke College, Ruffner would end his career as principal of the State Female Normal School in Farmville, a teacher training school for white women created in 1884. Ruffner had long called for the establishment of such a school, though the General Assembly at first thwarted these ambitions. This Farmville school eventually became Longwood University.

Here is a historical figure with personal flaws and wrongheaded views whose legacy nonetheless persists with every Virginia school bus ride and with every raised hand in a Virginia grade school classroom, the fruits of his vision continuing to benefit the people of the commonwealth long after his death.

Is Ruffners story divisive?

In 2022, Virginias superintendent of public instruction post is occupied by Jillian Balow, imported from Wyoming by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Her main qualification appears to be a worldview compatible with Youngkins pledge to end the teaching of divisive concepts  which in practice appears aimed to muzzle any discussion of race and discrimination past and present in Virginia classrooms.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative nonprofit dedicated to promoting educational excellence  that takes positions that align with Youngkins, such as advocacy for charter schools  published a report in 2021, The State of State Standards for Civics and U.S. History.

The reports introduction begins, Is America a racist country? Or the greatest nation on earth? Or both or neither or some of each? For the sake of our childrens education ... we need a more thoughtful and balanced starting point for the whole conversation  one that leaves space for nuance, mutual understanding, and hope for the future.

Nothing to argue with there. The nonpartisan report goes on to evaluate how K-12 standards for history and civics stack up in every state. Virginia received a B+ rating, which essentially amounts to good but needs improvement in a few specific areas.

Wyoming, where Balow had served as Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2014, received an F in civics and history from this conservative think tank. Wyomings civics and U.S. History standards are inadequate, failing to offer even a basic outline of essential content, the report reads.

We hope this is not an omen. It would be a travesty to see Virginias standards of education downgraded to appease ideological dogma, whether those dogmatic views come from right or left.

One cant help but wonder: what would this administration find acceptable should a teacher choose to share the multifaceted history of William Henry Ruffner in the classroom? Would students be allowed to consider the whole man?
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MARION, S.C.  Marion County Councilmembers honored longtime Marion County Planning Commission Chairman Edwin Stephens with a resolution of appreciation during Tuesday mornings meeting.

Marion County Attorney Charles L. McLain III made the presentation to Stephens joined by his wife Harriet Stephens.

The Mullins native was honored for 19 years as chairman of the Marion County Planning Commission. He also serves as Elder and Sunday School teacher at Mullins Presbyterian Church.

He was instrumental in the development of the Marion County comprehensive zoning ordinance and land development ordinance as well as addressing important zoning issues, McClain said.

Stephens community service includes the Marion-Mullins Rotary Club and Pee Dee Academy board of directors. The Citadel graduate served in the United States Army and South Carolina National Guard. His son Edwin Stephens III is also a graduate of The Citadel and currently an instructor pilot for United States Navy stationed Jacksonville, FL.

Stephens said he was thankful for the recognition and commended Marion County Planning Coordinator Levonne Powell for working alongside him.

She is an absolute gem and she serves not only Marion County but the state of South Carolina with pride, dignity and more knowledge than anybody has ever had, he said. I thank you for all you do.

Powell said Stephens was dedicated to his role.

That includes rolling up his sleeves and researching ordinances and drafting some of them, Powell said. Its been a long 22 years.

Marion County Councilman John Q. Atkinson said he knew the responsibilities were challenging.

I know when the ordinances were redone they had a lot of mud thrown in their face, he said.

A main focus for Stephens was the updating of the countys comprehensive plan. He said the plan would cover a number of issues and serve as a good source of information. Council members have praised the work of the commission in the past with County Councilwoman Elista Smith calling the members knowledgeable. County Administrator Tim Harper said the commission is the most valuable commission hes been around.

Stephens said he is now focusing on his wifes recovery from a stroke suffered two years ago.

Love is what its all about, Stephens said. And I encourage you to go home and hug those that mean so much to you today because she means more to me than anything you will ever imagine.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Florence City Councilors recognized former Mayor Frank Willis by naming the citys surface water treatment plant in his honor at Mondays City Council meeting at the City Center.

Willis died June 10 at the age of 80. He was the citys third longest serving mayor  1995-2008. During his tenure, Willis pushed the city to become a regional provider of water and sewer and advocated for downtown development, economic growth, drug abuse prevention and many other projects and issues.

Florence Mayor Pro-Tem George Jebaily sponsored the resolution to name the citys surface water treatment plant at 2598 Florence Harllee Boulevard to the Frank E. Willis Pee Dee River Regional Water Plant.

Jebaily read Resolution 2022-20, which recognized Willis influence on the city of Florence and renamed the water plant, into the record. The resolution said Willis had a vision and passion to address unmet needs in the community.

It also reviewed his accomplishments as a businessman, chairman of the Florence County Economic Development Authority and as mayor.

The resolution was presented to Willis wife, Marguerite Willis, who thanked the City Council for the honor.

Frank Willis was a patient man. He was a man who had a long-haul game. He knew where he was going and he knew how to get there, she said. What he knew in his heart and in his actions is he couldnt get there by himself.

She recognized several people in the City Council chambers who helped Willis reach his goals  former City Councilor Steven Powers, the Rev. Terry Alexander, who also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Dr. Stephen Imbeau, the author of Willis autobiography  Mayor Frank.

The most important, I think, attribute of my husband was his commitment to what was right, she said. He never wavered on that as far I can tell.

Willis said her husband would have never asked for something to be named after him in this city.

There is no statue of him. There is no alleyway named after him, she said. Theres nothing, and I was determined to, and people know this, that something in this town, in this community be named after him after all he had done in such a really quiet and determined way for this community. How much of himself he had given to the people of this place.

Willis said her husband knew the importance of infrastructure and naming the Pee Dee River Water Treatment Plant in his honor was fitting. The facility is essential to the growth of Florence and the Pee Dee region.
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 Amnesty International releases "The Power of Example: Whither the Biden Death Penalty Promise?" | Main | Some more coverage and commentary on what criminalization of abortion can and will mean 

July 13, 2022

Some news and notes regarding new director of the federal Bureau of Prisons

As first noted in this prior post, Colette Peters, who has served as Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections for more than a decade, this week was selected to lead the federal Bureau of Prisons by Attorney General Merrick Garland. The official announcement from DOJ is at this link, and it reports that she "will assume her duties on Tuesday, August 2." The announcement prompted some notable press releases and coverage. For example:

From a press release from Senate Dick Durbin's office, this quote from Senator Durbin:

Its no secret that BOP has been plagued by misconduct. One investigation after another has revealed a culture of abuse, mismanagement, corruption, torture, and death that reaches to the highest levels. In light of those reports, I called for former BOP Director Michael Carvajals resignation last November. So it was welcome news when six weeks later, he announced his resignation. I am hopeful that with Colette Peters, Attorney General Garland and Deputy Attorney General Monaco have chosen the right leader to clear out the bureaucratic rot and reform BOP. It is a tall order, and I look forward to working with Ms. Peters to help her succeed in this new role.

From a press release from FAMM, this quote from FAMM President Kevin Ring:

Colette Peters is walking into a dumpster fire. From sexual violence and medical neglect to understaffing and years-long lockdowns, the BOPs leadership has allowed a humanitarian crisis to develop on its watch. Families with incarcerated loved ones have been begging for change. During Caravajals tenure, the BOP has been a black box. When COVID began spreading in federal prisons and families fears were at their greatest, Carvajal and the BOP somehow became less transparent. The BOPs opaqueness felt like cruelty. We hope the incoming secretary is prepared to make significant changes to a system badly in need of them.

The most thorough reporting I have seen regarding Peters' professional track record comes from this entry at Chris Geidner's substack LawDork. I recommend the full entry, and here is a portion (with links from the original):

DOJ pointed to ODOCs development of the Oregon Way under her leadership. As ODOC describes it, the goal of the Oregon Way is to improve employee health and wellness, and reduce the use of segregation, by transforming environments inside correctional facilities to be more normal and humane. Bobbin Singh, the executive director of the Oregon Justice Resource Center, however, expressed significant concerns about the appointment given his experience with her work in Oregon  including in ongoing litigation. This appointment is an insult to all those incarcerated in Oregon who are fighting for their civil rights and dignity, Singh told Law Dork on Tuesday. Less than a month ago, his organization sent a new report to state lawmakers, detailing ongoing problems in the department. In the letter to lawmakers accompanying the report, which was provided to Law Dork, Singh wrote, Despite a cascade of evidence revealing serious issues within the department, ODOC continues to put forward a misleading narrative that either ignores the issues entirely, profoundly sanitizes the facts, or wrongly shifts blame and responsibility away from itself.

July 13, 2022 at 09:48 AM | Permalink

Comments

Our nationwide organization, Women Against Registry, advocates for the 2.5 million families of the 917,000 (men, women, and children as young as 8 and 10 in some states) required to register as sexual offenders as well as those in federal and state facilities.

That being said those incarcerated are many times the targets of others who see themselves as higher on the crime ranking scale.

We as a nation see the resolution to a problem as 'out of sight..out of mind' so we throw people away at record-breaking rates. Hence, being regarded as 'the incarceration nation' with 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's incarcerated. But, what is the root cause of the behavior?

It is our duty to begin preparing inmates the first day of their sentence for the day they are released. We have failed miserably! This is not the fault of a prison manager it is the fault of our federal and state legislators who pass more legislation to punish the masses instead of getting to the root cause. How does that even make sense?

I don't know either!

Posted by: Vicki Henry | Jul 14, 2022 7:23:27 AM

. . . considering that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is experiencing over 9,000 documented inmate misconduct reports every 30 days on average for the past 30+ years, the newly selected director has her hands full. By ignoring the increasing volume of inmate misconduct inside prisons, the federal prison agency will continue to have notorious episodes of bad publicity such as the murder of Whitey Bulger and the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Each of these situations multiply calls for change without any real change. By executive staff simply subduing the publicity there will be no change. Until the prisons system's philosophy such as, "they're in prison, what else do you want" changes, there will be no real change no matter what director is on the podium. When the archaic attitude of no genuine prevention of inmate misconduct is brought to light and demands for change are no longer simply a temporary news story, we will begin to see real change and not continue to only see the same "smoke and mirrors".

Posted by: Richard H. Noah | Jul 14, 2022 8:36:01 AM

Locking up people gets votes. And those locked up usually loose their right to vote, depending where you are. It is a perfect political tool. Most people will come back out into our communities and generally we will have done nothing while they are incarcerated to help them learn how to work for a better life. Which makes us all less safe. And yet politicians are happy to continue to put our communities at risk because accountability by staff and administrators in a prison doesn't get you votes. Only sound bites matter. It is heart breaking really. And Vicki Henry...I agree.

Posted by: Mp | Jul 14, 2022 9:41:08 AM

Post a comment
FILE - Homeless people sleep in the shade of a bridge on a hot day in New Delhi, May 20, 2022. A new study published in Climactic Change on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, calculates just how much climate-related loss richer countries have caused poorer countries through their carbon emissions. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

For decades, environmental activists along with some government officials and scientists have argued that rich countries should pay the most to address climate change, and even pay poor countries reparations, because industrialized nations have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases.

A new study by two Dartmouth scientists aims to calculate just how much economic impact larger emitters have caused other nations. Published Tuesday in the journal Climatic Change, the study says the figures could be used in courtrooms and in international climate negotiations about payments from rich nations that burn more coal, oil and gas, to poor countries damaged by emissions.

For example, the data shows that the top carbon emitter over time, the United States, has caused more than $1.9 trillion in climate damage to other countries from 1990 to 2014, including $310 billion in damage to Brazil, $257 billion in damage to India, $124 billion to Indonesia, $104 billion to Venezuela and $74 billion to Nigeria. But at the same time, the United States own carbon pollution has benefited the U.S. by more than $183 billion.

Do all countries look to the United States for restitution? Maybe, said study co-author Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth College climate scientist. The U.S. has caused a huge amount of economic harm by its emissions, and thats something that we have the data to show.

Developing nations have convinced rich nations to promise to financially help them reduce carbon emissions for the future, but havent been able to get restitution for damage already caused, a term called loss and damage in global climate talks. In those negotiations, the biggest carbon emitters, like the United States and China have had a veil of deniability that their actions caused specific damages, said study lead author Christopher Callahan, a climate impacts researcher at Dartmouth. This lifts that veil, he said.

Scientific studies such as this groundbreaking piece show that high emitters no longer have a leg to stand on in avoiding their obligations to address loss and damage, said Bahamian climate scientist Adelle Thomas of Climate Analytics, who wasn't part of the study. She said recent studies increasingly and overwhelmingly show that loss and damage is already crippling developing countries.

Story continues

While carbon emissions have been tracked for decades on the national levels and damages have been calculated, Callahan and Mankin said this is the first study to connect all the dots from the countries producing the emissions to countries affected by it. The studies also tallies benefits, which are mainly seen in northern countries like Canada and Russia, and rich nations like the U.S. and Germany.

"Its the countries that have emitted the least that are also the ones that tend to be harmed by increases in global warming. So that double inequity to me is kind of a central finding that I want to emphasize, Callahan said.

To do the study, first Callahan looked at how much carbon each nation emitted and what it means for global temperatures, using large climate models and simulating a world with that countrys carbon emissions, a version of the scientifically accepted attribution technique used for extreme weather events. He then connected that to economic studies that looked at the relationship between temperature rise and damage in each country.

We can actually fingerprint U.S. culpability on Angolas economic outcomes, Mankin said.

After the U.S. the countries that caused most damage since 1990  a date researchers chose because thats when they say a scientific consensus formed and nations no longer had an excuse to say they didnt know about global warming  are China ($1.8 trillion), Russia ($986 billion), India ($809 billion) and Brazil ($528 billion), study authors figured. Just the United States and China together caused about one-third of the worlds climate damage.

The five nations that were hit the most in overall dollars were Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, but thats because they had the biggest economies of nations in the most vulnerable hot zone. But the countries that took the biggest hit based on GDP are the UAE, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Mali, Callahan said. Brazil and India are also among the countries that produce the most emissions and damage and haven't filed lawsuits to try to get repaid for climate damages.

The question of fairness over which countries make sacrifices and how to prepare for and repair climate impacts as the global community tries to slow warming has become more significant in recent international climate talks. Some nations, local communities and climate activists have called for the largest historical carbon emitters to pay  climate reparations  for the damage their economic gain has caused countries and communities that have already been negatively affected by systems of oppression, like colonialism and slavery. This study adds momentum to this idea, some in the climate in the community told The Associated Press.

In this sense, the study reinforces arguments regarding loss and damage that are gaining traction" in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Nikki Reisch, director of the climate and energy program for the Center for International Environmental Law, told the AP.

There has been push back at the international level from high-emissions countries about paying for loss and damages who worry that poor countries are not going to use climate finance as intended.

Still, Mankin said he hopes the study empowers the powerless and in the face of global climate change. But others in the climate community who have read the study said that more than information is needed to ensure that those most affected by climate change are compensated for their losses. The information and data in the study are valuable, they said, but it will take pressuring those responsible for shaping climate policy to actually get the richer nations to pay for the damage they've caused poorer nations.

Basav Sen, climate justice project director for the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tanks, saw the study and said demonstrating the link of causation is very helpful."

But, he added, it is only one piece in the popular pressure campaign needed to translate this information into actual financial flows from wealthier, higher-emitting countries to compensate lower-income countries experiencing more adverse climate impacts.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
  11.67140.4%  3.2242.5%  643040.1% 3.3%     Verizon 202212 13012 Twitter 47FF91 85%  20%19% 74% 3  14%13% 15%    2.4687%  10%9%  88%121.9%  3500 0.33% 0.72%  134.963.91%  5.31172.99% 2.8  20015.6  6253.6  24.4324.1%  NOVO LAND1.2 93  2
SIOUX CITY  On Aug. 6, residents will have a chance to freely celebrate the cultures of Africa that are a part of Siouxland.

According to a press release, the seventh annual Siouxland African Festival will run from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Riverside Park on Aug. 6 and will include: "a parade of African nations, exhibition of African artifacts, serving of various African cuisines, drumming and dancing, a fashion parade, and more."

Per the release, three specific countries are being highlighted this year: North Sudan, South Sudan and Benin.

"This event embraces and celebrates all Africans regardless of their religious, geographical and ethnic background," Vice president of the Siouxland African Association Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga said. We also seek to educate and build a bridge for partnership and service with our non-African community members."

The release concludes by noting: The event is open to the public and free will donations are accepted.
An early Wednesday morning explosion in a residential neighborhood in Le Mars injured three people and destroyed two homes. Le Mars Fire-Rescue Chief Dave Schipper said it was "very fortunate" that no one died in the explosion.
CHEROKEE, Iowa -- A former Cherokee police officer suspected of striking a 6-year-old girl at a street intersection with a pickup truck has pleaded not guilty.

Michael McGee, 52, of Cherokee, entered his written plea Tuesday in Cherokee County District Court to failure to stop at the scene of an accident, a serious misdemeanor. A trial date has not yet been set.

McGee is accused of striking the girl on May 20 with his Dodge Ram pickup at the intersection of North Roosevelt and East Indian streets.

According to court documents, McGee, who was off duty, was driving north on North Roosevelt Street when the girl and two other children were either crossing the street in a crosswalk or were entering the street. McGee braked his pickup and later told investigators he did not think he had hit anyone and continued to drive north.

McGee told investigators he heard an ambulance dispatched to the intersection and panicked, returning home, court documents said.

An Iowa State Patrol report said McGee and his pickup were identified by witnesses, and he was located and charged.

The girl, who is from Cherokee, was hospitalized with a concussion and other non life-threatening injuries.

McGee is no longer with the department.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bringman was arrested on Sept. 29 while picking up a 5-pound package of meth that had been delivered by the USPS from a supplier. Authorities seized another 1.5 pounds of meth from her vehicle and more than $22,000 in cash.
SIOUX CITY  The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday denied a claim for outside legal counsel from Sheriff Chad Sheehan.

The claim was for legal counsel from Klass Law Firm totaling $875, with $752.50 of the bill stemming from the sheriff seeking an attorney's opinion regarding supplemental pay for percentage deputies.

Board chair Keith Radig separated the claim from the consent agenda for a separate vote. The board voted 4-1 to deny the claim.

In June, Sheehan requested outside legal counsel of Douglas Phillips with Klass Law Firm to determine whose authority it is to provide county employees supplemental pay.

There is no legal basis in Iowa Code or case law that supplemental pay must be approved by the Board of Supervisors, Sheehan said of Phillips opinion. Assistant County Attorney Joshua Widman asked for a written legal opinion from Phillips to review.

Widman had previously provided a memo to the board about supplemental pay, stating supplemental pay is permissible for additional services, but said in his analysis it would be determined by the Board of Supervisors.

On June 29, County Attorney Patrick Jennings sent a classified legal opinion to the board stating there is no law specifically stating who has the ultimate authority, but he believed the authority was with the sheriff. Sheehan said the opinion was based on a deeper review than Widmans legal opinion.

At the time, Sheehan said he was moving forward with paying $49,600 in total to five sheriffs deputies out of his approved budget without board approval based on the legal opinion.

Sheehan said when he began his position, it was set precedent that the sheriff has the authority to contact Phillips in matters related to the sheriffs office. Sheehan said he spoke with former sheriffs Glenn Parrett and Dave Drew as well as Phillips. Phillips said it was a standard practice for at least 25 to 30 years.

Auditor Pat Gill agreed with Sheehan, stating the county has paid for outside legal counsel with Phillips on other matters such as human resources matters without board approval.

The precedent has been that the sheriff  any sitting sheriff  has been able to do that without coming to the board and ask for permission, Gill said.

Radig and Jeremy Taylor said this particular incident did not fit with the prior precedent of seeing legal counsel. Radig said in this condition, it seemed it was more opinion for Sheehan as a sheriff instead of for the boards purview.

Budget Director Dennis Butler said Radig and Taylor asked him to watch the claims. Butler said there is Supreme Court decision that states the board has to provide prior approval for all attorney fees with outside counsel.

Board member Matthew Ung asked Sheehan why he didnt seek advice from County Attorney Pat Jennings before seeking outside counsel. Sheehan said he didnt know at the time that Widman hadnt spoken with Jennings before providing his memo.

Board member Rocky De Witt said more often than not, when the board approaches Jennings with an issue, they are directed to seek outside legal counsel.

Sheehan asked if he needs to seek board approval every time he wants to seek outside legal counsel, for example at 2 a.m. if there is a death in the jail or other emergency situation where he requires legal guidance.

The answer is yes, Taylor said. Radig said in an emergency situation, he as the chair could provide approval.
LE MARS, IOWA  An early Wednesday morning explosion in a residential neighborhood in Le Mars injured three people and destroyed two homes.

The blast occurred around 6:30 a.m. at the corner of Third Street Southwest and Fourth Avenue Southwest.

Le Mars Fire-Rescue Chief Dave Schipper said three individuals were inside or around the home at 327 Third St. SW at the time of explosion and suffered injuries. Two of the victims were taken to Floyd Valley Healthcare by ambulance, while the other was transported to MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center and then transferred to a Lincoln, Nebraska, burn center. The individual remained in stable condition as of Wednesday evening.

Schipper said it was "very fortunate" that no one died in the explosion. The residence was used as a rental home, owned by Bill Anthony. The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental, probably the result of built-up gas in the home igniting when a person in the basement was attempting to light a water heater.

The assistant fire chief reported the explosion. He was on his way to Fire Station 1, when he saw the explosion and debris being flung into the street, according to Schipper. He said the houses at 327 and 321 Third St. SW were completely destroyed and a third house at 315 Third St. SW was also damaged, but didn't catch fire and remained in "livable" condition.

At least 14 other properties within a three-block area suffered damage to some degree or other, ranging from broken windows and broken garage doors to things being jostled and falling from the walls of homes.

Total property damage from the explosion could exceed $350,000, according to a subsequent press release Schipper sent out.

Schipper noted that several houses and structures in the area, including a fire station, suffered damage. Fire crews spent more than five hours on the scene.

Multiple crews, including the Le Mars Fire Department and the Orange City Fire Department, worked to extinguish the fire with gallons of water and two aerial structures.

The explosion occurred exactly a week after a house exploded in rural Battle Creek. The three occupants of that home suffered "substantial" injuries, according to Ida County Sheriff Wade Harriman.
DES MOINES -- Those who oppose liquid carbon pipelines in Iowa confronted on Tuesday the regulatory board members charged with approving such plans, and some insinuated their votes were bought with money and political clout.

Three pipelines are proposed that would lay a total of more than 1,500 miles of pipe across the state, including parts of eight Northwest Iowa counties: Woodbury, Plymouth, Lyon, Osceola, O'Brien, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson and Buena Vista.

This process is a sham; its outcome is preordained, Jon Green, a Johnson County supervisor, told the three-member Iowa Utilities Board at its regular monthly meeting.

Board members have repeatedly declined to publicly reveal how they might rule on eminent domain requests that will almost certainly be required to build the pipelines. Eminent domain uses government authority to force property owners to accept easements on their property for projects deemed to be of public benefit.

Summit increases voluntary agreements

Summit Carbon Solutions has made the most progress toward obtaining a hazardous liquid pipeline permit from the state. It has finalized agreements with landowners of nearly 40% of its 680-mile route in Iowa, said Courtney Ryan, a spokesperson for the company.

Thats a sizable increase from a little more than a month ago, when the company reported it had obtained voluntary easements for about 30% of the route. But many landowners have indicated they will not relent in their opposition.

The board has said it will not set a weekslong hearing to consider the Summit permit until the company provides a list of properties for which it will request eminent domain. To grant the power of eminent domain, the IUB needs to determine that the pipelines benefit the general public.

Proponents say the pipelines will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol plants  there are about 40 of them in Iowa  to boost the long-term viability of the fuel. Ethanol is an important market for crop farmers because more than half of the states corn goes to produce it.

Opponents say the pipelines primarily benefit the pipeline companies that are poised to earn billions of dollars, mainly due to federal tax incentives for sequestering carbon dioxide. Those tax credits go to the ethanol plants where the carbon is captured and compressed into a liquid, and the plants pay the pipeline companies to transport it to Illinois or North Dakota where it is pumped deep underground.

If you join us, the rest of your life you can hold your head high knowing that you didnt have a price, James Norris, a Montgomery County landowner, told the board on Tuesday. The answer is simple. Youre either with big corporations trying to buy favor or with hard-working Iowans.

Board spokesman: Decisions are based on the law and evidence

In response to the allegations that the board is influenced by money or personal and political connections, Don Tormey, a spokesperson for the board, told Iowa Capital Dispatch: The IUBs decisions in such dockets are based on Iowa law and the evidence contained in the record of each individual docket.

The remarks of about 20 pipeline opponents who spoke during the public comments portion of Tuesdays meeting are not used as evidence for the IUBs consideration of the pipeline permits, warned Geri Huser, the boards chairperson. However, the bulk of what was said was a reiteration of written objections that have been filed in the Summit and Navigator CO2 Ventures dockets.

I know we have to file in the open docket, but we appreciate the opportunity just to speak with human beings for something thats so important, said Jessica Wiskus, a Lisbon Democrat and candidate for the Iowa Senate.

A third company, Wolf Carbon Solutions, recently began its permit process with the IUB for a smaller pipeline in eastern Iowa that would run about 90 miles and connect to two ethanol plants. Navigator revised its route in June and is set to hold about a dozen meetings in August in the affected counties, after which it could formally petition for a permit. Summit petitioned in January.

Opponents say the pipelines cause long-lasting or permanent damage to the states farmland and that they pose a significant health risk to people. A pipeline break last year in Mississippi sickened dozens because carbon dioxide is heavier than air. It can remain close to the ground and overwhelm people.

Board denies request to limit landowner contacts

In May, the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter asked the IUB to limit Summits contact with landowners who are unwilling to sign voluntary easements. The club sought to limit contacts to three times, insisting the seemingly relentless contacts via phone calls, text messages and mailings constitute harassment. But last week, the IUB denied that request because it might interfere with Summits ability to make good faith efforts to negotiate, which is a requirement before the board can decide eminent domain requests.

Each individual negotiation is likely to be different, and imposing an arbitrary limit of three contacts may not be sufficient for the parties to reach an agreement or conclude that no agreement can be reached, the board said in its July 5 ruling.

Summit has regularly criticized the Sierra Club for being anti-ethanol.

Summit Carbon Solutions will allow ethanol plant partners to sell their product at a premium in the growing number of states and countries that have adopted low carbon fuel standards, which will strengthen the marketplace for corn growers and keep land values strong in the years to come, Jess Harris, director of public affairs, said Tuesday morning in response to the pipeline opponents protest at the IUB meeting.

Jess Mazour, a conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club, said: A year into this project, its clear that no one wants carbon pipelines except those who stand to benefit.
SIOUX CITY  Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and former director of the Central Intelligence agency during the Trump administration, will deliver the keynote speech at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner in September.

The Chamber announced Pompeo as the speaker Wednesday afternoon. The 36th annual dinner, a marquee event for the Chamber, will be held Sept. 22 at the Sioux City Convention Center.

Pompeo delivered a video address Wednesday at the Chamber's announcement event.

"Hi, I'm Mike Pompeo. Being from Kansas, I am always excited to join fellow Midwesterners as we discuss the issues facing America and the world. That's why I am so excited to join the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in Sioux City on September 22nd. I look forward to seeing you all there," Pompeo said in his video remarks.

Pompeo, as the Chamber noted in announcement materials, is the only person in U.S. history to have been both Secretary of State and the CIA director.

"Mike Pompeo's legacy of leadership and service to our nation is among the most distinguished in our country's history. From graduating at the top of his class at West Point, to earning his law degree from Harvard, being elected to Congress, directing the CIA, and finally leading the State Department as the 70th U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Pompeo's record of service is one of unparalleled dedication and patriotism," Chamber Board Chair Brian Crichton said in a statement.

There have been indications that Pompeo, a staunch supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, might be considering a presidential bid in 2024.

"I am convinced that Secretary Pompeo's exceptional resume and extraordinary experiences at the very highest levels of our federal government will make him one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, and popular speakers the Siouxland Chamber has ever welcomed," Chamber President Chris McGowan said in a statement.

The dinner begins with a social hour at 5:15 p.m., followed by the dinner program beginning at 6:15. In addition to Pompeo's remarks, the Chamber will present their annual W. Edwards Deming Award for Entrepreneurial and Business Excellence, recognition of the 2021 Ambassador of the Year, and will present the Sailor of the Year awards to members of the U.S.S. Sioux City's Blue and Gold crews.

Dinner reservations are $100 per person for Siouxland Chamber members and $120 for non-chamber members.
SIOUX CITY  J.D. Scholten will be pulling political double duty this election season.

This week: Sioux City's Mike Franken, the former three-star Navy admiral running for U.S. Senate, announced that Scholten, a fellow Democrat and Sioux City resident, will be joining his campaign to unseat seven-term Republican incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley. According to a press release, Scholten, who's already running unopposed in Iowa House District 1, is coming on as a political director.

"Having known Admiral Franken the past few years, its an honor for me to work on his campaign," Scholten said. "Hes such a unique candidate. I wouldnt have signed up for just any campaign, but his work ethic, authenticity and his integrity are inspiring. He will be an amazing representative of our state in the Senate."

The news comes just days after a poll commissioned by Frankens campaign shows him within 5 percentage points of Grassley in the 2022 election.

The poll was conducted by Change Research, which surveyed 1,488 likely Iowa voters from June 30 to July 4. Grassley was the pick of 49% of the poll respondents, to 44% for Franken. Seven percent said they remain undecided. The polls margin of error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. Grassleys six re-election campaign victories in Iowa have come by an average of 35 percentage points. (An April poll showed Franken trailing Grassley by 3% with 13% of respondents being "undecided.")

In mid-May, a Change Research poll showed Franken statistically tied with Abby Finkenauer in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign. Roughly three weeks later, Franken won that election by nearly 15 percentage points.

Scholten spoke to the most-recent poll in the release from Franken's campaign, saying: "This race reminds me so much of our 2018 campaign. The big difference is that the numbers statewide are way more favorable to Democrats than the old 4th district, where we moved the needle 24 points that year. Last weeks poll showing Admiral Franken down just five points with a lot of room to grow for name recognition is very encouraging. I am looking forward to turning a lot of heads come November."

During his 2018 Congressional run, Scholten, a paralegal, lost to then-Rep. Steve King of Kiron by about 3% in the 4th District (the most Republican of Iowa's four districts). Scholten crisscrossed the 39-county district in an RV he referred to as "Sioux City Sue" and received contributions from donors across the United States who wanted to see King defeated because of his past controversial statements on race and immigration.

Scholten squared off against Randy Feenstra, then a Republican state senator from Hull, Iowa, in the November 2020 general election, but didn't make it as competitive as the 2018 race against King. Feenstra won 62% of the vote to Scholten's 37% in the state's most Republican congressional district.

While state legislators in Iowa will sometimes work for federal officials from the state, it is somewhat rare for candidate to work for another candidate at the same time. However, the Franken release noted: "J.D. is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Representative Chris Hall, who successfully served in a similar role for Fred Hubbells gubernatorial campaign."

The state legislative district Scholten is running to represent, House District 1, shares some similarities to the current district (District 13) represented by Hall, who decided not to seek another term after more than a decade in office, but is most similar to the district Rep. Steve Hansen (D-Sioux City) currently serves (District 14). No Republican filed for District 1 by the March deadline, but local GOP leaders have until next month to nominate a candidate to fill the ballot spot.
SIOUX CITY -- The owner of dozens of snakes removed from a Sioux City home Monday is hoping city leaders will change ordinances that currently ban his animals within city limits.

The ball pythons taken from Parker Moos' home are classified under city code as dangerous animals, but this particular type, which doesn't grow nearly as long or heavy as other pythons, is not dangerous, Moos said.

"They're really docile," he said, adding that when threatened, the snakes, which reach a maximum of 5 feet in length and 10 pounds, ball up to protect themselves rather than attack.

The father of a 5-month-old daughter, Moos said he has no fears of the snakes posing a threat to his child.

"Not even a little bit," he said.

Moos, a Sioux City Realtor, has launched an online petition drive on Change.org to gain support for an ordinance change. By late Wednesday afternoon, more than 400 of a hoped-for 1,000 signatures had been received. Moos plans to address the Sioux City Council in the near future and ask councilmembers to amend the code to permit ball pythons and certain other types of non venomous snakes -- as Iowa law does -- and continue to ban snakes the state classifies as dangerous animals.

"We're not asking them to do anything outside of what Iowa already allows," Moos said.

Mayor Bob Scott said he'd listen to any proposal, but if the ordinance were to be changed, it likely would limit how many snakes may legally be kept.

"They're going to have to make a pretty convincing argument to me," Scott said. "We don't allow more than three dogs or cats."

When he bought the ball pythons around the beginning of the year, Moos said, he didn't know they weren't allowed in Sioux City. He had consulted Iowa law and assumed city code would be the same.

On Monday, animal control officers removed 58 snakes from Moos' townhouse at 4624 Harrison St. after the owner of the adjoining townhouse found a python in her garage and called police. Moos said a sibling looking after the snakes while he's on vacation may have failed to properly secure an enclosure, enabling the snake to escape, and he regrets any scare the neighbors received.

Moos said three boa constrictors under a year old also were taken. Other corn and king snakes, which are legal, were left in the home. The case has been referred to the city's legal department. Violation of the code can result in fine of $100-$750.

Moos said he's looking into opening a pet store featuring reptiles and, while researching pet store ordinances, discovered his ball pythons could not be kept legally within city limits, though the code says they may be housed in pet stores. Knowing his snakes were illegal, Moos said he had hoped to get a pet store opened, sell some of the snakes or find someone outside the city to care for them before the city learned of them.

"We were hoping to try and get something switched over soon," he said.

The snakes are currently being housed at the Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue Center. Moos said he was informed by the city's legal department late Wednesday that the snakes would not be released back to him or a keeper of his choosing, but will be relocated to reptile rescue facilities.

"It sounds like more than likely we're going to lose the snakes," Moos said.

City attorney Nicole DuBois did not return messages seeking comment.
Funeral of former Japanese PM Abe held in Tokyo

Xinhua) 08:52, July 13, 2022

People watch the hearse carrying the body of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as it passes by in Tokyo, Japan, July 12, 2022. A funeral was held on Tuesday in central Tokyo for Abe, who was shot dead while delivering a speech last week. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

TOKYO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A funeral was held on Tuesday in central Tokyo for Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead while delivering a speech last week.

The ceremony took place at the Zojoji Temple at the foot of the iconic Tokyo Tower. Besides Abe's wife Akie, Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida, some lawmakers as well as foreign dignitaries and business leaders attended the funeral.

Memorial services are scheduled to be held later in Tokyo and in his constituency in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Abe was shot Friday at close range by a 41-year old local, who used a handmade double-barreled gun, on a street in the western city of Nara while giving a speech for a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for Sunday's upper house election.

The hearse carrying the body of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe runs on a street in Tokyo, Japan, July 12, 2022. A funeral was held on Tuesday in central Tokyo for Abe, who was shot dead while delivering a speech last week. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

People wait in line to mourn for Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Japan, July 12, 2022. A funeral was held on Tuesday in central Tokyo for Abe, who was shot dead while delivering a speech last week. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena knew he'd be turning in his badge by the end of the year.

But a new interpretation of state retirement pay rules forced him to bump up his retirement by four months.

Altena, who has served nearly 18 years as sheriff and is midway through his fifth term, turned in his resignation at Tuesday morning's Sioux County Board of Supervisors meeting. He will step down Aug. 31.

Making the formal announcement brought a few tears to his eyes, realizing his 43-year law enforcement career, 39 of them with the sheriff's office, is nearly over.

"The hard thing is leaving this line of work and the people you work with. Law enforcement becomes like a family," Altena said.

In all likelihood, Altena will be able to remain in close contact with them.

Altena, who lives in Sioux Center, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination for the District 3 county board seat in June. His Democratic opponent in the November general election received a single write-in vote.

Altena had planned to retire at the end of the year, but learned recently that in order to begin collecting pay from the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System if he were elected to the county board, he had to have a four-month gap between holding the elected positions, leading to his earlier-than-expected retirement announcement.

Sioux County Auditor Ryan Dokter said the county board plans to appoint a replacement to complete Altena's term. The position will be on the ballot in 2024.

Altena said he'll be leaving "a really, really good bunch of people," and he believes the sheriff's office has qualified candidates to fill his position.

Altena said he was proud that during his service the sheriff's office created its first school resource unit, enhanced its emergency response unit and K-9 program, reorganized its dive team and provided a real-time public notification system that also offers a confidential reporting system.
Two people allegedly beat a person late Tuesday in Davenport, fracturing his eye socket and nose.

The attack happened about just before midnight at the Washington Street Mini Mart, 1601 Washington St., according to court records. The injured person, whose age was not available, suffered the fractures in the bones in his face and another in his right hand.

Darrell A. Johnson, 27, East Moline, faces a charge of willful injury causing serious injury in relation to the attack, according to court records. Johnson allegedly beat the person with his hands and feet, including repeatedly punching and stomping on his face and head.

Walquaja D. Boyd, 23, Davenport, has been charged with willful injury causing serious injury and assault causing bodily injury or mental illness, court records state. Authorities accuse her of also using her hands and feet to injure the victim, including punching and stomping on his head and face.

Boyd is also accused of punching a second person in her face and head, court records state. That person suffered injuries to her limbs, face and neck.

Court records did not further identify the second person.

After the attack, Johnson and Boyd, with two other people identified as defendants in the case, left in a black 2010 Ford Expedition, court records state.

The identities and alleged actions of the other two defendants were not provided in the court records for Boyd and Johnson.

The attack was recorded by security cameras and lasted between one and two minutes, according to court records. Boyd allegedly told police after she had been read her Miranda rights that she was at the convenience store at the time of the attack.

Johnson was arrested about 12:53 a.m. Wednesday at the Sherwood Forest Apartments, 1000 Blythwood Place, after officers were called there for a disturbance.

Officers told Johnson he was suspected in the attack on Washington Street and attempted to handcuff him, court records state. Johnson allegedly ran away and refused to stop, but was caught.

These allegations led to Johnson also being charged with interference with official acts, a misdemeanor, court records state.

Johnson and Boyd were in custody Wednesday morning. Their bonds have each been set at $10,000.
Newly elected Nebraska Republican State Chairman Eric Underwood of Lincoln and his leadership team said Tuesday that they are committed to securing the election in November of GOP primary election nominees, specifically Jim Pillen.

"Make no mistake, the NEGOP remains committed to our Republican primary winners," the new party leaders stated in a news release.

Earlier in an interview with Ian Swanson on KFAB-AM, Underwood specifically declared "100% support for Jim Pillen as our next governor."

Pillen won the May 10 primary election in a hotly contested race that included Charles Herbster, the candidate who won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

In the news release, the new party leaders declared that "the top-down approach which has been successful is not as nimble or representative of all conservative Nebraskans from Omaha to Scottsbluff" as the new leadership model intends to be.

That may have been directed at the influence or control exercised by Gov. Pete Ricketts in leading the party.

"Everybody has a seat at this table," Underwood said in the radio interview.

But, he said, the new leadership elected at the party's state convention in Kearney on Saturday also expresses "100% support for Gov. Ricketts."

"We cannot fight among ourselves," he said.

"This was not a movement for or against any specific people or group, but rather a vote to fortify Republican platform ideas, conservative values, and a focus on performance over personalities in future county, state and national elections with a people-first, bottom-up approach," the GOP news release stated.

"Simply put, the delegates felt conservative Nebraskans and the NEGOP could operate more effectively with a people-first, bottom-up approach setting the conservative agenda, growing traditional values and building candidates that uphold those principles."

The party's new leadership "is here to elect conservative Republicans in November at all levels and well into the future and fight the radical left agenda growing in our state and in our nation," the statement declared.
A new nonprofit organization is working to create an LGBTQ+ community center in metropolitan Omaha with programming to meet the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals and families of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

The organization, Omaha ForUs, has a mission to build intentional community and create equitable space, according to a press release announcing its creation and launch of a fundraising campaign. The organization aims to grow LGBTQ+ focused, culturally responsive programming in an Omaha-based center.

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert supports the effort to create the center. It would co-locate and coordinate existing and new LGBTQ+ focused organizations. Its programs and services would include LGBTQ+ affirming clinical counseling and facilitated support groups. Mental health services, which are difficult for many LGBTQ+ people to access, will be a top priority, the group said.

We are channeling the collective power of Nebraskas existing LGBTQ+ led organizations and programming to improve support systems for our community, said JohnCarl Denkovich, director of programs for the new nonprofit. By co-locating and coordinating efforts we strengthen proven work and begin bridging gaps in essential services.

Proponents see such a center as a community gathering space, where we can celebrate, where we can mourn, where we can receive services, where we can dialogue, Denkovich said. It would fill a need that has existed in this community for a really long time.

Omaha is one of only seven of the nations 50 largest cities that does not have a metro-area LGBTQ+ center, Denkovich said. It could address needs identified in assessments of Omahas LGBTQ+ community, and help with talented workforce recruitment and retention, especially among people 18 to 34 years old, Denkovich said.

It elevates our (Omahas) rankings when we can have an environment that serves more types of people, Denkovich said. And so youre serving the need on the human side. But if that doesnt move you as somebody who is who is looking at this critically, I think that the economic benefit is abundantly clear.

The City of Omahas LGBTQ+ Advisory Board had made it a priority to establish an LGBTQ+ center. Stothert contributed $15,000 from the Mayors Office budget in 2021 toward the organizations community support campaign, and has approached philanthropic donors for support.

This is one more way Omaha is growing and changing for the better, Stothert said in a prepared statement included in the Omaha ForUs press release. As a former nurse, I want all of us to get the care we need, and the support we deserve. Im excited for LGBTQ+ people to have more opportunity to do just that.

Omaha ForUs launched a community support campaign at the end of June that is aimed at raising $75,000 in 75 days. Thats a fraction of whats needed, but will activate our community and demonstrate a commitment to sustaining Omaha ForUs efforts, said Amanda (Ryan) Crichlow Silva, first board president of Omaha ForUs.

The organization is depending on philanthropic leaders to invest in the project, said Crichlow Silva, a former member of the Omaha Public Schools board.

The group estimates it will need $800,000 for a first year of a full center, with startup costs. They project operating costs of about $500,000 a year after that, some of which the center would raise in revenue from training, consulting and other services.

Heartland Family Service is acting as the groups fiscal agent. People can donate to the community support campaign via the Omaha ForUs website.

Omaha ForUs does not have a timetable for opening a full-fledged center. That will depend on fundraising. The group hopes to initially open temporary office space by the end of this year with at least one staff member, co-locating with a couple of organizations that serve LGBTQ+ people, Denkovich said. They hope to expand to two or three staff members by mid-2023.

A longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ communities, Denkovich has worked in human services and served for more than a decade on the local and national boards of GLSEN. In addition to Crichlow Silva, the initial Omaha ForUs board of directors includes Eli Rigatuso, Tena Hahn Rodriguez, Cameron Koenig and Alexander Foreman. More board members will be chosen, and advisory boards will be named, Denkovich said.

Other organizations and volunteers have been providing services and programs in Omaha for decades and still are, Denkovich acknowledged.

Theres no need to reinvent the wheel and fix something thats not broken, Denkovich said. But we can certainly make something thats awesome even better, by working together and resourcing those things that we know are already working and do it together, and give those people an office to call their own, give them a programming space where they can do the work thats already making a difference.
Richmond, Va., dodged a bullet when Richmond police foiled what they say was a plot to carry out a mass shooting on the Fourth of July.

Unfortunately, as we should know all too well in the Richmond area, you dont need a mass shooting to set off a body count. During a celebration of independence, Americas addiction to gun violence was on full display.

During the wee hours of July 4, six people  four men, two women  were shot near The 4 Cyber Cafe in downtown Richmond.

Less than an hour earlier, a 30-year-old Richmond man driving a Honda Civic was shot on Interstate 95. He managed to make his way to Commerce Road with serious but non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

The previous night, Kyle Stoner, of Richmond, described as a regular at City Dogs on Main Street in Shockoe Slip, was shot to death. An Alexandria man was arrested in the shooting.

On July 2, a retired Henrico police officer was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and stepdaughter. And Chesterfield police have charged four teens in the shooting death of another juvenile at a birthday party.

Its easy to feel relieved that Richmond did not suffer a fate similar to that of Highland Park, Ill., where seven people were slain and dozens of others were injured by a rooftop shooter during a Fourth of July parade. But its hard to feel good about ourselves when so many locals were victimized by gun violence over the holiday weekend.

This tension was also evident in the city of Chicago, an hour south of Highland Park, where the relatively impoverished West and South sides saw at least eight people fatally shot and 68 people injured by gun violence over the Fourth of July weekend, according to CNN.

The relative lack of attention to this everyday violence is a byproduct of race, poverty and distance, but runs deeper than that. Theres plenty of blame to go around: The news media. News consumers. The poverty, inequity and trauma that breed hopelessness, dysfunction and violence. The easy availability of guns in communities with a paucity of life-sustaining essentials. And, of course, perpetrators who make a mockery of Black Lives Matter  in the process providing a cache of ammunition for those who argue that our gun problem is really a Black problem.

Its just got to stop, Richmond police Chief Gerald Smith said of the violence during a news conference praising the hero citizen who tipped police off. You know, I may be the police chief, but Im also a citizen. Its ridiculous. At some point in time, this has got to stop.

But the numbing, metronome-like quality of everyday gun violence struggled to compete with a mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Americas heartland.

In Richmond, the idea that we averted similar carnage was an attention grabber  though authorities, it must be said, performed a disservice in initially stating without equivocation that Dogwood Dell was the target when the facts were not so clear-cut.

But, hey, Im among the myriad folks whove enjoyed Dogwood Dell. Our concern about gun violence is tied to both proximity and possibility. If violence is so random that it can follow us anywhere  a grocery store, a house of worship, a holiday celebration  who can breathe easy?

Whether youre at home in your cul-de-sac or in your neighborhood or in a park or at a parade, out dining  you have to keep your head on a swivel, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said. And thats not the country that I know I desire to live in ... but those are the facts of the matter at this moment.

Whatever collective trauma we felt at this near-miss was fleeting, compared to what folks in crime-ravaged Richmond communities experience every day. But anyone who deems this the price of normalized violence is missing the point: Whether in a Black enclave of Buffalo, N.Y., a Latino schoolhouse in Texas or a leafy suburb of Chicago, theres plenty of bloodshed and trauma to go around.

Mass shootings make it harder to compartmentalize a national bloodlust intent on expanding its boundaries. To stem the tide, the affluent folks of Highland Park must develop common cause with the poor people on the South and West sides of Chicago. The denizens of Glen Allen, Midlothian and Mechanicsville must resolve the same regarding their urban brethren.

We need more empathy and fewer firearms, from Highland Park, Ill., to Highland Park, Richmond. Until we reach that consensus, were all in the crosshairs.

Williams: Monday is America's birthday. A nation worth celebrating is a nation worth saving. Before the pandemic, the Fourth of July celebrations of Niya Bates were downright panoramic, with trips to Albemarle Countys Pantops Mountain for an 180-degree view of nearly a dozen fireworks shows from as far away as Wintergreen and Greene County.

Williams: Abortion rights aren't the first the U.S. has curtailed. And they won't be the last. "Today, the Supreme Court is dominated by so-called originalists who ardently view the Constitution as frozen in a time in which women, Indigenous people and Black people were subordinate to the framers," writes columnist Michael Paul Williams.

Williams: Racism is a public health crisis. So is the Virginia health commissioner's racism denial. "This sort of denial characterizes so much of the political right's approach to problems, from racism, to gun violence, to climate change to the existential threat to our democracy," writes columnist Michael Paul Williams.
Its been 14 years since Iowa restaurants and bars went smoke-free. Its getting hard to remember the days of restaurant smoking sections and smoke-filled bars, and there are few complaints about breathing clean air in public spaces.

As much as patrons like the law, bartenders and wait staff appreciate it even more; theirs are the lungs protected from the secondhand smoke they long had been forced to breathe. That was the impetus for the law  to create a safer work environment for employees of bars and restaurants.

Unfortunately, casino employees werent afforded the same protection.

The State of Iowa carved out a loophole for casinos because not doing so might impact profits, officials said at the time. Eventually, it became the accepted wisdom in the casino industry that eliminating smoking would automatically lead to revenue declines and customer losses.

Of course, many restaurants and bars thought the change would be equally ruinous, yet they were forced to adapt. And for the most part, the change was a good thing. Smokers have learned to step outside to feed their habit. Casinos likely would find the same to be true.

Further evidence comes now in a report showing that something has changed in the wake of the pandemic.

The report came from Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming, though the research was done independently with no outside party paying for it. The pandemic turned the casino experience on its ear with the closure of buffets and room service as well as fewer housekeeping services. Guess what? Gamblers got used to it. They even gambled wearing masks in many places for more than a year.

So perhaps, industry experts suspect, maybe customers would get used to a smoking ban.

Data from multiple jurisdictions clearly indicates that banning smoking no longer causes a dramatic drop in gaming revenue, the report states. In fact, nonsmoking properties appear to be performing better than their counterparts that continue to allow smoking.

The report looked at casinos performance in numerous states since the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020 and finds that those casinos that implemented smoking prohibitions did not experience any drop in revenues or lost market share to nearby casinos that continued to offer smoking environments.

The report fortifies efforts in several states that are considering banning smoking in casinos. Illinois has already made the leap  so Ballys in Rock Island, a nonsmoking casino, competes with Rhythm City Casino Resort on the Iowa side. Somehow, both survive. Ho-Chunk Gaming in Madison touts its status as a nonsmoking casino in its advertising. Gamblers playing video gaming machines in East Dubuque bars arent allowed to smoke, yet Dubuque casinos have pointed to those machines as a threat to revenue.

In fact there are more than 1,000 gaming facilities in the U.S. that are now nonsmoking.

Iowa should give such a move the same consideration. Its disingenuous to tout the states smoke-free environment for workers while at the same time  in the name of state gambling revenue  forcing casino workers to continue enduring an indoor smoking environment. The impact on revenue appears more nebulous than ever before.

Fourteen years is long enough. Its time to end the loophole that allows smoking in casinos.
Despite some initial anti-woke review-bombing and lower ratings compared with similar shows, Ms. Marvel has become one of Disneys most acclaimed and exciting releases in years, as well as the first major Western screen depiction of a female South Asian Muslim superhero. As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with movie tie-in plans for next year, Ms. Marvel is not going away anytime soon, to the delight of its gratified fan base. Viewers of all ages have praised the show, based on a popular comic book series that debuted in 2014, for its detailed, nuanced, unabashedly positive depiction of Muslim American communities: the family dynamics, the clothing, the music, the weddings, the mosques (and their unfortunate law enforcement surveillance). Its a meaningful transition from decades of villainous depictions of Muslims, many of which were promulgated by the MCU itself. Whats more, the show has also struck viewers and critics for the way it delves into a historical topic little-known to typical American audiences: the trauma of the 1947 India-Pakistan Partition, and its still-potent impact.

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Outside of South Asian literature and cinema, its rare to see significant depictions of this momentin part, because its so difficult and stomach-churning, and also because it isnt as emphasized in broader Western historical studies, overshadowed in the timeline by the end of World War II and the separation of Germany. Which is to say that Ms. Marvel, in setting the bulk of its fifth episode within the Pakistani city of Karachi during Partition, represents an important breakthrough in American cultures perception of that era. Before this episode, which aired last week, the most notable Western pop culture stories of Partition were few and far between: fictional works by Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie, the Oscar-winning 1982 biopic Gandhi, a 2018 Doctor Who episode. Even these representations were mostly focused on postwar India and modern-day Indians, with Pakistan as an afterthought. But now, Marvel fans get to see an essential piece of world history for themselves, and from a perspective they would not have gotten elsewhere.

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Beginning on Aug. 15, 1947, the date the British Empire formally granted its former Indian colonies full independence, Partition was the careless solution to a problem of the Crowns own making: the sectarian, territorial violence between the regions Hindus and Muslims that British officers had stoked themselves for decades, in order to prevent colonial subjects from uniting in cross-religious solidarity and rebellion. While the anti-revolt plan was obviously unsuccessful, the divide-and-rule strategy nonetheless left deep scars on the broader population. Indias Hindus and Muslims did have their own historical tensions outside of Western influence, but the Empire undoubtedly helped to worsen those wounds. Todays bloody iterations of Hindu nationalism have their roots in the British Raj, as does the idea of a Muslim-centric state established as a protective counter to Hindu nationalist visions of India. By the 1940s, as Indias independence movement gained international support and the United Kingdom was weakened by the battles of World War II, arrangements were made for the Empire to relinquish its hold over Indiaand, as disputes between Hindu and Muslim activists flared into fatal violence, for two separate nations to be created. Hindus were to find a home in India, while Muslims would settle into separated land masses together recognized as Pakistan.

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This did not go smoothly: The task of drawing up the new nations borders was granted to a British officer whod never even been to India, and the actual maps werent released to the public until two days after official independence. The confusion over the appropriateness of the independent regions, the arbitrary and controversial border lines, and the explicit religious demarcations led to a gory, painful migration and resettlement process. About 15 million people are estimated to have been displaced, with both Hindus and Muslims leaving lifelong homes to cross into either India or Pakistan, while religious territorialism fueled shocking violence, leading to an estimated 2 million deaths. The thronging and hostile crowds, the overwhelmed transportation routes, the separations of families and friends, and the cross-route clashes that led to carnagefor survivors of that moment, of which there are still many, its still difficult to tell those stories, and even harder to stomach their implications. Chronicles of that moment tell, over and over again, of the ubiquitous pools of blood, the untreatable human trauma, and the devastating loss of place, community, and family. The postwar history of India and Pakistan reflects this, from the multiple wars between the two countries to the arguments over the Jammu and Kashmir region to the often state-supported bursts of violence against religious minorities in both nations. It remains an indelible part of my own family history: My paternal grandmother had to flee with her family from their home city of Lahore after it was enveloped into Pakistan, and her life was never the same.

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Ms. Marvels Time and Again examines this fraught history head-on, opening with footage from early-40s India that displays some of the countrys freedom fighters and briefly explains, in voice-over narration, the colonial circumstances that led to the Partition. The episode then flashes back to the year 1942, and we see protagonist Kamala Khans great-grandmother Aisha meeting her future husband, Hasan, in his longtime family home. Both Muslims, they begin to consider leaving the area as the prospect of independence approaches, and Islamophobic hostility subsequently increases. As they prepare to move, Aisha is visited by Najma, whom shed known from their time as superpowered residents of the Noor Dimensiona part of the Multiverse from which their people, the Clandestines, have been exiled to a life of powerlessness. Najma wants Aisha to help her and other Clandestineswhom the residents of our dimension have been known to refer to as djinnreturn to the Noor Dimension, but Aisha wishes to stay with her family. So she sneaks off to join her husband and daughter, Sana, at the train station from where they plan on moving to Karachi. However, Najma finds Aisha there and fatally stabs her, while Sana gets separated from both her parents in the chaotic station. In her dying moments, Aisha manages to find her old powers and brings her great-granddaughter Kamala Khan from the current day to the 1947 Karachi station, in order to find Sana and reunite her with Hasan. Kamala manages to complete this task as Aisha perishes, thus securing her familys future. Afterward, during this weeks season finale, a relevant twist comes to light: Kamala learns that her genetic makeup reveals her to be a mutant, which is why she has superpowers even though her immediate family members dontand which connects her directly to the legacy of her great-grandmother, whod regained her powers on Earth by sacrificing herself to save her new family.

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Whats so remarkable about this sequence is the pointed way it displays the pain of the Partition: the factors that force a settled family to leave their preferred home, the chaos of making ones way through a mass exodus, and the ease by which brutality proliferated, lives were lost, and families were torn apart. The piercing cries of tiny Sana, standing alone in the station and yelling for her parents, echo those of so many children who never saw some of their family members again after the Partition. The location of Karachi is also an important choice: It was not only Pakistans biggest city then (as it is now), but it was also one of the most important migration posts for the new country, with Indian Muslims fleeing in large numbers to join longtime Karachi residents who, despite shared religious affiliations, were not always so welcoming of their new neighbors. And what Ms. Marvel also does well, throughout the rest of the show, is portray how this hurt still affects Kamala Khans family in the present day: her mothers resentment of Aisha, thought to have abandoned the family; the constant, decadeslong search for home, in the U.S. or Pakistan or elsewhere; the importance attached to simple-seeming objects associated with eras of turmoil; the suspicion that greets anyone thought to be living outside a region where theyre supposed to belong; and how all this sense of loss can still manifest in ugly, brutal violence.

It all makes for a complex, layered, and often hurtful subject thats difficult to appropriately lay out and dissect. Yet Ms. Marvels first season is American cultures strongest attempt at it yet. Should the show lead to better Muslim cultural representation in the future, as its fans hope, may it also lead to a broader international reckoning with one of world historys most awful yet still relevant stories.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every essay relating to the work of Jane Austen must kick off with those words from the opening line of Pride and Prejudice. But I approached Persuasion, Netflixs adaptation of Austens final completed novel, thinking instead of the best-known phrase from that less-often-quoted work: I am half agony, half hope. Austens keen-eyed comedies of manners have lent themselves to countless effective adaptations, some set in the books own Regency era, some updated to a modern setting. Amy Heckerlings classic 1995 rom-com Clueless transplanted the plot of Emma into a Southern California high school. In 2016, Whit Stillmans Love and Friendship reimagined Austens epistolary novel Lady Susan as a witty, bitchy sex comedy. More recently, Autumn DeWildes 2020 take on Emma starred Anya Taylor-Joy as that endearingly pushy heroine, and just this year Andrew Ahns Fire Island restaged Pride and Prejudice against the 21st-century backdrop of that queer haven.

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Sadly Persuasion, not only the worst Austen adaptation but one of the worst movies in recent memory, delivers on all the agony and none of the hope. In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of period-set but modern-feeling romances like the novel-series-turned-hit-TV-show Bridgerton, the filmmakers, including first-time director Carrie Cracknell and screenwriters Alice Victoria Winslow and Ron Bass, have served up a soggy mess of limp rom-com cliches that does a disservice not only to Austen but to all her contemporary inheritors, from Cher Horowitz to Bridget Jones. As played by Dakota Johnson, the novels heroine Anne Elliot, a lovelorn, bookish, self-effacing woman on the cusp of spinsterhood, becomes an insufferably coy scatterbrain who speaks in 21st-century buzzwords (her spoiled younger sister is a total narcissist, an attractive man is a ten, a pile of favorite sheet music assembled for her by a suitor is a playlist) and breaks the fourth wall with monotonous frequency, incessantly inviting the viewer to join her as she rolls her eyes Jim-in-The-Office-style at her fellow characters and once, unforgivably, interrupts a moment of romantic bliss to wink directly at the camera.

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There is updating classic literature to bring it in tune with modern sensibilities, and then there is insulting the viewers intelligence. Persuasions endless attempts to pander to young audiences presumed incapable of understanding any message not conveyed via Instagram hashtag have an effect exactly the opposite of the one intended: We feel not invited into Anne Elliots world but compelled to flee from it. In Phoebe Waller-Bridges masterful series Fleabagpresumably the source of this movies obsession with complicit glances at the camerathe direct address served a thematic purpose, a complex one that evolved along with the show. In the first season, Waller-Bridges fourth-wall-breaking showed the troubled protagonists sense of alienation from her family and social world; in the second, it became an overt symptom of that alienation, a self-conscious tic that was noticed and objected to by another character. Persuasion evinces no such awareness, instead vastly overestimating the appeal of its protagonists bottomless self-regard.

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With the exception of a few third-act twists that utterly misapprehend the characters involved, Persuasions story hews fairly closely to that of the novel. Eight years after Anne broke off their engagement because her family disapproved of her marrying a man of lesser social status, Captain Frederick Wentworth has returned from a successful campaign in the Napoleonic Wars, now wealthy, still single, and desirable yet remote in the way only a Jane Austen love object can be. Unfortunately, as played by Cosmo Jarvis, Wentworth is also something of a lifeless sad sack. His pining for Anne is believable enough, but his character is so thinly written that its hard to see whatever qualities induced her to spend eight years pining for him. Wentworths hunky rival Mr. Elliot (Crazy Rich Asians Henry Golding)a distant relation of Annes who stands to inherit her familys estateis scarcely better drawn. In this movie, eligible men are mostly nattily attired scarecrows on which to hang romantic longing. The best male character, though he still boasts only one attribute, is Sir Walter Elliot, Annes fatuous, social-climbing father, played by the always-welcome (even here!) Richard E. Grant.

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The female members of the cast get slightly more to do, but not much. Nikki Amuka-Bird plays Lady Russell, the family friend who years ago counseled Anne not to marry Wentworth; she is an independent single woman who, its unsubtly implied, spends a part of her fortune going on discreet European sex tours. Anne also has two vain, simpering sisters, the married Mary (amusingly played by Mia McKenna-Bruce) and the single but man-hunting Elizabeth (Yolanda Kettle). Her sister-in-law Louisa (Nia Towle), in the book a flighty but lovable airhead, is given a confusing mishmash of motivations, at first angling to get Anne and Wentworth back together and in the next scene flirting with him herself. The fine shadings of social class that drive the novels conflict are mostly lost in this translation to the screen. The presence of Black, Asian, and mixed-race actors in the cast at first feels refreshing, but any intended social commentary is lost in the scripts thematic muddle.

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Its hard to overstate what unpleasant company Dakota Johnsons Anne Elliot is.

Break out your finest frocks! cries the imperious Sir Walter in advance of one especially momentous social occasion. The cast of Persuasion takes him at his word, sporting costumes by Marianne Agertoft that are sumptuous to look at if at times dubiously period-appropriate (a black knit beret sported by Johnson recalls another Netflix heroine, the expatriated ingenue of Emily in Paris). If youre in it exclusively for the dresses, the sets, and the heaps of pastel-colored pastries, Persuasion may bear watching, but its hard to overstate what unpleasant company Johnsons Anne Elliot is. She performatively chugs red wine straight from the bottle, goes everywhere cuddling a never-explained pet rabbit, and interrupts one stodgy teatime with an extended and charmless non sequitur about a recurring dream that an octopus is sucking her face. Johnsons lithe grace and lively screen presence have served her well in many films set in the present day, but theres something ineluctably modern about her face, her body, her very way of standing. Even in an empire-waisted silk gown, she looks like shes waiting in line at a juice bar on Melrose. And though character after character delivers expository dialogue praising Annes probity, intelligence, and wit, all we ever get to see her do is sob in clawfooted bathtubs, mug for the camera, and upset gravy boats on her head. Early in Austens novelan autumnal, reflective work that the author wrote while she was dying, and that was published after her death at age 41she describes Anne and Wentworths long-ago affair as a short period of exquisite felicity. The only such moment afforded by Persuasion is when the closing credits finally start to roll.
Flora Bigelow Dodge had not traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in January 1903 for the same reason so many women of her acquaintance had. She did not do anything for the same reason other women didat least not if you believed the newspapers. A fixture in the society pages, Flora was the most daring, most original, cleverest woman in New York. She was a wonderful musician, a graceful dancer, an expert horsewoman, and a captivating storyteller, an author of plays and short stories. She was both courageous and imaginative. She was witty, ambitious, generous, and beautiful, a woman of unusual individuality with a retinue of admirers.

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She was also unhappy.

After 16 years of marriage to Charlie Dodge, son of the Dodge family, well-known for its lumber and mining fortune, 34-year-old Flora wanted a divorceone which would be denied to her in her home state of New York unless she could furnish proof of adultery. And so she traveled west to join the divorce colony, as newspapermen called the sorority of dissatisfied wives who moved to South Dakota at the turn of the twentieth century to take advantage of the laxest divorce laws in the country.

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By the time Flora settled into her four-room suite at the Cataract House Hotel in Sioux Falls, it was no longer original for a woman to make the long, expensive journey. For more than a decade before her arrival, the city had been at the center of a fiery national debate over who should be allowed to end a marriage. But it was still daring to imagine a life apart from ones husband. And Flora had come in search of something entirely without precedent. Those before her had often been forced to sacrifice their reputations and their place in society in order to gain release from their husbands. Flora was seeking more than her freedom at any cost. She wanted a dignified Dakota divorce.

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Divorce was an anathema in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A 1889 Bureau of Labor Statistics report had found that the divorce rate had been on the rise through the mid-nineteenth century and that two out of every three divorce seekers were womenstatistics that alarmed those who saw divorce as the breakdown of the American family, the very building block of the country itself. The subsequent effort to limit access to divorce had allied the countrys clergy, large swaths of its political and judicial classes, and many of its social leaders. They attacked this scourge with religious condemnation, legal obstacles and the imposition of expense, new legislative restrictions, and, perhaps most perniciously, the threat of ostracism.

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On the other side of this battle were those who did not want a fight. They wanted nothing more than release from their marriages. Some had tales of abuse, infidelity, and desertion. Others were like Flora: she simply wanted to live a different life than the one she had committed to when she married Charlie at age 17. She had dutifully played the role of society wife and mother, but she had not found in Charlie the true partner she sought. The vivacious Flora was often seen unaccompanied by her husband at balls and charity benefits. She took long trips through Europe without him; Charlie prefer to sit at home by the hearth with a cigar.

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Flora knew the risk she was undertaking when she traveled to Sioux Falls. She had planned for the costthe socialite even raised chickens to help fund her stayand she acquiesced to all her lawyers demands, including his insistence that she would never be able to move back to New York, for fear that the state would not recognize the legality of her divorce decree. But the idea that she would be forever shunned for seeking her own happiness was too much for Flora.

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It seems as if I was doomed to being a tramp and an exile, Flora wrote to her father from Sioux Falls, which did not embrace the divorce seekers who made the city their temporary home. She feared the world would never accept her decision to leave her husband.

Flora had not been invited to the card party that Mary Bailey organized at her home on Duluth Avenue in Sioux Falls one early spring day. She had stopped by the Baileys unannounced that afternoon to see her only friends in the cityher lawyer and his wife. (Though C.O. Bailey had represented countless divorce colonists, Mary confessed that Flora was the only the second her husband had allowed her to associate with.) Six-handed euchre was the game of choice for Sioux Falls matrons in the spring of 1903. The competition was friendly; the conversation was not quite as proper. Tittle-tattlethe more outrageous, the betterwas traded over the trump. There must have been an empty seat at the card tables when Flora arrived to visit with Mary, because quite by accident she found herself in conversation with the very Sioux Falls women who were likely to snub any divorce colonist in the Cataract dining room. Sioux Society turns up their nose at New York, Flora complained to her father. But they know everything that is going on there and everybody by name. Of her time at the card tables, she wrote, I never heard so many personal remarks and such gossipThey all attacked me on what they heard of meit seems I am supposed to be engaged to Mr. Neily Vanderbilt! It was a particularly shocking accusation, given that NeilyCornelius Vanderbilt IIIwas already married.

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Flora withstood the interrogation, and the unexpected introductions became her entree into social life in the city. She still thought Sioux Falls was wild and its people were without any interests except money and gambling. But if she was to continue to live in this city, as her lawyer had advised her, Flora knew their approval could give her something the courts could not: the respectability she wanted along with her divorce decree.

Flora set out to establish herself as a full-fledged resident of the city, an undertaking she took much more seriously than most eastern arrivals. Flora subscribed to the newspapers and to the church. She went door to door with Mary Bailey taking the city census and hosted a concert at the penitentiary. She became a fixture of the local society column, attending dancing parties and hosting guests.

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I have heaps of callers + a lady told me yesterday that I was the only divorcee who had ever been considered a resident here, or had any social position, Flora reported in December 1903 as she waited, impatiently, for her divorce.

Finally, on April 11, 1904, Flora was awarded her decree. More than a year after her arrival in Sioux Falls, she was free.

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In the days after her divorce, something happened that Flora, despite her efforts to become a part of Sioux Falls life, had never expected. As she walked through the city on her daily errands, she was stopped, more than once, by acquaintances who had something to say about her divorce: Congratulations! Callers came by; the telephone rang; letters and cables arrived. All expressed the same joy Flora felt. She was much touched by the real kindness people seem to feel or profess. It all seemed too good to be true to Flora.

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But Flora remained uncertain about her social standing outside the city. She felt compelled to go to London, where she had felt at home during the unhappiest times in her marriage, just for a few weeks. I want to hold my head up, she said.

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Her trip to London in the summer of 1904her divorce debut, as she called itseemed to be a rousing success. Her rented rooms were filled with flowers from friends, and hardly a meal was unspoken for. But not everyone was ready to accept the divorced woman into their company.

Floras harshest critics would be her new in-laws. In the summer of 1905, Flora married Lionel Guest, the fourth son of Lord and Lady Wimborne and first cousin of Winston Churchill. Lionel had been a frequent companion of Floras for at least five years, and had been steadfast throughout the dissolution of her marriage. Would Sioux Fallswhere he visited her, accompanied, as was proper, by his sister and brotherhave embraced the couple if anyone had known how far back their association went? There is no recorded evidence of an affair taking place between them, but after meeting Lionel, Flora had quickly come to rely on him. He was a friendly face when she ventured alone into unfamiliar drawing rooms, her husband happier to remain at home. He was her confidant and her editor. She already thought of him as family, and she confessed that she slept better when he was visiting. His support had given her the strength to imagine life after her divorce. That intimacy would likely have drawn disapproval in South Dakota. But it was, for Flora, the very reason she was willing to marry again.

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But Lionels family did not accept this divorcee as a daughter-in-law. Lionels mother believed Flora was using her son. A divorced woman should not be able to hold her head up in English society without such distinguished support, Lady Wimborne declared. She shunned the couple on their 1906 visit to London, an act which could have excluded Flora from many guest lists, if not for the intervention of a higher powerthe King.

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That winter, Flora and Lionel were invited to Buckingham Palace to witness King Edward VIIs procession from the ceremonial opening of Parliament, and, to Floras surprise, the King asked to meet her that day. She could think of only one reason: he was choosing sides in the family feud. He has heard of the row Lionel has had with his family and feels the injustice done to me, she thought.

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Flora and Lionel descended to the entrance hall where King Edward waited in his regalia. Flora made a deep curtsy. Lionel made a joke. Have I not done well to bring you another American subject? he asked the king. Edward laughed, and though he had been forced to lean heavily on his cane to move about that day, he stood chatting with the couple for several minutes.

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The conversation was something of a wedding gift to the divorcee and her new husbandand to any woman in search of the elusive dignified divorce. This is a hint which Lord and Lady Wimborne cannot fail to take, wrote the Associated Press of the meeting. It is certain that when Mr. and Mrs. Lionel Guest again visit England  they will be received in a very different manner. And indeed, when Lionel went to England in the summer of 1907, he saw the family Bible, where his and Floras names, and the location of their Sioux Falls wedding, were now engraved beautifully, like all the rest of the familys names.

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Adapted from The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier, by April White, published June 2022, Hachette Books. Copyright  2022. Reprinted by permission of Hachette Books.

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The single most consequential player in the Supreme Courts current conservative revolution is also the least conspicuous. Justice Amy Coney Barrett powered the courts hard-right turn by casting the fifth vote in several major decisionsmost notably, Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade. Yet over the course of the most fractious term in modern history, she rarely bothered to explain herself. While Donald Trumps other two justices spilled much ink defending their positions, Barrett remained reticent. By the end of the term, she had become an enigmatic figure whose jurisprudence grew more cryptic and confusing with each decision. Even as her court grew more aggressive, she seemed to recede from view.

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This tactical retreat from the public eye hints at the headwinds that Barrett faced in her second year on the court. The justice was ill-prepared for many aspects of her job, and after a series of unforced errors, she has faded into the background whenever possible. As a result, the woman who entrenched the Republican Partys control over the federal judiciary comes across more as a loyal backbencher than an independent thinker.

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It may be tempting for progressives to assume that Barrett is cynically withdrawing into the intellectual shadows so she can inflict maximum damage with minimal backlash. But the better explanation may be that the justice is simply in over her head.

Part of the problem is that, of all the current justices, Barrett had the least amount of preparation and training for the unique requirements of the job. She spent most of her career as a professor at Notre Dame Law School, where her students chose her as distinguished professor of the year three times. Her academic work was often dry and technical, verging on esoteric, and she avoided committing herself to any controversial ideas. Donald Trump appointed her to a federal appeals court in 2017, where she served for less than three years before joining the Supreme Court. Her opinions seemed calculated to improve her chances for a SCOTUS seat.

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No other member of todays court had so little experience in public service before their elevation. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson all served substantial terms on the lower courts. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas served only brief stints on the lower courts, but unlike Barrett, they held prominent government posts before that. The closest comparison is Justice Elena Kagan, who had never been a judge before she joined SCOTUS. Kagan, however, worked in Bill Clintons administration for four years then served as Barack Obamas solicitor general. She also spent nearly six years as dean of Harvard Law School, presiding over a snake pit of clashing egosa perfect training program for the Supreme Court.

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Justices are politicians, whether they like it or not. They wield an immense amount of power, guaranteeing intense scrutiny of their words and actions. And because the courts authority rests on public perceptions of its legitimacy, that scrutiny matters a great deal. When they decline to explain their votes, they create the impression that theyre exercising raw power instead of principled legal judgment.

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Thats especially true of Barrett, whose eleventh-hour confirmation to replace the liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg destabilized the entire judiciary. Trump, abetted by Sen. Mitch McConnell, rushed her onto the bench in the midst of an election to lock in GOP control of the courts. She refused to answer questions at her hearings, proffering opaque platitudes to avoid derailing her confirmation. This behavior foreshadowed her style of judging: provide as few answers as possible to preserve maximal latitude.

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Since then, Barrett has done little to dispel the fumes of partisanship and illegitimacy that poisoned her appointment. Her attempts at public relations have backfired. She inked a lucrative book deal for her memoirs before she had produced a scintilla of a public thought. In September, the justice declared that she and her colleagues were not a bunch of partisan hacks while standing next to McConnell at a center named after him. (She limited press access to the event.) In April, she urged Americans to read the opinions before concluding that the courts work was purely results-driven.

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Theres just one problem with that instruction: During her tenure, the court has radically altered the law through the shadow docket without issuing any opinions. It did so once again just two days after Barretts read-the-opinion speech by a 54 vote. She wordlessly joined the majority.

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When decisions come down, Barrett is frequently missing in action.

Barretts performance at oral arguments, too, has been befuddling. She tends to ask very specific questions about some obscure aspect of the case, as if to flaunt her intricate knowledge of the record or her nuanced thinking. Then she signs onto an un-nuanced, hard-line opinion that completely ignores her putative concerns. Often, at arguments, she presents herself as a reasonable moderate earnestly grappling with the issues at hand; in opinions, she is just another automatic vote for a reactionary result.

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Barretts biggest blunder was probably her question, during arguments in Dobbs, about safe haven laws, which let parents relinquish newborns without penalty. She suggested that these laws obviate the need for abortion, as if nine months of unwanted pregnancy were no big deal. That tone-deaf remark, as well as a gaffe about the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, indicated that she is not ready for prime time.

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When the decisions come down, Barrett is frequently missing in action. As the junior justice, she does not get assigned blockbuster opinions, but she is free to write concurrences and dissents. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh wasted no time making their mark on the court through concurring opinions explaining their votes. These separate writings aim to give a reasoned defense of the justices stance and to distinguish their intellectual projects from the conservative herd.

Barrett has chosen a different tack: silence. This term, she has joined a number of important 63 and 54 decisions that shifted the law rightward without a sentence of explanation. The justice wrote nothing in Dobbs to tell us why she overruled Roe. She wrote nothing in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, a brutal 54 assault on tribal sovereignty. Nothing in West Virginia v. EPA hobbling climate regulations; or Kennedy v. Bremerton allowing Christian prayer in public schools; or Carson v. Makin forcing public funding of religious education; or Vega v. Tekoh undermining Miranda warnings; or the brutal habeas decisions that let states execute innocent people.

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When Barrett does write a concurrence, its usually short and academic. Her opinion in the concealed carry case, for instance, ponders the precise historical period judges should look to when determining the original meaning of the Constitution. (As if the majority wont start with its preferred conclusion and cherry-pick history to support it.) Her opinion in the Boston bomber case is a snoozer about federal appeals courts authority to impose procedural rules on district courts; its really just a summary of her own 2006 law review article. Her few concurrences pertaining to religious freedom were surprisingly open-ended and noncommittal for a justice who was expected to produce a robust free exercise jurisprudence.

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Barretts defenders might argue that her modesty is an admirable trait, a signal that she is approaching the job with discipline, restraint, and a refreshing lack of ego. Its hard to reconcile this claim with the justices eagerness to tour the public speaking circuit offering partisan speeches and taking potshots at journalists. A willingness to speak in political venues while remaining silent on the actual judicial job doesnt bespeak modesty; it suggests one is a merely political actor.

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Nor do Barretts votes evince modesty or restraint. Over the last term, Barrett drifted rightward, away from Roberts and Kavanaugh toward the Thomas wing of the court. Time and again, when the court split 54, Roberts and Kavanaugh joined the liberals while Barrett sided with the extreme reactionaries. She tried to block Bidens vaccine mandate for health care workers and his repeal of Trumps anti-asylum policy. She sought to stop returning veterans from suing state employers that discriminate against them. And she attempted to prevent death row inmates from effectively challenging their method of execution.

Based on this evidence, many progressives have concluded that Barrett is exactly what she professes not to be: a partisan hack. Perhaps she is. But she is also a law professor. And her rocky start demonstrates the drawbacks of launching a law professor into the highest echelon of the judiciary. Outside of a leadership role like dean, academia is poor preparation for the Supreme Court. Professors debate ideas, write law review articles, and attend conferences to promote their scholarship. They think and talk about power rather than exercising it. Most do not expect millions of strangers to pore over their entire record with a critical eye.

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From Day One, Barrett has approached this job as an academic. She treats cases like intriguing thought experiments rather than disputes between real people with life-and-death consequences. Her worst questions, like the safe haven disaster, sound like a parlor game. Its easy to envision Barrett probing a student with such a question in an effort to test the strength of their argument. At oral arguments, though, it sounded like a callous minimization of the devastating burdens imposed by pregnancy.

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Maybe none of this matters. Trump and the Federalist Society nominated a legion of conservative law professors because they valued ideological purity over practical experience. The learning curve, they reasoned, is irrelevant with life tenure; judges have decades to settle into the role. True enough for now. But the Supreme Court is simultaneously the most and least powerful branch: capable of striking down any law or executive action, yet incapable of enforcing its decisions with anything except persuasion. It derives its authority from our buy-in. If Barrett does not get with the program, she may imperil the conservative revolution that has only just begun.
The opening ceremony of 2022 Silk Road Week was held at the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Friday, aiming to strengthen international cultural exchanges and promote Silk Road culture.

Under the theme "The Silk Roads: National integration and common prosperity", the event will run until July 14. It is hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the government of Zhejiang. Qinghai province and the Republic of Uzbekistan were introduced as guests of honor for the event.

The Annual Report of Cultural Heritage on the Silk Roads 2021 was released during the opening ceremony.

This year's Silk Road Week annual exhibition  Qinghai Path: The Silk Roads in the 6th-8th Centuries  also kicked off on Friday and will run until August 25. More than 100 cultural relics from Qinghai are on show at the event.

In addition to the series of events in Hangzhou, institutions from Qinghai and the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Tashkent will have exhibitions and lectures.

The first Silk Road Week was unveiled at the China National Silk Museum in 2020. The museum is supported by UNSECO and organized by the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles and the Chinese Museums Association Committee of Museums along the Silk Road.

Watch the video to see the promotional video of 2022 Silk Road Week.
Finally, after cementing his position as one of the most reviled prime ministers of the modern age and seeing the largest number of MPs ever to walk out of a cabinet in history walk out of his, Boris Johnson resigned last week. Or he sort of did. He will, apparently, linger like a bad smell until September, when whoever wins the Tory party leadership race comes into office.

Here in London, I wondered about what his resignation speech might sound like. Probably some pompous Latin turns of phrase, some references to Shakespeares more famous history plays, but in credit to him perhaps also a somber acknowledgement of the great tragedy of the pandemic that his premiership coincided with, maybe even a recognition of his failings on the day that 32 members of his government declared him unfit for office. What actually came out his mouth, as he stood at the lectern with his characteristic shit-eating grin firmly in place, was that he was proud of winning the largest Conservative majority since 1987 in the 2019 election, proud of how he handled the pandemic and that he had wanted to stay in the job but thems the breaks.

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Thems the breaks: the words of a man who has never taken anything seriously in his life. But this is what I should have expected. Johnson is a man who has become used to never having to say sorry, failing upward and getting his way. He was a journalist first, sometime editor of the right-leaning magazine The Spectator, and then a Tory MP in the noughties who regularly appeared on the current affairs panel show Have I Got News For You. Here, Johnson began building his signature persona, a bumbling, sardonic jester, a jolly good bloke who couldnt possibly do anybody any real harm. Then he was mayor of London when the city held the Olympics in 2012, an era that annoying centrists online remember as the last time the U.K. was somewhere you could be proud to be from. Throughout years of who, me? about the likelihood of him becoming prime ministersaying things like my chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive Johnson steadily crawled his way up the ladder until he found himself in the job he had wanted since he first walked the halls of Eton College, alma mater of no fewer than 20 prime ministers of the U.K., a good and normal country.

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My hopes for Johnsons future are not fit to print, and I suspect theyre way off the mark, anyway.

And it has been disastrous. Where even to start with Johnson? His legacy is so long and so dreadful. He will be remembered for hiding in a walk-in fridge from press, spearheading one of the dirtiest general election campaigns in modern history, seeming not to know how many children he has fathered, selling off contracts for COVID testing to Tory party associates who then failed to provide anything like the testing required, trying to promote the women he was sleeping with to government jobs, having his own brother walk out of his cabinet, getting replaced by a melting ice sculpture at a climate crisis debate he refused to show up to, trying to end free school meals for the countrys most vulnerable children, lying about pretty much anything you care to name, wearing a shirt and dress shoes when he goes for a run, leading the campaign to take Britain out of the E.U. that single-handedly drove every person in the United Kingdom insane one way or another, refusing to isolate when he had COVID, writing pieces about how Black people have small brains and saying Muslim women in burqas look like letter boxes, being part of a club full of rich boys at Oxford who terrorized local restaurants and homeless people, attending multiple parties during the toughest lockdowns while telling people they could not attend the funerals of their loved ones, insisting on deporting British-Caribbean people who had spent their whole lives in the U.K. having been invited to come and live in the country in the 1960s, and having really bad hair.

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Johnson represents everything rotten about the British political system. An elite who climbed to power through school and university connections and managed to leverage Brexit to convince the voting public that he represented their interests. An actor who knew how to manipulate the publics love of a charming buffoon to clown his way into office. A serial liar, a man without integrity who nonetheless managed to cling to the job through successive pandemic-related scandals because the Tory party did not want to oust him enough, in case it threatened their partys rule.

It is of course delicious that this man, whose one wish was power, should get the job he slunk around for his whole life and have to do that job during Brexit, the pandemic, and then a cost-of-living crisis, and will now be remembered as one of the countrys worst-ever heads of government. But its difficult to properly enjoy Johnsons downfall, although many are trying hard. Whoever comes next is likely to be worse, in a way, because theyll be able to put a fresh, acceptable face on the same heinous policies recent Tory governments have gone in for. And Johnson will be fine. My hopes for Johnsons future are not fit to print, and I suspect theyre way off the mark, anyway. Will he scuttle off and spend his time on campervans and at the more middle-class leaning music festivals like David Cameron, another of the nations great wreckers, did after he stepped down? I dont think so, somehow. Hell write (or more likely someone will have to write for him) his long-dreaded book about Shakespeare, no doubt followed by a multi-million-dollar deal for a memoir called something like Boris: A Word in Edgeways. Hell probably return to some cozy right-wing column where he can contribute to the culture wars from the comfort of an armchair while the U.K. burns around him in the fire he lit.

If indeed he does in fact leave office in September. I wouldnt put it past him to try to cling on, even now.
Tuesdays Jan. 6 hearing focused on the link between the Trump White House and the far-right militia groups that participated in the Capitol riot, so it makes sense that a former member of one of those militias would testify.

Jason van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepersa group of self-appointed vigilantes who were instrumental in storming the Capitoltold the House committee that the actions of the group on Jan. 6 provided a glimpse of their vision. The group had actively hoped for (and trained for) the chance to participate in a violent insurrection like the kind staged in the waning days of Donald Trumps presidency.

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Though van Tatenhove ended his affiliation with the group in 2018, his testimony this week was meant to underscore the serious threat that groups like the Oath Keepers pose for the U.S., as well as their capacity for violence in the next election cycle, especially if Trump is re-elected.

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But van Tatenhoves testimony made another thing very clear: Far-right militia groups have, for years, used the Western United States as a testing ground for extremist violence, staging stand-offs on public land to amass followers and experiment with what they could get away with.

Van Tatenhove would know. Sitting before Congress in a Descendents T-shirt and jean jacket adorned with punk pins, the former Oath Keeper told the committee that his association with the group began back in 2014, when he arrived as an independent journalist at the Bundy Ranch standoff in the Nevada desert.* He was quickly sucked into the cause.

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The 2014 standoff was started by the rancher Cliven Bundy, a man who considered himself a member of the 1970s anti-federal lands Sagebrush Rebellion, and who had been vocal since the 1970s about his disdain for federal ownership of land.

For 20 years, Bundy had refused to pay the required fees to the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that he owed for grazing his cattle on public land. So, in April 2014, the BLM attempted to round up Bundys cattle as a penalty for non-payment. It was a repossession: Bundy hadnt paid his bills, and the government came to collect.

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But Bundy twisted the affair into something else entirely: taking to a right-wing YouTube livestreamers channel (someone who also positioned himself as an independent journalist), Bundy told a story of a rural family being attacked by a tyrannical government. He called for We the People to take a stand, and many people answered Bundys call. Supporters arrived from around the country  New Hampshire, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Arizona  and eventually outnumbered the federal officers. These supporters included the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and members from chapters around the West, who seized the Bundy affair as an opportunity to promote their anti-government worldview. The feds found themselves surrounded: militiamen pointed sniper rifles at the small group of officers from overpasses. Eventually, the BLM let Bundys cattle go, and fled.

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It wasnt just that standoff that attracted Oath Keepers and other far-right militia groups.

Far-right militias also showed up at Oregons Sugar Pine Mine and Montanas White Hope Mine in 2015, and at the 41-day Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff helmed by Bundys sons in 2016. Van Tatenhove testified that these conflicts owed a lot to far-right propaganda; he himself was a propagandist who had called on patriots to fight tyranny at these standoffs.

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And for the most part, the anti-government movement got away with all of it: the trial over the affair at Bundy Ranch was tossed out by a federal judge over Brady violations committed by government prosecutors. In Oregon, the trial over the 41-day standoff at Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Refuge resulted in acquittals for Bundys sons and most of the main players. These resolutions emboldened the far-right  it had victories. In the past few years, Ammon Bundy  who was the main voice of the Malheur affair  founded a multi-state coalition out of Idaho called the Peoples Rights Movement. It staged large-scale protests at hospitals and health board meetings over COVID restrictions across the west. Now hes running for governor of Idaho.

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On Tuesday, Van Tatenhove gave a sobering warning. From his time within the organization, he said he knew first hand that the Oath Keepers want to get their way through lies, through deceit, through intimidation, and through the perpetration of violence, the swaying of people who may not know better through lies and rhetoric and propaganda.

He said that at all those western conflicts, the potential for bloodshed  was always there. It had only been luck that had kept more blood from being spilled.

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There was a time when van Tatenhove had been the one helping spread disinformation, and drum up fear. But on Tuesday, he struck a new tone: I do fear for this next election cycle, because who knows what that might bring? he said. If Trump was willing to align with groups that flirted with bloodshed so many times before, he said, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again?

All bets are off at that point, van Tatenhove said, and thats a scary notion.
This story was produced in partnership with the Garrison Project, an independent, nonpartisan organization addressing the crisis of mass incarceration and policing.

In the wake of the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, 90 elected prosecutors signed a letter written by the reform-minded Fair and Just Prosecution pledging to refuse to prosecute those who seek, provide, or support abortions.

While 90 prosecutors is just a fraction of the more than 2,000 district attorney offices across the country, the signatories represent some of the most populous places in the U.S., with about 40 million to 50 million Americans living in their districts. In many cases, these district attorneys serve in states like California, Illinois, and New York that are unlikely to criminalize abortion. But about 25 percent of all Texans live in counties whose prosecutors signed on to the letter, and likewise about 20 percent of those who live in Georgia. Not to mention that doctors in these counties could provide services to those in nearby counties, expanding the reach of the refusal to prosecute.

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But the grim post-Dobbs reality is not a story of prosecutorial power; instead, it sheds light on the broader limitations inherent in relying on prosecutors as engines of criminal legal reform, which remains the case even in fairly liberal, progressive cities.

District attorneys have no control over civil actions, both private and public. For most of criminal law, such cases rarely if ever occur (even though almost all victims could privately sue their injurer for tort damages). But S.B. 8 in Texasknown as the bounty law since it was enacted in Septembergoes beyond the usual tort regime to encourage people to seek out steep civil damages against patients and doctors alike, and there is nothing prosecutors can do to stop this. And similar laws have since been adopted in Oklahoma and Idaho. There is also nothing prosecutors can do to stop state medical licensing boards from stripping licenses from doctors found to be providing abortions outside the narrow health-of-the-mother exception anti-abortion states so far have included.

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There are also meaningful limitations prosecutors face when it comes to criminal cases as welllimitations that apply well beyond the scope of abortion cases. To start, they can only decline to file charges, but they cannot prevent the police from making an arrest. And even if prosecutors drop the charges, the arrest remains on the persons record, thus interfering with efforts to get loans or mortgages, obtain jobs, secure adoptions, and any other activity involving a background check. These records can be hard to expunge. In Texas, the general rule is that a person cannot apply to have an arrest that resulted in a declination expunged until the statute of limitations has expired. For the charges patients and doctors are most likely to facemanslaughter and murderthere is no statute of limitations. Thus any arrest will be a permanent mark for a horrible crime that the patient or doctor will never be able to make disappear.

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Thats before getting to the real costs of arrests themselves. Arrests among patients getting abortions will almost certainly overtarget women of color; theres no reason to assume that abortion-related arrests will somehow be the one category of criminal legal enforcement that overcomes our nations deeply rooted history of racially biased enforcement. So enforcement not only will exacerbate preexisting legal biases but will harm a population with elevated maternal-health risks. Arrests themselves can be traumatic: One recent survey reported that a majority of Black respondents said they would rather be the victim of a robbery or burglary than searched by the police.

And an arrest that produces no physical harm can still have real psychological costs, especially in abortion cases, which will expose vulnerable people to shame and stigma. As well, even short stints in pre-trial detention can have lifelong impacts; given that most patients who seek abortions already have children of their own, the costs to them (like loss of custody) could be even greater than what most studies have suggested.

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And while it is true that in the pre-Roe era, law enforcement mainly targeted doctors, a recent Atlantic article by Melissa Jeltsen pointed out that even pre-Dobbs, states increasingly criminally charged women thought to have jeopardized fetal health, suggesting that post-Dobbs politics are more hostile toward patients than our pre-Roe past suggests.

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Those who provide abortionswho are more likely to be men, and more likely to be whitemay expect less severe treatment at the hands of the police, but the costs of an arrest are still serious, and in some cases the economic harm and social ostracization may be greater. Regardless, unlike women seeking abortions, the doctors who provide them can simply walk away from the practice. But this significantly smaller total cost may still have a much bigger impact on their willingness to incur the risks that come with providing abortions, even if they know they will not be prosecuted. That fear of punishment aligned with the lack of clarity can lead to devastating consequences, Louisianas former health secretary said.

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The costs of policing do not just exist in abortion cases; in all cases of de-prosecution, the prosecutor can only stop the criminal legal costs from advancing; district attorneys can do nothing to undo the legal and human costs of the arrest itself. For reformers, however, Dobbs provides the opportunity to stress these costs in a powerful, salient way. At a time when most urban mayors are centrist Democrats pushing to expand policing in response to the rise in violence over the past two years, it is important to point out that police budgets and abortion access are not distinct issues. Especially in red states, expanding police powers post-Dobbs will also further restrict abortion accesswhich is obviously a feature, not a bug, to those who favor the outcome in Dobbs.

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It is telling that while reform-minded prosecutors were quick to announce their refusal to prosecute, I have yet to see anything similar from mayors pledging that their police will not make arrests. There may be perhaps just one or two exceptions, but certainly nothing like the collective statement we saw with prosecutors, even though such a commitment with regards to policing would be far more significant because police commissioners (though not directly-elected county sherriffs!) are the at-will employees of mayors, and because mayors and city councils control police budgets.

The other limitation that prosecutors face is the ever-present threat of pre-emptionthe ability of state legislatures to enact laws that undermine local autonomy. Pre-emption has been a growing threat to blue-city criminal legal reform in red states for several years, with states making it harder for cities to reduce police spending or react with less aggression to political protests, and easier for more-conservative law enforcement officials to take cases away from reform-minded prosecutors.

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Indeed, the ink was barely dry on the Fair and Just Prosecution post Dobbs letter when the Texas legislature began to contemplate preempting local district attorney refusals to prosecute cases. Right now, they are apparently considering whether to allow district attorneys in nearby counties to prosecute abortion cases that arise in counties that refuse to prosecute such cases. Moreover, states could expand their supersession laws, which give state attorneys general the right to prosecute certain local criminal cases, to cover abortion cases. In red states, this has been a tool to push back against local reforms; if even fairly blue states like Pennslyvania have given the state AG the right to commandeer gun cases from Philadelphia (and only Philadelphia), it would be surprising to see red states not give Republican AGs the right to take over abortion cases in bluer cities.

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Andagainthese cases will likely target providers, so it will likely not take many prosecutions to deter most providers from taking risks in reproductive care; that state AG offices may not have large budgets for such cases will thus likely be fairly immaterial. And thats before we get to even more direct legislative attacks from state legislatures on progressive prosecutors, such as the on-going effort in Pennsylvanias GOP-dominated legislature to impeach Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner (or the effort by Republican legislators in New York to pass a recall law so that they can target Manhattans Alvin Bragg).

As is the case with policing, the issue here isnt that the politics or policy are any different with abortion than with broader state-level resistance to local reform. Dobbs, however, may make this sort of pre-emption far more politically salientwhich could help generate some political resistance, or may serve as a way of educating more-conservative states about just how easy it is to rein in reforms in their more-liberal cities, abortion-related or otherwise.

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This is not to say that there is nothing that can be done at the state level (absent a federal-level ban, the Constitutionality of which is well beyond the scope here). Even mayors who arent willing to promise not to arrest abortion providers can think more carefully about budgeting for police, or can at least consider how certain surveillance choices or data-retention policies may make arrests or prosecutions easier or harder. At the same time, cities are generally legally powerless against a state government set on gutting home-rule decisions. In fact, its possible that with hindsight the Fair and Just Prosecution letter may be seen as a net harm: by publicly stating their defiance of state laws, rather than quietly refusing to prosecute all cases in a formally case-by-case way, the signatories may have mobilized some state legislatures to clip their wings.

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Nothing here, however, should be read to mean that there is no hopejust that political time and energy need to be focused where they can have their biggest impact. Its true that prosecutors have often been seen as the leaders in the push for reform, in part because their elections can focus attention on the faults in the criminal legal system, but also in part because of the power they have traditionally wielded. But the creeping preemption that preceded Dobbs, and the even stronger willingness to override home rule that is coming in its wake, highlights critical limitations that prosecutorial-centered reform faces. These shortcomings in the abortion-access context thus highlight the broader issue that the long-run success of criminal legal reform like rests on changing the politics on either side of the prosecutor: among legislators, who hold almost all the cards in a world of preemption, and among police, whose local enforcement power is much harder to effectively preempt.
In May 2021, during the second wave of the COVID-19 lockdown in India, S.Q. Masood, a social activist based in the southern Indian state of Telangana, was heading home on a two-wheeler when the police asked him to pull over. He assumed they would ask for his license and other documents. Instead, he was asked to remove his face mask.

After he did, one of the policemen took out a tablet and clicked his photographs. When Masood asked why, they did not answer. But Masood said he saw several other civilians who were stopped and photographed, too.

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For several days after police took Masoods photo, he was worried about how his photos would be used. So he sent a legal notice to the police asking them about the procedure, its legality, whether these photos were being used for facial recognition, and whether the images would be stored in a database. He also sought information about the privacy of the data and accountability mechanisms in place. But there was no response. Then he filed a case against the state of Telangana, which is pending in the court.

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The Indian governments obsession with surveillance is nothing new. In 2021, the Pegasus Project, an investigation by a consortium of international journalists, revealed that the Indian government had been spying on more than 300 people, including journalists, activists, and politicians.

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Telangana is the youngest state in India. It was carved out as a separate political entity in June 2014 from Andhra Pradesh. As a young state, Telangana has been eager to experiment with the use of technology. Its capital city, Hyderabad, is one of the main technology hubs in India.

Srinivas Kodali, a researcher with the advocacy organization Free Software Movement of India, said the Telangana government has been open to allowing big technology companies to test their software there. According to Kodali, the bureaucracy in Hyderabad touts its innovation while implementing surveillance without any oversight.

Kodali said the worldwide effort to patch the Y2K bug helped Hyderabad become a global center of technology development. The government back then helped local IT companies get experience in software development, and they decided to buy anything they developed. So now when they develop facial recognition systems, blockchain, and other technologies, the government happily buys it to experiment on the citizens, he told us. That includes technologies in governance and policing, such as the use of facial recognition technology to find missing persons, identify the voters at polling booths, distribute rations among the lower-middle class, and issue pension certificates.

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Through its smart governance program, Samagram, Telangana keeps a centralized database that includes information about the employment status, personal lives (including marital status and children), and birth and death details for every citizen.

But innovation isnt the only reason for Hyderabads surveillance boom. In August 2007, twin blasts killed 42 people at two crowded public places in the city. After that, there was a rise in the use of CCTV cameras. A year later, the 2008 Mumbai attack on Taj Hotel and some other landmarks led the police across India to adapt new technologies. That also included Hyderabad, home to about half of the total Muslim population in Telangana. In 2013, terrorists struck again in Hyderabad, killing 21 people and injuring more than 100 in two powerful explosions. As an effort to modernize police, a law was enacted that required all establishments to install CCTV cameras if they attracted a crowd of more than 100 people.

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Now, Telangana is one of the most surveilled states in India. The national capital New Delhi has about 33 CCTV cameras for every 1,000 people, according to a study. But Telanganas capital city, Hyderabad, has 36 CCTV cameras per 1,000 people, making it one of most surveilled cities in the world. There are nearly 900,000 cameras installed, most of them concentrated in Hyderabad. According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development under the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, in January 2020, 61 percent of all police CCTV cameras in India were in Telangana. A study by New Delhibased digital liberties organization Internet Freedom Foundation found that Telangana has the highest number of facial recognition technology projects of any Indian state. In 2021, the Internet Freedom Foundation, Amnesty International, and global human rights group Article 19 partnered to map the locations of visible outdoor CCTV infrastructure in two sampled neighborhoods in Hyderabad: Kala Pathar and Kishan Bagh. Based on geospatial analysis, it was estimated that in these neighbourhoods at least 530,864 and 513,683 square meters, respectively, were covered by CCTV camerasa remarkable total of 53.7 percent and 62.7 percent of the entire area, the report revealed. Cybersecurity experts say the region is on the brink of becoming a site of total surveillance, where it is nearly impossible to walk without being exposed to facial recognition cameras.

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Telanganas descent into a highly surveilled state began around 2015 with cordon-and-search operations, which involve cordoning off a neighborhood, conducting door-to-door searches, and taking fingerprint scans and photos of the citizens. Activists say this exercise usually takes place in areas where Muslims and other socioeconomically marginalized communities live.

The police also launched Operation Chabutra, in which the police detain people who roam around the streets late at night, collect and store their data, and match that against the existing criminal records. The operation draws its name from the Urdu word chabutra, meaning a raised stone platform, which is usually built in front of houses in Hyderabad. These chabutra are places where people usually sit and socialize till late in the night.

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What sets these operations apart from those in other Indian states is the use of technology to collect and store data. In another style of policing, the cops randomly stop and search commuters and pedestrians, and take their photos and biometrics. That is what happened with Masood when his photo was taken by the police using an app called TSCOP. The app is equipped with facial recognition technology that can run the images through Indias national Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems in real time. The CCTNS, a project by the Indian Home Ministry, is a nationwide database that contains millions of images of criminals and missing people.

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According to a report by Amnesty India, the Telangana polices facial recognition technology scans distinct features of a persons face to create a biometric map. An algorithm then searches for potential matches using images of peoples faces scraped from social media profiles and other databases.

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The polices practice of photographing people and taking their fingerprint scans to build a criminal database violates Indian law because Indias Identification of Prisoners Act of 1920 prohibits police from taking photographs of people, unless they are arrested or convicted of a crime. Sharing such photographs with other law enforcement agencies is also not permitted.

Anushka Jain, associate counsel for surveillance and transparency for the Internet Freedom Foundation, said that taking photos and fingerprint scans of citizens casts suspicion of criminality on the entire population. Because by that logic the police can argue that anybody can commit a crime and everybody should have their record on the criminal database. It goes against any established principles and constitutional rights, Jain said.

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Now, the Telangana police have built a Command and Control Centre from where all of the states facial recognitioncapable cameras will be monitored in real time. The Command and Control Centre is supposed to be operational later in July. (Just recently, the futuristic Command and Control Centre was robbed. Unidentified men stole 38 copper wire bundles worth about $12,600 from the facility. )

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The police say that the Command and Control Centre will be equipped with advanced technology to help police in reducing crime. The government claimed that during natural calamities, different state agencies would be able to monitor the situation of the affected areas and mobilize relief and rescue operations.

According to the government, if a person goes out, 50 cameras will capture them by the time they are back to their home. The cameras cover every inch of Telangana. All these cameras will be integrated and monitored in real-time at the Command and Control Centre, which will be able to process the footage from 100,000 cameras in under a minute, the Telangana government said in a tweet earlier this year.

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India currently does not have a law for personal data protection and privacy. In the absence of a legal framework or oversight, the proliferation of CCTVs across the stateairports, polling booths, business areas, and roadsraises concerns over the limits on its use.

Under Indias newly enacted Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, which aims to modernize the criminal justice system by linking it to technology, the police can take biometric data, biological samples, and behavioral attributes, including signatures of any arrested person. But the collection and storage of common citizens data and its protection worries cybersecurity experts and digital rights activists.

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Though the Supreme Court of India recognized privacy as a fundamental right in August 2017, there is still not any legal framework to govern the issues related to personal data protection and privacy. A 10-member committee in 2018 submitted a comprehensive report on data protection, suggesting a draft data protection bill. A revised version is still pending before a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

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It is the absence of this legal framework that worries the rights activists about how the data at the Command and Control Centre may end up being used. It could lead to mass surveillance by the state instead of protecting civilians from crimes, Jain said.

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Kodali told us that he worries that what is happening in Telangana will soon spread across the country: These are essentially experiments that are being carried out in Hyderabad so that the Indian Home Ministry can implement it across the country.

The concerns are not unfounded. The Indian government plans to implement an Automated Facial Recognition System across the country that will be able to extract an image from a video and match it with the image of an individual whose record is already in an existing database. It will be effectively the worlds largest facial recognition system.

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The major concern raised by the activists is how the entire surveillance infrastructure could be used against minorities. Historically, Jain said, the policing system in India has been casteist and biased against certain communities. If the existing policing procedures and actions are not corrected, the existing biases and harms will also creep into these technologies.

The Indian government and its police already have a record of using facial recognition technology in contexts where human rights are at stake. The technology was used while enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns and identifying citizens who protested against a discriminatory citizenship law. The police in New Delhi used facial recognition technology to identify farmer protesters who held demonstrations against the governments contentious agricultural laws.

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Digital rights activists and cybersecurity experts are also suspicious because of the selective use of technology. Masood said the police only cordon low-income and Muslim neighborhoods when they take credentials from people. I have observed that the police do not take fingerprint scans or photographs in high-income societies, Masood told Slate.

It is because of this bias that Masood said there is a possibility the whole surveillance infrastructure may be used against Muslims and Dalitsoutcaste Hindus, or untouchablesin the future. The way the Israeli government uses facial recognition technology against Palestinians, we are worried it might happen to us as well.  There is a possibility this whole infrastructure could be used against minorities in [the] future.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
The trial with ex-prosecutor general Dobroslav Trnka has ended, best swings in Trencin Region, and one unusual cloud.

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Good evening. The Wednesday, July 13 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

End to talks on teachers' higher salaries

Monika Uhlerova, head of the Slovak Trade Union Confederation (KOZ), during a press conference on July 13, 2022. (Source: TASR)

Teachers and other employees working in schools will earn more from next year, and they will also receive a one-off payment of 500 this September.

In response to the governments latest decision, the education trade union has said they are going to cancel strike alert. There will be no strikes until August 2024, the trade union also said.

In June, thousands of teachers and other employees took to the streets in Bratislava to fight for higher salaries.

"I appreciate that our demands have finally been heard," Education Minister Branislav Grohling of the SaS party said on July 13.

The dispute between the SaS party and Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) over higher salaries in the education sector has been one of the reasons that contributed to the ongoing coalition crisis.

More stories from The Slovak Spectator website

BUSINESS: Households and firms in Slovakia will pay higher gas prices next year despite the fact that Slovakia has enough gas to survive the next heating season.

Households and firms in Slovakia will pay higher gas prices next year despite the fact that Slovakia has enough gas to survive the next heating season. COURT: The Dobroslav Trnka trial ended abruptly on July 13. Judge Marek Filo pointed to the lack of evidence and stopped criminal prosecution of ex-prosecutor general Trnka.

The Dobroslav Trnka trial ended abruptly on July 13. Judge Marek Filo pointed to the lack of evidence and stopped criminal prosecution of ex-prosecutor general Trnka. HYDROPOWER PLANT: The Cierny Vah plant will receive a new inclined elevator from Sweden. The original one has been in permanent use since 1980.

The Cierny Vah plant will receive a new inclined elevator from Sweden. The original one has been in permanent use since 1980. REFUGEES: Most refugees want to return back to Ukraine when it is possible, a UN Refugee Agency survey has found.

Events to go and look forward to:

Author's Reading Month, the biggest literary festival in central Europe, will welcome Iceland's Canadian First Lady and writer Eliza Reid to the Zichy Palace in Bratislava on July 15. Reid's first book, "Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Chaning the World", has been published this year.

Listen to NPR's interview with Reid from February 2022, when her book was published in the US and Canada.

Bratislava Coronation Days will take place on July 29 to 31. Apart from a coronation parade, tourists can enjoy walking tours in Slovak, English, German, Hungarian and Ukrainian to learn more about the coronation of Hungarian kings in Bratislava.

FEATURE STORY FOR WEDNESDAY

Top 10 Trencin Region swings

Children on a swing in the Trencin Region. (Source: TASR)

Trencin Region is betting on its swings with unique views for the summer season. They launched a summer challenge in which tourists should visit all ten most popular swings in the region.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

Epidemiologist Alexandra Brazinova, who became widely known during the coronavirus pandemic, has received the Woman of Courage Award from the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia. Former public defender of rights Maria Patakyova, the non-governmental organisation Mareena, and anti-corruption fighter Vladimir Spanik have become other U.S. Embassy Human Rights Awards recipients for their contribution to the fields of human rights, transparency and humanitarian aid.

Former public defender of rights Maria Patakyova, the non-governmental organisation Mareena, and anti-corruption fighter Vladimir Spanik have become other U.S. Embassy Human Rights Awards recipients for their contribution to the fields of human rights, transparency and humanitarian aid. PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO) will meet his Economy Minister Richard Sulik, who chairs Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), a coalition party, on Saturday evening, July 16, to discuss the coalition crisis. On July 12, Sulik announced his party is no longer part of the coalition. He had claimed otherwise before. However, the SaS has said they will not leave the government before August 30.

On July 12, Sulik announced his party is no longer part of the coalition. He had claimed otherwise before. However, the SaS has said they will not leave the government before August 30. The European Commission has published its 2022 Rule of Law Report, assessing also the situation in Slovakia. The Commission lists six recommendations for the country, including the need for the regulation of lobbying and strengthening laws on the conflict of interest and asset declarations as well as the reform of defamation law.

The Commission lists six recommendations for the country, including the need for the regulation of lobbying and strengthening laws on the conflict of interest and asset declarations as well as the reform of defamation law. Slovakia will purchase up to 35,000 packages of the medicine Lagevrio containing the antiviral drug molnupiravir for the treatment of Covid-19. Simultaneously, the country will cancel the purchase of Paxlovid.

An elongated stationary cloud known as altocumulus lenticularis was seen in eastern Slovakia on July 13, 2022. (Source: Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute)

The government has approved the zoning of Muranska Planina National Park , which will contribute to a better protection of the capercaillie. The EU court ruled a few weeks ago that Slovakia failed to protect the bird.

, which will contribute to a better protection of the capercaillie. The EU court ruled a few weeks ago that Slovakia failed to protect the bird. The Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce will probably not receive 7.1 million for its renovation. The government wants to cancel its previous decision. The costs in regard to the project have increased by 80 percent, the Finance Ministry said.

The government wants to cancel its previous decision. The costs in regard to the project have increased by 80 percent, the Finance Ministry said. Via Iuris and Let's Stop Corruption, non-governmental organisations, have launched a petition that calls on the government and the parliament to change the disputed Paragraph 363. The organisations believe the paragraph has been overused. They describe the legal tool as the "pop-culture phenomenon" popularised by Prosecutor General Maros Zilinka. He used the paragraph on several occasions, notably in the case of ex-secret service chief Vladimir Pcolinsky, to cancel decisions made by prosecutors and investigators in the preliminary proceedings.

The organisations believe the paragraph has been overused. They describe the legal tool as the "pop-culture phenomenon" popularised by Prosecutor General Maros Zilinka. He used the paragraph on several occasions, notably in the case of ex-secret service chief Vladimir Pcolinsky, to cancel decisions made by prosecutors and investigators in the preliminary proceedings. Slovakia reported 873 Covid-19 cases out of 2,122 carried out tests on July 12. See the map of newly reported cases.

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
Refugees plan to stay put in their host countries until a change happens.

A photo of refugees and volunteers taken between March 10-12 by a volunteer Martin Michlik. (Source: Martin Michlik)

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Most refugees want to return to Ukraine when possible. They expect to stay in their current host countries until the security situation back home in Ukraine improves, shows the latest survey by the the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

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The survey was conducted between mid-May and mid-June 2022 in countries hosting refugees from Ukraine, including Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. About 8.8 million people have fled Ukraine due to the war. The survey interviewed 4,900.

Security at home decisive

Approximately 575,000 refugees crossed the Slovakian-Ukrainian border, the TASR newswire cites the official numbers. During that time, NGOs and volunteers showed up to help.

About 40 percent of refugees seek return and plan to do so in the next month. The survey showed that the interest in returning varies.

People from around Kyiv and western areas to Ukraine are more likely to return than those who have fled from the east and north. Out of 16 percent of refugees planning to leave, 15 percent want to stay in Ukraine temporarily  to visit family or get more supplies.

Plans are hard to make

Ukrainians are hesitating to make plans according to the UNHCR findings. Long-term plans are not secure.

While waiting for the conflict to resolve, a portion of refugees in Slovakia are working  mainly in cleaning and helping in kitchens. Most refugees are women with children.

This age and gender composition affects the employment of refugees, said Branislav Habel from The Institute for Social Policy at the Labour Ministry, explaining interest in the field. Another big portion of refugees consists of young people with university education.
China has seen constant progress in the civil helicopter manufacturing sector, which will greatly sustain the country's demands in emergency rescue and other fields.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has recently achieved multiple advances in major civil helicopter models, such as the AC352 medium civil helicopter and AC313A large civil helicopter, according to the AVIC, the country's leading aircraft maker.

China has built a complete helicopter family. The AVIC has become one of the world's seven leading helicopter manufacturers, with more than 60 models in 12 series of helicopters. New helicopter models and technological progress are underway, said the AVIC.

Multi-purpose

Helicopters are modern aerial vehicles that highlight capabilities in flexible movement and conducting diverse fields of missions.

They are playing more important roles in China's burgeoning general aviation industry, which serves diverse missions such as emergency rescue, agriculture operations, and aerial tourism, among others.

The AC352 medium multi-purpose civil helicopter is close to getting certification from the civil aviation authorities, said the AVIC.

AC352 is a medium twin-engine multi-purpose civil helicopter jointly developed by AVIC and Airbus Helicopters. It can carry up to 16 passengers with a 7.5-tonne maximum take-off weight.

This new helicopter model enriches the pedigree of China's civil helicopter family in the 7-tonne class and is of great importance for China in enhancing the capabilities of its helicopter industry sector, AVIC said.

It also highlights China's openness to global cooperation, and is of importance to the sector's capacity upgrading, said the AVIC.

Missions ahead

China has complex topographic conditions and great variations across its vast territory. Meanwhile, the country faces particularly tough challenges from frequent natural disasters.

The country is in demand for different types of helicopters which can respond to various missions in an efficient and effective manner, said the AVIC.

China's independently-developed AC313A large utility civil helicopter made a successful maiden flight this May, marking a major step forward in the development of China's air emergency rescue system, said the AVIC.

AC313A is specially developed to meet the country's needs for air rescue missions. It can operate in various complex terrains and weather conditions such as high plateaus, and high and low temperatures.

It can carry up to 28 people on board, with a maximum take-off weight of 13.8 tonnes and external sling loads. It can load up to five tonnes of water for firefighting missions.

AC313A can be installed with multiple facilities for different missions. This feature allows it to serve various rescue missions such as medical rescue, forest and urban fire fighting, offshore rescue, and search.

The 13-tonne-class large helicopter is now in the flight test phase. It is expected to receive the airworthiness certification before 2025, and thereafter enter the market.

China's general aviation market is maintaining growth with the general aircraft fleet forecast to reach 45,000 by 2040. Among them, 10,000 will be civil helicopters, said an AVIC market outlook released in 2021.
A livestreaming sales channel operated by Chinese tutoring giant New Oriental Education & Technology Group has attracted more than 22 million subscribers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, with its teacher-hosts selling products in both Chinese and English.

"Rare, medium rare... These are answers for a question like 'How would you like your steak?'" This is a common format on the channel, where livestreamers share their knowledge of English with online viewers.

The company's shoppable livestream went viral in early June, when Dong Yuhui, one of the livestreamers, attracted nearly a million viewers to the "Dong Fang Zhen Xuan" channel on Douyin. It was not only his English teaching techniques that drew in viewers, but also his enlightening words when he shared his favorite books.

During a livestream, Dong used his humorous and knowledgeable hosting style to introduce a biography of ancient Chinese literary master Su Shi, priced at 26 yuan (about 4 U.S. dollars). He sold more than 20,000 copies.

During another live sales event, he sold 30,000 copies of "To Live" by famed Chinese writer Yu Hua in less than five minutes. It was after this that investors sensed the potential of New Oriental's participation in the livestreaming sales industry.

Fellow channel host Sun Jiaqi caught the attention of online consumers with her talent for singing and playing the guitar. She is always able to come up with snappy punchlines and improvises around the theme of a certain product.

Fun and humor are found in most classes taught by New Oriental teachers. "It's not hard for me to transform from being a teacher to being a seller. Both my students and my audience can be my friends, and I'm happy to share my knowledge and talk to them," said Sun, explaining how she avoids being camera-shy when speaking to millions of viewers.

Douyin's latest report on e-commerce shows that a significant number of high-quality content creators have stepped into the livestreaming sales industry. By January 2021, there were more than 1 million livestreamers profiting from e-commerce on Douyin.

According to a report released by data analysis agency iiMedia Research in late June, the total scale of China's livestreaming e-commerce industry hit 1.2 trillion yuan in 2021, and it is estimated that that figure will exceed 2.1 trillion yuan by 2025.

New Oriental founder Yu Minhong said he is willing to make efforts to support farmers and agriculture. He said he plans to take the hosts of the channel to farms so that they can sell agricultural products on-site via livestreaming, which could help farmers sell all of their products for the year in just five minutes.




The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Enterprise Financial Management Association of China (EFMAC), and Sinopec Shared Services Co., LTD (SSSC) jointly announced last Friday the launch of the "Global Business Service Certificate" (the GBS Certificate) to help promote the development of China's shared service industry.

The GBS Certificate provides a unified standard for training shared service talents and a cutting-edge business knowledge framework by integrating a globally leading system with unique local practices.

The certificate is designed for practitioners in the shared service industry and students majoring in relevant subjects.

"ACCA has always been committed to offering optimal talent incubation solutions for enterprises, helping them grow through the adoption of best practices from industry leaders," said Yu Xiangtian, head of Mainland China, ACCA.

Zheng Shufei, secretary-general of EFMAC, said, "the certificate aims to cultivate financial management talents both locally and abroad and develop professionals with an international perspective who meet the growing needs of businesses for financial transformation in the digital era."

Wang An, general manager of SSSC, said, "the certificate is designed to meet the needs of future business trends and industry growth. It will help establish HR standards, a knowledge framework, and a certification system within the shared service field, and promote and lead the industry's high-quality development."

Shared service as an emerging business model has been developing rapidly in China. However, there is a lack of talent and proper industry training, which the certification system will help solve.

The GBS Certificate is expected to help establish a global certification system for the shared service industry, optimize the operation of related organizations, and facilitate digital financial transformation for more enterprises.




A corporate venture capital (CVC) investment forum was held by the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG) in Beijing on July 12, one of the group's annual venture capital week activitties.



Themed Lenovo's "science and technology navigator," the venture capital week event will last from July 11 to July 22 this year and is being presented online in a metaverse format.

During his address to the event, He Zhiqiang, president of Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG), said: "If enterprises want to face the future, they need to understand the development trends of the industry. CVC, or corporate venture capital, is a very good model, that allows us to clearly perceive the direction of the world's advanced technology, innovation, talent and so on, which is very important."



"Enterprises cannot compete on their own, as they must have a longer chain of competition to build their own innovation ecology. Lenovo has many resources, in brand, talent, channels, government relations and supply chains for instance, to empower the enterprises it invests in. A lot of companies we invest in, including some startups, are growing very quickly. Their growth also benefits Lenovo in technological innovation, strategic formulation, entrepreneurial culture and ecological construction," He said.

At the main forum of the event, He also delivered a report on the formation of a multi-win ecology for enterprises in the big data era, during which he introduced the LCIG's CVC 2.0 version of investment and its efforts to promote the development of a coordinated ecology.

Over the past six years, LCIG has sought high-growth and high-potential industrial opportunities for the future through investment and incubation. According to He, LCIG always adheres to its core strategy of "terminal, edge, cloud, network, intelligence" and service transformation of the group to lay out early frontier technologies.

LCIG has so far invested in more than 200 innovative enterprises, 42 of which are state-level specialized new enterprises. Through CVC investment, enterprises can grasp the trends in technology, talent and capital and explore new opportunities for future development with a broader vision, He added.

LCIG has been constantly optimizing the ecological coordination methods with the Lenovo Group. It actively promotes two-way empowerment with the invested enterprises to create network competitive advantages. LCIG gives full play to Lenovo's advantages in supply chains, brand, sales channels and service system, to enable the invested enterprises to expand their business and establish their brand. At the same time, the enterprises can provide feedback to Lenovo in basic technological innovation, corporate culture, strategic development and ecological construction.

At the forum, Guan Wei, head of Lenovo's global supply chain, delivered a speech on how science and technology has helped the company build its world-class supply chains.

Lenovo also pays attention to helping small- and medium-sized businesses it invests in to harness the advantages of the digital economy and the advancement of science and technology.
THE bill holding new firearm legislation that was signed June 25 by President Joe Biden demonstrated that a strip of common ground, however narrow, could be found on the hyper-polarized issue of gun regulation.

That significant bipartisan agreement, however, ended up overshadowed by the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that with a 6-3 vote overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision, ending federal protections for abortion access.

The demise of Roe v. Wade has been telegraphed for months. You could even say years, depending on your starting point and how much credence you give hindsight. It could be 2016, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, successfully prevented Merrick Garland, President Obamas choice to replace the late conservative icon Antonin Scalia, from even getting a confirmation hearing. It could be 2020, when President Donald Trump appointed Scalia protege Amy Coney Barrett to take the late liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburgs place on the court.

Hindsight and a bit of brazenness could even allow one to put the date at 1991, when then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden gave short shrift to sexual harassment allegations shared by law professor Anita Hill and paved the way for ultra-conservative Justice Clarence Thomass confirmation.

Even Ginsburg repeatedly expressed doubts about Roe v. Wade, contending on multiple occasions that the 1973 ruling constituted a disruptive interruption on the part of the Supreme Court at a time when the national debate was trending in favor of abortion accessin fact, the mainstream Republican position was largely pro-choice, not unlike how Republicans then broadly supported the Equal Rights Amendment.

Heavy-handed judicial intervention was difficult to justify and appears to have provoked, not resolved, conflict, Ginsburg wrote in 1984.

The New York Times suggests a date of 2010, when backlash to Obamas election saw a wave of Tea Party-supported Republicans take control of 25 state legislatures. Sympathetic to abortion opponents, they passed 205 abortion restrictions and bans over the three years that followed, a record number.

Armies of certitude

Justice Samuel Alitos own heavy-handed intervention arrives in the midst of a radically changed political climate. In the debate over abortion access, almost no bipartisan common ground exists among lawmakers, beyond the relatively rare existence of a pro-abortion rights Republican or anti-abortion rights Democrat.

Among the general populace the debate remains similarly antagonistic. Those who vehemently oppose abortion view government sanctioned deaths of the unborn as the greatest single human rights travesty of our time. Those who battle for abortion access see giving women no choice in carrying every pregnancy to term as a scramble backward toward the barbarous era when women were regarded as property, and as a lurch toward religious tyranny of the kind imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the ayatollahs of Iran.

Just as it is unrealistic to expect that a ban on abortions at any level of government will genuinely put a stop to them, it is unrealistic to expect that a triumph on one side of this struggle will cause people on the other side to do anything other than fight harder. In a country that often feels dangerously divided, divisions will deepen.

Published six months before the leak of Alitos draft opinion that mapped out the undoing of Roe v. Wade, a New York Times column by conservative essayist David Brooks eloquently describes the nature and causes of the polarization.

On one side, Brooks surmised, many conservatives wont acknowledge the problems that have always made this issue so hard. For example: How do we show proper respect and deference to women who become pregnant in terrible circumstances? he wrote. Many conservatives focus on the fetus to the exclusion of all else.

On the other side, progressives frame the issue solely in terms of health care, Brooks wrote. A lot of progressives talk about abortion as if it couldnt possibly be a termination of a human life.

As a result, vocal minorities dictate the conflict. The armies of certitude march forth and dominate debate and politics. The rest of us, hampered by ambivalence, hang back. We live in a democracy in which the majority often does not rule, Brooks wrote.

Virginians need to vote

For anti-abortion activists, the ruling is a major victory in a decades-long fight that still isnt over. For abortion rights activists, the ruling is a predictable but disheartening setback and a gut-check after years of relative complacency and lack of urgency on the part of Democrats, who put their faith in the durability of Roe as Republicans furthered the cause of their anti-abortion allies at all levels of government, guided by what New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg described as a movement that spent decades mastering the nuts and bolts of American politics, persisting despite years of failure and disappointment.

For the balance to tilt the other way, abortion access advocates and their Democratic allies will have to find the mettle to buckle down for a similar long haul. Meanwhile, red and blue grow further apart. As California and New York look to enshrine abortion access in their constitutions, conservative states not only impose or explore total abortion bans, but consider laws that could put women in prison who travel to other states to terminate a pregnancy, and impose criminal penalties on anyone who helps them. No such law of the latter kind has been passed, yet.

For Virginia, which teeters on a purple fulcrum, with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin charging into divisive culture war battles despite a narrow election victory, the Roe v. Wade reversal could be especially consequential.

At present, the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Heath Organization ruling has no affect on abortion access in Virginia, but Youngkin has made clear that, should voters put the General Assembly completely under GOP control, hell pursue new restrictions with gusto. Though Youngkin has advocated for a ban on the procedure at 15 weeks, he has also said he believes life begins at conception and will be open to any abortion restrictions that reach his desk.

The present General Assembly is about as perfect an expression of Virginias purple status as one could find. Republicans hold the House of Delegates by a mere four seats, 52-48, while Democrats control the Virginia Senate by a two-vote margin, 21-19, with Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears able to tilt things Republican on a tie vote.

However the argument moves forward, the vandalism in June of a pro-life womens center in Lynchburg and similar incidents across the country resoundingly demonstrate how to make things worse and grant resolve to ones opponents. Civil discourse must stay part of the debate, and those who care deeply about this issue have no business staying home when the voting booths are open.
Gering Public Schools families will see a price increase for school meals this upcoming year after the board of education approved a proposed price increase of 10 cents during Mondays regular meeting.

Director of Finance Stacy Rodriguez submitted the recommendation to the board after the district met with Taher, its food service provider, in late June. Jennifer Sibal, community engagement director for the district, said the board had no discussion on the proposed price increase.

It was a recommendation from our business manager in partnership with Taher, our food service company, Sibal said. They made recommendations for a 10-cent increase for this year.

The school meal pricing during the 2021-22 school year was $1.85 for breakfast and $2.90 for lunch for elementary students and $2.10 for breakfast and $3.15 for lunch at the junior high and high school levels. Visitors could also purchase meals at $3.70 for breakfast and $4 for lunch. The cost of milk was 50 cents.

Since the district participates in the National School Lunch Program, it is required to offer equal support for paid student meals and reduced or free student meals. As part of the United States Department of Agricultures ongoing requirements, the district will continue to include serving more fresh fruits and vegetables, serving more products with whole grains and not utilizing breaded meat food products, reduction in sodium and fat, all of which increase our costs.

The district used the lunch price calculator, provided by the USDA to establish the meal prices that were proposed to the school board.

The districts meal prices were free to all students for the past two years, ending on June 30, due to COVID funding from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The districts free and reduced lunch rate is 42% and 65% of students across the district receive school meals, although all students are eligible.

As the summer winds down, families are encouraged to complete the free and reduced meals form.

Our new application is out on our website, Sibal said. As we start our back to school information a few weeks before school starts, we will be sending several reminders.

We really strongly encourage them to do that free and reduced lunch form because not only does it impact school lunches, but if they are free and reduced eligible it can also really help them out with other school fees. We strongly encourage families to fill that out.

Families can visit geringschools.net/page/food-nutrition-services for more information about the districts services and to apply for free and reduced meals.

Sibal said the district will send families more information in August to help them prepare for the upcoming school year.
Constance Ball Swanson was known for her artistry, strong opinions and brightly colored purple and green attire throughout her life. Her legacy was celebrated during the Fur Trade Days historical cemetery tour at the Greenwood Cemetery in Chadron.

Visitors could hear a variety of stories about the movers and shakers within the Chadron community on the tour. Janice German impersonated Ball Swanson, saying the opportunity was nerve racking.

Some of Mrs. Swansons family are here, so Im a little intimidated, but it really is nice when people can come home and hear about their family and know that people did remember them because they contributed to the community.

Constance was born on May 21, 1895, in Indiana. From a young age, her interest in art and her creative abilities were evident. That passion for art would be a vital part of her legacy.

I earned two scholarship to the art institute in Indianapolis, German said as Ball Swanson. I attended there and also went to the art institute in Chicago.

Some of her work was exhibited at art museums throughout Chicago.

At the age of 22, Constance achieved one of her greatest accomplishments when her design for a Christmas card was selected to be sent to soldiers overseas.

The idea behind them was that they could write letters, notes and Christmas greetings to their families and friends and send them back home, she said. I felt really honored that my card was selected to be used for that.

That opportunity presented itself due to Constances active role in Artists Aid with the American Red Cross.

By doing that, I was able to meet a lot of soldiers at the train depot in Chicago, she said.

Her involvement lead her to be introduced to several soldiers, which led to multiple engagements.

That didnt surprise me because when I was young I had my fortune read by a gypsy fortune teller and they predicted that I would be married three times, which I wasnt, but I was engaged several times.

Constance met her first husband, Chester Ball, in Indianapolis. He served in World War I as a first lieutenant in the dental corps. The couple married in 1919 before moving back to Chesters hometown of Chadron. They lived at 203 Lake St. and welcomed two children, George and MaryAnn.

Chester died in 1952.

A year later, Constance remarried to Harry Swanson, who had served two terms as the Nebraska secretary of state from 1933-1941.

When he put his name in for the nomination, he really didnt want the job, she said. The only reason he wanted to run was to meet other politicians because he wanted to help Harry Jr. be appointed to West Point or Annapolis.

Through his connections, Harry Jr. was appointed to Annapolis and reached the rank of lieutenant commander.

Harrys political longevity in office was surprising for the family since he was a Democrat in a largely Republican state in the 1930s.

It was kind of surprising he was elected not once, but twice to the state office, she said. Even the third time he ran, he only lost by 8 votes.

He used to often say to me and other people that he had seen a lot of combat because he was a Democrat working with a bunch of Republicans.

While in Chadron, Constance was active in her church and the Daughters of the American Revolution, but always made time for her art.

Although I used many mediums in my artwork, by favorite thing was to do pen and ink drawings, she said.

Constance sold her artwork at gift shops and exhibited pieces in Nebraska during the 1960s. She would also exhibit pieces in Harrys home state of Oregon. She was especially known in the Chadron area for her drawing of the grand council cottonwood tree. The drawing was on display at the Fort Robinson museum for many years.

Near the end of her life and time in Chadron, she worked with 11 other people to form the sketch club.

That was one of my favorite projects in the City of Chadron, she said.

She then moved to Lincoln in 1975 with her son, George, until her death in 1977.

Constance died on Aug. 1, 1977, at the age of 82. She is buried in Chadrons Greenwood Cemetery along with other family members, including her husband, Chester and her son, George.
Childrens Homes of Iredell County Inc. named Kevin Angell as its new executive director, marking a new era for the organization and for its new leader.

For Angell, he said he took over the position so he could carry on the organizations legacy while pushing it forward as well.

Its an opportunity to build upon a 50-plus-year legacy of the organization and ensure that we are equipped to serve the community for another 50 years, Angell said.

Angell spent the last 10 years working with the Childrens Hope Alliance in Barium Springs, but now with CHoIC, he said he hopes to bring that experience along with his business acumen to his position. He said he also looks to cultivate new partnerships with business partners, government agencies, and other child and family service organizations.

Hell need all of that as he goes about his work. Angell said his goals for CHoIC include the expansion of the transitional living program for youth aging out of foster care, the start of a foster care program with the child-placing license recently obtained by the agency, and to build public will and excitement for helping young people succeed in life despite having adverse childhood experiences.

With close to 300 children in foster care in Iredell County and more than 12,000 children in foster care in North Carolina, there is clearly a need for expanded services here and throughout the state.

The organization celebrated Angells arrival with an open house at Opus Financial on Tuesday, and it gave those gathered a chance to reflect and thank Lisamarie Trivett, who served in that position for a year as the interim director and worked for the organization for a total of six. Now she has taken a position in Burke County, which she said allows her to better handle her familys needs.

As for any advice for Angell, Trivett said to trust his instincts and stick to his plans.

Think it through, plan it, dont let those bumps dissuade you from moving forward, Trivett said.
It gives me a better idea of what field I want to get into, just to try different things, Gutierrez said. Im not 100% sold on anything yet, but I like trying new things.

Try-It-Tuesdays are done through Crosby Scholars Iredell County and the give students a chance to learn a few things from instructors at Mitchell about a number of careers. This Tuesday it was representatives from emergency services showing off their field of work, including a shooting simulator that local law enforcement practices and trains on.

It helps them to explore a career they may not have otherwise thought of, Todd Carver said. He is the Basic Law Enforcement Training coordinator for Mitchell College. It allows them to see, today they are going to see six to nine career off of public safety branches, and just try new stuff. Thats why they call it Try-It-Tuesday.

Whether police, fire or EMS, students spoke with instructors from the college as they showed off different aspects of their teaching and some of the classrooms and equipment they might work on Tuesday.

Jennifer Christian, the high school program coordinator with Crosby Scholars Iredell County said the events give a chance for students to be exposed to different fields of work and see exactly how they can go about pursuing those options locally.

Some know exactly what they want to do and thats why they sign up, others are exploring, Christian said.

So far, interested students have had days to explore health care, culinary and now emergency services and public safety careers, but there are still opportunities to take part on upcoming Tuesdays with career choices and leadership on July 19 and manufacturing and engineering on July 26.

If a student is interested in attending, or learning more, they can reach out to Christian directly. Interested students and parents can go to the Iredell County Crosby Scholars website at www.crosbyscholarsiredell.org/ and click Contact Us at the top of the home page to contact Christian.
When people crave omelets, they head to the four-decades-old diner off Washington Way, near 32nd Avenue.

When people want more food options, well, they go there too.

Omelettes & More has been serving breakfast and lunch classics like Denver omelets, pancakes and BLTs since co-owner Keith Bauman, 41, was born  a convenient trick to keep in mind the familys entrance into the food industry.

Its easy to remember because we bought (the restaurant) about two weeks after he was born, his mother Marshia Bauman said.

The Denver omelet  with ham, diced green peppers and onions  has been a top breakfast item since the Baumans took over what was then called Irenes Cafe in 1981  even if people say omelet in the current restaurants name is misspelled.

Its not going to change now, Marshia Bauman said.

More

Popular Omelettes & More items tend to come from the More category.

Big eaters stop by for heaping portions, like the chicken fried steak with gravy and two eggs for $11.45, or the menus Chicken and a Biscuit, which combines the chicken fried steak meal with biscuits and gravy for $11.55.

For lunch, people gravitate toward the cod club, a deep-fried cod sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese on a grilled French roll, which comes with fries, tater tots, fruit, salad or soup for $10.95.

Omelettes & More Signature Fare: The "Big Southern," which is comprised of a full order of biscuits and gravy, two eggs, hash browns and choice of meat. Cost: $11.75. Address: 3120 Washington Way, Longview. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends. Info: 360-425-9260 or "Omelette's & More" on Facebook.

The eaterys signature dish, Keith Bauman said, is the Big Southern, which covers two plates and is comprised of a full order of biscuits and gravy, two eggs, hash browns and choice of ham, bacon or sausage for $11.75.

The 3,100-square-foot diner includes brown cushioned booths and wooden tables, with a breakfast bar for additional seating. Keith Bauman said customers like to sit at the bar for coffee, conversation and to watch the show, of him bantering with kitchen staff as he ensures dishes quality control from the kitchen to customers seats. When he steps away from behind the bar, he jokingly puts a random customer in charge and tells them to make him proud, he said.

Longtime servers like Pam Masters, who started in 1987, and Tina Scerbo, who started around 2001, welcome regulars and newcomers with the same infectious smiles. Some customers come in six to seven days a week, Marshia Bauman said. Once she had to move when she came in to eat and inadvertently sat in a regulars spot, she added.

History

Marshia Bauman and her husband Mike purchased the diner with Mikes brother Denny and his wife Merrilee Bauman when they were in their 30s. The deal included the convenient store and gas station Millers Market next door on the corner of Washington Way and 32nd Avenue.

Denny, who owned the Woodshed restaurant down the street, brought the restaurant knowledge and Mike brought the retail experience, Marshia Bauman said.

When the Baumans took over the business, Washington Way was filled with traffic from nearby mills, she added, but heavy traffic died in the early 2000s.

By 2017, Keith Bauman was looking for a quieter gig than managing the convenient store, and bought out his aunt and uncle to work fulltime at the restaurant, where he previously helped cook and pay bills. Millers Market was sold.

Keith Bauman still cooks on Thursdays, he said, making homemade items like the eaterys crepe batter and breakfast gravy, and expediting orders on the other roughly six days a week. Keith Bauman is the first Omelettes & More owner who frequents the eatery daily. His presence has boosted business despite the changes in traffic, his mother said.

Keith Bauman attributes the success to the eaterys menu.

We serve good food people love at an affordable price, he said.
A project that includes building a temporary road through Mount St. Helens Pumice Plain began July 1 and is set to continue through the fall after a court case challenging the project was closed in June.

The road is part of the U.S. Forest Services plan to replace an old intake gate at the lake that helps protect the downstream communities from catastrophic floods.

In March 2021, a coalition of researchers and conservation organizations challenged the plan to build the temporary access road, saying the service has not done the proper environmental assessments or adequately weighed the importance of research on the monument or the damage the road will cause.

Spirit Lake tunnel project moves forward after lawsuit ruling, permit approval The U.S. Forest Services plan to build a road through Spirit Lakes Pumice Plain is set to move forward this summer after a judge ruled in fa

In late December, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Bryan, of the Western District Court of Washington, ruled in favor of the Forest Service, writing that the agency complied with requirements and properly considered the consequences of the work. The plaintiffs appealed on Jan. 29, and on June 13 a jury denied the appeal, closing the case, according to court documents.

When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, debris blocked the historic outflow of Spirit Lake, raising the water level 200 feet. Engineers built a tunnel in 1985 to drain the lake and to prevent a catastrophic flood, but the tunnel is 35 years old and its gate needs repairs and upgrades.

The project includes repairing an unpaved forest road  mostly used for nonmotorized public vehicles  then building a new temporary access road so construction workers can reach the lake to replace the gate. The project also includes taking samples of the the debris blockage.

The four- or five-year construction project will have four phases. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will manage the contract for the Forest Service and estimates the project cost will be around $20 million. Construction of the 3.4-mile temporary access road, replacing the intake flow gate and other work will begin in 2023, according to the Forest Service.

As part of phase one, the Forest Service awarded a construction contract to improve the Forest Road 99 Extension, the 2-mile section from Windy Ridge Viewpoint to the researcher parking area. The road is closed to public motorized vehicles, and during the project, access will be coordinated by forest personnel.

Researchers, conservationists sue Forest Service over Spirit Lake road The lawsuit alleges that the Forest Service is not properly weighting the importance of the research happening at the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument or the damage the road will cause.

Forest Road 99 Extension/#207  the mostly nonmotorized road usually open to the public for hiking or mountain biking  will be closed on weekdays and open on weekends through the end of the year, according to the Forest Service. The closure begins at 6 a.m. Mondays and continues until noon Fridays. Windy Ridge Interpretive site, which is just north of the closure, remains open to visitors seven days a week.

The closure starts at the gate of Forest Road 99 Extension at the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site at milepost 16.3 and continues to the junction of the Abraham Trail #216D at milepost 17.8.

Visitors can expect to see large construction equipment and materials, culvert replacements and widening of corners, according to the Forest Service. Rock hauling will occur on Forest Road 99. The Forest Service advises visitors to use caution when traveling to the area.
A total of 2.65 million fish have been proliferated and released this year in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, including six fish species endemic to the Lhasa River, to further aid local aquatic biodiversity conservation.

Currently, 71 species (including subspecies) of indigenous fish can be found in Tibet. Tsedrum, president of the Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, said that problems such as overfishing in some river basins, invasion by exotic fish and destruction of fish habitats have threatened Tibet's indigenous fish resources over the past decade.

This has prompted the region to carry out fish proliferation and release activities since 2009. To date, Tibet has released more than 30 million fish, which has played a significant role in protecting local fish resources.

"Compared with other places, Tibet's fish resources are scarce, slow in growth and low in fecundity, and proliferation and release can effectively promote the protection and restoration of Tibet's unique fish resources and help with aquatic biodiversity conservation," said Wangchuk, deputy director of the institute of fishery sciences under the academy.
The Vancouver City Council unanimously voted Monday to approve the early draft of a new Interstate 5 Bridge plan, called the Modified Locally Preferred Alternative.

The approval is an early step in a long process for the project, and the plans are subject to change as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program seeks more review, paving way for revision.

(It) moves it from step two to step three of 100 steps, so this is a very exciting time, Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle said.

The city council is the second of eight involved agencies to vote on the plan, and after the groups vote on the plans, the project will move into the environmental review process. Portlands TriMet Board of Directors voted to endorse the plan on June 22.

On Tuesday, the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to endorse the Modified Locally Preferred Alternative.

As someone whos been sitting, almost since Ive started driving, waiting on traffic on that bridge, lets get going, Councilor Ty Stober said.

Greg Johnson, program administrator of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, said the vote was a significant milestone for the program.

We have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the City of Vancouver and our other regional partners for more than a year and a half to arrive at this critical step to identify the foundation of what to study as we move into the environmental review process, Johnson said in a statement to The Columbian. We are confident that our continued collaborative process will result in a multimodal replacement bridge that will serve communities on both sides of the Columbia River for the next 100 years.

The Interstate Bridge Replacement Programs Modified Locally Preferred Alternative announced in May calls for four total lanes: three travel lanes, one auxiliary and two shoulder lanes in each direction.

Under the plan, light rail would be extended from the Portland Expo Center through Evergreen Boulevard in Vancouver, bringing the MAX system into Vancouver for the first time. C-Trans rapid transit system, The Vine, would also expand in Vancouver to accommodate commuters.

The Locally Preferred Alternative was developed under the assumption of there being variable rate tolling. Consideration for a low-income toll program including exemptions and discounts was recommended by the Oregon and Washington State Transportation Commission.

The U.S. Coast Guard wants a bridge with 178 feet of clearance, the height of the current bridge when fully lifted, which is significantly more than the current 116-foot clearance that bridge project leaders plan in the Modified Locally Preferred Alternative.

Whether the bridge is side-by-side or stacked has yet to be decided.

The proposal is expected to reduce southbound morning travel times between the Interstate 5/Interstate 205 split and Interstate 405 in Portland by three minutes and evening traffic between Portlands Broadway Avenue and Washington state Highway 500 by 11 minutes, according to John Willis the deputy program manager for the bridge project.

The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council Board of Directors plans to vote on endorsing the Interstate 5 Bridge plans, called the Modified Locally Preferred Alternative.

The Regional Transportation Council Board of Directors includes Shawn Donaghy, chair of the board, and Matt Ransom, executive director. The RTC is the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for the county. It is required for federal transportation funding.
ShopeeFood, Shopees online food delivery service today announced it is expanding its operations to East Malaysia, beginning with Sabah. In a statement today, ShopeeFood asserted that its services will be available in various areas around the greater Kota Kinabalu area.

These include key locations such as Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Sepanggar, Petagas, Menggatal, Inanam, Likas, Foh Sang, Damai, Bukit Padang, Lido, and Luyang. With this expansion, residents of the aforementioned areas can get a range of popular local delights delivered to their homes such as Flips, Little Sulap, Nasi Lemak Bamboo, and Restoran Jamal Salim.

Furthermore, the greater Kota Kinabalu residents will also be able to access various discounts and promotions from popular F&B outlets such as McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Tealive, Boost Juice and more. Cheok Tuan Ee, ShopeePay and ShopeeFood Malaysias head of Marketing asserted that the company is committed to bring more benefits to East Malaysia.

Furthermore, Cheok said that expansion will help digitalise local businesses and promote cashless transactions via ShopeePay when ordering using Shopees integrated mobile app. It will also help local entrepreneurs and restaurant owners to have access to an extensive customer database and increase their businesses visibility by being part of Shopees ecosystem.

In the same statement, ShopeeFood also announced the return of ShopeeFood Day from now until 14 July 2022. This time around, the platform is offering Super Deals Up To 50 percent, Limited-time Upsized Vouchers up to 60 percent from 3 to 5pm daily as well as the chance to win prizes worth up to RM10,000. For more details, do visit ShopeeFood Days website here.

Besides that, ShopeeFood is also holding an Order and Win Contest from 14 to 31 July 2022. The prizes for this contest include exclusive travel trips to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Mantanani island and even ShopeeFood vouchers worth up to RM10,000. All you have to do to enter is follow these steps:

Spend a minimum of RM20 from any ShopeeFood restaurants Follow the official ShopeeFood Instagram ( shopeefood_my ) Like & comment your Order ID in Sabah Launch Contest Post Repeat the above steps, order more and stand higher chances to win

For more information on ShopeeFood, visit https://shopee.com.my/m/shopeefood and stay up to date by following @shopeefood_my on Instagram. As always, for more trending tech news such as this, do stay tuned to us at TechNave!
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Dallas-based telecommunications giant AT&T is partnering with fast food chain McDonald's U.S. to bring high-speed business fiber internet to 750 restaurants.

The partnership stems from the last two years of changing consumer habits and expectations for restaurants and food service, according to a release. McDonald's says it hopes the new internet services will help with its app and enable speedy delivery of services like mobile order.

Michael Colaneri, AT&T's vice president for retail enterprise solutions, said the restaurant experience could be very different in five years.

"High-speed internet is a critical engine for growth and expansion, creativity and innovation and a reimagined consumer experience in the industry," Colaneri said. "We're thrilled to work together with McDonald's to help shape the future of restaurants."

Christian Sandoval, a McDonald's U.S. owner and operator, said the restaurant is a hub for family, friends, school and work. The restaurant wants its customers to see it as a place where customers can bring their mobile devices to connect to WiFi, watch TV or do homework.

"With this expansion, AT&T is focused on providing our customers with a fast, reliable connection and quality internet experience," Sandoval said in a statement.

In January, AT&T rolled out fiber internet plans to more than 5 million customers in over 70 cities to upgrade to speeds as fast as 5 gigabits per second.

AT&T's broadband internet service is available to 40% of U.S. households and its faster fiber internet services are available to just a third of those households, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The company says it plans to keep expanding its high-speed fiber offering, aiming to cover 30 million customer locations by the end of 2025.

Explore further Cable operator Altice to launch super-fast fiber in US

2022 The Dallas Morning News.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Life for big tech companies looks increasingly different to how it did five years ago. Back then, Uber Technologies Inc. used a secret "kill switch" to thwart police from probing its data systems in more than a dozen countries. It forged into cities where its gig-economy model broke local rules, going above the heads of mayors and courting heads of state with aggressive charm offensives that saw the likes of then-French economy minister Emmanuel Macron make personal calls on Uber's behalf to solve its regulatory problems.

These details and more are laid bare in text messages and emails, part of more than 124,000 confidential documents leaked to the Guardian, which show how Uber executives were fully aware they were acting above the law, jokingly referring to themselves as "pirates" and "f-ing illegal." Uber says it has transformed itself since 2017 under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, and it is indeed a different company today from the one that founder Travis Kalanick started. In fact, the documents underscore how much the landscape for tech founders has changed.

For years it was almost cliche for Silicon Valley founders to believe they could move fast and break things (including laws) because they believed they were making the world a better place in the long run. Mark Zuckerberg justified playing fast and loose with regulators and our data in large part because he was fulfilling a global mission of "connecting people." Elon Musk appeared to treat regulatory fines as a cost of doing business while pioneering an electric vehicle revolution that could help combat climate change.

Then the wool was pulled back from our eyes. It turned out Facebook may have done more to polarize people than connect them. Musk's Tesla Inc. had been evasive about its environmental footprint and critics have raised questions about its safety standards. And while Uber has made transportation easier for many city dwellers, that dream is starting to erode amid steep fare increases.

Uber's unscrupulous ways helped build an empire, but it also led to political and regulatory blowback, which became all the more humbling amid its struggles to reach profitability. Antitrust officials have been getting tougher on tech dealsreversing a Facebook acquisition for instanceafter admitting they allowed giants like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. to scoop up far too many competitors. US lawmakers on both the left and right are raring to tame tech firms' aggressive growth tactics with tougher laws, spurred by revelations from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Big Tech could get away for years with "disrupting" the rules because there were so few restrictions on digital marketplaces in the first place. That's why it made sense for Uber and Facebook lawyers to argue that they were technology companies and not subject to the laws governing media or taxi firms.

But that is changing. Antitrust officials have updated their guidelines to better deal with the complexities of software and Europe is set to roll out strict laws about online content, echoing similar tightening in Japan and India.

It will be telling to see how a Delaware judge eventually rules on Musk's desertion of his Twitter deal. A harsh judgment against Musk could further underscore that the days of acting above the law for tech's elite are over.

Uber's own reckoning has been mixed. Court challenges have forced it to pay drivers a minimum wage in the UK, but the company hasn't been punished for creating a ghost app to thwart city officials' scrutiny of the company, using a tool that it called Greyball. That's arguably frustrating.

Uber's aggressive marketing and lobbying strategy didn't pave the way for a sustainable business model and has yet to help the company turn an annual profit. Its share price has fallen nearly 50% since the start of the year, eclipsing the losses of many other tech firms.

Younger ride-hailing firms like Estonia's Bolt Technology OU meanwhile have taken advantage of all the lobbying work Uber did to roll out its own business, but with less investment in public policy so that it could offer cheaper fares. In a roundabout way, Uber's grubby courting of politicians may have helped its competitorsat least temporarily. (Bolt has recently had to raise its fares too, making London Black Cabs or San Francisco's taxis more attractive when surge pricing is in effect.)

Uber's strategy, albeit an extreme one, has been par for the course for Silicon Valley empire builders, who ask for forgiveness instead of permission. The difference now is that authorities are starting to hold tech platforms to account.

Explore further Lobbyist Mark MacGann comes out as Uber Files whistleblower

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Three of the Fukushima plants nuclear reactors went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed when tsunami waves flooded backup generators.

A Tokyo court Wednesday ordered former executives from the operator of the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant to pay 13.32 trillion yen ($97 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster, plaintiffs said.

Four ex-bosses from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were ordered to pay the damages in a suit brought by shareholders over the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive tsunami in 2011.

Plaintiffs emerged from the Tokyo court holding banners reading "shareholders win" and "responsibility recognized".

Lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling, and said they believed it to be the largest amount of compensation ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan.

"Nuclear power plants can cause irreparable damage to human lives and the environment," the plaintiffs said in a separate statement after the ruling.

"Executives for firms that operate such nuclear plants bear enormous responsibility, which cannot compare with that of other companies."

The shareholders argued that the disaster could have been prevented if TEPCO bosses had listened to research and carried out preventative measures like placing an emergency power source on higher ground.

Defendants said the studies they were not credible and the risks unpredictable.

Plaintiffs and their lawyers hailed the ruling outside a Tokyo court.

But the court ruled nuclear plant operators have "an obligation to prevent severe accidents based on the latest scientific and expert engineering knowledge," and the executives failed to heed credible warnings.

In a statement read to AFP by a TEPCO spokesman, the firm declined to comment on the ruling, saying only: "We again express our heartfelt apology to people in Fukushima and members of society broadly for causing trouble and worry" with the disaster.

The damages are intended to cover the costs to TEPCO for dismantling the reactors, compensating affected residents, and cleaning up contamination.

The lawsuit is designed so the money will go to TEPCO itself, which the plaintiffs own partially as shareholders.

Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, called the decision "historic".

"We realize that 13 trillion yen is well beyond their capacity to pay," he told reporters, adding that the plaintiffs expect the men to pay as much as their assets allow.

There was no immediate word on whether the executives would appeal, though the plantiffs' legal team insisted "if they have heart to feel regret... they should deeply apologize to residents and follow the judgment without appealing."

The accident was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

'Retirement years in misery'

Three of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's six reactors were operating when a massive undersea quake triggered a devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011.

They went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed when waves flooded backup generators, leading to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Around 12 percent of the Fukushima region was once declared unsafe but no-go zones now cover around two percent, although populations in many towns remain far lower than before.

TEPCO has been pursued in the courts by survivors of the disaster as well as shareholders, and six plaintiffs this year took the firm to court over claims they developed thyroid cancer because of radiation exposure.

In 2019, a court acquitted three former TEPCO officials in the only criminal trial to stem from the disaster.

They were among the four men ordered to pay damages in Wednesday's ruling: former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro and former president Masataka Shimizu.

Graphic on the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

The men had faced up to five years in prison if convicted of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, but that court ruled that they could not have predicted the scale of the tsunami that triggered the disaster.

Kawai said when the shareholder suit was filed in 2012 that senior managers at TEPCO must be made to pay.

"You may have to sell your house. You may have to spend your retirement years in misery," he said then.

"In Japan, nothing can be resolved and no progress can be made without assigning personal responsibility."

TEPCO is currently engaged in a decades-long effort to decommission the plant, a costly and difficult process.

No one was killed in the nuclear meltdown, but the tsunami left 18,500 dead or missing.

Explore further Court orders Japan government to pay new Fukushima damages

 2022 AFP
A man speaks on his mobile phone in front of a shop selling Oppo phones in Noida, outskirts of New Delhi, India, Thursday, June 18, 2020. Indian investigators have raided an Indian subsidiary of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo, accusing it of evading customs duties totaling 43.9 billion rupees ($551 million), the government said Wednesday. Credit: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

Indian investigators have raided an Indian subsidiary of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo, accusing it of evading customs duties totaling 43.9 billion rupees ($551 million), the government said Wednesday.

The Enforcement Directorate, India's financial crime investigation agency, said it sent a notice to the company seeking recovery of the money.

Oppo India, a subsidiary of China's Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd, is the second Chinese mobile company to be searched by the directorate this month.

The actions underscore the tough scrutiny of Chinese companies following a Himalayan border standoff between the armies of the two nuclear-armed neighbors that began in 2020. Twenty Indian and four Chinese soldiers have been killed in the standoff.

Citing security concerns, India has also banned more than 300 Chinese mobile apps and has tightened rules on Chinese investment in India.

Oppo India is engaged in manufacturing, assembling, wholesaling and distributing mobile handsets and accessories in India.

In a statement, the directorate accused Oppo India of using ineligible duty exemptions totaling 2.9 billion rupees ($377 million) and improperly accounting for royalty and license fees. It said a large amount of money had been remitted to China to avoid payment of taxes in India.

A spokesperson for Oppo India could not immediately be reached for comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in Beijing earlier this month that the Chinese government requires Chinese businesses doing business abroad to abide by local laws and regulations and supports the companies' efforts to safeguard their rights and interests.

"We hope India will conduct investigations and law enforcement in accordance with the law, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises' investment and operation in India," Zhao said.

Indian investigators said last Thursday they searched dozens of offices of Chinese-owned Vivo Mobile India Private Limited as part of an investigation focusing on allegations of money laundering by the smartphone maker.

India's Enforcement Directorate said it seized 119 bank accounts with 4.65 billion rupees ($58.76 million), 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of gold bars and 7.3 million rupees ($92,405) in cash during the raids of the company owned by China's BBK Electronics.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Monash University

Monash University and Blundstone Australia have created a hi-tech boot concept designed to address the specific needs of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.

Monash's Design Health Collab and SensiLab partnered with Blundstone Australia to incorporate the latest technology and design techniques to increase personal safety and comfort in demanding health care environments. The design has been shortlisted for the prestigious Designers Australia Awards 2022.

Health care workers were at the forefront of the project, with the design team regularly conducting workshops with doctors, nurses and other health specialists to ensure the boot addressed challenges specific to the industry, including comfort, durability and hygiene.

Dr. Rowan Page, from Monash Health Design Collab, says the technology captures rich information about the day-to-day challenges faced by the wearer, and uses machine-learning techniques to provide real-time feedback and task classification.

"We've integrated a sensor system that analyzes multiple parts of the foot to provide real-time feedback via a smartphone app that detects abnormalities and highlights potential issues," Dr. Page said.

Credit: Monash University

"The shoes classify different tasks undertaken throughout a work shift and can identify different postures, changes in walking gait and the lifting of heavy loads. The visualization of this data can show areas of high pressure on the body across the workday and highlight potential problem areas."

With further development, the technology could highlight safety concerns, such as injury risk and fatigue, and prevent accidents before they occur.

The team's research highlighted comfort and hygiene are priorities for health care workers when selecting shoes for work. The boot's upperthe material covering the footprovides chemical and bacterial resistance to the wearer.

Blundstone Joint-CEO Adam Blake says people rely on Blundstone boots to protect them in all sorts of environments.

"We strive to be an innovator and collaborator that leverages the best science and technology, seeking to partner with leading expertise and knowledge," he said.

"Partnering with Monash's Design Health Lab and SensiLab has been a great opportunity for Blundstone to dive deeply into understanding the needs of workers within the health care space."

Sustainability and ethics are also at the forefront of the design. The concept boot uses synthetic and plant-based materials, a computer-knitted collar that eliminates material waste, an upper that provides chemical and bacterial resistance, and a sole made from a recyclable polyurethane.

Explore further Comfort should be considered when choosing N95 masks for health care workers
Proposed detection system based on analyzing the distribution patterns of malicious code in websites. Zero-day attacks can be reliably detected by continuously updating the list of features of distribution patterns. Credit: Yong-joon Lee et al, Journal of Electronic Imaging (2022). DOI: 10.1117/1.JEI.31.3.033046

With the ever-increasing importance of the Internet in our lives, there are growing attempts to exploit software vulnerabilities in our PCs for personal benefit. One way to do so is by infecting the victim's PC with a malicious code injected through a website. In fact, it is common to come across websites that have been hacked and repurposed to distribute viruses or redirect visiting users to other webpages containing malicious codes.

Fortunately, modern web browsers implement security measures to detect hidden malicious codes in websites before they are run. These methods can be categorized as "signature-based detection" and "behavior-based detection." Signature-based methods detect threats by referring to a previously built list of "indicators of compromise" and checking whether a webpage displays any of those indicators. Though this approach offers good speed, it cannot detect new, unknown attacks, also called "zero-day attacks." On the other hand, behavior-based methods compare the state of an unprotected virtual machine before and after visiting a website to detect any suspicious changes that may have occurred. While this approach is slower, it can detect zero-day attacks much more effectively.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Electronic Imaging, researchers Yong-joon Lee of Far East University and Won-shik Na of Namseoul University, both in the Republic of Korea, have reported a novel approach to detecting hidden malicious codes in websites. Unlike the existing techniques, their method revolves around identifying and analyzing common attack patterns used during the distribution of malicious code in websites.

In their work, the researchers first gathered data necessary to find attack patterns by "crawling" through 500 harmful websites. They analyzed the approaches that were most commonly used in these websites for distributing malicious codes. They then focused on the programming techniques and scripts used in these malicious codes, such as running shell scripts, executable files (.exe), or performing suspicious manipulation of strings, to exploit vulnerabilities.

The researchers counted the number of times each of these techniques was used in malicious websites and developed an equation to determine the "risk score" for a given website. To do this, they quantified the reliability of each of these techniques as an indicator of suspicion by focusing on their false-positive detection rates, i.e., how often a benign website using these techniques was flagged (incorrectly) as "malicious."

With this information, the developed equation could identify the so-called distribution patterns that hackers use to spread malicious code. "Whereas previous detection methods focus on the actual execution of malicious code, our proposed detection method can identify malicious distribution patterns by analyzing user-side scripts while considering the characteristics of websites," Na said.

Based on the 500 harmful websites previously identified by Google and Microsoft, the researchers could establish the relative importance (and weight) of each individual aspect of malicious distribution patterns. The performance of their approach was outstanding, both in terms of accuracy and speed. "The proposed method can effectively detect malicious websites based on script patterns. The algorithm complexity and its load on memory are, therefore, low," Na said. Furthermore, the new approach could also successfully detect zero-day attacks.

The researchers expect that the novel method would help reinforce web user safety while contributing to cybersecurity science and education by gathering information on malicious code distribution patterns. Let us hope their approach makes its way to the field.

Explore further New malware detection for Android at the source code level

More information: Yong-joon Lee et al, Malicious script distribution pattern detection technique for image search websites, Journal of Electronic Imaging (2022). Yong-joon Lee et al, Malicious script distribution pattern detection technique for image search websites,(2022). DOI: 10.1117/1.JEI.31.3.033046
Octa-glove picking up a Virginia Tech playing card underwater from the lab of Michael Bartlett. Credit: Virginia Tech

A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech's Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater. Their research was selected for the July 13 cover of Science Advances.

Humans aren't naturally equipped to thrive in an underwater environment. We use tanks to breathe, neoprene suits to protect and warm our bodies, and goggles to see clearly. In such an environment, the human hand also is poorly equipped to hold onto things. Anyone who has tried to hold onto a wriggling fish will testify that underwater objects are difficult to grip with our land-dwelling fingers.

"There are critical times when this becomes a liability," said Bartlett, an assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering. "Nature already has some great solutions, so our team looked to the natural world for ideas. The octopus became an obvious choice for inspiration."

A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater. Credit: Virginia Tech

Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers, and salvage crews all use their hands to extract people and objects from water. Human hands with less capability to hold slippery things must resort to using more force, and an iron grip can sometimes compromise those operations. When a delicate touch is required, it would be helpful to have hands made for water.

Those are the very appendages that Bartlett and his fellow researchers sought to build. His team in the Soft Materials and Structures Lab adapted biological solutions into new technologies made from soft materials and robotics.

Grabbing inspiration from powerful adhesion

The octopus is one of the most unique creatures on the planet, equipped with eight long arms that can take hold of myriad things in an aquatic environment. In a beautiful integration of practical tools and intelligence, these arms are covered with suckers controlled by the sea animal's muscular and nervous systems.

Each sucker, shaped like the end of a plunger, contributes a powerful snatching ability. After the sucker's wide outer rim makes a seal with an object, muscles contract and relax the cupped area behind the rim to add and release pressure. When many of the suckers are engaged, it creates a strong adhesive bond that is difficult to escape.

"When we look at the octopus, the adhesive certainly stands out, quickly activating and releasing adhesion on demand," said Bartlett. "What is just as interesting, though, is that the octopus controls over 2,000 suckers across eight arms by processing information from diverse chemical and mechanical sensors. The octopus is really bringing together adhesion tunability, sensing, and control to manipulate underwater objects."

Octa-glove picking up diverse objects underwater from the lab of Michael Bartlett. Credit: Courtesy of Virginia Tech

Putting the inspiration into action

To design their glove, the researchers focused on re-imagining the suckers: compliant, rubber stalks capped with soft, actuated membranes. The design was created to perform the same function as the sucker of an octopusactivating a reliable attachment to objects with light pressure, ideal for adhering to both flat and curved surfaces.

Having developed the adhesive mechanisms, they also needed a way for the glove to sense objects and trigger the adhesion. For this, they brought in Assistant Professor Eric Markvicka from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who added an array of micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors that detect how close an object is. The suckers and LIDAR were then connected through a microcontroller to pair the object sensing with the sucker engagement, thus mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of an octopus.

Using the sensors to engage the suckers also makes the system adaptable. In a natural environment, an octopus winds its arms around crags in rocks and surfaces, attaching to smooth shells and rough barnacles. The research team also wanted something that felt natural to humans and allowed them to pick things up effortlessly, adapting to different shapes and sizes as an octopus would. Their solution was a glove with synthetic suckers and sensors tightly integrated together, a harmony of wearable systems grabbing many different shapes underwater. They called it Octa-glove.

"By merging soft, responsive adhesive materials with embedded electronics, we can grasp objects without having to squeeze," said Bartlett. "It makes handling wet or underwater objects much easier and more natural. The electronics can activate and release adhesion quickly. Just move your hand toward an object, and the glove does the work to grasp. It can all be done without the user pressing a single button."

Researchers test the Octa-Glove in the lab of Michael Bartlett. Credit: Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech

Putting on the glove

In testing, the researchers tried a few different gripping modes. To manipulate delicate and lightweight objects, they used a single sensor. They found that they could quickly pick up and release flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, the double-curved portion of a spoon, and an ultrasoft hydrogel ball. By reconfiguring the sensor network to utilize all sensors for object detection, they also were able to grip larger objects such as a plate, a box, and a bowl. Flat, cylindrical, convex, and spherical objects consisting of both hard and soft materials were adhered and lifted, even when users did not grab the object by closing their hands.

"These capabilities mimic the advanced manipulation, sensing, and control of cephalopods and provide a platform for synthetic underwater adhesive skins that can reliably manipulate diverse underwater objects," said postdoctoral researcher Ravi Tutika. "This is certainly a step in the right direction, but there is much for us to learn both about the octopus and how to make integrated adhesives before we reach nature's full gripping capabilities."

Looking forward, the researchers envision the glove playing a role in the field of soft robotics for underwater gripping, applications in user-assisted technologies and health care, and in manufacturing for assembling and manipulating wet objects.

This work was performed with Sean Frey, A.B.M. Tahidul Haque, Elizabeth Krotz, Cole Haverkamp, and Chanhong Lee, representing Virginia Tech, Iowa State University, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

More information: Sean T. Frey et al, Octopus-inspired adhesive skins for intelligent and rapidly switchable underwater adhesion, Science Advances (2022). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq1905 Journal information: Science Advances Sean T. Frey et al, Octopus-inspired adhesive skins for intelligent and rapidly switchable underwater adhesion,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq1905
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The big winner in a 2020 federal auction to build more broadband in rural America was a relatively small company started by a Minnesota entrepreneur. Since then, not much has gone right for the firm or the people waiting for better internet.

The company, LTD Broadband, snared $1.3 billion out of $9.2 billion awarded by the federal government in its most recent program to subsidize rural broadband. It was the biggest award for any company and covered portions of work in 15 states, including Minnesota.

But here and elsewhere, LTD's win has met resistance from other telecom industry players, counties and townships and some state regulators. They're worried the company won't be able to fulfill its obligations.

The fight illustrates the longstanding problem of extending high-speed internet to the least-populated parts of the country. Broadband often isn't profitable in rural areas without subsidies. But the way federal subsidies are granted and who gets themcan be a contentious process.

Federal regulators are still reviewing LTD's "long form" application, which includes detailed financial information. Until it's approved, the money won't flow.

In the meantime, areas covered by LTD's federal grants in Minnesota haven't been eligible for a big pot of state broadband subsidies. In Minnesota, LTD Broadband's grant of $311 million accounted for 76 % of all money allocated to the state from the 2020 federal auction. It covers parts of 38 counties.

"We are frustrated, and people are very upset," said Barbara Droher Kline, Le Sueur County's broadband coordinator.

The state turned down LeSueur County's bid for two broadband grants in early 2021 because they would've overlapped with LTD's federal awards. "If we had been approved, we would have had fiber in the ground already," Droher Kline said.

The Minnesota Telecom Alliance in May petitioned state regulators to revoke LTD Broadband's state permit, which would throw its federal grants here into question.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is expected to decide this week whether to begin a revocation investigation.

"Public dollars are limited, making it essential that those who obtain public funding can be counted on to deliver broadband," the telecom alliance said in its entreaty. "The record will show that LTD cannot."

The telecom trade group was joined in its petition by the trade group for Minnesota's rural electricity co-ops, some of which are deploying broadband themselves. The groups point to LTD's trouble in South Dakota, where state regulators rejected its permit in March saying the company lacked technical and financial ability.

Iowa has also denied LTD's state permit application. Indeed, LTD noted in a PUC filing it has "received adverse state (utilities) commission rulings" in four states, all of which it's challenging.

In a PUC filing, LTD called the Minnesota revocation petition "groundless" and motivated by rival broadband providers' "competitive animosity."

LTD has already begun building a fiber optic network for broadbandincluding in Minnesota even though it hasn't yet received federal money, said its founder, Corey Hauer. "It's laughable that these parties say we can't do it when we are doing it every day," he said.

Minnesota concentration

Hauer founded LTD Broadband in 2010 after selling a local phone service provider in Minnesota. LTD is based in Las Vegas, where Hauer lives. But many of its top officers work in Minnesota and the company's mailing address is here.

The company initially has specialized in fixed wireless broadband, serving about 18,400 customers in eight states. "Fixed wireless is our legacy business. We are really focused on fiber now," Hauer said.

Minnesota is where the firm's operations are concentrated, he said. LTD has 192 workers, though he said it plans to hire about 1,000 people to build broadband covered by the federal grant.

Hauer grew up near Albert Lea and studied computer and electric engineering at Purdue University, though he did not graduate. He has also long owned residential rental properties in Mower and Freeborn counties.

In May, Stewart Title Guaranty sued Hauer in Mower County district court to enforce three judgments against him involving six properties he owns or owned. The judgments totaled $293,466; only $7,606 had been paid.

The "ill-gotten" judgments stemmed from the "absurd results" of court cases several years ago, Hauer said. "We will work something out with Stewart Title," he added.

Expansion uncertainty

LTD's move into fiber deployment came as the Federal Communications Commission in 2020 rolled out the latest subsidy program from its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

The agency told builders it wanted projects that took optical fiber directly to homes or businesses rather than wireless broadband, which is considered less reliable.

Winning bidders were chosen on their promises of low costs and high internet speeds. The companies were given three years to meet build-out benchmarks and three more years to complete their projects.

But federal subsidies cover only a portion of a fiber project's costs, and LTD has been awarded grants to cover 528,000 U.S. locations102,000 in Minnesota alone. It would be a massive broadband buildout.

In comments to the state PUC, four Minnesota counties that would host LTD's projectsLeSueur, Pine, Jackson and Chippewawere skeptical of the company's abilities to follow through, as was the Minnesota Association of Townships.

"LTD's unproven track record causes us considerable concern that they will be able to provide broadband services to the the areas they were awarded," q1Jackson County Administrator Ryan Krosch said in a PUC filing.

Counties also faulted LTD for a lack of a communication.

"Chippewa County representatives have attempted to contact LTD on several occasions to collaborate and request updates on their progress,'' County Auditor Michelle May said in comments to the PUC. "Those attempts have failed" and the county has "lost faith" in LTD.

Hauer said he has personally met with county officials across the country. "The question from counties is always 'when,' and of course the answer is 'as soon as possible.' We want to do it as quickly as we can," he said.

He said LTD is "hamstrung by the FCC" because the agency hasn't yet allocated its grant money.

Phone service ante

Money doled out by the federal government for broadband comes from fees paid by U.S. telephone service subscribers. As a result, the FCC requires winning bidders like LTD to also offer telephone service.

That means they must be designated an "Eligible Telecommunications Carrier" (ETC) by state regulators. Even if a broadband provider had that designation, they must get it expanded by state regulators to cover the latest federal auction.

South Dakota rejected LTD's request to become an ETC, while Iowa kiboshed its application for expanded ETC statusjeopardizing the company's federal grants in both states.

LTD didn't meet a June 2021 FCC deadline to document its ETC designation in several states. The company asked the agency for a waiver, but the FCC rejected LTD's pleas for California, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The FCC said it would move LTD's bids in those states into "default." The agency wrote that LTD "failed to engage in good faith efforts to purse and obtain" ETC designation in those states.

The Minnesota PUC in June 2021 granted LTD an expansion of its ETC status to accommodate its new federal grants. The Minnesota Telecom Alliance opposed that move and, two months ago, asked the PUC to revoke it.

Counties and townships, the state commerce department and attorney general's office all supported a revocation investigation.

LTD argues that revocation stands on shaky legal ground. And staffers at the PUC said if LTD's ETC permit is revoked, the company's $311 million in Minnesota awards would not automatically go to other federal grant winners in the state.

Instead, they might be rolled into a future FCC auction, which would delay broadband rollout in parts of rural Minnesota even longer.

"The commission should proceed with caution regarding this matter," the staff analysis said.

Explore further Four states receive first allocations of $10B broadband fund

2022 StarTribune.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory letter to the World Internet Conference for the inauguration of the international organization.

Xi expressed the hope that the organization would contribute to global internet development and governance.

The establishment of the organization is an important move echoing the informatization trend of the times, and it will deepen international exchanges and cooperation in cyberspace, Xi noted.

Cyberspace concerns the future of humanity, and the future of cyberspace should be jointly built by all countries of the world, Xi stressed.

China stands ready to work with the international community to build a cyberspace that is fairer and more equitable, more open and inclusive, safer and more stable, and more vibrant, and to allow the internet to enrich the people even more, Xi said.

The inaugural ceremony of the organization was held on Tuesday in Beijing. Members of the World Internet Conference include internet-related international organizations, enterprises, institutions, experts and scholars.
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Investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division seized approximately 32,000 fake pills in Omaha, some laced with lethal doses of fentanyl, in a two-day span beginning July 8.

During the first six months of 2022, DEA investigators seized approximately 151,500 pills in Nebraska, marking an 83% increase over the 82,775 pills seized in all of 2021.

Fake pills, designed to look like legitimate prescription medications, are readily available on the streets of Nebraska, DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said in a news release. No city or town, be it rural or urban, big or small, is immune to this substance. We want people to be aware of the dangers of taking these pills and other substances of unknown origin.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, equivalent in size to 10 to 20 grains of salt, is considered a potentially lethal dose.

DEA lab testing reveals that four out of every 10 pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. Marketed as M30s, Blues and Mexican Oxy, these pills are designed to look like prescription opioids including oxycodone (including Oxycontin and Percocet ), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and alprazolam (Adderall ). In Nebraska, fake pills can sell for as low as $3 to $5 per pill, making the recent 32,000 pills seized worth an estimated $96,000 to $160,000.

According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death for Americans age 15 to 44 is drug overdose. The CDC estimates that more than 107,000 people died as a result of drug overdose in the United States during the 12-month period ending in January of this year. Sixty-seven percent of overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

The DEA launched its One Pill Can Kill campaign in the fall of 2021 as a way to make people aware of the dangers of fake pills.

Cartels are producing fake pills in mass quantity and social media continues to play a significant role in the upward trend of these potentially lethal drugs, King said in the release Theyre easy to purchase and easy to conceal. We need everyone to understand that taking just one fake pill can have deadly consequences.

Locally, Grand Island has seen multiple overdoses in 2022.

Overdoses in late March involved black market pills that were being sold as Percocet. Those pills contained fentanyl, according to Grand Island Police Capt. Jim Duering. Following the overdoses March 26 and 27, police arrested Mohamed Ahmed, a 19-year-old Grand Island man.

On the weekend of May 22, a 17-year-old girl died of a drug overdose in Grand Island. Her death was attributed to consuming fentanyl-laced Xanax. Police arent sure if those pills were connected to the fake Percocets.

So far this year, through the end of May, Grand Island EMTs and paramedics have administered Narcan nasal spray, which can reverse opioid overdoses, to 27 people. In all of 2021, the EMTs and paramedics provided Narcan to 35 people. In the years before that, the number of Narcan recipients averaged 15 to 20 annually, according to Russ Blackburn, emergency medical services division chief for the Grand Island Fire Department.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol released 44 pages of documents Friday, nearly a year and a half after the Tulsa World first requested records related to the April 7, 2018, incident. The agency provided the newspaper with the chase's video three weeks ago, which doesn't show the crash because the rollover caused an equipment malfunction, according to the agency.

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A proposed ban on wild peacocks brought before the Grand Island City Council Tuesday failed with a 3-3 vote.

An ordinance was proposed to amend Chapter 5 of the City Code.

The action was based on a recommendation from the Animal Advisory Board.

The board met June 22 and heard testimony that wild peacocks had become a nuisance in the northwest part of the city, along Airport Avenue, south of Capital Avenue.

The amendment read: No person shall keep or maintain peafowl on his or her property within the city, except for commercial retail establishments who offer live fowl or chickens for retail sale, and governmental and/or nonprofit educational facilities.

An amendment was needed as there was nothing to prohibit ownership of peafowl in city limits, explained Interim City Attorney Stacy Nonhof.

About 18 months ago or more a citizen was complaining about peacocks around the Central Nebraska Humane Society and the noises they made, during that time trying to figure out if anyone actually ones those peacocks or if theyre running free, she said. To the best of our knowledge, theyre running free.

Peacocks dont meet the definition of wild animal, as the definition excludes birds.

Nonhof emphasized the amendment would not address what to do about the ones that are already here, only ones being kept or fostered by residents.

Rita Hemmer, who lives on El Dorado Street, spoke in favor of the ban Tuesday. There were no peafowl there when they moved in there 20 years ago, she said.

Sundance Feed & Seed, which had been on Highway 30, let the first birds loose. A neighbor, she said, kept those birds, and after he passed away the flock was let free and have since multiplied there.

We did enjoy the novelty of it when there were just a few, she said. It made us feel unique and they are beautiful birds.

Hemmer said they cry late at night and into the morning and detailed multiple instances of the birds invading their barn, including stealing food and making messes.

It has also created other issues.

The more prey, the more predators, and our fox population on our side of town has exploded the last couple of years, she said. These foxes have killed our neighbors ducks and chickens and geese, and theyve had to resort to shooting and killing them.

Tonia Gleason, who lives on Geddes Street, said shes been in the neighborhood the longest, and does not have a problem with the peacocks, saying, its not a problem were going to take care of overnight.

This is one thing weve learned to live with. I do agree, we have been gathering the eggs from the peacocks. We have a person who wants them, she explained. We cant get rid of these peacocks overnight. Getting rid of the eggs will help.

She added, All the neighbors enjoy seeing them. A lot of people enjoy them.

Jim Wagoner, at West Louise Street, asked the council to not consider another ordinance ruling my life.

He noted that Central Nebraska Regional Airport is nearby, as is Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway, both of which are much louder than bird cries.

This is not a huge problem for this council to consider, he said. Were talking about a wild animal that keeps to itself, and at most 20 or 25 birds. Id ask this council to consider more important things than something like this.

Council Member Mitch Nickerson, voice support for the ordinance, played a recording of the peacocks crying at night.

We have to start somewhere, he said. (The board) felt it was important we address this.

Nickerson said it is a noise nuisance issue, like banning roosters within the city.

Banning them from ownership in the city takes that scenario away, he said. Were not going to allow anyone to be an owner and subject a neighbor to that noise.

Council Member Chuck Haase said hes against the ordinance because he doesnt believe it will fix anything and he doesnt like nit-picking individual animals.

I dont want to do one thing at a time, he said. I want to have a comprehensive plan.

Council Member Michelle Fitzke abstained from the vote.
Traditionally, Tibetans name their babies after blessings, such as the most popular Tashi and Drolma, meaning "good luck" and "goddess," respectively. But more newborns have their names that record the development of the area, the country, and the changes over the past decades.

Great change

A native of Dagze District in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, Jingdrol, 63, said that his parents gave him his name to commemorate the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951 and the democratic reform in 1959. Jingdrol means "liberation" in Tibetan.

Jingdrol said his parents were both serfs who used to starve and had barely enough clothes to wear. "My two elder brothers died in infancy due to illness," said Jingdrol.

After the democratic reform, his family was granted farmland, livestock, and farming tools. "My parents gave me this name, asking me to remember the change," he said.

Tsering Phuntsog, head of the ethnic research institute of the Tibet autonomous regional academy of social sciences, said in addition to Jingdrol, Darma (meaning "red flag") and Yongjun (meaning "supporting the People's Liberation Army") were also among the common names for those born in the 1960s and 1970s in Tibet.

Ethnic unity

Most Tibetans did not have a surname in old Tibet except in aristocratic families.

But Basang, a former herder in Tsonyi County in the city of Nagqu, decided to give his son the surname Huo, the family name of the doctor who conducted the county's first cesarean surgery on his wife.

Tsonyi County is the highest county in China, with an average altitude of above 5,000 meters, where oxygen in the air is about 40 percent of that in the plain. It makes surgeries like cesareans very dangerous.

In August 2017, Basang's pregnant wife Chode, was diagnosed with a deficiency of amniotic fluid, and the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck.

Changchub Drolma, head of the People's Hospital of Tsonyi County, said expectant mothers like Chode were usually transferred to hospitals in Lhasa, 700 km away, for surgery. But the long trip was dangerous for both mothers and their fetuses.

Chode was lucky as a voluntary medical team from the Central Hospital of China National Petroleum Corporation happened to be in the hospital. Huo Zhiping, the obstetrician of the team, conducted the surgery.

"We named the baby Huo Dangsheng to show our gratitude to doctor Huo and others in the medical team," said Basang.

The permanent resident population in Tibet has exceeded 3.64 million, compared to just over 1 million in the early days of the region's peaceful liberation, according to the latest national census conducted in 2020.

New life

Gurum Drolma's parents named her "Gurum," the name of their new hometown, to celebrate their relocation.

In June 2018, 262 households from Rungma, a township at an average altitude of more than 5,000 meters in Nagqu, were relocated to Gurum Township in Lhasa.

"Gurum Drolma was born the day after we moved here. She is a child with a blessing," said 53-year-old Rigzin, her father.

Rigzin's family used to be herders. Before their relocation, a small TV and an electric butter maker were the only electrical appliances in their house. As there was no telecommunication signal in this pastoral area, they had to travel 30 km to make a phone call or send a message.

Rungma Township is not suitable for human habitation due to the high altitude, harsh environment, frequent natural disasters, and inferior public services. Long affected by this environment, Gurum Drolma's mother, Karma Detso, suffered from Kashin-Beck disease, also known as "big bone disease."

Now, in their new two-story Tibetan-style residence, the family has access to tap water and owns a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a gas stove.

Villagers have also found jobs such as airport terminal cleaners, railway line patrollers, and dancers and horse racers at a tourist resort near their new home. The annual per capita income of the relocated residents increased from more than 11,000 yuan (about 1,643 U.S. dollars) before relocation to over 19,000 yuan in 2021.

"We want Gurum Drolma to remember that it's her mother who gave her life and that the relocation changed her life," said Rigzin.




YORK  An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who had a meth tooter in his sock during a traffic stop in York County.

Bryce Bond, 35, whose addresses have been listed as both Denver and Chicago, failed to appear this week for a status hearing in York County District Court and Judge James Stecker issued a warrant for his arrest.

This case began when a traffic stop was initiated on South Lincoln Avenue in York by a deputy with the York County Sheriffs Department. Bond was a passenger in the vehicle.

A sheriffs canine alerted to the presence of narcotics and a search of the vehicle was conducted.

During the search, deputies found uncovered caps to hypodermic needles and a tooter with methamphetamine residue.

During a search of Bonds person, deputies felt something inside his sock and found plastic containing a half-gram of methamphetamine.

At the time of his arrest, a review of Bonds criminal history showed he has been convicted of felonies in Utah, Iowa and Wyoming. They also found he had two active warrants  one in Iowa, the other in Illinois.

Initially, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance in this case  which was later amended to attempted possession of a controlled substance.
DU QUOIN  The city was recently awarded a $4 million Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant to build a new water tower.

The tower will feature a 500,000-gallon elevated water storage tank at the citys industrial park to accommodate business expansion efforts and attract new businesses. This EDA grant, to be matched with $1 million in local funds, is expected to create 121 jobs, retain 57 jobs and generate $9.2 million in private investment.

President Biden is committed to harnessing the full power of the federal government to ensure our nation not only recovers from this pandemic but builds back stronger, said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. This EDA investment in Du Quoin will provide a much-needed expansion of fire protection capabilities that will boost business growth at the citys industrial park.

Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi said the grant will pay about 70% of the tower project. The city will have to finance the remaining 30%.

"You just smile and say, 'Thank you' when the federal government gives you a grant like this," Alongi said. "I'd much rather be paying for 30% of the cost of the new tower than 70%. This grant is one of the largest ever handed out to a Southern Illinois municipality from the Department of Commerce."

Alongi said the city has been seeking a grant to build a new tower for about the last 10 years.

"Once it gets erected, our city shouldn't have any problem with potable or purified water for about the next 50 years," the mayor said. "And we're going to keep our existing tower and an aging underground storage tank, which holds about a million gallons of water. It should serve us another 10-to-15 years."

Alongi added that the city council will begin accepting bids for construction of the tower late this fall or early winter with construction hopefully getting underway next spring. It will be designed similar to the new Marion water tower just off Interstate 57.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he commends the Biden-Harris Administration for ensuring that Du Quoin sees ample support as the nation builds back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Driving robust investment for our downstate communities is a top priority here in Illinois," Pritzker said. This new EDA grant will jumpstart new infrastructure for Du Quoins industrial park, boosting jobs for the community and catalyzing millions in private investment to make the Park  home to advanced manufacturing and renewable energy capacities  even more attractive for future development.

Congressman Mike Bost said he also was pleased to see Du Quoin receive the grant.

Not only will this grant help create and sustain jobs for 178 Southern Illinoisans, but it will also support the needs of local businesses as they grow," Bost said. "As COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted, getting people back to work and our economy back on track must be our top priorities.

This project is funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided EDA with $$1.5 billion for economic assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
BENTON  The Longbranch Cafe in Carbondale will be paying some of its workers for overtime violations as determined Monday by U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle.

In her ruling, Yandle said that Longbranch management owes five of the 32 servers and baristas who worked more than 40 hours during some workweeks of the investigation period in early 2020 a total of $126.01.

Moreover, she concurred with U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh that the employer is not only liable for unpaid overtime, but is also liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act for an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, also in the amount of $126.01.

Scott Allen, spokesman for the Department of Labor, explained that the total payout for Longbranch is $252.02, but that it would not be distributed equally. The payout would vary based on hours worked by the employee, he said.

Altogether, the Department of Labor filed suit on behalf of 32 current and former employees against Dayemi Organization, Inc., d/b/a Longbranch Cafe and Bakery and Elaine Ramseyer Greenberg (Longbranch general manager), alleging violations of the FLSA.

Longbranch is composed of a full-service cafe/restaurant located at 100 E. Jackson St. in Carbondale and an off-site bakery located at 218 N. Illinois Ave. The cafe serves baked goods, coffee, and vegetarian/vegan fare and employs servers, baristas, cooks, and dishwashers, among others.

The bakery prepares baked goods for the cafe and offers catering for weddings. Longbranchs gross annual dollar volume of sales for calendar years 2018 and 2019 were $809,303 and $766,884 respectively. It had an annual gross volume of sales approximately $211,000 in 2020.

Greenberg has held the position of general manager for approximately 18 years. She is responsible for overseeing the general day-to-day operations of the cafe, including supervising employees, and hiring and firing employees. She also oversees operations of the bakery, procures supplies, hires employees, and provides guidance regarding employee discipline.

Lindsey Corona, an employee of the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage, and Hour Division, was assigned to investigate Longbranch in February 2020. The initial investigation was opened on Feb. 3, 2020 and covered the cafe and bakery for the period of Feb. 6, 2018 through Feb. 5, 2020.

During the course of the case, Corona conducted an unannounced visit to the cafe, interviewed nine current and former employees, and reviewed Longbranchs pay records. Greenberg testified that she knew nothing about the FLSA prior to the initiation of the investigation.

Longbranch did not review the Wage & Hour Divisions guidance or website, or consult with any lawyer, financial advisor, or government official about whether their pay practices complied with the FLSA compensation practices.

Longbranch paid servers and baristas either $5 or $5.50 per hour and took a tip credit for the remainder of their minimum wage obligation. Greenberg testified that servers and baristas were only notified of the tip credit when they saw it on their paychecks. There was no other notification to employees regarding the tip credit to her knowledge.

Longbranch computed the overtime premium rate for servers and baristas who worked more than 40 hours per workweek based on their hourly cash wage rate of $5 or $5.50.

Longbranch employed Wilbur Davis as the barista manager at the cafe. Davis was paid a salary of $471.15 per workweek during the entire investigation period. He worked more than 40 hours during several workweeks from Jan. 1, 2020 to Feb. 5, 2020.

Longbranch paid the cafes cooks and dishwashers at the hourly state minimum wage or higher during the investigation period and did not take a tip credit for them. Dishwashers and cooks performed their work in the kitchen, which diners could not access, and did not receive tips from customers. Cooks and dishwashers did not hold any other positions at the cafe.
MARION  Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Zanotti is stepping down from his position effective later this month.

Zanotti was appointed to replace Charles Garnati in September of 2014. He proceeded to win two elections following that appointment.

"Today, after almost eight years in office as Williamson County State's Attorney, I tendered my resignation to County Board Chairman Jim Marlo, with said resignation to take effect on July 22, 2022," Zanotti said.

Zanotti added that his recent DUI did not factor into his decision to leave.

"It really didn't at all," he said. "It may seem like that to a lot of folks, but these talks and negotiations have been going on well before that incident."

Zanotti said he is joining the law firm of Sam C. Mitchell and Associates, a local law firm with roots in this region going back to the 1970s.

"I will be coming on as the firm's new managing partner," he said. "I began discussion with the partners at the Mitchell firm in late 2021, and we have been working for several months to make this transition happen."

Zanotti said he is proud of his record and service as the Williamson County State's Attorney.

"During the past eight years, we have secured numerous convictions and worked to make Williamson County a safe place to live and work. But I feel the time is right for me and my family to take a different path. I thank everyone who I have worked with and alongside over the past eight years."

Zanotti was asked why he is resigning now, which will require a special election this November instead of waiting until after July 25, assuring that a fellow Democrat would remain in the position until the November 2024 election.

He said his resignation date is the timeframe agreed upon between him and the Mitchell law firm - his new employer.

"While I am not statutorily obligated to recommend a replacement, I am considering making a recommendation to Chairman Marlo within the week," he said.

Marlo said he is sorry to see Zanotti stepping down.

"Brandon has always been good to work with," he said. "He was a good state's attorney. He will be missed."

Zanotti, a Johnston City native, was an arbitrator with the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission prior to his appointment by Garnati. He was previously with the firm of Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan, where he specialized in workers compensation cases representing both petitioners and respondents.

He also served as a congressional clerk to U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin in Washington and clerked for Judge Joseph M. Leberman in the First Judicial Circuit. Attempts to reach Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Tommy Caliper proved unsuccessful Tuesday.
He couldnt get a date.

Or he hated Black people.

Or he was bullied in school.

If any of that sounds familiar, it should. Every time theres a mass shooting in this country -- which, as a functional matter, pretty much means every day -- those are the kinds of explanations routinely offered in the aftermath. A simple trip to the store, seeing a movie, going to school -- or, as was the case last week in Highland Park, north of Chicago, going to a parade -- ends up in carnage and reporters dutifully waylay the shooters parents, teachers and friends to ask how this could have happened. And the portrait emerges.

He hated Jews.

Or he was depressed.

Or he was a loner.

But curiously enough, no one ever seems to consider, much less interrogate, the neon thread woven through it all. Meaning that pronoun, he. Always, he. We take it for granted. It hardly even registers. But maybe it should. In a government-funded study of 172 mass shootings since 1966 -- defined as a shooting in a public place where four or more people were killed -- The Violence Project, a nonpartisan and nonprofit anti-violence think tank, found that just four of the shooters were female. Thats a little more than 2 percent.

So, while we debate mass shootings as a bigotry problem, a mental health problem, an access to guns problem -- and make no mistake, we should -- it seems past time we also began debating it as a men problem. Especially since the numbers suggest it is more a men problem than any other kind. That we seldom broach it as such speaks to the fish-dont-know-theyre-wet myopia of most of those framing the discussion. Meaning, of course: men themselves.

When you are considered the implicit norm, self-reflection doesnt come naturally. But self-reflection is long overdue. And here, a riposte from the old sitcom Living Single suggests itself.

Synclaire asks, Did you ever stop to think about what the world would be like without men?

Khadijah replies: A bunch of fat, happy women and no crime!

It is, as they say, funny because its true. And painful for the same reason.

That said, it is insufficient merely to indict men. Other countries have men -- and for that matter, private gun ownership. Yet they dont have the random gun violence this country does.

Which suggests the question is not Whats wrong with men? but Whats wrong with American men? What is it in our culture, in the things we teach them, in the way we socialize them, that so often leaves boys and men with this grotesque sense of entitlement, this ability to decide that because they are having a bad day, because they got their feelings hurt, because life hasnt gone as they wished, they have a right to whip out a gun and make innocent strangers pay?

Everyone has bad days. Everyone gets their feelings hurt. Everyone grapples with life not going according to plan. Only American men seem to routinely take this as an excuse to shoot up churches and schools.

After which, we get thoughts and prayers, candlelight vigils and signs proclaiming _________ Strong while media probe for why this terrible thing happened -- and keeps happening. Yet, time and again, we run right past the most promising line of inquiry there is. Yes, its important to know that he hated Asians. Or he wanted revenge. Or he got fired.

But its also important to take into account that he is always he.

Its time we asked ourselves why.
The longest-serving sheriff in South Carolina died at age 85 Tuesday night, according to his family.

Former Bamberg County Sheriff Ed Darnell was 84 years old when he decided not to seek re-election in 2020, citing declining health.

Sheriff Darnell was an absolute institution in our association, S.C. Sheriffs Association Executive Director Jarrod Bruder said.

He befriended, mentored and led so many sheriffs over his 43 years in office. He has had an undeniable impact on the law enforcement profession in South Carolina and will certainly be missed by many, especially his fellow sheriffs, Bruder said.

Darnell was the third-longest-serving sheriff in the U.S.

Ive known him since I began my law enforcement career in 1993. He truly dedicated his whole life to law enforcement. Hes going to be missed, said Bamberg County Sheriff Kenny Bamberg, who was elected to the office in November 2020.

Bamberg County Council and administration said in a Facebook post Wednesday: "Bamberg County is grateful for the passion, commitment, and dedication that Sheriff Ed Darnell rendered to our community and the extraordinary legacy that he leaves behind. Please join us in thought and prayer for his family and friends."

Darnell began his first term as sheriff in 1978 when then-Gov. James Edwards appointed him to complete the term of the late A.L. Strickland.

Throughout his four-decades-plus as sheriff, Darnell said he only had to fire his service weapon one time.

Darnell said he fired the gun in the air as a warning to the man he was pursuing, but the clothesline in the backyard got him.

By age 14, Darnell knew he wanted to be a law enforcement officer.

As a young teen, he rode around with the Denmark police at night, he said, noting he and his family lived around the corner from the Denmark Police Department.

He began working as an officer for the Denmark Police Department in 1972.

Darnell and his twin brother Buddy were the youngest of eight children born to the late Joe and Annie Darnell.

For 31 years, Darnell served in the S.C. National Guard and earned the rank of platoon sergeant.

Former Gov. Nikki Haley, a Bamberg native, appointed Darnell to the Training Council of the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy.

His peers selected him as Sheriff of the Year in 2001.

In 2008, he earned the title again from the S.C. Victims Advocates Association.

Then in 2019, the Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce recognized Darnell with the Bamberg County Citizen of the Year award.

That same year, Bamberg County Council named the new Bamberg County Sheriffs Office headquarters the Ed Darnell Law Enforcement Center in his honor.

Hes received numerous other awards and recognitions over the years.

Aside from his accolades, accomplishments and an educational background  that includes graduating from high school and the Criminal Justice Academy -- Darnell said theres a certain degree one must have to be a success.

In an interview two years ago, Darnell said, That most important degree youve got to have to do anything is common sense and youll be a success.

But even greater than that, Darnell said, Everybodys got to put Jesus back in their hearts and minds to solve whats going on in our country today.

Were all here together. Weve got to work together, he said.

The visitation for former Darnell will take place on Friday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. Both will occur at First Baptist Church in Denmark, located at 433 Beech Ave.
South Carolina public health and livestock officials have recently identified a large population of Asian longhorned ticks infesting a pasture at a cattle farm in York County.

The invasive species of tick is not commonly found in the United States, and bites from these ticks have caused severe illnesses in people, animals and livestock in other countries.

As of June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports Asian longhorned ticks were first identified in the United States in 2010 and have since been found in 17 states. In South Carolina, a small number of these ticks were identified in 2020 on shelter dogs in Lancaster and Pickens counties.

The Asian longhorned ticks in South Carolina have been identified through the states tick surveillance program  a collaborative effort between DHEC, the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and Clemson University Livestock Poultry Health.

While no documented cases of diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or anaplasmosis have been reported in the United States due to bites from Asian longhorned ticks, the ability of this tick species to spread diseases that can make people and animals ill is a concern, said Dr. Chris Evans, state public health entomologist with DHEC's Bureau of Environmental Health Services. However, more research is needed in the United States to better understand what diseases the Asian longhorned tick can spread and to what degree they are a health risk to people, livestock, and other animals. The ability of this tick species to increase its populations very quickly, leading to large infestations in a short amount of time, is also concerning.

Unlike other ticks, a single female Asian longhorned tick can produce 1,000 to 2,000 eggs at a time without mating. This means a single animal could host hundreds or thousands of ticks.

Dr. Michael Neault, S.C. state veterinarian and director of Clemson Universitys Livestock Poultry Health Department, advises that animal owners consult with their veterinarian about the use of products approved in the United States for other tick species that are found to be effective in treating animals with the Asian longhorned tick.

Companion animal and livestock owners should discuss with their veterinarians about using appropriate tick preventatives for their animals," Neault said. "Livestock owners especially should be aware that these ticks can carry the parasite Theileria. In Virginia, they already have spread this infection in sheep, and it also may spread to cattle. In other countries, the Asian longhorned tick has spread anaplasmosis among livestock, so producers may want to take preventative measures for their herds.

Asian longhorned ticks are light brown in color and tiny. Because of their small size and quick movement, they are difficult to detect. These ticks can feed on any animal but are most commonly found on livestock, dogs and humans.

The establishment of the Asian longhorned tick has real animal and human health concerns, said Dr. Melissa Nolan, assistant professor of epidemiology in the Arnold School of Public Health and director for the UofSC Laboratory of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. We are asking the public to send us any ticks they encounter in their everyday lives to help us track and monitor its spread. With local help, I believe we can slow the spread of this tick in our state.

A recent $585,000 grant awarded to Dr. Nolan by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will enable the South Carolina tick surveillance program to expand its efforts. The five-year project will convene experts from nearly a dozen locations in nine key states to form the CDC Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases  a collective effort that will enhance the identification and monitoring of tick migration and hotspots, including invasive species such as the Asian longhorned tick.

To help state officials learn more about the prevalence of Asian longhorned ticks in South Carolina, residents are asked to carefully submit ticks suspected to be Asian longhorned ticks for confirmatory identification. This surveillance will help determine tick species presence, distribution, seasonality, and potential tick-borne disease risks.

To participate in the tick surveillance project, carefully collect a tick by using gloved hands, tweezers or another tool and send collected ticks, alive or dead, in a puncture-resistant sealable vial or zippered storage bag to Laboratory of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 921 Assembly Street #417A Columbia, SC 29201. Please include:

Your name and phone number

Address of where the tick was collected (if not a street address, provide directions and distances from nearby road intersections)

Date of collection

Indicate if the tick was found on a human or animal and specify the type of animal

State health officials ask all South Carolinians to be mindful of ticks when enjoying time outdoors. To help prevent tick bites and possible exposure to tick-borne illnesses:

Use U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol, or 2-undecanone.

Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks, and tents with products containing 0.5% permethrin. Follow all label directions.

Wear protective clothing tucked in around the ankles and waist.

Shower with soap and shampoo soon after being outdoors.

Keep weeds and tall grass cut and avoid tick-infested places such as grassy and marshy woodland areas when possible.

Stay in the center of paths when hiking or walking through woods.

Check for ticks daily, especially under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and on the hairline.

Check pets for ticks daily and treat pets for ticks as recommended by a veterinarian.

Clemson University recommends that livestock owners work with their veterinarian and extension agent to develop a comprehensive tick- management plan that includes using approved tick preventatives that can be applied to horses and livestock and following procedures that reduce ticks in pastures.

It's important to note that the Asian longhorned tick has no relation to the Asian longhorned beetle that was identified in South Carolina two years ago and prompted a 73-square-mile quarantine zone in Charleston and Dorchester counties.

For additional information about Asian longhorned ticks, visit Clemson Universitys South Carolina Ticks and Animal Health webpage. To more learn about tick-borne illnesses in South Carolina and the University of South Carolinas Arnold School of Public Health tick identification program, visit scdhec.gov/ticks.
China, Malaysia agree to expand, strengthen key BRI projects

Xinhua) 08:54, July 13, 2022

Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (L) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Tuesday, with both sides agreeing to expedite practical cooperation and advance the key Belt and Road projects.

Abdullah said China is not only Malaysia's largest trading partner, but also its important strategic partner. The two sides have jointly made remarkable achievements in fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and great progress on the industrial park projects of the two countries, which have injected strong impetus to Malaysia's economic development.

The Malaysian side expects to keep high-level exchanges with the Chinese side, enhance docking between the various departments and regions of the two countries, and speed up practical cooperation, he said.

The supreme head of state welcomes more Chinese investment, and expressed willingness to jointly build the major projects of the Belt and Road with China to set an example of interconnectivity.

Wang said China has been the largest trade partner of Malaysia for 13 consecutive years, and the all-round cooperation between the two countries has been fruitful, boosting both countries' development and rejuvenation, and delivering huge benefits to the two peoples.

China is willing to work with Malaysia to strengthen the docking of development strategies, build the Belt and Road with high quality, expand and strengthen key projects, establish a pilot zone for production capacity cooperation and a pioneer zone for innovation, and help Malaysia give full play to its resources and advantageous location, and upgrade its industrialization, he said.

He added that China stands ready to collaborate with Malaysia to adhere to open regionalism, safeguard the hard-won peace, stability and development in the region, and make greater contributions to development and advancement of humankind.

Wang is on an Asia tour, which takes him to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) said Wednesday that it had monitored and warned off the U.S. destroyer USS Benfold after it sailed into waters off the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea without permission from the Chinese government.

The U.S. military's action has infringed upon China's sovereignty and security interests, undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea, and violated international law and norms governing international relations, said Tian Junli, spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of the PLA in a statement.

"Facts have once again proved that the United States is in every sense a 'security risk maker in the South China Sea' and a 'destroyer of regional peace and stability,'" said Tian.

The theater command stays on high alert at all times to defend national sovereignty and security and peace and stability in the South China Sea, he added.
On Monday, Minister of Internal Security Henri Kox presented a new agreement with neighbouring France, which abolishes the former ten-kilometre limit on cross-border pursuits.

The Schengen Agreement regulates that police officers from one member state can pursue fugitive suspects across the border of another member state without permission if they are unable to reach local authorities or if these are unable to be at the scene in due time.

However, every member state is still free to regulate the exact parameters of cross-border pursuits on their own territory.

Luxembourg and France have now signed a new agreement, which regulates that there is no limit to cross-border pursuits of suspects who were caught in the act. Previously, there was a limit of ten kilometres for such cases, which has now been abolished. In case of a pursuit, police are still compelled to inform the French border authorities and cooperate with them.

The new agreement is hoped to improve management of cross-border crime, explained Minister Kox and his French counterpart Minister Gerald Darmain.

The new agreement came about thanks to a law filed in April this year. The same regulations are already in place with neighbouring Germany, while cooperation with Belgian authorities is set to be regulated through a new Benelux treaty.
A new bill allowing police to evict members of the public blocking access to buildings was passed in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday.

The Pirate party joined the coalition government in voting for the bill, while dei Lenk voted against the law and the CSV and ADR abstained.

Some call it "eviction light", while the Minister of interior Security calls it "guarantee of access": One person's freedom of movement is restricted to guarantee another person's, said MP Stephanie Empain. Police officers should first ask people to vacate the entrance, before issuing an eviction request and finally proceeding to forcible removal.

"The new measure is a tool of the administrative police and offers sufficient legal security for the police officer as well as the person being removed."

The CSV welcomed parts of the bill, but do not think it goes far enough. They would have preferred a general eviction notice, but felt vindicated that the government finally recognised there was a problem, as the CSV has been clamouring since 2018.



The ADR agreed that the bill does not go far enough and thinks the government's safety policies are inadequate.

De Lenk argue that the eviction law contributes to stigmatisation of the weakest members of society, instead of fighting inequalities, says Nathalie Oberweis.



"Who are we to bring down other people like this. Who are we, probably all owners of a house or more, all with a steady income or possibly even more than one, comfortably driving to work, enjoying financial security, who are we to judge others who have not had this chance."

While the Pirate Party voted for the law, MP Marc Goergen points out that one should not lose sight of the fact these people are lying in building entrances because they have nowhere else to go.
The Ministry of Internal Security has issued a reaction to criticism from City Council members.

Discussions around extending video surveillance outside the EU Council building in Kirchberg revealed that the cameras also filmed the entrance of a hotel opposite the building.

This was confirmed by the Ministry which explained that the cameras cover the Place de l'Europe, side streets around the EU Council building, the tunnel and the streets beside the Philharmonie. The hotel entrance, beside being a rear entrance, is only partly visible on a single camera which is aimed at public streets. There is a real need to cover this zone in particular, the statement says.

Relevant authorities received a complete file from police, which included detailed plans and photos showing the position and coverage of the cameras. The police offered solutions for a number of points raised.

The extension of the surveillance had to be renegotiated in the context of the new Visupol law, voted in July last year. It stipulates that existing cameras would have to be reevaluated within a year.
Even though the government has spoken out against compulsory vaccination in the current situation, it cannot be ruled out that a vaccine mandate against the coronavirus will still be implemented, Minister of Health Paulette Lenert said on RTL Radio.

On Wednesday morning, Minister of Health Paulette Lenert spoke with our colleagues from RTL Radio ahead of the government's declaration on compulsory vaccination in the Chamber of Deputies. What matters now is "to be prepared for autumn," Lenert explained, noting how frequently the colder seasons have caught the authorities off guard in the past. This should not be the case this time, with the Minister stressing that "the legislation will be prepared in case we need it".

Conditions for a vaccine mandate are 'simply not there at the moment'

One of the reasons the government decided against the introduction of a vaccine mandate for residents from the age of 50 is that there is "no guarantee that a vaccine mandate would have the necessary effect," according to Lenert, who has always been reluctant regarding the issue. She argues that if the state imposes "such a severe infringement of freedom," the impact on the country's healthcare sector "should be clearly visible". According to the Minister, this would "simply not be the case at the moment". Lenert also cites the examples of Italy and Greece, where the respective vaccination rates have increased by a maximum of 5% following the introduction of vaccine mandates.

83% of adults in Luxembourg vaccinated

In Luxembourg, 30,000 people over the age of 50 are still not vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Minister is aware that those who are left are the ones who are the most difficult to convince. Therefore, these people will all be contacted again personally in writing. However, Lenert acknowledged that the Ministry can only go so far in trying to persuade these people. Overall, however, the protection granted by vaccines in Luxembourg is "good", with a vaccination rate of 83% among those over the age of 18. Without vaccines, the situation in the country's hospitals would certainly not be as calm as it is today, Lenert stated. "What may have been misrepresented and misunderstood," according to the Minister, "is that a vaccine mandate would be the key to ending the pandemic".

Eligibility for second booster to be lowered to 60 years 'soon'

When will the Omicron vaccines be available in Europe? While the Minister of Health was unable to give a precise date, she stated that the authorities currently expect the new generation of vaccines to be delivered in "September or October".

Meanwhile, the booster campaigns are well underway. There is still work to be done, the Minister admitted. So far, only about half of the over-80s have had their first booster. Experts "have made it clear that those who are freshly vaccinated have the best protection," Lenert said. The Minister also stated that Luxembourg will soon make the second booster available to people over 60, as proposed by the European health authorities. People who are particularly at risk, however, should "not hesitate to get vaccinated again immediately," Lenert stressed.

Minister 'optimistic' about the future evolution of the pandemic

Lenert said she is "optimistic" about the future evolution of the pandemic. While Luxembourg should certainly "prepare for the worst" in autumn, the Minister argued that there is also the possibility that the pandemic will "gradually decline".

Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the Covid-19 crisis is not over yet.
Trinidad and Tobago NGL Ltd (TTNGL) yesterday reported after-tax profit of $117.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, which represents a 40.6 per cent increase compared to the $83.6 million the producer of cooking gas and natural gasoline recorded for the same period in 2021.

Directors of TTNGL said the company continues to post a solid financial performance for 2022.
For Astor50th Anniversary is the title of a series of performances in celebration of The Astor Johnson Repertory Dance Theatres (AJRDT) 50 years of existence and also in memory of the late dancer.

The shows, put on by AJRDT dancers at Queens Hall, St Anns, will run from September 16 to 19. A school show is planned for September 16 from 10 a.m., a gala performance night on September 17 from 6 p.m. and a performance night on September 18, 2022, from 7 p.m.
One month before his passing on May 6, 2001 the artist Carlisle Chang relived with relish th
Thousands of galaxies swirl in a patch of sky no bigger than a grain of sand held at arms length.

Water molecules streak through the atmosphere of a giant exoplanet quadrillions of miles from Earth.

The rusty peaks and canyons of Cosmic Cliffs cradle newborn stars like the Catalinas on a moonlit night.

NASAs James Webb Space Telescope delivered a taste of many wonders to come, with the release Tuesday of the first full-color scientific images and spectrographic data captured by the $10 billion infrared observatory with strong ties to Tucson.

University of Arizona research professor Stacey Alberts has been working on Webb for the past eight years, and even she was surprised by the depth and beauty captured in the first images.

Its day 1, and were already seeing features like never before. Theyre just popping, the astronomer said. Were going to revolutionize the field, and its going to take a week instead of a year.

Alberts serves on the instrument teams for two of Webbs key components: the Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, and the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI.

Several dozen UA astronomers, engineers and students played roles in the development of the two instruments, none more so than the universitys resident infrared astronomy power couple.

Regents professor Marcia Rieke led the development team and now serves as principal investigator for NIRCam, which serves as the telescopes main camera with light sensors designed, built and tested at the UA.

Her husband, fellow Regents professor George Rieke, is science team lead for MIRI, a camera and spectrograph he helped design.

The Riekes were among a select group of Webb insiders who got a sneak peak of the telescopes first images Friday, a few days before they were unveiled to the rest of the world.

Marcia Rieke expected them to be good, but she was not prepared for what she saw.

Spectacular, mind-blowing, more amazing than I could have hoped, she said. You realize, I didnt waste 20 years of my life. It was worth it.

Background objects that showed up as blurs  or not all  in images from the Hubble or Spitzer space telescopes could now be seen for what they are: bright, distinct spirals packed with billions of stars.

Webb is so good at detecting galaxies that galaxies are photo-bombing us all over the place, she said.

George Rieke summed up his reaction with a single word: Wow!

He said Webbs first deep view into the dust and gas of the Southern Ring Nebula, for example, has already rendered similar images captured by the Hubble completely boring.

He is more convinced than ever that the new telescope will lead to advances in almost every area of astronomy. Researchers are almost assured to discover things no one has ever seen before, he said. Were going to make people have to rewrite the textbooks.

Long journey

Webb was launched on Christmas Day 2021, after years of delays and cost overruns.

It took the spacecraft about a month to reach its final destination roughly 1 million miles from Earth, where it entered a parallel orbit around the sun.

Along the way, Webb executed a series of complicated maneuvers to deploy its heat shield and unfold the 18 segments that work together to form the largest telescope mirror ever flown in space.

That mirror and the instruments tied to it then underwent months of adjustment and commissioning.

Tuesdays image release marks the official start of the telescopes long-awaited science mission.

Theres data thats going to be coming tomorrow, Alberts said. Its crazy.

Webbs first five scientific targets were chosen by an international committee from NASA, the European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute, which are all partners on the project.

The selections were meant to highlight Webbs wide range of applications, from studying the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe to analyzing the atmospheres of neighboring exoplanets in search of potentially habitable worlds.

The four new images released Tuesday include:

 The Carina Nebula, home to the Cosmic Cliffs, where Webb has already revealed previously invisible areas where new stars are forming;

 Southern Ring Nebula, where waves of dust and gas expelled by a dying star over thousands of years offer scientists new clues about stellar death and rebirth;

 Stephans Quintet, a much-studied compact group of galaxies shown in unprecedented detail in a mosaic of almost 1,000 Webb images, revealing newly formed stars, shock waves and sweeping tails of gas being stripped away by collisions on a galactic scale;

 And exoplanet WASP-96b, 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, where Webb quickly detected water molecules in an atmosphere roiled by the puffy gas giants close proximity to its sun-like star.

The four images were released online one at a time Tuesday morning, causing a stir among astronomy enthusiasts around the world. Google marked the occasion with an animated search-engine doodle dedicated to Webb.

Even President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris got in on the act, unveiling the first image during a Monday afternoon news conference at the White House: a deep view of a galaxy cluster known as SMACS 0723 that represents the deepest and sharpest infrared look at the distant universe ever made  at least so far.

Tucson ties

The unprecedented image was assembled using data collected by Webb during 12 hours of observing time, and its only a small taste of what the telescope can do.

Starting in September, Webb will spend around 800 hours peering far deeper into the universe than ever before as part of an effort to refine and expand upon Hubbles famous Ultra Deep-Field image. That composite of hundreds of observations from one small region of space contains roughly 10,000 galaxies, including some dating back more than 13 billion years to when the universe was only a few hundred million years old.

The James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey will examine the same dark patch of sky, using combined data from NIRCam and MIRI to peer through dust clouds and capture some of the earliest stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.

Such deep views through cosmic dust will also help astronomers find other hidden objects lurking in space, Alberts said.

We might be missing up to half of the black holes in the universe, and this is how were going to find them, she said.

Alberts specializes in the study of galaxies and what happens to them when they get too close to their neighbors. She cant wait for her turn with Webb.

In April, she is scheduled to point the telescope at the Norma constellation, more than 200 million light-years away, where a galaxy known as ESO 137-001 is being stripped of its star-forming gas as it plunges through one of the largest known galaxy clusters.

The chance to work on Webb is what lured Alberts to the UA for her post-doctoral work in 2014.

That was pretty much it, she said.

Her decision is about to pay off in a major way. NASA has allotted 13% of Webbs total observing time to the university, the most of any astronomy center in the world.

Thats no accident as far as George Rieke is concerned. Its the return on an investment the university made in the 1960s, when it recruited such astronomy pioneers as Gerard Kuiper and Frank Low.

Modern infrared astronomy started at the U of A, George Rieke said, so its only fitting that the next round of new discoveries in the field might just be made right here.

Webb Wednesday The University of Arizonas Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium is hosting an all-day event Wednesday, July 13, to celebrate the release of the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb Wednesday runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and includes special exhibits, planetarium shows and activities for kids and adults. There will also be opportunities to meet an astronomer and to view and discuss the new images. The event culminates with a 7:30 p.m. lecture by UA astronomer Kevin Hainline, who is a member of the team for the telescopes Near InfraRed Camera, or NIRCam for short. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the lecture inside the Eos Planetarium Theater. More information on Webb Wednesday is available on the planetariums website: https://flandrau.org/content/webb-wednesday-jwst-image-release-event.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is asking a Pima County judge to immediately restore his power and the power of local prosecutors to bring criminal charges against doctors who perform abortions.

In legal papers filed Wednesday, Brnovich argues that the only reason the Arizona Court of Appeals enjoined enforcement of the states anti-abortion law was the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade. That historic decision and a follow-up ruling in a 1992 case called Casey v. Planned Parenthood declared that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability of the fetus.

But those decisions were overruled by the justices late last month in the case involving the validity of a Mississippi law, Brnovich said.

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, the Republican attorney general said.

He pointed out that Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.

The (Arizona) law has now returned to what it was prior to Roe, Brnovich said.

The only thing blocking that, he said, is the injunction that he now wants dissolved.

Timing, opposition questions

How quickly that can happen remains unclear.

Brnovich has asked for oral arguments allowing his staff members to make their case directly to Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson. No date has been set for arguments.

Theres also the question of opposition.

The original injunction was obtained by Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, an organization that no longer exists.

But Planned Parenthood Arizona will file a response to explain to the court why it should deny the attorney generals latest attempt to play politics with peoples lives, its president, Brittany Fonteno, said Wednesday.

Attorney General Brnovich has proven once again that he is out of touch with the majority of Arizonans who support safe and legal abortion, she said in a written statement.

And Gail Deady, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents doctors and others in abortion issues, called it outrageous that Arizonas attorney general is trying to revive this zombie law that has been blocked.

Arizonans personal health decisions, lives and future should not be dictated by a century-old, draconian law, Deady said in a prepared statement, saying her organization will continue to stand by Arizonans fundamental right to access essential healthcare.

Only Pima County at stake?

Theres another legal issue.

Brnovich contends the injunction covers only the ability of his office and Pima County prosecutors to enforce the abortion ban that dates as far back as 1901  and only in Pima County.

He asserts the old pre-Roe law is now in effect in the other 14 counties and prosecutors are free to bring criminal charges against doctors who violate it.

That issue, however, has never been litigated. And it may not be for some time, as Planned Parenthood and other key abortion providers have halted performing the procedure until the state of the law is clarified.

Brnovich, in his new legal filing, said theres nothing unclear about the law  and the desire of state lawmakers to outlaw all abortions.

The Arizona Legislature has never acquiesced in the conclusion that the former (pre-1973 law) is unconstitutional, he wrote. Rather, in anticipation that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe, the Legislature has repeatedly preserved Arizonas statutory prohibition on performing abortions except to save the life of the mother.

For example, Brnovich noted, lawmakers recodified the exact same 1901 statute just four years after Roe, preserving the same language but just changing the statute number.

And then there was a vote earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature to ban abortions after 15 weeks, something he said lawmakers did when it was uncertain how the Supreme Court would rule in the Mississippi case. But Brnovich pointed out even that measure spelled out it did not repeal or overrule the law that was in effect when Roe was decided.

All of that, he said, requires the trial judge to issue an order reopening the case and dissolving the injunction.

Background of the case

The case dates back to 1971 when Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, 10 doctors and an anonymous pregnant woman who sought an abortion filed suit.

In the original paperwork, the plaintiffs sought to enjoin the state from enforcing the law, alleging that except for the risk of criminal prosecution Planned Parenthood would refer some of its clients to physicians to perform the procedure. The lawsuit acknowledged that the procedures were not necessary to save the lives of such pregnant women.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Jack Marks agreed with the challengers.

A fetus is not a person entitled to Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection) rights and does not have constitutionally protected rights, he wrote. The judge also said the states ban is overbroad and violates the fundamental rights of marital and sexual privacy of women.

The Court of Appeals initially overturned his ruling, saying, among other things, that the fact the law does not have exceptions for rape or incest does not make it overly broad. The judges also rejected arguments the law interferes with the right of religious freedom or discriminates against poor women.

But the court reversed its position in 1973, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, with the judges saying they were bound by the Roe ruling.

Planned Parenthood won't resume abortions in Pima County The leader of Arizona's largest abortion provider said Tuesday her organization will not resume the procedures in Pima County even though a federal judge has blocked a fetal "personhood" law they feared could lead to criminal charges against doctors and others.

Judge rejects Arizona's 'personhood' abortion law Here's why a federal judge blocked Arizona from using a law requiring state laws to be interpreted to grant "personhood'' rights to an unborn child.

Judge to decide if AZ 'personhood' law outlaws even legal abortions For Star subscribers: Judge hears arguments on whether law could be used to bring criminal charges against Arizona doctors who perform otherwise legal abortions, including those to save the life of the mother.
WASHINGTON  Advocates waiting for the Biden administration to end the remain in Mexico immigration policy could be waiting weeks, or more, despite the Supreme Court ruling last month that the administration has the authority to do so.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that his agency has to wait for the high courts 5-4 ruling to be actually communicated to the lower court before the administration can end the program, a process he said could take several weeks. In the meantime, migrants are still subject to the Trump-era policy that forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed, a policy one advocate called a humanitarian disaster.

Every day that someone remains in Mexico rather than seeking asylum in the United States, they are putting their life at risk because it is such a dangerous part of the world, said Kate Melloy Goettel, director of litigation at the American Immigration Council.

Acting quickly to unwind remain in Mexico is critical to ensure the safety of those asylum seekers, she said.

Experts are confident that this administration will end the program  even if that end does not come as quickly as advocates want.

I think its very clear that it will be lifted and the Biden administration will be allowed to terminate the program, but its just a matter of crossing those legal ts and dotting the is, said Jessica Bolter, an associate policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute. The remain in Mexico policy  officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols  was implemented in January 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, invoking a section of immigration law that let border officials send asylum seekers back to Mexico if there was not capacity to detain them in the U.S.

Critics said that exposed migrants to violence and illness in makeshift camps south of the border where they waited for their claims to be processed. Goettel said there have been many, many documented cases of violence against migrants in those situations. Biden pledged to do away with the policy, and on his first day in office he directed Mayorkas to review the program. Mayorkas reported in June 2021 that the program should be ended, finding that it did not improve border management, siphoned off resources and strained U.S. relations with Mexico.

Texas and Missouri sued to keep the program in place, saying that ending MPP would burden them with the cost of caring for migrants. A federal district judge agreed and ordered DHS to keep the program in place until the federal government had the capacity to detain all the people seeking asylum. That ruling was upheld by a federal circuit court, which rejected a second memo by Mayorkas, in October, as merely justifying the earlier decision without properly reviewing it.

But the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 30, in its final decision of the term, that the administration was within its rights to end the program. It also said the lower courts were wrong to reject the October memo out of hand. The district court still needs to formally lift the injunction it imposed last year in order for the administration to end the policy, however. Goettel said there is normally a 28-day period before the court decision becomes binding on an agency.

Until DHS is legally allowed to end the policy, we are obligated by the district courts ruling to continue to implement the remain in Mexico program, Mayorkas said. And we will do so in accordance with law. That may not be the end of the legal fight, however. Bolter said Texas and Missouri could still challenge the validity of the October memo when the case goes back to the lower court, but she does not expect it will keep the administration from ending the program for now. It comes as border apprehensions are at the highest level in decades, with more than 1.5 million migrants stopped at the southern border in the first eight months of fiscal 2022, according to the most recent numbers from Customs and Border Protection. Of those, 385,631 were stopped in Arizona, the agency said.

But numbers subject to MPP have been much lower, with just 4,180 returned to Mexico so far this year, said DHS, which has been working to wind down the program even as it was under court order to keep it in place. Even at its height under Trump, the program never enrolled more than 2,300 migrants in a month. It is unclear what will happen if the program ends, and how those currently in Mexico can go about returning to the U.S. Bolter said those questions will likely be answered only after the injunction is lifted and DHS can formally end the program.

Despite the legal proceedings and delays, advocates are encouraging that process to happen as quickly as possible, Goettel said. (So) people who are waiting in Northern Mexico all this time can come back in. Still, theyre probably not putting anybody else into MPP at this time, said Andrew Arthur, fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. While the Biden administration tomorrow could decide that it wants to do MPP on its own  I dont think thats going to happen.

Bolter has little doubt.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

From what youre seeing in political ads on your TV screen and and in your mailbox, you would think that Arizonans care about just one or two hot-button issues and are hopelessly divided and polarized. But are the candidates missing the mark? Do they represent your views? What will it take for them to get your vote?

These are the questions we at the Center for the Future of Arizona asked when we surveyed likely voters in the upcoming elections. Our approach is similar to the Stars new approach to elections, which focuses on what voters want to know. Our survey formed the basis of the Arizona Voters Agenda launched in early June. What we found might surprise you. Voters agree on much more than they disagree about important issues facing our state, and they are not nearly as polarized as pundits would have you believe.

Three polls weve commissioned over the past decade show that Arizonans are generally pragmatic, not dogmatic. They want solutions to Arizonas challenges, not soundbites. Tucson voters share the same concerns as voters in Phoenix or rural Arizona. Our survey also put in stark relief the enormous gap between whats important to voters and what candidates emphasize. Heres what voters want candidates to address as they compete for their votes and what political reporters should be asking:

1. What is your plan to ensure Arizona students have quality teachers and principals?

2. What do you think the state should do with the growing budget surplus? (Spoiler alert: Voters prioritize funding for education, public safety, and infrastructure over tax cuts.)

3. What should Arizona do to protect our water future and secure our long-term water supplies?

4. What sustainable practices should continue and be implemented to protect Arizonas air, land, and water, and foster a high quality of life for all?

5. What should Arizona do to keep our elections secure while preventing barriers to participation? (Spoiler alert: Arizona voters like early in-person voting and want to continue to have the option to mail their ballots.)

6. How do you define a functioning border for commerce, and what is your vision for immigration reform? (Another spoiler alert: Building a wall isnt a priority for voters; comprehensive immigration reform is.)

Imagine an election season in which candidates spoke to these issues, and presented competing, concrete plans for making Arizona a better place. Wouldnt that be a refreshing change from what candidates are serving up these days?

Our survey found that 38% of voters will choose candidates based on their position on the issues and 27% based on whether they have clear plans or solutions. Thats two-thirds of the voters more interested in policy than ideology.

So why arent candidates listening? Why arent they giving likely voters what they want? Maybe it comes down to who votes.

Early ballots have been mailed for the Aug. 2 primary election, which, if history repeats itself, will have a low turnout dominated by the most dedicated voters in each party. They are not representative of the general electorate. Independents generally sit out primaries, letting others determine their choices in November. Dont kid yourself that you can skip the primary you dont think is important. It is! Show up for election day! You can request an early ballot until July 22, or you can go to your polling place on Aug. 2. Independents have the same right to vote in a primary as anyone else. You just have to specify which partys ballot you want to vote, whether you vote early or in person. Dont let the candidates escape into soundbites and polarizing talking points. Hold them accountable to define and explain their positions on the issues that matter to Arizonans. This is the path to achieving The Arizona We Want.
Japan-based Panasonic Energy will invest $4 billion in a U.S. electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, to supply high-capacity batteries for Tesla, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said Wednesday evening.

The company will generate 4,000 direct jobs in what she billed as the largest private investment in the states 161-year history.

Oklahoma, through MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, reportedly had been in the running for the factory, offering hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives for what was dubbed Project Ocean.

Panasonics decision follows Teslas April opening of a second American EV factory in Texas to meet brisk demand.

We will be the production epicenter for batteries that will power the increasing demand for EVs in a more sustainable world, Kelly said at a news conference in Topeka, Kansas. The new facility of this size is transformational, not only for Johnson County but also for the surrounding area, actually the entire state.

Suppliers to the Panasonic plant will create an estimated 4,000 additional indirect jobs in the region, Kelly said.

The factory will be located at the former Sunflower Ammunition plant in De Soto in northeastern Kansas, about 30 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, and 20 miles east of Lawrence, Kansas.

Panasonic reportedly picked the site of the new facility based on factors including its proximity to Texas and favorable tax treatment.

The deal is pending approval by Panasonic Holdings Corp.s board of directors.

Governor (Kevin) Stitt is confident in his plan to attract companies to Oklahoma, Carly Atchison, communications director for the Oklahoma Governors Office, wrote in an email. This is not the end of the governors strategy to make Oklahoma a Top Ten state for business, and Oklahomans would be wise to not count us out just yet.

Stitt signed a bill this spring to provide the Project Ocean firm with up to $698 million in rebates based on capital investment and job creation.

The Kansas incentive program was more than half a billion dollars more, at $1.2 billion, including a refundable 15% tax credit on the entire investment a company makes in Kansas of over $1 billion within a five-year period, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

The Kansas incentive package also included between 7.5% and 10% of payroll costs that may be refunded for the first decade of the project, and a company could also see a set amount of training and relocation expenses reimbursed each year for up to five years, the newspaper reported.

The median salary of the new Panasonic jobs, according to a Wichita State University analysis of the deal commissioned by the Kansas Department of Commerce, is expected to be $50,000, the Capital-Journal reported.

With the increased electrification of the automotive market, expanding battery production in the U.S. is critical to help meet demand, Kazuo Tadanobu, president and CEO of Panasonic Energy, said in a news release.

Given our leading technology and depth of experience, we aim to continue driving growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and accelerating towards a net-zero emissions future.

Tadanobu did not elaborate in the release on why the company chose Kansas over Oklahoma.

Mayes County commissioners earlier this year approved a 12-year, $300 million tax increment financing district in anticipation of the project. Court challenges recently were filed protesting the legal sufficiency of a referendum petition that asked that the TIF go to a vote of the people.

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce and our partners continue to work with Project Ocean and are optimistic for additional opportunities with them in the future, Brent Kisling, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, said in a statement.

Id like to thank the Oklahoma Legislature and Governor Stitt for the bipartisan passage of the LEAD Act, which provides us with a vehicle to attract large companies, including several prospects that have already expressed interest in Oklahoma.

We are steadfast in our focus to bring the best companies, jobs and investment to Oklahoma, Kisling said.

David Stewart is CEO and trustee of MidAmerica Industrial Park.

It has been a privilege to work with Panasonic and compete for this project, Stewart said in a statement. As the largest of its kind in the central United States, MidAmerica Industrial Park is a top-tier choice for major corporate expansions and provides a transformational economic impact to the region.

Our substantial capital investments in MidAmericas infrastructure, quality of life initiatives and workforce development strategies continue to bring national and international business prospects to MidAmerica. We are committed to advancing Mayes Countys community planning initiatives and local incentives as we continue to work on our next major opportunity.

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Shaky Jakes, the newest concept from the 3 Sirens Restaurant Group, is the first in what will be a trio of new eateries built on the concept of make the most of what you have.

We were approached by the people who are building one of the new condos near downtown about setting up a restaurant in their complex, said Johnna Hayes, one of the co-founders of 3 Sirens. We went and looked it over, but then it occurred to us that we already have some really cool spaces, and it would be a lot easier to make use of those instead of building out in a new space.

We also had all these concepts that were in the works before the pandemic that we had been sitting on, waiting for the best opportunity to get them started, she said.

The spaces to which Hayes refers are the three Bramble Breakfast & Bar locations that 3 Sirens operates: at 1302 E. Sixth St. in Tulsas Pearl District; at 400 Riverwalk Terrace, in Jenks; and at 121 N. Ash St. in Broken Arrow. (The group also own Bird & Bottle at 3324 E. 31st St.)

Shaky Jakes shares space with the Broken Arrow Bramble, which offers breakfast and lunch daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The location closes for an hour, then reopens at 3 p.m. as Shaky Jakes Burgers & Franks.

The space was once a church building; Hayes said the kitchen area was originally the site of the pulpit, while the intimate loft area was where the choir was stationed.

Now the main room is dominated by a large circular bar  what Hayes claims is the largest bar in Broken Arrow  with stand-alone tables and banquette seating along one wall. There is also a spacious patio, although that area of the venue was not getting a great deal of use on this particular, sweltering day.

Because of that bar, the Shaky Jakes menu has an extensive drinks listing, which includes 16 national, regional and local beers, as well as a dozen specialty cocktails such as Bedlam Love, a variation on an old-fashioned with bourbon, blood orange puree and triple sec ($8), and Holy Water, a blend of vodka, coconut rum, blue curacao, peach schnapps, lemonade, pineapple and Sprite ($10); along with a line of booze-infused milkshakes and ice cream floats.

On the flip side of the menu, the categories are all straightforward: burgers, franks, wings, appetizers and Others, which is where the lone salad offering can be found.

Hayes said one of her goals for the menu, which she developed with a good deal of input from executive chef Manny Mendez, was to offer burgers and franks that you couldnt eat with your hands.

Generous portions have long been a hallmark of the restaurants run by the 3 Sirens group, and a fair number of items one might be served at Shaky Jakes truly are knife-and-fork (and multiple napkin) worthy creations.

Chief among these is the Philly Cheesesteak burger ($14), which the menu listing simply says, You have to see it to believe it. The burger come to the table adorned with sauteed red and green bell peppers, onions and mushrooms; once set before the diner, a container of molten cheese is poured over the bun. A scattering of bacon bits completes the presentation.

But such theatrics arent necessary; Shaky Jakes does an excellent job on more pedestrian selections such as the Mushroom Swiss Burger ($13). Two patties come topped with a healthy amount of sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese, augmented by an onion ring and a peach whiskey glaze.

The patties are cooked to order and very well seasoned  the beef is very much the dominant taste, which is as it should be, without being overly salty. The mushroom have just enough chew, and the glaze adds a pleasant bright, sweet note.

All burgers come with seasoned curly fries or salad as the default sides; onion rings or sweet potato wedges can be substituted for a $2 upcharge. In the case of the onion rings, the cost was worth it. The rings are made in house; the buttermilk-based coating fries up to a crunchy golden brown, and the onions themselves are tender to the point that one doesnt end up dragging the entire allium out on the first bite.

The rings are also available as an appetizer ($10), and are served with a piquant condiment called Shaky Sauce.

We also sampled the Tijuana Dog ($11), which was described as bacon-wrapped and topped with an avocado aioli, mustard and grilled peppers. The name had me thinking the peppers might be something a bit out of the ordinary, but were large strips of grilled red and green bell peppers. The bacon was a single rasher tucked lengthwise in the bun, but it was a remarkably thick slice that was perfectly cooked.

The dog itself was densely textured and strongly seasoned and would have been thoroughly enjoyable even if it had been served with any toppings. We had the curly fries with this, of which there were a lot, and which were perfectly fine.

Hayes said the restaurants name is an homage to her grandfather, James Capshaw; it was a nickname he gave himself because of what Hayes called his chicken-scratch handwriting. The recipe for the restaurants onion rings is one Capshaw created.

Hayes said the second concept, Hole Mole, is projected to open in mid-August; it will operate during evening at the Pearl District Bramble.

This concept, she said, is something of a passion project for Mendez, who took the lead in creating the menu.

I had some ideas of what I wanted to do with this concept, and everything I asked for, Manny more than delivered on, she said. When we did our first tasting of menu items, I was practically in tears because the flavors were so spot-on. This really gave him a venue to show us what he can do in the kitchen.

Hayes said she had been wanting to do the Hole Mole concept for some time, because some of her long-time staff members are from Oaxaca in Mexico, and would create dishes with some of the many types of mole sauces that are a part of authentic Mexican cuisine.

They would make these for the family meal (or staff dinner), and they just blew me away at how great they were, Hayes said. Since a lot of them are working at the Sixth Street Bramble, that seemed the perfect place for this concept.

As with Shaky Jakes, Hayes said, the menu for Hole Mole will aim to be fun and quirky, with sopes (corn cakes topped with a variety of items) and huarachas (a kind of flatbread), along with more familiar items such as enchiladas and empanadas.

The third concept will be Hot Chicks, that will be centered around a variation on Nashville-style hot chicken. It will take over the Jenks Riverwalk Bramble during the evening hours.

That menu is still being worked out, Hayes said. Hot fried chicken will be the main thing, but were planning on lots of other options as well.
Three people are dead after a man shot his wife and adult daughter before taking his own life, Sapulpa police said Tuesday.

The family had not been heard from for a while, Sapulpa Police Maj. Jason Deloache said, so a man who knew them went to check on them about 4:15 p.m. Monday at their northeast Sapulpa home on Canyon Road.

The man found a woman lying on the floor and thought she was dead, so he left the house and called the police, Deloache said.

When police arrived, they confirmed that the woman was dead and found another woman dead in the bedroom before finding the man dead at the back of the house.

All three of the people had been shot, Deloache said.

Police think the man, 80, shot his daughter, 50, and his wife, 77, and then himself. All three lived in the house.

In a smaller town, this is not something were used to on a daily basis or even a yearly basis, Deloache said. It has an impact, especially on the people who lived in the neighborhood or who knew them. Its traumatic for the officers who went in and found them and experienced it. Its tough on everybody.

He said police have not determined a motive for the shooting, and no note has been found.

Theyre trying to figure (the reason) out, but thats hard because  no one from the house is left, he said.

Police ruled out the man who found the family as a suspect, Deloache said, and all evidence found so far points to it definitely being a murder-suicide.

How to get help

Some behaviors may indicate a person is at immediate risk for suicide. The following should prompt an immediate call to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or a mental health professional.

Talking about wanting to die or to kill oneself

Looking for a way to kill oneself, such as searching online or obtaining a gun

Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live

Other behaviors may also indicate a serious risk, especially if the behavior is new, has increased and/or seems related to a painful event, loss, or change.

Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain

Talking about being a burden to others

Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs

Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly

Sleeping too little or too much

Withdrawing or feeling isolated

Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge

Displaying extreme mood swings

The free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7. An online chat option is also available.
A former assistant district attorney in northeastern Oklahoma pleaded guilty to charges in Tulsa federal court Wednesday, less than three months after his arrest on allegations that he traded court favors for sex.

Daniel Thomas Giraldi, 44, a former assistant district attorney for Ottawa and Delaware counties, admitted to one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute and four counts of honest services fraud in connection with performing favorable court actions through corrupt means.

An arrest warrant approved April 25 alleged that Giraldi, of Joplin, Missouri, used his position as an assistant district attorney to have sex with defendants in exchange for favorable actions on cases filed in state court there.

A grand jury named Giraldi in a 14-count indictment filed May 18 that charged him with one count of bribery, one count of traveling interstate to aid in racketeering, one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute, one count of possession of Clonazepam with intent to distribute and 10 counts of using a communication facility in the commission of drug trafficking.

A superseding indictment filed July 6 in federal court swapped the bribery count for four counts of honest services fraud and kept the remaining counts.

Giraldi worked in the District Attorney District 13 office from 2019 until April 20, according to court records.

Before becoming an assistant district attorney, Giraldi worked in a private law firm, according to court documents filed in the case.

It was while Giraldi worked as a defense attorney in the private law firm that he began accepting sexual favors from women in exchange for helping others facing criminal charges and as payment for services rendered, according to the FBI.

A person identified only as unindicted individual 1 developed an understanding with Giraldi while he was a private attorney that consisted of the unnamed person making other women available to Giraldi for sex acts in exchange for favorable action in a specific court case.

One person, identified only as cooperating witness 1, engaged in sex acts with Giraldi on numerous occasions as payment for legal services for unindicted individual 1 and others, according to the indictment.

While an assistant district attorney, Giraldi, also known as Vegas G, Vegas, and just G, would reduce bond amounts, provide favorable treatment on other charges and in one instance, dismiss a driving while intoxicated charge entirely in exchange for sexual favors, the grand jury alleged.

One of the women, described as cooperating witness 1, met Giraldi April 12 outside the Ottawa County Courthouse, where she asked him to look into two child custody cases  hers and another womans, according to court records.

The meeting was video and audio recorded by the FBI, according to court records.

Giraldi and the woman later agreed to meet April 19 at a Quapaw home for sex, the documents allege.

After arriving at the home and giving the woman a bag of pills he pulled out of a shirt pocket, the FBI entered the room and confronted Giraldi, according to the documents.

Giraldi later admitted to FBI agents that he was going to give the woman the pills in exchange for sex after searching government records for any outstanding warrants involving the woman.

As part of the plea agreement, Giraldi has agreed to forfeit his Oklahoma Bar Association license and never hold any public office or hold any position of public trust within the state of Oklahoma.

He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $1 million at his sentencing.
The nonprofit organization analyzing DNA from a mass burial at Oaklawn Cemetery is asking for information, including genetic test results such as those from 23andme and Ancestry, that might help it identify two sets of remains exhumed from the site.

We are asking for help from anyone with information regarding stories, records, family trees and more, said a statement from Intermountain Forensics of Salt Lake City.

We are especially interested in hearing from those that might have had relatives in Tulsa in 1921, or wish to have their own DNA compared against the unidentified remains in this project.

Prospective participants are directed to tulsa1921dna.org.

We are looking to work with African-American families because there isnt that much African-American DNA in publicly available databases, said Deborah Dilley, Intermountain executive director.

Over the past two years, research teams hired by the city have excavated two sites near the southwest boundary of Oaklawn Cemetery, including one that turned out to be a mass burial in which coffins appear to have been stacked two deep and closer together than usual.

In two cases, remains exhumed at that site yielded small amounts of DNA, which Dilley said is very, very degraded.

Through existing and new genetic test results of possible family members, Dilley said Intermountain hopes to identify the two sets of remains.

Family histories, Dilley said, help researchers find likely living candidates for DNA testing.

Depending on the particular information we get, we could connect to someone (as far removed as) a second or third cousin, she said.

The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred on May 31-June 1, 1921, and led to the deaths of as many as several hundred people, most of them Black.

Some are known to have been buried in Oaklawn Cemetery.(tncms-asset)17cae49e-6268-57be-985b-35508eba019c[0](/tncms-asset)
The three Tulsa Public Schools board members who embarrassed the city have a chance to make it right. That starts with an apology.

The members  Jerry Griffin, ELena Ashley and Jennettie Marshall  displayed petulant behavior at Mondays meeting by refusing to pay for basic operations then walking out during a discussion of that vote. The three also halted the process of issuing the voter-approved technology bond, which is overseen by a citizen volunteer committee separate from the administration.

Two of those membersGriffin and Ashleyhave in the past aligned themselves with anti-public education activists. Griffin, who is running for a Tulsa City Council seat, used this moment to needlessly call for Superintendent Deborah Gists resignation. Were glad to see her resist such bullying tactics.

Marshall says she didnt have enough background on the Reading Partners program and a few other things, though it doesnt excuse her blocking the entire agenda. It certainly didnt warrant her telling fellow board member John Croisant to shut up.

Board members are given packets days before the meetings to review, ask for more information or request items be moved from the consent agenda for discussion and public comment. Those three members should have done their due diligence prior to the meeting.

Other items they opposed included hiring and renewing contracts of teachers and staff (during a teacher shortage crisis), paying the utility bills, buying gas for school buses and continuing a Chinese program at Booker T. Washington High School.

The board has slated a special meeting for 1 p.m. Thursday to salvage this damage. We hope the obstructionist board members come to their senses and do their jobs of keeping TPS operating. If not, they are showing their goal is to dismantle public schools.

What needs to happen at that meeting is to pass the consent agenda, which contains routine housekeeping expenses and effective academic programs.

More importantly, those members ought to apologize for their behavior. They set a bad example for students, eroded trust with staff and constituents, and set up a dysfunctional board relationship.

A letter to the TPS board on Wednesday signed by 17 former board members  many of whom served in the districts now represented by Griffin, Ashley and Marshall  criticized the three members for violating their code of ethics and basic decency.

Every signer can remember passionate disagreement, uncomfortable situations, even palpable tension in the room in the many, many school board meetings where we presided as board members, the letter states. But not one of us can recall anything like what occurred this past Monday  board members have never jeopardized the immediate future of our district, its students, families and employees as if they were pawns in a political game.

We join these former board members in urging the three to put aside personal grudges and politics to find common ground moving forward.

 the board has to work together now, the letter states. Our kids dont have a dress rehearsal. Our City fails without public education.

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Vietnam carmaker VinFast has signed framework agreements with Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to raise at least $4 billion to develop an electric vehicle factory in North Carolina, the company said.

The announcement comes after its parent Vingroup JSC in May said that an initial public offering (IPO) for VinFast might be delayed until next year due to market uncertainty.

The company has not specified what kind of debt it would raise. Credit Suisse and Citi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

VinFast, which launched operations in 2019, is betting big on the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with two all-electric SUVs and a battery leasing model that will reduce the purchase price.

The North Carolina factory, covering an area of 800 hectares, will initially produce 150,000 electric vehicles a year, the company said.

VinFast has promised to create 7,500 jobs at the factory and said it aimed to start production by 2024.

The company said it is due to open its first overseas showrooms in California in the coming days, including a flagship store in Santa Monica.

For the North Carolina factory, it has also been seeking support from U.S. President Joe Bidens administration for potential financing through a fund for advanced-technology vehicles.

In addition, VinFast has filed for an IPO in the United States through a shell company in Singapore that now legally holds almost all of the startup automaker's assets.

Vingroup is Vietnam's largest listed company by market capitalisation, with businesses in retail, real estate and resorts. It created VinFast in 2019 to build conventional combustion-engine cars before switching exclusively to EVs in 2021.

Despite its cold start in an increasingly crowded market for EVs, VinFast has won support from suppliers, some analysts and the Biden administration in part because of the perception that it is a rising national champion in Vietnam.

In late March, Biden tweeted that VinFasts then just-announced U.S. investment plans were "the latest example of my economic strategy at work."
Shards of ceramics litter the fields of an ancient city in southeastern Albania, where looters have raided the area's highlands in search of antiquities to sell to international traffickers.

Illicit treasure hunters operate with near impunity in the country, stirring outrage among archaeologists over the theft of priceless national heritage that feeds a global black market.

The government says it is working on measures to protect and preserve the sites looters prey on, but so far to little avail -- even though removing archaeological artifacts is a crime, as in most countries.

Now covered in wild vegetation, the region near present-day Korce was once home to the city of Hija e Korbit, or the "Shadow of the Raven".

The site, nestled against a hillside, has been ravaged in recent years by looters armed with shovels and backhoes searching for rare metals and artefacts.

"There are people from all regions who rush to these places," says Axhem Lageshtari, 60, a local resident.

"Everywhere they dig. They search in the hope of finding gold, silver or other valuables."

The area gained notoriety after the 1980s discovery of more than 600 silver coins -- including some dating back centuries to the rule of Alexander the Great.

Experts tell AFP that illegal excavations have been detected at almost every important archaeological site in the region, which is home to historic necropolises, forts and other remains dating from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages.

"The problem is particularly worrying in Hija e Korbit, an important archaeological city that has not yet been explored by archaeologists," laments Rovena Kurti, the head of the department of prehistory at the Tirana Institute of Archaeology.

"They damage the site and plunder the heritage," adds Kurti.

'Powerless'

The scavengers often destroy scientific data and remove objects from their environmental context which is needed for experts to understand the site's history, explains Cecile Oberweiler, the former director of the Franco-Albanian mission in Korce.

Northeast of the capital Tirana, the remains of a church from the 11th or 12th century have been disfigured with gaping holes left by looters.

The church of the Holy Virgin Mary was supposed to be protected as a recognised cultural monument, but that failed to stop the trespassers from ransacking the area.

"We can give it any name but in truth, it is currently a ruin preyed upon by looters," says archaeologist Skender Mucaj.

The pillaging of the site has been particularly painful for local resident Nora Braia.

"I come every Tuesday to pray to the Virgin Mary. She saved the life of my sick son, but I was powerless to save this shelter," Braia, 80, tells AFP through tears, saying she hopes the assailants "will be chased by misfortune".

Experts say not enough is being done legally to stop the looting.

Albania's ministry of culture told AFP that efforts are under way to fight the "illicit trafficking of cultural property", including a national action plan unveiled in 2018 along with initiatives to improve coordination with international organisations.

'A blind eye'

There are no official estimates of the market value of the objects taken from Albania.

But researchers are certain that some of the artefacts have fallen into the hands of international traffickers and then been sold in auctions to museums and private collections abroad.

"It is a fight that Albania cannot lead alone, the responsibility also falls on the authorities of other countries who turn a blind eye when these objects are displayed in their museums," said Neritan Ceka, an archaeologist and art historian.

The recent indictment of Jean-Luc Martinez -- the former head of the Louvre in Paris who was charged with conspiring to hide the origin of archaeological treasures -- highlighted the extent of the illegal trade in antiquities.

French archaeologist Pascal Darcque said the problem was widespread and that museums often do not take seriously the process of vetting objects for sale and their origins.

"Their sale must be blocked and if their geographical origin can be established, the object must be returned," Darcque said.
Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. There are only three guns for every 1,000 Japanese citizens. Yet on July 8, a man wielding two metal barrels wrapped together with electrical tape walked up within a couple of meters of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and shot him in the back.



One might wonder if gun control can work anywhere. But if you look at the bigger picture, Japan remains one of the safest countries in the world. This is the first assassination of a prime minister since 1936. The overall murder rate in Japan is just 0.3 per 100,000 and has been declining for years.

The assassination plot only succeeded because multiple unusual circumstances happened at once. Security was almost non-existent, and the murderer, who had tried to attend an Abe rally just the day before, managed to get right behind Abe.

The homemade gun he used was not very powerful and could not fire a long distance, so he couldn't have done it without getting so close. If real firearms were readily available in Japan, it is predictable that things like this and other mass shootings would occur much more frequently than they do.

Just look at the U.S. About one week prior, a terrorist using an assault rifle at the July 4th parade in Chicago only had to sit atop a building and snipe spectators from afar. In Las Vegas in 2017, a thug on the 32nd floor of a hotel murdered 60 people in a field 300 meters away across a highway. There are multiple reasons brutality of that kind does not take place in Japan. One is because potential killers cannot access weapons that could produce such carnage.

The advent of 3D printing potentially opens up new possibilities for gun production. Relatively affordable 3D printers can create plastic guns that fire projectiles like a standard gun. The most basic 3D guns are miniature handguns that can fit in a pocket and be undetected by metal detectors. A fully-plastic 3D gun would degrade quickly, but one could be used for a one-off assassination.

3D gun enthusiasts, like many American gun enthusiasts in general, think there should be no restrictions on their production. They like to argue that "freedom" is the most important word when talking about guns. They make the contradictory arguments that any law restricting access to any kind of firearm infringes on their liberty but also that no laws will be adequate to limit gun ownership.

Both arguments cannot be true. If no laws can prevent someone who wants a gun from getting one, those laws would not restrict anyone's rights. As a practical matter, almost anyone in the U.S. can easily purchase a real wood and metal gun manufactured by a professional gunmaker, so 3D printed firearms are mostly a novelty for hobbyists.

In other countries where guns are illegal, some people have been trying to print them. According to Sky News, Irish separatist groups have been carrying 3D-printed firearms. Some have been recovered at the scene of crimes, and U.K. police officials have said the guns are becoming more powerful and reliable. They don't break after one use.

But even if the possibility of printing guns exists, it can still be disincentivized and punished with laws. If you see someone go to jail for two years for illegally printing a gun, like in the 2014 case of Yoshitomo Imurain Japan, would you want to do it yourself?

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Several wildfires swept across Portugal's central region on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of locals as firefighters struggled to put out flames at a time the country is battling a sweltering heatwave.

With temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in many parts, a major wildfire that started last week in the Ourem municipality, north of Lisbon, was reignited on Tuesday due to strong winds.

The Civil Protection authority said 300 people were evacuated from several villages. In the nearby municipality of Leiria, some houses burned down, with the blazes causing the closure of three main highways.

Joaquim Gomes, a 75-year-old retiree who has lived in a tiny village in Ourem for five decades, said he was afraid the wildfire could reach his home but was willing to do everything in his power to help fight it.

A thermometer reads 47 degrees in a square in Ourense, Spain, July 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters

"I don't remember anything like what is happening today," he said near the village's bar where locals were gathered. "It (the fire) is everywhere."

Many locals have complained there were not enough firefighters and resources to combat the fires.

"We are talking about complex situations, a lot of resources to manage and a very large affected area," said Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes, warning the situation would only get worse over the next few days.

Around 1,700 firefighters backed by 501 vehicles were tackling 14 active blazes across the country, according to the Civil Protection. More than half of the country is on "red alert", the highest level.

Tourists shelter from the sun, outside the Wax Museum during the second heatwave of the year, in Madrid, Spain, July 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters

In neighbouring Spain, at least 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) have been destroyed by a fire in Las Hurdes in Extremadura, western Spain, forcing the evacuation of about 400 residents, the regional government said on Tuesday.

There was a high risk of wildfires in the central region of Castille and Leon, authorities said.

The northwestern province of Ourense was on red alert as temperatures were expected to reach 42 C.

"It is indeed a season with more heat than other years ... it's hard," said Edison Vladimir, 42-year-old delivery worker in Madrid.

A general view of cracked earth with the houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben, seen behind as hot weather continues, in Parliament Square, London, Britain, July 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters

'Take actions'

In the Portuguese capital, which is buzzing with tourists, people were trying to keep cool by drinking water, eating ice cream or heading to the riverside or nearby beaches.

At a small beach area by the river Tagus, a British couple and their toddler enjoyed the morning sunshine before it got too hot to be out.

"We kept an eye on the weather before we came, and we knew it was going to be hot ... it's quite similar back in the UK but we don't have air con there," 28-year-old Megan Slancey said.

Britain's Met Office has issued an extreme heat warning as temperatures continue to increase this week and early next week in much of England and Wales.

A person walks near a wild fire Ourem, Santarem district, Portugal July 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Clare Nullis, a World Meteorological Organisation spokesperson, told a U.N. briefing on Tuesday that although the heatwave, Europe's second this year, was mainly affecting Portugal and Spain, it was likely to spread elsewhere.

"It is affecting large parts of Europe and it will intensify," Nullis said.

With human-caused climate change triggering droughts, the number of extreme wildfires is expected to increase 30% within the next 28 years, according to a February 2022 U.N. report.

"You definitely see that the weather has changed over the last few years," said 51-year-old Paul de Almeida, a South African visiting Lisbon. "We have to take actions to solve it."
You can only get there by boat or helicopter, but Michelin-starred chef Poul Andrias Ziska hopes his restaurant in remote Greenland, far above the Arctic Circle, is worth the journey.

The 30-year-old chef relocated his restaurant KOKS from the Faroe Islands in mid-June, leaving behind his relatively accessible address for Ilimanaq, a hamlet of 50 inhabitants hidden behind icebergs on the 69th parallel north.

Housed in a narrow black wooden house, one of the oldest in Greenland, the restaurant can only accommodate about 20 people per service, and experiments with local produce, including whale and seaweed, with fresh produce almost impossible to find in the harsh climate.

"We try to focus on as much Greenlandic products as possible, so everything from Greenland halibut to snow crabs to musk ox to Ptarmigan, different herbs and different berries," the tousled-haired, bearded chef tells AFP.

The remote restaurant can only be reached by helicopter or boat. Photo: AFP

The young chef previously ran KOKS at home in the remote Faroe Islands, where he won his first star in 2017, his second in 2019, and the title of the world's most isolated Michelin restaurant.

He plans to return there for a permanent installation, but explains he had always wanted to stretch his gastronomical legs in another territory in the far north, like Iceland, Greenland or even Svalbard.

He finally chose Ilimanaq, located an hour's boat trip from Ilulissat, the third-largest town in Greenland and famous for its huge glacier.

"We just found it more suitable, more fun to do something completely different before we move back in our permanent restaurant," he tells AFP from his kitchen, set up in a trailer outside the house with the dining area.

With 20 courses, the extensive tasting menu will delight the taste buds for some 2,100 kroner ($280), excluding wine and drinks.

"The menu is exquisite and sends you to the far north and back," Devid Gualandris, a charmed visitor, tells AFP.

"From the whale bites to the wines, from the freshly caught fish and shellfish to the curated desserts, everything is bursting with flavour."

This dish consisting of whale skin and blubber is on the 20-course menu. Photo: AFP

While whale meat is a staple food in Greenland and Ziska's native Faroe Islands, whaling is banned in most of the world and activists have called for an end to the practice.

An unlikely locale for a gourmet restaurant, Ilimanaq -- Greenlandic for "place of hope" -- is home to a small community living in picturesque wooden houses, next to hiking trails and more fittingly a luxury hotel, making it an ideal stopover for wealthy tourists seeking to explore new frontiers.

For Ziska, the customers in Greenland are different.

"There are a lot of people for which the number one priority is to visit Greenland and then they come to our restaurant," he says.

"In the Faroe Islands we had mainly people interested in coming and eating at our restaurant and then obviously also visiting the Faroe Islands," the chef explains.

Greenland welcomed more than 100,000 tourists in 2019, nearly double its population. Photo: AFP

In addition to the adventurers who have already been lured by the Arctic landscape, the Greenlandic Tourist Board hopes the restaurant will also help attract gourmet travellers.

"The unique combination of high-level gastronomy, the inherent sustainability of the North Atlantic cuisine and the characteristic nature and resources of the Disko Bay, speaks to all our senses," Visit Greenland's director, Hjortur Smarason, said when announcing the arrival of KOKS.

A long-overlooked destination, Greenland -- an Arctic island territory nine times the size of the UK -- welcomed more than 100,000 tourists in 2019, nearly double its population, before Covid cut the momentum.

Smarason said the presence of KOKS "is exactly what we strive for in our effort to reach a certain distinguished kind of guests".
Read what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted receptions in Hanoi on Tuesday for outgoing ambassadors of the Netherlands and Switzerland to Vietnam.

Society

-- Functional forces are looking for a fishing boat with 18 fishermen aboard that has lost contact with the mainland since it was last seen about 84 nautical miles northwest of Phu Quy Island off south-central Binh Thuan Province on Sunday.

-- A man was hospitalized in southern Tay Ninh Province on Monday after hammering four nails in his head on his own to relieve grief due to family issues and loneliness.

-- Serious congestion occurred on Phu My Bridge connecting District 7 and Thu Duc City in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday afternoon as the structure was maintained and a tank truck with engine failure further narrowed its roadway.

-- The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has launched an investigation into a TikTok video in which a woman was dancing around and posing for photos on the apron while a plane was moving nearby at Phu Quoc International Airport off Kien Giang Province.

-- The Peoples Committee of Cam Pha City in northern Quang Ninh Province has assigned relevant units to ask a project investor to urgently relocate thousands of cubic meters of mud illegally dumped next to Bai Tu Long Bay following a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper report on the issue.

-- Nearly 45,000 domestic and foreign tourists have been stuck on islands off Kien Giang Province due to thundery rains and rough seas triggered by a tropical depression in recent times, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing the provincial tourism department.

Business

-- Vietnam is the leading country with an average number of online purchases of up to 104 orders per person per year, according to a report by Ninja Van Group, an e-logistics company operating in Southeast Asian countries.

-- Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, head of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, has urged the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with other agencies in researching and reporting a plan on fuel tax reduction to the central government, the prime minister, and competent agencies for approval.

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Hundreds of tractor-trailers were stuck in serious congestion on Phu My Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday as several sections of the bridge were blocked for repair works.

The bottleneck on Phu My Bridge, connecting District 7 and Thu Duc City, began at around 3:00 pm and worsened during the evening rush hours, according to the observations of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters.

Two sections of the bridge, each about 30 meters long, were partially blocked for repair works, which narrowed the structure and slowed down traffic.

Serious congestion occurs on Phu My Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City, July 13, 2022. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

The situation was further exacerbated when a tanker truck broke down and was unable to move for about an hour.

Mai Tien Dat, who was driving his car home after work, said he decided to wait for the situation to improve before getting on the bridge and continuing his journey.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport previously announced that the repair of Phu My Bridge would last from July 2 to October 4.

Traffic on the structure will be adjusted in three different phases to facilitate the repair works and to minimize traffic congestion.

A tanker truck breaks down on Phu My Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City, July 13, 2022. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Stretching more than two kilometers, Phu My is the largest cable-stayed bridge crossing the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City.

The construction cost nearly VND2.1 trillion (US$89.7 million) and was finished in 2009.

Phu My Bridge is one of the two routes leading to Cat Lai Seaport.

A large number of trucks and tractor-trailers travel on this bridge on a daily basis, thus the route is often susceptible to traffic congestion and accidents.

A motorcart travels in the wrong direction in an attempt to get away from a traffic jam on Phu My Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City, July 13, 2022. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

A traffic police officer tries to mitigate congestion on Phu My Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City, July 13, 2022. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

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A man was hospitalized in the southern Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh on Monday after hammering four nails into his own head to relieve grief due to family issues and loneliness.

L.H.H., a 36-year-old resident of Chau Thanh District, remained conscious and had some minor injuries on his head when he was admitted to the hospital.

Through X-rays, doctors determined that there were four small nails, about 1.5 centimeters long, located in the patients left temple area.

As the nails did not enter his brain, surgeons carried out an immediate medical operation, which lasted for only 20 minutes, to remove the foreign bodies from his skull.

If it was a longer nail, I dont know what would have happened, said Dr. Mac Dang Ninh.

The patient could become disabled."

H. later explained that he had thoughts of torturing himself because he was sad about his family and felt lonely.

Self-harm can cause the release of natural anesthetics in the body, capable of soothing mental pains and producing emotional comfort, according to some studies.

The behavior can become addictive, leading to total or partial dependence.

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Police in Ho Chi Minh City have captured a man who snatched the iPhone of a French tourist as she was taking photos on the street this week.

Police in District 5 confirmed on Wednesday they had arrested Dinh Cong Minh, 44, who resides in Tan Hung Ward, District 7, on theft charges.

Preliminary information showed that Minh was riding his motorbike on Phu Giao Street in District 5 on Tuesday afternoon when he noticed two foreign tourists who were taking photos with their phones.

Minh approached and snatched an iPhone of one of the two foreigners before speeding away.

Police officers were patrolling in the area when they heard the victims call for help.

With the assistance of some residents, the officers chased after the suspect and managed to apprehend him shortly after the incident.

The stolen phone was later returned to the tourist, a 25-year-old Frenchwoman.

Minh has many criminal records related to the crime of infringing upon ownership rights, according to police officers.

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David Speers hosts Q+A live from Melbourne this week, as an international focus as the world reels from an assassination and a resignation, while Australias focus turns firmly to China and the Pacific.

The shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a towering figure on the international stage, has sent shockwaves around the globe. World leaders have been paying tribute to the politician, Japans longest-serving prime minister hailed as one of the countrys most powerful post-war leaders, while Japan is in mourning and trying to determine how such a killing could have happened.

In the UK, an embattled and scandal-plagued Boris Johnson finally resigned as Conservative Party leader but will remain as PM until a successor is chosen. That process appears to be turning increasingly acrimonious, as at least 10 MPs vie for the job, with more challengers expected to emerge. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considered a front-runner but faces strong opposition in other high-profile candidates including former Health Secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Closer to home, China says the Coalition government was the root cause for the spectacular breakdown in relations between Canberra and Beijing and has issued a list of four proposals to get the relationship back on track. Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with her Chinese counterpart on Friday, the first formal meeting between the countries foreign ministers since September 2019. The AUKUS deal has been called a sore point for China, while some critics say the pact gives Australia a false sense of security. How will Australia manage the competing interests of an increasingly divided global community? Will the new governments efforts to push back on global superpowers make an impact?

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will fly to Suva for the Pacific Islands forum, expected to focus on Chinas increasingly ambitious push to expand ties with the Pacific nations. But the high-stakes meeting comes amid signs of strain within the forum, which has been rocked by the late withdrawal of Kiribati in protest over a leadership tussle in the group.

Its been a busy few months for Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, travelling to all corners of the globe since Labors election victory in May, signalling a new era in Australias foreign relations. How successful will they be in resetting fractured relationships? And just what role will Australia play in our region?

During Anthony Albaneses recent trip to Europe, he met with French president Emmanuel Macron to repair the damage done over the submarine deal. In Ukraine, he visited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and toured war-torn cities, pledging more financial support for the countrys fight against Russia. But back home, the Prime Minister has been criticised by the Opposition for spending too much time away from Australia.

On the panel are:

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia

Peter Khalil, Labor Member for Wills

George Brandis, Former High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Academic and author

Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies, ANU

8:30pm Thursday on ABC.
 Flash

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that China stands ready to boost strategic communication with Malaysia and jointly safeguard their respective legitimate rights and interests in the face of a volatile world.

During a meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday, Wang said China is willing to work with Malaysia to instill more positive energy into world peace and stability.

Wang said China and Malaysia are sincere partners for mutually beneficial cooperation, and they will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023 and the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2024, which will bring new development opportunities for bilateral ties.

China would like to enhance mutual learning with Malaysia to improve governance capability and contribute the wisdom of the East to global governance, Wang said.

Saifuddin said Malaysia stands ready to work with China to maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen the alignment of development strategies and connectivity, accelerate joint construction of the Belt and Road flagship projects, expand innovative cooperation and achieve leapfrog development.

He said Malaysia highly appreciates China's Global Development Initiative, which brings a strong momentum for developing countries to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Malaysia speaks highly of China's consistent treatment of small and medium-sized countries on an equal footing, and welcomes China's growth and development, he said.

Malaysia is ready to join hands with China to increase the strength of Asia, so as to promote regional cooperation featuring openness and inclusiveness, added Saifuddin.

Wang noted that China has the best record among major countries in terms of peace and security, and would like to share development opportunities with its neighboring countries, so as to speed up common development and revitalization.

Both sides agreed to implement outcomes from the first meeting of the high-level committee on China-Malaysia cooperation and deepen practical cooperation in various fields.

The two countries will strengthen cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and help bolster Malaysia's capacity building to become a regional vaccine production center.

The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in digital telecommunications, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, new energy and environment protection.

The two countries will work to further advance the relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and push for the implementation of the idea of a community with a shared future for mankind in neighboring countries.

Wang wrapped up his Asia tour Tuesday, which has taken him to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Empire Energy Group Ltd

Empire Energy Group Ltd (EEG.AX) Beetaloo Operations Update

Sydney, Australia, July 13, 2022 - (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Limited (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) is pleased to advise that the fracture stimulation of Carpentaria-2H ("C-2H") has commenced. C-2H is located in Empire's 100% owned and operated EP187 Beetaloo Sub-basin acreage. The first of 25 planned stages across the horizontal section has been successfully pumped within the Velkerri B Shale.



As previously announced, the stimulation has been designed to utilise several fluid mixes to assess which design results in the best production performance to enhance Beetaloo specific completion designs. The C-2H well production test will also provide an early production type curve and a better understanding of gas composition for development planning.



A period of flowback of hydraulic stimulation fluids is anticipated prior to gas production as each of the treated stages progressively cleans up. Empire will then undertake an extended production test for up to 90 days.



Empire remains on track to drill the Carpentaria-4V vertical well in the Carpentaria East area of EP187 and drill, hydraulically stimulate and flow test the Carpentaria-3H horizontal well on the same well pad as Carpentaria-2H later this year.



Empire is well funded for this active program following the recent placement with current cash at bank of $43.9 million (excluding Share Purchase Plan proceeds which will be determined in the coming days).



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/18O83J2M







About Empire Energy Group Ltd:



Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.



Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.



Contact:



Empire Energy Group Ltd

E: info@empiregp.net

T: +61-2-9251-1846

F: +61-2-9251-0244

WWW: www.empireenergygroup.net





Source:

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Firefighters in France were battling two ferocious wildfires with nearly 1,400 hectares of forest razed in the south-western Gironde department on the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux.

Five camp sites and more than 6,200 campers were evacuated around the Dune du Pilat early Wednesday after wind conditions shifted during the night.

The area gets easily congested and given the high temperatures, it was preferable to evacuate overnight rather than during the day, Lieutenant Colonel David Annotel of the National Federation of Firemen told BFMTV.

Parched ground, the result of drought, contributed to unfavourable weather conditions that saw the blaze rapidly spread.

'No inhabitants left'

Elsewhere in Gironde, more than 500 people were evacuated in Landiras and Guillos as flames moved closer to the towns.

There are no inhabitants left, said Guillos Mayor Mylene Doreau. It was stunning to see fire at the level of the houses  Everyone has cats, dogs, chickens and they want to save everything.

Gironde was placed on amber alert  a heatwave emergency rating  on Wednesday by the department prefect.

Meanwhile firefighters in Spain and Portugal were also battling wildfires as Western Europe endures its second heatwave in weeks.

Tipped to last up to 10 days, the extreme weather follows warnings of hotter and hotter" summers that forecaster Meteo France says are becoming the norm as a result of global warming.

Read also:
Phil Hellmuth, Doug Polk Spar Over Cryptocurrency Affiliations

July 13 2022 Jon Sofen

Hustler Casino Live co-founder Nick Vertucci unintentionally started a chain-reaction that sparked a Twitter feud between two of poker's most popular stars, Phil Hellmuth and Doug Polk.

Both Polk and Hellmuth have been affiliated with two cryptocurrency-related businesses  CoinFlex (Polk) and Bitcoin Latinum (Hellmuth)  that have received some bad publicity recently. As such, the poker pros have each taken some heat from their followers over those affiliations.

Hellmuth, Polk Take Some Heat

Polk's been critical of the "Poker Brat" the past few months for repeatedly wearing a Bitcoin Latinum hat in public despite the coin facing allegations of securities fraud and misappropriation of funds aimed at one of its executives. Hellmuth, however, has openly stated that although he endorses the coin, he isn't giving financial advice.

This is not investment advice, and I am paid endorser of Bitcoin Latinum. Happy to see this! @BitcoinLatinum https://t.co/FN2DQnk8Zg  phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth)

As a result of continuing to wear the Bitcoin Latinum hat, even though he doesn't directly give investment advice, Hellmuth's taken a good amount of heat for it the past few months. Polk is now receiving similar criticism for promoting CoinFlex so heavily on his podcast now that the crypto trading platform suspended withdrawals last month when it was discovered a certain individual's account, allegedly crypto investor Roger Ver, had gone into negative equity, affecting CoinFlex customer balances.

CoinFlex is attempting to recover $84 million delinquent debt so that investors can withdraw from the trading platform, but the company's reputation is shattered. Days after the CoinFlex scandal was made public, Polk announced he was stepping down as an ambassador in a lengthy YouTube video. The Upswing Poker founder was still heavily criticized for promoting CoinFlex in the past by some of his followers.

Poker Pros Feud on Twitter

On June 9, Polk sent out a tweet defending his affiliation with CoinFlex and differentiated his actions to that of Hellmuth, who continued wearing the Bitcoin Latinum hat after the coin faced some serious allegations.

People are coming after me like I'm the person at fault and/or this says something about my character. I stand by m https://t.co/kp47hioiZu  Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids)

Vertucci then chimed in to defend Hellmuth and rip on Polk before later deleting his tweet and apologizing for being so aggressive in his response. The apology came after Polk fired back at Vertucci.

"Nick, for starters you are a complete tool. You hit me up over and over again for me to give you free s**t (newsflash, I don't know you). Anyway huge difference between the people I've gone after for unethical decisions and my situation. Not surprised you cant see the difference," Polk responded.

As is par for the course when any poker player feud turns nasty, Polk offered up a heads-up challenge with Vertucci, although the match isn't likely to happen. Vertucci apologized, but Hellmuth went on the offensive.

You made a big mistake @DougPolkVids! Then, you try to compare our involvement in the projects and throw shade at https://t.co/RIGpfBYHNi  phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth)

Polk didn't ignore the Hellmuth tweet. He advised the 16-time bracelet winner that, in his opinion, any time a coin pops up that uses "Bitcoin" or "Ethereum" in the name, "it's a scam. The entire community knows this."

"There is only one Bitcoin," Polk wrote.

The co-owner of the Lodge Card Club in Austin, Texas also informed Hellmuth and his followers that he also will "lose money on the deal if the exchange goes under."

"The difference here is when I realize a company is doing something wrong, I have the courage to quit. That makes one of us," Polk claims.

Hellmuth and Polk have since seemed to move on from the brief back-and-forth Twitter war. Polk mentioned on Twitter Tuesday morning that he'd patched things over with Vertucci and praised Hustler Casino Live.
Farfetch appoints new marketing director for Latin America By



Alicia Mares Translated by

Nicola Mira Published

Jul 13, 2022

Luxury e-tailer has restructured its organisation in Latin America, appointing Debora Capobianco as marketing director for the LATAM region. The announcement was posted by Farfetch on social media earlier this month.







Farfetch has a new marketing director in Latin America - Archivo



In her new role, Capobianco will devise and implement Farfetchs digital strategy and manage relationships with customers, brands and digital marketing specialists, among others.



She moved to Farfetch after a lengthy career with another international fashion e-tailer, Privalia, where she spent 10 years, after joining the e-tailer's Brazilian subsidiary in Sao Paulo in March 2010. Capobianco then took charge of Privalia in Mexico, after it was bought by the Axo group.

Ads

Farfetch entered the Latin American market in 2015, starting from Mexico. In the same year, the website was also deployed in Colombia, Chile, Panama and Peru.



In Q1 2022, Farfetchs revenue rose by 6.1% to reach $514.8 million (510.42 million). In the same period, the e-tailers net income was $72.8 million (72.18 million).
You are here: World

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Military delegations of Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, along with UN officials, will meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the safe shipment of grain waiting at Ukrainian ports, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday.

In a written statement, Akar said he had held talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts Sergey Shoigu and Oleksii Reznikov on the issue, as a Turkish military delegation visited Moscow earlier after a visit by a Ukrainian delegation to Ankara.

These meetings yielded positive results, he noted.

Turkey seeks to broker a grain corridor from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of a UN-backed effort to avert a global food crisis.

Turkey controls maritime traffic to and from the Black Sea through its Bosphorus Strait.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, has been acting as a mediator between them since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February.

Turkey has said it is ready to take on a role within an "observation mechanism" if a deal is reached.
Pineapple processed at An Giang Fruit-Vegetables & Foodstuff Joint Stock Company..  VNA/VNS Photo Trong at

HA NOI  Investing in processing technology is important to diversify products and increase farm produce's added value and promote exports, experts have said.

According to Ngo Quang Tu from the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, there are 157 processing facilities with a total output of nearly 1.1 million tonnes per year.

However, these facilities usually operate at around 60 per cent of their designed capacity due to a shortage of raw materials as plantations remained scattered, coupled with seasonal processing and unstable food safety and quality.

There were also thousands of small-and-micro-sized processing establishments of cooperatives and households across the country, which were faced with a shortage of capital, production space, lack of equipment and poor post-harvest storage, resulting in post-harvest losses of more than 20 per cent.

Regarding the proportion of processed products, canned food accounted for 50 per cent, condensed juice 18 per cent, fried food 12 per cent, soft drinks 10 per cent and frozen 8 per cent.

Processed products contributed only 18 per cent of the total export value of vegetables and fruit.

Tu said it was necessary to reorganise raw material production and enhance regional linkage to ensure enough supply and quality of raw materials for processing.

While most processing facilities were small-scale, Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Viet Nam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Post-Harvest Technology, stressed the need for developing modern processing technologies suitable for small-and-medium-scale operations.

Products suitable for small and medium scales were fresh, dried, frozen and canned vegetables and fruits.

Tuan said that small and medium-sized processing facilities should invest more in technology to meet the demand for diversifying products.

However, they must pay attention to selecting appropriate technologies for their operation scales, source of materials and target markets.

Tran Van Cong, Viet Nam's Agricultural Counselor in the EU, said that the EU was a significant and potential export market for Viet Nam's agricultural products, in which fruits and vegetables had the largest room to expand.

He said EU markets imported vegetables and fruits worth around US$120 billion each year, accounting for 40 per cent of the total global import and export value of fruits and vegetables.

However, Viet Nam's fruit and vegetable export to the EU remained modest, around $190 million, 30 per cent of which were processed.

Cong noted that the EU was a highly demanding market, urging attention to food hygiene and safety.

Updating on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point, said that WTO member countries had 504 notifications in the first half of this year, 9 per cent higher than last year.

Nam said that businesses must control the maximum residue levels, urging attention to declaring additives in processing.

Phan Thi Thu Hien from the Plant Protection Department said each market had specific requirements for different agricultural products. For example, the US required fresh fruits to be irradiated, while Korea and Japan required hot stream treatment.

Cooperatives and farmers needed to coordinate with State management agencies to closely monitor the plantation and processing to meet such requirements.  VNS
Vietnamese actress Ngoc Lan Vy and Thai actor August Vachiravit star in La May Tren Bau Troi Ai o (Be a Cloud in Someones Sky). Photo courtesy of Galaxy Cinema

HA NOI  La May Tren Bau Troi Ai o (Be a Cloud in Someones Sky), a film jointly produced by Viet Nam and Thailand, will hit screens nationwide on July 22.

According to producer Trinh Tu Trung, Be a Cloud in Someones Sky is a romantic film marking the cooperation of Vietnamese and Thai artists. It has attracted attention from cinema-goers from both countries, in part thanks to two famous actors from the Golden Pagoda Land  Push Puttichai and August Vachiravit.

The film tells the journey of a young Vietnamese girl called May (Cloud) to Thailand to meet her idol on her birthday. However, the trip of a rich kid is always under the close supervision of a bodyguard team. On the way to the ideal man of her dream, Cloud falls into many awkward situations in Thailand but it is also when she meets her destiny.

Acting in the lead female role in the film is actress Ngoc Lan Vy. Explaining why Vy was chosen for the role, Trung said Vy was 14 years old when the film was shooting, the age when the girl is both dreamy and a little rebellious with an aspiration to express herself.

Vy has become renowned after winning many international beauty pageants like Little Miss & Mr Eurasia 2017, Little Miss Universe 2018 and Little Miss New Era 2019. This is her debut role on the big screen.

"This is the first film project that enables me to get closer to the audience, so I have given it much of my concentration. I feel fortunate that the beginning of my acting path received much support from many people, including Thai actor August. It was both an advantage and pressure to work with a celebrity like him. I had a very good experience, she told anninhthudo.vn.

The main actor August Vachiravit is no longer a strange face to Vietnamese audiences. He is a rising star in Thailand after the success of the series Pee Nak.

Be a Cloud in Someones Sky also marks the beginning of the acting career of Thai DJ, actor, MC and model Push Puttichai, who has a large fan base in Thailand and many countries in the region.

The film is directed by Thai director Thanadet Pradit and sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand  Amazing Thailand.

It is a cute Thai love story, but it has to be shown in a fun and new way because the Rom-Com (Romantic-Comedy) movie genre has become too familiar to audiences, Trung said

I think that the pairing of August and Vy, together with the unexpected appearance of Push, makes Be a Cloud in Someones Sky worth watching, he added.  VNS
HA NOI  The Peoples Court of Ha Noi on Tuesday sentenced three women and one man to a total of 18 years in prison for illegally transporting and trading 984kg of pangolin scales, one of the largest cases of wildlife trading detected so far in Viet Nam.

The leader in the case, Nguyen Thi Chinh from northern Vinh Phuc Province, was sentenced to seven years, while Hoang Thi Hien Phuong from Ha Noi, was jailed for five years for her role as a broker.

Nguyen Thi Ha from Vinh Phuc got four years and Nguyen Van Su, also from Vinh Phuc, was sentenced to two years in prison for illegally transporting the scales.

Pangolin is a protected wild animal due to increasing demand for its meat and scales in Viet Nam and China. Some pangolin species have been listed in the red book by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered species.

Vietnamese laws prohibit the hunting, killing, caging, trading or transport of wild animals.  VNS
Firefighters from state and local agencies continued to battle a blaze near Walnut Springs for the sixth day Tuesday.

It will be several days before firefighters leave the scene, Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Kiley Moran said in a Tuesday statement.

The forest service named this fire the Hard Castle Fire. Walnut Springs is about 60 miles northwest of Waco.

Fire crews brought the fire to 80% containment by Tuesday afternoon. The estimate of total acres charred was reduced to 540 from 600 acres last week. The acreage is within an area about 3 miles long and half a mile wide, Moran said.

Currently we have Texas A&M Forest service dozers and multiple contracted engines, a wildland paramedic unit, as well as Walnut Springs Volunteer Fire Department on the scene, Moran wrote.

A helicopter reconnaissance flight located areas of concern and crews patrolled hot spots that were still active to douse them with water and prevent another significant flare up, according to his statement. No structures we threatened and fire activity was low Tuesday morning.

Crews stopped the fire last week just 440 yards from reaching a home, Moran said.

Firefighters have worked tirelessly to keep this fire from reaching Walnut Springs, he wrote.

When the effort started a week ago, crews used dozers and graders to construct an initial containment line, Moran said Tuesday. They reinforced the line with retardant.

The fire jumped such containment lines a couple of times, he said.

The next method was to burn off a dozer line ahead of the fire, and reinforce with retardant, he said. Aircraft also dropped water on the head of the fire as it approached the final line.

At this line crews stopped forward progression just a quarter-mile from a home, Moran said.

Volunteer fire departments from Meridian, Walnut Springs, Iredell, Morgan, Clifton, Cranfills Gap, Valley Mills and Lakeside Village have provided assistance, along with the Bosque County Office of Emergency Management, Bosque County Sheriffs Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and North Bosque Emergency Medical Services, he said.
You are here: World

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Israel was preparing on Tuesday for U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming visit as part of his first trip to the Middle East since taking office.

More than 16,000 police officers and volunteers were deployed, mainly in Jerusalem, to secure the two-day visit starting Wednesday, the police said.

A police notice said Highway 1, the main route connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, would be closed for two hours in both directions upon Biden's arrival on Wednesday.

The police warned of traffic jams and roadblocks, mainly in central Israel, Jerusalem and the highways leading to the city.

Biden's Air Force One presidential plane is expected to land at the Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv at 3:20 p.m. local time (1220 GMT).

The Israeli Defense Ministry, which oversees the security arrangements, said in a statement that Biden would be welcomed with an official ceremony and a presentation of Israel's defense systems would be given.

On Thursday, Biden will meet Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who took office on July 1, for a one-on-one meeting, followed by an extended meeting between their teams.

Later, a summit via video will be held between Biden, Lapid, the United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders are expected to discuss global food and fuel crises.

Biden will also travel to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before flying to Saudi Arabia.
For the second time this week, the states power grid operator is asking Texans to turn up their thermostats to 78 degrees and to avoid using large appliances as it expects record-high demand for power amid ongoing scorching temperatures. It is asking for conservation from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the states main power grid operator, said he does not expect rolling blackouts to happen Wednesday.

The call for conservation came because of higher-than-expected outages at coal and natural gas-fired power plants, as well as low winds, as demand continues to rise because of higher-than-normal temperatures.

The fleet has been run extremely hard this year and especially this summer, so its not surprising that wear-and-tear is starting to bear out in the form of components breaking, said Michele Richmond, executive director of the Texas Competitive Power Advocates, which represents power generators.

Solar power, which has performed well this summer, was also struggling Wednesdayto produce as much electricity as expected, ERCOT said, because of some dark clouds over solar farms in West Texas.

When Texans were asked Monday to conserve electricity, ERCOT said that appeal reduced demand on the power grid by 500 megawatts during the afternoon. ERCOT did not come close to implementing rolling blackouts.

Power grids must keep supply and demand in balance at all times. When Texas grid falls below its safety margin of excess supply, the grid operator starts taking additional precautions to avoid blackouts.

The first precaution is to ask the public to voluntarily cut back electricity usage. The next step is for the grid operator to tell the public the grid could be at risk of not having enough power to meet demand and ordering Texansto cut back electricity usage. If the grids conditions still dont improve, ERCOT would then implement controlled, rotating power outages, in which Texans in some areas could lose power for up to 45 minutes at a time.

Power grids around the world are facing tests this summer as climate change has led to hotter temperatures and Russias war with Ukraine has strained fuel supplies. In Japan, officials asked residents in late June to conserve electricity during unusually hot weather. In the U.S., officials have warned about possible power outages this summer due to record heat and demand for power.

In May, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power during a heat wave that coincided with six power plant outages.

Climate change has made Texas heat both hotter and longer lasting. The average daily minimum and maximum temperatures in Texas have both increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 125 years. The state just saw its hottest December on record since 1889.

In Houston, Saturday through Tuesday were the hottest consecutive four days on record, according to meteorologists with Space City Weather.

Check back for more on this developing story.

Disclosure: Texas Competitive Power Advocates has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Join us at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 22-24 in downtown Austin, and hear from 300+ speakers shaping the future of Texas including Joe Straus, Jen Psaki, Joaquin Castro, Mayra Flores and many others. See all speakers announced to date and buy tickets.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/13/texas-power-grid-ercot-conservation/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
ASHLAND  Fourteen Ashland area veterans from multiple branches of the U.S. military armed forces received Quilts of Valor on Saturday during a ceremony at the American Legion Event Center in Ashland.

Chase Barton, Brandon Beaumont, Jeannine Beer, Denny Correll, Doug Chrastil, Merlin Fick, Brent Johnson, Steven Minnick, Mike Minnick, Earl North, Roger Pike, Barb Pope, Jim Sanders, George Schaub and George Versch were honored with the quilts made by members of the Prairie Point Quilters in Ashland.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization founded in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, a Blue Star mother whose son was deployed to Iraq. She had a vision of a soldier who had returned home from deployment wrapped in a quilt that comforted him and helped ward off feelings of despair he suffered after serving in combat.

Since its founding, the Quilts of Valor Foundation has awarded over 200,000 quilts to veterans of military conflicts, actions and wars. The Prairie Point Quilters create these patriotic works of art out of fabric as a community service project.

Barton joined the Army on June 4, 2017. He was a Stryker Systems maintainer and received an honorable discharge after a shoulder injury received during a training event. He is a volunteer member of the Ashland fire and rescue departments.

Beaumont was in the Marines from 1993 to 2000. During his service, he was a truck driver and a Huey/Cobra flight line mechanic. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and Camp Pendelton, California, and he was deployed on a Marine Corps prepositioned ship called the USS First Lieutenant Jack Lummus for 35 days during Operation Freedom Banner in Pohang, South Korea in 1994. He received two Good Conduct Medals and two Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Beer was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in May 1988 after completing the Iowa State University ROTC program. Throughout her career, she was a career Air Force manpower officer. Her duty assignments included Yokata Air Base, Japan; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; the Pentagon, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and Headquarters Air Force, Office of the Air Force Surgeon General. She was deployed three times  to Incirlik Air Base in support of Operation Northern Watch; to Al Udeid Air Base, Quatar for Operation Iraqi Freedom and a one-year deployment to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She retired on April 1, 2009 as a lieutenant colonel. Her awards include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf cluster, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with one silver star, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Denny Carroll served in the Marine Corps from 1969 to 1970 as a field artillery cannoneer during the Vietnam War. He also served in the Army Reserves from 1970 to 1975. He was honorably discharged as a corporal.

Doug Chrastil entered the Navy at Great Lakes, Illinois on March 28, 1981. He was assigned to the Naval Communications Unit at the United States Embassy in London, to the SSBN-726 Ballistic Missile Submarine Ohio, and to the US Naval Security Group Activity, Galeta Island, Panama. His duty assignment was cryptologic technician maintenance. He reached the rank of petty officer first class. He was discharged on March 28, 1988 in Pensacola, Florida.

Merlin Fick served in the Naval Reserves from 1965 to 1967 as an electrician working on ship lighting systems. He spent most of his two-year active duty requirement on the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. He also spent time in Philadelphia while the ship was in dry dock being overhauled. He was also stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After active duty, Fick spent the remainder of his service on inactive duty. He left the service with the rank of electricians mate third class.

Brent Johnson was commissioned as an officer in the Navy in May 1993 after completing ROTC at the University of Kansas. He entered Nuclear Power Officer training in Orlando, Florida and Idaho Falls, Idaho, obtaining certification to operate US Navy nuclear reactors. After finishing Submarine Officer training in Connecticut, he served as a junior officer for more than three years on the USS Pogy, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine based in San Diego. Onboard the USS Pogy, Johnson earned his submarine officer qualification, operated the nuclear reactor and directed the submarines operations as the officer of the deck. He visited Hawaii, Guam, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and the Arctic Circle. He completed his service in 1999 as a lieutenant at US Strategic Command in Omaha as a nuclear weapons stockpile analyst.

Steve Minnick enlisted in the Nebraska Air National Guard on Feb. 11, 1978. He trained as an operation specialist, performing those duties relating to air operations of the RF-4C Phantom Jet as a normal drill status guardsman from September 1978 to May 1987. He performed duty on three different occasions in support of NATO exercises in Eskisehir, Turkey. His status changed to Active Duty Guard Reserve in May 1987, and he remained on active duty until he retired. From 1987 to 1993, he was an Aircrew Resource Management Specialist. He performed Ramp Controller duties while at Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. In 1993, he became an inflight refueling specialist, also known as a boom operator, in a KC-135R Stratotanker. He achieved the level of instructor/evaluator boom operator. He flew over 20 combat missions and more than 40 combat support missions in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He retired on April 1, 2007 as a senior master sergeant.

Mike Minnick served 40 years in the Nebraska Air National Guard and the US Air Force from 1975 to 2015. He was a traditional Guardsman from 1995 to 1991 and then served 25 years on active duty with the Nebraska Air National Guard. His jobs included repair and reclamation journeyman, command and control specialist and KC-135R inflight fueling operator (boom operator). He was involved in military operations in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. He served in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He has over 6,000 hours of flying and 100-plus combat and combat support sorties, including refueling aircraft in combat and medical evacuation missions out of Afghanistan. He retired in 1991 as a master sergeant.

Earl North joined the Army after high school and went to basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. After basic training, he went to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for training in basic electronics and Red Stone Arsenal for training on Hawk Missile system repair. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for repair of missile systems in the Far East. He was sent to Vietnam on temporary duty with the Marines. He was also stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. After he left the Army in 1965, North went to work for Raytheon and spent two years in Laos as a flight instructor and rescue pilot.

Roger Pike served in the Nebraska Air National Guard from 1981 to 1988. He was a fuel system specialist on F15 and KC-135 aircraft. He trained at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. He reached the rank of airman first class.

Barb Pope served as an information management specialist for 11 years in the Army from 1981 to 1992. Her duty assignment locations included Royal Air Force Alconbury, United Kingdom; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Ramstein Air Base, Germany and Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. While at Ramstein, she worked in direct support of troops deployed for Desert Storm. After separating as a staff sergeant in 1992, she re-enlisted in 2006 and trained as a paralegal specialist. In 2011, she re-entered the Nebraska Army National Guard and was trained as a cook. Her duty assignments included Lincoln, Mead, Omaha, North Platte and Kearney. She retired in 2019 as a staff sergeant.

Jim Sanders joined the Air Force in 1961 directly out of high school. After completing boot camp, he was assigned to the air traffic coordinating office at Travis Air Force Base in California, where he coordinated military and civilian traffic to the Pacific. After two years, he was assigned to Japan. He was honorably discharged in 1965.

George Schaub served in the Army for two years, leaving the service as a private first class. He was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey and Fort Meade, Maryland. After he served in the Vietnam War, he moved on to Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania and then back to Fort Dix.

George Versch was with the Army Rangers and Special Forces during the Vietnam War. He was honorably discharged in 1979. He spent most of his military career at Fort Benning, Georgia and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Suzi Nelson is the managing editor of The Ashland Gazette. Reach her via email at suzi.nelson@ashland-gazette.com.
WAHOO  If Saunders County first responder groups receive the new emergency radio system theyve been asking for, it could be two years or more before its functional.

In the meantime, the current system needs to at least be reliable, which is often not the case.

When Minnesota firm Rey Freeman Communications Consulting presented the results of a study last month reviewing the countys radio system, the Saunders County Board of Supervisors was made aware that some of the systems defects stem from poor maintenance as much as spotty reception.

Even though your system will never work to cover the county, its not working properly today, Freeman said at the June 14 county board meeting.

The issues, Freeman said, were evident in several of the radio tower maintenance buildings, where he saw 17-year-old dead batteries, which were supposed to provide backup to the tower in the time it takes for the generator to kick on.

Freeman also predicted that the tower-top amplifiers used on the radio towers  which he said are notoriously susceptible to lightning  were not working.

We strongly encourage  getting this stuff fixed to improve what you have today, because its going to have to get you by for a while.

At the July 5 Board of Supervisors meeting, the board asked Emergency Manager Terry Miller and Public Works Director Andy Nordstrom to tag team an effort to address the towers fixable issues.

I think thats one of the problems with our current system is that they just havent been maintained, said Board Chair David Lutton.

Miller said that he has recharged the backup batteries since Freemans presentation, but the tower-top amplifiers are going to require some extra assistance and possibly an expense for the county to have them serviced.

I have no idea if theyre working or not, Miller said.

He explained that larger counties have communications coordinators who oversee maintenance on radio towers, and their emergency management departments have little to do with the 911 systems.

Knowing if the amplifier on top is down, I cant do that by myself, Miller said.

The board asked him to reach out to Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz  whose department pays for the 911 system maintenance  to see if there is money in the budget to pay for outside maintenance help. Supervisor Craig Breunig said additional support could come from funds allocated to the county through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Miller mentioned other problems with the countys radio system that were not noted in Freemans report, including communication issues with Ashlands radio tower, despite significant investment for a new repeater.

They said theyve had people look at it, too, and they said they cant find out whats wrong, Miller said.

Additional issues exist at the Ceresco tower because of its inaccessibility. Lancaster County owns the tower. The mutual aid channel on the Prague tower, which Miller said was six years in the making, is also out of order.

I go up there and try to trip the repeater, and dispatch says they can hear me tripping it but they cant hear any audio, he said.

Supervisor Tom Hrdlicka said Miller should reach out to Motorola or another radio maintenance company to take a look or provide direction.

We just need to get a hold of someone so our first responders at least have something to work with, Hrdlicka said.

Reach the Wahoo Newspaper staff at news@wahoonewspaper.com.
We here at Vintage Aviation News are proud to announce the addition of another sponsor to assist our mission in helping preserve our aviation heritage for future generations. As a result, we are welcoming Jeremy Cox and his company JetValues  Jeremy LLC to the fold. JetValues specializes in the complexities of providing accurate aircraft appraisals for their clients; we received the following details from Jeremy Cox describing the term provenance and how it applies to his aircraft appraisal process

Provenance and Warbird Values

by Jeremy Cox

The title of this article is both accurate and misleading simultaneously. While provenance definitely applies to certain warbirds, it also applies to anything of value  art, jewelry, ships, automobiles, vintage aircraft, spacecraft the list goes on.

Provenance is used extensively by major auction houses such as Sothebys and Christies, but also by me  an aircraft appraiser who specializes in off-book aircraft, where off-book refers to any aircraft not listed/covered by a Price/Value Guide. This kind of appraisal therefore requires a lot of research before I can confidently calculate a credible opinion regarding value.

Merriam-Webster define the word Provenance as: 1. Origin, Source; 2. the history of ownership of a valued object, or work of art, or literature.

Any item with significant provenance usually adds to its intrinsic value. Indeed, Simon de Burton of Classic Driver Online Magazine has identified the fact that automobiles once owned by Steve McQueen (ownership history) are all at least double the value of comparable, non-McQueen examples. For instance, a Series 1 Land Rover gifted to Sir Winston Churchill on his 80th birthday made 119,000 (roughly US$188,000) at auction in 2012, which is at least four-times what a typical mint Series 1 example would have made at the time.

Looking to similar examples in the aviation world, a private jet once owned by Elvis Presley sold for $430,000 at a California auction. The 1962 Lockheed Jetstar (L-1329 Jetstar 6, s/n. 5016, N440RM) had sat on a ramp in Roswell, New Mexico for 35 years, had no engines and an unrestored cockpit. The resulting price was 400 to 500% above Fair Market Value (FMV).

Frank Sinatra, after taking delivery of his new Learjet 23 in 1965 (s/n. 031  N175FS), named it Christina II after his youngest daughter. Atlanta Air Salvage discovered the ownership history in 2005, raising the airframes price some 400 to 500% above FMV again.

While the P-51 Mustang is a highly desirable warbird, they are relatively common today. However, most surviving examples have no little military history to them, having survived precisely because they hadnt been worn out through the rigors of combat. However, P-51D-20-NA Mustang 44-72364 (N723FH) is a combat veteran which served with the 8th Air Forces 353rd Fighter Group. It was assigned to Captain Harrison Bud Tordoff, who is credited with shooting down a German Me 262 jet fighter. The late Paul Allens Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum acquired this aircraft in 1998 and had it restored with a level of authenticity matching it almost exactly to the way it was back in 1945. Bought by the late Paul Allen in 2004 for US$9Million (500 to 600% above FMV).

In September 1980 the wreckage of a Supermarine Spitfire emerged from the sands on a beach in Calais, France. It had crash-landed there following combat during the Battle of France in May, 1940. Initially, the identity of the aircraft remained a mystery, but following its recovery by the manager of the nearby Hoverport in January 1981, the Spitfire was identified as P9374, an early Mk.I variant of Supermarines finest creation. P9374 was one of a batch of 138 Spitfires built under Air Ministry contract at Supermarines Woolston works and delivered to the RAF on March 2nd, 1940 before arriving, four days later, at RAF Croydon to join No.92 Squadron. Records show that P9374 had a total flight time of 32 hours and 5 minutes at the time of her loss on Friday May 24th, 1940.

Following a ground-up rebuild in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, P9374 performed her first post-restoration test flight On Thursday September 1st, 2011. On Thursday July 9th, 2015 at the Christies, King Street Auction House in London, England this extremely rare Spitfire sold for US$4,836,000 (double its estimated market value). Ronald Lauder (Estee Lauder family) is the lucky new owner, and had P9374 shipped to his aircraft collection based in New York State.

And then there is spaceflight. While there are various definitions for what constitutes the division between Earths atmosphere and the beginning of space, the so-called Karman Line is often. The Federation Aeronautique Internationale defines the Karman Line as being located 100 km (62 statute miles/330,000 feet) above Mean Sea Level. Due to their scarcity, any object which crosses the Karman Line has a FMV which skyrockets  please excuse my pun! Indeed, Earl Mullins, a life-long expert collector and trader of space artifacts and founding President of The Space Museum, in Bonne Terre, Missouri, has determined that any artifact which has provenance for having flown in space is worth at least five-times what any solely earthbound example might be. Space-flown objects are the holy grail for many collectors  any artifact with a history of having landed on the Moon, for example, is worth at least nine-times that of its terrestrial brethren.

So how do I use these examples to factor Provenance confidently within my appraisals? Well, first I categorize

Based on age, and when historical provenance value is considered, I categorize everything as follows:

1. Pre-20th Century (all dates prior)

2. Pioneer (1900 thru 1913)

3. Great War (1914 thru 1919)

4. Roaring 20s includes the First Record Breakers (1920 thru 1929)

5. Pre-World War includes the Second Record Breakers (1930 thru 1939)

6. Early Rotary Wing (1923 thru 1945)

7. WWII Warbird Era (1940 thru 1946)

8. Modern Rotary Wing (1946 to-date)

9. Pistons Golden Age (1947 thru 1958)

10. Early Jets (mostly Warbirds 1942 thru 1957)

11. Classic Turboprops (1948 thru 1987)

12. The Jet Age (1958 thru 1980)

13. Modern Jets (1981 to-date)

14. Modern Turboprops (1988 to-date)

15. Pistons Pre LCD/EFIS (1959 thru 1998)

16. Modern Pistons (1999 to-date)

17. Experimental Aircraft  New Design or Amateur Built (any dates)

18. Ultralight/Amateur Built/Light Sport (any dates)

19. Electric Aircraft (any dates)

20. Replica (any dates)

21. Spacecraft (a vehicle for operation outside the Earths atmosphere (1944 to-date))

I then hold any verified facts (which I have discovered during my research about the aircraft) against the following Provenance Events listed out in my Provenance Rating Table, as follows:

 Images and/or Film Footage in-action

 Documented Kills

 Operated in Action (Flown during a conflict)

 Famous Pilot

 Operated for an Iconic Person

 Operated for a Famous Person

 Operated for a Person of Note

 Made a Unique Kill (like shooting down a jet when a piston aircraft, or dropped the first whatever?)

 Only One In Existence in the World (Must be Original)

 Only One Flying in the World

 Restored to be Authentic

 Grand Champion Gold Wrench Award at EAA AirVenture (or Intl Equiv.)

 Grand Champion Award at Sun n Fun (or Intl Equiv.)

 Still Operational in a Squadron/Air Force (Not for demonstration purposes)

My Provenance Rating Table also applies to Civilian (non-Warbird), and Spacecraft, with different categories in each group. Over the past 280+ years of aeronautical history, more than 1,150 identifiable manufacturers have produced aircraft in some form or another. However, when one looks through all of the existing Price-Guides, fewer than 150 manufacturers are covered within their pages. Therefore, when I use my term Off-Book aircraft, I am referring to the 1,000+ makes and models of aircraft which are not covered in those guides.

Fortunately for me, I have found that there is an excellent living to be made from appraising Off-Book Aircraft. All it takes is a willingness to wear many hats  such as a researcher, historian (and aviation geek!)  all in addition to my day-job as an accredited aircraft appraiser.

As one of my clients put it to me recently: You are discovering the provenance of my aircraft which is great! This simple statement essentially meant that, through my research into the history of the subject aircraft, its history unfolds into both a written and pictorial narrative included in my appraisal report  and this often means the aircraft deserves a higher appraised value. Nothing is made-up or invented just discovered!

Jeremy Cox  Biography: Warbirds of America Lifetime Member, North American Trainer Association Lifetime Member, and a Colonel in the Commemorative Air Force  Lifetime Member

I have spent several decades working in aviation, appraising aircraft for more than 20 of those years. I hold an FAA A&P Mechanics Certificate, an FAA Inspection Authorization and various other certificates. I have spent numerous years working on maintenance of aircraft, including serving as Vice President and General Manager of an FAA Certified Repair Station under 14 FAR 145. The following is a summary of my professional accomplishments, including a selection of completion certificates:

 Senior Certified Aircraft Appraiser (ASA & NAAA)

 USPAP Conforming Appraiser

 Certified Aircraft Buyers Agent

 Member  American Society of Appraisers

 ASA Instructor for the Aircraft Valuation Program: ME201-ACS Introduction to Machinery and Equipment Valuation; ME202-ACS Machinery and Equipment Valuation Methodology; ME203-ACS Advanced Topics and Case Studies; ME204-ACS Advanced Topics and Report Writing; Also, ME162-WEB Appraising Off-Book Aircraft. Managing all of the Necessary Value Components

 Former Professional Aircraft Broker

 Aviation Consultant

 Former President of the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum

 Current Serving Vice President of the Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association

 Member of the National Business Aviation Association

 Elected Technician of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain

 FAA Certified Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic with Inspection Authorization

 FCC GROL Licensed Operator/Technician

 CAA Aircraft Engineering Certificate Holder

 Former Experimental Aircraft Association Technical Counsellor

 Gulfstream II/IIB Maintenance Qualified

 Falcon 20 Maintenance Qualified

 Commercial and Instrument Rated Pilot (no medical)

 Certified Ag Pilot

 Aircraft Delivery Specialist

 Published Aviation Writer

 Author of St. Louis Aviation, ISBN # 97807385884102

 Expert Witness in Aviation Legal Cases

To contact Jeremy, visit www.jetvaluesjeremy.com
EVANSDALE  A decade later, the killer is still out there.

When Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins disappeared while riding their bikes in Evansdale 10 years ago today, Special Agent Scott Reger with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spent about two months in an assisting role running down leads and checking alibis. He became the lead agent on the case in 2017 after the former lead left for another agency.

Detectives with the DCI, FBI and Bremer County Sheriffs Office still meet on a regular basis to track down new tips, revisit old leads and evaluate emerging technology that could bring the case closer to an arrest.

This case is not a cold case. I dont like that term generically. Its still being actively investigated by investigators made of state, local and federal authorities. We are carving out regular time to work this, Reger said.

New information continues to come in  DCI had 117 calls come into the tip line in the past 10 months.

Investigators remain quiet on the details of their investigation and what facts they have confirmed. They easily acknowledge that the girls bikes were found at the back corner of Meyers Lake and their remains were discovered at Seven Bridges Wildlife Area, a little-known park in rural Bremer County in December 2012.

But thats about it.

Reger declined to talk about what evidence they have, who their suspects are and who they have ruled out, despite a great hunger for information by the public.

He also declined to address the significance of other information investigators pushed out years ago, like a white sport utility vehicle spotted parked near Arbutus Avenue, a backdoor path to Meyers Lake, on the day of the disappearance.

That is because detectives use the information they have  the case facts  to vet new information as it comes in.

Keeping the case facts close to the chest  the information that only the killer or killers would know  also preserves the integrity of the case in the event it goes to trial.

On a long-term investigation, the more closely you hold the facts that you know  that only you and the bad person know  that assists with the resolution, Reger said.

It also helps weed out false confessions, of which there have been several in the case. They usually originate when someone contacts a police department not directly connected with the cousins investigation.

We have been able to take what they say, overlap it with our case facts and pretty quickly determine  yeah, thats not true, Reger said.

The most recent came a few months ago when a law enforcement agency in another state called DCI with information that a woman in a mental institution said she abducted and killed two girls. The woman, who had Iowa roots, talked about bikes being left at a lake and bodies left in a park.

Detectives were able to dismiss the confession because her account didnt mesh with guarded information they had, and the only accurate information she had was publicly available.

If you live in the Cedar Valley, everyone knows that the bikes were there, Reger said.

Reger acknowledged investigators had looked at 42-year-old Michael Klunder in May 2013 when he abducted two girls near Dayton, Iowa, and killed one before taking his own life. Klunder had ties to Bremer County, and the similarities in the cases were striking.

When Klunder happened, everybodys bells went off, Reger said I remember driving over and talking to (fellow DCI Ageny) Jack Liao on the phone and going Oh man, this might be our guy. What are the chances?

After the initial probe into Klunders crime, four or five investigators were tasked with trying to determine if Klunder was involved in the cousins case.

There was a super intentional and persistent investigation to try to draw links, Reger said.

Earlier investigators said in 2014 they ruled out Klunder absent any new evidence. Reger declined to comment on that status.

Reger also acknowledged cousins investigators looked for possible ties to Jeff Altmayer, an Ankeny man who approached girls in several Iowa communities in 2016, offering them money to get in his vehicle.

Reger also declined to say if Altmayer  who is serving life for kidnapping and sex abuse  has been ruled out.

Another link that was explored involved the slaying of two girls who were playing in a wooded area near Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017. Indiana investigators said a short time later that any similarities between the cases appeared to be coincidental.

Then in May 2018, agents investigated the death of a Belle Plaine woman who claimed to have a letter written by Lyric and Elizabeths killers. The woman killed herself and her 8-year-old son after pulling him in front of a train, according to media accounts. Investigators said at the time the lead turned out to be old information.

Reger said such tragedies often generate new interest in the cousins case and result in new tips coming in. While a flood of tips can result in useless information, Reger said thats OK.

Id rather have the noise than silence because we have the systems in place to evaluate the noise and then go after the stuff that we think is probative, he said.

Investigators said the best way to submit tips about the case is through an email address set up by the DCI  ourmissingiowagirls@dps.state.ia.us.

Reger said he understands that tipsters usually want to be interviewed, but the volume of information that comes in doesnt always make that possible unless further follow-up is warranted. He also notes that investigators arent able to tell tipsters whether or not their information panned out.

The one benefit of time in the investigation is developments in technology and science that could someday provide links to close the case.

There are a lot of exciting things that are happening in a lot of the forensic sciences, he said.

Reger said laboratories occasionally contact the team to offer new techniques and investigators have used cutting-edge technology in the case, but he declined to give specifics.

Officials with Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Information can be given to Crime Stoppers anonymously and the tips are passed on to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which is handling the case.

Tips may be submitted by emailing the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations at ourmissingiowagirls@dps.state.ia.us, texting CEDAR plus the tip to 274637 (CRIMES), calling (855) 300-8477, submitting information at www.cvcrimestop.com or at the Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers Facebook page.
CEDAR FALLS  The Board of Education on Monday again appointed Joyce Coil, a former longtime member, to fill a vacancy.

Board president Jeff Hassman reached out and asked if I would consider, and I told him itd be my honor and pleasure, Coil said when reached by telephone. I hope to stay informed of the districts initiatives, and feel theres a lot of history I can bring. Ive always enjoyed the board work and the volunteerism.

Director Brenda Fite resigned last month, less than a year into her first four-year term, because of plans to relocate to Ohio.

Coil was the unanimous pick of the board and took the oath of office over Zoom. She will serve until someone is chosen by voters next school election in the fall of 2023.

The retiree is a hospice volunteer for UnityPoint Health-Waterloo, and also helps with fundraising for the districts new Tiger Performance Center and aquatics center.

Its the second time the board has appointed her to fill a vacancy since stepping away. In 2021, Coil jumped back into the role in the interim after former member Sasha Wohlpart moved out of state.

Coil, a former board president, has a quarter-century of experience and will be temporarily filling Brendas position until the fall of 2023, said Hassman.

He noted that several people expressed an interest in being Fites replacement.

According to Hassman, the elected officials have the tendency to favor the candidates who are former board members.

Its someone who is already seasoned and can jump right into the board with the mechanics and understandings of the district and the board, he said.   The other (criteria) is its a school board member who has a commitment not to run in the next election and so that doesnt give the favor of incumbency to anyone who would like to run for that position in 2023.

Coil confirmed shes not interested in running.

Hassmann said officials did not receive a petition forcing a special election. It would have needed signatures totaling 30% of the voters who participated in the last school election.

We want to thank each and every person who expressed an interest in serving on the board and would encourage those who are not going to be appointed to run in the election in the fall of 2023, Hassman said.
SUMNER  A traveling Vietnam veterans memorial is making its way to Sumner this week while the town celebrates its 150th anniversary.

The Moving Wall, a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be in Sumner City Park Thursday through Monday. Spokesperson and veteran Terry Avery said he is expecting 10,000 to 12,000 people to visit the wall in the five day span.

Avery noted the memorial will be open 24 hours per day with someone manning the post. It will have installed lights allowing visitors to read the more than 58,000 names. Police and military will be present, as well, to protect the memorial.

He also said there will be two buildings and one tent filled with exhibits and memorabilia.

The memorials time in Sumner lines up with its sesquicentennial anniversary. There will be some events for the city and some for the memorial, and a few that coincide.

The Moving Wall memorial and exhibit buildings open at 2 p.m. on Thursday and close on Monday at 11:30 a.m. The first 1,000 visitors will receive a free U.S. flag lapel pin and the opening ceremony will begin with the National Anthem.

Various military ceremonies continue on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, the Sumner Days parade, will begin at 10 a.m. The first part will be led by more than 200 Sumner Vietnam veterans followed by any veterans invited from 32 American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War posts in Bremer and Fayette counties along with surrounding areas.

Veterans are asked to gather in the parking lot of St. Johns Lutheran Church, 109 Washington St., before 9:30 a.m.

The second half of the parade will be the traditional Sumner Days parade with it being longer than usual overall. Avery expects it to last one and a half to two hours. It will follow the traditional route from Howard Street to Walnut Street along First Street.

After the parade, a ceremony will take place where Sumner Vietnam veterans will receive honor coins for their service. Family members can accept the coin for deceased veterans. Sen. Joni Ernst will also address the crowd.

The ceremony will be followed by a barbeque lunch put on by Lynch BBQ. Veterans can eat free and family members are asked to provide a $5 donation. Sen. Ernst will also be visiting with families during this time.

Saturday features more presentations and a concert by the Iowa Veterans Military Band from Des Moines. The night ends with a 10 p.m. fireworks show at Cub Park.

On Sunday, there will be a community church service at 11 a.m. and a presentation of the Quilts of Valor to select veterans at 4 p.m. On Monday, there will be coffee and donuts free for all veterans at 7:30 a.m. and the closing ceremonies will begin at 11:30 a.m., which includes a 21-gun salute and Taps. The Moving Wall will be taken down at noon.

Every night at 8:30 p.m., names of the 869 Iowans killed or missing in the Vietnam War will be read, followed by Taps at 10 p.m. Sumner had three men killed in action: Allen Avery, Richard Meighan and Myron Poock.

Shuttle service will be provided Friday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the memorial will include handicap parking.
WATERLOO  A farming initiative is calling for 100 veterans to help construct a seasonal high tunnel system in Waterloo.

Hip Hop Farmers Youth Initiative, based in Cordova, Tennessee, is on a mission to build these structures  which resemble a greenhouse  to help communities in food deserts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as a low-income area where residents do not have easy access to a large grocery store or supermarket that sells healthy and affordable food.

The food desert challenge is asking for 100 veterans to help build the structure in record time. James Bunch, a USDA retiree and leader of Hip Hop Farmers, said hes invited the Guinness Book of World Records to be at the event July 29 at Antioch Baptist Church.

Hes estimating veterans will start building around 7 a.m. to beat the heat and finish constructing the tunnel in a matter of hours  in hopes of establishing a world record.

Bunch says Waterloo is one of three main projects  the other two are in Mississippi and Arkansas  sponsored by the USDA to educate disadvantaged youths, veterans, and community-based organizations about farming and agriculture through the use of seasonal high tunnel systems.

The tunnels will maximize the growing season to start in early spring until early December and protect plants from severe weather.

To learn more about the event, call (901) 315-6008.
 Flash

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on Tuesday, and pledged to strengthen coordination and connectivity between their countries.

During their meeting, Wang said China and Malaysia are strategic partners who enjoy mutually beneficial cooperation and a traditional friendship.

China-Malaysia relations have withstood the test of changes in the international landscape and their domestic situations, and maintained a sound and stable momentum of development, bringing benefit to the two countries and peoples, and contributing to peace and prosperity in the region and the world at large, Wang said.

China is willing to take the opportunity of the 10th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023 and the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2024 to set new directions, goals and priorities for the next-stage development of bilateral ties, Wang said.

The Chinese side stands ready to strengthen bilateral cooperation in connectivity, digital economy, green development, and agriculture with Malaysia, Wang said, adding that it encourages and supports Chinese enterprises to invest and start businesses in Malaysia, helping accelerate the industrialization process in the country.

In the face of the changing and turbulent international situation, China is willing to work with Malaysia to strengthen solidarity and collaboration to provide more stability for the world, Wang said.

He said China is willing to strengthen the synergy with Malaysia, join hands to move towards building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, and update their friendship with new essence of the times, so that the two countries will make their respective contributions to the cause of human progress.

For his part, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia is the first ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country establishing diplomatic ties with China, and has seen fruitful results from bilateral practical cooperation and smooth progress in major projects.

Malaysia is willing to deepen bilateral cooperation and connectivity in various fields, and explore an active role in the pan-Asian railway cooperation, he said.

Ismail Sabri said he welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia and conduct cooperation in 5G and other high-tech areas, helping the country realize innovative, inclusive and sustainable development.

Malaysia is willing to work with China to enhance communication and coordination on multilateral affairs, jointly cope with food security and other pressing global challenges, and jointly safeguard peace, stability, fairness and justice, he said.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

Wang is in Malaysia for an official visit on July 11 and 12, the final leg of his Asia tour which has taken him to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Mango expands in Europe: new stores in Belgium, adds new concept in Vienna By



Sandra Halliday Published

Jul 13, 2022

Spains is ramping up its expansion plans in Europe and this week has announced key initiatives in both Belgium and Austria.







Mango has been expanding in Belgium





The company has recently opened two stores in Brussels and will open another this summer in Liege, the first in the country to incorporate the companys New concept. Meanwhile, over the next 12 months, it expects to open three new stores, and more than 10 corners in the country.



The Liege store opens next month and will have 300 sq m of womenswear selling space, as well as being the first store in the country to incorporate the new Mediterranean-inspired concept.

Mango is also getting ready to refurbish its store located at 268 Chaussee de Bruxelles in the city of Waterloo this summer, which will have 220 sq m of selling space, also focused on womesnwear.



The company currently has 84 stores in Belgium and the addition of the New med concept to the country is key. It comes as the firm rolls out that concept  which envisages Mango stores as a Mediterranean house with different rooms  across Europe and beyond.



As of this week, the company has begun renovating its flagship store in Kaertnerstrasse, Vienna. Again, it will be the first store in Austria to be made-over under the new concept.



One of the companys most important Austrian locations, it will reopen in October as an 888 sq m store with a transformed facade to give more space and visibility to the store window. The company will also replace the lighting, flooring and furniture to adapt them to the Mediterranean culture and style.



When it reopens, it will offer the full Mango line-up, including menswear and kidswear, as well as its womenswear.



The company has previously added the concept to flagship stores in New York, Paris, London and Barcelona.
Weather Alert

...Another Round of Thunderstorms This Week... * Another surge of monsoon moisture will bring back thunderstorms to the region this week, with the best chances being Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. * Each day Tuesday through Thursday, most areas will have a 20 to 40 percent chance of seeing a storm. Storms are most likely in the afternoons and evenings, but overnight showers and storms cannot be ruled out. * Impacts will range from lightning, new fire starts, and strong outflow winds with blowing dust, to periods of heavy rainfall and flash flooding. It is too soon to project which hazards will be dominant so be prepared for any of these scenarios. * Ensure you have a way of receiving weather alerts or monitoring radar on your phone. If you have outdoor activities or projects planned this week, try to get them done in the mornings before storms develop. If you live in a flash flood prone area, especially near a burn scar, be ready to act quickly if heavy rainfall occurs.
CRP Subsea has been awarded a contract by Seaway 7, the renewables business unit of Subsea 7, to provide 140 NjordGuard cable protection systems and bellmouths for

ChangFang

and

Xidao

(CFXD) offshore wind farms located off the west coast of Taiwan.



The cable protection systems and bellmouths are designed to protect the inter-array and export power cables for 62 wind turbines and horizontal directional drilling (HDD) conduit cables, from fatigue damage due to the wave and current forces in the region.



Production of the 140 NjordGuard systems and bellmouths will take place in CRP Subseas manufacturing facility in the North West of England. Project engineering works will commence immediately, with project commissioning split into two phases scheduled for completion in 2022 and 2023.



Andy Smith, Global CPS Manager at CRP Subsea said: We are delighted CRP Subsea was awarded a major contract to supply NjordGuard cable protection systems for Seaway 7. By collaborating with our customers and understanding their technical requirements, we can support them and create ease of doing business by enhancing their projects.



NjordGuard is an integrated cable protection system designed and developed to protect offshore wind farm power cables in wind turbine generators and offshore substation platforms. According to CRP Subsea, it can be assembled on a vessel to allow speedy installation, and, the systems highly abrasion resistant API 17L certified Uraduct material enables it to travel over the seabed without damage, extending cable life. It also outlines that this facilitates easier installation, reuse, and removal without diver and ROV intervention, optimising efficiency and maximising safety.



Located 13-15 km off the coast of Changhua County in Taiwan, the

ChangFang

and

Xidao

(CFXD) wind farms has a planned capacity of 595MW. CFXD reached Financial Close in February 2020 and construction of the project is progressing as planned. The project obtained grid allocation in 2018. It is expected to start commercial operations in Q1 2024.

The wind farm is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Taiwan Life Insurance, TransGlobe Life and Global Power Synergy Public Company. CSBC Corporation, Taiwan is EPCI contractor for the two sites.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide,

click here

.
When Hurricane Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast in August 2021, it pummeled communities across the state, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Vulnerable older adults struggled in its aftermath, as they often do when natural disasters strike.

AARP Foundation moved quickly to provide help through local organizations that know best the needs of their communities. One grant went to support the work of SBP, an innovative Louisiana-based nonprofit that aims to shrink the time between disaster and recovery for families affected by natural disasters.

SBP initially used the funds to rapidly rebuild 10 homes for 14 older adults with low income living in Southeast Louisiana. Six of the rebuilt homes were FORTIFIED, meaning their roofs and construction were reinforced against high winds, hail, hurricanes, and tornados. When the next storm hits, these homes will be fully protected. With the rebuilding of another two homes under way this past spring and significant grant funds remaining, SBP is on track to far surpass its initial goal of rebuilding 12 to 15 homes.

One of the older adults SBP was able to help was Frederick Lonzo, a World War II vet who turns 99 this year. Frederick served his country in the most dangerous circumstances as an ammunition runner and delivery driver from 1943 to 1945. Upon returning from the war, he became the first Black union representative at Boeing.

Frederick and his wife of 49 years bought their home in New Orleans in 1969 and raised eight children there. Frederick continues to live there today. After the hurricane severely damaged his home, he used his small savings to hire a contractor to repair the damage. Halfway through the job, the contractor disappeared, taking the materials, tools, and the deposit Frederick had given him.

Luckily, SBP was able to quickly rebuild Fredericks home with funds from the AARP Foundation grant and support from the World War II Museum. SBP installed new flooring, insulation, drywall, and electric wiring and repainted the whole house. They also helped him secure an additional $2,720 from FEMA. On May 14, SBP hosted a Welcome Home party for him and his family, complete with the presentation of an American flag from the U.S. Navy that now hangs on his porch.

Marian Chauvin also received assistance from SBP after her home sustained severe damage from Hurricane Ida. A longtime resident of Houma, Louisiana, Marian lives with her three daughters, two young grandsons, and husband, Trent. During Hurricane Ida, her roof partially collapsed, the floor was damaged, and her homes ceilings and walls fell down. After the Chauvins took on debt to pay for a new roof, they reached out to SBP for help.

To make matters worse, the family was living in a FEMA trailer at the back of their property when Marians daughter, Shelbie, was diagnosed with a type of cancer that had an extremely poor prognosis, so Marian took on the responsibility of caring for her two young grandsons. After learning Marians story, SBP immediately began work to help her recover. They provided new insulation, drywall, and flooring throughout the house and repaired the porch and exterior of the house.

On March 11, 2022, SBP gathered a group of friends and neighbors to officially welcome the Chauvin family back home.

AARP Foundation cant prevent the next disaster from happening. But our grants can help the most vulnerable older adults bounce back from the next calamity more quickly and with greater ease than they otherwise would. And thats certainly something worth striving for.
Care cant be full time

These services are limited to fewer than seven days a week or less than eight hours a day for up to 21 days.

Medicare also covers medical supplies and up to 80 percent of the cost of medical equipment, such as a wheelchair or walker, if a doctor certifies that it is medically necessary.

Home health care has many benefits: It is usually less expensive and more convenient for patients and can shorten their stay in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. It also can help them recuperate faster. Medicare beneficiaries have no copayments for approved services.

"Not only can home health care help to avoid accidents and falls, but it can increase your loved one's happiness, says Gretchen Jacobson, associate director at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It's a popular benefit: From 2002 to 2019, the number of Medicare beneficiaries using home health grew by more than 30 percent, according to a Commonwealth Fund report. There was a 6 percent decline in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, but even that year, there were nearly 2.9 million home health users among beneficiaries, and about 8.9 million home health claims.

How to qualify for benefits

To ensure that your loved one can take maximum advantage of Medicare home health benefits, review these important requirements:

Patients must be under a doctor's care, and the doctor must issue a plan of care that certifies the patient needs one or more of the services listed above. In addition to certifying that need, a plan of care specifies the type of health care professional who should provide the services, how often the services will be provided, any needed medical equipment, and the results the doctor expects. The doctor and the home health team review and recertify the plan of care at least once every 60 days.

Patients must see their doctor in person less than 90 days before or 30 days after home health services begin.

A Medicare-certified agency must deliver Medicare home health services. Agency personnel will coordinate the services the doctor orders. For help finding a certified agency near you, Medicare offers a tool called Home Health Compare on its website.

Types of services provided

Different kinds of home health care professionals deliver different services.

Registered nurses or licensed practical nurses under the supervision of a registered nurse deliver skilled nursing care.

This includes:

Changing wound dressings

Giving injections, intravenous drugs or tube feedings

intravenous drugs or tube feedings Teaching about prescription drugs and diabetes care

Some of the tasks home health aides do include:

Assessing pain

Checking blood pressure, breathing, heart rate and temperature

breathing, heart rate and temperature Checking the safety of the home

of the home Ensuring medications are being taken correctly

are being taken correctly Monitoring food and drink intake

and drink intake Teaching patients and caregivers about the plan of care and how to carry it out

Professional therapists provide specific kinds of services, including physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.

Social workers provide medical social services.

"Your doctor or other health care provider may recommend you get services more often than Medicare covers," Medicare's website says. Or they may recommend services that Medicare doesn't cover. If this happens, you may have to pay some or all of the costs. Ask questions so you understand why your doctor is recommending certain services and whether Medicare will pay for them.

Medicare home health benefits do not cover full-time skilled nursing care. They also do not cover drugs, housekeeping, meal delivery or transportation.

To find out whether an item, service or test is covered under home health benefits, check Medicare's home health services page or download its What's Covered app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

"Most family caregivers aren't familiar with Medicare, says Amy Goyer, AARP family caregiving expert. It's important that caregivers learn what it covers and what it does not. Part of our role as caregivers is to advocate for our loved ones."

Editor's note: This article was originally publised Oct. 11, 2019. It has been updated with more recent information on home health use by Medicare beneficiaries.

Jennifer J. Salopek has been a health care writer and communications strategist for more than 20 years. Her health care pieces have appeared in major outlets including The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @jsalopek.



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Shenandoah Art Destination

En espanol

Take a learning vacation and return home with more than just photos and memories. The options for hands-on training are as varied as the range of personal interests. Here are six engaging programs in locations around the U.S.  from painting to songwriting to ballroom dancing  that are guaranteed to give you precious new skills you can put to use long after the vacation is over.



Painting in Virginias Shenandoah Valley



Ready to try your hand at painting, sketching or printmaking? Whether youre a beginner who wants to learn the basics, an intermediate eager to pick up new techniques or a professional seeking fresh inspiration, the Art Vacations at the Shenandoah Art Destination provide all-inclusive retreats for artists of any ability in any medium. Near the historic town of Lexington, Virginia, in the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley, you can take individualized art courses in drawing, painting (all media) and printmaking. They take place in two studios and many inspiring plein air locations on the 10-acre property surrounded by scenic rolling hills. Owners Jan-Willem and Nancy Boer provide one-on-one instruction focusing on a different skill each day. From the weekend program to the 10-day intensive, these art-focused getaways, stimulate each participants creative spirit.

Dates: Weekend, four-day, six-day and 10-day programs run from April through October. All classes are full for 2022, but the 2023 schedule and updated rates will be available on the website in mid-November.

Cost: Single-occupancy rate for 2022 for the weekend program is $740; for four days, $1,050; for six days, $1,670, including lodging and all meals. A non-participating spouse/partner is welcome for an additional cost.

Ballroom Dancing at Sea



Strap on your dancing shoes and head out to sea on this eight-day cruise with Ballroom Dance San Diego. Hone your dance skills during group workshops offering an array of styles, including Latin, Argentine tango, hustle, swing and waltz. Take part in six group lessons offered by an award-winning pro, nightly hosted dancing to live music and plenty of opportunities for private lessons. Departing from San Diego, the cruise travels down Mexicos Pacific Coast, stopping in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, with three days at sea devoted to sharpening your newly acquired dance moves.

Dates: Jan. 28Feb. 4, 2023.

Cost: Starts at $1,500, per person, double occupancy, including cruise accommodations and all meals

Space Training in Alabama
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Fire crews fought a house fire Tuesday in a neighborhood in Southeast Albuquerque.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue Lt. Tom Ruiz said one firefighter was hospitalized for heat exhaustion but is in stable condition. He said there were no injuries to residents and the fire is under investigation.

Ruiz said AFR responded around 11:45 a.m. to a house fire in the 2900 block of San Diego SE, near Girard. He said they found a garage showing flames and smoke.

Ruiz said as AFR fought the blaze they heard explosions from the garage, due to propane tanks inside. He said firefighters exited the home and had the fire under control within 45 minutes.

Firefighter(s) stayed on scene for a significant amount of time to ensure that the fire was completely extinguished and was no longer a threat of extending to nearby homes, Ruiz said.
KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported destroying a Russian ammunition depot in southern Ukraine, resulting in a massive explosion captured on social media, while rescuers said the death toll from a weekend Russian strike in the countrys east grew to 45.

An overnight rocket strike targeted the depot in Russian-held Nova Kakhovka, the Ukrainian militarys southern command said. Nova Kakhovka is about 55 kilometers (35 miles) east of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, which is also occupied by Russian forces.

The precision of the strike suggested Ukrainian forces used U.S.-supplied multiple-launch High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. Ukraine indicated in recent days that it might launch a counteroffensive to reclaim territory in the south as Russia bombards the eastern Donbas region.

Russias Tass news agency offered a different account of the blast in Nova Kakhovka, saying that a mineral fertilizer storage facility exploded and that a market, hospital and houses were damaged. Some of the ingredients in fertilizer can be used for ammunition.

A satellite photo taken Tuesday and analyzed by The Associated Press showed significant damage. A huge crater gaped precisely where a large warehouse-like structure once stood.

Ukraine now has eight of the HIMAR systems, a truck-mounted missile launcher with high accuracy, and Washington has promised to send four more.

Explosions were reported late Tuesday in Luhansk, a city in the Donbas that has been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 2014, with videos posted on social media. A spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, said the Ukrainian army had dealt a massive blow to the air defense system in Luhansk, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. He said there was no word yet on any casualties. There was no immediate information from the Ukrainian government or military.

The occupiers have already felt what modern artillery is like, and their rear will not be safe anywhere on our land that they have occupied, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. They have felt that the operations of our intelligence officers for defending their homeland are of an order of magnitude greater than any of their special operations.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian shelling over the past 24 hours killed at least 16 civilians and wounded 48 more, Ukraines presidential office said in its Tuesday morning update. Cities and towns in five southeast regions came under Russian fire, the office said.

Nine civilians were killed and two more wounded in Donetsk province, which makes up half of the Donbas. Russian rocket attacks targeted the cities of Sloviansk and Toretsk, where a kindergarten was hit, the presidential office said.

The British military said Tuesday that Russia was continuing to make small, incremental gains in Donetsk, where heavy fighting led the provinces governor last week to urge its 350,000 remaining residents to move to safer places in western Ukraine.

The death toll from a Russian rocket attack that struck a Donetsk apartment building Saturday rose to 45, the emergency services agency said late Tuesday. It said workers found more bodies and also rescued nine people as they dug through the rubble of the five-story building in Chasiv Yar throughout the day.

Yet many in the Donbas, a fertile industrial region in eastern Ukraine consisting of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, refuse  or are unable  to flee, despite scores of civilians being killed and wounded each week.

In northeaster Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, and its surrounding region, Russian strikes hit residential buildings, killing four civilians and wounding nine, Ukrainian officials said.

The Russians continue their tactics of intimidating the peaceful population of the Kharkiv region, Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote Tuesday on Telegram.

Russian fire also struck the southern city of Mykolaiv on Tuesday morning, hitting residential buildings. Twelve people were wounded as the result of the Russian shelling, with some of the rockets hitting two medical facilities, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.

Air raid sirens sounded Tuesday in the western city of Lviv  the first daytime sirens there in over a week  and in other areas of Ukraine as Russian forces continued to make advances.

In eastern Luhansk, fighting continues near the villages on the administrative border with neighboring Donetsk, Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Russian army burns down everything in its way. The artillery barrage doesnt stop and sometimes continues for four to six hours on end, Haidai said.

The British Defense Ministrys intelligence briefing said Russia had seized the town of Hryhorivka and continued to push toward the Donetsk province cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russian forces are likely maintaining military pressure on Ukrainian forces whilst regrouping and reconstituting for further offensives in the near future, the intelligence briefing said.

However, Russia may be relying more heavily on private military contractors, like the Wagner Group, to avoid a general mobilization, the British ministry said. Western officials have accused Wagner of using mercenaries to fight in Africa and elsewhere.

In other developments:

 The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit Iran next week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will travel to Tehran next Tuesday to attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, a format for Syria-related talks. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday that Russia was seeking hundreds of surveillance drones from Iran, including weapons-capable ones, for use in Ukraine.

 Russian and Turkish military representatives plan to meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the transport of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said. Pyotr Ilyichyov, head of the ministrys department for international organizations, told Russian news agency Interfax that representatives of Ukraine, as well as U.N. (officials) in the role of observers are also expected to take part in the talks. Ilyichyov reiterated that Moscow was ready to assist in ensuring the navigation of foreign commercial ships for the export of Ukrainian grain.

 Germanys justice minister said investigating war crimes in Ukraine would likely take many years but he was confident it ultimately will be successful. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said there will probably be hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of pieces of evidence that have to be sifted through, documented and evaluated. The German federal prosecutors office said in early March that it had started looking into possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Buschmann spoke Tuesday in Prague, where he and his European Union counterparts were meeting.

___

Jon Gambrell in Lviv, Ukraine, and Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
SANTA FE, N.M.  Physicians and researchers are urging New Mexico legislators to allow the use of psychedelic mushrooms in mental health therapy aimed at overcoming depression, anxiety, psychological trauma and alcoholism.

A legislative panel on Tuesday listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms.

Oregon is so far the only state to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin.

Recent studies indicate psilocybin could be useful in the treatment of major depression, including mental suffering among terminally ill patients, and for substance abuse including alcoholism, with low risks of addiction or overdose under medical supervision.

Physician Lawrence Leeman, a medicine professor at the University of New Mexico, urged legislators to move forward without waiting for federal decriminalization or regulatory approval to expand responsible therapies using doses of psilocybin.

Leeman and other advocates outlined emerging psilocybin protocols, involving six-hour supervised sessions and extensive discussions about the experience in subsequent counseling. He warned legislators that public interest is spawning illicit, underground experimentation without safeguards.

I do think there is a lot of promise from these medications, said Leeman, who also directs a program providing prenatal and maternity care to women with substance abuse problems. If this does go ahead, lets do this really safely, lets make sure we have people who are well trained (to administer the psychedelics)  Lets make sure that people have counselors to see afterward.

It was unclear whether any New Mexico lawmakers will seek legislation for the medical use of psychedelics, which are still federally illegal. The Democratic-led Legislature convenes its next regular session in January 2023.

The study of psychedelics for therapy has made inroads in states led by Democrats and Republicans alike, including Hawaii, Connecticut, Texas, Utah and Oklahoma. And psilocybin has been decriminalized in the cities of Washington and Denver as well as Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Oakland and Santa Cruz in California.

In several states, military veterans are helping to persuade lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use in addressing post-traumatic stress.

Currently in New Mexico, lawful access to psilocybin-assisted therapy is available mostly through clinical trials.

Yale University psychiatrist Gerald Valentine said that leaves out people with low incomes and severe afflictions. He said the University of New Mexico is expanding its expertise in psychedelics-based therapies, and that a supportive environment can be found in communities such as Santa Fe, known as a progressive hub for healing and the arts.

These questions are starting to be answered about who might benefit from this therapy, Valentine said. I just feel very fortunate to be in a position to really bring this forth into real world situations.

Classic psychedelics include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and ayahuasca. Plant-based psychedelics have long been used in indigenous cultures around the world.

At least one New Mexico church group uses hallucinogenic ayahuasca tea from the Amazon as a sacrament. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision ensured access to ayahuasca imports for a temple on the outskirts of Santa Fe affiliated with the Brazil-based Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal.
LAS CRUCES, N.M.  A New Mexico police officer got emotional on the witness stand Tuesday at his former professional partners murder trial when recalling the danger that he believed he faced in trying to arrest a man who died in a 2020 struggle with officers.

Las Cruces Officer Andrew Tuton said he believed Antonio Valenzuela had a gun and was reaching for it during his struggle with Tuton and Officer Christopher Smelser, who is charged with murder in the death. In the end, though, no gun was found on Valenzuela.

Tuton, who paused to gather himself when describing the dangers in the encounter, said he became concerned about a gun when he felt one of Valenzuelas hands moving around. I knew in that moment I was going to get shot, Tuton said.

Smelser eventually put Valenzuela into a chokehold that prosecutors alleged gradually ended his life. Smelser was later fired.

A medical examiner had concluded Valenzuela died from asphyxial injuries due to physical restraint  and that methamphetamine in his system was a contributing factor in his death.

The autopsy found Valenzuela had hemorrhaging in his eyes and eyelids, which is indicative of asphyxiation and may occur when the neck or chest is compressed. His neck had a deep muscle hemorrhage, his Adams apple was crushed, and there was swelling in his brain.

The struggle grew from a traffic stop of a truck in which Valenzuela was a passenger. Valenzuela, who was wanted on a warrant for a probation violation, bolted from officers once he exited the truck.

When catching up with Valenzuela in a dirt lot next to a church, officers took him to the ground, struggled to handcuff him, struck him with their hands and shot at him with a Taser.

Then Smelser used the chokehold. Once Valenzuela stopped moving and was handcuffed, Tuton put one of his knees on his back as Valenzuela lay on his stomach. Smelser then took Tutons place, putting a knee on the back of Valenzuela, who was unconscious.

At one point during the encounter, Smelser profanely told Valenzuela that he was going to choke you out, bro.

Tuton also said Valenzuela had reached for pockets on his pants, where police found an all-in-one pliers set that contained a knife that folded out. The defense characterized it as a knife, while prosecutors called it a tool.

When Tuton was getting emotional during his trial testimony, prosecutor Zachary Jones commented that he didnt remember the officer getting so upset at an earlier hearing in the case.

Under questioning from Smelsers attorney, Amy Orlando, Tuton denied he was faking his emotional reaction.

Orlando had previously told jurors that officers repeatedly urged Valenzuela to stop resisting and that the force used on Valenzuela before the chokehold didnt faze him.

Orlando said physical restraint alone didnt kill Valenzuela, explaining that the autopsy found he also experienced the toxic effects of methamphetamine use.

Valenzuelas death led to Smelsers termination and a settlement in which the city agreed to pay Valenzuelas family $6.5 million and ban the use of chokeholds by its police officers.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A day after police reform advocates and family members asked the state attorney general to conduct an independent investigation into a fire that sparked during a SWAT standoff  killing a teenage boy  the Albuquerque chief of police added his voice to the request.

Chief Harold Medina sent a letter to Attorney General Hector Balderas on Tuesday, asking his office to conduct an independent review of the case.

While Albuquerque Fire Rescue is still investigating how the blaze started, Medina said APD believes the device used by tactical officers may have ignited the fire.

Out of an abundance of caution, I am requesting the assistance of your office to conduct a review of our handling of the incident but also to seek an independent analysis of the deployment and the use of this specific device, Medina wrote in the letter.

SWAT team members threw tri-chamber flameless CS grenades into a Southeast Albuquerque home after they said 15-year-old Brett Rosenau and 27-year-old Qiaunt Kelley refused to exit. The house caught fire in the early morning hours of July 7, and when firefighters entered they found Rosenau dead.

An autopsy showed that Rosenau died from smoke inhalation.

Kelley was wanted on a warrant for a parole violation and Medina said he was wanted for questioning in relation to the June 25 shooting death of Leonard Fresquez, a May 5 incident where police exchanged fire with a suspect but no one was hit, and an armed robbery that is being investigated by APD and a federal agency. He has not been charged in those incidents or in relation to the fire or standoff.

Kelley was treated for burns and is in the custody of the Corrections Department.

Both APD and Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office SWAT team members participated in the standoff.

Rosenau was Black and his death has spurred protests  including from those chanting Black Lives Matter  and attention from national media outlets.

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Rosenaus family asked the Attorney Generals Office to investigate. In response to questions about that request, Balderas said his office will offer assistance to ensure that appropriate actions were taken during this law enforcement operation.

Balderass spokeswoman on Tuesday reiterated that statement when asked about whether his office will conduct the review.

On Tuesday, Mayor Tim Keller also spoke with Balderas about his office conducting an independent review.

The tragic loss of a loving son and brother for one family, and the loss of a home for another is causing them and our community unimaginable pain, said Mayor Keller. For our community and department to move forward, a thorough and independent assessment into what happened and what can be done to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again is imperative.

Letter to Attorney General Balderas by Albuquerque Journal on Scribd
Prescription drug bottles have them. So do over-the-counter bottles of pain reliever and sleep aids.

Pods of laundry detergent have them, as do drain cleaner, bleach and many other household items. You can buy them for your toilets, cupboards and electrical outlets.

So why arent medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries in New Mexico uniformly using child-resistant packaging to keep high-potency cannabis gummies from being mistaken for candy?

A 2-year-old girl was taken to a Rio Rancho hospital late July 1 after eating several cannabis-infused gummies. The girls mother told police she left a package of pot gummies in her purse on the couch when she got up to use the bathroom. When she returned, she discovered the child had eaten three to five gummies, each containing 100 milligrams of THC.

The child was last reported to be in serious, but stable condition. Her mother, 33-year-old Amanda Ulibarri, was arrested on a felony charge of child abuse.

Its not the first time a New Mexico child has been taken to the hospital for ingesting THC-infused candies since recreational cannabis sales became legal here April 1.

Just three days into legal pot, a student at Algodones Elementary School took THC-infused candies to school and shared them with 14 classmates. The Bernalillo Public Schools superintendent said the student didnt know the candy had THC so no charges were filed.

The third- and fourth-grade students ate what looked like green apple sour belts, meant to mimic candy or fruit rolls. Some kids reported feeling lethargic, others nauseous. All were taken to a hospital where they were examined, found to be in stable condition, and released.

Im a little bit saddened by the fact we didnt predict this was going to happen, Superintendent Matthew Montano told the Rio Rancher Observer.

Exactly  with the operative we being the Legislature and governor who held a special session solely to pass the Cannabis Regulation Act, and the regulators entrusted with overseeing the industry.

These are just two instances we know of where children have consumed candy-like cannabis products recently. How many incidents have not been reported is anyones guess.

The CRA lays out packaging and labeling requirements, although it doesnt set a timetable for enforcement other than cannabis products must be properly labeled and packaged before sale or transport. The acts requirements include child-resistant packaging and labeling designed not to appeal to children.

A check shows some dispensaries follow the guidelines, some dont. Urban Wellness uses child-proof caps on bottles of products; Ultra Health, the states largest cannabis company, uses resealable plastic bags in its Albuquerque stores.

Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, one of the architects of the Cannabis Regulation Act, says one of the issues is New Mexico is in a regulatory transition.

Prior to April 1, medical cannabis was regulated by the state Department of Health. The Cannabis Control Division of the states Regulation and Licensing Department issued new rules for packaging that took effect when recreational sales began. Davis says the law and regulations do not provide clear guidance on what is child-proof enough, and the understaffed agency does not have the capacity to pre-approve every package option.

Heres a tip: a zip-top plastic bag isnt child-proof. A cursory internet search shows myriad child-proof cannabis packaging, which has been available for years and is in use in neighboring Colorado. Did anyone aboard N.M.s legalize-pot train do any homework on this at all?

Right now consumers get a mash-up of packaging as interpreted by individual cannabis licensees instead of uniform regulations that put public safety front and center. State regulators need to clear the haze ASAP, better define the standards, and require all cannabis licensees to adhere to the same packaging and labeling rules to keep the drug out of the hands of minors and minors out of the emergency room.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
GREENBELT, Md.  A sparkling landscape of baby stars. A foamy blue-and-orange view of a dying star. Five galaxies in a cosmic dance. The splendors of the universe glowed in a new batch of images released Tuesday from NASAs powerful new telescope.

The unveiling from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope began Monday at the White House with a sneak peek of the first shot  a jumble of distant galaxies that went deeper into the cosmos than humanity has ever seen.

Tuesdays releases showed parts of the universe seen by other telescopes. But Webbs sheer power, distant location from Earth and use of the infrared light spectrum showed them in a new light that scientists said was almost as much art as science.

Its the beauty, but also the story, NASA senior Webb scientist John Mather, a Nobel laureate, said after the reveal. Its the story of where did we come from?

And, he said, the more he looked at the images, the more he became convinced that life exists elsewhere in those thousands of stars and hundreds of galaxies.

With Webb, scientists hope to glimpse light from the first stars and galaxies that formed 13.7 billion years ago, just 100 million years from the universe-creating Big Bang. The telescope also will scan the atmospheres of alien worlds for possible signs of life.

Every image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a view  that weve never seen before, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday, rhapsodizing over images showing the formation of stars, devouring black holes.

Webbs use of the infrared light spectrum allows the telescope to penetrate the cosmic dust and see faraway ligh

t from the corners of the universe, scientists said.

Weve really changed the understanding of our universe, said European Space Agency director general Josef Aschbacher.

The European and Canadian space agencies joined NASA in building the telescope, which was launched in December after years of delays and cost overruns. Webb is considered the successor to the highly successful, but aging, Hubble Space Telescope.

Some of Hubbles most stunning images have been shots of the Carina nebula, one of the bright stellar nurseries in the sky, about 7,600 light-years away. Webb project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan decided to focus one of Webbs early gazes on that location because he knew it would be the frameable beauty shot. The result was an image of a colorful landscape of bubbles and cavities where stars were being born.

This is art, Pontoppidan said. I really wanted to have that landscape. It has that contrast. We have the blue. We have golden. Theres dark. Theres bright. Theres just a sharp image.

On tap for release Thursday: A close-up of Jupiter that shows one of its faint rings and a few of its moons, he said.

Also among the new shots:

 Southern Ring nebula, which is sometimes called eight-burst. Images show a dying star with a foamy edge of escaping gas. Its about 2,500 light-years away. One light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. This is the end for this star, but the beginning for other stars, Pontoppidan said. As it dies, it throws off parts that seed the galaxy with elements used for new stars, he said.

 Stephans Quintet is five galaxies in a cosmic dance that was first seen 225 years ago in the constellation Pegasus. It includes a black hole that scientists said showed material swallowed by this sort of cosmic monster. Webb has just given us a new, unprecedented 290-million-year-old view of what this Quintet is up to, Cornell University astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger, who was not part of the Webb team, said in an email.

 A giant planet called WASP-96b is about the size of Saturn and is 1,150 light-years away. A gas planet, its not a candidate for life elsewhere, but a key target for astronomers. Instead of an image, the telescope used its infrared detectors to look at the chemical composition of the planets atmosphere. It showed water vapor in the super-hot planets atmosphere and even found the chemical spectrum of neon, showing clouds where astronomers thought there were none.

It moves you. This is so so beautiful, Thomas Zurbuchen, chief of NASAs science missions, said after the event. Nature is beautiful. To me, this is about beauty.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  As national political groups continue to set their sights  and their checkbooks  on New Mexicos race for governor, abortion is shaping up to be a prominent issue.

The latest salvos were fired this week, when a political committee with ties to a national Democratic group launched a TV ad in New Mexico targeting Republican Mark Ronchettis stance on abortion.

The group, called A Stronger New Mexico, is affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association and is spending about $75,000 to launch the political ad on several different Albuquerque-based network stations over the course of this week, according to public filings.

Specifically, the 30-second ad cites Ronchettis support for the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that made abortion legal nationwide, while also saying governors will play a key role in setting state-by-state policies.

While Ronchetti said after the Supreme Court ruling was announced he would support banning abortion after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and in pregnancies that put a womans life at risk, the ad says Ronchetti previously maintained life should be protected at all stages.

In response, Ronchetti quickly launched a new TV ad of his own, describing the attack against him as a false advertisement.

The former KRQE-TV meteorologist also said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat whos seeking reelection, has extreme views on abortion since she opposes any abortion restrictions.

A Ronchetti campaign spokesman also accused Lujan Grisham, a former DGA chairwoman, of being behind the Democratic-backed ad despite the fact independent political committees are not allowed to directly coordinate with campaigns.

This governor clearly cant run on her own record, so instead she resorts to lying about Marks positions, said Ronchetti campaign spokesman Enrique Knell. But voters are smart enough to see through these distortions and to understand just how extreme she is on abortion.

He also said Ronchettis stance aligns more closely with New Mexico values.

But Lujan Grisham campaign spokeswoman Kendall Witmer described Ronchettis anti-abortion stance as far from moderate.

Mark Ronchettis misleading abortion ad is evidence he is willing to say or do anything to further his vanity-driven campaign while plotting to pass a Mississippi-style abortion ban to punish women and their doctors, Witmer told the Journal.

Mississippis 15-week abortion ban led to the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling last month, as the states law was challenged by an abortion provider that has since set up a new clinic in Las Cruces.

Abortion services are still being provided in New Mexico despite the ruling, since lawmakers last year passed legislation  signed by Lujan Grisham  repealing a long-dormant abortion ban. The governor also recently issued an executive order that is aimed at protecting abortion patients and providers from lawsuits and arrest warrants issued in other states.

While there are still nearly four months to go until Election Day on Nov. 8, the Democratic-backed ad is the latest sign New Mexicos race for governor is drawing both national attention and financial investments.

Already, a political committee affiliated with the Republican Governors Association has launched TV ads of its own targeting the spending of Lujan Grisham from a taxpayer-funded account on food, alcohol and other expenses.

A Stronger New Mexico, the political committee affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association, was established in April and did not spend any money during the primary election cycle in which Lujan Grisham was unopposed.

But the group got a $50,000 donation from a political committee with a similar name  New Mexico Strong  in May.

New Mexico Strong is now inactive, but spent hefty sums of money in the states 2018 and 2020 election cycles backing Republicans and moderate Democrats.

That political committee received its money from oil giant Chevron, which in recent years has given hefty sums of money to both the Republican and Democratic governors groups.

A DGA spokeswoman previously said the group plans to spend $2.5 million in New Mexico on this years gubernatorial race, part of a $75 million total ad buy in seven battleground states.
China, Malaysia pledge to strengthen coordination, connectivity

Xinhua) 08:56, July 13, 2022

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here on Tuesday, and pledged to strengthen coordination and connectivity between their countries.

During their meeting, Wang said China and Malaysia are strategic partners who enjoy mutually beneficial cooperation and a traditional friendship.

China-Malaysia relations have withstood the test of changes in the international landscape and their domestic situations, and maintained a sound and stable momentum of development, bringing benefit to the two countries and peoples, and contributing to peace and prosperity in the region and the world at large, Wang said.

China is willing to take the opportunity of the 10th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023 and the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2024 to set new directions, goals and priorities for the next-stage development of bilateral ties, Wang said.

The Chinese side stands ready to strengthen bilateral cooperation in connectivity, digital economy, green development, and agriculture with Malaysia, Wang said, adding that it encourages and supports Chinese enterprises to invest and start businesses in Malaysia, helping accelerate the industrialization process in the country.

In the face of the changing and turbulent international situation, China is willing to work with Malaysia to strengthen solidarity and collaboration to provide more stability for the world, Wang said.

He said China is willing to strengthen the synergy with Malaysia, join hands to move towards building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, and update their friendship with new essence of the times, so that the two countries will make their respective contributions to the cause of human progress.

For his part, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia is the first ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country establishing diplomatic ties with China, and has seen fruitful results from bilateral practical cooperation and smooth progress in major projects.

Malaysia is willing to deepen bilateral cooperation and connectivity in various fields, and explore an active role in the pan-Asian railway cooperation, he said.

Ismail Sabri said he welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia and conduct cooperation in 5G and other high-tech areas, helping the country realize innovative, inclusive and sustainable development.

Malaysia is willing to work with China to enhance communication and coordination on multilateral affairs, jointly cope with food security and other pressing global challenges, and jointly safeguard peace, stability, fairness and justice, he said.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

Wang is in Malaysia for an official visit on July 11 and 12, the final leg of his Asia tour which has taken him to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
WASHINGTON  With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. and its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy.

The Kremlins main pillar of financial revenue  oil  has kept the Russian economy afloat despite export bans, sanctions and the freezing of central bank assets. Americas European allies plan to follow the Biden administration and take steps to stop their use of Russian oil by the end of this year, a move that some economists say could cause the supply of oil worldwide to drop and push prices as high as $200 a barrel.

Washington and its allies want to form a buyers cartel to force Russia to accept below-market prices for oil. Group of Seven leaders have tentatively agreed to back a cap on the price of Russian oil. Simply speaking, participating countries would agree to purchase the oil at lower-than-market price.

Russia has given no sign whether it might go along with this. The Kremlin also has the option of retaliating by taking its oil off the market, which would cause more turmoil.

High energy costs are already straining economies and threatening fissures among the countries opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine in February. President Joe Biden has seen his public approval slip to levels that hurt Democrats chances in the midterm elections, while leaders in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy are coping with the economic devastation caused by trying to move away from Russian natural gas and petroleum.

The idea behind the cap is to lower gas prices for consumers and help bring the war in Ukraine to a halt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently touring Indo-Pacific countries to lobby for the proposal. In Japan on Tuesday, Yellen and Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi said in a joint statement that the countries have agreed to explore the feasibility of price caps where appropriate.

However, China and India, two countries that have maintained business relationships with Russia during the war, will need to get on board. The administration is confident China and India, already buying from Russia at discounted prices, can be enticed to embrace the plan for price caps.

We think that ultimately countries around the world that are currently purchasing Russian oil will be very interested in paying as little as possible for that Russian oil, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told The Associated Press.

The Russian price cap plan has support among some leading economic thinkers. Harvard economist Jason Furman tweeted that if the plan works, it would be a win-win: maximizing damage to the Russian war machine while minimizing damage to the rest of the world. And David Wessel at the Brookings Institution said an  unpleasant alternative  is not attempting the price cap plan.

If a price cap is not implemented, oil prices will almost certainly spike due to a European Union decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia. The EU also plans to ban insuring and financing the maritime transport of Russian oil to third parties by the end of the year.

Without a price cap mechanism to reduce some Russian revenues, there would be a greater risk that some Russian supply comes off the market. That could lead to higher prices, which would increase prices for Americans, Adeyemo said.

A June Barclays report warns that with the EU oil embargo and other restrictions in place, Russian oil could rise to $150 per barrel or even $200 per barrel if most of its sea-borne exports are disrupted.

Brent crude on Tuesday was trading just under $100 per barrel.

James Hamilton, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, said garnering the participation of China and India will be important to enforcing any price cap plan.

Its an international diplomatic challenge on how you get people to agree. Its one thing if you get the U.S. to stop buying oil, but if India and China continue to buy at elevated prices, theres no impact on Russian revenues, Hamilton told the AP.

The less revenue Russia gets from selling oil, the less money they have to send these bombs on Ukraine, he said.

Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, said during a Monday news briefing that if it turns out that countries are imposing their own price cap and it is a substantial denial of revenue to Russia in terms of their ability to sell oil, that is not the failure of sanctions. Thats actually the success of economic pressure because it is driving down revenues for Moscow.

One possibility is that Russia could retaliate and take its oil off the market completely.

In that case, the main question is will countries have enough time to find alternatives to prevent massive price increases, said Christiane Baumeister, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who studies the dynamics of energy markets.

With five months until the end of the year, when EU bans begin to take effect, a Russian price cap plan would likely need to be in place and operating effectively to avoid further spikes in gas prices that have frustrated U.S. drivers. Biden has warned that high gas prices this summer were the cost of stopping Putin, but prices could climb to new records and lead to economic and political pain for the president.

Without the price cap, if the EU import ban goes into effect together with the insurance ban, Baumeister said, the impacts will be passed onto consumers through gasoline prices.

___

Follow APs coverage of Russias war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Some of Jim Griegos fondest memories are correlated with food.

Growing up, his aunt and uncle worked in the industry.

Like many others, food was at the center of memories and family.

After a career working with government contracting, Griego had a mid-life crisis.

His job wasnt fulfilling any more, so he turned to culinary arts and began classes in 2009 at Central New Mexico Community College.

By 2012, he graduated and was ready to showcase his talent.

On March 20, Griego got a gig of a lifetime as he was hired as the executive chef for the Albuquerque Isotopes.

On nongame days, Griego is busy planning for events and new creations.

For home games, Griego doesnt remain in the kitchen.

Im always seen on the concourse, he says. I like to be out where the people are. I like to see what people are doing with the food.

Griego, who was born and raised in Albuquerque and graduated from Sandia High School, has worked a handful of jobs in the culinary world.

Hes made a goal of learning all aspects of the industry.

His stint at Sandia Resort and Casino was where he learned more of restaurant management.

Then he learned more about Asian food during his time at PF Changs.

Before he was hired at the Isotopes, he was an executive chef for Presbyterian Hospital, where he worked on finding the right food for patients.

With food, you can help people healthy, he says. I knew I could make comfort food and make people relax. I worked with patients on what they would like to eat. Hospital food has its stereotype; I tried to change that.

During his downtime, Griego volunteers with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing.

The national organization brings a high-quality, full-spectrum fly fishing program to an ever-expanding number of disabled active military service personnel across the Veterans Affairs health care system, in military hospitals and the Warrior Transition Command.

I wanted to get back to the people, he says. This is why I continue to get out to help in any way I can.

Working with the Isotopes, Griego not only feels support, but a freedom to be daring with his creations.

While he makes special menus for events and for the press box, hes also thinking of what the Isotopes fans would like.

Ive put a wild game sausage cart on the concourse, he says. New Mexico is a big outdoor sportsman community. What would be better is to offer exotic types of meat. I have alligator, duck, rattlesnake, elk and rabbit down there.

Then John Traub, Isotopes general manager, challenged Griego to create a sandwich with a wow factor.

Luckily for Griego, the I-Chee-Wah-Wah Barbeque Sandwich was living in his head.

A mixture of pulled pork and green chile, he says. Lots of green chile. It lived in my mind for awhile and Im always looking for flavor profiles working together.

Of course, every concoction doesnt make it to the main stage.

Green chile works with a lot of things, Griego says. One that doesnt is ice cream. It never goes together. Ive been working on making something with yak and somehow reinventing the chile dog. These will take time and have many trials.

While Griego enjoys the fruits of his labor, its the behind-the-scenes work that has to be impeccable in order to have success on game day.

On any given day, Griego oversees that the products and food are all in place for the day.

Because there is a lot of catering done at Isotopes Park, thats an added pressure. Of course, there are always curveballs.

During a game, I have four or five food carts, he says. Then there are the food stands. The process that takes the longest is figuring out where everything needs to be. Everything has to be in certain areas at certain times. Once we get done with that, something pops up to make the day that much crazier. I feel like Im much more the organizer on game days because all the prep work has been done.

Griego also wants to make his mark and bring succulent dishes to the guests.

He finds peace in traveling the world and tasting and learning about other cuisine. One idea he wants to bring to fruition is paella.

I cant get the perfect crust on the outside, he says. I wanted to bring paella to the suites and offer it to the suite clientele.

When it comes to the go-to entree for the chef on the go, its simple.

Chicken tenders and rice, he says. I like chicken tenders because I can walk around the kitchen or the concourse eating them. Its about meals on the go for me.

Isotopes I-Chee-Wah-Wah Barbeque Sandwich

Serves 6

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but when that creamy nacho cheese sauce meets the spicy green chile and the savory pulled pork with the tang of barbecue sauce  wow, its magic. So good and spicy, youll say I-Chee-Wah-Wah! This recipe is a scaled-down version of what is served at the ball park. Enjoy it at home or even better  enjoy one as you watch the Isotopes play!  Jim Griego, Albuquerque Isotopes executive chef

6 soft hamburger buns (brioche buns would work well)

Pulled pork (from your favorite recipe)

Spicy barbecue sauce (purchased or your favorite recipe)

Chopped New Mexico green chile

Nacho cheese sauce (purchased or your favorite recipe)

Chile relleno (recipe below)

1 tablespoon butter

To make the sandwiches: Lightly toast split hamburger buns in a pan with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Place a generous helping of warm pulled pork on the bottom of each bun and layer a few teaspoons of barbecue sauce, chopped green chile and a pool of warm nacho cheese.

Add a freshly cooked, crispy, chile relleno on top. Finally pull it all together with the toasted top bun. Make sure you have napkins handy.

Chile Relleno

6 New Mexico chile peppers, charred and peeled with seeds removed

 pound Monterey Jack cheese cut into 6 strips

1 cup whole milk

 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil

 cup all-purpose flour, plus  cup for breading

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Stuff peeled and seeded chile peppers with strips of Monterey Jack cheese and place in freezer for 10 minutes.

Combine the milk, oil,  cup flour, baking soda, baking powder, and garlic salt in a medium bowl.

Place the  cup flour in a separate dish.

Pour vegetable oil (about 1 inch in depth) into a frying pan, and heat over medium-high heat until a drop of the batter sizzles when dropped in.

Remove chiles from the freezer. Coat each with the plain flour and then dunk in the milk-based batter.

Carefully add to the hot oil, turning each relleno until golden on all sides.

*Tip dont overcrowd the pan with peppers. Its best to fry a few at a time. This allows for crispier rellenos.

Recipes from Jim Griego, Albuquerque Isotopes executive chef
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The New Mexico Cattle Growers Association has settled a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture that could impact how the government manages feral cows on federal land.

A dismissal agreement announced this week states that the U.S. Forest Service must give at least 75 days notice to ranchers and the public before any aerial killing of feral cattle in the Gila National Forest during the next three years.

Association president Loren Patterson said the settlement opens the decision-making process to local stakeholders like the New Mexico Livestock Board and regional ranchers.

Then we can come to a decision that more closely reflects the ethics and the methods that are more common for our producers, Patterson told the Journal.

We can take that livestock and get it into the food supply through more conventional means.

The conflict began when the Forest Service proposed a plan in 2020 to shoot unbranded and unauthorized cows from helicopters in the Gila.

A two-day operation in February by USDA Wildlife Services netted more than 60 cows.

The Forest Service and several environmental groups said the animals needed to be removed because they damage wilderness areas and overgraze river habitat.

NMCGA had unsuccessfully asked a federal court to halt the operation.

The ranchers argued that the airborne crews would not be able to distinguish the feral cows from branded livestock.

There are no active grazing allotments where the cattle were killed.

Given the rugged terrain and proximity to the nearest active allotments, it is unlikely that domesticated cattle would have moved into the area from nearby ranching operations, U.S. Department of Agriculture attorneys wrote in court documents.

The Forest Service estimates that the problem dates back to the 1970s, when a rancher went bankrupt and could not manage the herd.

U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., has advocated for rancher consultations on lethal removal to be included in an Interior Department funding bill.

No more aerial operations are planned under the 2020 proposal, according to the settlement.

That could direct more federal attention and money to on-the-ground roundups, Patterson said.

Rough backcountry makes it difficult to catch the feral cows that were born in the wild and never domesticated.

Nobody wants them there, and theres no instant fix, Patterson said. But gunning down cattle and leaving their carcasses to rot isnt the solution.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Albuquerque police have walked back their earlier statement that a man was wanted on a federal warrant when detectives cornered him and a teenager at a southeast area home last week.

The ensuing standoff with Qiaunt Kelley, 27, ended when the home caught fire  possibly from SWAT team members throwing tear gas canisters inside it  and 15-year-old Brett Rosenau was found dead from smoke inhalation.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue is still investigating what caused the blaze, but police leaders believe the device used by tactical officers may have ignited the fire. The state Attorney Generals Office announced Wednesday that it is conducting an independent review into the incident.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said Wednesday that the department initially misinformed the media about Kelley being wanted on a federal warrant for carjacking.

Gallegos said there was a miscommunication and that the Multi-Agency Task Force had initially briefed department leaders that there was a federal warrant. That false information was repeated by APD leaders in briefings that followed.

I dont know how that miscommunication happened, Gallegos said.

Scott Howell, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office, confirmed this as well, saying, At the time, there was no federal warrant and, as far as we know, there isnt one.

The arrest warrant that sparked the deadly confrontation was for a parole violation, according to documents provided by the New Mexico Corrections Department.

In September 2019, Kelley pleaded guilty in two cases out of Las Cruces  one for unlawful taking of a vehicle, the other for robbery. In one instance, he and two other men punched a man, and took his wallet and car. In the other case, he and a woman stole a car from a mobile home park after they couldnt get her car to start.

Kelleys attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Carmelina Hart, a Corrections Department spokeswoman, said Kelley was released from prison and put on parole on Dec. 15, and an arrest warrant was issued for him in March after he removed his ankle monitor.

Once a warrant is issued and entered in the NCIC (National Crime Information Center), any local law enforcement agency can serve the warrant, Hart said. Gallegos said APD decided to serve Kelleys warrant because he was wanted for questioning in various crimes around the city.

Kelley has since been taken back into state custody and is being held at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas.

APDs Investigative Support Division tracked Kelley, who had Rosenau with him, to the home in Southeast Albuquerque. When they went to arrest Kelley, police said, the pair ran inside the home and would not come out.

Gallegos said that, once a suspect meets certain criteria, such as barricading themselves, policy dictates that SWAT be called out. He added, its not even an option.

The whole idea behind that is  through our reform efforts  to slow down the situation, Gallegos said. Obviously, it can take several hours, and they have a crisis negotiation team and a lot of different tools to try to end it peacefully.

Members of APD and the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office SWAT teams responded to the scene. Gallegos said the police department was short some officers, so it asked BCSO for assistance and a deputy commanders notes indicate there were 15 deputies there.

BCSO spokespeople referred all questions from the Journal back to APD.

During the standoff, SWAT team members threw tear gas canisters and shot chemical munitions into the house. Gallegos said they also used flashbangs, but only on the outside. The house caught fire in the early morning hours of July 7 and, when firefighters entered, they found Rosenau dead. The home was destroyed and a family dog was also killed in the fire.

Gallegos said detectives wanted to speak with Kelley about three cases: the June 25 shooting death of Leonard Fresquez; a May incident where police traded gunshots with a suspect, but no one was hit; and an armed robbery that is being investigated by APD and a federal agency.

Scrutiny on Kelley appears to have intensified just before the standoff.

Lauren Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorneys Office, said APD requested approval for a search warrant for Kelleys electronic account information in order to try to find him.

The search warrant indicated that Mr. Kelley had outstanding felony arrest warrants, Rodriguez said. This was the first time that our office was made aware of Mr. Kelleys involvement in any recent criminal activity. APD has not submitted reports nor requested any arrest warrants for Mr. Kelley to our office for new charges.

Felony arrest warrants  a generically sufficient term  can refer to warrants for parole or probation violations as long as the initial charge was a felony, according to attorney Ahmad Assed.

Kelley was wanted on only one felony arrest warrant  the parole violation.

Gallegos did not provide any further details on Kelleys suspected involvement in the crimes. Kelley has not been charged in those incidents nor in relation to the fire or standoff.

Theyre still under investigation  and (detectives) usually go, once theyre detained, and see if theyre willing to talk about what they know, Gallegos said. And maybe theyre not involved or they can clear something up. Or maybe theyll say something during questioning that helps the investigation move forward, whether theyre a suspect or a person of interest, or what have you.  A lot of investigations move forward based on that.

He added, In this case, its a little different, too, because he was considered violent and  potentially actively committing violent crimes. So, he had a warrant and they wanted to get him off the streets.

Gallegos said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also investigating Kelley in a carjacking.

ATF spokesman Cody Monday said there are no pending federal cases nor federal warrants from the ATF on Kelley. He said he is also unaware of any ongoing ATF investigations into Kelley.

Meanwhile, in response to requests from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, Rosenaus family and APD Chief Harold Medina, Attorney General Hector Balderas said his office will conduct an independent review of the circumstances that led to the deadly fire.

We have already begun assembling a team to conduct the review, and agree that a transparent and comprehensive review of the matter is warranted, given the tragic circumstance of Brett Rosenaus death, Chief Deputy Attorney General Anne Kelly wrote in a response letter to Medina.

The Multi-Agency Task Force is also investigating the incident and whether policies were violated.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Fabian Gonzales did not kill 10-year-old Victoria Martens, but he created the dangerous environment that led to the girls 2016 murder, a prosecutor told jurors on the first day of his trial.

Victoria had lived a normal life with a caring mother until Michelle Martens met Gonzales on a dating app just weeks before the girls Aug. 23, 2016, strangulation death, Chief Deputy District Attorney James Grayson told jurors.

Gonzales, 37, did not personally strangle Victoria, but he created the danger that led to her death, and he didnt hesitate to tamper with the evidence of her murder, Grayson said.

Gonzales attorney argued that the prosecutions star witness was the actual killer and that prosecutors gave her a generous plea deal.

Attorneys delivered opening statements Wednesday in the first day of Gonzales trial on charges including child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12.

After meeting her, Gonzales soon moved into Michelle Martens Northwest Albuquerque apartment, began inviting people over, and transformed Michelle Martens from an attentive mother into a negligent mother, Grayson said.

The night of Victoria Martens slaying, the defendant and his cousin, Jessica Kelley, tried to cover up their responsibility for the murder, Grayson said. They destroyed evidence by cleaning up the crime scene.

Grayson showed jurors graphic photographs of the scene that illustrated what he described as an effort to conceal evidence.

Prosecutors allege that Kelley and Gonzales worked together to dismember the girl, placed parts of her body in a garbage bag, and washed bloody clothes and knives.

A tearful Kelley testified briefly late Wednesday afternoon and will resume her testimony Thursday.

When Deputy District Attorney Greer Staley asked why she was crying, Kelley responded, Thats my cousin. I grew up with him. I love him.

Gonzales attorney, Stephen Aarons, countered that Kelley alone was responsible for strangling and dismembering the girl and for attempting to conceal the crime.

Prosecutors gave Kelley a generous plea deal in exchange for her testimony against Gonzales, Aarons said.

This case is about who murdered (Victoria), why that person did it to her, and why the prosecution gave (Kelley) a plea bargain to be their star witness, Aarons argued.

Kelley, 37, pleaded no contest in 2019 to six felony charges including reckless child abuse resulting in death, aggravated assault and other charges. She was sentenced in April to 44 years in prison.

Aarons told jurors that Kelley will become eligible for parole after serving 22 years of her sentence. Kelley was not sentenced as a serious violent offender, which would have required her to serve 85% of her sentence.

Jessica Kelley killed Victoria, Aarons said. Kelley strangled Victoria while Gonzales and Michelle Martens left to visit Gonzales brother, he said.

After Gonzales and Martens returned to the apartment complex, Kelley carried Victorias body outside and spoke with them in the parking lot.

Jessica smiled and everyone thought Victoria was asleep, Aarons said. Jessica fooled everyone. Kelley later tucked Victorias body into her bed as though she were asleep, he said. Gonzales made dinner, then he and Michelle Martens went into the master bedroom.

Jessicas plan was both simple and crazy, Aarons said. She needed to get rid of the body. She was strong but she couldnt carry the body, so she would cut up the body into lighter pieces.

After Gonzales and Martens fell asleep, Kelley stormed into their bedroom brandishing an iron and yelled, Do you believe in God? Aarons said.

Jessica struck Martens in the face and the back of the head with the iron, then began striking Fabian, who threw the iron off the balcony, then jumped over the balcony himself and ran to seek help from neighbors.

Gonzales called 911 to report Kelleys attack on him and Martens, Aaron said. Martens ran to Victorias bedroom, but didnt find her daughter, he said. Then Martens fled the apartment.

As Martens slammed the door on Kelleys arm, Kelley shouted, your baby is dead, Aarons said. Martens didnt know for certain that her daughter was dead until later, he said.

After Gonzales and Martens had left the apartment, Kelley set fire to Victorias body in a bathtub, Aarons said.

As police entered the apartment, Kelley jumped from the balcony, injuring her ankle, he added.

Michelle Martens, 40, pleaded guilty in 2018 to reckless child abuse resulting in death. She faces 12 to 15 years in prison. No sentencing hearing has been scheduled in her case.

Martens and Kelley are required by their plea deals to testify in Gonzales trial.

Both prosecution and defense attorneys acknowledge that cellphone records show Gonzales and Michelle Martens were not home at the time Victoria was killed. The two had gone to visit Gonzales brother and left Victoria alone with Kelley.

Prosecutors showed jurors police lapel camera video of the moment officers found Victorias remains in a bathtub in Michelle Martens apartment.

The girl was badly mutilated and parts of her body were on fire when officers found her, retired police Sgt. Christopher Enyart testified. Enyart and a second officer poured water on the girl to extinguish the fire, he said.

Prosecutors also showed jurors graphic photos of Victorias body in the bathtub.

Grayson said Kelley will testify that an unidentified man entered the apartment and murdered Victoria.

Gonzales, Martens and Kelley all were charged in 2016 with first-degree murder, criminal sexual penetration and other crimes in Victorias death.

But in 2018, two years after Victorias killing, prosecutors dropped the murder charges against all three and issued a statement of facts with a revised theory. Prosecutors alleged that Victoria was killed because Gonzales had threatened rival gang members following a dispute at a barbecue two days before Victorias killing.

As a result, a man identified only as John Doe entered the apartment where Kelley was babysitting Victoria, asked for Gonzales, then entered Victorias bedroom and killed her, prosecutors alleged in the 2018 statement. They charged John Doe in June 2018 with first-degree murder, criminal sexual penetration and other charges in Victorias death.

During Wednesdays openings, Grayson stressed that Martens had been a responsible mother until Gonzales came into her life. He said Gonzales quickly made Victorias life more dangerous, particularly when he invited Kelley to live in the apartment.

Kelleys methamphetamine use also made her paranoid and made her more dangerous, Grayson said.

Having Jessica Kelley stay in that apartment was danger No. 1 for Victoria, Grayson told jurors. Gonzales knew that Jessica had a violent past. He described her as an off-the-edge off-the-chain kind of girl.
In its 30th iteration, the Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque continues to promote culture, arts and excellence in art education contributing to the cultural understanding and appreciation of Mariachi folk music and dance in New Mexico.

Weve presented the conference and event for 30 years, says Peter Sanchez, The Atrisco Companies chief executive officer. Each night there is an event that helps add to the culture.

The conference runs through Friday, July 15.

At 11:30 a.m. Friday, July 15, there will be the mariachi stamp reveal at the Kiva Auditorium at the Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 Second St. NW. The U.S. Postal Service chose the Albuquerque-based event to unveil the limited edition stamps, which feature mariachi players. The event is free to the public.

Later on in the day, from 6-10 p.m. on Friday, July 15, at Civic Plaza, 1 Civic Plaza, the festival will have its Mariachi Showcase Concert, which features mariachi students who participated in the conference. This event is also free to the public.

Mariachi Plata de Western New Mexico University, the states only competitive university mariachi, is slated to perform as part of this event. The 17 WNMU student musicians are majoring in other fields while minoring in music and carrying on our regions cultural identity with traditional tunes.

These students grew up in the Hispanic tradition and learned to play mariachi in their hometowns. The Western New Mexico University mariachi program allows them to continue expressing themselves artistically, says Bryant Chaffino, Mariachi Plata director, in a statement.

Mariachi Plata de WNMU is a past winner of the collegiate category at Mariachi Spectacular, and the group is aiming for another top-notch performance.

With nine students on violin, three on trumpets and five in the rhythm section, Mariachi Plata de WNMU will play with a medley of their Mariachi Plata de WNMU tema, El Gavilancillo and El Gavilan in the concert and close their performance with a famous Juan Gabriel song Te Dedico Esta Cancion.

Were passionate about our heritage and are glad to be able to share it with others through music, said the ensembles lead vocalist Yusaleth Lozano, a WNMU business student.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, July 16, at St. Annes Catholic Church, 1400 Arenal Road SW, there will be the Mariachi Mass.

The event and conference has been in planning stages since January and a concert at Sandia Resort & Casino on Saturday, July 16, will end the nearly weeklong festivities. The concert will feature Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, Mariachi Estrella de Mexico and Los Hermanos Escamillas.
With time and effort  change arrives.

In the case of The Long Walk at Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner, it has taken 159 years to get the narrative corrected.

The public is able to see that change in the permanent interpretive exhibition Bosque Redondo: A Place of Suffering  A Place of Survival at the Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site.

The exhibit has been more than 30 years in the making and was opened to the public on May 28.

Its been so many years in the making since we began working on this, says Patrick Moore, Chair History & Heritage director, New Mexico Historic Sites. It has unquestionably been a challenge and we are having such a positive reaction.

Moore says the impetus for change began with a letter left by 17 Navajo students at the historic site while visiting on June 27, 1990.

The students wrote of their experience to the site and how it was a one-sided history from 1863 through 1868.

During the span of five years, the U.S. military  led by Col. Christopher Kit Carson  persecuted and imprisoned 9,500 Navajo (Dine) and 500 Mescalero Apache (Nde) on the reservation known as Bosque Redondo.

Carson and the military starved into submission, forced to surrender and marched the Navajos to Bosque Redondo.

Over 2,000 Navajos perished on what is known as The Long Walk and during their time of incarceration and suffering at Bosque Redondo, until their release in 1868, known as Hweeldi.

Meanwhile, the Mescalero Apache were the first Native Americans to be incarcerated at Bosque Redondo.

Gen. James H. Carleton was in command of the military in New Mexico and made it his first priority to conquer the Apache and bring them under submission.

He ordered Carson to kill any Apache man who resisted and take all women and children prisoner.

Mescalero Apache Chief Cadete surrendered, rather than face being wiped out, and all 500 members of this proud tribe were brought to Fort Stanton then on to Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner in 1862.

In 1991, New Mexico State Monuments, the Museum of New Mexico, and Navajo and Apache leaders, began the creation of a memorial to truthfully acknowledge the history at Bosque Redondo.

The Bosque Redondo Memorial opened at Fort Sumner on June 4, 2005, with New Mexican, Navajo and Mescalero Apache leaders present.

The memorial is designed by Navajo architect David Sloan. It is shaped like a Navajo hogan and an Apache tepee, and provides an interpretive trail and in-depth information about the history of Fort Sumner and Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation.

Moore says having failed before at telling the story, the state wanted to widen the scope.

So many museums try to tell a story within a vacuum, he says. In all of my years teaching, you can never tell a community story with one voice. You need to create partnerships. Many of these conversations were had during this process of creating the permanent exhibit. Down to the molding on he floor, we had to do it as a team.

Moore hopes that visitors will feel at ease coming to the site, though he understands there is still some trepidation.

There are those who have ancestors that perished here, he says. We are accommodating. The history were telling is showing who they are as people. We made the space available to them. As the story continues to unfold, were able to integrate it into the story. Its an ever-changing exhibit and weve built that in. We dont know what information will come over time.

Moore says the site is working with the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Sumner to help spread the message further.

When they come through the doors, its important that this event is seen as a pivotal part of American history, Moore says. This predates the Lincoln County War. For those people who learn something about this land and nation, its really powerful.

Moore says The Long Walk is often confused with the Trail of Tears  and it shouldnt be.

The first time it became part of the national conversation was in 1968 and the exhibit tried to tell the concentration camp story, Moore says. The nation wasnt ready to talk about that. We were right in the middle of the civil rights movement and the American Indian movement. Not to forget in the midst of the Vietnam War. Since we waited to get the story right, I think its about time it enters the national conversation again.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus has emerged in New Mexico, as the state eclipsed 8,000 COVID-related deaths since the onset of the pandemic.

Health officials this week said people may want to consider masking up in public places because the omicron BA.5 subvariant has arrived in New Mexico. The strain is proving to be more contagious than previous versions of the omicron variant, which led to record-high COVID-19 case counts in New Mexico over the winter.

The Department of Health this week released a Variant of Concern report that showed by June 20, the new subvariant was representing a growing number of cases. It appears the new strain accounts for about 30% of cases and growing.

State health officials have scheduled a COVID-19 update for Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website says the new variant accounts for about 68% of cases in a region comprised of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Dr. Meghan Brett, an infectious disease doctor with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, said the virus is proving to be able to escape immune protections people created from vaccinations and previous COVID infections. The reason, she said, is the spiked protein on the new coronavirus strain is different from previous strains.

Because it is distinct or slightly more different, the antibodies that weve generated wont necessarily do as good of a job of protecting us from infection, she said.

That said, vaccinations are still proving effective at staving off severe disease, she said. About 73% of New Mexicans 5 years and older are fully vaccinated, according to the DOHs website.

As this virus continues to evolve, it appears to be more transmissible. So thats another factor that really needs to be considered, Brett said. I still think in certain locations, its reasonable to wear a mask just because of how fast this gets transmitted.

Dr. Bette Korber, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said scientists have expected the coronavirus to evolve and it will continue to do so in the future.

It isnt something that is unexpected, she said. Different variants have had different capacities to be more infectious and evade immune responses.  The virus is not going to stop evolving.

She said monitoring unique variants is important not just for forecasting new waves of infections, but also for treating people who do get sick. Studying emerging variants allows experts to research in labs what will be effective treatments for sick people and also how to tweak vaccines for future booster shots, she said.

In addition to masking in some cases, Korber and Brett also recommended people consider getting booster shots amid the rise of the new variant.

We are seeing, as the virus evolves its going to be less resistant to the vaccine and there are breakthrough cases. However, we are in a completely different place in the pandemic than we were when New Mexico saw its first cases over two years ago on March 11, 2020, Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, said in an email. Thanks to vaccines and boosters, tests (PRC and home tests), masks, oral treatments and education we have a lot of tools at our fingertips to safeguard ourselves and loved ones to help prevent serious illness and death from the virus.

Despite the infectious nature of BA.5, New Mexico hasnt yet seen a rise in confirmed cases.

During a seven-day period ending July 11, the state reported 5,889 new cases. The was down from 6,344 cases the week before and 6,874 for the seven-day period ending June 27.

But health officials caution that those official case counts are not including all of the cases in the community because of the advent of at-home tests.

There were 119 people with COVID admitted to hospitals during the week ending July 11. That was up from 112 admissions the prior week. There were 155 hospital admissions the week ending June 27.

There was a total of 176 with COVID hospitalized throughout the state Wednesday, including 22 patients on ventilators.

The state also reported 16 deaths, bringing the toll to 8,006 since the start of the pandemic.
November 4, 2020

With the results of the US presidential contest uncertain, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani weighed in Wednesday to say who America elects as its next leader doesnt concern Tehran.

For Tehran, the next US administrations policies are important and not who wins the US election, Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting.

We want to be respected, not subject to sanctions, he said. No matter who wins the US election,  what we want is for the US to return to law,  to return to international and multilateral accords.

Rouhani was referencing the 2015 Iran nuclear accord that President Donald Trump withdrew from in May 2018. Since the United States exited the deal and imposed crippling economic sanctions, Iran has steadily violated its nuclear obligations and enriched uranium beyond whats allowed under the agreement.

Trump has called for a new, tougher deal on Iran, but his rival has made salvaging the current one, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a top foreign policy priority. If Iran returns to compliance, former Vice President Joe Biden has said he would rejoin the pact as a starting point for negotiations.

The Iranian presidents outlook on the US election echoes that of the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During televised remarks on Tuesday, Khamenei said that Tehrans policy toward Washington remains the same regardless of who enters or leaves the Oval Office.

Some people talk about what will happen if this or that one is elected. Yes, certain events may happen but they dont concern us. Our policy is calculated and clear, he said.

Rouhanis comments on Wednesday coincided with the anniversary of the 1979 storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and subsequent 444-day hostage crisis. The annual anti-US demonstrations held in Iran on this day were cancelled due to the countrys ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo marked the anniversary with a statement paying tribute to the American survivors.

Today we honor the sacrifice made by these patriots and those who worked tirelessly to free them, Pompeo said. Even today, the Iranian regime continues to utilize the inhumane tactic of hostage-taking to advance its destructive agenda."

Pompeo called on Iran to release dual citizens Morad Tahbaz and Siamak and Baquer Namazi, as well as account for the fate of Bob Levinson. The family of the ex-FBI agent who disappeared in Iran over 13 ago said in March he is presumed dead.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Wes Stubblefield, M.D., F.A.A.P., (256) 340-2113

As new cases of monkeypox virus infection are identified globally and in the United States, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), continues to monitor the situation. At this time, no cases of monkeypox virus infection have been identified in Alabama, although the ADPH Bureau of Clinical Laboratories (BCL) can perform preliminary testing and has already performed some testing on specimens from patients who had rashes suggestive of monkeypox.

The outbreak is evolving, and information can change. Effective vaccines to reduce the risk of a person catching monkeypox are available, and one of those vaccines, Jynneos, is being used in parts of the United States where there have been cases of monkeypox. Vaccine has to be obtained from the Strategic National Stockpiles (SNS) and ADPH is in regular communication with CDC about vaccines and other countermeasures. ADPHs investigative teams are on standby to initiate follow-up of any cases and make recommendations for management and prevention.

Monkeypox is a very rare disease which is usually found in Central and West Africa and does not occur naturally in the United States. Monkeypox does not spread easily from person to person. In this current outbreak, some factors have been different, and the main route of transmission seems to be contact with persons who have direct, close contact with monkeypox skin lesions. Some information from other outbreaks indicate that monkeypox can spread from contact with infected animals or through contact with materials such as clothing or linens used by infected people. The virus typically enters the body through broken skin, respiratory droplets or mucous membranes (eyes, nose or mouth). Some people who have had monkeypox have been men who have sex with men.

Signs and symptoms of the current monkeypox outbreak in the United States have been different from previous outbreaks. Symptoms in the recent outbreak include the following:

Firm, deep seated, painful, itchy vesicles, or pustules

Some lesions may have a dimple in the center of the pustule

Some people may have headache, muscle aches, fatigue after the rash occurs, which is different from other reported outbreaks where a prodrome (general symptoms) occurred before the rash.

The time between exposure to the virus and when the illness begins has been as short as 4 days up to 14 days. Time of exposure to time of rash could be as long as 21 days

Rash associated with monkeypox may appear anywhere on the body. Among cases in the current outbreak, the rash often starts in the genital and perianal areas and may or may not spread to other parts of the body. Once the rash has healed, the person is no longer considered contagious. At this time, CDC has not reported that persons who have no symptoms or have not developed symptoms yet are contagious to others.

Steps to help prevent monkeypox include:

Be educated about monkey pox, including risk factors and the appearance of characteristic skin rashes.

Avoid contact with materials, like bedding, that have been in contact with a sick animal or person infected with this virus.

Avoid contact with animals that could have the virus (such as animals that are sick or that have been found dead).

Keep infected patients away from others.

Wash hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after contact with infected animals or humans.

Please contact your healthcare provider if you believe you may have monkeypox.

Monkeypox can cause serious illness lasting 2 to 4 weeks but is rarely fatal. Persons suspected of having monkeypox should remain isolated until the illness and rash have completely resolved.

For more information on monkeypox, visit alabamapublichealth.gov/monkeypox or cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html.

-30-

6/30/22

County health departments throughout Alabama provide a wide range of confidential and professional services. Contact your local county health department for additional information.

Mission: To promote, protect, and improve Alabamas health

Vision: Healthy People. Healthy Communities. Healthy Alabama.
Two things one must understand about evil. First, while everywhere, evil is frequently hidden from our view. Second, evil is seductive and attracts those to it that may live otherwise ordinary lives. It may help us to better understand evil as some kind of cult. Those that belong to the cult of evil are part of something semi-exclusive that not everyone can join. Evildoers frequently do things, which to them infer a sense of superiority and exclusivity for those on the inside.

Today Ill share with you the chilling but true story of political poisonings and bioweapons hotly pursued by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and a couple more would-be contenders who feel little restraint in pursuing a path of pure evil to this day.

While on vacation, I read the book The Dancer and the Devil which is subtitled Stalin, Pavlova and the road to the great Pandemic written by John ONeil and Sarah Wynn. Have you ever considered that some of the seemingly most complex issues are a product of people looking for that complexity when the answers are simple? So, it is with this story as well. Well begin today with the end of the story and work our way backward.

This storys title begins with the term Laboratory One. That is what Joseph Stalin called his poisoning and bioweapons labs, commencing back in the 1920s and continuing to this day. Stalin used poisons that created both natural-looking deaths when he desired stealth, and horrible deaths when he wanted to make a public point. Stalin killed his enemies both internally and externally. He was particularly cruel to ex-pats who had the temerity to criticize him. He frequently recalled emigres that had fled Russia in the early days, commanding them to return. His purpose in recalling these people was to be able to kill those that returned quietly, beyond prying eyes. Stalin was ruthless, frequently killing entire families to underscore his authority.

Among those emigres that Stalin truly hated was Anna Pavlova, generally considered to be the most famous of all the diva prima ballerinas. She died in Europe of poisoning in 1931 after refusing to return to Mother Russia. These sudden unexplained deaths became so common that the phrase Previous Persons was coined, referring not only to the deaths of some people but to the way the Soviet Union would rewrite history by completely removing someone from all records, photos, newspapers, and all other ways that would allow someone to live on in memory, sadly, killing entire families also became too common.

Up until 1956, communist China and communist Russia were joined at the hip. This meant there were few secrets between the two countries that saw themselves divvying up the world. Soon, new Laboratory Ones popped up in China. China already had a historic association with targeted poisonings. With Stalins help, China soon became a contributing member of the cult of death.

But something happened that changed everything, all at once. The introduction of the atomic bomb was a watershed moment for Stalin. It became apparent to Stalin in the 1950s that the age of the atomic bomb could prevent the Soviets and their close associates, the Chinese, from destroying the West through conventional means as had been his long-term intention. Stalins Laboratory One would still go on to kill millions of his own people and others over three decades, but now, it had a new, even more, urgent mission; how to kill your enemies not with rockets, but with microbes or other toxins. Even after the split between the Soviet Union and China in 1956, the writing was on the wall and China was still taking notes. To underscore this point, it is widely known that some Russian ICBM payloads were not nuclear, but biological, to be used after a Russian first strike.

The 1972 UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and their Destruction was the follow-on to the 1925 Geneva Convention. All major nations, including Russia and China, signed on and then promptly forgot about by the latter two. Importantly, the West, collectively and practically have given a false reliance to their people that Russia and China mean what they say, despite evidence to the contrary.

The naivete of the West is hard to fathom. Whether we are talking about climate change or nerve agents that Putin has deployed against his own people and others, Russia continues to do what is in its ruthless self-interest. Programs like Operation Bonfire and Operation Flute run today as we speak, all known to U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies and all conveniently swept under the rug so our political leaders dont have to deal with these inconvenient truths that might require a consequential response.

Given that Russia continues to look for ways to annihilate us while keeping its public skirts clean with at least the semblance of plausible deniability, whats China doing? The end of the Chinese Spring was clearly demonstrated at Tiananmen Square in 1989. Tank Man stood in front of a main battle tank and seemed to fulfill our wishes to see individual freedom defeat the Monsters. Thats the lingering memory that so many of us had. How many of us knew that 10,000 died in that same event? More uncounted dead followed as China reapplied its Iron Glove. That was the starting point for an ascendant and once again brutal China after a short period of economic and social freedom.

Xi came to power in 2012. Putin assumed power in 1999. Both held the belief that the decadence of the Wests influence on their two countries would inevitably lead to a liberalized and indulgent population unwilling to declare its unwavering allegiance to Putin and Xi. Such a condition would be untenable for these two tyrants.

While each pursued different objectives, their aims are aligned. Russia became focused on its territorial ambitions and the defeat of NATO, while China created its economic warfare plan, which is called the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinas plan is more diabolical in its cerebral and patient approach to world, or at least hemispheric, domination. Putins goals are more clearly focused on the utter destruction of its enemies clearly and completely. Putin and Xi each use their vast resources to create ever more deadly targeted and indiscriminate biologicals and toxins designed to kill tens of millions.

It was not Laboratory One that released COVID-19 on an unsuspecting world but the Biolabs of Wuhan. One does not have to look far to find a detailed listing of all the undeclared, but suspected bioweapons labs in China. Not coincidentally, there is another Chinese PLA lab also located in Wuhan. Until the release of COVID, various Chinese military names and ranks were prominently displayed on the roster at the Wuhan Virology lab. It is a fact, not in dispute, that all the original Covid-19 doctors and their research have joined the disappeared, never to be heard from again. This is what the guilty do to those who come too close to the truth.

It now appears to be the Wests policy to not confront China on the origins of COVID. As a matter of policy, what would our nation, and other Western nations do if it could be proven that a weaponized (Change of Function) COVID was either deliberately or accidentally released upon the world? There is ample evidence that China was either buying up or sharply reducing exports of everything you would need to fight and protect against this killer virus. China has stubbornly fought back against any assertion that China is in any way responsible for COVID-19 well before the pandemic was well known. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you needed any more proof, the introduction of Chinas most feared Special Forces unit, the Fifteenth Airborne Brigade moved in to take charge late in 2019 to seal off access to the lab and provide overall security and political cleanup. Curiously, Chinese PLA soldiers in Wuhan were vaccinated against COVID months before Trumps miracle in our country. More proof that this was a military weapon by design.

Yusen Zhou was a government bioweapons scientist who filed for a patent for a vaccine against COVID-19 before the outbreak even happened. We should ask him why he developed the vaccine, but we cant, hes dead and all his notes, even his lifes story are now unknown. He is one of the thousands the Chinese have declared to be new Former Persons.

I better stop right here or I as well might become one of the disappeared that happen all too frequently when you displease Xi or Vladimir Putin. There is evil in this world. And, you dont have to look too far to find it. History has a strange way of repeating itself. Hopefully, we stay engaged and learn we have two twin Devils to fight. The first step is by believing that evil exists and that we are among those they covet. We live our charmed and indolent life all too precariously. We must be more on guard if we are to survive and prosper.

God Bless America!

Allan J. Feifer is an author, businessman, and thinker. Read more about Allan, his background and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com

Image: U.S. government image, via RawPixel // public domain
The issue of who runs this country is one of the central issues, if not the central issue, of the 21st century.

Begin with the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.

The peoples representatives meeting at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 clearly considered the sovereign power of this country to reside with its people acting through their elected representatives in the State and Federal governments. That is the very definition of a constitutional republic.

Many constitutional conservatives are thus rightly annoyed when democracy is used to refer to this countrys form of government. The framers of our Constitution considered democracy to be a discredited concept because they knew the classical history of Athens. It did not take long before Athens turned into an oligarchy with imperial ambitions to conquer other city-states.

The authors of our Constitution were also unimpressed with how the republican form of government had worked out in ancient Rome. The citizens of Rome (admittedly not all of the people) for centuries had ruled themselves through elected senators who in turn appointed officers to administer the government. Over time the rule of law in Rome succumbed to a power grab by a select few, often successful generals (e.g., Julius Caesar who conquered what is now France). Caesar put an end to the charade of republican government. For centuries thereafter Rome preserved the Senate as an ineffectual formality with the real power held by the emperor and, after awhile, his Praetorian Guard, who became virtual kingmakers.

The lesson learned from Roman history, reflected in our Constitution, was that vesting a governments sovereign power in one leader, whether an emperor or a chief executive, will most likely lead to a dictatorship.

Therefore, when one asserts that the President of the United States runs the country one is making a categorical error. Per Article Two of the Constitution, the president is the chief executive who is responsible for the exercise of the enumerated powers vested in the executive branch of the federal government. The other branches (legislative and judicial) are vested with their own powers. Just as important, the States and the people, per the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, have reserved to them the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it.

James Madison, one of the principal designers of our constitutional form of government, envisioned the separation of powers between the three branches of the federal government and also between the federal government and the state governments to be the principal safeguard against the catastrophes that befell ancient Athens and Rome: rule by oligarchs or rule by a dictator.

Where do we stand as we begin the third decade of the 21st century? Is the United States still a constitutional republic? As of now the signs are mixed.

The U.S. Supreme Court took a step in the right direction last month with its decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. Without getting too technical, the Courts opinion prevented the EPA from expanding its authority to regulate emissions from power plants per the Clean Air Act to enable it to restructure the overall mix of electricity generation in the U.S. from 38% to 27% coal by the year 2030. The power to rewrite legislation is supposed to be exercised only by Congress and not an agency in the Executive Branch.

Another positive development was the decision of the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Many people wrongly construe the decision as prohibiting abortion. Actually, in overturning Roe v. Wade, the Court reversed a power grab by the judicial branch when a majority of that court virtually amended the Constitution to create a right to an abortion and to prohibit any state from exercising its authority to regulate the medical procedure and, if it so chose, protect the life of the unborn child by prohibiting abortion before or after certain stages in the pregnancy.

On the other hand, there is an ongoing power grab by the Biden administration to interfere with the administration of elections. That authority is given to the legislatures of the states by Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution. On March 7, 2021 President Biden issued an executive order directing all 600 federal agencies to create plans for increasing voter registration and turnout in the next two elections. The result: many agencies intend to turn federal facilities, particularly those that deliver federal benefits, into voter registration agencies. However, the National Voting Rights Act gives the authority to designate new voter registration agencies to the states and not the executive branch.

In 2022 and in 2024 the states will face a squeeze play as the federal government and left-wing non-profit organizations try to take over voter registration and election administration. In 2020 Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook tycoon, funneled $450 million through a left-wing foundation to change voter turnout and election administration in swing states. Read the book Rigged by Mollie Hemingway for the details. He succeeded and should be expected to repeat the effort in 2024.

Benjamin Franklin allegedly pronounced that the Constitution gave us a republic if we can keep it. Will we have a constitutional republic when we reach the 250th anniversary of the Constitution? My answer is that it remains to be seen. It is going to be a great comeback victory if the power grab by the Democrats in Congress, the executive branch, and the federal judiciary is to be thwarted.

Image: RawPixel
Title IX is the federal law that aims to eliminate sex discrimination in schools. Title IX is the legal basis cited by college students to claim they were subject to sexual assault or sexual harassment. In 2011, the Obama Administration issued its infamous Dear Colleague Letter, giving rise to the notorious campus kangaroo courts that trampled on due process rights and the presumption of innocence.

Before long, male students were being expelled in droves, often based on the flimsiest of evidence. Courageously, many of them fought back, suing their former schools for lack of fundamental fairness. Of the lawsuits that have been decided, a majority have been in favor of the accused student.

My organization, SAVE, has conducted an analysis of 175 of these judicial decisions, identifying the findings and legal basis for each opinion. Our "Analysis of Judicial Decisions Affirming the 2020 Title IX Regulation" reveals an abiding concern among the judges that schools implement fair procedures so the truth is revealed and the correct verdict is reached.

For example, 39 of the legal decisions highlighted the school's failure to notify the accused student of the exact nature of the allegation. Lacking detailed and timely notice, the accused is handicapped in locating witnesses and preparing a robust defense.

In response to this wave of lawsuits, the Trump administration enacted a new Title IX due process regulation. But newly elected Joe Biden was aghast at the notion of instilling fairness in campus procedures. So on June 23, his Department of Education released a new draft policy.

Three of the most important due process protections are impartial investigations, the right to review evidence, and hearings that allow for cross-examination. No surprise, the Biden proposal targets all three of these essential procedures.

Impartial investigations: The Biden proposal allows the same person to serve as investigator and decision-maker, an obvious conflict of interest. This, despite the fact that 49 judicial decisions found biased investigations to be problematic. In one milestone case, Judge Molly Fitzgerald of the Appellate Division of New York ruled, "An impartial investigation performed by bias-free investigators is the substantive foundation" of a legal proceeding.

Review of Evidence: The Biden rule proposes that the parties would have access only to a "description" of the evidence  not the actual evidence  which could be provided either "orally or in writing." But 27 judicial decisions ridiculed this Soviet show trial approach. In Doe v. Purdue University, for example, the court held that "withholding the evidence on which it relied in adjudicating his guilt was itself sufficient to render the process fundamentally unfair."

Hearings with Cross-Examination: The Biden rule would render hearings and cross-examination optional, allowing adjudicators to ask their questions "during individual meetings with the parties." But judges have made mincemeat of this kangaroo court approach. In Doe v. University of Sciences, the judge opined that fairness includes "the ability to participate in a live, adversarial hearing during which the accused may present evidence and a defense."

If anyone still believes Biden's rhetoric about ending "all" discrimination against students, they should look at his proposed "free pass" provision: schools must "not discipline a party, witness, or others participating in a recipient's grievance procedures for making a false statement."

Read those words again, because they represent an open invitation to every false accuser. They contravene the very purpose of any legal proceeding, negate the notion of justice, and subvert the quest for truth.

In Harris v. Saint Joseph University, for example, the judge chided the institution for its "reckless indifference to the truth." In Doe v. University of Cincinnati, the judge explained the "value of cross-examination to the discovery of truth cannot be overemphasized." In Doe v. University of Southern Mississippi, the justice emphasized the need to "flesh out inconsistencies in a search for the truth."

Indeed, the hallowed "search for the truth" is the theme that connects all 175 judicial decisions that have been handed down against colleges over the past decade.

If you doubt that women can embellish upon or completely lie about their sexual liaisons, consider the recent case of Erin Wingo. One night, the Clemson University student seduced a male student by whispering, "If you don't kiss me now, you won't have sex with me tonight." Fearing that her long-time boyfriend would learn of her infidelity, she later accused her paramour of rape. When a text message later revealed the truth of the tryst, the surprised jury awarded the falsely accused man $5.3 million in damages.

American judges are growing increasingly restive with the due process shortcuts that plague many institutions of higher education. The Department of Education should reconsider its arrogant view that it possesses a more profound understanding of campus due process than the multitude of black-robed jurists.

Edward E. Bartlett is the president of SAVE, a non-profit organization working for fairness and due process in schools.
Overall, the turnout in the June 28 primary election in Cook County (i.e., Chicago), was dismal. In a city plagued by crime and a three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar budget deficit (around $733 million, to be precise), only 20% of the population could be bothered to vote.

It makes me less sympathetic to the travails of the many innocents caught in Chicago's crossfire when I read how few of them care enough even to try to make a difference. However, one demographic did manage to bring 25% of its members to the polls: Cook County detainees who have been charged but not convicted. You can imagine what their values are.

The story comes from the Block Club of Chicago:

Chicago Board of Elections data shows dismal voter turnout for the June 28 primary, with just 20 percent of all registered voters casting a ballot citywide, less than the 29 percent of primary voters who turned out in 2018 and 2020. By comparison, about 25 percent of the detainees at Cook County Jail voted, with 1,384 votes cast from the jail out of an average June jail population of 5,560, according to the the Cook County Sheriff's Department and the Chicago Board of Elections. In the 24th Ward where the jail is located, just 15 percent of registered voters cast a ballot, lower than both the city as a whole and the jail population. The overwhelming majority of people in jail are presumed innocent since they have not yet had their day in court, so it is paramount they still have access to the polls, said Alex Boutros, a community organizer for Chicago Votes, a voting advocacy group.



Image: Chicago skyline in 2016 by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Nor was Boutros shy about saying why it's so important that those charged with crimes in a judicial system already under George Soros's indirect control, thanks to the $2-million check he sent to a super-PAC supporting D.A. Kim Foxx's campaign:

Many of the roles on the ballot, like the Cook County Sheriff and appellate and circuit judges, wield tremendous power over the justice system. That makes it essential for people accused of a crime who are directly involved in the courts or the jail to have access to the polls, Boutros said. "If an elected official does not have to rely on the vote of people who are incarcerated, then they will not prioritize those people's needs," Boutros said.

On the one hand, Boutros is absolutely right. Those who have not been convicted should have all the rights of citizens. But given the criminal free-for-all that is Chicago, it would have been nice if a few more law-abiding citizens had shown up to cast their vote.

I have no doubt that Chicago elections, which have had a criminally corrupt election system going back at least 100 years, are disheartening for those who want to cast a meaningful vote. However, older Chicagoans remember a time when Chicago was corrupt but well managed. Today's Democrats can't be bothered with the management part. They're too busy tearing down America's infrastructure in pursuit of an Orwellian utopia  and unless Chicago's sane people start at least trying to vote, things are only going to get more feral in that once beautiful city.

Hat tip: Peter von Buol.
How many times have we heard about all the "sacrifices" people make to go into "public service"?

Seems the Biden administration has figured out a way to make "sacrifices" something just the little guy does.

Here's the news on Biden's idea of "sacrifice" for public service:

WASHINGTON  Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan, best known for her 2019 testimony in favor of impeaching then-President Donald Trump, quietly left the Justice Department this month as a conservative group ratcheted up attacks on an "unethical" arrangement in which she continued to earn nearly $1 million a year from Stanford while working for the government. Karlan joined the department on Feb. 8, 2021, shortly after President Biden's inauguration, and served about 17 months as principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights before she departed on July 1 with little fanfare. Karlan's role was slated to last until at least Aug. 22 and possibly run into September, meaning she stepped down about two months earlier than planned. She left one business day before the department delivered documents to the American Accountability Foundation pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, bringing more attention to her unusual pay provisions.

She wanted to spend more time with her students, she said.

Obviously, she was making out well, not giving up her salary for government work, as, say, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, also associated with Stanford, once did. She kept her $1.19 million salary as part of the Stanford law faculty in an endowed seat  the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, where she was affiliated with the ironically named McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society  because she was just too valuable, both to Joe, and to whoever her sponsors are for that law school sinecure. Ordinarily, universities and think-tanks will hold a person's job as he engages in public service, but this one kept the cash flowing, too.

Someone was glad to keep paying her a million-plus for a no-show job at Stanford, while she was doing Joe Biden's dirty work at the Department of Justice, first as the head of the civil rights division, where nobody was told she was running the outfit, and then as a deputy when a more visible leftist was confirmed for the post. Everything always on the down and down as she burrowed away doing Joe's dirty work and called it "public service." And yes, the NGO that requested and found this information did call that "unethical." After all, if you are taking a million bucks from someone, you kind of like to do things to keep him happy, not the people you are supposedly there to "serve." If it comes down to one or the other, which do you think Karlan would pick?

It wasn't just a no-show job at Stanford that made the whole thing disgusting. It was very dirty work indeed that she was performing for doddering old Joe.

What she did at Justice was so dirty that the only word that comes to mind to describe her is Joe Biden's henchman.

The New York Post lists a few of her dirty deeds, such as these:

Letting New York's slimeball pervert governor, Andrew Cuomo, walk for ordering nursing homes to take COVID patients into their establishments full of vulnerable elderly people with threats to their licenses if they didn't. That caused thousands of nursing home patients to catch COVID and die, even as President Trump had sent a huge hospital ship to New York harbor to take these patients and care for them so as to protect the uninfected elderly. Cuomo was let off the hook for that, even as more than ten thousand nursing home residents died. Karlan swept that under the carpet for Cuomo, an important Biden ally whom Biden defended publicly, and let Cuomo's record on sexual harassment of Democrat operatives take him down instead. She let Cuomo walk, closing the DoJ probe in July 2021. She always kept things tidy for Joe.

Covering for Joe during President Trump's first impeachment by openly mocking President Trump's son Barron during her testimony, having no serious argument about Joe Biden's corrupt Ukraine doings other than an ad hominem attack on the child of a political opponent. Some legal "scholar." After she was called out for such crappiness, her "apology" was disgusting: "I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president's son. It was wrong of me to do that. I wish the president would apologize, obviously, for the things that he has done that's wrong, but I do regret having said that," she said during testimony on Capitol Hill. She was sorry she got caught.

Legally challenging Arizona's voter identification law requiring proof of citizenship to vote, a reasonable measure supported by the vast majority of voters nationwide. She doesn't want Arizona to have to request ID from voters on the patronizing and very dishonest grounds that Black people have no idea how to get a government-issued identification card. Black voters, by the way, are very much in favor of voter ID laws, according to polls, but this isn't about civil rights now, is it? Karlan, like the rest of the fanatical Democrat cabal of her ilk, wants to make it easier for Democrats to cheat their way to victory in elections  which is how we got stuck with Old Joe in the first place. She's a very, very valuable player to Joe on the election front, given that voters can't stand him and Democrats don't intend to relinquish power because of it.

But that's far from all that this Biden henchman has been up to. Out in the big-dollar troughs in the private sector, the New York Post notes that she was busy as a beaver:

Karlan also served on Facebook's content-moderation oversight board from April 2020 to January 2021 before joining the Justice Department.

So she was busy censoring and blocking conservative posts, including the significant news broken by the New York Post that Hunter Biden had a huge laptop full of corruption and sleaze, which the Washington establishment, including intelligence leaders who knew better, claimed was "Russian disinformation." She was the one blocking this, and shutting down conservative voices and even huge outlets such as the New York Post, which included the voice of President Trump himself, all in order to swing the election for doddering old Joe, who couldn't draw ten people to his campaign rallies. This, while the huge flow of Zuckerbucks flowed to manipulate voter turnout in swing states (notice the pattern of big private dollars calling the shots here?), served to tip the election to Biden on extremely suspicious terms. She obviously was a big player in the crowing cabal described by Time writer Molly Ball in a cover story called "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election" back in December 2021. She was rewarded handsomely.

Oh, and President Obama entertained nominating her for the Supreme Court, according to the New York Times. The Times noted that she was a favorite within Democrat social circles.

So she was not only valuable to Joe Biden, but valuable to whoever it was who was paying her a million bucks from the Stanford cash coffers in her no-show job at Stanford.

Public service? No, this is political dirty-tricks service. And being a legal scholar, she's very good at wriggling out of trouble and avoiding pesky Senate confirmation hearings, while still wielding tons of unearned power. She got out one step ahead of that FOIA release on the details of her "service," ensuring that she will never have to answer questions for it.

She's obviously at the service of Joe and whoever his masters are, not the American people as a whole. The outlines of that sickening spectacle of "Who Controls Joe" are now becoming clearer with this valuable revelation. These kinds of arrangements have got to be stopped, same as Zuckerbucks has been stopped in many states, by a coming rule of laworiented Congress.

Image: Official photo, public domain.
As modern life continues to unfold as if from the pages of a dystopian novel, it is harder and harder to be shocked  or appalled. Or one would think it should be. Nonetheless, it happens.

For example, New York State will soon require applicants for permits to carry handguns to hand over lists of their social media accounts. For a review of their "character and conduct."

This Chinese-like new requirement will take effect in September and was included in a recently passed law that Empire State legislators passed in a huff after the U.S. Supreme Court had the audacity to rule that the Second Amendment to the Constitution actually means what it says  and therefore law-abiding citizens of legal age have a right to carry a handgun for personal protection.

The creepily intrusive  and unconstitutional  new law was promptly signed by tyrannical New York governor Kathy Hochul, who, like Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and the Biden Crime Family, appear to be big fans of the Chinese Communist Party and its social credit system.

I hope you aren't naive enough to believe that our rulers and their bureaucrat toadies will just look to see if you ever tweeted that you were thinking of shooting up a high school. No, they will pore through your search history to see if you ever checked out Chick-fil-A's menu or tried to locate the next Trump rally. They will examine every tweet, blog post, and Facebook post you ever made to see if you ever disparaged a member of the LGBTQIIA+ community or a prominent progressive politician.

Are you a "climate change denier"? "Anti-vaxxer"? "Forced-birther"? Then you have no rights, whether "inalienably" God-given (giggle) or government-granted, including the right to protect and defend yourself, ignorant neanderthal!

Tragically, Western nations are rapidly becoming hyper-secular, shedding all ties with Christianity in general and biblical precepts in particular. And, in the long run, a decay of morality always leads to a reduction of liberty, freedom...and prosperity. Always. There is no historical exception to this observation. And often to outright tyranny.

At the same time  and as both a symptom and result of this  we are succumbing to an unprecedented societal Alzheimer's disease of memory loss and impaired thinking. Consequently, we are tearing down statues and excusing  or supporting  "mostly peaceful" riots causing billions of dollars in damage and dozens of lives even as we decry those who wear "MAGA" hats or who believe in certain biblical passages.

One shudders to think what is next, what other freedoms we will blithely give up, in the puerile, misguided, futile quest for security. Privacy will soon be an entirely antiquated notion.

If we wish to purchase a knife, will we soon have to list all the books we own? To purchase a bow and arrow set, if still legal to do so, will it be necessary for us to bring in pictures of all our medications? If we wish to buy a taser or pepper spray, will we be forced to present the sleeves of all the CDs and DVDs that we own? Explain why we listened to a Joe Rogan podcast last week?

Talk about a slippery slope.

Memo to Hochul: Who the hell do you think you are, lady?

In truth, it doesn't matter. Self-evidently, no one has the "right" to deprive us of our natural rights.

And no one can. Unless we let it happen.

Image via Pxhere.
When Congress  the people's representatives  had the chance to vote on the Green New Deal, it emphatically said "no." Were we still a functioning representative democracy, that would be the end of the Green New Deal until such time as We the People elect (God forbid) a majority of senators and House members who want that legislation. The unconstitutional leftist model since FDR, though, has been for the Executive Branch to do what Congress refuses to do, and, sadly, Chief Justice Roberts's spineless opinion in West Virginia v. EPA has done nothing to limit that lawless power.

We now have a situation in which Biden has unchallenged and outsized executive powers and the EPA has unlimited regulatory power (both of which, I can assure you, were never meant to control America's entire energy supply). The result is that the Democrats are relentlessly clamping down on our available energy supplies.

In a pre-modern era, energy came from four sources: primitive wind and water power, animal abuse, and slavery (the last of which was not, although I'm sure leftists will deny it, a uniquely American phenomenon). In the modern era, fossil fuel has allowed humans to break free from these limited and abusive energy systems. Farms produce a surplus, water is cleaned, medical care is readily available, homes are warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and so much more. Rather than listing everything that undergirds our world thanks to fossil fuel, I challenge you to list a single thing in your life that does not rely on fossil fuel for its functionality, manufacture, or transport.



Image: Tucker Carlson. YouTube screen grab.

Also in pre-modern times, if the energy supplies failed (the wind stopped blowing, the water stopped flowing, and the slaves and/or animals died from disease), there were two inevitable results: famine and then, once the people were sufficiently weakened, deadly epidemic disease, not on a COVID scale (~1% of the total population), but on a cataclysmic scale, whether it was a single nation seeing tens of thousands dying from smallpox or typhus, or one third to one half of the world's entire population dying from the plague.

Leftists, like all Jacobins, are uninterested in history. Just as the French Revolution decided its new form of government was a new social order that required a new calendar, declaring that 1792 was the Year One, our modern revolutionaries have a time scale that looks only to the future.

George Orwell fully understood and perfectly illustrated in 1984 how the past exists only to justify the left's current and future policies. If the past isn't helpful, it must be ignored or rewritten. What this means is that leftists cannot learn from the past. All they can do, rather like crossing a raging river on the backs of alligators, is just keep erasing their mistakes and assuring a beleaguered population that the newly rewritten past fully justifies their future plans. This technique lasts for only so long; then you get hungry, desperate Sri Lankans storming the president's palace.

Tucker Carlson understands all this. He understands all nation's needs for energy, he understands that solar and wind power cannot serve a modern nation's needs, and he understands that the leftists are lying and cheating to circumvent the constitutional limitations on despotism. I often say that something Tucker did is a "must-see" because it so perfectly (and often amusingly) encapsulates an issue. This time, I'm telling you that Carlson's latest monologue is a must-see because it's a warning bell. If we ignore it, frankly, we're doomed. I want him to be a prophet with honor in his own country, rather than a Cassandra, futilely warning a doomed nation about its elites' disastrous policies.
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 13 - A Chechen man sentenced to 15 years in jail in Spain for murdering 22-year-old Italian man Niccolo Ciatti in a disco at Lloret de Mar in August 2017 did not show up for a hearing on his detention in Gerona on Wednesday and is believed to have gone on the run, legal sources said.

Rassoul Bissoultanov, 24, was convicted by a court of first instance of dealing the fatal blow to the young man from Scandicci near Florence at the St Trop disco by kicking the Italian in the head.

In Spain, non-definitive sentences like the Chechen's do not necessarily mean detention in jail.

A judge was due to decide on Bissoultanov's possible jailing on Wednesday morning. (ANSA).


(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JULY 13 - A reported 9,000 migrants, including 656 women and 342 minors, in 2022 were taken back to Libya after being rescued by coast guards off Libyan coasts, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

"In the January-June period, a total of 9,000 migrants have been disembarked back on Libyan shores", wrote the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a statement on Twitter, adding that since the start of the year 156 migrants have died and 565 have disappeared.

In 2021, 32,425 migrants were taken back to Libya, 662 died and 891 disappeared, IOM reported.(ANSAmed).


Taxonomy: Austria, we will appeal to the EU Court of Justice Minister, "opposed to greenwashing with gas and nuclear"

(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, JUL 13 - "Taxonomy is a key tool of the green deal. Why? Because it ensures that funding for green transition goes into the green projects. That's why Austria has opposed the greenwashing of gas and nuclear in the taxonomy from the beginning. The EU Parliament has also made the decision, but Austria has made an appeal. We will submit it to the European court of justice to prevent this greenwashing program's implementation". Austria's Minister for Environment, Energy, and Climate Action, Leonore Gewessler, underlined this stance on the sidelines of the informal Environment Council in Prague.



"We have two months" to take action. "Luxembourg has already announced that it will support an appeal, and several member states are critical," Gewessler added. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
The EU trying to ease tensions on Kaliningrad But controls on goods

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JUL 13 - The Financial Times reported that Brussels has stated that it does not intend to obstruct rail shipments of sanctioned goods from Russia to Kaliningrad as member states seek to reduce tensions with Moscow. The European Commission issued guidance on Wednesday confirming that the EU was not attempting to prevent goods traveling by rail across Lithuania to reach the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.



However goods that are subject to EU sanctions, such as steel and cement, will not be allowed to travel by road. Sanctioned military and dual use goods and technology are fully prohibited regardless of the mode of transport. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
TUNIS - The summer tour of renowned flute player Andrea Griminelli and his Octa Jazz Quartet is touching down in Tunisia, thanks to the Italian Cultural Institute, with two exclusive concerns. The first is scheduled on July 16 at the International Festival of Symphonic Music in El Jem, and then on July 17 at the International festival of Hammamet. The Roman amphitheater of El Jem (known as the small Colosseum), declared in 1979 a UNESCO world heritage site, will set the scene for the magic atmosphere created by the musician, accompanied by the Octa Jazz Quartet, with a program dedicated to the splendid melodies of Ennio Morricone, unforgettable soundtrack of the most well-known Italian cinema. Also to Italian cinema, and renowned pieces composed by Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone, will be dedicated the concert in Hammamet, which will take place at the amphitheater of the International Cultural Center, Dar Sebastian.



Griminelli was born in Correggio, the same hometown of Luciano Ligabue, and is one of the most appreciated artists in the world. A classical flute player, he started studying music when he was very young and had, along with a traditional career in classical music, frequent experiences in different genres of contemporary music with stable professional relationships.



Appreciated by the most popular musicians, he collaborated with artists such as Pavarotti, Bocelli, Zucchero, Sting, Elton John, James Taylor, Bradford Marsalis and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, with whom he performed in some of the most prestigious theaters in the world, in the US, South America, London, Paris and Moscow, among others. His most successful productions include "Andrea Griminelli's Cinema Italiano: A New Interpretation of Italian Film Music", a wonderful album in which he presented music by Morricone and Bacalov, reinterpreting them with the contribution of international stars such as Sting, Pavarotti and Dalla. Great talent, surprising technique and particular sensibility of interpretation have made Andrea Griminelli an internationally-renowned artist, allowing him the gain awards such as a Grammy and the Prix De Paris. In 1991, he was awarded the honor of 'Cavaliere' and in 2003 of 'Ufficiale al merito della Repubblica Italiana'.
WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden on Wednesday vowed to "advance Israel's integration" in the region after landing in the Jewish State. The president expressed the wish to strengthen the relationship between the US and Israel, evoking in particular a partnership on the "most sophisticated" defense systems in the world. Biden also stressed Washington's commitment for Israel's security.



Right after his arrival, Biden could get a taste at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport of the most advanced air defense systems created (often with US financial aid) by Israeli technology. They include the anti-missile air defense system 'Iron Dome' (which according to producers has a 90% success rate), the 'Arrow', 'David's Sling' and the brand new 'Magen Or': a system that uses laser which has passed the experimental phase and which, according to local analysts, should become operational in two-three years. It is a "revolutionary" system also because - as recently explained by former premier Naftali Bennett - it cuts operational costs: while the cost of each time Iron Dome intercepts a missile is of about 70,000 dollars, with 'Magen Or' the cost is of about one-two dollars per intervention. Biden received in-depth explanations from Premier Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, chief of staff Aviv Kochavi and Dany Gold, one of the people who built 'Iron Dome'. "He was very impressed", said Gold. "We are determined to further improve the new defense systems and boost cooperation with the United States", he added. Biden was also shown the wing of a drone - of Iranian production, according to media reports - launched about 10 days ago by Hezbollah from Lebanon towards the platform Karish, connected to a natural gas field in Israeli commercial waters. The fragment had a hole opened by the Israeli rocket that hit it.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will start tomorrow consultations ahead of the formation of a government and the inaugural session of the new single-chamber Parliament is expected by the end of July. As reported by the president's office in Belgrade, the first to be received will be representatives of minorities, whose MPs were elected on April 3: the Albanians of Presevo Valley (one lawmaker), Bosniaks of the Sda party of Sandzak (two), a separatist formation of Vojvodina and of Croatians from this region (two), the Justice and Reconciliation Party, a formation of Bosnian Muslims (three).



Twelve including parties and movements made it above the 3% threshold in April. The first with 120 lawmakers (out of a total of 250) was the Serbian Progressive Party (Sns, conservative) led by President Vucic, followed by the main coalition of oppositions with 38 seats and by the Socialist party of Ivica Dacic, head of Parliament and a former foreign minister. The government alliance between Sns and Sps, with the support of other minor movements tied to Vucic's polices, is expected to continue. As potential prime minister, media reports mentioned in particular the current finance minister, Sinisa Mali, who is a faithful ally of Vucic, and the governor of the national bank, Jorgovanka Tabakovic, without ruling out a reconfirmation of the current premier, Ana Brnabic, the first woman and first member of the LGBT community at the helm of an executive in Serbia.
TEL AVIV - US President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel. The president's official Air Force One aircraft landed at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.



This is Biden's first visit to Israel and to the region as president. He was welcomed by Premier Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett and Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Also in attendance were government ministers and former prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu.



Biden did not shake hands with Lapid, Herzog and other officials who welcomed him upon his arrival at the airport.



According to the White House, this is part of anti-Covid protocols, but some analysts instead believe it was a choice made ahead of the second part of Biden's mission to the Middle East, with a visit to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Heir Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a controversial figure considered responsible for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The US president was extremely criticized for the meeting and it is presumed he does not intend to shake hands with the de facto regent of the Saudi monarchy, which is why he chose to avoid shaking hands in Israel, according to some analysts.
U.S. would like to reopen consulate in East Jerusalem 'Discussion with Israeli, Palestinian governments necessary'

(ANSAmed) - WASHINGTON, JULY 13 - US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Wednesday said the US would like a consulate in East Jerusalem, during a briefing with members of the press in Israel. "Obviously", he explained, reopening the consulate would require a "discussion with the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership". He added that the administration would continue to work in this direction during the trip.(ANSAmed).




Extreme right-wing groups are targeting military personnel as potential recruits but leaders of the armed forces provide no clear direction over whether they can become members, a report has found.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said current policies that do not limit which organisations personnel can join are somewhat risky given the sensitive nature of the jobs carried out by service members.

It also warned there was no process in place to monitor extremists who had travelled overseas and returned to the UK having developed connections with other far-right groups and potentially become more radicalised.

Mark Jones, a former member of banned far-right group National Action, travelled to Ukraine in 2017 to meet members of right-wing militia Azov Battalion, and had also been messaging a member of Lithuanian far-right group Skydas.

Mark Jones (West Midlands Police/PA)

He was jailed for five and a half years in June 2020.

Another member of the group was Finnish-born British soldier and Afghanistan veteran Mikko Vehvilainen.

The committee said: Extreme right-wing terrorists often display an interest in military culture, weaponry and the armed forces or law enforcement organisations  the director-general for MI5 noted that many of these people are absolutely fixated with weaponry.

This leads both to individuals seeking to join the military, and groups seeking to recruit within the military.

The fact that the armed forces do not provide clear direction to service personnel regarding membership of any organisation  let alone an extremist one  would appear to be something of an anomaly.

It could be argued that this is a somewhat risky approach, given the sensitive roles of many service personnel.

In April last year figures uncovered by the Guardian showed that at least 16 service personnel had been referred to the Government terrorism prevention programme in a two-and-a-half-year period, the majority of which were over far-right beliefs.

Defence intelligence officials told the committee: Ministry of Defence policies do not explicitly state which organisations a service person may be a member of, nor do they place limits on the nature of organisations that a service person may join.

However, any extremist ideology is completely at odds with the values of our armed forces and MoD works closely with police and security partners to ensure that any activity or membership of concern is thoroughly investigated.

The ISC found there was no process in place to monitor those who travelled abroad for extreme right-wing terrorism-related purposes and have returned to the UK.

It said there was a strong possibility that the returning fighters will have been further radicalised and developed connections with others who share their extreme right-wing ideology.

Ben Hannam (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Concerns were also raised about the efficacy of police vetting for new recruits.

In April last year, Metropolitan Police officer Ben Hannam was jailed for more than four years for membership of National Action.

He had been working as a probationary officer for nearly two years before he was found on a leaked database of users of extreme right-wing forum Iron March and arrested.

The committee found: There appears to be an issue around the current vetting processes for candidates applying to join the police  the lack of thorough background checks is a matter of concern.

As the internet and the wider online sphere is the key driver of the extreme right-wing terrorism threat, it follows that online activity must be closely scrutinised when the police are assessing whether an individual is suitable to join its ranks.

Among 21 conclusions and recommendations, the committee also said:

 MI5 and counter-terror police should be alert to the potential for links between the far right and mixed martial arts as it highlighted that several instructors in other countries were previously found to have been involved in National Action.

 MPs must scrutinise how and why people are referred to the anti-terror programme Prevent amid a continuing rise in the number of referrals for concerns around extreme right-wing activity.

 It quoted a Home Office assessment from June 2021 that found the extreme right-wing threat is likely to increase over the next five years, with economic decline caused by Covid-19 being a likely driver of increased threat.

 There was some limited evidence of Russian state support for extremist right-wing groups in the UK, in what the committee said was likely to be a bid to fuel divisions and increase socio-political discord.
Scotlands Tory MPs have been urged to back a no-confidence motion in the Government ahead of the party electing a new leader.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as Tory leader last week, but said he would stay on in the role until a new leader was elected  which could take until September 5.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced that his party would table a motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson on Tuesday with hopes that a vote would take place the following day.

Sir Keir said the motion would challenge Tory MPs to put their constituents first, and put the country first.

Kirsten Oswald urged the six Scottish Tory MPs to back the motion (House of Commons/PA)

The SNP called on the six Tory MPs in Scotland, only one of whom still supports the Prime Minister, to back the vote, which could force a general election.

All Scottish Tory MPs, with the exception of Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, have been among the voices in the party who called for the Prime Minister to stand down in recent months.

If the vote passes, the Queen could also invite someone else to form a Government on the basis they could win a confidence vote in the Commons.

But the motion, which would require a simple majority of MPs to back it, would need substantial support from the Tory benches if it were to pass.

SNP deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said her party would back the motion if it came to a vote.

Boris Johnson has debased the office of Prime Minister with his extensive record of misconduct and serial law-breaking, she said.

His desperate attempts to cling on must be challenged and it is up to Tory MPs to match their rhetoric with action and ensure that he is removed now.

SNP MPs will support a vote of no confidence in Johnsons broken Government but the fact is that this will not pass unless Tory MPs step up and act.

Douglas Ross and the Scottish Tory MPs must confirm they will also vote in favour of the no-confidence motion rather than go into hiding or worse  vote to keep him in post.

Its no secret that Douglas Ross has had his credibility ripped apart by his pathetic flip-flopping through this entire episode, but he has an opportunity to do the right thing for once.

The vote would force Tory MPs to back the Government or vote against it.

The push comes as SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the contest to elect Mr Johnsons successor was a race to the right.

Speaking as nominations closed on Tuesday, Mr Blackford said: With the Tory leadership contest descending into a rabid race to the right, and the woeful list of candidates trying to outdo each other in support for a hard Brexit and deep austerity cuts, it is clear whoever wins, Scotland will lose.

This dismal Tory contest is underlining everything that is wrong with Westminster control  and it is making the case for independence.
The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office says it will no longer object to the release of a transcript sought by Roman Polanski, so that the filmmakers 45-year-old rape case might be re-examined.

George Gascon announced on Tuesday that the office had reversed its position and would allow the transcripts of former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson in the case to be unsealed.

Polanski pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in August 1977 but fled the United States to France before a sentencing hearing.

Polanski pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in August 1977 but fled the United States (Joel Ryan/PA)

He has lived abroad ever since.

Gascon said the decision came following a letter from Samantha Geimer, the victim in the case, who has sought for years to have the case dismissed. She was 13 years old when Polanski pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her.

The DAs office released a letter it had received from Geimer on June 20, in which she asked that the transcript be unsealed and that the office take a fresh look at the case and conduct an investigation into alleged judicial misconduct.

This case has been described by the courts as one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history, Gascon said.

For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know.

Roman Polanski in 1977  the year he pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (Aleksander Jalosinski/Alamy/PA)

After careful consideration of the victims wishes, the unique and extraordinary circumstances that led to his conditional exam and my commitment to transparency and accountability for all in the justice system, my office has determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts.

Gascon added that Polanski, known for films such as The Pianist and Chinatown, remains a fugitive from justice and should surrender himself to the Los Angeles County Superior Court to be sentenced.

The director was married to actress Sharon Tate, and shared a house with her before her murder at the hands of the Manson Family cult in 1969.
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched Girl in the Picture, streaming now on Netflix.

Netflixs true-crime documentary Girl in the Picture has quickly captivated audiences with the layered and tragic story of Suzanne Sevakis, who was abducted as a child by Frank Floyd, and raised as his daughter. He sexually abused her, and forced her to marry him  and then she was killed in what Floyd claims was a hit-and-run accident in 1990. She was just 20 years old at the time of her death.

More from Variety

The doc, directed by Skye Borgman, unfolds in a gradual way as if viewers are investigating the crime themselves, leading to many shocking twists and turns. At first, audiences are told that the name of the woman who died was Tonya Hughes and that she had a child, Michael, with her husband Clarence. Then, viewers learn that they were known as Sharon and Warren Marshall while she attended high school, with Floyd acting as her father. But as the story unravels, multiple aliases of Floyd and Sevakis come to light and its revealed that he was her kidnapper  and that she never knew her true identity.

Though federal agents were eventually able to track down Floyd and put him in prison for the abduction of Sevakis son, Michael Hughes  and later place him on death row for the murder of Sevakis friend, Cheryl Commesso  the fact that the woman at the center of the cases name was Suzanne Sevakis was not uncovered until one of her children, whom she had placed for adoption, provided DNA in 2014.

While Girl in the Picture successfully tells a complicated story, several questions remain unanswered about the life and untimely death of Sevakis, as well as her son Michael and kidnapper Floyd. Below, Variety attempts to provide answers.

Have Michael Hughes remains been found?

After Sevakis death, her 2-year-old son Michael was put into foster care once it was revealed that Floyd was not his father. In 1994, when Michael was 6 years old, Floyd kidnapped him from school by holding the principal hostage. Michael was never seen again, and Floyd was eventually arrested and put in prison on kidnapping charges. In 2014, Floyd confessed to killing Michael during an interview with FBI agents Scott Lobb and Nate Furr.

I finally hit my fist down on the table. Howd you kill him? Floyd, howd you kill him?' Lobb said in the documentary. Waterworks turn off. I shot him twice in the back of the head to make it real quick.'

Floyd told the agents that Michaels body was near the Oklahoma-Texas border, but the FBI did not find his remains, though Lobb said that they gave it 110%. The case is considered closed.

Michael Hughes in Girl in the Picture. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix  2022 - Credit: Netflix

Netflix

Is Frank Floyd still alive?

Floyd was sentenced to 52 years in prison for the kidnapping of Michael Hughes, and then sentenced to death in 1997 when police discovered that he had killed Commesso. According to his Wikipedia page, Floyd is still alive at 79 years old, and is currently imprisoned on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Florida.

How did Floyd make money while on the run for nearly 17 years?

According to Girl in the Picture, Floyd had been on the run for nearly 17 years when he was arrested for the kidnapping of Michael Hughes. After sexually assaulting a woman in 1973, Floyd failed to show up for his court date and had been a fugitive ever since, hence his many aliases. Something that is not explained in the documentary  perhaps because it is not known  is how exactly Floyd earned money for himself and Sevakis, particularly while she was attending high school in Georgia.

Jenny Fisher, a classmate of Sevakis who reveals that she was a gifted student with a full-ride scholarship to Georgia Tech, says during the documentary that Floyd asked her father for a loan on the first day they met. Once Sevakis becomes pregnant and they flee, it is explained that Sevakis eventually begins working in strip clubs in Florida and Oklahoma, the money from which likely went to Floyd.

Heather Lane, one of Sevakis friends at gentlemens club Mons Venus, says in the doc that Floyd was also pressuring Sevakis to do more than just dance to earn money. She was standing outside at the door, and she was offering sex services to these men for $50, Lane said of Sevakis. She said, Well, my dad told me to do it, and he bought me condoms. That was disgusting. I couldnt believe that a man would put their daughter in that situation.

Not much else is known about Floyds employment, although FBI agent Joe Fitzpatrick does mention that Floyd was employed in Louisville, Ky. for at least a short while, possibly as a painter, after kidnapping Michael. No one had seen Michael, Fitzpatrick said in Girl in the Picture. They checked with both employments where he was presently employed, and where he was previously employed as a painter.

What was the order of Suzanne Sevakis children, and who are their fathers?

One of the largest mysteries presented in Girl in the Picture is how many children Suzanne Sevakis had, when exactly they were born and who their fathers were. Investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck, who wrote the book A Beautiful Child, which led to the discovery of Sevakis true identity, said in the documentary that she had been pregnant three times: Once in high school, the babys supposedly adopted, then it was Michael, then it was this third one who was given up for adoption in New Orleans. And thats Megan.

Sevakis high school friend Fisher recalled when she first got pregnant in high school, and said her plan was to go to Arizona and then place the baby for adoption. Sevakis was also pregnant in the late 80s in Tampa, according to the doc, which could be when Michael was born. Megan was born in New Orleans in 1989 and placed for adoption, just one year before Sevakis death.

Girl in the Picture interviews Megan Dufresne, Sevakis birth daughter who gave the FBI DNA after hearing of Birkbecks book. Megan, who recently became a mother herself, hints in the documentary that Sevakis may have had even more children: Becoming a parent gave me even more respect for my birth mother, because she gave up two children, if not more, knowing that it was better for the kids.

But that supposition may be unlikely, since Sevakis seems to have given birth to three children within the span of a few years.

Very little is known about the first child whom Sevakis had in high school, though the Tampa Bay Times reported in 1997 that she had become pregnant with her boyfriend at the time. According to Screen Rant, the father of Michael Hughes has been speculated to be either Gregory Higgs or Kevin Brown, two men she had been dating around the time of the pregnancy. As for Megans father, his identity remains unknown, though Reddit users have speculated that it may be Floyd.

Megan DuFresne in Girl in the Picture. Cr. Netflix  2022 - Credit: Netflix

Netflix

Why didnt Suzannes biological parents try harder to find her and what happened to her siblings?

Girl in the Picture was able to nab interviews with Sevakis biological parents, Sandra Willet and Clifford Sevakis. The two were high-school sweethearts, and had Suzanne young  but they divorced shortly after Clifford returned from fighting in Vietnam. Willet then had two more daughters, Allison and Amy, with her next husband, but fell on rough times after they got divorced and a tornado destroyed her home. She met Floyd  who was going under the alias Brandon Cleo Williams at the time  at church in 1975, and he offered to help her take care of the children. When Willet was sent to jail for a month for writing a bad check, Floyd left with her children, dropping Allison and Amy off at an orphanage, but keeping Suzanne, who was the oldest.

In her interview in the doc, Willet claims that she was not able to get Suzanne back because Floyd was legally her stepfather. If I had found some way to get help to get away from the whole situation, then it never would have happened, she said. And I was supposed to be her mother and protect her from that monster, and I didnt.

As for Cliff, he was contacted by social services and asked if he could adopt all three girls, but he didnt feel he was able to at the time. I was living with my parents, I was unemployed, I was 23 years old, he said. I just didnt think I was going to be a good parent at that point. I was so kind of messed up from Vietnam.

However, what the documentary doesnt mention is that Suzanne also had a brother, Phillip, who was a 1-year-old at the time of their abduction by Floyd. He also went missing and was not located by Willet. According to Screen Rant, in 2019 a man came forward who had been adopted as a child and believed he may be Phillip. A DNA test later proved this to be the case, and it was revealed that Phillip had been adopted in North Carolina shortly after he went missing.

Several people in the documentary expressed their frustration that Suzannes biological parents had not tried harder to find her. Lane said, Im actually very angry at Sharons mom. I dont believe for one second that because this was back in the day, that she couldnt find her child I just want to know why? Why didnt she try harder?

In addition, Megans adopted mother, Mary, revealed that she had attempted to contact Willet so that Megan could have a relationship with her, but Willet refused. That didnt go well. Its that I dont care attitude, she said. When you reach out to someone and they have no interest, that to me you dont care? You dont want to know? What kind of person are you?

However, Cliff maintains a relationship with Megan and her family, as is seen at the end of the documentary during Sevakis long-overdue memorial service.

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Sarah Cannon was ready to start her vacation last week on Hawaii's big island. She, along with her in-laws, her husband and their three kids, was ticketed to fly nonstop from Denver to Kona for about a week in the tropics.

Instead, Cannon and her family got to experience an extreme case of 2022 summer travel woes firsthand on a winding journey that involved mechanical issues, three different airplanes, multiple flight crews, an extra layover in California and a series of incremental delays that ultimately added up to almost 24 hours.

It was laughable the number of texts and emails I got from United, Cannon said. Weve literally spent thousands of dollars for a direct flight, I shouldve gone with a cheaper two-stop option.

This combined screen grab shows an apology email Sarah Cannon received from United Airlines.

For her trouble, Cannon said, United Airlines gave her around $30 in meal vouchers per person and a form letter of apology over email.

And that may be all she's going to get.

What are you entitled to if your flight is delayed?

U.S. airlines are required by the Department of Transportation to give passengers refunds if their flights are outright canceled, but the rules around delays are a little murkier.

There's no official requirement for passengers to receive a refund or reimbursement as a result of a flight delay. Even the DOT's website can be frustratingly vague for travelers.

Summer travel headaches: What airlines owe you when flights are canceled, delayed

"DOT has not specifically defined 'significant delay,' " the site says. "Whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors  such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances."

The rules are different  and more traveler-friendly  in Europe, where laws require airlines to compensate passengers at least 250 euros for delays of three hours or more, and up to 600 euros for longer delays on long-distance flights. Domestic flights in the U.S. have few protections if something goes wrong. For the most part, it's up to individual airlines to decide how to compensate their passengers after a delay.

Traveling to Europe?: "Pack clean underwear in your carry-on"

U.S. airlines are required by the Department of Transportation to give passengers refunds if their flights are outright canceled, but the rules around delays are a little murkier.

Theres no specific policy on compensations," said Shaiy Howard, president and CEO of Travel by Shaiy, a travel agency based in South Florida. "Just keep in mind that all airlines vary. When you purchase your airline ticket, in the terms and conditions there can be delays and normally they say youre not entitled to compensation for certain delays like weather.

Here's what each of the major carriers said they do in the event of a significant delay:

American Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Passengers can receive a refund for unused portions of their ticket if they decide not to travel after a delay of 90 minutes or more, American Airlines spokesperson Andrea Koos told USA TODAY in an email. Customers may also receive compensation for delay-related hotel stays, depending on the cause of the delay, according to the airline's contract of carriage.

Delta Air Lines flight delay compensation policy

Eligibility for compensation is determined on a case-by-case basis when a delay is caused by maintenance, crew scheduling, or late-arriving equipment not caused by weather. Compensation can include meal, hotel, or ground transportation vouchers, Delta Air Lines spokesperson Catherine Morrow told USA TODAY in an email.

United Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Eligibility for compensation is determined on a case-by-case basis for each individual passenger, a United spokesperson told USA TODAY by email.

Southwest Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Customers can request a refund in the event of a delay if they choose not to travel. Compensation for those who still take their delayed flights is determined on a case-by-case basis, the airline said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY.

JetBlue flight delay compensation policy

JetBlue has an escalating compensation structure. The minimum compensation is $50 in travel credits after a three-hour departure delay, and the credit adjusts upward by $50 for every additional hour. The credit maxes out at $200 for delays of six hours or more.

Once passengers have boarded the aircraft, the compensation structure is $100 in credit for a delay between three and five hours, $175 in credit for a delay between five and six hours, or a $250 credit for a delay of six hours or more.

Passengers are also entitled to compensation if they are delayed on the ground upon arrival, with a $50 credit for a delay of one to two hours, a $125 credit for a delay of two to three hours and a $200 credit for a delay of three hours or more.

Spirit Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Spirit's contract of carriage provides no guarantee for compensation or vouchers in the event of a delay.

Frontier Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Frontier's contract of carriage provides no guarantee for compensation or vouchers in the event of a delay. Frontier did not respond to USA TODAY's request for their policy.

Alaska Airlines flight delay compensation policy

"There is no minimum compensation nor a minimum delay. As we work to care for guests impacted by a delay, compensation is determined by the totality of circumstances," a representative told USA TODAY in an email statement.

Hawaiian Airlines flight delay compensation policy

In the event of a delay of four hours or more not caused by weather, passengers may be entitled to hotel, meal and/or ground transportation vouchers, or travel credits, according to the airline's contract of carriage.

Avelo Airlines flight delay compensation policy

Passengers are entitled to a minimum $25 travel credit after a two-hour delay not caused by weather. That amount can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis, Courtney Goff, a spokesperson for the airline, told USA TODAY in an email.

Breeze Airways flight delay compensation policy

Passengers are entitled to a minimum $20 credit after a 90-minute delay not caused by weather or air traffic control. That amount can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis Gareth Edmondson-Jones, a spokesperson for the airline, told USA TODAY in an email.

What else should travelers know?

The three biggest pieces of advice experts offered were to join the airline's frequent flyer program, take the earliest flight out if possible and buy travel insurance.

I advise all my clients to purchase travel protection," said Howard, from Travel by Shaiy. Even if an airline doesn't compensate you following a delay, travel insurance may reimburse you for expenses like rental cars or hotel rooms that you incur as a result.

She added that it's a good idea to get the airline's app ahead of your trip and speak to the gate agent during the delay.

Marc Casto, president of Flight Centre Travel Group, said it's also important to pay attention to which kind of ticket you purchase.

Advice for travelers: How to track and use your airline credits

"At the stage of buying, I would encourage travelers not to buy the cheapest fare. Those are the most likely passengers to get bumped," he said.

Casto also said flyers should try to resolve their issue through the app or a messaging platform, which is usually faster than calling the customer service number or waiting in line at the airport.

Booking through a third party like Expedia or Orbitz can also add a layer of complication if something goes wrong, Howard and Casto said, because airlines usually require passengers to make changes and file complaints through their booking agent, and the websites sometimes have different rules around compensation.

Cannon said she's hoping for a smoother experience on the return trip, and agreed that she would be more careful about buying travel insurance in the future.

"My four4-year-old said, 'next time can we just take a boat to Hawaii?' " she said. "For the other travelers that are out there, either be flexible or drive, or take a boat as my toddler says."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Are you entitled to compensation if your flight is delayed?
Twitter (TWTR) has made good on its promise to drag Elon Musk into court and potentially force the Tesla CEO to acquire the social media company, despite Musk saying he is killing the deal.

On July 12, Twitter filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court  the countrys preeminent business dispute forum  asking for one of its chancellors to compel Musk to buy the company, as he promised in his April 25 merger agreement. Under the terms of the accord, Musk agreed to purchase the companys outstanding common stock at $54.20 per share, roughly $44 billion. As of Tuesday, Twitter was trading around $34 a share.

Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he  unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law  is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away, Twitter alleges in the breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Twitter is asking the court for "swift" action to force Musk to buy Twitter, noting that the CEO's tactics pose the danger of irreparable harm against the social media company and its employees.

We have reached out to Twitter and Musk and did not receive an immediate response.

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk grimaces after arriving on the red carpet for the Axel Springer award, in Berlin, Germany, December 1, 2020. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/Pool

Musk alleges that Twitter breached multiple terms of their agreement by holding back data that would allow him to independently assess the number of fake accounts on the platform  something Musk says is fundamental to its business and financial performance, and needed to facilitate Musk's financing and financial planning for the transaction.

However, Twitter alleges in its lawsuit that Musk was simply grasping "for an out" as the market and Twitter both began to sink after he agreed to buy the company.

"Musk wanted an escape. But the merger agreement left him little room," the lawsuit stated.

The agreement provides for a $1 billion reverse breakup fee that would release Musk from the deal  but only under certain conditions, such as if his debt financing collapsed, or if government regulators blocked the merger.

From Twitter's lawsuit.

The agreement in question stems from Musks April 4 revelation that he planned to buy Twitter by acquiring all of its outstanding shares. Early on, Musk made clear two central reasons for acquiring the social media company: defeating fake spam bot accounts, and promoting more free speech.

His offer of $54.20 per share represented a 38% premium over Twitters stock price at market close on April 1, 2022. On May 13, Musk hinted in a Tweet that the deal may be on thin ice.

The deal was temporarily on hold, he said, pending verification of Twitters representations that fewer than 5% of monetizable daily active user accounts are fake. Some have speculated that Musk is using Twitters fake-account issue as an excuse not to buy a company in a bear market  especially since he should have known about it long before bidding for Twitter.

Musk, meanwhile, has speculated that as many as 20% of Twitter accounts could be bots, but says he can't verify whether he is right or Twitter is without the right data.

Twitter, according to The Washington Post, shared more than 500 million tweets and associated information with Musk, but the company has said it can't provide outside parties with privileged internal data, as it could harm user privacy.

Unless the court orders otherwise, Musk has 20 days from being served with Twitters complaint to file an answer to its claims.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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The Irish Government has warned of a severe shortage of state accommodation for arriving Ukrainian refugees.

Amid worsening overcrowding at the transit centre at the Citywest hotel complex in Dublin, new arrivals who do not have alternative accommodation already arranged are being asked to remain at Dublin Airport overnight and into Thursday.

Ireland has taken in around 40,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine  the majority of them women and children.

Asylum seekers from other countries also continue to seek sanctuary in Ireland through the International Protection Service.

Micheal Martin (Brian Lawless/PA)

Taoiseach Micheal Martin is to hold talks with other ministers on Thursday to discuss the situation as the Government attempts to put alternative accommodation arrangements in place.

Ensuring the security, health and safety of people who are fleeing Ukraine has been, and remains, a top priority for the Government since the Russian attack began in February, a Government statement said.

Most of the people arriving in Ireland are women and children.

This effort has involved, inter alia, all relevant Government departments and offices, local authorities, the Defence Forces and state agencies such as Tusla (Child and Family Agency) and the HSE (Health Service Executive).

Over the past number of weeks there has been a very significant increase in the number of people seeking access to the International Protection Service (IPS) and this is causing a severe shortage of available accommodation for both people arriving from Ukraine and international protection applicants.

This is also causing overcrowding in the Citywest Transit Hub.

Incoming arrivals overnight will remain in Dublin Airport if they do not have an alternative source of accommodation.

Government is working intensively to put alternative arrangements in place with immediate effect.

The Taoiseach is meeting with relevant ministers tomorrow to discuss the situation and review the current policies and processes.
The University of Florida has received $3 million in taxpayer funds to establish a new academic center focused on civics courses. But the university did not ask for it, a secretive group did.

The group is so obscure that even the Florida lawmaker who asked the Legislature for the funding on the organizations behalf does not know who is behind the group.

I dont know really much about that group at all, Sen. Keith Perry, a Gainesville Republican, said in an interview. I dont know who they are.

The university also did not interact with the group  the Council on Public University Reform  or the man who represents it: Joshua Holdenried, who has a long history of working with conservative and religious groups.

Yet the group had sway. The Legislature approved its initial $2 million funding request, and added $1 million more in a state budget approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June. Now, the states flagship campus is poised to open the Hamilton Center for Classic and Civics Education. A university spokesman said the $3 million in nonrecurring state funds are expected to be used over time.

While the center wasnt part of our legislative budget request, we look forward to establishing the center and think it will make positive contributions to the universitys academic life, said Steve Orlando, a spokesman for the university.

Once established, the goal will be to educate university students in the principles, ideals and institutions of the American political order, the foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship as well as to offer courses and training on civic education and the values of open inquiry and civil discourse to support students from kindergarten to college, according to the language approved in the state budget.

The center will also coordinate with the Florida Institute of Politics at Florida State University and The Adam Smith Center for the Study of Economic Freedom at Florida International University to help curate a new state education resource that aims to tell first-person accounts of victims of other nations government philosophies, including Floridians who fled communist regimes like Cuba and Venezuela.

The Hamilton Centers vision mirrors an education model that DeSantis and other Republican leaders have embraced as they challenge what they say is a progressive tilt to Floridas public education system. In recent years, DeSantis interest in civic education has become more pronounced as he seizes on culturally divisive issues and accuses the political left of trying to indoctrinate children with the belief that the United States is inherently wicked or fundamentally racist.

We absolutely support the goal of the center; the governor has prioritized civics, leadership, and classical studies in education. So, of course, we approved the line item in the final budget. It is also evident from UF that they welcome the center, said Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the governor.

Ties to conservative, religious groups

Not much is known about The Council on Public University Reform, a nonprofit organization that was established in November 2021 in Delaware. The group has no website, virtually no information about it online and no working phone.

But its representative, Holdenried, has a long history of working with conservative groups, like the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, and advancing the mission of religious organizations. Holdenried is the executive director of Napa Legal, a nonprofit that advises faith-based groups to protect their organizations and achieve their missions in a way that protects religious liberty in the public square.

In a May 2021 interview, Holdenried identified the Alliance Defending Freedom and its founder Alan Sears as one of Napa Legals closest allies. The alliances successes have been marked in court battles to limit the separation of church and state and to reverse laws on same-sex marriage and reproductive rights. A spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom said it was not involved with The Council on Public University Reform.

Holdenried is currently pursuing a masters degree at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college with ties to DeSantis administration. He is also board member of Free Speech, a group that often challenges what it believes to be the silencing of conservative voices on college and university campuses.

That issue has become a recent target for DeSantis and Republican lawmakers, who last year passed a law that requires Floridas public colleges and universities to ask students and employees about their political leanings and the political climate on their campuses. The law mandated a voluntary intellectual diversity meant to gauge whether politics are seeping into the classroom. Critics worry it could be used as a political tool as Republicans increasingly claim public universities and state colleges schools are dominated by woke ideologies.

Holdenrieds ties to these groups raise questions about who else is behind the Council on Public University Reform.

The Herald/Times reached Holdenried in an email to ask about the councils mission, who else is involved with the group, why he asked to establish the Hamilton Center at UF, and who in the state he talked with prior to making the request for the center. He declined to be interviewed and instead sent a broad statement.

The Council on Public University Reform educates policymakers about ways to enhance civil discourse, civics education, and liberal education in public universities. Its no secret that our nation is facing a crisis of civic literacy and incivility, Holdenried said. The Council supports constructive solutions that strengthen universities so they may adequately educate the next generation of citizens and leaders.

There is no documentation or explanation for the name Hamilton Center or whether it refers to Alexander Hamilton, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.

A plan in motion

The University of Florida is not familiar with Holdenried and did not have any interactions with him since it was directed to launch the Hamilton Center, a university spokesman said.

Perry, who made the funding request, said he only met with Adrian Lukis, a lobbyist hired by the council to make the case for the Hamilton Center during the legislative session. Lukis works with the lobbying powerhouse Ballard Partners and previously worked for DeSantis, first as deputy chief of staff and later as chief of staff. Lukis declined to comment.

READ MORE: Teachers alarmed by states infusing religion, downplaying race in civics training

The governors office did not respond when asked if DeSantis or his staff knew Holdenried or anything about the councils mission. But Griffin, the governors deputy press secretary, did say the Hamilton Center merited approval.

In principle, the governor supports the teaching of classical civics and political thought  the work of the same thinkers and writers that inspired our Founding Fathers in setting up our exceptional republic. Our university system needs more of this, Griffin said, while noting the budget item was negotiated by lawmakers, not the governor.

In a press conference last week, DeSantis said the state is unabashedly promoting civics and history that is accurate and that is not trying to push an ideological agenda as he promoted his Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative. The initiative, however, has sparked complaints from several high school government teachers who said a state civics training program they attended was ideologically driven with strong Christian fundamentalist and conservative overtones.

What is classical education?

The classical education model focuses on liberal arts and sciences, Latin, and incorporates instruction on the principles of moral character and civic virtue in everyday lesson plans.

Perry, for example, said he agreed to sponsor the councils budget request because he believes a classical education teaches history in an unbiased way and teaches students how to critically think by analyzing primary sources. His daughters got a classical education, he said.

The concept is not a new one, but in recent years many conservatives have gravitated toward that education model as they express dismay in a public school system they say is being influenced by a modern, progressive movement.

Hillsdale College, for instance, has helped launch and support classical charter schools across the country, including several in Florida.

While the college does not own or operate the local schools, it trains educators and shares its curriculum. The conservative colleges classical education model, as described in an essay written by one of its chief architects, offers a clear break from modern, progressive education and a return to traditional aims and methods.

A plan in motion

At the University of Florida, university officials are already taking steps to launch the Hamilton Center.

On Monday, UF Provost Joe Glover appointed John F. Stinneford, a professor at the UF Levin College of Law, to be the inaugural director of the center. Stinneford will report to Glover and will be subject to an annual review. His appointment is effective July 1.

What I can tell you is, the Hamilton Center will be operated in strict accordance with UFs high academic standards, Orlando said.

UFs Board of Trustees and president  a search is underway for a new president  will appoint the Hamilton Center Board of Fellows and an external advisory board to assist in the recruitment of faculty to the center, according to the legislative budget request.

Those appointments have yet to be announced.

When fully operational, the goal is to enhance the civic education of up to 50,000 Florida high school students and provide opportunities to 5,000 UF students, according to the budget request.

We expect that initial activities will include optional undergraduate courses and public events, Orlando said.

This story was updated to correct the spelling of UF Provost Joe Glover.
The beloved owner of a popular metro-east restaurant, My Just Desserts, has died from injuries she received in a head-on collision in Jamaica Saturday.

Yvonne Campbell, 44, was on vacation when the accident happened in Hanover, Jamaica. Campbell was among seven people in a tourist bus that collided head-on with a truck on the Orange Bay Road, according to an article in the Jamaican Observer, a local newspaper and website.

The account says eight passengers were taken to the hospital with severe injuries. Six of the injured were tourists.

Campbells death was announced Wednesday on the Facebook page for her popular restaurant, My Just Desserts in Alton.

Anyone that knew her, loved her and knew how much of a bright light she brought to every room she entered, the Facebook post states. No one will ever bake a pie, cobbler, or cake as good as her. Please give us room for grievance at this time. We will be closed until further notice and will let everyone know when we will be back. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers, this is a devastation to all. 

The public outpouring over her death was immediate. On the Facebook post alone, there were nearly 700 comments, and the post was shared 659 times.

Campbell started working at My Just Desserts as a child.

Shes been working there since she was 14. The owner retired and she gifted the store to her, Alton Mayor David Goins said.

Goins had known Campbell since she was a child, and his wife is a close friend.

Goins said the last time he saw Campbell was during a visit to his office about a week ago. The meeting was supposed to be this week, but she got the dates confused. She brought cookies for the mayor, his secretary and his chief of staff. The mayor said he is glad for the mix-up.

In retrospect, that was our opportunity to say goodbye because we didnt know we were seeing each other for the last time, the mayor said.

He called Campbells death a huge and tragic loss for the community.

She willingly gave of her talent, time and treasure to the community in so many ways. We are going to really miss her, Goins said.

He said Campbell engaged with her customers. She wasnt just in the back. She would come out and chit chat with her customers. She wanted to make sure everything was alright with the food.

He said she had passion for what she was doing, and she touched so many peoples lives with her smile and hugs.

She meant so much to so many people, he said.

In an interview before Campbells death was announced, Lexi Groves, a restaurant employee and friend, described Campbell as the ``best kind of person, who was great to work for.

 She is a big believer in hugs and smiles, and she never let her bad day ruin anybody elses day, Grove said. She was always there to put a smile on everyone elses face.

My Just Desserts wouldnt be what it is today without her ownership. People come in here specifically to see Yvonne and get a hug. She is a bright light in our community, Groves said.

Groves, who has been speaking on behalf of Campbells family, said in a text after Campbells death was announced that she was too distraught to talk on the phone.

Family and friends had started a Go Fund Me account to help pay for her medical expenses before her death, including getting her back to the United States for treatment.

Groves stated in her text The Go Fund Me (account) is still raising money for all of the expenses her family will need.

She stated the business will be closed temporarily now to give the staff and family time to grieve.

We are all devastated. This is an incredible loss for many people, Groves wrote.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled California for other states during the pandemic and most of them seem to have found a virtual home on one of Terry Gilliams Facebook pages. His groups  Leaving California and Life After California  have a combined membership of nearly 240,000, a number that has doubled in the past six months alone.

The groups have created an online community for California refugees. They seek advice on where and how to move: Has anyone used a storage hauler they like? Hows the weather in Tampa? How much does it cost to a buy a home in Boise?

Gilliam started Leaving California in 2018 and the other page about a year later. He has since left his home in the East Bay and moved to Orlando, Florida.

I was hoping to have a thousand members, but obviously I struck a nerve, he said. I have no animosity toward people who live in California. I just want to help people who are looking for a better life.

More than 1 million people have likely fled California for other states since the pandemic began, including nearly 700,000 who left in 2020 alone, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of census data. The net loss to other states was about 430,000 from April 2020 through July 2021, the data show. The two states with the largest net gains of California refugees in 2020  Texas and Arizona  are dominated by conservative political views, as are many of the states where members of the Facebook groups land.

Its a startling reversal of Californias almost mythical appeal that attracted millions of new residents for more than a century, from Gold Rush speculators to tech entrepreneurs.

Everyone loves the beauty and the weather, Gilliam said, but if you cant pay your bills, youre never going to live a comfortable life.

Some say they left California because of persistent wildfires, COVID-19 restrictions, traffic and an exploding homeless population. Others worried their children wouldnt be able to afford a home here or that retirement was becoming out of reach.

And a whole lot just dont like Gov. Gavin Newsom.

For many, the decision to flee is a combination of social issues and a lack of confidence that political leadership can improve them.

Gary Cable grew up in West Sacramento and loved the beauty of the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe and the Sacramento River. He vacationed in Hawaii for 15 years and every time he returned home to California, he said he was struck by the dirt and the filth on the street.

When you drive the streets of Sacramento now and you see the garbage and the tent cities, to me its depressing, he said. I dont know where it went wrong and what happened, but somebodys not doing their job.

Hawaii isnt typically a top destination for California refugees; youre more likely to come across someone on Gilliams pages talking about a move to Montana or South Dakota. Texas gained the most people from California in 2020. About 84,300 people left California for Texas, compared to 34,400 who came from Texas to California. Arizona was close behind, gaining 64,000 former California residents and losing 23,000 to California, for a net gain of about 41,000.

Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Washington, Tennessee, New Jersey and Florida each saw a net gain of at least 8,000 residents from California.

Gilliam says hes hearing more and more about people heading to Tennessee, and that Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky are sleepers now.

You can buy a big house on a big plot of land there, he said.

Advice for people leaving California

Of course, theres a give and take. That first tornado warning or stretch of humid weather can be jarring for those used to California weather. Some members of the Facebook groups talk about missing loved ones or worrying about moving into a home sight unseen in a town they have barely heard of.

But for every regret, there is far more chatter about cheaper gas, friendlier neighbors and more affordable housing, Gilliam said.

I see a lot of people saying, Dont let your fears keep you from moving, Gilliam said.

Katie Mitchell and her family considered moving to eight different states before settling on a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. They had spent six years living in the tiny town of Mount Baldy, about 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains, a beautiful area with a wonderful community.

Then the pandemic hit. And another summer of fires and smoke.

(The) cost of living, wildfires, overcrowding and government overreach are some of the biggest factors, but there are many more, she said of their motivation to pack up.

Pandemic closures and classroom restrictions at their schools also played a role. The morning of their move, they awoke at 5 a.m. to smoke and wind in the air.

In general, when we miss California, it is a place that no longer exists, she said. We will just have to stay in our old mountain town and eat In-N-Out when we visit.

Gilliams Facebook pages have been adding between 650 and 750 new members per day since mid-June. Hes hired two staffers who accept new member requests, approve posts to the pages and moderate the comments (which are predominantly friendly).

I try not to allow too much California bashing, Gilliam said.

Gilliam isnt quite sure why his pages have had another surge of new members the past few weeks. It could be a post-election reaction to most of the states top leaders winning another term in office. Maybe its the gas tax. Then again, theres often a common culprit.

Every time Governor Newsom opens his mouth, he said, we get another thousand members.

The Bees Phillip Reese contributed to this story.
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

WHOS IN CHARGE HERE, ANYWAY?

Tuesday offered an object lesson in succession management in California.

It started when Gov. Gavin Newsoms office announced that he had left the state for a trip to Washington, D.C., where he will accept an award and meet with Biden Administration officials on key issues, including gun safety, abortion, climate change, homelessness, and education to talk about how we can stop the backslide we are seeing across the country and discuss how to shore up protections and privacy nationwide, according to his office.

No problem, right?

Normally, in this situation, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis would take over as acting governor.

But Kounalakis, too, is out of state. According to her office, Kounalakis is vacationing in Greece, having left Sunday with plans to return to California on July 24.

However, with Kounalakis out and Newsom gone til Friday, that opened up the question of just who was in charge of the dang state anyway?

That would be Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, who falls third in the gubernatorial line of succession.

So congratulations to acting Gov. Atkins.

For those curious how far the line of succession goes, next up is Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, followed by Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Attorney General Rob Bonta, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Controller Betty Yee, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, and finally Board of Equalization Chair Malia Cohen.

PROTEST PLANNED OUTSIDE CONSERVATION AGENCY

Protesters affiliated with the Last Chance Alliance and VISION are planning to disrupt business as usual at the California Department of Conservation, home to the oil regulator CalGEM, on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the groups, whistleblowers said the agency has placed a quota on the number of wells employees must inspect through remote witnessing. This avoids in-person visits to Californias aging oil wells, including those near homes and schools, and instead allows for monitoring the sites from their desks.

Activists will block the building entrance with desks and wooden oil derricks to symbolize the remote witnessing desk monitoring scandal, according to the statement.

The protest begins at 12:30 p.m., with activists first gathering at noon at Franklin D. Roosevelt Park on 9th St.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Its official: Democrat Dave Jones has finished first in the closely watched race for Senate District 8. Jones leads Angelique Ashby, also a Democrat, by more than 7,500 votes with fewer than 1,000 ballots remaining to count.

Jones campaign released a statement touting the first place finish, saying, We won this primary, and are proceeding to the general election, even in the face of more than $1.3 million spent against us by Big Oil and its allies. We have sent a message that our communities are not for sale.

Jones and Ashby both will proceed to the November general election. But Jones will be doing so with the endorsement of Rafa Garcia, a Democrat who came in third.

I want to start off once again by thanking everyone who supported me throughout my campaign for State Senate. And, although I dont get to move on to the November election, I have confidence that Dave Jones will be a champion for workers rights, our healthcare system, and protecting our environment with community at its core, Garcia said in a statement.

SCHUBERT ENDORSES HOCHMAN OVER BONTA

Outgoing Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert has one message for California voters: Vote Nathan Hochman for attorney general.

Schubert, whos own No Party Preference bid for the AG spot fell short with just 7.8% of the vote, is throwing her support behind Democratic Attorney General Rob Bontas Republican challenger Hochman, a former assistant U.S. attorney.

As a career prosecutor and Sacramento District Attorney, I know how important it is to have an attorney general who actively works with law enforcement to get criminals off the streets and keep our communities safe, Schubert said in a statement. Unfortunately, appointed AG Rob Bonta is not upholding that critical duty.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

What we learned today: On December 18, plans to seize voting machines were rejected by Trumps own WH counsel. He summoned a mob to the Capitol instead. He knew they were angry. And he knew they were dangerous. Its not that he didnt care It was part of the plan.

- Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:
Not long after the Big 12 announced that Brett Yormark was taking over as the leagues new commissioner last month, conference realignment returned to the college landscape.

As news of UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten sent shock waves through the sport, Yormark had an interesting reaction. Even though it meant he had to reevaluate how he planned to approach his first few months on the job, he didnt view it as a headache.

I was excited by it, Yormark said Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium, because I saw there was opportunity.

How will the Big 12 respond? That is the multi-million-dollar question currently facing the conference and its new commissioner. Reports have suggested that the Big 12 is interested in expansion with a focus on Pac-12 schools, primarily Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

Such a move would give the Big 12 a grand total of 16 teams after Oklahoma and Texas leave the conference, making it the same size as the future Big Ten and SEC.

Yormark did not deny the Big 12s interest in expansion when asked about it during his opening news conference with media from across the league.

We are exploring all options, Yormark said.

Though he said nothing is imminent when it comes to the topic of further conference realignment, he added that the conference has received a lot of phone calls and a lot of interest from schools all over the country. He also said the conference planned to be aggressive in whatever its next move turns out to be.

The only caveat he shared on the potential of adding new schools is that the Big 12 will only consider new members who bring extra value to the conference. The last thing he wants to do is dilute the leagues brand or value as it prepares to negotiate a new media rights deal after Oklahoma and Texas depart for the SEC in 2025.

He wants the Big 12 to become younger, hipper and cooler under his watch. If adding a handful of Pac-12 teams helps the Big 12 reach those goals, it seems like the league will consider it.

The Big 12 is open for business, Yormark said. We will leave no stone unturned to drive value to the conference.
A dispute between two groups of demonstrators amid racial justice protests in Lexington was highlighted during the second day of a trial for a protester who was arrested.

Sarah Williams, a community activist who organized racial justice protests in Lexington in the summer of 2020, is on trial this week for five misdemeanors after she was arrested while demonstrating.

In court Tuesday, Assistant Fayette County Attorney Diane Minnifield was called to testify about a march she helped organize in June 2020 which featured Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers, but also featured a separate group of protesters, including Williams.

Members of Williams group, which disrupted Minnifields march, said at the time they were frustrated because theyd been protesting for 15 days but didnt feel like theyd been heard. Weathers and other city leaders agreed to march with a group that was doing its first demonstration that day.

The march started at the Lexington Police Department and went to Southland Christian Church, where a forum on policing and race relations was expected to take place. Protesters from Williams group made counter-chants as participants in the scheduled march tried to speak. The disruption of the march ultimately led to a confrontation between Weathers and protesters.

While the confrontation was discussed in court, Williams was not seen in the confrontation with Weathers when bodycam footage was shown during the trial.

Minnifield said at the time of the march, she did not know Williams. It was not until the march began that Minnifield saw Williams, or her sister April Taylor, who began to march alongside them in the road.

It was a public street, and they were just walking with us. Sometimes they would chant with us, or they would chant against us, Minnifield testified.

She said she didnt receive the counter chants from Williams or other protesters as negative, but simply a way of exercising her First Amendment rights to free speech.

It wasnt anything personal to me, Minnifield said.

When the group finally arrived at Southland Christian Church, that is when Minnifield said she begin to hear discussion that individuals were going to make attempts to shut down the event. She said Weathers told her that the event may not happen due to safety concerns.

Minnifield said she made attempts to contact Williams and Taylor but the attempts went unanswered. However, she said she did not know if anyone else was able to speak with the sisters.

Minnifield said she told Weathers that if he felt unsafe, or felt he was unable to do his job, he could leave, but that she had every intention of continuing with the event. She added that the event did proceed. Mention was made of protesters outside of the church shouting as well as playing loud music.

Defense takes issue with march organizers not having permit

During her testimony, it was revealed that the original march was held without a permit.

Minnifield said she organized the march to coincide with the forum she organized as a member of the John Rowe Society, a chapter associated with the National Bar Association. She described the society as a local chapter of Black attorneys practicing in Central Kentucky with about 40 or 50 members.

She offered for the John Rowe Society chapter to lead a community discussion and have people at the table that could make decisions or be part of a discussion.

I wanted clergy, legislators, mayor, the police chief, and community members and activists, she said. The idea was for participants to walk from the police headquarters on the sidewalk to the Southland Christian Church where a forum would be held with community leaders and officials.

Race, reconciliation and resolution was the goal in the forum, according to Minnifield. She told the court she began organizing the event on May 29, and the event took place on June 13.

With a quick turnaround for the events organization, Minnifield said there was no official permit requested with the city.

The city of Lexington requires a special event permit to be filed and required for runs or walks that wish to utilize a public road as part of the route. A $50 application fee is associated, and other required documents, a minimum of 12 weeks prior to the event. This application will be submitted throughout city government departments for approval and cost estimates, according to the citys ordinance.

She stated she was under the impression that their group would make the the 3-mile walk on the sidewalk and would not be blocking the road.

However she sent the route the group planned to take to Sheriff Kathy Witt, who voluntarily put cruisers out to aid the march.

When the event took place, members of the march could be seen walking out in the street along with others.

Williams attorney, Daniel Whitley, took issue with the groups use of the street without a permit.

Minnifield confirmed in court Tuesday she did not have a permit to walk down the street, and that the event was based through the church.

As someone who is friends with police officers, and an attorney working for Roberts, you did not get a permit? Whitley asked.

We did not have a permit, but we walked on the sidewalk, Minnifield replied.

Did you all stay on the sidewalk? Whitley asked.

Some wandered out into the street, she confirmed.

And Police Chief Weathers marched with you? In a march where you all did not have a permit to do so? Whitley asked.

Weathers did march with us. Minnifield confirmed.

The next witness for the prosecution, Lexington police Sgt. Andrew Myatt, was also in the march. He said he accompanied Weathers because he knew things could become heated, and wanted to offer assistance.

Whitley asked Myatt in court if he knew they were walking without a permit. Myatt replied he did not, but was simply there to protect the police chief and public.

So then did you participate in a police protest without a valid permit? Whitley asked.

I wouldnt say I participated. I was there to protect the public. Myatt replied.

Then did you facilitate a protest with police officers without a valid permit? Whitley countered.

Yes, Myatt said.

Other Lexington police officers gave testimony during the second day of the trial, and jurors were shown bodycam footage from the protests. Most of the discussion stemmed from the die-in event where individuals were arrested after lying on the ground in a barricaded area outside of police headquarters.

Several instances took place where both witnesses with Lexington police and the prosecutors office confused Williams with her sister. The defense has requested an admonishment be made to the jury that Taylors actions are not related to Williams case.

The trial is expected to continue Wednesday morning with jury instructions and closing arguments. Williams defense team plans to call no witnesses.
A Durham man with symptoms of monkeypox and many reasons to think he had the virus began calling healthcare providers to get a test on July 1.

A week later, after seeking help from his primary care doctor; county, state and federal health officials; an urgent care clinic; and a hospital emergency room, he still had no test.

Fifteen days after he first noticed the lesions that are the viral illness signature on his face, he found a provider willing to order a test, which came back positive.

It seems absurd, said the man, who The News & Observer is not naming for privacy and safety reasons.

The mans ordeal reveals enduring gaps in North Carolinas preparedness for the latest infectious disease outbreak, according to public health experts.

Clearly what has happened is providers are not reading our guidance, not paying attention and not on the same page, the states top health official, Kody Kinsley, told the man in a phone call Tuesday, according to a recording provided to The News & Observer.

Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at the UNC School of Medicine, said North Carolina still doesnt have an effective way of making sure that front-line workers get crucial information about how to respond to emerging threats two years after COVID-19 exposed a host of problems with the state and nations public health response.

All this matters because delays in diagnosis and intervention help a virus spread.







EIGHT DAYS, WORSENING SYMPTOMS, NO ANSWERS

From reading the news, the 29-year-old man knew that he had risk factors. He had recently returned home from Oslo, Norway, where there was a confirmed outbreak, and he is a man who has sex with men who had more than one sexual partner during the trip.

Although monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease, it is transmitted through close physical contact and recent spread has affected the LGBTQ community.

He first noticed sores at the corners of his mouth. A few days later, other symptoms set in: a fever, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes.

He called Duke Family Medicine, his primary care practice, on July 1, the man said. The person he reached on the phone said the practice did not do tests and referred him to the Durham County Health Department, he said.

The health department referred him back to his primary care practice, he said.

Frustrated, he called the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.

But his dismay only grew.

The person on the phone recommended that the man seek a test from either his primary care doctor or the county health department, he said. With both his primary care practice and the health department referring him to each other, he wasnt sure where to turn.

And his symptoms were worsening.

On July 2, while out of town visiting family, he made an appointment with an urgent care clinic in Salisbury, he said. A physicians assistant ordered tests for COVID, strep and flu, all of which came back negative, he said.

The PA told him the sores on his mouth were not signs of monkeypox, the man said. Monkeypox isnt a real threat yet. Were going to have to confront it soon. Its just not here, he recalled the PA saying.

But state officials had announced the first case of monkeypox in the state more than a week earlier. Not only does the virus makes people sick, in an estimated 1% of cases for the strain circulating in the United States, it can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The man left the clinic with a prescription for antibiotics, though he was not diagnosed with anything, he said.

Two days later, with his fever spiking higher, he went to the emergency department at Atrium Health Kannapolis. There, he was tested for herpes, and those results came back negative too, he said.

He left with instructions to take Tylenol to treat the fever, he said.

Having read that monkeypox tests and vaccines were available, the man kept making calls.

Each morning at 9 a.m., he said he called the Durham Health Department, but they never arranged for a test. A spokesperson for the Durham County Health Department said they could not comment on an individual residents case.

He eventually spoke with a state epidemiologist, who let him know that a Wake County resident who tested positive for monkeypox had obtained a test through the University of North Carolina system, he said.

On July 8, he was finally tested after three hours in the UNC clinics waiting room while state health officials approved the test, he said.

The man told Kinsley during the phone call he recorded that the delays made him especially concerned for people less informed and less proactive than he is.

Im concerned that for friends of mine who might not have the level of information that I do, they might be up a creek without a paddle, he said.

DOCTORS SHOULD KNOW BETTER

State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore on Tuesday said all of the clinicians the man encountered could and should have sent a swab to the state for testing.

In early June, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo to all of the states clinicians that detailed the symptoms of monkeypox and instructions for collecting specimens. Any suspected cases of monkeypox should immediately be reported to the local health department, the memo instructed.

Your presentation fits our guidance to a tee on who should be tested, Kinsey told the man during a phone call.

Furthermore, Moore said the state lab had no shortage of tests available.

Theres ample availability of testing there have not been any issues with testing capacity, he said.

Wohl said the lesions around the mans mouth should have immediately raised suspicions about monkeypox, especially in light of the outbreak. The fact that so many providers did not test him points to systemic problems with the handling of infectious diseases, he said.

With limited resources, DHHS did what they could, Wohl said. They sent memos and posted guidance on their website. The problem is that DHHS doesnt have a good way of making sure the information reaches healthcare providers.

Do you think your doctor read that memo? Wohl said. Theyre not all reading the memo and they dont all care.

Early diagnoses are crucial during infectious disease outbreaks like this one, Wohl said. Identifying close contacts and vaccinating them could mean the difference between keeping the virus contained and allowing it to spread into the community.

Though most people recover from monkeypox on their own, there are some patients with compromised immune systems who could benefit from treatments early in their illness or others who could benefit from a vaccine shortly after their exposure, he said.

Unfortunately, the Durham mans experience likely indicates that there are others who have had similarly difficult times getting tested, Wohl said.

Can we realistically think there are not other people who had a lesion and saw a provider who didnt suspect monkeypox? he said. Of course there were.

SYSTEM NOW MOBILIZING

The states largest health systems and county departments are now mobilizing to address the growing threat monkeypox poses. Ten cases of monkeypox have been detected in the state and 929 cases have been reported nationwide as of Wednesday.

UNC began transforming a same-day clinic in Chapel Hill into a monkeypox clinic on Tuesday to ramp up testing. A spokesperson for Duke Health said on Tuesday that all of its primary care clinics, urgent care clinics and our infectious disease clinics are able to collect specimens and send out tests.

In recent days, we have taken steps to ensure that staff and providers are more fully aware of the symptoms of monkeypox, the spokesperson said.

Still, the state and federal government may have missed its window for containing this virus yet again. Experts now believe that monkeypox is likely spreading through the community undetected.

Theres still stuff we can do and we are doing but the idea that we can completely eradicate it is not where we are, Moore said.

In the phone call with the Durham man, who was frustrated and frightened by his experience, Kinsley said he personally called the states major health systems to reinforce the need for liberal testing and consistent healthcare.

He said his department also plans to publicly emphasize the fact that all clinicians can send samples to be tested for monkeypox, to allow patients to advocate for themselves if their providers deny them a test, according to the recorded call.

It should never have been as hard as it was for you to get access to testing, Kinsley said to the man. Unfortunately, its an example of how broken the healthcare system can be.
Longer vaccine interval may be more effective against Omicron subvariants: study

Xinhua) 08:58, July 13, 2022

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- In the absence of the Omicron-specific vaccines, extending the vaccination period between doses may contribute to stopping the rapid emergence of this COVID-19 mutation, said a new study.

Published in The New England Journal of Medicine earlier this month, the study was led by Gao Fu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers in the study assessed the neutralization levels against the SARS-CoV-2 original and Omicron subvariants including BA.4 and BA.5 in blood samples obtained from vaccine takers, who had received three doses of China-made inactivated vaccines, three-shot protein-subunit vaccine ZF2001, or two doses of inactivated vaccines boosted by ZF2001.

Results showed that in each vaccine group, the neutralizing antibody levels against all the tested Omicron subvariants were significantly lower than the levels against the original strain of the virus, indicating these subvariants have an ability to evade immune protection.

But for the ZF2001, researchers found that neutralizing antibody levels rose with the increasing interval between the second and third doses, especially against the Omicron subvariants.

For vaccine takers who had an interval of four to six months between the second and third doses, their neutralizing antibody levels were higher by nearly a factor of 10 against the original variant and by a factor of approximately 30 against all Omicron subvariants, as compared with those who had a 1-month interval between doses.

Researchers explained that the better performance of the ZF2001 was due to its use of a receptor-binding domain as the antigen, which could induce increased levels of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron subvariants through the administration of multiple booster doses.

The ZF2001 was jointly developed by the Institute of Microbiology under the CAS and Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. China granted conditional market approval to the vaccine in March.

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 across the world and is causing cluster infections in China. Regions including Beijing, Tianjin and Shaanxi have recently reported local COVID-19 cases of the Omicron subvariant arriving from overseas.

According to the study, for better protection against immune escape of current and possible future epidemic subvariants, the development of updated vaccines as boosters is still needed.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Its fair to say much of Tacomas current landscape took shape on Don Scotts watch.

My kids will tell you that as I go around Tacoma, I can almost point out hundreds of buildings and say, Oh, yeah, I designed that one or I designed this one, Scott told The News Tribune recently. They got tired of hearing that as they were growing up.

Scott, 64, retired at the end of June as senior principal at PCS Structural Solutions in Tacoma, though in retirement he will continue to consult for PCS.

Hes also one of the nations few wind-design experts, and his passion and work in that area isnt slowing down.

He originally joined the 15-person team at Chalker Engineers in 1982. In 1987, Scott, Dan Putnam and Jim Collins purchased the firm, becoming Chalker, Putnam, Collins & Scott Inc.

In the two firms combined history, they touched at least the majority of all commercial buildings in Tacoma, he told The News Tribune in a recent phone interview.

PCS in its work as a structural engineering firm today has 73 employees with offices in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland.

Scrolling through the firms projects page is basically a tour through most major medical and school buildings in the area, not to mention casinos and apartments, among other sites.

Forty years and more than 1,000 projects over his career, Scott ticks off a short list of projects hes been involved in through the years: Tacoma General Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

The school projects number at least 600-700 through the 40 years, he said.

I actually worked on the additions to the Fawcett Elementary (in Tacoma) that is just getting torn down to get replaced with the new Fawcett Elementary School that our firm is doing, he noted.

You dont think about how much of the community is built around the schools that are there, how many of the community activities and everything are built around the schools ... as the community grows, he said.

One of his more memorable projects was with the Tacoma Dome. As he described, major acts coming in used to need outside consulting to set up their individual sound and light systems, hanging thousands and thousands of pounds of speakers and such from the interior roof structure. Each time, Scott was called in to analyze.

As he recalled, Dome officials quickly grew tired of paying him each time for a one-off thing. So they proposed having him design a structural light grid, where you can define how much we can hang from every point on the grid and not overload the roof structure.

He designed a structure that can be raised or lowered, in use now on site, as well as the supports for the neon art installations inside. During recent Dome renovations, Scott said, he was involved in the behind the wall projects, those not seen by the public including the new performers area.

He will continue as the president of the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers and remain on the ASCE 7 Wind Load Subcommittee.

Hes leading efforts to incorporate climate impacts into national standards for environmental loads.

These standards are more forward-looking instead of relying on historical data to set the basis of our design requirements, he said in PCS announcement of his retirement. They will lead to more resilient structures that will help our communities respond to and recover from large environmental events such as hurricanes, snow, ice, flood, and rain.

PCS noted in its announcement that Scott first became inspired in wind design in the late 1970s by one of his University of Idaho professors.

According to PCS, The 70s were also when the last concerted effort had been made to perform wind tunnel research in support of the ASCE 7 Wind Provision, which set the standard for wind codes.

Recognizing that modern structures require updated data, Scott was an active driver with the ASCE Committee to establish a fundraiser for new wind tunnel studies. The data provided by the studies will inform the next generation wind load standard for ASCE 7-28.

In retirement, Scott plans to continue working to help set standards in wind design, as well as travel and spend time with family, which includes five kids, all grown and gone, he adds, and seven grandchildren.

Thats probably the biggest thing we enjoy most is just getting the family together and going outdoors and spending time outdoors hiking, or trips, he said.

We have a trip to the Mediterranean scheduled for September. So well do a few of those things that just keep us outdoors.
Twin glacier collapses  this weeks in Kyrgyzstans Tian Shan Mountains and last weeks in Italy  suggest the danger for high-altitude landscapes is only rising.

Theres no other directions glaciers are going other than retreating, University of Minnesota glaciologist Peter Neff told The Washington Post.

Neff said that both avalanches were caused by collapsing ice, which carries far more weight and force than a conventional snow avalanche.

The feeling from the event in Italy and [Kyrgyzstan] is this is coming more often, he added.

The disintegrating ice wall was captured by British trekker Harry Shimmin in an arresting minute-long video on Instagram.

The whole group was laughing and crying, happy to be alive, Shimmin wrote. It was only later we realized just how lucky wed been. If we had walked 5 minutes further on our trek, we would all be dead.

The avalanche followed last weeks glacier collapse in Italys Dolomite range, which killed nearly a dozen hikers.

Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Were Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Send us tips and feedback. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Today well look at why a conservation group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over Colorados fracking pollution, followed by demands from activists that the Senate confirm the agencys new top cop. Then well examine how federal agencies are cutting hundreds of thousands of acres of old growth and mature forest.

Green group sues EPA over smog in Colorado

The Center for Biological Diversity demanded that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) take action to mitigate the air pollution emitted by Colorados oil and gas sector, in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

If successful, the lawsuit would force the EPA to order the State of Colorado to limit the pollution coming from both drilling and hydraulic fracturing activities in both the Denver metro area and the Denver-Julesburg Basin, according to the petition.

Wheres that? The Denver-Julesburg Basin is a geological rock formation that stretches from southern Colorado into Wyoming along the east side of Colorados Front Range.

Were never going to solve our smog problem until the EPA cracks down on Colorado allowing unlimited air pollution from drilling and fracking, Robert Ukeiley, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

The problem with smog: Both the Denver metro area and North Front Range region have concentrations of ozone  also known as smog  that far exceed EPA standards, which were designed to protect both public health and Colorados natural beauty, according to the environmental group.

The states Air Pollution Control Division submitted plans to the EPA detailing smog cleanup strategies, which recently received the agencys approval.



But the center argued that a potential loophole could allow for unlimited pollution from drilling and fracking.

Families at risk: Oil and gas production in Colorado remains one of the biggest contributors to smog, which is linked to a variety of health problems like asthma and other respiratory issues, the center noted.

Every additional day of delay in reducing smog puts more children and families at risk for potentially deadly diseases, Ukeiley said.

And the agency response? The EPA said that because this is pending litigation EPA has no further information to add.

Equilibrium has also reached out to the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment for comment.

To read the full story, please click here.

EPA MUST CONFIRM TOP REGULATOR: GREEN GROUPS

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs to finish the process of hiring its chief enforcement officer before Americas people, waters and landscapes pay the price, environmental groups said this week.

Behind the news: David Uhlmann, a former federal prosecutor that Biden nominated more than a year ago, is still in limbo, leaving the crucial top role at the agencys Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance empty.

Why does it matter? Every day of delay hurts the American people, Vickie Patton of the Environmental Defense Fund told The Washington Post.

Bipartisan push: Last month, a bipartisan group of 67 former U.S. attorneys charged that leaving such an important position vacant deep into the second year of the Biden Administration undermines the rule of law, public health, and environmental protection.

Tough timing: The controversy comes as the EPA  and the broader Biden administration and Democratic caucus  struggle to determine their next moves in achieving federal climate goals.

Those plans were undermined by last months landmark Supreme Court decision, which limited the EPAs ability to call for broad changes to the nations power plants and cast doubt on the governments ability to effectively oversee the transition off fossil fuels, our colleagues Zack Budryk and Morgan Chalfant wrote in The Hill.

Federal logging threatens climate-preserving trees

Federal plans to clear 10 old-growth forests are threatening the countrys climate and forestry goals, environmental groups charged on Tuesday.

More than 240,000 acres of big, carbon-trapping trees are scheduled to be clearcut, according to a report issued by a coalition of nonprofits that includes Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity.



A clearcut signifies when an entire landscape is logged, as distinguished from a partial cut, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).



The groups called on the Biden administration to halt the logging of mature and old-growth forests that they say are essential to slowing climate change.

The best way to protect these carbon-storing giants is to let them grow, but our federal agencies keep turning them into lumber, Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

Forest Service pushes back: The U.S. Forest Service argues that the distinction of old growth versus new growth is obsolete in the age of climate change.

No longer is it enough to draw a line on a map around our old growth stands and think they will be protected against drought, wildfire, insect and disease, USDA spokesperson Larry Moore told Equilibrium.



Moore said that the Administration is launching a public comment process later this week to ensure we are appropriately defining old growth and mature trees.

Contradiction in policy?: Outside groups say the planned cuts contradict an April executive order by the administration to restore and conserve the nations mature and old-growth forests.

The groups argue the administrations climate goals are being set aside in favor of the historic mission of federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service to produce timber and other forest commodities.

Threatened lands: For example, in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota  which at 180,000 acres holds the largest targeted tract  most mature ponderosa pine trees are targeted for removal.

Another clearcut scheduled for Oregons Willamette National Forest would remove 1,000 acres of mature and old-growth trees, while another planned clearcut on state forest administered by the Bureau of Land Management would cut down 4,573 acres.

Time running out: Spivak argued that the administration could slow climate change by permanently protecting mature and old-growth trees, noting that it would take centuries to re-capture the carbon lost when those trees were cut down.

We dont have that kind of time, he added.

IS THIS LOGGING NECESSARY?

Environmental groups argue that it is not.

More than 95 percent of the nations tree products come from relatively small, young conifers grown on privately owned plantations, according to data from the for-profit environmental organization The Larch Company.

Comparative advantage: Unlike the mature trees scheduled to be cut, these plantations store little carbon, meaning there is far less climate cost to cutting them in comparison to large trees on federal land.

Fire-resistant giants: The organizations warned that without specific guidelines to protect mature trees, these largest fire-resistant trees risk being cut down.

These cuts often happen in the name of fire-reducing forest-thinning campaigns aimed at protecting forest stands.

Young trees are also far more vulnerable to fire than large old trees, according to a study by the U.S. Forest Service.

To read the full story, please click here.

Foundations fail to act on climate change: report

Philanthropic leaders overwhelmingly perceive climate change as an urgent problem, but their foundations are only taking minimal steps to address the issue on the ground, a new report has found.

Urgent, but not the top priority: About 60 percent of foundation and nonprofit administrators surveyed said they believe climate change is an extremely urgent problem, according to a survey conducted by the Massachusetts-based Center for Effective Philanthropy.

But only about 10 percent considered this the most important problem to address right now and just 11 percent rated their own foundations approach to combatting climate change as very effective, the report found.

Gaps between beliefs and actions: The Center for Effective Philanthropy identified this stark gap between beliefs and actions on climate change by surveying CEOs and administrators of U.S.-based foundations and nonprofits between January and March of 2022.

Foundation executives: Among the 188 foundation leaders that responded to the survey, 61 percent said that their organizations help finance efforts to address climate change.

Of those foundations funding climate change initiatives:

22 percent said they were explicitly funding initiatives to combat climate change.



45 percent fund environmental efforts that address climate change.



33 percent said they fund both climate and environmental initiatives.

Thirty-six percent of the foundation leaders said that their organizations do not finance efforts to address climate change, according to the report.

Nonprofit leaders: Among the 120 nonprofit leaders that responded to the survey, 25 percent affirmed that climate change is a core focus of their operations.

Of the nonprofits for which climate change is a core focus:

20 percent said their organizations explicitly focus on addressing climate change.



57 percent said they focus on environmental efforts that address climate change.



23 percent said they concentrate on both climate and environmental initiatives.

Seventy-three percent of nonprofit leaders responded that climate change is not a central concern of their work, according to the survey.

Out of scope: Despite their concerns about climate change, most non-climate funders tend to see this issue as outside the scope of their mission, the report authors stated.

To read the full story, please click here.

Tuesday Troubles

Climate change threatens Turkeys wine industry, Norse descendants hunt dolphins in the North Atlantic and unexpected winds pull a fighter jet off an aircraft carrier.

Climate change endangering Turkish winemaking

Climate change is threatening Turkeys ancient winemaking sector, leading vintners to wonder how their grapes will survive amid rising temperatures, NPR reported. One winery owner, who depends on cool evenings to grow cabernet sauvignon grapes, said she hopes that the industry can persist by switching to more heat-resistant varieties.

Faroe Islands restricting dolphin killing during disputed whale hunt

The government of the Faroe Islands  a self-governing Danish territory in between Iceland and Scotland  is setting a catch limit of 500 dolphins during its annual whale hunt this year, CNN reported. The hunt, which also includes the killing of dolphins, dates back to 800 CE and claims to provide food to local communities, according to CNN.

Mediterranean winds sweep fighter jet off US aircraft carrier

An unexpected bout of heavy winds  possibly caused by atmospheric instability as an ongoing Mediterranean heat wave broke up  blew a 32,000 pound fighter jet off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman, The Washington Post reported.

Please visit The Hills Sustainability section online for the web version of this newsletter and more stories. Well see you tomorrow.

READ THE FULL VERSION HERE

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The U.S. government believes that Iran may try to assassinate current or former senior American officials to avenge the death more than two years ago of its top military and intelligence commander, according to an intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News.

In January 2020, the Trump administration conducted a drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani while he was on a trip to Iraq. Since then, the regime in Tehran has threatened revenge against those it deems responsible and has made a series of threats and started legal proceedings against U.S. officials.

As President Biden begins his trip to the Middle East, the U.S. government believes the threat of an attack is still high.

President Biden descends from Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel on Wednesday. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

The Iranian regime is waging a multipronged campaign  including threats of lethal action, international legal maneuvering, and the issuance of Iranian arrest warrants and sanctions  against select US officials to avenge the death of IRGC-QF Commander Soleimani in January 2020, raising the threat at home and abroad for those Iran views as responsible for the killing, the report states.

IRGC-QF stands for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which is part of Iran's military.

The National Counterterrorism Center, which produced the June intelligence report, declined to comment. The U.S. Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since January 2021, Tehran has publicly expressed a willingness to conduct lethal operations inside the United States and has consistently identified former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and former CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth McKenzie as among its priority targets for retribution, the report says. Iran would probably view the killing or prosecution of a US official it considers equivalent in rank and stature to Soleimani or responsible for his death as successful retaliatory actions.

Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani at a meeting with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran in 2016. (Pool/Press Office of Iranian Supreme Leader/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News, and Pompeo did not respond to text messages and emails seeking comment. McKenzie also did not respond to messages sent through a university he is affiliated with.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is contemplating reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal established under President Barack Obama, which Trump dismantled.

The intelligence report, which is marked Not for Public Release and For Official Use Only, is dated June 16, 2022, two days after the White House officially announced Bidens trip to the Middle East.

Biden landed in Israel Wednesday for the first part of the trip, after which he is expected to fly to Saudi Arabia.

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee in September 2021. (Olivier Douliery/Pool via Reuters)

On Monday, Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced Iranian plans to provide missiles and training to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine. Bidens trip to the Middle East is the first of his presidency, and he is expected to try to rally support against Iran, and to try to calm tensions in the region.

The intelligence bulletin obtained by Yahoo News appears to be part of the Biden administrations broader efforts to call attention to the threat posed by the Iranian regime and to garner support from policymakers across the aisle and others.

A National Security Council spokesperson declined to comment on the document itself, but said in a statement to Yahoo News that the U.S. will protect and defend its citizens, including those serving the United States now and those who formerly served.

The NSC also said that a mutual return to full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, remains in Americas national interest. It is the best available option to restrict Irans nuclear program and provide a platform to address Irans destabilizing conduct.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., in February. (Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The June intelligence bulletin was widely circulated inside the government and to law enforcement nationwide. It is based on an analysis of statements and other actions taken by the Iranian regime, and describes foiled plots to assassinate government officials and legal maneuvers and threats against specific U.S. officials.

The intelligence community and federal law enforcement agencies have been concerned about retaliatory attacks from Iran in response to the death of Soleimani, and such concerns date back even before then.

Yahoo News previously reported that concerns about retaliatory attacks after Soleimani's death against officials involved in the strike against him prompted Congress to appropriate $15 million for security for departing Secretary of State Pompeo and others.

Soleimani was the chief architect of Irans regional policy, and more importantly, the personal connective tissue between terrorists abroad and Tehran, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert on Iran and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 9. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The U.S. blow against a figure like Soleimani remains an unhealed wound for the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, with Tehran looking to wash blood away with blood. The fact that some U.S. officials need round-the-clock security due to the Islamic Republic's threats and operations should be a wake-up call to those who only see Tehran as a potential proliferation problem or a distant threat in the Middle East, he told Yahoo News.

If the Biden administration thought Iran's desire for revenge would abate over time, it has not, according to the intelligence report. This raises questions about how Biden plans to negotiate with a regime trying to kill U.S. government officials.

It is baffling how the administration is trying to negotiate a deal with a government that has a river of terror threats against current and former U.S. officials, Taleblu said.

In its statement, the NSC said the Biden administration and U.S. allies are preparing equally for scenarios with and without a mutual return to full implementation of the [Iran nuclear deal]. The President will do what is in the best interests of U.S. national security.
On Tuesday, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol held a hearing delving into the role of far-right paramilitary organizations in the attempt to stop certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Focusing on groups, including the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers and Three Percenters, who were involved in the 2021 attempted insurrection, the hearings presented compelling evidence of significant coordination between these groups, as well as awareness within the Trump administration of their plans.

They didnt just attack police, or a building. They didnt just disrupt elected officials. They assaulted the simple, but crucial, principle of American democracy outlined by committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi: We settle our differences at the ballot box.

This could have been the spark that started a new civil war, testified former Oathkeepers spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove.

The danger of such violence around the country is high and has risen ever since Trump was elected. The danger in Idaho, including from many of the same groups who organized to attack the Capitol, is particularly acute.

Idaho was famously the home of the Aryan Nations. Then we kicked them out. But the same soil that allowed them to take root has allowed a second resurgence of the far-right in Idaho.

This has been an obvious and escalating problem for years. Examples abound.

Far-right extremism has attempted, and sometimes made successful inroads into the halls of the Idaho Legislature.

Rep. Chad Christensen, R-Iona, still proudly lists his membership in the Oathkeepers  which Van Tatenhove called a violent militia  in his legislative biography.

Eric Parker, a leader of Idahos Three Percenter militia who is known nationally as the Bundy Ranch Sniper for aiming a rifle at federal law enforcement during Cliven Bundys Bunkerville standoff, has twice sought legislative office.

Todd Engel, another participant at Bunkerville, sought office this year.

Thankfully, GOP primary voters gave Christensen the boot this year, and neither of the other two has succeeded in winning a majority  though Engel came uncomfortably close.

Still more members of the Legislature have stood ready to offer support for their causes, as when Reps. Heather Scott, Sage Dixon and Judy Boyle traveled to the 2016 standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon staged by Ammon Bundy and assorted miscreants.

With actions like these, its no surprise most people in the Mountain West expect further violence. A survey of the Intermountain West commissioned by the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University last year found that 59% of Idahoans expect to see more political violence similar to what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. And about one in six Idahoans said political violence is justified under certain circumstances.

This is a situation that cant be allowed to persist, nationally or in Idaho. Idaho needs the same kind of work that led to the ouster of the Aryan Nations  the kind of work that many in Idaho are already undertaking to reaffirm the commitment to settling our differences at the ballot box.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesmans editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members Johanna Jones, Maryanne Jordan and Ben Ysursa.
Farmer Andriy Zubko checks the ripeness of wheat in a field in eastern Ukraine. (Efrem Lukatsky / Associated Press)

The United Nations reported positive results Wednesday from the first face-to-face talks in months between Russia and Ukraine on a U.N. plan to ship millions of tons of grain blocked in Ukraine because of the war to world markets and enable Russia to also send out grain and fertilizer.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was to brief reporters Wednesday afternoon on the outcome of the grain meeting in Istanbul. His deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said: The important point is we believe this is something positive and he will talk to you at some length about why that is.

The war has trapped about 22 million tons of grain inside Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. U.N., Turkish and other officials are scrambling for a solution that would empty the silos in time for the upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain is being transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is small compared with the Black Sea routes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says the war is endangering food supplies for many developing nations, raising food prices globally, and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people.

Russia said meanwhile, it had presented a package of proposals for a practical and quick solution to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain but did not elaborate.

The Russian and Ukrainian officials, dressed in civilian clothes, faced each other around a large square table, along with Turkish military officials and U.N. envoys. Turkey's Defense Ministry announced the talks had ended about 90 minutes after it confirmed that they had begun.

Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russias invasion and war disrupted production and halted shipments across the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

Turkey has offered to provide safe Black Sea corridors and worked with the U.N., Russia and Ukraine to reach an agreement. The U.N. would establish a center in Istanbul to control the shipments, Turkish officials have said.

Speaking before the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Associated Press that grain exports from his countrys ports wouldnt resume without security guarantees to ship owners and cargo owners, and to keep Ukraine as an independent nation.

Any agreement needs to ensure that Russia will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles, he said.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have traded accusations over the stuck grain shipments, with Moscow saying that Ukraine's heavily mined ports are causing the delay. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Moscow would not use the corridors to launch an attack if the sea mines were removed.

Ukrainian officials have blamed a Russian naval blockade for holding up exports and causing a global food crisis. They remain skeptical of Putin's pledge not to take advantage of cleared Black Sea corridors to mount attacks on Ukrainian ports, noting that he insisted at the beginning of the year that he had no plans to invade Ukraine.

Ahead of the talks in Istanbul, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow was willing to ensure safe navigation for ships to carry grain from Ukrainian ports but would press for its right to check the vessels for weapons.

Pyotr Ilyichev, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministrys department for ties with international organizations, said Russia's military had repeatedly declared its willingness to allow for safe shipping corridors in the Black Sea.

Seventy vessels from 16 countries have remained stuck in Ukrainian ports, Ilyichev said, alleging that Ukrainian authorities had barred them from departing.

Our conditions are clear: We need to have a possibility to control and check the ships to prevent any attempts to smuggle weapons in, and Kyiv must refrain from any provocations, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ilyichev as saying.

Guterres has worked for months to secure a deal that would allow Ukraine to export wheat and other commodities from Odesa, the country's largest port, and also enable Russia to export grain and fertilizer to global markets.

Western sanctions on Russia do not ban exports of food or fertilizer. But Moscow argues that Western sanctions on its banking and shipping industries make it impossible for Russia to export those goods and are scaring off foreign shipping companies.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said a key issue at the talks was what country would offer security guarantees and send warships to escort vessels carrying grain.

Ukraine also wants to set up a control mechanism to ensure that Russia doesnt ship grain from the territories it seized in Ukraine to global markets, he said.

Ukraine is demanding to work out a transparent and clear mechanism of international control, he said. The Ukrainian authorities are using the talks in Turkey to urge international partners not to buy what was stolen or pay to Kyiv for it.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador last week after Turkish authorities briefly detained a Russian ship suspected of transporting stolen grain but allowed it to leave and return to a Russian port. A Turkish official said authorities were not able to determine that the ship carried stolen grain.

NATO member Turkey has retained its close ties to both Moscow and Kyiv.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yosemite wildfire update: How does 3,800-acre Washburn Fire rank compared to other fires?

A wildfire burning on the southern edge of Yosemite National Park has prompted the closure of the parks southern entrance, near an iconic grove of giant sequoia trees.

The bulk of the park however, remains open and visible to visitors.

The Washburn Fire began July 7 near the Washburn Trail in Mariposa Grove, near the southern entrance to the park and some 30 miles south of Yosemite Valley.

As of Tuesday, the fire had burned 3,200 acres and was continuing to grow.

Mariposa Grove was evacuated and remains closed until further notice, while the community of Wawona remains under an evacuation order. Wawona Road (Highway 41) is closed from the parks south entrance, near Fish Camp to Henness Ridge Road.

For those with reservations coming to visit the national park in central California, heres what to expect.

Yosemite Valley, Half Dome and El Capitan

Visitors coming in from Southern California can still access the park from one of its other entrances  from the west via Highway 140 (at the Arch Rock Entrance near El Portal) or from the west of east via Highway 120 (through the Hetch Hetchy or Tioga Pass entrances, respectively).

All entrances could see delays of up to two hours, according to the National Park Service, and visitors (especially those coming in through Highway 140) should plan to arrive before mid-morning, especially on weekends.

Both Highway 140 and Highway 120 lead into Yosemite Valley, which remains open and is a main destination for visitors.

The Ahwahnee Hotel is located inside the valley, which is also the launching spot for several other Yosemite landmarks, including Half Dome and El Capitan.

A reservation is required for those driving through the park during peak hours (6 a.m. to 4 p.m.), though those with in-park lodging or camping reservations or Half Dome or other wilderness permits can access the park 24 hours per day for the duration of the reservation (or three days, whichever is longer).

Smoke from the Washburn Fire is causing issues with air quality throughout, park including Yosemite Valley, where the AQI on Tuesday afternoon was listed as unhealthy, according to AirNows fire and smoke map. Visitors are being urged to reduce or avoid physical activity outdoors.

Glacier Point Road

South of Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point Road is closed, but not because of the fire. The road is undergoing an improvement project that started in April. This means, there is no vehicle access to or near Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome or Taft Point.

The only access to Glacier Point is through one of three strenuous hikes from the valley, via the Four Mile, Panorama or Pohono trails, the park service says.

Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows

Tioga Road, which is the continuation of Highway 120 through the park, remains open to the east and west, though the park service says visitors can expect 30- to 60-minute delays on the highway Sunday night through Friday afternoon.

Along Tioga Road visitors will find Tuolumne Meadow, popular for its scenic views and hiking along with the White Wolf campground and Olmsted Point.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said the decision on the legality of same-sex marriage should be left up to the states. (Tracy Kimball/tkimball@heraldonline.com)

South Carolina U.S Sen. Lindsey Graham is asking a federal court in the Palmetto State to throw out a subpoena ordering the Republican to testify in front of a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in the states 2020 election.

A judge on Wednesday issued a stay on the subpoena with a hearing scheduled for next week.

Grahams attorneys, Bart Daniel and Matt Austin from the high-profile South Carolina law firm Nelson Mullins, argue the states senior senator was within his rights and carried out his duties when he called the Georgia secretary of state to ask about absentee ballots.

Sen. Graham did not inject himself into Georgias electoral process, and never tried to alter the outcome of any election, Grahams lawyers wrote in their motion filed on Tuesday. The conversation was about absentee ballots and Georgias procedures.

A hearing in front of Judge Henry Herlong, Jr. is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 20. in Greenville. Herlong issued a stay on the subpoena Wednesday.

Grahams lawyers describe the calls as legislative activity falling under Sen. Grahams fact-finding and oversight responsibility as the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a sitting United States senator required to determine whether to certify electoral votes before a joint session of Congress.

They have said the subpoena is all politics and is part of a fishing expedition to provide information to the U.S. House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The grand jury wants to hear from Graham about two phone calls he had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election.

Graham had asked if there was a way for Georgias 2020 election results to show a more favorable outcome for then-President Donald Trump, according to the subpoena.

President Joe Biden won the state of Georgia in 2020 by fewer than 12,000 votes.

Graham has denied any wrongdoing and recently said he made phone calls to Arizona and Nevada about their election systems.
Ukrainian servicemen take cover in a shelter at the front line near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Evgeniy Maloletka / Associated Press)

Russian missile strikes in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv killed at least five people, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday, the latest in a series of artillery barrages across the country in the past day that left at least 10 dead and nearly 20 wounded in eastern and southern regions.

While Mykolaiv has repeatedly been the target of Russian fire in recent days, Russian missiles also struck the town of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, an attack that could signal Moscow's determination to hold onto territory in Ukraine's south as it aims to fully conquer the east. Ukrainian forces have stepped up actions in a bid to reclaim more territory in the south.

Amid the artillery and missile strikes, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken accused Russia of committing a war crime by forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men, women and children to Russia in a bid to change Ukraine's demographic makeup.

Some of the deaths occurred in Donetsk province, which is part of a region where pro-Russia separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years and that the Kremlin is intent on capturing. The city of Bakhmut faced particularly heavy shelling as the current focus of Russia's offensive, Donetsk administrative chief Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

In adjacent Luhansk province, which Russian and separatist rebels have all but conquered, Ukrainian soldiers battled to retain control of two outlying villages amid the shelling, Gov. Serhiy Haidai said.

Luhansk and Donetsk together make up Ukraine's Donbas region, a mostly Russian-speaking region of steel factories, mines and other industry vital to the economy. The Russians are deliberately turning Donbas into ashes, and there will be just no people left on the territories captured, Haidai said.

Russian artillery also rained down in northeast Ukraine, where a regional governor, Oleh Sinegubov, accused Russian forces of trying to terrorize civilians in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.

Blinken, meanwhile, strongly condemned the unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons" from areas in Ukraine that Russia now controls.

Russian authorities must release those detained and allow Ukrainian citizens forcibly removed or coerced into leaving their country the ability to promptly and safely return home," Blinken said in a statement.

He said an estimated 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens  including 260,000 children  have been interrogated, detained and sent to Russia, in areas including the country's far east.

Blinken cited mounting evidence that Russian authorities are detaining, torturing or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians whom Russia considers threatening because of their potential ties to the Ukrainian army, media, government or civil society groups. Some Ukrainians, according to reports, have been summarily executed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government "will not be able to engage in these systematic abuses with impunity. Accountability is imperative," said Blinken. The United States and our partners will not be silent. Ukraine and its citizens deserve justice."

With Russia's sights set on the east, the Ukrainian military has tried to reclaim a captured city in the south. The Ukrainian military claimed Tuesday to have used missiles to destroy a Russian ammunition depot in occupied Nova Kakhovka, a city east of the Black Sea port of Kherson.

The precision of the depot strike suggested that Ukrainian forces had employed U.S.-supplied multiple-launch High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, a type of weapon for which the government in Kyiv repeatedly appealed.

Russias Tass news agency said the reported blast occurred when a mineral fertilizer storage facility exploded. Some of the ingredients in fertilizer can be used for ammunition.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Russian officials were expected to meet face to face Wednesday for the first time in months. Military delegations from the two countries and Turkey plan to hold talks in Istanbul on a potential deal to get grain out of Ukraine's blockaded and mined ports.

United Nations representatives also were involved in the talks. Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russias invasion halted shipments, endangering food supplies in many developing countries and contributing to higher global prices.

The Ukrainian foreign minister says that grain exports from his countrys ports wont resume without security guarantees for ship owners, cargo owners and Ukraine as an independent nation.

In the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar, Ukraine's emergency services agency said the death toll from a weekend Russian airstrike rose to 47. Rescue crews continued searching for survivors Wednesday in the rubble of three apartment buildings hit by missiles Saturday. The buildings were inhabited mostly by people who work in nearby factories.

A Donetsk separatist leader also said that foreign fighters convicted of terrorism and of trying to overturn constitutional order by working with Ukrainian troops have appealed their death sentences. If the appellate court in the separatists' self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic rejects the appeals, two British men and a Moroccan could face a firing squad.

Rebel leader Denis Pushilin said about 100 members of Ukrainian National Guard battalion who were captured after the fall of the southern port city of Mariupol were scheduled to appear before a court soon.

Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency reported that most Ukrainian refugees want to return to their country but plan to wait until the war subsides. Nearly two-thirds plan to stay put in their host countries for now. The vast majority of refugees from Ukraine are women and children.

The U.N. agency's findings came in a survey based on 4,900 interviews with refugees in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Just under 1 in 10 of the Ukrainian refugees surveyed said they planned to move to another host country within the next month.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FLORENCE, Ala. (AP)  A prisoner who prompted a nationwide manhunt when he disappeared this spring from an Alabama jail has been charged with killing the corrections official authorities said helped him escape.

Casey White, 38, has been indicted on a murder charge for the shooting death of Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly announced Tuesday. The pair's disappearance from an Alabama jail in April sparked a national manhunt that came to a bloody end in Indiana where Casey White was captured and Vicky White died.

The indictment alleges that during the escape, White caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot to the head." The indictment does not specify who pulled the trigger. Authorities have said Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

White will plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing, defense attorney Mark McDaniel said in a statement. The defense previously pointed blame at Vicky White for the escape, saying Casey White was in her care and custody the entire time of his disappearance from jail.

Casey White in April walked out of an Alabama jail in handcuffs in the custody of Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections at the facility, prompting a national manhunt for the pair. On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers she was transporting the inmate to a mental health evaluation but authorities later learned no such appointment existed.

The two were eventually discovered in Indiana where Casey White was captured. Authorities said Vicky White shot herself in the head.

Alabama law allows a murder charge if someone, causes the death of any person while engaging in certain other felonies such as escape or if the person, recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person.

Friends and colleagues had said they were bewildered by the involvement of Vicky White, who had worked for the sheriffs office for 16 years, with the inmate who was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
President Biden arrives in Tel Aviv to a greeting from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, left, and Prime Minister Yair Lapid. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Many in the United States view President Bidens trip to the Middle East that began Wednesday as a mission to lower oil prices. But leaders throughout the region see it as a chance to hash out disagreements over Iran.

Theres shared alarm over the recalcitrant countrys nuclear program. And the United States this week accused Tehran of plotting to help arm Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

But the two countries on Bidens four-day itinerary  Israel and Saudi Arabia  differ sharply with the administration over how to handle those threats.

The Biden administration, despite diplomatic setbacks, wants to revamp the 2015 multinational pact that limited Irans ability to build nuclear weapons. Israel and Saudi Arabia strongly oppose the deal.

That opposition, and a general concern over Irans behavior, has brought the two long-time adversaries closer together, part of a trend throughout the region that has helped Israel build alliances with its Arab neighbors after a long history of isolation and strife.

These shifting dynamics have complicated Biden's diplomatic goals. He is seeking to reassure allies that he shares their concerns over Tehran's intentions and to foster Israels alliances in hopes of creating a wall against Iran. Yet he also wants to maintain a slim hope of resurrecting the nuclear pact, a signature Obama administration accomplishment that was gleefully dismantled by former President Trump.

Its all about dealing with the strategic challenge that comes from Iran, both to Israel and to Saudi Arabia and the other Arabs that President Biden will be meeting in Jeddah, said Martin Indyk, a former special U.S. envoy to the Middle East and ambassador to Israel. Biden arrives Friday in the coastal resort city on the Red Sea for two days of meetings with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and six Gulf nations.

Indyk said Irans problematic, threatening behavior in the region is paradoxically the glue that brings Israel and Sunni Arab states together.

But its a glue that has yet to solidify. The ultimate goal is building broad strategic coordination, something close to an alliance where countries would help one another detect and ward off threats from Iran. To that end, Biden on Wednesday toured a laser-based defense system in Tel Aviv that was developed to counter the threat posed by Iranian missiles.

But the dream of sharing such technology with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states is distant. Officials hope for a more modest step this week: that Saudi Arabia, which still does not formally recognize Israel, will agree to commercial flights between the two countries.

The agenda is an extension of the Trump administrations work to win agreements from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to recognize Israel. Its also a reminder that, despite sharp differences between administrations, many of Americas broader goals remain the same.

President Biden participates in a wreath-laying ceremony Wednesday at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

It's somewhat awkward for the United States, though, because Israel and its neighbors have been working on a strategic consensus without much input from Washington, said Steven Cook, a senior fellow specializing in the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations.

But nevertheless, I think everybody agrees the United States is critical to building a bigger and stronger alliance, he said.

The Biden administration has tried to encourage cooperation in dealing with Iran while also pushing for a nuclear deal that would allow the country to reengage in the global economy.

It is part of a delicate dance that began when the Obama administration first brokered the pact. The balancing act was on display when national security advisor Jake Sullivan briefed reporters before Biden embarked on his trip. Sullivan deployed tough talk as he accused Tehran of planning to send hundreds of weapons-capable drones to Russia. Yet he also kept the door open for a return to the negotiating table.

Iran has a choice, Sullivan said: It can either rejoin the deal or face more sanctions, pressure and isolation.

On Air Force One on Wednesday, Sullivan told reporters that Biden would make the case to Israeli leaders that diplomacy remains the best path "to reach what is a shared goal of ensuring that Iran never gets nuclear weapons."

In an interview with an Israeli television network broadcast here Wednesday, Biden defended his position, calling Trump's decision to withdraw "a gigantic mistake."

"The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons," he said.

In response to questions, Biden said he would keep the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organizations, even if such a step kills the deal. He also said he would use force to stop Iran from acquiring a weapon "as a last resort."

The Biden administration appears surprised by the difficulty of rebuilding the deal and is facing new pressure from Russia and China as they begin to play a more active role in the Middle East, said Cook, the Middle East specialist.

France's foreign minister added pressure in comments Tuesday in which she warned that Iran had only weeks to return to the pact or face losing the opportunity, according to Reuters.

Senior Israeli officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity on the eve of Biden's arrival, argued that the Iranians are stalling as part of a ploy.

Our basic position is that Iran is playing for time," said an official. "And as long as Iran believes that time is on its side, they will not give in and will not give any concessions.

Israel and Saudi Arabia are expected to lobby Biden on a range of related issues, including what to do if Iran violates the terms of a potential deal and whether the administration will try to constrain Israel from taking its own action intended to deter Iran.

Already, the mysterious deaths of several Iranian scientists and military commanders have been blamed in some quarters on Israel, which has not denied the allegations.

Israeli officials said Prime Minister Yair Lapid would sign a joint declaration with Biden this week that "commits both countries to using all elements of the national power" to constrain Iran's aggression and nuclear program.

Its important to have a high level of exchange on these issues, but these countries arent going to convince the Biden administration that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad idea, said David Schenker, the top official on Middle Eastern policy in the Trump administration State Department. Theyve been trying to do that for a long time, unsuccessfully.

Bierman reported from Jerusalem and Wilkinson from Washington.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last in June 2022 to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, shakes hands with Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges as the hearing with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, concludes at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A man who joined the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol apologized Tuesday to officers who protected the building after telling lawmakers that he regrets being duped by the former president's lies of election fraud.

During a hearing before the U.S. House committee that's investigating the insurrection, Stephen Ayres testified that he felt called by former President Donald Trump to come to Washington.

He described being swept up by Trump's bogus claims, and believing as he marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 that Trump would join them there and that there was still a chance the election could be overturned.

I felt like I had like horse blinders on. I was locked in the whole time," said Ayres, who is scheduled to be sentenced in September after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in the riot.

His message to others: Take the blinders off, make sure you step back and see whats gong on before its too late.

It changed my life, he said. And not for the good.

Ayres, who was not accused of any violence or destruction on Jan. 6, said he worked for a cabinet company in northeast Ohio for 20 years, but lost his job and sold his home after the riot. He was joined by his wife at the hearing.

After the hearing, Ayres approached officers in the committee room who have testified about being verbally and physically attacked by the angry mob. Ayres apologized for his actions to Capitol Police Officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former MPD officer Michael Fanone.

The officers appeared to have different responses to Ayres attempt to make amends.

Fanone told The Associated Press that the apology was not necessary because it doesnt do s for me. Hodges said on CNN that he accepted the apology, adding that you have to believe that there are people out there who can change.

Gonell, who recently found out that the injuries he succumbed to on Jan. 6 wont allow him to be a part of the force any longer, said he accepted the sentiment from Ayres, but it doesnt amount to much.

He still has to answer for what he did legally. And to his God. So its up to him, the former sergeant said.

Dunn, who didnt stand up when Ayres approached him, said he does not accept his apology.

The Jan. 6 House committee that's investigating the insurrection sought to use Ayres' testimony to show how Trump's Dec. 19, 2020, tweet calling his supporters to Washington mobilized not only violent far-right extremist groups, but average Americans to descend on the nation's capital.

Ayres described being a loyal follower of Trump on social media before Jan. 6 and said he felt he needed to heed the presidents call to come to Washington, D.C., for the Stop the Steal rally.

I was very upset, as were most of his supporters, Ayres said when asked about Trumps unfounded election claims. Asked by Rep. Liz Cheney if he still believes the election was stolen, Ayres said, Not so much now.

Ayres said he wasnt planning to storm the Capitol before Trumps speech got everybody riled up. He had believed the president would be joining them at the Capitol.

Basically, we were just following what he said, Ayres said.

Ayres said he and friends who accompanied him to Washington decided to leave the Capitol when Trump sent a tweet asking rioters to leave. If Trump had done that earlier in the day, maybe we wouldn't be in this bad of a situation, Ayres said.

Ayres said it makes him mad that Trump is still pushing his bogus claims about the election.

I was hanging on every word he was saying, he said. Everything he was putting out, I was following it.

His testimony echoed the words of many Capitol rioters who have expressed remorse for their crimes at sentencing hearings.

He's among about 840 people who have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. More than 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor charges punishable by no more than one year in prison. More than 200 have been sentenced.

In his court case, Ayres admitted that he drove from Ohio to Washington on the eve of the Stop the Steal rally to protest Congress certification of the Electoral College vote count. He entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing doors and remained inside for about 10 minutes, joining other rioters in chanting.

In a Facebook post four days before the riot, Ayres attached an image of a poster that said the president is calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest."

In another Facebook post before the riot, he wrote, Mainstream media, social media, Democrat party, FISA courts, Chief Justice John Roberts, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, etc....all have committed TREASON against a sitting U.S. president! !! All are now put on notice by We The People!

____

Associated Press reporters Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report from Washington.

___

For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege.
A Lexington murder trial set to begin next week will remain on schedule despite efforts from prosecutors to delay the case and efforts from the defense team to have the indictment thrown out entirely.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Antonio Gaskin, a man facing two murder charges, met in court Wednesday to discuss a number of motions brought up by both sides, including a motion by the prosecution to delay the case. The trial for the case is supposed to begin next week, and Judge Thomas Travis denied the prosecutions request, citing the number of continuances the case has already gone through.

Theres no reason why we cannot try this case on Monday as I see it considering the number of delays and given the resolution to the issues that we discussed here today, Travis said.

Gaskin is facing two charges of murder among other charges in the deaths of 24-year-old Marquis Harris and 25-year-old Sharmaine Carter in October 2019. Harris and Carter were found dead inside an apartment on Alexandria Drive near Versailles Road after investigators received an anonymous tip reporting a relative had been shot, according to police.

Defense wanted indictment thrown out, judge overruled

Gaskin was indicted in February 2020 on two charges of murder. Gaskins attorney filed a motion for the indictment to be thrown out, citing a number of due process violations in the case.

Gaskins defense team alleged in court documents that they had not been able to review data evidence from cell phones related to the case because the phones remain locked. The defense alleged that law enforcement attempted to access the locked data by using the face and thumb print of one of the victims.

The defense also alleged that the prosecution lied about the use of ballistic evidence in the case. According to court documents, the prosecution said bullets pulled from the deceased during an autopsy were too damaged for testing, but Kentucky State Police told the defense thats not accurate.

The defense also accused the prosecution of bad faith practices in an effort to win the case.

The prosecutor is obligated to uphold justice and not just the opportunity to win one of these cases, said Sarah Langer, Gaskins attorney.

But Travis said mistakes like that happen occasionally in a case this complex and time demanding, and overruled the defenses request.

While its not excusable, its certainly understandable, Travis said.

However, the defense continued to push for the indictment to be thrown out.

It is the duty of the prosecution to serve justice in this case, and justice is not being done, Langer said tearfully.

Langer said in court Wednesday that the prosecutor, Kathryn Webster, previously told the defense team to seek a change in Gaskins bond and that Webster wouldnt oppose the request. Langer said the conversation happened in a pretrial conference. Langer added that she believed Webster would say Gaskin is innocent if she was sworn in.

But Webster strongly objected to Langers accusation.

It is egregious that someone would accuse me, on the record in a courtroom, of prosecuting someone of murder when I believe they didnt do it, Webster said.

Webster said Langer violated the oath as an attorney when she discussed pretrial conference matters on the record in a courtroom.

Gaskins trial is set to start Monday and is expected to last four days, according to court records.
After two years of taking every precaution, including vaxxing and double-boosting, I finally got COVID at the end of a family vacation last month.

All four of us in our family had worn masks on multiple airplanes for the long journey from California to Hawaii and back. Still, we noticed that most other passengers eschewed masks on crowded planes and in the long airport lines.

It was as though many believed the pandemic was over even as new subvariants of the virus were driving waves of new cases. My family learned that the hard way on our first night back when one of our children tested positive. The next day, our other child tested positive. The day after that, I did. Two days later, my spouse did.

Opinion

Its common now to hear about the mild symptoms of COVID, but that was not our experience  unless being in bed for days with body aches and fever is considered mild.

This was the sickest I had felt in two decades. On the first day after I tested positive, I slept all afternoon, feeling groggy and bone-tired.

At one point, as I made myself a cup of coffee, I noticed that our coffee machine was making a strange sound as it poured my drink. It turns out I had forgotten to place a cup in the machine to catch the coffee, which spilled all over the kitchen counter. I had never done that before, but I was in such a fog that I didnt notice my error until I had a big mess to clean up and hardly any energy to do it.

One of my daughters had a fever that would rise as high as 103 for three days, which caused my spouse and me far more stress than our own condition.

Even now, after following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that call for five days of isolation followed by five more days of wearing a mask in public, my energy levels are nowhere near normal. My sleep patterns are disrupted, and my dreams are vivid and intense.

Was I hospitalized? No. Are my lingering symptoms mild? No.

This pandemic is hopelessly politicized to the point where many liberals and conservatives are acting as if its over for their own partisan reasons. Politics have vanquished science.

Weve seemingly given up on reducing transmission. And that means weve given up on looking out for each other.

Someday social scientists will have a field day studying how shared sacrifice was dumped in favor of falsehoods about the virus.

My purely agnostic response is this: Contracting COVID is no joke. Its not a simple cold or standard flu. And there is no guarantee that my case is going to protect me from future infections because scientists say the new subvariants have evolved to the point where they are evading immunity.

Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, said this to the Washington Post: The BA.5 subvariant is the worst version of the virus weve seen. 

How are we dealing with this? Were not. On Monday, Topol told CNN what other scientists believe: that new COVID cases are drastically under-reported because many people are either testing at home or not testing at all. The CDC has been reporting an average of 100,000 positive tests a day, but Topol thinks that number could be as high as a million.

Across the globe, transmissions  and, yes, deaths and hospitalizations  are trending upward.

As Topol himself wondered on Twitter, what if new subvariants begin eluding Paxlovid, the antiviral medication that broke my fever? I shudder to think what would have happened to me or my wife if Paxlovid had not worked for us.

Our vaccines, our boosters, and Paxlovid likely kept us out of the hospital. Yet the experience was miserable and unnerving just the same.

Meanwhile, wearing effective masks indoors and committing ourselves to reduce transmission has become too much of an inconvenience for many.

We cant be bothered with COVID anymore because we are fed up and want to live our lives. I get it. I had COVID fatigue myself until my family got COVID.

Now I wont walk into a Kings game or any other indoor crowd without a mask. And its going to be a while before I get on a plane again.

I dont want this virus again. You dont either.
Brelande Edmond was looking for a way to serve his community and decided that joining the Kansas City Police Department would be the way to fulfill his desire, his mother said.

He felt that was his way of giving, helping and giving back to the community, Kayla Edmond of St. Louis said Tuesday. He just thought it would be a way to maybe make a difference.

Her son, however, died at a hospital July 3 after taking the physical agility test at the Regional Police Academy. The hospital ruled his death the result of heatstroke and liver shock, said Edmond.

Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department, confirmed on Tuesday that an applicant had a medical emergency following the physical agility test the afternoon of June 30 and was taken to a hospital.

The test was part of the pre-employment process and was held in the climate controlled gym at the Regional Police Academy. The police department partners with the Kansas City Fire Department to provide emergency medical services in the event of a medical emergency, she said.

Edmonds mother, however, said her sons death was preventable and she is pushing for Kansas City police to change the way it evaluates recruits. She traveled to Kansas City on Tuesday to attend the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting and request they make changes.

The mother of Brelande Edmond says her son died from heatstroke and organ failure after taking a Kansas City police agility test at the Regional Police Academy.

She is asking the board to require potential cadets to undergo a complete physical exam prior to taking the agility test, to check their heart rate and body temperatures prior to the test and to use devices to monitor their vital signs during the tests.

My son was my last living child, Kayla Edmond told commissioners after outlining the changes she wanted to see made. I will forever suffer because of this incident.

Bishop Mark Tolbert, board president, said she had the boards deepest sympathy and they would take her suggestions into consideration and any changes made would be in the name of her son as she requested.

The board of commissioners must approve all policies and procedures. The department regularly reviews its practices to best ensure the safety for all, Foreman said.

Brelande Edmond, who was 23, graduated from Avila University with a bachelors degree in psychology with an emphasis in mental health. While earning his degree, he worked for Ozanam in Kansas City.

After graduating, he worked in customer service for a plumbing and heating company and was promoted to handle accounts payable and accounting. Recently, he decided he wanted pursue a career in law enforcement.

He went into psychology because he wanted to help people and he decided the way that he wanted to help was through the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, Edmond said.

Brelande Edmond, left, graduated from Avila University with a bachelors degree in psychology with an emphasis in mental health. His mother, Kayla Edmond, said he died from heatstroke and organ failure after taking a Kansas City police agility test at the Regional Police Academy.

On the day of June 30, Brelande Edmond took and passed the written exam, which allowed him to move on to the physical agility test.

After he finished the exam, he passed out, his mother said. He lost consciousness and lost his heartbeat. They had to perform CPR.

He was rushed to the hospital. By then, he had suffered significant organ, liver, kidney and brain damage and was placed on life support and dialysis. He died the morning of July 3.

Edmond, who drove from St. Louis to see her son in the hospital, said she had difficulty getting information about what happened from the police department. She said members of the department came to the hospital the second day and offered a chaplain. They also offered her a tow truck to tow his car off the academy parking lot.

She asked if they conducted a physical exam or stress test prior to the agility test and she said she was told they use the agility test to weed out potential candidates. The physical exam comes later.

They told me that he was inside a temperature controlled gymnasium, so Im definitely trying to understand how my son experienced heatstroke, she said.

When she asked more about the agility tests, they said theres videos on YouTube that show the training course. She also asked if any of the commanders saw her son in distress or showing signs of heatstroke. She said the commander told her that they were not there to observe the cadets, that that was the job of the fire department.

Meanwhile, the family was unable to move his car because they didnt know where his keys were. On Friday morning, someone from the department called saying that his backpack had been found with his keys and wallet were inside. They said the car had to be moved from the parking lot or it would be turned over to the police evidence unit.

Edmond told the caller that she was about to leave St. Louis because she was headed to Kansas City for her sons funeral the next day. The caller replied that she was leaving early on Friday.

Edmond said her son was driven, goal-oriented, respectful, caring and unselfish.

You know, especially right now in this time, we needed more people like my son on this earth, she said.
The story was updated at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 14, 2022, with an arrest.

Police have arrested three Texas residents wanted in connection with an armed robbery Monday at the Waffle House in Hillsborough.

Diamond Walton of Longview, Texas, and Tamiko Lashun Jones and Tony Eugene Lemon, both of Marshall, Texas, were caught Wednesday in Shelby, just west of Charlotte, according to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Cleveland County Sheriffs Office.

All three will face charges in Orange County with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and defrauding an innkeeper, according to a Hillsborough town news release. They are scheduled to make their first appearance in an Orange County courtroom on July 26, records show.

The suspects are facing similar charges in Minden, Louisiana, where they are accused of robbing a business just a few days before they showed up in Hillsborough, police said in the release. The suspects were believed to be armed and dangerous, they said.

Diamond Walton of Longview, Texas, is wanted in connection with a July 11 armed robbery at the Waffle House in Hillsborough. Police provided this photo of her taken from social media.

In Hillsborough, the suspects went into the Waffle House at Daniel Boone and South Churton streets around 2 p.m. Monday with three other people, police said. After eating a brief meal, Lemon then reportedly used a handgun to demand money from the restaurant employees.

He fled to the Daniel Boone Shell Service Center next door, where he was parked, police said. Police said all three suspects left in two separate cars  a burgundy Ford F-150 truck with Texas plates and a newer model silver Ford Fusion sedan with Texas plates, police said.

Suspects in the July 11, 2022, armed robbery of the Waffle House restaurant in Hillsborough fled in two vehicles, including this burgundy Ford F-150 truck with Texas plates.

The suspects told witnesses they were on their way to Virginia, and both vehicles were seen traveling north on Interstate 85 after the robbery, but they were instead caught roughly 175 miles southwest of Hillsborough.

The investigation is continuing, and police have said more charges could be filed.

Hillsborough police are seeking information about this newer model silver Ford Fusion sedan with Texas plates that was involved in an armed robbery on July 11, 2022.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hillsborough Investigator Van St. Pierre by email or phone at 919-296-9533.

Tips also can be reported anonymously by calling 919-296-9555, using the See it, Say it, Send it app or website, or by direct messaging the Police Department on Facebook.
This morning, North Carolina received big, exciting news: CNBC had ranked us the Top State for Business. Gov. Roy Cooper spoke about the honor with journalist Scott Cohn this morning in Wrightsville Beach. With the Atlantic Ocean in the background, Cooper doted on the state for its beauty and capability.

We pulled together in a bipartisan way to make sure businesses know we have the most talented, educated workforce in the country, Cooper said in the interview. Talking to CEO after CEO, workforce is the driving force for them right now.

The results are a big win for North Carolina, which has been in the Top 5 three times since 2017 and in the Top 10 for 13 of the 14 of the previous years. Unless youve been living under a rock, youve probably noticed a slew of high-profile businesses  Apple, Toyota, and the Vietnamese car company Vinfast, to name a few  making moves to our state in the last year. Weve been one of the fastest growing economies and work forces of the last year. We benefit from the sheer number of banks that call Charlotte home, as well as colleges and universities graduating more and more STEM students each year.

Its a big win, a deserved win. But its a win that feels complicated.

Being the best state for business does not necessarily mean we are a state where everyone prospers. Yes, attracting businesses means attracting jobs and people to fill those jobs. But we spend a lot of money to get those jobs: Vinfast, for example, is receiving $1.2 billion in incentives to build their $2 billion car manufacturing plant in Chatham County. In exchange for Apples $1 billion campus in Research Triangle Park, the state is giving it as much as $846 million in incentives. While the state would still make a profit in both instances, they net result is considerably smaller than the state advertises.

North Carolina may be the top state for businesses, but it is the worst state to be a worker, according to a 2021 Oxfam America report. It ranked in the bottom three for wage policies, worker protections and rights to organize. It still uses the federal minimum wage, unlike the 30 states and Washington D.C. that have shifted to higher minimum wages since 2014.

The states win was attributed to a bipartisan effort, which is true  Republican leaders Tim Moore and Phil Berger worked closely with Cooper on the Vinfast agreement, for example. Republicans as a whole have done a lot to help attract business to the state, like slashing corporate income tax to zero. But its also true that Coopers veto alone keeps the state from enacting policies that hurt marginalized groups, something that ultimately hurt states like Mississippi, which finished last.

It seems that CNBC accounted for this in its analysis; NC lost points in the workforce category. In the methodology report, CNBC said it considered the number of STEM employees, training programs, and productivity per employee. The netword said it examined each states right to work laws, but did not mention whether having such a law in place would help or hurt the state. North Carolina performed worst in the life, health, and inclusion category for things that the editorial board has pointed out over the years: a lag in public health spending (like expanding Medicaid), hospital resources are sparse, and there arent enough protections for marginalized communities.

Again, this is something North Carolina should celebrate, and it seems like both Democrats and Republicans are doing just that. But as we point to the promise of booming businesses and the wins we do have, we should remember the precarious line we toe between good for business and bad for the state.

Sara Pequeno is an Opinion writer and member of the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News & Observer editorial board.
As the highly contagious BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants continue to spread throughout the country, the Biden administration suggests all adults be considered for a second COVID-19 booster shot.

Two federal officials said that Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House coordinator for the pandemic response, supports opening up eligibility for all adults regardless of age, The Washington Post reported.

Second boosters are currently only authorized for people who are at least 50 years old or immunocompromised, according to guidelines from The Food and Drug Administration.

But health experts worry vaccine immunity may be waning due to the uptick in hospitalizations around the country.

BA.4 and BA.5 made up more than 80% of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. from July 2-9, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When will adults in North Carolina be able to get a second booster?

Federal health officials have been discussing a plan for a second round of booster shots for some time, but it has not been finalized, NBC News reported. The plan would require approval from the FDA and CDC.

Though some may be waiting for another surge in cases to get their first or second booster, its best to get the shot as soon as possible to avoid severe symptoms in breakthrough cases, Ashley St. John, an associate professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, told Fortune.

It is important to follow the guidelines that are released and to take boosters as soon as you are eligible for them, St. John said. Those who are eligible to take a booster should do it now.

How fast are BA.4 and BA.5 spreading in North Carolina?

As of June 25, BA.2.12.1 was the most common variant in the state, accounting for 39% of all sequenced COVID-19 cases, according to the most recent data available from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

But BA.5, another omicron subvariant, lagged just behind, making up 38% of all sequenced cases, NCDHHS data show.

RELATED: A new Omicron subvariant could take over NC. What to know about the BA.5 strain

There were 3,010 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County during the week ending July 2, up from 2,842 the previous week, according to NCDHHS data.

Numbers from NCDHHS also show there was a daily average of 170 people hospitalized with COVID-19 during the same time period in the Metrolina Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, a region that includes Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union, Catawba, Lincoln and Gaston County.

How many people have received boosters in North Carolina?

Just under 60% of eligible North Carolina residents have received at least one booster dose, according to data from the NCDHHS.

Only about a third of Mecklenburg County residents have received a booster dose, NCDHHS data show.
A man was killed and a mother and her three children were injured after two vehicles collided head-on Tuesday afternoon on Foresthill Road in Placer County, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The fatal head-on crash occurred about 3 p.m. on Foresthill Road, just west of Drivers Flat Road in Foresthill, several miles northeast of Auburn.

A 43-year-old Foresthill man was driving a green Toyota Corolla west on Foresthill, and the mother was driving a blue Acura MBX east on the same road and the vehicles crashed head-on, said Officer David Martinez, a spokesman for the CHP Auburn Area Office.

Martinez said investigators were still trying to determine who was at fault, the speed of the vehicles and whether alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash.

The Foresthill man was pronounced dead at the scene. Martinez said there was no one else in the car with him. The Placer County Coroners Office will release his name after his family has been notified.

Martinez said the mother and her children in the Acura suffered moderate injuries in the crash and were taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Foresthill Road remained closed in both directions for more than three hours as CHP investigators, assisted by Placer County Sheriffs Office, worked at the scene. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., the CHP announced on social media that the road was reopened in both directions.
Claims of sexual abuse of a stepchild by the father of two missing sisters taken from their aunt in Fort Myers last week are at the center of a complicated custody situation.

The case involves misinformation given to investigators by family members, a several-thousand-mile drive from Southwest Florida to Mexico and plans to take the two missing girls from Mexico to Guatemala.

Sgt. Glenn Thompson, a member of the Fort Myers Police Department homicide division addresses the media on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. He gave an update on two young children who were illegally taken by their parents.

A media briefing at the Fort Myers Police Department's Real Time Crime Center on Tuesday provided additional details of the kidnapping.

Parents lnmer Barrios Osorio, a Guatemalan native, and Evelin Jessamyn Sanchez Rojas, a Mexican citizen, are not yet in custody and remain in Mexico. The children are American citizens, born in the Tampa area.

The two children, 2-month-old and 2-year-old girls, also remain in Mexico, where local, state, national and Mexican law enforcement tracked them.

The children were reported missing June 20, taken by their parents who then fled the United States to Linares, a small city in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

Found: Missing Fort Myers children found in Mexico and coming home, officials say

One click away: One click away: New rollout of Amber Alerts on social media hopes to reach new audiences

Children taken

The Fort Myers Police Department responded to a Maravilla Avenue address in reference to an 'assist other agency' call, said Sgt. Glenn Thompson, a Fort Myers police homicide detective. "Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office needed assistance in reference to two missing children."

The Maravilla address is the home of the children's aunt, Iris Roxanne Barrios Ozorio, 34.

Sgt. Glenn Thompson, a member of the Fort Myers Police Department homicide division addresses the media on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. He gave an update on two young children who were illegally taken by their parents.

Barrios Ozorio was visiting in Tampa with the children's biological mother, Evelin Jessamyn Sanchez Rojas, when Rojas learned the children would be removed from her custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families on June 16. The removal was related to an investigation of Inmer Barrios Osorio, the biological father, and allegations of sexual abuse involving a stepchild.

Barrios Ozorio then requested and was granted custody and brought the girls to Fort Myers.

Thompson said initial information gathered by Fort Myers homicide detective Maalisa Langton and other officers indicated that the two children had left Fort Myers with Rojas and possibly Inmer Barrios Osorio, a violation of a child custody order from Hillsborough County.

Thompson said Barrios Ozorio told detectives that Rojas had picked up the children.

"Through our investigation we were able to disprove that," Thompson said. "She lied during the investigation."

Illegal interference

That lead to the arrest of Barrios Ozorio, 34, on charges of interference with child custody and providing false information to law enforcement during a missing persons investigation. She left Lee County Jail on on June 24 on $6,500 bond

Sgt. Glenn Thompson, a member of the Fort Myers Police Department homicide division addresses the media on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. He gave an update on two young children who were illegally taken by their parents.

Barrios Ozorio's arrest report outlined the efforts Fort Myers police made, including checking surveillance video at the Maravilla address in the Green Tee Apartments. The report said the the video showed Barrios Ozorio and her husband load the children into a car and drive off.

Evidence gathered by Fort Myers police showed that Barrios Ozorio and her husband then delivered the girls to Rojas and Osorio at another location.

That arrest report said that the children could not return to the mother or father without a court order.

A Tampa Police Department incident report alleged that lnmer Barrios Osorio carried out sexual abuse on the minor child when the child was approximately age 2 or 3 and continued those acts until the child reached 13.

The report said that the other children are at risk of physical abuse and due to their young age are unable to protect themselves and could not remain in the custody of the parents.

Two other children were placed with a paternal grandfather, the Tampa report said.

Charged: Fort Myers woman charged in connection with missing children and their mother

Custody case: Fort Myers police: Custody violation involved in case of two missing children

Tracked to Mexico

After the children were taken from Fort Myers, Barrios Osorio's arrest report said license plate readers tracked them in Fort Myers, Tampa, and the Florida Panhandle. Phone records show cell phones in the parent's names were tracked from north Florida to Hildago, Texas, just north of the Mexican border.

Their route from there to Mexico and what point of entry they used is not yet known, Thompson said.

A phone call from an anonymous tipster pinpointed the location of the parents and children in Mexico, Barrios Osorio's arrest report said. The tipster, who said they were a family member, also told law enforcement that plans were made to take the children to Guatemala.

Thompson said the two Barrios children have been taken for medical evaluation and will return to the United States in the coming days.

"Our federal partners, with the help of the Mexican police, were able to acquire the location of the missing children," Thompson said. "On June 23 the Mexican police recovered both children. Currently Mexican authorities are working with our U.S. authorities for the safe return of both children."

Sgt. Glenn Thompson, a member of the Fort Myers Police Department homicide division addresses the media on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. He gave an update on two young children who were illegally taken by their parents.

Thompson said detectives were completing warrant requests for lnmer Barrios Osorio.

"Our criminal investigation here continues until all parties are arrested and prosecuted," Thompson said.

The U.S. Marshals Service, Mexico Foreign Field Office, Mexican police, Florida Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force, FBI, State Attorneys Office, DCF, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and U.S. Homeland Security assisted in tracking and recovering the children.

MISSING CHILD ALERTS

Connect with breaking news reporter Michael Braun: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook), @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or mbraun@news-press.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida sisters in international parental kidnapping remain in Mexico
Director Roman Polanski at a film festival in Krakow, Poland in 2018. Documents related to a sex abuse case against Polanski could be unsealed under a new request by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon. (Associated Press)

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon asked a state appeals court Tuesday to unseal transcripts related to the criminal case against Roman Polanski, which could end the decades-long legal saga over the film director's sexual abuse of a teenager in 1977.

In a six-page court filing, Gascon sought to have the testimony of retired prosecutor Roger Gunson made public  a request that has also been made by the victim in the case, Samantha Geimer, and marked a reversal from Gascon's predecessors, who sought to keep Gunson's words under wraps.

For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know," Gascon said in a statement. "After careful consideration of the victims wishes, the unique and extraordinary circumstances that led to [Gunson's testimony] and my commitment to transparency and accountability for all in the justice system, my office has determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts.

Polanski fled the U.S. in 1977, after he pleaded guilty to forcing Geimer to have sex with him when she was just 13 years old.

Geimer has alleged Polanski, then 43, brought her to the house of actor Jack Nicholson for a photo shoot and then plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill before forcing himself on her. Nicholson was not home at the time.

After reaching a plea deal with prosecutors, Polanski was sent to a state prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation. Judge Laurence Rittenband, who was presiding over the case at the time, said the evaluation would help him reach a fair sentencing decision. The director was released after 42 days, with prison officials saying he did not need additional prison time.

Rittenband, facing fierce media pressure, went against the recommendation and decided to send Polanski back to prison for an additional 48 days.

But Polanski fled to France, where he holds citizenship. The French government refused to extradite Polanski, and he has never returned to the U.S.

In 2009, Gunson, who led the prosecution against Polanski, was asked questions under oath about the case. His testimony was taken to preserve his recollections for possible future legal proceedings against Polanski in case the prosecutor died or was unavailable for a future trial date.

Polanski's legal team has argued that Gunson's testimony will show Rittenband intended for Polanski's short time in custody to be the extent of his sentence. Attempts to contact Gunson on Tuesday were not successful.

Polanski's legal team lost its bid to have the transcripts unsealed in 2010. More recent attempts to unseal the records came from journalists Bill Rempel and Sam Wasson, according to their attorney, Susan Seager.

Seager said Gascon was being disingenuous by painting himself as a champion of transparency on Tuesday, noting the district attorney's office had been fighting her clients' motion for access to the transcripts since last year.

"His office never should have opposed our motion to unseal in the first place," said Seager, a professor and well-known 1st Amendment attorney with the UC Irvine Press Freedom Project. "But over the past eight months, the D.A.s office fiercely fought our motion, both in the Superior Court and in the Court of Appeal. It will be interesting to see what the Court of Appeal does now that our appeal is unopposed."

Polanski's attorney, Harland Braun, said the unsealing of Gunson's testimony could be the first step toward ending the director's legal troubles in the U.S..

The next move is we make a motion he be sentenced in absentia," Braun said. "The D.A. cant claim he owes any [prison] time."

Ultimately, Braun said, Tuesday's move by Gascon could lead to the quashing of the international fugitive warrant against Polanski, effectively making him a free man. Polanski, however, could face an additional two years in state prison on charges of being a fugitive from justice, according to Greg Risling, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office.

But Risling said he is not certain those charges would be brought, noting prosecutors "would need to evaluate why charges were not previously filed" by prior district attorney's office administrations.

Polanski, who is nearly 89, sought to have Gunson's testimony unsealed in 2010, after he was detained in Zurich due to an outstanding fugitive warrant in the U.S. A judge rejected the request, but officials in Zurich refused to return Polanski to the U.S.

Why Gunson's testimony was sealed remains unclear. Similar pre-emptive testimony in recent high-profile criminal cases against real estate scion Robert Durst and disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was taken in proceedings open to the public.

Polanski nearly struck a deal to end the case in the 1990s, when L.A. County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler promised the director would not have to serve any additional time in custody if he returned to Los Angeles. But when Fidler required a hearing in the case to be open to the public, Polanski balked.

In recent years, several other women have accused Polanski of abusing them when they were underage, but the director has denied each claim. In 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors declined to charge Polanski with the alleged molestation of a teenage girl at Will Rogers State Beach in 1975 because the statute of limitations had expired.

While The Times typically does not identify victims of alleged sexual assault, Geimer has publicly spoken about the case, including her repeated requests to end the drawn out legal odyssey. Geimer has been asking for Gunson's testimony to be made public since 2014, records show.

In a letter sent earlier this year to Gascon's office, Geimer once again pleaded for someone to bring a close to her 45-year ordeal.

"The lack of resolution of this case has haunted my family for decades," Geimer wrote. "I now await the day when media attention will force me to explain to my granddaughter, who is only 6 now, what happened to her Nana all those years ago."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Idaho Way: McGeachin invites yet another scandal on her way out the door

After eight years, two police chiefs and two officers who resigned in disgrace, it might be time that the city of Middleton give up on its police department experiment.

The most recent dust-up happened this month, when Police Chief Alex Takeuchi resigned before Middleton City Council members were scheduled to consider removing him from office.

Middleton Mayor Steve Rule said a police officer had filed a complaint in April against Takeuchi and another officer, which prompted an investigation that led to Takeuchis departure.

Greg Langley, a Middleton police officer, resigned in June.

Takeuchi issued a statement via social media, slamming the city. Rule said an investigation revealed policy violations  no criminal wrongdoing, but a leadership failure within the police department.

The Middleton Police Department has been the subject of controversy nearly from day one.

The city formed its own department in 2014, after expressing dissatisfaction with the service it was getting from the Canyon County Sheriffs Office and the $292,000 price tag for the contract, according to reporting at the time from the Idaho Press-Tribune.

The city hired its first chief, Brian Zimmerman, a retired Idaho State Police officer, in October 2014.

A couple of months later, the city hired Officers Steve Walker and Robert Kightlinger, and Middleton PD was off to the races.

It wasnt too long before trouble began.

Kightlinger and Walker resigned in July 2016 after it was revealed in a tort claim that Walker had a sexual relationship with a reported domestic violence victim, and Kightlinger had flirted with the same woman. An Idaho State Police investigation found that the officers did not commit a crime but did violate city policy.

Then, in May 2017, Zimmerman resigned for personal reasons, but later said then-Mayor Darin Taylors behavior drove him to quit.

At the time, Middleton had a population of 5,898. Today, the population is estimated at more than 10,000.

Middletons budget for its police department for the 2022 fiscal year is $1.3 million. Consider that Middleton collected about $1.3 million in property taxes in fiscal year 2021.

If theyre looking for options, Middleton city officials could look to Kuna and Eagle, which both contract with the Ada County Sheriffs Office for police services.

Kuna, with a population of 26,000, is paying the Ada County Sheriffs Office $2.8 million this fiscal year for one chief, one administrative staffer, five detectives, three sergeants, 12 deputies and one code enforcement officer.

Eagle, population 32,000, is paying $3.6 million for one chief, one administrative staffer, four detectives, three sergeants, 17 deputies and two code enforcement officers.

For that price, Kuna and Eagle can rely on the Sheriffs Offices human resources department, which does all the screening and hiring of new officers, and also handles the officer training. Because theyre part of a larger office, theyre better able to handle coverage in the event of vacation or sickness.

The Sheriffs Office also has a crime lab and evidence technicians. If there is a homicide or officer shooting or anything else like that in those cities, those departments have all the resources needed at their disposal. The cities also have access to the Sheriffs Offices data and analytics unit, and to victim witness coordinators.

Given the problems Middleton has had with its police department, it could be time for the city to give up the dream of having its own force.

At the very least, Middleton city officials should conduct an analysis that looks at the benefits and drawbacks of continuing its own department.

Such an analysis might show that the best option for Middleton residents is signing a new contract with the Canyon County Sheriffs Office for police services.
Nyanachiek Madit, 21, who successfully refused when her father told her at age 17 that she would be married off to a man aged around 50 because her family couldn't afford to send her to school, speaks to The Associated Press in Juba, South Sudan. (AP)

JUBA, South Sudan (AP)  Some young girls are still auctioned off into marriage for cows in South Sudan  one of the social challenges that activists had hoped to highlight during Pope Francis now-postponed visit.

The price of a daughter, determined in negotiations between her father and would-be husband, is typically 50 to 100 cows, each worth up to $1,000. A girl viewed as beautiful, fertile and of high social rank can bring as many as 200 cows. One girl in a well-publicized case a few years ago was auctioned off for 520 cows, plus cars.

The younger the girl marries, the more the family gets cattle in return, said Jackline Nasiwa, executive director of the Center of Inclusive Governance, Peace and Justice in South Sudan's capital, Juba. They sell their daughters so that they get something to survive.

Though South Sudanese law limits marriage to those age 18 and over, it's rarely enforced, particularly in rural areas.

South Sudans independence from Sudan in 2011 brought widespread hope for prosperity and peace for the countrys 12 million people, but little of that has materialized.

The new country quickly plunged into five years of civil war that ended with a fragile peace deal in 2018, but deadly intercommunal violence continues, and most people remain trapped in poverty. Climate shocks like flooding, along with rising food prices caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine, have deepened widespread hunger.

Against the odds, some girls have fought back

South Sudan has the worlds fifth-highest prevalence of child marriage, according to the U.N., which says the practice is a violation of human rights, a serious impediment to literacy and a major cause of persistent poverty. About a third of girls in the country are pregnant before turning 15, according to UNICEF.

Against the odds, some South Sudanese girls have fought back.

I refused, said 21-year-old Nyanachiek Madit, when her father said she would be married to a man about 50 years old because her family couldnt afford to send her to school. She was 17 at the time.

I didnt accept to get married because I am disabled and my education will be my leg later on, said Nyanachiek, who was born with a congenital disorder. Convinced that schooling would give her a better life, she stood up to her family and dared them to beat or even kill her. Her family didn't force her to marry, but refused to pay her school fees as punishment.

Nyanachiek's plight came to the attention of ChildBride Solidarity, which offers scholarships to girls whose parents abandon them after they oppose early marriage. With the group's assistance, Nyanachiek now studies in South Sudans capital.

I am now happy, she told The Associated Press.

Early marriage can be deadly. The United Nations Population Fund has said South Sudan is one of the riskiest places to be a mother. Mothers die in 1,150 out of 100,000 live births, one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

You cannot have a healthy mother, you cannot have a happy mother, if you are marrying off your children and making them mothers, Chris Oyeyipo with the U.N. Population Fund said during an event marking Mothers Day in Juba.

The U.N. wants child marriage eliminated worldwide by 2030. But poor families in South Sudan see laws against child marriage as barring them from profiting from their daughters and threatening their very survival.

Early marriage exposes girls to domestic abuse

Only about 10% of South Sudan's girls finish primary school because of factors including conflict and cultural beliefs, according to UNICEF and Plan International.

Experts say some families worry that sending girls to school exposes them to dangers such as sexual assault that could lower their value when it comes time to look for marriage offers. And yet the experts say early marriage exposes girls to domestic abuse, including rape.

Authorities have a long way to go to change such attitudes, said Aya Benjamin, South Sudans minister of gender, child and social welfare, who as a girl watched some of her friends be married off.

It is our collective responsibility to make sure that our girls are allowed to enjoy their childhood, she told the AP. We are not discouraging marriage.

"We just say allow girls to be children. Allow them to be themselves. Let them grow up and let them go to school and allow them to decide what they want to be in life, and in that way we can have a healthy society.
St. Lukes Health System is still having trouble getting its lawsuit against Ammon Bundy and a close associate to move forward  and not just because neither man is responding to the legal system.

Bundy, who is running for Idaho governor as an independent, and Diego Rodriguez failed to appear at a hearing at the Ada County Courthouse on Tuesday, but because of paperwork errors, St. Lukes was not granted its request to make further efforts to get the defendants to respond.

St. Lukes filed the lawsuit in May, alleging that Bundy, his activist organization  called the Peoples Rights Network  and Rodriguez intentionally misled their followers about the circumstances of a child welfare case, and that part of their intention was to raise money and gain a bigger political following.

Their efforts, which St. Lukes called a knowingly dishonest and baseless smear campaign, included claims that the hospital engaged in widespread kidnapping, trafficking, and killing of Idaho children, according to the health systems complaint.

Before the lawsuit can move forward, St. Lukes must show that the defendants have been served and made aware of it  something that has proved difficult. On May 12, a process server gave legal papers to Bundy and a campaign staffer in Emmett, where Bundy lives, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. But since then, neither Bundy nor any lawyer on his behalf has filed a response in court.

Attempts to serve or contact Rodriguez have been unsuccessful. Rodriguez told the Statesman in June that he is living in another country. He previously told the Statesman that he was living in Florida.

Stidham pointed out that the defendants have acknowledged the lawsuit publicly, including in media interviews and blog posts. In a text message to a Statesman reporter in June, Rodriguez said I am both happy and willing to participate in all court hearings via Zoom.

But St. Lukes said neither he nor Bundy has responded properly through legal channels. Because direct attempts have not been successful, Stidham requested permission from the court to post notice of the lawsuit in newspapers in Idaho and Florida.

Whether its through publication, or if the court would like us to perhaps provide some additional authority or, of course, whatever the court might have in mind that the court believes is appropriate, Stidham said. Were really just looking for an opportunity to move this forward.

Fourth District Judge Lynn Norton said St. Lukes did not correctly file the paperwork necessary for such action, including leaving out required information. As a result, the judge decided to give Bundy and Rodriguez a three-week extension, until Aug. 5, to respond to the lawsuit.

Norton said procedure must be followed to prevent any final judgment from being deemed invalid. She said St. Lukes was free to make the same request at the end of the three-week extension.

Then if you want to renew your motion for sanctions, if theres no reply or response, then you can renew it after that time, Norton said in court. And Im not trying to drive this out. But to me, if theres not proper service, any judgment is void.
Sweet Chile Wings

1 cup soy sauce

1 bottle sweet chile sauce, such as Mae Ploy brand (check Asian aisle of supermarket)

Marinate wings at least 30 minutes in soy sauce.

Grill until done, brushing on sweet chile sauce during last few minutes of cooking.

Moscow Mule Wings

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 oz. vodka or gin

1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Combine all ingredients. Marinate wings in mixture several hours before grilling, basting with leftover mixture during cooking.

Better than Buffalo Wings

1/2 Sriracha chile sauce

1/3 cup butter

Combine Sriracha and butter in saucepan. Grill wings, brushing on sauce near end of cooking time.

Garlicky Parmesan Wings

Olive oil

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Brush wings with enough olive oil to keep from sticking to grill during cooking. Combine other ingredients in large bowl. Grill wings. When done, toss wings in bowl until evenly covered in sauce.

BETTER THAN BUFFALO WINGS

1/2 Sriracha chile sauce

1/3 cup butter

Combine Sriracha and butter in saucepan. Grill wings, brushing on sauce near end of cooking time.

Korean BBQ Wings

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions, minced

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Combine all marinade ingredients; add wings and marinate several hours in the refrigerator. Grill wings, brushing with remaining marinade during cooking and regulating heat to keep from burning sauce.

Mexican Food Truck Wings

1 pkg. achiote paste, available in Hispanic aisle of supermarket

1 cup orange juice

Juice of 1 lime, or 1/4 cup pineapple juice

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Marinate wings several hours or overnight in refrigerator. Grill, basting with mixture during cooking.

Teriyaki Wings

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

Heat ingredients together in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Cool; add wings to marinade and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Grill wings, brushing with remanding marinade as they cook. Regulate heat to make sure the sugar in marinade is not scorching.

These recipes for sauces and marinades make enough for one pound or more of wings.

Pro tip: Separate your wings into flats and drums for an even and faster cook.

To separate a wing, place it on a cutting board and straighten it with your hands, exposing a little more of the joint between the two larger pieces  that is, the flat and drum. Use a sharp knife to cut between the pieces; with practice youll find just the spot to make the cut. Then do the same with the flat and wing tip, which does not have enough meat on it to warrant cooking. (However, the tips can be saved and used to make chicken stock.)

From Wichita Eagle archives
After the town of Surfside sparked outrage for choosing not to display the LGBTQ Pride flag last month, commissioners voted this week to recognize June as Pride month in the future but could not agree on a flag policy.

The commission, which was deadlocked 2-2 with one member on vacation, failed to get a majority vote on different proposals to craft a flag policy at a meeting Tuesday.

The town, which displayed the Pride flag at the Community Center in June 2021, decided not to fly the rainbow-colored banner last month, citing the lack of a formal flag policy.

The decision led to a resident protest outside Town Hall. The commission meeting Tuesday became tense at times as residents on both sides of the flag debate shared their opinions.

One woman said flying the Pride flag would shame America and that the LGBTQ community contradicts traditional religious values. The next speaker followed up by calling the womans comments bigoted.

Another resident, former law professor Gerardo Vildostegui, publicly called for the resignation of Town Attorney Lillian Arango for comments she made regarding a Supreme Court case related to a flag policy in Boston.

Mayor Shlomo Danzinger and Commissioner Marianne Meischeid voted Tuesday against flying the Pride flag. They supported a proposal to reserve government flag poles for government flags representing the United States, Florida and Surfside. Meischeid had previously supported flying the Pride flag in June.

The other two members of the commission, Vice Mayor Jeff Rose and Commissioner Fred Landsman, support flying the Pride flag and attempted to reach a compromise that would allow residents to lobby the commission to display any non-government flag on lamp posts outside Town Hall with signatures from 300 residents and a deciding commission vote.

Both proposals failed on 2-2 ties. But the commission voted unanimously to recognize June as Pride month. Rose, who sponsored the Pride month resolution, said he would call a vote at the August commission meeting to raise the flag on the Town Hall lamp posts for two weeks in June.

Commissioner Nelly Velasquez, who was absent Tuesday, told the Miami Herald she would support flying the Pride flag next June.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen shake hands at a meeting in Tokyo. (Kyodo News)

With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. and its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy.

The Kremlin's main pillar of financial revenue  oil  has kept the Russian economy afloat despite export bans, sanctions and the freezing of central bank assets as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. European allies of the U.S. plan to follow the Biden administration and take steps to stop their use of Russian oil by the end of this year, a move that some economists say could cause the supply of oil worldwide to drop and push prices as high as $200 a barrel.

That risk has the U.S. and its allies seeking to establish a buyer's cartel to control the price of Russian oil. Leaders of the Group of 7 advanced economies have tentatively agreed to back a cap on the price of Russian oil. Simply speaking, participating countries would agree to purchase the oil at lower-than-market price.

High energy costs are already straining economies and threatening fissures among the countries opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine. President Biden has seen his public approval slip to levels that could hurt Democrats' chances in the midterm elections, while leaders in Britain, Germany and Italy are coping with the economic devastation caused by trying to move away from Russian natural gas and petroleum.

The idea behind the cap is to lower gas prices for consumers and help bring the war in Ukraine to a halt. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen is touring Indo-Pacific countries to lobby for the proposal. In Japan on Tuesday, Yellen and Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi said in a joint statement that the countries agreed to explore the feasibility of price caps where appropriate.

However, China and India, two countries that have maintained business relationships with Russia during the war, will need to get on board. The Biden administration is confident that China and India, already buying from Russia at discounted prices, can be enticed to embrace the plan for price caps.

We think that ultimately countries around the world that are currently purchasing Russian oil will be very interested in paying as little as possible for that Russian oil, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told the Associated Press.

The Russian price cap plan has support among some leading economic thinkers. Harvard economist Jason Furman tweeted that, if the plan works, it would be a win-win: maximizing damage to the Russian war machine while minimizing damage to the rest of the world. And David Wessel at the Brookings Institution said an unpleasant alternative  is not attempting the price cap plan.

If a price cap is not implemented, oil prices will almost certainly spike because of a European Union decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia. The EU also plans to ban the insuring and financing of maritime transport of Russian oil to third parties by the end of the year.

Without a price cap mechanism to reduce some Russian revenues, "there would be a greater risk that some Russian supply comes off the market. That could lead to higher prices, which would increase prices for Americans," Adeyemo said.

A Barclays report in June warned that with the EU oil embargo and other restrictions in place, Russian oil could rise to $150 per barrel or even $200 per barrel if most of its seaborne exports are disrupted.

Brent crude on Tuesday was trading just under $100 per barrel.

James Hamilton, an economist at UC San Diego, said winning the participation of China and India would be important to enforcing any price cap plan.

Its an international diplomatic challenge on how you get people to agree. Its one thing if you get the U.S. to stop buying oil, but if India and China continue to buy" at elevated prices, "theres no impact on Russian revenues," Hamilton told the AP.

The less revenue Russia gets from selling oil, the less money they have to send these bombs on Ukraine," he said.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said during a Monday news briefing that if it turns out that countries are imposing their own price cap and it is a substantial denial of revenue to Russia in terms of their ability to sell oil, that is not the failure of sanctions. Thats actually the success of economic pressure because it is driving down revenues for Moscow.

One possibility is that Russia could retaliate and take its oil off the market completely.

In that case, the main question is, will countries have enough time to find alternatives" to prevent massive price increases, said Christiane Baumeister, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who studies the dynamics of energy markets.

With five months until the end of the year, when EU bans begin to take effect, a Russian price cap plan would likely need to be in place and operating effectively to avoid further spikes in gas prices that have frustrated U.S. drivers. Biden has warned that high gas prices this summer were the cost of stopping Putin, but prices could climb to new records and lead to economic and political pain for the president.

Without the price cap, if the EU import ban goes into effect together with the insurance ban, Baumeister said, the impacts will be passed on to consumers through gasoline prices."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
It's been almost two months since Kimberly Rubio's 10-year-old daughter Lexi was killed along with 18 other children and two teachers in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and she can't stop thinking about the massacre.

"My mind has been running nonstop since May 24," Rubio said Wednesday at a rally in Washington, D.C., where families and survivors of recent massacres in Uvalde and Highland Park, Ill., came together to call on Congress to ban assault weapons.

"I try to view Room 111 through her eyes," Rubio said. "I picture which side of the room she and her classmates huddled against as an 18-year-old gunman fired toward them, killing them so swiftly that a teacher who lay bleeding nearby said he didn't hear a whimper or cry.

Rubio was consoled by her husband, Felix, a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriffs Office who responded to the shooting, as she spoke through tears.

Felix and Kimberly Rubio embrace at a rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"Now I want you to picture my face, my husband's face, as we read our daughter's death certificate," she continued. "Our faces contorted in pain, tears flowing freely as we read her cause of death: gunshot wound to the head."

Rubio recalled that she was with her daughter at 10:54 on the morning of the shooting at an end-of-year awards ceremony at the school. She said she's now left to ponder a "whole lot of what-ifs."

"What if I had taken her home after the awards ceremony?" she said. "What if the doors had just locked properly? The outside door leading into the school, the classroom door that the shooter seemed to intentionally seek out. What if the police had immediately engaged the subject?

"These are all questions that do not weigh heavily on lawmakers," Rubio added. "But there is one question that should be on the forefront of their minds: What if the gunman never had access to an assault weapon?"

The memorial outside Robb Elementary School. (Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters)

Wednesdays rally took place a month and a half after the mass shooting in Uvalde and less than two weeks after a gunman wielding a high-powered semiautomatic rifle fired more than 80 rounds on a crowd at Highland Parks annual Fourth of July parade, killing seven people and injuring dozens of others.

Survivors of the Highland Park shooting traveled to Washington this week, where, alongside families of Uvalde victims, they met with lawmakers, including Illinoiss two Democratic senators, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, to discuss gun safety reforms. Those meetings and Wednesdays rally were organized by March Fourth, a grassroots advocacy group founded by a local mother after the Highland Park attack.

Duckworth spoke at the rally, where she called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

At the end of the day, no one should be buying assault weapons, period, because they should be banned, she said. There is no need for anyone to have a hundred-round drum that can fire literally dozens and dozens of rounds at high velocity in a short amount of time.

Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, repeated a statement shed made in the immediate aftermath of the Highland Park shooting: The last time I heard that type of gunfire was on the battlefield, calling semiautomatic assault rifles like the ones used in Highland Park and Uvalde weapons of war.

And she dismissed an argument she said she often hears from gun rights advocates, who insist they need assault weapons to hunt.

By the way, if you are using an AR-15, an M-4, an AK-47 to hunt, youre not eating what youre hunting, because you will shred that animal, she said, adding, If youre using a hundred-round drum to go hunting, I don't want to go hunting with you.

An FBI agent on July 7 clears abandoned belongings from the scene of a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)

In addition to Duckworth, rally-goers heard from Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and from survivors of the Fourth of July shooting. Schneider is a resident of Highland Park who represents the district that includes the suburb in Congress.

Among the speakers was Abby Brosio, a science teacher and mother of two who attended the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park with her children, ages 1 and 3, and her husband's parents. They were sitting outside the Gearhead Outfitters store in downtown Highland Park, where her husband was working as the manager, when the gunman opened fire from a roof nearby.

Brosio described how the wholesome family event devolved into chaos and carnage in a matter of seconds, leaving her frantically searching for her children in the crowd and scrambling to assist those who had been wounded beside her. She described being plagued by panic attacks in the days since, concerned about the impact of the attack on her children as well as her husband, whose workplace is now the center of a crime scene.

These feelings make me feel trapped, not free, she said.

[Also read: Families who sought safety in Highland Park grapple with reality of gun violence]

Brosio drew on her experience as a science teacher to offer a simple solution for the very big problem of gun violence in the United States.

When I teach students problem-solving skills from a scientific standpoint, students learn the basics of identifying and changing variables within a problem to test different outcomes, she said. While a number of strategies have been put in place over the years, including implementing active shooter drills and other security measures at schools and workplaces, and improving law enforcement protocols for those responding to mass shootings, Brosio argued that none of these changed variables have allowed us to arrive at our desired outcome: to stop mass shootings.

Lets change a different variable, she implored. Specifically, removing access to assault weapons. Lets just test it. If it doesnt work, then back to the drawing boards.
A mother is suing Walmart and accusing the company of firing her in Florida because her needs as a new mom were problematic at work, according to a new federal lawsuit.

This includes the former deli workers need to take breaks to pump breast milk  which she said her managers harassed her for  in order to feed her infant daughter who she gave birth to in 2020, a complaint states. She was fired from the companys DeFuniak Springs location in January 2021.

The mother said she was fired two days after objecting to Walmart denying her request for reasonable accommodations at work, according to the lawsuit filed July 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

The woman was granted her the right to sue the company for sex/pregnancy discrimination by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May, the filing shows.

Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, told McClatchy News in a statement that the company does not tolerate discrimination or retaliation of any kind.

We support our associates by providing accommodations every day and believe store management provided (the woman) with the necessary breaks to express milk in a secure, clean and private area.

He added that Walmarts pregnancy policy has always fully met or exceeded both state and federal law.

The moms experience at Walmart

On Dec. 7, 2019, the woman, described in the lawsuit as an excellent worker, began working in Walmarts deli and as a baker at the DeFuniak Springs location before giving birth to her baby girl in 2020, the complaint states.

During her employment, she accuses two managers of harassing her when needing to pump breast milk for her daughter and experiencing great discomfort in the room designated for her to do so, according to the lawsuit.

In this room, the woman said random people would repeatedly walk in while she was pumping, the complaint noted. Additionally, male employees would be present working on their laptops, making her even more uncomfortable.

To make matters worse (she) often had to wait (sometimes up until an hour) until management opened the door in order to pump.

When the now-former worker gave her deli manager a doctors note asking for the reasonable accommodations for her pumping breast milk and pregnancy-related absences, she was told that Walmart does not accept doctors notes, the lawsuit said.

On Jan. 14, 2021, the woman went to the stores general manager and objected to the denial of her request by pointing out it violated her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, according to the complaint.

She said she was fired two days later on Jan. 16, 2021.

It is clear that (Walmart) saw (the womans) pregnancy and her restrictions/need to pump breast milk as problematic and utilized same as a substantial motivating reason in its decision to terminate her, the complaint states.

Walmart spokesman Hargrove told McClatchy News that Walmart fired the woman for excessive absences that were unrelated to any breaks or protected activity.

Title VII protects employees from discrimination related to race, color, religion, sex and national origin, according to the EEOC. The PDA amended Title VII by making it illegal to discriminate against someone for pregnancy, giving birth and any related medical conditions, the agency notes.

Discriminating against a woman who is lactating or expressing breast milk violates both Title VII and the PDA, the lawsuit said.

Months after the mother was fired, she filed a dual charge of discrimination with the EEOC and the Florida Commission on Human Relations on Sept. 29, 2021, according to the complaint.

While the EEOC granted the woman a right to sue Walmart, Hargrove noted that the FCHR found it unlikely that any discrimination violating the law occurred in this case.

On March 28, the FCHR determined there was no reasonable cause that discrimination occurred, according to a copy of their report shared by Walmart.

The complaint states the mother has experienced damages including a loss of wages, emotional distress, humiliation and more as a result of Walmart firing her.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages to be awarded to the woman, including back pay, front pay and attorneys fees, it states. It also demands a trial by jury.

DeFuniak Springs is roughly 65 miles northwest of Panama City.

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Hialeah is often associated with Cuban food, but diners can find much more than local fare these days on West 49th Street, where restaurants serve dishes for all tastes, including the most refined palates.

Although more than 75% of its residents are of Cuban origin, this city is home to other Hispanic communities, including Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans. That has led to restaurants making efforts to cater to customers who speak the same language but whose gastronomic traditions are different.

Hialeahs 49th Street even has its own hamburger, named after the owners of Trigo Cafe, located at the western end of the commercial corridor.

Trigo Cafe

Malanga cream, is a typical Cuban dish, similar in consistency to potato cream

Since it opened six years ago, Trigo Cafe has sought to offer the most traditional Cuban food in an innovative way. The wheat shake, which inspired its name, is a puffed wheat shake mixed with milk and sugar, a nostalgic flavor for the Cuban community.

The restaurant will soon expand to become Trigo Tapas & Wine. It offers the typical arroz a la cubana, made with rice, fried eggs and sweet plantains as Hialeah Comfort, an ideal dish for brunch.

If youre looking for a quick meal instead, there is the 49th Street Burger, served with caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg.

Also on the menu are salads, sandwiches and main dishes of meat or chicken.

Menu

Address: 839 W. 49th St., Hialeah, FL 33012

Telephone: (786) 616-8952

Hours: Closed on Mondays

Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:00 am  3:00 pm

Thursday to Saturday, 8:00 am  8:00 pm

I Heart Fries

Fast food restaurant I Heart Fries offers a wide variety of proteins to accompany its crispy fries

The guilty pleasure of fried food is at the center of I Heart Fries, a fast-food restaurant that offers dishes with an original twist.

A base of French fries with the protein of your choice (chicken, steak, shredded beef, shrimp, pork, chorizo) allows diners to taste a variety of international dishes with typical flavors from German, American, Argentine, Cuban, Italian and Venezuelan cuisines.

Its greatest draw is the crisp fries  youll always want to eat one more.

Menu

Address: External area of Westland Mall, 1675 W 49th St. Hialeah, FL 33012

Telephone: (305) 456-9234

Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11:30 am  9:00 pm

Sunday, 11:30 pm  8:00 pm

PINCHO

Los mejores platos a base de pinchos, acompanados con tostones, papas y vegetales

If you feel like eating a pincho (kebab) accompanied by vegetables, rice, beans or tostones (fried plantains), this is the place to go.

This franchise has 10 locations in South Florida and one of them is in the commercial heart of Hialeah, with a wide range of culinary options: hamburgers, rice bowls, hot dogs, all accompanied by a protein pincho (meat, chicken, seafood).

Recently, Pincho was listed as one of the 100 best fast-food restaurants in the United States. This year marks its 12th year in the fast-food market.

Menu

Address: 4950 W 12th Ave., Hialeah, FL 33012

Telephone: (786) 409-2818

Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:00 am  10:00 pm

Los Ranchos Steakhouse

An Appetizing Brunch for the Whole Family at Los Ranchos Steakhouse

Meat lovers have a very special place in Hialeah, Los Ranchos Steakhouse, recognized in Miami for presenting its internationally renowned signature dishes, such as the center-cut loin marinated with chimichurri Churrasco, and the Gallo Pinto, a traditional mix of red beans and white rice.

Its spacious and bright dining room adorned with chandeliers made from wine glasses and classic white tablecloths is ideal for diners looking for an elegant atmosphere.

It offers typical appetizers from several Latin American countries, such as vigoron or tostones from Nicaragua, quesadillas and tostones from Mexico. A favorite is undoubtedly the Churrasco, that can be made with salmon, chicken, pork or beef.

And dont forget the Tres Leches for dessert.

Menu

Address: Westland Mall, 1645 W 49th St, Hialeah, FL 33012, USA

Telephone: (305) 362-0045

Hours:

Sunday to Thursday, 11:30 am  9:30 pm

Friday and Saturday, 11:30 am  10:00 pm

Di Piazza Italian Restaurant

Di Piazza Italian restaurant offers in Hialeah the opportunity to eat the best Italian recipes, with Sicilian tradition

The culinary experience at any Italian restaurant begins with garlic bread, and Di Piazza is no exception.

This is an ideal place for those with a more traditional palate looking for an international food venue. It offers everything a diner looks for in an Italian restaurant: minestrone, calzone, pizza, eggplant parmesan, lasagna, fettuccini Alfredo and more.

The Di Piazza family, originally from Sicily, Italy, was searching for the American dream in Brooklyn, N.Y. Then in 1972 they moved to Hialeah where they established their Italian corner with this restaurant.

The family has 40 years of culinary tradition passed down through three generations.

Menu

Address: Village Shopping Center, 1412 W 49th St., Hialeah, FL 33012

Telephone: (305) 558-8412

Hours:

Monday to Thursday, 11 am  11 pm

Friday and Saturday, 11 am  12 am

Sunday, 12 am  12 am
A firefighting airplane drops its load on a forest fire raging in central Portugal on Tuesday. (Joao Henriques / Associated Press)

A spate of wildfires is scorching parts of Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain, Croatia and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that is being linked to climate change.

In Portugal, Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes said multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people  one civilian and one firefighter  suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.

Water-dropping planes helped 1,300 firefighters combat the worst of the blazes in the nations interior, while an additional 1,000 worked to bring other fires under control.

The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France  and in Turkey at the other end of the Mediterranean.

More than 800 firefighters battled two wildfires outside Bordeaux in southwestern France, according to the regional emergency service. The fires began Tuesday near the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and were still burning Wednesday morning.

About 6,500 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and villages in the forested area. The number of injuries is unclear. The two fires have destroyed more than 4,400 acres of terrain, the emergency service said.

Images from firefighters showed wind-whipped flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland and smoke blackening the horizon.

The regional administration banned activity in forested areas at risk. Several regions in southern France are on alert because of hot, dry weather and high winds. Wildfires swept through the Gard region in southeastern France last week.

Portugal has a history of fatal forest fires. In 2017, wildfires killed more than 100 people. No one has died from a wildfire since then as Portugal improved its forest management and firefighting strategies.

Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds is driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs.

The Atlantic country, which has been on alert for wildfires since last week, is sweltering under a spike in temperatures that are forecast to reach 115 degrees in the central Alentejo region on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said 96% of the country was classified at the end of June as being in either extreme or severe drought.

More than 7,400 acres had been consumed just in the district of Leiria, north of Lisbon, Mayor Goncalo Lopes told Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who canceled a trip abroad to deal with the emergency, said that better care of woodlands and abandoned farmland was key to protecting them.

In 2017 the country realized that having enough firefighters is essential, but it is not enough, Costa said. We have to get to the root of the problem.... The abandonment of property and its non-management is one of the biggest risk factors for forest fires.

Neighboring Spain hit highs of 109 degrees in several southern cities on Tuesday.

More than 400 people were evacuated on Tuesday because of a wildfire that had consumed 8,600 acres in western Spain.

Fueled by strong winds, fires raged along Croatias Adriatic Sea coast as well, with the most dramatic situation reported near the town of Sibenik, where water-dropping planes and dozens of firefighters struggled to contain the flames that briefly engulfed some cars and a church tower. Regional N1 television reported that some residents evacuated in rubber boats. Fires were also reported near the coastal town of Zadar.

Firefighter Boris Dukic told state HRT television that its hell, we dont know where to go first.

European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.

Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spains national weather forecaster, said that the unusual heat wave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.

These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which, when you add to that some wind, you have have guaranteed propagation, he said.

In southwestern Turkey, a blaze that erupted close to the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, was moving toward some homes in the area, according to the provincial governors office. It said at least nine water-dropping helicopters and five planes were deployed to battle the fire.

Last summer, blazes that were fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures tore through forests in Turkeys Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The wildfires, which killed at least eight people and countless animals, were described as the worst in Turkeys history.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government came under criticism for its inadequate response and preparedness to fight large-scale wildfires, including a lack of modern firefighting planes.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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YEREVAN, 13 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 13 July, USD exchange rate up by 0.80 drams to 411.84 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 2.33 drams to 414.23 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 7.06 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.66 drams to 490.54 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 78.39 drams to 22916.13 drams. Silver price down by 4.07 drams to 249.79 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
Rahul is expected to return by the weekend, which will enable him to vote in the presidential election on July 18 and attend Monsoon Session

New Delhi: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has once again left for Europe on a personal visit. He is expected to return by the weekend, which will enable him to vote in the presidential election on July 18 and to attend the coming Monsoon Session of Parliament which is due to begin the same day. However, the Congress is due to hold a meeting on Thursday to draw up plans for a Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India Campaign) which will start on October 2. This will be presided over by his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Rahul Gandhis absence at that meeting is likely to further fuel speculation on the leadership question.

Mr Rahul Gandhi has often been often criticised by the BJP for his frequent visits abroad, which sometimes coincide with crucial Congress meetings on important issues. All this has led the Congress political rivals to question the leadership skills of Rahul Gandhi and his intention to take up a national role in reviving his party after a series of electoral debacles in several states. He was abroad last month as well, which is one reason why the lists of the partys Rajya Sabha nominations had got delayed. Also, he had to postpone his questioning by the Enforcement Directorate as he was travelling outside the country. He had also courted controversy when he was in Nepal to attend the wedding of a journalist friend and his pictures had been found on the social media.
President Biden will be hosting the first-ever I2U2 summit during his visit to Israel later this week, which begins on Wednesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the four-nation India-Israel-US-UAE (I2U2) virtual summit to be held on Thursday, New Delhi announced on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi/Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the four-nation India-Israel-US-UAE (I2U2) virtual summit to be held on Thursday, New Delhi announced on Tuesday. He will participate in the summit along with US President Joe Biden, Israels new Prime Minister Yair Lapid and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

President Biden will be hosting the first-ever I2U2 summit during his visit to Israel later this week, which begins on Wednesday. I2 stands for India and Israel, while U2 stands for the United States and the UAE. During his Middle East trip, Mr Biden will also visit Saudi Arabia.

The four leaders will discuss joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security, and the group intends to mobilise private sector capital and expertise to help modernise the infrastructure, low carbon development pathways for our industries, improve public health and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies, the MEA said.

Briefing reporters in Washington on Monday night, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the summit will focus on food security and the global food and energy crisis arising out of the Ukraine conflict.

Earlier, on Sunday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken had said that Russias aggression in Ukraine has impacted the entire world, including probably in Sri Lanka. I think we are seeing that impact around the world, and it may be one of the contributing factors to whats happened in Sri Lanka, although I think there were, as Ive just said, many others that have come together.

In a statement on Tuesday, New Delhi said: The leaders will discuss the possible joint projects within the framework of I2U2 as well as the other common areas of mutual interest to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond. These projects can serve as a model for economic cooperation and offer opportunities for our businesspersons and workers.

The MEA went on to add: The I2U2 grouping was conceptualised during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries held on 18 October 2021. Each country also has sherpa-level interactions regularly to discuss the possible areas of cooperation. I2U2 is aimed to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security. It intends to mobilise private sector capital and expertise to help modernise the infrastructure, low carbon development pathways for our industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.
The installation of Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM also had temporary impact as a quick solution to a complex scenario was not visible

The Sri Lankan crisis  in both the economic and political spheres  is the culmination of wrong policies and bad luck. Fate can ordain that it does not just rain, it pours.

The Rajapaksa clan, having won the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Vellupillai Prabhakaran back in 2009, had two choices. One was to bury the past ghosts, seek reconciliation with the ethnic and religious minorities and forge ahead. Another was to ride the tide of triumphalism, nationalism and majoritarianism. They chose the latter, including a model that depended on the induction of multiple family members to hold critical positions in the government. They eventually lost power in 2015, but came riding back into power after the nation was shaken up by the Easter Sunday bombings in early 2019. Jingoism and bigotry were again saleable commodities and the clan specialised in marketing them.

The current crisis can be traced to two fatal decisions and two global events. The sudden ban on the import of chemical fertilisers in April 2021 rested on a sensible concept that organic farming would be remunerative and good for soil health and environmental protection. But it was implemented without warning, preparation or training. Much like the November 2016 demonetisation in India. The result was a sharp drop in the production of crops, including rice, a staple for common consumption. This turned a nation that was self-sufficient in food into a deficient one just as the government was already facing a foreign exchange crunch.

Second, the government raised taxes in May this year in order to boost its collapsing finances. This hit an already sputtering economy. By then the government was already in a hand-to-mouth state, having few resources to import fuel, food or medicines. India stepped in to assist with $3.5 billion worth of these three commodities.

The two global events that set the trap for Sri Lanka were the Covid-19 pandemic from early 2020 and the Ukraine war that began in February 2022. The disease affected the top three foreign exchange earners for Sri Lanka  workers remittances, apparel and tourism. The first were hit by the shutdowns in six Gulf nations. Even buzzing centres of commerce and tourism like Dubai saw a slump, leading to workers getting laid off. Strangely, in the UAE, Abu Dhabi, the richest emirate, put up barriers to keep non-residents from travelling to the capital of the nation.

Tourism, which constitutes 12 per cent of Sri Lankas GDP, was seriously hit as the pandemic froze all international travel. The situation has been worsened by the Ukraine war as tourists from Russia and Ukraine were among the top nationalities visiting Sri Lanka. Lay-offs in the West also affected apparel exports as people bought less during the pandemic, uncertain about their financial future.

The Ukraine war also seriously impacted not just Sri Lanka but the developing world in general. The escalation of oil and gas prices occurred due to the Western sanctions on Russia. Similarly, a spike in food prices followed due to wheat and other grains not being exported from a major supplier Ukraine. This twin challenge has led to government change in Pakistan, chaos in Lebanon, etc. But in Sri Lanka, the effect has been far more deadly as it combined with policy mistakes.

The Rajapaksa clan calculated that the popular anger would get defused by sacrificing Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former President now holding the less powerful post of PM. But with the economic malaise seeing no turnaround, the move only had a passing effect. An early play of what President Gotabaya Rajapaksa faced, with mobs invading his official residence in a manner reminiscent of the French Revolution, was witnessed when his brother Mahinda was chased out of the Prime Ministers abode. The installation of Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM also had temporary impact as a quick solution to a complex scenario was not visible. In the process, he has lost credibility as he is seen as aligned with the Rajapaksa clan.

Constitutionally, that leaves Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena as the next in line of succession. He held an all-party meeting on Sunday to discuss the path forward. The Rajapaksa-controlled Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party holds 100 out of 255 seats in Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition is Sajith Premadasa, son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was in office 1989-93. He was a minister in the previous government of Maithripala Sirisena. He also unsuccessfully fought the last presidential election. The Speaker has a month to find a successor after incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns, as indicated on his behalf, on July 13. Obviously, the SLPP would try to get a surrogate elected. But if the Opposition joins hands, having read the public mood of despising the entire ruling class, someone like Mr Sirisena may be the choice.

Strategically, India has played its cards well. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar had served as a senior diplomat in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s, and in fact was political adviser to the IPKF when it was deployed in the island nation. He therefore knows the principal actors well. China has disappointed even their favourite Rajapaksa family by not doling out the funds needed to stabilise the economy. Perhaps they calculated that supporting the unpopular family would affect their long-term interests. India has done what it can during a financially rough global period. The US holds the keys to an IMF bailout, that is likely to come with tough, and not always sensible, conditions. Sri Lanka was never able to determine how to distribute power between Parliament and the two top offices of President and PM. The Rajapaksas have given a bad name to an all-powerful presidency. Outgoing PM Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed a rebalancing of power. That must now await the new leadership.

For India, a diminished Chinese role is welcome, though the curtailment may be transitory. The Rajapaksa-led governments order forbidding the burial of Muslims who died of Covid-19, on doubtful medical grounds, now stands withdrawn with fuel and investment needed from Gulf nations. This lesson is similar to the one the Indian government drew after the Nupur Sharma episode. In an inter-connected world, bigotry cant be just a domestic political strategy. It will have international implications. Surprisingly, two Buddhist nations, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have produced toxic bigotry, endorsed by dominant parts of clergy. Both are seeing democracy undermined and civil disobedience rampant. Hopefully, Sri Lanka will find its path back to normalcy and constitutionalism.
A $51 billion debt, with debt servicing of $7 billion needed this year, is proving unmanageable

Sri Lankas slow descent into an abyss is evident from the developments over the past few weeks. Let down by corrupt and inept politicians who had no idea about running a countrys administration, the public is now up in arms. However, once a nation reaches such a low state of governance, nothing can be predictable. Fortunately for it, it is neither in a state of civil war nor of extremist terrorism, but only sheer ineptness, cronyism and nepotism, all of which attempted to make Sri Lanka a family fiefdom of the Rakapaksa family.

A $51 billion debt, with debt servicing of $7 billion needed this year, is proving unmanageable. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the LTTE slayer of 2009, fled the country early Wednesday, leaving on a military jet for the Maldives hours before his resignation took effect. With his inexperience in administration, he took a series of decisions like the ban on chemical fertiliser in favour of organic farming. Rice and tea production collapsed, creating a food and forex crisis as tea is such an important export item. The government then printed money to prop up the Sri Lankan rupee -- which sent the rupee tumbling from 205/US$ to 370/US$. Gulf remittances fell as workers held on to their money in the Gulf in the hope of a further weakening of the rupee. The nations credit ratings had already taken a beating, 2020 onwards, eventually locking the country out of international financial markets. The Islamic States April 2019 Easter bombings had ruined all tourism, with the Covid-19 pandemic finally the last nail in the coffin.

Thus, the issues at stake are first the financial mess, which must be resolved. Second, political stability which is vital so that the international community knows who it is talking to and can pursue a strategy of recovery with a legitimate leadership. Third, social stability, to allow people to resume some semblance of normalcy.

Fourth, neutralisation of any lurking internal threats involving ethnic and ideological issues which could take advantage of the prevailing chaos.

For India there is much at stake: lots of it evident and lots under the surface. To begin with, India has already extended almost $4 billion in assistance to Sri Lanka to tide over its crisis. This has been largely utilised to stave off complete bankruptcy and provide essentials in food, fuel and medicines. Very few other nations have come forward to assist. Colombo had asked Beijing for help -- including a $1 billion loan to meet repayments and a $1.5 billion credit line to buy Chinese goods -- but no significant progress has been made even after months of negotiations. China too is watching the situation very carefully and could make its economic moves with strategic timing. Besides the four issues of concern mentioned above, a very important issue for India remains the exclusion of Chinas influence and cultivation of presence in the island nation.

On the political side, India has been wise in not getting involved and becoming a kingmaker or otherwise. There is anger on the streets in Sri Lanka and any attempts by India towards interference will be taken quite negatively by the people. There exists a long-standing trust deficit due to the events of 1987-90, which saw the conduct of Operation Pawan in northern and eastern Sri Lanka by the Indian Army. Although India then acted at Sri Lankas request, it was projected as Indias intervention. Sri Lankas Parliament Speaker is reportedly making efforts to bring about a leadership change through some form of consensus in the next week or so: Sajith Premadasa, son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, has made clear his intent of running for President. Interestingly, the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has remained outside the nations political crisis except for a brief statement which was more an appeal for peace in the streets. The SLA does not have any history of political intrigue or attempts to usurp power. If it chooses to seize power on grounds of being the only institution which can bring a semblance of stability, it risks placing the nation on the pariah list; the IMF and other institutions will need much convincing to actually do business of recovery with the SLA in command.

India has to be worried about the nature of government emerging by the democratic process or otherwise. An overly pro-China commitment by any government is obviously not desirable. Chinas silence during this crisis situation has been ominous and therefore highly unpredictable. Indias hard work over the last few years has led to some gains and its current handling through the economic route has been just right. However, it should be remembered that Sri Lankan political leaders get cheers and votes when they are perceived as standing up to India. Should India work quickly to exploit the situation and take measures to cultivate and win over more friends for the future? For that it will need to open its coffers because it is money that will ultimately make a difference and will also be remembered.

Unfortunately, the world is now in a tizzy on the economic front and India is obviously not isolated from it. Energy prices, effects of the pandemic and the changing dynamics of the world order are not making it easier for Indias finance ministry either.

Theres also the Buddhist clergy to contend with. It is against the misrule of the Rajapaksas, but it also suffers from an insecurity that is described as being a majority with a minority complex. It shouldnt do anything to upset the tenuous balance between the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil population. Any insensitive step can open up old wounds, towards which the Sri Lankan leadership has displayed no sentiment to heal. If a government is to be formed by political consensus, the Tamil National Alliance must also be included. We must remember Sri Lankan politics has a cascading political effect in southern India, especially when some decisions go against Sri Lankan Tamil interests. India could examine investing in some of the government assets in Sri Lanka like the airlines, ports, airports and even hospitals, to help bring stability in societal functioning as all measures need to be near simultaneous because each depends on the other. International monetary institutions may demand cuts in the size of the SLA, which at 200,000 strength is a luxury that Sri Lanka cannot afford. Yet it would be wise counsel if this was allowed to remain if it can be helped. The potential contingency of social implosion leading to intense violence can be staved off by the SLAs professional presence, with cuts effected progressively.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over

Colombo: Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives on a military jet, hours before he was supposed to step down in the face of a public revolt against him and his family for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province has been imposed as protesters gathered near his office at Flower Road in Colombo. He has also ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner.

President Rajapaksa, 73, left the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet, a brief statement from the Sri Lanka Air Force said.

"On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Sri Lanka Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake international airport for the Maldives in the early hours of July 13," the statement said.

The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed that the President had left the country.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, fled the country before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

On Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.

He arrived in the capital of the Maldives, Male, at around 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT), BBC reported.

He was received by a Maldivian government representative at the Velana airport and taken to an undisclosed location under police escort, sources said, quoting Maldivian officials.

Rajapaksa's escape to the Maldives was negotiated by the Maldivian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed, sources in the Maldives capital Male said.

The Maldivian government's argument is that Rajapaksa is still the President of Sri Lanka, and that he hasn't resigned or handed over his powers to a successor. Therefore, if he wanted to travel to the Maldives, it could not have been denied, sources said.

Thirteen people accompanied Rajapaksa to the Maldives. They arrived in an AN32 aircraft, according to TV news channels.

Reports say that initial requests to land a military aircraft in the Maldives were refused by the Civil Aviation Authority in Maldives, but later landing was authorised on the request of Speaker Nasheed.

Rajapaksa is expected to be in the Maldives on transit before flying to another destination which is yet to be known.

He is likely to send his resignation letter only after reaching his final destination on Wednesday evening, Sri Lanka's The Morning news portal reported, citing highly placed government sources.

It is learnt that the Rajapaksa's resignation letter would be sent to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at around 8 pm Sri Lanka time, it added.

Meanwhile, the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the escape of Rajapaksa to the Maldives.

"It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework, the India mission tweeted.

As the news of Rajapaksa's departure spread, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in Galle Face Green chanting the popular phrase Aragalayata Jayawewa, or Victory to the struggle in Sinhalese and "Go home Gota".

The Police fired tear gas on protesters who had gathered near the PM office. The protesters broke through a barricade despite tear gas and stormed the prime minister's office, calling for his resignation.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

Citing sources, BBC also reported that Rajapaksa's younger brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa has also left the country.

Basil, the 71-year-old leader who is being widely held responsible for the country's worst economic crisis which has heaped misery on the people, is a US passport holder.

On Monday night, both Rajapaksa and his brother Basil were turned back at the Colombo airport as they attempted to leave the country amid mounting anger against the powerful family for mishandling the island's worst economic crisis.

Basil resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests intensified against shortages of fuel, food and other necessities and quit his seat in parliament in June.

Sri Lanka's political parties have stepped up efforts to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation sliding further into anarchy.

A meeting was held early this week between the main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and former president Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Parties have begun campaigning for the support of possible candidates. The SJB said they will campaign for the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the interim President.

Premadasa said on Monday that his party was ready to lead the country at the presidential and prime ministerial level and develop the economy.

Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days.

The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.

The political uncertainty prevails in Sri Lanka where the distribution of cooking gas has resumed alongside the delivery of fuel to retailers by the Indian Oil Company after a stoppage on Sunday. Long queues are still seen at fuel pumps.

The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.
As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down

A man waves Sri Lanka's national flag outside presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 13, 2022. - Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis, and on July 13, the country's president flew out of the country days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence. (Arun SANKAR / AFP)

Colombo: Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives on a military jet, hours before he was supposed to step down in the face of a public revolt against him and his family for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.

The 73-year-old leader left the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet, a brief statement from the Sri Lanka Air Force said.

"On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Sri Lanka Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake international airport for the Maldives in the early hours of July 13," the statement said.

The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed that the President had left the country.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, fled the country before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

On Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.

He arrived in the capital of the Maldives, Male, at around 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT), BBC reported.

He was received by a Maldivian government representative at the Velana airport and taken to an undisclosed location under police escort, sources said, quoting Maldivian officials.

Rajapaksa's escape to the Maldives was negotiated by the Maldivian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed, sources in the Maldives capital Male said.

The Maldivian government's argument is that Rajapaksa is still the President of Sri Lanka, and that he hasn't resigned or handed over his powers to a successor. Therefore, if he wanted to travel to the Maldives, it could not have been denied, sources said.

Thirteen people accompanied Rajapaksa to the Maldives. They arrived in an AN32 aircraft, according to TV news channels.

Reports say that initial requests to land a military aircraft in the Maldives were refused by the Civil Aviation Authority in Maldives, but later landing was authorised on the request of Speaker Nasheed.

He is expected to be in the Maldives on transit before flying to another destination which is yet to be known.

Rajapaksa is likely to send his resignation letter only after reaching his final destination on Wednesday evening, Sri Lanka's The Morning news portal reported, citing highly placed government sources.

It is learnt that the Rajapaksa's resignation letter would be sent to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at around 8 pm Sri Lanka time, it added.

Meanwhile, the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the escape of Rajapaksa to the Maldives.

"It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework, the India mission tweeted.

As the news of Rajapaksa's departure spread, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in Galle Face Green chanting popular phrase Aragalayata Jayawewa, or Victory to the struggle in Sinhalese and "Go home Gota".

Citing sources, BBC also reported that Rajapaksa's younger brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa has also left the country.

Basil, the 71-year-old leader who is being widely held responsible for the country's worst economic crisis which has heaped misery on the people, is a US passport holder.

On Monday night, both Rajapaksa and his brother Basil were turned back at the Colombo airport as they attempted to leave the country amid mounting anger against the powerful family for mishandling the island's worst economic crisis.

They were prevented from leaving by immigration officials who withdrew from desks saying their personal safety would be under threat by allowing corrupt officials to leave the country in the face of the current popular uprising.

Basil resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests intensified against shortages of fuel, food and other necessities and quit his seat in parliament in June.

President Rajapaksa had informed both Speaker of Parliament Abeywardena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will resign on July 13.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days.

The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.

Sri Lanka's political parties have stepped up efforts to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation sliding further into anarchy.

A meeting was held early this week between the main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and former president Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Parties have begun campaigning for the support of possible candidates. The SJB said they will campaign for the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the interim President.

Premadasa said on Monday that his party was ready to lead the country at the presidential and prime ministerial level and develop the economy.

The political uncertainty prevails in Sri Lanka where the distribution of cooking gas has resumed alongside the delivery of fuel to retailers by the Indian Oil Company after a stoppage on Sunday. Long queues are still seen at fuel pumps.

The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.
A founder of Changsha Funeng, a humanitarian NGO, Cheng is forced to work with a sewing machine and attend courses on the superiority of socialism. He was recently subjected to solitary confinement for three months. In his prison, guards regularly abuse and torture political prisoners.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Cheng Yuan, a human rights lawyer, has been subjected to forced labour and political indoctrination in a Hunan prison, his family told ChinaAid based on letters he sent them.

Cheng is a founder of Changsha Funeng, a human rights NGO run by lawyers. Police arrested him in July 2019 along with two other members on charges of subversion against state power.

In July last year, a court in Changsha sentenced him to five years in prison. A few months before the verdict, his wife fled to the United States.

For more than 10 years, Changsha Funeng has advocated for the rights of marginalised groups and people with health issues, like those living with HIV and hepatitis B and the disabled.

In the past, Cheng fought against Chinas one-child policy and for the reform of residency rules that determine whether migrant workers can get medical treatment and enroll their children in schools.

In letters to his wife, father and sister, Cheng says that he was forced to work with a sewing machine, and that every evening he has to take an hour-long lesson on the superiority of socialism and Chinas great revival.

He also says that he spent three months in punitive confinement starting 18 January. The loss of contact with his family was so traumatising that he lost six kilos.

Conditions in Chishan prison, where Cheng is being held, can be very harsh for activists, ChinaAid reports.

Detainees are forced to walk with their feet in a V-shape, like ducks, until they are exhausted; their windowless cells measure one-square metre with the light turned on for 24 hours with a roll call every hour.

Prisoners are also forced to sleep in a certain position, laying on their back and hands outside the comforter.

In such a prison, solitary confinement is imposed on prisoners who make mistakes or for refusing to plead guilty during their trial.

Prison guards reportedly engage in physical violence, abuse and torture against inmates, including insults, sleep deprivation and denial of food.
Many donors are worried about becoming the next targets of the government crackdown after Razorpay shared part of its payment information to AltNews, an independent fact-checking site, with the investigating authorities. One of the co-founders, Muhammad Zubair, is swamped with legal cases after his arrest last month.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The Indian payments company Razorpay has been accused by the public of violating the privacy data of its customers. In reality, the Rest of World website points out, the matter is a bit more complicated.

In June, the Delhi Police had arrested the journalist co-founder of the fact-checking site AltNews Muhammad Zubair for a 2018 tweet referring to the Hindu nationalists who came to power in 2014. Unlike major media outlets that are financed by advertising, AltNews has in recent years debunked various propaganda content of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ultra-nationalist Hindu party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), thanks to donations from readers.

Now the investigating authorities have, in a legal manner, obtained access to donors' payment data from Razorpay. The police said they would investigate the foreign donations, which AltNews denies ever having received.

Many people who made donations now fear that they will become the new targets of government repression. The civil society organisation Internet Freedom Foundation, for example, which relies on Razorpay, said it was exploring the possibility of using other 'payment platforms' so that donors would feel comfortable.

The payment company explained, however, that they had not shared all the data available to them with the authorities: 'Only a small part of the donor data was shared to assist in an ongoing investigation. We also defended AltNews' right to continue accepting payments until the investigation was completed, and once we got the go-ahead, we reactivated payments to them'.

According to lawyer Dharmendra Chatur, partner of the law firm Poovayya & Co., if Razorpay had not complied with the investigation order, it would have initiated 'unnecessary litigation' because under the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure, the police authorities have the power to demand information and documents for an ongoing crime.

It was only after Muhammed Zubair's arrest in June that further legal action was taken against the journalist and his fact-checking work. Today, a court in Uttar Pradesh will hold a hearing that could grant bail to the AltNews founder in a case dating back to last year in which Zubair had falsified a video on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aired on the Sudarshan News television network.

In another dispute, however, the Indian Supreme Court yesterday extended bail to the journalist, who in this case had been sued for reporting the tweets of some personalities spreading hate speech against Muslims.
The World Council of Churches appeals to the US leader to do something to end the "growing threats" that endanger the Christian presence in the region. Biden will meet with Lapid, Abbas and Saudi leaders. Ahead of the visit Abbas talked to the pope hoping to raise the profile of the Palestinian question. Despite the Abraham Accords, the oil emergency has overshadowed human rights violations.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  US President Joe Biden has set off on a visit to the Middle East (13-16 July). This is his first trip to the region since he became president in January 2021; hitherto, other crises, in the Asia-Pacific region and Ukraine, have monopolised Washingtons attention.

Ahead of the arrival of the US leader, the World Council of Churches (WCC) released a statement urging urge him to to listen and respond to the voices of the Churches of the Holy Land, as they face increasing threats to their future existence in the region.

Signed by WCC Secretary General Rev Ioan Sauca, the press release bemoans the ongoing violence, discrimination, ever-expanding Israeli settlements, and subsequent displacement of Palestinian communities, including Christians.

Such actions threaten the multi-religious and multicultural identity of Jerusalem and undermine any remaining prospect of a viable two-state solution to secure peace with justice for Palestinians and Israelis alike. To avoid this, it calls on all people of good to recognize Jerusalem as sacred to three religions and a city of two peoples.

Biden's mission to the Middle East starts today in Israel, followed by a visit to Ramallah, in the West Bank, finally ending in Saudi Arabia at a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan (GCC+3) in Jeddah.

The agenda of these four days will be charged, beginning with meetings with Israeli leaders at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid is getting the country ready for elections next November, the fifth in less than four years, that might see Benjamin Netanyahu make a comeback.

Bidens next tete-a-tete will be with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before the last stage of the trip in Saudi Arabia for meetings with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, shill hampered by accusations of being behind the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In Israel, the Iranian nuclear threat against the Jewish State will be at the top of the agenda.

Biden is scheduled to visit the Augusta Victoria Hospital, on the Mount of Olives, East Jerusalem, one of the foremost Palestinian health facilities, which also employs Israeli staff.

The US president will meet his Palestinian counterpart in Bethlehem at which time the US and Israel are expected to announce measures to strengthen and legitimise the Palestinian Authority.

Ahead of the visit, President Abbas spoke with Pope Francis yesterday to discuss the latest developments in the area, like killing of the Christian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and Israelis never-ending occupation.

During the conversation, the two leaders talked about tensions over Jerusalem, threats to the status quo at the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif and Israeli restrictions on access to Christian and Muslim holy places.

For his part, the pontiff insisted on the value of peace and dialogue as the only ways for people to live together in the region.

After visiting the Palestinian Territories, Biden will fly to Saudi Arabia for the GCC+3 summit, in many ways the most important part of his trip to the region.

The agenda includes normalising Israeli-Saudi relations, which are very important for Israel, following the Abraham Accords. In return, Riyadh could get the green light to buy US weapons, after sales to the kingdom were put on hold following the Khashoggi murder.

Last but not least, oil is expected to be discussed at the summit. So far the US has failed to get the Saudis to boost production and sales to offset the jump in prices that followed Russias invasion of Ukraine.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Moscow (AsiaNews) - After the Nukus riots in recent days against constitutional changes in Uzbekistan, which led to the death of 18 demonstrators and 243 wounded, President Savkat Mirziyoyev has decided not to insist on revoking Karakalpakstan's right to independence. People's rights activists from the autonomous region, who have fled or been expelled to various other countries, appealed to him, supporting the presidential decision, but calling for a genuine political dialogue with representatives of the Karakalpakst community.

The signatories of the appeal want a real investigation into the repression of the protesters in Nukus, the release of those arrested and the disclosure of the list of victims. They believe that it is necessary to form a new government in the autonomous republic, opening up the registration of new political parties and social movements, allowing everyone to take part in the running of public affairs in the region.

The main author of the letter is Aman Sagidullaev, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party of Karakalpakstan, currently a political refugee in Norway. He told the Associated Press that he is convinced that Uzbek bureaucrats are hiding the real number of victims, injured and detained in the protests. Together with the other activists, 30 people have been identified so far, based on information received from relatives, friends and acquaintances of the deceased.

Sagidullaev says 'this bloodshed could have been avoided, we have always said we are open to dialogue, knowing the totalitarian legacy of Uzbekistan, which has turned our country into a prison over the past 20 years'. He claims all borders of Karakalpakstan are controlled by tanks and military forces deployed in large numbers, city streets are guarded by many Uzbek policemen, and activists are persecuted and arrested.

For 30 years, Uzbekistan has suspended drinking water to the region in the summer, and activists also accuse the authorities in Tashkent of sterilising Karakalpakstani women, preventing the use of the local language in schools and book publishing, and blocking local men from entering leadership positions. 'In the Karakalpakstan parliament there is not a single deputy from a local party,' Sagidullaev explains, 'the 1993 agreement was a trap, they never left us any autonomy'.

The activists believe that the country is ready for independence, including economic independence, and that the region's poverty is actually a fact spread by the propaganda of the Tashkent regime, which also controls the media. In the provinces of Mujnak, Karausak and at the bottom of the Aral Sea, there are more than 2,000 oil and gas wells, and the republic is full of extensive mines, but all the profits go to the Uzbeks.

The Uzbek political scientist Aliser Ilkhamov believes that the repression of the Nukus protests will lead to very serious consequences: 'They have run into a dead end, in an autocratic state like ours it is not the Constitution that makes the difference'. Historian Damir Iskhakov also observes that many issues have remained unresolved for too long, recalling that the Karakalpaktans immediately after the end of the USSR moved in labour migration, mainly to Russia, and then the exit routes were largely closed, reducing the income of families.

According to several commentators, the case of Karakalpakstan is reminiscent of many other situations of former Soviet regions aspiring to independence, especially Tatarstan, and the situation created by the war in Ukraine is likely to explode autonomist drives even within Russia itself.
The Court in the Hague rejected China's territorial claims in the area. Last month a hundred Chinese ships were reported near the Julian Filipe coral reef claimed by Manila. The new government has promised to defend countrys borders, but does not want a confrontation with China. The US warns that it will defend the Philippines if it is attacked.

Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies)  A group of Philippine nationalists and activists have asked the new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, to protect countrys borders from China's territorial claims by enforcing the 2016ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Protesters gathered yesterday outside the Chinese consulate in Makati, the financial district of Metro Manila on the sixth anniversary of the court ruling.

Six years ago, the Court rejected China's claims to nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea saying they were without legal basis.

The Philippines  along with Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and partly Indonesia  has rejected Chinas territorial demands; for the past several years, Beijing has been militarising some islands and coral reefs in the South China Sea.

US warships conduct regular patrols near these military outposts to contain Chinas expansion,

Last month, Philippine authorities reported the presence of a hundred Chinese ships in the waters around the Julian Filipe coral reef, which is located within Manila's exclusive economic zone.

Similarly, since 2012, Chinese boats have refused to stay away from the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a point of constant friction between Manila and Beijing.

Responding to the protesters, Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique A. Manalo reiterated the position of the Marcos Jr. administration, namely that Manila supports the 2016 ruling.

This is an apparent change of focus from the policy of Marcos Jr.'s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who had built a privileged relationship with China.

Unlike his predecessor Benigno Aquino III, Duterte tried to reduce tensions with the Chinese by ignoring the ruling of the Permanent Court. In exchange, Beijing promised trade and investments that critics say did not materialise.

Analysts doubt that Marcos Jr. will actually change Duterte's line. The Philippine president has on several occasions said that he does not want a war with China. Instead, he has indicated that he wants to strike a balance between Beijing and Washington, which are engaged in a tough geopolitical confrontation in Southeast Asia.

The US position on this issue is clear. Yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged China to respect the 2016 verdict, adding that the US would be forced to defend the Philippines  its ally under an existing treaty  in the event that its Armed Forces are attacked in disputed waters.

(Photo RFA)
Today's headlines: Colombo declares a state of emergency; Japan's the wasabi industry fears climate change; Modi government criticised over 'ominous' statue on India's parliament building; in Russia soldiers' mothers mobilise to stop their sons going to the front; an Isis leader is killed in Syria.

MYANMAR - RUSSIA

Myanmar's coup junta and the Rosatom State Corporation - Russia's state-owned nuclear power company - yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to foster nuclear cooperation. Junta-led General Min Aung Hlaing, visiting Moscow, also pledged to strengthen military-technical cooperation after meeting senior Russian defence officials.

SRI LANKA

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled to the Maldives on a military jet with his wife and two security agents. The final destination is expected to be a third country. Other family members have also left the country. Protesters are camped out in the presidential residence awaiting his letter of resignation. The premier has declared a state of emergency.

INDIA

The Indian government defended the erection of a new statue on the roof of the parliament after receiving several criticisms from the opposition in recent days. It is a statue of three lions inspired by an ancient Indian sculpture in Ashoka. According to critics, the lions in the statue wanted by Modi are more threatening and aggressive than the originals. The project is part of a plan to renovate colonial buildings.

JAPAN

Climate change is also endangering the cultivation of wasabi: horseradish seedlings have to stay in water at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees all year round. Japan's ageing population is also a problem: due to these two factors, wasabi production has halved since 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

SOUTH KOREA

Seoul denounced the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019 as a potential 'crime against humanity' by the previous government led by Moon Jae-in. Critics accuse Moon of being "so desperate to please North Korean leader Kim Jong Un" that he "shamefully disregarded basic principles of human rights and humanity".

SYRIA

The US claimed to have killed an Isis leader, Maher al-Agal, in north-west Syria in a drone strike. According to the US Central Command (Centcom), al-Agal was responsible for the "aggressive" development of the group outside Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State has not yet confirmed the death of the leader.

RUSSIA

A new protagonist of the Russian war in Ukraine is the 'women's movement' formed by the mothers of soldiers, active mainly in the Asian Russian regions of Buryatia and Tuva, where there are the highest statistics of casualties in the special operation. The mothers keep in touch via Viber to avoid eavesdropping, and agree on actions to protect their sons from mobilisation.

MONGOLIA

Mongolian President Khurelsuk has issued a decree for the public veneration of the portrait of 'Lord Bogdo Genghis Khan, born as Temuuzhin 860 years ago, a millenary genius of world history, who unified the Mongolian people under the power of law, history, culture and law, proclaiming the great Mongolian Empire'.
by Marta Ottaviani

The past few days have seen the first direct contact between the Turkish president and the Armenian prime minister. A phone call in a complex attempt to normalise diplomatic, and commercial, relations between the two countries. Baku and Moscow are interested spectators of the evolution of the framework. The resistance of the Armenian diaspora, which primarily wants recognition of the genocide.

Milan (AsiaNews) - Turkey and Armenia are poised to trial run a technical detente, more out of convenience than conviction, but which we could lead to the partial reopening of the border between the two countries. Two days ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation with the Armenian premier, Nikol Pashiyan. Officially the phone call officially was to exchanges wishes for Eid al-Adha, in Turkish Kurban Bayrami, the Feast of Sacrifice. Erdogan responded with greetings for Vardavar, the traditional 'water festival', also observed by the Muslim minority living in the country and to be held on 24 July. Recurrences aside, the phone call is part of a complex, and still ongoing, framework of normalisation of diplomatic, trade and tourism relations between the two countries.

The border between Turkey and Armenia has been closed since 1993, i.e. since the first war in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Turkey unhesitatingly took the side of Azerbaijan, which is linked to Ankara by cultural and religious reasons. Also weighing negatively on relations between the two countries is the Armenian genocide of 1915, which cost the lives of over a million people and which the Crescent has always stubbornly denied, denouncing, on the contrary, the death of thousands of Muslims at the hands of the 'rebel Armenians'. Lastly, Turkish military and logistical support to Baku during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2020 seemed to have ruled out any possibility of reconciliation.

The Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijani territory, the scene of bloody conflicts, remains an unresolved knot and one of the hottest spots in the Caucasus. But Vladimir Putin wants a stable region and, above all, he is concerned about the political, economic and energy axis that Ankara is forming with Baku, so he welcomes the reconciliation between Erdogan and Pashiyan, which should lead on the Turkish side to the renunciation of a military presence in Azerbaijani territory (incompatible with the 'normalisation' of relations).

These, at least, are the hopes of the Kremlin camp. Ankara may be able to renounce having soldiers in the Caucasus (for the time being), but it will hardly change the orientation of a foreign policy increasingly aimed at creating zones of influence and where the Caucasus is an almost natural outlet. The reconciliation with Armenia could also be read in this way, and in that case it would not be good news for Russia. Yerevan is the side that has had to make the most concessions, especially on some territories in Nagorno-Karabakh, which are back under Azerbaijani control, for relations with Turkey to resume and for the country to stop suffering from the commercial isolation from which it has suffered since the 1990s and because of which it has created a double bond with Moscow.

Meanwhile, Ankara and Yerevan are beginning to take their first steps. A memorandum to be 'put into practice in the immediate future' was signed in Vienna on 1 July. On the Armenian side, the wish is for this to be implemented as soon as possible. In February, the first commercial flights between one side of the border and the other resumed and, two days ago, there was Erdogan's first direct contact with the Armenian premier.

According to Turkish newspapers, the two leaders emphasised the importance of improving relations between the two countries, thus contributing to peace and prosperity in the region. In the first phase, the border between Turkey and Armenia could only be opened to people from third countries who need to cross it for tourist purposes. It would seem that everything is going well, but above all Pashiyan is in trouble because of internal opposition and also resistance from the Armenian diaspora, for whom the recognition of the 1915 genocide is the conditio sine qua non for the resumption of any form of relations.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh co-chair the 14th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

NANNING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The 14th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation took place Wednesday in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Both sides agreed to work towards building a community with a shared future with strategic significance.

The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Wang said that China and Vietnam have significant domestic political agendas this year. It is necessary to strengthen coordination and make joint efforts toward building a community with a shared future with strategic significance.

He put forward five pieces of advice for strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides should promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level, Wang said.

He said they should deepen the exchange of experience in governing the country and strengthen legislative bodies and party exchanges.

Wang said that the two sides should give full play to their geographical proximity and complementary industrial advantages and promote the upgrading of economic cooperation and trade exchange between the two countries.

He said the two sides should strengthen cooperation on climate change, green development, photovoltaic and clean energy.

The two sides should improve people-to-people exchanges, Wang added.

Pham Binh Minh said ties with China are the top priority of Vietnam's foreign policy, and friendship with China is Vietnam's strategic choice.

He said that Vietnam is willing to work with China to increase high-level exchanges, consolidate strategic mutual trust, and promote cooperation in various fields to demonstrate the strategic significance of their bilateral relations. 
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ECU

This 2010 Ducati 1198S Corse looks as if its fresh out of the oven, and its digital odometer displays a mere 191 miles (307 km). Under current ownership, the special-edition crotch rocket was fitted with high-grade Termignoni exhaust plumbing and a race-spec. Its motor oil and coolant were recently flushed, and the battery has been replaced with a brand-new substitute.Hidden behind the titans bodywork is a liquid-cooled 1,198cc L-twin powerhouse, which packs eight desmodromic valves operated via dual cams and a Marelli fuel injection with elliptical throttle bodies. At 9,750 rpm, this nasty animal is capable of spawning as much as 170 hp, while a maximum torque output of 97 pound-feet (131 Nm) will be generated at around 8,000 whirls.A six-speed gearbox transfers the engines power to the rear wheel, resulting in speeds of up to 185 mph (298 kph). Moreover, the unrelenting 1198S Corse will require approximately 9.8 seconds to eradicate the quarter-mile. Up front, plentiful stopping power is provided by 330 mm (13 inches) semi-floating discs and radial Brembo Monobloc calipers with four pistons each.On the other hand, the bikes rear chain-driven hoop comes to a stop thanks to a 245 mm (9.6 inches) rotor and a two-piston caliper. Ducatis marvel is supported by 43 mm (1.7 inches) inverted forks with titanium nitride treatment and a fully-adjustable Ohlins monoshock. Without taking any fluids into consideration, the 1198S weighs in at 373 pounds (169 kg).If youve got a thirst for speed and cash to burn, then feel free to bid for this Italian gemstone on Iconic Motorbike Auctions before time runs out! Thats right; the Duc is searching for a new place to call home, but the bidding process will only be open for two more days (until July 15). Were yet to see an offer that satisfies the reserve price, though, because the current bid of $12k simply wont cut it.


The most basic of specifications has a GVM (gross vehicle mass) rating of 8,378 pounds (3,800 kilograms) and a towing capacity of 7,716 pounds (3,500 kilograms). At the other end of the spectrum, the range-topping variant offers 9,910 lbs (4,495 kgs) and 9,259 lbs (4,200 kgs).



Toyotas Australian division offers the redesigned Land Cruiser with a twin-turbo diesel rather than a twin-turbo gasoline mill. The 3.3-liter engine is good for 227 kW (make that 304 horsepower) at 4,000 revolutions per minute and 700 Nm (700 pound-feet) between 1,600 and 2,600 revolutions per minute.



Unfortunately for prospective customers, Creative Conversions havent published the pricing information for this cool rig.





Ray Smith-Roberts, the chief executive officer of Creative Conversions, explains that his company invested approximately two million kangaroo bucks into the project. Converted at current exchange rates, that sum is 1,350,950 freedom eagles, a truckload of moolah. Part of that money went on three SUVs and 15,000 man-hours for designing and building.The project also consisted of prototyping, 3D scanning, imaging, component printing, chassis engineering, axle upgrades, electrical systems development, strengthening, harness integration, tooling for stamping body panels, interior trim remodeling, plenty of testing, and federal approval.It seems like an eternity, added the big kahuna. Considering that Creative Conversions took delivery of the first of three vehicles in October 2021, it undeniably seems like an eternity, more so if you remember that Sydney had emerged from nearly four months of lockdown back then.The pickup truck-converted 2022 Toyota Land Cruiser 300 series is available with 27.5- or 31.5-inch (700- or 800-millimeter) wheelbase extensions, designed to allow the fitting of a tray or canopy measuring between 70.8 and 82.7 inches (1,800 and 2,100 millimeters) in length.
Electronic component shortages are the number one cause of lost production for carmakers. The auto industry has to compete for the scarce microchips with the consumer electronics companies, and sometimes carmakers end up with the shorter stick. Over the past 18 months, carmakers were forced to cancel 13 million vehicles from production schedules, according to AutoForecast Solutions.The situation is slowly improving, as revealed in a recent Susquehanna Financial Group study , but more needs to be done. More semiconductor production facilities pumping out chips should provide the necessary relief, and Bosch is determined to help with that. The worlds largest supplier plans to invest more than $3 billion to expand its semiconductor business by 2026.The investment will help open new testing centers, research facilities, and a new chip-production capacity in Germany. This sounds like an aggressive plan to combat the chip shortage, but its too early to pop the champagne. Thats because the massive investment will only start to pay off toward the end of the decade.Also, Bosch s business is vast; only a fraction of the new chips flooding the market will go to the automotive sector. Besides the burgeoning car parts business, Bosch also produces a wide range of electronics, from coffee makers to home security systems and industrial appliances. They will need all the chips they can get to feed this monster as more and more products will require sophisticated electronic components in the future.Bosch has invested in making its own chips before . The German giant opened a new semiconductor wafer production facility in Dresden a year ago. At $1 billion, this was the largest single investment in the companys history. Boschs automotive business accounted for $49 billion in worldwide sales in 2021, according to Automotive News
EV

Let us take as an example the recent revival of the Stateside compact pickup truck game because it suits our CGI needs. So, after the first six months of the year, the unibody king of the bed crop is  of course  the affordable 2022 Ford Maverick. Interestingly, it not only outsold its direct competition but also a couple of mid-size entries into the fold.For example, there were more Mavericks delivered to dealerships than Ford Rangers, as well as Honda Ridgelines and Hyundai Santa Cruz pocket trucks. Thus, one could say the little unibody pickup from Ford may be unbeatable  especially if it also develops ancase of turning into a Lightning offer . Alas, where there is a digital will, there is always a virtual way to snatch the crown.Here is Brad, the virtual artist and DIY tinkerer behind the bradbuilds account on social media, trying to make a CGI point. The pixel master is again back into digital action after a big pause since he completed a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk that felt digitally Thicc enough to slam its wide-fendered body out of this virtual realm. Now, on the other hand, he has pocket truck dreams of chopped madness.Alas, his digital Hyundai Santa Cruz tuning project is so much more than just that. Instead, we are also dealing with a thoroughly laid out atmosphere, a complete widebody aerodynamic kit transformation, a stylish deep-dish aftermarket wheel and performance tire setup, plus a cool hood dump exhaust to show that something is amiss underneath, as well!Now, lets see a puny $21k (its previous $19,995 starting price is now, sadly, history!) 2.5-liter front-wheel-drive Ford Maverick XL trying to cope with that
The 57-year-old Karl and his 54-year-old wife had left Bermuda and were headed to Nova Scotia with two American passengers on board when the tragic accident occurred, the Mirror reports. Even though they were aware of the tropical storm Alex approaching (as they have mentioned in their last social media post), Karl and Annemarie unfortunately did not avoid it.It seems that, because of the storm, the yachts rigging was damaged, injuring Annemarie, then Karl, when he tried to save her. After the two passengers reached out for help, U.S. Coast Guards came to the rescue. Unfortunately, the couple passed away, and only the other two people onboard stayed alive. According to the Mirror, both German and U.S. authorities are still investigating the exact circumstances of the accident.Like most people who decide to live full-time on a sailing boat, the German couple probably didnt have any prior experience with sailing before embarking on this challenging adventure. Their boat, called Escape, was a 67-foot (20,6 meters) yacht built by CNB in 2019, the year when Karl and Annemarie started their new life on water.At the time of its launch, it was described as the biggest sailboat that can be handled by a family crew, which means that it was designed to be easily maneuvered by a small crew while also being spacious and comfortable. On the blog where they shared their life at sea, Escapes owners had said about the boat that it not only meets all the requirements of a modern sailing yacht, but at the same time she is our home.After the tragic death of its owners, the Escape sailing yacht was towed to Dartmouth Cove in Nova Scotia. It was the end of a three-year-long adventure that became a cautionary tale for all the brave souls who dream of a similar lifestyle change  as amazing as it sounds, the inherent risks should never be minimized.
PHNOM PENH, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been playing a crucial role in supporting the economic development in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, experts said on Wednesday.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hoe Ee Khor, chief economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), said ASEAN countries including Cambodia are a big part of the BRI.

"Furthermore, much of the foundation for the progress of, as well as the benefit to ASEAN, lies in the prospect of a deeper ASEAN-China integration," he wrote to Xinhua in an e-mail.

"Certainly, the BRI plays an important role in supporting the economic development in ASEAN, particularly in the area of improved trade connectedness and market access, and facilitating further regional integration," he said.

"Through helping to fill the infrastructure investment gap in the region, the BRI is also expected to have second-order positive impact through crowding in private investment, such as in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia," Khor added.

Vasim Sorya, undersecretary of state and spokesperson for Cambodia's Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said mega-BRI projects in Cambodia including the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, hydropower plants, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, new Siem Reap International Airport, Morodok Techo National Stadium, roads and bridges, are very beneficial to the country's socio-economic development.

"These projects have provided and will continue to provide a lot of tangible benefits to the economy and people of Cambodia," he told Xinhua. "The BRI projects here are sincere without any strings attached, and their aim is to help boost our socio-economic development and improve our people's livelihoods."

Despite the impact of COVID-19, all BRI projects in the kingdom have made headway steadily, Sorya said.

Neak Chandarith, director of the Cambodia 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Research Center, said the BRI projects will be a contributor to the economic growth in Cambodia and in the region during the post-pandemic era.

"I believe that the BRI projects here will help Cambodia achieve its ambitious goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country in 2050," he told Xinhua.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said the BRI has provided a lot of tangible benefits to Cambodia, ASEAN and the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The BRI has played a very important role in helping countries cushion the economic fallout of the pandemic," he said. "It remains as a driving force to continue expanding cooperation among countries in the region and the world at large for the cause of peace, security, prosperity and sustainable development."

Other Southeast Asian nations such as Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, have also greatly benefited from the BRI, Matthews said.

He added that the China-Laos Railway project, which connects Kunming in China's southwestern Yunnan Province to Lao capital Vientiane, is a boon not only for both countries, but also for other Southeast Asian nations. 
For many classic Volvo fans, thats certainly a big part of the appeal and many have used the inherent sleeper design qualities to surprise the bejesus out of quarter-mile drag strip heroes  just to give an example. Now, it is time for yet another full reshuffling of expectations, even if only virtually.So, Andreas Richter, the virtual artist formerly known as ar.visual_ on social media, has decided it was about time he changed the Instagram alias to something a little more personal. And while AR Visual 3D Design is still the name of his digital business, that does not mean andreas.richter.cgi will not  go bananas with your (least) favorite car!A case in point to be made here by the Berlin, Germany-based pixel master was also the virtual design project that accompanied the new alias presentation, a Volvo 242 in full carbon on generic airless tires . Thats basically a gross understatement of what is really going on in there! For starters, the scenes background was available courtesy of a fellow artists 3D scan and that is just the appetizer.Then we also need to collect our jaws off the concrete floor and focus on the actual Volvo 242 two-door sedan that adopts a casually dark atmosphere by way of a thoroughly slammed ethos to accompany the exposed full carbon fiber body, plus ultra-wide fender kit and aero tweaks. And that is just peeling off the main exterior traits, as concentrating a little harder will also reveal some astonishing details.Those not only include the crazy airless tires but also the Inter Cooler Turbo badges fitted to the rear (just above that huge air extractor and dual exhaust, directly below the massive wing!), as well as the imagined cockpit goodies. As far as we can tell, those are of the bucket seat and full roll cage variety
EV

The Chinese company still holds a couple of aces up its sleeves, especially regarding LFP batteries. This is the chemistry of choice for the more affordable electric vehicles, thanks to their low production costs and raw materials abundance. The downside is a lower energy density, which explains why the more performanttrims are built using more energy-dense chemistries like NCA and NCM.CATL has improved the LFP chemistry by adding manganese to the formula. This increases the voltage from 3.2 to 4.1 volts, thus boosting the batterys energy density. The theoretical energy density of the Lithium Manganese Ferro-phosphate (LMFP) batteries can reach up to 230 Wh/kg, which is closer to actual NCM batteries. Manganese is a relatively cheap and abundant material, so the cost of the batteries will remain close to the LFP levels.Although several companies have looked into the LMFP chemistry, not all got to the CATL level, being so close to mass production. The Chinese giant claims it has solved the main problem, which was the limited lifecycle of this type of battery, by combining lithium ternary materials with LMFP materials. CATL says its ready to mass produce the LMFP batteries by the end of the year. The new batteries will allow for a theoretical EV range of up to 370 miles (600 km). Currently, the Tesla Model 3 RWD with an LFP battery travels 267 miles (430 km) on a charge.CATL is Chinas largest battery producer and has made news recently by announcing some exciting advances in Li-Ion battery technology. CATL is the primary producer of LFP batteries and one of the main suppliers for the industry EV leader Tesla. Recently, CATL unveiled its latest CTP (cell-to-pack) 3.0 Qilin battery with a record-breaking volume utilization rate of more than 72%.
A recent multinational exercise gave the UK Royal Air Forces Atlas A400M the opportunity to demonstrate that its able to not only reach the farthest places but also to land smoothly even when theres no runway available.

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After the sprint race, the FIA called the German driver over an apparent breach of the International Sporting Code relating to his behavior in the drivers' meeting. In this code, all drivers are required to attend the conference and must stay for the duration.Even though Sebastian apologized for this incident, the FIA officials could not let him go without a penalty."Subsequently Vettel had a meeting with the Race Director, who informed the Stewards that Vettel apologised without reservation, and that further, they had a very constructive conversation covering the topics in the meeting and more," said the statement. "The Stewards determine that there is a breach, which cannot go without penalty, but that based on the report from the Race Director there are factors in mitigation. Therefore, the Stewards order a fine of 25,000, which is suspended for the remainder of the 2022 season."However, the 25,000 fine is suspended for the rest of the year. This means that Sebastian Vettel will only be required to pay the fine should he fail to be present at another drivers' meeting through the remainder of the 2022 Formula One season.As a whole, the former quadruple world champion had an awful race weekend. Vettel finished last in the qualification sessions, just to be spun around by Williams' driver Alex Albon in the Saturday Sprint race after making up six positions. Unfortunately, nothing changed in the race too, where he finished 17th, being the last one from the remaining running cars.Meanwhile, a lot of drivers have talked about the need for greater consistency when it comes to stewards' decisions from race control moving forward, especially after the whole track limits incidents at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
While this is without a doubt a very ambitious expectation, analysts warned on several occasions that a sudden end of the chip shortage is rather unlikely.In fact, the consensus right now is that the global chip inventory could see some improvements in the last months of this year, but a new wave of the crisis could hit in early 2023.Bosch, one of the largest auto suppliers in the world, is one of the companies that cant come up with any good news on this front. In fact, the German company is still treating the chip shortage with extreme caution, warning recently that the crisis is unlikely to come to an end this year.At the Bosch Tech Day 2022 in Germany, Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management, warned the obvious, explaining that the chip shortage wouldnt just disappear overnight. In other words, it will continue to be a problem next year. Despite some improvements happening in 2023, carmakers cant return to pre-2020 levels just yet.Of course, this doesnt necessarily mean that Bosch is also 100 percent right.Intel, for instance, previously warned that the supply bottlenecks would continue until 2024, especially as the world is now facing various other shortages. One of the biggest problems, Intel warned, is the lack of equipment thats required in the production of chips.In other words, chipmakers dont have the machines to build chips, as their suppliers are also facing other supply challenges of their own, eventually impacting the entire chain. The tech firm doesnt believe all these struggles would be resolved earlier than 2024, at least for some specific industries such as the automotive business.
SUV

This time, someone wanted to heighten the Land Cruisers appeal by lopping off its top to allow fresh air for everyone inside. The result is a convertible LC300 that could be the perfect safari ride.Known for its sturdiness, practicality, and off-road capabilities, its no surprise that someone thought the Toyotascould become a safari vehicle. Its spacious interior also makes it a good candidate for such a conversion The obvious modification the Land Cruiser LC300 has undergone is the removal of the roof, its pillars, along with its side windows and rear windscreen, but besides that, the vehicles body was reinforced with protective metal structures at the front and at the back to make it more durable in case of adversities, like wild animals bumping into it.In case of a rollover, passengers only have the tubular structure to hold on to and a tent above the second row.Considering the Land Cruiser SUV has seen a growing demand which led to limited availability , we doubt someone willingly donated their vehicle for this radical conversion. Chances are the model used for the transformation was already damaged from an accident or whatnot.The custom-made convertible Toyota Land Cruiser has recently been seen in the United Arab Emirates, in the city of Sharjah.Its not clear who is responsible for this convertible conversion, but the photos of the safari-ready Land Cruiser were posted on Instagram by user Lc300.qa, who also happens to own a Land Cruiser. The cost of the conversion is also unknown, but we doubt many Land Cruiser owners would be interested in such an extreme makeover for their SUVs.
But hacking doesnt occur exclusively through web resources. There are peeps who specialize in hacking automobiles, which is a huge problem nowadays. Donut Media is much obliged to present a few notable car hacks, including a hack that works brilliantly with an $80,000 Tesla Model Y.Jeremiah Burton first calls attention to software-defined radio systems, which are increasingly common. This device can unlock the doors through a replay attack, in which the radio signal from the vehicles key is replicated by the software-defined radio system. There is an issue with it, though. Replay attacks would rarely go further than opening the doors because many cars use rolling codes. Every time you press the key fobs lock or unlock button, the code automatically changes, making the SDR a bit useless.Donut Medias host subsequently comes across relay attacks with a simple Google search. As opposed to replay attacks, the relay attack is more sophisticated because you can trick a car into thinking that its key is closer than it actually is by relaying the signal. But theres an even better way of hacking into a car, according to security consultant Sultan Qasim Khan.Sultan is a Bluetooth expert, and his proprietary version of the relay attack exploits a huge vulnerability in keyless entry technology. Teslas, which currently ship without key fobs, are especially vulnerable because you can use your mobile phone as a key. The big question is, how is this gentlemans Bluetooth-based relay attack better than the conventional relay attack?The basic concepts are the same, in that youre making the two sides think that they're close to each other. But the difference is that with Bluetooth, it's switching frequencies all the time, and there is some more complexity in handling the frequency hopping and direction switching. I mean, I just used free software and off-the-shelf hardware. You could make a relaying device for like $10. And you need two of those. So, let's say 20 bucks to make a basic version of the attack feasible, explains Sultan Qasim Khan. 20 bucks and two laptops. And some cables. And programming skills...Curious about how it works out? Then fast forward to the 10:00 mark.
TIANJIN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- When diners step into Turka Cafe in north China's Tianjin Municipality, they are often drawn to the restaurant's signature adornment, a Turkish blue eye.

"In Turkey, blue eyes are believed to bring you happiness," said Baktiyar Tynybek, 26, owner of the Turkish restaurant, adding that he has opened three restaurants in Tianjin since 2020.

Tynybek is from Kazakhstan and had once lived in Turkey. He came to China in 2013 at the age of 17 for higher education. Espying bright prospects in China's consumer market, Tynybek decided to start a business in Tianjin after graduating from a local university.

With the help of a Chinese investor, Tynybek began his entrepreneurial adventure and opened a bar in 2017. With business flourishing, he was all set to open a Turkish cafe cum restaurant in early 2020 along with his friend.

However, the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted their plan and the opening of the restaurant was postponed until March 2020 when the epidemic was under effective containment.

"China has done a great job in containing the spread of the virus. During the epidemic, the restaurant landlord even waived part of my rent. I'm confident about my restaurant business," Tynybek said.

The restaurant was an instant success upon its opening, attracting flocks of customers as well as social media influencers. "Many guests said the place is pretty romantic and they were thrilled to eat authentic Turkish food in China during the epidemic," Tynybek said.

After tasting success, Tynybek opened two more Turkish restaurants in the city.

"Authentic food ingredient is a key reason for the success of my restaurants. An open Chinese market ensures that I can purchase authentic Turkish commodities," Tynybek said.

Three years of entrepreneurial experience have boosted Tynybek's confidence in China's business environment, spending power and industrial capacity.

He has now set his eyes on a new goal; he plans to explore business opportunities in trade and logistics in south China.

"I feel attached to China and grateful to this country. My future life will be closely tied to the country," Tynybek said. 
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.
Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, addresses the main conference of the 14th Straits Forum in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, July 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

XIAMEN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang on Wednesday called on Taiwan compatriots to gain a clear understanding of the overall trend of cross-Strait relations and stand firmly on the right side of history.

Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks while addressing the main conference of the 14th Straits Forum held in the coastal city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province.

Citing a letter by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, in replying to young people from Taiwan who attended the forum, Wang said this shows Xi's care for the young people from Taiwan and the great importance he attaches to the forum.

Wang called on young people on both sides of the Strait to unite more Taiwan youth to pursue and fulfill their dreams on the mainland, and make their life blossom in the great process of realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

"The people on both sides of the Strait are members of the same family whose blood runs thicker than water," Wang said, noting that efforts have been made to implement the Party's overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era, as well as uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus.

Efforts were also made to foster peaceful development across the Strait and to continuously improve the systems and policies designed to ensure the wellbeing of Taiwan compatriots and extend equal treatment to them on the mainland, Wang said.

"It is the strong backing of the motherland that has enabled Taiwan compatriots to enjoy a better life and have more opportunities for development," Wang said.

He called on Taiwan compatriots to firmly oppose any separatist activities seeking "Taiwan independence" and seize happiness and dreams into their own hands.

Andrew Hsia, vice chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, said in his video speech that the Chinese KMT party will promote exchanges and dialogue across the Strait on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, and resolutely oppose "Taiwan independence."

Delivering a speech at the conference, Wu Cheng-tien, chairman of Taiwan's New Party, called for extensive exchanges across the Strait and achieving peaceful reunification through consultations and negotiations.

During his stay in Fujian, Wang also visited an exhibition in Xiamen, as well as a business startup base for young entrepreneurs and a company funded by Taiwan investors in the city of Zhangzhou.

Wang pointed out that deepening the integrated cross-Strait development is a necessary path to achieving peaceful reunification of the country.

Wang called for efforts to fully implement relevant policies of the CPC and measures that benefit the Taiwan region and the people, to provide efficient and convenient services for young people from Taiwan to facilitate their work and business on the mainland, and to support Fujian in exploring a new path for integrated development across the Strait.

Prior to the opening of the forum, Wang met with the representatives of the attendees from Taiwan. 

Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visits a business startup base for young entrepreneurs in Zhangzhou during his stay in east China's Fujian Province. Wang attended and addressed the main conference of the 14th Straits Forum held in the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian Province on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visits a company funded by Taiwan investors in Zhangzhou during his stay in east China's Fujian Province. Wang attended and addressed the main conference of the 14th Straits Forum held in the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian Province on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meets with the representatives of the attendees from Taiwan prior to the opening of the 14th Straits Forum in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, July 13, 2022. Wang attended and addressed the main conference of the forum on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
China makes educational resources more balanced through application of information technology

09:07, July 13, 2022 By Qin Ruijie, Shao Yuzi ( People's Daily

As China steadily expands the application of information technology in education, more and more regions across the country now have access to high-quality educational resources.

A teacher from a bilingual elementary school in Liuhe district, Nanjing, east Chinas Jiangsu province gives an online class, March 18, 2022. (Peoples Daily Online/Shi Jun)

Information technology is narrowing urban-rural and regional digital gaps and bringing rural students closer to renowned schools and teachers, connecting the students to a broader world.

By of the end of 2020, all Chinese elementary and junior high schools had been connected to the internet. As of the end of 2021, 99.5 percent of Chinese elementary and junior high schools had built multimedia classrooms, bringing the total number of such classrooms to more than 4 million. In particular, 87.2 percent of them had equipped all of their classrooms with multimedia teaching aids.

In Dongtai School of Xuanhe township, Zhongwei, northwest Chinas Ningxia Hui autonomous region, a number of electronic teaching aids are being utilized.

According to math teacher Li Yunyi of the school, students there take at least 10 online classes a week together with other students from key schools.

The application of information technology in education has broken resource barriers, enabling students to reach more quality contents, the teacher said.

According to her, students can not only replay the online classes they have attended, but also watch a number of videos related to these classes.

Wang Yuling is an elementary school teacher with 20 years of teaching experience in Xinhua district, Shijiazhuang, north Chinas Hebei province. A class taught by her was recently uploaded by the education bureau of Xinhua district onto an online platform, so as to make the high-quality class accessible to more students.

Elementary school students in Hefei, east China's Anhui province do scientific experiments while Chinese astronauts give a livestreamed popular-science lecture from Chinas space station, March 23, 2022. (Peoples Daily Online/Chen Sanhu)

China will continue expanding the supply of high-quality educational resources and ensure the sharing of such resources in regions that are less developed in terms of education, said an official with the Ministry of Education.

According to the official, 20.12 million classes have been shared by 21 million teachers nationwide on an online education platform established by the National Center for Educational Technology. These classes are suitable for all students in the basic education stage.

Besides, a nationwide smart platform was recently launched to provide a variety of educational resources for students in primary and junior high schools. A total of 17,492 online classes of 450 textbooks in 19 versions are available on the platform.

Information technology, apart from balancing educational resources, is also energizing classes by providing advanced teaching methods and approaches for schools and teachers in the educationally underdeveloped regions.

Students from a middle school in Rongshui Miao autonomous county, Liuzhou, south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region showcase Miao embroidery works with folk artisan Shou Jie (third from left on the second row) on a live class, June 19, 2022. The live class is joined by a group of university students via internet. (Peoples Daily Online/Long Tao)

The official from the Ministry of Education introduced that over 10 million teachers have joined a national training program that aims to lift elementary and junior high school teachers' ability to apply information technology in education.

In addition, more than 30,000 directors of local education departments, principals of elementary, and junior high schools, as well as backbone teachers across China have participated in relevant training courses, the official said.

According to the official, over 80 percent of teachers in primary and junior high schools across China have launched teaching activities with the help of information technology.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
CHENGDU, July 13 (Xinhua) -- By studying the frontier literature of foreign radiation medicine research, Lucia Clara Orlandini hopes to bring more experience from other countries to her colleagues in China.

In 2015, 52-year-old Orlandini and her husband, a pilot, came to southwest China's Sichuan Province and settled in the provincial capital, Chengdu.

The medical hardware in Sichuan is quite good, medical linear accelerators and other equipment are advanced, and many details are considered for patients during radiotherapy procedures, Orlandini said.

Before relocating to China, Orlandini was a senior doctor in Italy with more than 20 years of clinical experience in radiophysics. She now works as a researcher at Sichuan Cancer Hospital's radiotherapy center.

As a medical physicist, Orlandini has guided her colleagues to modify their radiotherapy dosimetry standards to improve the radiotherapy level of the hospital.

The Italian expert has also adopted a radiotherapy technique that involves the more accurate positioning of equipment and marking on the patient's body surface to improve the accuracy of treatment. This ensures the effect of radiation treatment on chest tumors.

To improve the effect of radiotherapy on breast cancer patients, she uses new-type fixation equipment for breasts during treatment. She also works with the hospital's medical physicist team in monitoring exposure doses for patients using advanced equipment and techniques.

Standing next to a medical electronic linear accelerator, Orlandini carefully observes her patients' clinical reactions and records relevant data. "In addition to guiding patients' clinical radiotherapy, I'm also guiding young doctors," she said.

With the active promotion of Orlandini, Sichuan Cancer Hospital has established cooperative relations with several medical academic institutions in Italy, and many young Chinese doctors from Chengdu have undertaken further study in Italy.

Hoping that her Chinese colleagues would settle down in Italy quickly, Orlandini has helped them find suitable accommodation there.

In 2017, Orlandini received an award from the Sichuan provincial government for her efforts to promote the China-Italy friendship. In 2021, she was awarded a medal from the Italian government for her contributions to exchanges between the two countries.

Being a part of the hospital, Orlandini is also accustomed to local life. She said she loves life in Chengdu, and described it as being very "bashi," a term from the local dialect meaning "comfortable." 
Click here to read the full article.

British-Canadian documentarian and direct cinema pioneer Terence Macartney-Filgate has died in Toronto.

The filmmaker died on July 11 from complications resulting from Parkinsons disease. He was 97.

A long-time collaborator with the National Film Board of Canada, he wrote, directed, produced and edited more than 100 documentaries across an illustrious career that began in 1956, with a series of post-war educational films.

A key figure in the cinema verite movement of the 1960s, Terry Filgate  as he was known to most  worked with contemporaries including Robert Drew, D.A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock and Al Maysles under the umbrella of American collective Robert Drew Associates, which produced seminal documentaries of the era, including X-Pilot (1961) and Primary (1960).

Filgate served as principal photographer on the latter film, which chronicled then-senator John F. Kennedys primary campaign against Hubert Humphrey.

American work aside, he will be remembered for his remarkable filmography with the NFB, with which he made 31 documentaries across a 40-year period. Beginning with Emergency Rescue  T33 Jet Aircraft (1956) and ending with three-part epic Canada Remembers (1995), Filgate contributed immeasurably to documenting life in the Big Country.

Career highlights include The Days Before Christmas (1958), an observational doc that chronicles the run-up to the festive holiday in Montreal, and which was among the first films to capture cinema verite using a handheld 16mm camera; and The Back-Breaking Leaf (1960), an eye-opening portrait of the arduous seasonal work taken on by travelling tobacco leaf-pickers in rural Ontario. (Both docs, along with a dozen of his other films, are free-to-view on the NFB website.)

The filmmaker also worked extensively with Canadian public broadcaster CBC, with credits including Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Road to Green Gables (1975), Grenfell of Labrador: The Great Adventure (1977) and Fields of Endless Day (1978).

With the passing of Terence Macartney-Filgate, the NFB has lost a dear friend and passionate champion of documentary cinema, said NFB chairperson Claude Joli-Coeur. A key figure in the NFBs legendary Unit B and its Candid Eye series, he helped to revolutionize non-fiction storytelling. Terry would go on to make historic contributions in the independent sector, both in Canada and the U.S., and as an educator at York University. Whatever he did, he approached with his enormous talent and dedication.

While perhaps lesser-known than his American contemporaries, Filgate nevertheless accrued an impressive list of accolades. He was honored with a Peabody Award for Changing World: South African Essay (1964), a WGBH doc examining the political machinery behind Apartheid; he won the Cannes Film and Television Festivals Eurovision Grand Prize for documentary for The Back-Breaking Leaf; and he earned a Canadian Gemini prize for best social/political documentary program, for Timothy Findley: Anatomy of a Writer (1992).

The latter was one of many trophies bestowed in his home of Canada, where he also claimed two Canadian Film Awards (for Blood and Fire [1958] and The Hottest Show on Earth [1977]) and an Ontario Film Institute Award. He received the Hot Docs festivals Outstanding Achievement Award in 2011 and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada  one of the countrys highest civilian merits  the same year.

And, perhaps most remarkably, he can lay claim to having directed an Academy Award-winning documentary  albeit without receiving the statue or glory that typically accompanies such a feat.

In 1962, he was hired by producer Robert Hughes to helm Robert Frost: A Lovers Quarrel with the World, a film on the life of the titular iconic American poet, following the departure of original director Shirley Clarke. After finishing the doc, however, Clarke exercised a contractual right to be credited as the movies sole director, relegating Filgate to a lesser credit. The picture went on to take the 1963 Oscar for best documentary feature.

Such under-appreciation perhaps befits a filmmaker oft-noted among friends and colleagues for his modesty. As his wife Lorna Novosel, a retired speech-language pathologist, recalled: Terry was confident and had a healthy self-image, but he never played politics to move his career forward. He used to say, albeit facetiously, that he would become a forgotten footnote.

When they first met, Filgate was Novosels gliding instructor. After marrying in 1993, they spent most summer weekends wind-borne together at the Southern Ontario Soaring Association.

Flying proved a defining feature for much of Filgates life. Born in the U.K. and raised in India, he joined Britains Royal Air Force at the age of 18, going on to fly 17 missions over Italy as a flight engineer during the Second World War. In later life, he taught in Toronto and at UCLA, where his film students included Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek of The Doors.

In spite of his achievements, friend and filmmaker Mark Cook recalls a director who typified one of the quintessential Canadian characteristics: modesty. Of the big filmmakers Ive worked with over the years, he was by far the least pretentious and the least concerned with his own image, he told Variety. And, outwardly at least, unconcerned about his legacy.

Macartney-Filgate is survived by his wife and his three children, Michele Macartney-Filgate, Adrienne Campbell and Terry Macartney, as well as five grandchildren.

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DNA evidence was used to solve a 1979 homicide cold case involving 12-year-old Lesia Michell Jackson after 43 years, according to a press release from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook.

On September 7, 1979, Jackson disappeared near her home off of FM 1485 after spending a day at her neighborhood pool, according to the press release, noting that, in the days following, an extensive search was conducted, and on September 13, 1979, an oilfield worker found Jackson's body in a heavily wooded area along a pipeline near Exxon Road with an autopsy later determining Jackson had been sexually assaulted and murdered.
We are experiencing higher-than-normal call volumes.

If youve attempted to contact an airline customer service center any time in the past two years, youre surely familiar with that line. Youre also presumably familiar with its implication, which is that youre more than likely hours out from speaking with a representative. And by hours, I mean anywhere from two to north of seven. In fact, back in May, Gary Leff of View From the Wing reported that some of Deltas top frequent flyers were being asked to wait as long as 41 hours.

Delta is hardly the only offender, either (though they do seem to be consistently the worst); American and Southwest have also continued to catch flak for their lack of accessible customer service solutions over the course of the pandemic. So whats the deal?

Quite simply, mostly as a result of staffing shortages, airlines are cancelling and delaying flights at a record-breaking pace and customer service isnt able to keep up. The number of travelers in need of help far exceeds the representatives available to provide it.

As a result, per a new report from Skift, some call centers are turning to automation and, more specifically, an artificial intelligence program centered on advanced natural language processing. Because the only thing that could piss off a customer whose flights been cancelled or delayed more than making them wait hours to speak to a customer service representative, is making that same customer parse through a series of menus with a robot who ultimately cannot provide the help they need.

As an alternative, companies like Intrado, which offers an artificial intelligence program named Mosaicx to call centers in the airline industry, are focused on a more personalized customer service experience. Mosaicx sets itself apart is its use of natural language processing, which helps improve the programs linguistic interpretation abilities and response rate, Mary Ann Ha writes. Its natural language processing core currently supports 20 languages.

Our clients have had a better ability to absorb increases and spikes in their call volume, both from a user (and) customer standpointThe employees arent overwhelmed or having to manage lower level, less complicated questions, said Rebecca Jones, senior vice president at Intrado.

Customers have self service through the automation, (which allows) their human contact center folks to really focus on more complex, emotionally-driven conversations, she added.

And while this traveler cant help but feel a bit skeptical, one airline client using Mosaicx has reportedly seen a 60 percent decrease in call abandonment rates. Presumably an increase in customer service representative mental well-being, too. So maybe an answer is coming. Or maybe we truly are just doomed to 41 hour wait times, or having to scream at a robot that you want to talk to a living, breathing human to no avail, forever. TBD.

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The post Dont Worry Beleaguered Travelers, Artificial Intelligence Will Save You appeared first on InsideHook.
There you are, poring over the endless serried ranks of supercars, when it suddenly dawns on you. Many of these cars are one-of-a-kind. Theyre multi-multi-million-dollar asset classes all on their own. And yet none of them are roped off. You can press your nose right to the glass.

Thats a really important aspect of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, says Charles Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, and founder of the annual summertime event in southern England that marks its 30th anniversary next year. You can get close up to these extraordinary cars. And not once have we had any damage to any of them. We had five of the surviving six Bugatti Royales one year. People are very respectful of these kinds of vehicles.

When he says people, thats no small number. Some 200,000 now attend the four-day event on the rolling grounds of the historic Goodwood House. They cram local hotels, come in camper vans and with tents, and with good reason. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is arguably the only car show in the world to combine classic and contemporary cars and motorbikes, driving experiences, hill climbs and track racing  one thing you have to get used to is the constant sound of roaring engines and screeching tires, and wafting clouds of rubber smoke  together with the unveiling of new models and concepts, seminars and a taste of cars to come.

Turn a corner and theres motorsport legend Jackie Stewart. Turn another and theres a bustle of outstretched pens following a man with a trim mustache  that will be CART Indy Car and Formula 1 world champ Nigel Mansell, off to be reunited with his Williams racing car for the first time in three decades. Look to the track and theres Grand Prix motorcycle star Wayne Rainey racing again for the first time since he was paralyzed in 1993. Up in the sky, almost ignored, are the Red Arrows, the RAFs aerobatic team.

Wayne Rainey, seen at the front, rides again for the first time since he was paralyzed in 1993. Photo: Nick Dungan via Goodwood

The event has had a life of its own from the beginning, says Gordon-Lennox. We expected a few thousand in the first year at the very best and even then 25,000 people turned up. I think it works now for the reasons it did then: its a shared experience and everyone there loves cars and motorbikes. Its never tried to be very commercial and always focused on access. Thirty years ago there just wasnt any way of seeing the kind of cars we have at the Festival of Speed, unless you were lucky enough to own one. But the goodwill towards an event that brings it all together  Paris-Dakar, NASCAR, Formula 1, Formula E, TT, rally, its all here  is amazing.

It needs to be, not least because, contrary to most concours events, none of the owners are paid to show their incredible vehicles at Goodwood, the grounds of which also host the headquarters of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. They do it because they want their vehicles  brought out of museums or very secure storage for private collections  to be included in the conversation.

Theyre shipping their cars over from all parts of the world just because they feel it would be great for people to see and enjoy them here in this setting  and because we give the owners a really fun time, says Gordon-Lennox. In a way it is a coming together of that world. We hate being called just a motor show. Thats a thing of the past really. This is celebratory, be that of the future of mobility or the last 100 years of invention and creativity.

Charles Gordon-Lennox [left], the 11th Duke of Richmond, founded the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1993. Photo: Dominic James via Goodwood

It is like no other motor show. Theres certainly nothing like it abroad, agrees Andrew Pilkington, the U.K. managing director of Hyundais luxury marque Genesis, which has hosted events at Goodwood for the last three years. In fact I think that traditional kind of motor show isnt of much interest to manufacturers anymore  there just isnt the return on investment, and theyve always tended to be rather static. In contrast, Goodwood is a celebration of all thats good in the automotive world in a very dynamic way. Its a fraternity of enthusiasts. Theyre not there to buy a car but to experience cars. Its an immersive, visceral experience: the smells, the noise, seeing the whites of the drivers eyes.

Certainly its not just the static cars that you can get up close to. No gamble is taken with visitor safety, of course, but all the same, there arent too many opportunities at motor shows to be separated by a simple hay bale from a car catching air as it passes you, and then the next minute to be indulging in the luxury lifestyle with which the high-end automotive world is increasingly associated.

In fact Id argue that Goodwood works so well because its as much about lifestyle as it is performance. It has that right recipe of emotions, says Sadry Keiser, the chief marketing officer of Roger Dubuis. Ever mindful of that connection between cars and watches, this super-luxe Swiss brand is at the Festival of Speed, too. The bottom line is that Goodwood does what other car shows dont: it allows you to really feel the passion behind that broad interest in cars that all the visitors share. Its not just about engine size. Its the whole package of what cars like this represent.

Goodwood is a celebration of all thats good in the automotive world in a very dynamic way, says Pilkington. Its a fraternity of enthusiasts. Photos: Tom Baigent via Goodwood

The Festival of Speed  which has a sister event, Goodwood Revival, focused around vintage cars, in mid-September  certainly gets back to the heart of what fuels many peoples love of driving, and of cars and motorcycles simply as objects of design and culture. Gordon-Lennox was brought up in the automotive arena; Freddie March, his grandfather and an amateur racer, established a motor circuit on the estate in 1948, in the process becoming Britains first post-war motor race meeting at a permanent venue. It ran competitions for 18 years but, thanks to noise and politics, as Gordon-Lennox says, it finally closed to anything other than testing in 1966. The Duke of Richmond had always wanted to bring the track back to life. And, he concedes, it would also bring some much-needed cash in to help maintain the huge 17th century house, its 12,000 acres and 550 staff members.

Weve been super lucky because we needed to find new ways of driving revenue for the estate and always wondered if cars might be the way, and of course it fits with the history of the place too, he says. Now were looking to build the festival as a convener of all sorts of ideas around mobility and wondering if we could make the event work somewhere else around the world too. We actually have a huge following outside of the U.K. Were closer to making that happen than we ever have been, though obviously the challenges are different because here we have complete control of the site.

Indeed, perhaps what finally makes the Goodwood Festival of Speed so appealing is its sense of place  that contrast of mechanical commotion and English countryside calm, the grease and grime of V12s and the elegant refinement of one of the U.K.s most striking Grade I listed buildings. It is, Gordon-Lennox concedes, a rather special place in which to spend your childhood.

From about the age of five onwards I spent a lot of time here with my grandfather, met all the racing drivers of the era, saw all the great cars, so a love of them was probably inevitable, he remembers. I always wanted to bring that association back to Goodwood. Of course theres still always the pressure to raise our game every year. Thats a terrifying experience for everybody involved, trying to host drivers we havent had before, to get hold of cars we havent had before. But it comes good in the end.

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CHONGQING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A new China-Europe freight train route linking southwest China's Chongqing municipality with Melzo in Italy was recently launched.

A freight train, operated by the China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing), departed from Chongqing on Saturday and will first arrive in Melzo. Thereafter, it will head to Verona, a tourist city in Italy's north. The entire trip will take about 22 days.

The train is carrying goods worth 10 million U.S. dollars, which include daily necessities, clothing, household appliances and machinery equipment, mainly from the eastern and southern regions of China, said Qi Dan, general manager of Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd.

The China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing), launched in March 2011, now operates nearly 40 routes reaching nearly 100 cities in Asia and Europe. 
A suspected illegal migrant worker from Indonesia (left) is detained before her papers are checked, during a crackdown in Kelang, outside Kuala Lumpur Sept. 1, 2013.

Indonesia has temporarily stopped sending workers to labor-starved Malaysia and slammed Kuala Lumpur for allegedly violating an agreement on recruiting workers and putting them at risk of being used as forced laborers.

Indonesias ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, who goes by one name, said Kuala Lumpur was using an illegal online recruitment system to hire Indonesian domestic help, contrary to the deal signed with much fanfare in April.

Malaysia does not respect [the agreement], so we suspended [sending workers] starting from today until there is a guarantee that Malaysia will stop the online recruitment system, Hermono told BenarNews, adding that Jakarta took the decision after consultations with the foreign and manpower ministries.

Hermono said the suspension would take effect immediately but Indonesia would send 10,000 workers to Malaysia because they were recruited before the decision was made.

The suspension may deal a blow to Malaysias economic recovery efforts as well as its attempts to improve its bottommost ranking in the U.S. State Departments Trafficking in Persons Report.

Malaysia has a shortage of at least 1.2 million workers across the manufacturing, plantation and construction sectors, Reuters recently reported, citing industry and government data.

And in 2021, the U.S. State Department relegated Malaysia to Tier 3 in its annual report assessing efforts by countries worldwide to combat human trafficking, for not doing enough to put officials implicated in human trafficking behind bars.

To combat issues such as trafficking and forced labor, among the provisions of the agreement between Malaysia and Indonesia was the introduction of the so-called One-Channel System for the recruitment, monitoring and repatriation of migrant workers for better oversight.

According to the Indonesian embassy, around 352,000 Indonesian migrant workers were registered in Malaysia, most of them working in plantations.

Indonesian envoy Hermono said the so-called MAID Online System (MOS) used by the Malaysian immigration department could put Indonesian workers at risk as it allows them to enter the country using a tourist visa before applying for a work permit.

Illegal online recruitment leads to unintended consequences, he said.

The agreement signed April 1 also intended to provide greater protection for Indonesian migrant workers in the neighboring country, following cases of abuse of domestic help by their employers.

Indonesian President Joko Jokowi and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Jakarta.

PM Ismail himself wanted President Jokowi to witness the signing, but now whats the point? Malaysia goes its own way and does not agree with Indonesia, even though it is an agreement between governments, Hermono said.

The process is our process

Meanwhile, Malaysian Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin defended the use of the online system, saying anyone entering the country must have proper documentation.

The online system is something that we have announced to the world. It is not only for Indonesias foreign workers, but for all foreign workers, he said at an event in Malaysia when questioned by reporters.

The process is our process whether we want to do it online or through agents. It is all about understanding that only people that have documents can come and stay in our country, he said.

Malaysias Human Resources Ministry said in a statement that it would talk to the Home Ministry to find immediate solutions to the issues related to the entry of Indonesian foreign workers to the country.

Alex Ong, a labor activist with Migrant Care Malaysia, an NGO, called the Indonesian governments move a soft rebuke to Malaysia, which he accused of not being serious about improving the conditions of migrant workers.

Malaysia doesnt really appreciate the relationship between the two countries, Alex told BenarNews.

The President of the Malaysian Employment Agencies Association, Foo Yong Hooi, meanwhile, urged Malaysias government to comply with the agreement with Indonesia and abandon the online system.

The Ministry of Manpower has worked hard to comply with the MoU, but other ministries must also cooperate to ensure that it goes well, Foo was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

There must be harmonization between ministries to ensure this suspension is lifted, said Foo, adding that labor supply companies stood to lose out if the ban persisted.

Alvin Prasetyo in Jakarta contributed to this report.
A U.S. Navy Freedom of Navigation Operation near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea drew a strong reaction on Wednesday from Chinese military officials who said the American warship had illegally trespassed into its waters.

A spokesman from the Southern Theater Command of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), whose areas of responsibility include the South China Sea, said in a press release that the command organized air, naval forces to track and warn away USS Benfold destroyer that illegally trespassed into Chinese territorial waters off Xisha islands.

Xisha is the Chinese name for the Paracel archipelago, claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan but entirely under Chinese control.

The U.S. Navys 7th Fleet, meanwhile, released a statement saying its Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.

The USS Benfold then exited the excessive claim and continued operations in the South China Sea, according to the statement which said the U.S. challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant.

Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations, the 7th Fleet said.

Under international law, as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all States, including their warships, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea, it said.

A MH-60 Sea Hawk conducts flight operations aboard the USS Benfold. [U.S. Navy] Chinas illegal claims

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold competing claims over parts of the South China Sea and some islands in it but the Chinese claims are by far the most expansive, covering up to 90 percent of the sea.

Beijing also developed islands it occupies in the South China Sea to back up claims and has fully militarized at least three of them.

The U.S. Navy has challenged Chinas self-proclaimed territorial waters around the Paracel Islands.

An international tribunal in 2016 ruled that the Paracels are in fact not islands and the occupying nation  China  cannot claim territorial sea around them.

In its statement, the U.S. 7th Fleet said by conducting this FONOP, the United States demonstrated that these waters are beyond what the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] can lawfully claim as its territorial sea.

U.S. forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, as they have for more than a century, it said.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, July 13, 2022. [U.S. Navy] In another development, a U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan has moved into the South China Sea.

The U.S. Navy said in a press release the strike group is operating in the South China Sea for the first time during its 2022 deployment.

It includes the USS Ronald Reagan, the navys only forward-deployed aircraft carrier. The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) and the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) are involved in the operation, according to the release.

While in the South China Sea, the strike group is conducting maritime security operations, which include flight operations with fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, maritime strike exercises and coordinated tactical training between surface and air units, it said.

Carrier operations in the South China Sea are part of the U.S. Navys routine operations in the Indo-Pacific.

Chinas South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) think-tank said that, according to the latest flight trajectory of the carrier-borne C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft, the USS Ronald Reagan is sailing on Wednesday just south of the Spratly islands, about 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

Vietnamese sources last week told Radio Free Asia, an online affiliate of BenarNews, that the aircraft carrier plans to visit Da Nang in the second half of July, an event that would draw criticism from China.

The U.S. Navy declined to confirm the visit, saying as a matter of policy, we dont discuss future operations.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas line up in formation in the jungles of Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao province, southern Philippines, July 29, 2009. Five years later, the rebel group would sign a peace deal with Manila, ending their separatist struggle that began in 1978.

More than 7,000 former Muslim separatist rebels are a step closer to being recruited to the national police force that once hunted them in a volatile region of the southern Philippines, after they passed an entrance exam  the basic qualification for recruitment.

For Ryan Saavedra, a former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) foot soldier who took the test, making the cut brings him closer to his dream of securing a future for his young daughter, who belongs to a new generation that he hopes will no longer live in fear of war.

Allahu Akbar, our prayer was heard by Allah. I never expected that I would pass the test, said Saavedra, a wiry 36-year-old.

Born and reared in Sultan Kudarat, a town in southern Maguindanao province, Saavedra is a father to a 1-year-old daughter. He wants her to grow up to see him as a police officer instead of an enemy of the state.

I want my daughter to be proud of her father and finish her studies so she could get a job in the future, Saavedra told BenarNews.

He and other ex-guerrillas who passed the exam must now overcome two more hurdles  passing a screening and undergoing physical training  before they can be inducted as police officers serving the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as part of a peace deal struck between Manila and MILF, the main rebel group here, in 2014.

The agreement stated that former members of MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) be given the opportunity for employment as law enforcers, said Mohd Asnin Pendatun, cabinet secretary for the autonomous regions government.

We are very grateful that we have a high passing rate for the qualifying exam and we are very happy because the sacrifice of our applicants has paid off, he said in a statement. We understand that the validation process of the application is meticulous because we have to ensure that applicants are legitimate MILF and MNLF members.

As many as 7,145 ex-members of MILF and MNLF, out of the more than 11,000 people associated with those groups who sat for the National Police Commissions special qualifying eligibility examinations in May, have passed, the Professional Regulation Commission said.

The results were vetted and released only this week, nearly two months after the first batch of former guerrillas sat for the exam.

Rashid Karon, another former MILF guerrilla in his 30s, said he enjoyed a special dinner with his family on Tuesday night after learning that he had passed.

I am one step away from becoming a policeman, he told BenarNews.

Like Saavedra and Karon, Abdul Hakim Gandarosa, 26, a resident of a village in Marawi City, thanked his family after he posted the highest score in the special examination with a grade of about 92.

In 2017, when he was 21 years old, Islamic State-linked militants ransacked Marawi in a failed attempt to turn the lakeshore city into its caliphate in Southeast Asia.

As with other young Muslims, Gandarosa said he was being recruited to be part of the IS faction, but refused.

The fighting in and around Marawi lasted five months before government forces broke the militant siege, leaving more than 1,000 IS fighters, police, soldiers and civilians dead.

Gandarosa said he wants to help prevent similar attacks in the future, if he eventually becomes a police officer.

It would be hard, but I have to enforce the law, he said. And I will not hesitate to pull the trigger if my life is at risk.

Former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas take an entrance test for the Philippine National Police in Cotabato city, southern Philippines, May 29, 2022. [Handout photo/Moro Islamic Liberation Front]

Pendatun, the BARMM cabinet secretary, said the government of the autonomous region would continue to help applicants in their efforts to be inducted into the national police force.

This is just a testament that symbolized the partnership between the national and Bangsamoro governments for the peace process, he said.

The MILF signed a peace agreement with the central government in 2014, ending its long-running separatist insurgency in the Mindanao region. The group split from the MNLF in 1978, while the latter signed a separate peace deal with Manila in 1996.

One of the conditions of the MILF-government peace deal was the integration of select fighters into the countrys police and military forces, subject to a rigorous selection process.

Apart from recruiting former militants into the Philippine National Police (PNP), the autonomous government is overseeing the disarming and decommissioning of weapons in the possession of 40,000 ex-fighters.

Under the process, each former combatant who turns in weapons is expected to receive a cash payment, including money for education.

But bringing former enemies into the fold isnt sitting well with all members of the national police force.

Seven years ago, 44 police commandos were killed in a fierce firefight with the MILF in the southern town of Mamasapano. The dead officers were on a secret mission to capture or kill Zulkifli bin Hir (also known as Marwan), one of Southeast Asias most wanted militants at the time.

The commandos hunted down and killed Marwan, but they became trapped in a firefight with the MILF guerrillas who believed they were being attacked by enemy forces. The debacle was described as the biggest single-day combat loss for the government in recent memory.

The fighting set back the peace process, and it was only after Rodrigo Duterte succeeded Benigno Aquino III as president that Congress passed a law giving autonomy to the areas in the south controlled by MILF.

Mark Navales in Cotabato, Philippines, contributed to this report.
The Bangchak Oil Refinery is seen through the morning haze in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 17, 2021.

The Biden administrations nominee for U.S. ambassador to Thailand told a Senate committee Wednesday that he would press Bangkok to reduce its dependence on oil and gas from neighboring Myanmar, where the ruling military junta is committing horrifying atrocities.

Robert F. Godec made the pledge in response to a question from Sen. Ed Markey, who, citing a statement from Human Rights Watch , noted that Thailand receives 80 percent of oil and gas exported by Myanmars government.

We are seeking ways with the Thais to increase the pressure on the Burmese regime. All options are on the table, that includes further action in the oil and gas sector, Godec told a Senate Foreign Relations panel here questioning him and three other nominees for ambassador posts in the Asia-Pacific region as well as a nominee to serve as the U.S. representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Godec promised committee members that he would focus on efforts to work with Thailand to pressure its neighbor.

The Burmese regime continues to carry out horrifying atrocities. It is critically important that this stop, he said using the old name for Myanmar. Burma and the Burmese regimes horrifying actions have been a top issue in discussions with Thailand.

According to the statement released by Human Rights Watch in January, the state-run Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is responsible for the largest gas revenues paid to junta-controlled accounts through its purchases of about 80 percent of Myanmars exported natural gas from the Yadana and Zawtika gas fields. It said natural gas generates about U.S. $1 billion in foreign revenue annually.

Ive repeatedly called for the United States to take a page out of the EUs playbook and sanction the Myanmar oil and gas enterprise, Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Godec, referring to the European Union.

Since seizing control of Myanmar through a February 2021 coup that ousted a democratically elected civilian-led government, the Burmese junta has jailed opposition leaders and launched attacks that have killed more than 2,000 civilians, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an NGO based in Thailand.

Then-U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec (left) helps his wife, Lorri Godec Magnusson, hold a candle during the 20th commemoration of the 1998 bombing of the U.S Embassy in Nairobi, Aug. 7, 2018. Mrs. Godec was left paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair after the bombing. [Andrew Kasuku/AP]

Blinken visit

The hearing on Capitol Hill followed Sundays visit to Bangkok by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who took a hardline stance against the Myanmar government after meeting with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the former Thai army chief and ex-junta leader who spearheaded a coup in 2014.

Blinken said the Thai and other governments in Southeast Asia must push the Burmese junta to end its brutal violence and steer the country back on a path to democracy, as he called on Myanmar to institute the Five-Point Consensus it agreed to in April 2021.

The consensus, hashed out during an emergency summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta that month, called for an immediate end to violence in the country, the distribution of humanitarian aid, dialogue among all parties and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar who would be permitted to meet with all stakeholders.

Unfortunately, it is safe to say that we have seen no positive movement. On the contrary, we continue to see the repression of the Burmese people, Blinken said, noting that members of the opposition were in jail or in exile. The regime is not delivering what is necessary for the people.

In its January statement calling out PTT for its oil purchases, HRW noted that petroleum giants Chevron and TotalEnergies had announced plans days earlier to pull out of Myanmar.

Months earlier, the New York-based human rights watchdog had joined 76 NGOs in calling for PTT to not expand its oil business ties with the junta, noting that the state-owned petroleum company had been involved in exploration in Myanmar for three decades and had paid billions of dollars to the neighboring government.

But with production declining in recent years, the company has ramped up its midstream and downstream investments in the country, with the stated goal of becoming the top Myanmar provider of petroleum products, HRW said in May 2021 .

Thailands military-dominated government has enjoyed close ties with the Burmese military and been slow to criticize its neighbor since the generals seized power there last year.

Earlier this month, Prayuth played down reports of a Burmese fighter jet entering Thailands airspace amid fierce fighting across the border, even though the Thai air force had scrambled two jet-fighters during the incident.

It looks like a big deal but its up to us to not make a mountain out of a mole hill  we have a good relationship, he said at the time.

Godec, a long-time diplomat served most recently as acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, a post he assumed on Jan 20, 2021  the date of President Joe Bidens inauguration  until Sept. 30, 2021. He had previously served as ambassador to Kenya.

The Senate committee did not take any action at the end of Wednesdays hearing.
BEIRUT, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday said he hopes the UN Security Council extends the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is expected to end on Aug. 31, 2022.

"Lebanon appreciates the important role of the UNIFIL in maintaining security and stability in the southern county," Aoun said in a statement released by Lebanon's Presidency.

The president's remarks came during his meeting with Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, UNIFIL's head of Mission and Force Commander, to discuss the security situation on the southern border.

Aoun highlighted the importance of increasing coordination between the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeepers to promote stability in the southern region and prevent conflicts rising between peacekeepers and the local community in a number of villages.

For his part, Saenz reiterated UNIFIL's commitment to continue working with the Lebanese army to maintain peace and stability in southern Lebanon.

He added that a report will be released by the UN Security Council about the situation in southern Lebanon during the period from Feb. 19 to June 20 this year, and a session will be held on July 21 to decide on the extension of the UNIFIL mandate.

As of June 30, 2022, UNIFIL has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from 47 troop-contributing countries with a mandate to monitor the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel, and support the Lebanese Armed Forces in keeping the area south of the Litani River free of unauthorized armed personnel, weapons, or other assets, according to the UN website. 
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.
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Santos have parted ways with Ricardo Goulart, just six months after the veteran forward joined the Brazilian Serie A club.

The 31-year-old made 30 appearances for Santos, scoring four goals and providing three assists. But he has not scored in any competition since March and struggled for playing time under manager Fabian Bustos.

Santos had high hopes for Goulart, who was given the No. 10 shirt made famous by Pele when he arrived from Guangzhou FC in January.

After an impressive start to his spell at the Vila Belmiro, Goulart fell out of favor under Bustos and has had few first-team opportunities in recent weeks.

The barren spell marks a stark contrast to Goulart's prolific time with Guangzhou FC, when he scored 110 goals in 174 matches. He helped the club win three Chinese Super League titles and lift trophy once in the Asian Champions League. 
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Division of Graduate and Continuing Education is holding a virtual information session on Wednesday.
PITTSFIELD  A man accused of stabbing two people on Tyler Street last fall, seriously injuring both, is seeking his release from pretrial custody on the basis that he has been held for too long.

The Berkshire District Attorney's Office said in court filings that it is prepared to go to trial to prosecute Joshua Lofink, 36, for the stabbings, and only awaits the results of DNA testing that "may reveal the victim's blood" at Lofink's Brown Street apartment.

Lofink was arrested on Sept. 17 and charged in Central Berkshire District Court in connections with the stabbings. He was ordered held without the right to bail after a dangerousness hearing in district court.

A Berkshire County grand jury on Dec. 26 handed up indictments charging Lofink with two counts of mayhem, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily, and vandalism. He was arraigned in superior court, where more serious cases are tried, later that month.

He was again ordered held without bail in January at the superior court level. Defense lawyer David Pixley has petitioned the court for Lofink's release anew, on the basis that the length of time Lofink may be held before trial has been exceeded.

Police said Lofink and his girlfriend left that apartment the evening of Sept. 16 with their dog.

Three people, including the two stabbing victims, were nearby and said they saw the couple "mishandling" their pet pit bull, a prosecutor said in a recent filing.

The group, who were strangers to Lofink, confronted him about his alleged treatment of the canine, prompting a verbal argument that escalated.

Prosecutors allege Lofink stabbed one of the men in the group that confronted him eight times, causing injuries that required two surgeries, including 50 staples and 30 stitches, wrote Assistant District Attorney Amy Winston in a filing.

She said in the documents that Lofink allegedly slashed the first victim's tires then fled with his girlfriend east on Tyler Street.

Another man went to the injured man's aid, then got into a vehicle and followed after Lofink, according to court documents. This man pulled over when he reached Lofink, who authorities say allegedly leaned into the man's vehicle through a window and stabbed him, too.

The second victim "told police that he believed the assailant was trying to kill them," according to Winston's filing. He suffered a stab wound that struck a major artery, causing nerve damage that required at least two operations.

Police later executed a search warrant at Lofink's home and observed blood stains. The prosecutor said part of the attack was captured on surveillance video.

The request for release, which was opposed by the DA's office, has been taken under advisement by Judge John Agostini.
Five years in the making, Berkshire Flyer's inaugural run from New York City to Pittsfield a 'sold out' success As Train 1235 pulled away from Gate 6 at the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, an announcer welcomed passengers to the new Berkshire Flyer line with a phrase not heard in New York City in more than 50 years  This train is en route to Pittsfield.

With the Berkshire Flyers inaugural run, the hopeful dream of expanded passenger rail service in the heart of the county became a bit more real this past weekend. There are still many more stops on the journey to sustainably reestablishing the Flyer, including all the typical barriers to improving public transit in underserved areas, but the train is at least out of the station without a hitch  and thats a start.

Those who climbed aboard for a journey that began at Penn Station in New York City and arrived at Pittsfields Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center via Albany-Rensselaer were the first to follow the Flyers path in more than half a century. Its the first of many more over this summer season and the next for a pilot program seeking to rev up rail service in the region by way of this long-dormant NYC-Berkshire connection.

Getting the Flyer back on track was an effort that was already years in the making when COVID derailed things in 2020. Congratulations to the folks behind those years of work who stuck with it and matched their ambition on regional rail connections with the sweat equity necessary to get this pilot rolling down the track. That goes for local rail advocates, state transit officials, regional planners, Amtrak and the members of the Berkshire congressional delegation who have agitated for augmenting public transit in Western Mass. on behalf of their constituents  particularly state Sen. Adam Hinds, who in many ways has been the spiritual conductor of the Flyers revival for nearly half a decade.

All that energy appeared to pay off this past weekend as a Berkshire-bound train arrived to an air of celebration. With bustling shuttles and helpful downtown ambassadors greeting those disembarking in Pittsfield, there was a palpable  and well-earned  spark of hope in the air as the Flyer finally got to spread its wings.

Berkshire Flyer passengers return home, signaling end of the train's first weekend of operation. Some say they'll be back As the Berkshire Flyer returns to New York, it took several visitors to the area home with it. Each of them had something a little different to say, whether it was what brought them here or how they spent the weekend trip.

We share that hope. We also respect organizers efforts enough to be clear-eyed about the remaining obstacles between an admirable first run and making the Flyer sustainable long-term. We tip our hats to a healthy start but turn our eyes to the finish line  now comes the less celebratory and more analytical phase of the pilot where we see if the modern Flyer makes economic and logistical sense over time. Given the pilot schedules rigid and somewhat awkward timing of departures and arrivals in New York and Pittsfield, that would almost certainly entail eventually adding more trains. This arguably puts the Flyer in a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum: Can the pilot attract enough riders with the current timeframe to warrant adding more trains at more times in order to hopefully attract more riders?

Thats a tough question and a real challenge that we hope the Flyers champions also are willing to meet with clear eyes. Still, this smooth inaugural run offered a solid and hard-won proof of concept, and even if the light at the end of that conceptual tunnel is still a ways off, it pushes the Berkshire Flyer and all it offers further down the track into the realm of the possible.
NANJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Jiangsu Port Group launched a container line to Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

The new route begins at Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, and stops at Taicang City and Vietnam's Haiphong before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City.

The new line was launched to meet the rising trade demand between Nanjing and its surrounding cities and Southeast Asia after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership came into effect.

Operated weekly, a one-way trip on the route takes about seven days. The group said the new service would help solve the problem of insufficient space for direct trade from Nanjing to Vietnam, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries. 
TEHRAN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday that the Islamic republic's stance toward the talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal is quite clear, and Tehran will remain committed to the negotiation process for resolving the differences.

Nasser Kanaani made the remarks at a press conference in reaction to the comments by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Tuesday, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Colonna warned there are only a few weeks remaining before the closure of the window of opportunity to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), accusing Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during the talks in Doha earlier this month, while forging ahead with its uranium enrichment program.

Without Tehran's efforts, "the window of diplomacy would not remain open until now," Kanaani said, adding it is the United States that has pulled out of the deal and refrained from carrying out its obligations.

Nuclear negotiations are continuing either through exchanging indirect messages or talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, as well as their deputies Ali Bagheri Kani and Enrique Mora, he noted, adding that the date and venue for the new round of the negotiations will soon be determined.

Kanaani expressed hope that all European parties would adopt a constructive approach, helping the talks to bear fruit.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna, but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.

After a three-month pause, the talks resumed recently in the Qatari capital Doha but failed to result in any agreement to settle the remaining differences. 
Two former law enforcement officials are demanding a total of $10 million in damages from Grant County for an alleged pattern of retaliatory conduct by Sheriff Tom Jones and Undersheriff Ryan Rectenwald that forced them to resign.

Dustin Canfield, 38, and Darrik Gregg, 48, have filed a tort claim, which is an informal notice that a lawsuit is pending if a settlement is not reached beforehand. Both men were in Jones command staff when they began investigating apparent fraudulent use of tax dollars by Chief Deputy Ken Jones, brother of the sheriff.

Canfield and Gregg held the same rank as Jones when they approached the sheriff in May 2021 to express allegations made by several subordinates that his brother was committing timecard fraud. Deputies reported that work couldnt get done because of Chief Jones absences to perform freelance work for the Seattle Police Department in Seattle.

From the time they raised the issue until their resignations in the fall of 2021, Canfield and Gregg claim they were subjected to a series of abuses.

Sheriff Jones and Undersheriff Rectenwald made it clear to their subordinates Chief Deputies Canfield and Gregg through their statements, actions and inactions that they intended to cover-up, whitewash and otherwise protect Sheriff Jones brother regarding the apparent fraudulent conduct, states the tort claim.

The notice says that Chief Jones participated in the abuse, which included heated, vulgar and angry comments, as well as accusations of disloyalty and directives to quash any rumors that arose.

Closed door meetings with administrators were held to discuss the issue but excluded Canfield and Gregg, states the claim

Canfield and Gregg claim that increasing intolerable tensions and distrust led them to resign four and five months, respectively, from the time the complaint was brought forward.

The two men are represented by the Wenatchee law firm of Lacy Kane & Kube. They are asking the county to settle the claim for $5 million apiece to cover lost wages, emotional distress, attorney fees and court costs.

Their legal paperwork points out that whistleblowers are protected by state law from retaliation for speaking out about perceived wrongful actions at work. And that wrongful discharge occurs when employees are driven out of a job after reporting or opposing misconduct by a co-worker.

Last fall, Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen was appointed by former Grant County Prosecutor Garth Dano, who retired in December, to investigate the matter. After reviewing hundreds of documents, Rasmussen determined Chief Jones had not properly accounted for his time back home, and both Sheriff Jones and Rectenwald had sought to cover up the discrepancies.

"The fact of a tort claim means that injuries to workers have occurred, which should be avoided by any agency," Rasmussen told The Center Square after learning of the claim.

At the heart of his investigation was the allegation that Chief Jones, like other command staff in Grant County, was picking up an extra $75 per hour working for Seattle PD when the city was experiencing riots in 2020. Defund the police policies had led to a shortage of officers, a problem that continued into 2021 when a vaccine mandate further reduced the ranks.

Salaried managers at Sheriff Jones office were expected to work at least 40 hours per week in Grant County but did not have to punch a clock. Instead, they would take compensation time to make up for any overtime they worked.

Questions arose in the office about how Jones was able to get away from work so much after he began bragging about the money he had earned in Seattle.

Rasmussen found that Chief Jones was paid for 27-hour days on multiple occasions, among other problems with his work schedule.

According to his final report on Feb. 4, Rasmussen concluded that state crimes, such as misconduct, fraud and theft had possibly occurred, as well as possible federal crimes, such as failure to provide honest services. However, he declined to pursue criminal charge because of the "overall complexity" of the situation.

The major impediment to any prosecution is the approval of the sheriff for this behavior and the lack of policies to prevent this from happening. The involvement of the sheriff himself in these practices explains why there were no policies preventing these practices, wrote Rasmussen in the report that was submitted to Grant County Prosecutor Kevin McCrae.

Rasmussen said Tuesday that policies at the Grant County sheriff's office are changing as a result of the investigation. He said the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs offers managerial and technical assistance that could be useful to that agency during a time of change.

Sheriff Jones, Chief Jones and Undersheriff Rectenwald have filed complaints against Rasmussen with the Office of Disciplinary Council with the Washington State Bar Association.

They have accused Rasmussen of writing a politically motivated document intended to damage their reputations. They have asked that he be disciplined for unethical conduct.




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Union min to lay foundation stone of Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology and Yadupati Singhania Super Speciality Hospital on July 16, 2022

Union Minister of Education, and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan will lay the foundation stone of the Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology and Yadupati Singhania Super Speciality Hospital at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur campus on July 16, 2022. The ceremony will be presided over by Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Kanpur.



The school is now being named The Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology to honour the generous contribution of a distinguished alumnus Rakesh Gangwal, Co-Founder, Indigo Airlines.



The Medical School will house a 450+ bedded Yadupati Singhania Super Speciality Hospital, a 50-bedded Center for Cancer Care and Research, an Academic Block, Residential blocks, and multiple centres of excellence (CoE) for R&D in futuristic medicine. The Super Speciality Hospital is being built with CSR support from JK Cements. The Academic block and Residential blocks for the resident doctors

are being built with CSR grants from IBM India and REC Foundation, respectively.
Black-owned, African spirits group Spearhead, has raised $3m in funding from Pendulum, a strategic investment and advisory platform for founders of colour. The investment marks the liquor company's entry into the US and will further power the company's next phase of growth.

Spearhead cofounders, Chris Frederick and Damola Timeyin. Source: Spearhead

The company's products are heavily inspired by Africa, and produced on the continent using local ingredients. Following a strong reception to Spearhead brands Bayab Gin and Vusa Vodka in European markets, the funding from Pendulum will allow Spearhead to accelerate its global reach, introduce new product lines and scale marketing efforts.

Connecting the world to Africa through spirits

Launched in March 2021 by co-founders, Chris Frederick and Damola Timeyin, Spearhead has a growing portfolio of premium spirit brands. The company was born after Frederick and Timeyin noticed a lack of diverse representation in the spirits category, with few beverages that highlight Africas heritage and the quality and craft of the continent.

The essence of Spearheads offering is a line of premium products with African provenance, representing the best of the continents craft and produce, that capture the vibrancy and creativity found in all corners of Africa. The spirits are distilled with local botanicals from across the continent, highlighting unique flavours of many of Africa's different terrains and countries.

Chris Frederick, CEO and cofounder, comments: With a lack of Black-owned African spirits brands exported globally, we have made it our mission to connect the world to Africa through our spirits. Our brands not only increase diversity and challenge cultural bias in the sector, but being produced on the African continent allows us to show the world what Africans have always known about its culturally and resource-rich continent, with products that compete on the world stage in taste and quality, as well as innovation.

Pendulums investment will allow us to realise this vision globally. We are beyond excited about the partnership and their belief in this mission and the power of the African continent.

Leveraging strategic partnerships for US expansion

Spearhead will also be joined by a group of strategic partners, including Kenny Burns, a long-time spirits industry executive with prior roles at Ciroc and Grey Goose and equity stakes in Uncle Nearest and most recently Spearhead; and Donae Burston, founder and CEO of La Fete du Rose, the first entirely Black-owned rose brand from St. Tropez, France.

Robbie Robinson, cofounder and CEO, and Helen Wang, senior associate of Pendulum, comment: The celebration of the African diaspora is alive and well in the US, and we believe this authentic enthusiasm translates meaningfully to the spirits category, where community and storytelling are central to any brand. We couldnt be more excited to work with Spearhead and its founders, Chris and Damola, to amplify the story of a truly differentiated platform that aims to embody and honour the diaspora.

With this investment, were also thrilled to partner with Kenny Burns and Donae Burston, long-time industry veterans, to propel Spearheads growth and launch into the US market.

With 35,000 units sold since launch to market in 2021, Spearhead has amassed accolades and on-trade accounts from London to New York, with a pipeline of new launches to come, including a rum and limited-edition flavoured lines, later this year.

Spearhead also aims to continue to turn the dial towards fairer representation in the drinks market and redefine the industry for good. The group says it will continue its investment in community development across South Africa. In partnership with the organisation uMthombo, Spearhead will use this funding to help uMthombo get young people off the streets and provide them with life-skills training and a pathway to employment.
The incoming board of directors of the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) for 2022/2023 was announced at the association's 75th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 6 July 2022 as follows:

Karabo Songo: Chair The Brave Group Non-Executive Director Monalisa Zwambila: Vice Chair The Riverbed Agency Chief Executive Officer Mathe Okaba: Exco Association for Communication & Advertising Chief Executive Officer Sharleen James: Exco King James Group Group Managing Director Thabang Skwambane: Exco FCB Africa Group CEO Adeshia Singh Singh & Sons Managing Director Alison Deeb Metropolitan Republic Group Chief Executive Officer Andrew Brand Ninety9cents Chief Executive Officer Brenda Khumalo Lobengula Advertising Co-Founder & Managing Director Colett Naidu Wunderman Thompson SA Managing Director Integration Gareth Leck Joe Public United Group Chief Executive Officer Graham Vivian Nahana Communications Group Chief Operating Officer Haydn Townsend Accenture Song Country Lead James Barty King James Group Co-Founder King James: Jarred Cinman VML South Africa Chief Executive Officer John Dixon Publicis Groupe Africa Chief Executive Officer Karabo Denalane TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg Chief Executive Officer Lebogang Sethole The Brave Group Human Capital Executive Leo Manne Net#work BBDO Managing Director Louise Johnston Grey Africa Advertising Managing Director Luca Gallarelli TBWA South Africa Group Chief Executive Officer Mpume Ngobese Joe Public United Co-Managing Director Pete Case Ogilvy South Africa CEO & Creative Chairman Sarah Dexter MullenLowe South Africa Chief Executive Officer Wayne Naidoo Duke Founder and Group CEO Zanele Zwane Duke Managing Director

Karabo Songo was elected to the position of chair, and Monalisa Zwambila to that of vice chair. The Executive Committee for the 2022/23 fiscal includes Mathe Okaba, Sharleen James and Thabang Skwambane.

In his chairmans report, outgoing ACA chair Wayne Naidoo noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had provided the time to review, reset and rethink the associations future and act on delivering new initiatives. Naidoo added that it had taken a crisis to force much needed historical change within the ACA, leaving it stronger than ever as a collective, and more transformed and purposeful than could have been imagined.

Naidoo went on to highlight the numerous ACA achievements over the past year, focusing on four key standout areas including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) both within the ACA and the broader industry, the transformed nature of the ACA membership offering, the introduction of the Effie Awards, recognised globally by advertisers and agencies as the pre-eminent marketing effectiveness award in the industry, and the much-anticipated launch of the MAC Charter Council on 25 March.

The ACAs most transformed Board and Executive Committee

For the first time in its history, in the 2021/22 fiscal, the ACA had a 52% female representative board, which proudly consisted of 36% black female and 20% black male members. Furthermore, the Exco also for the first time consisted of 100% black member representation.

New and improved membership offering

A new and improved membership proposition was launched on 25 April. The broader more inclusive membership is now open to individual members, namely, freelancers/consultants, young professionals (under 35), professionals (over 35), and students. A more inclusive corporate membership alongside the pre-existing principal members (agencies) was also introduced to now include incubators and associates, offering a comprehensive range of benefits to boost future success.

MAC Charter Council

After a prolonged period, the MAC Charter Council was finally launched the on 25 March 2022 by Minister in the Presidency Mondli Ngungubele. Angelo Tandy was appointed as council chair by the minister, while ACA CEO, Mathe Okaba was voted as deputy chair by her peers on the council. ACA board member and human capital executive at Brave Group, Lebo Sethole, was appointed to the position of chair of the planning, strategy and regulatory sub-committee.

Other noteworthy accomplishments included:

The ACAs electronic and producers committee started Producers Training Sessions to enhance the skills producers require in our profession.

The appointment of a new insurance provider, GIB, who services and offering to ACA members commenced on 1 July 2022.

An incredible R1,7m worth of education and personal development funding was facilitated by the ACA. This was directed at enhancing the leadership abilities of 24 women and providing 11 bursaries to students of the Red & Yellow School of Business (both funded by the MDDA), while 15 bursaries were awarded to students of the AAA School of Advertising with funding secured from the MICT-Seta.

In closing, Naidoo encouraged younger members to step up and play an active role in the various ACA portfolios and called on deeper and more purposeful relationships with our industry partners including the likes of The Loeries, MASA, Creative Circle, IAB, ARB and others.

We have the ability to be at the top of our game globally through our collective efforts. Lets continue our quest to be world class, he added, prior to thanking the exco, secretariat and board for their courageous and professional conduct throughout all the adversity.




When you're looking for positive, purposeful, swift action in a time of crisis there's one organisation you know you can rely on. The Gift of the Givers Foundation is always ready to step in when needed, getting on with the job at hand with the minimum of fuss but with maximum results.

In recognition of International Nurses Day and also to spread a little cheer, Bonitas, in collaboration with Gift of the Givers, honoured 470 nurses at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in KZN. Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system and this gesture was to show appreciation for their exceptional service, especially in very trying times, such as the Covid-19 pandemic  when the entire healthcare environment was under enormous pressure.

"The Gift of the Givers needs no introduction," says Lee Callakoppen, principal officer of Bonitas Medical Fund. "The organisation continues to go beyond the call of duty to bring humanitarian aid where needed. It has built its reputation on the principles we, as a corporate citizen, also value: respect, care, professionalism and dedication. Their swift and problem-solving response in the face of any disaster  be it a pandemic, fire, flood, earthquake, tsunami or war  is to be highly commended. And we are proud to announce that Bonitas will be partnering with them for the year ahead."

For 30 years, this extraordinary, non-governmental disaster response organisation has been responding to global challenges in an effort to bring hope, life, and restore dignity to the most vulnerable of people. Gift of the Givers' primary focus is disaster response but other key areas of assistance include hunger alleviation, water provision, healthcare, education and social upliftment.

Headed up by medical doctor, turned humanitarian, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, Gift of the Givers has repaired and restocked hospitals, run clinics, sunk boreholes, dug wells, provided food and shelter to millions  and so much more. And, more recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, KZN riots and water shortages in the Eastern Cape, the NGO brought relief to those who needed it most.

"Our association with Gift of the Givers goes back a few years when we supported various projects on an ad hoc basis. However, recently we reassessed and realigned our CSI strategy to be in sync with our mantra: 'A Medical Aid for South Africa," says Callakoppen. "This means us investing in the social upliftment of South Africans. And who better to partner with than this leading philanthropic organisation? The Bonitas values align with that of the Gift of the Givers, and we look forward to working with them to provide relief to the most vulnerable and marginalised communities, specifically in the field of healthcare interventions."

"We joined Bonitas as our medical scheme in 2019," says Dr Sooliman. "We worked with our financial advisors to find the most appropriate scheme and plan for our staff, and have been impressed with their service, professionalism and how the member always comes first. As a paypoint for the fund, we interact with the team regularly and, through these interactions, have realised there is synergy in our ethos. This led to us working alongside them on selected projects but we are thrilled they are formalising a partnership with us."

Sooliman says the private sector plays a vital role in helping the organisation fulfil its humanitarian vision. "By working in partnership with like-minded and committed corporate partners, we have the ability to make a real difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable people across South Africa, throughout Africa and the world."

"We have handed over an initial R500,000 that will be used for healthcare related disasters," says Callakoppen, "however, additional funding has been set aside for specific healthcare related projects, such as hospital revamps, that are close to the hearts of both the fund and Gift of the Givers."

"I have been fortunate to meet Dr Sooliman on a few occasions and he has engaged with our Bonitas Board," says Callakoppen. "It was humbling to learn more about the healthcare interventions they have put in place, the impact these have had and also just how much they can achieve in a day. He is passionate about the work they do and has a solid belief in the common humanity that unites us. This resonates throughout the organisation, leading with integrity and honesty. We look forward to the lessons we will learn while working alongside them on future projects."




ADDIS ABABA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has repatriated 50,337 nationals from Saudi Arabia in the last 45 days, the Ethiopia Ministry of Women and Social Affairs said on Wednesday.

The returnees, flown home aboard 137 flights, are part of 102,000 Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia scheduled to be returned in a seven to 11 months, starting at the end of last March, the ministry said in a statement.

Out of the 50,337 returnees, 3,628 are minors below the age of 18, the statement said.

"The ministry is working with regional authorities to help integrate the returnees to their families," the statement said.

According to the Ethiopian foreign ministry, more than 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia, 450,000 of them without proper documents.

Thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked to the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and war-torn Yemen every year, risking imprisonment and killings along the way.

In recent months, Ethiopia has stepped up efforts to take back its citizens stranded overseas, mainly Saudi Arabia, as part of the government's "citizen-centered diplomacy."

The government is also working to dismantle sophisticated human trafficking networks and create economic opportunities for nationals with low incomes. 
The humanisation of pets has been a growing trend , and the companionship provided by them was especially prized during the isolating Covid-19 pandemic, growing the demand for pet ownership and arguably catapulting our furry friends further up the 'social hierarchy'.

Source: Supplied

The pet economy is booming as consumers, particularly in developed markets, actively seek to make life as comfortable as possible for their furry companions, from the food they eat, to what they wear and how they travel.

As Clare Varga of WGSN Beauty explains, people are looking for products that have the same properties and values that they look for themselves. "So if youre into clean beauty, you want clean beauty products for your dog. If you want ethically-sourced products, youre going to look for that. If youre using CBD, theres CBD products for dogs," she says.

Hoping to grab a slice of this growing pet economy is Capetonian entrepreneur and dog lover Gill Taylor, who left her corporate job working at a successful footwear company to launch a lifestyle brand, Petite French & Co., devoted to kitting out dogs with stylish essentials and accessories.

Gill Taylor, Petite French & Co. founder. Source: Supplied

When searching for beautifully-designed accessories for her French bulldog Sophie, Taylor struggled to find products that were locally made, and this inspired her to create her own and launch her online retail business 18 months ago.

Petite French & Co. aims to cater to design-conscious dog owners with a growing selection of quality products, including dog bowls, car seats, life jackets and toys, with blankets, puffer jackets and dog treats still in the making.

Taylor talks us through her startup journey, the potential of the pet market and why local production is important for her brand with global ambitions.

Gill, tell us a bit about yourself and your background prior to starting Petite French & Co.

I was the MD of a baby shoe brand called Shooshoos for seven years before I decided to take the plunge and launch Petite French & Co. I poured my heart and soul into the brand and had so much fun with it. Shooshoos grew to become a global baby brand with a growing presence in the USA. I have such a passion for brands and branding.

On a personal note, I love adventure and my dogs more than anything. Ive also fallen in love with sailing, and I am about to embark on a trip from Durban to Cape Town.

What inspired you to take the leap and start your own pet accessories business?

Petite French & Co. had been an idea I was dreaming up for years. I trademarked the name and registered the business around seven years ago but was too occupied with Shooshoos to give it the time it needed. Every time I saw a new small brand enter the market my stomach would tie into a knot.

It happened enough times to make me realise that I had to act now or regret my decision to enter a booming market I had a heartfelt passion for. I left Shooshoos in April 2021 to make this dream come to life.

Source: Supplied

How would you describe the Petite French & Co. aesthetic?

Super luxurious, modern and trendy - sophisticated essentials. Our products are made to integrate into the homes and lifestyles of design-conscious dog parents.

What are some of the consumer trends you identified that convinced you of the pet market's business potential?

Pet ownership has boomed during the pandemic and the global pet care market is set to reach $241bn by 2026. I want my piece of that. Dogs are no longer viewed as pets, but rather everyones favourite family member. I am going after a market that humanises their dog, and wants only the best for them. The trend is now and I couldnt waste the opportunity.

More millennials are living in the city, renting and delaying having children, which means that they have a high disposable income. Their dogs are their baby and they want to spoil them with luxury products. They move around the city and their dogs move with them. Their work weeks comprise of dog-friendly offices or doggy daycare. The market in South Africa lacks beautifully- and smartly-designed pet products that compliment a stylish aesthetic. Customers are looking for niche, well-designed products, which means there is great product opportunity.

There is a massive opportunity to create innovative products for dogs that merge the life between owner and pet and allow closer bonds and more synergy.

Could you share some of the key challenges you've faced establishing your business?

Woah, I feel like I could write a book on this (and maybe one day will). It was quite frightening to experience so much red tape and difficulties wanting to set up a new business, and it frightens me how many entrepreneurs may have incredibly good ideas but will never succeed for these reasons.

Trying to apply for an import and export code was near impossible through SARS. They no longer allow face-to-face applications and everything is done via their site. I had a horrible time. The application gets chucked out and declined if only one thing is incorrect or missing, but it does not alert you as to which it was. I tried to have telephonic appointments with them but their line was so bad I kept having to call back. You would think applying for an export code would be easier to do, but it is near impossible without paying someone to assist you.

Trademarks are expensive but necessary. There are a lot of upfront fees you need to part with and budget for before the first sale even comes in.

I also landed an investor in December 2021. The first tranche of money was paid from overseas into my account in January, there was so much banking red tape to try and get the money released into my account it was the most stressful time I have experienced. The bank held onto the money without releasing it for almost 20 days. The frustrating part was no one at the bank assisted me or helped me clear it and I had to figure and fumble my way through it alone. Only after complaining on social media did I finally get some help from them and get the money released.

Source: Supplied

Can you take us through your typical product development process?

Petite French & Co. is a local lifestyle dog brand with a strategy to become a global brand. That means that we are developing all kinds of products from car seats to dog treats. We also dont want to copy or reverse engineer, but create our own unique brand in the market. This makes product development incredibly slow and difficult.

Our car seat took a year and a half to produce from concept. It involved me driving all over the Western Cape to try and source the correct trims and materials I wanted to use. Every time we got somewhere with the pattern, we wanted it to be better or more user-friendly, and we tested it again and again. My two Frenchies at home have become extremely good at fitting things on for me or trying things out.

Why is it important to you that Petite French & Co. products are made locally?

A few years back I was at an entrepreneurship event, and heard the quote that if every small business registered in the world employed just two people, there would be no unemployment in the world. I think the only hope for South Africas economy is up to small business. We have the potential to make beautiful products, and have an extremely skilled workforce. If a product of mine can be made in South Africa, I will make it.

The advantage of local production is smaller units and not having to battle with the global shipping crisis  but it is definitely not easy or for the faint-hearted.

How do you think South Africans can be encouraged to shop from more local brands?

The Local Edit is doing an incredible job at showcasing local brands and encouraging to shop local. The only way to encourage South Africans to shop more from local brands is to explain to them what it does to the economy and what a difference it makes to employment in our country.

How would you like to see the brand grow or evolve over the coming years?

Petite French & Co.s goal is to become a global brand. I would like to see the brand sold into luxury department stores and boutiques across the USA, UK and Europe. We are about to ship our first order to a luxury dog boutique in California.

We want to design, develop and sell every item you can think of for your dog. Small steps for now, but we are of course already thinking globally.
To celebrate Mandela Day, Machine_ will be donating its time to host Blackboard learners. In the lead-up to Mandela Day, the agency is raising funds by selling Mandela-inspired designs by its staff, with all proceeds going to Blackboard.

Supplied.Synchronicity an illustration by Vuyani Masango

Blackboard is an initiative that exposes underprivileged high school learners to the creative industry, to make them aware of careers within the discipline - filmmaker, art director, animator or anything that they havent even heard of yet.

The aim is to identify young black people with creative potential to ensure South Africas creative field becomes more demographically representative, Basically, it works to democratise creativity.

New ways of giving 67 minutes

Robyn Campbell, Machine_ MD in Cape Town says that Machine_ has always been a keen supporter of Mandela Day.

In the past Machine_, would donate 67 minutes of its collective time to good causes, but when the pandemic hit, we had to think of new ways to make sure everyone could participate, no matter where they were working or living, to support those in need.

This led them to the Blackboard initiative. We asked key creative team members at Machine_, who are well-known in the industry, to donate their time to create artworks to be auctioned off for a good case, that is Blackboard, she explains.

Last year the agency raised just over R10,000 through its online art raffle. After the raffle closed and the donations were tallied, it also invited Blackboard schoolgoers to spend the day in office with them, learning about the world of advertising and interacting with key players in the industry.

Supplied. One Street At A Time a photograph by Roderick Laka

A great alignment

It was a great success. So, we are thrilled to be launching our 2022 Machine_67 x Blackboard Mandela Day campaign and hope to raise even more funds this year for this amazing community of young people, says Campbell.

In keeping with the aim of the Blackboard initiative, Campbell says as an agency they understand just how important it is to develop young talent. We have an internal programme, The Forge, that finds and shapes undiscovered talent, with a view to making our industry more accessible.

Blackboards slogan is democratising creativity  so its a great alignment for us to be working with them on this campaign, she says.

Supplied. Reconciling Truth a charcoal and pastel drawing by Marnus Nieuwoudt

Finding and developing diverse talent

She emphasises that it is important to be working with high-school goers to showcase that the advertising industry is a variable career path before these talented young people choose what to study after school.

Its vital to support a cause which unearths diverse talent in the South African advertising landscape. Because we know we need it, states Campbell.

Jabulani Sigege, Machine_s executive creative director says the initiative is not only the opportunity for their staff members to showcase their creativity, but also create a pipeline to untapped talent - Talent that can be mentored and exposed to advertising as a career opportunity from high school.

The artworks

This year, nine of our Machine_ 67 talented staff members donated their time to create a unique piece of art inspired by Nelson Mandela, says Campbell.

The pieces are titled:

Reconciling Truth a charcoal and pastel drawing by Marnus Nieuwoudt

a charcoal and pastel drawing by Marnus Nieuwoudt Synchronicity an illustration by Vuyani Masango

an illustration by Vuyani Masango I Never Lose an illustration by Katya Wagner

an illustration by Katya Wagner Rising an acrylic painting by Marissa Steyn

an acrylic painting by Marissa Steyn I pretended to be a drone a photograph by Celeste Jacobs

a photograph by Celeste Jacobs One Street At A Time a photograph by Roderick Laka

a photograph by Roderick Laka Elephant - Wisdom a photograph by Louw Strydom

a photograph by Louw Strydom Ubuntu an illustration by Riyaaz Freeman

an illustration by Riyaaz Freeman End of silence a drawing by Francois Coetzee

Supplied. Ubuntu an illustration by Riyaaz Freeman

Supporting the initiative

Campbell explains that supporting the initiative is easy - and by doing so you can win one of the artworks. Simply donate R50, or more, via Quicket.

The competition closes on Mandela Day, 18 July, at midnight. Winners are then randomly chosen, and the artwork will be sent to them.

All the funds raised will then get donated to Blackboard along with another day of creativity, learning and exploration hosted at the agency for the Blackboard students, adds Campbell.
Ralf Fletcher, CEO, Topco Media Iain Williamson, CEO, Old Mutual

With an unmatched pedigree through partnerships with state departments, big corporations, and the United Nations, the conference is one of a kind and extremely timely. Some of the large corporate partners include:

Platinum partner  Old Mutual

Gold partner  ABSA Bank Limited

Silver partners  Vodacom, Sentech, PwC, Exxaro and Umgeni Water

Bronze partners  Nemesis Accounting and Brand South Africa

The summit kicked off with keynote speaker Iain Williamson, Group CEO of platinum partner Old Mutual, noting that the interconnectivity between economic, social and environmental systems is more evident than its ever been. "Evidence suggests that a good grounding in financial concepts from an early age can be life-changing. This creates a sustainable pipeline across the continent," he said. The journey to sustainability is not straightforward. We need to have a collaborative mindset to turn our collective challenges into opportunities.

Panel discussions brought together speakers who explored trends, best practices and shared where they see sustainability going in the coming years.

Unlocking Africas green economy

During his keynote address, David Renwick, head of investment banking at Absa emphasised that the organisation is deeply committed to sustainability and the key to success is partnerships. Absa is the first South African bank to publish sustainable financing targets, powering South Africa through sustainable financing.

Panel discussion: The green economy - a pipe dream or a future reality?

Moderated by Heidi Barends, head: sustainable finance at Absa, the discussion delved into the gap between where we want to go and whether the goals are feasible. Dr. Stanley Semelane, head of stakeholder relations, ESG and sustainability at Sasol highlighted the need to build our economy in a sustainable manner so that future generations can continue to live on earth! He went on to say that "South Africa needs to balance social-economic needs and climate sustainability needs in a country that sits with the highest unemployment in the world."

Panel discussion: How IoT can be leveraged to drive smart city solutions

Vusi Mngomezulu, head of sales at IoT.nxt, a subsidiary of Vodacom, was joined by speakers from HPE in South Africa, Microsoft and IBM Consulting, in a conversation about the opportunities presented by using the Internet of Things to make cities more efficient and sustainable. The panelists noted the need for cooperation between stakeholders and that what you cant measure, you cant manage.

Panel discussion: Decoupling economic growth from resource generation

The basics are there, its up to us the direction we go in - that was the key point from this discussion which featured Dean Alborough, head of ESG at Old Mutual Alternative Investments. Panelists stressed the need for urgency and how partnerships and reimagining how we measure gross domestic product will get us closer to sustainable growth.

Panel discussion: Water sustainability - securing a sustainable future

Umgeni Waters laboratory services manager, Dr. Ntsapokazi Deppa, was part of a discussion around one of the most important and scarce resources. The panelists took the audience through the current best practices, the options available, and the need for polluters to play a role in reducing the impact pollution has on water quality.

Case study: The essence of business development and sustainability

In this case study Nemesis Accountings CEO, Shani Naidoo, asked the important question: Are we ready for how development and sustainability have evolved? Shani covered possible solutions to South Africas economic problems, including the effect that neurology has. She took attendees through practical steps, emphasising how changing internally can have an external impact on the country at large.






Mike Wingfield, a professor at the University of Pretoria's (UP) Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), has been named the recipient of the annual Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award.

Source: Supplied | From left to right: Jonathan Oppenheimer and Prof Mike Wingfield

Now in its 21st edition, the award was initiated by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust in 2000 to commemorate the Trusts founder, Harry Oppenheimer, and especially his efforts to support human and intellectual development as well as to advance scholarship. The R2m award is ranked as one of Africas most prestigious research grants.

The winning project, titled Quest to unravel the origin and ecology of two human pathogenic fungi and expand the base of medical mycology in South Africa. is focused on fungi that cause diseases in humans in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. "One occurs in mines and infects the skin and lymphatic tissues. The other causes a serious pulmonary disease. We know very little about them  other than from a medical perspective," says Wingfield. In this project, he hopes to discover more about where they live naturally, to better understand them, and avoid the diseases that they cause.

The one fungus that Wingfield will track is sometimes known for its relationship to roses and handlers getting pricked by the thorns. "But the question is whether this is then a fungus on rose thorns  in rose thorns  or is it found somewhere else such as the soil and using injuries such as those caused by rose thorns to enter our bodies," he explains. With regard to mines, it is important to know whether the fungus is in the wood or whether injuries from wooden splinters provide entry points for the fungus, which is found naturally in the environment.

The project is expected to have a far-reaching impact on humanity. Wingfield says: "We need to know a lot more about the world around us in terms of microbes  where they are in the natural environment and what threats they pose to us. Take a plant disease example  most diseases of plants are caused by fungi. They seriously threaten food security. They pop up like Sars Cov-2 unexpectedly and many times from unknown sources. This, we need to know more about  where are they? What are the long-term threats? Knowing such things prepares us for a more secure future."

South Africa is well known for its strength in mycological research (the study of fungi). "This is mostly because we have a powerful plant pathology community and that most plant diseases are caused by fungi. There is a much smaller community of scientists that consider fungi from the medical perspective and most work at the clinical level. We thus have a good opportunity to get to know each other better and to build research bridges and opportunities. I hope to at least explore those opportunities and to get this process started, Prof Wingfield added.

Plant pathology, health science collaboration

The award, a flagship award by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, recognises scholarship of the highest calibre across various academic and research disciplines. The Trust, which dates back to 1958, has grown to become a significant funder of education, arts and culture and civil society organisations. Over the past five years, disbursements made have ranged from R100m to R130m annually, with roughly 60% allocated to higher education. This is part of a sustained effort to build the local academy.

Wingfield has been involved in research projects in many parts of the world, particularly those relating to the health of trees and determining the pathways of movement of the organisms that cause tree disease. Among his accolades, are the Kwame Kwame Nkrumah Award, of the African Union; the Herschel Medal, of the Royal Society of South Africa and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Science and Technology Forum.

He has received honorary doctorates from, among others, North Carolina State University and the University of British Colombia. He is also one of a select number of academics in South Africa included in the Clarivate list of the worlds most highly cited scientists. Wingfield works closely with his wife, Professor Brenda Wingfield, a previous recipient of the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award.

"This award has come to me in the latter part of my career. Maybe that is mostly the case for awards of this type that have huge prestige and likely would not go to early-career scientists. I see my role as one primarily of mentorship. To pass on my knowledge and experience to younger scientists  to share my passion for the fungi and for research with others that might build on what I have been privileged to do  not only via this award  but linked to my career as a scientist," says Wingfield.

Fortifying the field of medical mycology

Chair of the trust, Jonathan Oppenheimer, states: "Professor Wingfields project is a game-changer. Although some excellent work on the ecology of fungi such as Sporothrix has been conducted by members of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology, very little connection has been made to those researchers working on the clinical relevance of these fungi. An important part of this project will be to fortify the field of medical mycology in South Africa and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust will give him the necessary support in line with its vision."

An elated Professor Tawana Kupe, vice-chancellor and Principal of UP, said that he was thrilled that an academic from the University of Pretoria has received this award. "This showcases the strong focus that UP places on research excellence and postgraduate education. We are a future-focused university that is strong on transdisciplinary research. Conducting research that makes an impact underpins the Universitys strategy."

Kupe adds: "As one of UPs exceptional researchers, Prof Wingfield is well placed to use this prestigious award to promote research excellence and to mentor young scientists internationally. This will contribute to the next generation of scientists, as well as boost knowledge production."
The University of Cape Town's Jagger Library, gutted by a fire that started on 18 April 2021, is being "reimagined", but the funds necessary to rebuild the library, in whatever form that may be, have not yet been secured.

The University of Cape Towns Jagger Library, which housed thousands of theses, artworks, and precious documents, after it was gutted by a fire in April 2021. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks / GroundUp

Jagger Library was arguably one of the most important institutions in the country. Its loss is one of the worst heritage disasters in recent African history.

An extensive public participation and imagining process is ongoing, but the insurance on the building has not been paid out pending legal action between the respective insurers of the University of Cape Town (UCT), South African National Parks (SANParks) and the City of Cape Town.

The Jagger Library building was home to UCTs Special Collections, including one of the worlds most extensive collections of African books and films, and valuable archival collections documenting key parts of southern African history.

Sixteen months after the fire, things are moving slowly. Save for a temporary roof installed in August last year, which took two months, the Jagger building has not been touched.

UCTs insurers have urged the university to take SANParks to court over an expired contract between SANParks and a contractor that was supposed to deploy helicopters to douse the fire. This legal action is ongoing.

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholala told GroundUp that although the action is brought in the name of UCT, the legal action is essentially between the respective insurers of UCT, City of Cape Town, and SANParks.

Moholala said he could divulge no further information on the legal action, the insurance claims, or investigations into the fire, but referred GroundUp to a report on the fire by SANParks. In this report, Table Mountain National Park claims that the helicopter contractors responded appropriately and on time.

Among the archives are pamphlets from political and non-profit organisations, documenting key moments in South African history. Photo: Daniel Steyn / GroundUp

Executive director of UCT Libraries Ujala Satgoor says that building the new Jagger Library will require significant funding, which is dependent on the insurance payout and additional fundraising by UCT.

In the interim, various people at UCT are using the time to conceive of the future of the Jagger Library. Before the fire, a process was started to develop a libraries masterplan. Satgoor says that the fire at Jagger has presented an opportunity to broaden the horizon of that project.

Worldwide, the traditional concept of a library is rapidly changing, says Satgoor. Libraries are being redefined with an emphasis placed on intellectual experiences. Future libraries will be more open and innovative spaces, conducive to learning in various ways.

While collecting and storing hard-copy books and documents will always be an important function of a library, Satgoor says, she imagines a future library complex at UCT that contains a balance and blend of spaces, offering an array of different services and experiences.

However, some members of the UCT community want the building to be restored to its original state. This could potentially be a simpler process, particularly in terms of dealing with heritage authorities. The Jagger Library is a provincial heritage site.

But the debate is also political. In 2012, the Reading Room was restored to its original state, with additions built in the 1960s and 1970s stripped away. But UCT has changed since then. We all know that Fees Must Fall shook the foundations of higher education as we know it, Satgoor says.

She says that new questions have emerged about how to make education and learning more inclusive for young people from diverse backgrounds. What to do with the Jagger Library is connected to the ongoing redefining of UCT as a contemporary African university.

UCTs landscape architect and heritage practitioner David Gibbs says that a reimagined Jagger Library is compatible with a cultural view of heritage as always moving forward and changing.

Both political and practical considerations are being mulled over. A name change is on the cards and debates around how to re-appropriate UCTs colonial architecture are ongoing.

Meanwhile, Gibbs says there is also an opportunity to improve the flow and aesthetics of the plaza space around Jagger. The building itself is not ideally suited for storing sensitive archival material, he says, so the future usage of the library is also in question.

Conservation work on the Herbert Baker collection is underway. Photo: Daniel Steyn / GroundUp

The UCT Futures ThinkTank, established in 2018 by Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, has just wrapped up an imagining process to help conceptualise the future of the Jagger Library.

Normally when processes like this have happened at UCT, they were insular and closed-door. The thinking was to open up the process to the larger community, says Dr Heeten Baghat, project manager for the Jagger Library participation process.

Baghat has been facilitating workshops with UCT staff and students, school students, and members of the public. These workshops, he says, have generated interesting information about peoples aspirations for the Jagger Library.

Baghat says that some of the consultations were more effective than others, but overall it has been a positive process.

It taught us a lot about what is possible and who is interested, and we learnt valuable lessons about the next time something like this happens, he says.

Satgoor says she is excited to see what comes out of the ThinkTanks imagining process, as it may also inform the broader Libraries Masterplan.

This article was originally published on GroundUp.
The owner of the bar in the South African coastal town of East London where 21 teenagers mysteriously died last month has been arrested, police in the Eastern Cape province said on Wednesday.

People gather near empty coffins ahead of a mass funeral for victims of an east coast tavern where bodies of youth were found which prompted nationwide grief, in the Eastern Cape province, in East London, South Africa, 6 July 2022. Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

Forensic teams are yet to reveal their conclusions on how the teens died, with a source close to the investigation saying one theory was a chemical or gas leak and authorities also investigating possible accidental poisoning.

There has been an outpouring of grief at the deaths at the nightspot in Scenery Park township, in a nation used to seeing casualties from a pervasive binge drinking culture.

Angry mourners of some victims have complained that weeks of calls to shut down the tavern went unheeded.

Provincial police said in a statement that the owner, aged 52, was arrested over the weekend, while two employees at the tavern were subsequently arrested on Tuesday.

The owner is expected to appear before the East London Magistrates Court on 19 August 2022 to face charges after an investigation that focused on allegedly supplying minors with alcohol, the statement said.

"Just as we said in the beginning, investigation is a process and needs to be treated with extreme care," Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene said in the statement.
Estimates suggest that the elderly worldwide lose more than $3bn (around R48bn) each year to online fraudsters. In a world focused on communicating with the digital native Generation Z and tech-savvy Millennials, who were born into the digital era, are we leaving the elderly out of the conversation, especially when it comes to online security?

Carey van Vlaanderen - CEO - Eset Southern Africa

Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of cybersecurity firm Eset Southern Africa says that although the younger generations still form an easy and larger target audience for fraudsters, as technology advances and more services move online, more people from older generations are connecting and, as a result, becoming victims. Elderly users of the internet, or silver surfers, though perhaps fewer in number, are often more vulnerable than their younger counterparts, having grown up in a physical rather than digital world. They also tend to be more trusting, making them enticing targets and often have more to lose financially than younger generations, says van Vlaanderen.

This grey digital divide, as it is known, needs to be bridged, especially in a country that has the sixth-highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide, according to recent research conducted by cybersecurity firm Surfshark. The Covid-19 pandemic only amplified the problem as many people suddenly had to work from home on unprotected computers and mobile phones.

Van Vlaanderen cites a lack of education and proper governance as the main reasons that South Africa has become an attractive target for cybercriminals. As a country, our government and the police force are just not equipped to assist people who have been scammed in the same way that they can assist communities on the ground.

Some of the ways we are falling behind include:

Lack of investment in cybersecurity. Not all businesses and individuals have sufficient funds to make provision for cybersecurity and there is a shortage of trained cybersecurity practitioners. Some choose not to spend funds and resources on cybersecurity due to inexperience or lack of knowledge of the threat landscape. This is particularly true for the elderly.





Not all businesses and individuals have sufficient funds to make provision for cybersecurity and there is a shortage of trained cybersecurity practitioners. Some choose not to spend funds and resources on cybersecurity due to inexperience or lack of knowledge of the threat landscape. This is particularly true for the elderly. Slow development of cybercrime legislation and law enforcement training. The Cybercrimes Act was only adopted in January 2020. This legislation empowers our police to act against cybercrimes, but the lack of training is causing issues.





The Cybercrimes Act was only adopted in January 2020. This legislation empowers our police to act against cybercrimes, but the lack of training is causing issues. Poor public knowledge of cyberthreats. In a recent report, iDefense, an Accenture security intelligence company, found that South African internet users are inexperienced and less technically alert than many users in other countries.

While fraud has been around in various forms for centuries, the digital age has given rise to more sophisticated versions of longstanding schemes, giving scammers opportunities to target more victims, more easily. Statistics are likely to represent only a fraction of the actual damage to seniors as many victims are too embarrassed to come forward and admit that they have been taken in by scammers.

We all have digital seniors in our lives, so how can we protect them in our tech-first society? Eset shares five tips that can help them  and, for that matter, you - stay safe online:

Question everything

Be cautious of everyone you interact with online or via email. People you think you know well can easily be impersonated to persuade you to give out important information. Be on the lookout for anything unusual in an unsolicited email - the address could have one digit or letter altered, or the tone of the message could be off. Be cautious about clicking on links or opening attachments in emails, no matter how official the correspondence looks.

Be wary of freebies

It is wise to remember the age-old advice that theres no such thing as a free lunch. If you receive an email congratulating you on winning a competition that you never entered or saying you were picked randomly to win an improbable amount of money, be on guard. These scams will often ask for personal details or a payment upfront for your prize to be released, with an accompanying sense of urgency so that you dont miss out.

Dont fall for the rom-con

Online dating or romance scams are the costliest kind of fraud affecting the older generation today, with fraudsters exploiting their generally more trusting natures and oftentimes their loneliness. When visiting online dating platforms, be aware of photos that look too good to be true. An image search on Google can help you determine if the photo is authentic or a stolen or stock photo. Other red flags include a request for private information such as a mobile phone number so you can talk in a more personal way, a profession of love alarmingly early in the relationship, or a request for money to help them out of a situation.

Put the phone down

Tech support scams targeting seniors are on the rise, where fraudsters phone or even email the target to convince them that there is an issue with their device and to ask for permission for remote access so they can fix the problem. Never allow an unknown person to access your computer.

Speak up

We need to keep an open dialogue with the silver surfers in our lives to ensure they are aware of the threats we are all facing, and how they can avoid them. If you or someone you care about does fall victim to a scam, it is important that you report it to the South African Police Service. If youve sent money to someone, contact your banks fraud prevention department. They can try to limit further damage by cancelling your cards and stopping additional transactions. If you used your credit card you may be able to request a chargeback.

By being made more aware of the dangers of the online world, and how to deal with them, seniors are likely to feel more engaged and less alone, which will go a long way to helping them stay safer online, says van Vlaanderen.




Start-ups, small business and micro-entrepreneurs are enjoying a 'connected hand-up' thanks to the expansion of free Wi-Fi zones across Gauteng's townships. These Wi-Fi spots can be found in bustling townships such as Dobsonville, Naledi, Diepkloof and Tembisa to name a few.

Grand-Pa activation in Tembisa

The announcement of 2020 National Lockdown marked a mass exodus for office-based workers from the traditional workplace to a remote work-from-home environment. As many white-collar service industry employees would have found, having steady and reliable Wi-Fi connectivity was one of the biggest challenges of managing day-to-day tasks.

The number of big businesses that shut their doors during the past two years, coupled with mass retrenchments across the country, ignited the innovation and tested the entrepreneurial mettle of township communities.

Med-Lemon activation in Soweto

Ours is a business which operates at the coalface of township life, the people and the businesses which are the lifeblood of these vibrant communities. We started seeing just how invaluable spaza shops are in townships, not only as the go-to for daily household items, but also for a sense of connection, both socially and for business, says Paseka Molelengoane, co-founder of Indaba Media & Billboards.

He says his team identified spaza shops as an ideal and central location within townships to market consumer brands and to enable small business owners with free high-speed Wi-Fi solutions. The companys free Wi-Fi zone solution was first introduced in 20 Tembisa and Soweto spaza shops in 2021 and since it has proven a hit for both brands and consumers. Indaba Media is on a huge expansion drive in Soweto and other regional township communities.

Grand-Pa activation in Tembisa

Heres how it works:

When spaza shop patrons connect to the outlets free Wi-Fi service, they are automatically connected to the brands product and service campaigns, for the entire period that they remain in the free Wi-Fi zone. Brands are able to conduct polls, promote new products and run competitions to a captive audience and a very clearly defined market segment.

Why it works:

While data costs remain comparatively high in the local market, Molelengoane says Indaba Billboards and Media was intent on making data accessible and removing this barrier to entry for start-ups and entrepreneurs, in townships which have always boasted a thriving local economy and a loyal consumer base.

It has been estimated that 17% of the countrys total employment can be attributed to the informal or township economy. While this may not impact the countrys GDP, the value of this sector of the economy continues to make a significant contribution to creating much-needed jobs and supporting township family households. According to Stats SA, the informal economy employs around 2.5 million workers.

Med-Lemon activation in Soweto

Co-founder of Indaba Billboards & Media, Neo Molefi adds: Over the past two years, weve seen a staggering number of young creatives starting new businesses, offering internet-based service solutions not only for the community but for businesses alike. These young start-ups often work as cooperatives, pulling the resources and capacity of two or three additional people, and theyre taking full advantage of the free Wi-Fi zones weve invested in. Some of these spaza shops double up as their office and we love it.

The free Wi-Fi service was developed to build engagement and to gather data for businesses and brands alike while creating a portal for communities to stay connected to each other. Enabling start-ups has been a welcome spin-off for the team from Indaba Billboards & Media.

Med-Lemon activation in Soweto

Through the Wi-Fi service, we have been able to simultaneously increase brand exposure for consumer brands and offer a connectivity lifeline for small business. Were boys from the kasi, our roots run deep, so were always looking for ways to give a hand-up to young township start-ups. Were putting our money where our mouth is and doing everything, we can make the small business circle bigger, concludes Molefi.




With domestic flights at an all-time low, travellers are experiencing a range of difficulties when it comes to affordable flights. Fortunately, South African domestic carriers have come up with a host of conveniences that make booking and planning for flights that much easier.

Advance planning and shopping around have always been the best way to get the most bang for your buck when buying airline tickets. Nowadays, these steps have become vital for finding affordable flights.

A simple one-stop-shop option is to use an online travel agency such as Domestic Flights South Africa, Travelstart or SA Airlines. These services give you access to a virtual search engine that trawls the internet for all the available flights for your dates. Then, they present you with the cheapest options.

With these online travel agencies, you can compare, filter your preferences, and book a flight that suits your dates and budget. Alternatively, you can do all the hard slog yourself by comparing whats on offer from the major domestic airlines. Heres a snapshot to help you get ahead when planning business or leisure trips.

FlySafair

Online price comparisons are an obvious starting point for finding cheap flights and Flysafair makes it easy with their Low Fare Finder. This convenience works best if youre able to book flexible flight dates. The Low Fare Finder booking engine finds the best prices for departures within 30 days and updates every thirty seconds.

Its easy to keep tabs on updated prices with the Flysafair app, too. This convenience makes planning your travels a breeze with the facility to find the best deals, book your tickets, and manage your flights in the palm of your hand.

You can book on the spot using a variety of secure payment methods like:

Credit and debit

Ozow Instant EFT

Zapper

RCS cards

Secure Instant Deposit (SID) via internet banking

Flysafair Wallet credits

If you prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, you can still make reservations via the call centre or pay cash for your tickets.

FlySafair charges extra for checked bags, but tariffs are super low for those travelling without checked baggage.

Airlink innovations

Airlink barely missed a beat during the last two years, and they arent about to stop delivering affordable and reliable flights now. This airline offers over 5,000 flights a month, with an average of 160 trips per day. With Airlink, you can travel to over 45 different African countries directly and enjoy a host of seamless connections to international destinations thanks to agreements with 17 major players in the airline industry.

Thanks to this, advance planning is a breeze when you fly with Airlink. You can also earn cash back rewards via Airlinks affiliation with the Legacy Reward programme.

The Airlink app offers plenty of conveniences for frequent flyers too, including the ability to:

Search and book regional and domestic flights

Manage travel preferences and payment methods

Download digital boarding passes and check in

Monitor flight status

Receive real-time flight updates

Retrieve details from past flights

Airlink also offers free checked bags on all domestic flights up to a maximum of 20kg in economy class and 30kg in business class.

Need a little extra help during your travels? Airlink allows emotional support and service dogs in the aircrafts cabin free of charge.

SAA

When SAA relaunched its flights in 2021, it had the cheapest airfares on several routes, so dont assume that you should always look to conventional low-fare airlines when searching for the best deals on tickets.

SAAs app offers comprehensive conveniences for travellers including:

Booking and reviewing flights

Flight check-in

Flight information and timetables

Flight status updates

Tracking checked-in baggage and cargo

A destination guide

Voyager information

Lift

The Lift Wallet offers supreme flexibility when it comes to changing or cancelling your flights with this innovative airline. Its also linked to the Pick n Pay shopper card loyalty program, so ticket holders earn rewards whenever they book with Lift.

Uniquely, Lift allows small dogs to travel in a special carry bag under the seat in front of their owner on selected flights.

All passengers enjoy premium coffee while on board while those on evening flights get to sample some fine South African wines.

With Lift you can choose between economy-no baggage and economy flights with free baggage up to 23kg. Premium flights offer extra legroom, double the baggage and unlimited flight changes and credits up to one hour before departure.

Your options summarised

Heres a side-by-side comparison of whats on offer from domestic airlines to help you plan and manage your travels:

Airline App Free baggage Priority boarding Rewards Extras FlySafair Yes No Yes No Purchase lounge access, Airlink Yes Up to 20kg Only bus class Yes Meals & service dogs SAA Yes Up to 23kg No Yes Step Up programme Lift Yes No or 23kg Only Lift Premium Yes Lift Wallet, small dogs allowed in cabin

With so many innovative offerings up for grabs from South Africas domestic carriers, it pays to start planning your travels early, so you can take advantage of the extras that appeal to you. Its the only way to achieve real value for money as fuel prices continue to rise.




Despite a lack of fanfare, the recent lifting of all safety regulations pertaining to Covid came as a welcome surprise to travellers eyeing South Africa for a summer holiday.

Heres how the airline industry is preparing for a solid summer season.

Thanks to its mild southern hemisphere climate, South Africa is an excellent destination for travellers wanting to escape cold northern winters as well as locals hankering after a summer getaway. According to the Tourism Business Council of SA, this bodes well for the long-suffering tourist industry, as international travellers gear up for a return to sunny SA.

Can the domestic flight sector cope with demand?

International travellers now face fewer barriers regarding arriving in South Africa, but the elephant in the room remains a decided lack of domestic flights to carry them onward from major international airports.

With most international arrivals entering the country at OR Tambo and Cape Town International airports, will a decline in available domestic seats exclude major tourist destinations like Mpumalanga and Limpopo from the picture?

According to Airlink CEO, Rodger Foster, tourists will find no shortage of flights available for all the usual domestic routes and more. Foster argues that South Africa had an oversupply of flights during off-peak seasons to begin with.

While no number of flights will every satisfy the huge demand over busy times like Easter weekend or December holiday period, there are still plenty to go around during other times of the year.

Despite the fluctuating fortunes of various airlines in the last year, passengers were still able to get where they needed to go.

So, while a 40% loss of available flights will have some impact, the industry must now focus on creating more sustainable and affordable solutions for domestic air travel.

Even without these new flights South Africas aviation industry has managed to deliver despite the absences of Comair and SAA as well as the demise of Mango Airlines. The domestic market has already recovered to around 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Whats new for South African air travel?

Airlink is currently engaged in fostering codeshare agreements with Qatar Airways to expand its South African operations.

Thanks to this, travellers will enjoy improved access to destinations like Hoedspruit, Skukuza, George, Gqeberha, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. In addition, travellers will enjoy attractive offers to Dallas, New York, London, Copenhagen, and Barcelona.

SAA and Kenya Airways have also formed a partnership with a view to creating a Pan-African airline consolidation that hopes to unlock Africas full potential for air connectivity. This mutual cooperation will see the airlines retain their individual identities while scaling their business into unchartered terrain.

FlySafair already has plans afoot to add an extra five aircraft and ten routes across sub-Saharan Africa to fill the gap created by a 9 000 seat decline in availability due to Comairs demise. This agreement will offer travellers enhanced connectivity with twelve countries and forty-five destinations across southern Africa.

These new destinations include Zanzibar and Victoria Falls, both attractive add-on destinations for South African tourists.

SAA is still smarting after a year of business rescue proceedings, but the new owners are confident that they can make the most of the airlines potential. So, while SAA is taking things slowly at first, it does intend to add capacity between Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

While the industry may initially see bottlenecks due to fewer seats available, easing of restrictions, and increasing demand for seats, most of those involved feel positive that things will normalise in time.

A way forward for SA air travel

Increased demand is never a terrible thing in business and slow, considered growth is perhaps exactly what the South African airline industry needs after the pandemic.

Once again, unless they can cope with demand-driven high prices, travellers need to consider flexibility in their travel dates, and plan well ahead to ensure their needs are met. In this way, both the domestic and international tourist industries will benefit.




SYDNEY, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A team of engineers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Medical Robotics Lab have developed a new class of smart textiles that are able to morph into a variety of shapes, bearing major implications for medical technology.

The findings, published in the Scientific Reports and Soft Robotics journals and released on Wednesday, showed the technology which uses tiny soft artificial "muscles" that are woven into fabric.

"In effect, we have given our smart textiles the expansion and contraction ability in the exact same way as human muscle fibers," said Scientia Senior Lecturer at UNSW and research lead, Dr. Thanh Nho Do.

Previous research from the United States has devised shape-shifting material that could be manipulated into any possible shape. However, this marks the first time such material has been coupled with robotics and is able to move by itself.

Dr. Do said the device could be used in wearable compression garments, assist people with movement, or even aid the recovery of people trapped in confined spaces.

"Patients with poor blood circulation could benefit from smart garments that contract to apply the desired pressure to superficial veins and assist blood supply."

The smart material offers an alternative to existing movement-assisting technologies, such as rigid robot suits. The team hoped that one day the fabric could be worn as normal clothing.

"We envision our material could be used to develop soft exoskeletons to enable people with disabilities to walk again or augment the human performance."

UNSW Professor Nigel Lovell said the material also has the potential to be used to create "soft robots" which could function in small confined spaces.

"Soft robots utilizing our smart textile can shape shift and be implemented as a lifting mechanism, such as when rescuing people from collapsed buildings or other hazardous environments, or as a soft tubular gripper, in our experiments we could lift objects around 346 times the material's own weight."

Dr. Do and his team have received funding from the National Heart Foundation of Australia, as they look to use the technology to assist in helping failing hearts pump blood around the body. 
Startup advisor Heike Kannemeyer has developed a startup business incubator programme for local aspiring entrepreneurs.

Heike Kannemeyer | image supplied

The New Business Launch Programme is three months long and is designed to simplify the process of starting up, building and launching a new product or services-based business. Participants receive the right tools, resources, and access to experts to learn from and lean on.

The incubator is ideally structured to help entrepreneurs formulate their business concept and launch it within three months, aspiring business owners can take up to a year to complete the programmes 12 modules.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can look forward to finding their personal why and connecting it to their business, conceptualisation, branding, building an online presence, understanding SA legal matters for small businesses, pricing strategies and so much more. The 12 multimedia-packed modules include hour-long one-on-one live advisory sessions with Kannemeyer (or a suitable mentor), video, podcasts, input by external industry specialists, and over 55 downloadable resources.

Additionally, the programme comes with an online business lounge and a virtual goodie bag with access to preferred suppliers Kannemeyer has used in setting up her business, Season Seven; opportunities to meet industry experts and participants; and access to motivational InSeason podcasts, blog, and workshops.

Click here to register if interested in starting a new professional journey or already own a business and need support.

The programme is available at R7,750 per user, and at a discounted launch price of R6,750 in July only.

There is a small business boom - a time where more small businesses are started than before- taking place in South Africa and all over the world. There are multiple reasons: people have lost their jobs during the pandemic, resigned for freedom, and many more reasons. The result is that people are looking at other forms of income through starting a new business. This small business boom is an upside of The Great Resignation movement seeping into the world. Knowing about the business boom while aware of South Africas notorious SMME failure rate, Kannemeyers drive to help others fuelled her development of The New Business Launch Programme.

Knowing about the business boom while aware of South Africas notorious SMME failure rate, Kannemeyers drive to help others fuelled her development of The New Business Launch Programme.

The programme was born through my struggles as an entrepreneur while building brands and businesses for almost 14 years. I always knew I would have my own business one day, but with no business or financial training, only my PR education and experience, the journey was tough, to say the least. There are many individuals like me with an entrepreneurial mindset and great ideas, but little-to-no training to set a good foundation upon which to build their business.

The business incubator provides these individuals with an option to prepare themselves while, even before leaving their 9-to-5, on the programme allowing them to prepare ahead for their professional journeys.

The rising movement doesnt mean that South Africa has been making progress in expanding its (successful) SMME pool. SMMEs account for approximately 98 percent of South Africas business network. Only about 39% of SMMEs contribute to the countrys GDP. In the case of many ex-employees pursuing professional happiness outside the corporate world, sustaining a business can come at a quicker loss than expected. More than 71 percent of SMMEs fail within the first year.
An Ivy League epidemiologist may be taking over Alex Berenson's legal fight after Twitter reinstated the contrarian journalist and belatedly acknowledged his tweets questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines didn't violate its "misinformation" policies.

Andrew Bostom, a veteran professor in Brown University's medical school until last year, told Just the News he has retained Berenson's lawyer for potential litigation against the social media company for permanently suspending his account after he shared peer-reviewed research on the vaccines' effect on male fertility.

Bostom is also taking on Brown for allegedly hiding a 20-year-old male student's hospitalization for heart inflammation in March 2021, a month before Brown announced a COVID vaccine mandate for students. As a hospital volunteer, the student received the first dose of the mRNA vaccine a month earlier.

No College Mandates, which has sent legal warning letters to dozens of college presidents, told Just the News it plans to notify the top leadership at other Ivy League schools about the myopericarditis case identified by Bostom.

The incident happened a year before Ashish Jha took leave as Brown's dean of public health to serve as the White House COVID coordinator. Jha recently claimed "there have not been any serious side effects of these vaccines."

Public officials and Big Tech have been eager to stamp out any questioning of COVID vaccines, even while acknowledging their effectiveness plummets within months and certain demographics face higher risks of side effects, particularly young men.

Twitter throttled a tweet by a group of U.K. National Health Service staff about a mother of three who died 22 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is commonly administered in the U.K. The 47-year-old developed blood clots to the brain, the Leicester Mercury reported.

The June 25 tweet remains labeled "misleading" or "stay informed," meaning it can't be retweeted, liked or commented on, nearly three weeks later. Twitter lets users quote-tweet the post but first points them to a page of pro-vaccine tweets from the CDC, World Health Organization and others.

It does not appear to be throttling other tweets sharing the Mercury article, however. Twitter media relations did not respond to Just the News queries about the inconsistent throttling and Bostom's legal threat.

The Citizens for Legitimate Government email newsletter, founded by retired New York University professor Michael Rectenwald, told subscribers Saturday that its web host refused to help it address throttling by Yahoo email subdomains suspected to be ideologically motivated.

A screenshot shows MayFirst characterized as "misinformation" a report in the newsletter about an Uruguay judge ordering Pfizer to disclose the composition of its COVID vaccine. The host also refused to help CLG deliver newsletters that include "information hosted on pro-trump web sites."

Quebec's Laval University suspended biochemist Patrick Provost last month without pay for eight weeks for his risk-benefit calculation of COVID vaccination for children at a conference last year, according to local newspaper The Suburban. The faculty union filed a grievance on his behalf.
John Bolton, the former White House national security adviser for the Trump administration, has claimed that he previously helped plan attempted coups of foreign leaders.

Bolton made the comment in an interview with CNNs The Lead on Tuesday, shortly after the Jan. 6 House Select Committee had wrapped up its seventh congressional hearing, regarding the breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Panel lawmakers focused much of Tuesdays hearing on evidence around testimony provided by former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and alleged ties between former President Trump and extremist right-wing groups.

The committee claims that Trump intentionally tried to mount an insurrection against the United States government in a last-ditch effort to remain in power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Speaking to CNN, Bolton insisted that Trump could not have pulled off a carefully planned coup detat aimed at the Constitution because thats not the way Donald Trump does things.

Its not an attack on our democracy, Bolton said. Its Donald Trump looking out for Donald Trump. Its a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

CNN host Jake Tapper responded, I dont know that I agree with you, to be fair, with all due respect adding that one doesnt have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.

However, Bolton said he disagreed with this statement before referencing his own alleged experience helping to plan a coup.

Helped Plan Coups

As somebody who has helped plan coups detatnot here but, you know, [in] other placesit takes a lot of work. And thats not what he [Trump] did, Bolton continued. It was just stumbling around from one idea to another. Ultimately, he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol. As to that, there is no doubt. But not to overthrow the Constitution to buy more time to throw the matter back to the states to try to redo the issue.

And if you dont believe that, then youre going to overreact, and I think thats a real risk for the committee, which has done a lot of good work mostly when the witnesses are testifying, not when the members are opining, he added. It is invariably the case when you go too far trying to prove your case, you undermine it.

When pressed to provide further details regarding his alleged help with coups, Bolton declined to provide more information, stating that he was not going to get into the specifics before going on to mention Venezuela.

Under the 2020 Operation Gideon, Venezuelan dissidents and an American private military company, Silvercorp USA, attempted, unsuccessfully, to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

At the time, Maduro blamed the attacks on the Trump administration and neighboring Colombia, both of which denied involvement.

A year prior to the incident, Bolton, as national security adviser, had aired his public support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidos call for the military to back his effort to oust Maduro, stating that the socialist leaders reelection was illegitimate.

Ultimately Maduro remained in power.

It turned out not to be successful, Bolton said. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed.

The notion that Donald Trump was half as confident as the Venezuelan opposition is laughable, he added, to which Tapper responded, I feel like theres other stuff youre not telling me.

Im sure there is, Bolton replied while again declining to give further details.

Reuters contributed to this report.
We are witnessing the gradual dismantling of every constitutional principle that serves as a bulwark against government tyranny, overreach and abuse.

As usual, the latest assault comes from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 6-3 ruling in Vega v. Tekoh, the Supreme Court took aim at the Miranda warnings, which require that police inform suspects that they have a right against self-incrimination when in police custody: namely, that they have a right to remain silent, to have an attorney present, and that anything they say and do can and will be used against them in a court of law.

Although the Supreme Court stopped short of overturning its 1966 ruling in Miranda v. Arizona, the conservative majority declared that individuals cannot hold police accountable for violating their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

By shielding police from lawsuits arising from their failure to Mirandize suspects, the Supreme Court has sent a message to police that they no longer have to respect a suspects right to remain silent.

In other words, concludes legal analyst Nick Sibilla, the Supreme Court has effectively created a new legal immunity for cops accused of infringing on the Fifth Amendments protection against self-incrimination.

Why is this important?

In totality, the rights enshrined in the Fifth Amendment speak to the Founders determination to protect the rights of the individual against a government with a natural inclination towards corruption, tyranny and thuggery.

The Founders were especially concerned with balancing the scales of justice in such a way that the innocent and the accused were not railroaded and browbeaten by government agents into coerced confessions, false convictions, or sham trials.

Indeed, so determined were the Founders to safeguard the rights of the innocent, even if it meant allowing a guilty person to go free, that Benjamin Franklin insisted, It is better a hundred guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer.

Two hundred-plus years later, the Supreme Court (aided and abetted by the police state, Congress and Corporate America) has flipped that longstanding presumption of innocence on its head.

In our present suspect society, we the people are all presumed guilty until proven innocent.

With the Vega ruling, we have even fewer defenses for warding off government chicanery, abuse, threats and entrapment.

To be clear, the Supreme Court is not saying that we dont have the right to remain silent when in police custody. Its merely saying that we cant sue the police for violating that right.

Its a subtle difference but a significant one that could well encourage police to engage in the very sort of egregious misconduct at the heart of the Vega case: in which a police officer investigating a sexual assault isolated a suspect in a small, windowless room; refused him access to a lawyer or work colleagues; accused him of molesting a female patient; threatened him with violence; implied that he and his family would be deported; and terrorized him into signing a false confession dictated by the cop.

Although Terence Tekoh was eventually tried and acquitted, the Supreme Court refused to hold police accountable for browbeating an innocent man into making a false confession.

The Vega ruling threatens to turn the clocks back to a time when police resorted to physical brutality (beating, hanging, whipping) and mental torture in order to obtain confessions from suspects without ever informing them of their Fifth Amendment rights.

This was exactly the kind of misconduct that the Warren Court sought to discourage with its 5-4 ruling in Miranda v. Arizona.

As the Court concluded in Miranda almost 60 years ago:

The prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination. By custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. As for the procedural safeguards to be employed, unless other fully effective means are devised to inform accused persons of their right of silence and to assure a continuous opportunity to exercise it, the following measures are required. Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. If, however, he indicates in any manner and at any stage of the process that he wishes to consult with an attorney before speaking, there can be no questioning. Likewise, if the individual is alone and indicates in any manner that he does not wish to be interrogated, the police may not question him. The mere fact that he may have answered some questions or volunteered some statements on his own does not deprive him of the right to refrain from answering any further inquiries until he has consulted with an attorney and thereafter consents to be questioned.

The end result as one analyst notes: Miranda v. Arizona, in creating the Miranda Rights we take for granted today, reconciled the increasing police powers of the state with the basic rights of individuals.

By largely doing away with Miranda, the Supreme Court has made its present position clear: anything goes if youre a cop in the American police state.

Indeed, pay close to attention to the Courts rulings lately, and the broader picture that emerges is of a judiciary that is playing fast and loose with the rule of law, picking and choose which rights to uphold and which can be discarded, in order to expand the power of the police state at the expense of the peoples rights.

If left unchecked, this constitutionally illiterate ruling will open the door to a new era of police abuses.

By shielding police from charges of grave misconduct while throwing the book at Americans for violating any of a rapidly expanding assortment of so-called crimes, the government has created a world in which there are two sets of laws: one set for the government and its gun-toting agents, and another set for you and me.

If youre a cop in the American police state, you can already break the law in a myriad of ways without suffering any major, long-term consequences.

Indeed, not only are cops protected from most charges of wrongdoingwhether its shooting unarmed citizens (including children and old people), raping and abusing young women, falsifying police reports, trafficking drugs, or soliciting sex with minorsbut even on the rare occasions when they are fired for misconduct, its only a matter of time before they get re-hired again.

For instance, police officer Jackie Neal was accused of putting his hands inside a womans panties, lifting up her shirt and feeling her breasts during a routine traffic stop. He remained on the police force. A year later, Neal was accused of digitally penetrating another woman. Still, he wasnt fired or disciplined.

A few years after that, Nealthen serving as supervisor of the departments youth programwas suspended for three days for having sex with a teenage girl participating in the program. As Reuters reports, Neal never lost a dime in pay or a day off patrol: The union contract allowed him to serve the suspension using vacation days.

Later that same year, Neal was arrested on charges that he handcuffed a woman in the rear seat of his police vehicle and then raped her. He was eventually fined $5,000 and sentenced to 14 months in prison, with five months off for work and education. The taxpayers of San Antonio got saddled with $500,000 to settle the case.

Now heres the kicker: when the local city council attempted to amend the police union contract to create greater accountability for police misconduct, the police unions flexed their muscles and engaged in such a heated propaganda campaign that the city backed down.

This is how perverse justice in America has become, and its happening all across the country.

Incredibly, while our own constitutional protections against government abuses continue to be dismantled, a growing number of states are adopting Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBoR)written by police unionswhich provides police officers accused of a crime with special due process rights and privileges not afforded to the average citizen.

In other words, the LEOBoR protects police officers from being treated as we are treated during criminal investigations: questioned unmercifully for hours on end, harassed, harangued, browbeaten, denied food, water and bathroom breaks, subjected to hostile interrogations, and left in the dark about our accusers and any charges and evidence against us.

These LEOBoRs epitomize everything that is wrong with America today.

Now every so often, police officers engaged in wrongdoing are actually charged for abusing their authority and using excessive force against American citizens. Occasionally, those officers are even sentenced for their crimes against the citizenry.

Yet in just about every case, its still the American taxpayer who foots the bill.

The ones who rarely ever feel the pinch are the officers accused or convicted of wrongdoing, even if they are disciplined or terminated by their department, criminally prosecuted, or even imprisoned.

In fact, police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be held financially accountable for their actions.

No matter which way you spin it, we the people are always on the losing end of the deal.

With the Supreme Courts ruling in Vega v. Tekoh, the scales of justice have shifted out of balance even more.

Brace yourselves: as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, things are about to get downright ugly.

WC: 1701
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and six others injured when a pickup van plunged into a ravine in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, local media and officials said late Tuesday.

The incident happened when the van tumbled off the road near the tourist area of Gabin Jabba in the Swat district of KP province, local police told Xinhua.

The van driver lost control over the vehicle while trying to take a turn, said police sources, adding that investigation into the matter has been launched.

Following the accident, rescue teams and local volunteers reached the site and retrieved bodies and the injured, and shifted them to a nearby hospital where at least three of the injured are in a critical condition, police said. 
PHNOM PENH, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's anti-drug police have arrested a gang of 11 foreigners for manufacturing illicit drugs, confiscating more than 1.8 tons of unfinished ketamine, the Anti-Drug Police Department (ADP) said on Wednesday.

The suspects all male were apprehended during a series of raids on 12 locations in capital Phnom Penh, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Kandal provinces from July 4 to 9 after a probe for more than three months.

"A total of 1.82 tons of unfinished ketamine and 276.7 tons of chemicals used for drug production as well as a large number of drug manufacturing equipment had been seized during the raids," the ADP said in a statement.

Seven premises, including one condo, four warehouses, one manufacturing factory, and one villa, and eight cars were frozen, it added.

The Southeast Asian nation has no death sentence for drug manufacturers or traffickers. Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grams of drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the ADP, Cambodia nabbed 7,654 drug suspects, including 99 foreigners, during the first half of 2022, confiscating 3.12 tons of illicit drugs and 185 tons of drug ingredients. 
China, Malaysia reach 5-point consensus on developing ties

Xinhua) 09:08, July 13, 2022

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) attends a joint press conference with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah after their meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Tuesday that China and Malaysia have reached a five-point consensus on further developing their relations.

At a joint press conference with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah after their meeting, Wang said China-Malaysia ties are witnessing new opportunities for development.

China is ready to work with Malaysia to set new goals and priorities for bilateral relations so as to elevate their ties to a new high, he said, noting that both sides have reached a series of important consensuses.

First, the two countries have agreed to move toward building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future under the concept of "the world is one family." Both sides are working to enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era and open up broader prospects for the future development of bilateral cooperation.

Second, China and Malaysia have agreed to jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality and implement the Global Development Initiative. They will take the 10th anniversary of the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" initiative as an opportunity to establish a pioneer zone for trade and economic innovative development, and a demonstration zone for industrial capacity of the Belt and Road cooperation. Both countries will also foster new growth points such as digital economy and green development, and jointly enhance competitiveness and development level.

Third, the two sides have agreed to dovetail their blueprints for development, strive to push forward the East Coast Rail Link and development along the mega rail project, and maintain communication on the construction of the Malaysia-Singapore high-speed railway. They also discussed the long-term goal of the pan-Asia railway network.

Fourth, China and Malaysia have agreed on practical measures that benefit the two peoples. China is willing to import more quality agricultural products from Malaysia, and help international students from Malaysia return to China to resume their studies. It also plans to significantly increase direct flights between the two countries.

Fifth, the two sides have reached a political consensus on safeguarding regional peace and stability. They will jointly advocate true multilateralism, practice open regionalism, uphold the ASEAN centrality, reject bloc rivalry and the Cold War mentality, speed up consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and jointly build the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation.

China is ready to work with its ASEAN partners, including Malaysia, to deepen their strategic mutual trust and strengthen strategic coordination, so as to maintain regional stability and work for common development, Wang said.

Wang wrapped up his Asia tour Tuesday, which has taken him to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
JAKARTA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A tapir has been born at the Taman Rimbo Jambi Zoo on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, adding to the number of this rare and endangered species, an official source said on Wednesday.

Head of the Zoo, Erliyani, said the male tapir named Erli Adha, son of Kasih, was born on July 10 at 11.30 a.m. local time, on the day when Indonesian Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday.

"Erli Adha was born safely. He is healthy and cute. His weight is about 6 kg," Erliyani told Xinhua.

His mother, Kasih, regularly receives additional vitamins and fruits, including papaya and bananas, during her breastfeeding period to support Adha's growth, added Erliyani.

Adha's birth increased the number of tapirs in the zoo to four, including three adult females.

The zoo, which collects 290 species of animals, is also caring for another tapir named Pebi, who is pregnant and waiting for birth.

Tapir is a most primitive mammal and since 2008 the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified it as an endangered animal.

The population increase of tapir is slow as the mating cycle is once every two years with a gestation period of 400 days and only one child per birth. 
As the province is in health-care funding talks with the federal government, the Manitoba NDP is calling on the Progressive Conservatives to do more at home with weekly health system updates.

While Premier Heather Stefanson was at the First Ministers meeting in Victoria, B.C., discussing health-care transfer payments to the provinces on Tuesday, NDP Leader Wab Kinew was pressuring the Tories to help Manitobans stay informed about their own health system and be accountable for the years of cuts.

The NDP wants the government to provide weekly updates to Manitobans, detailing their actions and measuring outcomes on emergency room wait times, rural and northern hospital closures, nurse and paramedic vacancy and overtime rates, surgical and diagnostic backlog, how many patients are transported away from their home community and ambulance wait times. File NDP Leader Wab Kinew wants the province to provide weekly health updates so Manitobans can stay informed on the latest changes and interruptions.

Kinew made the public request on Tuesday at the south entrance of the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg. Most of this information is either confidential or shared with the public through unions, advocacy groups or media investigations, he said.

Whether you are a person in Melita upset with a closed emergency room for the summer, or someone in Grandview dealing with the emergency room closing on weekends, or someone  seeing the impact of health-care cuts in Brandon, I think they have a right to access that information, he said in an interview. While I hope we get more federal funding for our province, people have a right to know what damage years of cuts have done to [the] health-care system.

He said he was pleased the provincial government and Doctors Manitoba recently agreed to collaborate to create an online dashboard for people to track the provinces progress in clearing the surgical and diagnostic backlog. It is expected to be launched later this month and provide data on the top eight procedures in Manitoba, then broaden its scope as it is developed. The information will be updated monthly.

However, the NDP wants to see that kind of reporting performed on a weekly basis to make it relevant for Manitobans trying to keep track of where health-care services are available. It should look like what has been done with data taken from COVID-19 surveillance during the pandemic to give Manitobans a clear picture of what is happening with health care right now.

Ideally, such services should be more widely available, Kinew said, but the current state of vacancies and closures means that isnt possible, so people have a right to know.

Everyone in Manitoba is talking about health care this summer, he said. But its not always clear what the exact picture is at a given moment. If we could compile these numbers, it will paint a picture  probably not what Manitobans will like to see  but an important one. Looking at that, Im sure there will be folks in Westman saying there are some real needs in health care we got to address.

He added he understood that some of the health-care funding does hinge on transfer payments. If they do get more, that would be great news, but the province has a responsibility to use its own data to invest it accordingly.

The Sun contacted Shared Health for comment and was directed to the department of health, which didnt respond by press time.

The provincial and territorial premiers are meeting with the federal government this week over various topics. Among those is increasing the health transfer payments to 35 per cent through the Canadian Health Transfer, which would add another $28 billion to annual spending.

Stefanson stated in a news release this will help ensure that health-care systems can provide every test, procedure and all other services Canadians need.

The prime minister promised to address this structural funding gap after the pandemic and now is the time for action, Stefanson said, and we urge the prime minister to recognize the urgency of this situation.

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @karenleighmcki1
VIRDEN  Business mogul Jim Treliving received a warm reception at Virdens Auditorium Theatre Monday evening, with the venue being full of friends, family and well-wishers who were there to celebrate his 2019 entry into Canadas Walk of Fame.

Outside of unveiling a Hometown Star that now belongs to the Westman community, Treliving also took some time to address the crowd directly and talk about how coming of age in Virden really set him on the right path.

Id like to thank the people that I grew up around in this town, the Boston Pizza owner said on Monday, describing the friendly atmosphere that pervaded the community throughout the 1940s and 50s. Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun Jim Treliving relives some childhood memories with members of Canada's Walk of Fame minutes before his Hometown Star was unveiled at Virden's Auditorium Theatre on Monday.

You walked down the street, everybody said Hello. You werent scared of anything.

Treliving has particularly fond memories of the Auditorium Theatre, where he would watch movies and even take part in some public speaking as a child.

I remember standing over there as a 12-year-old and doing spoken poetry for my school, he said. That was the first time I was ever in front of an audience.

The building left such a big impression on Treliving that he decided to donate $10,000 to it through the Walk of Fames Hometown Stars program, which gives inductees the chance to financially bolster a local charity or organization of their choosing.

During Mondays ceremony, Treliving mentioned that he decided to match the Walk of Fames donation using his own money, meaning the theatre, which is more than a century old, will receive an overall boost of $20,000.

This revelation about an extra $10,000 came as a complete surprise to Auditorium Theatre vice-chair Brad Hayward, who said the cash will be used to expand the backstage area and change the buildings seating layout.

We are so touched, Hayward told Treliving directly. The kindness will go a long way for us.

Earlier on in the night, Hayward also told the crowd that Virden Collegiate Institute recently decided to honour Treliving by inducting him into its own Wall of Fame, since the entrepreneur attended this school between 1956 and 1959.

After accepting the award, Treliving sheepishly admitted on stage that he never officially graduated from the high school, since he decided to leave town and join the RCMP at the age of 18 instead.

However, Treliving said this new environment provided the rigid structure and discipline he needed to later succeed in business, which came to pass in 1966 when he started eating at the Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House in Edmonton.

After acquiring the rights and opening his first Boston Pizza two years later, Treliving used the next half-century to build the humble restaurant into a major franchise that now includes more than 350 locations across the country, including Virden.

I say to this day that I never had a job with Boston Pizza  it was just a fun day to go to work, he said on Monday. And Im not retired. Im not going away. I love what I do.

While Treliving achieved a considerable level of fame through various other projects, including a 15-season run on CBCs Dragons Den, he always considered his charity work through organizations like the Boston Pizza Foundation and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to be one of his biggest accomplishments.

He reminded the local crowd on Monday that his impulse to help others originates from growing up in Virden, where his father, who worked as a barber, would regularly give senior citizens free haircuts.

Because of this, Treliving said the values he learned growing up as a boy in Westman continue to inform his actions as an 81-year-old business leader, making this hometown induction ceremony and $20,000 donation a real full-circle moment.

When people ask Where are you from? I say I live in Vancouver but Virden, Manitoba, is my home, Treliving said to close out his induction speech. Thank you very much.

Mondays ceremony in Virden also featured an appearance from retired Olympic speed skater Cindy Klassen, who had celebrated her own 2019 Walk of Fame hometown induction in Winnipeg earlier that day.

 kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @KyleDarbyson
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible and wearing masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country.

The new variants, labeled BA.4 and BA.5, are offshoots of the omicron strain that has been been responsible for nearly all of the virus spread in the U.S. and are even more contagious than their predecessors. White House doctors stressed the importance of getting booster doses, even if you have recently been infected.

Currently, many Americans are under-vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines provides the best protection against severe outcomes. FILE - Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine an update on the ongoing Federal response to COVID-19, June 16, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration is calling on many Americans to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible, and saying they should consider wearing masks indoors as two new highly-transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Walensky said the U.S. has seen a doubling in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since April, reflecting the spread of the new subvariants, though deaths remain steady around 300 per day.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said while the new variants are concerning, with boosters, indoor masking and treatments the country has the tools to keep them from being disruptive.

We should not let it disrupt our lives, he said, but we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with.

He added that even if someone recently had COVID-19, they should get a booster.

Immunity wanes, so it is critical to stay up to date with COVID 19 vaccines, he said.

All Americans age 5 and over should get a booster five months after their initial primary series, according to the CDC, and those age 50 and over  or those who are immunocompromised  should get a second booster four months after their first. According to CDC, tens of millions of eligible Americans havent received their first booster, and of those over 50 who got their first booster, only 28% have received their second.

If youre over 50 and you havent gotten the shot this year, you should go get a shot, said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. Its going to save your life.

Jha and Fauci said the U.S. is regularly discussing expanding eligibility for a second booster shot to all adults, but that no decision has been made yet.

Its a regulatory decision on the part of the FDA, Fauci said.

Jha said people who are eligible for a booster but havent received one shouldnt wait for forthcoming vaccines targeted at the omicron strain in addition to the original form of the coronavirus. The U.S. has ordered 105 million of those updated shots, which studies show provide better protection against omicron variants, but they wont be available until the fall.

Let me be clear, if you get vaccinated today, youre not going to be ineligible to get the variants specific vaccine, as we get into the later part of fall and winter, Jha said. So, this is not a tradeoff, weve got plenty. Its a great way to protect yourself.

Added Fauci, The threat to you is now.

Walensky noted that CDC data shows that about a third of Americans are living in areas the agency classifies as experiencing a high level of COVID spread, where the agency recommends people wear masks in public indoor spaces. Another 41% live in the CDCs medium level, where it recommends that people consider their own individual risk and consider masking.
Corban Erbele- Death to Life | Christian Music Marketing PR

BIG TIMBER, MONT. (July 15, 2022) - Small-town worship pastor Corban Erbele will soon release, Death to Life, an inspirational Christian single that points listeners to the Gospel in the midst of pain they may be experiencing.



Written in a time where Erbele was at his lowest from a messy breakup, Death to Life was inspired by the contrast between pain and peace and rooted in scripture from Ephesians 2:1-10.



Looking back on a relationship that caused the pain I was experiencing, the experience brought me to a place where my relationship with Christ grew, Erbele said. While crying out to God, it was clear that I had placed [my ex-girlfriend] over the Lord in my life. After realizing this, I found so much peace in the fact that the Lord is the one who is constant and won't be the one who betrays. He is the one who loves unconditionally.



With vulnerable, relatable lyrics sung to God, the song is even more special to the artist because the instrumentation was written alongside his brother, Cameron Adam Erbele.

Erbele chose to share Death to Life with listeners even before it was a demo, knowing that it could serve as a helpful and encouraging reminder that God is the one who gives life.



Whatever suffering or season that we find ourselves in the Lord is still good, said Erbele. In whatever pain we may feel in this life, we can still see the goodness of God in the midst of it all.



The artist hopes the single helps listeners to know that if/when they take their eyes off the Lord and find themselves in a place of pain, the Lord is not there to belittle that pain, rather He is waiting with open arms. He wants to encourage listeners by reminding them that joy and peace come with the presence of Christ.



You can find Corban on Instagram and on Spotify.
At the start of the second season of the HBO series How To With John Wilson (Binge, Foxtel on Demand), the titular star, a stammering innocent, visits a mortgage broker to get a loan. Asked his occupation, he sounds stumped. Im an, uh, documentarian, he says, struggling to categorise his work. Like, uh, its kind of like memoir, essay, um.

Pity him. Its not easy to define this singular show. But one tip-off comes when Wilson offers as collateral a collection of printed-out reactions (including a Mindy Kaling tweet) inside a folder labelled good reviews. The exasperated look on the face of the lender operates as a punchline.

John Wilson is a New York documentarian  and former editor of private investigator surveillance tape. Credit:HBO/Foxtel

Wilson, who writes, stars and narrates this self-portrait of sorts, is the quietly radical auteur of a rapidly ascendant branch of comedy that uses the raw materials of unscripted slices of the real world to make jokes. The latest Dave Chappelle controversy or topical Saturday Night Live sketch get more headlines, but in a less heralded corner of comedy, a quiet revolution is taking place.

The best gross-out comedy of 2021 was Eric Andres Bad Trip (Netflix), a movie that blended public interactions between actors and real people into its fiction. The most biting political film in recent memory was not made by Oliver Stone or Adam McKay. It was the 2020 sequel to Borat. And the most innovative portrait of New York was not cooked up by Martin Scorsese. It was the HBO series How To With John Wilson. Im not sure if this group of documentary comedy artists, who have elevated a legacy still connected to lowbrow prank humour, can be considered a scene, but they are cross-pollinating and growing in ambition.
New plea for travellers returning from Indonesia as foot and mouth disease spreads

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A Hurstville real estate agent and property developer has denied he gave two councillors $170,000 in exchange for their support for two multimillion-dollar apartment blocks in Sydneys south, a corruption inquiry has heard.

Ching Wah (Philip) Uy had texted an unknown person a photograph of bundled cash days after the councillors voted to support one of the projects in 2018, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Wednesday.

Philip Uy gave evidence he took this photograph of cash piled on an ironing board inside his Rhodes apartment in July 2018. He estimated it amounted to about $300,000, a corruption inquiry heard. Credit:ICAC

Operation Galley is investigating whether former Hurstville and Georges River councillors Vince Badalati and Con Hindi, and former Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom, accepted benefits  including overseas flights and accommodation  from developers in return for aiding their projects in Hurstville between 2014 and 2021.

The corruption watchdog is also probing whether the councillors deliberately failed to declare a conflict of interest regarding their relationships with developers Uy, Wensheng Liu and Yuqing Liu.
KATHMANDU, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Nepal upholds the one-China policy and will allow no foreign force to use its territory to engage in any activities against China, Nepali government and political leaders said lately.

The pledge was reiterated in separate meetings between Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, and KP Sharma Oli, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and former prime minister, among others.

In addition, the Nepali leaders told Liu that political parties in Nepal have achieved a high-level consensus on developing friendly relations with China.

On his part, Liu voiced readiness to work together with Nepali political parties in implementing the important consensus reached during the Chinese leader's visit to Nepal in 2019, consolidating traditional bonds of friendship and increasing political mutual trust so as to further advance bilateral relations.

Liu paid a visit to Nepal on July 10-13. 
A man who threatened to cut off former NSW Labor senator Kristina Keneallys head due to his anti-vaccination beliefs has been sentenced to a good behaviour bond.

Luke David Eastop, 29, tried unsuccessfully in Sydneys Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday to have his matter dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

Luke David Eastop leaves the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Wednesday. Credit:AAP

Eastop, from Harrington Park in Sydneys south-west, pleaded guilty to threatening to cause serious harm to a Commonwealth public official via an Instagram message sent at 7.39am on November 23, 2021.

The social media message was received by someone in Keneallys office and was never read by the politician.
Queensland police officers have said domestic violence is just foreplay, rape is just surprise sex, shes too ugly to be raped and she deserved it.

On-duty officers have also avoided victim callouts or said, I can see why he did it to her, if I was in his position, Id do that, and I dont know what Id do if I was in his position while responding.

That was the testimony from a serving police officer to the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service Responses to Domestic and Family Violence on Wednesday.

The officer, whose identity is subject to a non-publication order, was the first officer to speak out about cultural issues at the inquiry, headed by Commissioner Deborah Richards.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says shes not worried about tonights State of Origin becoming a super-spreader event for COVID-19, but has urged anyone sick to stay home.

A sell-out crowd of more than 50,000 people is set to pack into Suncorp Stadium for the deciding game between the Queensland Maroons and the NSW Blues on Wednesday evening.

Premier Annastsacia Palaszczuk said people take reasonable precautions against COVID-19 at the State of Origin match in Brisbane Credit:Facebook

With the state in the middle of a third wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, concerns have been raised that crowds gathering for the event could see an acceleration of transmission of the virus.

But Palaszczuk said it was up to individuals to assess their level of risk and take the appropriate precautions.
A twice-convicted terrorist who wanted to be the cool guy while plotting a terrorist attack in Melbourne will walk free from prison sooner than expected.

Ahmed Mohamed was convicted in 2019 for conspiring to kill police and strangers in Federation Square on Christmas Day in 2016.

Ahmed Mohamed said he joined his fellow terrorist attack plotters to the hero of the group. Credit:Darrian Traynor

He was also convicted of committing a terrorist act over the firebombing of a Melbourne mosque weeks earlier.

Mohamed was jailed for 38 years and ordered to serve at least 28 years and six months.
The risk of the devastating foot and mouth livestock disease entering Australia is so great Agriculture Minister Murray Watt cannot rule out mandatory border checks on every tourist returning from Indonesia, as he pleads with travellers to play their part in stopping a biosecurity outbreak.

An outbreak on Indonesias main island of Java has spread to the popular tourist island of Bali, which is visited by more than 1 million Australians a year, ramping up the risk of a first-ever outbreak Down Under.

Australians who have visited Bali are being urged to play their part in stopping a biosecurity outbreak. Credit:AP

The disease infects cloven-hoofed animals and does not affect the health of humans. But people can carry it on their shoes, clothes or in their noses  where it can survive for up to 24 hours. Flights from Denpasar to Darwin are only 2.5 hours long.

Watt will visit Indonesia on Wednesday to extend Australias support for local authorities to supply technical experts, train biosecurity officers and offer of foot and mouth vaccines.
Popular support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has increased in the days after former prime minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot, and their ruling Liberal Democratic Party swept to victory in an election on Sunday.

The approval rate for Kishidas government, which has been in power since October 2021, hit a record high in a Kyodo News survey to reach 63.2 per cent. A survey released on Wednesday by the Yomiuri newspaper showed the approval rate climbed 8 percentage points to 65 per cent.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaking to the media after the shooting of former PM Shinzo Abe. Credit:Courtesy of NHK

About 15 per cent of the respondents to the Kyodo survey released on Tuesday said their votes were swayed by the murder of Abe, the countrys longest-serving prime minister. While sympathy votes may have influenced results in some constituencies, the number of seats won by the LDP bloc was within the range of forecasts issued before Abe was gunned down.

About a third of the respondents in the Yomiuri poll said the shooting had a large impact on the vote.
The agonising interval only intensified the fear among the dozens of Australian athletes caught on the bridge during their march to the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games.

Israeli rescue workers evacuate members of the Australian team from a bridge at the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv Monday, July 14, 1997. Credit:AP

The collapse of the ill-fated bridge over the Yarkon River was a tragedy in slow motion. Instead of a swift descent to death and injury, the structure gradually collapsed into the filthy waters below.

Among those stranded was the Australian team manager, Mr Harry Procel. I was behind the flagbearer, he said. We were three-quarters across the bridge when we heard a crack, then another crack and then, like a slow-motion movie the bridge just lifted up in front of us and lifted up from behind us and just collapsed in the middle.

Mr Procel, 45, said he believed that just before the accident Israeli officials had tried to warn the Australians there were too many of them on the bridge.

Within seconds the bridge collapsed and people were pushed on top of each other, he said.

Two Australians, Mr Greg Small, 37, and Ms Yetty Bennett, 50, both members of the tenpin bowling team from Sydney, were killed.

Sixty-six other Australians were injured, with seven listed as critical in Tel Aviv hospitals. They include two Melburnians, Harry Goldberg, 63, and Elizabeth Sawicki, 47, and Sydney residents Irina Berezina-Feldman, 32, Sacha Elterman, 15, Frank Gaensler, 53, Cherie Silver, 14, and Warren Zines, 56.
Latest News Boomer Home Loans Group enters voluntary administration Specialist lender for over 55s seeks capital

Thousands of CBA customers face delayed interest rate pain This due to a measure aimed to help homebuyers through the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic

Global fintech Ebury has opened a Perth office to better meet the finance needs of West Australia exporters and importers.

The Australian arm of global foreign exchange (FX) and trade company Ebury has recruited a team in Perth to offer its services to Western Australian SMEs. This follows Ebury opening an office in Brisbane earlier this year, to step-up the level of FX and trade finance support it provides to Queensland companies.

Ebury established its Australian operation in 2018 and is one of the largest non-banks in the world focusing on SMEs and funds trading internationally. The fintech has FX and trade finance capabilities in more than 130 currencies and offices in 20 countries linked by a single best-in-class platform.

Ebury recently launched FX options to broaden its Australian product suite and meet the needs of its corporate client base.

Read more: Ebury branches into foreign exchange options

Ebury Asia-Pacific managing director Rick Roache (pictured) said the expansion into Western Australia meant Ebury now had teams operating in all time zones across the country.

Ebury has built a reputation as a market leader with our core products of spot FX, hedging, cash management and trade finance for importing and exporting SMEs, Roache said.

Having our experts on the ground will significantly boost our compelling offering to the West Australia market.

Ebury has appointed FX hedging solution and risk management expert Chris Daw as state sales manager.

Daw has 10 years experience in the industry in Western Australia in senior business consultant and business development roles. He will lead the office working closely with head of desk Ben Needham who has eight years of industry experience in Perth.

Jordan Hughes, who has six and half years industry experience, rounds out the team as FX dealer.

Read more: Aussie property market records busiest start to winter since 2011

Ebury has grown rapidly in Australia by competing head-on with large banks and grew its revenues by more than 100% in 2021.

Our offering is very compelling for the Western Australia market due to the heavy concentration of mining or mining-related businesses, Roache said. We have found that outside our strong core FX hedging and payments solutions, these clients often regard our exotic FX and trade finance capabilities as totally unique, adding a genuine layer of value enhancement.
Latest News Boomer Home Loans Group enters voluntary administration Specialist lender for over 55s seeks capital

Thousands of CBA customers face delayed interest rate pain This due to a measure aimed to help homebuyers through the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic

Yish Koh, managing director of Kit, a new Commonwealth Bank-supported money app that aims to revolutionise how kids earn, save, spend, and manage money in the digital economy, has highlighted the importance of supporting the financial literacy taught in schools with experiential learning.

Recent YouGov research revealed that most parents think the most effective way to teach kids about money is through standardised lessons at school (61%). But it is through real-world experience that kids build financial skills and capability, experts said.

In an interview with the Happy Families podcast, Koh said parents are struggling with where to start when it comes to navigating the topic of money with their kids in the digital world.

Our survey research of over 2,000 parents of children aged 8-17 in Australia shows that about half (48%) are actively avoiding having conversations with their kids about money, and more than half (55%) find it difficult linking chores to pocket money in the digital age, she said.

The same research revealed that 55% of parents with children aged 8-17 in Australia teach their children about money based on their own knowledge, but 86% of them said they could use help from other sources.

Its not surprising when you think about it [that] kids experience with money is very different today to what their parents experience of money was growing up, Koh said. The world is increasingly online and cashless and children are bombarded with in-app purchases, gaming related offers, and crafted enticements on a daily basis.

Koh also said it is the non-tangible nature of the digital world that makes it challenging for children to build financial capability.

As opposed to having cash, money is invisible meaning they may struggle to create the connection between purchasing something and that being charged back to their parents accounts, she said. When cash was more commonplace, they were most likely given an allowance  meaning they could make informed decisions about how its spent, and actually see the remaining funds decrease. Nowadays, children are also exposed to extremely sophisticated marketing and purchasing tactics  usually embedded within the apps while theyre playing, such as exchange rates that obscure the real value of money, limited time sales that encourage urgency, and loot boxes which encourages them to gamble to win variable rewards.

There are solutions available, however, Koh said, including books, blogs, and government websites like Money Smart that provide lots of tips for parents, games that help to teach kids about financial concepts, as well as digital education tools and apps that focus on financial education.
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces killed six terrorists in a military operation in the country's northwest tribal district of North Waziristan on Wednesday, said a military statement.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan army, said that security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation on the reported presence of terrorists in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan.

The troops executed the operation successfully and killed six terrorists, said the ISPR, adding that weapons and ammunition were seized from the killed terrorists.

The ISPR said security personnel of the Pakistan army was also killed during the exchange of fire.

According to the military media wing, the killed militants remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces.

Earlier in the day, the military claimed to have killed four terrorists in another operation in the same region. 
on Wednesday said it has a business continuity plan for operations in Sri Lanka, with adequate flexibility for workloads to be taken over by teams in India and other geographies.

The Indian IT services company has about 1,500 employees in Sri Lanka, a nation that is facing an economic and political crisis.

Asked about how the company is managing its operations in Sri Lanka, Vijayakumar told PTI, "Obviously, there are difficulties, but still deliverables are happening and we are supporting them with some additional bandwidth from our India teams."



"For all the operations in Sri Lanka, there is a business continuity plan...however as we speak, we see that team in continues to deliver their work quite well in spite of challenges," the top honcho said.

In case the teams are not able to deliver, the loads will be taken over by teams in India or other geographies, he explained.

Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives on a military jet, hours before he was supposed to step down in the face of a public revolt against him and his family for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.

The 73-year-old leader left the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet, a brief statement from the Air Force had said.

The Noida-headquartered firm, HCL Technologies, on Tuesday reported a 2.4 per cent year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit for the three months ended in June 2022 at Rs 3,283 crore. The revenue of the company stood at Rs 23,464 crore, nearly 17 per cent higher than the year-ago period.

The company retained its FY23 revenue outlook in the 12-14 per cent band, citing "strong momentum in the market" and said it is positive about growth trajectory. The company expects to be on the lower end of the guided EBIT margin band of 18-20 per cent.

In an interview on Wednesday, Vijayakumar asserted that the company is "on a good upcycle", and will use multiple levers to mitigate the challenges around margins.

"Our services business has grown 19 per cent year-on-year, we crossed USD 3 billion quarterly run rate, which is really a USD 12 billion annual run rate... Our engineering and Research and Development (R&D) services crossed half a billion dollars quarterly, which is like USD 2 billion a year, which is the largest engineering services portfolio that any service provider has," he said.

The current market environment reflects IT transformation, led by cloud as a pivotal technology platform, and HCL is "very well-positioned to tap into the cloud opportunities".

"So I think we are in a good spot. Of course, there are challenges around margins...there is a lot of demand, and supply is not as much as the demand. So, there is going to be some dynamics around talent cost and execution cost," he noted.

has enough operating levers in hand, he emphasised.

"I think the most important lever is upskilling and ensuring that teams are productive, and utilisation is an important lever. We have hired a lot of freshers, they continue to get trained and we have to deploy them," he said.

The company is also talking to number of customers about increasing rates and prices, Vijayakumar 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.)
directed Chinese smartphone maker to furnish a bank guarantee worth Rs 950 crore. The Delhi HC allowed to operate its bank accounts, which were frozen by the (ED) in a money-laundering probe.

The court said that can operate its bank accounts to the extent that a balance of Rs 250 crore is maintained in its accounts at all times. The court granted one week to the ED to file its response to the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on July 28. This comes after Delhi HC had last week asked ED to consider unfreezing some of Vivo's bank accounts to pay for its liabilities.

On July 5, ED conducted raids at multiple locations across India in connection with the money laundering probe against Vivo.

The agency had said that Vivo remitted about Rs 62,476 crore of its turnover to China between 2017 and 2021 to avoid paying taxes in India. This was almost half of the Chinese company's turnover of Rs 1.25 trillion, the ED said without stating the time period of the transaction.
The (DRI) has slapped a Rs 4,389-crore show-cause notice on India for allegedly evading Customs duty by wrongfully availing of exemption benefits.

India is a subsidiary company of China-based Guangdong Mobile Telecommunications Corporation and deals in mobile phone brands, including Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme.

The duty evasion was detected during searches conducted by the DRI  an anti-smuggling agency under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs  on the office premises of and at the residences of its key management.

The searches led to recovery of incriminating evidence, indicating wilful misdeclaration in the description of certain items imported by for use in the manufacture of mobile phones, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

This misdeclaration resulted in wrongful availment of ineligible duty exemption benefits by Oppo India, amounting to Rs 2,981 crore, the ministry stated on Wednesday.

The investigation has further revealed that had remitted/made provisions for payment of royalty and licence fee to various multinational companies, including those based in China, instead of using proprietary technology, it added.

The said royalty and licence fees paid by Oppo India were not being added in the transaction value of goods imported by them, in violation of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962. The duty evasion by the mobile maker on this account is Rs 1,408 crore, the ministry added.

Oppo India has voluntarily deposited a sum of Rs 450 crore as partial differential Customs duty.

Of late, Chinese smartphone like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have come under the lens of Indian authorities.

After completion of investigation, a show-cause notice was issued on Oppo India on July 8, seeking payment of Customs duty amounting to Rs 4,389 crore.

The said notice also proposes relevant penalties on Oppo India, its employees, and Oppo China under the Customs Act.

Oppo India is engaged in the manufacturing, assembling, wholesale trading, and distributing mobile handsets and accessories across India.

Among others, senior management employees and domestic suppliers of Oppo India were questioned, who, in their voluntary statements, accepted the submission of wrongful description before Customs authorities at the time of import, observed the ministry.

Multiple agencies have conducted searches on them and their distributors, along with linked associates, since December last year. The income-tax department had detected alleged unaccounted income worth over Rs 6,500 crore with these firms. The Enforcement Directorate, too, is probing the money laundering angle and the Foreign Exchange Management Act charges against Vivo and Xiaomi.

Reacting to the development, Oppo India said it has a "different view" on the charges mentioned in the SCN and will take appropriate steps, including legal remedies.

"We have a different view on the charges mentioned in the SCN. We believe it's an industry-wide issue many corporates are working on. Oppo India is reviewing the SCN received from DRI, and we are going to reply to the notice, presenting our side, and will be working further with the related government departments.

"Oppo India is a responsible corporate and believes in the prudent corporate governance framework. Oppo India will take appropriate steps as may be needed in this regard including any remedies provided under the law, Oppo said.




The (HC) on Wednesday allowed Chinese smartphone manufacturer to operate its after furnishing a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore. The next hearing is likely on July 28.

This comes after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had frozen the of the phone company and the HC had refused to unfreeze the accounts on July 8.

The phone manufacturer had said the account freeze would hamper its ability to pay for its liabilities, such as taxes and employee salaries.

After the last court order, the ED had asked to provide specific information supporting its claim that it currently has expenses of Rs 451 crore towards taxes, Rs 12 crore towards employee benefits, and Rs 2,363 towards operating expenses.

Acting on EDs orders, the company had sent details of its liabilities which are yet to be analysed fully by the enforcement agency. Justice Yashwant Varma on Wednesday granted ED one week to process the companys liabilities.

YES Bank, Bank of Baroda, HSBC Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and DBS Bank operate 10 accounts of in Gurugram, Noida, Delhi, and Mumbai.





ALSO READ: India should give fair legal treatment to Vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi: Chinese media

Vivo, in its petition, said the scope of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is very wide in nature and the ED must specify in writing that it has reasons to believe the company was guilty.

Relying on various judgments, the company said the enforcement agency was encroaching on its rights and as a result, its 9,000 employees were left in the lurch.

The freeze is also depriving the exchequer of Rs 451 crore of statutory dues, it said.

The company stated before the court on Wednesday that it should be allowed to use the money not connected to the current searches. Each day the ED takes to investigate the matter is slowly pushing us to our corporate death, it said.

Meanwhile, the ED said the proceeds of the crime were far greater than the Rs 250 crore lying in the accounts of the company, and by that logic, it could not unfreeze the accounts.

Hearing the arguments, the court directed the company to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore. It also allowed the company to operate its bank account on the condition that a balance of Rs 250 crore be maintained in all of its accounts.

Remittances to China should be disclosed to the ED, the court said.

Court order on July 8

Delhi HC on Friday told the ED to consider the representation of Vivo to allow it to unfreeze some to pay for its liabilities. Justice Yashwant Varma asked the enforcement agency to give its reply to the plea filed by the company seeking to unfreeze some of its accounts.

The court directed Advocate Zoheb Hossain, counsel for ED, to take note of the relief sought by Vivo in the petition.

Vivos lawyers  Sidharth Luthra and Siddharth Agarwal  said there are liabilities such as taxes, tax deducted at source, and excise duties to be paid.

There are thousands of employees in the company. There is an urgency as these liabilities are growing every day, he said.

Meanwhile, EDs counsel opposed Vivos plea to unfreeze the bank accounts, saying it was too soon to do so.

Writ petition filed to challenge term of ED director

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the extension of the term of the ED director to five years. The petition filed by a Congress leader also challenges the order issued by the central government in November 2021 to extend the term of the current director by a year.
The country's largest power producer on Wednesday said it has rolled out a four-week long empowerment programme for underprivileged girls in to train 40 minors in different skills.

The programme -- Girl Empowerment Mission (GEM) -- is being conducted by the power major across the country since 2018 and was launched in for the first time.

Rolling out the initiative on Tuesday, Executive Director (Bongaigaon Plant) Subrata Mandal said the company is conducting the programme for the first time in to uplift the underprivileged girls.

"We have shortlisted 40 girls of age group 10-12 years. The exercise has come a long way right from the baseline survey, medical examination, registration process and finally at this campus," he said in a statement.

Mandal said that started GEM in 2018 and contributed to the empowerment of 4,500 underprivileged girls in the vicinity of its project locations across the nation.

He also thanked the Bodoland Territorial Council government, Kokrajhar district administration and the Department of Education in supporting NTPC Bongaigaon since the conceptualisation of the programme.

The NTPC GEM programme will empower girls by making them aware of basic education, health and self-defence. With this initiative, NTPC aims to help these girls break the glass ceiling and dispel the misconception about female foeticide in rural areas.

In the coming four weeks, the 40 girls will be provided training on different subjects, life skills and will be engaged in extracurricular activities such as outdoor games, puppetry and yoga at NTPC's plant location in Salakati, Kokrajhar.

"The CSR initiative will ensure that the girl child grows into a well-rounded adult with ample curiosity and quality communication and social skills," Mandal 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.)
Ronnie Screwvala-led unicorn upGrad has initiated a M&A (mergers and acquisitions) strategy in negotiations to acquire various in markets such as the US and Southeast Asia for expansion in those regions. As part of that strategy, upGrad Rekrut, a 100 per cent subsidiary of upGrad, has acquired Wolves India, a recruitment and staffing firm, for an undisclosed amount. It specialises in helping recruit tech talent.

upGrad is making these at a time when the company almost doubled its valuation to $2.25 billion after raising $225 million in fresh funding from investors such as James Murdochs Lupa Systems LLC and family offices of Lakshmi Mittal of steelmaker ArcelorMittal SA and Sunil Bharti Mittal of telecom operator Bharti Airtel, according to the sources. They said the other investors include US testing and assessment provider Educational Testing Service and existing investors, including Temasek Holdings Pte.

Geographical expansion is definitely a critical area for us, said Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of upGrad, in an interview. We are in talks with in the US and Southeast Asia, and exploring opportunities where we can expand our presence internationally.

The international business is so critical that the firms other co-founder Phalgun Kompalli, has shifted to the US to lead businesses within the brand there.

The focus is how we can expand our presence in the US market faster, said Kumar. We truly believe that in the next couple of years the international (market) will start accounting for about 30 to 40 per cent of our revenue while we will continue to go deeper in India.

Bucking the trend of lay-offs in the sector amid a funding crunch, upGrad is looking to add nearly 3,000 people in the next few months through M&A and partly through organic hirings. This would almost help it double its workforce to around 7,000 people.

upGrad is targeting $500 million in gross revenue in the year ending in March 2023, according to the sources.

In the space, upGrad competes with players such as Simplilearn, Unacademy, Byjus and Amazon Academy. Last year in July, Byjus acquired Singapore-headquartered Great Learning, a leading global player in the professional and higher education segment, in a transaction valued at $600 million. Both the US and India are large and key markets for Byjus.

Byjus has been making a slew of acquisitions in the U. S market to accelerate its plans of becoming one of the largest players in the space in the US, with a target to hit revenues of $1 billion in the next three years.

In August 2021, upGrad acquired edtech firm KnowledgeHut, which is aimed at equipping the global workforce with the skills through outcome-based immersive learning. Kumar of upGrad said that while KnowledgeHut is based out of India, 70 per cent of the business is international.

upGrad Rekruts acquisition Wolves India is a company based in Bengaluru. It specialises in placing high-quality tech talent across startups and mid and large-sized organisations in India and overseas. With 70 professionals, Wolves has closed over 5000 placements in technology and product roles. Wolves India will operate independently as a 100 per cent subsidiary of upGrad Rekrut and strengthen its tech placement portfolio. Wolves India will continue to operate under the leadership of its founder and director, Raghu S.

We are thrilled to welcome Raghu and his team on board to partner with upGrad Rekrut to offer an enhanced placement portfolio, thus enabling upGrad learners with the tech jobs, said Ajay Shah, managing founder and Husain Tinwala, co-founder of upGrad Rekrut.

Shah said the companys vision is to help learners get jobs based on their skills. We have a lot of techies who come to take up data science programmes and then look for jobs around that (area), said Shah.

This opportunity is huge for upGrad as the tech industry in India will continue to observe steady demand for skilled talent. According to the experts, it is expected to become a $350 billion market by FY26.

Kumar of upGrad said that Wolves India and upGrad Recrut would help to build a recruitment platform achieving revenue of over $100 million in the next five years.
Short-seller Hindenburg Research said on Wednesday it had taken a long position in Inc shares and warned the social media firm's lawsuit against Elon Musk, the world's richest man, could pose a threat to his .

Twitter's shares rose about 6% to $35.90 on the news, a day after the company sued Musk for violating his $44 billion deal and asked a Delaware court to order him to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per share.

Musk, who is the chief executive officer at Tesla Inc and heads SpaceX, said on Friday he was terminating the deal because violated the agreement by failing to respond to requests for information regarding fake or spam accounts on the platform.

Hindenburg did not elaborate on the threat the lawsuit poses to Musk, but legal experts have said that from the information that is public Twitter would appear to have the upper hand.

"We have accumulated a significant long position in shares of Twitter. Twitter's complaint poses a credible threat to Musk's empire," Hindenburg said in a tweet.

Twitter was not immediately available for a comment.

The legal face-off is the latest twist in the months long saga that began after Musk in April bought a stake in Twitter and later offered to buy the company.

Then in May, he put the buyout on hold until Twitter proved that spam bots account for less than 5% of its total users, even as he had gathered investors to fund a portion of his deal.

Hindenburg, which earlier had a short position, had said in May that Musk's offer could get repriced lower if he walked away from the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
DUISBURG, Germany, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A freight train, which departed from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on June 23 with electronic products, mechanical parts and daily necessities on board, arrived in Duisburg, Germany on Monday.

The arrival marked the 10,000th trip made by China-Europe freight trains operated by the China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing), the first of its kind in China that was launched in March 2011.

It is a milestone for the China-Europe freight train services as well as a fresh starting point of the new journey of common development in Eurasia, said Du Chunguo, Chinese Consul General in Dusseldorf, at a ceremony to mark the milestone.

The connection with China through the freight trains has opened a door for Duisburg, a German city boasting the largest inland harbour in Europe with booming business opportunities.

Situated in the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Duisburg used to be known for coal and steel production, which resulted in serious environmental pollution.

The city was determined to restructure of its economy, pivoting it away from iron and steel production to logistics and services.

However, the transformation bid hit a snag, and Duisburg was looking for a way out when the start of the China-Europe freight train services provided an opportunity.

With the steady growth of the China-Europe freight train services, businesses in Duisburg began to pick up.

So far, China-Europe freight trains connect Duisburg with an increasing number of Chinese cities such as Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an and Shenzhen.

In 2021, the weekly trips made by China-Europe freight trains hit a record high of 70, showed data from the Duisport, the ownership and management company of the Port of Duisburg.

The China-Europe freight train services have been growing rapidly and maintained a strong momentum, Duisport CEO Markus Bangen told Xinhua, adding that the cooperation between Germany and China is mutually beneficial and he looks forward to widened bilateral cooperation.

As an important destination of the China-Europe freight trains in Europe, Duisburg has become a gateway for people from Germany and China to better understand each other.

A growing number of Chinese companies, students and restaurants are turning up in Duisburg.

Markus Teuber, commissioner for China affairs of the Mayor's Office of Duisburg, disclosed that the number of Chinese companies in Duisburg has been on the rise since 2014 and Duisburg is home to over 100 Chinese companies now.

The benefit the China-Europe freight train services have brought to the German economy has gone far beyond Duisburg.

The China-Europe freight train services have noticeably advanced the economic development of the areas neighbouring Duisburg, Li Yuan, vice dean of the Institute of International Studies of Shandong University, said.

The freight train services can not only create job opportunities but also provide local companies with access to overseas markets, he added. 
India on Wednesday categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the travel of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya who fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.

The 73-year-old Sri Lankan President fled the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet on Wednesday.

"The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka tweeted.

"It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework, it added.

In a brief statement, the Sri Lankan Air Force said that under the Constitution granted to an Executive President, was flown to the Maldives onboard an Air Force plane Wednesday morning.

"On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Sri Lanka Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake international airport for the Maldives in the early hours of July 13," the statement said.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, is believed to have wanted to flee abroad before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

On Saturday, had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented that has brought the country to its knees.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said a sum of Rs 500 crore will be released as an immediate measure to restore basic amenities and infrastructure damaged during the recent .

Addressing the media at Manipal in Udupi after a review meeting on the havoc caused by rains in three coastal districts, he said a comprehensive report on the losses due to rain will be secured from all districts and then sent to the Centre to seek relief under Disaster Relief Fund.

The two-and-half hour meeting with officials of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada discussed in detail the damage to lives and property suffered in each district.

The coastal region received excessive rains during July than usual. So far, 32 lives have been lost and five are missing from the flooded areas.

A total of 34 people suffered injuries and 300 people are sheltered at different centres. Four teams each of NDRF and SDRF are taking up the relief measures and 14 relief camps have been set up in the three districts, Bommai noted.

On sea erosion in the coastal areas, he said it could not be prevented effectively though the state spent around Rs 300 crore under the ADB project. The government is now planning to go for the sea wave breaker technology used in parts of Kerala.

The pilot project will be taken up at Ullal in Dakshina Kannada district and a permanent scheme will be implemented based on its results.

The CM further said a detailed project report will be prepared before implementing the project and funding from external agencies will be sought.

Regarding the frequent tremors in the Dakshina Kannada-Kodagu border, Bommai said his government has approached four prominent institutions including the Geographical Survey of India to study the quakes.

(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 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved Taranga Hill-Ambaji-Abu Road new rail line to provide connectivity and improve mobility, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said in a Cabinet briefing.

The estimated cost of this project is Rs 2798.16 crores and will be completed by 2026-27.

The total length of the new rail line will be 116.65 km and will be constructed by the Ministry of Railways. The project will generate direct employment during construction for about 40 lakh man-days.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a New India, the project is going to enhance connectivity and improve mobility leading to the overall socio-economic development of the region.

Ambaji is a famous important pilgrimage destination and is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in India and attracts millions of devotees from Gujarat as well as other parts of the country and abroad every year.

The construction of this line will facilitate easy travel for these millions of devotees. Further, the devotees visiting the Ajitnath Jain temple (one of the 24 holy Jain Tirthankaras) at Taranga Hill would also be greatly benefitted by this connectivity.

This line will facilitate faster movement of agricultural and local products and also provide improved mobility of the people in the region within the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan and also to other parts of the country.

This project will also provide an alternative route for the existing Ahmedabad-Abu Road railway line.

The alignment of the proposed doubling will traverse through the Sirohi district of Rajasthan and the Banaskantha and Mahesana districts of Gujarat.

The construction of a new rail line will attract investment and lead to the overall socio-economic development of the region.

(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 arrested businessman Ajay Ramesh Nawandar from on Wednesday in connection with the Rs 34,614-crore bank-fraud case, officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at Nawandar's premises last week and recovered a large number of uber-luxury watches worth crores of rupees, including Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Cartier, Omega and Hublot Michael Kors, the officials said.

The has booked Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), its former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, director Dheeraj Wadhawan and others for an alleged bank fraud of Rs 34,615 crore, making it the biggest such case probed by the agency.

(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.)
Maharashtra Chief Minister on Wednesday visited founder Bal Thackeray's memorial in Mumbai and paid floral tributes to him on the occasion of 'Guru Purnima'.

Talking to reporters here, Shinde said a common man like him could assume the top post in the state because of the blessings of .

"My government is committed to all round development of the state," he said.

The CM also said he was in touch in the administration and monitoring the situation arising due to heavy rains at various places in the state.

He later proceeded to neighbouring Thane city to offer tributes to late Sena leader and his mentor Anand Dighe.

Shinde and 39 other MLAs revolted against the party leadership last month, leading to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.

On June 30, Shinde was sworn in as the CM and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy chief minister.

The Shinde-led Sena faction has claimed to be carrying forward the legacy by getting out of the "unnatural" alliance with the Congress and NCP.

(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.)
People in the 18-59 age group can get free precaution doses of the Covid vaccine at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive likely to begin from July 15, the government said on Wednesday.

The drive, aimed at boosting the administration of Covid precaution doses, will be held as part of the government's Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's Independence, it said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to mark the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.

In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, free COVID-19 precaution dose will be administered to all the citizens above the age of 18 years at government vaccination centres from July 15 for the next 75 days".

This will provide protection to all adults from the virus, the minister asserted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government's decision to administer free precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all citizens aged above 18 will further India's vaccination coverage and create a healthier country.

In a tweet, Modi said, "Vaccination is an effective means to fight COVID-19. Today's Cabinet decision will further India's vaccination coverage and create a healthier nation."

Responding to a question, Mandaviya said people would have to pay if they visit a private facility to get the precaution dose.

Noting that some people had created doubts over the efficacy of vaccines developed in the country, he said there is a need for a booster dose for everyone and "no one will have to pay for it."

He did not share details on how much the exercise will cost the government.

Mandaviya thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision.

"The decision will further strengthen India's fight against COVID-19 and add an extra layer of safety! I urge all those eligible to get their precaution dose at the earliest," he added.

So far, less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77.10 crore in the 18-59 age group has been administered the precaution dose. However, 25.84 per cent of the 16.80 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as health care and frontline workers have received the booster dose, an official source said.

"A majority of the Indian population got their second dose over nine months ago. Studies at ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and other international research institutions have suggested that antibody levels wane around six months after the primary vaccination with both doses... giving a booster increases the immune response," the official said.

The Union Health Ministry last week reduced the gap between the second and precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine for all beneficiaries from nine to six months following a recommendation by the Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).

To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government initiated the second round of the 'Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0' across states and union territories on June 1.

The two-month programme is currently underway.

According to government data, 96 per cent of India's population has been administered the first dose of Covid vaccine, while 87 per cent of people have taken both doses.

On April 10 this year, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.

Currently, all those aged 60 years and above, and health care and frontline workers are being administered precaution doses free of cost at government vaccination centres.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with health care workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

On March 1 last year, COVID-19 vaccination began for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

Vaccination for all people aged above 45 years began on April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against Covid from May 1 last year.

Inoculation of those in the age group of 15-18 started on January 3 this year. The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.

(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.)
Over the next 75 days, any adult citizen in the country can walk into a government vaccination centre and get a free precaution (booster) dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Centre announced on Wednesday that as part of the celebrations marking 75 years of Indias Independence, the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be administered free to all above 18 years of age.

Union Health Minister tweeted: As part of #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav celebrations, free...precaution dose will be administered to all the citizens above 18 years of age at government vaccination centres, from 15th July 2022, for the next 75 days. This would add an extra layer of safety, he added.

The move is likely to improve the off-take of booster doses in the 18-59 age group. Data shows that only around 1 per cent of the eligible adults in this age group, excluding healthcare and frontline workers, have taken their third paid shot at private vaccination centres. Indias precaution dose coverage for all was around 8 per cent of the eligible population of 640 million as of July 13 (estimated considering a six-month gap between the second dose and the precautionary dose).





ALSO READ: Over 107.7 mn Covid-19 vaccine doses available with States, UTs: Centre

India opened precaution shots for all adults on April 10. Earlier, it had allowed senior citizens and healthcare and frontline workers to take the booster shot from January 10. Last week, the government also reduced the gap between the second and third doses to six months from nine months.

The latest move will ensure that India does not waste vaccines, the bulk of which is nearing the end of their shelf life. Covishield, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which constitutes about 80 per cent of Indias overall Covid-19 vaccination, will expire in September as it has a shelf life of nine months and the last batches were made in December. Serum Institute of India (SII), the maker of Covishield, stopped making the vaccine thereafter as it had accumulated a huge stockpile at its Pune plant. According to some estimates, SII will waste nearly 200 million doses of Covishield by September.

Bharat Biotechs Covaxin, on the other hand, has a 12-month shelf life. The company is sitting on stocks of around 50 million doses, and has finished supplying the tendered amounts to the Centre during the first quarter of 2022.



Slow progress Over the last week, booster doses for 18-59 age group accounted for only 28% of total boosters administered

Around 1% of those between 18 and 59 years have received booster shots

Overall, only 8% of eligible people have received boosters

Till Sept 28 (when 75-day period will end), 830 million people will be eligible for boosters

According to government data, around 100 million balance and unutilised vaccine doses were lying with states and Union Territories as of July 13. While one does not know the break-up, the bulk of these doses is likely to be Covishield.

Giving these shots for free is likely to cost the government exchequer anywhere between Rs 270 crore to Rs 1,600 crore, depending on the off-take. The government had raised the procurement price of Covishield (Rs 215 per dose) and Covaxin (Rs 225 per dose) in July last year. Considering the same price was paid in subsequent tenders, a Business Standard analysis found that the Centre would spend Rs 271.15 crore for the 75-day drive if vaccination continues at the current pace, considering Rs 220 per dose on an average.

If India continues to vaccinate at the current pace (164,337 doses per day) for the age group of 18-59 years, then we can cover 12.3 million people in 75 days. If one considers the peak booster dose administration number (984,676 doses), then we can cover 73.9 million people in the 18-59 years age group.

Roughly 500,000 precaution doses are given daily, but most of it is for healthcare, frontline workers and senior citizens.

According to a LocalCircles survey in the first week of July that covered over 15,000 respondents, around 14 per cent more people were likely to take their third shots if these were given free. At the moment, one has to pay Rs 225 for the vaccine and Rs 150 as the administration fee at a private clinic.




Incessant showers lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Wednesday morning, leading to flooding in many low-lying areas and traffic snarls on roads, officials said.

The local trains, considered as the lifeline of the metropolis, were largely unaffected on the Central Railway and Western Railway routes. The suburban services on the Harbour Line were running slow, according to railway officials.

Some areas, including the Andheri subway, which connects the east and west parts of the suburb, were flooded and police had restricted its use by citizens.

The Western Express Highway, connecting suburbs to south Mumbai, also witnessed heavy traffic, a Mumbai traffic police official said.

There was heavy traffic on the route in Borivali, Goregaon, Jogeshwari, Andheri and up to some extent near Bandra, the official said.

The Colaba (in south Mumbai) and Santacruz (western suburb) observatories reported 24 mm and 44.6 mm of rainfall, respectively, in the 24-hour period till 8.30 am on Wednesday.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 20 locations in Mumbai received nearly 40 mm showers in six hours till 9.30 am on Wednesday.

It is not a very high rainfall, but if it continues for some hours there could be water-logging on streets, further affecting the vehicular movement," an IMD official.

The MeT department has predicted a wet spell for the state capital on Wednesday and Thursday.

The cumulative rainfall in Mumbai has already surpassed its average precipitation in the present monsoon season, as per the IMD data.

There was water-logging up to 1.5 to two feet at the Andheri subway, following which traffic was divert to the S V Road, a police official said.

Flooding was also reported at the Kamani junction in Kurla and traffic there was normal.

In the Deonar eastern suburb, there was water-logging up to 0.5 feet at Neelam Junction. There was similar inundation on the Mankhurd railway bridge and traffic was moving slow, the official said.

Water accumulated up to one feet at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link gate, due to which traffic movement was slow in Worli, he said.

A tree collapsed in Bandra-Kurla Complex area, following which traffic was diverted from there to the J B Junction.

Traffic was slow at Paresh Park Market in Vikhroli, a bus depot near Santacruz railway station, Dadar TT, Wadala Shakkar Panchayat, near the Fatima High School in Ghatkopar, Sonapur Junction and Khar railway junction due to water accumulation, the police said.

A bus got halted at the Pedder Road, slowing down traffic on the route, they added.

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As the Indian probe agencies tighten the noose around Chinese smartphone makers like Vivo, and Xiaomi, the Chinese state-run media has said that the companies should not give up using legal weapons to defend their legitimate rights.

If the Indian legislation system really fails them, it will be a huge loss to both sides, according to an opinion piece in Global Times.

"For Chinese companies such as that have long contributed to the Indian economy and operate legally in the local market, legal weapons have become the last line of defense for these companies to continue their business in India," it read.

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court allowed to operate its bank accounts on the condition of furnishing a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore and maintaining Rs 250 crore in its accounts.

The court also directed the Chinese firm to submit details about its bank activities and remittances to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.

Last week, the ED had conducted searches on the premises of Chinese companies, including smartphone maker Vivo, at 44 locations in 22 states.

The probe agency found that remitted 50 per cent of its total sales -- Rs 62,476 crore -- to China.

The Global Times report said that for Vivo, taking up legal weapons to protect its rights and interests is a forced move to resume normal operations.

"Although filing a lawsuit must bear a certain cost of time and money, it is the most reasonable choice available to the company," it said, adding that for Indian financial investigating authorities and courts, as the Vivo case has attracted wide spread attention, "it is imperative for them to take efficient, fair and transparent action".

"If the Indian court does not handle this case fairly or discloses information in a timely manner, it will certainly undermine the authority of the and further damage India's business environment," the paper said.

As the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) unearthed alleged customs duty evasion of nearly Rs 4,389 crore by India, the smartphone maker on Wednesday said it would take appropriate steps against the DRI show cause notice, including "remedies provided under the law".

The DRI said in its statement that it detected that Mobiles Private Ltd has evaded customs duty of around Rs 4,389 crore.

In April, the ED had said they seized Rs 5,551.27 crore of Technology Private Ltd lying in the bank accounts under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act in connection with the illegal outward remittances made by the company.

--IANS

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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the June 3 violence has filed a case diary in court.

Violent clashes followed by stone-pelting took place last month in after a local organisation called for a shutdown in protest against suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's remarks about Prophet Muhammad.

The case diary was filed by public prosecutor Dinesh Agarwal.

According to the SIT investigation, the miscreants were given money for spreading violence. The case diary mentions that stone-pelters were allegedly given Rs 500-1,000 and those who had used petrol bombs during the riots were allegedly paid Rs 5,000.

The SIT mentioned that assurance was given to the miscreants of free legal help if caught. The case diary further mentioned that seven to nine days of training for the uproar was given to the miscreants. So far, more than 60 people have been arrested in the June 3 violence.

--IANS

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Chief Minister on Wednesday termed as "unfortunate" the recent killing of two scrap collectors, a father-son duo from Assam, in a steel bomb blast in Kannur district, and slammed the Congress-led UDF opposition for allegedly using the incident to portray that the situation in the state was in danger.

He said the incident occurred on July 6 when the deceased had tried to open a steel container which they had found while collecting scrap at Chavassery in Iritty, where "communal forces like SDPI, Popular Front and RSS have some influential pockets." Vijayan was speaking in the state assembly, giving reply to an opposition notice seeking an adjournment motion over the alleged recurring instances of violence and bomb blasts and locals mounting concerns about it. According to police, Fazal Haq (50) and his son Shaheedul, in his 20s, had died in the blast that took place at their residence while categorising the collected scrap. During the Zero Hour, Vijayan said it was an unfortunate incident that the blast occurred and two people were killed while collecting and storing abandoned scrap articles. Though the source of the explosive substance, which had claimed the life of the duo, was yet to be identified, police had information that the communal forces were amassing armaments in the area to settle their scores with each other, he said. The police would conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain the details of the weapons the communal forces collected for 'political vendetta' and abandoned later and would take stringent action against the culprits, he said. Criticising Congress MLA Sunny Joseph for taking up the matter for adjournment motion, Vijayan said the topic was picked as the opposition was facing a dearth of issues to raise against the government and he tried to express his political stand under the garb of the unfortunate incident.

Rejecting the involvement of the ruling CPI (M) in violent incidents reported in Kannur, he said it was not the Marxist party but outfits like SDPI, Popular Front and RSS that were creating issues in the northern district. However, there was no reference to them in the opposition notice. Citing figures, the CM said as many as 9 CPI(M) activists have been killed in the state from 2020 till date. Of them, five had been done by UDF activists and four by the RSS workers, Vijayan alleged. During 2011-16, the tenure of the previous UDF government, as many as 1,760 murder cases had been reported in the state and 35 among them were political killings, he claimed. The Chief Minister pointed out that a total of 1,516 murders had been reported during his previous government (2016-21) and 26 were political murders. But, stringent legal measures have been taken against all the culprits cutting across political parties during that period and investigation had not been sabotaged in any case, he claimed.

"The UDF should withdraw from the wrong charges which they have raised for sheer political gains. The situation in is intact. If anyone tries to break it, the strong clutches of law will emerge," the Chief Minister added.

Joseph, however, urged the government to probe and find out for whom the bombs and explosive materials had been made in Kannur. He alleged several CPI(M) and BJP activists had been killed while making bombs in the northern district but investigation had not been carried out properly in any such case in the last 10 years.

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Live news updates: today declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy. The Prime Minister's office informed the media organisations that the state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province had been imposed.



Opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha is slated to arrive here on Wednesday to seek support from MLAs and MPs of opposition parties in Assam for the July 18 polls, state Congress President Bhupen Bora said here. NDA's candidate Droupadi Murmu will visit Jaipur on Wednesday to seek support from legislators for the July 18 presidential polls. Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, said on Tuesday that Murmu will reach the Jaipur airport at 9.15 am to meet BJP MPs and MLAs at a hotel here. He said all BJP legislators have been requested to reach the hotel at 10 am.
Former Vice President on Wednesday refuted the allegation that he had invited to India a Pakistani journalist who has claimed to have spied for ISI, and said a "litany of falsehood" has been unleashed against him in sections of media and by a spokesperson.

In a statement, he also rejected the allegation, made by the citing comments of a former RAW functionary, that he had compromised interest as India's ambassador to Iran.

spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had at a press conference earlier in the day asked Ansari and the Congress to come clean on the claims of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza that he had visited India five times during the rule and passed on sensitive information collected here to his Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

Bhatia cited Mirza's purported comments that he had visited India on Ansari's invitations and also met him, but the former vice president rejected the claims.

In his rebuttal, Ansari said, "It is a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are on the advice of the government generally through the Ministry of External Affairs.

"I had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism, on December 11, 2010, the 'International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights'. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him," added Ansari, who was India's vice president between 2007-17.

The former vice president said his work as ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the government of the day.

He said he is bound by the commitment to security in such matters and will refrain from commenting on them.

"The Government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth. It is a matter of record that after my stint in Tehran, I was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. My work there has been acknowledged at home and abroad," Ansari said.

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Sri Lankan President Gotabaya fled the country on Wednesday, hours before he was due to step down after a people's uprising over a devastating ended his family's grip on the island nation.

A Reuters report quoting a government source and a person close to said he was in Male, the capital of the Maldives. would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, the government source said.

Rajapaksa is not the first leader to have fled their country in the face of popular unrest. Here is a brief list mentioning some of them.

Idi Amin, Uganda (exile in Libya, Saudi Arabia)

Idi Amin was Ugandas President between 1971 and 1979. Known as the 'Butcher of Uganda' for his brutality and shrewdness, Amin is reportedly responsible for the death of over 3,00,000 people in the country. He befriended Libya's ruler Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhafi and blamed for the famous 1976 Air France plane hijacking.

Amin ordered his troops to invade Tanzania in 1978 but the invasion failed and the next year he fled to Libya. In 1980, he shifted to and lived there till his death in 2003.





Also Read: A brief history of the rise and fall of Sri Lanka's president Rajapaksa

Mohammad Raza Pahlavi, (Morocco, Bahamas, USA, Mexico, Panama, Egypt)

Mohammad Raza Pahlavi, who described himself as the 'Shah of Iran, ruled between 1941 and 1979. He was pro-west and actively collaborated with the to launch the 'White Revolution' in the country. It aimed at building infrastructure, encouraging industries and eradicating Malaria from the nation.

However, he was subjected to continuous criticism from the Shia clergy and students. In 1978, Iranian Revolution was launched under the leadership of a Shia clergy, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In 1979, he fled the country and moved to Egypt and later to Morocco. He then went to the Bahamas and . The same year, he landed in the US for treatment of lymphatic cancer.

He next took asylum in Egypt where he died in 1980 at age 60.

Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines (USA)

Ferdinand Marcos was the Prime Minister and the President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. A lawyer by profession, Marcos came under heavy criticism for corruption and suppression of democracy. He was democratically elected as the Prime Minister in 1965 and soon imposed martial law in 1972. Several opposition leaders are said to have been jailed during the period. In 1981, he ended martial law but was elected as the President of the country, the same year.

His fall came when in 1983 he was accused of the murder of opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. In 1986, he won the election against Aquino's widow claimed the election results were rigged. On February 25, 1986, he fled the country and moved to Hawaii, USA, where he died in 1989. Marcos' son, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr, was elected the President of Philippines on June 30, 2022.

Fulgencio Batista, Cuba (Portugal, Spain)

Fulgencio Batista ruled Cuba for two tenures, one between 1933 and 1944, and the other between 1952 and 1959. In 1933, he led the revolt against Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and overthrew his government. He became the de facto leader of the country. His first term is considered to be one of prosperity and peace. He gathered patronage from civil society and the army. He was formally elected as the President in 1940 and went to the after his term ended in 1944.

As he was living in the US, Cuba was again mired with corrupt leaders and a breakdown of public services. In 1952, he returned to the country and overthrew Carlos Prio Socarras through a bloodless coup.

However, the second term turned him into a brutal dictator. He was accused of embezzling vast sums of money and suppressing the democratic process. In the 1954 and 1958 elections, he was the only candidate for the post of President.

In 1958, the Cuban Revolution was started by Fidel Castro and it led to the collapse of Batista's regime. In 1959, he fled to the Dominican Republic, and then to Portugal. In 1973, when he died, he was living in the Spanish State of Malaga.

Mobutu Sese Seko, Democratic Republic of Congo (Togo, Morocco)

Mobutu Sese Seko was the President of Zaire (present Democratic Republic of Congo) between 1965 and 1997. He was an active journalist and became the Editor of the weekly Actualites Africaines. After the independence of the country in 1960, he was appointed as the secretary of state for national defence by then-President Joseph Kasavubu. Later, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the country's army.

In 1965, he ousted Kasavubu and took power into his hands. However, as his rule proceeded, the cases of corruption and mismanagement started going up. He was also given financial support from the Western countries for interfering with the of Congo's neighbours.

After the Cold War ended, financial assistance was pulled back. The public outcry against Seko grew louder and he was forced to flee to Togo, in 1997. He died in Rabat, Morocco, the same year.

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia (Saudi Arabia)

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali served as the President of Tunisia between 1987 and 2011. From 1964 to 1974, he served as the head of Tunisia military security, which provided him access to the top government officials. He went on to become the military attache of Tunisian embassy in Morocco. He also served as the ambassador to Poland. In 1986, he became the minister of interior. In 1987, he was appointed as the Primie Minister by the President Habib Bourguiba.

He eventually tightened his grip around the of Tunisia. He came under criticism for human rights violation and suppressing democratic forces. He was also accused of smuggling drugs.

During the Jasmine Revolution in the Arab Spring, he fled the country and went to . He was trid in absentia in the court in Tunisia and was awarded life sentences in several cases. However, he died in Jeddah, in 2019.
The presence of microplastics in agricultural fields and crops in two districts of has become a cause of concern as it can lead to various diseases in humans, an official said.

The plastic wastes that accumulate in environment are broken down into smaller fragments and particles under physical, chemical or biological action, gradually forming microplastics (MPs).

The MPs, tiny materials less than 5 mm in diametre, are regarded as a major source of plastic pollution in the environment. They are called microplastics and it cannot be seen with the naked eye.

"Because of the extensive use plastics, the MPs have become a global environmental issue," State Pollution Control Board chairperson Ashok Kumar Ghosh told PTI.

"Recent studies reveal the presence of MPs in agricultural fields as well as crops in Bhagalpur and Buxar. It's a matter of serious concern," he said.

Due to human activities, such as plastic mulching, sewage, fertiliser coatings and littering, soil has become the largest reservoir of the MPs, according to the chairperson.

The MPs and nanoplastics (NPs) have been exposed to humans via various pathways, such as tap and bottled water, beverages, seafood, milk, salt, fruits and vegetables.

There are reports that suggest that the MPs can enter into blood cells of the human body, and can cause organ toxicity and dysfunctional metabolic activities, resulting in carcinogenic disease, he said.

The professor underlined that the consumption of MPs was significantly associated with diseases like infertility, obesity, cancer and others.

Ghosh, who also heads the research centre at the Mahavir Cancer Institute in Patna, said a study would be conducted soon to quantify the presence of MPs in farmland soils in these two districts.

He stressed on the need to conduct more studies to focus on the damage mechanism at the molecular and cellular level due to consumption of the MPs and the NPs.

Data gaps related to the potential NPs formation in the gastrointestinal tract of humans should be considered, the official said. "Research on human health due to ingestion or inhalation of the MPs and the NPs has been getting attention recently."



Ghosh urged people to also come forward and support the agencies in enforcing the recent ban on 'single-use plastic' announced by the Union government.

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Ahead of the of Parliament, Rajya Sabha chairman M has convened a meeting of floor leaders of various parties on Sunday evening.

Sources said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has also called a meeting of all parties on Sunday morning to seek their support for the smooth functioning of the Parliament session beginning July 18 and discuss the agenda.

Sources said the meeting has been convened by Naidu on July 17 at 6 PM and will seek the support of various parties for a smooth session.

The of Parliament begins on July 18 and will continue till August 12.

This will also be the last session of Naidu as his term is ending on August 10.

The notification for holding the election to the vice president's post has been made and the last date for filing nominations is July 19.

Both the ruling BJP and the opposition are yet to name a candidate for the vice president's post.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected signs of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere of a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star over a thousand light years away, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

The observation is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb's unprecedented ability to analyse distant atmospheres, according to . WASP-96 b is one of more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way.

Located roughly 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, it represents a type of gas giant that has no direct analogue in our solar system, it said in a statement.

With a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.2 times greater, WASP-96 b is much puffier than any planet orbiting our Sun. With a temperature greater than 538 degrees Celsius, it is significantly hotter.

WASP-96 b orbits extremely close to its Sun-like star, just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun, completing one circuit every three-and-a-half Earth-days, according to .

The combination of large size, short orbital period, puffy atmosphere, and lack of contaminating light from objects nearby in the sky makes WASP-96 b an ideal target for atmospheric observations.

While the Hubble Space Telescope has analysed numerous atmospheres over the past two decades, capturing the first clear detection of water in 2013, Webb's immediate and more detailed observation marks a giant leap forward in the quest to characterise potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.

On June 21, Webb's Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system for 6.4 hours as the planet moved across the star.

This resulted in a light curve showing the overall dimming of starlight during the transit, and a transmission spectrum revealing the brightness change of individual wavelengths of infrared light between 0.6 and 2.8 microns.

The light curve confirmed properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations - the existence, size, and orbit of the planet.

The transmission spectrum revealed the previously hidden details of the atmosphere: the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds that were thought not to exist based on prior observations.

A transmission spectrum is made by comparing starlight filtered through a planet's atmosphere as it moves across the star to the unfiltered starlight detected when the planet is beside the star.

Researchers are able to detect and measure the abundances of key gases in a planet's atmosphere based on the absorption pattern - the locations and heights of peaks on the graph.

In the same way that people have distinctive fingerprints and DNA sequences, atoms and molecules have characteristic patterns of wavelengths that they absorb.

The spectrum of WASP-96 b is not only the most detailed near-infrared transmission spectrum of an atmosphere captured to date, but it also covers a remarkably wide range of wavelengths, including visible red light and a portion of the spectrum that has not previously been accessible from other telescopes, said.

This part of the spectrum is particularly sensitive to water as well as other key molecules like oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide.

Researchers will be able to use the spectrum to measure the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, constrain the abundance of various elements like carbon and oxygen, and estimate the temperature of the atmosphere with depth.

They can then use this information to make inferences about the overall make-up of the planet, as well as how, when, and where it formed.

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Prime Minister on Monday unveiled Indias national emblem cast on the roof of the new Parliament building. Opposition political parties criticised the expression of the four lions of the national emblem, alleging the government has violated the Constitution.

The government justified the cast saying it was done after research and a well-laid procedure. What follows is a brief explanation of the National Emblem.

What is the National Emblem?

The National Emblem is one of the most visible symbols of national identity and it is used as the seal of the Republic. It was adopted from the Lion Capital of one of the Ashoka Pillars on January 26, 1950. The symbol was adopted along with the motto 'Satyamev Jayate, taken from the Mundaka Upanishad and meaning 'truth always wins'.

How is the emblem structured?

The emblem has four lions mounted back to back on a circular abacus, facing four different directions. They represent courage, pride, power and confidence.

A circular abacus on which the lions stand is adorned with the engravings of a bull, a horse, and an elephant. Along with the lions, it is believed that the animals represent the four stages of Gautam Buddha's life. Lions indicate the stage of achieving enlightenment.

The bull symbolises Taurus, the zodiac sign of Buddha. The elephant denotes his outset. The horse symbolises his ride after leaving the citadel where he gave his first sermon.

The animals are separated by Ashok Chakras or Dharmachakras. The above-mentioned structure rests on an inverted lotus, which was chosen as the National Flower of India. However, it is not a part of the Emblem.

When was the National Emblem designed?

The Lion Capital was erected in Sarnath 250 BC. Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh. It was excavated by Friedrich Oscar Oertel in 1905.

When was it adopted by India?

After independence in 1947, leaders were looking for a symbol that could be used as the national emblem. Badruddin Tyabji, a civil services officer and a freedom fighter, and his wife Surayya Tyabji proposed the usage of the Lion Capital for the same.

When the Constitution was being drafted, Dinanath Bhargava was selected to design the National Emblem. Under the mentorship of Nandalal Bose, who designed the illustrations in the document, Bhargava sketched the Emblem on the first page of the Constitution.

What is the political controversy around the new structure?

Opposition parties say the national emblem unveiled looks 'ferocious' with its exposed fangs and different from the original depiction. (INC), Indias largest opposition party in Parliament, said that the inscription 'Satyamev Jayate'is missing from the new structure atop the building.

The government dismissed the criticism. "Sense of proportion & perspective. Beauty is famously regarded as lying in the eyes of the beholder. So is the case with calm & anger. The original #Sarnath #Emblem is 1.6 mtr high whereas the emblem on the top of the #NewParliamentBuilding is huge at 6.5 mtrs height," said Union minister Hardeep Puri on Twitter.

Sunil Deora, one of the two sculptors who designed the new statue, said that the perceived difference in the lions demeanour is due to the scale of the new structure, according to 'The Indian Express'.
NDA presidential candidate will on Wednesday meet BJP lawmakers from to seek support for the July 18 .

Murmu arrived here by a chartered flight from New Delhi. Her flight was delayed due to bad weather in the national capital.

She was welcomed by BJP state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal and other BJP leaders.

A large number of BJP workers also gathered at the airport to welcome her.

Murmu will meet BJP MPs and MLAs at a hotel here, a BJP spokesperson said.

The BJP has 71 MLAs in the 200-member assembly.The party has 24 Lok Sabha members and four Rajya Sabha members from the state.

On Monday, Yashwant Sinha, the presidential candidate of the opposition parties, had met Congress leaders here.

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Prime Minister will visit on Saturday and inaugurate the -- a 296-km four-lane expressway that has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore, his office said.

The work on the expressway has been completed within 28 months and it will now be inaugurated by the prime minister, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

Prime Minister Modi will visit on July 16, 2022 and inaugurate at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil of Jalaun district at around 11:30 AM, it said.

The government has been committed to enhancing connectivity across the country, a key feature of which has been the work towards improvement in road infrastructure, the PMO said.

A significant endeavour towards this was the laying of foundation stone for the construction of by the Prime Minister on February 29, 2020.

The 296 Km, four-lane expressway has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore, under the aegis of Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), and can later be expanded upto six lanes as well, the statement said.

It extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway. The expressway passes through seven districts, viz. Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah, it said.

Along with improving connectivity in the region, the Bundelkhand Expressway will also give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people, it said.

Work on the creation of industrial corridor in Banda and Jalaun districts, next to the expressway, has already been started, the statement said.

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KABUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Russia sent 16 tons of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan on Wednesday, said a statement of Afghanistan's State Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs released here.

A plane that carried the assistance and landed at the Kabul airport was received by Ghulam Ghous Nasiri, the acting state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, the statement added.

Expressing gratitude to Russia, Nasiri said that the assistances included 1,000 blankets, 30 pieces of tents and medicines. The official also noted that another plane of Russian aid would arrive next week.

A devastating earthquake, which struck parts of Afghanistan on June 22 claimed at least 1,000 lives and left thousands of others homeless in the war-torn country. Moreover, monsoon rains and flooding have reportedly killed more than 100 people and rendered hundreds of others homeless in several provinces over the past couple of weeks.

Several countries including Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, United States, Qatar and Turkey have sent humanitarian assistances to the needy and quake-affected families in Afghanistan. 
has covered entire India. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data shows the country has received excess of 9 per cent since June 2022, a Dainik Bhaskar report stated. However, 85 districts have still not received adequate . Almost 32 crore people reside in these districts.

42 out of these 85 districts are in Uttar Pradesh, while twelve are in Tamil Nadu. North-east and north-west India have been rain deficit this season by 5 and 8 per cent respectively.

Heavy in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh

During the past few days, the heavy rainfall in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra has resulted in waterlogging and incessant downpours that have created a flood-like situation.

According to the Maharashtra SDMD report on Sunday, 76 people have died (till July 10) since June 1, and as many as 838 houses were damaged due to the rain-related incidents in the state.

At least 200 people, including children and women, were rescued and shifted to safer places in Madhya Pradesh's flood-hit Harda district. Heavy rainfall since Tuesday caused flooding in the district, and more than 70 houses were submerged. The highway connecting Bhopal-Betul has been closed due to the overflowing Mancha river.

Several teams have been deployed to rescue people caught in floods and take them to safe places, the chief minister's office said on Wednesday.

The regional office of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already warned that heavy rain will occur in the Harda district. Observing the situation, the district administration has ordered schools shut for the day.

As per the IMD's report, in the last 24 hours, Betul district has received 140 mm of rain, Pachmarhi 111 mm, Khandwa 68 mm, Seoni 58 mm, etc. The department has issued yellow alerts in districts such as -- Raisen, Bhopal, Neemuch, Narsingpur, Balaghat and Mandla.

As per the reports, at least 47 people in Madhya Pradesh have been killed due to lightning strikes in just a week, taking the toll to 111 in the last one-and-a-half months. State capital Bhopal has alone reported around 7,000 lightning strikes, according to scientists at Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhopal, in two days on July 11 and 12.

Wide variation in New Delhi

After a weeklong wait, the much-awaited instalment finally arrived in Delhi but with a wide-ranging variation - from 0 mm to 77.5 mm - at play.

Heavy rainfall has lashed Noida and the NCR region, but the areas of Palam, Dwarka and Najafgarh are dry.

(With agency inputs)
The on Wednesday agreed to hear next week a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on in educational institutions of the state.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of lawyer that the matters were filed long back but were yet to be listed for hearing.

The girls are losing out on studies, Bhushan said.

The bench said, It will be listed sometime next week".

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Maharashtra's district has reported 169 new COVID-19 cases, raising its infection count to 7,31,747, a health official said on Wednesday.

With the addition of the new cases on Tuesday, the district currently has 1,920 active COVID-19 cases, he said.

No death was reported on Tuesday and the fatality toll in the district stood at 11,915. The COVID-19 recovery count in has reached 7,17,743, the official added.

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Chinese mobile maker evaded customs duty worth Rs 4,389 cr: DRI

The (DRI) has slapped a Rs 4,389 crore show cause notice on on July 8 for allegedly evading customs duty by wrongfully availing exemption benefits.

Oppo India, the Indian subsidiary of a Chinese firm, deals in various brands of mobile phones, including Oppo, OnePlus and Realme. Read more...

Q1 Results: Net profit rises 37% to Rs 472 cr; revenue jumps 36%

IT firm on Wednesday reported 37% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 472 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2022 as against Rs 343 crore in the year-ago period.

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm's consolidated revenue from operations rose 36% to Rs 3,121 crore as compared to Rs 2,292 crore in June 2021. Read more...

Fascists trying to take over govt: Acting Lanka President Wickremesinghe

Acting President of Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said there was a fascist threat to democracy in the country and vowed to restore normalcy as well as stop the destruction of state property, hours after anti-government protesters stormed his office.

In his first televised address since being appointed to the post after embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives, Wickremesinghe said he had ordered military commanders and the police chief to do what is necessary to restore order. Read more...

Delhi HC allows to operate accounts frozen by ED in tax evasion probe

directed Chinese smartphone maker to furnish a bank guarantee worth Rs 950 crore.

The Delhi HC allowed to operate its bank accounts, which were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering probe. Read more...
India's trade with Sri Lanka has nearly stopped following the unrest in the island nation, leaving exporters worried about their payments.

"Our and imports have come to a complete standstill. Exporters are very cautious because of the political crisis and payment issues," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Vice-Chairman Khalid Khan said.

However, he expressed hope that once the new government takes office in Sri Lanka, situation may improve.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is facing an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicines, fuel and other essentials. The grim situation has resulted in a civil unrest.

The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka's total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.

FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said political stability will help in resumption of trade.

"At present, goods which are under SBI and Exim Bank's line of credit are being exported to that country and they include key raw materials for industry, pharma, fertiliser, food and textiles," Sahai said.

In 2021-22, export of goods from India was worth USD 5.8 billion, while it was USD 550 million in April this year. In last fiscal year, import stood at USD 1 billion. It was USD 74.68 million in April 2022.

A free trade agreement between India and Sri Lanka came into effect in 2000.

In addition to being one of the largest trade partners of Sri Lanka, India is also one of the largest contributors to foreign direct investment into that country.

Mumbai-based exporter and Chairman of Technocraft Industries, Sharad Kumar Saraf said not only exporters, businesses who have invested there are also "very" worried about the current turmoil there.

The main investments from India are in the areas of petroleum retail, tourism & hotel, manufacturing, real estate, telecommunication, banking and financial services.

"Trade has come down drastically. Exporters are worried about their payments. My business with Sri Lanka has dipped to 25 per cent since January," Saraf added.

Sharing similar views, Chairman of Farida Group Rafeeq Ahmed said trade has virtually stopped due to the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka.

"Exporters are confused. At the moment, nobody wants to engage with that country," he added.

Rajesh Menon, DG, SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) said Sri Lanka is a key market for the domestic auto industry and "we hope that the economic situation improves in that country at the earliest, enabling reinstatement of the Indian automobile exports".

India's to Sri Lanka include engineering goods, chemicals, iron and steel, agri commodities, mineral fuel, pharma products, plastic goods, and paper items. Imports include agri produce, textile goods, boats, fruits and nuts.

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The Delhi Transport Corporation has stopped providing buses to schools in the city from the new academic session in view of growing demand of its fleet for public transport here, officials said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken by senior officials of the transport department and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) considering the need for more buses for commuters, a a senior transport department officer said, adding that the schools were informed in advance.

"The DTC has been providing over 350 of its buses to schools for carrying children. Now, the buses have been withdrawn and only 8-10 buses have been provided to some schools in view of transport facility for specially abled children," said the officer.

The government is trying to increase the deployment of more DTC and cluster buses to fill the gap, but the focus is always ensuring adequate number of buses available for public transport, said the officer.

The DTC in September last year had written to the schools as well as Delhi Police expressing its inability to provide buses for their needs. However, it had continued providing buses to the police and para military for deployment across the security as an emergency service.

Delhi currently has over 7,200 public transport buses, including 3,912 run by the DTC and 3,293 cluster buses run by Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System(DIMTS). As per official estimates, the city requires 11,000 buses to meet its public transport needs.

The schools were again informed about lack of buses in January and were urged to make alternative arrangements for their transportation needs, said officials.

The schools and parents had opposed the decision of withdrawing the buses. The schools had also challenged it in Delhi High Court that had questioned the DTC over its decision. The government had cited need of public transport as the reason behind its inability to provide buses to the schools, officials said.

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As many as 2,084 students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) graduated during its 59th Convocation held here on Wednesday.

The premier technical institute also presented its 60,000th degree since its inception. Established with German technical assistance, IIT-M was formally inaugurated in 1959.

A total of 2,084 students graduated on Wednesday, in the first convocation to be held in the physical mode after a gap of two years, a release from IIT-M said.

"As many as 2,620 degrees (including Joint and Dual Degrees) were awarded to the students on the occasion," it said.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, chief guest on the occasion, lauded the graduating students.

In his address he said "it is clear that it is going to be a digital world and a digital economy."



"The adoption of digital technologies by everyone, rich and poor, has demonstrated that it has become a behavioral change..." the release quoted him as saying.

"There is going to be no domain industry that is going to lead by itself, whether it is healthcare or manufacturing and that can happen only when all of you (students) play a role and it is going to be an exciting role driving transformation across sectors," he added.

He further said it is an exciting time to start one's career, "and definitely so in India," saying the country's economy has grown 100 times in the 75 years since 1947.

Nobody would have predicted India would play a significant role in technology sector, he added.

Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Madras, said the present decade was a very important one for the country.

"The world order is changing. India today has opportunities like never before - across sectors and geographies. Technology is revolutionising every aspect of our lives. There could not have been a better time for you to graduate and make a difference to the lives of millions of people," he said.

IIT-M Director V Kamakoti awarded the degrees.

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The (NCB) on Wednesday filed a draft charge sheet in a case related to the death of actor and accused his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty of allegedly procuring for him.

Rajput died in 2020 in mysterious circumstances which created a nationwide uproar. Initially, the Police was probing the case which was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The NCB also filed a case of NDPS in the matter.

The draft charge sheet has been filed against 34 accused, including Rhea and her brother Showik Chakraborty.

It has been alleged in the charge sheet that Rhea Chakraborty had been purchasing and financing Marijuana for Rajput. She was delivering it to the late actor and made payments at his instance.

"Draft charges were submitted against Rhea Chakraborty before the Special NDPS court. She has been accused of receiving deliveries of ganja.

"She was purchasing it from Samuel Miranda, Showik Chakraborty and Dipesh Sawant and others. After purchasing she used to keep it and later hand it over to the late actor. She made the payments for them in 2020. We have enough evidence against them," said a source.

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Private sector lender IndusInd Bank said on Wednesday that the (ED) has filed a First Information Report (FIR) against certain entities, including some employees of the bank, over alleged financial irregularities.

The FIR, dated July 9, was filed with the CCB-1 Police Station, informed exchanges on Wednesday, adding that it had no credit exposure to the entities being investigated.

The Zonal Office of the ED had been investigating certain entities for alleged irregularities with regard to remittances for import transactions carried out from 2011 to 2014, said.

The bank had suo moto filed Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) with the regulatory authorities during the relevant period for many of these entities. The bank had also filed complaints with the police authorities in 2015 against some of the unscrupulous entities, the private lender said.

The matter had been scrutinised by the in October 2015 and a penalty had been imposed on the lender, said. It added that many of the employees concerned had already left the bank.

The Bank continues to extend full cooperation and assistance to the Law Enforcement Agencies and is duty bound to take appropriate action against any of the named employees if found to have deliberately facilitated/abetted the conduct of any illegitimate transaction, IndusInd Bank said.
The Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has recommended former managing director Rajkiran Rai as the head of government-owned development institution (DFI).

As part of its first appointment after getting restructured, the FSIB interviewed five candidates for the position of managing director of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID). The Centre, earlier this month, transformed the Board Bureau (BBB) into FSIB and expanded the headhunters role to suggest appointments for public sector banks, and financial institutions.

After initially failing to attract adequate response for candidates for the post of MD of NaBFID, the Centre had lured applicants with a hefty pay package and relaxed the eligibility criteria. The FSIB, in its earlier avatar, had notified that the total compensation  total of fixed pay and performance bonus  will not exceed Rs 3.36 crore per annum. This was against a previous notification that merely stated that salary for NaBFIDs head would be market driven. The criteria for the experience of candidates at the board-level position was also to at least two years from three years earlier.

The DFI is looking to commence its operations soon. The Centre, in October 2021, had appointed K V Kamath as chairperson of the government-owned DFI. Subsequently, government nominees Pankaj Jain and Sumita Dawra were appointed directors to the board of DFI.

The government has already infused Rs 20,000 crore into NaBFID to help the DFI start its operations to catalyse investment in the infrastructure sector.
RAMALLAH, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's first visit to the Middle East, the Palestinians are disappointed with the U.S. failure to present any new peace initiative and fulfill its promises on the Palestinian cause.

Biden is scheduled to visit Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia during his first trip to the region which starts on Wednesday.

In the past weeks, the Palestinians ramped up their voices calling on the Biden administration to deliver its promises by reopening the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington, and removing the PLO from the U.S. terrorism list.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians criticized the United States for its silence over the escalation of Israeli unilateral practices in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Ramzi Rabah, a PLO executive committee member, said that within the PLO executive committee, there is widespread criticism of the U.S. policy as its members urged the Palestinian Authority "not to bet on any actual U.S. role in the region."

The Palestinian leadership "must go to alternative options in dealing with Washington," Rabah told Xinhua in an interview.

He said that as the United States refuses to take any serious steps to stop Israel from escalating its practices against the Palestinians, "there is a need to go to the United Nations and the UN Security Council to create an international political initiative."

"I think that the essence of Biden's visit to the region is to arrange a regional alliance, to secure the American interests and confront Iran," Rabah noted, expressing the Palestinians' disappointment at the U.S. inaction to break the protracted stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Wassel Abu Yousef, another member of the PLO executive committee, ruled out major positive results from Biden's visit on advancing the Palestinian cause, citing that the U.S. has increased support for Israel and its practices against the Palestinians, including confiscating land, demolishing homes, and expanding settlements.

The Palestinians "do not expect anything new from Biden's visit to the region regarding the implementation of the U.S. promises, except that it will result in more support for Israel," he told Xinhua in an interview.

Frustration and despair are prevailing among the Palestinians as nearly 29 years have passed since the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace agreement with Israel, under the U.S. sponsorship, to end the conflict between them.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been deadlocked since 2014 mainly due to Washington's refusal to change its biased pro-Israeli policy that ignores the political rights of the Palestinian people, who hope to establish an independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Abdulmajid Sweilem, a Palestinian analyst from the West Bank city of Ramallah, said that Biden's visit to the Palestinian territories is just "a political courtesy."

Biden is expected to "repeat Washington's old slogans of adhering to the two-state solution and protecting the Palestinian people's right to dignity and security, among other cliches," he told Xinhua in an interview.

"Ultimately, these cliches mean improving the lives of the Palestinians under the framework of Israeli domination and limited Palestinian self-rule," Sweilem said. 
At least six people were killed and two were wounded after a shootout between police officers and alleged criminals in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second-largest city, police sources said.

The Civil Police said the event took place in the favela of Manguinhos in the North Zone of on Tuesday morning when a group of agents were shot at as they passed nearby, Xinhua news agency reported.

When police reinforcements arrived at the scene, a fierce shootout ensued, with at least six dead and two wounded, which also caused the interruption of train service in the area.

The Manguinhos favela is very close to the headquarters of the Civil Police.

--IANS

int/shs

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On July 13, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya was expected to resign. But, Lankan citizens woke up to the news that their president fled the nation in the wee hours of Wednesday in a military aircraft and landed in the Maldives. Soon after the news was announced, the government declared an emergency.

Amid an that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel in the nation, announced that he would resign from his post after thousands of protesters stormed his and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's official residence on Saturday.

But, Rajapaksa, with his wife and two bodyguards, left the nation in a Sri Lankan Air Force plane and landed in Maldives' capital, Male, multiple media reports said

This came a day after was stopped from flying to Dubai at the nation's airport.

How did Rajapaksa flee

After months of protests over the in Lanka, thousands of demonstrators stormed the president's and prime minister's residences on July 9. A group of protesters set Wickremesinghe's house on fire at the president's home, and people awestruck by the luxury partied in his swimming pool and took selfies in the palace.

Giving in to the widespread protests against the government, Rajapaksa told the Parliament Speaker later that day that he would resign on Wednesday. Wickremesinghe had already expressed his willingness to resign.

Soon after the announcement, Rajapaksa, who was moved out of his official residence on Friday, went incommunicado as reports said that his whereabouts were unknown. By Sunday evening, from an undisclosed location, the president ordered officials to ensure the smooth distribution of cooking gas after the fuel-starved country received 3,700 metric tonnes of LPG.

On July 11, Rajapaksa officially informed the PM that he would resign on Wednesday, July 13.

As started seeing the end of Rajapaksa's era and the Opposition agreed to form an all-party government, the president reportedly tried to flee the nation but was stopped from flying to Dubai on Monday evening.

According to South China Morning Post, Rajapaksa, who is currently immune to arrest, wanted to flee to Dubai before resigning to avoid being detained. But, airport immigration officers refused to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport, and the president refused to go through the public facilities to avoid reprisals from other airport users.

Rajapaksa and his wife missed four flights to Dubai and spent their night at a military base next to the airport.

The US reportedly denied Rajapaksa a visa after it was learnt that the embattled Lankan president was trying to flee the nation. He sought a safe passage to the U.S. after the recent events, but it was denied, a Colombo-based official told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Shortly after President Gotabaya landed in Maldivian capital Male on a Air Force plane, the crisis-hit island country's Parliament Speaker on Wednesday said that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation.

Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said has not the resignation letter of the embattled President who departed from hours before he was expected to resign amid widespread protests in the country which is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies.

In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Abeywardena said, "We haven't received President Gotabaya's resignation yet, but we hope to get one in a day."

The 73-year-old had gone into hiding after crowds of protestors stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13. Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya had flown to Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after after full approval of the country's Defence Ministry.

In a statement, the Sri Lankan Air Force also said that the move was done under the executive powers vested with the president.

"According to the request of the Government in accordance with the powers vested in an Executive President in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, His Excellency the President and the Lady along with two bodyguards from Katunayake Airport to the Maldives subject to the full approval of the Ministry of Defense subject to immigration, customs and all other laws at Katunayake Airport. An Air Force flight was given early in the morning on 13th July 2022 to depart," Sri Lankan Air Force Media Director said in a statement.

Gotabaya landed at the Velana Airport in the Maldives early Wednesday. The Prime Minister's Office also confirmed that President Gotabaya has left the country.Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to be sworn in today as interim President till a new President is elected by Parliament on July 20 and nominations for the presidency will be called for on July 19.

is facing the worst since its independence which has led to massive protests demanding the ouster of Gotabaya as the President. Sri Lanka's speaker of parliament Abeywardena has said political party leaders have decided to elect a new president on July 20 through a vote in parliament.

Thousands of people stormed into the President's House in Fort on July 9. The dramatic visuals also came from PM's official residence where they were seen playing carrom board, sleeping on the sofa, enjoying in park premises, and preparing food for dinner.

Sri Lanka is suffering its worst since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The will push families into hunger and poverty - some for the first time - adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former US national security adviser admitted on television Tuesday that he has helped plan coups in other countries, while arguing that the January 6, 2021 riot in Washington fell short of such efforts.

The attack on the US Capitol was the result of then-president Donald Trump just stumbling around from one idea to another, Bolton told CNNs Jake Tapper.

As somebody who has helped plan coups detat, not here, but, you know, other places, it takes a lot of work, he said.

Bolton  who served as Trumps national security adviser from 2018 to 2019 did not specify which governments he had helped to overthrow, but while in his post, he advocated for US military intervention in Venezuela.
plans to provide support to India to drive the transition to clean energy, expanding a programme it launched last year for Southeast Asian nations, Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Wednesday.

Japan's 'Asia Energy Transition Initiative' initially targeted supporting countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) pushing towards net-zero carbon emissions, including $10 billion in finance for renewable energy, energy efficiency and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.

"Specific support includes support for countries in the Asian roadmap towards carbon neutrality, which will be expanded to include India," Hagiuda said at the Sydney Energy Forum, co-hosted by the Australian government and the Energy Agency.

Hagiuda said the region needs to work on diversifying where it gets its energy from, in light of the ongoing energy crunch due to loss of Russian energy supplies.

"Against that backdrop, considering the current energy crisis, stable energy supply and market stability are critical as the basis for promoting a transition towards carbon neutrality," Hagiuda said.

"For that we must engage in improving our energy independence through things such as a further push for diversification of energy sources of supply."

Ahead of his trip to Sydney for talks with Quad partners Australia, India and the United States, Hagiuda said on Tuesday he would press the United States and Australia to boost LNG output and stable supply to .

He made no comment in his speech about the outcome of those talks which took place earlier on Wednesday.



(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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India and China are likely to hold the 16th round of high-level military talks on July 17 to resolve the issues in remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The last round of talks between the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) took place on March 11.

In the fresh round of talks, the Indian side is expected to press for disengagement of troops as soon as possible in all the remaining friction points besides seeking resolution of issues in Depsang Bulge and Demchok.

"The 16th round of Corps Commander-level talks are likely to take place on July 17," said a source.

The situation in eastern figured prominently in last week's talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bali.

At the one-hour meeting in Bali on the sidelines of a conclave of foreign ministers of the G20 nations, Jaishankar conveyed to Wang the need for early resolution of all the outstanding issues in eastern .

He also said that the relationship between the two countries should be based on "three mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

"Recalling the disengagement achieved in some friction areas, the external affairs minister reiterated the need to sustain the momentum to complete disengagement from all the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The MEA further said that Jaishankar "reaffirmed the importance of fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols, and the understandings reached between the two ministers during their previous conversations".

In May, India and China held diplomatic talks on the border row and agreed to hold the next round of the Senior Commanders' meeting at an early date to achieve complete disengagement from all friction points in eastern .

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector.

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Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's escape from the country to the Maldives was negotiated by the Maldivian Parliament Speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed, sources said on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old President fled to the Maldives along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet early Wednesday in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.

In a brief statement, the Sri Lankan Air Force said that under the Constitution granted to an Executive President, was flown to the Maldives onboard an Air Force plane early Wednesday morning.

President Rajapaksa's escape from Colombo was negotiated by Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Nasheed, sources in the Maldives capital Male said.

The Maldivian government's argument is that is still the President of Sri Lanka, and that he hasn't resigned or handed over his powers to a successor. Therefore, if he wanted to travel to the Maldives, it could not have been denied, sources said.

Thirteen people accompanied to the Maldives. They arrived in an AN32 aircraft, according to TV news channels.

Reports say that initial requests to land a military aircraft in the Maldives were refused by the Civil Aviation Authority in Maldives, but later landing was authorised on the request of Speaker Nasheed.

On Saturday, Rajapaksa announced that he will step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented that has brought the country to its knees.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, fled the country before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

He is expected to be in the Maldives on transit before flying to another destination which is yet to be known.

Rajapaksa is likely to send his resignation letter only after reaching his final destination on Wednesday evening, Sri Lanka's The Morning news portal reported, citing highly placed government sources.

It is learnt that the Rajapaksa's resignation letter would be sent to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at around 8 pm time, it added.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

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Inc. is slashing a significant portion of its workforce in and relocating jobs to other countries as part of a restructuring exercise in China, a retreat that reflects a growing global ambivalence over doing business in the worlds second largest economy.

Several hundred people among its 1,000-strong workforce in the southern technology hub have been affected, the Chicago-based financial services company said on Wednesday.

The roles will be moved to other offices including in Mumbai, Madrid, Toronto and Chicago, with Chinese operations to now focus solely on the domestic market, a company representative said.

The operations to be relocated elsewhere mainly involve the companys global support team, which provides data and information technology services to different regions across the world, a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as theyre not authorized to speak publicly, said separately.

This decision was necessary in the increasingly complex business environment, Chief Executive Kunal Kapoor wrote in a company memo dated July 11 seen by Bloomberg. We remain motivated by the potential the market offers, and were in the process of defining a new strategy for market growth.

The winding down will take place over the next 12 months, according to the memo. Data specific to the market will continue to be collected within the country, it said.

Morningstars shift out of China is one of the biggest yet among American financial firms operating on the mainland, and comes as Wall Streets biggest banks struggle with Covid-19 lockdowns, volatile markets and state interference in China. The countrys zero-tolerance approach to the virus is proving particularly disruptive, with businesses at risk of getting caught in a cycle of shutdowns and reopenings, as well as near-constant testing for residents.

Beyond financial services, the consumer sector is facing a wave of nationalism thats seen boycotts of foreign including Nike Inc. and Hennes & Mauritz AB after both said would stop using cotton from Chinas contentious Xinjiang region. Issues ranging from human rights to national security have also led to a deterioration in the relationship between China and many Western countries, and the US has used blacklists to restrict the activities of certain Chinese .

Founded in 1984 by Joe Mansueto, entered China in 2003 by forming a research firm in and currently also has an office in Shanghai. Its employees across China include technologists, analysts and researchers, and it was one of the first to obtain a quantitative fund rating service qualification from Chinas securities commission, according to the company. Morningstars operations in China represented the groups largest technology development and data center outside the US.
Sri Lanka's Acting President and Prime Minister on Wednesday asked Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a Prime Minister who is acceptable to both the government and the Opposition.

In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe held a meeting with the Members of the Cabinet at his office on Monday.

All the ministers who participated in this meeting were of the opinion that as soon as there is an agreement to form an all-party government, they will hand over the responsibilities to that government, it said.

Accordingly, the ruling party and the opposition must form an all-party government.

Wickremesinghe is under pressure to quit before the expected resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is said to be flying from the Maldives to Singapore.

The protesters who stormed Wickremesinghe's office on Wednesday are attempting to enter the parliament compound at the time of reporting. The police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters near the official residence of the speaker, police said.

A 26-year-old protester had died of breathing difficulties after being admitted to hospital. He was part of the group that stormed the prime minister's office this morning where 35 others had also been injured.

The Prime Minister's Media Division said the ruling party and the opposition must form an all-party Government.

President on Wednesday fled to the Maldives from where he appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting President, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests in the country reeling under the worst financial crisis in decades.

Speaker Abeywardena has said that President has informed him over telephone that he will resign today as promised. He said the vote for the new president will take place on July 20.

President issued a Gazette Extraordinary, appointing Wickremesinghe as the acting president to exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of the Office of President with effect from July 13, 2022.

Wickremesinghe, who is now Acting President, has declared a state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province has been imposed as protesters gathered near his office at Flower Road in Colombo.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said is now a bankrupt country.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lankas embattled President Gotabaya fled to the Maldives on a military jet on Wednesday, hours before he was supposed to quit in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.

From the Maldives, 73-year-old appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the acting President, citing Article 37(1) of the Constitution that allows a premier to discharge the powers, duties and functions of the office of president when the president is ill or absent from the country.

Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that President has appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad. Abeywardena also said that President Rajapaksa has informed him over telephone that he will resign today as promised. He said the vote for the new president will take place on July 20.

Wickremesinghe, who is now acting President, has declared a state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province has been imposed as protesters gathered near his office at Flower Road in Colombo. I am now imposing a State of Emergency and a Curfew, he said in a special televised statement adding that threats by fascists must be countered.

Wickremesinghe said he instructed the security forces to enforce the emergency and curfew to bring the situation to normalcy, adding that a committee comprising the heads of armed forces have been given the responsibility in doing so with zero political intervention.

He also pledged that he would step down as Prime Minister when an all-party government is formed.

Restoring order

He ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner. I have ordered military commanders and the police chief to do what is necessary to restore order, Wickremesinghe said.

Meanwhile, the protesters who had arrived in large numbers at the PM Office have surrounded the building. Sri Lankas state-owned television channel Rupavahini briefly suspended its telecast on Wednesday as protesters stormed the building. Later, the channel resumed its transmission. Also, a second Sri Lankan state television channel went off air, less than an hour after Rupavahini suspended its operations.

On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake airport for the Maldives, the statement said.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, fled the country before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

A 26-year-old protestor who was hospitalised after being tear-gassed outside the PM's Office in Flower Road today has died after developing breathing difficulties.

Lanka IOC

Lanka IOC, the unit of Indias biggest oil firm, has asked all its 216 petrol pumps in to maintain a separate fuel stockpile for supply to ambulances in the crisis-hit island nation. The company, which is a subsidiary of state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), is operating all its petrol pumps normally and is provisioning to meet the increased rush, Lanka IOC MD Manoj Gupta said.

Meanwhile, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today applauded Trivandrum and Kochi airport for going out of their way to help the crisis-hit nation. The airports have gone beyond their call of duty by allowing technical landing to 120+ aircraft bound for Sri Lanka, Scindia said in a tweet.
on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.

The Prime Minister's office informed the media organisations that the state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province had been imposed.

Meanwhile, protesters marched to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, urging him to resign after the news came in that President had left for the Maldives.

They broke through a barricade despite tear gas before storming the prime minister's office, demanding his resignation.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

On Saturday, had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.

Sri Lanka's political parties have stepped up efforts to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation sliding further into anarchy.

Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days.

The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.

The anti-government protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said is now a bankrupt country.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Star witness White House counsel to former US President has testified that Trump should have conceded the 2020 election verdict to the winner democrat and he has mostly corroborated and did not deny previous testimonies of witnesses including Cassidy Hutchinson on what happened on the January 6 Capitol Hill's insurrection.

Cipollone testified in closed doors on Friday before the committee and the video was made public on Tuesday at the crucial hearings of the senate committee which has now lined up another star witness Stephen Bannon, former white house strategist to Trump, media executive and banker, who stands trial for criminal charges on July 18 and he had prior knowledge of January 6 events as he had said in a message on January 5 "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow".

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified before the January 6 committee on Friday. Rep. Zoe Lofgren said that he "did not contradict" previous witnesses, and the committee had "learned a few things." The panel subpoenaed Cipollone last week following Cassidy Hutchinson's bombshell testimony.

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone "did not contradict" testimony of previous witnesses when he appeared on Friday before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said.

Lofgren, a Democratic congresswoman and member of the panel, told CNN that the committee had also "learned a few things" after interviewing Cipollone for nearly eight hours. The Congresswoman said details of Cipollone's testimony would be rolled out in upcoming hearings. She noted that Cipollone appeared voluntarily and said that he answered various questions in a candid, careful, and honest way.

However, she said that just because he did not contradict previous testimony, it did not mean he confirmed all of it, particularly Cassidy Hutchinson's bombshell testimony. Lofgren said that there were situations in which Cipollone was not present or "couldn't recall with precision".

Cipollone, a sought-after witness for the panel, was reported to have expressed concerns about then-President Donald Trump's actions around January 6 and resisted schemes to overturn the 2020 election.

Cipollone was subpoenaed by the panel last week following Hutchinson's testimony, after having already spoken with the committee during an informal interview in April.

Hutchinson said in her testimony that Cipollone warned that Trump would be charged with "every crime imaginable" if he went to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, along with thousands of protesters.

It was reported earlier this month that Cipollone was in talks to testify about the riot publicly. He indicated that his testimony revolved around Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department official, who used his position to aid Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, it is alleged, according to the Business Insider that tracked today's hearings.

Legal experts previously told Insider's Camila DeChalus that Cipollone's first-hand account of whether Trump was aware that he was potentially engaging in criminal activity could strengthen a case against him by the Justice Department. Trump has criticized Cipollone testifying in front of the panel, arguing that it could discourage future presidents from having "candid" conversations with a White House counsel.

"Why would a future President of the US want to have candid and important conversations with his White House Counsel if he thought there was even a small chance that this person, essentially acting as a 'lawyer' for the Country, may someday be brought before a partisan and openly hostile Committee in Congress," Trump wrote on his social-media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday.

--IANS

ashok/pgh

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ukraine also plans to attract up to 200 million euros on preferential terms from Italy. AP/PTI

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has welcomed the decision of the (EU) to grant a new aid package of 1 billion euros.

The aid, which was approved by the finance ministers of the EU member states earlier in the day, would help to maintain financial stability amid the conflict with Russia, Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

also plans to attract up to 200 million euros on preferential terms from Italy, Shmyhal was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said that Kiev has received a grant of $1.7 billion from the US and will use it to cover state budget expenditures for medical services under the medical guarantee program.

Kiev plans to raise $20 billion in international aid from its Western partners by the end of 2022, said Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko at a public event last month.

(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 in Colombo on Wednesday cancelled its consular services as a precaution for the next two days, amidst the deepening political turmoil and in .

"Out of an abundance of caution, Consular is canceling our Wednesday afternoon services (American citizen services and NIV passback) as well as all consular services on Thursday," the embassy tweeted.

"We apologise for any inconvenience and will reschedule all canceled appointments," it added.

Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya on Wednesday fled to the Maldives on a military jet, hours before he was supposed to step down in the face of a public revolt against him and his family for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country. The government has also imposed a state of emergency in the country.

The anti-government protesters, who are also demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, were planning to hold demonstrations against him, media reports said on Wednesday. Wickremesinghe has already offered to resign.

The protesters, who stormed the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, are still occupying them.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said is now a bankrupt country.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A sprawling regulatory probe thats ensnared the Indian partner of Schroders Plc is roiling one of the nations largest asset managers and is poised to shake up Indias $465 billion .



Axis Co., which is Indias seventh largest mutual fund manager and partly owned by Schroders, in May sacked two employees, including its chief dealer, amid an ongoing internal probe.

The fund in early July submitted its findings to regulators and said it had evidence to believe that the terminated executives had violated securities law. Meanwhile, the Securities & Exchange Board of India has been carrying out its own investigation into potential front-running by the two men, a person familiar with the agencys probe said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.



Also Read: Debt MFs see Rs 92,248-cr outflow in June on uncertain macro environment

Front running is the trading of stocks by someone privy to information about a large impending transaction that will move prices. Its illegal in India, and massive search and seizure operations were conducted by the market regulator at the offices and residences of executives, and other stock brokers and traders, the person said. In all, the regulators probe covered 30 locations in different cities after it received surveillance alerts and input from the stock exchange about suspected front running in trades of by certain parties, the person said.

Interviews with nine people familiar with the investigations showed how a pandemic-fueled boom in Indias investment industry may have made it harder for executives and regulators to manage the fallouts of that outsized growth. British investment giant Schroders holds a 25% stake in Axis Asset Management, with Axis Bank Ltd. holding the rest.

Some corporations have withdrawn money from the Indian firms funds following the allegations, another person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because they werent authorized to speak publicly. didnt answer queries about corporate withdrawals but in a public statement said that the firm has followed regulatory guidelines at all times and believes that the conduct of the concerned individuals doesnt have any impact on its liquidity or operations. Schroders and Axis Bank didnt respond to emails seeking comment.



Also Read: India adds 5.1 million new mutual fund investor accounts in June quarter

Viresh Joshi, the former chief dealer, has filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and has sought 542.6 million rupees, his legal firm, Mansukhlal Hiralal & Co. said in an email. The other employee named by the firm, Deepak Agrawal, couldnt be contacted for comment. Calls and a message to a mobile number previously believed to belong to him werent answered, and Bloomberg wasnt able to obtain any other contact information for him or any representatives he may have hired.

Rising Scrutiny



Meanwhile, legal experts are predicting more scrutiny for the entire Indian .

The scale at which the regulator is investigating the case makes us believe that means serious business, said Sumit Agrawal, founder of Regstreet Law Advisors, and a former legal adviser to the market regulator. We expect a speedier investigation and action that could result in tighter regulations for fund managers.

Going forward there is likely to be increased scrutiny of bank accounts and tax returns of fund managers and dealers and their immediate relatives, he said.

Mutual funds, which fall somewhere between high-risk stock trading and low-return bank deposits, have offered an attractive proposition to both young and risk-averse older investors in India. The industry has grown nearly five-fold in the last decade, with over 37 trillion rupees ($465 billion) in assets at the end of June, according to the Association of In India.

Axis Mutual Fund joined the industry with its first investment plan in 2009, and had 2.5 trillion rupees of assets under management at the end of June this year. Among the early members of its team was Viresh Joshi.

Over the coming years, Joshi progressed in the company and became the chief dealer, overseeing its trading operations in 2019. He was involved in executing trades in the glass-walled dealing room on the first floor of the firms office, until the pandemic in 2020 forced most people to work from home.

Dealing rooms for are strictly controlled spaces equipped to record every activity inside. Axis Mutual Funds dealing room has cameras overseeing all activities, desk phone lines are recorded while the use of mobile phones is prohibited.

Compliance Lapses



It isnt publicly known if Joshi worked from home during the pandemic or from the dealing rooms. But in January this year, the company management was informally told by other market participants that there appeared to be something amiss in transactions being executed by Joshi, according to two people familiar with the developments in the case, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential details. Joshi also had unexplained absences during trading hours, the people said.

The firm decided to investigate and roped in Alvarez & Marsal Inc. to help. In early May, Axis Mutual Fund said it had put Joshi and another fund manager, Deepak Agrawal, under suspension pending an internal probe into potential irregularities. Soon after, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that was investigating whether the two men were involved in front running.

We believe that our client is being scapegoated and his termination is wrongful and unlawful and that principles of natural justice were denied to him, Chirag Shah, of-counsel at the law firm representing Joshi, said via email. When we wrote to Axis Mutual Fund to let us know what the charges are or whether there was any show cause notice, they did not provide us with the same.

The law firm also said that the asset manager didnt take any action on several complaints filed by Joshi when he witnessed price spikes before he was able to execute orders given to him.

Axis Mutual Fund, in an emailed response, said the fund house will address the assertions made by Joshi in his lawsuit before the court.

We have more than adequate findings concerning breaches of our policies, including non-cooperation with our internal investigation (during his suspension period). We also have strong reasons to believe that there have been serious and persistent breaches of securities laws by him, the company said in its response.

Tighter Rules

The investigation has raised questions about potential compliance lapses and practices followed during the Covid-19 restrictions of the last two years, which saw key stock gauges scale multiple highs. Meanwhile, the new head of in India, Madhabi Puri Buch, has attempted to crack down on market irregularities as equity have lured billions of dollars in inflows.

In late May, the market regulator sent a circular to brokerages and fund houses, withdrawing the flexibility to work from home for employees handling critical functions linked to investments, compliance and risk management, brokers who have seen the circular but are not allowed to be quoted, said. SEBI didnt respond to an email seeking comment.

Some analysts, meanwhile, have raised concerns about potential fallouts at Axis .

Primeinvestor.in, a financial research platform for retail investors, has recommended exiting the companys small cap fund and has put its midcap and flexicap funds on hold, partly because of concerns about redemptions due to the investigation as well as other challenges such as poor inflows due to market turmoil. Axiss media representatives didnt respond to a request for comment on the research firms views.

We do remain concerned over whether this allegation will turn into a full-fledged corporate governance issue, said Vidya Bala, head of research and co-founder of Primeinvestor.in. As of now, the depth of the issue and fault lines are yet to be explained, but where allegations as serious as this are afloat, there are multiple events that can damage investors holdings even before the issue is resolved.
on Wednesday announced an interim dividend of Rs 21 per equity share following a board meeting.

The company said that the dividend payout would lead to an outflow of Rs 8,873 crore. The record date for payment of the dividend would be July 21 and the dividend would paid within the stipulated timeline, the company said.

Shares of ended trade on the on Wednesday at Rs 271.85 apiece, up 1.44 per cent over the previous day's close. Anil Agarwal-led has a 64.9 per cent stake in . The Government of India owns 29.5 per cent in the company.

Last week, the Centre had sought bids from merchant bankers to assist it in offloading its 29.5 per cent stake in the company. The plan is to the sell the stake in the open market in tranches.
India's palm oil imports rose marginally to 5,90,921 tonnes in June this year, but the shipment of RBD palmolein oil showed a sharp increase, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said on Wednesday.

India, the world's leading buyer, imported 5,87,467 tonnes of palm oils in June 2021.

The association also demanded the government to increase the quota fixed for duty-free import of crude soyabean oil and sunflower under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) system to boost domestic availability.

Total import of vegetable oils (both edible and non-edible oils) remained lower at 9.91 lakh tonnes in June this year from 9.96 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

The share of palm oil is about 50 per cent of the country's total imports.

On May 24, the government had allowed import of 20 lakh tonnes of crude soyabean oil and sunflower oil each at zero duty for 2022-23 and 2023-24 under the TRQ system.

TRQ is a quota for a fixed volume of imports at specified or nil duty, but after the quota is reached, the normal tariff applies to additional imports.

According to the SEA, "The TRQ licences are issued based on refining capacity contrary to last three years performance as notified in the first notification of 10th June, 2022, leaving many actually processing companies receiving very less quota."



The association said it has asked the government to relook at this issue and suggested to allocate quota as per the average of past performance of last three years with some weightage to capacity, by giving them additional quota by increasing overall quota limit of 20 lakh tonnes each of soybean and sunflower oil.

Among palm oil products, import of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) declined by 12 per cent to 5.07 lakh tonnes in June this year, from 5.76 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, as per the SEA data.

However, the import of RBD (Refined, Bleached and Deodorised) palmolein rose sharply by 24 per cent to 79,264 tonnes from 3,200 tonnes, while that of Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) declined by 48.42 per cent to 3,805 tonnes from 73,77 tonnes in the said period.

"Import of RBD palmolein... jumped mainly due to high export levy on CPO and lower duty on RBD palmolein favoured Indonesian exporters to discount RBD palmolein to push RBD palmolein export," it said.

Among soft oils, the import of soyabean oil increased by 12 per cent to 2.30 lakh tonnes in June this year, as against 2.06 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous year.

Whereas import of sunflower oil fell 32 per cent to 1.19 lakh tonnes, as against 1.75 lakh tonnes, in the said period.

According to the SEA, edible oils stock, as on July 1 this year, was estimated to have been at 6 lakh tonnes and about 16.56 lakh tonnes was in the pipeline.

During November-June period of the 2021-22 oil year, the country's overall import of vegetable oils rose marginally at 87.60 lakh tonnes when compared with 86.74 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil including soyabean oil from Argentina. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The launch of NSE International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) SGX Connect has been postponed indefinitely with both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) informing trading members and vendors.

Members may note that the operationalisation of the NSEIFSC-SGX Connect is deferred. The revised date for operationalisation of the Connect shall be informed shortly through a separate circular, NSE IFSC said in a circular on Wednesday.

The launch, which was to bring SGX Nifty trading at Gift City IFSC, was due to get operationalised on Friday by Prime Minister . However, Modi decided to cancel all his programmes at Gift City due to the flood situation in Gujarat. Trading in Nifty derivatives contracts are very popular on the Singapore bourse and account for 16 per cent of the trading volume at the SGX. The launch of SGX Connect is expected to give a fillip to Gift City as these trades will now be routed through NSE IFSC. The proposed SGX Connect is modeled on the lines of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

On July 10, several parts of Ahmedabad were inundated with the city receiving a record 115 mm rainfall in three hours.
BLS International Services said that it has signed agreement with Department of Administrative Reforms (DPAR), Government of Karnataka as operations partner for 2 divisions, Mysore and Kalburgi consisting of 15 districts.

In this project, the company will partner with Government of Karnataka to offer currently available 798 government services of around 78 government & departments through 'Seva Sindhu Portal' by establishing Grama One Centres at Gram Panchayat Level. Grama One is envisaged to be single point assistance center for all citizen centric activities at village level which include government to citizen (G2C) services and business to customer (B2C) services.

BLS International will also provide multiple B2C services to the citizens through the centres. This is as per the initiative taken by government for last mile delivery of G2C & B2C services encouraging employment in rural part of the state. The firm will establish and manage 4,074 centres (extendable later) in Mysore & Kalburgi divisions (15 districts). The project has been awarded for 5 years extendable further up to 4 years, the company stated.

Commenting on this, Shikhar Aggarwal, joint managing director of BLS International Services said, "We at BLS have been supporting the vision of the Indian government and have consistently been able to generate employment by partnering with different state governments. We are delighted to share that as of now through these state partnerships, we have been able to generate employment for over 30,000 since 2022 across Punjab, UP, Rajasthan and West Bengal. With this partnership, BLS International aims to generate direct employment opportunities for close to 5,000 youths of Karnataka."

BLS International Services is a global tech-enabled services partner for governments and citizens, in the domain of visa, passport, consular, citizen, e-governance, attestation, biometric, e-visa and retail services.

The company's consolidated net profit jumped 50.36% to Rs 35.35 crore on a 75.59% increase in sales to Rs 253.84 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

Shares of BLS International Services were down 0.38% to Rs 210.35 on the BSE.

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Tata Consultancy Services has launched TCS Pace Port Toronto, its fifth global research and co-innovation centre, to help Canadian companies bring digital innovations to life faster.

Located on the top floor of 400 University Avenue and spanning 16,000 square feet, Pace Port Toronto provides companies with access to the latest technologies and breakthrough thinking from TCS Research labs, start-ups, VCs, entrepreneurs, and academia - including the University of Toronto - as well as TCS' network of Pace Ports in New York, Pittsburgh, Amsterdam, and Tokyo.

Plugging into this collective ecosystem of innovators and intellectual property through TCS' Co-Innovation Network (COINTM) will enable Canadian companies to embrace a hybrid approach to collaborative innovation to set the pace of transformation in their industry.

Pace Port Toronto features an agile workspace, training space, academic research lab, and innovation showcase to encourage rapid prototyping, research, and commercializing of advanced technologies.

In support of local partner ecosystems, TCS also announced a $1,000,000 CAD gift to the University of Toronto's Data Centre at the School of Cities, earmarked to support the building of smart cities.

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The government of India has fixed the last date of filing the return (ITR) for FY22 as July 31, 2022. The date is fast approaching. The are required to fill out several forms, Form 26AS, Form 16, capital gains statement, and interest certificates, among others. In all the paperwork, some mistakes are bound to happen. However, errors can be avoided if have prior knowledge about them.



Also Read | Five key benefits of filing your income tax return by the due date

Here are some mistakes you should avoid while filing the return (ITR 2021-22):

Missing the deadline

The last date for filing the ITR 2021-22 has been fixed as July 31, 2022. The taxpayer may be subjected to several punitive measures if the return is not filed before the deadline. This includes a penalty of up to Rs 10,000, an additional 1 per cent on the unpaid taxes and a delay in receiving the excess tax.

Not filing the return

Failing to file the ITR altogether may land in several legal troubles. The Department (I-T Dept) may impose a penalty on the tax due from the due date to the filing date. A jail term of 3-7 years could also be awarded to the taxpayer.

Providing incorrect information

While filing the ITR is necessary, providing correct personal information in the forms is even more critical. The details that need special attention are PAN details, e-mail ID, date of birth and IFSC code.



Also Read | ITR 2022-23: How to fill your income tax return for this assessment year?

Tax authorities may reject the forms if the PAN details are filed incorrectly. If the IFSC code is incorrect, the taxpayer may face a delay in receiving the returns.

Omitting the details of capital gains

It is mandatory to mention capital gains or losses in the . The income from shares, property sales, etc., comes under capital gains. If the taxpayer fails to mention any such profit or loss, it may lead to a tax audit. For the ease of taxpayers, the I-T Department allows them to check their Capital Gains Statement.

Not verifying the ITR

Filing the ITR is a complex process, and errors are bound to happen. The I-T department notifies the taxpayer's mistakes if it finds any. So, it is important to verify the ITR to reduce the chances of any errors. A period of 120 days after the ITR deadline is provided to verify the ITR. ITR verification can be done through Aadhaar OTP or the bank's online banking service. It can also be done by sending the signed physical copy of the return to the Central Processing Centre (CPC).
The Congress has sought a report on party MP for his alleged anti-party line on key issues. The party is mulling action as Tewari recently defied the party line on the Agnipath scheme and supported it despite the party being against it.

Sources say that a senior Congress leader close to the Gandhis called Tewari and persuaded him not to go against the party line. However, the next day Tewari did not sign the memorandum seeking immediate withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme, submitted by the Opposition MPs during a crucial meeting with members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence on Monday, sources had said.

This is not the first time that Tewari has taken an independent view on issues where the Congress is targeting the government. Earlier party general secretary Jairam Ramesh distanced the party from his support to the scheme.

Tewari is one of the most vocal voices of G-23 and feels that since 2014 he is being ignored and after his electoral win in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 he is not being given key positions in the party nor in the parliamentary party despite having a good grip over various issues.

Tewari, who is considered close to former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has a long association with the Congress starting from the NSUI, Youth Congress and was Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting in UPA-2. Tewari has been part of the meeting of the parliamentary strategy group which is chaired by Sonia Gandhi.

In the past also, Tewari has supported the 'Agnipath' scheme. Speaking to IANS, Tewari had said, "The process of defence reforms including right sizing the military started in the US way back in 1975 when Donald Rumsfeld was the Defence Secretary in the Ford administration and every successive administration has seen it through. Rumsfeld initiated the conceptual basis of preparing the armed forces for future warfare as he could envision the changing nature of the battlefield. Even the Chinese started the process of right-sizing the PLA way back in 1985."

Apart from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Defence Secretary, the three chiefs of the Armed Forces and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence were also present at the Monday meeting.

Out of the total 12 MPs at the meeting, six were from the Opposition parties that included the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

--IANS

miz/bg

(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.)
Opposition presidential candidate on Wednesday said that if he is elected, he will ensure that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not implemented.

Interacting with opposition lawmakers of Assam, Sinha said the BJP-led government has not been able to implement the CAA so far as it was "foolishly drafted" in a hurry.

"Citizenship is a major issue for Assam, and the government wanted to bring in the Act across the country but has not been able to do so yet," he said.

"Earlier, the government gave the excuse of COVID, but even now they have not been able to implement it because it is an Act foolishly drafted in a hurry," he added.

Sinha alleged that the Constitution was in danger not from any outside force, but from those in power.

"This presidential election is of special significance as it is a fight to save Constitution," he asserted.

"If I am in Rashtrapati Bhavan, I will ensure that CAA is not implemented," he said.

Sinha said he was compelled to leave the BJP in 2018 after realising that the present leadership has taken "a completely wrong" path.

Later, speaking to reporters, he alleged that every institution of the country is being subverted by the ruling party and its government.

"Agencies like the ED, CBI, Income Tax department and even the governor's offices are being used to target opposition leaders, to engineer defections and topple opposition-run state governments," he claimed.

"The ruling party has embarked on an evil design to communally polarise India's multi-faith society, and its agenda of one nation, one party, one ruler is meant to convert democratic India into an imitator of Communist China," he said.

Sinha said he was dismayed that NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu has not addressed a press conference yet.

"People do not know what she stands for. I have great personal regard for Droupadi Murmu, but this election is not about persons and their identities but about their commitment to Constitution," he said.

Sinha, a former Union minister, said he wanted to visit every Northeastern state, but due to time constraint, he was appealing to the lawmakers of those states from Guwahati to listen to their conscience and vote in a rational manner.

Following the meeting, Rajya Sabha's Independent MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan said Sinha was most suited for the president's post as he has a deep understanding of the country.

MLA Akhil Gogoi said he has decided to support Sinha as the democracy is in grave danger.

CPI(M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar claimed, "The BJP has pushed the country to the brink of destruction. We will fight whether we win or not.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister on Wednesday refused to comment on the alleged distortion of the emblem by the Centre, saying she needs some time to study the matter.

Opposition parties accused the Centre of replacing the graceful and regally confident Ashokan lions with those having menacing and aggressive posture, while the ruling BJP asserted that the lions atop the new parliament building are a scaled up version of the original emblem.

"I will not comment on this now. Let me first study the matter properly. Then I will speak on this," Banerjee told reporters after meeting Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan here.

At least two MPs of her party, however, already attacked the BJP-led central government over the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled the emblem cast on the roof of the new Parliament building.

(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.)
Congress president Pratibha Singh Wednesday said that many BJP leaders are eager to join the Congress as they feel suffocated within their own party.

She made the comment in a statement, a day after former BJP president Khimi Ram joined the Congress.

In the statement, Pratibha Singh said that many BJP leaders are eager to join Congress as they feel suffocated due to infighting in the BJP.

A former minister and deputy speaker in the hill state, Khimi Ram had joined Congress on Tuesday in the presence of Rajiv Shukla, AICC in-charge for Himachal, and AICC secretaries Sudhir Sharma and Tejinder Bittu in New Delhi.

Welcoming Khimi Ram into the party, Pratibha Singh said that Congress would be further strengthened with his joining the party.

People are fed up with the policies and decisions of BJP and Congress is going ahead with full strength, she 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.)
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday called upon intellectuals to speak up on issues affecting the state, alleging that statements of the government on and have not been "visible on the ground".

It is an open secret that has "serious problems" of governance, he asserted, claiming bureaucracy in the state is "under tightest control of the ruling party".

"It is high time the civil society and the intelligentsia spoke up," he told reporters after arriving at Bagdogra airport here on way to Darjeeling.

Dhankhar said the silence of the civil society and the intelligentsia is very painful to him.

"Over three years, I have seen several statements on investments, and other developments, they are not visible on the ground," he said.

The governor also alleged that there is "no space available in the state for political activity of opposition parties".

Dhankhar claimed that development and empowerment have been "communalised" in the state in terms of finance and government jobs.

"Communalised patronage is antithetical to democratic values. We are witnessing extreme appeasement ..... this appeasement will destroy our democracy," he said at Bagdogra.

Dhankhar also claimed that it will generate a "serious imbalance" in society.

"WB Guv appeals to Civil Society, intelligentsia and media to break silence and highlight worrisome governance scenario of extreme appeasement, communalised patronage, mafia syndicate extortion in state as this would help enhancing of democratic values & human rights protection," Dhankhar said on Twitter.

The and Dhankhar have been at loggerheads over various issues since he took charge as the governor of the state. The ruling party had in the past accused him of partisan behaviour, and even called him an agent of the BJP.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister Kapil Moreshwar Patil on Wednesday rubbished the TMC's allegation of 'non-release' of funds by the Centre to West Bengal and said there were complaints that some states changed names of the central schemes.

Patil, the union minister of state for Panchayati Raj, also termed the TMC's accusation of 'non-release' of funds under the 100-day rural employement programme due to political reasons as "baseless".

"The allegation that the funds for West Bengal have not been released due to political reasons is baseless. Why would we take such steps which might have an adverse political impact? There are complaints that some states are changing names of central projects. We are looking into it," Patil told reporters here.

The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal had accused the Centre of not clearing funds amounting to Rs 6,000 crore under the 100-day work scheme.

"I will check with my department what the issue is. If there is any problem in terms of fund utilisation certificate or not, that has to be checked," he said.

The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) is aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year.

Asked about allegations of corruption at the panchayat level in the state, Patil said he will check before making any comment on it.

"I cannot comment on it offhand on allegations of corruption as I have to check the reports. I will check with our officers," he said.

The union minister also urged the state government to ensure free and fair panchayat polls, slated to be held next year.

"We all have seen what happens during elections in West Bengal. I would request the state government and its officials to ensure free and fair panchayat polls to be held next year," 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.)
Former president on Wednesday hit out at the government over price rise, rising and debt and the fall in the value of the .

"When 'Egonomics' trumps 'Economics'...," he said in a tweet citing figures of government debt, and the value of the .

He shared a chart sharing such details and said while the government's debt in 2014 was Rs 56 lakh crore, it is Rs 139 lakh crore in 2022.

Similarly, he said is at 7.8 per cent in 2022 against 4.7 per cent in 2014 and the LPG price is Rs 1,053 against Rs 410 in 2014.

Gandhi also claimed that the per capita debt in 2022 is Rs 1,01,048 against Rs 44,348 in 2014 and the trade deficit now is USD 190 billion against USD 135 billion in 2014.

The chart also stated that the value of the in 2014 was Rs 59 per US dollar and it is Rs 80 per dollar.

(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 India Meteorological Department on Wednesday morning issued a nowcast warning for Maharashtra's Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur districts, predicting moderate to intense rainfall at isolated places in next 3 to 4 hours.

A nowcast is a prediction made by analysis of data currently available.

The IMD has also issued a similar warning for Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Dhule, Nandurbar, Osmanabad, Aurangabad, Beed and Nashik districts.

"Moderate to intense rain spells also very likely to occur at isolated places in Thane, Palghar, Mumbai and Raigad during the next 3 to 4 hours," IMD's weather forecasting division head Anupam Kashyapi said.

"Packed isobars over the Arabian Sea are still persisting. Strong westerlies result in enhanced pressure gradient force, causing huge wind convergence over Konkan-Goa and in ghat sections of Madhya Maharashtra," he said.

The presence of a well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is persisting almost at the same time, he said.

There would not be much reduction in rainfall activity over the state and Pune district till Thursday, he said.

"The monsoon will continue to be vigorous over the state today and tomorrow," the official said.

Meanwhile, incessant rains in Pune and other western districts led to a rise in the water level of various dams.

The collective water storage of Khadakwasla, Temghar, Warasgaon and Panshet dams, which provide water supply to Pune city, reached over 12 TMC (thousand million cubic feet), which is 42 per cent of the total collective capacity of the four reservoirs, a district administration official said.

"As the Khadakwasla dam is filling up rapidly, water is being released from it at 10,000 cubic feet per second (cusec)," the official said.

According to the fire department, 20 incidents of tree fall were reported in Pune city on Tuesday and three people were injured in two separate incidents of wall collapse.

In Satara district, the Koyna dam water level is over 38 TMC, which is 36 per cent of the total capacity.

The popular Mahabaleshwar hill station in Satara recorded 136 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, while Koyna and Navja recorded 123 mm and 142 mm rains, respectively, said an official.

The Panchaganga river level at Rajaram weir in Kolhapur reached 35.2 feet after incessant rains in the district.

The warning level is at 39 feet and the danger level is 43 feet at the weir.

"Four state roads and seven district main roads in Kolhapur were closed for vehicular movement after water accumulated on some stretches," a Public Works Department official in the district 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.)
After experiencing a series of issues in the recent past, several 6 users have now reported black spots that have started appearing on their phones' screens.

On social media sites like Twitter, Reddit, and the Google Support website, several 6 users expressed their concern about the black dot on their smartphone's screen.

"I had some dead pixels from the front-facing camera. I didn't drop the phone or damage the screen so I have no idea how it happened. The repair was free under warranty, it just took forever lol. Been using my work Pixel 6 with my T-Mobile sim in the meantime," a user wrote on the microblogging site.

"I noticed a black dot has appeared next to the inner camera lens. Is this a software or a hardware issue? It is about the same size as the camera but a bit

more oval... Already tried restarting. Hasn't solved anything," a user wrote on Reddit.

On the support page, a Pixel 6 Pro user complained about black spots and mentioned that Google support (chat/call) is not helping either.

"The screen has developed a black dot that appears to be growing. The phone has not been dropped and has been updated," the user wrote.

The 6 series never seems to run out of bugs.

Recently, the Google Pixel 6 series appeared to be suffering from another bug as some Pixel owners reported that their phones were failing to ring when there was an incoming call.

Pixel 6 and 6 Pro were automatically rejecting some phone calls from their saved contacts without even ringing their devices.

--IANS

vc/shb/

(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 the ongoing drama happening over Elon Musk's walkout of the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, the microblogging platform has announced that it is rolling out its "Unmentioning" feature that lets users remove themselves from conversations.

Till now, the company was testing the feature with a limited number of users allowing them to remove themselves from conversations they do not want to be a part of. However, the feature is now rolling out for everyone.

"Sometimes you want to see yourself out. Take control of your mentions and leave a conversation with Unmentioning, now rolling out to everyone on all devices," the platform said in a tweet.

The platform has deployed several features to keep mentions civil, including an anti-harassment Safety Mode.

Recently, it said that "we are experimenting with Unmentioning, a way to help you protect your peace and remove yourself from conversations, available on the Web for some of you now".

Meanwhile, shares of the microblogging site fell about 6 per cent in premarket trading on Monday, amid the recent walkout by Elon Musk.

Last week, Musk terminated the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, stating that the company was in "material breach" of their agreement and had made "false and misleading" statements during negotiations.

later announced it was going to sue the Tesla CEO.

"We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery," Chairman Bret Taylor said in a tweet.

In reply, Musk poked fun at and shared a meme.

Musk's meme read: "They said I could not buy Twitter. Then they would not disclose the bot information. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose the bot information in court".

Musk will also have to pay $1 billion in termination fees to the micro-blogging platform, as per an earlier filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

--IANS

vc/dpb

(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.)
Indias central bank on Monday announced a mechanism to settle international trade in rupee. The move will definitely make trade easier with Russia and some other countries facing US sanctions. We find out more about the Reserve Bank of Indias decision and its likely impact.

Russian invasion of Ukraine is, in a way, prompting countries to look beyond the US dollar for trade. Similarly, the war may accelerate the case for moving away from fossil fuel too, feels Nicholas Stern, professor of economics at the London School of Economics. He spoke to Business Standards Asit Ranjan Mishra on wide ranging issues, including the focus areas and reforms that India should undertake to become a developed economy?

Meanwhile, moving on to markets, mid-and-small-caps indexes have outperformed their large-cap peers in July so far. So what is attracting investors to these two market segments, and will this outperformance last?

When stock markets undergo correction, most investors turn towards the exit route -- thinking that he or she would re-enter when it is all over. This phenomenon is called market timing. Experts dont recommend it as no one manages to pull it off consistently over a period of time. This episode of the podcast offers some tips to mutual fund investors.




In February last year, the Reserve Bank of India had said that the emergence of the as an international currency was inevitable. According to the central bank, internationalisation will lower the transaction costs of cross-border trade by mitigating exchange rate risk but but can also complicate the conduct of monetary policy.

As yet, the rupee is not a freely convertible currency



Internationalisation refers to the phenomenon of a national currency trading beyond its borders and actively used in the invoicing of trade and financial transactions, commodities, and foreign exchange reserves.

And last week, SBI Group Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh said in a research note that the should make a conscious effort to internationalise the rupee and the payment disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war offers a good opportunity to insist on export settlement in rupee, beginning with some of the smaller export partners.

And on Monday, in a step that can help take the rupee global, the central bank unveiled a mechanism for settlements in rupees at market-determined exchange rates.

RBIs move means that Indian importers can now make payments in the rupee, which will be credited to the special Vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, while Indian exporters will be paid from the balances in the designated Vostro accounts.

A vostro account is an account maintained in rupees by a local bank for a foreign bank.

The surplus rupee balance Vostro accounts can be used for investments in government securities, payments for projects and investments and for export-import advance flow management.

Russias war and the subsequent economic sanctions from the West, such as blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system, may have prompted the to take this step.

Experts believe this might be aimed at facilitating easier trade with neighbours, particularly sanctions-hit Russia and forex starved Sri Lanka.

Ananth Narayan, Associate Professor  Finance at S P Jain Institute of Management and Research says this has potential to internalise rupee in the long-term. India can limit some hard currency outflows if Russia comes on board. Without free exit, other countries may not find this mechanism attractive, he says.

India imported oil worth $5.1 billion in the three months to May from Russia, more than five times the value a year ago.

In fact, Russia has become Indias second biggest oil supplier, replacing Saudi Arabia.

Barclays Chief India Economist Rahul Bajoria said this mechanism can be particularly useful for neighbouring countries.

India's trade with its neighbours and Russia stood at $169 billion in FY22, accounting for 16.4% of the country's total trade volume.



The mechanism can also come in handy for trade with certain African and South American countries facing severe forex shortages.

Exporters meanwhile are seeking clarification on whether incentives applicable on exports where the payment is received in freely convertible currencies like the US dollar will be available in the rupee settlement mechanism too.

Biswajit Dhar, Professor, JNU adds India can have rupee-demoninated trade with sanctions-hit countries and it is up to diplomatic skills to get countries on board.

With Russia unable to access its foreign currency reserves, trade settlement in rupees can emerge as a win-win deal for both the countries as India ramps up its purchases of crude oil from the sanctions-hit nation. As for other countries, Indias diplomatic relations will determine whether they can be persuaded to adopt this medium for trade settlement.
South Africa: Mapisa-Nqakula on task force mission on Russia-Ukraine conflict

South Africa's National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, is currently participating in a six-day parliamentary diplomatic engagement, in her capacity as a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Task Force (IPU-TF) on the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.

The nine-member IPU-TF, appointed in April 2022, will undertake direct engagements with the parliaments of Ukraine and Russia to help achieve a complete ceasefire and to contribute to confidence-building measures that may achieve a long-term cessation of hostilities and the organisation of humanitarian assistance.

Parliamentary spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, said the trip, which follows an invitation by the Ukrainian and Russian parliaments, includes a courtesy call on the Speaker of the Polish Senate in Warsaw, before proceeding to Kyiv and Moscow during the week of 11 July 2022.

Mothapo said the Russia-Ukraine conflict formed part of the emergency items debated during the IPU's 144th Assembly held in Indonesia between 19 and 24 March 2022.

The debate resulted in the adoption of a resolution to form an IPU task team to engage the Parliaments of both countries, thereby joining forces with other mediating parties to end the conflict.

The initiative, at the global parliamentary level, aims to complement ongoing diplomatic efforts at the governmental and UN level.

According to the IPU, the engagements are also in line with the worldwide association of parliaments' ongoing efforts to help build inclusive and accountable parliaments, where all segments of society have a voice; legislative frameworks are put in place whereby the rights of all citizens are guaranteed, and effective oversight is exercised over governmental action  including in terms of the strict observance of international law and global commitments, Mothapo said.

Since its establishment, the task force has held four planning and preparatory meetings ahead of the scheduled engagement with the parliaments of Ukraine and Russia.

Mapisa-Nqakula has expressed optimism that the current IPU efforts will help secure a ceasefire, reduce the gap between the two nations and create an enabling environment for a negotiated settlement that will deliver peace between Ukraine and Russia.

Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula expressed concern at the great suffering the ongoing conflict is causing to both nations and many other world nations that continue to be negatively affected by the dwindling supplies of many basic household necessities and sky-rocketing food prices.

"The Speaker described the IPU mission as another global demonstration of growing parliamentary diplomacy, Mothapo said.

The IPU delegation is led by the President of the task force, Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, IPU Vice-President and Member of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates.

Participating task force members include Speakers of Parliament from Namibia, South Africa and Uruguay, as well as prominent MPs from Indonesia, Israel and Kazakhstan.

Mapisa-Nqakula is expected back in South Africa on 16 July 2022.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China to host conference on globally important agriculture heritage systems

Xinhua) 09:11, July 13, 2022

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China will hold the World Conference on Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in the eastern Zhejiang Province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Tuesday.

The conference will be held from July 17 to 19 by the ministry and the Zhejiang provincial government, Sui Pengfei, director general of the ministry's international cooperation department, told a press conference, noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s GIAHS initiative.

The conference aims to tap traditional agricultural value through effective protection of globally important agricultural heritage and better promote sustainable agricultural development and rural prosperity, Sui said.

At present, agricultural ministers from 13 countries, FAO Director-General, diplomatic envoys from 19 countries to China and senior representatives from seven international organizations have been invited to the conference, Sui added.

He said that the ministry and local authorities will support the establishment of institutionalized exchange platforms to enhance the protection of agricultural heritage as well as promote the realization of UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Laurent Bucyibaruta Screen Capture

Laurent Bucyibaruta is highest-ranking official to have been found guilty in France of acts of genocide and complicity in genocide

PARIS (AA) - A French court on Tuesday sentenced a former Rwandan official to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of complicity in the 1994 genocide in the African country.

The Paris Assize Court held Laurent Bucyibaruta, 78, the former prefect of Gikongoro province, guilty of acts of genocide and complicity in genocide 28 years after the horrific events that led to the massacre of nearly 800,000 Tutsis. He is the highest-ranking Rwandan official to have faced trial in France over the mass killings.

"I was never on the side of the killers," Bucyibaruta said in court at the end of the trial, according to a report by France24 news. At least 115 witnesses and experts testified in the case, including survivors of the Marie Merci School massacre.

The trial against Bucyibaruta, who was the main administrator of Gikongoro, involved claims he attended planning meetings in Murambi, Cyanika, Kaduha and Kibeho before the mass killings of Tutsis began. He was accused of persuading thousands of people to take refuge in Murambi Technical School and Marie Merci School in Kibeho, in which at least 82 Tutsi students were killed.

According to Rwandas leading daily The New Times, Bucyibaruta was nicknamed the Butcher of Gikongoro as over 50,000 Tutsis were killed on his command in Murambi, 25,000 in Cyanika, 47,311 in Kaduha and 28,937 in Kibeho.

After the genocide, Bucyibaruta escaped to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and later reached France, where he has been living since 1997.

Rwanda had sought his extradition, but the trial was launched in France after the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) referred the case to the French judiciary in 2007.
NEWS PROVIDED BY

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

July 13, 2022



NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue questions why some black leaders are championing abortion for blacks:

White supremacists have always championed population control for blacks, whether it be in the form of birth control or abortion. Today this cause is being led by black Congresswomen.

Last month, 20 black Congresswomenall Democratsled by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, wrote a letter to President Biden pleading with him to address the impact of abortion restrictions on black women (note: they incorrectly used the term "pregnant people," implying men can get pregnant). Anticipating the reversal of Roe v. Wade, they said this decision "will be devastating" to black women.

The effects of abortion on the unborn childsudden deathwas not the problem. The alleged "increase in maternal deaths" was the problem. Thus did they slice and dice this issue.

This week, Pressely went further, stating that the pro-life movement is "rooted in white supremacy." She is factually wrong: it is the pro-abortion movement that has been "rooted in white supremacy" all along.

Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood for the purpose of decreasing the black population. She was a white supremacist, par excellence. Initially, Planned Parenthood focused on birth control, but it eventually became the major driver of abortion in the United States.

Sanger was a eugenicist who shared the identical mindset of the Nazis. She sought to extinguish those "meaningless, aimless lives which cram this world of ours.... Such human weeds clog up the path, drain up the energies and the resources of this little earth."

Who she had in mind is incontestableshe meant blacks. They were the "undesirables" in need of being "weed[ed] out." Her eugenicist journal, Birth Control Review, boasted that "Many of the colored citizens are fine specimens of humanity." Thus did she sound very much like a slavemaster at an auction.

Not all blacks, however, were a choice cut. "A good share of them, however, constitute a large percentage of Kalamazoo's human scrap pile." This was written in 1932, the year before Hitler took over in Germany. In fact, Sanger published several articles by Nazi officials; they were dealing with the "human scrap pile" of Jews on their way to the concentration camps.

Edwin Black wrote an influential book about Sanger's contribution to the eugenics movement, War Against the Weak. While he defended her against her critics, he admitted that she "surrounded herself with some of the eugenics movement's most outspoken racists and white supremacists." She also "openly welcomed" racists and anti-Semites into "the birth control movement."

The ruling class has long supported Sanger, especially the Rockefellers. In 1972, John D. Rockefeller presented President Richard Nixon with a report arguing that "if blacks could have the number of children they want and no more, their fertility and that of the majority white population would be very similar." This was the polite WASP way of dealing with the "urban problem."

What has since changed is the advent of black Congresswomen joining the white supremacist cause of decreasing the black population. It's working: In 2020, 86% of Planned Parenthood's clinics were located in or near minority neighborhoods. Moreover, in the CDC's latest report on abortion, it found that the abortion rate for blacks (38.4 percent) was higher than that of whites (33.4 percent) or Hispanics (21.0 percent). Blacks are approximately 13 percent of the population.

When I taught in Spanish Harlem in the 1970s, I was able to tell my black and Puerto Rican students that Rev. Jesse Jackson called abortion "black genocide." But like almost all pro-life Democrats in the 1970s, Jackson became a pro-abortion advocate.

Rep. Pressley is not only ignorant of historyshe has become an existential threat to the health and safety of African Americans. How ironic that she is now on the same side as the Klan.

Contact Pressley's press secretary: mae.eldahshoury@mail.house.gov
After debuting its technology and its merits for everyday driving , Nissan Philippines has now revealed everything you need to know about i...
Photo: Contributed Allison Markin with Edmond Lucier of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, one of the many people she met during her recent travels as she prepared to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Today marks a milestone birthday for yours truly. A half-century is being celebrated by someone who barely acknowledges any birthday.

So, what did I do? I travelled  two back-to-back trips, one to the east, one to the south, with entirely different themes, involving a lot of driving, multiple short-haul flights, a handful of ferry rides, a few urban centres and a bunch of blink-and-youll-miss-them small towns.

Travel can be unpleasant and uncomfortable at the best of times. Speaking from my own recent experiences, it certainly is challenging now. Pack along as much patience as you can. Be grateful and polite; saying thank you to every staff person or server you meet goes a long way. Say it twice. Give yourself plenty of extra time (especially flying), and plan as much as you can, knowing things will go off the rails at some point.

Whether or not you decide to venture out of the Okanagan, or B.C., this summer, the best advice I can give is to have a theme. It doesnt matter what it is. Looking for the best coffee within an hours drive? Go with that. The most unique cocktail bar near you? Why not?

Trip number one for me was driving to Saskatchewan.

I know youre wondering why. Ultimately, it was to visit the Doukhobor Dugout House near Blaine Lake (pop. 499) and witness a historical re-enactment.

My ancestors settled in a stunning spot next to the North Saskatchewan River, surviving from 1899 to 1904 in caves dug into a ravine. Despite warnings to not leave their area, the neighbouring Muskeg Lake Cree Nation brought the Doukhobors a horse to help them clear the land after witnessing women pulling a plow.

The theme for this trip started out as discovering my roots. It quickly morphed into one of making new friends. The people of Saskatchewan are some of the friendliest anywhere. Karleigh Sanchez, the proprietress of Bettys Diner  the best gas station diner in Canada, in my opinion  sat with us for a half-hour to share her familys history. Ed, from Muskeg Lake, and I bonded over a plow. Glenn, a total stranger, guided me down a ravine to see the dugout houses.

Trip number twos theme started with crossing off a couple of bucket list items.

First, was seeing the Toronto Blue Jays play in Seattle. The Jays lost, but it was still great fun. The second was to dine at one of the Pacific Northwests best restaurants, Canlis. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not only for the food, but also for what became the theme of this tripreconnecting with old friends.

Im not going to go anywhere for a while, but I am so grateful I did go where I went.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI These 'Cosmic Cliffs' show act as a stellar nursery, where a giant nebula interacts with the birth and development of new stars.

Images from the worlds most powerful telescope humanity has ever created sent waves across the world Tuesday  in space centres and observatories where thousands held watch parties to private moments of wonder as four stunning portraits of deep space glanced across their mobile phones.

In a live broadcast on NASA TV, people gathered at observatories from Winnipeg to Perth, Australia, and were seen cheering after the release of the spectacular images.

Thanks to a new $10-billion James Webb Space Telescope  a joint project between the National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), European Space Agency (ESA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute  humanity has now caught the most detailed view of the early universe to date.

Personally, I went and had an ugly cry... Because it works, said astrophysicist Jane Rigby in a live broadcast.

Marley Leacock tuned into NASA TV at her grandparent's home in Calgary in what she described as one the biggest milestones in the history of scientific exploration.

They grew up with the moon landing  that was already a far-fetched endeavour, said the Vancouver-based H.R. MacMillan Space Centre astronomer. To see galaxies that are like billions of years old, that is just a whole new world for them how small we are and how far back we're able to see and how much more is out there.

My grandparents could not have imagined it at all.?

The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a patch of sky known as SMACS 0723. The galaxy cluster appeared 4.6 billion years ago and is the most detailed view of the early universe to date. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

A glimpse of a universe just born

The first public hint at what the powerful James Webb Space Telescope was capable of came a day earlier, when U.S. President Joe Biden revealed an infrared image looking back in time 4.6 billion years ago.

The telescope probed so deep into space that the powerful gravitational field of the galaxy cluster can be seen bending light rays from more distant galaxies, creating a warped centre.

The light from one galaxy in the image is thought to have travelled 13.1 billion years before the telescopes mirrors captured it  a glimpse within a billion years of the Big Bang and the closest humans have ever got to seeing the beginning of the universe.

Galaxies with rich concentrations of stars and little dust appear blue; those with more dust and fewer stars are red; and galaxies dense with hydrocarbons and other chemicals show up as green.

NASA says such images will help researchers understand how galaxies form, grow, and merge with each other, and in some cases why they stop forming stars altogether.

The Canadian-built Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) allowed the James Webb Space Telescope to detect water and clouds in the atmosphere of the puffy planet WASP-96 b, 1,150 light-years away. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Evidence of water on another planet

On Tuesday, more fantastic images emerged.

Using the Canadian-built Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), readings from the puffy exoplanet 1,150 light-years away revealed temperatures over 500 degrees Celsius. The planet's high temperatures largely occur due to its orbit  it takes only 3.5 days to circle around its sun and it does so at a distance much closer than that of Mercury.

Known as WASP-96 b, the exoplanet is embedded in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix and is among 5,000 exoplanets known to exist in our galaxy.

Its big, with a diameter 1.2 times that of Jupiter but with a mass half that of the local gas giant.

By pointing its instruments at the planet as it passes in front of its sun, researchers can measure how the light curves through at its edges, dimming starlight in different ways as it travels through atmospheric gases.

As NASA described it: In the same way that people have distinctive fingerprints and DNA sequences, atoms and molecules have characteristic patterns of wavelengths that they absorb.

On June 21, the telescope targeted the planet for over six hours. What emerged: evidence of clouds and the unambiguous signature of water.

To read the atmosphere of potentially habitat worlds, Leacock says following the water is the biggest and brightest clue.

As far as we understand, life needs water to survive, she said.

Even when absent from a world thousands of light-years away, probing different atmospheres will give us a growing understanding of what other kinds of worlds exist in our universe.

Using its 270-square-foot gold-coated mirror, the telescope will collect and analyze infrared light from dozens of other exoplanets. Imagine small rocky planets and ice giants.

Understanding how planets form and where and how they orbit around their stars and how they change their lives helps us to understand our own solar system, said Leacock.

And that feeds right into our search for life.

This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from the James Webb Space Telescope. Such images will help scientists understand the creation of new elements and how the death of one star might give birth to others. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The final act of a dying star

When these stars die, they dont go out quietly.

In a second image of the Southern Ring planetary nebula, shells of gas and dust are pictured blasting from a binary set of stars.

Through a kaleidoscope of colours, the images reveal several distant galaxies in the background. One of the real surprises was the existence of a second star that was previously cloaked in dust.

At 2,500 light-years away, the two stars are locked in orbit around each other. Around them, each shell of gas and dust shows the remnants of a star losing part of its mass.

Over time, the nebula will enrich the area around it in an interstellar medium, and could form the soup for the creation of new stars or planets billions of years into the future, says NASA.

Leacock says a stellar death also marks the moment new elements emerge into existence. Getting a closer look at that process could help us understand how, when and under what circumstances the building blocks of physical creation come into being.

There are only so many elements and they all have to come from somewhere, said the astronomer.

Carl Sagan said we are all star stuff and this image really shows that.

Five galaxies, known as 'Stephans Quintet,' are captured by the James Webb Space Telescope as one crashes into another from the top. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

When galaxies collide

Known as Stephans Quintet, Webbs largest image to date shows five galaxies colliding in the Pegasus constellation  a process that offers a hint of an early universe.

In capturing the inter-galactic dance, the composite image shows huge shock waves as galaxy NGC 7318B crashes through the cluster, in places triggering the formation of stars, says NASA.

After the Big Bang, the then-superheated universe was filled with similar tight galactic interactions. Over 13 billion years later, scientists have to look deeper into space to see such displays.

In the topmost galaxy, known as NGC 7319, a massive black hole 24 million times larger than our sun can be seen pulling in material while expelling the energy of 40 billion suns.

According to NASA, the new telescope will help researchers understand how such supermassive black holes feed and grow.

If you ever want to satisfy your own curiosity, this is the image to do it, said Leacock. You have five galaxies, two of which are merging. You can see the gas and the stars in such detail.

For Leacocks mother, this was the most revelatory image, not because of the dance of galaxies in the foreground, but because of the points of light that shone through in the background  all galaxies of their own.

For her, that was kind of her realizing that space isn't just flat, she said.

But as an astronomer, Leacock was blown away by the detail of the supermassive black hole and the potential that such detailed imaging could teach humanity about galactic lifecycles.

One open question: When galaxies collide, will one sweep away the conditions required for star formation, or trigger a rejuvenation?

As Leacock puts it: What happens when all of the stars go out?

We don't know entirely how galaxies end, or if they do, what their lives look like, she added.

This image will definitely help.

These 'Cosmic Cliffs' act as a stellar nursery, where a giant nebula interacts with the birth and development of new stars. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

'Cosmic Cliffs' show the birth of stars

The final image released by the three space agencies Tuesday shows so-called stellar nursery in the Carina Nebula 7,600 light-years away.

Almost like a glittering mountain range, the Cosmic Cliffs Webb captured show peaks up to seven light-years high. The upper edge of the nebula has been shaped by hot, young stars that blast stellar winds and ultraviolet radiation.

What appears to be steam radiating off the top of the nebula is actually hot dust pulling away from mass due to radiation. Hot dust and hydrocarbons on the surface of the ridges glow, giving the appearance of jagged rocks, according to NASA.

Through this kind of image, the telescope will help answer questions around what conditions set the stage for star birth and why stars form with a certain mass. It will also help scientists understand the evolution of the giant gas and dust clouds.

Not only are some nebulae we see the end of a star, but some nebulae we see are also the cradles of the beginning of new ones, said Leacock. finding that perfect balance is what this image can help us to understand.

Telescope built to correct for damage

The telescope was built with the understanding it would face harsh ultraviolet light, charged particles from the sun and cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy.

The only likely phenomenon standing in the telescopes way are the unavoidable collisions with micrometeorites, often no bigger than a speck of dust but travelling at extreme velocities.

In early June, NASA said the James Webb Space Telescope sustained an impact to one of its primary mirror segments. Despite the damage to the mirrors, the telescope still exceeded all mission requirements as it was designed to withstand such bombardments.

Thats because the engineering team created a telescope with multiple mirrors that can be adjusted to correct for damage.

We always knew that Webb would have to weather the space environment, said Paul Geithner, technical deputy project manager at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement at the time.



We designed and built Webb with performance margin  optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical  to ensure it can perform its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.

Reigniting a passion for space exploration

In her work at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Leacock acts as a bridge between the stars, the people who study them and the public.

Its a role that has been challenged in recent years as COVID-19 restrictions led to a drop in attendance at the space centre. Like many organizations, the space centre pivoted online, offering exploration and learning at the click of a mouse or tap of a screen.

Leacock and her colleagues are now moving back to in-person planetarium shows, interactive exhibits and the kind of learning that can do even more to inspire the next generation of space explorers.

If you're new to space and learning about it, now you have a telescope that will provide discovery after discovery after discovery, she said.

When she interacts with the public, the conversations always come back to Earth in some ways, back to questions around how the planet began and are there worlds like us out there?

Leacock expects the discoveries made over the James Webb Space Telescope's 20-year life will supercharge that curiosity and spark another revolution in our understanding of space.

I don't think I really could have imagined how big it was going to be until I started to see the first engineering images coming out, she said.

And then I realized, like, OK, it's going to be big.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Rogers Communications Inc. will compensate its customers for the massive outage that crippled its network last week by crediting them with the equivalent of five days of service as a first step.

In a statement, Rogers spokesperson Chloe Luciani-Girouard says the company has been listening to its customers and Canadians from across the country who have shared how significant the impacts of the outage were for them.

Rogers wireless and internet customers were left without service in the outage that began early Friday morning last week and led to widespread disruptions.

The outage affected 911 services as well as financial networks and other critical services.

The company says the disruption that shut down its mobile and internet services across much of the country came after a maintenance update in its core network, which caused some of its routers to malfunction.

The CRTC has asked Rogers to provide a detailed explanation by July 22, including why and how the outage occurred and what measures it is putting in place to prevent it from happening again.
Photo: pixabay

Ozone depletion is not a rare occurrence. In fact, it happens every year at the Earths North and South Poles thanks to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a human-made compound.

But what is rare, is the realization by residents in the Northern Hemisphere that the increasingly strong ozone loss in the Arctic can affect their climate and livelihoods.

While this loss occurs every year in the Arctic, just like in the Antarctic, David Tarasick, a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said some years its more noticeable.

In 2020, an unusually large amount of cold air forced the largest loss of ozone in the Arctic in recent years.

That kind of [occurrence] appears to be becoming more frequent, Tarasick said.

So why should Canadians care? For a number of reasons, apparently.

New research has proven a connection between this strong ozone loss and ensuing climate anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere. These findings, published in Nature Geoscience, could potentially help predict unusual climate events in northern countries, such as Canada.

To make this connection, co-author of the study Marina Friedel said her team developed a model simulation in which the impact of ozone loss can be switched on and off to determine its impact on climate.

Friedel said, in an emailed statement, that this important connection proves how monitoring the Arctics ozone layer could help predict seasonal climate. Greater accuracy in climate forecasts could help reduce some of the risks peoples livelihoods face from ozone layer loss.

Better seasonal predictions would be beneficial for a range of different sectors, such as agriculture and renewable energy generation, Friedel said.

The study states that springtime stratospheric ozone depletion is consistently followed by anomalies in surface temperature and precipitation.

However, while Friedel and her co-authors have proven this connection, using it to the advantage of climate forecasters is still a future endeavour.

Unfortunately, it is still quite costly to calculate changes in the ozone layer in forecast models, Friedel said.

Current models use very simplified approaches to calculate the ozone layer in forecasts, Friedel added. She hopes these findings motivate other researchers to develop more realistic representations of the ozone layer to use in climate forecasting.

While Tarasick said ozone depletion is likely to drop significantly in the next 30 to 40 years due to steadily decreasing CFC levels, he predicts things will get worse before they get better.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more [strong ozone loss], he said. We've now seen a number of incidents and they appear to be growing in size and severity.

However, Tarasick said the potential for more accurate climate forecasts that Friedels research has just made increasingly possible, could be hugely beneficial.

Being able to predict an influence on the long-term climate is extremely valuable, even if it's a small influence, he said.

For now, Friedel and her team plan to continue their research and monitor this climate-ozone connection as climate change continues to occur and CFCs decrease in the atmosphere.
Photo: The Canadian Press Conservative leader Erin OToole speaks during a news conference, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022 in Ottawa. Police have charged digital consultant Dion Ahwai with mischief to data, which sources say is in relation to an investigation of the theft of materials from O'Toole's Zoom account in the summer of 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Former Conservative staffer Dion Ahwai has been charged with mischief to data, the RCMP said Wednesday, with sources saying the charge is related to an investigation of the alleged theft of materials from Erin O'Toole's Zoom account during the 2020 leadership race.

During the pandemic-era contest that elected O'Toole as federal Conservative party leader, his team accused rival Peter MacKay's camp of accessing and downloading videos they said contained sensitive strategic information.

MacKay's campaign denied allegations of wrongdoing at the time and O'Toole's leadership campaign referred the matter of the alleged data theft to police.

After the allegations emerged, Greg McLean, a Calgary MP who supported O'Toole, fired a summer student employee in connection to the apparent breach.

But the O'Toole campaign maintained that it detected several unusual sign-ins to the account, as well as multiple downloads of what it called confidential information.

It referred the matter to RCMP. The national police force confirmed to media at the time that it was jointly investigating the matter with the Toronto Police Service.

The RCMP did not confirm the link between the charge and that investigation on Wednesday. But two sources with knowledge of the matter said the Mounties told senior members of O'Toole's former leadership campaign about the charge on Tuesday.

The sources were granted anonymity because they fear professional repercussions for speaking publicly.

The Canadian Press has not otherwise verified the connection between the charge and the allegation of theft.

The RCMP stipulated that the "mischief to data" charge Ahwai is facing has to do with the obstruction, interruption or interference with the lawful use of computer data, as outlined in the Criminal Code.

Ahwai did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent to his work email address and through Facebook on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to appear in Ontario court on Aug. 4, police said.

A spokeswoman for O'Toole, who was ousted as Conservative leader by caucus in February, said he would not comment because the matter is before the courts.

Ahwai, a former House of Commons staffer, is currently listed as the vice-president of digital campaigns at consulting firm Wellington Dupont Public Affairs.

The firm also employs ex-MP Brian Storseth, who was co-campaign chair for MacKay's 2020 leadership run, as a principal.

In an emailed statement, Storseth said Ahwai was not employed with Wellington Dupont at the time of the alleged data theft, and referred questions to the MacKay campaign.

Former MP Alex Nuttall, MacKay's campaign manager at the time and a current candidate for mayor in Barrie, Ont., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

According to records held by the House of Commons, Ahwai worked as a parliamentary assistant for Nuttall in 2018.
Hallett Group launches its Green Cement Transformation project

13 July 2022

The Hallett Group is breaking into Australias cement sector by building a AUD125m (US$84.3m) cement plant in Port Augusta to supply green cement. The project has been funded AUD20m by the federal government of Australia.



The building and construction materials supplier will use slag from the Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter and the Liberty Whyaller Steelworks. It will have a separate important and export distribution facility at Port Adelaide. Fly ash will also be supplied by the former Port Augusta power stations Port Playford legacy ash storage. The Green Cement Transformation project will reduce Australias CO 2 emissions initially by 0.3Mta in 2024 and by 1Mta after its expansion in 2025.



A combined supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) processing and green cement blending hub at Port Augusta will be powered by wind and solar energy. It will produce three SCM products, grinding them individually or by inter-grinding and blending them with other activator products sourced through Halletts Adelaide distribution hub.

The Port of Adelaide will have a 52,000t cement storage dome built and 15,000t flexible SCM storage as well as a blending and distribution functionality.

Published under
Sagar Cements and Dalmia Cement express interest in Andhra Cements

ICR Newsroom By 13 July 2022

Sagar Cements and Dalmia Cement are reportedly among the companies expressing an interest in Andhra Cements, which is currently undergoing insolvency proceedings, according to The Economic Times.

Andhra Cements, part of the Jaypee Group, currently runs two plants in India located in Dachepalli and Visakhapatnam. In the quarter ended 31 March 2022 the company incurred a loss of INR683.1m (US$8.5m), compared to the same period a year earlier. The loss for the financial year ended 31 March 2022 came in at INR2363m.

Sagar Cements has a current production capacity of 8.25Mta across three integrated plants and two grinding units, although it plans to expand this to 10Mta by FY25. Dalmia Cement has a total cement production capacity of 35.9Mta and total clinker production capacity of 18.9Mta. Dalmia began commercial production at its new 2.9Mta works in Murli, Maharashtra, in January 2022.

Published under
Through his role as coordinator of the Greater Dalton Metropolitan Planning Organization, Jake Bearden is helping shape the future of Whitfield and Murray counties.

Its one of many hats he wears for Whitfield County, and his performance on the job has earned the respect of many co-workers, including Jean Garland.

I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Jake in his numerous county roles first as transit dispatcher, and later as stormwater plan reviewer and MPO coordinator, Ms. Garland said in support of his nomination as the countys Employee of the Month for April. I cannot think of another person who is more deserving of this award than Jake, and I am honored to have an opportunity to share my experience working with this model employee.

According to Ms. Garland, Mr. Bearden attended UTC and received his engineering degree several years ago, while working for the county full-time.

This background and knowledge have allowed Jake to excel as he has taken on more complex and challenging responsibilities within the county engineering department, said Ms. Garland, who began working closely with Mr. Bearden when COVID started to impact the countys standard operating procedures and county work performance.

Over that two-year span, Jake was invaluable with coordinating online video meeting for the zoning / planning department, Ms. Garland said. We would not have been at all as successful as we were during that time if not for Jakes patience and expertise.

Recently, the two have been working together daily to improve customer service in the zoning / planning department. Without fail, she says, he takes on additional responsibilities outside his normal workload and goes to extra lengths to assure problems are addressed quickly and professionally.

Ms. Garland says she is confident anyone who has interacted with Jake in a professional capacity would echo the recommendation I have provided and that we are fortunate indeed to have him on our county team assisting with building an environment that is positive and supportive of our county leaders and others.

Carol Roberts, grant coordinator for the county, says Mr. Bearden was the driving force behind Whitfield Countys application for the transportation RAISE grant. We wont know the outcome of the grant until August, she said, but it was a huge step for us to apply.

Mr. Bearden is a tremendous help to Ms. Roberts and really takes the lead on the countys pursuit of other transportation-related grants, she said. I dont have the knowledge or skills to decipher these grant requirements, but he does, she said. And even though he has a lot of other responsibilities, he has jumped in to help me. He is a great example of professionalism and teamwork.

Valeria Molina of the Human Resources Department called Mr. Bearden an overall great employee for the county.

Although he is in Engineering, he never declines to help outside of his department, Ms. Molina said. He has helped on multiple projects that Ive reached out to him for. Whether it be social media, Human Resources, or public outreach, Jake manages his time to get the job done.

To give local residents further insight into his personality, Mr. Bearden filled out the questionnaire below.

Name: Jake Bearden

Job Title: Greater Dalton Metropolitan Planning Organization Coordinator

My current role as a county employee: I am responsible for coordinating the completion of projects, activities, and grant reporting associated with the Greater Dalton Planning Area (Whitfield and Murray County), and to provide long- and short-term strategies for comprehensive, cooperative, and continuing transportation planning for the community. Also, I am part of the Engineering Departments plan review team and assist the County Engineer with local capital projects.

What do you like the most about your department, team, or role? I enjoy a challenge. There are times when projects are met with unique circumstances, and the Engineering Department is tasked with helping the development move forward, while preserving our natural resources and ensuring the interests of our citizens are protected.

Most successful project you and your team completed? The goal of every project is to promote our thriving community, so each one is as successful as the last. Our area has an exceptional quality of life and growing economic opportunities. Whether it is a large business or someone looking to build a home in the area, we want to be the resource that facilitates the success of the project.

What advice would you give to new person starting on your team? Working for the government, at any level, is difficult because you are required to operate within the boundaries of codes and regulations. At times, this makes decisions difficult, so always meet people where they are with kindness.

Favorite Whitfield County restaurant or activity: I can eat a sizzling plate of fajitas any time, so just point me to any of our local Mexican cuisines.

You may be surprised to learn that I: love to cook. I am terrible at it, but I enjoy trying new things.

Anything else youd like to share: In the same way, let your light shine before others (Matthew 5:16a).
Julius F. Loomis, whose sawmill business was at the river near the foot of Cameron Hill, first lived at Third and Pine, then he moved into the former home of Capt. H.S. Chamberlain on the East Terrace between 11th and 12th Streets. Loomis soon built a brick mansion at 121 East Terrace near the Washington Irving Crandall place. It was a two-story brick house with a spacious portico. Rev. W.J. Trimble moved into the Pine Street home.

Loomis came to Chattanooga from Nashville with F.J. Bennett at the close of the Civil War. He was 23 at the time. Loomis and Bennett set up their mill after buying an old Lane and Bodley portable mill from the government. Loomis was a native of Delaware County, New York who grew up in New York and Pennsylvania. He was living in Pennsylvania when the war broke out. Loomis enlisted in the Union Army a few days after the firing at Fort Sumter.

Unfortunately for the sawmill partners, Chattanooga suffered the biggest flood in its history in 1867. There were several sawmills washed away, including that of Loomis & Bennett. They lost not only the mill and equipment, but their stock of logs and lumber. On top of this, they were several hundred dollars in debt at the time.

The mill was rebuilt, but was washed away again in 1875. They later rebuilt on higher ground and expanded to produce furniture. In 1875, John A. Hart bought the interest of Bennett. Loomis & Hart grew to own 15 acres at the foot of Pine and Cedar streets. They had about 150 employees and did an annual business of around $250,000.

Loomis was a member of the city's first school board, and he was elected alderman in 1870.

He married Emily Palmer Percy of Tellico Plains, Tn.

During the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878, the Loomis family took in Hattie Ackerman, a teacher who performed valuable services as a nurse. She was described as "a kind and gentle nurse and as perfect a type of the true woman as ever lived." After her death from Yellow Fever, the Loomis family found a letter meant "to only be opened in the event of my death in this work." The letter told in detail how she wanted her belongings to be dispensed. It ended, "All is well with me. I am so glad that I have been permitted to help in this work. You know the 'Inasmuch' text. Just think how blessed I am in being allowed to suffer and die in this work. God bless and keep you and yours. I have thought of all my loved ones in these solitary watches, and prayed God to bless them and make them all His."

J.F. Loomis finally sold his share of Loomis and Hart to A.J. Gahagan in 1911. He died four years later while at his second home in North Carolina. He was 73.

In 1955, R.L. Bumpus was residing in the former Loomis home at Pine and Third and Percy Applebet was living in the rear.

The Richard Archer Cliffords lived for many years in the Loomis home on the East Terrace. Clifford was an Englishman who had married Louise Chamberlain, daughter of Capt. Chamberlain.
A man on Petty Road told police his vehicle was burglarized overnight. He said that he left his car doors unlocked and someone rummaged through everything. He told police that he had left his wallet in the vehicle and it was stolen. He said the wallet contained $430 and his driver's license. No suspect information was available.

* * *

A man on E. Matlock Street told police he has had issues with squatters at his residence. The man told police it was possible there was someone squatting at this residence currently due to him

finding the door barricaded shut. Police were able to get the door open; it was not barricaded from the inside, but was just stuck. The residence was clear and no one was inside.

* * *

A woman on Wert Street told police she left her keys in her vehicle the night before. She said when she realized her keys were in her car and went to get them, they had been taken. She also had an Apple watch taken from her vehicle. There is no suspect information.

* * *

A lady on Dee Drive told police that a neighbor had come over and threatened her father. She said she wanted the neighbor trespassed from her property. Police spoke with the neighbor and she told them that the father was cursing at her kids and she went over to tell him to stop. Police explained to the neighbor that she was not to go back over on their property.

* * *

A man and woman were observed through video footage placing multiple electronics inside a Walmart bag at the Walmart at 3550 Cummings Hwy.. When the two attempted to leave, they

were stopped by an employee and they left the bad containing the merchandise. Police and loss prevention employees spoke with the couple as they tried to leave. They were both trespassed by loss prevention from all Walmart property. Both of them signed the forms and were allowed to leave.

* * *



A woman on Zinnia Steet told police that her neighbors were playing loud music and she wanted them to turn it down. She said that it was a constant issue, but she was aware that there was nothing that we could do until the noise ordinance went into effect. She just wanted a report completed to give property management since they told her to call police anytime the noise was an issue.

* * *

A man told police he rented a room at the Sure Stay Suites 6914 Shallowford Road. He said his room's door handle broke and he felt trapped inside his room; He said he attempted to speak to management about the issue, but instead he was ignored. The man eventually checked out of the room and left the premises. He told police this is a safety and fire issue that needed to be address

The man said he will be calling the corporate office of the establishment to make a formal complain.

* * *

A man on Lee Highway told police that he and a woman that he was helping, that he knew as "Kris," started to go crazy and she went to the car wash and he wanted police assistance. He said he wanted police to check on "Kris" and make sure she was ok. Police located "Kris," who was fine and wanted her phone from the man. Police located her phone and gave it back to her. Both

of them left the car wash.

* * *

Vandalism was reported at 1801 Southern St. The site manager told police that five locks had been cut. He said he did not know what exactly had been taken from the job site. He will call back later with the inventory that has been taken and possibly provide camera footage of the suspect.

* * *

Police were checking on a Watchlist location at the shopping center at 6925 Shallowford Road, where they found a black male and a white female asleep on the third floor of the building. Police asked them to leave the property because they were trespassing. Police took down their information for possible further investigation and witnessed them leave the premises.

* * *

An anonymous caller told police that an unknown vehicle was parked on S. Beech Street. Police located the vehicle, a Nissan Kicks (TN tag), parked on the property and it had been reported stolen. Police verified the stolen status through NCIC and the vehicle was removed from the system. The owner was notified and the vehicle was towed.

* * *

An employee at the Department of Human Services, 5600 Brainerd Road, told police she discovered that the battery had been taken out of a 2019 Nissan Altima. She said security told her that the cameras do not reach to where the vehicle was parked.

* * *

The clerk at the Exxon at 4901 Bonny Oaks Dr. told police he found two wallets that were left by customers. Police collected the wallets and turned them into Property.

* * *

A woman on Gunbarrel Road told police that morning she got an email that her Regions debit card was used at Walgreens for $42.29. She said she is in possession of her card and does not know how the person was able to use it. She said it had to be used in person. She said earlier her debit card was used at Airport Wrecker.

* * *

A woman told police she was walking through the McDonald's parking lot at 5440 Hwy. 153 when a dog came at her. She said the dog did not bite her, but came towards her three different times. Police spoke to the owner of the dog, who said the dog was tied up. She and a witness said the dog was tied up in the van, but pulled free. The witness said the dog did not get close to the woman and never bit her.
There have been five incidents in the last 30 days involving Dollar General Store trucks on the north end of the mountain, officials of Lookout Mountain, Tn., said.

The large trucks that have been causing problems because they are unable to navigate the narrow curvy mountain roads was addressed by Commissioner of Fire and Police Jim Bentley and Mayor Walker Jones.

Dollar General is not being targeted, said the mayor. He said the problem is the trucks that are pulling their trailers.

The mayor said the company has told the town that alternative routes will be found, and the Tennessee and Georgia towns will be putting signs warning trucks to stop at the top of the roads leading down.

The goal is to have no vehicle larger than three axles on Ochs Highway.

In addition to the Lookout Mountain towns, Dollar General also wants to find a remedy, said Mayor Jones.

He said the problems have been costly for the company, which will be responsible for replacing railings, paying fines and the loss of inventory.

A new Dollar General just opened in the Hinkle community south of Lookout Mountain, Ga., past Lula Lake.
This July, Bike Chattanooga marks ten years of service, celebrating a decade of bikesharing available to residents and visitors in Chattanooga.

"Bike Chattanooga is an incredible asset for our city's residents and visitors, providing opportunities to get from point A to point B without ever having to get into a vehicle, said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. Programs like these are critical to Chattanooga's long-term sustainability, and I look forward to seeing this resource continue to grow in the years ahead."

Since inception, city residents and casual users alike have embraced Bike Chattanooga as an accessible and convenient mobility solution. Bike Chattanooga launched in 2012 with 30 stations and 300 bikes. The systems footprint has grown to 42 stations and 400 bikes, including 55 e-bikes. E-bikes were added to the fleet in 2018, and generate up to 4x more usage than pedal bikes. From 2018 through 2021, the program has seen exceptionally strong growth; 83% increase in ridership and 79% growth in annual members. Bike Chattanooga has also been gaining popularity with visitors and casual users with more than 24,000 short-term passes sold in 2021.

The Transportation Division of Public Works is thrilled by the growing use of this City amenity, said Ben Taylor, Public Works Deputy Administrator for Transportation. We look forward to expanding into more neighborhoods to ensure everyone has transportation options.

To meet increasing demand, Bike Chattanooga will be adding 50 new e-bikes and another e-station to the system in the coming months, thanks to the Lyndhurst Foundation and City of Chattanooga funding. In addition, the $1M Multimodal Access Grant that was awarded to Chattanooga by the Tennessee Department of Transportation will further enhance the transportation solutions available for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit-users. Adding bike share stations with the transit stops will serve the first and last mile connection, and will link southside neighborhoods to the historic ridge-to-river area and connect key east-west corridors with much needed north-south access for safe and efficient transportation options to services and jobs.

We have a crucial role to play in fueling active transportation options and helping move people the greener, healthier and affordable way. Recent years have seen record-breaking usage and our team remains focused on propelling more riders to travel and explore the city by bike, said Edward Inlow, Shift Transits CEO. As Bike Chattanooga marks its 10-year anniversary, Shift Transit is thrilled to celebrate in partnership with The City of Chattanooga, our partners and riders.

To mark 10 years of Bike Chattanooga service, on July 28th we invite the community to celebrate this milestone and the exciting years ahead:
The Signal Mountain Town Council passed the 2022-2023 budget on the final reading. Prior to the vote a review was given for last years budget and the year of challenges for the town which included two searches for a new town manager that ended unsuccessfully and the exit of 21 employees.

After the past year review, a public hearing for the new budget was held with no public comments, followed by a unanimous vote of approval on the second and final reading. The property tax rate will remain $1.7012 for every $100 of assessed value.

The second reading to increase the stormwater fee for residents was also approved on the second reading following a public hearing with no person speaking for or against.

Council member Vicki Anderson began the presentation with an overview of accomplishments made during the past year. The current council has agreed to re-establish decorum and civil discourse, she said. They are committed to operate through respectful debate and consensus-making. The tone of the meetings is now collaborative, respectful, efficient and productive to ensure that each voice can be heard as issues are deliberated, she said.

The town has engaged the Municipal Technical Advisory Service to assist in many areas of governing including departmental reviews. A detailed audit of each department will be done, designed to improve efficiency, fiscal responsibility and employee support. The public works department was the first review completed, which showed it already was operating efficiently and competently. Suggestions made by MTAS are being implemented.

A strategic plan has been created that states the mission and vision statement for the town and prioritized issues, including improving policies and procedures, developing a long-term financial plan, identifying money saving opportunities and improving technology.

Personnel issues during the past year were addressed by Council Member Elizabeth Baker. She said there was a period of transition after the entire administrative staff from town hall retired or transferred to other departments. Seven people retired and 14 people moved on to new careers or opportunities. She credited long time staff for providing uninterrupted services to citizens during this time. Currently, there are five openings throughout the town and department heads are now interviewing for three of the positions.

She said a new pay scale was adopted as the result of a study done by the Burris Thompson firm. The council allocated $230,000 to implement the new pay scale. The new budget allocates $300,000 for one-time retention bonuses and an additional $150,000 to be used for merit raises to address the pay scale inequities. There will also be two new positions - one in Human Resources and one in the Information Technology department.

With the key retirements from positions in the finance department during the past 12 months and the hiring of new staff members, the council anticipates seeing a fresh perspective on finance functions and processes to lead to needed improvements, said Council Member Andrew Gardner. One such example he gave related to requests from the state comptrollers office pertaining to the 2020-2021 audit. He said that Finance Director Jennifer Broomfield has identified processes to ensure that there are no deficiencies in the next audit.

Future plans include updating technology to modernize the town, said Mayor Charles Poss. This will mean having the right equipment such as new software, computers and other hardware. A new user-friendly website, planned for several years, will be implemented and online payments will be expanded. A part-time social medial coordinator will be hired to implement a social media policy to improve how the town communicates with the public. The new budget includes up to $15,000 to outfit the council room with equipment to livestream and record all town council meetings as well as board and committee meetings.

Signal Mountain has a significant amount of federal funds available to assist with needed projects such as stormwater improvements and repairs, said the mayor. And, after an MTAS review, the town will analyze processes to ensure it is operating efficiently and to determine where adjustments are needed. Each department is being examined and MTAS will be asked to conduct a study to follow-up after the implementation of the towns new pay scale in the last year.

The council is committed to keeping the quaint small-town character of the town while working towards building a modern and effective town government, said Mayor Poss.

Vice Mayor Susannah Murdock said that moving forward, a mountain top growth plan is being developed due to the high growth rate on Walden Plateau. The plan will address how to manage the growth because what happens in Walden and the unincorporated areas of Hamilton County on the mountain affects those living in the town limits of Signal Mountain. County Commissioner Chip Baker has procured county funds to contract with Common Ground Urban Design & Planning for creating a comprehensive plan that will be a road map and vision for the future.

An interconnect with Waldens Ridge Utility District is also being discussed under the leadership of Matt Justice, the new director of Signal Mountains water utility. This will serve as a backup source for water in the event of an interruption. Federal funds can be used for the project that will reduce the cost to taxpayers, the vice mayor said.

Elaine Brunelle has been working as interim town manager for around one month and has already made a significant impact during the short time, said the vice mayor. Citizens, department heads and staff have all been pleased, and she has begun to implement new policies and procedures for record keeping and organization, it was stated. The council is developing a performance evaluation policy for the town manager position.

Due to Ms. Brunelles performance during the past month, the vice mayor made a motion to remove interim from her title and give her permanent town manager status. The council unanimously approved the motion. The town will move forward to negotiate a contract with her.

A purchase agreement with Tennessee American Water was amended that will extend the contract until 2030 but will reduce the number of gallons the town agrees to buy each year, so no penalty will be charged. Signal Mountain is now using less water due to efficiencies mostly from leak detection and repairs. The change will not affect the rate paid per gallon.

A resolution was passed that will provide up to $21,000 for design and project management services for a TDOT water line replacement along Highway 127 from Suck Creek Road to Shoal Creek Road. This will be eligible for 90 percent reimbursement. The council also approved an additional $8,000 with CTI Engineers for design and management services for the TDOT slope stabilization project on Palisades Road.

Authorization was given to apply for a grant for the police department for up to $2,000 from the Public Entity Safety Partners matching grant program. And Jim Webster and Darrington Crane were appointed to the Signal Mountain tree board.

The council also voted to rescind the state of emergency that has been in place since 2020 due to COVID. The town will now be following the CDC guidelines. Council Member Anderson noted that the with the recent declaration that Hamilton County is again at high risk for the disease, the town will need to be ready to respond if needed.
Because of living conditions, as well as starvation, numerous Irish fled Ireland to come to the United States. It is no wonder that James Joyce described the Atlantic Ocean as a bowl of bitter tears and an earlier poet wrote, They are going, going, going and we cannot bid them stay.

Today in Tennessee over 7,000 teachers are already eligible to retire and by 2024 that number will add another 3,300 teachers. We already had a teacher shortage in special education. We had a teacher shortage in math and science. We are seeing other teachers walking away, some in elementary and other key subject areas, as well.

School is opening this month in Tennessee, and many classrooms will likely be missing teachers to start the school year. In February, Marta Aldrich reported in Chalkbeat that Assistant Education Commissioner, Charlie Bufalino, put the estimate at about 2,200 teacher vacancies, although other estimates put the count significantly higher. We believe the number could be higher as well. We know that Channel 5 Reporter, Emily West, reported that there are over 1,000 projected vacancies in Middle Tennessee to start the 2022-2023 school year.

Vacant teaching positions lead to increased class sizes, student behavioral problems, and lower standards for hiring both permanent and substitute teachers. There are also huge shortages of bus drivers and substitute teachers. If you throw that all on the heels of a global pandemic, maternity leaves, and natural disasters, our schools are stretched way beyond the classroom walls of any school. Educators simply do not feel respected for the amazing job they do.

Our Colleges of Education are amazing. However, they cannot do it alone. The number of applicants to become teachers is inadequate. Fewer students are choosing to go into the education field while schools across America are seeing an increased need for new teachers. In policy, we better start paying attention to the quality and quantity of those leaving the field of education. The teacher shortage is not looming, the teacher shortage is here. Grow Your Own is a good program but will never be the major method for teacher recruitment to address this problem.

The existing teacher shortageespecially in special education, math, and science, and in schools serving students of color, low-income students, and English learnerswill only increase, based on the predicted increase in the school-going population in the future. Colleges of Education must also address how to serve Career & Technical Education (CTE). Areas such as business, agriculture, health, automotive, and mechatronics programs need high-quality teachers. We should also consider how to better build the skills of paraprofessionals who collaborate with teachers in classrooms in critical roles.

Teachers are the number one in-school influence on student achievement. Data indicates that in the last 20 years, teacher attrition has nearly doubled. Sixteen to 30% of teachers leave the teaching profession each year. It is estimated that school districts now spend $1B to $2.2B per year nationally replacing teachers. The average cost to replace a teacher is about $20,000 each in many districts.

Education degrees can take many years to complete and incur student debt. Alternative certifications routes often take much less time. We need flexible programs designed to have qualified adults teaching quickly and affordably. We need to consider these options if we are going to expand the teacher pipeline to get more applicants for schools and districts. It is time to expand the alternative certification choices in our state. We should give our Colleges of Education more flexibility to create innovative programs.

We know there are many issues facing public education. However, with challenges come opportunities. We need to keep our most effective educators in the classroom and in public education. Our federal, state, and district policymakers must take this issue seriously. We are losing too many good educators, and it is time we address the issue. We must modernize teacher licensure procedures to meet the demand and address the teacher shortage.

Not all news is gloom and doom. Despite the working conditions and negative comments by some, many educators are staying in their profession. This is due to strong leadership by Directors of Schools and Principals, as well as peer support. According to U.S. News & World Report, Teachers who have felt supported by their school administration want to stay. Teachers are also staying if they feel they have a voice and are being heard in the decision-making process.

However, there are still educators who are leaving the profession. Just like the Irish a century and a half ago, they are moving away permanently. They are going, going, going and we cannot bid them stay. We must reverse this trend as soon as possible, not just for us today but for those who come after us.

Terri Lynn Weaver

State Representative for the 40th District in Tennessee

JC Bowman

Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee
Early voting starts this Friday for the Aug. 4th election.

There is a buzz amongst my friends and many county voters stating they will write in a candidate for county mayor. I would urge voters not to write in a candidate as a measure of protest to the results of the Republican Primary race for county mayor.

Please choose not to write in Sabrena Smedley or Matt Hullander.

Why?

Your write in vote will not count pursuant to relatively new law amendments to write in voting.

I wish to share what I have learned. In my opinion, the new write in law is designed to limit voters, and protect the power of political parties.

Lets take a look at this new write in law.

T.C.A.  2-7-133 A candidate defeated in a primary election shall not complete a notice requesting write-in ballots to be counted in the general election, and any write-in votes cast for the candidate in the general election must not be counted.

This means that a write in for Sabrena Smedley or Matt Hullander will not be counted at all. This was news to me. Further, any candidate who ran in a primary election cannot register as a write in candidate. This new law was enacted with a whisper, did any of yall know about this?

The desire for voters to write in a vote is not hard to understand when the outcome of the Republican primary election on May 3rd is considered. I totally get it, but count me out on write in voting. I want my vote to be counted.

Matt Hullander 12,171

Sabrena Smedley 14,110

Weston Wamp 14,428

A staggering 26,281 majority did not vote for the Republican primary winner. The Republican primary winner for county mayor represents only 14,428 of 40,709 votes. The result is far from representing a will of a majority of voters.

Analysis of the Republican primary poling data indicates that 65 percent of the voters with Republican ID voted for someone other than the primary winner. The results represent a lack of a majority of voter support for the primary winner. This coupled with the Democrat coup that originated on Lindsay Street with Chris Anderson at the helm made Democrat primary history in Hamilton County. There was only 12 percent voter participation in the Democrat primary. The percent participation in the May 3rd Democrat primary was the lowest in three decades.

Where were all the Democrat voters?

The Democrat voters were participating in the Republican primary. Professional analysis shows that 30 percent of all Republican primary votes were from voters with Democrat ID. Voter ID is established from a voters historical participation in primaries.

As a result, there is a huge buzz about write in voting.

On a bigger issue, the state of Tennessee has placed so many layers of rules on write in candidates, likely protecting power of political parties, a write in vote is designed to fail in Tennessee with laws limiting voters. This is the entire write in law from CTAS, County Technical Advisory Service,

Any person trying to receive a party nomination or be elected by write-in ballot must complete a notice to the county election commission of each county of the district requesting that his or her ballots be counted no later than 50 days before the primary or 50 days before a general election. T.C.A.  2-7-133 and 2-8-113. The county election commission is required to promptly notify the state coordinator of elections and the registry of election finance as well as other candidates participating in the affected primary or election of the write-in notice. A write-in candidate will only have votes counted in counties where the notice was completed and timely filed. Write-in candidates for the offices of governor, United States Senator, and members of the United States House of Representatives are required to file their notice with the state coordinator of elections. In a primary election, a write-in candidate for that office must receive a vote equal to at least 5 percent of the total number of registered voters of the district, and receive more votes than any other candidate, to receive the party's nomination. T.C.A.  2-8-113. Furthermore, a write-in candidate for county or municipal office must receive a minimum of 25 votes in the primary before being placed on the ballot for the general election, a requirement that cannot be modified by private act or charter. T.C.A.  2-5-219. In an election where voting machines are used, a voter may write-in a name not listed on the ballot if the voter requests a paper ballot from the ballot judge before operating a voting machine. After receiving a paper ballot, a voter may not enter a voting machine. T.C.A.  2-7-117.

A candidate defeated in a primary election shall not complete a notice requesting write-in ballots to be counted in the general election, and any write-in votes cast for the candidate in the general election must not be counted. T.C.A.  2-7-133.

This law appears protects the power of political parties. I understand that TCA 2-7-133 was adopted on October 1, 2019, so this is relatively new law that certainly needs to be repealed. In addition, a primary runoff provision added to primary election law is needed. I was completely unaware of this new law, and believe that many voters are not aware that their write in vote for Sabrena Smedley or Matt Hullander will be voided per new law.

In closing, we have two Democrat selected candidates on the ballot for county mayor. As a result, I will be voting for Matt Adams.

No daddy coattails for me, and I will not support a Wamp monarchy of Hamilton County government.

Matt Adams gets my vote. He was raised on a farm where hard work rules, military service, and a career paralegal. Matt Adams is the better Democrat selected candidate on the ballot on Aug. 4th. There is not a nickel's worth of difference in the two candidates in the county mayors race. I will not support a Wamp monarchy of Hamilton County government.

This conservative is voting for several Democrats as they are better candidates.

Have a blessed day yall.

April Eidson

* * *

Thanks, April, for bringing this to light about write in voting. The thought was definitely buzzing in my mind to write in a vote for Sabrena Smedley for county mayor as I did not like the tactics used by our current Republican candidate to win the primary. Weston Wamp seems much too slick for this conservative to vote for too.





I know little about Matt Adams, but I'll vote for the Democrat just to keep Wamp out of office. This could surely backfire as we have seen what happens when people vote against someone rather than vote for a candidate. If Adams turns out to be another Woke, Green New Deal, left wing lunatic, he could be easily recalled in this conservative county.





Mike Welch

Ooltewah
The Tennessee RiverLine, Explore Kentucky and Mind Body Paddle collaboratively hosted the inaugural Paddlesports Leadership Academy in Knoxville. Collectively they developed the Leadership Academy as a program to train and mentor individuals from communities typically underserved by outdoor recreation as leaders on the water, and empower participants to transform their local communities by growing diverse representation in paddlesports. By fostering inclusive engagement with the Tennessee River landscape, the academy aims to enable diverse participation in river experiences and inspire pride and ownership of river spaces.

Gerry Seavo James, the founder of Explore Kentucky, developed the Paddlesports Leadership Academy as a concept to help overcome cultural, socio-economic and physical barriers to access and establish outdoor recreation as an inclusive and welcoming space for all. Through Mr. James' collaboration with the American Canoe Association, a new Community Paddlesports Leader certification was created as a more approachable avenue to formal paddling education and was the foundation for the Academys curriculum.

Along with Mr. James, Anna Levesque, chair of the ACA Safety, Education & Instruction Council and owner of Mind Body Paddle, and Lizzy Gardner, program manager of the Tennessee RiverLine, were the first ACA educators to lead instruction through this new multi-paddlecraft curriculum.

Core components of the Academy included the incubation of group culture that helps participants learn, play and grow their technical and leadership skills in a supportive environment as they work to create inclusive space in the outdoors that addresses exclusion, barriers to access and historical erasure.

As a black person in the outdoor community, my presence is often viewed as an anomaly, despite the rich history of our involvement within this space," said Mr. James. "A range of barriers exist to entry in paddlesports due to outdoor spaces not historically being welcoming or safe for all people, compounded by a range of socio-economic, cultural, historical, social and physical factors. Programs like the Paddlesports Leadership Academy empower communities to grow leadership from within, moving the needle to create more diverse representation, leadership and participation in river experiences. Were all excited to be part of and support this kind of work.

Participants were taught paddling fundamentals and technique in canoe, kayak and stand-up paddleboard. The program covered leadership skills on the water including group management, safety and rescue, paddling technique, trip planning and communication.

The first cohort included eight participants from around the region including individuals from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Texas with representation from organizations including Outdoor Afro, Black Kids Adventures, Hiking Healing and Outdoors, Black Women Who Kayak, Knoxville Parks and Recreation and the Office of Multicultural Student Life at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The ACA Community Paddlesports Leadership Academy is absolutely one of the most rewarding experiences of my life," said Shawanna Kendrick, Paddlesports Leadership Academy graduate and founder of Hiking Healing and Outdoors. "To learn, grow and simply be amongst like-minded individuals in a safe space is something I did not expect, but will forever be grateful for. Im looking forward to the journey ahead and empowering my community just as Gerry James, Anna Levesque and Lizzy Gardner empowered us.

"Explore Kentucky, the Tennessee RiverLine and Mind Body Paddle look forward to witnessing the impact that graduates of the Paddlesports Leadership Academy will have," said Ms. Gardner. "Together, we will work to transform communities with the knowledge and experience theyve gained."

This years academy was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Tennessee RiverLines principal partners, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Academys leadership is committed to continuing this program in the future and expanding its reach to new communities and diverse participants. This program nurtures a shared vision of promoting equitable access to river experiences and establishing the Tennessee RiverLine and other river communities as an inclusive and welcoming space for all.

For more details and updates about the Paddlesports Leadership Academy, visit the Tennessee RiverLine News Page and follow the Tennessee RiverLine, Explore Kentucky and Anna Levesque on social media.
The School Board needs people who are committed to this community and who are passionate about quality education for all. District 11 needs Virginia Anne Manson.

VA has proven her leadership skills by serving 15 years in an administrative role at The Baylor School. She knows education and is committed to helping this community provide excellence for every child.



Passionate parental involvement is what is needed to steer this community to ensure excellence in education for all students. Some people think they know best for our children education based on promoting their political agendas; VA Manson believes parents know what is best for their children  solid education without promoting a radical social agenda.

Randy and Pamela Wilson






Its been three years since Seeking Sister Wife star, Garrick Merrifield began courting Roberta Bert Pache as a second wife and shes still not in the United States. Many Seeking Sister Wife fans think Bert has already given up on the Merrifields. Here are the 3 reasons why Seeking Sister Wife fans think Bert already dumped Garrick and his wife, Dannielle Merrified.

Dannielle Merrifield, Garrick Merrifield, and Roberta Pache, Seeking Sister Wife | TLC

The first clue that Seeking Sister Wife fans noticed was that Bert seemed to be pulling away from Garrick and Dannielle. As discussed in season 4, they havent gone to see Brazilian-born Bert in over a year.

On the July 11 episode of Seeking Sister Wife, Dannielle said, Robertas been dealing with a lot the past year. She explains that between getting sick with coronavirus (COVID-19) and caretaking for her aging mother, shes had a tough time.

Dannielle said that Berts lack of internet or cell service in Brazil has taken its toll on all of their relationships. She said, The communication definitely changed. Garrick adds, Dramatically.

Bert was upset about Garrick dating a new potential wife, Lea

When Dannielle suggested that Garrick start looking for more wives to add to the family, he didnt hesitate to start dating. Roberta, however, was not on board with this new plan.

The original idea was to give Roberta time to settle into life in Colorado with the Merrifield before they start adding more wives. Alone time with Garrick is important to Bert, since theyve spent the majority of their relationship in separate countries.

So when Garrick began dating Lea, she was not happy, which is another reason why fans think Bert and Garrick are done. Dannielle said, Roberta was uncomfortable at the idea of us dating someone while were dating her. Dannielle had mentioned that adding a third wife could be hard on Bert, noting how she is insecure and jealous and doesnt like to share Garrick.

In the trailer for Seeking Sister Wife Season 4, Roberta gets angry at the idea of Garrick being intimate with Lea. She says, No kisses. Friends. Luckily for Bert, Lea ended her relationship with Garrick, so she doesnt have to worry about her fiance stealing kisses anymore.

Bert is in no rush to go to the US with the Merrifields

The final clue that suggests that Bert dumped Garrick is how relaxed she is about getting her visa. In previous seasons, the Merrifields tried to get Bert to the US on a tourist visa, but it was denied. Which led them to pursue a K-1 or fiance visa. This visa gives Garrick 90 days once Bert is in the US to marry her, or she will have to return to Brazil.

With Berts visa approved, all she has to do is pick up her passport and visa from a government building. However, the visa does have an exploration date and its coming up quickly.

Dannielle explained, Our immigration lawyers made it very clear that, she cant wait til the last minute, because travel and flights are limited. So she only has a short period of time to get here.

Dannielle doesnt believe that Roberta is aware of how time-sensitive this process is. She said, She doesnt have much longer.

Fans will have to watch the rest of Seeking Sister Wife Season 4 to find out if Bert makes it to the US. But according to the trailer, Dannielle and Garrick travel to meet her in a beach location.

Seeking Sister Wife airs Mondays at 10 pm EST on TLC and discovery+.

RELATED: Seeking Sister Wife: Steve Foleys Daughter Calls His Polygamous Lifestyle Disgusting
Knives Out actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas both understand how to command presence on the silver screen. However, first impressions in Hollywood arent always the greatest indicator of judging a persons acting abilities. Curtis is coming under fire on social media after admitting that she assumed de Armas just arrived from Cuba when they filmed Knives Out.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas co-starred in Knives Out

L-R: Ana de Armas and Jamie Lee Curtis | Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AFI

Curtis and de Armas shared the screen together in Rian Johnsons 2019 crime comedy, Knives Out. The film went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, although it lost the gold statue to Bong Joon Hos Parasite.

Knives Out follows a detective named Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who begins to investigate the death of a wealthy patriarch named Harlan (Christopher Plummer). However, his entire family appears to gain advantage from his death and the detective plans to get to the bottom of it. His nurse, Marta (de Armas), must navigate Harlans eccentric family, including Linda (Curtis), who are willing to do anything to get their hands on their patriarchs fortune.

Jamie Lee Curtis initially thought Ana de Armas just arrived from Cuba when filming Knives Out

In an interview with Elle, Curtis had a lot to say about her first impression of de Armas when filming Knives Out. Her initial opinions were certainly quite negative, although her feelings turned around after seeing how talented her co-star was.

I assumedand I say this with real embarrassmentbecause she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived, Curtis said. I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like, Oh, what are your dreams?

Curtis offered to introduce de Armas to Steven Spielberg to potentially play Maria in West Side Story, or for her to meet her godchildren, Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. However, de Armas already had her own Hollywood connections and knew Jake rather well. Further, Curtis explained that her Knives Out co-star comes off differently to the public than how she actually is.

She is not as fancy as maybe the advertisements would have you believe, Curtis said. She leans in, interested; talking to her is kind of give-and-take. Shes curious and asks a lot of questions.

Social media thinks the actor sounds like her character from the movie

not her actually sounding like her character in Knives Out  J (@_PAIM0N) July 13, 2022

Twitter is slamming Curtis for her statements regarding de Armas. They believe that these are opinions that are better left unsaid. One of the most liked comments stated: Not her actually sounding like her character in Knives Out. Linda is the eldest of Harlans children and is short-tempered with plenty of her own prejudices and biases.

Another Twitter comment suggested that Michael Myers was actually the hero in the Halloween franchise.

De Armas certainly made a big break into the Hollywood scene and continues to impress others aside from Curtis. However, its clear that the public is against industry first impressions that go beyond feelings of ones talent.

RELATED: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later: Why Jamie Lee Curtis Almost Quit the Movie
Jordan Peele is a horror director who is known for subverting expectations. Both of Peeles movies so far have been suspenseful thrill rides that were also filled with shocking twists and meaningful social commentary. For his latest film, Nope, Jordan Peele says he wanted to try something different than just making another black horror movie.

Nope is the latest horror movie from Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele | Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage

Peele gained recognition for his comedic talents on the sketch comedy series Key & Peele. He surprised the world with Get Out, his directorial debut that cemented him as one of the most interesting voices in horror. He then followed it up with Us. Us is not as praised as Get Out, but it still managed to continue his hot streak with a unique and creepy film.

Nope is his first movie since 2019 and many are looking forward to what Jordan Peele is going to deliver next. Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. The movie tells the story of two siblings who run a California horse ranch. After encountering a UFO, the two try to capture it on film and use it for success. However, there is clearly something else going on that Peele and the cast are keeping secret.

Peele explains why he wanted Nope to be different

NEW COVER ALERT: Daniel Kaluuya and Jordan Peele have once again reunited  not just for the upcoming horror film Nope, but in conversation for the July digital cover of #ESSENCE.



Story by Brande Victorian. https://t.co/Os5Z8YmXXx  ESSENCE (@Essence) July 11, 2022

Essence magazine recently shared an interview between Peele and Kaluuya. Kaluuya also starred as the leading man in Get Out. During the interview, Jordan Peele talked about how he wanted Nope to be something different. He knew it would have the black horror elements, but he also wanted to implement black joy into the movie because he felt it was something the characters needed in the midst of the horror.

Its so tricky being considered in the vanguard of Black horror, because obviously Black horror is so very real, and its hard to do it in a way thats not retraumatizing and sad, Peele said. I was going into my third horror film starring Black leads, and somewhere in the process I realized that the movie had to be about Black joy as well, in order to fit what the world needs at this moment. So that is part of why theres sort of a spectrum of tonality of genre in here, because I wanted to give the horror, but I also wanted to give our characters agency and adventure and hope and joy and fun that they deserve.

The director believes this movie transcends the horror genre

Jordan Peele also explains how Nope transcends the horror genre because it provides an experience no one has ever seen with a blend of horror and sci-fi. It also manages to celebrate the fact that black actors can be leads in more than just horror but also i sci-fi, action, etc.

I came to you and I said I want to make a great American UFO horror movie that I havent seen, Peele said to Kaluuya. And I think one of the things we have with this film is a movie that transcends the horror genre, in a way. The first film clip [Eadweard Muybridges Animal Locomotion] was essentially a Black man on a horse who has been forgotten and erased. Part of this film, to me, is a celebration and a response to that. We can be the leads not only of a horror movie but also action, adventure, comedy, etcetera.

Nope arrives in theaters on July 22.

RELATED: Jordan Peele Talks Us: Why Having Black Heroes in a Horror Movie Is a Trap
Seth MacFarlane has been at the helm of the long-running shows Family Guy and American Dad for the longest time, with his one-liners serving to make the shows even better. MacFarlane is not only a great comedian, but he can also act and sing. He recently revealed that he got offered a role in Spamalot on Broadway but turned it down. Find out why.

Seth MacFarlane | Weiss Eubanks/Getty Images

Family Guy stood in the way of Seth MacFarlanes Broadway dreams

Spamalot follows King Arthur as he travels across his land, trying to recruit Knights of the Round Table. He meets Sir Robin and Lancelot, who join him with Robin singing and dancing and Lancelot fighting. Meanwhile, King Arthur tries to convince a peasant that he is King because he was given the Excalibur, which is only handed to one fit to rule.

The peasant denies Arthurs kingship stating that anyone not elected democratically has no legitimate right to rule. Arthur asks the Lady of the Lake to make Dennis, the peasant, a knight. Dennis joins him and other knights to pursue the Holy Grail upon command by God.

Spamalot was a success earning $175 million and praise from critics. The production was released on Broadway in 2005. However, at the time, Family Guy was picking up again after its cancellation in 2002, and American Dad was also growing in popularity. As such, creator MacFarlane had a lot on his plate.

In a recent interview with Wired to answer the Webs Most Searched Question, MacFarlane responded to a question that inquired if hed been on Broadway. He said:

Ive not been on Broadway, no. I remember years ago getting offered to come do Spamalot. But I was too busy making Family Guy, and as attractive as that offer was, the timing didnt work out.

MacFarlane noted that although scheduling hindered him from appearing on Broadway, it was still something he would consider doing. Im certainly open to it, he said.

Seth MacFarlane has never been on Broadway

MacFarlane has proven he has the singing and acting chops to make it on Broadway. He has proven his ability repeatedly and also through his show Family Guy, but the comedian has never been on Broadway.

However, he has performed several off Off-Broadway hits, including belting a harmonious rendition of Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors with pop star Ariana Grande for the Carpool Karaoke series. One of the characters in Family Guy, Herbert the Pervert, also sang Somewhere Thats Green from Little Shop of Horrors.

Seth MacFarlanes career

MacFarlane got his start in animation at the tender age of nine when he submitted one of his drawings to a local newspaper. The newspaper was so impressed by his drawings that they hired him. He went on to study at the Rhode Island School of Design and was later recruited into Hollywood as a writer and animator for Hanna-Barbera.

He worked with the studio on several beloved programs such as Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, Larry & Steve, and Dexters Laboratory. In 1999, MacFarlane created his own animation, Family Guy. The show went off the air in 2002, allowing MacFarlane to start another animation, American Dad.

When Family Guy came back on the air, MacFarlane found himself juggling two shows, and he says he thought one would eventually fizzle out. Years later, both shows continue to grow strong. He also gave a Family Guy character their own spinoff in 2009, but The Cleveland Show went off the air four seasons later.

Aside from his work in animation, MacFarlane has racked up some impressive acting credits. He guest-starred on Gilmore Girls, The War at Home, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He also appeared in his own productions, including The Orville, Ted, and A Million Ways to Die in The West.

RELATED: Does Seth MacFarlanes New Deal Spell Doom for Family Guy?
The country duo Dan + Shay became famous thanks to sweet love songs such as Nothin Like You, From the Ground Up, and the Justin Bieber collaboration 10,000 Hours. Many of the duos songs take inspiration from Dan Smyers and Shay Mooneys real-life romances. For example, Mooney is married to Hannah Billingsley, who was Miss Arkansas USA in 2013. Find out how Shay Mooney met his wife and more about their celebrity relationship.

Shay Mooney and his wife, Hannah Billingsley, got married in 2017

Shay Mooney and Hannah Billingsley in 2019 | John Shearer/Getty Images for CMT

Hannah Billingsley and Shay Mooney are both from Arkansas. According to Brides, the couple tied the knot in 2017 in an intimate ceremony on Mooneys family farm.

On one of our first dates, Shay brought me up to a hill overlooking his familys farm. We sat and talked about life and dreamed about our futures, Billingsley shared. We went back to the hilltop for our first look, where Shay patiently waited for me as my veil whipped in the wind. It was absolutely perfect.

The couples wedding was even overseen by Mooneys grandfather  someone whose marriage Mooney and Billingsley look up to.

Our grandparents marriages are such beautiful examples of lasting love, she said. Shay has written songs about this kind of love. I had prayed for this kind of love. And on that day, we were married by a man who is a testament to this kind of love.

How did Shay Mooney meet his wife, Hannah Billingsley?

Shay Mooney and Hannah Billingsley met on social media. The pair began talking after mutual friends had introduced them.

We chatted every once in a while for a few years, and then in March of 2015, I asked him if he was ever going to play in Arkansas, Billingsley told Brides. Not only was he going to be in Arkansas just four days later, but he was playing in the town where I lived!

Mooney told People: From the very first time I saw her, I knew I wanted to marry her.

Shes the best thing thats ever happened to me, so I had to lock it down, he added. Shes my better  and much better-looking  half.

The couple has 2 children

Shay Mooney shared an adorable video of his son's new song. https://t.co/ZtuzSy5JDj pic.twitter.com/jtAedE1qoG  billboard (@billboard) October 18, 2020

Several months before their wedding, Shay Mooney and Hannah Billingsley welcomed a son, Asher. He was nine months old when the pair tied the knot, and he was carried down the aisle as part of the wedding ceremony.

Mooney and Billingsleys family grew in 2020 when the couple welcomed another son, Ames.

It has been a huge change and the best change, Mooney told People of his parenthood experience. You love each other a ton, and then you have a kid, and you never realize how much you could love something. It strengthens your love for each other, but it also just opens up this entire other deeper world of love that you never knew you could have.

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheets YouTube channel.

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Anne Wnuck was expecting it to be the experience of a lifetime.

In February of 2020, the 2015 Cheshire High School graduate, who earned a degree in international development studies from Dalhousie University, was on her way to Nepal as part of the Peace Corps, to serve as a English Education Teacher in the South Asian country for a period of two years. It would, Wnuck expected, allow her to immerse herself in a culture and country she was only then beginning to understand.

Ever since I was young, Ive had a great affinity for the Peace Corps and its mission. This will be an experience Ill never forget, Wnuck told The Herald at that time.

Of course, things were about to change.

Shortly after her arrival in Nepal, the world was overtaken by a once-in-a-hundred-years pandemic. COVID-19 began to sweep across the world, shutting down societies and sending people into isolation. Cut off from much of the world and the 24-hour news cycle, the extent to which other nations were reacting to the public health crisis wasnt fully known to the Peace Corps members. We didnt really have a clear idea of exactly what was happening, Wnuck said, last month. People in America probably had much more of an idea, watching the news every night, as to how (the pandemic was progressing). For us, it was a short period of time. In no more than two days we were told to pack up and evacuate. It was all very hectic.

It was business as usual for usuntil it wasnt, she added.

What was supposed to be two years turned into less than two months. Wnuck found herself out of the Peace Corps and back in the U.S. The Cheshire native was one of more than 7,000 volunteers who were evacuated by the Corps during March of 2020, as the organization suspended all operations overseas.

Now, more than two years later, the Peace Corps is once again returning to its mission to help communities in developing countries and once again Wnuck has answered the bell.

I knew I wanted to continue to serve, she said, and I knew I wanted to be a part of (the Peace Corps).

On Friday, June 24, Wnuck boarded a plane bound for Sierra Leone, a country located in the southwest portion of Africa. She will once again serve as an English teacher working with students, and once again she will be making a commitment to the corps that will last more than two years.

There is three months of training and then, hopefully, in September Ill be sworn in as (a member of the Peace Corps), she said, so overall its a 27-month stay.

Wnuck admits that she is just now beginning to learn about the history of the area she will be calling home for the next two years, including the connection it has to slavery in America and across the globe. Former slaves migrated to the country in the 18th and 19th centuries, which helped to inform much of the nations culture, including its Krio language derived from creole English common in certain parts of the American south, as well as the name of its capital city  Freetown  and national tree  a cotton tree.

That history is just something that you cant ignore, nor should you, said Wnuck.

However, shes also learned that the people of Sierra Leone are known to be welcoming and friendly.

Its a very community-oriented society, she said. I expect they are going to be very kind, very welcoming.

The area in which Wnuck will be staying is very rural and she admits to concerns over the availability of everything from internet access to electricity. There have been recent investments in the power grid in areas of Sierra Leone that she hopes will make her stay there more accommodating, but her main concern is how some of those limitations may impact her ability to teach the children that will populate her classrooms.

Yet, she has every confidence in her and her peers ability to find a way.

If theres one thing the Peace Corps teachers you, its to be flexible, she said, with a laugh.

In the week leading up to her departure day, Wnuck was in Arlington, Virginia at the Peace Corps staging area, getting ready for her journey. That, coupled with the three months of in-country training she will receive is designed to help her feel more comfortable in Sierra Leone. However, the Cheshire native admits that the only way to truly learn about her new home will be to get there and immerse myself in the community.

I really wont know exactly what to expect until I get there, talk to the people, she said. I guess I am expecting the unexpected at this point.

So why make such an investment in time, effort, and energy?

I guess I have always been a service-oriented person, she said. I know I am going to miss my friends, my family, even some major milestones in peoples lives.but the only way to truly understand (a culture) is to live, work, and fully integrate into the community. Thats what Im hoping to do.
A radical Muslim man reportedly tried to murder a Coptic Christian woman in Egypt last month.

Thirty-five-year-old Mona Wafdi Marzouk was walking to some of her familys land to help them work when Qassem Faleh Muhammad allegedly grabbed her from behind and tried to choke her with a scarf.

Marzouk had not seen Muhammad as he ran up to attack her and had not engaged him in conversation, The Christian Post reports. After he tried to choke her, he grabbed a sickle, a tool used to cut grass, and tried to slash her throat. The blade was not sharp, and he was not able to kill her.

Muhammad then ran away and left Marzouk lying on the ground. Her brother found her and took her to the hospital. She received seven stitches in her neck and is recovering. Her family said she lives in a state of terror and panic after the harsh experience.

International Christian Concern believes Mona was targeted because of her Christian faith. The Egyptian media has painted Muhammad as mentally ill, but this was not his first attack against Christians. He burglarized the home of a Coptic Christian the day before his attack on Marzouk.

ICC also ties this attack to others that have taken place across Egypt in recent months. Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypts population and face increasing violence.

A Muslim man murdered Father Arsanius Wadid in April. His killer received the death sentence, but his lawyer was heard telling him, You have every right, Nehru. May Allah give you victory, Nehru. Dont be afraid, Nehru; well overturn this ruling.

The initial report on the incident involving Mona said security forces arrested the attackers brother and are looking for the attacker. The attacker had no previous arrests or interactions with the police.

Coptic Christians allege that authorities do not take violence against Christians seriously and that they are not in a position to speak against the authorities for fear of retaliation.

Related:

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Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Oleksii Liskonih

Scott Slayton writes at One Degree to Another.
What is your very top priority in how you spend your time?

What about the people in your life  what is your very top priority in who you try to spend time with? Or your top priority in how you spend your money, or which bills you pay first?

Priorities say a lot about us. What you prioritize can be a pretty clear indicator of what you value most.

Based on their giving priorities, the majority of evangelicals do not value faith-based charities and ministries most in their giving outside of church.

Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts partnered on research among evangelical Protestants. In our recent report, The Favorite Charity: Evangelical Giving Priorities, we asked evangelical donors to name the one ministry or charity other than their church that they prioritize above all others.

First, note that 42% of evangelical Protestants did not give a penny in the last year to any organization outside of their church (and 26% didnt give anything to church). Those who did identified the one organization they would support financially if they could only give to one.

The names we got were all over the board (as might be expected, with well over a million organizations to choose from): Large Christian brands including Compassion International, World Vision, and K-LOVE Radio. Much smaller ministries such as Kokomo Rescue Mission, WYTJ Radio, and Upward Sports. Secular organizations such as Make-A-Wish, ASPCA, and Wounded Warrior Foundation.

Among all of these brands, 54% of evangelical donors have a number one giving priority that is not Christian.

When we combine this with the fact that 42% of evangelicals arent giving outside of church, this means only 27% of all evangelicals are giving money and put a Christian organization as their very top giving priority.

Of the 19 favorite brands of evangelical donors, ten are entirely secular. The top five include The Salvation Army and Samaritans Purse, but also UNICEF, American Red Cross, and St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

In our research, we learned a few other things about the giving priorities of evangelicals. We hear all the time how donors want to support organizations that spend very little on expenses such as overhead, administration, and fundraising (the overhead ratio). But the reality is that just 14% of evangelical donors have a favorite organization with an overhead ratio in the single digits. The average evangelicals favorite organization spends 18.5% on overhead  a number which is identical to the favorite organizations of non-evangelical donors.

We also discovered that, like the typical American donor, evangelicals tend to favor extremely large organizations. The average annual revenues of evangelicals favorite organizations are $1.07 billion.

Yes, thats billion with a b. Thirty-seven percent of evangelical donors name a favorite organization with annual revenues of $1 billion or more, and a total of 54% are at $500 million or higher, while only 12% have a favorite with revenues below $10 million. Again, evangelicals are almost exactly like non-evangelicals in these figures; donors in general tend to gravitate to extremely large organizations (which, of course, is a major reason they are extremely large).

When it comes to the causes they favor, evangelical donors are very similar to other donors. The top priorities of evangelicals include specific diseases such as diabetes or cancer, along with international relief and development, with domestic poverty in third place. And while 44% of evangelical donors prioritize a faith-based organization, just 12% prioritize an organization where faith is the primary cause: missions, evangelism, Christian media, discipleship, etc. The other 32% prioritize organizations which are Christian, but doing work such as education, providing clean water, or helping the disabled.

If you serve with a donor-supported ministry, consider some of the implications of this research:

In most ways evangelical donors are no different from other donors.

Your target donors arent just supporting other Christian ministries. Theyre often favoring entirely secular organizations, so your competition is likely much broader than you may realize.

Financial efficiency is important, but scrimping on salaries, facilities, or systems which could help make you more effective is probably not a compelling way to be more appealing to donors.

If youre not a huge brand, what makes you unique? If youre largely saying the same things as billion-dollar ministries, you need to understand that they can say it much louder, more often, and possibly more effectively than you can. So instead of trying to compete with the same message, what can you say that sets you apart with a unique identity?

If youre a donor, take a step back and consider what your giving says about your priorities.

Far be it from us as researchers to say donors should or should not support certain types of work. Giving is a very personal decision. There should be no concerns when evangelicals want to cure disease, help stray animals, or protect the environment. But one is left to question to what extent it is laudable for lupus, puppies, or endangered marine iguanas to be what evangelicals want to support above everything else.

Our priorities say a lot about our values. As evangelicals, our giving priorities say we often do not place an especially high value on ministry.

The Better Samaritan blog is produced by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, a research institute which specializes in resilience and spiritual fortitude. To learn more and apply for a M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership, visit our website

Ron Sellers is the grey matter behind Grey Matter Research. He has served over 100 donor-supported organizations in his career, along with many for-profit companies, through consumer insights and market research.
There are only about 100 dama gazelles left alive in the wild. One of the critically endangered animals is named Becki, after Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) pilot Becki Dillingham, who is helping to save the strikingly beautiful creatures with long legs and short curled horns from extinction.

Becki the gazelle was flown across a vast and mostly roadless expanse of desert in a Cessna 182, with her horns sheathed in rubber tubing to keep her from damaging anything during the flight. She was delivered to Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve, a protected grassland roughly the size of Scotland, where she will can thrive and reproduce.

Becki the missionary pilot said she didnt know she would be doing jobs like this when she arrived in Chad with her husband and two children in 2017. But the UK-trained physicist who had her first flying lesson at age nine nevertheless sees transporting endangered animals as a core part of her calling as a Christian missionary pilot.

We have what are called five marks of mission, which are pointers as to where we should be going with all of the work that we do, Dillingham told CT from the MAF base in the Chadian capital NDjamena. One of those is creation carelooking after the environment and wildlife.

Dama gazelles certainly need care. Seen in Africa as symbols of elegance, they once lived in abundant numbers across the Sahel, the arid grasslands that fringe the southern border of the Sahara Desert from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.

But hunting, regional wars, and habitat loss have driven this antelope species dangerously close to extinction. They now live in only four isolated pockets in Niger and Chad. And those pockets face new dangers and further encroachment all the time.

A dwindling group living in the Manga region near the town of Salal, for example, was quickly losing habitat and then threatened in 2019 by local hunters on motorbikes. Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF), a Paris-based nonprofit that has a dama gazelle program, leaped into action and orchestrated a plan to rescue the animals and move them to the reserve.

SCF got approval from the Chadian government and organized six international conservation groups and MAF to help. MAF pilot Phil Henderson joined the team. After days and days of searching, they tracked three female gazelles in the expansive Manga, tranquilized them, and flew them to safety.

Every gazelle matters, John Watkin, the SCF chief executive, told CT.

The three gazelles, including Becki, were put in a large protected enclosure at the Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve. A male was added so they can breed and raise offspring. Becki has had three fawns since the rescue: a female named Shaika, a female named Hiti, and a male named Kalle.

They will be released back into the wild once they are old enough not to be threatened by jackals and dogs from the nomad camps, Watkin said.

Some dama gazelles are also being bred in Abu Dhabi, at the Delaika Wildlife Conservation Center. Getting them back to Chad is a challenge, though. Its a 10-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Abeche, Chad, and then a difficult 10-hour drive north from there to the reserve.

Image: Becki Dillingham / Mission Aviation Fellowship International

In March, MAF stepped in again to help, transporting three more gazelles in a 35-minute plane ride. Those animals have also been added to the breeding program, which conservationists hope will produce 20 to 30 fawns per year, increasing the total population to about 150.

MAF was formed by World War II veterans who wanted to put their flying skills to good use in peacetime. Most of their work involves supporting evangelists, church planters, and Bible translators in remote places that would otherwise be inaccessible.

But theyve always helped other people toowhether thats sick locals who need to fly to an urban hospital or conservationists in need of supplies.

Watkin recalled a time back in the 1990s when he was working on a conservation project in Garamba National Park, in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, when the country was still known as Zaire. The MAF pilots flew in with regular supplies of fresh food and mail. They provided a lifeline to him and his colleagues in the park.

MAF as an organization has been extraordinarily useful for conservation projects throughout the world, he said. Its always a joy to have them in camp, to be able to share our stories with new people and collaborate.

MAF has helped conservationists more recently by conducting aerial surveys of endangered animals. In November, the Christian pilots helped conduct a survey of the wildlife in Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve. In addition to dama gazelles, they counted more than 200 scimitar-horned oryx, a species that died out in the wild 30 years ago but has been reintroduced in the reserve.

MAF has also helped with aerial surveys in Zakouma National Park, in the wetter, more forested south of the country, where conservationists protect the elephants that were nearly exterminated by ivory poachers in the early 2000s.

MAF Internationals chief executive, Dave Fyock, said wise stewardship of Gods resources has been a value since the beginning of the organization. But the shape of that calling has changed over the years.

Exactly how one goes about best living out that responsibility is one of regular debate and discussion, Fyock told CT.

He says MAF pilots draw on Gods command in Genesis to care for creation and see it as one of the five marks of mission, alongside proclamation, teaching, compassion, and justice.

Working with others to care for endangered animals demonstrates an understanding of who God is and what he has commanded us to do, he said. It allows us to celebrate when we help conservationists do something we believe was given to mankind to do.

It also explains why one of the few endangered dama gazelles in Chad is named Becki.
The research team counting all the nondenominational congregations in America did not add any marks to their tally when a conservative Christian think tank in Washington, DC, declared itself an association of churches.

The reclassification might be meaningful for the IRS, but for the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), it doesnt count. Literally: The Family Research Council (FRC) will not be included in the US religion census, scheduled for publication this fall.

We are looking for nondenom congregations/worshiping communities, many of which might not even be registered or 501(c)(3) entities, said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and head of the team counting nondenominational churches for the 2020 US Religion Census. Family Research Council as well as evangelists, singing groups, mission agencies, resource suppliers, etc., get stripped out even if they claim to be nondenominational. We are only looking for churches.

The FRC, a family values advocacy organization that spun off of Focus on the Family in 1992, is one of an apparently growing number of parachurch organizations that has asked the IRS to reclassify it as a church or an association of churches. Focus on the Family made the change in 2016, along with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).

Other evangelical organizations that have received reclassification include Cru, Gideons International, Voice of the Martyrs, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), most major televangelists, Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association, Frontiers, Ethnos 360/New Tribes Mission, The Navigators, and World Vision.

Thummas team did not include any of them in its count of 39,430 nondenominational churches in 2020, an increase of nearly 4,000 congregations and 6.5 million people from the 2010 religion census.

The IRS is counting them as churches for tax purposes, however.

Some Christian organizations that have historically been considered parachurch ministries have told the IRS they should be seen, legally, as churches. More started making this argument in the past five years.

In 2016, an executive at the tech company Mozilla was publicly shamed for a donation he made to a political organization opposing same-sex marriage. He was forced to resign, raising concerns among conservative Christian groups that donors could face stiff social consequences for unpopular associations.

This was done primarily to protect the confidentiality of our donors, a Focus on the Family spokesman told Ministry Watch in 2020. In recent years there have been several occasions on which non-profit organizationson both the right and the leftwere targeted for information, including the names and personal details of their donors.

Unlike many political organizations, religious nonprofits are not required to disclose the names of individual donors. But they are required to fill out and release most of IRS Form 990, which asks for information about the board of directors, leadership, and highest-paid employees.

The 990 can require disclosure of other information as well. The BGEAs last 990, covering 2014, included an explanation of the evangelistic associations policies on first-class airline tickets. It also had information about Billy Grahams health care costs, the housing provided to longtime music director Cliff Barrows, and an additional $100,000 above base salary paid to Franklin Graham.

You don't have to be a Chicken Little sort of person to be a bit concerned, World Visions chief legal officer Steve McFarland told CT in 2014. Where is this going to stop? Do we as a religious community want to continue answering ever-increasing questions?

World Vision has voluntarily continued to submit 990 forms to the IRS, though it is classified as a church. Other organizations, like RZIM, have chosen not to disclose financial information or even the names of board members. Most, like the BGEA, have voluntarily shared financial information on their websites, but kept some details, such as salaries and compensation packages, private.

Reclassification can also protect Christian organizations from audits. The government has special rules limiting IRS agents authority to launch an investigation into a church, restricting investigations once they start, and prohibiting repeat investigations for five years.

The BGEA was audited in 2012. Franklin Graham said the Barack Obama administration was targeting the ministry to punish it for publishing ads urging voters to support candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. A BGEA spokesman told The Washington Post that being reclassified as a church made the organization feel better protected from government interference.

Critics, however, say these nonprofits are abusing the system to avoid scrutiny. Senate Finance Committee chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, told ProPublica he sees this as a problem.

Form 990 filings provide valuable, and often the only, insight into a tax-exempt organizations income and spending, Whitehouse said. But lax enforcement at the IRS and DOJ encourage more game-playing, which leaves the door wide open for enterprising dark-money schemes to exploit the system further.

Politically active groups tend to really raise eyebrows when they request reclassification. The ProPublica report, for example, points out that FRC head Tony Perkins has claimed credit for pushing the Republican Party to the right and the organization hosts the Pray Vote Stand Summit, one of the largest and most influential gatherings for those on the Christian right.

As a church, the FRC cannot endorse candidates, according to IRS rules, but it can engage in issue advocacy.

Even observers who are basically sympathetic to these evangelical nonprofits have raised concerns about the lack of transparency. Ministry Watch president Warren Cole Smith previously served as the vice president of mission advancement for the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Hes not opposed to evangelicals getting involved in politics or promoting a family values agenda. Still, hes concerned about the lack of transparency and the lack of credibility when parachurches claim to be churches.

I dont believe that a lot of the organizations that have filed for the church exemption are in fact churches, Smith told ProPublica. And I dont think that they think that they are in fact churches.

According to the IRS, though, they are, based on 14 marks for what the tax revenue agency considers a church.

The IRS used to have a stricter definition. Before 1970, IRS rules said a church was any organization engaged in religious worship and sacerdotal functions, the details of which would be specified by the religious organization.

In 1974, the IRS considered clarifying the meaning of sacerdotal functions. One proposed definitionnever adoptedsaid the activities of the organization must include the conduct of religious worship and the celebration of life cycle events such as births, deaths and marriage.

Ultimately, however, the government decided not to legislate a single definition of church. As the Supreme Court explained in St. Martin Evangelical Lutheran Church v. South Dakota in1981, the great diversity in church structure and organization among religious groups in this country  makes it impossible.

The IRS, instead, ended up using 14 marks, apparently based on a 1959 IRS ruling on whether or not the Salvation Army was a church. No. 1 is a distinct legal existence. Other marks include a written creed or summary of beliefs, regular worship services, distinct ecclesiastical government, trained ministers, and religious instruction for children.

An organization doesnt have to fit all the criteria, though, and the IRS guidelines also say other factors may be considered.

The 14 criteria clearly are vague and inadequate, wrote Richard R. Hammar, senior editor of Church Law & Tax, a Christianity Today publication. Some apply exclusively to local churches, others do not. And the IRS does not indicate how many criteria an organization must meet in order to be classified as a church. The vagueness of the criteria necessarily means that their application in a particular case will depend on the discretionary judgment of a government employee.

According to Hammar, the IRSs main concern has been so-called mail order churchesindividuals who get ordinations through the postal service, start a church of one, and then try to avoid paying their taxes. At least a dozen people tried to do this in the late 1970s, including a nurse, a boilermaker, and a Presbyterian ministers son. In each case, the courts decided these were tax-avoidance schemes and not churches, based on the established criteria.

The IRS has accepted the nonprofits seeking reclassification, though, even when the arguments that they fit the definition of a church might seem unusual. Focus on the Family, for example, argued that it has an established place of worship in its combined chapel and cafeteria, called the chapelteria. And while the ministrys lawyer acknowledged that all its employee-ministers were encouraged to participate in other churches besides Focus on the Family, he wrote that participation in more than one congregation is integral to the idea of Christian fellowship.

The FRC argued that, as an association of churches, it didnt have individual members, but affiliated congregations, and the organization itself does have monthly religious meetings.

The IRS approved both organizations requests for reclassification as churches. The 2020 US religion census, scheduled for publication this fall, wont count them, though.

The ASARB census takers who count nondenominational churches have had to wrestle with the definition of church over the years. Counting grew complicated as they watched the emergence of multisite churches and discovered congregations that meet in different locations each week or develop other experimental ways of coming together.

Thumma and his team decided that the simplest definition would be a worshiping community. For each church on their tally, they tracked down evidence that the congregation met in the real world, really wasnt connected to a denomination, and offered worship, or were a worshiping community, Thumma said.

So for them, Christian think tanks with monthly prayer services dont count.
Christian director Andy Erwin encourages Chris Pratt to 'keep standing for Jesus'

Award-winning director Andrew Erwin took to social media to encourage actor Chris Pratt, who recently said that his faith in God has less to do with man-made religion and is more about his own walk with the Lord.

Erwin took to Instagram this month to support Pratt after the Hollywood star received criticism for saying that he's "not a religious person."

Erwin shared a photo of the Men's Health magazine cover, which showed Pratt holding up what looks like a beer and a barbeque spatula. He called it a "great interview."

"Really admire how this guy represents truth in love," the filmmaker wrote. "Uses his platform to point people to a very real God, not religion. I think criticism on either side, a lot of times, is the sign you are doing something right, not wrong."

Erwin is one of the brothers from the successful Christian filmmaking duo The Erwins Brothers and is known for the Hollywood blockbuster films "American Underdog" and "I Can Only Imagine."

Pratt has faced criticism in the mainstream media over the years for an alleged association with the Los Angeles branch of the Australia-based global megachurch Hillsong, which has faced various scandals in recent years.

In his interview, the performer clarified that he "never went to Hillsong."

"I've never actually been to Hillsong. I don't know anyone from that church," the 43-year-old actor shared.

In 2019, actress Ellen Page criticized Pratt for attending the "infamously anti-LGBTQ" Hillsong Church in Los Angeles. Page is a biologically female trans-identified Hollywood star who now goes by the name Elliot.

Pratt attends Zoe Church, led by Pastor Chad Veach. At the time of the backlash, he clarified that his church "opens their doors to absolutely everyone."

In his post, Erwin said he has visited Zoe Church and knows Pastor Chad Veach.

"Both are super solid," Erwin wrote about Pratt and Veach.

"Keep standing for Jesus, Pratt. Behind you 100%," Erwin declared.

In the interview for the July/August cover story of Men's Health, Pratt maintained that although many know him for being a Christian, he is "not a religious person" and believes religion has been "oppressive."

Pratt told the outlet that he doesn't attend Zoe Church exclusively and said his daughter was baptized at a Catholic church in Santa Monica where his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, worshiped as a child.

The sometimes vulgar "Guardians of the Galaxy" actor said he found it amazing that he became the "face of religion" in the mainstream media.

"I didn't know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I'm not a religious person," Pratt explained. "I think there's a distinction between being religious  adhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God  and using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred."

The father of three said his relationship with God is more personal.

"Whatever it is. The evil that's in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride," he added.
Illinois church makes over 700 crosses to show support for Ukraine: 'God will help them'

A congregation in Illinois has made and handed out hundreds of wooden crosses for people to put in their yards as a reminder to think about and pray for Ukrainians suffering under the Russian invasion.

East Jordan United Methodist Church of Sterling began making white crosses 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide in late February when Russia launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Pastor Jim Miller of East Jordan UMC told The Christian Post that his church has handed out just over 700 crosses and is still making more.

"Everybody in the nation, if they got a heart, wants to do something," said Miller. "We don't have the wherewithal to go there and help out. Most people would be too afraid to go, but if we truly are Christian, then we believe that God will help them."

Miller said the church decided to make crosses that could be planted outdoors because he believes that, given the invasion, Ukrainians would not be safe doing so themselves.

"Ukraine is tremendous as far as being a Christian nation, but they're being persecuted," he continued. "So, we decided since they can't plant crosses, we will."

Once completed, the small crosses are placed by a two-sided marquee sign on the church property, where people can park their car, get out and take one for their home.

Miller considers the response to the church's cross ministry to be "amazing." He noted that many people have told him "why they're doing it, who they are doing it for."

"The biggest problem we see in our human condition in this nation and for the world is that every morning, you turn on the news and you get a new crisis and our interest and our attention on the previous crisis wanes and disappears," said Miller.

"I'm hoping that putting out the crosses will remind people of those poor people that are suffering. Just because we might turn it off in our minds, we can't turn their needs off. So this is like the biggest reason we are doing it."

East Jordan UMC also takes up a special offering every Sunday on behalf of the Ukrainians and holds a prayer meeting each Wednesday.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming it to be on behalf of pro-Russian separatists living in Eastern Ukraine.

Although it was expected that Russia would secure an easy victory over their smaller Eastern European neighbor, the Ukrainian population continues to mount a fierce resistance.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 11,544 civilian casualties in Ukraine as of July 11  5,024 killed and 6,520 injured.

The death toll includes at least 141 girls, 161 boys and 41 children whose sex is yet unknown.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes," the agency reports.

"OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration."

Some scholars have compared the current conflict to the 1850s Crimean War in which Tsarist Russia tried and failed to acquire territory along the Black Sea despite its large army.

"There are very distinct parallels," said Orlando Figes, a British historian and author, in an interview with National Public Radio. "And I think Putin has probably overstretched himself in the same way that Nicholas I did."
Pro-life leader responds to Sen. Warren's claim that pregnancy centers use 'deceptive tactics'

The head of a major pregnancy center organization responded to a bill introduced earlier this month by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has claimed that pro-life pregnancy centers rely on deception to prevent pregnant women from obtaining abortions.

The Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act, or H.R. 8210, purports that abortion is "an essential component of reproductive health care." The bill would "direct the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe rules prohibiting disinformation in the advertising of abortion services, and for other purposes."

The legislation focuses on pregnancy centers, claiming they prevent access to abortion through "deceptive tactics" and advertise themselves as "providers of comprehensive health care."

In a July 6 post on Twitter, Warren claimed: "Crisis pregnancy centers outnumber legitimate abortion care providers 3 to 1 in Massachusetts. @MassAGO Healey is sounding the alarm about their deceptive practices. We must do everything we can to protect Americans seeking reproductive care."

Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, an affiliation group with a worldwide network of more than 3,000 pro-life pregnancy centers, all of which assist pregnant women by offering free services, told The Christian Post in an interview that while the care each center provides might differ, most offer material services and connect women with community resources.

"We provide connection services through things like Option Line," Godsey said. "But it's the local pregnancy centers that are really defining their own services."

"That's one of the beauties of being local, the idea that the community knows best what the community needs," he continued. "So we firmly believe that the local pregnancy centers are positioned very well to serve the very type of woman in their community who needs that help."

Heartbeat International's network of pregnancy centers reaches clients in a "variety of ways," including through digital and billboard advertising. Godsey said the goal of this marketing strategy is to help clients locate "answers regarding an unintended pregnancy."

"That puts us in direct competition with the abortion industry, which is doing the same," Godsey said. "Of course, they're doing so from a profiteering perspective while we're trying to do so from a service perspective."

"We're trying to help her not need abortion if that's at all possible," he continued. "And so in our marketing, we are going to use terms that fit that."

This means the keywords used in a center's marketing strategy could include the word abortion, but he disagreed with claims like the one in Warren's bill that state this is "deceptive." The reason is that pregnancy centers are trying to offer services to women seeking abortions, Godsey said.

The bill also alleges that pregnancy centers provide women with "inaccurate" or "misleading" information about the risks of abortion and contraception, utilizing "false citations" to imply credibility.

Godsey believes this claim goes back to a 2006 report prepared by former Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif. In it, Waxman accused pregnancy centers of promoting false information, including supposedly inaccurate claims about abortion's effect on women's fertility and mental health.

But the Heartbeat International president believes the research that has come out since then shows that many women experience psychological or physical side effects after an abortion.

According to a 2011 quantitative analysis study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, abortion can substantially increase a woman's risk of experiencing mental health problems. The study found that post-abortive women experience an 81% increased risk of having subsequent mental health issues.

As The Daily Mail reported in 2015, researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel analyzed 15,000 deliveries at Rabin Medical Center over the course of five years. The researchers compared the pregnancy outcomes of those who received a single previous first-trimester interruption to women with no past history of abortion or miscarriage.

The study found women who experienced an abortion or miscarriage were 30% more likely to face future complications than women who have not experienced a pregnancy loss. Those complications include higher rates of induced labor, cesarean sections and retained placenta after delivery.

While further study is necessary to assess the mental and physical side effects of abortions, these studies suggest that there are potential risks to undergoing an abortion.

"And these are all factors that we will want her to be sure of when we're talking to women about what does it mean when you seek abortion?" Godsey said. "Because it's not just the procedure, but by the way, we'll explain the procedure."

"We'll help them understand because we take the position that the woman who is in that decision-making process should have as much information as possible."

Another claim H.R. 8210 makes about pregnancy centers is that these nonprofits are targeting communities of color that are "under-resourced." Godsey stated that this accusation is "ludicrous."

"All of our services are provided at no cost. So who seeks those? That's going to often be those who have a lower income," the pro-life leader said. "There will be those who are not potentially lower income but in a difficult spot due to things like a terrible economy or other things that are going on."

H.R. 8210 also states that the "freedom to decide whether and when to have a child" is "key to the ability of an individual to participate fully in our democracy."

"We vehemently disagree with the idea that women have to have abortions in order to be successful," Godsey said. "They're more powerful than that; they've been the cradle of motherhood for millennia."

"They have overcome great things, great difficulties in the past to accomplish these things. And to me, it's demeaning to women to suggest that they need abortions in order to be successful."

A June report released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, found that over 800,000 preborn children were not aborted due to the community-based efforts of pregnancy resource centers.

The report also highlighted how more than 2,700 pregnancy centers exist in the country, offering medical care, referrals, education and material resources at no charge. Services are offered by nearly 15,000 staff and almost 54,000 volunteers, including 10,200 licensed medical professionals, according to the report.
Tetsuya Yamagami, Shinzo Abes alleged assassin, blamed Unification Church for mothers bankruptcy

Tetsuya Yamagami, the 41-year-old man charged with the assassination of Japan's former and longest-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last Friday, allegedly targeted the late politician because he thought he was connected to the Unification Church, which he blamed for his mother going bankrupt.

A relative of Yamagami, identified as a man in his 70s, told The Asahi Shimbun, one of Japans four largest newspapers, that the alleged assassin has gone through hard times ever since he was a child over a religious group that his mother joined.

The relative told The Asahi Shimbun that when Yamagami was young, he lived with his parents, an older brother and a younger sister. His father, who ran a construction company, died during his childhood and his mother took over the business.

As his mother tried to make her way as a widowed businesswoman, the relative said she became religious and donated large sums of money to a religious group that was not named.

She was a widow, and I suppose she felt insecure about the familys future, the relative told the publication. As time went by, the relative said he started receiving calls from Yamagami and his siblings who told him: We dont have anything to eat at home.

The relative recalled giving money to the children and sometimes delivering food. He said Yamagami eventually joined the Maritime Self-Defense Force in 2002, the same year his mother was declared bankrupt. The family construction company was dissolved in 2009.

Yamagami reportedly told investigators after his arrest that: I couldnt forgive (the group) because my mother continued to pay money to it even after she underwent bankruptcy.

In a statement released Monday, the Unification Church  which teaches unorthodox beliefs like regarding the book founder Sun Myung Moon wrote, The Divine Principle, as being more authoritative than the Bible and regarding Moon and his second wife as the messiah and "True Parents"  confirmed that Yamagamis mother is a member who participates occasionally in church activities.

Our own internal investigation can confirm that his mother is a member of FFWPU and Mr. Yamagami's reported allegation that his mother's donations to FFWPU caused family problems is a matter to be investigated by the police, the statement said. Whatever his grievances, we wholeheartedly condemn violence and murder.

The Unification Church is a religious movement founded in Pusan, South Korea, by Moon in 1954, according to Brittanica.com. Moon died in 2012. Its followers are derided as Moonies.

According to Yamagamis relative: I bet he has held a grudge the whole time. I think he feels that his life was changed by (the group).

After he was arrested, Yamagami reportedly said: I tried to target the head of the religious group, but it was difficult. I thought Abe had a connection to the group.

Data cited by The New York Times says groups connected to the church have attracted top Japanese lawmakers to their events. In its statement, the Unification Church painted the extent of Abes connection to the church as not especially deep.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent brief remarks to two different online 'Rally of Hope' events in the past year, which spoke on themes of peace in Asia. The events were hosted by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and other organizations, including FFWPU, the group said. While UPF and FFWPU share the same founders, UPF is an independent NGO in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

FFWPU also clarified that while Yamagami is not a member, he test-fired his homemade weapon the night before the assassination at a building that was formerly used as a FFWPU church. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Unification Church officials further appealed to the media to maintain their professional commitment to accuracy, impartiality, and objectivity as the investigation into Abes assassination continues.

Other than preliminary questions about the association of Mr. Yamagami with FFWPU, the police have not yet contacted us about this criminal investigation. Local representatives of FFWPU will fully cooperate with any inquiries from authorities and make relevant information available to the press as appropriate, officials said. FFWPU will redouble its efforts to foster a world of lasting peace. Once again, we are deeply saddened by the loss of one of the world's great statesmen. May God's grace and blessings be with the late prime minister, his family, the Japanese people, and those grieving around the world.
World to reach 8 billion people in November, India to unseat China as most populous in 2023: UN

By Nov. 15, the worlds population is projected to reach 8 billion, and by 2023, India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country, according to a new report from the United Nations.

The international agency listed these projections among several key highlights in its annual World Population Prospect report, released to mark World Population Day Monday.

This years World Population Day falls during a milestone year, when we anticipate the birth of the Earths eight billionth inhabitant, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, reacting to the reports findings.

This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates, he said. At the same time, it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another."

After reaching the 8 billion mark in November, experts note in the report that the worlds population will increase by another half a billion by 2030. By 2050, the global population is expected to hit 9.7 billion and 10.4 billion by 2100.

This growth, however, will not be evenly distributed.

More than half of the 2.4 billion increase in the global population expected over the next 28 years will be concentrated in just eight countries: The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Disparate growth rates among the worlds largest countries will re-order their ranking by size. India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country during 2023. Countries of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to continue growing through 2100 and to contribute more than half of the global population increase anticipated through 2050, the report explained.

Population growth in Australia and New Zealand, Northern Africa and Western Asia and Oceania is expected to be slower through the end of this century, but will be positive, the report said.

Experts further project that populations of Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Central and Southern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Northern America are projected to reach their peak population and begin to decline before 2100.

Declining levels of mortality have resulted in an increased level of life expectancy at birth, which reached 72.8 years in 2019. Women have a longer life expectancy than men.

Life expectancy at birth for women exceeded that for men by 5.4 years globally, with female and male life expectancies standing at 73.8 and 68.4, respectively. A female survival advantage is observed in all regions and countries, ranging from 7 years in Latin America and the Caribbean to 2.9 years in Australia and New Zealand, the report said.

Despite the population growth, the global fertility rate has fallen from five births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 births per woman in 2021. This fertility rate is expected to drop even further to 2.1 births per woman by 2050.

The report explained that in 2020, the worlds population growth rate fell under 1% per year for the first time since 1950. Some two-thirds of the global population is now reportedly living in a country where lifetime fertility is below the 2.1 births per woman required to sustain populations with low mortality over the long run.

The share of the global population aged 65 years or above is also projected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050.

By 2050, the number of persons aged 65 years or over worldwide is projected to be more than twice the number of children under age 5, the report said, and about the same as the number of children under age 12.
The next level in spiritual maturity  its Jesus church

Red Church.

Blue Church.

Purple Church.

True Church?

Ever find yourself wondering  What is the church? What is it for? What does it mean to be a true Christ-follower as part of the family of God in our world in our day? What is my part in it? Is being a Christian really about embroiling myself in politics? Engaging angry hate speech on social media toward people I disagree with?

In the swirl and vortex of cultural turmoil these days, trying to answer these questions can be hard. Confusing at the least. But has there ever been a time when it was more important for the church to remember who we truly are? We are a Jesus Church. And the main reason is that we are Jesus Church!

Jesus loves us. Jesus calls us. Jesus saves us. Jesus went to the cross for us, died and rose for us, comes alive by His Spirit in us, and then reaches out through us in mission in this world. Jesus declared Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! I was taught by a spiritual mentor years ago that The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! Jesus is our Main Thing.

Jesus is our Message. Jesus is our Model. Jesus is our Mentor. And Jesus is still our Maker, willing and ready to transform our lives after the likeness of His own so we can join Him on mission in our world. Jesus said, Follow me and I will make you Jesus shapes His followers to be fishers of men rescuers of people in the troubled seas of life. Toward the end of his life, John Wesley commissioned Thomas Coke to go to America and ordain leaders for ministry. As Coke boarded the ship, he is said to have asked, Sir, What shall I offer them? Wesley said, Offer them Christ, Thomas. Offer them Christ.

In a day when distrust of institutional church is rampant, when Another one bites the dust feels like it was written about spiritual leaders, and when the hot button issues of the day are so powerful believers can easily be sucked into vulnerable places, whats the solution? The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians says, become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (4:13) He continues, Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (4:14).

Grey Matter Research recently reported that the majority of Christians surveyed in America identify themselves as young in their faith development, as spiritual toddlers. Toddling can be cute and fun as a time in physical development, but no one is meant to stay there. Healthy growth toward full potential is the goal. And so also in spiritual development. Being a child is a healthy part of growing up in the Lord, but no one is meant to get stuck there! Everyone is meant to grow to full potential in Christ, as Paul says to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ Jesus Church is to be a maternity ward for spiritual newborns, but it must ever be a maturity journey calling each to their next level in Christ.

That same study by Grey Matter Research also showed that some of the helpful habits for moving us forward in spiritual maturity were missing in the majority of those surveyed. Some of these simple practices  such as Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance  are outlined in my book Mature-ish: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It, upon which the study was based. As Jesus Church, we know these are the steps we must follow, and I pray that as we start to incorporate them into our lives  one baby step at a time  well see ourselves reaching new levels in our relationship with Christ. And just as importantly, if not more so, well start reflecting Jesus to the culture around us.
Episcopal Church rejects proposal to relocate 2024 General Convention over abortion ban

The Episcopal Church has rejected a resolution that would have prohibited the mainline denomination's 2024 General Convention from meeting in Kentucky due to the state's abortion ban.

At the 80th General Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, the theologically liberal denomination's House of Deputies voted 377-408 on Saturday to reject Resolution D054, effectively killing the proposal.

The resolution would have called on the denomination "to consider the relocation of the 81st General Convention" in 2024 to "a venue that commits to an 'equitable access to women's health care, including women's reproductive health care,' which we view as 'an integral part of a woman's struggle to assert her dignity and worth as a human being.'"

The resolution cited the plans for the 81st General Convention to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, a state with a "trigger law" that bans abortion in most circumstances after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The law is currently on hold via court order, as Kentucky's two abortion providers have sued the state government, claiming it violates the state constitution.

On Saturday, the proposed resolution garnered about an hour of debate, with lay deputy Maria Gonzalez of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia being among the supporters.

"I believe it is unfair to ask people who are pregnant or may become pregnant to come to a convention where they may not be able to access reproductive health care, care which is critical and which can be lifesaving," she said, as quoted by Episcopal News Service.

The Rev. Barbara Merrick, a deputy representing the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, argued against the resolution, believing that moving the location would be counterproductive.

"We have an opportunity in the House of Deputies to shed light on the darkness of laws that are unjust," said Merrick, as quoted by ENS.

"[W]e have been working for several years to prepare for the 81st General Convention. Untold hours and dollars have been spent making the 81st a wonderful experience."

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Ruling in favor of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, the court deemed that the U.S. Constitution doesn't confer a right to an abortion and effectively allows states to decide their own abortion laws.

"We hold that Roe and [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision," wrote Justice Samuel Alito for the majority.

"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division."

While some Christian leaders celebrated the decision, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote on Twitter that he is "deeply grieved by it."

"I have been ordained more than 40 years, and I have served as a pastor in poor communities; I have witnessed firsthand the negative impact this decision will have," he tweeted.

"This is a pivotal day for our nation, and I acknowledge the pain, fear, and hurt that so many feel right now. As a church, we stand with those who will feel the effects of this decision  and in the weeks, months, and years to come."

By contrast, the Anglican Church in North America, a denomination that many conservative Episcopalians have joined over the years, celebrated the Supreme Court decision.

"While this decision doesn't end abortion in the U.S., it will lead to fewer children being killed through abortion. We thank God for this limited victory," stated ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach.

"[T]he Anglican Church in North America recommits itself to serving mothers so they can embrace motherhood and welcome their children. We also continue to point the way to God's healing and forgiveness for all who suffer physically and emotionally from their abortion experiences."
'Caustic and demonizing': Jewish groups denounce PCUSA calling Israel an apartheid state

Jewish organizations in the United States have denounced the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s recent passage of a resolution labeling Israel's treatment of Palestinians an "apartheid."

Last Friday, delegates at the PC(USA) General Assembly voted 266-116 to pass an overture that claimed that Israel was an apartheid state due to its treatment of the Palestinian territories.

Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg of the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center claims that the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. is bearing false witness.

"PCUSA leadership has violated G-d's commandment not to bear false witness, rendered itself irrelevant in the world of peacemaking, and made a mockery of honest dialogue and interfaith relations," Greenberg said in a statement shortly after the vote,

Jackie Subar of the Anti-Defamation League argued that the resolution "will have serious and damaging consequences to PCUSA's relations with the Jewish community."

"Choosing to utilize such a caustic and demonizing term as apartheid  or, worse, comparing Israel's actions to those of the Nazis during the Holocaust  feeds into an unhealthy discourse that, despite all the injustice in the world, positions Israel, and only Israel, as uniquely evil among the nations," wrote Subar.

"Moreover, this resolution will do nothing to constructively advance understanding and peace between the parties or promote the building of conditions that can lead to direct negotiations and ultimately a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with security, self-determination, and dignity for both peoples."

Known as INT-02 and sponsored by the PC(USA) Presbytery of Grace of Irving, Texas, the overture said that "the government of Israel's laws, policies, and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid."

"Apartheid is legally defined as inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them," reads the overture.

The measure claims that Israel fulfilled the definition of apartheid via creating "two sets of laws, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians, which give preferential treatment to Israeli Jews and oppressive treatment to Palestinians," alleged human rights abuses and denying Palestinian nationalism.

"It is difficult for many Christians to publicly criticize the policies of Israel's government for fear that even legitimate criticism may be seen as anti-Israel or anti-Semitic or characterized as 'picking on Israel' among many countries in the Middle East with human rights violations," claimed the resolution's "rationale" section.

"Our call as Christians means we must sometimes get out of our comfort zone and risk controversy and criticism from people or organizations with whom we are in relationship."

Presbyterians for Middle East Peace declared in a statement that the decision "does not reflect the view of the membership of the PCUSA." The advocacy organization took issue with how the overture was debated and discussed during the General Assembly.

"A highly controlled process, created to respond to Covid, instead became a means to silence outside groups from having a voice in the process," a statement from the organization reads. "Nary a Jewish voice was heard at the GA, experts offering countering opinions were not allowed to speak, only a select few of the Louisville staff had standing."

PMEP contends that the International Engagement Committee heard from three advocates who favored the motion and none from those who opposed the resolution.

"No overture opponents were invited or allowed to speak," Presbyterians for Middle East Peace declared. "Committee members also did not receive the deep background materials they have received in the past from advocacy groups on all sides of the Israel-Palestine issues. In short, committee members began their debate after hearing one side of the issue and without adequate background preparation."



"During plenary, once again voices opposed to the overture were silenced and the committee leaders took advantage of their introductory time to mislead the commissioners," the statement reads. "After two very strong statements against the apartheid overture, debate was shut down. So again opponents of the overture were silenced. It saddens us that this action took place during a GA plagued by technical difficulties in which voices and motions were not recognized. How can the denomination move forward to support actions made under such questionable circumstances?"

In recent years, the PC(USA) has garnered controversy for entertaining overtures to divest from Israel.

In 2014, the mainline Protestant denomination voted 310-303 to divest from three multinational corporations that allegedly sell products to Israel to help promote violence against Palestinians.

PC(USA) Stated Clerk Rev. J. Herbert Nelson II garnered criticism from Jewish groups in January when he compared the Israeli policies regarding Palestinians to American slavery.

Critics of Nelson's earlier remarks included the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which said it was "dismayed" by the Presbyterian leader's "dangerous and false" comments.

"The antisemitic nature of his statement is made even more clear by his failure to mention serious human rights abuses occurring elsewhere in the world, such as the ongoing genocides against the Uyghurs and Rohingya," JCPA claimed.

"As Jews, we reject those who callously use the tragedy of the Holocaust to make political points, so we were saddened that Rev. Dr. Nelson trivialized the suffering, torture, and murder of millions of slaves as a tawdry rhetorical device."

Nelson doubled down on his position, arguing that "no one who is informed regarding the use of military power and racial bias to control the lives of Palestinian citizens can honestly avoid the truth of this situation."

"For us in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) these realities make it imperative that we, as Presbyterians, find ways to have the necessary conversation with Jews who will talk with us about the real tragedy of the Palestinian/Israeli struggle," he said at the time.
Pastor John Gray hospitalized with life-threatening saddle pulmonary embolism

Megachurch Pastor John Gray has been hospitalized with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism he called an "illegal transaction from Hell" as his wife, Aventer, is urging his followers to bombard Heaven with prayers so her husband can receive a "miracle" from God.

Gray, 49, who leads Relentless Church, which has campuses in Greenville, South Carolina, and Powder Springs, Georgia, was admitted to the critical care unit at an undisclosed hospital, according to an Instagram post from his wife on Sunday.

"My family and I stand in need of a miracle. Please keep my husband @realjohngray in your prayers," Aventer Gray began in her post.



"After feeling a little different over the past couple weeks, he went to the ER on Thursday evening and was immediately admitted to CCU with a saddle Pulmonary Embolism in the pulmonary artery and more lung blood clots. The Saddle PE is in a position that could potentially end his life if it shifts at all," she explained.

"The clot burden is severe and only God is holding it in place. He is currently in CCU and based on CT & Echo we will need two types of surgery due to the pressure now on the heart within the next 24 hours. To place this in perspective, the doctor said that people have come into the hospital dead with this exact scenario he walked in with."

A saddle pulmonary embolism, according to Medical News Today, is a rare type of acute pulmonary embolism that occurs when a large blood clot gets "lodged at the intersection where the main pulmonary artery divides and branches off into the left and right lungs."

Since the pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs to become reoxygenated, the condition limits blood supply to critical organs like the brain, heart and kidneys. If the condition is not treated urgently, it can lead to heart failure and sudden death. The condition is triggered by a number of factors, such as obesity.

The majority of people with the condition generally survive. One study shows the mortality rate for the condition is 3.62%.

Both Gray and his wife addressed their church remotely through video and telephone calls on Sunday as they leaned on their congregation for support.

"My husband is fighting for his life right now. And I have no idea how I'm able to sit here in front of a camera and speak to you other than the God that I serve," Aventer said in a video.

"I know that in this moment, God is saying that this blood clot that has come to my husband may be here to add to his testimony but it does not have permission to take him out. He's God's son. Only God has permission to speak a thing and to act on it," she added.

She said she felt helpless when she first learned of her husband's condition. But she has leaned on her faith.

"I initially felt helpless and lost and then I remember you can add to the testimony, but you can't take his life. That's my husband, but that's God's son. That's my children's father but that's God's son," she recalled.

Aventer Gray also said that before the diagnosis, her husband had been flying between two campuses weekly. She said his body had been "screaming" for him to take his health more seriously.

She said his doctor revealed that his pulmonary artery was "50% blocked" and called for prayers the clot will "shrink, shrivel and die."

"My husband's work isn't done. In fact, the work that he's done, he's done broken. What can He do with the delivered and healed man? I can't wait to see it," she said.

Near the end of the service, the Relentless Church leader called the church from his hospital bed and said: "If the devil thought he was afraid of me before this, when I come up out of here? That's all I got to say."

"The doctor told me and my wife, she said, 'Your vitals look good for the precarious nature of your condition. If this blood clot moves one way or the other, there's nothing we can do even in this hospital,'" he said.

"And I need you to hear me even as they try to get me to this next hospital for this procedure. I go in the confidence of the God that I serve. I go with the prayers of my beloved church and I go with the surety that what He's started in me He is faithful to complete," Gray said.

He also urged his members to donate to the church in a way they have never done before to push back against the "illegal transaction from Hell" that has threatened his life.

"I believe God for complete healing," he said. "It has been the great honor of my life to pastor this church. I say this as you all are sowing today. I want you to sow at a level of faith and a level of expectation you've never had before because I can tell you that this was an illegal transaction from Hell. And it will not stand. And since the enemy tried to steal my life, he owes me sevenfold.  What's on me is on the house. So I declare from this bed that not only will I live and not die, you shall live and not die."
'Floating' clinic to offer low-cost abortions in Gulf of Mexico to skirt state laws post Roe

A Northern California physician plans to launch a "floating" health clinic that will offer abortion services to residents in states where the procedure is now illegal.

Dr. Meg Autry, a San Francisco-based obstetrician/gynecologist, is hoping to raise $20 million for a PRROWESS (Protecting Reproductive Rights of Women Endangered by State Statutes) clinic, according to NBC Bay Area.

With a tagline on the website that reads "Respect Existence or Expect Resistance," PRROWESS is described as a "solution for individuals seeking reproductive health care and surgical abortion where it is illegal or impossible" in states such as Texas, Alabama and Mississippi.

The floating clinic is expected to operate about three weeks out of every month in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, skirting any state restrictions or bans on abortion.

Billed as a "comprehensive floating reproductive health clinic," PRROWESS will offer abortions up to 14 weeks and "emergency contraception"  often referred to as the "morning-after pill." The program will offer on-site testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

Social services, including legal aid, will also be available, according to the website.

Along with a team of licensed healthcare providers, the ship will be operated by an "experienced captain and crew" and will be Coast Guard inspected with helicopter access for transport.

Several options will be provided for patient transport to the vessel.

Calling first trimester abortions "incredibly safe," the website states that the clinic has plans in place for abortion-related emergency care and "transport to land facilities will occur via water shuttle or helicopter depending on the urgency" if needed.

While PRROWESS is expected to offer low or no-cost services "depending on need," the website states that "remaining funds will be distributed to other projects addressing access to abortion" if the project is abandoned for lack of funding or other reasons.

Autry, also a University of California San Francisco professor of obstetrics and gynecology, told KCBS Radio that the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision inspired her to put the plan into action.

Since the Supreme Court's June 24 ruling upholding Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban that found that the U.S. Constitution doesn't confer a right to abortion, several states have enacted bans or restrictions on abortions.

While southern states have some of the heaviest restrictions on abortion, Gulf states like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have laws that almost entirely ban abortion or will ban abortion 30 days after the court's ruling. Florida law bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.

In Mississippi, the state's lone abortion clinic recently closed as a judge rejected a request to block the state's trigger law instituting a near-total ban on abortion following the court's ruling.

In Louisiana, a judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its near-total ban on abortion.

"I think that  the people that care deeply about access and bodily autonomy are willing to put themselves at risk, but also to be innovative and creative," Autry was quoted as saying.

"Because we're going to solve this. This is not OK."

No official launch date has been announced for the PRROWESS project.

The Christian Post's request for comment from Autry was not immediately returned. A UCSF spokesperson told CP the project is an "independent project  not sponsored by UCSF."
Pastor says lust is 'mosquito bite' that itches more when scratched: 'More spiritual than physical'

A popular pastor has warned that lust is like a "mosquito bite" in that the more it is scratched, the more it itches, and that getting married does not fix the problem.

Pastor Vlad Savchuk of Hungry Generation Church of Pasco, Washington, which has over 200,000 followers on Facebook, was a guest on Tovares Gray's "Godly Dating 101" podcast for a July 7 episode titled "Victory in The Battle Against Lust & How to Date Biblically."

Savchuk shared how he was bitten at an Independence Day weekend picnic by several mosquitos. He compared the itchy experience to battling the sin of lust.

Savchuk, who with his wife serves as lead pastor of the Assemblies of God church founded in 2003, said that when a mosquito bites the body, it starts to itch, and the itch tends to send a message to the body and mind that "if you scratch me one time, I won't itch again."

"The minute you scratch it, it just itches more, and that's how lust is. The more you scratch it, the more it itches, the more it wants. It never gets satisfied until you bleed to death. And that's why the Bible says, 'walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh,'" Savchuk said.

"The Bible doesn't say, 'if you walk in the Spirit, that it won't itch.' It just says you will have the power not to scratch the itch and then it will go away. Because as you crucified it, you ignore it, you walk away from it. It dies until the next day, and then it gets resurrected again. And then the process begins again. But, the more you do it, it becomes a habit, and walking in purity becomes a lifestyle."

Savchuk noted that young Christians who struggle with lust should first recognize that they aren't alone in their battle. He added that everyone has "private battles" and "everyone can be equipped to win them."

"There's this misconception that 'once I get married, that all of my private battles will just disappear because now I'll have pretty much unlimited amount of sex and it's going to be all legal and moral and right.' But in reality, lust doesn't get conquered with having access to more sex. Lust, it's this thing where if it doesn't get crucified, it gets intensified," Savchuk said.

"And so we have to overcome [lust] privately. It's like the lion and the bear that David faced privately before he fought Goliath. Marriage will have its own Goliath problems. Marriage will have a lot of challenges. And so, if you do not come into marriage already having victory over lust, it will make marriage, which is already challenging, it will make it even more challenging."

Savchuk encouraged young adults not to waste their single years by trying to date as many people as possible. Instead, they should spend time growing their faith, he said.

"One of the best areas you can prepare yourself is definitely in your relationship with God and figuring out who you are and what you want to do with your life," Savchuk said.

The pastor considered "establishing purity in your thoughts" the most important, especially "in your mind, in your eyes and as well as in your life."

"Whatever we feed grows. Whatever we starve, it dies," Savchuk noted as he referenced Galatians 6:8. "'Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.'"

Savchuk believes some people have "deeper issues that discipline and delight in God will not solve and they will need deliverance" because they have "allowed the enemy to have a foothold in their life" for too long.

Savchuk says this often plays itself out in the person's life through a demon or demons, which takes a spiritual hold that goes beyond just the issue of lust.

"A lot of times, these demons, they pretty much grab an area of our life, and now it's under [Satan's] control.  People ask me sometimes: 'Well, how do I know if it's lust or if it's a demon?' It's very simple. When the demon gets control of your life, you don't have control in that area," Savchuk said.

"And when the person comes and says things like 'I can't control myself,' 100% they have a problem now that's more spiritual than just physical. And it doesn't mean that they shouldn't practice self-control, but now they need prayer against the spiritual forces."

Savchuk recounted how he was exposed to pornography as a child and was addicted to pornography as a teenager after he migrated to the United States from Ukraine.

"Pornography would find me, and I would start battling with lust," he said. "It was around that time I started to step into youth ministry as a youth minister. So like, publicly, I'm supposedly growing with God. [But], privately. I am being beaten by this thing."

Lust creates deception, Savchuk continued, which makes many people think they can face the battle privately, and that is never the case.

"You got to bring it into the light," he stressed, noting that he went to his uncle, who was also his pastor, for help with his struggle. "I dragged this thing into the light, and that was when it started to lose its power. But I was still addicted."

Savchuk remembers being "desperate for freedom," which led him to fast and pray for seven consecutive days. He said his fast resulted in God freeing him from his porn addiction.

"I felt the Holy Spirit reveal to me that I opened the door to the influence of the enemy. And I [knew I had] to repent and renounce that and really command that thing to go," Savchuk said.

"Nobody prayed for me for freedom. I kind of experienced this through deep repentance and taking authority and commanding the enemy to leave. I belong to Jesus. My mind belongs to Jesus. I do not want to have this in my life. This has to stop."

Savchuk said he had a "holy rage" come on him during the fasting, with a "sense of relief."

"Temptations were still there. The only difference now was that I was in control because the Spirit gives us self-control," Savchuk said. "If somebody is battling and [they're] noticing: 'I went to the accountability group. I already confessed that. I memorized the verse[s]. I disconnected the social media apps. I installed all kinds of apps. I've done all of that.' You know, maybe you have a spiritual problem that you need somebody to pray with you."

"Just lead you through the prayer of renouncing. And it's very simple. Identify the first time that you were exposed. Ask God to repent of that, close that door and just command that enemy to go.  And you will begin to walk in victory."
Pro-lifers jailed for trespassing at Virginia abortion clinic vow to continue 'radical acts of love'

Six pro-life activists, primarily representing the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, were jailed on trespassing charges Tuesday after pleading "no contest" at an Alexandria, Virginia, courthouse.

The Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, a group of liberal pro-life activists, announced in a statement Tuesday that the advocates "were jailed after pleading 'no contest' to trespassing charges related to a Rescue at the Alexandria Women's Center, the largest abortion business in Northern Virginia, on November 16th, 2021."

The announcement followed a trial in Alexandria Circuit Court in the Washington, D.C. suburb earlier in the day.

"Joan Andrews Bell, Terrisa Bukovinac, Lauren Handy, Kristin Turner, Cassidy Shooltz, [and] Jonathan Darnel were engaged in a Pink Rose Rescue, a nonviolent direct action in which activists enter abortion businesses, hand out life-affirming literature, pink roses and offer hope and financial resources to the patients at risk of exploitation by the Abortion Industrial Complex," the statement reads.

Longtime pro-life activists Bell and Handy, who have been jailed for their activism in the past, were sentenced to 30 days behind bars, while the remaining pro-life activists will serve four days in jail.

Bukovinac, PAAU founder and executive director, released a statement defending her actions.

"The concept of a human non-person is one that has been used historically and exclusively to discriminate against whole groups of human beings, and in the case of abortion  that discrimination is lethal almost one hundred percent of the time," she said. "Rescuing these children from poisoning and dismemberment is an act of non-violence and a commitment to radical equality."

Activists affiliated PAAU will hold protests outside the Alexandria Detention Center at 5:00 p.m. on a nightly basis, demanding the release of the pro-life activists.

Caroline Smith, PAAU's media coordinator, told The Christian Post that the Pink Rose Rescue conducted by the pro-life activists at the Alexandria Women's Center resulted in five women deciding not to have abortions.

She said the "no contest" pleas mean that "the lawyer and the judge and everybody" has reached an agreement on what the sentencing "is going to look like."

Smith vowed that the legal consequences faced by the leadership of PAAU and other pro-life advocates would not deter the organization from engaging in Pink Rose Rescues in the future.

"We understand that with doing these types of nonviolent direct action, there's going to be these sorts of consequences the way our system works right now," she said. "However, we're still committed to doing these types of things and doing rescue and any of these children have a right to be rescued is what we firmly believe."

"Although it is going to come with consequences, those consequences are not going to be more. They're not going to be greater than the consequences that the children that we are attempting to save would have if they were to be killed," Smith added. "So that's kind of where our perspective is on that. We're going to take the consequences as they come, but it's worth it to us."

The activists have no intentions of appealing the ruling, Smith said. She reiterated PAAU's support for "nonviolent, direct action," noting that previous social movements have proven that "nonviolent, direct action" is "a really, really effective way of getting things to change."

"If there are radical acts of violence happening, they need to be answered with radical acts of love," she asserted.

The Pink Rose Rescue in Alexandria is not the first time activists affiliated with PAAU have been arrested for their activism at abortion facilities.

Less than a week before their arrest in Alexandria, the activists were arrested for handing out pro-life literature on the campus of Zuckerberg General Hospital in San Francisco, California.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Handy, Bell, Darnel and six others for orchestrating a "clinic blockade" in Washington, D.C. The activists face up to 11 years in prison if convicted. Smith insisted that because "federal cases are on a very, very long timeline" and "take a very, very long time to even just get started," not many developments have occurred in this particular case since the March indictment.

Handy was among four convicted last month of trespassing and resisting arrest during a protest at an abortion clinic in Michigan in 2019.

PAAU made headlines earlier this year when it announced the organization obtained medical waste containers that included the remains of five full-term aborted babies and urged the city to investigate if the abortions were legal.

Smith believes the fact that their arrests have occurred in overwhelmingly pro-abortion jurisdictions has played some role in the hostility PAAU activists have faced in the legal system.

"I would say it's definitely linked. A lot of the jurisdictions that we are facing these charges in are generally known to be very pro-abortion," she said.

"That is also linked to the fact that those are the places that we need to be rescuing because they're often the communities that are very committed to having ... access to abortion through all nine months, so those are often the places that we will be going to rescue."
School Board Member Offering Sex Ed Classes To Children, Man Terminated For Roe V. Wade Facebook Post, Pastor John Gray Hospitalized

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A school board member in Washington state who's also the owner of a sex shop is planning to offer sexual education classes to children and teens as part of a summer workshop series.



Authorities are seeking information on fires that started at two churches in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., over the weekend.



A Maryland man claims his contract was terminated by a local arts council over a Facebook post celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade.



Megachurch Pastor John Gray has been hospitalized with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.



The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a youth pastor for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, following a tip from someone he knew at a Bible college.
FBI arrests youth pastor for role in Jan. 6 riot after getting tip from Bible college acquaintance

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a youth pastor for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, following a tip from someone he knew at a Bible college.

Tyler Earl Ethridge, a 33-year-old youth pastor from Colorado Springs, was arrested last Friday and charged with civil disorder, a felony and other related misdemeanor offenses.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ethridge was among hundreds who illegally entered the Capitol during the riot and encouraged others to do the same.

A statement from the Justice Department states that Ethridge helped remove fencing before entering the building. He posted several videos of himself on social media documenting his actions.

"I'm probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this," said Ethridge in one of the videos. "I think we're to a point where talk is cheap. If this makes me lose my reputation, I don't care."

On Sept. 24, 2021, Ethridge posted a message to social media: "Don't be afraid of what they sentence you with. I'm not. I'm ready for whatever I'll be charged with. America is still primed and ready."

According to a "Statement of Facts" document, authorities were tipped off to Ethridge's actions by an unnamed person who knew him from Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado.

"According to the tipster, ETHRIDGE was 'on scaffolding outside Nancy Pelosi's office and inside the chamber. He was on Facebook telling everyone about it,'" noted the document.

While Ethridge told authorities in 2021 that he did not remove any barricades, videos and photos found online showed him participating in their removal and entering the Capitol Rotunda.

The document also stated that Ethridge had been shot with at least one rubber bullet and was pepper-sprayed by security personnel at the Capitol building.

The statement of facts also provided additional quotes from Ethridge during his time inside the Capitol building, in which he said that the election was "stolen" and this was "what pastors need to do."

"Christians, we need to infiltrate every area of society like this. Every area of society like this. Peacefully," Ethridge was quoted as saying, according to the document.

"But if it takes a little bit of aggression to barge through the walls that Satan separates us from the culture, it's time for the body of Christ to infiltrate the culture."

According to The Gazette, Ethridge was employed at the Christ Center Church of Tampa in Dover, Florida, at the time of the riot. The church announced nearly two weeks later that Ethridge was no longer with the congregation.

With Ethridge being a Charis Bible College's School of Practical Government graduate, the college issued a statement on Jan. 21, 2021, stating that "an alumnus was present in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 to attend the Trump Rally."

"Although the Ministry vigorously supports every citizen's right to free speech and peaceful assembly, we adamantly oppose the violence or other violations of the law that occurred," the college stated. "In addition, we do not condone or teach insurrectionist practices in our School of Practical Government, but instead, we encourage graduates to live out their faith as active and responsible citizens."

Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump held a rally at the Ellipse near the White House. During his speech, Trump rejected the official results of the 2020 election, in which he lost to Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The rally was held the same day that U.S. Congress held a joint session to certify the election results.

With thousands in town for the rally, several hundred people went to Capitol Hill, where another rally was to be held. However, protesters stormed the Capitol, attacking security guards, damaging property and entering several offices before gradually leaving several hours later.

Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed veteran, was the only person killed by lethal force during the riot when she was shot trying to climb through a smashed door pane into the House Chamber.

Last August, the U.S. Capitol Police announced the officer who shot Babbitt would not be prosecuted, concluding that he had acted lawfully when using deadly force.

Three other individuals died of natural causes, while 34-year-old Trump supporter Rosanne Boyland was killed when she was trampled to death by protesters fighting a police line.

According to the DOJ, approximately 850 people have been arrested for their involvement Jan. 6 riot, with over 260 individuals charged with various offenses.

In May, 45-year-old William Todd Wilson of the group Oath Keepers pled guilty to charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding for his involvement in the riot.

Wilson was the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to such charges, agreeing as part of a deal to cooperate with authorities in their ongoing investigation of the Jan. 6 riot.

In June, the Justice Department announced that five members of the Proud Boys, including the group's former national chairman, were charged with seditious conspiracy and other charges for actions before and during the Jan. 6 riot.
Authorities investigate fires at 2 Maryland churches as priest suspects abortion motive

Authorities are seeking information on fires that started at two churches in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., over the weekend as a third nearby church was also vandalized. Some believe there could have been a hate-driven motive for the property attacks.

North Bethesda United Methodist Church in North Bethesda was vandalized early Saturday morning. Firefighters responded to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church, also located in the Montgomery County community, on early Sunday morning.

Bethesdas Wildwood Baptist Church also experienced vandalism over the weekend.

Pete Piringer, the chief information officer for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services, took to Twitter to announce that North Bethesda UMC suffered arson & associated vandalism causing $1,000 in damage. In the same tweet, he stated that investigators located damaged head stones & broken wood pieces scattered on the grounds of Wildwood Baptist Church, located just down the street from North Bethesda UMC.

ICYMI (7/9) ~130a Sat morn 10100 Old Georgetown Rd, North Bethesda United Methodist Church, arson & associated vandalism, damage ~K, in addition Investigators located damaged head stones & broken wood pieces scattered 10200blk Old Georgetwn Rd A/F Wildwood Baptist Church pic.twitter.com/JJuWs4EMvS  Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) July 10, 2022

Piringer previously announced that a fire broke out at 2:15 a.m. ET at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church, engulfing several pews in [the] main church area. In a tweet posted at 2:43 a.m. Sunday, Piringer noted that the fire was out and no injuries had been reported.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service stated that 65 firefighters responded to the fire and extinguished the fire quickly. Authorities also declared that this was the second act of vandalism targeting the church in two days, according to NBC Washington.

Update - St Jane de Chantal Church, fire involved several pews in main church area, fire is out, no injuries, https://t.co/TOy4lo5G9l  Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) July 10, 2022

Due to the damage, Saint Jane Frances de Chantal will hold masses at the Christopher Hall Gymnasium for the time being, according to the churchs website.

The priest, Rev. Samuel Giese, elaborated on the vandalism at the beginning of Sundays mass.



Last night, our church was vandalized. People broke in, they overturned statues, they tore down the stations of the cross, they desecrated the tabernacle and tried to set the church on fire.

Additionally, Giese shared his belief that the attack came because of the Churchs stand on the issue of life, referring to the Roman Catholic Churchs outspoken opposition to abortion.

There are those who believe that we do not have even the right to practice our faith," Giese said.

However, we are the Church. We are the living stones. We are the Body of Christ."

In remarks made during the Sunday morning worship at North Bethesda UMC, guest preacher Rev. Joye Jones called the vandalism mischief, speculating that if it had been genuine vandalism, we would have been dealing with a lot worse stuff.

Jones expressed gratitude that none of the attempted fires took hold and that we can replace all the stuff that was in the kitchen that was damaged.

I want to remind you, she added. The church is not a building. We love our building, its a beautiful building, and Im so glad that we have it. But the church is not a building.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a Democrat, condemned the vandalism in a statement published Monday, calling the actions completely unacceptable.

[T]he criminal activity that took place over the weekend does not represent the values of inclusion and equity that we are striving for in the communities of this County," he said. "We pride ourselves on our diversity of religious communities. A hateful incident against one community impacts us all.

Hate in any form has no home in Montgomery County, he insisted.

The Maryland chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations issued a statement urging law enforcement authorities to investigate the possibility of a bias motive for these disturbing incidents.

Over the past few months, several churches and pro-life groups have been the victims of arson and other vandalism due to their stance on abortion.

A wave of property attacks was triggered in May when Politico published a leaked draft opinion of Dobbs v. JacksonWomens Health Organization indicating that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The acts of vandalism, and nonviolent protests, continued in late June after the Supreme Court released its final opinion in Dobbs overturning Roe.
Man says he was terminated for praising Roe reversal; nonprofit claims 'misunderstanding'

An arts council that reportedly released a Maryland man from his contract over a Facebook post celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade claims the matter was a misunderstanding after the man declared his pro-life stance was the reason for his termination.

As WBFF reported Thursday, Zach Tomlin commended the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling in a personal post on his Facebook page. Tomlin was contracted to work for the Carroll County Arts Council, a nonprofit organization that acts as a performing arts venue and promotes a variety of artistic pursuits.

"I'm not here to look down upon or judge anyone," Tomlin wrote. "It's a victory for those of us who believe in small government."

Lynne Griffith, executive director at the nonprofit arts council where Tomlin was contracted to work, reportedly sent him an email a few hours after the post. The alleged email said that in "light of [Tomlin's] political post on Facebook," Griffith was "reconsidering [their] business relationship."

"I will advise you of the date of termination," she is quoted as writing.

Tomlin, a Republican candidate for the Maryland State Senate for District 42, expressed concern that the incident could harm his reputation. The district he's running in covers parts of Carroll and Baltimore County, according to his campaign website.

"It makes you feel like a monster, like you're doing something wrong, and that's not who I am," Tomlin said in a statement published by WBFF.

According to the Baltimore Fox affiliate, the council is funded mainly by tax dollars.

"You can't have someone like that in charge of a nonprofit when they're going to discriminate against someone's religious beliefs or political ideology," the Republican candidate asserted.

In a Friday email responding to an inquiry from The Christian Post regarding Tomlin's claims, the Carroll County Arts Council wrote, "The misunderstanding with Mr. Tomlin has been resolved."

The court's decision to overturnRoe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that argued the U.S. Constitution protects the right to abortion, prompted reactions from various public figures and politicians, ranging from satisfaction to condemnation. The court upheld Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban with its 6-3 ruling. The court's conservative majority agreed there is no constitutional right to abortion and returned the issue to the states.

Pastor Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which filed an amicus brief supporting Mississippi's abortion ban, celebrated the court's ruling.

"God is the author of life, and every human life from conception to death has inestimable worth," Kim said in a statement. "Under Roe v. Wade, our ability to consider policies that safeguard life at the most vulnerable stage was severely limited."

"While the Dobbs decision doesn't resolve all the questions on abortion policy, it does remove an impediment to considering pro-life concerns," he continued.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also praised the decision in a series of tweets, calling it a "massive victory for life."

"The decision reverses one of the most egregious departures from the Constitution and legal precedent the United States has ever seen, and one that has resulted in the deaths of 63 million American children," he tweeted.

Some, like Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, denounced the court's ruling, labeling it an attack on women's rights.

"Too all women: I'm so sorry that this [extreme] court would vote to give a rapist more power over you than you have over your own body," he tweeted.

"In response to attacks on voting rights, living wages & now women's bodies, the just community's response must be the most massive progressive voter turnout in the history of the nation."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expressed similar thoughts, categorizing the court's decision as "the GOP's dark and extreme goal of ripping away women's right to make their own reproductive health decisions."
Over 900 babies born through Christian agency's embryo adoption program

A Christian adoption agency's embryo adoption program has led to the birth of hundreds of babies as the practice of embryo adoption and donation remains a contentious issue, even among Christians.

According to the Snowflakes embryo adoption program, a division of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, there are over 1 million embryos frozen in storage throughout the United States. The program works with fertility clinics throughout the U.S. to help people place remaining embryos with a family looking to adopt.

Nearly 2,000 people have donated their embryos through Snowflakes, and over 950 babies have been born to adoptive parents, according to the program's website.

Nightlight Christian Adoption, which has offices in 10 states, launched Snowflakes and pioneered the embryo adoption program in 1997. The organization is the "oldest and most experienced embryo adoption agency in the world." Through the Council on Accreditation, Nightlight became the only accredited embryo adoption agency in December 2021.

Kimberly Tyson, vice president of the Snowflakes program, told The Christian Post that around 30% of the people they work with had been referred by a fertility clinic. The program also reaches people through online marketing efforts.

Snowflakes' donation programs are typically anonymous and are open to those willing to apply, Tyson said. People looking to adopt those embryos are likely to have struggled with infertility or attempted in vitro fertilization (IVF) without success, Tyson added.

"So we're managing both sides of the equation. We are attracting people who want to donate their embryos to an adoptive family, and we're attracting adoptive families who would like to give birth to those embryos," she said.

Some, however, are critical of the practice due to its relation to IVF and the handling of excess embryos remaining from the process.

Kallie Fell, executive director for the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, expressed concern about the potential ramifications of freezing embryos and whether the process is detrimental to them.

Similar to CBC President Jennifer Lahl's October 2017 writings on the subject, Fell fears the practice of unthawing embryos and transferring them into wombs is too experimental to be considered safe and ethical.

Fell also sees a problem with conducting a procedure that involves unaware human beings.

"These embryos, these are souls on ice, as we call them. They don't give consent," Fell told CP in an interview. "They've never signed a waiver saying that they're OK with this."

Stephanie Gray Connors, a pro-life speaker and the author of Conceived by Science: Thinking Carefully and Compassionately about Infertility and IVF, also voiced concerns about using embryos left over from IVF.

The pro-life advocate asserted in a statement to CP that "IVF treats human subjects as though they were objects to be manufactured (while typically also killing some humans to create others)."

"As Jesus once declared, 'Stop making my father's house a marketplace' (John 2:16), we are all temples of the Holy Spirit and the IVF industry has turned the human body and human person into a marketplace," Gray wrote. "This leads to dehumanization and exploitation. Even with embryo adoption, while intentions can be good, there are moral dilemmas to consider."

"To justify IVF on the basis of being able to 'donate' children that are 'excess,' is to treat humans made in God's image like clothing or art-items we donate when we no longer need of them," she continued. "By God's designs, humans are only supposed to come into existence through sex in marriage, which means the only embryo that should ever get into a woman's body is her own, created with her and her husband's seeds, coming about as the fruit of sexual intercourse."

According to Tyson, the Snowflakes program uses the "best practices of adoption," encouraging communication between placing and adopting families. The program's vice president said the two often form a relationship over time, which she feels is best for both parties and the children.

Tyson said fertility clinics often have a lot of abandoned embryos due to guidelines recognizing them as the "property" of their owners. The program has "created a solution that medical science has created" by allowing people to place their remaining embryos for adoption, saying it's the only "life choice" for the embryos.

"And we believe as true Christian people with a Christian worldview that life begins at conception. And our program is creating a solution for embryos that are in frozen storage, that are human lives just waiting for the right environment to be born," Tyson said.

Connors asked: "Could embryo adoption be viewed as a type of rescue of needy children who are already created?"

"Some ethicists argue this could be justified, while others would say while the end of rescue is good, the means has a number of problems with it, including preventing the creation of one's own child while a woman's womb is occupied," the advocate said.

While ethicists debate the issue of embryo adoption, Connors believes that "at the very least, all people of goodwill should agree no more embryos should be manufactured in labs."

Fell acknowledged why some may see embryo adoption as 'lifegiving," noting that for many adoptive parents, that is "their only option for a life." But she contends that embryo adoption is not without its "risks and considerations."

She proposes that the U.S. pass laws to prevent the creation of excess embryos in the first place and encourage the embryos' biological parents to claim their frozen children. If the embryos' parents do not claim them, Fell thinks they should be given "dignity in their death" and entrusted into "God's care."

Fell worries that embryo adoption places a heavy burden on children by requiring them to "digest a lot of information" on how they were born.

"If their parents, the people who raised them, who adopted them, are honest with them, as I think they should be about their creation, it is a lot to digest that someone created you," she continued. "There were too many. So you weren't wanted, perhaps. And then you were given away to someone else."
Presbyterian Church USA promotes anti-Semitic policies against the worlds only Jewish nation

Millions of Christians who support the Jewish state are confident in Gods eternal covenants with Israel and the inerrant truths of Scripture. Thats why recent resolutions of the Presbyterian Church USAs (PCUSA) Committee on International Engagement are so unsettling.

The committees 28-3 vote last week asserting that Israel is an apartheid state is a disturbing sign of their bias against the Jewish nation. The committee also decided to add the Palestinian day of mourning to their calendar, declaring May 15 as Nakba Remembrance Day. Nakba, meaning catastrophe, describes Israels declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, as a disaster. These recent decisions by the PCUSA disregard Gods plans for modern Israel and the Jewish people.

The apartheidaccusation is chief among the PCUSAs upside-down claims made during their General Assembly meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, June 18  July 9. Harkening back to the appalling decades when South Africa was truly apartheid  a minority white population ruthlessly oppressing its majority Black population  the PCUSA leadership has turned Isaiah 5:20 into a present-day fact. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Painting all members of a PCUSA church as promoters of Israeli defamation would not be accurate or right. I have friends who are members of the denomination and they are faithful believers working and praying for changes within their churches. However, key influencers in the PCUSA leadership and committee hierarchy also have a long track record of engagement in anti-Israel policies, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS)  economic warfare against Israel. They keep steering their denomination into anti-biblical channels, dismissing Gods ancient covenants with the Jewish people that are still in effect today.

The foundational problem seems to be theological. Replacement theology has infected denominations for centuries with the erroneous idea that the Church has replaced the Jewish people as Gods chosen people  that God has terminated His covenants with the Jewish people and permanently evicted them from Israel with no future plans and blessings.

Nevertheless, in Genesis 17:7, God declares to Abraham, And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. God chose the Jewish people to transmit His words through Jewish scribes and to provide universal salvation through our Jewish Savior. God does not lie, nor does He change His mind.

We are surrounded by the results of a dramatic shift toward weakened fidelity to Jesus, Scripture, and faith. Amid rising global anti-Semitism, certain church leaders have for decades regrettably woven a thread of anti-Semitism into their congregations outlook. Case in point: On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2015, the Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, Stated Clerk of the PCUSA General Assembly, declared: The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel is 21st-century slavery and should be abolished immediately.

Within the PCUSA itself, Presbyterians for Middle East Peace (PMEP) spoke out against Rev. Nelson, observing that he seems to blame all Jews as the culprit, ignoring the many reasons why Americans support Israel. The PMEP added, Lashing out at the U.S. and global Jewish community is beyond the pale. Gratefully, his actions and words do not match the work of local PCUSA and Jewish congregations in communities across the nation.

Regarding the current resolutions, the PMEP stated that the anti-Israel motions made a mockery of the PCUSAs historic commitment to hearing all sides and doing deep research on issues prior to taking controversial decisions. They went on to say that the Committee on International Engagement did not invite a single U.S. or Israeli Jewish voice to offer further perspective and that there were no representatives of the thousands of organizations that have not deemed Israel to be an apartheid state.

The Jewish state itself is now undeniably the focus of accusations and lies from Palestinian leaders that sometimes echo Irans threats and find a welcoming home in PCUSAs wrong-headed rulings. Fortunately, groups and individuals opposing the guidelines of the PCUSA are taking action. After decades of PCUSAs ill-begotten decisions, Shurat Hadin, the Israel Law Center, filed a case against them in 2014 saying that they violated the U.S. tax code through unlawful lobbying and contact with Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The PCUSA has been active for decades in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

I also applaud the Philos Action League, newly minted by the Philos Project, which promotes positive Christian engagement. Right now, they are conducting peaceful protests at the PCUSA General Assembly. On July 2, the Christian organization tweeted, We are continuing to protest the GA225 vote declaring that 1. The false claim of apartheid (among several other claims) is anti-Semitic and hurts relations between Christians and Jews and 2. that not all Christians believe the claim of apartheid.

Ignoring clear Scriptures on several key issues, the PCUSA membership is slowly diminishing. The Christian Post published a report stating that last year, 100-plus churches, 51,000 members, and four presbyteries left the denomination. The PCUSA congregations have declined for decades due in part to embracing liberal views. With upwards of 60 million American evangelicals who claim a pro-Israel stance, my guess is that the PCUSAs anti-Semitism has also driven away members who care about Israel. Since its founding in 1983, this branch of the Presbyterian Church has fallen from 3,121,238 members to 1,193,770; a 62% loss.

Despite the recent resolutions from the PCUSA, I am thankful for pastors and churches that remain faithful to the clear, God-inspired message of the Bible. The sound teachings about His covenantal promises to His people. He receives us into His family when we recognize our redemption from sin through His Sons sacrifice and resurrection.

Let us pray that American denominational leaders drifting from biblical truths will encounter Arab voices like Yosef Haddad, a Greek Orthodox Christian Arab who grew up in Nazareth. Although Arab Israelis are not required to serve in the military, Haddad volunteered to serve in an elite Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit where he became a commander. From the second I stepped in the unit I was treated like family. Theres no difference between any Golani soldier. It doesnt matter if hes Jewish or Arab or Ashkenazi or Ethiopian.

Yosef later founded an Israeli Arab organization called Together. He speaks worldwide to disparate audiences with a clear message. We say the truth. We show the facts. The whole truth. Israel is not perfect, but the way Israel is represented in the Arab world, in the media, is completely far away from reality.

Friends, you know that we live in chaotic times. Isaiah 40:28-31 is the perfect passage to reflect on today: The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Christian woman strangled, nearly beheaded in ambush attack in Egypt

A radical Muslim man ambushed and attacked a 35-year-old Coptic Christian woman, nearly killing her in an attempt to behead her in Egypts Minya governorate, according to a report.

The Muslim man, identified as Qassim Falah Muhammad, attacked the woman, Mona Wafdi Marzouk, as she was walking to her familys farm to help her father last month, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said in a statement.

Muhammad ambushed her and began to strangle her, ICC said, adding that he then proceeded to grab a sickle and attempted to slash her to death.

Thanks to the dull sickle, the wounds to the womans neck did not cut deep enough to sever her arteries. The man fled, leaving her bleeding in the dirt.

One of the cousins of the Coptic woman saw the attack from a distance and immediately ran to help her. She was promptly taken to the hospital for treatment, but she continues to live in a state of terror and panic.

Police have not declared the attackers motives, but the Muslim radical likely targeted Mona because of her Christian faith, ICC said, noting that the day before the attack, he had burglarized the home of another local Coptic Christian.

Egyptian media have claimed that the attacker was mentally ill, but unprovoked attacks against Christians overall are becoming increasingly common, betraying the undercurrent of anti-Christian sentiment that is likely behind this and other violent incidents, ICC added.

Also, last month, Nehru Abdel Moneim Tawfiq, the convicted killer of Archbishop Arsanious Wadid, priest of the Virgin and St. Paul Church, in Alexandria, Egypt, was sentenced to death, according to Copts-United.

Leaders of both the historical church in Egypt and Islam had played down a religious motive in an attempt to prevent escalation. However, Tawfiq shouted the jihadist slogan Allah Akbar [Allah is greater] as he stabbed Wadid, an eyewitness testified at the trial, according to Copts-United. She said Tawfiq hovered around the area for 10 minutes before targeting Wadid because of his priestly garments.

The Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypts population, are the descendants of a long line of ancient Egyptians who later converted to Christianity in the early first century, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

According to the persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA, Egypt is among the 20 worst persecutors of Christians in the world.

Incidents of Christian persecution in Egypt vary from Christian women being harassed while walking in the street to Christian communities being driven out of their homes by extremist mobs, the group says on its website, adding that Christians are typically treated as second-class citizens.

Egypts government speaks positively about the Egyptian Christian community. Still, the lack of serious law enforcement and the unwillingness of local authorities to protect Christians leave them vulnerable to all kinds of attacks, especially in Upper Egypt, it explains.

Due to the dictatorial nature of the regime, neither church leaders nor other Christians are in a position to speak out against these practices.

Churches and Christian nongovernmental organizations are restricted in their ability to build new churches or run social services, it adds.

The difficulties come both from state restrictions, as well as from communal hostility and mob violence.
UN calls for addressing food insecurity in Ethiopia's conflict affected parts

Xinhua) 09:27, July 13, 2022

ADDIS ABABA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) called for urgent need to address food insecurity and nutrition needs of people affected by the conflict in northern Ethiopia.

The UNOCHA said in its latest northern Ethiopian humanitarian situation update realised on Monday that emergency humanitarian support should prioritize the most vulnerable segments of the conflict-affected people.

The UNOCHA said the conflict has affected all genders, ages, and people at-risk and marginalized groups differently.

It emphasized the critical need to ensure food and non-food items distribution are sensitive to age, gender and ability; and that vulnerable groups are prioritized.

It emphasized the need to invest in rebuilding health care services, including urgently increasing funding for sexual and reproductive health, rights and mental health services. It further stressed the importance of reducing barriers for marginalized groups, including internally displaced peoples (IDPs), to access these services.

It called for increasing the safety and security of all vulnerable groups through protection mechanisms.

According to figures from the UNOCHA, the escalating conflict in northern Ethiopia left over 5.2 million people in Tigray region alone in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including 2.1 million IDPs.

Last week, the UNOCHA had disclosed that more than 2.93 million children across Ethiopia remain out of school due to a combination of conflict and drought. It said 2.53 million children drop out of school due to conflict and 401,000 children are out of school because of drought.

It stated that about 85 percent of schools in Ethiopia's Tigray region need desks and blackboards, as well as 4,400 schools in parts of Ethiopia's Afar and Amhara regions.

"Generally, high humanitarian needs are likely to continue well into 2023 due to expanding drought and increased violence," the UNOCHA disclosed.

The UNOCHA report also disclosed that 20 million people in Ethiopia, including 13 million people in northern Ethiopia, have been identified to be food insecure and in need of food assistance.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Church of England says it has 'no official definition' of a woman

The Church of England, which heralded the appointment of its first female bishop in 2017, said it could no longer provide an official definition of a woman.

The Telegraph reported that the announcement came as a written response to a member from the General Synod, the denomination's legislative body, asking the question, "What is the Church of Englands definition of a woman?

In response, the Rev. Robert Innes, the denomination's bishop in Europe, wrote: There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.

Innes referenced the denomination's Living in Love and Faith project, which aims to be a part of discerning a way forward for the Church of England in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage, according to its website.

Citing what he described as the marriage complexities associated with gender identity, Innes said the project points to the need for additional care and thought to be given in understanding our commonalities and differences as people made in the image of God.

The LLF project has garnered support from LGBT activist groups like the Ozanne Foundation, which in November 2020 hailed the project as working toward making the church more genuinely inclusive, recognizing the high cost borne by so many LGBT+ people today, and the significant safeguarding risks that need to be urgently addressed."

The Diocese of London did not reply to The Christian Post's request for comment by press time.

The Church of Englands official website has 176 search results for the word woman, including the 2014 announcement of Rev. Libby Lane as the the first woman bishop in the Church of England.

The recently retired Rev. Angela Berners-Wilson, the first woman ordained by the church as a priest in 1994, told the Telegraph she was not totally happy with the announcement.

I mean, I do think certain things like men cant have babies just to say the complete obvious thing, she added. But I think we need to be very sensitive and maybe we need to reexamine our boundaries.

The Church of Englands decision to allow for women to become bishops came 20 years after the denomination had voted to allow for female ordination.

In January 2015, Lane was consecrated the first female bishop, with her installation ceremony having a heckler interrupt by shouting, "Not in the Bible!"

In March 2015, the Ven. Rachel Treweek was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Gloucester, making her the first female bishop to lead a regional body.

In 2019, the church saw thousands of its clergy object to a newly-introduced baptism service for transgender members.
4 Christians arrested under annulled apostasy law in Sudan; Bibles confiscated

JUBA, South Sudan  Police in Darfur Region, Sudan have arrested four Christians under a law against apostasy that was annulled two years ago, according to local sources.

Police on June 28 arrested the Christians from the Sudanese Baptist Church in Zalingei, in western Sudans Central Darfur state, on charges of apostasy, detaining them until their release on bail on Tuesday, according to local media outlet Sudania 24.

The Christian converts from Islam  Bader el Dean Haroon Abdel Jabaar, his brother Mohammad Haroon Abdel Jabaar, Tariq Adam Abdalla and Morthada Ismail  had also been arrested on June 22 and released the same day.

Area Christians said they were arrested over allegations of apostasy under Article 126 of Sudans 1991 criminal code. In July 2020 the transitional government that took effect in September 2019 decriminalized apostasy, which had been punishable by death. Sudans 2020 Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Act prohibits the labeling of any group as infidels (takfir), according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The 2020 Act also repealed other Islamic-based articles of the 1991 criminal code, including public flogging as a punishment and prohibitions against drinking alcohol. Although Sudan has taken some steps to reform laws that violate religious rights, most current statutes are still based on Islamic law, Christian leaders say.

Human rights activists said prosecutors have mistakenly used a repealed article of the criminal code against the four Christians.

The Christians were scheduled to appear in court this week. Police also reportedly confiscated their Bibles and a sound system belonging to the church.

Officers reportedly ordered the Christians to leave the area. The arrested men refused but have since gone into hiding. Muslim extremists in the area have called for their death, one of the arrested Christians said.

Following two years of advances in religious freedom in Sudan after the end of the Islamist dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the specter of state-sponsored persecution returned with a military coup on Oct. 25, 2021.

After Bashir was ousted from 30 years of power in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government managed to undo some sharia (Islamic law) provisions. It outlawed the labeling of any religious group infidels and thus effectively rescinded apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death.

With the Oct. 25 coup, Christians in Sudan fear the return of the most repressive and harsh aspects of Islamic law. Abdalla Hamdok, who had led a transitional government as prime minister starting in September 2019, was detained under house arrest for nearly a month before he was released and reinstated in a tenuous power-sharing agreement in November.

Hamdock had been faced with rooting out longstanding corruption and an Islamist deep state from Bashirs regime  the same deep state that is suspected of rooting out the transitional government in the Oct. 25 coup.

Persecution of Christians by non-state actors continued before and after the coup. In Open Doors 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan remained at No. 13, where it ranked the previous year, as attacks by non-state actors continued and religious freedom reforms at the national level were not enacted locally.

Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in the 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. State Departments International Religious Freedom Report states that conditions have improved somewhat with the decriminalization of apostasy and a halt to demolition of churches, but that conservative Islam still dominates society; Christians face discrimination, including problems in obtaining licenses for constructing church buildings.

The U.S. State Department in 2019 removed Sudan from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and upgraded it to a watch list. The State Department removed Sudan from the Special Watch List in December 2020. Sudan had previously been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018.

The Christian population of Sudan is estimated at 2 million, or 4.5 percent of the total population of more than 43 million.

This article was originally published by Morning Star News.
Trans activist removed from Christian teacher's appeal hearing over bias concerns

An employment appeal tribunal in the U.K. has removed a trans activist from hearing the case of a Christian teacher who was allegedly harassed, discriminated against and fired over private Facebook posts expressing concerns about transgenderism and sex education at her sons Church of England primary school.

Justice Eady, the president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, concluded in her judgment that Edward Lord, who had been appointed as the lay member of the panel to hear the appeal of Kristie Higgs, be recused from hearing the case.

Eady said she was satisfied that if the lay member were to sit on the Employment Appeal Tribunal panel on this appeal, the fair-minded and informed observer could not exclude the possibility of bias.

She added, There was a real ground for doubt in the lay members ability to approach this matter with an impartial and entirely open mind. That being so, the lay member would be recused from hearing this appeal.

However, the lay member refused to recuse himself.

Higgs, 46, a mother of two, was dismissed for gross misconduct in 2019 after Farmors School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, where she worked, received an anonymous complaint against her for sharing and commenting on Facebook posts that criticized plans to introduce Relationships and Sex Education to children as young as age 4.

The British charity Christian Concern, whose legal arm, the Christian Legal Centre, represented the Christian teacher, said justice must be done and must also be seen to be done.

We faced no alternative but to challenge Edward Lords involvement in this case, said the groups chief executive Andrea Williams. Its not hard to see the conflict of interest in this case  a member of the tribunal going out of his way to publicly announce he blocks people on Twitter for expressing concerns on trans issues; the views Kristie was dismissed for.

Higgs said she was relieved at the decision to recuse Edward Lord.

He has made many public statements that strongly oppose the Christian beliefs at the heart of my case and I feared that his presence on the panel could lessen my chances of getting a fair hearing, she noted.

However, she added, she was disappointed that because of raising this issue, the full appeal hearing will be delayed again.

This is another challenge, however, that I am determined to overcome as I continue to seek justice.

Higgs concluded, I am grateful to God for sustaining me this far and am sure that He will provide for all my needs going forward.

Last month, Justice Eady ruled that the British Equality Act protects Christians beliefs that do not affirm transgenderism, but they cannot express those beliefs in the workplace. The judgment was concerning a Christian doctor whose work contract was terminated over his refusal to refer to a man as a woman.
Favor Delivery

The biggest taco authority in these parts is Chron "Tacos y Mas" columnist Marco Torres, but Favor Delivery is also jumping on the taco journalism bandwagon by appointing a chief taco officer who will travel Texas in search of the best tortilla-wrapped bites.

Chris Flores got the CTO job, the company owned by HEB announced on July 12. Flores is from San Antonio and has made a name for himself as an influencer under the moniker Eat Migoshis Instagram handle and also the name of his photography and videography company.
This story was originally published on July 13, 2021 and updated July 11, 2022.

Happy 713 Day, Houston. Unfortunately, 713 Day once again falls in the middle of the week this year and your callous employer doesnt recognize it as a holiday, so youre just going to have to sit there at work and daydream about how you would celebrate this made-up Houston holiday if your boss was a little more understanding.

Heres how we would make 713 Day the most Houston day we possibly could.

We would start at 

Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle

You might have heard theres a line to get in. Yeah, thats because its delicious. And, in Houston, well wait in line for the right reasons. Plus, the line is a good place to commiserate with your fellow Houstonians, and everyones in a good mood because they know theyre about to start their day off right. I say you go with the Katfish and Grits, but you cant go wrong with the wings and waffle either.

Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer

Pictures at Graffiti Park

Now, your stomach is full and youre already near downtown, so head two miles east to the ever-changing graffiti park before it gets too hot (yeah, I know - too late). Walk around, take your picture in front of a few of the murals. Post them to Instagram. Let everyone know exactly how Houston you are. Yeah, its kind of a touristy thing to do. So what?

Gary Fountain, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

Museum of Fine Arts

From there, head three miles southwest to the Museum of Fine Arts. Houston has some of the best museums in the country, but you probably dont go enough. 713 Day is a time to change that.

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

Hermann Park Trail

Since youre already in the area, you might as well walk over to Hermann Park for a little fresh air. We get it, its been 100 degrees all week, so maybe you skip this part, but youre going to need to work up an appetite for lunch.

Roegels Barbecue Co. / Roegels Barbecue Co.

If youre from Houston, you probably already have your favorite barbecue spot. As a proud born and bred member of the Alief community, Im partial to Blood Bros. BBQ, but Roegels is one of Houstons finest and its just 10 miles down 59 from the museum and Hermann Park. Get some brisket, its some of the tastiest the city has to offer.

Pat Sullivan, STF / Associated Press

Beer Can House

Whats more Houston than a house covered in discarded beer cans right outside the elegant River Oaks neighborhood? Unfortunately, you can only take tours of the Beer Can House on the weekends, but its still worth a quick stop on 713 Day.

Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Get stuck in traffic

Theres nothing more Houston than getting stuck in traffic, and theres no better spot for that than 610 near the Galleria. Youre already in the area, so head to 610, pick out your favorite Houston musical artist and zone out  I mean, still pay attention to the road, but just let the Houston traffic and music take over. Youre going to need to be on 610 anyway for your next stop.

Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle

Screwed Up Records

Heres another spot youre going to want to do for the Gram. Nothings more Houston than a photo outside the famous Screwed Up Records & Tapes on West Fuqua. They open at 3 p.m., so this is will be perfect timing.

Karen Warren, Staff / Houston Chronicle

More food

Sure, youve already eaten a ton. You had catfish and grits, then brisket, but this is Houston, and we like to eat, so head to the Southwest side to explore all the Asian restaurants centered around Bellaire Blvd. There, youll have your choice of just about any Asian food you can possibly imagine, but nothing says Houston quite like Viet-Cajun crawfish. It combines the citys Asian influences with its Cajun side and produces the perfect rendition of crawfish. My personal choice for this H-Town delicacy would be Crawfish & Noodles. Order a few beers, dig in on some crawfish and enjoy yourselves. Your day is almost done.

Diane Humes/Texas Parks and Wildlife

Bats at Waugh Street Bridge

Hopefully, that last food excursion got you close to sunset, because thats the timing we need for the last Houston spot. Head over to the Waugh Street Bridge and try to get there about 30 minutes before sunset, because youre in for a treat. As the sun sets, Mexican free-tailed bats emerge nightly  year-round  from the bridge and stretch their wings. Its quite a sight.

That's it. You'll notice this perfect Houston day didn't lead you anywhere on the north side of town. That's an Alief kid's way of repping for the Southside no matter what.
"Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa"

By Julian Randall

Ages 8 to 12

What happened to Mami's cousin Natasha in the Dominican Republic 50 years ago? Twelve-year-old Pilar is determined to discover the long-hidden truth. She plans to make a documentary about Natasha, who disappeared, like many others, during the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo.

But Mami and Abuela won't cooperate. They answer her questions as they always have, with tears and silence. Pilar knows only that they fled to the United States soon after Natasha's disappearance and settled in Chicago, Illinois.

Pilar is smart and persistent. If her family won't talk, maybe others will. She travels crosstown to speak with a professor who researches these disappearances. When Pilar enters his empty office, though, something strange happens. She is sucked through a file folder - and dropped onto a beach. The beach of a magical tropical island called Zafa.

Before you can say Evil Coconut Trolls, Pilar is being chased by a whole pack of the snarling creatures. Luckily, she is rescued by Carmen, a strong, quick-thinking teen with backward feet. The island is also inhabited by shape-shifters, demons and a powerful fiend named El Cuco. Pilar recognizes them from Abuela's tales.

The island also has a heavily secured prison, La Blanca. Perhaps Natasha is jailed there, along with others who vanished during the Trujillo regime.

But how can Pilar, Carmen and their magical allies get close to the prison? For many years, these allies have battled El Cuco's forces - and they're losing. Leaders have been crushed, cities destroyed. The allies' magic is waning, and El Cuco grows stronger.

As the danger mounts, Pilar receives a crash course in combat from a cranky bruja or witch. She learns about the island's protective black sand and how to safeguard stories and memory.

Even with her new friends, skills and knowledge, though, Pilar can't discover the answer to one very important question: How will she get home?

Growing up in Chicago, the author, Julian Randall, had lots of questions about the Trujillo dictatorship and his ancestors in the Dominican Republic. He wanted to write a high-stakes novel that his young self - and today's readers, too - might have learned from and enjoyed.

- - -

You might also like ...

In "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" (ages 8 to 12) by Kwame Mbalia, seventh-grader Tristan teams up with African American folk heroes to convince a West African god to help mend a dangerous tear in the world. Freddie and his Filipino American family have long been plagued by bad luck in "Freddie vs. the Family Curse" (ages 8 to 12) by Tracy Badua. And the bad luck only intensifies when a magical amulet and the ghost of his great-great uncle plunge Freddie into a strange, often funny adventure.

Young readers should look for "Mysterious Tea Set" (ages 6 to 10), by Corey Ann Haydu, the fourth chapter book in the Hand-Me-Down Magic series. Alma and Del, who are best friends and cousins, find an old, perhaps magical, tea set in their abuela's secondhand store. It seems to be connected to their family, but if so, why is it being sold? And why won't their abuela answer their questions?

- - -

Next time in book club

"Unfadeable"

By Maurice Broaddus

Ages 8 to 12

Thirteen-year-old Bella hopes to start an arts program for teens in her neighborhood, but city officials dismiss the idea. That's when she notices something funny: Money seems to be going to projects that the community neither wants nor needs. When she shares her suspicions, Bella is ignored. Grown-ups think she's just a loud, nosy kid. Then she's threatened and realizes: Someone is trying to shut her down. When she teams up with a retired private investigator, Bella makes mistakes that amp up tension - even as she learns how to speak truth so that others will listen.

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Join the club

The Summer Book Club is open to kids ages 6 to 14. They may read some or all of the books on our list. (Find a blurb for each book at wapo.st/kidspostbookclublaunch2022.) The first 600 kids registered will receive a notebook and pen. To join the club, children must be registered by a parent or guardian. To register, that adult must fill out our form at wapo.st/kidspostbookclub2022. If you have questions, contact kidspost@washpost.com.
If you see Jerlon Barbar at a Montgomery County store buying multiple bags of ice this summer just know that he is helping local children beat Texas' triple digit heat.

With no ice cream truck in sight in their Conroe neighborhood, Jerlon and his daughter, Kelis, took some initiative and makes cheap snow cones for children at the Tall Timber apartments on Tuesday.
CARLINVILLE  A Macoupin County man has pleaded guilty to a 2021 stabbing death in Virden.

State's Attorney Jordan J. Garrison said Tuesday that Dalton M.K. Obermark, 21, of Carlinville pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Feb. 1, 2021, stabbing death of John W. Rennie, 58, of Virden.

Judge Joshua A. Meyer has scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 28.

"Mr. Obermark brutally killed John Rennie in his own home," Garrison said. "While there is nothing we can do to bring John back, perhaps today's plea will help John's family and friends gain some measure of closure on this horrible chapter in their lives."

Virden Police were called Feb. 1 to the 700 block of North Dye for a welfare check on Rennie. When they arrived, Officers Harold Gist and Phyllip Kennedy found the garage door open and entered the residence, where Rennie was found dead, according to court documents.

Illinois State Police investigators were contacted and took over the case, determining that Obermark met Rennie and went to his residence and then stabbed him multiple times in the head, neck and torso.

According to court documents, Obermark took Rennie's car but ran out of gas in Tennessee and was taken into custody. He was extradited from Tennessee and has been held in the Macoupin County Jail.
MECOSTA  During the summer months ticks numbers rise and the risk of contracting diseases from them can do the same.

Each year, about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to CDC by state health departments and the District of Columbia. Recent estimates using other methods suggest that about 476,000 people may get Lyme disease each year in the United States.

As cases continue to show up, taking precautions during tick seasons can make a major difference in protecting yourself from potential exposure and bites.

Dan Wolff is the founder of TickEase, a company producing the only patented CDC-compliant two-sided tweezer created expressly for the removal of embedded ticks from people and pets.

Wolff has extensive experience with ticks and earned the nickname Tick Man Dan because he brings them everywhere he goes. To raise awareness, he wears shoes, shirts, and a watch emblazoned with tick pictures.

He said his main goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of ticks.

I was trying to figure out what I could do for myself to help prevent exposure and what could lead to illness, Wolff said. I just really didn't find much on the topic of tick removal, and I saw a lot of old outdated information and a lot of contradictory information. I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

I'd come down to the idea that simple is better when it comes to removal, he added. "Agitating the tick, putting poison, trying to suffocate it, trying to make it dizzy, using soap, a lit cigarette, a hot match, it's just not necessary. My goal is to help minimize the risk and the exposure to harmful pathogens from ticks for people for pets.

According to Michigan.gov, the most common type of tick in Michigan is the American dog tick, which is active from May-November and can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.

The second most common is the black-legged tick, which can commonly carry Lyme disease and rare diseases like anaplasmosis, babesiosis, deer-tick virus and ehrlichiosis.

Other tick varieties also seen include the lone star tick, the woodchuck tick and the brown dog tick, all of which can carry potentially dangerous viruses.

PERSONAL PROTECTION

Wolff said there are simple steps that can be taken for personal protection.

Wear light-colored clothing because you can detect the tick while it's on you and before it starts biting you, Wolff said. If you were to stay in the middle of a trail, if you tuck your pants in your socks, that just makes it a little bit harder for them to get into the skin area.

Wolffs research revolves largely around deer ticks and the dangers they pose to humans and increasing the number of ticks tested and education being put out.

When it comes to ticks, timely removal of these embedded pests is key as this reduces the transmission of saliva that could carry harmful diseases.

Wolffs advice is to avoid twisting the tick off or jerking the tick as this may cause the ticks mouthparts to remain embedded in the skin.

Using a Q-tip to circle the embedded tick to distract it and get it to detach is another old wives tale.

Ticks can get into the tiniest sort of creases and crevices that you can imagine, Wolff said. I would also recommend treating clothing with permethrin, which has been proven to be really effective against ticks. The trick is permethrin is to be used on apparel, and they come in mist bottles or spray bottles. You would apply that to the outside and the inside and you let it dry completely, then you're going to be protected for in the case of self-applying product, usually around six washes before you'll have to reapply it.

While some studies suggest Lyme transmission can take 24 to 72 hours after attachment, there are many other infections that you can get with varying transfer times. Powassan, a rare severe disease, causes headaches, vomiting, and fever, and may take as little as 15 minutes to contract.

If bitten by a tick, you should use fine-tipped tweezers as recommended by the CDC, steadily grasp the tick, and using the tweezers take hold of the tick as close as possible to the skins surface and pull upward in a steady motion.

Use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to clean the bite area and tweezers when done. Attached ticks should never be disposed of or destroyed. Keep them in a zip-loc bag for identification and testing. A diseased tick does not necessarily transmit illness.

If you are bitten by a tick in an area where Lyme is prevalent, a physician may suggest and prescribe a precautionary dose of antibiotics to reduce the risk of getting infected.

Wolff said doing a full tick check after being in the woods or on trails is key.

What I do is a full check with no clothes on, Wolff said. They can get anywhere, and looking everywhere is one way you can make sure you havent been bitten. Daily checks are also good if you live near the woods. I've actually had nymphs feed in my belly button.

If bitten by a tick, Wolff suggests submitting it to a lab for analysis to see what you might potentially have been exposed to.

If the tick tests positive, does not mean that you've been exposed and that you're going to get sick," he added. "It's an individual thing, how you react to those pathogens, how your immune system reacts, and how you might react to actual infection. Some people don't even know it, some people are incredibly reactive.

"Being vigilant about taking precautions and doing checks will help you stay safer, especially during the height of tick season.

For more information on ticks in Michigan, see the state website at michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/ticks.

For information on TickEase and its product line, visit www.tickease.com.
Women seeking an abortion in Michigan and medical professionals providing lawful services to them don't have to fear extradition for criminal charges.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, among other actions to protect reproductive freedom, signed an executive order prohibiting women and medical professionals taking part in legal abortions in Michigan from being sent to their home states for criminal prosecution.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel echos Whitmer's sentiment. When Roe v. Wade was overruled on June 24, 2022, Nessel said: "As long as Im in office, I will not prosecute women, girls or their doctors for seeking or providing abortion services. Nor will my staff seek licensure discipline against medical professionals who safely perform these procedures."

Whitmer announced the executive order in a press release on Wednesday, explaining laws and legislative proposals across the country supported by the GOP would make it a felony for a woman to seek abortion care and for a doctor to provide it.

If enacted, women and doctors could face jail time and felony charges. Those with felony charges cannot vote in some states. In Michigan, people with convictions can vote after they are released from incarceration.

"After the overturn of Roe v Wade and the ensuing implementation of a series of extreme bans on abortion that criminalize women and medical professionals across the country, visitors to Michigan must know that they can access reproductive health care within our borders without fear of extradition," Whitmer said in the release. "That is why I signed an executive order today refusing to cooperate with out-of-state law enforcement seeking to punish women for seeking health care. Michigan must remain a place where a persons basic rights are preserved."

Proposals also exist to punish a woman who decides to cross state lines to obtain an abortion. In Michigan, a proposal exists to imprison health care providers for up to 10 years if they help a woman get an abortion. The GOP legislature is also in court defending Michigans 1931 near-total abortion ban that does not include exceptions for rape or incest.

The current version of Michigans law criminalizing abortion without exceptions for rape or incest was enacted in 1931. In 1973, the passage of Roe rendered Michigans 1931 ban unconstitutional and abortion became legal in the state. Since Roe was overruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, Michigan's 1931 abortion ban was triggered.

On May 17, 2022, a Michigan state judge granted a preliminary injunction in a suit brought by Planned Parenthood against Michigans unconstitutional 1931 law criminalizing abortion. The injunction temporarily blocks the abortion ban.

While abortions are still legal in Michigan, this could change any moment if the injunction blocking the enforcement of the 1931 Michigan abortion ban is lifted.

On April 7, 2022, Whitmer filed a lawsuit and asked the Michigan Supreme Court to recognize a constitutional right to an abortion under the Due Process Clause of the Michigan Constitution. The lawsuit targets the prosecutors in the 13 counties where clinics that provide abortions in Michigan operate.

Whitmer filed the lawsuit nearly one month before the leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take the step to ban abortion at the federal level.

The lawsuit also asks the court to stop the enforcement of the 1931 Michigan abortion ban. The abortion ban violates Michigans due process clause, which provides a right to privacy and bodily autonomy that is violated by the states near-total criminal ban on abortion, according to Whitmer's office.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James recently weighed in on U.S. efforts to bring Brittney Griner home, saying that she's been detained in Russia for so long that if he were her, he'd question returning to America. After facing criticism from conservatives online, the NBA icon is now backtracking on those statements.

James made the comments about Griner's situation during a recent taping for the fifth episode of Season 5 of his HBO show "The Shop: Uninterrupted." A trailer for the episode, which drops Friday, was released on Tuesday. It's unclear when the episode was filmed, though it's mentioned in the clip that Griner had been detained for more than 110 days at the time.

"She's been there for over 110 days," James said in the clip. "Now, how could she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, 'Do I even want to go back to America?'"

Backlash from conservatives online was swift. Nick Adams, an author endorsed by former President Donald Trump, wrote: "LeBron James should join Brittney Griner in her Russian jail cell."

David Hookstead of the Daily Caller tweeted: "LeBron James thinks America is so bad Brittney Griner might prefer to just stay in a Russian prison for a decade. People on ESPN act like this clown is a genius. In reality, LeBron is incredibly stupid."

Tim Young, a columnist for the Washington Times wrote: "LeBron James says if he were Brittney Griner, he'd question returning to the United States. 2 things: 1. He's free to leave at any point... Why not China since he loves the CCP? 2. There's no rush to decide now. She's got 10 years to think about it."

James later tweeted that he wasn't taking a shot at the U.S., but rather he was sympathizing with Griner. "I was simply saying how she's probably feeling emotionally along with some many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage that she's been in for over 100+ days," he tweeted. James added #BringHerHome and #FreeBG, hashtags fans have been using to bring awareness to Griner's detainment.

Griner has been in Russian custody since February after authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at an airport in Moscow. Last week she pled guilty to the charge. However, the U.S. State Department is arguing she was wrongfully accused.

James previously spoke out about Griner's detainment in a tweet last month, urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to bring Griner home "swiftly and safely," writing, "It is imperative that the U.S. Government immediately address this human rights issue and do whatever is necessary to return Brittney home."
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If you are an employer looking to hiring a foreign worker, you may need a Labour Market Impact Assessment.

How can I get a Labour Market Impact Assessment? If you are an employer looking to hiring a foreign worker, you may need a Labour Market Impact Assessment.

How can I get a Labour Market Impact Assessment? If you are an employer looking to hiring a foreign worker, you may need a Labour Market Impact Assessment.

How can I get a Labour Market Impact Assessment? If you are an employer looking to hiring a foreign worker, you may need a Labour Market Impact Assessment. Julia Hornstein Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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The purpose of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is to make sure that the hiring of a foreign worker will have a positive or neutral effect on the Canadian labour force.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is a way the Canadian government supplements its workforce when there are not enough qualified workers in Canada to do a job. If you are an employer and are looking to hire a foreign worker, you may need to submit an LMIA. The application will be reviewed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and officials will need to determine that no qualified Canadians are being overlooked in favour of the foreign worker. The employer will need to show that they have attempted to find qualified Canadians to fill the position before they try to hire from abroad. In addition, they must provide salary and benefits that meet provincial and federal standards. Each request for an LMIA will cost $1,000 CAD per position.

Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

It is important to note that as an employer, you must advertise the job vacancy for at least four weeks before applying for a LMIA. The employer must prove that they have used at least two other recruitment methods on top of posting an advertisement on the Canada Job Bank. Furthermore, employers should focus on advertising to underrepresented groups, such as First Nations and people with disabilities. English and French are the only languages that can be publicized as job requirements, unless they employer can prove another language is required.

The LMIA process depends on whether the foreign worker is classified as high-wage or low-wage. If the employee is being paid under the provincial/territorial median wage they are considered low wage, and if they are being paid at or above the median, they are considered high wage.

Province/Territory Median hourly wages as of April 30, 2022 (2019 Wage) Alberta $28.85 British Columbia $26.44 Manitoba $23.00 New Brunswick $21.79 Newfoundland and Labrador $24.29 Northwest Territories $37.30 Nova Scotia $22.00 Nunavut $36.00 Ontario $26.06 Prince Edward Island $21.63 Quebec $25.00 Saskatchewan $25.96 Yukon $32.00

If you are hiring a high-wage worker

If you are looking to hire a high-wage worker, you must submit transition plans along with the LMIA. A transition plan is a plan that ensures you are taking the steps as an employer to reduce your reliance on foreign workers over time.

Transition plans are intended to ensure that employers seeking foreign workers are fulfilling the purpose of the program, meaning they are using the program as a last and limited resort to respond to immediate labour needs on a temporary basis when Canadians are not available to do the job. This ensures that qualified Canadians are given priority for available jobs.

Examples of ways in which an employer can prove this is by showing proof of investment in skills training, proof of assisting the foreign worker in becoming a permanent resident or hiring Canadian apprentices.

If you are hiring a low-wage worker

If you are looking to hire a low-wage worker, you do not need to submit transition plans along with the LMIA.

Instead, the Government of Canada has put a cap on the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers that a business can employ in order to restrict access to the TFWP. Therefore, employers with 10 or more employees applying for a new LMIA are subject to a cap of 20 percent of the proportion of their workforce that consist of low-wage temporary foreign workers.

If you are an employer offering a wage that is below the provincial/territorial median, you must:

Pay for round-trip transportation for the temporary foreign worker;

Ensure affordable housing is available;

Pay for private health insurance until workers are eligible for provincial health coverage;

Register the temporary foreign worker with the provincial/territorial workplace safety board; and

Provide an employer-employee contract.

Global Talent Stream

The Global Talent Stream is part of the TFWP and is designed to help Canadian employers fast-track the hiring of foreign tech talent. The processing time of a Global Talent Stream application has a service standard of 10 business days from the day after the application is received by ESDC, and the work permit can be processed in two weeks by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This service standard is expected to be met 80% of the time.

There are two categories under the Global Talent Stream. Category A includes high growth companies that demonstrate a need to hire unique specialized talent from abroad. Employers in this category must be referred to the Global Talent Stream by a designated referral partner. Category B is for employers looking to hire unique talent for occupations found on the Global Talent Occupations List, which consists of occupations that are determined to be in-demand and which there is a deficient domestic labor supply.

Employers in both categories must meet the payment requirements for skilled workers, meaning they must pay the employee the prevailing wage or higher. The prevailing wage is the highest figure of either:

The median wage for the occupation on the Government of Canadas Job Bank

The wage within the range an employer pays current employees in the same position at the same location, with the same skills and experience.

The minimum wage floor as defined in the Global Talent Occupations List (if applicable).

Facilitated LMIAs

The facilitated LMIA process in Quebec helps employers address labour shortages by allowing Quebec employers to hire foreign workers more quickly. Under the facilitated process, occupations are listed in which labour shortages are proven, so Quebec employers are not required to advertise the position for which they are hiring foreign workers or provide evidence of recruitment efforts.

The employer is required to prove the following:

That the foreign worker meets the educational and experience requirements of the job and the requirements of the National Occupational Classification;

That the hourly wage offered to temporary foreign workers is consistent with the wage rate paid to Canadians and permanent residents, working in the same occupation and geographic area.

A transition plan is required for all high wage LMIA applications. However, under the facilitated process in Quebec, a transition plan is only required for the second or subsequent application for an LMIA in the same occupation and location.

Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Express Entry draws will get bigger so long as Canada still aims to welcome record-breaking numbers of immigrants.

Why enter the Express Entry pool now? Express Entry draws will get bigger so long as Canada still aims to welcome record-breaking numbers of immigrants.

Why enter the Express Entry pool now? Express Entry draws will get bigger so long as Canada still aims to welcome record-breaking numbers of immigrants.

Why enter the Express Entry pool now? Express Entry draws will get bigger so long as Canada still aims to welcome record-breaking numbers of immigrants. Gabriel Dumitrascu Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Express Entry draws have resumed, meaning candidates eligible for all programs have the chance to apply for permanent residence.

On July 6, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited a total of 1,500 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence. The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off score was 557.

On December 23, 2020, the last all-program draw held before the pause, IRCC issued 5,000 Invitations to Apply (ITAs). After that, IRCC only held program-specific draws for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and PNP candidates. Draws for CEC candidates were then paused after September 21, 2021 because IRCC could no longer process CEC applications within the six-month service standard.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

Now that Express Entry has resumed, here are some key points to consider if youre hesitating to enter the pool at this time.

New Express Entry applications to be processed in six months

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has said IRCC is once again able to process new Express Entry applications in six months.

Publicly-available IRCC briefing notes say IRCC was able to clear the inventory of almost 50,000 people between September 2021 and February 2022. In the document, which was to be signed by March 31, 2022, it said IRCCs Express Entry inventory is sufficient to meet 2022 levels goals, but in order to meet 2023 levels, IRCC would have to start issuing invitations between July and September.

In 2022, IRCC is aiming to welcome 55,900 Express Entry candidates who do not have PNPs, according to the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan. Then in 2023, IRCC is aiming to admit 75,750 of these candidates. By 2024, the targets are expected to rise to 111,500. IRCC will need to significantly increase draw sizes well in advance in order to meet 2024 targets. These plans may be adjusted by November 1, when the new multi-year immigration levels plan must be tabled.

All this to say, we know draws for these programs will continue to increase in accordance with the levels plan targets. Draw sizes will likely continue to be influenced by IRCCs capacity to maintain this standard as well as Canadas need for immigrants.

Canada needs immigrants

The most recent snapshot of Canadas labour market highlights the importance of Canadas need for newcomers. Canadas labour force shrank in June, largely due to people aged 55 and older leaving the workforce and fewer people were looking for work. At the same time, there are around 1 million job vacancies in Canada, particularly due to the need for summer jobs.

We have long known that Canadas 9 million baby boomers would be reaching retirement age this decade. A recent RBC survey suggested one-third of Canadians are retiring early, and three in 10 pre-retirees are changing their retirement date because of the pandemic.

At the same time, Canadas fertility rate decreased to a record low of 1.4 children per woman in 2020. A population needs a rate of 2.1 babies per woman to replace itself. Below that, the new generation of natural-born Canadians will not be enough to replace the retirees who are leaving the labour force.

One of the ways to address labour shortages is to welcome high levels of immigrants. Every year, Canada aims to grow its population by about 1% through immigration. The majority of these immigrants come through the economic class. Prior to this year, Express Entry was the main pathway for new immigrants. As per the current levels plan, Express Entry will once again be the main program by 2024.

Reforms are on the way

Canada recently passed a bill that will allow the immigration minister to invite Express Entry candidates based on an economic goal. Minister Fraser has said he expects there could be an increase in retention rates for immigrants through the Express Entry system because their invitation to apply is based on an economic need.

There have been few details given on what these draws could look like, but they could be based on a candidates occupation, language ability, or region.

PNPs can boost your score

If you are eligible for Express Entry, being in the pool can open you up to the possibility of being invited to apply for Canadian immigration. It can also allow you to become eligible for a provincial nomination, which would boost your score by 600 CRS points, putting you at the top of the Express Entry pool. Canadian provinces may invite candidates to apply for a provincial nomination even if their CRS score is below 400. Alberta, for example, has been known to invite candidates with scores as low as 300.

Your profile is valid in the Express Entry pool for 12 months. During this time, you can take steps to boost your CRS score and increase your chances of receiving an ITA.

There are no guarantees in Canadian immigration, but with Express Entry you have the chance to get permanent residency status six months after you apply.

The first step is to see if you are eligible for Express Entry.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Quantum computers have the potential to process exponentially more data than conventional computers can, but todays quantum computers are a long way from fulfilling on that potentialhow long depends on who you ask and ranges from one to ten years or more. One thing thats certain is that companies and nations around the world are investing billions and the technology is maturing apace.

CIOs Eric Knorr sat down with Roger Grimes, data driven defense evangelist at the security training company KnowBe4 and author of Cryptography Apocalypse: Preparing for the Day When Quantum Computing Breaks Todays Crypto, and Bob Lewis, a senior management and IT consultant, author, and contributing writer to CIO whose latest book is Theres No Such Thing as an IT Project: A Handbook for Intentional Business Change,at CIOs recent Future of Data Summit to discuss the use of quantum computing in business and why security is the most pressing issue of the day.

What follows are edited excerpts of that lively conversation. To learn more, watch the full session embedded below.

On where quantum is today:

Eric Knorr: Are any quantum computers ready right now to solve any business problems or computing challenges?

Roger Grimes: Probably the easy answer to that is your wristwatch has more computing power than all of the quantum computers currently put together. Theres probably many hundreds of quantum computers today, if not going into the thousands, but theyre all pretty simple thingsonly a few might be around the 100 qubit mark. And so, so far, not all that powerful. But theyve already demonstrated, even when they only had two qubits, that they were capable  of doing things that traditional computers could not do nearly in the same short amount of time.

Bob Lewis: I think the short answer is, I agree with Roger. No. There is a whole bunch of promises out there. And if you do a search for current applications of quantum computing, what you get are current promises of how great quantum computing is going to be. Right now, theres nothing that a CIO can buy thats useful thats quantum based.

On quantums use in IT:

Bob: [T]here are a lot of important areas for companies to invest where quantum computing is going to be a big deal. But  the CIO is not the one whos designing new pharmaceuticals. The CIO is not the one whos designing new materials. Thats not where they live. They live in business process improvement. And I havent yet run across a use case that seems to be central to that.

Roger: Id say IT is certainly interested in it from defensive capabilities, right, the threat of quantum computers. But let me say theyre actually most of them are not involved in that either. Thats one of the biggest projects Im involved in just trying to educate people that hey, you should be aware.

But you know, this is also a big mistake that a lot of newbies make, like Quantum computers, theyre gonna do all this great stuff. Quantum computers can solve some types of problems significantly faster, but they dont just magically do everything faster. [I]f youre just trying to calculate most things that would be in the average IT shop or something like that, you dont need quantum capabilities at all. In fact, it would probably be slower.

On capturing mindshare:

Eric: All the big clouds theres Amazon Braket, theres Azure Quantum, and theres Googles Quantum Computing Service. Whos using those and why? I mean, are people just playing with that stuff? Are they actually working towards specific applications?

Roger: A good way to put it is play, right, because we dont have the magic term, sufficiently capable quantum computers, but it is interesting that you can take certain types of problems, put it into those algorithms and go, Oh, it was able to do something that I wasnt able to do before, even though you dont have them sufficiently powerful enough.

Bob:

For the quantum computing as a service vendors, I think right now that whats going on is an attempt to capture mindshare, much more than anything else. They need to be a player now because otherwise, youre a bit player if you if you wait too long. To their credit, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Amazon, they are looking to the future. Theyre investing now in the future, which is a refreshing change of pace from how a lot of American enterprises have approached strategic planning in the past. But its very much a playpen kind of environment right now.

On defending against quantum attacks:

Roger: Every single organization in the world is going to be in a massive Y2K project trying to defend against sufficiently capable quantum computers within the next two years, and nobody has it budgeted. Its not on anybodys list. And in the next two years, every company in the world will be drastically trying to update their encryption and digital signatures, and they dont even know it. And its coming their way like a tidal wave.

Bob: [T]he biggest risk, I think, actually, in information security, is that every year a company doesnt suffer a major break-in is another year the board of directors were will conclude that IT overstated the risk. I was being snide about this, but you might recall Y2K. And what happened after Y2K is that every IT organization in the world was slammed for faking the problem. And that was because IT was too good managing the remediation projects.

Roger: Y2K has become the definition of overreaction. Instead of hey, we actually successfully addressed a large problem globally before it became a big problem. Like literally the wrong lesson was learned.

Bob:

[S]ince quantum computing is going to be at the heart of future cryptography, I think its relevant to understand that the symbol of mistaking success for a con job is so well worth everybodys attention, because you got to get the money to spend on this or none of the rest is gonna matter.
In a bid to help enterprises and institutions in the European Union navigate data privacy, residency, and other regulatory guidelines, Oracle plans to launch two sovereign cloud regions for the European Union this year.

Unlike a generic cloud region, a sovereign cloud region is designed to offer secure data access to both private and public entities while meeting the stringent regulatory guidelines of a particular region.

Oracles sovereign cloud, which is a subset of its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) portfolio, will not move customer content from the regions the customers select for their workloads and will restrict operations and customer support responsibilities to EU residents, said Scott Twaddle, vice-president of OCI product at Oracle.

These sovereign cloud regions are also designed to further enable customers to demonstrate alignment with relevant EU regulations and guidance, Twaddle wrote in a blog post.

The sovereign cloud regions will be logically and physically separate from the existing public OCI Regions in the EU, Oracle said.

OCI currently operates six public OCI Regions located in the EU in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Marseille, Milan, and Stockholm.

The company is planning to migrate customers using Oracle Fusion Cloud applications within the existing EU Restricted Access cloud service to the new OCI sovereign cloud regions.

Oracle, which has said that it will continue investing in its cloud business, has planned the first two sovereign regions in Germany and Spain for the EU with both being operational by the end of this year.

The company has other sovereign regions in the UK, US, and Australia along with separate cloud regions for the UK and US defense departments. Oracle, which also runs a classified US national security cloud region, competes with the likes of AWS, Azure, IBM, and VMware in the sovereign cloud space. Last month, the company announced that it was reducing the price of its OCI dedicated region in a bid to expand its customer base.
Ai o idee de afacere, dar nu stii cum sa o realizezi? Aplica la programul XY Accelerator V
A body representing civil society international development organisations has urged the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to improve its aid transparency after the department was criticised in a new report.

The 2022 Aid Transparency Index, created by Publish What You Fund, identified that for the first time since the index began no UK aid agencies had very good data transparency.

Compared to the Department for International Development (DFID), Boris Johnsons merger of the department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has fared considerably worse.

FCDO has fallen seven places to 16th place in its ranking since the index reviewed DFID in 2020. It has also lost 13.5 points. For the first time since the categories were introduced in 2013, the organisations are good instead of very good.

Bond, a network working with 400 UK civil society organisations working in international development, called for the FCDO's drop in standinds to be addressed.

The UK lost points because of the absence of organisational strategy due to a 2.5-year delay in the publication of the UKs International Development Strategy and a lack of transparency. For example, disclosure of contracts and tenders were published for less than 35% of activities.

However, more aid organisations than ever before are publishing good quality information and score very good or good in the global ranking.

At the same time, the publisher of the index is set to close due to a lack of funding. The FCDO is one of two donors that support it financially.

Bond: The fall in the UK's standing must be addressed

Stephanie Draper, chief executive at Bond, said: The loss of transparency of UK aid is a blow for the marginalised communities we work with and the British public, who need to be able to see how it's spent. To ensure value for money and to achieve the goal of alleviating poverty, UK aid must be transparent and accountable. This fall in UK standing must be addressed.

This is an opportunity for the foreign secretary to show leadership by doubling down on the departments transparency, which starts with publishing both departmental and cross-government UK aid budgets annually.

It is hard to understand what the FCDO is doing

Gary Forster, chief executive of Publish What You Fund, said: Until recently the UK was considered a leader in aid transparency. However, recent events, including the removal of the transparency targets from the International Development Strategy, coupled with the high turnover of staff focussing on transparency, all suggest a de-prioritisation within the FCDO.

The implication for UK taxpayers is less visibility of the FCDOs activities and impact. Meanwhile in the countries where FCDO operates, the absence of strategies and detailed budgets make it increasingly difficult for other donors, as well as recipient governments, to understand what the FCDO is doing, coordinate, and ensure effective collaboration.

Its a bittersweet moment; more agencies than ever scoring good or very good, more examples of data being used to inform better development policy, and yet the Index, which has driven all of these improvements over the last decade is facing closure. There isnt a backup option.

Publish What You Fund implored organisations to invest in the index so it can continue to produce data about the landscape of foreign aid.

Sarah Champion MP: 'This is unnacceptable'

The chair of the International Development Committee, Sarah Champion MP, said: My committee has expressed concerns before about the possible impact of the DFID/FCDO merger on aid transparency. Sadly, it appears that these concerns have now been realised.



It is unacceptable that FCDO now ranks lower on this years Aid Transparency Index than the ranking previously held by DFID and that, since the last Index, it has also lost its very good rating.



Transparency in aid spending is vital. Without high-quality data we cannot be sure that aid is reaching the worlds poorest people and delivering value for money. The FCDO must explore how to improve the quality of the data it publishes. The committee will continue to hold the department to account on this.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
Yesterday, President Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, spoke in front of reporters in the Oval Office. Or, more accurately, Lopez Obrador spoke, going on for thirty-one minutes about everything from migration to gas prices to lithium nationalization; Biden struggled to get a word in edgewise. Lopez Obrador did not find time to mention another major crisis facing his country: the twelve reporters who have been killed there already this year, making Mexico the most dangerous country in the world for journalists that isnt a war zone. A regular press-basher, Lopez Obrador has been widely criticized for his response to these killings, but Biden, when he did speak, didnt publicly push on it. He did find time to criticize overhyped headlines about his relationship with Lopez Obrador and to praise a lovely lady journalist from Mexico for holding a camera steady as Lopez Obrador rattled on.

Its not uncommon for US leaders to skirt press-freedom issues in choreographed encounters with foreign counterparts with questionable records in that area. But the state of threat facing Mexican journalists is hardly a faraway issue: two of the reporters killed so far this year died in Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego; in the past, Mexican journalists killed close to the US border have covered it, or lived and worked on both sides of it. And, more broadly, press freedom is uncommonly front of mind in US foreign affairs right now. Last night, Biden took off for his first presidential trip to the Middle East, where he plans to visit Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Saudi Arabia. He plans to focus on regional stabilityand oil. But, as a slew of headlines in various countries have noted in recent days, the trip risks being overshadowed by the killings of two journalists, in particularone recent, the other dating to before Bidens time in office, both of considerable relevance to his administration and the US.

ICYMI: Uber has its whistleblower moment (again)

Shireen Abu Akleh, a prominent journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed in May while reporting on an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. She was a US citizen. After her death, eyewitness accounts and investigations by several major international news organizations and the United Nations concluded that she was shot by an Israeli soldier; CNN even suggested that she had been targeted. Israel has continued to insist that Abu Akleh was killed by a Palestinian gunman or in Israeli crossfire in a gunfight, despite evidence suggesting that no militants were in her immediate vicinity when she was killed. Various US politicians called on the Biden administration to help lead an independent investigation. Over the July 4 holiday, the State Department said, in a 193-word statement, that officials had overseen an independent forensic analysis of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, which Palestinian officials handed over after initially refusing to do so. That analysis was inconclusive because the bullet was damaged. The State Department said that it had also been granted full access to official Israeli and Palestinian investigations. It drew on those to conclude, in strikingly vague and passive language, that while gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, US officials had no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during the Jenin raid.

Yesterday, four Democratic US senators, including Dick Durbin, the majority whip, wrote to Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, criticizing the State Departments findings, arguing that they do not constitute the independent, credible investigation for which Blinken himself called, accusing the Biden administration of a lack of transparency, and laying out thirteen further questions. Meanwhile, various commentators demanded that Biden raise Abu Aklehs killing on his visit to Israel. Abu Aklehs family, for their part, wrote Biden a furious letter in which they characterized the US response as abject and demanded that Biden meet with them on his trip.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and columnist for the Washington Post, was assassinated by agents of the Saudi state at the countrys consulate in Istanbul in 2018. He was a US permanent resident. Shortly after taking office last year, the Biden administration published a US intelligence assessment concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally approved Khashoggis murder. Biden sanctioned various Saudis, but not MBS himself, for explicit reasons of realpolitik. By now visiting the country, critics charge, Biden is not only letting MBS off the hook but actively facilitating his return to international respectability, as Fred Ryan, the publisher of the Post, put it this week in an excoriating op-ed topped with a drawing of Biden shaking a bloodied hand. In a video message, meanwhile, Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggis fiancee, told Biden that, by agreeing to meet with MBS, he is dishonoring yourself and Jamal.

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The cases of Abu Akleh and Khashoggi are interwoven in more ways than their shared US ties and tragic fatesin various ways, they feed directly into the shifting regional balance of power, not least the deepening ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, that is ostensibly the central concern of Bidens trip. As Le Monde noted yesterday, around the time of Khashoggis killing devices belonging to people close to him were targeted with Pegasusa potent spyware tool engineered by an Israeli firm with close ties to the Israeli government; investigations last year found that the Saudi regime was blocked from using Pegasus after Khashoggis killing, but had its access restored after the Israeli government intervened. (The Biden administration has formally blacklisted NSO Group, the company that makes Pegasus. This week, the New York Times reported that US spooks nonetheless encouraged a US defense contractor to try to acquire NSO; the White House said that it didnt approve of this.) Meanwhile, as Yasmine Farouk points out in the Times today, if Biden doesnt express outrage to the Israelis about Abu Aklehs killing, it will become easier for Saudi officials to dismiss US outrage over Khashoggi as so much hypocrisy.

Bidens team has said that he will raise human rights with the Saudis on his trip, and he has said himself that fundamental freedoms will also be on the table in Israel and the West Bank. But he has not, as far as I can see, confirmed that he will raise the cases of Khashoggi or Abu Akleh specifically, and it would seem that MBS, in particular, is not anticipating a lecture about it; when Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, raised Khashoggi with MBS last year, MBS reportedly yelled at him and said he never wanted to discuss the matter again. Over the weekend, Biden took the unusual step of defending his Saudi trip in an op-ed for the Post; he insisted that he has a responsibility to engage directly with partners in the US national interest, echoing a broader administration line that the world, unfortunately, isnt always a nice place. Biden mentioned Khashoggi by name only onceto give himself credit for releasing the intelligence report last yearand MBS not at all. Biden has said separately that he wont actually be meeting with MBS on his Saudi trip; rather, Im going to an international meeting and hes going to be a part of it. When is a meeting not a meeting? When its morally jarring, apparently.

Demanding that Biden hold world leaders to account on questions of human rights and press freedom isnt simply an abstract exercise in the projection of values, though that alone would be welcome. Its also about holding Biden accountable for his own words and actions. He has actively made the defense of democracy overseas a core plank of his foreign policy, and press freedom is a core plank of democracy; more specifically, he pledged, during the presidential campaign, to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah over Khashoggis killing. Diplomacy is a messy and morally compromising business, sometimes unavoidably so, but its a journalists responsibility to always scrutinize moral compromisesor, at the very least, not to simply swallow patronizing bromides about this being the way the world works when those saying as much have argued clearly in the past that the world shouldnt work this way. Its been gratifying, on such terms, to see scrutiny of Bidens trip filtered through a press-freedom lens in no few recent news stories and op-eds.

In his particularly sharp column, Ryan argued that Biden cast Saudi Arabia as a pariah, then went back on himself, for electoral reasons: he wanted to project moral standing during the Democratic primaries, whereas his interests now lie in lowering gas prices ahead of the midterms by pushing the Saudis on oil production. In a news cycle that itself is prematurely saturated with election chatternot only about the midterms, but about Bidens chances in 2024we should ourselves take care not to get distracted from holding the president to his promises as a matter of governance, which is ultimately what elections are all about. Biden failed to raise the plight of journalists with Lopez Obrador yesterday, at least in their public meeting, without the press seeming to notice. He now has a chance to do better in Israel and Saudi Arabia. This time, were watching.

Below, more on press freedom in the Middle East and Mexico:

Rhodes trip: Writing for The Atlantic, Ben Rhodes, a former senior foreign-policy adviser to President Obama, took Biden to task for his Saudi trip; Bidens rationale for going is understandable, Rhodes writes, and the US certainly needs to engage the Saudis, but it also gets to set the terms of that engagement. Ultimately, rationalizations perpetuate a debilitating and cynical status quo, he writes. Visiting MBS is wrong. And while we contort ourselves to embrace the Saudi leadership in the name of shared interests, recent history should show us that those interests are not aligned.

Writing for The Atlantic, Ben Rhodes, a former senior foreign-policy adviser to President Obama, took Biden to task for his Saudi trip; Bidens rationale for going is understandable, Rhodes writes, and the US certainly needs to engage the Saudis, but it also gets to set the terms of that engagement. Ultimately, rationalizations perpetuate a debilitating and cynical status quo, he writes. Visiting MBS is wrong. And while we contort ourselves to embrace the Saudi leadership in the name of shared interests, recent history should show us that those interests are not aligned. A pattern: Last week, Haya Abushkhaidem wrote, for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, that Abu Aklehs killing should not be viewed as an isolated incident. At least 30 journalists have been killed by the Israeli security forces since 2000. Some of these journalists were foreigners, including Italian AP journalist Simone Camilli and British cameraman and filmmaker James Miller. But most of them were Palestinian like Shireen, Abushkhaidem writes. In addition to assassinations, Palestinian journalists have long been subjected to various forms of human rights violations by the Israeli government, such as arrests, destruction of equipment and physical attacks.

Last week, Haya Abushkhaidem wrote, for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, that Abu Aklehs killing should not be viewed as an isolated incident. At least 30 journalists have been killed by the Israeli security forces since 2000. Some of these journalists were foreigners, including Italian AP journalist Simone Camilli and British cameraman and filmmaker James Miller. But most of them were Palestinian like Shireen, Abushkhaidem writes. In addition to assassinations, Palestinian journalists have long been subjected to various forms of human rights violations by the Israeli government, such as arrests, destruction of equipment and physical attacks. Iran: Iran will also be high on the agenda as Biden visits the Middle East, and there, too, freedom of expression is under fresh assault. In the past week, authorities in the country have arrested three filmmakers: Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad, and Jafar Panahi; Rasoulof and Aleahmad had reportedly signed a letter calling on security forces to lay down their weapons amid protests that followed the collapse of a building in the country, while Panahi was reportedly detained when he went to a prosecutors office to check on Rasoulof. CNNs Kareem El Damanhoury and Tara John have more.

Iran will also be high on the agenda as Biden visits the Middle East, and there, too, freedom of expression is under fresh assault. In the past week, authorities in the country have arrested three filmmakers: Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad, and Jafar Panahi; Rasoulof and Aleahmad had reportedly signed a letter calling on security forces to lay down their weapons amid protests that followed the collapse of a building in the country, while Panahi was reportedly detained when he went to a prosecutors office to check on Rasoulof. CNNs Kareem El Damanhoury and Tara John have more. Mexico: In April, CJRs Paroma Soni went deep on the rash of journalist murders in Mexico to that point this year. In 2021, Mexico was the second-deadliest country in the world for journalists, after India, she wrote. Since the late 1990s, 153 journalists have been murdered and another 29 disappeared. In just the first three months of 2022, another 9 journalists were murderedthe same number that were killed in all of 2021.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: After weeks of hype, Unprecedented proves, well, precedented

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
Gallagher Bassett Appoints Carrier Practice Director

Gallagher Bassett, an international claims management provider headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has promoted Joe Berrios to managing director, carrier practice.

The company said in a press release that Berrios has been one of the principal architects of its carrier practice over the past seven years. He was most recently senior vice president for Client Services.

Berrios has worked for Gallagher Bassett since 2006, starting out as a vice president of business development and relationship management, according to his Linkedin page. Previously, he worked for 19 years for GAB Robins, reaching a position as vice president and director account management.

Berrios is based in Duluth, Georgia. He holds a bachelors degree in business administration and management and completed Gallaghers Executive Leadership Program with Harvard Business School, the company said. He holds the Senior Claim Law Associate designation from the American Educational Institute.

Goldberg Segalla Adds Partner to Insurance Practice

The Goldberg Segalla law firm has appointed attorney Thomas M. Wester as a partner with its Global Insurance Services group in Newark, New Jersey.

Wester focuses his practice on representing insurers in the investigation and litigation of complex insurance matters arising out of commercial disputes, construction accidents and defects, transportation accidents, marine casualty, environmental and long-tail claims, premises liability and property damage, the national law firm said in a press release.

Wester has experience representing clients in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania state and federal courts. He regularly counsels and provides written opinions to primary and excess level insurers concerning coverage issues involving multiple lines of insurance.

Wester earned his bachelors degree from Fordham University and his juris doctor from the Seton Hall University School of Law.

Wester previously was with Connell Foley in Rosalind, New Jersey.

Prodigy Appoints COO and Sales Leader

Prodigy Care Services appointed Paul Norkett as chief operating officer and Kevin Lanphier as chief sales officer.

Norkett previously was chief operating officer for Adva-Net, which he helped guide through its acquisition by Paradigm Specialty Networks. He has more than 30 years of experience in managed care with workers compensation companies, including Sedgwick Cambridge Solutions/Concentra Managed Care and Cunningham Lindsey, the Austin, Texas-based company said in a press release.

Norkett has a masters degree in business administration-strategic leadership from the University of Dallas, where he also served as an adjunct professor in its Graduate School of Business. He is also a board member of the American Association of Payors, Administrators and Networks.

Lanphier has held senior sales positions with national pharmacy benefit management and medical bill review payment integrity organizations during his 25-year career, Prodigy said. Most recently, he was senior vice president of sales for Equine, a payment integrity organization that is now part of Optum. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Sandler Sales Training.
DOVER, Del. (AP)  A Delaware Superior Court judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the states Democratic attorney general against agricultural giant Monsanto Co. over environmental damage from now-banned toxic chemicals known as PCBs.

In recent years, PCBs have been at the center of multimillion-dollar settlements reached between Monsanto and multiple states whose waterways had been contaminated, but Delaware Judge Mary Johnston rejected public nuisance, trespass and unjust enrichment claims asserted by Attorney General Kathy Jennings.

Citing her own 2019 ruling in a lawsuit filed by Jennings against opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, and an earlier lawsuit by the city of Wilmington against gun manufacturers, Judge Mary Johnston noted that Delaware courts do not recognize product-based public nuisance claims.

Johnston also said the state has no standing to bring trespass claims regarding PCB contamination of lands and waterways. The judge noted that while the state may have regulatory control of land and water, there is no basis to support the notion that it has exclusive possession of water. She also pointed out that the state had not alleged that Monsanto had control of the PCBs at the time of the alleged trespass.

The state also argued that its use of taxpayer money to address PCB contamination reduced the environmental costs that Monsanto would have incurred or will incur. But Johnston ruled that the unjust enrichment claim is outside the courts jurisdiction and also fails as a matter of law.

Monsanto, an agricultural chemical and biotechnology company, was acquired by German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate Bayer AG in 2018. The company began manufacturing PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, in the 1930s and continued to do until the 1970s.

The compounds, with their chemical stability, high boiling point and electrical insulating properties, were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications, ranging from electrical and hydraulic equipment to plastics, rubber products and pigments.

They are insoluble in water and accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals, working their way up the food chain and causing a variety of adverse health effects. The EPA has said they are probable human carcinogens.

The lawsuit alleged that Monsanto was aware for decades that PCBs were toxic to humans and other animals, and that they were polluting the environment.

Congress banned the manufacture of PCBs in 1979, but PCB contamination persists in the Delaware River, Delaware Bay and several inland waterways in Delaware.

Officials have identified Amtrak rail facilities in northern Delaware as the states largest chronic source of PCB contamination in the Delaware River.

In February, Monsanto agreed to pay $25 million over PCB contamination in the state of New Hampshire. That came two years after a $95 million settlement between the company and the state of Washington. Also, Monsanto in 2020 announced a $650 million settlement with several California cities along with communities in Washington, Maryland and Oregon.

About the photo: Biologist Tiffany Grade measures a non-viable loon egg collected from Squam Lake, Friday, June 25, 2021, in Holderness, N.H. Grade is studying the impact PCBs are having on loons, and will examine the egg for possible PCB contamination. Researchers in New Hampshire have long struggled to understand why loon numbers have stagnated on the lake, despite a robust effort to protect them. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Authorities conducting an arson investigation at a southeast Albuquerque house fire say a 15-year-old boy whose body was found inside died from smoke inhalation.

Albuquerque Fire Department officials said Sunday it might take about two weeks to complete the investigation to determine the cause of last weeks blaze.

A SWAT team trying to arrest a wanted man allegedly threw tear gas canisters and shot chemical munitions inside the home before the fire started.

Theyve been used by the Albuquerque Police Department for decades, Police Chief Harold Medina said. Weve heard the stories that its possible these could start fires but weve never experienced that here.

Police said Brett Rosenau was found dead inside the home after the fire was put out following a SWAT standoff last Thursday that involved 27-year-old Qiaunt Kelley.

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico called on New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas to conduct a thorough, independent and transparent investigation into the standoff.

Police said they were trying to arrest Kelley for violating his probation and they also wanted to question him about a recent homicide investigation and an officer involved shooting.

Rosenau followed Kelley into the home before the fire, but police still dont know if two knew each other beforehand.

Kelley ran from the home as firefighters extinguished the fire, was taken into custody and then transported to a hospital for treatment of burn injuries before being booked into jail.

Police said Kelley refused to talk to investigators and it was unclear Monday if he had a lawyer yet who could speak on his behalf.

The teen wasnt shot by anyone despite what some bystanders at the scene told authorities, according to police. Autopsy results will be released later by the Office of the Medical Investigator.

The preliminary results of an autopsy cited the cause of death as smoke inhalation, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said.

Since the death occurred while police were taking a suspect into custody, a multi-agency task force is conducting a criminal investigation and the results will be forwarded to the District Attorney for review.

Albuquerque police also will conduct an administrative investigation to determine whether any policies were violated.

In our effort to track down and arrest a violent criminal, a young person tragically lost his life, Medina said. I know many people in our community are hurting right now, and appreciate everyones patience while the incident is thoroughly investigated. If any of our actions inadvertently contributed to his death, we will take steps to ensure this never happens again.

Hours after the teens body was pulled from the charred home, dozens of people gathered nearby to protest the death, waving signs that said Black Lives Matter.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller expressed his condolences to Rosenaus family in a statement Sunday, saying no matter what the circumstances were, a boys life was tragically cut short, something no person or parent should experience.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
China to launch work-relief programs for major projects

Xinhua) 09:30, July 13, 2022

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The State Council has approved a plan to launch work-relief programs for major projects in order to boost employment and increase local incomes, according to a circular released on Tuesday.

All regions and government departments are urged to implement key government-invested projects through work-relief programs as much as possible, to help people work near their homes and increase incomes, according to the plan proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission.

It clarifies work-relief programs in sectors and key projects such as transportation, water conservancy, energy, agriculture and rural areas, urban construction, the ecological environment, and post-disaster restoration and reconstruction.

Development and reform departments, alongside other related government departments, should conduct in-depth research and formulate tasks and guidance catalogs for key projects in various fields where the work-relief programs can be implemented, it said.

Major tasks include formulating an annual list of key work-relief projects, mobilizing local participation mainly in counties, offering training for migrant workers, and paying wages on time and in full, the plan said.

The scale of investment in work-relief programs should be expanded, the plan said, and a set of work-relief programs funded by central budgetary investment should be launched to build support facilities for key projects. The proportion of labor remuneration taken from central government funds should also be increased from over 15 percent to over 30 percent.

Financial institutions are encouraged to step up financing support for work-relief projects in accordance with laws and regulations, and various social forces such as private enterprises and social organizations will be guided to carry out public-interest projects in the form of work-relief programs, the plan said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Colorado drivers can now take the written learners permit test online from the comfort of their own homes, the Department of Revenue announced on Tuesday.

The new service allows Coloradans to avoid taking the test at a DMV office or a private driving school, offering the test online with no appointment needed. While the test is free at the DMV, the online versions cost $6.50 for the first attempt and $17.65 for all subsequent attempts.

This new permit system comes after the Colorado DMV has recently begun outsourcing some of its drivers license services. The DMV no longer provides its free behind-the-wheel test, forcing Coloradans to spend up to hundreds of dollars to take the test at private driving schools.

Some Coloradans reported spending between $100 and $300 to get their driver's license after paying the DMV fees and the testing costs, in addition to spending weeks or months trying to navigate the complicated system.

DMV officials said they were forced to stop providing the behind-the-wheel test due to budget cuts at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have no plans of ever bringing the test back. Some state lawmakers are exploring options to legally require the DMV to offer the free road test again.

The Colorado DMV said its new online permit system will help make the process of obtaining a driver's license "much more convenient."

The DMV said it will continue to offer the free written permit test in-office in addition to the online service. After passing the online test, drivers will still have to schedule an appointment to go to the DMV to receive their learner's permit.

The online permit test is available in English and Spanish and requires an internet-connected computer and a working webcam. The test features active cursor and video monitoring to prevent cheating.

Coloradans can register to take the permit test online at myDMV.Colorado.gov.
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Man, I had one hell of a streak.

All these years  approximately 7,967 since I first started using and writing about Android  and somehow, rather miraculously, Id never outright broken a phone.

Impressive, I know. But don't let yourself get wrapped in awe yet, my fellow drop-dreading denizen: My streak of impeccable Android phone protection has officially come to a crashing halt.

[Got Android? Get Android Intelligence in your inbox and get three new things to try every Friday.]

Now, I didnt technically drop my phone, mind you. And I didnt technically break it myself, either. But it was definitely broken. And it happened on my watch.

While the experience isn't one I'd recommend to anyone, it provided a powerful reminder that even the most obsessively cautious Android-appreciating animals among us are bound to slip up and run into an unfortunate situation like this sooner or later. (For some Android phone owners  hi, honey!  these sorts of butter-fingered mishaps seem to happen with almost shocking frequency.)

And more than anything, it forced me to think through some smart steps we should all keep in mind to keep our information safe whenever our precious Android companions crash and tumble.

My broken Android phone backstory

First things first, it's worth mentioning that these steps are mostly relevant in an instance when your phone either won't power on or can't be used in any normal way  but is still technically running.

That's exactly what happened to me. Long story short, a 45-pound dumbbell rolled off the (allegedly) flat bench where I had it resting during a workout and rolled right onto my poor Pixel 6. Seriously  what are the odds?!

Amazingly enough, the phone didnt shatter. You had to look really closely to even notice any outward signs of damage, in fact. But, as I quickly discovered, the screen would no longer turn on  at all. And aside from allowing my lovely stream of obscure 80s power ballads to continue entertaining my ear holes, that meant the phone was mostly useless.

Luckily, I had still insurance active from my original Google Store purchase, and I was able to get a replacement device within a couple of days. But that also meant I had to send the broken old phone back as part of the process.

And that, in turn, meant all of my personal and work-related information could have ended up in someone else's hands  since I had no way to get into the phone and perform a standard factory reset.

So here's what I did  and what I'd strongly suggest doing yourself, if/when you find yourself in a similar situation. It's a three-step process that'll protect your data and your sanity when your phone is impossible to interact with:

Step 1: Force a factory reset

Little-known fact: Even when you can't swipe and tap your way through your phone's on-screen menus, you can still reset the thing and remove all of your accounts and data. It's just up to you to realize it's possible and then remember how to do it.

It's pretty forkin' easy, though: Just type find my phone into the Chrome address bar on any computer where you're signed into the same Google account that's connected to your phone. That'll pull up the official Google Find My Device tool.

From there, it takes just a couple more clicks to select the damaged device, locate it, and then use the Recover option to permanently erase every last morsel of info from the thing and reset it remotely.

Now, if your phone were completely dead, this wouldnt work, of course. But as long as its still powered up and running  even if you cant actually get into it  this is a great way to get all your info off of it before putting it in someone elses grubby paws.

Step 2: Confirm your Google account disconnection

Even after resetting your phone, it's worth taking an extra few seconds to head over to the "Your Devices" section of the Google Account website. That's where you can ensure that the phone has no lingering connection to any Google account you'd had connected.

Just look for the phone's name on that page, and if you see it, click it and then click the "Sign out" option on the screen that comes up next.

If you had more than one Google account associated with the device  like, y'know, a personal account and a work one  be sure to sign into each account separately on that Google Account site and repeat the process.

Step 3: Sign yourself out of Messages

If you use Google's Android Messages app, this final step is both one of the most important and one of the easiest to overlook.

Messages, as you may know, relies on a next-gen messaging standard called RCS to power its next-gen "Chat" feature. That's what allows you to have contemporary messaging features like encryption, typing indicators, and read-message alerts anytime you're chatting with someone who's also using the service (or using another RCS-compatible app).

That's generally a good thing  right? Of course right. But the presence of that standard does add one extra wrinkle into our broken-Android-phone conundrum: When you stop using one Android device and move into another, your Messages account can often stay linked to the old device  and that means (a) any messages sent to you via that system will still arrive on that phone, and (b) you'll likely run into trouble when trying to sign into the Messages "Chat" system on any new device.

Once more, the fix here is easy, so long as you know about it: Just pull up this official Google Messages help page in the browser of any phone or computer where you're signed in. Scroll down to the bottom, and you'll find a form where you can enter your phone number to remotely disable and sign out of all connected devices.

The system will send you a text message to confirm the sign-out. So long as your broken Android phone is technically powered on and running, you should be able to see it and copy the code by opening the regular Messages web app on your computer.

And with that, your busted old clunker should be completely clear of all connections and sensitive info  and you can safely proceed with shipping it back to the manufacturer, bringing it into a repair shop, or doing whatever you see fit.

Now you know. And now you can move on from your next broken Android phone without any extra worry  and focus instead on starting your next record-setting streak of damage-free delight.

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The marketing industry is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) as a way to save time and execute smarter, more personalized campaigns. 61% of marketers say AI software is the most important aspect of their data strategy.

If youre late to the AI party, dont worry. Its easier than you think to start leveraging artificial intelligence tools in your marketing strategy. Here are 10 AI marketing tools every marketer should start using today.

1. Personalize

Personalize is an AI-powered technology that helps you identify and produce highly targeted sales and marketing campaigns by tracking the products and services your contacts are most interested in at any given time. The platform uses an algorithm to identify each contacts top three interests, which are updated in real-time based on recent site activity.

Key Features

Identifies top three interests based on metrics like time on page, recency and frequency of each contacts

Works with every ESP and CRM

Easy to get up and running in days

Enterprise-grade technology at a low cost for SMBs

2. Seventh Sense

Seventh Sense provides behavioral analytics that help you win attention in your customers overcrowded email inboxes. Choosing the best day and time to send an email is always a gamble. And while some days of the week generally get higher open rates than others, youll never be able to nail down a time thats best for every customer. Seventh Sense eases your stress of having to figure out the perfect send-time and day for your email campaigns. The AI-based platform figures out the best timing and email frequency for each contact based on when theyre opening emails. The tool is primarily geared toward HubSpot and Marketo customers

Key Features

AI determines the best send-time and email frequency for each contact

Connects with HubSpot and Marketo

3. Phrasee

Phrasee uses artificial intelligence to help you write more effective subject lines. With its AI-based Natural Language Generation system, Phrasee uses data-driven insights to generate millions of natural sounding copy variants that match your brand voice. The model is end-to-end, meaning when you feed the results back to Phrasee, the prediction model rebuilds so it can continuously learn from your audience.

Key Features

Instantly generates millions of human-sounding, brand-compliant copy variants

Creates tailored language models for every customer

Learns what your audience responds to and rebuilds the prediction model every time

4. Hubspot Seo

HubSpot Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral tool for the Human Content team. It uses machine learning to determine how search engines understand and categorize your content. HubSpot SEO helps you improve your search engine rankings and outrank your competitors.Search engines reward websites that organize their content around core subjects, or topic clusters. HubSpot SEO helps you discover and rank for the topics that matter to your business and customers.

Key Features

Helps you discover and rank for topics that people are searching for

Provides suggestions for your topic clusters and related subjects

Integrates with all other HubSpot content tools to help you create a well-rounded content strategy

5. Evolve AI

When youre limited to testing two variables against each other at a time, it can take months to get the results youre looking for.Evolv AI lets you test all your ideas at once. It uses advanced algorithms to identify the top performing concepts, combine them with each other, and repeat the process to achieve the best site experience.

Key Features

Figures out which content provides the best performance

Lets you test multiple ideas in a single experiment instead of having to perform many individual tests over a long period of time

Lets you try all your ideas across multiple pages for full-funnel optimization

Offers visual and code editors

6. Acrolinx

Acrolinx is a content alignment platform that helps brands scale and improve the quality of their content. Its geared toward enterprises  its major customers include big brands like Google, Adobe and Amazon - to help them scale their writing efforts. Instead of spending time chasing down and fixing typos in multiple places throughout an article or blog post, you can use Acrolinx to do it all right there in one place. You start by setting your preferences for style, grammar, tone of voice and company-specific word usage. Then, Acrolinx checks and scores your existing content to find whats working and suggest areas for improvement. The platform provides real-time guidance and suggestions to make writing better and strengthen weak pages.

Key features

Reviews and scores existing content to ensure it meets your brand guidelines

Finds opportunities to improve your content and uses automation to shorten your editorial process.

Integrates with more than 50 tools and platforms, including Google Docs, Microsoft Word, WordPress and most web browsers.

7. MarketMuse

MarketMuse uses an algorithm to help marketers build content strategies. The tool shows you where to target keywords to rank in specific topic categories, and recommends keywords you should go after if you want to own particular topics. It also identifies gaps and opportunities for new content and prioritizes them by their probable impact on your rankings. The algorithm compares your content with thousands of articles related to the same topic to uncover whats missing from your site.

Key features:

The built-in editor shows how in-depth your topic is covered and what needs improvement

Finds gaps and opportunities for new content creation, prioritized by their probable impact and your chance of ranking

8. Copilot

Copilot is a suite of tools that help ecommerce businesses maintain real-time communication with customers around the clock at every stage of the funnel. Promote products, recover shopping carts and send updates or reminders directly through Messenger.

Key features:

Integrate Facebook Messenger directly with your website, including chat history and recent interactions for a fluid customer service experience

Run drip messenger campaigns to keep customers engaged with your brand

Send abandoned cart, out-of-stock, restock, preorder, order status and shipment notifications to contacts

Send branded images, promotional content or coupon codes to those who opt in

Collect post-purchase feedback, reviews and customer insight

Demonstrate social proof on your website with a widget, or push automatic Facebook posts sharing recent purchases

Display a promotional banner on your website to capture contacts instantly

9. Yotpo

Yotpos deep learning technology evaluates your customers product reviews to help you make better business decisions. It identifies key topics that customers mention related to your productsand their feelings toward them. The AI engine extracts relevant reviews from past buyers and presents them in smart displays to convert new shoppers. Yotpo also saves you time moderating reviews. The AI-powered moderation tool automatically assigns a score to each review and flags reviews with negative sentiment so you can focus on quality control instead of manually reviewing every post.

Key features:

Makes it easy for shoppers to filter reviews and find the exact information theyre looking for

Analyzes customer feedback and sentiments to help you improve your products

Integrates with most leading ecommerce platforms, including BigCommerce, Magento and Shopify.

10. Albert AI

Albert is a self-learning software that automates the creation of marketing campaigns for your brand. It analyzes vast amounts of data to run optimized campaigns autonomously, allowing you to feed in your own creative content and target markets, and then use data from its database to determine key characteristics of a serious buyer. Albert identifies potential customers that match those traits, runs trial campaigns on a small group of customerswith results refined by Albert itselfbefore launching it on a larger scale.

Albert plugs into your existing marketing technology stack, so you still have access to your accounts, ads, search, social media and more. Albert maps tracking and attribution to your source of truth so you can determine which channels are driving your business.

Key features:

Breaks down large amounts of data to help you customize campaigns

Plugs into your marketing technology stack and can be used across diverse media outlets, including email, content, paid media and mobile





Final Saying

There are many tools and companies out there that offer AI tools, but this is a small list of resources that we have found to be helpful. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments below this article. As marketing evolves at such a rapid pace, new marketing strategies will be invented that we haven't even dreamed of yet. But for now, this list should give you a good starting point on your way to implementing AI into your marketing mix.




For a large majority of the world, the SolarWinds hack in December 2020 was the first real introduction to digital supply chains and their vulnerabilities. But the reality is that hackers increasingly have been vested in software supply chain attacks, which increased 650% from July 2019 to May 2020 alone.

Likewise, data from Netscouts 2H 2021 Threat Intelligence Report shows that hackers remain laser-focused on attacking the digital supply chain. Specifically, there was a 606% increase in attacks against software publishers from 1H 2021, as well as a 162% increase in attacks on computer manufacturers and a 263% increase against computer storage manufacturing.

When hackers focus so much attention on attacking a particular area, its important to understand what it is and how your company can protect against such attacks.

Why Hackers Attack Supply Chains

A supply chain attack enables malefactors to compromise enterprise networks by attacking connected applications or services owned or used by outside partners, such as suppliers. Using the SolarWinds attack as an example, hackers focused their attentions on SolarWinds in order to gain access to a list of lucrative suppliers and customers.

In other words, a supply chain attack may start several companies removed from the intended target, making it harder to spot. Such attacks also are becoming harder to trace because many are carried out using open-source tools that are publicly available.

Perhaps more frustratingly, companies often dont consider the risk serious enough to protect themselves against it. In a survey of executives from leading companies in the UK, 91% said cyberattacks are a high or very high risk to their business. Nevertheless, nearly a third admit to taking no action on supply chain security, and only 69% say theyre actively managing supply chain risks.

In its November 2021 report on supply chain cybersecurity, the UKs Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) found that the biggest challenges to acting on digital supply chain risks were establishing control of the supply chain (86%) and the need to improve, evolve, and maintain security (85%). Likewise, barriers to effective supply chain cybersecurity risk management included low recognition of supplier cybersecurity risk, limited visibility into supply chains, and insufficient tools for evaluating the cybersecurity risk and limitations of suppliers.

What Happened in 2H 2021?

Although SolarWinds still holds the dubious honor of being the most recognized supply chain attack, threat actors havent stopped there. In July 2021, the Russian gang REvil launched a ransomware attack against IT infrastructure management provider Kaseya, demanding payment of $70 million.

Like SolarWinds, Kaseya boasts thousands of clients worldwide, most of which are managed service providers (MSPs) and internal IT organizations. As such, REvil was able to demand ransoms from more than 1,000 companies throughout the campaign.

Gain a better understanding of how digital supply chain attacks can impact your company by downloading the 2H 2021 Threat Intelligence Report.
State Attorney General William Tong said this week that Connecticut would resist any attempt by other states to prosecute a person who seeks an abortion in Connecticut, or the health care providers who help them.

I will resist any attempt by another state, and any person or official in another state, to come into Connecticut, violate our sovereignty, and seek to make criminals of women, patients, and their health care providers for making choices and accessing health care that are completely legal and protected by Connecticut law, Tong said by email.

Though he declined to get into complicated hypotheticals, Tong said Connecticut will fight with every legal tool available to protect patients and medical professionals within our borders.

Connecticut is a safe harbor state, Gov. Ned Lamont said upon signing a bill into law earlier this year designed to protect people from other states who seek abortions here.

Women deserve the right to make their own decisions about their health care, and about when they want to start a family. Thats why we enacted the strongest protections for a womans right to choose in the country, Lamont said during a recent television ad for his reelection campaign.

But if Connecticut is asked to remand a person from another state seeking an abortion, there is little Connecticut could do, said state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, who helped draft the safe harbor statute.

Our safe harbor laws and other states anti-abortion laws, the battle between those laws will be resolved ultimately in federal court, he said.

Many states had a so-called trigger law in effect, banning abortions as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as it did in a majority decision issued on June 24.

Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said on ABC recently that her state would not file criminal charges against people seeking abortions and many states, such as Texas, have encouraged civil lawsuits as opposed to criminal prosecution.

But Tong said should Connecticut be embroiled in a criminal procedure involving a person seeking an abortion in this state, he would fight that challenge.

I know that radical extremists have succeeded in some places in criminalizing abortion, health care and the exercise of basic rights, he said. But the only thing they have accomplished is to put the lives of millions of American women at risk, and I am certain, to get people killed. I will not do anything to enable or help them.
Bobcat sightings are not uncommon in Connecticut. About two years ago in July 2020, there were around 1,500 reports of bobcat sightings in the state, with some bobcat sightings in Brookfield and Ridgefield that year.

Mountain lions, however, arent seen much in the Nutmeg State, even though several have reportedly been spotted around the Woodbridge area this month.

Heres what to know about mountain lions (and other large cats) in Connecticut.

How many mountain lion sightings does Connecticut have every year?

According to Jason Hawley, a wildlife biologist for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protections Wildlife Division, the department gets around 100 sighting reports of mountain lions each year, but upon further investigation, a good proportion of the sightings end up being bobcats.

When was the last confirmed mountain lion sighting in Connecticut?

Hawley said the last confirmed mountain lion sighting in the state was one that was killed on the Merritt Parkway in 2011 when a car struck the animal near Exit 55.

And the last confirmed sighting prior to the 2011 instance would be a couple hundred years ago, according to Hawley.

What is the difference between a mountain lion and a bobcat?

Also known as cougars, panthers or pumas, mountain lions range in color from tan to grey, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service. Adult males can be around 8 feet in length and weigh between 130 and 150 pounds, while adult females can be 7 feet long and weigh between 65 and 90 pounds. Mountain lions also have tails that can grow up to 3 feet.

According to the Smithsonians National Zoo, bobcats are part of the lynx genus, which means they are related to other cats like the Canadian lynx, Iberian lynx and Eurasian lynx. Bobcats typically have brown fur with a reddish tinge that is marked with black or brown spots or stripes, according to the National Zoo. They also have facial ruffs and ear tufts on the tips of their ears, as well as shorter tails.

Kevin Schafer/Getty Images

However, Hawley noted that Eastern bobcats tend to have very few spots compared to bobcats that are out west or even in the Midwest. If they have spots, they are typically in the white, underside part of the bodies or on the insides of their legs.

We get a lot of pictures sent to us, and people say, I took this picture of a mountain lion in my backyard. And Ill look at it, and to me, its clearly a bobcat, Hawley said. Theyll say, Hey, you can see in the picture that it has a long tail, and when I look at the picture, I say, I see how you would see that because they way these cats walk, theyll kind of stand and trail their rear leg. Especially when pictures are blurry  which happens a lot in trail cameras or youll get pictures taken at night or something on Ring cameras  that hind leg really does often look like a tail kind of curling up behind the animal.

Are mountain lions native to Connecticut?

According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, mountain lions became extinct in Connecticut in the 1800s, and bobcats are the only large wild cats found in the state.

However, the National Wildlife Federation notes that the mountain lions range spreads all across the Americas, from the Canadian Yukon to The Strait of Magellan, making it the greatest range of any living mammal in the Americas.

The U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service reports that mountain lions typical habitat is steep, rocky canyons or mountainous terrain, but they generally can be found wherever deer are present.

Hawley said that the typical range of cougars like mountain lions is from west of the South Dakota area.

If a young male Cougar disperses East, instead of West, they're going to keep walking because they're going to keep looking for an area where they can find a mate, he said. And theyre not going to find one, because the females don't disperse like that. They usually either don't disperse at all or they'll kind of overlap their mother's home range, or they'll disperse very short distances.

What kinds of wild cats are native to Connecticut?

According to the Connecticut DEEP, the bobcat is the only wild cat found in Connecticut. It is also the most common wild cat found in North America.

What do I do if I see a mountain lion?

While recent mountain lion sightings in Connecticut have not been confirmed, if someone suspects they encountered a mountain lion, they should not run away, as it might spur a chase. Instead, people should remain facing the cat and not turn their back on it, make noise and make themselves appear as large as possible by raising their arms over their heads with a jacket.

Otherwise, Hawley said cats like bobcats want nothing to do with people, and they will generally prey on chickens, small dogs or cats. Typically, they will slink out of there as quickly as they can to get away from humans.
FAIRFIELD  The restaurant that was the scene of a recent shooting has voluntarily surrendered its liquor permit, officials said.

The Fairfield Police Department said in a release Tuesday it was informed by the Department of Consumer Protection that the permittee of Wafu in Southport voluntarily surrendered their liquor permit.

This comes after the Fairfield Police Department submitted a request to the state following the shooting for the license to be pulled due to the history of incidents there.

Any violations of law, which occurred on that date (when the request was submitted) and previous are still under investigation by the Department of Consumer Protection, police said in a statement. The Fairfield Police Department would like to thank the DCP for all of their hard work and dedication in this case to ensure that the residents of Fairfield maintain their quality of life and that establishments are functioning within the confines of the law.

Fairfield and Westport police said they received several 911 calls reporting shots fired at Wafu on June 19.

Arriving officers said a large crowd was dispersing from inside the restaurant and employees told police they heard shots following an altercation. One man was struck, as well as the tile backsplash at the end of the bar at head level where patrons were said to have been seated at the time, Police Chief Robert Kalamaras wrote in a report.

Video surveillance showed that once the shots were fired, many patrons fled. At least two people could be seen exchanging gunfire  about 10 shots  in the parking lot, Kalamaras wrote in the report. He said a nearby business and a parked vehicle were also struck by bullets.

Police found that several surveillance cameras inside the restaurant did not work, according to Kalamaras. They were looking for anyone who may have cellphone footage of the encounter to contact police.

No gunshot victims were found at the scene, but shortly after, Bridgeport Hospital notified police it was treating an adult man with a gunshot wound to the arm who said he was shot in Southport, officials said.

Police said days later that the victim was not cooperating with the investigation.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull suspended the restaurants liquor permit on June 21, citing several instances of dangerous and unlawful conduct.

Records show the incident was not the first time officers have been called to Wafu Asian Bistro. In the months leading up to the incident, police were called to Wafu multiple times for a variety of infractions including public urination, underage drinking and a bouncer allegedly pepper spraying a crowd.

The restaurant has remained closed since the shooting, and now appears to be closed permanently.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
Farm workers who were stranded on an island called Kurra in the middle of the Godavari river at Bornepalli village in Raikal mandal. (DC)

Karimnagar: Nine farm workersthree women and a boywere stranded on Kurra island in Godavari river following release of water from the Sri Ram Sagar (SRSP) project into the river.

The nine farm workers were identified as Valle Raghunath, Ranga Rao, Devidas, Saheb Rao, Komre Vijay, Dokke Karthik, Sathya Banuva, Sunitha, and Vijayavati. These agricultural labourers were cultivating and living in tents in the Kurra catchment area from Bornepalli village in Raikal mandal. Due to the recent heavy rains and the release of water from the SRSP project, which elevated the water level in the Godavari river, they were all trapped on the Kurra island.

They contacted the local public representatives through phone. Later, the local representatives alerted the officials. In response, district collector G. Ravi, superintendent of police Sindh Sharma, and MLA Dr. Sanjay Kumar rushed to the Bornepalli village and spoke to the stranded farmers.

Welfare minister Koppula Eshwar, who spoke with the stranded farm laborers, said the state government is taking the necessary measures to rescue them. Additionally, he assured the agricultural labourers that National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) personnel will be sent to rescue them under directives from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
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HARTFORD  Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday announced the release of a $6.3 million grant that will help redevelop the area north of downtown Hartford, near Dunkin Donuts Park.

One reason this is a winner is because its part of a strategy, Lamont said. Its part of a vision.

Lamont announced the funding at a Wednesday news conference after touring the neighborhood alongside Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and other local and state officials. The grant is part of the Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant Program, where communities across the state apply for state funds to improve development in their areas. The state plans to open applications for another wave of grants later this year.

The Hartford redevelopment was a clear winner, said Community Development Deputy Commissioner Alexandra Daum.

Were between so many important neighborhoods, were between so many important new developments and were standing on a completely underutilized gorgeous corner lot, she said. This will fill in our corner lot and will complete the sort of vibrant corridor thats coming from the ballpark in this direction.

The project, at the corner of Ann Uccello and Main streets, was among 12 winners out of 52 applicants across the state, Daum said. The plans call for an apartment complex with 43 units, 25 percent of which will be affordable housing units. There will also be 8,500 square feet of retail space and a plaza equipped to hold community events.

The city is developing the area in partnership with the San Juan Center and Carabetta Development LLC. San Juan Center executive director Fernando Betancourt and Bronin joked theyd like to break ground tomorrow, but Betancourt said its likely the project will start this fall and take about a year and half to complete.

Its part of an ongoing attempt to redevelop the area north of downtown, following the completion of Dunkin Donuts Park in 2017.

For decades, the area just north of downtown was a sea of surface parking lots, Bronin said. It was a sea of vacant lots that was a physical and psychological barrier between our neighborhoods.

Now, officials hope the project will drive even more investment in the area. Developers and local officials had asked community members to submit their ideas and thoughts on the development for a survey, and Betancourt said the buy-in from the community means success is guaranteed.

Investment attracts investment, Bronin said. Confidence breeds confidence and people bring people. And thats what this kind of project is about. Its about taking one more step in development to help lay the groundwork for the future development that comes after.

jonah.dylan@hearstmediact.com
BRIDGEPORT  Superintendent Michael Testani will continue to helm the citys public school system for the next three years.

The Board of Education on Monday voted 6-3 to approve a new three-year contract for the districts top administrator that includes guaranteed raises in its second and third years.

The vote came after Testani agreed to forfeit three weeks of vacation time and other benefits in exchange for stripping out a clause in the employment agreement that requires the superintendent to live within the city limits.

The decision to provide Mr. Testani with a new agreement going out to 2025 is one which provides stability of leadership to the District, and I'm very happy we were able to cement it, Board Chair John Weldon wrote in an email Tuesday.

Weldon voted in favor of the contract alongside Board Secretary Joseph Lombard, Sybil Allen, Albert Benejan, Erika Castillo and Michael Maccarone. Vice Chair Bobbi Brown, Christine Baptiste-Perez and Joseph Sokolovic voted in opposition.

The three board members who opposed the contract said they were not comfortable offering Testani, who lives in a neighboring community, an extension after he failed to establish residency in the city  a requirement outlined in his previous contract.

In an interview, Brown, who praised Testani for his work ethic and credited him with boosting student morale in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, said she wanted to hold Testanti accountable for failing to abide by the initial agreement.

Although I appreciate Mr. Testani with all of my being and all that he does for the students in the city of Bridgeport, I felt that because part of his previous contract wasnt honored, I couldnt vote to support this new contract, she said.

Brown noted that the city school board has included the requirement in previous employment agreements. Former Superintendent Aresta Johnson, for example, was required to move to the Park City from Waterbury when she took over the role in 2017.

I believe that the requirement is important because it sends a message to the community that you understand the district that you live in and you also understand the needs of the people and the parents that you are serving, Brown said.

According to a copy of the new contract obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, Testani will be paid a base salary of $275,000 and a $5,000 annuity contribution next year, matching his current compensation. He will then be provided a 2 percent raise in the second and third years of the agreement, which ends in June 2025.

The contract also provides Testani with life insurance benefits worth twice his base salary, a common provision that was not included in his previous agreement with the board.

Testani is among the highest paid superintendents in the state. An investigation by Hearst Connecticut Media last year found that he was the 16th highest compensated superintendent when he was paid $250,000 in the 2020-2021 academic year.

As a part of the agreement to remove the residency requirement from the new contract, Testani conceded roughly $19,500 in benefits, Weldon said. The concessions include giving up the equivalent of three weeks of vacation time and declining to pursue a fuel allowance increase from $200 per month to $500 per month.

Testani had previously urged the board to reconsider the residency requirement. In a meeting with the board last year, he noted that he lives just a few minutes from the district office and continued to come into work through the worst months of the pandemic.

Weldon said a majority of the board signed off on the new terms because they felt the residency requirement could not be enforced from a practical standpoint since it is not backed by a state law or local ordinance.

In the end, Mr. Testani was agreeable to all of this because, as he expressed, he enjoys his work leading Bridgeport Public Schools and he wants to continue doing it, Weldon wrote I, for one, am glad we have the leader that we do and that we were able to come to an agreement to retain him.
Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will arrive in Visakhapatnam on Friday to transfer Rs 261 crore into accounts of 2.61 lakh beneficiaries under the Vahana Mitra scheme.

IT and industries minister Gudivada Amarnath said the programme had actually been scheduled on Wednesday. But it got postponed to Friday due to adverse weather conditions since past few days.

The minister said as far as Vahana Mitra scheme is concerned, this is the first time that CM will transfer amounts to beneficiaries of the entire state at a programme being held in Vizag. He underlined that 2.61 lakh auto and cab drivers throughout the state will benefit from the scheme. About 20,000 of them are from Visakhapatnam district.

Since the inception of Vahana Mitra, total Rs 750 crore have so far been disbursed. With the latest transfer, the amount distributed under Vahana Mitra will cross Rs 1,000 crores.
India is to surpass China as the most populous country in 2023, at least four years earlier than last forecast. Far from being a distinction to be celebrated, it will be a diadem of thorns that India will be wearing while much of the developed world will be witnessing a decline in population. From 1.21 billion in 2011, according to the last census, the Indian population is projected to grow to 1.66 billion by 2050. There would be nearly 1.42 bn residents in India around the time it overtakes China and the sheer enormity of that number is sufficient to send shivers down the spine of those as it must be seen as the biggest challenge to even economic growth.

The eight billion-mark for the world is fast approaching with a November 15 date projected for that milestone now. Not even the slowing rate of population growth does anything to lessen the task of meeting the needs of humans in the face of finite planetary resources that are dwindling rapidly thanks to the consumption levels of todays people. China may have used its demographic dividend smartly in the second half of the 20th century but such a dividend has eluded us, staying mostly on paper rather than spurring a beneficial value-generation curve.

The greying of the population is another burden that Indian society would have to bear as life expectancy stands at a healthy 72+ even if a slight dip may have been caused by the pandemic. Rising life expectancy and low levels of fertility and birth rates may see a rise globally in the 65+ population from the current 10 per cent to 16 per cent by 2050. The education needs of the youngest segment of the population and the healthcare requirements of the aged will spiral upwards, which simply means that not only financial resources have to be found to sustain the population levels.

Any projection of job growth would have to account for the expanding numbers and this is where a sense of helplessness creeps in given the changing profile of jobs from traditional farming and manufacturing to new age employment in a digitally-driven world that would have to rise exponentially to cater to future numbers of the ages 24-65 workforce. While ensuring the economic participation of a working age population running into hundreds of millions of people would be a huge challenge, there is little place for any propagandist majoritarian fears that leaders of a particular political party stoke against people of a particular group.

As education, economic want and awareness of the finite quality of resources spread, population will only decline in the modern age and imbalances are never likely to be so great as to cause heartburn. Notwithstanding the numbers, there is little need for enforced birth control measures of any kind as Indias population count is expected to plateau before declining in this century itself. What the explosion towards becoming the worlds most populous nation entails is far better planning of the economy, which would have to cater to a population in excess of 1.5 bn. Are we up to the challenge?
When you give people opportunities in a meritocratic system which encourages the best of everyone, the cream always rises to the top.

So, as a Ghanaian Brit, I am delighted when I look at the sheer diversity of the candidates who have been vying to be leader of the Conservative Party, and our next Prime Minister.

As this diverse range of candidates proves, hard work reaps dividends and that is what it means to be British, writes Esther Krakue

Of the 11 who initially entered the contest, six were from ethnic minority backgrounds  from Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch to Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi, Sajid Javid and lesser-known backbencher Rehman Chishti.

Thats more than half, all with first-hand experience of what Britain is really like for people from immigrant families.

And of the eight candidates who made it on to the ballot yesterday, four arent white.

Equally striking, four of them  Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt  are women.

It is a line-up that affirms what I have always believed about Britain: this is a country that offers everyone a chance to succeed, and that has the right approach to diversity.

Not that those on the Labour benches would let you believe it. I cant wait to see their embarrassment if the Tories elect a third woman to lead the country, when there has never been a female Labour leader, let alone Prime Minister.

And what will the self-righteous, minority-obsessed Opposition think if the Tories, after giving Britain its first ethnic-minority Home Secretaries and Chancellors, now elect their first non-white Prime Minister?

Of the eight candidates who have made it into the Conservative leadership race, four aren't white and half are women (Pictured left to right: Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Nadhim Zahawi, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Jeremy Hunt, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch)

Labours front bench is notably pale and completely stale.

For, according to the increasingly narrow categories imposed by the Left, I, as a woman of colour (not a term I use myself), must surely be an oppressed victim  and, more importantly, a victim of Tory racists.

But  and heres the great irony  if I were to voice an opinion that didnt echo this Leftist orthodoxy, I would be immediately cancelled and subjected to vile abuse that is often in itself deeply racist.

If they didnt know it already, this is something many of the leadership candidates will have discovered in recent days.

For example, as The Mail on Sunday reported, prominent Remainer barrister and staunch Left-winger Jolyon Maugham tweeted Mr Sunak on Friday, asking: Do you think the members of your Party are ready to select a brown man, Rishi?

He has also retweeted a post that, in an attempt to bash the Tories pro-Brexit mandate, shockingly calls Suella Braverman a Brexit jihadist.

Maughams lack of self-awareness would be comical if it werent so sickening. For in his desperation to paint the Tory Party as a bunch of racist bigots, he has revealed his own hateful prejudices.

Political activist and Left-wing lawyer Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has also shown her true colours.

In one particularly vile tweet, she wrote: Kemi Badenoch is a GIFT for racists & White supremacy  [she] uses her Black identity to delegitimise the systemic oppression she claims [the] UK is falsely accused of & now uses Black minority identity to run for Prime Minister. A Black Racial-Gatekeeping Executioner of Tory racist policies.

Dr Mos-Shogbamimu also accused Badenoch of power-grabbing and told her to crawl back into her mother for whitewashing [the] British Empire.

She has similarly taken aim at Nadhim Zahawi, also describing him as a shameless racial gatekeeper.

Meanwhile, Marxist campaigner Ash Sarkar has mocked the candidates humble beginnings, tweeting on Monday: Every BAME Torys leadership pitch starts with, My parents came to this country with NOTHING but a copy of Atlas Shrugged in their pockets . . .

I learned of this hatred in the Left about three years ago, when I wrote my first piece for the Mail, in which I questioned the motives of the controversial Black Lives Matter organisation in the UK.

The online reaction was horrific. I was called every name imaginable and bombarded with threats. One person, a total stranger, hoped that I would be barren  apparently in the twisted belief that this sentiment would advance the cause of black British people.

Worse, my mothers phone number was published online and people were encouraged to stalk my family.

One of the most common insults I hear used against Right-wing ethnic minorities is the word coconut, implying that someone is brown on the outside, white on the inside.

Id hope that any ten-year-old would be disgusted to hear such a slur in the playground, but apparently its commonplace in socialist circles.

Indeed, much of this abuse is in plain view. Consider, for instance, a cartoon in The Guardian from two years ago, drawn by Steve Bell, depicting Home Secretary Priti Patel as a fat bull with horns and a ring through her nose.

It strikes me that, far from being progressive, the Left are actually the ones stuck in the past and fixated on the colour of peoples skin.

In contrast, the Right are far happier simply to accept individuals for who they are, whatever colour they may be.

How else do you explain the impressively diverse array of Tory candidates who lined up to compete to be our next Prime Minister?

It is no coincidence that Labour wants to drag us decades into the past by refusing to condemn the strike and work-to-rule plans of unions threatening us with a Summer of Discontent.

For despite all its claims of being reformist and modernising, it refuses to let go of old shibboleths.

After the Tory infighting of recent months, Labour ought to be far further ahead in the polls. Instead, it is tying itself in knots over irrelevant Westminster bubble stories or woke minority issues, leaving most ordinary Britons baffled and despairing in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

Meanwhile, when it comes to policy areas voters actually care about  such as immigration and Brexit  Labour MPs accuse the Tories of being the ones who are reactionary and out of touch with the public mood.

An argument made all the more ridiculous when you consider that Labours own front bench is notably pale and completely stale.

Let me be clear: I would never advocate for quotas or positive discrimination. On the contrary, those guilt-ridden policies are guaranteed to suppress real meritocracy.

Frankly, I couldnt care less if the entire Cabinet consisted of middle-aged white men  or Millennial Asian women, for that matter  as long as they were demonstrably the best people for the job.

In reality, of course, the best never come from just one background. We can see this clearly in the Tory Party, which has enjoyed 12 years in power.

And we can see it equally clearly in the line-up for the leadership contest, with candidates such as Kemi Badenoch, who worked at McDonalds to fund her university studies, and Rishi Sunak, whose campaign video tells the inspirational story of his grandmother coming to Britain from India in the hope of a better life.

Conservatism offers a natural home to aspiration and equal opportunity. And the Party nurtures those who want to put their talents to work. Because, as this diverse range of candidates proves, hard work reaps dividends.

And that is what it means to be British.

Esther Krakue is a writer and broadcaster.
To loud cheers from a Westminster audience on Monday, Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch announced resolutely: I know what a woman is.

This followed a rhetorical question on Twitter over the weekend from another leadership hopeful, Penny Mordaunt. DO I KNOW WHAT A WOMAN IS? she asked, with the immediate reply: Yes I do. I am a woman.

Feminist author Louise Perry discusses how politicians have responded to the question: What is a woman?'

Imagine the bemusement of a time traveller arriving in the UK in 2022. In any era but our own, the question what is a woman? would be met with slack-jawed confusion. Isnt it obvious?

Yet here we have the people battling to become our next Prime Minister grappling over this most basic of questions.

Last night, a poll of Tory members showed that Mordaunt and Badenoch are the current favourites, way out ahead of other candidates with 20 per cent and 19 per cent of the vote share, respectively.

Both are glamorous women in their 40s who are offering a fresh start for the Conservative Party, as well as for the country. And both of these women are also at loggerheads on the what is a woman? question.

Badenoch has made a name for herself as the anti-woke candidate of choice, and has stated clearly that she has no patience for extremist transgender activism.

Whereas Mordaunt finds herself on the back foot, so much so that the apparently trivial issues of gender neutral toilets and preferred personal pronouns may yet derail the leadership hopes of a minister used to talking about more serious issues of defence and international aid.

But Mordaunt has made a grave error in thinking that this issue doesnt matter. Transgender people may form only a tiny proportion of the population, but political questions concerning them  particularly on single-sex spaces  have become explosive, and for good reason.

Failing to answer a question as fundamental as what is a woman? makes a politician look dishonest and deranged. If she cant even answer that, many voters think, how will she cope with the really tough questions?

The trouble is that a lot of politicians are far too concerned with the opinions of a tiny number of woke activists. Who can forget the image of Labour leader Keir Starmer squirming on the BBC sofa, asked by Andrew Marr if he agreed with the statement only women have a cervix?

It is something that shouldnt be said, stuttered a mortified Starmer, in reply. Its not right.

All politicians have now come to expect the woman question, but Badenoch is one of only a few willing to give a straightforward answer to it.

Speaking at a free-speech event in Westminster this week, she expressed her frustration at the way transgender ideology is sweeping through our institutions  and preventing people from saying what they believe.

As a minister, I met clinicians unable to express honest professional opinions about patients; schools and NHS trusts who felt pressured to end the use of the words woman and girl, she said. On the abolition of gender-neutral toilets, you wouldnt believe how tough it was to get that through. I had civil servants writing on the notes Id put out saying you cant say that, you need to check whether thats something youre allowed to say.

Sensible: Kemi Badenoch

Mordaunt, in contrast, has prevaricated on this issue again and again. She has described herself as someone who has been quite vocal on trans rights. And she has walked the walk, too  attempting, for instance, to insert the term pregnant people rather than pregnant women into legislation on maternity rights.

Trans men are men and trans women are women, said Mordaunt from the Despatch Box during the maternity rights debate only a year ago.

Does she now regret those words? Because this week she claimed that she was actually the person responsible for removing the bizarre phrase pregnant people from that Bill, even though those amendments were made in the Lords. Her slippery account suggests shes a candidate who knows she has misstepped.

Sometimes she is (to use her phrase) vocal on trans rights, but at other times she does her best to dodge the what is a woman question. In 2019, Mordaunt buckled under characteristically no-nonsense interrogation on the parenting platform Mumsnet.

Given her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, Mumsnetters asked her several variations of the crucial question and she refused to answer any of them directly.

What explains this inconsistency?

It may be that Mordaunt is influenced by her twin brother James, who has publicly praised her many times, but who has also claimed that LGBT rights have gone backwards under the Tories, tweeting that if you are a member of the Conservative Party, a Conservative MP, part of this homophobic transphobic Government, you are complicit.

Such sharp comments suggest some serious tensions in the family  way beyond a bit of sibling teasing. Mordaunt is in a tricky spot  she may want to please her brother, but she must know by now that the public are not on board with the most strident forms of transgender activism.

British people are generally a tolerant bunch, and more than willing to be respectful towards people struggling with unhappiness about their gender.

But polling finds that most voters think that trans people who identify as women should be allowed to use womens bathrooms only after theyve had surgery, and theyre not at all happy about athletes who were born male competing in womens sports. The answer to the what is a woman? question is easy for almost everyone outside the Westminster bubble: a woman is an adult human female.

Nor are most Britons supportive of what Badenoch calls the zero-sum identity politics we see today. As a black British woman who spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, she has experienced first hand the culture of low expectations that can hold back people from ethnic minorities.

Leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has made a grave error in thinking that this issue doesnt matter. Transgender people may form only a tiny proportion of the population, but political questions concerning them  particularly on single-sex spaces  have become explosive, and for good reason

As women and equalities minister, Badenoch was crystal clear on the fact that political race theory  or what is often nowadays described as wokeness  should have no place in the classroom.

The more ethnicity is emphasised, she has said, the weaker national identity becomes.

Compare this sensible approach to Mordaunts comments in her book Greater: Britain After the Storm, published last year, which contains some surprisingly scathing comments about vintage British film and TV including Lawrence Of Arabia, and It Aint Half Hot, Mum, the last of which is described as a full-house bingo card of casual racism, homophobia, white privilege, colonialism, transphobia, bullying, misogyny and sexual harassment.

Mordaunts supporters have tried to claim that she is no woke warrior, but her record suggests otherwise. Her newly released campaign video includes this peculiarly defensive line: Choose your leader, not because you agree with everything they say, but because you trust their motives.

I think we can all guess what kind of disagreement shes expecting. Mordaunt has realised, too late, that the what is a woman? issue could spell her undoing. Her rival, Kemi Badenoch, is the candidate with the best answer  on this question, and on many others.

LOUISE PERRY is author of The Case Against The Sexual Revolution.
No sooner had Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle called time than that unmistakable tuft of blonde went whizzing past him like a cockatoo on a zip wire.

Boris Johnson had just completed PMQs. And, by the sounds of it, quite possibly for the very last time.

There was no fuss, no fanfare, no valedictory raise of the arms to colleagues. Just a mad dart for the double doors behind the Speakers chair, leaving behind him the faintest of vapour trails.

Its true that Boris is due to partake in one more joust next week before summer recess. But he repeatedly hinted yesterday that something else was quite likely to pop up in the meantime.

One last visit to Ukraine, perhaps. Or possibly a convenient bout of appendicitis.

A volley of guilt-tinged cheers accompanied Boris Johnson to his seat. On the benches behind him, the salty tang of disloyalty hung in the air

Could you blame him? War-torn Kyiv or raging gut ache (real or imagined) would surely be preferable to another week in this rancid place, among his party of ruthless stabbers-in-the-back.

Particularly if it means enduring more of Sir Keir Starmers sanctimonious sermons.

Mr Johnson arrived in the chamber bang on midday. For once, he was alone. A volley of guilt-tinged cheers accompanied him to his seat.

On the benches behind him, the salty tang of disloyalty hung in the air.

Suddenly, a noisy din erupted from one corner of the chamber. A couple of grunts from former SNP leader Alex Salmonds breakaway Alba party, Kenny MacAskill (E Lothian) and Neale Hanvey (Kirkcaldy), were protesting noisily about something.

Mr Hanvey in particular was furious, his forehead jabbing the air back and forth. He could have been giving instructions on how to deliver the perfect Glasgow kiss.

With the PM out of the way, Starmer concentrated his fire on trying to embarrass the Tory leadership candidates

What their beef was wasnt entirely clear. Scottish independence? Usually is. Either that or the price of a pint of McEwans in the Strangers bar has skyrocketed.

The Speaker was apoplectic. Shurr-up! he screamed. Gerrr-out! By now, Sir Lindsays tonsils were practically doing the can-can.

Meanwhile, Boris just sat there tittering, unperturbed by the commotion. Possibly as he had Nadhim Zahawi on his shoulder. Burly Mr Zahawi is not someone many would take a swing at.

What to say about PMQs? Well, Sir Keir Starmer was boring. Not my words. Most of the Conservative backbenchers shouted it every time he spoke.

Boris decided he was no longer Captain Hindsight but Captain Crasheroony Snoozefest. A promotion! And a richly deserved one too.

With the PM out of the way, Starmer concentrated his fire on trying to embarrass the Tory leadership candidates.

He made a big hoo-ha about overseas tax avoidance schemes, a none-too-subtle reference to Rishi Sunak and his wifes complicated tax affairs.

He referred to the millions of pounds of giveaways candidates were promising through tax cuts. Giveaways? Its our money, pal.

The PM wasnt getting involved in the comings and goings of his potential replacements.

As far as he was probably concerned, whoever it turned out to be, they would wipe the floor with Starmer.

Would any of the current candidates wipe the floor with anyone? Not Penny Mordaunt on yesterdays showing.

A journalist at her launch event accused of her of being Theresa May with big hair. A trifle indelicate. But possibly true.

Once Starmer was out of questions, Boris began his departure speech. He thanked his opponent for the style in which he had conducted himself during their weekly meetings.

It would be fair to say that he has been considerably less lethal than many other members of this House, he joked.

Was that the faintest, tiniest smirk spreading across Labour deputy leader Angela Rayners face? Heaven forbid!

The PM admitted he wasnt leaving his post at his own choosing. But he remained proud of his leadership.

He would soon be exiting Number 10 with my head held high. From behind him there came a steady gurgle of yer, yers.

When a leader is making their final bow, it is customary for opposition parties to afford them a dignified exit.

Yet Labours front bench reacted with typical ungraciousness. David Lammy began playing an imaginary fiddle. Classy.

As for Tory MPs, they didnt rise to see him off. Something they may regret should this turn out to have been his final curtain call.

Then again, there may be rather a lot about Mr Johnsons departure they will regret.
A couple in their 90s celebrated their 70-year wedding anniversary by renewing their vows and the video of the elderly couple has captured the hearts of thousands of viewers, who watched their everlasting love story reach a bittersweet end.

Patricia Hoefling, now 97, and her husband John Hoefling, from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, originally met in the 1940s and enjoyed a life of happiness together.

John, who fought in Vietnam and Korea, and Patricia, a retired teacher, remained devoted to each other, so they celebrated their platinum anniversary with a vow renewal.

The couple's granddaughter Shelby Hoefling, 31, from Alexandria, Virginia, shared her grandparent's heartfelt love story in a TikTok video that has since gone viral with over 780,000 views and 174,000 likes.

Patricia Hoefling, 97, and her husband John, who died at the age of 93, from Pennsylvania, celebrated their 70-year anniversary by renewing their vows

Patricia and John met in the 1940s and enjoyed a life of happiness together, they celebrated by renewing their vows at a ceremony alongside family and friends

At the ceremony Patricia gave a toast to her husband and said 'May we live 100 years. May I live 100 years, less one day.'

In the video Shelby explained that her 'Nanny' and 'GrandJack' first married on April 12, 1947, and added that it would be their 75-year anniversary the day she posted the video.

Shelby shared footage from Patricia and John's 70-year wedding anniversary, which showed the couple renewing their vows.

'You know, I'm gonna say no,' GrandJack joked before the service, as he slipped on his military jacket covered in ribbons and the two stars of a major general.

The video then shows the couple in the car looking their very best ahead their ceremony filled with family and friends.

John wore a full uniform and his walker at his side, while Patricia wore an ivory lace blouse, an ivory calf-length skirt, satin heels, pearl earrings and a pearl necklace, and let her short red hair hang down.

When the couple arrived at the ceremony family and friends greeted them with smiles while bagpipes played in the background.

The couple's granddaughter Shelby Hoefling(pictured above with Patricia), 31,shared her grandparent's heartfelt love story in a TikTok video that has since gone viral

Shelby wished her 'role models' a happy anniversary and said her 'Nanny' 'doesn't go a day without loving him' (Patricia and John pictured above when they first married)

Shelby also shared a video of her grandmother visiting John's grave with the caption: 'their love for each other will never end no matter what'

'Here's to us, my love,' Patricia said onstage after they renewed their vows. 'May we live 100 years. May I live 100 years, less one day.'

Granddaughter Shelby said: 'The ceremony was beautiful - it was such an amazing day.

'They really had the strongest love for one another.'

They got married the first time on April 12, 1947, and the renewal took place in 2017 - two years before John passed away.

Shelby revealed that her grandparents were married a total of 72 years before her grandfather John died at the age of 92.

In her viral TikTok video Shelby wished her 'role models' a happy 75-year anniversary and said her 'Nanny' 'doesn't go a day without loving him just as she vowed she would 'love him all the days of her life.''

Shelby, who released the video to commemorate her grandparents, added: 'Ever since grandad died, a part of grandma is missing.

'Their faith was very important to them both, and grandma has no doubt she'll see him again.'

Shelby also shared a video of her grandmother visiting John's grave with the caption: 'their love for each other will never end no matter what.'

TikTok users were captivated by Patricia and John's heartfelt love story and were left in tears after viewing their video

She added that her 'GrandJack's' tenure in the Army often left her grandmother along for long periods of time but believes that their 'love is what got them through so much.'

Shelby noted that her grandparent's love for each other 'helped' them live as long as they did.

The footage of the couple renewing their vows not only touches hearts, but also reminds viewers that a long-lasting marriage is something to be cherished.

The average length of a first marriage is around seven years, and almost half of all marriages tend to end in divorce, according to the CDC.

The couple's love outlasted even John's life and Patricia and her husband of over 70 years proved their love was an exception to the statistic and TikTok users were left in tears over their love story.

'Who's chopping onions!?!' asked one user.

Another user added: 'Wow I love this. I wish all marriage ended like this.'

When my grandmother passed, my grandfather mourned so greatly that he would place her urn next to him in bed because he couldn't sleep without her.' said a third user.
An Aussie mum has revealed how she transformed her kitchen using K-mart products for just $1,000 - after being quoted $50,000 by professionals.

Nga Yeung, from Forest Hill, Victoria, changed her outdated and drab kitchen into a glamorous modern space with grey countertops and white tiles.

Posting to Kmart Hacks & Decor Facebook group, the mum-of-two shared snaps of her old kitchen, which included birch cupboard doors and a white counter.

An Aussie mum has revealed how she transformed her kitchen herself using K-mart products for just $1000 - after being quoted $50,000 by professionals. Nga Yeung, from Forest Hill, Victoria, changed her outdated drab kitchen into a glamorous modern room with grey countertops and white tiles. Left before, right after

But the new kitchen was much brighter with trendy patterned walls and a more contemporary design.

'Got quoted 50k for a kitchen renovation so thought I had nothing to lose by diy-ing my own kitchen update,' she wrote in the group.

'Ended up costing me a little over 1k, but I think it was well worth the effort!

'Amazing what a lick of paint and Kmart herringbone stick on tiles can do!

Posting to Kmart Hacks & Decor Facebook group, the mum-of-two shared snaps of her old kitchen, which included birch cupboard doors and white counter. But the new kitchen (pictured) was much brighter with trendy patterned walls and a more contemporary design

Nga added that she had the help of her husband to complete the project, and they both took two weeks off work during the school holidays to do it. She also gave full breakdown of everything she bought, including sanding blocks, cover stain prime, cabinet paint in white satin, tile laminate, a Stanley knife, a ruler and Adhesive 3D Tiles. Left before, right after

'P.S the herringbone was a b**** to lay, not gonna lie'

What Nga used for her $1000 kitchen revamp 1x Ozito pxc orbital sander

2x 180 grit sanding discs for cabinets

2x Medium sanding blocks

2x Fine sanding blocks

1x 240 grit sanding discs for benchtop

1x Zinsser cover stain primer sealer stain killer (2 coats for cabinets)

Dulux renovators cabinet paint white satin 3L (none tinted, 3-4 coats as needed for cabinets)

1x White Knight renew tile and laminate primer (1 coat for benchtop)

Paint trays, mineral turps, paint stirrers, Stanley knife, ruler 1x White Knight tile and laminate paint satin (silk wort tint colour, 2 coats for benchtop)

2x 4mm nap microfibre rollers

2x 38mm and 2x 50mm Angle sash cutter brushes

22x oliver 37mm door knobs from Highgrove Bathrooms

Stainless steel splash back (custom size from Control Fab Kilsyth)

9x 5 Pack Self Adhesive 3D Tiles - Herringbone

Miscellaneous items extra roller refills, paint

Drop sheets, painters tap, silicone, caulking gun Advertisement

She added that she had the help of her husband to complete the project, and they both took two weeks off work during the school holidays to do it.

'The 50k we were quoted was to rip out the old kitchen and knock down the stove wall to the dining room then replace all cabinets, add a Island, stone top, tiles and basically a completely different layout,' she explained.

She also gave a full breakdown of everything she bought including sanding blocks, cover stain prime, cabinet paint in white satin, tile laminate, a Stanley knife, a ruler and Adhesive 3D Tiles.

Nga even cut around power points herself - but admitted there was 'a lot of measuring and mistakes'.

'My tip would be to remove the power caps, cut 3mm less, place it back on and trim any excess as you go to get a close fit' she wrote.

She also said she was 'happy' with the tiles but said they were 'very sticky' and could become stuck on existing grout or silicone.

'The whole sheets stick fine over these areas, but the small triangles I had to use some super glue for extra adhesion and will be putting a silicone along the edges of benchtop and cabinets where the tiles meet to hopefully stop them from peeling off.'

Hundreds of people commented on the new kitchen, praising her for the amazing work.

'Looks amazing,' said one.

'What a change! Looks great!' added another.

'What an amazing transformation! Well done you,' commented one person.
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Fake identities, a briefcase full of cash, a mid-flight bomb threat, and a mysterious criminal who disappears into the night, never to be seen again - it sounds like the plot of the latest Hollywood conman caper, but this is actually the extraordinary - but true - case of a man called Dan 'DB' Cooper.

The American hijacker, who is known by the media as Cooper, but whose real identity is still unknown, took over a plane while it was flying over the United States in 1971 and held the entire flight for ransom - and then somehow escaped by parachuting out of the door mid-air, making off with $200,000 in cash.

The mysterious case, which remains unsolved today, quickly took the country by storm, and went on to become one of the most talked about incidents of its time.

After jumping from the moving plane with his money and a parachute, Cooper went missing - and his fate is still not known - however, law enforcement, government officials, retired detectives, and civilian sleuths continued to look for the mystery man for many years to come.

Now, Cooper's story has been explored in a gripping, new, four-part Netflix docu-series, entitled DB Cooper: Where Are You?!, which premiered on the streaming site this week.

The case of Dan 'DB' Cooper, seen in a police sketch, an American hijacker who made off with $200,000 after holding a flight to ransom in 1971, has been retold in a new Netflix docu-series, entitled DB Cooper: Where Are You?!

In November 1971, a 'non-descript man' identifying himself as Dan 'DB' Cooper got on a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He then told the pilot he had a bomb and asked for $200,000. Pictured is the plane he hijacked

While various clues have emerged over the years, including a stash of cash found in a riverbed believed to be part of his ransom money, there has never been anything concrete enough to bring the case to a close.

Back in November 1971, a 'non-descript man' identifying himself as Dan 'DB' Cooper bought a $20 ticket for a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle.

He settled into his seat, smoking cigarettes and drinking bourbon, before telling a flight attendant shortly after takeoff that he had a bomb in his briefcase and a note for the pilot.

Included in the letter was a demand from the criminal, ordering the pilot to communicate with authorities on the ground and tell them to bring him $200,000 in cash (which would be equivalent to around $1.2 million now) and four parachutes in exchange for the lives of the 36 passengers aboard the aircraft.

The only clue to what happened happened to Cooper was discovered nine years later in 1980. A young boy camping with his family on the Columbia River, northwest of Vancouver, discovered $6,000 of Cooper's ransom money in a riverbank, pictured

When the flight landed in Seattle, Cooper successfully traded the hostages for the cash with the FBI. However, he then ordered that the Northwest pilots take off once more in the direction of Mexico City; Cooper instructed the pilots to fly the plane under 10,000 feet and at a speed lower than 200 knots.

Then, somewhere between Seattle and Reno just after 8pm, Cooper lowered the rear steps and leaped out the back of the plane using one of the parachutes swindled from authorities and clutching onto the cash in a briefcase.

The pilots later landed safely, but the man the press would later dub as 'DB' Cooper disappeared without a trace in the night  leaving his identity and fate to become the subject of folklore and prompting one of the longest and most exhaustive investigations in FBI history.'

The FBI, who speculated that Cooper died in the fall, attempted to find the exact location of Cooper's landing by recreating his drop with the same plane and the location that he jumped. They searched the area extensively - but they didn't uncover anything.

Officials were able to extract partial DNA from Cooper's tie clip, which was left on the plane, however, they were never able to match it to anyone.

Based on elements found on the tie, it was believed the Cooper either worked in a metal or chemical manufacturing plant or was possibly a Boeing employee. FBI suspect profilers also said he may have been an Air Force veteran.

Robert Rackstraw (pictured), a military vet with a murky past riddled by fraud and con-artistry, is one of the people believed to be the real DB Cooper, however, there have been numerous suspects over the years. He died in 2019

One of the only concrete clues as to what happened happened to Cooper was discovered nine years after the incident, in 1980.

A young boy camping with his family on the Tena Bar stretch of the Columbia River, northwest of Vancouver, came across $6,000 of Cooper's ransom money, bound-together by elastic bands, while he dug a fire pit on the riverbank.

The discovery, confirmed by the serial number on the cash, led the FBI to believe that the money had washed down river, 18 miles from Cooper's drop zone, and had been buried in the sand ever since.

But the theory was later thrown into question after scientists analyzed tiny particles of algae that had attached to the notes and suggested that the money had ended up in the river months after Cooper's flight - leading many to believe that he had survived the drop after all.

The rest of Cooper's ransom money was never found, despite FBI releasing the serial numbers to the public and offering rewards to any who turned in a matching bill.

That extensive search for the hijacker ended in 2016, when the FBI closed the case unsolved. FBI agents are seen scouring the sand of a beach of the Columbia River, searching for additional money or clues on February 13, 1980

That extensive search for the hijacker ended in 2016, when the FBI closed the case unsolved, having investigated thousands of possible suspects and countless false leads.

During the 45-year investigation, officials had a number of ideas about Cooper's real identity, some of which are featured in the new Netflix show.

The most compelling was arguably Robert Rackshaw, a retired pilot and military veteran with a murky past riddled by murder accusations and con-artistry.

Rackstraw had extensive military training, serving in the National Guard, the Reserve, and in one of the most decorated combat divisions in the US Army - the 1st Calvary Division - in Vietnam in 1969. He is rumored to have been granted immunity for his crimes after flying black ops missions for the CIA.

Rackstraw was first considered as a suspect seven years after the hijacking in 1978, with investigators saying so many things about him seemed to match the description of Cooper.

Between his resemblance to the sketch of Cooper, his military training, and his criminal record, law enforcement was suspicious of Rackshaw, who died in 2019, but couldn't find any direct evidence linking him to the case.

Cooper would be in his 90s now - that is, if he even survived the drop from the plane and if he is still alive today.
Fellow dog owner John Wilmer found Bonnie and took her to a dog show

The couple, 52 and 48, led a three-hour search with neighbours to find her

A family who were worried sick when their dog disappeared were baffled when she returned the next day - wearing a rosette from a dog show.

Peter and Paula Closier's five-year-old beagle-cross Bonnie vanished from the family home in Bolney, West Sussex on Sunday morning, leaving them heartbroken.

Desperate to find their beloved pet, the couple enlisted their two daughters and close neighbours to help find her.

Paula, 48, called the police, vets and dog warden in a bid to locate Bonnie, whom she and Paul, 52, rescued from Crete four years ago.

Peter Closier (pictured with Bonnie and his daughter Eva), was worried sick when Bonnie disappeared from the family home in Bolney, West Sussex, on Sunday morning

Bonnie, who is four years old, had a busy Sunday afternoon putting on a show for the judges at a dog competition in Surrey

Little did they know fellow dog owner John Wilmer had spotted the pet by the side of the road just minutes after she escaped as he took his two dogs to a show in Felbridge, Surrey.

Later that day Paula was relieved when she spotted a Facebook post from John asking for Bonnie's owner to get in touch.

Once he knew Bonnie's owners had been located, John decided to take Bonnie with him to the competition - and jokingly entered her into the Best Rescue Dog category.

The proud pooch impressed the judges and was awarded a third-place rosette.

Recalling their rollercoaster day Peter said they realised Bonnie had escaped at 11.45am when he went to feed her and the other family dog Cleo.

'Bonnie is normally there first but she was not there,' he said.

Bonnie (pictured being held by Peter and Paula's daughter Eva) was rescued by the family from Crete, Greece when she was a year old

Bonnie impressed the judges at the competition and came home with a third place rosette in the 'Best Rescue Dog' category

After Bonnie returned home Peter said she looked like she had just had a 'fun day out'

'We thought maybe she is not interested in food and did a full search of the house. I could not see her.

'I was walking back to the kitchen when I saw the gate had swung and I thought, "oh no".'

He explained the neighbours volunteered to help the family search around the area for Bonnie, with no idea at the time she was in safe hands.

'All along she had been picked up by this guy who had seen her running along the side of the road,' Peter said.

'She had no collar on, we had taken it off the night before.

'He must have picked her up within about five minutes of her getting out.

'Our three hour search was totally fruitless.'

When Paula contacted John, he explained he had picked up Bonnie 'within spitting distance' of the family home, meaning she hadn't got far.

After Bonnie's roaring success winning a rosette, her owner Peter suggested he and his wife Paula consider entering her in more competitions with Cleo

Bonnie lives alongside fellow rescue dog Cleo, who has taken part in two dog contests in the past

Peter added: 'Bonnie was absolutely fine when she got back. She just thought she was having a great day out.

'She knows she shouldn't have run out in the morning.

'I heard other dogs were going by [the house] that morning and so I think she escaped trying to follow other dogs.'

Bonnie's sister Cleo has won three rosettes at dog shows for Greek dogs but the couple, who are both dental technicians, had never entered Bonnie into any competitions.

Peter added: 'We never pursued it with Bonnie. We should do now.

'When she was missing I had five different outcomes in my head, the best being that she came back.

'This was even better than that, she came back with a rosette.'
The Reese Witherspoon-produced film adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing is being panned by critics - who have dubbed the new flick as 'dull,' 'lackluster,' and 'mediocre.'

The movie, which was inspired by the Delia Owens' novel of the same name, is set premiere on July 15, and despite the 2018 book remaining in the top 10 best-seller list four years after it came out, the Hollywood re-telling seems to have missed the mark.

Many critics have slammed the film, which was directed by Olivia Newman and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Stathairn, and Michael Hyatt, among others, as well as features a brand new song by Taylor Swift.

Numerous people have ridiculed the movie for failing to portray the excitement and mystery that the book so-thoughtfully delivered, but instead, coming across as 'two-dimensional,' 'exceedingly rushed,' and 'surface-level.'

The Reese Witherspoon-produced film adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing is being panned by critics - who have dubbed the new flick as 'dull,' 'lackluster,' and 'mediocre'

The movie, which was inspired by the Delia Owens' novel of the same name, is set premiere on July 15. The author is pictured last month

Despite the 2018 book remaining in the top 10 best-seller list four years after it came out, the Hollywood re-telling seems to have missed the mark. Seen are stills from the new movie

Vanity Fair said the 'clunky' movie 'never conjured up much of a mood,' branding it as the 'most basic kind of novel adaptation,' which relied on 'memories of the book rather than creating a texture of its own.'

Many critics have slammed the film, which was directed by Olivia Newman and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris and Dickinson. Dickinson, John Smith, and Edgar-Jones are seen with producer Witherspoon and director Newman at the premiere earlier this week

'It is implied that characters are interesting - its insisted, really - but we never quite see it,' the outlet wrote in its review.

'They are mere functionaries walking the straight line of the plot, vessels for the story to get where it needs to go to satisfy fans of the book as they check off their lists of favorite scenes and snatches of prose.'

The movie and book - which took place throughout the '50s and '60s - followed a young girl named Kya, who was left to fend for herself after her mom abandoned her at a young age.

Kya learned to live on her own in a North Carolina marsh, however, her world was turned upside down when a man was murdered in a nearby coastal town and she was accused of the crime.

Vanity Fair compared the flick to a 'Nicholas Sparks movie with a murder added in for a bit of dark flavoring.'

'The film is just as saccharine and surface-level as those goopy, ominously conservative romances, using a vibrant and complex setting as backdrop,' it said.

'It is a film that could be said to fetishize poverty, or at least one that puts a rosy gloss on the direness of Kyas circumstances. Shes a blank canvas onto which a million romantic fantasies can be projected.'

Numerous people have ridiculed the movie for failing to portray the excitement and mystery that the book so-thoughtfully delivered

Instead, critics said it came across as 'two-dimensional,' 'exceedingly rushed,' and 'surface-level'

Vanity Fair said the 'clunky' movie 'never conjured up much of a mood,' explaining that it relied on 'memories of the book rather than creating a texture of its own'

While the movie was filmed in the swamps of Louisiana, the outlet added that 'it feels as hollow and digital as any modern thing shot on a green-screen soundstage, overly lit and cold to the touch.'

Where the Crawdads Sing's most-scathing reviews Vanity Fair said the 'clunky' movie 'never conjured up much of a mood,' branding it as the 'most basic kind of novel adaptation,' which relied on 'memories of the book rather than creating a texture of its own.'

Rolling Stone said that while screenwriter Lucy Alibar 'retained the book's breathless, beach-read momentum,' it lacks a 'spark in the engine powering these narrative turns.' The outlet added that the 'torrid' story 'feels all sorts of wrong.' It also claimed that Daisy Edgar-Jones 'severely underplayed' the main character Kya, so much so that the audience occasionally wanted 'to check her for a pulse.'

While The Los Angeles Times pointed out that the movie 'dutifully tells the story' that fans of the book fell in love with, it added that the film adaptation 'loses what makes the book works.' The LA Times also stated that the characters feel like 'a two-dimensional version of an archetype, spouting the necessary backstory or subtext to keep the plot churning forward.'

Deadline also wasted no time in bashing the new movie, calling it a 'flattened and de-juiced' re-telling, and comparing it to a 'massively banal and flavorless' bowl of porridge. Advertisement

'Rather than honoring any specific place, or people, or mode of living, Where the Crawdads Sing cheaply develops its land,' it added. 'Its a pre-fab oceanfront condo of a movie that prizes a pleasant view over all else.'

Rolling Stone said that while screenwriter Lucy Alibar 'retained the book's breathless, beach-read momentum,' it lacks a 'spark in the engine powering these narrative turns.'

The outlet added that the 'torrid' story 'feels all sorts of wrong.' It also claimed that Edgar-Jones 'severely underplayed' Kya, so much so that the audience occasionally wanted 'to check her for a pulse.'

In the year after its release, the book sold more copies than any other adult title; it also topped The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2019 and 2020.

As of January 2022, the book had sold 12 million copies - making it one of the best-selling books of all time.

It soon caught the eyes of Witherspoon, who added it to her Hello Sunshine Book Club months after it came out. Now, she has produced the movie, which is being widely criticized by reviewers.

While The Los Angeles Times pointed out that the movie 'dutifully tells the story' that fans of the book fell in love with, it added that the film adaptation 'loses what makes the book works.'

'In the film, which sacrifices getting to know [Kya] in order to prioritize the more scandal-driven twists and turns, she comes off as somewhat silly, a bit easy to laugh at in her naivete and guilelessness,' the LA Times reported.

'The whole world feels sanded-down and spit-shined within an inch of its life, lacking any grime or grit that might make this feel authentic, and that extends to the storytelling as well.

'It feels exceedingly rushed, as the actors hit their marks and deliver their monologues with a sense of obligation to moving the plot along rather than developing character.'

The outlet stated that the characters feel like 'a two-dimensional version of an archetype, spouting the necessary backstory or subtext to keep the plot churning forward.'

The movie and book follow a young girl named Kya, lives alone after being abandoned by her mom in a North Carolina marsh throughout the '50s and '60s

Her world was turned upside down when a man was murdered in a nearby coastal town and she was accused of the crime

Rolling Stone said that while screenwriter Lucy Alibar 'retained the book's breathless, beach-read momentum,' it lacks a 'spark in the engine powering these narrative turns'

'Though it is faithful, Where the Crawdads Sing is lacking the essential character and storytelling connective tissue that makes a story like this work - an adaptation such as this cannot survive on plot alone,' it concluded.

Deadline also wasted no time in bashing the new movie, calling it a 'flattened and de-juiced' re-telling, and comparing it to a 'massively banal and flavorless' bowl of porridge.

The outlet explained that because the movie 'never gets inside Kya's head,' the viewer doesn't understand how she 'learns to cope and excel,' which results in it not having 'much to offer.

'It doesnt come off well onscreen,' the outlet said. 'It could not be more conventional, emotionally or psychologically.

'This is a rough story of abuse and survival, but its all treated in a surface way that just doesnt penetrate, offer any insights or go deep.'

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a low score of 39 per cent from critics, with a Globe and Mail reporter calling it a 'blown-up version of a Hallmark flick-of-the-week' on the site.

'Its ambitions far greater than its capabilities,' Barry Hertz wrote. 'The film is neither heartbreaking nor thrilling.'

After its release in 2018, the book soon caught the eyes of Witherspoon (seen at the premiere), who added it to her Hello Sunshine Book Club month. Now, she has produced the new movie

Author Owens, who is seen with Witherspoon and some of the movie's cast members, has faced controversy for her own part

It was recently revealed that Owens, 73, and her ex-husband, Mark, were wanted in Zambia for questioning over the alleged 1990 killing of a poacher. She and Mark are seen in Zambia

Despite Owens and her ex (seen in Zambia) denying all claims that they were involved in the killing, Zambia's director of public prosecution said they were wanted for questioning

Another writer for Detroit News said it was 'sparkless, limp, and deadly dull,' while someone from The Hollywood Reporter branded it as a 'tedious moral fantasy' which 'fuels America's misguided idealism.'

'The film sinks into the swamp,' Paste Magazine's Jacob Oller added on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the year after its release, Owens' book Where the Crawdads Sing sold more copies than any other adult title; it also topped The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2019 and 2020

'Where the Crawdads Sing is a weirdly uncomfortable movie, on many different levels,' Collider's Alyse Wax added.

Author Owens, who was 69 when she wrote the novel, has faced controversy for her own part. Earlier this month, it was revealed that she was wanted in Zambia for questioning over a cruel 1990 televised killing.

The writer, now 73, and her then-husband, Mark, moved to Zambia in 1986 to study and conserve the elephant population.

While they were living in the South African country, the couple appeared in a 1996 program titled Deadly Game, which televised the apparent killing of a poacher who was shot after being caught on the grounds of a game warden.

The identity of the poacher was never revealed, nor was the identity of the person or persons who fired the fatal shots from off-camera.

However, sources speaking to investigative journalist Jeff Goldberg claimed that Owen's step-son Christopher, then-25, was a member of a scouting party which allegedly shot the man, while Mark helped to cover up the killing.

Despite Owens and her former husband vehemently denying all claims that they were involved in any killings, Zambia's director of public prosecutions, Lillian Shawa-Siyuni, has said all three are still wanted for questioning related to the killing of the alleged poacher.
He's largely grown up away from the limelight - but James, Viscount Severn, has recently been taking on a more public role on a string of engagements with his family. The 14-year-old, thought to be one of the 'Queen's favourite' grandchildren, has joined his parents, Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex, and his sister Lady Louise Windsor, 18, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham for the last three days. He also appeared alongside the rest of the royal family throughout the Queen's Jubilee celebrations earlier this year and the Easter service at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in April. Appearing smart in a check shirt and trouser combo yesterday, the teenager is said to be a keen and talented fly fisher - a pastime loved by several of his relatives, such as Prince Charles and the late Queen Mother. James is said to be a much-loved edition when attending the royal family's annual summer holiday in Balmoral, where he joins in enthusiastically with outdoor activities. But while he's clearly an important member of the Queen's family in private, he's rarely seen on any official engagements with his parents, and wasn't styled as a prince at birth in order 'to avoid some of the burdens of royal titles'.
Forest farm in SW China's Guizhou continues to thrive thanks to endeavors of several generations of forest rangers

People's Daily Online) 09:32, July 13, 2022

Thanks to the endeavors of several generations of forest rangers, the Changpoling forest farm in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, has become an important part of the citys ecological buffer zone.

Photo shows the Changpoling forest farm in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Photo/Tu Min)

Lying to the north of the older districts of Guiyang, the forest farm covers an area of nearly 13,000 mu (about 866.67 hectares) of land. With 86 percent of its total area covered by forest, it is home to 397 wild animal and plant species.

Born in 1963, Guo Maochun, a worker employed on the forest farm, has been working here since 1983. Guo, whose father was also a forest ranger in Guiyang back in the day, recalled that his father had come there to plant trees in 1958 after joining in the national afforestation drive. Back then there were only barren mountains, with some covered by rocks. People had no choice but to go up the hills carrying the saplings on their backs, said Guo.

The main task of Guo and his colleagues shifted to protecting the forest, as the saplings planted by their predecessors eventually grew into tall trees. Thanks to their thoughtful care, the tree farm was gradually transformed into a lush forest in the early 1990s. The timber produced at the site meanwhile became very popular for use in various construction projects.

Over the course of a few years, a larger number of transportation facilities were completed, which was able to connect the tree farm with the neighboring city of Guiyang. New bus routes were opened, allowing more people living in the city to go on a trip here, introduced Tian Feng, a forest ranger who started to work at the site in 1995. The tree farm went on to gain the status of a provincial-level forest park and officially opened to visitors in 1997.

In 1998, the forest park abandoned its timber production activities in an attempt to better protect the forested area. Three years later, the site was listed as a national-level forest park.

But unfortunately, the favorable ecological environment of the forest park was negatively impacted by the growing number of businesses operating in the area, such as barbecue stalls. The large expanse of green lawns that once dominated the landscape there was reduced to a muddy stretch of well-trodden ground, while the surrounding trees withered due to the excessive smoke of the barbecue stalls dotting around the forests edge. Tian, who returned to the forest park as its new head in 2015, decided that efforts must be made to stop this!

Then the forest park worked to restore its environmental integrity, making the mountains green again and turning the businesses there into environmental education halls for the benefit of incoming visitors to the park. Since March 2022, the forest park has offered free admission to visitors, attracting an even larger number of residents living in Guiyang.

I can get closer to nature here. And this is the forest park as it should be! said Xu Gongbiao, a local resident. Xu usually spends weekends there with his friends, either walking in the park or enjoying some tea there.

The forest park is an epitome of the citys various efforts aimed at ecological restoration. With parks, scenic areas and over 100 tree farms constructed in parallel with Changpoling, Guiyang built its first green buffer zone stretching 70 kilometers in 1990. Now the city is home to 1,025 parks of all kinds.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
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Heir to the throne Prince Charles acknowledged it isnt just the Queen who is above him as he greeted 12ft stilt-walkers in Notting Hill today.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited performing arts venue The Tabernacle in West London to meet performers in this years Notting Hill Carnival - the first since 2019.

Among the performers were Moko Jumbie stilt walkers who towered over the royals.

Polite as ever, Charles, 73, greeted them with a handshake despite technically bending royal protocol to do  as the heir of the throne only looks up to the Queen.

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Prince Charles, 73, was in awe as he looked up at the talented stilt walkers, known as Moko Jumbies, on a visit to Notting Hill Carnival performers today

It's a long way up! Charles tried to have a conversation with the stilt walkers who towered over him at 12ft

The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles posed for a photo with performers at this year's Notting Hill carnival and The Mangrove steel band on a visit to performing arts venue The Tabernacle

The Prince of Wales, 73, shared a joke with one of the carnival performers who was dressed in a stunning red dress and patterned headdress

Charles appeared to enjoy chatting to one performer who looked beautiful in red lipstick and feathered necklace

Charles stopped to chat to other performers during his visit to The Tabernacle where organisers of the first Notting Hill Carnival since 2019 gathered to meet them

Charles tried his hand at playing the steel pan - and one player gave him a tip that the instrument always sounds better when you have a smile on your face

As he shook their hands he said: 'Hello up there!'

Charles even tried his hand at playing the steel pan, a musical instrument originating from Trinidad and Tobago.

As he played a decent tune, a steel pan player watched over him.

He said: 'I always say there's a trick to playing the steel pan: If you smile, it sounds better.'

However Charles didn't seem particularly sure of his musical abilities and replied: 'I'm not much cop at this.'

Footage shows the Royal couple joining a rehearsal procession complete with performers in dazzling costumes and and catchy tunes played on the steel pans.

Accompanying performers in the procession were huge sunflowers and an enormous giraffe figurine wearing a top hat.

The Duchess of Cornwall, 74, looked elegant in a green patterned dress from ME+EM costing 295, paired with espadrille wedges.

The carnival, which was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid, is set to make a triumphant return to the streets of West London this year with more than a million people expected to attend.

The performers will take to the carnival once again on the August Bank Holiday weekend after the Covid hiatus.





The Prince of Wales beamed as he saw the Moko Jumbies, which roughly translate to mean 'healing spirit'

The future king didn't seem fazed by the 12ft stilt walkers and politely reached up to shake their hands as they towered over him

The Prince of Wales grinned as he shook the hands of the Moko Jumbie stilt walkers

When the future King met the 12ft high Moko Jumbies, he couldn't help but to reach up to shake their hands.

'Moko' is the word for 'healer' in Central Africa, while 'Jumbi' is a Caribbean word for 'ghost' or 'spirit'.

To mark the return of the Notting Hill Carnival, which first took place in 1966, Charles has contributed to a souvenir brochure for the event.

He wrote: 'The carnival isa tremendous expression of the cultural variety which means so much as we continue to strive towards the establishment of an harmonious multi-cultural society.'

The Prince of Wales chatted to performers throughout the day as he contributed to a souvenir brochure marking the return of the Notting Hill Carnival as 'tremendous'

The Prince of Wales described the Notting Hill Carnival as hugely important to living in a 'harmonious multi-cultural society'

Camilla, wearing a green pattered dress from ME+EM, posed with adults and children involved in this year's carnival procession

Charles, 73, appeared to enjoy his day out as he hailed the importance of Notting Hill Carnival

The Prince of Wales also smiled for snaps with performers who were dressed in stunning carnival outfits.

Not forgetting the people who keep things running smoothly from behind the scenes, Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall made sure to chat with the organisers of the event too.

Taking a little break to chat to organisers, Camilla was filmed having a natter with some members of the Tabernacle Seniors Group, who meet every week, while they fanned themselves in the blistering heat.

Charles wrote a passage in a souvenir magazine for this year's Notting Hill Carnival which describes the event as

Camilla, who turns 75 this week, was wished a happy birthday by people who came out to meet her

Not forgetting the people behind the scenes, Charles and Camilla also met with organisers who ensure the carnival runs smoothly

All smiles! Charles and Camilla beamed as they posed with organisers and performers who will take to the streets of Notting hill this August

She then shook hands with people who had come to see her and the Prince of Wales while they wished her a 'Happy birthday'.

The Duchess of Cornwall will celebrate her 75th birthday on Sunday.

To mark the occasion, a documentary about Camilla will air on ITV at 9pm this evening.

Camilla's Country Life will take an intimate look at the Duchess of Cornwall and her relationships with her nearest and dearest.

It will follow her as she takes on guest editorship of Country Life Magazine.

The documentary is expected to explore Camilla's 'risque' sense of humour and the nervousness she sometimes feels before making big public appearances.
Duchess of York, 62, travelled to the Mieroszewski Palace in Bedzin, southern Poland, to meet with children and babies whose parents fled the Ukraine

The Duchess of York was back in Poland today, making her third visit to the country since war broke out with Russia in neighbouring Ukraine.

Today, Ferguson, 62, spent time at Mieroszewski Palace in Bedzin, a city in southern Poland, chatting to families who've fled the Ukrainian city of Obukhov, which is twinned with Bedzin.

Wearing a royal blue jacket, with a Ukrainian badge pinned to it, the Duchess chatted to dignitaries from Bedzin, as well as greeting children and babies from war torn Obukhov.

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The Duchess of York pictured at Mieroszewski Palace in Bedzin, southern Poland, on Wednesday as she chatted to young refugees from the Ukrainian city of Obukhov, a partner city of Bedzin

Sarah Ferguson meets the city's Vice-mayor Anna Drzewiecka, left, Bedzin-born founder of London's Dr. Gabriela Clinic Gabriela Mercik, far right, and head of the Organizational Department of the Bedzin City Hall Beata Swigon, second from right

Royal approval: The Duchess signs a poster in Mieroszewski Palace welcoming visitors to Bedzin

In March, Prince Andrew's ex wife, who is grandmother to Princess Eugenie's son August, one and Princess Beatrice's daughter Sienna, born in September, became the first member of the extended royal family to travel to Poland to meet Ukrainian refugees.

Her charity, Sarah's Trust sent three articulated lorries with supplies to Poland, and she travelled to Warsaw where she was welcomed by Mayor Rafa Kazimierz Trzaskowski, to find out 'what more we can do'.

Fergie, who earlier this year returned to her online show Story time With Fergie and Friends to show support to the children of Ukraine, was pictured embracing and comforting young people and their families who have escaped the invasion.

In March, Sarah became the first member of the extended royal family to travel to Poland to meet Ukrainian refugees

The extended royal family member smiles as she looks at a piece of artwork from a local painter

At the time, she told her 365,000 Instagram followers: 'I have always believed the smile of a child is the most important thing in the world, so to see so many children caught up in this crisis is particularly affecting.'

She added: 'It is a privilege to meet some of them and hear their stories today. The world has a duty to support them.'

The Duchess wore the same royal blue jacket that she wore for her first trip to Poland in March

Beatrice and Eugenie's mother looked in high spirits as she made a return visit to the country that has been helping neighbours from Ukraine affected by the war

Back in the UK, the Duchess' oldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, cut a chic figure last night as she headed out for a double date night with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at an exclusive member's club in Mayfair.

The daughter of Prince Andrew and Ferguson, 33, was all smiles as she joined her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, at Oswald's in London yesterday after enjoying a night on the town.

The couple were joined by Meghan Markle's BFF Misha Nonoo and her billionaire oil heir husband Mikey Hess at the exclusive club.
The husband of the late Dawson's Creek writer who died by suicide while battling long-haul COVID has found love with a COVID-19 support activist and is now engaged.

Filmmaker Nick Guthe, 52, met his fiancee, Diana Berrent, 48, the founder of Survivor Corps, a COVID support and advocacy group, while mourning the loss of his wife, Heidi Ferrer, in May 2021.

The television and film screenwriter struggled with a range of debilitating long-haul COVID symptoms for 13 months before killing herself at age 50, leaving behind her husband of 20 years and their then-13-year-old son, Bexon.

'I believe that Heidi led me to her,' Guthe told People of his bittersweet romance. 'It seems like a strange thing to say, but the way that everything happened was so extreme, so violent, so beyond what I would ever wish on my worst enemy, to have to go through what I went through, what my son went through.'

Filmmaker Nick Guthe, 52, is engaged to Diana Berrent, 48, following the loss of his late wife, Heidi Ferrer, in May 2021

Ferrer, a television and film screenwriter, struggled with a range of debilitating long-haul COVID symptoms for 13 months before she died by suicide at age 50

Ferrer, who contracted COVID-19 in April 2020, was unable to walk, eat, or even urinate without pain in the months leading up to her death.

'In the last few weeks,' Guthe explained, 'she was really worried that there was only one trajectory, and it was ending up in a wheelchair, unable to bathe herself, unable to do anything.'

The grieving widower opened up about Ferrer's chronic symptoms earlier this year in a heart-wrenching op-ed published by The Guardian.

What started as a 'mostly asymptomatic coronavirus infection,' according to Guthe, escalated to fatigue, flu-like symptoms, brain fog, and body aches, including severe pains in her feet and ankles.

Sex and urination became painful for Ferrer, and she also suffered from ongoing gastrointestinal issues, swollen toes, and a 'host of other ailments.'

'Within six weeks of noticing "COVID toes" and some gastrointestinal issues she could barely walk from excruciating nerve pain in her feet so extreme as to mimic advanced diabetic neuropathy,' he wrote.

Ferrer, who contracted COVID-19 in April 2020, was unable to walk, eat, or even urinate without pain in the months leading up to her death

Ferrer feared that she was becoming a burden on her husband and their teenage son, Bexon, who was 13 years old when she died

Guthe was grieving his wife's death when he reached out to Berrent, who is the founder of Survivor Corps, a COVID support and advocacy group

Guthe explained that Ferrer was robbed of 'every part of her life that made it worth living,' saying she became immobile, lost her ability to eat, and was unable to read because the brain frog prohibited her from retaining information.

Ferrer died by suicide in their Los Angeles home just over a year after she contracted the virus. Guthe recalled how he 'tried desperately to revive her' while their son waited outside for paramedics. She was declared brain dead at the hospital.

Guthe reached out to Berrent in New York via direct message after she tweeted about Ferrer's death, and they soon connected on the phone.

He told People that he asked her questions about what he missed and what he could have done differently to help his late wife during their first call.

Berrent assured him that he 'didn't miss anything,' insisting there wasn't anything else he could have done to relieve her symptoms.

Three weeks before Ferrer's death, she had made Guthe promise that if she didn't make it, he would 'let the world know what long COVID does to people'

'I believe that Heidi led me to her,' Guthe told People of his bittersweet romance with Berrent

Guthe and Berrent (pictured with friends) became a couple in October, a few months after they shared their first kiss

Berrent agreed that the best way to pay tribute to his late wife was to raise awareness for the long-term effects of the virus. She helped orchestrate a number of media appearances for the widower, including interviews on CNN and NPR.

Their phone calls soon became a daily occurrence, and they would chat for three to four hours on end.

'In those early days, she gave me a safe harbor for my grief,' Guthe said of Berrent.

'She gave me permission to be as vulnerable as I've ever been in front of another human being,' he added. 'I learned I could trust her with my innermost feelings.'

Berrent was dealing with her own struggles that summer. She and her then-husband had moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with their two children, Zelda and Spencer, who were 14 and 12, respectively, but their marriage was falling apart.

She leaned on Guthe for support when she returned to her childhood home in New York to care for her mother, who was dying of terminal cancer.

They met for the first time while visiting a family friend in Los Angeles, but their relationship didn't turn romantic until August.

Guthe and Berrent, who have three children between them, knew they wanted to get married after they got matching lightning bolt tattoos together last fall

They are to wed in California on November 12, but their marriage will be bicoastal until all of their teenage kids graduate from high school

Guthe had flown to New York that month to attend a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to honor COVID victims. They both gave speeches during what Berrent described as a 'really intense day.'

The native New Yorkers had dinner in the East Village that night and shared a kiss after she walked him back to his hotel. They officially became a couple in October.

The couple knew they wanted to get married after they got matching lightning bolt tattoos during one of her trips to Los Angeles in November.

Their wedding is to take place this fall in California on November 12. Their marriage will be bicoastal until all three of their children graduate from high school.

Guthe described his new love as being 'daring, passionate, and yet tenderly affectionate' while sharing how much it means to him that she has learned everything she can about his late wife.

Berrent has read almost everything Ferrer has written, including all of her blog posts and her not-yet published memoir. He added that she also encouraged Bexon to put photos of his later mother up in their new home, saying: 'She needs to be here.'

'She gave me permission to feel real happiness and joy again,' he said. 'And when you can feel joy and happiness, enthusiasm returns. And when enthusiasm returns, your world begins to expand, your expectations for what is possible increase. She increased my expectations for what the rest of my life could be.'

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a U.S.-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
Celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser - who has repped everyone from Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears to Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp - has revealed what it's really like to handle A-list splits.

Wasser, 54, from Los Angeles, California, has played a part in numerous high profile divorce cases throughout her two-decade long career.

Now, the attorney has spilled many secrets from her years of representing the famous faces during their breakups while chatting to the New Yorker recently, explaining that the stars are 'very much the same' as all of her other clients - and are often just feeling 'scared, angry, and heartbroken.'

Celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser - who has repped everyone from Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears to Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp - revealed what it's like to handle A-list splits

Wasser, 54, from Los Angeles, California, has played a part in numerous high profile divorce cases throughout her two-decade long career. She is seen with Kardashian in 2013

Now, the attorney (seen at Depp's recent lawsuit against his ex Amber Heard) has spilled many secrets from her years of representing the famous faces during their breakups

Stars, they're just like us: She explained that the celebrities are 'very much the same' as all of her other clients - and are often just feeling 'scared, angry, and heartbroken'

'Everybody really is very much the same [when going through a divorce]. We are all scared, we are all angry, we are all heartbroken,' she said. 'We all want to make sure our kids are OK, were OK.

She admitted that one major difference between working with a famous face and someone who is not in the spotlight is that the celebrities are 'not used to hearing no.' She is seen with Stevie Wonder in 2013

'Whether youre going, "Oh, my God, who am I going to walk the red carpet at the Oscars with," or, "Do I still get to go to the Met Gala if Im not with him anymore?" or, "Who do I go to the firms Labor Day party with," or, "What if I get drunk and Xerox my butt because I dont have my spouse there with me?" - its all relative. I always say, divorce is the great equalizer.'

However, she admitted that one major difference between working with a famous face and someone who is not in the spotlight is that the celebrities are 'not used to hearing no.'

She added: 'I cant tell you yes. Im not gonna blow sunshine up your a**. Ive had people say, "I dont like her, I dont think were a good fit, she didnt tell me what I wanted to hear."

'And a lot of times those people will circle back or their rep will and say, "Wow, she really should have stuck with you, because you told her how it was gonna be, and you were right."'

Wasser explained that she gets 'very close' with her clients, leaning intimate details about everything in their relationships - including their 'sexual proclivities.'

Wasser, who graduated from law school in 1994, and has been practicing law for roughly 28 years, is now focused on 'normalizing' divorce and ending the 'taboo' around it

'We need to make [the process] better,' she said. 'How can it be so taboo? How can it still be so difficult to do? How do we still need to hire attorneys at a thousand dollars an hour?'

The attorney (seen with her two sons), who charges $1,000 per hour, insisted that despite her high-paying salary, she is focused on helping her clients rather than making money

'Then you see them - because this is a small town - you see them at dinner in Malibu ... and they will literally, like, smile and wave and whatever,' she shared.

'But you dont need to come over to my table, and I dont need to come over to your table because I probably remind you of the worst time of your life. Youre very appreciative that I got you through it, but, besides that, were good.'

Wasser graduated from law school in 1994, and has been practicing law for roughly 28 years.

She is now a managing partner at her firm, Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles, which was originally started by her father, Dennis Wasser, who is also a divorce lawyer.

In 2018, she also founded an online divorce service called Its Over Easy, which would go on to be purchased by Divorce.com.

The lawyer, who was said to have inspired Laura Dern's character in the 2019 Netflix movie Marriage Story, explained that she is now focused on 'normalizing' divorce and ending the 'taboo' around it, despite asking her clients for a whopping $1,000 per hour.

'I want to normalize it a little,' she told the outlet. 'Its happening, and we need to make it better.

'The founding fathers didnt want people to get divorced. It was sacrilegious, and if you were a divorced woman in society in the 1800s you were pelted with rocks or whatever.

'The more you argue, the more conflict there is, the more I get paid,' she said. 'I drive a Porsche. Im wearing Alaia. Im good. Lets work this out and get you through this'

As for her advice to people who are getting married, she suggested that both parties stay financially stable on their own, adding that prenups are 'really important'

She also said lack of communication is the 'reason that most marriages break down, more than anything else' and suggested that couples talk to one another about their problems

'But thats not the case anymore, and if you look at the statistics, how can it still be so taboo? How can it still be so difficult to do? How do we still need to be hiring attorneys at a thousand dollars an hour?'

As for the steep price for her services, she explained that it's worth it since she's 'really good.'

'I know,' she told the outlet with a laugh, when questioned about her hourly rate. 'But I try to be really good.'

The attorney, who was briefly married in her 20s and is the mother to two sons, aged 17 and 12, insisted that despite her high-paying salary, she is focused on helping her clients rather than making a big chunk of money.

'I say to clients all the time, the more you argue, the more conflict there is, the more I get paid. I drive a Porsche. Im wearing Alaia. Im good. Lets work this out and get you through this,' she continued.

The mom-of-two said she wants to make divorce 'easier' for couples, especially when kids are involved.

She explained: 'Bunches of people come to me ... and tell me, "My parents went through such an acrimonious divorce." And I say, "OK, didnt that suck for you?"

As for her advice to people who are getting married, she suggested that both parties stay financially stable on their own, adding that prenups are 'really important.'

'Even if you dont have a prenup, have the conversations that you would have if you were having the prenup because communication is the reason that most marriages break down, more than anything else,' she stated.

'Make your own money, dude. Youve got to be able to make your own money. And if you have to give up whatever [your] career is, then we make a deal for how thats gonna work.'
Is it just me or is anyone else slightly obsessed with finding the perfect white T-SHIRT?

Forgive the shouty caps, but there are few wardrobe staples that are more abiding than a white T-shirt  and few quite as tricky to get right.

Surely a simple T-shirt should be just that  fabric in the shape of a T with the neck cut out? Oh, if only it was that simple.

I have always believed that the simpler the piece, the more complicated it is to perfect.

Everybody seems to be obsessed with finding the perfect white T-shirt. Amanda Wakeley says that a simple white T-shirt should be exactly that

In fact, it is nothing short of a science, starting with the design which leads to the choice of fabric, the weight, the level of stretch, the look and feel. How will it fall? Will it cling or gently hug the body just so?

Then the cut needs to be perfected  and with such a minimalist design, every detail needs to be sweated over.

The fit details I am particularly conscious of are the armholes and sleeves, the fit over the bust, and, of course, the necklines.

Designer Amanda Wakeley has revealed they power of the simple white t-shirt

Finally, the all-important make  T-shirts by their very nature are generally mass-produced  however, this should not necessarily be the precursor to poor make.

My passion for white T-shirts started in the 1980s  living in America I bought three packs of Hanes mens white undershirts  I wore them with everything, with the oversized short sleeves rolled up, Miami-Vice style.

Now, I wear my white T-shirts neater, but never tight (and definitely no unkind Lycra) and I particularly love wearing them to dress down a trouser suit. It just looks cooler and somehow more youthful than a blouse.

For the past couple of years, my go-to white T-shirts have been by Rag & Bone and James Perse, both eye-wateringly expensive I must admit, especially when you consider that white T-shirts sadly dont last as long as we would like them to.

No matter how much Vanish you add, they either become annoyingly greyed in the wash, or in the case of James Perse, develop miniscule holes in the fabric as its just so fine.

So on a mission to find some better priced alternatives, I undertook to try on more than 30 different styles from a variety of brands and price points. All in the name of finding the perfect white T-shirt to suit any shape, age or size...

BUYING BRITISH

If buying British is important to you then think of heritage British brand Sunspel

If this is important to you, then the heritage British brand Sunspel is your answer. Its not the cheapest option but the quality of this 65 top is delicious and this brand definitely understands my passion for the devil in the detail. Cost: 65, sunspel.com

THE KIND SLEEVE

For those who want to cover up the arms then opt for this Jigsaw Linen short sleeved top with a layered effect kimono sleeve

For those of us who want to cover a little more of our arms, I have fallen in love with this Jigsaw Linen shortsleeved top with a layered-effect kimono sleeve (32, was 65). It is slightly sheer so my preference is to wear a bright pop of a coloured bra or bralette instead of trying to disguise your underwear (that all feels a bit safe and dull, surely?). 32, jigsawonline.com

A CURVIER SOLUTION

Think of the The White Company if you like a V-neck. They can be more flattering on a fuller bust

If you prefer a V-neck, which can definitely be more flattering on a fuller bust, The White Companys Super Soft Lyocell V-Neck T-shirt (45) is gorgeous. First, Tencel/Lyocell fibres are generated from renewable rawwood materials and harvested from certified, controlled sources. Theyre also compostable and are biodegradable. Secondly, the fabric has the most luxurious drape to it, elevating it beyond the basic. It looks and feels way beyond its price tag. 45, white company.com

SAVE YOUR SHIRT!

Unfortunately, white T-shirts can end up being a highly disposable item of clothing  to look good its got to be crisp white (not great for its sustainable credentials and cotton isnt known to be that eco-friendly). So why not do what I do and when your favourite one is past its best  buy a machine dye and throw it in. I have done this with old white bikinis too. It works a treat and gives a whole new life to that slightly tired-looking piece that is too good to be thrown away.

FITTED TO A TEE

A high-waisted jean or pant can look great with a T-shirt body. Ninety Percent has a lovely one (45)

A high-waisted jean or pant can look great with a T-shirt body. Ninety Percent has a lovely one (45) and there is a wonderful story behind the brand  90 per cent of its distributed profits are shared between charitable causes and those who make the collection happen. Looking good with a feelgood factor thrown in. 45, ninety percent.com

HIGH STREET HEROES

Other wellpriced T-shirts of note are Gap (pictured), whose heavier weight, neat style is a great wardrobe staple (9.99) and Uniqlo

Other wellpriced T-shirts of note are Gap (pictured), whose heavier weight, neat style is a great wardrobe staple (9.99) and Uniqlo, which has a wide selection of styles available (from 5.90). M&S should take note. Please, please improve your cut! Why am I unable to find a good white T-shirt from you? 9.99, gap. co.uk

...OR FREE FLOWING

If an easier fit through the body feels kinder, then American Vintages Jacksonville Jersey shortsleeved top (50) is a great option

If an easier fit through the body feels kinder, then American Vintages Jacksonville Jersey shortsleeved top (50) is a great option. I love the slight swing of this style, the modern rawedge finish of the sleeves and hem and the pretty curved V-neck. The viscose blended with the cotton adds a luxury and a drape found in more expensive items. 50, american vintage-store.com

GREEN CREDENTIALS

Get a white T-shirt you can feel good about such as Baukjen, a circular, carbon negative and zero-waste business

Get a white T-shirt you can feel good about  here are some sustainable options. Baukjen, a circular, carbon negative and zero-waste business, has a classic longsleeved option (39), while sustainable brand Lavender Hill has an extensive selection of necklines. H&M does this lovely one in a silk and organic cotton blend. 24.99, hm.com
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Sandra Lee and her fiance Ben Youcef couldn't keep their hands off each other on Wednesday as they kissed and cuddled in a hot tub in Cernobbio, Italy.

The television chef, 56, showed off her figure in a striking gold one-piece while she and the Algerian actor, 43, soaked up the afternoon sun poolside during their romantic getaway.

The couple, who have been together for about a year, traveled to northern Italy earlier this month to celebrate Lee's birthday  and they've been putting their love on display the entire trip.

Sandra Lee, 56, and her fiance Ben Youcef, 43, packed on the PDA in Cernobbio, Italy, on Wednesday

Lee wrapped her legs around her beau's waist while they shared a passionate kiss in a hot tub overlooking Lake Como

The couple gazed into each other's eyes as they frolicked in the hot tub together

Lee looked as happy as can be leaning onto Youcef as they soaked up the afternoon sun

They have been staying at Villa d'Este, a five-star luxury resort overlooking Lake Como, and they happily took advantage of the hotel's famous floating pool on the lake.

Lee wore a white cover-up that was tied at the waist over her shimmering swimsuit, and her blonde hair was pulled off of her face with a plastic clip and an elastic headband.

Youcef was dressed casually in a gray T-shirt, black board shorts, and a pair of slip-on canvas sneakers. Both of them had on sunglasses to shield their eyes from the blazing afternoon sun.

The couple stripped down to their swimsuits before hopping into the hot tub overlooking Lake Como, where they turned up the heat.

Youcef wrapped his arms around Lee and kissed her neck while she leaned back on his chest. At one point, her legs were wrapped around his waist as they shared a passionate kiss.

The couple traveled to northern Italy for Lee's 56th birthday on July 3. They have been staying at Villa d'Este, a five-star luxury resort overlooking Lake Como

The couple held hands as they headed to the resort's famous pool floating on the lake

Lee showed off her figure in a striking gold one-piece, while Youcef wore black board shorts

The couple couldn't keep their hands off each other when they hopped into the hot tub

Lee held onto Youcef's hand and chest as they hung out in the water together

The loved-up couple acted as if they were the only two people at the entire resort

Youcef affectionately kissed Lee's neck and wrapped his arms around her waist

Lee's blonde hair was pulled off of her face with a plastic clip and an elastic headband

When they weren't frolicking in the hot tub, they were sharing a lounge chair by the pool. Lee sat facing her beau with her legs once again wrapped around his waist.

As they continued to pack on the PDA, she grabbed his chin with her hand and kissed him as if they were the only two people at the resort.

Youcef kept hydrated by gulping a bottle of water, while Lee was seen sipping on a drink that looked like either a cocktail or a soda.

On Saturday, the lovers were photographed getting handsy on their room's balcony. Lee had a teacup in her hand as she stepped out in a black nightie.

A shirtless Youcef followed behind in his underwear and kissed her neck as she enjoyed the view. She welcomed her fiance's advances and leaned into him as he brushed his lips against her bare skin.

Lee's one-strap swimsuit gave Youcef ample view of her decolletage when she was standing in front of him

Lee and Youcef both kept their shades to shield their eyes from the blazing afternoon sun

The couple have been dating for about a year and are rumored to be engaged

Lee ran her fingers through Youcef's dark curls before leaning in for a sultry kiss

Youcef held onto Lee as she blissfully rested her back on his tan chest

When they weren't enjoying the view of Lake Como, they were looking at each other and making out

Lee wrapped her arms around the actor's neck and appeared to be sitting on top of him at one point

The couple playfully shared kiss after kiss during their romantic romp in the hot tub

The pair proceeded to playfully converse on the balcony before retiring back into the sprawling room at the resort.

Lee and Youcef put on an equally affectionate display when they were spotted leaving the Villa d'Este in a vintage 1956 Porsche Speedster. On another occasion, they were seen kissing on a boat on Lake Como.

The couple traveled to Italy to ring in her 56th birthday on July 3, starting with a pre-birthday visit to Verona.

The former Food Network star took to Instagram to share a photo of herself kissing Youcef on Juliet's balcony while they enjoyed a 'magical day' in the city ahead of their arrival in Lake Como.

The renovated 13th-century residence was once occupied by the Cappellos  the family locals believe inspired the fictional Capulets in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

Love has been in the air during the couple's entire Italian vacation

Lee was the first to step out of the hot tub, and Youcef followed close behind her

The former Food Network host held his hand as they walked back to their lounge chair together

Youcef sweetly wrapped a fluffy blue towel around Lee to help her dry off after their dip in the hot tub

Lee through on a gauzy white cover-up over her gold swimsuit, while Youcef wrapped a towel around his waist

The Algerian actor couldn't resist leaning over for another kiss while she was tying her cover-up

There were plenty of available lounge chairs by the pool, but they opted to share one

Lee curled up into Youcef, who had one hand under her legs and the other on her back

Lee had a drink in her hand, though it's unclear if it was a cocktail or a soda

Lee, who battled breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy seven years ago, has spent the past four months recovering from a hysterectomy.

She explained on Instagram that she is focused on living her life to the fullest following her health scare, writing, 'First and most importantly I am making my years count instead of counting the years.'

'After this past year of health struggles, I know that life is too short not [to] celebrate every single chance I can get,' she added. 'So looking forward to Bens next surprise! Yay Birthdays, what a gift they are!!'

On her birthday, she posted a snapshot of her beau kissing her while cruising around Lake Como.

'Romantic sunset cruise on Lake Como pre-party with my Ben,' she captioned the image, which was taken the day before. 'So romantic and special for my birthday!!'

At one point, Lee turned around and wrapped her legs around Youcef as he held onto her back

Every once and a while, the couple would stop to take a look at their surroundings before turning their attention back to each other

Lee's cover-up was soon pulled off as she and Youcef started making out again

Lee leaned back on her hands and arched her back as she and Youcef shared more kisses

It's unclear how long they are staying in Italy, but they appear to be having the time of their lives at the resort

Both Lee and Youcef were sporting deep summer tans after spending their afternoons in the Italian sun

Youcef guzzled a bottle of water to keep himself hydrated by the pool

Lee moved over to a different lounge chair at one point, but she kept her eyes on Youcef

'Happy birthday everyone  may your kisses be filled with love and passion,' she added. 'Loving 56 so far! So gratefulXoxo Sandy.'

A few days after her birthday, Lee returned to Instagram to post a photo of herself posing with Youcef in what looked like an Italian courtyard, saying she is 'having the brightest of [birthdays]' in Lake Como.

'Villa dEste is literally the most beautiful hotel I have [ever] seen,' she gushed. 'On my birthday Ben and I visited the neighboring village of Torno and made sure to stop at a gorgeous little church for a blessing before my July 3 party.

'A few of my very dearest friends flew over in to help me celebrate and I got my own fireworks display followed by an incredible birthday cake covered in glittering white gum paste roses.

'My wish for all is a peaceful and lovely life ahead full of health and happiness. Time to go make some more memories!'

The couple have been kissing their way through Italy since they arrived earlier this month

Youcef playfully reached for Lee's hands as she leaned back onto the loung chair

Lee took off her sunglasses and held her hand on her cheek as she continued to kiss Youcef

Lee looked incredible in her gold swimsuit and ethereal white cover-up

The couple's much-needed getaway comes four months after Lee underwent a hysterotomy

Lee, who battled breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy seven years ago, admittedly put off the surgery

The finally went through with the procedure after her gynecologist noticed a change in her cells that could have led to cancer

Lee said Youcef was by her side during her surgery and difficult recovery

Lee moved to Malibu, California, and fell for Youcef after she and her ex  disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo  split in September 2019.

She had dated the politician for 14 years and lived with him, but they never got engaged in their decade and a half as a couple.

Cuomo was by her side when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2015

She has praised him for being incredibly supportive during her cancer battle and subsequent reconstructive surgeries, although they split up in 2019, leaving Lee heartbroken.

Lee developed an infection from her double mastectomy and was rushed to the hospital in August 2015.

Lee recently explained on Instagram that she is focused on living her life to the fullest following her health scare

Lee also gushed that Villa d'Este is the 'most beautiful hotel' she has ever seen

Lee and Youcef are believed to have met at a charity event in Santa Monica back in March 2021

The actor is a father to five-year-old twins with his soon-to-be ex-wife, California-based realtor Apryl Stephenson. Though the pair are still legally married, they separated in 2019 and they filed for divorce in January 2020

Youcef was rumored to have proposed to Lee in August 2021 during their whirlwind trip to France

Lee has never confirmed nor denied their engagement, but she has made it clear that she is head-over-heels in love with him

'I did my very best to avoid this (when I tell you I did everything, I mean everything  modern, Eastern and holistic) but infection is an incredible monster,' she wrote in a Facebook message to fans at the time.

'I am a long way from where I was and a long way from where I need to be, but at this point I understand that right now I just need to complete this unexpected phase of a tough journey.'

Lee started her reconstructive surgeries in 2016, and it took four years for them to be completed due to complications.

'It's a really intense thing, having that operation,' she told People in June 2016. 'Being put out, it's lights out. You go, "Oh God, please sweet Lord, take care of me while I'm here."'

Lee  who was dubbed 'First Girlfriend' while she was with Cuomo  kept a low profile during most of his first two terms as governor, but she emerged as an advocate for cancer screening after her own diagnosis.

They announced their split in September 2019.

The couple started their trip with a pre-birthday visit to Verona and shared a romantic kiss on Juliet's balcony, a tourist attraction inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

The day before Lee turned 56, Youcef surprised her with a sunset cruise on Lake Como

Lee and Youcef spent the day of her birthday visiting the village of Torno, where they stopped at a church for a blessing. She later enjoyed a party and fireworks with her closest friends

Lee and Youcef are believed to have met at a charity event in Santa Monica back in March 2021. He is a father to five-year-old twins with his soon-to-be ex-wife, California-based realtor Apryl Stephenson.

Though the pair are still legally married, they separated in 2019 and they filed for divorce in January 2020.

Youcef was rumored to have proposed to Lee in August 2021 during their whirlwind trip to France that coincided with the sexual harassment scandal surrounding Cuomo.

'Ben really wanted to distract Sandra from all the news, so he whisked her away to Paris,' an unnamed source close to Youcef told the New York Post at the time.

Lee has never confirmed nor denied their engagement.

Youcef cared for her when she underwent a hysterotomy in early March after her gynecologist noticed a change in her cells that could have led to cancer.

'Soooooo this is happening! Several years ago I was supposed to have quite an intense surgery. It was a follow up to my breast cancer surgery, but I had repeatedly put it off and then COVID hit,' she explained on Instagram.

Lee announced on Instagram in March that she was having a full hysterectomy, writing: 'I admit, I am a little embarrassed that I hadnt had the courage to get this final stage done until now'

Two days after the procedure, she returned to Instagram to share a heartfelt message with her fans and gave them an update on her health, saying she had a 'long road of recovery ahead'

Lee (pictured with her ex, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2012) was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015

Cuomo was with her in the hospital when she underwent a double mastectomy in 2015 and started reconstructive surgery a year later

'Fast forward to now, during a routine appointment with my gynecologist, she noticed a change in some of my cells. I went for a second and third opinion and they all confirmed the same.'

Lee said she immediately thought of a conversation she had with a friend who told her years ago that she could consider getting a complete hysterectomy.

'But after all of the issues I had experienced with my breast cancer surgery, the last thing I wanted to do was have another major operation  so I didnt!' she shared.

'I admit, I am a little embarrassed that I hadnt had the courage to get this final stage done until now,' she admitted. 'So while youre reading this post I am undergoing hysterectomy surgery. A surgery that so many brave women before me have had to do.'

Two days after the procedure, she returned to Instagram to share a heartfelt message with her fans and gave them an update on her health.

'Hello everyone, just quick note to sincerely say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for the outpouring of love and well wishes,' Lee wrote.

'It makes me so happy to read your notes Regarding the surgery  honestly it was a bit rough, but I am resting (hard for me you know I like to work), I am sleeping a lot and I have set my alarm to stay ahead of the pain relief medication, Lordy this is painful I have to say.'

Lee went on to thank her loved ones, including her fiance, Youcef, who was by her side when she had the surgery.

'Although I have a long road of recovery ahead I am grateful that this is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, and I am so thankful to be writing this today and to my family, friends, sweet Ben and ALL OF YOU for the wonderful support,' she concluded her post. 'Thank you so so much  with lots of love and appreciation!!'
A young woman has shared the reasons she never wants to have kids - from not wanting to clean up sick to children having a 'no returns policy'.

Lorella Palmer from the UK listed ten reasons she didn't want children in a video that has amassed more than 52,500 views and says kids come with a 'no refund policy, no returns, no takesies backsies'.

'What if after ten years of having a child I wake up one day thinking "do you know what, I've tried this, I've tested this, it's just not for me"?' she asked.

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Lorella Palmer (pictured), 22, has gone viral on TikTok for listing the reason she wants to stay childless including not wanting to clean up sick to children not having a 'returns policy'

@lorellapalmer Reply to @lorellapalmer getting ready for your thoughts on this one in the comments   original sound - Lorella Palmer

The London stylist said her own mother left and 'flew to Australia' when she was a child and she was raised by her single dad.

'I haven't seen her in nearly ten years so she tried doing like a whole takesies backsies situation like an Uno reverse flip card type of thing and she left me with nothing but depression,' she said.

Lorella then pointed out the double standard she sees in society where dads are 'rewarded' for looking after their children whereas it's 'expected' of mothers.

'Mums are just expected to do everything and if a dad does just his normal dad duties he's applauded,' she said.

The third reason on Lorella's list was not wanting to get up in the morning for school runs or to pack lunches.

'I'm not a morning person: 'I don't care that you're five-years-old, Jimmy you're walking to school by yourself',' she laughed.

'I would be that mum in her dressing gown that all you other mums would probably judge - I have no desire to do that for 16 years solid.'

Lorella said she would miss the freedom that comes with being childless and would fear her potential child would be afraid of dogs or cats.

Lorella pointed out the double standard she sees in society where dads are 'rewarded' for looking after their children whereas it's 'expected' of mothers

'I tell you right now we would not be getting rid of the family dog, we'd be reverting back to number one,' she said.

The TikTokker said she doesn't like sharing food and wouldn't want to deal with children being sick saying: 'it's disgusting, I would not be cleaning that up'.

Lorella took a more serious turn with her eighth and ninth reason for remaining without a family saying she doesn't want to add to the pressure of a struggling education and health system and can't afford to buy a house.

'Kids are therefore falling through cracks. That's a governmental issues and an issue in itself that's not going anywhere and it terrifies me to bring a child into that,' she said.

'I'm 22 years old, I own two very successful businesses and I don't really want to buy a house right now but even if I did want to it would be literally impossible. Kids 20 years from now - good luck.'

Finally, Lorella she would 'absolutely flipping not' want to go through the pain of childbirth.

The British stylist runs two businesses but said she would be able to afford to buy a home if she were to have kids and said she doesn't want to add to struggling health and education systems

'No woman has ever gone: 'Do you know what? That was lovely. Five stars, I'm going to leave a review. Would definitely recommend',' she laughed.

Lorella's video is a part two to a previous viral clip where she listed ten more reasons she didn't want kids both of which where inundated with comments from parents and child-free people alike.

'Ngl as a Mum, these are all such valid reasons I swear,' one viewer replied.

'Pet peeve 'So lucky to have daddy looking after Tommy today'  no, it's his child, it's just a normal day,' a second agreed.

'We can be dog and cat parents till further notice,' commented a third.

Others shared their own reasons for not bringing children into their lives.

'Homework, constant need for attention, dealing with crying, taking them out to play, no space or time alone. Too much,' one woman said.

'Lets not forget how much kids ruining the womans work carrier. 1. Working gap after you gave birth. 2. Kids always sick during 2-5 years,' another responded.
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Elon Musk (pictured), who boasts of 'always banging the baby drum', has been warning about a decline in births for years. But his concerns recently resurfaced after bombshell court documents claimed that the 51-year-old fathered twins with an executive at his neurotechnology company Neuralink

He's known for a bonkers rant or two on Twitter. But Elon Musk's latest doomsday warnings about population collapse are grounded in science.

While most scientists are concerned about the overpopulation of Earth, the eccentric Tesla billionaire believes the opposite scenario poses the biggest global threat to humans.

Musk, who boasts of 'always banging the baby drum', has been warning about a decline in births for years. But his concerns recently resurfaced after bombshell court documents claimed that the 51-year-old fathered twins with an executive at his neurotechnology company Neuralink.

Joking about the fact that he reportedly now has nine known children with three different women, Musk tweeted that he was 'doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis'.

Earlier this week, a report by the United Nations revealed the world's population will hit 8billion by November, fuelled by rapid growth in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

But birth rates in developed nations have been plummeting for years, which has dragged down the overall rate. The average women had two-and-a-half children by 2020, compared to five 50 years ago. Rates are even lower in the UK (1.74) and US (1.77). Higher levels of education and contraception and more women entering the workplace are thought to be behind the concerning trends.

Musk, and other concerned experts, fear societies will end up with 'more grandparents than grandchildren' and face a 'myriad' of challenges, such as too few younger people to work, pay tax and look after the elderly.

However, other demographers  those tasked with analysing the structure of populations  warn that Musk is overblowing the problem. While some nations are set to see their populations halve, others are forecast to log an eight-fold increase by the 22nd century.

Our World in Data, the Oxford University research platform, shows that the world population is expected to hit a peak of 10.9billion in 2100. Following the rapid rise throughout the 20th century, the population growth rate peaked at 2.1 per cent in 1968 and has been trending downwards ever since, hitting 1.1 per cent in 2019

Most of the world's population is concentrated in Asia (4.68billion), followed by Africa (1.37billion), Europe (748.96million), North America (596.58million), South America (434.26million) and Oceania (43.22million), figures from Our World in Data show

CHINA'S POPULATION CRISIS China's population hit 1.41billion in 2021  a record low annual increase of just 480,000. For comparison, the nation was seeing its headcount jump by up to 12million annually just four decades ago. Fluctuating Government policies, the climbing cost of living and rising ages of marriage are thought to be behind the drop-off in population growth. And scientists forecast that the number of people in the country could halve to 731.9million by 2100. As China's population was edging towards the billion mark in the 1970s, its Government brought in a policy that saw couples limited to having one child. Officials were concerned the rising population would harm China's economic success. The policy was only lifted in 2015, at which point it was replaced with a two-child limit. In 2021, Xi Jinping's administration announced it would allow people to have up to three children over concerns about the dropping birth rate. Just 12million babies were born in 2020, down from 18million in 2016, and the lowest number logged since the 1960s. Professor Jonathan Portes, an economist at King's College London, told MailOnline that China's 'coercive one-child policy went way too far and has distorted the population structure and left China with serious demographic problems'. Experts have warned that a decline in China's population could have huge impacts worldwide, as many nations are dependent on the country's goods. Advertisement

The 'underpopulation crisis', as it has been dubbed in corners of the scientific community, could see too few younger people to work, pay tax and look after the elderly.

The world's richest man, one of the founders of PayPal, has been warning of population decline for years.

In 2017, he said that the number of people on Earth is 'accelerating towards collapse but few seem to notice or care'.

Last year he warned that civilisation is 'going to crumble' if people don't have more children.

And Musk last month described himself as 'always banging the baby drum', warning that once the birth rate starts to fall 'it accelerates'.

He has pointed to a downturn in Japan's population as evidence for his concerns, claiming the nation would 'flat-out disappear' if the worrying trend continues. And Musk warned Italy 'will have no people' if its low birth rate continues.

An often-cited Lancet study claimed that dozens of countries  including Japan, Spain and Portugal  are set to see their population half by 2100. Washington University academics, behind the calculations, warned that nations should ready themselves to adapt to the changing population structures.

In a conversation with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley last month, Musk said: 'A lot of people are under the impression that the current number of humans is unsustainable on the planet.

'That is totally untrue. The population density is actually quite low.'

Other experts also share his concerns. Any decline in birth rates  combined with elderly people living longer thanks to medical advances  will see a drastic shift in the demographics of a population, with a higher number of older people in relation to young.

Experts worry this will leave too few taxpayers to fund public services, too few workers to fill key roles in health and social care services and too few people to buy houses and cars, upsetting global economics.

Some nations have even taken to paying new parents for having children in a bid to increase the birth rate. Low-populated regions in Finland dish out 10,000 euros (8,500) to couples over 10 years per child.

And Estonia gives parents 60 euros (50) per month for having one child, another 60 euros for their second and 100 euros (84) for their third. On top of this, three-child families also receive a 300 euro (250) bonus.

Experts say financial incentives can trigger small baby booms but note that other economic factors, such as the cost of childcare, also play a role.

Professor Christopher Murray, a global health expert from Washington University, warned low fertility rates are 'becoming the norm' outside of sub-Saharan Africa and especially in parts of Europe and East Asia.

Professor Murray, former head of the World Health Organization's evidence information for policy cluster, said this leads to declining populations and 'eventually an inverted population pyramid'  when there are more people in the age group ahead of you than behind you.

He warned that this has 'profound fiscal, economic and social consequences, making the 'viability of social insurance and health insurance challenging'.

The world's population is set to hit eight billion by November 15 this year, a United Nations report revealed

Our World in Data graphics show the increasing number of people living on Earth over the last 12,000 years, with almost all of the growth taking place since the 1800s

The world population growth rate peaked at 2.2 per cent in the 1960s, according to Our World in Data, and is expected to hit 0.1 per cent by 2100

The Our World in Data graph shows the change in population based on births, deaths and immigration. It shows that low levels of growth were logged in in Europe and Asia, while populations grew more quickly in sub-Saharan Africa

WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS TO DECLINING POPULATIONS? Women worldwide, on average, are having fewer children now than previous generations. The trend, down to increased access to education and contraception, more women taking up jobs and changing attitudes towards having children, is expected to see dozens of countries' population shrink by 2100. Dr Jennifer Sciubba, author of 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World, told MailOnline that people are choosing to have smaller families and the change 'is permanent'. 'So it's wise to focus on working within this new reality rather than trying to change it,' she said. However, some have suggested cheaper childcare, flexible working and policies could boost the dwindling birth rate. 1. Cheaper childcare Dozens of studies have suggested that costs are a key consideration among couples planning to have children. Think tank the Social Market Foundation (SMF) warned that the long-term trend of people having fewer youngsters will leave countries with fewer workers, weaker economies and unsustainable public finances. It called for childcare to be more accessible and affordable to couples, which is said would encourage more couples to conceive. It said average earners in the UK were forced to spend 22 per cent of their income on full-time childcare. It called for the public provision of childcare or for parents to be given subsidies towards it. 2. Flexible working Economists in Spain found that countries with higher rates of part-time roles generally had higher fertility rates. And a German paper found that educated women who were able to work from home had more children. However, the trend was not detected among those with low or no qualifications. 3. Policies to support women have more children The SMF called for more generous parental leave to encourage more people to have children. It said this would allow couples to better balance work and family commitments, pointing to a 'significant increase' in birth rates in Austria after parental leave was doubled from 12 months to 24 months. Advertisement

Professor Murray said: 'Since most purchases of real estate or consumer durables are in the working age adults, it will tend to put downward pressure on these types of assets.

'In the long run, societies have to adapt to having more grandparents than grandchildren. We are actually only just beginning to understand the myriad challenges that sustained low fertility will have on societies.'

However, despite data confirming that global birth rates are falling and projections that the world's population will peak in the next century, experts have dismissed apocalyptic fears.

Professor Jonathan Portes, an economist at King's College London, told MailOnline: 'I don't think this is a threat to the survival of humanity  we're not facing a population crash anytime soon, either in the UK or globally.'

He added that countries where young people don't want to have children  often due to cash worries and difficulties balancing a family with their careers  is not 'delivering for its people'. This will 'eventually have a damaging impact both on social cohesion and general wellbeing, and on economic dynamism', Professor Portes warned.

Dr Jennifer Sciubba, author of 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World, told MailOnline that no population trend is 'inherently good or bad'.

She said experts 'spent decades lamenting high population growth, so it's a shame we don't stop to celebrate the strides humanity has made that led us to today's trends'.

The global population is not expected to shrink anytime soon. There are roughly 7.9billion people around the world currently and the figure is expected to skyrocket by more than a third to 10.9billion by 2100, according to the United Nations.

The UN expects the world population will eventually peak shortly after 2100. And experts admit there are credible studies suggesting that the number of people worldwide could start to tail off as early as 2070.

Professor David Coleman, emeritus professor of demography at Oxford University, told MailOnline that Elon Musk has the 'wrong idea' because population decline is a 'very very long way off'.

He said the declining birth rate and population forecasts are not a concern as long as it is slow  which forecasts suggest it will be.

While the global population is set to peak around 2100, the pattern isn't the same worldwide.

Asia's population is already in decline, with Japan's plunging more than 600,000 in 2021 due to declining fertility rates and a rapidly aging population. As a whole, the continent's headcount is expected to keep falling through 2100.

Meanwhile, the same Lancet study that warned dozens of countries could lose half of their people in the next 80 years also warned the number of people in Europe will begin to trend downwards.

But the number of people in Africa is expected to rise from 550million now to 930million by 2100. And North, Central and South America, along with Oceania are set to see their population rise.

So what is behind the West's baby bust?

The baby bust phenomenon is fuelled by the average woman having fewer children than previous generations.

Women, on average, need to have 2.1 children, known as the replacement rate, for the population to remain stable and replenish itself.

But the equation isn't full-proof and is merely a rough marker to determine whether a population will grow.

On a national level, it doesn't take into account immigration or emigration, which can have a massive impact on population levels.

For example, the Office for National Statistics estimates 5.6million people will immigrate to the UK for the long-term over the next decade, while 3.4million individuals will move out of the country. Even if birth rates were stable in the UK at 2.1, the population would rise due to more people arriving than leaving.

And if there is an aging population  with a higher rate of elderly people relative to the number of women at a childbearing age  the death rate will be higher than the birth rate, even if each woman has two children.

In the 1960s, the number of children each woman in the world had was 5.1  but very high child mortality meant fewer children per woman reached adulthood. But by 2020, the global birth rate fell to 2.4. and it is thought that it will continue to drop.

Sex education and contraception

Education around pregnancy and contraception has increased, with sex education classes beginning in the US in the 1970s and become compulsory in the UK in the 1990s

A rise in education and access to contraception is one reason behind the drop off in the global fertility rate.

Education around pregnancy and contraception has increased, with sex education classes beginning in the US in the 1970s and becoming compulsory in the UK in the 1990s.

'There is an old adage that "education is the best contraception" and I think that is relevant' for explaining the decline in birth rates, said Professor Allan Pacey, an andrologist at the University of Sheffield and former chair of the British Fertility Society.

Elina Pradhan, a senior health specialist at the World Bank, suggests that more educated women choose to have fewer children due to concerns about earning less when taking time off before and after giving birth.

In the UK, three in 10 mothers and one in 20 fathers report having to cut back on their working hours due to childcare, according to ONS data.

They may also have more exposure to different ideas on family sizes through school and connections they make during their education, encouraging them to think more critically about the number of children they want, she said.

And more educated women may know more about prenatal care and child health and may have more access to healthcare, Ms Pradhan added.

Professor Portes said that women's greater control over their own fertility means 'households, and women in particular, both want fewer children and are able to do so'.

More women entering the workplace

More women are in the workplace now than they were 50 years ago  72 vs 52 per cent  which has contributed to the global fertility rate halving over the same time period

More women are in the workplace now than they were 50 years ago  72 vs 52 per cent  which has contributed to the global fertility rate halving over the same time period.

Professor Portes also noted that the drop-off in the birth rate may also be down to the structure of labour and housing markets, expensive childcare and gender roles making it difficult for many women to combine career aspirations with having a family.

The UK Government has 'implemented the most anti-family policies of any Government in living memory' by cutting services that support families, along with benefit cuts that 'deliberately punish low-income families with children', he added.

As more women have entered the workplace, the age they are starting a family has been pushed back. Data from the ONS shows that the most common age for a women who were born in 1949 to give birth was 22. But women born in 1975, were most likely to have children when they were 31-years-old.

In another sign that late motherhood is on the rise, half of women born in 1990, the most recent cohort to reach 30-years-old, remained childless at 30  the highest rate recorded.

Women repeatedly point to work-related reasons for putting off having children, with surveys finding that most women want to make their way further up the career ladder before conceiving.

However, the move could be leading to women having fewer children than they planned. In the 1990s, just 6,700 cycles of IVF  a technique to help people with fertility problems to have a baby  took place in the UK annually. But this skyrocketed to more than 69,000 by 2019, suggesting more women are struggling to conceive naturally.

Declining sperm counts

Reproductive experts have also raised the alarm that biological factors, such as falling sperm counts and changes to sexual development, could 'threaten human survival'.

Dr Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, authored a ground-breaking 2017 study that revealed that global sperm counts have dropped by more than half over the past four decades.

She warned that 'everywhere chemicals', such as phthalates found in toiletries, food packaging and children's toys, are to blame. The chemicals cause hormonal imbalance which can trigger 'reproductive havoc', she said.

Factors including smoking tobacco and marijuana and rising obesity rates may also play a role, Dr Swan said.

Studies have also pointed to air pollution for dropping fertility rates, suggesting it triggers inflammation which can damage egg and sperm production.

However, Professor Pacey, a sperm quality and fertility expert, said: 'I really don't think that any changes in sperm quality are responsible for the decline in birth rates.

'In fact, I do not believe the current evidence that sperm quality has declined.'

He said: 'I think a much bigger issue for falling birth rates is the fact that: (a) people are choosing to have fewer children; and (b) they are waiting until they are older to have them.'

Fears about bringing children into the world

Choosing not to have children is cited by some scientists as the best thing a person can do for the planet, compared to cutting energy use, travel and making food choices based on their carbon footprint.

Scientists at Oregon State University calculated that the each child adds about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the 'carbon legacy' of a woman. Each metric ton is equivalent to driving around the world's circumference.

Experts say the data is discouraging the climate conscious from having babies, while others are opting-out of children due to fears around the world they will grow up in.

Dr Britt Wray, a human and planetary health fellow at Stanford University, said the drop-off in fertility rates was due to a 'fear of a degraded future due to climate change'.

She was one of the authors behind a Lancet study of 10,000 volunteers, which revealed four in ten young people fear bringing children into the world because of climate concerns.

Professor Coleman told MailOnline that peoples' decision not to have children is 'understandable' due to poor conditions, such as climate change.
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England's fifth Covid wave already appears to be slowing  despite renewed calls for onerous social restrictions to return.

Hospitalisations for the virus have been rising in recent weeks in line with a fresh spike in cases triggered by the mild but highly infectious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

Some trusts have already reintroduced face masks and social distancing in response to the climbing figures, just weeks after they were axed from NHS national guidance.

A health minister raised the prospect of curbs being introduced to the wider public earlier this week if the health service becomes too busy to clear its backlogs.

But MailOnline's analysis of NHS data suggests the current wave of Covid admissions is peaking, and there are early signs the rise in cases is also slowing.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations has halved in recent weeks, causing a visible drop in charts showing the virus' pressure on the health service.

Average daily virus admissions had been climbing at around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has now slowed to about 20 per cent.

The Office for National Statistics' weekly infection survey also suggests infections are slowing  despite gloomy warnings they could reach pandemic highs.

There were an estimated 2.1million people infected in England in the most recent week, which marked a 17.7 per cent increase in seven days. That was compared to a 34 per cent jump the previous week.

Covid cases would need to almost double to match the pandemic high of 4.1million infections in March, at the height of the BA.2 wave.

Meanwhile, Covid deaths have started to creep up  but only marginally. Just 30 people are dying primarily from the virus each day in England and Wales, according to an ONS report today.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations for the virus  the speed at which rates are increasing  has halved in recent weeks. Average daily admissions had been climbing at a rate of around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has slowed to about 20 per cent

Latest data shows there were 1,848 Covid admissions across England each day by July 10, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous week. Week-on-week growth has slowed significantly in recent weeks, coming down from 43 per cent in late June, in a promising sign

Covid deaths have started to creep up but only marginally, according to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS), which today estimated just 30 people are dying primarily from the virus each day in England and Wales

MailOnline analysis shows how the rate of severe illness from Covid has fallen over time. At the beginning of the pandemic, one per cent of all people infected with the virus (based on the Office for National Statistics infection rate) required mechanical ventilation within two weeks. But most recent NHS bed occupancy rates show just 0.015 per cent of those infected are admitted to an ICU bed - 100 times fewer than the start of the pandemic

Meanwhile, the ONS' weekly infection survey indicates that infections could also be slowing  despite gloomy warnings they could reach record highs. There were an estimated 2.1million people infected in England in the most recent week, which marked a 17.7 per cent increase in seven days. That was compared to a 34 per cent jump the previous week

Latest data shows there were 1,848 Covid admissions across England each day by July 10, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous week.

Week-on-week growth has slowed significantly in recent weeks, coming down from 43 per cent in late June, in a promising sign.

Why you DON'T need to worry about new 'Centaurus' Covid strain A new Covid variant spreading rapidly in India should not cause too many concerns despite already being found in the UK, experts claimed today. The BA.2.75 sub-strain of Omicron  dubbed 'Centaurus'  appears to be outcompeting all other variants in the south Asian country after being first spotted there in May. Some scientists fear it may be even better at getting around immunity from vaccines and previous infection than the current BA.5 sub-variant. But experts told MailOnline there is no evidence Centaurus causes any more serious disease than the original Omicron variant it evolved from. It is not yet outcompeting BA.5, the now dominant strain causing an uptick in cases in Britain, and scientists do not know if it ever will. Professor David Livermore told MailOnline Centaurus may just be another in a long line of Omicron substrains that are less deadly than previous variants, especially with current vaccine protection. He said: 'Experience with Covid shows that new variants are going to keep rolling through the human population, likely for several years. 'Omicron BA2.75 is a further example. It is very transmissible, but there is no reason to believe that it causes more serious infection than classical Omicron. 'India is presently experiencing a small surge of Omicron BA2.75, but with no evidence of a rise in mortality.' Advertisement

Separate NHS figures show two-thirds of Covid patients in hospital are not primarily sick with the virus, which suggests rising admissions are a symptom of high infection rates rather than severe disease.

The majority are known as 'incidental' cases  patients who went to hospital for a different reason but happened to test positive.

The current wave is being driven by BA.4 and BA.5, with the latter regarded as the most infectious variant of the virus yet.

While highly transmissible, both are thought to be just as mild as their parent strain, which explains why there has not been a significant uptick in serious illness.

Covid ICU inpatient numbers are currently 20 times lower than at the height of the second wave in January 2021 and are lower than at any other point when infections were this high.

There are currently just 218 patients with the virus on mechanical ventilators in England  about 100 more than a month ago.

For comparison, there were 3,600 patients on ventilators at the peak of the second wave in January 2021.

And a report by the ONS today found there were 212 deaths in which Covid was the primary cause in England and Wales in the week ending July 1, the equivalent of around 30 per day.

It technically marks a rise of a quarter compared to the previous week but is still significantly lower than previous waves.

However, it can take more than a month for a rise in infections to affect ICU and death rates.

The changing severity of Covid is due to a mixture of growing natural immunity, vaccines and the milder strains that are currently dominant.

Yet Lord Syed Kamall, a junior health minister, on Monday raised the prospect of the extortionate free lateral flow testing scheme returning, as he left the door open to other measures like mandatory masks.

He told the House of Lords: 'They [health officials] are still focusing on the backlog. If it gets to a point where it is affecting the backlog then clearly measures may well have to be introduced.'

'We are always ready to stand up measures should the case rates rise so much that our health system was under pressure, but also what we have managed to do is break the link between infections and hospitalisations, and hospitalisations and death,' he added.

'If that gets out of control then of course we will stand up the measures that we have previously.'

On testing specifically, he said: 'Should the number of cases spiral out of control then clearly we would look to reintroduce free testing at some stage if it needed that.'

Around 2.1m  the equivalent of one in 25  had the virus in England alone by June 29 (shown), which was up from one in 30 the previous week

3MILLION Britons are still unvaccinated against Covid Health chiefs must redouble their efforts to encourage millions of Britons to get vaccinated against Covid ahead of the winter, MPs warned today. Nearly 3million adults in England have not had any jabs to protect against the virus, so are at more severe risk of being hospitalised or dying if they get infected. Another 2.7million have only had one dose. NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency must 'urgently evaluate which methods are most effective' for boosting uptake, including 'fresh approaches' to tackle persistent low immunisation rates among ethnic groups, according to a report on the vaccine rollout. More than 125million doses of Covid vaccine have been dished out across the country since December 2020, with nine in 10 over-12s having their first dose. But the Public Accounts Committee, which published the report, warned that these 'early achievements' should not 'cloud the need to review vaccines', warning that there is uncertainty about how the virus will mutate and if another massive resurgence is due later this year. Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, who chairs the committee, urged health leaders not to 'take their eye off the ball in tackling future challenges and getting vaccines to hard to reach groups'. Another round of booster vaccines are due for later this year, with health chiefs rumoured to be interested in dishing out an Omicron-specific jab. Advertisement

A number of high-profile left-wing scientists have been publicly lobbying for Covid restrictions to return to combat the rising statistics.

The calls for more curbs comes amid fears that the knock-on effects of lockdown are still killing more than 1,000 people a week in England and Wales.

Official figures showed there have been around 1,500 'excess' deaths every week for the past three weeks in England and Wales. These are the number of fatalities above and beyond what would normally be expected at this time of year.

Only a small fraction of them  around 300  are from Covid, which has led to calls for an urgent investigation into what is behind the excess mortality.

Throughout the pandemic, scientists warned shutting down society and cancelling operations could cause the worsening of other conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The Government moved away from all Covid restrictions in April as part of its learning to 'live with Covid' plan  in which ministers recognised the harms caused by lockdowns and restrictions.

It comes amid concerns about the 3million adults who are still completely unvaccinated against Covid.

MPs have called on NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency must 'urgently evaluate which methods are most effective' for boosting uptake.

They include 'fresh approaches' to tackle persistent low immunisation rates among ethnic groups, according to a report on the vaccine rollout.

More than 125million doses of Covid vaccine have been dished out across the country since December 2020, with nine in 10 over-12s having their first dose.

But the Public Accounts Committee, which published the report, warned that these 'early achievements' should not 'cloud the need to review vaccines', warning that there is uncertainty about how the virus will mutate and if another massive resurgence is due later this year.

Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, who chairs the committee, urged health leaders not to 'take their eye off the ball in tackling future challenges and getting vaccines to hard to reach groups'.

Another round of booster vaccines are due for later this year, with health chiefs rumoured to be interested in dishing out an Omicron-specific jab.

Nearly 3million adults in England have not had any jabs to protect against the virus so are at more severe risk of being hospitalised or dying if they get infected, a Government report on the vaccine rollout states. The graph shows vaccine uptake among all over-12s in England. Some 93.2 per cent have had their first dose, 87.3 per cent are double-jabbed and 68.7 per cent are boosted

Meanwhile, it was confirmed today that more than 200,000 people in the UK have had Covid recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.

This includes all instances where Covid-19 has been mentioned on someones death certificate, either as a main cause of death or a contributory factor.

The milestone was reached on June 25, but has only now been confirmed due to the time it takes for deaths to be registered.

A total of 200,247 deaths involving coronavirus have now been registered in the UK, according to the ONS.

The number of deaths involving coronavirus occurring in the UK each week has remained mostly below 1,000 since early last year, peaking between 1,000 and 2,000 whenever infections have jumped.

By contrast, during the wave caused by the Alpha variant in January 2021, the weekly figure peaked at nearly 10,000.
Eating too much charcuterie may cause cancer, according to French health bosses who've dealt a blow to their country's beloved cold meat industry.

Carcinogenic additives used to give hams their famous pink colour are to blame.

Emmanuel Macron's Government has pledged to crack down on the use of nitrates and nitrites, saying it is vital to limit their use to just 'strictly necessary' quantities.

However, France won't completely ban processed food manufacturers from adding them.

Calls for similar action are growing in the UK, following a World Health Organization (WHO) ruling in 2015 that labelled processed meat as carcinogenic.

About 90 per cent of bacon sold in UK supermarkets contains the chemicals.

In addition to bowel cancer, nitrates and nitrites have also been linked to breast and prostate cancers.

French food chiefs say they intend to cut the use of nitrites and nitrates, which are used as a preservative in charcuterie meats after confirming consumption raises the risk of colon cancer (stock image)

What are nitrites and nitrates? Nitrite and nitrate are commonly used for curing meat and other perishable produce. They are also added to meat to keep it red and give flavour. Nitrate is also found naturally in vegetables, with the highest concentrations occurring in leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuce. It can also enter the food chain as an environmental contaminant in water, due to its use in intensive farming methods, livestock production and sewage discharge. Nitrite in food (and nitrate converted to nitrite in the body) may contribute to the formation of a group of compounds known as nitrosamines, some of which are carcinogenic - ie, have the potential to cause cancer. In 2015 the World Health Organisation warned there were significant increases in the risk of bowel cancer from eating processed meats such as bacon that traditionally have nitrites added as they are cured. The current acceptable daily intake for nitrates, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), is 3.7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. The EFSA's acceptable daily intake for nitrites is 0.07mg per kilogram of weight each day. Source: EFSA Advertisement

Bowel cancer was thrust into the spotlight by late presenter Dame Deborah James  known as 'bowel babe'  who raised millions for charity in her final days battling the disease.

Yesterday, Anses, France's national food safety body, said its review had reached the same conclusion as the WHO, linking risk of bowel cancer to exposure to nitrites and nitrates.

Nitrites are widely used in processed meats to extend their shelf life, by warding off bacteria that can cause diseases like salmonella, listeriosis, and botulism.

Crucially, they also add an alluringly tangy taste and a shopper-seducing fresh-pink hue to products like bacon.

Nitrates, on the other hand, are most commonly used as a fertilizer in farming and can sometimes be found in water supplies as result, but can also be added to meats as a preservative.

Anses, the French equivalent of the UK's Food Standards Authority, said it 'recommends reducing consumption of the range of nitrates and nitrites by deliberately limiting exposure through food consumption'.

'Nitrites and nitrates ingested through food and water are known to cause the formation of nitroso compounds, some of which are carcinogenic and genotoxic to humans,' it continued.

'The higher the exposure to these compounds, the higher the risk of colorectal cancer in the population.'

The agency estimated French people get over half of their daily exposure to nitrites through eating charcuterie.

But it added that 99 per cent of the population do not exceed the healthy daily limits for exposure to nitrites or nitrates.

These are 0.07mg of nitrites per kilogram of weight each day and 3.7mg of nitrates per kilogram of weight per day.

Anses acknowledged that its proposed action could lead to products like cooked hams having a shorter shelf life.

Bowel cancer signs are subtle but Britons are advised to get them checked with their GP if they persist for three weeks or more

WHAT IS BOWEL CANCER? Bowel, or colorectal, cancer affects the large bowel, which is made up of the colon and rectum. Such tumours usually develop from pre-cancerous growths, called polyps. Symptoms include: Bleeding from the bottom

Blood in stools

A change in bowel habits lasting at least three weeks

Unexplained weight loss

Extreme, unexplained tiredness

Abdominal pain Most cases have no clear cause, however, people are more at risk if they: Are over 50

Have a family history of the condition

Have a personal history of polyps in their bowel

Suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease

Lead an unhealthy lifestyle Treatment usually involves surgery, and chemo- and radiotherapy. More than nine out of 10 people with stage one bowel cancer survive five years or more after their diagnosis. This drops significantly if it is diagnosed in later stages. According to Bowel Cancer UK figures, more than 41,200 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK - and 17,000 die. It affects around 40 per 100,000 adults per year in the US, according to the National Cancer Institute. Advertisement

Anses advised people to only eat 150g of processed meats per week, about 20g per day, equivalent to about one slice of ham.

Current UK guidelines say Britons should only eat 70g of cooked red or processed meat a day, over triple the French guidelines of 20g per day.

The French move falls short of a full ban on the use of the chemical additives that was feared by the nation's processed meat industry, which is estimated to be worth 5.65billion a year.

Limits on nitrite and nitrate consumption in the country were proposed in February.

But some British experts and politicians, led by Conservative MP Dr Daniel Poulter, are calling for an outright ban this side of the channel.

Dr Poulter, a former health minister under David Cameron, has gained cross-party support for his motion.

They want meat producers to use more natural alternatives that perform the preservation function without the additional cancer risk.

British meat producer groups have hit back, saying some manufacturers had already reduced the use of nitrites by up to 60 per cent compared to historical levels.

And there are already nitrite-free options available in some British supermarkets.

Responding to the Anses announcement, French processed meat producer group FICT said it had already significantly reduced nitrite use.

FICT chairman Bernard Vallat said: 'If we caused microbial accidents because there are no more nitrites it would be even worse than the hypothetical risk mentioned.'

About 43,000 new bowel cancer cases are recorded in the UK each year making it the 4th most common cancer in the country.

Cancer Research UK estimates about 13 per cent of these cases (about 6,000) were caused by eating processed meat.

In the US, about 140,000 people are diagnosed with the cancer each year.

The signs of colorectal cancer include a persistent change in bowel habit, such as looser, runnier poos, blood in stool, and abdominal pain after eating.

While most people with these problems do not have bowel cancer, people are advised to see their GP if they have symptoms for more than three weeks.
Softcat said Graeme Watt would become chairman in August

Softcat has been accused of acting like an old boys club after promoting its chief executive to chairman.

The software seller said Graeme Watt would become chairman in August next year, succeeding Martin Hellawell.

The move breaks the UK Governance Code set out by the Financial Reporting Council which says the same person should not be chief executive and chairman of a firm.

It is the second time Softcat has broken the code  Hellawell himself became chairman in 2018 after being chief executive.

A spokesman for Softcat acknowledged its decision was not in line with the code but the board was unanimous that Watts deep knowledge of the business, Softcats culture and its markets made him the ideal candidate.

But analysts said the company should widen its search, adding that the appointments resembled an old boys club.

Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets, said: Im surprised a tech company thinks this is acceptable any more.
Neil Woodford and his business partners appear to have given up on their venture.

Just two years after they launched Woodford Capital Management  also known as WCM Partners  the firm has applied to be struck off Britains register of companies, according to filings.

A string of long-time Woodford employees had left the business  some to join Curated Capital, an investment firm founded by Woodford ally Jonathan Adair.

Neil Woodford's recent venture Woodford Capital Management  also known as WCM Partners - has applied to be struck off Britains register of companies

The failure of WCM will come as another blow to the disgraced fund manager, whose original investment empire Woodford Investment Management (WIM) imploded in 2019.

He is still facing an inquiry from the Financial Conduct Authority into the debacle.

And angry savers who lost more than 1billion after his flagship fund was shuttered have launched a lawsuit against Link Fund Solutions, which was supposed to supervise Woodfords management of his funds. A spokesman for WCM did not respond to the Mails request for comment.

Adair, who previously held a technology position at WIM, initially reprised his role when Woodford made his comeback with WCM.

But he left last year and set up Curated Capital, which is registered to do business in the United Arab Emirates. WCM had been scoping out investors in the Middle East and Asia, City sources told the Mail.

But two sources said the firm was unable to gather enough support to get off the ground. WCMs relationship manager, Kristian Penttila, swapped WCM for Curated Capital earlier this year.

And Gavin Petken, another director of WCM, also left at the start of 2022. Yvonne Pownall, who had been head of human resources for WIM and did the same job at WCM, resigned at the same time and went to work for an analytics business.

Woodford himself was never registered as a director of WCM, despite the firm bearing his name.

He fell from grace when his flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund was suspended in 2019.

Link made the decision to shut down the fund, sell its assets and return the money to savers, after a string of decisions from Woodford caused a run of poor performance, which triggered investors to try and pull their money out.
Extraordinary details can be revealed of a chaotic police raid on a property alleged to be the base of operations for notorious climate activists, after cops in camouflage were sprung sneaking around the camp.

Blockade Australia activists were camping near the Hawkesbury River in Sydney's north-west on June 19 when they claim two police officers snuck onto the grounds, dressed in ghillie suits, with cameras on their heads and guns on their hip.

The group has previously claimed responsibility for several major protests across Sydney, including blocking the Harbour Tunnel at peak hour in June - causing gridlocked traffic.

A western Sydney court heard this week the officers were surveilling the group in a bid to see what the organisation had planned next.

But the 30 people on the property were alarmed to see the camouflaged figures shuffling through the woods.

Police attended a Blue Mountains property (pictured) in June to investigate 'planned unauthorised protest activities

Police back up arrived at the property (pictured) after the campers from Blockade Australia allegedly stopped an unmarked police car from leaving

Police told Penrith Court the two officers were quickly surrounded by a group of activists, and alleged the eco-warriors then punctured the tyres of an unmarked car which had arrived to extract them.

The solicitor for all ten individuals charged over the incident, Mark Davis, told a court hearing the 'group of friends' had been 'peacefully camping on a private property along the Hawkesbury River'.

Mr Davis said the problem arose when the group were confronted by the two male officers, who had been hiding in the bushes dressed in camouflage.

The group, ranging in ages from 20 to 35, are charged with an array of offences, including affray, assaulting a police officer and destroying property.

The individuals who were camping in Colo, in the NSW Blue Mountains, said two men in ghillie suits with guns and campers scoped them out before trying to leave

Maxim ODonnell Curmi, who is charged over the incident, is best known for scaling a 60m-high crane at Sydney's Port Botany during a climate change stunt

He said the situation was alarming for the approximately 30 people on the property and the campers were unsure whether the two camouflaged men were soldiers, journalists - or even bird watchers.

When the group asked the two men to identify themselves, they claim police said nothing and began marching down the hill in what was described as 'in a robotic fashion'.

That fact was debated in court, with the police prosecutor saying the officers did identify themselves.

One climate activist then saw the two individuals get into an unmarked car and given the high concern they had been filmed, the group surrounded the car stopping the vehicle from leaving, the court heard.

The camp west of Sydney included shanty buildings and was strewn with bric-a-brac and what appeared to be plastic seating for a large group of people (pictured)

Outside Penrith Local Court on Tuesday, supporters turned up with signs as two men applied for bail

The campers say the policemen did not identify themselves as NSW Police officers and therefore they stopped the vehicle as they didn't know who they were

'The only malicious damage done was they let down the tyres to stop the vehicle leaving, and threw a tarp over the windows,' said Mr Davis.

Each of the ten charged over the incident have entered not guilty pleas to every charge.

Two of the group, Tim Neville and Maxim ODonnell Curmi, had previously been denied bail, but upon being told they would move to Victoria, it was granted.

Outside Penrith Local Court, ODonnell Curmi's father, Tim, said he was 'very happy and relieved' with the result.

'I'm very relieved Max and Nick got bail, it's great to have them out of prison as its been really terrible.

Maxim ODonnell Curmi (pictured top) and Tim Neville (bottom) were granted bail by Penrith Local Court on Tuesday and must now leave NSW for Victoria within 48 hours

Maxim ODonnell Curmi's father, Tim O'Donnell was in court supporting his son and says he views him as 'a hero'

'The way the state is treating activists is terrible, I'm just very relieved now and so pleased with the support for him and there's a lot of us who will keep up the fight.

'I support what hes doing and think were in serious trouble, theyre not a risk to society, theyre trying to protect society and life on earth.'

Mr O'Donnel then went onto say while he doesn't always agree with the methods his son uses to protest, he views him as 'a hero'.

'I support my son and while I don't agree with the demonstrations that disrupt the general public they are what get attention,' he said.

'We will look back on Max as a hero as it's time for change and a lot feel the same.

'Blockade Australia are winning and it's just a philosophy like extinction rebellion - but it's a philosophy that's winning.'

Hannah Doole, one individual who is also on bail in relation to the camping incident was visibly emotional in court as the men were granted bail.

'I'm feeling really confident, I'm confident in Mark (their lawyer) and am just very grateful today,' she said outside court.

Mr Davis spoke to Daily Mail Australia saying he was delighted with the outcome.

Police say one of their unmarked vehicles (pictured) was damaged by protesters who emptied the tyres to prevent officers from leaving

'We are delighted and this outcome is as it should be,' he said.

'It is utterly improper these guys have been in jail for three and a half weeks. They're young guys with no criminal history of violence.

'I have some serious criminals on my books and to think I quite readily get bail and generally get police bail for quite serious offences, the fact they were denied police bail I mean come on.'

Mr Davis then took aim at the treatment from NSW Police labelling the whole ordeal 'a complete and utter beat up'.

'Let me put it this way, these charges are a complete and utter beat up in my view and I'd be surprised if they ever make it to court for half of them,' he said.

'Police should apply proper scrutiny not just have an eye towards tabloid media.

Mr Davis said the group were on a river camping and the charges laid by NSW Police are 'utterly overblown'

'The criminal justice system doesn't run on a popularity contest, it is whether or not you commit a crime and they have not committed crimes in this instance.'

He then also said the fact that police have charged them with such serious charges, it actually makes his job easier as their lawyer.

'They are up on a river, they are camping, it's their land and they are lawfully there when surveillance guys in a bush stagger out and don't say who they are,' he said

Numerous supports of Blockade Australia sat in to hear the bail applications and stood outside the court showing their support for the group.

Following the June 19 incident, Minister Paul Toole said the camp was being used to train for future public demonstrations.

'These extreme protesters surrounded them, they pushed them and they even slashed or let down the tyres of a police vehicle,' he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

The group of about 30 were using the rural property as a training camp for more climate protests in Sydney, Mr Toole said.
A woman left fighting for life in a coma after a horror car crash is yet to learn her partner of more than a decade was killed in the accident.

Aron Thogersen, 43, was driving on Huon Road at Longley, in Tasmania's southeast, about 12.30am on Sunday when he failed to negotiate a right-hand curve in the road and collided with a concrete bridge, police say.

Mr Thogerson was declared dead at the scene while his partner Anita Harrison, also 43, was cut from their red Nissan Micra and rushed to Royal Hobart Hospital with serious injuries.

Ms Harrison is in a stable condition but is yet to wake to learn her beloved partner is gone.

Friends have rallied to support Anita Harrison (left) as she fights for life in hospital after a crash that killed her long term partner Aron Thogersen (right)

Faith Tklac, a friend of the couple, said Ms Harrison will be heartbroken when she hears the news.

'How Anita is going to manage without her soulmate is beyond me,' Ms Tklac told Daily Mail Australia.

'Without that beautiful man beside her it's going to be tough.

'But she will survive. She's the strongest woman I know. '

Devastated loved ones have remembered Mr Thogersen as 'the kindest person', a 'wonderful friend', and 'an absolute legend of a man'.

Ms Tkalac said the labourer was the nicest person you could ever meet and had a 'beautiful face' that lit up any room.

'You hear that all the time, but with him, it was just so true,' she said.

'It could be the worst day of your life - and I have lived it - and Aron could still make you smile.

'Our town will never be the same without him.'

The couple were travelling in a red Nissan Micra on Huon Road, Longley (pictured) during the early hours of Sunday morning when they crashed

Bel Royle described Mr Thogersen as a 'gorgeous man with a beautiful heart and soul'.

Another friend Cyn Sideris said her 'soul was crushed' learning of his death.

'You always made laugh and treated me well,' she wrote on Facebook.

'Let the heavens open and look after you.

'Till we meet again.'

The couple, from Ranelagh, do not share any children but both have kids from previous relationships, who their loved ones have rallied to support during this difficult time.

In a post on Facebook, Ms Harrison's adult son said his mother's condition 'is currently tracking well, but things are still very unclear at this point'.

Friend Jasmine Flannery has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs and supplies for their three dependant children in a bid to ease the burden on Ms Harrison as she recovers.

'We dont want Anita waking up from a coma to deal with the costs of a funeral, bills like her house mortgage as well as having to recover from the accident and deal with losing the love of her life,' Ms Flannery wrote on the fundraiser.

Mr Thogersen has been remembered as 'the kindest person' and 'absolute legend'

'Some of the money will also go to looking after their children - to help their families cover costs for food and credit for phones they need to stay connected and anything else that may arise.'

Since it was launched on Monday, the fundraiser has so far raised $8053 of its $20,000 goal.

Tasmania Police are continuing to investigate the crash and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Senior Constable Adam Hall of Crash Investigation Services said initial investigations indicate Mr Thogersen came around the corner too fast.

'Vehicle speed and the use of alcohol is believed to be contributing factors to the cause of the crash, 'he said.

'Both occupants were wearing seatbelts. At the time the road was dry, weather was clear, and traffic was light.

'The cause of the crash continues to be investigated.'

Anyone with information in relation to the crash is urged contact crash investigation services on 62302111 or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Hunter Biden's former neighbors in Venice, California, are outraged that their neighborhood has turned into a 'tent city' since he left

Hunter Biden's former neighbors are incensed that their street has turned into a 'tent city' since he left  with no more Secret Service agents to move homeless people along.

DailyMail.com revealed early last year Hunter had moved into a $25,000-per-month rented canal-front home in Venice, Los Angeles.

The First Son's trendy digs came with a 24-hour Secret Service protection, and mysteriously coincided with the disappearance of any homeless encampments from the street, neighbors said.

But since Hunter moved to Malibu, a 'tent city' of homeless people camping out on the sidewalk has sprung up again, prompting outrage among residents.

Photos show tents, umbrellas, trash bags, camping chairs, blankets and shopping carts piled up, filling the width of the sidewalk and stretching down the Venice street where Hunter's former home sits. It has since been painted from white to black.

DailyMail.com can also exclusively reveal Hunter has moved out of his $20,000-per-month Malibu home after just a year.

The four-bedroom, 3,000sq ft home with panoramic Pacific Ocean views has been re-listed for rent by Compass realtors, who confirmed Hunter, wife Melissa and baby Beau have moved out.

He rented the property from last summer, after just a few months at his $25,000-rent Venice pad and a previous longer stay at a Hollywood Hills home with a pool.

Secret Service officers were still seen this week stationed at the six-bed Spanish-style estate next door to Hunter's vacated Malibu home.

The USSS rented the neighboring property to house the First Son's protection team for $30,000 per month.

DailyMail.com revealed early last year Hunter Biden had moved into this $25,000-per-month rented canal-front home in Venice, Los Angeles, with his 24-hour Secret Service protection

Secret Service agents (pictured in plain clothes) were staged outside near Hunter's Venice property and were constantly spotted coming and going

THEN: The streets were clear of any homeless encampments when Hunter was living there

NOW: The homeless encampments in the neighborhood that had disappeared have now returned in force, neighbors tell DailyMail.com. The home (left) had been painted from white to black

AFTER: The same area is seen filled with homeless tents. 'As homeowners in Venice, our neighbors have struggled with the out of control homelessness that has made our streets and neighborhoods unsafe,' said Ann McElhinney, who has a home down the street from Hunter's old condo

Photos show tents, umbrellas, trash bags, camping chairs, blankets and shopping carts piled up, filling the width of the sidewalk and stretching down the Venice street

Photos taken on the street this week show that since the First Son left the area it has regained its previous homeless encampment

'When Hunter moved into the neighborhood, his street was immediately cleared of the homeless. The minute he moved up to Malibu, his old street in Venice became a tent city. How is this fair to Venice homeowners?' the neighbor said

Hunter's former neighbors say their Venice street was cleared of homeless people when he was there  and now that he's moved away it's become a tent city.

'As homeowners in Venice, our neighbors have struggled with the out of control homelessness that has made our streets and neighborhoods unsafe,' said Ann McElhinney, who has a home down the street from Hunter's old condo.

'When Hunter moved into the neighborhood, his street was immediately cleared of the homeless. The minute he moved up to Malibu, his old street in Venice became a tent city. How is this fair to Venice homeowners?' she said.

'It just shows how the Bidens truly live a different life from the rest of us.'

McElhinney and her husband Phelim McAleer are currently producing a movie about Hunter and his scandal-plagued life, My Son Hunter.

McAleer posted a video on YouTube in March 2021 of himself armed with a microphone and followed by a cameraman, buzzing the canal-front building, asking for Hunter and being told by a Secret Service agent who opened the gate that there was no one there by that name.

After the agent shut the door, McAleer carried on asking him through the metal fence questions about the infamous '10 for the big guy' email  a key piece of evidence from Hunter's laptop suggesting that the president's son was set to hold 10% of a Chinese joint venture on behalf of Joe Biden.

The three-story Venice home was worth $5.4million when he moved in with his new wife Melissa and baby Beau.

His Secret Service detail was staged in a parking lot not far from the home and several blacked-out SUVs and other government vehicles were regularly seen coming and going.

The federal agents even had their own port-a-potty so they wouldn't get caught short. A government vehicle was also parked directly in front of the property with two agents sat inside.

One Venice local said: 'Hunter's arrival has certainly caused a stir on the canals.

'They're driving around in these huge blacked-out GMCs, they look like they mean business.'

DailyMail.com can also reveal that Hunter has since moved out of the Malibu home and on to another property, which is sure to be equally as swanky for Hunter, his wife Melissa and their son Beau

Hunter was renting his home from wealthy Filipino couple Rajiv Chandiramani and Vicki Narwani for a cool $20,000 a month

The secret service had a property next door to Hunter's $20,000-a-month rented home where he lived with his family

The four-bedroom, 3,000sq ft home with panoramic Pacific Ocean views has been re-listed for rent by Compass realtors, who confirmed Hunter, wife Melissa and baby Beau have moved out

Ricky Otterstrom, senior vice president of Ryker Flint, a commercial real estate brokerage, has lived in Venice Beach for 15 years, told DailyMail.com last year: 'I see Hunter Biden's secret service parked out front of his house every morning when I walk to the beach to surf.'

'They are there 24/7 which is a plus for us here on the Venice Canals. We need the extra security considering the amount of crime we have. Interestingly the homeless people who were living up along the street he now lives on are gone.

'It could be a coincidence or the city had them removed because of Hunter. I think his presence will help clean up the area and I hope he gets involved with the community. It's a tight community with great people.'

But photos taken on the street this week show that since the First Son left the area it has regained its previous homeless encampment.

The stylish 3,700 square feet home boasts 25-foot acoustic ceilings hanging over contemporary limestone white floors in the living room.

The sleek living space adjoins a center-island kitchen and an open-concept dining area.

Although the house has just two bedrooms, both are master suites and one expands to a lounge which boasts a fireplace and outdoor access that overlooks the pool, as well as a marble bathroom.

The other loft-style bedroom has a separate soaking tub and shower and opens to a private balcony which overlooks the historic Venice canal.

Hunter's previous pad in Venice was a stylish 3,700 square feet home boasts 25-foot acoustic ceilings hanging over contemporary limestone white floors in the living room

The sleek living space adjoins a center-island kitchen and an open-concept dining area

One loft-style bedroom has a separate soaking tub and shower and opens to a private balcony which overlooks the historic Venice canal

Both bedrooms are master suites and one expands to a lounge which boasts a fireplace and outdoor access that overlooks the pool, as well as a marble bathroom

Hunter stayed for half of 2021, before moving to a more remote spot on a private drive atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu.

The 3,000sqft Malibu home featured an open floor plan with solid oak floors and 180-degree views of the Pacific.

The three-car garage was converted into a studio where Biden goes to paint every morning.

The property has a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, an indoor-outdoor living room with pocket doors and a great room with a vaulted ceiling.

Its 0.7-acre lot features a pool, hot tub, stone patio and built-in barbecue.

His secret service detail upgraded from their street port-a-potty to a $30,000-per-month 'Spanish-style estate' of their own next door to Hunter's, with six bedrooms and six bathrooms, and amenities including a gym, tasting room, pool, barbecue and a spa.
A new Covid variant spreading rapidly in India should not pose any threat, experts insisted today amid claims it may already be circulating in Britain.

BA.2.75, nicknamed 'Centaurus', appears to be outcompeting all other variants in the south Asian country after being first spotted there in May.

Some scientists fear it may be the most contagious variant seen yet, and better equipped to evade any immunity from vaccines and previous infection.

But there is no proof it causes any more serious disease than the original type of Omicron it evolved from, leading Covid experts told MailOnline.

It is not yet outcompeting BA.5, the now dominant strain causing an uptick in cases in Britain, and scientists do not know if it ever will.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert from the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline a BA.2.75 wave could be the least deadly yet.

It is not expected to strike Britain until later this year because it hasn't yet gained a strong enough foothold to displace BA.5.

Professor Hunter said: 'It's always difficult to say for certain how this going to go. There is a suggestion this is going to spread more if it hits Britain in the autumn.

'But at the moment it doesn't look like it will be more deadly than BA.5 and it may even be less deadly because with every wave there is more protection.

'Current research is suggesting recent infection and vaccination combined offers the best protection, so the current wave could help help protect people from an autumn surge caused by BA.2.75.'

Professor David Livermore, a retired medical microbiologist at the UEA, argued that Centaurus was just the latest in a never-ending line of Omicron sub-strains.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) weekly infection survey found more than 2.7million Britons were infected with Covid in the last week of June

This graph shows the number of deaths directly due to Covid recorded in England and Wales. The number of deaths being recorded these nations currently is far below that of previous waves earlier year and a sheer fraction of those seen at the start of 2021

But only a third of patients are primarily sick with Covid, which suggests rising admissions are a symptom of high infection rates rather than severe disease. The majority (64 per cent) are known as 'incidental' cases  patients who went to hospital for a different reason but happened to test positive. The above graph compares incidental cases throughout the pandemic

What do we know about BA.2.75? Should we be concerned? What is BA.2.75? This is an off-shoot of the BA.2 Omicron substrain that caused the last wave of Covid in April. It was first detected in India in May and has been found in at least 10 other countries, including the UK and US. Is it more dangerous? Early analysis suggests BA.2.75 is more transmissible than both BA.2 and BA.5, which is behind the current uptick in cases in Britain. But there is no evidence to suggest it is more likely to cause serious disease. Should I be concerned? Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline a BA.2.75 wave could be the least deadly yet. It is not expected to strike Britain until later this year, with cases too low to start pushing out BA.5 circulation currently. Professor Hunter said people could have better protection when it does finally arrive because of a combination of the vaccine and recent infection this summer. Advertisement

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind the pandemic, constantly evolves as it tries to spread.

The majority of mutations are harmless.

However, some quirks the virus picks up over time can give it an advantage  like being able to infect people easier.

As SARS-CoV-2 mutates over time, it can splinter off into genetically distinct variants, or strains.

For example, the January 2021 wave was caused by Alpha, last summer's peak was down to Delta, and the original Omicron strain was to blame for last winter's peak.

Britain's April chaos was sparked by the BA.2 substrain, a sub-type of Omicron considered to be nearly as infectious as measles.

The current resurgence, which has already prompted calls for face masks and social distancing to return, is being driven by BA.5. It appears to be even more infectious than BA.2.

BA.2.75 is actually an off-shoot of the BA.2 variant from April, but is thought to be the most infectious of any of them yet, in theory.

Professor Livermore told MailOnline: 'Experience shows new variants are going to keep rolling through the human population, likely for several years.

'Omicron BA2.75 is a further example. It is very transmissible, but there is no reason to believe that it causes more serious infection than classical Omicron.'

Pointing to India's current flare-up, he said there is 'no evidence of a rise in mortality'.

Analysis of data suggests India's share of cases down to Centaurus has quadrupled in a month.

Professor Livermore added: 'The past two years of lockdowns and restrictions have done huge collateral damage to society, education, healthcare and the economy.

'We must work to repair this, not to extend it with panics about each new variant.'

Others took to social media to calm fears about the variant.

Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, tweeted: 'Stop trying to make Centaurus happen. It's not going to happen.'

The sub-strain's nickname was invented on Twitter, named after a star constellation representing a centaur  a Greek mythological creature that is half human and half horse.

BA.2.75 has been spotted so scarcely in Britain so far that official case figures are not yet available.

It's also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the UK and Canada.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations for the virus  the speed at which rates are increasing  has halved in recent weeks. Average daily admissions had been climbing at a rate of around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has slowed to about 20 per cent

Latest data shows there were 1,848 Covid admissions across England each day by July 10, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous week. Week-on-week growth has slowed significantly in recent weeks, coming down from 43 per cent in late June, in a promising sign

MailOnline analysis shows how the rate of severe illness from Covid has fallen over time. At the beginning of the pandemic, one per cent of all people infected with the virus (based on the Office for National Statistics infection rate) required mechanical ventilation within two weeks. But most recent NHS bed occupancy rates show just 0.015 per cent of those infected are admitted to an ICU bed - 100 times fewer than the start of the pandemic

Nearly 3million adults in England have not had any jabs to protect against the virus so are at more severe risk of being hospitalised or dying if they get infected, a Government report on the vaccine rollout states. The graph shows vaccine uptake among all over-12s in England. Some 93.2 per cent have had their first dose, 87.3 per cent are double-jabbed and 68.7 per cent are boosted

Dr Matthew Binnicker, a virologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said: 'It is still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions.

'But it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase.'

Whether it will outcompete BA.5 is yet to be determined, he said.

Despite warnings of another wave in Britain, figure suggest infections may already be slowing.

There were an estimated 2.1million people infected in England in the most recent week, which marked a 17.7 per cent increase in seven days.

That was compared to a 34 per cent jump the previous week.

MailOnline's analysis of NHS data suggests the current wave of Covid admissions is peaking.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations has halved in recent weeks.

Average daily virus admissions had been climbing at around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has now slowed to about 20 per cent.
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The extravagant life of Netflix star Julia Haart and her estranged mega-rich husband is laid bare in new photos and documents obtained by DailyMail.com amid the bitter legal battle between the former couple.

My Unorthodox Life star Haart is divorcing Swiss one-time billionaire Silvio Scaglia and suing him for allegedly defrauding her out of half of their $700million company.

Photos and documents exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com expose alleged business backstabbing and the couple's fights over lavish properties and luxury cars, including a $65million New York penthouse, a $53,000 private jet trip to Mexico, his and hers Bentley luxury autos and $14,000 household cleaning bills.

In a lawsuit filed last week, Haart called her estranged husband a 'liar and a fraud', describing his purported wealth as 'smoke and mirrors' and claiming he subjected her to 'indentured servitude' by allegedly tricking her out of ownership of their company.

Haart's legal complaint says Scaglia tried to mortgage their home for $40million to prop up his allegedly ailing companies, fired her from their firm in 'romantic retaliation', and even claims the Swiss entrepreneur filed a false police report during their bitter dispute saying his wife stole her own Bentley.

My Unorthodox Life's Julia Haart is suing estranged husband Silvio Scaglia, claiming he defrauded her out of half of their $700million modeling agency business

Photos and documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal alleged business backstabbing and the couple's fights over lavish properties and luxury cars, including Haart's $340,000 custom Bentley Mulsanne

The Netflix star also claims Scaglia tried to mortgage their $65million Tribeca penthouse, which overlooks the Hudson River, for $40million to prop up his allegedly ailing companies

Photographs obtained by DailyMail.com show the luxury cars and penthouse apartment which the couple are now fighting over, and emails, texts, and documents reveal the couple's communications that led to their courtroom spat.

Haart, 51, broke away from the 'ultra-orthodox' Haredi Jewish community in 2013 and made a popular Netflix documentary about it: My Unorthodox Life.

She became a successful fashion designer and married Scaglia, 63, in 2019.

Scaglia, who originally made his fortune through telecom company Fastweb, bought modeling agency Elite World Group (EWG) in 2011.

Haart says in her lawsuit that Scaglia had lost nearly all his money by the time they married, but that she 'transformed EWG from a failing modeling agency to a global media company', taking its valuation from $70million in 2018 to between $700million and $1.1billion, according to a 2021 investment bank assessment.

Instead of paying her a salary as CEO of the agency, Haart claims her husband promised her half the shares in EWG's parent company, Freedom Holding, Inc (FHI), and said the couple would receive 2 per cent of EWGs revenues each year.

Emails and messages obtained by DailyMail.com appear to show Scaglia confirming those promises.

On May 4, 2021 Scaglia wrote to an investment banker valuing EWG: 'Julia and I own an equal share of EWG through own common holding company. Julia is the CEO and the real force behind EWG success and stature in the industry. I am the non executive Chairman.'

The modeling agency's global CFO wrote an email, copying Scaglia and Haart, on January 7, 2022 saying: 'Freedom Holdings is owned 50/50 by Silvio and Julia and in turn Freedom owns EWG.'

And the company's accountant, Jeffrey Feinman, who Haart is also suing, wrote in an email to a mortgage broker on February 3, 2022: 'Freedom is owned by Julia and Silvio equally.'

But Haart alleges Scaglia created a secret back-door clause allowing him to issue new, higher-ranked shares that gave him control of the company.

Haart was fired as CEO of Elite World Group in February, hours before she filed for divorce from her estranged husband after nearly three years of marriage

A May 4, 2021 email appears to show Scaglia confirming Haart claims that her husband had promised her half the shares in EWG's parent company, Freedom Holding, Inc (FHI) and that the two own an 'equal share'

In an email from to a mortgage broker on February 3, 2022, the company's accountant states that Freedom Holding 'is owned by Julia and Silvio equally'

She claims that when she found out about the alleged scheme in 2020, he gave her nearly 50 per cent of the new shares, but still secretly kept just enough for himself to maintain sole control.

'As a result, when Scaglia transferred 50 per cent of the stock in FHI to Haart, her ownership and control of FHI was purely illusory and she had no ability to prevent Scaglia from taking all of the money paid by EWG for Haart's valuable services as CEO for himself,' her New York legal complaint said.

'Haart has since learned that Scaglia's representations to her concerning her ownership and control of FHI were all a pack of lies and that he never intended for Haart to be his equal partner or to share equal ownership and control of FHI.'

Haart claims that in February this year she discovered Scaglia had taken $1.5million from the FHI 'joint' account for himself without her permission, and had also severed his hedge fund, SHS Asset Management, from their allegedly jointly owned company.

She claims the alleged trickery amounts to 'fraud'.

'It cannot be that a man can convince his wife to give up millions in dollars in salary and benefits, plus an employment contract at the peak of her career (along with the security and independence that come with those things) and then leave her with nothing when his bait-and-switch is revealed,' her lawyer, Christopher Milito, wrote in the legal complaint.

Haart even claimed her estranged husband filed 'a false police report against Haart, claiming Haart had stolen her own Bentley from EWG'.

A copy of a February 3, 2019 text message from Scaglia obtained by DailyMail.com appears to refer to the vehicle as belonging to his wife.

'Kenny will pick up Julia upstate, than (sic) drop Julia's car to Bentley (she is selling it to them),' the text said.

Photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the inside of their $65million New York penthouse apartment, decked out for a 2021 Thanksgiving dinner party, as well as the former EWG CEO working at the modeling firm's office

Haart working at her penthouse. The luxury apartment boasts five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms

Both Haart and Scaglia owned luxury Bentley Mulsannes, which were discontinued in 2020. The car model had started at around $340,000. Pictured: Scaglia's black Bentley pictured in storage with New York plates

A photograph shows Haart's gleaming luxury car, a Bentley Mulsanne, decked out with a custom black and red paint job.

The model was discontinued in 2020 by Bentley and replaced with the Flying Spur. Mulsanne MSRPs started at around $340,000.

Scaglia also has his own black Mulsanne, pictured in storage with New York plates.

Other photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the inside of their swank $65million New York penthouse apartment, decked out for a 2021 Thanksgiving dinner party, as well as the former EWG CEO working at the modeling firm's office.

The luxury pad, between Tribeca and Hudson Square in New York, is 14 floors up with '40 feet of unobstructed river views' according to a Compass property listing.

It boasts five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, a wet bar, a second 'entertaining kitchen', private gallery, walk in closets, a giant living room with a fireplace, a 2,000 sq. ft. roof deck and its own private elevator.

Haart's office, like their penthouse, is decked out with chic modern furnishings including $368-a-roll Fornasetti designer wallpaper.

The building was designed by famous architect Robert A.M. Stern, with interiors by AD100 designer Daniel Romualdez.

Haart claims it was Scaglia who was using company funds for personal expenses. And an email from July 2020 shows Scaglia asked his EWG's CFO to 'take care of' a $14,000 bill for 'household staffing'

An invoice obtained by DailyMail.com shows a $53,000 bill for Scaglia's private jet flight to Mexico on October 15, 2021, accounted as a business trip

Building residents have included Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen.

Haart claims in her lawsuit that Scaglia tried to get an extra $10million loan on the property on top of its already existing $30million mortgage, to fund another of his troubled business ventures  a move that would have saddled them both with monthly payments 'up to $266,000'.

The allegations were filed as part of a civil lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court on July 8.

But the latest suit is just one front in the couple's legal war that erupted in the past seven months.

The two announced in December that they were splitting.

Scaglia fired Haart as CEO of EWG on February 6 and she filed for divorce a few hours later.

She described the firing as 'romantic retaliation for her no longer wanting to remain his business partner.'

Scaglia then sued her, claiming she 'illegally' withdrew $850,000 from a company account, with insiders claiming she spent money on private jet flights, luxury hotels, drivers, a rental in the Hamptons  and even a boob job.

The couple jointly used the account for mortgage payments and living expenses, Scaglia's lawsuit said.

Haart's office, like their penthouse, is decked out with chic modern furnishings including $368-a-roll Fornasetti designer wallpaper

Haart, 51, broke away from an 'ultra-orthodox' Jewish community in 2013 and made a popular Netflix documentary series about it: My Unorthodox Life. She is pictured at the premiere of the show with (from left to right) son Aron Hendler, daughter Miriam, son Shlomo Hendler, son-in-law Ben Weinstein and eldest daughter Batsheva

Haart starred in the popular Netflix series last year, which focused on her rise in the fashion industry after she left her strict religious household at age 42

Haart claims it was Scaglia who was using company funds for personal expenses.

An invoice obtained by DailyMail.com shows a $53,000 bill for Scaglia's private jet flight to Mexico on October 15, 2021, accounted as a business trip.

Over the next month he posted photographs of himself on the beach in Baja California Sur, Mexico, diving with sea lions and kitesurfing with his son.

The private charter invoice from Vincent Jets shows his flight from Teterboro, New Jersey, to La Pax, Mexico, in a Challenger 604 jet cost $53,000.

On November 7 that year Scaglia posted a photo on Instagram of himself underwater with full diving gear looking up at a sea lion swimming above him.

He shared another photo from a roof of a moonlit beach-side cabana with a jacuzzi on October 22, and on November 26 a picture of himself and his son kitesurfing.

And in an email from July 2020, Scaglia asked his EWG's CFO to 'take care of' a $14,000 bill for 'household staffing'.

Haart first sued her husband in Delaware, the state where FHI is registered, over his alleged 'bait and switch' of company shares he promised to her.

Haart said Scaglia made a series of arguments to a Delaware court that she claims were false: first that he never gave her any preferred shares; then when she produced share documents, that she forged the signatures; and finally that the shares were not given in a proper legal manner.

But on May 26 the judge in the Delaware case found in Scaglia's favor that 'Haart does not own fifty per cent of Freedom's preferred stock'.

Scaglia's representatives say the decision is proof Haart does not have a valid case, while the estranged wife argues that the ruling shows Scaglia failed to follow through on his promise to make her a 50 per cent owner of their company  which she describes as 'fraud'.

An invoice obtained by DailyMail.com shows a $53,000 bill for Scaglia's private jet flight to Mexico on October 15, 2021, accounted as a business trip

On November 7 that year Scaglia posted a photo on Instagram of himself underwater with full diving gear looking up at a sea lion swimming above him

He shared another photo from a roof of a moonlit beach-side cabana with a jacuzzi on October 22, and on November 26 a picture of himself and his son kitesurfing

'The [Delaware judge's] preliminary ruling indicates she is likely to find that Silvio did not complete the proper paperwork to deliver the full 50 per cent of the preferred shares to Julia,' her attorney Milito said.

'Our lawsuit is based on the concept that he was required to do so and acted to all the world as if Julia was a full 50 per cent owner at all times.'

Scaglia's lawyer, Lanny Davis, had a scathing response.

'The case she just filed is similar to claims that she made in a Delaware court. After a full trial, the court ruled in April against her on all counts  ie, that she does not own 50% of the parent company or any of the companies that are owned and controlled by Mr. Scaglia,' Davis told DailyMail.com.

'Moreover, her own testimony and documents in that trial proved she knew before she filed the case that she did not own 50% of Mr. Scaglia's parent company assets.

'She forgot to include that fact in this latest lawsuit. She apparently thinks she can mislead the media. Again. She can't.

'Ms. Haart has touted in her book her mantra, "Fake it till you make it," added Davis added. 'By her latest lawsuit filing, she proves she believes this works in a court of law. It does not.

'Maybe it is time for Ms. Haart to stop lying in court and to the media about Mr. Scalia and his companies and start accepting facts and the truth.'

Haart's lawsuit also contains references to Scaglia's previous divorce of his ex wife, Monica Aschei, who claimed he lost all their money with bad business decisions.

'Fastweb was, of course, a huge success but (putting it simply) since then Silvio has lost a staggering proportion of our family wealth by making decisions which were just as bad as his Fastweb decisions were good,' Aschei wrote in a legal declaration for their 2018 divorce.

The ex claimed that though his net profit from Fastweb was 718million, his losses from other business in the following years totaled 'at least 725m.'
The Senate confirmed career lawyer Steve Dettelbach (pictured) as the new ATF director  the first to hold the post since 2006

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Steve Dettelbach to become the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)  making him only the second to hold the position in 16 years.

Congress has grappled over confirming another ATF director since 2006, but has finally moved on the action following a series of mass shootings and pushes for more regulations on firearms.

Dettelbach, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and currently a partner at the law firm BakerHostetler, was confirmed in a 48-46 vote. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portmano of Ohio joined their Democratic colleagues to support his nomination.

The confirmation came after Joe Biden's first pick, David Chipman, failed to earn favor with any Republicans and forced the president to withdraw his nomination following fierce opposition from gun groups.

An online campaign also painted Chipman as an anti-gun nominee with ties to the Waco massacre where the ATF engaged in a deadly siege of a compound belonging to Branch Davidians.

Dettelbach has pledged to lead the bureau in a nonpartisan manner, but several Republicans have said they are still concerned over his views on gun regulations.

President Joe Biden's had to withdraw his first pick to lead the agency after David Chipman (pictured during a hearing on May 26, 2021) failed to earn favor with Republicans

Democrats are fiercely pushing for reforms and restrictions on firearms purchases in the U.S., which Republicans and pro-Second Amendment groups claim is an infraction on their constitutional rights.

The increased push comes following three high-profile mass shootings over the course of less than two months.

In mid-May, a gunman, 18, opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 and injuring three others.

Then 10 days later, an 18-year-old shooter killed 19 elementary-aged students and two teachers and wounded 17 others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Earlier on the day of the shooting he had shot his grandmother in the face at home, severely wounding her.

At an Independence Day parade on July 4 in Highland Park, Illinois, Robert 'Bobby' Crimo III, 21, shot and killed seven people and injured at least two dozen others.

A string of recent mass shootings led Congress to pass the largest gun reform legislation in decades. Pictured: FBI agents on the scene of the Independence Day parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, which left six dead and injured two dozen others

The shootings have specifically called into question the age of those who have obtained firearms and have led to pushes to restrict the purchase age of long guns to 21 from 18.

The ATF, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, is a law enforcement agency and a regulatory office.

Its lead role in regulating firearms in America has made it the target of the powerful gun lobby, which fiercely opposes efforts to tighten U.S. gun laws.

Since the role of the ATF director became a position requiring Senate confirmation in 2006, only one person - Democratic President Barack Obama's nominee B. Todd Jones - has ever won confirmation.

The rest of that time, it has been led by a string of acting directors, hobbling its ability to propose and adopt tougher gun regulations.

Democratic senators and anti-gun violence groups praised the confirmation.

'While certainly not a panacea to the gun violence epidemic plaguing our nation, having Mr. Dettelbach at the helm of the ATF will ensure the feds have all hands on deck in the fight to stop gun trafficking, prevent illegal possession of firearms, and make sure our kids can't get their hands on dangerous weapons,' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Schumer was not in Washington for the vote because he tested positive for COVID-19 this week.

Biden also commended the Senate for confirming Dettelbach, saying in a statement that the new ATF director would play a key role in implementing a recently passed bipartisan gun safety bill.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, meanwhile, said in a statement he is confident Dettelbach 'will lead ATF with integrity, dedication, and skill.'

Congress passed the largest gun reform bill since the 1990s in the wake of a string of mass shootings, but Democrats claim this still isn't enough.

The Supreme Court also ruled last month that New York could not impose a law that put the onus on a gun owner to prove that they had a need for a concealed carry license.

Biden said he would continue to try to push Congress to adopt other measures to stem gun violence, such as banning assault weapons and expanding background checks.

It is unlikely, however, that Congress would pass further gun control legislation in the near term.
Anthony Albanese's government has urged Australians to work from home if possible as Covid and influenza cases rise - despite calls from business leaders to keep the country open.

More than 300,000 Aussies are recovering from Covid, with experts predicting infections and hospitalisations will soar in the coming weeks as highly infectious dominating Omicron strains BA.4 and BA.5 rip across the country.

Employers have been warned to brace to operate on skeleton staff amid a record number of sick leave, and authorities fear national case numbers could peak to more than 100,000 a day like those seen in January if no public health action is taken.

The looming health crisis - which could leave hospitals overwhelmed - has sparked fierce debate as health groups call for greater safety measures. At the same time, businesses fear returning to remote work could undo economic progress.

Health authorities are bracing for a winter wave of Covid cases, driven by the highly infectious Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains. Pictured: Commuters walk through Sydney's CBD

While acknowledging the difficulty the situation presented to employers, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said Australia should work from home 'for a little period' if they can to help curb skyrocketing infection rates.

'Yes, I think we are going to go through a difficult period and if employers feel that there is the ability to continue their operations with that sort of change for a little period then I think the chief health officers are providing good advice,' he told 3AW radio.

'But employers will have to consider that given the circumstances that they're facing now.

'There's a level of fatigue there about being told what to do. So I think chief health officers, and political leaders need to make sure that they calibrate their advice for this third wave in 2022 in a way that gets the best response and the best behavioural response from our community.'

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler (pictured) on Tuesday advised Australians should work from home if possible

Mr Butler's Victorian counterpart issued similar advice on Tuesday as the state tightened Covid rules, reintroducing mask mandates for schools, hospitality, retail, and early education settings.

Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said employers should 'consider working from home arrangements that are most appropriate for their workplace and employees based on individual requirements'.

While similar advice has not yet been rolled out by leaders of NSW, QLD, and WA, Australia's top health experts last week urged workers to stay home where possible.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee  which counts chief medical officer Paul Kelly as a member- said employers should 'consider the feasibility of some employees working from home and support employees to take leave when sick'.

But the advice has sparked backlash from business groups, which claim state and federal governments' response to the impending Covid wave would reflect whether they were committed to moving past restrictions.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox, representing more than 60,000 businesses and one million employees, said struggling medical infrastructure was no reason to shut down the economy.

'We have seen before that mask and work-from-home mandates have deeply impacted the viability, growth and responsiveness of thousands of businesses. Companies have now developed different arrangements with their staff according to their mutual needs and have implemented clear Covid action plans,' Mr Willox told The Australian.

'Our major cities remain very quiet and to impose further restrictions would be a hammer blow for their recovery.'

There are fears health care systems could become overburdened as influenza and Covid cases skyrocket. Pictured: A nurse collects a Covid sample at a drive through clinic in Sydney

Hospitality leaders said health protocols that reduced customers would see more small businesses close and the increased need for government support.

'This winter season is a test for governments throughout Australia on their stance on whether they want to live with Covid-19 or shut down the economy with every variant in the years to come,' Restaurant and Catering chief executive Belinda Clarke said.

Meanwhile, retail and hospitality leaders are demanding the government reinstate the $750-a-week pandemic leave payments for those forced to isolate, despite the payments costing Aussies $1.9billion.

Mr Albanese, who on Tuesday received his fourth Covid vaccine dose, said he wouldn't bring back the payments due to the need for the government to rein back spending.

The new government had inherited the former's decision to end the payments and $1 trillion of debt, he said.

'They are circumstances which my government faces ... there are a range of things we would like to do, but we intend to be fiscally responsible in how we deal with issues,' he told reporters in Sydney.

As case numbers rise across the country, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said hospitals could hold back some elective surgery due to the strain on the system.

He said the emergence of influenza for the first time in three years in Australia was making the situation worse.

Mr Butler, said the rise in infections still had a long way to go, with Covid cases not likely to peak nationally for at least four weeks during the third wave of infections.

Victoria reintroduced mask mandates for some settings on Tuesday as the state's health minister called for residents to work from home. Pictured: Women walk through Melbourne's CBD on Monday with masks

'All of the modelling indicates that case numbers and hospitalisations have further to go over probably the next four to six weeks,' he told Melbourne radio 3AW on Tuesday.

While case numbers have increased and calls have grown for mask mandates to return, the prime minister said he would follow health advice on the issue.

'Mandates on those issues, of course, are a matter for ... state governments around the country,' he said.

LATEST 24 HOUR COVID DATA NSW: 10,806 cases, 20 deaths, 2049 in hospital with 58 in ICU Victoria: 10,627 cases, 16 deaths, 737 in hospital with 39 in ICU Tasmania: 1812 cases, one death, 100 in hospital with two in ICU Queensland: 6768 cases, 15 deaths, 860 in hospital with 12 in ICU ACT: 1174 cases, no deaths, 140 in hospital with three in ICU SA: 3668 cases, three deaths, 246 in hospital with six in ICU WA: 6000 cases, three deaths, 297 in hospital with six in ICU NT: 481 cases, no deaths, 39 in hospital with zero in ICU Source: AAP Advertisement

'We will continue to take advice on these issues by health experts, and we've acted on all the advice that has been given during the pandemic.'

But educating the public about the risks of exposure to Covid would be more helpful than reintroducing a mask mandate, epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said.

'If (people) know what the infection risk is ... that's the sort of information that can inform people's choices and might actually translate to better uptake of masks than simply putting rules in place,' she told Sky News.

Prof Kelly said the rising number of reinfections had thrown a curve ball for handling the virus.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has recommended the reinfection period be reduced from 12 weeks to 28 days following the rise of cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.

This means people will be required to get tested and isolate if they redevelop symptoms 28 days after recovering from the virus, and could be reported and managed as new cases.

NSW and Western Australia have already followed suit.

Australia recorded more than 41,000 Covid cases and 58 deaths on Tuesday.

There are nearly 4500 patients in hospital with the virus.
A fired-up Karl Stefanovic has told politicians to 'back off' and let Aussies make their own decisions on Covid rules as a top doctor says the time for mandates is over.

'I just have to say this, I'm sick of governments being in our lives so much,' the Today Show host said following an appearance from Dr Nick Coatsworth.

'Just back off. Let us make our own decisions about what we want to do with the families. Even the talk of mandating again, let us make our own decisions.

'We've done everything that you wanted. Most of us had at the least two jabs. Back off and let me make my own decisions.

'That's my point. My mum reckons, let's go back to where it was. Get it back on. Australia right now, happy days.'

A fired-up Karl Stefanovic has told politicians to 'back off' and let Aussies make their own decisions about Covid as a top doctor calls for the end of restrictions

Stefanovic's rant comes as Anthony Albanese's government urges Australians to work from home if possible as Covid and influenza cases rise - despite calls from business leaders to keep the country open.

However, Dr Coatsworth called on the government to end mandates on Covid measures.

'I think what many Australians feel and would agree with is that the time for mandating some of these interventions is at an end in July 2022,' he said.

Stefanovic's rant came after Dr Coatsworth (pictured) called on the government to end mandates on Covid measures like vaccines amid an uptick in new infections

Stefanovic said one part of the population was sick of even hearing about Covid while the other part was open to the return of mandates.

'But you've got to move on with this. Especially given the fact that a lot of people have had worse respiratory viruses than Covid was in the first place,' he said.

'They're saying well damn it. I'm going to get out there. I'm not doing it anymore.'

Dr Coatsworth agreed with Stefanovic and said the majority of Australians would simply 'turn off' at the mention of mandates.

Stefanovic said he could feel 'tensions rising again' as the third wave of the virus strikes the country with the dominant Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5.

'I'm surprised in July 2022, Australia is a nation is starting to get really head up about this again,' the top doctor replied.

'I think we really need to come together and realise yes it's a deal but it's not the same big deal that it was two years ago.'

Doctors have strong recommended Aussies wear masks indoors amid an uptick in new infections (pictured, commuters in Sydney)

When asked if ending the mandatory seven-day isolation period for Covid cases, the top doctor said it would 'help' but that it was up to health authorities.

'But I fear that given what we've said this morning Ally, the nation's chief health officers may not be ready for that,' Dr Coatsworth quipped.

It comes just days after Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy warned Aussies were being 'boiled like frogs slowly' into accepting current death numbers - with death rates surpassing 10,000 last week.

Dr Moy told ABC's News Breakfast on Monday that health authorities are more worried about Covid now than they have been for many months.

He said doctors are worried about the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variant as they are 'more infectious, cause more reinfections and severe disease' and travel down the lungs.

Dr Moy blamed the federal election for giving the country a 'false sense of security' as politicians ended mask mandates and restrictions to signal victory over the virus.

Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy said doctors are worried about the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variant because they are more infectious (pictured, Sydney commuters)

'Unfortunately to some degree, we've been like frogs boiled slowly and we're accepting this death rate which is continued on,' he said.

He said there has been more than 10,200 deaths of people with Covid in their system over the past two and half years since the virus emerged.

Australia's most recent annual death toll from all causes is 160,000.

Dr Moy advised those experiencing symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat or cough to get a PCR test immediately and not rely on a RAT, where detection rates of the virus were only 60 per cent.

'Really consider wearing a mask in high-risk situations,' the doctor urged.

Aussies over 30 have been urged to consider rolling up their sleeve for a fourth vaccine dose (pictured, a woman is vaccinated in Melbourne)

'Because what we need to do over the next 5-10 weeks, it's going to be a really high-risk period for us and we just don't want to overload the hospitals.'

Dr Coatsworth this week called for the end of vaccine mandates and said it was time for corporations to give unvaccinated Aussies back their jobs.

The critic of many of the pandemic measures took to the pages of the Australian Financial Review to argue that punishing those who were unvaccinated was now morally dubious, scientifically ineffective and could be open to legal challenge.

Some of the nation's biggest employers such as Coles, Woolworths, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Telstra, and the Commonwealth Bank have an open 'no jab, no work' policy.

The doctor said that while he had supported the mandates initially to overcome the 'natural human inertia towards getting vaccinated' that period had passed.
Radio host Neil Mitchell has accused Daniel Andrews of playing politics with public health after the premier refused to bring back mask mandates despite a surge in Covid cases.

Mr Andrews, who presided over the world's longest lockdown in Melbourne last year, is backing away from hardline pandemic measures as deaths and hospitalisations in the state continue to rise.

His health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, also confirmed she rejected advice for a mask mandate from the state's acting chief health officer Professor Ben Cowie.

Now, in a scathing piece for the Age, Mitchell slammed Mr Andrews for ignoring advice from health professionals.

'After being told for two years that all the ugly decisions like locking toddlers out of playgrounds and sending people scurrying home by 8pm lest they be stopped by police after curfew  were simply following health advice, the government decided to reject it.

'The politicians are making the decisions, not doctors. Under this government that means decisions with an eye on the ballot box, not necessarily the protection of the people.

Dan Andrews, who presided over the world's longest lockdown in Melbourne last year, is backing away from hardline pandemic measures. He is pictured here with Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas

In a scathing piece for the Age, radio host Neil Mitchell slammed Mr Andrews for ignoring advice from health professionals

'There have long been rumours of divisions between the government and its health advisers. Now they are public.'

The radio host has been a consistent critic of Mr Andrews and his government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The premier has not appeared on Mitchell's program since 2017 after a tense interview between the pair, and his wife has blocked the radio host on Twitter.

In August 2020, when Victoria battled a second wave of coronavirus as it escaped from hotel quarantine, Mitchell wrote that 'Daniel Andrews has made a bad error, appearing to play with the truth, and alienated those he needs'.

Mitchell also said Mr Andrews' refusal to lift restrictions during one of Victoria's 2020 lockdowns showed that he 'didn't get it'.

'Managing a pandemic is largely about managing the public. That means explaining decisions properly, which Dan Andrews will not do,' he wrote.

In August 2021, Mitchell issued a 'personal plea' to the Victorian premier.

The Victorian government is 'strongly recommending' people wear masks indoors and in crowded settings

'Premier, we know you've basically committed to zero cases and we know we cant get there, not at this price,' the 3AW Mornings host said.

'I think you do get it, but you committed to a path which isn't realistic anymore.

'What is happening here is dangerous, it is destructive, it's devastating for kids, and families, and businesses.'

Mitchell also criticised Mr Andrews in 2019, saying he had a 'bendable sense of morality' in signing a controversial infrastructure deal with China.

The Victorian government is 'strongly recommending' people wear masks indoors and in crowded settings.

'Mask wearing in indoor and crowded settings is strongly recommended to protect yourself and our most vulnerable Victorians through winter  but there will not be any changes to current face mask requirements with these new pandemic orders,' it said on Tuesday.

Media personality Steve Price suggested a Victorian election, scheduled for November 2022, was behind the Labor government's reluctant to reimpose a mask mandate.

'Let's be frank about what's happening here,' Price said on The Project on Monday evening.

'The politicians are not listening to the health advice anymore because Victoria and New South Wales have got elections coming up.

'And they don't want to tell people that they have to get locked down or wear masks.'

Victoria recorded 10,627 new Covid cases and another 16 deaths on Tuesday, with hospitalisation rates continuing to rise.

There are 737 people in hospital with the virus, up 20 from Monday and almost 200 during the past week.

Ms Thomas emphasised personal choice while refusing to bring back a mask mandate.

'Wearing a mask, getting up to date with your vaccinations and ensuring indoor areas are well ventilated are small but effective steps Victorians and businesses can take to manage their own Covid-19 risk this winter,' the Health Minister said.

In changes announced on Tuesday, people who test positive to Covid will be exempt from testing and isolating for only four weeks rather than 12.

The changes, which come into effect from 11.59pm on Tuesday, following Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice.

Employers are also being asked to consider working from home arrangements for their employees, although no recommendation has been issued.

An advertising blitz promoting Covid vaccine boosters will also start across the state, while more grants are available to small businesses who want to buy ventilators.

Health chiefs around the country have been warning of a coming spike in Covid cases as two virulent new BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron grip the nation.
Kmart and Bunnings will be investigated over their use of the technology which captures images of shopper's faces and stores unique 'faceprints'.

The retailers say facial recognition is being used in some stores to protect shoppers and staff, combat anti-social behaviour and reduce theft.

But the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has concerns over the companies' 'personal information handling practices'.

Bunnings (pictured a Perth store) continues to use facial recognition technology and has defended the controversial technology by saying it helps protect the safety of staff and customers

Kmart signs at the front of stores (pictured, right) inform customers that facial recognition technology is used

The watchdog on Tuesday announced the investigation after consumer advocate group CHOICE raised the alarm about the technology being used without customer's knowledge or consent.

The information collected by the technology could be in breach of Australia's privacy laws, CHOICE consumer data advocate Kate Bower said.

'(The Privacy Act) requires that your collection of that information has to be suitable for the business purpose that you're collecting it for, and that it can't be disproportionate to the harms involved,' she said in a statement.

'We believe that these retail businesses are disproportionate in their over-collection of this information, which means that they may be in breach of the Privacy Act.'

Bunnings chief operating officer Simon McDowell said the company was aware of the opened investigation and would cooperate with the watchdog.

'As we've previously explained, this technology is used solely to help keep team and customers safe and prevent unlawful activity in our stores and we have strict controls around its use,' he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The technology pushback follows after electronic retailer The Good Guys put a pause on the use of such technology from their stores last month.

The retail giant's customers flooded the privacy watchdog with complaints about the practice.

The Good Guys said it was suspending the use of facial recognition in its store surveillance, pending a ruling from the watchdog agency on whether the use of the technology is permitted under The Privacy Act.

Choice made a complaint at the time to the agency after it discovered facial recognition was being used by Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys - with customers being largely unaware.
An Australian midwife has divided the internet with her controversial views about abortion after declaring rape victims should 'keep the baby' and 'turn bad things into good'.

The woman was standing in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall holding a pro-abortion sign last week when she was approached by Aussie TikToker @commonground convos, who interviews people about controversial topics.

It comes as pro-choice debates and protests have raged internationally over the past few weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned decades-old legislation giving women the right to access safe abortions last month.

In a video of the exchange posted online, the interviewer asks the woman for her thoughts on abortion in instances where the child was conceived during sexual assault.

'Do you know how many women have abortions because of rape?' the midwife says.

An Australian midwife has divided the country after her controversial views on abortion were shared in a video (pictured) posted online

'It's like 0.0001 per cent.'

The interviewer replies: 'But what about those 0.0001 per cent?'

'Is it the baby's fault?' the health care worker rebuts.

'My mum was telling me about a family friend who had that situation happen and the baby was so loved and supported into the family.

'It's not the baby's fault. Why can't we turn a good thing out of a bad thing?'

The midwife continued by insisting there was no excuse for women to fall pregnant unexpectedly.

'You had a choice to have unprotected sex,' she says.

'It's 2022, there is no excuse for unexpected pregnancies. I'm sorry - there's plenty of contraception. There's a morning after pill, you don't have to wait and then go "oh crap I'm pregnant now I have to kill my baby".

The midwife said she once worked with a patient who was terminating a baby at 20 weeks while another pregnant woman in the next room was trying to save twins of the same age.

'And I'm like you don't want your baby, here's [another] woman trying to hold onto her twins. At what point is that acceptable?' the midwife said.

The woman claimed very few abortions were the result of rape and women should keep the baby because it wasn't its fault

But many disagreed with her standpoint.

'Contraceptives can fail 1 per cent of the time. Not every contraceptive is 100 per cent accurate,' one person commented.

'Over 90 per cent of abortions are done in the first trimester. If a woman is trying to abort her baby past 20 weeks its not because she just wants too,' another said.

'Medical complications happen during pregnancies and it is sometimes unsafe for baby and mother to continue to full term. Later abortion can be inevitable,' someone else wrote.

'One woman's struggle with miscarriages shouldn't have an effect on the laws of a fertile woman with a pregnancy she doesn't want to carry,' a fourth chimes.

Protesters hit the streets of Los Angeles on July 9 as demonstrations rage on in the wake of the ruling to overturn Roe vs Wade

However, some resonated with her views.

'She's actually right,' one woman said.

'Totally 100 per cent right. Say it loudest,' another added.

Another person said 'thank you, lady with common sense', while someone else declared the midwife had 'woken up and chosen the truth'.

'No lies, all fact's here. Appreciate it ma'am,' another woman wrote.

However, studies call into question the statistical basis of the midwife's claims.

According to NSW Parliamentary Research, a 2009 study of 3018 pregnant women found 0.8% - or 23 women - reported the reason for wanting an abortion was due to rape.

Another study conducted in 2016, found over half (67 per cent) of Australian and New Zealand women seeking an abortion had been using contraception when they became pregnant.

The blow dealt by the US Supreme Court limiting access to safe abortions shone a light on the situation in Australia as protesters take to the streets in solidarity (pictured, demonstrators in Melbourne)

And while research is limited in Australia, international studies have also found the majority of abortions - around 90 per cent - take place within the first trimester (up to 12 weeks) in high-income countries.

The Supreme Court's decision last month to overturn Roe v Wade has seen 27 US states move toward either banning or threatening to criminalise abortions.

In response, thousands of protesters have hit streets across America and in major Australian cities as a show of solidarity with women fighting for healthcare rights in the United States.

Abortion is legal in all Australian states and territories, albeit with different term limits.

Victoria and the Northern Territory have the most lenient legislation, allowing pregnancies to be terminated up to 24 weeks, or with the approval of two doctors thereafter.

Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia allow up to 22 weeks with the same approval provisions beyond that time limit, while abortion is permitted up to 20 weeks in WA.

Termination is only allowed up to 16 weeks in the ACT and Tasmania, although it can be performed beyond that timeframe in the latter state with the permission of two doctors.
New York City restaurant magnate and Little Tokyo's unofficial mayor, Shuji Bon Yagi, is facing a $95 million sexual assault lawsuit from a top executive at his restaurant group.

Yagi, 73, has been accused by TIC Restaurant Group Vice President of Operations Nozomi Horikoshi, 51, of sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious.

Horikoshi, who has been working at the company for nearly a decade, told the New York Post that Yagi took her to his West 58th Street apartment after a coworker's birthday celebration.

The woman said after the alleged Dec. 10 abuse, she woke up to the feeling 'she had been penetrated' and had bruises on the back of her head.

'I woke up at his apartment and I wasn't wearing anything,' Horikoshi told the Post. 'I realized I was naked from the waist down  that was so embarrassing.'

'I was like what happened? I have to go home. I knew that something happened already. There was a feeling of shame.'

On Tuesday, Horikoshi filed a Supreme Court lawsuit demanding accountability and $95 million in damages.

'I want to move forward so he can understand my feeling that he hurt me and my family too,' she said.

Yagi has denied the allegations, saying through his lawyer that Horikoshi's accusations are a cash grab and she is 'claiming that a man who had his prostrate removed has raped her.'

Shuji Bon Yagi, 73, has been accused by Nozomi Horikoshi, 51, vice president of operations at TIC Restaurant Group, of sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious

Horikoshi told the New York Post that Yagi took her to his West 58th Street apartment after a coworker's birthday celebration

The lawsuit alleged that Yagi showed up unannounced at the birthday party of a female employee on the night of Dec. 10.

The celebration was moved to a karaoke bar, and then another bar before people started going home.

When a 'quite drunk' colleague left, Horikoshi claims Yagi took her to yet another bar, and then into a cab to his apartment around 2 a.m.

The lawsuit argues that while they were in the cab, Yagi started to grab and touch her and tried to kiss her while she was heavily intoxicated.

The woman then 'tried to push Yagi off her and told him to stop, but due to her level of intoxication, [the] plaintiff eventually lost consciousness inside the taxi,' the suit read.

Horikoshi recalled waking up naked from the waist down and with Yagi on top of her. She said that, still disoriented, she called a cab and went to her home in Queens.

Yagi has been dubbed the mayor of Japantown or Little Tokyo in publications featuring his many successful restaurants in the area. Yagi, who started his career as a dishwasher in Philadelphia, Penn., according to The New York Times, owns the thriving Rai Rai Ken, Curry-Ya and Otafuku, among others

Horikoshi said she attempted to confront her boss several times, but was repeatedly dismissed.

Yagi reportedly tried to rationalize the abuse, telling her it was 'mutual sexual consent, and that if [Horikoshi] could not consent he had made a mistake,' the suit argues.

It was also alleged that Yagi tried to use her position as her boss to discredit her accusations, Horikoshi said.

'I have been working there for nine years and the more I talk to him, I start feeling lost,' Horikoshi told the Post. 'I trusted him. I totally lost the trust. I felt deceived  I felt like he was looking down on me, like I was invisible.'

Horikoshi is a vice president of operations at the TIC Restaurant Group, which is headquartered at 232 East Ninth Street

Yagi has been dubbed the mayor of Japantown or Little Tokyo in publications featuring his many successful restaurants in the area.

His company's web site describes him as a 'trailblazer for Asian restaurants in the East Village and an ambassador of Japanese cuisine in New York.'

Yagi, who started his career as a dishwasher in Philadelphia, Penn., according to The New York Times, owns the thriving Rai Rai Ken, Curry-Ya and Otafuku, among others.

His attorney denied the allegations, adding that Horikoshi has financial motivations.

'The undisputed facts are that Nozomi got black-out drunk, fell on a sidewalk and smashed her head, and texted a friend the next day that she had no recollection of even being in Yagi's apartment,' attorney Louis Pechman told the Post.

'Now she wants $300 million, claiming that a man who had his prostrate removed has raped her. There was never any sexual assault. Full stop.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to lawyers for both Horikoshi and Yagi for comment.
An Aussie pharmacist has taken down a TikTok user for complaining about how she has to wait 'so long' for her prescription to be filled.

Mustafa Dhahir, known as 'pharmamustafa', provides easy-to-follow health advice to his 280,000 followers - and has now gone on the record to address a regular complaint of chemist customers.

Mr Dharir, who rose to fame debunking Covid vaccine myths, confirmed that while patients can see that their medication is readily available, 'first I need to put your details through the computer.'

Mr Dhahir explained pharmacists must first enter the individual's details into the computer and, while it may only take a minute to process the medication, there are a lot of other things that increase the wait time.

A TikTok user has posted a video complaining about long wait times at pharmacists asking why it takes 'so long' for her prescription to be done when the medication is right behind them

Mustafa Dhahir, known as pharmamustafa on Tik Tok explained the wait time saying many things delay the process - and realistically it takes about 17-18 minutes to fill a script

'Why are you waiting longer than a minute? Well let's just assume there are four people waiting ahead of you and each person has about three prescriptions.

'On average, each prescription takes me about a minute, so that's an extra 12 minute wait - but this is assuming everything will run smoothly and I will not get interrupted.'

Mr Dhahir said people regularly come to the counter to ask advice or for a vaccination, and that takes priority over fillings scripts.

He then estimates on average the wait time to get a script filled is about 17 to 18 minutes before adding one final dig at those who complain about waiting.

'Most importantly I am checking to make sure the medication doesn't kill you.

'But also you waited like two hours at the doctors, can't you wait a few more minutes for me?'

The south-western Sydney pharmacist fumed:'I've literally seen people wait longer at Maccas.. The audacity'

Overall his comments section was full of users supporting him.

'It's like people assume pharmacists only chuck a label on the box and hand it out.' one wrote.

The pharmacist replied: 'I've literally seen people wait longer at Maccas than they have at a pharmacy. The audacity.'

'It's medication going into our bodies. I'll wait the extra time to make sure it's correct,' another said.

'Lots of customers treat us like we're fast food (workers),' a third commented.
A councillor who deleted his professional Instagram account after he was caught messaging a girl, 17, about her bikini photos has another work profile and a Tik Tok account where he follows scantily-clad women.

Julian Carbone, who sits on Burnside Council in Adelaide's east, made headlines on Tuesday when an official council report revealed he sent a message to a 17-year-old at 5am on Saturday, November 27.

The message read: 'Lots of bikini photos - but it's so damn cold at the moment hey.'

Cr Carbone, 41, initially denied sending the message, then he said he couldn't remember sending it, then suggested his phone was hacked, before he eventually stated he was simply trying to strike up conversation about the weather.

Further investigation revealed Cr Carbone followed at least six profiles on Instagram run by people claiming to be teenage girls, and another who called herself: 'Your dad's favourite Instahoe.'

In an explosive post to his followers later that night, the father-of-one declared he shut his Instagram account down because it was 'riddled with accounts that I had nothing to do with'.

However, Daily Mail Australia can reveal Cr Carbone had a second professional Instagram account that he used while working in property development - and followed a number of women who regularly post lingerie and activewear selfies.

Julian Carbone (pictured) made headlines on Tuesday when an official council report was published and revealed he sent a message to a 17-year-old girl

Pictured left: A still from one of the Tik Tok accounts Cr Carbone was following on Tik Tok. Right: Another account he followed

Of the 234 people he was following, one belonged to a girl who claimed to be 17, another was a professional fitness model, and another said in her bio, 'I don't get bitter I get better'.

The father-of-one also had a Tik Tok account with the handle @votejulian and described himself as an elected member of the Burnside City Council, and followed 55 accounts - many of which were people claiming to be teenagers.

Another account he followed was called whosyourmumma75 and had videos of a woman dancing in lingerie.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, referring to his Burnside Council Instagram account, Cr Carbone wrote: 'As my Instagram page has become overrun and riddled with FAKE PROFILES, all of which I had nothing to do with, I've made the conscious decision to remove my account.'

'I am very passionate about increasing resident engagement so I will continue to liaise with you via my normal Council Facebook page.'

Despite Cr Carbone's assertation that his account was inundated with 'fake' profiles, all the racy accounts listed on all three social media profiles were found in the 'following' section of his pages.

That means he had to look at their names and photos, and actively press the 'follow' button.

Pictured: Two account Cr Carbone was following on his second Instagram profile

Cr Carbone was also following a young woman, 21, who regularly posted revealing photos (left) and a 21-year-old from Melbourne (right)

Cr Carbone told The Advertiser he doesn't know the identities behind the people who run accounts he follows, but believed they were local residents within Burnside Council area.

The announcement that he deleted his Instagram account on Tuesday night was written while Burnside Council members held a meeting to discuss his behaviour, which Cr Carbone did not attend.

They unanimously decided that he should resign, but acknowledged they couldn't force him to do so.

On Wednesday morning, the father-of-one announced he has no intention of stepping down and plans to run in the next local government election.

He then told ABC Radio Adelaide that calls for his resignation were 'a bit of a stretch' because the message was 'sent by mistake'.

'I've been doing a lot of great things in the community, I've been a very passionate, very active advocate for my residents' he said.

'I'd like to think that the residents will remember me for all the great things that I've done over the last term.'

Julian Carbone had a son with his then-girlfriend, Angela, last year (pictured together). They married in early 2021

Burnside Council voted unanimously to remove Cr Carbone from the committee in a meeting on Tuesday night (meeting pictured)

LIFE AND TIMES OF COUNCILLOR CARBONE: May 10, 2020: Mr Carbone announced he was dating his current wife, Angela. June 3, 2021: He and Angela had a son. November 21: Went on holidays with his wife and son to Port Elliot. November 27: Sent a 17-year-old girl an 'inappropriate' Instagram message about her bikini photos. December: The 17-year-old lodged a formal complaint, which sparked an investigation. March 10, 2022: Mr Carbone married Angela. July: Code of Conduct Complaint report released, detailing the findings. Advertisement

During the meeting between Burnside Council members on Tuesday evening, Cr Henry Davis ripped into his colleague's 'concerning' behaviour, and pointed out that the investigation cost local residents $11,500.

'When Cr Carbone was presented with a complaint, his denial unduly costed ratepayers well beyond what would be expected by a code of conduct. His denials were frankly ridiculous,' Cr Davis said.

'Even as recently as 30 minutes ago he claimed these accounts were following him and that he had been hacked or spammed by these accounts. There are a large number of them and I find that extremely concerning given the comments that were made.'

'He claims he was hacked, claims he doesn't remember it, he claims someone stole his phone at 5:06 in the morning as some kind of joke. He said he messaged the wrong account, which begs the question which account was he trying to message.

'It is clear maintaining these conflicting excuses is completely untenable. In relation to the other accounts he follows, not the other way around, the accounts he follows.

'There are a large amount of minors and also obscene accounts which are clearly not members of Burnside Council.'

Cr Carbone defended the message - which investigators found was 'inappropriate' - with his lawyers denying the 17-year-old's assertion that she was underage when he sent it, according to council documents.

Cr Carbone is pictured with his wife and infant son, who was born in May, 2021

'The Complainant's assertion that she is underage is wrong as a matter of law in relation to sexual conduct,' the report reads. Cr Carbone's lawyers noting the legal age for sex in South Australia is 17.

His lawyers complained to the investigators that the young woman had 'taken what is otherwise an innocent message (send by mistake and without context) and attempted to manipulate the reader into believing Cr Carbone is a paedophilic 'predatory male' (which he is not)', council documents said.

Cr Carbone's lawyers added: 'Sending an innocent message without context and by mistake does not constitute being 'targeted',' the letter stated.

'The criminal law is clear that 17 years old is the age of consent to engage in sexual activity as an adult.'

Speaking with the Advertiser on Tuesday, Cr Carbone said the comment was a 'one-off'.

Pictured: Two Instagram accounts followed by Cr Carbone. One private account features an image of a woman in a G-string, with the bio: 'Your dad's favourite Instahoe'

'It was all to do with being at the beach when it was cold. Yes, OK, the word bikini probably added a bit of spice to things, had I said 'so many beach photos' it probably wouldn't have been as bad,' he said.

'There's been a lot of very nasty things said that were not called for. Was the comment inappropriate? Yes, was there anything else inferred or any other sinister or dodgy motives? Absolutely not.'

He nevertheless maintained he had no recollection of sending the message, said it was a misunderstanding, or his account was hacked.

Another Instagram account he followed on his Burnside Council account advertised herself as a bisexual content creator in Adelaide, a 'bud sl*t' and a 'MILF' - with a series of photos of a lingerie-clad woman.

The teenager later alleged that the politician also 'followed' a concerning number of young females on his Instagram account (pictured, one of the accounts raised in the report)

Someone else he follows claims to be 16, another says she's 17, and someone else claims to be 19.

Speaking with The Advertiser on Tuesday, he described the past few days as 'nasty' and decided to shut his LinkedIn account down.

'This has been terrible, I'm married, I've got a baby  this does not make me look good, there's lots of questions and it's an embarrassment for the whole family,' he said.

The investigation was launched after the teenager made a formal complaint to the council in December, sparking a probe into whether Mr Carbone had breached its code of conduct.

She later added that it was inappropriate coming from a public official. The teenager later alleged that the politician also 'followed' a concerning number of young females on his Instagram account.
White House pandemic advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has returned to public duties following his own bout with COVID-19 and is warning that the country could face a new viral surge due to 'waning immunity.'

On Tuesday, two weeks after his last public appearance in late June, Fauci appeared on MSNBC and joined a White House press briefing by video conference to warn about the spread of the BA.5 variant, a subvariant of the Omicron strain.

He called on Americans to get vaccine booster shots and said health officials are now 'recommending' people return to wearing masks in indoor group settings.

Fauci, 81, had been lying low for several weeks following a prolonged bout with COVID last month, but appears to have fully recovered.

He first tested positive for the virus on June 14, and initially seemed to recover after taking the antiviral pill Paxlovid.

Then on June 28, while speaking remotely at the Foreign Policy Global Health Forum, he revealed that his symptoms had returned. It marked his last public appearance until this week.

On Tuesday, Fauci appeared publicly (left) for the first time since he spoke at a conference remotely on June 28 (right) and said he had 'rebound' COVID symptoms

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is now the dominant strain the the US, the CDC says

The CDC has warned that Paxlovid may be associated with 'rebound' cases of COVID, in which symptoms return after an initial negative test, but says that rebound cases are typically mild.

In his public appearances on Tuesday, Fauci urged Americans to get a second booster shot to combat the spread of the BA.5 variant, an Omicron subvariant that appears to resist immunity from prior infections.

'Well, it's something we absolutely need to take seriously. It has a transmission advantage over the prior variants that were dominant,' he said on MSNBC.

Fauci added that it 'has a transmission advantage which is one of the reasons why we're seeing throughout several regions of the country, including, in particular, the New York area, you're starting to see cases go up.'

He said vaccines and boosters were the key weapons in fighting rising infections, and downplayed the notion that new restrictions or mandates would be imposed on Americans if cases soar once again.

'We're not talking mandating anything, but we're saying recommending people when in indoor congregate settings to wear a mask, he said.

'Those are simple, doable things that can help prevent us from having even more of a problem than we're having right now.'

Fauci also joined a White House briefing warning Americans to take precautions in indoor settings and prepare for the surging BA.5 variant  even if they have already recovered from a recent case of COVID.

'Immunity wanes, so it is critical to stay up to date with COVID 19 vaccines as primary vaccines and as boosters were appropriate,' he said on a White House call with reporters Tuesday.

CDC head Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. has seen a doubling in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since April

'There are obviously a lot of Americans who got infected with the BA1, BA 1.1 in the January wave,' coronavirus coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, said. 'I think we have very clear evidence that their level of protection at this point is very minimal certain against infection from BA.5.'

'Immunity wanes, whether that's immunity following infection, or immunity following vaccine even though the immediate protection following infection or vaccine is generally good protection,' Fauci added.

Fauci pointed to 'good data now that if you were infected with BA.1, you really don't have a lot of good protection against BA.4 or 5.'

The White House unveiled a new fact sheet where it said 'subvariants of the Omicron variant now make up 80 percent of COVID-19 cases in the US.'

The fact sheet says the administration will make it 'easy' for people to get vaccines and boosters, continue to push out treatments, and made available 16 free tests per household.

The Administration 'has made 400 million non-surgical N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile available to the American people for free at tens of thousands of convenient locations nationwide,' according to the fact sheet, with plans to continue providing masks to health care and essential workers through states.

The White House encouraged Americans to follow CDC guidance on COVID precautions amid the rise of the latest coronavirus variant, during a briefing led by Dr. Ashish Jha

The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible and wearing masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country.

The new variants, labeled BA.4 and BA.5, are offshoots of the omicron strain that has been been responsible for nearly all of the virus spread in the U.S. and are even more contagious than their predecessors. White House doctors stressed the importance of getting booster doses, even if you have recently been infected.

'Currently, many Americans are under-vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines,' said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines provides the best protection against severe outcomes.'

Walensky said the US has seen a doubling in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since April, reflecting the spread of the new subvariants, though deaths have remain steady around 300 per day.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said while the new variants are concerning, with boosters, indoor masking and treatments the country has the tools to keep them from being disruptive.

'We should not let it disrupt our lives,' he said, 'but we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with.'

He added that even if someone recently had COVID-19, they should get a booster.

'Immunity wanes, so it is critical to stay up to date with COVID 19 vaccines,' he said.

Walensky says she continues to mask while traveling, although many Americans do not

All Americans age 5 and over should get a booster five months after their initial primary series, according to the CDC, and those aged 50 and over - or who are immunocompromised - should get second booster four months after their first.

According to CDC, tens of millions of eligible Americans haven't received their first booster, and of those over 50 who got their first booster, only 28 percent have received their second.

'If you're over 50 and you havent gotten the shot this year, you should go get a shot,' said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. 'Its going to save your life.'

Jha and Fauci said the US is regularly discussing expanding eligibility for a second booster shot to all adults, but that no decision has been made yet.

'It's a regulatory decision on the part of the FDA,' Fauci said.

Jha pressed said people who are eligible for a booster but haven't received one shouldn't wait for forthcoming vaccines targeted at the omicron strain in addition to the original form of the coronavirus. The US has ordered 105 million of those updated shots that studies show provide better protection against omicron variants, but they won't be available until the fall.

'Let me be clear, if you get vaccinated today, youre not going to be ineligible to get the variants specific vaccine, as we get into the later part of fall and winter,' Jha said. 'So, this is not a trade off, weve got plenty. Its a great way to protect yourself.'

Added Fauci: 'The threat to you is now.'

Walensky noted that CDC data shows that about a third of Americans are living in areas the agency classifies as experiencing a high level of COVID spread, where the agency recommends people wear masks in public indoor spaces. Another 41% live in the CDC's `medium level, where it recommends that people consider their own individual risk and consider masking.
Three homes have been peppered with bullets in a terrifying shooting overnight in Sydney.

Police were called to Maiden Street, Greenacre, in the city's south-west at about 9.30pm on Tuesday.

One home on Maiden Street was shot while bullets were also fired into two houses on nearby Juno Parade.

Multiple people were inside the homes at the time but nobody was injured in the cross-fire.

Police were called to Maiden Street, Greenacre, in the city's south-west at about 9.30pm on Tuesday after three homes were shot at

Footage taken from the area on Tuesday night shows several police cars lining the street.

NSW Police Superintendent Adam Whyte said it's believed the gunshots were fired from nearby Allum Park.

'That behaviour is unacceptable, the community is tired of these sorts of incidents,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

It's understood the homes that were hit were not targeted. It's unclear if there was one or several people involved in the shooting.

Police are investigating while crime scenes have been set up at each home that was damaged.

Crews from PolAir, Traffic and Highway Patrol, the Dog Unit, and the Public Order and Riot Squad were all called in.

Detectives are appealing for anyone who may have CCTV or dashcam footage from Maiden, Tempe, Karuah or Valencia Streets between 7.30pm and 10pm to contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Evidence suggesting Special Air Service soldiers executed Taliban suspects in custody is to be reviewed by military police officers.

In a dramatic move last night, the Ministry of Defence announced it was asking those who may have materials or testimony to come forward.

It took the unusual step after SAS troops admitted to the Daily Mail that illegal killings were part of our job. One soldier said the truth about such incidents in Afghanistan would rock everything.

General Sir David Richards

Recently disclosed court documents have also suggested SAS commanders might have attempted to cover up the killings by writing misleading reports.

Last night a BBC Panorama documentary claimed to have uncovered 54 suspicious killings in Afghanistan in 2010-2011. It also alleged SAS commander General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith failed to disclose crucial evidence about the deaths.

BBC Panoroma alleged SAS commander General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith failed to disclose crucial evidence about the deaths Pictured: General Sir General Mark Carleton-Smith

The MoD issued its request for new evidence hours after General Sir David Richards, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, insisted on a fresh inquiry. He added: If I was still Chief of the Defence Staff I would order a thorough investigation of the events portrayed. I have no doubt that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the current CDS, will do this.

The Royal Military Polices investigation, Operation Northmoor, closed in 2019.

Last night, the MoD said it was open to considering any new evidence without obstruction. A statement claimed that the Panorama documentary jumps to unjustified conclusions from allegations which have already been fully investigated.

It added: We strongly object to this subjective reporting.
Online dating ads have been banned for serious offence after offering the chance to meet 'lonely' Ukrainian women amid the invasion of the sovereign state by Russia.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the three ads from SofiaDate, seen in May, which featured models dressed in low-cut and body-hugging clothing, connected the women's vulnerability to their sex appeal.

It was the same month that the Government launched a scheme to encourage the public to house Ukrainian refugees.

The advertisements were promoted by local newspapers and saw a blonde woman on a balcony in a skimpy yellow dress which publisher Newsquest acknowledged were 'clumsily sexist' but not unsympathetic towards Ukrainian women.

But the news group said on reflection the ads had been removed as they could have been inconsistent with their policy on refusing ads for prostitution and trafficking.

Predatory men were also found, according to another investigation, to be exploiting the Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme to host single and vulnerable women fleeing Putin's war.

The second and third ads, both seen on Scottish newspaper The National's website, featured images of women and said: 'Ukrainian Women'

Three complaints lodged with the ASA said the ads were inappropriate and offensive in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Astrasoft Projects, trading as SofiaDate, said it had also removed the ads.

The first ad, seen on the Dorset Echo's website, stated: 'Ukrainian [sic] women. [You can] meet thousands of lonely Ukrainian Women. Forget About Loneliness. Let Yourself be Happy.'

The second and third ads, both seen on Scottish newspaper The National's website, featured images of women and said: 'Ukranian [sic] Women' and 'Connecting Singles Across the World to Their Ideal Partner ... '

The National and Newsquest Media Group, trading as Dorset Echo, said the ads were 'ostensibly conventional dating ads, although potentially clumsily sexist in their portrayal of women from a male perspective'.

They argued the ads did not refer to the war in Ukraine, were not partisan, and were also not unsympathetic towards Ukrainian women or the Ukrainian people in general.

However, they said that on reflection they could be inconsistent with their policy of refusing ads for prostitution and trafficking, and confirmed they had since been removed.

The first ad, seen on the Dorset Echo's website, featured an image of a woman on a balcony

Upholding the complaints, the ASA said the women depicted in the ads were shown in a way that was, at least partly, designed to titillate readers, with the models dressed in low-cut and body-hugging clothing.

The watchdog said: 'We considered the ads' focus on Ukrainian women dressed in the aforementioned manner, as well references to their loneliness, had the effect of highlighting their vulnerability and connecting it to their sexual appeal.

'For that reason, we concluded the ads were likely to cause serious offence.'

The ads also said 'Connecting Singles Across the World to Their Ideal Partner'

Meanwhile it was revealed in May that men with domestic abuse or violence records have reportedly messaged single Ukrainian women in their 20s and 30s on Facebook groups specially set up to connect sponsors and hosts.

Some refugees have even become homeless after relations with hosts broke down or because housing was not well vetted.

Other homes have been found to be completely unsuitable for Ukrainians escaping Russian bombs, with one mother-of-two claiming that her whole family had been expected to sleep in one small reception room next to the kitchen - despite expecting separate bedrooms.

She added that the property was filled with Nazi pictures and Soviet symbols, telling the BBC: 'I don't feel safe'.

It comes after the UN's refugee agency warned in April of 'increasing reports of Ukrainian women feeling at risk from their sponsors'. The UNHCR called for 'the need for adequate safeguards and vetting measures to be in place against exploitation, as well as adequate support for sponsors'


Children and adults queuing to collect water from the newly rehabilitated Salama borehole, North Galkayo, Puntland, 2 July 2022. Credit: WHO Somalia6 July 2022  Water is a key prerequisite to safe hygiene and sanitation practices and  by that measure  good health and dignity. However, a large proportion of the Somali population has limited access to this valuable resource. Estimates from a survey conducted by the government and UN in 2014 state that 24% of Somalis live in rural areas, 23% follow nomadic lifestyles, and 15% (around 2.6 million) live in camps for the internally displaced. This means most communities living across Somalias expansive, dry landscape rely on rivers, wells, water trucks and boreholes to access water of compromised quality. The ongoing drought, which is the worst the Horn of Africa has witnessed in four decades, has placed water even further out of reach.

Visit to camps for internally displaced persons

On a bright, sunny morning on 10 May 2022, a high-level mission from Somalias Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services, the Puntland state Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) visited North Galkayo to assess the health situation brought about by the drought.

Led by HE Dr Fawziya Abikar Nur, the Federal Minister of Health and Human Services, and HE Abdi Nasir Yusuf Haji, the Vice Minister of Health for Puntland state, the team included Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the Regional Director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office and Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO Representative to Somalia.

Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, and Dr Mamunur Malik, WHO Representative to Somalia, visiting the Salama borehole when it was not functioning, North Galkayo, 10 May 2022. Credit: WHO Somalia/Fouzia Bano

During a visit to two camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) the Salama and Halaboqad camps  the team observed that the communities living there had no access to water. At the Salama camp, a borehole that used to provide water to around 2000 households and 12 000 people residing in six camps was broken. Similarly, the borehole at the Halaboqad camp, which usually serves around 7716 people, was not functioning as its water pump required solar batteries or a generator and pipes to carry water.

When delivering promises turns into happiness

The local communities, while meeting Dr Al-Mandhari and Dr Malik, raised their attention of the acute water shortage they were facing in the camp. After seeing the plight of the local communities and believing that access to safe water is a human right for everyone, everywhere, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari and Dr Malik committed to support the rehabilitation of two boreholes in both camps, which can permanently solve the acute water crisis faced by marginalized community members. Within the same week, WHO arranged for engineers to assess both boreholes.

In a months time, by 16 June 2022, both boreholes were rehabilitated, and a total of around 19 716 people living in both locations now have access to safe water, which has already started to change the life of these communities. This intervention will significantly reduce the prevalence of diseases among communities being served in addition to meeting their daily needs for water. The communities are happily using safe water from this borehole for all their household needs and thanking WHO for delivering its promises to safeguard lives of their children and elderly people.

WHO urges partners to redouble efforts

During his mission, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari urged partners to redouble efforts to support Somali communities during this trying time.

Rehabilitation efforts at the Halaboqad borehole after the high-level visit, North Galkayo, June 2022. Credit: WHO Somalia It is really very heart-breaking to see the impact of drought. Let us come together to save lives, said Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the WHO Regional Director for Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. We see children, mothers and families suffering due to the shortage of water and food. I have seen young babies emaciated and admitted in hospitals due to malnutrition and related complications, such as pneumonia. These are all not just numbers, but human lives, and future generations of Somalia suffering from drought and the related impact of it  physical, mental, emotional or psychological. Let us all work towards fulfilling the spirit and values of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region vision 2023: health for all by all  calling for solidarity and action.

Currently, 3.5 million people in Somalia lack adequate access to water, said Dr Mamunur Malik. This increases communities chances of contracting diseases like cholera and diarrhoea. We are hereby appealing to both the health and the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) clusters in Somalia to work hand in hand to protect Somalis from preventable diseases and give them access to safe water and sanitation services, which are their human right.

A lady draws water for her household from the Salama borehole, North Galkayo, July 2022, Credit: WHO SomaliaDr Malik added that WHO estimates that for every US $1 that donors and partners spend today to prevent and prepare for epidemics in Somalia, it will save US$ 35 in response to epidemics. Early action saves more lives, he emphasized.
One of Australia's top doctors has called for the return of mask mandates as hospitals buckle under the pressure of surging Covid cases.

Doherty Institute director Sharon Lewin said she understood that Australians were tired of hearing about Covid-19, but that the pandemic was far from over.

The infectious diseases expert said governments should consider bringing back mask mandates in indoor settings as hospital admissions soar.

'Mandates should be considered,' Professor Lewin told ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning. 'It worked very well previously, it won't be for a long time'.

'Everyone should be aware that masks indoors when we have got this amount of Covid will be another additional help.'

Doherty Institute director Sharon Lewin (pictured) said she understood that Australians were tired of hearing about Covid-19, but that the pandemic was far from over

The professor said mask mandates would reduce the pressure on health systems, with 739 hospitalisations in Victoria and 2,023 in NSW on Wednesday.

There were 11,176 cases detected across Victoria on Wednesday and 10,662 in NSW - with the states reporting 20 and 16 deaths respectively.

The professor's warning comes as the Victoria's state health department reveals its four-stage winter plan amid an uptick in new infections.

The plan shows how many hospitalisations will cancel staff leave and elective surgeries as well as the return of some restrictions.

Stage three of the plan, triggered when the state records 800 hospitalisations, will see more telehealth appointments and staff leave cancelled.

One of Australia's top doctors has called for the return of mask mandates as hospitals buckle under the pressure of surging Covid cases (pictured, masked women in Melbourne)

Stage four, when the state records over 1,400 hospitalisations, will result in the cancelation of elective surgeries and the consideration of a 'code brown'.

Victoria previously declared a code brown in January - an official alert permitting under-pressure hospitals to defer less urgent health services to other facilities.

In February, private hospitals were given the green light to once again perform 50% of elective surgeries and 75% in regional Victoria.

However, other health experts have slammed calls for Covid mandates, arguing Australians don't need to be told when to wear a face mask in 2022.

Former deputy chief health officer Dr Nick Coatsworth said Aussies were 'sharp enough' to understand the difference between a recommendation and a mandate.

He strongly recommended people wear a mask indoors when they can't socially distance to reduce the spread of viruses.

Former deputy chief health officer Dr Nick Coatsworth (pictured) said Aussies were 'sharp enough' to understand the difference between a recommendation and a mandate

Aussies are being recommended to wear masks in indoor settings amid an uptick in new Covid cases (pictured, commuters wear face masks in Sydney)

'I think what many Australians feel and would agree with is that the time for mandating some of these interventions is at an end in July 2022,' the top doctor told the Today Show on Wednesday.

'I think we really need to come together and realise yes it's a deal but it's not the same big deal that it was two years ago.'

Dr Coatsworth described Victoria's hospital crisis as being 'years in the making' and that the number of patients in ICU was more important than admissions.

'I think the overall tally of people in hospital (with Covid) is not a good marker for burden of disease,' he told the Herald Sun.

It does present challenges to hospitals with infection control and bed flow and is definitely contributing to the current health system capacity issues,
Qantas has removed its vaccine mandate for all international passengers - weeks after Australia dropped its strict border requirements.

The government dropped its rule that all overseas arrivals have to be vaccinated on July 6 but Qantas resisted calls to follow suit.

Now, it has decided to let unvaccinated international passengers fly from July 19.

However, Qantas employees will still be required to be vaccinated and passengers will still need to wear masks on domestic flights.

Qantas has dropped its vaccination mandate for international flights - weeks after the government dropped its strict border rule

Passengers and crew onboard a Qantas Boeing 737-800. Masks will still be required for domestic flights

'From Tuesday 19 July 2022 the Qantas Group will no longer require passengers on international flights operated by the Qantas Group to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19,' a Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'This follows the Australian Government removing the proof of COVID-19 vaccination requirement for international travellers coming to Australia.

'Vaccination against COVID-19 may still be required by certain countries, so passengers should check the requirements of the country they are travelling to. '

'Qantas Group employees will still need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in line with Qantas Group policy.

'Additionally, masks will continue to be required where government regulations stipulate they must be worn, including onboard domestic flights in Australia.'

Qantas was one of the first Australian companies to introduce mandates for staff and passengers alike.

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR TRAVELLING TO AUSTRALIA? Unvaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents, and visitors can now enter and leave Australia at any time without needing an individual travel exemption. However, all incoming travellers will need to comply with the testing and quarantine requirements of the state or territory of their arrival. People arriving in Australia will no longer need to complete a Digital Passenger Declaration or Maritime Travel Declaration. Face masks are still required on international flights to Australia. Source: Australian government Advertisement

It was also one of the last remaining airlines to insist on vaccinations, with most having dropped this requirement earlier this year.

Qantas remains locked in a legal battle with former staff who were sacked over refusing to get the jab last year.

Meanwhile, it was previously revealed that more than half of Qantas and Virgin passengers saw their flight either delayed or completely cancelled last week, in a horror seven days for the two airlines.

Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of domestic flights with an on-time performance of 44 per cent, while Virgin had double the cancellations of its rival airline at 14.7 per cent and only 43 per cent of flights departing on-time.

A Qantas spokesperson said severe weather on the east coast of Australia was the major driver for delays and cancellations which was further exacerbated by staff sick with the flu and Covid-19.

'It was a pretty challenging week all around,' a Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'We appreciate how frustrating flight cancellations and delays are for customers with severe weather in New South Wales and a spike in Covid cases for operating crew impacting airline schedules over the past week.'

Qantas said 85 per cent of domestic flights departed within an hour of their scheduled time as the airline used additional crew they had on standby and larger aircrafts for some flights.

Virgin apologised to customers that had been impacted by delayed or cancelled flights.

'We are working tirelessly to ensure all guests reach their final destination,' the airline said.

'We know Covid-19 case numbers are rising again, there are record number of flu cases, and this is on top of the usual winter illness the community experiences, we are not immune to the impact of this and are not the only business experiencing the unintended knock-on effects of increased sickness present in the wider community.

'There have also been a number of weather events primarily in New South Wales and this comes at time when airports and airlines globally are also experiencing huge demand and challenges as travellers return to the sky as pandemic restrictions ease.

'The number of travellers flying with us this school holidays has increased by 15 per cent in comparison to 2019 levels, which is significantly higher than the recent Easter holiday period.'
A man accused of carrying out a terrifying hammer attack on one of Bec Judd's neighbours has died before he was due to appear in court for the crime that sparked a debate about escalating crime in bayside Melbourne.

The April 28 home invasion had happened just a stone's throw from Judd's $7.3million mansion in Melbourne's wealthy Bayside suburb of Brighton.

It was the catalyst for her dramatic calls for greater protection in one of Australia's most affluent suburbs.

Bec Judd escaped Brighton last week to relax in Broome, in Western Australia

Scared: 'So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of the gangs in Bayside,' Bec Judd wrote to Instagram

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the 22-year old Footscray man believed responsible for the attack died before ever facing a court over the attack.

Victoria Police confirmed on Tuesday the man was dead and it was not looking for anyone else over the home invasion.

Police would not reveal how the man died or what his name was.

He had been interviewed and sent on his way without charge after being apprehended by police.

At the time of his death, the man was awaiting aggravated burglary charges to arrive in the mail via summons.

In Victoria, an aggravated burglary conviction carries a whopping maximum sentence of 25-years in prison.

The home invasion, first reported in the Herald Sun, that shocked Judd into action happened under broad daylight.

The woman had entered her house to find a man rifling through her possessions.

A Victoria Police spokesman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the offender produced a hammer and threatened to use it when the woman pulled out her phone to call police.

'Investigators have been told a woman walked into one of the rooms of her Kinane Street home to find an unknown man going through her bag about 1.40pm,' he said.

The armed intruder then forced the woman to hand over her phone.

'The offender ran out of the house with the womans phone and purse and left the scene in a blue hatchback,' a police spokesman said.

Daily Mail Australia has been told Judd's neighbours flocked to help the terrified woman, who was not injured in the shocking home invasion.

It didn't take long for detectives to catch up with the alleged home invader, who had crossed over from Melbourne's western suburbs to prey on Brighton's elite.

A gang of teenage home invaders stole a luxury car in Brighton and were later shot at by police

A neighbour of footy WAG Bec Judd endured a terrifying attack in her own home. The hammer wielding crook was caught by cops, but they let him go

BEC JUDD'S CAMPAIGN TO END BRIGHTON CRIMEWAVE Judd last month claimed the state government didn't 'seem to care' about the 'rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of the gangs in Bayside'. 'I personally know two women who have experienced home invasions in Brighton in the last few weeks while they were at home,' she wrote on Instagram. She reposted CCTV footage of a group of young men lurking outside properties in her affluent suburb and claimed it made her feel 'unsafe'. The teenagers, who were allegedly armed with knives, were filmed lurking outside several properties in the Bayside area before crashing a stolen BMW into a tree. Pali jumped to the defence of her fellow social media star and said the backlash Judd received for her comments was unfair. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews mocked Judd's comments at the time. 'I say this respectfully to Bec Judd, or anybody  I don't want anybody to feel unsafe,' he said. 'I'm sorry she feels that way. The data would tell a different story, but it is about personal feelings and your sense of safety,' he said. Advertisement

Judd sparked uproar last month when she said she felt 'unsafe' in Brighton following the home invasion on her neighbour.

Judd hit Instagram, where she has a whopping 785,000 followers, with claims the government 'didn't seem to care' about the 'rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of the gangs in Bayside'.

Mr Andrews took little time to swipe back, mocking her claims as 'sweeping assessments' and insisted: 'I'm sorry she feels that way. The data would tell a different story.'

The furore stirred up by Judd's comments saw Victoria Police launch Operation Ibis, with 500 officers targeting youth crime in the area.

After some initial blowback, Judd received praise for her strong stance against crime in her area.

Among her backers was reality TV friend, My Kitchen Rules star Zana Pali, who also took top Instagram to declared there was a 'clear target' on the Bayside which was causing 'anxiety and fear among the community'.

But Judd's fears of a 'crimewave' in her well-to-do suburb were shot down in flames by crime statistics released by Victoria Police last month.

In Bayside - the municipality which includes Judd's homeland of Bright - actual offences dropped by 807 from 5,212 in 2021 to 4,405 at the end of March this year.

Bayside had the second lowest number of criminal offences recorded of any suburb across metropolitan Melbourne.

Bayside's decline in offences is also the lowest since 2015, when crime 'soared' to 4,315 offences.

Victoria Police spokesman Joel Dwyer told Daily Mail Australia Bayside was one of the safest places to live in the entire state.

Police shot at the gang after they caught up with them in nearby St Kilda
Ship docked at Circular Quay on Wednesday, will return to Brisbane on Thursday

Radio 2GB host Ray Hadley has lashed out at fill-in breakfast Chris Smith saying he is 'embarrassed to be on the same network' as him over 'foolish' comments he made about a cruise ship packed with Covid infected passengers.

On Wednesday morning Smith - who is filling in for Ben Fordham on the popular breakfast show - said Australians don't need to get worked up about the Coral Princess, which docked in Sydney on Sunday.

Smith said passengers 'knew what they were walking into' on the 'damn cruise ship' - with more than 100 crew and tourists on board forced to stay on board the liner until they test negative.

Throughout his time on air on Wednesday, Smith said it was nothing like the Ruby Princess debacle - as Australian society is now vaccinated and knows how to handle the virus.

2GB radio host Chris Smith (pictured) said the Coral Princess Covid outbreak is nothing like the Ruby Princess and 'we shouldn't panic'

Fellow 2GB host Ray Hadley (pictured) said 'I'm almost embarrassed to be on the same network' as Smith' after Smith's 'foolish' comments on Coral Princess situation

Smith said: 'We are in a different realm, this is very different. We have defences against the virus now and it's not like following the Ruby Princess.

'I would argue we shouldn't panic... We need to be real about this, put it in context. Let's not get excited.

'Put it in perspective: there is only 118 positive cases on the Coral Princess.'

At the same time, there were more than 130,000 active cases of Covid in New South Wales, Smith said.

'So you could be in the city today and walk past more than 100 people with the virus,' Smith told his audience.

'We don't need to get worked up about this Covid was always going to spread on cruise ships as it does on planes, as it does in workplaces, at the footy and elsewhere.

'These people knew what they were walking into as well.'

Smith did not back down after Hadley's attack and said he would take his advice from the medical experts.

'I stand by what I said,' the broadcaster told Daily Mail Australia.

'The cruise company has let those passengers down with sloppy biosecurity measures.

'But with 4.7 per cent of those on board becoming infected and 100 per cent of them fully vaccinated, this is nothing like the Ruby Princess case.

'As the Queensland Health Minister said, "Covid is all around us". I'll take advice from the epidemiologists thanks.'

The Coral Princess has 118 active Covid infections on board, 114 of which are staff. Passengers will have to test negative before disembarking, with staff to stay on board

Coral Princess passengers seen leaving the cruise ship after disembarking at Circular Quay early on Wednesday morning

Multiple times through his program, Smith returned to talk about the cruise ship and took exception to one listener who said there shouldn't be any cruises during a pandemic.

'If you believe that there should be no aeroplanes in the air, if you believe that we shouldn't be on trains, we should stop all trains,' Smith said.

'We have defences against this disease now, it's not what it was in 2020.'

Following Smith's program fellow host Ray Hadley took aim at Smith on his show saying he was 'almost embarrassed' to be on the same broadcast network as him.

Without naming him - but almost certainly referring to Smith - Hadley said: 'One of my colleagues this morning was saying nothing to see here, it's all wonderful, well, he's a foolish person in my opinion in relation to the virus.

The ship travelled around Queensland on Sunday before heading to NSW, where it is currently docked in Sydney

'I'm sorry, but the sort of nonsense I heard on the network this morning was just foolish and I'm almost embarrassed I'm on the same broadcast network as that bloke, but anyway that's another story I'll deal with privately.'

Hadley has long previously for increased restrictions during Covid waves.

After departing Eden on the state's south coast, where around 800 passengers disembarked following returning negative tests, the Coral Princess arrived at Circular Quay in Sydney, just before dawn on Wednesday.

Passengers will have to return a negative rapid antigen test before disembarking, with the crew to remain on board.

The cruise ship is then set to return back to its home port of Brisbane on Thursday.

There are 118 positive cases on board, however the outbreak is mostly among cruise staff, with only four passengers on board in isolation.

Princess Cruises said they were 'doing everything possible' to ensure the safety of guests and crew (pictured, the cruise ship docked at Sydney's Circular Quay)

The outbreak has forced Princess Cruises to offer refunds to those booked on its next 12-day trip before it departed from Brisbane to Sydney on Monday.

A Princess Cruises spokesman on Tuesday said the crew who had tested positive in a recent full-screening were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.

The contagion on the vessel - which is a sister ship to the Ruby Princess that was linked to 28 deaths after an outbreak on board in 2020 - is the first for the local cruise industry since it resumed trips after the pandemic.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said protocols were in place on the ship before the outbreak.

She said some passengers are isolating at home or in other accommodation, while authorities are helping the company manage infected staff on board.

'The virus is everywhere and there's no escaping that,' Ms D'Ath said earlier this week.

'They will be testing staff more frequently at the moment and also encouraging any passengers with any symptoms whatsoever to come forward and get tested and they will have to isolate as well.'

A woman takes a photo of the view from her balcony after the ship docked in Circular Quay

Princess Cruises said they were 'doing everything possible' to ensure the safety of guests and crew.

'We are adhering to comprehensive protocols that were agreed in conjunction with federal and state authorities and we are confident that they are working effectively,' a spokesman told Australian Associated Press.

Protocols include regular testing of all crew who must be fully vaccinated.

'Should any crew member test positive, they go into isolation on board and have no contact with guests,' Princess Cruises said.

'We recently advised embarking guests that in the most recent full screening of crew some had returned positive tests and that this was being managed effectively in line with our protocols.

Protocols onboard include regular testing of all crew who must be fully vaccinated (guests take in the view of Sydney Harbour on their balconies on Wednesday)

Crew members and passengers who test positive to the virus must remain onboard until they can return a negative Covid test. Above, a passenger looks out at Sydney after the ship docked

'As guests look forward to their cruise holidays, we want them to be confident in knowing that everything possible is being done to ensure they do so in an environment that is as safe as it can be.'

A NSW Health spokesperson said cruise operators are responsible for keeping passengers and crews safe from infectious diseases including Covid-19, in line with the Eastern Seaboard Cruise Protocols.

'NSW Health is liaising with the Coral Princess cruise ship to monitor the health of its passengers and crew members,' they said.

'While a small number of passengers have been diagnosed with Covid since boarding the Coral Princess, their infections were most likely acquired prior to boarding and they subsequently tested positive.
A married teacher has been cleared of having a sexual relationship and sending explicit texts to a 15-year-old pupil who she said was in love with her and had faked the messages as part of his 'fantasy'.

Rebecca Whitehurst, 46, was accused of sending a photograph of her breasts to the boy, meeting him outside school and engaging in sex acts with him in her car.

But the mother of two claimed the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became obsessed with her after she tried to help him with his mental health issues.

She said he made up the allegations when she rejected his advances.

Her defence told the jury there was never any form of sexual activity with the boy, who the court heard had admitted to police officers he was obsessed and said he was 'pestering her a lot'.

The mother-of-two, from Lymm, began communicating with the pupil when she noticed him 'visibly upset' during a lesson at a school in Greater Manchester in April 2019 and invited him to one of her 'mindfulness sessions' to help with his mental health.

Rebecca Whitehurst, 46, was accused of sending a photograph of her breasts to the boy, meeting him outside school and engaging in sex acts with him in her car

She was accused of carrying out a sex act on the teenager in the back of her car when they were said to have met in Platt Fields park in Fallowfield and on another occasion touching his penis.

She was also alleged to have communicated with him over WhatsApp for her own sexual gratification.

Following a six-day trial at Manchester Crown Court, Whitehurst was acquitted of two counts of sexual activity with a child and one charge of sexual communications.

The jury at Minshull Street Crown Court took just three hours of deliberations to reach their unanimous verdicts on Tuesday afternoon.

Mrs Whitehurst sobbed in the dock and mouthed 'thank you' to the jurors after the jury foreman had delivered the verdicts.

She wept as she left the dock, followed moments later by her husband who had watched the trial from the public gallery.

The prosecution had alleged Mrs Whitehurst had become emotionally and sexually involved with a 'troubled young boy' who was a pupil at her school.

Her defence argued that although she could have handled things better the boy was 'far from' being a victim and that her accuser had subjected her to 'abuse, threats and manipulation'.

The defence said there was never any sexual activity and the messages she was alleged to have sent and received over WhatsApp had been faked by the boy, as part of a 'fantasy' he had created, which he denied under cross examination.

Mrs Whitehurst had emailed the boy through the school system and he was invited along to one of her 'mindfulness sessions' to help with his mental health.

Whitehurst, of Lymm, Cheshire, who teaches modern languages, denied two charges of sexual activity and sending sexual communications to a child. Yesterday she broke down in tears when a jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court cleared her of the charges

The boy went on to send her a ghost emoji during an email thread, which she said showed that he wanted to speak on the instant-messaging app, Snapchat.

'He told me he didn't want to tell me on email as he didn't trust it. I sent him an email with my Snapchat username for him to find me so that he could tell me what the secret was. The secret was that he was in love with me,' Ms Whitehurst wept.

She told jurors that she felt like a 'complete idiot' and said 'I'm very very gullible', and said she told him she would report it.

Ms Whitehurst said she was 'scared' and that she had 'stupidly broken the cardinal rule' by sharing with the boy her non-school contact details.

She told the court that the boy said he 'thought of killing himself' and she felt that if he didn't get enough attention from her then it would end the contact.

Jurors heard from Ms Whitehurst that she tried to end the conversation but he could 'sense she was redirecting' and would 'reel her back in'.

Speaking of a number of incidents where the boy allegedly went to her classroom, she said: 'He came to my room and he stuck his tongue down my throat'.

The teacher said she put her hands on his shoulders to stop him but the jurors heard the teenager thought this gesture was her 'welcoming' him rather than pushing him away.

Rebecca Whitehurst pictured arriving at an earlier hearing at Manchester Crown Court

She told the court he touched her in intimate areas, adding he then 'slapped me round the face and spat at me.' She said he did this 'at least ten times'.

Ms Whitehurst said she told him to stop and said 'what are you doing?' and would push him away. 'I felt I had done something wrong,' she added.

When asked by her QC Mark Ford if she reported this, she admitted she had not as she 'thought I would be held responsible as I'm the adult and he's the child'.

'I was embarrassed, and ashamed that I mismanaged the situation,' she told the court.

She said the boy went on to give her gifts including a necklace, which she tried to give back to him. 'I didn't want anything from him...I wanted him to leave me alone,' she said.

'I wore the necklace on a couple of occasions as I was worried he would kick off at me - I tried to reduce the opportunities to make him angry.'

Ms Whitehurst said the boy went on to send her naked images of himself, which she said she deleted immediately and said she told him to stop.

She admitted that she sent him a picture of herself in her running kit as she was trying to help him 'get out and get some fresh air'.

She said she was worried about him when he spoke about suicidal thoughts as she 'didn't want that to happen' and that she 'felt responsible for him'.

She admitted that she lied to the boy by saying she was going to be moving to America and 'feigned' to him that she was going into hospital for two weeks due to stress, and would not have access to her phone.

'I thought that would make things stop,' she said.

The boy told police in a video interview, which was played during the trial, that Mrs Whitehurst 'knew what she was doing' and that what she did was 'entirely wrong'.

On another occasion he said she had just 'made a mistake'. He admitted having a 'crush' on the teacher.

The teenager told the officers: 'I don't know what love is but I guess I just wanted to be with her. I was kind of pestering her a lot which is kind of wrong but I didn't realise it at the time.'

When the interviewing officer, asking about the alleged sexual contact in the back of her car, put it to him that Mrs Whitehurst was 'in a position of trust', the boy said: 'Yeah, but when you are in love you don't care about anything do you?'

When he was cross-examined in court via videolink, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he 'loved her' and was 'obsessed with her' and that he would contact her frequently.

The jurors were also told the boy had viewed 'MILF' pornography, an acronym which stands for 'mothers I'd like to f***'.

Under cross-examination, the boy said he believed the term referred to someone with children rather than older women.

The jurors were told no sexual images were found by the police. The youth said he deleted some messages 'to protect her'.

During the trial, the defendant's barrister Mr Ford, asked his client if she did anything to dissuade the boy from pursuing her. 'Yes, I told him on so many levels that it was inappropriate,' she said.

'I told him nothing like that is ever going to happen, it was a complete misunderstanding and it was never going to happen. He was angry and told me it was a mistake to give him my Snapchat username, that he could do what he wanted and the school would believe him.'

Mrs Whitehurst and her husband declined to comment as they left court.

Her accuser is entitled to anonymity in press reports of his case as someone who has made an allegation that they are a victim of a sex crime. This entitlement remains even if the alleged perpetrator is acquitted at court.

Whitehurst, of Lymm, Cheshire, who teaches modern languages, denied two charges of sexual activity and sending sexual communications to a child.

Yesterday she broke down in tears when a jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court cleared her of the charges.
'Fantastic Four' actor Ioan Gruffudd has filed for joint custody of his two daughters, months after his estranged wife, Alice Evans, filed for sole custody amid a bitter divorce.

Gruffudd, 48, filed the request in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, asking for custody and visitation rights to see his children, Elsie, 8, and Ella, 12.

The 'Titanic' actor claimed in the filing that Evans had been purposely trying to cut communication between Gruffudd and the children.

He also petitioned that the girls attend in-person therapy and reunification therapy via zoom with him pending court-ordered mediation about custody.

In the filing, Gruffudd reiterated allegations that Evans had been verbally abusing during their 14-year marriage, and 'undermin[ing him] in front of the girls throughout their lives.'

'Alice made fun of my appearance often, making hair-loss comments and telling me I had "saggy-vagina eyes," ' court papers filed on Friday read.

He went on to claim that Evans 'has inflicted serious emotional harm on Ella and Elsie by her statements and by interfering in my relationship with them.'

Ioan Gruffudd, 48, filed the request in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, asking for custody and visitation rights to see his children, Elsie, 8, and Ella, 12 (pictured with his estranged wife, Alice Evans, and daughters in 2018)

Ioan, who is now dating Bianca (pictured), was married to Alice for 14 years before their messy split last year; they're now involved in a lengthy court case

Gruffudd asked for joint custody and visitation rights

Gruffudd petitioned that the girls attend in-person therapy and reunification therapy via Zoom with him pending court-ordered mediation about custody

The 'Titanic' actor claimed in the filing that Evans had been purposely trying to cut communication between he and his children

In a video before the former couple's separation in January 2021, which Gruffudd presented as evidence in the filing, Evans allegedly told Ella she would be 'getting a new daddy.'

'In a FaceTime I had with the girls on March 3, Ella said Alice falsely told her that I wanted Alice to commit suicide, and that Ella probably would not have a mummy anymore,' Gruffudd wrote in the petition.

'Ella told me, "Daddy, this is making me very sad," and, "if I don't agree with her, apparently I am a bad daughter."

Evans was married to Gruffudd for 14 years before their messy split last year and they are involved in a lengthy court case in which he accused her of domestic abuse.

Last month, Evans claimed to be 'completely out of money for food and bills' but declared she is focused on being 'the best mother I can possibly be.'

Evans and Gruffudd with their child, Ella, in 2009

He went on to claim that Evans 'has inflicted serious emotional harm on Ella and Elsie by her statements and by interfering in my relationship with them'

Gruffudd said he was 'concerned' about Evans' usage of social media

'In a FaceTime I had with the girls on March 3, Ella said Alice falsely told her that I wanted Alice to commit suicide, and that Ella probably would not have a mummy anymore,' Gruffudd wrote in the petition

The 'Titanic' actor claimed in the filing that Evans, 53, had been purposely trying to cut communication between Gruffudd and the children

Gruffudd said he was 'concerned' about Evans' usage of social media

In an Instagram post with one of her daughters pictured, she wrote made scathing comment about her lack of funds as the court case between her and her estrange husband continues on.

She claimed she would receive no financial support from Ioan and that she was struggling to pay her legal fees and would be unable to 'feed or clothe' their daughters.

'Trying to hold it all together whilst being threatened, completely out of money for food and bills and just found out somebody tried to break down our outside door last night,' she said.

'But it's all worth it for this! (And the one who currently doesn't want to be photographed.)

'Whatevs. Most of all, I will be the best mother I can possibly be. Forever. They will never lose me. Thank you everybody for so much love and support! Having a bit of a rough moment!'

Evans claimed she faced having 'nowhere to live' and has 'no help' as she launched another blistering attack against her estranged husband.

Gruffudd has accused Evans of emotionally scarring the children

Evans claimed everyone around her has 'let her down' and said she is facing having 'nowhere to live' amid the legal battle.

The '102 Dalmatians' star penned: 'I know I'm going through hell since my hub decided to run off with a millennial and then accuse me of abusing him and spend ALL our communal savings on greedy lawyers fees trying to gag me from telling my story.

'But I'm now as low as I have ever been. Literally everybody I thought was helping has let me down.

'I face a future with nowhere to live, no help, chronic pain, 2 beautiful girls that I have 100 per cent custody if because he decided 'a family wasn't for him'

'BUT GUESS WHAT? I'm smiling!! Because the mean people CANT get you down!

'I have spoken to 5 people today all of whom have given me ideas for when dad's desert their families AND give you a shitty deal in court.

'I WILL NOT LOSE TO THAT LOSER. I will not be dumped with my babies JUST because dude got bored and didn't want a family any more. I am with them because I love them.'

'They will never lose me': The actress, 53, took to Instagram last month to share an adorable video of her eight-year-old daughter Elsie, joyfully jumping

'Trying to hold it all together': Alongside, she wrote another lengthy statement about her lack of funds as the court case between her and her estranged husband continues on

Evans claimed in June that Ioan had been successful in having his domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) against her extended, yet she denied any claims of abuse and insisted he was 'chasing Johnny Depp-style fame.'

It has since been revealed that Ioan was seeking a a continuation of a restraining order against Alice.

He took out a temporary restraining order against her in February, citing a string of abusive messages she had sent him as she came to terms with him walking out.

In a bid to bring matters to a close, Gruffudd, engaged Brad Pitt's divorce lawyer, Anne Kiley, who is believed to have requested that the order - which requires Evans doesn't contact or harass him or his girlfriend - carries on for at least another year.

After the court hearing, Evans claimed she had been issued with a DVRO (domestic violence restraining order) which she insisted was 'unjust.'

Fresh attack: The actress said she is feeling 'as low as I have ever been' in yet another lengthy statement shared to her Instagram page last week

Gruffudd filed for divorce from Evans in March 2021, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason behind their split. He is now living with girlfriend Bianca Wallace, 29, in Los Angeles.

The pair went Instagram official in October, after he posted a picture of them together with the words: 'Thank you for making me smile again.'

Gruffudd requested a restraining order against Evans n February 2022, offering up 113 pages of abusive text messages, emails and social media posts from Alice.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's all-important jobs summit is less than two months away and with only 100 seats up for grabs, businesses across Australia are vying for a spot at the coveted table.

The jobs and skills summit, to be held at Canberra's Parliament House on September 1 and 2, is hoping to solve Australia's critical shortage of workers in many industries, reflected in half a million job vacancies,, as well as the possible overhaul of the enterprise bargaining system.

While many businesses and unions are hoping for a spot, at least one of the seats has already been taken, with Australia's national carrier Qantas confirming it will be in attendance.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) will hold the national jobs summit at Canberra's Parliament House on September 1 and 2

There is already some opposition from major Unions about Qantas attending the summit because of their record on outsourcing labour.

Australia's national carrier Qantas (pictured) confirmed that it will be in attendance

There is already some opposition from major unions about Qantas attending the summit because of their record on outsourcing labour.

Retail giants Coles and Woolworths have also expressed a desire to be attendees.

A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia it was ready to 'tackle critical challenges' in the economy.

'We look forward to the summit addressing the link between productivity and wages growth and reviving the enterprise bargaining system,' the spokesperson said.

A Woolworths (pictured) spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia it was ready to 'tackle critical challenges' in the economy

'As the country's largest private sector employer, we see the Jobs and Skills Summit as a welcome opportunity to tackle critical challenges facing the economy.'

Coles said it 'would be pleased to attend the jobs summit and to contribute to these important discussions'.

Mr Albanese is yet to finalise the attendance list for the summit, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Coles (pictured) said it 'would be pleased to attend the jobs summit and to contribute to these important discussions'

Australian Services Union National Secretary Robert Potter believes, 'the job summit is a timely opportunity to discuss the changes needed to address systematic problems eroding the living standards of Australian workers'.

'Over the past decade, workers have lived with rising cost of living and falling wages, making it harder and harder to make ends meet,' Mr Potter said.

Mr Potter added: 'We need an industrial relations system which delivers better wages and conditions, while also reinvesting in our skills and training systems.'

He expressed the need for us to 'take the high road to economic growth, rebalancing the system and building a stronger, more inclusive workforce to drive productivity so the success of our economy is shared more evenly'.

Meanwhile, Tim Kennedy, United Workers Union National Secretary, said that the issues needing most urgent attention right now are threefold.

This includes, 'wage stagnation in the context of big rises to peoples' cost of living while corporate profits skyrocket and the disgraceful gender pay gap that must be addressed once and for all'.

A third issue was the 'continued crisis of insecure work that drives inequality and uncertainty for millions of workers and families across the country'.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for a national cabinet meeting to help deal with rising Covid-19 cases as Australia battles a third wave of the virus.

In a press conference in Brisbane on Wednesday, Ms Palaszczuk urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to convene a national cabinet meeting 'in the next couple of weeks' for a pandemic update from the nation's chief health officer.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured) urged Mr Albanese to hold a national cabinet meeting as Covid-19 cases surge across the country

'I think it's going to get to the stage where in the next two or three weeks we may need a national cabinet meeting,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'I have already put out there to the prime minister that it would be good, I think, for national cabinet to get an update from the chief health officer if these cases continue to do this upward trend that we're seeing.'

The rise in cases has caused community concern but Ms Palaszczuk said the 'onus is on the individual' and encouraged Queensland residents to wear a mask in crowded areas and get their Covid-19 vaccine booster shot.

'If you are sick, stay at home and do not go to work,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland recorded 7,517 new Covid-19 cases with 859 individuals hospitalised including 14 patients in ICU and 12 deaths on Wednesday.

Ms Palaszczuk said Covid-19 and influenza infections created a 'double shock' at hospitals where more than 2,300 staff are not working due to illness.

Hospitals are battling a Covid-19 admission rate almost as high as the state's first peak in January.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath on Tuesday confirmed changes to the state's isolation rules as Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 pose the threat of rapid reinfection.

'People can get reinfected, and reinfected quicker with the BA. 4 or 5 strain,' Ms D'Ath said.

Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland's health system was being tested as Covid-19 infection is almost as high as the state's first peak in January (pictured, a nurse preparing a PCR test)

People previously infected should get tested and isolate if they have symptoms from four weeks after the initial infection.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee last week revised its official advice on reinfection periods from 12 weeks to 28 days.

Australia has recorded more than 40,000 new infections nationwide in 24 hours which has led to calls for the the reintroduction of indoor mask mandates.

However, authorities in NSW and Queensland said mask mandates were unlikely to be reinstated in a widespread manner.
A hacker has stolen personal details of nearly 47,000 past and present Deakin University students and used them to send out scam text messages.

Almost 10,000 students received the text, which purportedly came from the Melbourne university.

The text read: 'Your parcel is available, you have to pay customs fees urgently on the link below.'

The scam text sent out to thousands of Deakin University students after their personal details were stolen by a hacker

If students clicked on the link they were asked to provide credit card details.

The hacker used a university staff member's username and password on Sunday to access student data information held by a third-party provider that the university contracts to contact students.

The hacker stole the names, students numbers, mobile numbers, email addresses and even recent unit results of 46,980 past and present Deakin University students

As well as mobile numbers the hacker was able to steal student numbers, email addresses and even recent unit results of 46,980 past and present students.

The scam texts went out to 9,997 people, who have been advised to contact their financial institution immediately if they provided credit card numbers.

The university said it took 'immediate action' to stop the texts being sent and has apologised for the incident

The university said it was also offering help through it support services hub Student Central.

In a blog post a spokesperson for the university said urgent measures had been taken once the breach had been discovered.

The hacker was able to use a staff member's username and password to get into the data kept by a third-party provider the university uses to contact students

'Immediate action was taken by Deakin to stop any further SMS messages being sent to students and an investigation into the data breach was immediately commenced,' the spokesperson wrote.'

'Deakin sincerely apologises to those impacted by this incident and wants to assure the Deakin community that it is conducting a thorough investigation to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.'

Deakin has also reported the breach to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority on Tuesday introduced new rules protecting Australians from scam texts.

Telecommunication companies are now required to identify, trace and block text scams, and publish information to help their customers manage and report scams.

Anyone who has fallen victim to a telecommunications scam is urged to report it, which can be done at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website Scamwatch.
An international student who tragically died after a fire ripped through his western Sydney unit was weeks away from finishing his IT degree and returning home to India.

Raunak, 27, was pulled from his Campbell Street unit, Parramatta, by emergency crews after a blaze broke out just before 2.45 am on Monday.

He was rushed to Westmead Hospital in critical condition, where he sadly passed away a few hours later.

Devastated friends have remembered Raunak as a 'kind' person who 'would go out of his way to help someone'.

Friend Mohit Rana said he arrived in Australia in September 2019 to study and had almost finished his master's degree in networking.

Raunak, 27, (pictured) tragically died after a fire broke out in his Parramatta unit during the early hours of Monday morning

'He was in his last semester and planned to go to India in couple of months to see his family,' Mr Rana wrote online.

'But those future dreams and hopes of parents drying eyes to see their child will never come to life now.

'He went far too soon, putting his family in a loss which can never be filled. This tragic incident will leave them in a lifetime of misery and pain.'

While studying in Australia, Raunak was providing financial support to his family overseas, who is now also facing financial impacts while coming to terms with the loss of their son.

Raunak's parents and his younger brother Ravi said he was a 'happy-go-lucky' boy, who was 'such a helpful person' who always prioritised helping others over himself.

'Raunak, the eldest son of our generation, was a lovely soul who could never think of harming anyone else consciously,' they told Daily Mail Australia.

'He was dedicated to his goal of supporting family here in India.

'We have lost the brightest star of our family.'

Mr Rana has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family repatriate Raunak's body back to India, which has so far raised almost $12,000 since it was launched on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an investigation continues into the cause of the fatal fire, with authorities on Monday revealing not one unit in the burning complex was fitted with a working smoke alarm.

Footage shows 20-year-old man calling out for help from his Parramatta balcony as his flatmate remains trapped inside the burning unit. Raunak died several hours later

Smoke detectors must be installed in every level of a home in NSW under strict laws to protect residents.

Raunak's flatmate, 20, managed to escape the inferno by climbing out his bedroom window onto the balcony to raise the alarm as the IT student remained trapped inside the building.

Raunak was pulled unconscious from the burning home by firefighters, who performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

His younger flatmate was also rescued and was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, where he remains in a stable condition.

Neighbours evacuated from the burning building recalled the 20-year-old man's pleas for help

'He was saying 'someone is in there, please help him' one woman told reporters.

'He was asking for help but we couldn't do anything. I feel so bad.'

Firerfighters later revealed the tragedy could have been prevented had smoking alarms been installed.

'There's a very strong chance they would have been alerted to this fire had there been smoking alarms and they would have got out safely,' Fire and Rescue Superintendent Andrew Shurety said.

'It's mind-blowing for me to turn up to a fatal house fire with no smoke alarm in this day and age, it's frustrating for us.'

A 27-year-old man died after a fire tore through a third floor apartment in Parramatta (pictured), in Sydney's west, during the early hours of Monday morning

Authorities later revealed that not one unit in the complex had a working smoke alarm

Firefighters spent the Monday door-knocking residents in the street checking smoke alarms and installing them for free in the hope of avoiding another tragedy.

Property owners face a fine of up to $550 if their home is found without a smoke alarm.

The inferno was one of two fatal house fires within hours across Sydney on Monday morning.

Emergency services were called to a unit block in inner-city Dulwich Hill after reports of a fire. The body of a woman was found inside a unit.

Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the blaze.

Firefighters have responded to more than 300 house fires across NSW in recent weeks, including five fatal blazes in June alone.

Anyone with information about either incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
Thousands of Aussies will be forced to go without bread this week after a major bakery suffered a manufacturing issue.

Producer George Weston Foods confirmed that an oven at the Tip Top bakery in Canning Vale, Perth suffered a 'breakdown' last week.

The fault means baked goods from the popular bakery have been in short supply across a string of supermarkets across the West Australian city.

Disgruntled customers posted photos of empty shelves to social media with signage advising shoppers that some baked goods would be unavailable.

Millions of Aussies will be forced to go without bread this week following a major manufacturing issue at a popular bakery (pictured, sandwiches made with Tip Top bread)

Manufacturer George Weston Foods confirmed that an oven at the Tip Top bakery in Canning Vale suffered a 'breakdown' last week (pictured, a Coles shopper in Sydney)

'Due to supply chain disruptions, we are experiencing temporarily reduced product availability,' a sign read at a store in Cannington in Perth's southeast.

'We are working hard to restock shelves as quickly and safely as possible.'

A notice at a separate supermarket told customers: 'This is due to unforeseen circumstances with regards to product supply for this store'.

Supply at IGA stores in East Perth, Balga, Bull Creek, East Victoria Park and Beckenham have also been affected, the West Australian reports.

A shopper who visited four supermarkets in the city's southeast told the publication that shelves normally brimming with loaves were near empty.

A George Weston Foods spokeswoman said the bakery was 'back to normal' by the end of Tuesday.
Police in San Antonio have launched a search for a missing mother who disappeared last week after doorbell cam footage showed her rushing out of her home.

Christina Lee Powell, 39, was last seen leaving her house at 10:34 a.m. on July 5, after calling in to her job as a paralegal to let them know she was running late, friends and family say.

Powell, who was driving a black 2020 Nissan Rouge that is also missing, left her iPhone, medication and Apple Watch at home because she was rushing to get to work after the long holiday weekend, close friend Lauren Leal said.

'The unknown is the scariest part,' Leal told news station KENS 5. 'It is fear in my mind right now.

'It is hard to wrap our minds around where she might be, what could have happened.'

Powell is originally from New Haven, Conn., and graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio

Doorbell footage showed her rushing out of her home on July 5. She hasn't been seen since

Powell, who was driving a black 2020 Nissan Rouge that is also missing, left her iPhone and Apple Watch at home because she was rushing to get to work

Leal as well as Powell's mother and sister have all issued public appeals for any information about the missing woman's whereabouts.

'If anybody has any information, please let me know,' wrote Powell's mother Claudia Mobley on Facebook. 'I love her and miss her. Keep us in your prayers.'

The worried mother added: 'She left here Tuesday morning on her way to work. She never made it to work and we haven't seen or heard from her since.'

The San Antonio Police Department confirmed that its missing persons unit is investigating the case, saying that a 'Be On The Lookout' alert has been issued for Powell's missing vehicle.

Powell, who has blonde hair and brown eyes, stands five-foot-three and weighs 115 pounds.

She was last seen wearing black pants, a black blouse, and carrying a white purse, and was driving the black Nissan SUV, plate number PYJ-8564.

Powell was driving this black 2020 Nissan Rouge that is also missing, plate number PYJ-8564

Powell had recently taken in two dogs, named Oliver and Chevy, and her last social media post on June 10 was a 'puppy update'

Powell with her son in her Facebook profile photo. It's unclear who is caring for the child

Friends and family have all issued public appeals for any information about the missing woman's whereabouts

Social media posts show that Powell is the mother of at least two boys, ages approximately three and 11.

Bexar County Records show that she was married at least once, in 2013, but her current marital status and custody arrangements for the two boys weren't immediately clear.

In 2018, Powell posted a photo of herself and her oldest son on Facebook with a banner promoting domestic violence awareness.

Her latest social media post, on June 10, was a 'puppy update' with photos of her two dogs, Oliver and Chevy.

Powell is originally from New Haven, Conn., and graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio, according to social media posts.

The mother's mysterious disappearance unfolded on the morning after Independence Day, when she was last seen leaving her home in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in San Antonio's Apple Creek neighborhood.

Powell's friend Leal says that morning, July 5, the young mother called the law firm where she works as a paralegal to warn them she was running late.

Ring doorbell footage from Powell's home shows her walking briskly out of the door shortly after 10:30 a.m., a white purse under her shoulder.

But Powell appears to have left her phone and smartwatch in the house, her friends say, as she rushed to work.

She also left vital medication behind, they say. Police say that Powell suffers from a medical condition that requires a doctor's care, and have classified her as missing and endangered.

Nobody has seen or heard from the young mother since that morning.

The route from her home to her workplace, near I-10 and Vance Jackson Road, covers roughly 7 miles and take about 15 minutes to drive.

In the week since she disappeared, Powell's friends and family have retraced her potential route to work, searching for signs of a car crash.

They've also checked in local hospitals, and even the county jail, but so far have turned up no clues to the young mother's whereabouts.

'We just want you home,' Leal told the local CBS affiliate.

'My fear is not ever knowing anything,' Leal said. 'I mean I think that would be the worst is spending the rest of my life looking for her. I will never give up.'

Anyone with information about Chrissy Powell is urged to contact SAPD's Missing Persons Unit at 210-207-7660.
An Australian television news host has cried on air during a highly emotional interview with a man reunited with his sister after 80 years apart.

Joe O'Brien, host of ABC News 24's morning news program, wiped away tears after Bill Stewart, now 91, recounted the happy resolution to his lifelong struggle to find his sister Beryl.

The pair were finally reunited in 2020 after Beryl Johnson replied to an ad in an Adelaide newspaper. The pair had spent years seeking each other out.

Australian television news host, Joe O'Brien, has cried on air during a highly emotional interview with a man reunited with his sister after 80 years apart

Ever since their reunion the devoted siblings talk on the phone at 8am every morning

'Never give up hope and always keep trying to find your brother or your sister or your family member, just like I did,' Mr Stewart said, after himself breaking down several times during the ABC interview.

Ever since their reunion the devoted siblings talk on the phone at 8am every morning.

'I'm not crying, you're crying,' O'Brien joked, as he wiped away tears.

Beryl and Bill were sent to an orphanage as children when their father was at sea, as their mother had died years earlier.

But when their father, Frank Stewart, died aboard the freighter SS Iron Crown after being torpedoed by the Japanese in June 1942, the siblings were sent to different homes to grow up.

Authorities blocked them from having any contact, as back then it was thought preferable for orphans to have a fresh start and no contact with former relatives.

Bill Stewart was 11 at the time and remembered being frozen in 'shock'.

When the siblings' father, Frank Stewart, died aboard the freighter SS Iron Crown after being torpedoed by the Japanese in June 1942, the siblings were sent to different homes to grow up

Beryl said reuniting with her long-lost brother was 'a miracle' that ended years of 'longing and wanting'

When they grew into adults the siblings each tried many times to track each other down, but incredibly authorities refused all their requests to help them.

When the wreck of SS Iron Crown was found about 100km off the Victorian coastline just south of the New South Wales border in 2019, a chain events was set off that led to the siblings reuniting.

Mr Stewart heard about a memorial honouring the lives of 38 people who died on board, including his father, and was given an invitation to attend.

He was interviewed on radio about what it meant that his father's ship was found and a woman who heard his name phoned in to say she believed she had a DNA match to him.

Australian National Maritime Chief Scientist Emily Jateff and media worked in the background to connect them.

The woman, Kylie Watson, was a distant relative. Hearing more of his story she threw herself into trying to help Bill to find his long-lost sister.

She tracked Beryl down to Adelaide, but still couldn't find her details.

Australian National Maritime Chief Scientist Emily Jateff was one of the people who helped work to reunite Bill Stewart with his missing sister Beryl

Ms Watson placed an ad in a column in the Sunday Mail edition of The Advertiser, which Beryl read.

She contacted Ms Watson and the siblings were quickly reconnected, first by phone, then in person.

They met in 2020 but the pandemic kept them apart for 18 months before they finally spent three weeks together this year.

Beryl said reuniting with her long-lost brother was 'a miracle' that ended years of 'longing and wanting'.

Bill told the ABC he now rings his sister each day, at 8am in the morning.

She says: 'Hello my darling Bill.'

He says: 'Hello, my darling sister.'

O'Brien said his words were 'just beautiful'.

'When you have your daily chat to Beryl when she says, "g'day, darling", and you say "g'day, my beautiful sister", send a hello from the ABC as well.'
Ex-President Donald Trump has escalated his war of words with the world's wealthiest man Elon Musk in a series of messages on Truth Social.

On the right-wing social media platform, Trump recalled the many times that Musk visited the White House between 2016 and 2020.

Trump wrote: 'When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it's electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocket ships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless.'

Trump went on to say that Musk would regularly tell the former 'Apprentice' host how much of a fan he was. He added: 'I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it.'

Ex-president Donald Trump began his Truth Social message dump on the afternoon of July 12

Trump decided to escalate his war of words with Elon Musk after endorsing MAGA candidates and disparaging the House January 6th committee

Trump also brought up a lesser reported issue with Musk pulling out of his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter

The ex-president wasn't going to let Musk off the hook with regard the billionaire's controversial decision to pull out of his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

He wrote: 'Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that's perhaps worthless. Also, lots of competition for electric cars!'

Trump also made reference to another potential legal issue facing Musk writing: '

Why was Elon allowed to break the $15 million stock purchase barrier on Twitter without any reporting? That is a very serious breach! Have fun Elon and @jack, go for it.'

Trump tagged Twitter founder Jack Dorsey who has not been the company's CEO since November 2021.

For the record, Twitter did mention the stock reporting issue in their lawsuit attempting to force the sale.

Musk responded almost immediately to Trump's messages, again poking fun at the ex-President's senility

Musk tweeted his response shortly after Trump's message. He simply wrote: 'Lmaooo.'

That was followed up with a gif from 'The Simpsons,' a reference to the 'old man yells at cloud meme.'

Trump's messages to Musk came amid a busy day on TruthSocial for the ex-president. Trump also sent out messages endorsing MAGA supporters for the upcoming mid-term elections and disparaging the House Jan. 6 committee.

Earlier this week, Musk' slammed Trump as a liar, and 'too old' to run for president.

Those claims came in response to a recent appearance by Trump in Alaska - who has repeatedly hinted at a second presidential run in 2024 - that saw him mock Musk by calling him a 'Bull***t artist.'

The insult was triggered by an assertion from Trump that Musk lied about voting for him during his ill-fated presidential run in 2020.

The accusation referred to a Tweet from Musk last month, which saw the South African businessman brag about voting for a Republican for the first time, casting a ballot for new Texas Congresswoman Maya Flores.

Trump seemingly took issue with the endorsement, and accused Musk of lying about his political allegiance at the Alaska event Saturday.

The pair had previously had been on good terms, with Trump previously calling Musk 'one of our great geniuses' and Musk welcoming his support when he was trying to reopen his Tesla plant in California during the pandemic.

However, last month on social media, Musk said he was leaning toward Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his preferences for the upcoming president - a pseudo-endorsement that Trump may have taken as a slight.

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Elon Musk's much-talked-about tiff with Donald Trump continued in full force this week - with the Tesla CEO taking to Twitter to question the ex-president's credibility and brain capacity

The claims came in response to a recent appearance by Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday, that saw him mock Musk by calling him a bBull***t artist'

'You know he said the other day, 'Oh, I've never voted for a Republican,'' Trump, 76, said at his Alaska rally, when speaking about Musk's Twitter deal falling through.

'I said, 'I didn't know that. He told me he voted for me,'' he went on.

'So he's another bulls*** artist.'

Musk promptly replied to a post that shared the clip - along with an article titled 'Donald Trump: Elon Musk Told Me He Voted for Me' - to make his own bulls**t call on the president's claim.

'Not true,' Musk wrote, in an uncharacteristically succinct clap-back.

Musk also denied Trump's claim that he voted for him in the last election with a simple 'Not true'

The SpaceX CEO proceeded to further pan the politician, saying he should 'hang up his hat' and call it quits on his political career, due to his advanced age.

'I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,' Musk, 51, wrote to his more than 100million followers.

'Dems should also call off the attack,' he went on to add, referring to the currently ongoing public hearings into the Jan 6 riots by a violent mob of Trump's supporters - an occurrence the left has been trying to pin on the former president.

'Don't make it so that Trump's only way to survive is to regain the Presidency,' Musk warned.

When one Twitter user questioned which of Trump's policies Musk took issue with, the mogul instead pointed to the politico's notorious no-nonsense - and at points plain brazen - approach to politics, which he said causes 'too much drama.'

The world's richest man replied to several tweets on the topic, saying Trump's presidency had 'too much drama' and was akin to a 'bull in a china shop'

'Yeah, but too much drama,' Musk wrote in response to the user's query. 'Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!?'

Musk then circled back to the topic of the president's age.

'Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69,' Musk wrote, before elaborating on the issue.

'Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America.'

He added: 'If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win - he doesn't even need to campaign.'

The slew of posts also saw Musk agree with another Twitter user that the world has a 'serious issue with gerontocracy' - meaning the government is controlled by old people.

The South African billionaire was critical of presidents being to old, saying Trump at 82 would be 'too old to be chief executive of anything'

Musk, who now lives in Texas, said that he voted Republican for the first time in June's special election when he cast his ballot for Flores in her bid for the 34th congressional seat against Democrat Dan Sanchez.

'I voted for Mayra Flores  first time I ever voted Republican,' Musk tweeted June 15. Massive red wave in 2022.'

When a Twitter account called Tesla Owners Silicon Valley asked Musk if he was voting Republican in the 2024 presidential election, the Tesla CEO replied 'tbd.'

Trump has yet to respond to Musk's comments.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (left) said in June that he cast his first ever Republican ballot for Mayra Flores (right) in a Texas special election

At the rally in Anchorage, the politician accused Musk of shirking on his promised buyout of Twitter, which has been in talks since April but was abandoned due to mogul's reported concern over fake accounts on the platform.

Trump, who was booted from the site due to tweets that allegedly urged his supporters to protest the 2020 election during the January 6 riots, seemed unconvinced by that narrative.

Trump then encouraged those in the audience to instead use his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he founded after being booted from the platform last year.

Trump then encouraged those in the audience to instead use his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he founded after being from the platform last year.

'Elon. Elon,' Trump repeated, to clamorous applause. 'He's not going to buy Twitter.'

Trump then encouraged those in the audience to instead use his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he founded after being booted from the platform last year.

Earlier this week, the Republican gloated about Musk ending his efforts to buy Twitter, in a celebratory post.

'THE TWITTER DEAL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE 'TRUTH,'' he wrote, referring to his rival platform.

Meanwhile, Musk has seemed to take a liking to DeSantis - an increasingly popular political figure who has been compared to former President Trump due to no-nonsense policies, but without the legal and political baggage synonymous with the outspoken New Yorker

The post was liked close to 37,000 times, and shared more than 9,000 times on Truth, where Trump has 3.5 million followers.

Musk, meanwhile, shocked the world in May when he announced would be switching political allegiances for the next election, saying he would vote for the Republican due to liberal bias at Twitter.

Speaking via video link at a tech summit in Miami, Florida in May, hosted by the All-In podcast, Musk confirmed he would be changing his vote.

Earlier this week, Trump gloated about Elon Musk withdrawing his bid to buy Twitter on his rival social media network

'The reality is that Twitter at this point, you know, has a very far left bias,' Musk told attendees. 'I would classify myself as a moderate, neither Republican nor Democrat.'

Musk went on to assert that he has 'overwhelmingly' voted for Democrats in the past.

'I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically. Like I'm not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear,' Musk said.

He then declared: 'Now this election I will.'

Speaking via video link at a tech summit in Miami in May (pictured), hosted by the All-In podcast, Musk confirmed he would be voting Republican in the upcoming election

Meanwhile, Musk has seemed to take a liking to DeSantis - an increasingly popular political figure who has been compared to former President Trump due to no-nonsense policies, but without the legal and political baggage synonymous with the outspoken New Yorker.

Last year, Musk tweeted that he had spoken with DeSantis about digging tunnels under Miami to help improve traffic gridlock.

DeSantis, meanwhile, has expressed support for Musk's Twitter bid.

Speaking at a conference in Madeira Beach last month, DeSantis commented on news of Musk's potential support with a joke that played off the billionaire's South African heritage.

'I'm focused on 2022, but I welcome support from African Americans,' the conservative quipped to a reporter.

Musk has yet to officially endorse DeSantis.
The prime minister remains adamant Labor's new climate target has broad support, despite a push from some Pacific leaders for Australia to increase it.

Anthony Albanese says his government has a mandate to implement its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, ahead of legislation being introduced when parliament kicks off later this month.

But while Australia will push ahead with plans to co-host a future United Nations climate summit alongside Pacific nations, countries in the region have urged it to adopt a bigger emissions target to combat climate change.

The prime minister (pictured boarding a plane to Japan in May) remains adamant Labor's new climate target has broad support, despite a push from some Pacific leaders to increase it

Anthony Albanese's government has a mandate to implement its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 (pictured, the Liddell power station in Newcastle in 2007)

'We have a mandate for our position. It is one that has the potential to end the climate wars,' Mr Albanese told ABC radio on Wednesday.

'This is a floor, not a ceiling ... we need to seize that opportunity, and my government intends to do just that.'

However, Greens leader Adam Bandt criticised the prime minister's stance, warning Mr Albanese of misreading the national mood on climate change.

His comments came after the prime minister challenged the Greens to back the government's climate bill, warning MPs who didn't would be held accountable.

But the Greens have called for the 43 per cent target to be lifted even further for a stronger stance on emissions reduction.

Greens leader Adam Bandt (pictured) has criticised the prime minister's stance, warning Mr Albanese of misreading the national mood on climate change

Mr Albanese arrived in Suva on Wednesday for the Pacific Islands Forum, where climate change will be among the key topics of discussion (pictired, NSW Tomago aluminium smelter)

'The Greens are willing to work constructively with Labor, but it seems Labor's approach is 'take it or leave it',' Mr Bandt said.

'Labor risks letting their idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good ... the Greens are willing to negotiate on climate, but it is seems Labor isn't.'

The prime minister arrived in Suva on Wednesday for the Pacific Islands Forum, where climate change will be among the key topics of discussion.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the approval of more than 100 new coal and gas projects in Australia did not undermine its message to the region.

'We have a very holistic policy, which is committed to the 43 per cent reduction, but we've been very clear about how we'll achieve those emissions reductions,' Mr Bowen told ABC radio.

Pictured is Mr Albanese signing the Nationally Determined Contribution in June - a letter to the United Nations to increase Australia's emissions reduction targets

'We do have to recognise the impacts of climate change on our own islands, as well as the Pacific and Indonesia as the world's largest archipelago, and all islands are exposed.'

Mr Bowen also hailed Australia and the US's deal to develop and deploy zero-emissions technology and co-operate on critical minerals supply chains.

The net-zero technology acceleration partnership was announced during the Sydney Energy Forum on Tuesday.

Mr Bowen said the agreement marked the start of a much larger partnership.

'We wanted climate change to be a much bigger part of the alliance and ... the Biden administration and the Albanese government are very closely aligned on climate and the agreement we signed yesterday is a reflection of that,' he said.
Controversial vegan activist Tash Peterson has landed in Melbourne after quitting her home state of Western Australia.

Peterson, 28, now plans to bring her bizarre vegan protests to the country's second largest city.

The social media star took to Instagram to announce her arrival in the southern capital on Wednesday morning, posting footage with her boyfriend Jack Higgs.

The vegan activist (pictured with her partner, Jack Higgs) took to social media on Wednesday as soon as she landed in Melbourne

The controversial figure's (pictured, far right) latest protest saw her pose topless for an hour in Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday, straight after her flight landed

Ms Peterson said she was planning to continue her campaign work in Victoria, beginning with a protest against the wool industry in Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday.

'We are finally in Melbourne after a very long journey, because our flight yesterday morning was cancelled,' she said on social media. 'We are here, we have had two or three hours sleep and we are already going to be protesting.'

The activist was wearing a white bathrobe and had red marks on her face as part of her costume to raise awareness for the 'sheep that are exploited and murdered in the wool industry'.

The shock influencer was seen with two other women, all topless, with signs condemning the use of wool in Melbourne's main shopping precinct later that day.

Ms Peterson made headlines after she went topless across sites in her hometown of Perth to protest against people eating meat and exploiting animals for clothes.

In one incident she went topless and painted herself as a cow in front of McDonalds.

At another protest at a Louis Vuitton store last year she wore a G-string and claimed she'd used her own menstrual blood to paint over her chest.

In another infamous stunt at an Outback Jacks steakhouse in Perth last month she dressed up as an abattoir worker with blood all over her white overalls and gumboots.

The notorious activist stormed into the restaurant and demanded diners stop eating meat while she played sounds of animals being slaughtered.

She met resistance from patrons, with one manhandling her.

Last Sunday she appeared fully clothed at the Perth Zoo with a megaphone declaring that animals in zoos were 'suffering immensely'.

Her protest came after the zoo's popular elephant, Tricia, passed away. Predictably, the protest met with some pushback as a zoo patron attempted to take the megaphone from her.

The notorious activist stormed into a restaurant and demanded diners stop eating meat while she played sounds of animals being slaughtered, with a patron trying to stop her (pictured)

Ms Peterson told patrons the elephant had been kidnapped from its family in Vietnam.

'In memory of Tricia, I am here to bring light to the remaining imprisoned victims in Perth Zoo and other zoos across the world,' she screamed at visitors using a megaphone.

The activist made the trip to the east coast after she was allegedly banned from all liquor licence venues in Western Australia for eight months.

She said she felt her freedom of speech had been taken away, adding a possible move to Sydney for the couple in the future.
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President Joe Biden started the first visit Middle East tour of his presidency on Wednesday.

He faces the monumental task of assuring uneasy Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials that he's committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

The 46th president begins the visit Wednesday with a three-day stop in Israel, where officials say Iran's quickly evolving nuclear program is at the top of their agenda.

Biden, 79, made reviving the Iran nuclear deal, brokered by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, a key priority as he entered office.

Indirect talks for the United States to reenter the deal have stalled as Iran has made rapid gains in developing its nuclear program, leaving the Biden administration increasingly pessimistic about resurrecting the deal, which placed significant restrictions on Iran in exchange for sanctions relief.

Shortly after his arrival in Israel on Wednesday, Biden is expected to get a briefing on the country's new 'Iron Beam' missile defense system and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

In addition to meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, he's slated to receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor and visit with US athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, which involve thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.

Biden faces the monumental task of assuring uneasy Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials that he's committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power during his Midwest tour

President Joe Biden speaks at the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, on July 12

The sky illuminated by lighting at Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland, as Air Force One is seen in the foreground ahead of President Joe Biden departing for a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia

Biden, in a Washington Post op-ed published Saturday, laced into Trump for quitting the nuclear deal that Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union also signed onto.

However, he also suggested that he's still holding onto at least a sliver of hope that the Iranians will come back into compliance.

'My administration will continue to increase diplomatic and economic pressure until Iran is ready to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as I remain prepared to do,' he wrote.

Israeli officials, who briefed reporters ahead of Biden's departure from Washington on Tuesday, said the US and Israel would issue a broad-ranging 'Jerusalem Declaration' that will take a tough stance on Iran's nuclear program.

The declaration commits both countries to use 'all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat,' according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the statement.

During his visit, the Israeli military will show him new hardware it says is essential to confronting Iran: anti-drone lasers.

This handout picture released by the Israeli defense ministry on April 14, shows a high-power Israeli laser interception system at an undisclosed location

While Israel has long been known for its efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Israeli officials have increasingly been sounding the alarm over Iran's fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

This month, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a total of four unarmed drones headed for an offshore gas rig. It said the drones were Iranian-made and launched by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran.

As concerns mount over drone warfare, Israel hopes the new 'Iron Beam' system will secure its skies.

While not yet operational, the military hardware was described as a 'game-changer' in April by then-prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Presenting such technology to Biden is a strategic move for Israel, which saw Washington approve a billion-dollar package in September for Israel's active Iron Dome system.

The defense system has been used countless times to intercept rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Iran's ally Hamas.

The Iron Dome costs roughly $50,000 per launch, while Bennett priced the Iron Beam at $3.50 per deployment.

He said the new defense system was 'silent' and could 'intercept incoming UAVs, mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles.'

Biden, in a Washington Post op-ed published Saturday, laced into Trump for quitting the nuclear deal that Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union also signed onto.

The White House has also been frustrated with repeated Iran-sponsored attacks on U.S. troops based in Iraq, though the administration says the frequency of such attacks has dropped precipitously over the last two years

The official said the Israelis would stress to Biden their view that Iran has calculated 'time is on their side' and is loath to give any concessions.

The Biden administration's last round of indirect negotiations with Iran in Doha, Qatar, late last month ended without success.

The White House has also been frustrated with repeated Iran-sponsored attacks on U.S. troops based in Iraq, though the administration says the frequency of such attacks has dropped precipitously over the last two years.

Iran also sponsored the rebel Houthis in a bloody war with the Saudis in Yemen. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire has been in place for more than four months, a fragile peace in a war that began in 2015.

Separately, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday said the administration believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine.

The Saudis, like the Israelis, have been frustrated that the White House has not abandoned efforts to revive the nuclear deal with Tehran.

US President Joe Biden makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland

As a White House candidate, Biden said he would look to make the kingdom a 'pariah' nation over its human rights abuses

Biden heads to the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Friday to meet with King Salman and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely known by his initials MBS, and to attend a gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council, where Iran's nuclear program is on the agenda.

Also looming over the Saudi visit is the president's strained relationship with the crown prince.

As a White House candidate, Biden said he would look to make the kingdom a 'pariah' nation over its human rights abuses.

The relationship was further strained when Biden last year approved the release of a U.S. intelligence report that determined that MBS likely approved the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The president arrives in Saudi Arabia, among the world's biggest oil producers, at a moment of skyrocketing gas and food prices around the globe - driven, in part, by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. White House officials and energy analysts say there are low expectations that the Saudis or fellow members of OPEC+ will deliver relief.

Another factor in seeking a detente in the Saudi relationship is growing concern in the administration that the Saudis could move closer to China and Russia amid strains with the United States.

Biden is set to make a major statement on his administration's vision for the Middle East while in Jeddah, according to the White House.

The gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will give him the chance to address a broad swath of Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well as the leaders of non-GCC nations - Egypt, Iraq and Jordan - that have been invited to join the meeting.

Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former U.S. State Department official, said Biden is looking forward to visiting Saudi Arabia 'like I would look forward to a root canal operation.'

Biden is set to make a major statement on his administration's vision for the Middle East while in Jeddah, according to the White House

President Joe Biden steps out to speak at the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Washington

'You've got a president who is terribly conflicted about this meeting,' Miller said. 'He can't even acknowledge, in all of his public remarks, that he's even going to meet with Mohammed bin Salman.'

Israeli officials are cautiously optimistic that the Biden visit could be a breakthrough moment on a slow path toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Biden will be the first U.S. president to travel directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, and the two nations' shared enmity for Iran has led to subtle cooperation.

Earlier this week, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu praised the crown prince's 'contribution' to the Abraham Accords, declarations of diplomatic and economic normalization signed by Bahrain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States while Netanyahu was prime minister.

Israel is expected to hold new elections in the fall after the fragile coalition government led by Naftali Bennett crumbled last month.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid had expressed hopes that his country would establish formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, days before Biden visits the two countries as part of a regional trip.

'Israel extends its hand to all the countries of the region and calls on them to build ties with us, establish relations with us, and change history for our children,' Lapid said during a weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said Biden will carry 'a message of peace and hope from us' when he embarks for Saudi Arabia.
A sex worker has admitted she torched a family home killing a young couple and their three-week old baby, because she had a dispute over payment for sexual services with another man who rented a room at their townhouse.

Jenny Hayes was originally charged with three counts of murder but struck a deal with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of arson causing death.

The 47-year-old appeared in Victoria's Supreme Court via video link from the women-only prison, Dame Phyliis Frost Centre, on Wednesday.

She broke down in tears insisting she did not know Abbey Forrest, 19, her partner Inda Sohal, 28 and the couple's three-week-old daughter Ivy lived upstairs.

The court heard that Hayes was at the Totem Way home in Point Cook, 22km south-west of Melbourne's CBD on December 2, 2020, but was only in the downstairs area of the home.

She left after a disagreement with the other man who lived there, but returned to the home later that night at 3.40am and set her client's mattress on fire.

He was not home at the time but the young family were in bed upstairs, with their remains found in the ashes of the blaze.

Jenny Hayes (left) pled guilty to arson causing death after she set a Melbourne townhouse on fire killing Abbey Forrest, 19, Inda Sohal, 28, and their three-week old daughter Ivy (right)

Hayes later sent a text message to her son soon after the fire admitting to him: 'I think I did something stupid,' the Herald Sun reported.

Ms Forrest and Mr Sohal moved in to the townhouse just weeks before the fire.

Family members of the victims watched the hearing online, as the killer burst into tears.

The family were farewelled at St Mary of the Angels Basilica in Geelong, south of Melbourne just days before Christmas.

Baby Ivy would have been just three weeks and not even have a chance to be baptised before her life was so cruelly cut short.

Her grandfather Alan Forrest - Abbey's father - bravely paid tribute to the pair.

Ms Hayes claims she did not know the young family was asleep upstairs at the Point Cook home, 22km south-west of Melbourne's CBD (pictured)

Hayes (pictured) had a dispute over sexual services with a man who rented a room in the townhouse. She later returned and set it ablaze

He choked back tears as he spoke of the fun loving and generous Tomboy his daughter was.

Mr Forrest said his family would not get a chance to gather at his daughter's 21st birthday and he would not be able to provide a speech as father of the bride.

'She won't make it to her 21st birthday speech, or her father of the bride speech. So this is one speech that I must take the honour of Abbey, Ivy and Indi.'

The shattered parent described his daughter's love of horses and her hopes of one day becoming a paramedic.

'She was a generous kid,' he said. 'She was always grateful to and respected all of her teachers.'

Hayes will face court to be arraigned later this month before a pre-sentencing hearing.




An Australian woman travelling through the United States says she was detained and questioned about her abortion history before being deported.

Madolline Gourley, from Brisbane, stopped over in Los Angeles on June 30 on her way to Canada for a holiday, where she planned to house-and-cat sit in exchange for accommodation.

But while in the airport, she was approached by US border officials and taken to a detention room where she was patted down, fingerprinted, photographed, and interrogated - including being asked if she was pregnant.

'She was walking me from one room to the next, and she asked the pregnancy question again,' Ms Gourley told Guardian Australia.

Madolline Gourley (pictured) says she was questioned about her abortion history then deported during a recent stopover in the United States

'I dont know if she had forgotten, or she wanted to work out if I was lying or something. I said no, and she looked at me again and said, 'Have you recently had an abortion?'

'I dont know the thought process behind that  I just thought, 'Whats the relevance of that to my situation?''

Ms Gourley was told her entry had been denied as she had breached the conditions of the visa waiver program, which allows Australians and citizens of many other countries to travel to the US for short trips without getting a visa.

She was sent back home on the next flight to Brisbane several hours later.

A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said under the visa waiver program, applications are banned from 'any type of employment or getting compensation for services rendered'.

Ms Gourley, who has previously travelled through the US with the same house and cat sitting company, said she was shocked the service breached the visa program's rules.

US border officials took Ms Gourley into an interrogation room after she arrived at Los Angeles (pictured) on June 30

She is now warning others to be aware of the potential ramifications of pet or house sitting in North America.

In response to questions about Ms Gourley's treatment, a CBP spokesperson said 'the department regrets any inconvenience or unpleasantness a passenger may have experienced during his/her CBP processing'.

'We take allegations of unprofessional behaviour seriously,' the spokesperson said.

'CBP has standard procedures for handling allegations of misconduct. If we confirm employee misconduct, we will take firm and appropriate action to correct the situation.'

Ms Gourley said she was shocked when she was told her plans to cat-sit as accommodation were considered a breach of the US's visa waiver program

The alarming allegations come just weeks after Victorian student Jack Dunn, 23, was strip searched and placed in jail in the US for more than 30 hours after breaching a little-known travel rule.

Upon his arrival, Mr Dunn was asked by a CBP officer if he had a plane ticket to leave the US, which he didn't, as he planned to book his flights on the go.

After explaining his next flight was booked to Mexico, Mr Dunn was swiftly handcuffed and taken to the Federal Detention Centre in Honolulu after officers concluded he didn't meet the entry requirements.

The youth worker hadn't realised that under the Visa Waiver Program travellers must have another ticket out of the US to any other foreign port or place that is not a bordering country or an adjacent island.

He was ordered to catch the next flight to Sydney, which was the following day, meaning he was forced to stay overnight in a detention centre.
An Aussie who accidentally screamed at a delivery driver - when he was actually yelling at his dog - has tracked him down to personally apologise.

Last week, hungry Melbourne man Mark Polchleb posted a video showing CCTV footage of a misunderstanding he had with his DoorDash driver.

The footage showed the delivery driver bringing the man his McDonalds, before jumping in fright when Mr Polchleb yelled, ''Get away from the door mate!'

The driver inched back from the door and left the delivery on the mat.

Upon viewing the security vision, Mr Polchleb posted a TikTok clip asking for help getting in touch with the driver, Sami Obeid, which has amassed over 35 million views so far.

@markp_ Im genuinely losing sleep over this. He was so sweet and my dog is a menace   original sound - fionas gf

TikTok of Melbourne man Mark Polchleb telling delivery man 'get away from the door'. In fact Mr Polchleb was trying to get his dog to be quiet unbeknownst to the DoorDash driver Sami Obeid (pictured)

After watching security footage of the incident Mr Polchleb (pictured) realised the driver thought he was talking to him, setting out to track him down to apologise and thank him

'Can someone please tell this sweet sweet Uber Eats man I was yelling at my dog and not him?' he said.

Fellow TikTok users commented on the video clearly feeling for both the man and the delivery driver.

'I WOULD BE IN TEARS FOR WEEKS IF I DID THIS OMG CAN YOU FIND HIM ON YOUR APP SOMEHOW,' one person wrote.

'I WOULD LOSE SLEEP FOR DAYSSSSSS,' said another.

@markp_ #duet with @maroob MAJOR UPDATE. We found Sami!!!!!! Thank you so much TikTok. I love this community! Ill keep you all posted after my opportunity to connect!   original sound - fionas gf

Clearly distressed over how the event unfolded, Mr Polcheb revealed in a subsequent TikTok he had 'genuinely lost sleep' over the incident saying the driver was 'so sweet' and calling his dog 'a menace'.

Mr Obeid was tracked down in a truly heartwarming video. Delivery service DoorDash also chose to thank Mr Obeid for his quality service with permanent raise

And so started his journey to track down driver Sami to personally thank him and apologise.

Just one day after the original video was posted, Sami was found.

After making contact, Mr Polcheib arranged to meet Sami in person, to apologize and give him a token of his appreciation.

However, it was about to be an even happier ending as company DoorDash wanted to recognise their delivery driver's good attitude by giving him a pay rise.

'We're so inspired by your love and kindness for Sami that we're going to award him Top Dasher status for life and extra Dasher pay,' a statement from a DoorDash representative read.

Sami also received publicity for a GoFundMe fundraiser established by his daughter to help fund a trip back to his homeland, France, to see his son.

'I came to Australia 8 years ago as a refugee and I haven't seen my son for 10 years. He lives in France, and I have to do some work to book for a plane ticket to see him.'

The GoFundMe page has raised more than $6,000 in just 4 days.

One person who donated commented, 'This is one of the good things the internet has came to. Please take every penny with pride. Love you !!!'

'I don't know you personally but i love you so so so much!! Everything will be okay, i hope you see your son soon! Sending you lots of love, I'll definitely donate more whenever I get the chance,' another donor wrote.
A man who threatened to cut off former Labor senator Kristina Keneally's head due to his anti-vaccination beliefs has been sentenced to a good behaviour bond.

Luke David Eastop, 29, tried unsuccessfully in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday to have his matter dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

The Harrington Park man pleaded guilty to threatening to cause serious harm to a commonwealth public official via an Instagram message sent at 7.39am on November 23, 2021.

The social media message was received by someone in Ms Keneally's office and never read by the politician.

'I'll cut your head off if you ever show your face in public ... you ****ing corrupt rat. Can't wait until you're all hanging from the gallows,' it said.

Luke David Eastop, 29, threatened to cut off former Labor senator Kristina Keneally's (pictured) head due to his anti-vaccination beliefs

'Nuremberg 2.0 ... Tik tok mother f***er.'

Police officers searched Eastop's home and confiscated his mobile phone. Soon after he made admissions and said 'he's horrified and I'm 100 per cent sorry for sending the message,' the court was told.

His defence barrister said the idea that Ms Keneally would be facing a war times tribunal in reference to the Nuremberg executions, is 'nonsense,' and the message was irrational due to his client's mental ill health.

The social media message was received by someone in Ms Keneally's office and never read by the politician

Magistrate Brett Shields said he could not imagine people taking it literally, but the hyperbole was used to accentuate the explicit and graphic personal threat of violence.

The mental health application was opposed and the magistrate agreed the links between disordered thinking and Eastop's offending were not properly made out.

'It is quite clear that the defendant was upset about a position taken in politics by Ms Keneally concerning the Covid pandemic,' Mr Shields said.

'And the treatment as he saw it of people who took contrary view who did not wish to be vaccinated.

'The conduct is unacceptable and the community must understand why people are free to political views but not free to express them with the use of violence.'

Reports tendered to the court noted Eastop was highly regarded within his community had expressed guilt shame and regret, and that he was continuing psychological treatment for his anxiety.

The magistrate accepted Eastop had shown genuine remorse, and sentenced him to a recognisance release order for 18 months and fined him $2000.
Passengers have disembarked in Sydney from the Covid-hit cruise ship Coral Princess with stories of unhygienic practices and claims they were not checked to see if they had tested positive for the virus.

Hundreds of passengers left the ship after it docked at Sydney's Circular Quay early on Wednesday.

NSW Health previously said passengers would only be allowed to disembark after they had returned a negative rapid antigen test.

Passengers disembark The Coral Princess cruise ship as it docks at Circular Quay in Sydney

However, two of those getting off the cruise ship - who were identified only as Julia and John - told SkyNews that their test had not been checked.

'We just walked off,' John said.

Julie also was less than impressed with what she'd witnessed in the ship's food and beverage areas.

'So you wash your hands when you go into the buffet but then people are coughing and picking up tongs and things like that,' she said, imitating someone coughing into their hands.

More than 120 passengers and crew on the Coral Princess (pictured docked at Circular Quay in Sydney on Wednesday) have tested positive for Covid

She also said that while all the staff had been wearing masks, not all the passengers were.

The couple, who are cruise veterans, said the experience would put them off going to sea again.

Dozens of guests and staff members were infected on the Coral Princess (pictured in Sydney on Wednesday) as it sailed from Port Douglas in Far North Queensland to Brisbane on Sunday

Carnival Australia President Marguerite Fitzgerald said that self-administered rapid antigen tests were the protocol that had been agreed on with NSW Health for passengers.

She said that self-administered RATs are the 'community standard' happening every day in Australia.

Ms Fitzgerald said between 110 and 115 crew had contracted Covid and were isolating.

She believed that 10 guests also had the infection but it was likely they brought it on board with them.

'The numbers are similar to what they were yesterday, so about 110 to 115 crew and we had more guests test positive today as they've exited the ship,' Ms Fitzgerald said.

'And they  we believe, and the health authorities have also said  that most of those guests probably brought Covid when they boarded in Brisbane.'

The ship docked at Sydney's Circular Quay at 6:30am on Wednesday with those infected unable to disembark until they return a negative Covid test (pictured, passengers onboard)

Passengers from the ship were seen waiting to board buses after disembarking the ship

The ship docked in Eden on the south coast on Tuesday, where about 800 passengers disembarked after returning negative tests.

The Coral Princess will return to its home port of Brisbane on Wednesday evening.

Passengers are seen on The Coral Princess cruise ship as it docks at Circular Quay early on Wednesday morning amid an unravelling Covid outbreak onboard

The Coral Princess is expected to remain docked in Circular Quay for one day, before returning to its home port of Brisbane (pictured, the ship in Sydney on Wednesday)

The outbreak aboard the cruise ship has mostly infected crew members, with 114 of them in isolation (pictured, curious onlookers watch the Coral Princess on Wednesday)

The outbreak has forced Princess Cruises to offer refunds to those booked on its next 12-day trip before it departs from Brisbane to Sydney on Monday.

A Princess Cruises spokesman on Tuesday said the crew who had tested positive in a recent full-screening were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.

The contagion on the vessel - which is a sister ship to the Ruby Princess that was linked to 28 deaths after an outbreak on board in 2020 - is the first for the local cruise industry since it resumed trips after the pandemic.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath says protocols were in place on the ship before the outbreak.

She said some passengers are isolating at home or in other accommodation, while authorities are helping the company manage infected staff on board.

'The virus is everywhere and there's no escaping that,' Ms D'Ath said on Monday.

'They will be testing staff more frequently at the moment and also encouraging any passengers with any symptoms whatsoever to come forward and get tested and they will have to isolate as well.'

The ship travelled around Queensland on Sunday before heading to NSW, where it is currently docked in Sydney

Princess Cruises said they were 'doing everything possible' to ensure the safety of guests and crew (pictured, the cruise ship docked at Sydney's Circular Quay)

A woman takes a photo of the view from her balcony after the ship docked in Circular Quay

Protocols include regular testing of all crew who must be fully vaccinated.

A NSW Health spokesperson said cruise operators are responsible for keeping passengers and crews safe from infectious diseases including Covid-19, in line with the Eastern Seaboard Cruise Protocols.

Protocols onboard include regular testing of all crew who must be fully vaccinated (guests take in the view of Sydney Harbour on their balconies on Wednesday)

Crew members and passengers who test positive to the virus must remain onboard until they can return a negative Covid test

The outbreak has forced Princess Cruises to offer refunds to those booked on its next 12-day trip before it departed from Brisbane to Sydney on Monday (pictured, crew members onboard)

'NSW Health is liaising with the Coral Princess cruise ship to monitor the health of its passengers and crew members,' the spokesperson said.

'While a small number of passengers have been diagnosed with Covid since boarding the Coral Princess, their infections were most likely acquired prior to boarding and they subsequently tested positive.

'The vast majority of cases on the ship are currently in crew members. All Covid-positive people are isolating and being cared for by the onboard medical team.

'NSW Health's assessment is that the Covid risk level for the Coral Princess during this cruise is amber, which indicates a moderate impact to the vessel.

'No crew members will disembark and all passengers disembarking will be requested to return a negative RAT result first.

'To further minimise the risk of transmission, passengers on shore tours will also be advised to wear masks when on transport or in other public indoor spaces, physically distance wherever possible and to regularly use hand sanitiser.'

Guests were seen leaving the Coral Princess cruise ship after disembarking at Circular Quay early on Wednesday morning

A passenger onboard the ship told a Today Show presenter he 'couldn't wait to get off' amid the spiralling outbreak that has infected over 100 people

NSW Health said passengers who tested positive on board likely took the virus on board with them rather than becoming infected at sea (pictured, the cruise ship docks in Sydney)

The former federal government banned cruise ships from entering Australian waters in March 2020 after 2,700 passengers on the Ruby Princess were allowed to freely disembark at Sydney, sparking 900 cases and 28 deaths across Australia.

The ban was lifted almost two years later in April 2022 after the industry worked with federal and state governments to refine health and safety protocols for passengers and crew.

In 2019, the cruise ship industry supported about 18,000 jobs and generated about $5billion in direct and indirect revenue for the economy.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon has agreed to unseal a transcript relating to the criminal case against Roman Polanski, which could could end a decades-long legal saga over the director's rape of a teenager 45 years ago.

Gascon announced that the DA's office would allow the transcripts of former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, who prosecuted Polanski, to be made public - a marked reversal from Gascon's predecessors who have sought to keep the testimony secret.

Gascon said the decision came following a letter from Samantha Geimer, the victim in the 1977 case, who has sought for years to have the case dismissed.

Geimer was 13 years old when Polanski pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her in August 1977 but the filmmaker fled the United States to France before a sentencing hearing. He has lived as a fugitive abroad ever since.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon has agreed to unseal a transcript relating to the criminal case against Roman Polanski (left), which could could end a decades-long legal saga over the director's rape of a teenager 45 years ago. Gascon said the decision came following a letter from Samantha Geimer (right), the victim in the 1977 case, who has sought for years to have the case dismissed

Gascon (pictured) announced that the DA's office would allow the transcripts of former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, who prosecuted Polanski, to be made public - a marked reversal from Gascon's predecessors who have sought to keep the testimony secret

Geimer said Polanski, who was then 43, took her to the house of actor Jack Nicholson for a photo shoot where he plied her with champagne and a Quaalude pill before raping her. Nicholson was not at home at the time.

The DA's office released a letter it had received from Geimer on June 20, in which she asked that the transcript be unsealed and that the office 'take a fresh look' at the case and conduct an investigation into alleged judicial misconduct.

'This case has been described by the courts as 'one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history,' Gascon said.

'For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know.

'After careful consideration of the victim's wishes, the unique and extraordinary circumstances that led to his conditional exam and my commitment to transparency and accountability for all in the justice system, my office has determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts.'

Gascon added that Polanski, known for films such as The Pianist and Chinatown, remains a fugitive from justice and should surrender himself to the Los Angeles County Superior Court to be sentenced.

Geimer has previously said she believes details of her 1977 case are being kept under wraps because both the district attorney and the court want to 'cover up their own misconduct.'

Geimer was 13 years old (pictured) when Polanski pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her in August 1977 but the filmmaker fled the United States to France before a sentencing hearing. He has lived as a fugitive abroad ever since

She told TMZ in 2017: 'I'm all for the truth getting out. He's apologized. I forgive him. I know that he's sorry and he didn't mean to hurt me.

'And he's admitted what he did. He went to jail. I'm not going to carry a bunch of resentment. And much worse things have happened to people, so I feel like bad things happen.'

Polanski himself has sought for the testimony from Gunson as he claims it will reveal an agreement with Judge Laurence Rittenband in 1977 which stated Polanski only had to serve 48 days in jail for the rape.

Under the terms of the deal, Polanski admitted to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

Following his arrest in 1977, He spent 42 days in China State Prison before he was released.

Polanski, 83, has spent the past 40 years on the run following allegations he raped Geimer, who was 13 at the time, in 1977.

The director, who has Polish and French nationality, said Judge Rittenband reneged on the deal and insisted Polanski should spend 50 years behind bars.

Polanski claims the time in state jail along with almost a year he spent on remand in Switzerland while fighting extradition more than covers the original 48-day term stipulated in the deal.

The director was married to actress Sharon Tate, and shared a house with her before her murder at the hands of the Manson Family cult in 1969.
A Qantas plane is bogged on the tarmac at Rockhampton Airport after getting stuck when the pilot guided it across soft ground upon landing.

The Boeing 717 landed normally at the airport in Rockhampton, Queensland on Monday night.

However, as it travelled around the tarmac to spot, it became bogged down in mud.

The passengers were able to disembark normally but it is feared the plane could now be stuck for several days.

A picture showed the plane's back wheels are stuck in a strip of grass that is on the tarmac at Rockhampton Airport.

With the airport sitting on a flood plain and falling victim to several floods, the strip of lawn is thought to have become soft from recent rain.

A Qantas plane is stuck at Rockhampton Airport after its wheel got bogged down on a grassy patch

According to the Courier Mail, a bulldozer was used to clear space for the plane on Wednesday. Engineers have been called in to help.

Planes continue to fly in and out of the airport, flying around the stranded plane.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it is currently gathering further information ahead of deciding whether to investigate.

Qantas has been approached for comment.

It is the latest blow to Qantas after it was previously revealed that more than half of Qantas and Virgin passengers saw their flight either delayed or completely cancelled last week, in a horror seven days for the two airlines.

Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of domestic flights with an on-time performance of 44 per cent, while Virgin had double the cancellations of its rival airline at 14.7 per cent and only 43 per cent of flights departing on-time.

A Qantas spokesperson said severe weather on the east coast of Australia was the major driver for delays and cancellations which was further exacerbated by staff sick with the flu and Covid-19.

'It was a pretty challenging week all around,' a Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'We appreciate how frustrating flight cancellations and delays are for customers with severe weather in New South Wales and a spike in Covid cases for operating crew impacting airline schedules over the past week.'

Qantas and Virgin's on-time performance hits a near record low after more than half of all domestic flights in the first week of July were delayed or cancelled (pictured, passengers waiting at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia)

Figures compiled by the airlines showed Qantas cancelled 6.7 per cent of flights and had an on-time performance of 44 per cent, while Virgin had a cancellation rate of 14.7 per cent with a 43 per cent on-time performance rate (pictured, domestic terminal Sydney Airport)

Qantas said 85 per cent of domestic flights departed within an hour of their scheduled time as the airline used additional crew they had on standby and larger aircrafts for some flights.

Virgin apologised to customers that had been impacted by delayed or cancelled flights.

'We are working tirelessly to ensure all guests reach their final destination,' the airline said.

'We know Covid-19 case numbers are rising again, there are record number of flu cases, and this is on top of the usual winter illness the community experiences, we are not immune to the impact of this and are not the only business experiencing the unintended knock-on effects of increased sickness present in the wider community.

'There have also been a number of weather events primarily in New South Wales and this comes at time when airports and airlines globally are also experiencing huge demand and challenges as travellers return to the sky as pandemic restrictions ease.

'The number of travellers flying with us this school holidays has increased by 15 per cent in comparison to 2019 levels, which is significantly higher than the recent Easter holiday period.'
New Zealand is set to tighten its Covid restrictions and will hand out more free masks and rapid antigen tests as the virus threatens to run out of control.

Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall is expected to announce the measures on Thursday as the country battles an outbreak that is seeing more than 11,000 new cases a day.

The move to hand out more RATs is aimed at getting more people to test and isolate if they are found to have the disease.

A masked person waits for a bus in Auckland as New Zealand battles a rampaging new outbreak of Covid

Presently free RATs are only given to those who test positive for the disease, have been a close household contact, are newly arrived in the country or are a critical worker.

New Zealand has a 'traffic light' system to grade Covid warnings and currently the country sits on Orange.

This means Kiwis must wear a mask in many indoor settings but otherwise are free to live their day to day lives while being encouraged 'to protect vulnerable communities'.

At this stage the government has not indicated the country will move to the 'Red' setting, which is the most highest level of Covid restrictions.

A woman gets her daily exercise in Auckland while wearing a face mask, which under the current New Zealand settings only have to be worn in some indoor settings

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asked that people remain vigilant in wearing masks, getting booster shots and isolating if they had the disease.

She said the measures were straight-forward.

'(Isolate) if you have Covid - that markedly brings down the infection rates of others,' she said.

'Your household isolating with you is equally important. Mask use and vaccination. Those are three things that will have some of the biggest impact on our numbers.'

'They are the most important things we can be doing right now, far and away above the extra measure [of] gathering limits which in this environment will not have the same impact.'

New Zealand Prime Minister has urged Kiwis to wear masks, get tested for Covid and isolate if found positive

Ms Ardern, who was speaking from the Pacific Island Forum in Fiji, said Ms Varells would outline further measures on Thursday.

Health authorities are concerned many Covid-19 cases are not being picked up because wastewater testing indicated a wider prevalence than was being reported.

On Wednesday New Zealand had 11,464 new cases of Covid reported in the community and 29 Covid-related deaths.

The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 9710  this time last week it was 7591.

Staff wearing personal protective equipment check the temperature of patients in front of a medical centre in Christchurch, New Zealand as fears grow a Covid outbreak could overwhelm health resources

There were 67,926 active cases in the community.

Covid-19 modellers say community cases could reach 20,000 in the coming weeks, which will likely mean many more deaths.

Dr Michael Plank told the New Zealand Herald that the country was 'definitely in a second wave' putting a strain on medical resources.

'It's got potential to be quite a serious one. Hospitalisations are rising sharply now and that's concerning because the health system was already stressed with winter illness and flu,' he said.

Dr Plank said mask use would remain critical for flattening the curve of the outbreak.

'We are probably still better at using masks here than many places who I think have fallen out of the habit,' he said.

'That's not to say there isn't room for improvement because there is and masks will be crucially important for flattening the wave.'
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Thousands of holidaymakers have been forced to flee to safety in the middle of the night after wildfires ripped through France as Europe continues to roast in a blistering heatwave.

Airborne firefighters and hundreds of emergency crew battled to bring the blazes under control in the Gironde department in southwestern France which is in the grips of a 'furnace' according to its national media.

Similar fires have devastated parts of Portugal, where temperatures are tipped to reach 45C (113F) this week, including a luxury resort home to the rich and famous.

Around 70 people were asked to leave their upmarket homes in the exclusive Pinheiros Altos where Steven Gerrard and John Terry own properties, with the flames reaching just 550 yards from Roman Abramovich's 8.5million Algarve mansion.

In the Spanish town of Ourense, a thermometer registered 47C (116F) with news outlet El Diario calling the sweltering conditions in the country 'infernal'.

The biggest of the two Gironde fires is located around the town of Landiras, south of Bordeaux, where roads have been closed, with the blaze having already burnt more than 1,000 hectares.

The other one is along the Atlantic Coast, close to the iconic Dune du Pilat - the tallest sand dune in Europe - located in the Arcachon Bay area, where 6,000 people from surrounding campsites have been evacuated.

Terrified campers revealed how they were woken in the early hours and told to evacuate taking only essentials with them.

FRANCE: Firefighters attempt to control a forest fire spread on the communes of Landiras and Guillos in the country's southwest this morning

PORUGAL: A convertible is stopped by police as it approached the growing wildfire in the Algarve near a resort home to a number of footballers

SPAIN: The mass of hot air which pushed temperatures above 104F in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula in Spain was set to spread to the north and east in the coming days

PORTUGAL: A wildfire burns forest in the surroundings of the village of Memoria, in the central municipality of Leiria

Wildfires have ripped through regions of Spain, France and Portugal due to the intense summer heat, with locals and tourists forced to evacuate

Holidaymakers at the Dune du Pilat campsite lie in survival blankets after being evacuated from their campsite in the early hours of this morning

The blaze threatening Quinta do Lago started late last night near Algarve University and an area where a four-day international motorbike festival is due to start tomorrow

Aerial pictures show the scale of fires ripping through woodland in Landiras, southwestern France, today

A Canadair firefighting aircraft dumps water over a wildfire in Landiras, southwestern France, this morning

A fire in progress since Tuesday afternoon has burned 600 hectares of pine forest near Landiras south of Bordeaux, leading to evacuations

A helicopter flies during forest fire extinction works near Becerril de la Sierra, on the outskirts of Madrid yesterday

A thermometer reads 47 degrees in a square in Ourense in Spain yesterday with Europe in the grips of a sweltering heatwave

Much of Europe is set to suffer soaring temperatures on Wednesday, with a heatwave in Western Europe fuelling wildfires across vast stretches of forestland

'Other campers woke us up at around 0430 in the morning. We had to leave immediately and quickly choose what to take with us.

'I had forgotten my ID, luckily someone took it for me. But I don't have my phone (...) and we don't know what is going to happen,' Christelle, one of the evacuated tourists, told BFM TV.

On the eve of Bastille Day, the Gironde prefecture has forbidden all fireworks until Monday, July 18 in towns and villages in close proximity to forests.

'Four aircraft and a lot of firefighters are mobilized with help coming from neighbouring departments,' said the local authority for the Gironde department.

France, already hit by several wildfires over the last few weeks, is suffering - like the rest of Europe - from a second heatwave in as many months.

Tourists and local beach-goers lay down on towels under parasols on the beach of Port-la-Nouvelle, southern France

Beachgoers enjoy the water at Carcavelos Beach, outside Lisbon, as people across Europe flock to the beach for the hot weather

Why is hot weather affecting the world? It is not only Europe, but also the US and China that are suffering from dangerous heatwaves this summer. The Azores High pressure system which usually sits off the coast of Spain has grown larger and moved north, bringing warmer temperatures to France, the UK and the Iberian peninsula. On top of this, southerly winds from northern Africa and the Sahara are bringing hotter than usual temperatures, combined with July's already warmer weather. The result is a heat dome over much of Europe, a mass of stagnant hot air. A similar area of heat-trapping high pressure is blanketing the US, while anticyclones have driven upt he temperatures in China. Advertisement

Spain today is set to see sweltering temperatures of 113F, the hottest day of the heatwave so far, with some regions under a red alert meaning an 'extreme risk'.

Dania Arteaga, a 43-year-old cleaner in a shop in central Madrid, said: 'It's hell.'

The previous such phenomenon to blight France, Portugal and Spain occurred in mid-June.

'We do expect it to worsen,' World Meteorological Organisation spokeswoman Clare Nullis told a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

'Accompanying this heat is drought. We've got very, very dry soils,' she said.

She added that despite being early in the summer, 'it's been a very bad season for the glaciers'.

Last week an avalanche triggered by the collapse of the largest glacier in the Italian Alps - due to unusually warm temperatures - killed 11 people.

The high temperatures are expected to spread to other parts of western and central Europe in the coming days.

Spain's health ministry warned the 'intense heat' could affect people's 'vital functions' and provoke problems like heatstroke. It advised people to drink water frequently, wear light clothes and 'remain as long as possible' in the shade or in air-conditioned places.

But for those who make a living working outdoors, it was a struggle.

Children play in the water at Carcavelos Beach, outside Lisbon, amid a heatwave that led the government to declare a state of alert from Monday

Men fight a wildfire burning in the village of Aventeira in Portugal that caused the closure of the A1 highway between Pombal and Leiria

Tourists shelter from the sun, outside the Wax Museum during the second heatwave of the year, in Madrid

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has called on government ministers to be ready to deal with the consequences of the heatwave, which is forecast to last for up to 10 days (pictured: southern France)

In southern France since Tuesday afternoon, a wildfire ripped through 800 hectares of pine trees just south of Bordeaux, pushing residents to evacuate their homes

About 6,000 campers near the dune were evacuated overnight as a precautionary measure, fire department official Lieutenant Colonel David Annotel told local news channel BFMTV

Beach-goers bathe in the Mediterranean sea in Port-la-Nouvelle, southern France, during the record-breaking heatwave

Firefighters in Portugal are combating an inferno which has torched some 2,000 hectares of land in the central municipality of Ourem since last week

The whole country is under a 'situation of alert' for wildfires until at least Friday, raising the readiness levels of firefighters, police and emergency medical services

With temperatures set to climb past 104F, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged 'a maximum of caution'

The current inferno is stirring memories of devastating wildfires in 2017, which claimed the lives of over 100 people in Portugal

'It's hard because the temperature is a bit oppressive,' said Miguel Angel Nunez, a 54-year-old bricklayer at a construction site in central Madrid.

In its eastern region of Extremadura, some 300 firefighters backed by 17 planes and helicopters battled a wildfire Tuesday which ravaged 2,500 hectares, local officials said.

The blaze began Monday due to a lightning strike and 'will probably last several days', the head of the regional government of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernandez Vara, told reporters.

Between January 1 and July 3, more than 70,300 hectares of forest went up in smoke in Spain, the government said - almost double the average of the last ten years.

Firefighters in neighbouring Portugal were combating a similar inferno, which torched some 2,000 hectares of land in the central municipality of Ourem since last week.

Helicopters trying to extinguish a wildfire collect water from the Navacerrada reservoir on the outskirts of Madrid

A woman fills a bottle of water during a heatwave in Seville as Western Europe faced its second heatwave in less than a month

A tourist gives coins to a street performer during the second heatwave of the year, in Ronda, southern Spain

The blaze was brought under control Monday but flared up again by Tuesday.

The fire threatening Quinta do Lago started late last night near Algarve University and an area where a four-day international motorbike festival is due to start tomorrow.

Nearly 250 firefighters are now tackling the flames on the ground and from the air.

Recently-promoted Premier League side Bournemouth FC are still at Quinta do Lago as part of pre-season training.

It was not immediately clear today if the fire had affected their programme..

The people cleared from their homes, said to include residents as well as holidaymakers, were initially taken to a shopping centre on the Quinta do Lago resort away from the area firefighters are focusing on.

Emergency response workers said the evacuations were taking place partly because of the proximity of the flames but mainly because of smoke.

With temperatures set to climb past 104F, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged 'a maximum of caution'.

'We have experienced situations like this in the past and we will certainly experience them in the future,' he said.

The whole country is under a 'situation of alert' for wildfires until at least Friday, raising the readiness levels of firefighters, police and emergency medical services.

The current inferno is stirring memories of devastating wildfires in 2017, which claimed the lives of over 100 people in Portugal.

Officials in the town of Sintra near Lisbon closed a series of tourist attractions such as palaces and monuments in a verdant mountain range popular with visitors as a precaution.

Children sit on a raft in the calm sea at Carcavelos Beach, outside Lisbon where temperatures could even reach as high as 115F

A man jumps from the Dom Luiz Bridge into the Douro River to cool off during a hot day in Porto

Firefighters evacuate elderly people from a nursing home in the village of Memoria, in the municipality of Leiria, in the centre of Portugal

Now drought-hit Italy is hit by LOCUSTS: Billions of insects ravage crops in Sardinia in worst invasion in more than 30 years Farmers in Sadinia have seen swarms of billions of locusts ravage their land in the worst invasion for more than three decades. The invasion is projected to affect an area of around 60,000 hectares this year, double that of 2021 and compared with just 2,000 hectares in 2019. Farmer Rita Tolu said that many of her colleagues 'might have to shut down their businesses' as the plague of locusts adds to the impact of drought and rising fuel costs on farmers. She and her family run a dairy farm of 200 hectares near the village of Noragugume, where crops and animal fodder such as ryegrass and clovers are also grown and around 1,000 sheep graze. This year, Tolu was able to collect just 200 stacks of hay against 1,000 in 2021, she said, with some of it harvested early as a precaution and losing some of its nutritional quality. In 1946, about 1.5 million hectares of land, accounting for two-thirds of the island's territory, were affected as locusts spread quickly across fields abandoned during World War Two. Depopulation and uncultivated lands are main reasons behind the natural event. Rising temperatures and lack of rain also play a big role as dry and compacted soil makes it easier for locusts to lay their eggs. Advertisement

The Civil Protection authority said 300 people were evacuated from several villages due to the wildfires. In the nearby municipality of Leiria, some houses burned down, with the blazes causing the closure of three main highways.

Joaquim Gomes, a 75-year-old retiree who has lived in a tiny village in Ouem for five decades, said he was afraid the wildfire could reach his home but was willing to do everything in his power to help fight it.

'I don't remember anything like what is happening today,' he said near the village's bar where locals were gathered. 'It (the fire) is everywhere.'

Many locals have complained there were not enough firefighters and resources to combat the fires.

'We are talking about complex situations, a lot of resources to manage and a very large affected area,' said Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes, warning the situation would only get worse over the next few days.

Around 1,700 firefighters backed by 501 vehicles were tackling 14 active blazes across the country, according to the Civil Protection. More than half of the country is on 'red alert', the highest level.

In the Portuguese capital, which is buzzing with tourists, people were trying to keep cool by drinking water, eating ice cream or heading to the riverside or nearby beaches.

At a small beach area by the river Tagus, a British couple and their toddler enjoyed the morning sunshine before it got too hot to be out.

'We kept an eye on the weather before we came, and we knew it was going to be hot ... it's quite similar back in the UK but we don't have air con there,' 28-year-old Megan Slancey said.

Britain's Met Office has issued an extreme heat warning as temperatures continue to increase this week and early next week in much of England and Wales.

Clare Nullis, a World Meteorological Organisation spokesperson, told a U.N. briefing on Tuesday that although the heatwave, Europe's second this year, was mainly affecting Portugal and Spain, it was likely to spread elsewhere.

'It is affecting large parts of Europe and it will intensify,' Nullis said.
Australia could face millions of new Covid cases before the end of winter with new highly infectious strains including Omicron BA4 and BA.5 sweeping across the country.

Health Minister Mark Butler said on Tuesday wearing masks indoors and working from home when sick is important to reduce the spread of the virus as winter case numbers continue to soar.

Dozens of people are already dying with the virus every day, with 57 being recorded across Australia on Wednesday alone, with 4,400 patients in hospital and 126 in intensive care.

Australians were warned to start wearing masks in crowded indoor spaces as winter cases continue to rise (pictured, a woman shopping in Melbourne)

An increasing number of infections are also being found in those who have already had Covid, with the new strains more likely to dodge existing immunity.

'It is the third wave just this year,' he told Sunrise.

'Case numbers have risen already and it is likely over coming weeks that millions of Australians will catch Covid.'

Current data shows up to 300,000 people are infected, with the minister warning the true number is 'probably twice that'.

Health Minister Mark Butler (above) warned Australia will see millions more Covid cases before winter ends and recommended wearing masks indoors and working from home

'Obviously we want to limit transmission through people thinking more about wearing masks in indoor areas especially where they cannot socially distance.'

Australia recorded 41,335 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the number of active infections to 314,075.

Most cases were 20 to 29 year-olds.

Mr Butler said he wants to see an uptake in Australians getting their fourth jab, insisting it will help keep hospitalisations down and reduce the pressure on the healthcare system.

Businesses in Sydney's CBD said they were struggling to recover from the Covid pandemic since many office workers are now choosing to work from home (pictured, empty offices in Sydney)

'We have really rolled out this campaign to reinforce the importance of getting boosters,' he said.

'We have expanded eligibility for Australians to get a fourth dose because we know that will lift their protection over winter.

'We have access to antiviral medicines which are highly effective at stopping people moving in to severe illness and hospitalisation.'

The governments work from home recommendation comes as several struggling businesses in Sydney's CBD complain empty offices are killing their businesses.

Concession card holders will soon need to pay for rapid antigen tests amid rising case numbers and new mask recommendations (pictured, a couple walk along Manly's Corso)

Hectares of Sydney's CBD office space remain unused, with commercial office vacancy rates in double-digit figures two years after the pandemic first broke out.

'We thought it would pick up after Christmas - but that never happened,' Sonya Gee of Martini Dry Cleaning in Sydney's glitzy Barangaroo business strip said.

'Then we thought it would be after the summer holidays, but nope - then Easter, but no. Now we just accept this is how it is.'

Mr Butler added that while people may be sick of mandates, it's important to keep up health standards.

'I think we have moved deep into the third year of the pandemic to a phase that people do not want government mandates, they want good advice,' he said.

'We need to move to a phase where this is still a very serious illness but we are moving beyond government mandates and lockdowns.

'The advice from chief health officers is if you are in a crowded indoor space and you're not able to socially distance, put on a mask.

'It will not only protect you from getting infected but potentially people around you who might be at risk of severe illness.'

Experts criticised the Albanese Government's decision to scrap free testing for concession card holders amid rising case numbers and cost-of-living pressures (pictured, a couple walk through Sydney's Pitt Street Mall)

NEW CASES BY STATE On Wednesday states reported the following daily cases: NSW: 10,622 (Tuesday) QLD: 40 VIC: 2,952 ACT: 1,345 WA: 4,703 SA: 4,308 TAS: 1,288 NT: 455 Advertisement

Meanwhile, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Australian Medical Association joined the opposition to call for the Albanese Government to reconsider removing free rapid antigen testing (RATs) for concession card holders.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese encouraged concession card holders to stock up on the free tests while they're still available.

He said his government was only following the plan of the previous Morrison Government by ending the program, adding the previous government left his with 'a trillion dollars of debt'.

'I'd encourage concession cardholders to go and get the 10 free rapid antigen tests that they're eligible for by the end of this month. There's still a lot of time to go and do that,' he told ABC Radio.

Elderly Australians and low-income earners have been able to access free tests since January but critics say they will likely skip testing when experiencing symptoms amid growing cost-of-living pressures.

'To end this program, at a time when we are seeing a massive increase in the number of Covid cases and cost of living pressures are seriously impacting Australians, appears premature,' Opposition spokeswoman Anne Ruston said.

She added that governments 'need to be responding to what's happening on the ground' and said the planned free program ending didn't account for another Covid wave.
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At least 91,500 passengers will face disruption to their plans this summer after Heathrow bosses announced an unprecedented daily limit on flights as airport chaos continues to cripple UK travellers.

Pictures from the country's airports including Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, continue to show long queues of passengers with many complaining of delays and disruption to their journeys.

The 100,000 daily limit took effect immediately yesterday, with Heathrow telling airlines to cancel 10,000 flights on Monday, and the measures will remain in place until September 11.

Airport bosses also ordered UK airlines 'stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers' because Heathrow was already expecting an average of 104,000 daily outbound passengers in the coming months.

According to calculations by the Times, the cap means that at least 91,500 passengers face having their flights cancelled this summer, with the highest number falling on July 21 which is scheduled to be the airport's busiest day.

It comes as the chief of airlines has slammed Heathrow Airport for introducing an unprecedented 100,000 limit on daily departing passengers until September

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic.

'They clearly got it completely wrong,' the former CEO of British Airways told Reuters.

At least 91,500 passengers will face disruption to plans this summer after Heathrow bosses announced an unprecedented 100,000 daily limit on flights as airport chaos continues to cripple UK travellers. Pictured: Bristol Airport this morning

Pictured: Passengers flying out of Manchester Airport's Terminal 2 faced long queues early on Wednesday morning

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic. Pictured: Passengers join lengthy queues at Manchester aiport

Up north in Scotland, there were also long queues this morning at Edinburgh Airport as passengers aimed to head abroad

Heathrow also ordered airlines to stop selling summer tickets as airports battle against a staffing crisis across the aviation sector while apologising to customers over long queues and baggage issues that holidaymakers have had to put up with for weeks.

The dramatic move will impose a maximum limit on the number of passengers allowed to leave the airport between July 12 until September 11.

Airlines had planned to operate flights with a daily capacity averaging 104,000 seats over that period - meaning further cancellations are likely.

Heathrow said it has ordered airlines to 'stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers'.

The measure will lead to more cancellations on top of the thousands of flights axed in recent months.

Affected passengers will not be entitled to compensation as the reason for the cancellations will be classified as being outside the control of airlines.

Passengers have been hit by delays and cancellations at airports across the UK due to a shortage of staff after thousands were laid off or left the industry during Covid. Yesterday Heathrow cancelled another 61 flights at the last minute - disrupting 10,000 passengers.

And in a fresh sign of chaos, easyJet passengers 'mutinied' after being forced to wait for four hours on the Gatwick Airport runway yesterday. The plane never even departed and they had to wait 'until midnight' to collect their luggage after being returned to the terminal.

Heathrow's chief executive John Holland-Kaye yesterday announced departing passengers would be capped at 100,000

Willie Walsh (pictured), director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic

In the latest evidence of the chaos gripping UK airports, easyJet passengers were left stuck on a runway for four hours yesterday during searing conditions

Announcing the passenger cap, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said yesterday: 'Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable.'

Problems include long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations, Mr Holland-Kaye said.

Why is Heathrow imposing a daily passenger cap? Airlines were able to take advantage of a Government scheme which meant they could cancel summer flights without losing their future rights to the valuable take-off and landing slots. But even with this measure, Heathrow believes airlines still planned to operate flights carrying 4,000 more daily passengers than could be processed in an acceptable manner. Heathrow said: 'On average only about 1,500 of these 4,000 daily seats have currently been sold to passengers, and so we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers. 'We recognise that this will mean some summer journeys will either be moved to another day, another airport or be cancelled and we apologise to those whose travel plans are affected. 'But this is the right thing to do to provide a better, more reliable journey and to keep everyone working at the airport safe.' Heathrow insisted the capacity cap is 'in line with limits implemented at other airports'. It added that airlines have 'discretion as to how they implement this in their individual schedules'. Advertisement

He said this is due to a combination of poor punctuality of arrivals due to delays at other airports and in European airspace, as well as increased passenger numbers 'starting to exceed the combined capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport'.

He added: 'Our colleagues are going above and beyond to get as many passengers away as possible, but we cannot put them at risk for their own safety and wellbeing.'

Aviation expert Julian Bray predicted disruption at UK airports would continue until next spring.

'Staffing issues remain as all airport aviation workers need security clearance which currently takes between 3 to 6 months. In this time many applicants get jobs elsewhere.'

Asked what customers should do if they have their flights cancelled, he said:

'Passengers who have flights cancelled are entitled to compensation, and a flight on another airline if possible They should keep in touch with their airline, holiday company and travel agent.'

Nicky Kelvin, Head of The Points Guy UK, said:

'While the move to cap passenger numbers will no doubt be disruptive to many travellers looking to jet away over the coming months it is needed if we're to see a shift away from the travel chaos of recent months.

'The numbers currently suggest that Heathrow is already hitting capacity for the number of passengers it is able to currently cater for. if you are still planning a getaway we'd advise you to plan your departure point accordingly, be flexible with dates if you can or consider other London or U.K. airports to star your journey.'

In the latest evidence of the chaos gripping UK airports, easyJet passengers were left stuck on a runway for four hours yesterday during searing conditions.

Passenger Dominey Jenner said the flight was due to depart Gatwick for Dubrovnik at 1.40pm yesterday but due to delays passengers only boarded at 4.30pm before beginning a long wait.

During the time - when temperatures were 86F (30C) outside - she says customers were only offered 'one glass of water' and there was no food available.

They eventually left the plane at 8.30pm following a 'mutiny' onboard, 'with people giving a deadline as to when they would simply leave'.

'I heard that the police at Gatwick were about to come and escort us off as they'd had calls from people on board,' she said.

Once off the plane, Ms Jenner said their luggage: 'didn't arrive until midnight,' and she claimed passengers had to go through passport control despite not flying anywhere.

MailOnline has contacted easyJet for comment.

It came as an aviation boss suggested Brexit was partly to blame for travel chaos by keeping out foreign workers.

Philipp Joeinig, boss of Menzies Aviation, which provides check-in and baggage handling services to major airlines, said the staff shortages crippling the industry were 'predictable and preventable'.

He added a recruitment crisis had been sparked by Brexit and aviation workers should now be added to the shortage occupation list to alleviate pressure.

But critics say the industry should pay British workers more and offer better conditions.

Passengers at Manchester Airport - pictured on Saturday - have also complained of 'unbelievably long delays' in recent months

Mr Joeinig wrote in The Times: 'Brexit had a big negative impact, reducing the available pool of employees.

'This was compounded during the pandemic, with the British aviation sector suffering huge job losses once furlough schemes ended before the easing of travel restrictions, and with many of these people lost to the industry.'

He also claimed ministers have failed to slash red tape sufficiently to speed up background checks on new recruits.

At present, employers must ask for references from each new recruit's employer for the previous five years.

This can take several weeks if some previous employers drag out responding.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps changed the law last month to streamline the process. It allows employers to request details of each previous employer from HMRC.

Meanwhile, airport disruption could be compounded by Sunday's estimated 100F (38C) heatwave, with the Met Office warning planes could struggle to take off.

This is because planes can become too heavy to take off in very hot weather due to reduced air density resulting in a lack of lift.

This happened during a heatwave in summer 2018 at London City Airport when some passengers had to be removed so the services become light enough to take off on the relatively short runway.
Vladimir Putin's daughter has been parachuted in to help Russia dodge the impact of Western sanctions over her father's war in Ukraine.

Katerina Tikhonova, 35, is the new co-chairman of a high-powered group supervising import substitution.

She has been long tipped for a major political role amid reports of Putin's ailing health, and this could be the first sign of new prominence for the high-kicking 'rock'n'roll' dancer.

Vladimir Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova (pictured) has been parachuted in to help Russia dodge the impact of Western sanctions over her father's war in Ukraine

The 35-year-old dancer is the new co-chairman of a high-powered group supervising import substitution

She has been long tipped for a major political role amid reports of Vladimir Putin's ailing health

Her appointment is with the powerful Kremlin-loyal Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) which represents major state and private businesses.

Many have been badly hit by sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The new role for Tikhonova comes as Putin has legalised sanctions-busting 'parallel imports' to secure a flow of restricted Western goods into Russia via third countries and unlicensed means.

The union avoided mentioning she is Putin's daughter when announcing she will co-chair the Coordinating Council on Import Substitution and Technological Independence, which aims to speedily reduce Russian reliance on Western products and expertise, so mitigating the impact of sanctions.

She is currently director-general of the low-key National Intellectual Development Foundation.

Tikonova was revealed in May as having made regular trips to Munich to be with her new lover Igor Zelensky, 52 (right)

Her appointment is with the powerful Kremlin-loyal Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and her co-chairman is Alexander Shokhin (pictured with Putin)

Tikhonova - who recently underwent expensive beauty treatments in Munich - is Putin's second daughter by former first lady Lyudmila, his ex-wife.

Separately, there has been speculation she could be drafted into parliament and take a prominent role with the main pro-Putin political party, United Russia, amid fears that Putin's health problems mean he cannot remain in power long term.

Tikonova was revealed in May as having made regular trips to Munich to be with her new lover Igor Zelensky, 52, who until recently headed the Bavarian State Ballet.

The Russian ballet icon was ousted after refusing to denounce Putin's savage war in Ukraine.

Previously she was married to Russia's youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, 40, whose father is a close Putin crony.

Previously she was married to Russia's youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov (pictured), 40, whose father is a close Putin crony

Born when her father was a KGB spy in Germany, Tikhonova has been deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.

Earlier, before her identity as Putin's daughter was known, she took part in international 'rock'n'roll' dancing contests.

Her elder sister is Dr Maria Vorontsova, a leading researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.

She has a half-sister Luiza Rozova, 19, daughter of Putin's ex-lover, cleaner-turned-multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45.

Krivonogikh is now part-owner of a major Russian bank, one of the country's wealthiest women with an estimated 74 million financial and property fortune.

Her elder sister is Dr Maria Vorontsova, a leading researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology (pictured dancing at a friend's wedding in 2019)

She has a half-sister Luiza Rozova (pictured), 19, daughter of Putin's ex-lover, cleaner-turned-multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45

Putin never identifies his daughters in public.

Speculation over a prominent future political role for Tikhonova - perhaps even leader of United Russia - has been highlighted by Telegram channel General SVR which claims Putin is suffering from serious illnesses including cancer, Parkinson's disease and a schizoaffective disorder.

Tikhonova's new council will coordinate work on import substitution, and seek to speed the replacement of sanctioned imported equipment with Russian-made equivalents, reported RBC.

She will spearhead digital services to support import substitution, and formulate proposals for state policy in this field.

Her co-chairman is ex-deputy prime minister Alexander Shokhin, who is president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
A Brazilian anaesthetist accused of raping a sedated woman during a C-section is feared to have carried out five similar attacks.

Giovanni Quintella Bezerra, 32, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro on July 10 after nurses became suspicious of his behaviour during two C-sections that day and secretly recorded him during a third - when they allegedly caught him assaulting the patient.

Police, who were already investigating whether the first two patients were attacked, now say another three women treated on different days have come forward to accuse him of abusing them - bringing the total to at least six.

Bezerra appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, where a judge sentenced him to indefinite detention in solitary confinement while the case is investigated.

He has been locked up at Bangu - Brazil's largest prison complex to the west of Rio which holds some of the country's most dangerous inmates and has a reputation for violence - where prisoners booed and banged cell bars as he arrived last night.

Giovanni Quintella Bezerra, 32, is being investigated for raping up to six pregnant women he had sedated during C-section operations at two hospitals in Rio de Janiero

Bezerra (left and right) was arrested on July 10 after suspicious nursing staff secretly recorded him during a C-section, capturing what appeared to be 10 minutes of oral rape

Separately, it was revealed that Bezerra is facing a medical malpractice lawsuit from 2018 - before he qualified as an anaesthetist and was working at a different hospital.

Bezerra and another doctor are accused of misdiagnosing a case of swine flu as a urinary tract infection, causing the female patient to fall into a 23-day coma.

During the coma, the patient lost her big toe, sustained severe damage to her Achillies tendon, and lost a large amount of her hair.

The patient had arrived at hospital with 'delusions, chills, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, coughing and dizziness,' and was told she was suffering from a UTI which was treated with antibiotics, Globo newspaper reports.

The first doctor to treat her allegedly ignored warnings to test for more-serious ailments and discharged her, but she quickly returned when her condition worsened.

It was then that she fell into the care of Bezerra, who reinforced the first diagnosis and put her symptoms down to 'anxiety' saying she was 'physically fine'.

That is despite the fact the woman was suffering severe headaches, back pain, was coughing up blood and had intense shortness of breath and lung pain - prompting medical staff to seek another opinion.

Nurses had become suspicious of Bezerra a month before his arrest because of unusually heavy amount of sedation he used

The patient was bounced through another doctor until a fourth correctly diagnosed severe pneumonia, and discovered she had just 25 per cent lung function.

By this time, the woman was suffering from vision loss due to lack of oxygen, had problems moving, numbness, and 'disorientation in time and space.'

She had to be placed into a coma for 23 days while she was treated for blood clots that had reduced the flow of blood to her body.

While in the coma, she lost her right big toe, sustained damage to a nerve in her right knee, and saw her Achilles tendon degrade to the point that it had to be reconstructed later.

She also suffered muscular dystrophy from being unable to move around, lost some of her old memories, and lost most of her hair.

A case has been brought for medical malpractice, with investigations in the early stages. Neither Bezerra nor the other doctors involved have submitted a defence.

Bezerra has since qualified as an anaesthetist - only passing in April this year - and has now been accused of using his new position to carry out at least one, and possibly a series of, horrifying rapes on pregnant women.

In the case which prompted his arrest, Bezerra allegedly heavily sedated the woman who was undergoing the C-section to the point where she was barely conscious.

Such levels of sedation are uncommon during routine procedures and are typically only used on patients in distress or where they may resist attempts to operate on them, experts told Globo.

As surgeons got to work on delivering the baby, Bezerra is said to have positioned himself near the woman's head - with his gown arranged in such a way that the rest of the team, working just feet away, could not see her from the neck up.

He is then said to have orally raped her for 10 minutes - even intimidating a nurse who tried to get close.

The 32-year-old only became and anaesthetist in April, having worked as a doctor since 2017 - and is facing a medical malpractice suit for misdiagnosing a woman in 2018

But, unbeknownst to him, nurses who had become suspicious of his behaviour during two earlier C-sections the same day had set up a phone in a nearby glass cabinet to record him during the surgery.

Reviewing the footage afterwards, the women saw Bezerra moving his arm back and forth as if pulling the woman's head towards his crotch and pushing it away again.

At the end of the 'attack', he was recorded cleaning the woman's mouth with gauze.

It was then that nurses called police, telling officers that they began to suspect Bezerra a month before because of the unusually heavy amount of sedation he used.

During the two surgeries earlier that day, the women said Bezerra's odd habit of positioning himself near the patients' heads had caused further concern.

One even claimed to have noticed he was aroused during the procedure.

Interviewed later, the woman whose attack was caught on film said she recalled the incident - but thought she had been hallucinating.

Her husband - who was sent out of the room during the delivery - said he had no idea about the attack until he saw Bezerra on TV after he was arrested.

The case instantly made headlines across the country and around the world, prompting three more women - including one from a different hospital - to come forward saying they thought they had also been attacked.

Officers are now collecting evidence, including the medical gauze Bezerra used to wipe the third patient's mouth which nurses recovered from the rubbish and which they believe may contain DNA evidence.

Vials of sedative used during the surgeries have also been submitted as evidence, and police have seized the doctor's phone.

Barbara Lomba, head of the federal police office investigating the case, says Bezerra's pattern of behaviour indicates he is likely to be a serial attacker.

'He is resourceful, does not show much concern when committing the crime... There is an abuse of power,' she told local media.

Bezerra uploaded vain social media posts - often from inside hospital - bragging 'I'm here to reap the rewards' and 'You'll still hear about me, wait'

She said investigating officers will not be performing a psychological evaluation, because the fact that he was able to hold his job is a clear indication he is sane.

'Let's avoid calling him sick,' she added.

Appearing in court for the first time on Tuesday, the magistrate gave a damning verdict as Bezerra was told he will stay in jail indefinitely as cops build their case.

The detention will be reviewed every 90 to decide whether more time is needed.

'In a birth where the woman, in addition to being anesthetized, gave birth to her child  in one of the most important moments of her life  the custodian, using his profession, violates all the rights she had over herself,' the magistrate said.

'The day of her son's birth will be marked by the trauma resulting from the brutal conduct he practiced, which will be remembered on every birthday.'

Bezerra will be kept in Bangu, Brazil's largest jail complex to the west of Rio where some of the country's most notorious and high-value prisoners are kept.

The prison has a well-worn reputation for both violence and drug use among inmates, and is said to be run by the notorious Commanda Vermelha gang.

Those locked up there include drug traffickers, murderers and cartel leaders, with riots in 2004 leaving 30 people dead.

The following year, a security official was murdered while on duty there - becoming the fifth to die in five years.

Bezerra arrived there at 9.15pm on Tuesday evening, watched by TV cameras which captured the sound of inmates booing, banging their cell bars and jeering at him.

Social media posts uploaded by Bezerra before his arrest reveal a vain man prone to bragging who often posted pictures of himself in medical scrubs from inside the hospitals where he worked.

'I'm here to reap the rewards,' reads the caption on one such photograph.

Another says: 'You'll still hear about me, wait.'
The exit of Kiribati from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has sent shockwaves to US allies in the region. This move by the Pacific nation may be the harbinger of more nations choosing Beijing over Washington and its allies.

Chinese push with emphasis on deals for economic and security cooperation the US treats as its hegemony might have triggered adverse reactions.

Blow to the Strength of Pacific Unity

Kiribati announced to leave the group and choose China. After deciding to ditch Taiwan for China in 2019, Kiribati has decided to get out of the PIF and does not want to lead it anymore as secretary-general for another year.

Such an unexpected exit depicts a weak alliance that China can flip easily, as the South Pacific nation sees the offers of Washington as not enough, reported Sputnik News.

Alleged grievances are that some members were discriminating against some Micronesian countries like the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, and Micronesia.

Pacific Islands Forum Scheduled Group Meeting

A Thursday meeting in Suva with the Pacific Islands Forum will include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK, members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

The Solomon Islands disallowed visas for five Australian advisers and aid workers, indicating a row between the two countries. Canberra's role is under scrutiny whether it has these island nations' security or to keep others in tow.

Read Also: Xi Jinping: 5 Things To Know About China's President

These Australian aid workers have been assisting the Solomons from governance to economic reforms, and fewer visas are also given to US diplomats and project staff, noted Worldakkam.

Honiara permitted entry of six Chinese advisers under the security pact with Beijing, and the leaders call China a worthy partner in development.

The US and its Pacific allies rolled out $2.1 billion in development assistance, but Honiara might have gotten a better deal from China.

Last Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remarked that Aussie aid is free of conditions. One of the concerns of the PIF is unsustainable fishing and mining done in the region. Both Tarawa and Honiara mentioned the need to increase fishing in their economic zones to increase earnings in tourism lost during the pandemic in 2021.

With Kiribati leaving the group and not giving visas to Australian aid workers is a challenge for US allies and to lessen China's impact.

A tour of eight south Pacific nations in May was a fruitful sweep by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who signed bilateral deals. Getting these agreements signed encourages Beijing to bring an umbrella trade and security pact with ten more from 18 members. These ten are Somoa, Fiji, Tonga, and all present members, including Tarawa.

But the US and Five Eye nations are against anything China offers these 10 Pacific nations. The Solomon Islands refuse to explain their deal with China to Australia and New Zealand.

The Biden administration has two goals for the 'Partners in the Blue Pacific' and the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum from May, which is to counter China's growing influence.

The exit of Kiribati as a member of the Pacific Islands Forum is seen as the start of Chinese influence preferred over the US as they don't trust their needs are important, and more Pacific nations might follow suit.

Related Article: Beijing Criticizes New Zealand Prime Minister for Blaming Beijing as the Cause of Militarization in the South Pacific

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A mother-of-one who hurled abuse at police officers as they arrested her for 'drug driving' has walked free from court after she claimed officers had been 'heavy handed'.

Cheryl Cawley, 32, lost her temper and refused to cooperate with authorities after cannabis was discovered in the passenger door of her car in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester on 28, January 2021.

The former telesales worker was arrested and taken to Bury Police Station where she became 'agitated and aggressive' while her pupils were described as 'dilated'.

Inquiries revealed she had a history of violence towards police and 2018 and was locked up after assaulting a policewoman with a coat hanger.

Initially, Cawley faced up to three years jail after she was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and then affray following the latest incident last year.

But on the day of her trial following legal discussions, prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to the lesser charge of using threatening behaviour which has a maximum sentence of just six months imprisonment.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Cawley was sentenced to a 12 month community order and told to complete 40 hours unpaid work and 15 days of Rehabilitative Activity.

She was also banned from driving for 16 months after she admitted to failing to provide a specimen of blood.

Cheryl Cawley, 32, (pictured) lost her temper and refused to cooperate with authorities after cannabis was discovered in the passenger door of her car in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester on 28, January 2021

She told probation offices police had been 'heavy handed' with her during the incident but no further details were disclosed.

Her boyfriend Dean Seddon, 32, who was a passenger in the car said he was the owner of the cannabis seized by police.

Sentencing Judge Maurice Greene told her: 'You said that the police were heavy-handed, that may or may not be the case. They asked for a sample at the roadside.

'They took the view you were under the influence of some substance and they arrested you. For some reason, maybe because the police were heavy-handed, you lost your temper and you were threatening and abusive to the police.

'They took you to the police station. Subsequently, they asked you to provide a specimen of blood which you refused. You pleaded guilty to those offences, failing to provide a specimen for analysis and a public order matter as a result of a discussion.

'You were originally charged with assaulting an emergency worker, which is a serious offence. A few weeks ago that was changed to affray.

The former telesales worker (pictured) was arrested and taken to Bury Police Station where she became 'agitated and aggressive' while her pupils were described as 'dilated'

'You have a number of difficulties. You have responsibility for an eight-year-old child.

'There are a number of positive issues here which I take very much into account.'

Earlier Miss Denise Fitzpatrick, prosecuting, said: 'On 28th of January 2021, Cheryl Cawley drove on four roads in Radcliffe while being followed by a police officer.

'Shortly after 4.10pm, the police officer followed the car, and activated the emergency equipment. The officer stopped the car when she was driving on Queen Street. When the officer spoke to the defendant, she spoke extremely quickly. Her pupils seemed very large. She appeared to be agitated and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

'The police officer began a search of the vehicle and in the passenger door two small buds of cannabis were located. The male passenger, her partner, Mr Seddon, said the cannabis belonged to him.

'As a result of suspicions that she had been driving under the influence of a drug, the officer requested a drug test. That was refused and she was subsequently arrested.

At Minshull Street Crown Court (Pictured), Manchester, Cawley was sentenced to a 12 month community order and told to complete 40 hours unpaid work and 15 days of Rehabilitative Activity. She was also banned from driving for 16 months

'The defendant's mother attended at the location where Cheryl Cawley was, on Queens Street, which is a residential street. When her mother and partner were there, Ms Cawley shouted abuse toward the officers. She was standing on the pavement of a public road. She was arrested and taken to Bury Police Station. She was described as being agitated and aggressive on arrival. Her pupils were described as dilated.

'A police officer at the station suspected she was under the influence of drugs. She refused to provide a specimen of blood for analysis. She was told it would be taken by a doctor or other professional. She was told a failure to provide would lead to a prosecution.

'She was then asked a second time for a specimen of blood. She confirmed her refusal.'

The court heard there was no further action in relation to the cannabis which was said to be of very small quantity.

Cawley, of Radcliffe, near Bury, Greater Manchester had ten previous offences on her record 'mainly for violence and often against police constables.'

In mitigation defence lawyer Michael Lee said: 'She has an eight-year-old dependent and the inevitable driving disqualification will be especially hard for her, due to her being a mother. Disqualification is a significant punishment for someone who needs a car for the school runs.'
Operators of the Fukushima nuclear plant were ordered pay 13.32 trillion yen (82 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster on Wednesday.

Four ex-bosses from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were ordered to pay the damages in a suit brought by shareholders over the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive tsunami in 2011.

Plaintiffs emerged from the Tokyo court holding banners reading 'shareholders win' and 'responsibility recognised'.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling, and said they believed it to be the largest amount of compensation ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan.

Plaintiffs and their lawyers hailed the ruling outside a Tokyo court. Operators of the Fukushima nuclear plant were ordered pay 13.32 trillion yen (82 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster

Three of the Fukushima plants nuclear reactors went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed when tsunami waves flooded backup generators

'All technology is at risk for human error. But nuclear power plants can cause irreparable damage to human lives and the environment,' the plaintiffs said in a separate statement after the ruling.

'Executives for firms that operate such nuclear plants bear enormous responsibility, which cannot compare with that of other companies.'

The shareholders argued that the disaster could have been prevented if TEPCO bosses had listened to research and carried out preventative measures like placing an emergency power source on higher ground.

But officials said the studies they were presented with were not credible and the risks could not have been predicted.

2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster was the worst atomic incident since Chernobyl in 1986

In a statement read to AFP by a TEPCO spokesman, the firm said: 'We again express our heartfelt apology to people in Fukushima and members of society broadly for causing trouble and worry' with the disaster.

But it declined to comment on the ruling, including whether there would be any appeal.

Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing shareholders, called the decision 'historic'.

'We realise that 13 trillion yen is well beyond their capacity to pay,' he told reporters, adding that the plaintiffs expect the men to pay as much as their assets allow.

Three of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's six reactors were operating when a massive undersea quake triggered a devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011.

They went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed when waves flooded backup generators, leading to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Around 12 per cent of the Fukushima region was once declared unsafe, but no-go zones now cover around two percent, although populations in many towns remain far lower than before.

TEPCO has been pursued in the courts by survivors of the disaster as well as shareholders, and six plaintiffs this year took the firm to court over claims they developed thyroid cancer because of radiation exposure.

In 2019, a court acquitted three former TEPCO officials in the only criminal trial to stem from the disaster.

The accident was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl

They were among the four men ordered to pay damages in Wednesday's ruling: former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro and former president Masataka Shimizu.

The men had faced up to five years in prison if convicted of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, but the court ruled that they could not have predicted the scale of the tsunami that triggered the disaster.

Kawai said when the suit was filed in 2012 that senior managers at TEPCO must be made to pay.

'You may have to sell your house. You may have to spend your retirement years in misery,' he said then.

'In Japan, nothing can be resolved and no progress can be made without assigning personal responsibility.'

TEPCO is currently engaged in a decades-long effort to decommission the plant, a costly and difficult process.

No one was killed in the nuclear meltdown, but the tsunami left 18,500 dead or missing.
Veterans have criticised a new BBC documentary on alleged war crimes by the British SAS for relying on 'hearsay' and footage filmed by Australian special forces.

The Panorama investigation claimed to have uncovered 54 suspicious killings carried out by one British SAS unit on a six-month tour of Afghanistan in 2010-11.

The programme featured a harrowing video of an Australian SAS soldier shooting an unarmed Afghan man dead as he cowered in a field.

Former SAS sergeant Chris Ryan criticised the programme's use of the footage, alongside interviews with a former Australian SAS member.

'A new low as the BBC uses SASR (Australian SAS) footage and personnel to give credence to their baseless assumptions about the British SAS,' he said.

'Take that footage/hearsay away and it's a reporter's interpretation/opinion at best. This is up there with Bashir.'

Retired Royal Navy chief Rear Admiral Christopher John Parry warned of finding British SAS troopers 'guilty by association'.

Members of the Australian SAS - which is separate from its UK equivalent - are currently facing a murder trial.

The news Australian special forces troops had been involved in unlawful killings sparked a major scandal in the country, with a report finding prisoners were executed to 'blood' junior soldiers.

The BBC documentary - SAS Death Squads Exposed: A British War Crime? - looked into similar allegations against the British SAS.

It spoke to former SAS men - on condition of anonymity and off-camera - who said British troopers had also been involved in 'war crimes', including the shooting of unarmed captives. The question mark in the show's title may betray nervousness within the BBC at making such serious allegations.

Footage showing Australian SAS troops shooting dead an unarmed Afghan man in a field which was shown on last night's BBC documentary

At one point headcam footage records an Australian SAS trooper asking colleagues if they wanted him to 'drop' the man

The unarmed Afghan man's body lying in a field after being shot dead in a brutal execution

The BBC also claimed that senior officers, including former head of the British Army General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, did not report the alleged murders and did not disclose the evidence held by UK Special Forces to the military police.

Sir Mark declined to comment, the BBC said.

'There are no black and whites in real war only murky shades of grey': Former SAS members speak out By Mark Nicol, Defence Editor for the Daily Mail When questioned by the Daily Mail, British SAS members explained the protection granted to the Taliban by the Afghan legal system forced them to adapt their Rules of Engagement. Ordinarily in 2010-2011 they were required to observe an Afghan brandishing a weapon before they could open fire. One soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained: 'Illegal killings were part of our job and yes, the tactics were gruesome. But arresting them [Taliban suspects] was pretty pointless because they would only be held for a few days before being released. 'So for me, the end justified the means.' But other troops said they struggle to justify deliberate shootings of unnamed Afghans, which was routinely followed by the placing of a weapon next to their corpse. The 'drop weapons' tactic was used to suggest these individuals posed a threat at the time of their death. Another said: 'It came down to one or two loose cannons [in the unit]. I'm not defending some individuals' actions, but the whole truth is something we're about to wrestle with and it is going to rock everything. 'There are no black and whites in real war only murky shades of grey.' SAS sources also suggested residual guilt over these practices was causing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and alcoholism among those who took part. Last night, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said it was open to considering 'any new evidence' without obstruction. A High Court judge could force the MOD to open a new inquiry into the suspicious deaths and a wider probe into systemic failures within the military's judicial system. Mr Justice Swift is expected to deliver his ruling later this year or in early 2023. Advertisement

The programme sparked an angry response from the Ministry of Defence, which accused the corporation of putting front-line British troops at risk with 'subjective reporting'.

However, in a dramatic move last night, the MoD announced it was asking those who may have materials or testimony to come forward - with military police open to investigating any 'new' evidence.

Rear Admiral Christopher John Parry told Newsnight the programme aired 'serious allegations' that 'need to be investigated if there's new evidence'.

But he said: 'The SAS are highly trained, they know exactly what they're doing and they're always thinking about hearts and minds  they wouldn't do this without good reason I suspect.

'My experience is that they go about their business in a professional and humane way. I think if there is anything in this the soldiers themselves will be very keen to work out who among their comrades did this if it did in fact happen.'

He added: 'I don't think we can read across from what the Australians did to what the British did. That's guilt by association and any lawyer would walk straight through that.'

Panorama investigated SAS units that, from 2009 onwards, were tasked with targeting Taliban leaders and the bomb-making networks causing frequent casualties using improvised explosive devices.

However, the programme said it had uncovered evidence that these were in fact 'death squads', with soldiers operating a 'shoot to kill policy' due to the belief that, if captured, the suspects would soon be released.

It also claimed to have uncovered evidence of prisoners repeatedly being killed even after they had been restrained. Panorama said official accounts of raids showed a pattern in which suspects were described as being released and allowed back into buildings to help with searches before being shot dead after 'supposedly grabbing a weapon'.

In one incident on November 29, 2010, Haji Ibrahim - a former district governor who had worked alongside the British - was killed during a raid.

According to the SAS's official version of events, Mr Ibrahim was detained and then sent back into a building to help with the search.

A military report obtained by Panorama says he was then 'shot and killed when he demonstrated hostile intent by brandishing a hand-grenade'.

But his family told the BBC when its reporter visited Afghanistan with the help of the Taliban that his hands were bound and he was then 'executed'.

UK military reports said SAS squadrons 'repeatedly killed people after they'd been detained'.

A disturbing image of another corpse lying in a field that appeared in last night's documentary

SAS troops on a night raid in Afghanistan. It is not clear which country these troops belonged to

In another case, nine people were shot dead in one guest room but only three guns were discovered.

Panorama also reported that intelligence flaws meant innocent civilians were caught up in the operations.

One man who attended meetings in 2011 where targets were selected told the programme: 'There were mistakes at every single level, serious mistakes - serious organisational mistakes.

'The scope for misidentification was so high in Afghanistan because we didn't understand the villages. We didn't understand the tribes. And therefore, the sausage machine that is producing these names is going to make tons and tons and tons of mistakes.'

Sources within UK Special Forces reportedly told Panorama that senior officers at headquarters in London were worried about the number of people being killed during the raids.

Panorama also said it has seen internal documents showing alarm at the SAS accounts of killings, with often many more people dead than weapons reportedly recovered.

A senior officer, who worked at UK Special Forces HQ, reportedly told the programme: 'Too many people were being killed on night raids and the explanations didn't make sense. Once somebody is detained, they shouldn't end up dead.

'For it to happen over and over again was causing alarm at HQ. It was clear at the time that something was wrong.'

According to the programme, insiders who worked on an investigation into the way British troops behaved in Afghanistan, called Operation Northmoor, claimed they were stopped from getting to the truth.

In one incident on November 29, 2010, Haji Ibrahim - a former district governor who had worked alongside the British - was killed during a raid

Footage filmed by the BBC inside the house where Mr Ibrahim was shot by British SAS troops

One senior Royal Military Police officer, who did not want to be identified, told Panorama: 'I believe there was pressure from above to shut down the investigation.

'It became increasingly clear to me that it didn't matter what evidence we were able to gather, these cases were never going to be allowed to go to court.'

General Sir David Richards, a former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), said: 'In my experience, worrying events of the type captured by Panorama are very rare in the British armed forces.

'That said, given the compelling nature of the programme, if I was still Chief of the Defence Staff I would order a thorough investigation of the events portrayed.

'I have no doubt that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the current CDS, will do this.'

Last night the MOD said: 'We believe that Panorama's episode jumps to unjustified conclusions from allegations which have already been fully investigated.

'Two service police operations carried out extensive and independent investigation into allegations about the conduct of UK forces.

'Neither investigation found sufficient evidence to prosecute. Insinuating otherwise is irresponsible, incorrect and put our brave personnel at risk in the field and reputationally.

'The MOD stands open to considering any new evidence, there would be no obstruction. But in the absence of this, we strongly object to this subjective reporting.'

The BBC said: 'This is the culmination of a four year investigation. The evidence in the programme included internal military documentation revealing serious concerns which have been expressed by senior officers. It is firmly in the public interest to report such concerns.'

Officially the RMP's investigation into the SAS's shooting of unarmed captives has been closed since 2019.

Operation Northmoor was widely criticised for its ineffectiveness and the apparent reluctance or inability of detectives to interview witnesses.

Former Merseyside Police Chief Constable Sir Jonathan Murphy branded a RMP probe into 'extra-judicial killing allegations' as 'flawed and consequently ineffective'.

In another incident, eight Afghan men were shot in a guest room by the British SAS. This image shows bullet holes near the floor, suggesting some of the men were lying down

Sir Jonathan, who was brought in to review Op Northmoor, said it was 'likely to fail', was 'far too slow' and had failed to obtain witness statements from soldiers.

He noted that during a two and a half year period 'only one witness who was present at the scene' of one of the deaths 'had been spoken to'.

Responding to the BBC investigation of repeated killing of unarmed men in suspicious circumstances in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011 by the UK Special forces, Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International's South Asia Researcher, said:

'Amnesty International demands an effective and transparent investigation into the allegations made against the UK Special forces in Afghanistan, that delivers justice for victims and holds the perpetrators accountable.'

Today, Boris Johnson said no British military personnel are 'above the law' as he faced calls to order an independent inquiry.

The Prime Minister declined to comment on the special forces, although said that did not mean he 'in any way accepts the factual accuracy of the claims' raised in the Commons.

SNP defence spokesman Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) said: 'Last night's Panorama with the joint investigation with the Times newspaper has exposed yet again more evidence of unlawful killings by special forces, this time in Afghanistan.

'When this came up before, the Government and particularly MoD (Ministry of Defence) was determined to sweep this under the carpet. But those who serve in uniform and the public they protect deserve better than this.'

He added: 'So, will the Prime Minister commit to an Australia-style independent inquiry as backed by General Lord Richards, but more broadly, hasn't the case been made again for democratic oversight of special forces?'

Mr Johnson replied: 'It's a long-standing practice, I think accepted on both sides of this House, that we do not comment on Special Forces, and that does not mean that we in any way accept the factual accuracy of the claims to which he has eluded.

'On the other hand, nor does it mean that anybody who serves in Her Majesty's Armed Forces is above the law.'
The Tory leadership contest today descended into angry accusations of 'dirty tricks' and 'dark arts' - with supporters of one candidate even revealed to have 'hijacked' a rival's campaign slogan.

Tempers have flared between competing camps ahead of this afternoon's first round of voting among Conservative MPs.

There are eight contenders left in the race to be prime minister, with ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak the frontrunner ahead of Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.

But Mr Sunak is facing a 'stop Rishi' campaign from allies of Boris Johnson, who have accused him of treachery after his dramatic resignation last week precipitated the PM's downfall.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is fiercely loyal to Mr Boris Johnson, tore into Mr Sunak's campaign as she claimed they were lending support to Mr Hunt in a bid to knock out less beatable rivals.

Meanwhile, Ms Mordaunt's supporters were revealed to have seized on Mr Zahawi's 'NZ 4 PM' slogan, with the domain name 'nz4pm.com' redirecting to her own 'PM 4 PM' website.

Rishi Sunak is facing a 'stop Rishi' campaign from allies of Boris Johnson, who have accused the ex-chancellor of treachery after his resignation last week precipitated the PM's downfall

Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who are both fiercely loyal to Mr Johnson, have been fiercely critical of Mr Sunak

Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak's campaign of 'dark arts' ahead of the first round of voting among Tory MPs

Once Tory MPs have whittled down the eight-strong field to a final pairing - with voting to start this afternoon - the wider Conservative membership across the country will be balloted to choose between the last two contenders.

Accusing Mr Sunak's team of syphoning off votes to Mr Hunt in the early stages of the leadership contest, Ms Dorries said: 'This is dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts. Take your pick.

'Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is Jeremy Hunt.'

But Mr Hunt immediately rubbished Ms Dorries' claims as 'absolute nonsense'.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who abandoned his own leadership bid yesterday and has now thrown his support behind Mr Sunak, also rejected the allegation.

He said: 'Simply, in this case it just didnt happen. Jeremy Hunt himself has said everybody on his nomination paper is somebody who is very close to his campaign. So even he has rubbished it.'

As well as the claims of 'dark arts' by Ms Dorries, Mr Sunak's campaign is also having to battle a continuing onslaught by Jacob Rees-Mogg, another loyalist of Mr Johnson's.

Both Ms Dorries and Mr Rees-Mogg are backing Ms Truss, who is now being viewed as the 'continuity Boris' candidate.

Mr Rees-Mogg accused Mr Sunak of raising tax to socialist levels during his time in charge of the Treasury and squandering the Tories' record on the economy.

He has condemned the timescale for the contest to replace Mr Johnson as Tory leader and - in a further swipe at Mr Sunak - claimed it 'favours' those who were 'disloyal' to Mr Johnson.

Mr Rees-Mogg claimed Mr Sunak had spent six months or more 'cogitating' a leadership bid.

Supporters of Penny Mordaunt 'hijacked' her rival Nadhim Zahawi's 'NZ 4 PM' slogan by redirecting internet searchers to her own website

The Chancellor has seen the website 'nz4pm.com' snapped up by those backing his rival Ms Mordaunt

Whoever was behind the domain name trickery insisted it was not to do with Ms Mordaunt herself

Mr Zahawi has been promoting his 'NZ 4 PM' slogan, but now apparently won't be able to use 'nz4pm.com'

There is also fierce battling between those not considered frontrunners in the race, with Ms Mordaunt's backers said to be 'cyber-squatting' in direct action against Mr Zahawi's campaign.

Mr Zahawi, who replaced Mr Sunak as Chancellor last week, is yet to launch an official campaign website but has been promoting his 'NZ 4 PM' slogan.

Now, when internet searchers attempt to find Mr Zahawi's would-be website 'nz4pm.com' - they are redirected straight to his competitor's homepage 'pm4pm.com'.

After clicking on nz4pm.com, voters are met with a white screen with the words: 'Vote Penny Mordaunt in this 2022 Conservative election.'

Moments later, users are taken to the Portsmouth North MP's swanky homepage.

But whoever was behind the domain name trickery insisted it was not to do with Ms Mordaunt herself.

A message on the redirect page reads: 'Disclaimer: This website does not belong to Penny Mordaunt or the Penny Mordaunt campaign. Penny is not to blame for this and it has nothing to do with her. Remember to buy you domains, Nadhim.'

Ms Mordaunt's supporters were praised for the 'pre-emptive cyber-squatting' in a bid to nab supporters trying to get to the Chancellor's website.

Journalist Rob Minto spotted the technical trick, writing: 'OK, domain wars are ON. Zahawi is using the hashtag NZ4PM, but nz4pm.com redirects to pm4pm.com, Penny Mordaunt's campaign website!

'Digital skills: Zahawi 0 - 1 Mordaunt.'

Others called the trick 'comedy gold' ahead of the Stratford-upon-Avon MP's website launching tomorrow.

One user said: 'Lesson one of PR in the digital age Register all your domain names BEFORE you publish the logos.'

A second keen onlooker added: 'This is brilliant. Cyber warfare has broken out in the Conservative leadership contest.'

Another person wrote on Twitter: 'If you can't manage to register a domain name how the hell can you aspire to be PM?'

But others, including Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, found the digital trick less amusing.

She wrote: 'What japes. Meanwhile, in the real world, people are struggling to feed their kidsand the UK government with the power and resources to act is utterly paralysed.'

Mr Zahawi and Ms Mordaunt's campaign teams have been contacted for comment.

It comes as former health secretary Sajid Javid - who triggered the downfall of Mr Johnson by resigning last week - dropped out last night after falling short of the 20 endorsements from Conservative MPs needed to feature in the first round of voting.

Home Secretary Priti Patel also withdrew and refused to say who she will be backing, but her exit is a potential fillip to Ms Truss's campaign.

Outsider candidate Rehman Chishti also conceded defeat shortly before yesterday's 6pm deadline for securing the threshold of 20 supporters.

He had no publicly declared backers.
Tears of joy and heartbreak, less than 24 hours apart: This is the emotional toll that Russia's war on Ukraine is inflicting on the families of those called up to fight.

Natasha, the daughter of Ukrainian special forces commander Ruslan Pustovoit, was recorded weeping with happiness on Saturday night as her father was allowed to return home for the first time since Russia began its invasion almost five months ago.

But, the following afternoon, the little girl was crying tears of sadness instead as she accompanied Ruslan to the train station to wave goodbye to him as he was sent back to the frontlines.

This is the moment Ukrainian special forces commander Ruslan Pustovoit was reunited with daughter Natasha on Saturday evening - the first time she has seen him since the war began

Mother Tatanya captured emotional images of Ruslan walking through the front door of their home as Natasha burst into tears and gave him a hug

Mother Tatanya captured both moments on video, posting them on social media to show the world the cruel toll the war is inflicting.

The first footage shows Natasha, dressed in her pyjamas, waiting by the front door late at night as her father arrives in his uniform - AK rifle slung over his shoulder.

She runs out into the corridor to give him a hug, as he lifts her into the air and carries her across the threshold.

An image taken just moments later shows her standing on the floor, arms wrapped tight around her father's head, tears clearly visible in her eyes as he buries his face into her shoulder.

Writing alongside that video, Tatanya said Natasha was 'shocked and surprised' to see her father at their house in Odesa - where they were forced to relocate from their native Mariupol as Russian troops razed it to the ground.

'She prayed every day, because the last meeting was in Mariupol on February 24,' Tatanya wrote - giving the date that Russia's invasion began.

A second piece of footage captured the following day shows Ruslan embracing Natasha in the back of a car, as she sits crumpled into her father's lap.

Less than 24 hours after the meeting, Natasha's tears of joy had been replaced by tears of anguish as she accompanied Ruslan to the train station as he went back to the frontlines

Ruslan - who has been fighting Russia since Putin's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 - is pictured alongside wife Tatanya (right), daughter Natasha and his son at the train station

Ruslan shares a tender moment with his son - also called Ruslan - as he deploys back to the frontlines in Ukraine

Tears of agony stream down her face, as a song called Airplanes by and artist known as Istov plays on the radio and he sings along to her.

Tatanya wrote: Natasha smiled, stopped crying, was happy to see her father after so long. And this is when Istov's song "Airports" began.

'I don't know how much more strength is needed to survive all this, but our daughter suddenly started crying in a way that cannot be expressed in words.

Ruslan is well-known in Ukraine, having been awarded the Order of Courage for actions against Russia in 2016 (pictured)

'A the station, she said: "Mom, I was so afraid to let go of Papa, my stomach hurt and now my heart is going to stop."

'After she said that, I thought my heart would stop too. Come back alive [Ruslan]. I believe victory will be ours.'

A final photo taken at Odesa train station shows Ruslan standing with Tatanya, Natasha, and his son - also named Ruslan - with all three smiling for the camera.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, posted some of the footage on Twitter - saying Natasha had waited and hoped that her father would return, 'and her dream came true.'

Ruslan is a well-known special forces commander in Ukraine, having initially volunteered to fight during Russia's first invasion in 2014.

Serving in his native Donetsk region, he gained a reputation as a skilled special operative after planning and carrying out 'several' behind-enemy-lines missions.

During one mission, in 2016, Ruslan happened upon an enemy fort while advancing ahead of his unit and found himself surrounded by Russians, UATV reported.

He called for backup after coming face-to-face with an enemy soldier, and despite being outgunned two to one, he and his men managed to win the ensuing battle.

Ruslan is pictured with his comrades on the frontlines, at least one of whom has since been seriously wounded and is recovering in hospital

Three Russian soldiers were killed while another eight were captured, along with their weapons.

In recognition of his actions that day, he was awarded the Order of Courage - one of the highest honours that the President of Ukraine can bestow.

Ruslan has been wounded in combat twice, including during an ambush later in 2016 when one of his squad was killed.

Another solider managed to carry Ruslan out of battle and, despite his injuries, he was able to radio the coordinates of Russian soldiers for a counter-attack.

'He is a true commander. Sensitive and proper. He never leaves his troops in trouble. He is a very strong-willed man,' one of his soldiers said at the time.

Another added: 'He is a real hero of our time. There are not very many of them, but they exist. They are among us, they live among us.'
The Met Police should be stripped of their responsibility for caring for rape survivors because they are failing women, London's victims' commissioner declared today.

Claire Waxman has accused Scotland Yard of 'terrible responses from the police to rape survivors' and says after years of letting them down an independent body should be set up instead.

Ms Waxman says that would allow detectives to concentrate on solving rapes and getting rapists behind bars. One alleged rape victim said last December that reporting it to the Met was the 'biggest mistake' they had ever made, as they claimed they were 'belittled' and their experiences 'minimised.'

Rape victims in London have repeatedly said they were 'not believed' and were 'belittled' by police. A recent study showed the number of people withdrawing rape reports within a month of making them has risen sharply amid already low conviction rates - as a number of officers face sex abuse cases including one charged with 44 counts of rape.

'I can't have victims being treated like this any longer,' Ms Waxman told the BBC.

'I'm not shocked we hear some terrible responses from the police to rape survivors. That just shows a complete lack of understanding and specialism of those officers,' she said, adding that those officers should not have been anywhere near rape survivors.

'It's frustrating for me; five years working with the Met as a critical friend to try and move them forward and they just haven't moved forward, in fact they've gone backwards. I was here to improve victims' experience and if I can't do that with the Met, then I'll have to find another way'.

In February 2020 Juliana Terlizzi was raped by her then boyfriend, Hubert Greliak. Waiving her right to anonymity, she said of the police: 'I felt completely unsupported. At this point, I felt like I was treated as a suspect and not a victim'.

London's victims' commissioner Claire Waxman has accused Scotland Yard of 'terrible responses from the police to rape survivors'. Juliana Terlizzi said that when she was raped she was made to feel like a criminal

Police officer Wayne Couzens was given a whole life sentence for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard. The case badly damaged confidence in the police

Dame Cressida Dick was dramatically ousted as commissioner in February by London Mayor Sadiq Khan following a succession of scandals. They included the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens; the exposure of a cadre of officers at Charing Cross police station who swapped jokes about raping women and killing black children; and the jailing of two officers who photographed dead bodies at a cordon.

Last Friday Sir Mark Rowley was named the next Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police by Priti Patel and Sadiq Khan who have backed him to turn around the failing force.

Scotland Yard's former head of counterterrorism and ex-Surrey chief constable has beaten Nick Ephgrave, a Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, to the 292,000-a-year job.

The Met was put into special measures last month after a devastating inspection revealed a catalogue of new failures including officers failing to record tens of thousands of crimes, ignoring almost all victims of anti-social behaviour, letting down vulnerable victims and neglected a huge backlog of online child abuse referrals.

He replaces Cressida Dick, who was forced to quit in February following a torrid year of scandals which saw the murder of Sarah Everard by one of her officers, the force being branded 'institutionally corrupt' by an independent inquiry and two officers jailed for photographing bodies of murder victims.

Sir Mark said: 'Our mission is to lead the renewal of policing by consent which has been so heavily dented in recent years as trust and confidence have fallen.

'We will deliver more trust, less crime and high standards for London and beyond and we will work with London's diverse communities as we together renew the uniquely British invention of 'policing by consent'.'

Mark Rowley, pictured in 2017 when he was Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner in charge of counter-terrorism, will replace Cressida Dick

Priti Patel has backed Sir Mark to turn around the force weeks after inspectors found it was failing badly

At a glance: The Met's string of calamities Operation Midland: The disastrous 2014 probe into fake VIP paedophilia claims was sanctioned by Dame Cressida Dick; Sarah Everard: In March last year, 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard was abducted, raped and murdered by serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens; Murder victim photos: In December last year, two Scotland Yard officers who took photos of the bodies of murder victims Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry were jailed; Charing Cross: Earlier this year, details emerged of horrific messages exchanged by officers at Charing Cross police station, by an official watchdog report; XR protests: In 2019, the force was widely condemned for its 'light-touch' policing of Extinction Rebellion protests, which blocked several key areas of London; Daniel Morgan: The force was described as 'institutionally corrupt' following an inquiry into the botched investigation into the private investigator's murder; Stephen Port: An inquest jury ruled in December that failures by Met detectives contributed to the deaths of a serial killer's three final victims; Bianca Williams: In April it emerged that five Met officers are to face a gross misconduct hearing over their stop and search of the Team GB athlete; Strip searches: Last month the IOPC confirmed it was investigating a series of cases which involved teenage girls who were on their period being strip-searched by Met officers. Advertisement

Sir Mark said he was 'deeply honoured' to take up the role.

He said: 'Our mission is to lead the renewal of policing by consent which has been so heavily dented in recent years as trust and confidence have fallen.

'I am grateful that the Home Secretary and Mayor are both determined to support the urgent reforms we need to deliver successful community crimefighting in today's fast moving world. These reforms include our use of technology and data, our culture and our policing approach. We will fight crime with communities - not unilaterally dispense tactics.

'I also know that the majority of officers and staff retain an extraordinary sense of vocation and determination and want us to do better. It is my job to help them do that, whilst also being ruthless in removing those who are corrupting our integrity'.

His appointment has been agreed by Tory Home Secretary Priti Patel and Labour's London Mayor Sadiq Khan after they clashed over Ms Dick's departure when Mayor Khan pulled the plug and forced her to resign.

Ms Patel said: 'Sir Mark Rowley is a distinguished and exceptionally experienced police officer, having served the people of the West Midlands and Surrey before guiding the capital through some of its most challenging moments in the wake of the 2017 terror attacks, as the Met's then head of counter-terrorism.

'He now takes on one of the most important and demanding jobs in policing, leading the country's largest force at a time when public trust in the Metropolitan Police has been severely undermined by a number of significant failings. Rebuilding public trust and delivering on crime reduction must be his priority'.

Mayor Khan said: 'A series of appalling scandals have not only exposed deep cultural problems within the Met, but have contributed to a crisis of confidence in London's police service.

Sir Mark has made clear to me that he is determined to be a reforming Commissioner, committed to implementing a robust plan to rebuild trust and confidence in the police and to drive through the urgent reforms and step change in culture and performance Londoners deserve.

'As Mayor, I will support and hold him to these promises as I continue to hold the Met to account'.

The news comes less than two weeks after the force was put into special measures by the police watchdog.

A letter from HMICFRS cited numerous fiascos at Britain's largest force, including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, the 'racially profiled' stop and search of the Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams, and the strip-search of a 15-year-old black schoolgirl known as Child Q.

It follows further scandals, including the failure to properly investigate serial killer Stephen Port and the revelation of racist WhatsApp messages exchanged by officers at Charing Cross Police Station.

Other calamities included the jailing of two officers for taking photos of the corpses of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, and Operation Midland - the disastrous probe into fake claims of VIP paedophilia.

The force was also heavily criticised for failing to stop Extinction Rebellion protests from shutting down London, with videos of officers dancing with protesters sparking claims the force was not taking the issue seriously.

Sir Mark replaces he Met's scandal ravaged former commissioner, Cressida Dick, who stepped down in February after Sadiq Khan said he no longer had confidence in her

Sarah Everard was murdered by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, in a crime that appalled Britain.

What does 'going into special measures' mean? The HMICFRS has two stages of its monitoring process for police forces - the 'scanning' phase and the 'engage' phase. The scanning phase 'uses data and information from a range of sources to highlight poor or deteriorating performance and identify potential areas of concern'. If the force is 'not responding to a cause of concern', or if it is 'not succeeding in managing, mitigating or eradicating the cause of concern', then it will be moved to the 'Engage' phase. At this point, forces develop an 'improvement plan' to address concerns and must meet with inspectors regularly to ensure improvements are being made. It may also be given specific targets. The Met has been escalated straight to 'engage', suggesting HMICFRS is particularly concerned about its performance. A spokeswoman for the HMICFRS said: 'We can confirm that we are now monitoring the Metropolitan Police Service through our Engage process, which provides additional scrutiny and support to help it make improvements.' Advertisement

The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation hailed the arrival of Sir Mark Rowley as the force's new Commissioner.

Ken Marsh, who heads the union of the rank-and-file Met officers, said: 'I welcome Sir Mark Rowley as the new commissioner, I think he's the right man for the job.

'I, and my colleagues, are pleased that the position has been filled because the void was harming us during a very difficult period, especially with the force being put into special measures.

'What we would ask for now is for the Mayor and the politicians to back off and stop the incessant attacks and let Sir Mark get on with the job in hand to deliver results for the people of London.'

Sir Mark is a familiar figure after leading the Met's counter-terrorism operations for four years. Although he resigned from the police in 2018, Sir Mark is still only 58 and has been tempted back by the biggest job in British policing.

He served as chief constable of Surrey for three years to 2011 before he joined the Met as an assistant commissioner for seven years having starting on the beat in Birmingham in 1987.

When at Surrey he was the lead officer in the hunt for Milly Dowler.

He later admitted that his detectives were aware at the time of Milly's disappearance that her mobile phone was hacked by someone working at the News of the World.

Sir Mark said a call made from the paper to the operation room leading the investigation in 2002 made it clear her voicemail had been accessed.

But officers merely 'focused on retrieving any evidence the NotW had that could assist in the investigation into Milly Dowler's disappearance' as that was the priority, he said.

His career in policing spans over 30 years, during which time he has transformed national security and policing.

As Chief Constable, he lifted the public confidence levels in Surrey to the highest in the country.

After joining the Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Mark transformed the approach to UK counter-terrorism and policing gangs, increasing community engagement and workforce diversity, leading the police response to the London terror attacks of 2017 and reducing shootings and murders in London to an all-time low.

He also led reform in policing of public order, organised crime and fraud, launching the 200 strong Op Falcon team to combat the growth of online fraud and cybercrime.

Since leaving policing in 2018 he has worked in specialist security projects and on technology/data led transformation with 'start-ups' and the world's largest professional services company. He has focused on: countering extremism and racism, online safety, institutional integrity and illicit finance.
Beijing has branded Washington a 'security risk' and claimed its military had 'driven away' a US destroyer after it sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The United States regularly carries out what it calls Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea challenging what it says are restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China and other claimants.

The U.S. Navy said the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold 'asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law'.

China says it does not impede freedom of navigation or overflight, accusing the United States of deliberately provoking tensions.

The People's Liberation Army's Southern Theatre Command said the U.S. ship's actions seriously violated China's sovereignty and security by illegally entering China's territorial waters around the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65), forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, conducts underway operations in the South China Sea, in this handout picture released on July 13, 2022

Beijing has branded Washington a 'security risk' and claimed its military had 'driven away' a US destroyer after it sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea

'The PLA's Southern Theatre Command organised sea and air forces to follow, monitor, warn and drive away' the ship, it added, showing pictures of the Benfold taken from the deck of the Chinese frigate the Xianning.

'The facts once again show that the United States is nothing short of a 'security risk maker in the South China Sea' and a 'destroyer of regional peace and stability.''

The U.S. Navy said the Chinese statement on the mission was 'false' and the latest in a long string of Chinese actions to 'misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims at the expense of its Southeastern Asian neighbours in the South China Sea'.

The United States is defending every country's right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, and nothing China 'says otherwise will deter us', it added.

China seized control of the Paracel Islands from the then-South Vietnamese government in 1974.

In this photo provided by U.S. Navy, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) conducts routine underway operations in the Philippines Sea on June 24, 2022

The US has repeatedly entered the South China Sea as they assert navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands consistent with international law.

In 2020, China accused the US of 'sailing through the world like a bully' amid an escalating row over the disputed South China Sea.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the US a 'troublemaker and destroyer of regional peace and stability' after two aircraft carriers, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, were recently dispatched to the region in a show of force.

Monday marked the sixth anniversary of a ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea. China has never accepted the ruling.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which passes around $5 trillion in global trade each year and which holds highly valuable fish stocks and undersea mineral resources.

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay competing claims and often overlapping claims to the region.

China has built artificial islands on some of its South China Sea holdings, including airports, raising regional concerns about Beijing's intentions.

Beijing has also alarmed the U.S., Australia and New Zealand with the signing of a mutual defense agreement with the Solomon Islands, under which it could receive Chinese troops in emergencies and possibly establish a permanent Chinese military presence.
Three boys aged 12, 15 and 19 have been arrested following the murder of a 16-year-old in Birmingham last night.

Officers initially believed the victim had been gunned down after receiving reports of shots fired in the Lozells area of the city at 6.30pm.

Armed police raced to the area and found the victim lying on Nursery Road near the junction of Burbery Street.

Officers performed CPR on the boy until the arrival of paramedics, but unfortunately the youngster died at the scene.

A post mortem will be carried out on the boy's body to establish the exact cause of death.

Witnesses reported seeing a group of between four or five people fleeing the scene.

West Midlands Police arrested two boys aged 12 and 15 on suspicion of violent disorder. A 19-year-old man, suffering an arm injury, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

All three suspects will be questioned by murder squad detectives.

Police have launched a murder investigation after 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death on a suburban street in Birmingham late yesterday afternoon

Police arrested three suspects aged 12, 15 and 19 short time later near the crime scene

The victim was killed near the junction of Nursery Road and Burbery Street, while witnesses claimed between four and five suspects fled towards Villa Street

Officers later arrested two men near the crime scene.

According to West Midlands Police: 'Officers rushed to the scene and began an immediate search of the area. Witnesses are being spoken to and house to house enquiries are underway.

'We understand the concerns around recent firearms-related incidents around Birmingham, and we're already carrying out extra patrols to offer reassurance to residents.'

Detective Inspector Laura Harrison of the West Midlands Police homicide team said:

'Our officers have worked through the night to speak to witnesses, and gather evidence and CCTV. We have made good progress, but it is still too early to say if this is connected in any way to other incidents in the last few days.

'We know there were others involved and we need to speak to anyone with information who hasnt already spoken to us.

'This community is understandably shaken by the death of a teenage boy in broad daylight. This violence on our streets has to stop and we will continue to work them to disrupt and deter violent crime.

Chief Inspector James Spencer of West Midlands Police said: 'Were asking for calm within our communities. Murder is the most devastating crime which causes significant distress for the families and friends of the loved one they have lost, the wider community and us as officers who investigate these tragic circumstances.

'Were dedicated to providing the most compassionate and respectful support during our investigation to the victims families as we recognise this is often during their very worst times. We always want to find those responsible and seek to charge and put them before the courts.

'We work closely with a range of partners to try and better understand violence and why it is present within our society with a view to warning people of the dangers and heart-breaking consequences.'

West Midlands Ambulance Service said they attended the scene last night with an air ambulance in an attempt to save the man's life.

A spokesperson said: 'We were called at 6.40pm to reports of an incident on Nursery Road in Aston. We sent four ambulances, a paramedic officer and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance to the scene. Upon arrival we found a man who had sustained life threatening injuries.

'He received treatment at the scene. Unfortunately, it became clear that nothing more could be done to save him and he was confirmed deceased.'

One witness, Ahmed, who lives in the area said he saw the victim receiving CPR near the petrol station. 'It was awful. Everyone was standing around watching this man be given CPR by armed police.

'It's one of those situations where you feel numb to it. Because you don't think it's really happening.

'It didn't feel real watching someone lose their life like that. It's not right is it? It still doesn't feel real now to be honest.'

A senior police officer has been in conversation with members of the community on Twitter. Insp Gary Everitt said:

'We've had a number of incidents in the local area over the last week and have increased our patrols already. However we need the help and support of our local community to keep our children safe.

Officers are investigating whether last night's murder is linked with any of the earlier shootings in Birmingham over the past week.

On Thursday, two men were shot in a car in the Small Heath area of the city.

A couple of hours later a 19-year-old man was shot in the leg in Ladywood, while shots were fired in Hockley later that night.

On Saturday, July 9, two men were shot in Newton.

Police are appealing for anyone who has CCTV, or footage captured on a mobile phone or a dash cam to call 101 quoting log 3492 of 12/7.

If people do not wish to leave their name they can pass on information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the military and police to do 'what is necessary' to 'restore order' after protestors broke into his offices amid chaotic scenes on the island nation.

Protesters defied tear gas, water cannons and a state of emergency to storm the building today after the president fled the country, with the crowd demanding both he and the prime minister step down.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left aboard an air force plane bound for the Maldives - and he made his prime minister the acting president in his absence.

But that only appeared to only further spur on the protesters in the island country which has been gripped for months by an economic meltdown that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

Wickremesinghe responded by declaring a state of emergency, giving broader powers to the military and police and ordering them to crack down on the unrest at any cost.

Footage showed armed security personnel standing by in the grounds of Wickremesinghe's office as protesters, some holding national flags, milled and took pictures. Some tried to break down the gates leading to the office buildings with a make-shift ram.

Other demonstrators at one point broke into state television studios, as the country's months-long political and economic crisis appeared to be moving towards a climax.

Sri Lanka's defense chief General Shavendra Silva said: 'We have requested political leaders to decide the way forward till a new president is sworn in and notify us and the public by this evening.'

Rajapaksa had promised to resign and said he would clear the way for a 'peaceful transition of power', after fleeing his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.

The storming of both of the prime ministerial and presidential offices was a dramatic culmination of months of unrest in Sri Lanka with experts predicting more protests to rock the country in the coming months.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the military and police to do 'what is necessary' to 'restore order' after protestors broke into his offices

Demonstrators carry an injured person during a clash in front of Sri Lankan Prime Minister. He told the military and police to do 'whatever was necessary' to restore order

Security forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters as they try to enter the Prime Minister's office in Colombo

Demonstrators take part in an anti-government protest outside the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister in Colombo on July 13

Police use teargas as Sri Lankan protesters storm the compound of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe 's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Demonstrators gather outside the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, amid the crisis. The leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 presidential election to Rajapaksa, has said he will stand to replace the president

Sri Lankan protesters, some holding national flags, after storming the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign

Sri Lankan protesters storm Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office. footage showed armed security personnel standing by in the grounds

Army personnel use tear gas to disperse demonstrators during an anti-government protest outside the office of Sri Lanka's prime minister in Colombo

Sri Lankan protestors climb over the government wall and forcibly enter the office in the capital, demanding the resignation of Wickremesinghe

Demonstrators celebrate after they entered into Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office during a protest demanding his resignation

Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is pictured. He could take over as president should Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign, but protestors are demanding both men step down from their positions and let a new government take over

What sparked Sri Lanka protests? Mass unrest began in Sri Lanka in March this year, caused by severe inflation, economic hardship, blackouts and fuel shortages. By last year, foreign debt had risen to 101 per cent of the nation's GDP, and China was a major source of the loans for the huge projects Sri Lanka planned. The government currently owes $51billion. The government needed to boost its revenues as foreign debt for infrastructure projects soared, but instead Rajapaksa pushed through the largest tax cuts in Sri Lankan history. Creditors downgraded Sri Lanka's ratings, blocking it from borrowing more money as its foreign reserves sank. Money was printed in record amounts and the government was blamed for a number of questionable financial decisions, such as the ban on fertilisers, decimating crops and hampering exports of rice and tea. The Finance Ministry says Sri Lanka has only $25million in usable foreign reserves. It needs $6billion to stay afloat over the next six months. The Pandora Papers also revealed the president's family money was secretly stored offshore, fuelling further outrage. Initial candlelit vigils in March soon spread to widespread civil disobedience, which the government failed to recognise as legitimate protests. Demonstrators have been calling for regime change and the downfall of the current president and prime minister. Advertisement

As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.

He has promised to resign, making him Sri Lanka's shortest-lived directly elected president, but the parliamentary speaker had yet to receive Rajapaksa's resignation letter as of Wednesday.

He, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from the main international airport heading for the neighbouring Maldives, according to immigration sources.

Sri Lankan expatriates carrying flags and placards denounced Rajapaksa as he arrived in Male, the capita, urging the territory not to provide him safe heaven.

'Dear Maldivian friends, please urge your government not to safeguard criminals,' said a black and white banner held by Sri Lankans working in the islands' tiny capital.

Special Operations police confiscated placards and dispersed the demonstrators, witnesses said.

Local reports suggested that Rajapaksa was staying at an exclusive resort and would leave for either the United Arab Emirates or Singapore later Wednesday.

'He is going into exile in either of the two locations,' a Sri Lankan security source in Colombo said. 'Ensuring security would be a challenge because there are Sri Lankan communities in both.'

The two countries have close ties and a considerable Maldivian community lives in the bigger island nation, but the opposition party opposes the arrival of the Sri Lankan president, who faces several court cases, including allegations of war crimes.

The departure of the 73-year-old leader once known as 'The Terminator' had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating stand-off with immigration personnel at the airport.

He had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers had to go through public counters.

The presidential party were reluctant to go through regular channels fearing public reactions, a security official said, and as a result missed four flights on Monday that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.

Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency after the president fled his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it

Sri Lanka's president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who promised to resign after Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in April and the country declared bankruptcy, is pictured. He has fled to the neighbouring Maldives island and is set to depart for either the United Arab Emirates or Singapore later on Wednesday

An injured demonstrator pours water on a man during a protest outside the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister

Protesters in Sri Lanka defied tear gas, water cannon and a state of emergency to storm the Prime Minister's office building on Wednesday

The president was met with protestors upon arriving in the Maldivian capital Male, which has a large Sri Lankan population

A protester waves the national flag as protesters storm the Prime Minister's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 13 July 202

A demonstrator celebrates after protestors entered into Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's office during a protest demanding for his resignation

Demonstrators wait to enter into Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's office during a protest demanding for his resignation

Military personnel wear gas masks during a protest by people seeking the ouster of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe amidst the ongoing economic crisis on July 13

Clearance for a military flight to land in the closest neighbour India was not immediately secured, a security official said, and at one point on Tuesday the group headed to a naval base with a view to fleeing by sea.

Rajapaksa, a former solider and part of a clan of four brothers who have dominated the country's politics in recent years, has denied allegations that at least 40,000 minority Tamil civilians were killed by troops under his command during the closing months of Sri Lanka's civil war.

Rajapaksa's youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early Tuesday after a separate standoff with airport staff.

Basil - who holds US citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality - tried to use a paid concierge service for business travellers, but airport and immigration staff said they had withdrawn from the fast track service.

Basil had to obtain a new US passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday, a diplomatic source said.

Official sources said a suitcase full of documents had also been left behind at the stately mansion along with 17.85 million rupees (about 42,000) in cash, now in the custody of a Colombo court.

There was no official word from the president's office about his whereabouts, but he remained commander-in-chief of the armed forces with military resources at his disposal.

Sri Lanka army soldiers patrol near the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo

Security personnel push a man away as demonstrators gather outside the Prime Minister's office. Ranil Wickremesinghe has enacted a curfew coming into effect immediately, he said

Hours after protestors stormed the president's offices, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Wickremesinghe - demanding both officeholders should go.

'Go home Ranil, Go home Gota,' they shouted.

Tear gas and water cannon fired by police and the declaration of both a nationwide state of emergency and a curfew failed to disperse them and the crowd poured into the building.

'All Ranil did was try to protect the Rajapaksas,' said Supun Eranga, a 28-year-old civil servant in the crowd.

Earlier Wednesday, smiling Sri Lankans again thronged the corridors of the president's official residence after his departure, with young couples walking around hand-in-hand, the crowd gathering in quiet celebration.

'People are very happy, because these people robbed our country,' said retired civil servant Kingsley Samarakoon, 74.

'They've stolen too much money, billions and billions.'

But he held little hope for an immediate improvement in Sri Lanka's plight.

'How are people going to run the country without money?' he asked. 'It's a problem.'

For days, people have flocked to the palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction  swimming in the pool, marvelling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows.

Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for the 22 million people living in the country.

People visit Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo on July 12, 2022, after it was overrun by antigovernmental protestors on July 9

People rest inside the President's house after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country's economic crisis

People are photographed visiting the President's house after he fled the country. A resignation would make Rajapaksa Sri Lanka's shortest-lived directly elected president

Sri Lankans of all ages are among the protestors who entered the president's residence, overrunning the guards and police

A man holds a dummy hammer as people visit the President's house after the President fled. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel

If he steps down as promised, Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024.

Wickremesinghe, also 73, would automatically become acting president if Rajapaksa steps down, but has himself announced his willingness to resign if consensus is reached on forming a unity government.

'We can't tear up our constitution,' he said in his statement, not long after protestors burned down his private home.

'We can't allow fascists to take over. We must end this fascist threat to democracy,' he said, adding that the official buildings occupied by protesters must be returned to state control.

The protesters' actions were a repeat of the capture of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home and office on Saturday, when Wickremesinghe's private home was also set ablaze.

The Prime Minister's office confirmed that Rajapaksa had left the country, but said it had no schedule for any presidential resignation announcement.

Protesters occupy the lawn of the Presidential Secretariat on July 13, 2022 in Colombo. Official sources said a suitcase full of documents had also been left behind at the stately mansion along with 17.85 million rupees (about 42,000) in cash

People wait to enter the Presidential Secretariat as soldiers stand guard. The president had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services before he could leave

A man waves Sri Lanka's national flag outside presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 13. If the president steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024

People crowd at presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 10, 2022, a day after it was overrun by protestors. The succession process could take between three days - the minimum time taken to convene parliament - and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute

If Rajapaksa does step down on Wednesday, the vote would take place on July 20, the parliamentary speaker has said

The succession process could take between three days - the minimum time needed for parliament to elect an MP to serve out Rajapaksa's term, which ends in November 2024 - and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute.

The leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 presidential election to Rajapaksa, has said he will stand for the position.

Premadasa is the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated in a Tamil rebel suicide bombing in May 1993.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51-billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.

The island has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.
An ex-paratrooper-turned lorry driver who killed a father when he fell asleep at the wheel of an articulated truck while streaming a Netflix show on his iPad has been jailed for five years and two months.

James Emrys Lewis was travelling in a Scania lorry along the M4 in the early hours of September 24, 2020, but failed to notice traffic had stopped ahead of him due to a rolling police roadblock following a fatal crash on the opposite carriageway.

Lewis' lorry 'catastrophically' ploughed into a highway maintenance car, crushing it between his vehicle and another lorry having been in cruise control at 86 kilometres per hour (53 miles per hour).

Front-seat passenger Simon 'Clodge' Clover, 50, was killed instantly, whilst the driver, Mark Henderson, suffered serious injuries.

The pair were travelling home to Cardiff, Wales, at the time of the collision.

The court heard that collision investigators were able to recover data from the lorry - showing that Lewis didn't brake until just seven metres from the queue of traffic.

Lewis's iPad was streaming a Netflix show at the time, but Lewis claimed that it was in his bag and he was listening to it.

Judge Taylor jailed Lewis for five years and two months, after giving 25 per cent discount for his early plea.

He was also banned from driving for five years, extended by 31 months to take into account the period he will spend in custody.

Lewis must also take an extended retest before he is allowed to hold a licence again.

Front-seat passenger Simon 'Clodge' Clover, 50, (pictured) was killed instantly, whilst the driver, Mark Henderson, suffered serious injuries

Reading a victim statement to the court on behalf of her mother, Mr Clover's daughter, Rebecca, said that the family haven't been able to bring themselves to wash his pillowcase.

The mother's statement described how she was sitting at the dining room table at their home in Cardiff, wondering where her husband was, when she saw a police car driving slowly past.

'I knew they were coming for us.

'I dropped to the floor and was screaming. We will remember that day for the rest of our lives.

'We are struggling to understand and come to terms with [what happened]. We are still waiting for him to come home and tell us he was working away.

'Knowing we will never see him again is the worst feeling in the world.'

'I feel like we are the ones who were handed a life sentence,' Rebecca continued, reading from the statement, occasionally looking to Lewis sat in the dock.

'We are the ones who have lost the most important person in our lives.

Simon Clover, 50, was tragically killed in a crash on the M4 between Chippenham and Bath (pictured) following the collision

'No matter of justice will be good enough. I've lost my soul mate, the love of my life and my children have lost their father. We are devastated beyond repair.'

Mr Henderson suffered a fracture to the left side of his pelvis, which was fixed with screws and a metal plate, a fracture to his ribs on the left of his body, a dislocated left knee which required two operations and a laceration to his spleen.

He also suffered soft tissue injuries to his left heel which required rebuilding surgery.

In all, he spent two months in hospital initially, before returning for a further month. On his return, he caught Covid.

'I struggled to put into words the impact this has had on myself and my family,' he said in a statement read to the court by prosecutor Rob Welling.

'The events of that morning will live with me for the rest of my life. I lost not just a friend and colleague that morning, but I lost myself too.'

Earlier, Mr Welling had said that the night of the crash had been a 'double tragedy'.

He said there was already a fatal crash on the eastbound carriageway of the M4, between junctions 17 and 18, which caused police to shut the entire motorway.

Already down to one lane because of overnight road works, a rolling roadblock was initiated at around 2.20am, an hour before the crash.

An investigation later concluded that at around 3.21am, Mr Henderson noticed the line of traffic, braking 1.2 kilometres out from the collision site.

'The defendant, driving his Scania articulated lorry, failed to notice the single line of traffic ahead of him and he struck Mr Henderson's vehicle from behind.

Sentencing Lewis in front of a packed public gallery at Swindon Crown Court (pictured), Judge Jason Taylor QC said that the 38-year-old should have noticed what was going on ahead of him

'It was crushed catastrophically between the defendant's lorry and another lorry ahead of him.'

Even the driver of the lorry ahead of Mr Henderson and Mr Clover was signed off work for three weeks after injuries to his neck, back, ribs and jaw.

Mr Welling said that Lewis's iPad was streaming a Netflix show at the time, but Lewis claimed that it was in his bag and he was listening to it.

'The conclusion is this: for whatever reason the defendant did not pay attention to the road ahead of him for in excess of one minute. He said that he was asleep and the evidence may support that.'

Mitigating, James Hartson said: 'Nothing that I say in mitigation is intended to minimise the seriousness or impact at all on the families of Mr Clover or Mr Henderson.'

Lewis, of Pretoria Road, Tonyrefail, Wales, was of 'positively good character', he said, without a previous conviction, caution or endorsement on his licence.

He added he served as a paratrooper in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was described by his commanding officer as a 'talented soldier and a man of integrity'.

'He knows that this single incident that fateful morning will define him and that is a shame as far as his otherwise impeccable life has been and is concerned,' Mr Hartson concluded.

Sentencing Lewis in front of a packed public gallery at Swindon Crown Court, Judge Jason Taylor QC said that the 38-year-old should have noticed what was going on ahead of him.

'Your basis of plea states that you had fallen asleep, such a simple action however has had a devastating impact on the two families.

'Not a single person in this courtroom could have failed to be moved by the raw emotion [of the victim statements].

'Nothing I do or say can assuage their grief, anger or sense of loss.

'This accident was wholly pointless and utterly avoidable, and you are solely responsible for that.'
The Ukrainian military attacked civilians using the US-supplied HIMARS rocket launcher, remarked a local official. Struck was Novaya Kakhovka, which is a city located in Russian controlled Kherson region that was freed from the Azov and Nationalist battalions.

US-Supplied Arms Allegedly Target Civilians, Not Military

Chief of the military-civilian administration, Vladimir Leontyev, told an outlet that the result of the attack left many peopled hurt and hundreds were homeless, reported RT.

Leontyev added that using the American weapons system was a crime against the affected civilians. He recalled the dreadful similarities of the United States' atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Today, almost the same thing happened to us, per Tass.

The civilian population has already suffered casualties, there have been injuries, scores of people are now homeless, and dozens of homes have been destroyed. People keep being admitted to hospitals with dozens upon dozens of injuries which is very shocking.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the regional administration, told RIA Novosti that Ukrainian forces used American HIMARS rocket launchers with excellent precision to launch a missile attack on Novaya Kakhovka, noted The Good Word News.

Locals Claim Russian Ammo Depot Explodes

Sergey Bratchuk, the speaker of the Odessa regional administration, and Sergey Khlan, adviser to the president of the Kherson region, confirmed that a Russian ammunition depot exploded in the city. Klan stated that despite the destruction caused by the US HIMARS, Ukraine sympathizers are happy the Ukrainian military forces are close.

Read also: Donald Trump Net Worth 2022: Did Trump Get Richer Since Leaving the US Presidency?

The Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power facility was not affected, however, the surrounding market, hospital, and residential structures were, according to sources cited by the Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS, respectively.

Furthermore, The information that a sizable humanitarian hub was situated just a few meters from the missile strike and that a youngster with a disability remained on duty there for the whole night has already been categorically established.

However, the psychological impact these explosions intend to have won't materialize. First and foremost, this is a crime against the civilian people. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is a criminal, according to Leontyev.

He called the order to attack civilians in a city a crime, an apparent crime that has no statute of limitations. It is a tragedy, as he called it, and an attack is unforgivable.

The Kherson region's regional hub, Novaya Kakhovka, was taken over by Russia on February 24, the first day of their offensive in Ukraine. Until recently, no information in public sources indicated that saltpeter warehouses existed in the city.

Starting on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the special operation after he acknowledged the DPR and LPR, which was supposed to be done by the Minsk agreement.

Unfortunately, Kyiv refused to follow the agreement and instead waged war on Donbas separatists. The information came that Azov and Nationalist battalions would engage in an offensive to recapture Donetsk and Lugansk. Zelensky denied it, as the weapons from the west are used on civilians.

According to officials, the Ukrainian Military used the US HIMARS to attack Novaya Kakhovka with it and cause misery and devastation, like Hiroshima.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Accuses Kyiv of Fostering Genocide Against Separatists in the Donbass Republics

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is bringing fresh energy to Pacific talks after landing in Fiji for a key meeting of regional leaders.

Mr Albanese touched down in Suva on Wednesday for the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders summit, holding bilateral meetings ahead of Thursday's leaders retreat.

The prime minister attempted to draw a contrast to his predecessor Scott Morrison's approach in the Pacific, pointedly saying Australian support 'does not come with strings attached'.

'We understand that we have a responsibility as an advanced economy in the region to provide support to our Pacific island neighbours and indeed that is in Australia's interest,' he said.

Anthony Albanese (left) shook hands with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (right) on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum on Wednesday

Mr Albanese added that he brought 'positive energy' to the forum.

'I've spoken about treating countries with respect. What that means is not just talking but listening,' he said.

'We have, as human beings, two ears and one mouth for a reason - because we should use the ears twice as much as we use our mouth. If you do that, you'll learn from each other.'

Australian government officials believe their new climate policies have been seen as 'refreshing' in the Pacific after the Morrison government's unwillingness to listen to other nations' concerns.

However, activists note Australia's carbon emissions targets still fall short of Paris Agreement goals to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees.

In the afternoon, Mr Albanese held bilateral meetings with leaders from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

With Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, he launched a $83 million joint defence facility in Lami, near Suva.

The Prime Minister touched down in Suva, Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum and said he was bringing 'positive energy' to the meetings (pictured at the leaders meeting with foreign minister Penny Wong)

Mr Albanese (right) met with Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama (left) where the pair launched a $83 million joint defence facility in Lami, near Suva

The Maritime Essential Services Centre will house Fiji navy headquarters, bolster naval capabilities and natural disaster response.

Mr Albanese met with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare after a period of strained relations between the two countries over the Pacific nation's security tie-up with Beijing.

He told Mr Sogavare there was more Australia and the Solomon Islands could do to develop 'relationships of trust and mutual understanding' of joint benefit.

In response, the Solomon Islands leader said there was a friendship between the countries that continued to grow stronger.

'We are family; there are maybe issues, and that makes families stronger,' Mr Sogavare said.

At the height of the diplomatic spat, Mr Sogavare said relations with Australia had 'soured' - but Mr Albanese earlier said the meeting would be cordial.

The Prime Minister met with Solomon Islands leader Manasseh Sogavare after a period of strained relations between the two countries

Tensions have been high since the island nation signed a security deal with China in April this year

'I'll be honest with them. I'll develop a relationship of trust with them, and that means not necessarily agreeing with them the whole time but being able to have an open dialogue,' he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the forum via a videolink, announcing new embassies in Kiribati and Tonga, a renegotiated South Pacific Tuna Treaty worth $US600 million to the region and a new US Pacific strategy.

The address was a rare honour given to a greater power, afforded to the US by Fiji as chair, and supported by Australia.

The red-carpet treatment for the US contrasts with China, which was shut out of the summit.

On Thursday, leaders will spend the whole day in a 'retreat', with forum unity, climate change and regional security high on the agenda.

Four members won't be there, including Kiribati, which withdrew from the forum with complaints of a lack of power-sharing with Micronesian nations.

Other member states to miss the summit include Nauru, absent due to a COVID-19 outbreak, Cook Islands, which is holding local elections within weeks, and Marshall Islands, due to legal issues.
Thousands of primary school children face getting incorrect SAT results after teachers accused a government contractor of losing and mismarking exam papers.

Outsourcing firm Capita delivered the SATs for the Department for Education for the first time this year, after being given a six-year 107million contract in 2018. Pupils had not sat the exams since 2019 because of Covid.

But the company has been accused of losing and mismarking countless exam papers, leaving children unable to access their results.

A poll by Teacher Tapp last week suggested that 20 per cent of primary teachers had Key Stage 2 SATs papers with missing marks.

The NAHT school leaders' union, which represents the majority of primary schools in England, said it was concerned about the management of end-of-primary SATs.

The union said it was contacted by schools that have not only been told that completed papers had gone missing - meaning pupils will not be given a result - but also by schools where marks have been assigned to the wrong pupils.

Frustrated teachers and parents have now taken to Twitter to voice their anger over the matter.

Capita, a business outsourcing company, delivered the Sats for the Department for Education for the first time this year. But the company has been accused of losing and mismarking countless exam papers, leaving children unable to access their results. Stock picture

The NAHT said schools have this year complained of missing marks or incorrectly allocated results for some pupils.

The union said it has voiced its fears with the Department for Education and the Standards and Testing Agency - but said it has been given no clear answers about the scale of the problem.

Wendy Clarke wrote: 'My daughter took her SATs this year and we have just been told she will not get any SAT results because her papers have been lost by the company marking them!!

'In total four out of 20 kids in the school will not get a result. Has this happened to you?? We are very angry!!'

While Eileen Dover said: 'Please sort out the absolute shambles at STA regarding KS2 SATs results. Many pupils' scripts have been recorded as 'missing' giving them no results.

'These papers have been lost by your department.'

While Fiona Bailey wrote: 'Got a call from the head to say my son's results were missing/marked wrong... so the SATs will be guessed results, what a shambles.'

And frustrated teachers and parents have taken to Twitter to voice their anger over the matter

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: 'As things stand, the Government is unable to tell us just how many children have been given incorrect marks for their Sats this year and how many papers have gone missing.

'This is a deeply worrying position to be in. If the Government is unable to identify the scale of the problem, how can leaders have confidence that they will be able to fix it?'

Mr Whiteman added: 'It is unacceptable for the answer to the Government's failed Sats delivery to be for children not to be given any marks at all for their work. Parents will understandably be outraged by that.

'And for schools to then find, on closer investigation, that some of the marks they have been given are incorrect hints at complete chaos. It should not be up to schools to have to spend hours double-checking everything they've been told.

'The delivery of these tests has been beset with problems from start to finish. We need an immediate investigation into what has gone wrong and the Government must take urgent action to fix it.'

Mr Whiteman added: 'If schools are obliged to spend the time implementing these tests, the least parents and children should be able to expect is a system that operates well.

NAHT has been contacted by schools that have not only been told that some completed Sats papers have gone missing, meaning that their pupils will not be given a result, but also by schools where marks have been assigned to the wrong pupils. Stock picture

'For a Government that prides itself on efficient delivery, this is the latest in a long line of failures and mismanagements when it comes to exams and assessments and it simply isn't good enough.

'School staff all play their part, take it seriously and do exactly what is expected - and the penalties for mistakes are severe. We should be able to expect the same standards from Government.

'This needs to be put right urgently and the Government needs to listen to school leaders on what has gone wrong so that it does not happen again.'

A spokesman for Capita said: 'Over the testing period we collected, scanned and marked 3.8 million test scripts for over 16,000 schools on behalf of the Standards and Testing Agency.

'A small number of schools have scripts missing. The scripts could be missing for a range of reasons, including that scripts were returned after the marking period, lost during processing, or because a pupil may not have sat a test.

'We understand that this is frustrating for the affected schools and we apologise to them for any errors we have made. We are working with them to understand the reasons why a pupil may be showing as missing and any appropriate next steps to resolve the situation.'

A Department for Education spokesman said: 'While some 3.8 million test scripts have been processed, alongside results for over 99 per cent of pupils, we are aware that a number of scripts were not included when results were made available last week. We wrote to all schools affected in advance.

'We recognise this will be frustrating for those schools. Our delivery partner, Capita, is investigating all cases of missing results and working to reduce the number as far as possible, while keeping schools up to do date. We expect to make significant progress on this matter this week.'
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held an informal gathering among his top national donors as well as fellow GOP governors and candidates to 'get to know one another' over drinks and cigars as his gubernatorial re-election bid nears - and as he positions himself for a potential presidential run in 2024.

The event in Fort Lauderdale, which sources described to Politico as 'the most significant assembly of Republican governors outside of the RGA so far this year,' featured a number of notable GOP luminaries.

Governors Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma and Bill Lee of Tennessee were all said to be present, along with Arkansas gubernatorial candidate and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Maine Governor and current gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage and Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt.

The presence of loyal Trump lieutenant Huckabee Sanders at a confab for the former's potential rival might raise eyebrows, as Trump endorsed her nomination to run for Arkansas governor.

Conservative media figures present included Buck Sexton, Lisa Boothe and Josh Hammer.

The event was seen as an informal and 'lightly scheduled' opportunity to connect key donors and conservative media figures with Republican governors and candidates allied to DeSantis.

The day-long conference served to shore up and consolidate DeSantis' support base for his upcoming gubernatorial re-election race to keep his seat as Governor of Florida.

Florida Governor Ron DeStantis held an informal gathering among his top national donors as well as fellow GOP governors and candidates to 'get to know one another' over drinks and cigars as his gubernatorial re-election bid nears - and as he positions himself for a potential presidential run in 2024

The day-long conference served to shore up and consolidate DeSantis' support base for his upcoming gubernatorial re-election race to keep his seat as Governor of Florida. Pictured: DeSantis reaches out to firefighters and dignitaries after accepting the endorsement of the Florida Professional Firefighters in his Florida re-election bid

It featured a 'get to know you session' over 'drinks and cigars' and panels moderated by DeSantis that introduced the personalities and policies of the visiting governors and conservative pundits.

However, any proposed run in 2024 would likely see DeSantis come up in direct competition against former President Trump in the presidential primaries.

A recent New York Times / Sienna College poll put Trump's support among GOP voters to be the 2024 presidential candidate in a narrow minority for the first time, as 49 per cent said they wanted it to be the 2016 winner.

Ron DeSantis was next, but with just half the support at 25 per cent. However, he is the challenger that party insiders view as the most potent threat to Trump.

There is a substantial drop-off after that, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz getting 7 per cent support, former Vice President Mike Pence getting 6 per cent, former South Carolina Gov. and UN ambassador Nikki Haley at 6 per cent, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 2 percent.

Former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was thought to be present at DeSantis' informal get-together

So far DeSantis has refused to publicly rule out a run for president in 2024 when given the opportunity, even if it means running against Trump.

When asked whether he would challenge Trump in the primaries during an interview with Fox News last month, DeSantis replied 'nice try, man.'

And there are reports that DeSantis is set to hold another private fundraiser for his gubernatorial re-election campaign next week in the state of Utah that is expected to draw some of the country's wealthiest Republican donors.

Sources who briefed CNBC on the matter asked not to be named due to the fact that the DeSantis campaign is trying to keep the event, in a state 2,000 miles away from Florida, on the down-low and away from Trump's attention.

Invites have been sent verbally, instead of by email, to limit any paper trail, a source said.

Trump has said that he gets along with DeSantis, who supported him in 2016, but the former president has made strong efforts to assert his dominance within the party, picking favorites in key primaries and trying to defeat Republicans who voted to impeach him.

Trump likes to boast that his endorsement for GOP primary candidates is the key to their election victories and he would be a formidable foe to DeSantis.

Though the Florida governor is coming to Utah to raise money for his 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign, fundraisers held in far-flung states like Utah often suggest national aspirations.

Utah is one of the reddest states in the union, having voted for the Republican candidate in each of the last six elections. They voted for Trump over Biden by 20 per cent in 2020.

Trump likes to boast that his endorsement for GOP primary candidates is the key to their election victories and he would be a formidable foe to DeSantis, here pictured together during a homecoming campaign rally at the BB&T Center on Nov. 26, 2019 in Sunrise, Florida

DeSantis' re-election campaign has already raised $96million from GOP megadonors for the Nov 8 vote, where he will face off against a Democrat challenger who will be determined when the primary elections take place on Aug 23.

Former governor Charlie Crist was seen as the strong favorite, holding a 21 point lead over nearest challenger Nikki Fried in June and having raised four times the funding from donors at around $8million.

But the past month has seen a collapse in Crist's support, and the latest poll by Real Clear Politics put both Crist and Fried neck and neck at 39 points each.

Pundits in the media see the Democratic primaries as mainly a sideshow, with a re-election for DeSantis, a nationally known figure and rising GOP star, as their likeliest outcome.

Re-election in November is seen as a vital step in any potential presidential run in 2024.

Ron DeSantis' team was contacted for comment.

But former President Trump may have problems of a different nature to overcome before he can formally run as a candidate in 2024.

Rep. Liz Cheney said that former White House Pat Cipollone's testimony 'met expectations' while she claimed it was 'nonsense' to argue that former President Trump was misled into believing the election had been stolen from him

Panel vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) of the January 6 committee claimed it was 'nonsense' to argue that Trump was misled into believing the election had been stolen from him as the committee played testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone claiming he told Trump to concede after Dec 14.

The Wyoming Republican, ranking member on the Jan 6 committee, said yesterday the committee had seen a 'change' in how Trump-allied witnesses and lawyers had approached the committee's investigation

'Today, there appears to be a general recognition that the committee has established key facts including that virtually everyone close to President Trump - his Justice Department officials, his White House advisors, his White House Counsel, his campaign - all told him the 2020 election was not stolen,' Cheney said.

She said this had forced Trump's attorneys to 'change the strategy' for defending him. 'Now the argument seems to be that President Trump was manipulated by others outside the administration that he was persuaded to ignore his closest advisors and that he was incapable of telling right from wrong.'

The committee played a clip where White House counsel Pat Cipollone told them that by mid-December he had urged the former president to give up his election fraud claims after court after court ruled against him.

'Did I believe he should concede the election at a point in time? Yes I did.'
A man has died after drinking an entire bottle of Jaegermeister in just two minutes to win a 10 bet at a South African liquor store.

The local resident, who has not been named, drank the whole bottle of the 35 per cent spirit before collapsing.

He visited the store in Mashamba village in Limpopo and took part in the challenge to see who could drink a bottle the fastest.

A man has died after drinking an entire bottle of Jaegermeister in just two minutes to win a 10 bet at a South African liquor store

The prize was R200 in cash, the equivalent of around 10.

After falling to the ground, the man, aged between 25 and 30, was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An inquest has now been opened into his death.

Footage shared online shows people cheering and clapping as he gulped down the German digestif.

After finishing, he was seen swaying side to side, propped up by a friend.

The local resident, who has not been named, drank the whole bottle of the 35 per cent spirit before collapsing

Limpopo police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo said: 'Police in Waterval outside Louis Trichardt have opened a case of inquest following an incident of apparent misuse of alcohol that took place at one of the local liquor outlets at Mashumba Village where the patrons allegedly participated in what they called a 'drinking competition.

'The winner who could consume the entire bottle of Jagermeister within a specified time, would get R200 cash.

'One of them immediately collapsed thereafter and was taken to the local clinic where he was certified dead.'
The step-brother of Cleo Smith's kidnapper has been accused of abducting a nine-year-old girl from a park before he indecently dealt with her.

Ashley Bropho, 39, allegedly approached the girl at Bennett park in Doubleview in Perth's northern suburbs on Tuesday morning and coerced her to come back to his home 300 metres away.

Western Australian police later arrested and charged Bropho, claiming he encouraged her to engage in sexual behaviour once they arrived at his residence.

Bropho is the step-brother of Terence Kelly, who abducted four-year-old Cleo Smith, 4, in October last year in a case that made headlines around the world.

Cleo Smith was abducted while on a camping trip with her family in October, 2021

Perth man Ashley Bropho has been accused of kidnapping a nine-year-old girl from Bennett Park (pictured) in Doubleview, Western Australia before he indecently dealt with her

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36 (pictured), has been charged over the kidnapping of Cleo Smith

Kelly, 36, held Smith captive for 18 days after abducting her from a campground in Carnarvon, in the northwest of the state.

He was later arrested by police and pled guilty to kidnapping the little girl.

Kelly is currently behind bars and is awaiting sentencing. He faced additional charges in January for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

The link between Kelly and Bropho was initially alluded to during Bropho's first appearance at Perth Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

His defence lawyer hinted at it when he argued for his client's identity to be suppressed due to a similar case involving a relative.

But Magistrate Peter Malone denied the request as he believed making Bropho's identity public would not risk his chance of a fair trial.

It has been revealed that Bropho is the step-brother of Terence Kelly (pictured) who kidnapped Cleo Smith from a campground in Carnarvon last October and held her captive for 18 days

Cleo Smith is pictured after being reunited with mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon (pictured)

Officers from the Child Abuse Squad arrested the 39-year-old after the girl he allegedly kidnapped left his residence, went back to Bennett Park and told family members.

Bropho and the girl were not known to each other.

It was revealed in court that Bropho was part of a 'community inclusion program' - for people living with psycho-social disabilities.

He also had a carer who was in Doubleview at the time the alleged abduction took place.

Bropho faces a string of charges including two counts of indecently dealing with a child under 13, one count of kidnapping and one count of encouraging a child to engage in sexual behaviour.

He was remanded in custody and will front the court again on July 27.
Abi Fisher's family paid tribute to a 'beautiful angel' after her body was found on Monday and her husband is accused of murder

A husband has appeared in court today accused of murdering his wife after her body was found in a country lane on Monday six months after the birth of their daughter via IVF.

Matthew Fisher, 29, is charged with the murder of 29-year-old Abi Fisher after she disappeared from her home in Castleford last Friday, sparking a major search operation.

Dressed in a prison issue grey jumper and jogging bottoms and wearing a face mask, Fisher spoke only to confirm his name, age and address when he appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court this morning.

He was not asked to enter a plea during the brief hearing and he will appear before Leeds Crown Court tomorrow.

Members of Abi's heartbroken family, who were present for the hearing today, paid an emotional tribute to her.

In a statement, they said: 'Our beautiful Abi. Words cannot describe how utterly devastated we are at the loss of you. We miss you dearly.

'We promise to make you proud every single day, and will continue to bring up your amazing little baby girl the way you would.

'Heaven may have gained an angel but we have lost you and that for us seems like the most unjust act to happen.

'We as a family would like to thank every single person who showed enough heart and love to look for our precious angel. Words will never describe how much this means.

'For now our beautiful angel. We love you so much.'

Her family wept as District Judge Charlotte Holland referred the case to the crown court due to the serious nature of the allegation.

Tributes have poured in for the West Yorkshire mother, with many saying 'it is a cruel world'

Abi Fisher who has been described as 'beautiful', and 'amazing', married Matthew in 2017

Abi had not been seen since she left her home in Castleford, West Yorks., on Friday night.

Her family said her disappearance was 'completely out of character' and a major search operation was launched.

But West Yorkshire Police confirmed on Monday that they had found a body in undergrowth off Southmoor Road, near Brierley, South Yorks., and identified as that of Abi.

During today's hearing, District Judge Charlotte Holland told Fisher: 'This case is too serious to run in this court.

'You will be sent to Leeds Crown Court at 9.30 tomorrow. You will remain in custody until then.'

Tributes were paid to Abi, who was a Year 3 teacher at Featherstone All Saints CofE Academy, near Pontefract.

In a statement released by the school, head teacher Matthew Jones said: 'She will be remembered as an enthusiastic, kind and caring teacher and colleague, who gave her all each day.

'In particular, her passion for science inspired countless children over the years - she made a real difference to so many lives.

'We are all devastated by Abi's tragic death, and will continue to pray for her and her family.

'As a school we are supporting each other through this very difficult time.'

Friends and colleagues also paid tribute, describing her as an amazing teacher who loved her job.

One school mother said: 'Mrs Abi Fisher, a teacher at my daughter's school, an absolutely amazing person.'

Family member Alex Johnson said: 'I have no words.' Jordan Kenworthy said: 'Abi was such a nice lass. Went to school with her and she wouldn't hurt a fly.

Hayley Power added: 'Abi was a wonderful person and an amazing teacher to the children in our school.

'Unbelievably kind and caring loved all her colleagues and the children in school.'

Abi and Matthew were married in 2017 and the pair had a baby girl just six months ago, following IVF treatments.

Pictured: Abi Fisher was described as a 'beautiful angel' in a tribute shared by her family

Abi, who has been described as 'beautiful', and 'amazing', married Matthew Fisher in 2017, and the pair had a baby girl six months ago following IVF treatments

Her husband 29-year-old Fisher was charged with her murder yesterday and has been remanded in custody.

Abi's mother Andrea Richardson said at the time of her disappearance: 'Our daughter Abi is still missing from Walton Park Street, Castleford. She has a six-month-old baby girl who needs her mummy.'

According to Yorkshire Live, her husband Fisher asked people to sign a petition for other people going through IVF by explaining it was 'postcode lottery' but he was grateful for his 'beautiful daughter'.

He said: 'The National institute for care and health excellence recommends that everyone should be offered three full rounds of IVF, and just like no one wants to be born with fertility issues no one should be discriminated against based on where they live.'
The bodies of three children were found inside a submerged car pulled from a pond in Indianapolis, Indiana last night, police said.

The children were discovered after the body of an adult man was found in the water.

The bodies are thought to belong to Kyle Moorman and his children, an Indianapolis family who have been missing for a week.

Indiana Metro police said they did not know what had happened to bring the tragedy about.

'We are still working to positively identify the individuals involved but there is commonality with the Moorman family,' Assistant Chief Chris Bailey at the news conference at the scene.

'The Marion County Coroner's Office will make all identifications and issue a cause of death.'

The adult is believed to be Kyle Moorman, and the three children in the car thought to be his children, Kyran, one-year-old, Kyannah, two, and Kyle Moorman II, five.

The bodies is a man and three children have been pulled out of a pond in Indianapolis. The adult is believed to be Kyle Moorman, and the three children in the car thought to be his children, Kyran, one-year-old, Kyannah, two, and Kyle Moorman II, five

'We are still working to positively identify the individuals involved but there is commonality with the Moorman family,' Assistant Chief Chris Bailey at the news conference at the scene

'At this point all signs point to them.,' Bailey said. 'We want to extend our condolences to the family and friends hurting tonight knowing their loved ones are no longer with us.'

The family disappeared on July 6 after Moorman said he was driving them to his brother's house for a fishing expedition.

Yesterday, sister Mariah Moorman had said the family was offering a reward of $10,000 to anyone who could help them find the family.

Mariah and dozens of other family members and friends searched the area looking for the man and his children for several days before the bodies were recovered from the pond.

But the vehicle dredged from the pond matches the description of the one Moorman was said to have been driving and it is strongly believed that the bodies, although currently unidentified, belong to Moorman and his three children.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department reported the disappearance of the family on Sunday four days after they were last seen.

The bodies of three children were found in a submerged car that police pulled out of a pond in Indianapolis

They initiated their search at the pond when investigations determined that Moorman's cell phone last pinged a tower nearby.

'The is heartbreaking for everyone involved regardless of the circumstances. We know a man and three kids are dead tonight. We don't know why and we don't know how,' the officer said.

'We all need to support the family and wrap our arms around them tonight and in the days that are to come as they grieve this loss.'

William Muse, a family member of Kyle Moorman's mother, said Tuesday he and other relatives were frustrated investigators didn't search the pond sooner after the man and his children were reported missing.

'They should have at least tried,' Muse said.
Priti Patel was today blasted for refusing to appear before MPs to be grilled over the Rwanda migration plan, passport delays and Met Police failings  with the Home Secretary blaming 'changes in the government'.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee was due to question Ms Patel this morning but she cancelled her attendance late yesterday afternoon.

She wrote to inform the committee of the decision shortly after ruling herself out of the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader, having spent days mulling over whether to stand.

Ms Patel cited 'recent changes in Government' and to her ministerial team as well as 'wider unprecedented changes' as the reasons why she was no longer able to attend the session, and asked for it to be postponed until September.

But Chairman Dame Diana Johnson said the excuse 'didn't make sense' given she was 'still the Home Secretary'.

The last-minute cancellation also sparked fury from committee members, with shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper accusing the Government of being in 'total chaos'.

Priti Patel at a reception of the 1922 Committee at the Houses of Parliament last night

The Commons Home Affairs Committee was due to question Ms Patel this morning but she cancelled her attendance late yesterday afternoon

Paula Barker, Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, said: 'Utterly appalling that the Home Secretary has declined to attend our session this morning. This Government is simply not functioning & hates being held to account. Totally unacceptable.'

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: 'If Priti Patel is so afraid to answer for her disastrous policies, maybe it's time she dropped them.

'Conservative ministers are clearly far too engrossed in political infighting to do their jobs. The British people deserve better.'

Ms Patel was due to attend alongside her permanent and second permanent secretaries, Matthew Rycroft and Tricia Hayes.

The committee said in a tweet: 'This morning at 10.00am we were due to be questioning the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. She has declined to attend our session.'

In a letter to the committee, Ms Patel said scrutiny from its members is 'always a priority for the department and me', adding: 'The committee will be aware of the recent changes in Government, and in particular to the ministerial team in my department. Regrettably, as a result of this and the wider unprecedented changes since I agreed to give evidence, I will no longer be able to meet with the committee tomorrow.

'I apologise for the inconvenience caused to committee members and recognise the work your staff will have undertaken, but I would like to reassure you that I have asked my officials to establish a new date as soon after summer recess as is practical.'

Dame Diana Johnson said the news was 'extremely disappointing' when she wrote to respond today, adding that the committee expects Ms Patel to appear to give evidence next week as 'the last available opportunity before the summer recess'.

Ms Patel wrote to inform the committee of the decision shortly after ruling herself out of the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader, having spent days mulling over whether to stand

She said: 'We have been given to understand that, despite the Prime Minister's resignation last week, we still have a functioning Government in place, as signalled by the appointment of a number of ministers over the last few days, including in your own department. As such, it is essential that our committee is able to scrutinise the policy and actions of this Government, and, in these uncertain times, even more so.

'You are still the Home Secretary and, in a statement you released last week, you implied that you did not resign from Government because you felt 'the position of Home Secretary demands the holder of office to be entirely focused on the business of government and our national security'.

'We agree that the work of the Home Office and the role of the Home Secretary are indeed vitally important. We would therefore ask why, a week on, you now feel it is acceptable to avoid a key element of the role - facing up to much-needed scrutiny of that essential work.

'The ''business of government'' absolutely requires scrutiny by Parliament.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The Home Secretary will appear at a later date, to be agreed with the committee.'

Yesterday officials revealed no further flights would leave for Rwanda until the Tory leadership contest is over.

Ms Patel was set to be asked about the programme in addition to failings at the Met, which is currently in special measures.

The Home Secretary has not said who she will be backing to become next PM, despite pleas from rivals on the Thatcherite right to unite behind one candidate.

But there are initial signs that MPs who had been in her group are shifting to Liz Truss.

Dame Diana Johnson said the news was 'extremely disappointing' when she wrote to respond today

In a statement announcing she would not enter the race, she said: 'I am grateful for the encouragement and support colleagues and Party members have offered me in recent days in suggesting that I enter the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party. I will not be putting my name forward for the ballot of MPs.

'As Home Secretary I have always put the security and safety of our country and the national interest first and my focus is to continue working to get more police on our streets, support our amazing security services to keep our country safe and control our borders.

'As a lifelong and committed Conservative, I will always make the case for freedom, enterprise and opportunity and work with colleagues to deliver these values in Government.

'Like all Conservative MPs and Party members, I will be listening to cases being put forward by the candidates standing for the leadership of the Party and trust the contest will be conducted in a good spirit that brings our Party together.'
An Afghan migrant who raped and sexually assaulted multiple young boys and girls defended his vile abuse as 'normal' cultural practice in his home country.

Mohammed Rahman Arsala, 32, moved to Saint-Brieuc in northern France in 2018 where he committed a string of offences.

He was jailed last year for 15 years for raping a 12-year-old boy and was hauled back before the courts last week to answer for further offences against children.

The court heard in July 2021 how Arsala followed the underage boy off a bus, grabbed his arm and took him to an abandoned warehouse to carry out the attack in August 2018.

After returning the boy to the park, a group of underage girls who had previously been bothered by Arsala saw the distressed look on the boy's face and alerted police and he was arrested later that day.

Arsala was jailed for a further three years for the two attacks against the young girls, extending his prison sentence to 18 years (file image)

The defence lawyer asked the judge to consider the 'cultural element' of the case, saying it was common practice for men to abuse underage boys in Afghanistan.

The defendant said: 'In my country, it is normal to have sexual relations with young boys because women are inaccessible. When I arrived in France I did not know your laws, but since I learned that it was prohibited'.

The practice of Bacha Bazi is illegal in Afghanistan but perpetrators are rarely punished, with many powerful officials taking part.

Prosecutors said of the defendant: 'He tells us that if he had been married, that would never have happened because he would have had a wife to satisfy his needs But does he, therefore, see others only as objects?'

Last week, Arsala was taken from his cell in Brest to answer for other sex crimes committed in France.

Before the rape of the 12-year-old boy, the sex criminal assaulted and harassed two underage girls.

In April 2018, he approached one girl claiming to need help in his broken English and lured her to his room where he locked the door.

The young victim said, according to Actu: 'He slammed me against the wall holding me down with his knee, he was way too strong, I was trying to resist, but I couldn't get away, he was trying to kiss me and tear my clothes off, I was terrified, he ended up telling me that if I wanted to leave I had to touch his penis.

Mohammed Rahman Arsala, 32, moved to Saint-Brieuc (pictured) in northern France in 2018 where he committed a string of offences

'When I told him I would call the police, he immediately opened the door.'

Just days later, she was hospitalised after a suicide attempt, which happened another five times.

Arsala said in court: 'I wanted to touch her a little, but she wouldn't. If she was a decent girl, she wouldn't have come up to my room.'

The following month, another underage girl filed a complaint with police, saying he had pleaded with her to have sex with him.

She said: 'He was insistent and pursued me, I was very scared, I warned my parents who called the police.'

Arsala was jailed for a further three years for the two attacks against the young girls, extending his prison sentence to 18 years.

After serving his term, he will be deported from France.

The sex pest has also been accused of taking photos of young children at school while others reported him masturbating on a beach.

In prison, he acted inappropriately towards a female nurse and was moved to another facility where he was accused of sexually assaulting an inmate.
Barack Obama sent a scathing email to ex-White House doctor Ronny Jackson demanding he stop his 'unprofessional behavior' accusing him of posting a 'cheap shot' about President Joe Biden's cognitive health.

The Republican representative made statements about 'the concerning mental gaffes' of 79-year-old Biden on Twitter during the 2020 campaign season.

As the former White House physician to Bush, Obama and Trump, he was qualified to make the criticisms, leading Obama to send a furious message to defend his Democratic colleague.

Jackson claims in his new book, Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values, that he did not respond to the email but considered calling the former president.

'So, upon reflection, I thought, 'You know what? Screw that guy!' I'm not doing it. I just walked away from it, which was the last time I had any contact with [Obama].'

Barack Obama (pictured in June) sent a scathing email to an ex-White House doctor to stop his 'unprofessional behavior' after he posted a 'cheap shot' Tweet about President Joe Biden's cognitive health

An image of the message from Obama shows the former president telling Representative Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, to stop his 'unprofessional behavior' and claimed he 'will expect more of you in the future'

The Texas Republican wrote of the 2020 campaign season: 'Biden was on TV again, making crazy statements and concerning mental gaffes; he didn't know what state he was in or what office he was campaigning for.'

'He apparently thought at one point that he was running for the Senate and later couldn't remember what state he was campaigning in,' he added. 'This had been going on for months and was getting worse.'

Jackson was also running for Congress in 2020 and tweeted about rival Biden's cognitive 'frailty': 'Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!'

Within just 20 minutes of his Tweet, Representative Jackson received an email from President Obama, he claims in his new book.

It read: 'I have made a point of not commenting on your service in my successor's administration and have always spoken highly of you both in public and in private. You always served me and my family well, and I have considered you not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend.

'That's why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter. It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held.

'It was also disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration.

'You were the personal physician to the President of the United States as well as an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I expect better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future.'

The former White House physician to Bush, Obama and Trump, GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson made statements about 'the concerning mental gaffes' of 79-year-old Biden, which infuriated Obama

In 2020, Jackson was also running for Congress, and tweeted about rival Biden's cognitive 'frailty': 'Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!'

While media outlets often claimed 45th President Trump was mentally unwell, Jackson described the now 76-year-old as in 'excellent' mental shape, adding that he 'had absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever'.

Jackson told Fox News Digital: 'It's awfully ironic now, considering [Biden's mental fitness] is all anyone, including the liberal media, can talk about.

'Let it be known, as the White House physician for the last three presidents, I was the first to say that we have a serious problem with this man's cognitive demise, and he will not make it four years in office.

'I've always said there would come a point where it wouldn't be just me talking about it, but his own party, and sadly, that has proven to be the case. Joe Biden's cognitive failures are on full display for the whole world to see.'
The Chinese H-20 next-generation bomber should just beat the B-21 in making the first flight, according to sources. The US and China compete on who could be the top dog regarding military forces. But so far, it seems that China is moving ahead faster than the US in this aspect.

Race To Field World's First 6th Generation Fighter

This is evident in various areas, including the capabilities of their aircraft carriers and their stranglehold on the development of fifth-generation fighters, Military Watch Magazine reported.

While one of the most visible races to accomplish a specific capability has been the race to field the world's first sixth-generation fighter, which no other competitor is thought to be even close to completing, another has been the race to field the first and most effective 21st-century bomber.

Because of delays to its rival PAK DA program and a focus on restarting production of modernized Tu-160s from the Cold War era, China and the United States are once again the only countries competing for H-20 Next Generation Bomber and B-21 programs.

During the Cold War, only the Soviet Union and the United States had intercontinental range bombers on the field.

Read Also: Chinese Fighter Pilots Engages US Allies in Risky Maneuvers Over Indo-Pacific

The advanced bomber will be the first long-range bomber for China, while the B-21 will take the place of the troublesome B-1B and B-2 fleets in the United States. The formation of additional squadrons to increase the fleet and Air Force service.

China's first fifth-generation fighter, the J-20, was developed at the Xian Aircraft Corporation 603 Aircraft Design Institute in the early 2000s. It is rumored that the J-20 will employ the WS-15 engine, which was confirmed to have started test flights on the J-20 in January 2022.

The H-20 is believed to have the American mainland as its primary target, whereas the B-21 is said to be being developed mainly with bombing missions against China in mind, giving greater relevance to the competition between the two programs.

Before being postponed until 2022 and finally 2023, the B-21 was initially scheduled to fly for the first time in 2021, while the construction on the initial prototype started in 2019, according to Aerotime Hub.

China's H-20 Bomber

The Chinese bomber, on the other hand, was widely reported to be set to make its first flight in the first week of July 2022. State-run media outlet Global Times was among those to highlight that a new type of aircraft was set to commence its first flight soon.

Other outlets highlighted that the aircraft would have "strategic, historic significance," which would aptly describe the country's first bomber capable of reaching different continents.

The United States'States' worries about a rising Chinese advantage would be confirmed if the H-20 flew before the B-21 since the East Asian nation's defense industry can manufacture armaments very noticeably faster and with more cutting-edge capabilities than their American competitors.

It would affect several programs, not the least of which would be sixth-generation fighters, where there is a strong likelihood that China will deploy such aircraft first, per National Defense.

China's H-20 next-generation bomber is poised to be operational sooner than the B-21 of the US.

Related Article: USAF Initiates Training F-35 Squadrons To Face Chinese J-20 as Tensions Rise in the Indo-Pacific

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Penny Mordaunt waded into the trans right row today as she launched her Tory leadership campaign by saying women cannot have penises.

The trade minister spoke out as she sought to beat back criticism from her rivals over previous comments in favour of trans rights.

They have attacked her for previously saying 'trans men are men and trans women are women', with accusations she is 'a committed warrior for the trans lobby' and of risking 'enormous harm to women's rights and children'.

At a packed campaign launch in Westminster - where seats were adorned with fliers bearing her face, the 49-year-old referenced her background as a Royal Navy reservist as she vowed to return to traditional Conservative values of 'low tax, small state and personal responsibility'.

She also tried to woo MPs by offering them 'social capital pots' to spend in their constituencies.

But it was her attempts to outflank rivals aiming to make the culture war a key battleground that won her the loudest applause.

'I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said ''Every prime minister needs a Willie''. A woman like me doesn't have one,' she said.

One of the frontrunners to enter No 10, the trade minister warned other Tory leadership hopefuls on Wednesday that they are right to perceive her as a 'threat to their campaign'.

The trade minister spoke out as she sought to beat back criticism from her rivals over previous comments in favour of trans rights in a race to replace Boris Johnson lurching further and further to the right.

Asked about her rivals attempts to make the culture war a key battleground, she won loud applause as she said: 'I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said ''Every prime minister needs a Willie (Whitelaw, above left)''. A woman like me doesn't have one.'

She spoke at a packed campaign launch in Westminster - where seats were adorned with stickers bearing her face

Trans rights: where to Tory hopefuls stand? Kemi Badenoch: Critic who banned gender-neutral toilets at her campaign launch. Suella Braverman: Has attacked maternity legislation for referring to a 'pregnant person' giving birth instead of a woman. Rishi Sunak: At the weekend an ally said the ex-chancellor was 'critical of recent trends to erase women via the use of clumsy, gender neutral language'. Nadhim Zahawi: Has pledged to 'focus on letting children be children, protecting them from damaging and inappropriate nonsense being forced on them by radical activists.' Tom Tugendhat: Told Sky: 'We must never take away what it means to be a biological woman, but we must respect people who are in a different gender identity.' Jeremy Hunt: Yet to launch his campaign but an ally told Pink News he had been on 'a journey of understanding' on LGBTQ+ issues. Liz Truss: Yet to launch her campaign but has previously backed a feminist university professor at the centre of a row over her views - saying 'no one should be targeted and harassed simply for holding an opinion'. Penny Mordaunt: 'I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said ''Every prime minister needs a Willie''. A woman like me doesn't have one.' Advertisement

The double entendre comment was first made by Mrs Thatcher about her loyal supporter, William Whitelaw.

A former Tory leadership contender he served her loyally as deputy PM until handed a peerage in 1983. He died in 1999 aged 81.

The row over trans rights centres mainly on men who have transitioned to become women.

Critics have voiced concerns over their use of female-only spaces such as public toilets and refuges, on safety grounds.

There are also concerns over the treatment of pre-pubescent children who say they want to undergo gender reassignment.

The row has become increasingly bitter, with critics including Harry Potter author JK Rowling and academic Germaine Greer coming under attack from activists demanding they are ostracised.

It has provided fertile ground for politicians on the right to attack their opponents.

Portsmouth North MP Ms Mordaunt first declared that 'trans women are women' in a 2018 interview with the PinkNews website.

She repeated that stance from the House of Commons' despatch box in March last year, when she told MPs: 'Trans men are men and trans women are women.'

Some Conservative commentators claimed Ms Mordant's her previous remarks had 'ruined her chances' of becoming PM.

And the campaign group Conservatives for Women (CfW) also hit out at her 'staunch views about trans rights'.

A spokesman said: She has always been a committed warrior for the trans lobby.

Her promotion of mantras and failure to see how this may cause enormous harm to womens rights and children raises questions over her judgment.

At the launch event, which was packed out with supporters and journalists, Ms Mordaunt pledged to deliver a 'relentless focus' on cost-of-living issues, cutting fuel duty and raising tax thresholds.

She said she would fix a 'broken' Whitehall machine through the 'white heat of modernisation' with a 'tighter' cabinet.

She brushed off claims that she was less well-known than other candidates, saying 'I am the candidate that Labour fear the most'.

At her launch event at Westminster's Cinnamon Club, Ms Mordaunt declined to describe Mr Johnson as a good Prime Minister, instead thanking him for delivering Brexit.

But she insisted she is 'very different' from her would-be predecessor but indicated she would not call an early general election to win her own mandate if she entered No 10.

She argued that having stood on the same platform as Mr Johnson and other Tories in the 2019 election 'we have a mandate and a big majority'.

'I think the British people want us to deliver on that now,' she said.

But part of the reason Tory MPs eventually ejected Mr Johnson after a series of damaging scandals is that they feared retaining their seats at the next general election.

'I'm the candidate that Labour fear the most - and they're right to,' she told Conservatives and reporters closely crammed into the sweltering room.

The long-term Brexit backer said the Government supply side reforms would yield a 'Brexit dividend' on investment, infrastructure and innovation.

She promised to put 'power back into the hands of parents' through personal budgets which allow every child access to their entitlement to subsidised childcare at any time prior to them starting school.

The Portsmouth North MP vowed to restore 'standards and trust' if she takes over from Mr Johnson in September after Tory Party members vote on the final two candidates put forward by Conservative MPs.

Ms Mordaunt has so far performed well, gaining public declarations of support from Conservative colleagues to help her progress through the first phases of the race.

She has also performed strongly in the limited polls of the Tory membership available, putting her firmly among the favourites which also include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The author shared images of Haris before and after her transition

The best-selling author Khaled Hosseini has revealed his 'strong and undaunted' daughter Haris has come out as transgender.

Hosseini, who wrote best-sellers Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, said he would be by his 21-year-old daughter's side 'every step of the way'.

The Afghan-American author shared images of Haris as a little boy and after her transition as he said he had 'never been prouder of her'.

Hosseini said that he has seen first hand how complicated transitioning is - emotionally, physically, socially and psychologically - adding that Haris has met each challenge with 'grace, patience, and wisdom'.

The best-selling author Khaled Hosseini has revealed his 'strong and undaunted' daughter Haris has come out as transgender (pictured)

The Afghan-American author shared images of Haris as a little boy (pictured) and after her transition as he said he had 'never been prouder of her'

Hosseini wrote on Instagram: 'Yesterday, my twenty-one year old daughter Haris came out to the world as transgender.

'I have known about Haris journey since last year and Ive watched her navigate some very trying personal times. Transitioning is such a complicated undertakingemotionally, physically, socially, psychologicallybut Haris has met each challenge with grace, patience, and wisdom.'

Hosseini added: 'As a father, I have never been prouder of her. I am delighted to now have not one but two beautiful daughters.'

Hosseini has two children - Haris and daughter Farah - with his wife Roya Hosseini.

The author added: 'Most of all, I am inspired by Haris fearlessness, her courage to share with the world her true self. She has taught me and our family so much about bravery, about truth. About what it means to live authentically.

'I know this process was painful for her, fraught with grief and anxiety. She is sober to the cruelty trans people are subjected to daily. But she is strong and undaunted.'

Hosseini, who wrote best-sellers Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, said he would be by his 21-year-old daughter's side 'every step of the way'. Pictured: Haris with Hosseini before her transition

He continued: 'I love my daughter. I will be by her side every step of the way, as will our family. We stand behind her. Its a privilege to watch her enter the world as the beautiful, wise, and brilliant woman that she is. May God bless her.'

Haris studied political science and human rights at Columbia University and whilst at school in San Jose, California, she was the lead organizer of the 2018 Youth Climate Action Summit.

Whilst at school, Haris studied gender roles and new ideas in modern gender studies, especially the idea of toxic masculinity, according to the International Congress of Youth Voices.
The millionaire father of trans Tory MP Jamie Wallis was today cleared of obstructing police from finding his son who was 'naked in bed' after fleeing a car crash.

Businessman Daryl Hamilton Wallis, 57, allegedly stopped four police officers carrying out their duty after his son Jamie crashed into a telegraph pole in Llanblethian, South Wales.

But he was cleared today after District Judge Shomon Khan dismissed the case against Wallis Snr, blasting 'lamentable' failings by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Wallis allegedly drove his Land Rover to pick up his son who was dressed in a black leather mini skirt, a long sleeved white top, pearls, high heels and make-up when he ran away from witnesses at the scene.

The alleged offence took place at his 'colossal' mansion in Cowbridge, near Bridgend, South Wales - two miles from the scene of the crash in nearby Llanblethian.

But the court heard the CPS had failed to supply paperwork in the case to Wallis Snr's legal team in time for the hearing.

Businessman Daryl Hamilton Wallis (pictured outside Cardiff Magistrates' Court today), 57, allegedly stopped four police officers carrying out their duty after his son Jamie Wallis crashed into a telegraph pole in Llanblethian, South Wales

Mr Wallis allegedly drove his Land Rover to pick up his son (pictured outside Cardiff Magistrates' Court) who was dressed in a black leather mini skirt, a long sleeved white top, pearls, high heels and make-up when he ran away from witnesses at the scene

The MP was found guilty by District Judge Tan Ikram of failing to stop, failing to report the crash and leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position.

He was cleared of driving without due care and attention. Wallis was fined 2,500 and ordered to pay 620 in costs and a 190 surcharge.

The MP appeared in Cardiff magistrates on Monday and his father appeared at the same court today to deny the charges.

Mr Wallis - who is a director of a number of companies - was accused of obstructing four police officers including Sgt Gareth Handy and PC Louis Hall who went to his house.

At the earlier hearing, Sergeant Gareth Handy described the house as a 'mansion' and 'absolutely colossal' - but he had to force entry into the property out of concern for the MP.

Sgt Handy said Wallis was eventually found naked in bed in one of the rooms of the house.

PC Louis Hall found Wallis in a bedroom within the house asleep and said: 'He appeared to be wearing make-up. His eyelids were dark, his lips were red, and his cheeks were bronzed and he had red nail polish on his toes.'

Pictured: The MP's car which crashed into the lamppost in November last year

But Prosecutor Alycia Carpanini asked for an adjournment in the trial following failures to make disclosures to the defence in time.

She said: 'There was an oversight and it hadn't been reviewed until yesterday.'

Cardiff Magistrates Court heard Wallis was privately funding his defence and the criminal proceedings were having an affect on his 'variety of businesses.'

Defending Peter Rouch QC said: 'Having this hanging over his head is seriously impeding the development of one of his businesses. Any adjournment would have consequences upon it.

'The prosecution had ample time to have their house put in order and they have been reminded of that fact by the defendant's solicitors.'

Mr Wallis (left) and Boris Johnson - who resigned as Prime Minister last week - pictured shaking hands

Judge Khan refused the prosecution's application for an adjournment before dismissing the case.

He said: 'The CPS fully accept that there is disclosure failings in this case. The fault is on the prosecution. It hasn't done what it should have done.'

Judge Khan said the alleged offence took place in November and any further delays are 'contrary to the interest of justice.'

Addressing Wallis, he added: 'You may be fortunate, I don't know, in the way in which matters have unfolded as there was a case to answer but of course that needs to be tested and matters challenged.'

The judge ordered for a letter to be sent from the Chief Crown Prosecutor in the next 14 days to explain why and how the failings happened.

MP Wallis, who became the first Tory to win the Bridgend seat of Bridgend since the 1980s when he was elected in 2019, said that he had 'considerable pain' in his head and neck after the crash.
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Boris Johnson's penultimate PMQs was delayed amid chaotic scenes as two Scottish nationalist MPs were kicked out of the House of Commons chamber.

In a furious row this afternoon, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ordered the removal of Alba Party MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill for disrupting the start of the session.

Mr MacAskill, the East Lothian MP, could be heard trying to raise a point of order and appeared to say 'we need a referendum in the Prime Minister' before he was drowned out by other MPs.

He refused to sit down and continued to speak as Mr Johnson attempted to address the Commons for the first time since he announced his resignation.

Mr Hanvey, the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP, had also risen to his feet in an apparent protest about Scottish independence and could not be heard over the angry heckling from Tory benches.

A fuming Sir Linsday then took action, as he shouted to Commons officials: 'Deal with them! Deal with them!'

The Alba Party pair have since been suspended from the Commons for five days, the Speaker's office said.

A further session of PMQs is scheduled for next week, which would be the last before Mr Johnson is replaced by a new Tory leader and leaves Number 10 following the revolt against him by his own party.

But, after the rowdy Alba Party MPs had been removed, the PM appeared to suggest today's session was his final PMQs.

He told MPs he would be leaving office 'with my head held high' and also took the opportunity to aim a fresh swipe at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ordered the removal of Alba MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill for disrupting the start of the session

Boris Johnson was seen gesturing to Mr MacAskill to sit down as he tried to answer the first question at PMQs

Mr MacAskill continued to stand in defiance of Sir Lindsay's orders as Mr Johnson attempted to begin PMQs

Mr Johnson suggested the Tory leadership race may not go the distance and his term in No 10 may end before the contest to replace him is scheduled to end on 5th September.

He told Sir Keir: 'The next leader of my party may be elected by acclamation, so it is possible this will be our last confrontation, it is possible.

'So, I want to thank him for the style in which he conducted himself. I think it would be fair to say he has been considerably less lethal than many other members of this House.'

The PM had also claimed that any of the eight 'brilliant' remaining candidates in the contest to replace him as Tory leader would 'wipe the floor' with Sir Keir, who he branded 'Captain Crasheroony Snoozefest'.

The Labour leader, in a dig at Mr Johnson, had called for MPs to 'cut him some slack' as the PM was 'faced with an uncertain future' and 'a mortgage-sized decorators' bill that will be soon for somebody elses flat'.

Downing Street later played down suggestions that Mr Johnson could skip next week's PMQs.

The PM's press secretary said: 'As things stand, he will still be doing PMQs in his last week.'

A Labour spokesman said: 'Im sure that the PM would want to take advantage of this opportunity to say a proper farewell to the House next week.'

Before his exchanges with Sir Keir, Mr Johnson was seen gesturing to Mr MacAskill to sit down as he tried to answer the first question at PMQs.

As Tory MPs increased their noisy demands for the Alba Party MPs to cease standing, Sir Lindsay angrily intervened.

'Order! Order!,' he shouted. 'I will not tolerate such behaviour, if you want to go out, go out now.

'But if you stand again I will order you out. Make your mind up; either shut up or get out.'

Sir Lindsay was also forced to tell the Tory benches to 'shut up' as temperatures soared in the Commons.

The Speaker then formally requested the suspension of Mr MacAskill and Mr Hanvey by following the Commons convention of naming them.

He said: 'Neale Hanvey, Im now naming you and Kenny MacAskill to leave this chamber. Serjeant, deal with them.

'Out now, Serjeant-at-arms escort them out.'

Mr Hanvey (left) and Mr MacAskill, the Alba Party MPs, were both kicked out of the Commons at the beginning of PMQs amid furious scenes

Mr Johnson appeared to suggest today's was his last PMQs before he is replaced as Tory leader, despite a further session having been scheduled for next week

After a revolt by Tory MPs led to his downfall last week, Mr Johnson joked that Labour's Sir Keir Starmer had been 'considerably less lethal than many other members of this House'

Towards the end of PMQs, Mr Johnson urged an SNP MP to 'change the record' after 'three years of listening to this delirium of monotony from the Scottish nationalists'.

Alan Brown, the Kilmarnock and Loudon MP, asked the PM why he thought it was right to try and block 'a democratic vote for Scotland' to choose its future away from a 'corrupt' Westminster.

Mr Johnson replied: 'Can I just say to the honourable gentleman that after three years of listening to this delirium of monotony from the Scottish nationalists, I really think they need to change the record.

'What the people of this country want is a focus on the cost of living, a focus on the economy and making sure on schools, on standards and schools, those are things that he should fix. To say nothing of the tragedy of drug deaths in Scotland, which they still havent done anything to address.'

'Everything I have seen has taught me that we are far, far better, whether its on Ukraine, or Covid, or on furlough, theres absolutely no doubt that we are better off working together.'

At the end of PMQs, MPs approved the suspension of Mr MacAskill and Mr Hanvey.

The pair are both former SNP MPs who defected to the Alba Party when it was founded by former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond last year.

Mr MacAskill and Mr Hanvey had written to Mr Johnson earlier today to demand he grant the Scottish Government the power to hold a second independence referendum during the PM's final weeks in Number 10.

Speaking after they were ejected, Mr Hanvey said: 'Scotland's mandate for an independence referendum must be respected.

'Scottish MPs are in Westminster to settle up for the people of Scotland, not to settle down.

'Why should we respect the rules of the House of Commons when Westminster will not respect Scottish democracy?

'People back home are sick and tired of the House of Commons dismissing the democratic right of Scotland to determine its own future.

'Scotland will not be held hostage by any UK Prime Minister, especially one on the fag end of his premiership.'

Mr MacAskill said: 'Scotland has a mandate for a referendum and this prime minister is denying Scottish democracy.

'Meanwhile, Scotland is energy rich but half of our people are facing fuel poverty, it is perverse.

'No Tory Prime Minister has been elected by the people of Scotland in my lifetime and that will be the same for the next.

'Scotlands voice will be heard and the people of Scotland will prevail. Its time for independence.'

The Alba Party's Twitter account posted: 'We do not intend to sit at Westminster and play their game. We will use all the time and resources available to us to help Scotland regain its independence as an immediate priority.'
President Joe Biden fist-bumped the Israeli delegation as he arrived Wednesday in Tel Aviv after the White House was forced to confirm Israeli media reports that said the U.S. president would limit shaking hands during his first trip to the Middle East.

The White House said it was an uptick in COVID cases - and not forthcoming interactions with the controversial Saudi crown prince - that triggered the decision to limit Biden shaking hands.

And so upon his arrival at the Ben Gurion Airport, Biden went down the line of Israel's leaders - including President Isaac Herzog, caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett - and gave them each a fist pound, though Bennett got an additional shoulder rub.

'This is both a historic visit and a deeply personal one,' Lapid said at the arrival ceremony, where he spoke of the 'need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear problem.'

Biden said it was a an honor to visit the 'independent Jewish state state of Israel,' calling the U.S. relationship with the nation 'deeper and stronger, in my view, than it's ever been.'

'We reaffirm the unshakable commitment to United States-Israel security, including partnering with Israel on the most cutting-edge defense systems in the world,' Biden said.

He also reaffirmed U.S. support for a two-state solution, though he admitted it 'isn't in the near term.'

After Biden's remarks, the president became more handsy with the leaders, shaking Bennett's hand and then gripping the hand of former Israeli Prime Minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for several seconds.

President Joe Biden (right) arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel Wednesday and fist-bumped Israel's leaders including President Isaac Herzon (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center)

President Joe Biden (center) fistbumps with caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid (right) as President Isaac Herzog (left) looks on. The White House said Wednesday Biden would 'reduce contact' with people during his Middle East trip, due to COVID-19 variants

After the initial ceremony, President Joe Biden (right) got more handsy with Israeli leaders, including gripping the hand of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center)

President Joe Biden arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday

President Joe Biden (right) gave brief remarks as he landed in Israel Wednesday. He's flanked by President Isaac Herzog (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center)

President Joe Biden (center), Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (right) stand as the nation's national athems are played Wednesday at an arrival ceremony at the Ben Gurion International Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel

Israeli former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the arrival of President Joe Biden Wednesday at Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel

The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the White House outlined a no handshake policy to Yair's office pointing to an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Earlier Wednesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked why Biden wouldn't be shaking hands after hosting two large-scale events at the White House on Monday and Tuesday.

'I just think the simplest way for me to put it is is that we're in a phase of the pandemic right now where we're looking to increase masking and reduce contact to minimize spread,' Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One.

Reporters on Air Force One were quick to point out that Biden may not want to be photographed shaking hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

MBS - as he's known - was implicated by American intelligence agencies in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Saudi national critical of the Saudi regime, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn't answer directly when asked to respond if the handshake policy was to prevent a friendly photo-op between Biden and MBS.

'I wouldn't say there's a change. And here's the thing, that's why you're asking me if he's going to shake hands or not. We're staying that we're going to try and minimize contact as much as possible,' she said. 'But there are precautions we're taking because this is up to his doctor.'

Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday, for his first trip as president and 10th overall - and then will head to Saudi Arabia Friday for a highly scrutinized meeting with Saudi and regional leaders.

As he touched down, his administration announced that inflation in the U.S. rose to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since 1981. It was a greater increase than economists predicted and came as President Biden claimed the issue is subsiding.

The consumer price index , a broad measure of goods and services in the nation, soared above the 8.8 percent Dow Jones estimate.

It's the biggest 12-month increase in nearly four decades, and up from an 8.6 percent jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3 percent from May to June, another substantial increase, after prices had jumped 1 percent from April to May.

Biden urged American's to stay calm over the new report and said his administration was committed to tackling the issue while touting that gas prices have fallen a bit and that the nation is on the right.

'While today's headline inflation reading is unacceptably high, it is also out-of-date,' Biden said, referencing that prices at the pump have fallen by 40 cents since mid-June. 'Those savings are providing important breathing room for American families.

'And, other commodities like wheat have fallen sharply since this report,' the president claimed in a statement from Israel, where he is on his four-day trip to the Middle East.

President Joe Biden departs for the Middle East late Tuesday night

Former President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right). President Joe Biden is expected to meet 'MBS,' as he's called, during his trip to Saudi Arabia Friday and Saturday. In advance of the trip, the White House pushed that Biden would be limiting handshakes due to COVID-19

President Joe Biden (right) hosted large-scale events at the White House all week, including Tuesday's Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn

President Joe Biden shakes hands with guests Tuesday on the South Lawn

Inflation in the U.S. rose to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since 1981 and above what economist had predicted

Meanwhile, in Israel, Biden's greetings with leaders were friendly and familiar.

'When we met eight years ago when you were vice president you told me that if you had my hair you would be president of the U.S. and I told you that if I had your height I would be the prime minister of Israel,' Lapid told the president.

Lapid will hold the prime minister position until Isreal's elections in November.

'You know I love you,' Biden told Netanyanu, according to Israeli press - a sentiment he's shared with the leader before.

At a briefing on Israel's new Iron Dome and Iron Beam Air Defense Systems, Biden gave Defense Minister Benny Gantz a long handshake.

Afterward he'll visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial where he'll lay a wreath in a show of respect.

Biden will participate in a host of meetings while on the ground including with Lapid, Herzog, Netanyahu, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.

There were questions about why Biden was meeting with Netanyahu, who is no longer in power, but represents the opposition party in the Israeli government.

President Joe Biden listens to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (center) as they tour Israel's missile defense system at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday

President Joe Biden stands under Israel's Iron Dome defense system on Wednesday after arriving at the Ben Gurion Airport

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (center left) speaks with President Joe Biden (center ) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center right) during a tour of Israel's Iron Dome at the Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday

'The president believes it is very important to show engagement across the Israeli political spectrum because like United States, Israel is a democracy, where people have different points of view where you have leaders representing different points of view and he wants to engage with them,' Sullivan said.

The president will also receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor and visit with US athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, which involve thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.

Biden supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine  a stance he will reiterate during his time on the ground.

'The president will make clear his long-standing commitment and his administration's commitment to a two state solution, which he believes is the best path to ensure a viable democratic Jewish state of Israel and the Palestinian state where Palestinians can live in freedom and dignity,' Sullivan said.

Among the agenda items Biden will push on his four-day trip: strengthen the ceasefire in Yemen, work to deepen Israeli relations with its Muslim neighbors, support the Palestinian people and coordinate on the threat posed by Iran.

Israeli officials have shown alarm at Iran's growing fleet of drones. The Israeli military said this month it had intercepted four unarmed drones headed for an offshore gas rig.

It said the drones were Iranian-made and launched by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran.

Israel hopes its news Iron Beam system will help counter the drone threat.

It's still not operational but Biden will get a demonstration upon his arrival in Tel Aviv.

And the United States is concerned Russia is working with Iran to use drones  or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)  as weapons in its war with the Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Sullivan noted they have seen 'evidence of engagement' between Russia and Iran.

He said that the U.S. has not 'seen evidence of delivery' but has seen the increased engagement 'between the two countries on this specific issue of large numbers of UAVs, including weapons enabled UAVs, for Russia to acquire from Iran.'

'We think that this is of interest, to put it mildly, to the countries we will be visiting on this trip, because Russia, deepening an alliance with Iran to kill Ukrainians is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat,' Sullivan said.
A frustrated Aussie traveller said she was fined $2,664 for failing to declare her Subway sandwich at the airport.

Perth model Jessica Lee revealed in a TikTok clip that she copped the massive penalty after returning to Australia from Asia with the sub.

Ms Lee said she bought a foot-long sandwich past customs at the Singapore airport with the intent of finishing the second half on the flight.

However, she didn't end up finishing the sandwich and was caught out by Australian customs officers for failing to declare the chicken and lettuce in the sandwich.

Perth woman Jessica Lee (above) received a $2,664 fine for failing to declare her Subway sandwich from Singapore Airport when she arrived in Australia

She said in her emotional video the simple mistake comes the worst possible time - as she's currently unemployed and struggling to pay rent.

'It is my mistake but like, I bought a foot-long Subway at Singapore airport because I was a hungry girl after my 11 hour flight,' she said.

'I ate six inches before my second flight and then saved the other six inches for the flight which they're more than happy with.

'I thought the little declaration thing you do is for your carry-ons and your luggage, so I didn't tick chicken and I didn't tick lettuce. Chicken and lettuce!'

Ms Lee said she has just 28 days to pay the fine, right as her rent is due.

'I quite my job before this trip!,' she said.

Ms Lee said the hefty fine (above) was caused by a simple mistake when she didn't eat the other half of her sandwich on her flight and failed to declare it at customs

Ms Lee (above) said the fine, due in 28 days, came at a horrible time as she'd quit her job before her trip

The fine relates to Australia's strict biosecurity laws and by failing to declare what she was travelling with on her Incoming Passenger Card, Ms Lee broke the law.

Sometimes international travellers can be let off with a warning but Ms Lee said she would be held to the fine because she doesn't suffer a language barrier.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Australian Border Force for comment.
BBC presenter Jeremy Vine sobbed in court today as he described being targeted by the 'Jimmy Savile of trolling' while giving evidence against a YouTube host accused of stalking him.

The broadcaster said being harassed by 'dangerous' Alex Belfield, who has over 372,000 subscribers on the video-sharing platform, was 'like being caught with a fish hook in my face and my flesh was being torn'.

Prosecutors claim Belfield, 42, subjected Vine to a 'relentless' online campaign that included a 'wave of personal and unpleasant attacks' on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook over an 11-month period.

'It left me numb with fear... this was absolutely Olympic level stalking,' Vine said.

Belfield is also said to have encouraged his supporters to make hoax calls to Vine's Channel 5 TV and BBC Radio 2 shows, accused Vine of appointing his '10-year-old daughter' as a director of one of his companies in a bid to dodge paying tax, and tried to obtain private phone numbers for his family members.

Belfield denies stalking the 57-year-old, and seven other alleged victims, claiming he is the subject of a 'witch hunt'.

Vine also told Nottingham Crown Court that he had not been aware of Belfield until the 42-year-old said from a broadcasting studio that he liked to watch a female weather presenter on his leather sofa, 'naked and with a box of tissues handy'.

The BBC presenter added that he received an 'avalanche of hatred' from other internet users thanks to Belfield's videos and tweets, and had to put cameras in his home because he feared one of the YouTuber's 'disciples' may launch a knife or acid attack on him or his family.

Jeremy Vine (left) has begun giving evidence in the trial of former BBC Radio Leeds presenter Alex Belfield (right). They are both pictured outside court today

Vine told the court: 'We are dealing with serious criminality here. This is not a regular troll. This is the Jimmy Savile of trolling. Every reference to him makes my flesh creep. All he does is lie.'

The court heard Vine even had to put up a picture of Belfield in his hallway and warn his 13-year-old daughter to be on her guard while on the street - causing her to burst in tears.

Vine, wearing a navy blue suit and tie, frequently glared at Belfield from the witness box as he described him as a 'nasty, nasty man' whose actions were, he said, 'crazy and wicked'.

He told how he'd never heard of Belfield, himself a former BBC radio host, until April 2020 when an acquaintance sent him a link to a video on YouTube that featured a 'rant' about him - with Belfield concluding: 'This guy really p***** me off.'

Vine said that in hindsight, he 'wished he hadn't' viewed it, adding: 'Watching this man is like swimming in sewage.'

He added that in one incident, which he understands may have got Belfield fired, a young weather forecaster was the subject of 'disgusting' remarks.

Vine told the court: 'You [Belfield] were on the air and a young weather forecaster was sat down in Mr Belfields studio. I listened to it again a couple of days ago to make sure my recollection was correct.

'You said: "I like to watch you on my leather sofa at home." You said: "Im usually naked" and "I like to have a box of tissues handy." I thought it was disgusting.

'Im saying it contributed to you being fired as it rightly should have. Youve said your name in court and youve got that right. Everything that brings me here is a lie.

'I havent heard you say anything truthful in court today. I didnt want to be cross examined by you as youve caused so much turmoil in your life.

'You are the Jimmy Savile of trolling. You operate by proxy, you drive others to send messages. Not separated by weeks or months, they were separated by days, sometimes hours. You were broadcasting on consecutive days.

'I am scared of you.'

Addressing Belfield, he added: 'I knew nothing about your BBC career until you made lude comments about a weather forecaster. I think because journalism holds truth, youre not (a journalist).

'Your desire to do me serious harm, that was clear from all of your broadcasts, frightened me.

'I refitted the camera system on my house. Having bought two, I gave two to my neighbour.'

Jurors have been told a 'constant bombardment' of videos, tweets and messages then followed, with Belfield becoming increasingly abusive.

Vine told the hearing: 'I can see he is really starting to personally dislike me, and I do not know why because I have never had anything to do with this man.

'This starts to get more worrying for me because clearly it is Alex versus Jeremy and he has an agenda, and I am wondering if I am starting to have a problem here.'

He added that in one period, Belfield had made 124 references to him in his online content in just 14 days - and started falsely claiming that Vine had 'stolen' 1,000 of licence fee payers' money to put towards a memorial for radio executive John Myers, who died at the age of 60.

Vine broke down as he told jurors how that accusation, which he described as a 'complete lie', had led to one troll targeting an online tribute he posted to his father, who died of Parkinson's disease in 2018.

He said: 'His comment was, 'what would your father have said if he knew his son was a thieving toe rag? I couldn't handle it. I went to the police and said I couldn't handle it any more.'

The BBC star added that he has had 'scores of horrible messages on Twitter. Its incredibly powerful thing to say "this man took your money for his friends funeral and a p***up". None of that is true.'

Turning to the jury, Mr Vine added: 'The threat that I felt Belfield posed to me was a scale dozen times higher. He doesnt know and I dont know if his 500,000 [YouTube] followers might find me.'

Vine added that Belfield, of Mapperley, Nottingham, escalated the harassment from 'week to week' to 'day to day', claiming: 'He operates through persistence and repetition.

'I couldn't sleep. You are thinking about this 24/7.'

The court was played a series of Belfield's videos about Vine, in which he repeatedly referred to the missing 1,000 and described him a 'c***', a 'sanctimonious p****', and said he had 'blood on his hands' over the Covid-19 pandemic.

Belfield taking a selfie outside Nottingham Crown Court before an earlier court appearance

Shaking his head during the footage at times, Vine said: 'I have two daughters, they are 18 and 15 now. My daughter Anna was 13 at the time this happened.

'I had to sit her and her sister down and tell them about the situation.

'I said this man hates me, he has accused me of stealing, he has driven so much hatred towards me so we are going to have to be careful.

'We had a picture of him in our hallway. We thought it was possible that one of his half a million followers could have a knife or acid or something.

'Imagine telling a 13-year-old that? She was in tears, I saw her just shrink. It was a year before she had the confidence to leave the house again.

'She is his victim as well and he does not even know her name.'

'There's a good deal of stalking in broadcasting, but none of my friends in the industry has seen anything like this.

'This is Olympic-level stalking.'

Describing the impact Belfield's alleged campaign had on him, Vine said it left him 'shredded'.

He added: 'It launched incredible hate against me. I had 5,000 to 10,000 hateful personal tweets as a direct result of Belfield.

'He kept on and on. I was anxious. I couldn't eat or sleep for a time.

'I felt wounded, and felt there was absolutely no escape.

'I had a physical stalker who followed me. That was a picnic compared to this guy. His videos are still online. In 1,000 years my great, great grandchildren will see stories about how I stole 1,000, and there is nothing I can do about it.'

Vine said the abuse only ended when the police started investigating Belfield, and his bail conditions meant he could no longer produce videos about him.

He added: 'That has given me and the others a year where we just remembered what it was like 'BB' - Before Belfield.'

The trial continues.
Democrats in Congress are pushing for a series of abortion votes this week and later this month  even though none are likely to become law due to GOP opposition.

The House will vote Thursday on codifying abortion access into law, which Congress already failed to do prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last month, which ultimately ended federal protections for terminating a pregnancy and sent the issue back to the states.

Democrats in the lower chamber will also bring for a vote this week a bill that would allow women to travel across states line to obtain an abortion.

The votes come amid criticism of the Biden administration for not having a forceful enough response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The White House did, however, release statements from the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday confirming its 'strong' support for both of the House bills set for a vote on Thursday.

Congressional Democrats are also considering bills that would protect women's online health data from being used in abortion cases, as well as a federal ban on any restrictions related to contraceptives.

The two bills on Thursday are not expected to pass due to Republican opposition.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Punchbowl News on Tuesday that she really doesn't care about whether Republicans will vote for the Democrats' bills.

'All I'm worried about is women having access to safe reproductive freedom,' the California Democrat said. 'I don't care about the Republicans. Have you caught onto that?'

Democrats in the Senate also introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prevent women from being persecuted by their state for traveling to another to terminate their pregnancy. It would also bar any punishment for healthcare providers who carry out the abortion.

House Democrats are preparing to bring two bills for a vote Thursday to protect abortions rights. Pictured: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a congressional picnic at the White House on Tuesday, July 12

The bills come after criticism that the White House did not respond forcefully enough to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. One bill would codify abortion rights nationally while another would protect women who cross states lines to obtain an abortion

Senators Patty Murray of Washington, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are leading the charge on this bill and will seek unanimous consent Thursday.

The efforts will likely fail considering GOP opposition will block the bill from coming to the floor for a vote.

Following increased criticism over tis response, the White House has stepped up its correspondence with lawmakers and its activity on protecting abortion.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week that allowed the Justice Department to create a Reproductive Rights Task Force that will take 'proactive and defensive legal action' to assist women seeking abortions in states where it is legal.

It will also prevent states from banning Mifepristone, which is a so-called abortion pill that can end a pregnancy that is less than 10 weeks along.

The task force is also looking at banning states from imposing criminal or civil liability on healthcare workers who provide abortions in medical emergencies.

The bill seeking to protect digital reproductive health data could see a vote later this month in the House following Pelosi's dear colleague letter on how her party will respond to the SupremeCourt ruling on Roe v. Wade.

Democrats will also move on legislation that would guarantee access to contraceptives.

The White House released statements on Tuesday 'strongly supporting' both bills Democrats plan to bring to the House floor for a vote on Thursday

Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark of Massachusetts told Punchbowl: 'We're going to be in [the Judiciary Committee] with a birth control bill to help protect Griswold.'

The case of Griswold v. Connecticut was a 1965 Supreme Court ruling that allowed married couples to buy and use contraceptives, which was ultimately the case that established the right to privacy within the Constitution.

Griswold opened the door for rulings that protected privacy for abortions and same-sex marriage.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, 13 states had so-called 'trigger laws' that immediately imposed near total bans on abortion/ Some states are already facing challenges to these laws.
The family has been notified that Murdaugh, 63, will be charged this week. A grand jury will be shown evidence on Thursday

Alex Murdaugh has finally been disbarred by South Carolina's Supreme Court as he awaits murder charges for allegedly killing his wife and son, and while police revisit two other mysterious deaths that he is connected to.

Murdaugh, 54, had been technically allowed to practice law in South Carolina until yesterday, when the court - upon learning he was facing charges - finally disbarred him.

It's almost a year after he was arrested for stealing millions from his law firm and for trying to stage his own murder in a life insurance scam.

Murdaugh had been a prominent lawyer in South Carolina until June last year, when his wife Maggie and son Paul were found shot dead on the family's property.

Now, he is not only facing charges in their deaths and the two aforementioned fraud cases, but police are also revisiting the deaths of Gloria Satterfield, Murdaugh's housekeeper who died in 2018, and Stephen Smith, a teenage boy who died in 2015.

Smith was found dead on the side of the road in 2015 with gashes to his head but his death was ruled an accident.

Last year, after the deaths of Maggie and Paul and amid a swell of public interest, SLED - the state's investigative police force - said it was revisiting the case in light of information gleaned during the probe into the Murdaugh deaths.

'SLED has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh,' a spokesman said at the time.

Smith was gay and his mother Sandy believes he was murdered in a homophobic hate crime.

'I do think it was because he was gay. I said that from the beginning it was a hate crime,' she said last year in an interview with FOX Carolina.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found dead at the family home on June 7, 2021. Alex Murdaugh called 911 claiming he found them there, shot dead. No other suspects have ever been named

Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were found shot dead on the grounds of the family home on June 7. Maggie was killed with an assault rifle, whereas Paul had been killed with a shotgun. Both were shot multiple times

Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, left, died after a fall in the family home in 2018. Stephen Smith, 19, died in 2015 from injuries to the head. His family say it was a hate crime because he was gay. Both deaths are now being revisited by police

Smith's body was found several miles from where his car had been parked.

Initially, medical examiners ruled that he had been shot but that ruling was later changed to say he was the victim of a hit-and-run accident.

To date, no one has been charged with his death, if at all.

It's unclear how exactly the Murdaugh family is linked to Smith's death.

Smith was classmates with Murdaugh's oldest son Buster and after his death, long before Maggie and Paul died, Alex Murdaugh's brother contacted the family out of the blue to offer them free legal representation, according to Sandy.

At the time of Paul and Maggie's deaths, the family was being sued over the death of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old who died in a boating accident in 2019

The link to Satterfield is more clear.

She had worked in the family home for years when she fell mysteriously in the house in 2018.

Satterfield died as a result of the injuries she suffered weeks later.

Her sons say they have never been able to understand the circumstances surrounding her death.

After she died, Alex Murdaugh - then a respected attorney - told them to file an insurance claim against him.

They followed his instructions and were awarded payouts from his insurance companies, but they say they never saw the money.

Instead, it went into an account that Murdaugh controlled.

Last year, he was charged with stealing the money, which prosecutors said was around $3million.

Satterfield had worked for the family for 20 years.

Murdaugh remains in custody on fraud and embezzlement charges. He has not yet commented on the looming murder charges.

His brother confirmed to local outlet The Post and Courier yesterday that the family had been told charges were coming.

A grand jury is expected to hear evidence in the case tomorrow.

The family said in a statement that they wanted to hear 'the truth'.
Grooms are scrambling to get hold of kilts and brides face delays to dress orders as the supply chain crisis hits the summer wedding season following surge in bookings.

Demand for the traditional tartan clothing is outstripping supply with hire companies saying they dont have enough to go around as couples rush to tie the knot after the pandemic.

Hundreds of couples across the UK have been waiting up to two years to get married following to a series of pandemic-induced delays and cancellations.

But with the wedding industry bracing for a return to pre-pandemic levels of demand, manufacturers and suppliers have warned they are struggling to keep pace.

Fabric suppliers had warned of severe delays to lace, trims and other accessories - with extended wait times for new veils and headpieces for the summer season.

Phallic plastic straws, a favourite among those attending hen parties across the country, are also a casualty of the uptick in wedding preparations.

And companies employing 'butlers in the buff' have reported a 'national shortage' in the number of men willing to remove their clothes for hen do celebrations.

A shortage of kilts has left Scottish grooms red-faced as surging demand continues to threaten the plans of millions of couples following two years of crippling delays and cuts to weddings [File image]

Companies employing 'butlers in the buff' have reported a 'national shortage' in the number of men willing to remove their clothes for hen do celebrations. [File image]

It can cost around 150 to hire a full kilt outfit - including sporran, kilt pin, belt, socks, brogues, waistcoat, tie, flashes, and kilt itself - and anywhere between 250-500 to buy a brand-new kilt.

Kilts4u, which rents out the traditional dress across Scotland, said they were seeing more than 400 hires a week and are booked every day until October.

Iain Carlton, the owner of Kilts4U, said the entire industry was facing 'significant strain'.

'We're just about to enter a period where we're running over 400 kilt hires a week, which is a significant number for any company to deal with', he said.

Bosses at A1 Kilt hire - which has shops in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh - said there had been a two year build up in people wanting to get hitched.

David Dalrymple, of A1 Kilt, said: 'Some people have been waiting since early 2020 to tie the knot.

'There are also those who cancelled in 2021, plus couples who had always planned to get married in 2022, and they are all trying to secure a kilt for their big day.'

Aaron Taylor, 49, of Edinburgh, said he got hitched in tartan trousers last week because he couldn't hire a kilt in time for his wedding to now wife Marion.

He said: 'I ended up in tartan trousers rather than a kilt because I just couldn't find anywhere to hire one from and I wasn't going to spend 500 odd on the full works.'

Those hoping to wear the traditional tartan garment for their nuptial could be left disappointed this summer with the demand for wedding kilts outstripping supply. [File image]

Supply chain issues have continued to plague the wedding industry, with China's draconian return to lockdown threatening fabric suppliers back in Britain.

The delivery of shoes and accessories are also understood to have been affected.

Issues are also now extending to hen party preparations, with Britain's supply of phallic plastic straws under threat because of President Xi's 'Zero Covid' policy.

Around 250,000 'willy-shaped straws' are sold in any given year, but business owners are warning their dwindling supplies are rapidly running out.

Fabric suppliers had warned of severe delays to lace, trims and other accessories - with extended wait times for newly made veils and headpieces for the summer season. [File image]

Matt Mavir, who runs party planning service Last Night of Freedom, told the Sun: 'We are in peak period for the party season but we can't get enough penis products to meet demand.

'The on-and-off lockdowns that China keeps imposing are the biggest factor. Once products are made, we've seen a near five-fold increase in the cost of getting them shipped.

'Even then, they are incredibly slow to arrive.'

Dan Harley, the director of Butlers with Bums told PlymouthLive that a 'national shortage of naked men' was proving to be a significant challenge to his business.

Dan said: 'We have a lot of demand for our buff butlers across the UK right now for hen dos, birthday parties and corporate events, but because of the pandemic, there is a national shortage of guys, and it is becoming a big problem for us.'
High-ranking Islamic State leader Maher al-Agal was killed in a US airstrike in northwest Syria early Tuesday, according to the United States military. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) identified al-Agal as the head of ISIS in Syria.

According to a CENTCOM statement, al-Agal was "responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of ISIS networks outside of Iraq and Syria."

The US military also claimed that the strike seriously injured a senior ISIS official closely associated with al-Agal, per NBC News.

A Major Setback For ISIS

CENTCOM spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino stated that the "removal of these ISIS leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks."

The Syrian Civil Defence, a humanitarian organization working in opposition-held regions, reported that two individuals died after an unspecified drone struck a motorcycle in the village of Khaltan in the northern countryside of the Aleppo province, per Reuters.

Buccino stated: "ISIS continues to represent a threat to the U.S. and partners in the region. CENTCOM maintains a sufficient and sustainable presence in the region and will continue to counter threats against regional security."

The Islamist insurgency group's attempts to reform as a guerrilla force after losing major portions of its territory, would suffer yet another setback.

Although President Joe Biden's administration has yet to provide specifics on its long-term strategy for the eight-year-old mission, the United States now maintains about 900 troops in Syria, largely in the east of the country that has been torn apart by a decade-long civil war.

The attack on Tuesday was a component of ongoing attempts to fight ISIS, which has recently reemerged in several regions of Syria and Iraq.

Read Also: Shinzo Abe Assassination: Japan Bid Last Goodbye to Longest-Serving Prime Minister; Gun Man's Church Baffled By His Grudge

Airstrike Proves US Military Power and Efficiency

President Biden said the killing of the ISIS leader "significantly degrades" the capability of the terrorist organization "to plan, resource, and conduct their operations in the region."

Biden said in a statement: "Like the U.S. operation in February that eliminated ISIS's overall leader, it sends a powerful message to all terrorists who threaten our homeland and our interests around the world. The United States will be relentless in its efforts to bring you to justice."

CNN reported that the president expressed gratitude to the military personnel there and said the strike proved that the US does not need "thousands of troops" involved in combat missions "to identify and eliminate threats to our country."

The news was released before President Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East. On Wednesday, Biden is scheduled to arrive in Israel to attend several meetings there and in the West Bank before flying to Saudi Arabia.

The latest in a series of recent strikes against the terrorist organization in Syria would be the attack in Jindayris, northwest Syria. The U.S. military claims that a mission last month resulted in the seizure of an unidentified senior ISIS officer and bomb maker.

In February, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the top leader of ISIS, was killed in a US special forces raid in northwest Syria.

Between 2014 and 2017, ISIS reigned over millions of people and either claimed responsibility for or inspired attacks in various places around the globe.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin's Forces Kill 29 in Donetsk Attack, Ukraine Strikes Back in Kherson

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A California mother has revealed her nightmare ordeal during a horror Uber trip where the driver tried to rape her ahead of a class-action lawsuit being filed against the company today.

Liz, 37, claims the driver groped her under her skirt as she rode in the front seat of the vehicle before he pulled over and forced her into the back seat.

She fought off the driver during the horrific incident on February 11 and managed to flee back to her hotel in Chino Hills, just outside of Los Angeles.

Legal documents seen by the New York Post, show that she claims the driver had been going in circles before attempting to rape her.

Her five-minute journey turned into a 23-minute nightmare where she fought to get out of the car, after the driver initially insisted she sit next to him because there was too much stuff in the back seat.

Liz, using a pseudonym, claims that she was 'groped' by her Uber driver who insisted that she sit in the front seat next to him during a five minute ride. She was then forced into the back of the car after 'driving around in circles', where the driver attempted to rape her. (Stock image)

Adam Slater, a partner at Slater Slater Schulman LLP, claims the company have several women who are taking action against the ride-sharing company in the class-action lawsuit. It is set to be lodged today at a California court, with the lawyer claiming they are investigating at least 150 more incidents

Uber have said they are unable to comment on pending litigation, and were last year forced to pay $9million to support passenger safety. They escaped a $59 million fine for failing to turn over sexual assault data in a deal with California regulators

The mother-of-three said: I had had a couple of drinks and wanted to go across the street to the gas station and my friend had suggested getting an Uber. So I thought Id try it, and it turned into a nightmare.

I was kind of reluctant to get in the front seat but again this like was maybe my second or third time taking an Uber in my life, so I was like, okay, this is normal.

He had tried to start reaching up my skirt  I kept pushing him away and he was getting more forceful, so I tried to open the door and he locked the door and I tried to open it.

She claims after around 20 minutes the driver forcefully pushed her into the back and attempted to rape her, but he unlocked the door after she frantically fought back and kicked his door.

Liz ran back to the hotel to call to the police from the front desk because her phone was still in the car, but her alleged attacker then brazenly showed up at her location to return the device.

Married Liz, who is using s pseudonym, struggled to file a complaint through Uber and her account was blocked without even refunding her the $7 for the horror ride.

She initially didnt press charges because she had been raped in her 20s, with the police investigation going nowhere.

Her friends and therapist eventually convinced her to take legal action because of the hundreds of other women that this happened to.

Liz added: They said theres not just you but hundreds of other women this is happening to, and how many times are you going to let this just get shoved into the dark? It needs to be brought out into the light.

Lizs lawyers at Slater Slater Schulman LLP are seeking millions of dollars in compensation on behalf of hundreds of women in California state court in a class-action lawsuit they will file today.

Adam Slater, who is representing the 5 women, claims that Ubers attempts to promote itself as a safe alternative to drink driving has made it a magnet for sexual predators.

He said that they are investigating at least 150 more instances of abuse, adding: There is so much more that the company can be doing to protect riders: adding cameras to deter assaults, performing more robust background checks on drivers, creating a warning system when drivers dont stay on a path to a destination.

Married Liz claims she struggled to file a complaint through Uber and her account was blocked without even refunding her the $7 for the horror ride. She is now calling for Uber to think about their 'mothers or daughters' and 'fix this' or just shut down the company entirely

Liz agreed, saying that Uber needs to put themselves in other peoples shoes adding that they had to fix this or just shut the company down.

She added: I just hope that in the long run that the company has the heart to do something about this.

You know, to put themselves in other peoples shoes and to know that they would never want their daughters or their sisters or their mother to ever go through something like this. Thats all.

The new class action lawsuit comes after Uber released its second report on sexual abuse last month, acknowledging that almost 6,000 people had been attacked while using its app for the previous two years.

Uber claimed that there were less than 4,000 severe attacks in 2019 and 2020, adding that they had added new safety protocols.

Uber, based in San Francisco, introduced expanded background checks into drivers, which has led to 80,000 of them being banned from the app.

Last year the ride-sharing company dodged a $59 million fine for failing to turn over sexual assault data in a deal with California regulators.

In December they came to an agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission and were forced to pay $9million to support safety initiatives, as well as a $150,000 fine to the states General Fund.

Both Uber and Lyft have failed to date to honor a 2021 pledge to release the names of abusive drivers, according to CNN.

A spokesman for Uber told DailyMail.com: Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously.

There is nothing more important than safety, which is why Uber has built new safety features, established survivor-centric policies, and been more transparent about serious incidents.

While we cant comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work.
DJ Tim Westwood was today accused of being a 'predator' after a woman claimed he had sex with her multiple times starting when she was just 14-years-old.

The pair allegedly began their relationship after meeting at a club night in Arch in Vauxhall in 1990, which developed into a sexual one when Westwood allegedly started kissing her before initiating unwanted sex.

'I kind of thought it was normal but that's because I didn't understand the gravity of the situation, she said.

'It wasn't a relationship and it wasn't about love, it was just a thing, and a thing you couldn't discuss with anybody.'

'Esther', who is now in her 40s, says their alleged underage relationship later led to her attempting to take her own life, the BBC reports.

At the time of the alleged incident, Mr Westwood was aged in his 30s.

She now feels as though the DJ groomed her, and says the alleged relationship left her feeling as though she was 'prey' to 'predator' Mr Westwood.

'Esther' is one of 10 women who have come forward to accuse the former Radio One DJ of sexual misconduct. None of the 10 initially reported the incidents to the police.

Another woman claims she was 16 when the renowned hip-hop DJ, who was in his 40s at the time of the alleged incident, kickstarted their 'controlling' relationship.

A third, who was 20 when she first met Westwood while he toured clubs and student unions across the country, claims he pushed his penis into her mouth despite her resisting.

Two more women claim they were sexually assaulted by Mr Westwood.

The new allegations have come forward as part of a BBC News documentary, entitled Tim Westwood: Hip-Hop's Open Secret, that details more than two decades worth of sexual misconduct allegations against the DJ stretching from 1990 to 2012.

Mr Westwood was contacted to provide comment.

DJ Tim Westwood was today accused of being a 'predator' after a woman claimed he had sex with her multiple times starting when she was just 14-years-old

'Lydia', another woman claiming to have been targeted by Westwood, says she was approached by him during a night at Caesars club in Streatham, south London.

Although she was only 16 at the time while he was in his 40s, 'Lydia' and Mr Westwood allegedly began an 18-month sexual relationship in which he is accused of isolating her from friends and family.

'It was quite controlling in lots of ways,' she told the BBC.

'I had a home phone, and he demanded to have the password to it so he would often listen to my messages.

'I wish more people had stepped in, I wish the adults who were around him, the bodyguards, the secretaries, the people who I would say were bystanders.'

Following social media allegations published in 2020, Westwood has previously 'categorically' denied claims he has had an 'inappropriate relationship with anyone under the age of 18'.

Seven women came forward to accuse the DJ of initiating unwanted sexual behaviour following a joint investigation by the BBC and the Guardian earlier this year.

Following the allegations, Mr Westwood resigned from his weekly Capital Xtra radio show 'until further notice'.

A statement from a representative of Westwood in April said: 'Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

'In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially.

'Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.'

10 more women have since come forward to share their allegations against the DJ since the investigation broke in April. Several claim they engaged with Mr Westwood while they were under the age of 18.

The DJ, who is the son of Bill Westwood, the former Anglican bishop of Peterborough who died in 1999, began his career on local radio before joining Capital Radio in London.

He was later given his own show by BBC Radio 1.

The radio presenter left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra in 2013 after nearly 20 years and returned to Capital Xtra to host a regular show on Saturday nights, where he was referred to as 'The Big Dawg'.

A representative for Westwood was contacted for comment.

One woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car

A woman using the alias Pamela claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53

A woman, using the alias Tamara, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex when she was 17

The news comes after the Guardian and BBC published testimonies in April from seven women who made allegations of predatory sexual behaviour against Westwood.

In 2020, Westwood was forced to deny involvement in similar allegations when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter.

Westwood's name and the allegations began trending on Twitter after an unnamed woman posted messages describing a four year relationship.

Using the Twitter name @survivingtimwestwood she admitted she was in love with the DJ and had not gone to police with any of her allegations.

Others responding to the Twitter messages called on bosses at Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.

Veteran DJ Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who claim he abused his position to take advantage of them. The DJ has strenuously denied all allegations

Westwood, pictured above in 2005, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct storm after allegations were levelled against him in recent years

The renowned DJ vehemently denied sensational allegations on social media that he behaved inappropriately with student fans.

In October 2013, Westwood was condemned by students for a 'vulgar and sexist' stage show he put on during a freshers' event at the University of Leicester.

While performing as guest DJ at the O2 Academy he was heard shouting over the microphone: 'Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.'

Earlier this year, Westwood was heard in unearthed clips urging a fan to stay in her bra as he ogled her on stage in the BBC3 film Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power.

The DJ was accused of groping black women at gigs in the scathing documentary.

Westwood was also filmed cat-calling a woman as she scrambled to cover up as he shouted from the decks: 'Yo baby you don't have to put your top back on'.

He was also caught clutching a woman while looking down her top and asking: 'I like your rack  is it real?'.

The documentary also showed him refusing to let go of a woman's arm after he allegedly whispered something sexual in her ear while backstage at a festival.

And another clip shows Westwood interviewing rapper Cardi B during a 2017 interview for Capital FM.

The American artist asks him: 'Do you have sex with a lot of like, you know, black girls?' Westwood replied after a pause: 'Not as much as I'd like to' in an interview where he was accused of being inappropriate towards the star.
The ex-senior adviser to Donald Trump's ambassador to Israel is warning President Joe Biden to not lose sight of the threat presented by Iran during his trip to the Middle East.

'The fundamental line is on Iran - the rest of the stuff is a minor detail,' Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone said. 'We're begging Iran to get into an international deal with us, that they've lied and cheated.'

During a phone call with DailyMail.com, Lightstone discussed his opposition to the Biden administration's renewed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action talks - known as the Iran Nuclear Deal - which hit yet another stalemate earlier this month.

He also called on the president to not get 'caught in politics instead of policy' while trying aid in the normalization of relations in the region.

Biden landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning for the first leg of his presidential visit.

After meeting with Israeli leaders and officials from the Palestinian Authority, Biden will go to Saudi Arabia where he'll have a face-to-face with its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The trip puts a global spotlight on the steadily-thawing relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The nations have held under-the-table talks for months but still have no formal diplomatic relations.

Lightstone called on Biden to be a leader in the normalization process.

'When the United States doesn't lead, somebody else will fill in that gap- and that's likely Russia or China. Israel and Saudi are our allies, they're our friends. We have put more time, effort, and and commitment to those countries,' he said.

President Joe Biden (pictured in Tel Aviv on Wednesday) is embarking on his first trip to the Middle East as commander-in-chief, where he is meeting with leaders of Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia

But, the former diplomat said, American leadership is also a matter of international security.

If Saudi Arabia and Israel see their fledgling ties frayed during the American visit, Lightstone warned 'Iran will remain on a fast track to a nuclear weapon.'

'Who does that help?' he questioned. 'I just really don't understand.'

As the senior adviser to former Ambassador David Friedman, Lightstone played a key role in manifesting the historic Abraham Accords peace deal, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It was the first such deal between Tel Aviv and an Arab country since the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty was signed in 1994.

During the trip, a former Trump administration adviser warns Biden needs to keep his focus on his commitment to stopping the 'threat' from Iran (pictured: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on July 13)

It's one of the pivotal moments of the Trump administration that Lightstone describes in his new book, 'Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peaceand What Lies Ahead.'

In the newly-released memoir, Lightstone recounts his experience navigating US relations with its closest ally in the most politically precarious region in the world.

He credits the leadership of Friedman, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner for cultivating diplomatic and personal relationships that Lightstone believes strengthened stability in the region.

Though he heaped praise on Michael Herzog, the US's current Ambassador to Israel, Lightstone doubted that Biden could bring the same productivity to the table - owing to his administration's renewed interest in the Iran Nuclear Deal.

The multi-national agreement, led by Barack Obama, had placed limits on Tehran's nuclear proliferation in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and thawing relations with the West.

Aryeh Lightstone (right) was the senior adviser to Trump's Ambassador to Israel and is the author of a new book, 'Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peaceand What Lies Ahead'

But Trump pulled the US out of the deal when he came into office, a move that was lauded by Iran's enemies Israel and Saudi Arabia. It was criticized by Democrats and western allies as a significant blow to America's credibility - as well as a global security threat, after Iran ramped up its nuclear proliferation in response.

Lightstone, however, argues that Biden's attempts to restart the agreement are emboldening Iran and preventing the US from having a truly close relationship with its other Gulf allies.

'You cannot have a relationship based upon trust, when you fundamentally disagree with what is and what is not an existential threat,' Lightstone said.

'So, when President Trump said "We're going to get out of the disastrous Iran deal, because they are an existential threat to Israel and the free world," there was immediate understanding of where the other person is.'

Of Biden, he continued: 'When this administration not only doesn't acknowledge that, but it's running to enfranchise Iran, there's only so far that relationship can go.'

'It can be friendly, it can be warm, but it will never be substantive.'
A married teacher cleared of having a sexual relationship and sending explicit texts to a 15-year-old pupil told of her relief today as she vowed to never 'set foot in a school again'.

Rebecca Whitehurst, 46, says she is 'picking up the pieces' of her life after being accused of sending a photograph of her breasts to the boy, meeting him outside school and engaging in sex acts with him in her car.

Speaking at her home in Lymm, Cheshire, today, she told MailOnline: 'I don't want to set foot in a school again. Eventually, I will work again as a linguist, but that's not a primary concern at the moment, it's picking up the pieces and looking after my children.

'I'm very, very tired, I haven't slept in God knows how long. It's a huge relief but I don't think it's sunk in yet

'I woke up in the night thinking 'thank goodness that's over with'.

'I just want to get my life back now and my family's life back and start planning and thinking about the future.'

Rebecca Whitehurst, 46, has said she will never 'set foot in a school again' after she was cleared of having a sexual relationship with a pupil (pictured arriving at at Manchester Crown Court)

The teacher had been accused of sending a photograph of her breasts to the boy, meeting him outside school and engaging in sex acts with him in her car

Mrs Whitehurst revealed the accusations had left her disillusioned with her former bosses.

I'm struggling to process everything at the moment and I'm struggling to remember what my life is like.

'It's a real a mixture of feelings, it's incomprehension that it got this far, it's frustration that it got this far but obviously a sense of relief.

'In my mind there couldn't have been any other outcome but it's just the terror of not knowing.'

She added: 'I don't know what the reasons were for this going to court but when I think about it I kind of go down conspiracy theory rabbit holes.

Whitehurst, of Lymm, Cheshire, who teaches modern languages, denied two charges of sexual activity and sending sexual communications to a child. She broke down in tears when a jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court cleared her of the charges

'But this is how it actually works, don't be fooled into thinking you're safe or whatever.

'I've found the whole experience really hard to relate to, I knew the truth but there were 12 people on the jury who I didn't know and who didn't know the sort of person I am

'I think it was difficult to come to any other conclusion but nethertheless you still think 'I don't know these people'. It was really kind of them to give it so much attention.'

Mrs Whitehurst said she had been given plenty of support from loved ones, adding: 'My husband has been amazing, he's kept me going.

'My friends have been amazing as well.

'So it's not all been bad, there have been some good things. I appreciate what I've got a lot more now.'
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Britain is the joint-worst European country for flight cancellations while British Airways has called off 12 times as many flights as Ryanair, new data revealed today.

A total of two per cent of flights leaving the UK have been cancelled this year - slightly higher than Germany's similar figure. In the rest of the world the US, Canada, Indonesia and Turkey all cancelled more.

In terms of UK airports, Gatwick saw the most cancellations. The rate was 10 times worse than Stansted, the best-performing British hub.

More than 3 per cent of flights from Gatwick didn't go ahead, compared to Stansted's 0.3 per cent.

UK airports and airlines are suffering from a staffing crisis, with thousands of staff leaving the industry over Covid and many reluctant to return.

Sonya Dhillon, 33, worked for five years at Virgin Atlantic's customer service check-in desk at Heathrow Airport, before taking redundancy in 2020.

Over lockdown she developed her own events and digital marketing business, Ricco Events, and says she has managed to grow her income 'tenfold' and now employs four permanent staff.

Ms Dhillon said many of her Virgin Atlantic colleagues did not think the redundancies were necessary and they could have been put on furlough.

When Virgin Atlantic contacted her earlier this year to ask if she would like to rejoin, she 'politely declined'.

'Besides the attractive perks [on things like cheap flights, upgrades and hotel deals], it's just not the same place as it once was and not somewhere I can see career growth,' the entrepreneur told the BBC.

'I'm not tempted in the slightest. It would be like going back to an ex.'

Virgin Atlantic said it operated a lawful and open redundancy process after full consultation with recognised unions, and ensured people were treated 'fairly and with compassion'.

A huge queue at Heathrow today as chaos continued at Britain's largest airport amid a severe staffing crisis

Sonya Dhillon, 33, worked for five years at Virgin Atlantic's customer service check-in desk at Heathrow Airport, before taking redundancy in 2020. Over lockdown she developed her own events and digital marketing business, Ricco Events, and says she has managed to grow her income 'tenfold' and now employs four permanent staff

The peak of UK cancellations was in late February, when more than 5.5 per cent of services were axed.

It spiked again to over 4 per cent in April during the Easter holidays. At the start of this month, cancellations were 3 per cent of overall flights.

The figures, obtained by Sky News, mean that a flight in 2022 is 2.5 times more likely to be cancelled than one booked during the same period in 2019.

The poor ranking comes despite the UK dropping Covid travel restrictions before any other European country.

The data shows British Airways has cancelled the most flights (3.5 per cent) among UK carriers - nearly 12 times as many as budget airline Ryanair (0.3 per cent), which was the best-performing major carrier worldwide. EasyJet cancelled 2.8 per cent.

In terms of airports, Gatwick saw the most cancellations.

The rate was 10 times worse than Stansted, the best-performing British hub.

More than 3 per cent of flights from Gatwick didn't go ahead, compared to Stansted's 0.3 per cent.

June was the worst month this year for the airport, Britain's second-largest. One in every 14 flights from the airport was cancelled. Most of these will have been EasyJet flights.

The carrier has axed more than 10,000 flights this summer. Meanwhile BA, which also operates at Gatwick but mainly lands and takes off from Heathrow Airport, has cancelled more than 30,000 flights this summer.

The data, from January 1 to July 10, does not include 10,300 flights axed by BA last week for later this summer.

Both Gatwick and Heathrow have capped departures in a bid to avoid chaotic scenes seen in recent months, including last-minute cancellations and huge queues at check-in desks and baggage collections halls.

Some carriers, those which axed jobs most aggressively during the pandemic, continue to slash flights as they grapple with staff shortages amid surging post-pandemic passenger numbers.

There are fears of widespread chaos when passenger numbers are expected to further surge when most schools break up for summer on July 22.

Heathrow chief John Holland-Kaye has warned disruption could drag on for 18 months, due partly to a tight labour market in which the industry is struggling to attract and retain new recruits.

Globally, the US, Canada, Indonesia and Turkey performed more badly than the UK, which has performed the worse among major European countries that have had more than 200,000 flights scheduled this year so far.

An EasyJet spokesman said 'the UK government had the most onerous and long running travel restrictions in Europe and, as the UK's largest airline, we were disproportionately affected.'

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said it regrets any cancellations and disruption. It said capacity will be increased carefully 'so that airlines fly more reliable flight programmes and passengers experience a better standard of service'.

At least 91,500 passengers will face disruption to plans this summer after Heathrow bosses announced an unprecedented 100,000 daily limit on flights as airport chaos continues to cripple UK travellers. Pictured: Bristol Airport this morning

Pictured: Passengers flying out of Manchester Airport's Terminal 2 faced long queues early on Wednesday morning

A BA spokesperson attributed disruption to storms in February, when one in seven of its flights was cancelled in a week-long period.

It also suffered an IT fault at the end of March, which coincided with one-tenth of flights being axed at short notice.

John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, said: 'When we entered Covid, airlines made a lot of people redundant.

'During that two-year furlough period, those people found jobs elsewhere and have not returned to the industry.

'Of those that have returned, their security policies will have expired. They need to be vetted again and go through the same process as they did two years ago.

'We didn't come out of lockdowns until the end of March as far as the air transport industry in Europe is concerned, so there's a huge amount of people who need to go through the process.'

It comes as figures showed at least 91,500 passengers are set to face disruption to their plans this summer after Heathrow bosses announced an unprecedented daily limit on flights as airport chaos continues to cripple UK travellers.

Pictures from the country's airports including Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, continue to show long queues of passengers with many complaining of delays and disruption to their journeys.

The 100,000 daily limit took effect immediately yesterday, with Heathrow telling airlines to cancel 10,000 flights on Monday, and the measures will remain in place until September 11.

Airport bosses also ordered UK airlines 'stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers' because Heathrow was already expecting an average of 104,000 daily outbound passengers in the coming months.

According to calculations by the Times, the cap means that at least 91,500 passengers face having their flights cancelled this summer, with the highest number falling on July 21 which is scheduled to be the airport's busiest day.

It comes as the chief of airlines has slammed Heathrow Airport for introducing an unprecedented 100,000 limit on daily departing passengers until September

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic.

'They clearly got it completely wrong,' the former CEO of British Airways told Reuters.

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic. Pictured: Passengers join lengthy queues at Manchester airport today

Up north in Scotland, there were also long queues this morning at Edinburgh Airport as passengers aimed to head abroad

Heathrow also ordered airlines to stop selling summer tickets as airports battle against a staffing crisis across the aviation sector while apologising to customers over long queues and baggage issues that holidaymakers have had to put up with for weeks.

The dramatic move will impose a maximum limit on the number of passengers allowed to leave the airport between July 12 until September 11.

Airlines had planned to operate flights with a daily capacity averaging 104,000 seats over that period - meaning further cancellations are likely.

Heathrow said it has ordered airlines to 'stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers'.

The measure will lead to more cancellations on top of the thousands of flights axed in recent months.

Affected passengers will not be entitled to compensation as the reason for the cancellations will be classified as being outside the control of airlines.

Passengers have been hit by delays and cancellations at airports across the UK due to a shortage of staff after thousands were laid off or left the industry during Covid. Yesterday Heathrow cancelled another 61 flights at the last minute - disrupting 10,000 passengers.

And in a fresh sign of chaos, easyJet passengers 'mutinied' after being forced to wait for four hours on the Gatwick Airport runway yesterday. The plane never even departed and they had to wait 'until midnight' to collect their luggage after being returned to the terminal.

Heathrow's chief executive John Holland-Kaye yesterday announced departing passengers would be capped at 100,000

Willie Walsh (pictured), director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the airport should have gotten its act together after airlines predicted a strong rebound in traffic

In the latest evidence of the chaos gripping UK airports, easyJet passengers were left stuck on a runway for four hours yesterday during searing conditions

Announcing the passenger cap, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said yesterday: 'Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable.'

Problems include long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations, Mr Holland-Kaye said.

Why is Heathrow imposing a daily passenger cap? Airlines were able to take advantage of a Government scheme which meant they could cancel summer flights without losing their future rights to the valuable take-off and landing slots. But even with this measure, Heathrow believes airlines still planned to operate flights carrying 4,000 more daily passengers than could be processed in an acceptable manner. Heathrow said: 'On average only about 1,500 of these 4,000 daily seats have currently been sold to passengers, and so we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers. 'We recognise that this will mean some summer journeys will either be moved to another day, another airport or be cancelled and we apologise to those whose travel plans are affected. 'But this is the right thing to do to provide a better, more reliable journey and to keep everyone working at the airport safe.' Heathrow insisted the capacity cap is 'in line with limits implemented at other airports'. It added that airlines have 'discretion as to how they implement this in their individual schedules'. Advertisement

He said this is due to a combination of poor punctuality of arrivals due to delays at other airports and in European airspace, as well as increased passenger numbers 'starting to exceed the combined capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport'.

He added: 'Our colleagues are going above and beyond to get as many passengers away as possible, but we cannot put them at risk for their own safety and wellbeing.'

Aviation expert Julian Bray predicted disruption at UK airports would continue until next spring.

'Staffing issues remain as all airport aviation workers need security clearance which currently takes between 3 to 6 months. In this time many applicants get jobs elsewhere.'

Asked what customers should do if they have their flights cancelled, he said:

'Passengers who have flights cancelled are entitled to compensation, and a flight on another airline if possible They should keep in touch with their airline, holiday company and travel agent.'

Nicky Kelvin, Head of The Points Guy UK, said:

'While the move to cap passenger numbers will no doubt be disruptive to many travellers looking to jet away over the coming months it is needed if we're to see a shift away from the travel chaos of recent months.

'The numbers currently suggest that Heathrow is already hitting capacity for the number of passengers it is able to currently cater for. if you are still planning a getaway we'd advise you to plan your departure point accordingly, be flexible with dates if you can or consider other London or U.K. airports to star your journey.'

In the latest evidence of the chaos gripping UK airports, easyJet passengers were left stuck on a runway for four hours yesterday during searing conditions.

Passenger Dominey Jenner said the flight was due to depart Gatwick for Dubrovnik at 1.40pm yesterday but due to delays passengers only boarded at 4.30pm before beginning a long wait.

During the time - when temperatures were 86F (30C) outside - she says customers were only offered 'one glass of water' and there was no food available.

They eventually left the plane at 8.30pm following a 'mutiny' onboard, 'with people giving a deadline as to when they would simply leave'.

'I heard that the police at Gatwick were about to come and escort us off as they'd had calls from people on board,' she said.

Once off the plane, Ms Jenner said their luggage: 'didn't arrive until midnight,' and she claimed passengers had to go through passport control despite not flying anywhere.

MailOnline has contacted easyJet for comment.

It came as an aviation boss suggested Brexit was partly to blame for travel chaos by keeping out foreign workers.

Philipp Joeinig, boss of Menzies Aviation, which provides check-in and baggage handling services to major airlines, said the staff shortages crippling the industry were 'predictable and preventable'.

He added a recruitment crisis had been sparked by Brexit and aviation workers should now be added to the shortage occupation list to alleviate pressure.

But critics say the industry should pay British workers more and offer better conditions.

A fleet of Boeings 747 belonging British Airways standing on the apron of London Heathrow airport

Mr Joeinig wrote in The Times: 'Brexit had a big negative impact, reducing the available pool of employees.

'This was compounded during the pandemic, with the British aviation sector suffering huge job losses once furlough schemes ended before the easing of travel restrictions, and with many of these people lost to the industry.'

He also claimed ministers have failed to slash red tape sufficiently to speed up background checks on new recruits.

At present, employers must ask for references from each new recruit's employer for the previous five years.

This can take several weeks if some previous employers drag out responding.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps changed the law last month to streamline the process. It allows employers to request details of each previous employer from HMRC.

Meanwhile, airport disruption could be compounded by Sunday's estimated 100F (38C) heatwave, with the Met Office warning planes could struggle to take off.

This is because planes can become too heavy to take off in very hot weather due to reduced air density resulting in a lack of lift.

This happened during a heatwave in summer 2018 at London City Airport when some passengers had to be removed so the services become light enough to take off on the relatively short runway.
A teacher who approached her students for an after-school catch up to smoke cannabis from a makeshift bong said it was a 'lack of judgement' due to her bipolar disorder, a court heard.

Lauren Gabrielle Russell, 42, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to supplying a small quantity of illegal drugs to students from Lucas Heights Community School late last year.

She was supported by her husband and her father, who has travelled from the US.

Footage of the December 15 incident showing the physics teacher and year 12 advisor lighting up from the Gatorade bottle went viral on social media and made headlines across the country.

Russell will learn her fate later this month after she sought to have her charge dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

Lauren Gabrielle Russell, 42 (pictured earlier this year) has sought to have her charge dealt with under the Mental Health Act. She will find out her fate on July 25

Agreed facts tendered to court stated Russell contacted a student asking to 'catch up and have a smoke' and arranged to meet after-school at Menai Marketplace, St George Shire Standard reported.

Russel later drove the student and a friend to a nearby location where she supplied the minors with cannabis before taking turns to smoke through a Gatorade bottle bong, police facts state.

Russell then drove them to Menai Skate Park where she told several people she'd smoked cannabis with the two students, court documents revealed.

Her lawyer Dev Bhutani told the court there was a casual link between his client's mental health condition of bipolar and supplying cannabis.

He claimed Russell was 'significantly under-medicated' in her dosage of lithium to treat her bipolar at the time of the offence and argued the 'acute mania' episode could have been avoided, based on the pathology results.

Psychiatrist and psychologist reports noted Russell suffering a manic episode at the time which resulted in a 'lack of judgment' at the time of the offence.

Pictured: Lauren Russell, 42, who was filmed smoking cannabis with students late last year

The widely-circulated video appears to show Ms Russell inhaling from a makeshift bong constructed from a Gatorade bottle and a piece of hose (pictured)

The court also heard Russell heavily drank during last year's four month Covid lockdown while teaching from home but stopped drinking alcohol by the time she returned to the classroom in November.

'It's a combination of the drinking and cannabis use that exacerbated the manic episodes over the four-month period,' Mr Bhutani said.

Mr Bhutani said his client had taken 'significant and concrete steps' in her rehabilitation since as he pleaded for the charge to be dismissed and for Russell's previous unblemished record to remain intact.

He argued a criminal conviction would have a 'life changing impact' on his client, and her career.

Lauren Russell (pictured left) was unable to hold the tears back when speaking with a neighbour (pictured right) when approached by Daily Mail Australia

'It shouldn't be seen that a Section 14 diversion is an avoidance or escape from punishment, but rather recognition from the courts that someone who is mentally impaired, should be diverted away from the harsher aspects of the criminal justice system,' Bhutani told the court.

The police prosecutor opposed the application, citing of a duty of care had been breached.

Magistrate Philip Stewart accepted Russell was a dedicated teacher but questioned how her husband nor colleagues failed to recognise her maniac behaviour.

Magistrate Stewart adjourned the case to July 25, where Russell will find out whether the charges will proceed to criminal court.
A member of the Secret Service was sent back to the United States after being held by Israeli police in Jerusalem this week for a 'physical encounter.'

The agent, a member of the US Secret Service Counter Assault Team who was not further identified, was in Israel as part of President Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East.

The agent allegedly assaulted a woman outside of a bar, a source told CNN.

The agent was off-duty and leaving dinner with a group of colleagues when there was some sort of collision with a woman on the street, a source told CBS.

According to the network, which cited three unidentified sources, during an altercation the male agent shoved the woman. .

The woman alleged she was struck by the agent and called police. The agent was taken into custody but released him after questioning.

There is an investigation as to whether or not the agent was intoxicated at the time.

It is the second international incident in the past few months involving a member of the protective agency. Two employees were sent home from South Korea during that presidential trip.

'Late Monday, the United States Secret Service was informed that an agency employee working in Israel was allegedly involved in a physical encounter. The employee was briefly detained and questioned by Israeli police, who released him without charges. The employee has returned to the United States,' the Secret Service said in a statement.

'In accordance with agency protocol, his access to Secret Service systems and facilities was suspended pending further investigation,' the agency noted.

More issues for the Secret Service on international travel - above agents stand by President Joe Biden as he prepares to board Air Force One for a trip to the Middle East

President Biden arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for a four-day trip to Middle East

In May, a Secret Service agent and another agency employee were returned to the States during Biden's visit to South Korea.

The incident took place after a night of bar-hopping. The agents allegedly became intoxicated and an agent got in a 'heated argument' with a cab driver.

The agency has had a series of high-profile scandals, which brought congressional investigations and reforms. That includes a 2012 incident involving boozing and solicitation of prostitution in advance of a trip by President Barack Obama.

The incident in Jerusalem happened shortly before Biden arrived in Tel Aviv.

Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a four-day trip to the Middle East that begins in Jerusalem and ends with a stop in Saudi Arabia.

It's his first trip to the region as president.
Holidaymakers heading to popular hotspots across Europe and North America were warned to brace for a staggering rise in the cost of hiring a car while abroad.

Experts say Brits bound for a summer of sun on the continent must be vigilant to the hidden costs of car rental, with some destinations seeing price hikes of over 500%.

The cost of hiring a car in Ireland this summer has risen from 104 (in 2019) to 679 - an increase of 551 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Portugal recorded the second highest rise in car hire costs, with renting a small car now costing 339 - soaring 239 per cent compared to 2019 (100).

And among the 10 most-searched for countries in June, the cost of car hire has more than doubled in three years, according to comparison website Ice Travel Group.

Holidaymakers heading to popular tourist hotspots across Europe and North America were warned to brace for a staggering rise in the cost of hiring a car while abroad

The developments come as a fresh blow to sun-seeking Brits, who have already endured a summer of travel hell with more expensive flights and airports cancelling thousands of trips at the last minute.

Ed Sharp, of Ice Travel Group, told the Telegraph the most important factor behind the rise in car hire costs was a global shortage of microchips, which has in turn led to a downturn in the number of cars being produced.

Mr Sharp encourages holidaymakers to target deals in 'mass market destinations', where pricing is expected to be more competitive.

Experts say Brits bound for a summer of sun on the continent must be vigilant to the hidden costs of car rental, with some destinations seeing price hikes of over 500%. [File image]

Other recommendations include avoiding island destinations where rental companies face the logistical challenge of moving their fleets over water.

Consumer campaigner Frank Brehany said: 'If people book flights and think they can take a chance on car hire they will be badly surprised.

'Travel won't be back to normal until 2023 or 2024. Book at the earliest possible time, because I suspect the prices now will be the best you will get.'

Estonia offered the cheapest car hire in Europe, with the average booking costing 112.

It comes as families face being hammered by punishing price rises as travel firms cash in on high demand for summer holidays after the Covid crisis.

The average cost of a weeks all-inclusive break for four across Europes top ten destinations has risen 17 per cent to 1,000 a head since June 2019, a study found.

(Stock Image) Sunny summer holidays abroad are being pushed further out of reach as prices soar for Brits

(Stock image) The price of flights, car hire and more are continuing to increase this summer amid high demand

Car hire rocketed from an average 220 to almost 500, while the cost of single-trip travel insurance is up 40.5 per cent from 37.02 to 52.02.

Research by the travel comparison site Ice Travel Group paints a bleak picture, not least because a fall in the pound makes everything from tapas to an ice cream more expensive.

Industry experts say that the holiday industry is cashing in on the fact that taking a summer holiday is a priority for families who have suffered during the Covid crisis.

Chris Webber, head of holidays at Ice Travel, said getting away remains a priority expense and demand is directly impacting price rises.

He added: Holiday prices are being hit by a number of factors  increased energy and fuel costs, increased demand and also by businesses, such as hotels, trying to recoup some of the money lost in the pandemic.
Top Democrats on the Jan. 6 committee say they have no idea what witness Rep. Liz Cheney is talking about after the Wyoming Republican accused former President Trump of witness tampering on Tuesday.

Even the chairman of the committee - Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters after Cheney made the bold accusation that he was unaware of who she was referring to.

Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that the committee had known Trump had tried to contact a witness for 'a couple of days' but said that he also was unaware of the witness' identity.

Trump has not yet publicly commented on the accusation.

'After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation. A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,' Cheney said during Tuesday's Jan. 6 committee hearing, without revealing a name. 'That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call, and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us. And this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice. '

'Let me say one more time we will take any efforts to influence witness testimony very seriously,' the Wyoming Republican and ranking member on the Jan. 6 committee said.

And in newly revealed text messages, Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale said that he regretted helping Trump win and blamed the president for the death of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt.

'A sitting president asking for civil war,' Parscale texted former Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson on the evening of Jan. 6. 'I feel guilty for helping him win.'

'A woman is dead,' Parscale texted Pierson. 'You do realize this was going to happen,' she texted back.

'Yeah. If I was Trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone,' Parscale said.

'It wasn't the rhetoric,' Pierson shot back. 'Katrina. Yes it was,' said Parscale.

Parscale was demoted from his role as Trump's 2020 campaign manager in July 2020, replaced by Bill Stepien.

Cheney also claimed it was 'nonsense' to argue that former President Trump was misled into believing the election had been stolen from him as the Jan. 6 committee played testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone claiming he told Trump to concede after Dec. 14.

The congresswoman said the committee had seen a 'change' in how Trump-allied witnesses and lawyers had approached the committee's investigation

'Today, there appears to be a general recognition that the committee has established key facts including that virtually everyone close to President Trump - his Justice Department officials, his White House advisors, his White House Counsel, his campaign - all told him the 2020 election was not stolen,' Cheney said.

She said this had forced Trump's attorneys to 'change the strategy' for defending him. 'Now the argument seems to be that President Trump was manipulated by others outside the administration that he was persuaded to ignore his closest advisors and that he was incapable of telling right from wrong.'

Rep. Liz Cheney said that former White House Pat Cipollone's testimony 'met expectations' while she claimed it was 'nonsense' to argue that former President Trump was misled into believing the election had been stolen from him

Neither Jan. 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson nor committee member Jamie Raskin know the identity of the witness Rep. Liz Cheney claims Trump called

'This new strategy is to try to blame only John Eastman or Sidney Powell or Congressman Scott Perry or others and not President Trump. ... This, of course, is nonsense. President Trump is a 76 year old man. He is not an impressionable child.'

Cheney also said that former White House counsel Pat Cipollone's testimony 'met our expectations.' She said the focus of Tuesday's hearing would be on election fraud claims in the weeks between the November election and Jan. 6.

Excerpts from Cipollone's deposition, which was videotaped, were shown at Tuesday's hearing.

The committee played a clip where Cipollone told them that by mid-December he had urged the former president to give up his election fraud claims after court after court ruled against him.

'Did I believe he should concede the election at a point in time? Yes I did.'

The former White House counsel said that former Vice President Mike Pence deserved a Medal of Freedom for resisting Trump's orders and certifying the election in favor of Joe Biden on Jan. 6.

'I think the Vice President did the right thing. I think he did the courageous thing. I have a great deal of respect for him.'

Multiple accounts suggest Cipollone and his team threatened the ex-president with resignations in the face of his election fraud claims.

He reportedly made his skepticism of Trump and his allies' plot abundantly clear to the committee.

Cipollone said that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has refused to testify before the committee, told him there was no widespread evidence of fraud and Trump should concede.

Cipollone was asked if Meadows assured him Trump would make a graceful exit.

'I would say that is a statement and a sentiment that I heard from Mark Meadows...It wasn't a one-time statement.'

Ivanka Trump, the former president's daughter, and Kayleigh McEnany, his press secretary, both said they believed the fight was over after legal battles concluded unsuccessfully in mid-December, as the committee tried to drive home the point that trusted members of Trump's inner circle were not on his side with election fraud, and he chose to ignore them.

'In my view upon the conclusion of litigation I began to plan for life after the administration,' McEnany said.

In response to the Justice Department's finding there was no fraud, Ivanka said: 'I think it was my sentiment, probably prior as well.'

Cipollone said he 'supported that conclusion' made by Attorney General Bill Barr that there was no widespread fraud.

Excerpts from Cipollone's deposition, which was videotaped, were shown at Tuesday's hearing

Cipollone said that he got a call on Dec. 18 that a number of outside advisers had made their way to the president's office to discuss election fraud.

The meeting included Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor, Sidney Powell, Michael Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com, a close ally of the ex-president's who previously dated a Russian spy.

'I saw Gen. Flynn. I saw Sidney Powell sitting there. I was not happy to see the people in the Oval Office..... First of all, the Overstock person, I didn't even know who this guy was ... I looked at him and said, 'who are you?''

Powell said she had no idea if they could get a private audience with the president, but a lower level staffer led them to his office. Then, Cipollone came running.

'I bet Pat Cipollone set a new land speed record,' Powell said in a clip played from her testimony.'

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said the committee had spoken to six participants in that Dec. 18 election fraud meeting.

'What ensued was a heated and profane' argument, Raskin said, that included 'challenges to physically fight.'

In a clip of Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani's testimony, he says he told the White House lawyers they weren't 'tough enough' and that they were a 'bunch of p***ies' for claiming there was not enough evidence of election fraud.

Raskin said that after the unhinged meeting, Trump sent out a tweet calling on his supporters to come to the Capitol on Jan. 6: 'It will be wild,' Trump wrote.

Stephen Ayres, left, one of the January 6 committee's two Tuesday witnesses who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, said that he did not plan on going to the US Capitol when he attended Donald Trump's 'Stop The Steal' rally on the White House ellipse

Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last in June 2022 to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, shakes hands with Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges

Cipollone tore into Trump attorney Sidney Powell's idea for Trump to sign an executive order to seize voting machines the Trump team believed were linked to fraud.

'At some point you have to put up or shut up, that was my view. To have the federal government seize voting machines? That's a terrible idea for the country. That's not how we do things in the US. There's no legal authority to do that,' Cipollone said.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said that when Trump brought him a draft executive order to seize voting machines across the nation, he shot it down immediately.

'Some people say we can get to the bottom of this if the department sees the machines -i t was his typical way of raising the point,' Barr said in his videotaped deposition.

'I said absolutely not. There is no probable cause, we are not going to seize any machines.'

Cipollone added: 'I don't understand why we even have to tell you that's a bad idea. It's a bad idea.'

Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy then displayed text messages obtained from former Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson where she raised red flags to Meadows about how the Jan. 6 'Save America' rally could get out of hand.

She said that Trump loved the 'crazies' which was why some of them were speaking at his rally.

'He loved people who viciously defended him in public,' Pierson said in recorded testimony about her texts, expressing particular concern about right-wing commentators Alex Jones and Ali Alexander.

After a break, Stephen Ayres, one of the January 6 committee's two Tuesday witnesses who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, said that he did not plan on going to the US Capitol when he attended Donald Trump's 'Stop The Steal' rally on the White House ellipse.

Asked why he changed his mind, Ayres said: 'The president got everybody riled up we were just following what he said.'

He said it was Trump's urging on social media that made him want to come to Washington, DC that day.

Ayres said that he did not decide to leave until Trump tweeted asking rioters to go home in the late afternoon. Other witnesses have said they urged Trump to publicly call off the rioters much earlier.

'Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out, we literally left right after that come out,' Ayres said. 'You know, to me, if he would have done that earlier in a day 1:30 I, you know, we wouldn't be in this, maybe we wouldn't be in this bad situation or so.'

Ayres, who no longer believes the election was stolen from Trump, said it 'makes me mad' that Trump is still promoting since-debunked election fraud claims.

'I was hanging on every word. He was saying everything he was putting out I was following it. I mean, if I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people were doing it or maybe even still doing it.'

Ayres said he felt like he had 'horse blinders on.' 'I was locked in the whole time, he said. Ayres pled guilty to charges for joining the riot that day but has not yet been sentenced.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin gave a chilling summary.

'The Watergate break-in was like a Cub Scout meeting compared to this assault on our people and institutions,' Raskin said. He promised next week's hearing 'will be a moment of reckoning'

It's the panel's seventh hearing, and the only one expected this week after former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson claimed last week that Trump directed his supporters toward the Capitol while knowing they were armed, and got into a physical altercation with his security detail when Secret Service agents stopped him from joining the mob.

Meanwhile, Raskin told NBC News that Cipollone corroborated 'almost everything' that came up in the panel's last six hearings, including Hutchinson's explosive account.

'He had the opportunity to say whatever he wanted to say, so I didn't see any contradiction there,' the Maryland Democrat said.

He and fellow Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy will lead Tuesday's hearing.

Meanwhile, the January 6 committee will meet with former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne behind closed doors at the end of this week, it was reported Tuesday.

Byrne is a close ally of Donald Trump's and was present at a White House meeting on December 18 in which the then-president and a group of formal and informal advisers discussed ways to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, CNN reports.

He was forced to step down from his position as chief executive of the online furniture store in 2019 after disclosing that he was romantically involved with a woman who was convicted of being a Russian spy, Maria Butina.

The December 18 meeting will be a focus of Tuesday afternoon's hearing for the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

There are reportedly no parameters set for Byrne's Friday meeting with lawmakers.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the January 6 committee for confirmation.

The committee's normal process involves a closed-door deposition as its first step before any possible consideration of a public hearing.

Tuesday's report does not make clear whether it's Byrne's first time before the panel, or if he will be bound under oath.

Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock, will meet with the January 6 committee behind closed doors, CNN reported

He's a close ally of former President Donald Trump and reportedly helped push his 2020 election fraud lies

The former chief executive has been accused of actively pushing Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was 'rigged' in favor of President Joe Biden.

Byrne stepped down from his position at Overstock after disclosing his romance with convicted Russian spy Maria Butina

Alongside Byrne, the Oval Office meeting was attended by former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as his disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The meeting was described to CNN as 'forceful,' having erupted into 'fighting' and shouting matches as White House officials clashed with the ex-president's conspiracy theorist allies.

Ideas floated at the meeting included seizing voting machines for government inspection and installing Powell as a special counsel to investigate election fraud, committee aides have said.

Byrne's attendance at the meeting was not disclosed until Tuesday.
An Oklahoma man was arrested after admitting he killed his friend during a fishing trip because he believed his friend had 'summoned Bigfoot' to kill him.

Larry Doil Sanders, 53, was charged with first-degree murder after he admitted to authorities he murdered his friend Jimmy Knighten on July 9 during the noodling fishing trip on the South Canadian River.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said the two had been noodling on the river together before a 'confrontation ensued.'

Sanders then 'struck, strangled and drowned' Knighten before heading home and confessing to a family member, authorities said.

Sanders 'appeared to be under the influence of something' when he was subsequently confronted by authorities, said Sheriff John Christian.

'His statement was that Mr. Knighten had summoned 'Bigfoot' to come and kill him; that's why he had to kill Mr. Knighten,' said Christian.

A mugshot for Larry Sanders after he was booked into Pontotoc County Jail for admitting to the murder of his friend Jimmy Knighten. Sanders said he killed Knighten because he was scared he had 'summoned Bigfoot' to kill him

A picture of Jimmy Knighten with a catfish was provided by his ex-wife Stacey Kelley, who described Knighten as a 'good old country boy.'

A GoFundMe created by Kelley aims to cover 'final expenses' as well as 'maintaining the household for the kids'

The killing occurred on Saturday afternoon just outside Ada city limits, said authorities.

'He's just a good old country boy,' said Stacey Kelley, Knighten's ex-wife and friend. 'He is a person that would genuinely love you to death.'

Capt. Beth Green of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Sanders 'believed that Mr. Knighten had basically tricked him into being out there.'

Sanders reportedly believed Knighten was planning to feed him to Bigfoot, according to court records, which led to them fighting on the ground for close to an hour.

After killing Knighten, Sanders drove back to Knighten's home in his friend's pickup truck, according to Kelley.

When Knighten's son asked where his dad was, Sanders reportedly said 'your dad's not coming back.'

Knighten's son is reportedly dating Sanders' daughter.

'I am heartbroken for [Sanders] family and especially his kids,' said Kelley. 'Not only are they tied to Jimmy, but now they have to live with the fact that their dad is the one that did this.'

Sanders was initially arrested on an outstanding warrant and taken to Pontotoc County Jail.

While Sanders' confession to the crime makes things 'easier,' authorities will 'still have to prove all the elements of the crime, and that what the suspect is telling you is actually what happened,' said Christian.

Sanders dumping Knighten's body in the river complicated the search for his body, but authorities recovered Knighten's remains on Sunday, July 10.

'Mr. Sanders was able to provide interviewing agents with a map that ultimately led to Mr. Knightens body,' said Greene.

Authorities said the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct the autopsy on Knighten's body to determine the manner and cause of death.

If Sanders is found guilty, the local prosecutor will likely push for the death penalty, according to Christian.

Court records show an address for Sanders in Atwood, Oklahoma, about a 30-minute drive from Ada.

Noodling is a type of fishing that involves sticking your hands inside a catfish hole and waiting for the fish to bite your hand in a defensive maneuver.

The fisherman then grabs the catfish from inside the mouth and drags it to the surface, making it a risky but popular way to catch fish, especially in the southern US.
China, Georgia vow to strengthen cooperation between legislatures

Xinhua) 09:34, July 13, 2022

Wang Chen, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, meets with Giorgi Volski, first deputy chairman of the parliament of Georgia, via video link, in Beijing, capital of China, July 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Wang Chen, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, met with Giorgi Volski, first deputy chairman of the parliament of Georgia, via video link on Tuesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pointed out that this year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Georgia.

He said the NPC of China is willing to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with the Georgian parliament, and make legislative contributions to deepening practical cooperation, strengthening solidarity in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and enhancing people-to-people exchanges. It will also promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and facilitate the sustained, sound and stable development of bilateral relations, he said.

For his part, Volski said the Georgian parliament would like to strengthen cooperation with the NPC of China and play a positive role in promoting the development of bilateral relations.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
In the last five years, demand for silver has been increasing significantly resulting in an increase in the global silver price. The rise has been due to the metal's many industrial uses. Growth in the economy has also had a greater impact on silver prices - more than it does on gold.

Besides industrial use, there has also been a significant rise in demand for silver in other sectors such as investment and jewelry.

Silver's Many Uses

Silver has diverse domestic and industrial uses. It is found in electronics, coinage, jewelry, and even photography. Silver is one of the precious metals long been prized for its adornment in jewelry, tableware, and fine art.

This is because of silver's physical properties such as strength, brightness, malleability, and ductility. Silver's electrical and thermal conductivity, light sensitivity, and anti-bacterial properties are all used in diverse industrial applications.

As a result, silver is now widely used in everything from solder and brazing alloys to batteries, dental fillings, and glass coatings to LED chips and medical devices.

You are also likely to find silver in photography and solar energy devices, semiconductors, touch screens, water purification, and wood preservation. It is no surprise why the Silver Institute in Washington calls it the "indispensable metal." The institute has even ranked silver as the "gold standard" for dinnerware since the 14th century because of its long-lasting properties.

Sterling silver has been used for ages to make jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. This is because of the exceptional durability of sterling silver. Sterling silver jewelry is also more affordable than gold jewelry.

Consider all those millions of water purifiers sold every year, and you'll start to comprehend the growth of silver prices globally. Using silver in water purifiers keeps bacteria and algae from accumulating in the filters, making it easier for the devices to do their job of removing contaminants like bacteria, chloramine, lead, dirt, rust, and trihalomethane chemicals.

Silver is a potent sanitizer when used in conjunction with oxygen. According to the institution, silver ions are used as a disinfectant in water purification systems in public water systems, swimming pools, hospitals, and spas.

The Rise in Silver Demand and Price

In the last year, demand for silver has increased significantly. A year ago, the spot price of silver hovered around $15.5 an ounce. Just recently, it was trading above $27 an ounce. Gold prices, on the other hand, have only increased by 6.4 percent over the last year.

As far as industry analysts are concerned, industrial demand is the primary factor for silver's recent outperformance over gold.

Silver is a basic metal and a valuable metal in the same breath. Since Brexit, the global trade war, as well as the coronavirus epidemic, it has functioned more like a valuable metal. Silver has been slowly rising in tandem with other base metals, such as copper, and traded in a wide range recently.

According to the statistics by the Silver Institute, demand for semi-precious metals has been greater than supply so far in 2021. The price of every commodity is influenced by the demand-supply dynamic.

Jewelry and silverware, industrial uses, and general economic prosperity all support silver demand. Market analysts have also pointed out that hedge funds' speculative posture is expected to play a part in driving up silver prices in this uncertain environment.

Conclusion

The US, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Russia have been the largest users of silver for industrial purposes in the last decade.

Since then, the need for silver from traditional sectors has decreased, only to be replaced by new technological applications.

Find out the current silver price to see why it makes sense to invest in this indispensable metal!

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An Ohio pro-life organization has been attacked twice since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last month by the US Supreme Court as some heated pro-choice supporters have targeted many centers across the country.

Executive director of the Right to Life of Northeast Ohio, Allie Frazer, told Fox News the center was targeted immediately following the overturning of Roe on June 24 and again on July 8.

'As pro-lifers, we know what our work might cost us something and that very well could be our physical safety,' Frazier said. 'I think that it's important in moments like this for the pro-life movement to be really clear that we're not going to be intimidated. We will save babies. We will protect women. And we're not going to let threats of violence stop us from doing that.'

Surveillance of the attack last Friday captured the suspect wearing a hoodie and face mask spray, painting the sidewalk with the words 'If abortion isn't safe, neither are you.' The exact words have been seen at other pro-life offices in various states.

More footage captured the moment the suspect walked towards a window of the facility, breaking it with a hard object before running off.

The Right to Life of Northeast Ohio center was vandalized for the second time on July 8. The pro-life center was first attacked following the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24

Footage from the center on July 8 shows a person in a hoodie and a mask spray painting the words, 'If abortion isn't safe, neither are you.' The person is then seen throwing an object through a window before fleeing

It's speculated the pro-abortion group Jane's Revenge is behind these acts as the name 'Jane' appeared in writing

The pro-abortion group Jane's Revenge is likely behind the vandalism, as the name 'Jane' also appeared in writing, Frazier speculates.

Members of the group began terrorizing pro-life centers in the wake of the Supreme Court draft opinion in May that revealed Roe might be overturned.

Pregnancy crisis centers and religious organizations began seeing an uptick in vandalism as the organization called for a 'Night of Rage' in May where the slogans as witnessed in Ohio were seen across the country.

While this is the second time vandalism has occurred at the center, Frazier insists she will not back down.

'I know that the intention of this attack was to stop us,' Frazier told Fox News. 'It was to stop our peaceful activism. It was to stop the ways that we are impacting women and babies in this community for a positive. And they didn't even stop that. I was already back to work in my office within a few hours.'

As vandalism continues and more potential dangers linger, Frazier says these attacks across the country should be investigated as hate crimes, claiming pro-choice groups 'are not afraid of using violence to get what they want.'

'This is absolutely a threat against the peaceful pro-life movement. And we do ask that law enforcement and local, state, and federal leaders continue to lead the way. and say, "Hey, violence is never okay,"' she said.

She added, 'If any pro-abortion individual decides to take that next step, to take that bad step, and use violence against pro-lifers, that is something that I am going to work hard to protect my staff against,' she said.

When the Ohio center was attacked on the day Roe was overturned, the center was targeted by pro-abortion activists that congregated outside with abortion slogan posters.

No one was at the office when the chaos occurred, but surveillance footage captured the moment the group flipped off the camera and hung a hanger on the door.

The Ohio center was first attacked on June 24, hours after Roe was overturned. Footage from the center shows demonstrators in the parking lot as one person flips off the camera

A hanger was left on the door of the center along with posters filled with pro-choice slogans. 'The hardest decision that a woman can make isn't yours,' a poster read

'With Roe gone, the pro-abortion side has taken off the gloves,' Frazier wrote on Facebook at the time. 'We shouldn't expect that an ideology which flippantly disregards life inside of the womb, will respect life outside of it.'

The group, Jane's Revenge, will likely strike again as the members rely on inciting people to vandalize and torch pro-life clinics through calls to arms on its website, according to Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The group continuously posts on their website their latest attacks while displaying photos of the scenes claiming in their latest July 8 post, 'As more people discover the joy in attacking the infrastructure of the patriarchy, the attacks will surely continue with increasing frequency.'

The group posted on May 30 before Roe was overturned: 'On the night the final ruling is issued  a specific date we cannot yet predict, but we know is arriving imminently  we are asking for courageous hearts to come out after dark.

'Whoever you are and wherever you are, we are asking you to do what you can to make your anger known.'

'We have selected a time of 8 p.m. for actions nationwide to begin, but know that this is a general guideline. There may be other considerations involved in planning time and place.'

Pregnancy centers in Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina, New York, Florida, and Massachusetts are among the vandalized.

At the time, Jane's Revenge took responsibility for the Wisconsin pro-life center attack claiming, 'This was only a warning. We demand the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next 30 days.'

The group also claimed responsibility for the attacks in various other states in a letter.

'We are not one group but many. We are in your city. We are in every city.'

The rage from the Jane's Revenge group comes in light of the Supreme Court's decision to overrule the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on June 24.

Tensions in the country have been running high since May, when a draft opinion of Dobbs was leaked. The file showed the conservative majority of the court was likely to push for states to determine the right to an abortion.

The 6-3 ruling by the court meant the states were left with the right to implement restrictions or bans on the procedure.

In anticipation of the overturn, 13 states passed trigger laws that would outlaw abortion in the instance Roe was overturned.

Thirteen states passed trigger laws to restrict or ban abortion in the event Roe v. Wade was overturned

Following the overturn of Roe, abortion advocates ran to their local court houses to fight the bans and restrictions implemented by their state of residence

Those states included Kentucky, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Other states including Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina, Ohio, Idaho, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Florida, are also attempting to impose new bans and restrictions.

As seen in various states, pro-choice groups and abortion clinics haven't allowed for Roe to be overturned peacefully.

In some states with trigger laws and restrictions, groups have run to their local courthouses to stop restrictions that are planned to take effect in 22 states. Resulting in some state judges granting temporary restraining orders to prohibit the state from enforcing the ban on abortion.
Jacinda Ardern promises there will be 'no defecating in the streets' as a camping organisation calls for a change to a New Zealand law that lets people poo in public.

In New Zealand, it is legal to defecate in public as long as you don't think you are being watched.

Those who defecate in public need to provide a reasonable explanation for believing they weren't being watched otherwise they could cop a $200 fine.

But the Responsible Campers Association Inc - an advocacy group for 'freedom campers' who stay on public land for free - wants that law tightened.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) appeared on The Project to address the controversy surrounding a law that lets people poo in public

Bob Osborne, the RCAis spokesperson, told the hosts of The Project that the group wants people to poo 50 metres away from waterways and to bury their droppings at least 15cm below ground.

'The thing that seems to offend most people now is seeing that visual aftermath of someone having done it,' he said.

'If people bury their waste you actually eliminate that problem.'

Mr Osborne claimed there was a 'lack of public facilities' throughout New Zealand and argued there needed to be more public toilets.

'If there are no facilities, bury it. Don't leave it for people to walk in or people to see,' he added.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also appeared on the program to address the peculiar law.

'There is no intention to change what I consider to be basic hygiene standards,' she said.

'I can promise you there will not be people defecating in the streets.'

It is legal to poo in a public space in New Zealand as long as you don't think you are being watched. Stock image

Responsible Campers Association Inc spokesperson Bob Osborne (pictured) has called on the government to change the law so people defecate 50 metres from waterways and bury their waste

The uproar from the Responsible Campers Association Inc comes after the group felt they were being 'targeted' with new legislation requiring all camper vans to have toilets on board.

So called freedom camping has received significant negative press in recent years over concerns campers were damaging the environment through their lifestyle.

The main issue was over campers leaving their personal waste and used toilet paper at camping spots, tourist destinations, in waterways and the bush.
The wife of Mark Buddle has opened up for the first time since her bikie boss husband was held at gun point and arrested.

Mel Ter Wisscha shared a photo of herself in a pink bikini lounging on a daybed at a lavish resort in Bodrum, Turkey.

The Comanchero kingpin, 44, who fled Australia in 2016 after being wanted in connection with several murders, was captured while returning to his hideout on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Saturday and then transferred to a Turkish prison.

Ter Wisscha, still reeling from the shock of of their ordeal, took to Facebook to vent about the grim situation she's facing.

'Trying to stay positive, better days are on their way. As much as I want to hide away, I have to fake that smile, I have to show up for my kids,' she wrote.

'He would not want it any different, his kids are his world. I may be posting like I am having the time of my life but I am not. This is social media.'

It comes as Australian authorities are working tirelessly behind the scenes to extradite Buddle.

But as it currently stands, no Australian law enforcement agency has a warrant out for his arrest - even though Buddle is often dubbed Australia's most wanted man.

Without charges it will be impossible under international law to extradite the notorious underworld figure.

Mel Ter Wisscha, wife of 'Australia's most wanted man' fugitive Comanchero bikie boss Mark Buddle, shared a bikini photo (above) captioned that she was 'trying to stay positive' following her husband's arrest in Cyprus

Buddle (pictured with wife Ter Wisscha) is facing extradition from Turkey to Australia

Buddle has however appeared on the Australian Priority Organisation Target list which names about 15 people the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission identifies as major organised crime leaders.

The fugitive bikie became leader of the infamous Comanchero gang in 2009 after the former leader, Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi, was jailed for a fatal brawl at Sydney Airport.

He fled Australia in 2016 with Ter Wisscha for Dubai after being named a person of interest in a 2010 armed robbery where a security guard was killed.

Buddle then flitted between a range of countries including Greece, Turkey and Iraq before settling in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus where he received a residency permit on the grounds his 'high income' would bring wealth to the territory.

But authorities later ruled that the his presence was 'inconvenient in terms of public peace and security'.

That led to a top-secret mission involving the National Turkish Coast Guard Command, local police and Interpol agents raiding his hideout.

Buddle left Dubai after video emerged showing him fighting tourists at resort pool. He then hopped between numerous countries before settling in Cyprus

Buddle (pictured in Comanchero gear) fled Australia in 2016 after becoming the bikie gang leader in 2009

Buddle had recently left his safe haven on the island nation to meet with a high-profile international member of the gang in Germany.

When he returned officers from the clandestine operation swooped.

But it may prove extremely difficult to bring Buddle back home.

Australian fugitives can only be extradited from Turkey if they are charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment for at least one year.

Pictured: Tarek Zahed

Under normal circumstances it would be highly unusual for police to press charges against a person who has been living overseas for five years without any new evidence.

When Buddle fled Australia, he passed leadership of the Comancheros in to national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed, national president Mick Murray and Sydney commander Alan Meehan.

Zahed narrowly survived an assassination attempt at his Auburn gym in May when he was shot multiple times with more than 20 bullets fired.

He was rushed in to surgery with 10 bullet wounds to his head and body, with one bullet piercing straight through his eyeball.

Zahed's brother Omar, 39, was killed during the shooting.

With Zahed recovering from his injuries and Murray facing charges in Victoria, Allan Meehan is now acting as the Comanchero national president.

Buddle (pictured with Ter Wisscha) faces no charges or arrest warrants in Australia but is wanted for interview in relation to a 2010 murder and armed robbery
A schoolgirl who suffered brain damage after she was allegedly picked up and dropped on her head in a school playground has spoken her first words from her hospital bed to ask for a chocolate milkshake, her family have revealed.

Neeka Atkinson suffered a brain injury on Friday, July 8 at Archbishop Sentamu Academy after she was allegedly dropped head first onto a concrete floor. The 13-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after she started fitting.

Humberside Police have arrested a teenage boy in connection with the incident. He has been released on bail pending further enquiries.

After being taken to hospital, Neeka was put in an induced coma. A CT scan revealed she had a blood clot in her brain. After a lengthy surgery, Neeka was in a stable condition but the left side of her body was paralysed and she struggled to speak.

Now, the youngster has expressed her concern about her body not working properly. Her family have launched a GoFundMe which has so far raised more than 8,500.

In a Facebook update, her sister Alisha Atkinson said: 'Neeka is able to say a few words today and has been asking for chocolate milkshakes.

Neeka Atkinson suffered a brain injury on Friday, July 8 at Archbishop Sentamu Academy after she was allegedly dropped head first onto a concrete floor

Neeka's family said the teenager has regained limited speech following the incident but requires long term rehabilitation therapy

'She remembers who her family are, she's really upset as her body isn't working and it's hard to come to terms with. She's completely paralysed down her left side at present and will be in an MRI at some point.'

She said Neeka will eventually be moved to a specialist hospital in Sheffield when her condition improves enough to begin long term rehabilitation.

Alisha said her sister will be moved to Sheffield 'when she's stable' to learn to walk and talk properly again. She added: 'I've let her know of all your support and kindness and her face lit up, she's a little fighter!

'Anyone that needs to drop cards off as I've had a few messages, direct message for my address and I'll be happy to get them to her! And thank you for all the support on her GoFundMe. We've nearly hit our goal.'

The family set up the GoFundMe page ahead of Neeka's transfer to a Sheffield hospital for rehabilitation. On the fundraising page, Alisha added: 'Any donations will go towards accommodation for my nana to stay there long-term to support Neeka and help her make a full recovery but it will take a very long time to come on.

'It will also help cover costs of equipment she will need in the long term in order to regain her mobility back. Anything left over will be kept for Neeka to support her in the future. Any help is appreciated thank you.'

On Tuesday, July 12, Humberside Police said a teenage boy accused of dropping Neeka was arrested on Friday after the incident. He was interviewed in connection with the incident on Friday before being released on bail whilst the investigation continues.

A teenage boy was questioned by detectives investigating the incident at Archbishop Sentamu Academy in east Hull. The boy has been released on bail while enquires continue

A Humberside Police statement said: 'Investigations are continuing after a 13-year-old girl was injured in an incident at a Hull school on Friday 8th July. We received a call shortly after 4pm reporting that the girl had suffered a serious injury, reportedly caused by a boy who is known to her, earlier that day whilst at school.

'She was taken to a local hospital, where she has been responding to treatment and currently remains in a stable condition. The matter is being investigated by detectives and a number of enquiries have already been carried out to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

'A teenage boy was arrested and interviewed in connection with the incident on Friday before being released on bail whilst our investigation continues..' Police have urge anyone with information on the incident to call their non-emergency number 101 line quoting reference 22000031945.

The school previously issued a statement following the incident. Helen Winn, who started as Executive Principal on Monday, said: 'We are all desperately worried about our 13-year-old student following an incident last week. All our thoughts are with her, her family and her friends at this very difficult time.

'We are enormously grateful for the outstanding work of our healthcare professionals who we know are doing all they can for her. Because of the police involvement in the case, we are unable to say anything further at this stage.'
Around 4,000 beagles 'bred for research' are in need of new homes after they were rescued from a Virginia facility that is alleged to have mistreated and neglected them.

Rescuers from the Department of Justice and the Humane Society of the United States are in the process of getting the pups out of the Envigo breeding and research facility in Cumberland after a federal judge greenlit the rescue operation.

The race is now underway to vaccinate the 4,000 dogs, neuter or spay them and find them a new home by the end of August if all goes well - in what will be one of the largest canine rescue efforts in the country's history.

The dogs were bred in the specialist facility to be sold for use in pharmaceutical and biotech research, with Envigo stating that the welfare of the animals they bred was their top priority.

'It is our understanding that they are selling these dogs to medical and other research facilities in the US and beyond,' Sue Bell, executive director of Homeward Trails, which is assisting in rehousing the dogs, told Dailymail.com.

Yet several inspections of the Envigo breading and research facility over the past two years found dozens of violations or federal regulations.

Around 4,000 beagles 'bred for research' are in need of new homes after they were rescued from a Virginia facility that is alleged to have mistreated and neglected them

Several inspections of the Envigo breading and research facility over the past two years found dozens of violations or federal regulations

When officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture made an inspection last year, they found a female beagle whose paw had been trapped in loose flooring for so long that she was suffering from dehydration, according to court documents.

Employees at the facility admitted to inspectors they did not know how long she had been stuck.

Another inspection found that nine injured beagles were euthanized instead of being provided with veterinary care.

On a later inspection it was found that many of the 196 beagles who had actually needed to be put down were not anesthetized before having a deadly injection straight into their heart muscle.

Throughout the inspections over the past two years, officials found instances of neglect and mistreatment, from malnourished dogs to sick and injured ones.

Feces and food waste was allowed to pile up in cages where the dogs were kept, according to court documents.

On May 18, the USDA inspector general and other law enforcement agencies executed a federal search warrant of the facility and seized 145 dogs and puppies which vets deemed to be in 'acute distress.'

The following day, authorities filed a complaint in a federal court in the Western District of Virginia.

The complaint stated that more than 300 puppies had died in the facility between January and July last year.

On May 18, the USDA inspector general and other law enforcement agencies executed a federal search warrant of the facility and seized 145 dogs and puppies which vets deemed to be in 'acute distress'

Throughout the inspections over the past two years, officials found instances of neglect and mistreatment, from malnourished dogs to sick and injured ones

The company website claims that they breed 'healthy, well-socialized animals' and that it holds a license issued by the USDA to breed and sell the dogs.

Parent company Inotiv, which bought Envigo in November 2021, on Friday agreed to the plan to rescue the dogs and said it would shutter the Virginia facility as part of a restructuring effort.

Last week, a federal judge approved a plan to rescue the 4,000 beagles from the facility.

'This is one of the largest dog rescue efforts ever coordinated and has truly been a group effort. To know that these dogs will get to have the lives they deserve and not languish in cages for the rest of their lives is just so rewarding,' said Sue Bell.

'For months now, we have witnessed first-hand the joy these dogs experience when their feet touch grass for the first time, they get a bone to chew on, and they experience love from a human being.'

One of the priorities in logistics, she said, would be to determine which dogs should be released first, such as puppies or pregnant and nursing dogs, as they can be socialized from a young age.

The organization has already rescued nearly 500 beagles from the facility and placed them all in foster and forever homes by May  prior to the 4,000 soon to be released.

Anyone keen to foster a beagle, known to be great family dogs, can get in touch with Homeward Trails here.
China is using artificial intelligence to 'improve' its court system by recommending laws, drafting documents and alerting 'perceived human errors' in rulings.

Judges must now consult the AI on every case by law, Beijing's Supreme Court said in an update on the system published this week, and if they go against its recommendation they must submit a written explanation for why.

The AI has also been connected to police databases and China's Orwellian social credit system, handing it the power to punish people - for example by automatically putting a thief's property up for sale online.

Beijing has hailed the new technology for making 'a significant contribution to the judicial advancement of human civilisation' - while critics say it risks creating a world in which man is ruled by machine.

China has plugged artificial intelligence into its 'smart court' system - allowing it to make rulings, draft laws, and charge people with crimes (pictured, a Chinese court during Covid)

China has been developing a 'smart court' system since at least 2016, when Chief Justice Qiang Zhou called for technology to be used to improve the 'fairness, efficiency, and credibility' of the judicial system.

That has meant introducing robot receptionists to courthouses to offer online legal help, automatic voice recognition recorders in courtrooms that has eliminated the need for transcribing, and 'virtual courtrooms' where cases can be heard online.

China has even introduced a highly specialised 'internet court' that deals solely with cases related to the virtual world - such as online loans, domain name disputes, and copyright issues.

It has led to the creation of huge databases where information on all cases - almost 100,000 per day - are uploaded.

Artificial intelligence has now been plugged into those databases with the aim of learning from those cases and then spitting out judgements and recommendations for new laws based on what it finds.

Beijing says the system will make justice fairer and quicker, but critics say it risks creating a world in which man is ruled by machine (file image)

Instead of merely collecting data, it means the AI is now making decisions on behalf of judges who must justify themselves if they want to overrule it.

An AI prosecutor has even started charging people in Shanghai with crimes it believes they have committed, the South China Morning Post reports.

And linking the AI up with China's social credit system means it can punish people who refuse to comply with judgements - such as blocking a person refusing to pay a fine from purchasing plane or train tickets.

Zhang Linghan, professor of law at the China University of Political Science and Law, warned the rapid rise of AI risks creating a world where man is ruled by machines.

'Humans will gradually lose free will with an increasing dependency on technology,' she argued in a paper recently published online.

'We must be alert to the erosion of judicial power by technology companies and capital,' she added.
Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon was caught on tape in October 2020 stating that the ex-president would declare victory on election night - even if he did not necessarily win, according to leaked audio published on Tuesday.

Bannon can be heard accurately predicting the events of election night 2020 to a group of Chinese associates, according to the report by Mother Jones.

He also said Trump would 'do some crazy s***' if President Joe Biden had an early lead in the polls.

The election's historic number of mail-in ballots, which overwhelmingly came from Democrats adhering to COVID-19 pandemic guidelines, would not be counted until those cast-in person were. The latter, Bannon predicted, would be majority Republican.

Trump would seize on what appeared to be an early lead on the evening of November 3, he said.

'What Trump's gonna do is just declare victory, right. Hes gonna declare victory. But that doesnt mean hes the winner, hes just gonna say hes a winner,' Bannon laughed on the tape.

'The Democrats - more of our people vote early that count. Theirs vote in mail. So they're going to have a natural disadvantage, and Trump's going to take advantage of that - that's our strategy.'

That's exactly what the former president did.

Steve Bannon (pictured on June 15) was among the most vocal propagators of Donald Trump's 2020 election fraud claims and was present in the Willard Hotel 'command center' discussing legal avenues to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory on January 6, 2021

In the early hours of November 4, Trump delivered an unprecedented address before the nation declaring, 'frankly, we did win this election' and that a 'major fraud' was taking place because votes continued to be counted.

Bannon accurately predicted the following morning's media fallout in the damning audio tape.

'When you wake up on Wednesday morning, it's going to be a firestorm,' he said.

'You're going to have antifa crazy, the media crazy, the courts are crazy - and Trump's going to sit there mocking them.'

Bannon then appeared to mock his former boss himself, mimicking what tweets he believed the ex-president would send out that day.

'You lose, I'm the winner, I'm the king,' Bannon said as the room broke out in laughter.

'He'll be going, "Where's Hunter? Is Hunter on a crackpipe?" He'll be - because then it doesn't matter, remember. Here's the thing - after that Trump never has to go to a voter again.'

He was referring to the fact that Trump would be term-limited after a second four-year-stint.

Bannon's predictions for what Trump would do on election night played out accurately as in the early hours of November 4, the then-president declared to the world as votes were still being counted: 'Frankly, we did win this election'

The 'War Room' podcast host claimed Trump would then fire his own appointed FBI director, Chris Wray.

'At 10 or 11 oclock Trumps gonna walk in the Oval, tweet out, "Im the winner. Game over. Suck on that,"' Bannon said.

And if Biden was somehow up in the polls late on Tuesday evening, Bannon told his associates that Trump would simply claim election fraud - which he also did in his infamous speech.

'It's going to be even crazier,' Bannon said, with the crowd laughing again. 'Because he's going to sit there and say they stole it.'

A woman chimed in: 'Yeah. Agree.'

Bannon guessed Trump would say: 'I'm directing the Attorney General to shut down all ballot places in all 50 states.'

'If Trump - if Biden is winning, Trump is gonna do some crazy s***.'

Trump's plan to declare an early victory was reported in Axios on November 1, 2020, though the then-president denied it at the time.

Bannon was speaking to a group of associates of exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. Bannon had been arrested on his yacht over fraud charges in 2020

Bannon's October 2020 conversation took place in a Washington, DC townhouse where he tapes his podcast and was attended by people linked to exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.

Bannon had been arrested on the billionaire's yacht for fraud charges in 2020.

A spokesperson for the right-wing activist accused Mother Jones of 'rehashing old news' with the leaked audio.

'Nothing on the recording wasnt already said on War Room or on multiple other shows like The Circus on Showtime. Bannon gave that lecture multiple times from August to November,' the spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

'This is rehashing old news because the January 6 committee is losing steam each and every day. They should have the courage to have Mr. Bannon come and testify publicly about these events.'

An attorney for Bannon was in court this week where a judge struck down his bid to delay an upcoming criminal trial set to begin on Monday.

Late last year, Bannon was indicted for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack.

He's since reached out to the panel over the weekend asking to cooperate for a public hearing via a letter from his lawyer, though Justice Department prosecutors blasted the effort as an attempt to dodge accountability at the last minute.

In its latest hearing on Tuesday, the January 6 committee revealed it had knowledge that Bannon spoke to Trump at least twice on the eve of the Capitol riot.

He was also among a core group of Trump's outside advisers stationed in a 'command center' out of the Willard Hotel from January 5 until January 6.
A former British soldier has died after shooting himself in the head in front of shocked staff at a gun range in Thailand.

The 36-year-old turned up to a shooting range in Pattaya and began his day by firing 10 shots at a paper target at around 11.30am this morning.

But just after, shocked staff watched as he lowered his head and put the gun to his right temple before pulling the trigger.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene found the soldier on the floor gasping for air in a pool of blood.

He was rushed to the nearest hospital in the Banglamung district, but died later in the evening.

A former British soldier shot himself in the head in Thailand at a gun range in Pattaya

He rented the 9mm handgun before firing 10 shots at a paper target at the shooting range

Police are now interviewing staff and other witnesses who were at the range at the same time as the soldier.

He was carrying an ID card that 'The British Army' printed on it and staff said he had visited the range around six times before.

Manager Santat Senkhor, 33, said: 'I am still in shock after what happened. The British person was a regular customer who has been to the shooting range about five or six times.

'Today, he rented two types of firearms, a short gun and a long gun, and bought 25 rounds of ammunition, which I didn't think was unusual. There were no signs of any abnormality and I served him as usual.

'He fired a handgun, two sets of five shots each. At the start of the third set [he] hit the target twice, but then for the third shot he turned the muzzle to his temple.

'He lowered his head and shot himself one time in the brain and fell to the ground. I called the police straight away.'

Police are now interviewing staff and other witnesses who were at the range at the same time

He was carrying an ID card that 'The British Army' printed on it and staff said he had visited the range around six times before, staff said

Upon checking the CCTV, police found that the soldier had spent around 30 minutes sitting silently by a pond at the entrance to the facility before going inside.

Staff said they did not find it unusual because 'he was a regular customer'.

Investigating officer Pacharak Suriya from the Huai Yai district police station in Chonburi province said 'many witnesses had to be interrogated'.

The cop added: 'The British man was taken to hospital and paramedics attempted to save his life.

'We now have to contact the relatives of the dead man to further deduce the true cause. There are also many witnesses to interview.'
A curvaceous animal rights activist has stolen the show to upstage controversial vegan protester Tash Peterson at a topless demonstration in one of Australia's busiest shopping precincts.

Three activists braved Melbourne's cold weather on Wednesday in a PETA protest held in in Bourke Street Mall to condemn the use of wool.

OnlyFans and social media star Ms Peterson was among the trio after announcing earlier in the day she and boyfriend Jack Higgs ditched their home state of Western Australia and moved to Melbourne.

She sported red marks on her face as part of her costume to raise awareness for the 'sheep that are exploited and murdered in the wool industry' while holding a sign with the messaged 'Wool Hurts'

Ms Peterson was upstaged by fellow protester 'body positive' influencer Stefania Ferrario, who opted to show off her bare breasts and curvy figure by cradling a beaten 'lamb' above her head.

Stefania Ferrario was front and centre of a topless protest in Melbourne, upstaging Tash Peterson (right)

As Tash Peterson (right) covered her bare breasts by holding a sign, Stefania Ferrario (left) showed off hers by holding a fake lamb above her head

Ms Ferrrario, a 1950s-style pin-up model boasts more than 1.1 million Instagram followers and works with major brands including Myer, Victoria Secret, David Jones and Target.

Ms Peterson has 16,100 followers in comparison.

Ms Ferrrario uses her massive platform to promote animal rights and lures in droves of adoring fans with her teeming sex appeal.

'Consumers need to know that wool hurts sheep and the planet,' Ms Ferrario said after Wednesday's protest.

'From the moment a lamb is subjected to mutilations like mulesing and tail docking to the day they're sold for mutton or herded onto a live-export ship, they're at the mercy of humans who see them only as objects to profit from. This leads to the abuse that international PETA entities have documented time and again on farms and in shearing sheds.'

She and Ms Peterson have previously stood topless in the streets of Melbourne's CBD holding up placards with provocative animal rights messages like 'eat p***y, not animals'.

Ms Peterson took to Instagram with her boyfriend on Wednesday to announce her arrival in Melbourne.

The trio condemned the wool industry in a topless protest in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall

Braving the cold this morning, three nearly nude People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) supporters - led by body-positive influencer Stefania Ferrario - held a demonstration in Melbourne's bustling Bourke Street Mall

The controversial figure's (pictured, far right) latest protest saw her pose topless for an hour in Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday, straight after her flight landed

'We are finally in Melbourne after a very long journey, because our flight yesterday morning was cancelled,' she said on social media. 'We are here, we have had two or three hours sleep and we are already going to be protesting.

Ms Peterson is no stranger to controversy since her instant decision overnight to stop eating meat and become a vegan at the age of 23 after a documentary changed her life five years ago.

Her antics have led police and policymakers in WA to describe her as 'Australia's biggest pest'.

Ms Peterson has copped several fines for her semi-nude demonstrations which she has executed in designer stores, restaurants and supermarkets.

Last August, she marched topless through a Louis Vuitton store in Perth while smeared with her own menstrual blood. which later saw her fined $3,500 by a Perth magistrate.

The activist has also dressed up as a cow and demonstrated in the meat section of supermarkets, invaded the pitch at an AFLW match, and donned a blood-soaked apron while screaming at patrons in a KFC and Coles.

She also faced trial for a December 2020 protest at the Boatshed Markets in Cottesloe where she also appeared shirtless, with her chest painted in a cow pattern, and yelled at shoppers that cows were being raped for meat and dairy.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton admitted on Tuesday that he has helped stage coups in other countries, like the failed one in Venezuela.

Bolton made the astonishing admission in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper as he denied claims that the January 6 riot was an attempted coup-d'etat.

'It's not an attack on our democracy,' Bolton said of the Capitol riot. 'It's Donald Trump looking after Donald Trump. It's a once in a lifetime occurrence.'

But Tapper countered his claims, noting: 'One does not have to be brilliant to plan a coup.'

'I disagree with that as someone who helped plan coups d'etat, not here, but in other places, it takes a lot of work,' Bolton responded in the episode of The Lead. 'And that's not what he did.'

Instead, Bolton said the former president 'was just stumbling around from one idea to another, and ultimately he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol, as to that, there's no doubt, but not to overthrow the Constitution to buy more time to throw the matter back to the states and try to redo the issue.

'And if you don't believe that, you're going to overreact, and I think that's a real risk for [the House Committee investigating the January 6 riot], which has done a lot of great work - mostly when the witnesses testify, not when the members are opining.

'It is invariably the case that when you go too far to prove your case, you undermine it,' he added.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton let slip on Tuesday that he has helped stage coups in other countries, in an interview with CNN

Later on in the interview, Tapper presses Bolton about his claims, asking him to elaborate on his 'expertise having planned coups' and questioning whether they were 'successful.'

At that point, Bolton responded that in his 2020 memoir, he wrote about the United States' support for the failed attempt to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in 2019.

'Not that we had all that much to do with it,' he said, 'but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overthrow an illegally-elected president and they failed.'

Bolton was serving as the national security advisor for then-President Donald Trump when Venezuelan political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez - who had the backing of the United States - declared the end of Maduro's regime on April 30, 2019.

The head of the supreme court then declared that Maduro was an illegitimate leader, and Vladimir Padrino, head of the armed forces, publicly backed the Supreme Court's decision.

The effort ultimately failed when members of Maduro's regime - who opposition leaders had promised would stay in power - lost trust in the opposition and stood by Maduro.

When pressed on the matter further, Bolton brought up the failed attempt to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in 2019, when the United States publicly backed the opposition. Anti-government protesters are seen here clashing with security forces at the time

The attempted coup ultimately failed when regime members who opposition leaders thought were on their side remained loyal to Maduro

At the time, the Washington Post reports, Bolton declared: 'This is clearly not a coup.'

But in the interview on Tuesday, Bolton seemed to imply it was a coup, noting: 'The notion that Donald Trump was half as competent as the Venezuelan opposition is laughable.'

Bolton has been involved in international conflicts for decades, holding a major role in arms control during the George W Bush administration and serving as an ambassador to the United Nations in 2005 and 2006.

He has often embraced foreign intervention, having supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and advocated for regime change in Iran prior to joining Trump's administration.

His comments about planning coups came as the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack continues to present evidence suggesting Trump spurred protesters to march to the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Bolton denied in his interview that the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol was an attempted coup

His comments came ahead of a hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the riot, when rioter Stephen Ayres (center) testified about his decision to enter the building

The House Committee displayed images of organizing maps at the hearing on Tuesday

On Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, announced that the committee had spoken to six people in a meeting with the former president to discuss his claims of election fraud.

'What ensued was a heated and profane' argument, Raskin said, that included 'challenges to physically fight.'

In a clip of Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani's testimony, he says he told the White House lawyers they weren't 'tough enough' and that they were a 'bunch of p***ies' for claiming there was not enough evidence of election fraud.

Raskin said that after the unhinged meeting, Trump sent out a tweet calling on his supporters to come to the Capitol on Jan. 6: 'It will be wild,' Trump wrote.

Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy later displayed text messages obtained from former Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson where she raised red flags to Meadows about how the January 6 'Save America' rally could get out of hand.

She said that Trump loved the 'crazies' which was why some of them were speaking at his rally.

'He loved people who viciously defended him in public,' Pierson said in recorded testimony about her texts, expressing particular concern about right-wing commentators Alex Jones and Ali Alexander.

And after a short break, Stephen Ayres, one of the committee's two witnesses who attended the riot on January 6, said that he did not plan on going to the US Capitol when he attended Donald Trump's 'Stop The Steal' rally on the White House ellipse.

Asked why he changed his mind, Ayres said: 'The president got everybody riled up we were just following what he said.'

He said it was Trump's urging on social media that made him want to come to Washington, DC that day.

Ayres said that he did not decide to leave until Trump tweeted asking rioters to go home in the late afternoon. Other witnesses have said they urged Trump to publicly call off the rioters much earlier.

'Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out, we literally left right after that come out,' Ayres said. 'You know, to me, if he would have done that earlier in a day 1:30 I, you know, we wouldn't be in this, maybe we wouldn't be in this bad situation or so.'

Ayres, who no longer believes the election was stolen from Trump, said it 'makes me mad' that Trump is still promoting since-debunked election fraud claims.

'I was hanging on every word. He was saying everything he was putting out I was following it. I mean, if I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people were doing it or maybe even still doing it.'

Ayres said he felt like he had 'horse blinders on.' 'I was locked in the whole time, he said. Ayres pled guilty to charges for joining the riot that day but has not yet been sentenced.
The US Treasury mulls over the proposal of the Biden administration to wrest control of Russia's over energy imports by proposing an oil price cap. Treasury officials are not confident the US and G7 could dictate to Vladimir Putin what they want to happen.

Capping Could Prevent Soaring Oil, Gas Prices

A senior US Treasury official told reporters in Tokyo that capping the price of Russian oil exports may prevent the price of a barrel from rising globally by 40% to reach roughly $140, report Sputnik News.

In June, the price is $120 per barrel though it hovers at $103 for now. This desperate measure to impose a price cap on Russian crude was discussed by the G7 countries last June in Germany from the 28th to 30th, noted Reuters.

For the idea she said may avert a worldwide recession, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has started what has been labeled a "lobbying" visit to the Indo-Pacific area.

In addition to visiting Japan and South Korea during her 10-day tour, she will also attend a conference of the finance ministers from the G20 nations in Bali on July 15 and 16.

Japan, a major importer of Russian energy, has so far abstained from backing the price-cap plan that Yellen has advocated.

An anonymous source said that her meeting with the Japanese Finance Minister Shun'ichi Suzuki on Tuesday in Tokyo; will need convincing that the oil price cap will not jeopardize Japan's energy security despite the US treasury's doubts.

Read Also: Emmanuel Macron Facts: Interesting Info You May Not Know About The French President

Europe Suffers Energy Shortages

The US wants to get Russian oil cheaply and prove it has the clout to drive energy costs lower and demonstrate forcing Moscow to its terms. But, like most of his schemes, Joe Biden has gone south and made Vladimir Putin mad enough to stop imports, noted Fars News.

Even though G7 leaders are willing to follow Washington's lead, they are not confident how the US can convince anyone to go with the plan; even major oil producers have snubbed the White House.

In their meetings, the G7 summit established a lower price per barrel at $40-$60, even a threat to Russia using sea lanes that are not under US control is doubtable. Some treasury officials aren't confident, and it might fail altogether.

The European Union followed the US lead and penalized Russia's banking, financial, and media organizations, government officials, and lawmakers. Next, oil supplied via shipping was drawn in sanctions.

Additionally, several European leaders urged Brussels to include a ban on Russian gas in any upcoming sanctions measures. However, the prohibition on Russian imports has worsened supply shortages and raised prices.

As a desperate act, the EU is acting under US instruction to ban Russian oil and a restriction on maritime insurance for any tanker transporting it. While Janet Yellen says, a price cap is a solution, not how to implement it.

The US Treasury thinks that the Biden administration and forcing an oil price cap is not a sure thing, and Russia can starve all its adversaries because it has options.

Related Article: White House Convinces India, Japan To Support Russian Oil Price Cap

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Boris Johnson has tabled a motion of confidence in his outgoing Government following a row over Labour's plans for a 'stunt' vote.

The Prime Minister, who is set to leave office on 6th September, is planning to ask the House of Commons on Monday if it still has confidence in his caretaker administration.

It comes after Labour bungled an attempt to force a Commons showdown on whether Mr Johnson still commands a majority.

Sir Keir Starmer had wanted to hold a vote on whether MPs still had faith in the Government under Mr Johnson.

But Downing Street refused to allow such a vote - despite convention being that the Government always grants parliamentary time for a confidence motion from the official opposition party - as they claimed it did not follow the standard format.

They accused Labour of 'playing politics' and wasting parliamentary time by specifically targeting Mr Johnson with their proposed vote - when he has already announced his resignation.

Labour hit back and claimed No10 was dodging their version of a confidence vote because they feared losing it.

The Government is now planning to table their own motion to ask the Commons whether 'this House has confidence in Her Majesty's Government'.

If the Tories fail to win a vote on the confidence motion, which is due to be debated on Monday, it could trigger a general election.

But it is unlikely that Conservative MPs would choose to bring down their own Government while the contest to replace Mr Johnson in No10 is already underway.

Boris Johnson is planning to ask the House of Commons on Monday if they have confidence in his caretaker administration

Sir Keir Starmer had wanted to hold a vote on whether MPs still had faith in the Government under Mr Johnson - but No10 rejected the wording of his motion

If the Tories fail to win a vote on the confidence motion it could trigger a general election. But it is unlikely that Conservative MPs would choose to bring down their own Government while the contest to replace Mr Johnson in No10 is already underway

A Government spokeswoman said: 'Labour were given the option to table a straightforward vote of no confidence in the Government in keeping with convention, however they chose not to.

'To remedy this we are tabling a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide if it has confidence in the Government.

'The Government will always allow time for appropriate House matters whilst ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve people's everyday lives.'

Labour have pressed for a confidence vote as a means of daring Tory MPs to put on record their support for Mr Johnson continuing as PM until his successor is elected.

Many Conservatives had initially been angered by Mr Johnson's intention to remain in No10 in a caretaker role for a number of weeks yet.

The PM's downfall came after vast swathes of Tory MPs turned against him, which also saw a torrent of resignations from Mr Johnson's Government.

Labour today insisted their original motion should have been accepted by Downing Street.

A Labour spokesman said: 'The motion that we tabled was in order, the clerks ruled it in order, we had precedent based on the 1965 vote of no confidence there was with Ted Heath and Harold Wilson.

'If the Government wants to table a different motion, that's obviously up to them.

'But what's clear is that the Government was concerned it would lose the vote on the motion that we had put forward, otherwise why are they putting forward this alternative motion on Monday?

'We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed no confidence in Boris Johnson in writing to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy.'

Labour could still try to amend the new motion to reflect their original wording, a move the Liberal Democrats said they would make.

Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: 'These are desperate tactics from the Conservatives, who are looking to duck scrutiny for propping up Boris Johnson.

'Conservative MPs risk a major public backlash if they refuse to back this motion.'
Many large organisations have wall space they give over to celebrate previous leaders. Long-serving and much-loved power figures who left their mark over decades at the top.

But the roll of honour also marks the time served by the lesser figures, who become forgotten or, if famous, the answer to a pub quiz question.

Today it was revealed the Department for Education had acted in the latter tradition.

A former adviser to Michael Gove has revealed that a portrait has already been hung in its Westminster headquarters to mark the time that Michelle Donelan was in charge of the nation's schools - all 36 hours of it.

Ms Donelan was promoted from Universities Minister on July 5 after the previous education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, was made Chancellor in place of Rishi Sunak quit.

But on July 7 the 38-year-old joined scores of other ministers in quitting, saying the PM had put her in 'an impossible position'.

A former adviser to Michael Gove has revealed that a portrait has already been hung in its Westminster headquarters to mark the time that Michelle Donelan was in charge of the nation's schools - all 36 hours of it.

Ms Donelan was appointed on July 5. But on July 7 the 38-year-old joined scores of other ministers in quitting, saying the PM had put her in 'an impossible position'

The portrait was posted onto Twitter by Sam Freedman, who worked as a policy adviser to Mr Gove between 2010 and 2013, when he was education secretary.

He dryly wrote: 'Good to see Michelle Donelan in her rightful place on the wall of former Secretaries of State at the DfE. I was worried she wouldn't get up there.'

So short was Ms Donelan's tenure, she pledged to give her severance pay to charity after it was revealed she will receive almost 17,000.

The severance payment is worth three months of salary  more than she would have received for resigning while in her more junior role.

The 16,876.25 payment was revealed as part of an astonishing 423,000 of severance cash thought to be owed by taxpayers to Tory ministers who resigned en masse in the rebellion against Boris Johnson.

Under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, MPs leaving office are entitled to a quarter of their annual ministerial salary in severance.
A woman is suing her seven-year-old daughter's elementary school after she was allegedly forced to make a public apology for writing 'any life' on a Black Lives Matter drawing.

Chelsea Boyle's first-grade daughter, who has ADHD, was allegedly told by her principal at Viejo Elementary School in Mission Viejo, California, that she 'can't draw pictures anymore' and 'can't write those words' after being disciplined for creating the 'any lives' matter drawing.

The picture showed the words 'Black Lives Matter' with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow, which was intended to 'represent her friends' who were 'racially mixed'. She added 'any life' above the shapes.

One of the friends took the picture home, where a parent saw it and was said to have found it offensive.

This prompted principal Jesus Becerra to punish Mrs Boyle's daughter by making her publicly apologize on the playground to her classmates and teachers.

It is also claimed that Mrs Boyle's daughter was then banned from recess and forced to sit on a bench watching the other children play.

Chelsea Boyle, pictured, is suing her seven-year-old daughter's elementary school after she was allegedly forced to make a public apology for writing 'any life' on a Black Lives Matter drawing

The incident is said to have happened a year ago, but her mother Mrs Boyle only discovered what had happened after another parent told her recently.

Mrs Boyle said she didn't think her daughter did anything wrong: 'I was immediately angry, I didn't know what had happened, I knew it was wrong fundamentally.

'My daughter's rights were taken away, and I just started reaching out to find out what compelled speech was. I didn't know what it was until I spoke to attorneys,' she told Fox News on Wednesday.

Her attorney, Alexander Haberbush, added: 'Every single student in this country has a right to free speech. Now those rights are even stronger when a school tries to compel speech - when a school tries to make you say something as opposed to just telling you that you can't say something. That's exactly what has happened here.

The picture showed the words 'Black Lives Matter' with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow, which was intended to 'represent her friends' who were 'racially mixed'. She added 'any life' above the shapes (pictured)

'It's even worse than that because not only was she made to apologize for a totally innocuous drawing, one that I don't know how you could look at that and see anything but racial tolerance and respect for other races in that picture.

'But not only was she made to apologize for that, she's actually been punished on top of it.

'Chelsea's daughter was deprived of her ability to do art. She suffers from severe ADHD, art is her main outlet, taking that away is a severe deprivation of something that really has a therapeutic effect.

On being asked about her daughter's wellbeing, Mrs Boyle said she went out to buy her a bunch of art supplies and her 'art's come along leaps and bounds, so she's doing great'.

Her attorney, Alexander Haberbush, added: 'Every single student in this country has a right to free speech. Now those rights are even stronger when a school tries to compel speech' (pictured, Viejo Elementary School)

Mrs Boyle said she didn't think her daughter did anything wrong: 'I was immediately angry, I didn't know what had happened, I knew it was wrong fundamentally'

'It's more me, I guess, and my husband that are still upset about this and still don't know what to do about it,' she continued.

Speaking to RedState, Mrs Boyle said: 'My children see color as a color, as a description. I am trying to raise them the way the world should be, not the way it is.

'Thats how Im trying to make my personal change. Her best friend is brown  not black, but brown  and she didnt understand why she didnt matter, why her friend didnt matter. She has another friend that is Japanese; she doesnt understand.

'It was something she came up on her own. She just didnt understand it. It was completely innocent, and that broke my heart.'
A schoolboy claims he was placed into isolation after turning up to class wearing shorts during this week's sweltering heatwave.

Harrison Utting, 13, says he was sent to a special room as punishment for attending Westlands School in Sittingbourne, Kent, in a pair of knee-length shorts on Monday morning.

His dad Terry Utting, from nearby Sheppey, took him out of school on Monday and yesterday when the boy again turned up in shorts.

Mr Utting, who runs a vape shop, said his son was taken into the school's Pastoral Support Programme room, which he described as 'like a prison'.

Mr Utting criticised the school for banning shorts and taking disciplinary action on his son when the country is hit by record high temperatures.

He added: 'I don't think it's right the way the school is treating its students.

'There is a blanket ban on shorts but there is no air-conditioning in the classrooms and the pupils are roasting in 30C (86F) heat.

Harrison Utting, 13, says he was put into isolation for turning up in shorts at Westland School in Sittingbourne, Kent, during a week of unusually high temperatures

Westlands School (pictured) in Sittingbourne, Kent, has stood by its strict uniform policy, but said this may change if the searing heatwave engulfing the country continues

'At least the girls can wear skirts.

'I read that in another school all the boys ended up wearing skirts as that was the only way they could keep cool and follow the dress code.'

This week parts of Kent saw temperatures hit 26C (78.F), with other areas of the UK, including London, reaching 32C (89.6F).

The Met Office yesterday extended its amber warning over the 'extreme heat' until next Tuesday as temperatures are expected to rise again this weekend, hitting the high 20s and could reach as high as 35C (95F).

The school stood by its strict uniform policy, but said this may change if the searing heatwave engulfing the country continues, as is expected by forecasters.

Head teacher Christina Honess said: 'We have a clear policy on uniform that all parents are made aware of before they send their child to our school and it is published on our school website.

'We review all of our policies on a regular basis and will do so with our uniform policy in due course.

Harrison's father Terry Utting said: 'There is a blanket ban on shorts but there is no air-conditioning in the classrooms and the pupils are roasting in 30C heat'

'The overwhelming majority of our parents are supportive of our current policy.

'In the event of the extreme temperatures that are currently being forecast for next week, we would be willing to make reasonable adjustments.'

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) advises that steps such as closing classrooms can be taken if it becomes unacceptably hot and classes can be moved to cooler locations, or even pupils being sent home.

The union safety briefing states that 26C (78F) should be used as the trigger for these measures and that 'dress codes can also be relaxed', with many schools that need blazers and trousers to be worn to allow shorts, skirts and the removal of jackets.
The EU has caved into Vladimir Putin's demands and ordered defiant Lithuania to stand down and allow the passage of some sanctioned goods to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The bloc said that from now on, only weapons could be blockaded and the movement of goods by road, despite the EU themselves previously imposing wider sanctions against Moscow due to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Lithuania had infuriated Putin by halting the movement of concrete, wood, alcohol, coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology moving through its territory, in the face of multiple threats from the Kremlin.

The small nation of less than three million argued it was only applying EU sanctions, even as Russia vowed retaliation with a 'very serious negative impact' on the country.

While transit by road was not allowed, legal guidance by the EU executive said that 'no such prohibition exists for rail transport' from Russia to its outpost and that it could not be subject to an outright ban.

The cowardly EU has caved into Vladimir Putin's demands and ordered defiant Lithuania to stand down and allow the passage of sanctioned goods to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad

'The transit of sanctioned goods by road with Russian operators is not allowed under the EU measures.

'No such similar prohibition exists for rail transport,' said the European Commission, adding that EU states should check such trains.

'The Commission underlines the importance of monitoring the two-way trade flows between Russia and Kaliningrad... to ensure that sanctioned goods cannot enter the EU customs territory.'

The Commission added that transport of sanctioned military and dual-use goods was prohibited regardless of mode of transport.

Lithuania said it will adhere to the executive's advice but added that the previous trade rules were 'more acceptable'.

'Kaliningrad transit rules may create an unjustified impression that the transatlantic community is softening its position and sanctions policy towards Russia', the statement said, referring to Wednesday's advice.

Lithuania had infuriated Putin by halting the movement of good through its own territory (pictured today)

Moscow had previously demanded that Lithuania immediately lift the restrictions, and said it had brought its grievances to European authorities.

Russia said on Friday that it could adopt 'harsh measures' against them if the transit of some goods to and from Kaliningrad did not resume 'within the coming days'.

'We did not negotiate anything with Russia,' said EU spokesman Eric Mamer after the guidance was released, despite siding with Putin.

The commission said Lithuania, like all EU countries, had an obligation 'to prevent all possible forms of circumvention of EU restrictive measures'.

This should be done through 'targeted, proportionate and effective controls and other appropriate measures', said the commission, which controls the execution of EU sanctions.

Checks would survey any 'unusual flows or trade patterns' that would indicate sanctions busting, it said.

Freight cars are seen blockaded in Kaliningrad last month during Lithuania's stand off with Russia

Lithuania has no border with mainland Russia but is a neighbour of Belarus.

Kaliningrad borders on NATO and EU member states Lithuania and Poland and relies on railways and roads through Lithuania for most goods.

The coastal territory has been cut off from some freight transport from mainland Russia since June 17 under the EU sanctions regime.

Kaliningrad covers an area roughly half the size of Switzerland and is home to a little over one million people.

Seized by the Red Army from Germany in the closing stages of World War II, it became separated from the Russian mainland following the break-up of the Soviet Union when Lithuania became an independent state.
A Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in the country's first such case in almost a decade.

Police in Sudans White Nile state arrested Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab, 20, last month, before her sentencing at the Kosti Criminal Court on June 26.

Ms Tiyrab had separated from her husband and moved back to her familys home, before she was interrogated by a police who allegedly obtained an illegal confession from her.

A Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in the country's first such case in almost a decade (stock image)

She is appealing against the decision, holding out hope that High Court will strike down the ruling.

Ms Tiyrab was denied legal representation, and her trial commenced without obtaining a formal complaint from the police, which human rights groups say is irregular.

Under Islamic law, Hudud crimes - enforced in Sudan - carry penalties such as the amputation of hands and feet, flogging, and in rare cases, death.

The news brings with it fears that Sudan is rolling back women's rights after the country's army seized power last year.

The last known case of a woman sentenced to stoning for adultery was in South Kordofan state in 2013, but the High Court overturned the decision.

The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), based in Uganda called for Tiyrabs 'immediate and unconditional release' and accused the Sudanese government of violating domestic and international law.

'The application of the death penalty by stoning for the crime of adultery is a grave violation of international law, including the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,' the centre said in a statement.

Stoning is a legal form of punishment for adultery under the 1991 penal code in Sudan. Most stoning sentences have been imposed on women. At least 15 countries still practice stoning

At least 15 countries still practice stoning, either legally or illegally in tribal areas, with human rights groups highlighting Somalia as handing down the punishment most frequently.

Flogging, outlawed in 2020, is still handed out as a punishment despite a decrease in cases.

Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan grabbed power in a coup last October that drew international condemnation.

The coup led to fears Sudan was heading backwards into chaos, only a few years after the country overthrew dictator Omar al-Bashir in the 2019 Sudanese Revolution following years of bloody civil war and genocide in Darfur.

Burhan dismissed the last civilian members of his ruling body on June 6, but protesters have rejected his pledge again and taken to the streets.
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President Joe Biden wrapped up his first afternoon in Israel by spending time with two American Holocaust survivors at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Both Rina Quint and Gita Sikovich immigrated to the U.S. after surviving Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's concentration camps.

Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

Biden teared up when embracing and talking to the women at the end of a brief ceremony.

'God love you dear,' he told Sikovich, upon hearing her story.

The ceremony consisted of Biden rekindling the Eternal Flame and laying a wreath on a slab under which ashes of Holocaust victims from the extermination camps are buried.

Biden sported a traditional yarmulke for his visit to Yad Vashem Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem, Isreal - his final stop of the day.

The Ankor Children's Choir sang an Cantor Shmuel Berlad recited El Maleh Rachamim, a Jewish prayer for those who died Holocaust.

Quint, 86, was just 10 years old when she arrived in the United States after World War II.

'I didn't have a home until then, my whole family perished, and in the U.S., I was adopted by a wonderful family,' she told YnetNews, a local Israeli news outlet.

'I'm very lucky to meet the president, it is a real closure. When I arrived, I was a scared little girl and I didn't know how to read or write. Now, I'm meeting the most important person in the world, it's pretty amazing.'

President Joe Biden greets Holocaust survivors Gita Sikovich (right) and Rina Quint (center) after a ceremony Wednesday at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem

President Joe Biden (top) wipes away a tear as he meets with American Holocaust survivor Rina Quint (bottom), alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right)

President Joe Biden holds the hand of Holocaust survivor Gita Sikovich after a ceremony Wednesday at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem

President Joe Biden talked to Holocaust survivors Rina Quint (left) and Gita Sikovich (right), who both immigrated to the United States after surviving Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's concentration camps

President Joe Biden participates in a wreath-laying ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem on Wednesday

President Joe Biden rekindles the Eternal Flame located in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem Wednesday

Quint was born in December 1935 as Freida Lichtenstein in the city of Piotrkow Tribunalski, Poland.

Her mother and two brothers were murdered in October 1942 in the Treblinka extermination camp.

Quint was deported with her father, who later died.

She had to pretend to be a boy to survive.

Sikovich, 95, was born in 1927 in the town of Khust on the Carpathian Mountains in what is now Ukraine.

She told YnetNews she was 'very excited' to meet the president.

She and her family were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1944. After five months, Sikovich and her sister Helen were transferred to various labor camps and eventually released.

She and her sister were reunited with their older sister and mother.

The family later moved to the United States.

Biden's trip to the Holocaust memorial follows a tour of Israel's new Iron Dome and Iron Beam Air Defense Systems.

He fist-bumped Israeli leaders as he arrived Wednesday afternoon in Tel Aviv after the White House was forced to confirm Israeli media reports that said the U.S. president would limit shaking hands during his first trip to the Middle East.

The White House said it was an uptick in COVID cases - and not forthcoming interactions with the controversial Saudi crown prince - that triggered the decision to limit Biden shaking hands.

And so upon his arrival at the Ben Gurion Airport, Biden went down the line of Israel's leaders - including President Isaac Herzog, caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett - and gave them each a fist pound, though Bennett got an additional shoulder rub.

'This is both a historic visit and a deeply personal one,' Lapid said at the arrival ceremony, where he spoke of the 'need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear problem.'

Biden said it was a an honor to visit the 'independent Jewish state state of Israel,' calling the U.S. relationship with the nation 'deeper and stronger, in my view, than it's ever been.'

'We reaffirm the unshakable commitment to United States-Israel security, including partnering with Israel on the most cutting-edge defense systems in the world,' Biden said.

He also reaffirmed U.S. support for a two-state solution, though he admitted it 'isn't in the near term.'

After Biden's remarks, the president became more handsy with the leaders, shaking Bennett's hand and then gripping the hand of former Israeli Prime Minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for several seconds.

President Joe Biden (right) arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel Wednesday and fist-bumped Israel's leaders including President Isaac Herzon (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center)

President Joe Biden (center) fistbumps with caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid (right) as President Isaac Herzog (left) looks on. The White House said Wednesday Biden would 'reduce contact' with people during his Middle East trip, due to COVID-19 variants

After the initial ceremony, President Joe Biden (right) got more handsy with Israeli leaders, including gripping the hand of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center)

President Joe Biden arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday

President Joe Biden (right) gave brief remarks as he landed in Israel Wednesday. He's flanked by President Isaac Herzog (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center)

President Joe Biden (center), Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (right) stand as the nation's national athems are played Wednesday at an arrival ceremony at the Ben Gurion International Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel

Israeli former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the arrival of President Joe Biden Wednesday at Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel

The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the White House outlined a no handshake policy to Yair's office pointing to an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Earlier Wednesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked why Biden wouldn't be shaking hands after hosting two large-scale events at the White House on Monday and Tuesday.

'I just think the simplest way for me to put it is is that we're in a phase of the pandemic right now where we're looking to increase masking and reduce contact to minimize spread,' Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One.

Reporters on Air Force One were quick to point out that Biden may not want to be photographed shaking hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

MBS - as he's known - was implicated by American intelligence agencies in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Saudi national critical of the Saudi regime, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn't answer directly when asked to respond if the handshake policy was to prevent a friendly photo-op between Biden and MBS.

'I wouldn't say there's a change. And here's the thing, that's why you're asking me if he's going to shake hands or not. We're staying that we're going to try and minimize contact as much as possible,' she said. 'But there are precautions we're taking because this is up to his doctor.'

Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday, for his first trip as president and 10th overall - and then will head to Saudi Arabia Friday for a highly scrutinized meeting with Saudi and regional leaders.

As he touched down, his administration announced that inflation in the U.S. rose to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since 1981. It was a greater increase than economists predicted and came as President Biden claimed the issue is subsiding.

The consumer price index , a broad measure of goods and services in the nation, soared above the 8.8 percent Dow Jones estimate.

It's the biggest 12-month increase in nearly four decades, and up from an 8.6 percent jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3 percent from May to June, another substantial increase, after prices had jumped 1 percent from April to May.

Biden urged American's to stay calm over the new report and said his administration was committed to tackling the issue while touting that gas prices have fallen a bit and that the nation is on the right.

'While today's headline inflation reading is unacceptably high, it is also out-of-date,' Biden said, referencing that prices at the pump have fallen by 40 cents since mid-June. 'Those savings are providing important breathing room for American families.

'And, other commodities like wheat have fallen sharply since this report,' the president claimed in a statement from Israel, where he is on his four-day trip to the Middle East.

President Joe Biden departs for the Middle East late Tuesday night

Former President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right). President Joe Biden is expected to meet 'MBS,' as he's called, during his trip to Saudi Arabia Friday and Saturday. In advance of the trip, the White House pushed that Biden would be limiting handshakes due to COVID-19

President Joe Biden (right) hosted large-scale events at the White House all week, including Tuesday's Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn

President Joe Biden shakes hands with guests Tuesday on the South Lawn

Inflation in the U.S. rose to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since 1981 and above what economist had predicted

Meanwhile, in Israel, Biden's greetings with leaders were friendly and familiar.

'When we met eight years ago when you were vice president you told me that if you had my hair you would be president of the U.S. and I told you that if I had your height I would be the prime minister of Israel,' Lapid told the president.

Lapid will hold the prime minister position until Isreal's elections in November.

'You know I love you,' Biden told Netanyanu, according to Israeli press - a sentiment he's shared with the leader before.

At the briefing on Israel's new Iron Dome and Iron Beam Air Defense Systems, Biden gave Defense Minister Benny Gantz a long handshake.

Afterward he'll visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial where he'll lay a wreath in a show of respect.

Biden will participate in a host of meetings while on the ground including with Lapid, Herzog, Netanyahu, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.

There were questions about why Biden was meeting with Netanyahu, who is no longer in power, but represents the opposition party in the Israeli government.

President Joe Biden listens to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (center) as they tour Israel's missile defense system at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday

President Joe Biden stands under Israel's Iron Dome defense system on Wednesday after arriving at the Ben Gurion Airport

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (center left) speaks with President Joe Biden (center ) and caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid (center right) during a tour of Israel's Iron Dome at the Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday

'The president believes it is very important to show engagement across the Israeli political spectrum because like United States, Israel is a democracy, where people have different points of view where you have leaders representing different points of view and he wants to engage with them,' Sullivan said.

The president will also receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor and visit with US athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, which involve thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.

Biden supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine  a stance he will reiterate during his time on the ground.

'The president will make clear his long-standing commitment and his administration's commitment to a two state solution, which he believes is the best path to ensure a viable democratic Jewish state of Israel and the Palestinian state where Palestinians can live in freedom and dignity,' Sullivan said.

Among the agenda items Biden will push on his four-day trip: strengthen the ceasefire in Yemen, work to deepen Israeli relations with its Muslim neighbors, support the Palestinian people and coordinate on the threat posed by Iran.

Israeli officials have shown alarm at Iran's growing fleet of drones. The Israeli military said this month it had intercepted four unarmed drones headed for an offshore gas rig. It said the drones were Iranian-made and launched by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran.

Israel hopes its news Iron Beam system will help counter the drone threat.

It's still not operational but Biden will get a demonstration upon his arrival in Tel Aviv.

And the United States is concerned Russia is working with Iran to use drones  or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)  as weapons in its war with the Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Sullivan noted they have seen 'evidence of engagement' between Russia and Iran.

He said that the U.S. has not 'seen evidence of delivery' but has seen the increased engagement 'between the two countries on this specific issue of large numbers of UAVs, including weapons enabled UAVs, for Russia to acquire from Iran.'

'We think that this is of interest, to put it mildly, to the countries we will be visiting on this trip, because Russia, deepening an alliance with Iran to kill Ukrainians is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat,' Sullivan said.
A mentally ill intruder broke into the grounds of Buckingham Palace twice during the course of five days, a court has heard today.

Daniel Brydges also allegedly damaged a barbed wire fence 'belonging to the Queen's Estate' near St James' Park in London.

He is said to have breached the perimeter of The Queen's residence on December 18 and December 22 last year.

On Wednesday, the 33-year-old from Portsmouth appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court wearing a dark suit and spoke quietly to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

Brydges denied two charges of trespassing on a protected site and one of criminal damage.

He remains on bail with one condition not to attend any royal palace or royal residence.

A mentally ill intruder twice broke into the grounds of Buckingham Palace (stock image of the Royal home in London), a court heard

Defence counsel Mr Rajesh Bamm told the court: 'There is quite a serious mental health background.

'I will be commissioning my own psychiatric report for the defendant.'

District Judge Briony Clarke said Brydges' next court appearance may be a fact-finding hearing as opposed to a trial, due to his mental health issues affecting his fitness to enter pleas.

Speaking to Brydges she said: 'You have pleaded not guilty to these matters and there has to be a hearing.

'I do not know at this stage whether that will be a trial or an act or omission hearing.'

He was bailed ahead of his next appearance at Westminster Magistrates court on 12 October.

The judge told Brydges: 'I have to warn you, as I do everyone, if you do not attend on that occasion you may be sent to prison.'

Daniel Brydges, 33, allegedly breached the perimeter of The Queen's (pictured recently in Scotland) residence on December 18 and December 22 last year

Last December a teenager was suspected of scaling Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow in a bid to 'assassinate the Queen in revenge for 1919 Amritsar massacre'.

Also known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it was when a Gurkha British Indian Army unit fired on protesters who were against the arrest of pro-Indian independence leaders in Punjab.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 19, uploaded a pre-recorded video to Snapchat on Christmas Day, 24 minutes before a man was arrested by police inside the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Chail was arrested in the grounds of the Royal residence and detained under the Mental Health Act.

American tourist Joseph Huang Kang, 24, admitted scaling a wall at Buckingham Palace on December 10, 2021, while suffering a psychotic episode. He was fined 200 and told he could return to the US.
This is the terrifying moment a group of children are seen playing and dancing on rail tracks as a fast-moving train speeds past - as two adults look on.

Network Rail has shared the footage in a bid to show the dangers of level crossings, warning that they must not be used as 'a playground'.

In the video, two young boys are seen running around and pushing each other to stand in front of an approaching train.

As the train nears, one of the boys - wearing a blue Adidas t-shirt and black jogging shorts - begins waving at the ten-carriage Great Western Railway service.

As it speeds past, another boy dressed in a white top and black trousers sprints away, before they can both be seen jeering towards the train.

Two women then appear to run onto the tracks, one dressed in denim shorts with a racer black top, towards the young boy in jogging shorts.

The second woman, wearing a black Adidas jumper dress, then pushed the other boy towards the track before sprinting across herself.

The two boys are seen on CCTV holding each other as they look towards the fast approaching train

One of the boys is then seen dancing as the express train speeds past just touching distance away from him

The two boys are seen jeering towards the Great Western Railway service as it speeds past the level crossing

The 30-second clip was taken at the Wantage Road level crossing in Grove, Oxfordshire, last week

Two women then appear to run onto the tracks, one dressed in denim shorts with a racer black top, towards the young boy in jogging shorts

The 30-second clip was taken at the Wantage Road level crossing in Grove, Oxfordshire, shortly before 5pm on July 4.

Network Rail today tweeted: 'Level crossings can be very dangerous and are not a playground!

'PLEASE remind your children about the danger of playing near the railway.

Network rail said the shocking footage was discovered after the driver of the 125mph express train 'recently reported applying the emergency brakes after seeing children playing on the track.'

Alison Kramer, Network Rails Community Safety Manager, said: 'The behaviour of the children captured by CCTV is really shocking and reckless. The railway is not a playground and what they are doing is extremely dangerous.

'It is particularly disappointing to see this sort of mindless behaviour particularly when we work so hard alongside the British Transport Police in engaging with local schools and the community to educate people about how to behave safely when near the railway.

'We sincerely urge parents in this area to speak to their children and ensure they understand the risks of trespassing and ask the public to report any trespass incidents they witness.'
Alleged love rival murderer Kaitlin Armstrong had access to more than $450,000 and visited a gun range with her sister before killing Anna Morah 'Mo' Wilson in May.

Search warrants reveal Armstrong's boyfriend, cyclist Colin Strickland, told investigators Armstrong visited a gun range with her sister to 'learn how to use a firearm' prior to the incident, according to documents obtained by Fox News.

The gun Armstrong used to shoot the 25-year-old cyclist, who police say was having an affair with her boyfriend, belonged to Strickland and matched the caliber used in the murder.

Wilson was found dead in an apartment in Austin, Texas, on May 11 with two bullet punctures to the head and another to her chest.

Strickland told investigators that he bought two firearms between the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 for himself and Armstrong. Shell casings from the gun, labeled '9mm JAG' were found in the room, according to the warrant.

The documents also show Strickland had given Armstrong $450,000 for an investment account as of May 19. Strickland asked Armstrong to return the money, but she didn't before heading to Costa Rica on May 18.

While it's unclear what the funds were used towards, Texas Deputy Marshal Brandon Filla previously told the New York Post in May that Armstrong flipped houses and 'may have the funds to continue to hide.'

'[Armstrongs escape] wasnt something that was abrupt, this was something that was methodical, that was timed. She had somewhat of a plan,' Filla said.

Before leaving for Costa Rica along with the funds, police say they found passports belonging to Armstrong in her purse during an interview in May.

Kaitlin Armstrong's (pictured) was arrested for the murder of Anna Morah 'Mo' Wilson after a 43-day manhunt. Armstrong was allegedly jealous of her boyfriends secret love affair

Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson, 25, killed inside an apartment minutes after returning from an outing with Armstrong's boyfriend

Strickland admitted to police about his secret affair with Wilson, admitting he had to change her name on his phone - so Armstrong didn't know who he was speaking to. He further claimed he has deleted previous messages to avoid his girlfriend finding them.

Armstrong was linked to Wilson's death after her car was seen in the area around the time of the incident, leading officials to believe she killed the cyclist out of jealousy.

Police later discovered Wilson had gone to dinner with Armstrong's boyfriend the night of the murder. Strickland told police the two of them took a swim at Deep Eddy Pool before eating.

Strickland said he picked Wilson up from her friend's apartment at 5.45 p.m. and dropped her off again at 8.36 p.m. He stopped briefly to text Armstrong that he had visited a friend and that his phone had run out of battery.

Meanwhile, Armstrong was allegedly tracking Wilson using the app for cyclists and runners, Strava.

Wilson and Strickland went for a swim at a local swimming pool and then stopped by the Pool Burger (pictured) restaurant for dinner

An anonymous tip and surveillance footage outside the apartment Wilson was staying, led police straight to Armstrong.

Police used the yoga instructor's open misdemeanor warrant on theft of services charges as an opportunity to question her about Wilson's death - following an anonymous tip that Armstrong flew into a rage in January when she discovered Strickland had previously been involved with Wilson.

During questioning on May 14, police showed Armstrong video surveillance of her SUV coming to a stop outside of the apartment Wilson was found dead on May 11. The footage was stamped a minute after Wilson entered the building following her time with Strickland.

Armstrong also admitted it 'doesn't look good,' and a probable cause document for her arrest says she 'had no explanation as to why it was in the area and did not make any denials surrounding the statements presented to her.'

A neighbor, who asked not to be named, previously told DailyMail.com her security camera caught Armstrong's black Jeep Cherokee driving up to the property - above a garage at the back of a larger home - at 8:35 p.m.

She also told DailyMail.com that Armstrong had been caught on camera the previous day, riding a bike in the same spot.

During Wilson and Strickland's secret meet-up, Armstrong's 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee was spotted driving outside the home of Wilson's friend, where the cyclist was staying at

Armstrong's car was spotted again that night after Strickland dropped off Wilson

Officers confiscated two of Armstrong's cell phones - noticing passports belonging to Armstrong when collecting the one inside her purse, according to the documents.

Days before police questioned Armstrong, she had sold her black Jeep Grand Cherokee in Austin for more than $12,000 on May 13 - five days before she fled the country on May 18.

Armstrong was allegedly last seen in the country at Newark Liberty International Airport on May 18 after police confiscated two of her cell phones and noted she had passports inside her purse.

She then flew to Costa Rica where she stayed for about 43-days until she was arrested on June 30.

Police performed a manhunt for Armstrong in various U.S. states, including Texas, New York, and New Jersey before she was arrested.

It was later revealed by police that she used her sister's passport to leave the country. When it was discovered Armstrong's passport had't been used, police turned their attention towards passports belonging to people close to the yoga teacher - and eventually came across her sister Christine.

Armstrong used Christine Armstrong's passport to flee the country from Newark Airport in New Jersey, Inside Edition reported.

It's unclear whether Christine knows her passport was taken by her sister.

US Marshals discovered Armstrong used her sister Christine's passport to flee to Costa Rica after allegedly murdering Wilson

A photo of Kaitlin's and Elizabeth's passport was obtained by Inside Edition following her arrest on June 30

Police eventually targeted Armstrong by going door to door at San Jose hostels for six weeks, US Marshals said. She used three aliases to conceal her identity, including Beth Martin, Liz Martin, and Ari Martin.

Police were able to identify her by showing locals a photograph. She was eventually arrested at a hostel where police discovered she had altered her appearance by cutting her hair and dyeing it brown, and getting a nose job. A more than $6,000 receipt for the cosmetic surgery was found in her belongings.

She was booked in Travis County Jail in Austin and charged with first-degree murder as well as theft of service between $100 and $750.
The death toll for civilians who lost their lives due to the Russia-Ukraine war has gone over 5,000 as a recent Moscow missile attack killed roughly 43 people in Chasiv Yar in Donetsk.

The tragic news comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Europe should prepare for its gas supply from Russia to be cut off as his armed forces try to repel Moscow's attacks to the northeast and east of his country.

Civilian Death Toll

Zelensky warned Europe over energy supplies after Russia decided to suspend gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for annual summer maintenance. The planned maintenance of the pipeline has stoked fears that Moscow could lengthen the work and further delay gas supplies across Germany.

Following the attack in Chasiv Yar, Ukrainian authorities conducted search and rescue to find the civilians affected by the attack on a residential building in the city. Zelensky also rebutted claims that Russia has been taking an "operational pause" in the past week, arguing that from Ukraine's perspective, hostilities have continued as before, and its forces are "repelling assaults in various directions," as per CNBC.

The situation comes as the Kremlin announces that Putin will visit Iran next week for a Syria summit with his Iranian counterpart, President Ebrahim Raisi, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Offers Fast-Track Citizenship Process for Ukrainians as Invasion Rages on Between Russia, Ukraine

Furthermore, during a Ukrainian air raid on Nova Kakhovka, a city in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, at least seven people were killed, and 60 were injured. Officials claimed that their troops were able to destroy an ammunition depot in the city.

According to Aljazeera, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry also said in a statement that 16 ships passed through the Danube's newly-reopened Bystre river mount in the last four days. They added that the opening up of the Bystre was a crucial step towards speeding up grain exports.

Russia-Ukraine War

Furthermore, Ukraine has been negotiating with Romanian colleagues and European Commission representatives about increasing crossings through the Sulina canal. In a statement, the deputy infrastructure minister, Yuriy Vaskov, said that under such conditions and with access to the Bystre route, the congestion could be cleared within a week.

Following the attack on Chasiv Yar, Ukrainian authorities cleared more than 420 tons of rubble and rescued nine people from under the ruins. The chief of staff to Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, said on Sunday that the attack was "another terrorist attack" and argued that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result.

On the other hand, Russian authorities have continued to deny deliberately targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine on Monday, saying that it had "destroyed the temporary deployment point" of a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Chasiv Yar, US News reported.

The fighting continues as Russia announced that it would be deepening its defense cooperation with Myanmar after a meeting in Moscow with the latter's military leader, Min Aung Hlaing. In a statement, Russia's Defense Ministry said the meeting took place on Monday and noted that Hlaing was in Russia on a private visit.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin's Forces Kill 29 in Donetsk Attack, Ukraine Strikes Back in Kherson



Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin's Forces Kill 29 in Donetsk Attack, Ukraine Strikes Back in Kherson

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The first female Russian soldier killed in Ukraine was buried today as Vladimir Putin faced yet another day of appalling war losses among his high-ranking officers.

Corporal Anastasia Savitskaya, 35, a married mother-of-two said to be a 'real hero', was buried today in her native Volgograd, a city on southwest Russia.

'The deceased became the first servicewoman who died during the special military operation,' said Alexander Strukov, the local veterans' leader.

Savitskaya becomes one of the latest Russian colonels to be killed in Ukraine amid the Russian president's brutal on-going invasion of the country, that has seen Ukraine's forces put up fierce defence of their country.

While the full scale of Russia's military losses is unknown, it is estimated that Putin's forces have suffered more than 30,000 deaths. At least 70 colonels have been killed after at least 12 were killed in just two days.

Corporal Anastasia Savitskaya, 35, a married mother-of-two said to be a 'real hero', was buried today in her native Volgograd, a city on southwest Russia. Pictured: Savitskaya is seen in a photograph during her funeral on Wednesday

A friend of Savitskaya said: 'She had dreamed of serving in the army since childhood, and signed a contract at the age of 18.' Going to war in Ukraine 'was her choice,' they said.

Her bereft husband - a former soldier, not named - said at her funeral: 'How will I carry on living now? Why did I let you go there? Beloved, beautiful, best.'

Unlike some Western countries it remains rare for Russian servicewomen to go to war. Ukraine, for example, has seen several female soldiers join the fighting.

A eulogy at the woman's funeral said: 'A female warrior has always been an exception to the rule. But Anastasia, having mastered the 'home' front, went without fear to a dangerous special operation, accomplishing a double feat.'

Sturkov said: 'I express my condolences on the loss of the glorious daughter of Russia. Fighting and female servicemen seem incompatible, but fate has decreed so.

'We are both grieving and proud.'

Her commander Major Sergey Minochkin said: 'She went to collect humanitarian aid and then went to Ukraine herself. The command of the unit expresses its deepest condolences to her relatives. For us, she will always be a real hero.'

Pictured: Russian soldiers guard Corporal Anastasia Savitskaya's coffin at her funeral today

Pictured: A picture of Corporal Anastasia Savitskaya is shown on a screen during her funeral

Separately, today has seen the disclosure of multiple losses of other colonels, while a mass funeral was held in Luhansk People's Republic for 58 pro-Putin fighters.

Among the latest was Colonel Nikolai Kornelyuk, 49, an artillery commander with the Volgograd 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division. Lt-Col Anatoly Vasin was also killed.

Another colonel killed earlier but not disclosed at the time was Lt-Col Denis Glebov, 37, who was buried in Ryazan, Russia. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage under a decree signed by Vladimir Putin.

This takes the toll to at least 74 colonels killed in Putin's war.

In two days, the Russian resident has seen 12 of his colonels either killed in latest fighting or revealed to have been slain in this period.

A dozen generals have also perished in the bloody conflict.

Earlier today the death of Russian Lt-Col Alexander Sorochinsky was disclosed.

His funeral was held today in Borodino village, Moscow region.

Putin also lost Lt-Col Viktor Pakholsky, 38, deputy commander of the 39th helicopter regiment in Dzhankoy, Crimea.

It is unclear where Pakholsky  decorated for bravery in Syria was killed.

A picture emerged today of Col Andrei Gorobets, whose death was disclosed yesterday, reportedly killed in a Ukrainian missile strike at Chornobaivka.

He was head of the operative department of staff of the 20th motorised rifle division.

Pictured: A mass burial of 58 servicemen of the pro-Putin Luhansk People's Republic was held in the village of Vidnoye today, the latest demonstration of Russia's heavy losses in Ukraine

Pictured: Russian soldiers watch on as a mass burial takes place in Russia today

Meanwhile, video showed the mass funeral held for 58 men killed in the fighting for Luhansk whose remains were not initially identified.

After the pro-Russians secured Luhansk, the fighters were identified and buried in the ceremony.

'We must understand at what cost we defend our homeland, with what immeasurably wild pain we defend our freedom,' said Luhansk official Anna Soroka as she highlighted the human cost of Vladimir Putin's war.

'It is the duty of everyone to remember our soldiers, those who gave their lives for our homeland.

'It is very painful for us to say goodbye to 58 of our men on their final journey

'We know that the price is much higher

'Every day should now open a new path for us to a brighter future so the departed are not ashamed of us when they look down from heaven, our heavenly defenders.'

Colonel Nikolai Kornelyuk (pictured), 49, an artillery commander with the Volgograd 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division, is among the latest Russian Colonels to be killed in Ukraine

Another colonel killed earlier but not disclosed at the time was Lt-Col Denis Glebov (pictured), 37, who was buried in Ryazan, Russia

Col Andrei Gorobets (circled), whose death was disclosed yesterday, was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian missile strike at Chornobaivka

The misery in Russia over war losses was highlighted by footage showing a funeral in Buryatia, the region with most known slain troops.

The unidentified dead soldier's frail widow is too grief-stricken to walk.

Instead she has to be carried by two servicemen behind the coffin draped in the Russian flag, which is carried by six men in uniform.

Weeping relatives walk behind the coffin in regional capital Ulan-Ude, and a crowd of mourners watch the sombre ceremony.

The slain soldier is given full military honours and there are suggestions he was a high-ranking officer.

The distressing footage was shared today by People of Baikal, a small independent online news agency, which has focused on war losses among servicemen from Buryatia. There are now 243 known fatalities that the news agency has uncovered.

Since Russia does not release data on its war dead, the figure is likely to be far higher.

In total, it is estimated Putin's forces have suffered more than 30,000 deaths, with some suggestions that the toll may be above 40,000.

Meanwhile, Russian missile strikes in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv killed at least five people, Ukrainian authorities said, the latest in a series of artillery barrages across the country in the past day that left at least 10 dead and nearly 20 wounded in eastern and southern regions.

Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank near a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donbas region, Ukraine July 13, 2022

While Mykolaiv has repeatedly been the target of Russian fire in recent days, Russian missiles also struck the town of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, an attack that could signal Moscow's determination to hold onto territory in Ukraine's south as it aims to fully conquer the east.

Ukrainian forces have stepped up actions in a bid to reclaim more territory in the south.

The city of Bakhmut faced particularly heavy shelling as the current focus of Russia's offensive, Donetsk administrative chief Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

In adjacent Luhansk province, which Russian and separatist forces have all but conquered, Ukrainian soldiers battled to retain control of two outlying villages amid Russian shelling, Governor Serhiy Haidai said.

Luhansk and Donetsk together make up Ukraine's Donbas region, a mostly Russian-speaking region of steel factories, mines and other industries vital to Ukraine's economy.

The Russians are 'deliberately turning Donbas into ashes, and there will be just no people left on the territories captured,' Mr Haidai said.

Russian artillery also rained down in north-east Ukraine, where a regional governor, Oleg Syniehubov, accused Russian forces of trying to 'terrorise civilians' in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.
Two Met Police officers have been charged with common assault after they stopped and searched a suspect in north-west London.

Sergeant Emily Joshi and Constable Ozan Yelken are said to have used excessive force on a man in north-west London.

Both were charged after a complaint to the Met Police was investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following the officers stopping the suspect in Wykeham Road, Hendon, on December 28 last year.

The pair, accused of common assault by beating, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday and have been placed on restricted duties.

Two Met Police (stock image of Scotland Yard) officers have been charged with common assault after complaints that they had used excessive force when they stopped a man in north-west London

The charges relate to a man who was stopped on Wykeham Road (pictured), Hendon, on December 28 last year

The Independent Office for Police Conduct in a statement said that in May the Metropolitan Police received a complaint alleging that excessive force had been used.

And in June the police watchdog, passed a file of evidence to prosecutors.

The CPS then authorised the charges contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for Police Sergeant Emily Joshi and Police Constable Ozan Yelken.

The Met confirmed both were on duty at the time of the incident and said they are based at the Mets North West Basic Command Unit in Brent.

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach said: 'I know that this charge will, of course, be concerning. We have fully supported the IOPC with their investigation.

'As criminal proceedings are now active, I am unable to provide any more comment as it is really important that we do not undermine or interfere with this case.'
A novelist in the midst of a 2 million plagiarism fight with a descendant of Dr Zhivago author Boris Pasternak has accused his great-niece of stealing 'lengthy passages' from other works.

Anna Pasternak, great niece of Pasternak, has sued US novelist Lara Prescott for 2 million over claims she stole important parts of a book she wrote about her uncle's novel from her own biography.

Lara Prescott wrote the 2019 bestseller The Secrets We Kept by taking parts of Anna Pasternak's work Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago, Ms Pasternak is claiming.

Both works are based on the story behind Dr Zhivago, Boris Pasternak's most famous work and the subject of David Lean's 1965 blockbuster of the same title, starring Julie Christie and Omar Sharif.

Anna Pasternak (right) left court today appearing up-beat, despite allegations from defendant Lara Prescott that she copied other sources to write and publish her book

Lara Prescott wrote the 2019 bestseller The Secrets We Kept and is now working on a second novel - but she says the court case has caused her so much stress she may never write about real historical figures again

Omar Sharif and Julie Christie starred in the 1965 movie adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, directed by David Lean

Both Ms Pasternak's and Ms Prescott's works also rely on a part-translation of the memoirs of Irina Kosovi, Olga's daughter.

In 2014, while writing her book, Ms Pasternak commissioned the translation and alleges Ms Prescott infringed copyright by taking translated passages from Lara and using them in her own work.

In her book, Ms Pasternak sets out her theory that Olga Ivinskaya, Boris Pasternak's mistress and literary muse, was the real-life inspiration behind Lara Antipova, the central character in his much-loved novel.

British journalist Anna Pasternak does not claim Prescott 'textually copied' her work but claims she took her selection and arrangement of material to be included and excluded in the story.

Ms Prescott, who is named after Boris Pasternak's heroine, accepts some copying from the Anna Pasternak book but denies it is 'substantial.'

She says she now 'wishes she had never written' her bestselling book due to the stress of being sued.

But in the witness box at the High Court, Ms Prescott accused her rival of herself having 'copied and pasted' sections of earlier books about her uncle for her own work, which Ms Prescott's lawyers say contains a 'staggering' amount of 'copying'.

Ms Prescott's barrister Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC told Mr Justice Edwin Johnson that she has 'enjoyed a lifetime fascination with Doctor Zhivago'.

'I knew I was named after Lara, the character in the movie,' she said in her evidence.

'As a girl, my mother had loved David Lean's film adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, as well as the book it was based on.

'As a child, I'd wind-up her musical jewellery box again and again to hear it play "Lara's Theme" and watch the tiny ballerina inside slowly spin.'

She told the judge that publishing her novel was the 'realisation of a lifelong dream' but that the court case turned the success of her award-winning bestseller into a nightmare.

'Today, I'm working on a second novel while being a first-time mother to a toddler during a pandemic. These allegations and this claim have been highly stressful, to say the least.

Laura Prescott says she sometimes regrets writing the bestseller because 'the book and its success put me in her [Anna Pasternak, pictured] crosshairs'

'Publishing The Secrets We Kept was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and I've been very proud of it.

'Still, at times, I wish I hadn't written it.

'Not because Anna Pasternak is right, but because the book and its success put me in her crosshairs.

'I've often thought that I'll never write about real historical figures again.'

She added: 'I felt such anger and sadness upon receiving these claims and threats. I couldn't believe what was happening.'

Ms Prescott admits she read Ms Pasternak's book and included it in the acknowledgements in her novel.

But she says she was already two years into the process of writing before she saw her rival's book and denies its influence was 'substantial.'

Instead, she claims that both she and Ms Pasternak relied on the same historical source material, including Olga Ivinskaya's memoirs A Captive of Time, and The Pasternak Affair by Sergio D'Angelo.

Mr Lykiardopoulos told the judge it is 'striking' that 'so much of the claimant's work is itself copied from the earlier works'.

Dr Zhivago is Boris Pasternak's most famous work and the subject of David Lean's 1965 blockbuster of the same title, in which Lara is played by Julie Christie

Ms Pasternak's book, Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago by Anna Pasternak, is a biography of Boris Pasternak and his mistress Olga Ivinskaya, who she claims is the inspiration for Lara in the classic 1957 novel

He went on to claim that 95% of the material put before the court as having been copied from her rival by Ms Prescott was in fact 'lifted or merely minimally adapted from the source materials' by Ms Pasternak.

'The degree of the claimant's own copying is staggering,' he added.

Ms Prescott told the judge that 'lengthy passages - some of which spanned pages - from these books seemed to have been copied and pasted into Lara.'

She told the judge that 'she was excited' when she first learned about Ms Pasternak's book, claiming that she 'did nothing wrong' by 'using it to obtain ideas or details'.

Mr Lykiardopoulos told the judge: 'Copyright does not protect ideas. It only protects an author's original expression of their ideas.

'The defendant says the end result she produced is different from Lara and is expressed differently using the defendant's own unique writing style and includes the defendant's decisions as to what to include and how to include it.

'Of course there are similarities. The similarities arise because both books detail the lives of real people... and both used the same principle sources for their material.'

Nicholas Caddick, QC, for Pasternak, put it to Prescott that many scenes in her work closely resembled those in Lara, Pasternak's book.

According to Caddick, the details of these scenes were not in Prescott's early drafts, before she read 'Lara'.

Prescott told the court: 'Some people take years to write novels, some people research for decades to write their book before they put pen to paper.

'That does not mean the first thing they write, their very first draft, is going to resemble the last draft.

'As you can see from my records, after I got 'Lara', I wrote for two more years.

'Your assertion that everything changed because I got 'Lara'... is out of context. I was still researching.'

Caddick highlighted a scene, present in both books, where Olga sees Boris read his poetry for the first time.

In Pasternak's work, when Boris finishes his performance, the crowd surge forward and 'engulf' the stage.

In her own book, Prescott describes the crowd 'surrounding' the stage.

Caddick said Prescott amended the scene after reading Lara.

'It's the addition of the yelling out and the crowd rushing up and engulfing the stage.

'The scene itself isn't described in [the other sources], the idea that when he's reading his poetry the crowd would yell out and complete his lines for him.

'You added [this] to this scene very shortly after getting 'Lara', didn't you?

'At a time when 'Lara' was clearly in front of you, and fresh in your mind and you added it as a result of this.'

Prescott denied the allegation and told the court: 'I wrote that the men surrounded Boris as he left the stage.'

She added: 'I believe that in A Captive of Time [Ivinskaya's memoirs] it says if he would pause, even for a second, the crowd would yell out the lines of the poetry that come next and it was said that he was so overcome with emotion that the large surging crowds at the height of his popularity would do that.'

Prescott continued: 'If you're asking me if I had Lara open in front of me, I did not. I don't write like that. I wasn't writing with the books open in front of me.'

In her witness statement, Prescott wrote: 'I remember hoping there'd be more original content and analysis about Olga [in Lara] - things I hadn't already read in other books.

'There was some new information, but I'd hoped it might contain a treasure trove of historical factual details from the Pasternak family and remember being disappointed that it didn't.'

In her evidence, Anna Pasternak denied being a 'mere copyist'.

She told the court: 'You are trying to suggest that I have somehow copied something, that I am a mere copyist, and I am saying no, I absolutely categorically am not.'

Pasternak and Prescott have only met once before, at a drinks party hosted by Prescott's agents in 2019.

Initially there was some suggestion the two would collaborate on some publicity events, but three months later tensions arose over the acknowledgements in Prescott's book, eventually culminating in legal action being brought.

In her statement, Prescott said the 'whole affair' had been a 'major hardship' and had 'stalled [her] budding career'.

Dr Zhivago is Boris Pasternak's most famous work and the subject of David Lean's 1965 blockbuster of the same title, in which Lara is played by Julie Christie.

The novel follows the love story of two main characters, Yuri Zhivago and Lara Antipova, during the Russian Revolution and First World War.

The hearing continues.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken put out a forceful statement condemning reports that Russia is forcibly detaining and deporting Ukrainian civilians

Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the mass deportation of Ukrainians by the Russian military in a forceful statement on Wednesday, claiming the operation has rounded up as many as 1.6 million Ukrainian civilians living in areas controlled by Moscow's troops.

He criticized the Kremlin's 'filtration' operations and cited reports that Russians are 'disappearing' thousands people who do not pass those standards.

Between 600,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians are estimated to have been deported or forced through 'filtration.

The Biden administration official also pointed to chilling reports that 260,000 Ukrainian children have been taken from their parents and others abducted from orphanages to be put up for adoption in Russia.

Russian authorities' alleged actions, Blinken pointed out on Wednesday, are in direct violation with the Geneva convention

He called on the Kremlin to immediately allow outside investigators to observe filtration and re-location centers.

'The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,' Blinken said.

'Russian authorities must release those detained and allow Ukrainian citizens forcibly removed or coerced into leaving their country the ability to promptly and safely return home.'

The State Department also has knowledge of reports that Ukrainians are having their passports confiscated and switched for Russian documents 'to change the demographic makeup of parts of Ukraine.'

A Russian serviceman patrols a destroyed residential area in the city of Severodonetsk on July 12, 2022

Residents get Russian humanitarian aid in the city of Lysychansk on July 12, 2022

'Ukrainians deemed threatening because of their potential affiliation with the Ukrainian army, territorial defense forces, media, government, and civil society groups' make up the thousands who are being 'filtered out,' the US government stated.

Those Ukrainians are reportedly transported to detention facilities in the Donetsk region where they are subjected to torture.

'President Putin and his government will not be able to engage in these systematic abuses with impunity. Accountability is imperative,' Blinken said.

'This is why we are supporting Ukrainian and international authorities efforts to collect, document, and preserve evidence of atrocities.'

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a special military operation, and says it is offering humanitarian aid to those wanting to leave the country.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which define international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in conflict, prohibit mass forcible transfers of civilians during a conflict to the territory of the occupying power, classifying it as a war crime.

Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday that at least five people were killed when Russian shelling hit the southern city of Mykolaiv, and that rocket fire also hit the town of Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine's top war crimes prosecutor and judicial authorities from across Europe will meet in The Hague on Thursday to coordinate investigations into Russia's alleged war crimes.

The Netherlands is hosting the Ukraine Accountability Conference to work out the complex task of evidence sharing, prosecution strategy and providing international war crimes expertise to investigators on the ground.

Blinken and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the gathering by video link.

Multiple war crimes investigations are already underway, including by the ICC, Ukraine's own prosecution service and European countries applying so-called universal jurisdiction that allows them to investigate individuals.

Ukrainian authorities have tried and convicted two Russian soldiers. More widespread cases involving crimes against humanity or even genocide are expected to go to the ICC in The Hague, officials involved in the process have told Reuters.
A man who identified himself in a video as the leader of Mexico's most powerful cartel is inviting his rival organizations to wage war against his criminal structure instead of targeting innocent priests and civilian workers.

Footage uploaded to social media over the weekend showed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera urging competing cartels to stop getting in the way of priests as well as doctors, nurses, and teachers.

'I'm communicating with all the cartels to invite you to make the war between us and not interfere with those we shouldn't interfere with,' a masked El Mencho said surrounded by about 15 henchmen armed with military weaponry.

Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera (front right) issued a video urging competing cartels to stop getting in the way of priests as well as doctors, nurses and teachers

Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera is wanted by the United States government, which is offering a $10 million reward for information on his arrest and/or arrest. His Jalisco New Generation Cartel is considered the most powerful in Mexico

El Mencho issued the plea following the murders of Jesuit priests Joaquin Mora and Javier Campos and a tour guide on June 20 outside a church in Urique, a city in the northern state of Chihuahua.

Mora and Campos and another priest confronted a drug trafficker identified as Jose Portillo, who went into the church grounds chasing after the tour guide, Pedro Palma. Portillo shot dead Palma when the priests tried to intervene.

He later shot one of the priests who was praying over Palma's body and then the other priest who approached him. A third priest, Jesus Reyes, was not shot.

Bishop Sigifredo Noriega revealed he was briefly detained by an armed group on a road in the central state of Zacatecas in June and was allowed to proceed in his vehicle after they verified his identity.

'Do not interfere with any religion or its pastors or followers, especially the Catholics. Do not bother the priests as has been seen lately,' the cartel boss said. 'I think (that) they deserve special respect. They are people who only dedicate themselves to preaching the word of God and helping those who need it.'

El Mencho also stressed the importance of not interfering with physicians and educators.

'I invite you not to mess with the doctors, nurses and teachers who go to the ranches and towns,' he said, 'Let them do their jobs since my cartel does not mess with any religion. Let's not bother doctors or teachers. Sincerely, Mencho Oseguera.'

DailyMail.com could not verify if the man who issued the statement is El Mencho.

The cartel leader is not only wanted by Mexican authorities but also the Untied States government, which is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.

Jesuit priests Javier Campos (left) and Javier Campos (right) were executed in June when they confronted a drug trafficker identified as Jose Portillo, who went into the Urique, Mexico, church grounds chasing after a tour guide named Pedro Palma, whom he shot executed before killing the priests

Under his leadership, that Jalisco New Generation Cartel has a presence in 32 states throughout Mexico and the nation's capital, Mexico City, the Drug Enforcement Administration noted in its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment Report.

The cartel also expanded across the border to 11 states in the United States, including Hawaii, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

El Mencho's American-born daughter, Jessica Oseguera, was released from a California prison in March, after serving 25 months at a low-security federal prison.

She pleaded guilty in March 2021 to laundering money for the criminal organization.

El Mencho's son, Ruben 'El Menchito' Oseguera, is currently in U.S. custody facing gun and drugs charges that could land him in jail for more than 15 years.

Authorities considered him the heir to the cartel's throne and was the organization's second-in-command prior to being arrested by Mexican security forces in June 2015. He was extradited to Washington in February 2020.
Its a painting admired by art lovers around the world.

Now it has been discovered that Vincent Van Goghs Head Of A Peasant Woman is even more special than originally thought  it has a self-portrait of the artist on the other side of the canvas.

The 1885 picture kept its secret for 137 years before an X-ray in the run-up to a new exhibition in Edinburgh found the portrait of the tragic Dutch painter who shot himself dead in 1890 aged 37.

It was painted by the artist, whose famous works include Sunflowers, before he cut his left ear off after a row in 1888. Van Gogh reused canvasses to save money.

Professor Frances Fowle, of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: We are very excited to share this thrilling discovery.

Secret treasure: Self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh was discovered on the back of Head Of A Peasant Woman (pictured, the original painting)

National Galleries of Scotland showing the X-ray image of Vincent Van Gogh

Self-Portrait with felt hat, 1888, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), an oil on canvas

The newly revealed work shows a bearded man in a brimmed hat wearing a neckerchief. It is similar to his Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, finished in 1888.

Experts believe the sketch is from his early work when he first started exploring self-portraits.

There is a possibility the two paintings could be separated but this would require delicate conservation work.

Visitors will be able to see the X-ray image of the newly discovered sketch by using a specially crafted lightbox at the exhibition, A Taste for Impressionism, at the Scottish Academy in Edinburgh at the end of the month.

Senior Conservator Lesley Stevenson views Head of a Peasant Woman alongside an x-ray image of the hidden Van Gogh self-portrait

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat by Vincent van Gogh (left) and Senior Curator Frances Fowle (right) with Head of a Peasant Woman on an easel

National Galleries of Scotland showing the back of the painting Head of a Peasant Woman

Professor Frances Fowle added: Moments like this are incredibly rare. Weve discovered an unknown work by Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most important and popular artists in the world. What an incredible gift for Scotland and one that will forever be in the care of the National Galleries.

Lesley Stevenson, a senior paintings conservator at the National Galleries, said: When we saw the X-ray for the first time, of course we were hugely excited.

This is a significant discovery because it adds to what we already know about Van Goghs life. There is lots to think about with regards to the next steps, but for us it is another little nugget to get a little bit closer to an incredible artist.

Knowing its there in a painting thats in the National Galleries of Scotland in a collection that belongs to the people of Scotland is incredibly important.

The exhibition will run from July 30 to November 13.
The Pope has been criticised for 'going woke' after naming three women to the Dicastery for Bishops - a committee which meets regularly to recommend new bishops who have been put forward by Vatican ambassadors.

The appointment of the three women - nuns Raffaella Petrini and Yvonne Reungoat, and laywoman Maria Lia Zervino (a non-ordained female member of a Church) - is a historical first and comes as Pope Francis seeks to usher in more gender equality within the Church.

But despite the move, women still face serious challenges entering the Catholic Church and cannot be ordained or become bishops, priests or deacons.

The latest decision has been welcomed by more liberal members of the Catholic Church, including the Women's Ordination Conference (WOC), which advocates for the ordaining of women as deacons, priests and bishops.

Pope Francis has named Sister Raffaella Petrini, Sister Yvonne Reungoat and laywoman Maria Lia Zervino to serve as members of the Vatican office that vets bishop nominations (pictured: Pope Francis poses with nuns on St Peter's Square at the Vatican)

Italian nun Sister Raffaella Petrini, who was the first woman to be appointed as the number two position in the governorship of Vatican City, is greeted by Pope Francis

Pope Francis shakes hands with Sister Raffaella Petrini, secretary general of the Vatican's governorship in 2021 - she is one of three women appointed to the Dicastery for Bishops

This dates back to members' of the Catholic Church's belief that because Jesus only selected men as his apostles, only they can lead the Church today.

In a statement, the WOC said it welcomed Francis' move, while cautioning that appointing more women to Vatican posts 'cannot alone address the injustices women face in the church', citing 'a culture of clericalism and sexism'.

It added: 'We also note the deep irony that women may now aid in selecting bishops, a role they themselves are prohibited from holding on account of their gender'.

The 85-year-old pope has repeatedly said that women should play greater roles within the Vatican's hierarchy and has broken centuries of precedent to place women in some key spots previously held by men.

But others have condemned the move as a shift towards wokery - with particularly split reaction on social media.

One Twitter user wrote: 'Pope Francis names three women to Vatican body that oversees selection of world's bishops. This pope needs to quit.'

A second simply wrote: 'The Woke Pope strikes again!!'

But others hailed the step forward in women's rights in the Catholic Church. One social media user said the Pope's decision is 'a big boost for the women of our world.'

Another added: 'This is the kind of religious news I can get behind.'

Last year, he issued a decree to allow women to serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of communion - but stopped short of saying the change could one day open the door to female priests.

The Roman Curia's new constitution that came into effect last month - Francis' years-long effort to restructure the Vatican's powerful governing body - allows female Catholics to head up Vatican departments.

Petrini, a Franciscan nun from Italy, has since November served as the secretary general of the governorate of the Vatican, the first women to ever hold the post.

Reungoat, who is French, is the Mother General Emeritus of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a missionary congregation.

In another first, in 2019, Francis appointed Reungoat and another six women to the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, which is responsible for religious orders and congregations of both sexes.

Members had previously included only men - cardinals, bishops and priests.

Laywoman Zervino from Argentina is the president of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations.

Members of the Dicastery for Bishops weigh in on potential candidates for bishops and provide recommendations for the pope.

Pope Francis seems to be trying to provide women with more opportunities in the Church before a potential retirement due to ill health.

Yesterday (July 12) he announced that 'the door is open' for retirement 'if the time is right' and 'if I survive.'

He has previously had to cancel several visits, including to Lebanon in May, and was pictured in a wheelchair for the first time earlier this year.

Speaking to Mexican-American broadcaster TelevisaUnivision in his native Spanish, Francis said: 'The first experience went rather well because [Benedict] a saintly and discreet man, and he handled it well.

'But in the future, things should be delineated more, or things should be made more explicit.'

The pope added: 'I think for having taken the first step after so many centuries, he gets 10 points. It's a marvel.'

He had reportedly planned to retire in 2013 before the conclave, which resulted in him becoming the Pope.

Some cardinals and canon lawyers have long questioned Benedict's decisions in retirement, including his continuing to wear the white cassock of the papacy and keeping his papal name rather than reverting to Josef Ratzinger.

They say those choices and Benedict's continued presence in the Vatican created confusion among the faithful and enabled Francis's traditionalist critics to use Benedict as a rallying point, threatening the unity of the Catholic Church.

Asked whether he would continue to live at the Vatican after retirement, Francis answered 'surely no'.
The British father who ran off with a Ukrainian refugee who came to live in his home has agreed to cease contact with the former partner he walked out on.

Tony Garnett, 29, appeared in court today after his ex-partner of 10 years, with whom he has two children, is understood to have applied for an order preventing him from contacting her.

It comes after Tony walked out on Lorna, 28, when he fell head over heels for Sofiia Karkadym who came to live with them as a refugee.

The security guard left the home he shared with Lorna and their two young daughters to start a new life with Sofiia, 22, just ten days after she arrived from wartorn Ukraine.

Tony Garnett, 28, and Sofiia Karkadym, 22, left Tony's family home to start a new life together just 10 days after she moved in with them as a refugee

Tony left his wife of 10 years Lorna, 28, (right) for Sofiia. She has applied for an order preventing him from contacting her, and they both agreed not to contact one another in front of a judge

Tony and Sofiia said they hope to get married and have children together in future

Its understood that todays court hearing saw Lorna seeking a non-molestation order against Tony at a family hearing at Bradford Combined Courts - which he then agreed not to contest.

After the case Tony said the pair had agreed before a judge not to contact each other.

He said: I said I would agree to the order to keep the peace. I told them Ill happily not speak to my ex as I dont speak to her anyway since I moved out. It makes no difference to me, I dont care about Lorna, I just care about seeing my children and I made that clear today.

Tony added: The judge made an order where I cant contact her and she cant contact me.

Its not clear what arguments Lorna relied on to support her application but its believed both parties made allegations about each others conduct since their break up and that relations between them remain strained.

Tony - who has set up home with Sofiia - said separate proceedings regarding access arrangements for their children remain ongoing.

Tony said the revelation of his moving in with Sofiia had led to a torrent of abuse on social media.

Tony, who is now hoping to launch a pop career after recording a rap about the couples experiences, has insisted that his relationship with Lorna was already on the rocks before he met Sofiia.

We told last week how the couple now plan to marry and have children - if doctors can reverse the vasectomy he had after having two children with Lorna.

Tony told MailOnline: I want to propose to this beautiful lady,'

Sofiia said: We are planning our life together. I want to be a mother. I want to have children.

'I am a young woman so it can wait a few years and I hope that Tony can have his vasectomy reversed so that we can become a family together.

The couple who have been together around two months for just two months and are already making plans to visit Sofiias family back in Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he wouldn't be too upset if he had to face former President Donald Trump on the ballot again - as he hammered the ex-president for leaving the Iran nuclear deal during a sit-down with an Israeli TV station.

'I'm not predicting, but I would not be disappointed,' Biden said to Israel's Keshet 12 television, when asked if he thought the 2024 election would be a Biden-Trump rematch.

The president answered 'no' when asked if he was looking forward to it, saying his 'hope' would be that the Republican Party 'moves back to more normal position - not this MAGA party that it's become in many ways.'

But he also said it was way too early to have real clarity on who he'd face in more than two years.

'The one thing I know about politics and American politics in particular is there's no way to predict what's going to happen,' Biden said. 'I'm not even halfway through my term yet. And so there's a lot of room to figure out what's going to happen.'

Biden brought up Trump earlier in the interview when he was asked about his insistence to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, as the Israeli public is largely against it.

'Because the only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons,' he said.

Biden continued by saying, 'I think it was a gigantic mistake for a U.S. president to get out of the deal.'

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he wouldn't be too upset if he had to face former President Donald Trump on the ballot again, in an interview that aired Wednesday on Israel's Keshet 12 TV station

President Joe Biden (right) talks to Keshet 12's Yonit Levi (left) for an interview that aired Wednesday night. Biden arrived in Israel earlier Wednesday and will remain in the country through Friday before flying to Saudi Arabia for a day of meetings

'They're closer to a nuclear weapon now than they were before,' he added.

Biden also said he was open to using force to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

'If that was a last resort, yes,' he answered.

Biden is in Isreal through Friday and then heading to Saudi Arabia, for a controversial meeting with Saudi leaders including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - known as 'MBS' - who was implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

'The trip is about stability in the Middle East,' Biden explained. 'It's overwhelming in the interest of the United States of America to have more stability in the Middle East, No. 1. It's overwhelming in the interest of Israel and I think the United States in the region for Israel to be more integrated in the region and accepted as an equal.'

Biden added that some people believed that the United States 'sort of walked away' form the Middle East while Trump was president.

'That we were going to create a vacuum that China and/or Russia would fill, and we can't let that happen,' Biden said.

The president continued by saying he believed that 'the more Isreal is integrated in the region as an equal and accepted the more likely there is going to be a means by which they can come to an accommodation with the Palestinians down the road.'

Biden relented that the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi is 'going to take a long time.'

President Joe Biden said he hopes the Republican Party 'moves back to more normal position - not this MAGA party that it's become in many ways,' he said, pointing at former President Donald Trump's political influence

'But increasing the relationship in terms of acceptance of each other's presence, working together on certain things, it all makes sense to me,' the president added.

Biden will make history when he flies directly between Israel and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - being the first U.S. president to do so.

During the 13 minute sit-down, Biden also whacked progressives in his party who tried to strip Iron Dome funding out of Congressional spending bills.

'There are few of them,' Biden began. 'I think they're wrong. I think they're making a mistake. Israel is a democracy. Israel is our ally. Israel is a friend.'

Biden added that during his administration $4billion in support has been provided to the Israelis for the country's Iron Dome missile defense system, and the two countries are currently working on a laser system to replace Iron Dome.

Biden was briefed on Iron Dome and its replacement, dubbed Iron Spear, during his first stop in Israel Wednesday.

'There's no possibility, I think, of the Democratic Party or even a significant portion of the Republican Party walking away from Israel,' Biden added.

Among those Biden is meeting with in Isreal is the former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who's now the opposition party leader.

Netanyahu could come into power again after Israel's November elections.

He's been more politically aligned with American Republicans than Democrats.

Still, Biden told Keshet 12's Yonit Levi he could work with him.

'Bibi and I have known each other for close to 40 years. We know where we agree, and where we disagree, and we make no bones about it,' Biden said.

'I'm dealing with a democratic state that is going through a decision of who they're going to have as leader,' he continued, adding that he would work with whomever is elected.

Biden also talked about the importance of the west standing up against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

'The idea that we would stand by in the West, NATO in particular, and have the largest invasion of physical force in another country since World War Two and stand there, was just not in the cards.'

Biden said the U.S. would support Ukraine for 'whatever time it takes.'

'We're not going to let him prevail,' he said.

Biden affirmed that it could take months or years at Levi's suggestion.

When she asked him if he truly believed it could take years the president pushed back, 'No you said that.'

'They're trying to eliminate Ukraine - and we just cannot let that stand,' Biden said.
Six people were arrested after an investigation into a commercial burglary incident led police to an underground bunker at a homeless encampment in California where they discovered $100,000 worth of stolen goods - including power tools, three shotguns and ammunition.

Photos shared by San Jose police on social media this week show an elaborate bunker built into the side of a creek bed and equipped with electricity that they believed was 'plugged into somebody else's source.'

The bunker was discovered on Monday in Coyote Creek, and stashed with thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods including dozens of power tools, construction equipment, shotguns, and boxes of ammunition.

Some of the goods belonged to local businesses, which had recently been broken into. A suspected theft ring involving people living on the street is believed to be connected to the bunker, San Jose Police Sergeant Christian Camarillo told KNTV.

Six people have been arrested on a 'variety of charges' and police say the items 'will be returned to the victims, including the locally owned business.'

Stolen shotguns and boxes of ammunition were found at a homeless encampment's underground bunker in San Jose on Monday during an investigation of a burglary incident

Power tools (pictured) were discovered at a homeless encampment containing an underground bunker. Some had been stolen from Sprig, a local store, hours earlier

The homeless encampment was searched on Monday as police investigated a burglary of local businesses around the California town.

'The investigation led them to a homeless encampment,' the San Jose Police Department said on Twitter, adding that they located an 'underground bunker' containing 'approximately $100,000 worth of stolen goods.'

Police described the bunker as a 'sophisticated setup.'

'There are a lot of smart people living down there,' Camarillo told the NBC outlet. 'It takes skill with engineering, construction, to build something like that.'

Entrance to an underground bunker at a homeless encampment in San Jose, California

But the discovery of the bunker is causing concern among local residents, who are already worried about students' safety with the creek - and growing encampments - being so close to area schools.

'I don't think I'm shocked anymore,' Juan Cruz, Franklin McKinely School District superintendent, told KNTV.

'Fairly surprised, especially the weapons that were recovered and the sophisticated bunker that's down there.'

Some residents fear their homes and business could be targeted next in the thefts.

Police discovered a room containing stolen goods at the homeless encampment's underground bunker in San Jose earlier this week

'The investigation led them to a homeless encampment,' the San Jose Police Department said on Twitter, adding that they located an 'underground bunker' containing 'approximately $100,000 worth of stolen goods'

'I imagine there are probably several more places like that around town, with just how frequently tools in specific are being taken from construction sites,' resident Ashley King, whose family owns a construction company, told ABC7 News.

King, who is also a teacher at a nearby school, is also concerned over the guns that were found, especially in the wake of recent mass shootings.

'To see weapons like that, rifles, stuff that could do damage, serious damage,' she said. 'Weapons that could hurt anybody, especially children, from far away, with precision... That is just so incredibly disturbing.'
On 'Your World' on Tuesday, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that COVID-19 vaccines do not "overly well" protect against infection.

The government's foremost authority on infectious diseases stated on Tuesday that while a new Omicron subvariant is on the increase, there is no need to panic.

White House Outlines Strategy To Combat New COVID-19 Subvariant

The majority of COVID-19 cases in the US currently belong to the subvariant known as BA.5. It has a greater capacity to evade the protection of vaccinations and previous infections and is even more highly contagious than earlier virus variants, as per The Hill.

However, health experts emphasized that vaccinations continue to offer significant protection against serious illness, particularly if patients keep up with their booster injections. Tuesday saw the issuance of an information sheet from the White House outlining its strategy for combating the subvariant, which was basically a repetition of steps the administration had previously stressed.

Health authorities emphasized that, even with the new subvariant, the country is in a far better position than it was earlier in the pandemic due to the availability of vaccines, booster doses, and treatments like Pfizer's Paxlovid pills. Officials did acknowledge that masking helps to slow the transmission of the illness, but there was little sign of a significant change in approach toward stressing limitations like mask regulations.

Fauci urged Americans to receive vaccine booster shots and noted that mask use in indoor group settings is once again being "recommended" by health experts. Following a protracted case of COVID-19 last month, Fauci, 81, had been staying quiet for a few weeks, but he now seems to have entirely healed.

He first appeared to get better after taking the antiviral medication Paxlovid on June 14, when he originally tested positive for the virus. Then, on June 28, he admitted that his symptoms had come back when presenting remotely at the Foreign Policy Global Health Forum. Up until this week, that was his final time appearing in public.

Read Also: Jan 6. Committee Rejects Steve Bannon's Request To Delay Trial After Longtime Donald Trump Adviser Offers Testimony

Fauci Urges Americans To Take Second Booster Shots

The CDC has cautioned that Paxlovid may be linked to "rebound" cases of COVID-19, in which symptoms reappear following an initial negative test. However, rebound cases are often described as mild, according to the CDC.

Fauci advised Americans to obtain a second booster injection during his public appearances on Tuesday in an effort to stop the spread of the BA.5 variety, an Omicron subvariant that appears to be resistant to the body's natural defenses against previous infections.

Per Daily Mail, Fauci batted down the idea that additional regulations or demands will be placed on Americans if cases rise once more, stating that vaccinations and boosters were the main tools in the battle against spreading illnesses.

Fauci also participated in a White House briefing where he advised Americans to take care indoors and to be ready for the developing BA.5 variant, even if they had recently recovered from COVID-19.

According to The Independent, Fauci and other medical professionals across the nation seem to believe that vaccinations and boosters will provide partial immunity and can still significantly protect against potentially more serious infections and help reduce the risk of hospitalization despite the apparent dire warnings about this most recent subvariant.

The number of cases in the US has stayed around 100,000 per day, but most medical professionals concur that this figure is vastly underreported because many states no longer offer public testing, and many persons who test positive today rely on at-home tests.

Related Article: COVID-19 Surge Forces Macau Casinos To Shut Down First Time in Two Years

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A judge has denied all of Amber Heard's motion to have the verdict of her blockbuster defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp thrown out and the case re-tried.

Lawyers representing Heard, 36, filed a motion earlier this month on the grounds that the verdict that she had defamed Depp, 59, was not supported by evidence.

They also alleged that a juror had not been properly vetted and questioned whether that juror was even supposed to be allowed on the jury.

Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show that Judge Penny Azcarate denied all of Heard's post-trial requests on Wednesday.

A judge has denied Amber Heard's motion to have the verdict of her blockbuster defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp thrown out and the case re-tried

Depp's lead attorney, Ben Chew, responded to the motion in a statement to Courthouse News, saying 'What we expected, just longer, no more substantive'

In a 43-page memorandum, Heard's lawyers argued that the verdict - and the $10million in damages she now owes Depp - should be tossed out on the grounds that during the trial, Depp 'proceeded solely on a defamation by implication theory, abandoning any claims that Ms. Heard's statements were actually false.'

Depp's lead attorney, Ben Chew, responded to the motion in a statement to Courthouse News, saying 'What we expected, just longer, no more substantive.'

Heard has said that she is unable to pay the $10.35million in damages she owes Depp.

Though she has previously indicated that she wants to appeal the verdict, to do so she would need to post bond of the full damages. It is likely that this latest motion was an attempt part to circumvent those requirements and still take try for a new verdict.

The motion cast doubt on the validity of the jury selection process, pointing out a juror - identified as Juror 15 - whose birth year was listed as 1945 in court records.

The filing argued that Juror 15 'was clearly born later than 1945. Publicly available information demonstrates that he appears to have been born in 1970.'

'This discrepancy raises the question whether Juror 15 actually received a summons for jury duty and was properly vetted by the court to serve on the jury.'

'It appears his identity could not have been verified,' the filing reads.

Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show that Judge Penny Azcarate denied Heard's motion to have the verdict thrown out

Heard also argued that the damages awarded Depp were excessive as the jurors granted them for parameters outside of what his lawsuit concerned.

While Depp 'represented to the court he would limit his damages to the period Dec. 18, 2018 through November 2, 2020' - the period of time between when Heard's op-ed about Depp's alleged abuse was published in the Washington Post and when a UK court ruled that he had abused Heard - the motion argues that Depp did not attempt whatsoever to focus the scope of his alleged damages within that two year time frame.

'Mr. Depp made no such effort at any point in the trial to limit his claimed damages. Instead, even throughout the Closings, Mr. Depp continued to urge the jury to restore his reputation and legacy to his children as a result of Ms. Heard accusing Mr. Depp in May 2016 of domestic violence.'

Judge Penney Azcarate has made it clear that she does not want the case to carry forward as it stands, dismissing requests from Heard's team for more hearings during the most recent hearing related to the case on June 24, in which the judge finalized the verdict in the court's records.

Judge Azcarate told Heard's team that day that if they wanted an appeal, they could file for one with the court.

Both celebrities were found to have defamed each other in the June verdict, but the cards fell considerably in Depp's favor.

The filing argued that Juror 15 'was clearly born later than 1945. Publicly available information demonstrates that he appears to have been born in 1970'

Both celebrities were found to have defamed each other in the June verdict, but the cards fell considerably in Depp's favor

Amber Heard after the reading of the verdict on June 1, 2022. Depp was awarded $10.35million in damages from Heard, while she was awarded just $2million in damages from Depp. All told, Heard was left owing Depp a whopping $8.35million.

He was awarded $10.35million in damages from Heard, while she was awarded just $2million in damages from Depp. All told, Heard was left owing Depp a whopping $8.35million.

Heard later admitted through her lawyer that she couldn't afford those millions in damages, and a day after the verdict her representation said that she would appeal it.

Her tune on the matter has been mixed since then, however, with reports swirling that she plans to write a 'tell-all' book to earn money to pay the damages.

A source close to Heard claimed she was 'broke' and not 'in a position to turn down money.'

They said she 'considers her career in Hollywood over' and 'has nothing to lose' following a disastrous few months.

Heard later admitted through her lawyer that she couldn't afford those millions in damages, and a day after the verdict her representation said that she would appeal the verdict

During an interview on Good Morning America in June, Chew suggested that the star might be willing to forgo the millions of dollars in damages owed to him should Heard agree not to proceed with an appeal.

However, Heard's lawyers lost that chance during the June 24 hearing when they declined to make such an agreement and Azcarate finalized the verdict, leaving Heard's only path forward in an appeal.

In order to do that though, Heard would still need to come up with the cash to post a bond for the full amount of the $10.35million while the appeal is pending - a common practice.
Another shark attack on Long Island was reported on Wednesday as a paddleboarder was bitten on the leg at approximately 7:30 a.m. at Smith Point Beach in Suffolk County, New York.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in a press conference that the beach 'once again is closed to swimming due to a shark bite that occurred earlier this morning. '

The victim, a 41-year-old man, suffered a four-inch gash on his leg from the bite.

The man was knocked off his board during the attack and managed to punch the shark.

As the shark circled back, a wave helped the man escape and carried him back to shore, where he sought help.

'That was the last contact with the shark,' Bellone said. 'We have not had an additional sighting since this incident occurred.'

The victim told officials he believed his attacker to be a sand tiger shark approximately four feet long.

Warmer water temperatures, cleaner oceans and more food are resulting in more interactions between sharks and humans.

'This is an issue of incredible importance to all of us here in Suffolk County,' said Bellone.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone holds a press conference following the 2nd shark attack in 10 days at Smith Point Beach. 'You're interacting with marine life whenever you're out in the ocean, but they're closer to shore now,' said Bellone

An aerial shot shows an ambulance at Smith Point Beach on the morning of Wednesday's shark attack, as seen on NBC New York. The victim told officials he believed his attacker to be a sand tiger shark approximately four feet long

Beachgoers hang out near a sign posted at Smith Point Beach prohibiting swimming in the wake of a 2nd shark attack in 10 days. The paddleboarder reported the shark knocked him off his board and bit him, before he punched the shark and rode a wave back to shore

The incident is the second time in 10 days that someone has been attacked by a shark at the beach.

'To have two of these incidents happen is unprecedented,' said Bellone. 'We have not seen this before.'

Lifeguard Zachari Gallo was playing the role of a victim during a training exercise when a five-foot shark bit him in the chest and hand on July 3.

He received stitches in his chest, and Suffolk County officials closed the Long Island beach to swimming Sunday after the unprecedented shark attack.

The lifeguard said once he felt the texture of his attacker, he knew it was a shark.

'I felt sharp, sharp pain and once I felt the rubbery texture, I knew it was some kind of shark,' Gallo told CBS.

He said: 'I hit the shark three times. I went boom, boom, boom. I guess in the third one it spun back and it's tail hit me in the chest.'

'We hadn't seen our beach closed to swimming in the history of Smith Point County Park since it opened in 1959,' said Bellone on Wednesday. 'I think it is an indication, however, that what were looking at is something of a new normal.'

'Interactions between humans and sharks may now increase, and fortunately we have not seen any significant injuries.'

Bellone said officials responded to the most recent incident by 'putting a drone in the air,' as well as having an official monitor the waters on a WaveRunner watercraft.

Suffolk County Parks said the beach was reopened as of 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

'We will continue this heightened monitoring for the rest of the day and beyond,' he said.

The man was attacked 'before lifeguards were on duty,' and Bellone took time to remind residents 'of the dangers of being out in the ocean without a protected beach.'

'We urge people to stay out of the water when the lifeguards are not on duty,' he said.

'We have the best trained lifeguards anywhere in the state,' said Bellone. 'They are constantly on alert for any dangers out in the waterways.'

Bellone offered tips to residents for safety, including avoiding swimming during dusk and dawn when there are no lifeguards, 'wearing shiny jewelry,' to not entering the water while bleeding and not go 'too far out.'

He also added that swimming in a group 'always makes sense,' so that if there is someone in distress, 'help is immediately there.'

'You're interacting with marine life whenever you're out in the ocean, but they're closer to shore now,' said Bellone.

Zachari Gallo describes how he fought off a shark at New York's Smith Point Beach on July 3. He said: 'I hit the shark three times. I went boom, boom, boom. I guess in the third one it spun back and it's tail hit me in the chest'

Gallo suffered a bite to his hand after punching the shark off him

Gallo received stitches in his chest and Suffolk County officials closed the Long Island beach to swimming Sunday after the unprecedented shark attack

Addison Bethea, 17, is pictured in hospital in Tallahassee days after a shark attacked her. Brother, Rhett Willingham, 22, left, saved her life by beating away the shark

The two attacks in New York come as a 17-year-old girl lost a leg after being bitten by a shark off a Florida beach - only to be saved when her EMT brother beat the creature off her thigh.

Addison Bethea was attacked when the teen and her half-brother, Rhett Willingham, 22, went out scalloping in just five feet of water near Grassy Island, off Keaton Beach in Taylor County.

Her father, Shane Addison, 46, told DailyMail.com his daughter was in brother Rhett's boat about a mile-and-a-half off-shore swimming in the water when she suddenly felt something hit her in the back of the leg.

'Addison thought her brother was just playing around until a nine-foot shark latched onto her thigh and she started screaming, and there was blood everywhere,' he said.

As his daughter tried to pull the shark off her leg, her brother started beating nonstop on the beast trying to pry his sister loose. Once she was free, he grabbed her and carried her to his boat. A random stranger saw that the pair were in distress.

Rhett placed his sister on the stranger's boat and then he used a 4 foot tourniquet around her right upper leg top stop the bleeding.

'The shark got her bad,' Shane said. 'She was very pale, and nearly going into shock.'

Rhett called for an ambulance and when they arrived back on land, she was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital some 80 miles away.
Twitter said it gave Elon Musk massive amounts of user data despite concerns that he wanted to use it to build a competing app.

In a lawsuit filed against the world's richest man for allegedly violating his $44 billion agreement to buy the social media platform, Twitter said it gave Musk access to 49 tebibytes, or about 53.8 terabytes, of raw user data.

The social media company also said Musk had only three plans when he sought his takeover: 'sit on its board, buy it, or build a competitor.'

The suit filed on Tuesday in Delaware chancery court seeks a ruling that would order Musk to complete the merger at the agreed price of $54.20 per Twitter share, according to a court filing.

The billionaire appeared to respond to the suit in a tweet on Tuesday evening, writing: 'Oh the irony lol.'

He seemed to be referring to the fact that he was initially aggressive in pursuing the deal over skepticism from Twitter's board, roles that have now reversed.

But experts warn that the Tesla CEO could soon become the 'world's most expensive case of 'if you break it, you pay for it.''

Twitter said it gave Elon Musk more than 53 terabytes of raw user data despite concerns that he may have plans to build a competing social media site

Musk appeared to respond to the suit in a tweet on Tuesday evening

The social media company also said Musk had only three plans when he sought his $44 billion takeover: 'Sit on its board, buy it, or build a competitor.'

Musk and Twitter's legal battles come as the billionaire demanded the company reveal key information about spam accounts currently operating on the site.

Twitter's lawyers said the company was given little time to comply with Musk's demands, and argued that they suspected he was trying to use the data to form a competitor.

'Steadfast in its commitment to consummate the merger, Twitter continued to try to get Musk's team what it demanded while safeguarding its customers' data and harboring very real concerns about how Musk might use the data if he succeeded in escaping the deal,' the lawsuit stated.

Twitter's lawyers argued that if the company continued to bow to Musk's demands, it would 'expose Twitter to competitive harm.'

They added that despite saying he would back away from the deal, Musk has allegedly continued to mine Twitter's confidential data.

'Twitter has bent over backwards to provide Musk the information he has requested, including, most notably, the full 'firehose' data set that he has been mining for weeks  and has been continuing to mine since purporting to terminate  with the assistance of undisclosed data reviewers,' the lawsuit stated.

The suit ultimately states that Musk 'refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests'.

Social media expert and industry commentator, Matt Navarra, said the legal action 'gives a brutally blunt blow-by-blow account of Elon Musk's corporate takeover theatrics'.

It contains a reference to a number of tweets about the deal from Musk, including the poo emoji he sent in reply to a tweet from the platform's chief executive about fake account numbers.

'Twitter describes Elon Musk as a hypocrite who has trashed the company and caused "irreparable damage,"' Navarra told the PA news agency.

'Yet Twitter wants a judge to force Elon Musk to pay up and complete the 44 billion dollar takeover deal he started. This could end up being the world's most expensive case of "If you break it, you pay for it."'

Twitter lawyers said the company was complying with Musk's request but grew worried about oversharing info that would pose 'competitive risks' to the social media giant

The lawsuit calls for a quick resolution to the standoff, with Twitter asking for a hearing as soon as September.

Navarra said it seems 'unlikely' a judge would let Musk walk away from the deal without a 'meaningful penalty'.

He said: 'The question is, 'How big will the penalty need to be to deter the world's richest man from future takeover games, and compensate Twitter for the 'irreparable damage' this farcical deal has inflicted?'

Twitter's share price has dipped in recent weeks amid the uncertainty around the takeover.

Navarra said Musk's ego 'thrives on the drama' but 'his game of corporate takeover theatrics was heading for a dramatic end'.

'This could end up being a very expensive performance for him. But I doubt he'll even care. He'll probably just shrug it off with [a] meme on Twitter,' he said.

Musk long stated his belief that Twitter is being dishonest about the number of fake accounts on the platform

Shares of Twitter rallied a bit to $34.79 on Wednesday, but remained sharply below the levels above $50 where it traded when the deal was accepted by Twitter's board

Twitter's lawsuit argues: 'Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he - unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law - is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.'

Twitter's General Counsel Sean Edgett informed staff of the lawsuit in a company-wide memo on Tuesday afternoon.

'We have also filed a motion for an expedited trial alongside the complaint, asking for the case to be heard in September, as it is critically important for this matter to be resolved quickly,' Edgett wrote in the memo, according to the New York Times.

'At this point we anticipate the next step in the process will be for the court to set a schedule for the case,' he added.

The lawsuit was a widely anticipated step after Musk last week announced his intent to pull out of the April 25 merger agreement, which specified penalties for backing out of the deal.

Those penalties included a $1 billion breakup fee, as well as the ability for the parties to enforce the contract in court, which Twitter officials had previously vowed to do.

The lawsuit was a widely anticipated step after Musk announced his intent to pull out of the April 25 merger agreement (file photo)

Musk argues that Twitter has broken its contractual obligations by failing to disclose key information about fake accounts on the platform.

But it's unclear whether the courts will be sympathetic to his argument. It the past, Delaware courts have forced prospective buyers to follow through on signed merger agreements, though the facts differ in each case.

For example, in 2020, Tiffany & Co sued Louis Vuitton maker LVHM when the luxury retailer attempted to back out of a deal to acquire the jewelry maker.

The litigation was settled out of court when LVHM agreed to complete the takeover of Tiffany at a slightly reduced price.

Twitter's lawsuit will be heard in Delaware chancery court, as both Twitter and the company Musk is using to complete the merger are officially incorporated in Delaware.

Musk, who is the chief executive officer of electric vehicle maker Tesla, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit accused Musk of 'a long list' of violations of the merger agreement that 'have cast a pall over Twitter and its business.'

Shares of Twitter rallied a bit to $34.79 on Wednesday, but remained sharply below the the $50 figure where it traded when the deal was accepted by Twitter's board in late April.

Musk said he was terminating the merger because of the lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations that he said amounted to a 'material adverse event.'

He also said executive departures amounted to a failure to conduct business in the ordinary course, as Twitter was obligated to do.

Twitter said it negotiated to remove from the merger agreement language that would have made such firings a violation of ordinary course requirement.

Twitter called the reasons cited by Musk a 'pretext' that lacked merit and said his decision to walk away had more to do with a decline in the stock market, particularly for tech stocks.

Tesla's stock, the main source of Musk's fortune, has lost 30 percent of its value since the deal was announced and closed on Tuesday at $699.21.

Legal experts have said that from the information that is public, Twitter would appear to have the upper hand because of the way Musk negotiated the deal, declining to do traditional pre-merger diligence.

Musk has launched many of his attacks in the merger saga from Twitter itself, most recently tweeting a series of memes mocking the company for attempting to enforce the agreement.

One showed a picture of Chuck Norris at a chess board with one pawn confidently staring down a full set of black pieces.

Another appeared to poke fun at the social media giant for taking legal action, claiming it means they will have to disclose spam bot details that he wants.

The series of comments were shared alongside pictures of him hysterically laughing on the right-hand side.

In the second post, Musk tweeted a pic of meme legend and action star Chuck Norris playing a game of chess

TIMELINE OF BILLIONAIRE ELON MUSK'S BID TO CONTROL TWITTER January 31: Musk starts buying shares of Twitter in near-daily installments, amassing a 5% stake in the company by mid-March. March 26: Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and is active on the site, said that he is giving 'serious thought' to building an alternative to Twitter, questioning free speech on the platform and whether Twitter is undermining democracy. He also privately reaches out to Twitter board members, including his friend and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. March 27: After privately informing them of his growing stake in the company, Musk starts conversations with Twitter's CEO and board members about potentially joining the board. Musk also mentions taking Twitter private or starting a competitor, according to later regulatory filings. April 4: A regulatory filing reveals that Musk has rapidly become the largest shareholder of Twitter after acquiring a 9% stake, or 73.5 million shares, worth about $3 billion. April 5: Musk is offered a seat on Twitter's board on the condition he amass no more than 14.9% of the company's stock. CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet that 'it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.' April 11: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces Musk will not be joining the board after all. April 14: Twitter reveals in a securities filing that Musk has offered to buy the company outright for about $44 billion. April 15: Twitter's board unanimously adopts a 'poison pill' defense in response to Musk's proposed offer, attempting to thwart a hostile takeover. April 21: Musk lines up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter. Twitter board is under pressure to negotiate. April 25: Musk reaches a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the company private. The outspoken billionaire has said he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks it's not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech. April 29: Musk sells roughly $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase of Twitter, according to regulatory filings. May 5: Musk strengthens his offer to buy Twitter with commitments of more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors including Silicon Valley heavy hitters like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. May 10: In a hint at how he would change Twitter, Musk says he'd reverse Twitter's ban of former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, calling the ban a 'morally bad decision' and 'foolish in the extreme.' May 13: Musk said that his plan to buy Twitter is ' temporarily on hold.' Musk said that he needs to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform. Shares of Twitter tumble, while shares of Tesla rebound sharply. June 6: Musk threatens to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts. July 8: Musk tells Twitter he is terminating agreement because firm wouldn't hand over information on spam bots July 12: Twitter files suit seeking a court judgement forcing Musk to complete the merger at the agreed price Advertisement

One of them said: 'They said I couldn't buy Twitter. Then they wouldn't disclose bot info.

'Now they want to first me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court.'

In the post featuring legendary TV hardman Chuck Norris, he captioned it: 'Chuckmate.'

Musk replied to one user who made reference to the amount of spambots that they regularly see on the site.

The South African-born billionaire simply wrote: 'Hellow??? @SECGov,' the Twitter handle of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter has retained heavy-hitting law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to pursue its lawsuit against Musk.

The hiring of Wachtell gives the company access to lawyers Leo Strine and Bill Savitt, who previously served as Chancellors of the Delaware Chancery Court.

Delaware's chancery courts deal with non-jury proceedings overseen by judges known as chancellors.

They often tackle business wrangles, with many top US firms - including Twitter - basing their corporate headquarters there, even when their main offices lie elsewhere.

Chancery courts cannot order punitive damages to be paid, and generally hear cases more quickly than criminal trials, with the Twitter case likely to be wrapped-up within a few months.

Musk hired Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP., the firm which defended him in a 2019 defamation case, and is currently representing him in lawsuit related to Tesla.

The billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX on Saturday took the stage at the Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference, an annual gathering of media and technology executives in Idaho, less than 24-hours after he announced he was terminating his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc.

Musk's arrival at the conference, known as the 'billionaires' summer camp,' delivered a jolt to the off-record event this week, where the headline-making typically happens without the media being present.

The interview was conducted by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company, funded by Musk and several others, as the world's richest man discussed the possibility of life on Mars in the future, but stayed silent about Twitter.

'It just seems like an absolute mess,' said one senior media executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the interview. 'The guy makes his own rules ... I'd hate to be Twitter, where you have to take this guy seriously.'

Sun Valley is typically covered like an athleisure version of the Met Gala, with photographers capturing the arrivals of fleece-vested media moguls and reporters making note of power-lunches at the Konditorei cafe on the property.

This year, the five-day, invite-only conference, running from July 6 to 10, is being held at the edge of Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest in a tiny town of just 1,500 people.

One Hollywood power-broker on Friday expressed hope that the Musk interview would enliven the conference's staid, cerebral atmosphere this year.

Following Musk's announcement, one chief executive noted the elephant in the room - Saturdays remarks might well be uncomfortable to two conference attendees: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal.

One of Musk's last public messages to Agrawal came in the form of a tweet of a poop emoji in response to the Twitter CEO's defense of how the company accounts for spam bots.

It is not clear if Musk has met Agrawal or Segal at the Idaho event.

Musk's attorneys had delivered an eight-page letter to Twitter on Friday, saying he planned to call off the deal to acquire the social network.

The document, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleged Twitter failed to respond to repeated requests for information over the past two months, or obtain his consent before taking actions that would impact its business - such as firing two key executives.

Experts speculated the move may have been a bid to drive the price down. Musk initially offered $54.20 per share in April, but the market price of the shares was down to $36.81 on Friday night.

Bret Taylor, Twitter's chairman, tweeted on Friday the board was 'committed to closing the transaction' under the current terms of the deal and they were 'confident' they would win.
An Ohio man has been charged with impregnating a 10-year-old girl who was forced to cross state lines to get an abortion - a story that garnered national attention following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday and has been charged with one count of rape after police say he confessed to raping the child two different times, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

The unidentified child made national headlines when she traveled from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion after the state banned the procedure after six weeks  hours after the 6-3 Supreme Court vote.

Fuentes was arraigned Wednesday, days after some conservatives, including Ohio's Republican governor and attorney general, had raised questions about whether the case was real. Abortion rights supporters had pointed to the story to highlight fallout from the Supreme Court ruling.

The arrest comes one day after the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said his office didn't hear a 'whisper' about the 10-year-old girl who allegedly had to leave the state in order to get an abortion, and said there's 'no biological evidence' of the case as a rape kit was not performed.

Yost, 65, told Fox News' Jesse Watters on Monday, July 11  five days after the girl identified Fuentes to authorities and weeks after a child services report was generated  that a police report was never filed involving a 10-year-old rape victim and that the office 'works closely' with law enforcement, indicating that he would have known about it if one was filed.

'We have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs, not a whisper anywhere,' he told Fox News.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday and has been charged with one count of rape after police say he confessed to raping the child two different times

A detective testified Wednesday that Columbus police learned about the girl's pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that recognized women's constitutional right to abortion, just two days later on June 24.

The girl had an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30, The Columbus Dispatch reported, crossing state lines in order to access the procedure.

An Indianapolis physician who provides abortion services, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, had told The Indianapolis Star that an abortion had been provided for such a child because the girl couldn't get the abortion in Ohio, which had a newly imposed state ban on abortions at the first detectable 'fetal heartbeat.'

The child was six weeks and three days pregnant  therefore, ineligible by just three days to receive the procedure in her home state.

According to court records, a report was generated on June 22 with the Columbus Division of Police for rape. And on July 6, the victim identified Fuentes to authorities as the person who raped her.

A week later, Fuentes was served a search warrant for a saliva sample and was taken into custody where he confessed to raping the victim multiple times.

Fuentes appeared in court Wednesday and was given a $2 million bond. He is currently in the Franklin County Jail.

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Cynthia Ebner said the case did not warrant Fuentes - who is believed to be undocumented - to be held without bond, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

But Ebner said a higher bond was necessary due to Fuentes being a possible flight risk and for the safety of children involved.

The Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 65, said his office didn't hear a 'whisper' about the 10-year-old girl who allegedly got an abortion in Indiana, and said there's 'no biological evidence' of the case as a rape kit was not performed

On Fox News Monday, AG Yost claimed there is no 'biological evidence' to the story an then on Wednesday following the arrest, he released a statement regarding the incident

On Fox News Monday, Yost claimed there is no 'biological evidence' to the story, and that he hasn't heard a 'whisper anywhere' about the little girl.

'Even more telling, Jesse, my office runs the state crime lab. Any case like this, you're going to have a rape kit, you're going to have biological evidence, and you'd be looking for DNA analysis,' he said. 'There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this.'

Following the news of the arrest on Wednesday, the AG's office released a statement.

'My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street.

Justice must be served and BCI stands ready to support law enforcement across Ohio putting these criminals behind bars.'

The case made national headlines soon after the Indianapolis Star, an Indiana-based publication, reported a little girl had to cross state lines to receive an abortion because she was denied one in Ohio. An Indianapolis gynecologist claimed an Ohio abuse doctor got in contact with her hours after the Supreme Court's controversially overturned Roe v. Wade.

The child was allegedly six weeks and three days pregnant - therefore, ineligible by just three days to receive the procedure in her home state.

Abortion advocates in the state attempted to halt Ohio's six-week abortion ban, but the effort was denied by a judge.

It was originally reported that the girl had to leave the state for an abortion due to trigger laws, but Yost told Fox News that that is incorrect.

'Ohio's heartbeat law has a medical exception, which is broader than just the life of the mother,' he said. 'This young girl, if she exists and if this horrible thing actually happened to her - it breaks my heart to think about it - she did not have to leave Ohio to find treatment.'

It is unclear, however, that the girl's condition met the law's definition of an emergency, which must be life-threatening or involve a 'serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.'

Ohio is one of the many states that are set to impose laws, which would cap abortions at six weeks in the state. Also in the state of Ohio, doctors are mandated to report abuse of minors

In a statement Wednesday, Yost said the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation stands ready to help prosecute the case. He did not address his previous suggestions that the case was fabricated.

Gov. Mike DeWine, who like Yost faced criticism for questioning the case's veracity, had no new comments to offer Wednesday, spokesperson Dan Tierney said in an email.

'As we previously stated, Governor DeWine views this crime as a horrific tragedy, and he has said that if the evidence supports, the rapist should spend the rest of his life in prison,' he said.

Last week, President Biden raged about trigger laws and the girl's rape in Ohio.

The president himself referenced the story, using it to help push an executive order that would protect abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

'This isn't some imagined horror,' Biden said. 'It is already happening. Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim - 10 years old - and she was forced to have to travel out of state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life.'

Biden mentioned the story in an passionate speech that argued for federal abortion protection and asked the audience to imagine being the that little girl

Biden, 79, raised his voice as he recounted the story, grasping the podium with both hands as he railed about the trauma the girl would have faced, and the presumed unfairness of the situation.

'Imagine being that little girl,' he added, in another appeal to the crowd. 'Just imagine being that little girl. Ten years old!'

The Supreme Court, in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion.

Biden slammed the Supreme Court for its decision. He called the justices 'out of control' and working with 'extremist elements of the Republican Party.'
Artsy Manhattan Sweet & Vicious bar subjected to pay $500,000 to more than a dozen current and former employees for sexual and racial harassment, according to the New York attorney general.

A 16-month-long investigation found the bar and owner, Hakan Karamahmutoglu, responsible for ongoing sexual and gender-based harassment, race and national origin discrimination, wage theft, and a hostile and discriminatory workplace, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in a press release.

'This settlement is a reminder that no matter the perpetrator, we will not tolerate sexual harassment, discrimination, or wage theft of any form in the workplace, James said.

'For far too long, workers in the hospitality industry have been forced to weather a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and discrimination that has gone unreported. Every New Yorker should be able to go to work free from fear of abuse and degradation, regardless of industry.'

Karamahmutoglu will have the pay the settlement after documents, records, and interviews found him guilty of discriminating against female employees and calling them 'b****,' and 'cows.'

The environment created by Karamahmutoglu - who also commented on female appearances and bodies - further paved the way for male managers to voice sexual thoughts.

In one instance, a male employee announced 'the color of a female bartender's underwear' and said 'he wanted to engage her in a sexual manner,' according to the press release.

Reports of a manager constantly rubbing himself against a female employee were further noted. Female employees were also not allowed to use their phones, drink, or use the restroom during shifts while male managers were permitted.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the $500,000 settlement. Bar owner Hakan Karamahmutoglu is subjected to pay the fee after being found guilty of sexual and racial discrimination in the workplace

The 16-month investigation allowed the attorney general to dive into the truth of what has occurred through the walls of the restaurant (pictured above)

Most of the instances internally wounded the female employees - especially as they would experience harassment by 'violent customers who would threaten to stab, rape, and beat them.'

'The time that I spent working at Sweet and Vicious has reinforced traumas that I will undoubtedly spend years trying to overcome in therapy. It was, without a doubt, the most abusive company that I have ever had the misfortune of working for,' an anonymous employee said.

'The racial, sexual and gendered humiliation and degradation that myself and my coworkers silently endured is more than anyone should ever have to experience while trying to earn a livable wage. It was and remains wildly unacceptable and the attitudes of misogyny and racism that pervade that place speak to a larger problem within the service industry at large.'

Karamahmutoglu notably called black employees 'gangsters,' and referred to a Puerto Rican manager as 'terrorist,' and 'Puerto Rican trash,' according to the attorney general's office. Anti-gay slurs were also commonly used by higher-ups.

Another employee spoke of the racism and discrimination that pierced through the bar's walls and left it ignored.

'In my time working at Sweet and Vicious, Hakan, his mother, and the all-male management team created an environment of distrust, surveillance, condescension, racism, and misogyny,' the employee said. 'Hakan was all too comfortable in unabashedly and frequently using racial, sexist, and homophobic slurs to refer to his employees and customers.'

Some employees experienced racial discrimination in the workplace, claiming Karamahmutoglu notably called black employees 'gangsters,' and referred to a Puerto Rican manager as 'terrorist'

Employees reported working overtime without pay and being unable to use the restroom during shifts

Employees also reported working over 40 hours per week and not being compensated for their time. Some even said they weren't paid out for their tips.

While the settlement is a victory for most of the former and current workers involved in the case, some believe it's only a small step towards a 'larger problem.'

'I will not delude myself into believing that this settlement will change the attitudes of the people in charge, but it is my hope that news of our fight will afford those that come after us the opportunity to go into these jobs with their eyes open and the wherewithal to demand humane treatment in a professional environment,' another employee added.

Most of the former employees further claimed that harassment in the service industry 'is rampant' and not 'the first time' it has happened to them.

'Unfortunately, harassment of bartenders, servers, and other hospitality industry workers is rampant in New York City, and most of the time our reports of such behaviors are not taken seriously by management,' Kim Anderson, a former Sweet and Vicious employee said.

Former employee Veronica Leventhal added, 'I wish I could say this was the first time I was harassed by my employer in the service industry, or even the first time I've received a settlement for nonpayment of wages.' This case is emblematic of intersecting national problems: the subjugation of workers, and sexual harassment of women in the workplace.'

Meanwhile, Karamahmutoglu has spoken out about the settlement claiming the allegations made are false.

'I am deeply distressed by the allegations as they do not reflect my perspective or character, and they do not reflect the attitude of the bar to its employees or customers,' Karamahmutoglu told The Daily Mail.

'Many of the claims are simply untrue, or grossly misleading. I fully cooperated with the Attorney Generals investigation and I signed the settlement agreement to bring closure to this episode and to allow all parties to move on.'

Karamahmutoglu said the bar has 'always strived to create a welcoming atmosphere for all of its employees, staff, vendors, and customers.' He further claimed to have 'given back to the community and city' that he loves and has 'employed hundreds of employees across all backgrounds.'

He added, 'We will continue to welcome everyone into a positive and inclusive environment. Those who know me will know that to be true, and I ask those who do not know me to not rush to judgment.'

Aside from paying the $500,000 settlement, Sweet & Vicious is subjected to revising and completing anti-discrimination and harassment training materials. The car will also be periodically monitored by the attorney general's office.

The Sweet & Vicious settlement is one of Attorney General James' many efforts to address workplace harassment. Last year, $600,000 was distributed to victims of sexual harassment and discrimination at restaurants owned by chef Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali, according to the attorney general's office.

Mario Batali (left) and his former business partner Joe Bastianich (right) have agreed to pay out a $600,000 settlement to resolve sexual harassment allegations at the restaurants they ran

The settlement was paid out to 20 men and women after an investigation found a culture of sexual harassment at the Manhattan restaurants Babbo, Luppa and Del Posto, which closed permanently in April.

Employees in the case reported the managers and colleagues groped them, forcefully kissed them, and made sexual comments.

'Batali and Bastianich permitted an intolerable work environment and allowed shameful behavior that is inappropriate in any setting,' James said in a statement. 'Celebrity and fame does not absolve someone from following the law.'

Batali, a former Iron Chef who appeared on the Food Network, reportedly grabbed a female's hand and pulled it towards his crotch, according to James' report.

The chef further showed a male server an unwelcome pornographic video.

Another $240,000 was secured for employees of the restaurant The Spotted Pig.

Ken Friedman closed the restaurant in 2020 - three weeks after he was forced to pay out the settlement to 11 former employees.

New York authorities said Ken Friedman (pictured) had groped female employees, demanded nude photos and run a 'hostile workplace' with 'pervasive incidents of unwanted touching'

New York restaurant The Spotted Pig (pictured) has shut its doors three weeks after it was forced to pay out $240,000 in a settlement with 11 former employees

Authorities said the restaurant owner had groped female employees and demanded nude photos.

The third-floor of the restaurant was also notably called the 'rape room because of frequent sexual harassment there.

At the time, Friedman denied the claims but apologized for the 'harm' he caused.
One of the Internet's most notorious trollers, Elon Musk, took aim at Hunter Biden on Wednesday, days after DailyMail.com released a new trove of photos and videos the first son took of himself posing with prostitutes and smoking in a rehab facility.

He also apparently used the name of the rehabilitation facility his father was paying for to pay some of the prostitutes and transport them across state lines.

The first son, 52, could now face federal prostitution charges over the photos, videos and other documents which have been in the FBI's possession since December 2019.

He is already the subject of a federal investigation examining potential tax crimes, money laundering and alleged illegal foreign lobbying linked to his overseas business dealings.

Amid these revelations, Musk tweeted a photo of a man with eight different cameras attached to a helmet captioned: 'Hunter Biden every time he buys crack and hookers.'

'A+ for cinematography,' the Tesla CEO wrote of these new photos and videos, adding in another tweet: 'Gives whole new meaning to Go Pros.'

The photos and videos of the first son were acquired by DailyMail.com from the first son's iPhone backup on his abandoned laptop

Elon Musk took aim at Hunter Biden in a tweet on Wednesday after it was revealed the first son took pictures and videos of himself posing with prostitutes and smoking in a rehab facility

DailyMail.com first revealed last week that the First Son took a video of himself smoking crack cocaine in a sensory deprivation tank at Blue Water Wellness in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Just one month prior, he had texted his father, Joe Biden, claiming he did not have enough money for the treatment program on top of bills and alimony he had to pay.

'Hey dad I've been trying to resolve some immediate financial issues - alimony tuitions and my bill for this program but the cash I am counting on will not arrive until the end of the week.

'Is it possible to make me another short term loan in the same amount and I will send it back no later than 10 days?

'I'm really embarrassed to ask and I know it's unfair of me to put you in that position right now,' Hunter wrote on December 4, 2018.

'Hunt tell me what you need. No problem,' the future president responded. 'Ok how do you want to do this I can pay tuition directly and their housing and give you the rest.'

Biden senior messaged again on December 6 to confirm: '75 being wired today. Love.'

Last week, DailyMail.com released screengrabs from a video showing the first son, 52, smoking a crack pipe inside a deprivation tank while at a rehabilitation facility his father was paying for in 2019

He also filmed himself opening up a bottle of White Claw hard seltzer inside the tank at Blue Water Wellness in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Then, in another exchange weeks later, just before New Year's Eve, Hunter messaged his father again, convincing him to fund a $20,000 three-month program at a 'sober house' and detox facility in New York City.

A supportive Joe happily obliged, replying in a January 2, 2019 text to Hunter: 'Just called Mel he will get 20 to your account this afternoon tomorrow morning at latest. He will contact me when transfer goes through.'

Hunter's cell phone videos would later show, however, that he had gone to the wellness center in Massachusetts later that month instead.

The video and corresponding messages are the latest compromising materials retrieved from backed up iPhone data on Hunter's abandoned MacBook pro  the so-called 'laptop from hell.'

At his therapist's behest, Hunter also underwent ketamine infusion therapy  a treatment for 'drug resistant depression.'

Hunter also referenced his ketamine regimen in a December 5, 2018 message to a female friend.

'That's good baby what does it do,' she replied. 'Let's get freaky tonight on webcam.'

In another text sent January 1, 2019, Hunter made it abundantly clear who was funding his unconventional treatments, writing: 'By the way my dad is paying for whatever I need.'

The video and corresponding messages were retrieved from backed up iPhone data on Hunter's abandoned MacBook pro.

Just one month earlier, Hunter had texted his dad, Joe, complaining he didn't have enough money for the treatment program on top of bills and alimony, text messages show

On Monday, DailyMail.com also revealed that the FBI has in its possession a trove of documents, texts and videos showing Hunter spent a staggering $30,000 on escorts over a five-month period.

He wrote checks to a Ukrainian woman, Ekaterina Moreva, whose transactions were flagged by JPMorgan Chase for suspicious activity.

The bank filed the Suspicious Activity Report after Moreva received tens of thousands of dollars from Hunter's company and other women who the First Son had paid for sex.

Texts from Hunter's iPhone also show him handwriting checks disguised as medical services to escorts supplied by Moreva, whose website offers a 'girlfriend experience' with prostitutes as young as 20.

Some of the hooker payments came just hours after he received thousands of dollars from his father.

And videos show Hunter helping transport those prostitutes over state lines for a debauched night with him  a potential federal offense.

Documents, texts and videos obtained by DailyMail.com also show Hunter Biden spent a staggering $30,000 on escorts in a five-month period. Hunter is seen with two prostitutes

Hunter and the women made sex tapes of their night of debauchery. Here is a screen grab from the video of a naked Hunter walking around

The SAR, leaked to the anti-corruption nonprofit Marco Polo and obtained by DailyMail.com, says 'student' Anna Dekhtiar from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, received $274,873 between November 2018 and March 2019 with 'no clear, legitimate economic purpose'.

The SAR said the money was received from eight senders including Hunter's company Owasco, P.C.

Two of the women listed as depositing the large sums in Dekhtiar's account are also in text messages on Hunter's laptop, and appear to be hookers he hired.

Some of the cash was then sent to Moreva, who Hunter used to facilitate many of his sordid nights with prostitutes.

One depositor named in the SAR was a woman Hunter filmed on his iPhone in January 2019, claiming that he gave her $10,000 and asking if he hurt her.

Another is a woman Hunter paid $2,400 on Venmo for an 'art consultation' and a further $200 for 'packaging and shipping' in October 2018.

In Hunter's text conversations with Moreva, she refers him to a website called UberGFE.com, which advertises 'models' who can give clients a 'girlfriend experience' in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, London and Paris.

Women on the site are pictured in skimpy lingerie or semi-nude.

The site says it has employees in Ukraine, and some of the women Hunter hired through Moreva have Ukrainian names.

UberGFE has a page saying it supports Ukraine in its war with Russia and provides cryptocurrency addresses for visitors to donate to alleged charitable funds.

Hunter texted photos to Moreva showing he mailed checks to prostitutes for thousands of dollars from his joint account with his ex-wife Kathleen, who divorced him in 2017.

In a text conversations with Ukrainian woman, Ekaterina Moreva, she refers him to her website UberGFE.com, which advertises 'models' who can give clients a 'girlfriend experience' in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, London and Paris. Women on the site are pictured in skimpy lingerie or semi-nude

Hunter falsely wrote on some of the checks that they were for 'Blue Water Wellness', the name of a rehab therapy center he used

He then went on to falsely write on some of the checks that they were for 'Blue Water Wellness', the name of a rehab therapy center he used - though the center has nothing to do with his dealings with prostitutes.

Hunter's spending on escorts totaled more than $30,000 between November 2018 and March 2019.

And some of the money may have unwittingly come from his father.

Texts from January 2019 revealed by the Washington Examiner last month show Joe Biden sent Hunter $5,000 just hours before he got into a dispute with a prostitute he claimed he paid $10,000.

When Moreva followed up with Hunter over his escort debts a month later, he texted her that he was having trouble sending money because the payments had raised a 'red flag' with his bank due to the recipient's Russian email address.

'Email with .ru flags wires,' he wrote. 'This is too much red flag for bank. Which is reason why I have been unable to take care of this to begin with.

'It's what got my accounts frozen and reviewed by bank.'

Documents on the laptop also show Hunter asking Moreva which girls were available for 'fun' on December 11, 2018 when he stayed in a $700-per-night suite at the Roxy hotel in New York's Tribeca area.

Hunter Biden also apparently transported two prostitutes across state lines, and could face federal prostitution charges

He then booked Amtrak train tickets to transport three prostitutes from Boston to New York.

Videos the women sent to Hunter show them on the train, and a later video shows Hunter and the three women having sex and filming it with his laptop and an iPad.

A month before the tryst Hunter sent one of the women $1,000 via the app Zelle, emails on his laptop show.

If Hunter transported prostitutes across state lines for sex he may be open to accusations of violating federal prostitution laws.

Title 18, Section 2421 of the US Code, also known as the Mann Act, says: 'Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.'
A 13-year-old boy remains in police custody tonight after being arrested on suspicion of carrying out a a string of sexual assaults on two woman and a teenage girl on two separate days last week.

The young schoolboy was arrested at his home and remains in custody.

Thames Valley Police said his arrest is in relation to three sexual assaults which allegedly took place in South Hill Park, Bracknell, last week.

On each occasion the women were assaulted in South Hill Park.

The attacks are said to have been carried out in broad daylight on July 5 and 6, and police have since increased patrols in the area.

The 13-year-old has been arrested in connection with the assault of two women and a teenage girl in broad daylight in South Hill Park, Bracknell (pictured)

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said tonight (July 13): 'Following an investigation a boy has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

'The 13-year-old from Bracknell remains in police custody at this time.

'His arrest is in relation to sexual assaults that happened in South Hill Park, Bracknell, on July 5 and July 6 in which a teenage girl and two women aged in their 20s, were assaulted over their clothing in three separate incidents.'

Earlier the same spokesman had appealed for the public's help in the case.

Two of the attacks took place on the morning of July 6, with the other on the evening of July 5.

Thames Valley Police is appealing for anyone who witnessed the incidents or has information to come forward

Inspector Elton Evans, based at Bracknell police station, said: 'We take violence against woman and girls extremely seriously and is committed to preventing harm and bringing offenders to justice.

'We have increased our patrols around South Hill Park as a result.'
The FBI has seen a growing number of cases in which smugglers working with drug cartels are holding migrants at stash houses in southwestern Texas and releasing them as long as their families pay ransoms that in some instances are as high as $10,000.

Since February, agents from the federal law enforcement agencys El Paso field office have apprehended 15 individuals involved in the kidnappings of migrants in which ransoms were requested, Fox News Digital reported.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey told the site that the FBI was worried more about well-being of migrants and not if they had crossed the United States-Mexico border legally or illegally.

These victims endure so many frightening situations along their journey moving up towards the United States, only to find themselves being threatened with violence or become victims of violent acts, Downey said.

A group of migrants was found last week at an El Paso, Texas, stash house where they were being held against their will by smugglers after they were ferried across the United States-Mexico border. The FBI told Fox News Digital that smugglers with cartels are requesting payments of up to $10,000 to release migrants from stash houses located in El Paso

A group of migrants was found last week crammed inside a filthy home in El Paso, Texas, that was used by smugglers after they were brought over from Mexico via the southern border. U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso Sector has rescued or intercepted 1,684 migrants from more than 156 stash houses that have been located during fiscal year 2022 (which spans October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022)

The FBI said the migrants were found to be living in filthy stash houses from which they were freed as long as their families covered their ransom payments.

Most of the squalid residences were filled with trash and lacked hot water and fresh air. In some instances, the individuals had no choice but to drink water from bathtubs because the kitchen faucets were not working.

Downey called on families of migrants held for ransom to report the incidents to the consulate or embassy offices of their loved ones respective countries or to reach out to the FBI in the event that they are contacted by smugglers.

As a community, we should be concerned about the increase of these kidnappings and the threat they pose to the public safety of our community, Downey said. We need the publics help to see suspicious activity occurring in their neighborhood to report it to law enforcement and help protect a vulnerable population."

The migrants pictured in this photo were kept against their will at one of the four stash houses that U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered in El Paso, Texas, during a 24-hour period in April

According to the U.S. Border Patrols El Paso Sector, border agents have rescued or intercepted 1,684 migrants from more than 156 stash houses that have been located during fiscal year 2022 (which spans October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022).

At least 13 migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador were found in a small home on July 5 in the El Paso neighborhood of El Segundo Barrio.

The following day, border officers and the Texas Department of Public Safety discovered 25 migrants inside a home in Ascarate Park.

On both occasions, the migrants were processed and expelled to Mexico under Title 42.

U.S. Border Patrol in the El Paso Sector continues to bust dangerous human smuggling organizations located in residential communities throughout El Paso, Texas, El Paso Sector Chief - 2 - Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in a statement.

Sheltering migrants in unsanitary and unsafe conditions is a common practice by Transnational Criminal Organizations that disregard the safety of the migrants they exploit.
More than six in 10 young women say bans on abortions will impact whether they decide to live in a state, as many legislatures move to restrict the practice following the Supreme Courts ruling on Roe v Wade.

A survey of 843 people aged 18-29 also found that young women living in states with abortion bans would alter their sexual behavior  when picking partners, using birth control or by having less sex.

The Generation Lab/Axios research comes amid ongoing controversy over the Supreme Courts decision last month to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide.

About half of American states are ultimately expected to restrict or ban abortions.

Survey respondents frequently said they were left feeling mad, upset, hopeless or disillusioned by the ruling.

Still, a sliver of 7 percent said they were happy and relieved by the change.

More than six in 10 young women say bans on abortions will impact whether they decide to live in a state

Respondents to a survey on abortion frequently said they were left feeling mad, upset, hopeless or disillusioned by the Supreme Court's ruling

About half of American states are ultimately expected to restrict or ban abortions following the Supreme Courts decision last month to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide

A total of 62 percent of surveyed Gen Z and millennial women said states abortion laws would influence where they chose to live.

While it has long been the case that people favor moving to places with similar political leanings as their own, the findings suggest state laws could affect where millions of young Americans relocate for college, jobs, or to start a family.

Young women respondents also said that living in states with anti-abortion laws would influence their sexual behavior  nearly a third said it would affect who they slept with and how often they had sex.

About a third said it would affect when they used birth control and condoms.

Young men were also surveyed, their attitudes echoed the women.

The Supreme Courts decision came about after a decades-long campaign by conservative, pro-life and religious groups but has proven unpopular to many, who say women should be able to opt to have an abortion.

Young women said living in states with anti-abortion laws would influence their sexual behavior  nearly a third said it would affect who they slept with and how often they had sex

Pro-choice campaigners sing outside a clinic in Jackson, Mississippi. A sliver of 7 percent of survey respondents said they were happy and relieved by the Supreme Court ruling

A Morning Consult/Politico survey on Wednesday found that seven in 10 Americans opposed wholesale abortion bans and prohibitions on women travelling out-of-state to terminate a pregnancy.

The Biden administration this week told hospitals they must provide abortion services to women if the life of the mother is at risk.

President Joe Biden has also signed an executive order easing access to services to terminate pregnancies and safeguarding access to abortion medication and emergency contraception.
Over 80 House Democrats wrote to President Biden demanding he declare a public health emergency over the threat to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

'As we have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, a public health emergency declaration can provide significant new authority and flexibility for a federal emergency response,' 83 lawmakers, led by Texas Democratic Reps. Lizzie Fletcher and Lloyd Doggett, wrote in the letter addressed to Biden and Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra.

The lawmakers argued that the Supreme Court ruling could threaten lives, amid increasing pressure on Biden to do more to fight back against GOP-led states' moves to restrict abortion access.

Progressives have complained that the administration moved too slowly, having had seven weeks in between the leak of the decision and its actual release. The White House has pushed back against some of their suggestions, such as declaring abortions legal on all federal land.

'[The decision] has also plunged our health system into a state of uncertainty and upheaval that threatens patients' lives. Abortion bans can unnecessarily impede lifesaving medical procedures in the event of pregnancy complications or loss,' the letter continued.

The letter noted that if Biden were to use his authority under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, it would allow HHS to provide doctors with immunity if they were to perform abortions in an emergency and said Biden could use the power to ensure 'continued access to medication abortion.'

'Relevant activities may include but are not limited to Public Health Services Corps team deployments, Medicaid State Plan Amendment flexibilities to support safe-haven states, and the ability to accelerate access to new medications authorized for abortion,' the lawmakers argued.

Biden on Sunday suggested he is in talks with staff about declaring an emergency, but his White House Gender Policy Council has said doing so would hardly make a difference.

Biden was on his way to a bike ride near his residence in Delaware on Sunday when he stopped to speak to reporters, who asked if he was considering declaring a public health emergency regarding abortion access.

Over 80 House Democrats wrote to President Biden demanding he declare a public health emergency over the threat to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade

'As we have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, a public health emergency declaration can provide significant new authority and flexibility for a federal emergency response,' 83 lawmakers, led by Texas Democratic Reps. Lizzie Fletcher and Lloyd Doggett, wrote in the letter

The president responded that he was asking his staff to see 'whether I have the authority' and what the impacts would be.

He also shared words of encouragement for women who were demonstrating against Supreme Court's decision, telling them to 'keep protesting.'

'Keep making your point. It's critically important. We can do a lot of things to accommodate the rights of women,' the president said.

'In the meantime, fundamentally, the only way to change this is to have a national law that reinstates Roe v Wade.'

Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said: 'When we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things: One is that it doesn't free very many resources.'

'It's what's in the public health emergency fund, and there's very little money  tens of thousands of dollars in it. So that didn't seem like a great option. And it also doesn't release a significant amount of legal authority. And so that's why we haven't taken that action yet,' she added according to Politico.

The Biden administration however on Wednesday announced that they are reminding tens of thousands of pharmacies around the country that they risk violating civil rights law if they refuse to fill orders for contraception or abortion medication or discriminate against a person based on their pregnancy status.

The warning comes amid reports that pharmacies in states moving to ban abortion have begun refusing to fill orders for abortion and contraception pills and also other medications they suspect could be used off-label to terminate a pregnancy.

Meanwhile the House on Thursday will vote on legislation to codify abortion access into law and another bill that would ensure women can travel across states line to obtain an abortion.

The bills are likely dead on arrival in the Senate, however, as Republicans remain opposed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Punchbowl News on Tuesday that she really doesn't care about whether Republicans will vote for the Democrats' bills.

'All I'm worried about is women having access to safe reproductive freedom,' the California Democrat said. 'I don't care about the Republicans. Have you caught onto that?'

Congressional Democrats are also considering bills that would protect women's online health data from being used in abortion cases, as some raise concerns that search engine and application data could be subpoenaed to prosecute abortion cases.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month it triggered a tsunami of outrage across the country

Abortion rights activists continued to protest the decision through last weekend outside the White House

Biden signed an executive order last week that allowed the Justice Department to create a Reproductive Rights Task Force that will take 'proactive and defensive legal action' to assist women seeking abortions in states where it is legal.

The task force will monitor and fight against states who move to ban Mifepristone, an abortion pill that can end a pregnancy that is less than 10 week along, and is looking at banning states from imposing criminal or civil liability on healthcare workers who provide abortions in medical emergencies.

However, as he signed the order, Biden underscored that it was up to Congress to make a real difference in the abortion fight, punting the responsibility to voters.

'The only way to fulfill and restore that right for women in this country is by voting, by exercising the power at the ballot box,' he said. 'Your vote can make that a reality.'
According to the foreign minister of Ukraine, resuming grain exports from its ports will require security assurances for ship owners, cargo owners, and Ukraine as a sovereign state.

The first face-to-face discussions between military representatives from Russia and Ukraine in months were scheduled to take place on Wednesday. They were to meet in Istanbul to talk about a United Nations proposal to get grain from Ukraine that was being kept off from reaching global markets through the Black Sea.

Ukraine Hopes For Breakthrough in Istanbul Talks

Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, said any deal must guarantee that Russia "will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and assault ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles" before the discussions even begin.

The Ukrainian military is "planning and preparing for full liberation" of Russian-occupied cities and villages close to the country's Black Sea coast, Kuleba added in a statement to the AP on Tuesday. As Russia focuses on eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military has already increased their efforts to recover land there.

When asked about discussions to resolve the conflict, which broke out when Russia invaded the neighboring Ukraine on February 24, the foreign minister responded that it was doubtful that peace talks would take place soon.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Turkish government were lauded by Ukraine's senior diplomat for enabling Wednesday's discussions on grain exports. The meeting between Russian and Ukrainian military leaders is supposed to include participation from a Turkish delegation and UN representatives.

Officials have been attempting to resolve the standoff for months without escalating the conflict or, worse, bringing Russia and NATO into direct conflict. The meeting on Wednesday increases expectations for a breakthrough, but more than a dozen officials who were personally engaged or informed on the preparations mentioned challenges in interviews that ranged from the unimportant to the outright 'Mission Impossible,' as per The New York Times.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin's Forces Kill 29 in Donetsk Attack, Ukraine Strikes Back in Kherson

Global Prices of Essential Commodities Continue to Increase

More than 22 million tons of grain are stranded at Odesa and other Black Sea ports that are being blockaded by Russian warships. The suggested options, transporting the grain overland or across the Danube River, have been too slow, laborious, and small-scale to handle the issue.

The price of essential commodities like wheat and barley has reached record highs as a result of the war in Ukraine, which is already causing a worldwide food crisis. The most severe and immediate repercussion is the impending famine in the Horn of Africa, where years of rainy season failures are already wreaking havoc on populations in Somalia and areas of surrounding nations. A major supplier for that region is Ukraine, the fourth-largest exporter of grains worldwide.

Problems in navigating Black Sea landmines, setting up at-sea inspections of the cargo, and, most importantly, persuading the Kremlin that it is interested in cooperating are hindering foreign diplomatic efforts.

Since the estuary was reopened, 16 foreign cargo ships, according to the Infrastructure Ministry, have docked in Ukrainian ports, while many more are awaiting clearance to enter through Romania's Sulina Canal. According to the Ukrainian Grain Association, it is a significant move that will help the situation but is insufficient to allow for a complete recovery of exports.

Alexander Karavaytsev, a senior economist with the International Grains Council, agrees with that. "While there is some upside potential for river shipments, as well as for rail and road transport, albeit limited, this is not likely to be a solution without the re-opening of deep sea ports," he told the BBC.

In contrast to the needed 8 million tonnes each month, Ukraine only managed to export only 2.5 million tonnes of grain in June. Only four boats may travel current routes each day.

And it is the crucial aspect. In order to properly resolve the food problem, the Black Sea must be reopened. To make it happen, difficult talks, compromise, and probably promises from the UN will be needed. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, acknowledges that it would be challenging and states that "[they] are working hard, but there is still a lot to go."

But things are getting better in Ukraine. The minister of infrastructure assured that he was certain a solution could be found. Additionally, Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, stated on Facebook that he thought a deal with Russia was "two steps away" and that it will happen very soon.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Offers Fast-Track Citizenship Process for Ukrainians as Invasion Rages on Between Russia, Ukraine

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Water levels reportedly reached 11-and-a-half feet during the catastrophic event, spurring Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to call a state of emergency Wednesday

The Dismal River area, set in the western part of the state, was particularly devastated, with homes now washed hundreds of yards off their foundations

The flooding, which transpired late Tuesday, has left multiple families without a home and many without power on a day where temperatures 93 degrees

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Virginia has declared a state of emergency after more than 100 homes were damaged and 44 are unaccounted for after severe flash flooding ravaged several parts of the state overnight.

The flooding, which transpired late Tuesday, has left several families without a home and many without power - on a day where temperatures reached 93 degrees.

The Dismal River area, set in the western part of the state, was particularly devastated by the sudden storms, with homes now washed hundreds of yards off their foundations into stretches of road.

Water levels reportedly reached 11-and-a-half feet during the catastrophic event, spurring Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to declare a state of emergency Wednesday.

The floods serve as some of the worst seen in the area in decades, and rescue officials are still struggling to assess the full extent of the damage.

More than 40 people had been declared missing as of Wednesday afternoon. Officials have yet to report any casualties.

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Virginia has declared a state of emergency after more than 100 homes were damaged and dozens are unaccounted for after severe flash flooding ravaged several parts of the state overnight. Pictured is an aerial view of the flooding in the town of Pilgrim's Knob

The flooding, which transpired late Tuesday, has left several families without a home and many without power - on a day where temperatures hit 93 degrees

The Dismal River area, set in the western part of the state, was particularly devastated by the storms, with homes washed hundreds of yards off their foundations into stretches of road

State officials from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) have since been deployed to assist local crews in clean-up and rescue operations

Gov. Youngkin declared a state of emergency Wednesday to assist with response and recovery efforts following abnormal amounts of rainfall.

"I want Virginians in Buchanan County to know that we are making every resource available to help those impacted by this storm,' he said in a statement.

'As we continue to assess the situation, I want to thank our first responders and the personnel on the ground for providing assistance with our ongoing operations.'

The governor - who assumed office in January - took to Twitter to urge citizens that the state was doing all it could to help residents in hard-hit areas, particularly in Buchanan County, which borders West Virginia and Kentucky.

'I am deeply saddened at the devastating news of flooding in Buchanan County. We are making every resource available to help those impacted,' Youngkin, 55, wrote.

'While rescue and recovery operations continue, please join me in prayer as we lift up our fellow Virginians impacted by this tragedy.'

The floods serve as some of the worst seen in the area in decades, and rescue officials are still struggling to assess the full extent of the damages

The foundation of a home in Buchanan County is pictured after the house was pulled from the substructure by the raging floods

More than 40 people have been declared missing as of Wednesday afternoon. Officials have yet to report any casualties

State officials from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) have since been deployed to assist local crews in clean-up and rescue operations.

Officials from the agency said Wednesday they don't know the specific number of homes damaged at the time but a significant number of homes area damaged, likely more than 100 homes.

Rescue officials have reported that several of the homes were ripped from their foundations, in some cases up to 300 yards from their original position.

Pavement was also stripped in some areas, and several roads and bridges are still unpassable.

Cars and trucks were also strewn all over by the raging waters, leaving towns like Pilgrim's Knob, set in Buchanan County, looking like a warzone.

Officials are working to clean up and assess the damages. State officials said they will continue to aid in those efforts as well. More rain is forecast in the area over the weekend.

Officials are working to clean up and assess the damages. State officials said they will continue to aid in those efforts as well. More rain is forecast in the area over the weekend

'As we continue to assess the situation, I want to thank our first responders and the personnel on the ground for providing assistance with our ongoing operations,' Gov. Glenn Youngkin said
The Netherlands announced on Wednesday it has become the latest country to detect a case of the Covid Omicron subvariant BA.2.75, as experts expressed concern about the strain's rapid spread.

The subvariant, nicknamed 'Centaurus', first emerged in India in May and has since spread to around 10 countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Australia.

It 'has also now been identified in the Netherlands,' the Dutch National Institute of Public Health said in a statement.

Some scientists fear the variant may be the most contagious seen yet, and better equipped to evade any immunity from vaccines and previous infection.

But there is no proof it causes any more serious disease than the original type of Omicron it evolved from, leading Covid experts told MailOnline today.

The Netherlands announced on Wednesday it has become the latest country to detect a case of the Covid Omicron subvariant BA.2.75, as experts expressed concern about the strain's rapid spread. Pictured: A medical worker carries out a Covid test in Amsterdam (file photo)

'Little is known about BA.2.75,' the institute said, but it 'appears to more easily bypass the defences built up against SARS-CoV-2 through small, specific changes'.

The World Health Organisation's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said last week that the UN agency was closely tracking the strain, but there were 'limited sequences to analyse'.

'This sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor binding domain of the spike protein... so we have to watch that,' she said in a tweeted video.

She added that it was 'too early to know' how well the strain can evade immunity or how severe it was.

Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, told AFP news agency that BA.2.75's spread in India indicated it could be more transmissible than the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, which has been driving waves in Europe and the US.

'It seems to be becoming the dominant strain in India - the question is will it become the dominant strain all over the world?'

Flahault added that previous dominant strains, like Delta, had first taken over the country they emerged in before spreading across the world.

But he said there was a 'margin of unpredictability,' pointing to how BA.2.12.1 became dominant in the US but BA.5 'succeeded' when the two came in direct competition.

Flahault added that successive variants made developing a vaccine to fight them more difficult, because by the time one jab targeting them was ready to be rolled out, newer strains had taken over.

It was far too early to know about the severity of BA.2.75, he added.

The Dutch sample was collected in the northern region of Gelderland on June 26, the institute said, adding it was 'closely monitoring the situation' there.

Earlier this month, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control listed BA.2.75 as a 'variant under monitoring'.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert from the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline today that a BA.2.75 wave could be the least deadly yet.

It is not expected to strike Britain until later this year because it hasn't yet gained a strong enough foothold to displace BA.5.

What do we know about BA.2.75? Should we be concerned? What is BA.2.75? This is an off-shoot of the BA.2 Omicron substrain that caused the last wave of Covid in April. It was first detected in India in May and has been found in at least 10 other countries, including the UK and US. Is it more dangerous? Early analysis suggests BA.2.75 is more transmissible than both BA.2 and BA.5, which is behind the current uptick in cases in Britain. But there is no evidence to suggest it is more likely to cause serious disease. Should I be concerned? Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline a BA.2.75 wave could be the least deadly yet. It is not expected to strike Britain until later this year, with cases too low to start pushing out BA.5 circulation currently. Professor Hunter said people could have better protection when it does finally arrive because of a combination of the vaccine and recent infection this summer. Advertisement

Why you DON'T need to worry about 'Centaurus': 'Most infectious' Covid variant yet is growing rapidly in India and may already be in the UK... but experts say there's no proof it will send us back to darkest days of pandemic

By Joe Davies Health Reporter For MailOnline

A new Covid variant spreading rapidly in India should not pose any threat, experts insisted today amid claims it may already be circulating in Britain.

BA.2.75, nicknamed 'Centaurus', appears to be outcompeting all other variants in the south Asian country after being first spotted there in May.

Some scientists fear it may be the most contagious variant seen yet, and better equipped to evade any immunity from vaccines and previous infection.

But there is no proof it causes any more serious disease than the original type of Omicron it evolved from, leading Covid experts told MailOnline.

It is not yet outcompeting BA.5, the now dominant strain causing an uptick in cases in Britain, and scientists do not know if it ever will.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert from the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline a BA.2.75 wave could be the least deadly yet.

It is not expected to strike Britain until later this year because it hasn't yet gained a strong enough foothold to displace BA.5.

Professor Hunter said: 'It's always difficult to say for certain how this going to go. There is a suggestion this is going to spread more if it hits Britain in the autumn.

'But at the moment it doesn't look like it will be more deadly than BA.5 and it may even be less deadly because with every wave there is more protection.

'Current research is suggesting recent infection and vaccination combined offers the best protection, so the current wave could help help protect people from an autumn surge caused by BA.2.75.'

Professor David Livermore, a retired medical microbiologist at the UEA, argued that Centaurus was just the latest in a never-ending line of Omicron sub-strains.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) weekly infection survey found more than 2.7million Britons were infected with Covid in the last week of June

This graph shows the number of deaths directly due to Covid recorded in England and Wales. The number of deaths being recorded these nations currently is far below that of previous waves earlier year and a sheer fraction of those seen at the start of 2021

But only a third of patients are primarily sick with Covid, which suggests rising admissions are a symptom of high infection rates rather than severe disease. The majority (64 per cent) are known as 'incidental' cases  patients who went to hospital for a different reason but happened to test positive. The above graph compares incidental cases throughout the pandemic

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind the pandemic, constantly evolves as it tries to spread.

The majority of mutations are harmless.

However, some quirks the virus picks up over time can give it an advantage  like being able to infect people easier.

As SARS-CoV-2 mutates over time, it can splinter off into genetically distinct variants, or strains.

For example, the January 2021 wave was caused by Alpha, last summer's peak was down to Delta, and the original Omicron strain was to blame for last winter's peak.

Britain's April chaos was sparked by the BA.2 substrain, a sub-type of Omicron considered to be nearly as infectious as measles.

The current resurgence, which has already prompted calls for face masks and social distancing to return, is being driven by BA.5. It appears to be even more infectious than BA.2.

BA.2.75 is actually an off-shoot of the BA.2 variant from April, but is thought to be the most infectious of any of them yet, in theory.

Professor Livermore told MailOnline: 'Experience shows new variants are going to keep rolling through the human population, likely for several years.

'Omicron BA2.75 is a further example. It is very transmissible, but there is no reason to believe that it causes more serious infection than classical Omicron.'

Pointing to India's current flare-up, he said there is 'no evidence of a rise in mortality'.

Analysis of data suggests India's share of cases down to Centaurus has quadrupled in a month.

Professor Livermore added: 'The past two years of lockdowns and restrictions have done huge collateral damage to society, education, healthcare and the economy.

'We must work to repair this, not to extend it with panics about each new variant.'

Others took to social media to calm fears about the variant.

Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, tweeted: 'Stop trying to make Centaurus happen. It's not going to happen.'

The sub-strain's nickname was invented on Twitter, named after a star constellation representing a centaur  a Greek mythological creature that is half human and half horse.

BA.2.75 has been spotted so scarcely in Britain so far that official case figures are not yet available.

It's also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the UK and Canada.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations for the virus  the speed at which rates are increasing  has halved in recent weeks. Average daily admissions had been climbing at a rate of around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has slowed to about 20 per cent

Latest data shows there were 1,848 Covid admissions across England each day by July 10, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous week. Week-on-week growth has slowed significantly in recent weeks, coming down from 43 per cent in late June, in a promising sign

MailOnline analysis shows how the rate of severe illness from Covid has fallen over time. At the beginning of the pandemic, one per cent of all people infected with the virus (based on the Office for National Statistics infection rate) required mechanical ventilation within two weeks. But most recent NHS bed occupancy rates show just 0.015 per cent of those infected are admitted to an ICU bed - 100 times fewer than the start of the pandemic

Nearly 3million adults in England have not had any jabs to protect against the virus so are at more severe risk of being hospitalised or dying if they get infected, a Government report on the vaccine rollout states. The graph shows vaccine uptake among all over-12s in England. Some 93.2 per cent have had their first dose, 87.3 per cent are double-jabbed and 68.7 per cent are boosted

Dr Matthew Binnicker, a virologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said: 'It is still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions.

'But it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase.'

Whether it will outcompete BA.5 is yet to be determined, he said.

Despite warnings of another wave in Britain, figure suggest infections may already be slowing.

There were an estimated 2.1million people infected in England in the most recent week, which marked a 17.7 per cent increase in seven days.

That was compared to a 34 per cent jump the previous week.

MailOnline's analysis of NHS data suggests the current wave of Covid admissions is peaking.

The weekly growth rate of hospitalisations has halved in recent weeks.

Average daily virus admissions had been climbing at around 40 per cent week-on-week at times last month but this has now slowed to about 20 per cent.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert claims her husband did not flash his penis at an underage girl at a Colorado Bowling alley 18 years ago, despite pleading guilty to the crime.

In her new memoir, 'My American Life,' the Colorado Republican vouched for the alleged innocence of her husband, Jayson, then 24, who exposed himself to two young women at the the Fireside Lane bowling alley in Rifle, Colorado, in 2004.

Boebert, then 17, was there at the time and reportedly is no longer welcome at the bowling alley along with Jayson, who pleaded guilty to 'public indecency and lewd exposure' and was sentenced to four days in jail followed by two years of probation.

His now wife has shifted blame over the incident onto the 17-year-old bartender, claiming she 'wouldn't stop asking to see her 'hunky' future husband's 'private tattoo,' and that there was no way Jayson could've known the bartender was underage.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert claims her husband Jayson (pictured together) did not flash a 17-year-old bartender at a Colorado bowling alley in 2004, despite his guilty plea

In her new memoir, Lauren claimed it was the bartender who kept asking to see her husband's 'private tattoo' and that he had no way of knowing she was underage

Jayson was kicked out of the Fireside Lane bowling alley in Rifle (pictured), that he and Boebert, who was dating him at the time, were reportedly banned from

Boebert wrote that she and her future husband were trying to bond on the night of the incident when the bartender allegedly heard 'what a catch' Jayson would be.

The congresswoman said her husband's friends 'even teased her by saying he'd gotten a great tattoo in a private area, which made her curious, so she pressed Jayson to show it to her right there at the bar.'

Boebert claims that while Jayson tried to ignore the bartender, he had too many drinks and then 'acted like he was going to unzip his pants,' prompting the bowling alley to kick him out.

'The two argued, and Jayson threw a basket of fries at the owner,' she wrote. 'The police were called.'

She said her husband ultimately took a plea deal because he 'was a young oil field worker without a lawyer or the desire to hire one.'

She wrote: 'He knew the truth  and the truth was, he didn't do what he was accused of.'

'But the entire experience opened Jayson's eyes to the reality that he needed the alcohol and anger management classes that came with the plea deal.'

Boebert also condemned attacks from the left on her and her husband over the incident.

'Fast-forward a couple of decades, and now that I'm in the public eye, the Left attacks us relentlesslyfacts be damned,' Boebert wrote.

'They point to Jayson's arrest and say awful things about him  rather than applaud a man who's made a few mistakes along the way, learned from them, and then made himself a true success, got married, and is raising four incredible young men.'

Boebert has four children with Jayson, and claims that her husband has grown for the better since the incident 18 years ago

Boebert (pictured on June 8) said that her husband only pleaded guilty because he 'was a young oil field worker without a lawyer or the desire to hire one'

Boebert was previously charged with careless driving and operating an unsafe vehicle after rolling her truck into a ditch in Garfield County, Colorado in 2016. She was later arrested and booked into jail months later in 2017 (pictured) for failing to appear for her court hearing

Jayson's case was not the first time the Boeberts have had a brush with the law.

Back in 2010, Boebert was arrested after a neighbor accused her two pitbulls of attacking her dog, with Boebert pleading guilty to a count of 'dog at large' charges and agreeing to pay a $75 fine.

Five years later, the future congresswoman was arrested for disorderly conduct at a country music festival near Grand Junction, Colorado, after police said she tried to interfere in the arrest of minors caught for underage drinking.

Then in September 2016, Boebert was charged with careless driving and operating an unsafe vehicle after rolling her truck into a ditch.

She was later arrested and booked into jail months later in 2017 for failing to appear for her court hearing

Boebert ultimately pleaded guilty to unsafe vehicle charges and paid $123.50 in court fines.

A month after the flashing incident, Jayson was also booked on domestic violence charges against Boebert on February 2004, who in turn was slapped with a third-degree assault charge after police said she scratched his face and chest three months later.
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Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was spotted out in the Hamptons just a day after he appeared to be reporting live from Ukraine while rebranding himself as a 'free agent' in an effort to rehabilitate his career.

Cuomo looked relaxed in a casual t-shirt and ball cap as he strolled around Sag Harbor, New York on Tuesday with actor Gregg Bello, a friend who has supported the ousted anchor since his December 4 firing from CNN.

Cuomo, 51, announced on Instagram Monday that he was rebranding himself as a 'free agent' and shared videos of his reporting from Ukraine while plugging merchandise - including a 'Free Agent' shirt that his friend Bello was seen wearing on Tuesday.

He had traveled to the war zone at the end of June with his 'brother' Sean Penn, who is filming a documentary there. The former anchor appeared to still be there on Monday night as he took to Instagram to tell America to 'pay more attention' to what is happening in the war zone.

The former TV anchor was spotted out in the Hamptons on Tuesday, a day after he took to Instagram to tell America to 'pay more attention' to what is happening in the war zone in Ukraine

Cuomo looked relaxed as he strolled around Sag Harbor, New York on Tuesday with his pal, actor Gregg Bello. Bello is seen wearing a 'Free Agent' shirt, which appears to be merchandise from Cuomo's website as he attempts to rebrand himself

Former CNN host Chris Cuomo is relaunching his journalism career as a 'free agent' reporting from Ukraine

'What is happening right now in Ukraine is bad and America should be paying a lot more attention.

'I went to the eastern front... Outmanned and outgunned we had to hide behind abandoned buildings,' he said.

He likened the conflict to 'WW2' and compared Ukrainians to Americans fighting the War of Independence.

'Ukrainians sound like Americans 240yrs ago vs the British.

They are laying down their lives to keep the freedoms we have here.

'The interest here has slowed...the war is only accelerating. I will show you more reason to care...soon. Thank you for the interest.'

He then instructed his followers to 'be a #freeagent' like him.

The carousel of videos garnered nearly 14,000 likes on Instagram in the hours after it was posted - a far cry from the 750,000 viewers he routinely attracted with his prime time CNN show.

On Tuesday, Cuomo was seen walking around the Hamptons, a far cry from the war torn region of Ukraine

Cuomo and his friend Gregg Bello enjoyed a sunny day in the Hamptons on Tuesday

In his first video, Cuomo filmed himself wearing an army helmet and sunglasses.

'We are situated on the side of this building because the artillery has been passing along here on the other side of it and literally they are standing where they are because it's safe and if they step out they have to worry about something hitting and exploding like that hole right there that is the nature of this war.'

In another, he films his team walking through an abandoned town.

'This was the last shelling this was seven days ago. It's pretty abandoned.

'We keep this kind of distance under shelling so that if one hits, not everybody gets hit.'

Cuomo told his followers to pay more attention to the war in Ukraine, which he compared to WW2 and The War of Independence. He shared multiple videos from the scene of Ukrainian fighters and foreign journalists. He is shown, right, standing in front of a mound of harvested grain, explaining to followers why it can't be exported

Last week, Cuomo said he'd traveled to the region with his 'brother' Sean Penn, who is filming a documentary there

On June 29, Cuomo announced he was in Ukraine. 'More to come of how bad it is getting here. #ukraine #ukrainewar #letsgetafterit,' he said, invoking his old CNN catchphrase

In another video, Cuomo shows off a Ukrainian tank and gets a tutorial from a soldier on how it is used.

'In others a European journalist explains to him how the Russians are shooting prohibited weapons at them.

He also filmed in front of a mound of unused grain, telling the camera: 'We talk about the Ukrainian grain issue and how they can't export right now.

'This is like a lot of grain that was harvested.

'The Russians destroyed this. The soldiers say their motto is 'if they can't have it nobody can.'

It's unclear who he traveled with or who is footing the bill.

Cuomo has rebranded as a 'free agent' and is selling merchandise on his website in an apparent bid to fund his dispatches

Image overhaul: Chris had been quiet until recently, when he popped back up on Instagram with his reports from the warzone. Now, he is flogging merch and giving away t-shirts

Among the items for sale on the disgraced host's website are t-shirts, hoodies, mugs and hats with the slogan: 'Are YOU free?'

On June 29, Cuomo announced he was in Ukraine.

'More to come of how bad it is getting here. #ukraine #ukrainewar #letsgetafterit,' he said, invoking his old CNN catchphrase.

The 51-year-old was fired by CNN in December last year after he was caught advising his scandal-plagued brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, through sexual misconduct allegations while clinging on to his spot as the network's top anchor.

Last week, Cuomo said he'd traveled to the Ukraine with his 'brother' Sean Penn, who has been filming a documentary in the region. The actor has also met with President Zelensky

In another video, Cuomo shows off a Ukrainian tank and gets a tutorial from a soldier on how it is used. In others a European journalist explains to him how the Russians are shooting prohibited weapons at them

In the months that followed, Cuomo was accused of trying to tear the network down with him by exposing an affair between former boss Jeff Zucker and his aide Allison Gollust.

He is also fighting scrappily for a $125million payout from CNN, which he claims unfairly fired him and deprived him of future earnings.

Cuomo's unveiling last night comes days after he teased his comeback on his website, writing: 'Something's coming' in an effort to tantalize fans.

In the months after his departure from CNN, Cuomo was accused of trying to tear the network down with him by exposing an affair between former boss Jeff Zucker and his aide Allison Gollust (shown above)
Separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have accelerated plans to execute two Britons.

Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who had joined the Ukrainian Army, were captured by Moscows forces near Mariupol in April.

Their predicament worsened last night when pro-Russian officials in the Donetsk Peoples Republic said they were preparing a place for their execution.

The chilling statement said the Britons would be killed by firing squad, with no prior warning given. The date of their executions will not be released in advance.

DPR spokesman Denys Pushilin added: Everything is ready. It wont be public.

A member of the Russian parliament also mocked the Britons, saying they would be killed with British weapons and bullets and their families would be sent a bill.

Aiden Aslin (right) and Shaun Pinner (left), who had joined the Ukrainian Army, were captured by Moscows forces near Mariupol in April

The sickening statements came a day after the DPR reinstated the death penalty as a punishment for the most serious crimes.

It said that capital punishment served as a deterrent to the commission of heinous crimes, in particular crimes against the peace and security of mankind.

Mr Aslin, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, and Mr Pinner, from Watford, were recently found guilty of being mercenaries at a trial.

The charges are false because the pair, and a Moroccan colleague Brahim Saadoun, 21, belonged to Ukrainian military units. Therefore, under international law, they are entitled to protection while in custody.

Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner also had joint UK-Ukrainian citizenship and had spent many years in the country.

Before then Mr Aslin, 28, was a Grenadier Guardsman while Mr Pinner, 48, was in the Royal Anglian Regiment.

An additional complication is that Britain does not recognise the DPR because the Moscow-backed breakaway republic has been set up inside Ukraine.

The execution threats may be a Russian ploy to try to force the UK to establish diplomatic relations with the region.

Pictured: Mr Aslin, 28, from Newark in Nottinghamshire. He had joint UK-Ukrainian citizenship and was a Grenadier Guardsman. He was fighting with Ukrainian forces when he was captured

Mr Pinner, 48, was in the Royal Anglian Regiment. He also has UK-Ukrainian citizenship and spent many years in the country

Mr Pushilin explained that a court was considering appeals submitted by the three men on July 4. But on completion of the legal process their cases will be transferred to the executive service for implementation, by firing squad, he said.

Under Russian law, mercenaries are not granted the same privileges as regular combatants, whose welfare must be considered according to the Geneva Convention.

Mr Aslin and Mr Pinners families have pleaded with the Foreign Office to intervene on their behalf.

Their best hope is that they are released as part of a prisoner exchange.

Two other Britons, Dylan Healy, 22, and Andrew Hill, 35, are also in custody in Donetsk.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia were yesterday in dispute over grain exports from the war zone which are being blocked by the Kremlin.

The talks in Istanbul were the first face-to-face meetings between officials from the two sides for many months.

A resumption of grain exports would provide a major boost to Ukraines economy.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is making several high-profile stops in Washington following his digs at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  but he still said he backs President Joe Biden in 2024.

Newsom, who turned back a recall election effort last year, sparked new presidential rumors when he made a $105,000 ad buy on Fox News hitting DeSantis, who has emerged as a top potential rival to former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

'I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight -- or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom,' Newsom says in the July 4th ad, which has the feel of a political campaign spot.

On Wednesday, Newsom met privately with First Lady Jill Biden at the White House.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sparked attention when he bought a TV ad slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News

He said the two spoke 'all things education' including 'what's going on in many of those red states.'

He also collected an award from the Education Commission of the States.

The award comes 'in recognition of its coordinated approach to educating all students from preschool to postsecondary, with explicit attention toward whole-child supports and services, as well as its historic financial investments to ensure educational equity,' according to the group.

The state is on the way to achieving universal pre-K by 2025.

Newsom, 54, used the platform to blast GOP attacks on Critical Race Theory, at a time when some Demcrats are calling on Biden to more forcefully confront his critics.

'What's happening now--banning books? Suppressing speech? The other-ing of our students, teachers, parents? It's alarming,' he said.

Newsom met privately with first lady Jill Biden, pictured at Tuesday's White House congressional picnic

President Joe Biden slammed a reporter who asked about a poll that said Democrats would prefer another nominee in 2024

Newsom has gotten in political scraps with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered a leading challenger to former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination

He also said President Biden should run for reelection.

It comes on a trip where he planned to meet administration officials  with plans to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris in DC on Friday.

The trip comes while President Biden is out of the country on a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The trip comes a day after Biden tore into a reporter who brought up a New York Times / Sienna College poll that showed two-thirds of Democrats want someone else as the party nominee.

'You guys are all the same' he said, telling his questioner to 'read the polls, read the polls. They want me to run.'

He cited a different poll question showing 92 per cent of Democrats would vote for him. The poll also showed him narrowly beating former President Donald Trump.

'Read the polls. Read the polls, Jack. You guys are all the same,' said Biden.

'A majority of Democrats say the don't want you to run in 2024,' the reporter countered. Biden shot back: '92 percent said I did, they'd vote for me.'

In his Independence Day ad, Newsom went straight at DeSantis and national party leaders.

Republican leaders are 'making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,' he said in he ad.
A dad-of-two who was shot in the back and killed just moments after stepping out of a parked Audi has been identified.

Melbourne man Brian Laidlaw, 54, was shot dead just after 4pm on Tuesday afternoon in the inner-city suburb of Fitzroy.

One of Mr Laidlaw's final posts to Facebook showed him posing in front of a wall and in an eerie detail, standing in front of a pair of white angel wings.

The 54-year-old was also flipping off the camera in the photo, with a friend joking 'bro you need horns' and adding devil emojis to his comment.

Mr Laidlaw took the suggestion he should be a devil instead of angel lightly.

'Nah not me ... I'm not that guy lol,' he replied.

Mr Laidlaw (pictured) took to Facebook in November 2021 to post a picture of himself standing in front of angel wings

A 43-year-old Doveton man and 21-year-old Yarraville woman were arrested on Wednesday afternoon in Noble Park however no charges have been laid.

It's understood Mr Laidlaw left his Fitzroy home on Tuesday afternoon to meet two men sitting in a parked Audi car.

Witnesses told police they saw the three men argue before Mr Laidlaw exited the car and was shot in the back.

Mr Laidlaw was shot and killed near a parked car in Fitzroy, Melbourne, on Tuesday afternoon

'The male then left and was shot as he alighted from the vehicle. Theres been some dispute, we dont know why or what for,' Detective Superintendent Paul OHalloran said.

Passers by rushed to Mr Laidlaw's aid and called triple zero as emergency services rushed to the scene at the intersection of Napier Street and Gertrude Street.

Despite paramedics' best efforts, he died at the scene.

Tributes flowed for Mr Laidlaw on social media after his death was confirmed.

'You will be immensely missed,' Chloe Barenot wrote on Facebook.

'You are one of the people that truly believed in me and encouraged my abilities.'

Trent Johnson described Mr Laidlaw as 'one of the most loyal friends Ive had'.

Emergency services rushed to the bloody scene after calls from frightened witnesses at about 4.15pm on Tuesday at the intersection of Napier Street and Gertrude Street in Fitzroy

Police established a crime scene at the intersection and are investigating the circumstances of the man's death

Police have urged anyone who witnessed anything or has CCTV or dashcam vision of the incident to come forward.

Anyone with relevant information should contact Crime Stoppers.
Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Amerie Jo Garza (right)

Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary, was one of 19 students confirmed to be killed Tuesday morning by Ramos, who cops say was carrying a handgun and an AR-15 during the attack that also killed two teachers in the classroom.

Her grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, said the 10-year-old was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up 'covered in her blood.'

Arreola said Ramos told the students and staffers inside the room, 'You're going to die,' before opening fire - shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to phone for help.

'So the gunman went in and he told the children, 'You're going to die,' Berlinda told The Daily Beast.

'And [Amerie] had her phone and she called 911. And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood.'

Uziyah Garcia

Uziyah Garcia, 8

Uziyah Garcia, the youngest victim at age eight, was also killed in the attack.

The child's family announced he was killed hours after announcing he was among the many children unaccounted for following the tragedy.

The boy's grandfather, Manny Renfro, broke the news early Wednesday after being notified by authorities.

'[He was] the sweetest little boy that I've ever known,' Renfro said. 'I'm not just saying that because he was my grandkid.'

Renfro recalled how Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo over spring break.

'We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns.

'Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,' the grieving grandad said.

'There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.'

Makenna Elrod, 10

Makenna Lee Elrod

Makenna Elrod, 10, had also been among the missing in the chaos that followed the massacre, with her father, Brandon Elrod telling reporters at the time he feared 'she may not be alive.'

Her death was eventually confirmed by a family friend on Wednesday. 'It's pretty sad what this world's coming to,' the girl's father told local outlet KTRK after the shooting.

A mother of one of Makenna's friends lamented the loss in a post to Facebook.

'Sweet Makenna Rest in Paradise!! My heart is shattered as my daughter Chloe loved her so much!!' the mom wrote. A relative Wednesday confirmed that the girl had been among the victims.

Xavier Lopez, 10

Xavier Lopez

Xavier Lopez, 10, was the first student victim to be identified as one of Ramos' victims.

The child's mother, Felicha Martinez, told the Washington Post Tuesday that just hours before the massacre, the mom had been at the school to see her son participate an honor roll ceremony.

She took a picture showing her son showing off his certificate.

In the last exchange she had with the child, the mom heartbreakingly told the boy that she was proud of him and that she loved him, giving him a hug goodbye - not knowing it would be the last time she would see him alive.

'He was funny, never serious and his smile that smile I will never forget,' she recalled after learning of his death from police. 'It would always cheer anyone up.'

The boy's cousin, Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, said Xavier enjoyed swimming and had been looking forward to the summer.

'He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,' she said.

'He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.'

Amelia Sandoval, Lopez's grandmother, said: 'It's just so hard... you send your kids to school thinking they are going to make it back home but they're not.'

Eliahana Torres, 10

Eliahana Cruz Torres

Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, had also been missing for hours until she was confirmed to be among the dead.

Adolfo Cruz, her great-grandfather, said she didn't want to attend school the day of the shooting - but was told by her family that she had to attend.

He said he remained outside the school gates throughout the night until he leanrned of her fate from local authorities.

'I hope she is alive,' he said at the time.

Torres was an avid baseball player and played the sport in a local little league.

Ellie Lugo, 10

Ellie Lugo

Ellie Lugo was named as a victim of Tuesday's attack by her parents, with Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirming her death several hours after she was listed among the missing.

'It's hard to issue out a statement on anything right now my mind is going at 1000 miles per hour but I do wanna send our thoughts and prayers to those who also didn't make it home tonight!!! Our Ellie was a doll and was the happiest ever,' Steven Lugo said Wednesday.

'Mom and Dad love you never forget that and please try and stay by our side.'

Nevaeh Bravo, 10

Nevaeh Bravo

Nevaeh Bravo was confirmed to be among the dead late Tuesday, after her cousin posted on social media following the shooting to ask for helping the girl.

Around 9 pm, she broke the news on Twitter.

'Unfortunately my beautiful Nevaeh was one of the many victims from todays tragedy,' she wrote.

Sje said the schoolchild was 'flying high' and asked for the family to be kept in people's prayers

'Our Nevaeh has been found. She is flying with the angels above. We love you Navaeh very much princess.'

'Thank you for the support and help,' she wrote. 'Rest in peace my sweet girl, you didn't deserve this.'

Bravo's age could not immediately be confirmed.

Tess Marie Mata

Tess Marie Mata

Tess Marie Mata was also among those to perish in the attack, her sister, Faith Mata, revealed in a post to Facebook Wednesday.

'I honestly have no words just sadness, confusion, and anger,' she wrote.

'I'm sad because we will never get to tag team on mom and dad again and tell each other how much we mean to each other, I'm confused because how can something like this happen to my sweet, caring, and beautiful sister, and I'm angry because a coward took you from us.'

Photos shared with the post showed Tess smiling in a baby photo, snuggling with a cat, doing gymnastics, flashing a peace sign, and posing in front of a large heart mural.

'Sissy I miss you so much, I just want to hold you and tell you how pretty you are, I want to take you outside and practice softball, I want to go on one last family vacation, I want to hear your contagious laugh, and I want you to hear me tell you how much I love you,' she wrote.

Her age could not immediately be confirmed.

Rojelio Torres, 10

Rojelio Torres

Rojelio Torres, 10, was initially reported missing by his father, but on Wednesday was confirmed dead by his family.

A person who said she was the boy's cousin wrote on Twitter: 'It breaks my heart to say my rojelio is now with the angels I'll forever miss you and love you my angel.'

The child's father , Federico Torres, told Houston reporters that he was at work when he learned about the shooting and immediately raced to the school.

'They sent us to the hospital, to the civic center, to the hospital and here again, nothing, not even in San Antonio,' he said. 'They don't tell us anything, only a photo, wait, hope that everything is well.'

Nearly half a day later, cops broke the news to the boy's family.

'Our entire family waited almost 12 hours since the shooting to find out Rojelio Torres, my 10-year-old nephew, was killed in this tragedy,' Torres' aunt, Precious Perez, told KSAT. 'We are devastated and heartbroken. Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.'

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Jayce Luevanos

Jayce Luevanos, 10, died in the shooting along with his ten-year-old cousin, Jailah, the child's mother said Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, uncle Unberto Gonzalez shared photos of both kids while offering a touching tribute.

'My babies going to miss them like crazy!!!,' Gonzalez wrote. 'We luv y'all so much!!! I'm just lost right now!!! Fly high my beautiful Angels!!'

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Jailah Nicole Silguero

Ten-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero was also killed in the shooting, her mother, Veronica Luevanos, tearfully revealed to Univision Wednesday.

She also lost her 10-year-old nephew Jayce to the tragedy.

She said Jailah loved to dance and film videos on TikTok.

The child reportedly also asked her mom the morning of the shooting if she could stay home from school - a request the now mourning mom rebuffed.

'I took her to school, but she didn't want to go. She told her father, 'Can I stay home?'' Luevanos said, noting that it was not a common occurrence for her daughter to make such a request. 'I think she knew something would happen.'

Luevanos' mom confirmed the loss on Facebook Wednesday.

'Fly high my angels. We're going to miss yall so much,' wrote Veronica Luevanos - whose dad had died just a week earlier.

'I'm so heart broken,' she wrote with a photo of her daughter and nephew.

'My baby I love u so much  fly high baby girl.'

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Alithia Ramirez

Fourth grader Alithia Ramirez was confirmed dead early Wednesday by her father, Ryan Ramirez, who shared a post to Facebook showing the 10-year-old with angel's wings. He had used the same photo the previous day as he pleaded for help finding her after the massacre

He had heartbreakingly used the same photo the previous day as he desperately pleaded for help finding her after the massacre.

'Trying to find my daughter Alithia. I called all the hospitals and nothing,' he wrote at the time.

He also reporters during his frantic search, 'I'm trying to find out where my baby's at.'

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, was another killed by Ramos Tuesday - along with her cousin, who has yet to be identified.

Annabell's father spent the afternoon after the shooting in frantic search for his daughter.

Speaking to KHOU11 Tuesday, he lamented at how he was at a loss as to what do, having little success with the search.

'They're not letting us in at the hospital right now so we don't know where to go.'

She has since been declared to be among the dead.

Miranda Mathis, 11

Miranda Mathis

Miranda Mathis, 11, was also confirmed as another casualty from the mass shooting early Wednesday, in a Facebook post by an older cousin who earlier that day had posted a desperate plea for help in locating the child.

'My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly,' Deanna Miller wrote alongside a photo of the child with angel wings.

'I'm so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers,' she grieved.

Miller's kids had also been at the school at the time of the shooting, but survived the attack.

One of her sons told her that they were ushered out of a window by staffers during the attack and subsequently ran to a nearby funeral home after 'he heard the shooter say he was gonna kill all the kids.'

Alexandria 'Lexi' Aniyah Rubio, 10

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio - who was better known to friends as 'Lexi' - was confirmed dead just before midnight on Tuesday.

The ten-year-old was shot dead just hours after posing for a photo with her parents at the school's honor roll ceremony.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the girl's mother, wrote of the loss: 'My beautiful, smart, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio was recognized today for All-A honor roll. She also received the good citizen award. We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye.'

Maite Yuleana

Maite Yuleana

Maite Yuleana was another student to die in the attack that had attended the honor roll ceremony just hours before.

A cousin of the girl's mother, Ana Rodriguez, announced the loss Wednesday.

'It is with a heavy heart I come on here on behalf of my cousin Ana who lost her sweet baby girl in yesterday's senseless shooting.

'We are deeply saddened by the lose [sic] of this sweet smart little girl. God bless and may she R.I.P Maite Rodriguez we love you.'

Another relative shared a photo of Maite with her honor roll certificate.

Her age could not immediately be confirmed.

Jose Flores Jr, 10

Jose Flores

Jose Flores, 10, was also killed in the shooting after attending the honor roll ceremony, where he was pictured triumphantly clutching a certificate celebrating the accomplishment.

Uncle Christopher Salazar confirmed to the Washington Post Wednesday that his 10-year-old nephew was among the dead, after sharing a tribute to the child on Facebook.

'I love you and I miss you,' Salazar wrote in the post.

The boy's father described Jose to CNN as an amazing boy and big brother to his two younger siblings.

'He was always fill of energy,' Jose Flores Sr. said. 'Ready to play till the night.'

He said the boy loved playing baseball and video games.

Jackie Cazares

Jackie Cazares, 10

Jackie Cazares, 10, was another to be killed during the vicious attack at the elementary school.

Her father Jacinto confirmed she lost her life inside her fourth-grade classroom.

'My baby girl has been taken away from my family and I,' the grieving father said in an online post.

'We're devastated in ways I hope no one ever goes through. ... It hurts us to our souls.'

Cazares said his daughter, who was with her cousin, Annabell Rodriguez, when she died, was 'full of life and love'.

Layla Salazar, 10

The 10-year-old student was the last of the slaying victims to be identified.

Vincent Salazar told the Philadelphia Inquirer his young daughter was among those killed.

He said she was 'a lot of fun' and recalled how they sang along to 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns 'n' Roses whenever he drove her to school.

Layla Salazar

Irma Garcia, 46 - fourth grade teacher

Irma Garcia

Irma Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years.

Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four - Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.

'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in y'all's prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,' tweeted her nephew John.

'She was loved by many and will truly be missed.'

She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.

Eva Mireles, 44 - fourth grade teacher

Eva Mireles

Eva Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.

Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.
Thousands of dangerous offenders in the community are not being placed on high levels of monitoring, a watchdog warns today.

Chief inspector of probation Justin Russell raised a series of concerns about Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa), which see police, probation and other agencies manage serious criminals after they are freed from jail.

More than a fifth of cases examined by the chief inspector were graded at the lowest Level 1 when they should have been in Level 2, which involves far more intense supervision for sex offenders and violent criminals.

(Stock Image) Police, probation and other agencies manage serious criminals when they are freed from jail under Mappa. The watchdog said many offenders are not being monitored enough

Currently there are 86,000 cases at Level 1  meaning the full number graded too low across England and Wales could run to thousands, Mr Russell said.

The report, published today, also found the way offenders are screened was overly bureaucratic. Mappa have previously been criticised for a string of failures in high-profile cases.

The report said: The lack of focus on and scrutiny of probation-led Level 1 cases leads to unsatisfactory risk management in too many cases.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it had introduced a range of measures to ensure Mappa is being used as robustly as possible.

One criminal justice official told inspectors: We are lucky to get someone to Level 2. I dont know who is at the screening panels, were not told. It just goes into the ether.

People tend to avoid Mappa at all costs. Referrals take forever to then be rejected and be told we can just do it ourselves.

In all, 87,657 offenders were under Mappa arrangements in March this year, a 70 per cent increase over 10 years.

But the number of cases placed under the higher categories of monitoring have fallen.

In March, 156 offenders were on Level 3 - dubbed the critical few, assessed as being the most dangerous - down from 190 in 2011.

The number on Level 2 halved over the same period to 1,233.

We question in this report whether that proportion has actually fallen too low over that time, Mr Russell said.

He added that improvements were needed to the way Level 1 Mappa cases are handled and should be a priority for the future.

In some parts of the country, Level 1 status has little meaning, the report found.
The body of a person has been found among the charred remains of a burnt-out vehicle.

Victoria Police detectives spent Wednesday morning at the scene in Bangholme, southeast of Melbourne, after the grim discovery was reported by a passerby.

Emergency services were called to the scene about 6.40am after the parked vehicle was located on Bangholme Road.

Victorian Police officers are seen at a crime scene in Bangholme on Wednesday

Detectives worked through the morning at the crime scene in Bangholme

An arson chemist worked throughout the morning assessing the scene.

The precise circumstances leading up to the car fire remain unclear.

A police spokeswoman said the incident was not connected to a fatal shooting in Fitzroy, which took place in Melbourne overnight.

In that incident, a 55 year-old man was fatally shot after stepping out of a parked car following an argument.

It is believed the man had an altercation with a number of people before he was gunned down.

Anyone with information on either incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
United States President Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday to begin a four-day Middle East visit, the first in his presidency, that would include meetings with the leaders of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia.

In a ceremony at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, Biden was formally welcomed and given a briefing on Israel's Iron Dome and Iron Beam air defense systems, according to a report from AP News.

Additionally, he was scheduled in Jerusalem to partake in a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust monument.

Before visiting Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, on Friday in the West Bank, Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem for discussions with Israeli authorities.

On Friday, he will take a direct flight from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to meet with Saudi leaders and Gulf allies.

Biden reportedly would attempt to pressure Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing Gulf allies to pump more oil to help ease the strain of rising global gas and food costs driven by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Biden To Pitch Iran Nuclear Deal Revival to Israel, Saudi Arabia

Another primary agenda of President Biden during his Middle East Trip is to reassure Israeli and Saudi Arabian authorities that the US is serious about preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Since Biden took office, reviving the Iran nuclear agreement, negotiated by Barack Obama in 2015 and scrapped by Donald Trump in 2018, has been included in his priorities.

In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Saturday, Biden ripped at Trump for withdrawing from the nuclear agreement that the European Union, including Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China, had signed. However, Biden exhibited optimism that the Iranians would resume compliance.

Read Also: Biden Meets With Mexican President To Discuss Economy, Gas, Immigration Issues

Biden wrote in his column: "My administration will continue to increase diplomatic and economic pressure until Iran is ready to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as I remain prepared to do."

On Monday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the media that the stability in the Middle East has improved during the Biden administration. He claimed that the U.S. seeks "a region with more stability and with fewer wars that could draw the United States in," as NPR reported.

US Collaborates with Isreal To Boost, Protect Technologies

Hours before President Joe Biden's arrival in Tel-Aviv, Israel and the United States announced on Wednesday the formation of a bilateral committee to boost technology partnership.

According to a joint statement released by the White House, the Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology will be tasked with presenting solutions to major global challenges like pandemic preparedness, climate change, utilizing artificial intelligence, and securing trusted technology ecosystems.

Representatives from numerous agencies in both countries will participate in the collaboration, which will be managed by the respective national security councils, as per a report from The Times of Israel. The US and Israel will alternate in hosting the annual meeting of the bilateral committee. This fall, Israel will host the first session.

The US is putting increased pressure on Israel to limit its technological cooperation with China, even though the two nations have already signed several bilateral agreements in this field.

China has expressed interest in Israeli advances, particularly in medical tech, robotics, food tech, and artificial intelligence, amid a trade conflict between Washington and Beijing.

The main concerns of the US are the areas of possible dual-use technology or those with both civilian and military applications.

Related Article: US Airstrike Kills ISIS Leader in Syria Ahead Pres. Biden's Middle East Trip

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In one of the most monumental days for science this century, NASA revealed the first set of images from its $10 billion (7.4 billion) James Webb Space Telescope.

The incredible selection, revealed to the world after much anticipation on Tuesday, includes a planetary nebula caused by a dying star  a fate that awaits our sun some time in the distant future.

Another image shows a galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago, with thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast universe, some appearing warped by light from other galaxies.

Webb's infrared capabilities allow it to 'see back in time' to the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago.

MailOnline has taken a closer look at some of the easily-missed details in the images, which are just the first of many to be captured by James Webb.

Dazzling, unprecedented images of a 'stellar nursery', dying star cloaked by dust and a 'cosmic dance' between a group of galaxies have been revealed to the world by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

SMACS 0723

Webb's first new image, which was released by US President Joe Biden on Monday, a day before the others, shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the universe that are held together by their own gravity.

They contain hundreds or thousands of galaxies, lots of hot plasma, and a large amount of dark matter  invisible mass that only interacts with regular matter through gravity and doesn't emit, absorb or reflect light.

This image of SMACS 0723 covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length by someone on the ground  and reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast universe.

A monumental week for science: Pictured is the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing SMACS 0723, a galaxy cluster billions of light-years from Earth. According to NASA, SMACS 0723 has a gravitational pull so powerful that it warps both space-time and the path that light subsequently travels through it. Because of this, bright white galaxies are warping and stretching the light from the more distant galaxies, making them seem elongated

Spectacular: Galaxy clusters, like SMACS 0723, are the largest objects in the universe that are held together by their own gravity. Here is the original image, released by NASA on Monday

HOW DOES JAMES WEBB SEE BACK IN TIME? The further away an object is, the further back in time we are looking. This is because of the time it takes light to travel from the object to us. With James Webb's larger mirror, it will be able to see almost the whole way back to the beginning of the Universe, around 13.7 billion years ago. With its ability to view the Universe in longer wavelength infrared light, James Webb will be capable of seeing some of the most distant galaxies in our Universe, certainly with more ease than than the visible/ultraviolet light view of Hubble. This is because light from distant objects is stretched out by the expansion of our Universe - an effect known as redshift - pushing the light out of the visible range and into infrared. Source: Royal Museums Greenwich Advertisement

According to NASA, SMACS 0723 has a gravitational pull so powerful that it warps both space-time and the path that light subsequently travels through it.

Because of this, bright white galaxies are warping and stretching the light from the more distant galaxies, making them seem elongated, almost banana-shaped.

The combined mass of SMACS 0723 operates as a gravitational lens and, according to NASA, 'magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations'.

NASA said Webb's NIRCam, which captures light from the edge of the visible through the near infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, has brought distant galaxies into sharp focus in the new image.

Tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters  groups of hundreds to millions of stars that share a common origin, all gravitationally bound for as long as several billions of years.

STEPHAN'S QUINTET

Next up is Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies in the constellation Pegasus, first discovered by French astronomer Edouard Stephan in 1877.

It's fair to say Mr Stephan would be blown away by the new James Webb image of his discovery, which captures the five galaxies in 'exquisite detail', NASA says.

Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a 'cosmic dance' of repeated close encounters.

'Dust lanes crossing between galaxies and long filaments of stars and gas extending far beyond the central regions all suggest galaxies twisted by violent encounters,' the European Space Agency says.

'The galaxies float through space, distorted shapes moulded by tidal interactions, weaving together in the intricate figures of an immense cosmic dance, choreographed by gravity.'

Two of the five galaxies, NGC 7318 a and b, forms a pair, and almost appear as one in the new image.

The brightest member of the five is spiral galaxy NGC 7320, to the left of the picture, which is closer than the others.

NGC 7320 has extensive 'H II region'  regions of ionized hydrogen atoms, depicted as red blobs, where star formation is occurring.

One image is of Stephan's Quintet, which is located in the constellation Pegasus and is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877

Stephan's Quintet is a group of five galaxies in the constellation Pegasus, first discovered by French astronomer Edouard Stephan in 1877

NASA said the image is an enormous mosaic, covering about one-fifth of the Moon's diameter. It contains more than 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files.

Stephan's Quintet is famous for appearing as angelic figures at the beginning of the much-loved 1946 Christmas film 'It's a Wonderful Life', starring James Stewart and Donna Reed.

CARINA NEBULA

The Carina Nebula is one of the brightest and biggest nebulae in space, located about 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation called Carina.

Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars are birthed and this particular one is home to many gigantic stars, including some larger than the sun.

The stunning shot shows the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula.

At the bottom of the image is the western section of NGC 3324, and what NASA calls the 'Cosmic Cliffs'  an orangey-brown landscape of 'craggy mountains' and 'valleys' speckled with glittering baby stars.

The stunning shot shows the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula, with walls of gas and dust and newborn stars

At the bottom of the image is the western section of NGC 3324, and what NASA calls the 'Cosmic Cliffs'  an orangey-brown landscape of 'craggy mountains' and 'valleys' speckled with glittering baby stars. NASA experts don't even know what some of the structures are in this image, because they are so unprecedented

INSTRUMENTS ON THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE NIRCam (Near InfraRed Camera) an infrared imager from the edge of the visible through the near infrared NIRSpec (Near InfraRed Spectrograph) will also perform spectroscopy over the same wavelength range. MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) will measure the mid-to-long-infrared wavelength range from 5 to 27 micrometers. FGS/NIRISS (Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), is used to stabilise the line-of-sight of the observatory during science observations. Advertisement

The blistering, ultraviolet radiation from the young stars is sculpting the nebula's wall by slowly eroding it away. The tallest 'peaks' in this image are about seven light-years high.

NASA says: 'Dramatic pillars tower above the glowing wall of gas, resisting this radiation. The 'steam' that appears to rise from the celestial 'mountains' is actually hot, ionized gas and hot dust streaming away from the nebula due to the relentless radiation.'

Captured in infrared light by NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.

'Today, for the first time, we're seeing brand new stars that were completely hidden from our view,' said Amber Straughn, deputy project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope.

'We see examples of bubbles and cavities and jets that are being blown out by these newborn stars. We even see some galaxies sort of lurking in the background up here.

'We see examples of structures that honesty we don't even know what they are.'

SOUTHERN RING NEBULA

The Southern Ring nebula, also known as the 'Eight-Burst' nebula, is a planetary nebula  an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives.

According to NASA, the Southern Ring nebula is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located about 2,000 light years away from Earth.

The dimmer star at the center of the image has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, giving it the appearance of a bright glint on a precious sapphire.

Another picture captures a planetary nebula caused by a dying star - a fate that awaits our sun some time in the distant future

The Southern Ring nebula is a planetary nebula - an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives

The dying star is cloaked in dust as it undertakes its 'final performance', as NASA puts it  something that our sun will go through in billions of years.

Southern Ring Nebula is shown almost face-on, but if it were to be rotated to view it edge-on, its three-dimensional shape would more clearly look like two bowls placed together at the bottom, opening away from one another with a large hole at the centre.

There are two images of the Southern Ring nebula, captured by two different instruments on James Webb  NIRCam and MIRI, which sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The stars  and their layers of light  are prominent in the image from NIRCam, while the image from MIRI shows for the first time the nebula's second star.

NASA says the brighter star influences the nebula's appearance, and as the pair orbit one another, they 'stir the pot' of gas and dust, causing asymmetrical patterns.

Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. It is approximately 2,500 light-years away. One image was taken in the near-infrared (NIRCam, left) and another in the mid-infrared (MIRI, right)

These two images also reveal a cache of distant galaxies  not stars  in the background, appearing as a variety of multi-colored points of light seen here are galaxies.

Eagle-eyed views will also notice a blueish line to the left, which NASA astronomer Karl Gordon had said he originally thought it was part of the nebula.

However, he later realised it was a galaxy captured edge-on. Such a perspective could reveal more about how stars are distributed throughout a galaxy.

WASP-96 b

The fifth and final image depicts WASP-96 b, a planet outside of our solar system  also known as an exoplanet  that's composed mainly of gas.

WASP-96 b is a giant planet located 1,150 light-years from Earth and orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter and was discovered in 2014.

The image presents a graph of data captured by the James Webb telescope in front of an artist's depiction on the planet. Unfortunately, even James Webb cannot get a close-up of an exoplanet, as they're too far away.

Webb captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding WASP-96 b  described as a hot and puffy gas giant.

Webb also analysed the atmosphere of a giant planet outside our solar system called WASP-96 b (pictured)  a giant gas located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth which orbits its star every 3.4 days

James Webb was launched from Guiana Space Centre on December 25 last year with the aim of looking back in time to the dawn of the universe and to capture what happened just a couple of hundred million years after the Big Bang.

It will spend more than a decade at an area of balanced gravity between the Sun and Earth called L2 exploring the universe in the infrared spectrum, allowing it to gaze through clouds of gas and dust where stars are being born.

In comparison, its predecessor Hubble has operated primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths since its 1990 launch.

As the universe is expanding, light from the earliest stars shifts from the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths it was emitted in, to longer infrared wavelengths.

Webb's infrared capabilities allow it to 'see back in time' to the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago. Light waves move extremely fast, about 186,000 miles (300,000 km) per second, every second. The further away an object is, the further back in time we are looking. This is because of the time it takes light to travel from the object to us

President Joe Biden released the first ever deep space image from NASA's $10 billion (7.4 billion) James Webb Space Telescope (pictured here in space)

Astronomers will use Webb to observe the infrared universe, analyze the data collected, and publish scientific papers on their discoveries.

'James Webb allows us to see deeper into space than ever before,' said Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the National Space Council.

'It will enhance what we know about our universe our solar system and possibly life itself.'
Have you ever lost your grip on something that you've dropped into the swimming pool, or worse, toilet?

Scientists may have developed a solution to holding onto underwater objects, but it is not primarily intended to help you rescue your iPhone from a watery fate.

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a glove that will allow divers to get a firm grasp while, for example, rescuing someone or salvaging a shipwreck.

The 'octa-glove' is inspired by octopus tentacles, and is covered in robotic suckers equipped with sensors that can tell how far away an object is.

When the sensors detect a nearby surface, it sends a signal to the controller which will activate the sucker's adhesion.

The researchers hope the glove can be used for underwater operations where a delicate touch is required.

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a glove that will allow divers to get a firm grasp while, for example, rescuing someone or salvaging a shipwreck. Pictured is the octa-glove picking up a Virginia Tech playing card underwater

The glove's suckers were designed to adhere to flat, curved, smooth and rough surfaces on objects of different shapes and sizes with only light pressure - just as an octopus' would

An octopus has eight long arms that are able to take hold of objects of any type of surface in an aquatic environment, which proved the inspiration for the octa-glove

HOW WERE THE OCTA-GLOVES MADE? The Virginia Tech team developed suckers that had compliant, rubber stalks capped with soft membranes. The suckers were designed to adhere to flat, curved, smooth and rough surfaces on objects of different shapes and sizes with only light pressure. An array of micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors were affixed to the suckers that detected how close an object was. The suckers and sensors were then connected through a microcontroller, thus mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of an octopus. Advertisement

Humans aren't naturally equipped to work underwater, which is why goggles and wetsuits have been invented, and our slippery skin is no exception.

Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers, and salvage crews all rely on having good grip to do their jobs.

However, it is sometimes necessary to tighten one's grasp to compensate for slipperiness, which can compromise the operation.

Michael Bartlett, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering, said: 'There are critical times when this becomes a liability.

'Nature already has some great solutions, so our team looked to the natural world for ideas.

'The octopus became an obvious choice for inspiration.'

An octopus has eight long arms that are able to take hold of objects of any type of surface in an aquatic environment.

The arms are covered with suckers shaped like the end of a plunger, which are controlled by the sea animal's muscular and nervous systems.

After the sucker's wide outer rim makes a seal with an object, the octopus can use its muscles to contract or relax the cupped area behind the rim to add or release pressure.

When many of the suckers are engaged, it creates a strong adhesive bond that is difficult to escape.

'When we look at the octopus, the adhesive certainly stands out, quickly activating and releasing adhesion on demand,' said Bartlett.

'What is just as interesting, though, is that the octopus controls over 2,000 suckers across eight arms by processing information from diverse chemical and mechanical sensors.

'The octopus is really bringing together adhesion tunability, sensing, and control to manipulate underwater objects.'

After its sucker's wide outer rim makes a seal with an object, the octopus can use its muscles to contract or relax the cupped area behind the rim to add or release pressure

Illustration of an octopus adhesive system and the sensorised, octopus-inspired adhesive system. The latter is integrated with processing and control to sense objects

Suckers and sensors were added to the glove and connected through a microcontroller, thus mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of an octopus. The suckers will adhere when they sense an object is close, and thus no effort is required from the glove user

The team in the Soft Materials and Structures Lab developed their own suckers that had compliant, rubber stalks capped with soft membranes.

Their method was published today in the journal Science Advances.

The suckers were designed to adhere to flat, curved, smooth and rough surfaces on objects of different shapes and sizes with only light pressure - just as an octopus' would in the wild.

Eric Markvicka from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln then added an array of micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors that detect how close an object is.

The suckers and LIDAR sensors were then connected through a microcontroller, thus mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of an octopus.

'By merging soft, responsive adhesive materials with embedded electronics, we can grasp objects without having to squeeze,' said Bartlett.

'It makes handling wet or underwater objects much easier and more natural. The electronics can activate and release adhesion quickly.

'Just move your hand toward an object, and the glove does the work to grasp.

'It can all be done without the user pressing a single button.'

After the suckers were attached to a glove, the engineers tested them on delicate and lightweight objects using only one sensor

The engineers found that the glove could quickly pick up and release flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, the double-curved portion of a spoon, and an ultrasoft hydrogel ball.

Schematics showing the different states of the adhesive membrane which controls the adhesion from an 'off' to 'on' state

After the suckers were attached to a glove, the engineers tested them on delicate and lightweight objects using only one sensor.

They found that they could quickly pick up and release flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, the double-curved portion of a spoon, and an ultrasoft hydrogel ball.

After re-configuring the sensor network to utilise all the sensors for object detection, the gloves also were able to grip larger objects such as a plate, a box, and a bowl.

Flat, cylindrical, convex, and spherical objects consisting of both hard and soft materials were adhered and lifted, even when users did not grab the object by closing their hands.

Postdoctoral researcher Ravi Tutika said: 'These capabilities mimic the advanced manipulation, sensing, and control of cephalopods and provide a platform for synthetic underwater adhesive skins that can reliably manipulate diverse underwater objects,

'This is certainly a step in the right direction, but there is much for us to learn both about the octopus and how to make integrated adhesives before we reach nature's full gripping capabilities.'

In future, the researchers hope the glove will play a role in underwater gripping robotics, user-assisted technologies, healthcare and manufacturing wet objects.
Stories about the oceans surface turning completely white have been passed down from sailor to sailor for centuries, but what sounded like nothing more than legend has been captured on camera for the first time.

A superyacht named Ganesha was traveling in waters near Indonesia in the summer of 2019 when it passed through a milky sea that was glowing in the dead of night.

The glow appeared to originate from a source that was at least 30 feet below the surface and the swirling, white sea stretched for over 39,000 square miles.

The display was a result of luminous bacteria communicating with each other and triggering a glowing response upon reaching critical populations via a process called quorum sensing, according to documentation of events published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

Both the color and intensity of the glow was akin to glow-in-the-dark stars/stickers, or some watches that have glowing parts on the hands ... a very soft glow that was gentle on the eyes.

A superyacht named Ganesha was traveling in waters near Indonesia in the summer of 2019 when it passed through a milky sea that was glowing in the dead of night. Pictured is a satellite image of the milky sea (X,Y)

The first report of a milky sea as from an American ship was sailing through the same area around Indonesia, near Java, on July 27, 1854.

And although many have marveled in the wonder since, scientists have not been able to study them because of their remote and infrequent nature  they appear at most twice a year and sometimes not at all.

The images of the 2019 milky sea was captured in August, as captained by Johan Lemmens with six other crew members embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe.

The ship passed outside of Java as it traveled between Lombok, Indonesia, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the east Indian Ocean.

The crew captured the scene with a Go-Pro camera and a higher-quality Samsung Galaxy S9+ phone camera, and satellite imagery from the same day was collected to confirm that the encounter was in fact an elusive milky sea

Ganesha entered these glowing waters suddenly, and, thereafter, the entire ocean was significantly brighter than the night skymaintaining a mostly homogenous and steady glow to the horizon, said one of the crew members in an interview.

The glow appeared to originate from a source that was at least 30 feet below the surface and the swirling, white sea stretched for over 39,000 square miles

A bucket sample of these waters, whose collection did not disrupt the illumination at that location, contained several pinpoints of steady glow that darkened upon stirringa behavior opposite to that of normal bioluminescence.

Likewise, the crew noted a darkened bow wave, but the ship wake had no perceivable change in brightness from the surrounding glowing waters.

The crew captured the scene with a Go-Pro camera and a higher-quality Samsung Galaxy S9+ phone camera, and satellite imagery from the same day was collected to confirm that the encounter was in fact an elusive milky sea.

The saturation in these digital images was increased to an intensity consistent with the crews recalled perception, according to the report.

Both cameras captured the essence of the oceans widespread glow in contrast to dark sky along the horizon. Ganeshas deck and railings appear dark, while the sail reflects the light upwelling from the ocean.

These photos give visual testimony to the written accounts of mariners across the centuries.

Steven Miller, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, told The Guardian that the milky sea lasted for at least 45 nights.
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Dotted across la belle France are chateaux you can book for a holiday. Some are homely and friendly, while others can feel as intimidating as their French owners.

But theres great news if youd rather avoid the froideur and stumbles with the language. Love the hit television series Escape To The Chateau with Dick and Angel Strawbridge? Well, there is now a wealth of enchanting chateaux available to rent with British owners to welcome you.

As a five-year-old boy, Oliver Price moved briefly with his family to the Lot region, and it created such happy memories that he returned in 2018 to buy a property in the village of Duras. The 40-year-old consultant from London has meticulously restored the musty old rooms and creaking floors of Le Jardin du Chateau so theres now a stylish modern vibe throughout which makes for an extremely comfortable holiday home.

There is now a wealth of enchanting chateaux available to rent in France with British owners to welcome you. Above is Le Jardin du Chateau in the village of Duras, run by Londoner Oliver Price

According to Oliver, Le Jardin du Chateau attracts mainly British guests  'they seem to find it more relaxing that they dont have to worry about the language barrier,' he says

Chateau Caillac (pictured left and right) is a beautiful seven-bedroom 19th Century property right beside the River Lot in south-west France. Angela Hall - who cut her teeth on renovating a ten-bedroom property in Chester - has owned it with her husband Steve for 17 years

In the middle of Brittany farmland youll find Chateau Lignol (above), a little gem owned by Linda Brown, who is originally from Edinburgh

We attract mainly British guests  they seem to find it more relaxing that they dont have to worry about the language barrier, says Oliver. The space is ideal for large families or groups of friends, sleeps 12 in six en suite bedrooms, and they can bring their dog.

Near the large outdoor pool and terrace with a barbecue area, theres a huge living and dining space with an open-plan kitchen. The second floor has a second living/dining room and another well-equipped kitchen plus wine fridge.

Oliver adds: For me, holidays in the area have always been about enjoying the amazing seasonal food  buffalo tomato and mozzarella salads at this time of year and hearty casseroles as summer turns to winter. Guests love to eat by the pool on hot days and take in the scent of the herbs, the lavender, jasmine and the orange blossom  its just sensational and instantly relaxing.

After welcoming guests, Oliver points out the path to Duras, where guests can pick up croissants in the boulangerie, fresh produce in the twice-weekly market and fresh, plump Arcachon oysters from the man who sells them from his van every Sunday morning.

Owner Linda says that Chateaux Lignol is like 'something out of a fairy tale with a Rapunzel tower behind impressive gates'

If youd prefer to cook for yourself, there is a small supermarket and a couple of excellent bakers. Theres also a handful of places where you can join locals at outside tables while you enjoy a coffee or glass of rose.

Or head for La Salle a Manger in Monsegur, which started as a deli and wine cellar and has now been knocked through to the adjoining building to incorporate a restaurant. Choose your wine from next door, and then sit in a relaxed atmosphere to sample such delights as burrata, rocket and truffle oil pizza or sliced beef fillet gratin.

There are countless vineyards in the region and, of course, Bordeaux itself, where you can check out the impressive La Cite du Vin museum, a cultural centre dedicated to everything you ever wanted to know about wine.

Chateau Lignol's decor is eclectic, with gilt mirrors, grand artwork and minimal furniture

Chateau Lignol, which was formerly a hunting lodge, costs from 2,688 a week and sleeps ten

There are panoramic views over the city from the top floor and a very good tasting bar at which your entrance ticket entitles you to tuck in to about a dozen wines.

Oliver recommends the vineyard Chateau les Maubats and Le Comptoir Paysan, a little farm shop en route which offers simple but great flavoured food. He says: Christophe Cadis, the owner, provides picnic bags with wine glasses and blankets for those who want to pick up some food en route and picnic in the vineyards.

Should you wish to learn more about French food and wine, you could sign up for one of the masterclass retreats offered by Oliver in co-operation with Nicolle Croft, who set up Berry Bros wine school, and top chefs such as 2021 MasterChef Professionals champion Dan Lee.

Le Jardin du Chateau costs from 3,027 a week, sleeps 12 (www.oliverstravels.com/france/aquitaine/le-jardin-du-chateau).

Chateaux always do well with British guests, according to Oliver Bell, co-founder of Olivers Travels, which has 180 on its books.

Families love the privacy that these buildings offer and they also allow imaginations to run wild, he says. Its a magical experience, no matter your age.

Theres no better setting than a chateau if you want to surround yourself with nature.

Five more chateaux that are the best of British...

In the middle of Brittany farmland and at the end of a long track youll find Chateau Lignol, a little gem owned by Linda Brown.

Inside, the decor of the 14th Century former hunting lodge reflects Lindas eclectic style, which is all gilt mirrors, grand artwork and minimal furniture.

Linda, who is from Edinburgh, fell for Lignol in 2002.

Chateau De Thuries (above) lies about an hours drive from Toulouse and the atmospheric walled city of Carcassonne

She says: It was exactly what I was looking for in a home  a beautiful large house I could fall in love with, like something out of a fairy tale with a Rapunzel tower behind impressive gates and with woodlands.

It costs from 2,688 a week and sleeps ten (www.oliverstravels.com/france/brittany/chateau-lignol).

About an hours drive from either Toulouse or the atmospheric walled city of Carcassonne, Chateau De Thuries is a wonderful option if you want to explore French life  from local vineyards and markets to rivers and lakes.

Chateau De Thuries is run by Steve and Jayne Simmons, who have devoted a lot of time and effort into transforming the property into a stylish retreat

Prices at Chateau De Thuries start from 136 per night based on two sharing

And you can reach the coastal towns of Perpignan and Montpellier in less than two hours.

The chateau was bought by Steve and Jayne Simmons in 2018 who have since devoted a lot of time and effort into transforming the property into a stylish retreat which has five guest suites and sleeps ten. Guests have described their hosts as the personification of kindness.

Prices are from 136 per night based on two sharing (chateauthuries.com).

Chateau Caillac is a beautiful seven-bedroom 19th Century property right beside the River Lot in an area of south-west France thats famed for its plum orchards.

It has been owned by Angela Hall with her husband Steve for 17 years, since she cut her teeth on renovating a ten-bedroom property in Chester and was looking for something even more challenging. The result is a chic and traditional chateau, along with a heated swimming pool, which is available for exclusive hire by single groups of guests.

It costs from 5,740 a week and sleeps 18 (chateaucaillac.com).

The chic and traditional Chateau Caillac, which is available for exclusive hire by single groups of guests, costs from 5,740 a week and sleeps 18

Chateau Noble is overseen by the propertys rather eccentric owner, Turlough Martin, from London, who calls himself the Count de Rosbif

The array of services on offer at Chateau Noble includes a daily maid and a bar that can be stocked with guests favourite tipples

The 400-year-old Chateau Noble lies in the Gers, a part of France where life goes on much as it has for generations

Theres a duck pond on the grounds of Chateau Noble where the birds have their own chateau  called Duckingham Palace

Chateau Noble costs from 5,259 a week and sleeps 15

Youll find Chateau Noble in the Gers, a part of France where life goes on much as it has for generations. And its all about top-class service at the 400-year-old Noble, overseen by the propertys rather eccentric owner, Turlough Martin, from London. The self-proclaimed Count de Rosbif bought the chateau in 2014.

An array of services on offer includes a top chef and daily maid, and a bar that can be stocked with guests favourite tipples.

Theres even a duck pond in the grounds where the birds have their own chateau  called, of course, Duckingham Palace. It costs from 5,259 a week and sleeps 15 (www.oliverstravels.com/france/midi-pyrenees/chateau-noble).

Set in 15 acres of secluded parkland, Chateau de la Ruche is near Le Mans in the Pays de la Loire region, so its handy if you fancy visiting the famous motor circuit.

Chateau de la Ruche, a petit chateau in the Pays de la Loire region, has been carefully restored by Tim and Rebecca Jones, who sold up in the UK and bought the property in 2017

Rooms at Chateau de la Ruche come with everything you need to relax. Prices start from 194 per night based on two sharing

The 18th Century petit chateau has been carefully restored by Tim and Rebecca Jones, who sold up in the UK and bought the property in 2017. Each bedroom is different but all come with everything you need to relax, including proper coffee machines.

And you can look forward to le petit dejeuner of pastries, fresh bread, home-made preserves and home-grown produce. Dinner can be arranged, too.

B&B costs from 194 per night based on two sharing (chateaudelaruche.com).
Meet a man with a most intoxicating tale.

Waiter Kam Wojtow has made it his mission in life to taste the best beers in every country in the world.

In the past seven years he has tried over 2,000 beers from 40 countries  including pints in every city in the UK - with the aim of highlighting great beer 'that everybody on a regular wage can buy' and to show that there's 'more to life than Carling [lager]'.

Hoppy go lucky: Kam Wojtow (above) has made it his mission in life to taste the best beers in every country in the world - and wants to show that 'there's more to life than Carling [lager]'

The hops expert, who lives in Liverpool, loves beer so much he can't choose a favourite or even a top five, but he does have a short list of 'must taste' beers - Anglosas (Poland, Lancut Brewery); Citra (UK, Oakham Ales); Juicy IPA (UK, 3 Ravens Brewery); Rothaus Schwarzwald Maidle (Germany, Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus); Rothaus Tannenzapfle (Germany, Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus); and Alpha King (USA, 3 Floyds Brewing).

Some of his favourite locations include Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Georgia, Montenegro and Slovenia, with countries hes visited also including the USA, Canada, the UAE, Vietnam and Thailand.

Is he worried about his liver?

Polish Kam, 36, told MailOnline Travel: 'I'm not worried about my liver because I drink in moderation. I don't get drunk every day. It is about trying new beers. I don't drink 16 pints of the same thing. I drink a pint or a half and move on.'

Kam has tried over 2,000 beers from 40 countries including pints in every city in the UK

Kam said: 'I'm not worried about my liver because I drink in moderation. I don't get drunk every day'

Two years ago, Kam launched an Instagram page to document his travel antics and runs a YouTube channel exploring 100 beers from 100 countries.

He said: 'I thought I would never have enough confidence to put myself in front of a camera or even have the time.

'There's a lot of passion involved in this. It's not something to showcase the most expensive beers.

'I show people beers that are achievable and reachable that everybody on a regular wage can buy.

'Instead of a 1.50 can of Carling, try a 1.75 can of local beer. I want to show people there is more to life than Carling.

'I just like to show people options, and it makes me feel really good and proud.'

Kam moved to the UK from Jarosaw, Poland, for a three-month trip while on his summer break from studying law at university.

When he arrived, he didn't want to go home.

He worked on a strawberry farm as a steward in Herefordshire and never went back.

Over the years, he built a reputation among breweries and even co-organised Cheshire Craft Beer Fest, part of Cheshire Fest, which has featured the likes of Take That star Howard Donald and Ibiza DJ Judge Jules.

The beer enthusiast funds his trips through work as a waiter - and spends carefully - but hopes one day to give up his hospitality career and be the 'Hairy Biker of beers'.
She's the Spanish actress known for her jaw-dropping bikini body.

And Elsa Pataky confidently showed off her figure on Tuesday while posing in a multi-coloured two-piece in a photo shared to Instagram.

The 45-year-old wife of Chris Hemsworth looked stunning in the skimpy swimwear, which showcased her flat stomach and toned legs.

Elsa Pataky confidently showed off her figure on Tuesday while posing in a multi-coloured two-piece in a photo shared to Instagram

The Fast and Furious star leaned against a wall on her porch in the snap, and added a boho touch by placing a flower in her hair.

'Summer vibes!' she captioned the post.

It comes after Elsa stole the show at the premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder in Los Angeles last month.

Elsa, 45, stole the show at the premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder in Los Angeles last month

She shined on the red carpet at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on June 23 in a white dress with a plunging neckline and daring thigh split.

After taking a moment to bask in the spotlight, the mother of three was joined by her husband Chris, who plays the titular superhero in the new Marvel blockbuster.

Elsa, a successful movie star in her own right, accessorised with three stunning jewellery pieces from Bulgari.

The Spanish actress shined on the red carpet at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in a white dress with a plunging neckline and daring thigh split

She wore a necklace made of rose gold, mother of pearl and diamond, as well as matching drop earrings and a statement ring.

The Interceptor star, who went braless for the ritzy screening, added a pair of gold ankle-strap heels and styled her glossy brunette locks in loose waves.

The former model, who hails from Madrid, drew attention to her natural beauty by opting for a neutral palette of makeup.

Elsa lives in a $30million mansion in Byron Bay with her husband and their three children, India, Tristan and Sasha.
Actor Zeeko Zaki of the CBS series FBI recently opened up about his 100-pound weight loss.

The 32-year-old star spoke with ET in an interview published Monday about slowly losing the weight over the course of eight years.

He credited an ever-changing interest in various physical activities with helping him stay consistent with his gym regimen.

Slimmed down! Actor Zeeko Zaki of the show FBI recently opened up about his 100-pound weight loss

He noted that the lengthy journey was intentional. 'The craziest part was just being kind of a different person every year. You get like 10 pounds a year, I wanted to do it slow,' he admitted.

Zaki, who was born in Egypt, pointed to a book called The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss for a wellness hack.

'My biggest tip and the thing that I walked away from was a little trick I learned from [the book]  30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up,' he noted.

'So give it a shot,' he added while chatting with the outlet.

Before: Zeeko intentionally took his time dropping the pounds in a healthy way by spreading it out over eight years

While cohosting Monday's episode of ET in the Bahamas, he reflected, 'The fact that we kind of got to reveal whoever this guy is with you guys here was pretty exciting because until I look in the mirror, I just still feel like that old kid.'

He teased his spot on the show with a seconds-long reel shared with his 192,000 instagram followers.

Along with a clip of him practicing in front of cameras, he wrote, 'I told you dreams come true! Hosting TONIGHTS episode of ET with the awe-inspiring @nischelleturner 7:30 only on CBS.'

In action: Zaki plays the character Special Agent O.A. Zidan on CBS's original series FBI

Several years ago the entertainer also spoke about his fitness trajectory, stating, 'Keeping it fresh and new was a good way to sustain what was a gradual and hopefully healthy weight loss.'

He told Delaware Online that it's important to stay fit in order to keep up with his grueling work schedule.

'Your body will break down faster if you're not keeping it fit,' the actor explained.
On Tuesday, Russian bombshell Irina Shayk publicly thanked Beyonce for including her in the sixth Ivy Park x Adidas campaign called 'Ivytopia' - which will be released July 21 on adidas.com and July 22 in select stores.

The 36-year-old Lions Model - who boasts 18.8M Instagram followers - Instastoried heart emojis with the caption: 'Thank [you] B for making me part of it!'

Irina flaunted her phenomenal 5ft10in figure in a teal, high-cut PVC bodysuit beneath a matching hooded floral jacket.

Sneak peek! On Tuesday, Russian bombshell Irina Shayk publicly thanked Beyonce for including her in the sixth Ivy Park x Adidas campaign called 'Ivytopia' - which will be released July 21 on adidas.com and July 22 in select stores

The 36-year-old Lions Model - who boasts 18.8M Instagram followers - Instastoried heart emojis with the caption: 'Thank [you] B for making me part of it!'

The 'inclusive and gender-neutral' Ivytopia collection comes in sizes spanning XXXS-XXXXL and it ranges in price between $30 and $200.

Adut Akech Bior, Joan Smalls, Harvey Newton-Haydon, and Alva Claire also front the campaign described as 'the collective connection we share after emerging from a period of isolation.'

The Covid-inspired collection was first teased last month in the 40-year-old R&B diva's British Vogue July 2022 spread.

But it's not effortless for Shayk (born Shaykhlislamova) as she treated herself to a $250 'French Infared Slimming and Detoxifying Wrap' as well as a non-surgical face lift (ranging $250-$550) at the Nolita spa, Daphne, on Monday.

Werrrk! Irina flaunted her phenomenal 5ft10in figure in a teal, high-cut PVC bodysuit beneath a matching hooded floral jacket

Coming soon! The 'inclusive and gender-neutral' Ivytopia collection comes in sizes spanning XXXS-XXXXL and it ranges in price between $30 and $200

Five brand ambassadors: Adut Akech Bior (pictured), Joan Smalls, Harvey Newton-Haydon, and Alva Claire also front the campaign described as 'the collective connection we share after emerging from a period of isolation'

The former VS/SI Swimsuit stunner also had a 30-minute, body-shaping Emsculpt Neo session with Dr. Arash Akhavan at the Dermatology and Laser Group in Midtown.

Irina wrote of her 'favorite gym' via Instastory: 'Waiting [for my] abs!'

Meanwhile, Page Six reported Tuesday that Shayk's ex-fiancee Bradley Cooper has been dating Huma Abedin 'for the past few months' after being introduced by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

The 45-year-old political staffer is best known as the vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the ex-wife of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.

'Slim glow!' But it's not effortless for Shayk as she treated herself to a $250 'French Infared Slimming and Detoxifying Wrap' as well as a non-surgical face lift (ranging $250-$550) at the Nolita spa, Daphne, on Monday

'Waiting [for my] abs!' The former VS/SI Swimsuit stunner also had a 30-minute, body-shaping Emsculpt Neo session with Dr. Arash Akhavan at the Dermatology and Laser Group in Midtown

The Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 3 stunner and the 47-year-old Oscar nominee share 50/50 joint legal and physical custody of their five-year-old daughter Lea De Seine after amicably ending their four-year relationship in 2019.

'[Bradley] is a full-on, hands-on dad - no nanny. Lea went on holiday with him for almost two weeks - I didn't call them once,' Irina told Highsnobiety in September.

'Me and her father are very strict. When she finishes eating, she gets up from the table, takes her plate, says "thank you." Without "please" or "thank you" she's not getting anything. It's hard, because she has so many toys.

'I had one doll, and I still have this doll. Blonde, blue eyes, big Russian doll. My grandma used to make clothes for her. And I always explain, "Look, this is my doll. I had only one." Or sometimes, "You have this candy. I used to have candy only for Christmas."'

New relationship alert! Page Six reported Tuesday that Irina's ex-fiancee Bradley Cooper has been dating Huma Abedin (both pictured May 2) 'for the past few months' after being introduced by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour

Claim to fame: The 45-year-old political staffer is best known as the vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the ex-wife of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner (L, pictured in 2016)
She recently returned to the UK after soaking up the sun in Marbella.

And Sarah Jayne Dunn showed off her bronzed figure as she arrived at BBC Radio at Salford's Media City to appear on Phil Trow's radio show on Tuesday evening.

The former Hollyoaks actress, 40, cut a glamorous figure in a silver animal print strapped summer dress for the evening outing.

Looking good: Sarah Jayne Dunn showed off her incredible figure as she arrived at BBC Radio at Salford's Media City to appear on Phil Trow's radio show on Tuesday evening

She styled her elegant maxi dress with a cream jacket with fringe detailing, which she slung across one arm amid the balmy temperatures.

Sarah completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of silver studded sandals and kept her essentials in a grey cross-body handbag with a gold chain strap.

The star, who played Mandy Richardson on the Channel 4 soap opera for 25 years, accessorised her evening look with a gold pendant necklace and bracelets.

Stylish: The former Hollyoaks actress, 40, cut a glamorous figure in a silver animal print strapped summer dress for the evening outing

Chic: She styled her elegant maxi dress with a cream jacket with fringe detailing, which she slung across one arm amid the balmy temperatures

She styled her golden tresses in a high bun, letting strands of her locks fall loosely to frame her gorgeous features.

Sarah bolstered her natural good looks with a touch of mascara and a slick of cherry lipstick as she arrived at the BBC Radio studios.

The actress recently returned from Marbella, where she shared an array of bikini-clad snaps from her sun-soaked trip.

Last week, Sarah displayed her toned midriff in the yellow two-piece while posing for a mirror selfie.

Holiday: The actress recently returned from Marbella, where she shared an array of bikini-clad snaps from her sun-soaked trip

Styling her blonde locks into an up-do, the OnlyFans model added to her look with a gold necklace with an emerald pendant.

Sarah also gave fans a glimpse at the luxurious abode she stayed during the trip as she filmed herself standing alongside the hotel pool.

The actress looked radiant as she donned a pink sleeveless dress with an animal print for the outing.

Sarah recently collaborated with fellow OnlyFans model Rhian Sugden to create an X-rated podcast that will discuss 'sex, fetishes and roleplay'.

Looking good: In one snap shared to her Instagram last week, the TV star displayed her toned midriff in a yellow two-piece while posing for a mirror selfie

Speaking about the risque venture Sarah exclusively told MailOnline: 'I'm super excited to launch my new podcast, Hot and Bothered.

'It seemed like a natural progression after the success of my OnlyFans account to continue the conversation around confidence and empowerment and give people an insight into the OnlyFans world.'

The close friends are both successful models in their own right, with Rhian being a former Page 3 girl and glamour model as well as appearing in lads mags including Zoo, Nuts and Maxim.

Sarah was sensationally sacked from the Channel 4 show in a row over OnlyFans as she refused to give up her money-making X-rated subscription account.

Fun in the sun: Sarah Jayne also gave fans a glimpse at the luxurious abode she stayed in for the trip as she filmed herself standing alongside the hotel pool

She explained how she struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic and wanted a stable form of work to rely on.

When asked if it has been worth it, Sarah said: 'Yes is the short answer. This not something I've done on a whim, I'd been thinking about it for months prior to launch. Lockdown is one of the biggest reasons, it was difficult for all of us.

'The uncertainty of knowing what was going to happen after, would I have a job to go back to? Financially it was difficult.

'It was during that time I thought I needed something else that I can do that I can be creative and in control of. That's where thought process came from. It's been great. No regrets. It's changed my life.'
Chris Rock and his rumored new girlfriend Lake Bell were seen holding hands while enjoying a romantic trip overseas to the town of Trogir in Croatia on Tuesday.

While walking along a boardwalk together, with views of massive yachts on a nearby dock, the 57-year-old comedian and actress, 43, enjoyed some quality time together in the picturesque town, located between Zadar and Split.

As the strolled around with their hands intertwined, Rock cut a cool figure in a wide-brimmed hat, white button-down, grey pants, silver sunglasses and sneakers.

Heating up: Chris Rock and his rumored new girlfriend Lake Bell were seen holding hands while enjoying a romantic trip overseas to the town of Trogir in Croatia on Tuesday

The No Escape star looked stylish in a white blouse with a slightly open back, pant trousers and a pair of black kitten heels.

She opted to wear her glossy brunette tresses in loose curls that cascaded past her shoulders.

Last week, the pair were seen enjoying a romantic dinner date at luxe eatery Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica.

Holding hands: While walking along a boardwalk together, with views of massive yachts on a nearby dock, the 57-year-old comedian and actress, 43, enjoyed some quality time together in the picturesque town, located between Zadar and Split

According to TMZ there was 'no obvious PDA' on either date, but the couple were said to be 'flirty' and 'in good spirits.'

Though Page Six reported that the two left the restaurant 'holding hands' but 'immediately let go of each other when they saw the photographers.'

Prior to the two outings, the pair were spotted at a Cardinals game in St. Louis, where they sat in the same box.

Past marriage: The two have both previously been married. Chris was wed to the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, Malaak Compton-Rock, 53, from 1996 until he filed for divorce in 2014, after he admitted infidelity and a struggle with pornography addiction; seen in 2011

The two have both previously been married. Chris was wed to the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, Malaak Compton-Rock, 53, from 1996 until he filed for divorce in 2014, after he admitted infidelity and a struggle with pornography addiction.

Their divorce was finalized on August 22, 2016. The former couple share two daughters together, Lola, 20, and Zahra, 18.

Meanwhile Bell has two kids of her own as well, daughter Nova, 7, and son Ozgood, 5, whom she shares with former husband, tattoo artist Scott Campbell, 45. They have been divorced since 2020.

Common ground: Bell also shares two kids with her former husband, tattoo artist Scott Campbell, 45. They have been divorced since 2020; Pictured in 2020

Though Rock has been relatively silent when it comes to his personal life, he hasn't been quiet about the infamous 2022 Oscars incident when actor Will Smith, 53, bolted onstage and slapped him in the face, following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, 50.

During his Ego Death show at UKs Royal Albert Hall in May, the funnyman joked: 'Im OK, if anybody was wondering. I got most of my hearing back.'

He also quipped that he wouldn't discuss the altercation any further until he secured a comedy special, and it seems that moment may be coming, as he's set to team up with Dave Chapelle for a show at London's O2 arena on September 3.
Bradley Cooper is apparently seeing Huma Abedin, a longtime advisor to Hillary Clinton and the soon-to-be ex-wife of disgraced politician Anthony Weiner, in an odd turn of celebrity couple events.

According to a Page Six insider, the actor has been "quietly dating" the political aide for the past few months. It was Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour who introduced the unusual duo to each other.

Who Is Huma Abedin?

Anthony Weiner, the former New York congressman who admitted to having illegal online contact with a 15-year-old girl, and Abedin are currently in the final stages of divorce. After Weiner left Congress in 2011, he was found guilty of sending pornographic images to a juvenile and was given a 21-month jail term in May 2017. Abedin filed for divorce in that year. Jordan Zane Weiner, their 10-year-old son, is shared by the two, as per The Independent.

The internet was rattled about the unusual coupling; people flocked to Twitter to voice their opinions on the new romance even though Bradley Cooper, 47, and Huma Abdein, 46, have not officially confirmed claims of their connection.

Huma Abedin is a Democrat and a former top aide to Hillary Clinton. She was raised in Saudi Arabia despite being born in the US in 1975. In 1993, she relocated back to her hometown. The now-47-year-old rose through the White House ranks by working her way up.

She began her career in 1996 as an intern in First Lady Hillary Clinton's office before rising to the position of chief of staff for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008. She was also chosen to serve as the US Department of States' deputy chief of staff .

In 2016, Huma Abedin served as Hillary Clinton's vice-chair. She presently resides in New York City with her son Jordan, according to her website. She identifies as a "Lucky mom, grateful Democrat, lover of fiction, devourer of french fries & ice cream" on Twitter.

Per HITC, numerous sources estimate Huma Abedin's net worth to be between $2 million and $5 million. She has a successful career in politics in addition to being a New York Times bestselling author of BOTH/AND: A Life in Many Worlds. The book was published a year ago.

The memoir follows her childhood, her faith in Islam, her time with Clinton, and her marriage to her ex-husband and former Democrat, Anthony Weiner. They tied the knot in 2010 and filed for divorce in 2017.

Read Also: Amber Heard Calls for Re-Trial Following Johnny Depp's Court Victory; Lawyers Claim Appeal Is Due to "Improper Juror Service"

Bradley Cooper's Previous Relationships

More than three years have passed since Bradley Cooper's breakup from supermodel Irina Shayk, with whom he has a daughter. The pair separated in 2019 after four years of dating.

The actress Jennifer Esposito and the actor were previously married. Bradley Cooper asked the Crash actress to marry him in February 2006, but only four months later, alleging irreconcilable differences, she filed for divorce. Renee Zellweger is another ex-girlfriend of Bradley Cooper's who has achieved fame.

In 2010, the couple even moved in together after starting a relationship in 2009. The next year, though, the pair broke up amid rumors that he had moved on to actress Olivia Wilde. The actresses Jennifer Lopez, Zoe Saldaa, and Suki Waterhouse have also been linked to Cooper.

Many thought Cooper and Lady Gaga were dating because of their on-screen chemistry in the smash musical 'A Star Is Born,' but the actor has dismissed these as rumors. The actor gushed about how "terribly charismatic and beautiful" his co-star was, The Independent reported.

Related Article: Brad Pitt Suffers "Rare, Shameful" Condition That Actor Fears "Nobody Believes in Him"

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Guy Sebastian has spoken of his relief after his former manager Titus Day was found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000 of the pop star's money.

Day, 49, was found guilty last month by a jury of more than 30 of 47 charges after he was accused of stealing almost $900,000 from Sebastian.

The Battle Scars hitmaker, 40, told The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday the case had been a 'painful fight'.

Guy Sebastian (seen outside court in May) has spoken of his relief after his former manager Titus Day was found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000 of the pop star's money

'It's a pretty significant charge and it was a painful fight. It went on for so long,' Sebastian told radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson.

'I've just been so confused by it all. It's hard to imagine we had to get to that place.'

Day will remain free on bail after another attempt to have him locked up for embezzlement was shut down in court.

Crown prosecutor David Morters SC had applied for Day to be thrown behind bars while awaiting sentencing in September, arguing a jail sentence was all but certain.

Day, 49, (pictured outside court on July 12) was found guilty last month by a jury of more than 30 of 47 charges after he was accused of stealing almost $900,000 from Sebastian

But Justice Peter Garling dismissed the detention application in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday and Day's bail was continued.

It was the second time an attempt by prosecutors to have Day imprisoned had been dismissed.

While on bail, Day must report at Waverley Police Station every Wednesday, and has had to surrender his passport.

'It's a pretty significant charge and it was a painful fight. It went on for so long,' Sebastian (pictured on set of The Voice Australia) told The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday

The amounts of money Day was alleged to have embezzled ranged from $361.34 in royalties to $187,524 in performance fees.

One charge concerned a $21,000 ambassadorship.

Judge Tim Gartelmann had earlier ordered the jury to return not guilty verdicts for three charges of embezzlement on June 9, after prosecutors admitted Day had no case to answer.

Those charges related to Day allegedly embezzling royalty payments of $13,380.60, $936 and $361.34 between 2014 and 2020.
The Kid Laroi's girlfriend Katarina Deme has transformed from a little-known TikTok star into a fully fledged fashionista.

The 18-year-old American model landed her first glossy magazine cover this month, gracing the front of InStyle Australia.

In stark contrast to her suggestive Instagram photos, Katarina oozes class and sophistication in her editorial spread.

The Kid Laroi's girlfriend Katarina Deme, 18, landed her first glossy magazine cover this month, gracing the front page of InStyle Australia

She showcases her modelesque features and large brown eyes for the portrait-style cover, which runs along the headline: 'High Impact starring Katarina Deme.'

The social media star models a variety of chic outfits in the photo shoot, including a yellow co-ord that highlights her toned midriff.

Justine Cullen, the editor-in-chief of InStyle, said the team knew they were creating a special cover with Katarina.

In stark contrast to her suggestive Instagram photos, Katarina oozes class and sophistication in her editorial spread

Katarina models a low-cut top in a recent Instagram post

The social media star models a variety of chic outfits in the photo shoot, including a yellow co-ord that highlights her toned midriff

Justine Cullen, the editor-in-chief of InStyle, said the team knew they were creating a special cover with Katarina

Ms Cullen said: 'It's almost hard to believe that this was Katarina Deme's first ever solo fashion shoot, but when we saw the results, we know we have an incredible cover on our hands.'

She said Katarina fit InStyle perfectly as a magazine with its finger on the pulse of popular culture.

'InStyle prides itself on being part of the zeitgeist, and Deme's social presence and influence among her peers was the perfect representation of the ideas we explored in the issue, on how Gen Z is shaping the world around us,' Ms Cullen explained.

Ms Cullen said Katarina fit InStyle perfectly as a magazine with its finger on the pulse of popular culture

Katarina accompanied Laroi on the Australian leg of his world tour last month.

Despite the high-profile nature of their relationship, she is surprisingly quiet about her romance with the Stay hit-maker in interviews.

The rapper, 18, revealed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show in February 2021 they'd met through mutual friends.

Despite the high-profile nature of their relationship, Katarina is surprisingly quiet about her romance with The Kid Laroi in interviews

Radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson called Katarina 'the most beautiful girl I've ever seen', prompting Laroi to laugh and say: 'I agree!'

The Aussie musician said he'd never expected to fall in love so young, but did so shortly after relocating from Sydney to Los Angeles.

'Around the time that I met her, I just put out the whole F*ck Love [mixtape] project and was not in the vibe of love,' he said.

Katarina accompanied Laroi on the Australian leg of his world tour last month

'But I guess... you can't control some of that type of stuff. It was so ironic.'

Laroi threw his girlfriend a surprise 18th birthday party at a bar in LA in February, with guests including fellow TikTok personality Addison Rae.

The latest issue of InStyle Australia is online now
Kim Kardashian better have more frozen eggs in the IVF bank as her boyfriend since October - SNL alum Pete Davidson - just confessed how much he's looking forward to fatherhood.

'[I'm] definitely a family guy. My favorite thing ever, which I have yet to achieve, is I want to have a kid. That's, like, my dream. Yeah and so it's, like, super corny,' the 28-year-old comedian told Kevin Hart in a Hart to Heart teaser.

'It would be so fun dress up a little dude, like, or you know, like, you saw it's just, like, I'm so excited for, like, that chapter. So, like, that's kind of what I'm just preparing for now, is trying to be, like, as good of a dude and develop and get better so when that happens, it's just easier.'

Getting serious! Kim Kardashian (L, pictured Monday) better have more frozen eggs in the IVF bank as her boyfriend since October - SNL alum Pete Davidson (R) - just confessed how much he's looking forward to fatherhood

The 28-year-old comedian told Kevin Hart (L) in a Hart to Heart teaser: '[I'm] definitely a family guy. My favorite thing ever, which I have yet to achieve, is I want to have a kid. That's, like, my dream. Yeah and so it's, like, super corny'

As early as May, Pete got the initials of all four of the 41-year-old SKIMS CEO's children's names (K-NSCP) tattooed on his neck, and he's even had solo playdates with nine-year-old North West and six-year-old son Saint West.

Kim and her estranged third husband - 24-time Grammy winner Kanye 'Ye' West - were legally declared single on March 2, and their next status conference divorce hearing is scheduled for August 5.

Davidson - who has borderline personality disorder - seems eager to settle after dating Phoebe Dynevor, Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber, Kate Beckinsale, Ariana Grande, Cazzie David, and Carly Aquilino in the span of only six years.

The girl-crazy comic also admitted his 'childhood was not great' considering his firefighter father Scott perished during the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 when he was only 7.

Pete continued: 'It would be so fun dress up a little dude, like, or you know, like, you saw it's just, like, I'm so excited for, like, that chapter. So, like, that's kind of what I'm just preparing for now, is trying to be, like, as good of a dude and develop and get better so when that happens, it's just easier.'

Committed: As early as May, Davidson got the initials of all four of the 41-year-old SKIMS CEO's children's names (K-NSCP) tattooed on his neck, and he's even had solo playdates with nine-year-old North West and six-year-old son Saint West

2020 family portrait: Kim and her estranged third husband - 24-time Grammy winner Kanye 'Ye' West (R) - were legally declared single on March 2, and their next status conference divorce hearing is scheduled for August 5

Girl-crazy comic: Davidson - who has borderline personality disorder - seems eager to settle after dating Phoebe Dynevor (L, pictured in 2021), Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber, Kate Beckinsale, Ariana Grande, Cazzie David, and Carly Aquilino in the span of only six years

'It was just, like, a f***ing nightmare. So, like, my family was just great the whole time. And they were super supportive of me trying standup, because they were like, "Whatever makes you happy,"' Pete recalled.

'I tell my friends all the time. I'm, like, if I... if everything in my childhood was fine I'd probably be a construction worker in [my hometown] Staten Island and be the happiest guy ever. But, like, that weird s*** that it [did to me] made me love comedy.'

Season two of Hart to Heart - premiering Thursday on Peacock - also features Chris Rock, Kristen Stewart, Jay-Z, Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Tyler Perry, Seth MacFarlane, Mike Tyson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Saweetie.

RIP: The Manscaped brand partner also admitted his 'childhood was not great' considering his firefighter father Scott perished during the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 when he was only 7

Pete recalled: 'It was just, like, a f***ing nightmare. So, like, my family was just great the whole time. And they were super supportive of me trying standup, because they were like, "Whatever makes you happy"'

Davidson added: 'I tell my friends all the time. I'm, like, if I... if everything in my childhood was fine I'd probably be a construction worker in [my hometown] Staten Island and be the happiest guy ever. But, like, that weird s*** that it [did to me] made me love comedy'

Premiering Thursday on Peacock! Season two of Hart to Heart also features Chris Rock, Kristen Stewart, Jay-Z, Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Tyler Perry, Seth MacFarlane, Mike Tyson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Saweetie

Davidson will next portray the 'excessively wealthy' David in Halina Reijn's black comedy slasher Bodies Bodies Bodies, which hits US theaters on August 5 and UK theaters September 2.

The critically-acclaimed A24 flick stars Maria Bakalova, Amandla Stenberg, Lee Pace, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, and Rachel Sennott.

The Manscaped brand partner-shareholder also made an appearance in the trailer for the second season of The Kardashians - premiering September 22 on Hulu - in which he eagerly agreed to 'take a shower real quick' with Kardashian.

Critically acclaimed: The 6ft3in funnyman will next portray the 'excessively wealthy' David in Halina Reijn's black comedy slasher Bodies Bodies Bodies, which hits US theaters on August 5 and UK theaters September 2
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen stepped out together in West Hollywood on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old twins matched each other in dark sunglasses and black face masks, with both wearing their brunette hair down.

The acting-turned-designer duo ventured out on Melrose Place to do some shopping before heading back to their car.

Rare outing: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen stepped out together in West Hollywood on Tuesday

Mary-Kate carried a can of Perrier water while rocking a crewneck white t-shirt and black pants.

For her shades, she went with a sleek and narrow variety, teaming them with a thick gold bracelet.

She draped a black jacket over her arm and carried a deep brown leather handbag.

Meanwhile her sister had a long, navy blue scarf around her neck and wore round sunglasses

Coordinated: The 36-year-old twins matched each other in dark sunglasses and black face masks, with both wearing their brunette hair down

After their rise to fame from a series of hit acting roles in the mid 90s and early 2000s, the women left show business for fashion.

They're now successful and respected fashion icons who design their joint clothing line The Row.

They also have a line called Elizabeth and James - named after their younger siblings - that's offered at Kohl's.

While they thrive in their professional pursuits together, the two sisters also live lives independent of each other.

Career change: After their rise to fame from a series of hit acting roles in the mid 90s and early 2000s, the women left show business for fashion

Last month Mary-Kate competed in the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping competition in Paris, France.

Olsen has competed in the tour a number of times including last September when she competed in Rome.

She placed third in that contest, improving from a 2019 event in which she was disqualified for an 'error of course' during one of her runs.

The Full House alum began riding at a tender age - and her character Michelle from the hit show, who she played in conjunction with her twin Ashley, took up the hobby as well.

Hobby: Last month Mary-Kate competed in the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping competition in Paris, France

As for Ashley, she was recently spotted heading to dinner with her 33-year-old artist boyfriend, Louis Eisner.

She appeared to be celebrating her birthday as the two headed to The Grill in New York City on the date she was born.

The pair have been dating since 2017, though they prefer to keep their romance private.
Olivia Culpo said her sister Sophie Culpo nearly suffered a serious injury when a refrigerator she was moving fell, but she and their sister-in-law Katie Culpo were quick to spring into action to save her.

'The refrigerator fell on Sophie yesterday,' the actress/model, 30, told her 5.2 million Instagram followers in a post Tuesday. 'Luckily Katie and I ran over as it was midway in the air and held it up although her head was inside the thing.'

The one-time Miss Universe said she 'didn't post it [because she] was traumatized,' but Sophie, 25, was '100 percent ok' in the wake of the dangerous mishap.

The latest: Olivia Culpo, 30, said her sister Sophie Culpo, 25, nearly suffered a serious injury when a refrigerator she was moving fell, but she and their sister-in-law Katie Culpo were quick to spring into action to save her

The Rhode Island native said she was 'not going to miss this part of a new move in,' as Sophie said their parents were relocating to a farm house near the coast.

Olivia finished her post in saying, 'Let this be your reminder to secure all appliances and not leave details like this up to 60+ year old parents. The end.'

She shared a shot of the aftermath of the incident, as a number of containers had spilled on the wooden floor after the refrigerator fell.

Sophie took to Instagram Stories with a series of posts detailing the incident, saying, 'That sucked that was definitely not fun.'

Olivia and Sophie Culpo were snapped together at an April event in La Quinta, California

Sophie described the event in a series of Instagram Stories posts

Sophie said the refrigerator was not secured as plans are to cover it in a wooden finish, and now there are 'temporary [mounts] in the back holding it up.'

Olivia last month celebrated her third anniversary of dating Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, 26, who she called 'the epitome of strength through humility.'

She took to Instagram June 22 to mark the special occasion, recalling that she 'was apprehensive' when her friends first asked if she would be open to meeting him.

Sophie said the refrigerator was not secured as plans are to cover it in a wooden finish, and now there are 'temporary [mounts] in the back holding it up'

She showed a warning sign on the back of the appliance illustrating potential danger

Olivia last month celebrated her third anniversary of dating Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, 26, who she called 'the epitome of strength through humility'

'Three years ago I was not looking for a relationship,' she said. 'I was worried it would be the same old story all over again and that all guys were the same.

'While my expectations were low, I knew I couldn't close myself off and make decisions based on fear.'

She added, 'Im so grateful for the voice inside me that told me to give love another chance ... thank you for being my rock and restoring my faith in love. You are everything I ever dreamed of and more.'
Sydney socialite Suzan Mutesi has landed her breakthrough movie role.

The Ugandan-Australian actress, 36, will star opposite American actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in the upcoming action-crime film Irrationale.

Suzan is one of three stars to be cast in the production so far. The film will be shot in Adelaide later this year.

Sydney socialite Suzan Mutesi (pictured) has landed her breakthrough movie role opposite Cuba Gooding

Irrationale tells the story of Andrew (Gooding Jr.), a troubled loner who is accused of the murder of world-famous action movie star Matt Hewing.

On the run and with no memory of the event, he is dragged into a dark web of deceit along with Kyra, a disgraced former cop, as they try to unravel the mystery before Andrew's rapidly deteriorating mental state fails him completely.

The film will also star Greek-Australian actor Tony Nikolakopoulos.

Irrationale tells the story of Andrew, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. (pictured in June), a troubled loner who is accused of the murder of world-famous action movie star Matt Hewing

Originally from Uganda, Suzan moved to Australia for high school before receiving a Bachelor of Design with a major in Fashion

Mutesi made headlines last month when she was spotted on a date with British funnyman David Walliams.

According to an onlooker, the pair 'couldn't keep their hands off each other' and shared a passionate kiss while watching Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.

'They were sitting in the front, we had to walk past them to go into our seats,' said the spy.

Suzan isn't a famous actress by anyone's standards, but did appear in the 2022 Marvel epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Who is Suzan Mutesi? Originally from Uganda, Suzan moved to Australia for high school before receiving a Bachelor of Design with a major in Fashion. Mostly known for working in fashion, she has also dabbled in acting and appeared in the 2022 Marvel epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. She boasts one million followers on Instagram, making her one of Australia's most-followed social media stars. Advertisement

'During the movie they were all over each other and even shared a passionate kiss,' they added.

It is understood the pair met days earlier after a chance encounter in a hotel lobby.

'We've just met moments ago in the breakfast room of the hotel, and we're standing in front of the chocolate fountain because we're going to announce my engagement,' David joked in a bizarre clip Suzan shared to Instagram at the time.

'I like a girl that comes down to breakfast in her dressing gown, that is cool,' David continued, before adding: 'We're getting married too. Watch this space.'

Another clip saw David call himself Suzan's fiance as he wished her a happy birthday in front of SAS Australia drill instructor Ant Middleton.

Daily Mail Australia understands the pair exchanged phone numbers and kept in contact before the Little Britain star invited Suzan out for a night out.
She was once a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2004 to 2017.

And on Tuesday, Alessandra Ambrosio spread her wings once again in a swimsuit and beach blanket while on vacation in Spain.

The 41-year-old model wore a brown one-piece swimsuit from her own Gal Floripa line in snaps she shared on Instagram.

Spreading wings: Alessandra Ambrosio spread her wings once again in a swimsuit and beach blanket while on vacation in Spain in images shared on Instagram

She also carried a multi-color blanket in wing formation as she held it behind her back with her arms stretched out.

Alessandra in the caption wrote 'bohemian' along with a butterfly emoji for her roughly 11.3 million followers.

She also added the hashtags #supermoon #ibiza and #foreveronvacation to her post.

Alessandra has been on holiday in Ibiza recently with friends after being spotted at Paris Fashion Week.

Own brand: The 41-year-old model wore a brown one-piece swimsuit from her own Gal Floripa line in snaps she shared on Instagram

On vacation: Alessandra in the caption wrote 'bohemian' along with a butterfly emoji for her roughly 11.3 million followers

Fashion show: The catwalk queen is shown with wings on during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Los Angeles in November 2006

She's been dating model Richard Lee since last year and shared a tender picture of them kissing last week in Italy on Instagram.

The Brazilian beauty has 13-year-old daughter Anja and 10-year-old son Noah with ex-fiance Jamie Mazur.

Alessandra launched the Gal Floripa beachwear brand in March 2019 in partnership with her sister, Aline Ambrosio, and her childhood friend, Gisele Coria.

Arms up: The Brazilian beauty carried a multi-color blanket in wing formation as she held it behind her back with her arms stretched out

Fun summer: Alessandra is shown last week at an event during Paris Fashion Week in France

In a recent interview with Forbes, the mother-of-two opened up to the publication about the importance of being a parent.

'I think that everything I do, my concern and I try to keep in mind that I have my kids. I want to give a good example to them,' she explained.

Alessandra also spoke about one of the goals that she aims to achieve as a mother.

She added: 'I grew up in a small town, so for me, it's just preparing them for the world but still trying to bring simplicity and do what you want, you know? Don't try to be something you're not.'
JOJA co-founder Josephine Skriver-Karlsen attended an event for Closed Denim at the plant-based Italian restaurant Margot in Culver City on Monday.

The 29-year-old Society Management Model made sure to rep the German jeans brand in a $290 pair of their 'A Better Blue Flared-X' pants.

Josephine flaunted her impressively taut tummy with etched abs by wearing a white long-sleeved crop-top.

Fashion festivities: JOJA co-founder Josephine Skriver-Karlsen attended an event for Closed Denim at the plant-based Italian restaurant Margot in Culver City on Monday

Skriver also toted a tangerine-colored purse and wore white shades and matching platform sneakers.

The half-Dutch, half-Danish beauty completed her casual attire with minimal make-up, gold hoop earrings, and she combed back her brunette bob.

Tuesday marked 'moving day' for Josephine, who enlisted the services of Roadway Moving in exchange for an obvious paid partnership.

Skriver and her husband of three months - Bohnes rocker Alexander DeLeon - bought their 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom Hollywood Hills home in 2020 for $2.35M, and they also own a house in Nashville.

Dark rinse: The 29-year-old Society Management Model made sure to rep the German jeans brand in a $290 pair of their 'A Better Blue Flared-X' pants

Etched abs! Josephine flaunted her impressively taut tummy by wearing a white long-sleeved crop-top

Accessories: Skriver also toted a tangerine-colored purse and wore white shades and matching platform sneakers

Ready for her close-up! The half-Dutch, half-Danish beauty completed her casual attire with minimal make-up, gold hoop earrings, and she combed back her brunette bob

The SI Swimsuit stunner and the Las Vegas-born 33-year-old - who began dating in 2013 - recently returned from a vacation to Copenhagen where they attended the Tour De France as well as a music festival.

Alexander teased on Tuesday that he has 'an album to make' a full year after the release of his last single, You've Created a Monster.

Josephine wed DeLeon on April 3 at the Acre Resort near San Jose del Cabo in Mexico.

The devoted Raiders fans then threw a second ceremony on the 50-yard line of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas a few weeks later.

'Use my code josephine10 to get a discount!' Tuesday marked 'moving day' for Josephine, who enlisted the services of Roadway Moving in exchange for an obvious paid partnership

'The perfect start to our next chapter!' Skriver and her husband of three months - Bohnes rocker Alexander DeLeon - bought their 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom Hollywood Hills home in 2020 for $2.35M, and they also own a house in Nashville

'Beer bongs, bands, and bicycles!' The SI Swimsuit stunner (M) and the Las Vegas-born 33-year-old (L) - who began dating in 2013 - recently returned from a vacation to Copenhagen where they attended the Tour De France as well as a music festival

Newlyweds! Alexander teased on Tuesday that he has 'an album to make' a full year after the release of his last single, You've Created a Monster

Skriver will next appear in Matt Tyrnauer's three-part documentary Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons, which drops this Thursday on Hulu.

The 5ft11in catwalker earned her 'wings' back in 2016 from the newly-relaunched lingerie label, whose CEO Les Wexner notoriously gave the late Jeffrey Epstein 'power of attorney' over L Brands.

The 45-year-old San Francisco bra brand - which previously only employed tall, thin, long-haired models - hasn't had a televised fashion show since 2018 after a sharp financial decline.

Rihanna's Savage X Fenty and its inclusive, innovative Amazon Prime presentations has since usurped Victoria's Secret.

'The show cannot go on!' Josephine will next appear in Matt Tyrnauer's three-part documentary Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons, which drops this Thursday on Hulu
Debra Messing kept it simple in a plain black dress on Tuesday while attending a boutique opening in Westport, Connecticut.

The 53-year-old actress wore a short-sleeved frock that skimmed her knees for the opening of The Collective West by fashion designer Christian Siriano, 36.

The Will & Grace star completed her outfit with tan, open-toed collar heels and added a pop of color with red toenail polish.

Boutique opening: Debra Messing kept it simple in a plain black dress on Tuesday while attending a boutique opening in Westport, Connecticut

Debra had her red hair down below her shoulders and accessorized with necklaces, rings and bracelets.

She smiled while catching up with Christian at his new boutique.

Christian in an Instagram post last week said the store will feature brands such as Swoon Gallery, Josh Levkoff jewelry, Irene Lummertz, Snif, Frannys Farmacy and Bungalow Decor.

'The space is so magical and I cant wait for you all to come shop and enjoy it,' he posted.

Black dress: The 53-year-old actress wore a short-sleeved frock that skimmed her knees for the opening of The Collective West by fashion designer Christian Siriano, 36

Good times: Debra smiled while catching up with Christian at his new boutique

The designer opened the boutique not far from his 6,000-square-foot Westport home.

Debra reprised her role as Grace Adler from 2017 to 2020 for a three-season revival of Will & Grace on NBC and earned a ninth Golden Globe nomination for her performance.

She can next be seen in the upcoming romantic comedy Bros starring Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Ts Madison, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Diaz, Guy Branum and Amanda Bearse.

Top designer: Christian in an Instagram post last week said the store will feature brands such as Swoon Gallery, Josh Levkoff jewelry, Irene Lummertz, Snif, Frannys Farmacy and Bungalow Decor

Bros is scheduled to be released in the US on September 30 by Universal Pictures.

Debra has 18-year-old son Roman with her ex-husband Daniel Zelman, 55.

She previously dated her Smash co-star Will Chase, 51, from the end of 2011 to October 2014.
She's a fitness fanatic and a mother-of-one.

And on Wednesday, Eva Longoria, 47, showcased her gym-honed physique in a range of colourful bikinis as she relaxed on a yacht during her family holiday in Capri.

The actress, 47, took to Instagram where she shared a jaw-dropping snaps of herself across her main grid and stories, which flaunted her sensational frame.

Wow! On Wednesday, Eva Longoria, 47, showcased her gym-honed physique in a range of colourful bikinis as she relaxed on a yacht during her family holiday in Capri

Eva first posed aboard the vessel in a yellow two-piece swimwear set with a fedora atop her head, and captioned her upload 'Out of Office'

The Hollywood star then slipped into a red hot bikini as uploaded a shot of herself which left her ripped abs and ample cleavage on display.

The actress also revealed that she was sunbathing topless in one sizzling selfie, and joked of her friend: 'Get yourself a hot cabana girl like Maria Bravo,' who was visible in the snap.

Proud mum Eva also shared photos of herself doting on son Santiago, four, with one shot of him sitting on her knee and another of them sharing a sweet kiss.

Stunning: Eva first posed aboard the vessel in a yellow two-piece swimwear set with a fedora atop her head, and captioned her Instagram upload 'Out of Office'

Cheeky: The actress also revealed that she was sunbathing topless in one sizzling selfie, and joked of her friend: 'Get yourself a hot cabana girl like Maria Bravo'

Earlier this week, Eva showcased her incredible figure in a neon yellow bikini as she enjoyed a sun-soaked holiday with her family this week in Italy.

She looked amazing in the vibrant swimwear two-piece, as she stood on a sofa on a luxury yacht they had hired for the trip.

Eva styled her beach look with a white fedora and a pair of sunglasses, as she shared the sizzling shots to her Instagram Story on Tuesday.

Mum and son: Proud mum Eva also shared photos of herself doting on son Santiago, four, with one shot of him sitting on her knee and another of them sharing a sweet kiss

Work it! Earlier this week, Eva howcased her incredible figure in a neon yellow bikini as she enjoyed a sun-soaked holiday with her family this week in Italy

The bikini revealed Eva's sensational physique and toned abs as she worked all of her best angles for the camera.

Other images showed her son Santiago holding the wheel of the boat as she sweetly captioned it: 'We got a new driver'.

Eva donned a white linen shirt in one snap where she cuddled up to her little boy, who was wearing a sweet grey co-ord.

Bikini babe: The actress looked amazing in the vibrant swimwear two-piece, as she stood on a sofa on a luxury yacht they had hired for the trip

Aw! Other images showed her son Santiago, four, holding the wheel of the boat as she sweetly captioned it: 'We got a new driver'

Another video showed Eva working out wearing a pale pink co-ord, as she captioned the shot: 'Never miss a Monday!'

During her time in Italy, Eva made an appearance at the Taormina Film Festival, which took place from June 26 to July 2.

Eva has several film projects currently in the works, most recently appearing in the comedy Unplugging opposite Matt Walsh and Lea Thompson.

Committed: Another video showed Eva working out wearing a pale pink co-ord, as she captioned the shot: 'Never miss a Monday!'

She is next slated to appear in All-Star Weekend alongside Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Piven which was originally slated for release in 2018 before facing delays.

The star also has a role in upcoming coming-of-age film Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

However, she enjoyed some downtime last month when she reunited with her pal Victoria Beckham.

The Spice-Girl-turned-designer, 48, shared a fun snap with the former Desperate Housewives star as they wore cosy pyjamas, and alluded to Eva's role in the US series with a cheeky caption.

She wrote: 'Just two desperate housewives having a catch up!  I love you @evalongoria.'
Honda cars have a vulnerability that enables hacking using the Rolling-PWN attack.

This news might be a bad one for some Honda owners who have the vulnerability of their car models.

This circumstance was discovered by a team of security researchers from Star-V Lab. Researchers Wesly Li and Kevin2600 independently discovered this vulnerability.

The Rolling-PWN vulnerability attack can cause some Honda vehicles to be unlocked by threat actores. This attack is currently tracked as CVE-2021-46145.

The vulnerability, which has been given the name Rolling-PWN, makes it possible for threat actors to launch replay attacks by stealing the codes transmitted from the key fob to the vehicle and utilizing those codes to either unlock or start the vehicle.

Honda Car Vulnerability

Honda's detected vulnerability is reported not just to have the ability to unlock the vehicle, but also to start one.

To guarantee that different strings are used each time the keyfob button is pressed, modern cars use rolling codes generated by a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) algorithm.

The Honda vehicles employ a moving code process that selects different codes each time the key fob is used.

Each time a button is pressed on the key fob, a new code is transmitted to the vehicle. In theory, this should render any previously used codes useless.

However, BleepingComputer reports, "researchers Kevin2600 and Wesley Li found that the counter in Honda vehicles is resynchronized when the car vehicle gets lock/unlock commands in a consecutive sequence."

Because of this, the vehicle will take codes from a prior session even though they ought to have been rendered invalid.

An actor who was armed with software-defined radio (SDR) technology could record a string of codes, store them, and then use them at a later date to unlock the car and start the engine.

They discovered the bug directly impacts ten of the most popular Honda model types in the market, leading them to assume it impacts nearly all Honda vehicles manufactured after 2012.

According to the researchers, these Honda vehicles are from the year 2012 up to this year's 2022 cars. These are:

Honda Civic 2012 Honda X-RV 2018 Honda C-RV 2020 Honda Accord 2020 Honda Odyssey 2020 Honda Inspire 2021 Honda Fit 2022 Honda Civic 2022 Honda VE-1 2022 Honda Breeze 2022

The researchers presented information and demonstration videos on the Rolling-PWN vulnerability, which demonstrated how it could be exploited to unlock a variety of Honda vehicles.

Read Also: Toyota Recall Affects 460,000 Vehicles Due to Electronic Stability Control Problems - Lexus Isn't Spared

Honda Denies the Vulnerability

The researchers looked for a way to warn Honda of the vulnerability, but they were unable to locate a contact for reporting problems with the company's security. In the end, they decided to report the incident to Honda Customer Service, but they have not received a response as of yet.

A spokeswoman for Honda issued a statement to Vice in which they denied the veracity of the article and maintained that the allegations are not supported by any evidence.

According to Vice, Honda, after conducting research into previous complaints of a similar nature, have determined that those charges lacked any basis in fact.

The spokesperson stated, "While we don't yet have enough information to determine if this report is credible, the key fobs in the referenced vehicles are equipped with rolling code technology that would not allow the vulnerability as represented in the report."

Honda added, "In addition, the videos offered as evidence of the absence of rolling code do not include sufficient evidence to support the claims,"

Related Article: 2023 Honda Civic Type R Release Date, Features: New Teaser Reveals Cool New Design, Specs!
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Katie Holmes looked classic as she attended the opening of designer Christian Siriano's The Collective West store on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old filmmaker wore a button-up white dress with ruffled sleeves that cropped right below her elbows.

She put on a sophisticated display in the look, which stopped right above her knees, allowing her to show off some leg.

The brick and mortar boutique opened in Westport, Connecticut and offers shoppers furniture, clothes, and art selected by Siriano, 36.

Timeless: Katie Holmes looked classic as she attended the opening of designer Christian Siriano's The Collective West store on Tuesday

Katie, who rose to fame as one of the lead actresses on the hit series Dawson's Creek, teamed the look with subtle but unique accessories.

She stepped out in a pair of white thong kitten heels that had both white and black straps - the black being a stringy design that tied at her ankle.

In the fashion-forward footwear she was able to flaunt her glossy red pedicure, which matched her manicure of the same color.

The Secret: Dare to Dream star toted a matte black leather purse that was triangle shaped, casually slinging it over her wrist.

Classy: She put on a sophisticated display in the look, which stopped right above her knees, allowing her to show off some leg

Showing support: Holmes was there to support the renowned fashion giant, who looked casual in a green shirt and black pants

Holmes, who was once married to Tom Cruise and shares 16-year-old daughter Suri with him, wore her brunette locks down.

They fell over her shoulders and down her back in a textured and tussled look with an undefined part.

She rocked a delicate hoop nose ring, skipping out on any other noticeable jewelry for the star-studded east coast event.

Photo-op: Katie posed with the man of the hour at the celebratory soiree in Connecticut

Katie posed up a storm with Christian, who dressed casually in a forest green short-sleeved t-shirt with black pants.

The shirt, which he fashioned with the sleeves slightly cuffed, showed off his various eye-catching tattoos.

His body-clinging trousers were of the cargo variety and showed off the fashion icon's fit and trim stature.

Siriano, who rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of the reality TV competition Project Runway, wore his dark hair neatly cropped.

Handsome: Siriano was clean shaven for the gathering, and sported his signature square-shaped, black-rimmed eyeglasses; joined by Christian's mom Joye Siriano

Beautiful! Also there to show her support and encouragement was actress Laura Linney, most known for her role in the series Ozark

Also there to show her support and encouragement was actress Laura Linney, most known for her role in the series Ozark.

The 58-year-old Golden Globe winner glowed in a sleeveless, mustard yellow dress with a turtleneck design.

The high-neck collar gave way to delicate pleats, and pulled in at the waist and extending to a skirt with overlapping fabric.

Laura wore her strawberry blonde locks in a soft side part that allowed her highlighted hair to fall over one side.

Golden yellow: The 58-year-old Golden Globe winner glowed in a sleeveless, mustard yellow dress with a turtleneck design

Similar look: Debra Messing was there as well, wearing the same dress as Katie, but in a black variety

Debra Messing was there as well, wearing the same dress as Katie, but in a black variety.

The former Will and Grace actress made the look her own with the addition of layered gold jewelry on her wrist and neck.

She piled on the hardware with two different styled necklaces, several bracelets, and multiple rings worn on her nude nails.

She teamed the look with open-toe, strappy nude shoes with a modest heel, showing off her red pedicure.

Her take: The former Will and Grace actress made the look her own with the addition of layered gold jewelry on her wrist and neck

The entertainer rocked her usual crimson-hued tresses, pulling some of the hair off her face and clipping it behind her head.

She took several photos with Christian, who looked proud of all he had recently accomplished with the retail store.

Messing pored over the selection of glinting jewelry, which was removed from its glass encasing for her to take a closer look.

Eye-catching: Messing pored over the selection of glinting jewelry, which was removed from its glass encasing for her to take a closer look

Fashionista! Fashion blogger Claire Sulmers of the beloved Fashion Bomb Daily sight, flexed her fashion sensibility in a pink and white patterned mini dress

Fashion blogger Claire Sulmers of the beloved Fashion Bomb Daily sight, flexed her fashion sensibility in a pink and white patterned mini dress.

The ribbed sweater dress had an extra-flared collar that gave way to buttons that extended down to the middle of the piece.

She matched her bubblegum pink matte lipstick to the body-hugging number and added statement-making large gold hoop earrings.

Sulmers rocked transparent heels with hot pink soles to match her hot pink-painted toes, showing she's keen on coordination.

Electric blue: Making an electrifying appearance in a unmissable royal blue off-the-shoulder mini dress was Coco Rocha

Family-of-four: The Canadian-born supermodel, 33, brought her family along for the fashion-forward occasion

And making an electrifying appearance in a unmissable royal blue off-the-shoulder mini dress was Coco Rocha, who brought her family along.

The Canadian-born supermodel, 33, pulled her dark hair back, leaving two face-framing pieces loose at the front.

She wore a set of three gold necklaces that gradually got longer from top to bottom, each having round charm pendants on them.

The dress had big, ruffled sleeves that stopped right below her elbows and she matched a pair of booties to the frock.

Well put-together: She pulled her dark hair back, leaving two face-framing pieces loose at the front, and wore blue eyeshadow

Rocha was joined by husband James Conran - who she married in 2010 - and their two children Iver Eames Conran and Ioni James Conran.

Her spouse wore a dark suit with a black and white patterned shirt, a noticeable chain around his neck, and tan-colored shoes.

Their kids, a daughter and son, looked precious white dress and a two-toned suit and light brown boots.

Supporter: Rocha showed her appreciation for the designer as she showed up to the northeast event looking her best
Channel Nine has released a gripping trailer for the new upcoming Australian drama, After the Verdict.

The series tells the story of four ex-jurors who investigate a murder after setting the accused free in a high-profile homicide trial.

The cast will include Kath and Kim's Magda Szubanski and Doctor Doctor's Lincoln Younes, alongside Blindspot actor Sullivan Stapleton, The Newsreader's Michelle Lim Davidson and Wolf Creek's Tess Haubrich.

Lincoln Younes and Magda Szubanski (pictured) are set to play two of the four ex-jurors who investigate a murder after they set the accused free

The trailer begins with the husband of the murder victim being suggested as a suspect.

Meanwhile, four of the jurors on the trial have serious doubts about the verdict.

At one point, we see ex-juror Michelle Lim Davidson palling around with the accused killer Tess Haubrich.

Another chilling scene from Channel 9's new drama

They even return to the scene of the crime - a high rise where the victim was pushed to her death.

The preview builds up the tension with scenes of mysterious piles of money, a menacing axe and Michelle's character creeping though a cemetery with a torch.

Other scenes feature flashes of violence as raw emotions take over.

The trailer features laughs and gasps as Magda and Lincoln try to solve the mystery

Lincoln Younes and co-star Michelle Lim Davidson in a scene from After the Verdict

In one scene, Magda is seen hiding at night in bushland with Lincoln's character, who looks less than impressed to be there.

Another scene teases a possible twist to the mystery when one of the jurors from the original trial, Sullivan Stapleton, is accused of a different murder.

The series is schedule to premiere later in 2022.
Love Island 2021 winners Millie Court and Liam Reardon have split, MailOnline can reveal.

The couple have decided to go their separate ways following a year-long romance, after winning the ITV2 dating series last August.

Millie, 25, and Liam, 22, who have been living together in Essex but have since moved out of their shared home, called it quits after growing apart in recent months, while they both pursued individual work opportunities.

A source close to the couple told MailOnline: 'It's been really hard for both Millie and Liam to come to this decision.

'Tough decision': Love Island 2021 winners Millie Court and Liam Reardon have split, MailOnline can reveal (pictured in August 2021)

'There has been no drama or wrongdoing and they both still fully support each other and will remain close friends.

'They have moved out of the Essex home they shared together and are now looking forward to the future.'

Confirming the news on Instagram, Millie said: 'Hi everyone, to avoid any speculation Liam and I wanted to share with you that we have separated.

'It's been a tough decision and I am gutted but it's ultimately what is best for us right now. Thank you to every single one of you for supporting our relationship.

It's over: The couple have decided to go their separate ways following a year-long romance, after winning the ITV2 dating series last August

'Nothing will ever take away from the amazing experience we shared in Love Island and the past year and I wish Liam all the best in everything he does.

'We're both ready for new chapters and I'm excited for what's next. Love, Millie.'

Echoing Millie's sentiment, Liam said: 'Hi everyone, to avoid any speculation Millie and I wanted to share with you that we have sadly separated.

'Honestly so gutted. But thank you to every single one of you for supporting our relationship.

'Nothing will ever take away from the amazing experience we shared in Love Island and the past year we've been so lucky to both come into each other's lives.

Separation: A source close to Millie and Liam told MailOnline it has been a difficult decision for the couple to make but they will remain good friends (pictured September 2021)

'We will both continue to be friends and I will remain as Millie's biggest supporter in all that she does and I know she will always do amazing.

'We're both ready for new chapters and I'm excited for what's next. Again, I just want to thank you all for supporting us on what's been an incredible journey.'

After winning Love Island together last August, Millie and Liam moved into an Essex home together.

The couple scooped the 50K prize fund after viewers voted them favourites despite Liam playing away during the show's Casa Amor twist.

Welshman Liam managed to win Millie back after he kissed and grew close to Casa Amor bombshell Lillie Haynes.

Millie was left stunned after she was confronted by the revelation during the dramatic Casa Amor recoupling, where Lillie exposed Liam for his wrongdoings.

Shock: Welshman Liam managed to win Millie back after he kissed and grew close to Casa Amor bombshell Lillie Haynes

Essex girl Millie, who worked as a fashion buyer's administrator before Love Island, talked about living in domestic bliss with Liam during an interview last month.

She said: 'Liam is really domestic, he will hoover, clean, do my washing he's really, really good and he's also a very good cook so he actually cooks the majority of our dinners but I think that's mainly because I like a lot of pasta and I don't think he wants to eat pasta every night.

'Steak is his favourite, he makes a banging omelette, we probably eat omelettes nearly early day now, he's trying to teach me but mine just aren't cutting it.'

Liam, a former bricklayer, explained last month that he missed his hometown in Wales after relocating to Essex to be with Millie.

He said: I live in Essex now with Millie, I'm from a small town in Wales, which I'm very proud of my town and I do miss it but yes my whole life has changed for the better so I'm very grateful.'

Happier times: Essex girl Millie, who worked as a fashion buyer's administrator before Love Island, talked about living in domestic bliss with Liam during an interview last month

A Casa Amor fuelled break-up, winning Love Island and moving in together: Millie Court and Liam Reardon's relationship timeline after they announced SPLIT

They announced they were going their separate ways in a social media statement following a year-long romance on Wednesday.

And following the news, MailOnline takes a look back at Millie Court and Liam Reardon's relationship, which kicked off during last year's series of Love Island.

Their romance faced a few hiccups in the villa - mainly thanks to Liam's Casa Amor dalliance - but the couple proved their resilience and went on to win the show.

It's over! MailOnline takes a look back at Millie Court and Liam Reardon's relationship, which kicked off during last year's series of Love Island

LOVE ISLAND

Liam, 22, entered the villa days after the 2021 series began last June as one of the series' first bombshells, quickly earning the attention of Faye Winter.

However after Millie arrived his head soon turned and their romance began when he chose to couple up with her during the second recoupling of the season.

During the first few weeks of the show, Millie and Liam were joined at the hip and Millie brushed off competition from new arrival AJ Bunker.

Liam gave Millie the nickname 'Millie Moo' and confessed he had 'never felt like this before', during one especially romantic moment.

Love life: Their romance faced a few hiccups in the villa - mainly thanks to Liam's Casa Amor dalliance - but the couple proved their resilience and went on to win the show (pictured together late last month)

CASA AMOR

However the tides turned when the boys were shipped off to Casa Amor for the ultimate temptation test, where Liam met bombshell Lillie Haynes.

Liam - who had so far remained steadfast in his feelings for Millie - shocked viewers when he kissed and shared a bed with new girl Lillie.

Despite their fling, Liam decided to ultimately stick with Millie and returned to the villa alone so he could reunite with his girl, who had stayed loyal throughout.

Things took a dramatic turn when Lillie appeared during the recoupling to share the details of her brief romance with the Welsh native, admitting she was shocked he hadn't picked her to come back to the villa.

As Liam stayed firmly in the dog house, Millie and Lillie went for a one-on-one chat where they discussed the ins and outs of what went down.

Awks! However the tides turned when the boys were shipped off to Casa Amor for the ultimate temptation test, where Liam met bombshell Lillie Haynes (pictured Lillie Haynes)

Shocking: Things took a dramatic turn when Lillie appeared during the recoupling to share the details of her brief romance with the Welsh native, admitting she was shocked he hadn't picked her to come back to the villa

BACK ON TRACK

Millie decided to keep Liam at arms length, while Liam insisted he would continue to fight for their relationship before taking to the stage following a performance from Mabel to declare his feelings for Millie.

He told her: 'You blew me away with your flawless looks, piercing blue eyes, infectious smile and amazing personality that draws me to you.

'It's the way you make me smile without even saying anything that brings me back for more.

'I didn't expect to come to Love Island and find a potential soulmate so early on but I've found that and so much more in you. I've never been one to have boxes that need ticking, it's all about how someone makes me feel. I've never felt this way.'

The couple went into the final two weeks of the show as an exclusive couple.

During their final date they said 'I love you' for the first time, before meeting each other's families in their final days in Mallorca.

Liam and Millie won the show with a massive 42 per cent of the vote and he asked her to be his girlfriend during the live final.

The couple even admitted they were thinking about wedding plans, as Millie said: 'The proposal is going to have to be massive', with Liam adding: 'It's going to be huge. I'm sure I can pull it out of the bag. I'm sure I can do it.'

Winners! Liam and Millie won the show with a massive 42 per cent of the vote and he asked her to be his girlfriend during the live final

Home time: The couple travelled back together on the plane to the UK but were forced to self-isolate separately during to coronavirus restrictions in place at the time

AFTER THE SHOW

The couple travelled back together on the plane to the UK but were forced to self-isolate separately during to coronavirus restrictions in place at the time.

After the isolation period was up, they reunited in Essex for a romantic night out together before meeting up with their 2021 series co-stars.

They made their red carpet debut together in September when they attended the National Television Awards a month after leaving the show.

Reunited: After the isolation period was up, they reunited in Essex for a romantic night out together before meeting up with their 2021 series co-stars

Red carpet debut: They made their red carpet debut together in September when they attended the National Television Awards a month after leaving the show

Liam soon took his new girlfriend home to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales later the same month so he could introduce he to his family for the first time.

The couple also teased the idea of moving in together as they told fans during an Instagram Q&A that they had been viewing apartments in Essex.

MOVING IN TOGETHER

Liam revealed at the end of October that they had found the 'perfect' first home together following their search.

Weeks later at the beginning of November, they shared a sweet snap from their new apartment and confirmed they had officially moved in.

Alongside the image, Millie wrote: 'Starting a new chapter'.

New home: Liam revealed at the end of October that they had found the 'perfect' first home together following their search (pictured at the Pride Of Britain Awards)

First home: Weeks later at the beginning of November, they shared a sweet snap from their new apartment and confirmed they had officially moved in

At the end of the year, Liam shared a gushing birthday tribute to his girlfriend on Instagram as she celebrated her 25th trip around the sun.

Sharing a montage of photos together, Liam wrote: 'Want to wish my gorgeous, kind and loving girlfriend a massive happy birthday. Everyday is constant laughs with you and I wouldn't change it for the world.

'It's been a crazy year which I never expected, but I'm so grateful for it all. I can't wait to see out 2021 with you on our holiday and look forward to 2022. I love you.'

Birthday bliss: At the end of the year, Liam shared a gushing birthday tribute to his girlfriend on Instagram as she celebrated her 25th trip around the sun

FIRST HOLIDAY

Millie and Liam kicked off the New Year with their first holiday, which was no expense spared as they jetted to the Maldives to ring in 2022.

The couple shared loved-up beach snaps from their idyllic sun-soaked location, alongside captions such as: 'What an amazing first holiday with you.'

They relaxed on the sandy shores of one of the areas remote islands before jetting to Dubai to continue their winter break.

New Year: Millie and Liam kicked off the New Year with their first holiday, which was no expense spared as they jetted to the Maldives to ring in 2022

Paris is always a good idea! While the couple were largely absent from each other's social media pages in the following months, they did enjoy a trip to Paris together

While the couple were largely absent from each other's social media pages in the following months, they did enjoy a trip to Paris together.

The couple also put on a united front at a PUMA event despite swirling speculation that things were on the rocks between them.

BREAK UP RUMOURS

After the event, the couple broke their silence after weeks of split rumours as they were seen together for the first time in a Instagram video.

The couple caused fans to question their relationship after they spotted they hadn't been seen on one another's social media for other a month.

However, they have quashed rumours after sharing a new Instagram video showing of their 'matching couple fits'

What's the score? After the event, the couple broke their silence after weeks of split rumours as they were seen together for the first time in a Instagram video

The reality stars beamed as they stood next to one another as they dressed up in neutral coloured suits and trainers.

Millie, who this week signed as an ambassador for sports brand Puma, sported a white ensemble flashing her midriff in the brand and added matching trainers.

In the caption, she penned: 'Liam and I both dressed in the new puma tailoring apparel and Cali Dream trainers.'

Millie shared the post to her 1.9 million Instagram followers which is the first time the couple have been pictured together in six weeks.

Getaway: The blonde beauty fuelled split rumours even more as she jetted off to LA for a photoshoot for ASOS and Puma leaving Liam behind in the UK

The blonde beauty had fuelled split rumours even more as she jetted off to LA for a photoshoot for ASOS and Puma leaving Liam behind in the UK.

While, Millie shared behind-the-scenes clips of her trip, her beau was seen hanging out with his Love Island pals in London over dinner.

In March, Liam was nowhere to be seen as Millie attended her shoe launch with EGO alone.

He also left fans confused when he said he had 'nothing to wake up for' following winning the ITV2 reality show.

'I've been put into Essex, no family no friends. Obviously, I'm with Millie, which is good... I'd wake up, but have nothing to wake up for,' he told Heat podcast.

He also left fans confused when he said he had 'nothing to wake up for' following winning the ITV2 reality show.

'I've been put into Essex, no family no friends. Obviously, I'm with Millie, which is good... I'd wake up, but have nothing to wake up for,' he told Heat podcast.

UNITED FRONT

In recent weeks, Millie and Liam had proved solid as they continued to update their followers on their relationship via Instagram.

Millie posted pictures to her Instagram of herself and Liam in matching racing jackets alongside the caption: 'Me & You.'

They also posted pictures looking loved-up at a friend's location wedding as recently as last month.

Matchy: Millie posted pictures to her Instagram of herself and Liam in matching racing jackets alongside the caption: 'Me & You'
Mickey Rourke has branded friend Johnny Depp's ex wife Amber Heard a 'gold-digger.'

During a candid interview with Piers Morgan, 57, for Talk TV, actor Mickey, 69, said: 'Well, you know, I know Johnny for many years, but I don't really know him intimately.

'All I could say is I was in a situation one time where I got blamed for something that I didnt do. It cost me movie jobs for several years and it caused a bad reputation.

'She is ABSOLUTELY a gold-digger': Mickey Rourke laid into Johnny Depp's ex Amber Heard on Talk TV on Tuesday and claimed he was also unfairly cancelled like his movie star friend

Acrimonious: Johnny won his libel case against Amber, 36, (pictured) in June, saying he now has 'his life back' after the jury ruled he was defamed and awarded him $15million

'And finally, the truth came out but the truth came out after I lost movies and I lost jobs and and so I felt bad for somebody that is trying to get chopped down by some gold digger, you know.'

Piers said: 'You think that's what she was?'

'Abso- f***ing-lutely. Absolutely,' he replied.

Johnny won his libel case against Amber, 36, in June, saying he now has 'his life back' after the jury ruled he was defamed and awarded him $15million.

After less than three days of deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of all three of Depp's defamation claims against Heard, finding that she had falsely accused him of domestic abuse.

Not holding back: Piers asked Mickey if he thought Amber is a gold-digger and he replied: 'Abso- f***ing-lutely. Absolutely'

The actor was awarded $15million - $10million in compensation and $5million in punitive damages.

Heard meanwhile won just one of her three countersuit claims, which related to statements made by Depp's lawyer suggesting she and friends had trashed their apartment before calling the police out.

She was awarded $2million in compensatory damages out of the $100million she was seeking in her countersuit against her ex-husband and received zero dollars in punitive damages.

The judge later reduced Depp's $5million punitive damages award to the Virginia maximum of $350,000, reducing Depp's total to $10,350,000  minus the $2million he was ordered to pay Heard.

Depp walks away from the case with $8.35million.

Once so close: Mickey (left) and Johnny (right ) - who worked together on 2003's Once Upon A Time In Mexico - seen together in 1993

But in November, an English High Court judge branded Depp 'a monster' who had battered Amber Heard 12 times - as the Hollywood star lost his sensational 5million 'wife-beater' libel battle.

In his ruling the judge found Depp had attacked his ex-wife Heard a dozen times and said he accepted that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor became a 'monster' when he binged on drink and drugs.

Depp called the judgment 'perverse' and 'bewildering' as he vowed the appeal the ruling after his high-stakes battle against his ex-wife Heard and The Sun newspaper.

Following a blockbuster 16-day trial London's High Court Mr Justice Nicol said he accepted that the actor had hit Heard on 12 of the 14 times she had claimed.

Jubilant Heard's lawyers said they were 'not surprised' by her stunning victory in which the judge found she had been beaten by the actor while he was out of control on cocaine, pills and booze.

But Depp's lawyers blasted the judge, saying, calling the ruling 'as perverse as it is bewildering'.

In May 2016, Johnny, Mickey stood up for Johnny when being interviewed by TMZ in Beverly Hills, saying. 'He doesn't seem like a very violent man to me.'

The two worked together on the 2003 film Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

'He's a very low key guy, he's always been really low key and a gentleman and not violent.'

Worn out: Heard leaving court in LA in 2016, after claiming Depp physically assaulted her

When asked what he thought of Heard, Mickey played it safe. 'I have no idea, I don't know anything about her. I know nothing about her at all.'

He then got back to Johnny. 'I think he's a really good guy, always been low key, a gentleman,' said the former boxer.

The second part of Piers Morgan's Mickey Rourke interview aired on Tuesday on Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm.

Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV, Monday to Thursday, 8pm (Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508) and live and on demand on the TalkTV app and at Talk.TV. US Viewers can watch on Fox Nation and Australian viewers can watch on Sky News Australia
'It's about having sex and never seeing them again': Adele says the key to a good break-up is to leave things on a positive note but jokes she prefers to tell an old flame to simply 'f**k off'
He's previously dated a strong of famous women, including Binky Felstead, Lottie Moss and Nicola Hughes.

And on Wednesday, Alex Mytton's new girlfriend Ruby Kelly paraded her toned frame in a tiny crop top and hot pants as the couple enjoyed an active day together in London's Knightsbridge.

The Made In Chelsea star, 31, looked ready to work up a sweat as he strolled along with make-up free model Ruby, 27, before the pair jumped on some hire bikes.

Hot couple: On Wednesday, Alex Mytton's new girlfriend Ruby Kelly paraded her toned frame in a tiny crop top and hot pants as the couple enjoyed an active day together in London

Alex showed off his buff body in a black pair of shorts, which he teamed with a tight fitting tee, while carrying his belongings in a backpack strapped around his torso.

Ruby displayed her bronzed pins in a thigh-scraping pair of black high-waisted cotton hot pants, worn with trainers.

Further exhibiting her gym-honed body, the model went braless beneath a skimpy aqua coloured crop top.

Ruby has over 46,000 followers on Instagram and is signed to J'adore Models. She has modelled for a range of brands and has also posed for several topless shoots.

Couples who train together: The Made In Chelsea star, 31, looked ready to work up a sweat as he strolled along with make-up free model Ruby, 27

They see me rollin': The pair jumped on some hire bikes and enjoyed a ride through London

Kitted out: Alex showed off his buff body in a black pair of shorts, which he teamed with a tight fitting tee, while carrying his belongings in a backpack strapped around his torso

Wow! Ruby displayed her bronzed pins in a thigh-scraping pair of black high-waisted cotton hot pants, worn with trainers

Alex has had a string of famous exes including Binky Felstead, 32, Lottie Moss, 24, and Nicola Hughes, 32.

He most recently dated model Georgina Howard who he split from earlier this year after four years together.

It comes after Alex's ex-girlfriend Nicola - who recently announced she is pregnant with her first child with husband Charlie Tupper - said she had no 'bad blood' with Alex.

Speaking to former co-star Tiffany Watson, 28, on their own podcast, What We Don't Post, she said: 'I would say hi to everyone [from the show] but I've actually no bad blood with Alex, I don't find at all.

'I just there is just no point. Literally another lifetime,' she continued.

London life: Alex and Ruby spent their day in the sunshine getting active in the capital

Ripped: Further exhibiting her gym-honed body, the model went braless beneath a skimpy aqua coloured crop top

Gent! Alex carried both his and Ruby's yoga mats on his back

Next adventure: The couple were dressed in activewear as they worked up a sweat

The pair started dating in 2014, with her joining the hit E4 show in 2015 as Alex's girlfriend after moving to London from her native Ireland.

He was later accused of cheating on her and she left the show shortly after their break up.

Before Nicola Alex dated Binky and their explosive break up was shown on Made in Chelsea after he cheated on her several times.

Binky is now married to Max Darnton and is a mother to two children, four year old India who she shares with ex Josh Patterson and newborn Wolfie who she shares with Max.

Alex has also previously been romantically involved with Lottie and former MIC star Jess Woodley, 27.

Model behaviour: Ruby has over 46,000 followers on Instagram and is signed to J'adore Models. She has modelled for a range of brands and has also posed for several topless shoots
EastEnders fans were thrilled as loveable character Alfie Moon, played by Shane Richie, made a surprise appearance on the show on Tuesday night.

Following news the soap actor, 58, would return to the soap full time later this year, the former Queen Vic landlord was seen briefly on video call to his son Tommy (Sonny Kendall).

Many viewers gushed it was 'so good' to see his face, as others bemoaned it had been 'too long'.

'It's so good to see Alfie Moon's face!': EastEnders fans were thrilled as Shane Richie made a surprise appearance in the soap on Tuesday night

In the scene, Tommy decided to contact his estranged parent after struggling to connect with step-father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) - who is engaged Alfie's ex-wife Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace).

Shocked with how much his son has grown, following his departure from Albert Square in 2019, Alfie said: 'I can't believe it's you!'

The legendary character, who first featured in the soap in November 2002, decided to flee Walford following the revelation he had fathered a child with his wife's cousin Hayley (Katie Jarvis).

The youngster sat at the kitchen table as he held the phone in his hands.

Back in the saddle: It comes after BBC bosses confirmed the character would return to the soap later this autumn

Alfie continued: 'I've been thinking about you a lot lately. You're never far from my thoughts'.

Before adding: 'I know it's been a few years but look at you - you're turning into a little man. Is your mum still with that Kush [Kat's former beau Kush Kazemi] fella?'.

But before the youngster could reply Alfie found himself distracted - by a lady blowing a kazoo.

Tommy said: 'I just wanted to see your face, I better go now.'

Family: In the scene the Tommy (Sonny Kendall) decided to contact his estranged parent after struggling to connect with step-father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden)

'Are you sure?' Alfie replied before telling his son: 'I love you.'

Viewers rushed to Twitter overjoyed to the see the actor back on screen much sooner than reports suggested.

With one writing: 'Alfie Moon is back, he's made an appearance even as a video call it's so good to see your face, missed ya [sic].

While a second added: 'Good to get a glimpse of Alfie Moon tonight'.

Thrilled: Viewers rushed to Twitter overjoyed to the see the actor back on screen much sooner than reports suggested

Can't wait: Speaking about his return, Shane said: 'It's an absolute honour and privilege to be asked back to my TV home of Albert Square'

While another commented: 'ALFIE MOON IS BACK IN EASTENDERS'.

And another wrote: 'Alfie moon, it's been so long!'.

Speaking about his return Shane said: 'It's an absolute honour and privilege to be asked back to my TV home of Albert Square.'

He continued: 'I'm looking forward to catching up with some old castmates and meeting some new ones.

'The new executive producer, Chris Clenshaw, has been instrumental in wanting to bring Alfie Moon back with some wonderful storylines... and who am I to say no?! I can't wait.'

Executive producer Chris added: 'Shane Richie created one of the most iconic, loveable and most memorable characters in soap, and to welcome him back to Walford is an absolute pleasure.'
Adam Collard enjoys a trio of dates on Wednesday night's Love Island.

The hunky personal trainer has his pick of the girls to wine and dine, settling on Paige Thorne, Danica Taylor and Summer Botwe.

And after enjoying a very flirty exchange with Paige, who is newly single after her love interest Jacques O'Neill dramatically quit the villa, Adam declares one of his dates to be 'wifey material.'

Date night: Adam Collard enjoys a trio of dates on Wednesday night's Love Island, choosing Paige Thorne, Danica Taylor and Summer Botwe to wine and dine on the terrace

Wednesday's new episode sees Adam get a text telling him to invite three girls of his choice to the Hideaway terrace for dates. He picks Summer, Danica and Paige.

Summer and Adam discuss their ideal date being in Rome, while Danica gives Adam a quick dance lesson.

But it's when Paige arrives that things get extra flirty, questioning whether he's saved the best until last.

Paige jokes: 'As if you picked me last!' to which Adam replies: 'Do you think the best first or best last..?'

Smitten? Adam enjoys a very flirty exchange with Paige, who is newly single after her love interest Jacques O'Neill dramatically quit the villa on Tuesday

Paige is quick to quip back: 'I'll ask you that question.'

And keen to know about what Adam brings to the table in a relationship, Paige says: 'The little things matter most to me.'

Later, when Adam returns to a debrief with the boys, he describes one of the three girls as 'wifey' material.

Flirty: Paige jokes: 'As if you picked me last!' to which Adam replies: 'Do you think the best first or best last..? Paige is quick to quip back: 'I'll ask you that question'

Showing him her moves: Danica gives Adam a quick dance lesson during their date

During Tuesday's dramatic episode, Adam was left questioning if Paige's beau Jacques left because of him.

Paige was left in floods of tears after Jacques broke the news he was leaving, before Jacques gathered the others round the firepit:

'Lately, I feel like I can't be myself. I'm not going to fake it. I'm going to be leaving today,' he told the shocked islanders.

Getting to know you: Summer and Adam discuss their ideal date being in Rome during their drinks

Getting close: Adam is shown with a big smile on his face as he concentrates on Danica's lesson

'I just can't stick around and not be myself, it's not fair to me and it's definitely not fair to Paige. If that means removing myself from the situation and waiting for Paige, that's what I'm going to do.'

As Jacques said his goodbyes, Adam stood up and asked: 'That's not because of me is it?' with the girls telling him: 'No, don't think like that.'

Earlier in the episode, Jacques had to be talked down from a furious showdown with rival Adam after being told the bombshell was 'slagging' him off.

Causing drama: During Tuesday's dramatic episode, Adam was left questioning if Paige's beau Jacques left because of him

Tears: Paige was left in floods of tears after Jacques broke the news he was leaving

Quit: Jacques told the Islanders: 'I just can't stick around and not be myself, it's not fair to me and it's definitely not fair to Paige'

Tash kicked things off by telling Jacques that Adam 'had a conversation with me and he was like, obviously I was talking about Andrew and he was like, 'We I think actions speak louder than words''.

Jacques said: 'Oi, I hope he said stuff like that about me, because we'll have a bit of biff then,' only for his ex Gemma Owen to jump in, revealing 'Oh he was proper slagging you off.'

'What do you mean? What's he saying?' said Jacques, getting riled up.

Drama: Earlier Jacques had to be talked down from a furious showdown with rival Adam

'Immature, I think it was. Something like that,' the girls told him, causing the furious star to stand up, getting ready to confront Adam.

Jacques then pulled Paige for a talk, telling her of Adam: 'Who the f**ks he? Just another geezer who's been on the show. He's f**king nothing mate. Do you know what I mean?'

'Alright and then keep that in mind,' Paige said in a bid to calm him down. 'You don't need to rise to it and be like bitey with it, do you know what I mean? What does it actually change? Nothing.'
Sofia Richie cut a chic figure and she strolled hand-in-hand with her fiance Elliot Grainge in Cannes on Wednesday.

The model, 23, put on a leggy display in a black minidress featuring white stripes on its straps while keeping things casual with charcoal sandals.

Toting her essentials around in a yellow miniature handbag while framing her face with circular sunglasses, she appeared to be enamoured with her phone.

Emerging: Sofia Richie put on a leggy display in a black minidress while strolling hand-in-hand with her fiance Elliot Grainge during their Cannes getaway on Wednesday

Meanwhile, the music executive, 28, kept things low-key in a navy polo shirt and matching shorts, while chatting away on his own phone.

It comes just a day after Lionel Richie's daughter put on a cheeky display in a tight black bikini while larking about with her shirtless partner during the trip.

The influencer, whose elder sister is The Simple Life star Nicole Richie, could be spotted cozying up to her future husband as they soaked up the sun together on a boating excursion.

Sofia announced her engagement to Elliot in late April on Instagram, posting a picture of Elliot proposing to her at sunset surrounded by candles.

Looking good: Toting her essentials around in a yellow miniature handbag while framing her face with circular sunglasses, she appeared to be enamoured with her phone

Casual: Meanwhile, the music executive, 28, kept things low-key in a navy polo shirt and matching shorts, while chatting away on his own phone

Couple: Sofia and her husband-to-be have apparently been an item for over a year, having first set off dating rumors at the start of 2021

'Forever isnt long enough,' she wrote with her Instagram caption, which included a romantic picture of her and Elliot kissing.

Elliot has joined the family business and gone into the music industry himself, founding an indie record label called 10K Projects.

He presented Sofia with an emerald-cut diamond ring that various experts quoted by Page Six have estimated to be anywhere between four and eight carats.

'I love Elliot,' Sofia's father told Access after the engagement. 'Ive known him since he was 12, how about that? So its one of those things where I dont have to go back and check out the kid - I know who he is.'

Lionel, who shares Sofia with his ex-wife Diana Alexander, added: 'So, theyre so happy, and as a Papa and as a dad and as, you know, thats my little girl, so shes in good hands.'

He dished that when Elliot asked him for permission to propose to Sofia: 'He was a nervous wreck, poor guy, I thought he was gonna pass out but he survived it.'

Said Lionel: 'I was gonna rib him a little bit but I didnt wanna play, he was gonna faint, so it was wonderful. I mean, theyre deeply in love, so all I can say is thats what you really want as a dad.'

Sofia and her husband-to-be have apparently been an item for over a year, having first set off dating rumors at the start of 2021.
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They are enjoying a Italian adventure in Cernobbio in the province of Como, Italy.

And the Clooneys looked typically chic as they headed out in the sunshine on Wednesday, before boarding a boat to take in the sights.

Amal, 44, wore a vintage looking Valentino red and cream mini dress as she climbed aboard, with a matching cream Valentino Garavani bag.

Chic: Amal Clooney wore a red and cream mini dress and sunhat as she joined husband George and their twins, 5, on boat during a holiday in Como on Wednesday

And they're off! The Clooneys looked typically chic as they headed out in the sunshine, before boarding a boat to take in the sights

The human rights barrister kept out the sun with an oversized straw hat and dark sunglasses and wore towering cream wedge heels.

Beirut native Amal studied at Oxford University and specialises in international law - which she is permitted to practice both in the US and UK.

George, 61, looked very dapper wearing a navy polo shirt and cream chinos with suede shoes.

Acclaimed: Beirut native Amal studied at Oxford University and specialises in international law - which she is permitted to practice both in the US and UK

Fashion icon: The human rights barrister kept out the sun with an oversized straw hat and dark sunglasses and wore towering cream wedge heels

What a gent: George offered out his hand as he helped Amal onto the boat

Looking good: She looked picture perfect in her Valentino ensemble as she walked alongside some bougainvillea

He could be seen holding hands with his son Alexander, five, while Amal held hands with his twin sister Ella, as they navigated their way down some steep steps.

The Clooneys have a mansion on Lake Como and a sprawling four-acre estate on an island in the middle of the River Thames west of London that includes a 17th century home.

George and Amal met back in 2013 at a dinner party hosted by mutual friends.

The Lebanon native actually met George's parents before he even met her. They married the following year.

Close: George, who looked smart in cream chinos held his son Alexander's hand

Leggy: She elegantly walked across the vessel in her sky high heels as she prepared to make memories with her family

Zipping around: They were surrounded by lots of happy family members and friends

Heading off: The group were certainly making waves as they zoomed across the water

George recently completed filming on the romantic-comedy film Tickets to Paradise opposite Julia Roberts.

Tickets to Paradise will follow a divorced couple who fly to Bali to stop their daughter from making a marriage mistake.

He has an untitled movie that will co-star Brad Pitt that is currently in pre-production. Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts will helm the film.

Property portfolio: The Clooneys have a mansion on Lake Como and a sprawling four-acre estate on an island in the middle of the River Thames west of London that includes a 17th century home

Doting daddy: As the boat trip came to a close, George was seen helping his little girl to get back on dry land

Come along: He kept a watchful eye over him as he headed back along a moveable platform

Happy: Amal had a big smile on her face as she was joined by her friends
Tesla is laying off hundreds of its Autopilot employees as it shuts down its California office in San Mateo, confirms a recent regulatory filing by the carmaker.

The news of its Autopilot workers' layoff first got the shimmer of the spotlight at the end of June when Bloomberg reported it.

By then, sources say that roughly 200 employees from the San Mateo office are reportedly affected by the job cut. The earlier report also says that the giant electric vehicle (EV) maker is shutting one of its offices in California.

Tesla to Lay Off Hundreds of Autopilot Employees

This time, a recent regulatory filing in the state of California has confirmed the latest move of Tesla to cut down its workforce.

As per a news story by Reuters, the automaker owned by no less than Elon Musk plans to lay off more than 200 employees. It comes as its site in San Mateo, California closes its doors permanently.

The news outlet says that the recent filing of the electric car maker revealed that Tesla is letting go a total of 229 employees, who are working in its San Mateo office.

According to the latest report by Tech Crunch, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice confirmed the massive layoffs of Tesla that were first reported last June.

The recent filing also disclosed that the Tesla San Mateo site houses a total of 276 employees.

So, it appears that around 47 workers would remain to be with the renowned EV maker. The rest of the San Mateo office folks are transferring to the Autopilot office of Tesla in Buffalo, Tech Crunch reports, citing anonymous sources close to the situation.

Tesla Autopilot Employees

The employees affected by the latest job cuts of the giant automaker reportedly work on data labeling of the Autopilot system of Tesla.

These folks from the San Mateo office are said to be responsible for checking whether the Autopilot algorithm accurately identifies an object.

Read Also: Elon Musk Vs. Twitter: Tesla CEO Breaks Silence About Possibility to Face Lawsuit With Memes

Tesla Layoff

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Tesla, Musk, previously announced that the giant EV maker is letting go of roughly 10% of its current workforce.

On top of that, the ultra-rich billionaire has reportedly told the top brass of the electric car maker to halt all hiring of new employees. The chief executive also asked them to prepare for looming job cuts.

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Meanwhile, the big boss of Tesla assured its customers and investors that the job cuts would include those working on building its vehicles, solar, and battery packs.

Related Article: Tesla Model S, X Now Only Sells with Key Cards - How to Get Key Fob
Jessica Rowe paid a visit to Government House in Sydney on Wednesday.

And the popular 52-year-old journalist left with a very unexpected souvenir.

Posting a selfie to social media, the former Studio 10 host revealed she had scored a 'doggy bag' of sweets after attending an official function.

Jessica Rowe (picture) paid a visit to Government House in Sydney on Wednesday for the launch of mental health advocacy organisation Flourish Australia

Jessica posed in front of Government House in a vintage-style fluffy green winter coat and floral patterned dress, with an over-sized plastic container of the desserts.

She accessorised her outfit chunky green ear-rings and a pair of lime cat-eye sunglasses.

'A special day at Government House,' Jess wrote beside the images.

'Firstly I got to take home a doggy bag of delicious sweets from the function after trying to squash them in my handbag!

Jessica posed in front of Government House in a vintage-style fluffy green winter coat and floral patterned dress. 'A special day at Government House,' she wrote beside the images. Pictured: Her Excellency, the Honourable Margaret Beazley, Governor of New South Wales (second from right)

'Secondly, I met the marvelous Jonathon Welch (left) and caught up with the fabulous mental health advocate Janet Meagher (middle)'

'Secondly, I met the marvelous Jonathon Welch & caught up with the fabulous mental health advocate Janet Meagher.

'And our wonderful Governor, Her Excellency, the Honourable Margaret Beazley launched the Flourish Australia Foundation.

'A remarkable organisation helping people with a lived experience of mental illness feel supported and meet their everyday challenges.'

'And our wonderful Governor, Her Excellency, the Honourable Margaret Beazley launched the Flourish Australia Foundation. A remarkable organisation helping people with a lived experience of mental illness feel supported and meet their everyday challenges'

Jessica recently shared a revealing post on her birthday last month.

She told followers she loved getting older 'because it beats the alternative'.

'I'm unapologetically myself,' she declared before signing off her message with 'Crap housewife, Happy Birthday'.
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She was spotted looking loved-up with her ex James Lock just two weeks ago.

Yet Megan Barton Hanson appears to have put the brakes on her romance with the TOWIE star, as she was spotted cosying up to a mystery man at a beach club in Marbella on Wednesday.

The OnlyFans star, 28, and the unknown man couldn't keep away from each other as they frolicked on a sun lounger while holidaying in the Spanish tourist hotspot.

New romance? Megan Barton Hanson appears to have put the brakes on her romance with the TOWIE star, as she was spotted cosying up to a mystery man at a beach club in Marbella on Wednesday

The relationship between Megan and the tattooed man is unclear but the duo were certainly putting on a very flirty display, as they whispered in each other's ears and sipped cocktails.

The former Love Island contestant looked red hot in a skimpy tie-dye print bikini which highlighted her surgically enhanced assets and slim physique.

Megan's beach look was completed with a matching cover-up, while she accessorised with a selection of silver chain necklaces and a belly bar.

Sizzling: The former Love Island contestant looked red hot in a skimpy tie-dye print bikini which highlighted her surgically enhanced assets and slim physique

Don't say it's over? Megan was spotted looking loved-up with her ex James Lock just two weeks ago (pictured)

Playful: The OnlyFans star, 28, and the unknown man couldn't keep away from each other as they frolicked on a sun lounger while holidaying in the Spanish tourist hot spot

Starry eyed: The mystery guy gazed adoringly at Megan

Sweet nothings: The man was seen whispering into Megan's ear

Megan wore her long blonde hair swept back into a ponytail, while short bangs framed her pretty face which had been covered in a soft coverage of make-up.

Megan and her companion were soaking up the rays together and the pair appeared to be having a great time in each other's company during the day out.

The outing will no doubt cause confusion, after Megan appeared to have rekindled her tumultuous romance with James, as they were seen holdings hands on a trip to the Costa del Sol last month.

Chilling: The relationship between Megan and the tattooed man is unclear but the duo were certainly putting on a very flirty display, as they whispered in each other's ears and sipped cocktails

Blonde bombshell: Megan wore her long blonde hair swept back into a ponytail, while short bangs framed her pretty face which had been covered in a soft coverage of make-up

Cocktail o'clock! Megan sipped on a glass of Pina Colada as they enjoyed a boozy afternoon in the sun

Wowza! Megan's lithe pins were on full display in the skimpy swimwear

Megan and the TOWIE star, 35, previously split up following a hotel room bust-up in March.

But it recently appeared their romance is back on as they put on a cosy display during their outing, with James wrapping his arm around the glamour model.

The pair appeared in good spirits, with James leaning in to give Megan a kiss on the forehead as they soaked up the Spanish sun.

Chatty: They were seen laughing and chatting while lying on the beds

Ha! Megan appeared very amused by something her male companion had said

Their reunion comes after Megan was reportedly left terrified after her hotel room door was 'kicked in' during a heated row with James in March.

According to The Sun, the reality star alerted the hotel staff who dialled 999, with police spotted arriving by onlookers at the hotel shortly after.

Megan had been staying at the 350-a-night Courthouse Hotel in central London, after she enjoyed a date with another reality star at the same club where James was also partying.

Megan was leaving a nightclub at 1.30am with Life On Marbs star Adam Graham shortly after her ex James arrived with a mystery women.

Yes please! A waiter arrived with a tray of drinks

Laugh a minute! Megan appeared to have forgotten all about her romance with James

Perky! Megan flashed her peachy behind in the skimpy bikini bottoms

Things then reportedly took a serious turn hours later when it is believed that TOWIE star James was informed of Megan's room number.

A source told the publication: 'At one point, the hotel door was kicked. There was a lot of shouting. Megan was shocked. It was all very aggressive'.

The source believed James was handed a key by staff after he showed them photos of himself and Megan.

The insider added: 'This all happened in broad daylight in a busy hotel. It was very dramatic and Megan's hotel door was damaged in the chaos'.

James and Megan ended their relationship for the second time earlier this year and both later stepped out with new romantic interests.

Loving touch: The man appeared to be giving Megan a massage

Pay up: Megan was seen handing over her debit card to pay for the drinks

Splashing the cash! He was counting a series of 50 euro notes

Adam found fame on the 2015 reality series Life On Marbs, which followed the lives of millionaire businessmen, former models and privileged club promoters living the high life in Marbella.

The on-off pair went Instagram official with their rollercoaster romance in October last year after meeting on Celebrity Ex On The Beach, but their union lasted just two months before they split after Christmas.

They reunited when James gifted Megan with a cake shaped like her breasts.

While Megan was said to be 'upset' over what happened, it was claimed pals think their 'weird connection' meant this may not be the end.

Smiley: Megan and her male companion appeared to be in high spirits

Puffing away: Megan held a lit cigarette in her hand

Why you smiling? The man couldn't wipe the grin off his face

A source told OK! magazine: 'She knows it's for the best and they've realised the best thing for them to do is to call it a day.

'But friends of the couple said that they have this weird connection and they can't keep away from each other, so they wouldn't be surprised if they got back together.

James previously did not rule out a relationship with Megan in the future, with the pair remaining 'close friends' following their split.

Happy: Megan and the mystery guy's outing comes just weeks after she was spotted with James

Rearranging! Megan sorted out her bikini top to cover her modesty

Texting: He was seen scrolling on his phone while lying on the bed

Hanging out: They were surrounded by a group of other sunbathers

Cosy: Megan and the man were not shy about showing their affection for each other

Beach babe: Megan was seen strolling alongside the shirtless man

In an interview with The Sun he confessed: 'I'd love to have Megan as a girlfriend, she's a great girl, she ticks all the boxes, but we never actually labelled it.

'With me and Megan, even though we both found each other attractive, I can't speak for Megan but I've always found her stunning, I didn't know if I was her normal type either but then we connected quite soon into the show.'

He added Megan made his experience on Ex On The Beach a lot 'more bearable' as the pair share a 'strong bond'.

James was forced to break the news of his new relationship to ex-girlfriend Yazmin Oukhellou during scenes filmed for the last series of TOWIE.

Yazmin is currently recovering from a shocking car crash which killed her on/off boyfriend Jake McLean last week.

Inking: The man had two tattooed sleeves and an inking across his chest

Cute! Megan and the guy walked with their arms around each other

Larking about: Megan leaned over while her companion laid face down on the bed

Casual: Megan was seen sweeping her hair back into a ponytail

Chilling: They kicked back on the sun lounger together

In the mood for romance? They couldn't take their eyes off each other
She was often in the spotlight during her near year-long relationship with Ben Affleck.

And now Ana de Armas has revealed the scrutiny that came as a result of her dating the 49-year-old A-lister made her move out of Los Angeles.

The 34-year-old Cuban and Spanish actress graced the cover of the August 2022 issue of Elle magazine where she got candid about her high-profile romance with Jennifer Lopez's current fiance.

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Interesting: Ana de Armas has revealed the scrutiny that came as a result of her dating Ben Affleck made her move out of Los Angeles, they are seen together in LA back i

Stunning: The 34-year-old Cuban and Spanish actress graced the cover of the August 2022 issue of Elle magazine where she got candid about her high-profile romance

Ana did not pull any punches in the interview with Marisa Meltzer as she said the attention that she had received as a result of dating one of the most famous men in Hollywood was 'horrible.'

It did seem to be a blessing in disguise however as she explained: 'Yeah, which is good. That's one of the reasons why I left LA.'

The Knives Out actress had lived in the City of Angels for seven years but said that seeing the way celebrities were followed made her rethink her living situation.

'That's one of the reasons why I left LA': Ana did not pull any punches in the interview with Marisa Meltzer as she said the attention that she had received as a result of dating one of the most famous men in Hollywood was 'horrible,' her and Ben are seen in April 2020

'It became a little bit too much. Theres no escape.': Ana and Ben were first romantically linked in early 2020 after meeting on set of Deep Water (pictured) - which was released earlier this year - in New Orleans

Back again: The Gone Girl actor eventually moved on to rekindle a romance with Jennifer Lopez after nearly 20 years and confirmed their engagement in April, they are seen in LA earlier this month

Swiped right: Ana has also moved on to a new boyfriend and a new city as she currently lives with Tinder executive beau Paul Boukadkis in New York, they are seen together in December

She said: 'Going through it [myself] confirmed my thoughts about, "This is not the place for me to be.

'It became a little bit too much. Theres no escape. Theres no way out. It's always the feeling of something that you dont have, something missing. Its a city that keeps you anxious.'

Ana and Ben were first romantically linked in early 2020 after meeting on set of Deep Water - which was released earlier this year - in New Orleans.

Wow factor: In one of the dreamy black and white snaps, Ana looked absolutely gorgeous as she donned a Louis Vuitton bikini featuring high-waisted bottoms while lounging on a wooden deck overlooking a lake

Hot: There was also another stunning snap of herself laying out on sheets over the deck while wearing a clinging corset from Fleur du Mal with matching Negative Underwear briefs

Inspired: There were also a series of snaps from what looked like the inside of an RV which gave it a real vintage feel

Wonder in white: In one of the images, the Cuban-born stunner scintillated in a white ribbed Flora and Henri tank top and matching Negative Underwear briefs with sneakers from Celine by Hedi Slimane as she posed seductively by the window

Leggy lady: She sported an oversized grey hoodie from Celine by Hedi Slimane

Gorgeous: Ana somehow posed seductively while doing a puzzle

They ultimately split 'mutually and amicably' according to a People report from January 2021 as sources claimed Ana didn't want to be tied to Los Angeles, where Ben has to be based for his kids.

'Ben is no longer dating Ana,' the source told the publication. 'She broke it off. Their relationship was complicated. Ana doesn't want to be Los Angeles based and Ben obviously has to since his kids live in Los Angeles.'

The Gone Girl actor eventually moved on to rekindle a romance with Jennifer Lopez after nearly 20 years and confirmed their engagement in April.

Stylish: She donned a long black coat from Gabriela Hearst as she showcased her legs along with a pair of knee-high Louis Vuitton boots

Warming up: She wrapped up in a monogrammed Louis Vuitton blanket

Fit: She donned a SKIMS bodysuit tucked into tie up jeans from The Attico

Ana has also moved on to a new boyfriend and a new city as she currently lives with Tinder executive beau Paul Boukadkis in New York.

The Blade Runner 2049 star looked absolutely stunning in the accompanying photoshoot snapped by photographer Christian Macdonald.

In one of the dreamy black and white snaps, Ana looked absolutely gorgeous as she donned a Louis Vuitton bikini featuring high-waisted bottoms while lounging on a wooden deck overlooking a lake.

There was also another stunning snap of herself laying out on sheets over the deck while wearing a clinging corset from Fleur du Mal with matching Negative Underwear briefs

In color: On the front of the publication Ana - who was styled by Alex White - looked fashionable in a blue, yellow, and white striped Louis Vuitton polo shirt dress with rings from Marie-Helene de Taillac

There were also a series of snaps from what looked like the inside of an RV which gave it a real vintage feel.

In one of the images, the Cuban-born stunner scintillated in a white ribbed Flora and Henri tank top and matching Negative Underwear briefs with sneakers from Celine by Hedi Slimane as she posed seductively by the window.

On the front of the publication Ana - who was styled by Alex White - looked fashionable in a blue, yellow, and white striped Louis Vuitton polo shirt dress with rings from Marie-Helene de Taillac.

Ana can soon be seen alongside Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Rege-Jean Page, Alfre Woodard, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jessica Henwick in action flick The Gray Man which is set for release in the US and UK on Friday.
Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill Rancic celebrated 15 years of marriage by returning to the Italian church where they tied the knot.

The 47-year-old Fashion Police vet exchanged vows with Bill at the Santa Sofia church on the island of Capri on September 1, 2007.

And she revealed on Instagram this Wednesday that they have gone back to visit the picturesque locale with their little son Duke, nine.

Family photo: Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill celebrated 15 years of marriage by bringing their son Duke, nine, to the Italian church where they tied the knot

Giuliana, who was born to an Italian family in Naples, posted a heartwarming wedding picture of her and Bill emerging from the church to her Insta Stories.

They have returned to the spot multiple times over the years, including to celebrate first nine and then 12 years of marriage.

She posted snaps of their past visits and followed them up with a picture of herself, Bill and Edward in front of the main door 'now.'

Giuliana also shared some new video footage she took of a charming evening scene in the Piazza Di Anacapri, where the church is located.

Throwback: The 47-year-old Fashion Police vet exchanged vows with Bill at the Santa Sofia church on the island of Capri on September 1, 2007

Through the years: They have returned to the spot multiple times over the years, including to celebrate first nine and then 12 years of marriage

'This is the church Bill and I were married in 15 years ago in September,' she could be heard saying behind the camera.

Bill could briefly be seen showing Duke around in one of Giuliana's videos, which she set to the classic Dean Martin song That's Amore.

Over the course of her Insta Stories she threw in a snap of a lavishly designed outdoor tile bench as an example of 'Beauty everywhere in Anacapri.'

Giuliana, who moved to America at age seven with her family, has retained her grasp of the Italian language and even passed it down to her son.

History: Bill, who shot to fame as the winner of season one of The Apprentice, first met Giuliana in 2004 and within a few years they were married

Fab: Giuliana also shared some new video footage she took of a charming evening scene in the Piazza Di Anacapri, where the church is located

'He speaks Italian, Spanish and English. His accent is amazing so he's always heard it,' she revealed in a People interview a few years ago.

Bill shot to fame as the winner of season one of The Apprentice in 2004, when young Giuliana DePandi was a rising on-air interviewer.

She found herself interviewing Bill for E! News in 2005 and viewers could watch an instant chemistry develop between him when she asked him about his love life.

At one point he said with a flirtatious grin: 'I might be too old for you. You need those young guys, right? Those young California surfers.'

'We just love this church so much': Bill could briefly be seen showing Duke around in one of Giuliana's videos, which she set to the classic Dean Martin song That's Amore

Having a ball: Over the course of her Insta Stories she threw in a snap of a lavishly designed outdoor tile bench as an example of 'Beauty everywhere in Anacapri'

'Ugh, no!' Giuliana said, cringing and flirting right back that she was in the market for 'a businessman. Oh, yeah, no, you're great.'

At the end of the interview they jokily made a date to go see what was then the new movie Closer - and after their segment was cut, Bill was caught on camera genuinely asking Giuliana out to an NBC party.

A relationship blossomed between the two of them and by the end of 2006 they were engaged, marrying the following year.

'I might be too old for you': She found herself interviewing Bill for E! News in 2005 and viewers could watch an instant chemistry develop between him when she asked him about his love life

Making a move: At the end of the interview they jokily made a date to go see what was then the new movie Closer - and after their segment was cut he asked her out for real to an NBC party

They struggled with fertility for years and went through multiple tries of IVF - including one that ended in a miscarriage - before welcoming Duke via surrogate.

During the process of trying to get pregnant, Giuliana discovered she had breast cancer, and in 2011 she underwent a double mastectomy.

When Duke was a baby, Giuliana attracted a touch of controversy told Us Weekly: 'For us, I find, we put our marriage first and our child second, because the best thing we can do for him is have a strong marriage.'

As seen in 2009: A relationship blossomed between the two of them and by the end of 2006 they were engaged, marrying the following year

She has not shied away from offering marriage advice over the years, saying around the time of her 10th anniversary: 'We have fun together, thats it.'

Giuliana added: 'We do everything together. We dont do his and hers vacations, I think thats the beginning of the end in many cases. We genuinely like each other, which I think is pretty important, and love each other. But we love spending time with each other and we have a lot of fun.'

Back in 2010, just three years after they tied the knot, they published a marriage advice book entitled I Do, Now What?.
They're finally set to tie the knot in August, after delaying the nuptials for a year after the birth of their son Roman.

And on Tuesday, Marcel Somerville confirmed which celeb pals will be at his upcoming wedding in Portugal, and revealed that he and fiancee Rebecca Vieira are planning to have another baby.

The former Love Island star, 36, and businesswoman Rebecca, 25, will be hosting his former co-stars Sam Gowland and Jonny Mitchell, as well as X Factor star Jake Quickenden on their big day.

Plans! On Tuesday, Marcel Somerville, 36, confirmed which celeb pals will be at his upcoming wedding, and revealed that he and fiancee Rebecca Vieira are planning to have another baby

One person asked Marcel who from Love Island will be there when he ties the knot, to which he announced: 'These two legends,' with a photograph of Sam and Jonny.

The reality star wrote beneath: 'My brothers, can't wait to share the day with you both again.'

Another Instagram follower asked the groom-to-be: 'Are Jake and Jamie going to the wedding?'

Marcel responded with a photograph of himself with the duo and revealed: 'Jake Quickenden is coming. Jamie Jewitt can't make it unfortunately.'

Reunion: The former Love Island star, 36, and businesswoman Rebecca, 25, will be hosting his former co-stars Sam Gowland and Jonny Mitchell

Famous friends: They will also have X Factor star Jake Quickenden on their big day, but Jamie Jewitt is unable to be at the wedding

Asked by one fan to share 'everything' on his wedding day to social media, the Blazing Squad alum revealed they will be using a hashtag.

He wrote: 'Can't lie I think I'm gonna be too busy enjoying the day to document it but there will be a hashtag that you can type in to see what other people are posting.'

When asked: 'Are any more children on the horizon?' Marcel gushed: 'After the wedding, we're 100 per cent making Roman a sibling.'

Next month! Marcel confirmed his wedding is being held next month

Family planning: The Blazing Squad alum revealed he and Rebecca want more children

Marcel and Rebecca met in a London nightclub in 2018 and had been together for 14 months when they discovered she was pregnant.

Media personality Marcel announced he was expecting his first child in July 2020, and popped the question a month later during their baby shower.

The former Love Islander then welcomed a baby boy called Roman, now one, with his partner in February 2021.

Last March, one month after welcoming their son, Marcel revealed his Portugal wedding to fiancee Rebecca was being postponed from August 2021.
Fans of Jersey Shore will have to wait even longer to see the new version of the hit reality show.

According to a Wednesday report from TMZ, the new show Jersey Shore 2.0 has halted production.

While MTV has not yet given a reason why, sources told the publication that cast issues shut it down.

On the back burner: Fans of Jersey Shore will have to wait even longer to see the new and improved version of the hit reality show

The gossip site also reported that last week multiple SUVs filled with production equipment were seen outside of the New Jersey residence where the cast was set to stay.

However, all of that was packed up over the weekend leaving the house empty.

MTV has still not released a cast list for the show though the company revealed previously that it would feature an all-new cast.

Moving on: TMZ also reported that last week multiple SUVs filled with production equipment were seen outside of the New Jersey residence where the cast was set to stay though they were gone over the weekend

Production halt: According to TMZ , the new show Jersey Shore 2.0 has halted production. The original cast pictured 2019: Jennifer 'JWoww' Farley, Clayton Carpinello, Deena Cortese, Christopher Buckner, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Lauren Pesce, Angelina Pivarnick and Chris Larangeira

Moving on from the old stars: MTV has still not released a cast list for the show though the company revealed previously that it would feature an all-new cast

The original cast members on the show weren't happy to hear about the reboot and even took to social media to voice their frustrations.

'As a cast that took a chance with a network in need, we put our most vulnerable moments on television for the world to see,' the group wrote in a joint statement.

'We gave our all over the past 13 years, became a family and continue to open our lives for the world.

'So please understand that we are not in support of a version that will exploit our original show, our hard work and authenticity to gain viewers.'

The statement ended with a reminder for people to watch Jersey Shore Family Vacation.

Unhappy: The original cast members on the show weren't happy to hear about the reboot and even took to social media to voice their frustrations

Beloved program: Jersey Shore premiered back in December 2009. Six seasons were released over the course of just three years with the show's finale premiering in December 2012 (pictured 2012)

Jersey Shore premiered back in December 2009. Six seasons were released over the course of just three years with the show's finale premiering in December 2012.

The original cast featured Paul D, JWoww, Vinny Guadagnino, Snooki and Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino.

The original members of the cast came back together for the first season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation when it came out back in 2018.
They divorced in 2016 after eight years of marriage.

But Nick Cannon would be open to rekindling things with his ex-wife Mariah Carey under the right circumstances.

The 41-year-old spoke fondly of his 'fantasy love' ex and how no other love would ever compare during an appearance on The Hot Tee Talk Show.

'It was literally like a fairy tale': Nick Cannon said he would be open to rekindling his romance with ex-wife Mariah Carey; pictured October 2008

Cannon named Carey as an ex he would reconcile with during a game on the show called 'Spin The Block.'

The Wild 'N Out host spoke highly of her current boyfriend, long-time partner Bryan Tanaka, and just how 'amazing' Tanaka was with the children Cannon shares with Mariah, 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe.

Yet he could no deny Mariah was his 'fantasy love.'

'I truly respect her, the relationship that she's been in for quite some time, and you know dude is amazing with my kids, and we got family gatherings... I truly respect her, but c'mon, that's my fantasy love. That's somebody I will always love,' he explained.

Always be my baby! The 41-year-old spoke fondly of his 'fantasy love' ex and how no other love would ever compare during an appearance on The Hot Tee Talk Show

'That's my fantasy love': Cannon named Carey as an ex he would reconcile with during a game on the show called 'Spin The Block'

'I guess because I'm a true romantic, I'm a true believer in love, and I allow the capsules of love to be where they lie. And I'm not a timeline dude, I believe time is man made, we make it linear when I believe it's more reciprocal.

'I will never have a love like I have with Mariah. And I appreciate that. And that's the thing, where the issue sometimes with spinning the block... sometimes the fantasy of spinning the block, it'll never be what you think it'll be.'

Nick said he would hesitate getting back with Mariah on the chance they would mess up their 'fairy tale' connection.

'It was literally like a fairy tale with Mariah so I'd rather it be that way and I appreciate that fantasy because if I tried to go back and it wasn't the same, like damn, I messed it up.

Family unit: Carey and Cannon share two children together, 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe; pictured 2018

'But, if I had the opportunity to, if it could be the way that it was, I'm there! Always be my baby!' Nick said. 'Don't forget about us! We belong together!' he added, referencing her hit tracks.

Nick has only been married once and that was to Mariah. They tied the knot in 2008 before officially splitting in 2016.

The actor is now expecting two more children with two different women.

Matters of the heart: Nick has only been married once and that was to Mariah. They tied the knot in 2008 before officially splitting in 2016; pictured 2017

Cannon currently has six children: twins Moroccan and Monroe, 11, with ex-wife Mariah; Golden, five, and Powerful Queen, 19 months, with Brittany Bell; and twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, 13 months, with Abby De La Rosa.

In December 2021, the rapper's five-month-old son, Zen, who he shared with Alyssa Scott, passed away from a malignant brain tumor.

In January, Cannon announced he is expecting an eighth child with model Bre Tiesi, and he has since announced he is also expecting his ninth with De La Rosa.

It was recently revealed that Nick - who once dismissed monogamy as a 'Eurocentric concept' - is expecting his ninth child around October 25, according to TMZ.
Wendy Williams gave a wild interview this week where she touched on not only the finale of her eponymous daytime talk show and how to wants to open a restaurant, but she also touched on her sexual needs.

The former radio star said she was not a fan of her talk show's finale. The television personality, 57, she told the New York Post. 'There was nothing I liked about the [final episode of] Wendy Williams Show,' she said.

And the star also raised eyebrows when she shared her hopes for her love life: 'I would love to fall in love. I want to f**k.'

Not a fan: Wendy Williams gave a wild interview this week where she touched on not only the finale of her eponymous daytime talk show and how to wants to open a restaurant, but she also touched on her sexual needs; seen in 2014

It has been a difficult end to her long-running hit show.

While she headlined the program from 2008 until earlier this year, the New Jersey native did not appear in the final episode of the show.

Instead of Williams, guest host Sherri Shepherd hosted it. She had stepped in back in February to take over for Williams while she dealt with a number of chronic illnesses.

In June, TMZ reported that Williams had almost completely lost feeling in her feet due to lymphedema, a disease caused by a blockage in the lymphatic system.

Opening up: The television personality, 57, talked about the unfortunate ending to her nationally syndicated television show in an interview with the New York Post (pictured 2018)

Longtime host: While she headlined the program from 2008 until earlier this year, the New Jersey native didn't appear in the final episode of the show

She's also dealing with Graves disease, an immune disorder caused by an overproduction of thyroid hormones.

The disorder caused her to faint on-air back in 2017.

When asked why she didn't host the final episode of the series, she responded by telling the outlet that the production company Debmar-Mercury didn't asked her to.

'Debmar-Mercury, in my opinion, should have done it with [me], not these other people on The Wendy Williams Show,' the star said. 'Except for Fat Joe.'

Lots of issues: She's also dealing with Graves disease, an immune disorder caused by an overproduction of thyroid hormones (pictured 2019)

Endorsement: 'Debmar-Mercury, in my opinion, should have done it with [me], not these other people on The Wendy Williams Show,' Williams said. 'Except for Fat Joe'

Fat Joe is a rapper who filled in on the show a number of times for Williams over the years.

Williams also talked about moving on to new things such as a podcast in the interview.

'If youre extremely famous like I am, [hosting a podcast] will make more money than being on The Wendy Williams Show,' she said.

She continued, 'What I want to do is podcast, and I want to have a restaurant.'

The Think Like a Man star also said she's looking to get lucky in her personal life.

'If I dont do anything else, including podcast, I would love to fall in love. I want to f**k,' she joked. 'Excuse me, Im gorgeous. Can I f**k?'

She is single after divorcing Kevin Hunter in 2019.
Jennifer Aniston indulged in a little pampering on Wednesday, as she was spotted leaving a hair salon in Beverly Hills with fresh golden tresses.

The actress, 53, covered up her blonde hair with a wide brim sun hat and bared her toned arms and flat tummy in a simple black tank top.

She seemed to be in good spirits, despite her recent Emmy snub. Meanwhile Reese Witherspoon, 46 - who stars with her on The Morning Show - celebrated her nomination on Tuesday and gushed about being 'honored to be acknowledged.'

Hair day: Jennifer Aniston indulged in a little pampering on Wednesday, as she was spotted leaving a hair salon in Beverly Hills with fresh golden tresses

Aniston paired her casual look with light denim pants with the ankles rolled up for a more trendy look.

Brad Pitt's ex-wife finalized her outfit of the day with slim-strap tan flip flops that showcased her classy bright red pedicure.

The beauty shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of oversized sunglasses and wore a black purse slung over her shoulder.

Stunner: The actress, 53, covered up her blonde hair with a wide brim sun hat and bared her toned arms and flat tummy in a simple black tank top

Trendy: The star paired her casual look with light denim pants with the ankles rolled up for a more trendy look

The Golden Globe Award winner kept things minimal for the day, opting to go without any accessories.

She did, however, keep hydrated in the California sun with a bottle of water, which she carried in her hand along with a pair of reading glasses.

The Los Angeles native flashed a hint of a smile while leaving the salon after a two-hour visit, as she made her way to the car before driving off.

Sunny day: The beauty shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of oversized sunglasses and wore a black purse slung over her shoulder

Unbothered: The Los Angeles native flashed a hint of a smile while leaving the salon after a two-hour visit and seemed to be in good spirits, despite her recent Emmy snub

Though she was previously nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series in 2020 - for her performance in The Morning Show - Aniston was left off the list for the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

However, her co-star Reese - whose Hello Sunshine production company serves as producer for the show - made this year's cut.

Witherspoon took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, posting a still of her from the show and writing: 'I'm so honored to be acknowledged. Love this show and this team so much!'

Staying hydrated: She kept hydrated in the California sun with a bottle of water, which she carried in her hand along with a pair of reading glasses

Off she goes: The beauty was seen getting into her vehicle and driving off

In another post she also thanked the Television Academy for the nomination, writing: 'Thank you to everyone in the @televisionacad for the Emmy nomination for @themorningshow!'

In January, Apple TV+ renewed The Morning Show for a third season.

The series is led by Witherspoon (Bradley Jackson) and Aniston (Alex Levy) - two anchors on a popular yet toxic morning news program (The Morning Show) out of Manhattan.

Celebrating: Reese Witherspoon, 46 - who stars with Aniston on The Morning Show - celebrated her nomination on Tuesday and gushed about being 'honored to be acknowledged'

Thankful: She also thanked the Television Academy for the nomination writing: 'Thank you to everyone in the @televisionacad for the Emmy nomination for @themorningshow!'

The all-star cast also includes Julianna Margulies, Billy Crudup, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Desean Terry, Mark Duplass, Hasan Minhaj, Nestor Carbonell, Bel Powley, Janina Gavankar, Tom Irwin and Marcia Gay Harden.

The show's first and second seasons covered timely topics such as a sexual misconduct scandal involving Steve Carell's character amid the #MeToo movement, racial reckonings, the presidential election, and COVID-19.

Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland and Fosse/Verdon) will take over as showrunner and executive producer for the new season, replacing Kerry Ehrin, who will continue as a consultant.
They sat with one another at the Wimbledon Mens Singles final on Sunday.

And Andrew Garfield and his millionaire art dealer friend Vito Schnabel were reunited once again on Wednesday as they relaxed in style on a luxury yacht during the Ischia Global Festival.

Spiderman star, Andrew, 38, appeared to be in great spirits as he soaked up the sun aboard the boat with Vito, 35, and several other male companions.

All aboard! Andrew Garfield, 38, looked cut a causal figure in Italy as he relaxed in style on a luxury yacht during the Ischia Global Festival

Wearing a classic Adidas T-shirt and a pair of khaki sweatpants, Hollywood icon Andrew appeared to be savouring every second of his downtime.

The handsome tick, tick...BOOM! actor took completed his summer attire with a classic pair of shades as he attended to his phone on one occasion.

Appearing in a reflective mood, actor and producer Vito went for a more dressy look - donning a blue shirt and navy shorts as he spent time on deck.

BFF's: Andrew and his millionaire art dealer friend Vito Schnabel were reunited once again on as they relaxed in style on the luxury yacht

Busy man: The handsome tick, tick...BOOM! actor took completed his summer attire with a classic pair of shades as he attended to his phone on one occasion

Going for a natural look on the day, Vito sported his thick brunette hair with a slight wave in a casual cool swept-back do.

He teamed the look with a black pair of shades as he appeared pensive putting his hands on his hips at one stage in deep thought.

The close pals were also joined by three other male friends as they soaked up the sun in The Mediterranean.

Suave: Going for a natural look on the day, Vito sported his thick brunette hair with a slight wave in a casual cool swept-back do

The talented star, who recently announced that he is taking a break from acting, is in Ischia because he is set to speak at the festival on Friday and is set to be honoured on Saturday night.

At the beginning of April, Andrew's ex-girlfriend Alyssa Miller, 33, hit out at those 'gossiping' amid claims that the couple had split.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the model, shared an unseen photo from February's Screen Actors Guild Awards alongside a cryptic caption.

Refusing to confirm if they were together or not, she simply penned: 'If you must gossip at least use a cute photo. Lol love you AG.'

While Alyssa's post proved she has nothing but love for the actor, a source told People that the couple have not reconciled and are just friendly exes since splitting.

Their appearance at February's awards ceremony is the last time the former couple were pictured together.

Earlier in the week it was reported that the couple had called it quits as their respective work schedules made it 'hard to see each other.'

Time off: The close pals were also joined by several other male friends as they soaked up the sun in The Mediterranean

Andrew was first linked to the American model last November when they were spotted holding hands in New York City.

The actor previously had a four-year relationship with his Amazing Spider-Man co-star Emma Stone that ended in April 2015.

Back in April, in an interview with Variety around the same time, Andrew said he will be stepping back from acting in order to 'rest for a little bit' and 'be a bit ordinary'.

The actor - who had several high-profile projects in 2021 - confessed: 'I need to recalibrate and reconsider what I want to do next and who I want to be, and just be a bit of a person for a while.'
Axie Infinity suffered a massive breach that led to a $620 million crypto loss.

The hack happened on March 23, 2022 but was only discovered days later by the Sky Mavis team on March 29.

The former system of the company did not have a good tracking system for monitoring huge outflows from the bridge, hence the breach wasn't noticed right away.

The attacker was successful in gaining possession of five of the nine validator private keys in order to fabricate false withdrawals.

This included four Sky Mavis validators and one Axie DAO validator. As a consequence of this, 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC were removed from the Ronin bridge across two separate transactions.

Axie Infinity Hack: How it Happened

Axie Infinity admitted and released a blog that thoroughly explained how that massive hacking was made possible in their system.

According to BleepingComputer, the threat actors made contact with employees at Sky Mavis through LinkedIn, pretending to be a company that was hiring employees.

One of the senior engineers working for Axie Infinity expressed interest in the phony job offer owing to the extremely lucrative salary. The engineer applied and went through several rounds of interviews for the position.

After a long series of interviews, the engineer applying for the position was given a PDF file that contained information regarding the project.

Unknowingly, the document was the hackers' entry point into the Ronin systems, which is the Ethereum-linked sidechain that provides support for the online NFT video game Axie Infinity.

After downloading and opening the file on the computer provided by the fake hiring company, it started a chain reaction that resulted in an infection that allowed the hackers to break into Ronin's systems and corrupt one Axie DAO validator and four token validators.

The Axie Infinity hack was discovered by the FBI to be caused by the state-sponsored group of malicious threat actors from North Korea, named Lazarus Group.

Read Also: Defi Kingdoms Free NFT Game: How to Earn, Is It Better Than Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity's Refund

Axie Infinity employees are vulnerable to spear-phishing and social engineering attacks on a lot of social platforms. And that has been proven true with this crypto hacking.

The hack happened because there was a vulnerability in the validator nodes, Axie Infinity stated that for the hack not to happen again, they will be increasing the validating nodes on the Ronin Network.

Again, during the breach, the company only had nine validator nodes. However, the company stated that they have added three more validator nodes.

The NFT game also stated that in the next three months, they plan to reach 21 validator nodes and a long-term plan of having 100.

To prevent the company from being hacked again, they stated that part of their security plan is to deploy even stricter internal procedures.

They are conducting a thorough examination of the entirety of the security system, including all of their internal processes.

Axie Infinity stated, "We are putting a strong emphasis on security for all employees which includes more robust training courses to combat external threats and the use of work-only devices to further mitigate risks."

As reported by The Block, Sky Mavis completed a funding round that brought in $150 million and was led by Binance.

The profits from the exploit will be used, together with the company's own finances, to compensate users who were negatively impacted by the vulnerability.

A recent announcement made by the firm stated that it would begin giving people back their money on June 28.

Related Article: Axie Infinity Price Crash Prediction: Experts Warn Potential Collapse
Anneka Rice looked sensational as she attended the press night for Anything Goes on Wednesday.

The TV presenter, 63 showed off her youthful looks as she arrived to the event in a light blue denim shirt and navy jeans.

Smiling for the cameras, the Challenge Anneka star also wore a dark green hat and a pair of black trainers.

Pose: Anneka Rice showed off her youthful looks as she attended the press night for Anything Goes on Wednesday

Wearing her blonde locks in a poker straight style, Anneka completed her look with a light palette of makeup.

Also in attendance at the show was actress Fay Ripley who looked radiant in a burgundy midi dress and tan heels.

Harry Potter star Zoe Wanamaker opted for a black floral jumpsuit as she attended the show alongside her husbad, fellow actor Gawn Grainger.

Former Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham opted for a white blouse and matching skirt, completing her look with matching sandals and a navy handbag.

Candid: Anneka recently revealed that looking at photos of herself recently left her feeling 'horrified', but added that she doesn't feel any different now than she did 30 years ago (pictured in 1989)

Outfit: The presenter sported a light blue denim shirt and navy jeans along with a dark green hat

It comes after Anneka revealed that looking at photos of herself recently left her feeling 'horrified', but added that she doesn't feel any different now than she did 30 years ago.

The star made the comments as her most prolific 90s programme, Challenge Anneka, is set to return to the UK's screens.

During episodes of the show, which ran on the BBC between 1989 and 1995, Anneka and her team of volunteers would take on complicated tasks against the clock, usually to raise money for charity.

Famous challenges, which she usually undertook while donning her trademark blue and pink jumpsuit, included the building of a swimming pool for orphaned seals and putting up a suspension bridge in Cornwall.

Looking good: Also in attendance at the show was actress Fay Ripley who looked radiant in a burgundy midi dress and tan heels

Couple: Harry Potter star Zoe Wanamaker opted for a black floral jumpsuit as she attended the show alongside her husbad, fellow actor Gawn Grainger

Outfit: Former Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham opted for a white blouse and matching skirt, completing her look with matching sandals and a navy handbag

Speaking in an interview with the Times, Anneka discussed how she has changed over the last three decades.

When told she still looked the same as when the show was first on television, she replied: 'Look at those photos [we have just taken]. I was horrified.'

However, she added: 'But the thing is I dont really feel any different.'

Return: Anneka made the comments as her most prolific 90s programme, Challenge Anneka, is set to return to the UK's screens

Speaking about why the programme has been recommissioned, she said she believes it's because the people now working in TV grew up watching the show.

'I think its that the people who are now making television programmes remember it,' she explained.

'They were kids then. Now they've got the power. The commissioners at all these channels grew up on Challenge.'

Anneka announced in May that she would once again be fronting the programme, saying she hopes that the relaunched show will help to challenge stereotypes about gender roles on television, just as her original show did for female presenters.
Heather Rae Young is pregnant with her first child with 40-year-old husband Tarek El Moussa.

The 35-year-old Selling Sunset star shared the news with People on Wednesday as she showed off her baby bump in a silk slip dress.

'It was a huge shock,' the blonde beauty shared with the site. 'We just weren't expecting this. We had just gone through IVF. We had embryos on ice. We had a plan.'

With child: Heather Rae Young is pregnant with her first child with husband Tarek El Moussa. The 35-year-old Selling Sunset star shared the news with People on Wednesday as she showed off her baby bump in a silk slip dress; seen June 20

In the images, Tarek is seen kissing her baby bump while they are on a sandy beach.

Also present are the two children Tarek had with ex-wife Christina Hall: daughter Taylor, 11 and son Brayden, six.

Heather, who is due next year, said she is thrilled with the great news.

'I think when you least expect it and there's no stress in your life, the world just brought us what was meant to be. I'm so excited that it happened like this,' explained the real estate agent.

She started dating Tarek in 2019 and they wed in 2021.

Surprise: 'It was a huge shock,' the blonde beauty shared with the site. 'We just weren't expecting this. We had just gone through IVF. We had embryos on ice. We had a plan'; seen June 24

She was happy to be the 'bonus mom' to her stepkids and did not think they would try to have babies.

But she told People: 'As your love grows more and more and you fall deeper in love with someone and you build this life together, I started picturing myself having a child with Tarek. I started thinking I just wanted to create something with the man that I'm in love with.'

They also shared how they found out they were expecting.

Such joy: Heather, who is due next year, said she is thrilled with the great news. 'I think when you least expect it and there's no stress in your life, the world just brought us what was meant to be. I'm so excited that it happened like this,' explained the real estate agent. Seen on June 5

Tarek explained he felt Heather was pregnant so he asked her to take a test. She took two. 'Both came out 'undetected,' she said. 'I said, "Oh, I must have done it wrong."'

She took one more test. 'I was organizing my clothes. I was just doing other things, and probably like 20 minutes later I was like, "Oh, the pregnancy test." I went and looked and it said full-on pregnant.'

Heather screamed with joy.

'I took two more tests. Right away, [they said] pregnant,' she told the site.

They will share the gender of the baby at a reveal party in a few weeks.

Marital bliss! Heather and Tarek said 'I do' in October at the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort, and then traveled to the Maldives and Dubai for a lavish honeymoon

'Tarek thinks it's a girl. I don't know yet. I just want a happy, healthy baby,' said Heather. 'We already have Tay and Bray, so I'd be happy with either. But I secretly want a little mini Heather.'

Now they want to find a new home. 'We are looking for a new house and if we don't find that house when the baby comes, we do have room for the baby at our current home,' said Tarek. 'But we definitely need to find a bigger house with a yard and some more space.'

They are now filming the HGTV docu-series The Flipping El Moussas.

Their journey to have a baby together has been long.

In January, she said she retrieved seven eggs from her egg retrieval procedure.

'All went smooth': In January, she said she retrieved seven eggs from her egg retrieval procedure

'All went smooth, was told 2 eggs got 7!!!!' Heather posted to her Instagram Stories. 'Doesn't mean they will all be healthy but hoping (prayer hand emojis).'

She tagged her El Moussa in the post, which included a screenshot from the FaceTime call she had with him immediately after waking up from the procedure.

Heather looked tired but happy as she gazed wearily towards her husband.

The couple's day started off bright and early in preparation for the procedure.

'Was told 2 eggs we got 7!' The newlywed was elated to announced they had retrieved more eggs than anticipated

In video taken at 6:44AM that day, Heather and her husband were already on their way to the doctor's office.

'Morning, the El Moussas are tired!' Heather said as she sat in a car with her husband.

'Big day today!' Tarek said.

'We're doing egg retrieval, so we're on our way to the doctor right now and we're gonna get two good strong eggs! Ready babe?' Heather said.

Fertility journey: Rae looked tired but happy as she chatted with her husband via FaceTime

Heather has been documenting her fertility journey on social media as she prepares to freeze her eggs.

Earlier, Heather had 'not ideal news' to share with fans after learning it appeared as though one of her five eggs was not going to 'mature enough to extract or freeze'.

'I have two that are strong, one that's still growing, and another one that's still growing so I have four that are looking decent,' she said.

The Netflix star said the low count of eggs is 'not the best number' and noted that she planned to ask her doctor if they're worth extracting to create embryos.

Heather wanted to avoid 'doing another round' and said she was hoping for some good news when she speaks with her medical professional.

Despite the news, she wrote she was 'trying to stay positive.'

Heather and Tarek said 'I do' in October at the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort, and then traveled to the Maldives and Dubai for a lavish honeymoon.

In November, the couple revealed their plans to start a family together.

His ex: Christina Hall, 39, is wed to Joshua Hall. Seen here with the two kids she has with El Moussa as well as the son Hudson she shares with ex-husband Ant Anstead

'We're going to freeze embryos first, go from there and then see what happens,' Heather said during an appearance on E! News Daily Pop.

While talking about their honeymoon, host Justin Sylvester said, 'There's nothing to do in the Maldives except drink'

'Make a baby?' Heather interjected.

Tarek then went on to say that newlyweds were 'having talks about having babies' and were 'practicing having babies.'

Heather said, 'I'm more open to it because our life is already crazy.

'We're raising two kids. I'm already a mommy. So I'm like, well, why not have just one more?'

'Whatever she wants,' Tarek said. 'Happy wife, happy life!'
Jamie Lee Curtis has confessed she thought Ana De Armas 'had just arrived' from Cuba when they met on the set of the 2019 movie Knives Out.

Ana, 34, had already spent years acting in Hollywood movies with stars like Keanu Reeves and Bradley Cooper before Knives Out took her to a new level of fame.

But Jamie Lee told Elle she had never heard of Ana before their film together and assumed 'she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman,' even thinking of pitching her to Steven Spielberg for West Side Story.

Admission: Jamie Lee Curtis (right) has confessed she thought Ana De Armas (left) 'had just arrived' from Cuba when they met on the set of Knives Out; pictured at CinemaCon in 2019

Jamie Lee, whose parents were the Old Hollywood stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, recalled: 'I assumed - and I say this with real embarrassment - because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived.'

Said she: 'I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like: "Oh, what are your dreams?"'

She made sure to note that the reason she asked about Ana's 'dreams' was that the younger actress had wowed her with her performance in Knives Out.

In fact, Jamie Lee wanted to pitch Ana to Spielberg as a potential Maria for his new West Side Story film, a part ultimately played by YouTube star Rachel Zegler.

Throwback: Ana had made her English-language film debut years earlier in the 2015 film Knock Knock, whose premiere she is pictured at with hits leading man Keanu Reeves

Jamie Lee is godmother to Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal and hoped to introduced Ana to them - only to discover that Ana and Jake were already acquainted.

Ana came up as a teenage actress in Cuba before moving to Madrid at 18 and embarking on a successful career on Spanish television.

When she arrived in Hollywood, her first-ever English language feature was a Keanu Reeves film called Knock Knock, which came out in 2015.

By the time production began on Knives Out, she had already been seen in a major supporting role in Blade Runner 2049 opposite Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.

Star-studded: Ana and Jamie Lee are pictured in Knives Out alongside Don Johnson, who plays the cheating husband of Jamie Lee's character

Jamie Lee was not the only co-star to be moved by Ana's performance in Knives Out - Daniel Craig, pictured with her in the film, was as well

Jamie Lee was not the only co-star to be moved by Ana's performance in Knives Out - Daniel Craig was famously so taken with her acting skills that he secured her a role in his final James Bond film No Time To Die.

Fans of Ana are now eagerly awaiting her performance as Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming Netflix biopic Blonde, based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

The movie set tongues wagging earlier this year when news broke that it has been given an infamously rare NC-17 rating.

Side by side: Daniel was famously so taken with her acting skills that he secured her a role in his final James Bond film No Time To Die, in which they are pictured

Jamie Lee, whose father played opposite Marilyn in the iconic Billy Wilder comedy Some Like It Hot, has given Ana her imprimatur.

'She showed me a picture of her as Marilyn. My father was in Some Like It Hot, and I have a lot of photos of my father and Marilyn,' Jamie Lee told Elle.

'It was a couple of still pictures and one video of her moving through space with no audio. But it was so shocking because she was Marilyn.'

Sizzling sensation: Fans of Ana are now eagerly awaiting her performance as Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming Netflix biopic Blonde, based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates
Candice Brown looked gorgeous as she hit the red carpet at the opening night of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday, with her boyfriend Nicky Mercer.

The former Great British Bake Off winner, 37, posed up a storm in a stylish pink gingham mini dress as she headed inside to watch the show.

The outfit featured an empire waist and ruffle detailing with it's short hem showing off the star's elegant pins.

Loved-up: Candice Brown looked gorgeous as she hit the red carpet at the opening night of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday, with her boyfriend Nicky Mercer

Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planform heels as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening.

Accessioning with a signature gold necklace and statement rings the star let her blonde tresses cascade down one shoulder.

Meanwhile, Nicky cut a dashing figure in a white shirt, paired with blue jeans and white trainers.

Looking good: The former Great British Bake Off winner, 37, posed up a storm in a stylish pink gingham mini dress as she headed inside to watch the show

Candice, who won the seventh series of the show in 2016, is dating the sportsman and TUI regional pilot manager a year after splitting from her husband Liam Macauley.

The French Canadian acrobatic troop describe their latest show as a celebration and will feature their signature stunts.

The show's synopsis reads: 'The clown Mauro has passed, but his spirit is still with us. Instead of mourning, the funeral cortege celebrates the here and hereafter with laughter and exuberance'.

Stylish: The outfit featured an empire waist and ruffle detailing with it's short hem showing off the star's elegant pins

Perfect: Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planforms as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening

Honest: It comes after Candice opened up about how her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has affected her mental health

The outing comes after Candice opened up about how her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has affected her mental health.

Speaking on Vicky Pattison's The Secret To podcast, she said: 'It is so much worse now. My mental health has taken a huge dip the last couple of years.

'People are sort of saying at the moment, "We know you're quite bad because we're struggling to be with you."

'One of the things with me and the ADHD and the anxiety, and when they battle  and they fight against each other. It's just a whole minefield but I'm working on it.'

Famous faces: Also at the event was fellow TOWIE star Billie Faiers, 32, who wowed in a skin tight mocha dress

All the family: Sam was joined by her husband Greg and their children Arthur and Nelly

Stylish: TOWIE's Chloe Meadows turned heads in a wool Chanel inspired corset and white jeans

Candice revealed one of her biggest downfalls is procrastinating, a problem she only seems to combat when under pressure.

She said: 'Give me four hours to do something and I'll take 10.

'Give me four hours to do something and people watching and pressure, like Bake Off  when I have no choice but to do it  I do it. I've always been called icy but that's genuinely me trying to focus.'

Despite enjoying success after winning the popular baking show, Candice has faced a backlash from some online trolls following her victory.

She said: 'I worked so hard because I knew I had to. But that wasn't enough for people, it had to be another reason. What has the world come to?'
Lydia Bright turned heads as she hit the red carpet at the opening night of Cirque du Soleil's newest show Corteo at London's O2 on Wednesday.

The TOWIE star, 31, looked gorgeous in a dramatic sunflower co-ord that featured a cropped top and flowing skirt.

Lydia flashed her toned midriff in the ensemble as the warm natural tones accentuated her sun kissed skin.

Bright by name bright by nature: Lydia Bright, 31, turned heads in a dramatic sunflower co-ord at the opening of Cirque du Soleil's latest show Corteo in London on Wednesday

The top included a gorgeous Bardot neckline, ruched detailing as well as large draped sleeves.

The long flowing skirt featured a drop waist as well as a matching belt to complete the look.

Lydia sported a glamorous palette of make-up as her blonde tresses were styled in ringlets.

Style: The long flowing skirt featured a drop waist as well as a matching belt to complete the look

Beautiful: Lydia sported a glamorous palette of make-up as her blonde tresses were styled in ringlets

Sunshine: Lydia accessorised the look with a selection of gold jewellery as she wore her designer sunglasses on a chain around her neck

Lydia accessorised the look with a selection of gold jewellery as she wore her designer sunglasses on a chain around her neck.

The French Canadian acrobatic troop describe their latest show as a celebration and will feature their signature stunts.

The show's synopsis reads: 'The clown Mauro has passed, but his spirit is still with us. Instead of mourning, the funeral cortege celebrates the here and hereafter with laughter and exuberance'.

Posing: Treated as a VIP Lydia enjoyed a tour of the show's impressive set

Pals: Also at the event was fellow TOWIE star Billie Faiers, 32, who wowed in a skin tight mocha dress

All the family: Sam was joined by her husband Greg and their children Arthur and Nelly

Coupled up: Also there to enjoy the show was former Strictly professional AJ Pritchard, 27 (left) and his girlfriend Abbie Quinnen, 25

Also at the event was fellow TOWIE star Billie Faiers, 32, who wowed in a skin tight mocha dress.

The blonde beauty, who is expecting her third child later this year, beamed for the cameras in the stylish ensemble.

Slipping her feet into alabaster sandals the star looked gorgeous with a perfectly contoured complexion and glossy nude lip.

Stylish: TOWIE's Chloe Meadows turned heads in a wool Chanel inspired corset and white jeans

Flowing: Television hosts Jenni Falconer, 46 (left) and Jane Moore, 60 (right) attended in flowy summer dresses

Strike a pose! Also there was Bake Off's Candice Brown, 37, who posed up a storm in a stylish pink gingham mini dress as headed inside to watch the show

Also at the opening night event was Bake Off's Candice Brown, 37, who posed up a storm in a stylish pink gingham mini dress as headed inside to watch the show.

The outfit featured an empire waist and ruffle detailing with it's short hem showing off the star's elegant pins.

Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planform heels as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening.

Accessioning with a signature gold necklace and statement rings the star let her blonde tresses cascade down one shoulder.

Perfect: Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planforms as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening

Here we go again: Mamma Mia actor Jeremy Irvine, 32, cut a dapper figure in an all black ensemble with a plunging shirt revealing a hairy chest

Pals: Arlene Phillips, 79, joined fellow television personality Julia Bradbury, 51, as they posed for the cameras

Mamma Mia actor Jeremy Irvine, 32, cut a dapper figure in an all black ensemble with a plunging shirt revealing a hairy chest.

Martin Lewis, 50, also made an appearance with his wife Lara Lewington as they cosied up to one another for the cameras.

The show runs until 17 July and returns in October for dates in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham.
Andy Cohen revealed he is upset about the news that Real Housewife of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah has pled guilty to fraud.

During SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live show, the host, 54, stated: 'I'm upset and I'm especially upset for her victims. I'm upset that she lied for so long and claimed to me that she was an example of someone being wrongly accused.'

It comes after he received some flack from fans following his initial conflicted reaction to Shah's, 48, plea change on Monday, after stating on his show that he doesn't 'know how to feel about this.'

His true feelings: Andy Cohen, 54, revealed he is upset about the news that Real Housewife of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah, 48, has pled guilty to fraud

Cohen - who serves as an executive producer on the Real Housewives franchises - first clarified his original reaction, saying he didn't have time to 'process it' since it happened while he was live on air.

'When we were on the air on Monday, the news about Jen Shah pleading guilty broke. I did not have time to read anything about it, process it, we were on the air and I really didn't have time to react, process it,' he stated.

'I left here, I read everything, I read her - what I thought was a pretty stunning confession of, confessing to all of the charges, and I had time to process it,' he admitted.

Upset: During SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live show, the host stated: 'I'm upset and I'm especially upset for her victims. I'm upset that she lied for so long and claimed to me that she was an example of someone being wrongly accused'

Cohen then addressed the reaction to his initial comments, saying: 'Now, yesterday comes out all these articles, "Andy Cohen responds to this" and I'm like, "I didn't respond to it." I didn't really say anything.'

He then proceeded to give his thoughts on the situation, saying he is 'extremely upset about what she did,' and adding, 'I'm also upset because frankly you get to know someone and you get to like them...you wanna cheer them on and you hate to think that they're capable of this behavior.'

The father-of-two also recalled Shah's behavior at the reunion special: 'If you remember sitting there at that reunion and she was so dogmatic about it, that I felt, okay. You know, let this woman have her day in court.'

Conflicted: It comes after he received some flack from fans following his initial conflicted reaction on Tuesday, where he stated on his show that he doesn't 'know how to feel about this'

'You know, we shot all season with Jen and I have a lot of questions for her and I'm sure the audience, especially those who supported her and stood by her does too. And I really hope to get the opportunity to speak with her and to ask those questions. I'm upset is how I'm doing,' he added.

Andy continued: 'So, my non-response the other day was me getting this news while we were on the air and frankly not really wanting to talk about it. I wanted to read about it and sit with it.'

'Anyway, I've said it before. I'll say it again. If you have something to hide, reality TV may not be the avenue am I right? I'm upset. Yeah. I'm upset. I'm really upset,' he wrapped up his thoughts.

No time: Cohen clarified his original reaction to the news, saying he didn't have time to 'process it' since it happened while he was live on air; L-R Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, Cohen, Shah, Mary Cosby, and Lisa Barlow

Shah pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was initially arrested in March of 2021 amid allegations she oversaw a telemarketing operation in which hundreds of people were scammed out of money.

She initially entered a not guilty plea, and said she was innocent of the allegations, but changed her plea to guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Monday, ahead of the trial commencing.

Shah told the court she was so sorry and that she knew her actions were wrong and that 'many people were harmed' as the product she was selling 'had little to no value,' NBC News reported.

Telemarketing scheme: Shah was initially arrested in March of 2021 amid allegations she oversaw a telemarketing operation in which hundreds of people were scammed out of money

She also acknowledged to the court that she was aware her actions were unethical and illegal.

Shah 'accepts full responsibility for her actions,' her lawyer Priya Chaudhry told Page Six on Monday, adding that the switched her plea to guilty as she 'wants to pay her debt to society and put this ordeal behind her and her family.'

Shah faces up to 14 years in prison when she is slated to be sentenced November 28.
It was the series that remade TV - scooping dozens of awards and making stars out of its cast along the way.

The Sopranos first aired 22 years ago this January, before wrapping up 86 episodes and six seasons later, in 2007.

Now, Mail Online examines what happened to the cast since the curtain dropped.

Iconic: The Sopranos first aired 22 years ago this January, before wrapping up 86 episodes and six seasons later, in 2007; the entire cast pictured in 1999

James Gandolfini - Tony Soprano

Playing an anxiety-prone mob boss juggling the demands of his figurative family - the Mafia - with his literal family was breakout star of the show, James Gandolfini.

Balancing the ruthlessness expected of a mob boss with a repressed emotional side and the tenderness requires of a family patriarch, Gandolfini's portrayal earned him three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe.

James Gandolfini (right in 2013) played leading many Tony Soprano

Sadly, the actor passed away in 2013 aged 51 while on holiday with his family in Rome from a heart attack.

He was found unconscious on his hotel floor by son Michael who alerted the emergency services, but was pronounced dead in hospital.

Michael, now aged 23, portrayed a young Tony Soprano in prequel film The Many Saints of Newark, which was released in 2021.

Michael Gandolfini, now aged 22, is currently portraying a young Tony Soprano in prequel film The Many Saints of Newark (left in 2019) due for release in 2021

Edie Falco - Carmela Soprano

Tony's trophy wife who decided to turn a blind eye to his many affairs and means of income and focus instead on the income itself.

Living a life of luxury did not solve all of Carmela's problems, however, as she struggled to raise her two children against a backdrop of immorality and violence.

Carmela Soprano, Tony's long-suffering wife, was played by Edie Falco who has appeared often on TV since (pictured left in character, right in 2020)

Falco, who won three Emmys, two Golden Globes and five Screen Actors Guild Awards as Carmela, went on to star as the eponymous hero in series Nurse Jackie.

She also worked alongside Louis C.K. in web series Horace and Pete, and as attorney Leslie Abramson in Law & Order True Crime.

In 2011 she also won a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway revival of The House of Blue Leaves. Edie stayed in the HBO family as the title character in Nurse Jackie from 2009-2015.

She will portray Hillary Clinton in season three of Ryan Murphy's anthology series American Crime Story in September 2021 which follows President Bill Clinton's sex scandal and impeachment.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler - Meadow Soprano

Growing up as the child of a notorious mobster comes with its challenges, especially for the principled Meadow - who struggles to reconcile how her father makes his money with the benefits it brings her.

Aged 17 when The Sopranos first aired, she carved out an acting career for herself in parallel with the TV series.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler was 17 when she was cast as Meadow Soprano (left), and has appeared in TV shows since, including HBO's Entourage (pictured right in January 2020)

She appeared in a Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast as Belle between 2002 and 2003, and played the titular character in Cinderella at Madison Square Garden in 2001.

Since the series wrapped she has made sporadic TV appearances, including as herself in two series of HBO's Entourage.

She has also featured in episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Ugly Betty, and appeared in the music video for The Lonely Island's song Jizz In My Pants.

Sigler dabbed in other fields - releasing an album in 2001 that flopped and she later said had embarrassed her - and modeled in FHM.

Robert Iler - AJ Soprano

The youngest child of Tony and Carmela, he starts the series as the innocent if badly-behaved tearaway of the family who fails to live up to his father's many expectations.

As the series goes on his innocence is shattered and he begins to exhibit all of Tony's negative traits, leading to a battle with depression.

Robert Iler was just 13 when he was selected to play Tony's son AJ (left) after working on commercials. He got into trouble with the law during filming, and has worked in TV seldom since (pictured right in January 2019)

Robert had featured in commercial for Pizza Hut and bit-parts on SNL before he was cast as AJ aged just 13.

He appeared sporadically in other TV roles while the show was on air - including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - and just one since, also in Law & Order.

In 2001, Robert was arrested for armed robbery of two Brazilian tourists in the Upper East Side and possession of marijuana and was given three years' probation. After suffering from substance abuse he became sober in 2013.

Lorraine Bracco - Jennifer Melfi

Tony's psychiatrist and outlet for his anxiety and deeply repressed emotions, Jennifer was both fascinated and repulsed by the mobster.

Advised by her colleagues, loved ones and her own better nature to part ways with Tony, she never-the-less commits to helping him through his troubles.

A star of Goodfellas, Bracco (right in 2019) agreed to work on The Sopranos only if she could play Tony's morally conflicted psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (left). She has continued to appear in films and TV since (pictured right this year), and did some voice acting in Bojack Horseman

Bracco was a former model, the wife of Harvey Kietel, and starred in mobster mega-hit Goodfellas alongside Robert de Niro before landing her Sopranos role.

While creator David Chase wanted her to play Carmela, Bracco said she would only sign on if she was allowed to take the role of Dr Melfi.

She appeared extensively in other shows and films during The Sopranos' run, including Riding In Cars With Boys and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.

Since the series wrapped, she has starred in TV movie Long Island Confidential, series I Married a Mobster and Blue Bloods, and as a voice actor in Bojack Horseman.

Most recently, Bracco purchased a 200-year-old home in Sambuca di Sicilia, Italy for just one euro which she went on to renovate for the HGTV series My Big Italian Adventure.

Michael Imperioli - Christopher Moltisanti

Tony's distantly-related cousin, fellow mobster, and chosen protege - Christopher is driven by a desire for success and notoriety that sees him at odds with Tony's 'strong, silent type' image and butting heads with his older 'colleagues'.

His character is also a drug addict who is frequently abusive to his partner, and is ultimately whacked.

Michael Imperioli was a veteran of Goodfellas before being cast as Christopher Moltisanti (left) in The Sopranos, and has continued his careers as an actor and screenwriter since (right in April 2019)

He scooped a Primetime Emmy for his portrayal in 2004.

An experienced actor before the series began - starring alongside Bracco in Goodfellas, along with appearances in Jungle Fever, Bad Boys and Malcolm X - he has appeared extensively in film and TV since.

Imperioli played Detective Ray Carling in the US adaptation of British cop show Life On Mars, and followed fellow Sopranos cast members into the Law & Order series, playing NYPD Detective Nick Falco.

He played Detective Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7 until it was cancelled, and in 2008 he achieved character Christopher's dream of writing a feature film, entitled The Hungry Ghosts.

Michael had stints on several series since The Sopranos like Californication, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods.

Andrea Donna de Matteo - Adriana La Cerva

Christopher's girlfriend-turned-wife, she is vain, obsessed with money and material goods, and desperate for fame.

Often a victim of violence at Christopher's hand, she turns mole in the later series but refuses to give up the family's deepest secrets.

Shallow, materialistic, stupid and vain - Andrea Donna de Matteo (right in 2019) won a Primetime Emmy for her portrayal of Adriana la Cerva (left). She has continued acting since, and played Joey Tribbiani's sister on Friends spin-off series Joey

Matteo won a Primetime Emmy award for the role in 2004, alongside Imperioli.

She used her Sopranos fame to launch a silver screen career, including appearances in Swordfish, Assault on Precinct 13, Dark Places, and Sex, Death and Bowling.

Matteo has also appeared in numerous TV shows since The Sopranos ended, including as Joey Tribbiani's sister Gina in Friends spin-off Joey.

She also starred in Sons of Anarchy, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Dominic Chianese - Corrado 'Junior' Soprano

Tony's petulant, resentful, power-hungry uncle who conspires with his mother early on to have him whacked so he can assume control of the family.

Out-played at the game of power by Tony he is ultimately left frail and confused after suffering from dementia.

A good friend of Al Pacino, Dominic Chianese (right in 2019) was an experienced film actor when he took the part of Corrado 'Junior' Soprano (left) in the series. He has continued acting since, including in Boardwalk Empire, and still finds work aged 90

Good friends with Al Pacino, Chianese was well-known before The Sopranos started having starred in The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice For All, and Looking for Richard.

He continued to find work well into his 80s, including voice acting in Mr. Popper's Penguins as well as TV appearances in Boardwalk Empire and The Good Wife.

He appeared this year in new NBC drama The Village, about a Brooklyn apartment block and the people who live in it. The star celebrated his 90th birthday in February 2021.

Aida Turturro - Janice Soprano

Tony's older, new-agey sister who fled her family's troubles rather than stay and confront them, she returns to New Jersey and immerses herself in mob life.

Work-shy, manipulative and amoral, she has a love-hate relationship with Tony, born out of their shared childhood trauma.

Aida Turturro (right in 2017) appeared once as Tony's selfish, manipulative sister Janice (left) in the first series of The Sopranos but was then brought back for a permanent role. She has appeared in Blue Bloods and Law & Order since then, along with many of her former colleagues

Following the series finale in 2007, Turturro has appeared sporadically in film and TV, following many Sopranos alumni into roles in Blue Bloods and Law & Order.

In 2012 she was reunited with Edie Flaco in an episode of Nurse Jackie, while also appearing in ER, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Brooklyn Nine Nine.

Aida debuted a weight loss transformation in 2020 when she appeared much slimmed down in the Blacklist.

Tony Sirico - Paulie Gualtieri

One of Tony's right-hand men, Paulie is as vicious as he is paranoid, often carrying out hits on his boss's enemies and disloyal friends alike.

His loyalty to Tony - alongside his killing temperament - see him rise through the ranks to become underboss of the DiMeo crime family.

Sirico was born in Brooklyn and as a teenager he was part of a real-life street gang, and was once seen associating with Colombo family Caporegime Jimmy 'Green Eyes' Clemenza, along with fellow Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore.

A real-life gangster who spent parts of his youth in jail, Tony Sirico (right in 2019) agree to play paranoid mobster Paulie Gualtieri (left) on one condition - he never becomes a snitch

A real-life gangster who spent parts of his youth in jail, Tony Sirico (right in 2016) agree to play paranoid mobster Paulie Gualtieri (left) on one condition - he never becomes a snitch

He served time in jail for robbery and felony arms possession before deciding to give acting a try after being visited by a troupe of reformed convicts behind bars.

He initially tried out for the role of Junior was was persuaded into taking on Paulie on one condition - the character would never become a snitch.

Following The Sopranos he has made sporadic appearances in TV and films, including Family Guy, American Dad!, and Lilyhammer.

He was also also set to reprise his Sopranos role in prequel film The Many Saints of Newark which was released last year but his health had prevented him from returning to his signature role.

Sirico died on July 8, 2022 at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Steve Van Zandt - Silvio Dante

Silvio is the calm, collected, and ever-stylish owner of the gang's hangout spot and headquarters - a strip club called the Bada Bing!

Another of Tony's trusted advisers, he is often selected to carry out high-level assassinations, including on Christopher's girlfriend, Adriana.

Zandt was famous long before The Sopranos though for a profession other than acting. He was, and still is, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band where he plays guitar and mandolin.

Bandanna-wearing Van Zandt (right in 2019) has since admitted that mobster Silvio's luscious locks (left) were a hairpiece. He has a successful career as a musician and in 2014 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with Springsteen, he also founded his own band - Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul - in the 1980s.

Zandt continued to pursue acting after Sopranos, starring in and co-writing Netflix series Lilyhammer, which also starred Tony Sirico.

He also appeared in Netflix's The Christmas Chronicles in 2018.

Steve R Schirripa - Bobby Baccalieri

An unusual character within the mob world, Bobby Baccalieri was portrayed as lovable, kind-hearted, loyal to his wife, and caring of others.

A senior member of Junior's crew, he ends up caring for his former boss when he suffers from cancer, and marries Tony's sister Janice.

Bobby Baccalieri (left) played by Steve R Schirripa (right in 2019) was the rarest of things - a lovable mobster. He has continued to work in TV since the series, but has also written children's books and launched his own range of vegan pasta sauce

Schirripa has appeared regularly in both film and TV since his role as Baccalieri ended, including on series Blue Bloods.

He has also diversified away from acting and writes books playing on his mob persona, as well as children's stories.

Schirripa made a Nickelodeon film from his kid's book Nicky Deuce and in 2014 launched his own range of vegan pasta sauces.
Oliver Proudlock and his wife Emma Louise Connolly looked every inch the happy couple as they attend the Quatre Vin x Aerial Rooftop launch party at The Broadcaster in London on Wednesday.

The couple have gone into business together as they own Rose brand Quatre Vin along with two other friends.

Made In Chelsea star Oliver, 33, cut a casual figure for the event as he donned a white T-shirt along with a pair of light denim jeans.

Event: Oliver Proudlock and his wife Emma Louise Connolly looked every inch the happy couple as they attend the Quatre Vin x Aerial Rooftop launch party at The Broadcaster in London on Wednesday

Emma Louise, 30, also opted for a laid back look as she sported a white blouse with a cut out detail and dark brown trousers.

The Scottish beauty added height to her frame with a pair of white heels and let her locks fall loose down her shoulders.

Emma and Proudlock welcomed their first child, daughter Bonnie Lou, into the world on Saturday May 14.

The couple wrote: 'She's here With so much love and pride, we are thrilled to share the safe & healthy arrival of our beautiful baby girl.

Fashion: Emma Louise opted for a laid back look as she sported a white blouse with a cut out detail and dark brown trousers

'She has already filled us with so much love and happiness. Our Bonnie Lou Proudlock, 14/05/22. [sic]'.

The happy couple revealed they were expecting their first child last December - a year after they tied the knot.

The clip showed the moment the couple were pronounced husband and wife in 2020, before cutting to Oliver holding up a newborn jumper with the phrase 'Yeah baby!' embroidered on it.

Emma captioned the clip: '1 year married, 1 yeah baby on the way. We are bursting with love and gratitude for our very precious little growing gift!'

Laid back: Made In Chelsea star Oliver cut a casual figure for the event as he donned a white T-shirt along with a pair of light denim jeans

The couple announced their engagement in August 2018 after Oliver got down on one knee during a romantic trip to Gothenburg, Sweden.

Oliver and Emma originally planned to host 200 guests at Cowdray Park, West Sussex, for a wedding in April 2020, however their grand plans were reduced to just 15 people.

While they persevered in their planning, their fourth attempt to tie the knot was almost thwarted when Boris Johnson announced plans to plunge London into Tier 4, meaning that all wedding receptions were banned, but Proudlock managed to pull together a last-minute wedding.

Because the day was pulled together in less than 24 hours, a lot of Oliver's family and some of Emma's family couldn't be there, and so they had a private YouTube link set up so their loved-ones around the world could watch the ceremony.
Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos' youngest son Joaquin Consuelos is ready to hit the road.

The 51-year-old star revealed that Joaquin, 19, finally got his driver's license during Wednesday's episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan.

She said that it was 'big day in our house' as Joaquin has long been using his bicycle to get around.

Milestone: Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos' youngest son Joaquin Consuelos is ready to hit the road. The 51-year-old star revealed that Joaquin, 19, finally got his driver's license during Wednesday's episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan; Kelly seen in 2021

The New Jersey native admitted that the freezing weather in Michigan, where her son goes to school, finally made him cave and get the license.

'He had his bicycle which he rode everywhere. And he's like, "No, I'm fine with a bicycle." And then Michigan winter rolled in,' she told her co-host Ryan Seacrest.

'Then he's like, "I think I am going to need to get a driver's license because it's freezing here."'

While a number of new drivers get their license at around 16 years old, Ripa said Joaquin getting his was still a big wake-up call for her.

'Big day': She said that it was 'big day in our house' as Joaquin has long been using his bicycle to get around

Happy family: Consuelos and Ripa married back in 1996. They have two other children, 21-year-old Lola and 25-year-old Michael (L to R: Michael, Kelly, Mark, Lola, Joaquin)

'It was one of those things where I was like, "How can the newborn baby have a driver's license?"' she said.

However, her husband, Mark Consuelos, quickly reminded her that her son wasn't a child anymore.

'And Mark was like, "Calm down, he's 19. My nieces have had their driver's license for 4 years now,"' she laughed.

Vacation: The two have had children for so long, that Ripa said they just went on their first vacation alone since having kids

Lots to do: 'There was some work involved in this trip but that's not what we were doing. We just went rock climbing. We went to the Amangiri [resort], out in Utah

Consuelos and Ripa married back in 1996. They have two other children, 21-year-old Lola and 25-year-old Michael.

The two have had children for quite a lot of time, and Ripa said they just went on their first vacation alone since having kids.

'This is our first vacation in 25 years without children and parents.  It's usually us, with the kids or  kit and caboodle,' she said.

She continued, 'As it turns out, we had the time of our lives,' she later shared. 'There was some work involved in this trip but that's not what we were doing. We just went rock climbing. We went to the Amangiri [resort], out in Utah. It is luxury. It's like, the kind of trip we would take without kids.'
Kylie Jenner's best friend Stassie Karanikolaou stars in a new bodywear campaign for fashion designer Alexander Wang.

She joins Lisa Rinna, 59, who in an eye-catching modeling shot held a vacuum while demonstrating she has still not lost her ability to do the splits.

The modeling shots come nearly two years after the controversial designer was faced with a spate of sexual assault allegations.

There she is: Kylie Jenner's best friend Stassie Karanikolaou stars in a new bodywear campaign for fashion designer Alexander Wang

Wow: She joins Lisa Rinna, 59, who in an eye-catching modeling shot held a vacuum while demonstrating she has still not lost her ability to do the splits

Stassie and Lisa were both pictured separately in the suit modeling revealing bodywear while doing various chores.

One of Stassie's pictures showed her aiming a seductive glare at the camera while she sprawled over the wheel of a car and lathered it with a sponge.

In another, she enticingly held up a baking tray with a chocolate chip cookie carved into the shape of the designer's first initial.

Todd Oldham snapped the pictures for the campaign, whose retro chic set design was masterminded by Lauren Nikrooz.

'Whenever, wherever': One of Stassie's pictures showed her aiming a seductive glare at the camera while she sprawled over the wheel of a car and lathered it with a sponge

A raft of sexual assault allegations surfaced against Alexander Wang in late 2020, from cisgender men as well as transgender men and women.

Alexander was said to have groped certain accusers and to have spiked others' drinks with MDMA without their knowledge.

In January of last year Alexander denounced the allegations as 'grotesquely false,' but the claims against him continued to mount.

Shortly thereafter he secretly met with 11 accusers represented by the attorney Lisa Bloom, whose mother is Gloria Allred.

Ready: In another, she enticingly held up a baking tray with a chocolate chip cookie carved into the shape of the designer's first initial

Alexander wrote on Instagram that he 'listened carefully' to his accusers and that 'I regret acting in a way that caused them pain.'

He noted: 'While we disagree on some of the details of these personal interactions, I will set a better example and use my visibility and influence to encourage others to recognize harmful behaviors.'

Lisa Bloom wrote on Twitter: 'We have met with Alexander Wang and his team. My clients had the opportunity to speak their truth to him and expressed their pain and hurt. We acknowledge Mr. Wangs apology and we are moving forward. We have no further comment on this matter.'

She declined to comment when The Cut inquired as to whether Alexander had reached a financial settlement with her clients.

Backdrop: The modeling shots come nearly two years after the controversial designer was faced with a spate of sexual assault allegations

Her past clientele has included Blac Chyna and Kathy Griffin, and she also once controversially had an advisory role with Harvey Weinstein - a position she left after the #MeToo allegations against him went public.

Alexander held his first runway show since the scandal this April, with models including Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima, all three of whom shot to fame as Victoria's Secret Angels.

Lisa Rinna was in the audience at the show, as her younger daughter Amelia Hamlin was also one of the models on the runway.
World Internet Conference inaugural ceremony held in Beijing

Xinhua) 09:40, July 13, 2022

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- An inaugural ceremony for the World Internet Conference, an international organization headquartered in Beijing, was held in Beijing on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the World Internet Conference for the inauguration of the international organization, which was read out at the event by Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The establishment of the organization follows the informatization trend of the times, and it has responded to the wide call of the international community for dialogue, consultation and cooperation in cyberspace, Huang said at the inaugural ceremony.

Huang expressed the hope that all parties will step up dialogue and exchanges, deepen practical cooperation, and jointly build a cyberspace that is fairer and more equitable, open, inclusive, secure, stable and vibrant to allow the internet to better benefit people all over the world.

Members of the World Internet Conference include internet-related international organizations, enterprises, institutions, experts and scholars.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Select countries will get heated seats from BMW as the car maker is now selling subscriptions for the new feature.

This move by BMW is the "latest example of the company's adoption of microtransactions for high-end car features," according to The Verge.

For $18 you can get heated front seats for a month. You also have the option to pay annually for $180, or get it for three years for $300. You may also opt to pay for "unlimited" access for $415.

Heated Seats Are Available in Select Countries Only

According to Engadget, "front-seat heating is one of many optional add-on software upgrades available in BMW's ConnectedDrive stores in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa."

Automatic high beams is also available for an extra monthly charge of roughly $12, while steering wheel heating is roughly $12 as well.

The heated seats, however, seems to be not available in the US yet.

According to The Verge, they asked BMW for the exact details of the heated seats' roll-out, but the company was unable to say when the subscriptions had been launched in which countries.

According to the news outlet, BMW's silence isn't surprising anymore as the company was flooded with criticism since it announced in 2020 that "its cars' operating system would allow for microtransactions on features like automatic high beams and adaptive cruise control."

It appears like it's been a trend for carmakers to charge customers more money for high-end features. However, when software instead of hardware is the limiting factor, the dynamic is very different.

For instance, in the case of heated seats, BMW owners already have all the necessary components. However, the car company has simply put a software block on their functionality so buyers would have to pay to remove the block.

Read Also: Future BMW Motorcycles Will Get Rid Of Helmets And Introduce A New Concept

BMW Offers Subscription for a Number of Software Upgrade

To get the heated seats features installed, BMW drivers in the select countries won't have to take their cars to a service shop.

In fact, the hardware for the heated seats is already there, owners will only have to pay an extra fee to activate them. The activation is done through an over-the-air software upgrade on BMW's ConnectedDrive platform.

It also through ConnectedDrive platform where owners can pay to unlock other features locked behind an annual subscription. These other features include safety camera alerts for $30, and access to an online music library for $213 a year.

There is no announcement from BMW yet when the company plans to add heated seats to its ConnectedDrive store in the US. However, microtransactions has been known to BMW drivers in the country.

Previously, BMW faced a backlash after charging an annual fee of $80 for Apple CarPlay. The company eventually stopped doing it.

However, according to Engadget, the pay-per-feature model remains alive and well in the US. The BMW drivers in the country have to pay extra for a number of software upgrades. This include $50 per year to access ConnectedDrive. After the third year, there's also $200 per year charge to update the car's navigation maps.

Related Article: Chip Shortage Creates Problem for BMW: Cars Will Be Without Android Auto or CarPlay
Juliette Binoche pulled no punches when talking about legendary directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

The 58-year-old iconic French actress revealed that she had turned down three opportunities to work with 75-year-old Spielberg in an interview published by Variety on Wednesday.

When discussing turning the well-known filmmaker down, she compared him to another one in Scorsese, 79, as she labelled them 'men's directors.'

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Not holding back: Juliette Binoche got candid in an interview published by Variety on Wednesday

Wow factor: The 58-year-old iconic French actress revealed that she had turned down three opportunities to work with 75-year-old Spielberg

She was asked if she really turned Spielberg down three times as she replied: 'I dont remember very well but Steven reminded me! The first time was for Indiana Jones 3, because I was doing The Lovers On The Bridge with Leos Carax.

'The second time, for Schindlers List, I was pregnant, and then for the dinosaurs (Jurassic Park), I had already committed to Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowskis film).

'It would have been amusing to do Jurassic Park to see how (Spielberg) makes the film, but at the same time, Spielberg is more of a mens director, like Scorsese actually.'

Stunning: The 58-year-old French actress is seen in Venice in August 2019

Icons: When discussing turning Spielberg, 75, (left) down, she compared him to another one in Martin Scorsese (right), 79, as she labelled them 'men's directors

Binoche was asked if she would still work with Spielberg or Scorsese in the future.

The Chocolat actress remained honest as she replied: 'Of course I would! Even if I find their approach to cinema to be very commercial, they have a fabulous technique which they own completely, and therere storytellers. But their films lack women.'

Binoche was asked if there are more opportunities for female filmmakers today.

Interesting: Binoche revealed she turned down 1989's Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade in favor of The Lovers On The Bridge

Good reason: She said that she wasn't in 1993's Schindler's List due to pregnancy

'It would have been amusing to do Jurassic Park to see how (Spielberg) makes the film, but at the same time, Spielberg is more of a mens director, like Scorsese actually': She said

The Oscar-winner answered: 'There are more and more female directors in Europe, less so in the U.S. Its not there yet, but theyre gaining ground. I just played a truck driver in a film called Paradise Highway by Anna Gutto and at first they didnt want her to direct her script, but I got on board because I love adventure.

'We shot in Mississippi and it wasnt a walk in the park because it was over 100 degrees, but I got to learn how to drive a truck!'

Paradise Highway also stars Morgan Freeman, Christiane Seidel, Jackie Dallas, Frank Grillo, and Cameron Monaghan and is set for release in theaters and on demand on July 29.
Billie Faiers showed off her blossoming baby bump as she attending the opening of Cirque du Soleil's show Corteo with her husband Greg Shepherd and their kids.

The former TOWIE star, 32, looked effortlessly chic in a brown bodycon midi dress with a daring side-split as she arrived at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday.

She completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of heeled dusty pink sandals while she kept her essentials in a brown Fendi handbag.

Family: Billie Faiers showed off her blossoming baby bump as she attending the opening of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo with her husband Greg Shepherd and their two kids

Pregnant: The former TOWIE star, 32, looked effortlessly chic in a brown bodycon midi dress with a daring side-split as she arrived at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday

Billie, who is currently expecting her third child with her husband Greg, accentuated her natural good looks with a slick of mascara and a touch of bronzer.

The Mummy Diaries star swept her golden tresses into a glamorous up-do and let some strands of her loosely frame her striking features.

She appeared to be in excellent spirits as she posed for pictures at the show alongside Greg and their two kids - Nelly, eight and Arthur, five.

Her businessman husband kept it casual in a pair of grey shorts and a black T-shirt, which he styled with a pair of trainers.

Smitten: Billie, who is currently expecting her third child with her husband Greg, accentuated her natural good looks with a slick of mascara and a touch of bronzer

Beauty: The Mummy Diaries star swept her golden tresses into a glamorous up-do and let some strands of her loosely frame her striking features

The family led the stars at the UK premiere of Cirque du Soleil's latest show Corteo, which is set to run until July 17 before returning in October for performances in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham.

The French Canadian acrobatic troop, who have returned to the UK for the first time since the Covid pandemic, describe their latest show as a celebration and will feature their signature stunts.

A synopsis for the show, which is themed around a festival imagined by a clown, reads: 'The clown Mauro has passed, but his spirit is still with us.

'Instead of mourning, the funeral cortege celebrates the here and hereafter with laughter and exuberance.'

All smiles: She appeared to be in excellent spirits as she posed for pictures at the show alongside Greg and their two kids - Nelly, eight and Arthur, five

Fashionista: Billie completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of heeled dusty pink sandals while she kept her essentials in a brown Fendi handbag

Looking good: GBBO's Candice Brown, 37, put on a leggy display in a pink gingham minidress at the opening of Cirque du Soleil's latest show Corteo

Elsewhere at the show, Candice Brown looked gorgeous as she hit the red carpet for the event in a summery ensemble.

The former Great British Bake Off winner, 37, posed up a storm in a stylish pink gingham mini dress as she headed inside to watch the show.

The outfit featured an empire waist and ruffle detailing with its short hem showing off the star's elegant pins.

Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planform heels as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening.

Stylish: The outfit featured an empire waist and ruffle detailing with its short hem showing off the star's elegant pins

Perfect: Candice elevated her height with a pair of brown planforms as she opted for a simple make-up look for the evening

Honest: It comes after Candice opened up about how her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has affected her mental health

Accessorising with a signature gold necklace and statement rings, the star let her blonde tresses cascade down one shoulder.

Lydia Bright also turned heads in a dramatic sunflower co-ord set that featured a cropped top and flowing skirt.

The TOWIE star, 31, flashed her toned midriff in the ensemble as the warm natural tones accentuated her sun kissed skin.

The top included a gorgeous Bardot neckline, ruched detailing as well as large draped sleeves.

Bright by name bright by nature: Lydia Bright, 31, turned heads in a dramatic sunflower co-ord

Sunshine: Lydia accessorised the look with a selection of gold jewellery as she wore her designer sunglasses on a chain around her neck

Style: The long flowing skirt featured a drop waist as well as a matching belt to complete the look

Posing: Treated as a VIP, Lydia enjoyed a tour of the show's impressive set

The long flowing skirt featured a drop waist as well as a matching belt to complete the look.

The TV favourite sported a glamorous palette of make-up as her blonde tresses were styled in ringlets.

Lydia accessorised the look with a selection of gold jewellery as she wore her designer sunglasses on a chain around her neck.

Meanwhile, AJ Pritchard and his girlfriend Abbie Quinnen looked every inch the happy couple as they attended the performance.

Loved-up: Meanwhile, AJ Pritchard and his girlfriend Abbie Quinnen looked every inch the happy couple as they attended the performance

Stunning: Abbie looked sensational in a white off the shoulder top which she paired with grey high-waisted trousers

Laidback style: The former Strictly Come Dancing star, 27, opted for a casual look at the event as he sported a white shirt and beige trousers

The former Strictly Come Dancing star, 27, opted for a casual look at the event as he sported a white shirt and beige trousers.

Also wearing grey trainers, the professional dancer completed his look with a pair of shades.

Abbie looked sensational in a white off the shoulder top which she paired with grey high-waisted trousers.

Adding height to her frame with a pair of red open-toed heels, Abbie, who is also a dancer, added to her outfit with a silver handbag.

Bombshell: Posing alongside her beau at the event, Abbie completed her look by styling her blonde locks into loose waves

Stylish: TOWIE's Chloe Meadows turned heads in a wool Chanel-inspired corset and white jeans, while Hayley Palmer put on a vibrant display in a red mini dress

Posing alongside her beau at the event, Abbie completed her look by styling her blonde locks into loose waves.

And TOWIE's Chloe Meadows turned heads as she showed off her ample assets in a wool Chanel-inspired corset, which she teamed with white jeans.

The TV personality, 30, completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of black sandals, while she kept her belongings in a white drawstring bag embellished with watermelon sequins.

Glamorous: Also in attendance was Julia Bradbury, who looked effortlessly chic in a pink floral wrap-around dress, which she paired with gold sandals

Stunning: The TV presenter, 51, who recently released a documentary following her breast cancer battle, styled her brunette locks in natural waves for the outing

Also in attendance was Julia Bradbury, who looked effortlessly chic in a pink floral wrap-around dress, which she paired with gold sandals.

The TV presenter, 51, who recently released a documentary following her breast cancer battle, styled her brunette locks in natural waves for the outing.

She appeared to be in jovial spirits as she flashed a huge smile, while she accentuated her features with a slick of mascara.

Meanwhile, Loose Woman's Jane Moore cut a vibrant figure in a multicoloured midi dress decorated with colourful line patterns.

Eye-catching: Meanwhile, Loose Woman's Jane Moore cut a vibrant figure in a multicoloured midi dress decorated with colourful line patterns

Vibrant: Chat show panellist Jane, 60, completed her ensemble with a pair of red sandals as she posed on the red carpet, while Arlene Phillips looked chic in a black dress

Dapper: Jeremy Irvine gave a flash of his toned figure in an open-neck black shirt, which he paired with black jeans and white trainers

Guests: Other stars who attended the UK premiere of Cirque du Soleil's new show Corteo included American model Matt Evers and actor Eddie Marsan

The chat show panellist, 60, completed her ensemble with a pair of red sandals as she posed on the red carpet.

She styled her golden tresses in a straight fashion and bolstered her looks with a touch of eyeliner for the evening outing.

Other stars who attended the UK premiere of Cirque du Soleil's new show Corteo included Arlene Phillips, Hayley Palmer, Jeremy Irvine and Eddie Marsan.

Corteo's show at the O2 on Wednesday night featured a unique centralised two-sided stage and marked the 150th city that the show has performed in.

Impressive: Cirque du Soleil's latest show Corteo is set to run until July 17 before returning in October for performances in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham

Stunts: The sensational production, directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, first took to stage in Montreal in April 2005 and since then, it has amazed audiences of more than 9million people

A synopsis for the show explains: 'In a beautiful performance, the clown pictures his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels.'

The sensational production, directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, first took to stage in Montreal back in April 2005 and since then, it has amazed audiences of more than nine million people.

The show has graced 20 countries on four continents and in 2018, the spectacular was transformed into a huge arena performance.

Information about the show reads: 'Corteo, which means cortege in Italian, brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.'
Armie Hammer has reportedly taken on his job as a timeshare salesman at Morritts Resort in the Cayman Islands because he's 'totally broke.'

A source revealed to Variety that the actor, 35, 'is working at a cubicle' and added, 'The reality is hes totally broke, and is trying to fill the days and earn money to support his family.'

The insider also shared that Hammer previously managed an apartment complex in the Cayman Islands, where he is currently living in order to stay close to his two children Harper, seven, and Ford, five, with ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers, 39.

Fallen on hard times: Armie Hammer, 35, has reportedly taken on his job as a timeshare salesman in the Cayman Islands because he's 'totally broke'

According to the source, Hammer, who is the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer (worth an estimated $800 million at the time of his death), 'is not on the family payroll' and has been forced to work a regular job after his Hollywood downfall, following sexual assault allegations made against him last year.

After the accusations were made public, the actor was dropped by his agency, WME, and was subsequently let go from various film projects, including Paramount Plus series The Offer (with Miles Teller taking over his role), Jennifer Lopezs Shotgun Wedding, as well as the thriller Billion Dollar Spy.

Last week, photos of the Call Me By Your Name star going into Morritts Resort office in what appeared to be a staffer uniform emerged, despite his lawyer previously denying claims that he'd taken up a new career.

Supporting his family: A source revealed that the actor 'is working at a cubicle' and added that he 'is trying to fill the days and earn money to support his family'; Pictured with ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers, 39, daughter Harper, seven, and son Ford, five

Hammer was pictured entering the information center building as he walked behind another man who was clad in a similar look.

They were followed by photos of him taken inside of the office on another day, once again wearing a similar blue polo shirt while reportedly going over pricing for a unit with a couple of potential buyers.

TMZ reported at the time that during the pitch Hammer offered the potential buyers a timeshare for $2,020 per week or, 'only about $21,000 for ten years of vacations.'

New career: He was pictured going into Morritt's Resort office last month, wearing what appeared to be a staffer uniform, despite his lawyer previously denying claims that he'd taken up a new career; Pictured June 29

Alleged prank: The speculation about his work started after a picture of a pamphlet from Morritts Resort showed the actor as the hotel's concierge

Last Wednesday, his attorney denied that the disgraced star was working at the establishment, following a viral Tweet that showed his face on a pamphlet as concierge for the hotel.

His lawyer, Andrew Brettler, told Variety that the post was nothing more than a prank done by Hammers friends from the hotel.

The since-deleted tweet's caption read: 'My friends parents went on vacation in the Cayman Islands and Armie Hammer was their concierge.'

The pamphlet included discount vouchers and advertised that Hammer would take guests to swim 'with wild turtles' and point them to the 'best snorkeling and diving spots.'

Staying busy: The insider also shared that Hammer previously managed an apartment complex in the Cayman Islands, where he is currently living in order to stay close to his two children: Pictured 2017 in Anaheim, California

Split: Hammer and Chambers announced their separation in 2020, after the actor was allegedly caught cheating on her a second time; Pictured 2018 in Hollywood

The star's burgeoning career exploded in January 2021 after it emerged he was into sadistic sex and shared rape and cannibalism fantasies with female partners.

That included telling two women he wanted to remove their ribs, barbecue them and eat them, with Hammer also accused of slicing the letter 'A' into one young lover's thigh, before sucking the blood out of her fresh wound.

He and his wife announced they were separating a few months before, after Hammer was allegedly caught cheating on her a second time.

That woman also alleges Armie emotionally abused her, although he's batted-off all suggestions of criminality.

In classic Hollywood style, Armie checked into rehab for treatment of 'drugs, alcohol and sex' issues in May 2021, and emerged from treatment in December last year.
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Vanessa Hudgens was unmissable in a sizzling hot pink swimsuit as she helped celebrate her good friend Sarah Hyland's bachelorette party on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Spring Breakers star joined the 31-year-old Modern Family fixture and plenty of friends at an exclusive resort in Punta Mita, Mexico.

Vanessa alternated between cooling down and cleaning up with a quick outdoor shower and catching up with her longtime pal.

Stunner: Vanessa Hudgens was unmissable in a sizzling hot pink swimsuit as she helped celebrate her good friend Sarah Hyland's bachelorette party on Wednesday. The 33-year-old Spring Breakers star joined the Modern Family fixture, 31, and plenty of friends at an exclusive resort in Punta Mita, Mexico

Vanessa had all eyes on her in her revealing pink suit, which showcased her toned and tanned figure.

The looked featured a cleavage-baring plunging neckline and a high-cut bottom section that put the spotlight on her fit legs.

The High School Musical styled her raven tresses up in a playfully messy updo held together with a bright yellow scrunchy.

She completed her minimalist beach ensemble with a large gold pendant dangling from a thick chain around her throat, and she also added large gold hoop earrings to frame her face.

Colorful: Vanessa had all eyes on her in her revealing pink suit, which showcased her toned and tanned figure. The looked featured a cleavage-baring plunging neckline and a high-cut bottom section that put the spotlight on her fit legs

Woman in white: Vanessa was also spotted enjoying some downtime in the shade with Sarah and several of their other friends. The actress, who announced in June that she will be hosting season four of Love Island USA, contrasted her friend by wearing an elegant white bikini

Keeping it simple: The two-piece suit featured a halter string top with triangular cups, and she covered up the matching bottoms with a high-waisted white beaded mesh skirt

Twinning: Sarah matched Vanessa with her own pair of gold hoop earrings, and she kept her curly dark hair styled casually in a messy ponytail

Getting in the spirit: To celebrate Sarah's bachelorette party, her friends had set up several large lettered balloon displays just under the awning, including one humorous design reading 'Back That A** Up'

Vanessa was also spotted enjoying some downtime in the shade with Sarah and several of their other friends.

The actress, who announced in June that she will be hosting season four of Love Island USA, contrasted her friend by wearing an elegant white bikini.

The two-piece suit featured a halter string top with triangular cups, and she covered up the matching bottoms with a high-waisted white beaded mesh skirt, which she previously wore on Sunday while sailing on a yacht with Vanessa and her other guests.

Sarah matched Vanessa with her own pair of gold hoop earrings, and she kept her curly dark hair styled casually in a messy ponytail.

She was also seen relaxing on a lounge chair and catching up with other guests after removing the skirt.

Relaxed style: The High School Musical styled her raven tresses up in a playfully messy updo held together with a bright yellow scrunchy

Cleaning up: During some downtime at the party, Vanessa stepped aside to wash off with a shower head, possibly to clean off salt from the ocean. She also turned the shower head to wash off a man who appeared to be her friend Vince Rossi while she grinned

To celebrate Sarah's bachelorette party, her friends had set up several large lettered balloon displays just under the awning, including one humorous design reading 'Back That A** Up.'

During some downtime at the party, Vanessa stepped aside to wash off with a shower head, possibly to clean off salt from the ocean.

She also turned the shower head to wash off a man who appeared to be her friend Vince Rossi while she grinned.

Sarah has turned her bachelorette festivities into a multi-day party in Punta Mita, and on Sunday she and her bridesmaid Vanessa and the rest of their party were spotted enjoying the piercing sun on a yacht trip just off the coast.

At the time, Sarah rocked a white one-piece swimsuit reading, 'Bride,' while Vanessa was decked out in a black 'Bridesmaid' suit.

During the bachelorette festivities, Vanessa at one point covered up with a wide-brimmed straw hat with a black band and frayed edge to keep from getting too much sun.

She chatted with a blond friend who was relaxing topless on a lounge chair, with only her hands covered her bust. She waved her legs in the air at Vanessa in a suggestive manner.

On the water: Sarah has turned her bachelorette festivities into a multi-day party in Punta Mita, and on Sunday she and her bridesmaid Vanessa and the rest of their party were spotted enjoying the piercing sun on a yacht trip just off the coast

Complementary: At the time, Sarah rocked a white one-piece swimsuit reading, 'Bride,' while Vanessa was decked out in a black 'Bridesmaid' suit

Extra shade: During the bachelorette festivities, Vanessa at one point covered up with a wide-brimmed straw hat with a black band and frayed edge to keep from getting too much sun

Risque: She chatted with a blond friend who was relaxing topless on a lounge chair, with only her hands covered her bust. She waved her legs in the air at Vanessa in a suggestive manner

Close proximity: Meanwhile, Sarah stood just to their side while speaking with another woman who wasn't dressed in swimwear

Meanwhile, Sarah stood just to their side while speaking with another woman who wasn't dressed in swimwear.

The actress is set to marrying her fiance Wells Adam after being forced to postpone the wedding several times throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this year, Wells joke about eloping with Sarah if their nuptials got postponed once again.

'Listen, we've postponed it two years in a row. If something else crazy happens this year, then we're just going to go to Vegas with powder blue suits and knock it out,' he told ET Canada.

He added: 'I'm not sure if we can wait another year. We'll see. Who knows what's going to happen.'

Wells and Sarah planned to get married in August 2020 and have changed their wedding date a few times due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Wells, who didn't appear to be with Sarah, started dating her in 2017, and they got engaged in Fiji in July 2019.

One way or another: Earlier this year, Wells joke about eloping with Sarah if their nuptials got postponed once again. 'Listen, we've postponed it two years in a row. If something else crazy happens this year, then we're just going to go to Vegas with powder blue suits and knock it out,' he told ET Canada.

Longtime lovers: Wells, who didn't appear to be with Sarah, started dating her in 2017, and they got engaged in Fiji in July 2019

Speaking with People, Sarah said she quickly jumped into wedding planning mode right after they became engaged.

'Where we were staying [in Fiji] didnt have a lot of Wi-Fi, so later that night I started having a panic attack like, I need Pinterest to look at wedding stuff!' she told People shortly after the proposal.

'Wells was like, "I thought you wanted a long engagement!" I was like, "I do, I just need to look at wedding stuff. I dont know who Ive turned into!"'

While Sarah ended up toning down the wedding planning, she did compare herself to Monica Gellar from Friends in preparing her special day.

'I bought wedding magazines, and I cut out stuff that I like visually to make vision boards,' she told the publication. 'Im trying to curate my binder, trying to figure out what we want, DJ, band, both, who knows? Im like Monica from Friends!'
They were last together at the TV Week Logie Awards in June.

And Andy Lee and girlfriend Rebecca Harding were finally reunited with their long-time friends Hamish Blake and wife Zoe Foster this week as they enjoyed a lavish holiday together in Mykonos.

The couples arrived in sunny Greece this week, with Andy and Rebecca jetting in from London following a romantic UK holiday.

Andy Lee and girlfriend Rebecca Harding reunited with long-time friends Hamish Blake and wife Zoe Foster for a lavish Mykonos getaway on Wednesday. L-R: Zoe, Hamish, Rebecca and Andy

The Blakes meanwhile travelled from Italy, where they had spent the past few weeks celebrating beauty entrepreneur Zoe's belated 40th birthday with their kids and a group of friends.

Posting to Instagram on Wednesday, Zoe shared a sun-drenched photo of the foursome posing arm-in-arm in front of a large tree with pink flowers.

She oozed Mediterranean sophistication in an embroidered floral maxi dress by Italian designer La Double J worth $1,500.

Documenting the reunion, Zoe uploaded this photo of Hamish chatting to best friend Andy on the balcony of a waterfront restaurant

She completed her look with matching green earrings, black thongs and a pink orb-shaped handbag.

Gold Logie winner Hamish also looked stylish in a bright blue T-shirt, black trousers and a pair of trendy Aviator sunglasses.

Meanwhile, model Rebecca showed off her cleavage in a plunging knitted maxi dress, while her TV presenter beau sported a white T-shirt, blue jeans and brown moccasins.

She also uploaded this happy snap of Andy and Rebecca cuddling up at their restaurant table

The Blakes meanwhile travelled from Italy, where they had spent the past few weeks celebrating beauty entrepreneur Zoe's belated 40th birthday with their kids and a group of friends. Pictured with son Sonny, seven, and daughter Rudy, four

Zoe also uploaded a photo of Hamish chatting to best friend Andy on the balcony of a waterfront restaurant.

'The most golden part of this trip has been the FRIENDS. So many friends along the way,' the mother-of-two wrote next to the image.

She also uploaded a happy snap of Andy and Rebecca cuddling up at their restaurant table.

'Wearing holidays well,' Zoe captioned the amorous image.

The Blakes were last pictured with Andy and Rebecca back in June at the TV Week Logie Awards, where Hamish was awarded the coveted Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality.
Peter Helliar has admitted he had some reservations about Chrissie Swan filling in for Carrie Bickmore on The Project.

The comedian, 47, told Yahoo Lifestyle he was 'nervous' about the Nova FM host, 48, temporarily joining the panel because she 'hasn't read the news before'.

Swan filled in for Bickmore during her three-month sabbatical in the UK. The Gold Logie winner returned to the Channel 10 current affairs show on Monday.

Peter Helliar (pictured) has admitted he had some reservations about Chrissie Swan filling in for Carrie Bickmore on The Project

'So I was excited to have her on, but I was also a bit nervous because I was like, "She hasn't read news before,"' Helliar said.

'People like Carrie and Lisa [Wilkinson] make it seem really easy and effortless, but there is a real craft and art to it, and reading the news is something I'm glad I don't have to do,' he added.

However, Helliar praised Swan for learning the ropes very quickly.

The comedian, 47, told Yahoo Lifestyle he was 'nervous' about Swan, 48, (pictured) temporarily joining the panel because she 'hasn't read the news before'

'To be honest, the biggest compliment I can give her as far as the job goes is that we thought the three months was going to take forever because Carrie's the captain of our team, there's no doubt about it, and it actually went quite quickly,' he said.

Bickmore returned to The Project on Monday after three months living and working in Britain with her family.

During her time in the UK, she continued to broadcast her Hit Network afternoons show with Tommy Little but took a break from her TV commitments.

Bickmore (pictured) returned to The Project on Monday after three months living and working in Britain with her family

She handed out giant chocolate bars to her colleagues upon her return to the desk.

Bickmore joked she had come home with an English accent after living there for a few months, and said she'd had a 'great time'.

Some viewers were confused by her return, since she had earlier announced she was 'moving to London' with her family.

'Why is Carrie back already?' one person asked on Twitter.

'I thought she was moving there for six months. All that drama and build up and she's back already?' they added, alongside the hashtag 'drama queen'.

Bickmore revealed back in March her plans to move overseas with her partner Chris Walker and their children. The family is pictured at Melbourne Airport before jetting off to the UK

Bickmore revealed back in March her plans to move overseas with her partner Chris Walker and their children.

'In April I'm going to be taking a few months off The Project desk. Chris and I and the kids are heading off on a family adventure together,' she said.

'We've been wanting to do it for a while but for lots of reasons the timing hasn't been right, but we figure it's never going to be the perfect time to go.

'It's something we really want to do before my son starts his final years at school so we're doing term two in the UK. So I will be off for a couple of months.'
The California-based electric vehicle company is urging the US Congress to adopt Tesla's Superchargers and plugs as the norm for all EVs in the country.

Aptera Pushes Widespread Use of Tesla Connection for all EVs

In order to have Tesla Superchargers and its plug adopted as the industry standard for electric cars in the US, Aptera has started a petition to Congress.

Aptera is developing a highly effective three-wheeled electric vehicle that is powered by solar and batteries. With just three wheels and a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.13, the vehicle is incredibly light and promises to have a range of up to 1,000 miles.

Tesla created its own charging standard since there wasn't one at the time it began producing electric vehicles. Since then, a lot has changed, and CCS is now the accepted practice worldwide.

Although CCS has now been embraced on a worldwide scale, Aptera doesn't think that makes it the greatest charging standard available.

According to Inside EVs, Apetra said that every tiny volume and weight improvement it has made to its EV is essential, even down to the connection, which is why it prefers to use Tesla's connector.

Aptera aims to promote the widespread use of the Tesla connection, but it is not yet apparent how the business intends to achieve so.

Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, co-founders of Aptera, have started a petition on Change.org to urge the US Congress to mandate Tesla Superchargers and its plug as the standard for electric cars in the country in order to forward their goals.

A few days before Apetra's appeal, Tesla had stated that, in response to a request from the White House, it would begin offering Superchargers to other electric cars in late 2022.

Read Also: WIC now Focuses Internationally to Expand China's Cyberspace Idea

Aptera Purchased a Facility for its Solar Vehicles Carried by Robots

Aptera, a start-up from California, has bought a factory for its solar cars, which will be transported from station to station by robots rather than rolling down an assembly line.

The solar automobile from Aptera is designed to overcome all of the difficulties with mass transportation.

It has only three wheels, an aerodynamic body, and is lightweight. Because of such design choices, the EV is very energy-efficient and requires less frequent charging for users.

Aptera said in 2022 that it would use platform-like robots created by machinery maker RedViking at its new facility to transfer its electric vehicles (EVs) from one station to another while they were being assembled.

For their solar vehicle, Aptera has already received 25,000 bookings, with a $100 down payment from each interested party.

It anticipates delivering its first pre-production cars by the end of 2022, the models that follow a prototype but arrive before mass-produced vehicles.

Aptera wants to offer its lowest range model (250 miles) for under $25,900. To make sure it can achieve this price point, the firm is integrating its efficiency-first philosophy into production. A highly efficient solar vehicle is useless if no one can afford to purchase it.

Related Article: Aptera Solar Electric Vehicle with 1,000-mile Range Gets 7,000 Preorders-Is it Still Available?
Local

Clardy: Surplus can make lasting difference if lawmakers don't get distracted

Clardy

The Texas Legislature should have a multi-billion dollar surplus when it convenes next year and will allow lawmakers to make a lasting difference if they dont get distracted by hot-button issues that suck the air out of the room and burn up valuable time, Rep. Travis Clardy said.

Last month, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar forecasted a surplus of almost $30 billion, which continues to grow as oil and gas severance tax collections increase.

Were probably going to have close to a $50 billion surplus, the Republican lawmaker told Rotary of Club of Nacogdoches recently after returning from Austin.

Clardy said he hopes the Legislature can pass meaningful property tax relief, and address needs related to water, transportation, broadband internet expansion and health care.

The legislature is supposed to be a deliberative body. Were elected to go have the conversations you want us to have and not spend all of our time talking about bathroom bills or  the shape of things to come  whether some guy in fishnet hose wants to read a book to a kindergarten class. Im opposed to that as much as anybody, Clardy said referring to the GOP criticism of New York Citys Drag Queen Story Hour.

The Legislature in 2017 got bogged down in a bill that would have restricted which bathrooms transgender people could use. The bill died in the House.

The danger you have is when you have these hot button issues. Thats on the left and the right, on both extremes. They tend to suck the air out of the room and burn up valuable time that could be better utilized for what I believe to be real issues, Clardy said.

In rural Texas, chief among those issues is better access to healthcare, Clardy said.

Democrats have long encouraged Texas to expand Medicaid, but for many far right members of the GOP the notion of talking about Medicaid expansion is heresy, Clardy said.

Im not saying we should do it, but how can you make an informed decision if you dont ever talk about it, if you dont put the facts on the table and work though them and determine whether they are good or bad for the longterm future of Texas, he said.

Yet, inevitably, some lawmakers will spend time trying to legislate on issues that affect very few Texans, he said.

Whats more important for the future of Texas? How do we address the 3 to 5 million people who are uninsured and cant get reliable care and show up in our emergency rooms and receive the most costly medical care at the cost of all of us or to talk about something that affects a dozen kids, he said.
The GermanFest Picnic in Dayton is less than one month away and they need more volunteers. Can you help?

Calling all volunteers: Get YOUR Gemutlichkeit on!

In August, 2022, the Dayton Liederkranz Turner will celebrate the 39th Anniversary of the GermanFest Picnic. For many in the community, it is one of the premiere summer festivals in the Dayton area!

The 2022 GermanFest Picnic will feature the same great food, same great beverages, and same Gemutlichkeit that have made it a top regional festival. The beautiful St. Annes Hill neighborhood offers the historic ambience of one of Daytons earliest German neighborhoods and provides a charming backdrop for the festivities.

More information about the festival: GermanFest Picnic in Dayton

Like so many ethnic festivals, the GermanFest Picnic relies on hundreds of volunteers each year to make it a success. With the event just a month away, we are actively seeking volunteers to help with Food prep and service, setup and teardown, headquarters and Souvenir Sales, children's activities, pop and beer sales and genealogy.

Volunteers receive Kranzi Coins for each shift worked. These can be redeemed for selected items during the fest.

To sign up as a Volunteer for Germanfest Picnic, click here
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Environmental Conservation Police Officer

Do you have what it takes to join the "Thin Green Line"? Do you want to take steps to protect the natural resources of New York State? Do you want to do your part to stop pollution of New York State's air, water, fish and wildlife?

If you are hard working, diligent, adaptable, and have a love for protecting NY's environment, then you might be interested in becoming an Environmental Conservation Police Officer (ECO).

Environmental Conservation Police Officer Video Testimonials

The following links leave DEC's website

Civil Service Exam

The first step toward becoming an ECO is successfully passing the Civil Service exam. The NY State Department of Civil Service holds exams on a recurring basis, usually every couple of years.

To qualify for the exam, you must have a bachelors degree or an associates degree, and qualifying experience. Though not required to take the exam, at the time of appointment, you must be at least 21 years old; there is no upper age limit to be an ECO recruit. In NYS, a person must be 21 years old to be a police officer. Check out the Civil Service website for more information on hiring requirements and qualifying experience, and to be notified of exam announcements (leaves DEC's website).

Hiring Process



Candidates participating in the timed run portion of the

physical ability test Candidates participating in the timed run portion of thephysical ability test

Upon passing the Civil Service exam, qualified candidates will be invited to participate in standardized physical ability testing. Candidates must meet a minimum standard to proceed to the next phase in the hiring process.

Learn more about the physical ability exams by viewing clips on how to conduct the one-minute sit-up, push-ups, and 1.5 mile timed run.

Candidates who successfully pass the Physical Ability Testing phase will undergo a rigorous background investigation, psychological exam, medical exam, and interview board.

The background investigation is very thorough and can take weeks to complete.

The psychological exam will be given to all candidates at one time and will be administered by a licensed psychologist. Candidates will complete this exam at their own pace with an average completion time of approximately five hours.

The medical exam is administered by a practitioner from NY State Employee Health Services.

The interview board is conducted in one or two locations across the state and allows for the candidates to be interviewed by command officers in the Division of Law Enforcement.

These phases take several months to complete and applicants that successfully complete them will be eligible for placement in the next Basic School at the DEC Training Academy.

Basic School



Recruits learn a variety of topics in the Basic School Recruits learn a variety of topics in the Basic School

Recruit Officers spend approximately six months at the Basic School for residential paramilitary training. The recruit officers report on Sundays and are not permitted to leave until Friday evenings.

They are immersed in training ranging from basic police procedure such as Criminal procedure Law, Penal Law, and Vehicle and Traffic Law, to specialized courses in Wildlife Forensics, Environmental Conservation Law and Wildlife Identification. They engage in Physical Training, Defensive Tactics and Firearms Training, among other courses.

Field Training

After the rigors of course work are complete, successful recruits graduate the Basic School and are assigned to a Field Training Officer in their assigned patrol sector. Due to seniority and transfers, recruits are usually assigned to patrol sectors in New York City, Long Island, or the Lower Hudson Valley.

For information such as salary, location of positions, and additional requirements for appointment, visit the Civil Service website.

Email dec.sm.ECO.Recruitment@dec.ny.gov with your questions on becoming an Environmental Conservation Police Officer.




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For Release: Wednesday, July 13, 2022

DEC and New York Sea Grant to Offer Hands-On Environmental Education to Middle Schoolers in Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Watersheds

"Day in the Life" Event Planned this Fall

$150,000 EPA Grant to Promote Environmental Literacy and Stewardship

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced that DEC recently received a $150,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant to expand and enhance K-12 environmental education in the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River watersheds. Working in partnership with New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and other Great Lakes Ecosystem Education Exchange (leaves DEC website) partners, the funds will promote environmental literacy and stewardship through both classroom and hands on learning. Five middle schools and an estimated 500 students will participate in the project, "A Day in the Life of the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River Watershed," during the 2022 school year.

"Encouraging environmental stewardship begins with a positive experience where participants are engaged and actively involved in developing solutions to address environmental problems," Commissioner Seggos said. "The 'Day in the Life' program, which we've hosted for many years along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, is now expanding to the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River watersheds, bringing students and teachers together for hands-on learning about local waterbodies and ecosystems. Giving kids the opportunity to conduct hands-on field research will spark a life-long passion for science and environmental conservation."

Middle school students within the Chaumont-Perch, Salmon-Sandy Creeks, Irondequoit-Nine Mile, Oak Orchard-Twelve Mile, and Upper St. Lawrence watersheds will have the opportunity for both place-based classroom and hands-on lessons. Organizers are prioritizing invitations to schools with environmental justice concerns in these watersheds to participate in the events. A "Day in the Life" workshop for teachers and administration is scheduled for Aug. 24, with a student summit to follow on Oct. 4.

The "Day in the Life of the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River Watershed" program supports the general objectives of the Lake Ontario Lakewide Action and Management Plan (LAMP) and Cooperative Science Monitoring Initiative data collection. The project is modeled on the successful "Day in the Life" programs in New York's Hudson and Mohawk rivers region and is designed to educate students about the importance of ecosystem health.

State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said, "New York State is lucky to be located along the shores of two Great Lakes and State Parks is pleased to partner with this worthwhile program that will teach children about the important role Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway play in our state. It is so important that we all learn about why we need to protect our precious waterways."

Katherine Bunting-Howarth, Ph.D., J.D., NYSG Associate Director and Cornell University Cooperative Extension Assistant Director said, "New York Sea Grant is pleased to partner with DEC and middle schools in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River watersheds to bring our ecosystem and Great Lakes literacy expertise to this EPA-funded educational opportunity to encourage environmental stewardship by New York's youth."

Following the model of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers "Day in the Life" events, this Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River-focused program will include activities that monitor water quality and habitats in watershed ecosystems.

As part of "Day in the Life" student summit events in 2022 in the Lake Ontario and Upper St. Lawrence River basin, students will take on the role of scientist as they complete hands-on lessons, collect data, and monitor the results of their activities. Data will be made public as an educational tool for both the students and a resource for the communities along the watershed.

Information on the "Day in the Life" project, including implementation milestones and data collected, will be available on the DEC's Great Lakes Program website. More information from EPA is available on the Binational website (leaves DEC website) and EPA's website (leaves DEC website).

New York Sea Grant is a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York and one of 34 university-based programs working with coastal communities through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Sea Grant College Program. Learn more at New York Sea Grant's website (leaves DEC website).
A scene from the film, "A Home from Home" / Courtesy of Triple Pictures





By Kwak Yeon-soo







Director Lee Seung-hwan said he wanted to tell a story about an orphan's transition to adulthood and independent living in his coming-of-age film, "A Home from Home."







In the film, actor Hyun Woo-suk stars as Do-yoon, who is about to leave his orphanage when he reaches the legal age of adulthood. Unexpectedly, he is reunited with his father, Seung-won (Jung Woong-in), who reappears after 15 years to take him home. Do-yoon adjusts to his newfound family, which also includes Jae-min, his little half-brother.







However, Seung-won's death makes Do-yoon the legal guardian of Jae-min, and he discovers something strange in his late father's documents while trying to claim the insurance money. As he gets closer to the truth, Do-yoon feels more confused about his identity.







"I wondered what it would be like to carve out one's own path, because choosing a new direction in life comes with tons of choices. Although Do-yoon can make an easier and safer choice, he sticks to his faith and walks the harder path. I made this film hoping that young people will be confident in making a lot of big decisions," he said during a press conference for the film, Tuesday.







"When orphans leave institutions and prepare for independence, they depend a lot on external circumstances. However, I believe they make choices on their own instead of seeking advice from others. And this applies to younger people who are about to enter adulthood," Lee said.







The poster for the film, "A Home from Home" / Courtesy of Triple Pictures

Hyun, who is playing his first big screen leading role, shows vulnerability and desperation to find his true self.







The rising actor said he looked for references, but in the end, decided to create the character by himself. "I tried to understand Do-yoon's mind, and put both his and my heart into the acting and deliver it to the viewers," he said.







Actor Jung said he doesn't consider Seung-won a selfish father. "Seung-won is such a complex character. He may be a bad father to Do-yoon, but he is a good father to Jae-min. I don't want to judge him," he said.







"The story may feel dark, but I wanted to explore various societal problems in a low-key, introspective manner. I tried to focus on characters' relationships with surrounding characters rather than on his emotional journey," director Lee said.







"A Home from Home" will hit local theaters on July 21.


The deceased were identified as 35-year-old Hamid, his wife Parveen, 30, and their children six-year-old Maheem and four-year-old Adnan. Representational image/DC

HYDERABAD: In a tragic incident, four family members, including two children, died from electrocution on Tuesday at Bidi Workers Colony in Kamareddy district.

The deceased were identified as 35-year-old Hamid, his wife Parveen, 30, and their children six-year-old Maheem and four-year-old Adnan. According to the police, the incident occurred when Parveen was drying clothes on an iron wire put on the wall of their house when it came into contact with live wire of an open electric fuse box. As a result, Parveen initially got electrocuted.

The woman's husband, Hamid, who attempted to rescue her died after being electrocuted. The children who went towards their parents also died from electrocution, according to M. Somanatham, Kamareddy DSP. All the four died even before reaching the emergency medical facility at Kamareddy's Government Area Hospital.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, minister for roads and buildings V. Prashanth Reddy expressed their grief over the incident. The Chief Minister announced Rs 3 lakh ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased, while government whip Gampa Govardhan handed over Rs 25,000 as immediate financial aid to the kin of the deceased.
The CM said the state government cleared all the hurdles in the way of bringing all crops under insurance coverage through e-cropping.  Representational image/PTI

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Jagan Reddy held discussions with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday on implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in the state. The discussions were via video conference from Tadepalli.

The chief minister discussed the modalities of integrating the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana with the YSR Free Crop Insurance Scheme.

Jagan suggested changes be carried out for the Fasal Bima Yojana in ways as to benefit all farmers. All the agricultural activities in the state were brought under the ambit of the 10,444 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), wherein every crop grown by farmers is being e-cropped with geo-tagging and gets updated on a real-time basis.

The CM said the state government cleared all the hurdles in the way of bringing all crops under insurance coverage through e-cropping. The AP government is paying both the premiums that are to be paid by farmers and the state.

Jagan said a free crop insurance scheme will go a long way in realising the goals of e-cropping if the central and state governments bore equal share of the premium of small and marginal farmers. He urged the Union minister to consider the proposal.

The CM thanked Thomar for including Andhra Pradesh in the Fasal Bima Yojana and making changes to its basic guidelines.

The central minister hailed the chief minister for protecting the interests of farmers through revolutionary reforms in the agriculture sector and thanked him for the states re-participation in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. He said necessary changes have been made in the Crop Insurance Scheme as per the suggestions of various state governments.

This will be jointly implemented by the state and central governments, and it would act as a protective shield for the farmers, he said.

Acknowledging the innovative programmes of the state government, like e-cropping, Tomar said a meeting will be held with agriculture ministers of states to discuss the innovative schemes that would motivate them too. He said Andhra Pradeshs role is inspiring in Natural Farming and in the Agri Infra Fund that benefits farmers.

Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, special CS Poonam Malakondaiah and other officials participated in the programme.
It's been barely four years since Realme made its debut in the subcontinent and has risen up the ranks on the chart really fast, displacing well-established Chinese peers.

It now commands the third-biggest share in the highly competitive Indian smartphone market. Two primary reasons for Realme's popularity are low prices for phones. And, how the company was swift inmaneuverring the shortage of chipset supply and signing partnerships with multiple semiconductor companies to mitigate shipment delays. This helped the company see good growth during and post Covid-19 pandemic periods compared to other brands.

Also, Realme has also done well by offering phones with colourful and visually different from competitors. The latest is the Realme GT Neo 3 series. It has a racing stripe design and packs MediaTek's powerful Dimensity 8100 chipset. Does it deliver? let's check it out.

Design, build quality and display

The most interesting aspect of the Realme GT Neo 3 series is the eye-catchy racing stripes on the shell. The engineers have done a good job placing the triple camera module with curved corners in the centre of the two stripes, mimicking a car zooming on a racing track.

Also, the white stripes blend beautifully with the nitro blue shade of the AG glass-covered shell. When looked at from different angles, the cover switches between blue and purple colours. Also, the device manages to resist fingerprint smudges to an extent. It is noticeable only when looked at from a certain angle. Thankfully, the company offers a transparent back cover. This helps in keeping the visual appeal of the phone intact and also saves the device from physical damage due to accidental falls.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



Realme has incorporated Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 shield on the display. This will protect the screen from scratches that may occur due to keys or pens kept in a pant pocket.

It features a 6.7-inch full HD+(24121080p) AMOLED 10-bit display and it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 1000Hz instant touch sampling rate.

The screen reproduces the multi-media content with rich colours and objects with black shades look darker and natural. I had a good time watching documentaries and trailers on YouTube with high-resolution video quality on.

Also, there is also 'Eye comfort' mode in the display settings. This will help reduce the blue light emission on the screen and lessen the strain on the eyes during binge-watching videos or reading an e-book or an article on a website.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



It also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and works smoothly. There is a low false rejection rate in terms of recognising the thumb impression and unlocking the screen. But, if you have sweaty hands, ensure to swipe the finger first on the pant or shirt and then go ahead and unlock the phone. Or else, it will take a few tries to unlock the screen.

Performance

It ships with a 5nm class Dimensity 8100 octa-core processor backed by Mali-G510 MC6 GPU, Android 12-based Realme UI 3.0 and 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM with 128GB/256GB (UFS 3.1).



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



Our review unit has 12GB RAM + 256GB UFS 3.1 storage and the former can be expanded for an additional 7GB, which adds up to 19GB RAM. This way, the phone can be made to respond faster to the touch inputs, load apps, switch between multiple apps swiftly, operate the camera to record 4K videos or play games such as Asphalt 9:Legends without any lag-ness.

During the review period, the device did perform to my expectations and I did not face any noticeable lag-ness as such.

The phone storage is limited to 256GB and cannot be expanded. The device comes with several pre-loaded apps and combining that with the 13.5GB space occupied by the system OS and 5.81GB (others: not specifically named by the company), it totals up to 30GB. Users are left with 220GB plus storage which is enough to store thousands of new images and also instal hundreds of apps and games too.



Realme GT Neo 3 comes with RAM expansion feature (screen-grab)



The phone packs with 4,500mAh battery and it was able to last a whole under normal usage. However, if you are an extreme user and stream content directly using the cellular network, the device may not last a full day. However, if you carry with 150W charger, there won't be any such anxiety. The phone can power up from zero to 50 per cent capacity in under 10 minutes. And full charge, it can complete the task in under 20 minutes. It should be noted, that the user has to turn on the Rapid Charging feature in the phone's settings.

Photography

It boasts triple-camera module-- 50MP (with Sony IMX766 sensor, OIS, f/1.88) + 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide lens (f/2.25) + 2MP macro (f/2.4) with LED flash.



Realme GT Neo 3's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



Realme GT Neo 3 does a fine job of taking still images in the natural sunlight. Even under the overcast cloudy conditions too, the device was able to capture decent pictures. Of course, like the other phones on the market, the camera does make the colour come off warmer than usual.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



I do not complain, because, despite the dull light caused by cloud cover, the subjects, in this case, flowers still look vibrant.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



Also, the style and stigma of the hibiscus flower are captured well even from a distance. The close-up shot (below) is actually a zoomed-in version of the photo above.



Realme GT Neo 3 camera sample zoomed-in clip. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



As far as the ultra-wide-angle shot is concerned, you can make out how much area is covered in it and how it looks in the normal mode. It is decent and the native camera ensures, there is no case of uneven bending of objects in the background to accommodate more in the frame, which I have noticed in other phones. But, not in the Realme GT Neo 3.



Realme GT Neo 3 ultra-wide-angle photo sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit





Realme GT Neo 3 camera sample with normal mode. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



The 2X zoom too is good and the camera ensures there is less loss of photo quality. We can see the natural rock colours with green vegetation around the Nandi hills. The camera manages to hold decent picture quality up to 5X, but noise begins to creep in when the zoom goes past 10X.



Realme GT Neo 3 camera sample with 2X Zoom. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



In night mode, the phone's camera manages to get decent-quality photos and does not blow out the street lights.



Realme GT Neo 3 camera sample with night mode on. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



On the front, it houses a 16MP (Samsung S5K3P9 sensor, f/2.45) sensor. Realme GT Neo 3 captures really good selfies in the natural light. And, indoors, the quality is decent.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



The phone can record videos in 720p (HD), full HD (1080p) and 4K. They come off stable and the video quality is up to the mark. Slow-motion videos are decent at best.



Realme GT Neo 3. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit



Final thoughts

Realme GT Neo 3 150W, particularly the nitro blue variant is undeniably the most unique-looking phone in sub-Rs 30,000 price range. The racy white stripes on the left of the shell resemble the racing track and beautifully blend with a dark shiny blue shell.

Performance-wise, it works smoothly be it day-to-day tasks such as web browsing and even while playing games, the device never showed any noticeable lag-ness. Also, the photography hardware is good too, takes pretty decent pictures on par with any of the rival brands in its class.

Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.
Three persons were found guilty on Tuesday by a National Investigation Agency special court at Kochi in an Islamic State (IS) recruitment case.

Midhilaj, Abdul Razak and U K Hamzaall natives of Kannur district in north Keralawere found guilty under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code. Their sentencing will be done on Friday.

The case is regarding the 2017 recruitment of people from Valapattanam in Kannur. Around 15 persons from various parts of Kannur were allegedly recruited to the terror outfit IS.

The local police initially registered the case, and later the NIA took over the investigation.

The three convicted had sought relaxation in their sentence, citing they did not follow the IS ideologies anymore, and had also been in prison for the past several years.

Over the past few years, over 100 persons from Kerala, including professionally qualified men and women, reportedly crossed borders to join the IS. Many were reportedly killed in encounters.
An innovative memorial to a tireless Derry charity worker is set to be unveiled on Derry Quay.

The family and friends of the late Anne Marie Toland are gathering at Foyleview Apartments along the River Foyle, at 3.00pm on Wednesday, to unveil the 'Foyleview Charity Clipper'.

Anne Marie's son, Aaron, died on September 16, 2007, when the plane in which he was travelling crashed on the island of Phuket, in Thailand. The 22-year-old Brandywell man had been just three days into the trip of a life time to Australia when the tragedy happened.

Foyle Hospice QR code on 'Foyleview Charity Clipper'.

Following Aaron's death, Anne Marie threw herself into fundraising and, together with family and friends, raised 60,000 for local charities and people in need, through the Aaron Toland Charity.

Anne Marie said fundraising had helped to keep Aaron's memory alive and gave her a focus while she was trying to deal with her grief.

Speaking to Derry Now about the 'Foyleview Charity Clipper', Anne Marie's niece, Aisling Hutton, said everyone was very welcome to attend.

Aisling added: Anne Marie was a brilliant charity worker. Sadly, she died two years ago, just before covid, which meant we did not get to do anything to celebrate her life.

Foyle Search and Rescue QR code on 'Foyleview Charity Clipper'.

So this boat, the 'Foyleview Charity Clipper' is in her memory. My uncle, who would be Anne Marie's brother-in-law, John McVeigh, built the boat. He secured sponsorship from a whole lot of local businesses, so the sails were made up of advertising for those local businesses and they also donated to the charity.

The boat is going up on the side of the wall today (Tuesday) and the Mayor is going to be unveiling it and there is going to be a wee plaque telling everybody about the work that Anne Marie did and naming the two charities the money is being raised for: Foyle Search and Rescue and Foyle Hospice.

On the wall there will be QR codes, so that if you are passing by, you can just scan the QR codes and donate to whichever charity you chose, said Aisling.
A group of students at a Derry school have created a series of inspirational podcasts, addressing mental health issues and the impact of the pandemic.

Working with professional artists from Bounce Culture, the girls at St Cecilia's College have written scripts, conducted interviews, learned technical skills and even created their own music soundtracks for the project which has involved 24, Year 8 girls.

The school was one of 11 to receive funding through the Creative Schools Partnership in September last year.

Supported by National Lottery funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Urban Villages Initiative and the Education Authority, the programme is designed to encourage schools to embrace the benefits of the arts by injecting more creativity into the classroom and improving educational outcomes for students.

Schools were given the opportunity to apply for grants of up to 15,000 each to develop a two year arts project that would bring professional artists into the classroom to teach students new skills, build self- confidence and explore creative expression.

The Creative Schools Partnership programme is based on research which indicates that access to quality arts experiences in school can benefit all aspects of learning and personal development.

This includes better engagement, increased attendance, improved results in other school subjects, growth in confidence and self-esteem and promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.

The programme promotes a student-centred approach, using the arts as a catalyst for connected learning, raising aspirations and fusing community and school based efforts in improving educational, good relations and wider social outcomes.

Commenting on the project, Tanya Wakeley, lead teacher on the project at St Cecilias College, said: For the podcasts, we asked the students to focus on lockdown and how they coped with isolation from their peers and not being able to come to school.

The project has been really fantastic.

Weve really seen their confidence grow.

Its given the group an opportunity to come together to talk about their mental health in a really positive way and also to be in control of their own learning.

The podcasts they have created will be shared with the wider school community and the project has been so successful we are already planning how we can build upon it next year to take it out into the community.

The Creative Schools Partnership encourages students to think creatively and critically, developing their own voice, resulting in a sense of pride and citizenship.

The programme enables teachers to collaborate with arts professionals across a range of creative domains; to co- construct learning opportunities and address the specific needs of pupils in their school and the com- munities in which they live.

Through creative arts participation, young people develop new skills and strengthen their relationships with their communities whilst identifying potential new career opportunities and positive self-expression.
The Government has won a motion of confidence after losing its Dail majority last week.

The Governments majority has dropped to 79  one short of a Dail majority  after Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh resigned the party whip.

After Sinn Fein tabled a motion of no confidence, calling on independent TDs to vote against the coalition, the Government tabled a motion of confidence in itself on Tuesday.

The final tally in the confidence motion was 85 in favour, with 66 against.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that this was a good time to take stock after the last two years, and outlined policies implemented across health, housing and education.

He said: Fundamentally, this is a debate between those who believe in tackling problems and those who believe in exploiting them.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the coalition of being a do-nothing government that sits on your hands and turns a blind eye in relation to housing, and is failing to make progress on healthcare reform.

She added: Rather than lining up to vote confidence in yourselves, you might, for once, do some self reflection, because this housing disaster was created by you and it is sustained by you.

So the message from your government to the ordinary person is clear: dont get sick, dont need an operation or treatment, and for Gods sake, dont need support services because bad government policy ensures that you are not guaranteed the care you need when you need it.

A heated debate ensued, with Housing Minister Darragh OBrien telling Ms McDonald that her arrogance had not just gone stratospheric, its gone intergalactic.

Youd need Nasas Webb telescope to be able to track it, Mr OBrien said.

The coalition has gradually seen its majority erode in the last year.

In May, Green TDs Neasa Hourigan and Patrick Costello had the whip removed from them after they voted against the Government to call for the National Maternity Hospital to be built on publicly owned land.

That came after Marc MacSharry quit Fianna Fail last year.

Mr McHugh and Mr MacSharry voted confidence in the government on Tuesday evening, as did both Green Party TDs.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik has called for a full audit of abortion services across the country following the publication of the Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care (UnPAC) study conducted by Trinity College Dublin.

Responding to the lack of services available outside the main urban centres, Deputy Bacik said that government must ensure that more GPs will provide access to abortion care for women.

With a report published last month outlining how over 200 women were forced to make the lonely journey to the UK to obtain abortions in 2021, Deputy Bacik pointed out the inadequacy of the current level of service provision for women.

Deputy Bacik said:

In 2018, people voted for repeal of the Eighth Amendment to enable women to have access to abortion care in this country. However, four years on, we still see real failures in provision.

We know that there are 13 counties in which less than 10 GPs provide abortion care, and we are aware that many counties have no GPs providing services.

Minister Donnelly needs to outline when the abortion review will be published, but it is clear already that the legislation is not providing the level of access required.

Many women outside major urban centres are forced to travel to a city-based GP for care  and they have to make the journey twice due to the three day waiting period requirement.

Even when they do travel to see a GP who is willing to provide abortion care, the legislation may restrict their access. Last year, we know that over 200 women had to travel to Britain to obtain abortions for that reason.

Every woman who must take that lonely journey represents a failure to deliver on the mandate given by 66.4% of the electorate in 2018. With the abortion review ongoing, we need to ensure effective access to abortion here in Ireland for those women who need it.

The harrowing testimony provided by women in the report published today discloses that far too many have faced the awful scenario of waiting to see if the foetal condition is fatal enough for them to access a termination after 12 weeks.

I welcome the Government announcement today about Safe Access Zones, but this is coming very late  we have been calling for introduction of such laws for four years.

Now we need to see the new laws brought into force urgently to ensure that women are not intimidated when they seek to access abortion services.

The referendum campaign triggered a national conversation about the adverse effects of prohibiting abortion; we heard powerful testimonies from those whose lives were touched by tragedy because of draconian laws outlawing abortion.

Following the repeal referendum, we must now ensure that our legislation provides effective protection for womens reproductive healthcare rights. This is about providing support in a crisis, and ensuring safe access to abortion for all who need it.
Police are investigating after images emerged of effigies of Sinn Fein and Alliance leaders hanging from a loyalist bonfire in Co Antrim.

Effigies of Sinn Fein president and vice president Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill and Alliance Party leader Naomi Long were pictured on the Eleventh Night bonfire in Carrickfergus.

Ms Long said the pictures, which she said were of the Glenfield bonfire in Carrick, made her feel physically sick.

Im not sharing the images due to risk of distressing families who have lost loved ones by suicide, she wrote on Twitter.

And because they are utterly sick.

I will, however, be sharing them and the pictures of the bonfire builders standing proudly in front of their creation with the police.

These were not last minute additions. There are photos of a childrens fun day taking place at this fire while our effigies were hanging on it. Some local businesses even sponsored it.

What kind of parent would see that and think its acceptable for their child to see?

I felt physically sick at those photos  not just at the effigies but at the festering hatred and sectarianism they represent; hatred that not only persists in our community but is being passed on to the next generation as normal. This has to stop. Our children deserve better.

So, having become accustomed to seeing my posters burned on bonfires, I honestly thought nothing could shock me anymore. However, late last night I received photos of effigies of me, @moneillsf and @MaryLouMcDonald hanged on the bonfire at Glenfield in Carrickfergus. >  Naomi Long MLA (@naomi_long) July 13, 2022

Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly condemned what he branded a hate crime.

The burning of flags, posters and effigies which included first minister-elect Michelle ONeill, party leader Mary Lou McDonald and other political figures on bonfires is wrong, deeply offensive and is a hate crime, he said.

Sinn Fein has reported a number of hate crimes to the PSNI related to bonfires.

There is an onus on unionist political and community leaders to stand up against these displays of sectarian hatred and make it clear that there is no place for them in this society.

The silence from some senior unionist leaders to date has been deafening.

Mr Kelly said the incident highlighted the need for safeguarding regulations around bonfires.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson condemned the displays.

Whilst the overwhelming number of Twelfth celebrations were hugely successful, some events require further work and other displays must be outrightly condemned as wrong, he said.

Throughout my lifetime I have had the privilege to celebrate and educate others about my identity all over the world. At no point has burning posters, flags or pictures of serving politicians featured as part of that. Nor has slogans or displays that advocate sectarian violence against anyone in this society regardless of their political position or religious views.

I was also horrified to learn of Twelfth decorations being destroyed in Co Tyrone and other hate crimes against the loyal orders having to be investigated across the province.

We have a rich Ulster-British cultural identity. I want people to focus on celebrating and displaying our culture rather than denigrating others.

When republican terrorists waged a campaign of hate against people of my faith, I condemned and stood against it. When anyone tries to incite hate, I will call it out and stand foursquare against it.

All politicians in Northern Ireland must be consistent in their condemnation of hate.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie condemned the effigies as utterly vile.

Hanging effigies on bonfires does not represent the union and unionist culture I believe in, he tweeted.

Staying silent cannot be an option.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: The police service is aware of images which have emerged showing effigies placed on a bonfire in Carrickfergus and are investigating.

Monday night saw crowds gather across Northern Ireland to watch the bonfires being set alight in loyalist areas to start Twelfth of July commemorations.

Before the fires were lit, police said that they were investigating multiple reports of flags, effigies and election posters on bonfires.
French luxury fashion house SAINT LAURENT announced the trailer video for their Spring Summer 2023 Mens Show. The collection is set to happen on July 15th at Agafay, Morocco. For the collection, Anthony Vaccarello returns to the original Yves Saint Laurent logo stilization, excluding the Yves as a part of the new era of the brand which began in 2013.



Morocco is no stranger to Saint Laurent fashion house, giving that their museum is located right in the center of Moroccans capital Marrakesh. Yves Saint Laurent often visited the city in search of inspiration for his collections. After his passing, museum opened its doors in 2017, providing the brands worshipers an insight into Yves work and parts of his life. The museum also has its own library containing valuable books dating back from the 16th century up to the 20th century. The books were mostly donated by YSL co-founder and designer Mr. Pierre Berge. The Spring Summer 2023 Mens Collection will surely honor the brands heritage and their rich history in Morocco.




North Korea fired an artillery shot into the Yellow Sea earlier this week, presumably from a multiple rocket launcher, a defense source here said Wednesday, as the U.S. has deployed six F-35A stealth fighters on the peninsula for combined drills.







The South Korean military had detected a single trajectory believed to be an artillery shot on Monday morning, the source said without providing additional details including where it was fired.







On Sunday, North Korea fired two suspected artillery shots from multiple rocket launchers. (Yonhap)






The OnePlus 10T 5G will reportedly be launching in India very soon. The upcoming smartphone was spotted on the 3C (Compulsory Certification of China) website and the listing confirms that a 160 W fast charging adapter will be shipped with it. The device was also recently spotted on OnePlus Indian website suggesting an impending launch.

OnePlus 10T 160 W fast charging support

The OnePlus 10T is listed with the model number PGP110 on the 3C website. The listing also shows an Oppo charging chapter with 160 W fast charging support. While the listing shows 160 W fast charging, a previous leak suggested that the phone would support 150 W fast charging. So, the phone could support 150 W fast charging but be bundled with a 160 W adapter. Something similar happened with the OnePlus 10R which supported slower charging than what its adapter is capable of.

The screenshot above from the 3C website shows the OnePlus 10T (PGP110) with 160 W fast charging (20VDC, 8A Max). The charging adapters model number is listed as VCK8HACH. According to a report by Nashville Chatter, the OnePlus 10T has bagged the 3C Certification. The device is expected to debut in China this month. As reported before, the device could launch in India any time between July 25 and August 1.

OnePlus 10T rumoured specifications

The OnePlus 10T is set to be the companys first device with 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM. The device will reportedly come with up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. The smartphone is expected to house a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate.

Powering the device will likely be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and the phone is expected to house triple rear cameras. The primary shooter is rumoured to be a 50-megapixel camera paired alongside an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter and a 2-megapixel lens (depth or macro). According to reports, the phone is likely to feature a 4,800 mAh battery with 150 W fast charging support. However, the charging adapter is a 160 W brick.
Barghausen Consulting Engineers Inc.

Dow

Varas

Dawson

Palmer

Manning

Anderson

Van Zandt

Huerta

King

Cory

Hubbell

Inigues

Wecker

Barghausen Consulting Engineers Inc. has promoted a total of 14 employees so far in 2022. Jennifer Manning was recently promoted to project coordinator. Manning was an intern on the firm's planning team during the Summer of 2019 and returned to work full-time for the Permitting and Compliance team in June of 2021. She is actively engaged in learning the permit processing protocols for site modifications, the procedures needed to bring fuel facilities back into compliance after receiving violations, and engaging Agency reviewers for permit issuance based upon our client's needs.

Megan Palmer and Haley Dawson were both promoted to senior project engineers. Palmer has been with Barghausen since June 2014 when she moved back to Washington from Nevada. She began working on a mix of commercial and fueling projects for several years before joining one of the firm's commercial teams, dedicating her skills to one client. Dawson has been with Barghausen and the Costco team since May 2017. She moved to Washington from Florida where she worked as a civil engineer for an Orlando firm for more than four years. She has a stormwater modeling background and manages a large engineering team on a large and diverse portfolio of projects.

Vicente Varas, from the firm's residential team, was recently promoted to project engineer, along with Cassie Thompson from the Oregon office. Varas started with Barghausen in June 2018 and has been a key piece of the Barghausen residential team. Varas works from the Kent office on small and large residential development projects for several national homebuilders from Pierce County to Snohomish County. He continues to grow his knowledge of residential plats and directly trains a design engineer. Brian Dow, out of the firm's Long Beach office, was promoted to design engineer for his efforts on a major fueling client account. Dow started with Barghausen in January 2014 and has been a key part of the Long Beach, CA office. He has taken on the responsibility of master drawing coordination and maintenance for a major retail fueling client.

Jordyn Cory was promoted to marketing coordinator and recently earned a drone pilot's license. Cory has been an integral part of the success of the marketing department since she started in 2019. Cory is now starting to fly project sites with her drone. Sandy King, from the firm's Oregon office, was promoted to project manager. King has been with Barghausen since September 2016, serving in various roles on both the engineering and planning sides of the firm. King has a unique skill set based upon her years of engineering experience.

Rhonda Huerta received a promotion to senior project accountant and David Van Zandt was promoted to senior CAD technician. Huerta has been with Barghausen since July 2018. She juggles many high-profile clients, challenging portals, and billing requirements and develops tools to track contracts and keep monthly billing as high as possible. Van Zandt started with Barghausen in September 2017. Since then, he has been expanding his knowledge on everything CAD related and has become an integral part of the team. He provides site plan options and civil plans to clients.

The firm also announced four new shareholders to its leadership team including senior planners, Sean Anderson, and Nick Wecker; permitting and regulatory compliance manager, Alexia Inigues; and senior project engineer, Jason Hubbell. Anderson is a senior planner and joined the company in early 2014, with most of his expertise focused on a nationwide fueling program. He has led the internal team on a gas program for many years. He has been instrumental in expanding the firm's footprint with the client into the Midwest, the East Coast, and gaining additional market share in Southern California and the Bay Area. Wecker is a senior planner who joined the company in 2013, quickly proving his value as a project manager for a substantial portion of the firm's corporate commercial work. He is responsible for developing and sustaining many key accounts with multisite commercial programs that span across multiple U.S. states.

Inigues is Barghausen's permitting and regulatory compliance manager who joined the company in 1997. Several years ago, she took over management of the firm's compliance program, leading a talented team ensuring a nationwide retail fueling client remains in compliance with a myriad of regulations and permit renewal requirements over all 50 states. Hubbell is a senior project engineer who also joined the company in 1997. Most of his early career with Barghausen involved helping clients get their projects designed and permitted. His client base includes a wide range of commercial, industrial, and residential projects.




A North Korean fisherman is held by South Korean officials before being handed over to North Korean officials at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, in this Nov. 7, 2019, file photo. Courtesy of Ministry of Unification



New photos show violations of human rights, hurt credibility of crime allegations: rights experts



By Jung Min-ho





Suzanne Scholte, chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition

Photos of North Korean fishermen fiercely resisting deportation seem to show that they were sincere about defecting to South Korea, and the credibility of the previous administration's claim doubting the intent of the defectors has been damaged by the revelation, according to human rights activists.



New pictures released Tuesday by the Ministry of Unification show the fishermen appearing to be gripped by fear, as South Korean officials hand them over to North Korean authorities at Panmunjom, the inter-Korean truce village.



Authorities under the Moon Jae-in administration claimed in 2019 that they were not legally obligated to accept the fishermen because they had conspired with a third man to kill 16 fellow fishermen before their escape to South Korea across the Northern Limit Line  the de facto maritime border with the North.



Suzanne Scholte, the chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and a Seoul Peace Prize winner, said the "shocking" pictures seriously undermine the credibility of what the Moon administration said about the fishermen, including the accusation of murder.



"The human rights community was shocked by this incident (revelation of photos) because the Republic of Korea (South Korea) is considered to be an advanced nation and a nation that is a liberal democracy that respects human rights  It made my physically ill. It broke my heart," Scholte told The Korea Times Wednesday.



She said what Moon's officials did was "tantamount to being complicit in murder."





North Korean officials wait to take a North Korean fisherman from South Korean officials at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, in this Nov. 7, 2019, file photo. Courtesy of the Ministry of Unification



"The officials knew they were sending them back to their deaths," Scholte said. "They knew their fate and sent them back any way! It is appalling."



On Nov. 2, 2019, South Korea's Navy captured the men in waters off the country's east coast. After three days of investigation, officials concluded that the fishermen were "criminals on the run" and sent them back to the North on Nov. 7. Their fishing boat  the most critical evidence of their alleged crime  was disinfected and returned a day later.



"They (South Korean officials) knew what they were doing was wrong so they started a cover up  they tried to cover it up by blocking information to know what actually happened, making up an implausible story that the fishermen had committed some horrific crime, and then destroying evidence by sanitizing their boat," Scholte said. "I think the Moon officials made up this incredible, unbelievable story to hide this crime. I hope that not only will the Yoon Suk-yeol administration investigate this incident and hold accountable those who were part of it but will also call upon the DPRK (North Korea) to tell us what happened to these two fishermen."





Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch

By sending them back to the North, the Moon administration violated the Constitution and South Korea's international treaty obligations, Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said.



"My first reaction to the photos was to feel both sick to my stomach, and then quite angry that the ROK officials could be so inhumane," he said. "The two men's desperate resistance to being forced back  so apparent in those photos  show that they understood they were fighting for their lives. Moon and his officials knew that, too, and yet still sent them back in what was a disgusting and callous disregard for human rights."



"All Koreans on the Korean Peninsula are considered to be South Korean citizens, so the Moon government should have operated on this principle. If they thought the two men had committed murders, ROK officials should have arrested and prosecuted them  assuming that the ROK even had evidence of what happened."



The forced return of people to another state where they will face persecution, torture or worse is clearly forbidden in international human rights law, he added.



"South Korea has ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1995, so it is bound by that international instrument  It's very clear that North Korea tortures people, especially those who have escaped overseas and then are returned to the DPRK, so this is really a textbook example of South Korea violating international human rights law," Robertson said.





A North Korean fisherman resists South Korean officials' attempt to hand him over to North Korean officials at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, in this Nov. 7, 2019, file photo. Courtesy of Ministry of Unification
In the last twenty years  between fashion and real interest  buildings in former USSR countries have been a destination for many photographers  brutalism, exposed concrete, obsessive repetition of forms and volumes. But in Vincent Fourniers pictures, there is more than just the pursuit of this aesthetic power. It is something more conceptual, explains the photographer, I like the idea of projecting into the future, it is something necessary, building with a future time in mind and reaching a different place. This idea gave rise to all those buildings, sculptures and monuments with such singular shapes. All of them were created by different artists or architects, which is the reason why no two buildings are the same. Artists and architects were given carte blanche, and they expressed themselves.
Besides the illy Art Collection, illycaffe is a sponsor of many important contemporary art exhibitions and the Venice Art Biennale. This year, on the occasion of the 2022 edition, the new collection of cups was presented, signed by the curator of The Milk of Dreams Cecilia Alemani. For the company, the role of the cup is clear, explains Scocchia. It is a way to make contemporary art accessible to everyone, to bring it to the general public, who perhaps discovers certain established or emerging artists right at the bar counter. For many, it is a discovery, she concludes. And in October there will be a new one, the details of which cannot be disclosed for now.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a virus response meeting at the government complex in Seoul, July 13. Yonhap



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday that the government will expand eligibility for the fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot to people aged 50 and older as well as people aged 18 and older who have underlying health conditions.



The move comes as the nation is facing another wave of virus resurgence, driven by the fast spread of the highly contagious mutation of the omicron strains, BA.5, which is known to be more contagious and better able to escape immunity compared with earlier versions.



"With the spread of BA.5 mutations, the resurgence is starting faster than originally expected," Han told a virus response meeting.



Currently, people aged 60 and older and people who have an immune disorder are eligible for fourth COVID-19 vaccine shots.






Five food businesses in Ireland were issued with closure orders last month for breaches of safety legislation.

According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), the orders were served by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) for issues including visible rodent droppings and inadequate handwashing facilities.

Four of the closure orders were served under the FSAI Act 1998 to The Hudson Rooms (bar, indoor seating area, kitchen area and rear storage area) in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, Apache Pizza in Blackrock, Co Dublin, and Roma Take Away in Portarlington, Co Laois.

One further closure order was served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on Han Lin Palace (now under new management from June 18 2022) in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.

Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in June include: a lack of pest prevention and control measures with rodent droppings visible in the premises; food handlers demonstrated a lack of understanding regarding the use of protective clothing and headgear, as well as a lack of understanding to prevent contamination from jewellery when preparing food; personal items such as a vape kit, car keys and mobile phones stored directly above cooling food; a lack of adequate labelling to facilitate traceability; undeclared allergen information; inadequate handwashing facilities and no food safety management system in place.

In addition to the closure orders, one prosecution was also taken by the HSE in June 2022 in relation to Freestyle Buffet in Co Cork.

Commenting today (Wednesday July 13), Chief Executive of the FSAI, Dr Pamela Byrne, said that it is unacceptable staff are unaware of their responsibilities as food handlers.

She said, "Food business owners have a duty to their customers, their staff and themselves to ensure food regulations are being followed on their premises. It is not acceptable firstly that staff are not wearing appropriate protective clothing and secondly that they are unaware of the risks of possible food contamination when they do not follow such food preparation guidance.

"Staff must be properly trained and/or supervised to ensure compliance with the legal requirements and attention must be paid to the basics of good handwashing, effective cleaning and proper storage of food. These legal requirements are in place to ensure that consumers health is not being put at risk.

"Enforcement Orders are not served for minor breaches and consumers have a right to safe food.
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Louth Independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick voted to support the government in yesterdays no confidence vote stating his belief that the collapse of the government and the general election and budget delays that would result would help nobody.

He also called on the government to do more to address the cost of living crisis and housing shortages while praising their Covid response saying:

On the issue of health, we must not forget that Ireland had one of the most successful Covid vaccination programmes in the world.

In fairness, the Government provided 48 billion to the economy and society, which was very welcome, and we all worked together.

However, with the largest budget in the history of the State in 2022, it is still disappointing that we see so many patients on waiting lists.

Some 350 million has been provided to deliver additional activities under the Government's waiting-list action plans and I will chase after it to see how this money is spent.

With an additional 847 permanent beds in the past three years, we do not seem to see their impact, but I welcome the reduction of the drugs payment scheme threshold from 124 to 80 and a successful vaccination roll-out.

He further cited concerns from his constituents regarding a potential Sinn Fein government:

I have spoken to many constituents and businesses in my area who are concerned that Sinn Fein will get into power.

They say Sinn Fein is full of promises and is always throwing the toys out of the pram when it does not get its own way. Its record in the North on housing, health, homelessness and the cost of living speaks for itself and, again, no Assembly has been elected.

He concluded by vowing to work with the government but stated that they must help people now and that a general election would only serve to cause further instability.

The Government parties have to show me that they are fully aware of the impact of the rise in prices on households and businesses and I will work closely with them over the coming months to make sure they get the help they need.

I have represented the people of Louth and east Meath for nearly 12 years. I have always been open and transparent. Since I became an Independent three years ago, I always take into consideration my constituency and I am not just here to push buttons.

I will do my best for them.

It is important that we all work together like we did during the pandemic and put this wonderful country first.

The last thing we need is for the Government to collapse and a general election be called, which will mean no budget until 27 December and a lengthy election similar to the last one.

People need help and they need it now. I will vote confidence in this Government. I will hold it to account and make sure that it keeps its promises.

I will always stand up and be counted. It is my duty, as an elected representative, to represent my constituency as best I can.
Creative children in The House in Coxs Demesne created a stunning sculpture as part of a recent 'The World is a Stage' project.

The main aim of the art worshops was to introduce the children to a new concept in art, which was sculpture.

A number of kids from the After Schools Project, which is based in The House in Coxs Demesne, worked alongside local artist Michael Stafford to complete the impressive project.

The funding and support that they received from Creative Ireland made this possible.

The children worked with Michael in various workshops and came up with some great ideas which eventually became their free-standing sculpture.

The After Schools Project said they were absolutely delighted to be part of this creation and thanked Creative Ireland, Michael Stafford and of course their highly imaginative and creative children.

Michael said: All the World is a Stage is a sculpture project teaching children the methods and concepts behind modern 3D art.

Like all art practices it starts with research and as with this project, it works in four different stages.

Stage one is collage making, cutting colours and shapes from magazine, these collages are fundamental parts of stage two and three, which is painting and 3D maquettes; stage one to three are the designs behind the large scale sculpture.

The 3D sculpture was displayed in the Market Square in town on Saturday thanks to BIDS manager Martin McElligott as part of the SEEK Festival to give the public the opportunity to view the amazing sculture created by the kids.
An internal HSE audit has found that there were inappropriate organ disposal procedures in place at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, according to a report in todays Irish Examiner.

The report was commissioned in the wake of a 2018 investigation which found that the organs of 18 babies born at Cork University Hospital had been sent abroad for incineration without the knowledge of the parents.

It was found that during the period covered by the report (2018- 2021) organs continued to be incinerated at the Drogheda hospital contrary to HSE guidelines.

The report states that the hospital was told to immediately implement a change in its sensitive disposal policy, issues with poor post mortem record keeping were also raised.

The report also recommended that the HSEs post-mortem policy be updated and that it be determined whether open disclosure is necessary for instances of organ incineration in Drogheda and other hospitals.

Commenting on the findings local Senator Erin McGreehan has said she is truly shocked and appalled at revelations.

The Louth Senator said:

I am shocked that this practice in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital continued up to so recently.

This should have ended and I will be following up with the Department and the HSE in relation to the many questions that will have to be answered in respect of why in Our Lady of Lourdes hospitals that this practice continued to occur after it was stopped.

It's a terrible trauma and stress to visit on the parents and families concerned and it's unacceptable and I fear that in the wider scope there will be more cases."
FRS Recruitment is calling on people in Louth to share their Home Truths about the county for a new campaign aimed at the Irish abroad who might be considering moving back home.

Whether its where does the best coffee in Ardee, what the traffic is like in Dundalk during rush hour, wheres good to go for a walk in Dunleer or how easy is it to secure accommodation in Drogheda, they are aiming to provide insights you simply cant find without local knowledge.

The Home Truths will be shared online through FRS Recruitments social channels, and some will also feature within new videos which will be broadcast during GAA matches to members of the Irish abroad, as part of FRS Recruitments partnership with GAAGO.

To take part all people need to do is submit an insight/home truth about their local area at www.frshometruths.com.

Over the course of their partnership with the GAAGO, FRS Recruitment has consistently promoted the idea of returning home to live to the Irish abroad.

They have been highlighting the fantastic opportunities available in this country to those who might be considering making a move.

FRS Recruitment is also behind the free flights home initiative, whereby they will pay for the flight home of any candidate living abroad who they place in a new role.

Speaking about the campaign, Lynne McCormack, General Manager of FRS Recruitment said: Over the last few years, what weve noticed is that when people are considering moving home to Louth or another part of the country, what they are invariably looking for is information that you cant simply find on Google.

"They want to understand what its really like to live in Drogheda or Dundalk and many of their queries come down to the type of practical insight that only locals can share.

At FRS Recruitment we have always prided ourselves on always going that one step further, which is why we are bringing these Home Truths to the Irish abroad.

"So now they can learn all about the different potential locations to live in Louth whether they are in San Francisco or Sydney, New York or New Zealand, Riyadh or Rome.

"Thanks to these Home Truths they can have local knowledge at their fingertips, even when conducting research while on the other side of the world, she concluded.
People wait to receive a COVID-19 test at a screening center set up for overseas travelers at Incheon International Airport, Wednesday. Yonhap



Government lowers age eligibility of 4th vaccine dose to 50



By Lee Hyo-jin



The government on Wednesday announced a set of quarantine measures in an effort to respond to the resurgence of infections driven by the highly contagious BA.5 subvariant of Omicron, which is soon expected to become the dominant strain here.



These were the first pandemic-related measures introduced by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which has vowed to carry out quarantine policies based on scientific data.



Medical experts, however, had doubts about whether the measures would be effective in curbing the new wave of infections, which may lead to as many as 200,000 daily cases by mid-September.



The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) decided to lower the age of eligibility for a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 50, from the current 60. People with underlying diseases aged 18 and over have also become eligible for the second booster.



The government did not reinstate social distancing measures such as limits on the operating hours of multiuse facilities or the number of people at private gatherings, which were lifted in April.



"Considering the high transmissibility of the BA.5 strain, from the point of view of returning to normalcy, as well as in terms of public acceptance, we believe that social distancing measures, if reintroduced, would have limited effects in curbing the spread of the virus," said KDCA Commissioner Peck Kyeong-ran during a briefing.



"But we may review partially bringing back the distancing measures if the fatality rate rises," she added.



However, the newly-announced measures have raised eyebrows among some medical experts.



Chon Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, viewed that lowering the age limit of the second booster was rather unnecessary.



"It is hard to understand why the government has expanded the fourth shot to people in their 50s when the fatality rate among that age group is near zero," she said.





Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) chief Peck Kyong-ran speaks during a briefing on COVID-19 response measures at the agency's headquarters in Osong, North Chungcheong Province. Yonhap
Orange Order leaders have said there can be no return of the Stormont Assembly until the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped.

Marching bands from Orange lodges have been parading through villages, towns and cities in Northern Ireland as part of the traditional Twelfth of July celebrations.

Participants also heard platform speeches between the outward and homecoming parades, with many emphasising unionist opposition to the protocol.

The Stormont Assembly has been collapsed for several months while the DUP refuses to nominate ministers to a new Executive until the UK government takes action on the protocol.

Unionists oppose the post-Brexit trading arrangements which demand checks on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, condemning it as a border in the Irish Sea.

Legislation which would give the UK Government the power to override the Brexit deal it signed with the European Union is currently passing through Westminster.

Orange Order Grand Secretary Mervyn Gibson told a Twelfth demonstration in Newry, Co Down, that relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic are at their lowest point in many years due to the protocol.

He said: The Republic of Ireland needs to decide  do they want good relations with the unionist community in all parts of the United Kingdom or do they want to cling to the protocol which damages our economy and denies us sovereignty over our own affairs?

Micheal Martin  you cannot have both.

Micheal Martin  you decide. Do you want to move forward and rebuild relationships, or take us back to a time of cross-border boycotts and tension? An Irish cold war of your making.

Rev Gibson said the next Prime Minister needed to stand firm on the union.

He said: To help focus his or her mind, we support those unionist elected representatives who have promised there will be no return to the Northern Ireland Assembly until there is a clear, irreversible process that rids us of this treacherous protocol.

The sooner this happens the sooner we can return to a devolved administration and start building a better Northern Ireland for all its citizens.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and members of the European business community in Korea pose for a photo during a special reception co-organized by the French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry on June 23. Courtesy of the FKCCI





On this Bastille Day 2022, which celebrates the French National Day, the French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) would like to extend warm greetings to all French and Korean business people in Korea, to wish them a year of great opportunities, growth and prosperity.







Recently, Korea has elected a new president in the person of Yoon Suk-yeol and France has renewed the mandate of French President Emmanuel Macron to pave the way for a new start and strengthen the relationship between the two countries. France and Korea share many things in common. Our populations are almost the same size. We share both a long history, a strong culture and identity. We are countries of innovation. We believe in multilateralism. We have a similar political system, and are both true democracies.







Korea is now enjoying a new status as a technological powerhouse and a global trade hub that enhances attractiveness of the country and brings more opportunities for business links between France and Korea.







Under this new context, the FKCCI has been very active to enhance the relations between French and Korean companies and foster business partnerships in many sectors.







With over 500 business support services provided to French and Korean companies, and more than 60 events organized every year, the FKCCI is striving to provide the most adapted services to companies bridging our two countries. As a result, in 10 years the global trade balance between France and Korea has increased by 150 percent and the number of our members more than doubled from 200 to 450. Thanks to Korea's dynamism, the FKCCI was awarded the Trophy for Best Performance among 125 French chambers internationally last June in Paris to recognize its achievements in the last two years.







Indeed, one of the key messages the chamber is passing to French institutions and business companies is that heading to Korea allows expansion of business activities to Asia. As the first major market in Asia to reopen after two years of pandemic, Korea is a dynamic and innovative country, with infrastructures and distribution channels that are extremely performant. A true laboratory of trends, the peninsula also benefits from early adopters and sophisticated consumers, always on the lookout for the latest novelties. An ideal environment for companies to test their offer.







With 36 years of expertise, the FKCCI supports companies of all sizes and all sectors through market research, prospecting, and development support services. It expanded its business center in the heart of Gangnam business district, incubating now more than 35 companies. With the goal of supporting companies willing to establish in Korea, it also created as new range of corporate services. The FKCCI tackles issues as diverse as setting up a business structure, business development, strategic planning, consulting, assistance for administrative and regulatory formalities (insurance, licenses, etc.), obtaining visas, quarantine exemptions and marketing strategy, both for French and Korean companies.







FKCCI Chairman David-Pierre Jalicon, left, Aryballe EVP Asia Business Development Thierry Chavigner and French Ambassador to Korea Philippe Lefort pose for a photo after the French company, known for its odor-detecting technology, won the Best Startup Award at the FKCCI's general assembly and French Business Awards Ceremony in Seoul, April 13. Courtesy of FKCCI





Striving to open as many doors as possible for its members, the FKCCI also continued to provide interface with Korean authorities, especially since new policy directions are taken by the Yoon's government. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo addressed the European business community for the first time since his nomination at a special reception co-organized by the FKCCI and Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI) on June 23. More than 150 representatives of French and German companies joined this unique forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Korea.







More recently, Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin also met with the French, German and European business communities on July 12 to exchange on the reinforcement of strategic relations with Europe.







Since 2011 and the FTA between EU and Korea, we have seen the arrival of the next generation of French investors, more SMEs and entrepreneurs, and new forms of partnerships in multiple areas. Today, France is not only a strong player in the field of luxury or agribusiness but is also an important actor of the supply chains for the electronic and chemical industries, and a key partner for the aeronautics, defense, energy and health sectors.







As a matter of fact, during their summit in Spain, French President Macron and South Korean President Yoon announced their wishes of stronger cooperation in the field of nuclear industry and aerospace.







Currently, 5,000 French companies have business ties in Korea, and 350 French companies are established here, representing 4 billion euros FDI in stock, and probably most importantly, employing more than 26,000 people. Thanks to this background, we believe that we are part of the Korean business family and the Korean economy.







As domestic economies and international trade have been recovering in the aftermath of the pandemic, there is a huge potential for Korean and French companies to explore market opportunities in both countries and supplement each other.







Fueled by this momentum, the FKCCI is proud and happy to bring together the French and Korean communities, as well as many European partners, for a wonderful and festive Bastille Day reception today at Floating Island.









Please visit us anytime at www.fkcci.com and contact us at

.







This article is provided by the French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry.










Korea and China held talks Wednesday on bolstering cooperation in service and investment fields under their bilateral free trade agreement, Seoul's trade ministry said.







The 10th round of FTA follow-up negotiations took place via teleconferencing earlier in the day, and the two sides discussed the potential opening of their service market and boosting bilateral investment, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.







The bilateral FTA went into effect in December 2015, and the first round of the follow-up talks began in 2018. (Yonhap)






CITESTE IN ROMANA

EBRD Vice-President Alain Pilloux visits Giurgiulesti International Free Port

EBRD is sole owner of Danube Logistics SRL, operator of the port

In cooperation with government, Bank aims to attract strong investors to further develop port

Alain Pilloux, Vice-President, Banking at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), paid a visit today to Giurgiulesti International Free Port, Moldovas only sea-river port. The Bank is the sole owner of Danube Logistics SRL, the operator of the port.

Mr Pilloux made his trip to the port at the end of a three-day trip to Moldova for meetings with government and other partners. He welcomed the professional management of the port by Danube Logistics SRL and stressed the importance of Moldovas only international port to the countrys trade and economy, especially in the context of the war on Ukraine.

He said: The EBRD has been supporting the construction and operation of the Giurgiulesti port since 1995. We are actively working to promote the continuation of the successful operation and development of this key infrastructure asset and welcome its increased throughput in 2022, including exports from and to Ukraine, at a time of concern over regional food and energy security.

Giurgiulesti International Free Port exports grain and vegetable oil and imports fuel, construction materials and general cargo. Overall year-on-year volumes moving through the port have more than doubled so far in 2022, reaching 804,029 tonnes, This is mainly due to increasing imports of petroleum oil products, coal and fertiliser and exports of grains and vegetable oil.

Existing grain transhipment and storage facilities are increasingly used for grain originating from Ukraine, which in peacetime exports around 15 per cent of the worlds grain, said Mathias von Tucher, General Director of Danube Logistics. The blockade of Ukraines Black Sea ports by Russia means this grain must now be exported by other routes, including via the Danube.

By end-2021, figures from the Ministry of Economy also show, the port was employing 553 people, up seven per cent from 2020. In 2021, salaries rose 22 per cent, investments rose 43.5 per cent, transhipment was up 52.4 per cent and tax payments rose by 149 per cent. A total of 100 million has been invested in the port since 2005, said von Tucher.

The EBRD acquired 100 per cent ownership of Danube Logistics group companies on 7 May 2021.

During Mr Pillouxs visit, the EBRD welcomed a Moldovan court ruling on Tuesday which confirmed that the EBRD is the rightful indirect owner of shares in I.C.S. Danube Logistics SRL, overruling a challenge by Bemol, a company related to one of the ports previous owners. The decision is final and irrevocable.

Mr Pillouxs visit follows the signing in June of a 300 million EBRD loan to support Moldovas energy security.

This fell within the 2 billion Resilience and Livelihoods Framework that the EBRD put together this spring to help Ukraine and neighbouring countries withstand the challenges of war, which has displaced millions of Ukrainians, including to Ukraine. The framework ranges from restructuring and emergency liquidity support for enterprises and recovery support for small and medium-sized enterprises to support for energy security.

In Moldovas case, the EBRD is working closely with the government both on boosting energy security and on food security, including by actively promoting the continued successful operation and development of Giurgiulesti Port with a view to attracting strong international investors.

On Monday and Tuesday, in Chisinau, Mr Pilloux met President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu, Minister of Economy and EBRD Governor Sergiu Gaibu, National Bank of Moldova Governor Octavian Armasu, development partners and business clients.

The Bank is a leading institutional investor in Moldova and, to date, has invested more than 1.7 billion in the country through 158 projects.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

Temperatures have gotten so extreme in parts of China that they are altering the shape of roads and snapping tiles off of roofs.

The infrastructure-melting heat wave had triggered red alerts in Shanghai and more than 90 other places as of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Red alerts are the highest possible heat wave alert in China. They signal that temperatures will climb past 40 degrees Celsius and pause or decrease most construction and other outdoor activities.

Up here, it is very hot, it is like a food steamer, a worker named Wang Mian who was maintaining air conditioners on top of trains in Zhengzhou in Henan province said, as Reuters reported.

On Sunday, the financial hub of Shanghai issued its first red alert in five years, Reuters reported Tuesday. It then issued another Wednesday, as Reuters reported the next day. Shanghai has only seen temperatures higher than 40 degrees for a total of 15 days since record-keeping began in 1873, according to Reuters Tuesday report.

This year, the heat has arrived a little earlier than before, Shanghai resident Zhu Daren, who had taken her five-year-old son to cool off in a fountain, told Reuters. Although it is just July, I feel the warm weather has already reached the high point. Basically, you need to turn on the air-conditioning when you get home and put on some sunscreen when you go out.

In addition to Shanghai, the high temperatures have impacted dozens of cities in the countrys south and east, according to The New York Times. The heat is predicted to linger for a minimum of two weeks.

In one particularly dramatic example, the roof tiles of a museum in Chongqing literally melted. The museum, which was exhibiting artifacts from the Palace Museum, is now shuttered for repairs.

A memorial hall in Chongqing, #China literally "melted" by the #heatwave. The Memorial Hall of the Palace Museum Collection's Evacuation to the South in Chongqing is closing for days to repair a rooftop melted by the hot weather. #hottestdayoftheyear pic.twitter.com/tPSmYBqUY1  Journey Album GBA (@AlbumGba) July 12, 2022

In another incident shown on state TV, a road in a town in Jiangxi province in the south rose up six inches in the heat, Reuters reported Tuesday. In the city of Nanjing, meanwhile, residents are hiding from the heat in underground shelters designed for airaids.

The heat wave is putting pressure on Chinas power grid and economy, CNN reported. Authorities in the eastern Zhejiang province urged residents to conserve electricity Tuesday.

In order to ensure electricity supply for residents and companies we call for the joint actions by the whole of society to save electricity, Zhejiangs energy bureau said with the State Grid in a statement reported by CNN.

In addition, the Central Meteorological Observatory said the heat wave could harm harvests of corn, soybean and wheat in northern provinces like Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei. This comes as the prices of both food and pig feed are already increasing, and could further impact the pig industry. Pork is a staple in China, and prices had already increased by nearly 50 percent between March and July 1.

The latest heat wave comes amidst a summer of extreme weather for China. It also suffered through a northern heat wave and historic flooding in the south in late June. Both heavy rainfall and extreme heat waves are becoming more likely because of the climate crisis.

Chinas National Climate Center said Wednesday that more than 900 people and half of Chinas land area had been impacted by high heat in the last month, as Reuters further reported.
The slaughter of a record 1,428 dolphins in the Faroe Islands is prompting outrage from environmental organizations and even local residents.

Sea Shepherd announced that the killings took place the night of Sunday, September 12 and amounted to the largest single hunt of whales or dolphins in Faroese history.

For such a hunt to take place in 2021 in a very wealthy European island community just 230 miles from the UK with no need or use for such a vast quantity of contaminated meat is outrageous, Sea Shepherd UK COO Rob Read said in a statement.

On Sunday night a super-pod of 1428 Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins was driven for many hours and for around 45 km by speed boats and jet-skis into the shallow water at Skalabotnur beach in the Danish Faroe Islands, where every single one of them was killed. https://t.co/uo2fAPhCDq  Sea Shepherd (@seashepherd) September 14, 2021

The incident is part of a Faroe Islands tradition known as the Grind, in which marine mammals, particularly whales, are hunted, BBC News explained. Supporters say it is sustainable and an important part of the cultural heritage of the autonomous Danish territory. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that it is unnecessarily cruel to the animals hunted.

Sundays hunt, however, was exceptional for several reasons. Faroese marine biologist Bjarni Mikkelsen agreed with Sea Shepherd that it was a record hunt. The previous record was set in 1940, when 1,200 animals were killed. In general, government figures say that an average of 600 pilot whales a year are caught, but the number of dolphins is usually much lower. It stood at 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

By contrast, Sundays hunt saw a pod of nearly 1,500 white-sided dolphins driven by motor boats and jet skis for several hours into Skalabotnur beach, where every one of them was killed, Sea Shepherd reported.

Locals told Sea Shepherd that the incident violated Grind laws in three ways:

It was not called by the properly authorized Grind foreman. Several of the hunters involved did not have a license, which means they were not trained in how to properly kill the animals. Several of the dolphins were run over by motorboats, leading to a slow and painful death.

The exceptional numbers and cruelty of the incident sparked outrage among locals as well as activists. One lamented the waste to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, according to Sea Shepherd.

My guess is that most of the dolphins will be thrown in the trash or in a hole in the ground, said one.

Even proponents of the tradition said Sundays killings were a mistake.

Im appalled at what happened, Heri Petersen, who chairs the hunting association where the incident occured, told the local In.fo news site, as The Guardian reported. The dolphins lay on the beach writhing for far too long before they were killed.

A poll taken after the killings suggest that most people on the islands want the dolphin killings to end.

We did a quick poll yesterday asking whether we should continue to kill these dolphins. Just over 50% said no, and just over 30% said yes, Trondur Olsen, a journalist for Faroese public broadcaster Kringvarp Foroya, told BBC News.

However, 80 percent of respondents to a different survey said they wanted to continue the Grind for pilot whales.

SEE GRIND VIDEO BELOW ON YOUTUBE (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)


Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

The sea is red with blood in a scene from the traditional hunting of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands. Jan Egil Kristiansen / Moment / Getty Images

In September of last year, a record massacre of 1,428 dolphins in the Faroe Islands shocked and outraged animal lovers locally and around the world.

In response, the Faroese Ministry of Fisheries has proposed a limit of 500 white-sided dolphins for 2022 and 2023, but animal welfare advocates argue that number is far too high.

This announcement by the Faroese government is farcical, Orca director Sally Hamilton said, as The Guardian reported. What the Faroes have done is formalise something that was previously unformalised  sanctioning the slaughter when it was never previously clear how many dolphins would be killed annually  if any at all.

The Faroe Islands are autonomous islands in the North Atlantic that practice a hunting tradition called grindadrap or grind, in which pilot whales or dolphins are driven to the beach by participants in fishing boats and then killed on the shore with knives, according to Al Jazeera. This practice is controversial both locally and globally, and the controversy came to a head last year when Sea Shepherd posted images of the slaughter of almost 1,500 dolphins. Nearly 1.3 million people signed a petition to the Faroese government demanding the hunt be banned, and the Faroese government said it would review the dolphin hunt in February.

It has been acknowledged that aspects of that catch were not satisfactory, in particular the unusually large number of dolphins killed, the government said in announcing the potential quota. This made procedures difficult to manage and is unlikely to be a sustainable level of catch on a long-term annual basis.

The government also said that it believes its people have a right to utilize the resources of the sea sustainably, including marine mammals like pilot whales and dolphins. It argued that, because there are around 80,000 white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands, a catch of around 825 per year would be sustainable. In practice, hunters have actually killed around 260 per year.

The advocacy group Stop the Grind argued that the suggested quota was inadequate for three reasons:

It doesnt include pilot whales, which are technically dolphins and also a target of the hunt. Because the quota is higher than the average number of dolphins killed, it isnt set up to reduce the death toll. There are no repercussions for exceeding the quota.

The adoption of a quota is meaningless without effective governance and a demonstrated reduction in the number of dolphins and whales killed by the Faroese each year, the group wrote.

Orca head of partnerships Steve Jones also argued that white-sided dolphins were not part of the traditional hunt in the same way as pilot whales, according to The Guardian. In fact, 83 percent of Faroese residents support hunting pilot whales but 53 percent are against hunting white-sided dolphins, according to a poll taken after last years killings.

To establish a quota is formalising a hunt that didnt exist as a traditional hunt previously, and which surveys have shown that Faroe Islanders do not want, Jones said. It is a worrying trend towards a hunt that is not sustainable. There is no market for white-sided dolphin meat.

The government began taking public comments on its proposal July 8 and hopes to implement it by July 25.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan triggered an underwater mudslide, which caused an oil production platform owned by Taylor Energy Co. LLC to collapse. The company capped nine oil wells, but the remaining 16 remained open, spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This spill, the countrys longest-lasting, is still ongoing, and in a new count, over 1 million gallons of oil have been collected from the area since 2019.

As of July 12, 2022, 1,016,929 gallons of oil have been collected from the MC-20 site, a Coast Guard news release stated. According to the Associated Press, the amount of oil collected just since 2019 could fill about 1.5 Olympic swimming pools.

The MC-20 site, or Mississippi Canyon Block 20, is located about 11 miles south of Louisianas coastline. The Coast Guard is overseeing a subsea containment system that collects about 900 gallons of oil a day, while the government continues to develop a more permanent solution to clean up the oil from the 18-year-old spill.

Though the containment system is considered a great success, the federal government is exploring all available response options, including to properly decommission the impacted wells on site, said Captain Kelly Denning, the Coast Guards Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the incident.

In December 2021, Taylor Energy settled with the U.S., agreeing to transfer the funds in its $432 million Taylor Energy Decommissioning Trust to the U.S. Department of the Interior to go toward decommissioning the wells and remediating the contaminated soil. The company is also required to pay an additional $43 million (all of its remaining assets) for civil penalties and natural resource damages.

While 1,016,929 gallons of oil has been collected over the past three years, neither the Coast Guard nor Taylor Energy has an estimate of how much oil in total has spilled since the disaster began in 2004.

Estimates from 2012 said it was around 7.5 gallons per day, and 2015 estimates put the amount around 12 gallons per day. Taylor Energy formerly had estimates of about 3 or 4 gallons of remnant oil being sparged from the sediments daily, according to a 2018 court filing. In the same court filing, the U.S. put estimates much higher.

Instead, as the United States experts have determined, approximately 250 to 700 barrels of oil a day are leaking from MC20 (there are 42 gallons of oil in a barrel), and the oils chemical characteristics are consistent with ongoing releases of oil from multiple wells, the filing read.
The Taliban's ban on secondary education has already caused girls in Afghanistan to lose 300 days of their studies with devastating consequences for them, their families and the country's future, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday, July 13, in a new video feature.

The video features six prominent Afghan women: Tamana Ayazi, a filmmaker; Sahar Fetrat, a Human Rights Watch researcher; Yalda Hakim and Zahra Joya, journalists; Elaha Soroor, a musician; and Heela Yoon, an activist. They discuss how education changed their lives and the devastating consequences of the current ban for this generation of Afghan girls, as stated in a report by IANS.

"It feels beyond belief that we could be having a conversation in 2022 about whether girls should be allowed to study," said Sahar Fetrat, assistant women's rights researcher at HRW and the producer of the project. "We're so grateful to the strong Afghan women who spoke with us. The world should listen to them and do more to end this shocking abuse. Every day, millions of Afghan girls are losing opportunities and dreams they can never get back."

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 and imposed policies that severely restricted basic rights, particularly those of women and girls. They dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. According to HRW, Taliban decrees prohibit women from travelling unless accompanied by a male relative and require women's faces to be covered in public, including women TV newscasters.

Additionally, the Taliban have carried out broad censorship, limiting critical reporting and have detained and beaten journalists. Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. On September 18, 2021, a month after taking over the country, the Taliban ordered the reopening of boys' secondary schools but made no mention of girls' secondary schools. This was then interpreted as a ban on girls' secondary education. In several provinces, after coming under community pressure, Taliban officials allowed girls' secondary schools to reopen, but the vast majority of these schools remained closed.

On March 21, 2022, the Taliban pledged to reopen all schools on March 23, but they closed girls' secondary schools again on that date. An indefinite ban on these schools remains in place with no clarity about when or if they will reopen. Yalda Hakim, a BBC news presenter who participated in the project, has been counting down on Twitter the days since the ban began, on July 14 it will be 300 days.




Farmers in Philippines urge for more imports of feed raw materials



Farmers in the Philippines called for increased imports of the raw materials used in animal feed, citing the need to provide relief to growers suffering from rising input prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the logistics disruptions caused by the pandemic.

"The priority should be the ease of importing ingredients, not finished products. (That way,) we can keep the livelihoods here and have the by-products," said Feedmix Specialist II, Inc. vice-president Norberto O. Chingcuanco. "As of the moment, I believe there is no need to import chicken. Too much importing will discourage poultry growers who are taking on the extra challenges due to the Russia-Ukraine war and other global disruptions."

He added that the input costs have been rising due to the cost of soy and other proteins used in animal feed, as well as wheat.

"There are weather and disease related problems, in addition to the rising cost of feed. Then there is uncertainty over imports which discourages raisers from investing and rehabilitating or expanding their facilities," said Federation of Free Farmers National chairman Raul Q. Montemayor. "There could have also been a shift in demand from pork to chicken as a result of the high prices of pork."

Rising input costs have been an industry problem in the Philippines even before the onset of the pandemic and the crisis in Europe, according to United Broiler Raisers Association president Elias Jose M. Inciong.

"Even before the Ukraine war, prices of corn and soy already went up. In the case of local corn especially, corn farmers lost confidence because a large portion of their market, which was the hog industry, disappeared because of African swine fever," he said.

Corn prices have risen to 22-23 (US$0.39-0.41) per kilogramme from 14-16 (US$0.25-0.28) per kilogramme in 2021, according to Inciong. Soy likewise increased to 34-36 (US$0.60-0.64) per kilogramme this year from 24-26 (US$0.43-0.46) per kilogramme last year.

"This has impacted the performance of the broiler industry, whether terminal broiler farms or breeders. Right now, the day-old chicks that used to cost 28-30 (US$0.46-0.53) per kilogramme now cost 38 (US$0.67)," Inciong said.

Due to weak production by the poultry sector, he said that undersized chickens have proliferated and are now finding their way into the markets to meet demand.

Additionally, fast food chains like Jollibee and McDonald's have reported supply problems, particularly in procuring chicken that passes their quality standards.

In order to augment supply and solve the shortage for the long term, Inciong said that the government must look into policy reforms while consulting producers.



- BusinessWorld




Dutch farmers in protest against government's plans to cut livestock numbers





Thousands of farmers in the Netherlands have been blocking supermarket distribution centres and burning hay bales in protest of government plans to reduce livestock numbers in the country.

Earlier this month, the Dutch government announced plans to halve the country's nitrogen output by 2030  with cattle-produced manure and fertiliser in the firing line. The government estimates this could cut livestock numbers by 30%.

The government has also made plans to buy out some farmers and cancel the production rights attached to their land or to help finance their relocation. Deputy prime minister Carola Schouten said ending farm operations reduced nitrogen emissions.

"The future of farming is currently a much-discussed issue in many homes and not only because of nitrogen pollution," Schouten said. "Some farmers want to quit, but many more want to continue. The government wants to make both these things possible. Money will be available for farmers who want to continue, and to innovate. Farmers who want to end their operations will also get help from the government."

But the plan has not gone down well with local farmers, who have been staging large and sometimes violent protests. Feed bags have been lit on fire and cows have been brought to protests  with farmers saying the laws will mean sending them to the abattoir.

Pictures of empty supermarket shelves have emerged on social media with the farmers blocking trucks from leaving food distribution centres.

The fishing community have backed the farmers by blocking port activity with their boats and effectively disrupting ferry services.

The future of the plan is uncertain with Euro News saying Dutch courts have ordered the Dutch government to address the nitrogen problem.



- Beef Central




Philippines' chicken production improving, according to Bureau of Animal Industry





The Bureau of Animal Industry of the Philippines said the local production of chicken and chicken products is already improving after poultry raisers warned of a possible shortage in the next two quarters.

DA-BAI officer-in-charge Reildrin Morales said the agency held a meeting with the broiler industry and fast-food chain stakeholders to discuss concerns over low production.

"We had a meeting with our broiler industry stakeholders and they told us that the production cycle is already improving," Morales said.

The low supply, coupled by an increase in demand, caused chicken prices to rise.

"Let's wait for the harvest in July and August. Let's see in the incoming cycle. Hopefully, the supply catches up with the high demand," Morales said.

He added that, among the challenges faced by broiler producers that led to the shortage are high prices of imported feeds, such as corn and soybean meal. Other factors are the weather condition that extended the time in raising poultries from 32 to 42 days, continuous increase in the price of petroleum products that affects logistical operations, and the avian influenza already experienced in some parts of the Philippines.

Morales said the DA has already elevated its surveillance to prevent a possible outbreak of the avian influenza.

"We have ordered a collection of samples so that while we do not have a full-blown outbreak yet, we would have an early detection," Morales added.

Meanwhile, the president of the United Broilers and Raisers Association (UBRA), Elias Jose Inciong, said a shortage would ensue if production problems were not addressed.

The group advised Philippines President Bongbong Marcos, who concurrently heads the Department of Agriculture (DA), to craft a plan to boost yield and optimise border controls to prevent zoonotic diseases from reaching the local poultry population.

"There is no support. There is no plan. We never received the kind of support other countries are giving to their agriculture sector," Inciong said. "Those who are still in the sector are surviving on their own, not because of the government." giants said the chickens were just too small or too light for their requirements.



- Manila Standard
China welcomes Security Council resolution on Syria humanitarian aid

Xinhua) 09:51, July 13, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution that re-authorizes cross-border aid deliveries into Syria.

Resolution 2642 provides the necessary flexibility to allow the Security Council to assess and adjust its mandate in a timely manner, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

The resolution sets out clear demands for early-recovery programs and greater transparency in relief efforts. The bimonthly informal interactive dialogues of the Security Council, provided for in the resolution, are also conducive to concrete follow-ups on the resolution, he said in an explanation of vote after the vote.

"We expect all parties to strictly abide by the basic principles governing international humanitarian assistance, strictly comply with the requirements of the Security Council resolutions, ensure the neutrality and transparency of assistance, and make it more targeted and effective," said Dai.

The resolution, which re-authorizes the cross-border mechanism for six months, was adopted with 12 votes in favor, with three abstentions (Britain, France and the United States).

The current authorization expired on Sunday after the Security Council failed on Friday to adopt any resolution that would have renewed the mechanism. Russia vetoed a draft resolution prepared by Ireland and Norway that sought a 12-month re-authorization. A Russian draft resolution, which would have renewed the mechanism for six months, failed to gain the necessary votes for approval.

Facts have shown that it is normal for members of the council to have differences. It is only natural that sometimes divergences can be sharp. But as long as the members have the political will, persevere in patient consultations and accommodate each other's concerns, the council can still find effective solutions, he said.

Ramming through a vote while major differences still exist will only intensify contradictions and differences and will do a disservice to maintaining the unity of the Security Council and ensuring its effective discharging of its responsibilities, he said.

China's position on the humanitarian issue in Syria is consistent and clear. It has always maintained that humanitarian assistance to Syria should respect Syria's sovereignty and the ownership of the Syrian government. Cross-line delivery should become the main channel as cross-border delivery is a temporary arrangement made under specific circumstances. It is necessary to speed up the transition to cross-line relief, and establish a clear timetable for the eventual termination of cross-border relief, said Dai.

Unilateral sanctions severely restrict the operations of the international humanitarian agencies in Syria, and run counter to the efforts of the Security Council and the international community to improve humanitarian access and increase humanitarian resources in Syria. China urges the relevant countries to immediately and comprehensively lift unilateral sanctions against Syria, he said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)




By Kwon Mee-yoo







New U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg will take part in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF), Saturday.







According to the U.S. Embassy Seoul, Goldberg will deliver a speech promoting the rights of sexual minorities during the festival held at Seoul Plaza, Saturday.







The embassy has been taking part in the SQCF since 2014 and Goldberg's predecessors Mark Lippert and Harry Harris also took part in the event.







The arrival of Goldberg, who was appointed in February and arrived in Seoul last Sunday, already drew protests from Christian and far-right groups in front of the embassy.







The U.S. Embassy said it will continue to openly support the human rights of LGBTQ people regardless of the ambassador's sexual orientation.







The SQCF returns after three years due to social distancing regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic.







About 15 foreign diplomatic missions in Korea will participate in this year's SQCF to promote human rights. The U.S. Embassy will have a booth in collaboration with the British Embassy.







Foreign embassies in Seoul play an important role in supporting the annual festival celebrating LGBTQ rights here.







New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner gave a speech with his same-sex spouse Hiroshi Ikeda in 2018.







In January, a group of foreign missions in Korea had written a letter of support when the festival's organizers were fighting with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.






US$6.3 million investment for setting up Singapore's first high-tech rainbow trout farm

Blue Aqua Singapore has announced an investment of S$8.8 million (US$6.3 million) from Muscat Investment House in order to build the city state's first high-tech rainbow trout farm.

Muscat Investment House is one of the largest and most prominent business conglomerates in the Sultanate of Oman, with more than 20 diversified subsidiaries throughout Oman and the Gulf. This is its first investment in Singapore, with the group's moving focus into the sustainable aquaculture sector.

Blue Aqua currently operates Singapore's largest land-based shrimp farm using its patented green technology for urban farming and announced plans earlier this year to build the country's first high-tech trout farm.

The project aims to incorporate super-intensive technology to help achieve sustainable trout production locally to support Singapore's food security initiatives.

According to Blue Aqua, the investment will allow it to increase distribution and aquafeed manufacturing in support of the country's 30 by 30' food security initiative.

"We are pleased to join Blue Aqua on its mission to expand its scope of work and enable it to expand its aquaculture business in Singapore," said Muscat Investment House in a press release. "This investment will be of mutual benefit to both companies and projects in Singapore and the Sultanate of Oman,"

The Blue Aqua Group is also expanding its farming operations into Oman under the entity Blue Aqua International Gulf LLC.

Blue Aqua said that it is currently "in discussion with other prominent funds in Europe and Southeast Asia to join this round of funding".



- The Fish Site
Hallicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane Transceiver The Hallicrafters SR 2000 transceiver is a vintage HF amateur radio rig covering 80, 40, 20, 15 & 10 metre bands and giving 2KW PEP output on SSB.

Hallicrafters Radios Includes:

SR 2000 (Hurricane)

Iconic radio receivers: Summary of iconic radio receivers

Radio receiver history Crystal radio sets Development of the superhet radio Radio history / timeline

The Hallicrafters SR 2000 was a ham radio transceiver capable of delivering 2KW PEP input on the HF ham radio bands of the time. The model number indicates its power rating.

This vintage radio transceiver was launched in 1965 and was manufactured until about 1972 when imports from Japan started to erode the market for western manufactured equipment.

Hallicrafters-SR 2000 Hurricane vintage ham radio transceiver

With this transceiver the Hallicrafters SR 2000 provided a very neat solution for anyone wanting to deliver a full kilowatt output to the antenna with no external linear amplifier.

The SR 2000 is also referred to as the "Hurricane". This name was part of the Hallicrafters marketing as they had a number of amateur radio equipments at the time named after storms: tornado, cyclone, etc.

To this day, there is a good following for Hallicrafters equipment and they appear on the vintage radio sales and in the second hand markets where they still command a good price but represent good value for money.

Although they do not have all the bells and whistles and computer control, etc of modern equipment, they can still perform well on todays amateur radio bands.

Hallicrafters company

The Hallicrafters company was founded in 1932 by William J Halligan and was based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

The company produced a variety of radio equipment, but it is probably best known for its radio communications equipment, including a large variety of amateur radio or ham radio equipment including radio receivers, transmitters and transceivers.

One of their first pieces of radio equipment as the SX-9 Super Skyrider radio communications receiver launched in 1935.

However they produced a wide variety of other equipment, suspending normal operations during WW2 to produce military equipment.

After the war, the company returned to manufacturing radio equipment, the company employed over 2500 people at one stage. At this time they were manufacturing equipment for missiles and electronic warfare equipment. Hallicrafters also produced a wide variety of similar other high value equipment.

However the development production of amateur radio equipment continued, and they produced a number of high performance and classic vintage radios, transceivers and the like for general purpose use and specifically for amateur radio.

Finally the company was sold to Northrop-Grumman in 1966, and although the factory was kept, the name was sold on.

SR 2000 basic specification

The Hallicrafters SR 2000 offered a very good level of performance for its day and the specification reflected this.




Senior diplomats of South Korea and Iran held phone talks Wednesday to discuss ways to improve bilateral relations strained by the issue of Iranian funds frozen here, Seoul's foreign ministry said.







During the phone call, First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his Iranian counterpart and chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri-Kani, shared the latest development of negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and other pending bilateral issues, the ministry said in a release.







Bilateral relations remain frayed over US$7 billion in Iranian funds locked in two Korean banks under U.S. sanctions, which were reimposed after then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew from the nuclear deal. Tehran has long called on Seoul to release the funds.







During the talks, Bagheri-Kani said "the pressing bilateral issues" need to be promptly resolved, and Cho responded the Seoul government will make efforts to release the funds and resume oil imports when the Iranian nuclear agreement is restored, according to the ministry.







Seoul officials have said the fate of the frozen funds depends on the results of Iran's nuclear talks with world powers, but indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington ended in late June without meaningful progress. (Yonhap)






Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, and U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg toast to celebrate U.S. Independence Day during a reception at the ambassador's residence, also known as Habib House, in central Seoul, Wednesday. Goldberg arrived in Seoul, Sunday, filling the post which had been empty for about a year and a half after former Ambassador Harry Harris resigned upon the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Joint Press Corps
Bandai Namco said it was the victim of a cyberattack and that hackers accessed confidential information. The company told Eurogamer it is investigating the matter, though it noted there's a chance that "customer information related to the Toys and Hobby Business in Asian regions (excluding Japan)" was present on servers and PCs the hackers infiltrated.

Earlier this week, a ransomware group claimed it carried out an attack on the Elden Ring publisher. Bandai Namco has now confirmed that someone breached its systems. "On 3rd July, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. confirmed that it experienced an unauthorized access by third party to the internal systems of several Group companies in Asian regions (excluding Japan)," the company said.

It's not clear when Bandai Namco discovered the breach or when it resolved the issue. The publisher said it took "measures such as blocking access to the servers to prevent the damage from spreading." It's working with third-party partners to shore up security.

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Bandai Namco is assessing the "existence of leakage, scope of the damage and investigating the cause." The company says it will disclose findings of the investigation "as appropriate." It also apologized "for any complications or concerns caused by this incident.
Amazon Prime Day offers a great opportunity to upgrade your work-from-home setup. You've probably been using it a lot recently and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but it can get expensive to upgrade the tools you may have been using for the past two or more years. One of the biggest expenses can be an external monitor, but it can also be one of the most useful gadgets in your setup. If you spend most of your day hunched over a laptop, an external monitor can help you improve your posture and overall comfort throughout the day. Whether you're looking for your first monitor or want to upgrade the one you currently have, a number of good ones are on sale for Prime Day. Here are the best monitor deals we found for Amazon Prime Day 2022.

Samsung monitors

Samsung

A variety of Samsung monitors are on sale for Prime Day, and they include the company's M5 smart monitor. Both the 27-inch and 32-inch versions of the M5 have been discounted, and these displays double as smart TVs. You can use either as a regular external monitor, but built-in technology gives you access to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others.

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BenQ monitors

BenQ

BenQ has a handful of monitors on sale that cover both work and play purposes. Some of the best deals are on "gaming" monitors, but they can be used for both your next streaming session and general work tasks. This 27-inch EX2710S monitor is $121 off and down to $209, while this 27-inch EX2710R curved monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate is $310 off and down to $290. You can also pick up BenQ's 34-inch EX3410R ultrawide display for $470, or $130 off its usual price.

LG monitors

LG

LG has discounted a bunch of monitors for Prime Day, including curved, UltraWide, UltraGear and other types. Those on a budget will find a few options under $200, while those who want larger displays or screens with faster refresh rates can save hundreds on higher-end models.

Dell monitors

Dell

Dell gaming monitors are up to 35 percent off for Prime Day, with the steepest discount being on this 24.5-inch 240Hz FHD monitor, which is down to only $200. It has fast refresh rates, a 1ms GtG response time and 99 percent sRGB color coverage. You can also pick up a 32-inch 165Hz curved gaming monitor for $254 and this 34-inch WQHD curved monitor for $390.

ViewSonic monitors

Viewsonic

Plenty of ViewSonic monitors are cheaper than usual right now, and you can pick one up for as much as 35 off. On the budget side of things, you can get this 22-inch 1080p gaming monitor for $110, or this 22-inch 1080p, thin-bezeled screen for $106. On the higher end, the company has knocked 23 percent off this 32-inch 4K ColorPro monitor, bringing it down to $550, while this 34-inch Ultrawide ColorPro display with FreeSync is on sale for $640.

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Google has counter-sued Match seeking monetary damages and a judgement that would let it kick Tinder and the group's other dating apps out of the Play Store, Bloomberg has reported. Earlier this year, Match sued Google alleging antitrust violations over a decision requiring all Android developers to process "digital goods and services" payments through the Play Store billing system.

Following the initial lawsuit in May, Google and Match reached a temporary agreement allowing Match to remain on the Play Store and use its own payments system. Google also agreed to make a "good faith" effort to address Match's billing concerns. Match, in turn, was to make an effort to offer Google's billing system as an alternative.

However, Google parent Alphabet claims that Match Group now wants to avoid paying "nothing at all" to Google, including its 15 to 30 percent Play Store fees, according to a court filing. "Match Group never intended to comply with the contractual terms to which it agreed... it would also place Match Group in an advantaged position relative to other app developers," the document states.

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Match group said that Google's Play Store policies violate federal and state laws. "Google doesnt want anyone else to sue them so their counterclaims are designed as a warning shot," Match told Bloomberg in a statement. We are confident that our suit, alongside other developers, the US Department of Justice and 37 state attorneys general making similar claims, will be resolved in our favor early next year."

Match is referring to an antitrust action launched last year by States and the federal government probing Google's Play Store fees. Shortly before that, Google dropped its fee on app developer revenue to 15 percent on the first $1 million, and 30 percent after that. At the same time, it announced it would enforce a policy requiring all developers to process payments through the Play Store's billing system. Earlier this year, a Senate bill moved forward targeting in-app payments in both Google and Apple's stores.
Netflix has found a partner for its upcoming ad-supported tier. On Wednesday, the company announced it plans to work with Microsoft on the effort. In a blog post published by Microsoft, the tech giant said it would provide Netflix with technological and sales expertise.

As recently as last month, The Wall Street Journal suggested Google and Comcast were among the leading candidates to help Netflix build out an ad-supported tier. On Wednesday, Netflix said it selected Microsoft for the tech giant's "proven ability" to support its customers. "Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time on both the technology and sales side, as well as strong privacy protections for our members," said Netflix Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. Not mentioned is the fact that Microsoft doesn't operate a competing streaming service.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hasting first revealed the company was exploring cheaper plans this past April. The admission came after Netflix announced that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. At the time, Hastings said the company planned to finalize the details of its plans "over the next year or two." Netflix is scheduled to announce its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. According to CNBC, the company recently warned Wall Street it may have lost as many as two million subscribers over the past three months.
Nintendo Japan will provide employees in same-sex domestic partnerships with the same benefits it offers to those in heterosexual unions, even though Japanese law does not currently recognize gay marriages. The company announced the policy in a July 12th update to its corporate social responsibility guidelines that was spotted by Go Nintendo (via Variety).

A new section titled Introduction of a Partnership System notes the policy has been in place since March 2021, and that the company has since begun recognizing common-law marriages in the same way as legal marriages. At Nintendo, we want to create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees, the company said.

Additionally, the update notes that Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa sent a note to employees on gender diversity, asking workers to understand that their words and action can cause emotional pain, even if there was no harm intended. Nintendo says its also working on implementing new systems and training courses designed to create a more supportive working environment.

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Among G7 nations, Japan is the only country that does not recognize same-sex marriage. While LGBT activists have made some breakthroughs in recent years, a court in Osaka upheld the countrys ban this past June. While theres growing public support for legalizing same-sex marriage, LGBTQ individuals still frequently face discrimination, according to a 2020 survey. Of course, discrimination, particularly the kind that happens in the workplace, is not unique to Japan. You need only look at the all news coming out of Activision Blizzard  and before that Riot Games, Ubisoft and countless other examples  to know that gaming companies frequently fail to protect their most vulnerable employees.
Tesla Director of AI, Andrej Karpathy, is stepping down from his role at the company and from the helm of its Autopilot program. "Its been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways," Karpathy announced via Twitter on Wednesday, having just returned from a four-month sabbatical.

Its been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways. In that time, Autopilot graduated from lane keeping to city streets and I look forward to seeing the exceptionally strong Autopilot team continue that momentum.  Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) July 13, 2022

The news follows suspicions, then confirmations, that Tesla would be reducing its workforce by as much as 10 percent. The company has already laid off more than 200 employees from the Autopilot division and permanently shuttered its San Mateo offices. Musk has previously made overtures about packing up and leaving Silicon Valley, where Tesla was founded, for the sun-baked shores of central Texas. The company moved its headquarters from California to Austin last October and has heavily focused its new production capabilities there.

Before becoming the Senior Director of AI at Tesla, Karpathy was a research scientist with OpenAI's deep learning program focusing on computer vision and generative modeling. Prior to that, he was part of Fei-Fei Li's research team at Stanford for his PhD. Karpathy has "no concrete plans" yet for the future but is looking to "spend more time revisiting my long-term passions around technical work in AI, open source and education," he noted in a subsequent tweet.

Update (7:30 PM ET 7/13/22): The Information reports that Karpathy is not the only Tesla executive to depart today. A "senior director focused on DEI" has also apparently left, as well as Chris Rollins, a senior software manager in Teslas energy division. Kristen Kavanaugh, a senior director focused on diversity and inclusion, resigned last month.
Cheyenne Jackson is heading Into the Woods.

The New York City Center production of Into the Woods has seen more productions and more casting swaps than anyone thought when the show initially came out.

After the show's alarmingly successful run at New York City Center, the show packed up this things and made it's way over to the St. James theater for a limited Broadway run. There were several casting swaps in the change over for the Broadway run, as it was not intially anticipated.

It has now been announced that more casting swaps are predicted to take place as the show moves along. In the latter half of the production, Broadway veteran Cheyenne Jackson will be joining the cast of Into the Woods. He will be taking over the role of Cinderella's Prince and The Wolf from the incredible Gavin Creel. Jackson is set to step into the part from July 24th to August 2nd.

Jackson is not a stranger to the Woods. He performed in the Hollywood Bowl production of the Stephen Sondheim classic back in 2019. Outside of this incredible show, the star's resume is similarly impressive. He say his first Broadway lead in the 2005 production of All Shook Up. Many, however, may know his face not from Broadway but from his time on the hit series 30 Rock, where he played cast member Danny Baker.

We can't wait to see what unique flare Jackson brings to the role. Congratulations to all on what is continuing to be an impressive run of Into the Woods.




The top diplomats of South Korea and Vietnam on Wednesday discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties, Seoul's foreign ministry said.







In a phone call with his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son, Park Jin said that he would work towards strengthening cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation, calling it a core cooperative country in Seoul's policy regarding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to the ministry.







He expressed hopes for the two to actively pursue trade and investment as well as cooperation in the infrastructure and financial sectors, it added.







Meanwhile, the Vietnamese minister said he hopes the two countries' strategic partnership will strengthen through defense and security cooperation, according to Seoul's ministry.







Son shared the concerns regarding the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)






Palo Alto, CAJotham S. Stein, author of the award-winning book Negotiate Like a CEO: How to Get Ahead with Lessons Learned from Top Entrepreneurs and Executives, was interviewed on the nationally syndicated Jim Bohannon Radio Show.

Jim Bohannon, host of Westwood One's The Jim Bohannon Show, is one of America's top radio personalities. Voted one of "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" by Talkers Magazine three years in a row, the Jim Bohannon Show can be heard from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. (ET) Monday through Friday on over 300 radio stations across the nation, delivering his wit, wisdom and natural charm to listeners across the nation.

During the interview, with guest host John Trout, the author talked about when, during the hiring process, to ask for certain employment provisions, such as extended severance pay and benefits. An important point he made, near the end of the interview, was this: "Everyone can adopt the principles in the book, that's why I wrote the book, it helps everybody, whether they're just out of undergraduate school or just got out of business school, whether you're in the middle of your employment trajectory and all the way to CEO. They don't teach this stuff in college; they don't teach this stuff in business school. People usually learn it the hard way out in the real world."

Recent awards for Negotiate Like a CEO are Best Business Book at the Los Angeles Book Festival and Outstanding Creator Awards and Best in Career category at the Firebird Book Awards.

Listen to the entire interview of Jotham S. Stein on the Jim Bohannon Radio Show at



https://soundcloud.com/expertclickradio/jotham-stein-author-of-negotiate-like-a-ceo-featured-on-syndicated-jim-bohannon-radio-show

Expert Click Radio  Jotham Stein, Author of 'Negotiate Like a CEO,' Featured on Syndicated Jim Bohannon Radio Show

What does it mean to negotiate like a CEO? How important are employment agreements? How can you learn to protect yourself and your family if the worst does happen? These are all questions that Jotham S. Stein addresses in his book Negotiate Like a CEO, with the goal of equipping individuals with the tools they need to safeguard themselves in business and employment.

Negotiate Like a CEO isn't afraid to get into the weeds about what you need to do to help your career. Stein peppers each chapter with captivating stories of employees who have found themselves in tight situations with their employerstories that many readers will find familiar. He follows each example with insider insights on how to navigate the situation and save yourself from heartache.

"It's the concept to protect yourself, to read everything or get a good adviser to read everything, to negotiate with leverage, just like a CEO would negotiate with leverage. I wrote this book to help the people out there who have no idea how to help themselves in their employment relationships," says Stein. "Too many just don't know how or are too afraid to ask." Jotham Stein

"Jotham has helped me throughout my career, from setting up strong employment agreements to securing stock compensation to protecting the management team during the sale of my company. Jotham is a guy you want in your corner. His book should be required reading for anyone who thinks 'this could never happen to me'." Andy Cohen, founder and former CEO, Caring.com

"As a hi-tech Silicon Valley attorney Stein is brutally honest in assessing a situation and advising his clients. In Negotiate Like a CEO you'll learn to be aware, to recognize potential employment pitfalls, and how to protect yourself. You'll also learn that you may have more leverage than you might think, either now or as you advance in your career." Grady Harp, Amazon Top 100 Hall of Fame Reviewer

"As a CEO and multi-time Silicon Valley executive, I was very fortunate to learn from Jotham early in my career the great importance of the protective employment offer letter. Employment law is very complex and with this book you can learn from the best." Bonnie Crater, co-founder and CEO, Full Circle Insights; former SVP salesforce.com; former SVP Genesys; former VP Oracle; former VP Netscape

Watch the book trailer at https://bit.ly/NegotiateLikeaCEOtrailer





About: Jotham S. Stein, author of the award-winning book Negotiate Like a CEO, is the principal of the Law Offices of Jotham S. Stein P.C. He has more than two decades of experience representing entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives, board members, venture capitalists, private equity principals, and investment bankers as well as less senior employees of all size companies.

Stein is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, New York, Colorado, and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court, and several United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts. He is also a member of multiple bar associations, including the American Bar Association. Stein is the author of Executive Employment Law: Protecting Executives, Entrepreneurs and Employees, a how-to guide for practitioners.

Stein's new book, Negotiate Like a CEO, is an enthralling look at how top entrepreneurs and executives protect themselves and how you can too. You can find out more about Jotham Stein at NegotiateLikeaCEO.net.

Negotiate Like a CEOASIN: B09TG125BQ, Published by Political Animal Press, Feb. 24, 2022, 294 pages, available on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

Media Contact: For a review copy of Negotiate Like a CEO or to arrange an interview with Jotham S. Stein, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 248-705-2214. Reach Lorenz on twitter @abookpublicist
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Alamo Heights Independent School District is eyeing additional school security officers as it responds to parent concerns following the Uvalde mass shooting.

The May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School, which killed 19 students and two teachers, has sent many districts in San Antonio and beyond searching for ways to beef up security.

Since January 2019, Alamo Heights five-campus district has contracted with the Alamo Heights Police Department to have one officer at its high school. Police Chief Rick Pruitt said at a Alamo Heights City Council meeting Wednesday that the district is looking to add two  one based at Cambridge Elementary and another at the Junior School. The officer on the Cambridge campus would routinely check in on Woodridge Elementary and the Howard Early Childhood Center, Pruitt said.

Frank Alfaro, assistant superintendent for administrative services, said the district brought in its first officer in January 2019 following the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, which killed 10 people. At the time, he said there was talk of having an officer on every Alamo Heights campus, but officials decided to ease in with one.

As the district approaches four years with an officer and sees a renewed push for more in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy, Alfaro said it seems like the right time to bring on more.

Our community of parents, since the Uvalde shooting, has ramped up their calls to do so, Alfaro said.

On ExpressNews.com: Hays CISD eyes increased law enforcement presence, more cameras following Uvalde school shooting

Adding two officers is a step in a long-term plan to have one officer at each of the districts five campuses, Pruitt said in a June meeting. He said Wednesday that if that comes to fruition down the road, the police department would create a school security officer division since those employees will have different training needs.

Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

On Wednesday, City Council voted to amend the current school-security officer program agreement with AHISD by adding the two officers. But the change is contingent on the approval of city and district budgets in August that reflect those additional employees.

Its mutually beneficial, Councilman Lawson Jessee said of the idea of adding the officers. It makes a lot of sense.

On ExpressNews.com: In wake of Uvalde school shooting, San Antonio school police chiefs rethink their mass-shooter plans

The police department is going to start searching for potential officers soon, Pruitt said, but he noted that the efforts could be halted if final approvals from school and city officials dont come in August.

The school district pays for 75 percent of the cost of salary and benefits for the campus officer at the high school, and the city pays for the remaining 25 percent, Pruitt said at the Wednesday meeting. The same would be true for the officer at the Cambridge campus, but the district would take on 100 percent of the cost of the officer at the Junior School. The district would be responsible for equipment and uniform expenses.

Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

The officers would continue to work for Alamo Heights Police Department when school is not in session.

Alfaro said he cannot confirm certain details  such as how many officers the district is seeking, at which campuses those officers would be stationed, or how much the district will pay to bring on the officers  until after the school board meets to discuss such subjects in August.

Alamo Heights ISD is not interested in forming its own police department, Alfaro said, in part due to its small size and the schools access to resources around them, such as the Alamo Heights Police Department.

Alfaro said that although the district would like to move forward as soon as possible this school year, he doesnt think that everything will fall into place by the first day, Aug. 15.

Every campus has a variety of layers of security and safety, Alfaro said, like bullet-resistant security lobbies, video surveillance and regular emergency drills.

A school-security officer is one additional layer to that, Alfaro said.

megan.rodriguez@express-news.net
After consolidating recently acquired companies offering a mix of data backup and recovery services, San Antonio cybersecurity firm Jungle Disk is rebranding as CyberFortress.

The new company is born from the acquisition of software companies KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync assets from Los Angeles tech holdings company J2 Global Inc.

Bret Piatt, president, CEO and chairman, said in an interview CyberFortress is the largest privately held software technology company in San Antonio.

Wednesdays news follow the March announcement of plans to move the company into a 4,000-square-foot former Mexican restaurant on South Presa Street in Southtown. Piatt said Wednesday the move is on track for next year.

On ExpressNews.com: FORCECON at Port San Antonio brings military, tech companies, academia together to speed innovation

CyberFortress currently has about 30 employees based in its tech district headquarters on Houston Street. Its global workforce includes about 130 people across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He said the company expects to hire more employees soon.

We love operating in the city and we believe theres great potential here to build and grow, said Piatt, an ex-Rackspace Technology employee who has a team of co-workers who are also former Rackers.

The consolidation and name change represents a shift in the companys long-term business plans.

Were now a software company focused on backup and disaster recovery and thats one piece of an overall cybersecurity strategy, he said.

An increase in cyber threats and increasing digitalization amid the coronavirus pandemic has made the segment larger and more competitive. Key players include Oracle Corp., Dell, IBM and Microsoft. The global market is forecast to reach $22.22 billion by 2030, according to Reports and Data, a market research firm in New York.

Today, businesses of all sizes store data on software-as-a-service, or SaaS apps, laptops, servers, smartphones and the cloud as workforces continue the shift to remote work. That can mean a heightened threat of cyberattacks.

Most companies also are using a variety of software-based services. Small businesses use accounting software like Quickbooks, for example, while medium and larger ones might use cloud-based SalesForce for customer relationship management, or CRM, which involves tracking client data. The majority of companies use Microsofts cloud services  and those require data backup.

Piatt said companies have been struggling to manage their growing troves of data and recover it when disaster strikes. The market lacked a comprehensive solution.

S.A. VOTES Voter Guide: What to know for the Texas runoff election A breakdown of key state and local races and candidates in the May 24 primary runoff.

All of those types of applications require different types of data backup solutions, he said. But before today, businesses had to figure out how to buy, four, eight, 12 products. Now, they can come to CyberFortress.

In a news release announcing the changes, CyberFortress said it provides coverage for all of a company's data protection needs, no matter its size ... and recovery can take as little as 15 minutes.

New York-based Rochester Gynecologic and Obstetric Associates is a client that was highlighted in the announcement.

As a health care provider with more than 40,000 patient records, it is our responsibility to ensure that our patient business records are protected in the event of an IT failure, said Deborah Beyer, practice administrator. Should a catastrophic event occur, data preservation, business continuity and patient privacy is our first concern.

eric.killelea@express-news.net
It means a lot to San Antonian V. Castro to get the chance to expand the story of PFC Jenette Vasquez, the tough Latina Marine in the 1986 movie Aliens, as part of a series of novels set in that universe.

Part of why I write is there were very, very few Latina characters in film or in media in general when I was growing up, said Castro, who now lives in the U.K. and is the first Latina to write an Aliens novel.

Castro creates a fuller back story for the character and explores her legacy in Aliens: Vasquez. The book is slated for release in Oct. 25 and can be pre-ordered now.

She will be taking part in a panel discussion about the series this month at Comic-Con in San Diego alongside editor Steve Saffel; novelist Clara Clarija, who co-wrote Alien: Infernos Fall; and Andrew Gaska, who wrote for the Alien role playing game.

Before she goes to California, Castro is going to swing through San Antonio to sign copies of her work. She will be at two Barnes & Nobles stores: Ingram Festival, 6065 NW Loop 410, No. 185, at 2 p.m. Saturday; and San Pedro Crossing, 321 NW Loop 410, No. 104, at 1 p.m. Sunday.

On ExpressNews.com: SA writers debut novel chosen for Good Morning America Book Club

Her most recent novel is Queen of the Cicadas, a read-with-all-the-lights-on book that was released last year and for which she created her very own urban legend. Mestiza Blood, a short story collection in which she puts her own spin on Texas urban legends, came out in January.

Castro pitched the idea of a stand-alone novel about Vasquez. She said the character jumped out at her the first time she saw the movie, a rare moment when she saw a fellow Latina in a film. She also responded to Ellen Ripley, the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the films.

Science fiction and science fiction/horror were very dominated by men. Ripley and Vasquez, they were great characters to show female empowerment, she said. It was like, Oh, my god, look at this woman. It was great to build on what was already there and flesh it out and explain things a little better and expand the universe of Aliens with Latinx characters.

She had to work with the parts of Vasquezs story that had already been established, she said. So her Vasquez remains someone who had been a gang member and joined the Marines after time in juvenile detention.

On ExpressNews.com: NESA student takes top prize at National High School Musical Theatre Awards

I had to say, how do I take the story that was already told about her and make a statement? So I do talk about racial profiling and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I take her kids out of L.A. and take them back to Texas  they have this different upbringing, and that brings in different aspects of Latino culture.

The novel is a contained story, but Castro says she wrote it in such a way that there are threads that could be teased out in additional novels. She also has ideas for some other movie spinoff series published by Titan Books, which is the home of the Alien series.

Id love to do an Alien vs. Predator book, she said. I would love to explore Anna from Predator, and bring in more Latinx characters and expand it in other ways and bring in those cultural references. Its really fun to write.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
Burgers are a way of life in red-blooded South Texas. Whether theyre simple and classic with little more than lettuce, tomato and onion on top of a thin patty or a beefy extravagance loaded with fancy cheeses, bacon and a slab of foie gras, we love them all here in San Antonio.

And thanks to our burger-loving friends across the border, we have a wide range of a burger style not seen in many other parts of the country: the hamburguesa Mexicana. This style of burger ranges widely in San Antonio, but one thing is nearly always present: Hamburguesas generally put the ham in hamburger, with a slice or two of salty griddled ham sitting on the beef patty. Other forms of porky protein such as sausage, hot dogs or even salami can be found on hamburguesas as well.

How exactly hamburgers came to be is hotly debated, with more than a half-dozen camps laying claim to inventing the dish in the late 1800s. The only constant among those claims is the hamburger almost certainly originated in the U.S. and was possibly a variation on a ground beef-based dish known as Hamburg Steak from Germany, although that latter point is contested by some.

According to food lore, burgers made their way to Mexico in the 1930s and quickly started absorbing local flavors and ingredients such as Mexican cheeses, chorizo and other sausages, chiles, avocado and pineapple.

While the hamburguesa Mexicanas evolution is murky, this much is clear: By the 1980s they were a common street food staple across Northern Mexico, where David Martinez, owner of the San Antonio-based food truck Mexican Cowboy Street Kitchen, was raised.

On ExpressNews.com: The 15 best burgers in the San Antonio area

When I was growing up, I used to go to booths in Juarez that sold them, Martinez said.

The hamburguesas of his youth closely resemble the Cowboy Burger served at his food truck, which is topped with grilled ham and a pair of hot dogs  youll typically see them listed as weenies at restaurants serving hamburguesas  that have been sliced lengthwise and seared.

For Martinez, the appeal of an hamburguesa comes from the combination of intense flavors.

Its the meat, the ham, the weenies, the mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato all together, he said. I just love them.

A distinct variation on the hamburguesa Mexicana can be found at many restaurants specializing in pollos asados. Usually listed on the menu as a salchiburger, these gut-busting concoctions are topped with ham and a big, meaty sausage (salchicha in Spanish) thats been split and grilled.

If you havent explored the citys wide range of Mexican-style hamburgers, nows the time to start. Heres a guide to seven area restaurants offering unique and distinct variations on the hamburguesa Mexicana.

On ExpressNews.com: S.A. pollos asados showdown: Al Carbon Pollos Asados vs. Pollos Asados Los Nortenos

Mike Sutter / Staff

Al Carbon Pollos Asados

This restaurant along Culebra Road just east of Interstate 10 may specialize in brick-red pollos asados, but dont pass up the burger if you have a hankering for beef instead of chicken.

The salchiburger ($9.25) starts with a juicy griddled beef patty, and then things get exciting. The patty is topped with gooey cheese, grilled onions, a slice of seared ham and, most importantly, a vibrant red-colored sausage, split lengthwise and grilled, capping it all.

It was a mega meatfest, with the sausage adding a deep savory flavor and snappy texture to every bite.

Al Carbon Pollos Asados, 547 Culebra Road, 210-550-1589; 403 Culebra Road, 210-467-5155; 13835 Nacogdoches Road, 210-686-9027, alcarbonsatx.com, Facebook: @ALCARBONPOLLOSASADOS

Paul Stephen / Staff

Chagos

If you like a smashburger with a hard crust and extra-crispy edges, Chagos is the place for you. The cooks at this restaurant on the Northeast Side near Wurzbach Parkway had a complete mastery of the griddle, resulting in one of the most flavorful and textured patties sampled. Chagos has seven types of hamburguesas on tap.

The most over-the-top was easily the Embarazada (pregnant) Burger ($8.99), which is guaranteed to leave you with a food baby, as its packed with two burger patties, griddled ham and salami slices, crisp bacon, carne asada and pork sliced from a trompo in addition to cheese, avocado, lettuce and tomato. For good measure, a cream cheese-filled jalapeno was placed on top of that heap of meat, all barely held together with a plastic sandwich sword.

Chagos, 11827 Perrin Beitel Road, 210-637-9815, Facebook: TACOS CHAGOS

On ExpressNews.com: Whataburger vs. Burger Boy: A showdown to decide who makes the better fast-food burger

Paul Stephen / Staff

La Taqueria de Monterrey

The beef patties at the original Hillcrest location of this restaurant were prepared in the smashburger style, resulting in a thinner burger with plenty of crunchy bits around the edges. Instead of chips and tomato-based salsa, diners are welcomed with a basket of seasoned chicharrones de harina and a trio of fiery chile-based housemade salsas.

La Taqueria de Monterreys traditional hamburguesa mexicana ($9.99) hit all the right notes with griddled ham, avocados and bacon. But the real star of the show was the trompo burger ($9.99), which added a generous portion of flavorful pork sliced off a rotating trompo.

La Taqueria de Monterrey, 2715 Hillcrest Drive, 210-994-8686; 6565 Babcock Road, Suite 26, 210-688-4802, lataqueriademonterrey.com, Facebook: @www.lataqueriademonterrey.net

Paul Stephen / Staff

Los Azulejos Restaurante Bar

At this upscale eatery in Castle Hills, theres only one burger option  and it was a showstopper. The hamburguesa Mexicana ($18.99) was dressed with a thick layer of gooey Oaxaca cheese cloaking a juicy 8-ounce patty and stained red from a pile of chorizo above it. Seared ham, guacamole and tender baby greens rounded out the flavor profile, resulting in the most luxe burger sampled.

It arrived with dramatic flair on a hefty wooden cutting board dressed with pickled jalapenos, pickled onions and a tin cup full of crispy french fries.

Los Azulejos Restaurante Bar, 2267 NW Military Highway, Suite 101, 210-281-4500, losazulejosrestaurant.com, Facebook: losazulejosrestaurantebar

Paul Stephen / Staff

Mexican Cowboy Street Kitchen

As the name of this food truck parked on the citys far West Side would imply, the Cowboy Burger ($8.50) was the scene stealer with three types of meat tucked into its buns. The burger patties were full of beefy flavor, and got a salty and savory boost from a slice of griddled ham and a pair of hot dogs split lengthwise and seared before getting piled on that patty with American cheese and a smear of aioli.

If you prefer a little less salt, opt for the Hawaiian Burger ($8.50), which skips the seared weenies in favor of sweet and tart pineapple. If that all feels like too much, you can also order a classic American-style hamburger dressed with all the regular accouterments.

Mexican Cowboy Street Kitchen, 12995 Potranco Road, 210-322-4429, Facebook: Mexican Cowboy Street Kitchen

On ExpressNews.com: The 10 best San Antonio food trucks from the 52 Weeks of Food Trucks series

Mike Sutter / Staff

Pollos Asados Los Nortenos

Famed for its juicy and flavorful pollos asados, this East Side institution on Rigsby Avenue near Loop 410 also knows its way around burgers, with four options on the menu that will leave you covered in meaty juices down to your elbows.

The Norteno Burger ($9.29) was a solid place to begin, featuring a beef patty topped with grilled ham, melted Asadero cheese, avocado slices and grilled onions. To up the ante, go for the salchiburger ($9.79), which rose to mile-high heights through the addition of a juicy grilled sausage. Los Nortenos also serves a variation on a classic San Antonio Bean Burger ($8.89) that sported refried beans, cheese chipotle sauce and pico de gallo atop the beef patty.

Pollos Asados Los Nortenos, (multiple locations) 4642 Rigsby Ave., 210-648-3303; 4822 Walzem Road, 210-481-4168, polloslosnortenos.com, Facebook: @thepollosasados

Paul Stephen / Staff

Wichos Mexican Deli

This West Side cafe delivered comfort and nostalgia in every bite of burger. The Angus beef patties were well seasoned and griddled to a hard char on the outside while remaining juicy and tender inside. The squishy buns were toasted to a deep brown and provided an audible crunch that lasted as long as the burger.

Youll find several hamburguesa variations here, and the bestselling Wichos Mexi-Cali Burger ($6 for a single patty, $8.39 for a double) is a good place to start. It came topped with seared ham, jalapenos, pickles, thick avocado slices and oodles of Monterey Jack cheese for an indulgent and fatty flavor and texture. The Wicho in Hawaii burger ($7 for a single, $9.29 for double) swapped the Jack cheese for sharper Swiss, added bacon and a pile of griddled pineapple slices for a balance of sweet, salty and pungent flavors.

Wichos Mexican Deli, 1110 N. Zarzamora St., 210-396-7539, wichosdeli.com, Facebook: @wichos.deli

pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen
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First lady Jill Biden offered an apology Tuesday morning for her comments about breakfast tacos in San Antonio, according to a spokeswoman who said Biden apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.

The brouhaha began Monday, when Biden said during her speech at an advocacy conference that the Latino community is as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio.

Almost immediately, Texas Republicans pounced.

Jill Biden just said Hispanics are as unique as tacos, wrote Steve Guest on Twitter, an adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz. This isnt Veep. Which White House speechwriter just won a bet for getting the First Lady to say something like this?

Personally, Im a chorizo, egg & cheese, wrote his boss, whose father is Cuban.

Said U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston: Jill Bidens speech writer hates her so much.

Biden was in San Antonio to attend a Democratic fundraiser, where she called for more unity in her party. She spoke afterword at UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights and advocacy group.

EDITORIAL: Unhappy Biden voters, whom did you think you were electing?

She made the remark as she praised Raul Yzaguirre, a longtime leader of the group: Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community  as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio  is your strength.

Republicans also mocked the term Latinx title of the event  a term that is supposed to be inclusive of non-binary Latinos, and one which research has shown many Latinos either havent heard or dont like.

If Jill Biden is going to compare Hispanic Americans to breakfast tacos, then she could at least use more inclusive language: Its TacX, Jill, Crenshaw said on Twitter.

The Republican outrage over Bidens remarks rang a little hollow. While Biden offered breakfast tacos as an example of a distinctively Latino tradition in the United States, which some interpreted as simplistic or reliant on stereotypes, it remains true that Donald Trump is the most popular and famous member of the GOP, who has a long history of controversial comments about Latinos himself.

Trump once posted photo of himself eating a taco bowl at his Las Vegas hotel and wrote Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! And he said of Mexican migrants crossing the border: When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. ... Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

Its been a packed few weeks of speech gaffes for the Biden Administration.

President Joe Biden read aloud teleprompter instructions that said end of quote. Repeat the line, garnering widespread mockery, while Vice President Kamala Harris has also drawn widespread references to the HBO series Veep on social media after two meandering interview responses went viral.

On Democratic surprise that Roe v Wade was overturned, Harris said: I think that, to be very honest with you, I do believe that we should have rightly believed, but we certainly believe that certain issues are just settled.

And this, at the scene of the July 4 mass shooting at Highland Park in Illinois: We have to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to take this seriously.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
A woman accused of robbery was arrested after she was identified by a teddy bear face tattoo, court records show.

Penelope Roth, 20, was arrested on Monday in connection with a July 1 incident in which authorities say she and two accomplices carjacked a pickup outside a residence in the 8400 block of Grapevine Pass on the far Northwest Side.

Roth is one of two people charged with aggravated robbery in the case. Ajay Delgado, 17, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery earlier this month.

On ExpressNews.com: These are the most stolen vehicles in San Antonio

According to an affidavit supporting Roth's arrest, she approached a man who was exiting his truck and asked if she could charge her phone. The man complied, but as he reached into the vehicle to charge the woman's phone, an armed man demanded the truck's owner hand over the keys, the affidavit said.

The man initially handed over the keys but then managed to wrestle the gun away from the armed man. A second male then appeared and hit the truck owner from behind before Roth hit the man in the head with a brick, according to the affidavit.

One of the men fled in the truck, while Roth and the other man fled in a stolen Kia Optima, the affidavit continued. Bexar County Sheriff's deputies responding to the incident noticed the Kia fleeing the scene and pursued it briefly before terminating the chase.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio woman kidnapped two brothers and held them for ransom, affidavit says

The stolen pickup was later recovered a few blocks away with a flat tire.

Hours later, San Antonio police pulled over the Kia. The driver told police that his daughter's boyfriend was Delgado and that he had been driving the car at the time of the robbery, the affidavit said.

Police questioned the girlfriend, who told authorities that Roth was Delgado's second boyfriend and accomplice, according to the affidavit. Delgado has since bonded out of jail on a $50,000 bond.

Authorities have not identified the second male and have not said what role each played in the incident.

The owner of the pickup was able to identify Roth by the teddy bear face tattoo.

Roth's bail was set at $100,000.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net




The new head of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Wednesday presided over his first meeting with major military commanders since taking office earlier this month, a military source said.







During the meeting, Gen. Kim Seung-kyum ordered commanders to establish a firm readiness posture amid a grave security situation due to recent provocations from North Korea and signs that the recalcitrant regime is preparing for a nuclear test, according to the source.







Kim also stressed improving the readiness posture and capabilities in order to respond firmly and punish any provocation.







In his inauguration speech on July 5, Kim warned that North Korea's provocations will be met with "unsparing retaliation." (Yonhap)






In five years, medically under-served residents in the southern and northeastern portions of Bexar County will have more access to treatment through two new county hospitals.

The county agreed Tuesday to authorize University Health to issue up to $500 million in certificates of obligation to pay for more than half of the $950 million cost to build the facilities. University Health will finance the remaining expense. County officials previously said property taxes wouldnt be affected.

University Health announced the plans more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the need for better access to medical care in the southern portions of the county and poorer neighborhoods. In those communities, the mortality rate has been higher, fewer people are vaccinated and more cases of the coronavirus have been reported.

Additionally, county leaders in May vowed to spend $60 million in federal COVID relief funds to hire a public health director and revamp health care.

The new hospitals reflect University Healths goal of providing smaller facilities with community-focused service to residents closer to their homes. Theyll be built near Texas A&M University-San Antonio on the South Side and the Retama Park area in Selma.

Commissioner Tommy Calvert, who has been an advocate of both projects to expand medical treatment to traditionally under-served areas, said they are a good business decision for the county that will pay for themselves and fill two tremendous gaps in health care services.

Since University Hospital opened its Sky Tower in 2014, the health systems emergency department has seen a 22 percent rise in visits to 102,000 projected for this year.

On ExpressNews.com: Bexar County vision of public health equity taking shape

In that same period, hospital admissions have increased 23 percent, from 458 to 565 patients daily.

The result is that University Hospital does not have sufficient operating beds to meet community demand, county documents state.

Also Tuesday, the Commissioners Court received an update on the local response to the June 27 discovery of dozens of people who died in an unventilated trailer. Dr. Kimberley Molina, chief medical examiner, highlighted the need for more help handling an unprecedented caseload in the last two years. The office also responded to the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that left 22 people dead, including the gunman.

We honestly cannot sustain this workload, Molina told commissioners.

The medical examiners office, which shares a building with the countys criminal investigation laboratory, will have a larger space once the crime lab relocates to a newly renovated facility in about a year. But Molina said population growth, a rise in homicides and the COVID-19 pandemic have driven up her staff caseload.

She plans to present a budget request this summer to enlarge her staff at all levels, from clerical to a vacant medical examiners position, when theres a national shortage of forensic pathologists.

We need help. We need personnel, said Molina, who leads a staff of 61 employees, up from 56 in 2021.

The office investigated 13,688 deaths in 2019 and 16,200 in 2020, and the numbers continue to rise. Molina said her staff is on track to perform 400 autopsies per forensic pathologist this year, above the National Association of Medical Examiners recommended limit of 250.

Outside the meeting, Molina told reporters she will do whatever it takes to get her amazing and dedicated staff the help and resources they need to maintain accreditation with the association while responding to routine cases and disasters.

All of that work still has to be done while were handling these mass-fatality events she said. It is difficult work. It is challenging work.

Of the 53 people ages 13 to 55 who were found dead June 27 or later died in the hospital, 26 were citizens of Mexico, 21 were from Guatemala and six were from Honduras. Forty were men, and 13 were women.

Molina said all but two of the people had been released from her office after weeks of work to positively identify and repatriate them back to their home countries with the dignity and respect that they deserve.

Earlier at Tuesdays meeting, Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores read the 53 names. She noted the ages of the minors and sometimes strained with emotion as she read.

In other business, commissioners cast a 3-2 vote in favor of a $2 million preliminary engineering study on The Link, a proposed four-block pedestrian waterway downtown connecting San Pedro Creek with the River Walk. Calvert has been a champion of the project and last year secured $41.1 million in the county budget for it.

The yearlong study, in partnership with the San Antonio River Authority, will identify engineering, hydrology, permitting and property acquisition issues and final cost projections. Clay-Flores said she could not support the study when there are still many projects left undone in her South Side precinct. Commissioner Marialyn Barnard was reluctant to support the study because the city hasnt firmly committed to the project.

On ExpressNews.com: The Link seeks to connect River Walk, San Pedro Creek

Commissioner Justin Rodriguez had concerns that the full project cost could mushroom into hundreds of millions of dollars. But he said he recognized the potential for the project and the work Calvert has put into it and joined Calvert and County Judge Nelson Wolff in voting for the study.

Also approved Tuesday were:

 Establishment of an immigrant legal services program for county residents with an initial $1 million allocation. The county estimates there are nearly 7,000 detained and nondetained immigrants currently in need of legal representation. Commissioners approved the action in a 4-1 vote after hearing comments in support from several immigration advocates. Barnard, saying she supported the concept but felt there were too many other needs facing the county, voted against the proposal.

 A $6.4 million, 2.5-mile extension of the Zarzamora Creek greenway trail on the West Side, in partnership with the city and the river authority. The extension from Tierra Del Sol Park to Alderete Park is expected to take about three years to complete.

shuddleston@express-news.net
Without substantial rain, the Edwards Aquifer area is heading toward Stage 4 water restrictions in mid-to-late August, according to the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

The aquifers level is 631.67 feet, having dropped drastically this year. It fell just over 4 feet during the past 10 days, with a rolling average of 635.2 feet. When the rolling average drops below 630 feet, it will trigger the Aquifer Authority to call for Stage 4 water restrictions for water suppliers who tap the Edwards Aquifer.

William Luther, Staff

Its likely that we might have lower-than-expected rainfall for the vast majority of Texas over the next month, said Paul Bertetti, senior director of aquifer science research and modeling at the Aquifer Authority. So we should not expect some significant or above-average rainfall to get us out of this current drought condition, at least over the next month.

Historically, the aquifers average level this time of year is 660.6 feet; at this time last year, it was 670.6 feet. The authoritys main reference point for measuring the Edwards Aquifers level is at the J-17 index well on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.

On ExpressNews.com: Edwards Aquifer the lowest its been in years

There is a 50 percent chance the level at J-17 will dip below 630 feet for part of August and then rise to 640 feet by December, Bertetti said. And there is a 25 percent chance that the aquifer will stay at 630 feet beyond October.

At Comal Springs, which depends on the Edwards Aquifer for its water, the flow rate is 128 cubic feet per second as of July 11. Last year, the flow rate was 30 cfs higher than it is now.

Even so, Edwards Aquifer Authority General Manager Roland Ruiz said the aquifer is much better off than it was even 25 years ago, as regulations and restrictions have spurred better management.

We have this critical period of management and pumping withdrawal restrictions that essentially curtails, sort of reduces, the rate of decline of the aquifer during these critical periods of drought, Bertetti said. So  instead of having a slope in which you end up at water levels in which the springs might stop flowing, you managed to start reducing the decline of the aquifer system and lessen demand.

The Aquifer Authority heightening water restrictions to Stage 4 does not necessarily mean that the San Antonio Water System will do likewise. Currently, SAWS has advised the city to continue Stage 2 restrictions and to begin using water from other sources, such as the Vista Ridge Pipeline and the Aquifer Storage and Recovery Site.

We are very comfortable with the water resources that we have, said Gavino Ramos, vice president of communications and external affairs at SAWS. We dont foresee ourselves going into Stage 3 restrictions.

On ExpressNews.com: Resilience to drought: EPA officials laud SAWS multisource facility

San Antonio residents are still required to limit watering lawns using sprinklers, irrigation systems and soaker hoses to once a week based on the last number of their address. Such watering is allowed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on a residents designated day. Any changes to watering restrictions will come directly from the city or SAWS, rather than the Aquifer Authority.

San Antonio has never resorted to Stage 3 restrictions, let alone Stage 4.

SAWS find themselves in quite a different position than other communities, smaller communities  to the west, for example  that are wholly dependent on the Edwards, Ruiz said. They generally prepare for droughts by having more Edwards water inventory within their water permit than they need at times, but Im sure theyll be stressed this summer.

Elena Bruess writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. elena.bruess@express-news.net
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Uvalde County has OKd a $5 million contract to assist victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting after one of its officials took heat for not moving fast enough to provide relief.

State officials granted the funds to Uvalde County in early June. District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee and other county officials earmarked the money to set up the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center.

Last week, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Mitchell Busbee was ill-equipped to administer the funds. In a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, they cited troubling reports of victims families not receiving services or financial assistance quickly enough.

On Monday, Uvalde County commissioners approved a contract with the Ecumenical Center to run the resiliency center. Mitchell Busbee recommended the move, telling commissioners before their vote, This grant is to assist Uvalde County with constructive services to aid the victims and their families due to the mass shooting.

The Ecumenical Center is affiliated with three faith-based organizations: The Samaritan Institute, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, the center said on its Website.

Mitchell Busbee said the Ecumenical Center is the only nationally accredited trauma counseling center in Texas. An affiliate, the Ecumenical Center of Uvalde County, had been providing counseling services since the May 24 mass shooting at a temporary site called the Family Assistance Center on the countys fairgrounds. The resiliency center replaced it.

Addressing reports that funds arent going to victims and their families, Mitchell Busbee said rules for the $5 million grant that bankrolls the resiliency center bar that.

I want to clarify that that grant is not for me, the district attorney, or for Uvalde County to be handing out money to victims, Mitchell Busbee said. The grantor actually prohibits this kind of activity.

In their letter, McLaughlin and Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat whose senate district includes Uvalde, had asked Abbott to transfer the administration of the support center to the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

Abbott rebuffed the officials request, saying in a brief statement that county leaders are best-positioned to address the matter.

Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell said Tuesday that the contract with the Ecumenical Center covers two years. He said the organization is the subcontractor, that the county will continue to oversee the grant and the support center. Mitchell Busbee  no relation to the county judge  is the grant project manager.

He noted the grant and the center have nothing to do with other funds that are dedicated to victims and their families or the construction of a memorial.

I can see where it can be confusing for people, Bill Mitchell said. Those funds are completely different from what the resiliency center is doing.

He also noted theres state money available to help victims families with financial problems, including a fund administered by the Texas Attorney Generals office.

Mitchell Busbee told the commissioners the $5 million grant is for services that may include responding to the emotional and physical needs of crime victims, assisting victims in stabilizing their lives after victimization, assisting victims to understand and participate in the criminal justice system, and providing victims with safety and security.

She said the Ecumenical Center contract was reviewed and approved by the Uvalde County auditor, the county treasurer and by the county attorney. Commissioners unanimously approved the contract.

Mitchell Busbee said more than 2,000 individuals have tapped the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center, with most  more than three-quarters  receiving counseling.

guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Staff Writer Sig Christenson contributed to this story.
In the spring of 2009, Elliott Naishtat persuaded his colleagues in the Texas Legislature to pass a bill that he believed would require the state to report court-ordered mental health hospitalizations for Texans of all ages to the national firearms background check system.

Nearly two years had passed since a student with a history of serious mental illness had gone on a deadly shooting rampage that left 32 dead at Virginia Tech. And Naishtat, then a Democratic state representative from Austin, argued that Texas was as vulnerable as Virginia had been to such mass shootings because it didnt require the reporting of involuntary mental health commitments to the FBIs National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS. Federally licensed dealers are required to check the system before they sell someone a firearm.

This bill will ultimately save lives, and I hope youll give it your most serious consideration, Naishtat said when he introduced the measure.

But 13 years after the legislation became law, following a string of mass shootings carried out by troubled young men, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune has uncovered a major gap in the law and its implementation.

Despite language in Naishtats bill that says local courts should report to the states top law enforcement agency any time a judge orders any person, regardless of age, to receive inpatient mental health treatment, the news organizations found that they are not reporting juvenile records because of problems with the way the law was written, vague guidance from the state and conflicts with other Texas laws.

The widespread reporting failures are all the more important today because Congress passed legislation last month that requires checks of various state databases that should include juvenile mental health records for would-be gun buyers under 21. The bipartisan measure was passed swiftly after the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde that left 21 dead.

Currently, Texans who were involuntarily committed to a mental institution as minors arent ending up in NICS, so as soon as they turn 18 they can walk into a federally licensed gun shop and legally acquire a rifle because they will pass the required background check, assuming they do not have criminal records. (Americans typically have to be 21 to purchase handguns.)

County and district court clerks and juvenile probation officials in five of the states six largest counties, as well as Uvalde County, told the news organizations they werent reporting juvenile mental health commitments, either as a matter of policy or because they didnt think they had to. These include Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis and Collin.

In light of what is happening too many times these days and in recent years, it bothers me tremendously to hear that this law may not have been implemented in the way that it clearly was intended to be implemented, Naishtat said in an interview. That legislation with respect to juveniles is probably more important today than ever.

The gap came to light only after the Uvalde massacre, when ProPublica and the Tribune started asking questions about reporting requirements for juveniles. The shooter was an 18-year-old who had passed a background check before buying two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, despite what officials have described as a troubled mental health history. It is unclear if he was ever committed.

Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which under the 2009 law is charged with collecting mental health records from local courts and passing them along to the FBI for inclusion in NICS, said that the agency routinely reports juvenile criminal records but not juvenile mental health records. Local courts do not provide DPS with juvenile mental health data, agency officials said.

There are a lot of protections that surround mental health data and juvenile mental health data, ML Calcote, assistant general counsel for DPS, said in a statement.

Experts, including county juvenile probation department officials and a former longtime juvenile judge, say the 2009 state law did not take into account the complexities of the juvenile justice system in Texas, which places strict limits on what records can be reported.

Following questions about reporting requirements from ProPublica and the Tribune, the state agency tasked with helping local courts abide by new laws moved to update its official guidance to clerks to make clear that the mental health reporting requirement applies to juveniles as well. A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration shared a draft version of supplementary guidance that she said the office would put on its website and incorporate into future manuals.

ProPublica and the Tribune presented a summary of their findings to the offices of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, who control the legislative agenda. They did not respond to questions about whether the issue is a priority for discussion in the next legislative session, which begins in January.

Dysfunctional reporting

When it comes to the reporting of adult mental health records, the Texas law has been highly effective. By the end of 2021, the state had sent more than 332,000 mental health records  the sixth-highest number in the country  to the national background check system, according to FBI data.

Unlike adult records, juvenile records are tightly controlled under state law, which includes criminal penalties for officials who release them unlawfully. That has likely contributed to widespread confusion about the reach of the 2009 law, which does not differentiate between adults and minors, said Dru Stevenson, a South Texas College of Law professor whose research focuses on gun violence and regulation.

Anybody dealing with either health records or juveniles are super skittish about preserving privacy and confidentiality, he said.

Mike Schneider, a former Harris County juvenile court judge, said the 2009 law fails to account for nuances in the juvenile code. For example, the law requires the reporting of all court-ordered mental health commitments. But Schneider and other juvenile officials say that in many cases juveniles end up in inpatient treatment not through a judges order, but via treatment plans agreed to by mental health professionals working on their cases. Additionally, Schneider said he interprets the law to directly address only the mental health commitments of juveniles already in lockup, not those first entering the system.

As a result, he estimated that some 99% of juvenile mental health commitments in the state are not the result of the kinds of judicial orders spelled out in the 2009 law.

Its just a really, really, really tiny sliver and would miss most of the people who are juveniles who have court-ordered mental health services, he said.

The Office of Court Administration convened a task force of clerks, judges and various state officials more than a decade ago to figure out how to increase the number of all mental health records being sent to DPS.

The resulting report, published in 2012, found that DPS lacks the resources to assist the district and county clerks with reporting mental health information. It made a number of recommendations for ensuring better reporting across the state, including that OCA distribute a reporting manual to clerks detailing the laws exact requirements. But neither the report nor the resulting manual addressed the reporting of juvenile records.

The agency has since moved to remedy that.

Recently, because of increased questions, we decided to update the quick reference table to make it even more clear that juvenile records should be included under those provisions, and an updated FAQ section will be going in the manual, spokesperson Megan LaVoie wrote in an email last month.

Amid a lack of clear direction, courts across the state arent following the law as Naishtat intended.

In Uvalde County, for instance, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Mary Lou Ruiz said theres no specific way for us to report that to DPS. When asked why, Ruiz cited limitations of electronic reporting tools.

Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman, who was a driving force behind the 2009 law and also chaired the OCA task force, said that his court has reported juvenile mental health commitments to DPS in the past, but that it hasnt had such a case in several years. Juvenile department and district clerk officials in the county say they operate under the belief that state guidelines dont require juvenile mental health reporting, according to a county spokesperson.

In Harris County, which oversees the largest juvenile justice system in Texas, district clerk spokesperson Al Ortiz told the publications no juvenile mental health records are reported to the state, citing what he described as long-standing guidance from the OCA and DPS.

On the other hand, the Dallas County District Clerk Felicia Pitre said her office reports juvenile mental health records to DPS, in accordance with state law. Pitre declined to say how many commitments have been sent. She did not respond to a request for comment about DPS statement that Texas courts are not reporting juvenile mental health records.

LaVoie, the OCA spokesperson, said in an email that the office communicated to clerks that they had to report certain juvenile mental health commitments to DPS but declined to say when or provide specifics about its messaging. DPS press office has not responded to questions about what reporting guidance it has provided to clerks.

Juvenile advocates and gun rights groups have urged caution in the reporting of juvenile records, calling for avenues to allow young adults to have their gun rights restored.

And mental health advocates have warned against using mental illness as a scapegoat when it comes to gun violence. A vast majority of firearm violence is not attributed to mental illness, the American Psychiatric Association said in a statement after the Uvalde shooting. Rhetoric that argues otherwise will further stigmatize and interfere with people accessing needed treatment without addressing the root causes of firearm violence.

But recent shootings have again raised questions about whether it is too easy for young people with histories of mental illness to obtain firearms.

As in Texas, questions emerged about New Yorks mental health reporting laws following the May 14 supermarket shooting in Buffalo that killed 10 people, most of them Black.

The gunman, an 18-year-old New York man, had been taken into custody as a juvenile for a psychiatric evaluation after he threatened to commit a murder-suicide. But under the states mental health reporting law, because the gunman wasnt ordered into treatment, the psychiatric evaluation alone did not trigger a report to the background check system. A 2013 New York law requires mental health professionals in the state to report patients who in their reasonable professional judgment are likely to harm themselves or others, but no such report was made.

Its unclear whether Texas law would have prevented the Uvalde gunman from purchasing two semi-automatic rifles at a federally licensed local gun shop.

DPS has said the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter, who killed 19 children and two teachers, didnt have a mental health record, but agency officials also have consistently added a caveat: That we know of.

In news reports, the gunmans acquaintances have alleged that he had a history of truancy, cruelty to animals and violence at home and at school.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the GOP negotiator in the recently passed federal legislation, has implied the shooter had mental health issues as a juvenile.

Enhanced background checks of juvenile court, police, and mental health records likely would have disclosed what everyone in the community knew, he wrote on Twitter on June 12. The shooter was a ticking time bomb.

Eliminating ambiguity

The new federal legislation was mostly met with praise from gun control groups, especially for its provisions on juvenile records.

Lindsay Nichols, federal policy director with the Giffords Law Center, which is the legal arm of a national gun safety group created by Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who survived a shooting in 2011, said the measure now gives the background check system enough time to make an accurate determination about whether the person is eligible to purchase guns.

The new federal law gives the FBI up to 10 business days  seven more than are allotted under current rules  to investigate if an initial background check on a would-be firearm purchaser under 21 flags potentially disqualifying juvenile records. If the agency doesnt find anything during that time frame, dealers are legally able to make the sale. Any mental health commitments ordered before the person is 16 would not disqualify them from purchasing a firearm.

The law also directs federal investigators conducting background checks to contact local law enforcement agencies and state-level custodians of mental health records, as well as search juvenile criminal history databases, for information that would disqualify a person from purchasing a firearm. Yet as it stands today in Texas, checks with such entities would fail to reveal many court-ordered juvenile commitments.

While most states now require some level of mental health reporting, gun control advocates like Giffords and Everytown for Gun Safety dont track how many states require searches of juvenile mental health records before gun purchases. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau doesnt keep track of it either. According to the Giffords Law Center, the 13 states that carry out their own background checks tend to conduct more comprehensive searches on juvenile records. And several of those so-called point of contact states appear to offer clearer guidance on the issue.

Like Texas, Florida has a mental health reporting law that doesnt explicitly mention juveniles. But a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, David Fierro, made clear that the law applies to people who are under 18.

There are no age limitations or exemptions. All court orders are required to be submitted, he said. The subject of these orders is disqualified from the transfer of a firearm.

Schneider, the former Harris County juvenile judge, said the Legislature should address the narrowness and ambiguity that has resulted in the widespread failure to report juvenile mental health records, though he said such an effort will require lawmakers to answer difficult questions about how to handle sensitive records. In his mind, the law should cover young Texans with troubling histories of bullying, animal cruelty and sexual assault, behavior that foreshadows what experts call future dangerousness.

What do you do with kids who have tortured a cat or a dog or done something really cruel, sexually or not, to another kid? he said. Those are, I think, the ones that people really worry about, because that seems to be so strongly correlated with really, really bad outcomes in the future.

Asked if more clarity from the Legislature would make the law more effective, LaVoie, the OCA spokesperson, said: Eliminating ambiguity is always helpful.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Mayra Flores stunning victory in the special election for Congress last month is a strong example of how the culture war dominating American social life over the past five or so years has never really been about race.

Texas 34th Congressional District is almost 85 percent Hispanic, which is the second-highest proportion in the country, and it went to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. It had been held by the Democrats for about 150 years.

Flores story could not be more different from that of her Democratic headline-grabbing counterpart  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC.

A comparison between the two sheds light on the cultural and political realignment shaping the country, including a potential sweet spot in American electoral politics, one that emphasizes a socially conservative agenda while centering the economic plight of the working and middle classes. At stake are two visions of America.

Flores is the antithesis of AOC. She embodies an authenticity that the it girl of the liberal left sorely lacks.

Make no mistake  despite efforts to cultivate an image of some sort of beleaguered escopetera fighting her way out of the Sierra Maestra, AOC is a product of the liberal establishment. Her mannerisms and sensibilities are derivative of it, at least when shes not trying to co-opt a Southern drawl or a Jenny from the Block persona. It is AOC who appears on the cover of Vanity Fair and attends the Met Gala  all to speak truth to power, of course.

Barring appearances on Fox News, Flores has received hardly any of this adulating media coverage, which is surprising, given that she is the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress. There are no fawning interviews with Chris Hayes on MSNBC or even Brian Stelter of CNN. Given all the emphasis on firsts and representation in our cultural and social life over the past decade, one would think Flores would be plastered all over the mainstream media. Race seems to only matter when it suits a particular agenda.

In fact, when Flores was asked how she could be a Republican when she was born in Mexico, the representative responded, They know nothing about our culture. That, or they feign ignorance. Flores socially conservative culture emphasizes faith, family and hard work  values that were once the bedrock of American society.

Flores Mexican heritage is especially significant. The Latino experience in America is diverse, and while Republicans can expect to get some support from Cubans and Venezuelans fleeing communist rule, Mexicans and other Hispanic groups have, in the past, voted overwhelmingly blue. Thus, Flores Mexican American heritage in a region at the heart of the contemporary immigration debate is no small matter.

Flores electoral campaign could not have been more different from the way AOC has carried herself over the past few years. At the heart of this campaign is her family, most conspicuously her father, to whom she is indebted for her outlook on life. He plays a prominent role in her campaign, such as in the ad titled My Father. Its message is quintessentially American: In America, if you work hard, anything is possible. The camera pans out on the cotton fields where Flores parents toiled to receive honest pay for honest work.

Unapologetic is a word overused in todays identity discourses. But Flores really is unapologetically Mexican American with genuine local roots in her community, unlike Sandy Ocasio, who was raised in an affluent New York suburb. Flores, still in her 30s, is the mother of four children and married to a Border Patrol agent, John Flores.

A mature woman, both confident and proud of her femininity, Flores is radically distinguished from her more glamorous counterpart, AOC, who lives on social media, has yet to start a family and weaponizes her femininity (although she is engaged to web developer Riley Roberts). While Flores is pro-life, AOC backed abortion rights candidate Jessica Cisneros in her effort to dislodge the last remaining pro-life Democrat, Henry Cuellar, in a South Texas primary. Cuellar narrowly survived the challenge in the heavily Catholic district, which involved a last minute TV buy of $550,000 from the pro-abortion rights group, Emilys List .

The biographies and presentations of these two Latina representatives is indicative of the dueling bases in the culture war. These duels have less to do with race than matters of gender and sexuality. In fact, one of the biggest achievements of liberal activism has been the ability to conflate racial issues with questions of gender and sexuality. The entanglement has led to an impoverished public discussion on issues pertaining to the good life and how to achieve it.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Tucker Carlson of Fox News in particular has irked so many liberals is his ability, perhaps even willingness, to pinpoint the inner machinations of liberal activism and politics, and in doing so shed light on their glaring hypocrisies.

After Flores victory, Carlson observed that the Democratic Party is a party wholly dominated by and caters exclusively to the instincts of 45-year-old affluent, personally unhappy white women.  So how is that the multiracial party exactly?

Thus images of the likes of AOC and Kamala Harris in business attire and stiletto heels, ready to lean in, as it were, cater to this demographic more than to working-class Latinas, or African Americans for that matter (look at how Harris polled in the Democratic presidential primaries).

So while Zapata County, which is more than 90 percent Hispanic, flipped to Donald Trump in 2020, it was affluent, suburban white women who pushed Biden over the line.

Now that she has won the election, Flores has not let up on her effective messaging, tweeting: When youre a Latina and theres a limit to the amount of family that you can bring for your swearing in.

While none of AOCs social media profiles acknowledged Fathers Day, Flores went above and beyond to highlight her fathers significant role in her life: A father is a teacher. Friend and adviser. All in one person. Happy Fathers Day!

While AOCs team posted more intersectional brilliance, namely a speech written by a 17-year-old girl; to empower all black girls  and all girls, Flores continues to elevate her fathers story. His name is Saul Flores and has been working since he was a child. Didnt have the opportunity to go to school but managed to learn to read and write. He has worked hard all his life instilling in me the value of hard work at a very young age. And perhaps the new representatives simple and yet most effective post of them all, Latina > Latinx.

Even Van Jones, CNNs principal race commentator, has U-turned on this form of toxic identity politics. You have people who are very well educated and very well off, he noted. Those people talk funny. Latinx? Ive never met a Latinx. Ive never met a BIPOC. This weird stuff that these highly educated people say is bizarre. Nobody talks that way at the barbershop, the nail salon, the grocery store, the community center. But thats how we talk now.

The first iteration of the culture war saw the rise of the Reagan Democrats. Those blue-collar workers who, no longer able to identify with the Democrats radical social agenda, switched to the GOP.

In its latest iteration, there is a possibility of another cohort of largely working-class and middle-class voters likely to make that switch. Alarmingly for the putative multiracial party, these voters could come from racial minorities. Flores is just one example. The daughter of migrant farmworkers who supported Democrats, she moved to the GOP because of her socially conservative views, especially on abortion.

This engagement with public policy makes Flores story much more compelling than AOCs casting call.
The evidence keeps mounting, a pile as disturbing as it is detailed.

We have never seen anything like this. The closest parallel is Watergate, but the comparison does not hold. In its depravity and cynicism, its blatant disregard for the Constitution, the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol is unprecedented.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: Jan. 6 hearings crucial for preventing future insurrection

The Founding Fathers gave us a system with the guardrails to keep us from undermining ourselves. Those guardrails failed to prevent the horrific assault on the Capitol, but the Founding Fathers did not fail us. We failed them.

America saw it in real time, the horror unfolding on televisions. We are reliving it now, through the House committee hearings on the insurrection. The riot seems uglier now, more than a year later, its luridness magnified by revelations of how a corrupt government fomented the attack.

In its latest hearing, held Tuesday, the committee explored the link between Donald Trump and the violent mob. The former president brought the country to the brink of civil war, according to one witness, an effort that was deliberate and calculated: Trump knew what he was doing.

It started in the early morning hours of Dec. 19, after a meeting in which administration officials discussed the big lie that Joe Biden won the presidential election through fraud. The argument was heated, Team Normal vs. Team Conspiracy, as a former Trump adviser termed the warring factions. It went on for hours, but Trump remained unmoved by Team Normal, Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel, testified.

Big protest in D.C. on January 6th, Trump tweeted after the meeting. Be there, will be wild.

The tweet sparked a flurry of responses from far-right groups throughout the country, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.

We have to show strength, Trump said during the rally on the morning of the riot.

Supporters had been hearing that message since Dec. 19.

We are going to be only saved by millions of Americans moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if necessary, storming right into the Capitol, Matt Bracken, a right-wing commentator, said in a video clip following the tweet. We know the rules of engagement. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall.

One of those walls was the metaphorical barrier protecting the Constitution. The rioters, inspired by a ruthless president, sought to bring it down. They relented after three hours, when the president, finally listening to Team Normal, told his supporters to go home.

Well, basically, you know, the president, you know, he got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down, so we basically were just following what he said, Stephen Ayers, a former Trump supporter from Northeast Ohio, told the committee.

Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers, testified about the lies that continue to swirl around the insurrection  and how it still threatens our country.

I do fear for the next election cycle, he said, because who knows what it might bring  if a president thats willing to try to instill and encourage, to whip up a civil war among his followers, using lies and deceit and snake oil, and regardless of the human impact, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again?

As the latest hearing drew to a close, Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair, dropped a bombshell, saying that the former president tried to call an upcoming witness.

We will take any efforts to influence witness testimony very seriously, she said.

These hearings are crucial because regardless of who the next president is, we must ensure that the horror perpetrated on Jan. 6 is never repeated. If we failed the Founding Fathers  and we did  it is not only because a single man, Donald Trump, sought to bring the system down; it is because he had thousands of co-conspirators, including the men and women who stormed the Capitol. And they were not alone; they were abetted by gullible supporters and Republican sycophants who continue to support this monstrous campaign of deceit and insurrection.
The book, "The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky" chronicles the experiences of Chinese immigrants in Montana by historian, teacher and Helena resident Mark T. Johnson (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).

Mark Johnson, a professor, researcher, historian and teacher in Helena, found what every historian dreams of, previously discounted documents that held secrets to what life was like for Chinese immigrants who toiled in Montana.

Letters, stored at the Montana Historical Society archives, had been donated decades ago. At some point, the letters were evaluated by a Chinese translator but discounted because they were just letters about home and family.

While not inaccurate, those letters about life, family and hardships gave key details to what the experiences of many Chinese immigrants experienced in Butte and other Montana mining communities like Virginia City. And they helped form the basis of Johnsons new book, The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana.

Montanas experience with Chinese immigrants, communities and laborers is rich, but somewhat forgotten because of the economic and cultural forces, including attempts by local communities to ban or exclude Chinese as immigrants not even worthy of citizenship in America.

However, mining, forestry, railroads and even food in Montana wouldnt look the same without the contributions of the Chinese.

The Western Experience

The history of the opening of the West to European settlers cannot be told without simultaneously telling about the experiences of Chinese immigrants, who often migrated from impoverished areas of China, torn apart by trading inequities from Great Britain and factions of warlords.

In search of making money to support families, men were largely sent to America to work in mines, on railroads and in laundries and restaurants.

States in West, including California, Colorado and Wyoming had uprisings that killed Chinese immigrants, and Congress passed a series of exclusion acts that barred immigration and other legal protections.

While the Chinese were often characterized as unwilling to assimilate, Johnson said, the United States government didnt give them a path to assimilation.

Many Chinese immigrants didnt come to America with the intent of staying forever, their impermanence becoming part of the story of why their contributions remain somewhat forgotten. For example, most of their remains were sent back home for veneration, meaning even if they died in America, there is little record of their life and activities here.

The Chinese experience in America and Montana was also largely a male dominated narrative until after the fall of the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1908. Some studies peg the ratios of Chinese males to female at 40-to-1, meaning that many of the immigrants who came did not have or start families here.

Johnson and his wife both taught in China. They knew what it felt like to be from Montana and living in China. But Johnsons new book focuses on the opposite.

The two collections of letters that helped form Johnsons book were from the late 1880s to 1920, and then letters from 1930s to the 1950s between two brothers in war-torn China. Because they primarily dealt with family affairs, a historical assessment done decades ago didnt place much value on them.

The Chinese experience

The letters of De Quan outline the experiences of his family back in Guangdong Province in southern China, racked by a horrible earthquake, floods and civil instability.

The letters speak of poor living conditions, of needing to send more money to China or missing family members and the importance of coming back to China to get married.

The later group of letters, after China became a Republic, tell about life in America  working in mines, going to enjoy Montanas outdoors, even buying a car.

The letters of De Quan talk of going into debt just to send nearly every cent back home to China, even though his family there believed that he was a great businessman with hands covered in gold and silver.

His brother, De Xiu, provides an interesting contrasting example of life in America and China. Xiu also came to America, but he didnt send money home and came back to China, nearly penniless. What happens to Quan is unknown. He disappears from the record around 1923.

Another part of Johnsons book chronicles the struggles of Wing Hong Hom to get his brother, Wing Goon Hom, out of communist China in the early 1950s, even using the leverage of Mike Mansfield to help, albeit unsuccessfully.

Like many Chinese living in America, after a revolution turned China into a short-lived Republic, the United States became an adopted homeland and Wing Hong Homs emphasis turned to getting other family members out of China. But like many similarly situated immigrants, Wing Hon would submit paperwork only to have rules and laws change and begin the process again.

The two brothers, it appear, were never reunited.

The Montana experience

You see that the Chinese tried to make a home here and wanted to do the same thing as all those who were allowed to come here and settle, Johnson said.

The Exclusionary Acts passed in Congress set a series of laws in motion that only allowed certain immigrants, usually those with financial means or education, to stay. It also curtailed the rights of immigrants to the justice system, leaving them second-class people  not even citizens  for decades.

Wing Hon would eventually move to Seattle, and it appears the family all but gave up on the idea of bringing family from China. Even during his time in Montana, Wing Hon would be enjoying an American life that doesnt look so different from that of today, including hunting white-tail deer and driving a new car.

As more of the families that had once made Montana home moved to other places, especially after the Communists took over China, there became less interaction with Chinese immigrants, Johnson said, and more mythology built around their experiences in the Treasure State.

There was this exoticization of the culture from opium to the tongs to the secret societies and prostitution. There is a romanticization of what they went through, Johnson said.

Although there was violence in places like Rock Springs, Wyoming or Tacoma, Washington, movements to exclude or ban Chinese in Montana largely fizzled, including a failed city ordinance in Deer Lodge to ban Chinese merchants.

The fewer Chinese there were, the more we become sentimental and nostalgic for it, Johnson said.

For example, Choteau threw a going-away party for the last Chinese family who left in 1933.

At one point in time, Montana was wonderfully diverse, Johnson said. This book allows them to tell in their own words and own perspectives their experiences in the state.

The post Montana author, historian chronicles the experiences, contributions of Chinese immigrants on state appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Farmers have been warned to take extreme care to avoid combine harvester fires as soaring temperatures are set to continue all week.

The warning by NFU Mutual follows a shock increase in combine fire claims made last year.

The rural insurer, which provides cover for three quarters of the UKs farms, saw a 35% increase in the number of combine fire claims during the 2021 harvest.

With this years harvest underway and soaring temperatures set to bring hot, dry weather to the countryside, NFU Mutual said farmers must reduce the risk.

It is also providing premium discounts to farmers who fit approved fire suppression systems to their combines.

In hot weather, combine fires could spread even more violently, causing enormous damage to crops and disrupting the farm when farmers can least afford to stop.

Working long hours in dusty conditions means regular cleaning and maintenance is essential to reduce the risk of a fire, said Evita van Gestel at NFU Mutual Risk Management Services Ltd.

Together, dust, hot moving parts, lots of electrical wiring and a tank full of diesel provide all the ingredients for a major fire.

Combine fires put lives at risk, can spread into crops and threaten surrounding buildings so this is about far more than the loss of a machine and disruption at the busiest time of year.

And with new machines costing over 250,000, scrupulous attention to cleaning and fitting a fire suppression system is a no-brainer.

How can I prevent combine fires this harvest?

NFU Mutual has provided tips to prevent a combine fire during this years harvest:

 Ensure planned preventative maintenance is up to date and in accordance with manufacturers service schedules before using any machinery

 Fit a suppression system that meets P-mark status to contain, extinguish and prevent fire

 Regularly clean out dust and chaff from hot spots and check the machine over when you finish use for the day

 You can use a mobile compressor (or a fixed one if fitted to the combine) to regularly blow away debris from the machine, but only do so if the exit pressure is reduced (as a guide 30psi/2.1 bar is effective at cleaning)

 Switch off engines and ensure moving parts have stopped before clearing blockages or carrying out maintenance

 Always stop to investigate hot-running engines or bearings

 Have a plan in place in the event of fire including a system for keeping in contact with lone workers and anyone working or living on farm

 Keep mobile phones on you at all times  its no use to you if its left in a tractor or pickup cab

 Make sure drivers are aware of the locations and heights of power lines and check that you will safely pass under wires

 Keep a fire extinguisher on the combine  and ensure it is regularly maintained

 Keep a bowser filled with water on hand, and be prepared to create a fire break in the event of a crop fire

 Use the What3Words App to help emergency services can find your location easily

 Remind staff to keep well-hydrated, take sufficient rest breaks and monitor for fatigue, stress and mental ill health symptoms.
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Officials from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, a Seoul-based rights organ, hold a news conference in front of the Seoul Central Prosecutors Office in Seoul , July 12, prior to filing a complaint against former National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong, former National Intelligence chief Suh Hoon and former Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, all from the previous Moon Jae-in government, on charges of their roles in the alleged forcible and hasty repatriation of two North Korean defector fishermen to the North in Nov., 2019. Yonhap



A group of South Korean lawyers said Wednesday it will file a complaint against former President Moon Jae-in for attempted murder charges in connection with the deportation of North Korean defectors in 2019.



In November 2019, two North Korean fishermen were captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border, and they later confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect.



However, the Moon administration sent them back to the North, where they could face harsh punishment, saying their intentions are insincere. The move stoked suspicion the Seoul government tried to repatriate the defectors in an effort to curry favor with Pyongyang.



On Wednesday, the Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea said it will ask the prosecution to investigate Moon as an accomplice in charges of attempted murder, as well as dereliction of duties.






Cambodias goods exports in the first half this year (H1 2022) were worth $11.37 billion, a 33.9 per cent rise from the same period last year, according to figures from the general department of customs and excise. Imports rose by 11.9 per cent to $15.86 billion during that period, resulting in a trade deficit at $4.48 billion, a 21 per cent fall compared to last year.

The countrys total trade volume was worth $27.2 billion in H1 2022, up by 20 per cent from $22.6 billion over the same period last year.

The high growth in exports was reportedly driven by the resumption of socio-economic activities, trade preferences in the Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership and the bilateral free trade agreement with China.

Cambodia's goods exports in the first half this year were worth $11.37 billion, a 33.9 per cent rise from the same period last year, according to figures from the general department of customs and excise. Imports rose by 11.9 per cent to $15.86 billion during that period, resulting in a trade deficit at $4.48 billion, a 21 per cent fall compared to last year#

The United States remained the largest market for Cambodian exports in H1 2022 with exports worth $4.64 billion, up by 54 per cent from the same period last year. It was followed by Vietnam with a 3.4 per cent growth in exports at $1.17 billion.

Clothing, footwear and travel goods comprised over 50 per cent of Cambodias total exports in the first six months, Cambodian media reported.

China is the largest trading partner of Cambodia, followed by the United States, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore, a government report said, adding the Sino-Cambodian trade volume rose by 19.7 per cent to $5.98 billion in the first half.

Cambodia imported $5.37 billion worth of goods from China, a 24.2 per cent increase year on year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)




Police investigating the mysterious deaths of a 10-year-old girl and her parents found last month in a car sunk in waters off the southwestern coast said Wednesday that sleeping pill ingredients have been found in their bodies.







The Gwangju Nambu Police Station said it was recently informed by the National Forensic Service of the detection of sleeping pill ingredients in the remains of Cho Yu-na, a Gwangju elementary school student, and her parents in their 30s.







Cho and her parents, who resided in the southwestern metropolitan city of Gwangju, were found dead on June 29 inside their family car pulled out of waters off Wando, a quiet island about 120 kilometers south of their home. The family went missing about a month earlier after last being seen alive on closed-circuit TV at a Wando guesthouse on May 30.







Police have also restored the family car's event data recorder and black box.







Judging also from the black box dialogue between Cho's parents and the movement of the vehicle just before the accident, police have reportedly come to the tentative conclusion that the family may have taken their own lives. (Yonhap)






Indian apparel export is not going to get boost from the new additional arrangements for international trade in Indian rupee. However, import-export of upstream textile products like cotton and yarn may benefit from the new arrangements put in place by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which has asked banks to make arrangement for trade transactions in rupee.

Indian garment export is not likely to get much boost from the decision of international trade in rupee because Europe and the US are the major markets for Indian apparel exports. Buyers in this market prefer to pay in US dollar. Even, European buyers wants to pay in dollar instead of their own currency, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) chairman Narendra Goenka told Fibre2Fashion. He however added that export-import of cotton and yarn may get some boost as there are many non-American and non-European countries where importers and exporters may consider transacting in rupee.

Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) has said that the RBIs move will pave the way for trading and settlement of export-import transactions in Indian rupee. RBI has taken this step at a time when many countries in Africa and South America are facing huge forex shortages. So, the move will help exporters and importers, said A Sakthivel, president, FIEO.

Indian apparel export is not going to get boost from the new additional arrangements for international trade in Indian rupee. However, import-export of upstream textile products like cotton and yarn may benefit from the new arrangements put in place by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which has asked banks to make arrangement for trade transactions in rupee.#

The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) chairman Ravi Sam welcomed the RBI announcement and stated that proactive initiative by the Government has given a sigh of relief to the Indian exporters and importers, who have been facing challenges owing to the tightening of monetary policies all over the world. He said that the policy would encourage the countries with forex shortage having substantial trade with India to increase their trade with India. This will create more opportunities to boost the exports, apart from helping India to reduce its trade deficit on account of oil imports.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Anya Singh hails from Delhi. She had a natural affinity for dance and was always performing in front of her friends and neighbours at the behest of her parents. After finishing high school, she enrolled in a college in Rajasthan, where she first considered becoming a professional actor. She wanted to move to Mumbai. Her parents said no at first, then they gave her a year after graduation to pursue her dreams. The city proved completely alien to her.

I initially just felt very lost, alone, and lonely because Id left my friends and family behind. It took me a while to adjust to the new reality.





After doing a round of auditions, she landed her first ad, which was for a shampoo brand. She also landed a role in the short film Lex Talionis (2016), a revenge drama. She landed her first feature film, Qaidi Band (2017), by chance. She ran into casting agent Shanoo Sharma at a coffee shop. Shanoo took a liking to her and asked her if she was interested in being tested for something. She told me to come to her office tomorrow. I was given a long monologue from Pyaar Ka Punchnama to recite. I must have done something right as I found myself being selected for the Qaidi Band.

Ranbir Kapoors cousin, Aadar Jain, was being launched with the film. Being launched alongside him in a Yash Raj film was a big responsibility. She was interviewed by Anushka Sharma about it and felt it was a dream come true.





I played a maids daughter in the film and was appreciated for my efforts. The film got talked about a lot but unfortunately didnt do well.

Nevertheless, I count it as a huge learning experience as I learnt so much from my director, Habib Faisal, during the making of the film and also during the various workshops we had for seven-eight months prior to the films shooting.



She says the real struggle began after Qaidi Bands release. Shed had to fight a lot of personal battles as she lost her father and her mother got sick.

She landed a Telugu film, Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene (2019), after that, and also acted in the crime comedy Velle (2021) after that, where she was cast opposite Karan Deol. She counts herself lucky to have landed Never Kiss Your Best Friend during the height of the coronavirus outbreak. When I read the audition scene, I thought, This is so much fun! At the audition, my director and I just knew ki main ye ladki hu. Never Kiss changed things for me because I realised I am getting to do things

I enjoy and what I came

to do here.

She was asked to audition for another character in Kaun Banegi Shikharwati, but she very much wanted to play Umas character. She was initially told the spot was locked, but later the makers told her it had opened up again. I remember I was in Delhi and took an early morning flight and tested for it before anyone else could reach there, she reveals. She had grown up watching Naseeruddin Shah and was glad she could share screen space with him, as well as with Lara Dutta, Soha Ali Khan, and Kritika Kamra. Lara is someone whose aura I have always been in awe of. Soha, shes so witty and so sarcastic. I love it. Kritika is also smart. We got on well and we also had Naseer sir and Raghubir (Yadav) sir who could sit and talk to you and tell you so many stories,she gushes.

She instantly relates to humour, and she was glad she was able to play a witty, sarcastic character in Never Kiss Your Best Friend Season 1 and 2. Tanie is that extension of myself that I cant really be in real life. Shes childish, she never really thinks before she speaks, she has so many fun characteristics that I would love to have in real life. In Season 2, I also added physical quirks to the character. I made sure her body language was sloppy.

And she cant run because she isnt fit enough.  While rom coms are her favourite, shed love to do thrillers as well and play a grey character. I want to play twisted grey characters because I feel like I have an innocent face. And to see that turn into something that you would not expect is very interesting to me, she reveals. Her next two projects will see her playing characters different from what she has been up to now. I dont want to play vanilla characters, and youll hopefully see me playing someone with plenty of spice.
Leading retirement technology firm launches 'Keystone by Smart', a global platform to spur forward the US$62 trillion retirement savings sector

Enables financial services organisations and governments to deliver 21st century tech within months, generating radically greater value for millions of savers through workplace pensions

More than a million hours and $100s of millions of R&D deliver a platform capable of revolutionising global retirement savings a market currently held back by decades-old technology

Keystone by Smart's software could also drive M&A and consolidation in the sector by enabling the easier migration of pensions

Smart, the leading global retirement technology provider, has launched Keystone by Smart a new technology platform to revolutionise the US$62 trillion retirement savings sector.

Keystone already underpins Smart Pension's Master Trust in the UK, which alone has more than 2 billion of assets under management. The platform accounts for more than 1 million savers and 70,000 corporate plans, and is also actively onboarding several additional retirement savings solutions in partnership with financial institutions around the world. These partnerships give Keystone the near-term prospect of serving more than 8 million people.

With the capacity to serve hundreds of millions, Keystone by Smart will now be rolled out to corporate and public-sector clients across the global superannuation industry. Its Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering will be made available to national and regional governments, banks, pension providers, asset managers, trade associations and affinity groups.

A flexible, agile and cloud-native platform operating on a single global code base, Keystone also brings radical efficiency to large data migrations meaning that consolidation and M&A projects that previously took years using legacy systems are now possible in weeks or even days.

The launch of Keystone comes days after Smart selected Melbourne as the home of its new Australian headquarters, in an announcement welcomed by Tim Pallas, Victoria's Minister for Economic Development. That move follows the recent introduction of the Retirement Income Covenant in Australia, which seeks to provide superannuation funds with greater flexibility in designing their retirement income strategies.

Keystone functions as a standalone workplace retirement savings platform, and is interoperable with other financial services and retirement software, alongside payroll and HR management integrations. Users of existing pensions services can also move to Keystone's technology seamlessly, saving time and money for both employers and employees.

Keystone's versatility makes it applicable to a variety of retirement savings systems around the world. It is designed to keep pace with fast-changing pensions legislation and to meet the needs of savers in any language and any currency.

At launch, Keystone already powers numerous retirement savings solutions outside the UK. These include auto enrolment rollouts in several states in the US; work with New Ireland Assurance, part of Bank of Ireland Group, to enable workplace retirement savings; and a partnership with Zurich on a workplace saving scheme for Dubai.

Further information about Keystone by Smart can be found at Smart's website.

Andrew Evans, Group CEO and co-founder of Smart, said:

"Keystone by Smart enables financial services organisations to serve their clients and customers better and faster. It allows savers to connect to their money and manage their pensions in real time.

Keystone will also help corporate and strategic investors, who see opportunities to create efficiency in the global market but haven't previously had the tools to make it happen. We are making a technologically fragmented industry more user-friendly for everyone."

Will Wynne, Group MD and co-founder of Smart, added:

"Much of our industry is built on decades-old technology, which holds back millions of savers across the planet. Our experience in leading the auto enrolment revolution in the UK gave us an early head start in understanding that, and now we've built a platform to help savers and providers worldwide.

"Keystone by Smart makes pensions easier and cheaper for organisations everywhere to provide. It also gives savers the experience they've come to expect from best-in-class ecommerce sites and online banking."

The response from Smart's investors and the wider fintech industry has been very positive. Smart's investors include Legal General Investment Management, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays, Natixis Investment Managers, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures.

Another investor in Smart, Simon Rogerson, CEO and co-founder of Octopus Group, said:

"Keystone is a unique piece of technology: a platform capable of transforming the sleeping giant of the fintech world the $62 trillion global retirement savings market. It's an area where the entire industry is crying out for a modern technology platform, to deliver better outcomes for governments, financial services organisations and their customers and citizens around the world.

"With already more than a million savers on the platform today and a trajectory to support tens of millions of users in the near future, Keystone will be as transformative for pensions and retirement as Octopus Energy's Kraken platform already has been for energy."

Notes to Editors:

Image of Keystone by Smart logo (attached)

Dedicated webpage for Keystone by Smart (linked)

Video of Smart founders Andrew Evans and Will Wynne introducing Keystone by Smart (linked)

About Smart

Smart is a global savings and investments technology platform provider. Its mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial well-being around the world.

Smart partners with governments and financial institutions (including insurers, asset managers, banks, financial advisers) to deliver retirement savings and income solutions that are digital, bespoke and cost efficient. In addition to the UK, Smart is operating in the USA, Europe, Australia and the Middle East with more than a million savers entrusting over 4 billion in assets on the platform.

Smart supports its clients with a 750 strong global team.

Legal General Investment Management, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays, Natixis Investment Managers, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures are all investors in Smart.

For more information, please visit Smart.co or www.smartpension.co.uk

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006153/en/

Contacts:

Smart:

Alana Stuart

pressoffice@smart.co
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 12, 2022) - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") announces that it has awarded incentive stock options pursuant to its stock option plan, to various directors, officers, and consultants of the Company, to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,110,000 common shares of the Company. The stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.57 per share and will expire five years from the date of grant.

About Getchell Gold Corp.

The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and two earlier stage exploration projects, Star (Cu-Au-Ag) and Hot Springs Peak (Au). Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties, Churchill County, Nevada.

The Company reiterates that its near-term strategy to advance its assets is not impacted by the COVID-19 Corona virus. The Company continues to monitor the situation and is in compliance with all government guidelines.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company at info@getchellgold.com.

Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO

Getchell Gold Corp.

1-647-249-4798

info@getchellgold.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130716
Regulatory News:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006199/en/

AD HOC ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO ART. 53 LR

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL; USOTC:CSLLY) today announced an update regarding the Vifor Pharma AG acquisition.

On January 18, 2022, CSL Behring AG (the Offeror) published the offer prospectus (the Offer Prospectus) for its public tender offer according to articles 125 et seq. FMIA (the Offer) for all publicly held registered shares of Vifor Pharma Ltd. (Vifor) with a nominal value of CHF 0.01 each (each a Vifor Share

In the definitive notice of the end result dated March 28, 2022, the Offeror declared a postponement of the settlement of the Offer for a period of up to four months after the expiration of the additional acceptance period of the Offer, i.e. until July 22, 2022.

Today, the Offeror announced a further postponement of the settlement of the Offer until September 30, 2022, as the offer condition pursuant to Section B.7(1)(b) (Merger Clearances, Foreign Direct Investment and Other Approvals) of the Offer Prospectus is not expected to be fulfilled by July 22, 2022.

Today's announcement of the Offeror, which includes among other things further information regarding the offer conditions that remain in effect, the Offeror's intention to delist and the Offeror's action filed with the Commercial Court of St. Gallen requesting the cancellation of the remaining publicly held Vifor Shares, is available at www.csltransaction.com.

About Vifor Pharma Group

Vifor Pharma Group is a global pharmaceuticals company. It aims to become the global leader in iron deficiency and nephrology. The company is a partner of choice for pharmaceuticals and innovative patient-focused solutions across iron, dialysis, nephrology and rare conditions. Vifor Pharma Group strives to help patients around the world with severe, chronic and rare diseases lead better, healthier lives. It specializes in strategic global partnering, in-licensing and developing, manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products for precision patient care. Vifor Pharma Group holds a leading position in all its core business activities and includes the companies: Vifor Pharma, Sanifit Therapeutics, and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (a joint company with Fresenius Medical Care). Vifor Pharma Group is headquartered in Switzerland and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Swiss Exchange, VIFN, ISIN: CH0364749348). For more information, please visit viforpharma.com

About CSL

CSL (ASX: CSL; USOTC: CSLLY) is a leading global biotechnology company with a dynamic portfolio of life-saving medicines, including those that treat hemophilia and immune deficiencies, as well as vaccines to prevent influenza. Since our start in 1916, we have been driven by our promise to save lives using the latest technologies. Today, CSL including our two businesses, CSL Behring and Seqirus- provides life-saving products to more than 100 countries and employs more than 25,000 people. Our unique combination of commercial strength, R&D focus and operational excellence enables us to identify, develop and deliver innovations so our patients can live life to the fullest. For more information visit csl.com.

Legal Disclaimers

Important Additional Information

This release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to purchase, sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to sell, purchase or subscribe for any registered shares or other equity securities in Vifor Pharma Ltd., nor shall it form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefor. This release is not part of the Offer documentation relating to the Offer. Terms and conditions of the Offer have been published in CSL's Offer Prospectus regarding the Offer. Shareholders of Vifor Pharma Ltd. are urged to read the Offer documents, including the Offer Prospectus, which are or will be available at www.CSLtransaction.com.

Certain Offer Restrictions

The Offer is not made, directly or indirectly, in any country or jurisdiction in which it would be considered unlawful or otherwise violate any applicable laws or regulations, or which would require CSL or any of its subsidiaries to change or amend the terms or conditions of the Offer in any material way, to make an additional filing with any governmental, regulatory or other authority or take additional action in relation to the Offer. It is not intended to extend the Offer to any such country or jurisdiction. Any documents relating to the Offer must neither be distributed in any such country or jurisdiction nor be sent into such country or jurisdiction, and must not be used for the purpose of soliciting the sale or purchase of securities of Vifor Pharma Ltd. by any person or entity resident or incorporated in any such country or jurisdiction.

The Offer is made in the United States pursuant to Section 14(e) of, and Regulation 14E under, the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act"), subject to the applicable exemptions provided by Rule 14d-1 under the U.S. Exchange Act and Rule 14e-5(b) under the U.S. Exchange Act and any exemptions that may be granted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of Swiss law. Accordingly, the Offer is subject to disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to withdrawal rights, settlement procedures and timing of payments that are different from those applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and laws. Neither the SEC nor any securities commission of any State of the United States has (a) approved or dis-approved of the Offer; (b) passed upon the merits or fairness of the Offer; or (c) passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of the disclosure in the Offer Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence in the United States.

The communication is not being made by, and has not been approved by, an "authorised person" for the purposes of Section 21 of the U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Reference is made to the Offer Prospectus for full Offer restrictions.

Other Important Additional Information

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement may contain or refer to statements that constitute forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "aim", "project", "forecast", "estimate", "risk", "likely", "intend", "outlook", "should", "could", "would", "may", "will", "continue", "plan", "probability", "indicative", "seek", "target", "plan" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Any such statements, opinions and estimates in this announcement speak only as of the date hereof and are based on assumptions and contingencies subject to change without notice, as are statements about market and industry trends, projections, guidance and estimates. Forward-looking statements are provided as a general guide only. The forward-looking statements in this announcement are not indications, guarantees or predictions of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of CSL, its officers, employees, agents and advisors, and may involve significant elements of subjective judgement and assumptions as to future events which may or may not be correct, and may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are strongly cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

This announcement is not financial product or investment advice, a recommendation to acquire or sell securities or accounting, legal or tax advice. It does not constitute an invitation or offer to apply for securities. It has been prepared without taking into account the objectives, financial or tax situation or needs of individuals. Before making an investment decision, prospective investors should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to their own objectives, financial and tax situation and needs and seek legal and taxation advice appropriate for their jurisdiction. CSL is not licensed to provide financial product advice in respect of an investment in securities.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006199/en/

Contacts:

CSL

Australia Asia Pacific

Jimmy Baker

P. +61 450 909 211

E: jimmy.baker@csl.com.au

Switzerland Europe

Martin Meier-Pfister (IRF)

P: 41 432 448 140

E: meier-pfister@irf-reputation.ch

United States Rest of World

Tom Hushen

P: 267-769-6728

E: Thomas.Hushen@cslbehring.com

Vifor Pharma

Nathalie Ponnier

Global Head Corporate Communications

+41 79 957 96 73

media@viforpharma.com
HELSINKI and LIMASSOL, Cyprus, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After seven years of close cooperation, Embria , one of the oldest venture builders in Europe, exits Duunitori , the largest Finnish job search and recruiting media, as part of the deal led by Intera Partners venture fund. Embria's return counts about 70x, making it the company's most successful venture investment so far.

As a result of the deal, Intera becomes a majority owner in Duunitori and forms a close partnership with the company to support further growth and internationalisation.

Duunitori was founded in 2009 by two friends Thomas Gronholm and Martti Kuusanmaki. Embria invested in Duunitory in 2015, shortly after both companies' representatives first met in Helsinki attending Slush. Embria was the biggest among Duunitory's external shareholders and the last one before the current deal.

In 2021 Duunitori officially became the largest job board and recruitment services provider in Finland. It has seen substantial growth over the past years and expanded its operations to Sweden under the name Jobbland. In the last five years, Duunitori's turnover has seen an average annual increase of 70 percent, with a turnover of 14 million in 2021.

"Our extensive experience in creating startups from scratch helps us recognise the potential in early-stage companies, seeing them through the eyes of an entrepreneur and not only an investor. It was a pleasure for us to work and exchange expertise with Duunitori's highly professional and motivated team through all these years, and I'm happy that Embria was a part of this highly successful journey," - comments Pavel Yakovlev, co-founder and co-CEO of Embria.

About Embria
SHENZHEN, China, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since 2014, the INNOCN team has been working to improve the display monitor market. Awards from respected sources and coverage in influential media such as Forbes and Rolling Stone are direct results of their efforts. Monitors, commercial displays, and all-in-one computers are all products that Shenzhen Century Joint Innovation Technology Company Ltd. (INNOCN) produces and sells to its customers.







INNOCN's production team has created several successful devices, including the INNOCN Portable Monitor N1F PRO, a new USB C portable monitor for laptop that is freestanding and has an ultra slim build. This new monitor is currently available on Amazon DE, FR, and ESfor the low price of 249 EUR, but it will be discounted on Prime Day, which is less than a week away.

The superior features of the INNOCN Portable Monitor N1F PRO help it stand out among the best portable monitors on the market. Because the portable touchscreen monitor has a Full HD 1080P resolution, users can expect high-quality images. The viewer experience is enhanced by features such as anti-glare, IPS panel technology, and a 178 degree wide view screen.

It is essential to have a monitor that facilitates work and leisure activities. The INNOCN Portable Monitor N1F PRO can connect to most laptops, smart phones, Switch, Xbox, PS5/4/3, mini PCs, and digital cameras that support USB C and HDMI. This makes the monitor ideal for enhancing users' lives and increasing work efficiency. Furthermore, people can be confident that their viewing experience will be pleasant due to the flicker-free and low blue light technology, which keeps the eyes from tiring and becoming irritated.

Network broadcasters, office workers, gamers, online educators, designers, and traveling photographers may find the N1F PRO to be the most useful. The monitor is ideal for people who travel for personal reasons, for business, or simply to have a handy device on hand for on-the-go meetings. The N1F PRO comes with everything an individual needs to get started and exceed user expectations.

INNOCN Prime Day Deals

Prime Day is quickly approaching, and Amazon Prime members have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of some of the internet's best deals. INNOCN exists to provide high-quality products at a low cost to its customers. The INNOCN Portable Monitor N1F PRO will be available for 199 EUR on July 12th and 13th, approximately 50 EUR less than the original price. INNOCN also has great deals on other monitors, such as the INNOCN OLED Second Screen Monitor 15A1F, FR, and ES) and the INNOCN OLED Second Screen Monitor 13A1F, FR, and ES) for Laptop and MacBook. Customers can tune in on Prime Day to take advantage of all of INNOCN's incredible deals.

Media Contact

Manufacturer's Name: Shenzhen Century Joint Innovation Technology Company Limited

Manufacturer's Official Website: https://www.innocn.com/

Manufacturer's Email Address: marketing@innocn.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c086aaac-2149-4535-9fc8-dc1d4cc9a074
Press Release



Acquisition of Majority Stake in Refresco by KKR completed

Rotterdam, The Netherlands - July 13, 2022 - Refresco Group B.V. ("Refresco" or "the Company"), the global independent beverage solutions provider for Global, National and Emerging (GNE) brands, and retailers in Europe and North America, today announces that the acquisition of a majority stake in Refresco by KKR has been completed, following the receipt of regulatory approvals from the competition authorities.



On February 22, 2022, Refresco and KKR announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement for KKR to acquire a majority stake in the Company, with Refresco's existing investors, PAI Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation ("BCI"), maintaining a significant minority position.

Hans Roelofs, CEO, Refresco: "I am excited to start the next chapter in the development of our company, with KKR as our new majority owner. We will continue to execute our strategy, focused on growing alongside our customers and expanding into new categories and geographies. We look forward to leveraging KKR's capabilities, operational expertise and commitment to sustainability to further strengthen our position and achieve our vision of 'Our Drinks On Every Table'."



Attachment
Press contact:

Florence Lievre

Tel.: +33 1 47 54 50 71

Email: florence.lievre@capgemini.com



While definitions of sovereign cloud vary, 43% of organizations are currently focusing on data localization



Paris, July13, 2022- Cloud sovereignty is increasingly becoming a priority for organizations looking for secure, innovative, and scalable solutions to manage their data, according to CapgeminiResearch Institute's latest report, "The journey to cloud sovereignty: Assessing cloud potential to drive transformation and build trust". The report finds that cloud sovereignty adoption is primarily driven by regulation and organizations' need to control their data, but they also expect it to build trust, foster collaboration, and accelerate the move to a data-sharing ecosystem.

According to the report, organizations have some concerns about using the public cloud as the core of digital transformation projects: 69% of organizations cite potential exposure to extra-territorial laws in a cloud environment, 68% a lack of transparency and control over what is done with their data in the cloud, and 67% mention operational dependency on vendors based outside their region's jurisdiction.

A large majority of organizations globally believe they will adopt cloud sovereignty to ensure compliance with regulations (71%) or to bring in controls and transparency over their data (67%), whereas ensuring immunity from extra-territorial data access (65%) comes third.

Nearly half of organizations (43%) globally define cloud sovereignty as keeping their data within their preferred jurisdiction, whatever the origin of the cloud provider, whereas only 14% define it as the exclusive use of cloud providers based in the same legal jurisdiction.

When selecting a cloud provider, the four key factors organizations focus on primarily are identity, access management, and encryption (82%), isolation of their sensitive data in the cloud (81%) and cost competitiveness (69%) and having local/regional datacenters (66%).

Demand for cloud services is shifting in line with new expectations around sovereignty

When asked about their expected cloud environment for the next 1-3 years, more than one-third (38%) of organizations expect to have a public/hybrid cloud environment with local data centers. 30% expect to use a disconnected version or the local legal entity of a hyperscaler, whereas 11% plan to work exclusively with cloud providers based within the same legal jurisdiction.

Nearly half (48%) of public sector organizations are either already considering cloud sovereignty as a part of their cloud strategy or planning to include it in the next 12 months. They are slightly more driven by complying with regulations (76% versus 70% for private organizations) and ensuring immunity from extra-territorial data access (69% versus 64%). However, they are also expecting more data-related benefits from sovereign cloud than private organizations.

Fostering collaboration and data-sharing ecosystems

The report also indicates that, while meeting highest regulatory concerns and data security requirements, organizations are looking at cloud sovereignty to unlock the benefits of the cloud for them, including better collaboration, increased data sharing, greater trust, and opportunities for innovation. 60% of organizations believe that cloud sovereignty will facilitate sharing data with trusted ecosystem partners, and 42% of surveyed executives believe that a trusted interoperable cloud service can help them to scale new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT).

"In our current environment, the sovereignty of one's supply chain and IT has become truly strategic. For those organizations currently still reluctant to leverage the obvious benefits of the cloud, sovereignty is a way to get there. As a result, it is gaining importance across sectors and regions, to enableorganizations to control and protect their data to an even greater extent - for the Public Sector, with emphasis on trust, transparency, choice, portability. It is not a surprise that Government and Public Sector bodies are among the leaders in pursuing or considering a sovereign cloud in their organizations", said Marc Reinhardt, Head of Public Sector & Health at Capgemini.

"In designing their cloud strategies, organizations should not just focus on compliance requirements butalso have a true 'enterprise view' of their data. In so doing, they will fully reap the benefits from sovereign cloud, including trust, collaboration,and innovation for even the most sensitive of data areas, and build a competitive advantage or better service for their constituents."

Methodology

Capgemini Research Institute surveyed executives from 1,000 organizations at the level of director or above between May and June of 2021. This included executives from 10 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the US, the UK, India, and Australia. All of these organizations (excluding the public sector) reported revenues of more than USD1 billion for the last financial year. In addition, Capgemini Research Institute conducted 14 in-depth interviews with technology and business executives.

For more information or to download the report, visit: link to the report

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of over 340,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its strong 55-year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering, and platforms. The Group reported in 2021 global revenues of 18 billion.

Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

About the Capgemini Research Institute

The Capgemini Research Institute is Capgemini's in-house think-tank on all things digital. The Institute publishes research on the impact of digital technologies on large traditional businesses. The team draws on the worldwide network of Capgemini experts and works closely with academic and technology partners. The Institute has dedicated research centers in India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was recently ranked #1 in the world for the quality of its research by independent analysts.

Visit us at https://www.capgemini.com/researchinstitute/

Attachments
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Recruitment services provider Page Group (MPGPF.PK) on Wednesday reported group gross profit of 280.9 million pounds in the second quarter, up 25.5% from 219.8 million pounds in the same quarter a year ago For the first six months, gross profit increased 33.3% to 539 million pounds from 404.2 million last year. The company had cash in hand of nearly 135 million pounds as on 30 June 2022, compared with about 164 million pounds a year ago. Looking forward, Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer, PageGroup said, 'We are pleased with the Group's performance in the first half of the year and currently expect 2022 full year operating profit to be in line with company compiled consensus of 205m.' Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
A North Korean fisherman, who was captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border, resists as he is handed over to North Korean authorities in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in Nov., 2019. Courtesy of the Ministry of Unification



The presidential office on Wednesday slammed the controversial repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019 as a potential "crime against humanity" and vowed to uncover the truth behind the case.



The statement came a day after the unification ministry released 10 photos of the two North Koreans being dragged across the inter-Korean border in November 2019 apparently against their will.






Applications range from crisis management, civil and public safety support to environmental and nature conservation as well as forest and agricultural monitoring

Planet Labs PBC, a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Planet Labs Germany GmbH, has signed a new contract with the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) to provide the agency with daily, high-resolution satellite data for crisis response, environmental and nature conservation, as well as forest and agricultural monitoring. Access to Planet's satellite data will help the BKG promote public and civil safety throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. The collaboration was launched in November 2021 and is now being expanded following a successful trial period.

Planet's more than 200 satellites image the entire land mass of the Earth, including the Federal Republic of Germany, in up to eight spectral bands every day. The BKG uses the remote sensing data, among other datasets, to produce up-to-date analyses of environmental changes caused by climate change. Through this contract with its German subsidiary, employees of more than 400 German federal institutions now have the opportunity to gain direct access to Planet's data.

"Planet's goal is to make changes on Earth visible through frequently updated global satellite data. In doing so, we are able to provide valuable and timely insights to our partners. We are happy to be working with the BKG and are confident that our data can make an important contribution to the digitization of public authorities in Germany," says Dr. Marcus Apel, Director of Business Development at Planet.

"It is particularly important for us to meet the specific needs and requirements of the German federal government with our services. High-frequency satellite data is an essential part of this. We want to promote the use of earth imaging data in the federal government by providing it to all federal agencies," says Thomas Wiatr, head of satellite-based crisis and situation services (SKD) at the BKG.

For this cooperation, the BKG has set up a completely new infrastructure that provides access to Planet's satellite data as well as individual and rapid consulting services for the entire German federal administration, training for federal staff, and the production and provision of maps. These services are combined in the BKG's satellite-based crisis and situation services (SKD) for the German federal government.

The BKG will have access to Planet's high cadence global data as well as the company's deep archive, dating back to 2009. This will enable the federal agencies to not only monitor regularly updated geo data, but to also create historical comparisons. Employees of all German federal agencies can access this data through the BKG either viewing it online or using it in their local IT systems for further analysis.

About Planet

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites, capturing and compiling data from over 3 million images per day. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 800 customers, comprising the world's leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a Public Benefit Corporation trading on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow on Twitter @Planet.

About the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy

The Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy is a government agency within the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs (BMI). It acts as the central service provider of the federal government and as the competence center for geoinformation and geodetic reference systems. The BKG's responsibilities cover the observation as well as the data management including the analysis, combination and provision of geodata. Federal institutions, public administration, business, science and almost every citizen in Germany benefit from the work of the BKG. Experts from a wide range of fields such as transportation, disaster prevention, homeland security, energy and the environment use geodata, maps, reference systems and information services from the BKG for their plans and investigations. The BKG maintains a service center in Leipzig as well as geodetic observatories in Germany and abroad. For more information, visit www.bkg.bund.de.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, the Company's ability to capture market opportunity and realize any of the potential benefits from current or future product enhancements, new products, or strategic partnerships and customer collaborations. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to them. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future events and results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's periodic reports, proxy statements, and other disclosure materials filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which are available online at www.sec.gov, and on the Company's website at www.planet.com. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005203/en/

Contacts:

Adel Link Public Relations

planet@adellink.de
SINGAPORE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore-based dry bulk owner Berge Bulk today announced that it had signed agreements with Anemoi Marine Technologies Ltd - a global leader in wind-assisted propulsion for commercial vessels - to supply and fit two vessels in their dry bulk fleet with Anemoi Rotor Sails.

Click to watch the animation.

The first vessel, Berge Neblina, a 388k DWT Valemax ore carrier built in 2012, was made 'wind-ready' earlier this year. The structural integration required prior to installing the technology was carried out during a scheduled dry dock. Four of Anemoi's large folding deployment Rotor Sails will be installed to improve vessel performance. Folding Rotor Sails can be lowered from the vertical to mitigate the impact on air draught and cargo handling operations.

This flexible "wind-ready" approach has been taken to align with vessel availability and Anemoi's production slots. The same approach has been taken with the second vessel, Berge Mulhacen, a 2017-built 210k DWT Newcastlemax bulk carrier, which will also receive four folding Rotor Sails. Plan approval has been obtained for both ships from DNV.

Paolo Tonon, Technical Director at Berge Bulk, said: "We're committed to continuous innovation and exploring cleaner, greener energy sources. Wind propulsion is an option we have explored previously in other formats, and we firmly believe it can help achieve our decarbonisation commitments. The partnership with Anemoi commenced with in-depth engineering simulations to find the best possible technical and commercial solution. Therefore, we are pleased to be rolling out their Rotor Sail technology on our vessels."

Berge Bulk leads the dry bulk industry with efficient ship design and operations. It is committed to developing and deploying commercially viable deep-sea zero-emission vessels by 2030.

Commenting on the agreement, Kim Diederichsen, CEO of Anemoi Marine Technologies, said: "I'm delighted to be announcing this partnership with Berge Bulk. It is a further confirmation that forward-thinking shipowners are turning to wind-assisted propulsion to help them achieve their environmental objectives - and it proves, once again, that Rotor Sails are a realistic and workable solution that results in significant carbon savings."

Rotor Sails are large mechanical sails that harness the renewable power of the wind to reduce emissions and fuel consumption on commercial ships when driven to spin. Anemoi predicts that the four-rotor system will save Berge Bulk 1,200 to 1,500 metric tonnes of fuel per vessel each year.

About Berge Bulk

Berge Bulk is one of the world's leading independent dry bulk owners with an outstanding reputation for the safe, efficient, and sustainable delivery of commodities around the world. Berge Bulk is a young and dynamic company with a strong commitment to innovative growth and development. It has committed to be carbon neutral by 2025 at the latest.

Berge Bulk owns and manages a fleet of over 80 vessels, equating to more than 14 million DWT. The fleet ranges from handy-size to cape-size to some of the largest vessels ever built, serving the world's major miners, steel mills and charterers. For more information, visit www.bergebulk.com.

About Anemoi

Anemoi Marine Technologies is a leading provider of Rotor Sails to the shipping industry. The energy saving technology offers significant reductions in fuel consumption and lowers CO2, SOx and NOx emissions to deliver more efficient ships.

Following extensive research and development, Anemoi has commercialised the product for widespread adoption by the global merchant fleet. With a background in the bulk carrier sector, Anemoi's patented design addresses operational considerations, proving it can work for the majority of sectors.

Rotor Sails play a key part in addressing industry environmental targets and creating a sustainable future of shipping.

www.anemoimarine.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1858181/BN_and_BM_at_sea_upright.jpg
LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM:HZM), (TSX:HZM), the nickel development company focused in Brazil, announces the award of options to certain key employees and senior executives of the group, including certain key members of the Brazilian team.

The Company has awarded new share options on 12 July 2022 (the "Award Date") over 9,736,250 ordinary shares of 0.20 each in the capital of the Company to executives (PDMRs) and key personnel in the UK and Brazil under unapproved (or 'non tax-advantaged') standalone option agreements (the "Awards"). Each Award is exercisable in return for one ordinary share in the Company and will vest in three tranches on the 12-month, 18-month and 28-month anniversaries of the Award Date at a ratio of 25%, 25% and 50%, with exercise prices of 1.68, 1.72 and 1.76 for each one third of the Awards.

The exercise prices of 1.68, 1.72 and 1.76 represent premiums of 66.34%, 70.30% and 74.26% to the closing price on 11 July 2022 of 1.01 and premiums of 20%, 22.85% and 25.71% to the price at which the equity was issued at for the fundraise to construct the Araguaia ferronickel project as announced on 24 November 2021 of 1.40 (as adjusted post share consolidation).

The PDMRs set out below hold the following Awards:

PDMR Position Awards Granted Total Awards Post Grant Jeremy Martin Director & CEO 3,888,750 5,026,250 Simon Retter CFO & Company Secretary 2,932,500 3,282,500 Total 6,821,250 8,308,750

Awards over a further 2,915,000 ordinary shares were granted to other members of the Leadership Team.

The Awards have a maximum term of 10 years from the Award Date, subject to any earlier lapsing under the option agreements.

The total number of options outstanding is 15,451,250 which represents 7.93% of the current issued share capital of 190,468,279 ordinary shares.

The notification in respect of the Awards set out in the Annex below was made subject to the requirements of Article 19 of the Market Abuse Regulation:



Annex

1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associate a) Name Jeremy Martin 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status Director & CEO (PDMR) b) Initial notification /Amendment Initial notification 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Horizonte Minerals Plc b) LEI 213800OEYYR39UNYQY91 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Options awarded under unapproved (or 'non tax-advantaged') standalone option agreements over ordinary shares of 20p each Identification code GB00BMXLQJ47 b) Nature of the transaction Options awarded under unapproved (or 'non tax-advantaged') standalone option agreements over ordinary shares of 20p each c) Price(s) and volume(s) Price per instrument Volume 1.68 per share 1,296,250 (cost of options) 1.72 per share 1,296,250 (cost of options) 1.76 per share 1,296,250 (cost of options) d) Aggregated Information Volume Price Volume: 3,888,750 options Price: N/A (see item d) above). e) Date of transaction 12 July 2022 f) Place of transaction Outside a trading venue

1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associate a) Name Simon Retter 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status CFO & Company Secretary (PDMR) b) Initial notification /Amendment Initial notification 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Horizonte Minerals Plc b) LEI 213800OEYYR39UNYQY91 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Options awarded under unapproved (or 'non tax-advantaged') standalone option agreements over ordinary shares of 20p each Identification code GB00BMXLQJ47 b) Nature of the transaction Options awarded under unapproved (or 'non tax-advantaged') standalone option agreements over ordinary shares of 20p each c) Price(s) and volume(s) Price per instrument Volume 1.68 per share 977,500 (cost of options) 1.72 per share 977,500 (cost of options) 1.76 per share 977,500 (cost of options) d) Aggregated Information Volume Price Volume: 2,932,500 options Price: N/A (see item d) above). e) Date of transaction 12 July 2022 f) Place of transaction Outside a trading venue

For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com or contact:

Horizonte Minerals plc

Jeremy Martin (CEO)

Simon Retter (CFO) info@horizonteminerals.com

+44 (0) 20 3356 2901 Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)

Ross Allister

David McKeown +44 (0)20 7418 8900 BMO (Joint Broker)

Thomas Rider

Pascal Lussier Duquette

Andrew Cameron +44 (0) 20 7236 1010 Tavistock (Financial PR)

Jos Simson

Cath Drummond +44 (0) 20 7920 3150



About Horizonte Minerals:

Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM & TSX:HZM) is developing two 100%-owned, tier-one projects in Para state, Brazil; the Araguaia Nickel Project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt Project. Both projects are large-scale, high-grade, low-cost, low-carbon and scalable. Araguaia is fully funded and in construction. The project will produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel per year to supply the stainless steel market. Vermelho is at feasibility study stage and will produce 25,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,250 tonnes of cobalt to supply the EV battery market. Horizonte's combined near-term production profile of over 50,000 tonnes of nickel per year positions the Company as a globally significant nickel producer. Horizonte is developing a new nickel district in Brazil that will benefit from established infrastructure, including hydroelectric power available in the Carajas Mining District.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates, together with the risks identified and disclosed in the Company's disclosure record available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including without limitation, the annual information form of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2021, the Araguaia Report and the Vermelho Report. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Horizonte Minerals PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708363/Horizonte-Minerals-PLC-Announces-Award-of-Options
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
World leading expert and key opinion leader in nephrology

GLASGOW, Scotland, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Invizius Limited ("Invizius"), a biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses in haemodialysis, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Peter Stenvinkel to its Clinical Advisory Board. Professor Stenvinkel is a world-renowned expert senior lecturer at Karolinska University Hospital and Professor of Nephrology at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden.

Invizius is developing its H-Guard Haemodialysis Priming Solution which comprises a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response preventing a repetitive, hostile inflammatory reaction that increases the risk of cardiovascular and other complications.

A leading expert in the field of nephrology, Prof Stenvinkel has over 610 original publications and reviews and more than 30 book chapters on various aspects of inflammation, wasting and metabolism in chronic kidney disease patients (CKD). He has given more than 400 invited lectures at various international meetings and congresses in more than 30 different countries. He conducts translational research with a focus on risk factors for metabolic, cardiovascular and nutritional complications in CKD. Prof Stenvinkel has been on the Scientific Advisory Boards of AstraZeneca, Baxter, Fresenius Medical Care, Reata Pharmaceuticals and Vifor Pharma.

Richard Boyd, Chief Executive Officer of Invizius, said: "Prof Stenvinkel is one of the world's foremost authorities in nephrology and is focused on the translation of novel approaches into impactful treatments for renal patients. We are very privileged to have him join our Clinical Advisory Board. His expertise is particularly relevant to the work we are doing at Invizius and we look forward to his invaluable contributions as we accelerate the development of our programmes."

Prof Stenvinkel, Senior lecturer at Karolinska University Hospital and Professor of Nephrology at Karolinska Institutet, added: "Invizius has been founded on world-class research and I am very impressed by its H-Guard technology which has the potential to improve quality of life and safety of patients on dialysis. I am very pleased to begin working with the talented team developing novel and improved therapeutic approaches to improve the quality of life for this expanding patient group."

Prof Stenvinkel joins Invizius' Clinical & Scientific Advisors, Professor Sandip Mitra (Manchester Royal Infirmary), and Professor Paul Barlow (University of Edinburgh).

Invizius recently announced it had been awarded two Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Grants to bring anti-inflammatory haemodialysis treatment to the clinic and to research peritoneal dialysis indication for its H-Guard technology.

About Invizius

Invizius Limited is a late pre-clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses, focused initially on reducing the life-threatening inflammatory effects of dialysis. Founded in 2017, the University of Edinburgh spin-out is developing its proprietary H-Guard Priming Solution, comprising a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response, thereby preventing a hostile inflammatory reaction. The technology can also be used with other devices or treatments such as continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), cardiopulmonary bypass, organ transplants and immunomodulating therapeutics. The company is looking to expand its product pipeline into other, high-value indications.

Invizius is supported by a strong syndicate of investors including Mercia, Downing Ventures, Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Solvay Ventures, Calculus Capital and experienced life science entrepreneur and investor, Dr Jonathan Milner.

For more information on Invizius, please visit: www.invizius.com

About Prof Stenvinkel MD, PhD, FASN

Prof Stenvinkel has received numerous accolades and awards including the prize for the best Swedish thesis in diabetology (1994), Baxter Extramural Grant (1996), the Karolina Prize (2005) and Vizenca prize (2009), the Addis Gold medal by the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (ISRNM) for nutritional research (2010) and was the National Kidney Foundation international awardee in 2012. As a fellow of the European Renal Association, he has also received the ERA-EDTA prize for outstanding educational contribution (2017). He is a member of the council of International Society of Nephrology and an associate Editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (NDT) as well as previously its editor-in-chief. He has received an honorary membership of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology 2010 and of the Polish Society of Nephrology in 2012. His Hirsch index is 92 according to PubMed and 118 according to Google Scholar.

About Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Its vision is to advance knowledge about life and strive towards better health for all. Karolinska Institutet accounts for the single largest share of all academic medical research conducted in Sweden and offers the country's broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

For more information on Karolinska Institutet, please visit www.ki.se/en
As Summer travel embarks

London, July13, 2022:VistaJet, the first and only global business aviation company, has announced a new expansion of its Private World portfolio.

Onboarding a new set of travel and brand partners, VistaJet will provide its Members with even more opportunities to engage with unique experiences in many of the world's most admired and intriguing locations, whether on a single or multi-stop trip.

Since the launch of Private World in 2020, VistaJet has strived to ensure its passengers enjoy an exceptional and comfortable journey at every stage, as well as curate past itineraries of highly sought-after experiences at incredible destinations.

From relaxing in the most luxurious accommodation - such as private retreats, suites, yachts, and historical estates - to engaging with the most incredible individuals from admired brands and houses, VistaJet's Private World collection of partners has evolved to become an essential element of the Member experience, complementing the company's commitment to service excellence and its capacity to deliver the most seamless flying services anywhere in the world.

In just two years, the Private World partnership network has grown more than 10 times, and today it encompasses 595 partners across 43 categories. The growth of the program has been motivated by continually rising demand for private flights among global travelers - for both business and leisure journeys.

In the last 12 months, according to Google Trends, worldwide online searches for information about 'private flights' have risen by 18%.*

VistaJet has seen a rapid increase in global flight hours across the world, which were up 64% year-on-year, and expects this to only rise further as it welcomes up to a total of 17 Global 7500aircraft by the end of 2022. Recent non-stop journeys on this groundbreaking aircraft have included Sao Paulo to the Maldives (16 hours flight time), Dubai to New York (15 hours 10 minutes), and Los Angeles to Hong Kong (14 hours 50 minutes).

The world's largest and longest-range business jet, the Global 7500 has fast become the aircraft of choice for passengers who enjoy not only its luxurious and spacious interior but also its unrivaled range for non-stop, comfortable travel - its record-breaking performance has opened new and incredible travel opportunities.

Matteo Atti, EVP of Marketing and Innovation at VistaJet, said: "VistaJet's promise has always been to allow our clients to go anywhere, anytime. Through Private World, we want to help our Members pursue their passions in the easiest, most direct ways, continuing to provide the ultimate service in aviation. It is not just about the places - it's about the people, the opportunities, and the learning that only thoughtful travel can bring together."

As VistaJet Members seek once-in-a-lifetime adventures across the globe, trips that seem impossible, and memories that will last forever, its collection of Private World recommendations now includes a Beyond Picasso exploration, which includes stops across Europe; and the Golden Vines wine masterclass in Florence.

Beyond Picasso

with Ariodante

Explore the life and work of one of the greatest artists of all time on a trip like no other. Discover privately the depths of Picasso through several world-class museums, private collections, and places not accessible to the public. See the great artist through the eyes of fellow artists, art collectors, and those who were closest to him - including his family. This bespoke luxury three-week trip across France and Spain will give you ultimate access to Picasso's legacy surrounded by luxury. Spend a week at the sea sailing on a yacht and stay in signature five-star suites in Paris, Antibes, and Madrid. The Beyond Picasso experience is a handcrafted work of art, a magical experience designed for each traveler. Start in Paris, to delve into the years Picasso lived in the French Capital, then venture towards the Mediterranean coastline of his beloved French Riviera. Barcelona will be the next stop, to explore the young Picasso's blue period, before visiting Malaga and finishing in Madrid. Throughout, incredible gastronomic and leisure experiences will take place, while discovering the secrets of a great of the art world like never before.

Masterclass, with the world's best winemakers

with Liquid Icons

Learn from the best and experience exclusive masterclasses from the world leaders in the wine industry. Golden Vines Florence 2022 will bring together the world's best winemakers and domaines to compete in Italy on October 15th. At the 16th Century Baroque palace Palazzo Capponi, Gabriele Gorelli MW, Italy's first Master of Wine will discuss his wine expertise with special guests. That is just one of many fascinating masterclasses to experience in the heart of Italy - a captivating Dom Perignon masterclass with Vincent Chaperon, the Chef de Cave of Dom Perignon, will be followed by Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, Hennessy's Cellar Master, who will impress with a Hennessey cognac masterclass. VistaJet Members will also have the opportunity to get their own cellar curated by Golden Vines founder Lewis Chester, to ensure the wine experience does not stop.

For more information, please visit vistajet.com/privateworld

Information

VistaJet | press@vistajet.com

*Google Trends Data

Search term: private flight

Sourced 6 July 2022

About VistaJet

VistaJet is the first and only global business aviation company. On its fleet of silver and red business jets, VistaJet has flown corporations, governments and private clients to 187 countries, covering 96% of the world.

Founded in 2004, the company pioneered an innovative business model where customers have access to an entire fleet whilst paying only for the hours they fly, free of the responsibilities and asset risks linked to aircraft ownership. VistaJet's signature Program membership offers customers a bespoke subscription of flight hours on its fleet of mid and long-range jets, to fly them anytime, anywhere.

VistaJet is part of Vista Global Holding - the world's first private aviation ecosystem, integrating a unique portfolio of companies offering asset-light solutions to cover all key aspects of business aviation.

More VistaJet information and news at vistajet.com

VistaJet Limited is a European air carrier that operates 9H registered aircraft under its Maltese Air Operator Certificate No. MT-17 and is incorporated in Malta under Company Number C 55231. VistaJet US Inc. is an Air Charter Broker that does not operate aircraft. VistaJet and its subsidiaries are not U.S. direct carriers. VistaJet-owned and U.S. registered aircraft are operated by properly licensed U.S. air carriers, including XOJET Aviation LLC.

About Ariodante

Ariodante are travel alchemists that create travel dreams. An Ariodante experience is more than a mere trip. It's a work of art, imagined and carefully crafted exclusively for clients. It's an adventure for those who value rarity in its most authentic form and want to travel beyond luxury. It's for those seeking magic.

Created to challenge the travel industry and to raise the bar when it comes to luxury, exclusivity, and creativity, Ariodante has built a solid reputation over the years for achieving incredible money can't buy experiences that seem impossible for others.

A key part of every trip is to leave a positive impact. Their trips help to support projects, people, and places of cultural or natural significance, preserving them for generations to come and believe that "Nothing should cost the earth". From protecting our planet, to protecting traditions and culture, Ariodante believes that travel should be beneficial for all. From their 200% Carbon offset program to their stance on single-use plastics, they believe that the world should be better off after a trip.

For more information, please visit ariodantetravel.com

About Liquid Icons

Liquid Icons, the organiser of the Golden Vines Awards, is a company founded by the late, great Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and his good friend, Lewis Chester DipWSET. Liquid Icons is a wine research company and original content production company. Liquid Icons produces the annual Gerard Basset Global Fine Wine Report, a definitive fine wine report compiled from data obtained by hundreds of fine wine professionals globally. For 2022, 950 fine wine professionals globally contributed to the Report, which will be released in October 2022, including Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, sommeliers from Michelin Star restaurants, wine merchants & brokers, wine press & media.

For more information, please visit liquidicons.com

Attachments




Original-Research: MagForce AG - von GBC AG



Einstufung von GBC AG zu MagForce AG



Unternehmen: MagForce AG

ISIN: DE000A0HGQF5



Anlass der Studie: Research Report (Anno)

Empfehlung: BUY

Kursziel: 9.15 EUR

Kursziel auf Sicht von: 31.12.2023

Letzte Ratinganderung:

Analyst: Cosmin Filker, Marcel Goldmann



- Stage 2b of the trial for approval in the USA is currently ongoing - Billing code by the American Medical Association is available - Break-even expected from 2024



In the past financial year 2021, MagForce AG continued or resumed the planned European roll-out for the treatment of malignant brain tumours (glioblastoma). The four NanoActivator devices currently installed in Germany and Poland are to be supplemented by a further site in Spain. In September 2021, an agreement was signed in this regard with the Spanish clinic Complejo Hospitalario Integral Privado (CHIP). Once all approvals have been obtained, the first commercial treatments are to take place in Spain from the second half of the current financial year 2022.

In the past financial year 2021, the treatment of glioblastoma in the four active treatment centres was also affected by the pandemic-related closure measures. The resulting decline in patient enquiries led to a decrease in sales revenue to EUR 0.35 million (previous year: EUR 0.62 million). Due to the unchanged low level of revenues, the earnings picture remains negative. EBIT amounted to EUR -6.74 million (previous year's adjusted EBIT: EUR -6.93 million).



Another relevant step towards market approval was achieved in the indication area of prostate cancer. After the successful completion of the penultimate stage 2a of the pivotal study had been announced at the beginning of 2021, the final study protocol was submitted by the FDA in December 2021. This enabled the company to start the final stage of the pivotal US trial-stage 2b. In stage 2b, which is now underway, the results of the previous stage are to be confirmed in up to 100 patients. The trial is currently being conducted at MagForce's own centres in San Antonio, Seattle and Sarasota. Another important step for approval in the USA is the approval of the American Medical Association (AMA) billing code obtained in April 2022. This will provide the basis for Medicare to cover the costs of the clinical trial and for price negotiations with payers after successful approval.



Reimbursement approval for study patients has been granted and CPT codes for commercial patients are also in place. This means that MagForce will be reimbursed already whilst treating patients in the study. This guarantees the smooth reimbursement transition from the study to commercial treatments.



MagForce expects FDA filing for approval in the USA at the turn of 2022/2023. As the current study is being conducted at MagForce's own centres, a seamless transition to commercialisation can be assumed. For the current financial year 2022, however, we are assuming very low treatment revenues for prostate cancer treatment, which are related to the cost coverage of the clinical trial by Medicare. Only in the coming financial years should the very high revenue potential of this indication area become visible. In the indication area of glioblastoma, we assume a further expansion of the treatment centres and a corresponding increase in the number of treatments in the coming financial years. This should also take place against the background of the expected abolition of the corona restrictions.



Within the framework of our forecast model, MagForce AG should be able to break even at all earnings levels from the 2024 financial year onwards. On this basis, we have a target price of EUR9.15 within the framework of our DCF valuation model and we continue to assign a BUY rating.

Die vollstandige Analyse konnen Sie hier downloaden:

http://www.more-ir.de/d/24589.pdf



Kontakt fur Ruckfragen

GBC AG

Halderstrae 27

86150 Augsburg

0821 / 241133 0

research@gbc-ag.de

++++++++++++++++

Offenlegung moglicher Interessenskonflikte nach  85 WpHG und Art. 20 MAR. Beim oben analysierten Unternehmen ist folgender moglicher Interessenkonflikt gegeben: (5a,11); Einen Katalog moglicher Interessenkonflikte finden Sie unter: http://www.gbc-ag.de/de/Offenlegung

+++++++++++++++

Date and time of completion of the study: 12.07.2022 (4:16 pm) Date and time of the first disclosure of the study: 13.07.2022 (10:00 am)

ubermittelt durch die EQS Group AG.

Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung bzw. Research ist alleine der Herausgeber bzw. Ersteller der Studie verantwortlich. Diese Meldung ist keine Anlageberatung oder Aufforderung zum Abschluss bestimmter Borsengeschafte.




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned four companies for illegally selling honey-based products with hidden active drug ingredients, including tadalafil and sildenafil. The warning letters were issued to Thirstyrun LLC, also known as US Royal Honey LLC; MKS Enterprise LLC; Shopaax.com; and 1am USA Incorporated dba Pleasure Products USA. Their products are promoted and sold for sexual enhancement on various websites and online marketplaces, and possibly in some retail stores. According to the agency, the companies violated federal law by selling active drug ingredients in products marketed as foods, like honey. They also made unauthorized claims that their products treat disease or improve health. The FDA in a laboratory testing found that the product samples contained active drug ingredients such as Cialis (tadalafil) and Viagra (sildenafil), which are not listed on the product labels. Cialis and Viagra are FDA approved drugs used to treat men with erectile dysfunction. Sildenafil and tadalafil are restricted to use under the supervision of a licensed health care professional. Further, some of the products cited in the warning letters are also unapproved new drugs as they are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease and they lack FDA approval. The FDA noted that these undeclared ingredients are likely to interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and would lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. People with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease often take nitrates. The agency urged consumers to remain vigilant when shopping online or in stores, and to seek effective, FDA-approved treatments. The FDA has requested responses from the companies within 15 working days about their plans to address these issues. Failure to promptly address the violations may result in legal action, including product seizure and/or injunction. The FDA has previously warned consumers about more than 10 honey-based products containing hidden drug ingredients, including sildenafil and tadalafil, sold through Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other retailers. For More Such Health News, visit rttnews.com Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Building on a decade of research, the program will develop next-generation probiotics and therapeutics to modulate the gut microbiota to target areas like anxiety, depression and mental well-being

LOS ANGELES and BOSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seed Health , a microbiome science company, and Axial Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced a joint development program targeting the microbiome-gut-brain axis for mental health, with the potential to impact well-being in areas like anxiety, depression and stress response. The program builds on the work of Axial co-founder and Board Member and Seed Health Board Member Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian , whose California Institute of Technology (Caltech) lab first discovered the critical contributions of intestinal microbes and microbial metabolites in neuropsychiatric conditions. With joint expertise across discovery, mechanistic validation, microbial fermentation, scale-up, clinical research and commercialization, the program is uniquely positioned to transform the current paradigm of treatment in mental health.

In the past fifteen years, the gut microbiome has emerged as one of the critical regulators of brain function. Known as the gut-brain axis (or, more specifically, the microbiome-gut-brain axis), this bidirectional line of communication impacts the central nervous system and, in turn, mood, cognition, and motor and autonomic activity. Dr. Mazmanian's lab was the first to discover that molecular signals from gut bacteria can profoundly influence anxiety behavior. More recently, a study published in Nature from the Sarkis Mazmanian Lab revealed that specific microbes alone can modulate neuronal activity in the hypothalamus to reduce levels of the stress hormone corticosterone (known in humans as cortisol) and regulate social behaviors.

"Until recently, we've lacked clarity into how the gut microbiome regulates emotions and impacts complex behaviors," explained Dr. Mazmanian, PhD., Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology in the Division of Biology & Biological Engineering at Caltech." A growing body of research is advancing understanding of the gut-brain axis and revealing the potential for microbial innovations to maintain or even improve mental well-being. The collaboration between Seed Health and Axial Therapeutics will translate this breakthrough research into novel probiotics and living medicines for a range of cognitive and neuropsychiatric outcomes."

The development program will be overseen by Seed Health Co-founder and Co-CEO Raja Dhir and recently-appointed Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Dr. Dirk Gevers, former Head of J&J's Janssen Human Microbiome Institute.

"The work of Dr. Mazmanian and the Axial team brings us to a critical inflection point in gut-brain research, unlocking insights that allow movement beyond correlation to causation," stated Dr. Gevers. "We now have the human-centric data defining the gut-mediated mechanisms that influence behavior. At the same time, we reveal the potential to harness specific bacterial strains to repress the metabolites implicated in a range of neurological applications."

"Axial was founded to help realize the potential of the gut-brain axis as a new framework for the treatment of mental health and neurological conditions. This collaboration with Seed Health complements our existing work in small molecule therapies and expands the application of our research and opportunity for impact," said Stewart Campbell, CEO of Axial Therapeutics. "Our deep expertise in this field, combined with Seed's impressive work in microbiome and product innovation, solidifies a powerful force in gut-brain development."

"The gut-brain connection and the resulting commercialization is an area where evangelism has largely outpaced the data. The emergence of 'psychobiotics,' for example, while often not evidence-based, is evidence of the growing willingness and hope for new interventions," explained Ara Katz, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Seed Health. "Existing treatments do not consider nor target the underlying role of the gut microbiome. This disruptive approach unlocks a promising future for the millions who experience and suffer from a range of mental health conditions and disorders."

About Seed Health | Seed

Seed Health is a microbiome science company pioneering innovations in probiotics and living medicines to impact human and planetary health. Founded to realize the potential of microbes, our platform enables the translation of breakthrough science across a portfolio encompassing both indication-specific and preventive applications for gastrointestinal and digestive health, women's health, skin and oral care, pediatrics, mental health, metabolic function and nutrition. Our consumer innovations are commercialized under Seed with a mission to bring much-needed precision, efficacy, education, and perspective-shifting science communication to the global category of probiotics. Environmental research is conducted under SeedLabs , which was founded to develop novel bacterial interventions to enhance biodiversity and restore ecosystems impacted by human activity.

LUCA Biologics , co-founded with Dr. Jacques Ravel, develops living medicines targeting the vaginal microbiome for urogenital and reproductive health.

seedhealth.com  seed.com  luca.bio

About Axial Therapeutics

Axial Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of gut-restricted, small molecule therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company is leveraging its expertise in the gut-brain axis and its unique drug development platform to advance novel therapies that have the potential to transform the treatment paradigm in neurodegenerative diseases.

axialtx.com

About Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian

Dr. Sarkis K. Mazmanian is leading research into how the gut microbiome impacts and communicates with the immune and nervous systems. His work is specifically focused on how the two-way internal communication highway known as the "gut-brain axis" influences complex diseases of the brain, such as Parkinson's, autism and Alzheimer's diseases. Sarkis has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award and Discover Magazine's "Best Brains in Science." Currently the Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Sarkis is also a member of Seed Health's Scientific Board, founder of three biotech companies, and the proud mentor of countless students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to successful independent careers in medicine, industry, and academia.

About Climate Change

It's real.

Contacts for Seed Health

Media:

seed@consortpartners.com

Contacts for Axial Therapeutics

Media:

Mike Beyer

312-961-2502

mikeb@theharbingergroup.com

Investors:

Jeffrey Young, CFO

781-701-8467

jeffrey@axialtx.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1858255/Seed_Axial_Image_Combo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1492777/SeedHealth_Green_Logo.jpg
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / iMetal Resources, Inc. (TSXV:IMR)(OTC PINK:ADTFF)(FRANKFURT:A7V) ("iMetal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce receipt of a three-year drill and exploration permit to carry out the next phase of exploration at its 100% owned Gowganda West gold property. The property is located in the Shining Tree District of the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt in Northern Ontario. The permit includes:

15 line km's of induced polarization (IP) surveying;

Trenching to refine gold targets at up to 25 locations, totaling 2500 linear metres;

greater than 20 drill pads, with multiple drill collars at each pad

"The 3-year permit renewal at Gowganda is a significant milestone for the Company as we prepare for the fully funded 2022 follow-up drill program of 2,500 metres," commented iMetal President & CEO Saf Dhillon. "I recently visited our priority gold targets at Gowganda West with Tim Henneberry our Q.P and director along with Brian Madill our Mining Land Management Consultant and we are very excited to commence the 2022 exploration program.

iMetal has completed a series of exploration programs at Gowganda West since acquisition in 2016, including prospecting, grab and channel sampling and preliminary diamond drilling, along with airborne VTEM and magnetics and ground IP. These programs defined a 6 kilometre north-south trending zone of anomalous gold mineralization and alteration, highlighted by Zone 1 in the north and Zone 3 in the south.

Zone 1 has excellent access and is located 500 metres south of the Juby gold deposit. Zone 1 is showcased by two distinct outcrop areas and consists of a prominent alteration zone up to 10 metres wide and shearing carrying quartz veinlets. Grab sampling highlights include 27.2 g/t Au and 16.4 g/t Au (see press release dated June 10, 2021). Five diamond drill holes over 150 metres of strike length were subsequently drilled in 2019. Drill highlights included: 2.95 g/t Au over 2.5 metres, 1.43 g/t Au over 4.6 metres and longer intervals of 0.37 g/t au over 29.4 metres and 0.32 g/t au over 30.25 metres (see press release dated, April 20, 2020).

Zone 3, located 6 km south of Zone 1, consists of two distinct gold target areas (Zone 3A and Zone 3B) separated by 225 metres.. Grab samples at the target include 67.9 g/t Au, 29.6 g/t Au and 11.3 g/t Au (see press release dated June 10, 2021). Both zones have gold hosted in near north striking, sub-vertical quartz-carbonate veins with associated disseminated sulphides (pyrite and chalcopyrite). Both targets are yet to be drill tested and are a priority target for the 2022 drill program.

Connecting Zone 1 and 3, located at either end of a 6 km long gold trend identified through systematic mapping and sampling in 2019 and 2021, will be a 2022 priority. The 2022 exploration program will include refined mapping and drill target identification along this trend. New targets will be assessed and considered for the 2022 drill program.

Gowganda West July 2022

The Company's technical team is now finalizing drill targets for the upcoming drill program.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by R. Tim Henneberry, P. Geo (British Columbia), a director of iMetal and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About iMetal Resources Inc.

iMetal is a Canadian based junior exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of resource properties in Ontario and Quebec. One of its Flagship properties Gowganda West, is an advanced exploration-stage gold project that borders the Juby Deposit and is located within the Shining Tree Camp area in the southern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt about 100 km south-southeast of the Timmins Gold Camp. The 665 hectare Kerrs Gold deposit comprises a series of gold-bearing pyritized quartz vein replacement breccias with a 2011 historic resource, 90 kilometres ENE of Timmins. The 220 hectare Ghost Mountain property, 42 kilometres NE of Kirkland Lake, lies 5 kilometres W of Agnico Eagle's Holt and Holloway Mine.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

Saf Dhillon

President & CEO

iMetal Resources Inc.

saf@imetalresources.ca

Tel. (604-484-3031)

Suite 550, 800 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 2V6.

https://imetalresources.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Forward-looking statements in this news release include but, are not limited to: statements with respect to future exploration and drilling of the Company; statements with respect to the release of assays and exploration results; and statements with respect to the Company's geological understanding of its mineral properties. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include results of exploration, variations in results of mineralization, relationships with local communities, market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.

SOURCE: iMetal Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708258/iMetal-Resources-Receives-Drilling-Permit-for-Gowganda-West-Project-Ontario-Canada


Japan wants to engage N. Korea's denuclearization process



By Kim Yoo-chul



A key question on the minds of political analysts following Russia's invasion of Ukraine is how North Korea views the incursion.



Russian President Vladimir Putin's war raised a lot of concerns and debates from a security standpoint not only for Europe but also in Asia. The Biden administration is further strengthening its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, and China's dissatisfaction over NATO's recent description of Beijing as a "challenge" to its security and values is also raising the probability of conflict escalation in Northeast Asia.



Under this kind of new geopolitical situation, North Korea is in the process of recalibrating its core foreign policy priorities in a way to position itself mostly between Washington, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo, according to political analysts.



According to them, the ongoing Ukraine crisis is being emphasized by the North Korean regime to reawaken the necessity of having more nuclear weapons to possibly break U.S. military actions, providing justification for Pyongyang to hold on to its nuclear capabilities at any cost.



South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin believes North Korea has "completed its preparations to conduct a nuclear test," a view that is also shared by the United States. "North Korea has yet to make any political decisions," the minister said during a recent regular briefing with reporters.



North Korea hasn't carried out a nuclear test in five years during the former Moon Jae-in administration, although Pyongyang has launched 18 missiles this year alone. The latest updates by 38 North, a North Korea information provider, show that a reactor inside North Korea's nuclear research center in Yongbyon was continuing to produce plutonium for the country's nuclear weapons program despite heavy rain over the past several weeks.



Korea Society, a leading New York-based think tank, claimed it is unjustifiable for the North to develop nuclear weapons to defend against military attacks by the United States.



"Because the U.S.-ROK alliance since 1953 has been defensive, to deter another invasion by North Korea, the North's justification for developing nuclear weapons to 'possibly break U.S. military attacks' is not justified," Thomas J. Byrne, CEO and president of Korea Society, said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times.



As seen in NATO's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and by previously neutral Finland and Sweden seeking NATO membership, Byrne said any "grave actions" that could threaten the global order "will meet great military unity among Western countries and democracies." Byrne didn't elaborate, but stressed that North Korea may take a lesson from the 1954 Budapest Memorandum that it is better to have one's own nuclear weapons than security assurances from world powers.







Korea Society CEO and President Thomas J. Byrne smiles at the start of a recent forum held at its New York headquarters. Courtesy of Korea Society

Jonathan Corrado, policy director at the Society, added, "Pyongyang often complains about America's attempts to build an 'Asian NATO,' a reference to security cooperation among the United States, South Korea, Japan and other allies such as Quad members. From this episode, however, North Korea should also learn the lesson that provocations, nuclear tests and invasions will only inspire further integration and unity among this group of partners."



Russia reacted very angrily to NATO's offer of membership to Finland and Sweden, calling it as a "destabilizing" effort that will increase the level of tensions in the Baltic region.



However, the offer followed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which immediately prompted countries neighboring Russia to appeal to NATO for extra security guarantees. The accession of the two Scandinavian countries into NATO means the closure of a decades-long status quo that had put Finland into a neutral position during the Cold War to avoid any direct threats with the Soviet Union.



Corrado put some emphasis on this development. "Just as Russia's invasion inspired Finland and Sweden to join NATO, so too would further North Korean destabilizing actions lead to enhanced cooperation between the United States, South Korea and their regional allies and partners," he said.



He claimed North Korea's decision to develop nuclear weapons stretches back to the 1950s, while the program started to make real strides in the 1970s. "It is also true that Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a country which briefly possessed and then surrendered nuclear weapons, is further vindication of the logic that first convinced and now sustains North Korea's commitment to maintaining and developing nuclear weapons," Corrado said.



Maintaining deterrence until NK engages in diplomacy



Former President Moon Jae-in, who described himself as a mediator, tried harder to keep up the communications between the United States and North Korea. The core reason behind Moon's "mediating role" is the basis of his firm belief that the leaders of Washington and Pyongyang hold the keys in actually advancing the inter-Korean peace process.





People watch a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea's firing of projectiles, at Seoul Station, March 2, 2020. AP-Yonhap



Earlier summits between Moon and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un and between then U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim produced several declarations to lower inter-Korean tensions. But the limits of his mediating role and shuttle diplomacy regarding North Korea's denuclearization became clear after the collapse of the summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019, when Trump refused to accept the North's Kim's requests for partial sanctions relief as a precondition to the start of its denuclearization steps.



Regarding questions over the key lessons from the "limits of former President Moon's shuttle diplomacy" as Moon had no say in terms of the direction for the peace process, Byrne said, "Unfortunately, what is most limited is North Korea's interest in opening up and engaging constructively the international community. (Former) President Moon Jae-in ran into the same obstinacy as did all other administrations, ultimately."



The Korea Society chief advised President Yoon Suk-yeol and his team handling inter-Korean affairs to seek ways to further strengthen the Washington-Seoul alliance and focus on deterrence until North Korea is ready to engage in diplomacy.





US President Donald Trump, center, meets South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 6, 2017. Reuters-Yonhap
Turin, 13th July 2022. Iveco Group (MI: IVG), through its brand IVECO BUS, announces that it will partner with HTWO to equip its future European hydrogen-powered buses with world-leading fuel cell systems.

HTWO, as a fuel cell system-based hydrogen business brand of Hyundai Motor Group, was first released in December 2020 with Hyundai's strong commitment to hydrogen economy. With its proven fuel cell technology utilized in Hyundai FCEVs, HTWO is expanding the provision of fuel cell technology to other automobile OEMs and non-automobile sectors to make hydrogen available for everything.

Moving forward quickly to spearhead the mobility of the future, IVECO BUS is already participating in European tenders for fuel cell buses powered by HTWO. Furthermore, the recently announced plan to restart production of buses in Italy will provide another opportunity to manufacture new buses powered by HTWO's hydrogen fuel cells. This initiative aims to leverage the exceptional technology and competencies of both entities in the urgently needed renewal of Italy's public transport.

Domenico Nucera, President of the Bus Business Unit at Iveco Group, said: "By collaborating with an industry leader like HTWO, built upon Hyundai's 20-plus years of experience in hydrogen fuel cell technology, we at IVECO BUS can respond rapidly to customer requests for zero-emission vehicles powered by cutting-edge propulsion technology. We have already started submitting public tenders for hydrogen-powered buses and will continue in the coming months; as we go on playing our leading role in the energy transition of Europe's mass passenger transport segment."

Iveco Group N.V.

Hyundai HTWO is a fuel cell system-based hydrogen business brand of Hyundai Motor Group, which has been at the forefront of ushering in the hydrogen economy with the world's first mass-produced fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), Hyundai TUCSON ix35 in 2013, followed by its FCEV lineup, including Hyundai NEXO SUV, ELEC CITY Fuel Cell Bus andXCIENT Fuel Cell heavy-duty truck. With proven fuel cell technology utilized in the automobile sector, Hyundai MotorGroup made the decision to expand the provision of fuel cell technology to other automobile OEMs and non-automobile sectors, such as maritime, railway and power generation. In December 2020, Hyundai MotorGroup introduced HTWO and continues to develop new hydrogen business opportunities for a better future for all.

Media Contacts:

Francesco Polsinelli, Tel: +39 335 1776091

Fabio Lepore, Tel: +39 335 7469007

E-mail: mediarelations@ivecogroup.com

Attachment
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTC Pink: OMGGF) ("Omai" or the "Company") is pleased to provide results from the Company's ongoing diamond drill program currently focused on expanding the Wenot resource at its Omai project in Guyana. This new drilling confirms that the Wenot shear-hosted gold mineralization extends to at least 900 metres west of the past-producing pit and 400 metres east of the pit, for a total strike of at least 2.7 km, which remains open along strike. Results for an additional four holes to the west of the Wenot deposit and two holes to the east include the following highlights1:

2.53 g/t Au over 9.9 m and 5.96 g/t Au over 2.4 m in hole 22ODD-047

37.83 g/t Au over 2.0 m and 1.85 g/t Au over 12.7 m in hole 22ODD-046

1.84 g/t Au over 9.2 m in hole 22ODD-049

1.30 g/t Au over 8.4 m in hole 22ODD-044

Elaine Ellingham, Chief Executive Officer, noted, "We are pleased that this new drilling continues to intersect gold zones and, very significantly, extends our Wenot mineralization along an open-ended 2.7-km strike, well outside of the previously mined area. Hole 22ODD-047 which intersected 2.53 g/t Au over 9.9 m and 5.96 g/t over 2.4 m is 2.7 km west of hole 22ODD-049 which intersected two zones hosting visible gold, one intersecting 1.84 g/t Au over 9.2 m and a second zone with assays pending. These results indicate an exploration target with a size of at least 2.7 km long, by 450 m deep, by 200-300 m wide, with only 50% of this larger area having been drill tested, and outside of the pit area, only by wide-spaced holes or very shallow historic holes. The Wenot shear corridor is a regional structure and it is highly likely that the gold-bearing zones extend beyond the drill-tested area."

"We are sufficiently funded to advance our exploration program to the next significant milestone of expanding the gold resources on our Omai project through our drilling at Wenot and our renewed study of the Fennell historic resource. Once the current phase of Wenot drilling is complete, an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate will commence. We expect to re-start work shortly on some of the nearby exploration targets, including unexplored areas along the eastern extension of the Wenot shear corridor that continues four to five kilometres along strike, onto our adjoining Eastern Flats property."

Drilling commenced in late February with 19 holes completed to date this year (4,826 m) (Table 1, Figures 1, 2 & 3). New results for six holes at Wenot include the following:

1 True widths are estimated at between 70-80% of drilled intersections

Drill Hole

From (m) To (m) Interval 1(m) Grade (g/t Au) 22ODD-041

131.6 134.4 2.8 1.12 183.5 184.7 1.2 2.36 202.5 206.9 4.4 2.13 224.0 225.7 1.7 2.24 233.2 240.1 6.9 0.39 288.2 293.4 5.2 0.50 22ODD-044

56.6 65.0 8.4 1.30

177.5 185.2 7.7 0.64 includes 181.7 185.2 3.5 1.04

193.4 197.8 4.4 0.64

260.9 263.5 2.6 1.56 22ODD-045

133.5 134.5 1.0 2.74

163.9 165.0 1.1 1.04 22ODD-046

111.0 113.0 2.0 37.83

141.0 146.6 5.6 0.51

152.0 154.0 2.0 1.08

290.6 303.3 12.7 1.85 includes 296.3 300.9 4.6 4.22

314.2 317.9 3.7 0.55 22ODD-047

205.7 215.6 9.9 2.53

286.5 288.9 2.4 5.96 22ODD-049

185.4 191.0 5.6 0.70

203.0 212.2 9.2 1.84

(additional results pending)



Holes 22ODD-41, -044, and -045 continued to step-out west of the 2012 Wenot drilling and into areas unmined, other than for surficial saprolite (Figure 2). This first pass extension drilling was designed to test the central contact-related porphyry dike which is typically coincident with, or near the major lithologic contact. For the main part of the Wenot deposit, this central contact shear zone often hosts the widest zone of gold mineralization. However, given the width of the Wenot shear corridor (100 to over 300 m), we will need to complete additional holes on the same section lines in order to test the full width of the shear for the additional gold zones that typically occur further north in the volcanics in much of the main part of Wenot, but also in some areas to the south in the sediments. Shallow historic drilling provides evidence of additional zones in these areas that will need to be tested in the next phase of Wenot drilling.

Holes 22ODD-041, 044 and 045 stepped out a total of 300 m west of the 2021 drilling and show that at least two distinct significant gold zones continue but narrower than those identified in the 2021 central Wenot drilling. Longstanding interpretations suggest the Wenot shear may have a jog, dislocation or bifurcation in the area near hole -045 but hole -047 was drilled a further 430 m to the west and intersected two significant gold zones, including 2.53 g/t Au over 9.9 m and 5.96 g/t Au over 2.4 m.

The second drill commenced testing the extension of the Wenot shear to the east of the Wenot pit (Figure 3). Hole 22ODD-046 is a 150-metre step out from the eastern most hole of the 2021 drilling. Hole -046 is our first hole testing to the east of the Wenot pit, into the unmined area. Six gold mineralized zones were intersected, the most significant being 1.85 g/t Au over 12.7 m and 37.83 g/t Au over 2.0 m, with 0.6 m of core loss within this quartz-rich zone that had significant visible gold (Figure 4).

Hole 22ODD-049 is a 350-metre step-out to the east of hole 22ODD-046, almost 500 m east of the past producing pit. Hole -049 intersected three gold zones, including 1.84 g/t Au over 9.2 m, 0.70 g/t over 5.6 m and a third interval with visible gold, and assays are pending. Two of the more significant zones are on the southern side of the strike extension of the Wenot contact shear and as such, appear to represent important new zones in this area.

In the 2021 and 2022 exploration drilling at Wenot, several significant gold zones were encountered within the sedimentary sequence, on the southern side of the main Wenot contact shear. Historically, the bulk of the mining at Wenot was focused on gold mineralization within the shears and associated dikes within the volcanic sequence on the northern side of the contact. Models of the deposit by the former mine operators suggest the gold mineralized shear zones are restricted to or at least dominantly within the volcanic sequence, but both 2021 and 2022 drilling has shown that the dikes and other shears also penetrated the sedimentary sequence where they host similar gold mineralization. In fact, at the western end of the pit, the zones within the sedimentary sequence on some sections are wider and more abundant, with similar grades. It is possible that the zones within the sedimentary sequence were more susceptible to ductile deformation and the wider and additional zones may reflect folding of the mineralized dikes in certain areas. One hole (22ODD-051) was recently completed in this area and tested well into the sediments, with results pending.

The objective of the current drilling program that commenced in February, is to extend the known gold mineralization of the Wenot mineral resource2 announced January 4th of this year, to the west and east along strike into previously unmined areas. We are working towards an updated NI 43-101 resource that is expected later this year.

Exploration Targets West of Fennell

Three additional holes tested exploration targets west of the Fennell pit, following up on high grade trenching samples in both areas. Narrow gold intersections were encountered, however nothing as significant as the mineralization sampled in the trenches. Hole 22ODD-043 at Blueberry Hill intersected 1.49 g/t Au over 1.1 m (at 21.0 m depth in the saprolite zone), while two holes testing Snake Pond mineralization intersected 2.13 g/t Au over 0.7 m (at 91.2 m depth) in hole 22ODD-040 and hole 22ODD-042 had no significant intercepts. Some of the Snake Pond gold-bearing veins were previously identified and appear to be one of the vein sets that extend into the past producing Fennell deposit, likely corresponding to what were the higher-grade areas within the larger Fennell deposit. The identification early this year of a Fennell-type intrusive body at Blueberry Hill certainly provides additional evidence of a favourable environment for gold mineralization. Additional modelling is required prior to determining follow up drilling.

There are great advantages to exploring near two large past producing deposits - the property already has geology proven to host substantial economic gold deposits, and access to site and around the cleared site facilitates efficient exploration and drilling. The Government of Guyana and the Guyana Geology and Mining Commission have been very supportive of our exploration efforts and advancements, to further a path to creating more quality jobs for Guyanese. The Omai legacy, having been a large operation employing over 1000 people when in production, remains strong.

Quality Control

Omai maintains an internal QA/QC program to ensure sampling and analysis of all exploration work is conducted in accordance with best practices. Certified reference materials, blanks and duplicates are entered at regular intervals. Samples are sealed in plastic bags.

Samples from the Wenot drilling were shipped to ActLabs, a certified laboratory in Georgetown Guyana, respecting the best chain of custody practices. At the laboratory, samples are dried, crushed up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g), and pulverized to 95% passing 105 m, including cleaner sand. Thirty grams of pulverized material (and in later cases 50 g) is then fire assayed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AA). Initial assays with results above 3.0 ppm gold are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish. Certified reference materials and blanks meet with QA/QC specifications. Certain samples with potential or evidence of coarse gold were selectively analysed at ActLabs by Metallic Screening whereby a representative 500-gram sample split is sieved at 149m, with assays performed on the entire +149 m fraction and two splits of the -149 m fraction. When assays have been completed on the coarse and fine portions of the large sample, a final assay is calculated based on the weight of each fraction. Samples from the drilling outside of the Wenot area were shipped to MSA Labs, a certified laboratory in Georgetown, with the processes the same as detailed above.

Qualified Person

Elaine Ellingham is a Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the technical information contained in this news release. Ms. Ellingham is not considered to be independent for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

2 The Company filed an NI43-101 technical report titled "TECHNICAL REPORT AND INITIAL MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE OF THE WENOT GOLD DEPOSIT, OMAI PROPERTY, POTARO MINING DISTRICT NO. 2, GUYANA", prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc dated February 18, 2022 on the SEDAR website www.sedar.com in support of the Wenot Mineral Resource Estimate announced January 4, 2022. The Mineral Resource Estimate consists of 16.7 million tonnes of indicated mineral resources averaging 1.31 grams of gold per tonne for 703,300 ounces of gold, and 19.5 million tonnes of inferred mineral resources averaging 1.50 grams of gold per tonne for 940,000 ounces of gold on the Wenot Deposit.

ABOUT OMAI GOLD

Omai Gold Mines Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary Avalon Gold Exploration Inc., holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai Gold Mine, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. Once South America's largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. In 2022, the Company announced an initial Mineral Resource Estimate on the new Wenot gold deposit. The Company's short-term priorities are to build on the known Mineral Resources, while advancing exploration on key targets, providing a solid opportunity to create significant value for all stakeholders.

For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact:

Elaine Ellingham P.Geo.

President & CEO

elaine@omaigoldmines.com

Phone: +1 416-473-5351

Greg Ferron

VP Business Development

Greg.ferron@omaigoldmines.com

Phone: +1 416-270-5042

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of completion of exploration, trenching and drill programs, and the potential for the Omai Gold Project to allow Omai to build significant gold Mineral Resources at attractive grades, and forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the price of gold and copper; and the results of current exploration. Further, the Mineral Resource data set out in the Omai Gold news release are estimates, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated tonnages and grades will be achieved or that the indicated level of recovery will be realized. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Table 1. Drill hole locations for holes 22ODD-040 to 22ODD-048 and 22ODD-049

Hole ID Azimuth (degrees) Inclination (degrees) Elevation (m) Final Depth (m) Easting Northing 22ODD-040 180 -55 44.0 181 304253 602116 22ODD-041 180 -50 38.0 320 304266 601798 22ODD-042 180 -50 45.0 193 304180 602051 22ODD-043 230 -55 47.5 214 303874 602557 22ODD-044 180 -50 28.0 325 304176 601802 22ODD-045 180 -50 27.0 197 304080 601750 22ODD-046 180 -50 35.5 398 306081 601618 22ODD-047 180 -50 29.8 365 303650 602120 22ODD-049 180 -50 38.1 296 306430 601535





Figure 1. Location Map of Wenot Drill Holes (2021-2022 and 2012) Showing Mineralized Intervals



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8712/130739_2413c8eac4f6e951_001full.jpg





Figure 2. West Wenot Extension Area (Detailed Plan Map)



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8712/130739_figure%202%20full.jpg





Figure 3. East Wenot Extension Area (Detailed Plan Map)



To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8712/130739_figure%203%20full.jpg





Figure 4. Cross-Section of Drill Hole 22ODD-046 (East Wenot Extension)



To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8712/130739_figure%204%20full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130739


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Senate has confirmed with bipartisan support President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the U.S. gun regulation agency.



Steve Dettelbach will be the first permanent head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since 2015, and only the second Senate-confirmed ATF Director in the agency's history.



In the Upper House where the Democrats do not have a majority, two Republican Senators - Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio - voted in favor of the former U.S. attorney for Ohio, for a 48-46 vote.



President Biden thanked the Senate for taking the important decision.



'Following the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, today's vote is another important sign that both parties can come together to support law enforcement and stand up against the horrific scourge of gun violence,' he said in a statement.



He called on Congress to build on this momentum and ban assault weapons, expand background checks, and pass safe storage laws.



Biden expressed hope that as ATF Director, Dettelbach will play a leading role in ensuring robust implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and driving forward other executive actions to fight crime and save lives.



Since 2015, ATF has not had a Senate-confirmed director. For the last seven years, the federal government's main agency for enforcing gun laws and holding rogue and reckless members of the gun industry accountable, has lacked the leadership and clear direction needed to keep illegal guns out of American communities.



Gun violence prevention advocates praised the vote to confirm Dettelbach, an extraordinarily qualified and decorated career prosecutor with strong support across the law enforcement community.



Dettelbach's distinguished prosecutorial experience spans over two decades at the Department of Justice under four different administrations. His work and reputation have earned him the support of former ATF directors , a wide range of law enforcement organizations and leaders, including police chiefs and sheriffs across the country. He was also endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Sekur Private Data Ltd. (OTCQX:SWISF)(CSE:SKUR)(FRA:GDT0) ("Sekur" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, is pleased announce that it has expanded its "Chat-By-Invites" feature, allowing any Sekur user to invite any non-Sekur user to chat Privately and Securely, using Sekur's Swiss-hosted proprietary platform and technology.

SekurMessenger comes with a proprietary feature and technology called "Chat-By-Invites". This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") invite a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way, without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, finance, insurance, medical, government, energy, manufacturing, trade and pharmaceutical sectors.

The invite can be sent via Email or SMS. With this new expansion, Sekur has enabled invites in 23 countries, and will add more countries as Sekur expands globally. The countries have a combined population of 1.180 billion people covering Noth America, Central America, South America, Europe and Australasia. Any SekurMessenger user can reach any non-SekurMessenger user in these 23 countries. The countries activated currently are:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

SekurMessenger also eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not only not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issues each user a username and a Sekur number. The Sekur number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other Sekur users to be added. The service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including Sekur's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.

Alain Ghiai, CEO of Sekur Private Data said: "We are excited to be able to expand "Chat-By-Invites" via SMS. As we have demand all parts of the globe, we are adding service in these nations. We now can have any SekurMessenger user reach out to any of the 1.18 billion people in 23 nations, through our "Chat-by-Invites" without the recipient having to purchase or register for SekurMessenger. This is a unique messaging service, allowing for secure and private communications to individuals, businesses and governments. Our unique SekurMessenger is a highly private and secure alternative to any other business or consumer messenger service. As we are not connected to any Big Tech platform, we can offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications without any data mining, through our proprietary technology and our secure servers based in Switzerland. We look forward to continue to offer true data privacy to all individuals and their businesses and protect their intellectual property, and their privacy, from data miners and malicious hackers."

Sekur, which includes SekurMessenger and SekurMail, is part of a bundle of email, messaging and file transfer into one application, includes the Company's latest SekurMail technology, which includes proprietary anti-phishing and privacy feature called SekurSend. SekurSend lets a user send an email to any other recipient, whether they have Sekur or not, in full privacy and security as the email never leaves Sekur 's encrypted email servers based in Switzerland. The recipient can then click on the notification and reply in the same manner using SekurReply, without the recipient having to register for a Sekur account. The sender can also decide to protect any email sent by adding a password to open it, a read-limit and a self-destruct timer as well. Sending an email with the SekurSend feature allows the senders and recipients to add limitless size attachments to the emails without crowding the recipients' email box. This also eliminates BEC attacks for businesses and email phishing attacks. Additionally, SekurMail includes full control of email delivery, automatic data export for large Enterprises and an automatic Data Loss Prevention technology ("DLP") with real time continuous archiving.

Recent data breaches in messaging applications have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications form cyber-attacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.

Sekur's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About Sekur Private Data Ltd.

Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, secure communication tools, and secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery and document management. Sekur Private Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. Sekur Private Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

SEKUR PRIVATE DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@sekurprivatedata.com

For more information, please contact Sekur Private Data at corporate@sekurprivatedata.com or visit us at https://www.sekurprivatedata.com

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. Sekur cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Sekur's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Sekur's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Sekur undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Sekur Private Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708380/Sekur-Private-Data-Ltd-Expands-Sekurs-Chat-By-Invites-to-Reach-118-Billion-People-in-23-Countries-Globally--Enables-Sekur-Users-to-Chat-with-Non-Sekur-Users-Privately-and-Securely
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Black Tusk Resources Inc. ("Black Tusk" or the "Company) (CSE:TUSK), (OTC PINK:BTKRF), (FRA:0NB) is pleased to provide a summary of results from geophysical surveying on the MoGold property located north of Val d'Or, Quebec.

On the MoGold property TMC Geophysique completed deep-penetrating Pulse-EM (Time Domain Electromagnetic, TDEM) surveying designed to test a four square kilometre area to cover zones targeted through geologic assessment and rock sampling. Rock samples returned significant values of copper, silver and zinc (See Black Tusk News Release dated 2022-03-07). The geology along the trend is interpreted to have potential for Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) mineralization (see News Release dated 2022-03-07). The zone of interest also displays magnetic features derived from the Black Tusk 2021 surveys. TMC Geophysique is currently compiling the EM survey data and expects to soon provide maps and results.

The TMC report of findings from the TDEM survey identifies six localized anomalies that are roughly grouped around the Boily-Berube mineral occurrence. This is also the area where Black Tusk exploration obtained rock samples that returned elevated values for silver, copper and zinc. The TDEM were modelled as relatively shallow-seated bodies/targets. Historic drilling is shown to be located near to some of these anomalies and is documented in reports. Black Tusk intends to review the historic drilling to further validate the potential of the conductive bodies discovered by the TDEM. The target mineralization has been interpreted as Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide. These kinds of deposits often form small pods of mineralization loosely linked along a bedrock horizon.

TMC Geophysique has just completed a second Pulse EM survey over Black Tusk's PG Highway claims where massive pyrite and pyrrhotite have been mapped at surface. The sulphide mineralization was discovered during the 2021 Black Tusk geologic reconnaissance. The strength of sulphide mineralization and the general geology suggest potential for hosting VMS deposition. The results from this TDEM survey are expected to be available in the following week.

Black Tusk is preparing to test the best target areas on the MoGold and PG Highway properties by diamond drilling. The drilling could commence once all of the EM survey results have been reported by TMC, and the Black Tusk geologic team have evaluated all of the exploration work to date to determine priority locations and targets.

Black Tusk exploration programs undertaken in Quebec are supervised by Dr. Mathieu Piche, OGQ, with office located north of Val d'Or. He is also a Black Tusk company director.

Cautionary Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions as of that date. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development; the ability of the Company to obtain additional financing; the Company's limited operating history; the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations; fluctuations in the prices of commodities; operating hazards and risks; competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Prospectus dated September 8, 2017 available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions, and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Richard Penn

CEO

(778) 384-8923

SOURCE: Black Tusk Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708345/Black-Tusk-Resources-Inc-Geophysical-Survey-Results-MoGold-Project-Val-Dor-Quebec
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Metallic Minerals (TSXV:MMG | US OTCQB:MMNGF) ("Metallic Minerals", or the "Company") announces the commencement of field activities at the Company's 100% owned, 166 square kilometer Keno Silver project, located in the historic Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory. In July 2022, Hecla Mining Company ("Hecla"), the largest silver producer in the United States and third largest in the world1, announced the acquisition of neighboring Alexco Resource Corp.("Alexco"), which holds the western portion of the district and mining and milling operations. Metallic Minerals owns the second largest land position in the prolific district covering the east, and parts of central and western Keno Hill, including eight high-grade, shallow past-producing deposits.

The 2022 exploration program is expected to consist of at least 3,000 meters of diamond core drilling, focused on resource definition drilling at multiple advanced-stage targets including Formo and Caribou deposits in the West Keno and Central Keno areas and the recently discovered Fox target area in East Keno, as well as step out drilling at several new discoveries. Detailed geophysical and soil surveys will also be conducted to aid in refinement and prioritization of reconnaissance drill targets in several untested target areas. Additionally, for the first time, the district will be flown for a LIDAR survey, which will provide greater precision in survey and topographic control while aiding in lineament detection in the search for new Keno-style high-grade silver discoveries.

Metallic Minerals President, Scott Petsel, commented: "We are excited to be initiating our 2022 field campaign at the Keno Silver project, particularly in the wake of the recently announced acquisition of our neighbors at Alexco by Hecla. This is a re-energizing catalyst for the Keno Hill silver district and highlights the quality of the existing reserves and resources and the exploration potential in one of the world's highest grade silver producing regions that has produced over 200 million ounces of ultra-high-grade silver. We have enjoyed a close and productive working relationship with the team at Alexco and are excited to see the mining operation reach its full potential."

"Metallic Minerals is on the cusp of transforming our own story in the Keno silver district as this year's drill program is focused on advancing existing mineral inventories to formal NI 43-101 resources at our most advanced targets. In addition, we expect to announce commencement of field activity at our La Plata silver-gold-copper project in Colorado shortly, as well as updates with regard to planned activities on our Klondike alluvial gold royalty portfolio."

Private Placement

Metallic has completed and closed its second non-brokered private placement financing for total proceeds raised of $4,649,820. Proceeds from the two private placements will be used toward eligible Canadian exploration expenses, within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and for general working capital.

The second private placement consisted of the issuance of 1,471,000 units at a price of $0.42 per unit for aggregate proceeds of $617,820. Each unit consisted of one common share and one-half purchase warrant where each whole warrant is exercisable into a common share for 30 months at a price of $0.50. A total of 846,000 units were sold on a flow-through basis with the common share comprising the units being issued as a flow-through common share.

The common shares comprising the units are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from their date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities law. The flow-through shares have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.

An officer of the company participated in the private placement for a total of 25,000 units. The participation by the insider in the private placement is considered to be a related party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101, as neither the fair market value of the securities being issued, nor the consideration being paid exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

About the Keno Silver Project

Keno Hill is one of the world's highest-grade silver districts, with nearly 300 million ounces ("Moz") of silver in past production and current M&I resources1,2 and featuring excellent existing infrastructure, including grid power, road access and nearby community services. In July 2022, Hecla announced the acquisition of Alexco Resource Corp, which holds the western portion of the district and mining and milling operations. Metallic Minerals' Keno Silver project is adjacent and contiguous, covering the east, and parts of the central and western Keno silver district and includes eight high-grade, shallow past-producing mines. Prior to the Company's consolidation of the land package, very little modern exploration had been completed in these parts of the district due to fragmented, private land ownership. Metallic Minerals has advanced three targets in the district from discovery to expansion drilling with several additional targets at drill-ready status along the known historically productive trends. In addition, recent exploration has defined and expanded 12 new priority multi-kilometer-scale early-stage targets for reconnaissance drilling in the under-explored parts of the district where highly elevated silver, lead and zinc in soils and high-grade rock samples have been identified.

2022 Drilling at Fox Target at East Keno

About Metallic Minerals

Metallic Minerals Corp. is an exploration and development stage company, focused on silver, gold and copper in the high-grade Keno Hill and La Plata mining districts of North America. Our objective is to create shareholder value through a systematic, entrepreneurial approach to making exploration discoveries, growing resources and advancing projects toward development. Metallic Minerals has consolidated the second-largest land position in the historic Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory, directly adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp's operations, with more than 300 million ounces of high-grade silver in past production and current M&I resources. Hecla Mining Company, the largest primary silver producer in the USA and fourth largest in the world, announced the acquisition of Alexco in July 2022. Metallic recently announced the inaugural NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for its La Plata silver-gold-copper project in southwestern Colorado. The Company also continues to add new production royalty leases on its holdings in the Klondike gold district in the Yukon. All three districts have seen significant mineral production and have existing infrastructure, including power and road access. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success on several major precious and base metal deposits, as well as having large-scale development, permitting and project financing expertise.

About the Metallic Group of Companies

The Metallic Group is a collaboration of leading precious and base metals exploration and development companies, with a portfolio of large, brownfields assets in established mining districts adjacent to some of the industry's highest-grade producers of silver and gold, platinum and palladium, and copper. Member companies include Metallic Minerals in the Yukon's high-grade Keno Hill silver district and La Plata silver-gold-copper district of Colorado, Granite Creek Copper in the Yukon's Minto copper district, and Stillwater Critical Minerals in the Stillwater PGE-nickel-copper district of Montana and Kluane district in the Yukon. The founders and team members of the Metallic Group include highly successful explorationists formerly with some of the industry's leading explorer/developers and major producers. With this expertise, the companies are undertaking a systematic approach to exploration and development using new models and technologies to facilitate discoveries in these proven, but under-explored, mining districts. Members of the Metallic Group have been recognized as recipients of awards for excellence in environmental stewardship demonstrating commitment to responsible resource development and appropriate ESG practices. The Metallic Group is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and its member companies are listed on the Toronto Venture, US OTCQB and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Website: www.mmgsilver.com

Email: cackerman@mmgsilver.com

Phone: 604-629-7800

Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420

See Hecla news release dated July 5, 2022, entitled, "Hecla Acquires Alexco Resource" and Hecla Mining website disclosure: https://www.hecla.com/investors/why-hecla

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Metallic Minerals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708374/Metallic-Minerals-Initiates-2022-Exploration-Program-at-Keno-Silver-Project-in-Yukon-Canada
Finalists Include Brightening Rosewater Toner, Soothing Serum and Hempsoriasis Balm

Awards Will Be Announced July 19

LONDON, UK and DUBLIN, IRELAND / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / POKO Innovations, Ltd. (POKO:CSE), an award-winning UK-based collection of CBD-focused companies that bring innovative, inspiring solutions to the CBD industry through the company's leading platforms which, when working together, form a complete ecosystem, is delighted to announce three of its products have been shortlisted as finalists for the Free From Skincare Awards 2022:

Poko Brightening Rosewater Toner in 'Toners, Waters, and Spritzers'

Poko Soothing Serum in 'Face Care (Leave on)'

Poko Hempsoriasis Balm in 'Problem Skin'

The Free From Skin Care Awards celebrate and encourage skincare manufacturers who create cosmetics that exclude some of the allergens, fragrances and other ingredients sometimes associated with skin and health issues, ethical and environmental concerns, and which some consumers may need to or want to avoid, especially if looking for more 'allergy friendly' or natural cosmetics and struggling to find suitable products.

Now in its eleventh year, Free From Skin Care Awards screens hundreds of brands on the market that provide 'free from' alternatives. The awards open in late winter, with finalists announced July 5 and winners announced on July 19.

The finalist announcements are a tremendous achievement for POKO, due to the sheer volume of entrants and competition between brands: the company is competing against market leaders such as Skin Sapiens, Kinvara Skincare and Sukin, among others. POKO is ecstatic at having swept up three finalist spots and hopes to win awards in all three categories.

What Makes Poko 'Free From'?

The three POKO products entered in the Free From Awards meet all 'Free From' requirements - they contain neither alcohol nor silicone, and they are vegan and cruelty-free, in line with POKO company values. Brightening Rosewater Toner and Soothing Serum are also nut-free, though Hempsoriasis Balm contains various nut ingredients, including shea nut butter. Products are submitted to the expert testing panel of the Free From Skincare Awards and selected for meeting strict criteria. Check here for more on Poko's 'Free From' mission.

What to Expect

Following the panel testing period, detailed feedback is provided to finalist judges - these judges are industry experts, beauty writers, brand owners and cosmetic formulators. Judges expected to take part in the Free From Skin Care Awards 2022 include:

Galina Achkasova-Portianoi: Journalist, brand consultant and editor of The Curiosity Gap

Sue Cane: Free From expert and long-time psoriasis sufferer

Sarah Coleman, Sugarpuffish: Natural skincare blogger and eczema sufferer

Ruth Holroyd, WhatAllergy: writer

Marina Kozlova, CEO of Fais Botanicals

Abi Weeds, Odylique: Co-founder

Sarah Stacey, Beauty Bible Books: Joint-editor and beauty expert

Sara Niven: Beauty journalist

Kirsty Mawhinney, Skin Insight Agency: Owner and brand consultant

Judges discuss and credit each product's overall quality of ingredients, consistency, versatility and how innovative it is but, most importantly, all submissions are screened as to how suitable they are for specific skin needs and lifestyles; the judges also pay careful attention to labelling and packaging with regard to transparency of ingredient lists and presentation of product information.

Social Media

Media coverage is to be expected in the run up to the concluding announcements on the Free From Awards 2022 social media pages and website, with results shared on Twitter and Instagram on official Free From Awards accounts. Look out for FFSA22 for posts related to the awards to stay updated or wait to be updated via POKO social channels on July 19.

Free From Skincare Awards Twitter

Free From Skincare Awards Facebook

Free From Skincare Awards Instagram

About The Poko Group, Ltd.

FOLLOW US ON

Poko Beauty Instagram

Poko Beauty Facebook

The Poko Group is a collection of CBD-focused companies that bring innovative, inspiring solutions to the CBD industry through the company's leading platforms which, when working together, form a complete ecosystem. The Poko Group is an award-winning UK CBD company that has developed a unique business model comprising complete "turnkey solutions," including fintech payment processing and white label opportunities. Poko plans to export its signature products to the EU and the USA. For more information, please visit https://www.pokogroup.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

With the exception of the historical information contained in this news release, the matters described herein, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise, include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "projects," "estimates," "plans" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "should," "would," "may" and "could", are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts, although not all forward-looking statements include the foregoing. These statements, involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may individually or materially impact the matters discussed, herein for a variety of reasons that are outside the control of the company, including, but not limited to, the company's ability to raise sufficient financing to implement its business plan, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company's business, operations and the economy in general, and the Company's ability to successfully develop and commercialize its proprietary products and technologies. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as actual results could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements contained herein. Readers are urged to read the risk factors set forth in the company's filings with the SEC, which are available at the SEC's website (www.sec.gov). The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update, or revise, any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations

Michael J. Porter, President

Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.

T: (973) 865-9357

E: mike@plrinvest.com

@PlRinvest

SOURCE: Poko Innovations Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708404/Three-Poko-Products-Shortlisted-As-Finalists-For-The-Free-Form-Skincare-Awards-2022
-- Proceeds will enable Xilis to build its capabilities in supporting biopharma collaborations for drug discovery --

-- Extension led by new investor FPV Ventures --

Xilis, Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company developing its MicroOrganoSphere (MOS) technology to guide precision therapy for cancer patients and accelerate drug discovery and development, has closed an extension of over US$19 million to its Series A financing round, bringing the total amount raised to over US$89 million. New investor FPV Ventures led the extension, with participation from fellow new investor Alexandria Venture Investments and existing investors EQT Life Sciences, Mubadala Capital Management, Pear Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), the Duke Angel Network, Catalio Capital Management, Two Sigma Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Alix Ventures and other strategic partners.

"Despite unprecedented market conditions in the biotech sector, we raised this extension at a step-up valuation and from several of the most reputable global investors. Our investors are strongly encouraged by the progress we have made in building diagnostic programs that predict patient response and achieving significant traction in partnered drug discovery and development," said Xiling Shen, PhD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xilis. "Our MOS technology is the first end-to-end, high-throughput patient-derived model drug discovery platform to identify drug candidates with a high probability of clinical success."

The company will use the Series A funding to advance its proprietary MOS platform. This innovative MOS technology is the first truly scalable patient-derived model that recapitulates the tumor microenvironment and immune interactions necessary for next-generation immuno-oncology and cell therapy drug discovery. In addition, the MOS platform can be applied in a clinical setting to aid clinicians to make precision oncology treatment decisions, identifying treatments that lead to the best response for each patient.

"Xilis has pushed forward and achieved meaningful scientific breakthroughs that will change the way cancer drugs are being discovered and how patients are being selected to achieve the most optimal response realizing the goal of personalized precision oncology," said Wesley Chan, Co-Founder Managing Partner of FPV Ventures. "With support from a world-class investor consortium, Xilis is set to continue its efforts in clinical diagnostics and accelerate the company's growth by expanding its MOS technology into biopharma R&D and drug development."

Recently, the company announced its participation in the Netherlands-based Oncode-PACT Consortium to accelerate the development of cancer drugs and was selected as the cover article/story in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell highlighting its MOS technology and application in precision oncology.

"Xilis' innovative MOS technology can enable unlocking the full potential of patient-derived microtumors by accelerating their use both in the clinic and for drug discovery and development," said John de Koning, Partner at EQT Life Sciences. "Patients will benefit greatly from Xilis' precision oncology treatment decisions by avoiding time spent on treatment cycles that are ineffective, and instead, receive therapies with the greatest potential of success quickly and efficiently."

About Xilis

Based in Durham, North Carolina, Xilis, Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a precision oncology platform that guides treatment decisions for oncologists to improve cancer care outcomes for patients and enables drug discovery and development with pharmaceutical companies. Xilis' proprietary MicroOrganoSphere (MOS) technology consists of miniature patient tumors that capture the full microenvironment and heterogeneity and provides an automated and scalable solution. Using MOS and AI-driven algorithms, Xilis is developing a Xilis Response Score for the clinic, enabling oncologists to make informed and timely treatment decisions. Additionally, the MOS technology is speeding up the discovery and clinical development of new drug candidates.

To learn more about Xilis, visit our website at Xilis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About FPV

FPV is a new $450m fund focused on backing and serving mission-driven founders throughout their entire journey. Founded by Wesley Chan (Founder of Google Analytics and Google Voice) and Pegah Ebrahimi (former COO of Morgan Stanley Tech Banking and COO of Cisco Collaboration), the firm has backed well-known, high-impact startups including Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, Xilis, and Manifold Bio.

About EQT Life Sciences

EQT Life Sciences was formed in 2022 following an integration of LSP, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, into the EQT platform. As LSP, the firm raised over EUR 3.0 billion (USD 3.5 billion) and supported the growth of more than 150 companies since it started to invest over 30 years ago. With a dedicated team of highly experienced investment professionals, coming from backgrounds in medicine, science, business, and finance, EQT Life Sciences backs the smartest inventors who have ideas that could truly make a difference for patients.

The team combines deep sector knowledge, analytical skills, and investment experience to provide the added value that inventors seek. EQT Life Sciences' broad life sciences and healthcare network is highly complementary to EQT's global healthcare sector franchise and makes EQT an even better and more innovative healthcare investor. More info: www.eqtgroup.com/lifesciences

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005121/en/

Contacts:

Michelle Linn

Bioscribe, Inc.

774-696-3803

michelle@bioscribe.com
The Rohatyn Group ("TRG"), a global asset management firm, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of electric bicycles ("e-bikes") producer Leader 96 EOOD ("Leader" or the "Company"), from KJK Capital ("KJK"), establishing a partnership with Dimitar Zlatanov, the Company's CEO and member of the founding family. TRG's ownership can allow Leader to rapidly accelerate its e-bike production and broaden its product offering to address burgeoning demand from customers across Europe. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1996 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Leader is a leading producer of e-bikes in Europe with sales across the continent. The Company produces a broad range of e-bikes including touring, trekking, mountain, folding and gravel bike models. The Company is planning to launch a new e-cargo bike in 2023.

"Leader is a highly attractive business that provides a unique and high-quality product offering in the European e-bike sector. The Company is well-positioned to benefit from the continuing transformation of city transport infrastructures towards bicycle-friendly zones, increased demand for practical eco-friendly transportation and shared bike programs, as well as the growth of last-mile micro-delivery. Additionally, an increasing focus on healthier lifestyles means e-bikes can offer a highly democratic exercise solution across a wide spectrum of age and fitness levels," said TRG's Colin Clark, Partner and Head of EMEA Private Markets, and Stepan Karpukhin, Managing Director, who led the deal alongside Stanislav Bachvarov, Director.

"Leader is a high-growth business with an international profile that fits in perfectly with TRG's global approach. We strongly believe that the Company has the potential to be a leading player in the e-bike sector thanks to its focus on customer service and forward-thinking approach to technology," added Nick Rohatyn, CEO of TRG. "We believe increased adoption of e-bikes can contribute to societal progress towards more sustainable urban development, reduction of carbon emissions, and healthier lifestyles, and are proud to invest in a company that recognizes the significance of a positive environmental impact. We look forward to delivering strong growth alongside Dimitar and his team."

Dimitar Zlatanov, CEO and member of the founding family, commented, "I am tremendously proud of the growth Leader has already achieved, as we have transformed our business into a leading e-bike producer in Europe. We look forward to continuing our growth in partnership with The Rohatyn Group and leveraging the team's expertise."

Kustaa Aima, Managing Partner at KJK Capital added "Leader is a great company that transformed through our period of ownership into a leading European e-bike producer. We wish both TRG and Dimitar Zlatanov all the best and look forward hearing more about the Company's strong growth in the years ahead."

About TRG

Founded in 2002, The Rohatyn Group is an asset management firm focused on emerging markets and real assets, headquartered in New York, with a global presence in 16 cities across the US, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. For more information, please visit www.rohatyngroup.com

About KJK

Founded in 2010, KJK Capital is an independent, partner owned, private equity manager focused on European Frontier markets with a combined assets under management of EUR 600 million. With main offices in Helsinki, Vilnius and Luxembourg, KJK has also local representation in Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. For more information about KJK, please visit www.kjkcapital.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005286/en/

Contacts:

The Rohatyn Group:

Julie Rudnick Catherine Livingston

FGS Global

Julie.Rudnick@FGSGlobal.com Catherine.Livingston@FGSGlobal.com
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Nevada Silver Corporation ("NSC" or the "Company") (TSXV:NSC) (OTCQB:NVDSF) is pleased to announce the commencement of drill testing six priority targets at the Company's 100% owned Belmont Silver Project in Nevada, USA (Figures 1 and 2).

Six diamond drill holes will test specific sulfide zones within a large "elephant' anomaly (Figure 3) which was recently identified by Induced Polarization (IP) and Resistivity geophysical surveys completed in May (Refer NSC news release dated 15th June 2022).

NSC's exploration is the first significant mineral assessment of one of the earliest and richest silver mining camps in the Tonopah district.

Figure 1. Drill rig setting up at Belmont drill site BSD001

Figure 2. Sulfide breccia intersected in the first drill shift at Belmont

The six drill holes will test zones of alteration, quartz veins/silicification and sulfides associated with silver mineralization beneath and along-trend from the historic silver mines at the abandoned Belmont silver mining camp (Figure 4, Table 1), located 15 kilometers south of the Company's Corcoran silver-gold deposit and 72 kilometers northeast of Tonopah in central Nevada.

Falcon Drilling Inc. (Carson City, NV) has commenced drilling at the first drill site (BSD001) and is expected to take 4 to 5 weeks to complete the diamond drilling program.

NSC CEO Gary Lewis commented:

"The drill holes will test specific targets within a massive anomaly located beneath, and along trend from high-grade, shallow silver deposits mined during the late 1800's. Exploration success at Belmont, not far from NSC's Corcoran Silver-Gold Project, will benefit future development opportunities of both projects and we are looking forward to receiving assay results in coming weeks."

About the Belmont Mining District

The Belmont Silver Project covers the majority of old silver workings of the Belmont silver mining camp near the historic Belmont 'ghost' town. The main mining area is located about 2 kilometers southeast of Belmont (Figures 5 and 6). Belmont is among the earliest and richest silver mining camps in the Tonopah district with an estimated ore head-grade averaging 25 ounces per ton of silver. Historical accounts describe numerous prospect pits and mine openings of shallow underground workings with richest ore above the water table where silver occurred mostly as silver chloride (cerargyrite). Silver-bearing sulfides together with copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc and antimony minerals were reported at depth.

During the camp's silver mining heyday between 1865 and 1889 Belmont's population was about 10,000 and the town was the seat of Nye County Government. Two main vein systems were mined. The eastern veins (Highbridge and Transylvania ledges) were hosted in slate and limestone and dip easterly at 40-50 degrees. High-grade mineralization was reported adjacent to hanging walls of massive quartz veins and generally conformable with strata of Ordovician shale, quartzite and limestone. There has been negligible exploration during recent decades despite high-grade silver samples (up to 5,000g/t silver) collected from remnant dumps during a surface geochemical study by the US Geological Survey in 1985.

Figure 3. Three-dimensional diagram of the Belmont 'elephant-shaped' resistivity anomaly. Features (arrowed) are interpreted as high sulfide targets and pervasive silicification. Targets with yellow arrows have been selected for priority drill testing in this program.

Figure 4. Planned drill holes plotted on topography and elevation. IP/resistivity lines (IP LINE 1-7) are shown together with the locations of historic pits, old mine openings and access tracks.

* northing easting comment 1 4270100 512331 Steep-dipping high resistivity feature with low conductivity (IP) 2 4270100 512128 Flat, high resistivity zone of silicification or lithology 3 4270100 511846 Flat, high resistivity zone & underlying steep-dipping high resistivity 4 4270500 512430 A high conductivity (IP) response dipping east with flattened resistivity 5 4270500 512119 Vertical vein/ silicified structure & horizontal silicification 6 4269700 512270 Related high conductivity (IP) and steep-dipping high resistivity

* All holes (BSD001-6) to be drilled towards grid west to 150 meters planned depth but deepening of holes will be undertaken if encouraging mineralization is intersected.

Table 1. Drill hole descriptions.

About Nevada Silver Corporation

Nevada Silver Corporation (TSXV: NSC) (OTCQB: NVDSF) is a multi-commodity exploration and development company with two US-based exploration projects with NI 43-101 compliant mineral resources and an experienced, multidisciplinary technical team and board. The Company's principal asset is the Corcoran Silver Project in Nevada, which has mineralization near-surface, is open in all directions, and has an Inferred Mineral Resource of 33.5 million silver-equivalent ounces. The Corcoran Silver Project has a number of high-priority exploration targets that provide excellent growth potential. In February 2022, NSC acquired the historic Belmont Silver Project, which was among the earliest and richest silver mining camps in the Tonapah district, with an estimated ore head-grade averaging 25 ounces per ton of silver. In addition to Corcoran and Belmont, NSC has exclusive ownership and management rights over the Emily Manganese Project in Minnesota, USA. The Emily Project contains North America's highest-grade manganese resource and has been the subject of considerable technical studies, with USD$24 million invested to date.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Ian James Pringle PhD, who is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Figure 5. Location map of Nevada Silver Corporation's Belmont Silver, North Belmont Silver and Corcoran Canyon Silver-Gold Deposit.

Figure 6. View looking east during drill rig access preparation. The majority of historic silver workings of the Belmont silver mining camp are to the left (north) of this photograph.

For further Information please contact:

Nevada Silver Corporation

Gary Lewis

Group CEO & Director

T: +1 (657) 846 5299

gl@nevadasilvercorp.com

CHF Capital Markets

Perry Rapagna

Manager, Corporate Development

T: +1 (416) 868-1079 x 230

perry@chfir.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is generally identifiable by use of the words "believes," "may," "plans," "will," "anticipates," "intends," "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "projects" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, risks as a result of the Company having a limited operating history and may have a wide variance from actual results, risks concerning the ability to raise additional equity or debt capital to continue its business, uncertainty regarding the inclusion of inferred mineral resources in the mineral resource estimate which are too speculative geologically to be classified as mineral reserves, uncertainty regarding the ability to convert any part of the mineral resource into mineral reserves, uncertainty involving resource estimates and the ability to extract those resources economically, or at all, uncertainty involving exploration (including drilling) programs and the Company's ability to expand and upgrade existing resource estimates, risks involved in any future regulatory processes and actions, risks from making a production decision (if any) without any feasibility study completed on the Company's properties, risks applicable to mining exploration, development and/or operations generally, and risk as a result of the Company being subject to certain covenants with respect to its activities by creditors, as well as other risks.

Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date such statements are made. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Nevada Silver Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708393/Nevada-Silver-Commences-Drilling-at-Its-100-Owned-Belmont-Silver-Project-Nevada
Time to encourage more companies to build plants



Hyundai Motor will build its first car manufacturing plant here in nearly three decades. The nation's largest automaker last opened an automobile factory in South Korea in 1996.



The plant will be Hyundai's first full-fledged electric vehicle (EV) factory. The company is expected to break ground on the project next year and production is due to begin in 2025. The plan is a part of a labor-management agreement reached on Monday while wage negotiations were underway. For the first time in 10 years, the company also agreed to hire new factory workers in response to the labor union's demand.



Earlier, Kia Corp., Hyundai Motor's sister carmaker, announced that it would build a purpose-built vehicle (PVB) manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, by 2025. It will be Kia's first domestic factory since 1997.



The two automakers' plans to build domestic factories after a long hiatus means a lot. Employment will pick up, resulting in a business boom near the planned and soon-to-be-built factories. Subcontracting companies will also have more business opportunities. Labor and management deserve credit for agreeing on new factories.



However, there will still be many challenges before the new factories settle down. To begin with, they must break the high-cost and low-efficiency structure, which is all too common among local carmakers. It's no secret that Hyundai Motor's average wage is far higher than those of its overseas rivals, but things are quite the opposite when it comes to productivity. That's why Hyundai has not dared to build a new factory here for a long time.



What's needed first is to keep the new factories sustainable by raising productivity. This will require both labor and management to be different, based on the spirit of cooperation. The government, for its part, should do its utmost to encourage more companies to build domestic factories. Specifically, it is necessary to simplify procedures for factory building permits and offer tax incentives and financial support for R&D so that companies can look positively at the idea of constructing new factories.






Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Battery Mineral Resources Corp. (TSXV: BMR) ("BMR" "Battery" or the "Company") is very pleased to provide a broad corporate update on its recent accomplishments in Chile as it moves its Punitaqui mine complex towards a production restart. The Punitaqui mine and mill have been on continuous care and maintenance since April 2020, when copper prices as low as $2.00 per pound forced the previous operators to cease operations.

Drilling and Updated 43-101 Resource Estimates

The Phase 1 drill program at the Punitaqui Mining complex was completed in May and all assays have now been received and reported. The final tally for the Phase 1 program totalled nearly 33,000 meters ("m") of diamond drilling focusing on three zones: San Andres, Dalmacia and Cinabrio Norte. The results of these drilling campaigns will be combined with historical drilling and resource estimates will be calculated and reported. In addition, the current remaining resources for the Cinabrio mine, which fed the Punitaqui copper processing plant for eight-plus years, will be included in the report.

The Company's management are very excited with the results of the Phase 1 program for several reasons, as follows:

Dalmacia

A change in drilling azimuth and dip discovered several new areas of mineralization and was also able to connect several smaller zones into larger bodies which are more suitable for larger scale mining.





The focus area for the upcoming resource statement covers approximately one-third of the known strike length and BMR is optimistic further infill drilling could lead to a significantly larger resource as the remaining two-thirds of the strike is explored.

Cinabrio Norte

The drilling results reported from Cinabrio Norte were very encouraging as this area immediately north of the Cinabrio mine had very minor drilling prior to the recent Phase 1 surface drilling program.





The Company now expects the Cinabrio Norte zone will be included in the upcoming resource estimate. This is particularly important since this zone is approximately 110m north of the 220m level in the Cinabrio mine and can therefore be accessed from Cinabrio with relatively little effort.





The Cinabrio Norte zone is open at depth, which BMR plans to continue drilling from underground once access has been established.

San Andres

Infill and step out drilling intersected broad areas of copper mineralization to the north and south.





The main mineralized zone has now been traced for up to 450m in strike, up to 200m in width and up to 30m in thickness.





The company expects that San Andres will be included in the upcoming resource estimate.





The planning for a Phase 2 RC infill drill program at San Andres is well underway with the construction of all drill pads completed.





Figure 1: Punitaqui Project Tenement Holdings, Resource Targets & Plant Location Map

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6076/130679_c021bacc14250aba_002full.jpg

JDS Energy and Mining, Inc. are working to complete the updated NI 43-101 resource estimate at the Punitaqui mining complex since receiving all final assays from the Phase 1 drill program. An NI 43-101 resource is to be received in the next three to four weeks.

Punitaqui Mill Maintenance Audit

The Punitaqui mill is a standard crush, grind and flotation mill rated for processing of up to 3,600 tonnes per day, which was improved upon and optimized by Glencore Plc during the approximately 8 years that they operated the mill. As part of the planned restart of production, the Company recently engaged a third-party firm to conduct a full maintenance audit of the Punitaqui mill to assess its readiness to recommence processing ore and producing copper concentrate. The audit scope included all mechanical, electrical and instrumentation items. This included inspection of all pumps, motors, conveyor belts, primary, secondary, and tertiary crushers, ball mills, liners, flotation cells, concentrate filters, tailings thickeners, cranes and hoists, electrical supply and water supply.

The results of the audit confirmed that the budgeted cost estimate, which was based on operating and maintenance records, was accurate and no new major repairs or replacements are required. Finally, the audit confirmed that the Punitaqui mill is in good working condition to restart production after the planned maintenance program concludes, which is expected later this year.

Metallurgical Study on Processing of Punitaqui Ores

Although the Punitaqui copper processing plant successfully operated for nearly a decade, the company elected to undertake a comprehensive metallurgical test program on each potential different ore types from the Punitaqui mining complex including material from two zones at the Cinabrio mine (M1 & M2), the Cinabrio Norte, San Andres, and Dalmacia zones. The samples were shipped to the SGS Laboratory in Lakefield, Ontario, where a full flotation program was conducted. SGS Lakefield is a recognized global leader in mineral processing and recovery and their work was overseen by BMR metallurgical consultant Dr. Joseph Ferron. The goal of this study was to minimize any potential start-up risk and maximize metal recoveries and copper concentrate quality.

As previously announced in our June 9th press release, metallurgical studies confirmed that the combined copper concentrate to be produced from the four main deposits (Cinabrio, Cinabrio Norte, Dalmacia and San Andres) is commercially marketable and the company has received strong interest from several concentrate off-takers. Moreover, the testing demonstrated the combined future sources of ore to the Punitaqui mill demonstrate an average of overall 84% copper recovery - a 5% higher recovery than historically realised at Punitaqui by prior operators. Additionally, we are working to refine and improve upon these initial very positive results.

The Punitaqui samples were prepared and submitted for complete chemical and mineralogical analyses. In addition, the sample hardness was measured using the Bond work index procedure (BWI). Most relevant results are presented in the following Table #1.





Table #1 - Chemical & Mineralogical Results of Punitaqui Feed Material

To view an enhanced version of Table #1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6076/130679_c021bacc14250aba_003full.jpg

The flotation program included: rougher kinetics tests, open circuit cleaner tests and locked cycle tests. The main parameters examined were copper and precious metals recovery, fineness of primary grind, use of regrind and circuit configuration. The results of the locked cycle tests are presented in the following Table #2.





Table #2 - Concentrate Recoveries & Grades by Zone

To view an enhanced version of Table #2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6076/130679_c021bacc14250aba_004full.jpg

The flotation circuit used during these locked cycle tests incorporated a regrind of the entire rougher concentrate, and an open circuit first cleaner stage. Results clearly indicated that the copper recovery was directly related to the percent liberation of the copper sulphides. Copper concentrate grades for all five ore types were squarely in ranges which are marketable (ranging from 21.6% up to 31.5%). Representative copper concentrates produced from each ore sample were submitted to standard smelter analysis. Significant results are presented in Table 3.





Table #3 - Punitaqui Copper Concentrate Chemical Analysis

To view an enhanced version of Table #3, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6076/130679_c021bacc14250aba_005full.jpg

Final Punitaqui Permitting

The permitting process which is a combination of modifying and combining existing environmental and operating permits is progressing in lockstep with the goal restarting the Punitaqui copper mine complex. Permits for operation of the Punitaqui mill, tailings deposition and re-starting underground mine development have already been approved by the regulators.

After resources are updated, mine designs are modified and the remainder of the capital required for recommencing operations is secured, Cinabrio will be the first area to be mined, to be followed soon after by a sequence that brings in mining at San Andres, Cinabrio Norte and Dalmacia.

To recommence underground mining of ore at Cinabrio and San Andres, BMR submitted a simplified environmental impact study (DIA) for the Cinabrio mine and San Andres zone in December 2021 as requested by the authorities. After reviewing the DIA study, regulators are afforded two rounds of comments/questions for clarification. BMR is in the process of preparing the answers to the second and final round of comments sent by the regulatory authorities. These will be filed on July 15th, with final approval expected within 60 days.

Local Community Engagement

Battery Mineral Resources is committed to a strong focus of continuous improvement on community relations by proactively engaging with our local communities and especially with the residents of the town of Punitaqui. Earlier this year, BMR engaged the services of consulting firm Integratio Mediacao Social e Sustentabilidade ("Integratio"). Integratio is a socio-environmental management, strategic relationship, and stakeholder engagement consultant group operating for over 17 years and based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Integratio has recently delivered a report to BMR with community assessment and stakeholder mapping that also highlights the main issues to be focused on in our community relations and social license program and provides the framework for a wholistic and proactive approach to social engagement. As a next step to the responses received in the report, BMR plans to initiate a social management and engagement plan that considers the entire relationship and communication of the company within the area, including the establishment of a social investment program, which will allow direct communication with the entities and population in the area of influence of our Punitaqui mine complex. This program is now being prepared, reviewed and should be implemented by the end of the month. We look forward to continuing to engage in a proactive and positive manner with all our stakeholders and local communities.

About Battery Mineral Resources Corp.

Battery Mineral Resources ("BMR") is a battery mineral company focused on growth through cash-flow, exploration, and acquisitions in favourable mining jurisdictions. BMR is currently developing the Punitaqui Mining Complex, a past copper-gold producer, in the Coquimbo region of Chile and pursuing a potential near-term resumption of operations in late 2022. Battery Mineral's mission is the discovery, acquisition, and development of battery metals (namely cobalt, lithium, graphite, nickel, and copper), in North America, South America and South Korea, to become a premier and responsible supplier of battery minerals to the electrification marketplace. BMR is the largest mineral claim holder in the historic Gowganda Cobalt- Silver Camp in Ontario, Canada, and continues to pursue a focused program to build on the recently announced, +1-million-pound high-grade cobalt resource at McAra. In addition, Battery Mineral owns 100% of ESI Energy Services, Inc. a profitable pipeline equipment rental and sales company with operations in Alberta, Canada and Arizona, USA. Battery Minerals Resources is based in Canada and its shares are listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol "BMR" and on the OTCQB under the symbol "BTRMF". Further information about BMR and its projects can be found on www.bmrcorp.com

For more information, please contact:



Martin Kostuik, CEO

Phone: +1 (604) 229 3830

info@bmrcorp.com

Mars Investor Relations

+1 (604) 335-1976

bmr@marsinvestorrelations.com

Harbor Access Corp.

475-477-9402

jody.kane@harbor-access.com

Twitter: @BMRcorp_

www.bmrcorp.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections of the Company on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to complete exploration and development activities, the ability of the Company to complete the Debenture offering, risks related to share price and market conditions, the inherent risks involved in the mining, exploration and development of mineral properties, the ability of the Company to meet its anticipated development schedule, government regulation and fluctuating metal prices. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Battery undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether because of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130679
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Telescope Innovations Corp. (CSE: TELI) ("Telescope" or the "Company"), a chemical technology company, announces that it has signed a Master Service Agreement ("MSA") with Standard Lithium Ltd. ("SLI"). For the first project under this MSA, Telescope will receive funding for one year to evaluate the utilization and sequestration of CO2 within the lithium brine extraction and reinjection processes developed by SLI. This project bolsters Telescope's "Industries" division, which leverages unique lab automation and analytical capabilities to address process and manufacturing challenges in the chemical industry.

Jason Hein, CEO of Telescope, has previously executed successful projects with SLI and is the inventor of its SiFT lithium carbonate crystallization technology. "Telescope is ideally positioned to understand the process chemistry and technology required to integrate CO2 utilization and sequestration within Standard Lithium's operations," he commented. "We are working towards the decarbonization of the lithium supply chain and continuing to strategically deploy Telescope's tools and expertise across the chemical industry."

About Standard Lithium

SLI is an innovative technology and lithium development company. SLI's flagship project is located in southern Arkansas, where it is engaged in testing and proving the commercial viability of lithium extraction from over 150,000 acres of permitted brine operations. The president of SLI, Dr. Andy Robinson, and the CEO, Robert Mintak, are also independent directors of Telescope. However, the MSA is not considered a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, and has been reviewed and approved by Telescope's independent directors.

About Telescope

Telescope is a chemical technology company developing scalable manufacturing processes and tools for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The Company builds and deploys new enabling technologies including flexible robotic platforms and artificial intelligence software that improves experimental throughput, efficiency, and data quality. A key area of application for these tools is the development of scalable manufacturing processes for mental health medicines in the under-utilized tryptamine class of compounds, including psychedelic therapeutics. Telescope also applies these toolsets to resolve inefficiencies in industrial process chemistry and manufacturing. Our aim is to bring modern chemical solutions to meet the most serious challenges in health and sustainability.

On behalf of the Board,

Telescope Innovations Corp.

Jason Hein, Chief Executive Officer

E: jason@telescopeinn.com

Forward-Looking Information

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the prospectus filed by the Company and available at www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking statements in this document include expectations surrounding the use and viability of the intellectual property portfolio held by the Company, the research related to the utilization and sequestration of CO2 within SLI's operations, and all other statements that are not statements of historical fact.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic, including the risk that the Company be deemed a non-essential business and asked to temporarily cease operations; general economic conditions; adverse industry events; the success of the first project conducted with SLI; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130685
Cardston, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) ("the Corporation" or "American Creek") is pleased to present the first set of drill results for Phase l of the 2022 exploration program (the "Program") conducted by Tudor Gold at their Joint Venture project, Treaty Creek, located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of Northwestern British Columbia.

The Program at the Treaty Creek property includes an aggressive resource expansion and delineation plan on several areas including the Goldstorm Deposit and the Eureka and Calm Before the Storm zones. Results included in this press release are reported from five diamond drill holes that were drilled on the Goldstorm Deposit from sections 109+50 NE, 116+00 NE, and 117+00 NE. All holes were targeted outside the 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate area (see link: corresponding Goldstorm Deposit plan map and sections).

SECTION 109+50 NE

GS-22-135 intersected 55.50 meters (m) grading 1.42 g/t AuEQ within 190.5 m of 0.80 g/t AuEQ. The hole targeted a high-grade intercept from the 2020 program (GS-20-66) which sits outside of the current resource area. The new zone has been named "Route 66" and warrants further exploration to understand the extents of the system. Visible gold was identified in the drill core.

SECTION 116+00 NE

GS-22-129 stepped out on the DS5 resource area and returned 28.5 m of 2.33 g/t AuEQ within 89.35 m grading 1.02 g/t AuEQ. Gold and silver mineralization was encountered past the footwall side of the Treaty Thrust Fault 2 (TTF2). The extension of DS5 to the northeast and renewed understanding of the nature of mineralization shows that this domain is vast in size and remains unbounded. GS-22-129 stepped out 150 m from the 2021 drilling.

SECTION 117+00 NE

GS-22-130 intersected DS5 mineralization grading 1.51 g/t AuEQ over 45.0 m within 91.5 m grading 1.17 g/t AuEQ . Similar to GS-22-129, mineralization was encountered past the footwall of TTF2. GS-22-130 stepped out 175 m from the 2021 drilling.

intersected DS5 mineralization grading within . Similar to GS-22-129, mineralization was encountered past the footwall of TTF2. GS-22-130 stepped out 175 m from the 2021 drilling. GS-22-131 also targeted DS5 and intersected mineralization past the footwall of TTF2, returning 1 . 07 g/t AuEQ over 26.5 m , within 163.0 m of 0.61 g/t AuEQ . GS-22-131 stepped out 115 m from the 2021 drilling.

also targeted DS5 and intersected mineralization past the footwall of TTF2, returning . , within . GS-22-131 stepped out 115 m from the 2021 drilling. GS-22-133 stepped out 200 m from the 2021 northern drilling extents of 300H and CS600 domains. An exceptional interval of 1.51 g/t AuEQ (0.89 g/t Au, 0.49 % Cu) over 237.3 m was reported within a broader mineralized zone of 0.91 g/t AuEQ over 600.0 m. This confirms the extension of CS600 to the north and shows an increase of gold and copper grades at depth.

Darren Blaney, President and CEO of American Creek, stated: "Every year, the anticipation of the first round of drill results is an exciting time. We are very pleased that once again, Treaty Creek and the Tudor Gold team have delivered the goods, and this first round of very strong expansion drill results is welcomed by our team and shareholders alike as this is shaping up to be another monumental year of development and discovery at one of the most exciting gold projects in the world."

Ken Konkin, President and CEO of Tudor Gold, commented: "We are extremely pleased with the first set of results of our 2022 Goldstorm resource expansion drill program. We continue to encounter strong gold, silver and copper mineralization outside the previously defined resource area. The overall strength and consistency of the Goldstorm system continues to amaze our entire technical team as the deposit remains open in all directions and at depth. We have commissioned the next set of 200 m to 300 m step-out holes based on these overwhelming positive results. Additionally, we have confirmed the discovery of a new zone in the southern portion of Goldstorm which adds yet another dimension to this expanding deposit. Based on an intercept obtained in 2020 from GS-20-66 which was formerly believed to be part of the CS600 Domain (2.15 g/t AUEQ over 75.0 m), the 100 m step-out hole GS-22-135 intercepted an up-dip expression of 1.42 g/t AUEQ over 55.5 m. This has been named Route 66 (R-66). This is clearly a gold-dominant system that exists separate to the known CS600 and DS5 Domains. Drilling continues at a fast pace at Treaty Creek with eight drill rigs on site. Our crews have completed over 20,000 m of drilling to-date and we anticipate more results to be released in a timely manner throughout the summer."

Table 1: Drilling Results Goldstorm in Tudor Gold Press Release July 12, 2022

Section Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (ppm) AuEQ (g/t) 109+50 NE GS-22-135(1) (R-66) 185.00 375.50 190.50 0.78 0.74 149 0.80

Including 185.00 240.50 55.50 1.38 1.03 212 1.42

Or 195.50 225.50 30.00 1.84 1.01 174 1.88 116+00 NE GS-22-129 (DS5) 968.15 1057.50 89.35 0.88 9.47 297 1.02

Including 994.50 1023.00 28.50 2.07 16.87 525 2.33 117+00 NE GS-22-130 (DS5) 1029.00 1120.50 91.50 1.04 7.30 304 1.17

Including 1072.50 1117.50 45.00 1.40 7.14 243 1.51 117+00 NE GS-22-131 (DS5) 1155.50 1318.50 163.00 0.45 4.77 811 0.61

Including 1155.50 1182.00 26.50 0.79 13.19 1075 1.07

Or 1288.50 1315.50 27.00 0.72 1.75 51 0.75 117+00 NE GS-22-133 (300H) 345.00 453.00 108.00 0.57 2.37 63 0.61

And (300H) 670.50 711.00 40.50 1.35 0.63 24 1.36

And (300H, CS600, DS5) 804.00 1404.00 600.00 0.60 2.35 2414 0.91

Including (CS600) 1081.50 1318.80 237.30 0.89 3.97 4895 1.51 (1) Hole GS-22-132 stopped short of the intended target and was redrilled as GS-22-135. GS-22-132 was not sampled.

 All assay values are uncut and intervals reflect drilled intercept lengths.

 HQ and NQ2 diameter core samples were sawn in half and typically sampled at standard 1.5m intervals

 The following metal prices were used to calculate the Au Eq metal content: Gold $1625/oz, Ag: $19/oz, Cu: $2.8/lb. Calculations used the formula Au Eq g/t = (Au g/t) + (Ag g/t x 0.01169) + (Cu% x 1.1815). All metals are reported in USD and calculations do not consider metal recoveries.

 True widths have not been determined as the mineralized body remains open in all directions. Further drilling is required to determine the mineralized body orientation and true widths.

Table 2: Drill data for holes in Tudor Gold Press Release July 12, 2022

Section Hole ID UTM E NAD 83 UTM N NAD 83 Elevation (m) Azi (o) Dip (o) Depth (m) 109+50 NE GS-22-135 428780.2 6272598.5 1271.5 295 -85 500 109+50 NE GS-22-132 428779.0 6272599.0 1271.3 295 -85 282.25 116+00 NE GS-22-129 429201.5 6273086.4 1213.8 300 -88 1168.3 117+00 NE GS-22-130 429209.7 6273196.2 1210.0 300 -88 1161 117+00 NE GS-22-131 429296.8 6273292.4 1201.1 296 -84 1335 117+00 NE GS-22-133 428923.2 6273439.2 1392.4 302 -62 1404

Qualified Person

The Qualified Person for this news release for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Tudor Gold's President and CEO, Ken Konkin, P.Geo. Mr. Konkin heads the exploration being conducted at the Treaty Creek Joint Venture Project. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.

QA/QC

Diamond drill core samples were prepared at MSA Labs' Preparation Laboratory in Terrace, BC and assayed at MSA Labs' Geochemical Laboratory in Langley, BC. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the submission of blanks, certified standards and duplicate samples inserted at regular intervals into the sample stream by Tudor Gold personnel. MSA Laboratories quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 17025 and ISO 9001. MSA Labs is independent of the Company.

Treaty Creek JV Partnership

The Treaty Creek Project is a Joint Venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources each have a 1/5th interest in the project creating a 3:1 ownership relationship between Tudor Gold and American Creek. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried until such time as a Production Notice is issued, at which time they are required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs. Until such time, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs while both American Creek and Teuton have "free rides".

About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with gold and silver properties in British Columbia, Canada.

The Corporation has an interest in the Treaty Creek property, a joint venture project with Tudor Gold located in BC's prolific "Golden Triangle".

The Corporation also holds the Austruck-Bonanza gold property located near Kamloops.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at:

Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: info@americancreek.com.

Information relating to the Corporation is available on its website at www.americancreek.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Corporation expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the completion and anticipated results of planned exploration activities. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connation thereof.

Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including among others, that the Corporation's planned exploration activities will be completed in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Corporation in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Corporation's plans or expectations include risks relating to the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuating gold prices, possibility of equipment breakdowns and delays, exploration cost overruns, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Corporation with securities regulators.

Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130722
Red Light Holland will be the exclusive provider of natural Psilocybin products at the festival estimated to host approximately 15,000 people

Red Light Holland will proudly sell their iMicrodose and Maka products and feature their technology Wisdom VR and Wisdom Truffle at Psy-Fi

Red Light Holland will provide educational workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTC Pink: TRUFF) ("Red Light Holland" or the "Company"), an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth, and sale of a premium brand of magic truffles, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of Psy-Fi festival, one of the largest international festivals in the Netherlands which attracts thousands of visitors each year. Psy-Fi offers a large variety of music, arts, and space for personal growth.

As a lead sponsor, Red Light Holland will be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival, including featuring the Company's iMicrodose and Maka Brands. As part of the offerings to the festival, Red Light Holland will deploy its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom, which explains how Psychedelics influence the brain (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1561720/Wisdom/). Red Light Holland will also showcase their innovative meditation device, designed by world famous structural designer Karim Rashid, The Wisdom Truffle (www.WisdomTruffle.com). Red Light Holland will further provide preparation and integration workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics. These efforts will be led by Jeff Hamburg, Red Light Holland's therapist and expert psychedelic guide and Sarah Hashkes Red Light Holland's Chief Innovation and Technology Officer. The Psy-Fi festival will take place in The Netherlands, September 14th-18th, 2022.

"This is a huge opportunity for us to connect to a worldwide audience that shares the same values of increasing legal access to naturally occuring Psilocybin. We are thrilled to collaborate with such a well-known and respected festival that is known for its safety-first practices as well as its care about the environment," said Todd Shapiro, CEO, and Director of Red Light Holland. "We're excited to show the world our Rec & Tech approach with our branded psilocybin products, technology devices and our educational and responsible use messaging aiming to bring people a lot of joy and connection."

"Psy-Fi 'Guardians of the Gala' is set up to be one of the bigger Psy-Trance festivals in Europe. Our team is very pleased to be able to be such a big part of a beautiful and fun festival," said Hans Derix, Red Light Holland's President and Dutch Native. "We will be displaying and selling our Maka and iMicrodose products via our wholly owned company SR-Wholesale to thousands of people affordably and responsibly. And our intention is to have a big Brand presence. You should come down to our amazing country in September and check it out," added Derix.

To learn more about the festival or purchase tickets go to: https://www.psy-fi.nl/.

Red Light Holland releases Data on Psychedelic Concert

Red Light Holland releases a report with data analysis around the success of the Company's Psychedelic concert event on April 16th, 2022. During this event participants chose to consume between 1 to 8 grams of Red Light Holland's premium Psilocybin truffles after an intake discussion with therapist and expert psychedelic guide Jeff Hamburg. After the event participants were sent a survey and the facilitators were interviewed for the report. A small number of participants replied, but with positive results.

91.7% of the attendees in the survey reported they would be interested in attending another event, 75% reported they enjoyed the music more than usual

41.7% reported they felt connected to the group in a meaningful way

33.3% reported lasting benefits beyond the event itself

The long-term benefits included the release of negative emotions and a lasting "Uplifted mood". Some participants also gained insight that helped them in their personal or professional life. No significant negative effects were reported or observed.

The report with detailed statistical analysis conducted by statistician Yoav Blonder, has been sent to Oregon Health Authority representatives and members of the Washington Psilocybin service workgroup, as well as other government officials around the world Red Light Holland is connected with, to help promote regulations and best practices for group psilocybin services.

While there is no statistical significance due to the small sample size Red Light Holland sees the potential of these events in increasing affordable and equitable accessibility, especially for newcomers to the psychedelic community, as newcomers might be more interested in trying psychedelics in a safe environment supervised by experts.

The Company can not make medical claims regarding the use of psilocybin.

To read the full report: https://redlight.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Psychedelic-Concert-Report.pdf.

About Red Light Holland

Red Light Holland is an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale (through existing Smart Shops operators and an advanced e-commerce platform) of a premium brand of magic truffles.

For additional information on the Company:

Todd Shapiro

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Tel: 647-643-TRIP (8747)

Email: todd@redlight.co

Website: www.RedLight.co



Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward- looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the details of the planned psy-fi festival September 14-18, 2022; the ability to sell Maka and iMicrodose products at the Psy-Fi Festival; comments with respect to the data discovered assisting Red Light if and when the final regulations in Oregon are approved; details with respect to Measure 109; Red Light's plans to conduct further research in the Netherlands, statements regarding Red Light's involvement in Psy-fi festival; the intended outcomes and effects of Measure 109; statements regarding the implementation of Measure 109 by the Oregon Health Authority; details regarding the sponsorship organzied by Red Light Holland including the ability to be the lead supplier of Red Light products at Psy-Fi Festival; Red Light's expectations of obtaining the consent of concert-goers and participants to collect and analyze data on best practices on using psychedelics and the company's products; Red Light's plans to be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival and the company's ability to deploy its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom and the company's mediation device, The Wisdom Truffle; Red Light Holland; Red Light Holland premium psilocybin truffles being available for concert goers at the event; that sponsoring the event will enable Red Light to advocate for a program that helps a wide range of Oregonians; that the data provided from the past group microdosing event will illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as help form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the belief that the report on microdosing services can benefit people or the inability for the report to represent medical claims; the company can not make medical claims; that the report and small sample size of the data will influence Oregon, Washington State Authorities to help with regulations; that the report is a small sample size and therefore is just a small sample of participants and not used for the purposes of medical advice.

Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: Red Light's ability to carry the sponsorship and be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival; Red Light Holland setting up and deploying its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom and their innovative meditation device, The Wisdom Truffle. Red Light Holland will further provide preparation and integration workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics discussed in this news release, or at all; the ability of the past group microdosing event and the subsequent report to yield the expected information to assist Red Light with legalization efforts described in this new release, or at all; the report will not affect the Measure 109 being implemented; Red Light Holland's ability to continue as a going concern; the continued commercial viability and growth in popularity of psilocybin products; continued approval of Red Light Holland by the relevant governmental and/or regulatory authorities; the continued growth of Red Light Holland; details regarding the event organized by Psy-Fi Festival organizers, including the live performances; Red Light's continued expectations of obtaining the consent of facilitators, concert organizers and participants including concert goers to provide psilocybin truffles; Red Light Holland premium products of psilocybin truffles being available for concert-goers at the event; that the report on the group microdosing event will illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as help form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the inability of the report to be received, read by, or acknowledged by Oregon Authorities, Washington State Authorities and other Government agencies and officials around the world.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the potential inability of Red Light to carry the sponsorship of Psy-Fi festival on the terms and timelines described in this news release; the potential inability of Red Light Holland to continue as a going concern; the risks associated with the psychedelics industry in general; increased competition in the recreational and medical psilocybin markets; the potential future unviability of the psychedelics industry; public opinion and perception of the psychedelics industry; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of expansion plans and various transactions; risks associated with potential governmental and/or regulatory action with respect to the psychedelics industry; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial and stock markets; and risks related to infectious diseases, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; the event not proceeding as detailed and no longer organized by Psy-Fi festival organizers, including the cancellation of all the performances at the festival and/or the planned and concurrently ability to offer of the company's products during the event Sept 14-18 2022; the risk that Covid-19 could result in the canceling of the Psy-Fi festival, Red Light's inability to sell products and promote best practices on usage of the company's products; Red Light's inability to sell products and promote best practices on usage of the company's products at the Psy-Fi festival; Red Light Holland premium iMicrodose and Maka psilocybin truffles being unavailable for concert goers; that the report on the group microdosing event will not illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as not helping form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the belief that the statistics provided on the microdosing event can become integrated into people's daily life not come into fruition; the report does not represent a medical diagnosis; the report represents a very small sample size and does not represent any statistical significance.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect Red Light Holland's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. Red Light Holland undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130750
With a 40.5% revenue share in 2021, the aerospace and defense application category dominated the advanced composites market. Carbon fiber segment is predicted to have a CAGR of 10.9% in the advanced composites market through 2032

NEWARK, Del., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The advanced composites market is expected to see a substantial CAGR of 9.2%, and is projected to increase from 37.73 billion in 2021 to 108.48 billion by 2032.

Demand for advanced composites is projected to be considerable, given that they are increasingly being utilized in aerospace and defense equipment, which gains from their improved performance by making the equipment lighter.

The leading advanced composites market key players are closely investing in the manufacture of thermoplastic composites in order to meet the rising demand from several end-use sectors. The forecast period presents enormous growth and profit opportunities for the advanced composites market.

It is projected that the product's high cost will restrict the growth of the advanced composites market share. There is decreased demand for advanced composites as a result of rising prices brought on by automation and the usage of expensive high-performance resins.

Request a Sample of this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-15185

Participants in the advanced composites market are investing a lot of money in R&D as a result. Demand for intricate and compact designs, increasing material requirements, and cost constraints may all further fuel demand for advanced composites materials and increase their market dominance.

The North America market is leading the advanced composites market. The advanced composites market in Europe contributed significantly to overall revenue in 2021. The installation of wind turbines in Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom is predicted to benefit from the rising demand for sustainable renewable energy.

Key Takeaways from Market Study

The advanced composites market is expected to have a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period.

The market is segmented based on product, wherein the carbon fiber segment accounted for a significant global advanced composites market share of 64.1% in 2021.

Carbon fiber segment is predicted to have a CAGR of 10.9% in the advanced composites market during the forecast period.

The market is segmented based on application, wherein the aerospace and defense segment accounted for an adequate global advanced composites market share of 40.5% in 2021.

The North America advanced composites market is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate, with a sales share of 37% in 2021.

advanced composites market is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate, with a sales share of 37% in 2021. The Europe advanced composites market is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/advanced-composites-market

Competitive Landscape

The focus of the key players in the advanced composites market is on customizing solutions for customers, which results in a high switching cost for the consumer enterprises. This will enable them to invest significantly in R&D.

In order to obtain a continuous competitive edge in the advanced composites market share, businesses can create and offer newer, better goods at higher price points.

Following the Key Players Are :

Toray Industries, Inc.

Koninklijke Ten Cate NV

Teijin Limited

Hexcel Corporation

SGL Group

Cytec Solvay Group

Owens Corning

E. I. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Huntsman Corporation

Momentive Performance Materials Inc.

Download PDF Brochure @https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/brochure/rep-gb-15185

Recent Developments:

Toray Advanced Composites reports that it has finished a long-term supply arrangement with Joby Aviation for the composite material used in its aircraft in December 2020 . Toray's carbon fiber composite materials will be used by a California -based aircraft manufacturer to develop quick, inexpensive, and emissions-free aerial ridesharing for global communities.

. Toray's carbon fiber composite materials will be used by a -based aircraft manufacturer to develop quick, inexpensive, and emissions-free aerial ridesharing for global communities. Impossible Objects and Owens Corning signed a joint development agreement in May 2021 to work on developing new materials for Impossible Objects' composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) technology.

to work on developing new materials for Impossible Objects' composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) technology. Arris Composites is the innovator of next-generation composite materials for mass market applications, such as consumer goods, aircraft, and transportation.

Key segments

By Product:

Aramid

Carbon

Glass

By Application:

Aerospace & Defense

Automotive

Construction

Sporting Goods

Wind Energy

By Region:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

& Latin America

Speak to our Research Expert: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-15185

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.2. Scenario Forecast

3.3. Opportunity Map Analysis

3.4. Product Life Cycle Analysis

4. Global Advanced Composites Market Analysis 2017-2021 and Forecast, 2022-2032

4.1. Historical Market Size Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (Tons) Analysis, 2017-2021

4.2. Current and Future Market Size Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (Tons) Projections, 2022-2032

4.2.1. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

4.2.2. Absolute $ Opportunity Analysis

5. Global Advanced Composites Market Analysis 2017-2021 and Forecast 2022-2032, By Product

5.1. Introduction / Key Findings

5.2. Historical Market Size Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (Tons) Analysis By Product, 2017-2021

TOC continued..!

About the Packaging Division at Future Market Insights

The packaging division at Future Market Insights provides an in-depth historical analysis and projections for the next ten years and covers the competitive landscape through a unique dashboard view. Ranging from packaging materials, packaging machinery to packaging designs & formats, Future Market Insights has an exhaustive database for these industry verticals, serving clients with unique research offerings and strategic recommendations. With a repository of 1,000+ reports, the team has analysed the packaging industry comprehensively in 50+ countries. The team evaluates every node of the value chain and provides end-to-end research and consulting services; reach out to explore how we can help.

Have a Look at Packaging Domain Related Research Reports:

Specialty Pulp & Paper Chemicals Market Growth - The global specialty pulp & paper chemicals market is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 22 Billion by the year 2022, accelerating with a CAGR of 3.1% by 2022-2032.

Packaging Machinery Market Shares - The global packaging machinery market is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 56.87 Billion by the year 2022, accelerating with a CAGR of 4.5% by 2022-2032.

Canned Food Packaging Market Sales - Global canned food packaging market demand is anticipated to be valued at US$ 27,887.9 Million in 2022, forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% to be valued at US$ 44,568.5 Million from 2022 to 2032.

Barrier Tube Packaging Market Analysis - The global Barrier Tube Packaging market garnered US$ 10550 Million in 2021 and is likely to exhibit a Y-o-Y increase of 6.2% to be valued at US$ 11,203.6 Million in 2022.

Jewellery Box Market Forecast - The jewellery box market was valued at around US$ 146.8 Mn in 2021 and the sales of are projected to reach US$ 249.2 Mn by the end of 2032.

Glass Container Market Overview - Glass containers are basically a form of glass packaging, highly preferred by customers owing to their ability to preserve the taste and flavor of the products inside.

Glass Pasteur Pipettes Market Demand - Pasteur pipettes are droppers which are liquid handling tools which are used to transfer liquids generally from its storage container to beaker or smaller container

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. ("Naturally Splendid" or "NSE" or the "Company") (FRANKFURT:50N) (TSX-V:NSP) (OTC PINK:NSPDF) is reporting that it has received an order from the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC") revoking the management cease trading order ("MCTO") issued by the BCSC.

On April 14, 2022, the Company announced that it had applied to the BCSC for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") on the basis that the Company would be unable to file its annual financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021, by the applicable filing deadline. The BCSC issued the requested MCTO on May 3, 2022, restricting all trading in securities of the Company, whether direct or indirect, by insiders of the Company in management.

The BCSC has revoked the MCTO as the Company's audited financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the 12 months ended December 31, 2021, and its interim financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2022, were filed with the BCSC on, respectively, June 30, 2022, and July 8, 2022.

Naturally Splendid CFO Mr. George Ragogna states, "Now that we have completed our 2021 Year-End and Q1 2022 filings, the focus is on executing our strategic plan. The Company continues to follow up on the numerous inquiries for retail and food service opportunities generated from recently attended trade shows. Although there have been delays in receiving certain manufacturing equipment, the Company continues repurposing our existing food manufacturing facility to accommodate manufacturing our meatless plant-based entrees. We look forward to providing further updates in a timely manner."

About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

Naturally Splendid is a plant-based food manufacturing and technology company that produces and distributes nutritious and delicious plant-based commodity products.

Founded in 2010, the Company operates a Safe Quality Food Level 2 certified food manufacturing facility located just outside Vancouver, BC in Canada, focusing on producing an extensive range of plant-based entrees.

Naturally Splendid has an exclusive 10-year manufacturing and distribution agreement for Canada with a division of Australia's largest plant-based food manufacturer, Flexitarian Foods Pty. Ltd.

In addition to producing the Company's own branded products, Naturally Splendid provides contract manufacturing services and private labeling for a variety of nutritional plant-based food products destined for multiple distribution channels.

The Company has established healthy, functional foods under brands such as Natera Sport, Natera Hemp Foods, CHII, Elevate Me and Woods Wild Bar. The Company launched Natera Plant Based Foods, a line of delicious plant-based meat alternatives for the rapidly growing plant-based market segment.

Naturally Splendid maintains a relationship Plasm Pharmaceutical, a company that has been approved for conducting a phase 2 clinical trial approved by Health Canada for the treatment of COVID-19.

NSE has also developed proprietary technologies for the extraction of healthy omega 3 and 6 oils, as well as a protein concentrate from hemp.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. J. Craig Goodwin

President, Director

Contact Information

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

(NSP - TSX Venture; NSPDF - OTCQB; 50N Frankfurt)

#108-19100 Airport Way

Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2

Office: (604) 465-0548

Fax: (604) 465-1128

E-mail: info@naturallysplendid.com

Website: www.naturallysplendid.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Naturally Splendid cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Naturally Splendid's control including, Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; customers will complete on sales contracts; and the risk that any of the potential applications may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708409/Naturally-Splendid-Announces-Revocation-of-Management-Cease-Trade-Order
Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) (WKN: A2JNFG) ("Altiplano" or the "Company") is pleased to report the intersection of the 352 m mining level as part of the ongoing development of the Hugo Decline at the Farellon copper gold mine located near La Serena, Chile.

Cross cuts from the 352 m level have intersected the Farellon Iron Oxide Copper Gold vein structure with production headings now established on the northeast and southwest directions. Mining in this area has begun along with benching operations continuing between the roofs and floors of the 360 m and 368 m levels. Further development of the Hugo Decline to the 344 m level is expected to begin in the next four weeks with a time frame of approximately 12 weeks to reach the new targeted intersection.

CEO Alastair McIntyre comments: "Ongoing development is part of our sustainability work at Farellon. Advancing to lower levels of the mine provides access to additional working faces which improves our ability to manage grade control and productivity. Going forward, the copper-gold-iron material extracted from these lower levels will form the bulk of the shipments to feed the newly commissioned El Penon processing facility."





Figure 1: Farellon Mine Section

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4303/130725_1fc3b263c4917b4c_001full.jpg

The decision to commence production on the Farellon deposit is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability and there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the production decision.





Figure 2. 352 m NE Operating Heading

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4303/130725_1fc3b263c4917b4c_002full.jpg

About Altiplano

Altiplano Metals is a growing gold, silver, and copper company focused on the Americas. The Company has a diversified portfolio of assets that include an operating copper/gold/iron mine, development of near-term producing gold/copper projects, and exploration land packages with district-scale potential. Altiplano is focused on creating long-term stakeholder value through developing safe and sustainable production, reinvesting into exploration, and pursuing acquisition opportunities to complement its existing portfolio. Management has a substantial record of success in capitalizing on opportunity, overcoming challenges and building shareholder value. Altiplano trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange trading under the symbol APN and the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol A2JNFG.

Altiplano has generated over US$8.83 million (after processing costs) from the recovery and sale of 4.15 million pounds of copper with an average grade of 1.76% Cu (2018 Q1-2022 Q1). Cash flow has been re-invested into equipment, underground drilling, expanding underground development at Farellon, enhancing ventilation to increase productivity and capacity, new underground development and exploration at Maria Luisa, and the construction El Penon fit-for-purpose mill and flotation plant located 15 km from the Farellon site now in operation.

John Williamson, B.Sc., P.Geol., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed, and approved the technical contents of this document.

Altiplano is part of the Metals Group of companies. Metals Group is an award-winning team of professionals who stand for technical excellence, painstaking project selection and uncompromising corporate governance, with a proven ability to capitalize on investment opportunities and deliver shareholder returns.

www.metalsgroup.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

/s/ "John Williamson"

Chairman

For further information, please contact:

Alastair McIntyre, CEO

alastairm@apnmetals.com

Tel: (416) 434 3799

Jeremy Yaseniuk, Director

jeremyy@apnmetals.com

Tel: (604) 773-1467

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the (TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects are forward-looking statements. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify any historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and the issuer is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Farellon mine was previously in production dating back to the 1970's with a reported historical production (to a depth of 70 m) yielding approximately 300,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.5% copper and 0.5g/t gold. This material was processed locally and sold to ENAMI. Altiplano is relying upon past production records, underground sampling and related activities and current diamond drilling to estimate grade and widths of the mineralization to reactivate production. The decision to commence production on the Farellon deposit is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability and there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with any production decision. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130725
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Northern Superior Resources Inc. ("Northern Superior" or the "Company") (TSX-V:SUP) (OTCQB:NSUPF) and Genesis Metals Corp. ("Genesis") (TSXV: GIS) are pleased to announce the successful completion of the previously announced acquisition by Northern Superior of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Genesis (the "Genesis Shares") pursuant to a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the "Transaction").

The Transaction has established Northern Superior as a premier gold exploration company with six early-to-advanced staged gold exploration projects across major gold camps in Quebec and Ontario and creates significant synergies and scale in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp. The combined company is expected to benefit from the following:

NI 43-101 compliant mineral resources: a) 643,000 oz gold in the inferred category at Croteau Est* (Northern Superior); and b) 652,000 oz gold in the inferred category and 260,000 oz gold in the indicated category at Chevrier**(Genesis);

Material synergies from consolidating exploration activities at its Croteau Est and Chevrier gold projects, which are located only 25 km apart and are both near key infrastructure including highways, low-cost grid power, skilled labour, rail line and a regional airport;

Exposure to the large and expanding Falcon gold discovery at the Lac Surprise property, which has been defined over 900m of strike length and 380m of vertical continuity with all 31 holes drilled to date intersecting gold mineralization, and is located just 27 km south of the Chevrier gold project;

The largest property holdings, gold resources and market capitalization of all gold exploration companies that are active in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp, a mining-friendly region that has produced over 6.7 million ounces of gold and is host to several major deposits including IAMGOLD Corporation and Vanstar Mining Resource's Nelligan deposit (hosts an NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.1 million ounces of gold at 1.02 g/t gold***); and

A strong balance sheet with approximately $12MM cash at year end 2021, improved trading liquidity and larger capital markets profile that is now better positioned to attract a broader base of institutional and retail investors.

Thomas Morris, President, CEO and Director of Northern Superior, stated: "Northern Superior is pleased to complete the acquisition of Genesis which creates the dominant exploration company in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp with the largest land position of over 56,000 Ha, with NI 43-101 compliant gold resources inferred (Croteau Est and Chevrier) and indicated (Chevrier) and three distinct discoveries and large scale properties (Lac Surprise (Falcon Gold Zone) Croteau-Est and Chevrier), each within 50 km of each other that all have significant exploration upside and will be aggressively drilled and explored over the next 12 months.

The Chapais-Chibougamau Camp is one of the more active and prospective mining and exploration areas in Quebec, as highlighted by the Nelligan deposit controlled by the IAMGOLD/Vanstar joint venture directly adjacent to our Lac Surprise property that hosts the recently discovered Falcon Gold Zone. The Falcon Gold Zone is thought to be the extension of the Nelligan gold deposit. As the new largest landholder and one of most dominant companies in a rapidly evolving and expanding mining camp, we feel we are ideally positioned to maximize the value of these assets for our combined shareholder base going forward.

Northern Superior is in a strong financial position with approximately $10MM in cash at the end of Q1 2022. It plans to aggressively advance exploration on this exciting and newly expanded portfolio in Ontario and Quebec for the benefit of the combined shareholders with a 2022 exploration budget of close to $10MM. The Company has a highly experienced technical team that has demonstrated its acumen through multiple successes in making grassroot discoveries across Quebec and Ontario."

Details of the Transaction

Pursuant to the Transaction, former Genesis shareholders received 0.2304 (the "Exchange Ratio") of a Northern Superior common share (each whole common share, a "Northern Superior Share") for each Genesis Share held. As a result of the Transaction, Northern Superior issued an aggregate of 14,500,037 Northern Superior Shares, resulting in existing Northern Superior and former Genesis shareholders owning approximately 83% and 17%, respectively, of the Northern Superior Shares outstanding, on a non-diluted basis.

As part of the Transaction, all outstanding stock options of Genesis have been exchanged for economically equivalent stock options to purchase Northern Superior Shares (subject to adjustment based on the Exchange Ratio). Holders of outstanding Genesis warrants are entitled, in accordance with the terms of such warrants, to receive Northern Superior Shares on the exercise of such warrants (subject to adjustment based on the Exchange Ratio).

As a result of the Transaction, Northern Superior acquired the Chevrier Project located in Chibougamau, Quebec and the October Gold Project located in Ontario.

Northern Superior has received acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") to list the Northern Superior Shares issued pursuant to the Transaction on the TSXV. The Genesis Shares are expected to be delisted from the TSXV at the close of trading on or about July 15, 2022. Genesis intends to submit an application to the applicable securities regulators to cease to be a reporting issuer and to terminate its public company reporting obligations as soon as possible.

Pursuant to the letter of transmittal mailed to shareholders of Genesis as part of the materials in connection with the special meeting of shareholders of Genesis held on July ,7 2022 (the "Meeting"), in order to receive the Northern Superior Shares to which they are entitled, registered holders of Genesis Shares are required to deposit their share certificate(s) representing Genesis Shares, together with a duly completed letter of transmittal, with Computershare Investor Services Inc., the depositary under the Transaction. Shareholders whose Genesis Shares are registered in the name of a broker, dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee must contact their nominee to deposit their Genesis Shares. Further information about the Transaction is set forth in the materials prepared by Genesis in respect of the Meeting which were mailed to Genesis shareholders and filed under Genesis' profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.

None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Transaction have been or will be registered under the United State Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and any securities issued pursuant to the Transaction are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemptions from such registration requirements pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable exemptions under state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

Early Warning Reporting

By virtue of its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding Genesis Shares under the Transaction, Northern Superior is required to file an early warning report pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of the early warning report will be filed on Genesis' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Northern Superior's TPK, Lac Surprise and Croteau Est Projects

The reader is encouraged to visit the Company's web site for more detailed information regarding each of these projects (www.nsuperior.com).

The Lac Surprise property is located within the Chapais-Chibougamau gold camp of Quebec and is large (approximately 20kms x 20 kms). The Company recently discovered the Falcon Gold Zone (FGZ), a gold zone consisting of gold assay grades and widths comparable to the neighboring including IAMGOLD Corporation and Vanstar Mining Resource's Nelligan deposit (hosts an NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.1 million ounces of gold at 1.02 g/t gold***). Highlighted assays associated with the FGZ include: LCS21-029 (1.36g/t Au over 40.0m; 273.00-313.00m); LCS19-005ext (1.54g/t Au over 44.9m; 293.50-338.40m); LCS21-43 (1.10g/t Au over 43.0m; 95.00-138.00m); and LCS21-032 (1.99g/t Au over 42.6m; 107.40-150.00m) (Table 1, Figure 4; see Northern Superior press releases, August 17, 2021; March 10, 2022).

The FGZ is thought to represent the westward extension of the Nelligan gold deposit. The robust, lateral continuity of the FGZ is highlighted by a 100% drill hole strike rate (29 of 29 holes), currently defined with a 900m long strike length (remaining open along strike to the west ) and defined to 343m, remaining open at depth along the 900m strike length.

The Lac Surprise property has many gold showings across the property including those to the west of the FGZ, and in the "Confluence" and "Amber" areas. Northern Superior is currently completing a 15-hole (6,650m) core drill program designed to test the western and vertical extensions of the FGZ. The Company is also in the process of planning a property scale bedrock mapping and prospecting program for the summer of 2022.

The Croteau Est property is also located within the Chapais-Chibougamau gold camp of Quebec and is large (approximately 30kms x 15kms). The property has a 43-101 compliant inferred gold resource defined and several gold showings discovered across the property. The inferred gold resource is defined as consisting of 11.6 million tonnes, grading 1.7g/t gold, yielding 640,000 ounces of gold. Assays associated with this deposit includes intersections of; 11.06g/t gold over 9.10m including 43.75g/t gold over 2.00m, 61.24g/t gold over 5.95m including 705g/t gold over 0.5 m, 7.50g/t gold over 7.95m including 56.40g/t gold over 1.00m, 1.99g/t gold over 34.65m including 9.46g/t gold over 2m). The resource is defined from only 64, shallow holes, most of which are only 350m deep. The system is open along strike in both directions and at depth. A core drill program and budget has been set for this project to expand the resource and test several of the regional showings.

The TPK property is located in northwestern Ontario and is large (approximately 20kms x 30kms), containing two regional scale mineralized systems. The first system is primarily gold bearing, stretching 35kms across the Big Dam and New Growth areas of the property. The Big Dam area contains the largest gold grain-in-till dispersal aprons in North America stretching 6kms by 11kms, with as many as 1262 gold grains, most of which are pristine (92%). Embedded within this apron are numerous high-grade gold mineralized boulders assaying as high as 94g/t gold. A discovery hole of 25.87g/t gold over 13.45m has already been intersected. The second system within the Annex area of the property is defined by a gold grain-in-till dispersal corridor 3.5kms x 13.5kms wide, with gold grain counts as high as 1263 gold grains, mostly pristine in shape. Embedded within this corridor are boulders assaying as high as 727g/t gold, 111g/t silver and 4.05% copper.

Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SUP", and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "NSUPF".

* Reference for Northern Superior's 640,000 ounce Inferred Gold Resource: "Drabble, Mark (B. App. Sci. (Geology), MAIG, MAusIMM); Glacken, Ian (BSc Hons (Geology), FAusIMM (CP), MIMMM, CEng; Kahan, Cervoj (B. App. Sci., MAIG, MAusIMM); Morgan, Rebecca (BSc Hons (Geology), GDip (Mining), MAIG, MAusIMM). October 12, 2015. Technical Report on the Croteau Est Gold Project, Quebec September 2015, Mineral Resource Estimate."

** Reference for Genesis Metals Mineral Resources Estimation: "Lomas, Susan (P.Geo); Lavoie, Jonathan (Eng., M.Sc.); Liboiron, Andre (Geo). March 10, 2022.NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimation for the Chevrier Main Deposit, Chevrier Project, Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada."

*** Reference for IAMGOLD/Vanstar's Nelligan 3.2MM Inferred Gold Resource: "Carrier, Alain (M.Sc., P.Geo); Nadeau-Benoit, Vincent (P.Geo); Fauvre, Stephane (PhD., P.Geo). October 22, 2019. NI 43-101 Technical Report and Initial Resource Estimate for the Nelligan Project, Quebec, Canada."

Qualified Person

Rodney Barber (BSc., P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person for the TPK property. Michel Leblanc (BSc., PGeo) and Sarah Dean (BSc., P.Geo.) are the Qualified Persons for the Croteau Est and Lac Surprise properties. All three individuals are Qualified Persons within the meaning of NI 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.

Neither the TSXV nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

For further information contact:

Thomas F. Morris PhD., P.Geo., FGAC, ICD.D

President and CEO

Tel: (705) 525 -0992

Fax: (705) 525 -7701

e-mail: info@nsuperior.com

www.nsuperior.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian, United States and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the anticipated benefits and advantages of the Transaction, including establishing Northern Superior as a premier gold exploration company with six early-to-advanced staged gold exploration projects across major gold camps in Quebec and Ontario and creating significant synergies and scale in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp, the delisting of the Genesis Shares and the application for Genesis to cease to be a reporting issuer. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Northern Superior and Genesis' current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as Northern Superior and Genesis' actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are set forth in the "Risk Factors" section in Northern Superior's latest management discussion and analysis dated April 12, 2022. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to Northern Superior and Genesis. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is made as of the date hereof and Northern Superior and Genesis undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

SOURCE: Northern Superior Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708396/Northern-Superior-Completes-Acquisition-of-Genesis
Community Impact Movement Reports One Million People Fed;

Celebrates America's Comfort Food with Live-Streamed 'Lasagn-a-thon' and 100+ Large-Scale Delivery Events Planned

BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Lasagna, celebrated as one of America's most treasured comfort foods, has experienced a revolutionary rebirth since 2020. The unctuous, cheesy, and tomato-laden Italian classic, celebrated nationally each July 29 (National Lasagna Day), has become the primary vehicle through which simple acts of kindness are being delivered to neighbors in need, as well as the official holiday for global community impact movement, Lasagna Love.

Launched in early 2020 by Rhiannon Menn, a mom who baked and delivered pans of lasagnas to her neighbors, Lasagna Love inspired a viral, grassroots campaign that quickly swept the nation. Menn's approach to delivering comfort was easily replicated and served as a safe, practical way to maintain community connection. In the two years since her first delivery, Menn and a dedicated team of more than 35,000 volunteers from all 50 states of America, Australia, and Canada, have fed more than one million people, and delivered upwards of 250,000 meals. These empirical results reveal that acts of kindness continue to be a welcome site at someone's door

"The moment Lasagna Love reached the one million people fed mark this year, I was completely overcome," shared Menn, founder and Chief Lasagna Mama of Lasagna Love. "It feels both surreal and thoroughly inspiring to know so many individuals want to support their neighbors, no questions asked, and further, that pans of lasagna are still communicating support for neighbors not just nationally, but on a global scale."

Lasagna Love Determined to Break NationalLasagnaDay Delivery Record

This year, Lasagna Love has set its sights on goals that far exceed those achieved during last year's National Lasagna Day celebration-which was also Lasagna Love's first. The organization is seeking to deliver 10,000 lasagnas (double the 2021 goal), welcome at least 1,000 new "lasagna chef" volunteers, and raise $100,000 in donations. To achieve these aspirational goals, Lasagna Love is partnering with RAGU  , Carrabba's Italian Grill, Galbani Cheese , Pastene, the Tomato Wellness Commission , and Emile Henry , all of which have aligned their support of Lasagna Love's mission to feed families, spread kindness, and strengthen communities.

Volunteer "lasagna chefs" from across the country are organizing more than 100 large-scale delivery events to benefit not just individual families, but first responders, local fire departments, homeless shelters, retirement homes, food banks, Ronald McDonald Houses, and various nonprofit community support organizations in more than 25 states.

In addition, Lasagna Love will host a two-hour, live-streaming "Lasagn-a-thon" event, featuring cooking demonstrations, surprise guests and influencers, instructional segments on "decorating your lasagna," "best ways to freeze lasagna," and an innovative approach to the famous comfort food: lasagna bowls.

Sponsors too are joining the celebration. RAGU and Emile Henry are recognizing individual "Star Chef Honorees" - volunteers who have made significant contributions to the Lasagna Love mission. Ten individuals from across the country will be recognized for their commitment to community, and revealed across Lasagna Love's social media platforms leading up to National Lasagna Day.

To celebrate new chefs interested in joining the Lasagna Love movement, RAGU created a special gift box containing a coupon for a free jar of sauce, recipe card, and spoon for use in the creation of lasagnas. The first 250 individuals who sign up to become Lasagna Chefs at www.lasagnalove.org/ragu will receive the special thank you gift.

"At RAGU, we believe that anyone can "Cook Like a Mother" regardless of gender or culinary skill. We encourage consumers to volunteer and help those in need in their communities," said Megan Frank, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Mizkan America, Inc., the maker of RAGU.

Carrabba's Italian Grill, which operates nearly 200 restaurants across the United States, will be donating approximately 2,000 lasagnas to community members in need. Carrabba's has also committed to donating 10% of all in-restaurant or online lasagna entree sales on National Lasagna Day to Lasagna Love. From July 25-31, guests can also support the organization and donate directly to Lasagna Love by writing in a donation amount on their restaurant receipt or through fixed amounts available on online orders. Additionally, for the entire month of July, anyone who signs up to be a part of the Lasagna Love family on www.lasagnalove.org/carrabbas is entered for a chance to win free Carrabba's for a year.

"At Carrabba's, our community is at the center of everything we do," said Bronze Major, Senior Director of Marketing, Carrabba's Italian Grill. "Through our Carrabba's Cares program, we offer ways to give back and support meaningful nonprofits such as Lasagna Love."

No lasagna would be complete without layers of ricotta and melted mozzarella cheese. This year, Galbani Cheese has locked arms with Lasagna Love to ensure lasagna chefs have ready access to a variety of both ricotta and mozzarella cheese options. Pastene, which provided New England-based chefs with pallets of authentic Italian Lasagne Festonate pasta noodles and their famed Kitchen Ready Tomatoes during last year's record-breaking lasagna-making event, also returned as a National Lasagna Day sponsor. Pastene is offering its high-quality Italian specialty products at a discount to lasagna chef volunteers through July 30th.

"We are deeply grateful for the support from RAGU, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Galbani, Pastene, and others, who have aligned themselves with Lasagna Love to celebrate National Lasagna Day. Each brand has shown its commitment to our mission - to feed families and spread kindness - and is supporting our volunteers as they impact thousands of communities across the country this month."

Lasagna Love's unique model streamlines volunteerism, leveraging digital applications and social media platforms in a world where technology is increasingly used to maintain connectivity. Operated almost entirely by a passionate army of volunteers whose shared purpose is to spread acts of kindness, Lasagna Love has successfully united participation of individuals from around the world, each of whom is encouraged to participate as much or as little as desired.

To request a meal on National Lasagna Day, to become a volunteer Lasagna Chef, nominate a recipient for a Lasagna Love delivery, or support Lasagna Love through donations or the purchase of Lasagna Love store merchandise, visit www.lasagnalove.org.

About Lasagna Love

Lasagna Love is a community impact program that connects neighbors through gestures of kindness, goodwill, and support. The nonprofit has joined together more than 35,000 volunteers from around the world and abides by three simple principles: feed families, spread kindness and strengthen communities. Lasagna Love fosters a culture of positivity, empathy, zero-judgment, and maintains a steadfast resolve to deliver comfort when needed most. Lasagna Love volunteers share a seminal purpose: exist to assist. To learn more about Lasagna Love and how you can get involved, visit www.lasagnalove.org or our social channels, @WeAreLasagnaLove ( Instagram and Facebook ).

Media contacts:

Wendy Agudelo (Lasagna Love); wendy@lasagnalove.org ; 978.994.1447

Jackie Rodriguez (Carrabba's Italian Grill and Pastene); jrodriguez@tilsonpr.com ; 561.998.1995

Nerissa Silao; (RAGU); nerissa.silao@hkstrategies.com

Don Heins; (Lactalis/Galbani); don.heins@us.lactalis.com ; 716.823.6262 x1353

SOURCE: Lasagna Love

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708348/Lasagna-Love-To-Deliver-10000-Meals-For-National-Lasagna-Day
Also announces the availability of the UserTesting Human Insight Platform in French as European adoption continues to grow

UserTesting (NYSE: USER), a leader in video-based human insight, today announced advanced Instant Insight features, powered by machine learning, to help companies expedite the analysis of human insights at the test-level and accelerate time to insights. Using data-automation and proprietary models, the UserTesting? Human Insight Platform can detect patterns and anomalies in the customer data, and automatically surface high-value insights within the Customer Experience Narratives. The latest product updates are designed to help companies uncover key customer perspectives more quickly, so team members can understand where to focus their efforts for greater success. In addition to English and German, UserTesting is now available in French, and customers can test in the French language with access to French speaking contributors.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005310/en/

UserTesting's Instant Insights accelerates time to key customer insights by using data-driven automations and machine learning (Graphic: Business Wire)

New features in this product release:

Discover Patterns and Key Customer Takeaways More Quickly with Test-Level Instant Insights

UserTesting's test-level Instant Insight feature utilizes data-driven automation and machine learning models to accelerate post-test analysis by automatically detecting patterns, anomalies, and key insights within customer data across multiple tasks and sessions. Customers can quickly identify important takeaways from their tests while alleviating the burden of lengthy post-test analysis.

Intuitively Navigate and Collaborate with UserTesting

UserTesting's navigation redesign enables customers to access core functionalities more readily, with a new user interface, folder management, easily accessible resources, and a workspace switcher. Updates make the testing and insight management process more intuitive and accessible for broader team use, enabling scalability for growing teams across organizations. Additionally, IT departments can now manage team access more seamlessly with self-service, single sign-on, providing more governance for enterprise-scale deployments.

A Redesigned Card Sorting Experience

UserTesting has enhanced its card sorting capabilities within the UserTesting Human Insight Platform so users can view video feedback alongside card sorting metrics and gather a complete understanding of contributors' mental models with this streamlined solution. Companies can build navigation or sitemaps based on customer expectations and behaviors, and describe categories to drive better engagement. This helps companies save costs and adapt to rapidly changing customer needs, or changes to their respective businesses, with timely feedback of how digital properties are organized and used.

En francais UserTesting

UserTesting is now available in French for both customer and contributor experiences. Companies looking to get feedback from French-speaking consumers can now do so with the UserTesting Human Insight Platform, as tests can be conducted in French, with French-speaking contributors, giving organizations the ability to target and connect with more people around the world.

Now Supports Native Video/Audio Testing

For companies wanting to test sensitive media content with greater efficiency, UserTesting enables customers to securely upload audio, video, and other media assets directly onto the Human Insight Platform with its new native media asset testing feature. Companies can gather contributor feedback easily on unreleased assets, like video and audio files, before launching them to the public.

"More than ever, it's imperative that companies know how their customers feel, and why. UserTesting is continuously innovating its platform to help companies gain actionable insights so they can make smarter and faster business decisions," said Kaj van de Loo, CTO at UserTesting. "UserTesting's data-driven automation helps customers speed up analysis of video feedback, so they can make decisions quicker than ever. The platform helps companies optimize the use of human insights, so that they can better understand what is driving customer behavior, and adapt to any changes in the market."

UserTesting will be hosting a webinar highlighting its latest product release on August 3 at 11:00 a.m. PT/2:00 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar here.

About UserTesting

UserTesting (NYSE: USER) has fundamentally changed the way organizations get insights from customers with fast, opt-in feedback and experience capture technology. The UserTesting Human Insight Platform taps into our global network of real people and generates video-based recorded experiences, so anyone in an organization can directly ask questions, hear what users say, see what they mean, and understand what it's actually like to be a customer. Unlike approaches that track user behavior then try to infer what that behavior means, UserTesting reduces guesswork and brings customer experience data to life with human insight. UserTesting has approximately 2,500 customers, including more than half of the world's top 100 most valuable brands according to Forbes. UserTesting is headquartered in San Francisco, California. To learn more, visit www.usertesting.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005310/en/

Contacts:

UserTesting, Inc.

Andy Dear

978-609-1472

adear@usertesting.com
Chinese mainland reports 57 new local confirmed COVID-19 cases

Xinhua) 10:32, July 13, 2022

A staff member selects goods ordered online at Jiamei Supermarket in Sixian County, Suzhou City, east China's Anhui Province, July 4, 2022. East China's Anhui Province, which is combating the latest COVID-19 resurgence, has taken a range of measures to guarantee the supply of daily necessities. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland Tuesday reported 57 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 16 in Guangdong and eight in Gansu, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.

Altogether 204 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified in 11 provincial-level regions.

A total of 76 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Tuesday, said the commission.

The total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals after recovery reached 220,601 on the Chinese mainland as of Tuesday.

Tuesday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll at 5,226.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Time to reveal truth about North Korean fishermen



The Ministry of Unification on Tuesday released photos of two North Korean fishermen who were forcibly repatriated to the North via the truce village of Panmunjeom even though they expressed their intention to defect to South Korea in 2019. The photos taken by a ministry official for record-keeping purposes shows a defector with his hands bound by rope desperate not to cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).



Another fisherman covered his face apparently in despair near the MDL. He collapsed while struggling not to cross the line. Both men were gagged and blindfolded. Despite their fierce resistance, however, they were handed over to the North Korean military. The ministry unveiled 10 relevant photos at the request of the National Assembly.



Despite being criminal suspects, such forced repatriation could be considered a brutal act that should not have happened in a democratic country advocating human rights like the Republic of Korea. The fishermen were likely executed upon returning to the North. The Article 3 of the Constitution defines the entire Korean Peninsula and its islands as South Korean territory, and North Koreans should be regarded as our nationals once they enter the South. Despite this stipulation, the previous Moon Jae-in administration braved such an anti-humanitarian act simply to curry favor with the Kim Jong-un regime.



The two fishermen were captured by the South Korean Navy on Nov. 2, 2019, while sailing on a small wooden boat. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) wrapped up its investigation into the case in only three days, notifying the North of its intent to send them back. Even if they committed crimes in the North as Seoul authorities claimed, it appeared to be a reckless move, to some extent, to repatriate them to the North against their will too hurriedly. Furthermore, the ministry said they clarified their intention to defect in a note.



On Wednesday, the presidential office vowed to lay bare the facts behind the case. Presidential spokesperson Kang In-sun said that the repatriation of the fishermen could constitute a "crime against humanity" in violation of both the Constitution and international law.



The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), a civic group, filed a complaint Tuesday against ranking officials of the Moon administration such as Chung Eui-yong, then head of the National Security Office, and former NIS Director Suh Hoon over their roles in the forced repatriation.



The Moon government has already come under severe criticism for failing to prevent the death of a fisheries official who was shot dead by the North Korean military in September 2020 in the West Sea. It is also suspected of covering up the case to falsely conclude that the official was attempting to defect to the North. Yet the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense announced last month that they could not find any evidence backing the defection allegations. Now the new Yoon Suk-yeol government should go all out to get to the bottom of the case.


Winning the Gold Globee Award for its product excellence, and a 5-star rating in CRN's Partner Program Guide, partners choose Boomi for its commitment to providing holistic strategies for connecting, orchestrating, and managing complex architectures in the age of data-centric businesses.

With more than 20,000 customers, Boomi touts a worldwide network of more than 800 partners, and one of the largest arrays of global system integrators (GSI) in the iPaaS space.

Boomi, the intelligent connectivity and automation leader, today announced the recipients of its 2022 EMEA Partner awards, who were formally honored at Boomi's recent EMEA Partner Summit in Amsterdam. The event brought together more than 300 attendees from Boomi partners from across the region to learn, network, and share best practices. It was also an opportunity for Boomi to recognize its partners for their innovative work.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005287/en/

Boomi Announces Partner Award Winners Headlined by Accenture and Deloitte at 2022 EMEA Partner Summit (Graphic: Business Wire)

"Our partners are trusted advisors, strategic consultants, leaders in IT and digital transformation, and innovators in the cloud infrastructure space," said Derek Thompson, Vice President of Business Development, EMEA at Boomi. "They solve problems and proactively implement Boomi's technology day in and day out. We're honored to recognize the work they accomplished this past year."

"As organizations face significant challenges to transform their business to achieve the strategic and operational objectives, enterprise integration is on top of the agenda for CIOs and CDOs," said Jason Newman, Partner, Integration Services, Deloitte UK. "We are very proud of the work we do to consistently deliver innovative solutions to solve complex business challenges for our clients. This award is a strong testament to the highly skilled and talented people we have in the Deloitte Integration Services team and the strong partnership with Boomi."

This year's winners of the EMEA Partner Summit Awards include:

Innovative Project of the Year

Global Systems Integrator (GSI): Accenture

Accenture Systems Integrator (SI): IntegrationWorks GmbH

Solution Partner of the Year

Global Systems Integrator (GSI): Deloitte

Deloitte Systems Integrator (SI): Cegeka

Individual Contributor Award: Mukesh Gehlot, CEO, NeosAlpha

Highly Commended:

Isto Kaitosaari, CTO, Integrations Group

Guillaume Rozier, Associate Partner, Fekra

Sales and Marketing Campaign of the Year: Gambit

Services Partner Of The Year: Viseo

Highly Commended: B-Flow Onepoint Consulting



Emerging Markets Partner of the Year: Xitricon

Rising Star: Syscons

"As a Boomi partner, we appreciate the recognition," said Mukesh Gehlot, CEO, NeosAlpha. "Boomi's commitment to its partners, as well as customer success, goes above and beyond."

Boomi recently expanded its Partner Resource Center, which provides insightful content as well as opportunities for partners to further promote their brand and value proposition to end-users through the Partner Finder. Additionally, Boomi simplified program requirements and the way partners do business by providing a clear partner onboarding path and streamlining partner training for accreditations and certifications.

Boomi has been positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (EiPaaS) for eight consecutive years.

As a category-leading, global software as a service (SaaS) company with more than 20,000 customers Boomi touts a growing user community of over 100,000 members, a worldwide network of more than 800 partners, and one of the largest arrays of global system integrators (GSIs) in the iPaaS space, which includes Accenture, Deloitte, SAP, and Snowflake, as well as the three largest cloud providers, Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft, among others.

The company recently received the Gold Globee Award in the Platform as a Service (PaaS) category, and has garnered a prestigious 5-star rating in the CRN Partner Program Guide, a definitive list of the most notable partner programs from industry-leading technology vendors that provide innovative products and flexible services through the IT channel. Boomi's cloud-native, low-code platform helps organizations across all industries connect data applications, streamline workflows, and deliver more integrated customer experiences.

To learn more about partnering with Boomi or to find a partner from Boomi's global ecosystem, visit https://boomi.com/partners/.

Additional Resources

Learn more about Boomi's Partner Program

Read the blog post Why Connections Matter to Partners

Learn more about The Boomi AtomSphere Platform

Explore the Boomiverse Community

Follow Boomi on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube

Gartner Disclaimer:

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Eric Thoo, Keith Guttridge, Bindi Bhullar, Shameen Pillai, Abhishek Singh, September 29, 2021

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. GARTNER and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Note: Boomi was recognized as Dell Boomi from 2014 to 2019.

About Boomi

Boomi instantly connects everyone to everything, anywhere with its cloud-native, unified, open, and intelligent platform. Boomi's integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is trusted by more than 20,000 customers globally for its speed, ease-of-use, and lower total cost of ownership. As the pioneer at fueling intelligent use of data, Boomi's vision is to make it quick and easy for customers and partners to discover, manage, and orchestrate data, while connecting applications, processes, and people for better, faster outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.boomi.com.

 2022 Boomi, LP. Boomi, the 'B' logo, Boomiverse, and AtomSphere are trademarks of Boomi, LP or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All rights reserved. Other names or marks may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005287/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Kristen Walker

Global Corporate Communications

kristenwalker@boomi.com

+1-415-613-8320
Surge in demand for UV protection testing devices such as solar simulators from industries including healthcare, pharmaceutical, environmental science, and others propel the growth of the global solar simulator market.

PORTLAND, Ore, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Solar Simulator Market by Type (Steady State, Pulsed), by Light Source (Xenon Arc Lamp, Metal Halide Arc Lamp, UV Lamp, QTH Lamp, LED Lamp), by Application (PV Cell Module and Material Testing, UV Testing of Materials and Products, Automotive Testing, Biomass Study, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global solar simulator industry was estimated at $203.6 million in 2021 and is expected to hit $364.6 million by 2031, registering a CAGR of 5.8% from 2022 to 2031.

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Surge in demand for UV protection testing devices such as solar simulators from industries including healthcare, pharmaceutical, environmental science, and others propel the growth of the global solar simulator market. On the other hand, high cost and certain disadvantages associated with solar simulators restrain the growth to some extent. However, increased government support for R&D aimed at enhancing the efficiency of solar energy products for consumers are anticipated to create lucrative opportunities for the frontrunners in the industry.

Download Sample PDF (239 Pages PDF with Insights): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/16876

Covid-19 scenario-

The outbreak of the pandemic gave way to decline in demand for solar simulators owing to halted research & development, solar panel installation & testing, and building & construction of commercial and industrial solar infrastructure activities across the globe, which impacted the global solar simulator market negatively.

However, the market has already been restored to its previous pace.

The pulsed segment to dominate by 2031-

Based on type, the pulsed segment held the major share in 2021, generating nearly three-fifths of the global solar simulator market. The same segment is also projected to cite the fastest CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period. Rise in demand for pulsed solar simulators from PV module testing and other applications propels the segment growth.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Solar Simulator Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/16876?reqfor=covid

The xenon arc lamp segment to retain the lion's share-

Based on light source, the xenon arc lamp segment held the highest share in 2021, generating nearly one-third of the global solar simulator industry. Rise in demand for xenon arc lamp-based solar simulators owing to its ability to produce stable spectral equal to the sunlight without filtering from various applications including testing of PV cell or module applications drives the segment growth. The LED lamp segment, however, would cite the fastest CAGR of 6.1% from 2022 to 2031, due to increase in adoption of LED-based solar simulators in PV testing, automotive testing, and other applications.

Europe held the major share in 2021-

Based on region, the market across Europe accounted for the major share in 2021, contributing to more than two-fifths of the global solar simulator market. The same region is also expected to cite the fastest CAGR of 6.1% throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to the presence of key players and huge consumer base across the region.

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Key players in the industry-

ABET Technologies, Inc.

Asahi Spectra Co., Ltd.

Gsolar Power Co., Ltd.

Spectrolab

Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd.

Sciencetech, Inc.

ABB, Ltd.

Schneider Electric

Solar Light Company, LLC.

Endeas

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / CMC Metals Ltd. (TSXV:CMB)(Frankfurt:ZM5P)(OTC PINK:CMCXF) ("CMC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that McKeown Exploration Services ("MES") has initiated a gravity survey on our Silverknife Property in northern British Columbia. MES is a specialist in gravity surveys. The design of the program was prepared in consultation with MES by Dr. Chris Hale and Mr. John Gilliatt of Intelligent Exploration who are the Company's geophysical contractors.

Approximately 15.4 line kilometers of gravity survey will be completed in the northern part of the Property (see Figure 1) to further evaluate the significant conductors previously identified by the airborne SkyTEM survey (see CMC Press Release of May 11, 2022, and Figure 2). The survey is expected to take about 3 weeks to complete.

The Silverknife property is located immediately west of the Silvertip Mine property owned by Coeur Mining ("Coeur"). The Silvertip Mine is one of the highest-grade underground silver-lead-zinc deposits in the world and is currently under care and maintenance. Recent announcements by Coeur relating to a new discovery at Camp Creek West are very encouraging results and improve the prospectivity of the Silverknife Property. The Camp Creek West zone is approaching the Company boundary claim. The combination of this recent discovery by Coeur and other features such as the significant airborne conductors identified on the Silverknife property, the right geological setting for CRD's, the existence of the Silverknife Prospect, and regional northeast fault structures that are likely key control mechanisms for mineral deposition, all indicate a high level of prospectivity at Silverknife.

Figure 1. Location of Gravity Stations - Silverknife Property

(Source: McKeown Exploration Services)

Figure 2. Conductivity Model for the Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

Further analysis of the previously identified conductors through the construction of a 3D Geosoft Model by CMC's geophysical contractor Intelligent Exploration, appears to indicate that previous drilling on the Silverknife Prospect (back in the mid 1980's) was conducted on the edge of the conductors (see Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3. Conductivity 3D Geonic Model Looking Northeast - Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

Figure 4. Conductivity 3D Geonic Model Looking in a Westerly Direction - Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

That program resulted in an historical resource which has not been verified in any manner by the Company. However, it does provide encouragement to the Company as mineralization is existent in close proximity to the conductors. In addition, the conductors have a large areal extent indicated by various cross sections prepared by Intelligent Exploration, ranging from the most easterly flight line (line 401201) thence 700 meters westwards (line 400501). They also appear to have a good lateral extent and thickness (see Figures 5-7 at end of this release)

A gravity survey is a good technique to compliment the data from the SkyTEM airborne survey. It provides useful information, particularly in the case where there is no outcrop present as is the case in the northern part of the property that has up to 50 meters of quaternary cover. Gravity surveys are known to work well in the Rancheria Silver District to aid in pinpointing drill targets. Generally speaking, gravity surveys can show where areas of greater density exist. These areas of higher density are potentially targets for silver-lead-zinc mineralization exists as they would typically have a higher density than surrounding geological strata.

Mr. John Bossio, Chairman noted, "The increasing level of prospectivity at the Silverknife property is very exciting. Our systematic exploration approach on all of our properties in the Rancheria Silver District utilizes a combination of geological, geochemical and geophysical information combined with some of the best expertise and knowledge of carbonate replacement deposits ("CRD's"). All of this culminates to maximize the probability for exploration success. We are optimistic that the gravity survey at Silverknife will serve to pinpoint drill targets that we can then pursue once we have project permits in place."

Mr. Kevin Brewer, President and CEO noted, "We are in active discussions with British Columbia regarding a permit for a range of exploration activities including drilling at the Silverknife Property. Which we hope will culminate in a permit issuance in the foreseeable future. We will also soon be updating our plans to engage First Nations and local affected communities on our proposed activities as this current work will further enable us to finalize the exploration plan for Silverknife for the next few years."

Figure 5. SkyTem Flight Line 401201 - on eastern extent of Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

Figure 6. Skytem Flight Line 400801 in approximate north-central portion of the Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

Figure 7. SkyTem Flight Line 400501 in northwestern portion of the Silverknife Property

(Source: Intelligent Exploration)

Qualified Person

Qualified Person Kevin Brewer, a registered professional geoscientist, is the Company's President and CEO, and Qualified Person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101). He has given his approval of the technical information pertaining reported herein. The Company is committed to meeting the highest standards of integrity, transparency and consistency in reporting technical content, including geological reporting, geophysical investigations, environmental and baseline studies, engineering studies, metallurgical testing, assaying and all other technical data.

About CMC Metals Ltd.

CMC Metals Ltd. is a growth stage exploration company focused on opportunities for high grade polymetallic deposits in Yukon, British Columbia and Newfoundland. Our polymetallic silver-lead-zinc CRD prospects include the Silver Hart Deposit and Blue Heaven claims (the "Silver Hart Project") and Rancheria South, Amy and Silverknife claims (the "Rancheria South Project"). Our polymetallic projects with potential for copper-silver-gold and other metals include Logjam (Yukon), Bridal Veil, Terra Nova and Rodney Pond (central Newfoundland).

On behalf of the Board:

"John Bossio"

John Bossio, Chairman

CMC METALS LTD.

For Further Information and Investor Inquiries:

Kevin Brewer, P. Geo., MBA, B.Sc.(Hons), Dip. Mine Eng.

President, CEO and Director

Tel: (709) 327 8013

kbrewer80@hotmail.com

Suite 1000-409 Granville St.

Vancouver, BC

V6C 1T2

To be added to CMC's news distribution list, please send an email to info@cmcmetals.ca or contact Mr. Kevin Brewer directly.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

"This news release may contain certain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law, including without limitation, statements that address the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles and exploitation activities and developments. In this release disclosure regarding the potential to undertake future exploration work comprise forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks, including the ability of the Company to raise the funds necessary to fund its projects, to carry out the work and, accordingly, may not occur as described herein or at all. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, the impact of the constantly evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are referred to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators for information on these and other risk factors, available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation."

SOURCE: CMC Metals Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708373/CMC-Metals-Ltd-Contracts-Gravity-Geophysical-Survey-to-Further-Delineate-CRD-Targets-at-its-Silverknife-Property-Northern-British-Columbia
NEW ORLEANS (dpa-AFX) - Integrated energy company Entergy Corp. (ETR) announced Wednesday that Paul Hinnenkamp, executive vice president and chief operating officer, will retire from the company, effective August 12, following a nearly 40-year career in the energy industry. As part of a planned leadership succession process to ensure a smooth transition, Peter Norgeot Jr., currently senior vice president of operations and development, will succeed Hinnenkamp as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Hinnenkamp assumed the role of Entergy's chief operating officer in 2015. He joined Entergy in 2001 as vice president of operations support for the company's utility-owned nuclear plants. He then served as vice president of operations at River Bend Station nuclear power plant. Following other key leadership roles within nuclear operations, including leading nuclear business development, he was named vice president of fossil generation development and support in 2010. He began his career with the former PECO Energy Company in 1983 Norgeot joined Entergy in 2014 and has served as a member of the Office of the Chief Executive since 2018. He has worked closely with Hinnenkamp throughout his career at Entergy. Since joining Entergy, Norgeot has served in numerous executive leadership roles including vice president of power plant operations - steam division, senior vice president of power generation, and senior vice president of transformation. Norgeot's career spans more than 24 years leading generation, commercial management and large-scale development and construction projects in the United States and abroad. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A leader of the Islamic State in Syria has been killed in an airstrike by the U.S. military Tuesday, leaving a big dent in the terrorist outfit's core leadership.



Maher al-Agal was one of the top five leaders of ISIS, and the leader of the dreaded terrorist outfit in Syria, according to the Pentagon. He was killed in a drone strike in Jindayris in north-west Syria.



'His death in Syria takes a key terrorist off the field and significantly degrades the ability of ISIS to plan, resource, and conduct their operations in the region,' President Joe Biden said in a statement on the successful counterterrorism operation conducted by U.S. Central Command Forces.



'And, like the U.S. operation in February that eliminated ISIS's overall leader, it sends a powerful message to all terrorists who threaten our homeland and our interests around the world,' he said, referring to the death of top ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a raid in northwest Syria. Qurayshi blew himself up as U.S. forces approached his compound.



This airstrike demonstrates that the United States does not require thousands of troops in combat missions to identify and eliminate threats to our country, Biden added.



The U.S. Central Command said a senior ISIS official closely associated with Maher was seriously injured during the strike. It claimed that there were no civilian casualties from the operation.



Al-Agal was responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of ISIS networks outside Iraq and Syria.



'The removal of these ISIS leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks,' according to Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson.



While the group's territorial state collapsed in 2019, its leaders have turned to guerrilla tactics and been able to 'efficiently restructure themselves organizationally', according to the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonpartisan thinktank.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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Six business school and industry leaders join from India, South Africa, Spain, and the U.S.

RESTON, Va., July 13, 2022: (elected by member schools) Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean and Professor of Finance, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University; W. Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions, Yale School of Management, Yale University; Catherine Duggan, Director (Dean), Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town; Anthony Wilbon, Dean, School of Business, Howard University; (appointed by the Board to fill vacancies) Mukesh Butani, Founder and Managing Partner, BMR Legal Advocates; and Itziar de Ros, Director of Corporate Marketing & Communications, IESE Business School, University of Navarra. They started their terms on July 1.



"We are thrilled and grateful for the six outstanding individuals from four continents joining the board of GMAC, bringing with them diverse and inspiring perspectives on graduate management education," said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. "As the industry continues to evolve and adapt in the face of the ever-changing landscape, their onboarding signals GMAC's strong commitment to its global mission of connecting business schools and candidates in support of growing graduate business education."

New GMAC Board Members

Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean and Professor of Finance, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou is the 10th Dean of the Tepper School of Business and the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Finance. Since her arrival in 2020, Bajeux reorganized the leadership structure and started new degree programs that offer Tepper students new options and enhanced flexibility. As well, she launched the first comprehensive Tepper School DE&I Strategic Plan to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Tepper School is known for being the birthplace of management science, as well as for its frequent cross-collaboration with the other renowned schools at Carnegie Mellon. In that spirit, Bajeux refreshed its brand positioning to be the school of "The Intelligent Future," where students learn to combine the power of data with human judgement and imagination to make better decisions. Before her tenure at Tepper, Bajeux was Dean of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal, Quebec where she spearheaded the school of retail management and several new master's degree programs.

Mukesh Butani, Founder and Managing Partner, BMR Legal Advocates

Mukesh Butani is the Founder and Managing Partner of BMR Legal Advocates, a Tier 1 law firm. He was also Co-founder and Chairman of BMR Advisors, one of India's leading professional services firms in the areas of Tax, Risk, and M&A. With specialization in corporate international tax and transfer pricing, he has experience in advising multinational corporations and Indian conglomerates on a range of matters concerning business re-organization, cross-border structuring, and tax controversy. Mukesh served as Vice-Chair of the ICC Paris Tax Commission and as a member of the Permanent Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association and OECD BIAC. A Fellow Chartered Accountant, he holds a double bachelor's in accounting, as well as Financial Management and Law. He serves as an Independent Board Member in select leading multinationals and Indian conglomerates and is a visiting faculty at the University of Vienna and the University of Lausanne.

Itziar de Ros, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications, IESE Business School, University of Navarra

Itziar de Ros is the Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at IESE Business School in Barcelona. In this role, de Ros is responsible for IESE's marketing and communications strategy across all its campuses. She joined IESE in 2007 after working in marketing at DuPont, based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2011, de Ros was made Director of MBA Admissions at IESE, a post she held for six years, managing a team of 20 people from 12 different countries. Since 2021, de Ros has been on the Board of Raventos Codorniu, one of the most prestigious wine and sparkling wine companies in Europe. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Navozyme, a blockchain-based solutions company based in Singapore. She holds an MBA from IESE, as well as a master's degree in Digital Transformation and a BA in Business Administration from the University of Navarra.

W. Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions, Yale School of Management, Yale University

Bruce DelMonico is Assistant Dean for Admissions at the Yale School of Management. He joined Yale SOM in 2004 and has led the Admissions Office since 2006. During his time at Yale, Bruce has helped innovate new technologies and novel methods of candidate evaluation, including early roles in the Slate CRM system, the use of asynchronous video questions, and the adoption of forced-choice non-cognitive assessments. He has sat on a number of industry-related boards and is a past Trustee of the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. Before joining Yale, Bruce was an attorney focused on First Amendment, white collar, and commercial litigation, working primarily on cases with exposure ranging from $10 million to $10 billion. Bruce holds a bachelor's degree in Honors English from Brown University, a master's degree in Literature from the University of Texas at Austin, and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Catherine Duggan, Director (Dean), Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town

Catherine Duggan is Director (Dean) of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB). Her research examines the political economy of development in Africa, where she has done work in two dozen countries over more than twenty years. Prior to joining the UCT GSB, she was Vice Dean at the African Leadership University School of Business - a new business school in Rwanda - and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford's Said Business School. She served on the Harvard Business School faculty for nearly a decade and won several teaching awards, becoming the first woman in the school's history to win the Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Required Curriculum two years in a row. She earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.A. with honors from Brown University, both in Political Science.

Anthony Wilbon, Dean, School of Business, Howard University

Dr. Anthony Wilbon is the Dean of the Howard University School of Business. Dr. Wilbon's particular areas of research include technology strategy, technology innovation and entrepreneurship, operations management, project management, systems development life cycle, and research methodology. Prior to joining Howard University, Dr. Wilbon was a faculty member at Morgan State University's Earl Graves School of Business and Management. He also previously served in engineering and management level positions and several organizations including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Booz-Allen and Hamilton, Inc., American Management Systems, Inc, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. A respected academician, Dr. Wilbon completed his BS in Electrical Engineering at Michigan State University, an MBA at Howard University School of Business, and a Ph.D. at George Washington University in Management of Science, Technology and Innovation. He is also the recipient of a Fulbright International Education Administrators Award (France).

Besides the aforementioned, newly elected board members, Sanjiv Kapur, an independent consultant, was re-appointed for a second term. GMAC also recognizes and thanks its outgoing board members: William (Bill) Boulding, Dean and J.B. Fuqua Professor of Business Administration, Fuqua School of Business of Duke University; Tom Buiocchi, Executive Advisor & Former CEO of Service Channel; Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Peter Johnson, Assistant Dean, Full-time MBA Programs & Admissions, University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business; Soojin Kwon, Managing Director, Full-Time MBA Admissions and Student Experience, University of Michigan's Ross School of Business; and Donna Rapaccioli, Dean of the Gabelli School of Business and Dean of Business Faculty, Fordham University.

About GMAC

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Founded in 1953, GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry, as well as resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC's websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master's programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master's programs. BusinessBecauseand The MBA Tourare subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com

Media Contact:

Teresa Hsu

Sr. Manager, Media Relations

202-390-4180
SunValley's Ongoing Barrage of False Statements is Simply a Smokescreen to Conceal their Hostile Creeping Takeover of Your Board, Your Company and Your Project

Shareholders Cannot Trust SunValley to Control Canagold's Future

Canagold thanks shareholders for their support for its Management Nominees which has been strong in advance of the annual and special meeting scheduled for July 19, 2022.

SunValley's brazen repetition of false and inaccurate statements confirms they cannot be trusted and do not deserve the support of Canagold's shareholders.

The deadline to submit YELLOW Proxies is July 15, 2022 at 10 a.m. (Pacific Time).

Shareholders who have questions or require assistance with voting the YELLOW Proxy should contact Laurel Hill Advisory Group at 1-877-452-7184 or by e-mail at assistance@laurelhill.com.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Canagold Resources Ltd. (TSX:CCM, OTC-QB:CRCUF, Frankfurt:CANA) ("Canagold" or the "Company") reminds shareholders to vote the YELLOW proxy in advance of the deadline on Friday, July 15, 2022 at 10 a.m. (Pacific Time). We thank the many shareholders who have already voted FOR Canagold's management nominees using the YELLOW proxy and continue to urge those who have not vote yet to cast their vote using the YELLOW proxy - no share amount is too small, every shareholder and every share counts!

Shareholders are also encouraged to read Canagold's management information circular, our recent letter to shareholders and press releases by visiting our website at https://www.canagoldresources.com/2022agm/ for further details about SunValley's hostile creeping takeover attempt to control your board, your company and your project while holding only 17% of the shares, and why Canagold's management nominees are the right team to successfully continue to advance the Company's flagship project, the New Polaris gold mine project located in northern BC.

Who Are Vikram Sodhi or SunValley?

Vikram Sodhi and SunValley state they are a private equity fund based in Dubai, UAE and with a branch office in Antioquia, Colombia. But when you visit the SunValley website, you will find absolutely NO DISCLOSURE whatsoever about who they really are:

NO DISCLOSURE about their team, if they have one - no names, no photos, no biographies

about their team, if they have one - no names, no photos, no biographies NO DISCLOSURE about their assets, if they have some - no investments, no shareholdings, no properties

about their assets, if they have some - no investments, no shareholdings, no properties NO DISCLOSURE about their financials - no balance sheet, no income statement, no cash flow statement or where their money comes from

So who are these people trying to hijack control of Canagold and its board without paying you the shareholders anything for control? Do you really want to put the future of your company and your investment in the hands of a phantom company led by a ghost managing director?

Why are They Issuing a Barrage of Falsehoods and Misinformation?

Canagold has repeatedly exposed SunValley's allegations as lies or misinformation. In our press releases dated June 23, 2022, June 30, 2022, July 5, 2022 and July 8, 2022 we proved that all key allegations by the Dissident are completely untrue or deliberately misleading. Why do SunValley and Vikram Sodhi continue to try to mislead shareholders with false and inaccurate statements?

How Did They Buy Their Stock?

SunValley has sneakily executed their hostile creeping takeover attempt by buying stock privately in off-market transactions:

Step 1 of their hostile creeping take-over attempt was to buy a small stake in the $0.40 financing 18 months ago.

Step 2 of their hostile creeping take-over attempt was to buy a large stake in off-market transactions at $0.37 to get to a 9.4% shareholding, at a 35% discount to the $0.50 flow through financing price paid by other shareholders!

Step 3 of their hostile creeping take-over attempt was to buy out another shareholder at $0.325 in another off-market transaction last week to get to a 17% shareholding.

Step 4 of their hostile creeping take-over attempt is to buy the next financing at a 20% discount to Canagold's last financing only 9 months ago to get to a 35% shareholding.

Step 5 of their hostile creeping take-over attempt is to try to seize control of Canagold's board of directors, your company and your project, by nominating three interconnected individuals to strictly serve the interests of SunValley, if elected.

SunValley has never bought a single share of Canagold in the market!

The Dissident Cannot be Trusted

SunValley Company DMCC's ("SunValley" or the "Dissident") ongoing barrage of false statements about Canagold's management team and directors is a simply a distraction to cover up their hostile creeping takeover attempt. Consider the following when determining if the Dissident deserves your vote to allow it to seize control of your board, your Company, and your project:

The Dissident's Real Agenda: SunValley's real agenda is to overwhelm shareholders with falsehoods and misinformation to hide their real agenda of a hostile take-over attempt to seize 60% control of your board, Company and project, even though the Dissident only holds 17% of Canagold's shares.

SunValley's real agenda is to overwhelm shareholders with falsehoods and misinformation to hide their real agenda of a hostile take-over attempt to of your board, Company and project, even though Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") Does Not Support a Change of Control: ISS notes that SunValley failed "to make a compelling case for a change of board control" and they did not support all of the Dissident nominees.

ISS notes that SunValley failed "to make a compelling case for a change of board control" and they did not support all of the Dissident nominees. The Dissident Nominees Have No Experience in North America . The dissident shareholder has proposed a slate of nominees compromised of individuals who are based in Australia, Switzerland and South Africa and do not appear to have sufficient if any experience in exploration and mining and regulatory environment in Canada or North America.

. The dissident shareholder has proposed a slate of nominees compromised of individuals who are based in Australia, Switzerland and South Africa and do not appear to have sufficient if any experience in exploration and mining and regulatory environment in Canada or North America. The Dissident's "Strategic" Plan is Fatally Flawed and Displays Their Ignorance of Canadian Industry Standards. The Dissident wants Canagold's shareholders to believe they can fast-track the paths to both (i) a feasibility study and (ii) project permitting. This is simply not possible for reasons outlined in our press release issued on July 5, 2022 and continues SunValley's trend of disseminating inaccurate information to persuade Canagold's shareholders to support their bid to seize control of the Company's board.

Vikram Sodhi and SunValley are willing to say and do anything to seize control of your company, your board and your asset. Only your vote on the YELLOW proxy can stop this.

Canagold's Management Nominees - The Right Team with the Right Experience

Canagold's Management Nominees (the "Management Nominees"), Messrs. Bradford Cooke, Scott Eldridge, Martin Burian and Dr. Deepak Malhotra, the four incumbent directors, and Dr. Kadri Dagdelen, as a new nominee are the right team to continue the successful execution of the plan to advance the Company's flagship project, New Polaris for a number of reasons:

Significant expertise and experience in leading mining companies. The Management Nominees all have significant breadth and depth of expertise and experience in directing public mining sector companies in Canada and elsewhere and a strong background in transitioning companies from exploration to feasibility and ultimately to operations in North America.

The Management Nominees all have significant breadth and depth of expertise and experience in directing public mining sector companies in Canada and elsewhere and a strong background in transitioning companies from exploration to feasibility and ultimately to operations in North America. Ability to navigate capital markets and the North American regulatory landscape. The Management Nominees have jurisdictional experience in North America to ensure the crucial permitting process passes the approval of regulatory authorities and local First Nations support and scrutiny.

The Management Nominees have jurisdictional experience in North America to ensure the crucial permitting process passes the approval of regulatory authorities and local First Nations support and scrutiny. Credibility in capital markets. In addition, Canagold's nominees, Messrs. Bradford Cooke and Scott Eldridge, have reputational credibility in capital markets to finance the growth of your Company. Canagold's nominee, Mr. Martin Burian, CA, IDC.D, is a professional director and a professional accountant and has strong qualifications to provide Board oversight in continuous disclosure obligations and regulatory compliance in North America given Canagold is a reporting issuer in both Canada and the USA.

In addition, Canagold's nominees, Messrs. Bradford Cooke and Scott Eldridge, have reputational credibility in capital markets to finance the growth of your Company. Canagold's nominee, Mr. Martin Burian, CA, IDC.D, is a professional director and a professional accountant and has strong qualifications to provide Board oversight in continuous disclosure obligations and regulatory compliance in North America given Canagold is a reporting issuer in both Canada and the USA. Professional and technical expertise - Canagold's nominees Bradford Cooke, Dr. Deepak Malhotra and Dr. Kadri Dagdelen, each have significant and substantial practical experience and professional expertise to oversee the resource estimates and economic studies of Canagold's New Polaris Project. Dr. Malhotra personally oversaw the metallurgical testing campaigns that allowed Canagold to increase gold recoveries and use BIOX as the key to unlock the economic value of the refractory gold ore at New Polaris. Dr. Dagdelen is a mining engineer with extensive underground mining experience, which will be needed for the New Polaris gold deposit, which will be developed as a narrow vein, complex underground mechanized, ramp access mine. Mr. Cooke has the hands on experience of taking narrow, high grade gold-silver vein deposits from discovery to production in building Endeavour Silver Corp. from a junior exploration company into a mid-tier silver mining company listed on the NYSE.

Vote FOR Canagold's Management Nominees Using ONLY the YELLOW Proxy

Voting is easy. Due to the essence of time, you are encouraged to vote your YELLOW proxy online or by telephone. Shareholders who have voted using the Dissident's proxy and wish to support Canagold still have the right to change their vote by simply executing a YELLOW proxy. A later-dated YELLOW proxy replaces a previously recorded vote.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. YELLOW PROXIES MUST BE RETURNED NO LATER THAN

JULY 15, 2022 AT 10 A.M. (PACIFIC TIME).

Shareholder Questions and Voting Assistance

If you have questions or require assistance with voting your shares, please contact Canagold's strategic advisor and proxy solicitation agent:

Laurel Hill Advisory Group

North American Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 (416-304-0211 Outside North America)

Email: assistance@laurelhill.com

"Bradford Cooke" "Scott Eldridge"

Bradford Cooke Scott Eldridge

Founder and Chairman of the Board Chief Executive Officer

CANAGOLD RESOURCES LTD. CANAGOLD RESOURCES LTD.

About Canagold - Canagold Resources Ltd. is a growth-oriented gold exploration company focused on generating superior shareholder returns by discovering, exploring and developing strategic gold deposits in North America. Canagold shares trade on the TSX: CCM and the OTCQB: CRCUF.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Dissident's intentions in providing the advance notice and their plans for Canagold; statements with respect to the Company and the New Polaris gold mine project; the advancement of the Company's mineral properties; and the ability of the management nominees to successfully execute the plan to advance the New Polaris project. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others risks related to the uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Canagold Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708419/Canagold-Reminds-Shareholders-to-Vote-the-YELLOW-Proxy-Before-Friday
A leap forward for companies looking to optimize both performance and carbon neutrality

Cosmo Tech is collaborating with Microsoft to integrate Microsoft Azure Digital Twins capabilities with the addition of its strategic 360 Simulation Digital Twin technology. The combined technologies enable Microsoft's enterprise customers to monitor systems in near real-time and to simulate the evolution of complex organization in uncertain environments over time. This will allow strategic optimizations at all levels of enterprise planning, decision making and financial functions; enabling outcomes that are robust, resilient, and sustainable.

Executives and operational decision makers in industrial organizations need to rapidly identify and solve complex problems with a clear view on alternatives allowing them to reconcile carbon emission commitments with financial performance. Azure Digital Twins already helps create detailed, comprehensive digital models of physical environments communicating with IoT and Edge devices. Delivering insights from across the entire ecosystem, they break down silos within intelligent environments by fusing data from previously disparate devices and business systems, rapidly increasing the return on data.

Cosmo Tech's Simulation Digital Twins and its holistic simulation layer makes the data collected truly informative and actionable. The software allows companies to model an unlimited number of complex change scenarios based on existing data or potential new conditions, see the cascading effects on the organization and predict results. This provides them with the ability to explore future outcomes and downstream effects without impacting operational systems in order to determine the best path forward. Companies can test unlimited, complex scenarios to understand the causes that lead to a result, anticipate different scenarios, and automatically obtain robust plans to reach the sustainability and climate goals they've set.

Nexans, a leading actor in global sustainable electrification, has partnered with Cosmo Tech and Microsoft to use their Simulation Digital Twin and Azure technologies, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Nexans' Simulation Digital Twin includes more than 60,000 separate characteristics and simulates, for example, more than 120,000 different supply and delivery routes. They leveraged the solution to generate a plan that puts them on the path to reducing their CO2 emissions by 50,000 tonnes annually.

"As Nexans is a key player in electrification and energy transition, combining financial profitability and carbon emission is critical to achieve both financial environmental targets," said Olivier Chevreau, VP Sustainability of Nexans Group. "With Simulation Digital Twin technology, we are able to mobilize and engage our teams to visualize their combined reality, to simulate environmental financial impact of operational decisions and to make sure that behind the climate targets, there is a clear and shared action plan tracked internally, and continuously updated."

"The challenges facing global organizations, like Nexans, striving to reduce carbon emissions are increasingly complex. Market disruptions demand more robustness and agility" said Hugues de Bantel, Co-Founder and CEO at Cosmo Tech. "With Simulation Digital Twins decision makers understand the impact of their decisions, they can test operational strategies before implementing them, and generate the resiliency they need to achieve sustainability in an uncertain future."

Tony Shakib, Partner General Manager, Microsoft Azure IoT said, "Microsoft Azure customers are looking for ways to further benefit from their investments in data, IoT and edge AI. Our collaboration with Cosmo Tech and their 360 Simulation Digital Twin platform provides a mechanism for achieving sustainable outcomes through informed decision making. With Cosmo Tech, Azure Digital Twin customers explore options, make accurate predictions, and generate optimal operational and strategic plans in line with their sustainability objectives."

About Cosmo Tech

Cosmo Tech provides a 360 Simulation Digital Twin platform to solve the most complex industrial problems and lead enterprise decision making. This next-gen hybrid AI technology provides holistic and dynamic simulation that predicts the evolution of an organization over time. Leading companies from the manufacturing, automotive, energy, and transport sectors rely on Cosmo Tech to ensure a future that is robust, resilient, and sustainable.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005070/en/

Contacts:

Media

cindy.renard@cosmotech.com

lindseywilliams@storiesout.com


COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - Lego Group has joined the long list of major global brands that have suspended or exited their commercial operations in Russia following the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Danish toy maker has decided to indefinitely cease commercial operations in Russia and also laid off about 90 Moscow-based employees.



Attributing the pull-out to the continued extensive disruption in the operating environment, Lego has terminated the commercial contract with its Russian franchisee Inventive Retail Group (IRG). The franchisee owned and operated 81 stores on behalf of Lego.



Lego temporarily froze some of its stores in Russia in June due to supply issues after earlier suspending its shipments to Russia in March amid the sanctions imposed on Moscow by western countries.



IRG operates more than 450 specialized retail and online stores with a portfolio made up of world famous brands such as Apple, Samsung, LEGO, Nike and others.



Late last month, American shoe and clothing manufacturer Nike also did not renew its franchise agreement with IRG to exit from the Russian market. It was forced to close all of its stores under this brand due to logistical issues.



In March 2022, Nike had already stated that it 'cannot guarantee the delivery of goods to customers in Russia.' From March to May, the number of Nike single-brand stores in the country had already dropped from 116 to 56.



Other major companies to exit their Russian operations, citing the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine as well as the unpredictable operating environment, include McDonald's, Adidas, Starbucks, HP and Cisco among others.



Tech majors Apple and Microsoft also have suspended all sales and services in Russia, while payment companies Visa and Mastercard decided to cease all transactions in the country.



Netflix, the popular video streaming service, also in March said it was shutting down all its operations in Russia. International Business Machines Corp. also wound down its business in Russia.



Outside the U.S., Samsung, Henkel, Nokia, Holcim, Philip Morris International, and Marsh McLennan have joined the list of companies that have wound up operations in Russia.







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JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel Wednesday in the first leg of his four-day Middle East tour. This is the 10th time Biden is visiting Israel, but his first as President.



Delivering remarks at an arrival ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Biden laid out his vision for the U.S.-Israel relationship and his strong commitment to Israel's security and future as a democratic and Jewish state.



The President then received a briefing on the Iron Dome and Iron Beam Air Defense Systems. The U.S. has strongly supported the Israeli defense system against potential attacks by Palestinian terrorits over the years, and the Biden administration supported it by providing $1 billion in the past year.



The new laser-enabled missile defense system called Iron Beam is being developed in partnership between the United States and Israel to help defeat threats coming from both state and non-state actors.



The President will then leave for Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, and lay wreath at the Holocaust Memorial.



On Thursday, Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. They will cover a wide range of subjects, from the U.S.-Israel security relationship, to regional issues, to cooperation on science and technology. It will be followed by a press conference.



Biden will then engage with the President of the United Arab Emirates and the Prime Minister of Israel for the first time at the summit level in a new format called 'I2U2' - Israel, India, the United States and UAE.



'There will be a significant announcement around food security and agricultural technology' at the summit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route Tel Aviv.



On Friday, Biden will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.



On the last leg of his Middle East tour, Biden will fly to Saudi Arabia to attend a regional summit.







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By John J. Metzler





The jolting but not unexpected wake-up call came from London. In a rare and unprecedented joint press conference, the chiefs of both the British MI5 domestic intelligence service and their American counterpart, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), presented a poignant and riveting account of China's sweeping intelligence-gathering operations and its wider implications for global business, cyber and military security.



FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that China's government poses the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security." He labeled the challenge as "immense."



MI5 head Ken McCallum said that the British domestic intelligence service "had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again." McCallum added that, "The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party. It's covertly applying pressure across the globe."



Both the senior intel leaders from the U.S. and the U.K. were briefing a London audience of business executives and senior university figures warning that the Chinese government "was set on stealing your technology," by employing a wide range of methods, many of which may at first not seem espionage-related.



Ken McCallum added bluntly, "Most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, my stuff. It's yours. The world-leading expertise, technology, research and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you." He cited aerospace, engineering, cyber threats and technology transfer as comprising particular challenges.



He advised, "The widespread Western assumption that growing prosperity within China and increasing connectivity with the West would automatically lead to greater political freedom has, I'm afraid, been shown to be plain wrong. But the Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democratic, media and legal systems. Not to emulate them, sadly, but to use them for its gain."



Specifically citing the CCP's United Front Work Department, a catch-all bureau mobilizing seemingly unrelated multi-tiered collection efforts to gather and piece together intelligence, which McCallum described as "mounting patient, well-funded, deceptive campaigns to buy and exert influence."



Not surprisingly the Beijing communists and many media organizations view Western espionage warnings as a form of Sinophobia and promoting a China threat. McCallum retorted that he is focused on the activities of the Chinese Communist Party: "We're not talking about Chinese people, in whom there is so much to admire." He mentioned that having 150,000 Chinese students studying in U.K. universities, "is, in almost all cases, good for them and good for us."



Director Wray equally added, "It is the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party that pose the threat we're focused on countering, not the Chinese people, and certainly not Chinese immigrants in our countries."



Naturally there's the question: why now? Why is there such a public rebuff to the People's Republic of China by stating the glaringly obvious?



There are multiple reasons. In East Asia, Beijing's stifling political shutdown in the former British Crown colony of Hong Kong presented another stark reminder as to the "trust factor" in agreements reached with China's leaders, who legally agreed not to interfere with Hong's Kong free political and economic system for 50 years, and then unapologetically did so.



Equally, there's the very clear and present danger posed by the Beijing regime to democratic Taiwan which again brings Beijing's intentions into focus. FBI Director Wray warned clearly that, "If China does invade Taiwan," Western allies could see "supply chains and relationships disrupted." The small island remains a nexus for high tech and semiconductor technology needed globally.



For example, between 2010 and 2016, former British Prime Minister David Cameron was blissfully ambivalent to the espionage risks from massive Chinese investments; Boris Johnson was far more realistic regarding the security dimension of such commercial dealings.



A Chinese company has agreed to purchase Britain's largest semiconductor plant, Newport Wafer Fab in Wales, which makes wafers for semiconductors. The U.K. government has put the $75-million microchip plant deal on hold pending approval. Currently the United Kingdom is home to China's largest investments in Europe with over $55 billion invested since 2000.



The Ukraine war has rocked Europe's complacency towards authoritarian regimes and reminded Britain and the U.S. that politely tiptoeing around China's growing intelligence-gathering and military buildup does not serve our own defense and deterrence very well. Russia has China's diplomatic and economic support in the Ukraine war.



The FBI's Wray warned, "When you deal with a Chinese company, know you're also dealing with the Chinese government almost like silent partners."





John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China."


The Business Research Company's low voltage switchgear market research report expands on key drivers, trends, and growth opportunities in the market.

LONDON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Governments around the world are investing heavily in renewable energy sources; this is expected to drive the demand for power transmission and distribution, and control equipment such as switchgear. The global electricity generation from renewable energy is expected to grow from 5,383 TWh in 2016 to 14,271 TWh in 2040, leading to an increase in demand for renewable integration. It is estimated that about 5% ($0.4 trillion) of the global investment in transmission and distribution (T&D) will be for the integration of renewables by 2040. According to the International Energy Agency, in the pathway set out in the IEA's recent Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050, nearly three-quarters of global emissions reductions between 2020 and 2025 will take place in the electricity sector. To achieve this decline, the pathway calls for coal-fired electricity generation to fall by more than 6% a year. In the European Union (EU), around 9% of T&D investment is expected to be dedicated to renewable integration.

The global low voltage switchgear market size is expected to grow from $25.77 billion in 2021 to $29.54 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6%. The low voltage (LV) switchgear market is expected to reach $46.34 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 11.9%.

Request a free sample of the Low Voltage Switchgear Market Report

Asia-Pacific Is The Largest Region In The Low Voltage Switchgear Market

The Asia-Pacific region's low voltage switchgear (=1kv) market was worth $10.37 billion in 2021. The low voltage switchgear market in Asia Pacific is supported by an increase in the number of strategic acquisitions. For instance, in March 2020, Eaton Corporation, an Ireland-based switchgear power management company, signed an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in HuanYu High Tech, a subsidiary of HuanYu Group that manufactures and markets low-voltage circuit breakers and contractors in China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Low Voltage Switchgear Market Segmentation

By Product: Fixed Mounting, Plug-In, Withdrawable Unit By End-User: Residential, Commercial, Industrial By Voltage Rating: Less than 250V, 250-750V, 751-1000V By Installation: Indoor, Outdoor

Volatility In Raw Material Prices - A Limitation For The Low Voltage Switchgear Market

Volatility in raw material prices is expected to limit the growth of the LV switchgear market in the forecast period. Copper, steel, and silver are the major raw materials used in manufacturing switchgear, and they constitute around 75% of the total manufacturing cost. Steel prices are highly volatile and dependent on a variety of factors, such as global economic activity, the strength of the US dollar, trade tariffs, and a variety of other political and environmental factors. Steel prices are expected to increase in the near future, owing to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain interruptions.

See more on the Low Voltage Switchgear Market Report

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Modular content platform Kontent.ai makes it easier for businesses to deliver high-quality content seamlessly to multiple platforms at scale

Kontent.ai counts global giants such as Algolia, Anaplan, SonarSource and Zurich Insurance among its customers

First external investment will enable Kontent.ai to expand its global footprint in marketing and sales as well as bring the choice and governance of composable AI to its modular content platform

Industry-leading headless CMS Kontent.ai has raised $40m investment from Expedition Growth Capital (EGC) as it becomes a standalone enterprise for the first time and looks to enhance its product by bringing the power of AI into its content management systems (CMS). Powering over 2,000 projects including websites, apps and headless commerce experiences, Kontent.ai was originally started in 2015 as a business unit of 18-year old bootstrapped company Kentico. Today, Kontent.ai employs over 120 employees across five offices on four different continents. As a new independent company, it is ready to hire 100 employees in the next 12 months.

As more and more businesses look to transform the way they deliver content, Kontent.ai is experiencing high levels of growth. In 2021, global giants such as Algolia, Anaplan, SonarSource, the University of Oxford, Unum Insurance and Zurich Insurance made Kontent.ai their modular content platform of choice. In fact, around the world, increasingly large organisations are choosing a headless content management system because it allows them to centralise content management throughout the whole production process while enabling their developers to choose any technology stack for their digital experience. The headless CMS Software Market is projected to reach $1.6bn by 2027, with Gartner estimating that organisations that have adopted a composable approach, such as a headless CMS, will outpace competition by 80% in 2023 when it comes to new feature implementation.

Owning the headless CMS market

Today's funding sees Kontent.ai become its own standalone company following seven years as a business unit within parent company Kentico. As a bootstrapped company Kentico has developed two products concurrently, the headless CMS Kontent.ai alongside a flexible digital experience platform (DXP), called Xperience by Kentico. Over the past seven years, Kontent.ai has become a global leader in the headless CMS market, powering content delivery and collaboration at scale.

From a marketer's perspective, Kontent.ai's modular content platform helps organisations unify, organise and manage all business content in a cloud-based repository. What sets Kontent.ai apart is its intuitive authoring experience that allows for simultaneous, collaborative work at every phase of the content lifecycle. Using Kontent.ai, content teams can easily plan, create, and review content with streamlined workflows and approvals. The modular content platform allows editors to focus on the content they want to produce, without being held up by structural design choices on how and where that content will be displayed.

There has been an ever greater need for Kontent.ai's offering following the rise of hybrid and remote working in the last two years, with global companies needing to centralise their content and reproduce their digital experience at scale while their employees are working in different places and across different regionalised use cases. Using Kontent.ai's content platform, multinational companies are able to ensure consistent content strategies across languages and regions with no need to jump in and out of other apps to collaborate and plan in real time, saving time and money.

At the heart of Kontent.ai's offering is a belief that both marketers and developers have a stake in the digital experience and by adopting their content platform, a business is unlocking the potential of both parts of their team. From a developer's perspective, the platform's modern, microservices-based architecture allows for seamless integration with other applications and technologies. Robust APIs, webhooks, and flexible content models give developers full control over the structure of their content and how it's delivered to their websites and applications. This ensures that clean, organised content that can be pulled into any experience and technology stack, saving developers time and allowing them to focus on the best way to display information. Whilst the cloud-based content platform means that there are no concerns over maintenance with no downtime or performance issues.

Using AI to push boundaries of content management

As the industry leader when it comes to headless CMS for enterprises, Kontent.ai wants to continue to push the boundaries as they apply to new technologies. Following the new investment, the company wants to bring the possibility and power of composable AI, actioned right from the content platform. Composable AI means applying machine learning capabilities, exactly where it's needed and distributing it to support specific teams, workflows, use cases, or delivery channels. It is Kontent.ai's belief that for AI to bring true value, it needs to be purposeful, targeted, and actionable. In achieving these things, AI will enable Kontent.ai customers to improve all aspects of content operations, from creating more relevant content and optimising results to automating repetitive tasks.

Rapid growth ahead as Kontent.ai and Kentico appoint new CEOs

As part of the announcement, the separation into two separate companies also means changes to the position of CEO. The newly formed Kontent.ai company will be led by Bart Omlo while Kentico will be led by Dominik Pinter. The current CEO and founder of Kentico, Petr Palas will move to the role of Chairman of the Board for both companies. Kentico has recently introduced a new cloud-native generation of its flexible digital experience platform called Xperience by Kentico, a separate DXP tool for midmarket companies which it will continue to develop. Kentico continues to invest heavily in product development and as part of today's funding announcement, will also receive an additional $20m of committed capital from EGC that will be used to support its growth in the future. Stifel, the global investment bank, assisted Kontent.ai and Kentico with the fundraising.

Kontent.ai's CEO Bart Omlo said: "With this investment into Kontent.ai, now as its own company, we're excited to expand our global footprint helping enterprise teams scale their content operations, make the most of machine learning and AI, and deliver exceptional digital experiences. With Kontent.ai's modular content platform, we push the boundaries of content management to give our customers the competitive edge."

Oliver Thomas, founder and Managing Partner at Expedition Growth Capital said: "We've noted the impressive number of global enterprises that are choosing Kontent.ai for their headless CMS strategy and see huge potential in financing its future as an independent company. By appealing to both content creators and developers, Bart and the team are helping global companies to efficiently scale digital experience across an ever-evolving mix of channels. With AI unlocking even more powerful workflow automation for its customers, we're excited to see the rewards of product leadership in this exciting category."

D'Arcy Heath, Head of Digital Marketing and Automation at Unum said: "To be truly omni-channel, we needed a content platform that could support all our initiatives in one place to be able to create once and publish everywhere. Kontent.ai gives us that flexibility and adaptability. Working with Kontent.ai has brought marketing and IT closer together too. It enables us to leverage combined skills to deliver a scalable, omni-channel SaaS solution, with the customer at its heart."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005621/en/

Contacts:

Harry Ashcroft Burlington PR

harry@burlington.cc
Regulatory News:

OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE) (Paris:OSE)is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexis Vandier as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Alexis Vandier brings an impressive track record of successes in Pharma across a range of international roles and therapeutic areas, including oncology.

Dr. Dominique Costantini, Chairwoman of the Board, said: "The Board of Directors is very pleased to announce Alexis Vandier as OSE Immunotherapeutics' new Chief Executive Officer. Given his extensive international managerial experience, along with his clear understanding of OSE' strengths and potential, we are convinced that Alexis is uniquely qualified to lead our accelerated growth and bring us to the next level. Alexis's strategic and inspirational leadership, along his deep knowledge of the pharma industry, will help deliver highly innovative and effective therapeutic solutions to patients and strong value to our stakeholders.

We also want to express our gratitude to Alexis Peyroles, who led the Company until January 2022 and was instrumental to the three strategic Pharma partnerships OSE entered. I am confident that Alexis Vandier, together with OSE's highly talented team, will continue to build on these achievements and further expand OSE internationally."

Alexis Vandier, the new Chief Executive Officer of OSE Immunotherapeutics, commented: "I am thrilled to join the OSE' team in this new role at a very exciting time. OSE is uniquely positioned among its biotech peers thanks to its highly innovative mindset and ability to deliver extremely differentiated first-in-class drug candidates both in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation. The pharmaceutical partnerships already in place are a strong endorsement to the quality of our science with our clinical stage IL7-receptor antagonist (OSE-127/S95011), CD28 antagonist (FR104/VEL-101) and SIRPa antagonist (OSE-172/BI 765063). The recent positive Phase 3 data of Tedopi in non-small cell lung cancer beyond checkpoint inhibitors in secondary resistance has established the relevance of this T specific immunotherapy. These assets combined to the impressive potential of OSE's multi-target platforms make me confident in our ability to position OSE as a global leader in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation. Building on this large and promising portfolio and talented team, I am convinced that OSE can keep accelerating along this path and become one of the most dynamic biotechs of the next three years."

Alexis served as Vice-President Global Asset Lead at Ipsen, heading their efforts to build a leading oncology platform, including their lead tyrosine kinase inhibitor (Cabometyx, cabozantinib) which Alexis helped launch and reach its full commercial potential in various solid tumor indications and across 40 countries. Alexis also managed partnerships with Exelixis in the U.S., as well as with Roche and BMS (co-development in combination with nivolumab and atezolizumab).

Alexis' broad international and proven leadership experience were acquired over the last 20 years in various pharma positions. First at Sanofi where he spent 11 years in Corporate Strategy and Business Development, in Finance and Marketing, then 12 years spent at Ipsen working directly with Marc de Garidel in different global roles in Strategy, Business Development, Alliance management and Innovation/Marketing across multiples geographies (EU, Asia and U.S.). Alexis also became General Manager of Ipsen France where he accelerated the development of Ipsen around medical, market access and external affairs, driving successful launches in oncology and rare diseases.

Alexis is a graduate of Ecole Centrale de Lyon and holds a master's degree in engineering from the University of Economics, Lyon II.

ABOUT OSE Immunotherapeutics

OSE Immunotherapeutics is an integrated biotechnology company focused on developing and partnering therapies to control the immune system for Immuno-Oncology and Immuno-Inflammation. Its balanced first-in-class clinical and preclinical portfolio has a diversified risk profile:

Immuno-Oncology first-in-class products

Tedopi (innovative neoepitope combination): the Company's most advanced product; positive results for Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in secondary resistance after checkpoint inhibitor failure.

Other ongoing combination trials sponsored by cooperative clinical research groups in oncology:

Phase 2 in pancreatic cancer (TEDOPaM), sponsor GERCOR.

Phase 2 in ovary cancer, in combination with pembrolizumab (TEDOVA), sponsor ARCAGY-GINECO.

Phase 2 in non-small cell lung cancer in combination with nivolumab, sponsor Italian foundation FoRT.

BI 765063 (OSE-172, anti-SIRPa mAb on CD47/SIRPa pathway): developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim in advanced solid tumors; positive Phase 1 dose escalation results of BI 765063 in monotherapy and in combination with ezabenlimab (PD-1 antagonist); ongoing expansion Phase 1; BI sponsored international phase 1b clinical trial ongoing in combination with ezabenlimab alone or with other drugs in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

OSE-279, anti-PD1 advanced preclinical stage.

BiCKI: bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component of anti-PD1 combined with a new immunotherapy target (for example: BiCKI-IL7, preclinical stage) to increase anti-tumor efficacy.

Immuno-Inflammation first-in-class products

OSE-127/S95011 (humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of IL-7 receptor): developed in partnership with Servier; positive Phase 1 results; ongoing Phase 2 in ulcerative colitis (sponsor OSE) and ongoing Phase 2a in Sjogren's syndrome (sponsor Servier).

FR104 (anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody): licensing partnership agreement with Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in transplantation; ongoing Phase 1/2 in renal transplant (sponsored by the Nantes University Hospital); Phase 1 ongoing in the US (VEL-101, sponsor Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.); Phase 2 planned in an autoimmune disease indication.

OSE-230 (ChemR23 agonist mAb): preclinical stage therapeutic agent with the potential to resolve chronic inflammation by driving affected tissues to tissue integrity.

CoVepiT: a prophylactic second-generation vaccine activating cytotoxic T lymphocytes against COVID-19, developed using optimized epitopes from SARS-CoV2 viral proteins, epitopes non impacted by multi-variants. Shows good tolerance and very good level of T cell immune response. In clinical testing, a long-term memory response was confirmed at 6 months.

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Forward-looking statements

This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics' management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate.

These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "target", "plan", or "estimate", their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import. Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics' shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Universal Registration Document filed with the AMF on 15 April 2022, including the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2021, available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics' website. Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005478/en/

Contacts:

OSE Immunotherapeutics

Sylvie Detry

sylvie.detry@ose-immuno.com

+33 153 198 757

Investor Relations

Thomas Guillot

thomas.guillot@ose-immuno.com

+33 607 380 431

Media

U.S. Media: LifeSci Communications

Darren Opland, Ph.D.

darren@lifescicomms.com

+1 646 627 8387

French Media: FP2COM

Florence Portejoie

fportejoie@fp2com.fr

+33 607 768 283

Guillaume van Renterghem LifeSci Advisors

gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com

+41 76 735 01 31
Regulatory News:

GENOMIC VISION (Paris:GV) (FR0011799907 GV the "Company"), a biotechnology company that develops tools and services dedicated to the analysis and control of changes in the genome,today announced changes in its governance following the Company's ordinary general meeting held on July 11, 2022 at Genomic Vision's headquarters.

The resolutions put forward and approved during this general meeting included:

the revocation of Mrs. Remy-Renou's mandate as Chair of the Executive Board and the appointment of a new member of the Executive Board, Mrs. Emilie Chataignier;

the revocation of the mandates of all the members of the Supervisory Board Mrs. Elisabeth Ourliac, Mrs. Tammou Abikhzer and Mr. Stephane Verdood and the appointment of Mrs. Florence Alouch, Mr. Mohammed Afshar and Mr. Eric Edery for a 6-year term as provided for in the Company's articles of association.

The reconstituted Supervisory Board met following the ordinary general meeting and decided to appoint Mrs. Florence Alouch as Chair of the Supervisory Board and Mr. Aaron Bensimon as Chair of the Executive Board.

The objective of these changes in Genomic Vision's governance is to strengthen the Company's commercial momentum.

The minutes of the ordinary general meeting of July 11, 2022 will be made available in the Investors General Assembly section of the Company's website within the statutory timeframe.

ABOUT GENOMIC VISION

GENOMIC VISION is a biotechnology company developing products and services dedicated to the analysis (structural and functional) of genome modifications as well as to the quality and safety control of these modifications, in particular in genome editing technologies and biomanufacturing processes. Genomic Vision proprietary tools, based on DNA combing technology and artificial intelligence, provide robust quantitative measurements needed to high confidence characterization of DNA alteration in the genome. These tools are mainly used for monitoring DNA replication in cancerous cell, for early cancer detection and the diagnosis of genetic diseases. Genomic Vision, based near Paris in Bagneux, is a public listed company listed in compartment C of Euronext's regulated market in Paris (Euronext: GV ISIN: FR0011799907).

For further information, please visit www.genomicvision.com

Member of the CAC Mid Small and CAC All-Tradable indexes

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

This press release contains implicitly or explicitly certain forward-looking statements concerning Genomic Vision and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Genomic Vision considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the universal registration document filed with the AMF on April 14, 2022 under reference number R.22-0293, as updated by the amendment filed with the AMF on May 20, 2022, under number D.22-0293-A01, available on the web site of Genomic Vision (www.genomicvision.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Genomic Vision operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Genomic Vision or not currently considered material by Genomic Vision. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Genomic Vision to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute and should not be construed as an offer or an invitation to sell or subscribe, or the solicitation of any order or invitation to purchase or subscribe for Genomic Vision shares in any country. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be a breach of applicable laws. The persons in possession of this press release must inquire about any local restrictions and comply with these restrictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005627/en/

Contacts:

Genomic Vision

Aaron Bensimon

CEO

Tel.: +33 1 49 08 07 51

investisseurs@genomicvision.com

Ulysse Communication

Press Relations

Bruno Arabian

Tel.: +33 1 42 68 29 70

barabian@ulysse-communication.com

NewCap

Investor Relations

& Strategic Communications

Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 94

gv@newcap.eu
BANGALORE, India, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Appliance Market is segmented by Type - Refrigerators, Washing Machines, Air Conditioner, Kitchen Appliances, Others, by Application - Offline Sales, Online Sales. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Home Appliances Category.

The global Home Appliance market size is estimated to be worth USD 217910 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 282150 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.4% during the review period.

Major factors driving the growth of the home appliance market are

Increased technological development, rapid urbanization, housing market expansion, rise in per capita income, improved living standards, the surge in demand for comfort in household chores, shift in consumer lifestyle, and rise in the number of smaller households are the main factors propelling the global home appliance market.

Additionally, customer preference for eco-friendly and energy-efficient appliances contributes to the home appliance market expansion. In addition, factors like government programs for energy-efficient appliances are anticipated to make it easier for people to adopt them in the coming years.

Browse The Table of Contents And List of Figures At https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-1992/global-home-appliance

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE HOME APPLIANCE MARKET

The rapid increase in the standard of living is expected to drive the growth of the home appliance market. The rapid industrialization and rise in disposable money have made comfort and convenience necessary. Everyday time is saved by electrical devices like refrigerators and washing machines. Pushing a button has made labor-intensive tasks simple. During the anticipated period, these factors are anticipated to increase demand for the home appliance market.

Appliance buyers and manufacturers are both interested in buying energy-efficient appliances. The use of programmable thermostats, granular monitoring sensors, and digital inverter compressors by manufacturers allows them to transform their goods from energy-guzzlers to energy-efficient appliances. Thus the increase in adoption of the energy-efficient appliance is expected to increase the growth of the home appliance market.

Furthermore, technological advantages are expected to fuel the home appliance market growth. Many regulations and initiatives have been implemented to promote improvements in home appliances as countries focus on lowering the amounts of carbon emissions. In addition to requiring eco-design and energy labeling of appliances in the majority of countries, the EU has set minimum energy standards. Vendors have been spending money on developing mobile-controlled appliances. Appliances like air conditioners and space heaters may be easily monitored with the Internet of Things (IoT). By analyzing trends of energy consumption and changing the temperature setting accordingly, IoT makes it simpler to reduce energy waste.

Another innovation that is popular right now is the integration of all kitchen appliances into modular kitchens. Families want built-in kitchen appliances, particularly in metropolitan locations, such as a cooktop that combines gas and induction. Appliances for the kitchen can be integrated completely or only partially. Integration of kitchen appliances improves the aesthetics of the space in addition to making it more energy-efficient. This factor is expected to further drive the growth of the home appliance market.

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HOME APPLIANCES MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on type, Air Conditioners are the main type, with a share of about 30%.

Companies are currently creating air conditioning systems that are more effective and environmentally friendly due to the growing demand for technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and preserve the environment.

Based on the channel, Offline Sales are the main application, which holds a share of about 70%. This is attributed to the consumers' increased desire for branded, specialty, and convenience stores. An offline distribution method is becoming more popular since it allows customers to see the goods in person, making it simple to check the products' quality and specs.

Based on region, Asia-Pacific is the main market and occupies about 60% of the global market. Sales of smart appliances are anticipated to rise in developed nations like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. This is largely due to growing energy and labor expenses, consumers' high spending power, and increased consumer awareness of smart cities and smart integrated appliances.

Market By Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Inquire For Regional Report: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-1992/Global_Home_Appliance_Market

Key players

Haier

Whirlpool

Midea

Panasonic

Arcelik

SAMSUNG

SONY

LG

BSH

Hisense

Electrolux

Philips

Gree

TCL

Changhong

SKYWORTH

Meling

Bosch

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SIMILAR REPORTS

- The global Smart Home Appliances market size is estimated to be worth USD 27680 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 59180 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 13.5% during the review period.

- The global Smart Kitchen Appliances market size is estimated to be worth USD 3328.5 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 20060 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 34.9% during the review period.

- The global Home Laundry Appliance market size is estimated to be worth USD 38790 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 45520 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 2.7% during the review period.

- Global Connected Home Appliance Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

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- The global Prefabricated Bathroom Pods market is valued at USD 1.41 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 2.95 billion by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.53% between 2021 and 2027.

- The global Integrated Smart Toilet market size is estimated to be worth USD 1230.5 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 2264.5 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 10.7% during the review period.

- The global Kids Smartwatch market size is estimated to be worth USD 1297.8 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 3081.2 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 15.5% during the review period.

- In 2020, the global Smart Toilet market size was USD 3395.9 million and it is expected to reach USD 5168.1 million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 6.2% from 2021 to 2027.

- The global Smart Retail market size is projected to reach USD 785 Billion by 2027, from USD 142 Billion in 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28% from 2021 to 2027.

- In 2020, the global Bluetooth Headphones market size was USD 18760 million and it is expected to reach USD 41110 million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 11.7% during 2021-2027.

- The global Prefabricated Housing market size is projected to reach USD 17210 million by 2027, from USD 13940 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 2.6% during 2021-2027.

- The global Soundbars market was valued at USD 3889.4 million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 9697.8 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 14.0% during 2021-2027.

- The global Smart Home market size is projected to reach USD 117820 million by 2027, from USD 72040 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2021-2027.

- The global Smart Home Security market size is projected to reach US$ 1595.4 million by 2027, from US$ 726.9 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 11.4% during 2021-2027.

- Global Air Conditioning Filter Drier Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Rooftop Tent Sales Market Report 2021

- Global and United States Virtual Restaurant and Ghost Kitchens Market Report & Forecast 2022-2028

- Global Wireless Smart Home Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027

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- Global and China Smart Home Robotics Market Insights, Forecast to 2027

- Global Sensors in the Smart Home Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027

- Global Smart Home Technologies Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027

- Global Bath Textiles Market Insights and Forecast 2028

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Wavestone informs its shareholders that its 2021/22 universal registration document, relating to fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 was recorded by the AMF on July 13, 2022 under the number D.22-0645.

This document (French version) is made available according to legal requirements and can be consulted on the Wavestone website (www.wavestone.com, Investors section) and on the AMF web site (www.amf-france.org). The English version of this document will be published shortly.

The 2021/22 universal registration document notably contains:

2021/22 annual financial report;

the statement of non-financial performance (summary of the social, environmental and societal aspects of the company's activities in accordance with the French "Grenelle 2" legislation);

the report on corporate governance;

the remuneration of corporate officers' report;

the draft resolutions submitted to the Annual General Meeting (July 28, 2022);

the different Auditors' reports;

description of the share buy-back program;

the table of Auditors' fees.

About Wavestone

In a world where knowing how to drive transformation is the key to success, Wavestone's mission is to inform and guide large companies and organizations in their most critical transformations, with the ambition of a positive outcome for all stakeholders. It's an ambition anchored in the firm's DNA and embodied in the signature "The Positive Way."

Wavestone draws on about 4,000 employees across Europe - where it is a leading independent player in consulting, the United States and Asia.

Wavestone is listed on Euronext Paris and recognized as a Great Place to Work.

Wavestone

Pascal Imbert

CEO

Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 03 20 00

Benjamin Clement

Financial Communication

Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 03 20 00 Actus

Mathieu Omnes

Investor and Analyst Relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 92

Deborah Schwartz

Press relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 35

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Nantes - 13 July 2022 - 6.00 pm - As part of the liquidity contract entered into between Lhyfe (Euronext Paris - FR0014009YQ1 - LHYFE), an independent green hydrogen producer for low carbon industry and mobility, and Porzamparc Societe de Bourse, the following resources appeared on the liquidity account on June 30th, 2022:

Number of shares: 21,171 Lhyfe shares

Cash position: 334,698.41 euros in cash

Over the 1st semester, the following transactions were executed:

Buy side 21,171 shares  165,301.59 66 transactions Sell side 0 share  0.00 0 transaction

As a reminder, the following resources were available on the liquidity account as of the date of entry into force of the liquidity contract, on June 20th 2022:

Number of shares: 0 Lhyfe share

Cash position: 500,000.00 euros in cash

About Lhyfe

Created in Nantes in 2017, Lhyfe produces and supplies renewable green hydrogen for mobility and industry. Its production plant and its commercial pipeline will allow access to renewable green hydrogen in industrial quantities and form part of a virtuous energy model benefitting the environment. It is a member of France Hydrogene and Hydrogen Europe. Lhyfe inaugurated its first green hydrogen industrial production site in September 2021. It currently has 93 projects in its pipeline across Europe, of which 20 in advanced development by 2026, to contribute in mobility and industry decarbonization. A research program started in 2019 should also lead to the start of a test phase in real conditions for the world's first floating electrolyzer linked to a floating wind farm planned for fall 2022.



For more information go to Lhyfe.com

Contacts

Investor relations

LHYFE

Maria Pardo Saleme - CFO

+33 (0)7 86 30 68 26

maria.pardosaleme@lhyfe.com Financial press relations

ACTUS

Manon Clairet

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr Business press relations

Nouvelles Graines

Clemence Rebours

+33 (0)6 60 57 76 43

c.rebours@nouvelles-graines.com

Appendix

Buy side Sell side Number of transactions Number of shares Capital traded in EUR Number of transactions Number of shares Capital traded in EUR TOTAL 66 21,171 165,301.59 - - - 20/06/2022 11 2,541 19,772.03 - - - 21/06/2022 9 2,700 21,108.60 - - - 22/06/2022 7 2,250 17,667.00 - - - 23/06/2022 13 5,600 43,604.40 - - - 24/06/2022 7 2,300 17,856.51 - - - 27/06/2022 4 1,400 10,898.16 - - - 28/06/2022 3 851 6,714.39 - - - 29/06/2022 4 929 7,299.62 - - - 30/06/2022 8 2,600 20,380.88 - - -

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Immerse in the miraculous world of PITERA in a first-of-its-kind global-scale experience dedicated to the exclusive and iconic ingredient at the heart of SK-II

SINGAPORE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A day of firsts. A day of discovery. A day of miracles. Global prestige skincare brand SK-II celebrates its iconic and exclusive skincare ingredient-PITERA with the first-ever SK-II World PITERA Day.

PITERA is at the heart of SK-II, a precious gift from nature and beyond. For over 40 years, every single SK-II product is formulated with PITERA and is the key to millions of skin transformations[1] around the world.

Held in Tokyo, Japan, and virtually broadcast to the world, World PITERA Day is SK-II's very first global large-scale event dedicated to the iconic PITERA. Exclusively attended by SK-II celebrity ambassadors - including Japanese actress Haruka Ayase, MINA of global girl group TWICE, Japanese actress and model Ayaka Miyoshi, and Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe- and some of the biggest names in beauty across the world, World PITERA Day features an immersive journey that unfolds the miracles of PITERA[2] from its origins to its latest scientific discoveries and innovations like never before.

Begin your journey by entering the world of PITERA with an immersive retelling of PITERA's fascinating origin story and view the first ever bottle of PITERA Essence made. Take a virtual trip to visit the one place in the world where PITERA is crafted, the Shiga Plant in Japan. Marvel at the miracles of PITERA[3] pioneering skin health and beauty as well as skin science discoveries and milestones, including an exclusive first-in-the-world showcase of SK-II's latest breakthrough PITERA 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study based on the skin of young women today.

Get up close and personal with SK-II's groundbreaking PITERA innovations in Brightening and Early Anti-Aging with the award-winning GenOptics UltraAura Essence and Skinpower. Step into the future of skincare with SK-II's latest, most advanced contactless skin analysis tool, the Mini Magic Scan, to unlock your skin age, health and beauty and receive your very own personalized PITERA regimen.

The day of firsts for PITERA culminates with an unveiling of SK-II's boldest PITERA stress-test yet. SK-II's "Late Night Portraits" campaign features a series of stunning bare-skinned photographs starring SK-II's beloved brand ambassadors courageously captured at their worst moments. Inspired by SK-II's first in the world PITERA 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study that uncovers how women's skin condition fluctuates greatly within a day, even looking almost 10 years older, due to multiple daily stressors, "Late Night Portraits" is testament to the power of SK-II's PITERA and PITERA Essence stabilizing her skin's daily fluctuations. Powered by PITERA and PITERA Essence as her skincare essential, her skin is transformed to Crystal Clear Skin3, even when it's meant to be her worst moment.

"PITERA is a precious gift from nature and beyond. For over 40 years, it has changed the destiny of millions of women, and we are delighted to open our doors to its full story for the first time with World PITERA Day," shared Sue Kyung Lee, CEO, Global SK-II. "PITERA has remained unchanged but the miracles of its scientific discoveries and innovations continue to unfold. Through SK-II's partnerships with the world's top scientists and dermatologists on extensive research studies, we have never stopped uncovering new PITERA secrets and its ability to transform skin to Crystal Clear Skin. World PITERA Day is a recognition and celebration of the miracles that PITERA has brought and will continue bringing to the world."

About SK-II

For more than 40 years, SK-II has touched the lives of millions of women around the world through skin and life transformation. The fascinating story behind SK-II began with a quest to understand why elderly sake brewers had wrinkled faces, but extraordinarily soft and youthful-looking hands. These hands were in constant contact with the sake fermentation process. It took years of research for scientists to isolate SK-II's iconic ingredient PITERA, a naturally-derived skincare ingredient crafted from a proprietary yeast fermentation process exclusive to SK-II. Since then, SK-II with PITERA has become a special secret shared by celebrities all over the world such as Chloe Grace Moretz, Simone Biles, Tangwei, Chun Xia, Haruka Ayase and Kasumi Arimura and Naomi Watanabe. For the latest news and in-depth information, please visit http://www.sk-ii.com .

About PITERA

Iconic and exclusive to SK-II, PITERA is a naturally derived skincare ingredient crafted from a proprietary yeast fermentation process that is exclusive to SK-II. Packed with over 50 micro-nutrients - vitamins, amino acids, minerals and organic acids - the unique composition of PITERA harnesses the vital force of nature and is one that can't be achieved artificially or synthetically. PITERA by SK-II is welcomed in by skin like its own because PITERA has a unique composition that resembles skin's Natural Moisturizing Factors. This allows PITERA to be absorbed quickly and deeply* into skin delivering all its goodness.

[1] Within stratum corneum

[2] Japan, Indonesia & Thailand to find alternative articulation for "miracle" i.e. wonders of PITERA

[3] Japan, Indonesia & Thailand to find alternative articulation for "miracle" i.e. wonders of PITERA

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New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - US-based full-service delivery service and software solution provider ShipX has announced the launch of its final mile e-commerce delivery solutions. ShipX offers its delivery services to e-commerce brands, shippers, 3PL & fulfillment services, regional and major carriers, retailers, and private fleets by helping them to optimize and execute their delivery requirements from start to finish. ShipX is committed to giving its clients reliable, cost-effective end-to-end solutions to simplify the shipping process with the help of advanced technological support.

Ship X provides its clients with unified, turnkey delivery services through its vetted delivery network. It also aims to provide them with affordable and reliable alternatives for their first, middle and final mile delivery requirements. The global e-commerce logistics market was valued at US$ 439.8 Million in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.8%, reaching US$ 2,734.6 Billion by 2032 from US$ 531.6 Billion in 2022.

The pandemic made delivery services more accessible and available than ever before, and the industry has had to keep up with this shift. Convenience and speed are prioritized, and consumers expect a flawless service that caters to their needs.

Shipx incorporates the top-performing carriers into shipping solutions that can be monitored and handled on one all-encompassing platform. Its goal is to accommodate the ever-evolving needs of the shippers of the world today.

"Our advanced technologies and Vetted Delivery Network (VDN) help us to build dynamic routing with built-in redundancy and to ensure continuity on every shipment. Our mission is to provide an efficient, reliable, scalable alternative to the handful of national delivery carriers that dominate the shipping marketplace. We take the complexity out of the pricing equation, making it easy to plan and price our clients' products", says Solomon Zakinov, Founder and CEO of Ship X.

ShipX emphasizes efficiency and accuracy in its delivery services. Its mission is to incorporate state-of-the-art technological advancements to streamline the delivery services and ensure accurate tracking of shipments. ShipX also focuses on contributing to sustainability within the industry by investing in carbon-neutral initiatives. It is committed to ensuring that its use of conventional fossil fuels is counteracted by significant investments in carbon offsetting.

ShipX is headquartered in New York and was founded by Solomon Zakinov. ShipX recently announced the acquisition of Princeton Logistics and its subsidiary, TriStar Carriers, to expand its service portfolio. The acquisition is intended to enable ShipX to arrange First and Middle Mile transportation services to e-commerce customers who require specialized trucking options and also intends to help them strengthen their door-to-door parcel delivery services across North America.

Media Contact:

Name: Dylan Amsterdam

Email: dylan@shipx.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130781
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Baroyeca, Silver Bullet Mines, and Argentina Lithium

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Baroyeca (TSXV:BGS) yields almost 1 kg per tonne silver equivalent at the Atocha Project

Baroyeca (BGS) has assayed up to 986.6 g/t AgEq at the Atocha Project in Tolima, Colombia. The results stem from three additional drill holes from the phase 2 program. Raul Sanabria, President of Baroyeca, sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to highlight the results.

For the full interview with Raul Sanabria and to learn more about Baroyeca, click here

Silver Bullet Mines (TSXV:SBMI) produces silver and copper at its mill in Arizona

Silver Bullet Mines Corp. (SBMI) has successfully produced silver and copper at its wholly-owned 125 metric ton per day mill near Globe, Arizona. To date there have been no major setbacks and all components are operating within expected parameters. VP Capital Markets and Director Peter Clausi sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Peter Clausi and to learn more about Silver Bullet Mines, click here

Argentina Lithium (TSXV:LIT) completes first exploration diamond drill hole at its Rincon West Project

Argentina Lithium & Energy (LIT) has completed the first exploration diamond drill hole at its Rincon West Project in Salta Province, Argentina. The company reported positive lithium analyses from brine samples collected over a 70 metre thick permeable interval with lithium grades ranging from 225 to 380 mg/litre. Nikolaos Cacos, President & CEO of Argentina Lithium, sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Nikolaos Cacos and to learn more about Argentina Lithium, click here

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

CONTACT:

The Market Herald

Charity Robertson

charity.robertson@themarketherald.ca

themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708474/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-New-Interviews-with-Baroyeca-Silver-Bullet-Mines-and-Argentina-Lithium
Kakao's logo is seen in its offices in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Kakao



Kakao, operator of Korea's most popular messaging app KakaoTalk, has decided to remove an external payment link from the Android version of the software, following a standoff with Google over the U.S. tech giant's new in-app payment policy, sources said Wednesday.



The standoff between the two companies has continued for nearly two weeks, after Google turned down Kakao's submission for the latest 9.8.6 version of KakaoTalk for Android on June 30, apparently for maintaining an external payment link against Google's new policy.



According to industry sources, Kakao has decided to remove the external link and resubmit the KakaoTalk update application with Google.



The decision came after the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), Korea's telecommunications regulator, held a three-way meeting with executives of both companies to listen to their positions last Thursday.



Google announced in April its new payment policy, which requires app developers selling digital goods and services on its app market to use Google's own billing system and remove external payment links.



The move has prompted many content companies to remove their external payment links and instead raise prices of content, such as webtoons and digital books, to make up for increased costs due to commissions.



Kakao, however, apparently decided to challenge Google's policy, which has been widely perceived by the local tech community as a violation of the country's revised Telecommunications Business Act.



The revision, which bans app store operators from forcing developers to use their own in-app payment systems, was passed by the National Assembly in September of last year  making Korea the first country in the world to introduce such curbs on in-app billing policies of Apple and Google.



The KCC, meanwhile, decided to launch a formal investigation into Google's new billing policy. The regulator has been looking into Google's new policy after reaching a provisional conclusion that the U.S. tech giant was in violation of the Korean law.



Police have also launched an investigation after the Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, a local civic group, filed a formal complaint against Google's new policy last month. (Yonhap)




Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Meryllion Resources Corporation (CSE: MYR) (the "Company," or "Meryllion) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a market-making agreement (the "Agreement") with Independent Trading Group Inc. ("ITG") pursuant to which ITG has agreed to provide certain market-making services to the Company.

ITG will trade the securities of the Company on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") for the purposes of maintaining an orderly market and improving liquidity of the Company's common shares. In consideration of the services provided by ITG, the Company will pay ITG a monthly cash fee of $5,000 for a minimum term of three months, which will automatically extend for successive one-month terms unless terminated by either party on thirty days' prior written notice. The services provided by ITG commenced on July 11, 2022. None of ITG nor its affiliates or associates has any interest directly or indirectly in the Company or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest. ITG will not receive shares or other securities as compensation. ITG is at arm's length to Meryllion and has no other relationship with the Company, except pursuant to the Agreement. The capital used for market making will be provided by ITG.

ITG is an independent, privately held broker-dealer based in Toronto, Ontario, that provides a wide range of financial and investment services. ITG is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) and can access all Canadian stock exchanges and alternative trading systems.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has engaged the services of Harbor Access, a strategic, cross-border investor relations firm with offices in Stamford, Connecticut and Toronto, Ontario. Harbor Access will support the Company's investor relations activities and outreach initiatives. The initial term of the contract is for six months, and month to month thereafter. In consideration for the services the Company will pay Harbor Access US$7,000 per month and any reasonable out of pocket expenses. Harbor Access does not own or control, directly or indirectly, any securities of the Company.

About Meryllion Resources Corp.

Meryllion is an exploration and development company focused on mineral exploration, mine development and finance opportunities in Tier 1 jurisdictions, where the Company can earn an interest by funding exploration. The Company is in the process of earning up to a 70% interest in the Mt Turner copper-molybdenum-gold and uranium project in North Queensland and has an option over the Oldham Range Polymetallic Project located 320kms west of Wiluna, Western Australia.

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF MERYLLION RESOURCES CORP.

Richard Revelins Director & CEO

rrevelins@peregrinecorporate.com+1-310-405-4475 (USA)

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information

Graham Farrell - Investor Relations

Graham.Farrell@harbor-access.com+1-416-842-9003

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130802
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - BnSellit Technology Inc. (CSE: BNSL) ("BnSellit" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has entered into the Amendment to Capital Markets Consulting and Marketing Agreement (the "Amendment") with Hybrid Financial Ltd. ("Hybrid") in relation to an aggregate amount owing of $353,334.00 for the services provided by Hybrid pursuant to the Capital Markets Consulting and Marketing Agreement dated as of October 5, 2021 (the "Agreement").

In settlement and full satisfaction of the debt in the amount of $353,334.00, the Corporation has agreed to issue to Hybrid 1,009,526 Class A Common shares in the capital of the Corporation (the "Common Shares") at a deemed issue price of $0.35 per Common Share.

The Agreement is in full force and Hybrid will continue to perform its services until the expiration of the Initial Period (as defined in the Agreement).

"I would like to thank the Hybrid Financial team and in particular its President and CEO Steve Marshall. Steve has been a strong supporter and believer in BnSellit from the beginning. Hybrid has provided and continues to provide valuable advice and guidance to help BnSellit achieve its goals. Their continued commitment to the success of the Company, and belief in its future success, is demonstrated by this agreement." said Tony Comparelli, CEO of BnSellit Technology Inc.

The issuance of the Common Shares pursuant to the Amendment is subject to approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange.

All of the Common Shares issued pursuant to the Amendment are subject to a statutory hold period of 4 month plus a day from the date of issuance of the Common Shares in accordance with applicable securities legislation. Additionally, the Common Shares issued to Hybrid are subject to additional escrow restrictions for a period of 2 months as set forth in the Amendment.

For further information, please contact:

Antonio Comparelli, Chief Executive Officer

Email: tc@bnsellit.com

Tel: 416-720-8677

Corey Heerensperger, Chief Financial Officer

Email: corey@bnsellit.com

Tel: 403-630-2779

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130825
WASHINGTON D.C. / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2022 / Yesterday, Macmillan Publishers released Salmon Wars, a factually questionable book by former Los Angeles Times managing editor Douglas Frantz and former journalist turned private writer Catherine Collins. The book falsely claims that "overfishing from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Chesapeake Bay threatens a slender fish called a menhaden," and inaccurately states that menhaden is "an integral player in minimizing algae blooms because it eats phytoplankton."

According to the February 2020 stock assessment accepted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the Congressionally-chartered interstate compact that regulates shared migratory fishery resources among East Coast states, Atlantic menhaden is neither overfished nor is overfishing occurring. A simple cursory review of the assessment clearly illustrates that the Atlantic menhaden population has not been overfished in several decades. Similarly, in 2021, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission found that the "Gulf of Mexico Gulf Menhaden stock is not experiencing overfishing and is not overfished."

In fact, both Atlantic and Gulf menhaden are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council , which operates the world's most respected global fishery certification program. This designation indicates that the stock is "fished in a way that does not threaten the population's long-term health and minimizes the damaging effects of fishing to the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem."

Mr. Frantz and Ms. Collins also continued to misinform their audience by making the oft-repeated claim that menhaden minimize algae blooms. This statement was discredited in a study conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary that proved menhaden do not improve overall water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. The study examined "the amount of phytoplankton and nitrogen consumed and excreted by small groups of juvenile and adult menhaden during 6-hour periods," and found that "older menhaden hardly fed on phytoplankton at all."

The study, published in the February 22, 2010, issue of the Marine Ecology Progress Series, concluded that "based on [their] results as well as ecosystem modeling simulations, menhaden do not appear to represent a significant mechanism for removing nutrient inputs to the Bay."

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Press Contact

Bob Vanasse

(202) 333-2628

bob@stoveboat.com

SOURCE: Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/708507/New-Salmon-Wars-Book-Spreads-Menhaden-Myths
Santiago, Chile--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Cleanlight Inc. will be sponsoring the Think ESG event hosted at The National Club, in Toronto, on Thursday July 14, 2022.

About Cleanlight Inc.

A B2B and B2C affordable and innovative solar solution for homes and businesses. To date, Cleanlight has generated over USD $8.5 million dollars in consumer sales through its loyal customer base. Cleanlight's solar solution has the capacity to harness substantially more energy than the industry standard through their patented gel batteries that are considered to be more reliable and durable than their competitors. Cleanlight's industry grade solar technology is also heavily expanding into the mining sector, with several companies across North America such as Teck, Lundin Mining, Barrick Gold, and Kinross who have chosen to utilize Cleanlight's solar solution for their commercial operations. Cleanlight intends to unleash its proprietary consumer product in 2023, Solbox Technologies ("Solbox"), to revolutionize solar generator technology directly to consumers. The Solbox generators will combine with a consumer's home power supply to act as a more efficient source of renewable energy for everyday use.

About Think ESG

Think ESG is a Toronto-based organization with a mission to bring high quality ESG issuers and curated investors together. We bring innovative start-ups and put them in contact with a mix of investors ranging from institutional funds, retail investment advisors and high net worth individuals. Think ESG hosts exclusive networking events centered around companies that are pushing the boundaries of all things related to ESG. Our goal is to connect like-minded investors, who are focused on the future of investing including investing in a sustainable circular economy, with high quality companies that have ESG-related projects in Canada and abroad.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information:

Contact: Jordan Butler

CEO, President & Founder

Email: jordan@clenalight.cl

Website: cleanlight.cl

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130818
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) will be sponsoring and participating at the Think ESG event hosted at The National Club, in Toronto on Thursday July 14, 2022.

About The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE)

The Canadian Securities Exchange is home to more than 790 uniquely listed issues covering a broad range of industry sectors. The exchange provides trade execution, smart routing, risk management, compliance and market information services for Canadian listed instruments. Recognized as an exchange by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2004, the CSE is designed to facilitate the capital formation process for public companies through a streamlined approach to company regulation that emphasizes disclosure and the provision of efficient secondary market trading services for investors.

About Think ESG

Think ESG is a Toronto-based organization with a mission to bring high quality ESG issuers and curated investors together. We bring innovative start-ups and put them in contact with a mix of investors ranging from institutional funds, retail investment advisors and high net worth individuals. Think ESG hosts exclusive networking events centered around companies that are pushing the boundaries of all things related to ESG. Our goal is to connect like-minded investors, who are focused on the future of investing including investing in a sustainable circular economy, with high quality companies that have ESG-related projects in Canada and abroad.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information:

info@thecse.com

Toronto 416-572-2000

Vancouver 604-331-1213

www.thecse.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130822
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australia will on Thursday release June figures for unemployment, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The jobless rate is expected to tick down to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent in May, with the addition of 30,000 jobs after gaining 60,600 in the previous month. The participation rate is called steady at 66.7 percent. Australia also will see June data for new home sales from the Housing Industry Association; in May, sales tumbled 5.5 percent on month. Singapore will provide an advance estimate for Q2 gross domestic product; in the first quarter, GDP was up 0.7 percent on quarter and 3.7 percent on year. China will see June numbers for foreign direct investment; in May, FDI was up 17.3 percent on year. Japan will see final May figures for industrial production; in April, industrial output sank 1.5 percent on month and 4.9 percent on year. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Menlo Park, CA-based venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners closed four funds, totaling over $7 billion.

The funds are:

Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P. (Fund XIV) with $1.98 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P. ($1.98B), is designed to support founders in their earliest stages of company development in the firms long-standing Enterprise, Consumer, Health and Fintech practices. Investing at the earliest stages of innovation, from incubation to Seed to Series B, drives the way Lightspeed fundamentally works with and supports companies at all stages .

Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P. (Select Fund V) with $2.26 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P. ($2.26B), accelerates existing Lightspeed portfolio companies and new investments across our global platform led by the Lightspeed Growth Team.

Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II, L.P. (Opportunity Fund II) with $2.36 billion of committed capital, a platform to back breakout companies from across all of the global territories where Lightspeed operates.

Separately, Lightspeed India Partners closed a $500M early stage fund (LSIP Fund IV). Alongside India IV, which is a dedicated early-stage fund vehicle, Lightspeed invests in growth-stage companies in the India and South East Asia region from its Select and Opportunity fund vehicles. Over the past 5 years, the firms presence has expanded to 28 professionals across four locations (Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore), representing one of the largest venture advisory teams in the region. Lightspeed has been a partner to a number of category leaders in India including Indian Energy Exchange, Oyo, Byjus, Grab, Acko, Razorpay, Udaan, Sharechat and Innovaccer.

The firm also launched Lightspeed Faction, an independent team dedicated to building on Lightspeeds nine year history of backing founders in blockchain infrastructure. Faction is an experienced group of blockchain veterans that collaborates with the Lightspeed global platform to meet exceptional founders wherever they reside. The senior Faction team is run by Sam Harrison and Banafsheh Fathieh and anchored by a growing team of crypto native investors.

Lightspeeds global and multi-stage strategy supports entrepreneurs across sectors, in any geography, and at any point in their entrepreneurial journey across twelve global offices and in six countries. Since Lightspeeds founding, the firm has partnered with more than 500 Enterprise, Consumer, Health and Fintech founders and their companies. Roughly a fourth of those companies have either been acquired or gone public, with 33 IPOs over the years.

FinSMEs

13/07/2022
Noldor, a New York-based insurtech enabling carriers, reinsurers and reinsurance brokers to connect with program data, raised $10M in Seed funding.

The funding round was led by the DESCOvery group at D.E. Shaw, a global investment and technology development firm based in New York City, with participation from several other strategic investors.

The company intends to use the funds to grow and adapt to new use cases alongside the enterprises.

Led by CEO John Horneff, Noldor is an insurtech that allows carriers, reinsurers, and brokers to connect with program data. Rather than handling MGA reporting inhouse or aggregating data within a closed system, Noldor takes a data agnostic approach that allows for the integration of MGA data  enabling partners to spend time acting on data rather than processing it.

Founded in D. E. Shaws venture studio DESCOvery in 2021, Noldors technology integrates with any entity with delegated underwriting authority regardless of their existing tech stack. This integration allows the companys platform to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to aggregate data, uncover hidden drivers of loss ratios and automate back-office functions like reporting.

Noldor is currently working with dozens of MGAs and across multiple carriers and reinsurance brokers responsible for billions of dollars in gross written premiums. Active in both London and Bermuda (and across multiple lines of business), the data platform is being developed to improve efficiency and reduce expense ratios of all stakeholders associated with delegated authority.

FinSMEs

13/07/2022




By Kim Jae-heun







The number of shoppers using online luxury shopping platforms is rapidly decreasing after their brand image has been tainted due to recent counterfeit scandals.







In early April, the country's largest online fashion mall, Musinsa, was hit for selling fake apparel through the brand, Essentials. Essentials is a sub-label of the American luxury streetwear brand, Fear of God.







Last month, the local luxury shopping platform, Balaan, was also caught selling imitations of the Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High Og X Travis Scott Mocha sneaker by a customer.







Such scandals have led many consumers to question the authenticity of luxury goods sold on the internet, thus avoiding online shopping platforms.







According to Mobile Index, a data analysis service, on Wednesday, the number of monthly active users (MAU) of local luxury shopping platforms including Balaan, Must It and Tren:be, dropped by up to 40 percent compared to its highest point last month.







Specifically, Balaan's MAU fell from 820,000 users in April to 600,000 last month while Tren:be's decreased from 700,000 users in March to 470,000 in June.







Luxury shopping malls here bring in most of the products they purchased from secondary vendors or have private dealers sell items on their open market. This gives online retailers a price advantage over local department stores or luxury boutiques. However, the authenticity of products being sold on the internet is not guaranteed.







"Due to the nature of the luxury shopping platform business, it is difficult to survive in the market if they lose consumer trust. One scandal can not only affect a company's business by losing investment but also strike a mortal blow to other firms in the same market. It is an urgent task to regain consumer trust," a luxury shopping platform official said.







Balaan recently established a special task force to examine all the luxury items sold on its platform while promoting a strengthened refund policy for counterfeit products sold by accident.







Musinsa also joined hands with the Trade-Related IPR Protection Association (TIPA) to scrutinize all the luxury goods they deal with before offering them to their customers online. TIPA is a local non-profit organization that was established to protect intellectual property.






Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's unionized regular employees hold a rally at the company's shipyard on Geoje Island in South Gyeongsang Province. Korea Times file
An SK Bioscience researcher conducts a vaccine test in this photo provided by the company, Wednesday. Courtesy of SK Bioscience



By Baek Byung-yeul



SK Bioscience's SKYCovione coronavirus vaccine was proven to be effective against the Omicron variant. The company said Wednesday that it confirmed the effective immune response when people received a booster shot of the vaccine.



SKYCovione, also known as GBP510, is Korea's first COVID-19 vaccine. SK Bioscience obtained approval for the use of the recombinant protein-based vaccine from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on June 29.



The company conducted Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials on 81 healthy adults who received a booster shot of SKYCovione seven months after they received the second dose of the vaccine. The result showed that the neutralizing antibody titers against the Omicron variant BA.1 were 25 times higher than the titers right after the second dose, and 72 times higher than the titers seven months after the second dose.



The test result was revealed as the number of new confirmed COVID-19 infections is increasing again in Korea. As of Wednesday, the country reported 40,266 new COVID-19 cases. It is the first time in 63 days that the number of new confirmed cases exceeded the 40,000 mark. The previous peak was May 11 when there were 43,980 new cases.



Due to the increasing number of new cases, the government decided to continue requiring confirmed COVID-19 patients to self-quarantine for seven days. Health officials had been considering shortening or lifting the quarantine. In addition, the recipients of a fourth booster shot will be expanded from people aged 60 or older to people aged 50 or older or those with underlying diseases aged 18 or older.



"According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and experts, up to 200,000 confirmed cases could occur a day from mid-August to the end of September," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a COVID-19 response meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.



Stating that "the fourth vaccination can prevent progress toward severe COVID-19 symptoms," the prime minister stressed "the government strongly recommends vaccination among the recommended groups."



SK Bioscience believes its vaccine, which has been proven to be effective against Omicron, will help reduce the renewed proliferation of COVID-19 here. The results of the global Phase 3 clinical trial of SKYCovione on 4,037 adults showed that the proportion of participants who seroconverted or saw more than a fourfold increase in neutralizing antibody titers, was 98.06 percent, the company said.



"As the world slowly returns to daily life after the long COVID-19 pandemic, new variants are constantly threatening humanity," Ahn Jae-young, the CEO of the company, said.



"We will make utmost efforts to prepare for the endemic by accelerating the development of polyvalent vaccines and universal vaccines based on various platforms in addition to conducting various clinical trials of SKYCovione," he added.


Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), arrives for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda, in this June 24 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap



Fresh surges of COVID infections show the pandemic is nowhere near over, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief lamented Tuesday, warning that the virus is running free.



Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was worried that case numbers were shooting up, putting more strain on health systems and workers.



The number of Covid cases reported to the WHO increased 30 percent in the past two weeks, driven by sub-variants of the Omicron strain and the lifting of control measures.



"New waves of the virus demonstrate again that Covid-19 is nowhere near over. As the virus pushes at us, we must push back," he insisted.



He told a news conference that as transmission increases, governments must also deploy tried-and-tested measures like mask-wearing and improving ventilation.



"Sub-variants of Omicron, like BA.4 and BA.5, continue to drive waves of cases, hospitalization and death around the world," Tedros said.



"Surveillance has reduced significantly  including testing and sequencing  making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics, and the effectiveness of counter-measures."



Furthermore, tests, treatments and vaccines are not being deployed effectively.



"The virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity," he said, both in terms of hospitalization of acute cases and the expanding number of people with Long COVID.



'Uncertain and unpredictable'



The WHO's COVID-19 emergency committee met Friday via video-conference and determined the pandemic remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern  the highest alarm the WHO can sound.



WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told the meeting recent changes in testing policies were hindering the detection of cases and the monitoring of virus evolution.



The committee stressed the need to reduce transmission as the implications of a pandemic caused by a new respiratory virus would not be fully understood, the WHO said in a statement Monday.



The group voiced concern over steep reductions in testing, resulting in reduced surveillance and genomic sequencing.



"This impedes assessments of currently circulating and emerging variants of the virus," the WHO said, feeding the inability to interpret trends in transmission.



The committee said the trajectory of virus evolution and the characteristics of emerging variants remained "uncertain and unpredictable."



It said the absence of measures to reduce transmission increasing the likelihood of "new, fitter variants emerging, with different degrees of virulence, transmissibility, and immune escape potential."



Booster boost



Meanwhile the WHO's European office recommended a second booster shot of a COVID vaccine for older people and vulnerable groups.



COVID cases have been rising sharply since the end of May around most of Europe.



The call followed the EU's health and medicine agencies recommendation on Monday of a second booster shot for people over 60 years old.



Coronavirus cases have risen 57 percent in Moscow over the past week, the Russian capital's health authorities said.



"We recommend that you wear a mask in public places because the new Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 spread more rapidly from person to person," Moscow social services wrote on Telegram.



And hundreds of thousands of people were under lockdown in a small Chinese city after just one case of Covid-19 was detected, as Beijing's strict no-tolerance virus strategy showed no sign of abating.



The steelmaking hub of Wugang in Henan province announced three days of "closed control."



None of the city's 320,000 people are allowed outside their homes until midday Thursday. Local authorities were to deliver basic necessities.



China is the last major economy glued to a zero-COVID policy, crushing new outbreaks with snap lockdowns, forced quarantines and onerous travel curbs despite mounting public fatigue and damage to the economy. (AFP)


Bones of men and horses bring home the horrors of war at Waterloo

A team of world-class archaeologists, students and veterans on the battlefield of Waterloo have discovered a rare complete skeleton of a soldier from the battle 200 years ago.

As many as 20,000 men fell on a single day in June 1815 in the epic battle near Brussels in Belgium that forever ended Napoleons dreams of empire. And yet for two centuries a mystery has endured about what happened to their remains.

Now the team from Waterloo Uncovered  the charity that helps todays veterans and military personnel recover from injury and the impacts of their service  has made a significant find on the site of Wellingtons field hospital at Mont-Saint-Jean.

The charity has been excavating at Waterloo since 2015, and in that time has added a huge amount to our understanding of this cataclysmic battle involving men from many European nations.

Returning to excavate on the battlefield for the first time since the pandemic, Waterloo Uncovered have found significant new evidence of the suffering and endurance involved. Working at the site of the Allied field hospital at the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean, the team is carefully excavating the intact skeleton of a soldier, lying amid ammunition boxes, medical waste and the bones of legs and arms, amputated by surgeons in their struggle to save the wounded.

Professor Tony Pollard, one of Waterloo Uncovereds Archaeological Directors and Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, said: "I've been a battlefield archaeologist for 20 years and have never seen anything like it. We won't get any closer to the harsh reality of Waterloo than this."

Rod Eldridge, one of the projects Lead Welfare Officers and a veteran, added: Finding human remains can invoke a range of strong emotions, from excitement at their discovery to understandable sadness and reverence, as this is likely to be a soldier, just as those excavating it with Waterloo Uncovered are. There are strong feelings amongst the team that the bones must be treated with respect and dignity at all times.

Whilst the battle itself was bloody and brutal, the attitude to the dead on both sides seems callous in the light of modern attitudes.

Many Waterloo dead are thought to have been burnt on pyres, while others were shipped to the UK as part of a gruesome trade in fertiliser made from human bones.

In addition, many bodies were likely piled into mass graves that have not yet been discovered, in order to clear the battlefield of the thousands of bodies that littered it. Waterloo Uncovered is exploring this possibility in 2022 with the first ever large-scale geophysical survey of the Waterloo battlefield.

Led by PhD candidate Duncan Williams, the survey will identify anomalies in the landscape  potentially indicating mass graves, large collections of metal or lost structures - which will be explored by the team.

The skeleton found at Mont-Saint-Jean was uncovered in what was likely a roadside ditch beside the farmhouse. In 2019, the charity discovered amputated limbs in the same ditch, not far from the field hospital where an estimated 500 amputations took place, and limbs were said to have piled up in the corners of the courtyard.

Veronique Moulaert from AWaP, one of the projects partners, explained the grim picture painted by the proximity of amputated limbs and an articulated body, said: "Finding a skeleton in the same trench as ammunition boxes and amputated limbs shows the state of emergency the field hospital would have been in during the battle - dead soldiers, amputated limbs and more would have had to be swept into nearby ditches and quickly buried in a desperate attempt to contain the spread of disease around the hospital."

The dig has uncovered other, poignant evidence of the scale of suffering resulting from a Napoleonic battle, in the form of a number of horse bones. Its estimated that several thousand horses were also killed during the battle, as the glittering glory of the cavalry charge ended in death for all too many.

What makes the Waterloo Uncovered project even more unique is the fact that veterans and serving military personnel (VSMP), many of whom have experienced physical or mental injuries as a result of their service, form an integral part of the team. The charity uses archaeology as a tool to help service personnel find peace from the traumas of war, and in turn, VSMP offer a useful military perspective on the discoveries the charity unearths.

This year there are 20 VSMP joining the project; 11 from the UK, 5 from the Netherlands, 3 from Germany and 1 from Belgium.

Kieran Oliver, a Coldstream Guard veteran, was deployed to Afghanistan just days after his 18th birthday, and was later diagnosed with complex PTSD. He is one of the veterans who have joined the team on excavation this year.

Talking about the impact of the trip so far, he said: "Its crazy how I havent been myself for many years and now Im starting to come out and enjoy myself. Ive been smiling most of the time and I havent smiled in a long time. [] Its incredible, and what you gain from it as a person, like me coming out of my shell, helps with peoples mental health. Its been proven, which is why [Waterloo Uncovered] keep coming out and doing it again and again."

Ashely Gordon, a 1st Rifles veteran who has also accompanied the team shares a similar experience to Kieron and adds, Five days after my 18th birthday, I was deployed to Iraq. I returned back, and very shortly after I experienced a lot of problems with PTSD. [] Ive enjoyed the intricate trowelling. Youre so focused that you dont think about absolutely anything else, just what youre doing in that moment, which I find really therapeutic.

The team will continue its excavations until Friday 15 July 2022, and is sure to make some groundbreaking discoveries about the events that took place at these important battlefield sites.

Waterloo Uncovered is an archaeology project involving military veterans and serving personnel who have been injured or are suffering from mental health issues as a result of their service. Working in partnership with some of Europes top universities, and through the unique perspective of a team comprised of archaeologists, veterans, and serving soldiers, Waterloo Uncovered aims to understand war and its impact on people - and to educate the public about it. Visit www.waterloouncovered.com to learn more.
President Joe Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One for a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. AP-Yonhap



Joe Biden starts the first visit to the Middle East of his presidency with a monumental task: assuring uneasy Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials that he is committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.



Biden begins the visit Wednesday with a three-day stop in Israel, where officials say Iran's quickly evolving nuclear program is at the top of their agenda for talks with the U.S. president. Biden made reviving the Iran nuclear deal, brokered by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, a key priority as he entered office.



But indirect talks for the U.S. to reenter the deal have stalled as Iran has made rapid gains in developing its nuclear program. That's left the Biden administration increasingly pessimistic about resurrecting the deal, which placed significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.



Shortly after his arrival in Israel on Wednesday, Biden is expected to get a briefing on the country's new "Iron Beam" missile defense system and visit the Yad Vashem, a memorial to Holocaust victims. Besides meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, he's slated to receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor and visit with U.S. athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, which involve thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.



Biden, in a Washington Post op-ed published Saturday, laced into Trump for quitting the nuclear deal that Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union also signed onto. But Biden also suggested that he's still holding onto at least a sliver of hope that the Iranians will come back into compliance.



"My administration will continue to increase diplomatic and economic pressure until Iran is ready to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as I remain prepared to do," he wrote.



Israeli officials, who briefed reporters ahead of Biden's departure from Washington on Tuesday, said the U.S. and Israel would issue a broad-ranging "Jerusalem Declaration" that will take a tough stance on Iran's nuclear program.



The declaration commits both countries to use "all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat," according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the statement.



The official said the Israelis would stress to Biden their view that Iran has calculated "time is on their side" and is loath to give any concessions. The Biden administration's last round of indirect negotiations with Iran in Doha, Qatar, late last month ended without success.





Workers clean the red carpet ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap



Separately, Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued a joint statement on Wednesday announcing the two nations were launching a new strategic high-level dialogue on technology. The partnership is to focus on the use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and other tech-based solutions, to take on global challenges such as pandemic preparedness and climate change.



The White House has also been frustrated with repeated Iran-sponsored attacks on U.S. troops based in Iraq, though the administration says the frequency of such attacks has dropped precipitously over the last two years. Tehran also sponsored the rebel Houthis in a bloody war with the Saudis in Yemen. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire has been in place for more than four months, a fragile peace in a war that began in 2015.



Separately, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday said the administration believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine.



The Saudis, like the Israelis, have been frustrated that the White House has not abandoned efforts to revive the nuclear deal with Tehran. Biden heads to the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Friday to meet with King Salman and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely known by his initials MBS, and to attend a gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council, where Iran's nuclear program is on the agenda.



Also looming over the Saudi visit is the president's strained relationship with the crown prince.

As a White House candidate, Biden, a Democrat, said he would look to make the kingdom a "pariah" nation over its human rights abuses. The relationship was further strained when Biden last year approved the release of a U.S. intelligence report that determined that MBS likely approved the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.



The president will arrive in Saudi Arabia, among the world's biggest oil producers, at a moment of skyrocketing gas and food prices around the globe  driven, in part, by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. White House officials and energy analysts say there are low expectations that the Saudis or fellow members of OPEC+ will deliver relief.



Another factor in seeking a detente in the Saudi relationship is growing concern in the administration that the Saudis could move closer to China and Russia amid strains with the United States.





An official stands near a display of U.S. and Israeli flags at Ben Gurion Airport ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday. EPA-Yonhap
Washington, D.C., July 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Building on the success of the inaugural Clean Currents 2021, and with the overwhelming response from asset owners and exhibitors to join us in Sacramento in October 2022, the National Hydropower Association today announced Cincinnati as the location for Clean Currents 2023. Duke Energy, American Municipal Power and City of Hamilton have committed to serving as host utilities for the only national waterpower event that these three organizations are supporting in 2023.

Clean Currents 2021 opened a new chapter for the waterpower industry, as weve have taken ownership of our future and no longer rely on third-parties to decide whats best for us, said Malcolm Woolf, NHA President & CEO. We are thrilled to announce that Clean Currents 2023 will take place in Cincinnati. We thank Duke Energy, American Municipal Power and the City of Hamilton for not just servicing as host utilities for Clean Currents 2023, but for standing in lockstep with the hydropower industry. As the official waterpower industry event, 100% of the proceeds are reinvested back into advocacy and other priorities of the industry trade association. Our goal for 2023 is to develop an innovative event that brings every corner of the waterpower industry together to advance hydropower, pumped storage, small hydro, and marine energy.

Why Should You Choose Clean Currents?

Proceeds help support NHAs advocacy, which recently secured $900M in federal infrastructure grants for the hydropower industry

The event brings together the full array of waterpower technology companies, including utility generators, public power providers, equipment manufacturers, and engineering and technical consultants

The event is shaped by industry; not a for-profit, foreign-owned events company

About Clean Currents 2023

The event, which marks the evolution and growth of the waterpower industry, will be held at Duke Energy Convention Center. To learn more about this tradeshow and conference, visit the event website: https://cleancurrents.org

About NHA:

NHA is a national non-profit trade association dedicated exclusively to advancing the interests of the U.S. hydropower industry, including conventional, pumped storage, small hydro, and new marine and hydrokinetic technologies. NHAs membership consists of 280 organizations, including consumer-owned utilities, investor-owned utilities, independent power producers, developers, equipment manufacturers, environmental and engineering firms, and attorneys.

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BOISE, Idaho, July 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PlexTrac, the premier cybersecurity reporting and collaboration platform, and Boise State University's Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity announced their new partnership to supply PlexTrac to students and participants in the Cyberdome Project. PlexTrac is pleased to donate its platform for students performing critical cybersecurity work through this program to benefit rural Idaho organizations in managing their security posture.

The Cyberdome is Boise State's newest cyber initiative, a collaborative hub for competency-based training, with the mission of reducing cyber risk in rural communities and helping expand the cyber workforce in sync with Idaho's business, technology and government sectors.

PlexTrac is the number one platform for managing all phases of penetration testing so organizations can identify and prioritize risks and make measurable progress in becoming more secure. Users of PlexTrac cut penetration test reporting time in half and deliver more value to clients through better collaboration and remediation tracking. Additionally, PlexTrac supports offensive and purple teaming engagements so organizations of any size can measurably improve their security posture.

PlexTrac's mission is to ensure cybersecurity teams win the right security battles. PlexTrac's founder and CEO Dan DeCloss is an Idaho native and sees this partnership as a perfect opportunity to give back to the local community in a way that aligns with PlexTrac's mission and values. The partnership will both improve the cybersecurity posture of Idaho organizations and level up the skills and marketability of the Boise State students preparing to enter the workforce as cybersecurity professionals.

"The constant threats from adversaries impacting communities throughout Idaho requires a new approach to developing a 'ready for work' cyber workforce. This includes strong engagement with industry partners like PlexTrac to leverage their fantastic reporting and management platform while enabling our students to engage in competency-developing efforts," said Edward Vasko, CISSP, Director, at the Boise State Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity. "Further, the belief that our rural community partners, irrespective of size and budget, all deserve to have cyber advocates working on their behalf is a shared belief between Boise State and PlexTrac and is the critical reason for this partnership."

"We are thrilled to partner with the Cyberdome project through Boise State University. PlexTrac is an ideal platform for their initiatives as they work to educate students while making a demonstrable impact on rural communities," said DeCloss. "We are thrilled to offer PlexTrac to Boise State University students and partners through this program to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of security practitioners and programs everywhere  particularly in our own Idaho community."

Visit plextrac.com to learn more about the Boise-based scale-up company that secured a $70 million Series B round in February 2022.

Resources

 PlexTrac Platform

 PlexTrac Customer Testimonials

 PlexTrac Blogs

About Boise State University's Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity

Boise State University's Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity (https://www.boisestate.edu/cybersecurity/) is a leader of innovative cybersecurity research and advancement in Idaho and the region. The Institute welcomes and facilitates strategic partnerships with industry, higher education, business and government to improve cybersecurity for Idaho and the nation. The Institute also works to commercialize ground-breaking research and tools, and educate graduates to become the change-makers and forward-thinkers of the 21st century.

About PlexTrac, Inc.

PlexTrac, Inc. (plextrac.com) is a fast-growing cybersecurity software company driven by a mission to improve the security posture of organizations and security teams of all sizes. The PlexTrac platform is focused on streamlining the reporting and remediation of cybersecurity risks and aiding efficient collaboration within security teams. Supporting organizations using a purple teaming paradigm, PlexTrac serves as the central communication hub to aggregate all of the components of an organization's cybersecurity program.

PlexTrac Contact:

Angie O'Hara

Director of Marketing

(208) 274-5322

angie@plextrac.com

Boise State University Contact:

Mike Sharp

Director of Media Relations

208-426-1597

mikesharp@boisestate.edu

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Image 1: PlexTrac logo





PlexTrac, Inc. company logo









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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NEW ORLEANS, July 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until August 15, 2022 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Unilever PLC (NYSE: UL), if they purchased the Companys American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) between September 2, 2020 and July 21, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.



What You May Do

If you purchased ADRs of Unilever as above and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-ul/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by August 15, 2022 .

About the Lawsuit

Unilever and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On July 19, 2021, the Companys wholly owned subsidiary, Ben & Jerrys, announced a resolution to end sales of its ice cream in Occupied Palestinian Territory upon the expiration of the current licensing agreement by which its products had been distributed in Israel for decades. Then, on July 22, 2021, media sources reported that the states of Texas and Florida were investigating Ben & Jerrys actions for possible violations of the states Anti-BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israel) legislation.

On this news, ADRs of Unilever fell $3.19 per share, or approximately 5.4%.

The case is City of St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System v. Unilever PLC, et al., No. 22-cv-05011.

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Dublin, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Contrast Materials Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



As the global frequency of chronic diseases rises, the demand for diagnostic imaging procedures also increases and, as a result, contrast materials. Chronic disease costs $3.5 trillion in annual health care costs, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

The Arthritis Foundation estimates that 55 million people have been diagnosed with arthritis. Moreover, about 305,000 newborns and toddlers suffer from arthritis or rheumatic disorders. Osteoarthritis affects approximately 55 million people worldwide. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, 220 million women worldwide were affected by osteoporosis in 2019.



Due to the growing demand for imaging operations, contrast media manufacturers have invested much in R & D in order to bring new products to market and gain approval for new indications. Bracco, for example, received FDA approval in 2021 for Lumason, an ultrasound contrast agent, in a 20-vial pack design.

According to a report to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the increase in the volume of imaging services per Medicare beneficiary is the largest among all other services offered by physicians. Imaging techniques like computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and X-rays have become a standard aspect of most disease diagnoses. Diagnostic imaging modalities are becoming more widely employed as a result of developments in the underlying technology, which includes everything from equipment to administration.

Novel solutions, such as syringeless injectors and innovative packaging, aid in the delivery of the correct dose of contrast agents while also reducing waste. The Gadavist Imaging Bulk Package with transfer spike, for example, was authorised by the US FDA in August 2020, allowing for weight-based and multi-patient dosing as well as addressing hospital vial waste issues. It is expected that the approval of such innovative packaging will raise demand for the chemical agent.



Contrast materials are usually regarded as safe for use in MRI and CT scans, among other diagnostic techniques. However, some of the adverse effects and allergic responses associated with its use may limit market expansion. Their side effects range from mild to severe; severe reactions are extremely rare, as are major allergic reactions to contrast materials. In addition, handling complex and sophisticated diagnostic imaging technologies necessitates a high level of technical ability and expertise. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of radiology technologists is expected to expand by roughly 7% between 2019 and 2029. Despite this, a scarcity of specialists and radiologists will pose a hindrance to industry expansion.



By region, North America is expected to drive the growth of the global contrast materials market during the forecast period.

The existence of prominent players in the region, the high prevalence of chronic illnesses, the growing elderly population, and the increasing use of minimally invasive procedures all contribute to the region's significant share of the market. In the United States, the first gadolinium-based contrast agent was approved.

Four agents have been certified in the United States in the last decade, indicating a clear trend in the industry to identify more efficient, accurate, and safe agents. In the future, sales of contrast materials are likely to rise in the United States. Contrast material sales for ultrasound may have a significant growth rate among the various imaging modalities. In the United States, the rise in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and neurological diseases is the primary driver of market growth.



During the predicted period, Asia Pacific is also expected to increase significantly. This is because the region is home to a number of well-known local and worldwide manufacturers. For example, General Electric Pharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., is a GE Healthcare subsidiary that manufactures diagnostic pharmaceuticals (CT/MR contrast media) in China and is one of the world's largest contrast material manufacturing facilities. This aspect is expected to continue to drive regional market expansion.



COVID-19 Insights

Due to fewer patient visits to hospitals, the COVID-19 outbreak had a detrimental influence on the contrast materials industry. As a result of the epidemic, healthcare systems have been severely stressed. To prevent the spread of the disease and conserve healthcare resources for COVID-19 patients, healthcare institutes and providers were told to halt performing elective surgical operations and medical evaluations. As a result, the volume of imaging cases in many radiology departments dropped dramatically.



Due to a fall in the volume of optional and non-essential procedures, lower utilisation of routine testing, decreased capital spending by customers, and a slowdown in research activity owing to laboratory closures and decreased clinical testing, the worldwide contrast materials market has been impacted.

Key Topics Covered:



1. INTRODUCTION



2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4. MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.3.2. Bargaining Powers of Buyers

4.3.3. Threat of Substitutes

4.3.4. Threat of New Entrants

4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in Industry

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. GLOBAL CONTRAST MATERIALS MARKET, BY PRODUCT TYPE

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Iodine-based

5.3. Barium-Sulphate

5.4. Gadolinium

5.5. Saline and Gas

5.6. Others



6. GLOBAL CONTRAST MATERIALS MARKET, BY ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Oral

6.3. Rectal

6.4. Blood Vessel



7. GLOBAL CONTRAST MATERIALS MARKET, BY MEDICAL PROCEDURE

7.1. X-Ray/CT

7.2. MRI

7.3. Ultrasound



8. GLOBAL CONTRAST MATERIALS MARKET, BY INDICATION

8.1. Cardiovascular Disease

8.2. Oncology

8.3. Gastrointestinal Disorders

8.4. Neurological Disorders

8.5. Other Indications



9. GLOBAL CONTRAST MATERIALS MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY

9.1. Introduction

9.2. North America

9.2.1. United States

9.2.2. Canada

9.2.3. Mexico

9.3. South America

9.3.1. Brazil

9.3.2. Argentina

9.3.3. Others

9.4. Europe

9.4.1. Germany

9.4.2. France

9.4.3. United Kingdom

9.4.4. Spain

9.4.5. Others

9.5. Middle East and Africa

9.5.1. Saudi Arabia

9.5.2. Israel

9.5.3. Others

9.6. Asia Pacific

9.6.1. China

9.6.2. Japan

9.6.3. South Korea

9.6.4. India

9.6.5. Others



10. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS

10.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

10.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

10.3. Mergers, Acquisition, Agreements, and Collaborations

10.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



11. COMPANY PROFILES

11.1. Bayer AG

11.2. General Electric Company

11.3. Guerbet

11.4. Bracco Diagnostic, Inc.

11.5. Nano Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd.

11.6. Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc.

11.7. iMax

11.8. Trivitron Healthcare

11.9. Spago Nanomedical AB

11.10. Jodas Expoim

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k6fskg

Attachment
Dublin, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Security Robots Market by Type (UAV (Fixed Wing, Rotary Wing), UGV (Wheeled, Tracked, Legged, Hybrid), UUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles)), Application, Component, End User and Geography - Global Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The security robots market was valued at USD 33.7 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 89.6 billion by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.7% from 2022 to 2027.

The major drivers of the market include the growing adoption of security robots for commercial and residential applications, rising emphasis on security at national or regional levels, increasing investments and spending on defense by countries globally, and surging demand for autonomous systems that make real-time monitoring smarter.



UAV held the largest share of the security robots market in 2021



UAVs are either remotely controlled, semi-autonomous, or autonomous unmanned aircraft that can be used for civil/commercial, homeland security, and defense applications. UAVs not only perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, but also attack, strike, suppress, and destroy enemy air defense; and combat search and rescue, among others.

A few of the advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles are these vehicles can enter environments that are dangerous to human life; reduce the exposure risk of the aircraft operators; can stay in the air for a long duration; perform a precise, repetitive faster scan of a region, day-after-day, night-after-night, in complete darkness, or fog, under computer control; and can be programmed to complete the mission autonomously.



Market for residential end-users is expected to grow at the highest rate from 2022 to 2027



Consumer drones have become popular among prosumers and hobbyists, vloggers, and videographers worldwide. This is because these drones are cost-effective and offer high-resolution wide-angle photography. Presently, governments of different countries worldwide are using drones for law enforcement and governance applications owing to their compactness and quick services. The demand for UAVs has significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with governments employing drones for carrying out surveillance activities, spraying disinfectants in public areas, and controlling crowds, along with the identification of the COVID-19 hotspots.



North America held the largest share of the security robots market in 2021



North America accounted for the largest share of 37.2% of the global security robots market in 2021. The US and Canada are the major countries contributing to the growth of the security robots market in North America. North America is a major hub for technological innovations and an early adopter of new technologies.

The presence of major players in the region also supports the demand and awareness regarding security robots. The US is the largest developer, operator, and exporter of military unmanned systems. UAVs are used to counter terrorist operations and are extensively used by the US police for crowd control. Major players such as Lockheed Martin (US) and Northrop Grumman (US) develop unmanned systems for commercial as well as homeland security applications. Several such UAVs have been developed by these major players for the defense and commercial purposes, in recent years.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities for Security Robots Market

4.2 Security Robots Market, by Type

4.3 Security Robots Market, by End-user

4.4 Security Robots Market, by Region

5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Rising Defense Spending of Countries Worldwide

5.2.1.2 Surging Adoption of Security Robots in Civil and Commercial Applications

5.2.1.3 Increasing Capital Expenditure of Offshore Oil & Gas Companies

5.2.1.4 Growing Demand for Autonomous Systems in Defense and Commercial Sectors

5.2.1.5 Improvements in Regulatory Frameworks Related to Drone Operations

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Unreliability of Security Robots, in Terms of Their Functionality, in Military Operations

5.2.2.2 High Operational Costs of Security Robots

5.2.2.3 Lack of Trained Staff for Operating Drones and Infrastructures Such as Runways

5.2.2.4 Issues Related to Safety and Security of Security Robots

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Increase in Adoption of IoT and Cloud Technologies

5.2.3.2 Development and Incorporation of Advanced Technologies in Uuvs

5.2.3.3 Development of Fully Autonomous Ugvs

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Requirement for High-Level Expertise Associated with Security Robots and Their Hardware and Software Malfunctions

5.2.4.2 Requirement for Continuous and Uninterrupted Power Supply in Ugvs

5.3 Value Chain Analysis

5.3.1 Planning and Revising Funds

5.3.2 Research and Development

5.3.3 Manufacturing

5.3.4 Assembly and Distribution

5.3.5 Post-Sales Services

5.4 Ecosystem Analysis

5.5 Pricing Analysis of Security Robots

5.5.1 Average Selling Prices of Market Players

5.6 Trends/Disruptions Impacting Customer'S Business

5.7 Technological Trends

5.8 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.9 Key Stakeholders and Buying Criteria

5.9.1 Key Stakeholders in Buying Process

5.9.2 Buying Criteria

5.10 Case Studies

5.10.1 Swarmdiver by Aquabotix (Australia)

5.10.2 Vector Hawk from Lockheed Martin (Us)

5.10.3 UAVs Deployed by Various Companies for Delivery Services

5.10.4 UAVs for Delivery Services During Pandemic

5.10.4.1 Drones of Zipline Were Used to Transfer Test Samples to Research Laboratories During Pandemic in Rwanda, Ghana, and US

5.10.4.2 Delivery of Medical Prescriptions Using Drones by Manna Aero in Ireland During Pandemic

5.10.4.3 Mexico-Based Sincronia Logistica Uses Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies to Public Hospitals During Pandemic

5.11 Trade Analysis

5.12 Patent Analysis

5.13 Key Conferences & Events

5.14 Regulatory Landscape

6 Security Robots Market, by Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

6.3 Unmanned Ground Vehicles

6.4 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

7 Security Robots Market, by Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Spying

7.3 Explosive Detection

7.4 Firefighting

7.5 Demining

7.6 Rescue Operations

7.7 Transportation

7.8 Patrolling

8 Security Robots Market, by End-user

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Commercial

8.2.1 Increasing Applications of Security Robots in Commercial Sector Owing to Their Efficiency in Operations

8.3 Civil/Residential

8.3.1 Ease of Usage of Security Robots for Residential Purposes to Drive Demand for Security Robots

8.4 Military & Defense

8.4.1 Rising Demand for Small Drones in Defense Sector for Surveillance and Reconnaissance Activities and Border Security Applications

8.5 Others

8.5.1 Law Enforcement

8.5.1.1 Increase in Terrorist Activities Has Resulted in Use of Security Robots for Law Enforcement Applications

8.5.2 Federal Law Enforcement

8.5.2.1 Ugvs Are Extensively Used by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies for Dangerous Missions

9 Geographic Analysis

10 Competitive Landscape

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Key Player Strategies/Right to Win

10.2.1 Overview of Strategies Deployed by Key Players in Security Robots Market

10.3 Top 5 Company Revenue Analysis

10.4 Market Share Analysis of Top Players, 2020-2021

10.5 Competitive Evaluation Quadrant, 2020

10.5.1 Star

10.5.2 Emerging Leader

10.5.3 Pervasive

10.5.4 Participant

10.6 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Evaluation Quadrant, 2020

10.6.1 Progressive Company

10.6.2 Responsive Company

10.6.3 Dynamic Company

10.6.4 Starting Block

10.6.5 Security Robots Market: Company Footprint

10.6.6 Security Robots Market: Startup Matrix

10.7 Competitive Situations and Trends

10.7.1 Product Launches

10.7.2 Deals

11 Company Profiles

11.1 Key Players

11.1.1 Aerovironment, Inc.

11.1.2 BAE Systems

11.1.3 Boston Dynamics

11.1.4 Saab

11.1.5 Cobham Limited

11.1.6 Eca Group

11.1.7 Elbit Systems Ltd.

11.1.8 Knightscope, Inc.

11.1.9 Kongsberg

11.1.10 Leonardo S.P.A.

11.1.11 Lockheed Martin Corporation

11.1.12 Northrop Grumman

11.1.13 Qinetiq

11.1.14 Smp Robotics

11.1.15 Thales

11.2 Other Key Players

11.2.1 Autonomous Solutions, Inc.

11.2.2 Boeing

11.2.3 Dji

11.2.4 Flir Systems

11.2.5 Textron

11.2.6 Rheinmetall Ag

11.2.7 L3 Harris Technologies

11.2.8 Reconrobotics Inc.

11.2.9 Robotex Inc.

11.2.10 Cobalt Robotics

12 Adjacent & Related Markets

13 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/bqqbs8

Attachment
English Lithuanian

The State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance informed Panevezio statybos trestas AB (the Company) about resuming coordination of the settlement agreement terms regarding payment arrangements for the fine imposed by the Competition Council and submitted the proposed terms of the settlement agreement to the Company. The Company expects the settlement agreement to be concluded in the nearest future.

Furthermore, the Company received the information that on the basis of the arrangement by the Bailiff had decided to levy a distraint upon the funds of the Company in the banks for the amount of the fine imposed by the Competition Council due. Currently, the settlement agreement is in the process of negotiations regarding payment arrangements for the fine with the debt collector, the State tax Inspectorate, and the debt collector has not expressed a request to collect the entire remaining amount due without delay. The Company informed both the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance and the Bailiff about the ambiguity of the situation itself. After a relevant application is submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate, the accounts of the Company should be released from the distrained in the nearest future request, the seizure of the Company's accounts should be lifted in the closest time.

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Pune, India, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to MarketStudyReport, North America healthcare analytics market is slated to reach USD 50.3 billion in valuation by the end of 2028.





The reports assist the interested parties in ascertaining the promising avenues by segmenting the market based on product type, application spectrum, and end-use ambit. It focuses on the geographical reach of the business sphere by enlisting the regions contributing to the revenue aspect of the industry through the review timeline.

Moreover, the study documents the names of established players in the marketplace, along with their basic profiles to give a clear insight into the competitive sphere.

Request Sample copy of this Report @ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/5043355/

Massive investments employed in healthcare sector, technological advancement to aid the management of massive volume of medical records, and the use of Big Data in healthcare to efficiently predict the at-risk patients and create effective treatment plans are boosting the growth of industry.

For those unaware, healthcare data analytics uses cutting-edge techniques to assess the patterns in patients medical records. This acts as a helping hand for the medical professional in creating effective treatment plans to enhance the patient outcome.

Moreover, the unfolding of personalized and evidence-based medicine is further boosting North America healthcare analytics industry development.

Despite the optimistic outlook, a dearth of skilled IT professionals in healthcare vertical, coupled with issues regarding data integrity & safety are estimated to pose as threats to the progress of the business sphere in the forthcoming years.

COVID-19 Impact:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare analytics solutions helped in furnishing insightful forecasts for hospitals about the number of patients being admitted for the virus treatment. This proved as a great boon for the hospitals to manage the huge influx of patients, which in turn stimulated the industry outlook.

Ask Discount of this research report at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/5043355/

Segmental Analysis:

In terms of product type, the predictive analysis segment accounted for 33% of revenue share in the market in 2021, given the surging demand for personalized medicine. Additionally, the use of such analytics is helping the healthcare sector to achieve efficiency.

Based on application scope, North America healthcare analytics industry share from population healthcare management vertical was worth USD 3.6 billion in 2021, due to the immense demand for improving the management of patient care and lowering the readmission rates.

Concerning end-use ambit, the hospitals segment retained a 70% revenue share in the year 2021, attributed to the capacity of hospitals to be well-equipped with advanced technologies and offer accurate treatments based on the patients health records. Analytics also helps hospitals in maintaining bed occupancy, patient volume, and inventory management to run efficient operations.

Regional Overview:

Experts have suggested that the U.S. industry is poised to grow at 19.4% CAGR during the stipulated time and yield revenues worth USD 44 billion by the end of 2028, ascribed to the widespread adoption of innovative analytics tools to manage healthcare facilities most effectively.

Competitive Dashboard:

The prominent companies in North America healthcare analytics market include Health Catalyst, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Optum, Inc., Influence Health, Inc., McKesson Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solution, Inc., Evolent Health, Inc., Cerner Corporation, GE Healthcare Systems, Athenahealth, Inc., Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Inovalon Holdings, Inc., Change Healthcare, and Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. among others.

To access a sample copy or view this report in detail along with the table of contents, please click the link below:

https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/north-america-healthcare-analytics-market-statistics

North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By Product (Revenue, USD Million, 2017-2028)

Prescriptive Analysis

Descriptive Analytics

Predictive Analysis

North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By Application (Revenue, USD Million, 2017-2028)

Clinical Management

Operations Management

Population Health Management

Financial Management

North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By End-Use (Revenue, USD Million, 2017-2028)

Clinics

Hospitals

Others

North America Healthcare Analytics Market, Regional Overview (Revenue, USD Million, 2017-2028)

U.S.

Canada

North America Healthcare Analytics Market, Competitive Dashboard (Revenue, USD Million, 2017-2028)

Health Catalyst, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)Optum, Inc.

Influence Health, Inc.

McKesson Corporation

Allscripts Healthcare Solution, Inc.

Evolent Health, Inc.

Cerner Corporation

GE Healthcare Systems

Athenahealth, Inc.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation

Inovalon Holding, Inc.

Change Healthcare

Computer Programs and Systems, Inc.

Table of Content:

Chapter 1 Methodology

1.1 Definition and forecast parameters

1.1.1 Definitions

1.1.2 Methodology and forecast parameters

1.2 Data sources

1.3 References & sources

1.3.1 Secondary

1.3.2 Primary

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 North America healthcare analytics industry summary, 2017-2028

2.1.1 Country trends

2.1.2 Product trends

2.1.3 Application trends

2.1.4 End-use trends

Chapter 3 Industry Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Industry outlook, 2017 - 2028

3.3 Major factor analysis

3.3.1 Drivers

3.3.1.1 Emergence of big data in healthcare

3.3.1.2 Emergence of personalized and evidence-based medicine

3.4 COVID-19 impact analysis

3.5 Porter's analysis

3.6 Competitive review, 2021

3.7 PEST analysis

Chapter 4 North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By Product

4.1 Key trends in North America healthcare analytics market, by product

4.2 Descriptive analytics

4.2.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

4.3 Predictive analysis

4.3.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

4.4 Prescriptive analysis

4.4.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

Chapter 5 North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By Application

5.1 Key trends in North America healthcare analytics market, by animal type

5.2 Operations management

5.2.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

5.3 Financial management

5.3.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

5.4 Population health management

5.4.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

5.5 Clinical management

5.5.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

Chapter 6 North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By End-use

6.1 Key trends in North America healthcare analytics market, by end-use

6.2 Hospitals

6.2.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

6.3 Clinics

6.3.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

6.4 Others

6.4.1 Market estimates and forecast, by country, 2017-2028 (USD Million)

Chapter 7 North America Healthcare Analytics Market, By Country





Related Report:

Asia Pacific Healthcare Analytics Market Forecast 2028, COVID-19 Impact Statistics, Price Trends, Historic Data, Growth Prospects, Competitive Industry Share

Asia Pacific healthcare analytics market value is predicted to surpass $7.1 billion by 2027. Based on product, the regional market size from descriptive analytics is anticipated to observe around 17.5% CAGR during the forecast period of 2022-2028. The high demand for converting raw data into interpretable insights has fueled the adoption of descriptive analytics. Asia Pacific healthcare analytics industry share will showcase promising growth in the coming years due to its widespread applications in areas, such as patient management, disease prevention, and adherence to clinical protocols. Healthcare analytics consists of various qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze different patterns and trends in the medical data records. Asia Pacific healthcare analytics market forecast will be positively affected by the increasing popularity of personalized medicines and the rising expenditure on the region's healthcare sector. Leading healthcare analytics companies, such as IBM Corporation, McKesson Corporation, and Allscripts Healthcare Solution, Inc, among many others, are developing effective predictive, descriptive, and prescriptive analytic solutions which will be used in operations, clinical, population health, and financial management applications. Hospitals and clinics will emerge as the major end-users of healthcare data analytic solutions.



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New York, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Microbiome Therapeutics Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Target Therapies, Region (10 Countries), and Competitive Landscape - Analysis and Forecast, 2022-2032" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06292164/?utm_source=GNW

The global microbiome therapeutics market which accounted for $306.3 million in 2021 is expected to reach $3,204 million by 2032, reporting a CAGR of 24.95% during the forecast period 2022-2032.



The existing microbiome therapeutics market is favored by multiple factors, including the rising geriatric populations coupled with the increasing adoption of inorganic growth strategies by key players in the market.



Impact of COVID-19



There were numerous consequences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially because of the reduced access to care for other illnesses.As the number of individuals becoming ill from COVID-19 kept increasing and for the protection of healthy individuals from being affected by the disease, all non-urgent healthcare facilities were suspended as per respective government directives.



Even though these measures were necessary, it had mostly negative impact on the Global microbiome therapeutics market. Some the major impacts were; interruption of key clinical trial activities, modification of clinical trial guidelines bringing in additional safety measures, and delay in regulatory agencies review and approval timeline.



Market Segmentation:



Within the research report, the market is segmented on the basis of:

 target therapy area (gastrointestinal and infectious diseases, skin disorders, cancer indications, and other indications)

 region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World).



This segmentation highlights value propositions and business models useful for industry leaders and stakeholders. The research also comprises country-level analysis, go-to-market strategies of leading players, and future opportunities, among others, to detail the scope and provide a 360-coverage of the domain.



Segmentation 1: by Target Therapy Area



Disorders related to gastrointestinal (GI) and skin disorders command a major share of the microbiome therapeutics segment, and is expected to continue during the forecast period. Most of the microbiome therapeutics in advanced development stage are indicated to treat C.diff. infection (CDI) and expected to enter the market first. The indications selected were on the basis of research intensity in the specific therapy area.



Segmentation 2: by Region



Asia-Pacific (APAC) is expected to dominate the global microbiome therapeutics market for the forecast period 2022-2032 continuuing with it overall contribution of approximately 40% of the total market size in 2021 followed by Europe with 32.59%. Increasing healthcare expenditure, coupled with government initiatives, are among the leading factors contributing to the growth of the market.



Demand  Drivers and Challenges



Some of the potential drivers identified includes:

 Growing Strategic Activities in Microbiome Therapeutics Segment

 Potential of Microbiome Therapeutics to Address Unmet Needs of Existing Treatment Options

 Microbiome Therapeutic Products as a Safer Alternative to Conventional Drug Treatments



There are some challenges identified for the global microbiome therapeutics market are; Lack of standard regulatory guidelines and safety issues associated with live biotherapeutic products (LBPs).



How Can This Report Add Value to an Organization?



Product/Innovation Strategy: The report provides an exhaustive list of pipeline products which are currently in the development along with their developmental details in various indications. This can help organizations in understanding the research activities, which is the promising indication to pursue or which organization has the potential product to enter first into the market as well it can help the organization to assess where should they place themselves in order to get maximum benefit.



Growth/Marketing Strategy: In addition to pursuing research on exploring the benefits of microbiome therapeutics for new indications, companies are evaluating next-generation-probiotics (NGPs) to address clinical conditions.Looking at the storage issues of microbiome therapeutics, companies are exploring extracellular vesicles as an alternative option.



Furthermore, companies are working on increasing consumer awareness about Microbiome therapeutics and its potential benefits of being natural product containing live microorganism derived from human body as well as pursuing synergistic activities to bring an effective microbiome therapeutics for the affected population.



Competitive Strategy: Key players in the global microbiome therapeutics market were analyzed and profiled in the study, who are developing products containing live biotherapeutic products (LBPs), fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as well as next-generation-probiotics (NGPs).Moreover, a detailed competitive benchmarking of the players operating in the global microbiome therapeutics market has been done to help the reader understand how players stand against each other, presenting a clear market landscape.



Additionally, comprehensive competitive strategies such as partnerships, agreements, and collaborations will aid the reader in understanding the untapped revenue pockets in the market.



Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis



The companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzing company coverage, product portfolio, and market penetration.



The top segment players leading the market include Sanofi S.A and Taisho Pharmaceutical Holding that capture around 88% of the market with Sanofi S.A holding 64.31% while Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings 24.49% respectively.



Some of the prominent established names in this market are:

 4D pharma plc

 Seres Therapeutics, Inc.

 Microbiotica

 Enterome

 Enterome Biosciences

 Destiny Pharma plc

 Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings

 AOBiome Therapeutics, Inc.

 Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc.

 Rebiotix Inc. (A Subsidiary of Ferring Pharmaceuticals)

 MaaT Pharma

 Vedanta Biosciences Inc.

 OxThera AB

 Pendulum Therapeutics

 Caelus Health

 Quorum Innovations

 Sanofi S.A.

 DermBiont, Inc.

 EnteroBiotix Ltd

 YSOPIA Bioscience

 Winclove Probiotics

 TargEDys

 Evelo Biosciences, Inc.

 BiomX

 Biomica Ltd.

 Scioto Biosciences, Inc.

 Lactobio A/S



Countries Covered

 North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Europe

 Germany

 Italy

 France

 U.K.

 Spain

 Sweden

 Rest-of-Europe

 Asia-Pacific

 Japan

 China

 India

 Australia

 Rest-of-Asia-Pacific

 Rest-of-the-World

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06292164/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
Dublin, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Web Analytics Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global web analytics market reached a value of US$ 4.1 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 11.2 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 18.23% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Web analytics refers to the collection, reporting and analysis of data gathered from online websites and e-commerce platforms. It extracts and categorizes quantitative and qualitative data to interpret patterns and trends. It involves the use of software and on-site and off-site platforms to create objectives, call-to-action, site visitor goals and identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) of the website.

The website publisher uses web analytic solutions to measure the number of visitors, keywords searches, time spent on the site and the links clicked. They are also used for business and market research, online advertising, behavioral targeting, traffic and digital rights management, online fraud detection and personalization. As a result, web analytics finds extensive applications across various industries, such as retail, manufacturing, information technology (IT), healthcare and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI).

Web Analytics Market Trends:

Rapid digitization, along with increasing marketing automation, is one of the key factors driving the market growth. Moreover, the proliferation of online retail and social media platforms is providing a thrust to the growth of the market. Web analytics organizes large chunks of random and unorganized data and enables the organizations to make informed decisions based on real-time user insights. In line with this, the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is also causing a significant increase in the digital traffic, thereby favoring the market growth.

Organizations are widely using mobile-based web analytic solutions to collect and analyze data collected from the user's interaction with the website through smartphones and tablets. Additionally, the development of predictive analytics and search engine optimization (SEO) solutions for automated and detailed performance tracking are also contributing to the market growth. Other factors, including significant growth in the IT industry, along with the increasing penetration of the internet, especially in developing economies, are acting as other growth-inducing factors.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Adobe Inc., AT Internet, Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.), International Business Machines Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, MicroStrategy Incorporated, SAS Institute Inc., Splunk Inc., Tableau Software LLC (Salesforce.com Inc.), Teradata Corporation and Webtrends Inc.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

1. What is the expected growth rate of the global web analytics market during 2022-2027?

2. What are the key factors driving the global web analytics market?

3. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global web analytics market?

4. What is the breakup of the global web analytics market based on the offering?

5. What is the breakup of the global web analytics market based on the deployment mode?

6. What is the breakup of the global web analytics market based on the application?

7. What is the breakup of the global web analytics market based on the end user?

8. What are the key regions in the global web analytics market?

9. Who are the key players/companies in the global web analytics market?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Web Analytics Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Offering

6.1 Solution

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Key Segments

6.1.2.1 Search Engine Tracking and Ranking

6.1.2.2 Heat Map Analytics

6.1.2.3 Marketing Automation

6.1.2.4 Behavior Based Targeting

6.1.2.5 Others

6.1.3 Market Forecast

6.2 Services

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Key Segments

6.2.2.1 Professional Services

6.2.2.2 Support and Maintenance

6.2.3 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

7.1 On-premises

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Cloud-based

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Social Media Management

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Targeting and Behavioral Analysis

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Display Advertising Optimization

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Multichannel Campaign Analysis

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Online Marketing

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 BFSI

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Retail

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Healthcare

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Government

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Travel and Hospitality

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast

9.6 IT and Telecommunications

9.6.1 Market Trends

9.6.2 Market Forecast

9.7 Media and Entertainment

9.7.1 Market Trends

9.7.2 Market Forecast

9.8 Others

9.8.1 Market Trends

9.8.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Adobe Inc.

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 Financials

15.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.2 AT Internet

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 International Business Machines Corporation

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.5 Microsoft Corporation

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 Financials

15.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.6 MicroStrategy Incorporated

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 SAS Institute Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.8 Splunk Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Tableau Software LLC (Salesforce.com Inc.)

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 Teradata Corporation

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10.3 Financials

15.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.11 Webtrends Inc.

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/er1bm6

Attachment
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves after addressing parliament during the ceremonial inauguration of the session, in Colombo, Sri Lanka in this Jan. 3, 2020, file hpoto. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early July 13, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. AP-Yonhap



The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, slipping away in the middle of the night only hours before he was to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.



President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.



Rajapaksa had agreed to resign under pressure. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would leave once a new government was in place.



The president's departure followed months of demonstrations that culminated Saturday in protesters storming his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister. The protests have all but dismantled his family's political dynasty, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.



On Wednesday morning, Sri Lankans continued to stream into the presidential palace. A growing line of people waited to enter the residence, many of whom had traveled from outside Colombo on public transport.



"What Rajapaksa did  flee the country  is a timid act," said Bhasura Wickremesinghe, a 24-year-old student of maritime electrical engineering, who came with friends. "I'm not celebrating. There's no point celebrating. We have nothing in this country at the moment."



He complained that Sri Lankan politics have been dominated for years by "old politicians" who all need to go. "Politics needs to be treated like a job  you need to have qualifications that get you hired, not because of what your last name is," he said, referring to the Rajapaksa family.



There was no end to the crisis in sight, and protesters vowed to occupy the official buildings until the top leaders are gone. For days, people have flocked to the presidential palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction  swimming in the pool, marveling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows. At one point, they also burned the prime minister's private home.





A protester waves a national flag outside Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 13. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early July 13, slipping away in the middle of the night only hours before he was to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. AP-Yonhap
New York, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Insight Partners published latest research study on Silicon EPI Wafer Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Wafer Size (6 Inch, 8 Inch, 12 Inch, and Others), Application (LED, Power Semiconductor, and MEMS-based Device), End User (Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Healthcare, Aerospace and Defense, and Others), and Type (Heteroepitaxy and Homoepitaxy) The global silicon EPI wafer market growth is driven by rise in demand for epitaxial wafers in consumer electronics and rising usage of wafers in the automotive industry.





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Market Size Value in US$ 3 billion in 2022 Market Size Value by US$ 4.99 billion by 2028 Growth rate CAGR of 8.8% from 2022 to 2028 Forecast Period 2022-2028 Base Year 2022 No. of Pages 184 No. Tables 116 No. of Charts & Figures 93 Historical data available Yes Segments covered Wafer Size, Application, End User, and Type Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; MEA Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends





The production of silicon semiconductor devices using the silicon on insulator (SOI) method in the semiconductor industry results in layered siliconinsulatorsilicon substrates with reduced parasitic capacitance, which enhances device performance. The silicon junction of SOI-based devices is located atop an electrical insulator, commonly silicon dioxide or sapphire, in contrast to traditional silicon-built devices; thus, these types of devices are called silicon on sapphire (SOS). The choice of insulator generally depends on the desired application; silicon dioxide is used in some microelectronics for reduced short-channel effects, while sapphire is used for high-performance RF and radiation-sensitive applications. The insulating layer and top silicon layer also vary enormously. SOI wafers are used frequently in silicon photonics. Making optical waveguides and other passive or active optical devices is possible using the crystalline silicon layer atop the insulator. Based on total internal reflection, the buried insulator allows infrared light to go through the silicon layer. When used for sensing purposes, the top surface of the waveguides can either be left open to the air or covered with a cladding, commonly constructed of silica. These advantages will propel the silicon EPI wafer market growth.

As per Semiconductor Industry Association (SIAs) report, the global semiconductor chip market is anticipated to hit US$ 600 billion in 2022. The absence of a small crucial chip, which frequently costs less than a dollar, might obstruct the sales of a gadget that costs US$ 10,000 in many markets. Semiconductor companies in North America sell most of the world's semiconductors and perform most of their front-end fabrication. Thus, semiconductors have been consistently one of the top three manufactured exports from the US, along with planes and cars. Furthermore, rooftop solar PV systems can be constructed without significantly influencing land use, and more than one in seven households in the US is estimated to have one such system by 2030. Thus, the rising government initiatives to promote the development of renewable energy infrastructure, such as solar energy, wherein silicon EPI wafers are used as a core material for the manufacturing of solar cells, thereby favoring the silicon EPI wafer market growth in North America.





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Silicon EPI Wafer Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments:

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.; SUMCO Corporation; GlobalWafers Japan Co., Ltd.; Siltronic AG, and SK Siltron Co., Ltd. are a few key silicon EPI wafer market players. Several other major silicon EPI wafer market players were also analyzed for a holistic view of the silicon EPI wafer market size and its ecosystem.

In 2022, SK Siltron Co. Ltd. announced a plan to spend US $810 million on expanding its domestic capacity by the first half of 2024, from which it plans to ramp up output.

In 2020, Applied Materials signed an agreement with a Dutch multinational company, BE Semiconductor, that designs and manufacturers semiconductor equipment. The agreement is expected to create a comprehensive equipment solution for die-based hybrid bonding and a new chip-to-chip interconnect technology that will allow heterogeneous chip and subsystem designs for applications including AI, high-performance computing, and 5G.





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Silicon EPI Wafer Market Analysis: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic:

India, China, and Japan have many electronics facilities and end-users of the silicon EPI wafer market. Despite rising COVID-19 cases, these countries eased the containment norms. As a result, electronics and semiconductors manufacturers were fully operational in 2020. With the rise in COVID-19 cases in China, factories were still operational. However, semiconductor market players, such as Infineon Technologies, NXP Semiconductors, and STMicroelectronics, had to cease operations at their manufacturing facilities in Malaysia for 14 days due to the surging number of COVID-19 cases across the country in Q3 of 2021. China is also a world leader in many global brands. The region is known for its robust industrialization, and many companies from diverse industries came with significant data storage requirements to run their operations virtually. As per reports by IEA, Solar PV accounted for most of the region's growth in renewable energy in 2019. China's PV additions decreased to 30 GW for the second consecutive year due to regulatory changes, a greater decline than anticipated. Less than 30% of the world's PV additions came from China in 2019, down from a record-low 55% in 2017. Therefore, factors mentioned above related to the use of silicon EPI Wafer in the solar energy industry and the electronics industry positively created demand for silicon EPI wafers.





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Silicon EPI Wafer Market Analysis: Wafer Size Overview

Based on wafer size, the silicon EPI wafer market size is segmented into 6 inch, 8 inch, 12 inch, and others. The most prominent wafer size used silicon EPI wafer market is 12 inches (300 mm). These wafers are less costly but high in demand. The 8 inch is high in demand but less in supply. Further, the 6 inch wafer is cheaper than other wafers. The other sizes are 4 inch and 17.5 inch, which are very less in demand.









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Portable Power Inverter Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Phase (Single-Phase and Three-Phase), Output Voltage (Upto 240 Volts and Above 240 Volts), Application (Residential, Industrial, and Commercial), Power (1000W to 2500W and 2500W to 5000W)









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The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

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Pune, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry."

Global Network Copyright Market Research Report 2022-2028 is a historical overview and in-depth study on the current & future market of the Network Copyright industry. The report represents a basic overview of the Network Copyright market share, competitor segment with a basic introduction of key vendors, top regions, product types, and end industries. This report gives a historical overview of the Network Copyright market trends, growth, revenue, capacity, cost structure, and key drivers analysis. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Network Copyright manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.

Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications, and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, and market shares for each company.

Get a Sample PDF of report - https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/20991799

Scope of the Network Copyright Market Report:

Copyright, as its name suggests, includes the right to prevent others from copying one's work. Copyright does not protect all forms of information against all forms of copying but it provides a useful bundle of rights that may apply to protect data on the Internet.



Market Analysis and Insights: Global and United States Network Copyright Market



This report focuses on global and United States Network Copyright market, also covers the segmentation data of other regions in regional level and county level.



Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Network Copyright market size is estimated to be worth US$ 48800 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of US$ 109970 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 14.5% during the review period.



Copyright for Individual was the most widely used group which took up about 67.99% of the global market in 2019. North America is the largest region of Network Copyright in the world in the past few years.Total North America market took up about 42.53% of the global market in 2019.Netflix, Youku, Tencent, YouTube, iQIYI, Hulu, etc. are the key network video suppliers in the global Network Copyright market.

Get a Sample Copy of the Network Copyright Market Report 2022-2028



The Major Players in the Network Copyright Market include: The research covers the current Network Copyright market size and its growth rates based on 5-year records with company outline of key players/manufacturers:

Netflix

Youku

Tencent

YouTube

IQIYI

Hulu

Dailymotion

Amazon

MX Player (Times Internet)

Vimeo

On the basis of product type, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into:

Long Video

Short Video

On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share, and growth rate for each application, including:

Copyright for Individual

Copyright for Business

TO UNDERSTAND HOW COVID-19 IMPACT IS COVERED IN THIS REPORT

The Network Copyright Market competitive landscape provides details and data information by players. The report offers a comprehensive analysis and accurate statistics on revenue by the player for the period 2017-2022. It also offers detailed analysis supported by reliable statistics on revenue (global and regional level) by players for the period 2017-2022. Details included are company description, major business, company total revenue and the sales, revenue generated in Network Copyright business, the date to enter into the Network Copyright market, Network Copyright product introduction, recent developments, etc.

Some of the key questions answered in this report:

What is the global ( North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa ) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Network Copyright?

) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Network Copyright? Who are the global key manufacturers of the Network Copyright Industry? How is their operating situation (capacity, production, sales, price, cost, gross, and revenue)?

What are the Network Copyright market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Network Copyright Industry?

Which application/end-user or product type may seek incremental growth prospects? What is the market share of each type and application?

What focused approach and constraints are holding the Network Copyright market?

What are the different sales, marketing, and distribution channels in the global industry?

Years considered for this report:

Historical Years: 2017-2021

2017-2021 Base Year: 2021

2021 Estimated Year: 2022

2022 Network Copyright Market Forecast Period: 2022-2028

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With tables and figures helping analyse worldwide Global Network Copyright market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.

Some Points from TOC:

1 Study Coverage

1.1 Network Copyright Product Introduction

1.2 Global Network Copyright Outlook 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

1.2.1 Global Network Copyright Sales in US$ Million for the Year 2017-2028

1.2.2 Global Network Copyright Sales in Volume for the Year 2017-2028

1.3 United States Network Copyright Outlook 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

1.4 Network Copyright Market Size, United States VS Global, 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

1.4.1 The Market Share of United States Network Copyright in Global, 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

1.4.2 The Growth Rate of Network Copyright Market Size, United States VS Global, 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

1.5 Network Copyright Market Dynamics

1.5.1 Network Copyright Industry Trends

1.5.2 Network Copyright Market Drivers

1.5.3 Network Copyright Market Challenges

1.5.4 Network Copyright Market Restraints

1.6 Study Objectives

1.7 Years Considered

2 Market by Type

2.1 Network Copyright Market Segment by Type

2.2 Global Network Copyright Market Size by Type

2.2.1 Global Network Copyright Sales in Value, by Type (2017, 2022 & 2028)

2.2.2 Global Network Copyright Sales in Volume, by Type (2017, 2022 & 2028)

2.2.3 Global Network Copyright Average Selling Price (ASP) by Type (2017, 2022 & 2028)

3 Market by Application

3.1 Network Copyright Market Segment by Application

3.2 Global Network Copyright Market Size by Application

3.3 United States Network Copyright Market Size by Application

4 Global Network Copyright Competitor Landscape by Company

4.1 Global Network Copyright Market Size by Company

4.1.1 Top Global Network Copyright Manufacturers Ranked by Revenue (2021)

4.1.2 Global Network Copyright Revenue by Manufacturer (2017-2022)

4.1.3 Global Network Copyright Sales by Manufacturer (2017-2022)

4.1.4 Global Network Copyright Price by Manufacturer (2017-2022)

4.2 Global Network Copyright Concentration Ratio (CR)

4.2.1 Network Copyright Market Concentration Ratio (CR) (2017-2022)

4.2.2 Global Top 5 and Top 10 Largest Manufacturers of Network Copyright in 2021

4.2.3 Global Network Copyright Market Share by Company Type (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3)

4.3 Global Network Copyright Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Type

4.3.1 Global Network Copyright Manufacturers, Headquarters and Distribution of Producing Region

4.3.2 Manufacturers Network Copyright Product Type

4.3.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Network Copyright Market

4.4 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

4.5 United States Network Copyright Market Size by Company

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5 Global Network Copyright Market Size by Region

5.1 Global Network Copyright Market Size by Region: 2017 VS 2022 VS 2028

5.2 Global Network Copyright Market Size in Volume by Region (2017-2028)

5.2.1 Global Network Copyright Sales in Volume by Region: 2017-2022

5.2.2 Global Network Copyright Sales in Volume Forecast by Region (2023-2028)

5.3 Global Network Copyright Market Size in Value by Region (2017-2028)

5.3.1 Global Network Copyright Sales in Value by Region: 2017-2022

5.3.2 Global Network Copyright Sales in Value by Region: 2023-2028

6 Segment in Region Level & Country Level

6.1 North America

6.1.1 North America Network Copyright Market Size YoY Growth 2017-2028

6.1.2 North America Network Copyright Market Facts & Figures by Country (2017, 2022 & 2028)

6.1.3 United States

6.1.4 Canada

6.2 Asia-Pacific

6.2.1 Asia-Pacific Network Copyright Market Size YoY Growth 2017-2028

6.2.2 Asia-Pacific Network Copyright Market Facts & Figures by Region (2017, 2022 & 2028)

6.2.3 China

6.2.4 Japan

6.2.5 South Korea

6.2.6 India

6.2.7 Australia

6.2.8 China Taiwan

6.2.9 Indonesia

6.2.10 Thailand

6.2.11 Malaysia

6.3 Europe

6.3.1 Europe Network Copyright Market Size YoY Growth 2017-2028

6.3.2 Europe Network Copyright Market Facts & Figures by Country (2017, 2022 & 2028)

6.3.3 Germany

6.3.4 France

6.3.5 U.K.

6.3.6 Italy

6.3.7 Russia

6.4 Latin America

6.4.1 Latin America Network Copyright Market Size YoY Growth 2017-2028

6.4.2 Latin America Network Copyright Market Facts & Figures by Country (2017, 2022 & 2028)

6.4.3 Mexico

6.4.4 Brazil

6.4.5 Argentina

6.5 Middle East and Africa

6.5.1 Middle East and Africa Network Copyright Market Size YoY Growth 2017-2028

6.5.2 Middle East and Africa Network Copyright Market Facts & Figures by Country (2017, 2022 & 2028)

6.5.3 Turkey

6.5.4 Saudi Arabia

6.5.5 UAE

7 Company Profiles

8 Industry Chain and Sales Channels Analysis

8.1 Network Copyright Industry Chain Analysis

8.2 Network Copyright Key Raw Materials

8.2.1 Key Raw Materials

8.2.2 Network Copyright Distributors

8.3 Network Copyright Production Mode & Process

8.4 Network Copyright Sales and Marketing

8.4.1 Network Copyright Sales Channels

8.4.2 Network Copyright Distributors

8.5 Network Copyright Customers

9 Research Findings and Conclusion

10 Appendix

10.1 Research Methodology

10.1.1 Methodology/Research Approach

10.1.2 Data Source

10.2 Author Details

10.3 Disclaimer

Detailed TOC of Global Network Copyright Market @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/TOC/20991799

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New York, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past few years, industrial output has multiplied worldwide. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) statistics, global industrial output increased by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. A similar annual outgrowth of 4.1% was reported by industrial economies after a stable increase of 3.6% and 6.1% in the previous years 2 quarters respectively. Based on these trends, it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that using sophisticated production methods has been beneficial for the manufacturing industry as a whole such as industrial insulation.

A concise analysis of the components of the market, including growth drivers, restraints, current market trends, and the potential for future growth, is provided by Kenneth Research in its new study,  Global Industrial Insulation Market . The market research report, which covers the forecast period, i.e., 2022-2031, thoroughly examines the impact of COVID-19 and its consequences on end-users. The research study also looks at the main competitors product line and future market expansion strategies.

The global building-related CO2 emissions reached a record high of roughly 10 GtCO2, or 28 percent of all energy-related CO2 emissions worldwide. The contribution rises to 38 percent of all global energy-related CO2 emissions when the building construction industries emissions are taken into account. Also, finance institutions and real estate firms are becoming aware of the lucrative financial options and significant development potential offered by sustainable construction investments. For instance, 90 percent of the 1,005 real estate firms, developers, REITS, and funds that reported to the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets (GRESB) in 2019 and managed more than USD 4.1 trillion in assets under management, align their projects with green building rating standards for both construction and operations. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that the global market for green buildings would be worth USD 24.7 trillion by 2030, making it one of the largest investment possibilities in history. Sustainable building is the practice of creating buildings through methods that are resource and environmentally conscious during all phases of a building, including design, construction, operation, maintenance, restoration, and demolition. Insulation materials are often regarded as green materials as they are used to reduce energy loss from buildings.

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Additionally, industrial insulation enhances machine performance by preventing heat transfer, which is projected to contribute to the expansion of the market in the ensuing years. They increase the efficiency of the production process. Industrial insulators eliminate the need for a heating system and lower the cost of industrial operations, all of which are expected to further support the growth of the market. The global industrial insulation market gathered revenue of around USD 2,400 million by the end of 2021. Additionally, the market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of ~6% over the forecast period.

The global industrial insulation market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa region. On the back of expanding urbanization and industrialization, which are anticipated to fuel demand for the product, the market in North America is predicted to experience a notable rise over the forecast period. For instance, according to World Bank statistics, the gross domestic product (GDP) for North America was 5.6 in 2021 which got raised from 2.3 in 2019, whereas in the U.S., it was 5.7 in 2021 which got elevated from 2.3 in 2019. The market in the region is anticipated to grow as a result of the large increase in GDP, as the expansion of industries raises the demand for insulating materials. Also, the United States is the second-largest exporter of insulating materials for electrical purposes with an exported value of USD 1,946 thousand in 2021.

In addition to that, energy-saving techniques and concerns are also projected to spur market expansion in the region. According to The International Energy Agency (IEA), government initiatives are anticipated to contribute to an increase in energy efficiency investment of 10% to over USD 300 billion in 2021. Also, according to the Autumn 2021 update of the IEA Sustainable Recovery Tracker, energy efficiency-related spending accounts for around two-thirds of the total USD 400 billion annually mobilized by governments with their recovery measures during the next 3 years. Additionally, in 2017, it was projected that 6 important energy efficiency policies and programs by the US government saved around 25 quadrillion British thermal units of energy; otherwise, the annual energy use in the United States would have increased by around 23%. These government initiatives are also anticipated to have the growth of the market in the region.

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On the other hand, in the Asia Pacific region, the market is propelled by rapid industrializing, increasingly digitalized, and inexpensive insulation materials used in the automotive, construction, and telecommunications industries. In terms of insulating materials for electrical purposes, Japan had the largest import value with USD 8,495 thousand whereas China with USD 1,035 thousand in 2021. Also, the Philippines is the largest importer in 2021 with a value of USD 2,761 thousand. The increased demand for insulation materials is also predicted to have further growth in the market in the region over the forecast period.

The study further incorporates Y-O-Y Growth, demand & supply and forecasts future opportunities in North America (U.S., Canada), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, NORDIC [Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark], Poland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Rest of Latin America), Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia Pacific), Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC[Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman], North Africa, South Africa, Rest of the Middle East and Africa).

The global industrial insulation market is segmented by material type into mineral wool, ceramic fiber, calcium silicate, polyurethane, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, cellular glass, and others. Amongst these, the mineral wool segment is predicted to hold the largest share of the market over the forecast period. In addition, these wools have a wide range of other industrial uses, which are anticipated to support market expansion during the projection period. The total export value for mineral wool in 2021 was USD 2,894,841 thousand with annual growth in value of 22% from 2020 - 2021. The significant growth of the export sector in the mineral wool segment is anticipated to fuel the market further. Additionally, over 50% of the insulating material sold worldwide was made of rock wool, which has become widely used as pipe insulation material and building material. Also, mineral wool is fully recyclable, non-flammable, and has a high heat conductivity. For instance, the waste rock wool can be reused for building construction purposes. SiO2 (38.7 to 60.1 percent), CaO (10 to 46.9 percent), and Al2O3 (0.8 to 18.6 percent) are all present in high concentrations in waste rock wool. The strength, chemical resistance, and durability of cementitious characteristics are improved as a result of this. Therefore, waste rock wool is viewed as a significant prospective substitute for fillers in the manufacturing of mainly concrete, which is anticipated for the further growth of the segment.

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The global industrial insulation market is segmented by end-user into cement, oil, gas, automotive, power, construction, chemical and petrochemical, utility, and others. The cement segment is anticipated to have substantial expansion throughout the forecast period. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), initial projections indicated that cement production worldwide was 4.3 Gt in 2020. This is a minor rise from 4.2 Gt in 2019 owing to the infrastructure-related initiatives in China, which is the largest manufacturer of cement, making up roughly 55% of the worlds total production, followed by India at 8%. The insulating concrete forms (ICF), under the cement segment, is expected to be a major segment to boost the growth of the market. The future construction business lies with insulating concrete forms. ICFs are widely used to build both residential and commercial structures and they produce buildings that are robust, fireproof, soundproof, and energy-efficient. They can withstand earthquakes, fire tornados, hurricanes, and other natural disasters with similar ease if built properly. Many homes have energy-saving features that allow for 50  70% cost savings on heating and cooling. Although ICFs are suited for all these applications, single-family home development accounted for roughly 70% of ICF construction, compared to around 30% for commercial or multifamily usage. Large commercial structures also appear to be a market for ICFs that is expanding. Additionally, according to a report by Portland Cement Association that ICF walls can attenuate sound up to 8 times more than a typical wood-framed house. ICF walls are effective better than wood-framed walls.

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On the other hand, government initiatives to improve the quality of the nations housing by adapting advanced technologies also helped to improve the segment market. For instance, The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), a voluntary initiative from the Federal Government and private industry launched by President Clinton in 1998 to hasten the creation of widespread use of advanced technologies, is one of the main advocates for the future advancement of ICF construction.

The global industrial insulation market is further segmented by function and foam.

The Global Industrial Insulation Market, Segmentation by Function:

Electric

Thermal

Acoustic

Corrosion

Others

The Global Industrial Insulation Market, Segmentation by Foam:

Pipe

Blanket

Board

Others

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Some of the well-known leaders in the global industrial insulation market that are included in our report are ABB, W.S. Industries, Aditya Birla Insulators, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Knauf Insulation, Kingspan Group, Cabot Corporation, Armacell, Etex NV, Recticel Insulation, and others.

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About Kenneth Research

Kenneth Research is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates, and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment, etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided the right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out-of-box thinking helps our clients to take wise decisions so as to avoid future uncertainties.

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Dublin, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global 5G Technology RoI Market (2022-2027) by Component, Deployment Model, Network Function, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global 5G Technology RoI Market is estimated to be USD 5.1 Bn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 328.97 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 130.1%.



Market Dynamics

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global 5G Technology RoI Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung, Oracle, Athonet, Casa Systems, Cumucore, etc.



Countries Studied

America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States, Rest of Americas)

Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe)

Middle-East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Rest of MEA)

Asia-Pacific (Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global 5G Technology RoI Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.

The report analyses the Global 5G Technology RoI Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.

Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.

Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global 5G Technology RoI Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Adoption of Cloud-Native and Service-Based Architecture

4.1.2 Increasing Emphasis of Telecom Operators on Embb Services

4.1.3 Development of Smart Infrastructure

4.1.4 Differentiated 5G Services via Network Slicing

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Security Concerns in the 5G Core Network

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Low Latency Connectivity With URLLC

4.3.2 Demand for Private 5G

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Heavy Spending on Deploying 5G Core

4.4.2 Uncertainty Around Return on Investments



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global 5G Technology RoI Market, By Component

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Solutions

6.3 Services



7 Global 5G Technology RoI Market, By Deployment Model

7.1 Introduction

7.2 On-premises

7.3 On Cloud



8 Global 5G Technology RoI Market, By Network Function

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Access and Mobility Management Function

8.3 Session Management Function

8.4 User Plane Function

8.5 Policy Control Function

8.6 Network Exposure Function

8.7 NF Repository Function

8.8 Unified Data Management

8.9 Authentication Server Function

8.10 Application Function

8.11 Network Slice Selection Function



9 Americas' 5G Technology RoI Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's 5G Technology RoI Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's 5G Technology RoI Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's 5G Technology RoI Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 Ericsson

14.2 Huawei

14.3 Nokia

14.4 Samsung

14.5 ZTE

14.6 Affirmed Networks

14.7 Cisco

14.8 Mavenir

14.9 NEC

14.10 Oracle

14.11 Athonet

14.12 Casa Systems

14.13 Cumucore

14.14 Druid Software

14.15 HPE

14.16 IPlook

14.17 Metaswitch



15 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/i0wzds

Attachment
Los Angeles, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ICT client Miguel Garcia, otherwise known as Checkthestar, is an upcoming artist from Tampa, Florida. Musicians typically sign to a record label, but Check landed himself the same opportunity at his own beat.

A unique musical agreement with Aaron Carter was made verbally over Instagram Live in front of millions of fans.

If Im a fan of something, why not be a part of it? said Carter.

Check leads with a sense of unity which he creates through self-love. The community that he has brought together was made possible through social media. His online presence has attracted fans, skeptics, and unexpected connections.

Jokergangang is an influencer who uses his platform to amplify like-minded voices. He Introduced Check to his audience on Instagram Live. Checks live sessions went on to become a community.

Im trying to switch it up, change the genre, connect people that are doing music with music, and connect good people with good people, said Jokergangang.

ICT PR CEO, Holly Davidson said " I am excited to see the Hip-hop community embrace Checkthestar and looking forward to seeing his continious growth and unique partnership with Aaron Carter"

Checkthestar doesnt define himself as a songwriter. Check doesnt need a notepad to create his melodic sound, he simply shows up to the studio and it happens. The rapper has shared the stage with Caskey, Ski Mask the Slump God, Members Only, Machine Gun Kelly, Dq4equis, and many more. He stays prepared by remaining present-minded and concentrating on his goals.





For more information regarding Miguel Garcia (also known as Checkthestar) visit the links listed below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/checkthestar/hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/checkthestarofficial/

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Checkthestar%C2%A0





About ICT PR:

ICT has over twenty years of experience and is proud to have helped catapult many brands and artist into new heights. After identifying the gaps present in a business, ICT comes up with creative business and marketing strategies to fill in those gaps.By leveraging existing relationships, ICT has helped companies, musicians and individuals create and develop some of the most effective marketing and advertising campaigns to increase their visibility, and sequentially increase their profits.

Attachment
SUDBURY, Ontario, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Manitou Gold Inc. (TSX-V: MTU) (the Company or Manitou) is pleased to announce the identification of a naturally occurring nickel alloy mineral (awaruite) in discovery hole MTU-22-14, which returned 0.25% Ni over 48 metres. Geophysical interpretation has outlined 60 kilometres of structures hosting interpreted ultramafic intrusions with large tonnage nickel potential within the orogenic gold target area on 100% owned Manitou lands comprising the Goudreau project.



Highlights:

Goudreau area confirmed as emerging Juggernaut for gold production with nearly 10 Moz of gold resources and reserves being developed and mined on Manitous western flank.

Identification of awaruite, a naturally occurring nickel alloy with high nickel content (up to 75%) in previously released discovery hole MTU-22-14, which returned 0.25% Nickel and 100 ppm Cobalt over 48 m.

Identification of three structural trends with over 60 km cumulative strike length of ultramafic intrusions with nickel potential; total surface area of prospective nickel targets is at least 2.8 km 2 .

. Acquisition of contiguous mining claims covering newly identified ultramafic intrusions in the prolific Michipicoten greenstone belt bringing the Companys combined land holdings to 366 km2 in the region.

Manitou Golds Goudreau project is comprised of largely contiguous mineral claims and patents in the eastern Michipicoten gold belt in northern Ontario. The Goudreau project is situated between Argonaut Golds Magino mine (Proven and Probable Reserves: 2.1 Moz @ 1.13 g/t Au; M&I Resources: 4.2 Moz @ 0.91 g/t Au(1)) and Alamos Golds Island Gold mine (Proven and Probable reserves: 1.3 Moz @ 10.12 g/t Au; M&I Resource: 0.3 Moz @ 6.8 g/t Au; Inferred Resource: 3.0 Moz @ 11.34 g/t Au(2)) to the west and, to the east, the past-producing Renabie mine (1.1 Moz @ 6.6 g/t Au(3)) owned by Barrick Gold. Major geological structures in the gold camp provide the main controls on gold mineralization and include the Goudreau-Lochalsh deformation zone (GLDZ), which hosts both the Island Gold and Magino deposits, and the Baltimore deformation zone (the BDZ), which represents the eastern fault offset extension of the GLDZ on Manitou ground. As the largest land holder in the belt, controlling 366 square kilometers of prospective mining lands surrounded by major gold deposits, Manitou is uniquely positioned for discovery of additional gold deposits in one of the fasted growing gold districts in North America. In addition, recent exploration has highlighted the potential for large tonnage ultramafic hosted nickel deposits analogous to Dumont and Crawford.

As reported on June 13 2022, Manitou intersected a 48 m wide interval of highly serpentinized ultramafic rocks grading 0.25% Ni and 100 ppm Co starting at 29.0 m after reaching bedrock. The hole was collared in nickel mineralization near the southern margin of the ultramafic intrusion and, therefore, did not intersect the full width of the nickel zone. Geophysical interpretation suggests that, although well mineralized, the hole did not test the strongest portion of the nickel anomaly, which as such remains untested at this time.

Preliminary results from a petrographic (microscopic) analysis of several core samples from hole MTU-22-14, grading between 0.28% and 0.25% Ni, determined that nickel is present mainly in the form of awaruite, a naturally occurring alloy of nickel and iron (or stainless steel), composed of up to 75% nickel and 25% iron (see Figure 1). Ultramafic host rocks are extensively serpentinized and primary minerals are only rarely preserved. Primary olivine is altered to an assemblage consisting of mainly serpentine, magnetite and accessory awaruite. Quantitative electron microprobe analysis of the samples is underway to confirm nickel and cobalt content of the metal alloy minerals.

Figure 1: Reflected light (left) and transmitted light (XPL; right) photomicrographs of a large crystal of awaruite (lightest grey), intergrown with magnetite (darker grey), in a matrix of serpentine and relict pyroxene +/- olivine. MTU-22-14 (29.8 m).

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0afea5ef-353a-4b8d-93e6-751e2dbc2c5e

The key benefit of nickel-iron alloys ores over nickel-sulphide ores is that concentrates do not need smelting prior to further processing and shipping to refineries. Sulphide free mine tailings would generally not be acid generating. In addition, ultramafic host rocks and their serpentine products have a unique potential to react with carbon dioxide in a process referred to as spontaneous carbonation which effectively removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Company considers its nickel mineralization discovered to date to be comparable to Canada Nickels Crawford deposit, located in Timmins, and the Dumont nickel deposit, located in Quebec. At both the Crawford and Dumont deposits, awaruite occurs as pervasively disseminated grains hosted in serpentinite. Although sulfides are widespread at both Dumont and Crawford, there are zones within both deposits where only awaruite is present.

Manitou disclosed in its June 13, 2022 new release, that ultramafic intrusions along the BDZ occur over a minimum strike length of 3.5 kilometres, with individual bodies measuring up to 1.5 kilometres long and 200 metres wide. The majority of ultramafic rocks are located in zones of structural complexity and their location and associated mineralization appears to be spatially controlled by deep crustal structures, which acted as conduits for ultramafic magmas. Altered and potentially mineralized ultramafic rocks display distinct moderate to strong magnetic high responses, as a result of the serpentinization of an olivine rich ultramafic protolith where olivine reacts with water to form serpentine group minerals and magnetite, as well as high purity nickel alloys and potentially nickel sulfides.

A property wide review of magnetic data indicates the presence of additional ultramafic intrusions with nickel potential along the Easy Lake deformation corridor, located to the north of the BDZ. Geophysical interpretation outlined a series of large ultramafic bodies within two discrete structural domains over a strike length of approximately 50 kilometres and 10 kilometres, respectively. With the exception of the immediate area around the Bald Eagle gold zone, located in the eastern portion of the Easy Lake deformation corridor, this northern deformation zone is extremely underexplored. However, historical government mapping of this northern deformation zone and one historical drill hole indicate the presence of wide zones of serpentinization, which is an indicator for nickel mineralization.

To cover additional interpreted ultramafic bodies with nickel potential, the Company has acquired, through claim staking, an additional 77 mining claims in the northeastern project area, increasing the total project area to 366 square kilometres.

A follow-up ground exploration program designed to further advance both gold and nickel targets along the BDZ and Easy Lake deformation corridors is underway. The program includes a combination of soil geochemistry, prospecting and mechanized stripping in advance of drill testing these targets.

Manitous key strategic shareholders include Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX:AGI; NYSE:AGI) at 19.9% and O3 Mining Inc. (TSX.V: OIII; OTCQX: OIIIF) at 9.9%, each individually calculated on a partially diluted basis.

(1) NI 43-101 Compliant, Feasibility Study Technical Report on the Magino Project, Ontario, Canada. Published by Argonaut Gold Inc. Effective Date: November 8, 2017 (2) Alamos Gold Inc., 2022. Alamos Gold Announces Phase 3+ Expansion of Island Gold to 2,400 tpd, Driving a Larger, More Profitable Operation with Average Annual Gold Production of 287k oz, Industry Low All-in Sustaining Costs of $576/oz, and a 31% Increase in Net Present Value (NPV) to $2.0 Billion at $1,850/oz Gold [News Release]. https://www.sedar.com/GetFile.do?lang=EN&docClass=8&issuerNo=00037377&issuerType=03&projectNo=03404060&docId=5235683 (3) Azadbakht, Z. et al., 2021. Report of activities, 2020 Resident Geologist Program. Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 6374, 43 p.

Sampling and Quality Control

Samples were delivered to Activation Laboratories (Actlabs") in Thunder Bay, Ontario. At the laboratory, samples were crushed up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g) and then pulverized to 95% passing 105 microns. Gold was analyzed by fire assay with an AA finish, using the 50 g sub-sample. Over limit analysis was performed on all primary assay results >3 g/t gold. All over limits were tested by fire assay with gravimetric finish using a 50 g sub-sample. Selected pulps were analyzed for by a multi-element sodium peroxide fusion ICP-OES/MS technique in Ancaster, Ontario. Actlabs is a certified and ISO 17025 accredited laboratory. Standards and blanks were routinely inserted into the stream of core samples. At least 20 percent of the core samples submitted to the laboratory comprise samples used for quality control. Actlabs routinely inserts their own certified reference materials for at least 20 percent quality control in each batch.

Richard Murphy, P.Geo is the qualified person responsible for the technical content contained in this release. He has reviewed and approved the content contained herein.

For further information on Manitou Gold Inc., contact:

Richard Murphy, CEO

Telephone: 1 (705) 698-1962

Email: info@manitougold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements  Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including regulatory risk related to the receipt of final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange for the Offering. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Manitou, including with respect to the prospective nature of the Stover and Renabie-Easy Lake properties. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP. (Azincourt or the Company) (TSX.V: AAZ, OTCQB: AZURF), is pleased to present the analytical results from the Winter 2022 drill program at the East Preston uranium project, located in the western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada.



Drilling for the 2022 winter season at the East Preston Project resulted in 5,004.5 meters completed in 19 drill holes between January and March of 2022. Preliminary results of this program were reported in a news release dated March 29th, 2022. Drilling during the 2022 program focused on the A-G and K-H-Q trends and commenced in the G-Zone where the 2021 drill program ended (Figure 3).

A total of 420 samples were collected throughout the program and sent to the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for analysis. After unexpected delays at the lab, results were finally received by TerraLogic Exploration in late June and immediately underwent a thorough quality control assessment prior to being accepted.

The analysis from drill core is encouraging, said VP, Exploration, Trevor Perkins. The uranium enrichment within the alteration zones is a sign that uranium bearing fluids were present within the alteration system. We have the alteration system, and uranium moving around within it. The next step is identifying the areas of concentration within the system where significant uranium is dropping out, continued Mr. Perkins.

An analysis of the results shows uranium enrichment within the previously identified alteration zones along the G, K, and H target zones (Figure 2). Uranium enrichment is identified as uranium (U) values and a uranium/thorium ratio (U/Th) above what would normally be expected in the given rock type or area.

Along the northeast trending G-Zone, extensive hydrothermal alteration, and evidence of east-west cross-cutting structures were highlighted in holes EP0030 and EP0037. The primary rock types in the alteration zone are granodiorite and diorite gneiss with average expected values of 2-3 ppm U and U/Th ratios of 0.25-0.3. A sample from Hole EP0037 returned 14.6 ppm U and a U/Th ratio of 1.5, five times the expected values. A sample from EP0032 returned 19.5 ppm U and a U/Th ratio of 0.8.

The H-Zone covers a change in orientation of the structural and conductive trend from north south to southwest trending and contains a thick zone of hydrothermal alteration and an intense graphitic fault and mylonite zone. A sample from EP0041 retuned 12.5 ppm U and a 0.5 U/Th ratio within a mylonite in the fault zone.

Along the north-south trending K-Zone extensive zones of hydrothermal hematite have been intersected in all holes, with clay alteration also being present. A zone of localized elevated radioactivity more than 10 times background values was identified in EP0035 (Azincourt Energy news release dated March 1st, 2022). The rock type in this zone is gabbro with average expected values of 0.5-1.5 ppm U and U/Th ratios of 0.25-0.5. A sample from this zone in EP0035 returned 5.4 ppm U and a 1.2 U/Th ratio.

The company considers sample analysis results to be an important indicator that uranium bearing fluids were present within the alteration systems identified. Continued testing of the alteration system to identify the extents of the alteration and areas of fluid concentration and strong uranium enrichment will be the aim of follow-up programs.

The results of this drill program continue to support our exploration model at East Preston, said President and CEO, Alex Klenman. The alteration zones are considerable in both size and scope. The results now confirm uranium is present within these alteration zones, which is a significant and critical step in the exploration process. We are eager to get the next round of drilling completed as the knowledge gained from this winters program will aid immensely in vectoring toward areas of more significant mineralization, continued Mr. Klenman.

A thorough review and interpretation of the results of the winter 2022 program at East Preston is underway and preparation for an extensive follow up program in the winter of 2022-2023 is planned to continue evaluating alteration and structure on the G-, K-, and H-Zones as well as get a first look at the Q-Zone.

The Company is also planning to complete its first drill program at the 13,711-ha Hatchet Lake project, located along the Wollaston Domain on the northeastern side of the Athabasca Basin, in September and October of this year. This well known structural corridor hosts the majority of known high-grade uranium deposits and all of Canadas operating uranium mines. High-grade mineralization, up to 2.43% U308, has already been established at Hatchet Lake. Azincourt is earning up to 75% interest in the project as part of an earn-in agreement with ValOre Metals. The permitting and consultation process is in progress, and updates will be provided over the next several weeks.

The next eight to ten months will be busy for Azincourt as we follow up at East Preston, and we also begin drilling at Hatchet Lake, which we plan to drill as early as this fall, said Mr. Klenman. Despite the recent decline in overall market sentiment, were in an excellent position. Our treasury is extremely strong, and were fully funded to execute all of our exploration plans over the next year, and beyond. Were going to be very active and plan to be aggressive with the drills, continued Mr. Klenman.

Webinar Today

The Company will be conducting a live webinar, in conjunction with Red Cloud Securities, to discuss the drill results in more detail, today Wednesday, July 13, at 11am PST/2pm EST. We invite readers to register and attend, please follow this URL to participate:

https://redcloudfs.com/rcwebinar-aaz-3/

East Preston Target Areas

The primary target area on the East Preston Project is the conductive corridors from the A-Zone through to the G-Zone (A-G Trend) and the K-Zone through to the H and Q-Zones (K-H-Q Trend) (Figures 1 and 3). The selection of these trends is based on a compilation of results from the 2018 through 2020 ground-based EM and gravity surveys, property wide VTEM and magnetic surveys, and the 2019 through 2022 drill programs, the 2020 HLEM survey indicates multiple prospective conductors and structural complexity along these corridors.

Drilling programs to date have confirmed that identified geophysical conductors comprise structurally disrupted zones that are host to accumulations of graphite, sulphides, and carbonates. Hydrothermal alteration, anomalous radioactivity, and elevated uranium have been demonstrated to exist within these structurally disrupted conductor zones.

While the A-G and K-H-Q trends are the primary focus, many additional trends and zones exist to the east and west of the primary trends on the East Preston property (Figure 1). These additional target areas will require ground geophysics to constrain conductor locations and drilling to properly evaluate their potential.

Permitting and Community Engagement

The permitting process is underway to obtain authorization for the winter 2022-2023 drill program. Azincourt Energy continues to be engaged in regular meetings with the Clearwater River Dene Nation and other rights holders to ensure that concerns of the local communities are addressed. Azincourt looks forward to a continued close working relationship with CRDN and other rights holders to ensure that any potential impacts and concerns are addressed and that the communities can benefit from activities in the area through support of local business, employment opportunities, and sponsorship of select community programs and initiatives. Several members of the Clearwater River Dene Nation were directly employed on site or to provide support and services to keep the camp and program running.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6f71eb63-ed77-4b29-a2c6-348ea24a15e3

Figure 1: Target corridors at the East Preston Uranium Project, Western Athabasca Basin Saskatchewan

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0aa363aa-2342-4a4b-97c5-0a20f3e7fae2

Figure 2: 2022 Drill Holes and Target areas at the East Preston Uranium Project

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0aef4a37-d9e6-48dc-97f6-771b890422ac

Figure 3: Project Location  Western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada



About East Preston

Azincourt controls a majority 72.8% interest in the 25,000+ hectare East Preston project as part of a joint venture agreement with Skyharbour Resources (TSX.V: SYH), and Dixie Gold. Three prospective conductive, low magnetic signature corridors have been discovered on the property. The three distinct corridors have a total strike length of over 25 km, each with multiple EM conductor trends identified. Ground prospecting and sampling work completed to date has identified outcrop, soil, biogeochemical and radon anomalies, which are key pathfinder elements for unconformity uranium deposit discovery.

The East Preston Project has multiple long linear conductors with flexural changes in orientation and offset breaks in the vicinity of interpreted fault lineaments  classic targets for basement-hosted unconformity uranium deposits. These are not just simple basement conductors; they are clearly upgraded/enhanced prospectivity targets because of the structural complexity.

The targets are basement-hosted unconformity related uranium deposits similar to NexGens Arrow deposit and Camecos Eagle Point mine. East Preston is near the southern edge of the western Athabasca Basin, where targets are in a near surface environment without Athabasca sandstone cover  therefore they are relatively shallow targets but can have great depth extent when discovered. The project ground is located along a parallel conductive trend between the PLS-Arrow trend and Camecos Centennial deposit (Virgin River-Dufferin Lake trend).

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by C. Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of Azincourt Energy, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Azincourt Energy Corp.

Azincourt Energy is a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration, and development of alternative energy/fuel projects, including uranium, lithium, and other critical clean energy elements. The Company is currently active at its joint venture East Preston uranium project in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, and the Escalera Group uranium-lithium project located on the Picotani Plateau in southeastern Peru.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP.

Alex Klenman

Alex Klenman, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Azincourt. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information represents managements best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially.

For further information please contact:

Alex Klenman, President & CEO

Tel: 604-638-8063

info@azincourtenergy.com

Azincourt Energy Corp.

1430  800 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 2V6

www.azincourtenergy.com
New York, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Europe Air Purifiers Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Mechanization, Technology, Connectivity, and End User" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06289903/?utm_source=GNW





Rising awareness among the population regarding advanced air purifying technologies is one of the key factors boosting the Europe air purifiers market growth. The governments are providing support to schools, hospitals, etc., which have a high risk of air pollution. For instance, The UK government approved a pilot study in Cambridge Addenbrookes hospital to investigate the use of ultraviolet light and air purifiers in wards. Moreover, alcohol, cigarette smoke, freshly painted houses, burning fuels, the half-decomposed bodies of animals, etc. contaminate the air. Many people are suffering from various allergies and diseases related to polluted air. This factor is expected to increase the usage of air purifiers and propel the Europe air purifiers market growth.



The adoption of air purifiers in residential and commercial sectors is fueling the demand for air purifiers.Europes zero pollution ambition has further driven the Europe air purifiers market with the introduction of advanced air purifying technologies in the market.



The EU is taking several steps to control air pollution by making consumers aware of air purification and installing several purifiers in public spaces.For instance, London underground station has an Airlabs air purification system.



The Government of Kiel, Germany, selected mobile containerized filtration solutions to control NO2 emissions.Also, Is Clean Air company installed four wet air pollution control devices to treat indoor air at Rome airport.



Therefore, considering the benefits of air purifiers, the public places and residential segments are getting air purification systems installed in EU countries. This augmented the growth of the Europe air purifiers market size.



Increasing energy consumption, transportation, and population, and other factors are generating air pollution in urban areas.The air quality in European cities is becoming harmful to human health with rising urbanization.



Europe is considered an air and dust polluting region.An increase in the amount of harmful dust particles in European air demands advanced air purifiers, which will clean pollutants and other particles such as can dust, mold, and viruses.



As the European population is allergic to dust and other particles, the demand for air purifiers is rising leading to Europe air purifiers market growth.Europe is the hub of various industry giants due to the developed industrial sector in the region.



Industries such as automotive, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and oil & gas are prominent in the region. These industries release toxic gases, polluted water, and other waste materials, which remain in the atmosphere for a longer period and contaminate the air. Due to this, many people are suffering from some or the other disease. The only way to reduce the ill effects of polluted air and to live in clean air is to install air purifiers. This will augment the Europe air purifiers market growth.



Urbanization and increase in population in Europe have led to enormous indoor and outdoor air pollution. According to the UN reports, urbanization in Europe is supposed to increase by ~83.7% in 2050. As per EEA, 75% of the population in the EU prefers to live in urban areas, which creates a great opportunity for the market. All these factors are expected to propel the Europe air purifiers market growth during the forecast period.



The Europe air purifiers market is segmented based on mechanization, technology, connectivity, end-user, and country.Based on mechanization, the Europe air purifiers market is segmented into HEPA, activated carbon, ion and ozone.



By technology, the Europe air purifiers market is segmented into ionization, adsorption, chemisorption, photocatalytic oxidation, plasma, ozone, and ultraviolet.Based on connectivity, the Europe air purifiers market is segmented into manual, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.



By end-user, the Europe air purifiers market is segmented into commercial, residential, and industrial. By region, the Europe air purifiers market is segmented into Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Russia, and the Rest of Europe.



Ab Alfaintek OY; Airfree; Blueair; BONECO AG; Dyson Ltd; DeLonghi S.p.A.; Daikin Industries, Ltd.; Honeywell International, Inc.; Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Nateosante are the key Europe air purifiers market players profiled in this research study.





Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Europe Air Purifiers Market



Denmark, Poland, and France are among the countries that experience a high level of air pollution in the region.Owing to the government regulations in various European countries for developing green buildings across residential and commercial sectors, the environment is getting positively impacted.



The region is a significant manufacturing and industrial hub for industrial equipment, automotive, construction, and energy & power industries.However, due to business lockdowns, travel bans, and supply chain disruptions in 2020, the region witnessed a decline in some of these industries, which resulted in a drastic reduction in air pollution across the area.



However, the demand for air purifiers increased due to the rise in concern about safety from SARS-CoV-2.People were staying indoors in 2020 due to lockdown implemented by governments, which increased the sales of air purifiers in the residential sector.



Various international air purifier manufacturers are looking at the pandemic as an opportunity. For instance, due to the rise in demand for air purifiers in Europe, a South Korean air purifier giant, Coway, established itself in Europe. The company has taken the integrated team from the Service plan and units from the Plan.Net agency. Thus, the rising air pollution and contamination from viruses and bacteria is providing growth opportunities to the Europe air purifiers market players.



In the wake of COVID-19, European companies developed new air purifiers capable of removing SARS-CoV-2 from the air.For instance, a portable air purifier and sanitizer manufacturer produced purified air free from bacteria, airborne viruses, solid impurities, and other pollutants to cater to Eastern Europe and Ireland.



Similarly, the German government invested US$ 488 million (EUR 500 million) in enhancing ventilation systems in buildings to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2.Moreover, the European governments also provided support to educational institutes such as schools that lacked central air conditioning systems to have mobile air purifiers.



Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the awareness of respiratory diseases has increased.Thus, with the rising concern toward health, the installation of air purifiers is expected to increase during the forecast period.



This will augment Europe air purifiers market size.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06289903/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
Ashkelon, Israel, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Roman-era Odeon was unveiled at a recent ceremony at Tel Ashkelon National Park. The ancient theater was revealed after a lengthy and exhaustive restoration was undertaken. The structure had been left neglected and suffering from the elements, until an initiative was formed in the hopes of restoring this once-great structure.

The massive project was the result of a partnership between the Israel Nature & Parks Authority (INPA), the Israel Nature & Heritage Foundation of America (INHFA), as well as the generous contributions of the Leon Levy Foundation. The Odeon restoration is part of a much larger ongoing project which aims to introduce visitors to the rich and diverse history of the site. Plans include the construction of an outdoor trail as well as renovations of the Philistine house, Basilica, and a new visitor center. As a result of the organizations work, Tel Ashkelon was Israels most visited archaeological site in 2020.

In an inaugural speech at the event, INHFA COO Amanda Israel said, The efforts to preserve, restore, and create access to these treasures have been a passion project for many It is our hope together that today will leave each of you in awe of the history of humanity, eager to learn the stories from our shared past, and with a passion for investing in making these stories available for future generations.

In recognition of the significant contributions made by the Leon Levy Foundation, and in particular the organizations generous benefactor, Shelby White, INHFA Chairwoman Taly Dery added, Thank you, Ms. White, and the Leon Levy Foundation for the support of our young but fast-growing and relentless organization for seeing this project to completion. None of these remarkable stepping stones would be possible without your trust and cooperation.

The Odeon at Tel Ashkelon National Park is currently open for public viewing.

About INHFA

The Israel Nature & Heritage Foundation of Americas mission is to restore Israels ancient heritage sites, save endangered wildlife, and promote educational initiatives for underserved populations. The foundation works closely with the Israel Nature & Parks Authority to protect and preserve Israels natural beauty and endearing history for generations to come.

Attachments
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The GBT Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization primarily funded by Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT), has awarded grants of approximately $50,000 each to five community-based organizations (CBOs) as recipients of the inaugural Access to Care Empowerment for Sickle Cell (ACE) Grant Program. Through the ACE Grant Program, The GBT Foundation plans to fund up to $250,000 per year to support initiatives dedicated to advancing health equity and enhancing education, empowerment, and access to care for people living with sickle cell disease (SCD).

CBOs can play an important role as local resources for sickle cell disease patients and caregivers as they navigate their healthcare journey. The GBT Foundation is proud to provide much-needed support to these organizations through the ACE Grant Program, strengthening the potential to create meaningful and sustainable change, said Jung E. Choi, board member of The GBT Foundation and chief business and strategy officer and head of patient advocacy and government affairs at GBT. Helping families and caregivers to better support sickle cell warriors and enhance education initiatives for young adults with SCD are important steps to connect them with the high-quality health services they deserve.

Established in 2021, The GBT Foundation is a community-focused, charitable entity that is committed to improving health equity worldwide, particularly for people living with SCD. The 2022 ACE Grant recipients are:

Advancing Sickle Cell Advocacy Project, Inc. (Miami, Florida)  P roject COPE to help children and families navigate their SCD journey by providing peer support, education, mindfulness training, and effective stress-coping techniques.





to help children and families navigate their SCD journey by providing peer support, education, mindfulness training, and effective stress-coping techniques. Childrens Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)  L iving Well w ith Sickle Cell Family Leadership Program to educate sickle cell family leaders about SCD, care, treatment, and their role in advocacy.





to educate sickle cell family leaders about SCD, care, treatment, and their role in advocacy. Maryland Sickle Cell Disease Association (Baltimore, Maryland)  E ffective Access to Adult Sickle Cell Experts (EAASE) project to facilitate the hiring of a Transition Navigator to create a personal and curated experience for pediatric patients to transition to adult healthcare providers.





project to facilitate the hiring of a Transition Navigator to create a personal and curated experience for pediatric patients to transition to adult healthcare providers. Sickle Cell Association of South Louisiana ( Lafayette , L ouisiana)  K NEAUX Sickle Program to support resources for teens transitioning from pediatric to adult SCD healthcare providers.





to support resources for teens transitioning from pediatric to adult SCD healthcare providers. Sickle Cell Warriors, Inc. (San Diego, California)  Sickle Cell Warriors Advocacy Training & Empowerment Program (WATEP) to educate warriors and caregivers to advocate for themselves and others living with SCD by expanding healthcare literacy.



ACE Grant Program recipients were selected by a panel of external and internal experts. Criteria for selection included the programs potential impact on SCD patient care, evaluation and sustainability plans, organizational capabilities, and alignment with mission of The GBT Foundation.

The ACE Grant Program builds on the Access to Excellent Care for Sickle Cell Patients (ACCEL) Grant Program, which is in its fourth year and is accepting applications through July 29, 2022. The ACCEL Grant Program plans to provide up to $500,000 this year to U.S.-based nonprofit healthcare organizations or institutions that serve patients with SCD and their families and seek to improve their access to high-quality healthcare. Since 2019, the ACE and ACCEL programs have granted a total of nearly $1.25 million to 24 organizations to accelerate the development of sustainable and innovative programs for SCD patients.

About Sickle Cell Disease

It is estimated that more than 100,000 people in the United States,1 52,000 people in Europe,2 up to 100,000 people in Brazil,3 and millions of people throughout the world have sickle cell disease (SCD).1 SCD occurs particularly among those whose ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa, though it also occurs in people of Hispanic, South Asian, Southern European and Middle Eastern ancestry.1 SCD is a lifelong inherited blood disorder that impacts hemoglobin, a protein carried by red blood cells that delivers oxygen to tissues and organs throughout the body.4 Due to a genetic mutation, individuals with SCD form abnormal hemoglobin known as sickle hemoglobin. When sickle hemoglobin becomes deoxygenated, it polymerizes to form rods, which deforms the red blood cells into sickled  crescent-shaped, rigid  cells.4,5,6 The recurrent sickling process causes destruction of the red blood cells, hemolysis and anemia (low hemoglobin due to red blood cell destruction), which drives vascular inflammation contributing to blockages in capillaries and small blood vessels (vaso-occlusion) that impede the flow of blood and oxygen delivery throughout the body. Episodes of painful vascular occlusions are commonly referred to as vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs). The diminished oxygen delivery to tissues and organs can lead to life-threatening complications, including stroke and irreversible organ damage.5,6,7,8,9 Complications of SCD begin in early childhood and can include neurocognitive impairment, acute chest syndrome, and silent and overt stroke, among other serious issues.10 Early intervention and treatment of SCD have shown potential to modify the course of this disease, reduce symptoms and events, prevent long-term organ damage, and extend life expectancy.5

About The GBT Foundation

Founded in 2021, The GBT Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, primarily funded by Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT). Building on GBTs corporate giving commitment, The GBT Foundation is a community-focused, charitable entity that is committed to improving health equity worldwide, particularly for people living with SCD. The GBT Foundation is a separate legal entity from GBT. To learn more, please visit www.gbt.com/gbtfoundation.

About Global Blood Therapeutics

Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of life-changing treatments that provide hope to underserved patient communities, starting with sickle cell disease (SCD). Founded in 2011, GBT is delivering on its goal to transform the treatment and care of SCD, a lifelong, devastating inherited blood disorder. The company has introduced the first FDA-approved medicine that directly inhibits sickle hemoglobin (HbS) polymerization, the root cause of red blood cell sickling in SCD. GBT is also advancing its pipeline program to address significant patient needs in SCD. To learn more, please visit www.gbt.com and follow the company on Twitter @GBT_news.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sickle Cell Disease Data and Statistics (SCD). https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/data.html. Accessed June 7, 2022. European Medicines Agency. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/orphan-designations/eu3182125. Accessed June 12, 2020. Ministerio da Saude (Brasil), Protocolo Clinico e Diretrizes Terapeuticas da Doenca Falciforme, Feb. 19, 2018 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Sickle Cell Disease. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sickle-cell-disease. Accessed February 23, 2022 Kato GJ, et al. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018;4:18010. Rees DC, et al. Lancet. 2010;376(9757):2018-2031. Kato GJ, et al. J Clin Invest. 2017;127(3):750-760. Caboot JB, et al. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2014;15(1):17-23. Nader E, et al. Front Immunol. 2020 Mar 13;11:454. Kanter J, et al. Blood Rev. 2013 Nov;27(6):279-87.

Contact:

Steven Immergut (media)

+1 650-410-3258

simmergut@gbt.com
BOSTON, USA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recent study report released by Data Bridge Market research titled  Global Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Market  (covering USA, Europe, China, Japan, India, South East Asia and etc) that highlights opportunities, risk analysis, and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support.

The automotive Internet of Things (IoT) market research report has been prepared with the systematic gathering and evaluation of market information which is presented in a form that explains various facts and figures to the business. The market data presented in the report helps to recognize different market opportunities present internationally. This business document provides exact information about market trends, industrial changes, consumer behavior, etc. Adopting such a market survey report is always beneficial for any company, whether it is a small scale or large scale, for marketing its products or services. Analytical study of the universal Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) market report aids in formulating growth strategies to augment sales and build brand image in the market.

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the automotive internet of things (IoT) market will exhibit a CAGR of 27.32% for the forecast period of 2022-2029 and is expected to reach the market value of USD 672,546.21 million by 2029.

Get a Sample to Understand the Complete Structure of the Report @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-automotive-internet-of-things-iot-market

Market Overview:-

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a structure of organised computing devices, digital and mechanical devices, and independence in data transfer. Further, the launch of the automotive IoT market encourages the necessity for machine-controlled gadgets that facilitate analyse period of time data on vehicle users and fleet operators.

The auto creators and government funding on next generation vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies is the major factor accelerating the growth of the automotive internet of things (IoT) market . Furthermore, maintenance alert, and increase in need for smart gadgets, increase in telematics orders by governments, and requirement for smartphone features in vehicles are also expected to drive the growth of the automotive internet of things (IoT) market. However, absence in cellular connectivity coverage and high costing restrains the automotive internet of things (IoT) market, whereas, the expert and cheap labor to work will challenge market growth.

Owning our reports will help you solve the following issues: -

1. Uncertainty about the future?

Our research and insights help our clients to foresee upcoming revenue pockets and growth areas. This helps our clients to invest or divest their resources.

2. Understanding market sentiments?

It is imperative to have a fair understanding of market sentiments for a strategy. Our insights furnish you with a hawk-eye view on market sentiment. We keep this observation by engaging with Key Opinion Leaders of a value chain of each industry we track.

3. Understanding the most reliable investment centers?

Our research ranks investment centers of the market by considering their returns, future demands, and profit margins. Our clients can focus on the most prominent investment centers by procuring our market research.

4. Evaluating potential business partners?

Our research and insights help our clients in identifying compatible business partners.

Major Market Competitors/Players

The major players operating in the global automotive internet of things (IoT) market report are

Cisco Systems Inc.,

ABB,

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.,

IBM,

General Electric Company,

PTC,

Microsoft Corporation,

Rockwell Automation,

SAP,

Zebra Technologies Corp.,

Siemens,

Verizon,

Hitachi Vantara Corporation,

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.,

FUJITSU,

Tech Mahindra Limited,

Mooana,

Schneider Electric,

ClearBlade, Inc.,

Robert Bosch GmbH,

Uptake Technologies Inc., and

Litmus Automation

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-automotive-internet-of-things-iot-market

What benefits does DBMR study is going to provide?

Latest industry influencing trends and development scenario

Open up New Markets

To Seize powerful market opportunities

Key decision in planning and to further expand market share

Identify Key Business Segments, Market proposition & Gap Analysis

Assisting in allocating marketing investments

Critical Insights Related to the Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Included in the Report:

Exclusive graphics and Illustrative SWOT analysis of some of the leading companies in this market

Value chain analysis of prominent players in the market

Current trends influencing the dynamics of this market across various geographies

Recent mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships

Revenue growth of this industry over the forecast period

Marketing strategy study and growth trends

Growth driven factor analysis

Emerging recess segments and region-wise market

An empirical evaluation of the curve of this market

Ancient, Present, and Probable scope of the market from both prospect value and volume

Segmentation: Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Market

On the basis of offering, the Global automotive internet of things (IoT) market is segmented into Hardware, software, service.

On the basis of connectivity form factor, the automotive internet of things (IoT) market is segmented into embedded, tethered, and integrated.

On the basis of communication type, the automotive internet of things (IoT) market is segmented into in-vehicle, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle to- infrastructure.

On the basis of application, the automotive internet of things ( IoT ) market is segmented into infotainment, navigation, and telematics.

Access Full Report @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/checkout/buy/enterprise/global-automotive-internet-of-things-iot-market

The Geographical Landscape of the Market Include:

The research offers an analysis of the geographical landscape of this market, which is divided into regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. It includes data about several parameters related to the regional contribution.

North America dominates the automotive internet of things (IoT) market and will continue to flourish its trend of dominance during the forecast period due to its users in the economy have high awareness levels and purchasing power for the new technology in this region. Asia-Pacific will however, register the highest CAGR for this period due to the presence of major companies such as Ford and General Motors who have been proving connectivity services is the major factor driving the market in this region.

The country section of the automotive internet of things (IoT) market report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points such as consumption volumes, production sites and volumes, import export analysis, price trend analysis, cost of raw materials, down-stream and upstream value chain analysis are some of the major pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of domestic tariffs and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Table of Content:

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope of the Report

Part 03: Global Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Market Landscape

Part 04: Global Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Market Sizing

Part 05: Global Automotive Internet of Things (IoT) Market Segmentation By Product

Part 06: Five Forces Analysis

Part 07: Customer Landscape

Part 08: Geographic Landscape

Part 09: Decision Framework

Part 10: Drivers and Challenges

Part 11: Market Trends

Part 12: Vendor Landscape

Part 13: Vendor Analysis

To Check the Complete Table Of Content Click Here @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-automotive-internet-of-things-iot-market

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CALGARY, Alberta, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ApartmentLove Inc. (CSE: APLV) (ApartmentLove or the Company), a leading provider of online home and apartment rental marketing services to landlords and renters in more than 30-countries on 5-continents around the world, is pleased to announce that it is now tracking in 93.7% of observed markets across the US, more than doubling its comparable positions from last month.



Company research suggests more than 100-million people search for residential rental properties across the United States every month. Focusing efforts on just 125 of the most commonly searched keywords amongst the largest US rental markets, accounting for more than 5-million monthly active searches, ApartmentLove is now tracking on page 1, 2, or 3 of Google search results in nearly 50 of the largest markets across the United States.

Trevor Davidson, President & CEO of ApartmentLove explained, Our material investments in Search Engine Optimization combined with fine tuning the ApartmentLove.com user experience is fueling our rapid organic expansion. Mr. Davidson added, Major search engines connecting millions of renters searching accommodations across the United States are celebrating our progress by showcasing ApartmentLove.com as the professional, trustworthy, and proven effective rental platform desired by new graduates, young professionals, and sophisticated renters in the largest and most competitive markets nationwide.

In combination with its growth through acquisition program, the Company is actively hiring for business development representatives to drive top-line sales through monthly recurring listing subscriptions to property management companies, apartment building owners, and private landlords across the US.

About ApartmentLove Inc.

ApartmentLove Inc. (CSE: APLV) is a leading provider of online residential rental marketing services to landlords and renters in more than 30-countries on 5-continents around the world. Having proven its ability to scale as a fast-growing PropTech, ApartmentLove is actioning its growth through acquisition program  purchasing competing businesses that have many monthly active users, a history of recurring revenues, positive cashflows, and custom technologies that both accelerate and destress the renting experience, while actioning its custom Search Engine Optimization and other organic growth strategies across the United States.

For more information visit https://apartmentlove.com/investors or contact:

Trevor Davidson

President & CEO

ApartmentLove Inc.

tdavidson@apartmentlove.com

(647) 272-9702

Reader Advisory

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Such Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance, or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including risks related to factors beyond the control of the Company. The novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, also poses new risks that are currently indescribable and immeasurable. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

ApartmentLove | the feeling of home
Pune, India, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global data center infrastructure market size is projected to grow from USD 94.56 billion in 2019 to USD 142.31 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period. This information is provided by Fortune Business Insights, in its report titled, Data Center Infrastructure Market Forecast, 2022-2027. As per the report, expanding utilization of data centers by companies amid the COVID-19 pandemic is fueling the growth of this market.





Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/data-center-infrastructure-market-104659





With work from home becoming a normal practice for most organizations due to the coronavirus, the adoption of data center infrastructures among enterprises has spiked since the pandemic erupted. These systems are enabling companies to effectively utilize cloud computing technologies and ensure the productivity of employees working from remote locations.

For example, employees of Cyxtera Technologies, a colocation provider based in Florida, have been accessing company systems through secure solutions provided by Appgate. In India, the data center division of The Hiranandani Group, Yotta Infrastructure, has been heavily investing to automate processes and when lockdown was announced in the country, it was strongly positioned to harness data center infrastructures to continue everyday office tasks. Thus, data centers, along with cloud-based solutions, are playing a critical role in minimizing the disruptions caused in the business world by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report Scope & Segmentation

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2020 to 2027 Forecast Period 2020 to 2027 CAGR 5.5% 2027 Value Projection USD 142.31 Billion Base Year 2019 Data Center Infrastructure Market Size in 2019 USD 94.56 Billion Historical Data for 2018 to 2020 No. of Pages 120 Segments covered Component and Geography Data Center Infrastructure Market Growth Drivers Promising Emergence of Data Center Startups to Broaden Market Outlook Increasing Investments in Digitization of Business Processes to Aid the North America Market Portfolio Expansion through Acquisitions to be the Marquee Strategy for Key Players





Highlights of the Report:

Holistic evaluation of the market drivers, trends, and restraints

Exhaustive assessment of the top market players and their strategies

Microscopic dissection of the market segments

Granular analysis of the regional dynamics and opportunities in the market





Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this Market:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/data-center-infrastructure-market-104659





Drivers and Restraints:

Promising Emergence of Data Center Startups to Broaden Market Outlook

The steadily spreading presence of data center startup companies is turning out to be a major booster for the data center infrastructure market growth. These startups are constantly innovating and providing novel services and solutions, catering to the niche demands of end-users. For example, Colorado-based Axellio develops and offers hyper-converged infrastructure, micro-data-center services, and micro-cloud solutions through its MicroDataCenter Platform. The company has been providing its products and services to the US Air Force since its inception.

Similarly, Texas-based Compass Datacenters has earned fame for its modules comprising edge data-center capabilities, colocation solutions, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. Another example is Aeponyx, a Canada-based enterprise that engineers network-switch chips developed by combining micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) with silicon photonics. In 2019, the company raised CAD 7.9 million in a funding round, which it intends to use to transform data center infrastructure management and lower energy consumption.

Several more startups specializing in data centers have spawned in the past few years and their innovations have considerably augmented the potential of this market.

Regional Insights:

Increasing Investments in Digitization of Business Processes to Aid the North America Market

North America is expected to dominate the data center infrastructure market share during the forecast period owing to the rising investments by small & medium enterprises (SMEs) and startup companies in digitizing their business processes. As a result, the adoption of data centers and cloud-based solutions has risen at a prolific rate across private companies in the US and Canada. In 2019, the North America market size stood at USD 35.84 billion.

In Europe, the conversion and up-gradation of old IT infrastructures into new, modern data center systems are propelling the growth of the regional market. On the other hand, the market in Asia Pacific is primarily driven by the rapid adoption of data centers by businesses, especially in India and China, where technological transformation of organizations has witnessed tremendous acceleration over the past decade.





Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/data-center-infrastructure-market-104659





Report Coverage:

The report offers valuable insights obtained by thorough study done by our researchers. An extensive research was conducted to provide the estimated size of the market. The data used to project the shares for multiple segments at the country, regional, and global levels is obtained from in-depth interviews with numerous stakeholders. Furthermore, we have gained access to several global and regional paid databases to deliver precise information to make business investment decisions easy.

Competitive Landscape:

Portfolio Expansion through Acquisitions to be the Marquee Strategy for Key Players

With an eye to speedily diversify and expand offerings, leading companies have been making strategic acquisitions and entrenching their position in the market. Besides this strategy, key players are also regularly launching innovative products to enlarge their market share and further enhance their brand value.

List of Key Players Covered in the Report:

RACKWISE (Denver, United States)

UnityOneCloud (California, United States)

Nlyte Software Inc. (New Jersey, United States)

ABB Ltd (Zurich, Switzerland)

CommScope Inc. (North Carolina, United States)

Sunbird Software (New Jersey, United States)

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China)

Siemens AG (Munich, Germany)

Vertiv Group Corp. (Columbus, Ohio)

IBM Corporation (New York, United States)

Johnson Controls Inc. (Cork, Ireland)





Quick Buy - Data Center Infrastructure Market Research Report

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/104659





Major Table of Contents:

Introduction Definition, By Segment Research Methodology/Approach Data Sources

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Macro and Micro Economic Indicators Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities and Trends Impact of COVID-19 Short-term Impact Long-term Impact

Competition Landscape Business Strategies Adopted by Key Players Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players Porters Five Force Analysis Global Market Share Analysis and Matrix, 2019

Key Market Insights and Analysis, By Segments

Global Data Center Infrastructure Market Size Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2016-2027 By Component (Value) Solutions Power Module Thermal Module Infrastructure Module Others (Mechanical Module, etc.) Services Consulting Installation & Deployment Incidents Monitoring Infrastructure Management Other (Repair & Maintenance, etc.) By Region (Value) North America South America Europe Middle East & Africa Asia Pacific

North America Data Center Infrastructure Market Size Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2016-2027 By Component (Value)



TOC Continued!





About Us:

Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

Contact Us:

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Wednesday, July 13, 2022



Dear Shareholders and Investors,





The press release we issued yesterday about recent contracts is now on our Homepage.



www.nat.bm







For contacts, please see at the end of this communication.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, will, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPECs petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.

NAT is a Bermuda based company.

Contacts:

Bjrn Giver, CFO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +1 888 755 8391

Alexander Kihle, Finance Manager

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +47 91 72 41 71

www.nat.bm




NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IndexBox has just published a new report: U.S.  Solid Biofuels - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights'. Here is a summary of the report's key findings.



U.S. Solid Biofuel Market Statistics

Imports 154.1 Million USD Exports 1,077.6 Million USD Top Foreign Suppliers Mexico, Canada, Paraguay Top Export Destinations UK, Netherlands, Denmark

After two years of growth, the U.S. solid biofuel market was estimated at approx. $978M in 2021. This figure covers the total market size for charcoal and wood pellets. Over the past decade, consumption saw a relatively flat trend pattern. U.S. SOLID BIOFUEL MARKET

U.S. Solid Biofuel Production

In 2021, approx. 9.4M tonnes of solid biofuels were produced in the United States. In general, the total production indicated a strong increase from 2012 to 2021: its volume increased at an average annual rate of +8.4%. U.S. SOLID BIOFUEL MARKET

In value terms, solid biofuel production was estimated at $1.9B in 2021. Over the period under review, the total production indicated tangible growth from 2012 to 2021: its value increased at an average annual rate of +8.4%. U.S. SOLID BIOFUEL MARKET

U.S. Solid Biofuel Exports

In 2021, solid biofuel exports from the United States totaled 7.5M tonnes, with an increase of 2.7% against the previous year. In general, exports showed a strong expansion over the last nine years.

In value terms, exports amounted to $1.1B in 2021. Overall, exports saw a strong increase over the last nine years.

Exports by Country

The UK (5.3M tonnes) was the main destination for solid biofuel exports from the United States, accounting for a 71% share of total volume. Moreover, solid biofuel exports to the UK exceeded the volume sent to the second major destination, the Netherlands (1.2M tonnes), fivefold. Denmark (446K tonnes) ranked third in terms of total exports with a 6% share.

In value terms, the UK ($714M) remains the key foreign market for solid biofuel exports from the United States, comprising 66% of total supplies. The second position in the ranking was occupied by the Netherlands ($185M), with a 17% share of total exports. It was followed by Denmark, with a 7.5% share.

From 2012 to 2021, the average annual rate of growth in terms of value to the UK stood at +23.2%. Exports to the other major destinations recorded the following average annual rates of exports growth: the Netherlands (+12.5% per year) and Denmark (+39.3% per year).

Export Prices by Country

In 2021, the average export price for solid biofuels in the United States amounted to $144 per tonne, picking up by 4.7% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices for the major external markets. In 2021, the country with the highest price was Denmark ($181 per tonne), while the average price for exports to Belgium ($87 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2012 to 2021, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was recorded for supplies to Denmark (+3.1%), while the prices for the other major destinations experienced mixed trend patterns.

U.S. Solid Biofuel Imports

Solid biofuel imports into the United States amounted to 385K tonnes in 2021, growing by 5.8% against the previous year's figure. Over the period under review, total imports indicated a buoyant increase from 2012 to 2021: its volume increased at an average annual rate of +10.0%.

In value terms, imports rose sharply to $154M in 2021. Overall, total imports indicated a prominent expansion from 2012 to 2021: its value increased at an average annual rate of +10.0%.

Imports by Country

Canada (196K tonnes), Mexico (126K tonnes) and Paraguay (24K tonnes) were the main suppliers of solid biofuel imports to the United States, with a combined 90% share of total purchases.

In value terms, Mexico ($64M), Canada ($43M) and Paraguay ($14M) constituted the largest solid biofuel suppliers to the United States, with a combined 78% share of total imports.

Paraguay, with a CAGR of +32.7%, saw the highest growth rate of the value of imports, among the main suppliers over the past nine years. Purchases for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

Import Prices by Country

The average import price for solid biofuels stood at $401 per tonne in 2021, increasing by 8.5% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major supplying countries. In 2021, the country with the highest price was Indonesia ($718 per tonne), while the price for Canada ($220 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2012 to 2021, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Mexico (+4.1%), while the prices for the other major suppliers experienced more modest paces of growth.

About IndexBox

IndexBox is a market research firm developing an AI-driven market intelligence platform that helps business analysts find actionable insights and make data-driven decisions. The platform provides data on consumption, production, trade, and prices for more than 10K+ different products across 200 countries.

For more information, please visit

Website https://www.indexbox.io

Twitter https://twitter.com/indexbox

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/IndexBox



LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/indexbox-marketing/

Product Coverage

Wood pellets and wood charcoal.

Related Links

Solid Biofuel Market

Wood Pellets Market

Wood Residues Market

Wood Pulp Market

Wood Charcoal Market
BROOKLINE, Mass., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ukrainian-founded Preply reached a record-breaking milestone in the companys funding history today, raising $50 million USD in its Series C, amassing more than USD $100 million in investments since inception. Despite the war in Ukraine, founders Kirill Bigai, Dmytro Voloshyn and Serge Lukyanov have succeeded in building a truly global business, expanding the team to over 400 employees of 58 different nationalities across 30 countries worldwide. From an education startup, Preply has become a global e-learning powerhouse that connects the worlds largest live language learning community.



The Series C round was led by Silicon Valley based Owl Ventures, the largest Education Technology investor in the world. Previous investors Diligent Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Educapital, Evli Growth Partners, Przemyslaw Gacek, co-founder of Grupa Pracuj also participated, as well as new investors such as Swisscom Ventures, and Orbit Capital.

Preplys Growth and the Market Trajectory

The Preply marketplace pairs hundreds of thousands of learners with more than 32,000 tutors teaching over 50 languages. Over the past year, Preply has tripled the size of its B2B language learning business which now counts Bytedance (Tiktok), Mercedes and McKinsey amongst its customers. On the consumer side, the number of people using the Preply app has grown 4x over the last two years and in many geographies overall users have almost doubled year on year. The number of students being taught on the platform now exceeds the number of students taught in Ivy League universities as the platform plans to conquer the growing online language learning market, set to reach $47 billion by 20251.

Kirill Bigai, Co-founder and CEO of Preply, said, I am indescribably proud of what the Preply team has achieved. We have become the world's leading brand in live language classes and the platform of choice for so many tutors who have decided to teach online. With the additional funding, we plan to continue growing our footprint in the US and Europe by doubling down on AI-based matching and delivering on our promise to connect the largest live language learning community in the world.

Ross Darwin, Principal at Owl Ventures added, Were thrilled to partner with Preply on their next phase of growth. We're particularly excited by the continued momentum of the consumer business as well as its new language learning offering for companies, increasingly reliant on international workforces.

Supporting Ukraine

Though Preplys main offices are in the U.S. & Europe, the founders hail from Kyiv. Over the last few months, the companys global workforce have launched a number of meaningful initiatives to support Ukraine. This includes a  Messages to Ukraine  campaign, translating over 8000 global messages of support into Ukrainian, as well as a free language assistance program for 1000 Ukrainians crossing borders and grappling with a new language.

A Snapshot of U.S. Trends

The U.S. is Preplys largest market and the following data and trends provide an interesting snapshot of not only the learners but the tutors in the region:.

27% of U.S. Preply learners are studying Spanish, followed by English, French, Chinese, and Arabic

English is among the top languages studied in the U.S. due to relocators, expats, and foreign students living in-country

The top 3 reasons American learners are using the platform are to improve their conversation skills (41%), for professional reasons (19%), and for their children (11%)

Within Preplys global community of tutors, the U.S. is also the most represented country of birth. While many tutors were born in the U.S., 32% of those are now earning their Preply living teaching from a different country, with Mexico, Spain, Thailand, Germany, and Italy being popular places of residence

One English language tutor from the U.S. has taught 909 different students on Preply during the last 12 months which is a company record



About Preply

Preply is an online language learning marketplace connecting more than 32,000 tutors teaching over 50 languages to hundreds of thousands of learners in 180 countries worldwide. With student-tutor matches being suggested through a machine-learning algorithm, recommended tutors create customized lesson plans to suit the learners budget, schedule, and current knowledge. Preply was founded in 2012 by the Ukrainian team of Kirill Bigai, Serge Lukyanov, and Dmytro Voloshyn. Today, the company has over 400 employees of 58 different nationalities. Preply is a US company with employees based in 30 countries across Europe, USA, Africa, Asia and Latin America.



All images and logos can be found here .

1 https://www.holoniq.com/notes/60b-d2c-language-learning-market-to-double-by-2025-led-by-digital-delivering-3x-growth/



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7b2d5e37-c718-4fec-aba0-21e8914852f7
ATLANTA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As first reported this morning in the New York Times, a coalition of faith leaders throughout Georgia have joined together to create the voting advocacy entity Faith Works.

The following is a statement from Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, the Presiding Prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District:

"Today, African American Faith Leaders from across the state of Georgia, representing multiple denominations and over 1000 churches totaling hundreds of thousands of parishioners, are joining together in the fight for voting rights and launching a new and greatly needed grassroots initiative called Faith Works.

"Even with our great history, I believe it is fair to say that such a massive unifying effort within the African American faith community has never been seen before in Georgia.

"We are all rising together because our democracy has come under attack from within - and like generations before us, this moment in history and our faith are calling for us to act.

"It is our hope that you will support this new movement - and that these efforts will be replicated across the country.

"The launch of Faith Works and the work we will implement together across the state of Georgia will be significant. I hope you can take a moment to continue reading to fully understand its importance and the historic collaboration we have created.

"For decades, the right to vote has united our country's political parties and our diverse ideologies....until right now.

"For two years, a massive, well-funded campaign of deceit and intimidation, which began in Georgia, has spread across the country. This work was designed and executed to ensure that voting rights evolve into a political issue rather than continuing to serve as the very bedrock of our democracy.

"As we have seen firsthand in Georgia, the results of this anti-democratic campaign have been swift and very real.

"New, unjust laws have been passed in Georgia and throughout the country, making voting much more difficult.

"Specific groups of voters, such as African Americans, have been unfairly marginalized and incorrectly blamed for voter fraud.

"News reports have showcased planned tactics being organized to intimidate people from voting in this November's election.

"This web of anti-voting activities has been driven by unfounded, unproven, and unsubstantiated claims by political extremists. Their points have all proven baseless both in countless investigations and in the courts and have served only one purpose - to keep the majority of Americans in the minority.

"As leaders across the state, we are forming Faith Works because it is nothing less than our moral obligation to follow God's path and come together in the name of democracy.

"When confronted with the greatest of challenges it has been our Faith that has sustained each of us.

"Faith Works --- when we counteract these new unjust voter suppression efforts by embracing democracy and looking out for each other, no matter the political party or faith.

"Faith Works --- when we build a strong, supportive infrastructure that ensures all legal voters in Georgia are provided the ability to vote and that any attacks to marginalize Georgia voters are confronted head-on. And,

"Faith Works --- by increasing voter turnout throughout the state and the voice of all Americans is strengthened.

"Through the tenets of the Civil Rights Movement - education, information, mobilization, confrontation, and reconciliation - Faith Works will serve as a beacon to ensure that every Georgian has the support and information they need to vote and that every Georgian can vote freely and fairly.

"As stated in James 2:26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

"This is just the beginning. We ask you to please go to www.FaithWorks.Vote to please learn more."

#. #. #

Related Images











Image 1: Logo and Website









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Simply Better Brands Corp. ("SBBC" or the "Company") (TSX Venture: SBBC) (OTCQB: PKANF) is pleased to announce it is raising its 2022 financial outlook based on year-to-date results and business momentum. The sources of growth remain customer, category, channel and geographic expansion. All amounts are expressed in United States dollars unless otherwise noted. Certain metrics, including those expressed on an adjusted basis, are non-International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") measures, see "Non-IFRS Measures" below.



Preliminary June 30, 2022 Quarter to Date and Year to Date Results

Preliminary sales for the quarter ending June 30, 2022, were $16.8 million compared to 3.1 million for the comparable period or a growth rate of 440%.

Preliminary gross margin for the six months ending June 30, 2022, was margin of 69% compared to 59% for the comparable period.

Preliminary sales for the six months ending June 30, 2022 were $28.9 million compared to $5.6 million for the comparable period or a growth rate of 417%.

Preliminary gross margin for the six months ending June 30, 2022, was margin of 67% compared to 61% for the comparable period.

The PureKana and TRUBAR brands both achieved positive adjusted EBITDA margin in the months of April and May. Full second quarter and six-month results are due to be reported on August 30, 2022.

2022 Outlook

As a result of the strong year to date and quarter to date preliminary results as of June 30, 2022, the Company's guidance is changing as follows:

Expected consolidated net sales are increased to $50 million-55 million from $40 million-$42 million.

Expected gross margin as a percentage of net sales is increased to 63%-65% from 58-60%.

The Company continues its expectation to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2022.



2022 Business Drivers

PureKana (purekana.com) customer acquisition model adding approximately 15,000 new customers per month driving year-to-date growth of 366%% vs. year ago or $22.7 million vs. $4.8 million. According to Brightfield Research Group mid-year 2022 report, this performance makes PureKana a Top 10 brand out of 4,000 brands in the category.

PureKana expansion of a national salesforce for brick and mortar retail with a differentiated and innovative portfolio.

TRUBARs (truwomen.com) expansion into Costco. By Q3 2022, TRUBAR has secured distribution into 50% of the U.S. based Costco regions with velocities exceeding bar category expectations.

No B.S. Skincare (livenobs.com) launch into 3,200 CVS stores for Back-to-School migrating to on-shelf presence in September 2022.

Planned geographic omni-channel expansion into the UK Market in the back half of 2022.



Company Updates

The Company is also providing the updates:

The Company is making progress in expanding its credit facilities with 2Shores Capital to support growth with its expanding Costco business.

The Company is holding its Annual General Meeting on July 29, 2022. These materials are available at: https://odysseytrust.com/client/simply/ OR www.sedar.com

The Company has agreed with CFH to pause work on the potential acquisition due to its current share price and is looking for other ways to achieve some of the benefits identified with this acquisition. These may include a supply arrangement and joint R&D work on new products.



"As our strong first half results illustrate, we are positioned for sustainable and positive adjusted EBITDA growth in 2022 driven by our PureKana, TRUBAR, and No B.S. Skincare brands. Our strategic growth priorities remain to lead consumer-centric innovation and relentlessly acquire customers to these emerging brands by driving customer, category, channel and geographic expansion. In parallel, we look forward to integrating the recently completed acquisitions of BRN/Seventh Sense and Herve into three growth verticals: plant-based wellness, food and beverage, and health & beauty. Our model to acquire and build emerging brands in the clean ingredient space is working. We now have all three of the core brands in growth mode of both distribution and channel." says SBBC CEO, Kathy Casey.

About Simply Better Brands Corp.

Simply Better Brands Corp. leads an international omni-channel platform with diversified assets in the emerging plant-based and holistic wellness consumer product categories. The Companys mission is focused on leading innovation for the informed Millennial and Generation Z generations in the rapidly growing plant-based wellness, natural, and clean ingredient space. The Company continues to focus on expansion into high-growth consumer product categories including plant-based food, clean ingredient skincare and plant-based wellness. For more information on Simply Better Brands Corp., please visit: https://www.simplybetterbrands.com/investor-relations .

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information

Simply Better Brands Corp.

Brian Meadows

Chief Financial Officer

+1 (855) 553-7441

ir@simplybetterbrands.com

Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward looking statements" as such terms are used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information are based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and are subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, among others, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the regulatory climate in which the Company operates, and the Company's ability to execute on its business plans. Specifically, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to, but not limited to: expansion of its credit facilities; 2022 guidance and results of operations; growth of the Companys brands and business; new supply or R&D relationship with CFH; and integration of recent acquisitions completed by the Company, specifically BRN/Seventh Sense and Herve.

Forward-looking statements and information are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements and information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking statements and information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, that occurrences such as those referred to above are realized and result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for proposed transactions, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the CBD, broader wellness and consumer packaged goods industries and to the Company, and as set forth in the Company's annual information form and other filings available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

The above summary of assumptions and risks related to forward-looking statements in this news release has been provided in order to provide shareholders and potential investors with a more complete perspective on the Company's current and future operations and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. There is no representation by the Company that actual results achieved will be the same in whole or in part as those referenced in the forward-looking statements and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law.

Financial Outlook

This press release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, FOFI) about the financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, and the year ended December 31, 2022, including net sales, gross margin, and Adjusted EBITDA, all of which are subject to the same assumptions, risk factors, limitations, and qualifications as set out under the heading Forward-Looking Information. The actual financial results of the Company may vary from the amounts set out herein and such variation may be material. The Company and its management believe that the financial outlook has been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting management's best estimates and judgments and the FOFI contained in this press release was approved by management as of the date hereof. However, because this information is subjective and subject to numerous risks, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such FOFI. FOFI contained in this press release was made as of the date hereof and was provided for the purpose of providing further information about the Companys anticipated future business operations on a quarterly and annual basis. Readers are cautioned that the FOFI contained in this press release should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed herein.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

This press release refers to certain non-IFRS measures. Adjusted EBITDA refers to net earnings from continuing operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and removing certain non-recurring, one-time or irregular items. Adjusted EBITDA is not an earnings measure recognized by IFRS and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is an alternative measure in evaluating the Company's business performance. The most directly comparable measure to Adjusted EBITDA calculated in accordance with IFRS is net income (loss).

See Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) and Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP Measures) in the Companys most recently available managements discussion and analysis available on SEDAR for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net (loss) income.

Readers are cautioned that Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative to net income as determined under IFRS; nor as an indicator of financial performance as determined by IFRS; nor a calculation of cash flow from operating activities as determined under IFRS; nor as a measure of liquidity and cash flow under IFRS. The Company's method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from methods used by other companies and, accordingly, the Company's Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures used by any other company. Except as otherwise indicated, Adjusted EBITDA is calculated and disclosed by SBBC on a consistent basis from period to period. Specific adjusting items may only be relevant in certain periods.
TORONTO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One Free World International (OFWI) will be showcasing extraordinary artifacts from the frontlines of war in Ukraine at a special exhibit at Torontos historic Gooderham Building on July 14. The artifacts give testimony to the war crimes Russia is committing in its war in Ukraine and underscore the need for a greater international response.



The special exhibit From Ukraine to Canada: Extraordinary Artifacts from the Frontlines, showcases artifacts recovered by OFWI that will be displayed to educate Canadians about the realities of war and mobilize humanitarian support for refugees and Ukrainians injured by the conflict.

Evidence of Russian bombing of civilians in Ukraine and is a scathing indictment of Russias total disregard for human life, said Majed El Shafie, President and Founder of OFWI. The artifacts recovered are heartbreaking and an important testimony for the world to see.

OFWI is inviting the people of Canada to contribute to the support effort by:

Donating to humanitarian relief missions

Supporting the relocation of refugees in Europe and Canada

Engaging with elected officials to increase support efforts



The artifacts, which include the remenants of a Russian bomb that detonated on the outskirts of Lviv and a childs stuffed animal found amidst the carnage, offer compelling evidence of Russian war crimes and tell the tragic story of the humanitarian toll in Ukraine.

Led by President and Founder Majed El Shafie, OFWI has been undertaking humanitarian work in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. OFWI has been delivering food, medical supplies, and relief supplies to Ukrainians in need across the country. The organization has also been supporting refugee centres and orphanages in Ukraine and Poland, in addition to delivering medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in Lviv, Ukraine.

Media and the public are invited to attend this special one-night only exhibit:

Date: July 14, 2022

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

Location: Gooderham Building, 49 Wellington Street E, Toronto, ON, Suite 101

Media Contact: Jamie Ellerton

media@conaptus.com | 416.639.6090

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/082c2062-9d27-4f0d-a4c0-248db71a85b4
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trillium Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV:TGM, OTCQX:TGLDF, FRA:0702) (Trillium Gold or the Company) announces that pursuant to its news release disseminated on June 1, 2022, it has closed the Purchase and Sale Agreement (the Purchase Agreement) to acquire all of the rights and title to the Panama Lake Property (the Property) held by St. Anthony Gold Corp. (St. Anthony Gold).



The Panama Lake Gold Project is located approximately 80km from, and on the same structural trend as Kinross Golds LP Fault Zone and effectively extends Trillium Golds dominant contiguous foothold along the Confederation belt by 9,882 hectares (see Figure 1).

Pursuant to the Assignment and Assumption Agreement entered into following the closing of the Purchase Agreement (the Assignment Agreement together with the Original Option Agreement, the Option Agreement), among Trillium Gold and St. Anthony Gold, St. Anthony Gold has assigned all of its rights and obligations under the Original Option Agreement to Trillium Gold. In addition, pursuant to the Assignment Agreement, Benton Resources Inc. (Benton Resources) has agreed to register 100% of the Propertys title to Trillium Gold while retaining its 50% ownership interest in the Property until such time as Trillium Gold fulfils its option to earn 100% interest.

With the recently completed acquisition of the Eastern Vision properties, the Panama Lake acquisition brings Trillium Golds consolidated land package along the Confederation Belt to over 58,400 hectares, bound by the Red Lake and LP Fault structures, positioning it as one of the most prospective exploration projects in the heart of the Red Lake mining district, commented Russell Starr, President & CEO of Trillium Gold.

Trilliums geological team has commenced early exploration work while permit applications for drilling and trenching are underway and are expected to be received in early summer 2022. The Company has planned an initial 6,000 metres of drilling throughout the Project area on targets that have been systematically researched, prioritized and deemed drill ready.

Terms of the Panama Lake Agreement

Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement which has since been amended following the news release that was disseminated on June 1, 2022, Trillium Gold paid St. Anthony Gold, Cdn $500,000 in cash and issued 1,000,000 common shares in the capital of Trillium Gold (the Common Shares). In the event Trillium Gold acquires a 100% interest in the Property, St. Anthony Gold may cause Trillium Gold to exercise its Buy-Back Right under the Option Agreement (as further discussed below) to repurchase from Benton Resources one-half of the 2.0% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) on the Property and convey such repurchased 1.0% NSR to St. Anthony Gold in exchange for a cash payment by St. Anthony Gold to Trillium Gold of $1,000,000.

Pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, in order for Trillium Gold to earn a 70% interest in the Property, it will pay to Benton Resources Cdn $100,000 in cash by October 24, 2022, and complete Cdn $250,000 in exploration expenditures on the Project by April 24, 2023. Trillium Gold has the option to earn 100% ownership of the Property by paying Benton Resources a further Cdn $300,000 in cash and complete Cdn $300,000 in exploration expenditures on the Project in each case by October 24, 2023. Benton Resources has the right to retain a 2.0% NSR on the Project, subject to the option of Trillium Gold to buy back one-half of such royalty (being 1.0%) for Cdn $1,000,000 (the Buy Back Right). In the event that Trillium Gold completes a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Property, Trillium Gold will pay Benton Resources a cash payment that is determined based on the number of ounces of gold in the NI 43-101 report multiplied by $0.50.

The Common Shares of Trillium Gold issued under the Purchase Agreement are subject to a four-month holding period from the closing date. The Purchase Agreement is subject to the approval of the TSXV and other applicable regulatory authorities.

About the Panama Lake Property

A long history of exploration activity has occurred on the Panama Lake Gold Project since the late 1960s. Recent diamond drilling completed by Benton Resources and St. Anthony Gold have continued to intercept anomalous gold values from the Panama Zone and north of a highly anomalous gold grain till sample collected by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC Open File 3038). Recently completed interpretation of newly acquired airborne geophysics have identified several linear magnetic trends that appear coincident with the Panama Zone and other gold occurrences found on the Panama Lake Gold Project. This new geophysical interpretation and recently obtained anomalous gold values from 2019-2022 diamond drill programs will allow future exploration programs to be focused on areas of high mineral potential.

The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by William Paterson QP, P.Geo, Vice President of Exploration of Trillium Gold Mines, as defined by NI 43-101.

Figure 1: Map showing Trillium Golds Panama Lake Gold Project

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dfe4abe6-6e37-4c80-8c90-deca56652bb1

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Trillium Gold Mines Inc.

Russell Starr

Interim Chairman, President & CEO

For further information, please contact Donna Yoshimatsu, VP Corporate Development and Investor Relations at dyoshimatsu@trilliumgold.com, (416) 722-2456, or info@trilliumgold.com.

Visit our website at www.trilliumgold.com.

About Trillium Gold Mines Inc.

Trillium Gold Mines Inc. is a growth focused company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties located in the Red Lake Mining District of Northern Ontario. As part of its regional-scale consolidation strategy, the Company has assembled one of the largest prospective land packages in and around the Red Lake mining district in proximity to major mines and deposits, as well as the Confederation Lake and Birch-Uchi greenstone belts. Recently, the Company signed a definitive agreement for control over a significant portion of the Confederation Lake greenstone belt to more than 100km in length. In addition, the Company has interests in highly prospective properties in Larder Lake, Ontario.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations.

Forward-looking information is based on managements reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on managements experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Such factors, among others, include: impacts arising from the global disruption caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, business integration risks; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold or certain other commodities; change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); and title to properties.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Sri Lankan PM's Office says president Rajapaksa has left country

Xinhua) 13:06, July 13, 2022

COLOMBO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country, hours before his resignation is expected to be announced.

"The Prime Minister's Office confirms that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country," the Prime Minister's Media Division said in a statement.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said in a separate statement that it had arranged an air force flight early Wednesday for President Rajapaksa and the First Lady along with two security officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport to fly to the Maldives.

The Maldivian media reported earlier that a military aircraft carrying Rajapaksa landed at the Velana International Airport in at around 3 a.m. local time.

Rajapaksa had informed the speaker of Sri Lankan parliament that he would resign from the presidency on Wednesday. Sri Lanka this year has been suffering a severe economic crisis which has led to protests.

Sri Lanka's speaker of parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said political party leaders have decided to elect a new president on July 20 through a vote in parliament.

(Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji)
New York, NY, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

NEW YORK  City National Bank has grown its Commercial Banking presence on the East Coast with the addition of nearly a dozen new bankers and now offers commercial, institutional, and nonprofit banking services throughout the region with an expanded focus on upstate New York, the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

City National offers private banking, commercial banking, wealth management, treasury services, brokerage and leasing services, software solutions and more through over 70 offices nationwide. Commercial Banking serves the needs of middle market companies with up to $500 million in annual revenue.

Under the leadership of Zach Mayo, head of City Nationals Commercial Banking division on the East Coast, and Michael Walker, head of the division nationally, the new teams of regional bankers create customized solutions for businesses by leveraging a vast array of financial services including tailored lending solutions, treasury services, derivatives and foreign exchange, trade and supply chain finance, leasing, investment banking, private banking and more. The new teams also include industry leading expertise in banking solutions for nonprofits.

Our new regional teams of experienced bankers bring to City National incredibly deep industry expertise and the level of care our clients have come to expect, said Mayo, who is based in New York. As our Commercial Banking group expands to comprise the entire eastern corridor of the U.S., we are committed to continuing to provide customized solutions and high-touch personal service that can help businesses and nonprofit organizations grow to meet their strategic goals.

The new teams include:

Upstate New York:

Geoffrey Rispoli, based out of New York, has joined as senior vice president of Commercial Banking in upstate New York. Rispoli brings a wealth of experience with over 18 years of international commercial banking, including leadership positions at HSBC, KeyBank, and Citigroup.

Mid-Atlantic:

Jim Earnest has joined as senior vice president and leads Commercial Banking in the mid-Atlantic region. Earnests new team also includes Khanh Le, formerly of Bank of America, and Blake Balsamo, formerly of Citibank, and will cover from Virginia to northern New Jersey. Prior to City National, Earnest spent 15 years at Citigroup where he was a director for Citi Commercial Bank. At Citi, Earnest held several different roles, most recently as the national business head for diversified & financial services.

Southeast:

Allen Phinney, based out of Georgia, has joined as senior vice president and will lead the banks Commercial Banking team in the Southeast region. Phinney has spent the last 23 years in commercial banking in Georgia, including the past five years in Corporate Banking at Atlantic Capital and 17 years in leadership at BB&T. Phinney also serves on the Board of Governors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, the bank has added a national Institutional & Nonprofit Banking team.

National Institutional & Nonprofit Banking:

Brett Lane, based out of New York, has joined City National as senior vice president and leads Institutional & Nonprofit Banking. Lane has more than two decades of experience in institutional and nonprofit sales, institutional distribution, relationship management and more. Prior to joining City National, Lane was the head of Institutional & Nonprofit Banking at Deutsche Bank. Lane is joined by Nick Attard who will serve as a regional manager for the eastern U.S.

About City National

With $90.9 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 74 branches, including 22 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Miami*. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $80.6 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the worlds leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 17 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 27 other countries.

For more information about City National, visit the companys website at cnb.com.

*City National Bank does business in Miami and the state of Florida as CN Bank.

# # #

Allen Phinney, Commercial Banking Southeast, City National Bank Brett Lane, Institutional & Nonprofit Banking, City National Bank Brett Lane, Institutional & Nonprofit Banking, City National Bank Geoffrey Rispoli, Commercial Banking Upstate New York, City National Bank

Attachments
BOSTON and PHILADELPHIA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vashti Brotherhood, President, Incenter Marketing, an integrated marketing and branding firm, has been named a 2022 Marketing Leader by HousingWire, a major digital community for the housing finance industry.



According to HousingWire, the award recognizes the most creative and influential marketing minds in the sector, which includes lending, mortgage servicing, investing and real estate.

This is the latest in a series of national and international awards for Ms. Brotherhood. Her truth-based philosophy for marketing ensures brand visions and messaging are believable and resonant with customers  two powerful and necessary criteria for winning customer loyalty and mindshare.

As HousingWire notes in her profile, This innate strength  is  giving Incenter, its 11 firms and external  clients  an advantage in todays ultra-competitive marketwhere companies can no longer afford to blend in.

Moreover, the publication reports, Brotherhood and her team have elevated  [Incenter] as a leading solutions-driven organization and business partner to the mortgage and specialty lending C-suite. Everywhere decision makers are searching for advice, guidance or trend informationfrom traditional or digital media to conferencesIncenter is there.

Ms. Brotherhood formerly served as a branding and marketing consultant to Boston National Title Agency, which was acquired by Incenter in 2016. Her work caught the eye of Incenter President Bruno Pasceri, who invited her to lead Incenter Marketing, serving both internal and external clientswhich she has done since 2020.

Vashti is exceptionally talented and truly deserves this award, said Mr. Pasceri. In addition to being a standout creative, she asks tough, below-the-surface questions to make sure that every new initiative is true to what customers are actually experiencing in their lives. As a result, she plays an important role in driving business.

About Incenter Marketing

Incenter Marketing helps organizations build strong and memorable brands that are better able to transcend market fluctuations. The firms branding, advertising, digital marketing, public relations, video, podcast and other services share a singular characteristic that gives them a market advantagethey ring true to every stakeholder. More information about Incenter Marketingwhich focuses on mortgage, real estate, fintech, B2B and professional service firmsis available at incentermarketing.com.

Contact Dawn Ringel

267-620-8401 or dawn.ringel@incenterms.com




PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MISTRAS Group, Inc. (NYSE: MG), a leading "one source" global provider of technology-enabled asset protection solutions, announced Hon. Jay M. Cohen has joined MISTRAS as an Advanced Technical Solutions Consultant.





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf5ce81b-8267-4218-8c79-24c6a161c87f

The addition of retired Adm. Cohen  the former Under Secretary (2006  2009) for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  aims to further establish MISTRAS' footprint in the military and defense, maritime, and marine facilities sectors now and into the future. Cohen will leverage his extensive knowledge of the naval industry, catalog of high-level contacts, and experience in navigating government procurement processes to advise MISTRAS leadership on diversification opportunities in these markets.

Retired Adm. Cohen brings an exceptional reputation and over four decades of expertise in science and technology research to MISTRAS Group, and we are honored to have him as a consultant," stated MISTRAS Group President and CEO Dennis M. Bertolotti. "Retired Adm. Cohen's knowledge and network of industry contacts will enable MISTRAS Group to further expand into a robust naval and defense infrastructure sector, where the Navy alone has recently committed to a $21 billion modernization.

Prior to his time at DHS, Cohen served 38 years in the U.S. Navy, including an unprecedented five and a half years as Chief of Naval Research. During his military career, he also served as a senior member of the Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board, Deputy Chief of Navy Legislative Affairs, and Department of the Navy Chief Technology Officer. In addition, Cohen commanded the Los Angeles Class submarine, USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709), and USS L. Y. Spear (AS-36), a submarine tender with a crew of 400 women and 800 men, tending 12 nuclear submarines.

Today, Cohen acts as principal of Chertoff Group, a top provider of security and cybersecurity risk management. In this role, Retired Adm. Cohen provides innovative problem-solving and insightful expertise to commercial and government clients on a variety of homeland and national security issues. His areas of focus include science and technology research, development, testing and evaluation; risk-informed decision-making; interagency technology coordination; and maritime and infrastructure protection.

Cohen holds a joint Ocean Engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a Master of Science in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture from MIT.

About MISTRAS Group, Inc. - One Source for Asset Protection Solutions

MISTRAS Group, Inc. (NYSE: MG) is a leading "one source" multinational provider of integrated technology-enabled asset protection solutions, helping to maximize the safety and operational uptime for civilization's most critical industrial and civil assets.

Backed by an innovative, data-driven asset protection portfolio, proprietary technologies, strong commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, and a decades-long legacy of industry leadership, MISTRAS leads clients in the oil and gas, aerospace and defense, renewable and nonrenewable power, civil infrastructure, and manufacturing industries towards achieving operational and environmental excellence. By supporting these organizations that help fuel our vehicles and power our society; inspecting components that are trusted for commercial, defense, and space craft; building real-time monitoring equipment to enable safe travel across bridges; and helping to propel sustainability, MISTRAS helps the world at large.

MISTRAS enhances value for its clients by integrating asset protection throughout supply chains and centralizing integrity data through a suite of Industrial IoT-connected digital software and monitoring solutions. The company's core capabilities also include non-destructive testing field and in-line inspections enhanced by advanced robotics, laboratory quality control and assurance testing, sensing technologies and NDT equipment, asset and mechanical integrity engineering services, and light mechanical maintenance and access services.

For more information about how MISTRAS helps protect civilization's critical infrastructure and the environment, visit https://www.mistrasgroup.com/.

Contact:

Nestor S. Makarigakis

Group Vice President, Marketing and Communications

MISTRAS Group, Inc.

marcom@mistrasgroup.com

+1 (609) 716-4000
WHITEHORSE, Yukon, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX-VGCX) (Victoria or the Company) has received notice the Evacuation Alert has been rescinded (see News Release dated July 12, 2022).



The Evacuation Alert, issued July 5, 2022 by the Yukon Emergency Measures Organization (YEMO), for the Silver Trail, including Moose Creek Lodge, Mayo, Elsa, Keno, and Victoria Gold Mine, has been rescinded. This means the Eagle Gold Mine staff and local communities no longer need to be prepared to leave immediately.

YEMO have stated the level of risk to this area has decreased and is now not deemed to present a risk to persons or property within the defined area. Cooler weather and increased rain have reduced fire behaviour across the Yukon, as well as limited the number of new fires.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., as the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About the Dublin Gulch Property

Victoria Gold's 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property (the Property) is situated in central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 kilometers north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85 kilometers from the town of Mayo. The Property is accessible by road year-round, and is located within Yukon Energy's electrical grid.

The Property covers an area of approximately 555 square kilometers, and is the site of the Company's Eagle and Olive Gold Deposits. The Company issued a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Mine dated December 3, 2019 (the 2019 Eagle Technical Report). Since the date of the 2019 Eagle Technical Report, the Company has produced gold from its Eagle Mine. Based on the 2019 Eagle Technical Report and after adjusting for depletion through December 31, 2021, the Eagle and Olive deposits include Proven and Probable Reserves of 2.7 million ounces of gold from 133 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.64 grams of gold per tonne. Based on the 2019 Eagle Technical Report and after adjusting for depletion through December 31, 2021, the Mineral Resource for the Eagle and Olive deposits has been estimated to host 207 million tonnes averaging 0.63 grams of gold per tonne, containing 4.2 million ounces of gold in the "Measured and Indicated" category, inclusive of Proven and Probable Reserves, and a further 28 million tonnes averaging 0.61 grams of gold per tonne, containing 0.6 million ounces of gold in the "Inferred" category.

Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Except for statements of historical fact relating to Victoria, information contained herein constitutes forward-looking information, including any information related to Victoria's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as plan, expect, budget, target, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may, will, could or should occur, and includes any guidance and forecasts set out herein (including, but not limited to, production and operational guidance of the Corporation). In order to give such forward-looking information, the Corporation has made certain assumptions about the its business, operations, the economy and the mineral exploration industry in general, in particular in light of the impact of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease (COVID-19) on each of the foregoing. In this respect, the Corporation has assumed that production levels will remain consistent with managements expectations, contracted parties provide goods and services on agreed timeframes, equipment works as anticipated, required regulatory approvals are received, no unusual geological or technical problems occur, no material adverse change in the price of gold occurs and no significant events occur outside of the Corporation's normal course of business. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in, or implied by, the forward-looking information. These factors include the impact of general business and economic conditions, risks related to COVID-19 on the Company, global liquidity and credit availability on the timing of cash flows and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future conditions, anticipated metal production, fluctuating metal prices, currency exchange rates, estimated ore grades, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in accounting policies, changes in Victoria's corporate resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, changes in development and production time frames, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainty of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, higher prices for fuel, steel, power, labour and other consumables contributing to higher costs and general risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, final pricing for metal sales, unanticipated results of future studies, seasonality and unanticipated weather changes, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, requirements for additional capital, permitting time lines, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, limitations on insurance coverage and timing and possible outcomes of pending litigation and labour disputes, risks related to remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure, fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations. Although Victoria has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in, or implied by, the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding Victoria's expected financial and operational performance and Victoria's plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. All forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof, as the case may be, and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management of the Corporation as at the date hereof. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information contained herein and the documents incorporated by reference herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For Further Information Contact:

John McConnell President & CEO

Victoria Gold Corp.

Tel: 604-696-6605

ceo@vgcx.com
NEW YORK, NY, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS) is a Mergers and Acquisitions company focused on acquiring and growing public safety and technology-based companies across the globe. Now in its second year of operations since taking over from previous management, the company has completed several acquisitions and also created subsidiaries which are in the process of completing several further acquisitions. In line with the substantial progress that ILUS has made in 2022, the company has therefore significantly increased its revenue forecast for the year.



On the 11th of February 2022, ILUS announced a run rate revenue forecast of $40 to $55 million for 2022. Due to current progress and the agreed acquisitions which it expects to close in the 3rd quarter, ILUS has updated its revenue forecast to a run rate of $140 million for 2022.

Furthermore, ILUS confirmed that its second quarter results, which will be filed on the 15th of August 2022 as required, reflect the strong progress that the company has been making. The appointment of former REV Group President, Dan Peters, as CEO of ILUS public safety subsidiary, Emergency Response Technologies, during the second quarter, is already adding further momentum to the performance of ILUS, specifically in North America.

Recently, the ILUS owned Industrial subsidiary, Wikisoft Corp., which is undergoing an appropriate name change to Quality Industrial Corp. along with a change in operational focus, announced that it has signed a binding Letter of Intent to acquire Quality International, a United Arab Emirates headquartered process equipment manufacturer for the Oil and Gas, Utilities, and Industrial sectors. Quality International is delivering annual revenue in excess of $100 million and currently has $75 million worth of orders in production along with a further $230 million in confirmed purchase orders. Wikisoft Corp. is currently negotiating further acquisitions which will be strategically aligned with Quality International.

Regarding its audit which is currently underway, ILUS confirms that it is on track for the audit to be completed during the summer of 2022, as originally communicated.After completing the audit, ILUS will file its Form 10 with the SEC to become a fully reporting entity, change its registered name and apply to OTC Markets to up list from the OTC Pink Market to the OTCQB.

ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell, recently provided an update on the companys progress and strategy in a video presentation. This video is available on the ILUS YouTube channel at the following link: https://youtu.be/hAsz0e_Ox3s

Nick Link, CEO of ILUS, commented: In terms of business progress, its been an incredible year for us so far and we clearly expect our growth trajectory to increase in the back end of the year. Although the global economy is facing immense challenges and the markets are experiencing ongoing pressure, as a business we are surging towards our largest milestones yet. We look forward to making several important announcements in Q3, delivering on both our previously stated objectives and further new ones that we have been working on behind the scenes. Our ability to close deals such as that of Quality International serves as a guideline for what more can be expected from ILUS and its subsidiaries over the coming months.

For further information on the companies, please see their communication channels:

Website: https://ilus-group.com

Twitter: OTC_ILUS

Contact:

Email:IR@Ilus-Group.com

Source: ILUS

Related Links

https://ilus-group.com

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking information", including "future-oriented financial information" and "financial outlook", under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company's business, projects, and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company's projects; (vi) completion of the Company's projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company's current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management's beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material non-public information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information via official Press Releases, in addition to SEC filings, press releases, Questions & Answers sessions, public conference calls and webcastsalso may take time from time to time. We use these channels as well as social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services, and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, considering the SEC's guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the following social &media channels:

website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter: OTC_ILUS

Note: ILUS Coin does not sit within ILUS International Inc (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc), so the public are recommended to follow the correct Media Channels relating to the public company OTC: ILUS.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NDB, Inc. - The quest for innovations touched every human area, including the energy industry. The dramatic decline in environmental well-being that resulted from encouraging low-cost manufacturing caught the attention of governments and international organizations. This is where the idea of using alternate sources of energy came into play.

NDB, an acronym that stands for Nano Diamond Battery is poised to address many of the long-standing concerns about conventional energy sources, including some that renewable energy sources alone could not resolve. NDBs proprietary, universal, self-charging battery provides a charge for the entire lifetime of a device or machine, with up to 28,000 years of battery life.

Dr. Nima Golsharifi, CEO of NDB said "By providing an alternative to the existing technologies, NDB will ultimately disrupt the status quo in which users are forced to choose between becoming clean or compromising on the convenience that application may provide."

Attracting the sharpest brains in the world was a stated goal of the government challenge in South Australia. NDB, Inc.'s energy solutions were selected by the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining as a viable answer to the global energy issue.

"Congratulations to NDB. As a bit of insight, judges said how much they love the vision of this submission. And it's not just an opportunity for research and development but it is innovative, it's a disruptive energy solution, which represents a high value-added product" - Alex Blood, Executive Director of Mineral Resources Department for Energy and Mining.

The Department for Energy and Mining leads the global transformation economy, overseeing the responsible mining and production of the minerals, metals and fuels of the future, to safely and sustainably generate the energy and low carbon products of the future.

According to Prof. Sir Michael Pepper , CTO of NDB: "We are most grateful to Thinking Critical for recognising the promise of our technology to be an important part of the world wide effort towards Net Zero. The team at NDB have worked hard to develop novel designs and we very much look forward to fulfilling the confidence and promise which the South Australian government has awarded us."

NDB intends to recycle the nuclear waste that produces a high level of energetic particles as a source of alternative energy. This innovative approach allows for greater energy efficiency and more responsible energy production and consumption, accelerating the energy capacity production and development.

As a winner of Thinking Critical South Australia , the company will expand to the South Australia region supported by numerous institutions including amongst others: the Government of South Australia, the Department for Energy and Mining, the Department for Trade and Investment, the University of Adelaide, and the University of South Australia.

According to Zane Prickett, Director at Unearthed : "NDB is well underway in developing a commercial product and excited to work closely with the talent support available in South Australia for further development."

The availability of critical minerals makes the region very attractive for the company to establish its facilities in the long-term perspective.

"Australia represents an enormous possibility to lower manufacturing costs by gaining access to a diverse variety of raw materials. Additionally, entering a new market provides an excellent opportunity to attract investors and partners from other parts of the world." - says Mr. Giorgi Gogokhia, the COO at NDB.

About NDB, Inc.

NDB, Inc. is developing a self-charging nano diamond battery (NDB) that is an innovative energy generator and storage that redefines and revolutionizes the battery as we know it. This type of energy solutions made from radioisotopes, represent an alternative source of energy that can have a variety of applications in several fields. The company is a member of the Alchemist Accelerator and the grand winner of the Orano call 2020 and now the winner of Thinking Critical South Australia. The R&D is led by former University of Cambridge physicist, 2019 Institute of Physics Isaac Newton Medal winner, Professor Sir Michael Pepper. Founded in 2019, NDB is headquartered in San Francisco.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8257db9e-bb93-4608-badc-4cc80bd387b7

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/36706f45-a8e8-4233-a5e7-fd7f2a34956a
English French

Suresnes & Putusk, 13th July 2022  6:00pm

Bel and Polmlek announce that they have signed an agreement to sell Bels stake in Moroccan company Safilait

Bel Group and Polm l ek announce today that they have signed an agreement to sell Bels stake in Safilait , part of Bel s activities in Morocco.

This represents a n opportunity for Safilait to tie its future to Polmlek , the major Polish dairy player , who aims to invest in the development and growth of their core business as part of their strategy to expand internationally.

For Bel in Morocco (Fromageries Bel Maroc), this is in line with their strategy to focus on their historical cheese brands growth and local market share development, in this major market for the Group.





Bel Group and Polmlek announce today they have signed an agreement to sell Bels stake in Safilait, and the Tarmast farm which supplies Safilait.

Bel is a leader in the Moroccan market where the Group has been present for five decades and where it has strong brands and positions (including The Laughing Cow, les Enfants, and Kiri). It is a key market for Bel, in which the group has increased its investments, including in its state-of-the-art Tangier factory, and where it will continue to invest.

In 2015, the group had expanded its offer in Morocco by acquiring Safilait, a dairy company specializing in the processing, packaging and sale of fresh milk, UHT milk and fresh dairy products. Since then, Bel Group has supported Safilait to develop its products and activities  including well-known local brands such as Jibal and has invested in the companys Moroccan production facility throughout its period of ownership. Safilait now constitutes the third-largest local dairy player. Given its international ambition and strong expertise in the fresh dairy segment, Polmlek will be mobilized to pursue Safilaits development and growth achieved under Bels ownership.

Bel is committed to a smooth transition and will ensure a harmonious takeover by Polmlek for all stakeholders involved, including through maintaining commercial synergies and cross-functional projects. Maintaining Safilaits well-known brands such as Jibal and local proximity, are an essential part of this deal.

The transaction will be effective after the approval of regulatory and competition authorities. It is expected to close in H2 2022.

Bel Moroccos Chakib Seddiki said: This project is in line with our strategy: to consolidate our historical activities in this major local market by increasing our focus on our core cheese brands, whilst providing Safilait with the chance to write a new chapter in their history alongside a player, Polmlek, that is a milk and dairy specialist, and which has strong ambitions in Morocco.

Bel Group CEO Cecile Beliot said: We are committed to Morocco since the 1970s and will continue to invest, to consolidate the position of our historical brands in the country. Since 2015, Safilait, thanks to the strong expertise and mobilization of the teams, has consolidated its position as a major dairy player in Morocco, that Polmlek aims to strengthen.

Polmlek CEO said: The transaction will enable Polmlek International to implement a long-term plan of foreign expansion by establishing a footprint in the Moroccan market, with a well-established household brand, a solid asset-base, and an experienced management team.

About Bel

The Bel Group is a world leader in branded cheese and a major player in the healthy snacking segment. Its portfolio of differentiated and internationally recognized brands include such products as The Laughing Cow, Kiri, Babybel, Boursin, Nurishh, Pom'Potes and GoGo squeeZ, as well as some twenty other local brands, have enabled it to generate sales of 3.38 billion euros in 2021.

Some 11,800 employees in some forty subsidiaries around the world contribute to the Group's mission of providing healthier and more responsible food for all. Its products are produced in 29 production sites and distributed in nearly 120 countries.

Bel in Morocco : Present in the country since the 1970s, Bel employs around 2,500 people in Morocco and operates a plant in Tangier that produces The Laughing Cow, les Enfants and Kiri cheese. Bel is the leading player in the Moroccan cheese market.

www.groupe-bel.com

About Safilait

Safilait, established in 2006, has grown into Moroccos third-largest dairy player with its Jibal brand. In 2021, the company employed nearly 1,500 people. Its production site is located in Moroccos Fkih Ben Saleh region.

About Polmlek

Polmlek is a major player on Polish dairy market and biggest private owned dairy group in Poland. The company, founded in 1994, currently operates 13 specialized dairy plants throughout Poland.

Polmlek produce a wide range of milk powders, cheeses and is the largest producer of WPC powders in CEE. Within the Group since 2015 there is also Juices division (Fortuna Juices).

The Group's forecasted sales in 2022 will reach  2 bn with a total employment of 4,000 people.

------------------

Bel press contacts

Mael Evin

mael.evin@havas.com - +33(0)6.44.12.14.91

Bel Maroc press contacts

Loubna Debbagh

loubna.debbarh@mosaik ; +212(0)522252868

Polmlek press contacts

ukasz Spisak

l.spisak@polmlek.com +48 606 461 225

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Vancouver, BC, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vancouver, BC, July 13, 2022  Nicola Wealth is pleased to share that Chairman and CEO, John Nicola has been named a regional winner in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 Pacific program. Since founding Nicola Wealth in 1994, John has earned acknowledgment in this program twice, both in 2011 and 2022. Johns professional story of building one of Canadas fastest-growing independent wealth management firms from just $80 million and eight employees to over $12 billion in assets under management and 400+ employees, effectively depicts the vision and dedication he applies to his organization.

Seven Pacific division winners, shortlisted from a group of 24 regional finalists, were recognized for transforming our world through unbounded innovation, growth, and prosperity. Nominations were evaluated by a panel of independent judges who assessed the nominees contributions to their businesses within the following criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact.

"What stands out about this year's finalists is their ability to capture growth in new or evolving markets," says Lui Petrollini, Entrepreneur of The Year Pacific Program Director. "From infrastructure and meal delivery to talent management and cybersecurity, these organizations are well positioned to respond to consumer and business trends arising from the pandemic  not just surviving but thriving in this new world. We're excited to celebrate their achievements.



With this recognition, John joins an esteemed group of entrepreneurial leaders of high-growth companies who think and act big to succeed. Winners of regional, national, and international levels of the Entrepreneur of The Year Pacific Program become lifetime members of an esteemed community of multi-industry award winners, granting them access to the experience, insight, and wisdom of fellow alumni across over 60 countries, in addition to extensive support from EY resources and other members of the entrepreneurial community.



I am honored to be nominated and recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, shares winner, John Nicola. In my years as an entrepreneur and am fortunate to have built a team of talented individuals who share my commitment to growing Nicola Wealth and setting the gold standard for asset management and financial planning services for high-net-worth families and business owners in Canada.



Now in its 28th year in Canada, the Entrepreneur of The Year program supports, connects, and enables entrepreneurs across Canada as they turn groundbreaking ideas into powerful businesses that deliver national and global impact. The regional winners will then be considered by the National independent judging panel, and National awards will be presented in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur of The Year Award in June 2023.



About John Nicola

A veteran of the financial services industry since 1974, John provides strategic leadership to Nicola Wealth, exercising his passion for providing innovative solutions to clients complex problems. His areas of expertise include investment management, estate, and financial planning, as well as business planning with a focus on best practices for wealth building, exit strategies, and shareholder agreements. He is a Founding Member of CALU (Conference for Life Underwriters) and has continued to contribute to the organization.



John currently sits on the Board of Directors at Covenant House. Using his business acumen to help develop and grow this and several other not-for-profit organizations over a number of years including The Pivot Law Society, Canuck Place, and Bulembu International, among others.



Earning recognition as an outstanding leader, in 2011 and 2022, John has been selected as the winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Pacific Region), in 2015 John was named the Winner of Business In Vancouvers BC CEO of the Year Award  Small-Medium Private Company, in 2016 John was recognized as one of Canadas Most Admired CEOs.



About Nicola Wealth

Nicola Wealth is an independent wealth management firm dedicated to serving the complex needs of high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs, and accomplished individuals of all professions. Today, the firm services clients across Canada, with offices in BC and Ontario, and is responsible for over $12.1 billion in assets under management (AUM), investing in a wide range of asset classes including hard asset real estate, private equity, private debt, commercial mortgages and more. Over the years, Nicola Wealth has been recognized as one of Deloittes Best Managed Companies (Platinum Member), Canadas Top 100 SME Employers, BCs Top Employers, one of Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures, and named Employer of Choice 2022 by Wealth Professional Canada. For more information, please visit www.nicolawealth.com .

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the worlds most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership, and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing, and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national, and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in 50 countries.

Attachments
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TORONTO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing customers are invited to be among the first to experience a reimagined boutique vacation in the tropical destination of Cayo Largo, Cuba this fall. Considered Cubas sunshine coast thanks to its 25km of pristine, white-sand shores and summertime feeling year-round, Cayo Largo is offered through Sunwing to Canadians in search of a getaway like no other. With its prime location and warm temperatures, the destination will appeal to the most discerning of travellers.



Cuba has long held its top spot as a Canadian favourite for Sunwing customers and, as we expand on our offerings to welcome more guests back to this beautiful island, were thrilled to bring new life to Cayo Largo with Sunwing as the destinations leading choice of tour operator in the Canadian market, says Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing. Cayo Largo offers an intimate experience in a small, boutique setting that our customers wont find anywhere else in Cuba, along with great weather, beautiful beaches, new all inclusive offerings and now with an exclusive international food import license, more comforts of home, all at an attractive price point. We anticipate the fall and winter season in this destination hot spot will sell fast, so now is the time for our customers to book their upcoming getaways.

Canadians will be able to enjoy an intimate vacation experience at the resorts, many of which are being rebuilt or renovated to open as early as November 2022. The 11 resorts will be rebranded as Grand Memories Resorts & Spa, Memories Resorts & Spa, Starfish Resorts and Villa properties, meaning Sunwing customers will have even more opportunities to enjoy the best of Cayo Largo with the level of service these brands are known for. These resorts are available to book now for fall and winter 2022/2023 vacations starting from November 1, 2022 onward.

Situated on Cubas far south coast, nature lovers and travel enthusiasts will have plenty to keep them busy, exploring local aquatic life in some of the best diving conditions in the Caribbean with more than 30 dive sites and a protected marine reserve, plus over 200 ancient shipwrecks.

The island is also committed to sustainability and the integrity of the environment to ensure Cayo Largo will be as desirable as it is today for generations to come. This means electric vehicles only, a ban on plastic use and sustainable water developments in place.

With boutique all inclusive resorts or villas suited to every lifestyle, discerning travellers can find what they desire and an experience far from the ordinary, all within 15 minutes of Cayo Largo Airport.

The resorts will appeal to a variety of vacation styles and include:

Family-friendly resorts with amenities guest of all ages will love, including Grand Memories Cayo Largo, Memories Cayo Largo, Starfish Cayo Largo, Villa Coral, Villa Linda Mar, Villa Marina, Villa Serena and Villa Soledad

Adults only resorts for the ultimate friends and couples paradise, including Sanctuary at Grand Memories Cayo Largo and Villa Caprice

Plus, customers seeking a 2SLGBTQ+ friendly resort welcoming everyone under the sun will enjoy visiting the adults only Villa Natura



Sunwing customers can book Cayo Largo today for travel starting November 1, 2022 with five weekly direct flights from multiple gateways, and the potential to add more for the fall and winter season as customer demand evolves. The current flight schedule will be as follows:

Between Toronto and Cayo Largo, Fridays starting November 4, 2022

Between Montreal and Cayo Largo, Fridays starting November 4, 2022

Between Quebec City and Cayo Largo, Saturdays starting December 17, 2022

Between Ottawa and Cayo Largo, Saturdays starting December 17, 2022

Between Halifax and Cayo Largo, Tuesdays starting January 10, 2023



Plus, customers who book by July 28, 2022 can still take advantage of Sunwings early booking bonus, with reduced deposits and added perks. For even more peace of mind, customers can purchase one of the tour operators comprehensive travel coverage options ahead of their fall and winter travel.

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from airports across Canada to popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing customers benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. The company supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid.

For more information:

Melanie Anne Filipp

Director, Corporate Communications & Media Relations

Sunwing Travel Group

1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7e84ecf9-2c61-44dd-a0e2-5a502483d720
English French

TORONTO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- B2B Bank announces an increase to its prime lending rate by 100 basis points from 3.70 % to 4.70%, effective July 14, 2022.



About B2B Bank

B2B Bank is a leading provider of banking products to more than 15,000 financial advisors and brokers across Canada. Through the professional advisor and broker channels, it offers a broad range of products and services to consumers including Investment, RSP and TFSA Loans, mortgages, GICs, banking services and investment accounts and services through B2B Bank Dealer Services. B2B Bank is proudly dedicated to serving the needs of its clients and it continues to provide innovative products and solutions that help advisors and brokers build rewarding relationships with their clients. B2B Bank is a Schedule I bank. For more information, please visit https://b2bbank.com.



Contact:



Merick Seguin

Senior manager, media relations

Laurentian Bank of Canada

Mobile: 514 451-3201

merick.seguin@laurentianbank.ca
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TORONTO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Firan Technology Group Corporation (TSX: FTG) today announced financial results for the second quarter of 2022.

FTG achieved a sixth sequential quarter of increased bookings as the aerospace industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic

Second quarter bookings of $27.6M are up 6% over Q1 2022 and up 45% over Q2 2021 and is the best bookings quarter since Q4 2019

FTG has maintained strong liquidity with net cash on the balance sheet of $16.8M, after investments in the quarter of $0.4M for capital expenditures and $1.6M for research and development

Sales for Q2 2022 were $22.3M, which is an increase of 9.8% over Q2 2021 and an increase of 9.1% over Q1 2022

Second Quarter Results : (three months ended June 3, 2022 compared with three months ended June 4, 2021)

Q2 2022 Q2 2021 Sales $22,318,000 $20,330,000 Gross Margin 5,624,000 5,428,000 Gross Margin (%) 25.2% 26.7% Operating Earnings (1): 2,142,000 2,518,000  R&D Investment 1,640,000 1,505,000  R&D Tax Credits (179,000) (179,000)  Foreign Exchange Loss 120,000 544,000  Amortization of Intangibles 30,000 70,000 Net Earnings before Tax 531,000 578,000  Income Tax 498,000 589,000  Non-controlling Interests 19,000 (21,000) Net Earnings After Tax $14,000 $10,000 Earnings per share - basic $0.00 $0.00 - diluted $0.00 $0.00 Government Assistance included in the Periods:  Forgiveness of Debt - -  Other Government Subsidies 57,000 1,269,000 Total Government Assistance included in the Periods 57,000 1,269,000

Year-to-Date : (six months ended June 3, 2022 compared with six months ended June 4, 2021)

YTD 2022 YTD 2021 Sales $42,779,000 $39,300,000 Gross Margin 9,866,000 9,090,000 Gross Margin (%) 23.1% 23.1% Operating Earnings (1): 3,158,000 3,204,000  R&D Investment 3,032,000 2,887,000  R&D Tax Credits (356,000) (306,000)  Foreign Exchange Loss 289,000 1,162,000  Amortization of Intangibles 61,000 159,000  Forgiveness of debt - (1,336,000) Net Earnings before Tax 132,000 638,000  Income Tax 830,000 1,076,000  Non-controlling Interests 21,000 (48,000) Net (Loss) Earnings After Tax ($719,000) ($390,000) (Loss) Earnings per share - basic ($0.03) ($0.02) - diluted ($0.03) ($0.02) Government Assistance included in the Periods:  Forgiveness of Debt - 1,336,000  Other Government Subsidies 314,000 2,352,000 Total Government Assistance included in the Periods 314,000 3,688,000

(1) Operating Earnings is not a measure recognized under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Management believes that this measure is important to many of the Corporations shareholders, creditors and other stakeholders. The Corporations method of calculating Operating Earnings may differ from other corporations and accordingly may not be comparable to measures used by other corporations.



Business Highlights

FTG accomplished many goals in Q2 2022 that continue to improve the Corporation and position it for the future, including:

Achieved a 1.24:1 book-to-bill ratio for Q2 2022

Booked a $1.4M order for military assemblies to be manufactured at the FTG Aerospace Chatsworth facility, with qualification parts to be delivered in late 2022 followed by production in 2023

Total backlog as of the end of Q2 2022 is $49.6M, up 45% from Q2 2021

As announced on June 30, 2022, FTG has been awarded up to $7.0M of funding from FedDev Ontario pursuant to the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative (ARRI) program. This funding will be in the format of a repayable contribution against qualifying investments made by FTG prior to March 31, 2024. The funding will be repayable, without interest, commencing in 2025 through to 2030.

Overall for FTG, sales increased by $2.0M or 10% from $20.3M in Q2 2021 to $22.3M in Q2 2022. The sales growth is driven by increased demand from Commercial Aerospace customers as well as a 2.5% favourable foreign exchange impact. On a year-to-date basis, sales were $42.8M compared to $39.3M for the same period last year.

The Circuits Segment sales were up $2.5M or 19% from $13.0M in Q2 2021 to $15.5M in Q2 2022. Sales growth was most pronounced at Circuits Toronto and our JV in China, as both of these sites are primarily serving the Commercial Aerospace market. On a year-to-date basis, net sales were $29.7M as compared to $25.0M for the prior year period.

For the Aerospace Segment, sales were down $0.5M or 7% from $7.3M in Q2 2021 to $6.8M in Q2 2022. The Aerospace segment continues to be challenged by the availability of electronic components. On a year-to-date basis, net sales were $13.1M as compared to $14.3M for the prior year period. For Q2, simulator product sales were down $0.2M, and for the year-to-date they are down $2.7M. Simulator product quotation and booking activity is starting to recover in 2022.

Gross margins in Q2 2022 were $5.6M or 25.2% compared to $5.4M or 26.7% in Q2 2021. The increased sales volume in Q2 2022 contributed positively to the gross margin rate, while a $1.0M reduction in government subsidies as compared to Q2 2021 represented a reduction in the gross margin rate of 4.4%. On a year-to-date basis, gross margin was $9.9M or 23.1% as compared to $9.0M or 23.1% for the comparable prior year period. Government subsidies included in cost of sales for the year-to-date period in 2022 were $0.3M as compared to $2.1M in 2021. In FTGs case, sales volumes have increased as government support has been withdrawn.

Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for FTG was $8.8M, of which $2.1M was generated in Q2 2022.

The following table reconciles net earnings to EBITDA(2) for the trailing 12 months ended June 3, 2022.

Trailing 12 Months Net earnings to equity holders of FTG (73,000) Add: Interest, Accretion 482,000 Income taxes 2,162,000 Depreciation/Amortization/ Stock Comp. 6,242,000 EBITDA $8,813,000

(2) EBITDA are not measures recognized under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Management believes that these measures are important to many of the Corporations shareholders, creditors and other stakeholders. The Corporations method of calculating EBITDA may differ from other corporations and accordingly may not be comparable to measures used by other corporations.

Net earnings after tax at FTG in Q2 2022 was $0.0M or $0.00 per diluted share compared to $0.0M or $0.00 per diluted share in Q2 2021. The increased sales and gross margin in Q2 2022 was offset by reduced COVID-19 related government subsidies. In Q2 2022, government subsidies were limited to $0.1M from the US Department of Transportation AMJP program, whereas Q2 2021 included $1.3M of wage and rent subsidies in Canada. Excluding COVID-19 related government subsidies, net earnings after tax from FTGs operations improved by $1.2M pre-tax in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2021.

For the year-to-date period, FTG incurred a net loss of $0.7M or $0.03 per share as compared to a net loss of $0.4M or $0.02 per share for the comparable period of 2021. During the year-to-date period in 2022, government subsidies included $0.3M from the US Department of Transportation AMJP program, whereas the comparable period in 2021 included $3.7M of wage and rent subsidies in Canada and PPP loan forgiveness in the U.S. Excluding COVID-19 related government subsidies, net loss after tax from FTGs operations improved by $3.0M pre-tax in the year-to-date period in 2022 compared to 2021.

The Circuits Segment net earnings before corporate and interest and other costs was $0.8M in Q2 2022 compared to $1.1M in Q2 2021. The increase in sales was the most significant impact on the segment profitability offset by reduced subsidies from the US and Canadian governments. Q2 2022 included $0.1M of government subsidies whereas Q2 2021 included $0.7M. Excluding the effect of government subsidies, net earnings from the Circuits Segment increased by $0.4M.

The Aerospace net earnings before corporate and interest and other costs in the quarter was $0.5M in Q2 2022 versus $0.4M in Q2 2021. The Aerospace Segment did not receive any government subsidies in Q2 2022 whereas Q2 2021 included $0.5M. Excluding the effect of government subsidies, net earnings from the Aerospace Segment increased by $0.6M.

As at June 3, 2022, the Corporations net working capital was $39.9M, compared to $40.0M at year-end in 2021.

Net cash at the end of Q2 2022 was $16.8M compared to net cash of $17.9M at the end of 2021.

The Corporation will host a live conference call on Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 8:30am (Eastern) to discuss the results of Q2 2022.

Anyone wishing to participate in the call should dial 416-764-8658 or 1-888-886-7786, Conference ID 05645534, and identify that you are calling to participate in the FTG conference call. The Chairperson is Mr. Brad Bourne. A replay of the call will be available until August 14, 2022 and will be available on the FTG website at www.ftgcorp.com. The number to call for a rebroadcast is 416-764-8692 or 1-877-674-7070, playback passcode: 645534 #.

ABOUT FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION

FTG is an aerospace and defense electronics product and subsystem supplier to customers around the globe. FTG has two operating units:

FTG Circuits is a manufacturer of high technology, high reliability printed circuit boards. Our customers are leaders in the aviation, defense, and high technology industries. FTG Circuits has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California, Fredericksburg, Virginia and a joint venture in Tianjin, China.

FTG Aerospace manufactures and repairs illuminated cockpit panels, keyboards and sub-assemblies for original equipment manufacturers of aerospace and defense equipment. FTG Aerospace has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California, and Tianjin, China.

The Corporations shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FTG.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are related to, but not limited to, FTGs operations, anticipated financial performance, business prospects and strategies. Forward-looking information typically contains words such as anticipate, believe, expect, plan or similar words suggesting future outcomes. Such statements are based on the current expectations of management of the Corporation and inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including economic factors and the Corporations industry, generally. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible factors. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by the Corporation. The reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully when making decisions with respect to the Corporation and not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as may be required by law, FTG disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information please contact:

Bradley C. Bourne, President and CEO

Firan Technology Group Corporation

Tel: (416) 299-4000 x314

bradbourne@ftgcorp.com

Jamie Crichton, Vice President and CFO

Firan Technology Group Corporation

Tel: (416) 299-4000 x264

jamiecrichton@ftgcorp.com

Additional information can be found at the Corporations website www.ftgcorp.com





FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) June 3, November 30, (in thousands of Canadian dollars) 2022 2021 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 18,554 $ 20,196 Accounts receivable 15,959 16,014 Contract assets 455 818 Inventories 17,390 16,953 Income tax recoverable 141 1 Prepaid expenses and other 3,548 3,162 56,047 57,144 Non-current assets Plant and equipment, net 11,150 11,078 Right-of-use assets 9,710 10,098 Investment tax credits recoverable 28 327 Intangible and other assets, net 462 805 Total assets 77,397 79,452 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 12,424 $ 13,803 Provisions 986 545 Contract liabilities 549 335 Current portion of bank debt 926 935 Current portion of lease liabilities 1,311 1,553 16,196 17,171 Non-current liabilities Bank debt 823 1,327 Lease liabilities 9,057 9,123 Deferred tax payable 861 789 Total liabilities 26,937 28,410 Equity Retained earnings $ 18,604 $ 19,391 Accumulated other comprehensive income 776 478 19,380 19,869 Share capital Common Shares 21,832 21,881 Contributed surplus 8,343 8,352 Total equity attributable to FTGs shareholders 49,555 50,102 Non-controlling interest 905 940 Total equity 50,460 51,042 Total liabilities and equity $ 77,397 $ 79,452





FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings (Loss) Three months ended Six months ended (Unaudited) June 3, June 4, June 3, June 4, (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) 2022 2021 2022 2021 Sales $ 22,318 $ 20,330 $ 42,779 $ 39,300 Cost of sales Cost of sales 15,370 13,493 30,104 27,358 Depreciation of plant and equipment 968 1,037 2,096 2,114 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 356 372 713 738 Total cost of sales 16,694 14,902 32,913 30,210 Gross margin 5,624 5,428 9,866 9,090 Expenses Selling, general and administrative 3,259 2,659 6,277 5,350 Research and development costs 1,640 1,505 3,032 2,887 Recovery of investment tax credits (179 ) (179 ) (356 ) (306 ) Depreciation of plant and equipment 56 62 113 125 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 12 17 22 34 Amortization of intangible assets 30 70 61 159 Interest expense (income) (12 ) 28 (3 ) 67 Accretion on lease liabilities 110 122 218 248 Stock based compensation 57 22 81 62 Foreign exchange (gain) loss 120 544 289 1,162 Forgiveness of debt - - - (1,336 ) Total expenses 5,093 4,850 9,734 8,452 Earnings before income taxes 531 578 132 638 Current income tax expense 462 554 758 1,015 Deferred income tax expense 36 35 72 61 Total income tax expense 498 589 830 1,076 Net earnings (loss) 33 (11 ) (698 ) (438 ) Attributable to: Non-controlling interest $ 19 $ (21 ) $ 21 $ (48 ) Equity holders of FTG 14 10 (719 ) (390 ) Earnings (loss) per share, attributable to the equity holders of FTG Basic $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ (0.03 ) $ (0.02 ) Diluted $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ (0.03 ) $ (0.02 )





FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) Three months ended Six months ended (Unaudited) June 3, June 4, June 3, June 4, (in thousands of Canadian dollars) 2022 2021 2022 2021 Net earnings (loss) $ 33 $ (11 ) $ (697 ) $ (438 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) to be reclassified to net earnings (loss) in subsequent periods: Change in foreign currency translation adjustments (474 ) (1,079 ) (534 ) (1,507 ) Net gain on valuation of derivative financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges 398 2,697 1,035 3,757 Deferred income taxes on net gain (loss) on valuation of derivative financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges (99 ) (675 ) (259 ) (940 ) $ (175 ) $ 943 $ 242 $ 1,310 Total comprehensive income (loss) $ (142 ) $ 932 $ (455 ) $ 872 Attributable to: Equity holders of FTG $ (101 ) $ 946 $ (420 ) $ 924 Non-controlling interest $ (41 ) $ (14 ) $ (35 ) $ (52 )





FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity Six months ended June 3, 2022 Attributed to the equity holders of FTG

Accumulated other Non- (Unaudited) Common Retained Contributed comprehensive

controlling Total (in thousands of Canadian dollars) shares earnings surplus income Total interest equity Balance, November 30, 2021 $ 21,881 $ 19,391 $ 8,352 $ 478 $ 50,102 $ 940 $ 51,042 Net income (loss) - (719 ) - - (719 ) 21 (698 ) Stock-based compensation - - (9 ) - (9 ) - (9 ) Repurchase and cancellation of shares (49 ) (68 ) - - (117 ) - (117 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) - - - 298 298 (56 ) 242 Balance, June 3, 2022 $ 21,832 $ 18,604 $ 8,343 $ 776 $ 49,555 $ 905 $ 50,460 Six months ended June 4, 2021 Attributed to the equity holders of FTG Accumulated other Non- (Unaudited) Common Retained Contributed comprehensive controlling Total (in thousands of Canadian dollars) shares earnings surplus income Total interest equity Balance, November 30, 2020 $ 21,881 $ 19,135 $ 8,303 $ 958 $ 50,277 $ 1,011 $ 51,288 Net income (loss) - (390 ) - - (390 ) (48 ) (438 ) Stock-based compensation - - 62 - 62 - 62 Other comprehensive income (loss) - - - 1,392 1,392 (82 ) 1,310 Balance, June 4, 2021 $ 21,881 $ 18,745 $ 8,365 $ 2,350 $ 51,341 $ 881 $ 52,222




NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE: PZN) today announced that it will hold a conference call to discuss the Companys financial results and outlook at 10:00 a.m. ET, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The call will be open to the public.



Webcast Instructions: To gain access to the webcast, which will be "listen-only," go to the Events page in the Investor Relations area of the Companys website, www.pzena.com.

Teleconference Instructions: To gain access to the conference call via telephone, U.S. callers should dial 1-844-200-6205; Canada callers should dial 1-833-950-0062; international callers should dial 1-929-526-1599. All callers will need to use access code 695982 to join the call.

Replay: The conference call will be available for replay through August 10, 2022, on the web using the information given above.

About Pzena

Pzena Investment Management, LLC, the firms operating company, is a value-oriented investment management firm. Founded in 1995, Pzena Investment Management has built a diverse, global client base. More firm and stock information is posted at www.pzena.com.
REGINA, Saskatchewan, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Information Services Corporation (TSX:ISV) (ISC or the Company) advises that it will release its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 after market close. ISCs Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Notes and Managements Discussion and Analysis for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and our website at www.company.isc.ca.

An investor conference call will be held on Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. EDT to discuss the results. Those joining the call on a listen-only basis are encouraged to join the live audio webcast which will be available on our website at www.company.isc.ca/investor-relations/events.

Participants who wish to ask a question on the live call may do so through the ISC website or by registering through the following live call URL:

https://register.vevent.com/register/BI93a8a0533bc5416fa73d2aa25f82cbf8

Once registered, participants will receive the dial-in numbers and their unique PIN number. When dialing in, participants will input their PIN and be placed into the call.

While not required, it is recommended that participants join 10 minutes before the start time. A replay of the webcast will be available about 24 hours after the event on our website at the link to our website above. Media are invited to attend on a listen-only basis.

About ISC

Headquartered in Canada, ISC is the leading provider of registry and information management services for public data and records. Throughout our history, we have delivered value to our clients by providing solutions to manage, secure and administer information through our Registry Operations, Services and Technology Solutions segments. ISC is focused on sustaining its core business while pursuing new growth opportunities. The Class A Shares of ISC trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ISV.

Investor & Media Contact

Jonathan Hackshaw

Senior Director, Investor Relations & Capital Markets

Toll Free: 1-855-341-8363 in North America or 1-306-798-1137

investor.relations@isc.ca
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- California Life Sciences (CLS), the states most impactful life sciences membership organization, is now accepting nominations for the 2022 Pantheon Awards.

For the past 19 years, CLS has recognized excellence in the life sciences sector and celebrated the achievements of leading innovators in the state by hosting its annual Pantheon Awards celebration.

This year, CLS is introducing new award categories to celebrate the diverse contributions of scientists in the sector. The categories include:

Academia & Research

BioPharma

Convergent Technologies: MedTech, Digital, & Diagnostics

Elizabeth Schar Inspiring Future Leaders Award

Emerging Innovation

Leadership

Synthetic & Ag Bio

This is the second year the Pantheon Award winners will be determined by a public voting campaign, and its the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the award ceremony will take place in person.

We are so pleased to cast a shining light on the leading companies, leaders, and initiatives within our ecosystem, said Mike Guerra, CLS President and CEO. We celebrate the innovative solutions and cutting-edge advancements being developed in laboratories, universities, and corporate and industry non-profits throughout our state. There is no better event for our sector to elevate and showcase those who are driving better patient outcomes.

Mark your calendar for these important dates:

July 13 | Nominations open

August 1 | Registration opens

August 2 | Nominations close

September 26 | Public voting opens

November 3 | The 19th Annual Pantheon Awards

Award winners will be announced at the Pantheon event taking place November 3 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. Members of the media are welcome and can RSVP to aburch@califesciences.org.

About the Pantheon Awards For the past 19 years, California Life Sciences (CLS) has recognized the states leaders from across the pharmaceutical, biotech and other allied industries to pay tribute to those making exceptional contributions to the life sciences industry. The Pantheon awards recognize excellence and celebrate the contributions and achievements of leading life sciences innovators representing therapeutic, diagnostic, medical device, and industrial biotechnology companies.

About California Life Sciences (CLS): California Life Sciences (CLS) is the states most influential and impactful life sciences membership organization, advocating for the sector and its diverse innovation pipeline. For more than 30 years, CLS has served the community by supporting companies of all sizes, from early-stage innovators and startups to established industry leaders in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical technology. CLS also works closely with universities, academic and research institutions, the investment community, and other critical partners that promote this vibrant sector. With offices in South San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, CLS works to shape public policy, improve access to breakthrough technologies, educate lawmakers, and advance equity within our ecosystem by championing innovative solutions for some of the most pressing challenges of our times. In doing so, CLS fulfills its mission to protect and nurture Californias life sciences industry, empowering discoveries that lead to healthier lives around the world.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ExGen Resources Inc. (TSX.V: EXG; OTC: BXXRF) (ExGen, the Company) is pleased to provide an update in respect of Phoenix Copper Ltd.s (Phoenix) exploration and development activities at the Empire Mine Project in Custer County, Idaho, USA. Further to previous ExGen news releases, ExGen owns 20% and Phoenix owns 80% of Konnex Resources, Inc. (Konnex), which holds the leases and claims to the Empire Mine Project. ExGen further owns 1,330,000 common shares of Phoenix.

ExGen is pleased to report that Phoenix, (the operator of the Empire Mine Project), has confirmed that the 2022 drilling program is currently underway.

The following program highlights were provided by Phoenix:

The 2022 drilling program is expected to further understanding of Ammonium Thiosulfate (ATS) as a non-toxic, environmentally friendly reagent for the recovery of copper, gold, silver, and zinc from the Empire open pit resource.

Phoenix will also examine the possibility of bringing forward the production of precious metals.

In addition to the collection of PQ-diameter core samples (85 millimeters) for metallurgical testing, geotechnical data for enhanced pit slope stability studies and resource assaying for enhanced continuity of copper, gold, silver, and zinc grades will be gathered from the same core.

Following the PQ-core drilling in the Empire open pit, the drill rig will move to the Red Star silver-lead resource and the Empire deep sulphide target to conduct further exploratory drilling through to late autumn.

In addition to the drilling program, Phoenix is completing ongoing open pit engineering trade-off studies for further economic and environmental optimization as part of the feasibility study process.



Phoenix noted:

The 2022 drilling season kicked off as scheduled in early June with the arrival of a core drilling rig capable of drilling PQ-diameter core.

The drilling program will initially focus on collecting core samples for metallurgical and geotechnical studies from the Empire open pit, which remains the flagship project. The results of these studies may allow Phoenix to bring forward production of gold and silver, currently scheduled as a second phase of the open pit project.

Once the Empire open pit drilling is completed, the rig will begin further exploratory drilling in the Red Star and Empire Sulphide areas.

Phoenix is actively searching for further drilling capacity for this season and will contract additional drill rigs when and if they become available.

The Empire Open Pit Feasibility study remains in progress whilst Phoenixs engineers complete further trade-off and optimization studies. The global volatility in pricing for everything from structural steel to chemical reagents has also slowed progress on the study. However, there are some indications that markets are slowly calming and supply backlogs are shortening.

The Phoenix team is continuing to focus on what it knows and what it can control. The Empire open pit copper mine is ideally suited to provide copper for the worlds transition to clean energy and, as a result, will be in high demand in the coming years. The team is working diligently to collect the necessary data, permits, and funds so that Phoenix can advance the project in a way which will be most economic, while minimizing its environmental footprint.

Jason Riley, CEO of ExGen commented: ExGen is very encouraged that this years drilling program has started. We look forward to the results from RedStar and the sulphide zone in particular.

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL PROTOCOLS

Rock, drill core and reverse circulation samples were analyzed by ALS Global, Reno, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited facility. Copper, zinc, silver, lead, molybdenum, and tungsten were determined by ICP method. Copper, zinc, and lead >1% ICP are assayed using four-acid digestion and silver >100ppm by four acid digestion, whereas gold was determined by a 30gm fire assay followed by atomic absorption. Standards, duplicates and blanks were inserted into the sample stream for QA/QC purposes. Blanks and duplicates were inserted roughly every 50ft and standards were inserted roughly every 100ft. Core samples are saw cut in half and stored in a secure facility. RC chips and channel samples are stored in the same secure facility. All samples are delivered to the laboratory under chain of custody protocol and submitted using sub-form sample numbers.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Kieran Downes, Ph.D., P. Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical information provided in this release.

ABOUT EXGEN RESOURCES INC.

ExGen, formerly Boxxer Gold Corp, is a project accelerator that seeks to fund exploration and development of our projects through joint ventures and partnership agreements. This approach significantly reduces the technical and financial risks for ExGen, while maintaining the upside exposure to new discoveries and potential cash flow. The company intends to build a diverse portfolio of projects across exploration stages and various commodity groups. ExGen currently has 6 projects in Canada and the US.

For more information on ExGen please contact ExGen Resources Inc.

Jason Tong

Chief Financial Officer

Email: jason@catapultgroup.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information in relation to: the observations made on drill core from the diamond drilling program on the Empire Mine Project; the further exploration and development of the Empire Mine Project; the exploration and development strategy of the Empire Mine Project, including the exploration program, drilling, mine development, feasibility study, funding, and permitting. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. There can be no assurance that the development of the Empire Mine Project will be completed, and if development is completed, that such development will result in a producing mine. In the forward looking information contained in this news release, ExGen has made numerous assumptions, based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with the mineral industry. In addition, ExGen has assumed: the continued market acceptance of its joint venture partnership model; the ability of ExGen and its partners to raise future equity financing, if needed, at prices acceptable to ExGen or its partners; ExGen's current and initial understanding and analysis of the Empire Mine Project; the ability of ExGen or third parties to discover viable exploration targets and the results of exploration on the Empire Mine Project; the ability of Phoenix to explore and develop the Empire Mine Project; the cost of exploration, including sampling, drilling and assaying, on the Empire Mine Project, the costs of developing the Empire Mine Project and the costs and the ability of Phoenix to produce a feasibility study in compliance with NI 43-101; and ExGen's general and administrative costs remaining sustainable. While, ExGen considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause ExGen's observations, actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, among others: the possibility that the analytical results from future core sampling does not return significant grades of copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead or any other molybdenum by-products; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology; continuity and grade of mineralization; there is no certainty that the ongoing work programs will result in significant or successful exploration of the Empire Mine Project or development of the Empire Mine Project into a producing mine; uncertainty as to the actual results of exploration and development or operational activities; uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals; ExGen may not be able to comply with its ongoing obligations regarding its properties; the early stage development of ExGen and its projects, and in particular, the Empire Mine Project; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; capital market conditions and market prices for securities, junior market securities and mining exploration company securities; commodity prices, in particular copper, gold, silver, and zinc prices; competition; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents and other risks inherent in the mining industry; lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting ExGen; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. A description of additional assumptions and risk factors used to develop such forward-looking information that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in ExGen's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although ExGen has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. ExGen does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Le deuxieme depute de Vacoas/Floreal a envoye le 13 juillet 2022 ses quatre questions pour la prochaine seance parlementaire.

PQ1

The Honourable Second Member for Vacoas and Floreal (Mr Bodha)

To ask the Hon Prime MInister , Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister of Rodrigues, Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity 

Whether as regards to the survey which was carried out at la Baie de Jacotet in April, can he table the report of the CTO of MauritiusTelecom who accompanied the Indian technical team for the said exercise ?

PQ2.

The Honourable Second Member for Vacoas and Floreal (Mr Bodha)

To ask the Honourable Minister of Health and Wellness-

Whether he can inform the House as to the number of cases of Covid since March, and the number of patients treated at the ENT Hospital and whether the antiviral treatment drug PAXLOVID is being used in Mauritius ?

PQ3

The Honourable Second Member for Vacoas and Floreal (Mr Bodha)

To ask the Minister of Health and Wellness-

Whether as regards to the Mulnopiravir tablets purchased last year, he can inform the House as to the stock available ?

PQ4.

The Honourable Second Member for Vacoas and Floreal (Mr Bodha)

To ask the Honourable MInister of National Infrastructure and Community Development-

Whether as regards to the link road between La Vigie and the West of the country, he can inform the House as to the date when the first section between La Vigie and La Marie will be completed, and when the two other segments, that is between La Marie and Beaux Songes and the last one to the West will be implemented?

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Autonomous Sinixt recently self-identified as Autonomous, despite functioning as autonomous for over 35 years in British Colombia (BC). Beginning with the occupation at the Vallican Heritage Site, to prevent road construction from destroying one of our ancient burial and village sites, our deceased Elder, Eva Adolph Campbell Orr, led a collective of Sinixt Peoples to occupy this site: The longest, ongoing peaceful occupation of unceded Indigenous lands in Canada.

Our Sinixt ancestors spirits, and descendants attention towards overcoming the 1956 BC/Crown-colonizer-piracy declaring Sinixt extinction, were followed by an oral pledge to fight BC and the Crown independently, without the hindrances of the Colville Business Council.

The Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) and Sinixt Confederacy joint press release on 7/6/22 confirm the wisdom of Autonomous Sinixt go-it-alone sensibilities to overcome Crown extinction. In the early 2000s during the Robert Watt case, Autonomous Sinixt, were rebuked by the Colville Business Council, who aligned with the BC Court, the Crown and Okanogan Nation Alliance (ONA). ONA has an active claim filed with the Crown for all Sinixt Territory for itself. It is no longer a secret CCT is collaborating with the ONA to: Claim Sinixt Territory; deny Sinixt as a distinct Peoples; erase our own dialect; and support resource extraction in our traditional territory in Canada, including open pit mining. CCTs Sinixt Confederacy is self-colonized label, complete with a Chairman, is a cruel hoax upon those mis-led by the Sinixt Confederacy to divide Sinixt Peoples while professing unity with the ONA.

Andy Josephs misogynistic-patriarchal colonial assault toward Matriarch Marilyn James may not even be fully understood by Andy himself. Marilyn, not Andy or other jealous connivers, was appointed by Eva Adolph Campbell Orr to carry on her work at the Vallican site.

Lou Stone

Autonomous Sinixt

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Lake Roosevelt High School graduate Kaitlyn Nordine participated at the national Future Business Leaders of America competition in Chicago, Illinois that took place from June 29-July 2.

Although not placing, Nordine competed in the journalism category in a test covering the economics of journalism, grammar and format, law and ethics, the business of journalism, and the history of journalism.

The test focused "on the principles of journalism, such as the laws pertaining to journalism, and the unwritten things such as how to be unbiased while writing an article, how to quote sources, and how to correctly write things in AP format," Nordine explained in an email that LR FBLA Advisor Susan Duclos shared with The Star. "It also covered the Watergate papers greatly, from who the source was, to the laws and reasons that the Washington Post (was) able to publish."

"For the test," she continued, "I went into a large testing area with over a hundred other people, where we were directed to a section for our test, and the paper instructing us how to login. From there I sat and took the test, which is 100 questions in a one-hour timeframe, which I finished with around 20 minutes to spare, upon which I packed up the computer, and headed out of the testing area."

While they were in Chicago, Nordine, along with another LR FBLA advisor, Stacy Davis, also went to Six Flags theme park, the Shedd aquarium, and the Hard Rock Cafe during their stay.

Nordine graduated from LR this year, and will be attending Whitworth College in Spokane.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to average 10.5 billion cubic feet per day during the second half of 2022a 6% decrease from the first half of the yearaccording to the agencys July 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). That amount is a 14% decrease in US LNG exports from EIAs June forecast.

EIA revised its estimates based on an outage at the Freeport LNG facility, which is expected to last until late 2022. Freeport accounts for 17% of US LNG export capacity.

With less LNG being exported in the second half of the year, more natural gas is likely to stay in the domestic market. We expect lower US natural gas prices for the rest of 2022 than we had previously forecast, but lower prices in 2022 led us to reduce our expectations for natural gas production. EIA Administrator Joe DeCarolis

EIA forecasts the US Henry Hub spot price will average $5.97 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) during the second half of 2022, down 44% from the June forecast. For the last three quarters of 2023, EIA expects natural gas prices will average $4.36/MMBtu, up 14% from the June forecast. EIA also expects that more natural gas will be in storage heading into this winter than it had forecast in June.

Other key takeaways from the July 2022 STEO forecast include:

EIA expects US refineries to run at an average of 94% of their capacity during the third quarter of 2022, a higher capacity factor than in previous years. At the same time, refinery capacity in the United States has decreased since 2019.

EIA expects coal consumption to decrease by 3% in 2022 and by 4% in 2023, as 24 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants retire by the end of 2023.

EIA expects renewable energy to provide 24% of US electricity generation in 2023, up from 20% in 2021. The growth in generation from renewables is primarily driven by solar power, with 71% more capacity by the end of 2023 than at the end of 2021. EIA expects solar generation by US power plants to grow by 27% in 2022 and by 26% in 2023.

Freeport outage. On 8 June, an incident occurred at the Freeport LNG liquefaction plant on Quintana Island, Texas that resulted in the release of LNG, leading to the formation and ignition of a natural gas vapor cloud, and subsequent fire at the facility. In accordance with Freeport LNGs safety design parameters, the LNG vapor cloud dispersion and ignition thereof were at all times contained within the fence line of the liquefaction facility, lasting approximately 10 seconds.

The fire and associated smoke visible thereafter were from the burning of materials in and around the location where the incident occurred, such as piping insulation and cabling. With the assistance of local area emergency response personnel, the resultant fire was extinguished approximately 40 minutes after the initial incident.

While the burning of those materials resulted in carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compound emissions, these were of limited quantity due to the short duration of the fire and not at levels that posed any immediate risk to Freeport LNG personnel or the surrounding community. There was no release of any other chemicals or substances from the plant during the event, the company said. Water used to suppress the subsequent fire was captured on site, and will be tested and confirmed free of any harmful contaminants before being released or removed for proper disposal.

The incident occurred in pipe racks that support the transfer of LNG from the facilitys LNG storage tank area to the terminals dock facilities located on the intracoastal (i.e., north) side of Freeport LNGs dock basin. None of the liquefaction trains, LNG storage tanks, dock facilities, or LNG process areas were impacted.

Preliminary observations suggest that the incident resulted from the overpressure and rupture of a segment of an LNG transfer line, leading to the rapid flashing of LNG and the release and ignition of the natural gas vapor cloud. Additional investigation is underway to determine the underlying precipitating events that enabled the overpressure conditions in the LNG piping.

Completion of all necessary repairs and a return to full plant operations is not expected until late 2022.
The Audi Environmental Foundation, a subsidiary of AUDI AG founded in 2009, has joined forces with the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology to research new ways of mining high-tech elements. As depletable resources, metallic raw materials are needed for many future technologies, including electromobility; indium and germanium, cobalt, lithium, and rare earths are on the 2020 list of critical raw materials for the EU. This list of economically critical raw materials with a high supply risk is intended to help in the negotiation of trade agreements as well as drive research, innovation, and sustainable procurement.

Many primary raw materials are found in only a few countries worldwide. Their geographic distribution is uneven, and they are difficult to access. In some cases, they occur in such small quantities that extraction is unprofitable. Moreover, mining activities have a drastic impact on the environment.

The Audi Environmental Foundation supported a two-year research project using a newly developed membrane mining system developed at the Institute of Thermal, Environmental and Resources Process Engineering at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology. The researchers put theory into practice both in the laboratory and underground in real operating environments in a research mine.

The aim is to extract high-tech elements from ores without destroying the natural environment through large-scale drilling and blasting. In contrast to conventional ore mining, microinvasive methods similar to modern surgical practices are used here.

This has several advantages: No heavy machinery, much less energy, and fewer chemicals are used, and there is also no damage to the landscape.

The process is environmentally friendly and innovative, as major mining activities are largely avoided and even small quantities of ore can be extracted. Rudiger Recknagel, Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation

According to Recknagel, this strengthens import independence, thus increasing supply security.

The process, known as in-situ bioleaching, was developed and optimized in the laboratory before finally being tested under real conditions in the research mine. Researchers first drill small holes in the ore vein underground. Through leaching, metal ions are dissolved from the ore with the help of the microorganisms naturally occurring in the mine and fed to a new membrane plant as a metal-rich solution.





The bacteria are little miners that help transfer the metal ions to a solution. Roland Haseneder of the Institute of Institute of Thermal, Environmental and Resources Process Engineering





The two-stage membrane treatment separates the microorganisms and returns them to the leaching process and also selects and concentrates the desired ions.

From this multicomponent mixture, the Freiberg scientists then enriched indium and germanium.





The experts wanted to find out how the system would perform at a depth of 147 meters under conditions with more than 90% humidity and dripping acidic water at 10 degrees Celsius (50 F). Important parameters included the composition of the bacterial solution, enrichment with target elements, the process parameters used, and the yield of target elements. The tests proved the efficiency of the system.

The team adjusted the pressure, flow rate, and purification processes to significantly improve separation, said Haseneder. The separation efficiency for germanium was increased by 20% compared to the laboratory experiments.

In the future, this sustainable extraction process will also be used for other elements such as cobalt in other deposits. The process is especially suitable for the extraction of valuable elements both from low-grade ores with a low concentration of valuable materials and from secondary raw materials well as for use at existing mining sites using the infrastructure that is already in place.

Haseneder also suggests the process could find application in other fields such as urban mining. At the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, the search for suitable partners for application at other sites is in full swing. The ultimate vision is to implement microinvasive mining globally.
A recently completed resource report has validated Galvanic Energys Smackover prospect as one of the largest lithium brine resources in North America, with sufficient lithium to produce enough batteries for 50 million electric vehicles.

Oklahoma-based Galvanic Energy is a geoscience-driven resource exploration company that employs innovative, proprietary discovery methods to identify natural resources essential to the US renewable energy sector. Over the past year the company has completed well testing and detailed reservoir modeling to significantly advance its 120,000-acre lithium prospect in southern Arkansas.

Certified third-party analyses of brine drawn from deep test wells penetrating the Smackover Formation within Galvanic Energys prospect yielded lithium concentrations ranging from 290 mg/L to 520 mg/L, some of the highest reported values in North American brines. Testing also revealed bromine concentrations of 3,700-6,000 mg/L.

An independent evaluation and technical report authored by APEX Geoscience Ltd. estimates the Galvanic Energy Smackover prospect to have an inferred resource estimate of 4 million tons lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 10 million tons elemental bromine.

The lithium resource estimate is substantial given that the USGS currently estimates the US lithium reserve at 750,000 tons and a total inferred resource of 9.1 million tons, including oilfield brines such as the Smackover.

Strategically located in the south-central US near newly built or planned EV and battery manufacturing plants, Galvanic Energys lithium prospect could greatly reduce US reliance on foreign supply chains. Additionally, the prospect can be developed using a low-environmental footprint ion extraction process.





Given the regulatory and environmental challenges facing conventional mining operations, ESG responsibility is critical to moving American raw material resource production forward. Brent Wilson, Galvanic Energy president and CEO

To that end, Galvanic Energy has been evaluating multiple direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology providers to determine which of those processes is best suitable for developing this world-class lithium asset. Galvanics Smackover prospect will support a domestic supply chain for lithium batteries required in electric vehicles, portable electronics and power storage systems.
Green River Police Department reports for June 30

At 12:27 a.m., officers responded to a report of an assault. Officers met with an individual who reported a physical altercation with an individual. Officers gathered information and attempted to locate the individual. EMS personnel arrived and the individual was transported by personal vehicle. Officers completed a report of the incident and turned the case over to GRPD detectives. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 7:31 a.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision on Schultz Street. It was reported a vehicle was traveling west on Schultz Street when they observed a dog in the roadway and stopped. Another vehicle was backing out of their driveway and struck the passenger side of the other vehicle. Officers gathered information; issued the driver, Imelda Alvarado, of Green River, a citation for alleged improper backing; and issued the dog owner, Thomas Webb, of Green River, a citation for alleged animal at large. Officers then completed a report of the incident.

At 11:34 a.m., officers responded to a report of harassment and violation of a court order at the Sweetwater County Courthouse. Officers met with an individual who reported that an ex is harassing them. Officers attempted to make contact with the individual, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 12:15 p.m., officers responded to a report of a dog attacking a deer on West Teton Boulevard. Officers impounded the dog and notified Wyoming Game and Fish, then later issued the owner of the dog, Leslie Price, of Green River, a citation for alleged animal at large.

At 5:05 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Uinta Drive. Officers met with individuals involved in a verbal dispute. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 6:28 p.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision on Upland Way. It was reported one vehicle was parked in a driveway facing south, and a second vehicle was parked across the street in a driveway facing north. Both vehicles began to back out of the driveways when the rear of the vehicles collided. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

July 1

At 2:21 p.m., officers responded to a report of a juvenile runaway. Officers were notified while responding that the juvenile had returned home. Officers met with the juvenile and a parent or guardian, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

July 2

At 12:06 a.m., officers responded to a report of an individual waving a gun at others on East Flaming Gorge Way. Officers arrived on scene and met with individuals. It was later determined none of the individuals possessed a firearm and no one reported any kind of disturbance. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 12:37 a.m., officers responded to a report of a suspicious person on Wilkes Drive. Officers met with an individual who reported an individual standing at their back window looking into their residence. It was advised the individual was no longer there. Officers attempted to locate the individual, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 11:10 a.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with an individual who reported a physical altercation. Officers made contact with the other involved individual, gathered information, and subsequently placed Abraham Luque-Reyes, of Rock Springs, under arrest. Officers transported Luque-Reyes to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 11:59 a.m., officers responded to a report of threats or harassment. Officers met with an individual who reported receiving threats over Facebook. Officers gathered information, and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

At 2:21 p.m., officers responded to a report of a burglary on Jensen Street. Officers met with an individual who reported their shed had been broken into and an item was taken. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident, which is still under investigation.

At 3:45 p.m., officers observed a vehicle driving at a high rate of speed nearly causing a collision, then crossing the centerline. Officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Shoshone Avenue and Washakie Avenue and met with the driver, then advised of the reason for the stop. The driver then drove off. Officers followed the vehicle until it came to a stop in a parking area. Officers attempted to speak to the individual and the individual was not cooperative and kept trying to walk away. Officers subsequently issued a citation to Jonathan Hughes, of Green River, for alleged interference with a peace officer. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 7:26 p.m., officers responded to a report of a suspicious circumstance at Fawn Circle. Officers met with an individual who reported finding small holes in a window of their residence. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 10:29 p.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with individuals involved in a verbal dispute. The parties were separated. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident. The GRPD did not release the address officers responded to.

July 3

At 7:45 a.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny at Ace Hardware. Officers met with an individual who reported campaign signs missing. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:56 p.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision at McDonalds. It was reported both vehicles were in the drive thru line facing east. One vehicle was stopped behind a second vehicle, and the first vehicle rolled forward and struck the rear bumper of the second vehicle. Officers met with the drivers, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 11:07 p.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired on Crossbow Drive. Officers patrolled the area determining it was fireworks.

July 4

At 6:03 a.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny on West Teton Boulevard. Officers met with an individual who reported items missing from their vehicle. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 10:26 a.m., officers responded to a report of vandalism on West Teton Boulevard. Officers met with an individual who reported their circuit breakers to their house had been tampered with and a tarp on their boat had been taken off. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 8:01 p.m., officers along with Green River Fire Department were dispatched to a fire at the intersection of West Teton Blvd and Monroe Avenue. GRFD firefighters extinguished the fire, which burned about a 15 by 20 foot section of brush on the west side of West Teton Blvd. Remnants of fireworks were found at the scene. Officers attempted to locate the individual or individuals responsible, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

July 5

At 7:33 a.m., officers responded to a report of larceny at Smiths. It was reported an individual who frequents Smiths had been shoplifting by placing items inside their jacket and then leaving the store without paying for them. Officers met with the individual, located items that had not been paid for on their person, and advised of the stores request for a trespass warning and that the items be paid for. Officers issued the trespass warning and completed a report of the incident.

At 11:40 a.m., officers responded to a report of a domestic in progress on Cumorah Way. Officers met with the individuals involved in a domestic dispute, conducted a civil standby, and completed a report of the incident.

At 1:19 p.m., officers responded to a report of trespassing on Wilkes Drive. Officers met with an individual who reported an individual had been hanging around to gain access to their residence. Officers made contact with the individual, issued a trespass warning for the property, and completed a report of the incident.

July 6

At 8:57 a.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny at the horse corrals. Officers met with an individual who reported a license plate was missing off of their trailer. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 8:21 p.m., officers responded to a report of a burglary on South Wagonwheel Drive. Officers met with an individual who reported an item missing that had been left inside a vehicle. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 8:26 p.m., officers responded to a report of trespassing on Schultz Street. Officers met with an individual who reported being contacted by an individual and requested a trespass warning be issued to that individual. Officers attempted to make contact with the individual and completed a report of the incident.

July 7

At 10:18 a.m., officers responded to a report of two juveniles using tobacco products on East Teton Boulevard. Officers met with both of the juveniles and the CSO Work Restitution Officer, gathered information, and issued both juveniles, ages 15 and 16, of Green River, citations for alleged use or possession of tobacco by minor. The juveniles were released to their respective parents or guardians and officers completed a report of the incident.

At 10:40 a.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision on Shoshone Avenue. It was reported a motorcycle was traveling north on Uinta Drive and was stopped in the center turning lane facing south. As another vehicle initiated a left-hand turn onto Shoshone Avenue, the motorcycle struck the front passenger side of the vehicle. EMS and Fire responded and the driver of the motorcycle was transported by ambulance. Officers gathered information, issued the driver of the second vehicle, Melissa Morris, of Green River, citations for alleged inattentive driving and failure to provide proof of liability coverage, and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:10 p.m., officers responded to a report of a violation of a court order on East Flaming Gorge Way. Officers met with an individual who reported they had been contacted by an individual that they have an active protection order against. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:15 p.m., officers responded to a report of a single vehicle collision on North Center Street. It was reported the driver was attempting to back the rear of the vehicle into the alley when the vehicle collided with a street sign at the edge of the alley at the intersection of the alley and North Center Street. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

July 8

At 1:23 a.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired on Fox Hills Drive. Officers patrolled the area and met with several individuals regarding the noises, which may have been fireworks. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 2:28 p.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny on Uinta Drive. Officers met with an individual who reported items missing from their storage unit. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 5:09 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Greasewood Street. Officers met with individuals involved in a dispute, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 8:25 p.m., officers responded to a report of a larceny at the horse corrals. Officers met with an individual who reported a license plate missing from their trailer. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:03 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle on Scotts Bottom Road and issued the driver Jesus Marquez, of Rock Springs, a citation for alleged travel under normal speed in right-hand lane.

July 9

At 1:55 p.m., officers responded to a report of a hit and run collision at Expedition Island. Officers met with an individual who reported finding damage to their vehicle, which had been parked and unoccupied. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 2:51 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disturbance on Bridger Drive. Officers met with individuals involved in a dispute, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:59 p.m., officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision at the Loaf N Jug on Uinta Drive. It was reported one vehicle pulled across multiple parking spaces facing north to south and began to reverse the vehicle to properly park in the parking space when the rear of the vehicle made contact with a second vehicle, which was parked on the side of the building. Officers gathered information; issued the driver, Joseph Barguto, of Green River, a citation for alleged improper backing; and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:17 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Hitching Post Drive and Iowa Avenue and issued the driver, Justin Nilles, of Green River, a citation for alleged compulsory auto insurance violation, first offense.

July 10

At 2:58 a.m., officers made contact with a suspected juvenile subject walking at the intersection of Shoshone Avenue and West Teton Boulevard. Officers met with the subject; gathered information; contacted their parent or guardian; issued a citation for alleged curfew violation to the juvenile, 14, of Rock Springs; and completed a report of the incident.

At 12:44 p.m., officers responded to a report of a subject removal at Smiths. Officers met with store management who requested to have two individuals trespassed from the property. Officers met with the individuals, issued the trespass warnings, and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:48 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that had no headlights illuminated and was swerving within its lane of travel on East 4th South Street. Officers met with the driver, who was found to be intoxicated and was arrested for allegedly driving while under the influence of alcohol. Officers issued Elijah Isaac, of Green River, a citation for alleged driving while under the Influence of alcohol, transported Isaac to the Sweetwater County Detention Center, and completed a report of the incident.

July 11

At 2:31 a.m., officers responded to a noise complaint on Schultz Street. Officers met with an individual causing the disturbance, advised of the complaint, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.
A California woman and a Rock Springs couple were recently sentenced after sheriff's deputies, detectives and a K9 interdiction unit seized over 18 pounds of methamphetamine and a stolen firearm during three separate law enforcement operations that ultimately tied all three individuals together to the same local drug trafficking scheme.

On Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, sheriff's detectives were contacted by the United States Probation Office for the District of Wyoming, the United States Marshal's Service (USMS), and the Wyoming Department of Corrections for assistance in locating and searching the residences of three different parolees and in apprehending one of the federal parolees on a USMS bench warrant.

Amy Nicole Timmons, 32, of San Diego, California, a federal parolee, came to Rock Springs to meet with Malodee Jo Barnson, 42, of Rock Springs, also on parole, who Timmons met while serving time together in a federal prison in Victorville, California.

Through the course of investigation, authorities learned that Timmins may have traveled to Rock Springs with as much as 20 pounds of methamphetamine, and that she was believed to be distributing the drugs locally through Barnson and her husband, Jay Earl Barnson, 50, a state parolee, also of Rock Springs.

On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, a small team of federal and local law enforcement officers converged on Timmins' hotel room while other teams of law enforcement officers located Malodee at her residence and Jay while traveling in his vehicle.

During searches of the hotel room, residence and vehicle, authorities discovered a total of just under 20 pounds of meth, a stolen Charter Arms .38 Special revolver, a large sum of U.S. currency, multiple cell phones, and related drug paraphernalia consistent with that used to use and distribute illegal drugs.

During a later interview with her, Timmins revealed to authorities that she came to Wyoming because she knew that she could make a larger profit from the meth selling it in Wyoming as opposed to selling it in California. In three weeks' time, investigators learned that the three had already sold and distributed over 500 grams, or just over one pound, of meth.

Malodee Barnson was charged locally, and was sentenced in Feb. to eight to 10 years in state prison.

Jay Barnson was indicted federally, and was sentenced earlier this year to 60 months (5 years) in federal prison.

Timmins was also indicted federally, and was recently sentenced to 180 months (15 years) in federal prison.

The dedicated men and women of Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office credit a cooperative effort among all those involved in seeing this investigation through to a positive conclusion, and remind everyone that all are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in accordance with law.
Holding by-elections during the height of the waves of Covid-19 infection would have been reckless, the High Court ruled yesterday when dismissing a challenge to the suspension of by-elections and upholding a September 2020 amendment to lockdown regulations.

The by-elections were eventually held in March this year when President Mnangagwa and the health authorities deemed the risk was low enough to hold the polls safely and that the general lockdown was sufficiently relaxed that candidates and parties could campaign effectively and that voters could assemble at polling stations.

The onset of Covid-19 early in 2020 disrupted lives, businesses and communities worldwide as governments reacted with extraordinary measures to combat the spread of infection.

In Zimbabwe the Government reaction announced by the President was put in the legal form of regulations known generally as the lockdown regulations by the Minister of Health and Child Care, who is given this power in the Public Health Act. These were frequently amended with the by-election suspension amendment being announced in Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga had assumed the post of Health and Child Care Minister by the time this amendment came out. The amendment suspended by-elections to fill in vacancies in both the National Assembly and in local authorities caused through recalls of office holders and deaths, as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Even with other restrictions on gatherings, the normal processes of travel to polling stations and queuing in large numbers were seen as unacceptable risks to public health.

There was opposition to the move, but the legal challenge was launched by the Womens Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), Election Resource Centre (ERC) and six Harare and Marondera residents: Ellah Tayengwa, Moud Chinyerere, Agnes Togarepi, GraciousMatsunga, David Gwanzura and Loice Gwangwara.

They sued Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, President Mnangagwa and the Minister of Healthand Child Care, arguing that the suspension was a breach of the Electoral Act, the Constitution and the Public Health Act. Through their lawyer Mr Tendai Biti the applicants argued that other countries in Africa and outside the continent held their elections despite the devastating pandemic. They accused Vice President Chiwenga of suspending the Constitution through the legal instrument to suspend the by-elections.

But Justice Paul Siyabona Musithu upheld the lockdown amendment saying these regulations were not in breach of the Constitution.

The respondents would have been culpably careless to allow a by-election in the midst of a deadly virus that was known to spread easily in close contact settings where social distancing was not achievable, he said. The fact that other countries held their elections during the time that the virus was still at its peak, and at a time when lives were still being lost in large numbers, does not necessarily mean that this country should follow suit.

Each country had its own peculiar circumstances, which informed the decision to hold or not to hold elections during a pandemic. Considerations were different from country to country.

In his judgment, Justice Musithu noted that the holding of elections was treasured in several parts of the Constitution, and more significantly full political rights, which encapsulate the idea of free, fair and regular elections, fall under fundamental human rights and freedoms. But the Constitution also allows for certain rights, such as freedom of movement and association, to be abridged during public health emergencies.

The judge found that by the time the by-election suspension was gazetted there had been serious inroads into some political rights through the principle regulations giving legal force to the original lockdown, SI 83 of 2020. The SI introduced a national lockdown that restricted the movement of people, and prohibited public gatherings among a raft of measures meant to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The judge said an election process should be held under conditions that guaranteed the free movement of people to allow for campaigning and attending meetings, as well as public gatherings. It meant the timing of the elections in terms of the Constitution had to conform with the realities on the ground.

The question which arises is whether voters, candidates and political parties were going to be able to freely exercise their electoral rights under those conditions? The answer in my view is negative.

The judge also said it would have been imprudent for the President and Minister of Health and Child Care to have allowed the elections to go on for the sake of complying with a Constitutional obligation well aware that the conditions were not conducive. This, he said, would have denied the voters, candidates and political parties an opportunity to enjoy their electoral rights, given that the Government had also put in place a law meant to suppress the spread of Covid-19.

On ZEC, Justice Musithu found that it was a key player in the election processes but was not designated as an essential service in the national lockdown legislation. This meant that it was constrained from carrying out its constitutional mandate because of the legislation and the legality of that law was not questioned. It was not before the court.

The lockdown legislation made serious inroads into electoral rights meaning that no credible, free and fair by-election could be held during the time that the legislation was in force, he said.

This court cannot ignore the conditions on the ground,which must be considered in the context of the coronavirus and the lockdown in determining whether the (the President and VP Chiwenga) acted unlawfully in not calling for by-elections before the amendment regulations became law. An election held under the conditions enumeratedwould clearly have been a charade.

Justice Musithu also ruled that a law of general application can limit the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and freedoms to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society. In his ruling, the judge considered the constitutional framework and the context in which some sections of the Constitution operate and was satisfied that the amendment regulations were in conformity with the Constitution.

In his submissions, Mr Biti argued that the motive of imposing a ban on by-elections by the Government had nothing to do with curbing Covid-19 but was a suppression of democracy.

He said the Government had suspended the Constitution by not implementing its provisions such as holding by-elections whereas othercountries in Africa and beyond had held polls and emphasized that all constitutional obligations must be complied with diligently and without delay.

Ms Olivia Zvedi arguing the matter for the President and Health and Child Care Minister said it was prudent for the Government to suspend by-elections to conquer the spread of Covid-19 since the risk of a third wave of the pandemic was high.

She also argued that section 86 of the Constitution provides for the limitation of rights hence Government had taken the right decision in suspending by-elections. Mr Tawanda Kanengoni for ZEC argued that holding by-elections at a time of the coronavirus pandemic would curtail effective participation of the electorate and said in any case that ZEC could only conduct by-elections once President Mnangagwa issued a proclamation. Herald
Community comes together to show support after shooting

Sympathy cards and flowers for Aaron Sadler sit on a table next to a pile of baskets and prizes donated for the raffles and auctions at the Embassy Tavern.

Support from across Green River, Sweetwater County, and all of Wyoming is pouring in to honor and help victims and their families who were involved in the shooting at Embassy Tavern June 23.

During the shooting, Brian Nussbaum was injured and Aaron Sadler and Jessie Wells were both killed.

Sadler was a life-long resident of Green River who worked at the Embassy Tavern for three years as manager. The family she leaves behind includes a husband and two sons. Wells was also a Green River resident and was working at The Hitching Post. Her family includes a husband and a son and daughter.

In the weeks since the shooting, the community has come together to show support for the victims and their families. Expressions of sympathy were instant, with donations coming in almost as quickly.

"It's just amazing how everybody's coming together," Tina Porter, the owner of the Embassy Tavern, said.

While fundraisers have been ongoing and will continue through August, one of the biggest events put together will happen this weekend on "bar row" in Green River. Events will go from Friday through Sunday at the Embassy and the Ponderosa Bar and will include concerts, food trucks, a pool tournament, a pig roast, Xtreme Music Bingo, and raffles and auctions.

Porter continually expressed her gratitude for the individuals, businesses, and a variety of community members who have pulled together to support the victims and their families and to make this event possible.

Some of the bands playing were originally supposed to play at the Embassy during Flaming Gorge Days, but the concerts had to be canceled, so now the bands have donated their time to support this event. Individuals and businesses have donated items for the raffles and auctions, which have been ongoing on the Embassy Tavern Facebook page and will continue through the weekend, with the winners announced Sunday. Bracelets and koozies are for sale at the Embassy Tavern. A big board has also been making its way around the bars in Green River where people can buy a square for $20. The winner will receive $1,000, but most participants have already made plans to donate the money.

All the ongoing fundraisers for the victims and this weekend's planned events have been grouped under the titles "Green River Strong" or "GR Stands Strong."

"Even though it's called Green River Strong, it's really Sweetwater County Strong and Wyoming Strong," Porter said, explaining support has come in from all across the state.

"Honestly, we are making all the other states look bad," Taylor James, a bartender at the Embassy, said. "It's spread so vastly. It is amazing, overwhelming in such a good way."

People from as far away as Farson, Evanston, Casper and more have been expressing their support, donating items, participating in auctions, and making plans to come for the weekend's events.

So far, the Embassy Tavern has already raised approximately $14,000.

"And it's still going," Porter said.

Just this week, Porter got a call from Searle Brothers Construction saying they will match up to $20,000 raised, which Porter is confident they'll reach this weekend.

"Green River has proved that we are a tight community and family, and Wyoming has proved it," Porter said. "They're not making this about anything political. They are coming to support families and show that their love and support is what we need, not hate and anger."

James thinks the small population in Green River and Wyoming help contribute to the close-knit community. Porter agreed, saying you don't get the same kind of closeness in bigger towns. Green River is built on diversity, many of which comes from industries like the mines and the railroad, Porter explained. But she believes that diversity can be a strength.

"Even though we're diverse, we come together," Porter said. "So that is just amazing to see."

Those connections become even more obvious after a tragedy.

"Because the community cares so much, it also hurts that same value when something like this happens," James said. "Everybody hurt in some sense, on some level."

"Everyone's looking at it like 'God, that could have been my kid or my friend,'" Mehgan Thomas, another Embassy bartender, added. "And I think that's why everybody's pouring in and helping out so much because they know how much it's affecting, and it is a good cause."

Thomas added it's not just this situation - she's seen the community come together over and over.

Despite regular community support, Porter recognized this situation is unique and overwhelming since something like this hasn't happened for several decades.

"I think the importance of this is that the families actually see that they're not alone going through this," Porter said. "Although we can't make their pain go away, hopefully they know that we care enough that it will lessen what they're going through, it'll lessen their pain. And it's not even about the money that we're raising. It doesn't matter how much we raise. What matters is that they were all three a part of our lives. We want their families to know that if they need us, we're here. And not just the Embassy but the entire community. We're here for you."
Applicants from Bridgeport, Middletown, Stamford, and Waterbury are among the first to be recommended to grow marijuana in Connecticut.

The states Social Equity Council met Tuesday to review applications for social equity cultivator licenses. In total, 41 applications were submitted to the state. The accounting firm CohnReznick, which the council hired to vet the applications, determined 25 did not comply.

Social equity applicants must meet the income, residency and ownership requirements established by the council. At Tuesdays meeting, the council recommended 16 equity applicants for cultivator licenses. The council denied eight applications for failing to meet residency and income requirements, and another 17 based on ownership and control issues.

The 16 applicants must next be approved by the state Department of Consumer Protection to get a provisional license. Two are residents of Bridgeport; five hail from Hartford; three live in New Britain; one each in Manchester, Middletown, Southington and Stamford, and two are in Waterbury. The applicants, who will be identified after DCP approval, do not have to open their grow operations in the municipalities in which they live.

The social equity cultivator licenses are reserved for equity applicants who want to operate grow facilities in a so-called disproportionately impacted area, which tend to be urban and low-income, and were identified based on past cannabis convictions and unemployment rates.

The head of the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce applauded the councils decision in a written statement Tuesday.

This decision will generate $48 million in income to advance the social equity program in Connecticut and create hundreds of good-paying jobs in our state, said the chambers president Adam Wood. The vote will also bring needed economic development, opportunity, and tax-base growth in some of our state's most disproportionately impacted communities in cities such as Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven.

Most people who want to operate in Connecticuts adult use cannabis market must win a license through a lottery process. But the states cannabis law provides several exceptions including for equity applicants interested in growing marijuana. The intention behind that provision of the law is to give people who were targeted by the past criminalization of marijuana an opportunity to get into the legal market.

In total, the state received nearly 37,300 applications for the various types of cannabis licenses ranging from retail to cultivator across equity and non-equity applicants. Retail received the most interest with more than 15,600 applications received followed by micro-cultivator with more than 8,460 applications.
Update: Oppo sent us a statement regarding the accusations by India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI, "SCN" stands for "show cause notice"). Here is what the company had to say:

We have a different view on the charges mentioned in the SCN. We believe it's an industry-wide issue many corporates are working on. OPPO India is reviewing the SCN received from DRI, and we are going to reply the notice, presenting our side, and will be working further with the related government departments. OPPO India is a responsible corporate and believes in prudent corporate governance framework. OPPO India will take appropriate steps as may be needed in this regard including any remedies provided under the law.

Original story follows below.

Last week vivo got in trouble with Indian authorities, which seized $58 million in assets after a money laundering probe. Now Oppo is in the hot seat as local authorities are seeking $551 million (44 billion) for allegedly evading custom duties.

This was done in two ways. First, the company is accused of willful misdeclaration of imported tools and components that it used to build phones. Second, it did not include various licensing fees into the price of imported goods, fees that were sent abroad.

The local anti-smuggling agency found evidence after searching Oppos offices in the country and questioning the leaders of the local branch. Oppos senior management has acknowledged the issue and has made a pre-payment of 4.5 billion, reports Reuters.

Source
Samsungs 4th generation foldables are expected in a month, but chances of lower starting prices are low. This could be the right time to pick up a third generation foldable  Samsung US is offering some freebies to encourage just that.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 is available with a $400 discount and up to $640 of trade-in credit (or up to $465 if you are sending in a device with a cracked screen). This means that the 256GB model starts at $1,400 and can go down as low as $760, depending on what you have to trade in. As an additional perk, Samsung will give you a free Galaxy Watch4 (40 or 44mm).



Samsung US offer on the Galaxy Z Fold3: up to $640 trade-in credit and a free Galaxy Watch4

The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ get a similar deal  up to $700 of enhanced trade-in (up to $700 again for a device with a cracked screen) and a free Galaxy Watch4 or Watch4 Classic (the Z Fold3 deal offers only the vanilla watch). This means that the S22 and S22+ are can drop to $150 and $350, respectively. The S22 Ultra gets an even better version of this deal  up to $1,000 of enhanced trade-in (which again, values devices with cracked screens the same). This means that the 128GB model can be had for less than the S22+, just $200.



Samsung US offer on Galaxy S22 Ultra: up to $1,000 trade-in credit and a free Galaxy Watch4 or Watch4 Classic

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 gets a simple deal  up to $600 of trade-in credit (up to $415 if youre sending in a phone with a cracked screen). This means that the Flip can be yours for as low as $400 if you want the 128GB model and $450 for the 256GB one.

Finally, if youre in the market for a new tablet, Tab S8 Ultra comes with a free pair of Galaxy Buds Live and get up to $675 of trade-in credit. This means that the tablets can start at $425. The Tab S8 and Tab S8+ are also part of the deal, but they only get up to $200 of trade-in credit, so the S8+ model can end up costing more than the Ultra.
Its been almost 50 years since the last comprehensive review of Guams criminal statutes and procedures, many of which are holdovers from the pre-World War II Naval Governments penal code and outdated and antiquated, according to Chief Justice F. Philip Carbullido of the Supreme Court of Guam.

He spoke during a public hearing Monday for Bill 311, which would create a Criminal Law and Procedure Review Commission to comb over sections of the local criminal code. The last review was in 1977.

To illustrate issues with Guams outdated books, the bills author, Sen. Frank Blas Jr., read one bizarre section of the Guam Code Annotated found in Title 20, Chapter 2.

Basically it says, any person on finding any dog or dogs, or other animal worrying, wounding or killing any sheep, angora or cashmere goats, may kill the dog and the owner, Blas said.

The chief justice spoke in support of Bill 311, and said that since the last criminal code review there have been many hundreds, if not thousands of amendments, repeals and enactments of criminal laws.

During the hearing, officials from Public Defender Service Corporation, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Compiler of Laws all agreed that an update to local criminal statutes was long overdue.

Attorney General Leevin Camacho said that the measure was one of the rare times that he and Public Defender Executive Director Stephen Hattori were in agreement.

It goes without saying that Guam, in 2022, is significantly different from Guam in the 1970s, said Geraldine Cepeda, director and librarian of the Guam Law Library.

She noted that up until 2004, the Judiciary of Guam wasnt even recognized as its own independent branch of government on equal footing with the Legislature and executive branch.

According to Carbullido, old laws outlining how procedure was handled in the court system were still in place, even though the power to set that procedure was now supposed to be the sole authority of the Superior Court of Guam. Many of the old laws needed to be abolished, he said.

Bill 311 would provide the new commission $250,000 for staffing and administration, and give them two years to complete the review and provide a report to senators on what sections of the law need to be changed. It would ultimately be up to the Legislature to adopt the changes.

Speaker Therese Terlaje did raise a conflict of interest concern over judges from the court being included on the commission and being able to weigh in on the composition of laws that they would ultimately have to rule on.

Deputy Administrator of the Courts Andrew S. Quenga said that other jurisdictions had officers of the court on similar review panels, and that any judge on the commission would still be bound by the ethical guidelines they were already sworn to.

Neither Hattori nor Camacho objected to the inclusion of currently serving judges to the commission.

Sen. Joanne Brown suggested that it be mandated that the commission reconvene every five or 10 years, to avoid having to tackle the significant review that resulted from waiting several decades.

The proposed commission would be made up of three appointees from the Chief Justice, three appointees from the governor, three appointees from the Legislature, the attorney general, executive director of the Public Defender Service Corporation, chief of police, director of corrections, the compiler of laws, and an executive director.
Trial for Frank Ko San Nicolas continued with a witness for the defense taking the stand on Wednesday in the Superior Court of Guam.

San Nicolas, a suruhanu and former Port Authority of Guam police officer, is on trial on charges of sexual assault.

Defense Attorney Joaquin Jay Arriola Jr. questioned the witness about San Nicolas traditional spiritual and healing activities, such as using local medicine and massage techniques in exorcisms, to establish what the defendant practices as a suruhanu.

The witness was also asked for details and descriptions of the site near Tanguisson where the accuser said the incident took place, as well as locations in the area significant to suruhanu rituals and beliefs such as Hilaan Beach and the area known as Lost Pond.

Arriola and prosecutor Richelle Canto questioned the witness about conversations with the plaintiff that occurred online and in person, a little over a week after the alleged incident occurred.

The witness, a relative of San Nicolas, said they both were in shock and disbelief at the allegations.

Superior Court Judge Arthur Barcinas has allowed for the defense to call more witnesses as the trial continues.
Some 1,700 Guam Department of Education employees can look forward to a one-time, $5,000 retention payment following recent approval from Guam DOEs federal counterpart.

A news release from Guam DOE on Wednesday noted that the payment will go to school aides, office clerks, secretaries and other staff who have helped sustain the islands schools through and after the pandemic.

The estimated $8.5 million cost will be covered with federal American Rescue Plan funding allocated for the local school system.

The retention pay will cover staff not included under the recent educator and nurse pay raises.

According to the release, soon-to-retire Guam DOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez put in the request for the retention pay alongside a request to U.S. DOE to use federal funds to cover raises for schoolteachers and other staff.

ARP money will fund the 20% educator pay raise from May 23 through the end of the government of Guams fiscal year, Sept. 30. All told, some $10 million in federal dollars are expected to be used to cover the raises during that time.

Im thankful for USEDs approval of my request to help cover the short-term cost of the educator pay raise, said Fernandez. Just as important, Im glad that other frontline employees are able to receive this one-time payment for their continued service and dedication. It is important that GDOE do what it can to retain our hardworking employees and ensure that we are able to operate our schools safely and effectively for the coming school year.

Guam Education Board Chair Mark Mendiola and members Maria Gutierrez and Peter Ada expressed support for the payments in a statement. They said it was fair to recognize the hard work of school employees through the pandemic and to aid their families as they deal with the rising cost of living.

Local money will have to be used to cover the pay raises starting Oct. 1.

Fernandezs last day as superintendent is July 15.
JUSTICE minister Ziyambi Ziyambi on Tuesday accused Western countries of supporting organisations that have been breeding corruption in Zimbabwe in a bid to propagate a negative narrative that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is corrupt.

Speaking at a belated event to commemorate the African Anti-Corruption Day in Harare, Ziyambi said the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Zimbabwe taught the country to be self-reliant.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) event was held under the theme Strategies and Mechanisms for the Transparent Management of COVID-19 Funds.

In the case of Zimbabwe, the illegal sanctions and other regime change agendas against our country have taught us the need to purposely reduce dependency on contemporary projects under the tutelage of hegemonic Western countries. These entities often promise to improve the economic and governmental conditions of our countries, but they perpetuate conditions that foster an environment of scarcity under which corruption breeds, Ziyambi said.

Government is scaling up the roll-out of legal frameworks for the recovery of assets acquired through the proceeds of crime, combating money laundering, and carrying out lifestyle audits of public officials, he added.

Officials from the European Union and the British embassy said they would respond to the issues raised by Ziyambi today.

Zacc chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said there was need for the review of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act [Chapter 9:22] so that it includes comprehensive corruption offences and protection of whistle-blowers and witnesses.

There is need to strengthen the legislation and ensure full compliance to the provisions of the African Union Convention for Combating and Preventing Corruption. The lack of adequate whistle-blower and witness protection provisions have gravely affected cases at Zacc as whistle-blowers and witnesses have been victimised, fired and transferred while some are nearly killed for giving information to Zacc. The Acting Prosecutor-General also informed me that he was having problems with witnesses in court as they are frightened to testify, Matanda-Moyo said.

She said since 2020 the commission was seized with a cumulative figure of nine immovable properties including one property in South Africa and a total of 38 motor vehicles, and a request for mutual legal assistance has been made for further seizure of two properties in South Africa from proceeds of corruption.

To date, 35 cases filed for asset confiscation and unexplained wealth orders have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) since 2019 to 2021. Zacc has referred over 300 dockets to the NPA, she said.

Rwandese ambassador to Zimbabwe James Musoni said: Several reports have indicated that global corruption is now costing the globe US$1 trillion annually and this has severe effects on the lives of people. This cost is very high and continues to weaken the resilience of our communities.

African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption Zimbabwe chapter chairperson Temba Mliswa said: Its not a secret that corruption has taken over in terms of sanctions that have made us more disciplined to account for our resources. There is no good governance which protects the resources we have, and we are endowed with resources. The deals which are structured favour the investor and not the foreign person. We want transparency and accountability. Newsday
The countdown is on for the 78th Annual Liberation Day Parade, and hundreds of excited residents brought folding chairs and breakfast to wait in line at the Paseo Stadium in Hagatna to secure a coveted spot on the Marine Corps Drive parade route. Its been two years since Guams last time-honored parade celebrations.

At 8 a.m. Wednesday, officials from the Department of Parks and Recreation began the process of issuing out permits to eager spectators and with only 219 permits available, distribution was on a first-come, first-served basis.

With permits quickly being issued to those who waited in line, there was little chance for people to choose which spot they want. For many at the back of the line, they were fine with whatever spot was available.

Nisha Banis, of Tamuning, waited in line for two hours to try and get a spot for her friends and family to watch the Liberation Day Parade.

I was hoping to get somewhere near the general area around here in Paseo, but it doesnt look like thats very promising cause like theres almost no slots left. But were content with whatever spot we get, said Banis.

Unable

With the limited amount of permit slots, many people who stood in line were unable to get a permit.

Angela Santos, of Barrigada, was one of the people in line who waited for almost three hours to get a parade route permit. However, with so many other people before her, the chances of getting a permit were low.

They wanted to inform us that it doesnt really look too good for us from this point of the line back, said Santos.

Those fortunate to get a permit and start their Liberation Day celebrations on the parade route starting July 20 will have lighting, which had already been installed by the Guam Power Authority, according to Roque Alcantara, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Portable restrooms will also be available.

Permits issued by Parks and Rec were for spots on both sides of Marine Corps Drive starting from the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Anigua to the former Bank of Hawaii building, according to Alcantara.
After years of wanting to build a fitting memorial for war survivors, the Manenggon Memorial Foundation can now move forward with the planning and construction of the Inalahan War Memorial.

Foundation Chairman William Willy Flores made the announcement during the Inalahan War Memorial Ceremony on Wednesday in Agfayan, where he unveiled the design of the park and officials signed the building plans.

Were going to get the building permit and start construction as soon as we can, Flores said.

Although the foundation is hoping to have the memorial constructed by December, he acknowledges the permit process might take a while. He said the memorial will be up by July 2023 at the latest.

The foundation comprises the islands World War II survivors and direct descendants of survivors or those who lost their lives to the war. Flores said survivors Rosa Auntie Chai Crisostomo San Nicolas Duenas and Julia Villagomez had a huge part in the designing process as consultants.

We asked them what elements they wanted in these memorials. They wanted the stone, the standard latte stone to symbolize the life, the strength, Flores said.

In our plans, we have two fallen latte stones for those who didnt make it, we have a medium-size latte stone for the kids to symbolize the young children. They also wanted water as a symbol of life and they wanted as much grass as possible.

According to Flores, not many people know that there were several concentration and internment camp sites in Inalahan.

Many residents were killed, some disappeared and were never found again, while others were in prison and threatened with death.

Fortunately for them at the time, for most of them, the Americans came and they were rescued, but even in those last few days, several of them werent quite that lucky and didnt make it, he said. The significance of Inalahan is that there are so many places here where people were killed and in prison. A lot of tragedies at different places.




Haiti - FLASH : Thousands of Brooklyn residents hostages of the gang war (Cite Soleil)





Thousands of people are trapped, without clean water, food or access to medical care, in a neighborhood of Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, as armed groups clash https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37125-icihaiti-cite-soleil-already-at-least-20-dead-and-50-injured-in-armed-clashes.html Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) alert.



Thousands of residents of Brooklyn, an isolated neighborhood of Cite Soleil, since July 8, when fighting broke out in Cite Soleil, have been unable to leave Brooklyn due to violent clashes, and water trucks drinking water, on which the inhabitants depend, could not enter.



"We are calling on all belligerents to allow aid to enter Brooklyn and to spare civilians," said Mumuza Muhindo, MSF head of mission. "We also call on the humanitarian community to respond to the urgent needs of the population in Brooklyn and other neighborhoods affected by the fighting, including for water, food and medical care."



Three MSF community health workers who live in Brooklyn treated the injured in a private clinic which is the only health facility still in operation in the enclave, Mumuza Muhindo said, adding "Along the only road into Brooklyn, we have encountered corpses that are decomposing or being burned. They could be people killed during the clashes or people trying to leave who were shotit is a real battlefield. It is not possible to estimate how many people have been killed."



MSF is continuing its attempts to evacuate people with critical medical needs in Brooklyn, while many other residents are also asking for help to leave the area.



The organization continues to treat victims of violence in other neighborhoods of Cite Soleil. Staff at MSF's emergency center in Drouillard opened an operating theater within the facility, to begin providing emergency surgical care on site. This work was made difficult, in part because of armed clashes in the immediate vicinity, which forced medical personnel to take refuge in a secure room for several hours.



The MSF hospital in Tabarre, where many injured people are referred, is increasing its capacity to treat trauma victims. Since July 8, surgical teams in Tabarre have performed approximately 15 surgical procedures per day.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37137-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37125-icihaiti-cite-soleil-already-at-least-20-dead-and-50-injured-in-armed-clashes.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37125-icihaiti-cite-soleil-already-at-least-20-dead-and-50-injured-in-armed-clashes.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Border : A Haitian arrested with a large sum of American and Dominican money





The Specialized Land Border Security Corps (CESFRONT), in coordination with the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) arrested a Haitian national for attempting to enter Dominican territory with a large undeclared sum of money.



CESFRONT soldiers, assigned to the border operations base of the Battle of Sabana Larga, following intelligence work at the "Elfilter" checkpoint, located at the Dajabon - Ouanaminthe border post, arrested a Haitian citizen, Pierre Saint -Pierre who presented a suspicious profile.



During the search, the soldiers discovered that the man was hiding, glued to his body, 24,611 US dollars and 657,600 Dominican pesos.



The money was seized as well as 2 cell phones, a passport, an identity card and a driver's license issued in Haiti.



The detainee, as well as the documents and objects seized, were handed over to the DGA for the corresponding legal purposes.



IH/ iciHaiti






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Varreux : Access to the oil terminal impossible

"Since Friday July 8, 2022, access to the Oil Terminal and the Varreux storage center has been impossible for reasons of insecurity. We remain mobilized for a resumption of tanker truck loading as soon as possible," informs Wineco, the manager of the Varreux terminal.



Mgr. Max Leroy Mesidor worried about the future of Haiti

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Mgr. Max Leroy Mesidor, said he was outraged at the scale of violence by armed gangs in Cite Soleil and in many other areas of the capital and worried about the future of Haiti.



Port-de-Paix : Arrest of the former Government Commissioner

The National Police of Haiti, in the North-West, on the instruction of the Office of Financial and Economic Affairs of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, proceeded to the arrest, Tuesday July 12, 2022, Me Michelet Virgile ex-Commissioner of the Government of Port-de-Paix revoked https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37114-haiti-flash-arms-trafficking-the-minister-of-justice-dismisses-the-commissioner-of-the-government-of-port-de-paix.html after releasing two individuals the-presumed-traffickers.html involved in the trafficking of a large shipment of ammunition https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37058-haiti-flash-seizure-of-tens-of-thousands-of-ammunition-at-the-wharf-of-port-de-paix-video.html



Consulate of Montreal Scam Alert

The Consulate General of Haiti in Montreal informs members of the Haitian Community of Quebec in general and Montreal in particular that it does not offer immigration services or private insurance services. The Consulate asks compatriots to be careful not to be victims of scams on the Internet from malicious individuals. In addition, he warns against certain Consulate employees who take advantage of their statutes to illegally offer and sell private services to them.



SEMANAH maritime employees trained in Martinique

From May 26 to July 9, 2022, a dozen employees of the Maritime and Navigation Service of Haiti (SEMANAH) went to Martinique to undergo training at the Professional Maritime and Aquaculture School (EFPMA) to obtain their "Brevet d' Fitness for Navigation of Small Vessels.



Dr. Pincherle Hypolite wanted by the PNH

This week, police in the North issued a wanted notice for Dr Pincherle Hypolite, accused of gouging out the eyes of his nurse wife Petcherle-Lynn Isemenor.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Leaders praise new Patton Building for its high-tech agility

County commissioners and Blue Ridge Community College leaders look on as County Commission Chair Bill Lapsley cuts ribbon on the new Patton Building.

The dedication of the new Patton Building on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College on Tuesday morning stirred county leaders to lofty rhetoric about the power of working together to change students lives, train the countys manufacturing workforce and making the local economy strong.

Several hundred people from the government, business, education and political arenas gathered for the words of praise and a ribbon cutting under a blue sky and mild temperatures.

Funded by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, the $23.4 million building for education, training and administration features 78,739 square feet of new and renovated space.

At Blue Ridge Community College we aim to transform lives through the power of learning, said Chip Gould, chair of the colleges Board of Trustees. Its a pretty massive building but it makes a great statement. The first one is that Blue Ridge Community College is ready and prepared to train the workforce of tomorrow. Second, the Henderson County commissioners are committed to Blue Ridge Community College by providing yet another state-of-the-art facility for us to work out of. And the third is to our employers: You now have a workforce training center from which you can gain skilled and trained workers and you can also send your current employees back for additional education.

County Manager John Mitchell said the buildings floor plan was strategic. Consolidating workforce training, education and administrative offices in the new space is going to be key to our long-term economic mission in this county because the president of the college will be literally right next to the flex lab (training) space, which is going to allow the partnership between industry and education the focal point of what we do here, he said.

The community college is not good for its own sake. Its good because of what it does, he added. The Board of Commissioners, when they make investments like this, they make them on behalf of the next generation. This republic is ours to keep. And when I see all the community leaders here today, I know that its in good hands. It makes me feel good.

County Commission Chair Bill Lapsley said current and past commissioners have supported BRCC because BRCC sparks the economy.

The Board of County Commissioners is pleased to continue, and I stress that word continue, because as others have said this is not a new approach for us as commissioners, he said. We have continued over many years on this board as well as previous boards to give the financial support for new and improved educational infrastructure to facilitate occupational opportunities for the citizens of Henderson County. The completion of this upgrade and expansion of the Patton Building is just another step forward in raising the skills and training level for the future employees of our growing manufacturing and business community.

BRCC President Laura Leatherwood also noted the close collaboration between business and education.

The new Patton Building was designed with the help of our local manufacturing representatives to tell us what they needed in this facility, she said. On the second floor are two biology labs and two chemistry labs that will aid our healthcare workforce training programs, including our nursing, pharmacy, paramedic as well as engineering and all of our degree and transfer programs.

Now, speaking of state of the art, the technology is amazing in this facility. Youll see touch screens as you walk around the facility, and we can simulate most any lab training in this facility. And if we learned anything throughout the pandemic, we learned that we cannot function without technology. We certainly cant teach and our students cannot learn.

She thanked Steve Wyatt, who during his 15 years as county manager was involved in more than $91 million worth of capital construction projects on the campus. The 105-seat Steven D. Wyatt Auditorium, honoring his service to BRCC, will serve as an area where the community can gather for presentations, faculty can deliver their lectures and our drama program can share their productions, she said.

Wyatt thanked Leatherwood, county commissioners and others for their support during his leadership of the county.

The community college is in the business of changing lives, he said. A lot of folks have had their lives changed. So its a tremendous asset. You should love it. You love it now. You should cherish it. It represents the best of Henderson County, and really it represents the best of North Carolina.
Israel, Austria sign deal on building strategic partnership

Xinhua) 13:16, July 13, 2022

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid attend a signing ceremony in Jerusalem on July 12, 2022. Israel and Austria signed on Tuesday an agreement on establishing "a comprehensive strategic partnership" to expand security cooperation. (Shaol Golan/JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Israel and Austria signed on Tuesday an agreement on establishing "a comprehensive strategic partnership" to expand security cooperation.

The deal was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who held talks at the PM's office in the HaKirya military base in Tel Aviv on expanding cooperation in various fields, especially on security issues, Lapid's office said in a statement.

The main fields covered by the agreement are "cyber and counter-terrorism, health in light of the coronavirus pandemic, tourism, technology, innovation, trade, investment promotion, the struggle against climate change, green tech and digitization," the statement said.

The two leaders also discussed regional issues, "especially the Iranian threat," it said.

Lapid reiterated Israel's opposition to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, emphasizing "the importance of the international awareness against the agreement and concerns over the continuation of the Iranian nuclear program," the statement added.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid attend a signing ceremony in Jerusalem on July 12, 2022. Israel and Austria signed on Tuesday an agreement on establishing "a comprehensive strategic partnership" to expand security cooperation. (Shaol Golan/JINI via Xinhua)

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid attend a signing ceremony in Jerusalem on July 12, 2022. Israel and Austria signed on Tuesday an agreement on establishing "a comprehensive strategic partnership" to expand security cooperation. (Shaol Golan/JINI via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
What a surprise!...

Im referring to the late, great Madeline Albright who passed away at the end of March. She was brought up as a Christian, but her parents converted from Judaism to Christianity, which is understandable since they (and Madeline) were from Czechoslovakia and were around during the time of Hitler. (Madeline was never told that her parents once were Jews.)

Madeline and her family came to the United States in 1948 after the Communist coup in Prague.

When she grew up she became the first woman to reach such a high position as United States Secretary of State.

WJC President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER, spoke at her funeral:

It is with sorrow that we note the passing of former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, an outspoken champion of peace and international human rights. He continued:

As Americas top diplomat, she was a fierce advocate of the two-State solution and took an unambiguous stand against terrorism. it can never be justified, she said. it kills the innocent not by accident, but by design. (And its design in the Middle East is to murder the peace process by shredding security and destroying the hope for peace!)

Lauder continued: She was also a stalwart ally in the international efforts on behalf of Holocaust survivors. We know well our inability to provide true justice to Holocaust victims. We cannot restore life nor rewrite history. But we can make the ledger slightly less out of balance by devoting our time, energy and resources to the search for answers, the return of property and the payment of just claims.

(She was a wonderful lady that I will never forget!)

And speaking of wonderful ladies 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind!

Lets delve into her past:

Just starting out, Ruth looked at the list of law journals in the library. The one she needed wasnt there. She thought it was probably at Lamont Library. She hurried across the Harvard campus.

You cant come in here, a guard said. Women are not allowed. There were only nine women among the five hundred law students in her class. They often heard the words (you cant)

Since Ruth was young, people had told her, you cant because youre a girl. Luckily her mother told her she could. But she still felt angry when she heard these words.

Well, she said, Ill stand at the door and you can bring me the journal, she said to the guard who stopped her. He refused. She had no choice but to leave.

When Ruth graduated from law school in 1959, she was tied for first place in her class. Not one law firm offered her a job. She was not surprised. Most law firms did not hire Jews or women. She was recommended to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. He refused to even meet her.

Ruth decided the you cant had to stop. She went to court to challenge laws that discriminated against women. She argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. (She won all five.) People began to take notice of her fine legal mind.

In 1980 Ruth Ginsburg was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, In 1993 she became the second woman justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court!

(Wow! How proud she made us all!)

And speaking of Proud! ...

How proud I am to know that Dr. Jonas Salk was Jewish and how grateful I am that I received the polio vaccine when I was a child.

Every year polio infected tens of thousands of people all over the world. Most became temporarily weak and then recovered. Some became permanently paralyzed.

Dr. Salk had permission from many parents to use the vaccine he created on their children who had all recovered from polio.

Actually Jonas hardly slept in the next thirty days after injecting them because he was worried about the outcome. It was a success! The vaccine worked!

Next he tried out the vaccine on people who never had polio including himself, his wife, and children. It worked! Then their were mass trials on one million children (including me). By 1959 ninety-one countries used Salks vaccine!!

The World Jewish Congress on Ukraine and Israel 

My ancestry on my moms side is Ukraine (although she was born in Montreal , Canada) and, of course, as a Jew, my heart and my homeland will always be Israel. Fortunately, I was all over Israel a few years ago and hopefully will visit again. I read this recently in a WJC letter:

As we witness the continuing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, we understand, as Jews, that a threat to ones homeland is an existential threat to its people and future.

Israel is the only Jewish State in the world. But it is so much more. No matter what country we live in as proud citizens, Israel is our homeland, our safe haven, and the beating heart of the Jewish people.

Just back from Chicago 

I have to inform myself of the goings on in the Jewish community in upcoming days as I was out of town.

I suggest, though, that you phone the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando and the Roth Family JCC at 407-645-5933 to be notified and, I will try to catch up as well.

One for the road 

After synagogue on Saturday morning, a young boy suddenly announced to his mother, Mom Ive decided Im going to be a rabbi when I grow up.

Thats okay with me, the mother said, but what made you decide to be a rabbi?

Well, the boy replied, Ill have to go to Shul on Saturday anyway, and I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell.
WASHINGTON (JTA) - An array of Jewish groups across the country are kickstarting into action to protest and potentially challenge the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that had enshrined the right to an abortion in the United States.

The 6-3 decision released Friday has many Jewish activists buzzing about how to respond to the bombshell ruling that they find a major setback to women's rights and in some cases an infringement on religious Jewish law.

The National Council of Jewish Women, a Jewish women's rights group founded in 1893, said it would hold a virtual vigil on Friday afternoon before launching into actions next week that would include training Jewish groups on how to mount challenges.

"Today is a time to mourn," said NCJW's CEO, Sheila Katz. "After Shabbat, we will act."

The decision also portends profound differences among Orthodox groups over how to function in a post-Roe world. The haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America welcomed the decision, while the Orthodox Union stood by its statement from May, when a draft version of the decision was leaked, saying that the umbrella group could neither "mourn or celebrate" the reversal of the 1973 ruling.

But most American Jews back abortion access, and Jewish groups have already taken steps to counter the decision after the draft decision was leaked.

Katz said her group would launch briefings for Jewish organizations on the ramifications of assisting women seeking an abortion, state by state.

"We can't provide legal advice to organizations but we can recommend that organizations seek out legal advice, particularly if they are in states where abortion has been overturned," she said, referring to a number of states that have enacted "trigger" bans on abortion to go into effect once the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. "In some of these states, there's legal ramifications for trying to help somebody have an abortion and everybody should know what that looks like in their states and how they're impacted."

The Women's Rabbinic Network, a constituent of the Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis, in a statement pledged continued support for women seeking an abortion, and for those providing the service.

"We fully support those who have sought and are seeking abortion care and will continue to advocate for a world where they are able to do so safely, wherever they are, without fear of retribution," it said. "We pray for the safety and wellbeing of the abortion care providers and health care workers who will be forced to decide what they are willing to risk in order to serve their patients and communities in places where abortion is now illegal."

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of the liberal rabbi activist group T'ruah, tweeted: "Remember that when Roe v Wade came out, the right wing refused to accept their loss. They spent 50 years laser focused on un-losing. We must do the same in order to protect lives and bodily autonomy. The road will be long, but we cannot give up or turn away."

While there is broad religious Jewish objection to abortion in cases without serious cause, Jewish law prioritizes the life of the mother.

Some commentators have already noted how this could allow for Jewish-based challenges to the state abortion bans that will quickly snap into place. A synagogue in Florida this month sued the state to stop a new anti-abortion law from going into effect in July. The suit is filed on the grounds of religious discrimination.

A number of Orthodox groups and figures argue that liberal Jewish groups overstate the protections Jewish law offers to pregnant women. These groups argue that state laws with exemptions considering the life of the mother are adequate and that abortion under Roe v. Wade was constituted, devalues life.

The statement from Aguda, the umbrella group for haredi Orthodox synagogues and organizations, wholeheartedly endorsed the Roe v. Wade reversal as a celebration of life.

"Agudath Israel of America welcomes this historic development," a statement said. "We pray that today's ruling will inspire all Americans to appreciate the moral magnitude of the abortion issue, and to embrace a culture that celebrates life."

Yet even among the Orthodox, there were differences and a degree of anxiety at what the overturn of Roe v. Wade could bring. Jewish scholars across the religious spectrum agree that mental health should precipitate an exemption to abortion bans, although they disagree about what may constitute a mental health crisis. Not every state includes a mental health exemption for pregnant women seeking an abortion, and at least one, Georgia, explicitly excludes it.

Some Orthodox scholars hold that rape triggers an exemption; a number of states also lack an exemption for rape.

"Jewish law prioritizes the life of the pregnant mother over the life of the fetus such that where the pregnancy critically endangers the physical health or mental health of the mother, an abortion may be authorized, if not mandated, by halacha and should be available to all women irrespective of their economic status," the Orthodox Union said in its May statement.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the Orthodox Union's executive vice president, said in an interview that states excluding mental health from the abortion calculus, as Georgia does, would be a cause for concern.

"Absolutely, when there will be mental health issues that impact the life of the mother" abortion should be allowed, "and, yes, in that event we would we would be concerned about that," he said.

But he added that the court's decision was an opportunity to consider the value of life in a number of spheres.

"You know, there are definitely concerns," he said. "But there may also be an opportunity here to shift the discussion of life to a more responsible space."

NCJW was also planning a rally in Washington, D.C., when Congress reconvenes after the summer; their rally in May attracted more than a thousand protesters. Democrats have said they will make the repeal of Roe v. Wade an issue in the midterm elections.

Katz also wants Jewish organizations to set an example by giving women reproductive leave that would accommodate the extended time needed to get an abortion the reversal of Roe. v Wade would trigger.

Within a week or so of the leaked decision in May, the NCJW almost immediately entered a partnership with the National Abortion Federation, which raises funds for women who want abortions. That process is set to become more expensive in states with restrictive laws ready to kick in, requiring women seeking abortions to take time off work and pay for travel to where it is permitted.

The funds the NCJW raises for the National Abortion Federation "will help people across state lines, it'll help fund abortions for people who can't afford it," Katz said.

Within minutes of the court decision, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington said that it was ready to assist such actions: Maryland, one of the JCRC's constituent states, has liberal abortion laws and is the closest state to a number of states that do not.

"We will work in coalition to ensure that the state is prepared to welcome and serve the thousands of additional women who will travel to our state to seek medical care and exercise reproductive rights," the JCRC said in a statement.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which was issued electronically, is seen in Washington, D.C., Jun. 24, 2022.

The Washington D.C.-area JCRC said it would push back against further restrictions on abortion access in Virginia, and it would lobby to keep Congress, which has a degree of jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, from imposing abortion restrictions on an overwhelmingly liberal population there that rejects such restrictions.

"We will also mobilize our local Jewish community at the grass-roots level, connecting synagogues and individuals to meaningful opportunities to support women seeking abortions in our region," the D.C. chapter's statement said.

Such grass-roots initiatives may soon proliferate in Jewish communities. "We are outraged by this decision, which we do not believe represents the will of the people nor is in the best interest of the country," said the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for Jewish public policy groups.
(JNS)  An anti-Israel activist who shared a number of social media posts with anti-Semitic content has campaigned with multiple Democrats over the past year.

Mahel Abdel Qader has come under fire for repeatedly promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In 2017, he shared a graphic that included the names of dozens of Jewish members of Congress, implying that they have a dual loyalty to Israel and the United States. The Daily Caller reported that, in 2018, Qader shared an anti-Semitic video that claimed Jews are satanic and control the media. The video also dipped into Holocaust denial, questioning whether six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis. It also claimed that Jews arent actually Jewish, but rather invented their historical claims to Israel.

In another post, Qader accused Israeli settlers of training children to terrorize Palestinian civilians. He also posted a picture of a sign that showed former U.S. President Donald Trump wearing a yarmulke while holding a Hanukkah menorah and an Israeli flag. The sign said, Hey Donald, we thought you said America First! Qader also put up multiple posts that promote boycotts of Israel.

According to a Fox News Digital report, Qader served on the host committees of multiple fundraisers for New York City Mayor Eric Adams campaign. He also joined Adams on a Zoom call to discuss the campaign, according to a post on Qaders now-deleted Instagram page.

In addition, Qader attended a New York City fundraiser last month for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is running for reelection. Several weeks ago, he was on the host committee of a virtual fundraiser for Rev. Jesse Jacksons son Jonathan Jackson, who is running for Congress in Illinois First Congressional District.

In promotional material for the fundraiser, Qader wrote on his Instagram page, Jonathan Jackson son of Jesse Jackson/Chicago is running for congress and needs our support. He is a staunch supporter of Palestine, Palestinians and our Arab-American community.

Qader has also participated in fundraisers with members of the far-left group of Democratic House members known as The Squad. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) took part in a virtual Zoom fundraiser with Qader last September. In early November, Qader posted a flier for a fundraising reception for Bush hosted by the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Muslim Community of St. Louis.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who has close ties to Qader, has participated in several events with him during her time in Congress, including a fundraiser last September. The day after the fundraiser, Qader posted a picture of himself with Tlaib on a Manhattan rooftop. Qader served as chairman of the Tlaib campaigns finance committee during her successful 2018 congressional run and was presented with a medal by Tlaib for his service.

In response to concerns about his anti-Semitic activities, Qader said he has great respect for the religion and the Jewish people, adding that there is no such thing as fake Jews. He denied that he had claimed otherwise, despite the evidence from his Facebook posts.

A source in Adams office, who is not authorized to speak to the media, said Adams had attempted to build a wide coalition of supporters from across the demographic spectrum and that his strong support for and relationship with the New York Jewish community and Israel is clear.

The offices of Ellison, Bush and Tlaib did not respond to requests for comment.
(JTA)  Ben & Jerrys has come out against its own parent companys decision to sell the ice cream makers brand in Israel to an Israeli company that pledges to continue selling the products in both Israel and the West Bank.

While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it, the Vermont-based frozen treat makers said on social media, hours after Unilever announced it would sell its Israel business interests in Ben & Jerrys to the Israeli company American Quality Products Ltd.

The Ben & Jerrys statement also provided some additional insight into the business arrangement, noting that the company itself would no longer profit from Ben & Jerrys sales in Israel. The amount of the sale was not disclosed by any party, and Ben & Jerrys did not indicate whether it believed Unilever had violated the terms of their acquisition arrangement by circumventing the board in Israel, nor whether the brand would seek further action against its parent.

We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerrys values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the brand said in its statement.

Unilever made the move following nearly a year of backlash from pro-Israel groups, stemming from an announcement by the semi-autonomous Ben & Jerrys board that it would no longer sell ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories following Israels actions in Gaza last summer. American Quality Products has been the brands Israel distributor since 1987, pre-dating Unilevers 2000 acquisition of Ben & Jerrys, and refused to comply with its demands to stop selling ice cream in West Bank settlements.

The distributor then sued Unilever in U.S. court in an effort to pressure the company to retain its licensing rights. Several U.S. states had also divested hundreds of millions of dollars in public pension funds from the British conglomerate, citing laws preventing them from doing business with companies that boycott Israel.

Unilever insisted for months it had no jurisdiction over the Ben & Jerrys decision until it abruptly reversed course this week, saying that, while the board reserved the rights to make decisions about the brands social mission, its parent company reserved primary responsibility for financial and operational decisions and therefore has the right to enter this arrangement.

The Anti-Defamation League, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and other outside parties played a role in the Unilever negotiations after the ice cream kerfuffle became an international referendum on Israel boycotts in the business world. The Unilever announcement this week was met with praise from pro-Israel groups, many of whom echoed American Quality Products CEO Avi Zinger in calling it a victory over discrimination.
(JTA)  Israelis seeking to end pregnancies will no longer be required to appear before an approval committee, go to a hospital for medication or be asked invasive questions about why they want an abortion.

A Knesset committee approved the new regulations on Monday, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade precedent guaranteeing Americans the right to abortion.

The regulations fall short of the full abolition of the hospital-based approval committees that Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz had said he wanted, saying that their existence curtails womens autonomy even if they approve virtually all requests. Eliminating the committees entirely would require the Knesset to pass a law, a tall order at a time when the government is in disarray.

Still, Horowitz said Monday, the changes show that Israel is moving toward more access to abortion at a time when the United States is rolling it back. He had said in May after a draft of the Supreme Courts ruling leaked that overturning Roe v. Wade would be a fatal blow to human rights.

The move by the US Supreme Court to deny women control of their bodies is a backward move, oppressing women and setting back the leader of the free and liberal world by a hundred years, Horowitz said in a statement Monday. We are in a different place, and today we are taking big steps in the right direction.

Related: What do Jews say about abortion? A primer as Roe v. Wade is reversed

The committees will remain under the new regulations, as will rules limiting abortion to certain situations that some women have said forces abortion-seekers to lie. Abortion is still only legal within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

But how applicants interact with the committees will change dramatically: Instead of having to appear in person, people seeking abortions will be able to submit their requests online. They also will not be asked about their use of contraception, as the form that has been in place since 1977, when Israel legalized abortion, has asked.

Under the new regulations, which will go into effect in three months, people seeking abortions also will not have to meet with a social worker as part of the process, although they will be offered access to one. And if they are able to terminate their pregnancy using medication, possible in many early abortions, they will be able to do so under the oversight of a community health clinic. Previously, they had to go to hospitals to receive the medication.

Israel legalized abortion four years after Roe v. Wade in the United States. Since then, even as religion looms large in Israel, no significant movement to outlaw abortion has taken root there. In 2014, lawmakers signed off on allowing government funds to pay for abortions.

Many American Jews have mobilized in response to the Supreme Court ruling Friday overturning Roe v. Wade. The National Council of Jewish Women, for example, is raising donations for a fund that will support women who must travel to obtain an abortion. Abortion restrictions or bans have gone into effect already in at least eight states, affecting millions of women women.
(JNS)  More than 80 scholars of Jewish and Israel studies have joined together to form an initiative to combat on-campus anti-Zionism: The Jewish Studies Zionist Network.

The organization is the brainchild of Jarrod Tanny, an associate professor of Jewish history at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

The scholars who signed up for the initiative include Israeli political philosopher and author of The Virtue of Nationalism Yoram Hazony of the Herzl Institute, the University of Florida Holocaust historian Norman J.W. Goda and Georgetown University Center for Jewish Civilization Director Bruce Hoffman.

As experts in Jewish studies with a commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the worlds sole Jewish state, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation, the scholars wrote in an open letter published on the projects website.

Tanny said that he founded the network after being troubled at the extent to which anti-Zionism has become pervasive in academia, according to a news release.

We believe that the double standard to which Israel is held in the academy has not only stifled scholarship, but has created a climate of fear among faculty and students who wish to express their Jewish identitya Zionist Jewish identityin public, Tanny said, adding that the network would show the world that there are scholars and professors of Jewish and Israel studies who will no longer remain silent.

The organization has a four-part mission to achieve its goal, according to its website. The plan includes stressing to the academic community that Israel is a legitimate state and that Zionism is a national self-determination movement like any other.

To that end, the network seeks to combat academic portrayals of Israel and Zionism that rely on misinterpretations of social science concepts such as apartheid, genocide and racial supremacy.

It is our responsibility as educators to offer diverse perspectives to our students, said Youngstown State University Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations Adam Fuller, who is also a member of the groups coordinating committee.

The organization also seeks to ensure that campuses remain a safe space for students and scholars who identify as Jews and Zionists, according to its website.
BUDAPEST (JTA)  For the last few months, a lakeside palace linked to a major political scandal in Hungary has been home to Jewish refugees from Ukraine.

Just before Passover, six weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Hungarian government signed off on an effort to makes the palace in Balatonoszod, a resort town on the the lakes of Lake Balaton some 80 miles away from Budapest, kosher for the holiday.

Now, the palace will be renovated to accommodate at least 664 people with a kosher kitchen able to feed hundreds more daily, according to a statement released Tuesday by the government and a Chabad-affiliated Jewish group that has been operating the space.

During times like these we, the Jewish community of Hungary, consider it our special and sacred duty to reach out and offer whatever assistance is necessary to meet the existential and spiritual needs of our fellow Jews from across the border, Rabbi Shlomo Koves, the head of the group, the EMIH federation of Jewish communities, said in the statement.

Koves told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that several dozen people, including some Jewish community leaders from Ukraine, are already living on the palace grounds. But millions of Ukrainians have fled their country and millions more have become internally displaced persons within its borders since Russia invaded Feb. 24, and conflict is ongoing.

Among the displaced are thousands of Jews, some of whom have moved to Israel but others of whom remain in Europe in temporary accommodations. EMIH and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine hope that a Jewish refugee camp, which they call Machne Chabad, will add stability.

Feeding a full camp would cost about $600,000 a month, Koves said, adding that EMIH is raising funds to cover these costs.

The conversion of the site into a Chabad-affiliated refugee camp comes at a time when Chabad rabbis worldwide are trying to create new institutions to meet the Orthodox movements goal of creating 1,200 new schools, synagogues and programs to mark the 120th birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the movements last leader.

It also comes as Orbans attitude toward Jews remains hotly debated amid his growing influence on the global right. His vociferous campaign to defame George Soros, the Hungarian-Jewish billionaire who often features in right-wing conspiracy theories, has drawn charges of antisemitism, and his government has also been accused of promoting Holocaust revisionism. Orban has long rejected the allegations, and a recent study  commissioned by the European Jewish Association in Brussels, an organization founded by a Chabad-affiliated rabbi  concluded that while Hungary is home to high levels of antisemitic sentiment, it is one of the best countries in Europe for Jews to live.

For potentially hundreds of new Jewish immigrants, home might be soon in Balatonoszod, the site of a pivotal moment on Orbans rise to power. In 2006, it was at the Balatonoszod palace where the prime minister at the time, speaking in an internal meeting, was recorded using vulgar language to allege corruption within his own party.

The release of the recording of Ferenc Gyurcsany triggered mass protests against his Hungarian Socialist Party and buoyed the opposition Fidesz right-wing party. The so-called Oszod Speech is widely seen as one of the reasons why Fidesz achieved a landslide victory in the 2010 elections, making its leader, Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary.

Following the speech, political parties and the government, which owns the Balatonoszod palace, had little appetite for holding events there, leading to its disuse and fall into disrepair despite its prime location in a tourism-friendly region of Hungary.

The Jewish refugee camp, which is situated near an area favored by luxury summer camps for children from across Central Europe, will offer special activities for children and teenagers, freeing up parents to rebuild their lives in Hungary, plan their return to Ukraine or prepare their immigration to a third country, Koves said.
WASHINGTON (JTA)  Pam Scheininger and J. David Bleich have this much in common: They are Orthodox Jews who are preoccupied with Jewish ethics and teach at New York City law schools.

But when Scheininger looks at an American map, she sees 16 states where Orthodox Jewish women would not be able to have an abortion otherwise sanctioned by Jewish law. Bleich sees a different number  zero.

Disagreements among Jews over where Jewish and state laws intersect on abortion, once theoretical, have taken on urgency in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling this week overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 court decision that enshrined a womans right to an abortion.

The differences of opinion are especially acute among the Orthodox, where there is a yawning gap between a faction that says the reversal of Roe v. Wade has triggered a crisis that will put the lives of women at risk and another that welcomes the decision as life-affirming and aligned with traditional Jewish values. The latter position comes as Orthodox groups have in recent years drifted politically to the right.

Society, through its laws, should promote a social ethic that affirms the supreme value of life, Agudath Israel of America, the umbrella body for haredi Orthodox groups, said in a statement welcoming the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Allowing abortion on demand, in contrast, promotes a social ethic that devalues life. The phrase abortion on demand irks many, included among the Orthodox, because it is seen as diminishing the thought that goes into the decision, and because even under Roe v. Wade, there were abortion restrictions.

Orthodox groups have yet to address how they will reconcile situations in which halacha, the body of Jewish law, mandates an abortion, and a state forbids it. There is already chatter in Orthodox online forums and on social media, about setting up a network for Orthodox Jewish women in states where abortion is banned to travel to places like New York, where it is not.

Bleich advanced the proposal on Torah Musings, an Orthodox ideas exchange, after the court decision was first leaked in May. A number of Orthodox Jewish women already are pushing back, saying such a system would be impracticable and would compound the trauma of having an abortion.

The Agudath Israel statement said that abortions mandated by Jewish law are extraordinary, rare exceptions to the rule that fetal life is entitled to protection.

Bleich, a rabbi and professor of ethics at Yeshiva University and its law school, Cardozo, said those exceptions do not contradict any state laws.

As of today, I do not think there is a single state which forbids abortion when the mothers life is at stake, Bleich said, adding, I think district attorneys are smart enough not to bring a course of action when a fetus threatens the life of a mother.

Scheininger, the president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and a court attorney referee who teaches law at the New York College of Technology, said prosecution was inevitable, in part because some laws were vague and did not account for health threats short of imminent death, which would be considered under Jewish law. Halacha includes exceptions for mental health, and some states do not; Georgia explicitly excludes it.

Orthodox Jewish women are going to have those who assist them in getting an abortion prosecuted for availing themselves or trying to avail themselves of halachically required abortions, she said.

Its that simple, she said. Its going to happen and women will die.

The Orthodox Union, the umbrella body for the Modern Orthodox, has sought to straddle the divide.

We cannot support absolute bans on abortion  at any time point in a pregnancy  that would not allow access to abortion in lifesaving situations, it said after the decision came down. Similarly, we cannot support legislation that does not limit abortion to situations in which medical (including mental health) professionals affirm that carrying the pregnancy to term poses real risk to the life of the mother.

Nathan Diament, the Orthodox Unions Washington director, said his group and its state offices were conducting a review of the state laws before considering further action, including lobbying for changes to laws. Its already clear, he said, that the laws will trigger litigation, although he could not say yet if his organization would join any such lawsuits.

Most of the legislation thats out there has some sort of physical health and other health exception, but because of how dramatic the changes are because of the Supreme Court, there still needs to be implementation by each of the states, he said. Its going to be a long haul. He predicted that the Supreme Court would soon have to resolve the issue again.

Indeed, there have already been reports of confusion and fear among the physicians who provide abortions because so many of the state laws are written vaguely.

Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israels Washington director, also said it was early days.

We are currently having internal discussions about various matters related to the overturning of Roe, he said in an email. We are also planning to consult with our rabbinic leadership.

Outside of the Orthodox sector, most Jewish organizations, which trend politically liberal, have said they will act to oppose abortion bans. And within three days of the Courts Dobbs v. Jackson decision, Israel loosened its already liberal abortion regulations.

The Orthodox establishment may soon come under pressure to make clear what steps it will take to protect women who need an abortion. Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll said the reversal was lighting up online private forums for Orthodox Jewish women.

Its chaos, said Keats-Jaskoll, a co-founder of Chochmat Nashim, which means the wisdom of women, a group that advocates for better female representation in Orthodox decision-making.

The gap within the Orthodox Jewish community, Keats-Jaskoll said, is between women who have had abortions or who have at least contemplated them, and the men who she says have no idea what goes into contemplating an abortion.

The perceptions of who gets abortions versus who actually gets abortions are really far apart, she said. I think some people have no idea who actually ends pregnancies. There are people thinking willy-nilly, a womans waking up at 39 weeks saying, I decided I changed my mind.

Keats-Jaskoll shared an account posted to a private forum from a woman who had an abortion in 2001, in New Jersey, which allows abortions in cases where the fetus is not likely to survive childbirth.

At 21 weeks we found out there were multiple significant deformities, the woman wrote. The baby could survive in utero but could not live long outside of the womb. He would be poked and prodded and subjected to many treatments  but would die anyway.

The woman, who consented to Keats-Jaskoll sharing the account as long as she remained anonymous, said she and her husband consulted with a rabbi, who advised them to consult with a posek, an arbiter of Jewish law.

The posek said that to save mother and baby suffering, the pregnancy should be terminated, she said. Had the law been different, I may have had to carry that fetus to term, deliver and watch it die. I dont know that we would have gone on to have more children if wed had to endure that. It was traumatic enough as it was. People dont understand how often this happens, who actually needs to terminate and how changing the laws even with exceptions they approve of is cruel.

A 2018 article in the Forward by Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, a writer and a rabbis wife, aggregated anonymous accounts she had gathered from Orthodox Jewish women of why they had an abortion: Some had been raped, some were in abusive relationships, some had life-threatening pregnancies, some fetuses would not have survived long after childbirth, some women were contemplating suicide.

The article was circulating among Orthodox women after the decision, which Keats-Jaskoll said was typical. It gets shared every time abortion comes up, she said.

The proliferation of such stories illustrates the gap between the Orthodox establishment and Orthodox women, who are infuriated when they see organizational officials decry abortion on demand, a phrase Agudath Israel used in its statement.

Most cases where a woman needs an abortion are devastating and necessary, said Sara Hurwitz, the president of Maharat, the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as clergy. She called the Dobbs decision an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of Orthodox Jews in an op-ed for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she co-authored after a draft opinion leaked in May. Its not like a decision that is ever taken lightly. And I think that the assumption that women are just having abortions for the sake of having abortions is not true.

Keats-Jaskoll, who is Israel-based and is busy engaging online with American Orthodox Jews who support the Roe reversal, says just seeing the phrase abortion on demand makes her livid.

Abortion on demand. What does that mean? she said. They dont know. They dont know what theyre talking about. This is what happens when people who have no idea what theyre talking about pick up a cause and start to vomit from their mouths.

She blamed the politically rightward drift among American Orthodox Jews, which she said was distorting what had once been nuanced, deeply researched and considered opinions on matters of Jewish living.

I think they want to be identified, you know, as right-wing, she said. They want to be identified with the more religious, and in America religious is Christian. Christianity holds very different views on abortion.

Bleichs proposal of a fund to get Orthodox women to liberal states was unviable, said Keats-Jaskoll, Hurwitz and Scheininger. Bleich proposed a stipend to be limited to women who produce a statement signed by a recognized posek attesting to the halachic propriety of the procedure.

Scheininger said the burden of proving need would be overwhelming. Having them go and perhaps show financial need and gain access, in some cases to financial documents that they may not have may or may not have access to, if their spouses have control over that or if their father, their parents have control over it, said Scheininger. And to then ask for money and then to make those travel arrangements and to get to that state. You know, youre talking about so many levels for a woman whos already living trauma.

Hurwitz said a system that only accommodated Jewish women was inherently inadequate.

I think the Jewish community may have more means to support and help people who need abortions, but I think Im worried about the whole system and the people who are really going to suffer because its not financially feasible, she said.

Bleich said he did not believe his proposal would ever be needed; prosecutors were reasonable, he said, even in a state like Georgia where there is no mental health exception.

I dont think any district attorney, even in Georgia, would bring a cause of action against the doctor who claimed that his patients life was threatened because of a mental condition, he said.

Scheininger, who like Bleich, teaches in a law school, said that was wishful thinking.

If theres a law on the books, then the prosecutors are going to prosecute, she said.
(JTA)  Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wont run in his countrys upcoming elections this fall, his office announced Wednesday, after he served as head of a fragile, now collapsing Knesset coalition for a little over a year.

The announcement caught many in Israel by surprise given that Bennett had led the country for just a year and, as the leader of the right-wing Yamina party might well have won a role in any future government coalition. He indicated in his final speech to the Knesset that he would continue to support Yair Lapid, his foreign minister who is set to assume the prime ministership on an interim basis this week.

I dont intend to compete in the coming elections, but I will remain a loyal soldier in the service of this country, Bennett said.

Bennett will continue to serve as alternate prime minister under Lapids caretaker government, which will begin as soon as the Knesset holds its formal vote to dissolve the government and end when a new coalition forms after the next elections in October or November. These will be Israels fifth elections in just over three years, further exacerbating the countrys ongoing political stalemate and providing ousted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an opportunity to retake power even as he continues to face corruption charges.

Bennetts coalition, which held only a one-seat majority in the Knesset, ended after two defections, and political observers speculate that Netanyahus behind-the-scenes gamesmanship is to blame.

Bennett had previously hinted his interest in leaving politics following the coalitions collapse. He also named a rising right-wing political star, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, as the new head of Yamina. Polls indicate Netanyahu would have to win Yamina back to his side in order to retake the Knesset.

As Lapid and other Israeli politicians thanked Bennett for his service, the countrys first new head of state in 15 years leaves behind a mixed legacy. He made repairing relationships with American Democrats a top priority of his after more than a decade of Netanyahus cozying up to the Republican Party and became the first Israeli prime minister to visit the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in the wake of the Abraham Accords brokered under Netanyahu.

But Bennett showed little interest in reopening talks with the Palestinian Authority, saying that Israel wasnt focused on them. He has also resisted outside calls (including from the American Democrats he sought to reconcile with) to open a criminal investigation into the shooting death of a well-known Palestinian-American journalist. Outside observers have said Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by the Israeli military, although Israel has called on the Palestinian Authority to release the bullet that killed her.

Though Bennett built his political name on his support of religious settlers, his government collapsed when the Knesset failed to extend a law granting full Israeli legal rights to settlers in the occupied West Bank.
(JTA)  The head of the Jewish Community of Porto, Portugal said that a criminal investigation stemming from the organizations role in vetting Jews with Sephardic ancestry for Portuguese citizenship amounts to antisemitic persecution by officials.

In an unusually harsh letter to lawmakers last week, Gabriel Senderowicz said the probe was perpetrating a Holocaust against families.

And in a sign of splits among the countrys Jews, a former leader of the Jewish community of Lisbon dismissed Senderowiczs allegations as baseless and absurd.

Senderowiczs letter to lawmakers was the latest development in a scandal that erupted in February over the communitys vetting of applications for citizenships by applicants identifying as descendants of Sephardic Jews.

In March, authorities briefly detained the rabbi of the Porto community, Daniel Litvak, on suspicion of fraud in connection with such applications.

The previous month it became known that Roman Abramovich, a Russian-Jewish billionaire who is under sanctions in multiple countries for his alleged connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin, became a Portuguese citizen as per the Porto communitys recommendation.

The vetting of Abramovich, who has a distinctly Ashkenazi last name and many Ashkenazi ancestors, was widely seen as suspicious. Neither he nor the Jewish Community of Porto have released a family tree demonstrating his Sephardic ancestry, though the Porto community has defended its authorization of his application as compliant with the law.

The Portuguese government in 2016 entrusted the Jewish Community of Porto and that of Lisbon  official bodies that represent those cities Jews  with vetting applications for naturalization under a law that parliament passed in 2013. The law guaranteed Portuguese citizenship to anyone who is able to show that their ancestors were Sephardic Jews.

The Portuguese state is now considering changing the law, possibly limiting its application to people with property in Portugal.

On Wednesday, Senderowicz, wrote to the president of the Portuguese parliaments Committee on Constitutional Issues, Rights, Liberties and Guarantees, describing the investigation as the greatest attack against a Jewish community in Europe in the 21st century, adding that it is being carried out against the strongest Jewish community in Europe today.

Unnamed people whom Senderowicz described as agents of the state used journalists and influencers to advance antisemitic libel. Week after week, he added, we saw a Holocaust against Jewish families, exposed in newspaper. In a statement, the community accused of antisemitism the Portuguese state as a whole.

Esther Mucznik, a former vice president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, called Senderowiczs allegations absurd, without any basis in reality. In reality, authorities are looking into alleged criminal actions and we will know what they come up when their investigation is over.

Jose Oulman Carp, the president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, declined to comment on the allegations by his counterpart from Porto.

Prior to the investigations, leaders of Portos Jewish community celebrated their city and country as a safe haven from antisemitism.

Michael Rothwell, a board member of the Jewish community of Porto, was among many Jews who celebrated the law, which the government said was to atone for the persecution of Jews during the Inquisition.

Last year he called it an act of justice and encouraged Jews to come to settle in his city, which he described as an environment of tolerance, little antisemitism, and an active and welcoming community.

More than 50,000 people have acquired Portuguese citizenship under Portugals law of return for the Sephardim.
(JTA) - After nearly a year of legal and financial battles, Ben & Jerry's will continue to be made and sold in Israel and the West Bank, as its parent company Unilever announced Tuesday it had reached an agreement with its current Israeli licensee to assume ownership of the brand in the region.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Unilever is selling its Israel business interest in the ice cream maker to Israel-based American Quality Products, Ltd., which has owned Ben & Jerry's Israel factories and distributed the product in Israel since 1987.

"The new arrangement means Ben & Jerry's will be sold under its Hebrew and Arabic names throughout Israel and the West Bank under the full ownership of its current licensee," Unilever's official announcement stated.

American Quality Products and its Israeli owner, Avi Zinger, had sued Unilever in U.S. court in March, in an attempt to pressure the British conglomerate to continue their business relationship following the announcement by the Ben & Jerry's board last summer that the brand would stop selling ice cream in "occupied Palestinian territories." The Ben & Jerry's board, which has a history of social justice advocacy, made its announcement following Israel's deadly conflict with Hamas that killed hundreds of people and prompted international outrage.

For much of the past year, as it weathered intense criticism from pro-Israel groups, Unilever maintained that it has little power to influence the Ben & Jerry's board's decisions, under the terms of their unique 2000 acquisition agreement that gave the brand substantial decision-making freedom.

Unilever previously stated that its ultimate goal was to partner with a new company to continue selling Ben & Jerry's within Israel's 1967 borders, cutting out the business activity in the West Bank that the board had objected to. Zinger and his attorneys maintained that this was tantamount to "boycotting parts of Israel," and that Israeli law prevented him from conforming to the board's demands.

Now, however, the parent company has taken a different tack. Following what it said was "extensive consultation over several months, including with the Israeli Government," Unilever said that its Ben & Jerry's agreement still afforded the company "primary responsibility for financial and operational decisions," which gives it the right to make the sale to Zinger's company to continue operating in Israel as it wishes, despite the board's objections.

In a statement, Zinger called the decision "a resounding defeat for discrimination." He and his attorneys at the pro-Israel Louis Brandeis Center claimed that the original Ben & Jerry's board decision had been influenced by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel, which they defined as discriminatory.

"Israel welcomes today's announcement by Unilever that Ben & Jerry's in Israel will continue to sell its ice cream without discrimination," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Economy Minister Orna Barbivai said in a joint statement, adding that Lapid had been involved in negotiations between Zinger and Unilever CEO Alan Jope.

The Anti-Defamation League said it was also involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations to keep the brand in Israel. CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said the announcement was "as welcome as a scoop of Cherry Garcia on a hot summer day," adding, "Today is yet another demonstration of the ineffectiveness of trying to boycott and ostracize Israel."

The move was also applauded by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which said Jope had sent the group a letter reaffirming Unilever's rejection of the BDS movement. Jope also called the Simon Wiesenthal Center to announce the deal.

Unilever, which said it employs thousands of people in Israel across its different brands, lost an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in investment funds as a result of the Ben & Jerry's controversy, as many states invoked anti-BDS laws to divest their public pension funds from the company in protest. The conglomerate is also facing additional lawsuits over the brand's decision.

The Ben & Jerry's board has not yet commented on Unilever's sale. The company's Jewish founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, supported the West Bank pullout, though they no longer are involved in its business decisions.
(Israel Hayom via JNS)  The director of UN Watch has criticized the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for its failure to dismiss six educators the Geneva-based NGO claims have engaged in anti-Semitic incitement.

A recent review by UN Watch of UNRWA operations in Palestinian schools found that the teachers had repeatedly and publicly called for the murder of Jews. Following the publication of the UN Watch report, the NGO demanded the six educators be fired.

Instead, they were placed on administrative leave.

Teachers who call to murder Jews must be barred from the classroom for life, UN Watch chief Hillel Neuer said in a statement. These temporary suspensions are just a slap on the wrist.

The refugee agency, said Neuer, is trying to pretend they solved the problem, even as they signal to their staff  and to terrorist organizations like Islamic Jihad, which pressed UNRWA to reject the  report  that they dont really object to the virulent anti-Semitism of their teachers, which UNRWA and its donors know pervades the agency.

UN Watch had exposed more than 120 UNRWA teachers and other staff who praise Hitler, glorify terrorism and spread anti-Semitism, said Neuer, yet UNRWA has not named a single one who has been fired.

Instead, he continued, UNRWAs first reaction was to try to discredit UN Watch, calling it a politically motivated organization that tries to delegitimize the work of the agency.

UNRWA deputy commissioner-general Leni Senseth said, The actions of this organization [UN Watch] and the coordinated comments by satellite organizations, demonstrate yet again the real intent. They seek to destroy, not build; to invite conflict, not build a lasting peace.

In a statement published on its website, UNRWA said that its senior executives had briefed donor states about allegations of hate speech recently levied against several Agency staff members which it said were timed to disrupt the annual UNRWA pledging conference at United Nations headquarters in New York.

According to UN Watch, the suspensions sparked outrage from Palestinian groups.

The Joint Committee for Palestinian Refugees, a coalition that includes the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, called on UNRWA to immediately rescind its procedure of suspending six employees, and not to respond to U.S.-Israeli pressures and dictates.

Walid al-Awad, head of the Palestinian National Councils refugee committee, said UNRWAs suspension of the teachers was unacceptable and must be dropped immediately.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada and the European Union, demanded the teachers suspensions be reversed, saying it will not in any way allow UNRWAs acquiescence to Zionist pressure and incitement.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
(JTA) - Vladimir Zelenko, the doctor from an Orthodox enclave near New York City who rose to fame early in the COVID-19 pandemic for promoting a drug cocktail, has died of cancer at 48.

The foundation that Zelenko launched to advance his theories after he left his family medical practice amid controversy in May 2020 announced his death on Thursday, saying that it would accept donations to continue his work, which included opposition to COVID-19 vaccines.

Zelenko, who went by Zev, was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1973 and moved to the United States with his family four years later, according to an obituary released by his medical company. He graduated from Hofstra University and then earned a medical degree at the University at Buffalo before opening a practice in Monroe, New York, home to a large Hasidic community in Kiryas Joel.

Zelenko's death comes two years after his rapid rise to prominence at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when his community was hit hard early on and he began promoting a drug cocktail that he said cured the deadly disease.

The cocktail of hydrochloroquine, zinc and azithromycin caught the attention of many who hoped for a speedy resolution to the pandemic, including then-President Donald Trump, who said he would take it. The "Zelenko protocol," previously used to treat malaria, made Zelenko famous far beyond his community, despite questions about the drugs' safety.

Even as Zelenko's ideas took hold within Orthodox communities, leaders of the Kiryas Joel community spoke out publicly against him, urging locals to follow proven medical advice to stop the spread of the disease. Zelenko also came under scrutiny from federal authorities for claiming that a study of the drugs he promoted had won approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Zelenko announced in May 2020 that he would be leaving the community where he rose to fame, saying, "Things have happened. I've decided that it's time for me to move on. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do."

Zelenko subsequently devoted himself to a company, Zelenko Labs, that sells vitamins and other supplements online and to the Z Freedom Foundation, which he launched to advance criticism of the medical establishment. Zelenko said in a video created by the foundation that his cancer diagnosis, made in 2018, spurred him to act; both entities said they would continue after his death.

Barred intermittently from major social media platforms for promoting his covid-cure information, Zelenko remained an icon for the anti-vaccination movement and many of its supporters on the far-right. He joined some of them in anti-vaxx messaging and self-publishing pseudo-scientific studies claiming that millions of people had died from COVID vaccines. Many of them posted tributes to him as news of his death spread Thursday.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons said Zelenko would be remembered as a "hero for all patients and physicians" because of the way he stood up to "authorities who improperly interfered with use of his brilliant treatment protocol."

Zelenko is survived by a wife and two children, as well as six children from a first marriage and his parents.
(JTA)  Ahead of his first presidential visit to Israel, Joe Biden congratulated Yair Lapid on becoming prime minister on Thursday, following the resignation of his predecessor Naftali Bennett.

Congratulations to @YairLapid, Israels new Prime Minister, and thank you to Alternate Prime Minister @NaftaliBennett for your friendship over the past year. I look forward to seeing you both in July to celebrate the unbreakable U.S.-Israel partnership, Biden wrote on Twitter shortly after Lapid assumed the premiership.

Biden is scheduled to visit Israel and the West Bank for two days on July 13 as part of a regional visit that will also include a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Bennett, a hawkish politician who supports expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan, last month announced that he is stepping down after a year in power because of his narrow parliamentary majoritys difficulty to govern. Lapid, a centrist who had served under Bennett as foreign minister, will become the interim premier until the Nov. 1 elections thanks to a clause in the pairs coalition agreement reached last year.

Lapid tweeted in response: The ties between Israel and the United States are unbreakable. They are based on deep foundations of shared values and a common vision for the future. I look forward to welcoming you to Israel and strengthening the unique alliance between us.

Bennett, who first met Biden in August when the president hosted Bennett at the White House, also replied on Twitter, writing: Thank you, Joe. Were looking forward to seeing you soon, here in our eternal capital Jerusalem. Youre a true friend of the State of Israel.

Lapid and Biden have met in the past, including in 2013 when Biden was vice president under Barack Obama and Lapid was visiting Washington D.C. in his position as Israels finance minister.

Lapid, who aligns with Bennett on some issues, such as opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, has been more vocally critical of Russias invasion of Ukraine. He has also stated that he supports a two-state solution to Israels conflict with the Palestinians but has said that there is no current plan for one.

During a press conference Thursday, Biden said that his upcoming visit is meant in part to deepen Israels integration in the region, which I think were going to be able to do and which is good  good for peace and good for Israeli security.

For this reason, Israeli leaders have come out so strongly for my going to Saudi [Arabia], Biden added.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade, the five justices of the United States Supreme Court who voted in favor of the reversal embraced Mississippis statutory definition of a fetus as an unborn human being. This definition is not an accredited scientific definition, but is based on religious doctrine. It gives the Court leeway, however weak, to exclude the right to abortion from constitutional protection afforded to other rights, which the Constitution is obligated to secure.

In doing so the majority of five ignored the ve...
(JNS)  Despite managing to raise $160 million in New York on Thursday, at a pledging conference of the Ad Hoc Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, the head of the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was not pleased.

Trying to sound grateful for the ill-deserved windfall, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini simultaneously boasted about the international communitys firm commitment to the organization and bemoaned that the funds pledged were far from sufficient to keep the place running past the end of the year.

Addressing the press on Friday, L...
(JNS)  Why not?

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank asked that simple question last week after the normally publicity-mad Council on American-Islamic Relations told him it had nothing to say about a Boston BDS organizations promotion of a mapping project that has been condemned as antisemitic and possible incitement to violence.

The interactive map posted online earlier this month mapped the addresses of dozens of Jewish institutions and organizations in Massachusetts. Its stated goal was to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so...
Speaking to students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a foolish, unnecessary, and strategic mistake of opening an antisemitic battle as another front distracting from his very real war against Russia. Though Zelensky himself is Jewish, doing so he continues the antisemitic tradition that has marred Jewish life in Ukraine for generations.

This is not Zelenskys first time calling out Israel for not doing enough to help Ukraine in their war with Russia. By singling out Israel to standards by which he does not hold others, Zelensky is s...
Vista Hospitality Group, in partnership with IHG Hotels & Resorts, is excited to announce the launch of Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre today which also marks the debut of the boutique luxury and lifestyle brand in Queensland.

Just as no two neighbourhoods are alike, no two Hotel Indigos are the same. With distinct storytelling through design, restaurant and bar concepts and guest experiences, Hotel Indigo hotels not only celebrate the stories of the neighbourhood, they are part of the community.

Ideally located in the riverside suburb of North Quay, Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre offers guests a creatively curated retreat that showcases the sights, sounds and flavours of its local neighbourhood across the entire guest journey.

Boasting a myriad of unique art and design features, the hotel is peppered with hand-painted artworks and murals created by local Queensland artists that reflect the city's history makers, hidden gems and laneways.

Designed by Sydney-based interior design studio, JPDC, the interiors of the hotel have also been inspired by the transformative stories, hidden artistic flair and eclectic characters that have shaped the Brisbane CBD.

As a result, each of the 212 strikingly designed guest rooms pay homage to Brisbane's unexpected treasures through a mix of carefully curated artworks and textures and are furnished with a full range of modern appliances.

At the hotel entrance guests will be greeted by two giant red doors spanning 6 metres high that are inspired by the red fairy doors on Burnett Lane, inviting the curious to uncover the hidden gems inside. This includes a graffiti covered Tuk Nook coffee cart in the lobby, history inspired black and white murals at the reception and a beautiful mural painted by local artists along the hotel corridors.

The hotel's food and beverage concepts and outlets, including the signature restaurant Izakaya Publico, were designed in consultation with globally recognised consultant Shane Giles from Blue Salt. Izakaya Publico offers guests and locals an authentic Japanese dining experience using locally sourced seasonal produce across the menu which features signature grilled dishes such as Bonito Tataki and Kushiyaki Skewers.

For local beer, wine, and cocktail favourites with a sake twist, 1603 is the contemporary speakeasy inspired bar on level one that will become a firm favourite for anyone wanting to experience Brisbane's newest evening venue.

According to Patrick Imbardelli, Board Member, Vista Hospitality Group and Chairman of Next Story Group, the launch of Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre is set to spark curiosity amongst visitors and locals alike with its strong sense of character and community.

Hotel website
limehome signs management contract for the first time: owner benefits from operational know-how of the PropTech

Additional 112 flats planned in three major German cities

Serviced flats provider continues expansion across the board

Munich - The Munich-based hospitality start-up limehome has secured three more locations in Halle (Saale), Kassel and Duisburg. The PropTech is thus expanding its portfolio by 112 flats in attractive city centre locations in Germany.

In Halle, limehome acts as manager of the commercial property. The provider of fully digitalised design flats is also lending its expertise to the rejuvenation of the building. "Management contracts are definitely strategically relevant for us and will continue to play a role in the future," says Ricky Bichel, Team Lead Business Development - Strategy & Portfolio. "The German market in particular has preferred lease agreements so far. However, we see a steadily growing interest in management contracts."

After a comprehensive revitalisation, 53 flat units will be created in the former Reichsbahnamt in Halle. A restaurant is planned for part of the ground floor. The historic building will thus be given a new, innovative use concept after being vacant for around six years. "The cooperation with limehome has been extremely cooperative. From day one, we benefited from limehome's know-how. I am very pleased to revive the building with limehome's contemporary concept," says property manager Dan Schneid, E-K-S Halle GmbH.

The planned limehome flats in "KUBIKK" on Duisburg's Munzstrae are also part of a so-called mixed-use property: 32 design flats with a view of the city hall are being built on two floors in the former retail property. Other commercial operations such as a fitness studio, a day spa (MyWellness) and gastronomic units are planned. Along with other large-scale projects (including Mercatorquartier and 6-Seen-Wedau), Duisburg's Old Town is part of a large-scale transformation process taking place in the Rhine metropolis. "We are proud to accelerate the developments in Duisburg's old town with KUBIKK and are very pleased to have signed the contract with limehome," says architect Bernd-Claas Gesterkamp, who developed the KUBIKK brand and manages its marketing.

The new location will be limehome's seventh location in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, following Dortmund, Essen and Moenchengladbach, as well as the locations already signed in Cologne, Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen.

The new units in Kassel are located not far from the museum district in the city centre. The conversion of the former office space creates space for 27 flats for short and long-term stays. "We are creating urban living spaces that continue to write history, thus contributing to the revitalisation of Kassel's city centre," says architect Dipl.-Ing. Judith Fiebiger.

"We continue to see great potential in German B to D cities. That's why limehome is also focusing on growth here with the new signings. In addition, conversions remain exciting for us thanks to our flexible expansion profile, so that even former department stores fit into our spectrum," explains Ricky Bichel.

About limehome

limehome is the leading technology-based provider of design flats in Europe and operator of fully digitalised design flats. Through the fully digital guest journey from booking to check-out and invoicing, guests experience maximum comfort, no waiting times and flexibility in their travel arrangements. limehome is "designed to stay": The fully equipped suites meet the highest standards in functionality, comfort and design across all locations and are designed for both short and long-term stays. Through the technology-based operator model, the premium design flats can be offered at the price of a standard hotel room. The company employs more than 160 people and is represented with over 1,300 suites at almost 100 German, Austrian, Dutch and Spanish locations. www.limehome.com

Andre Glasmacher

+49 151 21 65 66 11

limehome GmbH
Reflecting on the smash success of the momentous 50th Anniversary of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), the global hospitality technology event is well-positioned to carry on the demand for a knowledge-sharing event of its kind into its next era and beyond. Produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), HITEC 2022 hosted just over 6,100 attendees on June 2730 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida USA. The five-decade event showcased the industry's latest technology innovations from 331 exhibitors in a 78,000 sq ft exhibit hall and provided a top-notch education program with over 50 education sessions. Already preparations for year 51 have begun with almost 70 percent of the show floor contracted for HITEC Toronto scheduled for June 2629, 2023. HITEC is the only global, nonprofit event in the world and is also the largest and oldest.

This years HITEC was like none I have seen, and I have been to 32 iterations, said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE, FIH. Throughout the four days in Orlando you could feel a positive buzz throughout the event space and exhibit hall, conversations in progress all around you. There is no better indication of this success than the positive interest from exhibitors and potential exhibitors that flowed through the exhibit office onsite. Because of our priority program, we were forced to create a waiting list for newcomer companies who want to exhibit. Additionally, HFTP had a record number of new members who joined the nonprofit association onsite.

The exhibit hall featured hundreds of companies, from small start-ups to large global brands, displaying their wide-ranging, technology solutions for the hospitality industry. Product categories included point-of-sale (POS), door locks, data security, mobile apps, digital screens and signage, payment systems, network management and more. Exhibitors were enthusiastic about this years outcome. The three days of exhibits at HITEC offers companies the opportunity to capture long-lasting business connections.

This years HITEC has yet again been a wonderful event for M3 to connect with current and future customers, said Haley Wolf, marketing and public relations manager for M3. Not only does the event allow us to drive bottom line revenue, but it also allows us to connect with the incredible people of the hospitality industry."

"As a startup based in Austin, Texas, we specifically chose HITEC as our first tradeshow to showcase the launch of our Autonomous Inventory Management Platform, said Don Ward, founder and CEO of Laundris Corp. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss our solution with potential customers and forward-thinking business leaders who are considering new and emerging trends in the hospitality industry. It was great to meet new friends. And most importantly, Laundris appreciated the help of the entire HTFP team for putting together a top-notch event and experience for our team. Looking forward to Toronto in 2023!"

A highlight of the week was Entrepreneur 20X, exclusively sponsored by PROVision Partners. The start-up pitch competition featured eight start-ups pitching hospitality technology solutions to a panel of six judges. The Judges Choice Award, selected by the judges panel, went to ROBOSIZE.ME and The Peoples Choice Award, which was the popular vote, went to Beachy.

The continued success of HITEC is supported by the participation of HFTP allied association partners. Annually, Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Americas co-locates its ROC Americas event with HITEC. In addition other partner associations participating in Orlando were the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the International Hospitality Information Technology Association (iHITA) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

2023 priority sales for previous and current exhibitors is in progress. General sales opens up on August 9, 2022. To register your interest, contact [email protected]. For more information about HFTP's events, visit www.hftp.org or contact the HFTP Meetings & Special Events Department at [email protected].

View photos from HITEC Orlando. Follow HITEC on LinkedIn with #HITEC.

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in United Kingdom, Netherlands and Dubai. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues, and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org. For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.

Eliza Selig

Staff VP, Marketing and Communications

+1 512 220 4026

HFTP
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The cheapest kilowatt-hour of electricity is the one you do not use.

Yet conservation has enormous value to the grid, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas should pay more for it.

The Public Utilities Commission of Texas, and grid operator ERCOT rely on companies and consumers to reduce demand when temperatures approach extremes and electricity supply runs low. The Texas Legislature allows prices to rise from about 5 cents a kilowatt-hour to $5 because they want to reward generation and encourage consumers to cut back when supply is tight.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Summer heatwave could be worst on record, will cause trouble for Texas electric grid

Consumers, though, consider it price-gouging when rates spike at the moment we need electricity the most. But spending billions of dollars building power plants to meet a level of demand we only experience for a few hours a year would cost even more. The better investment is in greater energy efficiency and easier demand response, which the Public Utilities Commission of Texas has still not prioritized since the grid failed in February 2021.

The commission, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, is an energy efficiency laggard compared to other states, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a non-partisan, nonprofit advocacy group.

Spending money to help consumers, especially renters and landlords, to improve energy efficiency is 39 percent cheaper than building new fossil fuel power plants, ACEEE data shows. But the PUC and Texas lawmakers continue to push fossil fuel power plants that will benefit Republican Party donors.

Wasting electricity in Texas when power demand is peaking just doesnt make sense, Steven Nadel, executive director of ACEEE, wrote back in October. Home efficiency upgrades and technology that shifts when electricity is used simply costs less than building new plants, and we have the numbers to prove it.

Across the country, states spent an average of 1.5 percent of electricity sales on energy efficiency programs in 2020, but Texas only spent 0.5 percent, according to ACEEE data. The lackluster spending to upgrade the homes of low-income consumers or subsidize commercial demand response has led to higher prices by setting new electricity demand records.

The best way to reduce prices is to reduce demand. In 2020, energy efficiency programs reduced electricity usage in Massachusetts by 2.3 percent, California by 1.7 percent, and Arizona by 1.2 percent, according to government data. Texass programs only achieved a 0.2 percent reduction.

Texas could do so much more if lawmakers applied the right incentives.

The most crucial step is to reward profit-seeking corporations for promoting conservation. Texas law requires utilities to offer energy efficiency programs in return for bonus payments. But because the goals have remained unchanged since 2011, utilities achieve them with little effort. Electricity demand, meanwhile, continues to set records.

The PUC should set higher energy efficiency goals and reward utilities more for reducing demand, Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Sierra Clubs Lone Star Chapter, told commissioners at a hearing last month.

The PUC could also save money by dramatically reducing peak demand over the next five years with energy efficiency and demand response programs for residential consumers, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy determined in a white paper. Helping homeowners upgrade from electric furnaces to electric heat pumps, improving attic insulation and duct sealing, switching to smart thermostats, and installing heat pump water heaters are the more cost-efficient efficiency steps.

Demand response programs could include paying consumers for allowing their utility to shift when their central air conditioners, water heaters, and electric vehicle chargers are used, the ACEEE suggested.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: How to fix the Texas power grid in 5 difficult steps

Implementing these programs would cost Texas $4.9 billion over five years and eliminate the need to build $8 billion worth of fossil fuel powerplants, the ACEEE calculated.

To their credit, the PUC has recommended expanding the Emergency Response System that pays big commercial and industrial customers to drop off the grid during peak periods. Regulations capped the program at $50 million a year in 2007, but the PUC has proposed raising the budget to $75 million.

Mona Tierney-Lloyd, head of U.S. public policy for energy company Enel, said ERCOT has already seen the benefits of paying companies to reduce demand. She says her company would like to expand demand response services.

This year is going to be a proof point of whether that additional $25 million is adequate or whether we should think about more investment, Tierney Lloyd told me.

Texas will need more electricity, and the vast majority should come from wind and solar resources coupled with battery backup. We will also require new natural gas plants for when demand peaks, but not for routine generation.

Energy efficiency and demand response will save money and conserve resources year-round. The PUC should set rules that make saving energy as profitable as generating it.

Tomlinson, named 2021 columnist of the year by the Texas Managing Editors, writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his new Tomlinsons Take newsletter, coming soon.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
This summer has already been brutal for ERCOT.

Tight grid conditions have become nearly a daily occurrence. The all-time record for demand has already been broken eight times in the past three months. Officials have called for conservation as weary Texans adjust their thermostats out of fear that using too much may stress the system, potentially sparking power outages similar to those that blanketed the state in February 2021.

But despite those concerns, the lights have stayed on.

TOMLINSON: If Texass electric grid operator wants energy conservation, it should pay more for it

At the helm of ERCOTs operations is Brad Jones, the nonprofit grid managers interim CEO who was appointed after his predecessor was ousted after the February 2021 freeze that led to catastrophic power failures across the state. Jones, who previously oversaw New Yorks grid operator for about three years, spoke with the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday to talk about changes made since the freeze, how the grid is faring this summer and his hopes  and concerns  about the future of power in Texas.

The interview was edited to length and clarity.

Q: What happened on Monday, and what caused ERCOT to issue a conservation notice Sunday night?

A: Let me start from kind of a macro level. You may have heard me say before in the past, we always called for conservation appeals at the last possible moment  after were down into emergency levels or get really close to a difficult time. Now weve begun to call it as far in advance as we reasonably can, as soon as we have an understanding of what that day looks like.

As for yesterday, we began to watch Monday closely about seven days ago. Our team was working throughout the week to make sure that we moved transmission outages, so that anything that may be on outage or could cause a problem goes out of place, making sure that all generation could move throughout the state. We also worked with generators to try to bring back any units that were on an outage.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas grid survives sweltering day, but heat is still on ERCOT

The decision to call a conservation notice is pretty significant, and the reason why its significant is the complexity that rarely we talk about. Basically, the grid is not a simple machine. Its one that requires a lot of guessing.

For example, we really dont know what the weather is going to be seven days ahead. I dont know that any weather forecaster will give you a high probability of success on their forecasting abilities seven days ahead. They dont know what time the cool front might come through or whether the wind may drop off.

In addition to weather, we have to convert that weather over to load (or demand) for our system. We have to be able to say, okay, if Dallas is 106 degrees, Houston is 105, and San Antonio and Austin are 110, we have to essentially multiply those temperatures out by each of the loads (or electricity demands) of those regions  as well as also the entire state  to determine what we think the overall load is going to be for that entire forecast.

There are eight total forecasts that go into one model to figure out what the load or the wind or sun supply is going to be. And then we get a report from generators about which units may be out of service. We really have to wait until pretty close to the day before, maybe two days before, before you could even get a sense of what its going to look like.

It wasnt until the afternoon on Sunday that we had a clear enough picture that we can say, yes, we need a conservation alert. And that's why we called it.

Q: What happened with demand Monday, especially once the conservation notice went into effect?

A: Theres a program we have in the state where industrial users, on the peak day of the month, are incentivized to reduce their consumption. They dont know which day is the peak day, they dont know if its going to be Monday or Tuesday any day of the week. We dont know how much of that reduction well get. When we do our forecasts, we predict some. We usually get about 200 megawatts of reduction, yesterday we believe we got close to 2,000.

We got an incredible response from consumers. What happened yesterday was millions of people making small decisions that took 500 megawatts off our system at a critical time. We know this because we asked consumers to specifically focus on the hours between 2 and 3 p.m., and at 1:58 we saw the load drop precipitously about 500 megawatts and consistently stayed there throughout the next several hours. The conservation of Texans was like two major (generating) units  an incredible amount of power, in a short period of time.

Q: ERCOT officials originally estimated that demand would only reach about 77,300 megawatts at its peak that summer, but demand has already risen above that four times so far in July. Were your forecasts off?

A: For our Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) reports, you have to remember theyre doing a forecast for summer in May. The question we always ask of our weather forecasting team is: is this 2011? And youd hear no, this is not 2011 (the hottest summer on record in Texas, when Austin hit 100 degrees or above for 90 days, and the average temperature was 5 degrees hotter than normal) Everyone was saying this is not 2011. And about the end of May theyre saying, this looks like 2011. And at about the end of June, they're saying it's like we're heading into 2011.

Our highest forecast in SARA, our extreme hot scenario that had a 5 percent chance of happening, is where were at now  81,500. But those numbers were in our system. We just start with what we think the expected case is, and in early May, the expected case was 77,500 megawatts.

Q: ERCOT has been running the grid in a more conservative manner, calling more generators online and having more humming on the sidelines in case their power is needed. Are you concerned that having that extra cushion now could mean those units are less reliable later this summer or in the future?

A: I always get concerned of those types of things. But as of right now, the facts don't support that. Now I am concerned that there will be more (generation) outages because just the way we're running them this summer. Not even the conservative operations, just how we're running them this summer. It puts a lot of wear and tear on some of these older machines. So I am concerned about their reliability all the way through the summer, but right now they are performing extraordinarily with low outage rates.

On HoustonChronicle.com: ERCOT's shift in operations may mean rise in prices for customers

But I am concerned about the future. The answer for the future, of course, is to get more generation.

Q: What would you tell Texans about the rest of summer and the potential for more conservation notices?

A: When we call for it, I want Texans understand: Thats not because were going into rolling outages. Thats because we want to stay far enough away from a rolling outage scenario that were asking for it early. We used to stand right at the edge of the cliff before calling one, now were 10 feet back when we start to it manage. It used to be that, when we got into an emergency, we would use to try to dig our way up. Now we call for it, so we never go into an emergency. Its just a different mindset.

shelby.webb@chron.com
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Wednesday pressed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about why the Biden administration was holding back oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters despite record gasoline prices this year.

The questions during a Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing comes two weeks after the Interior Department released an offshore drilling plan that proposed lease sales in established drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Alaska but left open the option of holding no lease sales over the next five years, citing the the need to transition from fossil fuels.

Asked for an explanation, Haaland said oil and companies have 9,000 unused drilling permits at their disposal, as well as 8 million acres of offshore leases they aren't tapping.

"Because of how things have gone the last several years, there are thousands of permits and lands under lease that could be used by these companies," she said. "My job as interior secretary is to conserve and manage these natural resources and cultural resources for every single American."

For the time being oil demand remains high, with the Energy Department forecasting oil demand will increase 2 percent next year to more than 101.5 million barrels per day.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski questioned whether the administration had thought out the damaging effect their climate policies could have on domestic energy prices.

"As we transition from a fossil-based society, a transition requires there be a path forward that is sensible for your economy," she said. "I think that it's unacceptable for the department to consider a five-year plan with no lease sales."

U.S. gasoline prices are currently $4.63 a gallon on average, down slightly from last month but up more than 50 percent from a year ago.

Analysts have attributed the spike to a loss of global oil production during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as rising demand and supply disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Republicans have argued that the administration needs to increase leasing on federal lands and waters, to assure global markets that U.S. oil and gas production will be there for years to come.

"Oil and gas companies are not investing right now because the environment has been terrible for them," said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. "You've sent every message since the Biden administration took office that oil and gas investment will not pay off in America."

With scientists warning that nations need to begin rapidly decreasing emissions immediately, Democrats are largely coalescing around the strategy of allowing oil and gas drilling to continue in areas with existing production but not to expand it to new areas.

Last year the International Energy Agency, which advises governments on energy policy, warned that nations need to halt oil and gas development this year if they are to meet their target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

At Thursday's hearing, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., questioned whether the lack of investment by oil and gas companies did not stem from the realization automobile companies were shifting production lines from gasoline-powered vehicles.

"We're at a moment the automobile industry says within ten years they will only sell electric cars," he said. "I think there's a lot of discussion in board rooms at hydrocarbon companies, 'Do we really want to make billion dollar investments?'"
The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston, a property of Houston billionaire businessman and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, has received Travel + Leisure 2022 Worlds Best Awards as the 13th Best City Hotel in the United States and the Best City Hotel in Houston.

The ultra-luxe 38-story hotel, which opened at 1600 W. Loop South in 2018, was the only Texas hotel to make the list. The ranking is based on a reader survey developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, a global travel brand and publication that also ranks top resort hotels, islands, cities, cruise lines, airlines and spas.
Chronicle file

In a front-page editorial, the Chronicle called to attention the role of religion in politics, brought about by the Ku Klux Klan.

"[C]anvassers and solicitors are going about the community telling people, especially the women, that a 'Protestant,' the 'Protestant' ticket, must be elected, if we are to be saved from something terrible.
Houston Chronicle

Homicide investigators were at a home in southeast Houston on Tuesday evening after a person reported finding human remains in a brick grill, according to the Houston Police Department.

The police department has confirmed that the remains appear human and were still gathering more information on Tuesday evening, officials said.
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A 45-year-old Austin man wanted on warrants on Wednesday was shot by two Harris County Sheriffs Office deputies.

The incident marks the second fatal deputy-involved shooting in less than a week for the sheriff's office.

In the latest incident, the deputies were working with a U.S. Marshalls Office to attempt arrest a man with five active felony warrants, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

The mans name wasnt immediately released.

Law enforcement officials of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force were searching for the wanted suspect around 12:50 p.m. at the Scottish Inn and Suites in the 15700 block of Kuykendahl Road near FM 1960 when the man allegedly pulled out a gun while officials "began to take enforcement action," Gonzalez stated in an earlier tweet.

Gonzalez said the deputies shot the man in the lobby of the motel in far north Harris County.

The man had walked into the lobby of the motel while the task force had been waiting for him, Gonzalez said

The man was wanted on five open warrants, including a parole violation for dangerous drugs and three federal felony warrants for possession of a weapon, Gonzalez said.

There was a woman with the man at the time of the shooting, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez described the deputies an long-time veterans who both had more of 20 years of experience with the agency.

When several unmarked vehicles were pulling in, I think he became suspicious, Gonzalez said. He retrieved his pistol from his body, possibly his waistband, raised the pistol, and as they were making entry, they hadnt yet put hands on him or anything.

When he picked up his weapon upwards, kind of facing them, thats when they discharged their weapons, Gonzalez said. The deputies were wearing plain clothes, but were wearing vests identifying themselves as members of a task force, officials said.

The deputies werent wearing body cameras, Gonzalez said. Security cameras from the hotel recorded the shooting, he said.

The man had been staying at the hotel for several weeks and had rented several rooms, Gonzalez said.

Before the press conference, a young man told gathered reporters that he had been taken out of his motel room and detained for hours before being released without being charged

Standing in bare feet on the black top, Mike Deveyns, of Austin, said he knew the man who died. Deveyns said he had been staying at motel since Monday.

I was woken up, Deveyns said. They drug me across the room. Handcuffed me. Put me out in the car, where I waited for hours.

U.S. Marshal T. Michael OConnor, who accompanied Gonzalez, said some people were cleared out of motel rooms. Deveyns estimated he was taken into custody around 11 a.m., but Gonzalez and OConnor said they couldnt confirm exactly when the marshals arrived on Wednesday morning.

All this is preliminary, Gonzalez said. We know there is public interest, but all this is subject to investigation.



The Harris County District Attorneys Office was at the scene of the shooting. That is normal practice when a deputy shoots and kills someone.

Gonzalez said the man appeared to see the deputies as they approached the sliding glass doors at the front of the hotel and that he turned and pulled out a pistol and raised it.

The deputies shot the man through the glass doors, Gonzalez said. The man died at the scene of the shooting.

Its not clear if the man fired his gun before being shot by the deputies, Gonzalez said.

The deputies have been put on administrative duty as the shooting is being investigated. Their names werent released on Wednesday afternoon.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Gonzalez added. No law enforcement officials were injured during the incident.

Police have blocked off traffic on westbound Kuykendahl in front of the Scottish Inn.

Less than a week ago, on Friday, Roderick Brooks, 47, was fatally shot by a sergeant after he allegedly attempted to take the deputy's taser.

This scene is breaking and updates will be added.

Joel.Umanzor@chron.com

John.Ferguson@chron.com
Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Houston ISD employees no longer will have extra sick days should they become infected with COVID-19 during the upcoming school year, district officials said this week.

Trustees approved up to 10 additional paid leave days last August for the school year that just ended at the same meeting they approved a plan to offer a $500 stipend to employees who showed proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID. The stipend program ended in early December. Most district employees were fully vaccinated, according to HISD figures.
The relentless summer heat has Dr. Peter Hotez feeling a little down. But it hasnt affected his mood nearly as much as a recent FDA advisory meeting about COVID-19 that left him frustrated and  despite being an expert in infectious diseases  confused. Hotez dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Childrens Hospital  is concerned the new COVID-19 BA.5 variant is only beginning to create havoc. And as is his nature, hes already looking way down the road at some of the long-term repercussions this pandemic may have.

Hotez answered a few questions about our pandemic present and future.

If you could, walk me through BA.5. Theres a lot being written about it now, and much of it ominous.

The BA.5 looks like it is the most highly transmissible virus agent weve seen of the COVID-19 family so far. Maybe more so than omicron. How much of that is due to transmissibility versus immune escape is up for scientific debate. But theres no question right now, even if youre fully vaccinated, youre at risk of infection. Were seeing a steep increase in the number of cases.

JUST IN: COVID hospitalizations double in Houston, TMC data shows, as new variant spreads

But theres still the problem that most people are getting diagnosed by home testing. So its hard to get our arms around the true nature of this. But roughly speaking: 100,000 new cases a day in the U.S.; 10,000 in Texas; 2,000 in Harris County, multiplied by a factor of 10. Those numbers plus information from wastewater points to us being in a full-on BA.5 wave.

Were not seeing as many hospitalizations, but those are going up. And were still seeing 300-400 deaths a day. Its not like the 2,000 a day during previous waves. But its still a leading cause of death in the United States. People have developed a sense of complacency and theyre not taking full advantage of things that could keep them out of the ICU. For me, thats the big message.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out data for May, and it clearly shows if youre over the age of 50, theres a big difference whether youre unvaccinated, partially vaccinated  meaning one to two doses  and vaccinated and boosted one time or two times. People are not dying if theyre vaccinated and boosted times two. If youre not boosted, risk for hospitalization goes up.

What Im telling people: The most impactful thing you can do to protect yourself and your family is to be mindful of your vaccine status. Take advantage of whats available. The next most important thing to do with the transmission going on indoors is to wear a mask. Boy, thats been a tough sell, though.

This week Ive read two stories quoting people in your field who both suggested this is not a problem that is going away anytime at all in the near future. That generations could be living with this.

Well, I think we can still vaccinate our way out of this. I have to think about the long road and the near term. As for the long road, there are several groups working to develop a universal COVID vaccine. One that can handle new variants of concern or brand new SARS viruses like COVID.

COVID is the third one: We had SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012. Thats why we started working on coronavirus. We thought, Sure enough, therell be others coming down the line. So we are working on a universal vaccine that in a year or two could possibly be ready.

The other question is how do we navigate the path over the next year or so living with what we have? And I hear a lot of muddled thinking. Thats what I heard at an FDA advisory meeting. It wasnt the clearest thinking, and I was disappointed. There was talk of making a omicron-specific booster or a BA.5 booster. That to me didnt make any sense. By the time theyre ready in the fall, those will be behind us. So whats the point?

MORE COVID NEW: Texas Children's has administered 6K COVID shots for kids under 5, but rollout remains slow

Right now the reality is that the American people just are not accepting of mRNA boosters. I take them because Im intellectually curious about this subject and I have a comfort level most Americans do not.

You still think mixing technologies could be useful?

I recommended to the White House that they come up with an interim strategy, looking at heterologous boosts with different technologies. Maybe that could give more durable protection. Think about pediatric vaccines we give our kids. Theres a series of primary immunizations, you wait six months, then you boost. And that boost gives you five to 10 years of protection. That should be something we could expect.

Why thats not happening, I dont quite understand it, whether its something quirky with the omicron subvariants or something with the technology itself. But were not getting this kind of intellectual curiosity out of Washington right now. Its almost like theyre doing this backwards. Rather than the U.S. government convening experts and charting a road map and making recommendations to the pharma companies, its like theyre sitting back and waiting for what pharma comes up with for suggestions.

Of course, pharmaceutical companies have a mixed agenda. Their major agenda is to make vaccines they can sell. So it was a muddled and confusing meeting. If I was confused at this meeting, just imagine

Ive read a story or two that suggest 90 percent of people in the country have either been vaccinated or infected. Some of those stories suggest that no further action is required.

Yeah, that doesnt hold water. Heres why. Well, the first statement is true. Probably 90 percent of the country is previously infected with one of the subvariants or has been vaccinated or both. And on a large scale, that has had a mitigating effect on reduced hospitalizations. But the statement has no meaning at all when it comes to individual health advice. When youre talking about individual health advice, you have to look at each individual and make a recommendation.

What do we know? If youve been infected and recovered but arent vaccinated, youre in trouble with BA.5, which could make you very sick. If youre under-vaccinated, you could also be in trouble. Those with a single boost four or five months ago could be at risk until they get the second boost. People throw out a lot of 30,000 foot-high aerial views on things and it gets confused with being health advice, which its not.

From the beginning, there have been those pushing the concept of herd immunity. Is this an attainable concept?

Herd immunity works with a virus thats not switching things up a lot. And thats not the case here. With measles theres herd immunity. The level is more than 90 percent for sure. But that doesnt apply here. But those numbers keep coming up. Early on it was 20 percent and then 40 percent. Mostly people were freaked out and wanting it to go away so some people came up with these numbers.

Not to make this about me, but what would you recommend to somebody like me as a case study. Im not quite 50. Ive received three doses, and I got what was probably omicron in early May. What would you do regarding a booster?

Well, two months ago wouldnt be the original omicron. More likely that was BA.2, which is more like BA.5 than omicron. So youve gotten three immunizations and had a break through. Youre probably in good shape right now. But Id still say get the second booster when youre eligible. With that you should be really good in terms of virus-controlling antibodies.

I know a few new parents. What would you tell them now? And I can also sense some reticence among new parents to have small children vaccinated.

Yeah, were having a tough time persuading parents to vaccinate younger kids. Even 5- to 11-year-olds, which has been around for a while, is only at 30 percent. Down in the Southern states like Louisiana and Mississippi its more like 11 percent; Texas is at about 20 percent. So when it comes to under 5, the number isnt going to be higher.

Sure enough the CDC and White House recently came out with sobering news: from the 18 million under-5s that are eligible, only about 300,000 have gotten it. So thats disappointing, but not surprising. The country is just failing to convince parents to vaccinate their young kids.

MORE HEALTH NEWS: Houston crisis pregnancy centers, labeled deceptive by experts, find new spotlight after Roe ruling

There has to be more advocacy and awareness. The messaging needs to be two-pronged. You have to convince parents that COVID-19 is a big health threat to young kids. Roughly 1,200 pediatric deaths have been from COVID-19, which is far more than from any other vaccine-preventable disease. We have to make that case. Then theres the long COVID issue. But the anti-vaccine lobby and activists are doubling down on pediatric COVID vaccines as a target.

I was wondering if you could walk me through long COVID. Its a simple phrase, but the concept feels opaque to me.

I think part of that is because the definition has been moving; long COVID means different things to different people. For some its exercise intolerance and shortness of breath. For some its fatigue. Some have what they call brain fog. But theres increasing evidence that long COVID is the real deal...

There are clinically identifiable things we can see with long COVID including magnetic resonance imaging, MRI brain imaging, that was shown to us initially by the Brits by their Alzheimers and neurology group at Oxford. A function of their system there, is they have thousands of brain scans. For anyone who had COVID, they could come back and do a before and after brain scan. And they clearly shows this gray matter brain degeneration.

There are MRI pictures of younger people that resemble somebody else much older with cognitive decline. So thats real. Not to mention the exercise intolerance. People have these different degrees of long COVID. And there are certain risk factors associated with it. Women seem to get it more than men. Diabetes is more predictive for someone getting long COVID. Its going to haunt our health care systems and country for years. How will we adapt to that? We have to think about someone with an otherwise robust and vigorous lifestyle now in cognitive decline earlier. Its depressing as hell. I see a lot of mental health issues as a consequence. Because what our nation needs is one more reason to have mental health issues.

Ours is not a culture that values thinking several steps ahead.

Yes. And its no secret that COVID-19 has exposed every weakness in our health care delivery system. This will be another example of how we manage mental health issues that could follow long COVID. How will we deal with it for individuals who have to take disability from work, or reduced hours. How will they manage that with their employers? I dont think weve begun to chip away at that yet. Its the newest 800-pound gorilla.

Im seeing numbers based on wastewater circulate more frequently. How do you view it as a source of data?

I think its just another tool in the toolbox. When people ask me what parameters I look at to assess whether were entering a new wave or not . . . Is it new cases? Hospitalizations? Deaths? Wastewater? Positivity rates? The answer is yes. I look at all of those things. Theres not any one single number that causes me to open the window and start shouting outside. But looking in aggregate, the wastewater has been surprisingly accurate and reflects the large amount of virus replication of thee new omicron subvariants.

Do you get to do something fun for summer? Or is it spent in the lab avoiding gatherings?

Well, Ive been working really hard. And I was having something of a break from doing media. Of course my requirements go up with the cycles and waves. But I dont mind it. I find it meaningful. And I wasnt planning a quiet summer anyway. Ive been writing my new book. Im always writing papers. Of course, this unbearable weather in Houston makes it so I dont go on any long walks. These are the times that test Texans. But one of the reasons we built a school here for tropical medicine. The Gulf Coast, south Texas, you have this unique constellation of climate change, poverty, urbanization and migration. We thought it was all here. And we turned out to be right.

andrew.dansby@chron.com
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The family of the man who was killed by a Harris County Sheriffs Office sergeant in Westfield on Friday called the shooting unjustified and unnecessary, adding that he was a victim of racism and police brutality.

Roderick Brooks, who authorities said had shoplifted from a nearby Dollar General and assaulted a clerk there moments earlier, died after an altercation with Sgt. G. Hardin, who used a Taser on him and then shot him in the neck. Hardin shot at Brooks when he grabbed at the sergeants Taser, authorities said.

courtesy photo

For the city and the state to allow this type of  racism, Ive never seen anything like this, said Brooks older sister, Demetria Brooks Glaze. My brother was treated worse than an animal. Shoplifting does not warrant killing a man.

Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer LEFT: Demetria Brooks Blaze wipes her eyes as Haleem Muhammad speaks at a press conference with lawyer Sadiya Evangelista as they discuss the killing of Blazes brother, Roderick Brooks, by police on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in Houston. RIGHT: Demetria Brooks Blaze hugs lawyer Sadiya Evangelista as her sister, Sandra Brooks, wipes away tears following a press conference about their brother, Roderick Brooks, who was shot and killed July 8, 2022, by a Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in Houston. (Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer) LEFT: Demetria Brooks Blaze wipes her eyes as Haleem Muhammad speaks at a press conference with lawyer Sadiya Evangelista as they discuss the killing of Blazes brother, Roderick Brooks, by police on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in Houston. RIGHT: Demetria Brooks Blaze hugs lawyer Sadiya Evangelista as her sister, Sandra Brooks, wipes away tears following a press conference about their brother, Roderick Brooks, who was shot and killed July 8, 2022, by a Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in Houston. (Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer)

The incident began with a call to police from the discount store in the 2000 block of Cypress Creek Parkway, where the familys attorney, Sadiyah Evangelista, said Brooks shoplifted household goods.

Hardin spotted him nearby and began chasing him, at one point jumping out of his police cruiser without putting it in park and running after Brooks, Evangelista said witnesses told her.

They also said that after Brooks, 47, was shocked by the Taser and incapacitated, Hardin jumped on his back and pulverized (him) with punches, the attorney continued.

The family and the sheriffs office disagree on what happened next. Brooks reached back and tried to gain control of Hardins Taser, authorities said, but Evangelista and Brooks family contend that he was defending himself against the onslaught of punches from the officer.

The sergeants actions drew a sharp rebuke from Deric Muhammad, a local activism stalwart.

The problem is that racist policing is alive and well in the United States of America, and I believe that Roderick Brooks was a victim of racist policing, he said. (Hardin) was so hellbent on hog-tying this Black man that he abandoned all of his general orders.

Evangelista invoked the case of George Floyd, who grew up in Houston and whose 2020 murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked an international reckoning on police brutality and officer accountability.

You would think that law enforcement officers  would be on high alert, would be vigilant about the standard of care that they give and the de-escalation of crime, she said. But in this case, that did not happen.

At the time of his death, Brooks had been free for hours on a personal recognizance bond stemming from a felony theft charge filed Thursday in which he was accused of stealing $124 worth of shampoo and beer from a Walmart, according to court records.

Despite several past shoplifting convictions, Brooks did not have a history of violence, his older sister said.

My brother, hes always been in and out of trouble  but hes no murderer, Brooks Glaze had previously told the Houston Chronicle.

She remembered Brooks as a fun-loving and fiercely loyal brother who, despite not having any children of his own, got along well with the kids in his family.

He played a lot, sometimes too much, she said with a chuckle. But he was for the family, like he always was. I got upset with him when he made the choices he made, but he will always be my brother.

Brooks Glaze, who grew up in Longview in East Texas with her brother, also detailed the troubles he experienced early in life, including the deaths of their parents months apart when he was a child and her leaving him in their hometown when she moved to Houston a few years later.

I regretted it every day, she said. I should have brought him with me.

Hardin, identified in a Twitter post by Sheriff Ed Gonzalez in which he offered condolences to the family, is on mandatory leave.

Homicide and internal affairs investigators are reviewing the shooting, the sheriffs office said in a statement, as is the civil rights division of the Harris County District Attorneys Office. A grand jury will determine whether charges will be filed.

Meanwhile, Evangelista and Brooks family are calling for body camera footage of the killing to be released and demanding more transparency from the sheriffs office.

We cant live without the truth. We need justice, Evangelista said. This family deserves to look at the last moments of Rodericks life.

Alfred Dozier contributed to this report.

jhair.romero@chron.com
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Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia shared Wednesday afternoon that his precinct has been using American Rescue Plan funding to create jobs for Houstons homeless.

The pilot in his precinct  which covers a portion of downtown, a swath to the north including the Near Northside up to Aldine and the southeast quadrant of Harris County including much of Second Ward out to Webster, La Porte and Baytown  paid participants $15 an hour to perform jobs including covering graffiti, pressure washing county facilities and painting. Case managers also connected workers with training and housing opportunities.

County commissioners deemed the program, named Employ2Empower, a success and unanimously approved a countywide expansion of the program with a $2.1 million budget, according to Garcias office.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston-area homeless count drops 19% during pandemic as COVID-related funds poured into housing

Garcia spoke about the program Wednesday afternoon at a White House summit in which officials from around the country discussed ways they had used American Rescue Plan dollars.

When introducing Garcias panel, White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling emphasized the need to provide work for the homeless.

This is something that weve talked about with many people, which is how to address the homelessness with economic opportunity and not just... a housing strategy, Sperling said.

Houston, Harris County, the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston and Harris County and their partners have long focused on whats known as a housing first model of fighting homelessness. The rationale goes that the only real solution to homelessness is housing, and that many contributing factors to homelessness, including unemployment, mental illness and addiction, are difficult to address until more basic needs are met.

Since 2011, the group has succeeded in using housing to reduce  by 64 percent  the number of people living either in shelters or on sidewalks, in tents or in other places places not meant for habitation. COVID-related funds have also gone towards this strategy in Houston and Harris County, with $165 million funneling into a housing-first effort called the Community COVID Housing Program.

On HoustonChronicle.com: As homeless camps around Houston are decommissioned, other U.S. cities look to copy the strategy

But Garcia said Employ2Empower aims to provide another way out of homelessness by focusing on employment first.

The pilot began in June of 2021 with $150,000. A nonprofit, Career and Recovery Resources, provided case management and human resource services, and the Harris County Sheriffs Office, where Garcia previously served as sheriff, provided supervision and security. Together, case managers and deputies visited encampments in parks and alongside freeways to recruit workers for the program.

The first day, four people accepted the offer of $15 an hour. Now, roughly 20 people participate in the job force each day.

The program is designed with low barrier to entry in mind  there are no background checks or drug tests, and participants are not penalized for missing days.

The low barrier to entry, Garcia explained, allows participants to ease back into the workforce. We call it exercising their work muscles.

Once in the program, participants are provided with breakfast, lunch and resources, such as healthcare services, medication, help with housing applications and connections to job opportunities.

Out of the 79 people who have participated in the program, 47 were assessed for housing, 19 have been housed and 12 are on the waitlist.

The community helped me stand up again, said Leroy Allen, a participant in the program, in a release. It didnt give me a handout. It didnt give me food. It gave me a job and thats all I needed.

He added, All I needed was a chance.

The budget for the Employ2Empower has been updated to reflect the most recent numbers from Commissioner Adrian Garcia's office.

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com
Houston is redrawing its City Council maps, and residents have two more opportunities to share their opinions on the new boundaries with elected officials.

The city held its first public meeting on the proposal Wednesday morning. It will host another at 7 oclock Wednesday night, and a final one at 9 a.m. July 20.

The deadline to get on the speakers list for the 7 p.m. meeting has passed, and the deadline for the July 20 meeting is 5 p.m. July 19. Residents can sign up by calling the city secretarys office at 832-393-1100. Each of the meetings are at City Hall, and residents also can speak virtually in a Microsoft Teams meeting. The meetings will be streamed on HTV Houston Television.

The current and proposed maps are available on the citys website.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston is redrawing its City Council maps. Heres what that means and how to get involved.

Houston has 11 district council members, along with five at-large members who represent the entire city. The proposed map makes mostly modest adjustments to district boundaries; only 3 percent of 2.3 million residents would switch districts. The changes were necessary because five districts fell more than 10 percent out of line with the average population, at least according to the 2020 census.

District C, which includes the Heights, Montrose and Meyerland, and District G, which includes most of west Houston between Westheimer and Interstate-10, had too many residents and need to shed some neighborhoods.

District H (Near Northside/Denver Harbor/Second Ward), District I (East End/downtown) and District J (Gulfton/Sharpstown) have too few residents and need to be expanded.

Among the proposed changes: District C would lose Freedmens Town and the Fourth Ward to District H, and it would cede Rice University to District D, which is centered in Third Ward. The map also would move a portion of the Braeburn area into District J, uniting that super neighborhood in the same district. J also would pick up portions of the Pin Oak area from District G, and a precinct in Westchase from District F.

District I would pick up a few precincts in southeast Houston from District E, while giving up part of downtown to District H.

On ExpressNews.com: Latino leaders plan lawsuit to change 'gross' underrepresentation in Houston City Council

Much of the discussion around redistricting has focused on the lack of Hispanic representation at City Hall. While about 45 percent of Houston residents are Hispanic, only one of the 16 council members is: Robert Gallegos, of District I. The city previously created two other Hispanic-opportunity districts, H and J, that are not held by Hispanic members right now.

Organizers from the League of United Latin American Citizens are planning a lawsuit and a charter amendment to try to replace the councils five at-large members with another five districts, thereby increasing the opportunities for Hispanic representation. Advocates continued their case for that change during Wednesday mornings hearing.

Houston is the most diverse city in the country except when it comes to its local government, said Ivan Sanchez, one member of LULAC.

There was also neighborhood-level opposition to certain precinct changes. Residents of Freedmens Town, set to change from District C to District H, and Westchase, a small part of which is set to change from District F to District J, showed up to protest those moves.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com
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NASA saved the showstopper for last.

The space agency unveiled a series of full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, a long awaited display of scientific prowess touted as a deep dive into the origins of the universe. The reveal included snapshots of puffy gas planets orbiting Sun-like stars, swirling galaxies and dust from dying stars 2,500 light years away.

But it was the final image  that of a starry curtain of gas and dust known as a nebula  that stole the highly choreographed show, eliciting the audible gasps and fawning tweet-storms NASA surely hopes will propel its $10 billion experiment into the firmament of popular imagination for years to come.

Dubbed the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, the fifth and final image showed new stars nestled in colossal clouds of amber dust as intricately textured as any mountain vista at Big Bend. The snapshot, NASA said, offers the most detailed look yet of stars in their earliest stages of formation. The image is so rife with detail and unexplained mysteries that Amber Straughn, the astrophysicist tasked with explaining it during NASAs live presentation Tuesday, said she struggled to describe its depths.

We see hundreds of new stars we have never seen before, Straughn said, pointing to the screen behind her. We see examples of bubbles and cavities and jets that are being blown out by these newborn stars.

Building up support

The images arrive as NASA looks to build popular support for its upcoming missions to the moon and Mars while outsourcing an increasing number of key operations to commercial companies. Webb, considered one of the most complex projects ever attempted by the agency and its European and Canadian partners, overcame a series of challenges on its fraught path to space, not all of them scientific. Congress nearly canceled the project in 2011, after years of delays and cost overruns.

Industry observers said Tuesdays reveal, which blanketed social media, was a bid for NASAs continued relevance.

These images do great science, but they also really capture the imagination, said Bruce Betts, chief scientist at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that promotes space exploration. They really have the wow factor and spread the excitement of space exploration to the broader public.

That excitement, Betts said, helps maintain the public and political support necessary to keep funding space exploration  a topic that may otherwise seem esoteric amid Earthly woes.

During its two decade lifespan, Webb is expected to enable scientists to study the birth of stars, probe for signs of life outside our solar system and capturing information about the earliest galaxies that formed 100 million years after the Big Bang.

Time machines

Launched on Christmas Day, Webb traveled more than 1 million miles from Earth to reach its final destination in late January. The infrared telescope is NASAs $10 billion portal to the distant past, able to peer back 13 billion years of cosmic time.

That mind-boggling number becomes slightly more comprehensible when one considers how the human eye perceives light, NASA astrophysicist Randy Kimble said.

Because light travels fast  at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, to be exact  a person standing on the Earths surface sees the sun as it was eight minutes ago. The Webb telescopes powers of magnification, combined with its distance from Earth, enables it to observe celestial events that happened not minutes ago, but billions of years ago, Kimble said.

We are able to see back in time, he said, adding, telescopes are time machines.

20 more years on the job

Barring any malfunctions or another micrometeoroid collision, Webb will spend the next two decades helping scientists probe the photogenic Carina Nebula and other distant galaxies for insight into the origins of our solar system. The parade of scientists trumpeting the telescopes early achievements Tuesday said it has performed better than expected, producing crystal-clear images of interstellar phenomena once shrouded in mystery.

In addition to awe-inspiring imagery, it is expected to enable the study of exoplanets  planets orbiting other Suns in other galaxies  for signs of ozone, water or carbon dioxide. Scientists from across the world are already lining up to explore Webbs capabilities.

In time, NASA hopes the telescope will help explain not just how stars, planets and galaxies form, but why. Peering back in cosmic time, Betts said, may help humanity answer its most profound questions.

nora.mishanec@chron.com

twitter.com/nmishanec
South Africa: Home Affairs to unveil border guards in Musina

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, will on Thursday unveil the first 200 cohorts of the Border Management Authority (BMA) Border Guards in Musina, Limpopo.

The newly recruited members of the Border Guard will be welcomed at the deployment ceremony to be held at the Beitbridge Port of Entry in Musina, Limpopo, on the same day.

The highlights of the day will include the pass-out parade of the newly-recruited members of the Border Guard who were carefully selected and trained with focus on fitness and physical assessment.

Whilst the broader integration process is underway, this cohort will be statically deployed at the identified five vulnerable segments of the borderline, working together with members of the South African National Defence Force.

The BMA, which is South Africas new, single authority for border management with a single command and control, was established through the Border Management Authority Act of 2020.

It will be fully established on 01 April 2023 through the integration of five streams of functions performed by various government departments, Home Affairs, Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the department of Health.

This includes access control functions conducted by members of the SA Police Service in the ports of entry.

The authority will tighten border management by implementing an integrated and coordinated approach in the border management environment, the Department of Home Affairs said in a statement.

This is an improvement on the previous multi-agency approach comprising multiple authorities with different mandates.

When fully established, the BMA will play a pivotal role in tackling border security challenges impacting on the country and its neighbours, such as uncoordinated traveller processing, cross-border criminality, illegal crossings and undue delays in the facilitation of movement of goods and services.

The BMA model will pave the way for the creation of smart border posts and systems and advance trade facilitation in the region, the department said.

The deployment ceremony will create an opportunity for the Minister and the BMA Commissioner to share updates on progress and next steps in the phased establishment of this Authority including on how the Border Guards will be deployed to begin to tighten border management in identified ports of entry and in vulnerable segments along the borderline.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
(People's Daily App) 13:21, July 13, 2022

Muslims across the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China celebrated the Corban Festival on Sunday.

Singing, dancing, and big smiles were all on display. People in Xinjiang are currently celebrating the traditional Corban Festival, also known as Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice.

(Produced by Di Jingyuan and Dong Feng; sources: Kuaishou)
Houston wants the GOP to come to the Bayou City for its national convention in 2028.

City Council on Wednesday voted 14-2 to pass a resolution in support of hosting the 2028 Republican National Convention, with the hopes of adding another blockbuster event to the citys portfolio. Councilmembers Abbie Kamin and Robert Gallegos voted no, saying their constituents are negatively affected by the GOP platform.

Houston separately has applied to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, as well. It is in the second phase of that process, competing with New York City, Chicago and Atlanta.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston to make host bid for 2024 Democratic National Convention with Texas in national spotlight

Both parties invited the city to bid for the events. Houston could not bid for the 2024 Republican National Convention because it had conflicting events at the convention center for the RNCs desired dates.

City officials said Houston was one of only a few cities nationwide to get invites from both Republicans and Democrats, according to news reports.

Thats what weve heard, that thats sort of unique position for us in that both political parties would want to consider us to host, said Michael Heckman, the CEO of Houston First Corp., the citys convention arm. That does say a lot for Houston, not only for our ability to host these kinds of things ... but were very diverse demographically. The United States will look a lot like Houston in the future.

In a letter to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Mayor Sylvester Turner touted Houstons success hosting large events.

I am confident that we are the right city and this is the right time to bring the convention to Houston, Turner wrote. Houston is a proven event town and has excelled in hosting high profile national events. Whether celebratory, such as the Super Bowl, or somber, such as the recent memorial events for former First Lady Barbara Bush, we meet the producers goals while exceeding expectations with seamless execution and constant attention to public safety. Houston has earned a reputation as a city that turns major events into major successes.

Houston First does not publicize its bid, but the convention would take place at the Toyota Center if the RNC chooses Houston, Heckman said. Other programming would include the George R. Brown Convention Center. If Houston is selected, the RNC and city then would work out an agreement for services and how to cover their costs.

Houston has not hosted a national convention since 1992, when former President George H.W. Bush was nominated for re-election at the Astrodome. It has not hosted the Democrats since 1928.

On HoustonChronicle.com: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn booed at Texas GOP convention over gun deal: Get off the stage!

City convention officials said such an event could bring hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact to Houstons downtown, restaurants and hotels. The 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia brought an estimated $230.9 million to that city, according to Houston First.

Houston First brought the measure to City Council on a tight deadline  the application is due to the RNC by July 15. That meant a council member could have spiked the proposal by tagging it, a common procedural move used by council members to delay a vote by one week. No council member tagged the item, though Kamin and Gallegos both disavowed certain Republican priorities.

Kamin, whose District C includes Montrose and the Heights, said many of her constituents are affected by the Republican Partys anti-gay platform. The 2016 national platform disavowed same-sex marriage, and the platform passed by the Republican Party of Texas at its convention in Houston this year described homosexuality as an abnormal lifestyle choice. Kamin also pointed out Texas Republicans endorsed repealing the Voting Rights Act and rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Any organization has a right to enjoy all that our city has to offer, and they should, Kamin said. As a city, we do not have to proactively seek out and provide resolutions like this that do not reflect the core and basic principles of common decency and humanity.

The RNC decided to announce the 2028 host city earlier than usual to avoid getting crowded out of event space, according to Politico. Houston was among several cities that told the RNC it could not host the 2024 convention because its space already was booked. The RNC is expected to select a short list by the fall and to announce the host city in early 2023. The Democratic National Committee is expected to announce its 2024 destination by the end of the year, Heckman said.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com
When Charles Brown first called The Harris Center to get treatment for his autistic son, Barack Obama was in his first term as president.

They told him Chase, who was 18 at the time, would have to go on a waitlist.

When he called back the next year, they said the same thing  it might be 10 years before he could get services such as employment training, residential care and behavioral support which are funded by the state and Medicaid. It might even be 15.

Its been 11 years. Chase still is years from getting help.

He joined the list  when he got out of high school, Lisa Brown, Chases mother, said, struggling to mask her frustration on a recent call to the center. Do you have an estimate of, like, when he might qualify?

The representative with the center, Harris Countys point of entry for publicly funded intellectual and developmental disability services, said they had no idea  without more government funding, theres not much they can do.

Theyd call her in another two years with an update.

Brown hung up the phone, resigned. Her thoughts raced to Chase, who at 29 couldnt get a job or drive; couldnt manage his own money or keep his outbursts at bay.

Chases father died almost five years ago. And she isnt getting any younger.

What will happen to Chase when I die?

Experts estimate that there are more than 500,000 Texans like Chase living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But Texas has the capacity to serve barely a fifth of those individuals.

IN CRISIS: The Houston Chronicle has spent almost three years investigating how Texas treats mentally ill children and adults.

That means tens of thousands are forced to wait in line for care.

Texas has multiple waiting lists for different types of care, including six for Medicaid waiver programs  which use state and federal funds to get people care in the community instead of in an institution  and one for safety net services provided locally. As of March, nearly 170,000 people were waiting for care through a Medicaid waiver program  a 115 percent increase since 2010. State data shows that some residents have been waiting for nearly 20 years to receive help.

State lawmakers have invested some money into the Medicaid waiver programs in recent years to alleviate the waitlist, but the safety net services, meant to serve as a stop gap for individuals waiting for Medicaid waiver programs, were decimated by a 2011 budget cut from the Legislature. Experts say theyve never recovered.

As of March, about 18,300 people were on that list  up 1,200 percent since 2012. And the state does not track how long people are forced to wait.

Ashley Ford, an intellectual and developmental disability advocate, said its going to take a long time  and a lot of buy-in from the Legislature  to chip away at the lists.

Until then, we are putting a tremendous burden on families and they deserve better, said Ford, the director of public policy and advocacy for The Arc of Texas, an organization that advocates for the rights of intellectually and developmentally disabled Texans. We force families to make awful decisions every day because were not meeting their needs.

Kelli Weldon, spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission, said the state agency is taking numerous steps to ease the waitlists, including expanding services both through the waiver programs and in the community. Weldon said the agency is also ensuring individuals are notified of other programs and services when they join a waitlist and gathering more information through a questionnaire about the needs of individuals on the waitlists which the state describes as interest lists.

Many factors influence the interest lists, including appropriations for interest list reduction, the average annual cost of waiver slots by program, the number of slots that become available due to attrition, and take up rates, Weldon said in a statement. The demand for community-based services and supports often outweigh available resources, so applicants names are placed on an interest list until services are available.

But some lawmakers think the entire system needs to be overhauled.

If we can get it set up right, then we can take care of people, said Texas Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls.

FOR HELP: Here are the six Medicaid waiver programs available to disabled Texans

This isnt just a Texas problem. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey published in March found that 39 states have a waiting list for at least one of their Medicaid waiver programs, with more than 665,000 people on such a list nationally in fiscal year 2020. Texas waitlist made up about 25 percent of that figure.

That leaves Texans like Lisa Brown, 61, without any options. She often finds herself leaving work to take Chase to the grocery store or help him around the townhome she bought him south of Spring Branch. She pays for his therapy out of pocket.

And every day she hopes he doesnt get violent or out of control.

I just  feel like I dont know what to do, Lisa said on a recent afternoon. You know, what can I do for him? I dont know how to keep him safe.

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A growing need in Texas

Chase was 3 when his preschool teachers began noticing some of the tell-tale signs of a developmental disability.

His behavior was repetitive, and he didnt hold eye contact. His communication seemed delayed.

Had Lisa and Charles considered getting him tested for autism?

They hadnt. They thought he was just a quiet kid. But they decided to take the teachers advice.

Chase was diagnosed with a subtype of autism, later determined to be Aspergers, a high-functioning form of the disability.

Chase was put into special education classes in school. He went to therapy. He took numerous medications to help manage his symptoms.

Though there were outbursts to contend with, the straws he constantly clutched in each hand helped distract himself from the stimulation of the world around him.

For the most part, he had a typical childhood.

He loved Jesus, Spongebob Squarepants and magic tricks. When given the choice, he watched or read Lord of the Rings above all else.

But Chases parents werent prepared for the drop off in services that was about to come.

INTERACTIVE: See which Texas school districts meet staffing recommendations for key positions that provide access to mental health care for students.

Texas has six Medicaid waiver programs for people with disabilities, which allow the state to use a combination of state and Medicaid funds for services to keep residents living in the community instead of in hospitals, state supported living centers or nursing homes.

Services covered by these programs include personal care like dressing or bathing, therapies and short-term relief for caregivers, known as respite care, according to Navigate Life Texas, a site supported by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to inform parents of children with disabilities or special needs.

All but one of these waiver programs is available for kids and adults, and Navigate Life Texas encourages parents to add their children with special needs to the waiting lists as soon as possible.

Even if you hope your child will never need those services, it is important that they be added to the interest list for any program(s) that might meet their needs, the website states. Your child might have to wait a long time to get services through the waiver.

The Browns didnt know about these programs when Chase was growing up. He was getting the help he needed between therapy and school.

But by the time Chase turned 18 in 2010, there were nearly 80,000 people waiting for a slot in one of these Medicaid waiver programs.

His family turned to the state for help in June the following year. It was too late.

The problem, advocates say, is that the number of slots available for the Medicaid waiver programs has always been too few to meet the growing need in Texas.

Because the demand far outweighs the resources made available by the Legislature, Texans with (intellectual and developmental disabilities) are placed on often decade-long interest lists until an appropriate  slot or opening becomes available, The Arc of Texas states.

Several steps have been taken to address the list. In 2015, the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) added a new program to the Medicaid State Plan, called Community First Choice, which provides services that also are offered in some waiver programs.

This program allows HHSC to provide waiver-like services to eligible individuals who are enrolled in regular Medicaid, including those who may be on an interest list, HHSCs Weldon said in a statement. Community First Choice offers personal assistance services, habilitation and emergency response services to eligible individuals.

In more recent years, the Legislature has conducted multi-state studies, developed statewide strategic plans and directed HHSC to develop a questionnaire to distribute to individuals on the waitlists to determine their needs.

It also allocated money to add more available slots.

Last year, lawmakers invested about $77 million in general revenue funds to address the list. HHSC added 1,549 slots. But its nowhere near enough to make a dent.

Weldon noted that between 40 and 52 percent of people on a waitlist are receiving Medicaid or general revenue-funded services through the agency.

Between Texas steady population growth and a study published in 2019 that found an increase in children being diagnosed with developmental disabilities, Ford said the waitlist is only going to get worse.

There hasnt been an acknowledgment that our systems need to pivot, she said.

But lawmakers have been discussing it during hearings held prior to the start of the 2023 legislative session.

READ MORE: A 19-year-old with special needs needed help. Instead, he was killed in jail

In a HHSC hearing in May, lawmakers expressed concern that Texas policy is to evaluate an individuals eligibility for a program when they reach the top of the list, not when they join it.

Rep. James Frank, chairman of the House Human Services Committee, told the Houston Chronicle he wants the state to be more proactive, and is trying to push officials toward an approach like that adopted in Louisiana.

In 2012, Louisiana began redesigning its intellectual and developmental disabilities system. It went from a first-come, first-served model  similar to that in Texas  to a tiered waiver system based on the immediacy of a persons need.

All 10,000 Louisianans on the waitlist were screened, and those with the most urgent needs were given a slot.

Individuals who had future needs or no unmet needs were considered requestors and not on the waitlist. They are then rescreened periodically to see if their situations have changed.

An endeavor like this would likely be difficult in Texas, where the waitlist for services is 17 times longer than what Louisiana was facing when it revamped its system.

Screening each one of those individuals would cost a significant amount of money, Frank said, but it would streamline the system and help Texans get the care they need.

Instead of a family member placing their disabled loved one on as many lists as they can knowing it could take decades to get care, Frank said a redesign would mean Texans would be placed in the correct program from the beginning and would only get services when they actually need it.

In the months leading up to the 2023 session, Frank plans to work with stakeholders and advocates to develop a plan to set a redesign in motion.

In a statement, Weldon said the state will continue to assess a persons eligibility for a waiver program only once the individual is released from the interest list.

Ford said its important to both fund more slots in the Medicaid waiver program and improve the amount service providers are paid and the wages of the people doing this work. Without that change, care in the community for a large number of people will be impossible.

We can fund slots all day long, but we also need community capacity, she said. We could eliminate the interest lists tomorrow but there wouldnt be enough homes for people, there wouldnt be enough day habilitation for people to go to.

Until major changes are made, the burden of care often lies with family members.

The unthinkable happens

The Texas Statewide Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Strategic Plan, published in January, reported that there are more than 300,000 family caregivers in Texas for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and only 7 percent are receiving support from a state agency.

Seventy percent of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities live with their family, the plan continued, and 20 percent of the caregivers are 60 or older.

This role can last a lifetime and may diminish the caregivers own physical and emotional health, along with increasing economic stress, the 2022 state strategic plan states. When a person with a disability is supported only by family, sudden changes in the persons needs or in the caregivers capacity create heightened risks for institutionalization. Enhanced access to comprehensive services would reduce these burdens.

Chases parents divorced when he was 8, and he lived with Lisa until high school. From then on, he lived with his dad.

Unable to get a job, Chase read the Bible religiously and practiced his magic tricks. He got a bunny, named Peter Rabbit, to keep him company.

Charles and Lisa, both lawyers, split their time responding to emergencies during the work day.

The police had to be called when Chase hit Lisa. He had to be committed to a psychiatric hospital several times when his behaviors became too difficult to manage.

But for the most part, his parents arrangement felt doable  for a time. But every year, they were told to wait longer.

And every year, it became harder to care for her son without the proper support from professionals, such as social workers and case workers.

Its really, really hard to get the benefits I know hes supposed to get, and Im educated and I have people helping me, Lisa said. But how many disabled people can live 15 years (on their own) without (services)? I dont understand  it seems crazy.

Then, the unthinkable happened. And it got so much harder.

A $60 million budget cut

Chase had been on the waitlist for more than six years when he walked into his fathers bedroom on Christmas Eve and found him dead.

At first, he wasnt sure what had happened. No amount of shaking would wake his best friend.

He called Lisa frantic.

Mom, dad wont wake up! he said. Hes cold!

Charles had died of a stroke in his sleep. He was 66.

Suddenly, Lisa was on her own in caring for her son, who for years couldnt accept what had happened.

As Lisa struggled to pick up the pieces of Charles life, Chase peppered her with questions.

How could we have saved him?

Why did he have to die?

Then, Chase had a hemorrhagic stroke. He was in his fathers home alone. When Lisas repeated phone calls went unanswered, she rushed to her ex-husbands house and found Chase on the floor, unable to move.

The rehabilitation process was brutal. Lisa felt that if Chase were getting services from the state, someone would be assigned to check on him. Someone might have found him earlier.

Lisa knew Chase couldnt handle any more upheaval in his life as he recovered, but the townhouse his father owned south of Spring Branch had to be sold to pay off debts.

Lisa had divorced again and was without a home, but she opted to buy Chase a house in the complex he and his dad lived in so that he could be comfortable.

She slept on his couch for months until she found a place of her own.

She found a housekeeper willing to check on Chase when she was at work and a roommate for him who was both patient and kind.

But she needed more help. There was none to find, and calling the Harris Center only led to more frustration.

She felt as if she was balancing on a skinny limb at the top of a very tall tree. One misstep and she and Chase would come tumbling down.

Local intellectual and developmental disability authorities like the Harris Center are supposed to provide safety net services available to intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals, both on and off the waitlist for Medicaid waiver programs.

But in 2011, the Legislature cut nearly $60 million from this general revenue-funded programming. Services that were once readily available were becoming more and more hard to get. A year after the cuts were made, the waitlist for these safety net programs hovered around 1,400 people. It had reached more than 18,300 by March.

Alamo Area Council of Governments, one of the states disability authorities located in San Antonio, had nearly 1,200 people on its safety net waitlist in March.

Jacob Ulczynski, the councils senior director of intellectual and developmental disability services, said clients can sometimes get one type of care, such as evaluation, but be waiting for another, such as respite care.

But the system as a whole has never recovered from the 2011 cuts, he said.

The Legislature has not dedicated additional funding since that time significantly into the system, he said. Its certainly a struggle and a balance.

The strategic plan published in January noted that capacity is limited for the safety net services.

Wayne Young, CEO of the Harris Center, said in a statement that all services  be it waiver program or general revenue-funded  are reviewed with community members during each contact. He could not comment on Chase because of privacy reasons, but added that no one is automatically added to a waitlist for services just because they are on a waitlist for another.

Staff explain all available supports ... and then discuss the individual needs of each person, he wrote. At any time, a community member may express need for additional services.

But Lisa didnt know about the safety net services available to Chase  shes not even sure hes on that waiting list.

The likelihood of him getting that care now, with a waitlist at Harris Center alone stretching past 5,500 people, feels, to her, pretty low.

There are a lot of services they say they provide, Lisa said. But I dont know how to get any of them.

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer An open bible sits next to Chase Browns computer in his room, Thursday, June 23, 2022, in Houston. Brown spends a lot of time studying the Bible and is interested in becoming a minister. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle) An open bible sits next to Chase Browns computer in his room, Thursday, June 23, 2022, in Houston. Brown spends a lot of time studying the Bible and is interested in becoming a minister. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle)

Dreams of becoming a minister

Chases bible is so dog-eared, the pages so riffled through, it looks like it was submerged in water.

Jesus has helped him so many times  through the bullying and alienation he felt in high school, through his fathers death, through the stroke that has left the right side of his face and portions of his right hand partially paralyzed.

He desperately wants to be a minister, to share the Lords message with others who feel and are treated differently.

I want to preach to all the young kids to tell them about Jesus their Savior and just what their life can be, Chase said.

But to get to that point, he needs social skills and life skills training. He needs additional support only a publicly funded program could provide.

Until then, Lisa encourages him to pursue his dreams. But she is always worried.

Worried he might never make it to the top of the list.

Worried something will happen to her before he can get help.

Worried about what might become of Chase if hes on his own.
A win-win in politics is rare. A lose-lose? Thats its own accomplishment.

When the Biden administration released its proposal for up to 10 new offshore drilling leases along the Gulf Coast earlier this month, it seemed to be just that.

Climate advocates warn that any new leases would be too many for a planet already warming fast, while industry folks argue that the figure  compared to the the scores of leases President Trump had proposed  is a sleight of hand from an administration aiming to punish the oil industry.

As for the rest of us, new leases  whatever the number  over a five-year period do little to ease the stress on our wallets at the pump today. It takes years to begin producing oil from an off-shore drilling operation, and who knows what the gas prices will be by then. Theyve already begun to fall.

What it does do, however, is send the wrong signal on climate change, and breaks with what Biden and company promised on the campaign trail, too. He was right when he said that America needs to shift toward more sustainable energy sources.

Backtracking now, even in a small way, is not a move that we can afford, not when climate change is the greatest threat facing our country and our world.

Sound familiar? Thats Campaign Joe. Remember him? The one that promised historic investments in clean energy and a 100 percent clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050 here at home.

Those pledges, while alarming to our city with its economy based heavily on fossil fuels, arent out of line with what even some of the biggest oil and gas companies across the world have already promised. That doesnt make them simple to achieve, and it doesnt relieve the obligation for Biden to find ways for workers in the oil and gas industry to use their skills  and keep their earning potential  in a greener economy.

Thats a big challenge, and its not made any easier, admittedly, by the state of the world confronting Biden and all of us. High gas prices. Conflict with Russia  and its impact on global oil and gas supply. And a surge in demand for energy as the world seeks to shed its pandemic malaise.

But none of these challenges, pressing as they are, are as serious as climate change  something candidate Biden understood.

The proposal for the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program is just the latest five-year plan required by law. The current version on the table offers up to 11 new leases off the Gulf Coast and Alaska and came alongside the administrations first set of onshore lease sales. Both are welcome departures from the drill, baby, drill impetus behind Trumps plans, and far less than what oil companies wanted.

And they are, of course, not final yet.

Still, we think they represent a step  even if its a baby step  backward.

President Biden campaigned on an ambitious vision of climate action and environmental justice, and selling off any new leases in the Gulf for offshore drilling would be out of step with those commitments, John Dunmore, with the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, told the editorial board in an email. The science is clear that, in order to meet our climate goals and avert the worst of the climate crisis, there can be no new expansion of fossil fuel drilling.

Meanwhile, if the administration thinks its throwing oil and gas a bone, it doesnt seem anyones biting.

From our perspective, its disappointing, said Frank Macchiarola, the senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs with American Petroleum Institute. While he said hed welcome the handful of new leases that could come from the proposal, hes doubtful that will actually be the outcome.

Its sort of a cop out, Macchiarola told the editorial board. They should just come out and say, Were opposed to oil and gas.

The industry says the paltry plans for new leases sends a dampening message to oil and gas companies weighing investment decisions. Theyre making decisions today that impact the market sentiment today, Macchiarola said.

But then, the administration could be sending an even stronger message to the alternative energy market. Instead of throwing the oil and gas industry a bone, Biden could be seizing on the current crisis  high energy prices are on everyones minds  and urging an all-hands-on-deck approach to innovating our way around the crisis. America needs to become less reliant on fossil fuels, so why not send signals to the market that investments in green energy will bring rewards?

Thats what it will take, surely, for the administration to meet its own climate goals of cutting emissions in half by 2030 and meeting net-zero by 2050.

As Congress and the public kick the tires of Bidens new proposal, we hope theyll help him remember that times likes these require bold responses, not a please-everyone approach. As hes finding, that kind of fence-sitting rarely works.

In a summer where Texans are feeling both the pain of a costly oil addiction and the heat of ever-warming summers, now is not the time for hesitating. Biden must lead the country to a place where, yes, it needs less oil, gas and coal, but also where weve learned to extract those fuels more cleanly, to reliably supplement them with renewables, and to value the people and industry that make that possible. Doing those things will require unblinking leadership.
It took Stephen Ayres life being ruined to finally break his devotion to Donald Trump and the Big Lie.

As he testified Tuesday before the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, his tale of how he came to be part of the mob that day provided a window into the cult-like mindset of the rioters. His tale of delusion and recovery is a cautionary one for a nation where so many still seem ensnared by the lie that Trump somehow didnt lose in 2020.

Ayres testified that for him, and hundreds of others who gathered in Washington ahead of the vote in Congress to certify Joe Bidens win, Trumps tweets served as a call to arms to disrupt the proceedings.

The president, you know, got everybody riled up, told everybody, Head on down, Ayres testified Tuesday, adding that most rioters believed Trump would join them at the Capitol. So we basically just were following what he said.  I was already worked up, and so were most of the people there.

Worked up doesnt quite cover it. Testimony Tuesday underscored the violent intentions of the people Trump was summoning to the Capitol, with many openly musing online about participating in firing squads and murdering Democrats down to the last man, woman, and child.

Ayres detailed his devolution from a family man from Ohio with a stable job as a supervisor at a cabinet company to a radical Trump supporter who openly posted on social media about standing up to tyranny and fighting in a civil war if the deep state robbed Trump of an electoral victory in 2020.

It wasnt until after Ayres pleaded guilty in June to disorderly and disruptive conduct inside a restricted building  a federal charge he will be sentenced for in September  that he finally decided to do his own research and come to grips with the fact that the Big Lie is, in fact, a lie.

I got away from all the social media when January 6 happened, basically deleted it all, Ayres said. You know, with all the lawsuits being shot down one after another, that  that was mainly what convinced me.

What he and others like him didnt know was that, outside their conspiratorial echo chambers, Trumps own Justice Department, his White House staff, and his campaign officials had repeatedly told the president that there was no evidence of fraud that could change the outcome of the election.

Nor did they know of the unhinged meeting at the White House weeks before that appears to be the moment when Trump and his inflammatory outside advisers began plotting how he could use the loyalty of men like Ayres to remain in power.

They did not know that during this meeting  described by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin as the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency  advisers such as lawyer Sidney Powell, retired Gen. Michael Flynn and Rudy Giuliani presented him with a draft executive order directing the defense secretary to immediately seize voting machines. The order wouldve appointed Powell as a special counsel with the power to charge people with crimes for interfering in the 2020 election.

The meeting of the so-called crazies hadnt been on the White House schedule, and when they learned of it, several senior White House aides rushed in to stop it. Among them was White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who testified this week that he had forcefully countered the outlandish claims of widespread election fraud involving foreign countries such as Venezuela, Iran and China.

We were pushing back and we were asking one simple question as a general matter: Where is the evidence? Cipollone told the committee in a video testimony.

Of course there was none, and never had been. More than 60 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies failed because they were unable to prove allegations of election fraud. Powell herself was ultimately sanctioned by a federal court and sued for defamation by a voting machine maker. In her own defense to that lawsuit, Powell admitted that "no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact."

Trump knew that, but he didnt share it with Ayres and other loyalists. Instead, shortly after the unhinged meeting ended, Trump issued that fateful tweet summoning his supporters to the Capitol on January 6 for a big protest.

That tweet, posted in the early hours of Dec. 19, 2020, ricocheted around the nation but especially within pro-Trump forums. By the time they arrived in Washington ahead of the Jan. 6 vote, many supporters of the president were ready for violence, and primed to usurp the will of the people and the peaceful transfer of power. Trumps tweet would also put hundreds of rioters such as Ayres behind bars, some of them for years.

It makes me mad because I  I was hanging on every word he was saying, Ayres said. Everything he was putting out, I was following it. I mean, if I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people are doing it, or maybe even still doing it.

Ayres belated epiphany offers some hope that Trumps grip on the Republican Party will loosen the closer we get to 2024. Recent polling suggests half of Republican voters are ready to move beyond Trump. But judging by the refusal of so many elected officials, and so many candidates, to denounce his schemes and sever ties with the former president, the delusion that so bedazzled Ayres has not dissipated. Nor has the threat to our democracy.

America wont be safe from the former presidents influence until his supporters realize that Trump will continue to exploit them to further his authoritarian ends. If these hearings, which continue next week, do nothing else but awaken more Americans to that reality, they will have more than served their purpose.
Ive been eagerly looking forward to the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope for more than a quarter century now. It was in 1996, when I was working on a book on the search for life in the universe, that I first heard about this extraordinary new observatory from John Mather, the NASA scientist in charge of the project. Back then it was known, more generically, as the Next Generation Space Telescope, planned as the bigger, more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It would cost a half-billion dollars, Mather predicted. It would launch into space in 2005. And it would help astronomers answer such fundamental questions as how and when the first stars burst into light after the Big Bang; whether planets that circle distant stars have life-friendly atmospheres; and what kinds of objects orbit at the frigid edge of our own solar system, out beyond Pluto.

At the time, the price tag and launch date seemed overly optimistic (in the end, the telescope wouldnt launch until 2021, with a price tag of more than $10 billion). But I didnt doubt his promise of great discoveries, since Id seen the same sort of thing happen since I first became entranced with the cosmos back in the 1950s. My father was a physics professor at Princeton University  an accomplished scientist, but more importantly for a small child, a great storyteller. Some of my earliest memories were of him taking me outside at night, pointing to the moon, the planets, the stars, and telling me stories of ancient philosophers trying to understand what they were. He told me of how people like Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei had begun to appreciate the true nature of these mysterious objects, and how telescopes had let their successors build on this understanding  and were continuing to do so.

I was utterly hooked  not just by the grandeur of the cosmos my father revealed to me, but also by the fact that there was no shortage of mysteries still to understand. When he started telling me these stories, scientists had still never laid eyes on the far side of the moon. Their sharpest images of the planets, photographed through Earths blurring, shimmering atmosphere, were too fuzzy to make out any details. By the early 1960s, astronomers had discovered bizarre objects they called quasars  to all appearances, just ordinary stars, but so far away that they had to be as luminous as entire galaxies to be seen from Earth. They knew the universe was expanding, but didnt have any definitive evidence that it began with a Big Bang. They didnt know whether planets orbited any stars beyond the sun. They thought Pluto marked the outer edge of our solar system.

One by one, however, those mysteries were solved. A Soviet probe photographed the far side of the moon, followed by other probes, followed by Apollo astronauts who photographed it in great detail (it looks very different from the side we see). Robotic orbiters began imaging Mars at high resolution, while rovers wheeled across its surface; we discovered that Mars had oceans of water in the distant past, and maybe even hosted life. The Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft took closeups of the outer planets on flybys, and the Galileo and Cassini went into orbit around Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. Now we know that some of the moons of these giant worlds hide gigantic oceans beneath their frozen surfaces. We learned that quasars are actually powered by giant black holes at the cores of distant galaxies, whose irresistible gravity sucks in surrounding matter and heats it to extraordinary temperatures. We learned that Pluto is merely the brightest member of a gigantic swarm of icy objects, known as the Kuiper Belt; essentially construction debris left over from the building of the solar system more than four billion years ago. And we learned that planets orbit most of the tens of billions of stars in the Milky Way.

All of this and more came as astronomers imagined and built more and more powerful telescopes, not just capable of seeing visible light but also its close cousins: radio waves, microwaves, infrared and ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma rays, all of them otherwise invisible to the human eye. They also built instruments that can detect neutrinos  subatomic particles so elusive that they can pass right through the Earth without slowing down  and gravitational waves, which are ripples in the fabric of spacetime predicted by Einstein but only confirmed in 2015.

These advancements all led to major discoveries about the universe we live in. And with a track record like that, I had no doubt that the new telescope John Mather was telling me about would make extraordinary discoveries as well. Some would help answer the questions we already have about planets, stars and the nature of the early universe. But perhaps even more exciting, he said, the new telescope would inevitably raise unexpected questions about the cosmos that we currently dont even know enough to ask.

When my father first started telling me stories about the universe, he didnt mention dark matter, which outweighs the familiar stars and galaxies by a factor of six or so. He didnt mention dark energy, which is making the universe expand faster and faster all the time. Both were fringe ideas at the time that few took seriously. Same for the Big Bang  less fringe, but far from being widely accepted. Now, thanks to new instruments that allow us to see the cosmos more clearly than anything available in the 1950s, we know theyre almost certainly real, and astrophysicists are actively struggling to understand them more deeply.

Thats why, despite the fact that the Webb telescope cost so much more and took so much longer than Mather imagined (and that its mirror is smaller and less powerful than he hoped it would be), I havent the slightest doubt that it will live up to its most important promise: that it will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos, in ways we cant yet predict.

The extraordinary new images released by NASA a few days ago demonstrate how much more powerful the Webb is than the Hubble. One shows a field of galaxies in glittering focus, including some of the faintest, and thus most distant, ever seen. Another peers into a nearby planetary nebula, a huge blob of glowing gas thrown off by a dying star, to uncover a second star that hadnt been seen before. Yet another looks at the other end of stellar life cycles, unveiling the secrets of a cloud of gas and dust where new stars are even now being born.

But perhaps most significantly, one image isnt a photograph of an object: its a graph that shows the presence of water in the atmosphere of a distant planet known as WASP-96 b. This sort of thing is why the James Webb Space Telescope will inevitably revolutionize astronomy. Spectacular images inspire awe and wonder, but its when the Webb probes deeper that it will tell scientists whats actually going on in those young galaxies, shimmering clouds and faraway planets.

Is all of this really important? Is it worth the $10 billion? Obviously not in the sense that it will immediately save lives or help fight climate change or make the economy stronger or make our smartphones smarter.

When people raise such questions  and they do  Im reminded of what the physicist Robert Wilson said during a 1969 Senate hearing on whether the government should fund a multimillion-dollar accelerator outside of Chicago to study the nature of subatomic particles. One senator asked, naively, if it would contribute in any way to the national defense.

Wilsons answer: No.

It has only to do with the respect with which we regard one another, he said, the dignity of man, our love of culture. It has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending.

Michael D. Lemonick is the former chief opinion editor at Scientific American and a former senior science writer at TIME. He teaches science writing at Princeton University.
American presidential trips to the Middle East are always freighted with anticipation and apprehension, but few have been burdened with the geopolitical baggage attached to Joe Bidens visit  to Jerusalem Wednesday and Jeddah later in the week. Unusually, the guest will be as anxious about the outcome as his hosts.

Biden, having come to office with ideas about deprioritizing the Middle East in U.S. foreign policy, now wants to reassert what he calls Americas vital leadership role in the regions affairs. But Israeli and Arab leaders need proof that Biden is serious about taking on that role. The princes of the Gulf states are especially skeptical, sensing that the president will say anything to get them to pump more oil.

Doubts about his sincerity center on his attitude toward the country that the Israelis and Arabs fear most: Iran. They believe Biden, eager to revive the 2015 nuclear deal Tehran struck with the world powers, is too tolerant of Irans destabilizing activities in the region, ranging from financing and arming a wide network of militias and terrorist groups to enriching uranium to levels well beyond any peaceful purpose.

Biden has argued that the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, will constrain Irans nuclear program. He also hopes to persuade Tehran to agree to a follow-up deal to end its non-nuclear threats to the stability of the region.

This is a 180-degree departure from the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA and sought to restrain Irans activities by imposing tight economic sanctions.

The Biden administration has for the most part looked the other way as Iran has flouted the sanctions, exporting ever more oil and greatly increasing its military spending. One of Bidens first acts upon taking office was to overturn Trumps decision to designate the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terrorist group.

All this seems naive to the Israelis and Gulf Arabs, who point out that Biden has gotten nothing in return for his conciliatory attitude. Iran will not even negotiate directly with the U.S., preferring to use European intermediaries. Tehran has made no meaningful concessions; on the contrary, Bidens chief negotiator says Tehran has added new demands even as it has sped up its enrichment activities.

More than likely, Iran is deliberately dragging out negotiations until it has achieved the status of a nuclear weapons threshold state, akin to Japan and South Korea, which have stopped short of weaponizing their stockpiles. The United Nations nuclear watchdog says Iran already has enough material for one bomb. In effect, Iran is enhancing its ability to terrorize its neighbors and blackmail the international community while pretending that enrichment is just a pressure tactic to bring the U.S. back into the JCPOA.

There are some signs that the wool is finally falling from Bidens eyes. His officials have acknowledged that prospects of a return to the nuclear deal are tenuous at best and have announced new sanctions against Iranian oil smuggling. They are also warning of Tehrans threat extending beyond the Middle East: On Monday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that Iran was preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred drones, likely for use in the invasion of Ukraine.

Under the circumstances, the president will be hard-pressed to explain in Jerusalem and Jeddah why he still clings to hope that a return to the JCPOA is possible, or that Tehran will agree to a second deal to curb its non-nuclear menace. Nor will his hosts be satisfied with vague promises of a Mideast security alliance against Iran.

Rather than try to defend the indefensible, Biden should take the opportunity to make a clean break from his failed Iran policy. On Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the announcement of the JCPOA, the U.S. president should announce that time has run out for its revival. He should end the charade of negotiations and press the other signatories to invoke the snapback feature in the deal, which imposes broader United Nations sanctions on Iran.

Not all the signatories will agree, but it will take only one; the terms of the JCPOA allow no veto. The Europeans, like the U.S., are losing patience with Irans refusal to make a deal. China and Russia will disagree: President Vladimir Putin is traveling to Tehran next week in a show of solidarity. But unlike in 2020, when Trumps attempt to impose the snapback was met with universal derision, nobody can argue that his successor hasnt made a sustained, good faith effort to revive the deal. The added sanctions might not stop Irans race toward nuclear threshold status, but neither will Iran be able to continue pretending that its enrichment activity is merely a bargaining tactic.

In the meantime, the Biden administration should rigidly enforce U.S. sanctions, starting with a crackdown on all who enable Irans illicit oil trade  including some Gulf Arab individuals and companies. And it should provide the Israelis and Arabs the weapons they need to defend against Iran and its proxies.

The president may have started his trip to the Mideast with a metaphorical hat in hand. But by seizing the initiative on the issue that causes his hosts the greatest worry, he can make the visit a turning point for the region. If he is sincere about reclaiming Americas vital leadership role in the Mideast, Biden should demonstrate leadership where it is most vital.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs.
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Music @ the Taft to Present Presents Sprague/Jaffe/Ennis Trio

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Berkshire Music School is pleased to announce Music @ The Taft Presents the Sprague/Jaffe/Ennis Trio, at 7 p.m. on July 22

The new ensemble features long-time collaborators Miro Sprague (piano), Marty Jaffe (bass) and Jason Ennis (guitar). The trio performs original jazz compositions by each band member along with a few interpretations of familiar tunes.

"We are very excited to return to Berkshire Music School because it is the site of our first ever performance in 2018! It's where it all began for our trio," says Marty Jaffe. "We appreciate all that the school does to serve the Berkshire community and are thrilled to continue our association with it."

The performance will take place in the Taft Recital Hall: 30 Wendell Ave. Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01201. Tickets for the performances are on sale for $15 through at www.berkshiremusicschool.org/ box-office, or you may call to reserve your seats at 413-442-1411.

The program is supported in part by grants from the Pittsfield and Dalton Cultural Councils, which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council.
A portion of the approximately 10 acres of land on Oblong Road that is under contract for sale.

Williamstown Considering Land Conservation Request for Sweet Brook Farm

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  A local family farm is asking the Select Board to let Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation preserve a tract that is integral to the farm operation.

About 10 acres on Oblong Road in South Williamstown currently is under contract to be sold to a buyer interested in residential development on the parcel.

But the acreage in question has, since the 1980s, been conserved under Chapter 61 of Massachusetts General Law, which allows landowners to pay a reduced property tax bill to the town.

Before the current owner can sell the property for development, the town, by law, has the right of first refusal to buy the land at the negotiated price ($745,000) or assign that purchasing right to a qualified non-profit entity.

WRLF, which already manages more than 900 acres of open space in town, is asking for just such an assignment, a request that the operators of Sweet Brook Farm want the Select Board to grant.

"I am here tonight to ask you to consider supporting the request of Williamstown Rural Lands as they work to conserve this very important part of our farm," Sarah Lipinski told the board at its Monday meeting. "It is small, but it is a meaningful slice of land that has been farmed by my family for eight generations and, I hope, nine if my son's love for tractors and my daughter's love for cows enmesh into their lives as farming has for mine."

Lipinski operates the farm with her husband, Darryl, and they use the 10 acres in question for grazing their 25-head black Angus cattle herd.

Elisabeth Goodman, the attorney for the land's current owner, Beth Phelps, walked the Select Board through the town's legal options for addressing the pending land sale  either through inaction or intervention.

"If [an owner] puts the land in chapter protection, the town has the right to buy it," Goodman said. "Another option  is a charitable non-profit can be eligible for an assignment of the Board of Selectmen's right of purchase.

"What I can tell you is my client wants to sell the land. She's happy to enter into negotiations with Rural Lands, if that's feasible."

In answer to a question from the board, Goodman said part of the transaction, whichever way it goes, would be a repayment to the town of a portion of the taxes that would have been owed on the land during its Chapter 61 protection.

She also clarified that the purchase and sales agreement is written with the "right of first refusal" process in mind, and the waiting period for the town to mull its options will not cost Phelps the potential buyer.

WRLF Executive Director Robin Sears joined Lipinski at Monday's meeting. She said the non-profit is considering raising funds to facilitate the purchase and is close to a decision on whether that option is viable. If it is, WRLF would like the board to assign it the right of first refusal.

"We do believe that this property of 10 acres, which has 1,500 feet of frontage on Oblong Road  has tremendous scenic value and cultural value," Sears said. "And if it were developed, that scenic value would decrease considerably.

"It is part of a very large and historic farmland.  We are looking into engaging in conservation activities through restrictions on the other two parcels. So this is part of a larger project. We'd like to have it as part of our commitment to protecting the rural livelihoods, the rural look of Williamstown, and food security."

Lipinski said Sweet Brook Farm, which sells beef and boils about 1,200 gallons of maple syrup, is an important part of the local economy.

"Our farm is viable," she said. "It is active. It is growing against the declining trend of small farms across America. We believe it is an integral part of Williamstown's local food economy and Berkshire County's as a whole."

The Select Board took no action on the question on Monday but discussed future dates for a public hearing and a decision within the 120-day window initiated by Phelps' notification of the pending sale. Chair Hugh Daley compiled a list of questions from his fellow board members to pose to relevant town bodies, the Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Agricultural Commission and Board of Assessors, who, the Select Board hopes, can advise on the potential tax revenue impacts of either keeping the land undeveloped or allowing homes to be built there.

In other business on Monday, the board made appointments to fill some vacant seats on town committees, including three new appointments for two-year terms on the board of the Affordable Housing Trust. Former Affordable Housing Committee member Cheryl Shanks was named, along with Kayla Servin and Robin Malloy.

A fourth resident also applied, former Planning Board member Alex Carlisle. Andy Hogeland, who fills the Select Board's designated seat on the Affordable Housing Trust board, noted that Carlisle, if named, might have had to recuse himself from discussions of a potential housing project on Carlisle's land that might come before the trust in the next couple of years.

The Select Board deferred on decisions about reappointments to the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee. Daley said he wants first to conclude a conversation between the current DIRE Committee members and the board about the mission for the advisory group going forward. To that end, the Select Board discussed hosting a table to solicit public feedback on the question at the National Night Out event on Aug. 2 at the Spruces Park on Main Street (Route 2).

The board also acknowledged a written request from the union chapter representing employees of the town's Department of Public Works. The union is seeking a one-time allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds of $4,000 per employee to compensate personnel for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The employees of the Williamstown DPW provided full-time essential work during the entire duration of the pandemic, from 2020 through current time," the union's letter reads. "Due to the nature of the job, there were no options to work hybrid or remote as millions of people across the country were.  Most of us, while working for the town, contracted Covid [sic] at some point. Aside from the fact that many of us became very sick with Covid, employees were required to use accrued time off work due to quarantining guidelines and caused outside family members to also contract the virus."

The union's letter notes that one allowable use of ARPA funds is to, "provide premium pay to employees providing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency," and many municipalities have done so. Williamstown is eligible for more than $2 million from ARPA.

Daley said new Town Manager Bob Menicocci will study the request with town staff and come back to the Select Board for a discussion in executive session. Town counsel has advised the board that the conversation would be covered by the Open Meeting Law exception for discussions related to collective bargaining. Although the Select Board normally is not a party to collective bargaining discussions, it does have authority over ARPA money.

Editor's note: edited to clarify the WRLF is close to deciding whether it can purchase the land. An earlier version indicated it was close to having the funds.
Medical Matters Weekly Features Expert in the Connection Between Environment and Wellbeing

BENNINGTON, Vt.  Esther Sternberg, MD, is an expert in neuroimmunology and how our physical surroundings affect our health. She will be a guest on Medical Matters Weekly at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20.

The show is produced by Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Viewers can view on facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. The show is also available to view or download as a podcast on svhealthcare.org/medicalmatters.

Dr. Esther Sternberg is internationally recognized for her discoveries in the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing and the role of place in wellbeing. She is a pioneer and major force in collaborative initiatives on mind-body-stress-wellness and environment interrelationships.

She currently holds the Inaugural Andrew Weil Chair for Research in Integrative Medicine and is Research Director for the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona (UA) at Tucson. She is the founding director of the UA Institute on Place, Wellbeing & Performance, and holds joint appointments at UA as professor of Medicine and Psychology.

Prior to joining UA, Dr. Sternberg served for 26 years in leadership roles with the National Institutes of Health. In addition, she has lectured and keynoted at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Nobel Forum at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; and the Royal Society of Medicine in London. She has advised the World Health Organization, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, and the Vatican, where she had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. She moderated a panel with the Dalai Lama in 2005 and has briefed high level U.S. federal officials, including the Office of the Surgeon General, leadership of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the United States Congress.

Dr. Sternberg is the author of two popular books including: Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being and The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions. Both address the need for more understanding surrounding stress, place, healing, and wellness.

Medical Matters Weekly features the innovative personalities who drive positive change within health care and related professions. The show addresses all aspects of creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for all, including food and nutrition, housing, diversity and inclusion, groundbreaking medical care, exercise, mental health, the environment, research, and government. The show is broadcast on Facebook Live, YouTube, and all podcast platforms.

After the program, the video is available on area public access television stations CAT-TV (Comcast channel 1075) and GNAT-TV's (Comcast channel 1074), as well as on public access stations throughout the United States.


a Level 2-Signficant Drought was declared in the Northeast, Southeast, Connecticut River Valley, and Central Regions of the state. The Islands Region will remain at Level 1-Mild Drought along with the Western Region.

Berkshire County at Level 1 as Most of State Experiences Drought Conditions

BOSTON  The state has declared Berkshire County to be in a Level-1 Mild Drought, as 90 percent of Massachusetts is experiencing drought conditions.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card on Wednesday declared a Level 2-Signficant Drought in the Northeast, Southeast, Connecticut River Valley, and Central Regions of the state. Additionally, the Islands Region will remain at Level 1-Mild Drought along with the Western Region, which was elevated from normal conditions last month.

A Level 1-Mild Drought warrants detailed monitoring of drought conditions, close coordination among state and federal agencies, and technical outreach and assistance to the affected municipalities, according to state officials.

The Cape Cod Region will remain at normal conditions. As outlined in the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan, a Level 2-Significant Drought warrants the convening of an inter-agency Mission Group, which has already been convened, to more closely coordinate on drought assessments, impacts and response within the government.

"As the state continues to experience dry conditions, and with little rainfall expected in the immediate forecast, it is important that we all implement water conservation practices to reduce stress on our local water supply systems and our natural habitats," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card. "The Baker-Polito administration will continue to work closely with its municipal partners and local water suppliers as we further monitor ongoing drought conditions and address its impacts, particularly on the agricultural sector."

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency acting Director Dawn Brantley said residents should exercise caution when using charcoal grills, backyard fire pits, and other open flame outdoor activities to prevent outdoor fires.

"Residents can also assist during the drought by minimizing water usage and following any local water restrictions for their area," she said.

Since the start of June, hydrological conditions have continued to decline across the state and in particular in the northern half of the commonwealth. Significantly, the drought has been both spreading and intensifying, with indices dropping more rapidly due to lack of precipitation over the past several months.

Fire danger in the northern half of the state is steadily on the rise, with noticeable drought stress on foliage in shrubs and grasses. It is expected that low dew point and higher evapotranspiration may continue to impact the drought in the coming weeks as the state will experience the hottest time of the year. Furthermore, streamflow has been severely impacted across the commonwealth, with dry stream beds and ponding visible in many locations. Ongoing drought conditions are also impacting growers, including local farms, with some farmers irrigating more heavily due to the lack of precipitation.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority water supply system is not currently experiencing drought conditions, as defined within its individual plan. However, private wells, local streams, wetlands, vernal pools, and other water-dependent habitats located within MWRA-serviced areas will be impacted by drought conditions while water quality in ponds can deteriorate due to lowering of levels and stagnation.

Those in Level 1 and 2 are advised to minimize water use and limit outdoor watering to one day a week with handheld hoses and watering cans before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. Toilets, faucets and shower make up more than 60 percent of indoor water use.

Communities can adopt the state's nonessential outdoor water use restrictions for drought such as limiting washing of outdoor surfaces and vehicles, filling swimming pools and hot tubs, and establish water-use reduction targets.

The Drought Management Task Force will meet again on Monday, Aug. 8, at 1 p.m. For further information on water conservation and what residents can do, please visit EEA's drought page and water conservation page. To get the most up-to-date information on the drought indices, go to the state's drought dashboard page.
Name: Thomas Benjamin

Company: NI [National Instruments]

Job title: EVP/CTO and Head of Analytics Business

Date started current role: September 2021

Location: San Francisco, CA

Thomas Benjamin serves as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Executive Vice President, and Head of Product Analytics at NI [National Instruments]. In this role, he leads NIs development of software-driven business models essential to the test and measurement market, while driving disruptive technology innovation in new areas tied to data, product analytics and enterprise software. Benjamin comes to NI with extensive experience building software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud native solutions powered by APIs, data, and insights. Most recently he was the CTO and SVP of Technology at SAP Ariba. His career has also included CTO and VP roles at General Electric and Emirates Group, and technology leadership roles at Visa, Walmart, and Oracle.

What was your first job? My first job was running the operations of a manufacturing line of Tube Products of India, manufacturing Cold Drawn Welded Precision Steel Tubes used for propeller shafts of automobiles, front forks of bikes, etc.

Did you always want to work in IT? I have always loved programming since I learned BASIC programming when I was 14, and, like many kids into programming, went on to learn Fortran, Pascal and Java. Programming soon evolved to be a hobby of mine and as I was working towards my masters degree, I knew I would like to find a career in IT.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I have a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from University of Cincinnati and a Bachelors in Engineering from The College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, India.

As part of my continuing education have certificates in:

Disruptive Strategy  Harvard Business Online School.

Exponential Technologies  Singularity University

Negotiation Skills & High-Performance Management  Stanford University

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. I started my Software career at Oracle, working in the consulting division for 3 years and Product Development for nearly 9+ years. Those 12+ years at Oracle provided me exposure to database, middle-tier and front-end architectures and gave me a foundation for leadership through leading complex projects. After Oracle, I moved to Walmart Labs as Chief Architect for the Walmart China E-Commerce site, and from there I moved to VISA as Chief Enterprise Architect for their Digital Wallet Program. Both Walmart and VISA gave me significant experience in building highly scalable, reliable, and resilient systems that operate at over four 9s of availability.

I then took an expedition to Dubai as VP of Architecture for the Emirates group, leading their technology transformation from an airline to a lifestyle brand of travel. After 2.5 years in Dubai, I moved back to the Bay Area as CTO for GE Aviation, helping find ways to add value to airlines using insights garnered from sensor data collected from GE Aircraft Engines and transitioning solutions to the public cloud.

Prior to joining NI, I served as CTO of SAP Ariba Procurement Cloud, helping modernise the Procurement stack using APIs, Microservices, low-code No-Code UI Frameworks and Big Data technologies to implement concepts of Autonomous Procurement and transitioning the Ariba solution to the GCP Cloud.

Throughout my career, I have consciously taken on roles that provide an opportunity to explore, port and fuse ideas across domains (e-commerce, payments, airlines, procurement, etc.)

What type of CTO are you? I am a CTO who is focused on finding ways to use technology to add value to customers in a simple, lean, and agile manner.

Which emerging technology are you most excited about the prospect of? I am excited about discovering opportunities to add customer value by equipping them with actionable insights gained from their data in the industrial space, especially around semiconductor, electronics, and transportation, which are some of the focus domains for NI. Our goal is to enable customers to make the best use of their data to both improve efficiencies and bring their products to market faster.

Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped? Why? I see value in VR technologies, which are still struggling to find a critical mass of use cases that drive broad adoption. For example, when I look at the data in video games where VR is very popular, sales of VR games are <1% of the total sales of video games. In my view, a rich, natural-like, 3D interface with simplicity of access and availability, coupled with a rich ecosystem of applications, could drive broader adoption of VR. I would love to see VR become more mainstream.

What is one unique initiative that youve employed over the last 12 months that youre really proud of? One of the key initiatives I am focused on at NI is the work were doing to add value for customers using concepts of Hyper automation powered by Data Fabrics and Intelligence over the last 5 months. I am amazed at how colleagues from all parts of the organisation have come together as a collaborative, mission-based team to help make this vision a reality in a short span of time.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? Like almost all companies right now, NI is undergoing a digital transformation - and Im working with a group of cross-functional colleagues to lead that initiative. I stay grounded in customer value and focus on our ability to deliver this value through a simplified customer experience thats powered by the right technology building blocks.

I believe that if the customer value is sustained, revenue will follow. The key is delivering value with the right balance of simplicity, speed, and operational efficiency from the customers point of view. Once we strike the right blend of test and measurement with data and insights, we can bring in a lot more hyper-automation into the test and measurement space, leading to significant operational efficiency improvements for our customers.

What is the biggest issue that youre helping customers with at the moment? One of the key issues I am working on is helping customers democratise the best practices of testing and measurement in a data driven manner powered by APIs and Insights. At NI, were seeing todays rapid pace of technology driving both increasingly complex products and a need for more efficient product development. By democratising test and leveraging a software-connected approach, organisations can unlock the value of test data to not only keep up with that pace but get there faster, smarter and with the right data insights to make informed engineering decisions.

How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? I take a customer-first approach, staying grounded in customer value. Delivering on that value helps to realise the business goals.

The key to getting the value to customers in a timely manner is through the pragmatic use of technology in a modular manner. The trick is finding the most pragmatic way to fuse legacy solutions with modern solutions through APIs. Having done this multiple times over my career, I have lessons learned that guide me in the process.

Do you have any trouble matching product/service strategy with tech strategy? I believe in this simple formula: Customer Value =(blend) People + Process + Reusable Services (Platform) + Applications

Given that technology strategy is the means to deliver products which provide customer value, I focus on finding the pragmatic path to realise that value to customer with simplicity in a timely manner factoring quality, security, reliability, and resilience. The trick is making the right trade-offs and going back and fixing the trade-offs.

What makes an effective tech strategy? A technology strategy centred on the customer and grounded in the value we bring to them is pivotal. To achieve this, the key is finding the right balance of fusing new technology with appropriate facades built around legacy technology in a manner thats future-proof yet evolvable in phases.

What predictions do you have for the role of the CTO in the future? I see the role of the CTO evolving to be one thats focused on preparing the organisation for the future-- not just in terms of technology, but also from the business and strategy standpoint. In a connected digital world, technology is the oxygen that drives many business processes in delivering value to customers.

What has been your greatest career achievement? There have been a few across my career: -

Delivering Version 1 of Wal-Mart China E-Commerce site in about 10 months.

Building a Big-Data platform for Customer 360 (genome) for 100 million passengers for Emirates.

Modernising SAP Aribas Procurement solution powered by APIs, Microservices, Machine Learning Based Search and a Data Plane deployed on GCP.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? Looking back at my career, especially in the early days where I was leaning more on technology purity over speed of delivery, I would lean more now towards speed of delivery with the right balance of technological purity to deliver value to customers.
The Battambang Appeal Court has upheld the decision of the provincial court which sentenced journalist Kao Piseth, who publicly criticised the use of a Chinese-made vaccine, to two years in jail. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA), condemn the verdict against Piseth and call on the authorities to release the journalist immediately.

Kao Piseth, a journalist for local news website Siem Reap Tannhektar(Siem Reap Breaking News), was arrested on July 14, 2021, in Battambang City, accused of incitement to disturb social security following his post on Facebook.

Police confiscated his three mobile phones, a car, and press card before he was charged with breaching Article 495 of Cambodias Criminal Code and Article 11 of the Covid-19 law.

The arrest came after Piseth questioned the medical assessment and use in Cambodia of the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines from China. The journalist also posted to social media, accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of acquiring assets in the country by betraying the nation.

In December 2021, the Battambang Provincial Court sentenced Piseth to two years in prison and a fine amounting to three million riel (approx. USD 750).

Piseth and his lawyer from the Cambodia Center for Independent Media (CCIM) lodged an appeal against the decision of the provincial court, which was rejected by the Battambang Appeal Court.

The implementation of Cambodias Covid-19 law has been criticised by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, with the legislation bringing the nation into what has been described as a totalitarian dictatorship. More than a dozen human rights activists were arrested for distributing or sharing information about Covid-19 at the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

The CamboJA said: The court decision creates restriction to freedom of expression, affects journalist freedom and access to diverted information for our people.

The IFJ said: The arrest of a journalist for a critical social media post violates the fundamental right to freedom of expression and press freedom in Cambodia. The IFJ condemns the decision of the court of appeal in the case against Kao Piseth and calls on the authorities to immediately drop all charges against him.
The ABS-CBN Foundation and GCash have joined forces to continue the work of conservation, reforestation and enrichment of La Mesa Watershed. This partnership helps pave the way for GCashs commitment of planting 160,000 trees at La Mesa, as part of its GForest 2.3 million by 2023 goal.

160,000 trees to be part of GForest at La Mesa

GCashs GForest contribution, covering 220 hectares just in 2022, is a boost to the Foundations continued efforts in preserving and enriching La Mesa Watershed, the major source of drinking water for Metro Manilas 12 million-strong population.

Though 1,500 hectares of the Watershed has been reforested since 1999, the Foundation proactively works with donors and partners from all sectors of society in protection, reforestation and enrichment activities to ensure La Mesa Watersheds viability for future generations.

We are honored to work with GCash to achieve our mutual goal of environmental stewardship through reforestation, said ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director Roberta Lopez-Feliciano. Together with other organizations and communities, we will continue to pursue our shared vision of a greener and brighter future for all Filipinos.

GForest, the sustainability feature of GCash, is a prime mover in reforestation efforts all over the country. This award-winning innovation has recently achieved its milestone of 1 million trees, and is aiming to hit 2.3 million trees planted by 2023.

We are happy to partner with ABS-CBN Foundation in our pursuit of environmental conservation. Beyond spreading awareness on sustainability, GForest has been making a concrete impact in reforestation efforts of the country. We believe that each tree contributed by GForest has a snowball effect to create meaningful waves of positive impact in the country, said Martha Sazon, President and CEO of GCash.

The 2.3 million trees by 2023 partnership kicked off with a ceremonial tree planting at La Mesa Watershed on July 4, with ABS-CBN Foundation and GCash leaders in attendance.
More than five years ago, the idea of allowing the public to inspect the proprietary source code of a technology company was unheard of and definitely not the norm.

Take a look inside Kaspersky's Global Transparency Initiative with Transparency Centers in Malaysia and now also in Singapore

A source code is the source of a computer program. It contains declarations, instructions, functions, loops, and other statements, which act as instructions for the program on how to function. Programs may contain one or more source text files that can be stored on a computer's hard disk, in a database, or be printed in books of code snippets.

In 2017, Kaspersky pioneered the creation of a high standard of openness in the cybersecurity industry by launching its Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) and opening a global network of Transparency Centers. These are trusted facilities where customers and partners can review the company's code, software updates, threat detection rules and other activities.

What's the big deal about transparency?

In every business sector, transparency is an important principle but most particularly in cybersecurity. Customers rely on their cybersecurity service provider for business continuity regarded as a long-term commitment.

With over 400 million users and more than 240,000 companies worldwide that trust Kaspersky to protect their most precious and confidential information, the cybersecurity company considers it important to clearly communicate its transparency measures it's taking such as how the company's products work as well as the engineering and data management practices in place.

This led Kaspersky to launch its Global Transparency Initiative that includes a number of actionable and concrete measures to engage with the wider cybersecurity community and stakeholders in validating and verifying the trustworthiness of its products, internal processes and business operations. Through the GTI, Kaspersky can further demonstrate that it tackles any security issues promptly and thoroughly.

What's a Transparency Center?

One of the GTI's cornerstones included the opening of a network of Transparency Centers  in Zurich (Switzerland), Madrid (Spain), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Singapore, Tokyo (Japan), and Woburn, Massachusetts (the United States).

Singapore and Tokyo are both recently opened centers in APAC and are now ready to welcome the company's enterprise partners and customers, including state agencies and regulators, responsible for cybersecurity.

The Transparency Centers are fully operational and available for on-site (physical) and remote access.

In addition, in 2020, the company completed the relocation of cyber-threat related data storage and processing for customers in a number of Asia-Pacific countries to Switzerland.

Kaspersky is taking a significant step towards becoming completely transparent in its protection technologies, infrastructure, and data processing practices by establishing these ground-breaking Transparency Centers.

What can be done at the Transparency Center?

Kaspersky offers three review options based on visitor's skills and interests  ranging from a general overview of Kaspersky's security and transparency practices to a comprehensive review of the company's source code.

Genie Gan, Head of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Asia Pacific & Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Kaspersky said, "We are the first company in the cybersecurity industry that opened its source code for external review and we believe this approach shall become an industry standard. We invite state agencies and regulators responsible for national cybersecurity and protection of information systems, enterprise partners and customers from anywhere in the world to visit our Transparency Centers where we are ready to answer your questions about our source code, threat detection rules, software updates, as well as our engineering and data processing practices."

As a visitor, you will be led to a secure room with a computer that's connected to Kaspersky's data infrastructure in secure mode with an expert to guide you through the review process.

Kaspersky provides its source code review solely for consultation purposes and follows the strictest access policy.

Specifically, visitors to the Transparency Center can:

goog_1345964019review the company secure software development documentation and source code of the company's key product portfolio, including flagship consumer and enterprise products as well as all the versions of our software updates and threat detection rules; rebuild the source code to ensure it corresponds to the publicly available modules. The compilation process provides security assurance about the integrity of Kaspersky's source code check the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for Kaspersky products to enhance supply chain security; and review the results of third-party security audits such as the SOC 2 audit report by one of the Big Four accounting firms and ISO 27001 assessment report for data security systems

During the operation of Transparency Centers since 2018, Kaspersky team has overseen that source code review offering was not enough. A greater curiosity around it without certain IT knowledge for proper assessment revealed a need for cybersecurity capacities across organizations to properly approach product security evaluations.

This prompted Kaspersky to launch a dedicated Cyber Capacity Building Program (CCBP) where its experts help organizations worldwide learn practical tools and knowledge for security assessment and teach trainees about secure code review and code fuzzing (software testing method performed to identify memory use issues and security weak spots), among others.

Genie Gan added, "Against the backdrop of fast-growing digitalization of economies and societies that requires the integration of various software and hardware components into smoothly running systems, companies usually require the use of different solutions in building infrastructure. At the same time, policymakers need to develop mechanisms to secure the digital infrastructure supply chain, ensure greater transparency regarding the source of technological components and establish the trustworthiness of international partners. As a globally respected cybersecurity company with a 25-year history, Kaspersky completely supports the intention to address these concerns, provide a credible level of assurance and trust to digital products through our ground-breaking Global Transparency Initiative".

To book an appointment, interested customers, agencies, and businesses can send an email to TransparencyCenter@kaspersky.com.

The latest GTI updates are available here.
3 more days to go before the much awaited Tugatog Music Festival and realme, the PH's no. 1 smartphone brand for 5 consecutive quarters is excited to be part of the biggest celebration of #PPOPRise and #OPM in the country.

Happening this July 15, 2022 (Friday) at the SM MOA Arena, the Tugatog Music Festival line-up will feature the biggest names and rising artists in PPOP and OPM: BGYO, BINI, MNL48, Alamat, PPOP Gen, LITZ, 1st.ONE, Vxon, Press Hit Play, Dione, Calista, R Rules, G22, YARA, Daydream, Zack Tabudlo and The Juans.

As a brand thats for and by the youth, realme has always been an avid supporter of areas loved by todays generation whether it be e-sport, content creation and now pinoy music. Recognizing the increasing popularity of Pinoy music both locally and globally, theres no denying the passion and brilliance of our local talents. Being a brand that embodies the #DaretoLeap ideology, wed like to give our full support to this growing community and empower them to unleash their full potential through our partnership with the Tugatog Music Festival 2022, shares Austine Huang, realme Philippiness VP for Marketing.

During the concert day, the brand will have a booth setup filled with exciting activities such as Free instax photo with Fujifilm Instax, where booth goers can have their photos printed using the Instax Link WIDE. Aside from this, squads can also get a chance to win realme products simply by registering in the realme booth.

But wait theres more! realme will also be giving away Tugatog Music Festival live concert tickets, so make sure you visit realmes official Facebook page to find out more on how you can win FREE tickets.

Through partnerships such as the Tugatog Music Festival, realme continues its mission to provide platforms for local talent to be recognized and celebrated.

For more info and other brand updates, be sure to follow realme on Facebook or visit www.realme.com.ph.
In the twisted and highly-publicized defamation case involving Johnny Depp, Hollywood actor Amber Heard's legal team recently requested that a mistrial be declared, alleging that a wrong juror was seated on the jury.



According to Fox News, the filing was made by her legal team last Friday. They have argued that juror number 15 was not the individual who was summoned by the court and "could not have properly served on the jury at this trial."



BBC

The filing stated that the Jury Panel List included an individual with a date of birth is 1945, meaning the individual would have been 77 years old during the trial.



However, an individual who is 52 years old and lives at the same address as the 77-year-old was the person who appeared for jury duty and sat on the jury, the filing alleges.

"The individual who appeared for jury duty with this name was the younger one. Thus, the 52-year-old- sitting on the jury for six weeks was never summoned for jury duty on April 11," the filing says.

Due to this alleged error, the legal team states that Heards due process was "compromised," and a mistrial "should be declared."

Web Screen Grab

The filing added that the "safeguards" apparently didnt work in this instance, and the correct identity of the juror wasnt verified.



Former U.S. Attorney Neama Rahmani told Fox News that the allegation made by Heards legal team is "not grounds for a mistrial or for the verdict to be overturned."

Twitter

"Even if it was intentional, her lawyers will have to prove that the juror misconduct would have resulted in a challenge for cause. That means the wrong juror could not have been fair and impartial. Thats a tough hurdle for them to overcome," Rahmani said.



Depp's Lawyers Claim Heard's Accusations Are 'Misplaced':

Reuters

According to details obtained by Variety, Depps team said on Monday that Heard's claims are "desperate, after-the-fact demands for an investigation of Juror 15 based on a purported error in his birth date" and are "misplaced."



variety

They claim that she failed to prove that her due process was violated. They argued that two teams vetted Juror 15 "just as all of the other jurors were."

Reuters

"Unsurprisingly, Ms. Heard cites no case law to support her argument that the service of Juror 15, if he is not the same individual that the Court assigned as Juror 15, somehow compromised her due process and would warrant the drastic remedy of setting aside the verdict and ordering a new trial," wrote Depps lawyers.



"Ms. Heard shows no prejudice; accordingly, her speculative arguments fail."

Reuters

The new filing from Heard's legal team came a week after Heards legal team asked a judge to toss out the USD 10.35 million judgment made in favor of Johnny Depp, arguing that the evidence didnt support it.



Reuters

Following the six-week trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, a seven-person jury reached a verdict on June 1, deciding that Depp proved that Heard defamed him in the 2018 op-ed, in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."

Twitter

Depp has maintained that he never assaulted Heard and claimed she physically harmed him.



The jury awarded Depp USD 15 million in damages, but Heard will only have to pay USD 10.35 million due to a Virginia law limiting punitive damages (the judge reduced the amount). In her countersuit, Heard won one of the three defamation counts and was awarded USD 2 million in damages, as per People magazine.

(With ANI inputs)



(To get the latest updates from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.)
Finland has installed the worlds first fully working "sand battery" capable of storing green power for months at a time. Apart from storing power, the batteries can solve the issue of year-round supply.



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According to a BBC report, the year-round supply is a big problem. It is believed that this technology will solve the storage problem in a low-cost and low-impact way.

How do sand batteries work?

The low-grade sand used by sand batteries is heated up in the battery employing electricity generated from renewable energy (solar and wind). Renewable energy is considered to be cheaper compared to others.

BBC

The sand can store the energy in the form of heat at about 500 degrees Celsius. This stored energy would be useful in warming homes during winters.

Tommy Eronen, the sand battery developer told the BBC, We are heating the sand battery with clean electricity and then storing the heat there, and taking it up for use later on.

Why is innovation crucial for Finland?

The innovation or idea is still at its initial stage and it is yet to be known if the device could store electricity as well as heat.

Finland is among countries that face extreme and long winter conduction. Thus, it was very important for the country to develop such technology which can help people to afford cheaper electricity during the harsh conditions.

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Elina Seppanen, a member of the Tampere City Council told BBC, The power demand is so high. It can be really expensive to provide that power in the middle of the winter. If we have some stations that are just there for a few weeks, a few hours in the wintertime when its the coldest, its going to be extremely expensive. If we have this sort of solution that provides flexibility for the storage of heat, that would help a lot.

Polarnightenergy

The ongoing war between Russia-Ukraine also impacted the energy supply as Finland gets most of its gas from Russia. Thus, the importance of green energy increases even more. As Finland has decided to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the country has stopped the gas and electricity supplies to Finland.

About Polar Night Energy

Polar Night Energy is the first commercial sand battery at the premises of "new energy" company Vatajankoski.

Established at Kankaanpaa in western Finland, the plant is filled with a tall grey silo are about 100 tonnes of sand used in construction, a comparatively cheaper alternative to lithium, cobalt, and nickel, commonly used in other batteries.

BBC

At present, the central heating system for the district is powered by batteries. During energy price hikes, the energy stored in batteries can be used accordingly.

The energy can be extracted again. Polar Night CTO Markku Ylonen told BBC, "It's really easy to convert electricity into heat. But going back from heat to electricity, that's where you need turbines and more complex things. As long as we're just using the heat as heat, it stays really simple."
Since the national security law (NSL) in Hong Kong went into effect on June 30, 2020, 196 persons have been detained for alleged crimes linked to national security. 124 people have been charged thus far, and 5 businesses have faced legal action.

Reuters

The figures include both those detained under the NSL and those under a different statute pertaining to sedition. The Security Bureau did not publish separate data for sedition offences, despite having done so in the past.

What is Hong Kong's National Security Law?

A BBC report says that Hong Kong had always intended to establish a security law but was unable to do so due to the public disapproval. Therefore, this is about China intervening to make sure the city has a legislative structure to handle what it perceives as major challenges to its authority.

Reuters

As a result, Beijing's most forceful move came in June 2020 when it imposed a National Security Law on Hong Kong without consulting the local legislature.

The law uses incredibly wide definitions for crimes including terrorism, subversion, secession, and coordination with foreign forces and effectively criminalises all forms of protest.

Beijing is also allowed to deploy a security force in Hong Kong and to have an influence in the selection of judges to handle matters involving national security. Lawmakers and pro-democracy collectives condemned the action and voiced concern that it would spell "the end of Hong Kong."

In the meantime, after the large-scale protests, pro-Beijing MPs and Chinese officials stated that it is essential to restore stability.

What are the key provisions under the law?

The maximum sentence for crimes like secession, subversion, terrorism, and collaboration with foreign forces is life in jail. In this case, damaging public transportation facilities is also considered terrorism.

Companies that are found guilty under the law may be fined. This office has the authority to refer some cases for trial in mainland China, however, Beijing has stated that it will only have control over a "small percentage" of cases.

AFP

Furthermore, Hong Kong will have to set up its own security committee with a Beijing-appointed adviser to implement the legislation.

The top executive of Hong Kong will have the authority to select judges to hear matters involving national security, which raises concerns about judicial independence.

Importantly, Beijing, not any Hong Kong court or policy body, will have authority over how the law should be construed. Incase of conflict, Beijing legislation will take precedence over any Hong Kong laws.

It is possible to wiretap and keep an eye on those who are suspected of breaching the law. Additionally, non-permanent residents and anyone "from outside [Hong Kong]...who are not permanent residents of Hong Kong" will be subject to the law.

Background of the current situation

When the former British colony of Hong Kong was turned over to China more than twenty years ago, China committed to preserve most of what makes Hong Kong unique.

Beijing announced that it would allow Hong Kong 50 years to preserve its capitalist structure and enjoy a number of freedoms not available in cities on the Chinese mainland.

Reuters

In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China after being under British rule, but only under the terms of a special agreement that included a "one nation, two systems" tenet and a mini-constitution known as the Basic Law.

They are responsible for defending Hong Kong's unique freedoms, including its right to free speech, assembly, and association as well as its access to an independent court and some democratic rights.

The same agreement required Hong Kong to create its own national security law, which was outlined in Article 23 of the Basic Law, but it was never done due to public disapproval.

However, an extradition bill was proposed by China in 2019 that permit suspects from Hong Kong to be tried in China.

Some of the biggest protests Hong Kong has ever seen were started out of rage over the prospective law, which eventually grew into a larger anti-China and pro-democracy campaign.

In response to this, China passed the National Security Law.

How can China do this?

AFP

There are already a few Chinese legislation included in Annex III, most of which are uncontroversial and pertain to foreign policy. According to the Basic Law, Chinese laws cannot be enforced in Hong Kong until they are mentioned there.

These laws may be enacted by decree, which means that the city's parliament is not involved.

According to critics, this method of enacting the law violates the "one country, two systems" principle.
The Chhatarpur District Administration in Madhya Pradesh has withdrawn a show-cause notice issued to a government official for allegedly serving cold tea to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the Khajuraho airport.

The notice issued was issued to food supply officer Rakesh Kanhua, who was responsible for arranging tea and breakfast during the Chief Minister's transit visit to the airport on Monday.

AFP

The notice had said such lapses can create an embarrassing situation for the district administration regarding protocol meant for VVIPs.



Show-cause notice faces criticism

However, the notice issued by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) DP Dwivedi was withdrawn on Wednesday after the move was widely condemned.

"The people may even not get ration or not be able to get an ambulance, but the chief minister should not get cold tea, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja had said, referring to the video from Morena district showing an eight-year-old child cradling his brother's body for hours waiting for an ambulance.

BCCL

Even the state's ruling BJP had criticised the show-cause notice terming it as a 'personal grudge of an employee'.

"The officer who issued the notice should understand that such acts cannot be tolerated. It is not possible that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who likes simplicity, will complain about tea," said state BJP media in-charge Lokendra Parasar.

What the show-cause notice said

In the show-cause notice, it was alleged that "We have learnt that the Chief Minister was served substandard food (breakfast). Also, the tea offered to him was cold. The indecent behaviour of the district administration has put a question mark on the handling of CM's protocol. This happened as the VVIP services were taken casually".

"Why no disciplinary action should be initiated against you. You are directed to submit your reply within three days after receiving the notice," it added.

Tea was not served to the CM

Following the heavy criticism, on Wednesday Chhatarpur District Collector Sandeep GR cancelled the notice served by Dwivedi.

"It is clarified that the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister did not make any comment regarding breach of protocol. Therefore, ensure that the show-cause notice issued is withdrawn," read a circular issued by Sandeep GR.

BCCL

Chouhan and MP BJP president V D Sharma, who is also MP from Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency, were on a transit visit to Khajuraho on Monday. After meeting with party workers at the airport, the duo had left for Katni to campaign for ongoing urban body elections.

For more on news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is at the center of the ongoing anti-government protests on the island has fled the country.

According to the government, the President, his wife and two bodyguards left on a Sir Lankan Air Force flight to the neighbouring country on Tuesday night, hours before he was to step down from his post.

AP/ File

The Air Force which confirmed the development said that the operation was carried out at the request of the current government.

Will he resign today?

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has confirmed that he is yet to receive the resignation letter of the President.

Earlier he had said that President Rajapaksa had agreed to step down from his post on 13th July.

AP/ File

With Rajapaksa fleeing the country, what happens to his resignation is yet to be seen.

There are also some reports that Rajapaksa had handed his resignation to a top official and it will reach the Speaker on Wednesday itself.

Had tried to flee to Dubai earlier

This was Rajapaksa's second reported attempt to flee the country amid the turmoil.

The President along with his family was shifted to a Sri Lankan Navy ship on Friday night, hours before his official residence was run over by hundreds of thousands of protesters on Saturday.

AP

On Tuesday it was reported that the President tried to flee to Dubai, but was not allowed.

SBS Sinhala has claimed that Rajapaksa and his delegation were supposed to fly to Dubai on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL225 by an aviation department official, but were stopped by the authorities from visiting the public immigration counters for security reasons.

After this, he was asked to go to Bandaranaike airport to get his passport stamped. When he went there, the officials there also stopped him from going to the VIP or VVIP lounge.

According to airport sources, the President and his relatives and aides later tried to board Etihad flight EY267, but could not board the flight due to technical reasons.

Once Sri Lanka's most powerful family, now on the run

His brother and former Sri Lankan minister Basil Rajapaksa also tried to flee to Dubai, only to be turned away at the airport.

The Rajapaksas, including Mahinda, Gotabaya, Basil and Chamal were the power centers in the Island nation for a long time.

AP

But an unprecedented economic crisis, in which the opposition and protesters blame the government, saw their influence on the country being overrun by public anger.

Mahinda was the first to face the heat and in May he was forced to resign as the Prime Minister.

For more on news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Instant cab services like Uber have changed travel across the world. In just a few minutes, you could have a car taking you to a destination of your choice without any negotiation and without having to venture outside.

Now, it appears that Uber's success story may not be very straightforward. A new report alleges that the cab service used a "kill switch" during an office raid to make sure that authorities do not get access to Uber's data, and consequentially its business practices.

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Uber's kill switch

According to The Washington Post, Uber used the kill switch during a raid at its Amsterdam office in 2015. What it essentially does it block a certain office's laptops and other devices from Uber's internal systems.

At this time, Uber was no stranger to government raids. In fact, the company had curated a Dawn Raid Manual for its employees on ways to respond during a raid. Instructions included staying calm, moving the regulators into a meeting room, and never leaving regulators alone.

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Also read: Uber Eats Delivered Food In Space For Astronauts On International Space Station



The document containing such information is part of Uber Files - files amounting to 19.7 GB that were shared with The Guardian by former Uber lobbyist Mark MacGann who was the company's head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa between 2014-2016.

The files include information from 2013 to 2017 including 83,000 emails and various presentations, messages, etc. In essence, the documents reveal how Uber used its technological prowess to evade regulation and assessment by authorities.

What else did Uber Files reveal?

Since the files went public, Uber's senior vice president Jill Hazelbaker said that they would not make excuses for their past behaviour, suggesting that their present values are not the same. Hazelbaker also urged the public to judge Uber based on their actions in the last five years and "in the years to come."

The documents reveal other serious information. Allegedly, Uber used a programmed called "Greyball" to stop authorities from hailing cars so that no vehicles may be impounded and no drivers arrested.

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Also read: Beyond Google And Uber: 15 Chinese Apps, Services That China Has Cloned Successfully

In addition, Uber may have also used "geofencing" to block the usage of its app near police stations and other spots. As discussed above, the company also used management software to break computers' access to its internal network after being raided.

What do you think about the Uber Files? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Siddiqui, F., & Menn, J. (2022, July 11). Hit the kill switch: Uber used covert tech to thwart government raids. Washington Post.

Davies, H., Goodley, S., Lawrence, F., Lewis, P., & OCarroll, L. (2022, July 11). Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals. The Guardian.
Fenderson will be responsible for leading business development and broker distribution in Eastern US. He will manage both new and existing relationships and solicit broker submissions as he works closely with Kinetics underwriting team to ensure success. Additionally, he will foster specialized agency partners for Kinetic workers comp insurance and keep them informed on the benefits of wearable technology.

Kinetic has been offering workers compensation insurance through a partnership with Nationwide, highlighting a tech-driven approach to worker safety. The companys insurtech offerings help keep costs at a minimum by reducing workplace injuries through the use of wearable technology.

I am extremely excited to join the Kinetic team of passionate insurance professionals and to provide clients with unique and cutting-edge programs to reduce their total cost of risk, said Fenderson. The Kinetic Reflex is a game changer in the reduction of workplace injuries associated with soft tissue strains and brings with it the ability to positively impact peoples lives.
Ditching investments in fossil fuel businessesand denying them insurancearent the only ways for the insurance industry to participate in the drive to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to representatives of global insurers and reinsurers.

Even those companies that are continuing to insure the oil and gas industry can push the global transition to net zero forward by helping facilitate the growth of essential carbon removal technologies, they say.

But the insurance market for carbon removal is still in its early stages, as insurers tread carefully given the lack of loss history in an emerging sector. (See related article: The Global Urgency of Building the Carbon Removal Industry for how the insurance industry can help build the carbon removal sector.)

Some companies, such as Chubb, are continuing to insure oil and gas while also helping to push net zero transition. Chubb has exited the insurance of coal and tar sands, which have true sustainability issues, but is continuing to insure oil and gas because the world doesnt yet have great alternatives, according to CEO Evan Greenberg, who spoke at the recent 38th Annual S&P Global Ratings Insurance Conference.

He said Chubb is developing products to support industries that are either helping companies and individuals reduce their carbon footprint or create new technologies that produce energy that are carbon free.

The insurance industry is perfectly positioned to help facilitate the growth of the carbon removal industry via derisking, financing and purchasing new carbon removal services, said Mischa Repmann, senior sustainability risk manager at Swiss Re, in an interview.

This is where re/insurers with appetite for the journey can play to their strengths, said a Swiss Re Institute report titled The insurance rationale for carbon removal solutions, which was published in July 2021.

Three Transition Levers

As risk takers, institutional investors and buyers, Swiss Re said, insurance and reinsurance companies can help scale up the carbon removal industry in three ways:

Providing risk management knowledge and transfer solutions, as well as insurance capacity for evolving risk pools.

Providing capital as an institutional, long-term investor.

Stimulating the market as a buyer of green products and services to run their own operations.

For example, insurers can improve the bankability of carbon removal projects by providing compensation for losses in the case of adverse events, the report said. It explained that standard engineering policies, such as contractors all-risk policies, can cover the construction, operation and deconstruction risks of carbon removal facilities (for air filters, CO2 pipelines or injection rigs, among others).

In addition, standard property insurance can protect technology infrastructure and natural assets like forests against natural disasters, the report added. More challenging are potential long-term liability exposures arising from the risk of carbon storage reversal.

Storage Reversal Risks Carbon removal solutions come with the risk of storage reversal. Examples of storage reversal events include a wildfire destroying an afforestation project, the new owner of a farm abandoning carbon sequestering land-use practices, and a geological storage reservoir leaking through an old, insufficiently plugged well, according to Swiss Re Institutes July 2021 report,  Carbon removal solutions come with the risk of storage reversal. Examples of storage reversal events include a wildfire destroying an afforestation project, the new owner of a farm abandoning carbon sequestering land-use practices, and a geological storage reservoir leaking through an old, insufficiently plugged well, according to Swiss Re Institutes July 2021 report,  The insurance rationale for carbon removal solutions .

As institutional investors, insurers also can invest in green bonds, which can be used to finance wind farms, and they can provide financing for carbon removal projects and infrastructure. Carbon removal is a long-term investment opportunity through which re/insurers can balance their long-term liabilities, and run a net zero emissions asset portfolio strategy, said Swiss Re.

And last but not least, as buyers of green products, insurers can choose to source 100% of their own power consumption from renewable sources or be early buyers of carbon removal certificates to balance their own operational footprint in pursuit of net zero emissions.

That footprint is small relative to other sectors, making first-mover removal projects more affordable. By entering long-term offtake agreements and guaranteeing future revenues, re/insurers can be strong partners for the carbon removal industry while also gaining access to its new risk pools and asset classes, the report went on to say.

Undeveloped Insurance Market

Despite the possible business opportunities connected to carbon removal solutions, a related insurance market has yet to take off.

All told, with carbon removal processes still in early stages of development, the structuring and pricing of insurance offerings for the industry will remain challenging for some time. More projects, performance data and loss history are needed for insurers to build credible loss expectations, said Swiss Re.

There are also barriers to the asset management and investor side of insurance, as a result of the immaturity of the market and the lack of insurance offerings and institutional support that would alleviate some of the investment risks, the reinsurer said.

It is unlikely that any potential insurer or other investor would go into carbon removal alone. Instead, investors look for opportunities for sidecar investments, for instance, alongside the oil and gas majors already investing in the transition to net zero. This could smooth initial fears about the maturity of the market, the report confirmed.

As a buyer of carbon removal services, insurers that take the risk and engage early in carbon removal may find their investments well rewarded, it said. At first, they may increase their understanding of the new carbon removal risk landscape by offering standard products for the easy-to-cover exposures, by investing at a small scale and by entering long-term offtake agreements with select carbon removal providers.

(An offtake agreement is a contract to commit to buying future carbon removal credits from existing or planned carbon removal facilities at set price points several years into the future, according to Puro.Earth, a business-to-business carbon removal marketplace. This type of contract recognizes the uncertainty for deliverya consequence, for example, of being very early-stage or needing to build a new plantso the funding helps fledging developers start operations or expand existing operations).

When the market matures and the risk knowledge is built, liability covers for carbon removal servicescurrently considered uninsurable by manymay also become standard business, the report said. At that point, the front-runners among insurers will profit from the on-the-ground experience already gathered.

To enable liability insurance solutions for storage reversal events (see accompanying textbox for examples), insurers need to be able to build reliable expectations about worst-case loss scenarios, said Swiss Re. Insurance solutions offered by the private sector would likely be limited to shorter terms and with diverse exclusion clauses. Covering long-term liabilities would likely be left to public sector solutions, possibly in partnership with the private sector.

Daunting Task

The magnitude of the task ahead to net zero is daunting. Limiting global warming to 1.5C will require greenhouse gas emission cuts of 50% by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement was to limit average global temperatures to well below 2C (3.6F), and preferably to limit increases to 1.5C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial levels.

Even with the best efforts to cut emissions, after 2050, there will be residual carbon release, which means that emissions will not reach absolute zero in the 21st century, the Swiss Re report warned.

As a result, time is of the essence.

The carbon removal industry has to scale up at an unprecedented speed, the report added. [S]caling the deployment of carbon removal technologies and activities will be central to keeping global warming at safe levels over the long term.

To reach net zero and prevent the worst impacts of a warming world, the carbon removal industry will have to scale from some 10,000 tonnes of negative emissions today to around 10 billion tonnes [each year] by 2050, which is a quarter of what is emitted each year today, the report said.

It will take time to build that capacity, and work needs to start today, parallel to (not instead of) stringent emission reduction efforts. Later this century, it will take up to 20 billion tonnes of negative emissions each year to stay on track with the 1.5C global warming target, the report continued, noting that 20 billion tonnes corresponds to todays emissions from oil and gas products in one year.

The expected transition to a lower-carbon economy is estimated to require around $1 trillion of investments a year for the foreseeable future, generating new investment opportunities, according to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, which was formed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks and investors in providing information to stakeholders.

Carbon Removal

Carbon in the atmosphere can be captured and stored in different ways. The lowest cost options involve nature-based solutions such as sequestering carbon in forests, wetlands, oceans and soil, which carry a risk of storage reversal in the cases of wildfires, floods and illegal deforestation.

On the other hand, there are also technical solutionsmany still in the early stages of developmentthat use industrial processes to remove atmospheric CO2 for capturing, storage or both.

CO2 can be filtered from the atmosphere and used as commercial goods in long-lived products like concrete. It can also be contained and mineralized in underground rock layers, for instance in depleted oil and gas reservoirs. The corresponding implementation costs are higher than for nature-based solutions because the existing technological approaches are under-deployed and new ones are under-developed. Importantly, however, the risk of reversal is lower, said the report. (See related article: The Global Urgency of Building the Carbon Removal Industry, for more on these technical solutions.)

We all need to do our best and remove the rest. In other words: reduce, reduce, reduce, and in parallel, balance the unavoidable emissions through carbon removal. When it comes to removals, lets use nature-based solutions wherever sustainably possible to achieve their wealth of co-benefits for the natural and human environment. At the same time, we need to invest in the more scalable and durable technological solutions like direct air capture to limit global warming over the long run, said Repmann in a statement accompanying the report. (With direct air capture and storage, CO2 is filtered directly from ambient air, compressed and then injected into geological formations deep underground for permanent storage, the Swiss Re report explained.)

We need to abate and then offset the hard-to-abate emissions, agreed Gabrielle Durisch, head of Sustainability for Commercial Insurance at Zurich Insurance Group, in an interview.

Zurich did just that recently when it signed carbon removal agreements with several suppliers of carbon removal solutions such as biochar, which is formed from heating biomass in the absence of oxygen (also known as pyrolysis). Zurich announced it has made advanced payments to help these suppliers further develop, scale and commercialize their early stage and innovative technologies. (Related article: The Global Urgency of Building the Carbon Removal Industry)

Swiss Re described biochar as a hybrid carbon removing solution that seeks to combine and reap the benefits of different features of nature-based and technological approaches. Technology is better at converting CO2 into durable forms of storage, Swiss Re added.

Carbon removal will need to evolve into a multitrillion-dollar industry akin to the value of the oil and gas industry today if we are to hit the climate targets set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement, said Christoph Nabholz, chief research officer at Swiss Re Institute, in a statement. Serious investment in this nascent industry must start now. Failing to tackle climate change could result in global GDP loss of 18%No action is not an option.

Transition Risks

Of course, there are risks and opportunities associated with the transition to net zero, as nations and industries work to reduce their reliance on oil and gas.

[O]rganizations can be vulnerable to several types of climate-related transition risks: a) policy and legal risks reflecting changes in policy and litigation action; b) technology risk as emerging technologies impact the competitiveness of certain organizations; c) market risk from changes to supply and demand; and d) reputational risks tied to changing customer or community perceptions, according to the Financial Stability Board.

Some organizations will be more significantly affected by transition riskssuch as fossil fuel-based industries, energy-intensive manufacturers and transportation activities, while other organizations will be more affected by the physical risks of climate change: agriculture, transportation, building infrastructure, insurance and tourism, according to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Some transition risks will be mitigated by technological advances, but novel technology can in turn also create new risks. The insurance industry has a vital role to play in the transition, by spreading best practice, providing specialist risk transfer knowledge and capacity to partners in other sectors of the economy, and as an enabler for investment in the innovation necessary to make carbon reduction and removal a reality, said a recently published report from Swiss Re SONAR titled New emerging risk insights.

An article published in July 2021 by ESG software specialist Diligent provided some examples of transition risks:

Changed land-use policies or water conservation practices impacting the agricultural sector.

The costs the energy industry faces in developing low-carbon technologies.

A reduction in the value of investments in carbon-heavy industries.

The requirements of additional regulation and reporting.

Transition risks can occur when moving toward a less polluting, greener economy, explained the Bank of England. Such transitions could mean that some sectors of the economy face big shifts in asset values or higher costs of doing business.

The BoE emphasized its not that policies promulgated at the Paris Climate Agreement are bad for the economy. Indeed, the risk of delaying the transition to net zero would be far worse. Rather, its about the speed of transition to a greener economyand how this affects certain sectors and financial stability, the BoE continued.

One example is energy companies. If government policies were to change in line with the Paris Agreement, then two-thirds of the worlds known fossil fuel reserves could not be burned. This could lead to changes in the value of investments held by banks and insurance companies in sectors like coal, oil and gas, the bank said.

While the physical risks from climate change have been discussed for many years, transition risks are a relatively new category. Some firms are now choosing to reduce investments into sectors like coal to help manage these risks.

The bank also pointed to liability risks, which would come from people or businesses seeking compensation for losses they suffer from the physical or transition risks of climate change.

Suppose investors back a business which goes on to make a loss due to climate-related events. There may then be a question as to whether the business had provided enough information about its exposure to these climate-related financial risks. If investors felt this information had not been provided, they might make a claim against the business, the BoE explained.

The Swiss Re report noted that certain industries will be more difficult and more expensive to decarbonize.

Large quantities of fossil fuel reserves and resources are likely to become unburnable or stranded if countries around the world implement climate policies effectively, said an article published in November 2021 by Nature. The article noted that the transition is already under way and stranded fossil fuel assets of between $7 trillion and $11 trillion could arise between 2022 and 2036.

Transition Opportunities

However, the push to net zero is also creating opportunities, both for companies and their investors, said Natalie Ambrosio Preudhomme, director, Moodys ESG Solutions, in a webinar on transition risks held in April.

Firms that capitalize on technological developments stand to benefit from more efficient processes and thus often reduced costs as well as increased reputation and potentially market share, she said.

For example, Ford shares rose 12% to their highest levels in 21 years after it announced increased production capacity for its electric F-150 pickup, she added. So, how a firm will be affected by the transition to a low carbon economy depends upon many factors beyond its greenhouse gas emissions.

***

This article is one of several in Carrier Managements midyear 2022 digital magazine that is focused on climate change risks. (Carrier Management is Insurance Journals sister publication that is focused on the C-suite.)

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Topics Market
GCube Names Shimal, Litterick to Underwriting Posts

Renewable energy specialist GCube Underwriting, a member of the Tokio Marine HCC group of companies, has appointed two people to senior positions within the organisation. Josh Shimali, who has been with the business for over a decade, has been promoted to head of onshore underwriting, while Olly Litterick has been recruited as head of London Market underwriting.

Joining the company from Occam Underwriting Limited, Litterick brings with him close to 15 years of underwriting and brokerage experience. He served previously as divisional director at RKH Speciality, renewable energy underwriter at Chaucer Syndicates, and most recently as director of low carbon energy at Occam Underwriting Limited.

Shimali will take on responsibility for GCubes overall underwriting strategy. Shimali has over a decade of experience in the renewables space, and his time at GCube has seen him build an intricate knowledge of the business and its client base.

The company said the pair will also be contributing to strategic planning and overall underwriting management.

GCube underwrites renewable energy projects in wind, solar, wave, hydro and tidal around the globe.

Amlin Adds Barnes as Head of Marine

Reinsurer MS Amlin Underwriting Limited has appointed Malcolm Barnes as head of marine reinsurance. Barnes will take up his role in September.

With a career spanning more than 35 years in the reinsurance sector, Barnes joins Amlin from Canopius, where he was head of marine treaty. Prior to this, Barnes was divisional director for reinsurance at Amtrust with responsibility for all inwards reinsurance business. Barnes also spent a number of years as vice president at XL Re, as well as Guy Carpenter where he held a variety of business development and broking responsibilities.

RiverStone Names Rocke M&A Head; Saunders Leads Underwriting

RiverStone International, an acquirer and reinsurer of legacy and discontinued insurance business, has made changes in its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) practice.

David Rocke is now group head of M&A. Rocke will continue his role as managing director of RiverStone Insurance Bermuda Limited alongside this appointment in RiverStone Internationals growth strategy.

Reporting to David Rocke will be Jamie Saunders, who has been with RiverStone since March as chief underwriting officer. Saunders will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the group M&A and integration functions, as well as working with Rocke on business development. Saunders brings with him nearly 20 years of experience in legacy insurance and reinsurance with a specific focus on transactions in Bermuda, the U.S. and the UK, most recently in his former role as head of M&A operations and integration at Enstar.

Rocke and Saunders will be based in Bermuda.

Also, David Alexander, former acquisitions and business development director, has been appointed business planning and strategy director. In his new role Alexander will support RiverStones financial development using his considerable expertise in insurance restructuring, run-off management and business transformation.

RiverStone International operates in the UK company and Lloyds of London markets.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Underwriting Mississippi
The UK Treasury has announced the appointment of Ashley Alder as the new chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Alder is currently chief executive officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, a role he has held since 2011. He also chairs the board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions and sits on the Financial Stability Boards Plenary and its Steering Committee.

Alder began his career as a lawyer in London in 1984 and practised in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. He was executive director of the SFCs corporate finance division from 2001 to 2004, before returning to private practice at Herbert Smith LLP, a law firm, as head of Asia.

Alder is expected to take up his role as FCA chair in January. He is appointed for a five-year term.

Treasury has also reappointed Dr Alice Maynard and Liam Coleman, who respectively chair the FCAs Audit and People Committees, to the board for their second three-year terms.

Richard Lloyd took over as interim chair of the FCA in June following the decision by Charles Randell to step down as chair, which was announced in October 2021. Lloyd will continue as interim chair until January and then resume his role as the FCAs senior independent director.

The FCA, which regulates 51,000 financial firms and markets, is looking to become more aggressive against online financial scams. It also faces the challenge of navigating Britains departure from the European Union.
Note: This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.

Moscows plan to implement a new law enabling authorities to seize the assets of Western firms leaving the country failed to get through parliament before the summer recess, giving companies more time to negotiate exits.

Russias parliamentary session ended last week without the bill being passed. That makes any progress unlikely until at least mid-September, when the lower house of parliament, or Duma, begins reviewing proposed laws in its autumn session.

Some experts now doubt whether the proposed law will be implemented at all.

The fact that it only passed the first reading and got stuck means there is no consensus in the government about its further fate, said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of political analysis firm R.Politik.

The delay may ease concerns that Moscow is taking a more aggressive approach to remaining Western firms, heightened by President Vladimir Putins decision last month to seize full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project by decree.

It is unclear whether Putin could issue a broader decree to seize assets from other industries.

Russia already closely monitors companies that leave, whether abruptly or smoothly, to ensure their obligations to employees were met in line with Russian law, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

The government is keeping very tight control over this, so one can say that work is well established there, Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, adding that questions on the laws progress would be better addressed to the Duma.

The ruling United Russia party, whose lawmakers tabled the draft bill, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The proposed law would allow Russia to intervene to protect local jobs or industry, letting it appoint administrators to foreign-owned companies that want to quit Russia.

It won initial parliamentary approval in May, with backing from First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, who had warned against allowing companies to leave, lock the door and leave people without work and consumers without products.

While the draft has now been put on ice, the parliament can reconvene in emergencies and will gather on Friday for an extraordinary session to discuss a raft of issues, including some on competition and information policy.

The Duma has not said which specific laws it will discuss on Friday. The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to comment on the upcoming session.

Russia launched what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24. The United States and its allies responded with the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia and Moscows business elite, steps Putin has cast as a declaration of economic war.

Putin has repeatedly warned that Moscow would respond in kind, but so far, Western businesses that continue to operate in Russia say they have seen little interference.

In the beginning there was very hawkish rhetoric on nationalization, expropriation, to counter the scope of Western sanctions  but then it faded, said Maria Shagina, research fellow at the IISS think tank.

Companies have been wrestling with how to leave Russia in ways that limit the financial impact, do not put employees at risk and, in some cases, offer the opportunity to return in future.

Western companies, including Nike and Cisco, accelerated their departures in recent weeks amid speculation that the new laws were imminent. The delay gives those remaining time to assess options.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux and John ODonnell; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Tomasz Janowski)

Topics Russia
A group that wants to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota turned in more that 25,000 signatures to the secretary of state Monday in an effort to place the matter before voters in November.

The group, New Approach North Dakota, needed 15,582 signatures to get the measure on the ballot for the general election.

The organizations campaign manager, David Owen, says all the additional signatures they gathered shows there is broad support for legalization.

Weve had signature gatherers in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, Williston.we were at Country Fest this weekend in New Salem. This was campaign that was done in less than 100 days and we averaged 2,000 signatures a week the whole way through, Owen told KFGO. We think that this really shows true, strong support across the state, the fact that we were able to get so many people to sign.

Secretary Al Jaegers office has 35 days to review the signatures and determine if enough of the petitions are valid to place the measure on the ballot.

The New Approach initiative would allow people 21 and older to legally use marijuana at home as well as possess and cultivate restricted amounts of cannabis. Public consumption of marijuana would not allowed under the proposed provision.

The measure would also establish policies to regulate retail stores, cultivators, and other types of marijuana businesses.

A similar effort failed in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hampered the groups effort at gathering signatures.

Marijuana was a major topic in the Republican-controlled Legislature last year. State representatives brought bills to legalize and tax the drug, but the Senate killed the bills that were passed by the House.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by a Georgia man claiming Bayer AGs Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the company as it seeks to avoid potentially billions of dollars in damages.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Montgomery, Alabama, rejected Bayers argument that federal law shielded it from state law claims like the one brought by John Carson, who said he was diagnosed with a type of cancer called malignant fibrous histiocytoma in 2016 after using Roundup for 30 years. Carson said the company should have warned of cancer risk on the products label.

Bayer said it disagreed with the ruling and would consider its options. It said any cancer warning would be inconsistent with the label approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bayer continues to stand fully behind its Roundup products, said the company, which acquired the weedkiller line with its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto in 2018.

The German conglomerate has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.

A lawyer for Carson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another federal appeals court, the 9th Circuit, rejected the same argument in a California lawsuit in 2020.

Bayer had hoped that a victory in Carsons case would create a conflict between appeals courts that would make the U.S. Supreme Court more likely to take up the issue, potentially limiting its liability in thousands of lawsuits.

The court has so far rejected the companys petitions to hear Roundup lawsuits.

Related:

Topics Lawsuits
When an officer pulled Brandy Bottone over for driving by herself in a high occupancy vehicle lane in Texas just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she pointed to her pregnant belly and told him her unborn daughter now counts as a person.

I said, Well, not trying to throw a political mix here, but with everything going on, this counts as a baby, said Bottone, who was eight months pregnant when she was pulled over June 29.

Bottone, who lives in the Dallas suburb of Plano, plans to fight the ticket in court next week. Her story was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.

I was driving to pick up my son. I knew I couldnt be a minute late, so I took the HOV lane, she said.

Bottones ticket came five days after the Supreme Court stripped away womens constitutional protections for abortion. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. In Texas, the fall of Roe put in motion a trigger law that will ban virtually all abortions in the coming weeks, and defines an unborn child as a living human from fertilization to birth. And in the meantime, a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court led to clinics halting abortion services.

Last year in Texas, a law banning most abortions after about six weeks _ before many women know they are pregnant _ took effect.

Bottone said the stand shes taking on the ticket isnt for or against abortion, but that the law should be uniform. If theres a pro-women category, thats my stance, she said.

One law is saying that this is a baby and now hes telling me this baby thats jabbing my ribs is not a baby, said Bottone, 32. Why cant it all make sense?

Dallas attorney Chad Ruback said different judges might have different takes on her argument.

I find her argument creative, but I dont believe based on the current itineration of Texas Transportation Code that her argument would likely succeed in front of an appellate court, Ruback told the Washington Post. That being said, its entirely possible she could find a trial court judge who would award her for her creativity.

An Arizona woman tried to argue in 2006 that her unborn child counted as a passenger after she was fined for driving alone in a carpool lane, but a judge rejected the claim, saying the rules were designed to fill empty seats in a vehicle.

Meanwhile in Texas, Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison, wrote on Twitter that he plans to introduce legislation to clarify that unborn babies should be treated as passengers. He said: Unborn babies are persons (meaning theyre also passengers), and should be treated accordingly under Texas laws.

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

Topics Texas
A Louisiana judge ruled last week that the states insurance commissioners directive ordering insurers to pay policyholders Hurricane Ida evacuation expenses is invalid and unenforceable.

Judge Patrick Moore of the Division of Administrative Law wrote that Louisiana Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon acted in abuse of his offices discretion by issuing Directive 218, which authorized all insurers to pay expenses incurred by policyholders who resided in 25 specified parishes, because of evacuation and/or being prohibited from using their insured premises due to Hurricane Ida.

State Farm and Dover Bay Specialty were among companies who refused to waive mandatory evacuation requirements to cover evacuation expenses. Most homeowners insurance policies only require insurers to cover living expenses if policyholder is under a mandatory evacuation order. Officials in some of the 25 specified parishes did not order evacuations, nor did they issue declarations asking residents not to return to their homes at any time before or after landfall of Hurricane Ida.

On Sep. 2, 2021, Donelon issued Bulletin 2021-07, which requested that insurers waive policy language that required the issuance of a civil evacuation order to trigger Prohibited Use coverage. Prohibited Use coverage often covers additional living expenses, such as hotel and fuel costs for when a policyholder is under an evacuation or stay-away order.

Five days later, Donelon issued Directive 218 upon learning that some insurers refused Prohibited Use coverage. The directive required payment of those claims.

In Moores ruling, he called Directive 218 an improper exercise of Donelons discretion. Moore wrote that nowhere in the Louisiana Insurance Code gives the Commissioner power to extend Prohibited Use benefits to insureds who resided in parishes or municipalities that were not subject to an evacuation order issued by civil authority.

Moore called Donelons interpretation of the Prohibited Use policy language wrong, manifestly erroneous, and shocking to the conscience of the tribunal.

Topics Carriers Legislation Louisiana
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Kinetic Names Fenderson Regional VP

Kinetic, a maker of wearable technology for industrial worker safety, has named Troy Fenderson of North Carolina regional vice president.

Fenderson, who lives in Mooresville, North Carolina, will oversee insurance distribution, business development and broker distribution in the eastern United States, company officials said in a news release. He has more than 30 years experience in workers compensation insurance.

Kinetic works with Nationwide Insurance to monitor and improve worker safety, benefitting carriers and policyholders, the company said. The wearables detect unsafe movement and have been shown to significantly reduce injuries and lost work time.

North Carolina Chief Deputy Commissioner Moves to Academia

North Carolinas chief deputy insurance commissioner will soon become an associate professor of management and the chair of business administration at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.

Michelle Osbornes last day at the Department of Insurance will be Aug. 15, Commissioner Mike Causey said in a statement.

Michelle has been a tireless advocate and voice for our department, and with the insurance industry and consumers. We will continue to rely on her expertise, Causey said. We wish to thank her for her service and are excited for this next step in her career.

Osborne, who has spent 25 years in the insurance business, as a CEO and manager, previously was a professor at Campbell University and was an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University.

She earned her masters of business administration from Campbell and holds a doctorate in business administration from George Fox University in Oregon.
An insurance company that covers counties and other public entities in Idaho says it wont renew Canyon Countys insurance policy because of increasing risks and a high volume of claims.

The Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, known as ICRMP, sent a letter to Canyon County officials on May 23, citing numerous factors including adverse claim development and increasing risk exposures, the Idaho Press reported. The Nampa-based newspaper obtained the document through public records requests.

Canyon County Public Information Officer Joe Decker said the countys elected officials couldnt immediately comment because the situation is onging.

We are working to evaluate all options, including potential renewal with ICRMP and the potential acquisition of replacement coverage, Decker wrote in an email. More information will be forthcoming when available.

Canyon County Commissioners responded to ICRMP in a June 2 letter that suggested the county might appeal the non-renewal notice. They took issue with the non-renewal decision, saying, the abruptness and comprehensiveness of this total separation, and the lack of warning or opportunity to cure any perceived issue, is shocking.

The commissioners also said the insurance companys documentation showing the countys loss history wasnt accurate. They said 25 of the claims listed are unrelated to the county.

They also said the insurance company was equating so-called nuisance settlements, often made when an entity decides that paying someone to end a lawsuit would be cheaper or more convenient than fighting the matter in court, with actual misconduct by the county or its representatives.

Tim Osborne, executive director of ICRMP, said in a phone interview that he could not elaborate on the reasons that the board voted to non-renew the policy. He said his office is working to coordinate a meeting with Canyon County officials to review the documentation of the reasons the board voted to non-renew. After that meeting, Canyon County officials could request a meeting with the board in open session about how to move forward, he said.

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

Topics Carriers
PCF Insurance Services acquired Andreini & Company in San Mateo, California.

Andreini & Company specializes in industry niches such as agriculture, aviation, transportation, oil & gas and equine mortality. The brokerage employs more than 200 insurance professionals and has 15 offices throughout the U.S.

Lehi, Utah-based PCF is a consultant and insurance brokerage firm offering commercial, life and health, employee benefits, and workers compensation services.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions California
Ireland recorded what is thought to be its first right-wing terrorist arrest in 2021, according to a Europol report on terrorism.

The report underlines the changing profile of terrorism-related arrests in Ireland over the last 10 years, with a significant reduction in arrests of dissident republicans and the emergence of arrests for jihadist terrorism in recent years.

Europols Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2022 shows a single arrest for right-wing extremism in Ireland last year, in what is believed to have been the first in the country.

There were 14 terrorism arrests in Ireland in 2021: Seven for nationalist terrorism;

Four for jihadist terrorism;

One for right wing terrorism. The latter case refers to the arrest of a man for firearms offences in 2021.

The report said that while the mans motivations are not yet clear, it said he was known to have been sympathetic with right-wing extremism.

It also said he had an interest in previous atrocities committed by right-ring extremists.

The man has not yet been linked to any particular group.

Jihadist terrorism is defined as being linked to a radical, violent form of Islamic extremism and that the majority of groups or individuals are linked to the al-Qaeda network and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

Figures from Europol highlight the extent to which the profile of terrorism arrests has changed in Ireland:

In 2012, there were 66 arrests, 41 in 2013 and 41 again in 2015 - all nationalist-related;

In 2016, the number of nationalist arrests dropped to 17, with a jihadist arrest recorded that year;

In 2017, there were 11 arrests, three jihadist and eight non-specified (but thought to be dissident);

In 2018, there were no figures provided and, in 2019, just five arrests were recorded, all jihadist;

In 2020, there were 24 arrests, 18 of them jihadist (17 of these for financing jihadist terrorism) and just six nationalist Across the EU, the report shows that the number of jihadist arrests have dropped from 436 in 2019 to 260 in 2020, while the number of right-wing arrests have trebled, from 21 to 64.

Nationalist arrests have fallen, from 48 to 19.

In relation to right-wing extremism, the report said the ages of suspects continued to decrease, potentially influenced by more time online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Spreading propaganda

"Gaming platforms and gaming communication services popular among young people and children are used for spreading right-wing terrorist and extremist propaganda," it said.

It said that while the right-wing scene used to concentrate mostly on hierarchically organised neo-Nazi groups, loose international networks have emerged online.

It said these consist mostly of very young men with the potential for lone actor attacks.

It said international online connections and networks, especially the ones with USA contacts, play a strong role in spreading propaganda in the EU.

The report said mental health issues were of growing concern among law enforcement agencies as they may make some individuals more susceptible to right-wing extremist ideas.

This has been enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic measures, such as school closures and prolonged social isolation.

It said violent anti-Covid-19 and anti-government extremism, which was not affiliated with traditional violent extremist and terrorist activities, emerged in some Member States and non-EU countries.

Such forms of violent extremism materialised in open threats, hateful messages spread online and, in some cases, the use of violence, it said.

Targets included politicians, government representatives, police, health authorities involved in the management of the crisis, or personnel from test and vaccination centres.

New IRA

It said the New IRA (nIRA) continued to be the dominant group and remained engaged in attack planning, while the threat from CIRA was largely localised to small geographic areas of Northern Ireland.

It said both groups rely on a support network of members active in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The report said disruption by law enforcement and the Covid-19 restrictions has had a suppressive effect and that the number of attacks in Northern Ireland continued to drop, with two failed attacks on national security targets reported in 2021.

It said, in mid-March 2021, a shooting was directed at Enniskillen police station using a homemade firearm.

It said no casualties were reported and the CIRA was allegedly involved in this incident.

The following month, an IED was deployed targeting an off duty police officer in Dungiven, Co Derry, but that it failed to function. It said the attack was believed to have been conducted by the nIRA.

The report said:

Both the nIRA and CIRA maintained the intent and capabilities to conduct attacks, with police, military and prison officers as the preferred targets.

The weapons generally used by DR groups included firearms or small IEDs (such as pipe bombs), but they have also deployed larger and potentially more destructive devices such as vehicle borne IEDs and explosive projectiles.

It said both dissidents and loyalist groups continued to engage in violence and intimidation against their own communities.

It said their activities included minor and serious criminality, such as drug trafficking, extortion, fuel laundering and murder.
Police are investigating after images emerged of effigies of Sinn Fein and Alliance leaders hanging from a loyalist bonfire in Co Antrim.

Effigies of Sinn Fein president and vice president Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill and Alliance Party leader Naomi Long were pictured on the Eleventh Night bonfire in Carrickfergus.

Ms Long said the pictures, which she said were of the Glenfield bonfire in Carrick, made her feel physically sick.

Michelle ONeill and Mary Lou McDonald (Brian Lawless/PA)

Im not sharing the images due to risk of distressing families who have lost loved ones by suicide, she wrote on Twitter.

And because they are utterly sick.

I will, however, be sharing them and the pictures of the bonfire builders standing proudly in front of their creation with the police.

These were not last minute additions. There are photos of a childrens fun day taking place at this fire while our effigies were hanging on it. Some local businesses even sponsored it.

What kind of parent would see that and think its acceptable for their child to see?

I felt physically sick at those photos  not just at the effigies but at the festering hatred and sectarianism they represent; hatred that not only persists in our community but is being passed on to the next generation as normal. This has to stop. Our children deserve better.

Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly condemned what he branded a hate crime.

The burning of flags, posters and effigies which included first minister-elect Michelle ONeill, party leader Mary Lou McDonald and other political figures on bonfires is wrong, deeply offensive and is a hate crime, he said.

Sinn Fein has reported a number of hate crimes to the PSNI related to bonfires.

There is an onus on unionist political and community leaders to stand up against these displays of sectarian hatred and make it clear that there is no place for them in this society.

The silence from some senior unionist leaders to date has been deafening.

Mr Kelly said the incident highlighted the need for safeguarding regulations around bonfires.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson condemned the displays.

Whilst the overwhelming number of Twelfth celebrations were hugely successful, some events require further work and other displays must be outrightly condemned as wrong, he said.

Read More Man dies after fall from bonfire in Northern Ireland

Throughout my lifetime I have had the privilege to celebrate and educate others about my identity all over the world.

"At no point has burning posters, flags or pictures of serving politicians featured as part of that. Nor has slogans or displays that advocate sectarian violence against anyone in this society regardless of their political position or religious views.

I was also horrified to learn of Twelfth decorations being destroyed in Co Tyrone and other hate crimes against the loyal orders having to be investigated across the province.

We have a rich Ulster-British cultural identity. I want people to focus on celebrating and displaying our culture rather than denigrating others.

When republican terrorists waged a campaign of hate against people of my faith, I condemned and stood against it. When anyone tries to incite hate, I will call it out and stand foursquare against it.

All politicians in Northern Ireland must be consistent in their condemnation of hate.

Bonfires were lit in loyalist areas across Northern Ireland on Monday night (Niall Carson/PA)

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie condemned the effigies as utterly vile.

Hanging effigies on bonfires does not represent the union and unionist culture I believe in, he tweeted.

Staying silent cannot be an option.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: The police service is aware of images which have emerged showing effigies placed on a bonfire in Carrickfergus and are investigating.

Monday night saw crowds gather across Northern Ireland to watch the bonfires being set alight in loyalist areas to start Twelfth of July commemorations.

Before the fires were lit, police said that they were investigating multiple reports of flags, effigies and election posters on bonfires.
From the Archive Burma Must Make Clear its Nuclear Ambitions

The regime's Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Myo Thein Kyaw (left), junta chief Min Aung Hlaing (center) and Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev sign an MoU in Moscow on Tuesday.

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is currently in Russia, where, according to a mouthpiece media outlet of the regimes State Administration Council (SAC), he visited Rosatom, a Russian stateowned nuclear energy corporation, on Tuesday and met with Director General Alexey Likhachev to talk about cooperation in the sectors beneficial for peoples of both countries in atomic energy technological cooperation arena, conducting science and research, manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, agriculture, livestock, industry and foodstuff sectors with the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

More importantly, the regimes Ministry of Science and Technology signed a memorandum of understanding with Rosatom. The SAC has not yet released any details of the MoU, however.

It is not the first time the Myanmar militarys interest in atomic energy has caught the worlds attention. In 2009, The Irrawaddy published the following commentary on the need for the then-ruling junta to make clear its nuclear ambitions, which were already the subject of much speculation and warnings from the US about the implications of nuclear technology transfers to Myanmars generals.

Reports of Burmas shady nuclear ambitions have resurfaced to take their place alongside warnings by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of secret military ties and possible technology transfers between Burma and North Korea.

One report which aroused special interest was based on research by Desmond Ball, an Australian security analyst and author of several books on nuclear strategy and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.

However, to understand the present situation and Burmas nuclear ambitions we need to look at the past. Burmas interest in nuclear science and technology is, in fact, nothing new.

Three years ago, The Irrawaddy published a special cover story on Burmas nuclear ambitions. A Burmese scholar, Maung Thuta, wrote: More than five decades ago, Kyaw Nyein, the pragmatic modernist among the ruling triumvirate, with U Nu and Ba Swe, and the driving force behind Burmas nascent industrialization, oversaw the setting up in 1953, under the Ministry of Industry, of the Union of Burma Applied Research Institute (UBAEC), in collaboration with the American Armour Research Foundation.

In 1955, the Atomic Energy Centre and the Atomic Minerals Department were established and dozens of young scholars and technicians were sent abroad, mainly to the US, to study medical physics, nuclear physics, nuclear, metallurgical and mining engineering and technical training in nuclear applications in instrumentation, agriculture and industry. The same year Burma attended the first international conference on peaceful uses of atomic energy, which was held in Geneva. Two years later, Burma joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Maung Thuta, in an article entitled Transparency Needed, wrote at the dawn of the Atomic Age, Burmas nuclear elites centered around the UBAEC apparently had no doubts about propelling Burma into a modern industrial state through extensive research and development in the fields of power production, agriculture, medicine, industry and

education.

Indeed, Burma was well advanced in those days to develop a nuclear project, compared to neighboring countries. In the early 1960s, a site for a nuclear research reactor was designated near the Hlaing Campus in Rangoon.

However, the first phase of nuclear ambitions faltered and stagnated within a few years when the much-vaunted Pyidawthar industrial plan failed and UBAEC patron Kyaw Nyein fell from grace amid disputes among the ruling political elite, Maung Thuta wrote.

Burmas early nuclear ambitions ended there. Gen Ne Win, who staged a military coup in 1962, had little interest in nuclear projects, nor did he trust scholars. So Burmas nuclear program fell by the wayside, although in 1984 the general admitted to university professors at a private dinner party that he had made a blunder by ending it.

One of the experts from those times, Thein Oo Po Saw, who earned a masters degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois in 1950s, remains active in Burma today.

Thein Oo Po Saw played a crucial role in reviving Burmas Atomic Energy Committee and renewing links with the IAEA. He also urged Burmas military regime in 1995 to join the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training in Nuclear Science and Technology in Asia and the Pacific (RCA).

The professor has taught at the Defense Services Academy in Maymyo and is currently an adviser to the Ministry of Science and Technology and adjunct professor at the Yangon [Rangoon] Technological University.

Whatever the motives involved, the regime revitalized the nuclear project. An Arakanese professor, Thein Oo Po Saw, renewed links with the IAEA. Since then, Burma has been demonstrating its intention to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

The regime has outwardly supported the concept of nuclear-free zones and signed the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, or Bangkok Treaty, in 1995. A year later, Burma signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Burmas renewed interest in nuclear technology was evident, however. The Ministry of Science and Technology was created in 1997 and headed by an extreme nationalist, U Thaung, a graduate of Defense Services Academy Intake 1.

Two years later, Burma began negotiations with Russia on a nuclear reactor project, and in January 2002 the military regime confirmed plans to build a nuclear research reactor for peaceful purposes. The Deputy Foreign Minister at that time, Khin Maung Win, declared that Burmas interest in nuclear energy for peaceful purpose is longstanding.

Thein Oo Po Saw also played a key role in the military-sponsored National Convention.

During discussions of a chapter of the draft constitution relating to the defense of the Union of Burma, he and several professional colleagues made an interesting suggestion.

The chapter under discussion on March 3, 2005, covered seven key points on national defense, including chemical and biological weapons.

The professor suggested an addition to the chapter to cover the prevention of terrorist acts and pressures in enacting laws regarding the defense of the Union of Myanmar and of its every part, and to prepare a defense program.

That program would potentially include conventional arms, ammunition and explosives, and non-conventional sophisticated strategic arms as well as nuclear energy, nuclear fuel and radiation, and mineral resources that produce them, highly classified materials, objects, areas, technologies, researches and information and special security issues, accidents concerning the persons whose work involves highly classified materials, objects, areas, technologies, researches and information, and compensation and insurance coverage for them in case of accidents, according to a report in state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

Aung Toe, the chairman of the National Convention Convening Work Committee, replied by saying that such a programparticularly a nuclear onewould incur international criticism if it was included in the chapter on defense and security.

Aung Toes prediction was not wrong. Now some international press reports suggest that Burma is on the way to possessing a nuclear bomb.

The lack of transparency in Burmas nuclear program and the regimes repressive nature only increased the suspicions of international critics and dissident groups.

Aside from Thein Oo Po Saw, Burmas nuclear project has been developed by Minister U Thaung, who signed the reactor agreement in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russias atomic agency. U Thaung is known to be close to junta chief Snr Gen Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

U Thaung has in-depth knowledge of Burmas mining and uranium sectors and resigned his army post to become director general of the countrys Department of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration in the 1980s.

U Thaung visited Moscow several times in the past in pursuit of the nuclear deal. He also organized students and army officers to participate in nuclear orientation and training in Moscow. In 2006, nuclear physics departments were established in the universities of Rangoon and Mandalay, with enrolment controlled by the regime.

In 2006, Russias ambassador to Burma, Dr Mikhail M Mgeladze, confirmed that about 2,000 Burmese students had been admitted to 11 academic institutions in Russia, under a bilateral agreement, and about 500 had returned to Burma with bachelor, masters or doctorate degrees.

Russian companies are also actively involved in the search for uranium in upper Burma.

In the early 2000s, the regime confirmed publicly that uranium deposits had been found in several areas: Magwe, Taungdwingyi, Kyaukphygon and Paongpyin in Mogok, and Kyauksin and in southern Tenasserim Division.

The Russian companies Zarubezneft, Itera, Kalmykia and the state-owned enterprise Tyazhpromexport have been involved in oil and gas exploration and the establishment of a plant to produce cast iron in Shan State. Tyazhpromexports investment alone is worth about US $150 million.

Aside from Russia, Burmas renewed diplomatic relations and secret military ties with North Korea no doubt heightened suspicions. Washington has repeatedly warned of technology transfer between the two nations.

In April 2007, a North Korean freighter, the Kang Nam I, docked at Thilawa port, 30km south of Rangoon. Interestingly, Burmese officials said the ship, the first to visit Burma since the restoration of diplomatic relations, sought shelter from a storm. Two local reporters working for a Japanese news agency were briefly detained and turned back when they went to the port to investigate.

The Kang Nam I headed for Burma again recently, but turned back after being shadowed by a US destroyer in the harsh light of international attention.

The April 2007 incident wasnt the first time a North Korean ship reported running into trouble in Burmese watersby a strange coincidence, the North Korean cargo vessel M V Bong Hoafan sought shelter from a storm and anchored at a Burmese port in November 2006. The regime reported that an on-board inspection had found no suspicious material or military equipment.

Indeed, to skeptics, the go-ahead for the nuclear reactor project, the arrival of North Korean ships and shady military ties (The Irrawaddy exposed one particular trip made to Pyonyang by Gen Shwe Mann in November in 2008 with exclusive photos) are new developments.

It is premature, however, to conclude that Burma intends to undertake the complicated and perilous process of reprocessing uranium to get weapons-grade plutonium, although strong suspicions will continue to grow.

Although there are unofficial reports that Burma has set a goal of becoming a nuclear nation by 2025, it is still unclear whether the regime intends to develop a nuclear weapon. More solid evidence needs to emergeand, no doubt, Thein Oo Po Saw, U Thaung and Gen Maung Aye could provide it.

It is legitimate, however, to raise the issue and to inquire into the regimes intentions, in the interests of keeping nuclear technology out of the hands of the irresponsible regime.
Burma Chin State Food Running Out as Myanmar Junta Blocks Roads

Bombs dropped by junta helicopters on villages in Mindat. / HKL Mindat

Residents in Matupi and Mindat townships in southern Chin State are running out of food as Myanmars regime has blocked supplies.

The regime has blocked the Paletwa-Matupi, Matupi-Mindat, and Mindat-Kyaukhtu roads which supply the townships.

A Matupi volunteer said communities have almost run out of rice.

The prices of oil and salt have increased. Three eggs cost 1,000 kyats [compared to around 150 kyats per egg in Yangon] and they are scarce. Most people cant afford them, she said.

The roads are blocked by the regime although there is no fighting with the Chinland Defense Force (CDF). A 61-liter rice sack was around 4,000 kyats before the coup in Matupi and they are now 66,000-70,000 kyats, when they are available, according to residents.

Residents are buying broken rice for around 45,000 kyats per sack. The regime is beginning to allow some residents to leave the town in private vehicles, said a Matupi resident.

Patients who need hospital treatment can leave. Neighbors ask them to bring back food. They bring back eggs and dried fish but no rice and oil, she said.

Mindat has been isolated and surrounding villages are often shelled, despite the lack of fighting, residents said.

We have left our villages and farms. We are struggling to survive and concerned for our safety and food, a villager told The Irrawaddy.

The Mindat CDF said junta helicopters and Light Infantry Battalion 274 based in Mindat are bombing villages.

More than 60 Mindat residents are reportedly in Pakokku Prison and around 30 are being held at Battalion 274 in Mindat.

It called for international charities to help displaced Mindat civilians.

Mindat residents said junta soldiers detained a man and woman in Kyawttaw village on July 6. Some villagers were reportedly injured when two helicopters dropped bombs on two villages on July 2. A school, church and some houses were damaged.

The regime shells villagers because it only controls Mindat town and adjacent villages, said the CDF.
Burma First Cases of New COVID-19 Variant Found in Myanmar

A nasal swab being taken in Yangon for a COVID-19 test in 2020 before the coup. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmar has recorded its first cases of the latest COVID-19 variant, which is already driving infections up in many countries around the world.

Statistics released by the junta-run Ministry of Health on Monday revealed that cases of the two Omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5, were detected in Myanmar on June 30.

The health ministrys report said that the BA.4 subvariant was found in one sample and BA.5 in five samples, all from Myanmar nationals recently returned from overseas.

It said that the people infected with the variants had been treated in isolation since the cases were confirmed and that none of them are seriously ill.

The ministry added that the new Omicron variants cause less severe illness and fewer deaths than previous variants for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Less than six months after BA.4 and BA.5 were first detected in South Africa, the variants have become dominant in many countries around the world.

The parallel National Unity Governments (NUG) Ministry of Health has also recently warned that BA.4 and BA.5 are becoming dominant in recent cases of people being reinfected with COVID-19 around the world, including neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the United States and Europe.

The NUGs ministry has recommended that the public strictly follow preventive measures including wearing masks, avoiding crowded places and receiving the full course of jabs against COVID-19.

However, the military regime has relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, including the ban on mass gatherings, amid its attempts to show that Myanmar is returning to normalcy under its rule.

The last wave of COVID-19 hit Myanmar severely, with fatalities exceeding the number of deaths from the first two waves of the pandemic, as the junta struggled to contain the virus.

While the exact number of COVID-19 deaths is unknown thanks to under-reporting, the peak weeks of the last wave saw hundreds of fatalities, with more than 4,000 deaths reported for July and August 2021 alone.

The regime claims that over 50 per cent of the countrys 54 million-odd people have been vaccinated.

There have been 613,760 infections and 19,434 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Myanmar since the pandemic began in 2020.
Burma House of Myanmar Junta Chiefs Sister Bombed in Yangon

Myanmar junta forces detonate a resistance group bomb on Tuesday in Yangons Tamwe Township. / CJ

The house of the Myanmar coup leaders sister was bombed on Monday evening, one of a series of explosions in the last two days that rocked at least five locations in Yangon, in another sign that the military regime is struggling to contain armed resistance against its rule.

On Monday at 8:10pm a blast occurred at the house of Daw Zin Zin Hlaing, elder sister of junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, in Yangons Mayangone Township. Daw Zin Zin Hlaing is married to retired Colonel Than Myint.

Two underground resistance groups, the Federal Liberation Army (Hlaing Tharyar Battalion) and the Union of Myanmar Civil Defense, claimed responsibility for the attack, which damaged vehicles in the compound, according to the groups.

The resistance groups said that they had previously attempted to attack the house in June. The groups also urged people to avoid junta forces and regime-linked areas due to the possibility of them being attacked.

Soon after the attack on Monday night, a traffic police outpost near the bus stop at Nine Mile Junction in Mayangone Township was blown up.

Submitting a video of the explosion, two other resistance groups, Special Nway Oo and Gods Hand Force, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The groups said that the attack was part of the Aung Mingalar Operation against regime forces. On the same night, blasts reportedly occurred in six other Yangon townships.

Also on Tuesday, two explosions injuring at least ten civilians were reported in Hlaing Tharyar and Sanchaung townships. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Eight civilians were also injured on Tuesday afternoon when an explosion occurred under a flyover at Myaynigone Junction in Sanchaung Township, according to rescue workers.

People were injured in their necks, hands and legs. But they are not in a serious condition, said the rescue worker.

Following the blast, junta forces blocked roads in the area.

On Tuesday afternoon a blast also occurred near a park in Hlaing Tharyar Township, injuring two people.

A combined force of Yangon resistance groups said on Tuesday that they were forced to abandon an attempt to bomb regime vehicles in Tamwe Township, as their bomb was discovered by garbage collectors and other civilians.

Subsequently, junta troops blew up the bomb and blocked roads in the area.

Yangon Liberation Force, which planned the mission, urged people to avoid any strange packages, as resistance fighters were risking their lives in such missions against regime targets.

Regime forces are currently facing daily attacks from resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations nationwide.
Burma Myanmar Junta Chief Back in Russiathe Only Country Willing to Take Him

Deputy Minister for Defense of the Russian Federation Colonel General Alexander Fomin (far left) welcomes Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing (second from left) and his wife Kyu Kyu Hla at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow on Sunday. / Cincds

The world today has more than 190 countries but it seems there is only one nation willing to open its doors to Myanmar military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has been ostracized internationally for his illegitimate coup and his brutal response to protesters. And thats Russia.

The coup leader and his family have been there since Sunday. It is the second time Min Aung Hlaing has been to the country since the coup last year. In fact, its just the second time hes been anywhere, as Russia is the only country in the world he has visited, more than 15 months after the takeover. (Admittedly, he flew to Indonesia last year. But it would be generous to call it a visit; he was more or less summoned by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, which presented him with a peace plan for Myanmar in a failed effort to end his bloody crackdowns on protesters.)

But while it seems that its destination Moscow for the time being for Min Aung Hlaing, it would be unfair to say that he is entirely without other friends.

Apart from Russia, the regime chief, who has killed more than 2,000 civilians so far for rejecting his rule, also enjoys support from China. Both countries have refused to denounce the regime and have even protected it at the UN Security Council. Furthermore, Min Aung Hlaing has warm relations with Myanmars southern neighbor, Thailand. Plus, early this year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen became the first international dignitary to meet the bloody dictator after flying in to Naypyitaw.

Some may wonder why Min Aung Hlaing has confined himself to shuttling between Moscow and Naypyitaw while there are other friendly nations. The reason is that his coup against a democratically elected government makes it hard for them to recognize him as Myanmars legitimate leader. Take China. For all Beijings affirmations of support for the regimewhich simply reflect Chinas strategic and economic interests in MyanmarMin Aung Hlaing hasnt set foot on Chinese soil since the coup; he hasnt so much as crossed the border, let alone traveled to Beijing. And when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Myanmar early this month for a regional meeting, he didnt even pay a courtesy call to Min Aung Hlaing. The Chinese governments mouthpiece Global Times said the trip was for the sole purpose of attending a regional meeting, and did not hint at China recognizing the current administration.

These friends are well aware that Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned internationally since the coup for his bloody response to protesters against his regime. He has even been barred from attending summits by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member state.

Internationally, his regime has received very little recognition and many countries have kept their distance from it. They fear meetings with the coup leader could be used as PR tools by the regime, which craves legitimacy. So, even a personal visit from Min Aung Hlaing would be a nightmare for those friendly nations.

But Russia doesnt seem to share these qualms about engaging with Min Aung Hlaing, mainly because his regime is a cash cow for it; Moscow is a major arms supplier to Naypyitaw and Myanmar has been its arms industrys biggest patron. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia sold US$247 million worth of arms to Myanmar between 2015 and 2021. In the same period, it sold $105 million worth to Laos, and $47 million worth to Thailand, according to SIPRI data.

Despite his consistent patronage of Russia, Min Aung Hlaing isnt treated as a state leader there. During his trip last year upon the invitation of the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian President Vladimir Putin didnt meet him. The most senior Russian official he met was the secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Russian media just described him as either Myanmars military chief or Myanmars commander-in-chief, but not as the head of state.

This lack of recognition must be painful for Min Aung Hlaing, who craves international legitimacy for his regime. However, he cant afford to complain, as Russia has stood steadfastly behind him, as China has done, at every UN meeting.

Private visit?

For those who are wondering if Min Aung Hlaing will get the chance to meet with Putin this time, the answer is that its very unlikely; Russias Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Min Aung Hlaing was on a private visit. Period!

In describing the trip as private, Moscow is highlighting the fact that one of Min Aung Hlaings plans for the visit is to consecrate a pagoda at the Ethnomir cultural center in Kaluga near Moscow. Its not clear why the Defense Ministry took pains to release a statement providing details of a non-state, personal visit.

The regimes media seemed to see the visit differently, however.

On Wednesday, the front pages of the juntas mouthpieces were emblazoned with headlines like SAC Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and delegation hold talks about cooperation in various sectors with Russia Federationwhich sounds like pretty serious business for a person on a private, and more like the agenda of an official visit.

Contrary to the private visit described by Russia, the papers reported that Min Aung Hlaing held a working meeting with dignitaries of the Russian Defense Ministry. It should be noted that the dignitaries he met did not include Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu.

Furthermore, he met with the chairman of the Russia-Myanmar Friendship Association to discuss enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as cooperation on educating military and civilian trainees, among other things.

He also met, during the private visit, with the chairman of the Russia-ASEAN Economic Council to discuss boosting exports of agrobased products, enhancement of generating electricity and the bilateral export and import sectors. His trip also included a meeting with the Director General of State Space Corporation Roscosmos to exchange views on development of science and technological sectors and improvement of human resources.

More importantly, at Russian state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom State Corporation, Min Aung Hlaing met Director General Alexey Likhachev to talk about cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

At the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the regimes Ministry of Science and Technology and Rosatom State Corporation. The content of the MoU was unknown.
Burma Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed as Resistance Fighter Blows Himself Up Before Arrest

The resistance members motorcycle.

Around 15 Myanmar junta soldiers have been reportedly killed in Magwe Region by a Yesagyo Revolution Group (YRG) member who ignited three grenades while they tried to detain him.

Nearly 80 soldiers were deployed at Thae Taw village monastery on the border of Yesagyo and Pakokku townships on Friday evening after clashes with resistance forces, including the YRG, in the morning.

The YRG member and a village defense force volunteer on a motorbike encountered the troops near Thae Taw, according to the YRG.

They did not know troops were deployed in the village.

The motorcycle overturned near the monastery. The YRG member exploded three hand grenades as soldiers approached, according to the resistance group. The resistance member was killed in the explosions.

It claimed seven soldiers were killed instantly and another eight later died in hospital.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

The junta troops left Thae Taw on Saturday, according to the YRG.

He wasnt a combatant and was in the supply force but he always carried three grenades. He always said that he would die instead of being captured, said Ko Zero of the YRG.

The YRG refused to release its comrades details until the revolution is victorious to protect his family.

Thae Taw had around 500 houses and all the villagers fled to forests and other villages last month.

We heard gunfire and explosions in the evening. We are all saddened to hear about the YRG member, said a resident.

Yesagyo is a resistance stronghold which has suffered regular junta raids and arson attacks since January.

Junta troops regularly raid the southwest of the township, displacing thousands of civilians.
Burma Myanmar Regime Battalion Commander, Deputy Killed in Clash With Resistance Group

Cobra Column forces pose with seized arms and ammunition after a battle near Thone Htat Kwe Village in Karen State's Myawaddy Township on July 12. / Cobra Column

A battalion commander and deputy battalion commander were killed as a column of regime troops was attacked by resistance forces on Tuesday in Karen States Myawaddy Township, according to Cobra Column, an anti-regime force that took part in the fighting.

During the clash with the local resistance group on Tuesday on the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road in Karen States Myawaddy Township, the whole column of regime forces was either killed, wounded or forced to flee without their weapons. The battalion commander and deputy battalion commander were among those killed, according to Cobra Column.

Cobra Column is a Peoples Defense Force (PDF) group fighting alongside the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) against the regime in Karen State. The KNLA is one of the armed wings of the Karen National Union (KNU), along with the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO).

The fighting took place on the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road, which has been controlled by Cobra Coulmn since March, when regime troops tried to seize it. It is a strategic route for sending reinforcements to the juntas major Ukayit Hta outpost in Waw Lay as it tries to recapture the Thay Baw Boe outpost, which was seized by the KNLA and allied PDF fighters on May 18.

On Tuesday, the fighting between about 120 regime forces from the Myanmar militarys Light Infantry Division (LID) No. 44 and Cobra Column erupted between Thone Htat Kwe and Thayat Tha Pin villages on Myawaddy-Waw Lay road at 6:20 a.m. and lasted till noon.

Regime forces continuously fired 120mm and 60mm shells throughout the clash but did not call in airstrikes this time.

A battalion commander and deputy battalion commander were killed. The fighting is still going on so we cannot release figures on how many regime forces were killed, Myo Thura Ko Ko, a spokesperson for Cobra Column, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday morning.

He said three resistance fighters were lightly injured. The Irrawaddy couldnt verify casualty figures for either side.

Cobra Column released photos of seized weapons and LID No. 44 uniforms. RPG rockets, mines, grenades, 40mm artillery shells, bullets, guns and jammers were among the pieces of equipment seen in the photos.

Cobra Column also disclosed that the regime and its allied Border Guard Force are using female soldiers on the frontline.

In this fighting, the two sides are at close range, and I can see the faces and hear the voices of female soldiers, said the spokesperson for Cobra Column.

Cobra Column under the KNLA and Venom Column under the KNDO have been trying to seize the Ukayit Hta military outpost in Waw Lay since June 26 but have been unsuccessful so far.

On July 8, Cobra Column killed five regime soldiers including a captain from No. 44 LID who were en route to reinforce the Ukayit Hta outpost.

The column also said on Monday that five regime soldiers had defected. In videos, the deserters say they are in their late teens and early 20s and were previously posted in Rakhine State.
Our participating #tasteofkeybiscayne restaurants are serving up some of the most unique and delicious meal-deals on the island this Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

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D'Lite Bistro & Bakery

Who says eating healthy means sacrificing taste and flavor? Not at DLite!

We are a unique and healthy restaurant that serves salads, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, protein smoothies and cold press juices made fresh every morning  including gluten-free, vegetarian and keto options.

This Wednesday, try our perfect SEXY Wrap.

We open at 7 a.m. daily and close at 8 p.m. everyday except Sat and Sun when we close at 6 p.m.

DLite is located in the Arcade Mall, 180 Crandon Blvd. To place an order, call (305) 882-9284 or visit us online by clicking here.

Kazumi

We are open to serve you with indoor & ample outdoor seating

This Wednesday, treat yourself to our delicious Asian Baby Back Ribs

Modern Japanese fusion restaurant. We offer creative treatments & creativity in our dishes for takeout and delivery by our own employees. Available for lunch and dinner.

Mon to Sat Noon to 9:45 p.m.

Closed Sundays

To place an order call (305) 361-2675 or order online here.

Costa Med Bistro

Open for Indoor and Expanded Outdoor Dining, Takeout!

Today, treat yourself to our special homemade black linguine with spicy tomato sauce and lobster chunks

Order online for take out - click here!

Costa Med, a TripAdvisor Traverlers Choice nominated restaurant, is located in the Square Shopping Center. 260 Crandon Blvd. Reservations suggested.

Call Antonio or Harold at (305) 361-7575

Hours.

Lunch Mon to Sat: Noon a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dinner Mon to Sat: 6 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. / Sun 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Boaters Grill & Lighthouse Cafe / Bill Baggs

The restaurants inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park  the popular Boaters Grill, located at No Name Harbor and accessible by boat, and the beachside Lighthouse Cafe are ready to serve you.

Start the day with a delicious breakfast under the Lighthouse! Serving traditional breakfast favorites being served at Lighthouse Cafe

Boaters Grill is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Lighthouse Cafe is open 7-days a week, from 9 a.m. to Sunset

The restaurants are located inside Bill Baggs State Park, at 1200 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne. You can reach them at (305) 361-0080

Randazzo by Yesenia

Open for Indoor & Outdoor dining, Takeout or delivery. Reservations recommended

What could be better than a Randazzo dinner with your favorite wine?

Wednesdays are WINE DAYS at Randazzo by Yesenia! Have a special bottle of wine you like? No problem, bring it with you and on Wednesday, we have no corkage fee?

Please call (305) 456-0480 to place an order or make a reservation

Open Monday, Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., open until 11 p.m. Friday.

NEW! Now open for lunch at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sundays!

Closed Tuesdays

328 Crandon Blvd Ste 112, Galleria Shopping Center

Delivery service with Postmates or UberEats

The Golden Hog

Eat Local. Help local. Shop Safely.

Visit us for our Wednesday special Grilled Chicken sandwich, prepared fresh on our grill!

Todays menu.

Soups & Creams: Chicken Tortilla / Black Beans / Lobster Bisque

Main Course: Shredded Beef (Ropa Vieja) / Chicken & Spinach / Shrimp & Calamari / Crab Mac-n-Cheese

Side Dishes: Cilantro Lime Rice / Broccoli / Plantain

The Golden-Hog has a complete line of specialty groceries for delivery.

Golden Hog puts safety first. We have taken steps to ensure the safety of employees and customers. Shop with confidence.

Call (305) 361-1300 to place a delivery or take out order; you can also email your orders to orders@thegoldenhogmarket.com or order online here.

Check back tomorrow for more specials as we add more restaurants to #tasteofkeybiscayne-To-Go

And please remember to order from the restaurant directly before using one of the apps  this way we support the local restaurants by saving them the commission they are charged, which at times is as much as 30%
Key Biscayne and Key West always have been popular destinations to visit during the summer and that includes refugees coming onshore at both locations.

A handful of boat arrivals that resulted in 71 detainees just in the past week by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, with help from the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast and other law enforcement agencies.

The latest incident came at Crandon Park early Tuesday, when 25 refugees were detained after apparently being dropped off of a fishing boat in Biscayne Bay, perhaps as early as 5:30 a.m. A child and pregnant woman were part of the group.

According to Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar with the Border Patrol, it was deemed a "maritime smuggling event." He said the case remains under investigation.

It was a case of bad timing, if anything. Miami-Dade Police and Key Biscayne officers already were poised on the Rickenbacker Causeway to conduct the first test of peloton group cyclists using a traffic lane while safely being protected by police.

Monday, two incidents in the Florida Keys involved Cuban refugees. The first accounted for nine Cuban migrants who were taken into Border Patrol custody after making landfall in the Marquesas Keys, 20 miles west of Key West. That group was stranded on an island and rescued by U.S. Coast Guard Southeast partners.

Then, at noon, Miami Sector Border Patrol agents responded a second migrant landing where 16 were detained after arriving on a fishing vessel, the Monica, near Grassy Key.

Five days ago, at 3 a.m., Border Patrol agents and law enforcement partners responded to a maritime smuggling event that made landfall in Gulf Stream, where six migrants of six mixed nationalities (including Dominican Republic, Haiti and Brazil) were taken into federal custody.

The previous day, Border Patrol agents and Coast Guard responded to another migrant landing in Key West, where 15 Cuban nationals were taken into custody after arriving on a homemade vessel. Three of those suffered from dehydration and were taken to a hospital.

At least two rudely constructed vessels -- one made of Styrofoam -- have washed ashore on Key Biscayne this year, indicating the chain of those fleeing their native countries -- whether it's Cuba, Haiti or other territories -- appears to be growing.

Last August, a group of 42 Haitian migrants were taken into custody after coming ashore on Key Biscayne.

Even before this latest wave of departures, the U.S. Coast Guard District 7 crews have reportedly interdicted 9,781 migrants since Oct. 1, and 25 of those were taken into federal custody.
Today

Mostly clear. Low around 85F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low around 85F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 108F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Girl in Yunnan who once crossed river by zipline on trek to school becomes medical worker in hometown

People's Daily Online) 13:25, July 13, 2022

In 2007, a picture of a girl named Yu Yanqia crossing a river by zipline for school in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province drew nationwide attention.

Photo shows Yu Yanqia crossing the Nujiang River by zipline on her way to school in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

In June this year, after she graduated from Kunming Medical University, Yu, now 23 years old, became a medical worker at the Peoples Hospital of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in her hometown.

One day in 2007, Yu, then an 8-year-old first grader in Bula village, Fugong county in the prefecture, crossed the flowing torrent of the Nujiang River on her own by using a makeshift zipline to get to the Bula Primary School. That was a regular routine for Yu and her fellow students at the school. Back then villagers had to use ziplines to crisscross the banks of the Nujiang River.

The scene of Yu crossing the river was photographed by a reporter and gained widespread attention across China. Soon after that, several Chinese media companies initiated a nationwide fundraising program to build a bridge near the school.

Photo shows Yu Yanqia standing near a zipline used by locals to cross the Nujiang River in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

In March 2008, the bridge was put into use, and Yu became the first local to cross the bridge.

With many people throwing their support behind the schoolgirl, Yu then had the opportunity to visit cities including Kunming and Beijing, which helped to broaden her horizons.

Those people are beacons of hope for me in navigating the dark passages of my life. So I grew more determined to study hard, Yu said.

In 2018, Yu was admitted as a medical student by Kunming Medical University, becoming the first college student in her village.

Over the past years, Chinas poverty alleviation and rural vitalization efforts have achieved success on the banks of the Nujiang River.

Photo shows Yu Yanqia standing in front of a bridge near her home in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Thanks to the countrys policy and capital support, Yu and her family members took up residence at a new riverside house after moving out of their original home built on a hillside. Yu also received subsidies during her schooling years.

Besides, the ziplines used to crisscross the banks of the Nujiang River were all replaced by concrete bridges as of 2016. A highway, which has been dubbed the beautiful highway, was also built along the Nujiang River. Accelerated efforts have meanwhile been made to develop tourism resources along the banks of the river. Every day there are drastic changes taking place in the Nujiang Valley, a locality that was hard to access only a few short decades ago.

There were so many people who helped me along the way. I wouldnt be where I am without them. I am very grateful to them, Yu said.

Yu Yanqia, a graduate from Kunming Medical University in southwest Chinas Yunnan Province, poses for a photo during her graduation ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

She will always remember that it was the care and assistance of the nation and its people from all sectors of society that changed her fate and led to the rapid development of her hometown. Therefore, when she entered Kunming Medical University, she became more determined than ever to equip herself well and give something back.

Before graduating from the university, Yu told her teachers that she wanted to go back to Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture and even gave up job opportunities at hospitals located in other places. During a special event for promoting employment in the prefecture, leaders from the university recommended Yu to some employers. Eventually, Yu was hired by the Peoples Hospital of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture.

I will work hard to contribute what I have learnt to the cause of promoting health in my hometown, Yu said.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)


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Russian authorities have launched a criminal case against Ilya Yashin, one of the last opposition figures remaining in the country, for allegedly spreading false information about the army, his lawyer said Tuesday.

"I got a call from an investigator -- they are beginning to search his home," lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook.

Prokhorov was later quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the probe was launched because his client spoke of "the murder of civilians in Bucha" on his YouTube channel on April 7.

Russian forces have been accused of committing war crimes in the Kyiv suburb after civilian bodies were discovered there following their withdrawal.

Another of Yashin's lawyers, Mikhail Biriukov, said a search had been carried out at his home and that Yashin was taken out of prison to attend.

In June, Yashin, who is a Moscow city councillor, was sentenced to 15 days in jail for disobeying police. He was set to be released in the early hours of Wednesday.

Yashin has been a prominent opposition figure in Russia since the mass protests against President Vladimir Putin in 2011-2012. He has denounced Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

He is an ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and was close to Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015.

After Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Russia introduced legislation imposing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information about the military deemed false by the Russian government.

Writing on social media earlier Tuesday, Yashin, who turned 39 in jail, said he was supposed to be released at 1:20 am Wednesday (2220 GMT Tuesday).

"Maybe they will let me out. Maybe not," he said. "What do you think?"

- Crackdown on dissent -

The announcement of the criminal probe against the opposition politician comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on dissenting voices in Russia, with most opposition activists either in jail or out of the country.

Moscow has stepped up efforts to stamp out dissent since Putin sent troops into Ukraine.

Speaking in court in June, Yashin had said his detention appeared to be a prelude to a criminal case.

He cited the case of his friend and fellow opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was first detained and later slapped with criminal charges for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian army.

Kara-Murza, 40, is now in detention awaiting trial.

In April, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail for disobeying police orders.

Since the start of Moscow's intervention in Ukraine, independent media outlets have been shut down or have suspended operations, and tens of thousands of Russians have left the country.

Ahead of the military campaign in Ukraine, a Russian court also banned the country's most prominent rights group, Memorial, and Navalny's political organisations have been outlawed.

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A French court on Tuesday jailed a former senior Rwandan official for 20 years after finding him guilty of complicity in the African nation's genocide.

Laurent Bucyibaruta is the highest-ranking Rwandan to have faced trial in France over the 1994 massacres in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in 100 days of mass killings.

At the heart of the case against the 78-year-old were several "security" meetings, either ordered or attended by Bucyibaruta, which prosecutors had argued were actually planning sessions for the killings.

Specifically, the former prefect of the southern province of Gikongoro was accused of having persuaded thousands of people to take refuge in the Murambi Technical School, by promising them food, water and protection.

Days later, in the early hours of April 21, tens of thousands of Tutsis were executed there in one of the genocide's bloodiest episodes.

The court also examined Bucyibaruta's responsibility in the massacre of around 90 Tutsi pupils at the Marie Merci school in Kibeho on May 7, 1994 and in the execution of Tutsi prisoners -- including three priests -- in Gikongoro prison.

During his trial, Bucyibaruta denied any involvement in the killings.

"I was never on the side of the killers," Bucyibaruta told the court as his trial ended on Tuesday.

In an apparent message to genocide survivors, he said: "I want to tell them that the thought of leaving them to the killers never entered my mind."

He added: "Did I lack courage? Could I have saved them? Those questions, those regrets even, have been haunting me for over 28 years."

His lawyers had called for the court to take "a courageous decision" and acquit him.

Court Cases

The trial involved more than 100 witness statements, including some from survivors from Rwanda, either in person or by video conference.

Bucyibaruta, who has been in France since 1997, has myriad health problems and was allowed to remain under house arrest during trial to receive treatments.

France has long been under pressure from activists to act against suspected Rwandan perpetrators who took refuge on French soil afterwards.

The French government at the time of the genocide had been a long-standing backer of the Hutu regime in power, which has caused decades of tensions between the countries since.

A separate French probe into the act that sparked the genocide -- the shooting down of Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane -- was closed earlier this year.

Investigators had suspected that rebels under the command of Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame -- now president of Rwanda -- was responsible for attacking the aircraft as it landed in the Rwandan capital.

Kagame has always denied this.

Four people in three cases have already been convicted in French courts over the genocide: a former hotel driver was handed a 14-year sentence, an army officer was jailed for 25 years and two mayors were given life sentences.
Russian investigators Wednesday asked a Moscow court to keep one of the country's last remaining opposition figures in jail until his trial for "discrediting" the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

Ilya Yashin, a Moscow city councillor and staunch Kremlin critic, faces up to 10 years behind bars over "spreading false information" about Russia's armed forces.

"The investigation asks to choose a preventative measure (in the form of detention) until September 12, 2022," Russian media cited Moscow's Basmanny court press service as saying.

Authorities launched the case against Yashin on Tuesday evening, hours before he was set to be released from a 15-day arrest for disobeying police orders.

The 39-year-old refused to leave Russia after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February and has since then regularly denounced the move.

Almost all of Putin's well-known political opponents have either fled the country or are in jail.

The reason for the probe was an April YouTube stream in which Yashin spoke about the "murder of civilians in Bucha", the Kyiv suburb where Russian forces have been accused of war crimes.

He called it a "massacre".

Yashin has regularly condemned the Kremlin's offensive on his YouTube channel which has 1.3 million subscribers.

He was a key figure in Moscow's mass anti-Putin protests in 2011-12 and a close associate of assassinated politician Boris Nemtsov.

Russia's military campaign was followed by an unprecedented crackdown on voices of dissent at home, with Moscow adopting laws imposing sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information about the military deemed false by the authorities.

Last week, another Moscow councillor -- also from Yashin's Krasnoselsky district -- was sentenced to seven years in prison for denouncing the Ukraine offensive.
Escaping Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa faced protests in the Maldives Wednesday with dozens of compatriots urging Male not to provide him safe heaven.

Sri Lankan expatriates carrying flags and placards denounced Rajapaksa, who fled his country early Wednesday after protesters overran his Colombo residence at the weekend over the worsening economic crisis in the South Asian nation.

"Dear Maldivian friends, please urge your government not to safeguard criminals," said a black and white banner held by Sri Lankans working in the islands' tiny capital.

Local media carried unverified videos of residents shouting insults at Rajapaksa as he walked out of the Velana International airport following his arrival on a military aircraft.

As Sri Lankans protested at an artificial beach area in Male on Wednesday, Special Operations police confiscated placards and dispersed the demonstrators, witnesses said.

Local reports suggested that Rajapaksa was staying at an exclusive resort and would leave for either the United Arab Emirates or Singapore later Wednesday.

"He is going into exile in either of the two locations," a Sri Lankan security source in Colombo said. "Ensuring security would be a challenge because there are Sri Lankan communities in both."

The main opposition Progressive Party of Maldives opposed the granting of free passage to Rajapaksa, who faces several court cases, including allegations of war crimes.

"We are betraying our friends in Sri Lanka by accepting Rajapaksa, a hated figure in that country," a PPM leader told AFP.

The two countries have close ties and a considerable Maldivian community lives in the bigger island nation, while a significant number of Sri Lankans work in education, health and hospitality in the Maldives.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia Wednesday of forcibly deporting up to 1.6 million Ukrainians to Russia, accusing Moscow of a deliberate criminal operation to depopulate parts of Ukraine.

In a statement a day before the Ukraine Accountability Conference in the Hague on alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Blinken said Moscow is conducting a "filtration" operation to relocate Ukrainians from the occupied east and south to areas deep inside Russia.

"The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime," Blinken said.

He said that estimates from sources including the Russian government itself indicate that from 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens have been taken from their homes into Russia, including to isolated areas in the Russian Far East.

The number includes some 260,000 children, some of whom are being deliberately separated from parents to be put up for adoption in Russia, Blinken said.

He said the filtration program appears to have been planned early and matches similar operations that Russia undertook in other wars, including in Chechnya.

"President Putin's 'filtration' operations are separating families, confiscating Ukrainian passports, and issuing Russian passports in an apparent effort to change the demographic makeup of parts of Ukraine," he said.

Blinken said it is "imperative" to hold the Russians accountable.

"This is why we are supporting Ukrainian and international authorities' efforts to collect, document, and preserve evidence of atrocities," he said.

The one-day Ukraine Accountability Conference on Thursday is being hosted by Netherlands Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, and EU Commissioner Didier Reynders.
A Moscow court Wednesday ordered one of the last prominent opposition figures still in Russia, Ilya Yashin, to be detained for two months before trial for having denounced Moscow's Ukraine offensive.

The judge ruled to leave Yashin behind bars until September 12.

If convicted, he faces up to a decade in prison for spreading "false information" on Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

"Do not be afraid of these scoundrels! Russia will be free!" Yashin shouted in court.

Around 40 people came to support Yashin, a Moscow city councillor, outside the capital's Basmanny district court.

He was charged with "discrediting" the Russian army on Tuesday evening, as he was due to be released from 15 days in detention for disobeying police.

The 39-year-old refused to leave Russia after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February and has since then regularly denounced the move.

Almost all of Putin's well-known political opponents have either fled the country or are in jail.

"This is a politically motivated case from the first to the last page," Yashin said, sitting smiling in the defendant's glass box.

The bearded politician was handcuffed and wearing a khaki-coloured T-shirt.

The judge then granted a request by investigators for a closed hearing closed "for the purpose of non-disclosure of state and other secrets protected by the law."

The reason for the probe was an April YouTube stream in which Yashin spoke about the "murder of civilians in Bucha", the Kyiv suburb where Russian forces have been accused of war crimes.

He called it a "massacre".

After sending troops to Ukraine, Moscow adopted laws imposing sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information about the military deemed false by authorities.

- 'Knew would be arrested' -

Last week, another Moscow councillor -- Alexei Gorinov, also from Yashin's Krasnoselsky district -- was sentenced to seven years in prison for denouncing the Ukraine offensive.

Yashin's case is more high-profile.

He was a key figure in Moscow's mass anti-Putin protests in 2011-12 and a close associate of assassinated politician Boris Nemtsov.

Despite growing pressure on dissenting voices, Yashin vowed to stay put and seemed prepared for an arrest.

Yashin has regularly condemned the Kremlin's offensive on his YouTube channel which has 1.3 million subscribers.

"Let's be honest: since February 24 (when Putin sent troops to Ukraine), I knew perfectly well that I would be arrested," he said on Facebook after the ruling.

He said he had "kept his promise" to "keep loudly telling the truth for as long as I can".

Despite disagreeing on some issues, Yashin has expressed admiration for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who returned to Russia from Germany after suffering a poison attack and is now serving a nine-year jail term.

Yashin was detained while strolling through a Moscow park with a friend in late June and jailed for allegedly disobeying police orders.

In late April, another opposition activist, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was first detained and later also slapped with charges of spreading "fakes" on the Russian army.
A Gambian judge on Wednesday convicted the former spy chief and other intelligence officials of the 2016 killing of a political activist shortly before the election that helped end dictator Yahya Jammeh's rule.

High Court Justice Kumba Sillah-Camara found the former head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Yankuba Badjie, guilty of murdering Ebrima Solo Sandeng, an important figure in the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP).

Badjie was also convicted of bodily harm.

The agency's former operations chief, Sheikh Omar Jeng, as well as NIA officials Babucarr Sallah, Lamin Darboe and Tamba Mansary were convicted on the same charges.

Sandeng was arrested during an April 2016 demonstration against Jammeh. He died in custody two days later after having been beaten and tortured.

His death galvanised a political movement that eventually ousted Jammeh, who had ruled the tiny West African nation for 22 years.

Haruna Susso, another NIA official, and Lamin Sanyang, a nurse, were found not guilty of murder or bodily harm.

The former deputy director of the spy agency, Louie Richard Leese Gomez, had also been accused but has since died.

Another official, Yusupha Jammeh, had been accused but was later acquitted.

- 'Justice is catching up' -

"Justice is catching up to Yahya Jammeh's henchmen in Gambia and around the world and hopefully it will soon catch up to Yahya Jammeh himself," said Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh's victims.

The trial, which began in 2017, was the only ongoing domestic trial tied to crimes committed under Jammeh's brutal regime.

Previously, Yankuba Touray was tried in The Gambia for the 1995 murder of finance minister Koro Ceesay. He was convicted in July 2021 and sentenced to death, but has since appealed.

Another former Jammeh accomplice, Bai Lowe, went on trial in April in Germany, accused of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder.

The former interior minister, Ousman Sonko, has been under investigation in Switzerland since 2017, while Michael Sang Correa, alleged to have been a hitman, was indicted in June 2020 in the United States.

Jammeh has been accused of a range of crimes, including rape, the use of death squads, and of having ordered the disappearances of political enemies. In May, The Gambia's authorities promised to prosecute him.

The government also accepted a truth commission's recommendations to prosecute more than 200 others for crimes committed under the former president's regime.

Jammeh himself remains in exile in Equatorial Guinea where he fled in early 2017 following his December 2016 electoral loss to President Adama Barrow.

Barrow in 2017 renamed the NIA the State Intelligence Services (SIS).
With the wide variety of promising dramas that meet the screen every week, only ten dramas managed to generate much buzz in the Hallyu world. "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" and "Alchemy of Souls," two dramas with opposite genres, top the rankings in the first week of July. Here's why!

'Extraordinary Attorney Woo,' 'Alchemy of Souls' Top Most Buzzworthy Dramas List

The small screen is overwhelmed with many amazing dramas with a wide array of genres every week including romance, fantasy, revenge and comedy.

Good Data Corporation, which determines rankings by collecting data from news articles and online communities, finally named the dramas that generated the most buzz for the first week of July.

ENA's "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" continues to reign at the top of the rankings for the second week, thanks to its riveting plot and actors' buzzworthy performances.

Its lead stars, Park Eun Bin, Kang Tae Oh, and Kang Ki Young, are also named as the actors who shined the brightest, taking the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 8 spots, respectively.

Joo Hyun Young, who led "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" episode 4, rose to the No. 4 spot in the first week of July.

Meanwhile, tvN's "Alchemy of Souls" follows, ranking at No. 2 while the three lead stars Jung So Min, Lee Jae Wook and Hwang Minhyun sit at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 9.

SBS TV drama "Why Her?" is ranked No. 5, while actress Seo Hyun Jin took the No. 6 spot. tvN's "Eve" is No. 5, and actresses Seo Ye Ji and Yoo Sun are ranked No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Here are the most buzz-worthy dramas in the first week of July:

1. ENA's "Extraordinary Lawyer Woo"

2. tvN's "Alchemy of Souls"

3. SBS' "Why Her?"

4. KBS2's "Gold Mask"

5. tvN's "Eve"

6. KBS2's "Jinxed At First"

7. KBS2's "Minamdang"

8. tvN's "Link: Eat, Love, Kill"

9. KBS2's "It's Beautiful Now"

10. MBC's "Doctor Lawyer"

Meanwhile, here are the Top 10 most buzzworthy actors:

1. Park Eun Bin ("Extraordinary Lawyer Woo")

2. Kang Tae Oh ("Extraordinary Lawyer Woo")

3. Jung So Min ("Alchemy of Souls")

4. Joo Hyun Young ("Extraordinary Lawyer Woo")

5. Lee Jae Wook ("Alchemy of Souls")

6. Seo Hyun Jin ("Why Her?")

7. Seo Ye Ji ("Eve")

8. Kang Ki Young ("Extraordinary Lawyer Woo")

9. Hwang Minhyun ("Alchemy of Souls")

10. Yoo Sun ("Eve")

'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' and 'Alchemy of Souls' and Their Appeal

Despite being very different dramas especially in genres, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" and "Alchemy of Souls" generate most buzz and even become the topic online every week!

Due to the charismatic performances and outstanding acting skills of the actors in the dramas, fans couldn't help but be drawn to the works.

In particular, the two works boast well-written stories. "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" depicts the story of a lawyer who seeks the truth, Woo Young Woo (Park Eun Bin) also give warmth and healing while she fights stereotype and discrimination as an autistic person.

Meanwhile, "Alchemy of Souls" tells the story of an assassin trapped inside a maid's body. Not only does it include romance, but the magical aspects of the drama, without a doubt, won over the viewers' hearts.

"Extraordinary Attorney Woo" airs every Wednesday and Thursday, while "Alchemy of Souls" airs every Saturday and Sunday. Don't miss the two buzzworthy series on Netflix!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
The "Squid Game" mania lives on as the blockbuster Netflix series scores a new milestone after making it to the 2022 Emmys.

The long wait is over as the Television Academy announced stars and shows included in the Primetime Emmys nominees. Scheduled to broadcast live on NBC at 8 p.m. Eastern on September 12, the upcoming ceremony will be completely indoors at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Interestingly, "Squid Game" once again showed its influence after scoring not one, not two but multiple nominations at the Emmys 2022. On top of it, the Hwang Dong Hyuk-directed series set another historic move.

Emmys Nominations 2022: 'Squid Game' Nominated for 14 Categories

As noted by Variety, HBO's satirical black comedy-drama "Succession" garnered the most number of nominations after scoring a whopping 25 nods.

It is followed by "Ted Lasso" and "White Lotus" both with 20 nominations while "Hacks" and the mystery series "Only Murders In The Building" got 17.

The hit teen drama "Euphoria" scored 16 nominations while "Squid Game" is among the top shows with the most number of nods after being nominated for a total of 14 categories.

One of which is the Outstanding Drama Series alongside "Euphoria," "Severance," "Stranger Things," "Ozark," "Succession," "Yellowjackets" and "Better Call Saul."

Interestingly, this nomination made it to history as the first foreign language series to be nominated for the said category.

Here is the complete list of "Squid Game" nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Drama Series

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Lee Jung Jae

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Park Hae Soo and Oh Young Soo

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Jung Ho Yeon

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series - Lee Yoo Mi

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series

Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode

Outstanding Stunt Performance.

Lee Jung Jae Thanks Global Audience for Another Best Actor Nomination

Following the announcement of Emmys nominations for 2022, Lee Jung Jae took to social media and expressed his gratitude to the global audience.

The renowned South Korean actor shared a photo on Instagram alongside a caption that says, "I sincerely thank everyone who loves the squid game. And thank you to the Emmy Awards," tagging the official IG account of Emmys and Squid Game official Instagram.

To recall, this is not the first time that the Netflix show was nominated for an international ceremony.

Lee Jung Jae and Jung Ho Yeon bagged Best Actor and Best Actress at the Screen Actors Guild Award 2022, while Oh Young Soo won Supporting Actor in a Series at Golden Globe Awards 2022, making him the first Korean actor to be awarded individually.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Rogers Communications Inc. will compensate its customers for the massive outage that crippled its network last week by crediting them with the equivalent of five days of service as a first step. Telecommunications company Rogers Communications signage is pictured in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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Jews will not replace us! You will not replace us!

These chanted slogans and the images that accompanied them from the Unite the Right gathering in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 sent a disturbing jolt through American society. They also brought The Great Replacement Theory out of the shadows and into the national conversation.

What is The Great Replacement Theory?

GRT is an offshoot of the older, White Genocide Theory and falls into a centuries-old lineage of antisemitic conspiracy theories and narratives centering on how Jewish elites were controlling politics or cultural change in the West through financial institutions and popular media.

The current form of this narrative was most famously articulated by French writer, Renaud Camus, in his work "Le Grand Remplacement" in 2011) Camus asserted that Frances white Christian population was being intentionally replaced through (non-white) non-Christian immigration and that the policies undergirding this conspiracy were being covertly orchestrated by elite figures in the French government. This theory was picked up by Right-wing political groups across Europe and North America and woven into their mobilizing narratives.

In the more recent iterations of GRT (which are usually dubbed merely, Replacement Theory), media personalities and politicians are careful to bypass racial/ethnic identification of these elites and use more general identifiers such as Globalist or Hollywood instead of Jewish.

This messaging is proving effective. A 2022 survey study carried out by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed that 32% of Americans think that a group of people are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains and 29% express concern that increased immigration will result in native-born Americans losing economic, political, and cultural influence.

Critics of this theory have pointed not only to its lack of factual basis but also the reasonable likelihood of violence in situations where this theory is believed to be true. While Camus has condemned violent actions carried out in embrace of his theory, GRT was specifically cited in the writings of the mass murderers who carried out the following racially/ethically-motivated attacks: Pittsburgh (2018), Christchurch (2019), El Paso (2019), and Buffalo (2022).

But mass shootings are not the only violent actions spurred by GRTs proliferation. Since 2012, antisemitic incidents (Harassment, Vandalism, or Assault) in the U.S. have risen 193%, with large increases following presidential election years (Anti-Defamation League, 2021).

Sadly, antisemitic actions are being carried out in Kenosha.

In May of this year, a string of antisemitic literature drops brought GRTs narrative of hate to Kenosha. The Allendale and Sunnyside neighborhoods were hit first. Then, the students of at least two KUSD High Schools were targeted. The literature told students that they could not trust their teachers as they too were being lied to." The links provided thrust our neighbors and young people into a web of hate-fueled conspiracies directly promoting or orbiting GRT.

This is a local attempt to convince, recruit, and radicalize around hate. And the national legitimization of GRT (or Replacement Theory) for political purposes undoubtedly make these local efforts all the more effective, putting our local Jewish neighbors at greater risk of being victims of violence.

That is why we must confront the use of these antisemitic conspiracy theories for the purpose of radicalization at the national, regional, and local levels.
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Early in my addiction medicine fellowship, I met a patient for the second time while shadowing another physician in their practice. The patient was a former nurse with opioid use disorder on maintenance therapy with buprenorphine (commonly called Suboxone, the original brand name of a formulation combined with naloxone), a partial opioid agonist that is FDA-approved for the treatment of opioid use disorder and can be conveniently prescribed in the outpatient setting. Buprenorphine can also be prescribed for those with chronic pain, being a much safer alternative to the use of full opioid agonists when an opioid prescription is beneficial (as long as not combined with other respiratory depressants).

The patient now wanted to return to work as a nurse but had heard that they could not renew their nursing license until they stopped taking buprenorphine. So they decided to taper off slowly under the supervision of a specialist, under coercion of not being able to return to meaningful work as a nurse otherwise.

During the first visit, the patient was relaxed. But this time, weeks later tapered to a lower dose of buprenorphine, they were sweaty, wide-eyed, and anxious. And I wondered: Why did the patient have to go through this process if the buprenorphine was helping them to remain healthy, functional, and alive? Why when we dont limit licensure for health care providers taking other controlled and uncontrolled medications that also have the potential to affect cognitive function? Why when substance use is the main cause of physician license actions, reflecting a tremendous need for evidence-based treatment for health care workers who also have the right to maintain occupational stability? Even if the patient wanted to stop buprenorphine eventually, as is their right in bodily integrity/autonomy (although there may be an increased risk of return to use with possible overdose injury/death with discontinuation too early in treatment), why was it a coercive barrier and delay for the patient in returning to practice?

Why are we not practicing what we preach in medicine, especially during a deadly opioid epidemic triggered no less by the pharmaceutical, regulatory, and health care communities in the United States?

The patient had been stable on buprenorphine ~16 mg daily for several years and then slowly tapered to 2 mg daily, then 1 to 2 mg daily, and were still tapering their last 0.5 mg daily at the time of this interview. This is a common recounting from patients and providers that the taper of the last buprenorphine 2 mg is most challenging. And the fear is so strong for some people with opioid use disorder that they fear potential future withdrawal from buprenorphine more than the increased risk of debilitating injury or death from continued non-prescription/illicit opioid use (which may have otherwise been stabilized/reduced by buprenorphine use). Therefore, tapering should occur only very slowly under monitored pharmacologic symptom management. But there is a significant lack of widespread expertise in the management of buprenorphine, so patients and providers often taper too quickly.

When the patient started to consider returning to work as a nurse, they spoke with someone from the New Jersey Recovery and Monitoring Program (RAMP) and received advice that frightened them. The patient asked if they could renew their nursing license while taking buprenorphine and reported receiving guidance from a staff member that nurses actively participating in the RAMP program after disciplinary action cannot return to work until they stop taking buprenorphine. The patient asked, But what would happen if they had never had disciplinary action if they had voluntarily stepped back from their nursing duties? Could they continue to take buprenorphine then? The employee at RAMP reportedly said no. And regardless of disciplinary action or not, why?

Afraid to reveal themselves, the patient stopped asking questions. They read the entire nursing handbook but didnt find any information about buprenorphine. And the patient was embarrassed to say that after the call to RAMP, they never checked in with the New Jersey Board of Nursing directly because they now feared risking disclosure if they tried to gather more information.

The patient reports that they first experienced opioid use years ago when receiving oxycodone after wisdom teeth removal. They felt amazing, a common report of opioid users who begin after medical prescription, as there can often be either strong likeability or aversion. The patient then didnt use opioids for five years until, while working as a nurse, they began a romantic relationship with someone who sniffed oxycodone (the formulation created and marketed by Purdue Pharma centered in the well-done Hulu series Dopesick) and started to use regularly. Within months, this progressed to uncontrolled IV use of heroin. The patient soon noticed impairment at work and decided to leave, allowing their licensure to expire.

Soon, they became homeless and continued to use opioids illicitly. In wanting to stabilize/reduce use, the patient then began methadone treatment for ten years as an effective harm reduction and treatment technique until they later transitioned to buprenorphine. When asked about their experience with methadone, another first-line treatment for opioid use disorder that can quickly stabilize high-risk patients but carries a high degree of stigma, the patient stated, Back then  methadone saved my life. I had access to [buprenorphine], but I couldnt use it properly. With methadone, I had to get up every morning and interact with social workers. And I felt like I didnt have to get high It was a great thing, but [buprenorphine] is a better fit for me, now.

As I was preparing to publish this article, I contacted the New Jersey Board of Nursing for a third time after two previously unsuccessful attempts to see if they would like to leave a comment. The response read, The Board of Nursing decides to license nurses on a case-by-case basis. The student needs to notify the school and find out what their policy is concerning the issue.

And therein lies the problem: The reply was not immediate, clear, universal support for nurses with a history of opioid use disorder or chronic pain to take prescribed buprenorphine at the centralized level of the Board of Nursing. However, this is not an issue unique to the New Jersey Board of Nursing. So systematic, universal implementation would benefit from policy change at the national/federal level to enhance efficiency and prevent state-by-state regulation delays.

This interview urges that all state health care licensing boards universally allow and support nurses, physicians, and any other license-eligible health care professional with a history of opioid use disorder or chronic pain being prescribed buprenorphine to continue taking their evidence-based, life-preserving medication without the requirement for additional monitoring/supervision as a result of prescription/adherence.

The Justice Department recently ruled that the Indiana State Nursing Board was discriminating against nurses with opioid use disorder by disallowing them to regain their licenses if they were taking prescribed buprenorphine. I hope that New Jersey  and all states, with a change at the federal level to secure universal national enforcement  will soon decide similarly.

If we are going to promote the provision of evidence-based treatment for our patients, we must avoid hypocrisy and support the equal rights of licensed health care professionals to do the same.

Arielle Gerard is an addiction medicine and preventive medicine/public health physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The Irish Government is to go ahead with the largest increase in the defence budget in the history of the state.

Following Tuesdays Cabinet meeting, the Minister for Defence Simon Coveney announced the Government has approved a move to Level of Ambition 2 (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on the Defence Forces.

This will result in the defence budget rising from 1.1 billion to 1.5 billion euro by 2028.

It will allow for the required transformation and investment in recruitment and equipment that were identified by the commission.

The move to LOA2 will require an additional 2,000 civil and military personnel over and above the current establishment of 9,500.

Some specific initiatives include the immediate commencement of planning for military radar capabilities, including primary radar, and the establishment of an Office of Reserve Affairs with the priority objective of developing a regeneration plan for the Reserve Defence Force.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said: The action plan we are launching today makes a clear commitment about our ambition for defence  just as our Defence Forces strengthen the nation, we must ensure that we strengthen our Defence Forces.

This single biggest investment in the history of the state shows the Governments strong commitment to urgently support the Defence Forces transition into a modern military force that is agile, with the appropriate capability, culture and values that reflect modern workplace and todays Irish society.

A High Level Action Plan (HLAP) that sets out the Governments response to the recent report of the Commission on the Defence Forces was also approved.

Minister Eamon Ryan said the commission had identified an urgent need for HR and cultural transformation within the Defence Forces.

He said: In order to provide momentum to the HR and cultural change process, Minister Coveney has requested military management to progress, as a matter of priority, an open recruitment process to fill a number of new positions including two civilian posts of Head of Transformation and Head of Strategic HR to drive the transformation and cultural change that is urgently required within the Defence Forces.

Mr Coveney added: The implementation and oversight structures that are set out in the HLAP are significant, and a detailed implementation plan is to be produced before the end of this year.

The Government also noted ongoing work in a number of areas referred to in the commission report, including.

 The establishment of an Independent Review Group (IRG) on dignity and equality issues in the Defence Forces.

 Opportunities to develop defence capabilities and joint procurement offered by participation in PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) and the European Defence Agency.

 Consideration of associate membership of ICTU (Irish Congress of Trade Unions) for the Defence Forces Representative Associations.

 Liaison with the Ombudsman for Defence Forces on the possible enhancement of the remit of his office.
China's BRI plays vital role in supporting ASEAN's economic development -- experts

Xinhua) 15:20, July 13, 2022

PHNOM PENH, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been playing a crucial role in supporting the economic development in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, experts said on Wednesday.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hoe Ee Khor, chief economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), said ASEAN countries including Cambodia are a big part of the BRI.

"Furthermore, much of the foundation for the progress of, as well as the benefit to ASEAN, lies in the prospect of a deeper ASEAN-China integration," he wrote to Xinhua in an e-mail.

"Certainly, the BRI plays an important role in supporting the economic development in ASEAN, particularly in the area of improved trade connectedness and market access, and facilitating further regional integration," he said.

"Through helping to fill the infrastructure investment gap in the region, the BRI is also expected to have second-order positive impact through crowding in private investment, such as in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia," Khor added.

Vasim Sorya, undersecretary of state and spokesperson for Cambodia's Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said mega-BRI projects in Cambodia including the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, hydropower plants, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, new Siem Reap International Airport, Morodok Techo National Stadium, roads and bridges, are very beneficial to the country's socio-economic development.

"These projects have provided and will continue to provide a lot of tangible benefits to the economy and people of Cambodia," he told Xinhua. "The BRI projects here are sincere without any strings attached, and their aim is to help boost our socio-economic development and improve our people's livelihoods."

Despite the impact of COVID-19, all BRI projects in the kingdom have made headway steadily, Sorya said.

Neak Chandarith, director of the Cambodia 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Research Center, said the BRI projects will be a contributor to the economic growth in Cambodia and in the region during the post-pandemic era.

"I believe that the BRI projects here will help Cambodia achieve its ambitious goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country in 2050," he told Xinhua.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said the BRI has provided a lot of tangible benefits to Cambodia, ASEAN and the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The BRI has played a very important role in helping countries cushion the economic fallout of the pandemic," he said. "It remains as a driving force to continue expanding cooperation among countries in the region and the world at large for the cause of peace, security, prosperity and sustainable development."

Other Southeast Asian nations such as Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, have also greatly benefited from the BRI, Matthews said.

He added that the China-Laos Railway project, which connects Kunming in China's southwestern Yunnan Province to Lao capital Vientiane, is a boon not only for both countries, but also for other Southeast Asian nations.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Rain showers early with overcast skies later in the day. High around 75F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
A mural showing a canning jar is displayed Friday outside the Columbia Senior Center along Business Loop 70. The artists were chosen through an open call, and businesses elected to have the art installed on their properties.
Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo speaks at a press conference following the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24. The Uvalde, Texas, City Council on July 12 accepted the resignation of Councilman Pedro "Pete" Arredondo.
Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, fourth from left, and Hyundai Elevator CEO Cho Jae-cheon, third from left, applaud with participants during a ceremony held at Hyundai Elevator headquarters in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Wednesday, to celebrate the elevator manufacturer's relocation to the city. Courtesy of Hyundai Elevator



By Park Jae-hyuk



CHUNGJU, North Chungcheong Province  Hyundai Elevator is aiming to join the world's top five elevator manufacturers, generating 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) in annual revenue by 2030. It also vowed to increase the proportion of its revenue generated in foreign markets to 50 percent by 2030 from the current 20 percent.



The subsidiary of Hyundai Group presented these goals during Wednesday's ceremony to celebrate the relocation of its headquarters from Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, which was done for the first time since its establishment in 1984.



"We will expand our global presence by acquiring foreign companies and using metaverse technology to win orders without face-to-face meetings," Hyundai Elevator CEO Cho Jae-cheon told reporters at the new headquarters.



The elevator maker is already operating six overseas subsidiaries in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil, working with agents in 49 countries.



Cho said his company will focus especially on the Indonesian and the Vietnamese markets this year, while considering its expansion in the Middle East and Latin America in the following years.



Such an aggressive global expansion was mentioned as one of the five tasks to be completed to actualize the company's vision, along with digital transformation, the development of innovative products, the expansion of services and entry into the indoor mobility business.



"Although our global market share has stood at around 2 percent, we will expand our presence by reinforcing our sales networks," Cho said.



Hyundai Elevator declared "Mobility to Possibility" as the slogan for the company to seek new business opportunities by 2030 through integration of elevators with futuristic technologies, and also showed off its smart factory neighboring its new headquarters and dormitories for employees.



Based on the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence technologies, most production lines of the factory are operated autonomously, requiring a minimum level of human involvement.



The company said it has enabled 78 percent automation of its factory, R&D facility and logistics center in Chungju.



It also expects its cost competitiveness to be enhanced through a 25 percent increase in annual production capacity and a 38 percent rise in labor productivity, so that it can increase its annual production capacity to 35,000 elevator units by 2028.





Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun speaks during a ceremony held at Hyundai Elevator headquarters in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Wednesday, to celebrate the elevator manufacturer's relocation to the city. Courtesy of Hyundai Elevator
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. High near 80F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low 56F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Members of the Heritage Club enjoyed an outing on the ice cream train on Friday afternoon. The train outing was one of the excursions being offered by the Fort Wayne Historical Train Society this summer.
UPDATE:

A 5-year-old boy who was pulled from Lake Michigan at Pennoyer Park in Kenosha Tuesday evening has died, Kenosha Police announced Wednesday afternoon in a press release.

This death investigation remains open with the Kenosha Police Department.

Details of the investigation are not being shared at this time, including the identity of any person involved.

Mayor John Antaramian and County Executive Samantha Kerkman "recognize that there were many people at the location last night who may have witnessed the tragic event," according to the press release.

Seeing something like this is shocking and County resources are available to help people process what they witnessed," Kerkman said.

I offer my sympathy and prayers to the family. This tragic death is a reminder of the ever-changing flow of the Pike River into Lake Michigan and the dangerous undercurrent of the lake. The City has applied for a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as we continue to look for solutions. I encourage families that may need assistance in dealing with this tragedy or on how to talk to your kids about it, to contact the Mental Health Resource Center 262-764-8555, Antaramian said.

---------------------------

Emergency crews pulled a 5-year-old boy from Lake Michigan Tuesday night after he was reported missing while at Pennoyer Beach with a group of people that included other children who were playing at the shoreline and in the water.

The boy was reported missing at 6:17 p.m., following an earlier rescue call the Kenosha Fire Departments crew had responded to the beach east of the Pennoyer Park band shell. Emergency units, including a Fire Department ambulance and multiple police cruisers were at the scene along the Lake Michigan shore, directly behind the band shell where the Tuesday's at the Shell outdoor concert continued into the early evening.

A U.S. Coast Guard craft was also near shore assisting with the search, as were emergency responders in an inflatable craft.

"Cold water resuscitative measures"

About 45 minutes later, rescuers located the boy in the water, according to Battalion Chief Ryan McNeely. Multiple personnel held sheets around the immediate scene at the shore shortly after beginning life-saving measures. Moments later, the large group of emergency medical personnel rushed the boy to an awaiting ambulance which initially drove away without sounding its sirens.

According to McNeely, emergency medical personnel performed, cold water resuscitative measures on the boy prior to transporting him to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately disclosed.

McNeely said rescue workers were initially called at 5:57 p.m. for a report of a near drowning of another child prior to pulling the boy from the lake.

What that call actually was, was a young girl who was conscious and breathing and walking on the beach coughing up a lot of water. So that was categorized as a near drowning, he said.

The girl was later transported from the scene to a local hospital for observation and evaluation. Her injuries were not life-threatening, he said.

McNeely said that as emergency medical crews were evaluating her, authorities discovered the girl was with a group of children, including the 5-year-old boy.

It was determined at the time they were missing one of the kids from that group, he said, referring to the boy. It was presumed he was still in the lake.

The situation then was upgraded to a water call incident, he said, which activates the countys dive team, the Coast Guard, additional department personnel and police.

Kenosha police issued a statement on Twitter confirming that the boy had been rescued, but that the matter was an "evolving investigation" and would have no further comment on the incident Tuesday night.

Concert-goers join the search

Several people on the beach who had been at the band shell for the concert, said they had left the performance to help with the search. An announcement had been made during the concert alerting the audience about the missing boy.

Fire and rescue, they said, had to respond to the water incident just moments earlier involving the young girl, possibly a few years older than the boy. It was not known whether the two children were related to each other, however.

Elisa Rocha of Kenosha was among the concert-goers who went to the beach to help with the search.

"We were just listening to the music and one of the police officers made an announcement that there was a little 5-year-old boy ... that was missing," she said. Rocha said the officer included in the announcement that the boy was not wearing any swim trunks and for the audience to be on the lookout for him.

"So, we just picked up our stuff and helped them look," she said. Rocha said the authorities didn't release any further information on the boy.

According to Rocha, other people on the beach noted that fire and rescue were already on the scene for a girl who was with the boy and reported to be in the water with him. The waters in the area are known to have dangerous rip currents and large signage nearby warns swimmers of the hazards in both English and Spanish.

"The little boy ended up going missing in the meantime," she said. "It's just horrible. I hope he's found."

Garrett Devoe of Kenosha said he was also at the band shell to attend the concert but decided to go for a walk on the beach before it started.

"We'd seen everybody waving their arms before the police arrived," he said. "There was a couple here, a man with his daughter holding her and saying there was a boy missing."

According to Devoe, the man said that they had found the boy's shorts. He said the man and his daughter, who Devoe said was about 8 years of age, were crying. Rescue personnel then descended upon the beach and into the lake to search for him.

He said following the police announcement at the concert "everybody started searching" for the boy, Devoe included.

Resident with drone assists in finding boy

McNeely said that aiding in the search was a man who was at the beach and offered to use his drone to help find the boy.

He launched his drone and at 7:02 p.m., we found the (boy) in the water, said McNeely. The boy was discovered in the lake about 50 feet from the shore.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A father fended off a pair of suspected teenage robbers who tried to break into his family's vehicle in northwest Harris County.

ABC13 spoke with the family, who didn't want to go on camera, but said they are all doing OK.

Video from the scene shows a bullet hole in the side of the car after the father shot through the back window where his infants were still in their car seats.

The shooting unfolded around midnight in the 6800 block of Feather Creek Drive.

Investigators said the family had just pulled up to their home, with two infants in the backseat, when two 16-year-old suspects tried to rob them.

The suspects tried getting into the car from the back doors, deputies said.

That's when the father shot at the suspects multiple times from inside the car and the wife drove away.

Deputies said the suspects were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds by two private vehicles.

Security video from a nearby home captured the incident. One teen suspect can be seen running away, while the other lies on the ground. Both eventually got picked up and were driven to the hospital.

"One of the parents inside the vehicle, as the suspects were attempting to enter, one of the parents fired off several rounds and shot both of the male suspects," Sgt. J. Wheeler said. "They were transported to area hospitals."

According to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the teen suspects are both stable and in fair condition.

Investigators spent time looking for video and additional evidence.

The investigation is ongoing.

***
Rumours spread that Bradley Cooper and Huma Abedin, who is the former top aide to Hillary Clinton and former wife of politician Anthony Weiner, are dating.According to Page Six, the A Star Is Born actor and director, 47, and Abedin, 45, have been dating for a "few months" and were introduced by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Ex-Flames Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk Spark Romance Rumours After Getting Clicked Walking Arm-in-Arm in NYC (View Pics).

Cooper and ex-wife Irina Shayk have a 5-year-old daughter, Lea De Seine.After four years together, he and the model, 36, called it quits in 2019. And Abedin, Hillary Clinton's longtime aide, has a 10-year-old son Jordan with her ex-husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner.

In her book 'Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds' last year, Abedin discussed Weiner's sex scandals and how they affected the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign. In an October interview with CBS Sunday Morning, she stated that she "learned the full truth" about Weiner's affairs and wrongdoings and that "I processed it, and I've moved on, and I wish him well."

When asked if she is upset with him, Abedin responded, "I can't live in that space anymore. I tried that. It almost killed me." She told People Magazine in November that she was going to therapy and trying to work things out with Weiner for the sake of their child. "Anthony is always going to be in my life because he is the father of my child. I want to make sure he's healthy, that we are in a healthy relationship, that our son sees model behaviour that is healthy for him". Bradley Cooper Hesitant to Commit To His A Star is Born Co-Star Lady Gaga After Breakup With Irina Shayk?

Cooper, who is currently filming his next film, Maestro, which he is also directing, has previously spoken openly about parenting his child with Shayk, who stood by him at the red carpet premiere of his film Nightmare Alley in December.

In September, Shayk told HIGHStyle magazine that Cooper is a "full-on, hands-on dad," and she told British Vogue in 2020 that her previous relationship with Cooper, "I think we've been very lucky to experience what we had with each other." Cooper and Abedin attended the 2022 Met Gala in New York City separately on May 2.

(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, July 13: India and China are likely to hold the 16th round of high-level military talks on July 17 to resolve the issues in remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday. The last round of talks between the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) took place on March 11.

In the fresh round of talks, the Indian side is expected to press for disengagement of troops as soon as possible in all the remaining friction points besides seeking resolution of issues in Depsang Bulge and Demchok.

"The 16th round of Corps Commander-level talks are likely to take place on July 17," said a source.

The situation in eastern Ladakh figured prominently in last week's talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bali. At the one-hour meeting in Bali on the sidelines of a conclave of foreign ministers of the G20 nations, Jaishankar conveyed to Wang the need for early resolution of all the outstanding issues in eastern Ladakh. India & China Likely to Hold 16th Round of Corps Commander Level Talks on July17.

He also said that the relationship between the two countries should be based on "three mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests. "Recalling the disengagement achieved in some friction areas, the external affairs minister reiterated the need to sustain the momentum to complete disengagement from all the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The MEA further said that Jaishankar "reaffirmed the importance of fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols, and the understandings reached between the two ministers during their previous conversations".

In May, India and China held diplomatic talks on the border row and agreed to hold the next round of the Senior Commanders' meeting at an early date to achieve complete disengagement from all friction points in eastern Ladakh.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector.

(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, Jul 13 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has registered a money laundering case in connection with the alleged fraud in the Sikkim Multi Commodity Exchange and raided multiple locations in Sikkim, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.

A total of eight locations including various premises of Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) companies in Sikkim, which were controlled by brokers trading in the MCX and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Kolkata and Delhi, were covered.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Issue is a Matter of Concern for Us. Govt of India Should Be More Proactive to   Latest Tweet by ANI.

Premises of various stockbrokers in Delhi and Mumbai, where many "fake" Sikkim-based traders are registered, were also searched, the ED said in a statement.

An amount of Rs 4.65 crore in the bank accounts of brokers that corresponded to the "undue" gain availed by such brokers by illegally availing stamp duty exemption has been frozen by the agency under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.

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The money laundering case stems from a Sikkim Police vigilance unit FIR that was registered on May 17 against unidentified persons and companies on the basis of a complaint filed by a resident of Gangtok.

"It has been alleged in the FIR that the disproportionate data in MCX trading from Sikkim is highly doubtful and some LLP company and private individual/traders from other states of India are doing high-frequency MCX trading either using identity of Sikkim residents or using co-location of Sikkim illegitimately for taking undue advantage of the income tax and stamp duty exemption given to the people of Sikkim," the ED 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, Jul 13: A special NIA court in Kerala has convicted three local people for "providing support" to global terrorist organisation ISIS or Islamic State, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

The court in Ernakulam on Tuesday held guilty Midlaj, Abdul Razak and Hamsa, all residents of Kannur district in Kerala, under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Also Read | Gujarat | All Schools and Colleges to Remain Closed in Navsari Tomorrow in Wake of   Latest Tweet by ANI.

"Those convicted were members of the proscribed terrorist organisation and were attempting to travel out of India to join ISIS/Daish in Syria to fight for their cause," a spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced by the court on July 15, he said.

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The investigative agency had re-registered a Kerala Police (Valapattanam police station) FIR of October, 2017 to start the probe into the case. It later filed a charge sheet in April, 2018 against four people, including the above mentioned three people.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The UN Security Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to extend until 30 October 2023 sanctions imposed on Libya, including arms embargo and measures concerning illicit oil exports, by adopting resolution 2644/2022
Lookout circular issued against Chinese national in mobile loan app scam

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 13 (ANI): On the request of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police, the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) has issued a lookout circular against Liu Yi, a Chinese national and main accused in a mobile loan app scam, police said on Tuesday.

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"EOW has booked Liu Yi under various sections of IPC & Section 66 D of IT Act. He used to run many illegal mobile loan apps like KOKO Loan, JOJO Loan, Golden Lightning Loan, Silver Kredit Loan, Gold Cash loan, Speedy rupee Loan, Xpress credit Loan & others," said JN Pankaj, DIG, EOW.

It is worth mentioning that in one APP alone there are more than 1.5 lakh downloads. It is suspected that they have cheated/ extorted lakhs of people across the country particularly targeting lower-middle-class people in the need of small loans, especially during the difficult times of COVID.

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He started his illegal business in India in 2019 from Bangalore. His parent company was Jianbing Technology in Hangzhou China. He is the director of Omlette technology private limited but indirectly controls or owns companies including IWT India, Ocean trading, Yellow Tune Technologies private limited and Techlite development private limited, stated the police release.

According to EOW officials, there are at least two more Chinese persons who used to assist him in his scam. They used to make his employees or any vulnerable or needy people directors of theshell companies but actually used to control/ operate the companies and bank accounts. They also used many Call Centres to make abusive/ threatening calls to loanees.

It is suspected that they are running such illegal Loan APPs in other countries too especially in Thailand.

EOW has already arrested five accused accomplices of the Chinese mastermind.

EOW is in touch with various state police and has conducted raids in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.

More than Rs 6.57 Crore has been frozen, said EOW.

These fake loan apps once downloaded in one's mobile play store, small amounts ranging from Rs.3,000 to Rs.10,000 is credited to the customer's bank account. Once the amount is credited to the customer's bank account, within a week the customer/borrower is asked to repay the amount with an excessive rate of interest.

In denial to pay the high rate of interest, the concerned customer is humiliated or bullied in many ways. Obscene messages and indecent pictures along with abusive texts in filthy languages are sent to his/her WhatsApp number and as well as to his/her contact list as a coercive measure to recover the loan amount with interest. This process of recovery is so overbearing and humiliating that there are some instances of the customers committing suicide. There has been already more than 1.5 lakh downloads of KOKO and JOJO loan.

EOW has received more than 100 complaints from Odisha related to illegal or abusive activities of illegal Loan APP. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhopal, Jul 13 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday recorded 171 new cases of COVID-19 that raised the tally of infections to 10,45,950, an official from the state health department said.

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At least 127 patients recovered from the infection, taking the count of recoveries to 10,34,303, while the toll remained unchanged at 10,746, he said.

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With a positivity rate of 2.3 per cent, the state currently has 901 active cases, the official said.

With the addition of 7,298 swab samples examined during the day, the number of tests conducted in Madhya Pradesh went up to 2,95,90,316, he added.

As per a government release, 12,10,09,643 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, of which 51,346 jabs were given on Wednesday.

Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 10,45,950, new cases 171, death toll 10,746, recoveries 10,34,303, active cases 901, number of tests so far 2,95,90,316.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Darjeeling (WB), Jul 13 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday refused to comment on the alleged distortion of the national emblem by the Centre, saying she needs some time to study the matter.

Opposition parties accused the Centre of replacing the graceful and regally confident Ashokan lions with those having menacing and aggressive posture, while the ruling BJP asserted that the lions atop the new parliament building are a scaled up version of the original emblem.

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"I will not comment on this now. Let me first study the matter properly. Then I will speak on this," Banerjee told reporters after meeting Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan here.

At least two MPs of her party, however, already attacked the BJP-led central government over the issue.

Also Read | Bihar Liquor Ban: Close to 60,000 Held in State for Violating Liquor Law in Six Months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled the national emblem cast on the roof of the new Parliament building.

(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, Jul 13 (PTI) The situation in Sri Lanka is very fragile and any military crackdown on protesters could further worsen the overall atmosphere, strategic affairs experts warned on Wednesday as the island nation looks at a new political phase after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country following months of protests.

It is very important that political anarchy is avoided in Sri Lanka and all the stakeholders must work together to restore political stability, they said.

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Rajapaksa and his wife flew to the Maldives bowing to months of mass protests over the island nation's worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting President and hours later he ordered military and police to do whatever is required to restore law and order in the country.

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"The situation is very uncertain at this point. It is very important that political anarchy is avoided, but at the same time any intervention by military and police through any crackdown could further worsen the situation," Ambassador Ashok K Kantha told PTI.

Kantha served as Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka from 2009 to 2013.

"The situation is very difficult. But what is required today really is restoration of some kind of political stability within the bounds of the Sri Lankan constitution," Kantha said.

"This is a process that needs to play out within Sri Lanka itself and there is very little role for other countries including India," he added.

Kantha said steps must be taken to ensure that the political situation stabilises.

"It must stabilise as quickly as possible because without a modicum of political stability, it will be very difficult for the government of Sri Lanka to address the unprecedented economic challenges," he said.

Ambassador Anil Wadhwa, a former secretary in the ministry of external affairs, said that the situation is in control now.

"For India's sake, we just hope that the prime minister takes control. It is in our interest that there is no refugee flow into India as it could trigger a crisis of another dimension," he said.

Wadhwa said there is a need for an "urgent bailout package" for Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Sooner the new government is formed, the better it is for Sri Lanka as it can address key issues," he said.

The former diplomat also hailed India's position on the overall situation.

In its first reaction to the massive political turmoil in Colombo, India on Sunday said it stands with the Sri Lankan people in their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means, established institutions and constitutional framework.

Strategic affairs expert Prof S D Muni said things will not be easy for Sri Lanka in the next few months.

Kantha said India helped Sri Lanka quite generously.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.

On Saturday, thousands of angry protesters stormed Rajapaksa's official residence and set Wickremesinghe's private house on fire.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 13 (ANI): After chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala PWD Minister P A Mohamed Riyas took a jibe at Union minister S Jaishankar examined an under-construction flyover in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

During a question and answer session in the state assembly Riyas without naming the External Affairs minister took a direct jibe at him.

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"I have already convinced a union minister regarding the shape of national highways in the state which is not bothering him and every day he is conducting press meets which is a good thing, But it would be better if he counts the number of the ditches in these national highways, it will be more than the press meets he is attending," said Riyas

The remarks by minister for Public Works Department and Tourism came after Jaishankar during his three-day visit to Kerala was photographed reviewing several projects including the progress of the construction of a stretch of the national highway near Thiruvananthapuram.

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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Tuesday while speaking at a function here hinted that Jaishankar's visit was political and was done keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

"The minister is entrusted to look at world affairs, but he was seen inspecting a flyover in Kazhakootam. People of the state will understand it was not a mere inspection of the flyover alone," Vijayan had said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar, Jul 13 (PTI) Bank Note Paper Mill India, a joint venture entity between Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd and Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Ltd, is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in Odisha's Balasore district, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The proposed bank note paper mill is likely to be built at an investment of Rs 2,500 crore, it said.

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During the day, BNPM India Managing Director Thalikerappa S met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence here and apprised him of the project, the CMO said in the statement.

The company is planning to invest Rs 2,500 crore for setting up of the bank note paper mill in Balasore district, the Chief Minister's Office said.

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The CM assured the company officials of all support from the state government.

Earlier on Tuesday, a delegation of RBI visited Balasore district to take stock of the situation at the ground level for setting up the bank note paper mill at Padabadagaon village on the outskirts of Balasore town.

Around 100 acres of land will be acquired to set up the paper mill, official sources said.

BNPM India is engaged in production of bank note papers and has its manufacturing facility in Karnataka's Mysuru with a total capacity of 12,000 metric tonne per annum.

(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, Jul 13 (PTI) Congress MP Manish Tewari on Wednesday put out a cryptic tweet, saying only one thing happens in trying to put a lion on a leash which is that the leash breaks.

The remark comes days after Tewari took a divergent view than the party's line on the Agnipath scheme issue.

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"Ever tried putting a lion on a leash. Only one thing happens the leash breaks!" Tewari tweeted.

Tewari's cryptic tweet about trying to put a lion on a leash also comes amid a controversy over the newly-unveiled cast atop the new Parliament building with the opposition accusing the government of insulting the symbol by giving it a "ferocious" look. The BJP has dismissed the criticism.

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Earlier, responding to an article titled 'Manish Tewari is being called 'Subramanian Swamy of Congress', the Lok Sabha member said on Twitter, "The gentleman who 'plants' this drivel should know @Swamy39 if nothing else is a formidable opponent."

On Monday, Tewari as part of the Consultative Committee on Defence did not sign a statement by six opposition MPs, seeking withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme.

The hand-written note by Shaktisinh Gohil, Rajani Patil (both Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Saugata Roy, Sudip Bandyopadhyay (both TMC) and A D Singh (RJD) was presented to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after he made a presentation before the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence.

Sources had said Tewari, who has publicly lauded the Agnipath scheme and termed it as a much-needed reform in the armed forces, has taken a stand contrary to that of his party. The Congress has termed Tewari's remarks as his personal views that do not reflect the party's stand.

While the Congress has opposed the Agnipath recruitment scheme in armed forces, Tewari has said it is the need of the hour, as many other militaries of other countries have done something similar.

The sources had also said Tewari asked at the meeting whether the scheme in any manner impacts the pension bill.

He had also asked if it reduces the operational readiness of armed forces at the cutting-edge level, the sources said, adding that the Army chief responded to this by saying the operational readiness will not be compromised at any level.

Tewari has held the view that such a measure for "right-sizing" of the armed forces is much-needed reform and has been accepted globally by many countries.

Tewari has been a member of the G23 grouping of the Congress which had sought organisational overhaul and has been critical of some of the decisions of the party leadership.

He is a former union minister and is currently a Lok Sabha member representing the Anandpur Sahib constituency in Punjab.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 13 (ANI): The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued extreme heavy rainfall warning for 11 districts of Telangana as the South West monsoon lashes the coastal state.

K Naga Ratna of the state IMD informed that Telangana is likely to have light to moderate rain over most places. She also informed ANI that heavy to very heavy rainfall will occur in most places. Further, two places in Telangana will receive heavy to extreme rainfall.

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"Telangana is likely to have light to moderate rain over most places. Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places. Very heavy to extreme rainfall is likely in two areas. 10-11 districts of the State have been issued warnings. This is the highest amount of rainfall till July since 2015," K Naga Ratna said.

"Telangana has recorded 125 per cent of the rainfall above normal conditions and all the districts have been recorded above normal conditions. This is very likely to be the highest amount of rainfall. Starting from 2015, this is the highest amount of rainfall till July," Ratna said.

Also Read | Maharashtra Rains: Prohibitory Orders at Tourists Spots in Pune District as IMD Warns of Heavy Rainfall.

In view of the forecast of heavy rainfall in the State for the next three days and the heavy rains and floods continuing in many parts of Telangana, the State government has declared that educational institutions in the State will remain shut this week. They will reopen on Monday.

The decision was taken during a meeting convened by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao with Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and Education department Secretary V Karuna among other officials here on Wednesday afternoon.

An official circular released by the government states: "In view of continuing heavy rains and inimical weather conditions Government has decided to extend holidays for all educational institutions (Govt., Aided & Private) from 14.7.2022 to 16.7.2022 in the State. Educational Institutions shall be reopened from 18.07.2022 (Monday)."

Earlier, the state government had declared holidays for all educational institutions from July 11 to 13 in wake of the heavy rains lashing the state. (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, Jul 13 (PTI) NHRC Chairperson Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra on Wednesday said it is time to think of innovative ideas to remove the stigma associated with mental illnesses and urged for having laws that will ensure that people suffering from such ailments are accepted by their family members.

A National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) delegation, led by its chief, is on a two-day visit to Gwalior.

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It conducted a workshop on Wednesday in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh government to formulate a plan for the efficient working of the Gwalior Mansik Arogyashala, the NHRC said in a statement.

During the event, Justice Mishra urged for laws to compel the families to accept those suffering from mental illnesses post treatment, including provisions for maintenance and right to property, according to the statement.

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He said such an approach should be based on love, care and affection, adding "it is time to think of innovative ideas to remove the stigma and achieve a safe world for the persons with mental illnesses".

The NHRC chief said it should be the duty of every individual to protect the rights of people suffering from mental illnesses.

He said the change should begin from "changing the mindset". Unless the mindset is changed, no amendments in the acts will yield results, he added.

"If it just remains on paper and is not implemented in its true spirit, it would lead to failure of the rule of law," Justice Mishra said.

He said it is time to "stop the blame game" and work on constitutionally objective solutions in the right spirit to protect the rights of people suffering from mental illnesses.

Earlier, NHRC Member Justice M M Kumar said although the Mental Health Care Act, 2017 has specific provisions regarding the protection of the rights of those suffering from mental illnesses, the implementation on the ground is not seen.

"The Government of Madhya Pradesh has set up a statutory state authority but this needs to be made fully functional on priority, in tune with the provisions and spirit of the Act, to safeguard the rights of persons with mental illnesses," the statement said.

NHRC Secretary General Devendra Kumar Singh talked about the Supreme Court judgments in connection with mental health care. He also stressed on the lack of support from the society in general, which obstructs the process of proper treatment.

Focusing on the NHRC's role, he said the commission will continue to work for the promotion and protection of the rights of those suffering from mental illnesses.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 13 (ANI): Trinamool Congress MLA from West Bengal Idris Ali on Wednesday sparked another controversy after he accused West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of being communal and alleged that the governor behaves in a communal manner.

His remarks came after Dhankar appealed to the masses to break the silence on extreme appeasement in the state.

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Taking to a micro-blogging site, Dhankar said "West Bengal government appeals to Civil Society, Intelligentsia and media to break silence and highlight worrisome governance scenario of extreme appeasement, communalised patronage, Mafia Syndicate Extortion in the state as this would help to enhance of democratic values and human rights protection."

The TMC MLA condemned the governor's statements.

Also Read | Telangana Floods: NTV Telugu Journalist Zameeruddin Washed Away in Floodwaters in Jagtial.

"He is a communal person. The way he is behaving is highly condemnable. He is communal," said Idris Ali.

Earlier the TMC MLA, Idris Ali on Sunday made a controversial remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the latter will meet the same fate that of his Sri Lankan counterpart.

"Whatever happened with the President of Sri Lanka, will happen with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. Looking at the things in India, I say that Prime Minister Modi is a total failure. It will be even worse here. Prime Minister Modi will also resign and flee," TMC MLA Idris Ali told ANI.

Reacting to Ali's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal said the TMC does not have respect for Constitution and federalism.

"I believe it is not required to comment on the statements of the illiterate people. TMC MPs and MLAs have crossed all the limits. We have seen how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is silent after the remarks of MP Mahua Moitra on Goddess Kali that hurt the sentiments of Hindus. It suggests that Chief Minister's consent is there in these things. Such remarks about Prime Minister show the mentality of these people. It means they do not have regard for Constitution and federalism," Tibrewal told ANI.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that India stands with the people of Sri Lanka as they seek prosperity and progress through democratic means and constitutional framework and continue to follow the development in the island country.

In pursuance of the central place that Sri Lanka occupies in our Neighbourhood First policy, India has extended this year unprecedented support of over USD 3.8 billion for ameliorating the serious economic situation in Sri Lanka, added the External Affairs Ministry. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Croatia hails upcoming integration into eurozone

Xinhua) 15:40, July 13, 2022

A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

ZAGREB, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023.

The introduction of the euro in Croatia will make the country's economy more resilient and it will improve the living standard of Croatian citizens, Plenkovic said in a statement.

"For a long time, we have worked hard on this project because we firmly believe that joining the eurozone is in the national interest of Croatia," Plenkovic said.

Boris Vujcic, governor of the Croatian National Bank, said the adoption of the euro will make Croatia more attractive for foreign investments and safer in times of crisis, thus bringing concrete, direct and lasting benefits to Croatian citizens and entrepreneurs.

Earlier on Tuesday, the ECOFIN adopted the three final legal acts that are necessary for Croatia to introduce the euro next year. The country will be the 20th member of the eurozone.

A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

A vehicle runs past a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Liang Jun)








Want to start a startup? Get funded by Y Combinator.

April 2001, rev. April 2003



(This article is derived from a talk given at the 2001 Franz Developer Symposium.)



In the summer of 1995, my friend Robert Morris and I started a startup called Viaweb. Our plan was to write software that would let end users build online stores. What was novel about this software, at the time, was that it ran on our server, using ordinary Web pages as the interface.



A lot of people could have been having this idea at the same time, of course, but as far as I know, Viaweb was the first Web-based application. It seemed such a novel idea to us that we named the company after it: Viaweb, because our software worked via the Web, instead of running on your desktop computer.



Another unusual thing about this software was that it was written primarily in a programming language called Lisp. It was one of the first big end-user applications to be written in Lisp, which up till then had been used mostly in universities and research labs. [1]



The Secret Weapon



Eric Raymond has written an essay called "How to Become a Hacker," and in it, among other things, he tells would-be hackers what languages they should learn. He suggests starting with Python and Java, because they are easy to learn. The serious hacker will also want to learn C, in order to hack Unix, and Perl for system administration and cgi scripts. Finally, the truly serious hacker should consider learning Lisp: Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot. This is the same argument you tend to hear for learning Latin. It won't get you a job, except perhaps as a classics professor, but it will improve your mind, and make you a better writer in languages you do want to use, like English.



But wait a minute. This metaphor doesn't stretch that far. The reason Latin won't get you a job is that no one speaks it. If you write in Latin, no one can understand you. But Lisp is a computer language, and computers speak whatever language you, the programmer, tell them to.



So if Lisp makes you a better programmer, like he says, why wouldn't you want to use it? If a painter were offered a brush that would make him a better painter, it seems to me that he would want to use it in all his paintings, wouldn't he? I'm not trying to make fun of Eric Raymond here. On the whole, his advice is good. What he says about Lisp is pretty much the conventional wisdom. But there is a contradiction in the conventional wisdom: Lisp will make you a better programmer, and yet you won't use it.



Why not? Programming languages are just tools, after all. If Lisp really does yield better programs, you should use it. And if it doesn't, then who needs it?



This is not just a theoretical question. Software is a very competitive business, prone to natural monopolies. A company that gets software written faster and better will, all other things being equal, put its competitors out of business. And when you're starting a startup, you feel this very keenly. Startups tend to be an all or nothing proposition. You either get rich, or you get nothing. In a startup, if you bet on the wrong technology, your competitors will crush you.



Robert and I both knew Lisp well, and we couldn't see any reason not to trust our instincts and go with Lisp. We knew that everyone else was writing their software in C++ or Perl. But we also knew that that didn't mean anything. If you chose technology that way, you'd be running Windows. When you choose technology, you have to ignore what other people are doing, and consider only what will work the best.



This is especially true in a startup. In a big company, you can do what all the other big companies are doing. But a startup can't do what all the other startups do. I don't think a lot of people realize this, even in startups.



The average big company grows at about ten percent a year. So if you're running a big company and you do everything the way the average big company does it, you can expect to do as well as the average big company-- that is, to grow about ten percent a year.



The same thing will happen if you're running a startup, of course. If you do everything the way the average startup does it, you should expect average performance. The problem here is, average performance means that you'll go out of business. The survival rate for startups is way less than fifty percent. So if you're running a startup, you had better be doing something odd. If not, you're in trouble.



Back in 1995, we knew something that I don't think our competitors understood, and few understand even now: when you're writing software that only has to run on your own servers, you can use any language you want. When you're writing desktop software, there's a strong bias toward writing applications in the same language as the operating system. Ten years ago, writing applications meant writing applications in C. But with Web-based software, especially when you have the source code of both the language and the operating system, you can use whatever language you want.



This new freedom is a double-edged sword, however. Now that you can use any language, you have to think about which one to use. Companies that try to pretend nothing has changed risk finding that their competitors do not.



If you can use any language, which do you use? We chose Lisp. For one thing, it was obvious that rapid development would be important in this market. We were all starting from scratch, so a company that could get new features done before its competitors would have a big advantage. We knew Lisp was a really good language for writing software quickly, and server-based applications magnify the effect of rapid development, because you can release software the minute it's done.



If other companies didn't want to use Lisp, so much the better. It might give us a technological edge, and we needed all the help we could get. When we started Viaweb, we had no experience in business. We didn't know anything about marketing, or hiring people, or raising money, or getting customers. Neither of us had ever even had what you would call a real job. The only thing we were good at was writing software. We hoped that would save us. Any advantage we could get in the software department, we would take.



So you could say that using Lisp was an experiment. Our hypothesis was that if we wrote our software in Lisp, we'd be able to get features done faster than our competitors, and also to do things in our software that they couldn't do. And because Lisp was so high-level, we wouldn't need a big development team, so our costs would be lower. If this were so, we could offer a better product for less money, and still make a profit. We would end up getting all the users, and our competitors would get none, and eventually go out of business. That was what we hoped would happen, anyway.



What were the results of this experiment? Somewhat surprisingly, it worked. We eventually had many competitors, on the order of twenty to thirty of them, but none of their software could compete with ours. We had a wysiwyg online store builder that ran on the server and yet felt like a desktop application. Our competitors had cgi scripts. And we were always far ahead of them in features. Sometimes, in desperation, competitors would try to introduce features that we didn't have. But with Lisp our development cycle was so fast that we could sometimes duplicate a new feature within a day or two of a competitor announcing it in a press release. By the time journalists covering the press release got round to calling us, we would have the new feature too.



It must have seemed to our competitors that we had some kind of secret weapon-- that we were decoding their Enigma traffic or something. In fact we did have a secret weapon, but it was simpler than they realized. No one was leaking news of their features to us. We were just able to develop software faster than anyone thought possible.



When I was about nine I happened to get hold of a copy of The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth. The main character is an assassin who is hired to kill the president of France. The assassin has to get past the police to get up to an apartment that overlooks the president's route. He walks right by them, dressed up as an old man on crutches, and they never suspect him.



Our secret weapon was similar. We wrote our software in a weird AI language, with a bizarre syntax full of parentheses. For years it had annoyed me to hear Lisp described that way. But now it worked to our advantage. In business, there is nothing more valuable than a technical advantage your competitors don't understand. In business, as in war, surprise is worth as much as force.



And so, I'm a little embarrassed to say, I never said anything publicly about Lisp while we were working on Viaweb. We never mentioned it to the press, and if you searched for Lisp on our Web site, all you'd find were the titles of two books in my bio. This was no accident. A startup should give its competitors as little information as possible. If they didn't know what language our software was written in, or didn't care, I wanted to keep it that way.[2]



The people who understood our technology best were the customers. They didn't care what language Viaweb was written in either, but they noticed that it worked really well. It let them build great looking online stores literally in minutes. And so, by word of mouth mostly, we got more and more users. By the end of 1996 we had about 70 stores online. At the end of 1997 we had 500. Six months later, when Yahoo bought us, we had 1070 users. Today, as Yahoo Store, this software continues to dominate its market. It's one of the more profitable pieces of Yahoo, and the stores built with it are the foundation of Yahoo Shopping. I left Yahoo in 1999, so I don't know exactly how many users they have now, but the last I heard there were about 20,000.



The Blub Paradox



What's so great about Lisp? And if Lisp is so great, why doesn't everyone use it? These sound like rhetorical questions, but actually they have straightforward answers. Lisp is so great not because of some magic quality visible only to devotees, but because it is simply the most powerful language available. And the reason everyone doesn't use it is that programming languages are not merely technologies, but habits of mind as well, and nothing changes slower. Of course, both these answers need explaining.



I'll begin with a shockingly controversial statement: programming languages vary in power.



Few would dispute, at least, that high level languages are more powerful than machine language. Most programmers today would agree that you do not, ordinarily, want to program in machine language. Instead, you should program in a high-level language, and have a compiler translate it into machine language for you. This idea is even built into the hardware now: since the 1980s, instruction sets have been designed for compilers rather than human programmers.



Everyone knows it's a mistake to write your whole program by hand in machine language. What's less often understood is that there is a more general principle here: that if you have a choice of several languages, it is, all other things being equal, a mistake to program in anything but the most powerful one. [3]



There are many exceptions to this rule. If you're writing a program that has to work very closely with a program written in a certain language, it might be a good idea to write the new program in the same language. If you're writing a program that only has to do something very simple, like number crunching or bit manipulation, you may as well use a less abstract language, especially since it may be slightly faster. And if you're writing a short, throwaway program, you may be better off just using whatever language has the best library functions for the task. But in general, for application software, you want to be using the most powerful (reasonably efficient) language you can get, and using anything else is a mistake, of exactly the same kind, though possibly in a lesser degree, as programming in machine language.



You can see that machine language is very low level. But, at least as a kind of social convention, high-level languages are often all treated as equivalent. They're not. Technically the term "high-level language" doesn't mean anything very definite. There's no dividing line with machine languages on one side and all the high-level languages on the other. Languages fall along a continuum [4] of abstractness, from the most powerful all the way down to machine languages, which themselves vary in power.



Consider Cobol. Cobol is a high-level language, in the sense that it gets compiled into machine language. Would anyone seriously argue that Cobol is equivalent in power to, say, Python? It's probably closer to machine language than Python.



Or how about Perl 4? Between Perl 4 and Perl 5, lexical closures got added to the language. Most Perl hackers would agree that Perl 5 is more powerful than Perl 4. But once you've admitted that, you've admitted that one high level language can be more powerful than another. And it follows inexorably that, except in special cases, you ought to use the most powerful you can get.



This idea is rarely followed to its conclusion, though. After a certain age, programmers rarely switch languages voluntarily. Whatever language people happen to be used to, they tend to consider just good enough.



Programmers get very attached to their favorite languages, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so to explain this point I'm going to use a hypothetical language called Blub. Blub falls right in the middle of the abstractness continuum. It is not the most powerful language, but it is more powerful than Cobol or machine language.



And in fact, our hypothetical Blub programmer wouldn't use either of them. Of course he wouldn't program in machine language. That's what compilers are for. And as for Cobol, he doesn't know how anyone can get anything done with it. It doesn't even have x (Blub feature of your choice).



As long as our hypothetical Blub programmer is looking down the power continuum, he knows he's looking down. Languages less powerful than Blub are obviously less powerful, because they're missing some feature he's used to. But when our hypothetical Blub programmer looks in the other direction, up the power continuum, he doesn't realize he's looking up. What he sees are merely weird languages. He probably considers them about equivalent in power to Blub, but with all this other hairy stuff thrown in as well. Blub is good enough for him, because he thinks in Blub.



When we switch to the point of view of a programmer using any of the languages higher up the power continuum, however, we find that he in turn looks down upon Blub. How can you get anything done in Blub? It doesn't even have y.



By induction, the only programmers in a position to see all the differences in power between the various languages are those who understand the most powerful one. (This is probably what Eric Raymond meant about Lisp making you a better programmer.) You can't trust the opinions of the others, because of the Blub paradox: they're satisfied with whatever language they happen to use, because it dictates the way they think about programs.



I know this from my own experience, as a high school kid writing programs in Basic. That language didn't even support recursion. It's hard to imagine writing programs without using recursion, but I didn't miss it at the time. I thought in Basic. And I was a whiz at it. Master of all I surveyed.



The five languages that Eric Raymond recommends to hackers fall at various points on the power continuum. Where they fall relative to one another is a sensitive topic. What I will say is that I think Lisp is at the top. And to support this claim I'll tell you about one of the things I find missing when I look at the other four languages. How can you get anything done in them, I think, without macros? [5]



Many languages have something called a macro. But Lisp macros are unique. And believe it or not, what they do is related to the parentheses. The designers of Lisp didn't put all those parentheses in the language just to be different. To the Blub programmer, Lisp code looks weird. But those parentheses are there for a reason. They are the outward evidence of a fundamental difference between Lisp and other languages.



Lisp code is made out of Lisp data objects. And not in the trivial sense that the source files contain characters, and strings are one of the data types supported by the language. Lisp code, after it's read by the parser, is made of data structures that you can traverse.



If you understand how compilers work, what's really going on is not so much that Lisp has a strange syntax as that Lisp has no syntax. You write programs in the parse trees that get generated within the compiler when other languages are parsed. But these parse trees are fully accessible to your programs. You can write programs that manipulate them. In Lisp, these programs are called macros. They are programs that write programs.



Programs that write programs? When would you ever want to do that? Not very often, if you think in Cobol. All the time, if you think in Lisp. It would be convenient here if I could give an example of a powerful macro, and say there! how about that? But if I did, it would just look like gibberish to someone who didn't know Lisp; there isn't room here to explain everything you'd need to know to understand what it meant. In Ansi Common Lisp I tried to move things along as fast as I could, and even so I didn't get to macros until page 160.



But I think I can give a kind of argument that might be convincing. The source code of the Viaweb editor was probably about 20-25% macros. Macros are harder to write than ordinary Lisp functions, and it's considered to be bad style to use them when they're not necessary. So every macro in that code is there because it has to be. What that means is that at least 20-25% of the code in this program is doing things that you can't easily do in any other language. However skeptical the Blub programmer might be about my claims for the mysterious powers of Lisp, this ought to make him curious. We weren't writing this code for our own amusement. We were a tiny startup, programming as hard as we could in order to put technical barriers between us and our competitors.



A suspicious person might begin to wonder if there was some correlation here. A big chunk of our code was doing things that are very hard to do in other languages. The resulting software did things our competitors' software couldn't do. Maybe there was some kind of connection. I encourage you to follow that thread. There may be more to that old man hobbling along on his crutches than meets the eye.



Aikido for Startups



But I don't expect to convince anyone (over 25) to go out and learn Lisp. The purpose of this article is not to change anyone's mind, but to reassure people already interested in using Lisp-- people who know that Lisp is a powerful language, but worry because it isn't widely used. In a competitive situation, that's an advantage. Lisp's power is multiplied by the fact that your competitors don't get it.



If you think of using Lisp in a startup, you shouldn't worry that it isn't widely understood. You should hope that it stays that way. And it's likely to. It's the nature of programming languages to make most people satisfied with whatever they currently use. Computer hardware changes so much faster than personal habits that programming practice is usually ten to twenty years behind the processor. At places like MIT they were writing programs in high-level languages in the early 1960s, but many companies continued to write code in machine language well into the 1980s. I bet a lot of people continued to write machine language until the processor, like a bartender eager to close up and go home, finally kicked them out by switching to a risc instruction set.



Ordinarily technology changes fast. But programming languages are different: programming languages are not just technology, but what programmers think in. They're half technology and half religion.[6] And so the median language, meaning whatever language the median programmer uses, moves as slow as an iceberg. Garbage collection, introduced by Lisp in about 1960, is now widely considered to be a good thing. Runtime typing, ditto, is growing in popularity. Lexical closures, introduced by Lisp in the early 1970s, are now, just barely, on the radar screen. Macros, introduced by Lisp in the mid 1960s, are still terra incognita.



Obviously, the median language has enormous momentum. I'm not proposing that you can fight this powerful force. What I'm proposing is exactly the opposite: that, like a practitioner of Aikido, you can use it against your opponents.



If you work for a big company, this may not be easy. You will have a hard time convincing the pointy-haired boss to let you build things in Lisp, when he has just read in the paper that some other language is poised, like Ada was twenty years ago, to take over the world. But if you work for a startup that doesn't have pointy-haired bosses yet, you can, like we did, turn the Blub paradox to your advantage: you can use technology that your competitors, glued immovably to the median language, will never be able to match.



If you ever do find yourself working for a startup, here's a handy tip for evaluating competitors. Read their job listings. Everything else on their site may be stock photos or the prose equivalent, but the job listings have to be specific about what they want, or they'll get the wrong candidates.



During the years we worked on Viaweb I read a lot of job descriptions. A new competitor seemed to emerge out of the woodwork every month or so. The first thing I would do, after checking to see if they had a live online demo, was look at their job listings. After a couple years of this I could tell which companies to worry about and which not to. The more of an IT flavor the job descriptions had, the less dangerous the company was. The safest kind were the ones that wanted Oracle experience. You never had to worry about those. You were also safe if they said they wanted C++ or Java developers. If they wanted Perl or Python programmers, that would be a bit frightening-- that's starting to sound like a company where the technical side, at least, is run by real hackers. If I had ever seen a job posting looking for Lisp hackers, I would have been really worried.







Notes



[1] Viaweb at first had two parts: the editor, written in Lisp, which people used to build their sites, and the ordering system, written in C, which handled orders. The first version was mostly Lisp, because the ordering system was small. Later we added two more modules, an image generator written in C, and a back-office manager written mostly in Perl.



In January 2003, Yahoo released a new version of the editor written in C++ and Perl. It's hard to say whether the program is no longer written in Lisp, though, because to translate this program into C++ they literally had to write a Lisp interpreter: the source files of all the page-generating templates are still, as far as I know, Lisp code. (See Greenspun's Tenth Rule.)



[2] Robert Morris says that I didn't need to be secretive, because even if our competitors had known we were using Lisp, they wouldn't have understood why: "If they were that smart they'd already be programming in Lisp."



[3] All languages are equally powerful in the sense of being Turing equivalent, but that's not the sense of the word programmers care about. (No one wants to program a Turing machine.) The kind of power programmers care about may not be formally definable, but one way to explain it would be to say that it refers to features you could only get in the less powerful language by writing an interpreter for the more powerful language in it. If language A has an operator for removing spaces from strings and language B doesn't, that probably doesn't make A more powerful, because you can probably write a subroutine to do it in B. But if A supports, say, recursion, and B doesn't, that's not likely to be something you can fix by writing library functions.



[4] Note to nerds: or possibly a lattice, narrowing toward the top; it's not the shape that matters here but the idea that there is at least a partial order.



[5] It is a bit misleading to treat macros as a separate feature. In practice their usefulness is greatly enhanced by other Lisp features like lexical closures and rest parameters.



[6] As a result, comparisons of programming languages either take the form of religious wars or undergraduate textbooks so determinedly neutral that they're really works of anthropology. People who value their peace, or want tenure, avoid the topic. But the question is only half a religious one; there is something there worth studying, especially if you want to design new languages.





More Technical Details



Japanese Translation



Turkish Translation



Uzbek Translation



Orbitz Uses Lisp Too



How To Become A Hacker



A Scheme Story



Italian Translation









You'll find this essay and 14 others in Hackers & Painters.


New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said he is happy that the induction of women into the National Defence Academy (NDA) was initiated during his tenure and expressed confidence that these women will prove to be worthy daughters of "mother India".

The president said it is a great step that would give an opportunity to "our daughters to serve the nation by enrolling in the military".

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Kovind was speaking at the farewell banquet hosted in his honour by the Chiefs of Staff Committee here.

He expressed happiness that during his tenure as the supreme commander of the armed forces, the induction of women into the NDA was initiated, according to a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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The president expressed confidence that these women would prove to be worthy daughters of "mother India".

Kovind said in the last five years, he has had the privilege of visiting many military institutions and units in far-flung areas, where he interacted with Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.

Their devotion to duty, spirit of "service before self" and commitment to the cause of national security inspire the entire country, he added.

"We are indeed proud of our armed forces who are safeguarding our frontiers in the most difficult terrains and amid challenging climatic and operational conditions," the president said.

He said he feels a deep sense of pride in having served as the supreme commander of one of the most committed and competent armed forces in the world, according to the statement.

Kovind said the team spirit and the "never-say-die" attitude displayed by the armed forces personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts put in by them in setting up hospitals, distributing relief material and extending every possible assistance to the civil administration are praiseworthy.

"Their selfless efforts during several disaster management operations have also been commendable," he added.

(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, Jul 13 (PTI) Use of terms like 'jumlajeevi', 'baal buddhi', 'Covid spreader' and 'Snoopgate' and even commonly used words like 'ashamed', 'abused, 'betrayed', 'corrupt', 'drama', 'hypocrisy' and 'incompetent' will henceforth be considered unparliamentary in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, according to a new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

The booklet listing out unparliamentary words and expressions comes ahead of the Monsoon session beginning July 18, during which the use of words like 'anarchist', 'Shakuni', 'dictatorial', 'taanashah', 'taanashahi', 'Jaichand', 'vinash purush', 'Khalistani' and 'khoon se kheti' would also be expunged if used during debates or otherwise in both the houses.

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The Lok Sabha secretariat has further listed words like 'dohra charitra', 'nikamma', 'nautanki', 'dhindora peetna' and 'behri sarkar' as unparliamentary expressions, according to the booklet.

Some words and expressions are declared unparliamentary from time to time by the Chair in different Legislative bodies in in the country as well as in Commonwealth Parliaments, have been compiled by the Lok Sabha Secretariat for ready reference in the future.

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However, the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker will have the last word in expunging words and expressions.

The compilation contains references to words and expressions declared unparliamentary in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state legislatures in India during 2021, besides those disallowed in some of the Commonwealth Parliaments in 2020.

The list states that some of the keywords may not appear unparliamentary unless read in conjunction with the other expressions spoken during the parliamentary proceedings.

The list of expressions also includes any aspersions made against the Chair in both the houses in either English or Hindi, which shall be considered as unparliamentary and are expunged from the records of Parliament.

Rajya Sabha Chairman or Lok Sabha Speaker vets the words spoken in the house during the session and unparliamentary words are expunged by the Chair. Such words do not form part of the Parliament records of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Among some of the English words listed by the Secretariat as unparliamentary include 'bloodshed', 'bloody', 'betrayed', 'ashamed', 'abused', 'cheated, 'chamcha', 'chamchagiri', 'chelas', 'childishness', 'corrupt', 'coward', 'criminal' and 'crocodile tears'.

Besides words like 'disgrace', 'donkey', 'drama', 'eyewash', 'fudge', 'hooliganism', 'hypocrisy', 'incompetent', 'mislead', 'lie' and 'untrue' would also be prohibited for use in Parliament henceforth.

Among some of the Hindi words listed as unparliamentary include 'anarchist', 'gaddar', 'girgit', 'goons', 'ghadiyali ansu', 'apmaan', 'asatya', 'ahankaar', 'corrupt', 'kala din', 'kala bazaari' and 'khareed farokht'.

Besides, words like 'danga', 'dalal', 'daadagiri', 'dohra charitra', 'bechara', 'bobcut', 'lollypop', 'vishwasghat', 'samvedanheen', 'foolish', 'pitthu', 'behri sarkar' and 'sexual harassment' would be considered as unparliamentary and would not be included as part of record.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tehran [Iran], July 13 (ANI): Marking the official launch of the eastern section of the North-South railway corridor, the first rail transit cargo from Russia to India entered Iran on Tuesday through the Sarakhs border crossing.

Carrying 39 containers, the Russian transit train left Chekhov station on July 6, traveling 3,800 kilometers through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to enter Iran.

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The cargo will be transported to Bandar Abbas port in southern Iran through a 1600 km rail route to finally be sent to India's Nhava Sheva Port via sea, reported Tehran Times.

The Russian train was allowed into the Iranian border in a ceremony attended by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber along with transport, oil, industry, and agriculture ministers as well as the vice president for science and technology.

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Speaking at this ceremony, Mokhber stressed the Iranian government's determination for expanding trade with neighbouring countries, especially in the transit sector, reported Tehran Times

"The transit capacity of the country has increased to 20 million tons and by planning and taking appropriate measures, transiting 300 million tons of commodities per year can be reached," said Mokhber.

The North-South Corridor consists of three route sections, namely East, West, and Middle.

Iran and Russia are also cooperating in the maritime sector to use the Caspian Sea to shorten the transit route from Russia to India.

International North-South Transport Corridor is a corridor to increase trade between India and Russia. This trade route is 7200 Km long and the transport of freight is through a multi-mode network of roads, ships, and railways. This route connects India and Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan.

The corridor is aimed at reducing the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30 per cent and bringing down the transit time from 40 days by more than half.

Earlier this week, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) announced that it has assigned 300 containers to transport goods between Russia and India, reported Tehran Times.

The mentioned containers have been allocated to execute the first phase of a program for transiting Russian commodities to India via the North-South Corridor using the Caspian Sea.

"According to the plans made by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, in the first phase, 300 containers have been considered for transporting cargos to Russia, and if the demand increases, the number of these containers will increase continuously," an IRISL statement said.

Russia, India, and Iran are the founding member states of INSTC. The agreement was signed in 2002.

There are 13 member states of the INSTC project - India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Oman, Turkey, Syria and Ukraine.

Bulgaria is the Observer State. The Baltic countries like Latvia and Estonia have also expressed willingness to join the INSTC.

India shows interest in extending INSTC membership to countries like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Establishing a land route via Kabul and Tashkent to form the INSTC's "Eastern corridor" would maximise the potential of this collaboration.

Also, India wants to include Chabahar port to be included in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

The potential export sectors in India that benefit from INSTC include perishable goods (fruits and vegetables), high-value items like ATMs, industrial printers, 3D printers, robotic assembly accessories, etc., cross-border e-commerce, and sectors that are likewise. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Jul 14 (AP) The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are warning of dire ramifications for the economy and for national security if Congress fails to pass a bill by the end of July that is designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.

Their appeals have grown increasingly urgent as Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell threaten to block the computer chips legislation, creating a standoff that threatens to derail one of the biggest bipartisan initiatives in Congress. Republicans have tied their cooperation to Democrats not moving forward with a separate package of energy and economic initiatives that GOP lawmakers warn would increase taxes on small businesses and hurt the economy. It's a demand that Democrats dismiss out of hand.

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Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said computer chipmakers are being offered lucrative incentives from other countries such as South Korea, Japan, France, Germany and Singapore to locate plants there. She cited Monday's announcement by STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries to build a semiconductor factory in France as an example of other countries moving faster than the U.S. on the issue.

Bottom line is there are very real, very devastating consequences if Congress doesn't do its job in the month of July," Raimondo told The Associated Press.

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Those consequences mean not only lost job opportunities for the U.S., but an overdependency on other nations for semiconductors that could become a critical vulnerability because they are so important for products ranging from cars and cellphones to modern weapons systems.

McConnell did not respond to questions from reporters after attending the briefing. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said it underscored that Congress needs to act soon.

Raimondo and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in a letter to congressional leaders, said semiconductor companies need to get concrete in the ground by this fall to meet increased demand. The Cabinet members said it was their assessment that further delays in passing the legislation will result in a deficit of semiconductor investment from which we may not be able to recover.

Both chambers of Congress have passed bills that include about $52 billion in financial support for the U.S. semiconductor industry, but they are struggling to merge the legislation into a final compromise that could gain 60 votes in the Senate, the number needed to overcome procedural hurdles.

McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday suggested the House could work from the Senate-passed version, which would allow it to move to President Biden's desk to be signed into law. Or the two chambers could just take up a much narrower bill focused on semiconductor incentives, leaving out provisions on trade and new research priorities.

Both options face major hurdles. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, said McConnell's call for the House to go with the Senate bill was an arrogant, unreasonable demand." Meanwhile, senators from both parties are wary of settling for the $52 billion in financial incentives after working for years on other priorities in the bill.

It's just that there's too many other things that we worked so hard on. Why would we cut that down?" said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. If it's about being truly competitive, why would we say we just want to be a little competitive."

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he could support legislation just focused on the financial incentives, but it's got problems with other members of the conference" who are insisting on additional provisions.

Democrats have blown past their goal of reaching agreement on principles of the final bill by the end of June so that staff could prepare text and the two chambers could vote in July. Raimondo said she had been speaking with several Republicans on narrowing differences between the House and Senate before McConnell tweeted about the bill, known by the acronym USICA, for United States Innovation and Competition Act: Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill."

Obviously, Senator McConnell's tweet a couple of Friday's ago has slowed down work," Raimondo said.

Still, she said she considers the bill at the 5-yard line" and that negotiators could finish within a week to 10 days if both parties cooperated. She said if lawmakers cannot get the bill completed, it's not Republicans who win. China wins if this doesn't get passed."

Raimondo is trying to appeal to lawmakers' concerns about how the U.S. depends upon foreign countries, namely Taiwan, for the production of advanced computer chips.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., was one of the Republicans who voted for the Senate's version of the semiconductor legislation. Before he makes a decision on a final compromise bill, he wants to see the price tag of the separate energy and economic package that Democrats are pursuing through a process called reconciliation, which would allow them to pass a bill without any Republican support.

Tillis also isn't buying the warning that lawmakers need to pass a semiconductor bill this month or it may not happen at all.

This isn't the only vehicle that chips could ride on before the end of the year," Tillis said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tehran [Iran], July 13 (ANI/Xinhua): The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Islamic republic's stance toward the talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal is quite clear, and Tehran will remain committed to the negotiation process for resolving the differences.

Spokesman Nasser Kanaani made the remarks at a press conference in reaction to the comments by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Tuesday, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak Wins First Round of Voting in UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest.

Colonna warned there are only a few weeks remaining before the closure of the window of opportunity to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), accusing Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during the talks in Doha earlier this month, while forging ahead with its uranium enrichment program.

Without Tehran's efforts, "the window of diplomacy would not remain open until now," Kanaani said, adding it is the United States that has pulled out of the deal and refrained from carrying out its obligations.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Crisis: Prime Minister And Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe Asks Speaker to Nominate PM Who is Acceptable to All.

Nuclear negotiations are continuing either through exchanging indirect messages or talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, as well as their deputies Ali Bagheri Kani and Enrique Mora, he noted, adding that the date and venue for the new round of the negotiations will soon be determined.

Kanaani expressed hope that all European parties would adopt a constructive approach, helping the talks to bear fruit.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.After a three-month pause, the talks resumed recently in the Qatari capital Doha but failed to result in any agreement to settle the remaining differences. (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)
Warsaw, Jul 13 (AP) Prosecutors in Poland's capital said on Wednesday they are investigating a 31-year-old man who allegedly placed what police described as a projectile in a busy Warsaw street on suspicion of terrorism.

Due to the weight of the potential changes, the National Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation from regional prosecutors.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: Gotabaya Rajapaksa To Leave for Singapore From Maldives.

The suspect was being questioned on allegations of terrorism by causing a sense of serious threat among a large number of people, according to Karol Borcholski, a spokesperson for the national office.

If convicted of that charge, he faces up to five years in prison, or even more if the court decides. He remains in custody.

Also Read | US Embassy in Sri Lanka Cancels All Consular Services Amid Fresh Protests.

No one was reported injured, and the object did not explode. But over 300 people were participating in a commemorative march and rally for Polish victims massacred during World War II when the incident occurred Monday.

Police said after the man was detained that the explosive projectile had a potentially powerful range. An expert's detailed opinion on its type and capability was still pending.(AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
United Nations, Jul 13 (AP) Brazil's foreign minister said Tuesday the country wants to buy as much diesel fuel as it can from Russia following a deal with Moscow.

Carlos Franca called Russia a strategic partner and said Brazil is in short supply of diesel.

Also Read | Jafar Panahi Jailed: Iran Arrests Third Outspoken Filmmaker in Escalating Crackdown.

Of course, we have to make sure that we have enough diesel for the Brazilian agribusiness and, of course, for Brazilian drivers, he said. So that's why we were looking  for very reliable suppliers of diesel and Russia is one of them.

The minister was responding to a question about President Jair Bolsonaro's comments on Monday in Brasilia that Brazil has a deal and Russian diesel can start getting here within 60 days. Earlier, the president told supporters that Brazil was about to get cheaper diesel from Russia.

Also Read | US: Three-Year-Old Boy Dies in Hot Car Parked Outside Miami Area Jewish Center.

Russia continues to trade with all of the world, Bolsonaro said.

Franca noted Brazil and Russia are partners in the BRICs group of major emerging economies that also includes India, China and South Africa.

In addition to diesel, the foreign minister said, we rely heavily on fertilizer exports from Russia and from Belarus as well.

Russia is also a great provider of oil and gas, he said, adding: You can ask Germany about that, and ask Europe about that.

Russia accounts for 40% of Europe's imports of refined product and 55% of those products are diesel and gasoil, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Asked how much diesel Brazil would buy from Russia, the foreign minister said, As much as we can.".

Franca, who chaired a U.N. Security Council meeting earlier Tuesday on strategic communication in U.N. peacekeeping missions, was asked whether Brazil is getting any pushback from Western countries that have imposed sanctions over Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

He replied, Oh, no."

Franca also noted a Canadian government statement Sunday that it will allow delivery of refurbished equipment used in a key Russia-Europe natural gas pipeline that has undergone maintenance.

Russia's Gazprom cited the absence of the equipment last month as a reason for more than halving the flow of gas in mid-June. Siemens Energy said that allowing the gas turbine to be sent to Germany was a first step toward returning it to the pipeline that it operates.

I think we're in the same page," Franca said.

Pressed again about having dealings with Russia, he said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz should be asked first about Germany still buying Russian gas. Then, he said, I answer. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kathmandu, Jul 13 (PTI) Nepal's Parliament on Wednesday passed the country's first Citizenship Amendment Bill, which was under discussion for more than two years as it could not forge a consensus among political parties.

The bill has been under discussion in the House of Representatives since 2020, but it failed to be endorsed due to differences among the political parties over certain provisions, namely the seven-year waiting period for obtaining naturalised citizenship for foreign women married to Nepali men.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak Wins First Round of Voting in UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest.

In the meeting of the lower house of Parliament or the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand presented Nepal's first Citizenship Amendment Bill 2022 before the lawmakers, and said that the bill has been tabled in parliament to amend the Nepal Citizenship Act 2006 and make provisions for providing citizenship as directed by the Constitution.

There are thousands of people who are deprived of citizenship certificates although their parents are citizens of Nepal. The lack of citizenship certificates was further depriving them of education and other facilities. I appeal to help create an environment to endorse the new bill and for headway to implement the law by formulating new laws, the Home Minister said.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Crisis: Prime Minister And Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe Asks Speaker to Nominate PM Who is Acceptable to All.

Khand exuded confidence that the new bill would be taken forward in the Upper House of Parliament or the National Assembly on Thursday during which clause-wise deliberations would begin.

Last week, the Nepal government had withdrawn the Citizenship Bill from the House of Representatives after the main opposition CPN-UML lawmakers protested against its proposals.

In 2018, the then KP Sharma Oli government had registered the bill at the Parliament Secretariat.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lahore, Jul 13 (PTI) Two members of Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), who were returning from a mosque after offering their Eid al-Adha prayers, were allegedly shot dead by members of a rival organisation in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The incident took place on Sunday in Jaranwala Chak 97 district in Faisalabad, which is situated 130 kms from Lahore.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak Wins First Round of Voting in UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest.

Rashid Ali and his friend Shahid Farooq, who belonged to JuD, were coming out of the mosque of Ahl-i-Hadith after offering their Eid al-Adha prayers (on Sunday), when suspects Asharaf Kashi, Jamil and two others intercepted them and opened fire at Rashid Ali, police said.

They also shot Farooq when he came to Ali's rescue. Both died on the spot, they said.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Crisis: Prime Minister And Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe Asks Speaker to Nominate PM Who is Acceptable to All.

Asif Ali, Rashid's brother, told the police that he was a witness to the brutal killing.

He said the suspects after shooting them, kicked their bodies and raised religious slogans.

He said the suspects were affiliated to the rival Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat.

Asif told the police that the suspects held a grudge against Rashid for constructing the mosque of Ahle-Hadith, as they wanted to build the same for their sect.

A case has been registered, but police is yet to nab the culprits.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Paris [France], July 13 (ANI/Xinhua): An estimated 6,000 campers had to be evacuated in southwestern France on Wednesday morning as firefighters were battling to bring under control wildfires that have already burnt more than 1,500 hectares, French news channel BFMTV reported.

Tourists were evacuated from five campsites near the Dune du Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe located in the Arcachon Bay area. Another 200 people were evacuated to the nearby city of Biscarrosse from motorhomes parked near the fires, BFMTV said.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak Wins First Round of Voting in UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest.

"The wind shifted overnight," Lieutenant Colonel David Annotel of the National Federation of Firefighters of France (FNSPF) told BFMTV. "And even if the flames front is very far from the campsites, the decision was taken to evacuate them during the night and this evacuation was completed shortly before 5 am this morning. So, all campers concerned were sheltered in two or three places."

In the city of Landiras, 40 kilometers to the south of Bordeaux, 525 people were evacuated as wildfires burnt 800 hectares in the area. According to firefighters, the blaze burned through 100 hectares of pine trees per hour.Near the city of La Teste-de-Buch, 70 kilometers from Landiras, the wildfire scorched through 700 hectares of pine trees.

Also Read | Sri Lanka Crisis: Prime Minister And Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe Asks Speaker to Nominate PM Who is Acceptable to All.

At least 450 firefighters were mobilized in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and on Wednesday morning 350 of them were still on the scene. The fire brigade also planned to deploy aerial units.

According to BFMTV, two firefighters were reported injured. A wildfire alert has been issued for the department of Gironde, BFMTV added. (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)
"The whole process was a lot of fun eventually. I am so thankful about getting to know the syntax of that section of our country." Directed by Siddharth Sen and produced by Aanand L. Rai's Colour Yellow Productions, Lyca Productions and Mahaveer Jain, the film will release on July 29 on Disney+ Hotstar.
Prosecutors: Russias war has killed at least 349 children, wounded 652 since Feb. 24.



The numbers are expected to be higher since they don't include casualties in the Russian-occupied territories and areas where hostilities are ongoing. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 13, 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.)
San Francisco, July 13: With an aim to force Elon Musk to follow through with his $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal, the microblogging site has now sued the tech billionaire as he walked out of the deal. The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery this week, comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that he wants to terminate the $44 billion acquisition agreement.

"In April 2022, Elon Musk entered into a binding merger agreement with Twitter, promising to use his best efforts to get the deal done. Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests," the complaint reads. Twitter Hires Top Legal Firm to Sue Elon Musk for Ending $44 Billion Takeover Deal.

"Musk apparently believes that he -- unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law -- is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away," it added.

"Oh the irony lol," Musk tweeted Shortly after news of the suit was filed. Last week, Musk officially pulled out of his $44 billion agreement to purchase the microblogging site.

In a filing on Friday afternoon with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk's team claimed he is terminating the deal because Twitter was in "material breach" of their agreement and had made "false and misleading" statements during negotiations.

A recent report indicated that Twitter lawyers from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz law firms were preparing for a long-drawn court battle after Musk filed paperwork with the US SEC to exit the acquisition deal. Meanwhile, shares of the microblogging site fell about 6 per cent in premarket trading on Monday, amid the recent walkout by Musk.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 13, 2022 10:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Colombo, July 13: Sri Lanka's state-owned television channel Rupavihini suspended its telecast on Wednesday as protesters stormed the building, amidst the deepening political turmoil and economic crisis in the crisis-hit country.

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) said that its engineers have suspended their live and recorded telecasts as the corporation premises are being surrounded by protesters. Later, the channel resumed its transmission.

Meanwhile, the anti-government protesters, who are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, have ripped open the gates to the PM office.

The Police fired tear gas on protesters who broke through a barricade and stormed the prime minister's office. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over. Sri Lanka Crisis: National TV Channel Rupavahini Corporation Goes Off-Air After Protesters Surrounded Near Premises in Colombo.

He has ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner.

The protesters, who stormed the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees on Saturday, demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, are still occupying them.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.
Colombo, July 13: Sri Lanka on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy. The Prime Minister's office informed the media organisations that the state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province had been imposed.

Meanwhile, protesters marched to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, urging him to resign after the news came in that President Rajapaksa had left for the Maldives. They broke through a barricade despite tear gas before storming the prime minister's office, demanding his resignation. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

On Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.

Sri Lanka's political parties have stepped up efforts to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation sliding further into anarchy. Sri Lanka Declares State of Emergency After President Gotabaya Rajpakasa Flees Country.

Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days. The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.

The anti-government protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.
Here on the fertile edge of the Taklimakan Desert, people have long believed that placing a knife on their bedside keeps away bad dreams. On a babys seventh day of life, its tradition for parents to briefly slip a blade under the sleeping infants head to guarantee a long and healthy life.

By dusty roadsides, farmers with long white beards unsheathe their blades to slice open juicy green melons, selling sweet wedges for 15 cents. In open-air markets, butchers slaughter sheep, cattle and even camels in accordance with Muslim practice, skinning the hides and then swinging cleavers to parcel the carcasses into cuts of meat.

For the ethnic Uighurs who dominate this rural region in far western China, perhaps nothing is more essential  as tool and talisman  than a knife.

Over the centuries, Uighur craftsmen have elevated knife-making to a high art, fashioning small folding qelemturachs and larger pichaqs one by one in scores of small factories and workshops across Xinjiang province.

The most expensive and ornate boast silver blades and handles crisscrossed with intricate inlays of iridescent shell, stone, bone and other materials, often in geometric patterns with diamond, circle or even heart motifs. The craftsmans name and hometown are typically inscribed on the blade, in flowing Uighur script and sometimes Chinese characters as well.

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But in the wake of a string of deadly clashes and terrorist attacks, including a mass slashing, that Chinese authorities have blamed on Uighur separatists and religious extremists, the handcrafted knives have taken on a deadly cast.

The violence has set back the once-thriving tourist trade to the south of Xinjiang province, and remaining visitors may think twice about the symbolism of giving anyone a Uighur knife as a gift these days. For the few sightseers who still want them, confusion over restrictions on mailing knives or even taking them in check-in airline baggage has further damped the trade.

On a recent weekday, the regions knife-making capital, Yengisar, resembled nothing so much as a ghost town. Blade-shaped signs 30 feet tall stood forlornly above ample parking lots designed for tour buses, and colorful flags flapped in the wind, beckoning customers.

Not only were there no shoppers, but no shops were open. The local workshops were shuttered as well.

Finally, a policeman happened by and told the neighborhood mini-mart clerk he wanted to buy an animal-bone comb from the knife shop next door. The clerk called the owner, who hustled over to throw up his metal security door and make whatever sale he could.

Business is bad this year; there are no tourists, the salesman said as the officer picked out his comb and a few other shoppers wandered in, browsing the display cases stuffed with knives for every budget, from $5 pocket knives less than 2 inches long to kitchen cleavers and decorative silver blades with deer horn handles.

Exactly why the entire strip of dozens of shops and small factories was shut down was unclear. One local said the craftsmen had simply gone off for 10 days to pick cotton in fields nearby; September is peak harvest season.

But people here are skittish, and no one wants to share their name with a journalist. Another shop owner said proprietors had been ordered to close for a week  by exactly whom he didnt specify  because the provincial capital, Urumqi, a full 700 miles to the northeast, was hosting a high-profile international trade expo that week.

Though the notion that authorities might extend security precautions such a distance may sound far-fetched, China has strict rules on weaponry. Firearms are tightly controlled and hard to obtain; all but the smallest knives are supposed to be registered with police upon purchase.

China has periodically clamped down on knife sales around major national events. Ahead of the November 2012 ceremony at which Xi Jinping was elevated to the Communist Partys top post, for example, supermarkets across Beijing were ordered to stop sales of even small paring knives.

Since then, a series of deadly attacks has set the nation on edge and given Uighur knives an ominous taint, though its unclear in many cases whether the assailants used Uighur knives or mass-produced ones.

In March, black-clad assailants went on a rampage in front of a train station in the Yunnan province town of Kunming, using large knives to hack 29 people to death and injuring more than 140. In July, the imam of the main mosque in southern Xinjiangs largest city, Kashgar, was stabbed to death just outside the holy site in broad daylight.

Authorities said the assailants of the imam, who had strong ties to the Communist Party, were Uighur men in their late teens and early 20s who were influenced by extremist videos and teachings at unauthorized mosques.

The March attack prompted authorities to introduce a host of tighter security measures nationwide. Cops who previously patrolled without guns have been given firearms. Airport security screeners in Xinjiang now wave their wands even under the soles of passengers bare feet. New heavy traffic dividers have been installed in Beijings Tiananmen Square. Checkpoints are common in southern Xinjiang, and in some areas of the province, the Internet and text-messaging services have been disabled.

An expatriate who recently tried to buy a knife at two supermarkets in Beijing was told by clerks that they no longer stocked them. Eventually, the foreigner found a small selection at a specialty kitchen shop, though concealed behind the counter.

The Uighur craft of knife-making is often passed from father to son. Down the road from Yengisar, at a dusty rest stop baking in the sun, one small knife stand was open, and outside, the owners wife watched their toddler run around, naked except for a T-shirt.

A drill, grinding equipment and other tools sat in a heap at the front door of the shop. No customers were browsing the exquisite wares, everything from plain $10 cleavers to a $500 silver blade with a decorative inlaid handle that takes one craftsman 15 days to produce.

Asked whether he planned to pass the trade on to his boy, the young owner just sighed and said, I have no idea.

Near the village of Kezile, a huge blue-and-yellow knife-shaped sign greeted motorists pulling in to refuel their vehicles and stuff themselves with lamb kebabs and noodles at the Brothers Fast Food halal restaurant. The knife shop next to the eatery was tightly locked up.

Blue signs affixed to the front of the building warned: Religious Activity in Public Spaces Is Strictly Prohibited. Another, smaller green sign detailed rewards up to $8,500 for tipsters who inform police about terrorist activities. No one in the area seemed to know when the shop had shut, or when it might reopen. Six policemen sat under a canopy, keeping tabs.

A few days later, back in Yengisar, some knife shops had reopened. One proprietor got lucky when a group of Russian motorcyclists and a busload of tourists who had driven all the way from Shanghai on Chinas eastern coast rolled up. Transporting knives back home would be no problem for them.

I didnt know anything about these knives until our guide told us, said Gennady Kopylov, 37, of Moscow, who bought a large kitchen knife for about $50. I guess some Chinese might be scared now, you know, the Muslim thing, but these knives are great. And its no problem to take them back on the bike.

Follow me on Twitter @JulieMakLAT.
First Lady Jill Biden has recently been under scrutiny after her "taco" remarks, comparing Hispanics to the said traditional Mexican food during a conference in San Antonio, Texas. Currently joining the number of people criticizing the first lady is ABC's "The View" host Whoopi Goldberg.

Fox News reported that Goldberg said, "you can hear the people going - what is she saying?" during the speech of the first lady.

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin said that one of the senior producers of their show asked who wrote the speech, adding that Biden had many "high-level Latinas on her staff." Hostin went on to say that what the first lady did was a "racial stereotype," adding that it was an "unforced error."

Goldberg chimed in and offered advice to the first lady. She said they understood what she was trying to do but "just try not to do it again."

Guest host Ana Navarro thanked the first lady for "showing up" while also applauding U.S. President Joe Biden's move to award Raul Yzaguirre the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Navarro also said that people should steer away from comparing Hispanics to tacos and enchiladas when talking about the Latino population.

The guest host also commended Yzaguirre for being granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, wherein she said that he focused on bringing unity among the Latino population and understood that they are stronger as one.

READ NEXT: Jill Biden Caused Offense After Likening Latinos to 'Tacos' in a Speech; Hispanic Journalists React

Jill Biden Taco Remark Apology

Meanwhile, Biden's press secretary Michael LaRosa tweeted on Tuesday that the first lady "apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love" for the Hispanic population, according to another Fox News report.

The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.  Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosa46) July 12, 2022

Sen. Ted Cruz's communications adviser, Steve Guest, replied to the tweet, wherein he said that he is "sorry" that LaRosa had to tweet the apology.

Human Events editor Jack Posobic quoted the tweet and asked why the first lady did not post the apology herself.

Why didnt she tweet it herself? https://t.co/L571alnPYJ  Jack Posobic  (@JackPosobiec) July 12, 2022

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called out the first lady in a statement they released on Monday. They urged Biden and her speech writing team to "take the time" to better understand their community, adding they are not tacos.

Jill Biden Speech

First Lady Jill Biden also talked about the bipartisan gun control measure that was signed by the president during her speech.

UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguia applauded the first lady before her remarks for choosing Latinos for top positions in her staff. She also shared a recent meeting at the White House to talk about the Latino population, which she mentioned as she introduced Biden, according to a CNN report.

The first lady also took note of the president's effort to up Latino representation in his cabinet, noting that the president has appointed Hispanics to the highest offices.

The conference was named "Quest for Equity" and was held in San Antonio, Texas.

READ MORE: Jill Biden Net Worth: How Much Money Did the First Lady and Joe Biden Make During Their First Year in White House

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: First Lady Jill Biden likens Latinos to 'breakfast tacos' - from Daily Mail
Top U.S. health officials on Tuesday raised a warning on COVID-19 Omicron subvariant BA.5, which may prompt another surge of COVID cases.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Omicron BA.5 now accounts for 65% of current COVID-19 cases across the United States, per Yahoo! News.

NBC News noted that hospitals across the country are now bracing for another surge in cases driven by the said Omicron subvariant.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky noted in a press briefing on Tuesday that COVID hospitalizations have doubled since May, attributing it to the COVID-19 BA.5 subvariant.

However, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, assured in a virtual press briefing that the federal government "knows how to manage" the increase in COVID cases.

"We can prevent serious illness. We can save lives and we can minimize disruptions caused by COVID-19," Jha underscored.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that the threat of BA.5 subvariant looms for people who are not "vaccinated to the fullest."

Although Fauci stressed that though the COVID-19 BA.5 "substantially evades neutralizing antibodies," vaccines are still effective in preventing severe COVID-19 outcomes.

"We do know [BA.5] to be more transmissible and more immune-evading... People with prior infection, even with BA.1 or BA.2, are likely still at risk for BA.4 and BA.5," Walensky said in Tuesday's briefing.

READ NEXT: Monkeypox Case in New Mexico Probable | Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment

COVID-19 BA.5: Symptoms of the Omicron Subvariant

Health experts have released symptoms attributed to the Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

According to the University of California Davis Health, the reported symptoms of BA.5 are similar to the previous COVID-19 variants. These are fever, runny nose, sore throat, headaches, muscle pain, and fatigue.

Meanwhile, in the U.K., BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants have reported symptoms, including persistent cough. BA.4 and BA.5 are the subvariants that account for the majority of the U.K.'s COVID cases.

Treatment for COVID-19 Omicron BA.5

Health experts, like Fauci, reiterated that even though the BA.5 evades the antibodies, the vaccines are still enough protection and help avoid severe COVID effects from taking place.

Although the BA.5 can elude from the antibodies produced triggered by the vaccines or treatments, there are still other ways to prevent having the said Omicron subvariant.

According to Dr. Nathan Grubaugh from Yale School of Public Health, the best way to encounter new variants of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated and get booster shots. Grubaugh noted that the virus will not have more chances to spread and mutate when more people are vaccinated.

Another way to protect oneself from the BA.5 variant is mask-wearing.

On Friday, New York City public health officials recommended wearing masks indoors. Furthermore, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommended wearing high-quality masks, including N95, KN95, or KF94.

READ NEXT: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken 'Celebrate' on Cuba Protest Anniversary; Island's Officials Pushback

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Omicron Subvariant BA.5 Highly Transmissible in U.S. l GMA - From ABC News
The United Nations on Tuesday claimed that hunger in Haiti would worsen due to the country's ongoing gang violence.

In a statement on Tuesday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said that "surging and deadly gang violence" in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, contributed to more difficult food access for people who are in the area.

"The situation is spiraling out of control already... Large parts of Port-au-Prince are controlled by gangs; the data we have, show that the situation over the past 90 days has gotten worse," WFP Haiti Country Director Jean Martin-Bauer said, adding that there were at least one million in the city who are called "food insecure."

Bauer also said in a statement that a large part of Haiti's population was cut off from the economic heart of the country, and hunger is reportedly rising significantly in several areas, including the capital and the south of the country.

The UN WFP pointed out that at least 4.4 million Haitians need immediate food assistance. That number attributes to almost half of Haiti's population.

READ NEXT: U.S. Charges a 400 Mawozo Gang Member Over the Kidnapping of Missionaries in Haiti

Haiti Gangs Block Roads, Prompting Food Supply Shortages

The UN agency also noted that gangs in Haiti have also blocked the road leading to the country's southern peninsula. This caused a cut in food supply for 3.8 million people living in the southern departments from Port-au-Prince.

UN-WFP also noted that they resorted to using sea routes rather than trucks, so that vulnerable Haitians outside the country's capital would still receive food assistance.

Bauer pointed out that humanitarian workers are transported by air through the UN's Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), contending that it is only the safe option for them. However, the funding for UNHAS is also facing a dilemma.

"Without adequate funding, UNHAS faces imminent closure by the end of July 2022. Ultimately, this puts not only WFP's assistance but humanitarian operations across the country at risk," Bauer highlighted.

Haiti Gang Violence Kills 50, Injures 50 More Others

The gang violence in Haiti is also taking a toll on the lives of the civilians in the country.

According to Associated Press, dozens of people have died and were injured in four days due to the rival gang fights in the country's capital.

Cite Soleil District Deputy Mayor Jean Hislain Frederick said that at least 50 people had died and more than 50 were left injured after the fight between rival gangs erupted on Friday last week.

Meanwhile, Cite Soleil Mayor Joel Janus previously told Reuters that the bullets during the gang fight went through the roofs and killed the civilians.

The violence appeared to be a fight between the G9 and the GPEP gangs.

Meanwhile, the group Doctors Without Borders called on Haiti's gangs to "spare the civilians" from their gang fights.

READ NEXT: COVID-19 Warning: Top Health Officials Raises Alarm on Omicron BA.5 [Symptoms, Resistance, and Treatment]

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New information about the January 6 Capitol riot emerged, with 11 House Republicans attending a White House meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump prior to the certification of the 2020 presidential election has been revealed by the committee leading the investigation.

Business Insider reported that the White House meeting, which occurred on December 21, was part of an effort to spread Trump's false claims about the election, according to Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy. Murphy noted that those who attended included former Vice President Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and former White House chief Mark Meadows. Murphy said the members discussed at the meeting the election claims that Trump's personal lawyer, John Eastman, was promoting.

Eastman said he believed that Pence could single-handedly "reject slates of electors," with him having a role over the joint session to certify the election results. However, the vice president's role only includes counting votes.

The 11 House Republicans who were at the White House meeting based on the visitor logs obtained by the January 6 committee were Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, Texas Rep. Brian Babin, and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs.

Included in the list are Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, and Maryland Rep. Andy Harris.

Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia was also at the White House meeting, including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, and Rep-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Should Be Charged With Insurrection or Rebellion to Prevent Him From Holding Office Again - Watergate Prosecutor

White House Meeting

The January 6 committee has released evidence regarding the planning of the meeting, with a note on Trump's private schedule for the day "private meeting with Republican members" of the House at 2:00 p.m. in the Oval Office.

Brooks emailed about it using the subject line "White House meeting December 21 regarding January 6," according to an Axios report. In an email, he said he had not recruited other lawmakers into the "January 6 effort."

Brooks said that only citizens can influence lawmakers on the matter.

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson also provided testimony regarding the said White House meeting.

Hutchinson said in a closed-door testimony that members felt that the vice president had the power "to send electors back to the States."

Among the attendees of the White House meeting, Biggs, Brooks, Gaetz, Gohmert, Greene, and Perry all sought pardons.

January 6 Committee and Donald Trump

Meanwhile, January 6 Committee vice-chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, noted that Trump tried to communicate to a committee witness who has not yet been heard from at the hearings. According to Deadline, it was reported to the Department of Justice.

Cheney said that any effort to influence witnesses of the committee will be taken seriously.

The Republican vice-chair of the January 6 committee said that the witness did not answer Trump's call. The person, however, referred the event to their attorney, who then informed the January 6 committee.

Cheney warned about efforts of intimidation and an attempt to influence committee witnesses during the panel's last hearing.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Admits He Didn't Win Presidential Election 2020 During Interview With Presidential Historians

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WATCH: January 6 Committee Plays Testimony On Combative White House Meeting Over Election Fraud Claims - from MSNBC
A shootout happened between Mexico City police and possible members of the Sinaloa Cartel in the town of Topilejo, near Mexico City's southern edge. City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch said that four police officers were injured during the gunfight, one of them seriously wounded.

According to the Associated Press, more than a dozen gunmen armed with grenades, a machine gun, and a .50 caliber sniper rifle engaged the police in the gun battle. 150 police officers, soldiers, and three helicopters also participated in the operation, Harfuch said.

Police Rescue Two Kidnap Victims From Gunmen

Chief Garcia Harfuch said that local residents reported armed men were holding possibly kidnapped people in the area. This prompted the police to conduct the operation in Topilejo. Kidnap gangs and other criminals have long used the mountains on the city's southern edge as hideouts.

Following the operation, police rescued the two kidnap victims, who were apparently being held there against their will, according to Garcia Harfuch. The police chief also added that they found "a considerable amount of drugs" near the abandoned restaurant which the gang was using as their safe house. He did not mention what type of drugs were found near the safehouse.

The gunmen opened fire on the police as they drove past the safe house while on a highway leading to the city of Cuernavaca. The police fought back and managed to capture 14 suspects after the operation.

The Independent reported that the 14 captured gunmen may be working for the Sinaloa Cartel, which is currently the richest drug syndicate in Mexico, as the police noted that these kidnappings were not carried out for ransom.

READ NEXT: Mexico: 9 Dead After Shootout Between Police, Gunmen in Jalisco State Plagued by Mexican Drug Cartels

Mexico City Police Chief Omar Garcia Harfuch Survives Deadly Gun Battles With the Cartels

It is not just the Sinaloa Cartel, whose modus operandi fits the kidnapping of the two victims well, that Chief Omar Garcia Harfuch is known for dealing with. The Mexico City police chief has gained quite the reputation in the country for his frequent run-ins with Mexico's various drug cartels.

He gained notoriety in Mexico when gunmen possibly belonging to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel ambushed him and his bodyguards while traveling inside an armored vehicle.

The attack left his two bodyguards, as well as one bystander dead. He survived but was sent to the hospital with three bullet wounds.

In an interview with El Pais regarding the ambush, he said that the attack radically altered his existence, as he now has no social life and cannot see his daughters because it might endanger them. Following the attack, he vowed to be more active and more motivated than ever in their efforts to reduce crime.

He admitted that it is not finding his attackers and finishing them off that he is obsessed with, but reducing crime in Mexico City.

READ NEXT: 25 Bodies Found in Mexico's Lakeside Tourist Destination Reportedly Turned Into 'Narco Cemetery' by Jalisco Cartel

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WATCH: Mexico City public security chief hurt in assassination attempt
Chilling footage in connection to the Texas School shooting in Uvalde was released on Tuesday, revealing how the officers acted when they responded and heard gunshots from the 18-year-old shooter who was inside the classroom.

The surveillance footage first acquired by the Austin-American Statesman was 77 minutes long and showed how the police "dilly-dallied" in the Hallway of Robb Elementary School, where at least 21 people died, according to New York Post.

These fully armored good guys with guns ran away like cowards from the classroom when shots rang out from the shooter pic.twitter.com/b8IgKo2YU5  Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) July 12, 2022

The video revealed that the Uvalde Shooting gunman, Salvador Ramos, fired multiple shots from his AR-15-style rifle outside the school and then entered the building at around 11:33 a.m. on May 24.

The video also showed police rushing into the building minutes after the Texas school shooting gunman began his rampage. At around 11:36 a.m., a barrage of more than 100 bullets was fired inside the classroom. At 11:37 a.m., Ramos appeared to fire shots from inside the classroom.

However, the footage showed that the responding officers during that time ran towards the exit of the hallway when they heard the gunshots.

The surveillance footage also showed heavily armed officers walking around the hallway, leaving, coming back, and talking to each other. At around 12:50 p.m. that day, the officers successfully breached the classroom doors.This was around 70 minutes after the first officers arrived and entered the Robb Elementary School.

The surveillance footage on Tuesday was scheduled to be released on Sunday by state lawmakers. Officials previously said that they want to give grieving families the opportunity to see the video privately before its release.

READ NEXT: Texas Shooting: New Video Shows Armed Police Were at Robb Elementary School Premises but Waited 58 Minutes to Enter Classroom

Texas Cop Under Fire for Using Hand Sanitizer While Responding to Uvalde Shooting in Texas

A Texas cop faced backlash on the same day the surveillance footage was released after he was seen using the hand sanitizer at Robb Elementary School. More than 45 minutes into the response of the law enforcement around 12:30 p.m., an officer in helmet and vest was seen using a wall-mounted hand sanitizer dispenser.

The same officer, who was not named, was also seen looking for his phone. Netizens were quick to condemn the action of the said officer seen in the surveillance footage.

Would love to hear from this Uvalde cop why he was worried about putting on hand sanitizer while a shooter was massacring kids twenty feet down the hall pic.twitter.com/2F3oPqW3gp  Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) July 12, 2022

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips took to Twitter to ask why the officer was worried about putting on hand sanitizer while kids were massacred inside the building during that time.

NEW: The @statesman just published surveillance footage from the Uvalde mass school shooting, which shows police in ballistics gear waiting around in a school hallway and EVEN STOPPING TO GET HAND SANITIZER while children and educators were slaughtered. https://t.co/GJWZjMH9Y2 pic.twitter.com/IoUVFGgPdj  Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 12, 2022

Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts also condemned the action made by the Texas cop.

Cops in Uvalde checked their phones and got hand sanitizer while children were massacred.



My God. pic.twitter.com/E8K6UJhqs0  Nina Turner (@ninaturner) July 12, 2022

Former Ohio Congressional candidate, Ninja Turner, also hopped in to scrutinize the law enforcement officer.

"Cops in Uvalde checked their phones and got hand sanitizer while children were massacred. My God.," Turner said.

Texas School Shooting: Police Response Under Scrutiny

The Uvalde Police faced scrutiny over their botched response to the Texas school shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw cast the blame on Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo over their delayed response.

Last month, another surveillance footage showed that police officers waited for nearly an hour before they entered the classroom where Ramos, the gunman, was located.

Tactical officers killed the Texas school shooting gunman during a shootout in the classroom.

At least 19 children and two teachers were dead following the tragedy in May.

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A Sinaloa Cartel leader believes that he was moved to the ADX "supermax" prison in Colorado in a "torturous" bid to make him talk about his boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera.

Marco Paredes-Machado is a high-value prisoner for the U.S. Justice Department as they go after the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. However, Paredes-Machado has sued the Justice Department for violating his First Amendment Rights by moving him to the ADX "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.

In his lawsuit, the Sinaloa Cartel leader claimed that his imprisonment inside one of the U.S.' highest-security prisons was a "torturous" attempt to make him talk about El Chapo, The Denver Post reported.

His lawsuit also claimed that the U.S. falsely accused him of being a member of ISIS to justify his transfer to Colorado. Paredes-Machado's camp further noted that when the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) determined that he was not a member of the Islamic State, it labeled him "notorious" to justify his transfer.

He also claimed that he was tortured by Mexican authorities at a "black site" in Mexico in January 2011 on behalf of the U.S. government. Paredes-Machado said he was beaten and waterboarded at the time.

Paredes-Machado was described in the lawsuit as a "plaza boss," similar to a regional distribution manager or middle management for the drug cartel. The lawsuit noted that "plaza bosses" do have access to organizational information.

It then added that "the acquisition of information from the middle echelons of a cartel's hierarchy" was a significant part of intelligence gathering for U.S. drug investigations.

The lawsuit further noted that no similarly situated cartel member under the jurisdiction of the BOP had received the "notorious" designation that Paredes-Machado received, adding that "no plaza boss" has been put to the ADX "supermax" prison.

The lawsuit said the U.S. government's treatment of the Sinaloa Cartel leader was "unconstitutional" since the treatment given to him was "vastly different from that of similarly situated prisoners."

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Sinaloa Cartel Leader Oversaw a Vast Drug Smuggling Operation

The United States charged Marco Paredes-Machado with conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana in November 2005.

According to the lawsuit, the charge was made to extradite the Sinaloa Cartel leader to the U.S. to "extract intelligence" and make him talk about the Mexican drug cartel and El Chapo.

Paredes-Machado was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2011 and was extradited to the United States in September 2015.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana in September 2019. The Sinaloa Cartel leader was sentenced to 22 years in prison in February 2020.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Paredes-Machado allegedly led the Sinaloa Cartel's drug trafficking operations in Agua Prieta in Sonora state in Mexico that was responsible for distributing 40 tons of marijuana.

The Sinaloa Cartel leader was allegedly leading a group of 20 to 30 men and he directed them to export marijuana from Mexico to the U.S. and distribute it in Michigan and other states.

He also collected payments for the purchase of drugs and received proceeds for the eventual sale of narcotics. The Department of Justice noted that these transactions typically amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Marco Paredes-Machado Agrees to Talk About La Linea Cartel but Not About Sinaloa Cartel and Its Boss El Chapo

Before he pleaded guilty, Marco Paredes-Machado was held inside a minimum-security detention facility. However, after entering the plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wininger emailed him whether he would like to talk about the drug cartel's violence on the border.

Paredes-Machado agreed on the condition that they meet in Detroit in Michigan, where he was being held at the time.

The Sinaloa Cartel leader was scheduled to be transferred to a jail facility near Tucson. However, he feared that if he talked in Arizona, which is near the border, drug cartel members would find out, and there might be violent retaliation against him and his family.

Paredes-Machado has reportedly agreed to speak only about a rival cartel, La Linea, and not about the Sinaloa Cartel to which he belonged and its bosses like El Chapo.

The meeting did not happen, and Wininger and another Assistant U.S. Attorney, Seth Gilmore, allegedly "coordinated and executed a plan" to have the Sinaloa Cartel leader transferred to the ADX "supermax" prison in Colorado. Wininger and Gilmore were named as defendants in the lawsuit.

El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days also in the ADX "supermax" prison in Colorado after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

READ MORE: Mexico: Police Save Big Cats, Others From Animal Rescue After Reports of Mistreatment

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WATCH: Inside the Sinaloa Cartel's Fentanyl Pipeline - From ABC News
A Missouri husband was viciously attacked and eaten alive by a pack of pit bulls over the weekend, leading to his death.

According to Crime Online, Dennis Moore's wife said she did not see his husband's body as "the dogs ate him up to the point where his body was decayed."

Moore's wife, Melvina Moore, told NBC 5 that authorities did not show his husband's body because the attack was "so gruesome" that only the head was left.

"The dogs ate him up to the point where his body was decayed. They can't show me his body. They didn't eat his head up," Moore told the outlet.

The incident reportedly happened in the 4800 block of San Francisco Avenue in St. Louis between 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.

St. Louis police found the body of the 62-year-old Missouri husband lying in an alley on San Francisco Avenue, about two blocks from his home. Police told his wife that dogs had attacked him.

According to reports, a second victim, a 92-year-old, was taking out the trash that Saturday night when the dogs also attacked him. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

St. Louis Animal Control workers later found three pit bulls that matched the description of dogs that also attacked others in the area.

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Missouri Husband Killed in Pit Bull's Attack

Dennis Moore's wife noted that her husband was a retired landscaper who helped the elderly in the neighborhood by offering to cut their grass.

Melvina Moore noted that the Missouri man was the perfect husband who took in her children as his own. Melvina said she was working an overnight shift while her husband took his routine walk.

According to an incident report, the Missouri husband was found with "significant bodily wounds." Melvina noted that authorities told her they had some kind of DNA to prove that the captured dogs were the right ones.

Neighbor Michael Lewis told KTVI that he had seen several dogs owned by someone nearby roaming in the area.

Lewis said he avoided the alley when he was with his own dog, adding that his dog is around 90 pounds and will not have any problem with the pit bulls. However, he noted that he did want his dog to fight six dogs, News & Observer reported.

Police said the Animal Control and the medical examiner's office continue investigating this case. Authorities noted that the Missouri husband's body would undergo an autopsy to determine his official cause of death.

St. Louis Animal Control told NBC 5 that the three pit bulls are currently being housed at the animal shelter relating to the investigation.

Another Dog Attack Kills Boy in Louisiana

In New Orleans, a 13-month-old boy was also mauled to death by a family dog on Monday. Crime Online reported that a police officer shot and killed the dog when it attacked a Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agent.

The toddler, who was identified as Apollo Duplantis, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police officers responded to a call at around 6:46 p.m. in the 5500 block of Seminary Place.

When the police arrived, they saw the dog attacking one of the animal control officers. It was when a police officer fired at the dog, killing it. The officer has reportedly been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

READ MORE: Texas Police Shoot, Kill Gunman at Youth Summer Camp After He Opened Fire

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WATCH: Elderly Man Dies After Dog Attack in St. Louis - From FOX 2 St. Louis
A new massacre in Mexico was reported after six people were shot dead inside a house in Chihuahua state plagued by Mexican drug cartels.

According to Infobae, five men and one woman were shot inside a house in the Sahuaros neighborhood on Monday. Initial reports revealed that several armed men entered the home and shot the victims.

According to Excelsior, the gunmen were boarding at least two vehicles and fled after opening fire on people. So far, the identity of the victims has not been.

Authorities are still working to determine the motive of the massacre and the circumstances leading up to the shooting.

READ NEXT: Sinaloa Cartel Leader 'El Bob Esponja' Shot to Death After Gunmen Chase Ends With Crash in Mexico's Sonora State

Massacre in Mexico: Other Mass Killings in Chihuahua State

Last month, at least nine people died in two shooting incidents in Mexico's Chihuahua state. Four of them were killed in an attack by armed men at Denny's restaurant on Technological Avenue at Ciudad Suarez.

Reports said an unknown armed group broke into the restaurant and sprayed bullets at people. Among the casualties were two women and two men who died on the way to a hospital.

A waiter was also wounded by a bullet that hit his back. While details of those responsible are still unknown, everything seems to indicate that it was a settling of scores between rival Mexican drug cartels that operate in the state.

Meanwhile, five people died after two rival armed groups engaged in a shootout in the municipalities of Valle de Allende and Coronado. Residents called 911 after hearing the gunshots.

When authorities arrived on a highway between the said municipalities, they saw four bodies with gunshot wounds. Local reports said the two bodies had been decapitated, with one of the heads placed on a white SUV's roof and the other on the hood.

During the early hours, a man's body was abandoned in a funeral home in the municipality of Jimenez. Police believed this was also related to the armed confrontation between two rival groups. Authorities reportedly attributed this violence to warring Mexican drug cartels in the state.

Mexican Drug Cartels in Mexico's Chihuahua State

A war between Mexican drug cartels plagues the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. According to reports, Chihuahua has reportedly been in a territorial dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and La Linea Cartel for the last five years.

La Linea is a former group of the Juarez Cartel and is fighting the Sinaloa Cartel for smuggling routes in the U.S. La Linea is believed to be led by Jesus Salas Aguayo, alias "El Chuyin."

On the other hand, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's four sons, known as "Los Chapitos," were left in command of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to the U.S.

However, reports suggested that there was an internal dispute for total control of the powerful criminal organization. The Los Chapitos are reportedly looking to assume supreme control of the Sinaloa Cartel, and their father's former right-hand man, El Mayo, appears to be their internal enemy number one.

The Sinaloa Cartel is considered one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking syndicates. The Mexican drug cartel has been known for carrying out assassinations, murders, and torture to protect its turf.

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WATCH: Living in Mexico's Kill Zone - From Al Jazeera English
Patients at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise are again being invited for feedback after the last survey revealed 90% of people were happy with their care.

The fifth National Inpatient Experience Survey is now underway in the hospital. This annual survey  the largest of its kind in Ireland  offers patients the opportunity to share their experiences of healthcare and outline what is working well and what improvements are necessary. This provides a clear picture of the safety and quality of care in Irish hospitals, as seen through the eyes of patients.

Almost 26,000 patients are eligible to participate in this years survey. Since 2017, over 50,100 patients have completed the survey nationally, making over 86,000 comments on the care and treatment they received in hospital. Last years response rate of 41% at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise indicates the strong desire of patients to talk about their experiences in hospital in order to bring about meaningful change.

The National Inpatient Experience Survey contains a total of 67 questions on topics such as admission to hospital, care and treatment on the ward, trust in hospital staff, respect and dignity, and care during the pandemic.

All patients aged over 16 years-of-age who spent 24 hours or more in hospital and were discharged during the month of May are eligible to participate in the survey.

Health and Information Quality Authority(HIQA)s Director of Health Information and Standards Rachel Flynn said: I would like to encourage all eligible patients to tell us about their recent experiences of care in Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

By sharing your views, you will provide us with invaluable information on the improvements that are necessary to deliver a more person-centred health service in your area. It is by listening and learning from your experiences that we can bring about effective and sustainable changes across the healthcare sector, she remarked.

General Manager at MRHP Michael Knowles said: The results of our most recent survey, with 90% of our patients saying the care was good or very good, is testament to the hard work and commitment of the dedicated staff at MRHP.

He added: Many of the comments from patients in the most recent National Inpatient Experience Survey acknowledge the great care and support provided to them by our staff. I am asking patients to complete the 2022 survey, so we can continue to listen, respond and improve.

To find out more about the survey, watch a short animation here. You can also visit our website yourexperience.ie and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Laois Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan is urging young people in Laois to consider a career in the Defence Forces.

As Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Defence, Deputy Flanagan welcomed the announcement the Government has approved a move to Level of Ambition 2 (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on the Defence Forces.

He said his party in Government is moving to transform the Defence Forces and deliver the largest increase in the Defence budget in the history of the State.

Todays announcement today will result in the Defence budget rising from 1.1 billion to 1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028, the largest increase in Defence funding in the history of the State, he remarked.

Deputy Flanagan said: My party, Fine Gael, is proud to have founded the institutions of the State and we will always work to defend and protect them. We are determined to achieve the substantial transformation and investment in recruitment and equipment as recommended by the Commission on the Defence Forces.

I want to pay tribute to all those involved in the review of the Defence Forces for the work completed to bring this to fruition. The Department engaged in extensive consultation with a range of other stakeholders, including representative associations, he said.

According to Deputy Flanagan, the move to LOA2 will allow for the immediate commencement of planning for military radar capabilities, including primary radar, and funding for this will be prioritised.

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He said: This will mean opportunities to develop our defence capabilities and joint procurement offered by participation in PESCO and the European Defence Agency. It is less than a week since the Dail approved the proposal for the Defence Forces to join four new PESCO projects.

The transformation of the Defence Forces will require an additional 2,000 personnel (civil and military) over and above the current establishment of 9,500. Work has already commenced on this with the recently announced recruitment campaign, BE MORE. I will keep people updated on this campaign and I hope that young people in Laois will look to the Defence Forces as a promising and rewarding career choice, he remarked.

We are also about to see revitalisation of the Reserve Defence Force, another fantastic career option for young people in Laois. We have also announced the establishment of a new Office of Reserve Affairs with the priority objective of developing a regeneration plan for the Reserve Defence Force, he added.

The Commission also made a number of recommendations concerning existing pay structures, and I welcome that the Government will immediately progress the pay structure measures, including, removal of the requirement for a Private 3 Star/Able Seaman to mark time for the first three years at that rank, and payment of the full rate of Military Service Allowance (MSA) applicable to the rank of all Private 3 Star/Able Seaman personnel, Deputy Flanagan concluded.
A new scholarship aimed at helping former prisoners of jails in Portlaoise and elsewhere and those with a criminal past access higher education has launched at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Athlone Campus.

The college says the KickStart Scholarship Fund wsa established by the Irish Probation Service and supported by the Irish Prison Service. It says it is intended to provide critical financial support to people with convictions enrolling in undergraduate study.

Two KickStart Scholarships are now available at TUSs Athlone campus, which consist of a scholarship worth up to 20,000 over four years of full-time study and six years of part-time study, and a scholarship of up to 5,000 over four years of full-time study or six years of part-time study.

TUS is one of four higher education partners involved in delivering the pilot programme, along with Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology and Munster University, the project lead.

The programme is open to new undergraduate students who have applied to begin their third-level undergraduate study at TUSs Athlone campus this September, as well as those who are already enrolled at TUSs Athlone campus or MU, DCU, and DKIT.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the scheme was about giving people a second chance and empowering those who want to change the course of their lives for the better.

We know how powerful education can be in terms of unlocking potential, building confidence, and breaking down barriers, and this new initiative is about ensuring equality of opportunity for those who may have made mistakes in the past but want to build a better life, she explained.

TUS President Prof. Vincent Cunnane called it a chance for people with a criminal past to rebuild their lives through educational opportunity.

"We are delighted to participate in this pilot scheme aimed at providing educational opportunities to those with a criminal past. Education has a transformative power which gives people the tools needed to carve out a better life for themselves and their families. At TUS, we believe it should be available to all who would benefit from it  for the betterment of the individual and their families, the community within which they reside, and society as a whole, he said.

The TUS says the KickStart Scholarship scheme meets a strategic objective of the Working to Change Social Enterprise and Employment Strategy 2021-2023.
Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley was given assurances that the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise was not being downgraded.

Deputy Stanley outlined the concerns of Laois residents in the Dail on Tuesday in light of the downgrading of Navan Accident and Emergency Department in Meath.

He asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the future of the 24-hour status of the accident and emergency unit in Portlaoise hospital given the situation regarding Navan hospital.

Deputy Stanley said: I want to raise with the Minister the issue of the emergency department in Portlaoise. As the Minister will be aware, the Dr Susan O'Reilly plan, which was handed to me in October 2017, was to close the emergency department. That was put on the shelf. What is the current update on this because this is important for Laois and the surrounding counties?

Dr O'Reilly was the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group CEO at the time. Her plan was endorsed by national clinical leads and national HSE management. It was also submitted to the then Minister for Health Simon Harris.

In response, Minister Stephen Donnelly made no reference to this plan. He added that he has received no downgrade plan.

I assure the Deputy that no plans have been presented to me and there has been no discussion with me about any considerations to downgrade any of the services currently in operation at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, including the emergency department.

Since 2014, the focus has been on supporting the hospital to develop and enhance management capability, implement change required to address clinical service issues and incorporate the hospital into the governance structures of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group. I am fully committed to ensuring that these efforts continue. The Deputy would agree that great progress has been made by the fantastic healthcare professionals we have working in Portlaoise hospital, he told Deputy Stanley.

The budget for Portlaoise hospital this year is over 71 million. The Deputy will be happy to hear that is an 11% increase on the 2019 figure and nearly a 60% increase on the 2012 figure. There has been a very significant increase in funding. Staffing levels are now at 824 whole-time equivalents. To give the Deputy a sense of it, that is a 50% increase on 2014. If we go back to 2014 and ask what has happened in the past eight years, we have seen a very significant increase in funding in hospital and a 50% increase in the workforce in the hospital. That is a really clear statement of intent from Government that this hospital is a priority and ongoing investment in the hospital will remain a priority, Minister Donnelly said.

Furthermore, he pointed out that a 20 million in capital investment is enabling the reconfiguration and extension of laboratory services and a new respiratory assessment unit, and more besides is going on at the hospital.

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When pressed for further assurance, Minister Donnelly stated: On top of what I have already said, we can point to additional investment in the emergency department. For example, the nursing complement in the emergency department in Portlaoise, from post-pandemic to now, has increased from 28.5 whole-time equivalents to 36.5 whole-time equivalents, so not only is the service not being downgraded and not only have I had no conversations about that, in fact, if we look at the hard figures, what we see is that money is going in and services, including in the emergency department, are being increased.

Deputy Stanley explained that the staff were "under fierce pressure. One of my neighbours is an accident and emergency nurse.

Minister Donnelly replied, I fully accept that. There is an emergency department plan being put in place for every hospital. There are pressures all over the country. The influx that has been caused by Covid is immense. As we were discussing earlier, May of this year is the highest year on record for attendances to emergency departments, and I emphasise that is in May. We are planning for the winter now.

The 2017 proposed the phased downgrade of services. Emergency, paediatrics, maternity, ICU and most surgical care were slated for removal under this plan. Other hospitals would take up the slack through expansion in Dublin, Naas, Tullamore and Kilkenny hospitals.

Public opposition led by the Portlaoise Hospital Action Group caused the plan to be put on ice in anticipation of consultation that never happened.
A Laois shopkeepers' son is among three young people from the county to win a Gaisce Gold President's Medal.

A son of newsagents Martin and Martina Whelehan from Portarlington, Odhran Whelehan received his award personally from President Michael D Higgins at Aras and Uachtarain last week.

Odhran who learned how to speak fluent Irish as part of his challenges, recommends the Gaisce Gold challenge to others.

"It was a really great experience. I started it at the beginning of lockdown and it gave me a lot of direction. I had just come home from a work placement in Chicago as a community organiser and that reinvigorated my passion for community work.

His Gaisce partner was NUI Galway where he is studying for a Masters in Public Policy.

To achieve his Gold he set about learning the Irish language, doing gym work, volunteered in Best Buddies (Charity/Society in NUI Galway), completing a trek from Killarney to Magillicuddy Reeks (80km) and did a Gaisce Gold Online Residential Project themed around Global Citizenship.

"Volunteering with Best Buddies involved befriending people with intellectual disabilities, all on Zoom because it was during Covid. I chose to do a diploma As Gaeilge because I didn't want to lose my Leaving Cert Irish and I always wished to be more fluent. Again Covid gave me a lot more time to listen to podcasts," he told the Leinster Express.

"The setting was stunning in the Aras, unfortunately we couldn't bring guests because of Covid restrictions but it was great meeting the President, I had a chat with Sabina and even got to meet the dogs.

"I would absolutely recommend doing Gaisce to anybody. I did a bronze in school and went straight for the Gold then. It was a good idea in terms of career too, it gave me a great sense of purpose," Odhran said.
Laois Offaly TD Carol Nolan has confirmed government plans to build 500 modular homes for Ukrainian refugees across the country in the next two years.

The 500 homes will be built this year and next at a cost of 100 million to house 2,000 refugees on publicly owned urban sites around the country.

Minister for Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth, Roderick OGorman provided the information to Deputy Nolan in a parliamentary reply.

She had requested Minister OGorman to provide details on the funding provided for the roll-out of the modular homes pilot programme, including site preparation and the acquisition and installation of the homes.

The proposal to construct the modular homes was initially approved by government on June 26 last. The estimated 100 million cost is inclusive of site enabling works and transportation costs. In addition, there will be ongoing facilities management, maintenance and utilities costs, and post-installation costs at an estimated 1.25m from 2023 onwards, said Deputy Nolan.

On the basis of the anticipated timeframe for delivery, an allocation of 70m will be provided for in 2022 and 31.25m for 2023.

Minister OGormans Department is finalising site selection, with support from the Department of Housing, drawing on publicly owned sites owned by Government Departments and Agencies or by Local Authorities.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) will be managing the roll-out of the modular homes pilot programme, involving site preparation as well as the acquisition and installation. Minister OGorman also confirmed that the OPW has drawn up the Project Plan that envisages the installation of the first modular units on site in early November 2022, with the final units being installed in 2023.

At that point the Department Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth will then take responsibility for ownership of the modular units and their future use.
A Closure Order issued to a Laois fast food outlet cited persistent and recurring failure to comply with the food safety laws and highlighted pest control failings.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reported that five Closure Orders were served on food businesses during the month of June for breaches of food safety legislation. The Enforcement Orders were issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A Closure Order was served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on Roma Take Away, Main Street, Portarlington, Co Laois.

Inspectors visited the outlet on June 8. They noted The Food Business Operator failed to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the HACCP principles.

They said: In the absence of appropriate HACCP based food safety management procedures the food business operator cannot demonstrate that products placed on the market have been produced, processed and stored safely and there is an increased risk that unsafe food may be offered for sale to consumers.

Inspectors found that: There was evidence that articles, fittings and equipment coming into contact with food were not effectively cleaned and disinfected. There was evidence that cleaning and disinfection was not taking place at a frequency sufficient to avoid any risk of contamination. This lack of adequate cleaning in the premise(Sic) was identified during previous inspections and continues to be an issue.

They also found: The food business operator failed to ensure that food handlers are supervised or effectively trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activities. In particular food handlers demonstrated a lack of understanding of basic food hygiene requirements

Inspectors also noted that: The food business operator failed to provide to consumers accurate written particulars of any allergen in the food made available for sale from the food business.

They noted the presence of undeclared allergens could cause a potentially life threatening allergic reaction.

Inspectors found: The food business operator failed to ensure that the premises were maintained in a manner that would prevent possible pest entry to the premises and thereby prevent possible contamination of foods. The pest screen over the open rear external door does not close completely and does not remain closed when the external door is open thereby allowing possible pest entry directly into an area where foods were observed to be uncovered while cooling.

The risk posed, they noted: Entry of pests into the food premises poses a risk of contamination of foods which is a risk to public health.

The closure order was one of four issued last month. Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in June include: a lack of pest prevention and control measures with rodent droppings visible in the premises; food handlers demonstrated a lack of understanding regarding the use of protective clothing and headgear, as well as a lack of understanding to prevent contamination from jewellery when preparing food; personal items such as a vape kit, car keys and mobile phones stored directly above cooling food; a lack of adequate labelling to facilitate traceability; undeclared allergen information; inadequate handwashing facilities and no food safety management system in place.

Chief Executive of FSAI, Dr Pamela Byrne said that it is unacceptable that staff are unaware of their responsibilities as food handlers.

Food business owners have a duty to their customers, their staff and themselves to ensure food regulations are being followed on their premises. It is not acceptable firstly that staff are not wearing appropriate protective clothing and secondly that they are unaware of the risks of possible food contamination when they do not follow such food preparation guidance. Staff must be properly trained and/or supervised to ensure compliance with the legal requirements and attention must be paid to the basics of good handwashing, effective cleaning and proper storage of food. These legal requirements are in place to ensure that consumers health is not being put at risk. Enforcement Orders are not served for minor breaches and consumers have a right to safe food.

Aside from the Portarlington premises, Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on: The Hudson Rooms (restaurant)(Closed area: Ground floor bar and indoor seating area) at Unit 3 Western End Rotunda, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Fonthill Road North, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

The Hudson Rooms (restaurant) (Closed area: Ground floor kitchen area, first floor bar and rear storage to ensure entire food operation has ceased), at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Clondalkin, Dublin. Apache Pizza, 37 Main Street, Blackrock, Dublin

One Closure Order was served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on: Han Lin Palace (now under new management from 18 June 2022) (restaurant), 13-15 Bridge Street, Balbriggan, Co Dublin.

Also, during the month of June, one prosecution was taken by the HSE in relation to: Freestyle Buffet, 23-24 North Main Street, Cork.

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.
The population may be growing in Leitrim but the number of jobs is not, according to Independent Councillor Enda Stenson.



Cllr Stenson, who is also Chairperson of Leitrim GAA, stated, 98% of Leitrim players travel over 100km to attend training and he called for the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to do more to create employment locally. Cllr Stenson asked if the IDA had visited Leitrim this year and was informed at last week's Leitrim County Council meeting that they have.

The Council said that it engages on an ongoing basis with the IDA in regard to the potential of securing foreign direct investment.

The IDA are fully familiar with all property solutions in the county including both established buildings and opportunity sites including being planning ready. Existing IDA-supported companies have grown employment by 9% in the last year, a spokesperson replied. The councillor's call was supported by all members.

However, Carrick-on-Shannons Finola Armstrong McGuire said the youth want to go away.

She said Leitrims young people want to live and work abroad in far-flung places such as Abu Dhabi, Texas and on cruise liners. She noted that her three children want to live away from home.



Cllr Justin Warnock said he was disturbed by the Carrick councillors comments and said he has one child abroad who is looking to come home and two sons at home applying for herd numbers. Cllr Mary Bohan said it was important to keep the jobs issue on the agenda. Cllr Thomas Mulligan suggested that it would be helpful if the IDA or Enterprise Ireland spoke to the Council about their work in Leitrim once a year - a progress report, as such.
A violent burglar who carried out a knife-point home invasion in Sligo that involved "gratuitous" criminal damage and left the residents with "significant psychological trauma" after threats were made against their lives has had his jail sentence increased by the Court of Appeal.

John McDonagh and a teenage accomplice broke into a house in Sligo Town in January 2020 and threatened four people with a knife before destroying property and slashing the tyres of a car parked outside, which McDonagh also attacked with a kettle.

The occupants of the house were threatened with death by McDonagh if they contacted the gardai during the ordeal, which occurred in the early hours of January 28, 2020.

Both McDonagh (27) of Brookfield, Ballinode, Sligo, and his accomplice pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and burglary at a house at Glencarrig, Ballinode, and were sentenced in March of last year.

Sligo Circuit Criminal Court judge Francis Comerford sentenced both men to five-and-a-half years in jail with the final two years suspended for three years.

The court heard that four occupants returned to the house after a night out and that around 5am a female in the house heard knocking at the front door.

While wielding knives, McDonagh and the other male entered the property and began making threats for money before smashing a television, punching holes in the wall and slashing a couch and a mattress.

At the sentence hearing, Judge Comerford commended the victims for going to gardai despite the threats of "extreme violence" against them.

Yesterday (Tuesday) at the three-judge Court of Appeal, Leo Mulrooney BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the sentencing judge had taken an "anodyne approach" and that McDonagh's sentence had been unduly lenient. Mr Mulrooney said that while both men had received identical sentences the other male had since died.

Mr Mulrooney said the sentencing judge erred when describing the offences as "being so sufficiently chaotic and brazen, towards irrational" that they were "unplanned" and should be categorised in the mid-range of offences.

Mr Mulrooney told the court that the DPP had "no issue" with the two years of the sentence that were suspended but had an issue with seven years' imprisonment being identified as a pre-mitigation headline sentence.

Mr Mulrooney said the two men wore latex gloves during the incident which showed "some degree of planning". "It's not like two drunk men fell into a house and burgled it. Far from it," he said.

The barrister said that the two men used the threat of violence and caused "gratuitous" criminal damage to the property. He said the victims had suffered a "significant psychological trauma" and that one occupant had to "completely readjust their life".

He said that the offences were in the upper range of offending and said a headline sentence between nine and fourteen years should have been identified.

Desmond Dockery SC, for McDonagh, said the sentencing judge had been "very careful and conscientious" in structuring the punishment imposed.

Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly asked Mr Dockery if there was an "explicit" threat to kill those in the house if they went to gardai and was told "yes".

Mr Dockery said the sentencing judge noted that the house was not in a rural area and that the inhabitants were not vulnerable people, which would have aggravated matters.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said that if someone was woken up by a trespasser with a knife they could be described as being in a vulnerable position.

Ms Justice Donnelly said the violence used on the night in the slashing of the couch and the damaging of property was "utterly gratuitous".

Mr Dockery said the sentencing judge was operating within his discretion in sentencing the pair for the "unplanned, brazen and chaotic" incident, noting that neither male wore any face coverings and were known to the inhabitants as neighbours.

Mr Dockery said his client, a father of two, was a prisoner of "enhanced" status in Castlerea Prison, who had attended counselling and drug treatment. He said McDonagh was awaiting a place in Coolmine rehabilitation centre.

Delivering the court's judgement, Ms Justice Kennedy said that one of the men in the house awoke to find two males in his bedroom demanding his wallet and that victims had been "petrified" by the death threats. She said that McDonagh had stabbed the television before taking car keys and going outside. There, McDonagh slashed all the car's tyres and began hitting it with a kettle taken from the house.

Ms Justice Kennedy said the victims were exposed to a "horror one can only imagine" that had a "severe" impact on them.

In agreeing the sentence to be unduly lenient, she said the court would quash the previous sentence and substitute a sentence of seven years with the final 18 months suspended for two years. The sentence was backdated to August 1, 2020, when McDonagh was first taken into custody.
independent Senator Victor Boyhan called on the government to take measures to support local, provincial and national journalism following the findings of the Future of Media Commission.

The Commission was tasked with developing recommendations on sustainable public funding and other supports to ensure the viability of Irelands media. Their report contains 50 recommendations including some in relation to the printed media and RTEs financing.

Speaking in the Seanad chamber on Tuesday, 12th of July, Senator Boyhan said, I believe that public interest journalism should be secured, supported and sustained.

He also stated, The print media, national, provincial, and local remain a strong reliable source of information and highly valued by the public in deciphering political and social influences and debate.

Senator Boyhan added, I believe that newspapers should be zero rated for VAT in recognition of their unique role in our functioning democracy.

He concluded his speech by paying tribute to the important role the media play in public life saying, they perform a vital role as defenders of democracy and liberty and acting as a check on abuses of power.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, speaks with, from left, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after the official G7 group photo in Germany, on Sunday, June 26, 2022. MATTHIAS SCHRADER / AP

The United Kingdom government's bid to scrap parts of post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland cleared its first hurdle on Monday, June 27, despite European Union warnings it is illegal and could spark a trade war.

MPs in the House of Commons voted through the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill by 295 votes to 221 after a debate, allowing it to progress to the next stage of scrutiny in parliament.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Germany for a G7 leaders meeting, earlier insisted the legislation was needed to remove "unnecessary barriers to trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland." "All we're saying is that you can get rid of those, whilst not in any way endangering the EU single market," he told reporters.

More on this topic Subscribers only Johnson risks deep crisis with Brussels over attempt to revise Northern Ireland status

MPs voted as Johnson socialised at the G7 with top EU leaders, including European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Irish premier Micheal Martin rejected Johnson's attempts to play down the planned changes to the protocol, which was agreed as part of the UK's Brexit withdrawal from the European Union. Martin said "any unilateral decision to breach international law is a major, serious development." "There can be no getting out of that," he said in Dublin, also warning against another government bill to revamp human rights in the UK that could affect a 1998 peace deal for Northern Ireland.

Trade reprisals

In parliament, Johnson's predecessor as prime minister Theresa May, who quit after failing to get parliamentary backing for her own Brexit divorce deal, said she could not back the bill.

It was "not legal... will not achieve its aims and... will diminish the standing of the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world", she told MPs.

More on this topic Subscribers only London threatens Brussels with revoking parts of Northern Ireland protocol

The UK government unveiled its plan to unilaterally change trading terms for the politically fraught British province earlier this month, prompting the EU to pledge legal action. Brussels says overriding the deal it struck in 2019 with Johnson's government breaches international law, and has warned of trade reprisals, which Britain can ill-afford as prices surge on the back of the war in Ukraine.

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Days of further scrutiny and subsequent votes now loom, and despite winning the vote, Johnson is facing criticism among some of his own Conservatives after he only narrowly survived a no-confidence vote this month.

More on this topic Subscribers only British government threatens to dismantle Northern Ireland protocol

Le Monde with AFP
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Wednesday it could not guarantee the good functioning of Nord Stream and did not know if a "critical" turbine engine would be returned from repair in Canada.

Gazprom started 10 days of maintenance on Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Monday, with the EU  particularly gas-reliant Germany  waiting nervously to see if the taps will be turned back on. The turbines are currently undergoing maintenance at a Canadian site owned by German industrial giant Siemens.

Read more Gazprom begins maintenance work on Nord Stream, reduces supply to Austria and Italy

"Gazprom does not have a single document to allow Siemens to take out of Canada the gas turbine engine currently being repaired there," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. "In these circumstances, it is not possible to draw an objective conclusion about the development of the situation and ensuring the safe operation of the Portovaya station  a critical facility for the Nord Stream gas pipeline."

Over the weekend, Canada agreed to deliver to Germany turbines needed to maintain the pipeline, despite sanctions in place against Russia and appeals from Ukraine. Kyiv summoned Ottawa's ambassador on Monday in protest at the "unacceptable" move.

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The annual work on the gas link was scheduled long in advance, but the fear has been that  with relations between Russia and the West at their lowest in years  Gazprom might seize the opportunity to simply shut off the valves.

Read more Subscribers only Europeans prepare for a winter without Russian gas

Le Monde with AFP
President Joe Biden walks off of Air Force One as he arrives at Ben Gurion Airport, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) EVAN VUCCI / AP

During his tour of the Middle East between July 13 and 16, which will include stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, US President Joe Biden will be accompanied by the two cumbersome ghosts of Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh. Memories of these two prominent Arab reporters, silenced by countries allied with the United States, will hover over a President who promised when he took office to return to a foreign policy based on "values."

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a mainstay of the official press who became a dissident, chronicled the Saudi crown's drift towards autocracy under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was murdered in October 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of spies dispatched, according to the CIA, by the crown prince himself. Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh covered the Israeli occupation of the West Bank for Al-Jazeera for more than 20 years, a position that had made her famous across the Arab world.

Read more Subscribers only Biden visits Middle East looking to strengthen US alliances

As established by a series of investigations, including by CNN, the New York Times and the United Nations, she was killed by the Israeli army in May while covering a raid in the city of Jenin. These conclusions are disputed by Israel, which suggests, without proof, that the journalist may have been killed by a stray Palestinian bullet.

A thorn in the president's side

The emotion aroused around the world by the death of these two mainstays of the Arab media was felt with particular acuity in the United States. After his departure from Riyadh in 2017, following an order from the crown prohibiting him from writing in the local press, Mr. Khashoggi had settled on the East Coast of the United States. In a few months, he had become appreciated by diplomats, journalists and congressmen working on the Middle East. Shireen Abu Akleh, for her part, had both American and Palestinian citizenship.

For Mr. Biden, the issues raised by the tragic deaths of these journalists are as much a matter of diplomacy as domestic politics. During his three days in the Middle East, the Khashoggi-Abu Akleh tandem will be a thorn in the president's side, an invisible but omnipresent ball and chain. The two make a strange duo. On the one hand, a man from Hijaz, a former fellow traveler of the Afghan jihad, long a member of the Saudi elite. On the other hand, a Christian woman from Jerusalem, a believer but secular at heart, who was used to keeping the focus of her coverage on its subjects and not herself.

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Read more Subscribers only Israel fears Joe Biden's wait-and-see attitude to Iran

The common thread that unites these two and explains their tragic deaths is partly intimate, partly personal. In the years before his death, Mr. Khashoggi, who had been the monarchy's star commentator and espoused strong conservative Islamic views, embraced the virtues of pluralism. For her part, the discreet Ms. Abu Akleh, with her taste for field reporting and her attention to the anonymous victims of the occupation, became a spokesperson for her suffering people in spite of herself.

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WORKERS at a supermarket in Croom are celebrating this week after winning a prestigious national award.

Brodericks Spar in the town were feted at the ShelfLife Grocery Management Awards when they were presented with the coveted Retail Team of the Year award.

Padraig, who has ran the store for 20 years, has 47 members of staff, and is delighted with the win, saying: We were delighted, thrilled, over the moon. It is our second time in the last four years winning this award. And its retail team of the year across the whole country. To be top of the tree two out of four is a phenomenal achievement!

Congratulating Padraig and the Spar Croom team, Colin Donnelly, Spar sales director said: They are a tremendous example of retailing at its finest. SPAR Croom is an outstanding ambassador for Spar and this is a great honour for them. Spar retailers are all passionate about serving their communities and providing outstanding service, as Spar Croom does so magnificently.

The ShelfLife national grocery management awards are now in their 17th year and are considered to be the long-standing benchmark for those in management in the grocery retail industry.

The store underwent its most recent revamp last year and is now a 6,725-square-foot premises, having added to its size by moving into the old Ulster Bank building adjacent to the existing store.
THE Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy is warning that rapid changes are necessary to deal with the decline in clergy numbers and that the Catholic Church must look towards lay leadership in parishes.

He was commenting as he published details of the forthcoming clergy appointments and changes across the Diocese of Limerick.

Bishop Leahy says lay people will be leading a range services going forwards, from prayers at funerals to the parish preparation of children for the sacraments.

Three priests - Fr Anthony OKeefe, Fr Frank Duhig and Fr Ed Irwin - are retiring in September while Fr Seamus Madigan is returning to the Diocese after spending several years ministering with the chaplaincy services to the Defence Forces where he served in recent years as Head Chaplain.

As a result of the decline in priest numbers, a number of pastoral units will be losing a clergy member.

"Its not news any longer to say the numbers of clergy in active ministry is declining rapidly. The ageing profile of clergy is also now very evident. It is clear at this stage that we can no longer guarantee the celebration of a Mass in each church in the Diocese each Sunday," said Bishop Leahy.

The rapid changes are calling us to envisage and work towards putting in place new forms of lay leadership in our parish communities. As per our Pastoral Plan that came out of our Limerick 2016 Synod, we have already begun formation programmes to help lay people assume new pastoral roles. We need to build on this. We are hopeful others will step forward to offer their services," he added.

Bishop Leahy says going forward lay people will be needed to lead prayers at funerals, at gravesides, to visit schools on behalf of the parish, to be involved in pastoral councils and baptismal teams, to help with the practical administration of parishes.

Thankfully, in the Diocese of Limerick there are many fine lay people with competencies and faith commitment and they will contribute much to the future shape of things.

In his letter to clergy to announce the changes, Bishop Leahy noted that working closely together will be essential as the Church adapts. We all need to work urgently to prepare for the new arrangements that are needed in the coming years. It is in working together, encouraging each other and facing challenges with peace of soul combined with realism and determination that we move forward, he wrote.

Clerical changes, to take effect from September 10, 2022.

Canon Anthony Mullins, continuing as Vicar General and Co-Parish Priest in the Pastoral Unit of Abbeyfeale, Athea, Templeglantine, Tournafulla/Mountcollins, appointed as Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral Ministry and Mission in the Diocese.

Fr Eamonn Fitzgibbon, continuing as Vicar General appointed Episcopal Vicar for the Promotion of Synodality.

Canon Frank Duhig to retire as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Newcastle West, Mahoonagh/Feohanagh/ Castlemahon, Monagea while continuing to assist in the Unit, and appointed as liaison priest for the pastoral care of priests of the Diocese.

Canon Anthony OKeeffe to retire as Co-Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Shanagolden/Foynes, Loughill/Ballyhahill, Glin, Coolcappa/Kilcolman, while continuing to assist pastorally in the Diocese.

Fr Edwin Irwin to retire as Co-Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes Knockaderry/Cloncagh, Rathkeale, Ballingarry/Granagh, while continuing to assist pastorally in the Diocese.

Canon Gerard Garrett appointed Moderator of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of St Johns, St. Michaels, Sts. Patrick and Brigids and Monaleen.

Fr Noel Kirwan, released from his duties as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of St Johns, St. Michaels, Sts. Patrick and Brigids and Monaleen, and granted a period of sabbatical leave.

Fr David Gibson, Co-Parish Priest in the Pastoral unit comprising of the parishes of St Johns, St. Michaels, Sts. Patricks and Brigids and Monaleen, appointed as Parish Priest of the parishes of Rockhill/Bruree and Ballyagran/Colmanswell, and Moderator of that Pastoral Unit.

Canon Joseph Shire, Parish Priest of the parishes of Rockhill/Bruree and Ballyagran/Colmanswell, appointed as Co-Parish Priest in the Pastoral Unit comprising of St Johns, St. Michaels, Sts. Patricks and Brigids and Monaleen.

Fr, Seamus Madigan, returning to the Diocese after his appointment as Head Chaplain to the Defence Forces, followed by a period of sabbatical leave, appointed as Co-Parish Priest in the Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of St Johns, St. Michaels, Sts. Patrick and Brigids and Monaleen.

Fr Frank ODea, Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Dromcollogher/Broadford, Kileedy/Ashford, Feenagh/Kilmeedy appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Newcastle West, Mahoonagh/Feohanagh/ Castlemahon, Monagea.

Fr David Casey, Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of Kilmallock, Effin/Garrienderk, Bulgaden/Martinstown appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Unit made up of the parishes of Dromcollogher/Broadford, Kileedy/Ashford, Feenagh/Kilmeedy.

Fr Michael OShea, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of a new Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of Kilmallock, Kilfinane, Effin/Garrienderk, Bulgaden/Martinstown, Ardpatrick, Glenroe/Ballyorgan.

Fr Willie Russell, Co-Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of Rathkeale, Ballingarry/Granagh, Knockaderry/Cloncagh to be Co-Parish Priest of the Unit made up of parishes of Abbeyfeale, Athea, Templeglantine, Tournafulla/Mountcollins.

Fr Derek Leonard, Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Marys, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Unit made up of the parishes of Rathkeale, Ballingarry/Granagh, Knockaderry/Cloncagh.

Fr Richard Davern, Co-Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit made up of the parishes of Patrickswell/Ballybrown, St. Pauls, Mungret/Raheen/Crecora appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Unit made up of the parishes of St. Marys and St. Nicholas.

Fr Robin Thomas, ministering to the Syro-Malabar Community in Limerick, recalled to his Diocese to be replaced by another priest arriving from that Diocese.
With two tragic drownings this week, and an average of 9 drownings per month in Ireland, Irish Water Safety has issued a warning to swimmers during this spell of good weather.

Roger Sweeney, acting CEO of Water Safety Ireland said the figure for drownings would be higher if it wasn't for the efforts of lifeguards that rescued nearly 500 people last year.

Speaking on RTE News he said: "In this warm weather, please, swim in lifeguarded waterways. Don't use inflatable toys. And remember that rip currents are one of the most common reasons that people get into difficulty in this country. Lifeguards are trained to spot those rip current and when they do, they will raise the red flag or they will move the yellow and red flags along the beach to safer areas.

"So please, self-assess when you get to a place and make sure it's a safe place to get in and make sure you swim within your ability. Do everything you can to swim at a lifeguarded waterway. They are all listed on watersafety.ie," he said.

The website contains guidelines on how to enjoy the water in the safest manner and urges people to stay within their depth and swim parallel to the coastline.

Read Our Warm Weather Advice To Keep Swimmers Safe From Drowning 



https://t.co/6Dldd9Ww4X#BetterSafeThanSorry pic.twitter.com/ePTuMk2lln  Water Safety Ireland (@IWSie) July 12, 2022

They also strongly urge people not to use inflatables and not to drink alcohol before going for a swim.
As a new wave of infections spreads across Europe and the US, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments and healthcare institutions to take action to stop COVID-19 transmission. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at a briefing in Geneva on July 12 that sub-variants of the omicron strain were increasing the number of cases and resulting in additional fatalities. To stop the spread, Tedros suggested reviving standards like mask use.

The WHO is concerned that, despite a recent increase in cases, surveillance of the virus and any new possible varieties is waning. According to Tedros, a WHO committee reiterated that the COVID-19 outbreak is still a public health emergency of global concern, which is how the WHO categorises pandemics.

The BA.4 and BA.5 omicron sub-variants are at the forefront of a new wave of cases that are being centred in Europe when people attend huge meetings and start travelling again after two years of staying put.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that 2.1 million people in England, or one in every 25, tested positive in the last week of June. Even if a person has already had COVID-19, they are still susceptible to infection; nevertheless, immunisation helps to guard against serious sickness.

New waves of the virus demonstrate that COVID-19 is nowhere near over," Tedros said, adding that he is concerned about a rising trend of deaths."

The WHO stated that there is no evidence to date that BA.5 is any more severe than prior omicron variants or that vaccines and approved treatments are ineffective, noting that many governments are concerned about the BA.5 sub-lineage, particularly anecdotal evidence of the potential for re-infection.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's Technical Lead Officer for COVID-19, said that despite a decline in surveillance, including testing and sequencing to detect and identify variants, the virus is still spreading globally at a very rapid rate. The WHO's regional director for Europe already advised getting a second booster dose of the vaccination for all vulnerable individuals and those in their immediate circle.

(With agency inputs)
The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Rajapaksa had agreed to step down under pressure. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would leave once a new government was in place.

Lawmakers agreed to elect a new president next week but struggled Tuesday to decide on the makeup of a new government to lift the bankrupt country out of economic and political collapse.

The promised resignations brought no end to the crisis, and protesters have vowed to occupy the official buildings until the top leaders are gone. For days, people have flocked to the presidential palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction  swimming in the pool, marveling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows. At one point, they also burned the prime minister's private home.

I am not happy he has fled. He should be in jail," said Malik D Souza a 25-year-old protester occupying the presidents office. He has taken part in for protests for the past 97 days.

Rajapaksa "ruined this country and stole our money. We will not stop until we have a new president and prime minister," D Souza said. He said he voted for Rajapaksa in 2019 believing his military background would keep the country safe after Islamic State-inspired bomb attacks earlier that year killed more than 260 people.

While lawmakers agreed late Monday to elect a new president from their ranks on July 20, they have not yet decided who will take over as prime minister and fill the Cabinet.

The new president will serve the remainder of Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024  and could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament.

The prime minister is to serve as president until a replacement is chosen  an arrangement that is sure to further anger protesters who want Wickremesinghe out immediately.

Sri Lankan presidents are protected from arrest while in power, and it is likely Rajapaksa planned his escape while he still had constitutional immunity. A corruption lawsuit against him in his former role as a defense official was withdrawn when he was elected president in 2019.

Corruption and mismanagement have left the island nation laden with debt and unable to pay for imports of basic necessities. The shortages have sown despair among the country's 22 million people. Sri Lankans are skipping meals and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel.

Until the latest crisis deepened, the Sri Lankan economy had been expanding and growing a comfortable middle class.

The political impasse added fuel to the economic crisis since the absence of an alternative unity government threatened to delay a hoped-for bailout from the International Monetary Fund. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement.

In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from neighboring India and from China.

Asked whether China was in talks with Sri Lanka about possible loans, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official gave no indication whether such discussions were happening.

China will continue to offer assistance as our capability allows for Sri Lankas social development and economic recovery," said the spokesman, Wang Wenbin.

On Tuesday, Sri Lankas religious leaders urged protesters to leave the government buildings. The protesters have vowed to wait until both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe are out of office.

After the storming of the government buildings, it was clear there is a consensus in the country that the government leadership should change," said Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a think tank.

Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

The protesters accuse the president and his relatives of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksas administration of hastening the countrys collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajakpaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown.

The president had not been seen nor heard from since Saturday, though his office issued statements indicating that he continued to carry out his duties.





This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
COLOMBO (SRI LANKA) : Sri Lankas president fled the country and appointed the prime minister as acting leader, the speaker of parliament said, as protesters breached the prime ministers office and the island was placed under a state of emergency.
Ukrainian forces struck an air-defense system in Russian-occupied territory in the east of the country late Tuesday, in the latest sign of how long-range artillery sent by the West is shifting the wars calculus.
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The World Film Festival of Bangkok, which was last held in 2017, is to be revived under new leadership. It will be held in the Thai capital Dec. 2-11, 2022, the Nation newspaper announced.

The Nation Group backed the organization of 14 previous editions of the festival. It said that it had appointed Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, better known as Don, as the festival director.

The first editions of the festival were led by Kriengsak Silakong, better known as Victor. Victor died of a heart attack in March this year.

Don, who is both an experienced festival selector and an independent film producer, said that details such as the scale of the event and programming sections have yet to be finalized. It will definitely be an international event, he told Variety. Previous editions ran to a selection of 70-80 film titles.

We hope that the new Bangkok mayor will agree to support the festival too, said Don. Bangkok recently elected a pro-democracy mayor Chadchart Sittipunt to run the city. After replacing a government-appointed official, Sittipunt is keen to make a mark.

It is understood that the revived festival will be able to use the SF Cinema CentralWorld cinema complex as its screenings base.

The dates for this years festival coincide with CineAsia, a convention and trade show for the film distribution and exhibition industry, which will be held in a different part of Bangkok between Dec. 5-8, 2022. The temporal overlap means that senior executives from studios and distribution companies and overseas talent may also be on hand to attend the festival.

While Thailand has an impressive film history and continues to be a significant film producer, the country has struggled to consistently host a major film festival. The Bangkok International Film Festival, backed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, was held in the first decade of the new century, but dissolved following a bribery scandal in 2007 that eventually saw four people given jail sentences, including TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan. Bangkok has also hosted the Thailand International Film Destination Festival, a now discontinued event intended to showcase the country as a location for production.

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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched Girl in the Picture, streaming now on Netflix.

Netflixs true-crime documentary Girl in the Picture has quickly captivated audiences with the layered and tragic story of Suzanne Sevakis, who was abducted as a child by Frank Floyd, and raised as his daughter. He sexually abused her, and forced her to marry him  and then she was killed in what Floyd claims was a hit-and-run accident in 1990. She was just 20 years old at the time of her death.

The doc, directed by Skye Borgman, unfolds in a gradual way as if viewers are investigating the crime themselves, leading to many shocking twists and turns. At first, audiences are told that the name of the woman who died was Tonya Hughes and that she had a child, Michael, with her husband Clarence. Then, viewers learn that they were known as Sharon and Warren Marshall while she attended high school, with Floyd acting as her father. But as the story unravels, multiple aliases of Floyd and Sevakis come to light and its revealed that he was her kidnapper  and that she never knew her true identity.

Though federal agents were eventually able to track down Floyd and put him in prison for the abduction of Sevakis son, Michael Hughes  and later place him on death row for the murder of Sevakis friend, Cheryl Commesso  the fact that the woman at the center of the cases name was Suzanne Sevakis was not uncovered until one of her children, whom she had placed for adoption, provided DNA in 2014.

While Girl in the Picture successfully tells a complicated story, several questions remain unanswered about the life and untimely death of Sevakis, as well as her son Michael and kidnapper Floyd. Below, Variety attempts to provide answers.

Have Michael Hughes remains been found?

After Sevakis death, her 2-year-old son Michael was put into foster care once it was revealed that Floyd was not his father. In 1994, when Michael was 6 years old, Floyd kidnapped him from school by holding the principal hostage. Michael was never seen again, and Floyd was eventually arrested and put in prison on kidnapping charges. In 2014, Floyd confessed to killing Michael during an interview with FBI agents Scott Lobb and Nate Furr.

I finally hit my fist down on the table. Howd you kill him? Floyd, howd you kill him?' Lobb said in the documentary. Waterworks turn off. I shot him twice in the back of the head to make it real quick.'

Floyd told the agents that Michaels body was near the Oklahoma-Texas border, but the FBI did not find his remains, though Lobb said that they gave it 110%. The case is considered closed.

Is Frank Floyd still alive?

Floyd was sentenced to 52 years in prison for the kidnapping of Michael Hughes, and then sentenced to death in 1997 when police discovered that he had killed Commesso. According to his Wikipedia page, Floyd is still alive at 79 years old, and is currently imprisoned on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Florida.

How did Floyd make money while on the run for nearly 17 years?

According to Girl in the Picture, Floyd had been on the run for nearly 17 years when he was arrested for the kidnapping of Michael Hughes. After sexually assaulting a woman in 1973, Floyd failed to show up for his court date and had been a fugitive ever since, hence his many aliases. Something that is not explained in the documentary  perhaps because it is not known  is how exactly Floyd earned money for himself and Sevakis, particularly while she was attending high school in Georgia.

Jenny Fisher, a classmate of Sevakis who reveals that she was a gifted student with a full-ride scholarship to Georgia Tech, says during the documentary that Floyd asked her father for a loan on the first day they met. Once Sevakis becomes pregnant and they flee, it is explained that Sevakis eventually begins working in strip clubs in Florida and Oklahoma, the money from which likely went to Floyd.

Heather Lane, one of Sevakis friends at gentlemens club Mons Venus, says in the doc that Floyd was also pressuring Sevakis to do more than just dance to earn money. She was standing outside at the door, and she was offering sex services to these men for $50, Lane said of Sevakis. She said, Well, my dad told me to do it, and he bought me condoms. That was disgusting. I couldnt believe that a man would put their daughter in that situation.

Not much else is known about Floyds employment, although FBI agent Joe Fitzpatrick does mention that Floyd was employed in Louisville, Ky. for at least a short while, possibly as a painter, after kidnapping Michael. No one had seen Michael, Fitzpatrick said in Girl in the Picture. They checked with both employments where he was presently employed, and where he was previously employed as a painter.

What was the order of Suzanne Sevakis children, and who are their fathers?

One of the largest mysteries presented in Girl in the Picture is how many children Suzanne Sevakis had, when exactly they were born and who their fathers were. Investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck, who wrote the book A Beautiful Child, which led to the discovery of Sevakis true identity, said in the documentary that she had been pregnant three times: Once in high school, the babys supposedly adopted, then it was Michael, then it was this third one who was given up for adoption in New Orleans. And thats Megan.

Sevakis high school friend Fisher recalled when she first got pregnant in high school, and said her plan was to go to Arizona and then place the baby for adoption. Sevakis was also pregnant in the late 80s in Tampa, according to the doc, which could be when Michael was born. Megan was born in New Orleans in 1989 and placed for adoption, just one year before Sevakis death.

Girl in the Picture interviews Megan Dufresne, Sevakis birth daughter who gave the FBI DNA after hearing of Birkbecks book. Megan, who recently became a mother herself, hints in the documentary that Sevakis may have had even more children: Becoming a parent gave me even more respect for my birth mother, because she gave up two children, if not more, knowing that it was better for the kids.

But that supposition may be unlikely, since Sevakis seems to have given birth to three children within the span of a few years.

Very little is known about the first child whom Sevakis had in high school, though the Tampa Bay Times reported in 1997 that she had become pregnant with her boyfriend at the time. According to Screen Rant, the father of Michael Hughes has been speculated to be either Gregory Higgs or Kevin Brown, two men she had been dating around the time of the pregnancy. As for Megans father, his identity remains unknown, though Reddit users have speculated that it may be Floyd.

Why didnt Suzannes biological parents try harder to find her and what happened to her siblings?

Girl in the Picture was able to nab interviews with Sevakis biological parents, Sandra Willet and Clifford Sevakis. The two were high-school sweethearts, and had Suzanne young  but they divorced shortly after Clifford returned from fighting in Vietnam. Willet then had two more daughters, Allison and Amy, with her next husband, but fell on rough times after they got divorced and a tornado destroyed her home. She met Floyd  who was going under the alias Brandon Cleo Williams at the time  at church in 1975, and he offered to help her take care of the children. When Willet was sent to jail for a month for writing a bad check, Floyd left with her children, dropping Allison and Amy off at an orphanage, but keeping Suzanne, who was the oldest.

In her interview in the doc, Willet claims that she was not able to get Suzanne back because Floyd was legally her stepfather. If I had found some way to get help to get away from the whole situation, then it never would have happened, she said. And I was supposed to be her mother and protect her from that monster, and I didnt.

As for Cliff, he was contacted by social services and asked if he could adopt all three girls, but he didnt feel he was able to at the time. I was living with my parents, I was unemployed, I was 23 years old, he said. I just didnt think I was going to be a good parent at that point. I was so kind of messed up from Vietnam.

However, what the documentary doesnt mention is that Suzanne also had a brother, Phillip, who was a 1-year-old at the time of their abduction by Floyd. He also went missing and was not located by Willet. According to Screen Rant, in 2019 a man came forward who had been adopted as a child and believed he may be Phillip. A DNA test later proved this to be the case, and it was revealed that Phillip had been adopted in North Carolina shortly after he went missing.

Several people in the documentary expressed their frustration that Suzannes biological parents had not tried harder to find her. Lane said, Im actually very angry at Sharons mom. I dont believe for one second that because this was back in the day, that she couldnt find her child I just want to know why? Why didnt she try harder?

In addition, Megans adopted mother, Mary, revealed that she had attempted to contact Willet so that Megan could have a relationship with her, but Willet refused. That didnt go well. Its that I dont care attitude, she said. When you reach out to someone and they have no interest, that to me you dont care? You dont want to know? What kind of person are you?

However, Cliff maintains a relationship with Megan and her family, as is seen at the end of the documentary during Sevakis long-overdue memorial service.

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Ellen Rapoport has signed an overall deal with Lionsgate Television.

Rapoport most recently created the HBO Max comedy series Minx, on which he is also the showrunner and executive producer. Under the terms of the deal, Rapoport will create scripted content exclusively for Lionsgate TV across all platforms.

Throughout the making of Minx I kept waiting for someone to save me from my more outrageous instincts, Rapoport said. Obviously that never happened. So, it seems like Ive found my people. Thrilled to be joining the Lionsgate family even if I have to cross the 405 to get to their offices!

Minx launched on HBO Max in March. The show stars Ophelia Lovibond as a feminist magazine writer in 1970s Los Angeles who reluctantly joins forces with a porn magazine publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women. The series also stars Jessica Lowe, Oscar Montoya, Lennon Parham, and Idara Victor.

All of us at Lionsgate are blown away by how the world of Minx has resonated with viewers as her work seamlessly weaves nuanced humor into complex and enticing stories, said Scott Herbst, head of scripted development and executive vice president of Lionsgate TV. To be able to have a deal with a writer who puts the word shvantz back in the lexicon would make my Jewish grandmother proud

In addition to her work on Minx, Rapoport is known for writing the screenplay for the Netflix film Desperados and for co-writing the feature Clifford the Big Red Dog.

She is repped by UTA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon has agreed to unseal a transcript that has long been sought by Roman Polanski, as prosecutors are reconsidering the directors 45-year-old rape case with fresh eyes.

Gascon announced Tuesday that the office had reversed its position and would no longer object to unsealing a transcript of a 2010 examination of Roger Gunson, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted Polanski for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski, now 88, pleaded guilty but fled to France before sentencing. He has lived abroad ever since. Numerous efforts by previous D.A.s to extradite him have failed, as have Polanskis efforts to resolve the case without first returning to the U.S.

The announcement indicated that Gascon, who was elected in 2020, is breaking with the approach of his predecessors. His office also indicated a willingness to take a new look at the case, which Polanski and his supporters have long claimed was tainted by prosecutorial and judicial misconduct.

The suspicion has been around this case for 40 years, Tiffiny Blacknell, a special adviser to Gascon, told Variety in an interview. Many people are suspicious that something untoward occurred. We share that curiosity and that concern.

Polanskis lawyer, Harland Braun, has previously argued that the Gunson transcript would substantiate Polanskis claim of misconduct against Judge Laurence Rittenband. Brauns request to have it unsealed was denied by an L.A. Superior Court judge in 2017, along with his requests to dismiss the case and to have Polanski sentenced in absentia. Similar efforts to unseal the transcript and resolve the case were also denied in 2010.

The latest activity on the case began last fall, when two book authors  William Rempel and Sam Wasson  petitioned the court to unseal the transcript on First Amendment grounds. The D.A.s office initially opposed the release and a judge denied the request. Rempel and Wasson are now pursuing an appeal.

Gunson was examined behind closed doors for three days in 2010, upon a request from Polanskis then-attorney, who was seeking to expose misconduct. Much of the contents of his testimony has already been made public in a defense motion in 2010, based on notes of the examination taken by Polanskis lawyer. Gunson is said to have alleged that Rittenband engaged in misconduct and that Gunsons supervisors prevented him from moving to disqualify the judge from the case. Gunson also appeared in Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, the 2008 documentary that first reopened questions about the handling of the case.

In a statement, Gascon said his decision to allow the transcripts release was influenced by Samantha Geimer, the victim in the case, who has sought for years to have the case dismissed. Gascons office released a letter it had received from Geimer on June 20, in which she asked that the transcript be unsealed and that the office take a fresh look at the case.

I believe it is in the public interest not to allow the misconduct of the court to remain hidden, Geimer wrote. I believe as the victim in this case I deserve to know the whole truth.

Blacknell, Gascons adviser, said that Geimer had been righteous in seeking to learn more about the case. She also said the office does not know what is in the transcript and will wait to see it before deciding any next steps.

Were looking at things with fresh eyes with a new administration, Blacknell said. We havent concluded anything without reviewing the contents of that conditional examination.

In the statement, Gascon referred to the case as one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history.

After careful consideration of the victims wishes, the unique and extraordinary circumstances that led to his conditional exam and my commitment to transparency and accountability for all in the justice system, my office has determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts, Gascon said.

Whether that fresh approach will lead to resolution of the case  which would allow Polanski to travel freely to the U.S.  is another question.

In the past, the D.A.s office has adamantly objected to the idea of dismissing the case so long as Polanski is overseas, under the doctrine of fugitive disentitlement. In a filing to the appellate court on Tuesday, the office reiterated that the People have remained steadfast in the determination to hold Defendant Polanski accountable.

Polanski remains a fugitive from justice and should surrender himself to the Los Angeles County Superior Court to be sentenced, the office said in a statement.

The appeals court has yet to rule on the authors request, but there is now no opposition to unsealing the transcript.

In an interview on Tuesday, Braun called the release of the transcript a good step.

I think Gascon looked at it and said, This is ridiculous,' Braun said. Hes taken a very principled position that this is a matter of public record.

Braun said he had had no conversations with the D.A.s office about resolving the case since Gascon was elected. He also said that he could file a new motion to dismiss after the transcript is unsealed, but that ultimately it would be up to a judge  not the D.A.  to decide the matter.

Theres something new  something called Zoom, Braun said. He could Zoom from Paris and appear.

Attorneys John Washington and Susan Seager, who represent Rempel and Wasson, issued a statement calling the D.A.s reversal on the transcript a significant victory for the public and the press. They also said their case is about the First Amendment and the publics right of access to court records and that they take no position on the potential resolution of the Polanski case.

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U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4 has appointed its first director of inclusion.

Marcia Williams, who will take up the post in August, joins from Transport for London, where she currently holds the title of director of diversity, inclusion and talent. She will report to Channel 4s CEO Alex Mahon and also sit on Channel 4s executive management board. Her responsibilities will be overseeing inclusion and diversity strategy.

The 4Inclusion team will report to Williams, who will share reporting responsibility for the creative diversity team with director of commissioning operations Emma Hardy.

Williams has previously worked in similar roles at companies including U.K. Film Council, the British Treasury and the Law Society of England and Wales.

Im thrilled to be joining Channel 4s executive leadership team in this newly created role. Channel 4 has pioneered in this field with its distinctive remit, said Williams. This new role is an affirmation that Channel 4 is laser-focused on pushing forward to find new, and powerful ways to approach issues of equity and inclusivity across its talent and business practices to create and sustain true impact.

Mahon added: Channel 4s unique remit is a great privilege and enables us to be bold and innovative when it comes to championing inclusion and diversity not only for our audience, but for our staff as well as all the young people that we help to train to start their careers in the industry. Marcias extensive and successful career, underpinned by her subject-matter expertise and her own lived experience will ensure that Channel 4 continues to celebrate difference and inspire even greater change and acceptance.

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Laredo police arrested five suspected drunk drivers during a recent two-week operation, authorities announced Wednesday.

From June 24 to July 10, authorities arrested five people for driving while intoxicated, conducted 605 traffic stops and issued 831 citations. Officers also made seven other arrests not related to drunk driving.

The Laredo Police Department recently worked an Impaired Driver Mobilization grant funded by the Texas Department of Transportation. Officers worked overtime to enforce DWI laws by locating, identifying and arresting intoxicated drivers.

The detail proved to be a very successful initiative for the department. As motor vehicle traffic continues to increase in Laredo, we want to continue to remind the community of Laredo to make the right choice and Plan While You Can. Dont Drink and Drive, LPD said in a statement.
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A man has been arrested for pointing a gun at a woman and threatening to burn down her house in the Chacon neighborhood, according to Laredo police.

Rodolfo Juarez, 36, was served with an arrest warrant on July 7 charging him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Police made its first arrest on the case on May 29, when Noe Lugo-Rivera, 39, was served with a warrant on the same charge. Juarez and Lugo-Rivera are out on bond, according to the Webb County Jail records.

The deadly conduct report occurred on April 24 in the 1600 block of Willow Street. A woman stated that someone pointed a gun at her while she was outside with her children and threatened to burn her house down, states an arrest affidavit.

The suspect vehicle was described as a black sport utility vehicle. Further investigation revealed that there were three occupants in the vehicle, including a passenger with multiple tattoos on his face, states the affidavit.

Authorities would identify the driver as Lugo-Rivera and the passenger as Juarez. Police said that Juarez was the one who pointed the firearm and threatened the woman. More arrests could be pending as the investigation continues.

To provide information on the case, call police at 795-2800 or Laredo Crime Stoppers at 727-TIPS (8477). Information provided via Crime Stoppers may be eligible for a cash reward.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke will make a campaign stop in Laredo this summer as he heads on his A Drive for Texas tour, according to the candidates website. ORourke will host a town hall in Laredo on September 2 at 5:30 p.m. The exact location for the event is to be determined.

In a recent poll, ORourke is trailing incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott by six percentage points, although this gap is closer than previous polls as the Democrat makes inroads with Independent voters. ORourke previously called himself an underdog in the race, while the Abbott campaign has referred to their opponent as a joke.
A recent review of court records shows a speeding Houston cop who crashed into and killed a Sunnyside man walking home from the barber will not face criminal charges.

A Harris County grand jury declined to indict Orlando Hernandez, 25, for criminally negligent homicide, a decision made June 28, according to court records. Family members of Michael Wayne Jackson, the 62-year-old who was killed near the intersection of Reed Road and Scott Street, were not aware of the grand jury's decision to no bill the embattled officer until Chron reached out to them Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the decision had been made.

"I think it's negligent homicide," said Timothy Jackson, who housed and loved his late brother Michael. "If I had driven on the sidewalk and hit somebody for whatever reason, it would have been negligent homicide. It's the same thing for this officer. Just because he works for the state or the city, he shouldn't get a pass on that."

WARNING: The following body-worn camera footage showing the collision is edited for content but may be difficult to watch.

Michael Doyle, a lawyer hired by Jackson's family, said the family is pondering filing a civil lawsuit against Hernandez. As of Tuesday, none have been filed.

"The family wasn't aware or involved in deciding what evidence was presented to a grand jury," Doyle said. "Obviously, there's tremendous amount of evidence that the HPD officers weren't acting reasonably or safely in killing Mr. Jackson."

The Houston Police Department had not turned over evidence relating to the collision to Doyle's office, he said, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. It is unclear how long it will take before more evidence is released to attorneys.

Hernandez at times drove the 6,300-pound Ford Police Intercepter between 80 and 100 mph down Reed Road, according to the cruiser's speedometer shown in a five-minute clip from his bodycam. Traffic on Reed Road is limited to 40 mph. The cops were driving with lights and siren activated to help another officer apprehend five individuals allegedly involved in a carjacking who reportedly fled on foot after a short pursuit.

Reed Road was wet from a recent rain shower that Saturday afternoon, according to a crash report filed by HPD. Video shows the cruiser's windshield wipers were activated as Hernandez maneuvered the police SUV through traffic, appearing on multiple occasions to be using only one hand to steer the speeding vehicle over slick residential roads. As Hernandez approached a red light at Cullen Boulevard, he slowed down to check for cross traffic before continuing west toward Scott Street.

Jackson was walking west on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street as Hernandez's cruiser approached from the east around 5:40 p.m. Several cars were stopped at a red light at the Reed Road and Scott Street intersection, police said. As Hernandez sped toward the intersection, video shows the officer turn the steering wheel nearly 180 degrees to avoid colliding with other cars. Hernandez's cruiser slid slightly right, jumping the sidewalk and hitting Jackson before slamming into a Dumpster bin in a nearby parking lot.

Body-cam video indicates that Hernandez hit Jackson about 34 seconds after passing through the intersection at Cullen Boulevard, a distance of 3,755 feet, according to information compiled from Google Maps and a diagram from HPD's crash report. This distance would suggest Hernandez traveled at an average speed of 75 mph before he drove onto the sidewalk. In a frame before Hernandez attempted to turn the wheel, the cruiser's speedometer showed 60 mph.

"He never knew what hit him," Timothy Jackson said. "If you're on the sidewalk, you shouldn't have to worry about somebody driving in the street, because the street is their lane and the sidewalk is your lane. If they get out of their lane, they're responsible."

Houston Police Department

Crash investigators with HPD's vehicular crimes division noted in a crash report that Hernandez was "traveling at an unsafe speed" and "performed a faulty evasive action."

"I think the officer should have been held accountable for running over an innocent civilian that had absolutely nothing to do with a very dangerous police chase," said Travis McGee, a community activist in Sunnyside. "They always get no-billed. Hell, if a citizen hit an officer, I doubt the citizen would have gotten no-billed."

Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, called Jackson's death merely "an accident."

"We believe that the grand jury made the right decision," Griffith said. "As tragic as this accident was, it is just that: an accident. No officer sets out to hurt anyone, but in police work it sometimes happens. We pray for the family of the deceased as well as for our officers. It is extremely hard living with the fact that you hurt someone when you were just trying to do your job."

Hernandez remains on paid administrative duty as the Houston Police Department's Internal Affairs Division continues its investigation into his actions. The officer is represented by lawyers with the Houston Police Officers' Union, Griffith said.

The same day Hernandez was no-billed, a grand jury also declined to press charges against Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy Dontre Thomas, who killed a young mother during a high-speed pursuit in the city of Houston in January.
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Support for Longford parents of children with autism has been under significant pressure over the last number of years, but an announcement this week will change that. A Ministerial announcement confirmed that a Respite House for Longford will improve the lot for 250 families.

The Joint Committee on Autism met yesterday (Tuesday, July 12), for two separate sessions with Minister Anne Rabbitte, Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm.

Senator Micheal Carrigy Chairperson of that Committee welcomed confirmation from Minister Rabbitte that a Respite House will be in place in Longford before end of the year and will be available for use for 48 weeks of year.

In her address to the committee Minister Rabbitte outlined the plan: We have a solution for Longford. Longford was one of the counties that we didn't have any children's respite whatsoever, the Minister said, it closed a number of years back. So since my meeting in Longford I can say we will be delivering a Respite House to Longford before the end of the year. It will be open 48 weeks of the year, so that will in itself support 250 families. That is coming.

The Minister has also confirmed that she will prioritise moving of services from the Phoenix Centre to Ballyminion beside Primary care centre.

Longford man appears in court charged with allegedly harassing Fine Gael senator A man has been told to stay away from Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy and his family after appearing in court charged in connection to allegedly carrying out a campaign of harassment against him.

Delighted to receive confirmation from @AnneRabbitte that a respite house will be in place in #Longford before end of year and will be available 48 wks per year this is welcome news for the families @Longford_Leader

@shannonsidenews pic.twitter.com/Ueg3VIwlMV  Senator Micheal Carrigy (@campaign4carrig) July 12, 2022

Speaking in advance of the meeting Senator Carrigy stressed the opportunity presented to discuss autism policy with Minister Rabbitte and Adam Harris who he described as a leading authority on autism in Ireland saying the insights he provides is of significant value to the Committee.
A Longford man has come forward as the source of a cache of business documents that lifts the lid on how multinationals deal with Governments.

Mark MacGann is the 52-year-old lobbyist born in Longford and raised in Roscommon who worked for California-based technology company Uber between 2014 and 2016.

One of Harry and Patricia McGann's five sons, he grew up in Ballyleague. The former Uber executive left Ireland in the late 1980s and has worked as a lobbyist for technology, telecoms, stock market companies and PR firms for the past three decades.

As Uber sought to have laws amended across Europe to facilitate its technology that allowed the platform to provide taxi services, MacGann was the lobbyist doing the footwork.

He studied economics and politics at Kingston University in London and the Institut dEtudes Politiques in Grenoble, France from 1987 to 1993.

He began his career as an adviser to the president of the Rhone-Alpes region in southeast France. In the late 1990s, he worked for French telecoms company Alcatel where he was director of European affairs during the deregulation of telecoms in Europe.

He worked for lobbying and public relations firm Brunswick, out of the firms offices in London, Paris and New York, and later for Weber Shandwick in the 2000s.

During that decade, he was also director general of Digital Europe, a trade association that lobbied for companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Sony.

In 2010, he joined NYSE Euronext, the worlds largest stock exchange operator that runs the New York Stock Exchange, as its chief European lobbyist, leading its government affairs and public advocacy team out of Brussels. He spent four years with the company.

He joined Uber in 2014, taking a significant pay cut to 160,000 a year but was lured to the company with the promise of stock options that were potentially worth millions of euro.

Longford man appears in court charged with allegedly harassing Fine Gael senator A man has been told to stay away from Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy and his family after appearing in court charged in connection to allegedly carrying out a campaign of harassment against him.

MacGann is the confirmed source of 'The Uber Files', the 124,000 records leaked to The Guardian, the UK newspaper, and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 40 media partners, including The Irish Times, the BBC and the Washington Post.

The leaked records show that MacGann was heavily involved in Ubers efforts to put pressure on Irish government ministers, senior officials and State agencies between 2014 and 2016 as it tried but ultimately failed to push the National Transport Authority, the regulator for the taxi industry, to loosen regulations to permit the companys car-sharing business model.

As the public face of Uber in Europe, MacGann, who was based in Brussels when he worked for Uber, became a target of anti-Uber campaigns and at times violent protests by the established taxi industry. The threats were so significant that Uber assigned him a team of bodyguards in 2015 to accompany him around Belgium and security on foreign trips.
Three Longford shows to are to benefit from funding of between 5,000 and 6,000 following an announcement by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD.

Longford Agricultural Show, Granard Agricultural Show and Ballinalee Connemara Pony Show are to benefit locally.

In total, 700,000 (up to 6,000 to 119 Agricultural shows) is being provided to support the return of the shows.

Minister Humphreys said, As Minister for Rural and Community Development, I know how much the Agricultural Shows mean to people in rural communities.

Between cattle best of breed, dog shows, sheep and poultry competitions, and music, the events are extremely popular and Im delighted to support their return to the summer calendar.

Our shows signals fun, energy and a sense of community - something for all the family.

They are a shop window for what is produced locally and bring visitors from near and far.

Practically every weekend over the coming months there is an agricultural show on somewhere in Ireland. I urge people to get out, enjoy them and give them your full support.

Longford man appears in court charged with allegedly harassing Fine Gael senator A man has been told to stay away from Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy and his family after appearing in court charged in connection to allegedly carrying out a campaign of harassment against him.

Each show will attract funding in the region of 5,000 - 6,000, with funding based on vouched expenditure.

Minister Humphreys added, I recently announced increased funding of 700,000 to support the Irish Shows Association, and I am delighted to today confirm the individual allocations for shows all across rural Ireland.

I am particularly pleased to announce funding of up to 6,000 to each show to assist each meet the costs of putting them together - on the back of huge voluntary endeavour.

I believe it is of vital importance to our rural communities that we support the efforts of the show committees and the work of their volunteers. I hope that this funding will help put the shows on a firmer financial footing and provide vital support to the committees.

Im delighted to support the Irish Shows Association and like many others I look forward to getting out and about and visiting our Shows this summer.

The Minister also welcomed the approval of over 313,000 in LEADER programme funding to the Irish Shows Association, which will be used to support the roll out of a National Shows Management software system for use by agricultural and rural shows nationwide.

This funding was approved by the Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Monaghan, Mayo, Cork West and Galway East as part of the LEADER programme Co-operation Measure.

The Minister concluded: I am delighted to be able to acknowledge the hard work, commitment and dedication that goes into every show and I am pleased that the Irish Shows Association is once again working with my Department to administer the funding. I hope to have the opportunity to visit many agricultural shows throughout the country this year to see first-hand the impact these shows make to the vibrancy of our local rural communities. 
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on AIM in London on Wednesday.

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AIM - WINNERS

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t42 IoT Tracking Solutions PLC, up 39% at 14.25 pence, 12-month range 5.60p-31.75p. The real-time tracking, security and monitoring solutions provider signs a deal with an unnamed Latin American distributor for the provision of t42 products and services to local port authorities in Argentina. The contract has a four-year duration and an estimated total value of at least USD16 million.

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Aeorema Communications PLC, up 18% at 65.05 pence, 12-month range 25.00p-83.00p. The London-based live events agency expects to swing to annual profit, driven by a "record" performance. Aeorema reports that revenue in the year to June 30 more than doubled to GBP11.8 million from GBP5.1 million last year. On the back of this, the company expects to swing to a pretax profit of GBP700,000 from a GBP159,698 loss in financial year 2021. It adds that virtual and hybrid events continue to be a source of revenue.

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AIM - LOSERS

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Distil PLC, down 11% at 1.20p, 12-month range 0.74p-2.80p. The alcoholic spirits maker's volumes falls 79% yearly and its revenue drops 81% to GBP120,000. The figures reflect Distil's decision to handle all of its UK sales and marketing opportunities with retail customers, rather than through a third-party distributor, it says.

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Sound Energy PLC, down 14% at 1.30p, 12-month range 1.20p-3.40p. A Moroccan court has rejected its subsidiary's demand for a USD2.6 million annulment, in respect to remaining charges from the Moroccan Tax Administration. The company adds that it has not been provided with reasons for, or details of, the tribunal's decision. However, Sound Energy says that once the reason for the decision is available, it will then consider what further steps it will take "including but not limited to lodging an appeal".

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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has called on young people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to join hands in realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. Xi made the remarks in a letter replying to young people from Taiwan attending the 20th Straits Youth Forum, which was held in Xiamen, Fujian province, from Monday to Tuesday. He encouraged young people from Taiwan to share their experience and feelings with their peers on the island to help them get to know the mainland and jointly strive relentlessly for national rejuvenation. The forum, launched in 2003, is an annual event focusing on the role of young people in cross-Straits exchanges and integration. Xi said in the letter that he was delighted to learn that the young people from Taiwan had found a stage on the mainland to realize their dreams, and that they had witnessed the rapid development and changes of the motherland, and felt the warm affection between compatriots on both sides of the Straits who are of one family. The future of the motherland and the nation rests on its young people, Xi said, adding that, as always, favorable conditions will be created for young people across the Taiwan Straits to learn from each other and provide more convenience for young people from Taiwan to study, work, start businesses and live on the mainland. Fifty young people from Taiwan who had been invited to attend this year's Straits Youth Forum recently wrote a letter to Xi, in which they described their experiences of studying, working and living on the mainland and expressed their determination to contribute to national rejuvenation and the reunification of the motherland. Xi's reply letter has inspired Taiwan youth on the mainland. "Xi always pays attention to the development of young people from Taiwan on the mainland and we feel his expectations for us from the reply letter, that we should better promote cross-Straits integration and achieve common prosperity," said Fan-Chiang Feng, manager of the Qida Straits Youths Entrepreneurial and Incubation Center. "What's more important is that, as the ones that work and live on the mainland, we should share our experiences with our family back in Taiwan to let them know the real mainland." The youth forum is a sub-activity of the 14th Straits Forum in Fujian. Nearly 2,000 Taiwan compatriots from all walks of life attended the forum this year, which featured 43 exchange activities on various topics, including the economy, culture and youth. Chang Shu-fu, from Taipei, Taiwan, who is participating in the forum for the second time, said: "I joined the forum in 2010, and this improved my understanding of Fujian and the mainland." In 2015, Chang went to Pingtan in Fujian, the closest place on the mainland to Taiwan, to work for a cross-border e-commerce company. He said that, thanks to its many favorable policies, the industry has great development potential in Pingtan. "Driven by cross-border e-commerce between Pingtan and Taiwan, there is a stable development of shipping and the logistics industry between the two sides," said Chang, whose wife also came to Pingtan from Taiwan in 2017 to work in the tourism industry. In the future, through the forum, young people from both sides can have a deeper understanding of each other and seek cooperation, he added. Chen Po-yuan, 23, from Taichung in Taiwan, is now studying at the Law School of Huaqiao University in Quanzhou, Fujian. He participated in the forum for the first time this year and shared his experience of creating rap songs with mainland friends. In March, when Quanzhou was tackling a COVID-19 outbreak, he wrote a rap song with his friends with lyrics reminding people to maintain social distance and take nucleic acid tests. They recorded a video in which they performed the song in the Minnan dialect, which is used by people in southern Fujian and Taiwan. The catchy lyrics gained a large amount of shares and views of the video online. "When me and my local team members speak the same dialect with each other, I feel very comfortable," he said, adding that he will create more songs in the dialect and set up a start-up center in the future to help young people from Taiwan to develop on the mainland. "I hope Xi can hear my song," Chen said. "We want to promote traditional culture through a way that our young people can more easily accept."
(Sharecast News) - Capital Metals updated the market on the Eastern Minerals heavy mineral sands project in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, which it described as "one of the highest-grade" mineral sands projects globally, which was "closely approaching" final investment decision.

The AIM-traded firm said its board and local management team were monitoring the economic and political developments in Sri Lanka.

It said it expected that recent political changes should enable change to occur more rapidly, with increased international cooperation and an overriding requirement to encourage foreign investment and job creation in the country.

The local management team's focus had been on advancing discussions with the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) to advance the industrial mining licence (IML) and, as there were currently limited field activities, the day-to-day operations had been largely unaffected.

"The company is in continual contact with the GSMB for the purposes of obtaining the IML, and the board has been encouraged by recent ongoing levels of interaction," the directors said in their statement.

"The board believes all relevant stakeholders are focused on achieving this objective in an expedient manner despite the current economic and political situation."

IHC Mining, meanwhile, was continuing its metallurgical process test work study, which would enable the confirmation and refining of process flowsheets defined in the IHC development study and provide updated product specifications to assist with ongoing discussions with off-takers.

In cooperation with the company's technical team, the laboratory of the GSMB was currently analysing the mineral assemblage of the total heavy minerals from the 2021 drilling programme, which would provide the specific details on percentage and grade of ilmenite, zircon, rutile, and garnet.

It would also provide further data on mineral assemblage to complement the metallurgical process test work study results.

The completion of that analysis had been impacted by the energy and fuel shortages in Sri Lanka, Capital Metals noted.

Discussions with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) for the use of Oluvil Port for processing infrastructure and export facilities were ongoing, and negotiations continuing.

"The current situation continues to be very challenging for all Sri Lankans and we are therefore even more focussed on maintaining our support for our local staff and the project communities during this time," said chief executive officer Michael Frayne.

"Clearly the award of the IML will be pivotal in unlocking the value of the project.

"Whilst we cannot control the timing of its issuance, we remain in regular and constructive dialogue with the relevant authorities and are responding to frequent information requests, which we believe is a positive indication of progress."

Frayne said that in a similar vein, the support the firm was seeing from the SLPA for usage of the Oluvil Port was "reassuring", given the "significant benefit" it would provide to the local community and the project.

"We believe the Sri Lankan government and departments recognise the critical necessity to accelerate the development of foreign direct investment and export income generating projects like ours.

"We continue to have positive discussions with prospective off-takers who are interested in our products, with the objective that such parties will form a significant part of the future capex funding package."

The project remained "one of the highest-grade" mineral sands projects globally, Michael Frayne added.

"Demand for our products is strong and we share a common interest with Sri Lanka in bringing the Eastern Minerals Project into production."

At 1043 BST, shares in Capital Metals were up 2.02% at 4.95p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.
Ironveld PLC - South Africa-focused exploration and development company - Secures GBP5.0 million in fundraise. Subscription of 1.33 billion shares at 0.30 pence each raises GBP4.0 million, and raises further GBP1.0 million from broker option.

Says net proceeds will be used to complete the acquisition of FCF and the refurbishment of its existing smelter located in Rustenburg, South Africa.

The FCF deal will provide the company with up to 7.5 megawatts of smelting capacity within six to nine months, enabling processing of approximately 40,000 tonnes of magnetite ore on an annualised basis.

Current stock price: 0.34 pence, down 12% on Wednesday

12-month change: down 56%

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Sound Energy PLC on Wednesday said the Moroccan court has rejected its subsidiary's demand for a USD2.6 million annulment, in respect of the remaining charges against Sound Energy Morocco East Ltd from the Moroccan Tax Administration.

Shares in the Morocco-focused gas developer were down 11% to 1.34 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

Back in August 2021, Sound Energy said the authorities had abandoned tax claims relating to the free acquisition of intangible assets between 2016 and 2018 after several Local Tax committee hearings.

The hearings found, as a claim had also been brought by the Moroccan Tax Administration against Sound Energy itself, taxing its subsidiary would be redundant.

However, the company noted that the committee had not dropped charges relating to the disposal of assets by its Moroccan subsidiary to Schlumberger in October 2018. Sound Energy said the 2018 disposal related to a new petroleum agreement for exploration at the Greater Tendrara licence area in north-east Morocco.

In September, Sound Energy said its subsidiary had filed to the Moroccan Court its challenge to the remaining charges.

On Wednesday, Sound Energy said it has been informed that the judge has rejected its demand for the annulment of the USD2.6 million tax charge.

The company added that it has not been provided with reasons for, or details of, the tribunal's decision.

However, Sound Energy said that once the reason for the decision is available, it will then consider what further steps it will take "including but not limited to lodging an appeal".

"The company remains of the strong opinion that the remaining SEME charges result from an incorrect interpretation by the Moroccan Tax Administration of the entry of the New Petroleum Agreement," it added.

In addition to the aforementioned charges, the Moroccan tax claims against Sound Energy Morocco related to the Tendrara Lakbir exploration permits and the transfer of operatorship from SEMS to SEME remain in due process.

Sound Energy Executive Chair Graham Lyon said: "It remains perplexing that the entry of a new petroleum agreement awarded by government agreement, with its own exploration work commitment negotiated with the State of Morocco and covering different geographic areas/time periods, can be purported to be a 'sale' of acreage previously surrendered to the government.

"Confusion has arisen due to a previous notification by the company on July 23, 2018, whereby an entrant into the Tendrara Lakbir licence was postulated. This transaction never occurred. The Greater Tendrara exploration licence is not the continuation of the Tendrara Lakbir exploration licence," Lyon added.

By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
Support Filipino-made products and local harvest in this 2-week fair









Lucky Chinatown is putting the spotlight on Filipino-made products and produce via its Homegrown Festival, which runs from July 6-17, 2022 at the GF Atrium.

Held in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Agriculture (DA), the two-week fair will gather over 20 Filipino merchants belonging to the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from different parts of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.













Guests and neighboring communities can get their pantry essentials, local handicrafts, and homegrown produce at the fair. They can also shop for local delicacies such as chips, nuts, chocolates, and ready-to-cook gourmet meats, or get their hands on native products including baskets, leather goods, and marine products for home display.





Fresh and Flavorful Choices

Customers can binge-eat without having to worry about the calories with goodies from Caramelles Homemade Cookies, Zsakers Philippines, Kangkong Chips, Godel Chocolate, Alion Kapitbisig Association, Willys Cashew Nuts, Cacao De Davao, Pik-a-Pikel, Dindins Kitchen, Mayani, Reon Food Manufacturing, Papa Fritoes, Glorias Delicacies, Magpocs Araro, Cions Gourmet Meats and more.

















Filipino Finds

Shoppers can also explore a wide selection of locally-crafted products from Tatak Pinoy, Jacildos Handicraft, MFurry, JMU Belt Collection, Amanda Marine Products, Tess Enterprise and more.













The Homegrown Festival is made possible through Lucky Chinatowns partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry - Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion and Department of Agriculture - Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service.





To keep shoppers safe, Lucky Chinatown implements government-mandated safety protocols, such as wearing of face mask and social distancing.





For more information, call the Megaworld Lifestyle Malls Hotline at 8-462-8888 or visit megaworld-lifestylemalls.com.












Recently I saw this question posted on social media:When you are fighting a culture war who is the enemy?

As I am sure it was intended, this question made me pause and think about what is going on right now in the political world around us. Our political world is so filled with those politicians and TV talking heads spreading lies, misinformation and blame while touting fear and division that it is almost impossible to get any meaningful legislation done in either Lansing or Washington.

It is time to stop the madness!

We have too many important kitchen table issues and challenges facing young families in Manistee County to be concerned about the slim possibility that an LGBTQ+ person may have some negative influence in your life.

We should be willing to accept and celebrate the courage these people have shown living and loving in an open and authentic manner. Legislating against medical and mental health needs of transgender youth and adults is purely a waste of time and is obviously intended to discriminate against people who really need and deserve assistance.

Our elected officials and politicians should be more focused on providing a helping hand to raise children in Manistee County out of poverty by supporting Gov. Whitmers plan to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families.

Why should we be concerned about Critical Race Theory (CRT), a theoretical subject that has been exclusively taught only in law schools?

Our public schools in Manistee County are very fortunate to have extremely professional and dedicated educators who care deeply about the future success of the young people who enter their classrooms. We must keep state tax dollars focused exclusively on funding public education to ensure that every student in Michigan has the best opportunity to succeed regardless of their economic situation.

Our teachers deserve more respect and recognition for the work they do every day delivering the skills our young people need to succeed in life. Therefore, we are pleased to see the huge increase in public school funding that has been consistently advocated by Gov. Whitmer and recently included in the bipartisan state operating budget agreement. This was accomplished with no additional tax burden to anyone in Manistee County.

Access to safe and responsible use of guns and ammunition for hunting and sport shooting is certainly important to many residents of Manistee County. Stop worrying and stop spreading the lie. No one is advocating taking your sporting guns away.

All we want is meaningful, common sense gun safety regulations. Why should it be easier to buy a gun than it is to get a drivers license? Our politicians need to stop bowing to the big money lobbying power of organizations like the NRA and take action to make it more difficult for evil people to take innocent lives with a weapon that was designed exclusively to kill other human beings.

Senior citizens in Manistee County are much more concerned about how they can continue to maintain their lifestyle on a fixed income provided by pensions, retirement savings and Social Security than they are about what is happening at our southern border.

The fact that so many refugees and asylum seekers leave loved ones and everything they own behind to pursue the opportunity for a better life for themselves and their families should reinforce that the American Dream is alive and well.

Instead of worrying about those who try to enter illegally, we should be thanking the professionals in the Customs and Border Protection who are using state of the art technology instead of flimsy walls to apprehend and detain them in record numbers.

Seniors in Manistee County should be telling our representatives in Lansing to support Gov. Whitmers plan to eliminate the state income tax on pensions. This legislative action will put an average of $1,000 per year in the pockets of Manistee County pension holders.

Many Manistee County women are righteously upset with the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn a womans right to choose to have a safe and legal abortion. This is the result of a very long-term campaign by the male-dominated Republican Party to recruit single-issue voters and give these men in Washington, D.C. the ability to stack the court with justices who have extremely narrow and antiquated interpretations of our Constitution.

Right now, the only recourse we as voters have is to elect Michigan state representatives and senators who will go to Lansing and work with Gov. Whitmer to codify in state law the right of a woman to choose to have a safe and legal abortion.

Fortunately, Manistee County voters will have just that opportunity on Nov. 8 by voting for their Democratic candidates on the ballot. That is how we can all work together to stop the madness and do the important work of governing for the greater good of everyone.
MANISTEE COUNTY  Manistee County has recorded 16 new COVID-19 cases and a decrease of one new death since July 12, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. It should be noted that this is a decrease of one death, which may results from errors in reporting to MDHHS.

This is an increase of 393 new cases and nine new deaths reported since Feb. 28.

Manistee County has had a total of 3,093 cases of COVID-19 and 77 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions updated COVID-19 Community Level tool shows the risk for new cases in Benzie and Manistee counties is at a medium level.

Other counties in the region are also at a medium COVID-19 community level, including Leelanau, Grand Traverse and Antrim counties.

The CDC updates the community level maps once a week, with July 14 being the most recent.

On Nov. 28, 2020, the county recorded 17 new cases in a single day and the same number again on April 12, 2021. On Nov. 16, 2021, the county broke that record with 18 cases recorded, according to MDHHS information. On Jan. 11, 2022, Manistee County recorded 24 new cases in one day  the highest total yet.

As of June 21, MDHHS is providing COVID-19 updates weekly on Tuesdays.

Here are some quick facts from the most recent MDHHS report:

 There have been over 2.6 million probable and confirmed cases and 37,142 confirmed and probable deaths statewide during the pandemic. MDHHS has updated its COVID-19 reporting to include confirmed and probable cases and deaths, instead of only confirmed cases and deaths.

 This is an increase of 16,681 confirmed and probable cases and an increase of 160 confirmed and probable deaths. MDHHS noted its average number of new confirmed cases is at 2,383 cases per day for seven days.

 Grand Traverse County reported 15,019 cases and 213 deaths. This is an increase of 96 new cases with two new deaths.

 Wexford County reported 5,712 cases and 98 deaths. This is an increase of 25 new cases with no new deaths.

 Benzie County has seen 2,650 cases and 60 deaths. This is an increase of 14 new cases with no new deaths.

 Lake County has seen 1,694 cases and 34 deaths. This is an increase of 13 new cases with no new deaths.

 Mason County has seen 6,637 cases and 93 deaths. This is an increase of 54 new cases with no new deaths.

Manistee County is considered part of Region 7 for tracking by the state. Region 7 includes Manistee and 17 other counties.

The region has 936 hospital beds with 569 occupants in hospital beds and 124 adult patients in the intensive care unit, as of Tuesday.

The region has 32 adults who have had suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, none on a ventilator and six adult intensive care unit patients who have been confirmed or suspected to have had COVID-19.

Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital has two COVID-19 patients, according to the most recent data available from MDHHS.

Manistee County has 63.1% of its population completely vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the states data from July 9, the most recent available data. This is 14,836 out of 23,506 eligible residents, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates for people 5 years old and older.

The county has 63.3 % of the population considered fully vaccinated with at least one booster shot for those who are eligible. This is 9,153 out of 15, 517 eligible residents who are eligible for a booster shot.

So far, 370 residents in Manistee County aged 5-11 years old have initiated their COVID-19 vaccine or 24.5%; this age group has a total population of 1,509. In the 12-15 group, 461 children have initiated the vaccine with 427 completed, or 43.2% who have had an initial dose and 40.0 % who have completed their vaccinations. There are 1,067 children in this age group.

In Benzie County, about 67.3% of the residents are fully vaccinated.

Parents and guardians can schedule an appointment to vaccinate their children aged six months and over from COVID-19 through DHD#10 at dhd10.org/schedule. It should be noted that according to DHD#10, only the Pfizer vaccine is currently available at their clinics. The Moderna vaccine will be available at a later date.

DHD#10 is offering off-site vaccine clinics. Participants do not need an appointment. All clinics will have Pfizer for people 6 months and older and most will have Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for those 18 and older.

The health department is also scheduling third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for anyone age 12 or older; you can schedule an appointment at dhd10.org/schedule.

The U.S. has the highest counts globally. India has the second-highest number of cases and Brazil has the second-highest number of deaths.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been about 88.4 million cases in the United States and just over 1.01 million deaths. There have been 727,350 COVID-19 cases across the U.S. in the past seven days.

The World Health Organization lists over 554.2 million confirmed cases and about 6.35 million deaths in the world. There have been about 12 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide.
At MAKO Medical Laboratories, we offer services that disrupt the medical testing industry. While, for years, many patients have struggled to get the results they need, when they need them, we are changing the story. Since launching back in 2014, we have worked alongside some of the industry's leading experts to ensure that we offer fast and accurate testing services. However, our offering is just one of the ways we support the community.

When we started the company, we were clear on how we wanted to change the sector. We were also clear on the idea that we wanted to support those who need it the most. Giving back is a core belief that we hold close to each of our hearts. For that reason, we support a variety of local causes and initiatives. The overriding ethos here is that we can make a difference to the lives of the people around us and in the wider community. Within this article, I want to share why we have a social responsibility to make charitable donations.

Giving Back Helps Your Business and Community

Business is all about creating strong networks - that is with other entrepreneurs and community leaders. I strongly believe that there is no better way to enact this than to look at the ways that you can give back to the people who need it in your region. At MAKO Medical Laboratories, we're always looking for sponsorship and donation opportunities. Most recently, we collaborated with the Vance County Public School Foundation (VCPSF), donating $10,000 to the cause. Additionally, we decided to match further donations from the community up to another $10,000 throughout the rest of 2022.

"We are so grateful for the financial support and the confidence that MAKO has in the work we are doing in Vance County Schools", said Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett, when we made the latest donation to the foundation. "Every dollar donated will support the experiences and engaging opportunities our teachers will design and share with our students. MAKO has again demonstrated their amazing support for this community!"

While there's a broad range of causes that we could support, we believe that it's important to make sure that we spend our money where it matters. Every child deserves to have access to a strong level of education. The LEAP Grants support Vance County School teachers by ensuring that they get the most effective resources to enact their projects. Armed with this additional support, they are each able to enhance each students' learning.

It's Not About PR - Giving Back Matters

One of the most common misconceptions about donating to charity is that it's merely a PR stunt. That is simply not the case. At MAKO Medical Laboratories, we actively want to make a difference n the greater community. That mission has been at the core of everything that we do. Whether that means hiring veterans among our ranks or looking for ways to donate to the causes in the region, there are always ways in which we can support those around us. We have never - and will never - make a donation with the sole purpose of gaining more as a business. It's not what we're about.

While you may not have heard it before now, there's a word for that. "Causewashing" means donating to charity with the main aim being good PR. Businesses around the globe dabble in this. For example, a large scale company may make a small donation to a well-known charity so that they can put the logo on their website. They may have no idea what the charity does, how its money is spent, or the difference the donation will make. Jumping on the bandwagon here is a huge mistake and it's not how we operate. There's no doubt there's value in giving back, but researching the charities is a key step here.

For that reason, whenever we donate to a cause, we ensure that we understand where the funds are going. Working and collaborating with local initiatives makes that relatively straightforward. If we take the example of the Vance County Public School Foundation (VCPSF), it's clear to see how this system works. We can see how the foundation uses the funding to immediately improve the learning experiences of local students. There's no question about whether that cash influx will be used to support those who need the help.

As a business owner and a philanthropist, I implore others in my position to do the same. Taking the time to understand the charities in-depth will make a huge difference to knowing where the company's money is spent. Equally, you may want to get to know the talented individuals who work within the charity. You can book meetings with these people, visit their premises, and talk to them about the upcoming initiatives. The more time you dedicate to this particular endeavor, the bigger the impact you will ultimately make.

The Takeaway!

Thinking of giving back on behalf of your business? There's no question that your company can help support causes around the world or closer to home. At MAKO Medical Laboratories, we have made this a key part of our everyday processes. Consider the ways that your company may do the same. The truth of the matter is that there are almost countless opportunities out there, and you don't have to look all that hard to find them.

About Mako Medical and Chad Price

Underpinned by an expert team of nationally-recognized doctors specializing in methodology development and pathological services, MAKO Medical Laboratories is an innovative medical brand. Offering patients total transparency, accuracy, and speed in their testing results, the company is set to revolutionize the world of healthcare.

Founded in 2014 by Chad Price, Adam Price, and Josh Arant, the community-focused business is now a well-known name in the world of medical testing. The forward-thinking company was started with the mission of standing out from the crowd, for all the right reasons, while delivering a super fast service to clients.
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Long COVID and its Effects

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that between 10% and 20% of patients suffer symptoms for at least two months after an acute COVID-19 infection - a phenomenon commonly known as long COVID.According to the latest official data, as of May 1, there were nearly two million people in the UK self-reporting long COVID symptoms, which can include fatigue, muscle weakness, breathing and sleep difficulties, memory problems, anxiety or depression, chest pains and loss of smell or taste.Currently, there is no internationally agreed treatment pathway for the condition.Apheresis involves needles being put into each arm and the blood is passed over a filter, separating the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is filtered before being recombined with the red blood cells and returned to the body via a different vein.The investigation includes details of people who have tried the treatment, such as Gitte Boumeester, a trainee psychiatrist in Almelo, the Netherlands, who, after catching the virus, developed severe long COVID symptoms. She was forced to quit her job in November 2021, after two failed attempts to go back to work.Boumeester learned of the 'blood washing' treatment of apheresis from a Facebook group for long COVID patients.After visiting The Long Covid Center in Cyprus to receive the treatment, at a cost of more than 50,000 (42,376), she returned home with no improvement to her symptoms. She received six rounds of apheresis, as well as nine rounds of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and an intravenous vitamin drip at the private Poseidonia clinic, next door to the center.Boumeester was asked to sign a consent form at the Long Covid Center before undergoing apheresis, which lawyers and clinicians described as inadequate.She was also advised to buy hydroxychloroquine as an early treatment package in case she was reinfected with COVID-19, despite apublished in March 2021 concluding that it is 'unlikely' the drug has a benefit in the prevention of COVID-19.Marcus Klotz, co-founder of the Long Covid Center told: "We as a clinic do neither advertise, nor promote. We accept patients that have microcirculation issues and want to be treated with HELP apheresis... If a patient needs a prescription, it is individually assessed by our doctor or the patient is referred to other specialized doctors where needed."A spokesperson for the Poseidonia Clinic said that all treatments offered are "always based on medical and clinical evaluation by our doctors and clinical nutritionist, diagnosis via blood tests with lab follow-ups as per good medical practice."While some doctors and researchers believe apheresis and anticoagulation drugs may be promising treatments for long COVID, others worry desperate patients are spending life-changing sums on invasive, unproven treatments.Shamil Haroon, clinical lecturer in primary care at the University of Birmingham and a researcher on the Therapies for Long Covid in Non-hospitalized patients (TLC) trial, believes such 'experimental' treatment should only be done in the context of a clinical trial."It's unsurprising that people who were previously highly functioning, who are now debilitated, can't work, can't financially support themselves, would seek treatments elsewhere," he says."It's a completely rational response to a situation like this. But people could potentially go bankrupt accessing these treatments, for which there is limited to no evidence of effectiveness."In February of last year, Dr. Beate Jaeger, an internal medicine doctor, began treating long COVID patients with apheresis at her clinic in Mulheim, Germany, after reading reports that COVID-19 causes issues with blood clotting due to blood washing technique. She toldthat she has now treated thousands in her clinic, with success stories spreading on social media and by word of mouth.Jaeger accepts that the treatment is experimental for long COVID, but said trials take too long when the pandemic has left patients desperately ill.The North Rhine Medical Association, which examines whether doctors have violated their professional code of conduct, toldit has not received any complaints about Jaeger or her clinic from patients or other organizations but will investigate if it does.The investigation also found that apheresis and associated travel costs are so expensive that patients are setting up fundraising pages on websites like GoFundMe in order to raise the money.Chris Witham, a 45-year-old businessman and long COVID sufferer from Bournemouth who spent around 7,000 on apheresis treatment (including travel and accommodation costs) in Kempten, Germany, last year, says: "I'd have sold my house and given it away to get better, without a second thought."Existing research has suggested that "microclots" present in the plasma of people with long COVID could be responsible for long COVID symptoms. But experts contacted byandsaid more research is needed to understand how microclots form and whether they are causing long COVID symptoms.Others are also concerned about the lack of follow-up care for patients when they leave clinics after being prescribed anticoagulation drugs.Robert Ariens, professor of vascular biology at the University of Leeds School of Medicine, says: "They (microclots) may be a biomarker for disease, but how do we know they are causal?"He believes that the clinics offering apheresis and anticoagulation therapy are prematurely providing treatment based on a hypothesis that needs more scientific research."If we don't know the mechanisms by which the microclots form and whether or not they are causative of disease, it seems premature to design a treatment to take the microclots away, as both apheresis and triple anticoagulation are not without risks, the obvious one being bleeding," he adds.Source: Eurekalert
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Some 19 countries are now part of the Caribbean Safe School Initiative (CSSI) with The Bahamas joining by signing the Sint Maarten Declaration on School Safety on June 30, 2022, at the third Caribbean Safe School Initiative Ministerial Forum held on Sint Maarten.





The Sint Maarten Declaration replaced the Antigua & Barbuda Declaration signed in 2017 and updated in 2019. Thirteen CSSI participating countries also signed the Sint Maarten Declaration on School Safety and other islands are expected to sign later pending approval in their governance structures.





The Sint Maarten Declaration recognizes the examination of critical issues impacting disaster risk management and its relevance to the education sector in the Caribbean region by Caribbean Ministers of Education, High-Level officials in the education sector together with youth and interested stakeholders. It further recognizes the diversity of recent biological, societal, geological, and meteorological hazards and their cascading impacts in the Caribbean.





Besides The Bahamas, the signatories to the Sint Maarten Declaration on School Safety include Sint Maarten, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and the Turks & Caicos islands. The supporting agencies and partners who signed the declaration are Tania Merien on behalf of the CSSI Youth Forum delegates, UNESCO, UNICEF Latin America & Caribbean Regional Office & Regional Education Working Group of the Latin America & Caribbean region, UNDRR, CDEMA, GADDRESS and CAF Development Bank of Latin America. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and OECS is also expected to sign once formal approval is received.





During the three days, great achievements have been made with the signing of the Sint Maarten Declaration. With 20 countries now on board, we see the engagement level rising and becoming more important over the years, strengthening the framework and resilience of the education system that is exposed to hazards such as natural hazards, climate change, threats of violence in schools, pandemics etc. In this sense, we hope that the Comprehensive School Framework 2020-2030 and the summary version that was shared with you at the beginning of the Forum, together with coming CSS target indicators and the CSS operational guidance series will help you in implementing actions to achieve School Safety. You can count on GADRRRES and its Regional affiliates, Ms. Lucille Angles, UNICEF & Coordinator of Global Alliance for Disaster Risk, Reduction & Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) said in her closing remarks.





Ms. Andria Grosvenor, Acting Deputy Executive Director, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), said in her closing remarks that, We have heard the passion of our MOEs (Ministries of Education) and the Youth on the CSSI. This has the capacity to impact, not only the Region, but also the world. As we consider the Declaration, Decisions made and the Updated Road Map, I want to encourage us to do three things:





A-dvocate for an Integrated Approach to advancing School Safety in our countries and territories in all of our spaces. We recognize that the multiple hazards and cascading impacts do require a systemic approach to School Safety. We need all parties on board if we are going to advance the School Safety agenda.





C-ontinue the commitment to advancing CSSI. We are pleased with the work that has been done so far. We have the opportunity to expand the engagement and the Sint Maarten Declaration allows us to do so.





T-ransform our countries and territories with a focus on education for development. Understanding and reducing risk in a world of uncertainty is fundamental to us achieving genuine sustainable development. The CSSI offers the space to transform our schools and how we treat with disaster risk management to reduce risk and achieve sustainable development. It also gives us a catalyst to embrace new thinking to transform our countries and see our challenges as stepping stones for forging a brighter future even in the midst of uncertainty.





Ms. Grosvenor also pledged the continuous support of CDEMA and their School Safety Specialist Mr. Bernez Khodra and thanked Sint Maarten for the excellent hosting.





Chair of the CSSI, Sint Maartens Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, drs. Rodolphe Samuel indicated that the CSSIs Third Ministerial Forum was very productive and thanked all involved for their contributions in making the forum a success.





I commit to advocating for School Safety and working together with you to advance the regional Road Map. I endorse the call for the inclusion of youth through the creation of CSSI Youth Ambassadors and to giving youth a





seat at the table. I thank the organizing committee comprising of CDEMA, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDRR, Dr. Idelia Ferdinand of the Ministry of Education and National Reconciliation of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Forum Facilitator Mr. Marcel Goyeneche and Head of the Student Support Services Division Mrs. Olga Mussington-Service and the local organizing committee, Minister Samuel said.





He concluded by stating, Congratulations to all countries who have signed the Sint Maarten Declaration and I am encouraging others to join the CSSI. We applaud the contributions of the youth and the School Safety Focal Points who were included at the forum level for the first time.





Former CSSI Chairman Hon, Dr. Curtis King, Minister of Education and National Reconciliation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, took the opportunity to wish the new CSSI Chairman, Hon. Minister drs. Samuel, a productive stay while noting that St. Vincent and The Grenadines remains committed to working with Minister Samuel and also the collective action towards advancing school safety in the region.





Dr. King also made a presentation to the St. Maarten School Safety Focal Point, Mrs. Olga Mussington-Service and congratulated her on her leadership in organizing the Forum.





Mrs. Mussington-Service thanked all stakeholders and the local organizing committee for their contributions and commitment to the CSSI. CSSI has created the occasion for deliberations, discussions, networking, building of relationships and also planning and working towards the betterment of our countries, said closing session Moderator and Chair of the Organizing Committee Mrs. Olga Mussington Service. She also indicated that, As we close one chapter, we must remain mindful of where we are heading.





The Caribbean Safe School Initiative Ministerial Forum was held from June 28 to June 30 on Sint Maarten. It was organized by the St. Maarten Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS ) in close collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Ministry of Education and National Reconciliation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Latin America & Caribbean, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).





The next CSSI Ministerial Forum will take place in Saint Lucia in 2025.
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The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is an initiative held by the United Nations (UN), which seeks to reflect on recovery policies that can reverse the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Jacobs will be in attendance on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from Wednesday, July13, to Friday, July 15. Also in attendance are the Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation, Liesje Schreinemacher and, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dennis Wiersma of the Netherlands. The Prime Minister of Aruba, Evelyn Wever-Croes will also be present.





During the speaking moments at the Ministerial Discussion Panel and Flagship event on July 14, Prime Minister Jacobs will be raising awareness and pushing the agenda of Small Island Developing States, as they face a diverse range of issues when it comes to sustainable development and climate adaptation.





My upcoming visit to the United Nations is a move toward building a stronger Sint Maarten and establishing our voice as one that is deserving of being heard. One of my objectives during this visit is to use the platform as a podium for best practices that increase climate resilience of ecosystems, society and economic sectors. said the Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs, Silveria E. Jacobs.





The theme, Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is not only essential for country Sint Maarten to hear, but also to be at the forefront of. It will be a great opportunity to mobilize UN member states and other stakeholders to come forward with voluntary commitments in the margins of the UN 2023 Water Conference.





The government has been working diligently to rebuild and strengthen the country of Sint Maarten, as well as solidify its position on a global level. To do so, there is a need to enact policies that will positively affect the people. The Forum creates a foundation for being less reactive and more proactive, especially where the wellbeing of the people of Sint Maarten is concerned. Sustainability plays a key role in the implementation as it will ensure our peoples benefit for generations to come.





Prime Minister Jacobs went on to elaborate, When we were struck with the plight of COVID-19 the government was faced with new challenges that were previously unheard of. We had to learn, grow,





and adapt in the moment. New policies were formed, and unlike with Hurricanes Irma and Maria, there were no definitive answers, as the world dealt with wave after wave; variant after variant.





It is during these moments, we can learn from other world leaders, share our concerns, and add our positions to the discussion. When we become part of the initiatives, we can better plan and develop. I urge the people of Sint Maarten to not only read about the forum, but also to continue to work on community projects and initiatives that can be sustainable for our country. For more information on the HLPF, please visit the website at https://hlpf.un.org/.
For nearly four years, Midland County schools have been staffed with a safety liaison who is accessible to parents and students throughout the school day.

Ahead of a renewal request to voters, Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden said the continuation of School Resource Officer program will "only benefit us in the long run."

"This isn't just about having a law enforcement presence in schools," she said. "It's about the relationships that not just the students, but the families also build and develop with law enforcement."

The County and City of Midland are partnering to request program funding from voters on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot. The funding request remains at the same .4 mills through 2026. County voters overwhelmingly approved the first millage proposal in 2018 to place these officers into all county school districts.

The program selects officers provided with extensive training for protocols and programs, including ALICE - "Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate" - and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).

Following mass shootings in educational settings around the country, Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael Sharrow said schools have developed proactive plans, versus a reactive model.

"(Resource officers) see things different than us educators," he said. "They're able to build those relationships without situations that may occur way beforehand. It is a great thing and it's a pretty small millage vote, in order to protect the whole county."

The program supplies a resource officer on school campuses daily to be available for questions from students, parents, and school staff among other responsibilities. Bullock Creek Schools Superintendent Shawn Hale said it is important to have an "open line" of communication.

In addition to sharing information with the public, the officers work closely with school staff for regular security assessments, developing emergency plans and safety drills.

Gransden and Hale agree. He said the success of the program has been found through the relationships built between staff on school-grounds and the community members, including families of students enrolled in the district.

"When there's a relationship, you develop a level of respect," Hale said. "Our officer respects the students, and the students give that same respect back. The more positive relationships that are built, the better response students have towards law enforcement."

By the numbers with Midland County Sheriff Myron Greene The deputies have recorded more than 7,000 contacts with students, staff and parents in Bullock Creek, Meridian and Coleman Schools that "went beyond a casual conversation." Sheriff Myron Greene provided the following statistics, to highlight successful areas of the program:  3,380 Contacts with Students  2,630 Contacts with School Staff  1,073 Contacts with Parents  73 Presentations on Health and/or Safety  115 General Presentations  158 DARE Presentations  251 Responses to Complaints  80 Special Functions Attended See More Collapse

The Midland Police Department provided two resource officers to Midland Public Schools for nine years. The recent School Resource Officer program, funded by taxpayers, helped add two officers to the district's middle schools and provide three deputies of the Midland County Sheriff's Office for Bullock Creek, Meridian and Coleman Schools.

Before a dedicated resource officer was on the county school campuses, road patrol deputies responded to school-related calls, which "took them away" from other duties. Now, the county's road patrol remains fully staffed and provides additional officers during the off-season of summer.
MIDDLETOWN  The local union is calling on the Board of Education to address serious concerns surrounding long-standing, toxic working conditions at the citys public schools.

Their request stems from the results of a five-month workplace harassment investigation, which examined alleged misconduct by top school district officials.

The investigation was prompted by more than a dozen union employees allegations of bullying, harassment and other reported workplace maltreatment against top central office leadership.

As the school year comes to a close, we are asking for corrective measures to be put into place immediately, Middletown Federation of Teachers President Janice Pawlak said at the last school board meeting.

Pawlak was joined by UPSEU Local 6457 President Ann Gregg, Middletown AFSCME Local 466 Vice President Brooke Carta, and Middletown Federation of Paraeducators President Cindy Culp.

The schools announced April 5 that the investigation, conducted by the boards attorneys, Shipman and Goodwin, as well as an independent firm, Thompson Hine, was complete.

Union officials read a statement at the June Board of Education meeting, saying theyve been successfully working with new Superintendent Alberto Vazquez-Matos and are now imploring action from the panel.

Vazquez-Matos replaced Michael Conner, who resigned while on leave amid the investigation. Chief of Administration Christine Bourne and Chief of School Operations Marco Gaylord remain on leave.

It has been eight months since this was brought to your attention, and yet, we havent seen substantive corrective action, Pawlak said. While we understand the investigatory process was long and multifaceted, the time for action is now.

The dedicated and hard-working professionals we represent deserve no less, she added. With staff shortages, a global pandemic, and recent nationwide school violence incidents weighing on the minds and hearts of our staff, its simply unfair to let these old wounds remain open.

Take action and put in the safety nets required to not only help the district staff heal, but ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, Pawlak said.

The schools declined to comment on confidential personnel matters, Communications Director Jessie Lavorgna said Wednesday.

However, they are committed to continuing to build cooperative and supportive relationships with each of the unions in the district, she explained.

Work will begin in the new academic year, Lavorgna added, with an increased focus on nurturing and sustaining the well-being of all students, teachers, staff and administrators.

Actions requested

The union outlined seven suggested changes, including action in response to substantiate allegations against administrators, conduct a restorative circle with stakeholders, as well as establish a committee of BOE members, top school officials, union leaders, and employees to take up key workplace issues.

Had such a committee been in place, we believe that the issues brought in our October complaint would have been addressed before causing such widespread harm, Pawlak said. The existing complaint process failed our employees. This committee could also be crucial to formulating and revising the districts strategic operating plan.

The unions would also like to see mental health support put in place for employees in need, a prioritization of filling open positions to relieve the pressure due to the extreme staff shortages. Many critical vacancies exist in all levels of the organization, Pawlak said.

She asked for a robust, public and transparent exit interview process. This data is crucial to nip any potential problems in the bud.

Communications, which Pawlak said, typically go unanswered, also fuel the perception that things will never change, nobody cares, and my opinion doesnt matter we hear regularly from our members.

She asked the board and administration to work with employees. Only then can our staff provide the very best experience for our students and unlock the potential for all.

The district understands that determining a path ahead is important, Lavorgna said.

The board and administration recognize that healing is a necessary component to move the district forward, she said.
More than 155,000 military family members and retirees will be moved from the military hospital system to civilian health providers starting later this year, a process expected to last through mid-2026, according to a new Defense Department report.

Under a revised plan, however, at least 29 facilities that were slated to serve only active-duty patients may still see some active-duty family members to sustain their staffs' clinical skills.

In a report sent to Congress on July 1, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gil Cisneros said that the number of facilities scheduled for downsizing has changed and active-duty family members might be kept in the military system, depending on location and training needs.

Read Next: Pay Bumps to Counter Suicides in Alaska and on Ships in Yard 'Unnecessary,' According to White House

The plan gives 29 clinics the option of keeping some active-duty family members "as appropriate for provider skill sustainment."

The facilities will "generally transition non-active duty Service member Primary Care to the purchased care component of the Tricare program," including the provider network and those in Tricare for Life, the defense health program that serves as a wraparound for Medicare, according to the report to the congressional defense committees.

But unlike the original recommendations, all 29 will "enroll active duty family members as appropriate."

The changes are part of an effort that began in 2017 to reform the military health system to slow the rising cost of health care, sending more patients to the private sector, paid for by Tricare, and focusing military providers mainly on active-duty personnel and training. The DoD process called for downsizing or closing dozens of hospitals and clinics.

In the revised plan, developed after studying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health system and the availability of care in communities near military bases, three clinics will be spared from downsizing or becoming military-only facilities: Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center at Fort Meade, Maryland, and Joel and Robinson Clinics at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Kimbrough was slated to transition to an outpatient-only clinic that served all beneficiaries, while the Joel and Robinson clinics were to transition to active-duty only facilities.

But the review determined that Kimbrough is a vital part of the military health system in the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C., while changes at Fort Bragg made by the Army improved the efficiency and service of the clinics to military families, resulting in their preservation.

Two facilities will still close, Community Based Medical Home Columbus Georgia and the Air Force's Sabal Park Clinic in Brandon, Florida.

In Columbus, patients will have the option of enrolling with Martin Army Community Hospital on a space-available basis or use Tricare.

In Brandon, all patients will transition to Tricare.

One clinic, at Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, will continue serving active-duty troops and active-duty family members, but no retirees.

Since the effort began, 12 facilities have transitioned to active-duty only clinics or have closed.

Reforms have been underway within the military health system since 2013, when the Pentagon established the Defense Health Agency to assume duties such as medical administration, IT, logistics and training that existed in triplicate under the separate Army, Navy and Air Force medical commands.

In 2017, Congress gave the DHA broad authority to reevaluate the scope of its facilities and how the DoD serves Tricare beneficiaries who aren't in the military, such as family members and retirees.

The services became responsible mainly for military operational medicine and maintaining combat-ready medical forces.

"The purpose of this program is to increase the readiness of military medical staff by allowing them to be concentrated at medical platforms that have the volume and complexity of medical cases required to maintain medical skills," the report noted.

Congress has 180 days to examine the proposal, which the Defense Department will begin implementing at the start of fiscal 2023, which begins in October, according to the report.

Members of Congress have expressed concerns that some areas lack the capacity to accept new patients into the community. Most recently, Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., wrote Defense Health Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Place asking him to ensure that military personnel and dependents had access to timely appointment and care, including obstetrics care.

Military physicians and spouses reported missing appointments and waiting weeks for pregnancy care as the result of a shortage of providers.

"This issue may not be just one that my district is experiencing but may be systemic to all military hospitals due to reforms DHA is leading to cut costs," Murphy wrote April 6.

In their report to Congress, Defense officials said network assessments have determined that there were at least enough network primary care managers to absorb 120% of patients expected to transition.

According to the report, the military treatment facilities will continue to care for patients until they have a primary care manager. Those who are in a case management program will be reviewed for remaining in the program and continue in the program or transition to private care.

And those with complex medical needs who transition will receive a "warm hand off" with their new primary manager

"The MHS' commitment to beneficiaries' health care is not changing. While the location where care is received may change, access to quality health care will be provided," the report noted.

As a result of the post-pandemic review, the following changes have been made, including clinics that will be closed to retirees and their family members but will retain the option to treat active-duty family members:

Facilities that may continue to see active-duty families

Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, Naval Branch Health Clinic Groton

Facilities that will retain current functions:

Fort Meade, Maryland, Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center

Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Joel and Robinson Clinic

Facilities that will close completely to all users:

MacDill Air Force Base's Sabal Park community clinic in Brandon, Florida

Fort Benning, Georgia, North Columbus-Benning clinic

Two facilities are slated to receive upgrades, but those have been deferred, according to the report. They include Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime

Related: Plans for Hospital Closures as Part of Military Health System Reform Forging Ahead After Pause
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes claimed to be running a veteran support group but in reality was running a dangerous militia and aspired to be a paramilitary leader, a former member testified Tuesday to a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Jason Van Tatenhove, who was a spokesman for the group, described during his testimony how Rhodes had hoped for then-President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act -- a law allowing the president to deploy troops domestically -- as the opening salvo in an "armed revolution" in which Rhodes and the Oath Keepers would rise to power.

The hearing was the latest in the House Jan. 6 Committee investigation into the violent 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, including veterans in the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys extremist groups, as Trump sought to overturn the election results that put President Joe Biden in the White House. Rhodes and 10 members of his group were indicted in January on federal sedition charges related to plans to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Biden's election victory.

Read Next: 155,000 Military Health System Patients to Be Pushed to Civilian Care Starting This Year

Prior to the attack, Rhodes had consistently sought ways to legitimize what he was doing in the public eye, said Van Tatenhove, who testified that he eventually left the group due to antisemitism among its members.

Rhodes "was always looking for ways to legitimize what he was doing, whether by wrapping it in the trappings of 'it's not a militia. It's a community preparedness team; we're not a militia. We're an educational outreach group. It's a veteran support group.' But again, we've got this dishonesty and the mincing of words of what they are," Van Tatenhove said. "You know, he is a militia leader. He had these grand visions of being a paramilitary leader."

Five of the indicted Oath Keepers including Rhodes served in the military.

Extremist groups played a key role in the attack on the Capitol after Trump called for a mass demonstration in Washington to reject the peaceful transfer of power; it included a speech on Jan. 6 that urged his armed followers to march on the Capitol, according to the Jan. 6 committee and federal indictments.

The House panel laid out evidence and testimony from former Trump officials making the case that the former president had made various failed attempts to overturn the election results after November 2020 and eventually turned to his angry supporters and armed extremist groups as a way to disrupt the vote certification.

Most of Trump's advisers had felt that any chance of a legitimate challenge to the election results was over in mid-December when the U.S. Electoral College named Biden the president-elect and dozens of Trump legal objections had been rejected, according to the committee.

Federal prosecutors allege that Rhodes and his fellow Oath Keepers hatched a plan to breach the Capitol, spent weeks training and deployed heavily armed "quick reaction forces" in the area in anticipation of a conflict as they converged on Washington to block Biden from taking office.

Group members can be seen in video of the Jan. 6 attack marching up the Capitol steps through the throngs of rioting Trump supporters in a "stack" formation used by the military.

Five members of the Proud Boys extremist group, including former chairman Enrique Tarrio, were indicted on seditious conspiracy charges in June. All the indicted members except Tarrio were military veterans. Federal authorities allege they were the vanguard of rioters who initially punched through Capitol Police lines and breached the Capitol.

"We've gotten exceedingly lucky that more bloodshed did not happen because the potential has been there from the start," Van Tatenhove said. "A loss of life, as tragic as it is, we saw on Jan. 6 the potential was so much more."

Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by Capitol security as she was trying to break into the House chamber where lawmakers were barricaded from rioters. A Capitol Police officer who was injured during the attack later died. More than 140 officers were injured on Jan. 6, according to police.

Van Tatenhove, a former independent journalist, said he decided to leave the Oath Keepers after witnessing a discussion while he was living with the group in Montana among members who denied the Holocaust.

Before leaving, he said Rhodes had asked him to create a deck of playing cards with the faces of U.S. politicians that would mimic the cards handed out to U.S. troops during the Iraq war. Those cards, issued by the military, showed photos of the most wanted fugitives such as Saddam Hussein, who was eventually captured and executed.

"Stewart was very intrigued by that notion and influenced by it, I think, and he wanted me to create a deck of cards that would include different politicians, judges ... Hillary Clinton as the Queen of Hearts," he said. "This is a project that I refuse to do."

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

Related: Oath Keeper Militia Members Including 5 Veterans Indicted on Sedition Charges for Jan. 6 Riot
The Department of Veterans Affairs has become one of the best places to work in the federal government, ranking 5th among 17 of the largest agencies in 2021, according to a report published Wednesday.

In a federal government work satisfaction report produced annually by the Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group, the VA rose from 8th place in 2020 to the top 5, with employees scoring the department highly as a good place to work and saying they were satisfied with their job and their employer.

The rise in rankings also earned the VA the Most Improved Large Federal Agency for 2021 title, according to the report.

Read Next: 155,000 Military Health System Patients to Be Pushed to Civilian Care Starting This Year

During a breakfast Wednesday with VA employees, Secretary Denis McDonough said the honors can be attributed to the VA's "great public servants" who have made it a "fantastic place to work."

Noting that VA employees worked through the pandemic to care for sick veterans, make decisions on benefits claims and keep national cemeteries running, McDonough said they risked their lives to serve.

"It's no exaggeration to say that VA employees -- and all federal employees -- have been the backbone of this country during the pandemic," McDonough said.

According to the report, VA employees ranked the department highly for matching their skills with their jobs and mission and for effective leadership, including supervisors.

The improvements in the VA's scoring came as satisfaction scores dropped by nearly five points across the federal government.

Analysts said the downturn occurred as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt the workforce, employees returned to the office and the federal employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect.

The report also noted that federal leadership vacancy rates remain high, affecting the decline in employee engagement and satisfaction scores, which, at 64.5 out of 100 possible points, is significantly lower than the private sector's 79.1 score.

"The sizable drop ... came during President Joe Biden's first year in office," the report stated. "The Senate had confirmed only 55% of the administration's political appointee nominations by the end of 2021. This is lower than the first-year confirmation rate for Presidents Donald Trump (57%), Barack Obama (69%) and George W. Bush (75%)."

On the list of large agencies -- those with more than 15,000 employees -- the VA ranked behind NASA, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commerce Department and the Intelligence Community.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities collectively ranked 8th, while the Department of the Air Force ranked 10th; the Department of the Army, 11th; and the Department of the Navy, 12th.

The Department of Homeland Security, which houses the U.S. Coast Guard, ranked last at 17th.

The winner in the medium agency category was the Government Accountability Office, while the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation took top honors among small agencies.

The Best Places to Work score was calculated using a proprietary formula that looks at responses to three questions in the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, according to the report.

Although the VA earned the ranking as the result of surveys conducted by all VA employees, more than 50% of VA health employees reported earlier this year that they didnt feel supported during the pandemic.

Survey results released in May as part of a VA inspector general report found that less than half of clinical and nonclinical Veterans Health Administration staff were aware of the agency's emotional support resources and one-quarter of the staff was experiencing high levels of stress.

The department also remains on the Government Accountability Office's "High Risk" list, with various programs, including health care services, under scrutiny since 2015.

In 2021, GAO officials said the VA lacks a "clear and comprehensive roadmap to address VA health care concerns and has not demonstrated meaningful progress" to remove itself from the list, which identifies problems and provides recommendations on issues critical to the federal government and the public -- or in the VA's case, to veterans and employees.

Since 2010, the GAO has made about 1,200 recommendations to improve VA administration, programs and services; roughly 70% have been implemented.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: No VA Workers Have Been Fired over Vaccine Mandate, with Less Than 1% Failing to Meet Deadline
When John F. Kennedy was asked about what he did to become a hero in the Pacific War in 1943, he responded by saying, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

The truth is that Kennedy was a hero, whether or not the Japanese sank his boat. His capacity as a strong swimmer from his days on the Harvard swim team, his leadership as a U.S. Navy officer and his faith in his crew saw him rescue the survivors of a failed attack on an enemy flotilla and lead them to ultimate safety.

Kennedy's boat was PT-109, a patrol torpedo boat operating in the Solomon Islands. PT boats were designed to be small, fast and cheap to build while packing a punch with Mark-8 torpedoes and .50-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The glaring problem with the Navy's PT fleet was that its torpedoes often didn't work as planned, as the crew of PT-109 found out one night in 1943.

The future president was almost rejected for naval service. Kennedy had a long history of illness and injury as a child, some of which followed him into adulthood. Many of his ailments made him potentially unfit for military service. The most apparent of these was his chronic back pain, for which he underwent at least four major surgeries throughout his life.

On top of his back issues, as an adult, he suffered from asthma, ulcers and Addison's disease, an adrenal condition that affects bodily hormones and blood pressure. Still, he was a Kennedy, and his father pulled some strings to get him into the Navy in 1940.

By April 1943, Lt. Kennedy was stationed in the Solomon Islands, taking command of PT-109 and the 12 other crewmen aboard. Their primary mission was to patrol the straits between the islands and disrupt the nightly supply runs made by Japanese destroyers in the region, an operation the Allies dubbed "the Tokyo Express."

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, USNR (standing at right) with other crewmen on board PT-109, 1943. (National Archives)

On Aug. 1, 1943, 15 patrol torpedo boats were deployed to intercept four Tokyo Express destroyers trying to reinforce the Japanese position on Kolombangara Island. Divided into four attack squadrons, the PT boats had 60 torpedoes to shoot at the destroyers -- but things went wrong almost immediately.

The Americans had missed the Japanese flotilla by an hour, and the enemy position was successfully resupplied. The PT boats were going to hit the Tokyo Express on its return voyage in the dark, early morning hours. When the PT boats that did encounter the Japanese found their targets, they fired their torpedoes. Not a single one exploded, which was the primary issue with Mark-8 torpedoes at that point in the war.

Only four of the boats had radar to use in the coming night attack, and when they fired off their torpedoes, they returned to base. This left the remaining boats with no way of finding their targets, and an order for radio silence compounded the confusion. Those that didn't have radar to locate the enemy ships would end up drifting around in the dark.

As the night drifted on, Kennedy idled the engines of his boat to reduce its wake and visibility from potential spotter planes. At around 2 a.m., they noticed the Japanese destroyer Amagiri coming right at them at full speed, lights out. The warship hit PT-109 on its starboard side, cutting the boat in two.

Artist depiction of the IJN destroyer Amagiri colliding with PT-109. (John F. Kennedy Library)

The fuel aboard the boat launched a fireball into the air, lighting up the night sky. Two crewmen were killed instantly. Two others were thrown into the ocean. The other boats in the squadron tried to fire at the Amagiri, but two of their torpedoes missed, and two others wouldn't fire at all. They returned to base without checking for survivors.

Kennedy dove into the flaming water surrounding the wreck of PT-109 to pull three crewmen aboard what was left of the boat. The Amagiri departed the scene, needing to return to port before American spotter aircraft began searching for ships at dawn. Kennedy and his 10 remaining crew held on to the floating bow of PT-109 for the next 12 hours.

They drifted toward Plum Pudding Island, a small uninhabited island that was 3.5 miles from their position as the sun rose that morning. Clinging to a log used as a gun mount, most of the crew collectively kicked its way to the island. One of the survivors, Machinist's Mate 1st Class Patrick McMahon, was critically wounded. With burns over 70% of his body, he was unable to swim.

McMahon was put in a life jacket, and Kennedy, with the life-jacket strap clenched between his teeth, swam his crewman to the safety of the island, a four-hour effort. It was all for naught, however. Though the crew was safe from drowning, Plum Pudding Island offered no food or water.

Kennedy's swimming ability became critical for the next few days. Despite his chronic back pain, he swam to try to hail passing American PT boats. He then led the hungry and thirsty crew on a nearly four-mile swim to Olasana Island, which had edible coconuts. Kennedy made the trip with McMahon's life-vest strap in his mouth once more.

He then swam to Naru Island with another crewman, where he found an abandoned canoe with some food and a drum of water left by the Japanese. Kennedy paddled the canoe to his men on Olasana. For six days, they subsisted on a few coconuts, the captured food and rainwater caught on leaves.

Two native Melanesians who had been trained as coastwatchers by the Allies were dispatched to look for survivors of a Japanese shipwreck. These islanders could move freely during the day as they were dismissed by the Japanese as native fishermen. On Aug. 5, they discovered the survivors of PT-109.

Kennedy and his executive officer, Ensign Leonard Jay Thom, both made messages for their command. Thom scrawled his on a slip of paper with a pencil. Kennedy etched one out on the skin of a coconut. The coastwatchers got the messages to the right people, and the crew was rescued on Aug. 8.

The coconut Kennedy scrawled his message into was later returned to the future president, who turned it into a paperweight. It reads "NAURO ISL COMMANDER . . . NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT . . . HE CAN PILOT . . . 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT . . . KENNEDY." (John F. Kennedy Library)

Kennedy was hailed as a hero who had returned from the dead. Though PT-109's officers had all been instrumental in their survival, the media focused on Kennedy, who was the son of the famous businessman and former ambassador to the United Kingdom. Though he returned to duty after being presented with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart, the incident exacerbated his ongoing health problems.

As for the Tokyo Express, Adm. William "Bull" Halsey met the Japanese destroyers with six American destroyers. The U.S. Navy surprised the enemy resupply convoy while the crew of PT-109 was marooned on Naru Island and sank three of them without taking a single loss.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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The Phillies have announced several roster moves ahead of tonights series opener in Toronto. Since unvaccinated players arent eligible to cross the Canada-U.S. border, each new home series for the Blue Jays leads to a handful of players on the opposing team landing on the restricted list instead of making the trip. In the case of the Phils, they have four players not with the team up north. Catcher J.T. Realmuto, infielder Alec Bohm, right-handers Kyle Gibson and Aaron Nola have all been placed on the restricted list. To fill two of those roster spots, catcher Rafael Marchan has been recalled, while right-hander Nick Duron has had his contract selected. Both Marchan and Duron were identified as substitute players, meaning they can be returned to the minors without being exposed to waivers.

Duron, 26, will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game. Originally a 31st round pick of Boston in 2015, he spent a few years in the system of the Red Sox and then the Mariners. The Phillies signed him to a minor league deal in the offseason and sent him to Triple-A.

Through 28 innings with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Duron has a 2.57 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 42.6% ground ball rate. However, he also has a concerning 12.3% walk rate, something that has been a theme for his in recent years. The last time he posted a walk rate lower than 10.6% was back in 2018. Still, the strikeouts are helping limit the damage enough to earn a big league look. Its likely to be just temporary, however, with Duron likely to be removed from the roster once the Phillies get back from Toronto.
A French court on Tuesday jailed a former senior Rwandan official for 20 years after finding him guilty of complicity in the African nation's genocide.

Laurent Bucyibaruta is the highest-ranking Rwandan to have faced trial in France over the 1994 massacres in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in 100 days of mass killings.

At the heart of the case against the 78-year-old were several "security" meetings, either ordered or attended by Bucyibaruta, which prosecutors had argued were actually planning sessions for the killings.

Specifically, the former prefect of the southern province of Gikongoro was accused of having persuaded thousands of people to take refuge in the Murambi Technical School, by promising them food, water and protection.

Days later, in the early hours of April 21, tens of thousands of Tutsis were executed there in one of the genocide's bloodiest episodes.

The court also examined Bucyibaruta's responsibility in the massacre of around 90 Tutsi pupils at the Marie Merci school in Kibeho on May 7, 1994 and in the execution of Tutsi prisoners -- including three priests -- in Gikongoro prison.

During his trial, Bucyibaruta denied any involvement in the killings.

"I was never on the side of the killers," Bucyibaruta told the court as his trial ended on Tuesday.

In an apparent message to genocide survivors, he said: "I want to tell them that the thought of leaving them to the killers never entered my mind."

He added: "Did I lack courage? Could I have saved them? Those questions, those regrets even, have been haunting me for over 28 years."

His lawyers had called for the court to take "a courageous decision" and acquit him.

Court cases

The trial involved more than 100 witness statements, including some from survivors from Rwanda, either in person or by video conference.

Bucyibaruta, who has been in France since 1997, has myriad health problems and was allowed to remain under house arrest during trial to receive treatments.

France has long been under pressure from activists to act against suspected Rwandan perpetrators who took refuge on French soil afterwards.

The French government at the time of the genocide had been a long-standing backer of the Hutu regime in power, which has caused decades of tensions between the countries since.

Bucyibaruta is the highest-ranking Rwandan to have been convicted have faced trial in France over the 1994 massacres. By Simon WOHLFAHRT (AFP/File)

A separate French probe into the act that sparked the genocide -- the shooting down of Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane -- was closed earlier this year.

Investigators had suspected that rebels under the command of Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame -- now president of Rwanda -- was responsible for attacking the aircraft as it landed in the Rwandan capital.

Kagame has always denied this.

Four people in three cases have already been convicted in French courts over the genocide: a former hotel driver was handed a 14-year sentence, an army officer was jailed for 25 years and two mayors were given life sentences.
12.07.2022 LISTEN

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will on Sunday, July 24 hold a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of former President John Evans Atta Mills.

To commemorate 10 years of His passing, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will have a special wreath laying ceremony on the 24th of July 2022 at 1PM at the Asomdwee Park at Osu in Accra, the NDC said in a statement signed by its National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo on Tuesday 12 July.

Professor Atta Mills died on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 while he was President of the country.

He died at 68.

Source: classfmonline.com
13.07.2022 LISTEN

The Upper East Regional Deputy Communication Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Casper Sunday Kampoli has said the current events in the country coupled with the economic crisis is God wanting the people of Ghana to know and judge for themselves which political party is the best manager of the country's economy.

Speaking to this portal on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, he noted that the perception that the Akufo-Addo government is facing obstacles because the party did not win the 2020 elections genuinely cannot be overruled.

I am not a spiritualist, am not able to tell what has caused the misgovernance and the things Akufo-Addo and ministers are going through. But we wish to believe that, if the good lord blesses your actions, it should go well, but if the good lord doesnt bless your action, it means it will definitely have obstacles in your way.

So, because of how they won the election, some people may conclude that because the election was not genuinely won that is the way they are finding it difficult to run the country. But we are of the view that for whatever reasons, anything that happens, happened for a good cause. God wants things to happen this way that is the reason why it happened that way in 2020, he stressed.

He said prosperity has adjudged former President John Mahama as the best economic manager following the recent economic crisis that has marched the country to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

John Dramani Mahama once leaving office in 2016 says, posterity will judge him, he is leaving office and Akufo-Addo and his people should manage the country, the people will judge and is becoming obvious. John Dramani Mahama's governance is unparalleled. He gave good leadership, he cares, he was honest and sincere, Mr. Kampoli emphasized.
Dr Freda Prempeh, the Minister of State in-charge of Works and Housing on Tuesday assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout negotiations would not affect government social intervention policies and programmes.

We will do our negotiations to protect our social interventions programmes, so nobody should be scared at all, she said.

Dr Prempeh emphasized that the governments Free Senior High School (FSHS) and the Nations Builders Corps (NaBco) programmes in particular, were integral that would be strengthened, and entreated Ghanaians to remain calm.

The bailout, she added, was a laudable initiative that would greatly stabilize the economy, and spur rapid socio-economic growth, and development.

Speaking in an interview with Journalists at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, Dr Prempeh, also the Member of Parliament for Tano North Constituency said the governments return to the IMF was not due to economic mismanagement.

Rather, she said the bailout was due to the huge toll COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the Russian-Ukraine invasion had had on the global economy, with Ghana no exception.

In fact, this government has not mismanaged the economy, but emerging circumstances and global circumstances beyond our control, she said, indicating that the cleaning up in the banking sector, which was needed, cost the nation about GHC21 billion, having a disturbing toll on the economy.

Dr Prempeh explained that the national economy had resurfaced, and was doing great, under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos watch, before the COVID-19 set in, indicating that at the wave of the COVID, teachers and some nurses stayed at home and were paid for more than nine months.

Governments provision of free water, electricity and other economic relief interventions are all contributing factors, but we are optimistic that Ghana is going to improve very soon, the MP stated.

She said the government was touched by the concerns and plight of the populace and entreated Ghanaians to maintain their trust and confidence in President Akufo-Addos administration which was working hard to turn the fortunes of the nation around.

My brother, countries around the globe are all experiencing these economic challenges and hardships. In fact, our current situation is not the best, I agree with you perfectly, but it's also not the worst and we hope that things will change for the better very soon, Dr Prempeh added.
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will go to the polls on Saturday, July 16 2022 to elect national officers to steer the affairs of the party for the next four (4) years.

Ahead of the exercise, a deputy communications officer of the party, says the event will be a crossroads for the party in government.

According to Jennifer Queen, this is because the choice the delegates will make will determine the electoral fortunes or otherwise of the party.

The party has been professing to break the eight (8) ahead of the 2024 elections.

In the history of the country's democratic dispensation, no party has been able to remain in power after two terms.

Queen believes Saturday's congress will determine whether breaking the 8 will be a mirage or reality.

She stressed that the calibre of persons elected to occupy positions of the party at the national level will have a telling effect on the actualisation of the much-trumpeted slogan.

Though, all the positions are of equal importance, the vibrant but young dyed-in-the-wool NPP member, singled out the general secretary slot as the most crucial.

To her, the general secretary position is vital because the occupant becomes the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who presides over the day-to-day activities of the party.

Therefore, delegates should be mindful of who they will elect to occupy the top-notch position.

Speaking on Silver FM in Kumasi on Tuesday morning, the communicator, says the occupant of that position should be a tried and tested individual.

Four persons are contesting the enviable position, but the contest is expected to be a keenly one between incumbent Mr John Boadu and lawyer Justin Kodua, CEO of the National Youth Employment Authority (NYEA).

Though all the contestants are capable, the deputy communications officer is of the view that Mr Boadu stands tall.

This, she explained is because Mr Boadu has risen through the ranks and understands party work better.

Having, previously served as a national youth organiser, organiser, acting general secretary and general secretary, she contends that Mr Boadu has developed the needed experience to continue to serve as the party's CEO.

She argued that it took a genius in the shape of Mr Boadu to catapult the NPP to victory in 2016 as an acting general secretary and 2020 as a main chief scribe.

Queen pointed out that apart from Mr Boadu's administrative and organisational qualities, he has a genuine love for the party.

As an expert in finance and economics, Mr Boadu, affectionately called JB' could have landed a major ministerial job but decided to stay in his position to continue serving the party.

Queen therefore, appealed passionately to the delegates to be circumspect about their choices on Saturday, especially on the general secretary slot.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Deputy Majority Leader in Ghanas Parliament and Member of the ECOWAS Parliament has said member-countries are currently confronted with an unprecedented food crisis.

He said the situation has rendered some 17 million people in need of immediate assistance and an additional 51 million persons including women and children, under pressure.

He added that food insecurity is still a major challenge in the region and out of its 308 million population, 40 million people are undernourished and suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin said though ECOWAS has adopted pragmatic steps to tackle the situation to the best of its ability, the 51 million people under food crisis pressure in the region could lapse into a crisis phase.

Alexander Afenyo-Markin made the remarks when he addressed participants at the International Conference on Food Insecurity held in Rabat, in the Kingdom of Morocco on Thursday July 7, 2022.

His address noted that ECOWAS, in response to the food crisis challenge, adopted a strategy aimed at the modernization of agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency and food security at the regional level.

He disclosed that the strategy was in the form of a common Ten-Year Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) from the year 2005 to 2015, to provide a regional response to the food-related challenges.

After the 2015, ECOWAS continued a second phase of the policy, ECOWAP II, which started in the year 2016 and would run till 2025.

Afenyo-Markin noted that despite the initiatives adopted by ECOWAS, food and nutrition insecurity are further exacerbated by the phenomenal population with increased rural to urban migration putting more pressure and increased demand for food in urban areas. This, at the same time, is depopulating the rural and farming communities with able bodied youths to grow sufficient food and other agricultural produce. If this trend continues, countries in our region will have to double their current food production.

He continued: the effect of Climate Change is also aggravating the food and nutrition insecurity in our region. The region is witnessing rapid deforestation and desertification of a significant portion of its fertile agricultural land. This situation, coupled with the persistent shortfall in the quantity and duration of rainfall is greatly impacting on agricultural production and productivity. Other climate change related phenomenon like depletion of both surface and underground water resources, coastal erosion, high temperatures and various pollution and green house gas emissions are also greatly contributing to the food and nutrition insecurity for our countries. Furthermore, scarcity of natural resources, low chemical and fertilizer inputs, and inadequate technologies are aggravating the food and nutrition insecurity.

Another initiative adopted by ECOWAS was in 2021, when it organized an international conference to share with its partners and the other regions of the world, the experience of its regional food security storage system.

The overall objective, he said, was to lay the foundation for a renewed multilateral partnership.

It was also aimed at strengthening a sustainable resilience of the West African Food Security Storage System and its capacity to respond effectively to the amplification and complexity of food, nutrition, and pastoral crises in the region.

After 5 years of implementation of the Support Project, an internal capitalization of the results made it possible to systematize important achievements, challenges and lessons learned for scaling up to make the Regional Food Security Storage Strategy, a pivotal instrument for the elimination of hunger in the region by 2030.

A major strategy which ECOWAS is currently implementing is the creation of Food Reserve Banks, at both regional and country levels. Food and agricultural produce are reserved in these food banks and distributed to food deficit areas, Afenyo-Markin emphasised.

The Conference was jointly hosted by the House of Councillors of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Afenyo-Markin, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of ECOWAS Parliament led the official delegation from the West African body to attend the international conference in Morocco.

The ECOWAS delegation comprised of Honourable Billy G. Tunkara the Majority Leader of Gambias Parliament and Mr. Fily Dialo from Nigeria, Senior Protocol Assistant of the ECOWAS Parliament.

The Conference was under the theme: Sovereignty and Food Security, between the Challenges of the International Situation and the Challenges of Strategic Security.

The motive was to deepen broad stakeholder dialogue on the issues of food security and to examine ways and mechanisms to confront the challenge of achieving sovereignty and food security in the context of the major transformations that the world is experiencing due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other global conflicts.
The Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, Professor Peter Quartey has suggested that government should review its free SHS policy.

According to the professor, the cost of tuition, boarding, and other policy-related costs should be shared by parents and government.

During an interview with an Accra-based online portal, he noted that calls for the policy to be reviewed did not start today.

From time to time, I have supported the review of the policy and I dont subscribe to the Government paying for tuition and boarding fees for everybody.

"I think parents should be allowed to pay for boarding, there should be a cost-sharing mechanism for the state and the parents, he stated.

However, Professor Quartey stated that, while he supports the Akufo-Addo government's universal access to education, the current state of affairs necessitates a review of the free SHS.

Educating the people is one of the priorities of the Government that I strongly support. I am an advocate for free SHS, but not in its current form because it is not sustainable for the countrys revenue strength, he said.

He further suggested that if someone can't pay for a boarding school There are day schools around, many of us attended day School which did not prevent us from achieving our future aim, there are a lot of day Schools around for students who cannot afford the boarding fees, saying where it is practically impossible then the scholarship Secretariat can offer scholarships to selected students who deserved.
The Minority Caucus in Ghana's Parliament has kicked against the Electoral Commissions plan to compile a new voters'register ahead of the 2024 general elections.

The move, the Minority noted, if allowed, would disenfranchise many Ghanaian voters who do not have the Ghana Card.

According to the minority, the EC intends to present a bill before Parliament to make the Ghana card the only guarantor for the registration.

Addressing the press in Accra on what they called "Matter of Democratic Concern," Minority Leader Haruna Idrisu stated that the move may prevent many Ghanaians from registering for the voter ID card.

The EC through a constitutional instrument that may come before Parliament to replace the voter register of 2020 and to make the requirement for getting onto the voter register the Ghana Card as the sole reference document and justification to get onto the National Voter Register, the Minority Caucus said.

He feared the Electoral Commission may not even have a voter register.

He said the number of Ghanaians with the cards is nowhere close to the list contained in the last voter's register.

If you used that instrument of a national ID card against a voter population of 17million then there is a critical technical departure from the requirement. We may not even have a voter register to rely on for the conduct of the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary election because the number of Ghanaians on the voter register far exceeds the number of Ghanaians on the ID cards data and yet the national ID cards have other persons including foreigners on it, he noted.
The Deputy Minister of Trade, Michael Okyere Baafi has rejected claims that government has abandoned the Komenda sugar factory inaugurated by former President John Mahama.

Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV , the New Juaben South Member of Parliament said: That we are not producing sugar does not mean there is nothing happening. It is not a white elephant. If you go there now, you will see workers on the ground.

He explained that government has had to invest a lot of time and resources into revamping the facility, former President Mahama abandoned.

We [the NPP] came to meet a factory that was not fully tooled, one without plantation to serve as raw material to help the factory to survive. One that didnt even have people to run it. There were a lot of things that needed fixing. By God's grace, we are done with them.

He indicated that government is working around the clock to ensure that the facility is fully operational by the end of July.

As I speak, CBG is working with the Ministry of Trade and Industry as well as the consultants for the factory. We have to first buy sugar cane from the farmers.

Per my checks, I can assure you that, latest by a month, the facility will be running. Background

The Komenda Sugar Factory was built at a cost of $35 million from an Indian EXIM Bank facility.

It was inaugurated by then-President John Mahama in May 2016, but stopped operations not long after.

The factory was expected to employ 7,300 people along the value chain, boosting employment prospects in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem municipality.

President Akufo-Addo had given indications that the Komenda Sugar Factory would be fully operationalised in April 2022.

At the time, he said there were some civil works ongoing at the factory site, and that by the end of March 2022, all those activities would be completed to pave way for production.

A Ghanaian-Indian company, Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, is the new investor who will take over the operations of the factory.

The government in 2019 said the company was expected to inject $28 million into the factory between 2020 and 2023.

$11 million was to go into sugarcane cultivation; $6 million to upgrade plant and machinery, and $11 million as working capital to bring the ailing factory back on its feet.

The Ghana-based company is a subsidiary of the Skylark Group of Companies of India, one of the largest integrated farming businesses in India.

citinewsroom
13.07.2022 LISTEN

Organised Labour has warned that more unions may later join the strike to demand the payment of Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

They have accused the government of failing to present a proposal during Tuesdays engagement with over 20 Labour unions.

The governments attempt to get the four teacher unions on strike over the Cost of Living Allowance to return to the classroom failed, as a meeting with them ended in a stalemate.

During the meeting on Tuesday, the government asked the leadership of the unions to call off their strike before negotiations could begin, but the teachers remained adamant and subsequently staged a walkout.

A representative of the Ghana Association of University Administrators, Michael Owusu-Ansah accused the government of using inappropriate methods to resolve issues.

If the government was concerned, the government could have called a meeting earlier and engaged the striking unions before meeting the bigger unions, he said.

Labour is very dissatisfied and for me, my fear is that we may have more unions joining the striking unions because that appears to be the conversation government understands, Mr. Owusu-Ansah said.

Meanwhile, government has expressed optimism about reaching an agreement with labour.

Although he could not give timelines for the next meeting, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wereko Brobby, was however hopeful more engagements would be held to resolve the impasse.

The call was from organised labour for us to adjourn so that we do more engagement. They themselves are going to talk to the teacher unions. We ourselves will also do same, have a meeting and start negotiating for better conditions of service for Ghana workers.

By Citi Newsroom
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has mourned the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Bibiani Anwiaso Bekwai Alfred Amoah and his driver Samuel Gyasi who died in an accident that occurred on Tuesday July 12.

Dr Bawumia said the two were dedicated patriots who served with dignity and passion.

Sad to hear the death of Hon. Alfred Amoah, MCE for Bibiani Anwiaso Bekwai Municipal Assembly and his driver Samuel Gyasi. Both Alfred and Samuel have been dedicated patriots who served with dignity and passion.

May the souls of our dear brothers rest in perfect peace, he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday July 13.

The accident at Akim Fisher on the Accra Kumasi highway in the Eastern region.

Police report says Alfred Amoah was on board the assembly's Nisaan Patrol 44 GC2060-18 travelling from Accra towards Bibiani direction.

On reaching a section of the road at Akim Fisher on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, a Man Diesel Articulated truck No. AS 4229-X from Kumasi direction veered off its lane and crashed head-on with the Nissan Patrol 44.

The MCE and his driver got trapped in the vehicle and both died on the spot.

With the help of the National Fire Service from Bunso and Kibi the bodies of the deceased were removed and sent to Kibi Government Hospital where they were confirmed by the Medical Officer on duty.

Their bodies were deposited at the mortuary for preservation, identification and autopsy.

A Man Diesel Fuel tanker No. GN 8540-20 driven by Habibu Adam aged 35 years with an empty tank from Kumasi direction on seeing the danger ahead applied his brakes to avoid a crash. In the process, lost control of the steering wheel, veered of his lane and landed into a ditch on the offside facing Accra direction.

Efforts are being made by the police to tow the accident vehicles from the scene and effect the arrest of the Articulator truck driver who is currently at large.

 3news.com
The United States government has announced it is supporting Ghana to modernize its legal system.

This include a process to track criminal cases, the Embassy in Accra said in a tweet following a meeting the Ambassador, Palmer recently had with the Chief Justice, Anin-Yeboah to discuss legal reforms.

The rule of law is fundamental to accountable democracy, it said.

The U.S. is supporting Ghana to modernize its legal system including a process to track criminal cases from beginning to end, it added.

3news.com
Parliaments bi-partisan committee is probing circumstances leading to the death of Augustina Awotwe, a pregnant woman in transit from Takoradi to Accra due to the alleged negligence of the National Ambulance Service will begin public hearing today, Wednesday, 13 July 2022.

Doctors at the Holy Catholic Church at Fijai referred Augustina Awotwe to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra because she developed complications after a caesarean section.

However, her husband Obiri Yeboah alleged that the journey to the KBTH was cut short because the ambulance driver demanded GHC600 to buy fuel. When he explained that he could not afford that amount, it amounted to delays leading to her death.

The six-member committee to be chaired by MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr Ayew Afriyie was put together after a debate on a private members motion filed by three members of the minority.

Ranking on the Health Committee of Parliament Kwabena Minta Akando said the committee will come out with recommendations to prevent a reoccurrence of such situation.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, expressed the hope that the committee members will set aside their political interests and professionally probe the issue.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The largest and brightest supermoon of this year will appear on Wednesday.

At 9:00 GMT, July 13, a near-full moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth for 2022 at a distance of about 353,000 kilometers, according to the Beijing Planetarium. It will turn completely full about 10 hours later.

The supermoon can be observed starting from the evening of July 13 in China, and will reach its peak at about 3:00 a.m. July 14.

How does a supermoon occur?

The moon moves around the Earth on an elliptical path, sometimes closer to the planet and sometimes farther away. The closest point of the orbit is called perigee, and the most distant approach is apogee.

It takes the moon 27.3 days to orbit the Earth, and 29.5 days to cycle from one full moon to the next. A full moon appears once a month and can appear anywhere in its orbit.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon reaches the perigee.
IARU Region 1 VHF+ meeting in Friedrichshafen The SSA have published a report on the IARU Region 1 VHF and Above meeting held in Friedrichshafen in June



A translation of the post by Kjell SM7GVF reads:



On Thursday, June 23, there were IARU Region 1 meetings in connection with the HAM RADIO meeting in Friedrichshafen. There I participated in Committee C5, VUSHF, on behalf of SSA. We were about 21 in attendance and five via Zoom (Internet). The meeting is usually held in Vienna but due to COVID-19 it was put together with HAM RADIO.



Most of the time was spent on a presentation made by Barry, G4SJH, which touches on amateur radio and RNSS (satellite navigation) coexistence in 23 cm, see

https://www.iaru.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/23cm-Band-and-RNSS-June2022.pdf



The issue is up at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC23) as agenda item 9.1b and Barry is leading the IARU work on this important issue. The European Gallileo system has downlink in the 23 cm band, as well as the Russian, Japanese and Chinese system and partly GPS. RNSS are primary users, amateur radio secondary, in all three IARU regions.



Technical studies and tests have been done to investigate the sensitivity of RNSS receivers to various amateur radio signals, and interference can be a problem up to tens of km from an amateur radio transmitter depending on the configuration. However, the IARU will continue to work to minimize restrictions as far as possible for the amateur radio service, maintain as much applications as possible, minimize the splitting of the narrowband segments  maintaining harmonized segment between the regions (IARU region 1, 2 and 3.).



There was some discussion about MGM, especially congestion at 50.313 MHz and 144.174 MHz. Space is in the band plans for more frequencies, it is up to the users (and programmers) to use more frequencies, a group should be appointed who study this if I did not misunderstood.



Processing of cases received; Only one paper was processed, the one submitted by the SSA regarding "PBand" changes to the manual (accepted). There was some discussion about the manual about whether it should perhaps be in wiki form, but the meeting probably thought it was good as it was. Otherwise, recommendations made at the 2020 meeting were followed up.



Source SSA https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Sweden
Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo

13.07.2022 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has proposed to the team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to try and find out how much government has taken from the Central Bank.

Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the finance and economic expert urged the IMF team to visit the Bank of Ghana for more information.

Mr. Adongo stressed that it is important for the IMF team to take a closer look at the expenditure of the government in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

IMF, open your eyes there. [Regarding] Covid, open your eyes, review all their documents, budget statements, they should open their eyes, that is where the meat is. IMF, If it is possible go and sit at Bank of Ghana and check how much they have given to government, the Bolgatanga Central MP said.

In the midst of the economic challenges facing Ghana, President Akufo-Addo directed the Finance Minister to engage the IMF for support.

A team from the IMF is already in the country and started in-person discussions with representatives from the government on Thursday, July 7, 2022.

The IMF team led by Carlo Sdralevich, mission chief for Ghana, met with the Finance Committee of Parliament to gather more facts on the current situation of the economy yesterday.
A journalist with an Accra-based Peace FM Odi Ahenkan Kwame Yeboah has indirectly rubbished former President John Dramani Mahamas quest to run for the Presidency again.

The journalist said the country must not allow anybody who has previously ruled to rule again.

During a newspaper review today, July 13, on Peace FM, Odi Ahenkan claims former leaders have played with the minds of Ghanaians for far too long.

I say no one who has already ruled the nation should be allowed to rule again. They have played with the minds of Ghanaians, he stated.

Odi Ahenkan further posited that if he ever becomes Ghana's president, he will cancel ex-gratia and ban his officials from seeking medical attention abroad.

According to him, he will also remove the constitutional provisions that have given too many power to executives.

His comment follows IMANI Africa Franklin Cudjoe's warning that the opposition NDC must not assume the 2024 general elections is a done deal.

Mr. Cudjoe intimated that the current economic predicament should not be the grounds for jubilation because the NPP is capable of turning things around.

Watch video below:
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Wednesday as thousands of people mobbed the prime minister's office after the country's president flew to the Maldives, following months of widespread protests against an economic crisis.

The 73-year-old leader fled his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it on Saturday. He then wanted to fly to Dubai, officials said.

As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to want to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.

He, his wife and two bodyguards were the four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft that took off from Sri Lanka's main international airport,.

Hours later, with no formal announcement he was stepping down, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe - who would automatically become acting president in the event of a resignation - demanding both officeholders should go.

"Go home Ranil, Go home Gota," they shouted.

Police fired tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound and officials declared a nationwide state of emergency "to deal with the situation in the country", the prime minister's spokesman Dinouk Colombage told French news agency AFP.

Police imposed an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which includes Colombo, "to contain the situation", a senior police officer said.

Rajapaksa's youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early Tuesday after a tense standoff with airport staff.

Basil - who holds US citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality - tried to use a paid concierge service for business travellers, but airport and immigration staff said they had withdrawn from the fast track service.

"There were some other passengers who protested against Basil boarding their flight," said an airport official. "It was a tense situation, so he hurriedly left the airport."

Hasty retreat

Basil had to obtain a new US passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday, a diplomatic source said.

Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for the 22 million population.

If he steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51-billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible bailout.

(with AFP)
The Senior Staff Association of the Universities of Ghana has disclosed that they are going to declare an indefinite strike action today Wednesday 13 July at 10am.

James Maluna Banoeng Yakubu, a trustee of Senior Staff Association of the Universities of Ghana did not tell the reasons for the intended strike but assured that the President of the association will address the media at the main entrance of the University at 10 am today.

We will be declaring the strike at 10 am today at the University of Ghana main gate, and we are extending invitation to all media houses. I don't want to let the cat out of the bucket so I want 3FM to be at the gate. There is a national chairman who will be giving the announcement Mr. Benoeng Yakubu said on the Sunisrs show with Alfred Ocansey on 3FM Wednesday July 13.

There has been a growing incidence of industrial action by various labour unions in Ghana over their demand for a 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) which they say would help ameliorate the pressure on them due to the fast rising cost of living in Ghana.

3news.com
The People's National Convention (PNC) has called on Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, to have a sense of empathy for Ms. Sarah Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya Constituency.

Ms Adwoa Safo who also doubles as Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has been absent from Parliament for months, triggering calls for her dismissal.

The PNC, however, says it is worried as the issues involved the wellbeing and welfare of the Minister's children.

A statement signed by Ms. Janet Asana Nabla, PNC General Secretary and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tema recounted that the Minister entered Parliament in 2009 and has since worked tirelessly for her party and the country with no record of absenting herself for long period of time.

It added that, Ms. Safo, has no record of showing disrespect to Parliament, it was therefore strange that the MP has absented herself for this long, adding that, "but the reason is obvious as she stated in one of her engagements with the media - child health and related complications."

The PNC is therefore calling on the leadership of Parliament, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the government to approach issue with empathy.

"The PNC is pleading with the Speaker, the entire membership of Parliament, the NPP, the Dome Kwabenya Constituents, and the government to exercise patience dealing with the MP. The PNC believes that she deserves our support and sympathy," it said.

It further requested Parliament and its Privileges Committee to cooperate with the MP to be able to schedule an appropriate time to meet her.

The PNC pleaded with the Government and Parliament to pass a law that would enable all employers in Ghana to have a designated place for breastfeeding mothers which may be called Breastfeeding Centres.

"Depending on the nature of the institution, a nurse, a nursing assistant or a public health nurse should be posted there to offer assistance to these mothers," it explained.

This, it said, would not only help nursing mothers to have peace of mind to concentrate on their work but also increase productivity and create employment for nurses.

GNA
The South Africa Chapter of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has in partnership with the Member of Parliament for Ayensuano in the Eastern Region provided 10 mechanised boreholes to the constituency.

The initiative is phase one of the Operation 100 boreholes for the constituency, facilitated by the NDC Chapter in South Africa.

The ten boreholes are in Bepoase, Coaltar, Krabokese Amadi, Marfokrom, Sowatey New Town, Kofi Pare, Asuboi, Yakoko Kwadwofosu, Kyekyewere Achiase, and Ayekokuoso Agomehia communities.

Mr. Teddy Saforo Addi, Member of Parliament for Ayensuoano Constituency, at the commissioning and handing over of the boreholes, expressed delight with the progress made through the partnership with the Chapter in South Africa.

He said the decision to construct boreholes for some communities in the Constituency followed a thorough needs assessment.

Mr. Alex Segbefia, Director-In-Charge of International Relations of the NDC, commended the MP for his selfless efforts at developing the Constituency and expressed gratitude to the South African Chapter of the Party.

The decision to bring the project to the community is a selfless one. When he was approached by the NDC Chapter in South Africa, he did not ask for what will benefit him as an individual or the Party but the constituency.

This project though an initiative of the MP and the NDC Chapter in South Africa, it has no political colour because the entire constituency will benefit, he stated.

GNA
Police in South Africa said on Wednesday they had arrested three people following the mysterious deaths last month of 21 young people in a township tavern.

The bar's 52-year-old owner and two employees aged 33 and 34 were taken into custody in recent days for allegedly breaching alcohol sale regulations, police said in a statement without naming the arrested.

The owner will appear in court on August 19 on charges related to selling or supplying alcohol to minors, while the two employees have each been handed a 2,000-rand ($118) fine.

The youths, most of them teenagers, died on June 26 at the Enyobeni tavern in Scenery Park, a township in the coastal city of East London, but the cause of their death remains unclear.

Survivors have described a battle to escape the jam-packed venue, with one reporting a suffocating smell.

The police have yet to wrap up their investigation, and although officials have ruled out a stampede, autopsy results have not yet been made public.

"Just as we said in the beginning, investigation is a process and needs to be treated with extreme care and wisdom so that we can achieve the desired outcomes," Eastern Cape provincial commissioner Nomthetheleli Mene said in a statement.

At a memorial service last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the deaths on the "scourge of underage drinking" and vowed to crack down on "unscrupulous" bar keepers who flouted regulations.
Government will face intense pressure with more public sector workers threatening to embark on an industrial strike due to the high cost of living in the country.

The latest association to disclose plans to strike is the Senior Staff Association of the Universities of Ghana (UG).

Speaking to 3FM in an interview on Wednesday, July 13, James Maluna Banoeng Yakubu who is a trustee of the Senior Staff Association of UG disclosed that leadership will declare a strike action today at the main entrance of the University at 10am.

We will be declaring the strike at 10 am today at the University of Ghana main gate, and we are extending an invitation to all media houses. I dont want to let the cat out of the bucket so I want 3FM to be at the gate. There is a national chairman who will be giving the announcement, Mr. Yakubu shared.

Already several groups within the public sector have embarked on a nationwide strike over the demand for a 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

On Tuesday, July 12, there was a meeting between the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and some associations already on strike.

Unfortunately, the meeting ended inconclusively with the invited teacher unions staging a walkout.

There will be another meeting this week between the government and the striking unions.
13.07.2022 LISTEN

Teachers' strike over COLA has entered into day eight (8) and tensions are high as to whether the government is willing to grant the request or not. Union leaders are hesitant to call off the strike and are hoping that the government will do the needful. On the 8th of July, the government reached an inconclusive meeting with the teacher union leaders and on the 12th of July another meeting came on but not without drama. The media widely reported that the government was unwilling to start negotiations with teachers because their leaders had failed to call off the strike.

According to the government, the labour act requires that the aggrieved party called off the strike before any proper engagement can commence. On the backdrop of trust, the union leaders had failed to call off the strike fearing the government might ambush them during the negotiation. The dilemma now confronts the GNAT, NAGRAT and TEWU either to call off the strike to enable the government to negotiate with them or not. Organized labours engagement with the government subsequently had been hijacked by this development and it seems the government is already hatching plan B to unleash on the striking teachers. According to development, the government is trying to engage Trade Union Congress in general claiming all workers are affected by the current hardship making the teachers strike somehow needless.

The potency of the COLA strike is about to be neutralized once organized labour had been drawn into the whole matter. Intriguingly, THOMAS MUSA of GNAT and arrogant ANGEL CARBONU of NAGRAT could not read the atmosphere very well and hastily jumped into a fantasy declaration of strike knowing very well that the COLA matters are not exclusive to teachers. It seems the trio are after a certain outcome no one knows about. Unfortunately, teachers have fallen for the antics of these two darling BOYS not knowing their real agenda.

Teachers must understand that these trio, MUSA and CARBONU, are not labour experts neither are they lawyers and do not possess any form of technicality that can conjure better negotiation skills for better bargaining. They are CHOOOIBOOI men who only understand one language WALK OUT IF IT IS NOT GRANTED. These are the elements teachers in Ghana are trying to repost trust in them to fight on their behalf. On the face of the law, MUSA and CARBONU should know that the COLA strike was dead from birth and labour experts are asking if GNAT and NAGRAT meant well for their members. Time is fast approaching for the next Tripartite Committee to meet on salary increment and any well-meaning individual will be shocked by the posture of these two union leaders. Negotiation is a serious business and it is unfortunate teacher unions with all the resources and the capacity cannot hire high profiled experts to lead them to battle the government for better conditions and salaries.

Eventually, this COLA strike will become one of the FEEBLE STRIKES teachers have been experiencing in decades and nothing profitable emerges from them. Between 2014  2022, teacher unions have declared not less than eight (8) indefinite strikes and none of them had yielded potential results in relieving teachers of their meagre living in this country. In conclusion, this latest COLA strike is just another routine union exercise activated to appease members rather than fighting for them. Teachers, do not have short memories. This your union leaders are mere institutional heads who are in themselves politicians doing the biddings of the invisible masters. THOMAS MUSAH and ANGEL CARBONU are not labour experts and no teacher should trust them to achieve any meaningful results in negotiating with the government. This is how our union leaders handle teachers' matters from time immemorial and this is where teachers have come to.

Sir Evans Davis

(Teachers Author Series)

[email protected]
Former Presidential Staffer, Charles Bissue has announced that he will no longer contest in the upcoming polls of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

In an official press statement on Wednesday, July 13, he said he has withdrawn from the General Secretary race and will not be contesting the incumbent John Boadu anymore.

He disclosed that after taking the decision, he has written to the National Election Committee to inform it accordingly.

Though I am stepping out of this contest, I am willing to share with whoever gets elected as the General Secretary, and the Party in general, the knowledge, ideas and tools I had intended to use in rebuilding the Party into prominence and sustained political power.

As a Patriot I will continue to serve in any capacity, and pursue the interest of the Party at all times. To my Party people and particularly delegates, I urge you to uphold the tenets of our Partys constitution, values and principles in all endeavors, Charles Bissue has said in his statement.

Below is a copy of the statement confirming his withdrawal from the General Secretary race.

On Wednesday, 13 July 2022, I officially withdrew my aspiration for the General Secretary position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

A letter has been issued to that effect, to the National Election Committee, and that I believe was received in good faith. In the spirit of the Partys constitution as stipulated in Article 10 (4), I presented myself as a nominee for the General Secretary position, to which, I was duly vetted and passed by the Elections Committee.

I secured the 4th position among five other contenders on the ballot paper.

My campaign was strongly articulated with an assurance of transforming the Party into effective political machinery that inspires confidence and trust within the Party and among Ghanaians.

My message of change was well received by the masses of delegates and party people across the country. I have impressed on the Party that the New Patriotic Party requires transformation  a transformation that embraces scientific and innovative electoral strategies and systems, and effective Party management.

Delegates had high hopes of the change I am capable of effecting in the Party should I become the General Secretary.

Though I am stepping out of this contest, I am willing to share with whoever gets elected as the General Secretary, and the Party in general, the knowledge, ideas and tools I had intended to use in rebuilding the Party into prominence and sustained political power.

As a Patriot I will continue to serve in any capacity, and pursue the interest of the Party at all times. To my Party people and particularly delegates, I urge you to uphold the tenets of our Partys constitution, values and principles in all endeavors. The Ghanaian is super sensitive to the manner in which we conduct our internal elections.

I pray therefore, that, in unity, we allow delegates to freely make a choice for its leadership for the next four-year term.

I wish to conclude with my appreciation for the support given me over the past years and in recent times by Party people, supporters and the Ghanaian media.

The quest to serve is not over yet.

Kukrudu!!!

Signed
YOTA in Croatia

The IRTS (Irish Radio Transmitter Society) is delighted to sponsor four young ops travelling to Croatia to participate in the YOTA summer Camp.

Megan, EI5LA, Niall, EI6HIB, Kelsey and Eoin will travel to Karlovac, located half-way between the Croatian capital Zagreb and the Adriatic Sea in early August to engage in a variety of Radio related activities, hone their operating skills, and meet young ops from other countries. There will be time for operating the latest equipment both locally and remotely, kit-building, and visiting the capital and seaside.

The participants are excited to partake in this great opportunity

IRTS
13.07.2022 LISTEN

I wish to commence this article by recalling the words of Casely-Hayford, it must be recognized that co-operation is the greatest word of the century. With co-operation we can command peace, goodwill and concord. Without it, chaos, confusion and ruin. But there can really be no co-operation between inferiors and superiors. Try as they may, there must come a time when the elements of superiority will seek to dictate, and the inferior ones will resent such dictation. It logically follows, therefore, that unless an honest effort is made to raise inferior up to the prestige of the superior, and the latter pan suffer it, all our talk of co-operation is so much empty.

The incident that happened yesterday between the education minister, the labour minister and the various workers union leaders can better be described as arrogance, disrespect and the unwillingness on the part of government to co-operate with leadership of the various unions. Governments penchant of grossly underrating public sector workers is worrying and must be nib in the bud.

The walk-out staged by the other union leaders in solidarity with the teacher unions proves governments long held perception towards union leaders wrong. The NPP government believe in divide and rule, that has been their hallmark. They wanted to do that yesterday. Unfortunately, the various union leaders were smart enough to prove them wrong. Indeed, yesterdays incident commensurate governments arrogance and disrespect for union leaders. I wish to use this opportunity to commend the various union leaders for that bold decision they took. It is therefore incumbent on them to remain united to fight this battle. It is legitimate and the timing is appropriate. Our elders say that when spider webs unite, they tie up a lion. You must not allow yourselves to be divided as long as you are in this struggle.

We are watching with Eagle eyes the increasing level of arrogance and gross disrespect for our union leaders by this government. This is very worrying to we the members. What at all have we done wrong to warrant this? The Nana Addo led government have consistently demonstrated disrespect and dislike for union leaders particularly the teacher unions. This posturing of the government must be condemned in all uncertain terms.

Not quite long ago, Nana Addo in an interaction with teacher union leaders told the whole world that teachers cannot be millionaires unless they find other jobs attach to teaching. How can a whole president say this in open camera?

Having told teachers the above statement, the government went on to give 4% and 7% salary increment for 2021 and 2022 respectively and continue to shift blames on COVID-19. Meanwhile, salary increment of the president was at about 90% and his appointees got about 70%. It has since been difficult to reconcile the two reasonings that COVID-19 could affect the salary of teachers and other workers but spared that of the president and his appointees.

The last time teachers went on strike under this government, they used the court to secure an injunction to compelled the teachers to get back to classroom. These are some of the things that give this government the temerity to think that they can continue to underrate teachers.

The various unions leaders have the power to stump out the element of wanton disregard for teachers by this government. Union leaders must spare no effort of theirs to sing from one hymn book as they fight this battle. The insensitivity of this government towards workers plight is so glaring. Leadership should resolve to remain resolute and firm as they deal with this callous and indifferent government.

Let me conclude by calling on all members of these unions to rally their unflinching support for leadership to successfully wage war against the blatant disregard this government continue to unleash on us. We should look up to them for directives on the next line of action.

[email protected]

0240371356
Private legal practitioner, Mr Martin Kpebu has said the court ruling that stopped the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) from freezing the assets of the late Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John), was surprising because a lot of people thought the properties were going to be embargoed.

Nonetheless, Mr Kpebu said, it is refreshing that the Special Prosecutor has indicated he is going to appeal the court decision.

Speaking on the News @10 on TV3 with Martin Asiedu-Darteh on Tuesday July 12, Mr Kpebu said when asked whether he was surprised at the ruling that Definitely, it is surprising because, I think a lot of us took it for granted that the application was just going to be granted, that is to say, the assets will be frozen for the longer period of the investigation and possibly prosecution.

So, it is really surprising that this ruling has gone the other way. But that is how legal processes sometimes go, all is not lost yet. It is good that the Special Prosecutor has indicated that he is going to appeal, so let us see how it goes.

The High Court in Accra on Tuesday July 12 dismissed the application filed by the OSP.

On 30th May 2022 the Special Prosecutor directed the freezing of the assets. On 9th June 2022, the Special Prosecutor applied to the High Court for a confirmation of the freezing order but, on 12th July 2022, the High Court presided over by Her Ladyship Justice Efia Serwah Browe inexplicably dismissed the application.

The Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng expressed his disappointment in the High Court ruling. The OSP said Ghana will lose the fight against corruption if this decision is allowed to stand.

In spite of the court ruling, the OSP said the investigations into the estate of Sir John will still proceed.

If this decision is left to stand, the Republic will lose the fight against corruption in unimaginable ways. The investigations into the estate of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie alias Sir John will still proceed, the OSP said in a statement reacting to the ruling.

A supposed will of Sir John circulated in a section of the Ghanaian media.

On Monday May 23, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources indicated that it had taken a serious exception and was investigating the the matter.

The documents lists some individual relatives of Mr Owusu Afriyie's to be allocated some portions of the Achimota Forest, which has become a topical issue the past days as a result of an Executive Instrument signed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuf-Addo to declassify portions.

I give my portion of land that I jointly own at the Achimota Forest in the name of DML Limited to Elizabeth Asare Boateng who at the time of making this will is domiciled in the USA forever, point g. of the will of the late public official, popularly known as Sir John, stated as captured on social media.

But the Ministry says it will probe this.

The Ministry takes a very serious view of the allegations, and has requested for all documents relating to the lands in question, as part of an initial inquiry to ascertain the veracity of the claims, a statement issued on Sunday, May 22 by the Ministry said.

3news.com
An Accra High Court has overruled an objection raised by Counsel for Mr James Gyakye Quayson against tendering of a witness statement by Mr Richard Takyi-Mensah, a teacher.

The Court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh overruled the objection, saying it was presumed that the witness had knowledge as said in the witness statement.

She said it could only be determined whether the witness had a personal knowledge of the matter through cross-examination.

The Assin North MP is facing counts of deceit of public officer and forgery of passport or travel certificates.

He has pleaded not guilty to all five charges and granted GHS100,000 bail with a surety to be justified.

Mr Takyi-Mensah, who is the first prosecution witness is a resident of Yamoransa in the Assin North Constituency of the Central Region.

Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for the Accused person, said it was a basic feature of the legal process that witnesses could only testify to issues they had personal knowledge about.

He said the witness did not have personal knowledge of the matters in paragraphs five to 13 in the witness statement.

Mr Tsikata said on July 29, 2019, the accused person applied for a passport and Section 60 of the Evidence Act 1960 indicated that a witness might not testify on the matter unless significant evidence was introduced to support a finding that they had personal knowledge.

He said nothing had been introduced in the witness statement that could support the finding.

The Counsel said the witness statement had not said anything that indicated that the witness was speaking on behalf of the Passport Office.

He said in paragraphs 8 and 9, the witness had not made any information known to indicate that ha had personal knowledge about the accused person.

Mr Tsikata said the Government of Canada was not represented by the witness and no bases had been laid to show that he had personal knowledge of the matter.

Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), in response, said the witness was a competent witness to testify in the matter.

She said the witness had said he was the complainant or the petitioner, who reported the matter to the Director, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) about the conduct of the accused person to which an investigation was conducted leading to the arrest of Mr Quayson, which resulted in he been charged with the offences.

She said the petitioner in the witness statement raised issues as to the manner the former MP obtained his Ghanaian passport.

The DPP said when it comes to whether, the witness had knowledge of the matter, it was up to the defence to establish that through cross examination.

She said the matters raised from paragraphs 4 to 7; the State would bring in the Director of Passport to tender in documents in support of their case.

Mrs Atakora Obuobisa said as a complainant in the case and under the Evidence Act, he had an opinion about things that had come to his knowledge.

She said under Section 118 of the Evidence Act, evidence is admissible even under the hearsay rule.

The Court, therefore, admitted the witness statement in evidence.

The case has been adjourned to Wednesday July 13, 2022, for defence to cross examined the witness.

GNA
A body charged by the Ethiopian government to look into possible peace negotiations with Tigrayan rebels has held its first meeting, a top aide to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

The seven-member committee, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, "has started work", Redwan Hussein said on Twitter after Tuesday's meeting.

"It has decided on its internal workings and ethics for the discussion which will be led by the African Union," said Redwan, who is Abiy's national security adviser.

Abiy last month for the first time raised the prospect of possible peace talks with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to try to end the brutal conflict that erupted in northern Ethiopia in November 2020.

His ruling Prosperity Party insisted in June that any negotiations could only be led by the African Union (AU), a stance rejected by the rebels.

The TPLF has voiced concerns about the "proximity" of the AU's envoy, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, to Abiy and said it wants any talks to be under the auspices of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Aside from Demeke and Redwan, the committee comprises Justice Minister Gedion Timotheos; National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) director general Temesgen Tiruneh; military intelligence chief General Berhanu Bekele; Prosperity Party official Hassan Abdulkadir; and the deputy president of the Amhara region which neighbours Tigray, Getachew Jember.

Fighting has eased in northern Ethiopia since a humanitarian truce was declared at the end of March.

But Tigray remains in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, lacking in food, fuel and essential services, according to aid agencies.
Charles Bissue, a General Secretary aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has assigned reasons for withdrawing from the contest a few days to the national delegates conference slated for Saturday, July 16.

He said he believes the candidates deserve to be given the nod.

The former Western Regional Secretary of the NPP, in an interview with JoyNews today, July 13, monitored by this portal said he was not pressured by anyone.

It must not always be me. I believe any other person contesting also deserves to lead as well. Nobody can force me to make decisions, I made the decision myself, he clarified.

Bissue stated in a letter to the national election committee on Wednesday that he made his decision after extensive consultation with various stakeholders.

I tender herein, my withdrawal from the General Secretary contest of the New Patriotic Party. My decision is the sequel to broad consultations with family, promoters and supporters, delegates and well-wishers of my campaign.

I am convinced, and reiterate that the various contenders for the position are equally deserving of the position of a General Secretary. It is my prayer that delegates of this great Party make the right choice in electing amongst the remaining candidates, the best to lead the NPP into another political cycle; and that of course, is to break the 8-year jinx.

I assure the Party of my support to whoever gets elected as the General Secretary, and to be of service to the Party, when called upon. [Reference section My Agenda 4 Change for a read on some of the various policies, strategies etc. I intended to deploy when elected as General Secretary], the letter stated.
An Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a forex bureau operator over an alleged GHC30,652.00 theft belonging to one Isaac Asare Badu.

Wahab Shaibu, together with Alhaji Musah Jiboo, also a forex bureau operator, have been charged for conspiring to steal the amount.

Their pleas were not taken because the prosecution said Shaibu had failed to be in court necessitating an order by the Court presided over by Mr Samuel B. Acquah for him to be present in court on July 21, 2022.

Saadu and Hamza, their accomplices are currently on the run.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Augustine A. Yirenkyi giving the facts said Badu, the Complainant was a businessman residing at North Gbawe, Accra.

He said Shaibu and Jiboo were forex bureau operators working at Zongo Lane, Accra and that in May 2017, the complainant was looking for Pounds Sterling to buy with Ghana Cedis, which he had discussed with a friend.

DSP Yirenkyi said the friend introduced Shaibu to him (the complainant) to assist him buy the Pounds Sterling, adding that after negotiation, the complainant agreed to buy the Pounds Sterling at a prevailing market rate of GHC6.25 of the cedi equivalent.

Thereafter, the complainant issued Ecobank cheque with a face value of Gh30,652.00 to Shaibu for the transaction and later requested for the complainant's U.K. Halifax account number to transfer 4,900 Pounds Sterling cedi equivalent into his account, the Court heard.

The prosecution said immediately the transfer was affected, the complainant's bankers in U.K. notified him in Ghana that, the transfer was fraudulent and as a result, his U.K. account was blocked, and that the money was returned to the sender.

DSP Yirenkyi said the complainant informed Shaibu about the fraud where Shaibu told the complainant that he gave the money to Jiboo, Saadu and Hamza for the U.K. transfer but they failed.

Shaibu, the prosecution said, admitted the offences and promised the complainant that he would refund the money but failed and went into hiding.

It said on May 10, 2022, at about 1530 hours, the complainant spotted Shaibu at the Children's Hospital area and informed the Police leading to his arrest.

DSP Yirenkyi said upon his arrest, Shaibu admitted the offences and mentioned Jiboo, Saadu and Hamza as his accomplices and on May 26, 2022, Jiboo, was arrested and in his investigation cautioned statement, he admitted having received only GH17,760.00 from Shaibu and refunded GH10,000 to the Police.

He said efforts were underway to apprehend their accomplices to face the law.

GNA
All members of the Senior Staff Association of Public Universities in Ghana are withdrawing their services effective today, Wednesday, July 13.

This follows the official announcement by the leadership of the Association directing members to proceed on strike.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra today organised at the University of Ghana campus, National Chairman Isaac Donkor lamented the current hardships being experienced by members.

He emphasised that every member of the Senior Staff Association of Public Universities in Ghana must lay down tools until government agrees to pay the 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

We shall overcome this economic hardship. My members, the frustrations at our various workplaces we shall overcome. The almighty COLA, we shall overcome. I want to make this clear to all our workers.

In this particular strike, we are not going to exempt any staff. Teaching staff, you are going home. Principal officers staff you are going home. Drivers, you are also going home. Nurses, doctors, lab technicians, IT personnel, and security officers, we are not going to exempt anybody. We are demanding for COLA, Isaac Donkor stressed.

The association is the latest to declare an industrial strike in the last few weeks. On Tuesday, the government called a meeting with a number of unions currently on strike to find a solution to the matter.

Unfortunately, the meeting which was attended by the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta ended inconclusively.
Authorities of Senior High Schools in the Northern region have indicated that they will be forced to close down should they exhaust the available food in their stores.

This follows the shortage of food items at the various Senior High Schools across the country.

Schools in the Northern region are facing a food shortage crisis that has compelled school authorities to serve students breakfast without bread and sugar.

In some instances, students who live in the Tamale metropolis are compelled to go home and eat and then report back to school.

Some students who spoke to DGN Online said they sometimes buy extra food because the food served them is not enough.

A Headmaster of one of the Senior High Schools in the region who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity said the food crisis has greatly affected teaching and learning in the school.

According to him, the food supply government promised has not arrived yet in the region, and they do not know how long they can hold on.

 As of today, no school head has told me they have received any supply yet. Anytime we talk people don't take us seriously the situation is very dire and what we find in the kitchen is what we cook.

He disclosed that currently most of the schools do not have bread, sugar, and other food items and appealed to the government to come to the aid of the schools.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has given assurance that Senior High Schools experiencing food shortages will receive supplies soon.

---DGN online
The President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, has reiterated the teacher unions resolve to demand the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, amid fears the ongoing teacher strike will affect oncoming WAEC examinations, Mr. Carbonu stressed that teachers were essential at various stages in pre-tertiary education.

Who sets the examination questions? It is the teachers. Who supervises the exams? It is the teachers. Who marks and assesses the exams? It is the teachers. They should not push us, he said.

Mr. Carbonu further blamed the disruption in schools on the governments non-action on teachers demands, which are being echoed by labour unions.

We want to teach. We want to prepare the students for exams. But the situation we have gotten to, we don't see indications from the government that they are willing to create a congenial atmosphere for these activities to take place.

The teachers walked out of a meeting with the government on Tuesday, which was convened to settle the labour dispute.

Mr. Carbonu described the meeting with the government as one of the saddest days of his life.

He was not happy that the government tried to engage teacher unions separately from organised labour.

The government has been reluctant to meet with a striking group, but Mr. Carbonu finds this to be unreasonable.

The question was are we here to find solutions, or we are here to win legal battles? he asked.

In addition, Mr. Carbonu said the teachers didnt want to hold up negotiations of other labour groups.

If we are the obstacles we cannot hold other labour organisations hostage, so we walked out, he said.

---citinewsroom
The Eastern Regional Police Command is looking for the driver of the trailer truck who reportedly caused the accident that led to the death of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anwhwiaso Bekwai in the Western North, Alfred Amoah and his driver, Samuel Gyasi.

Information gathered by this portal indicates that the Tuesday, July 12 evening accident occurred when the MCE was on board his official government vehicle, Nisaan Patrol 44 GC 2060-18 travelling from a meeting in Accra and heading towards his base in Bibiani.

Upon reaching a section of the road at Akim Fisher on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, a Man Diesel articulated truck with registration number AS 4229-X which was also traveling from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region direction veered off its lane and crashed head-on with the Nissan Patrol.

The accident led to the MCE and his driver being trapped in the vehicle as both unfortunately died on the spot.

The National Ambulance together with the help of the National Fire Service from Bunso and Kibi together with the police removed the two and sent them to Kibi Government Hospital where they were confirmed dead.

Few minutes after the aforementioned crash, the Man Diesel petroleum haulage truck with registration number GN 8540-20 being driven by a 35-year-old Habibu Adam with an empty tank from Kumasi direction on seeing the danger ahead applied his brakes to avoid a crash.

In the process, he lost control of the steering wheel, veered of his lane and landed into a ditch on the offside facing Accra direction.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the MCE and his driver were deposited at the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.

The driver of the MCE

--DGN online
Preparations are currently underway for work to begin on the reconstruction of the Appiatse community project.

A total of 124 houses ranging from one-bedroom to seven-bedroom apartments and other facilities would be constructed for the victims who were affected by an explosion which had so far claimed fourteen lives.

Mr Thywill Quarshie, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Appiatse Disaster Relief Committee, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) when we paid a visit to assess the state of the project.

"Earlier, some residents raised issues about the design of the project when it was presented to the community. All the concerns have been dealt with and most of the residents are satisfied with the designs and hope the government will start the project," the PRO said.

In addition, Mr Quarshie said, about two weeks ago, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor and his Deputy, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, who doubles as the chairman of the Appiatse Reconstruction Implementation Committee, visited the victims and assured them that all the necessary work had been completed so the actual work would begin soon".

He indicated that although the rains have set in, areas marked for roads have been graded while, other operators were also levelling the land, adding, "l believe that before the end of the month a sod cutting ceremony would be performed for the project to finally take off".

The PRO emphasised that Mr Benito Owusu-Bio would be inspecting the work done so far because it is part of the process to pave way for the project to commence smoothly.

Mr Quarshie expressed gratitude to individuals and corporate institutions who assisted them when the tragic incident happened and appealed to them to continue to donate to the Appiatse Support Fund to help government raise the money required for the project.

GNA
A suspected thief has been allegedly beaten to death by a mob after they caught him sneaking into an area in the Nkwanta South Municipality of the Oti Region.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) John Nchor, Public Relations Officer of the Oti Police Command, confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

He said the mob used clubs, stones, metals, and other objects to hit the suspect until he fell unconscious and subsequently died.

He said the Oti Police command would thoroughly investigate the barbaric and dehumanising act of 'jungle justice' meted to the suspect by the irate youth masquerading as vigilantes in the Nkwanta South area.

He described the act as inimical to the law governing the country and warned the youth that the Police administration would not allow disgruntled elements in the society to take up the laws into their hands by killing suspects in such an unlawful manner.

GNA
At the just-ended high-level breakfast meeting on YouStart organized by the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) at Coconut Groove Hotel in Accra, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), Mr. Richard Addison, made some remarkable calls worth noting.

Speaking at the high-level breakfast meeting, Richard Addison commended the government for the laudable policy intervention in the area of private sector business development towards boosting sustainable decent jobs and wealth creation across the country.

"We are glad for this initiative, and we appreciate the Government for listening to the calls of groups like the chamber, who have advocated for a deliberate financial support mechanism for young entrepreneurs such as YouStart.

"We, however, appealed to the Government to develop a more inclusive, resilient, realistic, and sustainable policy document under the new 'YouStart" initiative to help solidify the laudable policy of the Government to reach entrepreneurs in Ghana," he stated

He urged the banks to re-look at the 0.05% monitoring fee by relying on the districts and bank branches across the country to reduce the charges on loans. "Since the program's sustainability depends on the beneficiaries' ability to repay the loans, we must not put so much burden or charges on them; so, we should take the 0.05% charges off. The banks should use the assembles or branches to do the monitoring just as they've been doing on loans they give out."

Finally, Richard Addison encouraged the Ghana Association of Bankers to ensure that the "YouStart " Commercial Program is highly inclusive and accessible to all qualified young entrepreneurs in Ghana.

The breakfast meeting is part of the stakeholder engagement led by the GAB to engage the key trade associations in Ghana to solicit their input and acceptance of the initiative.

The Ghana Chamber of Young entrepreneurs represented the young entrepreneurs at the meeting.
Nairobi, July 12, 2022  Tanzanian authorities should allow the DarMpya online news outlet to resume operations without further interference and reform the countrys online content regulations so they cannot be used to muzzle the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

On July 1, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) ordered DarMpya to suspend publication immediately, according to news reports and a copy of TCRAs July 1 letter.

The letter cited the TCRAs June 28 inspection of the outlets office in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, where authorities found that the outlets license had expired in 2021, and it was therefore publishing in breach of the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations.

A person familiar with the matter, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity citing safety concerns, said that DarMpya had applied for its license renewal shortly before the suspension. On July 6, DarMpya tweeted that it had ceased publication until it could renew its license.

The letter said the inspection followed complaints about DarMpyas coverage of a protest, but did not specify the reporting in question. In a since-deleted tweet seen by CPJ, DarMpya alleged that a June 17 protest against alleged Kenyan interference in the Tanzanian governments plan to evict members of the Maasai community from lands in northern Tanzania was staged. The person who spoke to CPJ said that the inspection was in response to that tweet.

Tanzanian Information Minister Nape Nnauye told CPJ via messaging app that DarMpya had been under scrutiny for allegedly unbalanced content, but said the outlets suspension had nothing to do with its journalism and was solely due to its failure to comply with licensing requirements.

Tanzanian authorities are using a repressive set of regulations to control who may and may not express themselves online. The suspension of the DarMpya news outlet shows how such regulations can become tools of censorship, said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. Authorities should allow DarMpya to resume operations without interference, cease using harsh regulations to police speech on the internet, and urgently reform the countrys laws to nurture, rather than limit, press freedom.

DarMpya publishes national news and commentary on its website, on YouTube as DarMpya TV, where it has about 809,000 followers, and on Twitter as DarMpya Blog, where it has over 309,000 followers. It has not published news content on those channels since July 2.

Tanzanias online content regulations were first issued in 2018, and at the time CPJ called on authorities to scrap the regulations, as they threatened the diversity and robustness of online media.

A new version of the regulations was issued in 2020, and those rules were amended earlier this year, narrowing the scope of the licensing requirements, but news blogs, online television broadcasters, and online radio stations must still register with the TCRA and comply with content restrictions.

Nnauye told CPJ that the Tanzanian government was engaging with local journalists about reforming media laws, but while the regulations remain on the books, the government will enforce them.

We cant close our eyes and say the law isnt there, he said. As long as the law is there, it is not suspended, it is not changed. I am sworn to stand and make sure these laws are followed. If it is changed, then we will follow the new one.

Under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office last year, Tanzania has committed to reforming its media laws, as CPJ has documented. However, at least two other publicationsRaia Mwema and Uhuruwere suspended last year, as CPJ has documented.

In a phone call today, a representative of the TCRA said they would follow-up on emailed queries CPJ had sent about DarMpyas case. CPJ had not received a response at the time of publication.
A Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has partially attributed the recent industrial action by organised labour in the country to events preceding the upcoming ruling New Patriotic Partys (NPP) National Delegates Conference.

The NPP is getting ready for its National Delegates Conference to elect national officers from Friday, 15 to Sunday, 17 July 2022.

However, organised labour across the country have been laying down their tools in demand for a 20percent Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

Some Teacher Unions in the country embarked on a strike in demand of the payment of their COLA, Monday, 4 July 2022.

Other labour unions across the country including Health workers have threatened to join in the strike action if government fails to pay.

Reacting to the demand for COLA by the various labour organisations, Professor Gyampo in a Facebook post on Tuesday, 12 July 2022 said: Part of what would moderate or fuel the stance of all demanding COLA and better salaries in this period of hardship, would be the monies that would be changing hands from now up to the end of Saturday, in the ruling partys national leadership election.

---classfmonline.com
Breast Sucking Ritualistic, Occultist Nigerian Pastors, Priests, Prophets and Gospel Ministers are too powerless to fight, curse or stem the rampaging menace of terrorists, jihadists and bandits ravaging the nation.

All the curses they have been raining on the terrorists, jihadists, bandits and criminal gangs since 2009 have failed to stop the menace because the spiritually compromised pastors are guilty of spiritual deceit and terrorism.

It is disturbing to see on social media, the pastors who initiated others into breast sucking occult groups, coming openly to curse Boko Haram, ISWAP and other Jihadists.

The same persons curse Fulani Bandits and herdsmen. They curse Mallam El Rufai, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi. President Muhammadu Buhari, Pastor Yemi Osimbajo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and anybody they believe their congregation will cheer their downfall.

Three weeks ago, June 20, 2022, a Bishop was arrested in Kubwa Abuja, by the Nigerian Police for dumping the mutilated body of a church member used for ritual at a PW Bridge Dumping Site. The tricycle rider who helped the Bishops son dispose the headless corpse said that the son lied to him that the contents of the sack were scraps and asked him to help dispose them at the PW Bridge Dumping site, and was paid N1000 naira, ($2 dollars).

The following morning Hausa scavengers opened the sack at the dumping site to see the headless body of a girl, and the tricycle rider who accidentally passed the scene, saw the thronging crowd, and volunteered to lead the police to the church from where he picked the culprit. The Bishop was taken by the police to his church where the head of the girl used for ritual was exhumed.

The Bishop in charge of Freedom Chapel International Church, Kubwa, Abuja and his son, also a pastor, have been transferred from Kubwa Police Division to Federal Capital Abuja Police Criminal Investigations Department CID. The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer of FCT, ASP Oduniyi Omotayo, in a statement, said the Tactical and Intelligence Team have commenced investigations to unravel other facts surrounding the incidence.

Meanwhile, every Sunday and Wednesdays, Miracles happens in that church, and church members throng for spiritual upliftment.

I was told last week of a pastor who recently confessed to a friend that the occult breast he sucked in Port Harcourt three years ago, to increase the financial base of his church in Abuja, is haunting him and his church.

The compromised pastor first sought the help of another compromised Breast Sucking accomplice in the Nyanya- Mararaba axis of Abuja with huge followership, before seeking genuine repentance.

I warned the Christian Community in December 2012 in the famous article titled ' Backslidden Pastors and their Patronage of Port Harcourt Based Occult Woman' that:

Some pastors have confirmed to me that actually there is a woman in Port Harcourt who gives power to see visions and they mentioned the names of some colleagues that patronized her. This woman whom they claimed is so powerful that she can appear and disappear, will firstly demand some indecent sexual gratification from the prospective pastor as signs of loyalty, including sucking of certain organs. After the sexual affairs, she will make some animal cry and administer some other materials and the eyes of the patrons will open to see the spirit world and discuss with some strange beings

She indoctrinates them that there is nothing like heaven, hell or sin and that God kept lots of treasures in the water kingdom to help humanity in fashion, music, movies, politics, finance, health and pastoral work and only those bound by oath of loyalty and secrecy are eligible to access the treasures of the spirit world. They described pastors who are yet to join as slaves who will soon bow to the children of the illuminated

Continuing further in the piece, I stated the modus operandi thus in Port Harcourt thus:

Another pastor who renounced membership of the cult earlier in the year had to ran away from his base to Abuja when he received constant death threat from the group. He was advised to subject himself to days of fasting at one of the deliverance churches in town which he promptly did.

The situation has become alarming that the aforementioned pastor who was approached for membership, out of indecision and fear of hell fire, sought my opinion, and subsequently paid a visit to a recent initiate. According to the recently initiated pastor, the consultation and oil fee was initially N100, 000 naira but due to the surging crowd, they have increased the consultation fee to N200, 000 naira. Then there are prices for different types of oil. The most popular is calledseeing oil which empowers people to see into other peoples secret. The next most popular oil is called do as I say which makes it possible for the congregation to do whatsoever the pastor says without any compulsion including surrendering all live savings.

There is also oil called touch and follow which they use to hypnotize any beautiful lady who comes their way into sleeping with them. There is oil for falling under anointing called slaying oil. There is crowd pulling oil used to increase membership strength. The payment for the oil is different from the consultation fee.

This oil must be serviced and refreshed by constant homosexual, fornication and adulterous activities especially shortly before preaching. The second condition is that the pastor must emphasize on prosperity and motivational messages above the message of righteousness. The pastors will also return to give back a part of the proceeds as thanksgiving.

I warned the Church again in January 2013 in the piece ' Nigerian Pastors and the RIsing Influence of Marine Spirits Part 2 ' circulated widely all over Africa, narrating a firsthand story that

In April 2012 a notable Lagos based Bishop alarmingly told me (Rev Obinna Akukwe) of a pastor friend who recently patronized the Queen of the Coast and escaped by the grace of God. This Lagos based pastor whose church members have disappeared due to financial hardship, went in search of ministerial help from another senior mentor who has a church of about three thousand members and lots of excess financial breakthrough. This senior mentor took this young pastor to Lagos bar beach in the midnight for special prayers. According to the narration of the traumatized pastor, he saw some pastors he knew in clusters talking in whispers near the parking lot, as they moved closer to the ocean.

The senior mentor then revealed to the younger pastor that the condition for the power he is to receive to transform his church include making love to a soon to appear mermaid and afterwards everything about his church will change. Secondly, he will be constantly sleeping with church members and using their star to maintain the power, he will donate a soul annually, and finally he will be soft on messages of righteousness. The senior pastor explained that all those he saw somewhere near the parking lot have all done it and their churches are moving well and that they still love Jesus except that ministry must move on.

The young pastor was still contemplating what to do when a mighty wave rose up in the sea and a very beautiful girl, stark naked walked out of the deep sea and made for the pastor. This pastor claimed that this lady whose hair reaches the shoulder level was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and when his manhood was about to respond in admiration he heard a small voice warning him that once he makes love to this lady, his soul is mortgaged forever. He started speaking in tongues and rebuked the foul woman in the name of Jesus Christ; she screamed and disappeared back to the water. This pastor had to narrate the experience to close confidants including the identity of Men of God he saw at the parking lot. This pastors story caused some stir among ministerial circles in Lagos and the Bishop was the third notable pastor in Lagos to inform me about it.

It was refreshing to note that after the two warnings, many breast sucking recruits in Abuja vanished. They relocated to Kaduna, Onitsha, Aba, Benin and Lagos.

In 2015, three years after my warnings, a Kaduna based pastor by name Chidubem Okwu visited bar beach Lagos to sleep with the Queen of the Coast, and subsequently bourded flight to Port Harcourt to suck Occult breast for church growth and financial explosion, despite the warnings I gave years earlier. Pastor Chidubem Okwu confessed his sins in 2018 publicly and died afterwards.

Narrating the Lagos bar Beach experience, Pastor Okwu said While at the Bar beach I saw many pastors who came there with other senior pastors. It is like a tradition. There must be a senior pastor bringing in younger pastors and I believe each senior pastor had a particular mami-wata they relate with because I saw up to ten mami-wata attending to some other young pastors. In the evening we were at the local airport in Lagos and took a flight to Port- Harcourt. At Port- Harcourt we lodged in the guest house of another ministry and at mid-night we got out eventually arriving in a very big compound of a woman called Eze- Nwanyi inside the compound were many houses. We met many pastors there including first generational churches pastors

Also corroborating my earlier warnings of December 2012, Pastor Okwu said of the 2015 event in Port Harcourt

When it was my turn the general overseer paid some money and itemized what should be done for me. When I went into the room I was surprised it was a woman again and as I was thinking  woman again! I found myself on top of the woman on a bed in an adjacent room. Honestly I have not been able to recall how I found myself on that bed. I had sex with her and also sucked her breasts. After the sexual session she made some animal cry and administered some stuff into my eyes and I began immediately to see into the spirit world and also discussed with some spirit beings. After that she gave me a bottle of olive oil which she called do as I say. She said with this the members of my church will do whatever I ask them to do. She also gave me another bottle of olive oil which she called all seeing oil. She said with the oil I can see deep into peoples secret and a bottle of olive oil which she called slaying oil for slaying people during prayer. She finally gave me two more bottles of olive oil. The first one is crowd pulling oil and the second one is touch and follow  which I will be using to hypnotize women especially virgins because I will be having sex with them and married women to renew the empowerment.

After the heinous murder of Deborah Samuel, young student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto by Jihadists, these powerless representatives of Jesus Christ cursed the killers. Two weeks later, 40 worshippers were killed in a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. The sinful Pastors released more empty curses.

These ritualistic, occultic breast sucking pastors are the main problem of the Nigerian churches. They have hijacked and sold the Power of the Nigerian Church to Mammy Water, Mountain Spirits, Spirits of the Air, in exchange for hoodwinked zombeic membership, incapable of independent thinking , who surrender their financial destiny into their hands. They have cowed the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria PFN into subdued silence.

A ritualistic, occultist, compromised church leadership cannot deliver Nigeria from the clutches of Jihadists, Terrorists and Murderous Secessionists, who themselves also consult the same Mammy Water, Mountain Spirit, Spirit of the Air, among others before their bloody operations.

Nigerian Christians should stop complaining that God has failed them. God is still enthroned but Matthew 24: 45-51 explains the current situation.

Rev Obinna Akukwe is revealing to all that God has not failed, but the leaders have sold the church to Mammy Water, Water Spirits, Desert Spirits, Mountain Spirits and other Cosmic Forces, in exchange for wealth and influence.

Many top Pastors in Nigeria who have not submitted to such Spirits, are harbouring many occult pastors, collecting Tithes, Prophets Offerings and Releasing Apostolic Blessings on them in the name of Mentorship, Sons of the Prophets etc, partaking of their sins and bringing doom to the nation.

Rev Obinna Akukwe counsels the hapless church member to seek means of depending themselves against the Jihadists, Terrorists and Bandits because those reeling these empty curses on the behalf of The Church, have already sold The Church of Jesus Christ to the Highest Bidder.

(Rev Obinna Akukwe, Columnist, Activist, [email protected], facebook,@obinnaakukwe)
13.07.2022 LISTEN

Oliver Barker Vormawor, a lead convener of the #FixTheCountry movement has described the rate at which the church has become the dumping ground for corrupt persons to lead top positions of honour.

He said Ghanaians have a lifestyle of worshipping corrupt persons in society.

The activist noted that public officials who steal money from the state are sometimes made elders in the church.

In a Facebook post today, July 13 sighted by Modernghana News, Oliver Barker asserted that the police also salute people who steal from the state.

The activist added that the law court also favours corrupt officials.

He stressed Please, in your next life. Dont be an activist. Steal government money.

Attached to his comments is a picture of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta hugging NPP Parliamentarians in the Parliament house.

Check his post below:
Government-assisted Senior High and Technical Schools in the Upper West Region are yet to receive their consignment of food from government.

This was after the Ministry of Education assured the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) during a meeting with the leadership of CHASS that food would be distributed to the schools on Tuesday, July 12.

Mr Magnus Innocent Der, the Upper West Regional Chairman of CHASS, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Wa on Wednesday, said they were informed that the food was on the way as at yesterday, but could not tell when it would arrive.

We are still managing to feed them, we cannot stretch too long, Mr Der, who is also the Headmaster of the Nandom Senior High School (SHS), said.

At about 9:20 am Wednesday, when the GNA visited the Wa SHS, Mr Iddrisu Adams Thirdman, the Headmaster of the school, said as at the evening of Tuesday, July 12, when he left the office, no food had arrived at the school.

The Upper West Regional CHASS had issued a letter on July 7, 2022, indicating that parents and guardians would have to feed their wards in the schools or send them home if the schools did not receive food by Friday, July 15, 2022.

GNA
Residents of Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai have expressed their condolences following the death of their Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).

According to some of them who spoke to the media, they couldn't believe the news until they saw pictures of the gory accident scene.

I still feel it's not true. In fact, I thought it was just a fabricated story until I saw some pictures of the accident scene. I haven't slept since yesterday. I was shocked upon hearing the news, a resident narrated.

Alfred Amoah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, and his driver were killed in a car accident on the evening of Tuesday, July 12.

The accident occurred between the Akyem-Apedwa and Asafo Junctions on the Accra-Kumasi highway in the Eastern Region.

Reports say they were returning to the municipality after meeting with President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.

According to reports, following the meeting, the MCE received a distress call informing him of a planned demonstration in his municipality.

An Articulated truck with registration number AS 4229-X from Kumasi veered off its lane and collided head-on with the Nissan Patrol 4x4 vehicle killing the MCE and his driver instantly.
Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Prof. Godfred Bokpin has charged the ruling government to listen to Ghanaians and withdraw the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).

The economist reiterated this call on Wednesday, July 13, while commenting on the findings of the Ghana Afrobarometer R9 Survey disseminated by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).

From the survey, 67% of Ghanaians strongly disapprove of the levy. While only two in 10 (19%) endorse the new tax, a similar proportion (76%) think the e-levy is a bad idea because it increases the tax burden on the poor and ordinary citizens.

Giving his thoughts on the findings, Prof. Godfred Bokpin stressed that the findings is a true reflection of the minds and hearts of Ghanaians regarding the controversial levy.

According to him, it is important that government makes reconsideration to withdraw the tax saying government should not become robbing Ghanaians in its bid to raise more domestic revenue.

Broadly the views represent Ghana and Im sure we can all associate with the findings. I believe this is a wake-up call to government because when you see these things it means government is losing the confidence of the people. If this was done a week ago Im sure the findings would have been worse, the Economist said.

Prof. Godfred Bokpin continued, By design, E-Levy was poorly designed because there is a way of bypass. This is not a tax handle you introduce at this time. I still think that the government needs to withdraw. The state in its quest to raise more money should not become an armed robber.

We are not saying government should not generate more taxes. The point is that there are other progressive tax handles that we can use to raise more money without burdening the few.
Police have arrested the driver of the articulated truck that rammed into the vehicle of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Municipal Assembly, Alfred Amoah and his driver, Samuel Gyasi who both died on the spot.

He has been charged with careless and inconsiderate driving contrary to Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 2004 (Act 683) as amended by Act 2008 Act 761, and negligently causing harm contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.

The suspect whose identity is not immediately known was put before Kibi Circuit Court where he has been remanded to allow ample time for further investigations.

His plea was not taken when he appears at the court presided over by Peter Oppong-Boahen.

The Prosecutor, Detective Inspector Kamal Salifu Gumah, prayed for the court to remand the suspect into police custody as investigations are still at an initial stage.

According to the prosecutor, the case docket would be forwarded to the Attorney General's office for advice after investigations are completed for study and advice.

The court thereby remanded the suspect into police custody and adjourned the case to Wednesday, July 20.

Police preliminary investigations indicate that the 32-year-old driver of the articulated truck with registration number AS 4229 X was speeding and decided to suddenly apply brakes on seeing vehicles ahead of him slowing down.

On board with his mate, the vehicle veered of its lane into the vehicle of the MCE, resulting in his death and that of his driver.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Ekuona family at Sefwi Bekwai in the Western North Region, Nana Wireko Ampem, has bemoaned the sudden death of his nephew, Alfred Amoah.

According to him, the deceased MCE was the light of the family.

The entire Bibiani and Bekwai communities have lost a great man. He was the light of our family. He called yesterday and told me that he was attending a meeting in Accra. I was there in the evening when the NPP Party Chairman called to inform me that my nephew was involved in an accident and had died with his driver.

I moved to his mother's residence and relocated her to another place to avoid the shocks she will incur upon hearing the news. But we have informed her this morning and she is sad, he said, adding that the family will soon meet the leadership of the New Patriotic Party in the area for the necessary funeral arrangements to be made.

He belongs to our family but he was also a member of the NPP so we are arranging a meeting to agree on the funeral arrangements, he added.

Also, Chairman of the New Patriotic Party in the Area, Appiah Kubi revealed that the driver who died with the MCE in the accident is also another blow to the party.

According to him, He is an experienced driver. I have traveled with him and the late MCE on many occasions but what happened I must say was unfortunate. We have informed his family of his passing.

Meanwhile, mourners gathered at the family house on Wednesday morning.

---DGN online
Various Health Sector Unions have joined the demand for a 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in the midst of the pressure on the ruling government to cushion public sector workers to survive current hard times.

In a joint press release, the health sector unions have given the government a two-week ultimatum to complete negotiations on the demand for COLA or they will withdraw their services.

We had hoped that the meeting convened by Government with Organized Labour on 12th July 2022 would have resolved the issue but the meeting failed to achieve its objective.

We, therefore, serve notice to government as an employer that if by 22nd July 2022 the negotiations on COLA is not completed, the aforementioned health sector unions will have no other choice than to embark on a series of actions, parts of a joint press release from the Health Sector Unions read.

The unions include the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) Health Services Workers Union of TUC Ghana (HSWU) Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Health Services Workers' Union (HSWU), and Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA).

Amongst the actions the unions are threatening to embark on, they say they will wear red arm wrist bands in all health facilities from July 25 to 27 if the COLA negotiations are not completed at the time.

The Health Sector Unions warn that they will withdraw all Out-Patient Department (OPD) Services from July 28 to 31, before withdrawing OPD and In-patient services on August 1, 2022.

Below is a copy of the joint press release from the Health Sector Unions.
The first annual Giving for Change (GfC) Learning and Reflection Partner Meeting, is underway in Accra.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) worldwide are attending the meeting.

The five-day meeting, which opened in Accra on Monday, 11 July and ends on July 15, 2022, is being hosted by the West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and Star Ghana Foundation.

The workshop is expected to explore strategies to develop the GfC programme in order to enhance community-led development in the partner countries, work together to develop community philanthropy across the globe and to re-imagine development to shift the power to give voice to pioneers on the frontlines of transformational change.

The meeting is being organized under the GfC project which seeks to strengthen civic space and civil societies through domestic resource mobilisation, philanthropy and community giving for social change and development.

The GfC project is a five-year project, which was launched on June 17, 2021 in Ghana, with the goal of transforming community development by promoting local giving as a strategy for achieving community-led development.

In other words, the project aims to underscore the importance of domestic resource mobilisation by increasing local ownership, unlocking agency and strengthening the abilities of communities to claim entitlements from different actors.

It is thus programmed to strengthen local ownership, buy-in and rights claiming, challenging the notion that external actors are responsible for community development.

Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GfC is implemented through alliances and covers eight countries in Africa, Asia, and South America with STAR Ghana being the anchor institution and WACSI as a strategic partner in Ghana.

Besides, the programme has a co-ordinating alliance consisting of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, the African Philanthropy Network , Kenya Community Development Foundation and Wilde Ganzen Foundation .

In an address to open the workshop, Mr Ibrahim Tanko Amidu, Executive Director, Star Ghana Foundation, noted that the meeting was expected to provide the occasion for partners to meet for the first time to connect and learn from each other, provide the opportunity to strengthen relationships, reflect on the over-arching issues of the project, begin to work more collaboratively moving forward and leave Ghana inspired to do more in championing and advancing community philanthropy in the respective countries and contexts of the participating partners.

Speaking at the event, Mr Jimm Chuck, Head, Knowledge Management and Communications Unit, WACSI, noted that the meeting would help create opportunities to assess the GfCs failures and successes, facilitate the documentation of best practices and guidelines on community philanthropy, facilitate networking and bonding among GfC partners and to identify additional opportunities for follow-up action that would help amplify the needs and recommendations that surfaced from the meeting.

STAR Ghana Foundation is a national centre for active citizenship and philanthropy. The Foundation works towards the development of a vibrant, well-informed and assertive civil society able to contribute to transformational national development and inclusive access to high quality, accountable public services for all Ghanaian citizens.

STAR Ghana Foundation belongs to the people of Ghana. and creates platforms for ordinary people, particularly the most marginalised in society, to become active citizens who demand positive change in their lives and communities.

Star Ghanas ultimate goal is to help ensure that all citizens, regardless of gender, disability, age or location, are empowered to participate in decision-making and raise concerns. STAR Ghana supports a vibrant civil society to engage constructively with government and drive forward a transformative development agenda that will leave nobody behind.

On its part, WACSI is a civil society knowledge-sharing hub and a credible centre of learning with continental and international recognition. WACSI was established by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in 2005 to reinforce the capacities of civil society in the sub-region. The Institute became operational in July 2007.

WASCIs Mission is to ensure a peaceful and prosperous West Africa, where development is driven by its people, while its vision is to strengthen civil society in West Africa to be responsive, collaborative, representative, resilient and influential through knowledge-sharing, learning, connecting and influencing.
Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ellembelle in the Western Region has called on Muslims in Ghana to pray for the country to overcome the economic challenges the country is going through.

He made the call at Kamgbunli over the weekend when he joined thousands of Muslims in the District to celebrate this year's Eid-ul-Adha festival.

The occasion was also used to pray for the country and the world at large.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh claimed that the war in Ukraine and Russia has brought untold hardships to Ghana.

"If you look at this Eid-ul-Adha festival is a festival of peace and if you look at the whole world and see the war in Ukraine and Russia, it has brought untold hardships in so many countries", he stated.

He, therefore, appealed to the Muslims to continue to intercede for Ghana and the world at large so that the war would come to an end.

"So we will appeal to our brothers and sisters Muslims in Ghana to pray for this country and the rest of the world so that the war in Ukraine and Russia will stop", he urges.

He emphasized, "Some will ask why should Ukraine-Russia war affects Ghana, right now we are speaking every Ghanaian will attest that what is happening in Ukraine and Russia has brought untold hardships in Ghana. If you look at our petrol price which is increasing is as a result of Ukraine-Russia war because the demand for petrol has exceeded the supply of petrol and it has affected our local currency".

He added that, "the war has affected us so badly, so we urge the Muslims to pray for peace in the country and across the globe so that we can also have our economic progress as prosperity in the country".

Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh took the opportunity to commend the leadership at the national level for giving great opportunities for Muslims in the country to occupy positions in government.

"It is never true that anytime NPP comes to power we ignore Muslim Communities in Ghana. If you look at the political history of Ghana, it is only the NPP government that has making Muslims as Vice Presidents, former President Kuffour made Alhaji Ali Mahama vice president of Ghana for good eight years and currently Dr. Bawumia who is a Muslim is the Vice President of Ghana and he is getting eight years in power and it tells you that we are governing this country with Muslims", he said.

He noted that currently, the Akufo-Addo-led government through Zongo Development Fund was constructing a six-unit classroom block for Kamgbunli Islamic Senior High School (UBAISH).

He continued, "when it comes to the work of Ellembelle District Assembly we don't discriminate, at Kamgbunli here, we have provided them with a borehole so as for development we don't discriminate between Christian and Muslim communities because at the end of the day we are all citizens of this country, we all deserve to be treated equally".

The DCE said he would press upon the government to do more for underprivileged Muslim communities in the area.

Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Ellembelle DCE, Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh advised the Muslim youth not to allow any disgruntled element to use them to foment troubles in 2024.

"I don't believe in political violence so I condemn it, I will advise the youth, do not allow yourself to be used by any violent politician to perpetuate violence in any election, being it internal, external or general election, let us go and do a peaceful campaign and election because it is God who makes someone become a King", he stated.

He reiterated that "Democracy is not about fight but sharing of ideas so if a politician comes to tell you to go and foment trouble, tell that selfish politician to go and use his children to go and do that, when was the last time you heard a politician has ordered his children to go and foment trouble in any general elections, don't allow yourself to be used".

On his part, Sheikh Mustapha Kwasi Buah Abdellah, the District Chief Imam of Ellembelle gave thanks to Almighty Allah for giving them lives to celebrate this year's Eid-ul-Adha.

"We thank Allah for a successful celebration of the 2022 Eid-ul-Adha, we spoke about the need to be united and also to be pious in our dealings and also to exercise patience in whatever situation we found ourselves", he said.

He, therefore, prayed to Allah to help Ghana overcome the current economic challenges.

He also took the opportunity to advise the Muslim youth to eschew laziness and avoid criminal activities that would destroy their lives.

"My advice to the youth, the Muslim youth is that, yes we have to also play our part. We should not be lazy, we should get something doing, those who are schooling, they should be serious with their education, those who are not schooling, they should find some petty petty jobs and get themselves involved in it so that when Allah blesses them, it will go along way to help Muslim community and Ghana at large. So this is my advice to the Muslim youth", he ended.

Eid-ul-Adha is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham), to follow Allahs command to sacrifice his son.

It also enjoins special significance because the Day of Sacrifice marks the climax of Hajj or Pilgrimage, the fifth pillar of Islam. This annual pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia is an obligation only for those men and women who are physically and financially able to perform it once in their lifetime.
14.07.2022 LISTEN

Publish What You Fund, the global campaign for aid and development transparency, has named the African Development Bank the most transparent organisation in the world.

The Banks Sovereign Portfolio now ranks first out of 50 global development institutions in Publish What You Funds 2022 Aid Transparency Index, with a top score of 98.5, in its release copied to the Ghana News Agency.

African Development Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said: I am elated to learn of this outstanding recognition from Publish What You Fund. It is a testament to the relentless efforts of the more than 2,000 personnel across our organization who work tirelessly to accelerate Africas progress. Maintaining razor-sharp focus, they consistently deliver top quality under the highest levels of scrutiny. I am incredibly proud of them. I commend Publish What You Fund for their important mission, combining robust research and technical expertise with targeted advocacy and engagement to make aid and development efforts more transparent and effective.

Senior Vice President Swazi Tshabalala said: I am absolutely delighted with this score in an index that plays a key role in helping promote openness and greater transparency among international agencies. The Bank has worked hard over the years to improve the disclosure of its aid flows by providing consistent, high-quality, and easily accessible data. Our top ranking has significant human and financial resource implications, as this is the only way to conduct our development business.

The African Development Bank achieved the highest score in the Aid Transparency Indexs ten-year history and moved into the top spot from its fourth-place ranking in 2020. The Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the worlds major development agencies.

The Bank has remained consistently in the very good category since 2014. It has consistently demonstrated its commitment to increased transparency and its extraordinary progress over the past 10 years in providing high-quality information and becoming more transparent.

Publish What You Funds very good status is the highest of the five categories used to assess organizations transparency. The ranking is based on several criteria. They include finance and budgets, basic information data, organizational planning and performance.

The African Development Banks non-sovereign portfolio was assessed for the first time and separately in the 2022 Index. The Bank is the second most transparent development finance institution dealing with non-sovereign operations. Its non-sovereign portfolio is ranked 12th among the 50 global development institutions under comparison.

The past year has been complex and challenging for development transparency. To help fulfil development needs and ambitious global objectives such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Banks High 5 operational priorities, more and better development finance than ever is required. This is especially so when large volumes of funding are being assigned to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Publish What You Fund Chief Executive Gary Foster said: We congratulate the African Development Banks sovereign portfolio for achieving 1st place in the 2022 Aid Transparency Index. For many years now, the AfDB has engaged to understand the demands of the Index, and they have then re-engineered their approach to disclosure, accordingly publishing more comprehensive, higher quality data. This has been made possible because the efforts of their technical staff are matched by commitment to aid transparency from the highest levels of the organization.

For the African Development Bank, transparency is more than a watchword: it contributes to continued accountability as well as accurate access to relevant Bank information.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rakapaksa has landed in the Maldives early hours in this morning.

According to officials at Velana International Airport, he arrived in a military aircraft. Speaker of the Maldivian Parliament, President Nasheed was waiting at the airport for him, local media in Male reported.




Big Four bank Australia and New Zealand Banking Group [ASX:ANZ] confirmed on Wednesday that it is currently considering the acquisition of accounting software company MYOB.

ANZ shares were flat on the news, with the bank stock down 18% year to date.

Source: Tradingview.com

ANZ affirms its eyes are for MYOB

Last month the Australian Financial Review reported that ANZ had been considering an acquisition of MYOB, a prominent small-business accounting software company.

Today ANZ confirmed it is in discussions with MYOBs private equity owner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) about a potential acquisition.

ANZ and KKR are yet to reach an agreement about an acquisition, and ANZ cautioned there is no certainty it will proceed.

What does MYOB do, and why would ANZ be interested in it?

MYOB is a provider of business management, financial and accounting solutions  one of the biggest providers in Australia.

It provides solutions across the board for SMEs, Enterprise and Accounting Practice customers.

As the AFRs James Thomson pointed out today:

Buying the business  and it must be stressed there is no guarantee that a deal actually occurs  would allow ANZ to get its hands on an ecosystem (or platform) that spans not just accounting, but also payroll, quotes and invoicing, and more than 300 apps from third parties, covering everything from e-commerce to customer relationship management.

Acquiring MYOB would also give ANZ a swathe of new data the bank can leverage to improve its product offeringnot to mention more users to cross-sell products to.

ANZ  when banking met SME

Acquiring MYOB could make ANZ more attractive to small-business owners who may choose ANZ as their one-stop shop for banking and accounting software services.

Will MYOB clients who are with rival banks switch to ANZ if the banks acquisition is successful?

Now thats a key question the market may be pondering in the weeks ahead.

We know it can be a challenge to find opportunities in the current market.

But our small-cap expert Callum Newman thinks theres still opportunities to be found out there.

His latest report names three battery stocks that he believes have the potential to be the next chosen ones by the likes of Tesla for becoming leading battery mineral supply partners in the incoming EV age.

You can find out more by reading the report Elons Chosen Ones.

Regards,

Kiryll Prakapenka,

For Money Morning
July 13, 2022

Harpers Declares It's Over - The 'American Century' Is Gone

This month's Harpers title is astonishing.

To declare that the U.S. century is over, without a question mark, is in the mainstream view still heresy. Sure the American Conservative has already done that years ago. But Harpers is positioned on the more liberal side of things and there the view is rarely expressed.

The lead essay in the edition, by one Daniel Bessner, is headlined:

Empire Burlesque

What comes after the American Century?

For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States confronts a nation whose modela blend of state capitalism and Communist Party disciplinepresents a genuine challenge to liberal democratic capitalism, which seems increasingly incapable of addressing the many crises that beset it. Chinas rise, and the glimmers of the alternative world that might accompany it, make clear that Luces American Century is in its final days. Its not obvious, however, what comes next. Are we doomed to witness the return of great power rivalry, in which the United States and China vie for influence? Or will the decline of U.S. power produce novel forms of international collaboration? In these waning days of the American Century, Washingtons foreign policy establishmentthe think tanks that define the limits of the possiblehas splintered into two warring camps. Defending the status quo are the liberal internationalists, who insist that the United States should retain its position of global armed primacy. Against them stand the restrainers, who urge a fundamental rethinking of the U.S. approach to foreign policy, away from militarism and toward peaceful forms of international engagement. The outcome of this debate will determine whether the United States remains committed to an atavistic foreign policy ill-suited to the twenty-first century, or whether the nation will take seriously the disasters of the past decades, abandon the hubris that has caused so much suffering worldwide, and, finally, embrace a grand strategy of restraint.

At Consortium News Andrew Bacevich provides additional background and offers a mild critique of Bessner's essay. He seems to largely agree with it.

Me? I have always been for a policy of restrain, not just for the U.S., but for all countries on this planet. People are too different in personal believes, history, tradition and social surroundings to be put under one form of government or to submit to one peculiar form of economic organization. Attempting to do such is, as Michael Hudson provides, ruinous for those who try.

It is also a question of personal capacity. The U.S. does not have the leadership, and has not had it for some time, to be successful in such an endeavor.

Even Democrats have recognized that their current president is not up to the task. The New York Times writes Most Democrats Dont Want Biden in 2024, New Poll Shows. The Washington Post adds Democrats are skeptical of Biden in 2024. Will the partys left finally win?. Other have also chipped in with a NYT columnist outright declaring: Joe Biden Is Too Old to Be President Again.

Matt Taibbi calls this political signaling:

Along with companion outlets like the Washington Post and The Atlantic (as pure a reflection of establishment thought as exists in America), the paper in this sense fulfills the same function that Izvestia once served in the Soviet Union, telling us little or even less than nothing about breaking news events but giving us comprehensive, if often coded, portraits of the thinking of the leadership class.

The Democrat 'leadership class' has declared that Biden is now a lame duck president and that he better signal that he will not run again before the likely catastrophic results in the midterms election come out.

I agree with that view but it is not just Biden's mental fragility that is the matter here but the incompetence of the people around him who essentially set his policies. The Sullivans and Blinkens of this world or what Ray McGovern calls the Effete Elite:

The questions posed led me to comment candidly on the regrettable state of Western statesmen like EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Yes, the same Blinken who, in one breath excoriates China and the systemic challenge it supposedly represents, and in the next makes a pathetically quixotic attempt to cajole his Chinese counterpart to abandon Beijings lockstep with Russia on Ukraine.

Blinken's anti-China policy is, to say it mildly, not a success:

Washington has devised a series of plans to counter China, but few of them have won firm support in the region. A coalition between the United States, Japan, Australia and India, known as the Quad, is meant to show solidarity in the Asia-Pacific region, but India buys huge quantities of oil from Russia; a new U.S.-led economic group of 14 countries, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, received a lukewarm reception from its members since it fails to offer tariff reductions for goods entering the United States; and an agreement for the United States and Britain to share technology to help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines remains vague.

This 'elite' who thought out those policies is now baby sitting Biden to prevent him, but not themselves, from making more 'mistakes'.

Dan Cohen @dancohen3000 - 14:57 UTC  Jul 12, 2022 2 days ago, the NYT reported that the White House is so concerned by Biden's age that it delayed his trip to the Middle East by a month so he could rest. Now we learn that Blinken will accompany him. Another daily reminder that Biden is a figurehead and his advisors run the show.

Biden's and Blinken's current Middle East trip is also likely to add to their collection of failures:

President Biden is traveling to Israel on Wednesday for a four-day trip to the Middle East to try to slow down Irans nuclear program, speed up the flow of oil to American pumps, and reshape the relationship with Saudi Arabia without seeming to embrace a crown prince who stands accused of flagrant human rights abuses. All three efforts are fraught with political dangers for a president who knows the region well, but returns for the first time in six years with far less leverage than he would like to shape events.

A month ago Biden declared that he will not meet the Saudi clown prince:

"I am not going to meet with MBS. I am going to an international meeting, and he is going to be part of it," Biden told reporters at the White House.

...

However, a Saudi statement announced that MBS and Biden: "Will hold official talks that will focus on various areas of bilateral cooperation and joint efforts to address regional and global challenges."

We will likely soon see photos with Biden and MBS shaking hands. Biden needs higher Saudi oil production and lower prices at the pump to lessen the Democrats midterm losses. He can hardly condemn Mohammed Bin Salman for killing the 'journalist' and lobbyist for Qatar Jamal Khashoggi while at the same time ignoring the Israeli murder of the U.S.-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The return to the nuclear agreement with Iran was botched by Biden and Blinken when they dithered for months after their inauguration before starting talks. They then made new demands that Iran was obviously unwilling to fulfill. They are now left with contradicting their own arguments:

In the early spring, Mr. Malley and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said there were just weeks, maybe a month or so, to reach a deal before Irans advances, and the knowledge gained as it installed advanced centrifuges to produce uranium in high volume, would make the 2015 agreement outdated. Now, four months later, Mr. Bidens aides decline to explain how they let that deadline go by  and they still insist that reviving the deal is more valuable than abandoning it.

Following various financial crises and too high spending U.S. financial leverage is gone. As it has proven in the Middle East, and now in Ukraine, its hyper expensive military is unable to win wars against small and big competitors. The U.S. role in international institutions has been diminished by China's and Russia's competing efforts like the Belt and Road program, the Asian Development Bank, Russia and Iran's North-South Transit Corridor.

The Harpers title is correct. The U.S. century is indeed over. As the Harpers lead essay concludes:

The American Century did not achieve the lofty goals that oligarchs such as Henry Luce set out for it. But it did demonstrate that attempts to rule the world through force will fail. The task for the next hundred years will be to create not an American Century, but a Global Century, in which U.S. power is not only restrained but reduced, and in which every nation is dedicated to solving the problems that threaten us all. As the title of a best-selling book from 1946 declared, before the Cold War precluded any attempts at genuine international cooperation, we will either have one world or none.

One world, in which the individual countries refrain from boundless greed and provide for the common good, is certainly the better choice.

--- This week I ask all MoA readers to help me with my efforts to run this blog.

Please consider to contribute.

Posted by b on July 13, 2022 at 13:45 UTC | Permalink

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July 19, 2022

Please Support Moon of Alabama

Dear Reader,

twice a year I ask for your help to keep Moon of Alabama going. This is the last call for this biannual drive.

Here are some reasons why you should consider it.

Roderic Day @RodericDay - 16:41 UTC  Jan 9, 2022

Retweeting @MoonofA

I don't know exactly what @MoonofA's political orientation is, but their articles are always full of verifiable sources for claims, and you can form your own opinion based on what they report. They also self-criticize well. We all need to write more in this style. link to MoA

---

Ana @Ana_Q_ - 18:41 UTC  Jan 9, 2022

Replying to @RodericDay and @MoonofA



He is very good, indeed! And he accepts diverse views!

---

Paul Sanoian @PSanoian - 3:15 UTC  Jan 10, 2022

Replying to @RodericDay and @MoonofA Also strange is that most of the comments are worth reading. I disagree with and object to some of them but almost none of them are outright crazy.

---

prog_with_nusantara_characteristic @Tana_Bakumpay - 5:07 UTC  Jan 10, 2022

Replying to @PSanoian @RodericDay and @MoonofA Yeah, I love reading at the discourse in some articles and I don't necessarily have to agree with everything. Wish we have this kind of healthy environment on here as well.

I of course love such feedback. But I also need to eat and pay rent.

This site is a full time effort and I have no other income I could rely on. While I live in somewhat better circumstances than Spitzweg's Poor Poet, I am neither rich nor do I indulge myself in luxuries.

Every donation to this Poor Poet - be it $5, $50, $500 or more - is welcome and needed. A recurring contribution or sponsorship would be great.

Transaction costs are the smallest when you send cash or make a bank-wire transfer. Send email to MoonofA @ aol.com (remove the blanks) for the necessary details. (They are the same as before.) You can use other means when you donate through the PayPal button below even without having a PayPal account. (The Moon of Alabama account is in Euro with currently 1 ~ US $1.00 and US $1 ~ 1.00).

Thank you very much!

Bernhard aka b.

Posted by b on July 19, 2022 at 17:38 UTC | Permalink

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Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke will make a campaign stop in Midland this summer as he heads on his A Drive for Texas tour, according to the candidate's website. ORourke will host a town hall at MLK Community Center on July 20 at 4:30 p.m. The Democrat will also make other stops along the I-20 corridor and surrounding areas throughout July, including in Abilene, Snyder, San Angelo and Pecos.

In a recent poll, ORourke is trailing incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott by six percentage points, although this gap is closer than in previous polls as the Democrat makes inroads with Independent voters. ORourke previously called himself an underdog in the race, while the Abbott campaign has referred to their opponent as a joke.
U.S. Congresswoman Uifaatali Amata of American Samoa greets Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he spoke to the U.S. Congress on April 29, 2015.
An Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65), forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, conducts underway operations in the South China Sea, in this handout picture released on July 13, 2022.
JERSEYVILLE  Officials have extended a visa for Kateryna Savienkova, an exchange student from Ukraine attending Jersey Community High School.

Savienkova attended the school last year while living with her host family of Jim, Carla and Roanna Newton of Grafton. Her junior year in Jersey County included the usual school items, such as honor rolls, cross country and bowling. But her future remained uncertain because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Last month officials with the federal government and the organizations that support her exchange program announced Savienkova's visa has been extended. She will be allowed to attend Jersey Community High School for the 2022-23 academic year and continue to participate in the Future Leaders Exchange Program.

She now has a new host family. Zoe Chin is a teacher at Jersey Community High School who lives in Jerseyville with her husband, Tony, and their two children, Abby, 14, and Connor, 16.

We are honored to host Kateryna this year," said Zoe Chin. "She has fit right into our family as if she has always been here.

Borderless Friends Forever exchange organization works closely with host families, high schools and students.

"Kateryna is surrounded by love and grace in Jerseyville, said Crystal Allis, Borderless Friends Forever executive director in Cary, North Carolina. We have been so impressed by the community there and the beautiful way in which you have all supported her. She has already grown so much throughout this year thanks to your support."

The images from Ukraine have been devastating, according to Savienkova.

Sometimes it was unbearable. she said. "The continuous anticipation of seeing your own community, school, favorite park or cafe being destroyed  the first few weeks I couldnt believe it was true. It is so horrible how you can get used to it.

Fortunately her family is safe. Her parents and grandparents on her mothers side are in the Ivano-frankivsk region of western Ukraine. She said they are amazingly strong and positive people who left their home in Kharkiv a couple of weeks after the war started and are now living in a friends summer house.

They did not expect any of this to happen," she said. "The war has made them mad, confused and sometimes lost.

In 2014, the family was forced to flee their home in Luhansk when Ukraine came under attack. Eight years later, they were forced to flee again.

Savienkova said her family was happy when they learned she would be staying in Jersey County.

"We are very thankful because right now there is no proper education or life for me in Ukraine," she said. "Sadly, it's easier and better for us to be separated for another period of time."

It's harder for her to learn about her classmates, friends and teachers. She doesn't know where exactly they are, but believes they are all over Europe  some still in Ukraine and some in the regions of the war.

Im wishing them all the luck," she said. "What I know is that all of them are optimistic about our future. Theyre planning to win, to come back and build up our beautiful Ukraine.

Savienkova said the Jerseyville area has embraced her in ways she never expected. On April 8, the school and community celebrated United with Ukraine Day.

"All these people gathered together to show that Ukraine is in their thoughts and souls," she said. "We were one strong body working together and relying on each other. We were world citizens on this day.

"It was not easy to open up to strangers and share my pain," she said. "I learned how relationships work, and how people can change your life when they want to."

Her move to Jerseyville will allow Savienkova to spend more time after school with friends and participate in additional activities that the distance living in the country with the Newtons wouldnt allow.

We are excited for the Chin family and know that Kateryna is in good hands," said Carla Newton. "Having an exchange student is very rewarding. Our experience with Kateryna has been memorable in so many ways.

"The war in Ukraine could never have been anticipated and under the circumstances these last many months have been extremely emotional," she said. "But we would do it all over again in a heartbeat. We were there for Kateryna during a time when she truly needed us. We are bonded and will be a part of her family forever.

When she does return to Ukraine, Savienkova said she will have a powerful message based on her Jersey County stay.

Ill tell them that I learned a very important lesson: people are powerful," she said. "People can get together and literally change this world. And we, Ukrainians, need to learn this from them, my Jerseyville family. Dont blame others and dont keep suffering from injustice. Be kind and go for it; take some actions. Its amazing how much we can do together, just amazing.

"These people entered my life and brought so much love," she said. "I will never let them go. We have so many great things to do together in the future, this is only the beginning.

I love these people so much," she said. "Not only my host family, but the entire Jersey community has become my big real family. I have friends, mentors and people who I will look up to forever.
U.S. military analysts love strategies and the theories behind them. The theories provide what appear to be perfectly reasonable and rational approaches to war-fighting, even offering a sense of certainty about the outcome. After all, theyve been designed with military precision. Authorized personnel at the Pentagon or military think tanks are assigned to create strong, catchy names for the theories. A longtime theory is escalation dominance, which has a close cousin called full-spectrum dominance.

Both theories promote the idea that effective deterrence comes from being able to defeat the enemy in every step of a potential conflict, in any place, and at any time, from small-scale skirmishes between proxy guerillas up to and including nuclear war, and possible escalation within a specific conflict. Such strategies would, in theory, deter any adversary from initiating any step up the escalation ladder.

Like all military strategies they sound convincing enough on paper, even alluring. What red-blooded American, or Russian, would walk away from dominance? But in the concrete, these theories fail to deliver, and we could quite likely end up with escalation disaster. Escalation Dominance has already failed given that Russia invaded Ukraine and took a substantial step up the escalation ladder, with perhaps more to come.

A hubris undermines such military theories, a woefully misplaced and dangerous self-confidence, not to mention a stunning disregard for the millions of lives sacrificed if such theories are put to the test, and fail. Gaming this out with computers is one thing, unleashing it on the world another. Reading the enemys mind once the escalation begins and missiles are flying is futile, even suicidal.

Military analysts are paid well, often by the U.S. government, weapons manufacturers and the mass media, all of whom have an interest in war-making. Military think tanks are funded with taxpayer dollars, as are military research programs at American universities across the nation. We spend tens of millions of dollars playing computer war games. We spend close to $1 trillion a year funding personnel and machinery for actual war-making.

Where are the millions for peace? Is it unfathomable to think that the same money, talent, and resources could be invested in creating a strategy for a new security arrangement in Europe that would include Russia? After the atrocities that Putin and his military have inflicted on Ukraine, it is a bitter pill to swallow. But the alternative is either a drawn-out proxy war with Russia that bleeds the Ukrainian and Russian people (while bleeding Western economies), or to continue up the escalation ladder with deadlier weapons delivered and deployed by Ukraine. In either case, far more die.

A new security arrangement including Russia would mean the gradual phase out of NATO. Russia, one of the major Petro-states, could be weaned off its fossil fuel exports and brought into a new economy of alternative energies. As opposed to our unkept promises of the 1990s, we would truly integrate the Russian economy into Western economies without the perceived threat of NATO. Compromises would be necessary, on both sides. We could slowly, gradually escalate towards peace.

Peace is no harder (nor easier) than war, and yet we are obsessed with war. We have simply not dedicated the resources to wage peace in the same determined, relentless way we have waged war. No million dollar think tanks to develop peace strategies. No big dollar grants for university peace initiatives. No highly paid peace analysts.

We posit no sexy title for our strategy. Peace, and only peace. Thats it. We can split the atom and rocket to the stars. Surely we can resolve our disputes without incinerating each other. We need set our minds, money, and resources to it. Dominance is for tyrants. It must fall and humanity must prevail. Peace is everything.
STF Hot Shots are working Washburn Fire in Yosemite View Photo

Sonora, CA  Resources from the Stanislaus National Forest (STF) have been dispatched to Yosemite National Park in support of their efforts to suppress the Washburn Fire.

Resources sent to the blaze included one Interagency Hot Shot Crew of 22 personnel, one 20-person initial attack crew, one wildland fire module, one dozer, four Type-3 cover engines, and various support personnel.

Support of our agency partners in a time of need is part of the time-honored tradition of helping each other out, providing available resources. We know that if something were to happen in the forest and they had the resources available, they would help us, said Rebecca Johnson, Stanislaus National Forest Fire Management Officer.

Forest officials added that the deployment of resources to the Washburn Fire will not leave the forest unprotected if a wildfire ignites in the forest, as there are six engines, two wildland fire modules, one dozer, and one helicopter available to suppress fire starts in the forest.
Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke will make campaign stops in Lubbock, Amarillo and throughout the Texas Panhandle this summer as he heads on his A Drive for Texas tour, according to the candidates website. O'Rourke will visit Lubbock on July 21 at 5:30 p.m. and Amarillo on July 22 at 5:00 p.m. The candidate also has events planned in Muleshoe, Pampa, Dumas and Spearman throughout July.

In a recent poll, ORourke is trailing incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott by six percentage points, although this gap is closer than previous polls as the Democrat makes inroads with Independent voters. ORourke previously called himself an underdog in the race, while the Abbott campaign has referred to their opponent as a joke.
Four people died and three were injured  including individuals from Lubbock and Amarillo  in a crashes in Gonzales County Wednesday morning.

The initial crash resulted in three more collisions reported at 11:21 a.m. five miles west of Waelder.

According to a preliminary report from DPS, a semi truck towing a trailer driven by 56-year-old Wade Francis Slagle of Remer, Minnesota, failed to control its speed and collided with a BMW driven by 62-year-old Mona Mack Nesbitt of Lubbock. Nesbitts vehicle was stopped for traffic in a construction zone when Slagles vehicle crashed into hers.

Slagles vehicle continued east after the first collision and crashed into the back of another semi truck pulling a trailer driven by 25-year-old Xavier Marquis Gains of Madison, Mississippi. Another semi truck towing a trailer driven by Jose Juan Mosco Barrera of Seccin Mexico, Mexico, was also struck from behind during that collision.

Two other vehicles  a Nissan Kicks SUV driven by 56-year-old Muriel Jean Barnes of San Antonio and a Ford F-150 pickup driven by 57-year-old Rodney Lorin Frazier of Hallettsville  were struck by debris from the crash.

Both occupants in Slagles vehicle, including himself and 46-year-old Christy L. Hoffer of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were killed in the crash.

Two occupants in Nesbitts vehicle, including herself and an 11-year-old female of Amarillo, were also killed. A 9-year-old female from Amarillo in that same vehicle was transported with severe injuries.

Gaines and Barnes were both transported for possible injuries as well.

Barrera and Frazier were not injured.

According to the report, all are known to have been wearing seatbelts except for Hoffer.

Conditions at the time of the crash were clear and dry with a posted speed limit of 75 miles per hour.
Nattawat Apiluxsameewan / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

On Wednesday, a date also known as National French Fry Day, Google Trends posted a tweet highlighting the most searched type of french fry for each state. So, what's the most searched type of french fry in Texas. Hint: It's not steak fries?

In Texas, search interest for sweet potato fries is by far the top fry type, as is the case across the vast majority of states, including Lone Star neighbors Oklahoma and Louisiana. Carne asada fries topped search interest in a regional pocket of the U.S. Southwest, including states like Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
Courtesy of HKS

More details have been released on a boutique hotel from Indiana-based White Lodging with a rooftop lounge and pool that will open near Hemisfair and La Villita in late 2024. San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts Luxury & Lifestyle Collection, will open the 10-story hotel at 431 S Alamo Street, according to a news release.

The Kimpton boutique hotel will have 347 modern, luxury rooms with a pool lounge on the top floor overlooking downtown and Hemisfair, which is receiving extensive upgrades to its Civic Park. The hotel will also feature over 10,000 square-feet of meeting space, which includes a 5,000-square-foot ballroom.
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee was all the rage among many hotels. The gist was simple: Encounter a problem and receive your money back.

In theory, this approach addressed fairly serious issues such as early-morning pool renovations that made the jackhammer an unwelcome alarm clock. Bed bugs. No hot water.

But some hospitality experts say that promise  a 100% refund if customers werent 100% happy  mightve made things worse for both the customer and the hotel.

A toddler spilling yogurt may take staff longer to clean up, evolving into a bad review about a dirty lobby and a request for refund, says Bijoy Shah, an Indiana-based travel advisor. The customer-is-always-right mindset created these guarantees, but it seems the customer learned to abuse it, as well.

These days, travelers are unlikely to find such confident promises. Meanwhile, satisfaction rates are lower than ever. But its not because the guarantee is gone. Its because it was there in the first place.

Hotel satisfaction is worse than ever

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Indexs Travel Study 2021-2022, which interviewed 6,000 travelers from 2021 to 2022, satisfaction fell 2.7% during that time period. Meanwhile, many hospitality workers say complaints are soaring.

Things got so rough in 2021 that the Rhode Island Hospitality Association launched a Please Be Kind Toolkit containing mental health resources and information regarding handling unruly customers. Some attribute this years especially high dissatisfaction rates to differences of opinions about whether the pandemic is over.

At the beginning of the pandemic, guests were sympathetic to frontline workers, says Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power. Now, consumers want to get back to normal, but the hotel industry isnt back to normal  especially in terms of staffing.

While pandemic-related issues like a pause on breakfast buffets are partially to blame, the ongoing slump has been agitated  not driven  by the pandemic.

In fact, ACSIs numerical scores have been trending downward over the past decade, from a peak score of 77 in 2012 to just 71 in 2022.

The problem with the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Some hotel experts blame the lingering effects of the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee for low customer satisfaction. Beyond eating into hotel profits (and decreasing money to invest elsewhere), it may have inadvertently adjusted consumer demands.

Try as hard as you might  and most hotel staff bend over backwards  you can't manage everyone's unique and often-unrealistic expectations, says hospitality consultant Colleen Carswell. You cannot please everyone.

Hampton by Hilton is generally credited with creating the first-ever hotel 100% Satisfaction Guarantee (the guarantee was established before its former-parent company, Promus, was acquired by Hilton in 1999).

Shruti Gandhi Buckley, global brand head for Hampton by Hilton, says its introduction was instrumental in providing guests confidence that they would have a seamless and problem-free stay. If their expectations werent met, we would refund their money, no questions asked.

But some travel experts suspect this trained guests to believe that complaining equals compensation.

This benefit may have even magnified negative naysayers who are always looking for something bad to point out, often in a very disrespectful manner, says Carswell.

Gandhi Buckley maintains that abuse wasnt actually the problem, adding that while guests would sometimes have unusual rationale against invoking the guarantee, fewer than 1% of guests actually tried claiming refunds.

Yet Hilton reevaluated the offer after more than a decade. Now, its still a 100% Hampton Guarantee, but the outright refund language is gone.

We also found the original language signaled to a guest that something could go wrong, Gandhi Buckley says.

Plus, Gandhi Buckley says that most business travelers didnt care about refunds anyway (since stays were generally on their employers dime), and leisure travelers just wanted problems fixed. Hamptons new promise shifts away from refunds to empowering employees across all levels and departments to actually execute those fixes.

It allows team members to be more flexible, Gandhi Buckley says.

How to ensure you get hotel service you deserve

Be realistic: Understand that a lower-cost motel likely wont treat you as generously as a luxury resort.

Understand that a lower-cost motel likely wont treat you as generously as a luxury resort. Read online reviews: A previous traveler might tip you off to the soggy waffles.

A previous traveler might tip you off to the soggy waffles. Ask nicely: While Hampton still offers a refund when warranted, Gandhi Buckley says its common to receive other types of compensation. If your room isnt ready at check-in, you might receive a free snack. In situations where staff cannot fix the problem, polite escalation can be necessary. After all, you deserve what you paid for.

While Hampton still offers a refund when warranted, Gandhi Buckley says its common to receive other types of compensation. If your room isnt ready at check-in, you might receive a free snack. In situations where staff cannot fix the problem, polite escalation can be necessary. After all, you deserve what you paid for. Hold elite status: Stokes says it's more common to receive money-back guarantees when booking with elite status, as hotels prioritize customers expected to return.

Stokes says it's more common to receive money-back guarantees when booking with elite status, as hotels prioritize customers expected to return. Use trip insurance: In truly untenable situations, trip insurance might help. Coverage varies by policy  and youre unlikely to find one that covers soggy waffles. But most policies cover situations including the bell desk losing your luggage or severe weather preventing you from arriving. Also, many credit cards offer travel insurance for trips purchased on that card.

First seek compensation from the hotel. If those efforts dont work, ask your insurer.

Sally French writes for NerdWallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SAFmedia.

The article The Surprising Reason Why Hotel Guests May Be Grumpier Than Ever originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Click here to read the full article.

Welp, apparently the Emmys hate Westerns.

The stunning lack of nominations for the popular and acclaimed series Yellowstone and 1883 were far from the only surprises in Tuesday mornings Emmy nominations announcement, of course. Between the return of Emmy juggernaut Succession and the lack of previous winners like The Crown and The Handmaids Tale, this years race was already primed for some unexpected nominations  and some surprising omissions.

Two shows werent overlooked, however: Season 3 of Sex Education and the inaugural season of Heartstopper. While both series earned wide acclaim and major buzz, Netflix elected not to submit either for Primetime Emmy consideration, given the steep competition they were respectively facing in the comedy and drama categories. Instead, Sex Education is being submitted for the upcoming International Emmys, and Heartstopper will vie for recognition in the Childrens & Family Emmys. (Meanwhile, the latest Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and previous best drama nominee The Boys were both ineligible for this years Emmys.)

Here is Varietys assessment of the biggest surprises among the nominees for the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

Yellowstone and 1883 Shut Out of Major Categories

This was thought to be the year of Paramount Networks Yellowstone, which would then extend to its Paramount+ prequel spinoff 1883 in the limited series category. And yet, Taylor Sheridans Western, the most popular scripted series on television (among the networks that publicly release ratings, that is) didnt receive any nominations. No Kevin Costner for actor, no Kelly Reilly for actress, no Sheridan for anything, and no nominations in below-the-line categories, either. Its honestly a shock! 1883 did receive three below-the-line nominations: two for cinematography and one for music composition.

No Selena Gomez Nomination for Only Murders in the Building

While Hulus freshman comedy favorite earned a total of 17 nominations, including for leads Steve Martin and Martin Short, their partner in crime-solving, Selena Gomez, missed out on a nomination for lead actress. Perhaps Emmy voters thought her deadpan, straight-woman delivery was lower on laughs than Short and Martins antics  and it is, thats the point! Without Gomez in their podcasting trio, Only Murders would be missing a limb.

Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh Nominated for Killing Eve Final Season

The audience and critical consensus about the final season of the once-beloved Killing Eve  especially its series finale  was that it was an utter catastrophe. It was thought to be so terrible that even Luke Jennings, who wrote the novellas on which the show was based, repudiated its ending in the Guardian. And yet, Television Academy voters are such habitual creatures that they nominated both Oh and Comer (a surprise winner in the category for the BBC America shows first season).

Black-ish and This Is Us Shut Out of Major Categories in Their Final Seasons

Both top nominees in previous seasons, ABCs Black-ish and NBCs This Is Us finished their runs with strong finales that landed the plane with style and grace (and many tears). And yet neither show earned any top nominations this year  especially surprising for the career-best work by This Is Us star Mandy Moore. Black-ish earned nods for contemporary hairstyling and contemporary costumes, while This Is Us nabbed just one nomination for original music and lyrics  for a song co-written by star Moores husband, Taylor Goldsmith (with Siddhartha Khosla).

Genre Shows That Arent Stranger Things Shut Out of Top Categories

Last year, WandaVision and The Boys led an unprecedented wave of top-tier nominations for comic book adaptations, after the back-to-back best drama nods for the first Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, and a historic Emmy win for the HBO limited series Watchmen.

This year? Loki and The Book of Boba Fett missed in the top drama categories, Hawkeye and Peacemaker couldnt hit the best comedy target, and Moon Knight was shut out of the limited series category. Of those titles, Loki arguably had the best shot at a top-tier nom, but its June 2021 premiere meant it was overshadowed by the likes of eventual nominees Squid Game, Yellowjackets and Stranger Things.

The Marvel Studios series did pick up several nominations for technical and artisan categories, but none of the shows acting, writing or direction earned any Emmy love, and Peacemaker only earned a nomination for stunt coordination for a comedy.

Some Unexpected Love for The Great

Elle Fanning delivered a nuanced performance this Emmy season as the tortured Michelle Carter in the Hulu limited series The Girl From Plainville, but it turns out that voters really want to see her in a comedy. She received her first Emmy nomination ever in comedy lead actress for her turn as Catherine the Great in The Great. Her scene partner Nicholas Hoult was nominated for lead actor in a comedy for his portrayal as Peter. (The Hulu comedy received four nominations total, for costumes and production design as well.)

Several Big Surprises in the Supporting Actor/Actress Categories: Only Two SNL Nods, No Sarah Goldberg for Barry, and Lots of Love for Abbott Elementary, Squid Game and Especially The White Lotus

Its become something of an Emmy tradition of late for several members of the Saturday Night Live cast to earn nominations in the supporting actor and actress in a comedy categories. Kate McKinnon, who won the award two years in a row, was nominated again on Tuesday. But co-stars Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson (also in their final seasons) were ovelooked, as was regular nominee Kenan Thompson. Bowen Yang also repeated his nomination from last year among the SNL cast. (Similarly surprising, only Jerrod Carmichael was nominated for hosting SNL, for guest actor in a comedy.)

Really, though, all of the supporting categories were rife with surprises. Yes, it was expected that practically the entire cast of Succession would be nominated in the drama categories (except for Alan Ruck, the most Connor thing that could ever happen). But no one was expecting the same to be true for the cast of limited series The White Lotus: Only Fred Hechinger (as the social media addicted Quinn Mossbacher) and Brittany OGrady (as the conflicted guest of the Mossbachers) missed out among the main cast. Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney earned supporting nominations for The White Lotus and Euphoria.

Abbott Elementary stars Janelle James and Tyler James Williams were also surprise nominees, and the core cast of the South Korean sensation Squid Game also all earned nods: supporting actor nominees Park Hae-soo and Oh Yeong-su, and supporting actress nominee Jung Ho-yeon.

Alas, this surfeit of love for the casts of a few specific shows also meant that several other worthy nominees missed the cut, like Sarah Goldberg for Barry, Naveen Andrews for The Dropout, Chloe Sevigny for The Girl From Plainville, and Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks for Better Call Saul.

No Comedy Series Love for Cobra Kai

For its first two seasons  which streamed on YouTubes now-shuttered premium service, YouTube Red  Cobra Kai received two nominations in the same category, outstanding stunt coordination in a comedy, in 2018 and 2019. But after moving to Netflix in Season 3 (and beyond), Cobra Kai was honored with a coveted (and glorious!) comedy series nomination last year. But even after an excellent fourth season this year, Cobra Kai wasnt included in the comedy series category. Perhaps fans should just assume its because the wondrous ongoing saga of Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) is actually so dramatic that voters feel like its in the wrong category. (It did receive the stunt coordination nom again, though.)

Pam & Tommy In; Maid Mostly Out!

Pam & Tommy, the Hulu limited series about what happened to Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee after their sex tape was stolen from them, got a ton of love on Emmy nominations morning. Not only was the show nominated in the very competitive limited series category, but it received 10 nominations overall, including for Lily James as Pam and Sebastian Stan as Tommy (neither was a sure bet). Oh, and of course it got nominated for hair!

Maid, its competitor, proved to be a word-of-mouth sensation upon its fall release; it inhabited the Netflix Top 10 charts for weeks. Yet on Tuesday, the series itself was not nominated, though its star Margaret Qualley received a well-earned nominated for lead actress in a limited series, creator Molly Smith Metzler got a writing nomination and John Wells got one for directing.

Reese Witherspoon Nominated Over Jennifer Aniston for The Morning Show

That Bradley Jackson, you never can underestimate her! Although Reese Witherspoons character on The Morning Show seemingly had less to do in the Apple TV+ shows second season than her rival and frenemy, Jennifer Anistons Alex Levy, Witherspoon was nominated for lead actress in a drama. Not to further pit these women against one another, but did Alex return to UBA, throw her back out, travel to Italy to get closure with Mitch (Steve Carell) and get freaking COVID for nothing? Apparently, yes!

Sarah Paulson Nominated for Impeachment: American Crime Story

Ryan Murphys Impeachment: American Crime Story had been anticipated for years, with its premiere date at one point even causing concern that it could affect the 2020 election. And in order to play Linda Tripp, a central figure in the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Sarah Paulson changed her entire physicality, gaining weight and donning prosthetics. She also perfected Tripps accent and flat manner of speaking. And yet, despite all the hype, when it premiered last year, the series barely made an impact. And though previous entries in Murphys anthology series  The People v. O.J. Simpson and Versace  had been favorites, during Emmys campaigning season, it was as if Impeachment had never existed.

And yet! On Tuesday morning, Paulson received a surprise nomination in the ultra-competitive limited series lead actress category.

Go Back to the Oscars, Movie Stars!

For years now, actors best known for headlining feature films have turned to television and won acclaim and Emmys hardware for doing so, but this year, a great number of A-listers turned in awards-worthy work on TV that was conspicuously overlooked: Costner for Yellowstone, Samuel L. Jackson for The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Jessica Chastain for Scenes From a Marriage, Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway for WeCrashed, Julia Roberts and Sean Penn for Gaslit, Tom Hiddleston for Loki and The Essex Serpent, Viola Davis and Michelle Pfeiffer for The First Lady, Josh Brolin for Outer Range, and Renee Zellweger for The Thing About Pam.

To be fair, a few movie stars did earn Emmy nods this year, including Oscar Isaac for Scenes From a Marriage, Michael Keaton for Dopesick, Seth Rogen for Pam & Tommy and Andrew Garfield for Under the Banner of Heaven. But perhaps the divide between the worlds of film and television isnt as porous as wed previously thought.

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Tom Reel /Staff file photo

The Woodlawn Theatre has announced that it will be relocating from the Deco District location on Fredericksburg Road to the Wonderland of the Americas in early 2023. The theater will replace the former Bijou Santikos that closed in April.

Edmond Ortiz, a journalist for Impact News, posted the release from Woodlawn Theatre about the move on Twitter on Wednesday, July 13. The nonprofit performing arts organization has been producing award-winning musicals at the historic Woodlawn Theatre for 10 years.
Mr. & Mrs. G's, the beloved mom-and-pop soul food and pastry spot on San Antonio's Eastside, announced their upcoming closure over the weekend after 32 years of service.

"The decision to close down wasnt easy, but due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors, the losses suffered are too much," wrote the restaurant owners in a social media message.

In March 2021, the community mourned the loss of William Garner, one half of the husband and wife duo that opened the restaurant in July 1990. Known to loyal customers as "Mr. G," he survived his wife Addie by four years. "Mrs. G" died in 2017 after a lengthy battle with illness.

"Mr. & Mrs. G were proud to serve the community through these glorious years and they were so thankful to San Antonians for all of the support," the announcement continues.

With no money in their pockets for advertising or a kitchen staff, the Garner's first opened their restaurant to little fanfare. Thank's to word of mouth and their Southern-style meals, customers began lining up.

Mike Sutter /San Antonio Express-News

"It was a dream for William & Addie to open a restaurant," the post reads. "They wanted to give back and help the community."

San Antonio will still have a chance to get their home-cooked soul food before Mr. & Mrs. G's closes doors for good. The fried chicken destination  also known for its smothered steaks, okra gumbo, and banana pudding  will continue operating through the end of July with an adjusted menu to deplete inventory.

"Well never forget the amount of support received. More than anything, we appreciate the positive feedback, accolades and community service awards that weve received over the past 32 years. San Antonio, we thank YOU for your support and the great memories and for allowing us to serve YOU for 32 years," the announcement closes.

The restaurant will remain open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m until the end of the month. Find it at 2222 South WW White Road.
Inti St Clair/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Even though construction on a new winery isn't expected to begin until the fall, wine enthusiast might have already made a stop at this company's other Hill Country locations. The William Chris Wine Company is expected to break ground on their new winery, Lost Draw Cellars in Johnson City, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing.

The new 9,260 square-foot winery will be located at 1686 US Highway 290 in Johnson City. Construction is slated to begin on September 1 and be completed in one year, with an estimated completion date of September 1, 2023. The $2.5 million "ground-up" winery will have a covered porch, public tasting room, retail store, club tasting, barrel storage, offices, kitchen and an outdoor bar, according to the listing.
Mike Sutter /Staff

Thai Dee is ready to reunite with its guests in a dine-in setting. The beloved thai restaurant is once again offering dine-in after two years. The restaurant ceased serving guests inside in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The restaurant has been around since 2002. Since then, it's become a local favorite, taking various readers choice awards and establishing itself as a go-to for authentic Thai eats. The love has been evident this week as Thai Dee used social media to announce its long-awaited return to dine-in service, starting on Monday, July 11.
kali9/Getty Images

A man called 9-1-1 on Tuesday, July 12, and informed members of the Hays County Sheriff's Office dispatch that he had shot two people. Dispatch determined that the call came from the 100 block of Lawnsdale in Kyle, where police discovered two men who had died from gunshot wounds, according to a Hays Counter Sheriff's Office news release.

The caller, Noe Raymundo Ibarra, 30, was identified as the shooter and transported to Hays County Jail. He was later charged with one-count of capital murder for the shooting and killing of the two men, according to the release.
Update: 2:40 p.m, Wednesday, July 13: CPS Energy is urging customers to reduce their energy from 2 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13. The urgency comes after ERCOT asked Texans to do their part in conservation efforts.

ERCOT emphasized that no system-wide outages are expected at this time.

Here are some tips to conserve energy:

Set thermostats 2 to 3 degrees higher from 2  9 p.m.; set programmable thermostats to higher temperatures (up to 85 degrees) when no one is home. The optimum energy-saving temperature is 78-80 degrees.

Avoid using large appliances (i.e., ovens, washing machines, etc.), especially during peak demand hours.

Use fans to feel 4 to 6 degrees cooler. Remember: fans cool people by moving air across the skin. They don't cool rooms and should be turned off in empty rooms. Also, be sure fans are moving counterclockwise to push air down.

Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.

Close shades and blinds on windows exposed to direct sunlight.

Charge electric vehicles after 10 p.m.

Set pool pumps to run early morning or overnight; shutoff from 2-9 p.m.

Original Story:

CPS Energy

If you live on the Northeast Side and had a power outage, this may have been why. San Antonio's CPS Energy dealt with an outage after a canopy blew into power lines on Tuesday, July 12 afternoon.

The city-owned utility company posted on its social media accounts about the outage near Judson High School. CPS Energy noted to its residents how it wasn't a rolling outage and how it was caused by the canopy instead.

According to its post on Twitter, the power was restored at 4:30 p.m. However, CPS Energy is reminding the community to tie-down items that strong winds can blow away.

"Remember #SafetyFirst," CPS Energy wrote.

Earlier this week on Monday, July 11, Texas energy companies received some heat after ERCOT urged Texans to voluntarily conserve power. However, CPS Energy assured its customers that it had enough energy to meet demand as temperatures reached 108 degrees in San Antonio.

The heat advisory will continue into Wednesday, July 13, according to the National Weather Service. High temperatures will rise up to 104 with a heat index of 109. CPS Energy reminded its customers to stay hydrated and cool during the heat wave.

The city also has 55 cooling stations around San Antonio that will operate until 6 p.m. Residents can find their nearest cooling center at the office of emergency management website. Pets are allowed.
Ken Branca

A man was hit by a vehicle and then dragged by another after he reportedly ran onto a street on the city's Northeast Side on Tuesday, July 12, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

The incident occurred just before 10:30 a.m. at the intersection of Walzem Road and Abbey Place, near Eisenhauer Road and Woodlake Parkway. Officials said a man in his 30s was driving northbound in a white two-door sedan when he hit the man who ran onto the street.
Brad Parscale, the past San Antonio resident and Donald Trump's former campaign manager, texted campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, saying he felt "guilty."

The January 6 committee looked at those texts between the Trinity University graduate and Pierson on Tuesday, July 12. Reporters covering the hearing and other journalists called it "stunning" to see Parscale be a "voice of reason."

"This is about trump [sic] pushing for uncertainty in our country. A sitting president asking for civil war," Parscale text Pierson. "This week I feel guilty for helping him win."

Pierson responded by trying to placate Parscale's feelings by saying that he did what he felt was right, to which Parscale said, "But a woman is dead." He is referring to Ashli Babbitt, one of the people who was shot and killed by Capitol police while trying to climb through a shattered window in the Speaker's Lobby.

Pierson texts, "You do realize this was going to happen?"

Parscale then blames Trump's rhetoric in the days leading up to January 6, 2021. Pierson denies it was Trump's rhetoric, to which Parscale replies, "Katrina. Yes it was."

The texts to Pierson are a stark contrast to Parscale's public endorsement of Trump, especially a month after the January 6 riots where he tweeted, "If they only impeached you twice, you need to run again."

Parscale ran the Trump campaign out of San Antonio and is credited with helping Trump win his election in 2016. Parscale was demoted as campaign manager in July 2020. Afterward he was accused by his replacement Bill Stepien of almost driving the campaign into debt.

Josh Dawsey, political reporter with the Washington Post, tweeted Tuesday night that two people "familiar" with Parscale said the former campaign manager called Trump the same day as the hearing and is expected to continue working for him.

Parscale then moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he had a drunken encounter with police at his home in September 2020. Parscale now runs a digital campaign media management software out of Ohio called Nucleus, according to his Twitter bio. He also calls himself the "MAGA architect."
The Schertz Police Department made a crucial error this week. The error resulted in the destruction of evidence that impacted over 1,000 cases in three different counties.

On Tuesday, July 12, the Schertz Police Department released a statement informing the public about an "administrative error" when staff "purged" 1,376 cases from 2007 to 2018 in Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties.

"The goal of the Schertz Police Department is to provide exemplary law enforcement service and unfortunately, in this instance, we failed to meet that standard," said Police Chief Jim Lowery in a news release. "On behalf of the department, we apologize for this mistake. I hope that our residents know we are committed to learning from this situation and will work to ensure something like this never happens again. In light of these events, all department staff will undergo additional training and review of our policies and protocols with oversight from our partners at the County Attorneys Offices."

The Schertz Police Department is currently in the Texas Police Chiefs Association Best Practices accreditation program, which helps police departments with internal reviews of policies, facilities, and operations among other areas in the hopes of "providing efficient and effective delivery of service while protecting individual's rights," according to the release.

The police department worked with a consultant that was supposed to help consolidate the evidence room to be more efficient. In January 2022, staff started destroying evidence based on the consultants advice. Staff didn't use proper procedures during the purge, according to the release.

Police confirmed of the 1,376 cases, 60% of the destroyed evidence was within the statute of limitations.

No criminal violations have been charged to any staff members and the "administrative issue" is being addressed internally, according to the release. The police department did not say if any of the evidence that was destroyed was related to any open or pending criminal cases.

MySA reached out to the Guadalupe County Attorney's Office, Comal County District Attorney's Office, and Bexar County District Attorney's Office for a comment.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

My yellow waders got all yucky and corroded when I covered Hillary Clintons lunch with the FT back in June, and the repair guy is still coping with the damage. So I will not be able to give the Biden Administrations latest Fact Sheet on BA.5 the full attention it so richly deserves. In policy terms, the Fact Sheet is not materially different from the Administrations National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan of March 2, with the exception of a focus on equity, a word that does not appear in the Fact Sheet, presumably because it has been achieved. Theres more specific content on both masks and ventilation in the Fact Sheet that in the Prepareness Plan, which would be a good thing were the content not wholly inadequate, not to say lethal if you follow the advice. (I cant see that the White House Office of Science and Technology, which is good on both topics, had any input whatever, which would  hold onto your hats, here, folks  support the idea that the Fact Sheet is a mere public relations strategy.)

Reaction to the Fact Sheet has been extremely muted, not to say stifled. WaPos headline  Biden officials urge use of booster shots, antivirals against BA.5  suggests that the vax and relax mindset is still fully entrenched in WaPos readership, although the story is somewhat less limited:

White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha said the administrations strategy to manage BA.5 relies on vaccination, antiviral treatments, testing, masking and improved indoor ventilation, measures that have worked to keep people out of the hospital and from dying.

(Note the abandonment of the goal of controlling infection, to which we shall return.)

The Washington Times coverage  White House COVID coordinator: Country can weather new BA.5 variant just fine  is similar:

The Biden administration said the fast-moving BA.5 variant of the coronavirus is a stark but manageable challenge, unveiling a plan that relies on frequent testing, antiviral drugs and up-to-date vaccinations while stopping short of an immediate expansion of the booster campaign as drugmakers reformulate their shots.

Similar except, like the Guardians coverage but not WaPos they leave out masking and ventilation altogether.

In this post, Ill skip over the vaccination and booster controversies, and focus on the Biden Administrations strategic goals, and also on masks and ventilation. Im doing this for two reasons. First, Im committed to policy of layered protection (Swiss Cheese Model), which I think would both subsume Bidens vax-first policy and be more effective in preventing airborne transmission, especially given that the operational definition of Bidens Preparedness Plan has turned out to be Let Er Rip, turning the United States into a global reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Second, I believe that the Biden Administrations guidance on both masking and ventilation is lethal, or to put matters more politely, wont save as many lives as it could. (The Fact Sheet relies heavily on CDC content, so Ill have to stumble into that gruesome morass as well, for which I apologize in advance.)

Let us now turn to Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Outlines Strategy to Manage BA.5, annotating passages in our usual way.

* * *

Fact Sheet Strategy: Today, the White House COVID-19 Team is announcing its strategy to manage[1] BA.5. The strategy relies on ensuring that Americans continue to have easy and convenient access to the vaccines, treatments, tests, and other tools that protect against and treat [2] COVID-19. These tools  even in the face of BA.5  work to prevent serious illness , keep people out of the hospital, and save lives  and we can prevent nearly all COVID-19 deaths with them [3].

[1] Manage how, exactly? Ed Yong asks the key question: This is what living with COVID meansa continual cat-and-mouse game that we can choose to play seriously or repeatedly forfeit. The stakes of that game depend on a very simple question: Should we still care about preventing infections? If the answer is not so much, which is the implicit and sometimes explicit posture that Americas leaders have adopted, then BA.5 changes little. But if the answer is yes, as I and most of the experts I talk to still believe, then BA.5 is a problem. In what follows, well see that preventing infections is not a goal of the Administration. The metrics they manage by show this clearly. [2] Notice the slipperiness between protect against and treat vs. work to prevent serious illness vs. prevent nearly all COVID-19 deaths. I think that, given the Biden administrations peformance on Omicron (record spike) and BA.5 (a guesstimated record spike, though CDC has butchered the case counts, so its hard to tell) plus the fact that the vaccines are not sterilizing and reinfection is frequent makes a claim to protect against weak, and the Administration is wise to slide away from it in the text that follows. [3] As we see, the only metrics that matter are hospitalizations and (from Covid) deaths, and not infection. Long Covid, vascular damage, and neurological damage, all of which can come from mild infections, are not a metric that the Administration watches for.

Fact Sheet Mobilization: To confront BA.5, the Administration will continue mobilizing the full strength and capabilities of the federal government[1] and working with state and local leaders, health care workers, the private sector, and community- and faith-based organizations to ensure that the American people have easy and convenient access to and use vaccines, tests, and treatments[1].

[1] Well, maybe. Heres a simple test you can apply yourself in the coming weeks. As readers surely know, the Presidents time is the most valuable asset of any Administration. You would, therefore, expect to see the full strength and capabilities of the federal government embodied in the Presidents presence, speaking to the issue. Now, Biden is a busy guy when not napping, so thats probably too high a bar for this Administration. But what about President-In-Waiting Harris? Here is Harriss schedule for the year from the Los Angeles Times:

Harris is obviously spending hardly any time on Covid at all (even when Omicron was peaking). If the Administration committed to the full strength bit, her schedule will fill right up with BA.5 events. However, this seems unlikely; if it were, Jill Biden would already be on it. I cant find her schedule, but last I heard she was trying to salvage the Democrat midterms by appealing to the Hispanic Latinx vote. Of course, we can hope, but this doesnt seem likely.

[2] Vaccines, tests, and treatments again shows that preventing infection does not matter to the Administration.

Fact Sheet Masking: Experts agree that masking in indoor, public spaces is an important tool to control the spread[1] of COVID-19. The CDCs COVID-19 Community Levels provide individuals with clear recommendations[2] on when to consider masking in indoor, public spaces[3]. As BA.5 drives an increase in cases, the Administration continues to encourage Americans to visit COVID.gov to find the level of COVID-19 in their community and follow CDCs recommendations on wearing masks in public, indoor settings[4].

[1] With control the spread, we finally get, conceptually, to transmission. However, the Administration doesnt recommend a metric for transmission, unlike deaths and hospitalization (You cant manage what you dont measure), so the Fact Sheets remarks on masking are purely performative. (But dont get me wrong: Theyll be fighting for them!)

[2] The CDCs Community Levels metric  which has grown all over everything like kudzu  is indeed clear. Its also wrong, and lethally so. See note [4] below.

[3] Private spaces are important too. Anecdotally  some of the best data we have, given the givens  there are many cases of households where one member became infected, but when the household adopted a layered strategy including masking, but also isolation of the infected, ventilation, and Corsi boxes, no other members were infected.

[4] Here, the Administration is recommending CDCs Community Levels metric. Community Levels combines a leading indicator (cases) with a lagging one (hospitalization). The lag between infection and hospitalization can be as much as two weeks. Therefore, by the time Community Levels kicks in, infection in the community could already be high (important given that Covid exhibits doubling behavior. The CDC does have a map of transmission only (and explictly discourages dull normals like you from using it). That map has been solid red (dangerous) for a long, long time. However, CDCs Community levels map, gamed as it is, has been green (safe) also for a long, long time. Eric Topol described CDCs game-playing with metrics back in May, 2022:

[INTERVIEWER: ] But you look at the CDCs [Community Levels] map, it shows the country where theres a few hot spots, the orange up in New York and some yellow up in Minnesota and Michigan, but the rest of the country looks green, as if it  there isnt a problem with this virus. What is the disconnect there? [TOPOL: ] Well, I have called it a capitulation . That is, the CDC is  frankly, its a deception, that the level of the virus is low, when the transmission is incredibly high . I mean, its starting to approach that of what we saw with the Omicron wave. And its continued  its rising quickly. So this is really irresponsible of the CDC to give us this impression that things are copacetic, when they couldnt be  that couldnt be further from the truth.

In other words, if you follow the CDCs Community Levels metric, you could be masking up two weeks too late. Dont use it. Use the map of transmission only, the one that shows the real danger to you (scroll down to the red map with the Community Transmission dropdowns for Data Type and Map Metric. Ignore the CDCs hectoring, immediately above the map, that Community Transmission levels are provided for healthcare facility use only.

Fact Sheet the Immunocompromised: The Administration has initiated a communications campaign to ensure that immunocompromised individuals and their close contacts are up to date with COVID-19 vaccination and boosters[1].

[1] Once again, anecdotes are what we have, but from what I hear, what the immunocompromised want most and dont have is universal masking, so they can go out into the world like normal people and not worry about sharing air with the infected. (Yes, universal masking is safer than one-way masking.)

Fact Sheet Ventilation: Improving ventilation can [1] help prevent the spread of BA.4 and BA.5 indoors in buildings. The Administration has provided state and local leaders hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds that can be used in schools, public buildings, and other settings to improve indoor air quality, and the Administration will continue to advance indoor air quality in buildings, including by increasing public awareness around ventilation and filtration improvements to reduce disease spread[2], as well as by recognizing buildings and organizations that have taken steps to improve indoor air quality. These efforts will expand on the Administrations best practices guide for improving indoor air quality and reducing the risk of spreading dangerous airborne particles and the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, which calls on all building owners and operators, schools, colleges and universities, and organizations of all kinds to adopt key strategies to improve indoor air quality in their buildings and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, CDC has released interactive tools to help individuals at home[3], in schools[4], and in other buildings to understand how air flows in their space and what they can do to help shore up air quality and improve ventilation indoors.[5]

[1] I have helpfully underlined the Administration verbiage that indicates this is all voluntary, and there will be no demands for compliance with any sort of regulation (dread word). [2] Here again we have a nod to tranmission, but with no metric and no enforcement, the Fact Sheet is merely performative. [3] Naturally, the Fact Sheet doesnt actually link to the interactive tools, but I think this is the guidance for homes: Ive got to assume that this is a tool, and not some kind of childrens toy (although the drawing style, especially the color palette, argues for the latter. The softness is designed to make it appear harmless, which it isnt.) A good tool would take into account: The size of the room, the number of guests, and the duration of stay. Measures would include opening doors (not just windows ffs), turning on bathroom and kitchen fans, buying a box- or window- fan to really move the air, and Corsi-Rosenthal boxes as an alternative to portable air-cleaners (DIY alternatives using single 1, 2 and 4 MERV 13/14 filters compare favorably to commercially available systems in terms of estimated CADR and dBA but at five to ten times lower cost .) Readers will doubtless have additional measures. [4] The tool for schools is worse: A good tool would take into account: The size of the classoom, the number of students, and the duration of class. Incredibly, CDCs tool doesnt mention opening windows or doors. Not incredibly, but even more lethally, they dont mention Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, or even portable air cleaners. Finally, they dont mention using CO2 meters as a proxy for shared air in the room, so parents could determine how much danger of infection their children were actually in. [5] Throughout, although most obviously with the omission of CO2 meters, we see the Biden Administrations wilful and crass evasion of measuring transmission.

Fact Sheet Covid.gov: Earlier this year, the Biden Administration launched COVID.gov, a new one-stop shop website[1] to help Americans find where to access lifesaving tools like vaccines, tests, treatments, and masks[2]. People can also type in their county to find the latest updates on the level of COVID-19 in their community[3] and related guidance[4]. And, with a click of a button, people can access resources related to testing, ventilation, and other important COVID-19 topics.

[1] The site is not at all one-stop. In fact, its a thin layer of quasi-friendly redirections, primarily to the gruesome tangled mass that is the CDCs website, but also to other sites. [2] Here is the Covid.gov on masks: Lets just say this isnt as helpful as it could be. [3] By level of COVID-19 in their community the Administration means CDCs Community Level metric, which Eric Topol (see above) rightly calls a capitulation and a deception: Note the highlighted material at the bottom: The Community Level is low because the levels of hospitalizations, cases, and patients in hospitlals are not a strain on the local health system. In other words, transmission as such is not a relevant metric. If CDC were organizing a campaign against drunk driving, theyd be telling people it was OK to drive drunk when the ERs arent full. [4] I tried travel: What I would really like to know is whether my airports (leaving and arriving) are in Rapid Riser counties, because the air travel is one ginormous superspreading event, and so airports (as we saw in Manhattan in Spring 2020) are often epicenters of transmission spikes. (Therefore, a seven-day transmission average is not enough; I really want rapid riser). Unfortunately, CDC now only delivers Rapid Riser data twice a week, which is not fast enough, given the doubling behavior of the virus. Ah well, nevertheless.

Conclusion

What we see in the Fact Sheet is a willful refusal to create metrics or regulation for masking and ventilation, or for transmission generally. I can only conclude that the following meme (sorry) describes not only the policy of the Biden Administration but the future course of the disease:

Wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave. The Biden COVID plan. pic.twitter.com/Dj4TFiIEm5  sachapie ( since March 2020) (@sachapie) June 15, 2022

Let er rip!
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

As an engineering project, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is, in fact, incredibly cool:

Being an exquisitely sensitive infrared astronomical observatory, the James Webb Space Telescopes optics and scientific instruments need to be cold to suppress infrared background noise. Moreover, the detectors inside each scientific instrument, that convert infrared light signals into electrical signals for processing into images, need to be cold to work just right. Typically, the longer the wavelength of infrared light, the colder the detector needs to be to do this conversion while also limiting the generation of random noise electrons.

I totally identity with that; I have to suppress a lot of random noise electrons myself; its called the news flow. But why so cold?

The low temperature is necessary because all four of Webbs instruments detect infrared light  wavelengths slightly longer than those that human eyes can see. Distant galaxies, stars hidden in cocoons of dust, and planets outside our solar system all emit infrared light. But so do other warm objects, including Webbs own electronics and optics hardware. Cooling down the four instruments detectors and the surrounding hardware suppresses those infrared emissions. MIRI detects longer infrared wavelengths than the other three instruments, which means it needs to be even colder. Another reason Webbs detectors need to be cold is to suppress something called dark current, or electric current created by the vibration of atoms in the detectors themselves. Dark current mimics a true signal in the detectors, giving the false impression that they have been hit by light from an external source. Those false signals can drown out the real signals astronomers want to find. Since temperature is a measurement of how fast the atoms in the detector are vibrating, reducing the temperature means less vibration, which in turn means less dark current.

Yes, yes, dark currents. That tracks. Anyhow, the JWST has cooled down enough, and now that it has, we have photos! This is going to be an extremely lazy post, a mere excuse to post as many beautful JWST photos as I can find (hopefully different ones from the mainstream). Lets go!

* * *

But wait. Lets not.

I must also confess that I expected a JWST debacle; I well remember the day when the mirror flaw of the Hubble Telescope, another Pharonic project, was discovered: [T]he observatorys primary mirror had an aberration that affected the clarity of the telescopes early images. My first thought: We cant manufacture anything anymore. A reasonably advanced thought for 1990, I think, and a thought that I and many others have had since. Fortunately, however, there was no JWST debacle, which really did give me some hope and confidence that the country wasnt going to screw literally everything up. Here is a photo that shows what a glorious piece of machinery the JWST is (and by extension, the glory of its builders):

The link above gives a good description of the JWST instrumentation, but here is an explanation of how JWSTs iconic Primary Mirror, the golden hexagonalized construct seen at bottom center above, was engineered:

Webb Telescopes scientists and engineers determined that a primary mirror 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across is what was needed to measure the light from these distant galaxies. The Webb Telescope team also decided to build the mirror in segments on a structure which folds up, like the leaves of a drop-leaf table, so that it can fit into a rocket. The mirror would then unfold after launch. Each of the 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror segments is 1.32 meters (4.3 feet) in diameter, flat to flat. The hexagonal shape allows for a roughly circular, segmented mirror with high filling factor and six-fold symmetry. High filling factor means the segments fit together without gaps. If the segments were circular, there would be gaps between them. Symmetry is good because there need only be 3 different optical prescriptions for 18 segments, 6 of each (see above right diagram). Finally, a roughly circular overall mirror shape is desired because that focuses the light into the most compact region on the detectors. A oval mirror, for example, would give images that are elongated in one direction. A square mirror would send a lot of the light out of the central region. Gold improves the mirrors reflection of infrared light.

(Theres a lot more information at the link above on the JWSTs mirrors.) If youve got four hours, heres a video of the primary mirrors unfolding (deployment):

And segments of the mirror itself, in the cleanroom at NASA Goddard, was captured in the spring of 2017, before the telescope was transported to NASA Johnson for cryogenic testing:

Well, enough about the engineering; sorry to fall into squeeing fan boy mode, there; something I hope I rarely do. Now, to the photos. Lets go!

* * *

Humanitys Last Glimpse of the James Webb Space Telescope Here it is: humanitys final look at the James Webb Space Telescope as it heads into deep space to answer our biggest questions. This image was captured by the cameras on board the rockets upper stage as the telescope separated from it.

I think our biggest questions may involve how to live on earth. Still, I remember seeing a video of JWST moving away from the upper stage, and being moved by the inevitability of its motion (and also the lovely gold and blue color, not quite captured in this image).

Webbs Fine Guidance Sensor Provides a Serendipitous Preview We are one week away from the release of the first science-quality images from NASAs James Webb Space Telescope, but how does the observatory find, and lock onto its targets? Webbs Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS)  developed by the Canadian Space Agency was designed with this particular question in mind. The engineering test image  produced during a thermal stability test in mid-May  has some rough-around-the-edges qualities to it. It was not optimized to be a science observation, rather the data were taken to test how well the telescope could stay locked onto a target, but it does hint at the power of the telescope. It carries a few hallmarks of the views Webb has produced during its postlaunch preparations. Bright stars stand out with their six, long, sharply defined diffraction spikes  an effect due to Webbs six-sided mirror segments. Beyond the stars  galaxies fill nearly the entire background. The result  using 72 exposures over 32 hours  is among the deepest images of the universe ever taken, according to Webb scientists.

I like starbursts in photos myself, but this is a different order of things.

Telescope Alignment Evaluation Image After completing two more mirror alignment steps, weve confirmed the James Webb Space Telescopes optical performance will be able to meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to achieve. While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webbs optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up. At this stage of Webbs mirror alignment, known as fine phasing, each of the [18] primary mirror [hexagonal] segments have been adjusted to produce one unified image of the same star.

Carina Nebula (birth): Webbs new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years.

The Southern Ring nebula (death): [T]hese are shells of dust and gas shed by dying Sun-like stars. The new details from Webb will transform our understanding of how stars evolve and influence their environments.

Stephans Quintet: Stephans Quintet, a collection of five galaxies, as seen by MIRI on the James Webb Space Telescope. The galaxies all glow in different colors, surrounded by lacy, glowing clouds of gas and dust. Four of the five are centered in the image. Three are visibly spiral galaxies, with tendrils extending out from their glowing centers. The galaxy farthest to the left appears slightly more clearly, with vibrant blue lacing surrounding the oval-shaped light of the galaxy. This is because the farthest left galaxy is not interacting with the other four; its actually far in the foreground from the others. The galaxies all appear against a field of sparkling stars and other, farther galaxies.

Space (its big): [This is] the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken Webb was able to capture this image in less than one day, while similar deep field images from Hubble can take multiple weeks. The background of space is black. Thousands of galaxies appear all across the view. Their shapes and colors vary. Some are various shades of orange, others are white. Most stars appear blue, and are sometimes as large as more distant galaxies that appear next to them.

Webb was able to capture this image in less than one day. Big fan of long exposures, depth of field here, but holy moley! No wonder there werent more photos!

Carina Nebula (once more): A composite image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, created with the Webb telescopes NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Pinkish brown clouds of gas and dust dominate the foreground of the image, glittering with young stars. Behind the glowing, mountainous clouds, the sky appears navy blue, with shining stars and galaxies.

Finally, data is important, too:

WASP-96 b: The James Webb Space Telescope spotted the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze & evidence for clouds (once thought not to exist there). This is the most detailed exoplanet spectrum to date! A spectrum is created when light is split into a rainbow of colors. When Webb observes the light of a star, filtered through the atmosphere of its planet, its spectrographs split up the light into an infrared rainbow. By analyzing that light, scientists can look for the characteristic signatures of specific elements or molecules in the spectrum. Located in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, WASP-96 b is 1,150 light-years away. Its a large, hot planet with a puffy atmosphere, orbiting very close to its Sun-like star. In fact, its temperature is greater than 1000 degrees F (537 degrees C)  significantly hotter than any planet in our own solar system!

Very pleased that the WASP planet has water  although perhaps gin with a touch of vermouth would have been more appropriate?

* * *

I suppose when the aliens who ended up running our quarantine whizz by the JWST, they scoff: Mirrors! How charmingly antiquated! I stayed at a B&B on Betelgeuse IV that had one of those. Nevertheless, I find the success of the JWST as an engineering project re-assuring; we have had no MCAS debacle; no Uber autonomous vehicle scamming; the algos seem pure. Somewhere, out there, there is a stable platform sending home images of staggering beauty, not because beauty was sought, but because it was found.

* * *

Of course, as a final note, I should be thinking of public relations, which at NASA, despite the sad episode of the space shuttle, a bad idea badly executed, are not unknown. The New York Times, shockingly, did some actual reporting on how these particular photographs were selected, starting in 2016 (!):

In 2016, a committee of representatives from the Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies convened to start choosing Webbs very first demo targets. They checked off boxes that vibed with the telescopes scientific goals: a deeper-than-ever deep field, galaxies pulsing in the void like jellyfish, a star with an attendant exoplanet, star-forming regions like the Carina Nebula and more. Ultimately, this process nominated around 70 possible targets. Once the telescope had begun operating this winter, they whittled this list down to regions of the sky it could point to within the six-week time limit  plus a few held in reserve, to tease out in the next few months as the telescopes scientific pursuits cranked into gear. In early June, for example, Klaus Pontoppidan, the astronomer leading this early release team, was the first human to download the new telescopes full deep field view. This long, probing look at distant galaxies peers further back toward the start of time and the edge of space than any instrument of humanity has ever managed. I was sitting there, staring at it for two hours, and then desperately, desperately wanting to share it with someone, he said. But I couldnt. And then, finally, finally, the earliest results started trickling in through the bottleneck of Dr. Pontoppidans computer in early June, his being the only Webb user account granted access in this hush-hush phase of observation. From there, the team digitally combined raw frames into deeper, more polished exposures and then passed them on to image processors for color rendering. Space exploration is never just about space. Stories matter too. And theyre often told by imagery  whether an above-the-fold print, a slickly produced livestream or a Netflix special. This tradition stretches at least as far back as the 1960s, when none other than James Webb, an early NASA administrator whose name would grace the new telescope, embraced art and visual communication as a key part of justifying the Apollo Program. He actually came from the State Department, where he was very well versed in hearts and minds campaigns, said Lois Rosson, a historian of science at the University of Southern California. While Webb was its second-ranking official, the State Department embarked on a purge of gay employees, leading to emphatic calls for NASA to rename the telescope that have gone unheeded.

So, they got me. The cold hands of a PR operation got me (and for all I know, State was Webbs cover). On the other hand, the images are beautiful (as is the engineering), covering the hearts part. The science is worth doing, covering the minds part. Rembrandt was a businessman, after all. So was Shakespeare. Lincoln was a railroad lawyer. Ah well, nevertheless.
My Nashville Post role has evolved since 2000 when I joined the now-defunct The City Paper. TCP became a Post sister publication in 2008 (when I began doing some Post work) and folded in 2013. I have been managing editor of the Post since late 2011.

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(Natural News) Consider the logic of the left and its no wonder that many people are considering the unspeakable  whether America will devolve into actual violent conflict. But I dare speak about it at length in my brand-new book Well Be Back: The Fall and Rise of America, which confronts this issue of systematic political violence head-on. The most important question related to the long decline of America at the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and terminally foolish ruling caste that controls our major institutions is whether we can pull out of this tailspin without bloodshed.

(Article by Kurt Schlichter republished from TownHall.com)

I sure hope so, but the risk is real and we need to confront it.

The logic of the left accepts political violence. A few years ago, one of its acolytes tried to wipe out the congressional Republican caucus on a softball field; last month, another member of the MSNBCNN target demo tried to off Justice Kavanaugh for somewhat limiting the ability of progressives to conveniently kill babies. Even the reaction to the recent molestation of the famously beer-ophilic jurist as he nibbled on a rib-eye at Mortons in DC was indicative  this personal confrontation was celebrated by the left instead of decried. Whats the logical limit when you sign onto the idea that one can legitimately influence politics via the personal intimidation of officials placed in office by our agreed constitutional procedures? If you can get in his face, why cant you slap it? Or put a bullet in it? If there is a boundary, the left is not setting it. Keep in mind that civil conflict is not unknown in America, Our revolution was also a civil war  one sparked by tyrants seeking to enforce gun control. The Civil War that followed four score and change years later was sparked by Democrats angry over the Republican demand that they stopped treating human beings inhumanly  a theme that continues to this day. Prior to the War Between the States was a war between the pro- and anti-slavery militias along the Missouri-Kansas borders. In the late-sixties/early-seventies, there was an urban leftist insurgency by groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers that resulted in hundreds of bombings and many killings. It was dealt with as a law enforcement matter, but in a distinctly militaristic way. The Los Angeles Police Department famously annihilated most of the Symbionese Liberation Army  whose battle cry was DEATH TO THE FASCIST INSECT!  in a blazing firefight in South Central that was broadcast on national TV.

But dont insult our intelligence by referencing the minor fracas that was J6. If that was an insurrection, you would have seen some armed insurrecting instead of selfie-snapping. If red America wanted to start something, they would have brought along their ARs like progressive James Hodgkinson did.

So, while the chance of civil conflict is low, violence is not only possible but it has been used by the left as a means of making political change in America in the past. And the evidence is that the left remains ideologically open to using violence in the future to achieve its goals.

But what would a civil conflict look like if, heaven forbid, it ever came to pass again? The potential for a low-grade leftist insurgency may be the most likely scenario if it were to happen, but there is also the threat of a more substantial conflict involving paramilitary (i.e., groups of armed civilians) and even traditional military forces  right up to actual maneuver combat between blue forces that are primarily urban and red forces that are primarily rural with suburban territory mixed or contested. In that scenario, you must consider the respective correlation of forces and the territory red and blue forces would control initially to understand how this horrific situation might break down. My new book Well Be Back: The Fall and Rise of America examines this in detail as a cautionary example, and puts it this way:

[T]he blues face a real challenge. They will have those massively over-extended logistical lines. Its nice to hold cities, but if you do not also hold all the rural territory between the cities, as well as the routes to the places where you are getting your food and fuel (and holding those is a big question in itself), then you have a real problem. The stuff that keeps cities alive has to pass through Indian country, and even assuming you could convince civilian truckers to make that passage, the blue states would still have to devote a massive proportion of their forces to defending those routes. Even a small-scale campaign against those supply lines could cause chaos in the cities. Imagine the madness as soft urban professionals, unused to privation and largely disarmed, find themselves both starving and subject to the will of the strong and merciless. Its The Road Warrior, and there is no Mad Max coming to save you.

Meanwhile, in the red areas, they are growing food. And when they eventually win, they want payback. Perhaps they might negotiate a national divorcesort of like the converse of a shotgun weddingor perhaps they might just channel Michael Corleone and resolve to take care of all family business at once. They would not want to risk going another round with the enemy next door. As Cato the Elder might have said, Blue America delenda est.

Remember that a US city cut off from food  and its easy for even light paramilitary forces to interdict the long rural stretches of the interstates and railroads  is five days from becoming Mogadishu. Advantage: Red America.

Keep in mind that a civil conflict that spins beyond a law enforcement operation is certain to involve paramilitary forces  bands of civilians with their own private weapons while living their best Second Amendment lives by fighting against what they see as tyranny. That has happened before, and as a result we dont drive on the left and have generally good teeth.

But we should not be glib about it. Civil wars are the least civil wars of them all. As Well Be Back demonstrates in shocking and graphic detail, this possible future is terrifying, and anyone telling you that systematic political violence can just be turned off is lying to you. It would change America forever, and not for the better.

My book is not giddy over the threat of conflict  instead, it is a warning that comes from both my personal history and what I saw overseas. My earliest memories are of the Gettysburg battlefield, which we visited often because my family comes from nearby Chambersburg  a town burned down by Confederate raiders. During my own military career, I served in the Los Angeles riots with the Army for three weeks and saw up close and personally both how fast the facade of civilization can collapse and how essential it is for every citizen to keep and bear modern weapons to defend themselves, their families, their communities, and their Constitution. In Kosovo, I served in the ruins of a civil war where factions (mostly divided by ethnicities that were inexplicable to outsiders) butchered each other  neighbors killed neighbors when a few years before they had lived in peace. I never forgot it, and I see similar attempts to divide Americans here as a huge threat.

Leftist critics and their fellow travelers at garbage outlets like The Bulwark will no doubt lie and claim that I am somehow advocating what I am warning against  sadly, this kind of bad faith refusal to engage and debate honestly has become all too common today and itself promotes conflict by eliminating the possibility of resolving disputes through reason. It leaves the exercise of raw power as the only means to solve problems, a situation common in much of the rest of the world. But we must look the monster of political violence in its eyes if we hope to defeat it. The way to bring America back to greatness need not be force. We have the Constitution, and it gives us the answers to all our questions. We citizens must demand that we do our fighting in the political arena instead of on the battlefield. A good start would be to leave your political opponents to finish their bone-in New York in peace.

Coming Thursday: Is It Time for a National Divorce?

Read more at: TownHall.com
(Natural News) The Washington Free Beacon (WFB) has reported that the Joe Biden administration sold close to one million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to a Chinese state-controlled gas corporation in which the presidents son, Hunter Biden, had a share since 2015.

Reuters on Wednesday, July 6, also reported that more than five million barrels of crude oil that were supposed to be used in the United States to bring down soaring prices at the pump were sent to European nations, India and China.

The Biden administration in April declared that 950,000 SPR barrels would be sold to Unipec America, Inc., the trading arm of the China Petrochemical Corporation. According to the WFB, the company formerly known as Sinopec is fully owned by the Chinese government. (Related: Hunter Bidens former business associates pushed him to get daddy Joe involved in a China venture that would become a truly family business.)

The Department of Energy said in a release that the sale, which is part of the larger sale of 30 million barrels, will support American consumers and the global economy in response to Vladimir Putins war of choice against Ukraine, as well as address the pain Americans are feeling at the pump as a result of Putins price hike and to help lower energy costs.

The Energy Department accepted 126 bids and selected 12 companies to receive a part of the offering, including Unipec.

Power the Future founder Daniel Turner, in an interview with the WFB, slammed the Biden administration for selling raw materials to the Communist Chinese for them to use as they want.

We were assured Biden was releasing this oil to America so it could be refined for gasoline to drive down prices at the pump. So right off the bat, theyre just lying to the American people. What theyre saying they did and what they did are not remotely related, Turner said.

Hunter Bidens private equity firm had a share in Sinopec worth $1.7 billion

In 2015, Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), a private equity firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, bought a share in Sinopec Marketing valued at $1.7 billion. In 2017, Biden had a minority stake in BHR, purchasing a 10 percent share through an LLC he fully owned named Skaneateles.

Sinopec [now known as Unipec] went on to enter negotiations to purchase Gazprom in March, one month after the Biden administration sanctioned the Russian gas giant, the WFB reported.

Additionally, Unipec has stated that it would buy no more Russian oil going forward once shipments that arrived in March and due to arrive in April were completed. However, a Bloomberg report revealed that in May, the corporation significantly increased the number of hired tankers to ship a key crude from eastern Russia.

Last year, a lawyer for Hunter Biden told the New York Times that the presidential son no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly, in either BHR or Skaneateles.

As late as March, records in Chinas National Credit Information Publicity System have shown that Skaneateles still holds a 10 percent share in BHR. Business records in Washington, D.C. also show Hunter as the sole owner of Skaneateles.

The disclosure about the March sale to Unipec has already ignited calls for an investigation.

The Biden Administration sent critical resources to the Communist Chinese, including one firm which has the presidents own son Hunter as an investor, at the same time Americans are struggling at the pump. A special prosecutor should be appointed and Congress needs to investigate because the American people deserve the truth and theyre not getting it from the White House, Turner said.

Some Republicans ripped Biden on July 7, following reports of the oil being sent to China and other countries.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement: The American people deserve answers as to why our emergency energy reserves are being sent to foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, compromising our energy security and national security. President Biden needs to remember that our strategic energy reserves are for emergencies, not to cover up bad policies. America needs to flip the switch and increase our capacity to produce and refine oil here at home. Now is not the time to use our strategic stockpile.

Meanwhile, Michigan Rep. Fred Upton tweeted: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant for national emergencies  not policy blunders. The administration still has not answered congressional questions on its mismanagement of the SPR.

Follow JoeBiden.news for more news about Joe Biden and his dealings with China.

Watch the video below about Tucker Carlsons commentary on Americas strategic oil reserves being sold to China.

This video is from the MAGA channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Biden familys China ties date back decades to Joe Bidens term as senator

Biden regime BLOCKS new Atlantic and Pacific oil drilling operations, which will send fuel prices even higher

Emails indicate Joe Biden was assisting and benefiting from son Hunter Bidens global business ventures

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

GlobalResearch.ca

BizpacReview.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Green energy-dependent California is set to return to fossil fuels in a bid to avoid further blackouts, proving that total reliance on renewable energy is easier said than done.

The Associated Press (AP) reported on July 1 that California, a state seriously trying to quit fossil fuels, is once more looking at them to address energy shortages. A day before the report, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping energy proposal that puts the Golden State in the business of purchasing power, guaranteeing sufficient energy supply during heat waves that weaken the grid.

Newsoms proposal sought to keep the lights on in California, [make it] easier for solar and wind farm developers to sidestep local government opposition and [limit] environmental reviews for all kinds of energy projects. It also served as a probable lifeline to beachfront gas plants, including the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. Diablo Canyon is the Golden States largest power plant and the sole operational nuclear facility.

The June 30 proposal aimed to prevent another scenario where California experienced a series of rolling blackouts that caught national attention last August 2020. Following the blackouts, the state water board decided to permit gas-fired power plants in Redondo Beach and Huntington Beach to continue operations for three extra years.

Bill Brand, mayor of Redondo Beach, expressed disappointment over the decision. We feel double-crossed. [The] retirement dates [for the gas-fired plants] were set 12 years ago, he said.

California draws most of its electricity  almost 60 percent  from renewable sources. Newsom played a role in this dependence on so-called clean energy with his frequent calls to phase out fossil fuels, dismissing any negative repercussions that may come with the move. The governors return to fossil fuels runs against his own rhetoric and also serves as a testimony to how fossil fuels are essential to human survival.

According to the AP report, the Golden State lacks the storage capacity to send enough energy when sporadic energy sources are non-operational  which the June 30 proposal by Newsom seeks to address.

Renewable energy sources cant address increased demand

Hawaii also found itself realizing the real value of fossil fuels after its renewable energy efforts hit serious snags.

In its enthusiasm to retire coal plants, the Aloha State recently found itself relying on oil to charge the Kapolei Energy Storage Facility following problems with renewable energy projects. The Kapolei facility, basically a huge battery designed to use green energy, was set to replace the AES Hawaii Power Plant in the island of Oahu.

Foundation for Economic Education Managing Editor Jon Miltimore pointed to the absurdity of the endeavor in a May 2021 piece. He wrote: The reality is theres not enough wind, solar or battery storage to replace the AES Plant. This means that Hawaiian Electric Company will soon be charging its giant battery with oil. In other words, Hawaiians will be trading one fossil fuel  coal  for another, albeit one far more expensive.

A May 2022 report by the Wall Street Journal warned of rolling blackouts across the U.S. going into the summer due to the inability of renewable sources to address increased demand. (Related: Electricity shortages are coming, warn power grid operators.)

John Bear, CEO of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, told the publication: I am concerned about it. As we move forward, we need to know that when you put a solar panel or a wind turbine up, its not the same as a thermal resource.

The article further elaborated: The challenge is that wind and solar farms, which are among the cheapest forms of power generation, dont produce electricity at all times and need large batteries to store their output for later use. While a large amount of battery storage is under development, regional grid operators have lately warned that the pace may not be fast enough to offset the closures of traditional power plants that can work around the clock.

Follow PowerGrid.news for more news about Californias coming power grid crisis.

Watch the video below to know about the coming power grid collapse and what people can expect next.

This video is from the Prosciencetruth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

The media is mentally preparing the American public for mass fuel shortages and rolling blackouts.

The lights are about to go out in America, warn grid experts.

If green energy is so amazing, why is Californias power grid about to crater?

Sources include:

SHTFPlan.com

FEE.org

WSJ.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) New research commissioned by an arm of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that nearly every persons body is loaded with cancer-causing glyphosate, one of the main ingredients in the Roundup herbicide formula.

Calling it a disturbing and concerning discovery, the researchers behind the new study found that 1,885 urine samples collected from 2,310 people in America said to be representative of the United States population as a whole tested positive for glyphosate.

Nearly 33 percent of the samples came from children as young as six, suggesting that even little kids are being exposed to the deadly chemical, probably from eating contaminated food, drinking tainted water, and playing in the chemical-drenched grass at school or the local park. (Related: Monsanto, the original creator of glyphosate, has known for decades that the chemical causes cancer.)

For many years now, academics and private researchers have been sounding the alarm of glyphosates pervasive presence in pretty much everything, as well as its extreme toxicity. The government, up until now, has turned a blind eye to the truth.

Only recently did the CDC start to examine the extent of these claims, discovering that they were spot-on.

I expect that the realization that most of us have glyphosate in our urine will be disturbing to many people, said Lianne Sheppard, a professor at the University of Washingtons department of environmental and occupational health science.

Thanks to this new research, she added, we know that a large fraction of the population has it in urine.

Many people will be thinking about whether that includes them.

Glyphosate appears to accumulate over time in the human body, which explains increasing concentrations of it in human urine

Sheppard, it turns out, is one of the experts who helped co-author a famous 2019 analysis of glyphosate that determined it causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. That analysis is now serving as evidence in a plethora of legal cases against Bayer, which took over Monsanto and ownership of glyphosate.

According to another paper published in 2017 by researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, glyphosate has been identified as present in human urine for many years. Over time, however, the concentration of it has increased steadily.

When that study was first published, lead research Paul Mills stated that there was an urgent need for a thorough examination of the impact of glyphosate on human health. Since that time, glyphosate concentrations in human urine have only increased.

Somewhere in the ballpark of 200 million pounds of glyphosate are dumped every single year on U.S. farms with the governments blessing. The chemical is sprayed directly on genetically engineered (GMO) crops such as corn and soy, as well as on non-GMO conventional crops like wheat and oats as a desiccant.

Many farmers also use it on fields before the growing season, including spinach growers and almond producers, The Guardian reports. It is considered the most widely used herbicide in history.

Baby food is among the most glyphosate-contaminated foods on the American market  but truthfully speaking, every kind of food sold in America is more than likely drenched in the deadly chemical.

People of all ages should be concerned, but Im particularly concerned for children, says Phil Landrigan, who for years worked at both the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Children are more heavily exposed to pesticides than adults because pound-for-pound they drink more water, eat more food and breathe more air. Also, children have many years of future life when they can develop diseases with long incubation periods such as cancer. This is particularly a concern with the herbicide, glyphosate.

To keep up with the latest news about glyphosate and Roundup, be sure to check out Glyphosate.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheGuardian.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A doctor in California is proposing the creation of a floating abortion clinic in the Gulf of Mexico as a way to maintain access to abortion for people in southern states where abortion is banned.

The idea devised by Dr. Meg Autry, an obstetrician, gynecologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, is to put an abortion clinic aboard a ship and sail it out into federal waters no longer under the jurisdiction of the states. Once there, women could be provided with first-trimester surgical abortions, contraception and other reproductive care. (Related: ABORTION LUNACY: Elizabeth Warren called for abortion TENTS at national parks to butcher babies in red states.)

Autry noted that the proposed floating clinic is still at the early fundraising stages. She said the proposal requires at least $20 million in funding to come to fruition. She has set up a non-profit to help raise funding called PRROWESS  short for Protecting Reproductive Rights of Women Endangered by State Statutes.

The vessel will be Coast Guard-inspected and will have helicopter access for transport and emergencies, noted PRROWESS in a statement. The organization added that these types of facilities are commonly used by the military and by relief organizations around the world. PRROWESS research also claims that patients are willing to seek out abortion services in a floating clinic if no other options are available.

Once Autrys non-profit has acquired a ship, she plans to sail it around nine miles from the coast of Texas or three miles from the coasts of Alabama, Louisiana or Mississippi. From here, it can evade the abortion restrictions of the aforementioned states. PRROWESS will arrange for patients to be transported out to the ship after they pass a screening process.

Autrys lawyers believe there is a portion of federal water where licensed providers will be able to safely and legally provide abortions.

The project is being funded with philanthropy and the patients care is on a needs basis, so most individuals will pay little to nothing for services, she said.

Autry is hoping to open the clinic in a year, but she noted that there are many hurdles to deal with before the floating abortion clinic becomes operational.

There are operational [problems], logistics, theres the whole idea of maritime law and then theres obviously security, theres (a) liability, I mean the challenges are countless, said Autry.

If the project is not successful, all unspent money the organization raises will be distributed to other projects that help women in states where abortion is banned to access services.

Floating clinic an option for people to skirt ban on killing fetuses

Autry made the proposal following the decision of the Supreme Court to turn the issue of abortion back to the states. Several southern states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, have already passed abortion bans.

Florida, after a legal back-and-forth between the courts and the state government, has restricted abortions beyond 15 weeks, with exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother, prevent serious injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

Autry claims she is a lifelong advocate for reproductive health and choice, and that doing this is a response to the assault on reproductive rights in our country.

This is all about bodily autonomy and choice, and so people have a right to be pregnant and also not to have a pregnancy, said Autry. We have to create options and be thoughtful and creative to help people in restrictive states get the healthcare they deserve.

Part of the reason were working on this project so hard is that wealthy people in our country are always going to have access [to abortions], so once again its a time now where the poor, people of color, marginalized individuals, are going to suffer  and by suffering, I mean like lives lost, said Autry.

Learn the latest news regarding abortions in the United States at Abortions.news.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how the Left has started the abortion insurrection.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related articles:

EXPOSED: Abortionist drugged women with Xanax, forced them to strip naked before discussing baby murder procedure.

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Aborted human remains discovered in DC prove that doctors are murdering live babies after failed procedures.

Even as threats continue to rise globally, Bidens Pentagon gets its priorities in order: Protecting access to abortion.

Pro-abortion Jewish organizations agree with Satanic Temple claim that abortion ritual represents religious freedom.

Sources include:

News.Yahoo.com

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(Natural News) As yet more evidence of potentially illegal business practices (in addition to debauchery) has emerged from the Hunter Biden laptop debacle, journalist Glenn Greenwald described the saga as the single biggest media fraud in the past decade.

(Article by Steve Watson republished from InfoWars.com)

Appearing on Jesse Watters Primetime, Greenwald discussed the topic, noting that any information that comes to light through the Hunter Biden story is tightly controlled.

The media deploys information to conceal it or divulge it for the interest of their sources inside the democratic party and the U.S. Security state and I just want to emphasize because I cant talk about the Hunter Biden situation without doing so, Greenwald asserted.

He continued, this was the topic of the single biggest media fraud in the last, I think at least decade, which is right before the election. The CIA spread to the media which repeated it and then big tech censored on the basis of it the lie that all these documents were Russian disinformation.

Biden wins the election because they suppressed that story, Greenwald continued, further declaring Then all of a sudden, they want to start doing reporting on Biden as hes getting weak and all of these documents start emerging in The Washington Post and The New York Times come out and say oh now were able to confirm their authenticity.

So what you see is cynical as your suggestion might be, that the media has already been playing these kinds of very extreme games with exactly this case for those kinds of motives, the journalist further urged.

Greenwald continued, had this only been about corruption by Hunter Biden, it would be an embarrassing scandal, but were clearly talking about protecting Joe Biden as well and at this point at the very least we should have an independent prosecutor whos not beholden to the chain of command that ends with Joe Biden to make decisions not just about Hunter Biden but also about the President himself.

Watch:

Earlier this week, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, charged that Bidens Treasury Department is actively blocking efforts to probe into the shady business dealings.

Comer stated that officials have refused to hand over suspicious activity reports without the sign off of the committees Democratic leaders.

Despite Treasurys assertion in the press that it provides SARs to Congress in a manner that enables robust oversight, Treasury is refusing to release SARs connected with Hunter Biden or his family and associates  including the President, Comer wrote in a letter Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Read more at: InfoWars.com
(Natural News) Musician and author Brad Carrigan believes nothing can divide people if they truly want freedom.

If we want freedom theres nothing that can divide us. We have to [want freedom] and then all the little things that separate us can be down the road where that can just be your freedom of choice because were talking about freedom here. So when we have freedom of choice, it doesnt matter. Freedom of choice is our choice of whatever we want to do, Carrigan told host Dr. Lee Merritt during the July 6 episode of the Merritt Medical Hour on Brighteon.TV.

And thats in our home, thats in our household, thats in our world or our community that we want to hang out with. But real freedom from around the world has to be everybody coming together as one free human being.

Merritt called Carrigan an inmate of Canada for fighting for his freedom and the freedom of his fellow Canadians. The former United States Navy physician and surgeon mentioned that Carrigan was punished by the Canadian government for peacefully assembling and speaking the truth.

Carrigan has founded a movement called Walk for Freedom Movement in Alberta. The movement has grown to over 50 major spot rallies and has attracted big crowds of thousands of people.

According to Carrigan, an elite control mechanism is in place right now and it has been lying to everybody and distorting everything. He added that one of the messages in the Georgia Guidestones, which was recently destroyed by an explosion, should have said: Keep the population without the elites and then wed be fine.

The longtime human rights activist said Canada, which presents itself as a democratic country, is not really a democratic state. He said it only gives a semblance of democracy and that its really just a facade of democracy to keep the people tricked.

Carrigan mentioned that he started the Walk for Freedom rallies back in August 2020 and it grew from 400 to 5,000 and 10,000 people.

The multi-diverse creative visionary and speaker added that the biweekly event sets a standard almost across the country and people wanted to find out how he was able to build these rallies and get them to be successful.

He said it was actually about the love and unity of people who have realized that they must all be together so that there is nothing that divides them.

A war against humanity is going on right now

Carrigan told Merritt that a war against humanity is going on right now and that people know innately that something is really wrong with the world.

He also noted that everything that is happening, such as the soaring gas prices and food shortages, is all set up to collapse everything so that a total takeover of humanity can be done by the globalists with the help of the United Nations in order to create a New World Order.

The internationally published visionary author explained that the rallies brought unity and love as well as introduced people to the truth.

Carrigan also slammed the Canadian doctors and politicians whom he called cowards and hypocrites for not standing up for truth and freedom. He also took a shot at the media, which was trying to decide for the people who the leader of the freedom movement should be. He pointed out that the Canadian truckers had no leader, but they successfully staged the Freedom Convoy. (Related: Freedom Convoy trucker protests highlight struggle between freedom and a Great Reset)

People should know when they are being used and manipulated by the fake news media and the government, he said. Merritt agreed, noting that it is not just about people wanting the truth, but also how they are able to source the truth.

Another vital aspect of the war against humanity is the total control of artificial intelligence or the AI takeover that is being pushed by the globalists. Carrigan said the transhumanism and transgender agenda is being used to manipulate people who are exercising their freedom.

The transgender agenda is an AI agenda because theyre trying to gender neutralize everything so that AI seems normal. They put this chip and just put your brain into an AI computer and live forever. And people dont understand its spiritual. This is a total attack against the evolutionary or spiritual side, which when we understand the spiritual side is what this human existence is about, Carrigan explained.

Watch the July 6 episode of the Merritt Medical Hour below. The Merritt Medical Hour airs every Wednesday at 7-8 p.m. and every Saturday at 2-3 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Matthew Bracken tells Dr. Lee Merritt: Fight of Canadian truckers is a fight to the finish against globalists  Brighteon.TV.

Canadas controlled media attacks the word freedom, says its a tool of the far-right seriously.

Pastor Artur Pawlowski tells Michele Swinick: People need to be strong and courageous to turn their country around  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DrLeeMerritt.com

BradCarrigan.com
(Natural News) It almost reads like satire, but the corporate-controlled media claims that a brand new variant of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), which they are hilariously calling ninja, is on the move  and it is the most dangerous one yet, we are told.

BA.5, as they are also calling it, is said to be a subvariant of the Omicron variant, which is an anagram for the Moronic variant. Yes, they really expect people to believe that a Moronic Ninja will kill us all if we do not mask up again and get boosted repeatedly.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), headed by private corporation headed up by Big Pharma plant Rochelle Walensky, insists that the Moronic Ninja subvariant serves as a strong reminder the COVID pandemic isnt over.

Just as a quick note: When you need to manufacture new fake scares like this to remind people that something that is clearly over is somehow not over, then you know that thing really is over.

The ninja variant is about selling more vaccines and boosters to keep the cash flowing to Big Pharma

So far, the only advice being dispensed by the corporate-controlled media to combat the Moronic Ninja is to keep getting vaccinated and boosted on a regular schedule.

Even though the jabs have never once been shown to do anything other than make covid believers feel virtuous, they are still being dubbed the best defense against the never-ending covid scam, which in addition to depopulation appears to be all about the money for Big Pharma.

There are even Omicron-specific booster jabs in development that, in coming months, could make the best vaccines more effective against BA.5 and its genetic cousins, one fake news media outlet reported, demonstrating that this is just another money grab disguised as public health.

BA.5s widespread mutations made the subvariant less recognizable to all those antibodies weve built up from vaccines, boosters and past infection. BA.5 has been able to slip past our immune system, ninja-style, contributing to the rising rate of breakthrough cases and infections.

The article goes on to state in no uncertain terms that the goal is to keep people scared and getting boosted forever. It quite literally states that the more additional jabs a person gets on top of your prime course, the better protected you are.

Amazingly, they are still blaming the so-called COVID illness on a stubborn anti-vax minority, even though the only people getting sick are people who took the many jabs and are still getting sick from them.

Dr. Ben Marble, the founder of MyFreeDoctor, says that every new variant that emerges (assuming any of them are even real) is a product of the C-19 fake vaccine poison.

The people who have gotten three and four shots, they are the ones filling up the hospitals. An overwhelming majority of hospitalized people with COVID are people who took the shot, Marble is quoted as saying.

Unvaccinated people dont get that sick. The bottom line is the more doses of the poison shot youve taken, the sicker you are going to be and the more likely youre going to die soon.

Jabbing people during an outbreak, it turns out, always create[s] mutations, Marble further stated, calling the release of the Moronic variant bioterrorism.

The original so-called virus was also a bioweapon, by the way. The whole thing was contrived, just like the newest Moronic Ninja variant  and apparently, some people are still falling for it.

The latest news about the never-ending cash cow known as the COVID plandemic can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Oprahs close friend Jerry Harris was sentenced to 12 years in prison on child rape crimes this week by US District Judge Manish Shah.

(Article by Sean Adl-Tabatabai republished from NewsPunch.com)

Harris, star of Oprah Winfreys Netflix show Cheer, was found guilty of child sex abuse charges after he was caught using his position to lure underage children into being raped.

Prosecutors warned that Harris used his status as a competitive cheerleader, his social media persona to rape unsuspecting child actors.

They added that he eventually [used] his celebrity and money, to persuade and entice little kids.

After being released from prison, Harris will have eight additional years of supervised release.

1news.co.nz reports: Before learning his sentence, Harris apologised to his victims, saying, I am deeply sorry for all the trauma my abuse has caused you. I pray deep down that your suffering comes to an end.

Im not an evil person, Harris said. Im still learning who I am and what my purpose is.

Harris has been in custody at a federal detention facility.

Sarah Klein, an attorney for two of the victims, issued a statement saying Harris guilt was firmly established.

The sentence he received reflects the severity of his crimes and the lifetime of pain his victims will suffer, Klein said.

Harris was arrested in September 2020 on a charge of production of child pornography. Prosecutors alleged at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers.

According to a complaint, federal prosecutors said that Harris admitted to repeatedly asking a minor teen for pornographic videos and images between December 2018 and March 2020.

Then in December of that year, he was indicted on more charges alleging misconduct in Illinois, Florida and Texas. According to the indictment, Harris allegedly solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.

Harris admitted to FBI agents to asking a teenage boy to send him lewd photographs of himself, and to requesting child pornography on Snapchat from at least 10 to 15 others he knew to be minors, according to the indictment.

Cheer was a huge success when it was released in January 2020 and Harris became wildly popular for his upbeat attitude and his encouraging mat talk. Harris even interviewed celebrities on the red carpet at the Academy Awards for The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The docuseries follows the competitive cheerleading squad from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.

Read more at: NewsPunch.com
(Natural News) Pro-life legislators and attorneys are strategizing on how to stop people in their states from traveling elsewhere for abortion.

(Article by Matt Lamb republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

The Thomas More Society is drafting model legislation for state lawmakers that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state, according to the Washington Post. The draft language will borrow from the novel legal strategy behind a Texas abortion ban enacted last year in which private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through civil litigation.

The subject was much discussed at two national antiabortion conferences last weekend, with several lawmakers interested in introducing these kinds of bills in their own states, the Post reported.

Just because you jump across a state line doesnt mean your home state doesnt have jurisdiction, an attorney with Thomas More Society told the Post. Its not a free abortion card when you drive across the state line.

Many of us have supported legislation to stop human trafficking, Arkansas state Senator Jason Rapert, president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, told the Post. So why is there a pass on people trafficking women in order to make money off of aborting their babies?

The National Association of Christian Lawmakers also strategized recently on how to stop women from leaving pro-life states for those with liberal abortion policies. States like Illinois are expected to see women coming from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, for example.

State Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman proposed a bill in Missouri in 2021 to allow citizens to sue people facilitating an abortion. The legislation would empower citizens rather than the state to sue abortionists and anyone else, other than the mother, who facilitates an abortion of a baby with a detectable heartbeat.

Planned Parenthood opened an abortion facility in Illinois in 2019 in anticipation of the sole location in St. Louis closing.

The Washington Post noted that liberal states have implemented laws to attempt to stop prosecution of people who aid and abet in abortions.

Connecticut passed a law in April that offers broad protections from antiabortion laws that try to reach into other states, the paper reported. The measure would shield people from out-of-state summonses or subpoenas issued in cases related to abortion procedures that are legal in Connecticut.

And it would prevent Connecticut authorities from adhering to another states request to investigate or punish anyone involved in facilitating a legal abortion in Connecticut, the newspaper reported.

New Mexicos Governor Michele Lujan Grisham also ordered government agencies not to assist in the prosecution of abortionists who illegally killed babies in other states.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he would provide clemency for anyone for participating in an abortion, which is now illegal in the state due to a pre-Roe ban.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com
(Natural News) Thousands of protesters consisting of doctors, nurses, scientists and other concerned citizens pleaded with parents not to have their babies injected with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine bioweapon.

The jabbing of babies has begun, but not without the protests of people standing outside these injection centers begging with parents to take one more day to stop and do the research before allowing their babies to be injected, Dr. Jane Ruby said on her program Dr. Jane Ruby Show.

She addressed the parents sending their babies to get injected, telling them that they were making a life-altering decision for another human being who has no ability to understand and consent to the vaccination.

Ruby showed a video recorded during the protests of a man talking to a family alighting their vehicle parked near the vaccination site.

Please dont come in. Dont do it, guys. Im begging you not to vaccinate your kids. Its been two years. Please just do some research. These are precious babies. They dont have the right, they dont have a choice, the man said to the mother carrying her toddler. The mother dismissed the man and told him: Leave us alone.

The man, who was part of the protesters, insisted that the vaccination cannot be reversed once its done. He even offered to pay the family to do the research, adding: You could come back tomorrow after you did the research. But his pleas fell on deaf ears, as the family entered the injection site.

With tears in her eyes, Ruby said the scene was just too painful to watch. [The mother] will be the first to write to me, sue me or whatever  and stand on the street and beg for something to get this out of her baby, she remarked.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization for the mRNA vaccines to be injected into babies as young as six months old. However, the regulator admitted that it still authorized the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest population even though Pfizers clinical trial was determined not to be reliable due to the low number of COVID-19 cases that occurred in the study participants.

Babies will not survive the clots, Ruby warns

As seen in previous episodes of Rubys program, she requested parents and families not to have the children vaccinated as they could not withstand the adverse effects, especially the possibility of growing clots that were recently discovered by embalmers.

Please dont let babies and children get this. Do whatever you can do because babies are going to start dying horrific deaths. Theyre not going to be able to survive this, Ruby pleaded.

During the show, she once again projected on the screen the freaky white fibrous clots of different sizes that were sent to her by an experienced anonymous embalmer.

The second embalmer came out after seeing unnatural blood clots combinations with strange fibrous materials clogging the arteries and veins of deceased individuals approximately six months after the COVID-19 vaccine was rolled out. The second embalmers revelations followed initial findings by embalmer Richard Hirschman, who saw similar clots in the bodies he was handling. (Related: Mike Adams full broadcast on the Alex Jones Show, June 13th, 2022, featuring an urgent care doctor, embalmer Richard Hirschman and Dr. Jane Ruby, plus live microscopy of biostructure clots that are killing people.)

According to the second embalmer, he can now identify which cadavers have these clots due to having a somewhat bloated appearance. Ruby elaborated on this discovery: It is kind of unusual that the rest of the body is not bloated. But when the [second] embalmer sees the neck vessels, there is more puffiness and distension that is not normally seen regularly.

The second whistleblower even disclosed to Ruby that the white, fibrous clots were from a 90-year-old person who had a lot of innervations throughout their body. You could just imagine that the person had been through tremendous pain, she said.

Visit Vaccines.news for more news about the dangers of injecting the COVID-19 vaccines on babies.

Watch the full segment of Dr. Jane Ruby Show featuring protesters begging parents to reconsider their childrens vaccination below.

This video is from the Katy Odin channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

WATCH: Dr. Jane Ruby offers fresh insights about self-assembling clots and nanowires found in fully vaccinated cadavers.

Another embalmer exposes shocking post-vaccination fibrous CLOTS to Dr. Jane Ruby.

GENOCIDE: FDA officially authorizes covid vaccines for children as young as 6 months.

FDA uses fraudulent data to justify pushing covid shots on infants and toddlers.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

TheEpochTimes.com

SteveKirsch.Substack.com
(Natural News) The June 30 reports by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed a sharp downfall in the rice and soybean markets.

University of Arkansas agriculture economist Scott Stiles said it is hard to pin down the exact drivers of the futures market. But for certain, the September rice contract had moved well into oversold territory, he said.

Stiles has presented a graph of the futures chart via an article titled Arkansas Rice Update on the university research and extension website. The graph included the 14-day relative strength index, which recently dipped into the mid-30s.

Meanwhile, the USDA report stated that November soybeans traded at $15.07 and three-fourths on June 30 (report day) and to $13.04 on July 5, which meant a two-dollar swing in just three trading sessions. As of July 8, September rice is up one and a half cents at $16.40. Stiles said a close this week above $16.40 would be encouraging.

The university economist further said: With trading turning higher mid-week, we can surmise the heat and dryness in the mid-south has put some worry in (the) traders minds. Parts of northeast Arkansas have now gone one month without rainfall, not to mention the triple-digit temperatures that have accompanied the drought.

According to him, this would be a concern as the National Agricultural Statistics Service indicated in this weeks crop progress that some of the mid-south rice crops had reached heading. As of July 3, Arkansas was at two percent heading, Mississippi at 18 percent and Louisiana and Texas both at 50 percent. (Related: The food shortage crisis due to pandemic lockdowns and economic warfare may prove deadly for many.)

Thailand may have outwitted US in the rice trade deal with Iraq

As per the current U.S. memorandum of understanding (MOU), Iraqs buying authority agreed in principle to buy 200,000 metric tons of U.S. rice every year. Based on records for the 2021 to 2022 marketing year, only 120,000 metric tons have been purchased by the Middle East nation.

Thailand, on the other hand, shipped around 415,000 metric tons of rice to Iraq in the first five months of 2022. Another 150,000 metric tons are scheduled to be shipped in the coming weeks.

Thailand has a freight price and shipping time advantage, in addition to a journey length advantage, to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.

However, new orders from Iraq have piped down for Thailand since June, which could be an opportunity for the U.S. to make agreements with Iraq. Discussions are said to be underway to have the remaining 80,000 tons fulfilled. But the details of the talks remain vague and even U.S. insiders seem clueless about the situation.

A meeting attendee said he had received mixed signals from Iraq as the talks had resulted in nothing concrete. Another source said the talks went quiet and there had been no update since July 1.

With no signs that Iraq and the U.S. are close to a deal, there is a great possibility that Iraq could return to Thailand, considering the current dwindling rice supply and soaring fuel prices in the United States.

Stiles said the significant price difference between U.S. and Thai rice may have been the key reason why U.S. rice sales to Iraq have been hampered.

Visit FoodSupply.news for more news related to food shortages.

Watch the below video that talks about the food supply being under attack.

This video is from the Weaponized News channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Devastating impact warning as India moves toward halting RICE exports, leading to global mass starvation.

Global rice production to plunge by 10%, hundreds of millions to be affected.

A global food shortage catastrophe is unfolding, warns UN chief.

World Alternative Media: Global food shortage is part of Great Reset agenda.

Sources include:

AgFax.com

GAATimes.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) By now, you have probably already heard about the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during a recent campaign rally. But what you may not know is that Abe was a fierce health freedom fighter who opposed Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, lockdowns, and other forms of medical tyranny, as well as supported the right of people to use ivermectin and other prohibited remedies.

Japans longest-serving prime minister, Abe is described as a titan of anti-communism. During the final months of his premiership back in 2020, he famously resisted the implementation of COVID authoritarianism, which also just so happened to leave Japan in much better shape, public health-wise, than much of the rest of the world that dove headlong into tyranny.

Abe resisted border controls and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and, prior to leaving office, wished for COVIDs official infectious disease categorization to be lowered to the same level as influenza, writes Michael P. Senger on his Substack. For this, Abe increasingly came under fire both domestically and internationally.

Abe was hated by communists because he was a staunch defender of freedom, including health freedom

Ever since Abe left office, Japans covid response has moved increasingly closer to the international standard  meaning it became much more of a medical police state. Even though he was not technically in office throughout the plandemic, Abe is considered to be a figure of considerable ongoing influence in Japanese politics.

Most mandates are still enforced socially rather than legally, but coupled with severe international entry requirements, some expats have dubbed this lockdown in all but name,' Senger explains about how the loss of Abe both from office and now from life itself has been a terrible thing for Japan, which was doing quite well without covid restrictions.

While the motives of Abes assassin are not fully known, we do know that Abe was hated by communists, including those in communist China. Many of them were seen celebrating Abes assassination on social media, seeing it as a critical move for chipping away at the ideals of freedom that he long upheld and pushed to preserve in Japan.

Though the assassinations political consequences remain to be seen, Abe was one of the staunchest anti-communists in Asia and one of NATOs most reliable partners, Senger further writes.

Under his premiership, Japan gained geopolitical significance on the world stage, especially as a counterweight to China. For that reason alone, his death carries considerable symbolic import.

As you may recall, former Tanzanian president Dr. John Magufuli suffered a mysterious death back in April 2021 that appears to have been for similar reasons as Abes assassination. Magufuli was staunchly anti-communist, having at one point barred China from taking over his country. Like Abe, Magufuli also resisted COVID tyranny.

Ask any African what happened to him, and they will immediately tell you that he was assassinated, wrote one of Sengers readers about Magufulis death. The mainstream Western press loved to paint him as a kook.

Another pointed out that Magufuli was also the first to demonstrate to the world that PCR tests are fraudulent and not in any way an accurate indicator of illness. He openly mocked the tests, in fact, showing that papaya and various inanimate objects tested positive for COVID using PCR tests.

We have cousins who live there and they visited us this summer, wrote another about the situation in Tanzania.

They feel like theyre visiting an insane asylum when they come here as life is being lived quite normally in Tanzania. When the interim president Hassan came to their village, she was met with a crowd chanting no vaccines.'

To keep up with the latest news about plandemic tyranny, be sure to check out Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

MichaelPSenger.substack.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Big Tech firm Twitter announced that it will let go of several employees as it deals with issues about Tesla CEO Elon Musks purchase of the platform.

The San-Francisco based company laid off 30 percent of its recruitment staff on the afternoon of July 7, said a TechCrunch report. A spokesperson confirmed the staff cuts, but declined to provide details regarding the total number of affected employees and the severance packages for them. They added that the remaining recruitment staff will be reprioritized due to decreased hiring.

The July 7 layoffs came amid a company-wide hiring pause in May. Twitter froze most recruitment efforts for backfill positions, save for critical roles in the company. The Big Tech company said the layoffs are a way for the company to refocus its business needs during a lean period.

The layoffs were not only limited to rank-and-file employees, as several Twitter executives also departed the company. Also in May, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal let go of Revenue Product Lead Bruce Falck and Consumer Product General Manager Kayvon Beykpour  with the latter departing while on paternity leave.

Agrawal replaced Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as the companys CEO in December 2021. The former chief technology officer for the social media giant also saw two key executives depart shortly after assuming leadership  Chief Design Officer Dantley Davis and Head of Engineering Michael Montano. Two more leaders, Chief Information Security Officer Rinki Sethi and Head of Security Peiter Zatko, left Twitter in January 2022.

According to SFGATE, social media networks arent immune to the [job] market downturn, citing the more than 30,000 tech workers being laid off in the past two months. It also mentioned that other companies, including Facebooks parent company Meta, have also taken precautionary measures to manage their overhead in a time of economic upheaval.

Late last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he plans on turning up the heat on performance goals with a view to losing employees who cannot reach them. His revelation followed a memo the company issued to employees in May, saying that recruitment would be paused due to slower revenue growth than anticipated.

Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldnt be here. Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isnt for you  and that self-selection is OK with me, he told employees during a June 30 Q&A session.

Musk-Twitter deal in a precarious situation due to spam bot data

Twitters July 8 staff cuts coincided with Musks potential buyout of the company going downhill. The $44 billion takeover plan finalized in May entered a precarious situation after Musk accused the company of falsely indicating the number of bots on Twitter. The company has repeatedly stood by its claims, despite the Tesla CEOs protestations.

But even though Musk reneges on the deal, he is not off the hook yet, according to analysts. They pointed out that the contract is still set in stone and that he will have to shell out a minimum of $1 billion if he backs out. (Related: Could it be that Elon Musks intent to purchase Twitter was a head fake to expose their fraud to the SEC?)

Some have been asking why a lame-duck CEO would make these changes if were getting acquired anyway, Agarwal tweeted back in May. While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do whats right for Twitter. If the deal pushes through, Agarwal would also be forced off as Twitter CEO.

Musk himself remarked during a call with Twitter employees that he is not concerned with what title he would have in the company. Instead, he reiterated that he wants to be heavily involved in product.

Several Twitter employees voiced concerns to Musk about potential layoffs in response to the macroeconomic environment. Musk responded: Right now, costs exceed revenue. Thats not a great situation.

BigTech.news has more stories about Twitter and other social media companies.

Watch American Renaissance founder Jared Taylor below saying that Twitter hates the idea of free speech, not Elon Musk.

This video is from the American Renaissance channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Libtards freak after Elon Musk buys Twitter, claim they will leave platform in droves.

Venture capitalist: Elon Musk could close Twitter deal at a lower price due to fake accounts.

FAKED CONSENSUS: Elon Musk suggests up to 90% of Twitter users are BOTS, not humans.

Elon Musk is exposing the great FRAUD of Twitter: Its mostly just AI bots pretending to be real people.

Left-wing groups tied to George Soros, the Clintons and Obamas are attacking Twitter advertisers to sabotage Elon Musk.

Sources include:

SFGATE.com

TechCrunch.com

MSN.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies are nowhere to be found following the demise of the fraudulent company.

As we reported, 3AC failed to repay a loan on 15,250 bitcoins. And now that investors are trying to recoup their investments, the location of 3ACs top dogs is currently unknown.

According to a court filing from Friday, July 8, Zhu and Davies have not yet begun to cooperate with the liquidation process in any meaningful manner. This suggests that the criminal duo is on the run from creditors.

Ahead of a hearing that was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 12, lawyers representing the creditors said they cannot identify the physical whereabouts of either Zhu or Davies. The identity of these creditors is also currently unknown.

Three Arrows, also known as 3AC, managed about $10 billion in assets as recently as March, reported CNBC.

On July 1, the firm filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection from U.S. creditors in the Southern District of New York, after a plunge in cryptocurrencies and the collapse of the terraUSD (UST) stablecoin project wiped out its assets.

Prior to the bankruptcy filing, a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the beleaguered fund to liquidate in order to pay back its debts.

How many other crypto funds are scams in disguise?

Fridays court filing further shows that Zhu and Davies, both former traders at Credit Suisse, participated in an introductory Zoom call last week to discuss strategies for preserving their assets.

Neither founder turned on his video camera during the call, however, and both of them remained muted for its entirety. All dialogue was conducted through counsel, and at the time that counsel said the duo intended to cooperate.

Things have since degraded to alleged criminals on the run after angry lenders who want their money back pursue a remedy in bankruptcy court. The global advisory firm Teneo was hired to help manage the liquidation process, which includes first trying to determine what assets remain to be liquidated.

Representatives helping to facilitate the liquidation requested immediate access during the Zoom call to 3ACs officers, as well as all information related to the companys bank accounts and digital wallets. Thus far, that access has not been granted as requested.

In late June when the funds liquidators arrived at 3ACs Singapore office in an attempt to meet with Zhu and Davies, the offices appeared vacant except for a number of inactive computer screens, according to reports.

Upon arrival at the locked facility, liquidation facilitators also observed unopened mail addressed to 3AC that appeared to have been pushed under the door or propped against the door. The last time anyone was seen at the facility, according to neighboring offices, was in early June.

Russell Crumpler of Teneo warned in a sworn statement that there is a real risk that 3ACs assets would disappear absent immediate authority to pursue discovery.

That risk is heightened because a substantial portion of the Debtors assets are comprised of cash and digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, that are readily transferrable, Crumpler added.

A well-known non-fungible token (NFT) collector and investor has already confirmed that one of 3ACs NFTs was transferred to another crypto wallet during this time.

Creditors are requesting the court to suspend 3ACs right to transfer or dispose of any assets. Attorneys are also asking that the court subpoena the founders, as well as others who may have further information about 3ACs assets, including banks, crypto exchanges and counterparties.

3ACs insolvency has already had a major impact on the broader crypto market, because so many institutions had money wrapped up with the firm, CNBC reported.

The latest cryptocurrency news can be found at CryptoCult.news.

Sources for this article include:

CNBC.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Chinese researchers claim to have developed new artificial intelligence (AI) technology capable of mind-reading.

The Sunday Times (United Kingdom) first reported on the strange and concerning technology, which will supposedly be used to measure citizens loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Like many other Orwellian technologies, this AI mind-control technology will probably undergo a test run in communist China, only to eventually roll out to the rest of the world.

A now-deleted video and corresponding article from Chinas Comprehensive National Science Center in Hefei explains that the AI technology can analyze facial expressions and brain waves of people exposed to the CCPs thought and political education, also known as propaganda.

The results, researchers explained, can then be used to further solidify their confidence and determination to be grateful to the party, listen to the party, and follow the party.

Business Insider reported that the video and article explaining all this were removed from the internet following public outcry from Chinese citizens, who already face social credit scoring tyranny and internet censorship.

U.S. sanctioned several Chinese companies in 2021 for developing purported brain-control weaponry

In a piece he wrote for Forbes, AI and machine learning expert Dr. Lance B. Eliot made the suggestion that without knowing the specifics of the technology, it is impossible to know if it really works as claimed.

This is certainly not the very first time that a brainwave scan capability was used on human subjects in a research effort, he said.

That being said, using them to gauge loyalty to the CCP is not something you would find much focus on. When such AI is used for governmental control, a red line has been crossed.

Communist China has in the past, however, been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Commerce for attempting the creation of similar technologies, including a biotechnological system described as purported brain-control weaponry.

The CCP also already uses AI and facial recognition systems to track and control Uighur Muslims being held in concentration camps throughout China. As many as three million Uighurs are being kept in captivity, many of them tortured, using AI systems.

The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives, said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo in a press release following 2021 sanctions imposed against Chinese AI companies.

Unfortunately, the [Peoples Republic of China] is choosing to use these technologies to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups.

If China achieves its goals, a potentially worldwide AI-tocracy will be formed, plunging billions of people into technocratic tyranny.

China has repeatedly indicated that it wants to use AI, big data, machine learning, and other advanced technologies to get into the brains and minds of its people, according to analysts. VOA News calls Chinas plan a draconian digital dictatorship.

It has used cutting-edge technology to empower its party-state, says Hung Ching-fu, a professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, about the CCPs latest AI endeavor.

China has upgraded from early-day facial recognition to AI programs that try to get into brains and minds (more) than meet the eye. Its adoption of advanced AI will reinforce its total controls.

An AI-driven police state, in other words, is on the agenda for communist China, as well as any other country that adopts or is forced to adopt its ways.

Already, countries that lean towards autocracy as opposed to democracy are importing facial recognition AI technology from China. There appears to be a growing market for these Orwellian systems in countries that are becoming or already are, driven by totalitarianism.

More related news about Big Techs plans for global domination can be found at Tyranny.news.

Sources include:

BusinessInsider.com

NaturalNews.com

VOAnews.com
(Natural News) It can now be revealed that the upcoming Leadership Blue conference of the Democratic Party, to be held in Tampa, Fla., claims Pfizer as one of its main sponsors.

The same pharmaceutical giant that continues to enjoy liability-free profits from Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines is paying to host Democrats in the state of Florida, a key swing state in American elections.

Scheduled to take place from July 15-17, the Leadership Blue event is also sponsored by ActBlue, the primary payment processor for Democrats and Black Lives Matter (BLM).

Pfizers sponsorship appears to pose yet another conflict of interest given the companys role as a COVID-19 vaccine maker which still enjoys government protection against legal challenges over their MRNA therapies, writes Natalie Winters for The National Pulse, which broke the news.

Furthermore, despite obscuring results from its pharmaceutical trials and studies suggesting natural immunity confers better protection than COVID-19 vaccination, the company has continued to receive approval on its vaccines and boosters from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Pfizer-sponsored Florida Democrats criticize DeSantis for not forcing state residents to get vaccinated for covid

Pfizer made billions throughout the plandemic, as we all know. But the company could have made more billions had Democrats been in charge of Florida rather than Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

One of Pfizers biggest beefs with DeSantis is that he did not require businesses and schools to force covid vaccines on employees and students. This is one of the reasons why the company is sponsoring Democrats and hoping for a win in Florida.

Meanwhile, Floridian Democrats have criticized state Governor Ron DeSantis for failing to implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates for businesses and schools  a policy that directly affects Pfizers profits, Winters adds.

The pharmaceutical giant has spent a record-breaking amount on lobbyists throughout COVID-19, strategically tapping former government employees with ties to Joe Biden, to push for authorization of its vaccine.

Pfizers lobbying budget has increased dramatically over the past several years. Just before the plandemic, the company initially spent $11 million on lobbying, only to up that amount to $13.15 million  the highest amount since 2010.

Pfizer also retained 77 lobbyists in 2019 before expanding that team to 102 lobbyists in 2020. In 2021, Pfizer declared 92 lobbyists.

Pfizer has employed a similar tactic outside the political sphere, as individuals tied to the company hold influential roles within media, technology, and the World Economic Forum (WEF), Winters further explains.

Earlier this year, Democrats en masse voted against a move that would prohibit the monitoring and persecution of American citizens who refused the vaccine.

Last October, a Pfizer scientist was also caught on hidden camera admitting to profiteering off the plandemic  you dont say?

Leadership Blue was originally supposed to be held at Disney World. However, the location was moved to the Tampa JW Marriott due to pressure from LGBT activists who are still outraged over the fact that Disney did not immediately condemn DeSantis for his Dont Say Gay bill  though Disney later issued that condemnation.

Just like Big Tobacco (in the 1970s) Big Pharmas greedy intent to establish a perpetual money stream by taking over all of medicine with MRNA, or that the US government (idiots that they are), in the face of significant irrefutable data that the shots are dangerous, still continues to insist they are safe and effective, and promotes them, wrote someone who reads Natural News about the situation.

The only conclusion you can draw is that the current administration is controlled by Big Pharma and / or NWO / WHO. The U.S. medical system was once the pinnacle of medicine in the world. Now, its a big joke.

The latest news about Pfizer can be found at Corruption.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheNationalPulse.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Biden administration is spending $1.5 million to promote transgender ideology in federal prisons, a move Republican lawmakers described as flushing taxpayer money down the drain.

The egregiously wasteful endeavor came to light by means of a July 2021 contract signed by the Department of Justices Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and Carson City, Nevada-based The Change Companies (TCC). The agreement involved a transgender programming curriculum amounting to $1.5 million, the details of which are reportedly set to be finalized on Sept. 30.

In a statement, the BOP said the program will provide techniques to seek support for mental health concerns and skills to advocate for physical, emotional and sexual health and safety.

The BOP recognizes the importance of appropriate gender-affirming management and treatment of transgender individuals in its custody. By entering into a contract with The Change Companies, the BOP is able to expand program offerings for transgender inmates, its statement added.

Since 2008, TCC has received $3.4 million in awards from the BOP in four states  Nevada, West Virginia, California and Kansas. The July 2021 contract was among the largest the federal agency awarded to the Nevada-based firm.

A report by the Epoch Times stated that the contract with TCC includes full curricula and facilitators guides, instructional workbooks and videos.

Amid criticism, the BOP reiterated that it maintains procurement integrity and compliance with laws and federal regulations when procuring contracts of goods and services. It added that the award of this contract was compliant with federal law and regulations to include fair pricing.

At least two GOP lawmakers took to social media to blast the contract. Programming meant to push the transgender agenda in U.S. prisons should not be paid for by taxpayers, tweeted Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall.

Meanwhile, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert wrote: Biden is purposefully flushing your tax dollars down the drain.

Transgenderism in prisons do more harm than good

The Biden administration is seemingly unaware of, if not deliberately turning a blind eye to, the dangers of transgenderism in prisons.

Incorporating progressive woke ideology in prisons, especially in womens correctional facilities, only increases the frequency of sexual assault. California served as a perfect example of this, thanks to Senate Bill (SB) 132 signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom and became effective on Jan. 1, 2021.

The law permitted transgender, non-binary and intersex people to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity. Upon the laws passage, transgender inmates were transferred to womens prisons  which increased the number of sexual assaults in the Golden States penal system.

In response to the repercussions of SB 132, feminist group Womens Liberation Front (WoLF) filed a lawsuit against SB 132 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of California in November 2020. The lawsuit sought to overturn the law, alleging that it creates an unsafe environment for women by putting female prisoners at risk of being raped.

Two incarcerated women, who were sexually assaulted by transgender or non-binary inmates, joined the list of plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Other inmates listed as plaintiffs argued that SB 132 violates their religious beliefs by forcing them to share space with transgender women.

Amie Ichikawa, co-founder of the female inmates rights group Woman II Woman, expressed shock over the bills passage. Weve gotten so many calls, letters [and] different messages of women feeling forgotten [and] completely excluded, she said. Her organization is also a party to WoLFs November 2020 lawsuit.

Ichikawa clarified that she is not opposed to providing a protected environment for transgender inmates. Rather, she lamented that the system does not prevent sexual predators from gaining access to female facilities by claiming they are transgender.

Watch the video below as Martin Brodel talks about an inmate who became pregnant after California passed SB 132.

This video is from the Martin Brodel channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Scotland moves convicted transgender sex criminals into womens prisons.

Female prisoner sues prison after a transgender inmate allegedly raped her.

Biden picks transgender who encouraged Covid-safe orgies as assistant health secretary.

At least one California inmate pregnant as transgender convicts move into womens prisons.

Bidens choice of a transgender drag queen to head up the Department of Energy illustrates systemic problem of trans privilege in America.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com

Twitter.com 1

Twitter.com 2

LawEnforcementToday.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Biden administration is scrambling to get an additional 144,000 doses of monkeypox vaccines as demand outstrips supply in the United States.

A sincere apology for the technical difficulties our vendor [Medrite] experienced with todays monkeypox vaccine appointment rollout. We pledge to do better in the days and weeks ahead, New York Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan posted on Twitter on July 7.

Some 41,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine have been distributed to states from the national stockpile by the national government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We are using every tool we have to increase and accelerate Jynneos vaccine availability in jurisdictions that need them the most, Steve Adams, director of the Strategic National Stockpile, said in a news release.

He added that in less than 10 days, around 200,000 Jynneos vaccine doses would be available in communities where transmission has been the highest.

Monkeypox, a viral zoonotic disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, is recognized as the most significant orthopoxvirus infection after the eradication of smallpox. The current outbreak is mostly among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, but anyone can get and spread monkeypox, the Health Department said. (Related: Monkeypox is clearly a gay disease, but the CDC is doing everything possible to avoid offending LGBTs.)

As of July 11, 223 people in New York have tested positive for orthopoxvirus, and all cases are likely monkeypox. That is up from 111 cases on July 5 and more than quadruple the number from a week before that.

The government has ordered another 2.5 million doses of the vaccine for future monkeypox outbreaks and in case of smallpox outbreaks. These doses are expected to arrive in the stockpile in early 2023.

Biden slammed for concealing the real monkeypox vaccine situation

Meanwhile, the White House has faced criticisms for failing to secure the stockpile of Jynneos monkeypox vaccines in Denmark. Around one million doses are currently stuck at the Bavarian Nordic manufacturing facility allegedly due to red tape.

A June 28 letter sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response pointed out that Americans have spent $2 billion since 2007 to develop, manufacture, and stockpile doses of the Jynneos vaccine as part of a federal security program.

The stockpile has over a million doses, enough to inoculate more than 500,000 people from at-risk areas.

But members of the at-risk communities in the U.S. are being turned away from monkeypox vaccination because these vaccines are not available in sufficient quantity in the U.S., but are instead sitting in freezers in Denmark, the letter stated.

The group pointed out that the same oversight of vaccine production and distribution that hampered the global Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) response has caused the failure to contain the current monkeypox outbreak.

The U.S. government is unable to distribute the vaccines stored in the Scandinavian country to its citizens because the FDA failed to hold a timely inspection of the facility. The FDA then refused to accept inspection results from the European Unions regulatory arm, which considered the facility safe.

James Krellenstein, co-founder of PrEP4All said the Biden administration is not being transparent about the real situation.

Why were the Europeans able to inspect this plant a year ago, ensuring these doses can be used in Europe and the Biden Administration did not do the same? FDA is making a judgment that theyd rather let gay people remain unvaccinated for weeks and weeks and weeks than trust the European certification process, Krellenstein lamented.

The vaccines in Washington and New York City ran out in late June, the same day it was offered to citizens. The administration reportedly sent an additional 8,195 vaccines to New York.

In Los Angeles, officials are giving out doses to those who attended an event deemed a high risk for exposure or people who have had contact with an infected individual.

Health officials say the infection spreads through contact with bodily fluids, sores or shared items such as bedding or clothing that were contaminated with fluids. It can also be transmitted through saliva and sexual contact.

Visit MonkePoxPanic.com for more news related to the monkeypox spread.

Watch the below video that talks about NY and DC running out of monkeypox vaccines.

This video is from the zolnareport.com channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Monkeypox outbreak could be used to justify expansion of medical surveillance

While the CDC pretends homosexuality isnt to blame for Monkeypox, the UK faces reality.

Monkeypox outbreak could be a result of failed COVID-19 vaccination program.

Nonprofit founded by CNN co-founder was PREPARING for the monkeypox outbreak in 2021.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com 1

HHS.gov

Fox5NY.com

NYC.gov

TheEpochTimes.com 2

DocumentCloud.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report found that billions of people depend on 50,000 wild species for food, medicine, fuel and income from activities like tourism.

Seventy percent of the worlds poor are directly dependent on wild species. One in five people rely on wild plants, algae, and fungi for their food and income; 2.4 billion rely on fuel wood for cooking; and about 90 percent of the 120 million people working in capture fisheries are supported by small-scale fishing, report co-chair Dr. Marla R. Emery stated in a press release.

She further said that the regular use of wild species is extremely important in countries classified by the World Bank as low or middle income that are located in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The study pointed out the following five practices that define how humans use wild species: fishing, gathering, logging, land animal harvesting and non-extractive uses like ecotourism.

According to the Guardian, more than 10,000 species are used as food, about a third of people depend on firewood for cooking and 50 percent of wood goes toward energy. Also, about 50 percent of the worldwide population benefits from the use of wild species of plants, animals, algae and fungi in some way.

Half of humanity uses and benefits from the use of wild species. Their sustainability is essential for biodiversity conservation and for human wellbeing.

The said assessment report on the sustainable use of wild species, which took four years to accomplish, was approved by IPBESs 139 member states in Germany last week. It was done in cooperation with 85 experts and members of indigenous and local communities.

The paper, which also included the work of 200 contributing authors and used more than 6,200 sources, provided the extent to which human beings rely on the nature they are rapidly depleting.

Study proves overexploitation of resources

Humanity leans on natural resources to sustain its daily living, but wasteful practices throughout the years are slowly exhausting them. (Related: Humanity cannot live without nature, but nature can live without humanity.)

The damaging utilization of nature including unsustainable fishing and logging has left one in three fisheries overexploited around the world and one in 10 tree species threatened with extinction. Flora groups such as cacti, orchids and cycads are particularly at risk, and unsustainable hunting has been a threat to the survival of 1,341 wild mammal species, especially in large-bodied species with low reproduction rates.

There is an urgent need to implement and scale-up policy instruments that work while recognizing the need for adaptive management and transformative changes to address current and future pressures and challenges, the paper said, identifying levers and pathways to promote sustainable use and enhance the sustainability of the use of wild species in a dynamic future.

The authors of the report also emphasized the early recovery of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean after the collapse in stocks in the 1990s and 2000s, and the more sustainable fishing of the enormous pirarucu fish in the Amazon, which involves community-based management.

The information we have compiled gives us a great deal of hope, as well as models for how we can have more sustainable use of wild species in the world, Emery said.

Dilys Roe, head of the International Union for Conservation of Natures sustainable use and livelihoods specialist group, stated that the highlight of the study was the importance of wild species to billions of people, particularly to indigenous and local communities.

We have heard a lot about bans on the wildlife trade, a ban on wild meat consumption, and so on, and I think this assessment really makes clear how key sustainable use of wild species is to human wellbeing, Roe said. She added that the study recognizes the revenue generated from wild species as an important source of income, which is a really important incentive for conservation.

However, Roe said that an important limitation of the paper is the lack of data about species that humans consume and exploit.

Watch the below video that talks about the impact of climate change on biodiversity and animal behavior around the world.

This video is from the Finding Genious Podcast channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Biden regime seeks to enrich tyrannical regimes with oil money rather than allow U.S. companies to produce a domestic natural resource.

Nature therapy: Time in nature can now be prescribed as a healthcare treatment in Canada.

Endangered reptile species being sold as pets could be in danger of extinction, warn scientists.

Couple creates their own nature sanctuary from land deemed unusable, demonstrating wildlifes amazing ability to bounce back.

Sources include:

EcoWatch.com

Ipbes.net

Zenodo.org

TheGuradian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A noted British economist and personal finance expert is sounding the alarm that citizens will face massive  even cataclysmic  energy bills this coming winter that could surpass 3,000, or more than $3,500 per month.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert founder said that Britons are facing a bleak winter with millions if not more than 10 million people experiencing real poverty.

Lewis went on to say that he believes the coming winter will be the worst the country has experienced since the 1970s in terms of personal finances.

He said he thinks that the energy price cap will rise at least to 3,000 in October, an amount nearly four times what it cost just two years ago when the most inexpensive deal was roughly 800. He also said he is concerned that the higher amount is a massive amount of income that someone on universal credit is receiving, according to the Coventry Telegraph.

Lewis, in his interview, said that kind of money for energy is simply unaffordable in an interview with hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard.

He said: We are heading for a very bleak winter. It doesnt feel it now. The sun shining. Its a nice time. Its easy to forget whats going on with energy bills.

Your prediction of 2,800 was what the regulator Ofgem said in May. Well, since May the year ahead wholesale prices which the price cap are based on have been higher than before. The latest prediction I have, which was a couple of weeks ago from Cornwall Insight, is that for somebody on typical bills, the price cap will rise to 2,980 in October and 3,000 in January, he continued.

But even that, I believe, is probably now out of date. And after whats happened in the last couple of weeks, I suspect were looking at an over 3,000 for a typical bill coming in October, Lewis noted further.

Now, to put that in context, a couple of years ago, the cheapest deals you can get just two years ago were around 800. So thats a nearly fourfold increase. And 3,000 a year is such a substantial portion of the amount that a state pensioner receives or an amount somebody on universal credit, a single person on universal credit receives, he added.

So lets be under no uncertain terms. What we are facing is potentially cataclysmic, he predicted.

We are talking about millions, if not 10 million people moving into real poverty this winter, the worst winter we have seen, well, maybe since the 1970s and maybe before that in financial terms. And to deal with that, the government was too slow to deal with the warnings that were given, said Lewis.

This comes as the European continent allowed itself to become too addicted to Russian energy, even as NATO members. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, NATO countries, the EU, and the United States all sanctioned Moscow and cut themselves off from Russian oil, which left the European continent in a huge void, energy-wise, after spending the past decade-plus transitioning to clean energy that cannot possibly deliver enough to power modern economies.

The left-wing global elites who have pushed this nonsensical transition away from cheap, plentiful and mostly clean-burning fossil fuels even as our enemies (Russia, China, etc.) double down on them has led to something of a rebellion, according to Ralph Schoelhammer, an assistant professor in economics and political science at Webster University in Vienna, Austria.

Writing in Newsweek, he notes:

A popular uprising of working-class people against the elites and their values is underwayand its crossing the globe. There is a growing resistance by the middle and lower classes against what Rob Henderson has coined the luxury beliefs of the elites, as everyday folks realize the harm it causes them and their communities.

The era of left-wing elitism and their insane globalist policies aimed at enslaving the vast majority of the planet while they live in the lap of uber-luxury are coming to an end.

Sources include:

Newsweek.com

CoventryTelegraph.net
(Natural News) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday granted full approval of Pfizer-BioNTechs Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents 12 through 15 years old.

(Article by Megan Redshaw republished from ChildrenHealthDefense.org)

In an FDA press release, the agency said full approval of Comirnaty follows a rigorous analysis and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness data, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been, and will continue to be authorized for emergency use in this age group since May 2021.

Pfizers press release announcing the approval said the Comirnaty vaccine has been available under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) since May 2021 for the adolescent age group.

Yet, Comirnaty is not available in the U.S for any age group and is not the same formula as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine currently authorized under EUA and being distributed as a fully approved vaccine.

The approval of Comirnaty for adolescents 12 to 15 is head-spinning, said Mary Holland, president and general counsel for Childrens Health Defense.

Holland added:

The FDA failed to convene an expert committee and failed to appropriately weigh the risk-benefit profile of this vaccine for this age group. Even Vaccine cheerleader Dr. Paul Offit acknowledged FDA decisions are being made based on political pressure, not science when, in commenting on the agencys vote last week to allow reformulated booster shots, he said it felt like the fix was in.

Holland said that at base, this is a move by pharma to ensure liability protection under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. Some states likely will attempt to put Comirnaty on the childhood vaccine schedule, despite the myriad known and unknown risks, Holland said.

Pfizers fraud and collusion with government is becoming more evident by the day, Holland said. CHD, already challenging the authorizations for those six months through age 11, will be at the forefront of challenging this approval for teenagers.

Efficacy claims based on old analysis of 16- to 25-year-olds  before Delta, Omicron variants

Pfizer said Fridays approval is based on data from a Phase 3 clinical trial of 2,260 participants ages 12 through 15.

About half of the participants, elicited SARS-CoV-2neutralizing antibody geometric mean titers (GMTs) demonstrating strong immunogenicity in a subset of adolescents one month after the second dose, Pfizer said.

It is unknown what happened to antibody levels after one month, but peer-reviewed research suggests vaccine protection conferred by second and third doses of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine wanes rapidly against the Omicron variant.

Our study found a rapid decline in Omicron-specific serum neutralizing antibody titers only a few weeks after the second and third doses of [the Pfizer-BioNTech] BNT162b2, said the authors of a May 13 study published in JAMA.

To further support its claim that Comirnaty is effective in the 12 to 15 age group, Pfizer used an old analysis of 16- to 25-year-olds conducted before the Delta and Omicron surges.

The efficacy analysis was conducted between November 2020 and May 2021, which was before the Delta and Omicron surges, and the only SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern identified from the confirmed COVID-19 cases in this age group was Alpha, Pfizer said in its press release.

FDA experts question neutralizing antibodies as standard for vaccine effectiveness

During a June 28 meeting of the FDAs Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), vaccine experts raised concerns that neutralizing antibodies did not correlate to clinical protection  noting Modernas COVID-19 vaccine had a two-fold increase in neutralizing antibody levels compared with Pfizers vaccine during clinical trials, but it did not translate into a clinically significant difference in terms of protection against severe disease.

Dr. Ofer Levy, VRBPAC member and infectious disease physician at Boston Childrens Hospital, said during the meeting there is still no established correlate of protection, referring to the level of antibodies needed to confer protection.

You have a lot of data now, Levy told Pfizer. What is your relative protection?

I would say there is no established correlate of protection, Kena Swanson, Ph.D., vice president of viral vaccines at Pfizer, told Levy.

Levy said:

I would like to hear from FDA what their overall approach will be around improving our understanding of correlate protection. We spend a good amount of time reviewing antibody data. We have no doubt antibody data is important. We dont have a level of antibody that anybody is comfortable stating is correlated [with] protection.

Levy, who said antibodies are important, but T cells are more important, called for federal leadership to establish a standardization of the T-cell assay and encourage or in fact require the sponsors to gather that information.

So what is the effort to standardize the pre-clinical assays? Levy asked. This is an effort thats critical not just now but for future cycles of vaccine revision. If we arent able to define a standard for correlate protection we are fighting with one arm behind our back.

Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, acknowledged the importance of Levys question and said they are having conversations with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and throughout government about how they might move forward, but it is something they dont have an answer to yet.

Marks said as vaccines are developed in the future, it will become even more important to define a standard of correlate protection because we wont be able to have a large naive population to vaccinate with newer vaccines.

We will need to understand the T-cell response better, Marks said. I take your point, its just that we havent solved the problem yet.

Comirnaty not available in the U.S.

According to Pfizers press release, Comirnaty was previously made available to the 12 to 15 age group in the U.S. under EUA and 9 million U.S. adolescents in this age group have completed a primary series.

The vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty for adults, has been available under an emergency use authorization since May 2021 for the 12-15 age group, Reuters reported. It will now be sold under the same brand name for adolescents as well.

Yet, Pfizers information hotline says it has no specific information on when Comirnaty will be available.

The FDA said Friday the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been, and will continue to be, authorized for emergency use in this age group since May 2021.

The CDCs website states that Comirnaty is not orderable.

A branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services overseeing the Strategic National Stockpile indicated Comirnaty was not available because Pfizer did not have time to change the labels.

According to FDA documents, Comirnaty is not available in the U.S. and nobody has received a fully approved and licensed COVID-19 vaccine.

Comirnaty has not been made available under EUA, said Dr. Madhava Setty, physician and senior science editor for The Defender.

Setty added:

The FDA and Pfizer have already stated very quietly, that they have no intent of manufacturing Comirnaty for distribution. Everyone is getting the non-licensed formulation that carries no liability for pharmaceutical companies.

The CDC website confirms this, stating the Comirnaty formulation will not be manufactured or made available in the near term even if authorized.

The FDA on Aug. 23, 2021, approved Pfizers biological licensing application (BLA) for its COVID-19 vaccine named Comirnaty for people age 16 and older.

CHD challenged FDA on Comirnaty approval for adults

As The Defender reported, there were several bizarre aspects to the FDA approval that proved confusing  which led to CHD suing the FDA over its approval of Comirnaty.

The FDA acknowledged that while Pfizer had insufficient stocks of the newly licensed Comirnaty vaccine, there was a significant amount of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine  produced under EUA  still available for use.

The FDA said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under EUA should remain unlicensed but could be used interchangeably with the newly licensed Comirnaty product.

The FDA also said the licensed Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine and the existing Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were legally distinct, but proclaimed their differences did not impact safety or effectiveness.

Yet, there is a huge real-world difference between products approved under EUA compared with those the FDA has fully licensed.

EUA products are experimental under U.S. law and cannot be mandated. A licensed vaccine, such as Comirnaty, can be mandated by employers and schools.

Although Pfizers Comirnaty vaccine can be mandated, it has no liability shield. Vials of the branded product, which say Comirnaty on the label, are subject to the same product liability laws as other U.S. products.

Only COVID-19 vaccines distributed under EUA  which in the U.S. includes Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson  have liability protection under the 2005 Public Readiness and Preparedness Act (PREP).

Under PREP, the only way an injured party can sue a pharmaceutical company for an injury caused by an EUA vaccine is if he or she can prove willful misconduct and if the U.S. government has also brought an enforcement action against the party for willful misconduct. No such lawsuit has ever succeeded.

Comirnaty cannot receive liability protection unless it is fully approved for children and added to the CDCs immunization schedule bringing it under the auspices of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Comirnaty vaccines arent interchangeable

The FDA on Oct. 29, 2021, authorized a manufacturing change to allow an additional formulation of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine that uses tromethamine (Tris) buffer instead of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) used in the originally authorized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA on Dec. 16, 2021, approved a supplement to the Comirnaty BLA to include a new 30 mcg dose formulation that uses the Tris buffer instead of the PBS buffer used in the originally approved vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may contain either the PBS buffer or tris buffer, except for the 5 to 11 age group. The Comirnaty vaccine contains the Tris buffer.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine used for the 5 to 11 age group uses a Tris buffer, despite clinical trials having been conducted using Pfizers vaccine containing the PBS buffer.

According to Pfizers July 8 press release, the FDA relied upon studies conducted prior to the formula change to justify the approval of Pfizers Comirnaty vaccine for adolescents ages 12 to 15.

The type of buffer used in a COVID-19 vaccine can affect the potency of the vaccine, how it is stored and the propensity to develop potential adverse events, TrialSite News reported.

??According to Cleveland Clinic, Tris is commonly used for the prevention and treatment of metabolic acidosis associated with various clinical conditions such as heart bypass surgery or cardiac arrest. It is also used in other vaccines, including Modernas COVID-19 vaccine, dengue, smallpox and Ebola vaccines.

The FDA categorizes tromethamine as a category C drug and suggests using tromethamine only if clearly needed.

It is unknown if tromethamine will harm an unborn baby, but animal reproduction studies have shown an adverse effect on the fetus, and there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in humans.

The FDA-evaluated manufacturing data support the change in this inactive ingredient and concluded it did not impact the safety or effectiveness of the product, Marks, said during an October 2021, press briefing.

According to the FDAs Letter of Authorization, reissued on Oct. 29, analytical comparability assessments revealed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine formulations containing Tris and PBS buffers were analytically comparable.

Yet, no human or animal trials were conducted to determine the safety or efficacy of the new formula.

Read more at: ChildrenHealthDefense.org
(Natural News) Journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald blasted the mainstream media (MSM) coverup of Hunter Bidens controversial laptop from hell, calling it the biggest media fraud in the past 10 years.

He elaborated on this claim during an appearance on the Fox News program Jesse Watters Primetime. Greenwald told host Jesse Watters: This was the topic of the single biggest media fraud in the last, I think at least decade, which is right before the election.

According to the Intercept co-founder, any information emerging through the Hunter Biden story is tightly controlled. He explained that the MSM deploys information to conceal it or divulge it for the interest of their sources inside the Democratic Party and the U.S. security state.

[Joe] Biden [won] the election because they suppressed that story. Then all of a sudden, they want to start doing reporting on [the elder] Biden as hes getting weak. All of these documents start emerging in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and [MSM outlets] say Oh, now were able to confirm their authenticity. (Related: New York Times quietly admitted that they are fake news, that Hunters laptop was real and they made up Russian disinformation.)

Greenwald remarked: The media has already been playing these kinds of very extreme games, with exactly this case, for those kinds of motives.

Had this only been about corruption by Hunter Biden, it would be an embarrassing scandal. [But] were clearly talking about protecting Joe Biden as well.

The journalist and lawyer called for an independent prosecutor whos not beholden to the chain of command to look into allegations connected with the presidential sons laptop.

Back in March, Greenwald slammed both the Times and the Post for their sudden change of stance with regard to the laptop. The Times confirmed the storys authenticity in a March 16 piece, while the Post followed suit via a March 30 article.

The [Posts] article  like the one [from the Times]  states over and over [that] they verified the key emails from the Biden archive. Many liberal outlets lied and said these emails were forged by Russia, Greenwald tweeted. He also mentioned how the Intercepts partisan editors prevented him from reporting the story.

CIA claims Hunter Biden emails are Russian disinfo, which MSM parrots

The co-founder of the Intercept continued that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was responsible for dismissing the emails from Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation.

The CIA spread to the media, which repeated it, and then Big Tech censored on the basis of the lie that all these documents were Russian disinformation, Greenwald told Watters.

Greenwalds tweets from March also echoed this sentiment.

He wrote in one tweet: I dont care that I talk about this a lot [because] its not talked about enough. The CIA, Big Tech and corporate media all conspired in the weeks before the election to spread a clear lie to manipulate the election  that these emails were forged by Russia. Now they ignore the proof.'

A separate tweet from Greenwald contained a challenge for the MSM.

Permit me to ask this one question about the U.S. media. Other than that they genuinely see their role as lying for noble ends, what could possibly justify their refusal to retract their CIA lie that the Biden archive was Russian disinformation or at least acknowledge the proof?

Only the New York Post published multiple articles about the emails from the younger Bidens laptop. It ran stories about Hunter Bidens dealings with Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky and two individuals linked to communist China. Because of this, the Post was temporarily suspended from Twitter in October 2020.

The rest of the MSM outlets, however, dismissed the stories as Russian propaganda and have yet to retract their claims.

Watch this conversation between Tucker Carlson and Glenn Greenwald about the authenticity of Hunter Bidens emails.

This video is from The Serpent Network channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Bidens new disinformation chief was pleased by censorship of Hunter Biden laptop stories.

Politico confirms Hunter Biden laptop story they previously slammed as Russian disinfo.

Hunter Biden dam about to burst? WaPo, CNN go scorched earth over laptop from hell.

Video: TV journalists flat-out lying about Hunter Bidens laptop.

NYT finally admits Hunters laptop is real.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

FoxNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Data from a shocking study published by Portugals National Institute of Health (NIH) suggests that the monkeypox outbreak was intentional and that the virus was manipulated in a lab.

When a person has monkeypox, they will usually get a fever before they develop a rash one to five days later. The rash will often appear on their face before spreading to other parts of the body. The rash then changes and goes through different stages before finally forming a scab that eventually falls off. If youre infected, you are contagious until all the scabs have fallen off and the skin underneath is intact.

Monkeypox has always been extremely rare and the disease was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, human cases of monkeypox have been reported in 11 African countries.

But it wasnt until 2003 that the first monkeypox outbreak was recorded in the United States. Monkeypox has never been recorded in multiple countries at the same time until this year.

This years cases of monkeypox have been recorded in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. all at the same time.

As of July, the alleged number of cases in the U.K. has skyrocketed to 1,235.

However, theres something unusual about the outbreak, especially since the world is allegedly experiencing an outbreak across first-world countries all at the same time.

Back in March 2021, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) collaborated with the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to run a tabletop exercise on reducing high-consequence biological threats. The exercise analyzed gaps in national and international biosecurity and pandemic preparedness architectures to find out possible opportunities to improve prevention and response capabilities for high-consequence biological events.

This is the scenario the NTI and the MSC conducted: A monkeypox outbreak that began on May 15 resulted in 3.2 billion cases and 271 million deaths by December 1, 2023.

The similarities are too close to reality and it would be unwise to consider the current monkeypox outbreak as an unusual coincidence, especially since the first cases were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 13.

Portugals NIH suggests monkeypox outbreak may have been engineered

Findings from the study conducted by Portugals NIH suggest that the current monkeypox outbreak may be engineered.

For the study, NIH researchers gathered specimens from nine patients with monkeypox between May 15 and May 17 of this year and analyzed them. Results revealed that the recent multi-country outbreak of monkeypox is probably the result of a single origin since all sequences of viruses released to date tightly cluster together.

The research team also reported that the virus belongs to the West African group of monkeypox viruses. Additionally, they discovered that the virus is most closely related to monkeypox viruses that were exported from Nigeria to several countries in 2018 and 2019, specifically the U.K., Israel and Singapore.

This is the first clue that shows how the latest outbreak may be the result of an engineered virus that leaked from a lab.

The second clue that the monkeypox virus was leaked from a lab is the fact that even though the virus closely resembles those exported from Nigeria, it is still different with more than 50 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

SNPs are genetic variations and the researchers explained that 50 SNPs are far more than one would expect. This implies that someone manipulated the monkeypox virus in a lab. (Related: Study finds monkeypox virus has been heavily manipulated in a lab.)

Dr. Robert Malone broke down the Portugal study in an op-ed piece published by Life Site News and concluded that the current monkeypox outbreak is indeed engineered. This double stranded DNA virus, infections by which have historically been self-limiting, appears to be evolving to a form that is more readily transmitted from human to human. Bad news, he wrote.

Visit MonkeyPoxReport.com for more information about the monkeypox virus.

Watch the video below to know more about the monkeypox virus.

This video is from the Thrivetime Show channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Monkeypox outbreak could be used to justify expansion of medical surveillance.

Monkeypox release is PSYCHOLOGICAL TERRORISM to keep humanity paralyzed with FEAR.

Same Wuhan lab linked to covid recently tampered with monkeypox strains.

Sources include:

Expose-News.com

LifeSiteNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) New York City has released a new public service announcement video that advises residents what to do after a nuclear strike on the city. The laughable video almost appears to be a Babylon Bee parody, as it offers residents what can only be described as a suicide checklist for dying in a nuclear attack. (See video below.)

The joyfully-presented video advises residents to go into buildings and undress, then shampoo and use soap to wash themselves off. Once done, residents are told to stay indoors until directed what to do by government media sources. Sounds like a quick way to die

This advice presumes that buildings will still be standing, that running water still works and that the internet and media broadcast stations are all up and operating. These assumptions are absurd.

As the following blast radius map from NuclearSecrecy.com reveals, just a 1 megaton nuclear strike would produce a fireball (the yellow zone) that engulfs most of Brooklyn, Harlem, Bayonne, the West Side and of course all of lower Manhattan Island. Just from the blast alone, an estimated 1.7 million people would be instantly killed, with 3.1 million more injured. This does not count the effects of radiation fallout:

It begs the question: What buildings does the NYC government think are going to still be standing after a direct hit with a nuclear warhead?

How are people supposed to take showers when theres no functioning municipal water system?

How are people supposed to listen to media when theres no internet and the local media offices have been turned to rubble?

Even more shockingly, the NYC video doesnt even mention iodine as a protective measure against thyroid damage stemming from Iodine-131 exposure.

The whole thing comes across as a suicide checklist rather than a legitimate collection of survival tips. Watch it here, and try not to imagine its a parody:

If you increase the nuclear yield to 100 megatons  well within the capability of Russias largest nuclear ICBMs  you get a fireball that extends nearly to Trenton, NJ while engulfing Stamford as well as about half of Long Island. Casualties would number over 8 million instantly, with another 6.7 million injured. The radius of this fireball is 6.1km:

Good luck trying to find running water in this scenario. Good luck surviving at all if youre anywhere near ground zero.

Russia issues warning to the West about nuclear escalation

According to an announcement published by Russian news agency TASS, the USA is pushing Russia into a cycle of nuclear escalation that could end in catastrophe. As Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated:

After provoking an escalation of the Ukrainian crisis and unleashing a violent hybrid confrontation with Russia, Washington and its allies are dangerously teetering on the brink of an open military confrontation with our country, which means a direct armed conflict between nuclear powers. Clearly, such a confrontation would be fraught with nuclear escalation.

Note the key points of this statement:

The assertion that the West is provoking the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine. That the West is pushing toward open military confrontation with Russia. That such a confrontation would seemingly end in nuclear escalation. This can only mean the launch of nuclear missiles.

Remember that Russia has vastly superior nuclear strike capabilities and anti-air defenses compared to the United States and European nations. On top of that, Russias military doctrine describes a first strike advantage, which means Putin knows that if this war is irreversibly headed into global conflict, his strategic advantage is best exploited if he strikes first.

Russias military doctrine also requires striking with overwhelming nuclear superiority from the very first moment, meaning such a scenario would likely not be limited to small, tactical nuclear strikes on the battlefield. Most likely, a first strike would target 10+ key U.S. cities and military bases, reducing those areas to radioactive rubble. You can be certain that Washington D.C., Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Miami and Chicago are also on that list.

Russias missiles can easily reach all targets in the Northern hemisphere. The Sarmat-II missile system has hyperglide vehicle re-entry units that can easily evade all known anti-air defenses possessed by the United States. There is no defense against Russias missiles.

Corrupt, insane, US officials are practicing escalation, not deterrence

As I point out in my podcast below, this seems to be the goal of Barack Obama and Bidens other handlers, who have long sought to destroy the United States by any means necessary. Because of this treasonous, destructive agenda, US officials are not practicing deterrence but rather determined escalation into nuclear conflict.

In my analysis, theres little question that Bidens handlers want the United States to be destroyed in a multi-city nuclear attack. All the key decisions involving Russia and Ukraine are driving toward this single goal. Note that democrat-controlled areas like NYC are even giving their residents a suicide checklist to make sure the maximum number of people die in a nuclear strike.

We are watching a death cult actively drive America into an empire-ending event that would see the total destruction of the United States of America. In fact, as I pointed out in my podcast below, I believe the treasonous leaders at the Pentagon would order a nuclear stand down even as Russias missiles were arriving on target. Why? Because the Pentagon and US State Dept. are now run by homosexual, transgender, child-grooming pedophiles who are doing the bidding of Satan. They want maximum destruction of America and they wont authorize a retaliatory strike against anyone.

Besides, deterrence requires both nuclear powers to be run by rational people who seek the preservation of their own populations. Yet the leaders of the US are actively engineering the mass death of hundreds of millions of Americans via deadly vaccines, food shortages, energy infrastructure sabotage and climate engineering. They want us all to die, which means there is no incentive among Americas leaders to deter nuclear war in the first place.

Russia being used as a proxy by the illegitimate US leaders to carrying out mass genocide of Americans

If you live anywhere near a major U.S. city, understand that you are in the target zone, and you are living under an illegal enemy occupying regime that wants you dead. They are using Russia as a proxy to nuke America and murder hundreds of millions of people, and they are using Ukraine as a proxy to provoke Russia into launching nuclear missiles against Americas cities.

By launching nuclear missiles against America, in other words, Putin would be carrying out the bidding of Obama and Bidens handlers. This is why every American needs to get out of the cities while theres still a chance. If you are anywhere near ground zero (even within 10 km), you are very unlikely to survive.

How to survive a nuclear war

Those who wish to survive this scenario that seems increasingly likely must take assertive steps right now to prepare for the total collapse of society as we know it. Remember:

Food you store right now is non-radioactive food, allowing you to eat safely after a nuclear strike.

Most high-quality water filters will filter radioisotopes out of contaminated water. You do not need special anti-radiation water filters. Radiation comes from particles, and those particles are filtered by regular water filters. (More details coming on this soon, from my laboratory. We are running tests on multiple water filters with this specific purpose in mind.)

Remember the inverse square rule of distance from the blast zone. By doubling your distance, you cut your radiation exposure to 1/4th. If you triple your distance, your exposure drops to 1/9th.

Make sure you have iodine. In my podcast below, I also reveal how to make your own Cesium Eliminator, which I invented and patented a few years ago. See CesiumEliminator.com for details on that science.

In my podcast below, I also recommend downloading the free ebook at NuclearWarSurvivalSkills.com (they also have a paid Kindle version and an updated, 2022 edition thats available for a fee).

In addition, be sure to download my free audio book Resilient Prepping at www.ResilientPrepping.com.

Finally, you will need a bugout plan if you need to get out of the radiation fallout zone. This will almost certainly require self-defense tools such as firearms. Heres my recent video review of folding AR style pistols:

You can see more of my preparedness videos at PrepWithMike.com.

The folding AR pistol I recommend is offered by ShieldArms.com.

Hear my full podcast here:

Brighteon.com/248514ac-4684-4409-9550-830284eed7d2

Discover more information-packaged podcasts, raw intel reports and interviews each day:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/HRreport

Follow me on:

Brighteon.social: Brighteon.social/@HealthRanger (my breaking news gets posted here first)

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Download my current audiobooks  including Ghost World, Survival Nutrition, The Global Reset Survival Guide and The Contagious Mind  at:

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Download my new audiobook, Resilient Prepping at ResilientPrepping.com  it teaches you how to survive the total collapse of civilization and the loss of both the power grid and combustion engines.
(Natural News) Almost immediately after Russian state media boasted this week that President Vladimir Putin could wipe out the East Coast of the United States with nuclear weapons, New York City released a public service announcement about how New Yorkers should respond to a nuclear blast.

The 90-second clip, which was released by NYCs Emergency Management Department, instructs New Yorkers to get inside, stay inside and stay tuned  almost as if this is all being planned in advance.

So theres been a nuclear attack, the clip begins. Dont ask me how or why. Just know that the big one has hit. Okay. So what do we do?

This strange wording is followed by even more strange wording about how the likelihood of a nuclear weapon incident occurring in or near the Big Apple is low, but that it is important New Yorkers know the steps to stay safe in the event that one occurs.

Several key, simple steps are then presented in addition to the message about going inside, staying there, and waiting for further instructions from the cell phone, computer or television.

Do not go outside until officials say its safe, the video warns, urging residents against trying to go to their cars.

If you were outside after the blast, get clean immediately, it continues. Remove and bag all outer clothing, to keep radioactive dust or ash away from your body.

NYC residents who have a basement are encouraged to go there immediately. If they do not have a basement, then they are told to duck and cover like they were taught in school.

At the end of the video, the woman host states ominously: Alright. Youve got this.

How much longer will America poke the bear before it comes out of hibernation?

Back in April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against continued NATO intervention in Russias special operation in Ukraine. He definitively used the words nuclear war in discussing the potential consequences if the United States and other anti-Russia entities refuse to back off.

It appears as though the U.S. has no intentions of backing off, so now Russia, via its state-owned media outlets, is issuing another warning. Will the U.S. listen this time, or put millions of New Yorkers at risk of a nuclear attack?

With just four missiles, Russian media claims, NYC could be blown off the map in an instant, we are told. Are New Yorkers even aware of the potential consequences of their government poking the bear that is the Russian Federation?

Alexei Zhuravlev, a member of the Russian parliament, just warned that there will be nothing left on the U.S. East Coast if Russia deploys its new Sarmat 2 nuclear weapon. The resulting mushroom cloud, he said, will be visible from Mexico.

Just so we are clear, Zhuravlevs nothing left statement pertains to the entire country  two nukes for the East Coast and two for the West Coast. This would not just be an isolated incident in the Big Apple.

They think the mushroom cloud will be taller than a high rise, Zhuravlev boasted.

Dont delude yourselves. What should be said is that therell be nothing left, no one harbors any illusions about it, that everyone will be fine in case of nuclear war. No one will be fine, but calculate it correctly.

The Sarmat 2 is a latest-generation nuclear missile that can supposedly carry up to 15 hypersonic warheads that Putin claims can evade all current missile defense systems.

More of the latest news about a possible nuclear war situation occurring on American soil can be found at NuclearWar.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A story that went viral among Democrats because it seemed to support the sob story narrative of the loss of Roe v. Wade has been exposed as a fake.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Jesse Watters Primetime, a show on Fox News, that there is not a whisper anywhere about any 10-year-old girl who was supposedly raped, got pregnant and is now having to travel out of Ohio to nearby Indiana to get an abortion.

The story was meant to provoke outrage against the Supreme Court for being so mean to this poor child that she is now having to go well out of her way to have her unborn baby murdered, all because she was deprived of her right to choose.

It turns out that the story was completely made-up, despite traveling far and wide throughout the corporate-controlled media. Even fake president Joe Biden referenced it, failing to realize that it was a fictitious tale.

We have a decentralized law enforcement system in Ohio, but we have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs, Yost explained about how his office would know about the case if it was actually real.

Any case like this, youre going to have a rape kit, youre going to have biological evidence, and you would be looking for DNA analysis, which we do most of the DNA analysis in Ohio. There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this.

Yost went on to reveal that he knows full well how things work in his state between prosecutors and police officers, and that something like this would not be some unsubstantiated mystery if it actually happened as the Democrats claim.

Theres not one of them that wouldnt be turning over every rock in their jurisdiction if they had the slightest hint that this occurred there, Yost said about his states public servants.

Will the Indianapolis Star publish a retraction about its fake news story?

The Indianapolis Star first reported on the alleged case, citing a local OB-GYN by the name of Dr. Caitlin Bernard who supposedly had been contacted four days prior to the storys publishing about an Ohio child abuse doctor who allegedly saw the pregnant child.

The child was supposedly six weeks and three days pregnant at the time, which was three days too late to qualify for an abortion in Ohio under the states new trigger laws, which came into effect immediately upon the nullification of Roe v. Wade.

Bernard supposedly took responsibility for the girls care, but never specified whether or not she actually got an abortion. The Star also failed to identify the doctor who supposedly told Bernard about the case in the first place.

 Bernard appeared to be the only source for the story, according to the New York Post.

Under Ohio law, physicians are required to report any cases they know or become aware of involving suspected child abuse or neglect, including suffering any physical or mental wound [or] injury.

We dont know who the originating doctor in Ohio was, if they even exist, Yost told Watters. But the bottom line is, it is a crime  if youre a mandated reporter  to fail to report.

It remains unclear as to whether or not the Star plans to double down in defense of its unsubstantiated story or issue a retraction, admitting that it failed to fact check its contents before allowing the story to be published and go viral.

There are sure to be plenty more fake news stories that get circulated by Democrats in support of baby murder. To keep up with the latest about them, visit Propaganda.news.

Sources include:

NYPost.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Jeffrey Prather has denounced the executive order signed by President Joe Biden that seeks to promote the murder of unborn babies.

Biden is putting out an executive order that will protect the right to murder unborn babies and so he is going to continue to do that. Why? Well, because the government and, Im sure he makes a lot of money off the murder of the unborn babies, Prather said during the July 8 episode of The Prather Point on Brighteon.TV.

Just like fresh kill, freshly murdered baby corpses are sold freshly frozen to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration]. That is the darker economy of the Deep State. And hes going to make sure that happens because the Democrats are losing millions of dollars with the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Bidens executive order builds on the actions his administration has taken to defend reproductive rights, such as safeguarding access to reproductive health care services including abortion and contraception. (Related: To the horror of Leftists, Biden just admitted that abortion involves the death of a child.)

Prather, a retired special operations soldier, noted that the murder of the unborn through abortion has nothing to do with reproductive health care services and women have been fine after they have miscarried through the centuries. He added that the Deep State clowns dont even believe women are women anymore.

Biden will not follow Supreme Court decision on abortion issue

According to Prather, this is a big inflection point because the fake president and his double are not going to follow the decision of the Supreme Court while they continue to run drugs, bring in illegal immigrants and terrorize the American people.

Biden is going to push the murder of the unborn illegally against the Supreme Court decision, and this is leading toward a second American civil war through Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Florida and many other states who are against abortion, Prather said.

He also noted that America is based upon Judeo-Christian and Native American beliefs that value the life of a child and woman.

And so this is going to further put a bright red line between this illegal, corrupt, baby-killing, drug dealing, terrorist-supporting government and the states which in time will go kinetic again. So you need to prepare for that and get your neighborhood watch teams, said Prather.

The Brighteon.TV host also mentioned that the Biden administration recently announced a $3.2 billion deal to purchase 105 million doses of Pfizer Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines for a fall vaccination program with options to buy up to 300 million doses. The contract includes a combination of adult and pediatric doses.

The former intelligence officer noted that the Pfizer cartel funds all the major fake news networks, which is also financed by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Prather also talked about the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) introducing a Child ID app. He explained that the handy FBI app is where parents can store their childs information, which would put child safety into the FBIs hands.

The purpose of this FBI app, according to Prather, is to track or locate children through an artificial intelligence system. The retired special operations soldier added that the FBI wants to track and recruit openly using this terrible thing.

He said the FBI is clearly geolocating, geofencing, tracking and contacting all the people that they have used, such as the shooting suspects in Garland, Uvalde and Highland Park, and they want to do it now through the child app.

Follow Abortions.news for more news related to abortion.

Watch the July 8 episode of The Prather Point below. Catch new episodes of The Prather Point with Jeffrey Prather every Friday at 10-11 a.m. and every Saturday at 7-8 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Abortion isnt reproductive health, its the MURDER of an individual human being.

As abortion activists rage & riot over Roe v Wade being overturned, baby killing supporters in the MSM and politics continue to lie by calling abortion reproductive health.

Supposedly safe abortion pill hospitalizes five Ohio women, causes serious complications in many more.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

WhiteHouse.gov

JeffreyPrather.com
(Natural News) The overturn of Roe v. Wade marks a new era in the United States as many states are expected to go back to their pre-Roe laws against abortion.

However, not all states are deigned to do so. Thats why pro-life legislators and attorneys are looking for ways to stop people in their states from getting abortions elsewhere.

The Thomas More Society is now drafting model legislation for state lawmakers that would allow private citizens to sue those who would help residents of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of the state. The language used in the draft will borrow from the novel legal strategy behind a separate Texas abortion ban enacted in 2021, wherein private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through civil litigation.

The subject was discussed at two national anti-abortion conferences last weekend with several lawmakers interested in introducing such bills in their own states.

An attorney with the Thomas More Society said: Just because you jump across a state line doesnt mean your home state doesnt have jurisdiction. Its not a free abortion card when you drive across the state line.

Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert, president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, compared abortion to human trafficking. Many of us have supported legislation to stop human trafficking. So why is there a pass on people trafficking women in order to make money off of aborting their babies?

His group also strategized on how to stop women from leaving pro-life states for those with liberal abortion policies. For instance, states like Illinois are expected to see women coming from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. (Related: STUNNER: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade abortion ruling in draft decision; leak to media aimed at inciting violence, civil war.)

Missouri State Representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman also proposed a bill in 2021 to allow citizens to sue people who are facilitating abortions, which would empower citizens rather than the state to sue abortionists and anyone else other than the mother, who facilitates an abortion of a baby with a detectable heartbeat.

David Cohen, a professor at Drexel Universitys Kline School of Law previously predicted that legislators are not going to rest with stopping abortions in their state and will want to ban abortions for citizens as much as they can, even if it means stopping them from traveling.

He also said there could be state-against-state battles that could cause more division regarding the issue.

Liberal states implement laws to protect abortionists

Liberal states, for their part, also implemented laws to stop the prosecution of people who aid and abet abortions. (Related: Leftists make good on night of rage riot threats after Roe v. Wade gets overturned.)

In April, Connecticut passed a law that offers broad protection from anti-abortion laws that try to reach into other states, which would shield people from out-of-state summonses or subpoenas issued in cases related to abortion procedures, which are legal in Connecticut.

New Mexico Governor Michele Lujan Grisham also told government agencies not to assist in the prosecution of women who sought out abortion illegally in other states.

In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers said he would provide clemency for those participating in abortion, which is now illegal in his state due to a pre-Roe ban.

Visit Abortions.news for more information about the dangers of getting abortions.

Watch the video below to know more about how to help save the unborn from abortionists.

This video is from the LSNTV channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

The Abortion issue is simple: Babies are people and murdering people is wrong.

Abortion activists call for PROTESTS at conservative SCOTUS judges houses following leaked Roe v. Wade opinion.

SCOTUS poised to overturn Roe vs. Wade  Baby murderers to ERUPT with demonic ANGER and VIOLENCE as their right to violently murder their own children about to be stripped away.

How Amy Coney Barrett will use science and legal principles to overturn Roe v. Wade.

THIS IS TOLERANCE? Christian crisis pregnancy center in Colorado vandalized, set on fire over Roe v. Wade.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
A successful breeding program has rescued a parrot species from the list of extinct species. The birds are now returned to their native home in the forests of Brazil.

Last Birds Standing

The last member of this distinctive parrot species vanished from the wild twenty years ago, leaving only a few dozen birds of the Cyanopsitta spixii in collectors' cages around the world.

The Spix's macaws, with their blue plumage contrasting with their grey heads, have made a stunning comeback, thanks to a remarkable international rescue project.

After being released in Brazil a month ago, a flock of the formerly extinct species now flies freely over its former home.

Conservationists hope to release more birds later this year, and that the parrots will begin breeding in the wild the following spring.

Tom White from the US Fish and Wildlife Service said that the project is going extremely well, and it has been almost a month since the birds were released, and all of them have survived.

White is also a biologist as well as a technical adviser to the rescue project.

He added that because the birds are acting as a flock, everything is going as well as it possibly can. They are staying close to where they were released and are starting to sample local vegetation.

Spix's Macaw

The Spix's macaw, named after German biologist Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix who collected the first specimen in 1819, became a victim of a double environmental whammy that began in the nineteenth century.

As farming spread across South America, goats and other livestock overgrazed the parrot's native habitat, shrubland, and thorn forest known as the Caatinga in northeast Brazil.

The land became severely eroded, and the number of macaws decreased as their habitat was destroyed.

White explained that the loss of numbers had a disastrous secondary effect. Collectors want to own an endangered animal as soon as it becomes available.

That is exactly what happened to Spix's macaw.

As they became scarce, unscrupulous individuals decided to try to capture the few that remained in the wild for their collections.

Awareness and Rio

The species' future appeared bleak until, of all things, an animated film revived its fortunes.

"Rio" is the story of a domesticated male Spix's macaw named Blu who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free-spirited female named Jewel.

"Rio" and its sequel, "Rio 2," grossed nearly $1 billion.

Importantly, the films exposed the species' plight to a global audience.

Later, in 2018, Michel Temer, Brazil's then-president, signed a decree establishing a macaw wildlife refuge in the north-eastern state of Bahia, as well as a breeding program utilizing parrots from private collections at various centers around the world.

The Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots, based in Germany, was a key player in this collaboration.

Also Read: 5 Animals Recently Declared Extinct

Breeding the Birds

According to White, the increasing sophistication of modern genetics also played an important role in saving Spix's macaw.

White pointed out that inbreeding can be a serious issue when trying to breed animals from a very small surviving population.

However, the techniques used to check the genetic status of these birds were extremely sophisticated, allowing breeders to carefully match birds.

Artificial insemination has also made producing offspring easier for birds.

As a result, hundreds of Spix's macaws have been bred in captivity, and eight of these were transported to Bahia in June for release.

They were not alone: on the same day as the Spix's macaws, eight Illiger's macaws were released.

White claimed that the Spix's macaws we now have are the result of generations of captive breeding, which has dulled some of their instinctive survival skills.

White explained that by combining them with Illiger's macaws, which are simply wild birds brought into captivity for a short time, the Spix benefit from associating with a native species that is sharp and alert, and can show them where they get food and alert them to potential predators.

The birds, which have been fitted with radio transmitters, are now being closely monitored.

If all goes well, White said they will release another 12 Spix's macaws in December, The Guardian reported.

These birds will all be of breeding age. His team has also made certain that there are several nest cavities in the area, both natural and artificial, to encourage the birds to begin mating next year and eventually establish breeding territories in the area.

White concluded his statement by saying that, despite the program's lofty goals, things are going well so far.

Related article: Only One Rare 'Rio' Parrot Left
An American tourist fell into a volcano while attempting to retrieve his mobile phone during a selfie session at the crater of Mount Vesuvius in Italy this past weekend, according to local authorities.

Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, the 23-year-old man survived the fall but sustained injuries throughout his body.

However, the result of the incident could be the other way around if the stratovolcano is currently not in a state of rest, with its last erupted still in March 1944.

This means that Mount Vesuvius was not currently active during the volcano fall, meaning there is a chance that lava presence and all elements of a volcanic eruption at the time was absent when the US tourist fell and led to his survival.

The incident adds to the growing list of the so-called phenomenon of selfie accidents, where individuals taking a photo or video of themselves using their phones fall at the edge of a natural cliff or man-made skyscrapers.

During the dawn of smartphones for over a decade, hundreds of people have reportedly died while pursuing extreme selfies.

Volcano Selfie Accident

The Italian police told CNN that the Maryland man was reaching his phone when he fell into the volcano's crater on Saturday, July 9, as confirmation of the selfie accident and ruled out foul play.

An ambulance rushed into the scene and emergency personnel treated the American tourist, who reportedly did not wish to go to a hospital, the police added.

The man, identified as Philip Carroll, was accompanied by three relatives during a hiking activity at a forbidden trail, according to the carabinieri of Naples' provincial command.

Carroll got initially got stuck in the crater, which is almost 1,000 feet deep. As a result, guides used a long rope to pull him back, according to NBC News.

Two British tourists were also seen navigating on the forbidden trail with the likely purpose of hiking or climbing

Also Read: Mysterious Ashy Rain Falls in Washington and Oregon

Volcano Warning Signs

Authorities have placed clear volcano warnings signs of the dangers posed by the resting volcano.

This is due to the fact that an unprecedented volcanic activity or volcanic eruption is imminent, which can occur at anytime with little or without warning.

The Italian security force also said the signs indicated of forbidden access to Mount Vesuvius, as cited by CNN.

The force added that a prosecutor will decide on whether or not to press charges against Carroll over invasion of public territory.

Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is located along the Gulf of Naples or near the Bay of Naples in the Italian region of Campania, which is relatively near the Italian city of Naples.

Vesuvius has been known for destroying the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 78 A.D., when it underwent a massive volcanic eruption and released a thick layer of volcanic ash, according to history.com.

The stratovolcano incurred a total of over 50 eruptions based on recorded history.

In spite of Vesuvius being dormant for several decades, scientists and volcanologists predict it will erupt again in the future.

Related Article: After Weeks of Buildup, Volcano on a Spanish Island Near Morocco Erupted
MBABANE  A reasonable man might convict the incarcerated MPs.

This is according to Judge Mumcy Dlamini, who dismissed the acquittal and discharge application yesterday, which had been filed by Hosea and Ngwempisi Members of Parliament (MPs), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube. The MPs filed the application after the Crown closed its case after leading 62 witnesses. The application was moved in terms of Section 174 (4) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, 1938. The section provides that if, at the close of the case for the prosecution, the court considers that there is no evidence that the accused committed the offence charged with or any other offence of which he might be convicted thereon, it may acquit and discharge him.

Dismissing

When dismissing the MPs application, Judge Dlamini said: After considering the submissions by both parties, it is my considered view that the bonus paterfamilias (reasonable man) might, and not shall, convict. In the circumstances, the accused persons have a case to answer. Judge Dlamini stated that it was settled under the application for a discharge at the close of the Crowns case that the question of the credibility of witnesses did not form part of the enquiry in as much as no court of law would accept, at any stage, evidence of a witness that was glaringly farfetched or senseless.

Application

The judge said that was because the application for discharge at the close of the Crowns case was a question of law and not of fact, so that the court would not ask whether any of the prosecution witnesses was credible or not. Further, the contention that an act was not unlawful is another aspect that is regarded under the present application. The enquiry at this stage is not to look for evidence beyond reasonable doubt. It is to examine the evidence of witnesses for a prima facie case. It is to ascertain whether a reasonable man might convict on the evidence adduced, said the judge.

Judge Dlamini further asked, Who is the reasonable man? She said the reasonable man was the man on the street. She described him as a right thinking member of society (bonus paterfamilias). He is neither a super critical-thinking or analyst nor a man who possesses the qualities of a Hebrew prophet, so to speak. He is a man of average intelligence and learning.

He is not faint-hearted and easily in trepidation. He is the embodiment of all the qualities which are demanded in a good citizen, a device to measure the conduct in question by reference to community valuations, she said. Judge Dlamini questioned what might the reasonable man to with regard to a conviction in light of the evidence presented before court. Might he convict? Its with certainty that the answer does not lie on the large number of witnesses paraded or exhibits tendered. There are a number of variables to be considered, added the judge.

The judge also said, after considering the submissions by the defence and prosecution, it was the considered view of the court that a reasonable man might convict in this case. The court then dismissed the MPs application. When MP Mabuza and MP Dube return to court on August 9, 2022, they will proceed to present their case. The Crown was opposed to the MPs application to be acquitted and discharged. In the first count, the MPs, as well as former Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Gawzela Simelane, who is at large, allegedly Contravening Section 5(1) of the Suppression of Terrorism Act 2008, read with Section 2(a) to (d) as amended.

It is alleged that the accused, acting in concert with Simelane, committed a terrorist act by committing an act, an attempted act or threat of action to wit, encouraging people in public statements to disobey the lawful banning by the government of the delivery of petitions and/or to reject the appointment of the acting prime minister and to thereby encourage the civil disobedience which had certain alleged intentions or consequences.

Accused

As a consequence of the alleged actions of the accused, there were riots in all the regions in the country. These riots caused loss of life, bodily injuries to people and destruction of private and public properties. In the second and third charge, murder, it is alleged that MP Mabuza and MP Dube committed murder in that on June 29, 2021, they did intentionally killed two people at Nkwalini, Mbabane. In the last charge, MP Mabuza is accused of contravening Regulation 4 of the Disaster Management Coronavirus Regulations of 2020.

Contravened

It is alleged that he contravened Regulation 4 of the Disaster Management Coronavirus Regulations of 2020 in that, on June 5, 2021 and at Hosea in the Shiselweni Region, MP Mabuza failed to keep a register as required by the Regulations for any gathering and sanitise participants in the gathering he had convened, and thereby committed the said offence. The MPs are represented by Advocate Jacobus Van Vuuren, who is assisted by Ben J. Simelane and Mhlengi Mabuza. The Crown is represented by Advocate Gareth Leppan. He is assisted by Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo Thabo Dlamini and Absalom Makhanya.
Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds have been forecasted to hit the Northeast US, particularly from New England to the Central Appalachians on Tuesday, July 12, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The inclement weather occurs following a series of heavy downpour and extreme heat across the region in the past several weeks.

The severe storms are also expected to cause flash flooding due to torrential rain, as well as large hail and few tornadoes in isolated areas.

Lightning strikes from the storms that pose a danger to flying aircraft are also possible.

Power lines are also at risk of being damaged and low-lying areas are subjected to floodwaters based on previous events.

Power outages and disruption to both ground and air travel are possible, based on previous reports.

In terms of commercial flights, delays, diversions, and cancelations are possible. This is due to risk of low visibility and all other hazards associated with the severe weather threat, as a term used by the NWS.

This year alone, previous severe thunderstorms across the US since March have left hundreds of thousands of consumers without power in some occasions.

Storm-triggered tornado outbreaks have also led to multiple casualties and infrastructural damage.

Severe Weather Threat

Severe storms will not only hit parts of the Northeast US but also the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday evening, based on the NWS forecast.

According to the latest short-range weather forecast, the NWS' Weather Prediction Center (WPC) on Tuesday said other threats of heavy rain and isolated flash flooding are also possible over the southern Rocky Mountains and Southwest US.

The same conditions have also been forecasted for the Southeast US and central Gulf Coast by the end of the week.

The said regions between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean had also reportedly experienced severe weather recently, as well as a prolonged drought.

The forecast is valid from Wednesday to Friday, July 13 to July 15.

Also Read: NWS Issues Severe Weather Alert for Some Areas in the Eastern United States

Thunderstorm Outlook

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) also provided a detailed storm forecast for the adverse weather, which will scatter across the country later on Tuesday and possibly in the coming days.

The SPC lists some of the most populated cities that can be affected by the looming severe weather threat:

Roanoke, Virginia

Lynchburg, Virginia

Dale City, Virginia

Blacksburg, Virginia

St. Charles, MD

Memphis, Tennessee

Baltimore, Maryland

Washington, DC

Minneapolis, Minnesota

St. Paul, Minnesota

Current Weather Conditions

The SPC noted that a cold front is currently traversing over the Northeast US, particularly from central Maine in a southwestward pattern toward New England.

The US storm agency also said it could extend as far as the Tennessee Valley and the Mid-South, where thunderstorms are ongoing.

The stormy weather in the region occurs almost simultaneously with the impending heat dome or heat wave traveling into the Western US, as previously forecasted by the US weather authorities.

It was also forecasted by AccuWeather, which said that triple-digit temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit could affect the Southwest US.

Related Article: Severe Storms in Central US, Critical Fire Weather Conditions Forecasted in Southwest US
Geomagnetic storms due to a combination of coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS) and a coronal mass ejection (CME) are expected to hit Earth on Wednesday, July 13, according to a warning by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

The warning came after a giant sunspot released a solar outburst in the form of solar flares capable of causing blackouts on Earth.

In recent months, similar events have led to reported blackouts in Southeast Asia and Australia, as well as in Europe.

Solar Storm Alert

The SWPC said storm conditions are possible against on Wednesday as a result of the additional positive polarity of CH HSS influences.

CH HSS, or coronal holes, resemble as dark areas within the solar corona. They are considered cooler and less dense regions than the plasma and other surrounding regions.

While there are no radio blackouts observed in the past 24 hours, the US space weather agency said geomagnetic storms, as well as solar radiation storms, are set to hit the Blue Planet in the next 24 hours and could continue until Thursday, July 14, and Friday, July 15.

Also Read: Blackout-Causing Solar Flares from Enormous Sunspot Threatens Earth

What is a Coronal Mass Ejection?

Shortly called as CME or CMEs, these types of solar storms, along with solar flares, are known as an intense outburst of high energy particles from the Sun.

According to the SWPC, CMEs are "large expulsions" containing plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona region, releasing billions of tons of "coronal material" stronger than an interplanetary magnetic field strength.

While planets, at least in our solar system, have their own magnetic fields.

These so-called invisible force fields in the Sun are violent and dynamic due to its magnetic field lines, which tangle together at certain points.

This magnetic entanglement is what causes a solar storm, where some comes out from sunspots from our solar system's red giant star.

Solar Activity and Solar Cycle

Our Sun is currently in the Solar Cycle 25, where solar activity is expected to peak in 2025.

The cycle goes through an 11-year phase, where the starting stage is marked by a relatively low solar activity and is called a solar minimum.

Meanwhile, its end is called a solar maximum, where the Sun is engulfed with a myriad of sunspots and solar outbursts.

Details of the current cycle have been laid out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during a press release in September 2020.

Both US space and weather agencies co-sponsored an international expert committee dubbed as the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which announced that Solar Cycle 25 and its solar minimum started in December 2019.

Regardless of the solar phase, solar storms emit one or simultaneous space weather hazards or events such as: geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms, and radio blackouts.

These space storms often disrupt Earth's radio and satellite technology, disrupting frequencies, signals, and even the global positioning system (GPS).

Related Article: Solar Storm Hits Earth Overnight Without Warning; Disruption Possible Due to Geomagnetic Storm
Plants are fundamental to the proliferation and development of life on Earth since time memorial.

Having the most-known function of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide through sunlight and water to produce oxygen, which has been an essential element for living organisms to grow, to reproduce, and to survive ultimately.

In terms of food and medicine, plants are considered to be the foundation of the food chain; wherein herbivores used them as a main source of energy.

In addition, they can also serve as ingredients of the many medicines that various pharmacies and medical facilities used around the world in contemporary times, even during the ancient era.

However, all these botanical wonders are in danger as various natural factors, such as predatory hazards and environmental hazards, are causing the decline of some plant species.

Nevertheless, a new study revealed that plants are not defenseless at all since they also produce the salicylic acid called aspirin at times of stress.

The research highlights a new perspective when it comes to our understanding of how plants can increase their survival rate, even when under extreme stress caused by climate change.

In recent years, several research suggested that a number of plant and tree species are in danger due to the ongoing climate crisis.

Aspirin Production

In the new study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists found that plants protect themselves from environmental hazards or environmental stresses like: drought, heat, and insects by producing aspirin.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, used Arabidopsis as a model plant, which led to their discovery that these hazards disrupt the sugar-making apparatus of plant cells.

The disruption eventually generated an early warning molecule called methylerythritol cyclodiphosphate (MEcPP).

MEcPP accumulation can lead to the production of aspirin, but at low amount only.

Also Read: Salt-Loving Super Plants: Saviors of the Planet?

Plants: Climate Change Impact

The National Park Service (NPS) said that climate change is the main source of "stressed out" plants and leads to a chain effect of various hazards that affect both animals and the climate.

This means the changing climate is causing a number of factors called "climate stressors" affect or kill plants as enumerated below by the NPS:

Lowered productivity

Spread of invasive plants

Vulnerability to pests

Saltwater intrusion

Altered ecosystem structure

In general, the US government agency summarized that climate change and global warming causes prolonged droughts and spikes the number of heat waves, leading to stress on plants.

Plant Stress and Stimuli

The term "stress" used in this context can be compared to a stimulus that plants also feel.

This is because there is still no concrete evidence to suggest that plants have feelings or emotions like humans and some animals.

Still, the University of Melbourne in 2017 suggested that plants have feelings too, and they are under constant environmental stresses.

In contrast, a Live Science article in 2019 cited that scientist claim plants have no feelings; which is based on plant biology that is more "complex and fascinating" compared to animals.

Researchers reportedly wrote that plant intelligence is an interesting topic but still inconclusive.

Related Article: Plants May Be Able to See, Scientists Discover
According to information published by ABC News on July 13, 2022, the Royal Australian Navy's Anzac class frigate HMAS Parramatta was reportedly tracked by a Chinese PLA Navy's nuclear-powered submarine, a vessel, and aircraft.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Australian frigate HMAS Parramatta during a scheduled port visit in Japan (Picture source: Australian DoD)

HMAS Parramatta (IV) is the fifth of eight Anzac Class Frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy by Tenix Marine Systems, Williamstown, Victoria. The design is based on the German Meko 200 frigate.

Parramatta is a long-range frigate capable of air defense, surface, and undersea warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance, and interdiction. Anzac's combat capabilities have been significantly improved under the Anti-Ship Missile Defence upgrade program, a world-class program that provides an enhanced sensor and weapons systems capability.

The upgrade showcases Australian design and integration capability, with new Phased Array Radar technology designed by CEA Technologies in Canberra, upgrades to combat systems performed by Saab Systems in South Australia, and platform integration design by BAE Systems in Victoria.

Parramatta is fitted with an advanced package of air and surface surveillance radars; Omnidirectional hull-mounted sonar and electronic support systems that interface with the state-of-the-art 9LV453 Mk3E combat data system. The ship can counter simultaneous threats from aircraft, surface vessels, and submarines.

The ship's main armament comprises one Mark 45 capable of firing 20 rounds per minute, ship launched Mark 46 torpedoes, and a Mark 41 vertical launch system for the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile. Parramatta also has eight anti-ship/land-attack canister launched harpoon missiles. The ship's other defense systems include the Nulka active missile decoy system, offboard chaff, and a torpedo countermeasures system.

HMAS Parramatta, like her sister frigates HMA Ships Anzac, Arunta, Ballarat, Perth, Stuart, Toowoomba and Warramunga features a combined diesel or gas (CODOG) propulsion plant which enables the ship to sustain sprint speeds of greater than 27 knots and allows an operational range in excess of 6000 nautical miles at 18 knots.

The ship can embark Navys latest multi-role Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin MH-60R Seahawk helicopter which has enhanced anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare, and Search and Rescue capabilities. The embarkation of a helicopter also provides the ship with the capability to deliver air-launched missiles and torpedoes.
By Qian Feng

For a very long time, the small countries in South Asia have been either marginalized or in the blind zone of US political elites' strategic radar. In the field of military cooperation in particular, there is never anything "exciting" to arouse their interests. However, this has changed in the past few years as Pentagon began to extend its military antenna to the small South Asian countries, which is both a sign of the accelerated deployment of Indo-Pacific strategy and a reflection of Americas strategic competition against China.

The Indo-Pacific Strategy report released by the US Department of Defense in 2019 affirms the enduring US commitment to stability and prosperity in the region through the pursuit of preparedness, partnerships, and the promotion of a networked region. Under partnerships, the US specifically mentioned pursuing emerging partnerships with Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Nepal in addition to stressing the alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand and the Major Defense Partnership with India. Following the report, the Pentagon has obviously increased engagements with the senior military officials of small South Asian countries, conducting military training and providing military equipment.

Before stepping down, Donald Trump unveiled the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific (SFIP) which should not have been declassified until 2043. The document stressed that the US needs to create a new initiative with the South Asian partners that are modeled after the Southeast Asian Maritime Security Initiative to improve the understanding of sea areas, interoperability, and data sharing with the US.

The White House launched an Indo-Pacific strategy document of Biden administration in February this year, which exaggerated Chinas so-called ambition to pursue a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and become the worlds most influential power. Claiming that responding to the so-called China challenge is its top concern, the US was determined to reinforce its long-term position and input in the region while paying attention to every corner there, including promoting security cooperation with small South Asian countries.

On the one hand, while the Biden administration claimed that it doesnt seek to fight a new Cold War with China, it vowed to force China to change its behaviors by shaping the strategic environment around it. South Asia is an important part of Chinas surroundings that commands a special geopolitical position, and the small countries in the region are all cooperating countries along the Belt and Road. No wonder they are a priority in Americas environment-shaping plan. Bilateral military relations will not only affect political relations but also support and facilitate economic ties.

On the other hand, the friendly relations between China and small South Asian countries that have been established over long years may have made the US realize that putting up a high profile might be counterproductive. For a long time, China and small South Asian countries have had a military collaboration on a wide scope and on multiple levels. It is not only in keeping with their political, economic and trade cooperation, but is also a demonstration in the military cooperation field of the principles governing Chinese foreign policy  all countries should respect each other regardless of size and strength.

Considering this, its easy to understand why the small South Asian countries said no to Americas offer of conditional military aid and proposal of signing military agreements with strings attached  its to protect their national interests and preserve the traditional friendship with China.

The US looks determined to start a vicious competition with China every step of the way, but if it continues with this high-profile approach, it will only further cement its image in relevant countries and among their people as a bully that forces them to join the US-led alliance system and pick sides.

(The author is the director and researcher of the Research Department at the National Strategy Institute, Tsinghua University)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
MANZINI  Seemingly, the PSUs plan to stop government from awarding EPA members and un-unionised civil servants CoLA has hit a snag, but they have not given up yet.

According to the public sector unions (PSUs) plan, they would have achieved this by applying for a court interdict, which would stop government from adjusting the salaries of some civil servants. In their application, they said they would prove beyond reasonable doubt that Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) was an allegedly illegitimate entity, especially in the negotiations forum. Last Monday, government, through the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, issued a statement where it stated that in terms of the 2022/23 cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA), the government negotiation team (GNT) and EPA signed a collective agreement on June 27, 2022.

The minister said they agreed to implement three per cent of monthly basic salary across the board, with effect from April 1, 2022, plus a once-off payment of one per cent of annual basic salary. However, it was specified that this would benefit members of EPA and un-unionised civil servants, meaning those who were members of unions which were organised under the banner PSUs would not benefit from the salary adjustment because negotiations between the trade unions and the GNT had not started. In fact, the two parties did not agree on the agenda and they reached a deadlock.

Following these developments, PSUs, through a member of their secretariat, Sikelela Dlamini, who is the Secretary General (SG) of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), informed head teachers and deputies who are organised under the banner of SASA that they had kick-started a process of trying to stop government from processing the CoLA agreement which it signed with EPA, through applying for a court interdict that would compel the employer not to implement the salary adjustment.

Interdict

Worth noting is that government plans to adjust the salaries of the qualifying civil servants this month and according to the PSUs plan, they were supposed to push to get the interdict before government ran the payroll. When this publication contacted the teachers union SG to check how far they had gone with their plan, he said it seemed to have hit a snag. He said this was because there was no head teacher who was willing to assist them by singing a supporting affidavit, which would support the evidence that would be in his founding affidavit.

He said some head teachers had promised to sign the affidavit, but by end of business yesterday, no one had come forth. The unionist said without the signatures they needed, they would have no case.

It is worth noting that during their meeting at SNAT Centre last Friday, the head teachers and deputies who are members of SASA supported the move by PSUs to apply for the interdict. They even said they would support the trade unions in their plan to file an application for an interdict that would stop government from adjusting salaries of some public service workers.

They said they were supporting the idea because they were against the collective agreement which was signed by EPA and government. They argued that they could not accept the CoLA offer of three per cent and once-off payment of one per cent of their annual salary when the matter had not been discussed at the Joint Negotiations Forum (JNF) and no agreement had been signed by PSUs and government. When asked on their way forward, the teachers union SG said they were still in contact with their lawyers. We are still trying to put it together, he said.

Meanwhile, SASA SG Siphasha Dlamini said they had spoken to the relevant members and had promised to sign the affidavit. However, she said it was unfortunate that some people indicate to the left, but turn to the right.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the foundations of the internet, working in the background to match the names of web sites that people type into a search box with the corresponding IP address, a long string of numbers that no one could be expected to remember.

It's still possible for someone to type an IP address into a browser to reach a website, but most people want an internet address to consist of easy-to-remember words, called domain names. (For example, Network World.)

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In the 1970s and early 80s, the task of matching domain names and IP addresses was assigned to one person - Elizabeth Feinler at Stanford Research Institute, who maintained a master list of every internet-connected computer. This was obviously unsustainable, given the rapid growth of the internet, and, in 1983, Paul Mockapetris developed DNS, an automated, scalable system that handles domain-name-to-IP-address translation.

There are currently more than 342 million registered domains, so keeping all those names in a single directory would be cumbersome. Like the internet itself, the directory is distributed around the world on domain name servers that communicate with each other on a regular basis to provide updates and eliminate redundancies.

Another reason for the creation of a distributed system is to boost performance. For example, imagine if all of the requests coming in at the same time all over the world to resolve the domain name Google with the underlying IP address were being handled in a single location. To address this issue, DNS information is shared among many servers.

That means a single domain can have more than one IP address. For example, the physical server that your laptop or smartphone reaches when you enter www.google.com is different from the server that someone in another country would reach by typing the same site name into their browser. But DNS still gets you to the right place, no matter where you are in the world.

How does DNS work? Recursive resolvers and root, top-level, and name servers

When your computer wants to find the IP address associated with a domain name, it first makes its DNS query via a DNS client, typically in a Web browser. The query then goes to a recursive DNS server, also known as a recursive resolver. A recursive resolver is typically operated by an Internet Service Providers (ISP), such as AT&T or Verizon (or some other third-party), and it knows which other DNS servers it needs to ask to resolve the name of a site with its IP address. The servers that actually have the needed information are called authoritative name servers.

DNS is organized in a hierarchy. An initial DNS query for an IP address is made to a recursive resolver. This search first leads to a root server, which has information on top-level domains (.com, .net, .org), as well as country domains. Root servers are located all around the world, so the DNS system routes the request to the closest one.

Once the request reaches the correct root server, it goes to a top-level domain server (TLD nameserver), which stores information for the second-level domain, which is the words that you type into a search box. The request then goes to a domain nameserver, which looks up the IP address and sends it back to the DNS client device so it can visit the appropriate website. All of this takes mere milliseconds.

What is DNS caching?

Chances are that you use Google several times a day. Instead of your computer querying the DNS nameserver for the IP address every time you enter the domain name, that information is saved on your personal device so that it doesn't have to access a DNS server to resolve the name with the IP address.

Additional caching can occur on the routers used to connect clients to the internet, as well as on the servers of the user's ISP. With so much caching going on, the number of queries that actually make it to the DNS name servers is significantly reduced, which helps with the speed and efficiency of the system.

How does the DNS numbering system work?

Every device that connects to the internet needs to have a unique IP address in order to have traffic properly routed to it. DNS translates human queries into numbers using a system known as IPv4 or IPv6. With IPv4, the numbers are 32-bit integers that are expressed in decimal notation.

The string of numbers is divided into sections, which include the network component, the host and the subnet, not dissimilar to a telephone number that might have a country code, an area code, etc. The network part of the number designates the class and category of network that is assigned to that number. The host identifies the specific machine on the network. The subnet part of the number is optional but is used to navigate the sometimes extremely large number of subnets and other partitions within a local network.

IPv6, which was created to address concerns about the internet running out of IPv4 addresses, uses 128-bit-sized numbers, compared to 32-bit numbers with IPv4. There are 340 trillion trillion possible IPv6 addresses.

Who assigns IP addresses?

In 1998, the U.S. government handed the task of assigning IP addresses over to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN). The not-for-profit organization has managed that function ever since without any notable disruptions. ICANN develops policies on things like the creation of new top-level domains (such as .io).

For the most part, ICANN takes a neutral and advisory role. For example, anyone who wants to register a domain on the internet today can go to any number of ICANN-accredited registrars, which basically decentralizes the already decentralized DNS system. Once registered, new domains can populate and be reached worldwide via DNS servers in a matter of minutes.

Is DNS secure?

Cybercriminals are extremely clever when it comes to identifying vulnerabilities that can be exploited in just about any system, and DNS has certainly come in for its fair share of attacks. A 2021 IDC survey of more than 1,100 organizations in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, showed that 87% had experienced DNS attacks.

The average cost of each attack was around $950,000 for all regions and about $1 million for organizations in North America. The report noted that organizations across all industries averaged 7.6 attacks during the previous year.

The COVID-related shift to off-premises work and the response by companies to move resources to the cloud to make them more accessible have provided new targets for attackers, the report said.

The researchers also found a sharp rise in data theft via DNS, with 26% of organizations reporting that sensitive customer information was stolen, compared with 16% in 2020.

Common types of DNS attacks include DNS amplification, DNS spoofing or cache poisoning, DNS tunneling, and DNS hijacking or DNS re-direction.

What is DNSSec?

DNSSec is a security protocol devised by ICANN to help make communication among the various levels of servers involved in DNS lookups more secure. It addresses weaknesses in the communication between DNS top-level, second-level, and third-level directory servers that would allow hackers to hijack lookups.

This hijacking allows attackers to respond to requests for lookups to legitimate sites by directing users to a malicious site. These sites could upload malware to users or carry out phishing attacks.

DNSSec addresses this by having each level of DNS server digitally sign its requests, ensuring that requests sent by end users aren't commandeered by attackers. This creates a chain of trust so that at each level of the lookup, the integrity of the request is validated.

DNSSec also can determine if a domain name really exists, and if it doesn't, prevents a fraudulent domain from being delivered to innocent requesters seeking to have a domain name resolved.

What is DNS over HTTPS (DoH)?

While DNSSec addresses potential vulnerabilities within the distributed network of DNS servers, it certainly hasn't stopped DNS-based cyberattacks that use some form of deception to inject malicious code into the DNS system.

In one of the biggest shifts in the long history of DNS, Google, Mozilla, and others are encouraging a move to DNS over HTTPS or DoH, an IETF standard that encrypts DNS requests in the same way that the HTTPS protocol already protects most web traffic.

The shift to DoH, however, is not without controversy. By encrypting DNS requests, DoH could get in the way of enterprise IT being able to monitor the web activity of employees, and parents have complained that it could block them from implementing parental controls over their children's internet usage.

Uptake of DNS over HTTPS has been slow. On the client side, DoH comes with the latest version of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, but it can be turned off by the end user. Organizations, that try to have some measure of control over which browsers and browser versions are used by employees, have the option to simply disable it. On the ISP side, many of the leading ISPS have not yet enabled DoH on their end.

How to find my DNS server

Generally speaking, the DNS server that you use will be established automatically by your ISP when you connect to the internet. If you want to see which servers are your primary name servers, there are web utilities that can provide information about your current network connection, such as browserleaks.com.

While your ISP will set a default DNS server, you're under no obligation to use it. Some users may have reason to avoid their ISP's DNS, for example, if the ISP uses their DNS servers to redirect requests for nonexistent addresses to pages with advertising.

As an alternative, you can point your computer to a public DNS server that will act as a recursive resolver. One of the most prominent public DNS servers is Google's. The IP address is 8.8.8.8.
MBABANE  Accumulative losses of approximately over E2 million were incurred as a result of the destruction of homesteads, properties and vehicles of Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) officers, since the beginning of April.

According to the REPS Performance Report on Recurrent and Capital Expenditure and Other Allied Police Administrative and Operational Activities for the period of April 1 to June 30, 2022, the matter of compensating the officers for the losses suffered is on governments table and that is covered by law. The compensation of the affected police officers is provided for, in Sections 85 (1) and 86 (1) of the Police Service Act, No. 22 of 2018 which reads: Police officers whose properties were damaged through acts of sabotage and terrorism are eligible to claim and be compensated for the damaged property at governments expense.

Violence

The report further states that the period under review also saw the acts of violence, in particular those manifesting through arson attacks, that were being perpetrated around the country, continuing to the detriment of the quest for peace and socio-economic development. The sporadic arson attacks have affected individuals, businesses as well as the police service in terms of the organisations facilities and properties of individual police officers, the report reads. The police services infrastructure that had been destroyed included KaShewula, Luve, Mpaka, Ngculwini, Madlangempisi, Fairview North and Phumulamcashi police posts. Other structures that were torched were Matsapha Police Camp, Malkerns and Lubuli station commanders houses.

Meanwhile, the report further stated that activities linked to the civil unrest in the country had taken a new twist and shocking dimension, whereby police officers were targeted by gunmen. It states that there were five cases where police officers were shot, two of which had fatal outcomes that were recorded during the reporting period. Police officers manning the Malagwane Truck Cooling Station were shot at while on duty by unknown gunmen along the Mbabane-Manzini Highway, injuring one officer. Two police officers who were responding to an incident call, were shot at near the Manzini Club and one officer died while the other one sustained serious injuries.

Meanwhile, two more officers were shot at while on their way to attend a road traffic accident, which turned out to be a hoax at Mathangeni in Matsapha. As a result of the shooting, one officer died on the spot while the other sustained serious injuries. In another rare incident, a police officer was shot at while driving from his residential house to the KaPhunga Police Station to collect water. He is currently recovering and under medical supervision. Two police officers who were carrying out their investigative duties in Sithobelweni were shot by unknown gunmen and fortunately, there were no casualties as a result of the incident, according to the report.
MBABANE  Mystery!

This best describes the situation where skeletal remains, believed to be of a businessman who was reported missing about two years ago, were discovered. The remains of the businessman, who has been identified as John-Mark Sithebe, were discovered by the police on Monday afternoon, in one of the rooms at his family home at Dalriach, Mbabane.

Sithebe was reported missing in December 2020 by the media. This was after a close family friend published a missing persons notice in one of the social media platforms, which was later picked up by local media. His wife was not pleased that the family member had not consulted with her after publishing the notice on social media.

Whereabouts

After about two years of his whereabouts being unknown, his remains have since been found. Information gathered by this publication was to the effect that neighbours to the deceaseds family home were the ones who called the police to come and check out the house, as it seemed abandoned for a long time. Infact, the neighbours, who said they had settled in the suburban area over a year ago, disclosed that they had not seen any activity within the homestead since they had arrived. What made them even more curious was a vehicle, believed to have been driven by the deceased on the day he was last seen, which was still parked in the same position for over a year.

Concerned

As such, the concerned neighbours at Dalriach suspected that something was amiss in the residence, which was abandoned, yet there was a motor vehicle parked within the yard. The house belongs to the Sithebe family and it is where the human remains, believed to be those of Sithebe, were discovered. Information gathered from some of the neighbours was that the house had been neglected for a long time. Giving an account about the house, the neighbours revealed that there had not been any activity at the residence, except for a young man who would visit in the company of others to cut overgrown grass and clear the yard.

According to the neighbours, the car which was found parked within the yard was said to have been used by the young man. However, they said for sometime the young man in question had not visited the house and the car had remained parked, something that raised suspicions as to what was going on, which resulted in the police being called. The neighbours revealed that on Monday afternoon, police officers arrived to clear the bush next to the gate in order to gain entry. They stated that the police came out of the house carrying a white body bag, which they loaded in the back of their van. The neighbours also stated that on Monday night, a certain woman arrived and towed the car which had been parked in the yard.

Strange

Meanwhile, the neighbours mentioned that there was something strange about the house, which they did not understand until the remains were discovered. As a family, we would have sleepless nights but never got an answer why that was happening. At times we would all sleep in the sitting room together due to fear. The neighbours further stated that they hoped that they would be able to sleep, as they had finally found closure on the creepy feeling about the neglected house next door. When reached for comment, one of the relatives, Robert Sithebe stated that he was not comfortable speaking on the matter and was still engaging the police. Robert said he was busy attending to his brothers case and consulting with the police. He stated that he would be able to give a comment once he was done assisting the police.

The wife to the deceased was also reached by this publication to give clarity on the matter, but elected not to comment. My husband of 30 years had been missing and was discovered on Monday. Put yourself in my situation, she said briefly. The wife said she was still grieving and had not even spoken to the family yet. The late businessman was an experienced sugar, ethanol bio-energy manufacturing specialist.

Royal Eswatini Sugar (RES) Corporation Group Public Affairs Manager Sifiso Nyembe said Sithebe joined the then RSSC during his youthful years and developed his career within the company. He cut his teeth as a young engineer at the Simunye factory and progressed to be general manager (GM) manufacturing before ending up as GM strategy. In 2015, he took early retirement and left RES Corporation. Nyembe said the news of his demise cut deep in his former colleagues across the business,which spent many memorable years with him. We send our condolences to his family during this tragic moment, he said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said Sithebe was reported missing about two years ago at Lobamba Police Station, and he was not found until what was believed to be his remains was discovered on Monday.

Assistance

Vilakati said through the assistance of the neighbours, they were able to find his remains. When asked if the police suspected any element of crime in the death of Sithebe, Vilakati said that would be determined by the ongoing investigations. It was gathered that the house where the remains were found was not often used by the family. At the time when Sithebe was reported missing, he was residing around the Ezulwini area, hence the case was reported at Lobamba. However, information gathered from sources was to the effect that the police had visited the family homestead at Dalriach but at the time, did not find anything amiss. Its unclear if they did a thorough search of the house though, the source said.
Saudi-based Abdul Latif Jameel Energy said one of its units, Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV),

a global renewable energy business, has joined hands with Canadian infrastructure fund Omers for the refinancing of Lilyvale solar farm at Queensland in Australia.

Located in the Central Highlands region, the plant has been generating clean energy since 2019, contributing towards the energy demand and economic development of the local area, whilst helping to drive Australias transition to green energy, said a statement from Abdul Latif Jameel Energy.

Spread over 387 hectare area and with net annual energy production capacity of 277,150 MWh, Lilyvale solar farm is capable of meeting the energy demand of up to 45,000 households while also avoiding emissions of 218,900 tonnes of CO2 annually.

This is equivalent to removing 78,138 cars from the roads each year, it stated.

The Saudi group said forming an important part of FRVs clean energy portfolio, the plant will further drive the companys mission to support Australias clean energy mandate.

It has developed and built almost 800 MWdc of Australian PV assets built or under construction across nine projects for a total project investment value of over $1 billion, it stated.

Fady Jameel, Deputy President and Vice Chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel, said: Solar farms remain one of the most effective ways to increase sustainable energy generation. We are committed to paving the way towards a carbon-free world through delivering clean energy solutions."

"By supporting Lilyvale solar farm we are further reinforcing our deep commitment to Australias transition to green energy, he stated.
Our County Editor

Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at dhinton@news-gazette.com.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 81F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Scientists have worked relentlessly to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To this end, several pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical strategies have been developed to prevent further transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and protect individuals from severe infection.

Study: SARS-CoV-2 Testing of Aircraft Wastewater Shows That Mandatory Tests and Vaccination Pass before Boarding Did Not Prevent Massive Importation of Omicron Variant into Europe. Image Credit: heychli / Shutterstock.com

Background

Newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants have been found to be transmitted through air travel and cruises from infected passengers. To limit these events from occurring, several strategies have been implemented, such as travel restrictions, quarantine periods, and compulsory vaccination to prevent the further spread of SARS-CoV-2.

To date, most available studies have focused on the impact of travel restrictions on the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some studies have shown that these restrictions significantly delayed viral transmission, others have contradicted these observations and instead reported that travel restrictions were inadequate to preventing global transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Many countries have reinforced various pre- and post-travel rules to restrict the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Recently, the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa, has become the dominant circulating strain in most countries across the world.

Previous studies have reported the presence of a high concentration of viable SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid (RNA) in stool samples of both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals with COVID-19. As a result, the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has been proposed as an effective strategy to determine viral loads within communities.

In fact, several studies have successfully isolated viral genotypes circulating within a community by sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome from sewage samples.

To this end, various SARS-CoV-2 strains have been identified in sewage samples that were similar to variants isolated from clinical samples. However, new SARS-CoV-2 genotypes were also found that were not reported in clinical samples.

To date, there have been limited studies demonstrating the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater from passenger aircrafts. One related study has reported the successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants from aircraft wastewater by genome sequencing.

About the study

A new Viruses study successfully detected SARS-CoV-2 variants in the wastewater of aircrafts. Herein, researchers obtained wastewater samples from two flights traveling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Marseille, France.

In this study, scientists tested both wastewater samples and passengers for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 upon disembarking to determine if the results of the wastewater analysis and passengers' SARS-CoV-2 tests were correlated. Both reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay and full-length genome sequencing were utilized to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants from the samples.

Study findings

Wastewater analysis of the two flights revealed the presence of the Omicron variant, with genomic sequencing confirming the mutation patterns of this variant.

Taken together, 12 passengers of the December 24, 2021 flight tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a lateral flow test. Genomic sequencing of 11 of these samples confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant.

This indicates that despite fulfilling the requirement of producing a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours of boarding and being vaccinated, one-fifth of the passengers were infected with SARS-CoV-2. These observations align with those of a recent study reporting the detection of the Omicron variant in the wastewater of a flight traveling from Johannesburg, South Africa to Darwin, Australia.

The congruent results of the COVID-19 tests of passengers and aircraft wastewater analysis indicate that this method is effective for monitoring circulating variants and assessing the risk of importing newly emerged strains. However, this process would require interrogating passengers who used toilets during the flight.

Although the wastewater tanks were thoroughly cleaned between flights, the possibility of contamination by traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the blackwater tanks from previous flights cannot be entirely omitted. However, in this case, the high viral load cannot be the result of contamination and is strongly linked to viral excretion by onboard passengers or aircraft crew.

The importation of the Omicron variant from South Africa to Europe has demonstrated that airplane traveling is a powerful entry route for new variants. Since aircraft wastewater screening can be carried out within an hour, this approach could be a more powerful tool as compared to current traveling rules of providing negative COVID-19 test results and vaccination certificates of the passengers.

Conclusions

The current study emphasized the importance of monitoring wastewater of aircrafts, as it offers important information related to the global transmission of newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Furthermore, a negative COVID-19 test before boarding or vaccination does not confirm that passengers are not carrying the virus. Instead, the approach of analyzing aircraft wastewater is a roust tool for controlling SARS-CoV-2 importation and exportation.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and is the etiologic agent of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 557 million and claimed more than 6.35 million lives worldwide.

Multiple effective COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics have successfully been developed and shown to protect individuals from the virus. However, the continual emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants has reduced their effectiveness, as current COVID-19 vaccines are primarily based on the spike protein of the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.

As a result, scientists are looking to develop new antiviral drugs, vaccines, and antibody therapies to protect individuals from contracting COVID-19.

Study: Hyperimmunized Chickens Produce Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Image Credit: ustas7777777 / Shutterstock.com

Background

SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus that contains a single-stranded and positive-sense ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome, which ranges from 27 to 30 kilobase (kb) pairs. In addition to betacoronaviruses, other coronaviruses including alphacoronaviruses, gammacoronaviruses, and deltacoronaviruses can infect a wide range of species, such as mammals and birds, causing respiratory and gastrointestinal disease. For example. most commercial hens are immunized against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which is a gammacoronavirus.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mediates the invasion of the virus into the host. During viral infection, the S1 subunit of the spike protein, which contains the receptor-binding domain (RBD), binds to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor on host cells, whereas the S2 domain promotes the fusion of membranes. Hereafter, the viral RNA genome enters the host cell.

In coronaviruses, the RBD is the most antigenic site of the S1 domain and, as a result, is used as the target in current COVID-19 vaccines and most therapeutics. The S1 domain of the protein induces the production of neutralizing antibodies.

One novel COVID-19 therapy that has recently been approved for emergency use by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is convalescent plasma. This treatment involves the administration of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies that have been isolated from COVID-19 recovered patients to newly infected patients. Researchers have also generated SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in animals for passive immunization of humans against the virus.

One previous study reported an attractive model to harvest antibodies from the eggs of hens immunized against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Some of the advantages of this strategy include its scalability, cost-effectiveness, and convenience. Notably, chickens produce immunoglobulin Y (IgY), which is analogous to mammalian IgG.

Studies have shown that an egg yolk typically yields 50-100 mg of IgY, which contain between 2-10% of specific antibodies. However, the amount of antigen-specific IgY produced by hyperimmunized hens depends on the age of the hen, dose, antigenicity, molecular weight of the antigen, and route of administration.

About the study

A new Viruses journal study reports the production of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in hyperimmunized hens. Herein, the researchers immunized hens with several different vaccine formulations, which included vaccine A twice (A/A), vaccine B twice (B/B), vaccine C twice (C/C), and vaccine C followed by vaccine B (C/B).

Hens vaccinated with the adjuvant only served as a negative control. Each treatment group was divided into several subgroups based on different doses.

In this study, all vaccines had a volume of 0.5 l and were administered through the intramuscular route in the pectoral muscle. Blood samples were collected 21 days following the second immunization and at the end of the experiment, which was six weeks after the second dose.

One month following the second immunization, eggs were collected for IgY extraction. These samples were tested for neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 using the plaque reduction neutralization assay (PRNA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Study findings

Laying hens that were hyperimmunized against three different SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike proteins produced specific antibodies in sera. Moreover, low levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgY titers were produced in egg yolk, while a significant level of antibodies was detected in sera.

The dose and type of antigen were the two most important factors that influenced the number of antibodies produced. Although all vaccines produced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, vaccines that targeted the glycosylated S1 protein (C/C) and a combination of glycosylated S1 and non-glycosylated RBD of S1 (C/B) exhibited better neutralization capacity. Notably, antibodies generated from vaccine C could be administered as a fraction of the dose necessary for an effective seroconversion.

As compared to the control group, hens immunized with the full length and tagged S1 protein induced a higher IgY titer in serum and egg yolk at all doses. However, hens immunized with RBD fragments at the highest dose of 50 g elicited more antibodies as compared to the negative control group.

Importantly, virus neutralization was not observed in IBV-vaccinated hens, thus suggesting no cross-reaction between IBV antibodies and SARS-CoV-2.

Conclusions

The antibody production in hyperimmunized hens is dependent on the dose and type of antigen. The researchers believe that neutralizing antibodies purified from the egg yolk of hyperimmunized chickens can be effectively used as immunoprophylaxis in humans.
A new analysis describes how U.K. residents shifted the amount of time they spent on various activities over the course of the pandemic and whether they participated online or in-person. Lan Li of University College London, Centre for Digital Health in Emergencies (dPHE), U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 13, 2022.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the U.K. joined many countries in introducing restrictions on people's movement and social activities to mitigate viral spread. A growing body of research reveals how such restrictions have affected people's lifestyles worldwide. However, it has been less clear how behavioral patterns of U.K. residents changed over time as different restrictions were implemented and lifted.

To help clarify, Li and colleagues conducted six online surveys of U.K. residents between April 2020 and July 2021 and were ultimately able to follow 203 people who responded to multiple surveys. The surveys included questions about 16 different types of activities respondents participated in during different phases of the pandemic, such as journaling, shopping, and getting active, and whether they participated online or in person.

Statistical analysis of the responses showed that the biggest changes in terms of amount of time spent-;as well as the biggest changes in online versus in-person participation-;occurred for cultural activities, spending time with others, and travelling. Changes were most pronounced in March to June 2020, corresponding with the first lockdown period, when participation in all 16 activities decreased. The biggest shift from in-person to online participation occurred from March to October 2020, which included the first lockdown followed by relaxation of restrictions.

On July 19, 2021, all restrictions were eliminated in the U.K. However, this analysis found, participation in cultural and group activities remained lower than before the pandemic. The majority of respondents also continued to participate in many activities online.

These findings could help U.K. policymakers understand the impact of their pandemic restrictions. In the future, the researchers plan to investigate how demographic factors, such as age and employment, may have affected the results, as well as long-term mental health implications of the lifestyle changes.

This longitudinal research study illustrated citizens' resilience throughout the stages of the pandemic." Prof. Patty Kostova, director of UCL dPHE and lead of the study

Lan Li adds: "This longitudinal study determines the frequency and way of people doing activities from Spring 2020 to Summer 2021 during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. The findings provide an invaluable insight into understanding how people in the UK changed their lifestyle, including what activities they do, and how they accessed those activities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health policy implemented to address the pandemic."
A commonly used blood test which measures how well a person's kidneys are working may not pick up kidney disease for people in Africa, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health.

Researchers from the African Research on Kidney Disease (ARK) Consortium - which includes the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit (MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit) - ran the study.

It focused on more than 2,500 people in Malawi, South Africa and Uganda and was the largest study to analyze kidney disease testing and prevalence in Africa.

The findings suggest that methods developed in high-income settings to check kidney function are not accurate for many people in Africa, meaning many people could miss early diagnosis and life-saving treatment.

Testing how well kidneys function is essential to diagnosing kidney disease in individuals and predicting the burden of disease in populations.

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the most common way to assess kidney function and is a measure of how much blood the kidneys are filtering per minute.

Testing kidney function involves measuring how much creatinine or cystatin C is in a person's blood. Creatinine is a by-product of muscle breakdown while cystatin C is a protein made by cells in the body. Healthy kidneys filter creatinine or cystatin C out of the blood and excrete these in urine. A creatinine or cystatin C test thus measures how well kidneys are performing. High levels can be a sign that the kidneys are not functioning properly.

To study the most accurate way to measure kidney function in African populations, the ARK Consortium compared the widely used creatinine and cystatin C-based tests with a benchmark test called the iohexol measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR). Iohexol is an iodine-like dye used as a diagnostic contrast agent in CT scans.

The researchers found that creatinine-based tests were inaccurate for predicting kidney disease in African populations. This may be because it does not account for unique biological characteristics in this group.

For example, Africans can have lower creatinine levels due to inadequate nutrition (especially low protein ingestion), short stature and low muscle bulk. Creatinine may also be excreted differently in African populations.

Co-lead author of the study, Dr June Fabian of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits University), South Africa, said: "The equation that is used to test kidney function is wrong for 1.4 billion people - Africans.

"Kidney disease can be debilitating and ultimately fatal if left untreated. Blood tests are useful to spot early signs of kidney problems - and can help identify people who would benefit from treatment."

ARK researchers used the results of their study, along with population data from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda, to estimate overall levels of kidney disease.

The results suggest that kidney disease prevalence may be substantially higher in Africa than previously thought, increasing from about 1 in 30 people to about 1 in 8 people.

Senior author Dr Laurie Tomlinson of LSHTM, said: "The results of our study show that it is critical to consider whether research into what we consider to be 'normal' blood tests applies to all parts of the world.

"We have shown that for people living in Africa, differences in factors such as childhood health and current nutrition mean that if we're using equations developed in the US and Europe, we may not be accurately estimating the kidney function of people globally. The burden of kidney disease in Africa has been substantially underestimated and kidney disease has not received the public health focus it requires."

Tests based on cystatin C worked better than creatinine as an indicator of poor kidney function - but the cystatin C testing is not widely used or available in Africa.

The cystatin C test, which would be more suitable in Africa, costs around 16 [US$19], significantly more expensive than the widely-used but less accurate creatinine, at just 3 [US$4].

The findings of the ARK study suggest that switching from the creatinine test of kidney function to cystatin C would be preferable. Ensuring accessibility and enabling doctors to use them should be a priority for Africa, researchers say, and further research for alternative biomarkers is also vital.

Co-lead author Dr Robert Kalyesubula of the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, said: "Kidney disease has been neglected across the world but more so in countries in Africa, where it has devastating effects.

"Our study provides evidence that kidney disease in Africa is much more rampant than previously thought. This is why it is important that we continue to engage all stakeholders to ensure access to better diagnostic tests, like cystatin C, to improve early detection and care for patients with kidney disease in Africa."

The researchers acknowledge limitations in the study, in particular that inaccuracies in the measurement of creatinine or measured GFR could have impacted the results. The study population was predominantly people with normal levels of serum creatinine, unlike previous studies into measured kidney function which have included many people with known kidney disease.

Finally, while the study is the largest of its kind from Africa and includes measured GFR from three countries, the diversity of African populations means it is possible that there is greater variability in the relationship between creatinine and measured GFR than the team identified, which could affect the accuracy of the estimates of prevalence of kidney disease in the broader population studies.

The South African study was jointly funded by the South African Medical Research Council with funds received from the National Department of Health and the UK Medical Research Council-Newton Fund, and GSK Africa Non-Communicable Diseases Open Lab (via a supporting grant). The study in Uganda and Malawi was funded by a project grant from GSK Africa Non-Communicable Diseases Open Lab.

The ARK Consortium comprises researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, including the Medical Research Council/Wits-Agincourt Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) in SA's Mpumalanga province; the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU); the MRC/Uganda Virus Research Institute and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit; and LSHTM.


Thought Leaders Paula Petrone Associate Research Professor at ISGlobal Organization Abc As part of our SLAS Europe 2022 coverage, we speak to Paula Petrone, Associate Research Professor at ISGlobal, about the importance of representation, inclusion, and equity in the STEM fields. As part of our SLAS Europe 2022 coverage, we speak to Paula Petrone, Associate Research Professor at ISGlobal, about the importance of representation, inclusion, and equity in the STEM fields.

Please can you introduce yourself, and tell us about your background in biophysics, neuroscience, and biomedical data science?

My name is Paula Petrone, and I am Argentine. I first studied physics, and then my career path turned to biophysics and the life sciences. For about ten years, I have been largely dedicated to biomedical data science, which is a field I love. Every day is different and each project offers a variety of challenges and opportunities to learn. During the influx of COVID, I started my own startup in biomedical data analytics, and I also started my own academic lab at ISGlobal. In my lab, we have several projects which address different biomedical problems such as COVID, malaria, Chagas, and mental health, dealing with different biomedical data, including imaging.

During SLAS Europe 2022 you are participating in a special session titled Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Can you give us a preview of what viewers should expect from this talk?

We are trying to discuss - and bring awareness to  the issue of inclusion in the workplace. We think it is a very important topic, particularly at this conference.



Essentially, we want to make people think about their work-life balance and the inclusion of different genders and backgrounds. I think that is very important. I am very proud of the organizers for having that session and that panel.

Image Credit: Angelina Bambina/Shutterstock

What does each part of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sciences look like to you personally?

I work in STEM, which encompasses data analytics, mathematics, and physics. Unfortunately, we do not get to see a lot of women in these careers. I also dedicate time to mentoring and influencing women in starting and ultimately leading in these careers because it is very important that we have that gender perspective in data science and STEM. That diversity in the workplace is important because we get to analyze data from a different viewpoint and interpret results diversely.



When we are talking about medicine, women are usually ignored in datasets. When you think about capturing data at the hospital, we hardly ever capture things like menopause or menstrual periods, so that is an area in which I think women can really contribute, particularly to the type of questions that we ask and the way that we analyze the data, as well as the decision-making that we do.



According to the United States Census Bureau, 27% of the STEM workforce in 2019 were women, an increase of 19% since 1970. Why is it important that we continue to encourage diversity in the STEM fields?

First and foremost, it is important to note that 27% is not that much, especially when you think that today, many STEM university careers are increasing the number of female students, reaching 50% in some programs. The question is, then, what happens after education: where does the inequality come from?



One of the main things I think about is the coincidence between one of the most productive stages of a womans career and their reproductive cycle: women between the ages of 30 to 40 are often in a stage when they get to learn a lot and escalate in the leadership ladder, but it might also coincide with a time when many women think about beginning a family and often need or want to take time off work. This means that there can be challenges for women who want to progress in both.



The other reason I think women are often denied leadership roles is the prevalence of gendered stereotypes and how that impacts workplace roles. From the time we are children, women are encouraged not to misbehave and to be obedient in every aspect of our lives.



This means that ambition and a healthy drive to succeed professionally can be misconstrued by society or interpreted negatively  which can detrimentally impact how women progress.



Traits like this are essential for anyone to succeed in a leadership position  so it is important that we create an environment that fosters and influences female behavior to allow women to obtain those higher up-positions. To be a game-changer, sticking to the status quo is not always productive.

Image Credit: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

Why do you believe there is ongoing under-representation and inequity in STEM subjects during higher education, as well as for individuals wanting to enter the STEM workforce?



This can be answered in two halves. The first half is the absence of role models for many women. Science  specifically, leadership in STEM careers - is dominated by white men. This means that many people do not get to see themselves represented in this area.



The more women that we see in leadership positions, the better the diversity of leadership roles will be for the new generations to come. That is why, in Barcelona, where I live, I am an organizer for the Barcelona chapter of Women in Data Science, an annual conference for women in data science and STEM careers. Women in Data Science or WiDS is a conference that aims to inspire, educate and support women in data science all over the world. Organized for the first time by Stanford University in 2015, it turned into a worldwide conference in more than 60 countries.



The other part is inclusive job positions. What happens is that usually, people advertise for jobs using non-inclusive language. That is a problem because research shows that women do not tend to want to apply for positions that request proficiency in this topic or high expertise in other topics. Historically, women are inclined to apply for jobs that emphasize nurture, cultural development, personal developments, work-life balance and opportunities to learn.



This can be attributed to the fact that, as I said, women have not, by tradition, been encouraged to be ambitious or to think that they can do everything. This means that those people tend to have a lower level of self-confidence when it comes to applying for a job.



Positions that actively encourage women to apply - even explicitly in the text  are a good step to increasing the diversity and the gender balance in many STEM workplaces.



How do you believe society can improve the inclusivity and representation of marginalized groups in STEM, and what can we do to further diversify the sciences as a whole?



I think it is essential to have the conversation in a balanced way. There is a prevalent culture now  termed cancel culture  which means that when there is a great deal of discourse about something, people become tired of it and begin to reject the topic.



Inclusion and diversity also include the important aspects of men wanting to have work-life balance and be present at home, particularly when it comes to child-rearing. It is important to have a new gender-neutral conversation that is not just focused on women and different ethnic groups but also focuses on men and their role in the workplace as a whole. Having a well-balanced conversation where everybody is included is the path to improving inclusion and diversity.



There have been enormous breakthroughs in the life sciences in the last decade. How do you believe technology has transformed research in the life sciences during this time, and in what areas do you believe the biggest advances have been?



My field is in data science and artificial intelligence, so I will focus primarily on the promise of AI in the life sciences. There is a huge amount of opportunity, but at the same time, we have to also consider that these technologies are a little over-hyped. I am not sure that the public actually knows the limitations of AI in the life sciences - we tend to perceive that computers think by themselves.



There are a lot of unsolved challenges, and I think there is a gap between what we develop in the academic sector and what is actually deployed at the clinic or in the industry sector. This means that there is a gap in our research and a disparity as to how that research is translated into technology. I think there is a lot we have to do. The potential is huge, but also we have to manage our expectations and be realistic as to what we can do and what we will do.

Image Credit: Jasen Wright/Shutterstock

Do you believe there are any limitations to the use of technology in the life sciences? How can we combat these challenges?

AI and data science at this moment in time is very well developed. The algorithms that we have and that we are working on are very much advanced, but the huge challenge comes from the availability of data. This is something that people do not discuss enough. Data access and data generation is huge, but the quality of data and data access is not always at hand.

I think when we want to develop algorithms on patient data or clinical data, we do not usually have very good data sets. Companies now realize that they have to keep their data in good condition. So, my advice to companies and startups is that they should really work on how they will acquire the data and how they share that data.

Looking ahead, are there any areas of technology youre excited to see excel in the next ten years?



When it comes to the topic of AI and deep learning, my particular area of interest is focused on biomedical imaging. I think that there are a lot of images out there that come from patients from microscopy. In my lab, for instance, we are developing a very strong line of research to analyze and get the best out of these imaging data.



Whats next for you? Are you currently involved in any exciting upcoming projects?

There are several projects at the lab which are related to the analysis of images to understand why we age. We are looking at stem cells with microscopy and understanding the differences between young cells and old cells to really understand how we can reverse the aging process in the lab.



We are also working with neglected diseases, like malaria and Chagas. I think there is a huge opportunity in the academic sector to work on these largely forgotten diseases of the developing world.



What are you excited about for SLAS? What are you looking forward to most about the next couple of days?

I am very excited about meeting people, sharing ideas, and making new connections. This is one of the first conferences I have attended after the pandemic. I am really excited. It feels like coming back to life after recovering from these two years.

Where can readers find more information?

My academic profile: https://www.isglobal.org/our-team/-/profiles/27001

My academic group: https://www.isglobal.org/en/biomedical-data-science

My company: https://www.phenobytelife.com/

Recent Interview: https://www.isglobal.org/en/-/paula-petrone-descubrimientos-y-tecnologias-en-ciencia-de-datos-y-salud-digital-para-mejorar-salud-a-corto-plazo

Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-p-3981a41/

About Paula Petrone

Paula Petrone is Associate Professor at ISGlobal and leads the Biomedical Data Science team whose focus is the development of algorithms applied to early diagnosis, risk assessment and treatment of chronic diseases, mental health and neurodegeneration, h ealth informatics, wearable health devices and medical imaging. She completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at the Balseiro Institute in Argentina. She holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Stanford University.

Her field of expertise is data analytics at the intersection of chemistry, biology and medicine, and machine learning. As a postdoctoral researcher at Novartis NIBR, and later as a senior data scientist at Roche, she has developed several machine learning models applied to drug discovery and high throughput screening.

Her postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the Barcelona Brain Research Center combines imaging and machine learning to predict Alzheimer's disease before the onset of cognitive impairment.

In recent years, she has served as a data science advisor for pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups. In 2020, she founded the startup Phenobyte Life Sciences specialized in the application of artificial intelligence in the biotech and digital health sectors.

Co-ambassador of WiDS (Women in Data Science, Stanford, 2021-2022) for Barcelona, Dr. Petrone is a strong advocate for diversity in STEM careers.

She is also engaged in raising public awareness about the opportunities and limitations of applying AI and technology in healthcare. She is an author of several scientific publications, speaker, mentor and mother of two children.
Thousands of people experiencing the debilitating symptoms of long covid are traveling abroad to seek costly but unproven treatments such as "blood washing", according to an investigation carried out by The BMJ and ITV News released today.

Patients are traveling to private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and Switzerland for apheresis - a blood-filtering treatment normally used for patients with lipid disorders that have not responded to drugs - and anti-clotting therapy.

But experts question whether these invasive therapies should be offered without sufficient evidence.

ITV News visited a private clinic in Cyprus and spoke to its co-founder Marcus Klotz and several patients. The full report by ITV News Science Editor Deborah Cohen will air on 13/07/2022 on ITV Evening News at 6.30pm and ITV News at Ten.

To access clips of the report including case studies and footage of the Cyprus clinic please contact: [email protected]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that between 10% and 20% of patients suffer symptoms for at least two months after an acute covid-19 infection  a phenomenon commonly known as long covid.

According to the latest official data, as of May 1, there were nearly two million people in the UK self-reporting long covid symptoms, which can include fatigue, muscle weakness, breathing and sleep difficulties, memory problems, anxiety or depression, chest pains, and loss of smell or taste.

Currently, there is no internationally agreed treatment pathway for the condition.

Apheresis involves needles being put into each arm and the blood is passed over a filter, separating the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is filtered before being recombined with the red blood cells and returned to the body via a different vein.

The investigation includes details of people who have tried the treatment, such as Gitte Boumeester, a trainee psychiatrist in Almelo, the Netherlands, who, after catching the virus, developed severe long covid symptoms. She was forced to quit her job in November 2021, after two failed attempts to go back to work.

Boumeester learned of the "blood-washing" treatment of apheresis from a Facebook group for long covid patients.

After visiting The Long Covid Center in Cyprus to receive the treatment, at a cost of more than 50,000 (42,376), she returned home with no improvement to her symptoms. She received six rounds of apheresis, as well as nine rounds of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and an intravenous vitamin drip at the private Poseidonia clinic, next door to the Center.

Boumeester was asked to sign a consent form at the Long Covid Center before undergoing apheresis, which lawyers and clinicians described as inadequate.

She was also advised to buy hydroxychloroquine as an early treatment package in case she was reinfected with covid-19, despite a Cochrane review published in March 2021 concluding that it is "unlikely" the drug has a benefit in the prevention of covid-19.

Marcus Klotz, co-founder of the Long Covid Center told The BMJ: "We as a clinic do neither advertise, nor promote. We accept patients that have microcirculation issues and want to be treated with HELP apheresisIf a patient needs a prescription, it is individually assessed by our doctor or the patient is referred to other specialized doctors where needed."

A spokesperson for the Poseidonia clinic said all treatments offered are "always based on medical and clinical evaluation by our doctors and clinical nutritionist, diagnosis via blood tests with lab follow ups as per good medical practice."

While some doctors and researchers believe apheresis and anticoagulation drugs may be promising treatments for long covid, others worry desperate patients are spending life-changing sums on invasive, unproven treatments.

Shamil Haroon, clinical lecturer in primary care at the University of Birmingham and a researcher on the Therapies for Long Covid in Non-hospitalized patients (TLC) trial, believes such "experimental" treatment should only be done in the context of a clinical trial.

"It's unsurprising that people who were previously highly functioning, who are now debilitated, can't work, can't financially support themselves, would seek treatments elsewhere," he says.

"It's a completely rational response to a situation like this. But people could potentially go bankrupt accessing these treatments, for which there is limited to no evidence of effectiveness."

In February of last year, Dr Beate Jaeger, an internal medicine doctor, began treating long covid patients with apheresis at her clinic in Mulheim, Germany, after reading reports that covid causes issues with blood clotting. She told The BMJ she has now treated thousands in her clinic, with success stories spreading on social media and by word of mouth.

Jaeger accepts that the treatment is experimental for long covid, but said trials take too long when the pandemic has left patients desperately ill.

The North Rhine Medical Association, which examines whether doctors have violated their professional code of conduct, told The BMJ it has not received any complaints about Jaeger or her clinic from patients or other organisations but will investigate if it does.

The investigation also found that apheresis and associated travel costs are so expensive that patients are setting up fundraising pages on websites like GoFundMe in order to raise the money.

Chris Witham, a 45-year-old businessman and long covid sufferer from Bournemouth who spent around 7,000 on apheresis treatment (including travel and accommodation costs) in Kempten, Germany, last year, says: "I'd have sold my house and given it away to get better, without a second thought."

Existing research has suggested that "microclots" present in the plasma of people with long covid could be responsible for long covid symptoms. But experts contacted by The BMJ and ITV News said more research is needed to understand how microclots form and whether they are causing long covid symptoms.

Others are also concerned about the lack of follow up care for patients when they leave clinics after being prescribed anticoagulation drugs.

Robert Ariens, professor of vascular biology at the University of Leeds School of Medicine, says: "They [microclots] may be a biomarker for disease, but how do we know they are causal?"

He believes the clinics offering apheresis and anticoagulation therapy are prematurely providing treatment based on a hypothesis that needs more scientific research.

"If we don't know the mechanisms by which the microclots form and whether or not they are causative of disease, it seems premature to design a treatment to take the microclots away, as both apheresis and triple anticoagulation are not without risks, the obvious one being bleeding," he adds.
The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-;an intractable disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract-;has increased significantly in Japan. Chronic inflammation associated with IBD often leads to the development of cancer in the colorectal region.

For patients who have visible or low-grade dysplasia (abnormal cell growth which may not be malignant), endoscopic resection, a technique used to remove cancerous lesions, and colonoscopy are usually employed. However, for patients with a high rate of neoplasia (severe cell growth which is malignant), a total proctocolectomy, i.e., complete removal of the colon and rectum is the standard treatment, which is highly detrimental to their quality of lives.

Hence, identifying the severity and grade of the neoplasia during diagnosis is essential before proceeding with treatment. Unfortunately, the presence of inflammation in the colorectal region makes it difficult for endoscopists to classify the type of IBD neoplasia (IBDN). This leaves biopsy as the only viable option, which is associated with high risks and often leads to inaccurate diagnoses, highlighting the need for a simpler diagnostic technique with high accuracy.

To this end, a team of researchers from Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, including Assistant Professor Hideaki Kinugasa, Doctor Shumpei Yamamoto, Professor Sakiko Hiraoka, and Professor Yoshiro Kawahara conducted a pilot study to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system that classifies IBDN lesions accurately. In addition, as part of this study, which was published in Gastroenterology and Hepatology first on May 29, 2022, they compared the diagnostic ability of endoscopists with that of the new AI system.

First, the team used a conventional neural network (CNN)-;a type of neural network used for the analysis of visual imagery-;known as Efficient-Net-B3, to develop the AI-system's prototype. They trained this system using 862 endoscopic images of 99 IBDN lesions from patients with IBD derived from two hospitals between 2003 and 2021, and validated it using a deep-learning framework. Next, they asked endoscopists with over 8 years of experience in gastrointestinal endoscopy to analyse the images and classify the lesions into two types based on the need for proctocolectomy, and compared their classification to that of the AI-system.

As a result of data-augmentation, the AI-system generated approximately six million images from the original data set, which were then used to analyse clinicopathological characteristics of patients and the lesions.

Based on these analyses, the team found that most patients had ulcerative colitis-;a type of IBD, with more than 95% of them presenting pancolitis and left-sided colitis. Moreover, the AI-system displayed an image-based diagnostic ability with 64.5% sensitivity, 89.5% specificity, and 80.6% accuracy, and a lesion-based diagnostic ability with 74.4% sensitivity, 85% specificity, and 80.8% accuracy. What's interesting is that the correct diagnosis rate of the AI system was 79.0, while that of endoscopists was 77.8.

What do these findings imply? "Our AI-system prototype proved successful in determining the degree of malignancy of IBD-tumors and is valuable enough to contribute to clinical practice in the coming years", said Assistant Prof. Kinugasa in response.

The team also highlighted that combining this AI-based automatic diagnosis of neoplastic lesions with existing endoscopic diagnostic techniques might provide superior diagnostic results in real-time.

While discussing the system's additional advantages and real-life applications, Assistant Prof. Kinugasa added, "Using this AI-system can ensure that endoscopists do not misdiagnose IBD neoplastic lesions, patients receive prompt treatment, and more appropriate treatment strategies are developed and applied for early as well as advanced stages of IBD".

Here's hoping that this AI-system revolutionizes the diagnosis of IBD-associated neoplasia and improves the lives of patients with IBD in Japan and the rest of the world!
Your gut is a wondrous place. A special layer of cells that coats the insides of your small and large intestines takes in nutrients and water from what you ate while keeping anything bad out of your system. This layer is called the intestinal epithelium. It completely renews itself every four to seven days using stem cells. These are a special cell type that can both self-renew by dividing and differentiated to give rise to any other types of cells to renew your organs. Scientists still do not know how exactly they make these decisions however, or what defines a stem cell.

Bernat Corominas-Murtra, previously postdoc at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and now assistant professor at the University of Graz, and Edouard Hannezo, professor at ISTA, worked together with an international group of experimental researchers led by the Jacco Van Rheenen team in Amsterdam to study the stem cells in the intestinal epithelium. They found an exciting new mechanism that could change our understanding of what a stem cell is. Their findings have now been published in the journal Nature.

The intestinal epithelium is just one layer of cells thick and constantly renewed. It is all over the villi which look like tiny tentacles covering the insides of the small and large intestines. Between the villi, there are tiny pockets in the tissue called intestinal crypts. That name may invoke some mystery and that may be not too far off what really happens there.

At the bottom of the crypts, stem cells in the epithelium are constantly dividing. Some of the resulting cells remain as stem cells in the crypt and the others are pushed outwards towards to tip of the surrounding villi, there, in the end, they differentiate into functional cell types that allow intestinal function and which are discarded after a few days. This happens all the time inside your body and if this mechanism breaks down, you can get into serious medical trouble." Bernat Corominas-Murtra, previously postdoc at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and now assistant professor at the University of Graz

While studying these stem cells in the small and large intestines, the scientists were initially perplexed. "How we usually think of stem cells is that being a stem cell is determined by intrinsic biochemical properties of a cell  something like a biochemical marker we can identify," Corominas-Murtra continues. "We found that among the cells that had this traditional stem cell marker, many of them never actually worked as stem cells but were pushed out of the crypts to be discarded instead, without contributing at all to the long-term renewal of the gut. We also saw that while classical markers predicted about the same number of stem cells in both the small and large intestines, there were about twice as many of them actually working as stem cells in the small intestine than in the large intestine." The scientists therefore wanted to understand what determines which cells actually act as stem cells and they found a surprising new mechanism that regulates the stem cells in the crypts.

"We found that whether these cells behave as a stem cell or not is all about their location! Cells in the epithelium are not just pushed outwards from the crypt by the cell divisions below them  like on a conveyor belt  but there is another kind of motion involved," Corominas-Murtra explains. The scientists found that cells in the epithelium layer also actively move around in random directions  back and forth along the conveyor belt if you will. This way, cells that were already pushed along the conveyor belt for a bit can end up back at the base of the crypt, and act there again as stem cells to divide and replenish the epithelium. Edouard Hannezo explains the possible implications of these findings, "These movements constitute a new environmental mechanism that determines which cells get to functionally act as stem cells. In the small intestine, the molecular signal regulating the movements is stronger than in the large intestine, so cells can move more frequently back into the crypt. This explains why there are more actually working stem cells in the small intestine than in the large ones. This could have major implications for our understanding of what a stem cell actually is and how to use them in medical applications."

This insight builds on previous research by Bernat Corominas-Murtra and Edouard Hannezo at ISTA and the work of the Van Rheenen group. Originally coming from a physics background, Corominas-Murtra and Hannezo created an advanced mathematical model of the intestinal epithelium layer which included the motion of the cells both away from and back towards the crypt. Using their model, they could predict the number of actually working stem cells in the small and large intestines. A number of other research groups from all around Europe designed experiments using the latest methods in microscopy and genetics to test the predictions and found them to be accurate. They even tried to inhibit the chemical signal in the crypts and saw that this reduced the number of working stem cells as predicted.
UAE's Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has joined hands with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to strengthen collaboration on optimising its competitive industrial performance (CIP) index.

The CIP Index benchmarks the ability of countries to produce and export manufactured goods competitively. It provides a graphical summary capturing the competitive performance of countries. The UAE is currently ranked first in the region.

The move is in line with the goals of the Global Manufacturing and Industrial Summit (GMIS), a joint initiative between the ministry and UNIDO.

Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Gerd Muller, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), discussed the move at a virtual meeting held recently.

It was also attended by Hamad Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to Austria, and Omar Ahmed Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of MoIAT.

Attendees underlined the importance of forming a joint team to help achieve the ninth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which is to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

The meeting is part of the ministrys plans to enhance the capabilities and competitiveness of the industrial sector, as well as to consolidate relations with relevant regional and international institutions in support of the national industrial and advanced technology strategy.

The meeting covered enhancing competitiveness, exchanging industrial information to serve the global value chain, incentivizing investment in research and development, and supporting diversification of industries using advanced technology.

The meeting also touched on the UAEs contribution and support to the Hydrogen in Industry Day event planned at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt.

Delegates also discussed forming a taskforce to create a roadmap to enhance cooperation in the build up to COP28, which will be held next year at Expo Dubai.-TradeArabia News Service
Many medical professionals who volunteered for short-term deployment to a field hospital in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced high levels of secondary traumatic stress, a new study found.

However, high levels of compassion satisfaction  the gratification that these volunteers derived from helping others  buffered some against psychological distress, according to Tara M. Powell, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is first author of the study.

The volunteers in our study showed milder symptoms of PTSD than prior studies found among other frontline medical workers during the pandemic. The voluntary nature of their assignments may explain the high levels of compassion satisfaction they experienced. In turn, this sense of fulfillment counteracted the extraordinary stressors and challenges that the pandemic created for them." Tara M. Powell, professor of social work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The 57 health care volunteers in the new study worked as nurses, doctors, medics and administrators at the Ryan Larkin Field Hospital in Manhattan during spring 2020. Most were serving temporary deployments of six weeks or less in the field hospital.

Published in the journal Traumatology, the study sheds light on the emotional and physical toll that the early days of the pandemic had on volunteer workers and the protective effects of compassion satisfaction.

Post-traumatic stress and secondary traumatic stress disorders share symptoms such as experiencing distressing trauma-related flashbacks or dreams, irritability and sleeplessness, according to the World Health Organization. While PTSD involves first-hand experiences of upsetting events, secondary traumatic stress arises from exposure to other people's illnesses, death or discussions of their disturbing experiences.

Burnout refers to emotional, mental and physical exhaustion associated with excessive job-related demands and stressors, according to the WHO. Sufferers may experience fatigue, apathy and diminished effectiveness in their work.

Prior studies found high rates of all three  burnout, PTSD and secondary stress  among frontline health care workers during the pandemic. Powell and her team wanted to explore whether volunteers experienced similar problems and if greater levels of compassion satisfaction counteracted stress and burnout in them.

The researchers used five surveys to assess participants' mental health and well-being. These included a professional quality-of-life questionnaire that screened them for symptoms of PTSD and secondary stress and asked them to rate the level of satisfaction they derived from their work in the field hospital.

Participants were asked about the amount of social support in their lives and the coping methods they used, including healthier problem-focused tactics and maladaptive avoidant strategies such as denial, disengagement and self-medicating with alcohol or drugs.

Most of the participants experienced low to mild symptoms of burnout, but a significant number met the clinical criteria for PTSD or secondary traumatic stress. Some reported working as many as 70 hours a week, and the team found that working these hours or more significantly increased workers' risks of burnout and stress-related symptoms.

The strongest predictor of burnout, PTSD and secondary stress symptoms was avoidant emotional coping  tactics such as denying or disengaging from difficulties rather than focusing on solutions. Participants who utilized avoidant strategies and buried their feelings were at significantly greater risk of emotional distress.

"The findings confirm the need for interventions that mitigate the emotional fallout these workers experience by reinforcing positive, problem-focused coping skills and social support," Powell said. "People in these professions are at heightened risks of such problems in the best of times, and extraordinary circumstances such as those that occurred during the pandemic dramatically escalate these risks."

Powell's co-authors were social work professor Shanondora Billiot of Arizona State University; Kristen Elzey, formerly a mental health consultant and staff care specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital; registered nurse Amanda Brandon, also of NYPH; and Jenna Muller, a doctoral student at the U. of I.

The research was supported by an Early Career Research Fellowship to Billiot from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Overcoming impulses to enjoy here-and-now rewards in order to attain later benefits is fundamental to achieving goals. Such delaying of gratification is often measured by the well-known "marshmallow task" in which children must resist the urge to enjoy one treat now in order to get more treats later.

Individual differences in this task predict important later life outcomes such as academic success, socioemotional competence, and health, many researchers agree.

A study published in June in Psychological Science, co-authored by Yuko Munakata, professor of psychology, and Jade Yonehiro, a graduate student, both in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, found that cultural habits around waiting to eat (emphasized in Japan) and waiting to open gifts (emphasized in the United States) shape distinct profiles of delaying gratification. Japanese children waited three times longer for food than for gifts, whereas U.S. children waited nearly four times longer for gifts than for food.

"Our findings offer new answers as to why delaying gratification predicts life outcomes and suggest new directions for understanding and shaping children's delay of gratification," researchers said in their study.

In the context of eating food, Japanese people are accustomed to waiting. When having meals, Japanese people typically wait until all individuals are served. Such customs of waiting to eat food are not as prevalent in the daily experiences of children in the United States.

In the context of opening gifts, U.S. children may experience waiting more consistently than Japanese children. Giving gifts is a more special event occurring on specific occasions in the United States, such as birthdays and other holidays, that can involve traditions of waiting. In contrast, gift giving is a regular year-round event for Japanese people that is not consistently associated with traditions of waiting.

In the study, 26 U.S. children and 40 Japanese children were in the "food" experiment, and 32 U.S. children and 40 Japanese children were in the "gift" experiment.

Participants in the United States were recruited from a database of families in Boulder, Colorado, and surrounding areas who expressed interest in participating in developmental research. Japanese participants were recruited from a database of families in Kyoto, Osaka, and surrounding areas from a research consulting company.

For the Japanese sample, researchers recruited only participants who had eaten a marshmallow before to ensure that all children were familiar with marshmallows.

The experimenter first placed a marshmallow on a plate or a gift box in front of the child, 4 in. from the table's edge, and told the child if they could wait for the experimenter to get more marshmallows/gifts from another room, they could have two instead. If the child could wait the full 15 minutes without interacting with the marshmallow or the gift in any way they were rewarded with a second marshmallow/gift.

Japanese and U.S. children showed distinct profiles of delaying gratification. As predicted, culture and reward interacted in children's likelihood of delaying: Japanese children waited longer for delayed rewards in the food condition (median wait time was 15 minutes) than in the gift condition, where the wait time was almost five minutes.

In contrast, U.S. children showed the reversed pattern. They waited longer for delayed rewards in the gift condition than in the food condition.

"Our findings support a novel perspective that delaying gratification is promoted by the strength of habits of waiting for rewards accumulated in an everyday context, not simply reflecting higher level processes that override temptations," researchers said.

This perspective raises implications for measurement and interpretation. Delay-of-gratification tasks may measure different psychological processes depending on the rewards and individuals involved. For example, for Japanese children, performance on the classic marshmallow test may mainly reflect the strength of habits of waiting to eat and sensitivity to social conventions. In contrast, their waiting to open a gift might be more influenced by self-control and trustworthiness.

"Our findings also have implications for shaping resistance to temptations," the report continued. "Groups in each culture have unique social conventions that function to increase cohesion and cooperation. Such conventions require inhibiting behaviors toward personal needs or goals and implementing socially motivated behavior with affiliative functions. In addition, culture-specific parenting values and styles correlate with and may promote children's delaying of gratification."

In addition to Munakata and Yonehiro, co-authors include Kaichi Yanaoka, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo; Laura E. Michaelson, American Institutes for Research, Washington, D.C.; Ryan Mori Guild and Grace Dostart, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder; and Satoru Saito, Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University.
Surveillance programs for people at high risk of developing pancreatic cancers can help detect precancerous conditions and cancers early, when they are most treatable, according to a new multicenter study directed by experts at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

A total of 1,461 individuals at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer were enrolled in the Cancer of Pancreas Screening-5 (CAPS5) study at Johns Hopkins Medicine and seven other medical centers, and underwent annual pancreatic imaging tests. Of these participants, 10 were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, including one participant who was diagnosed four years after dropping out of recommended surveillance. Seven of the remaining nine patients (77.8%) were diagnosed with stage I disease, and the other two had progressed to higher stage cancer (one had stage IIB, and one had stage III disease). Seven of these patients were alive after a median follow-up of 2.6 years.

These findings were published online in the June 2022 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"A clear majority of patients in the CAPS program who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were detected at the first stage of the disease if they maintained their surveillance," says senior study author Michael Goggins, M.B.B.Ch., M.D., Sol Goldman Professor of Pancreatic Cancer Research and director of the Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Laboratory.

In general, Goggins says, most patients presenting with symptoms already have later-stage pancreatic cancer; very few have their disease detected at stage I. Combining the CAPS5 data with statistics from previous Johns Hopkins Medicine CAPS studies that began in 1998, led by Marcia Canto, M.D., director of clinical research for the gastroenterology division, investigators found that in the entire CAPS cohort of 1,731 patients, 19 of the 26 cases of pancreatic cancer were diagnosed in patients who maintained their pancreas surveillance. Of those, 57.9% had stage I cancers, 15.8% had stage II cancers, 21.1% had stage III cancers and 5.2% had stage IV disease. By contrast, six of the seven pancreatic cancers detected in patients who had stopped their annual surveillance (85.7%) were stage IV. The five-year survival to date of patients with a surveillance-detected pancreatic cancer is 73.3%, and median overall survival is 9.8 years, compared with 1.5 years for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer outside surveillance.

"Many of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer under surveillance can be potentially cured. By contrast, people who dropped off their surveillance had poor survival rates. Our results support the CAPS surveillance recommendation that those who meet the criteria should undergo regular screenings," says Goggins.

In the CAPS5 study, investigators enrolled individuals between 20142021 who had a genetic variant that made them susceptible to pancreatic cancer or who had more than one first-degree relative with pancreatic cancer. Nearly half (48.5%) had a genetic variant predisposing them to cancer, including 18.4% with a mutation in the BRCA2 gene and 6.4% with a variant in the ATM gene. About a third of the group had a personal history of cancer, with breast cancer being the most commonly reported (15.8% affected). Patients received annual screenings with magnetic resonance imaging or endoscopic ultrasound.

Eight other participants had pancreatic surgeries for concerning lesions detected during surveillance. Of these, three were found to have high-grade dysplasia precancerous conditions, and five were found to have low-grade dysplasia. Also, during the study period, 73 patients were diagnosed with other cancers, including 17 cases of breast cancer, 11 cases of prostate cancer and seven cases of melanoma.

Pancreatic surveillance is best done at expert centers by multidisciplinary teams, Goggins says, because some abnormalities that show up in pancreatic imaging are of uncertain significance. Researchers are working on blood tests that could be combined with imaging for early detection of cancers, he says.

Study co-authors were Mohamad Dbouk, Alison P. Klein, Ihab Kamel, Ralph H. Hruban, Jin He, Eun Ji Shin, Anne Marie Lennon, and Marcia Canto of Johns Hopkins. Other institutions participating in the study were the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Yale Center for Pancreatic Disease, New Haven, Connecticut; Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

The work was supported by the National Cancer Institute (grants CA210170, CA176828, CA62924, and P30CA013696); the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network; the V Foundation; Susan Wojcicki and Dennis Troper; the Lustgarten Foundation; the Smith Family Research Fund; the Bowen-Chapman Fund; and a Stand Up To Cancer-Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Interception Translational Research Grant.

Goggins receives royalties related to licensing as a co-discoverer of PALB2 as a pancreatic cancer susceptibility gene to Myriad Genetics. Klein is a consultant for OptumInsight and Merck, and receives research funding from OptumLabs. Kamel receives research funding from Siemens Healthineers. Hruban receives research funding from Applied Materials Inc. and has the potential to receive royalty payments from Thrive Earlier Detection Corp for the TERT in bladder cancers and GNAS inventions in an arrangement reviewed and approved by The Johns Hopkins University. Shin is a consultant for Boston Scientific. Lennon holds a patent for CancerSEEK. Canto is a consultant for Castle Biosciences and Bluestar Genomics; she receives research funding from Pentax Medical Corp. and Endogastric Solutions; and receives royalties from UpToDate, online. These arrangements are being managed by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.
Areije Al Shakar, one of Bahrains financial leaders and director at Al Waha Fund of Funds, has become the first female GCC national to be named a Kauffman Fellow.

Kauffman Fellows is one of the worlds premier innovation, leadership, and venture capital focused programmes. It fosters innovative leaders and investors through a two-year venture capital fellowship.

Al Shakar graduated at a ceremony in San Francisco in June, joining a lifelong network of 800 Fellows from 65 countries around the globe. Al Waha Fund of Funds is one of 670 firms represented.

$290 billion AUM

As a network, Kauffman Fellows represents over $290 billion in assets under management, has collectively raised over $790 billion in capital, and has been responsible for over $8.5 trillion in exits to LPs.

It is a privilege to become part of the prestigious Kauffman network and I look forward to collaborating with global peers, drawing on their experiences and expertise, to continue developing the Gulfs VC community, said Al Shakar.

Al Waha was founded to help startups in the region access capital. Over the last four years, we have worked hard to build Bahrains and the regions VC ecosystem. The Gulf is beginning to see greater interest from international funds and joining the Kauffman Fellows Network helps to put the GCCs VC community on the map. We hope this will contribute to attracting more firms to the region and boost startups in sectors such as fintech and digital health.

Leading example

Managed by Bahrain Development Bank (BDB), Al Waha aims to be a leading example of how government programmes can help to build a strong VC ecosystem and spur VC capabilities in the region.

Dalal Alqais, CEO at BDB, said: We are very proud of Areijes momentous achievement. It marks an important milestone in her personal growth journey as a luminary of the financial sector. But it is also a significant step for Bahrains and the GCCs VC ecosystem.

International funds are increasingly interested in the regions vibrant startups, and it is crucial we continue to empower and nurture the regions talents. As the original epicentre of the Middle Easts financial sector, it is fitting that Bahrain has produced the first female GCC national Kauffman Fellow.

Innovative investors

Jeff Harbach, President and CEO at Kauffman Fellows, commented: We are delighted to welcome Areije and Al Waha Fund into our diverse global network of innovative investors. Kauffman Fellows is committed to supporting the most exciting startup ecosystems around the globe. The GCC is emerging as one of the most promising launchpads for entrepreneurs, and it is no coincidence that the region is also producing incredibly innovative investors. We look forward to bringing our fellowship programme to more of the Middle Easts top talents.

To become a Fellow, investors must attend a structured curriculum, create a two-year tailored individual development plan, work with personal facilitated mentoring, engage in peer learning, participate in networking events, and submit a thought leadership project. The curriculum focuses on developing each Fellows skills and responsibility as an emerging leader in the industry.

Al Waha provides market access for international funds looking to invest in the Middle East, as well as for portfolio companies looking to expand, and has developed into a strategic as well as a financial partner to funds. It is a key part of the drive to pool capital from East and West to better bridge markets. This is essential for Middle East businesses to scale, and critical to turning the Gulf from a consumer of innovation to a driver of innovation.-TradeArabia News Service
(Newser)  A new extortion scam is hitting popular restaurants from coast to coast. According to the New York Times, cyber criminals start by leaving a few one-star Google ratings, followed by an email threatening to continue the bombardment unless the victim forks over a $75 Google Play card. In their message, the extortionists attempt to pull heartstrings, writing, We sincerely apologize for our actions, and would not want to harm your business, but we have no other choice. They also explain that theyre from India, where the cards value is equivalent to three weeks income for a family.

The fake reviews come from various fake customers and contain no content, but its enough to drag down a business's average rating. A Google Maps spokesperson told the Times they are investigating the issue. "Our policies clearly state reviews must be based on real experiences, and when we find policy violations, we take swift action ranging from content removal to account suspension and even litigation," she said. Many restaurant owners quickly complained to Google and the ratings were removed, but not everyone has been so lucky. One calls it a "nightmare," another feels "defenseless," and another says the criminals are "weaponizing the ratings" because they know how important they are for businesses.

"If you go from a 4.8 to a 4.0 rating, people dont read why," says Kelly Barbieri, co-owner of Luchos in San Fran, per CBS News. "They just assume somethings wrong with the restaurant, and they may not come visit you. It can really just destroy your restaurant." As SF Gate points out, "unlike a review on Yelp, any person can leave a review to a business on Google without providing a lick of context." According to the Houston Chronicle, one area restaurant took advantage of that fact by mustering its loyal fans, who soon countered the extortion attempt with nearly 100 new five-star ratings. (Read more Google stories.)
"Mission Karmyogi to improve police public interface

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) To improve its police public interface, Delhi Police intends to train its personnel in soft skills, communications skills, sensitivity and prompt responsiveness to citizens under ambitious project Mission Karmayogi, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Union Home Secretary, launched Mission Karmyogi Capacity Building Programme for Delhi Police personnel at Adarsh Auditorium, Police Headquarters. The programme aims to make a pool of Master Trainers in soft skills to propagate them among all personnel of Delhi Police.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla emphasized that motivation to do good works not for the sake of anyones notice, but for self satisfaction defines the character of a true human. Good works never go unnoticed, in fact they go on to build the image of an organization.
(Newser)  A Capitol rioter testified at the House select committee hearing Tuesdayand later personally apologized to four law enforcement officers who tried to defend the building on Jan. 6 last year. After the hearing, Stephen Ayres apologized to Capitol Police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn, DC Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges, and former Metropolitan officer Michael Fanone, but the reaction was mixed, the AP reports. Hodges, who shook hands with Ayres, said he accepted the apology because he believes people can change, while Fanone told an AP reporter: "That apology doesn't do s--- for me. I hope it does s--- for him."

"He still has to answer for what he did legally. And to his God. So its up to him," said Gonell, whose doctors recently told him that he would no longer be able to work as a police officer because of injuries he sustained in the riot. Ayres, who entered the Capitol with other rioters, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor last month and is due to be sentenced in September. The Ohio resident testified Tuesday he lost his job and had to sell his home after the riot and it makes him angry that Trump is continuing to make false claims about election fraud, the Guardian reports.

Ayres told the hearing that he closely followed Trump's election claims in late 2020 and it would "definitely" have affected his decision to travel to Washington if he had known Trump had no evidence of election fraud. He said he hadn't planned on storming the Capitol before Trump's speech "got everybody riled up." In what the Washington Post describes as proof "that Trump's indifference for hours mattered," Ayres said he left the Capitol as soon as Trump tweeted that rioters should depart. "As soon as that came out, everyone started talking about it," he said. "It seemed it started to disperse some of the crowd." (Read more Jan. 6 hearings stories.)
(Newser)  Update: This summary has been updated with Thursday's indictment. A grand jury in South Carolina has indicted attorney Alex Murdaugh in the high-profile murders of his wife and son last year, reports the AP. The indictments are for two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon, per CNN. Murdaugh already had been jailed on a slew of charges, but these are the first in connection to the deaths. Our story from July 12 follows:

Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's extensive legal woes may have deepened to the point where the death penalty is a possibility. Sources tell the State that the 54-year-old is likely to be indicted this week for murder in the June 2021 murders of his wife and son, who were found shot to death near dog kennels on the family's rural property. Alex Murdaugh has long denied involvement in the deaths of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul Murdaugh. Jim Griffin, a lawyer for Murdaugh, said family members had been informed that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division plans to seek an indictment from a grand jury, the AP reports.

Murdaugh is also accused of numerous financial crimesand of staging his own shooting months after his wife and son were found dead, allegedly as part of a plot to have surviving son Buster Murdaugh collect a $10 million life insurance payout. Investigators say Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot with different weaponsPaul with a shotgun, and Maggie with an assault rifle. Murdaugh called 911 from the property and told police he had found the bodies, NBC reports. "My wife and child have been shot badly," he said "Please hurry."

The murder of "two or more persons ... pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct" qualifies a crime for the death penalty in South Carolina, though it also depends on the motive and authorities haven't disclosed a possible motive for the killings, the State reports. Murdaugh, who is being held on $7 million bond in connection with financial charges, is from a long-prominent family of South Carolina attorneys, but he was disbarred by the state's Supreme Court on Tuesday, the AP reports. His attorneys did not contest arguments at a disbarment hearing last month. (An "oddity" was found in Maggie Murdaugh's will.)

(Read more Alex Murdaugh stories.)
(Newser)  Twitter sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. Musk and Twitter have been bracing for a legal fight since the billionaire said Friday he was backing off of his April agreement to buy the company. Twitters lawsuit opens with a sharply-worded accusation: "Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests." Twitter filed its lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which frequently handles business disputes among the many corporations, including Twitter, that are incorporated there, the AP reports.

"Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that heunlike every other party subject to Delaware contract lawis free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away," the suit says. As part of the April deal, Musk and Twitter had agreed to pay each other a $1 billion breakup fee if either was responsible for the deal falling through. The company could have pushed Musk to pay the hefty fee but is going farther than that, trying to force him to complete the full $44 billion purchase approved by the companys board.

"Oh the irony lol," Musk tweeted after Twitter filed the lawsuit, without explanation. The arguments and evidence laid out by Twitter are "very strong and compelling" and likely to get a receptive ear in the Delaware court, which doesnt look kindly on sophisticated buyers backing off of deals, says Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College. "They make a very strong argument that this is just buyers remorse," Quinn said. "You have to eat your mistakes in the Delaware Chancery Court. Thats going to work very favorably for Twitter."

Musk has been acting against this deal since the market started turning, and has breached the merger agreement repeatedly in the process," the suit charges. "He has purported to put the deal on hold pending satisfaction of imaginary conditions, breached his financing efforts obligations in the process, violated his obligations to treat requests for consent reasonably and to provide information about financing status, violated his non-disparagement obligation, misused confidential information, and otherwise failed to employ required efforts to consummate the acquisition. Quinn says the biggest surprise is how much evidence Twitter has to reject his arguments for backing out. "They are marshaling many of Musks own tweets to hoist him on his own petard," he says.

(Read more Twitter stories.)
(Newser)  Another super contagious omicron variant has been detected in the US. Dubbed "Centaurus," the BA.2.75 variant was first detected in India in early May and is now spreading rapidly there. "It's still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions" but "it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase," Matthew Binnicker, the Mayo Clinic's director of clinical virology, tells the AP. In India, BA.2.75 is quickly overtaking BA.4 and BA.5, which are said to be as transmissible as measles and together make up more than 70% of COVID cases in the US, per WTOP.

Like BA.4 and BA.5, the variantwhich has also been detected in nine other countries, including Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australiais thought to have evolved from BA.2. But it has a large number of mutations differentiating it from earlier omicron variants, including in the spike protein. These mutationsForbes has the detailscould make it more efficient at binding to cells and evading antibodies from past infection or a vaccine, though more research is needed, per the AP. "It is definitely a potential candidate for what comes after BA.5," Dr. Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, tells the Guardian.

It's too early to determine whether the variant can cause more severe disease than other omicron variants. But the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics has found infected people either show mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, per the Independent. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control designated BA.2.75 a "variant under monitoring" on Thursday. The World Health Organization is also monitoring the variant. In the meantime, scientists are urging people to get vaccinated and boosted. With increases in vaccination, "the rates of people ending up in the hospital and dying have significantly decreased," says Binnicker. (Read more coronavirus stories.)
(Newser)  France will cut the use of nitrates and nitrites in its food after the country's national food safety body confirmed there's a link between them and colon cancer. What exactly does that mean? Well, charcuterie could be affected, because nitrates are added to processed or cured meats, the Guardian reports. The World Health Organization released similar findings in 2015, and now France's national health agency says it has studied the data and come to a similar conclusion. It also noted there are suspected links between nitrates and other cancers. But the agency's move stops short of what processed meat producers in the country had been concerned about: a full ban, Reuters reports.

A French parliament bill in February attempted to reduce the amount of nitrates used in such meats, and called on the government to take action. France is one of the largest producers of charcuterie, or cold cuts, across the globe. The health agency now "recommends reducing consumption of the range of nitrates and nitrites by deliberately limiting exposure through food consumption." The recommended amount is an average of 5.3 ounces consumed per week, about half of the current amount French adults consume on average. The agency says limiting consumption will also decrease the risk of botulism, listeria, and salmonella. (Read more nitrates stories.)
(Newser)  Sixteen Starbucks locations across the US will be permanently shuttered by the end of this month, thanks to safety issues. "After careful consideration, we are closing some stores in locations that have experienced a high volume of challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue to operate," a spokesperson tells CNN. Six of the affected stores are located in Seattle, six in Los Angeles, two in Portland, Oregon, and one each in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, the Wall Street Journal reports. The announcement comes after two senior VPs at the coffee chain addressed safety concerns in a Monday letter to the company's workers reassuring them that they read every single incident report employees file, and that "it's a lot."

The letter noted that Starbucks employees are "seeing firsthand the challenges facing our communitiespersonal safety, racism, lack of access to healthcare, a growing mental health crisis, rising drug use, and more." They added, "We know these challenges can, at times, play out within our stores too." Active shooter trainings and conflict de-escalation trainings are being made available to workers, the letter says. Restrooms may soon be allowed to be closed to the public, or seating limited to customers only, at the store manager's discretion. If a store cannot be made safe, the company says, it will be closed and employees will be moved to nearby stores. Specifically, the 16 store closures happening this month are related to reports of drug use by customers and other members of the public. (Read more Starbucks stories.)
(Newser)  Twice, Roman Polanski's legal team has tried to resolve his sexual abuse case in the US, to no avail. They're hoping the third time will be the charm, as the current Los Angeles County district attorney has agreed to unseal an important transcript that his predecessors have kept secret. Citing the wishes of Polanski's victim (13 years old when he abused her 45 years ago); a desire for transparency; and "unique and extraordinary circumstances," DA George Gascon asked a state appeals court on Tuesday to unseal the testimony of retired prosecutor Roger Gunson, reports the Los Angeles Times, which notes it's not clear why the testimony was ever sealed in the first place. "For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know," Gascon says in a statement.

Polanski, who pleaded guilty in 1977 to sexually assaulting the teen after plying her with champagne and drugs, fled to France shortly after and has been living there since. Gunson, who'd led the prosecution against the film director, had been interviewed in 2009 about the case, and Polanski's attorneys say that his words will help their clientspecifically, by showing that the judge presiding over the case had intended for Polanski to be remanded in custody only for a 90-day state diagnostic evaluation, not for a longer-haul prison sentence. Polanski's legal team tried in both 2010 and 2017 to have Gunson's testimony unsealed and to resolve the case, but those requests were denied, per Variety.

Polanski's lawyers say this new move by Gascon could lift the international fugitive warrant against Polanski, now 88, but a spokesman from the DA's office says he could still face two years in state prison for being a fugitive from justice. Gascon's office seems willing to also take a fresh look at Polanski's case, which the director has claimed was plagued by misconduct on the part of both the prosecution team and the judge. "Many people are suspicious that something untoward occurred," Tiffiny Blacknell, a special adviser to Gascon, tells Variety. "We share that curiosity and that concern." One person who has long supported unsealing Gunson's testimony: Samantha Geimer, Polanski's victim. "The lack of resolution of this case has haunted my family for decades," Geimer, now 59, wrote in a letter to Gascon's office earlier this year, per the Times. (Read more Roman Polanski stories.)
(Newser)  Planning a coup d'etat "takes a lot of work," according to John Bolton. He should know "as somebody who has helped plan coups d'etat" outside of the US, the former national security adviser to President Trump told CNN on Tuesday. While it's no secret that the US government has had a hand in regime changes, including the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, "it is highly unusual for US officials to openly acknowledge their role in stoking unrest in foreign countries," per Reuters. Hence the reason the interview went viral, per the Washington Post. Bolton said he'd helped plan coups "not here, but, you know, other places" while arguing that Trump's actions around Jan. 6, 2021, didn't measure up.

He just wasn't capable of a "carefully planned coup d'etat," Bolton said. "That's not the way Donald Trump does things. It's rambling from one half, vast idea to another, one plan that falls through, and another comes up." Though he said Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results were inexcusable, he described the former president as a "disturbance in the force" rather than a leader of an "attack on our democracy." He sought only to delay the election certification, not overthrow the Constitution, Bolton said. "It's Donald Trump looking out for Donald Trump. It's a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence." But "one doesn't have to be brilliant to plan a coup," responded CNN's Jake Tapper.

"I disagree with that," replied Bolton, before revealing his own role in planning such events. Asked to elaborate, Bolton referred to the failed 2019 Venezuelan coup attempt against President Nicolas Maduro. At the time, Bolton publicly supported National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, whom the US government still recognizes as interim president, while arguing that Maduro's re-election was illegitimate, per Reuters. "Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed," Bolton said. "The notion that Donald Trump was half as competent as the Venezualan opposition is laughable." (Read more John Bolton stories.)
(Newser)  If you're in New York City or Los Angeles on Wednesday and want to work out your angst against capitalism, there's a frozen treat waiting for you, modeled after the world's richest men. Just stop by what's being deemed a "unique art pop-up" by CBS New York: the roaming "Eat the Rich" ice cream truck, which is hawking popsicles in the shape of the heads of Elon Musk (ice cream name: "Munch Musk"), Jeff Bezos ("Bite Bezos), Bill Gates ("Gobble Gates"), Mark Zuckerberg ("Suck Zuck"), and Jack Ma ("Snack on Jack"). The treats are being sold by the MSCHF artists collectivethe same group that teamed up with Lil Nas X to push his Satan-themed Nikes, which contained a drop of real bloodand are in such demand that they're selling out in the Big Apple, per Bloomberg.

Quartz notes that the phrase "eat the rich" originates from 18th-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who famously said, "When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich." The price of the MSCHF popsicles, however, is raising eyebrows: At $10 each, or around two times the price of a regular ice pop, some say that MSCHF is propping up the capitalistic system it's ostensibly decrying. And at one of the truck's stops in New York City, a man who ran a regular ice-cream truck complained to the MSCHF team that their truck was taking business away from him (the MSCHF truck eventually left).

Still, the price hasn't deterred everyone from biting into their least-favorite billionaires. "Pay your workers more," one NYC woman laughed to CBS as she enthusiastically munched on a frozen Bezos pop. Unfortunately for those looking to get in on this "eat the rich" action, Wednesday is the last day the trucks will be operating, and an MSCHF exec says "there are no plans to expand" the project, reports CBS News. Meanwhile, for anyone who's curious, the Elon Musk popsicle has been the most popular item on the New York truck. (Read more billionaires stories.)
(Newser)  There's a big "thank you" on the Treasure Coast Naturists website at the moment, expressing gratitude for all the naked people who came out to help break a Florida state record over the weekend. WTSP reports that 769 people in the buff on Sunday converged on Blind Creek Beach on Hutchinson Island, where they jumped into the water and nailed a record for the most folks ever skinny-dipping at the same time on the state's Treasure Coast. Last year's tally was a relatively modest 431 nude swimmers.

The 36-acre Blind Creek, one of just three nude beaches in the Sunshine State, earned that honor in 2020, after a vote from St. Lucie County commissioners. TCN has a complete set of "beach etiquette" rules posted for those who choose to visit the shoreline there. The overarching guideline: "Your nude beach conduct should be the same as your textile world conduct." Fox News points out that this new skinny-dipping record is still a long ways from the world record, which was set in June 2018. During that au naturel event, 2,505 women stripped down to take the plunge in Wicklow, Ireland, during a breast cancer fundraiser, per Guinness World Records. (Read more skinny dipping stories.)
Prosecutors oppose releasing Trump search evidence 16 Aug 2022 | 9:48 AM Washington, Aug 16 (UNI) The US Department of Justice says releasing details about the warrant used to raid former President Donald Trump's Florida home last week could cause "irreparable damage" to its investigation. see more..

US defense chief contracts COVID-19 for 2nd time 16 Aug 2022 | 8:28 AM WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (UNI) US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. see more..

No need for immediate mass vaccination against monkeypox: WHO 15 Aug 2022 | 9:22 PM Washington, Aug 15 (UNI) The World Health Organization does not see an immediate need for mass vaccination against monkeypox, WHO technical lead on the issue Rosamund Lewis said on Monday. see more..

Truce in Yemen continues to broadly hold in military terms 15 Aug 2022 | 8:45 PM United Nations, Aug 15 (UNI) The truce in Yemen continues to "broadly hold in military terms," United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said on Monday. see more..
(Newser)  Update: The six youngest Turpin siblings have sued Riverside County and foster care agency ChildNet, alleging that in the years after their 2018 rescue from their parents' Perris, Calif., home, they were subjected to "severe abuse and neglect" while in foster care. The suit claims the foster family they were placed with hit them (including with a belt) and forced them to overeat and then consume "their own vomit"; it also alleges that the foster father fondled them, reports ABC News. The siblings claim they told officials what was happening but weren't removed from the home, and that the county and ChildNet didn't report the alleged abuse to authorities. Two of the six siblings have aged out of foster care, and the remaining four are together in a new home. Our original story from July 13 follows:

After enduring years of torture and abuse, the 13 Turpin siblings of California's Riverside County were victimized again through the child welfare system, according to a report released Friday and presented at a public hearing Tuesday, where attendees voiced their fury. They accused officials of a "total lack of leadership" and one called on county supervisor Karen Spiegel to resign, per ABC News. Another wondered, "How many more children will be hurt or killed?" District Attorney Mike Hestrin told ABC last year that the victims of perhaps the worst case of child abuse in California history, rescued in 2018, were "living in squalor" in "crime-ridden neighborhoods" and were unable to access money set aside for their education. The county then hired a law firm to investigate.

The resulting 634-page report from a team led by former US District Judge Stephen G. Larson, who spent eight months looking into their experience, describes how the siblings suffered in an underfunded and short-staffed social services systemthe Children's Services Division has a 40% vacancy rate, per ABCwith a lack of suitable foster families. Indeed, two of the Turpin siblings found themselves in the hands of an alleged abuser. Prosecutors have said the two girls were fondled and kissed by their foster father, Marcelino Olguin, who's alleged to have physically assaulted other children. He, his wife, and their adult daughter are all facing charges. A foster parent told another girl that she understood why her parents chained her up, ABC reported, per People.

The outlet also described how the siblings, who spent most of their lives indoors, weren't taught basic lessons, like how to safely cross a street. "All too often the social services system failed them," the report reads, per the AP, noting "some of the older siblings experienced periods of housing instability and food insecurity." And "when they complained about their circumstances, they often felt frustrated, unheard, and stifled by the system." The report also notes the county's public guardian office only recently sought to obtain more than $1 million donated for the children. Riverside County says it's "committed to finding innovative solutions and implementing recommendations." Larson said Tuesday that "the situation was improving" before the investigation wrapped up. (Read more child abuse stories.)
(Newser)  "Don't ask me how or why. Just know that the big one has hit." So says the narrator of a recent PSA about nuclear preparedness from NYC Emergency Management. Per CBS News, the 90-second video opens on an empty street with damaged, computer-generated skyscrapers in the background. The narrator goes on to provide three basic steps New Yorkers should take: first, get inside; next, get into the basement or the middle of the building and remove outer clothing; then, hang out and monitor government and media updates. Oh yeah, wash off any radioactive dust or ash while you're at it. The PSA doesn't advise citizens to "duck and cover" like Bert the Turtle.

Despite the "don't ask me why" request, reporters and social media users quickly did exactly that. According to the Washington Post, country star John Rich summed it up in a tweet asking, "What the hell is going on?" Per NBC New York, the city's deputy commissioner for emergency management, Christina Farrell, told a reporter, "There's no overarching reason why this is the time we sent this out. It's just one tool in the toolbox to be prepared in the 21st century." She added there's no imminent nuclear threat to the city. Mayor Eric Adams reiterated that notion, but he did mention that the Russia-Ukraine war has raised risks. "I'm a big believer in better safe than sorry ... We're going to always be proactive," Adams told reporters.

Farrell acknowledged that city residents face more immediate threats, including from fires and storms (not to mention the slow-burning pandemic), but she also pointed out that the "big one" isn't the only potential nuclear threat. "There are different materials that travel throughout the city and throughout the country and world," she said, per Gothamist. "Things can happen. It doesn't have to be, you know, a large bomb that would take out the center of the city or something." (Read more PSA stories.)
(Newser)  Superbugs got an unfortunate boost during the pandemic. Per Reuters, the bad news comes in a recent CDC report, which says antimicrobial-resistant bacteria killed 15% more people in 2020 compared to 2019. It's a reversal of what was a good trend, as deaths from superbugs had fallen since 2012. Then, the pandemic messed everything up. In all, nearly 30,000 people died from superbugs in 2020, and 40% of them were infected in hospitals. Superbugs have always lurked in hospitals, but COVID's enormous strain on the health care system opened new pathways for them to spread and evolve. One way that happens is through the overuse of antibiotics, which 80% of hospitalized COVID patients received between March and October in 2020.

The Hill notes that the problems began when the first COVID patients arrived at hospitals and health care workers had little idea what they were dealing with. Although useless against viruses, antibiotics are prescribed for pneumonia, which is what doctors thought was present in many early COVID patients. As the pandemic gained steam, doctors threw everything they had at the disease. Antibiotics were also prescribed due to widespread use of ventilators and catheters, invasive devices that increase the risk of infection, "especially when combined with personal protective equipment and lab supply challenges, reduced staff, and longer lengths of stay," the CDC stated.

The CDC report focuses on seven superbugs most common in hospitals. According to the Washington Post, these include an extraordinarily drug-resistant "nightmare bacteria" and the deadly fungus Candida auris, which saw a 60% increase in hospital infections. Doctors have warned for years that the world needs new antibiotics to fight superbugs, but "there is little incentive among drugmakers as antibiotics are not especially profitable and overuse must be discouraged, keeping sales down," Reuters reports. Per the Telegraph, superbugs killed 1.27 million people worldwide in 2019, according to World Health Organization statistics, but the agency says existing vaccines can help. For example, common typhoid and pneumonia vaccines can prevent infections, thus lowering the need for antibiotics in the first place. (Read more superbug stories.)
/

Biden's Last Stop in the Middle East Is His Big One

That would be Saudi Arabia
(Newser)  An October military coup in Sudan may have shifted the movement on women's rights there, and not in a good way. A 20-year-old woman arrested in White Nile state last month and charged with adultery has now heard her fate: death by stoning, the first known sentence like it in Sudan in almost 10 years, reports the Guardian. Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab says she's going to appeal, and most stoning death sentences, mainly against women, are overturned by the nation's high court. But human rights activists are concerned both for Tiyrab and for women in the country overall.

According to Islamic law, "Hudud" crimes like theft, apostasy, drinking alcohol, and adultery are subject to penalties such as flogging, hand and foot amputation, and death, per the Sudan Tribune. Flogging was outlawed by Sudan's transitional government in 2020, but it's still doled out as a punishment by the courts. Stoning, meanwhile, wasn't included in any of the recent reforms to hard-line criminal legislation or Shariah policies, but last August, the nation ratified the United Nation's convention against torture. The last time a woman in Sudan was given a stoning death sentence for adultery was in 2013, in the state of South Kordofan.

Killing someone by stoning for such a crime "is a grave violation of international law, including the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment," according to the Uganda-based African Center for Justice and Peace Studies, which claims that Tiyrab wasn't afforded a fair trial, including not being allowed to have a lawyer, per the Guardian. The center alleges that the stoning sentence violates both Sudanese and international laws and says it wants Tiyrab released ASAP, with no strings attached. (Read more Sudan stories.)
(Newser)  More details are emerging about murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong courtesy of search warrants obtained by Fox News. Armstrong is accused of shooting cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson to death on May 11; Wilson had at one point dated Armstrong's boyfriend, Colin Strickland, and was with him just prior to her murder. On the day of her death, Wilson went swimming and out to dinner with Strickland. KXAN cites court documents that state Strickland dropped Wilson off at the home she was staying at around 8:35pm, then texted Armstrong this one minute later: "Hey ! Are you out? I went to drop some flowers for Alison at her sons house up north and my phone died. Heading home unless you have another food suggestion."

Police say a car resembling Armstrong's stopped at the home Wilson was in just one minute later. The warrants note that Strickland initially denied knowing Wilson when police first questioned him. Information he gave police led them to an area Walmart where Armstrong allegedly bought a new phone and prepaid debit card. Per court documents, the debit card was used to pay for her ride to the airport. Armstrong is believed to have traveled from Texas to New York, where she allegedly met her sister at a campground.

Per the warrants, Strickland also told investigators that he'd given Armstrong $450,000when is unclearto invest in an account that only she had access to, and that he lateragain, when is unclearrequested she return it. She did not do so before leaving Austin, Texas, on May 14. As for weapons, Strickland said he'd purchased two guns months prior, one of which was for Armstrong. "Strickland further advised Armstrong has visited an unknown gun range with her sister to learn how to use a firearm," the warrants state. It's unclear when that visit might have occurred. (Read more Kaitlin Armstrong stories.)
(Newser)  Curators at an Israeli museum have discovered three previously unknown sketches by celebrated 20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani hiding beneath the surface of one of his paintings. The unfinished works by Modigliani, an Italian-born artist who worked in Paris before his death in 1920, came to light after the canvas of Nude with a Hat at the University of Haifas Hecht Museum was X-rayed as part of a sweeping forensic study of his work for an upcoming exhibit in Philadelphia, the AP reports. Inna Berkowits, an art historian at the Hecht Museum, said it was "quite an amazing discovery."

"Through the X-rays, we are really able to make this inanimate object speak," Berkowits says. Modiglianis 1908 Nude with a Hat is already an unusual painting. Both sides of the canvas have portraits that are painted in opposite directions. Visitors entering the Hecht Museum's galleries are met by an upside down nude portrait. A likeness of Maud Abrantes, a female friend of the artist, on the reverse side is right-side up. In 2010, the museums curator noticed the eyes of a third figure peeking from beneath Abrantes' collar. But only this year was the hidden image brought into focus.

"When we decided to do the X-ray, we were only looking to learn a little bit more about the hidden figure underneath Maud Abrantes," Berkowits says. In addition to a hidden woman wearing a hat, they found two more portraits on the opposite side that were completely invisible to the naked eye: one of a man, and another of a woman with her hair pulled up in a bun. Nude with a Hat dates from early in Modiglianis career, not long after he moved to Paris from Italy, when he was struggling to find buyers for his art. He died penniless at 35 but his work is now in high demand: One of his paintings, Reclining Nude, fetched over $170 million when it was sold at auction in 2015. (Another Modigliani, which was declared obscene in 1917, sold for $157 million in 2018.)
(Newser)  The World Economic Forum's new Gender Gap Report found that Japan compares well with other nations in women's access to education and health. In Japan's political and economic fields, however, women's participation is still low, driving the nation's ranking to 116th among the 146 countries assessed, the Japan Times reportsthe worst showing of Group of Seven industrialized nations. "The outcome shows that the situation in Japan lags behind other nations and we must take it humbly," said government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno. Japan has pretty much been at the bottom for years.

The gap is not just an issue in Japan. At this rate, it will be 132 years before global gender parity is reached. The pandemic set the effort back "an entire generation," the report says, and that ground has not been made up during the lukewarm recovery. Before the pandemic hit, the Swiss-based think tank had projected equality would be achieved within 100 years, per the Asahi Shimbun. The report, which has been produced since 2006, considers such factors as the pay gap, education, and the number of female government ministers.

For the 13th straight year, Iceland tops the ranking. It's followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden. The Top 10 also has Rwanda, Nicaragua, Namibia, Ireland, and Germany, which posted its highest ranking. Other G7 countries came in 10th to 27thwhere the US sitsexcept for Italy, which was listed at No. 63. The nations in the Top 5 have women serving as prime minister, except for Norway. Japan has never had a female prime minister, the report points out, and no more than 10% of seats in Parliament and ministerial jobs are held by women. Matsuno said the government is working toward economic independence for women as part of its effort to create "a new form of capitalism." (Read more gender gap stories.)
(Newser)  The Virginia judge who presided over the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case on Wednesday denied the actress' request to throw out the jury's $10 million verdict and order a new trial. Heard had filed the motions last week, and Depp's team quickly opposed them. Judge Penney Azcarate also rejected Heard's claim that one of the jurors wasn't properly vetted, USA Today reports. Heard's team said that a 52-year-old man served on the jury in place of a 77-year-old man who had been called, which her lawyers argued was grounds for an investigation and new trial. Azcarate said Heard would have had to have raised that issue when jurors were selected.

The judge saw no indications of problems on the jury, per Deadline. "The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Courts instructions, and orders," Azcarate wrote. "This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury." There's no possibility now of a retrial, but Heard has said she plans an appeal. That's complicated by the requirement that the actress put up a bond for $8.35 million, plus 6% interest, to cover the award before the appeal process can begin. Her lawyers said she doesn't have such an amount of money.

Heard's lawyers filed a 53-page brief listing a host of reasons the verdict was unfair and the amount excessive. The case began with a column Heard wrote for the Washington Post in which she referred to herself as a domestic abuse victim; the two were married for 15 months. The brief said that allegation was true and that the claims she made should have been protected by the First Amendment. The Fairfax County judge bought none of the arguments. "Defendant Amber Laura Heard's Post-Trial Motions I through VI are DENIED," the order says. One of Depp's lawyers said the actor was "most gratified " by the rulings. (Read more Amber Heard stories.)
Varanasi, July 13 (UNI) The hearing on an application seeking permission for daily worship at Shringar Gauri Sthal in Gyanvapi complex continued on the second day on Wednesday.

Both Muslim and Hindu side lawyers made their submissions before the court of District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha. District Government Counsel (DGC) Rana Sanjeev Singh said the hearing will continue on Thursday, as fixed by the court.

Abhay Nath Yadav, Counsel of the Muslim side, focused on Article 25 before the court and said the case cannot be heard in a lower court (the district court) and pressed for rejecting the application moved by the Hindu side.

In his submissions, Hari Shankar Jain, Counsel of the Hindu side, cited Hindu Sanskriti law, where visible and invisible deities are defined and the consecration process. He also cited Justice Ramaswamy case of 1997 in support of his submission.

Madan Mohan Yadav, one of the Counsels of Hindu side, said that Jain in his submission has stated that since the Shivling was already there in wazookhana, there was no question of consecration (Pran Pratistha). He said the temple was razed and a mosque was built in its place.

He said the Hindu side was only seeking permission for daily worship at these places. Jain also cited several Supreme Court and High Court judgements that by-pass the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act of 1991.

Madan Mohan said, "We are seeking permission only for worship at Shringar Gauri and Shivling in Wazookhana and other deities and not asking to demolish the mosque."

UNI XC AB RJ
Japan recorded more than 76,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, more than double from a week earlier and topping the 70,000 mark for the first time since March 3 amid signs the nation is undergoing a seventh wave of infections.

Record one-day infections were logged in 12 prefectures including the southwestern prefecture of Okinawa, which saw 3,436 infections and four more deaths.

In response to the surging cases, the government now plans to postpone the launch of a nationwide travel subsidy program for Japan residents that it had envisioned for the first half of July.

The new subsidy campaign is expected to be an expanded version of a similar program currently implemented at the prefectural level to encourage local travel among residents. The government will continue its financial support for the area-limited subsidies through the end of August.

Despite the postponement, government officials have ruled out restrictions on people's movements. At a news conference, health minister Shigeyuki Goto expressed concern about a further increase in infections during the upcoming summer vacation period, but said, "We don't think the current situation requires movement controls."
Japan is preparing to grant refugee status to a Kurdish man from Turkey after an appeals court ruled that he would be at risk of persecution if he returned home, a government source said Tuesday.

The man in his 20s would become the first Turkish Kurd to be granted the status in Japan, according to the secretariat of the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees.

The Turkish national entered Japan in 2014 and later applied for refugee status, but it was rejected in 2018. He subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking revocation of the decision, according to the Sapporo High Court ruling in May.

While the Sapporo District Court had dismissed the lawsuit, the high court recognized the man as a refugee on the basis that he had been tortured by the military and others for providing food to members of a Kurdish independence group in Turkey.

There were "objective circumstances that would lead to a fear of persecution," it ruled. The state did not appeal. ...continue reading
New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke on phone with Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte and exchanged views on India-EU relations, regional and global issues including convergence and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

The two leaders also discussed India-Netherlands bilateral ties, including Strategic Partnership on Water, cooperation in the key area of agriculture, potential for cooperation in high tech and emerging sectors, the PMO said.

With regular high-level visits and interactions, the India Netherlands ties have gained tremendous momentum in the recent years.

The two Prime Ministers held a Virtual Summit on April 9, 2021 and have been speaking regularly. Strategic Partnership on Water was launched with Netherlands during the Virtual Summit.

In the current year, India and the Netherlands are jointly commemorating 75 years of establishment of diplomatic ties.

This special milestone was celebrated with the State Visit of President of India to the Netherlands from 4-7 April 2022.

UNI ASU SHK1955
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DANBURY  A newly expanded plan to acquire the 1899 state courthouse as part of $5 million redevelopment of properties on South Main Street drew more questions than consensus from city leaders this week ahead of a state grant deadline in two weeks.

I think there are a lot of unanswered questions at this point and I would like to continue this committee meeting, said City Council member John Esposito III during a discussion with Danbury leaders and department heads on Monday.

Where that leaves the City Council and Mayor Dean Esposito about which of two routes to take in their quest to buy the historic Old Fairfield County Courthouse from the state  preferably with money from the same state  remains to be seen.

One option is for Danbury to write a check for the $1.5 million that Hartford is asking for the 120-year-old building  money that Dean Esposito says the city doesnt have.

Another option, which has expanded in scope since it was presented to the City Council last week, is for Danbury to partner with a nonprofit that would use $5 million in state economic development grant money to buy the courthouse, two adjoining properties on Park Place, and a two-story brick building across the street at 67 Main St. The result would be a renovated historic building for city offices with expanded parking, a modernized intersection, and a redeveloped South Main Street building with retail and offices on the street level, and workforce housing on the second floor.

Things have been moving very quickly  I apologize for that, said Jim Maloney, a nonprofit consultant and former CEO of the Danbury-based Connecticut Institute for Communities, speaking to leaders during Mondays discussion about the advantages applying for state money early in the award process. We were given a very short deadline. In effect, the state set a short deadline.

Maloney, a former congressman who represented Danbury, said his plan would not only help Danbury acquire a historic building but contribute to the redevelopment of the South Main Street corridor  all with state money and private investment. To give the city the best chance at the state grant, Maloney recommended applying for the first round of funding by the July 25 deadline.

If you let this thing go into multiple deadlines, multiple tranches of funding, you will find that every possible applicant comes out of the woodwork, Maloney said. You maximize your chances of funding if you apply for the first round of funding.

City leaders left the meeting agreeing to meet again, without saying whether they intended to meet before the July 25 deadline.

Questions that held up consensus on Maloneys plan included concern that the owner of a home, a small parking lot and the two-story building at 67 Main St. that would be acquired may not be a willing seller, and questions about why the city needed to partner with a nonprofit.

Under Maloneys proposal, a nonprofit that he advises called Connecticut Community Facility Development Corp. would own the properties and lease the courthouse to the city long term, requiring only that the city pay utilities.

I dont understand why the city cant handle this ourselves, John Esposito III said. Why do we need CCFD? I dont understand why we would try to acquire this property and then have another entity lease it back to us. I would rather see this property in city ownership.

Maloney responded that it would be awkward for Danbury to ask Hartford for money to buy a building from Hartford.

The state might look at that grant application and say, What are you talking about? Maloney said. By inserting the nonprofit basically as a buffer zone, then the nonprofit is buying it. I think the state would find it more typical.

When asked what would happen to the grant should the owner of the properties to be acquired refuse to sell, a city legal expert said the properties could be condemned.

The city would get an appraisal, contact property owner, negotiate the value, and then acquire the property through condemnation, said Laszlo Pinter, the citys deputy corporation counsel. That would be a forced purchase for the public interest.

Paul Rotello, the City Councils Democratic minority leader, said that option was out of my comfort zone.

At stake is a Sept. 1 deadline the state has given Danbury to make an offer before it puts the old courthouse on the market.

A key building that helped place Danburys Main Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, the old courthouse could be used for health department offices, probate court, and perhaps the Danbury museum, city leaders said.

Maloneys proposal to apply for a $5 million grant to buy the old courthouse and three buildings represents a expansion of plans from last week, when he proposed a $3 million grant application to buy the courthouse and two nearby lots on Park Place.

Of the citys options, the mayor prefers Maloneys, Pinter said.

The mayor has recommended the grant process, Pinter said as Mondays discussion came to a close. He wants to do that.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
OTTAWA, ON, July 13, 2022 /CNW/ - The Atlantic Ocean is one of the most productive marine environments in the world. It is home to an abundance of marine life and supports coastal livelihoods through industries like fishing, aquaculture and tourism. The Atlantic Ocean is treasured for its biodiversity and for the key role it plays in helping mitigate the impacts of climate change. It is important that, together with likeminded countries, we continue to take concrete, coordinated and measurable actions for an Atlantic Ocean that is healthy and sustainable now and for future generations.

Today, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Mike Kelloway, on behalf of the Honourable Joyce Murray, joined representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Morocco, South Africa, the European Union and the United States to sign the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Declaration, confirming Canada's commitment to advancing cooperative ocean science. Together with our domestic and international partners, Canada will continue to take action to advance innovative and transformative science that will support a healthy and sustainable Atlantic Ocean now and into the future.

Canada has made significant investments in international ocean science activities, as well as demonstrating strong leadership to generate and share the knowledge needed to inform sustainable ocean policies. The All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance aims to enhance marine research, innovation, and cooperation throughout the Atlantic basin, building upon ongoing international science efforts, including the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Quotes

"Canada has a longstanding tradition of working with the Atlantic Ocean community on a wide variety of marine issues, and we look forward to furthering our contributions to ocean science by enhancing our existing partnerships and creating new ones with our All-Atlantic partners."

The Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

"The Atlantic Ocean is vitally important to Canada. Today's declaration ensures that our nation, along with our international All-Atlantic partners, will continue to develop innovative ocean science solutions to support a sustainable, healthy ocean now and into the future. This is good news for rural, coastal communities from coast to coast to coast, and all Canadians."

Mike Kelloway, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Quick Facts

The All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance 2022 Forum Ministerial Event was held from July 11 to 14, 2022 , in Washington, D.C. This event follows the Scientific Event that took place in Brasilia, Brazil , between May 31 and June 2, 2022 . The Forum is co-hosted by Brazil and the United States of America , in collaboration with the European Commission and All-Atlantic partners.

The main objective of the Ministerial Event in Washington, D.C. is the signing of the first-ever All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance Declaration. The Declaration outlines a new vision for the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance, a research and innovation network that brings together Atlantic partners to collaborate on ocean science projects of mutual interest and benefit. Building on the successes of the Galway and Belem Statements, the Alliance offers a new strategic framework for effective ocean science cooperation to learn more about the Atlantic Ocean, to inform the sustainable management of human activities, and to ensure a healthy ocean for the communities that depend on it now and in the future.

Associated Links

Stay Connected

Follow the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Follow the Canadian Coast Guard on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada

For further information: Claire Teichman, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, 604-679-5462, [email protected]; Media Relations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 613-990-7537, [email protected]
SASKATOON, SK, July 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Canada's bison producers deliver healthy, naturally grown products that are in demand here and around the world. Today, to kick off the International Bison Convention 2022, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced an investment of up to $133,611 over two years to support economic growth for Canada's bison industry.

Helping bison producers seize market opportunities for their high-quality products contributes to a healthy, sustainable economy. With funding under the AgriMarketing Program, the Canadian Bison Association will be provided with the necessary resources to increase its efforts to expand and grow market access in Europe and to increase exports of Canadian bison to the United States. This funding supports the delivery of the International Bison Convention 2022 as well as other engagement and advocacy activities.

The bison industry is an increasingly important contributor to the Canadian economy, with live bison and bison meat exports reaching nearly $90 million in 2021. Demand is growing as more consumers look to bison as a source of lean, nutrient-dense, naturally grown meat. Bison are also gaining favour among eco-conscious consumers as the livestock help balance and maintain a healthy ecosystem where they graze and interact.

Increasing bison exports translates into economic activity all along the value chain, including for the many rural communities where producers operate. As our economic recovery continues, the Government of Canada is supporting the bison industry with the resources it needs to reclaim important markets and increase exports to spur economic growth.

Quotes

"The holding of the International Bison Convention 2022 in Saskatoon is an excellent opportunity to recognize Canada's rich bison history and reiterate our government's support for this industry, which contributes to the vitality of our rural communities. This investment will help raise global awareness of Canadian bison to increase exports and stimulate growth of our economy."

- The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

"This investment is very important in assisting the bison industry in rebuilding European markets as well as supporting strategies to ensure growth in exports to the United States. A significant portion of the increase in consumer awareness and exports globally can be attributed to the ongoing funding received through the AgriMarketing Program."

- Terry Kremeniuk, Executive Director, Canadian Bison Association

Quick Facts

There are nearly 150,000 bison on over 980 farms in Canada . Bison production in Canada is concentrated in the west, with 79 per cent of the herd in Saskatchewan and Alberta .

. Bison production in is concentrated in the west, with 79 per cent of the herd in and . The Canadian Bison Association is a national, non-profit association representing the interests of the bison industry and its 550 members in Canada .

. The funding announced today builds on a previous AgriMarketing investment for the Canadian Bison Association of up to $124,548 from 2018-2021 to help grow international markets and undertake an advocacy strategy to strengthen trade relationships.

from 2018-2021 to help grow international markets and undertake an advocacy strategy to strengthen trade relationships. The AgriMarketing Program, a federally funded program under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, aims to increase and diversify exports to international markets and seize domestic market opportunities through industry-led promotional activities that differentiate Canadian products and producers, and leverage Canada's reputation for high-quality and safe food.

reputation for high-quality and safe food. From July 12-15, 2022 , the Canadian Bison Association, in partnership with the Saskatchewan and the U.S. National Bison Associations, is hosting the sixth International Bison Convention to celebrate the rich history and promising future of the bison industry. The event is a gathering of stakeholders in the bison community from around the world including ranchers, First Nations, researchers, conservationists, marketers, chefs, consumers, and policy makers.

Additional Links

SOURCE Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

For further information: CONTACTS: Marianne Dandurand, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, [email protected], 343-541-9229; Media Relations: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 1-866-345-7972, [email protected]; Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, Web: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) signs accession protocols with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (L) and Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde (R) for Finland, Sweden joining NATO on July 5.

By Fang Xiaozhi

On July 5, Finland and Sweden formally signed the NATO accession protocol at the NATO headquarters. The protocol would be approved by NATO member states in accordance with their own procedures as regulated.

Since World War II, Finland and Sweden have adopted a neutral stance. Following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Western nations led by the US continued to overstate the Russia Threat, leading the two nations to forsake their neutrality stances and apply for NATO membership. From the applications submission in May to the signing in July, the quick progress of Finland and Sweden in joining the NATO cannot be separated from the active promotion of the US.

In the view of the US, Finland and Sweden both have an important geographic position as well as formidable military capabilities. Promoting the two nations to join NATO can strengthen NATOs military capabilities overall and expand its strategic space significantly to the north, which will make the dominant nation, the US, have more clout when it comes to Russia.

The US has openly praised and supported it numerous times since Finland and Sweden submitted their applications. It can be said that the positive attitude of the US presses the fast-forward button for the process of the two nations joining NATO.

The US has made every effort to remove barriers to Finland and Sweden's entrance into NATO in order to support their speedy membership. At first, Turkey was adamantly opposed to the joining of Finland and Sweden on the grounds that both nations supported the PKK. But at the invitation of the US, Stoltenberg convened four-party discussions and signed a memorandum with the leaders of Turkey, Finland, and Sweden on June 28. It was made plain that Finland and Sweden would no longer support the PKK, the Syrian Kurdish YPG force, the Gulen movement, and other terrorist organizations when

The US has also given ground on topics like removing Turkeys sanctions for the acquisition of Russian-made S-400 air defense missile system, allowing Turkey to resume its F-35 fighter aircraft program, and enhancing the F-16 fighter jets technological capabilities. They relented on the subject of Finland and Sweden joining NATO because the interest demands were essentially met.

Notably, Russia did not react as strongly as anticipated to the quick move by Finland and Sweden. According to foreign media, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly stated in an interview that Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO won't directly threaten Russia. Russia will not take countermeasures against the two nations as long as they do not permit NATO to deploy troops and military infrastructure on their territories.

Analysts said that Russia made this step because Finland and Sweden are in northern Europe and have a little less advantageous strategic location than those in Eastern Europe. The major objective of Russia in the current context of constrained overall national power is to block NATOs eastward expansion. Finland and Sweden, on the other hand, have generally favorable views of Russia. There isn't a complicated ethnic entanglement between the two sides, save from a few historical factors. Russia aspires to prevent the spread of contradictions in these conditions by fostering stability in its relations with the two nations.

Regardless of whether Finland and Sweden let NATO station troops on their territories, joining NATO will have an effect on the continent's security architecture in the long run, making Russia's security situation in Europe even more challenging. As its defense force in northern Europe is relatively weak, NATO ardently anticipates that Finland and Swedens participation will help to close the defense gap in northern Europe, bring about the NATOization of the continent, and bolster the deterrence capability against Russia.

Therefore, the US-led NATO will not give up its efforts to deploy military forces in the two nations regardless of how Finland and Sweden feel. The US even might order the deployment of offensive weapons and equipment, including tactical nuclear bombs, on the territories of the two nations in the following step. This will put Russias security space at risk, intensifying the conflict between Russia and NATO.

(The author is an associate professor at the School of International Relations, National University of Defense Technology)
Islamabad, July 13 (UNI) Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought a summary from finance and petroleum ministries to suggest a reduction in petroleum prices in the wake of falling global crude oil rates and a few days ahead of Punjab by-elections, Dawn reported on Wednesday.

I have ordered the ministries of petroleum and finance to pass on the reduction in the prices of POL [petroleum, oil and lubricant] products in the international market to the people. They have faced tremendous economic difficulties and the relief is their right, Shehbaz said.

Pakistan's Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, gave this information and said that it was made in a meeting chaired by the prime minister and attended by senior officials of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and other ministries and departments.

A senior official of an oil marketing said that he expected a Rs15 and Rs30 per-litre decrease in petrol and high-speed diesel prices if the government does not increase petroleum levy or impose GST on these fuels, adding that "These are tentative numbers and the prices will be clear by Wednesday evening, he said.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail also said on Tuesday the summary to reduce petroleum prices would be forwarded to Prime Minister Sharif on Wednesday for necessary action.

The PML-N-led coalition government has been increasing petroleum prices since the last week of May as it slashed fuel subsidies to unlock IMF funding.

The prices of petrol, high-speed diesel, kerosene and light diesel oil have skyrocketed 66 per cent (or Rs99), 92 per cent (Rs132.39), 95 per cent (Rs111.95) and 80 per cent (Rs100.59) since May 26, when the government introduced the first of a series of fuel price hikes.

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Today, 100 per cent of the proceeds from every hot coffee and iced coffee sold at Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada and the United States are donated to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps. Tim Hortons, its restaurant owners and guests collectively raised $12.4 million last year and over $225 million in the 30-year history of Camp Day.





and are donated to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps. Tim Hortons, its restaurant owners and guests collectively raised last year and over in the 30-year history of Camp Day. Since 1974, Tim Hortons Foundation Camps has supported over 300,000 youth through its multi-year development programs at its seven Tims Camps, along with providing school-based and community-based programming.





Tims guests can also purchase a $2 Camp Day motivational bracelet available in one of four vibrant colours and NEW this year, a pair of red and white camp-themed socks for $5 , with net proceeds donated directly to support Tims Camps.

TORONTO, July 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Today, Tim Hortons is celebrating its 31st annual Camp Day! Across Canada and the United States, 100 per cent of the proceeds from all hot coffee and iced coffee sales are being donated to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps to support sending youth from underserved communities to Tims Camps.

Tim Hortons Camp Day is TODAY and 100% of proceeds from hot and iced coffee support sending youth from underserved communities to Tims Camps (CNW Group/Tim Hortons)

Camp Day has raised over $225 million in its history and has helped Tim Hortons Foundation Camps support more than 300,000 youth between the ages of 12 to 16 through a multi-year camp-based program. With a rigorous strength-based learning model designed specifically for the unique needs of the youth Tims Camps serve, campers are equipped with skills like leadership, resilience, and responsibility, empowering them to open doors to their future.

"Camp has impacted me in more ways than one," says Sunita, who experienced five years of Tims Camps before becoming a Tims Camps counsellor. "Tims Camps has made me a more confident and courageous person and continues to help me grow each summer I return. You're never not learning or developing as an individual, so I wouldn't be the person I am today, or who I will become, without the support of everyone at Tims Camps."

Many of the young people who attend Tims Camps have never had the opportunity to experience camp or travel outside their city or town, notes Graham Oliver, a Tim Hortons restaurant owner and President of Tim Hortons Foundation Camps.

"Our multi-day, overnight camp experiences are uniquely powerful in quickly building critical skills in youth, and strengthening social ties and community connections that can help youth better cope with challenging circumstances," says Oliver. "We challenge young people. We help them see their best self. And we work with them as they carve a path towards the future they want."

Camp Day has grown to become one of the most important and cherished days on the Tim Hortons calendar, with all restaurant owners, team members and corporate staff dedicated to making each year's campaign more impactful than the last.

"The profound impact Camp Day has had in raising over $225 million in its history and supporting over 300,000 youth is a testament to the dedication and generosity of Tims restaurant owners and team members and the incredible support from Tims guests year after year," said Axel Schwan, President of Tim Hortons. "I'm looking forward to another successful Camp Day this year and want to thank everyone involved from coast to coast to coast for helping to change the lives of youth in our communities."

To support Tims Camps and Camp Day today, guests can:

Place an order for a hot or iced coffee at a Tim Hortons restaurant, or through the Tim Hortons app for pickup or delivery.

Order a Tim Hortons Take 12 to share with co-workers or friends and family. A Tim Hortons Take 12 includes 12 small coffees along with cups, dairy and sweeteners.

Guests can purchase a Camp Day bracelet for $2 in one of four vibrant colours or, NEW this year, a pair of red and white camp-themed socks for $5 , with net proceeds going directly to Tims Camps.

in one of four vibrant colours or, this year, a pair of red and white camp-themed socks for , with net proceeds going directly to Tims Camps. Use tap to give in restaurants to donate $2 using your mobile wallet or card, or Round Up your order at cash or in the Tim Hortons app, with 100 per cent of the balance going to support Tims Camps. Guests can also ask team members about making a donation to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps as part of their order.

in restaurants to donate using your mobile wallet or card, or Round Up your order at cash or in the Tim Hortons app, with 100 per cent of the balance going to support Tims Camps. Guests can also ask team members about making a donation to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps as part of their order. Make a one-time or monthly donation online any time at www.timscamps.com.

Share your photos celebrating Camp Day on social by using #TimsCampDay

About Tim Hortons

In 1964, the first Tim Hortons restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario opened its doors and Canadians have been ordering Tim Hortons iconic Original Blend coffee, Double-Double coffees, Donuts and Timbits in the years since. Over the last 55 years, Tim Hortons has captured the hearts and taste buds of Canadians and has become synonymous with serving Canada's favourite coffee. Tim Hortons is Canada's largest restaurant chain operating in the quick service industry with more than 4,000 restaurants across the country. More than a coffee and bake shop, Tim Hortons is part of the Canadian fabric and guests can enjoy hot and cold specialty beverages  including lattes, cappuccinos and espressos, teas and our famous Iced Capps  alongside delicious breakfast, sandwiches, wraps, soups and more. Tim Hortons has more than 5,100 restaurants in Canada, the United States and around the world. For more information on Tim Hortons visit TimHortons.ca

About Tim Hortons Foundation Camps

Tim Hortons Foundation Camps is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1974 to expand the horizon of what is possible for underserved young people. A leader in youth development programming, Tims Camps support youth from low-income homes between the ages of 12 to 16  an important developmental time that helps shape who they will become as adults. Through a multi-year camp-based program, youth learn skills like leadership, resilience, and responsibility, which empower them to believe in their own potential and change their stories for the better. With seven camps in North America that run year-round summer, school and community programs, youth are supported to thrive when they return home, to excel in post-secondary education, to succeed at work and to contribute positively to their communities. More than 300,000 kids have attended a Foundation camp at no cost to them or their families. For more information about Tim Hortons Foundation Camps, please visit www.timscamps.com

SOURCE Tim Hortons

For further information: Please contact [email protected]
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country, just hours before announcing his resignation, amid widespread criticism of his handling of the countrys worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

The Sri Lankan Air Force confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards flew on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane to Male, the capital of the Maldives.

The Sri Lanka Air Force provided a plane early today to fly the president, his wife, and two security officials to the Maldives under the provisions of the Constitution and at the request of the government, the statement said.

The presidents departure for Male was first reported by news outlets, citing unnamed government and immigration officials.

After tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official residence on Saturday, demanding his resignation, the president said he would resign on Wednesday to make way for a unity government.

Rajapaksa, who served as defence secretary during his elder brothers administration more than a decade ago and helped end the countrys long-running civil war, was elected president in 2019 on a platform of security and stability.

Tax cuts, however, depleted government revenues, and the country began to run out of fuel, food, and medicines because it could no longer afford to import them.

The president was accused of economic incompetence, and public opinion turned against Gotabaya and the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated Sri Lankan politics for nearly two decades. After mass protests began in March and turned violent, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as Prime Minister in May.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is accused of war crimes and other human rights violations, was not seen in public since Friday because he was immune from arrest while in office.
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Two hundred pots of homemade Bolognese. Seventeen hundred bowls of homemade spaghetti. One thousand classes of chianti poured. Three marriage proposals.

That was the tally at the end of Antoinette LaVecchias earlier, award-winning run as author and chef Giulia Melucci in I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti.

The one-woman show, based on Meluccis memoir/cookbook of the same name, chronicles the authors calamity-plagued love life in a humorous and touching take. In between Meluccis stories, LaVecchia makes homemade batches of Bolognese pasta, all to the delight of audiences and critics.

People said they were just hypnotized while watching my hands work the dough, she said, laughing.

LaVecchia is set to reprise her role as Melucci in the upcoming production Secondo, aptly named after the second course in an Italian meal. While Melucci did not write a second part to her memoir, playwright Jacques Lamarre, who adapted the book for the stage, wrote the second part of Meluccis story after spending some time with the author.

Meluccis stories are different now that shes married, but no less humorous, LaVecchia said. The actress will once again prepare a meal live in real time while playing the role.

The meal in Secondo will include a delectable Uovo in Raviolo, a delicate, singular ravioli made with fresh pasta and filled with an egg yolk and ricotta cheese.

LaVecchia is no stranger to cooking Italian food from scratch. She was born in Italy and lived there until she was about two years old, when her family relocated to the United States. After living briefly in Norwalk, the family moved to the Ziegler estate in Darien, where her father was caretaker of the property.

The Great Island estate recently made headlines when one half of its sprawling waterfront was put up for sale the town has initiated acquiring it for $100 million.

The plot of Secondo is Melucci cooks a meal for her husband to celebrate the couples 10th wedding anniversary.

Someone in her past comes back and she has a conflict  she loves her husband, and her husband loves her, LaVecchia said.

However, in the play, Meluccis husband is busy with his own business endeavors.

She never realized shed be lonely in her marriage  it doesnt quite live up to the fantasy she had of married life, LaVecchia said.

While she had not made homemade pasta since she was 15 years old, LaVecchia said it all came back to her during rehearsals.

Food is a love language, she said.

This was also evidenced by random marriage proposals she received from good-humored married men during the first production. Their wives told the actress, You can have him!

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti was extremely successful, attended by local state leaders and even the mayor of Limerick County, Ireland.

It was one of the most extraordinary performances Ive done as a performer, LaVecchia said. And with her resume, thats saying something.

After receiving a bachelors in English literature from Cornell University, she pursued a masters of fine arts at NYU's Tisch Graduate Acting Program; while there she studied Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theater.

After graduation, LaVecchia was awarded a Fox Fellowship and chose to study with world-renowned clown/bouffon teacher Philippe Gaulier and members of Complicite, a theatre company in London. She also received the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant to help further her development as a writer/performer.

LaVecchia has appeared in film, television and on stage, including Broadway. Her critically-acclaimed comedic one-woman show, How to Be a Good Italian Daughter (In Spite of Myself), directed by Ted Sod, ran to sold-out audiences at The Cherry Lane Studio Theatre in New York City after a sold-out performance at Ars Nova.

LaVecchia partially credits growing up with the magical backdrop of Great Island for her creative inspiration, though she truly feels she was born with it.

When I was still in Italy, my mom would put us out on the terrace while she cleaned, and Id be waving and greeting everyone walking by, she said.

Growing up on the estate, LaVecchia was the only girl among boys. She would often find herself alone on the shoreline, with only her imagination to keep her company.

It was fostered there, she said. In that place, with low rocks by the cliff, I would read and act out books by myself,

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Great Islands isolation from the rest of the town made the family feel like they never left Italy. Their residence mainly spoke Italian, so it was as though they still lived in the Italian countryside.

While later on, as a teenager, it felt a bit more restrictive, hindsight makes LaVecchia reflect on how truly fortunate she was.

I was sad when I heard they were going to sell it. Thats truly where I grew up. I have a heart relationship with that place. It would be a wonderful idea to make it a nature preserve (since) there are so many animals  songbirds, eagles, deer, egrets and more, she said.

In her childhood the estate even had cows and of horses, as it includes a stable.

Please dont make it a parking lot, she implored the town.

LaVecchia said nature is a true healer for her and something her parents, who moved off the estate 10 years ago, instilled in her.

My parents have tremendous green thumbs, she said. They grow everything; vegetables, flowers  everything.

LaVecchia acknowledged the opportunities she and her brother had growing up in Darien.

It provided me the ability to go to Darien public schools, which were like private schools. My brother went to Wharton, and I went to Cornell. My dad really created an environment for us to succeed, she said.

Additionally, the idyllic atmosphere on Great Island enabled her to maintain a certain childlike innocence that she retains and taps into today.

I think that is unusual today. When I taught acting, I told my students to try to be more childlike and filled with wonder, not as cynical. You dont have to be an actor to try to rediscover that feeling, LaVecchia said.

Once Great Island is open to the public, her dream would be to hold an outdoor theater production there, like The Cherry Orchard  in some ways realizing her dreams where it all began.

Its truly one of the most beautiful places in the world, LaVecchia said.

Secondo opens at TheaterWorks in Hartford on July 29 and runs through August. For more information, visit twhartford.org/events/secondo/
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HAMDEN  After nearly three decades with the towns fire service, Fire Chief Gary Merwede will retire at the end of the month.

Merwede became acting chief in October 2018 when he replaced outgoing Chief David Berardesca. Two months later, then-Mayor Curt Balzano Leng made Merwedes appointment permanent.

Though he joined the department in the mid-1990s, Merwede is a lifelong Hamden resident who has been in town even longer than he has fought its fires.

Before he became a first responder, he worked construction. That profession prompted him to become a firefighter, albeit through tragic circumstances.

On April 23, 1987, Bridgeports LAmbiance Plaza collapsed, killing 28 people. A residential project that was under construction, Merwede had two friends working the site who died in the disaster, he said.

Merwede and other construction workers went to the scene to assist in the rescue alongside the Bridgeport Fire Department, Merwede said.

That experience inspired him to seek out a career in firefighting, he said, but it took some work to break into the field.

A bunch of us used to get in the car and drive around and buy Sunday papers all over the state looking for testing opportunities, Merwede remembered.

After five years and a lot of driving, he landed a job in his hometown.

Asked about highlights from his career, Merwede had trouble picking one.

He has been reflecting on the last 28 years since telling Mayor Lauren Garrett about his intention to pass the torch, he said, and he has fond memories of certain assignments and crews.

He emphasized the team effort involved in the job.

Its always a group effort. Its always getting several people  together and all pulling in the same direction, Merwede said.

Hamden recently was awarded $8.6 million in state aid to construct a new firehouse. I certainly wasnt the only one that made that happen, Merwede said.

The fire chief also stands out for his gregarious Twitter presence. He started the account to help get important messaging about the fire service out to the public, he said.

Now that he is leaving, the fate of his account is up in the air. Merwede simply may begin a new account as a private citizen, he said.

He announced his intent to retire in a July 5 letter to Brigitte Cogswell, the towns personnel director.

It has been my honor and pleasure to have served the Town of Hamden as a member of the Hamden Fire Department since August 11, 1994, says the letter, which is available on the town website. This letter serves as my notice to you as Personnel Director of my intent to retire on Friday July 29, 2022 effective at 12 p.m.

It seemed like the right time to retire, both personally and professionally, Merwede said.

Looking at this picture, I think now is a really good time, he said. Weve got a good leadership team in place on the Fire Department. I think were in certainly a better spot  pandemic-wise than we have been in the past two years. The budget is just completed.

In a statement, Garrett described Merwede as an honest and effective leader who will be missed.

I wish him well in his retirement that he earned, through years of hard work, dedication, and excellence, she said. It has been my honor serving (alongside) Chief Merwede for the last several months and working with him while I was on the Legislative Council.

Chief Merwede has built a tremendous bench over the last several months of firefighters who will carry on a legacy of exemplary sercice for our community.

Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Naples, who was appointed to his current post in March, will run the department in an interim capacity when Merwede leaves, according to Garrett.

I know Assistant Chief Naples is up to the task, said Merwede. If Ive done my job right, then this department is just going to carry on and in time the next chief will be appointed by the mayor.

But whats next for the outgoing chief?

Time will tell. Im not 100 percent sure, Merwede said. I know whats next on the 30th of July, and I wont be on call.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  The Big Bad Johns, one of Connecticuts hardest-rocking roots rock acts of the 1990s, is a little bit like Haleys comet these days  although a bit more frequent and less regular in its visits.

The guys come around every few years to rock Cafe Nine.

Then they go back to their individual business and respective corners of the country.

Drummer Jumpin Jim Balga will head back to Jersey.

Vocalist and frontman Detroit Dick Hulett will head back to California.

Guitarist Gary Buzz Gordo Mezzi will head north  all the way to North Haven.

Bassist Paul Nervus Chet Purvis Mayer wont really head too far  the man owns Cafe Nine, although people dont see him play bass too often these days.

But before they all take off, theyll dust off such timeless tunes as Hot Rods to Hell, Hey Las Vegas, Wheres Waldo and Smokin Joe, their tribute to former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier.

And its a good bet that everyone will leave satisfied  just like they did after previous reunions in 2003, 2010 and 2014, all of which followed the departure of Detroit Dick and his wife, Leslie Turnipseed, for Los Angeles in 1999.

Doors open Thursday at 7 p.m., with Nashville-based Goldpark at 8 p.m., the reformed seminal Connecticut punk band The Cadavers at 8:45 p.m. and the Big Bad Johns at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, available in advance at https://bit.ly/3P0AEzi.

Equally inspired by rockabilly and punk, the Big Bad Johns played a raucous and oddball assortment of mostly original roots music, touring widely in the eastern U.S. and Canada and releasing two indie albums, Plymouth Rock and I Will Be Good.

Mayer, the onetime Gone Native, Big Bad Johns and Swaggerts bassist, and Mezzi  the only one who still plays Big Bad Johns songs on a regular basis in his current band, Bronson Rock  both had a thing or two to say about it during a break from a rehearsal earlier this week.

As sometimes has been the case in the past, this reunion came about because Hulett  who lived in New Haven from 1986 to 1999  was coming in anyway for a visit, they said.

In this case, Hulett is coming in for a memorial tribute to a fallen friend, the late New Haven musician Kerry Miller, on Sunday at 2 p.m. The free memorial show will feature several of Millers onetime bands, including Hot Bodies, Valley of Kings, Cameraface, Peacock Flounders and more.

Richards coming in for Kerry Millers memorial on the 17th, said Mayer. We figured while we had him here itd be a good time to do a show.

The last time the Big Bad Johns played together in any combination was just before the pandemic at another memorial for the late Ross Haleen, he said.

So will they be ready?

We do Smokey Joe and Hey Las Vegas in Bronson Rock, said Mezzi. We do about four Big Bad Johns songs in our set. ... So I feel pretty confident about it.

I know em all and Im confident as hell, said Mayer.

We played so my many gigs as the Big Bad Johns ... so theres a lot of muscle memory involved, said Mezzi.

Mayer said its great that people still get excited when the band returns.

That applies to the band members, as well.

Theres excitement among the guys in the band, said Mezzi. Weve been texting each other.

Hulett, who flew in Tuesday so they could rehearse a couple of times as a full band, said earlier in the week from California, it makes you feel great that people still care. What youre hoping for as an artist is to share the beauty. .... If you can share the beauty of what you do with the people that enjoy it, thats just great.

Since the last reunion, I havent had any public performances at all, said Hulett, a native of Huntington Woods, Mich., outside Detroit. I still play three or four times a week. I sit down by myself and play my guitar  or my head just is not right.

His last couple of gigs were supporting his daughter on public music night when she was in grade school, and now shes about to be a senior in high school and is shopping around for colleges.

For Hulett, coming back for the Miller memorial celebration was a no-brainer.

When I first moved to town in 85 or 86, Valley of Kings were a big deal, along with The Furors and Miracle Legion, he said.

He played with Miller in Camera Face and Kerry had these words of encouragement for me at a time when I thought I was in over my head. ... Kerry really gave me ... this steady side-eye ... that told me, Dont sweat it. Youve got this.

Balga couldnt immediately be reached for comment.

Missing from this reunion will be guitarist Country Bill Collins, a later addition who toured with Big Bad Johns at a time when Mezzi was raising a young family  although both guitarists often would play at hometown gigs.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
Colombo, July 13 (UNI/Xinhua) Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed at the Velana International Airport in the Maldives early Wednesday, according to the Maldivian media.

Rajapaksa had earlier informed the speaker of parliament that he would resign from the presidency on Wednesday. In this year, Sri Lanka has been suffering a severe economic crisis which has led to public protests.

Sri Lanka's speaker of parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has said political party leaders have decided to elect a new president on July 20 through a vote in parliament.

UNI/XINHUA RNJ
Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

WEST HAVEN  The city Planning and Zoning Commission has approved three modifications to a planned 7-Eleven gas station with two counter service restaurants on Sawmill Road, enabling developers to meet compliance with Department of Transportation regulations.

The commission vote will allow for the developer to widen an entrance to make it easier for trucks to turn into the station as well as implementing a curb cut compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. The plan also moves a dumpster on the site farther from the entrance of the neighboring Best Western Hotel.
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In July 1970, Janis Joplin, Allman Brothers Band, Van Morrison and Neil Young were among the acts that were set to perform at the Powder Ridge Rock Festival. The festival was akin to Woodstock with tens of thousands of music fans expected to hit the slopes for three days of music at the Powder Ridge ski area in Middlefield.

The reason behind its cancelation is murky with history pointing to different areas of contention leading to its ultimate demise. Whether it was Middlefield residents issuing an injunction against the festival days before it was set to happen or the general displeasure of local officials against "hippies" spreading their "drugs, nonchalant nudity and non-stop partying," it was reported that upwards of 30,000 fans still showed up in the hopes of catching some live music.
Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), says he was considering supporting the All Progress...

Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), says he was considering supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the south to get the presidency.

Clark spoke on Tuesday when some members of the APC paid him a courtesy visit at his residence in Abuja.

Clark said if he was to vote and only APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are on the ballot, he would have voted for the APC.

He, however, said that was no longer an option as APC is fielding two Muslims on its ticket for the 2023 presidential election.

Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate, had, on Sunday, announced Kashim Shettima, former Borno governor, as his running mate.

The unveiling of Shettima has been greeted with varied reactions from Nigerians, including Christian groups that have kicked against the decision.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the north had also issued a statement criticising Tinubus decision, saying the ruling party has no regard for our diversity as a country.

Also some members of the APC have resigned from the party over the development.

Speaking on the decision of the APC and why Nigerias next president should come from the south, Clark said power shift is in the interest of fairness.

We have seen that up till today, we still believe in the southern presidency. So, that is why some of us had said that APC that we never wanted to talk about is the one that has listened to us by zoning presidency to the south, Clark said.

Of course, Im an old man now. I will be 95, and I no longer belong to a political party. Perhaps, if I were to vote, and you put only two parties that is APC and PDP  I will vote for APC for zoning the presidency to the south, listening to our opinion.

But the only thing that your party has done that has made me withdraw my support is this Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has told Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State that Southern Governors did not betray him following the ...





Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has told Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State that Southern Governors did not betray him following the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2023 general election.





Sani, who represented Kaduna Central during the 8th National Assembly, believes the Southern Governors only looked beyond the primaries and decided to choose a formidable aspirant who could overcome northern sentiment, mobilise voters and ultimately win the general elections.





Recall that Atiku emerged as the Presidential candidate of the PDP for the 2023 general election on Saturday.





Atiku polled a total of 371 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Wike, who garnered 237 votes.





Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, scored 70; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, scored 38; Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, polled 20 votes; Anyim Pius Anyim scored 14, Sam Ohabunwa polled 1 and Olivia Tariela also scored one vote.





However, in a tweet via his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Sani wrote: I dont think the Southern Governors betrayed Wike; they simply looked beyond the primaries and opted for a formidable aspirant who can overcome northern sentiment, mobilise voters and ultimately win the general elections.





Wike remains an indispensable force for the battle ahead.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, have described the choice of Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele as the running mate of Dr Olajide Adedi...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, have described the choice of Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele as the running mate of Dr Olajide Adediran of the PDP as a display of unseriousness on the part of the leading opposition party.

This position was contained in a statement made available to NigerianEye hours after the unveiling of Akindele.

Seye Oladejo, Lagos State APC Spokesman, describes the choice as an attempt to trivialize the importance of the forthcoming gubernatorial elections

The statement reads: This development underscores the unseriousness of Lagos state PDP. This amounts to trivializing the importance of the forthcoming gubernatorial elections by giving political neophytes who have absolutely nothing to bring to the table their electoral tickets.

It also shows lack of depth in the party as regards quality members to put forward for elections if they could give a member who crossed-carpeted a few days before their primaries the governorship ticket and now went to the make-believe industry to fetch a deputy. The reason for voters apathy is, undoubtedly, due to lack of credible alternatives by the moribund opposition party.

I was amused to read that the deputy governorship candidate said she was suspending her acting career for the elections whose result is highly predictable. I guess shes suspending a lot more because she has been in the news of recent for all the wrong reasons.

Lagosians will certainly not allow governance to be turned to a needless experiment or a sitcom. Governance is serious business not a circus.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has been accused of blocking the chances of the party returning ...

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has been accused of blocking the chances of the party returning to power.

Atikus decision to stay away from the country and only return during elections is said to be a stumbling block towards PDPs push to return to power.

The PDP presidential candidate had been residing in Dubai since he lost the last presidential election in 2019.

He returned to Nigeria briefly during the partys presidential primary election which he won.

It was learnt that shortly after the primary election and unveiling of his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, the former Vice President flew out of the country again, despite the crisis bedevilling the party.

However, Deji Adeyanju, a socio-political commentator, said Atikus conduct and behaviour had shown that he does not have the interest of the PDP at heart.

Adeyanju said the Waziri of Adamawa is not serious about winning the 2023 presidential election.

In an interview with Dailypost, Adeyanju said: From his conduct and behaviour, Atiku has only his interest at heart, and anyway you look at it, there is no way you can tell me that a man who scored almost 11 million votes will refuse to go to court even for one day on his own matter.

We saw how Buhari consistently was at every sitting of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court pursuing his case. He was there with lots of his supporters, that is, somebody who is serious about business.

Atiku has become like a serial candidate; he wants to contest every election. He just wants to be on the ballot. Im yet to see his level of seriousness and strategy.

Thats why I was the first person to call him out; how can you lose an election then go and spend three years in Dubai? Muslims just had big Sallah, and Atiku is not in the country, and this is somebody who is a frontrunner in the presidential election. He was not in Ekiti, and Osun is a few days away, and he is missing in action.

These are indices that the man is not serious, and that is why I said except barring any last-minute dynamics; I see APC having the win because the level of seriousness I expect from the opposition is not there.

Six weeks after presidential primaries, Obedient people are still making noise on social media; they are not anywhere in the country, not building any structure; they are just insulting people online. Kwankwaso has the same thing; what is he doing aside from granting interviews, nothing. So, these are not serious people.

He lamented that while the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu is in Osun State campaigning for his party, Atiku is missing in action.

The rights activist recalled a similar scenario during the last governorship election in Ekiti State.

He added: Tinubu was in Ekiti and was shouting broom, broom; you will be shocked that he would soon be on his way to Osun. The seriousness from the opposition is just not there.

When somebody is not serious, of course, he is blocking PDPs chances of returning to power. If we say, somebody is not serious about a strategy to win an election; its like Obi, who is just a social media presidential candidate and likes to appear on TV to dazzle people with figures that dont add up sometimes.

Look at Tinubu during the APC presidential primaries; he didnt grant one television interview, and he wasnt on social media saying anything. Osinbajo was popular on social media and doing the PR, yet he came third. AMAECHI, who did not do anything, came second.

So, politics is dynamic; you must be willing to do the work.
Islamabad, July 13 (UNI) Members of Pakistan's Hindu community protested in front of Zardari House in Nawabshah against what they said was abduction of a community girl.

Police however, claimed that Shrimati Kareena had eloped with a Muslim boy with she was allegedly in love and had contacted marriage with him in a Karachi court.

The protesters chanted slogans against police and demanded former president Asif Ali Zardari to intervene in the matter to help them recover the girl, who was allegedly kidnapped in Unnar Muhalla, Qazi Ahmed town, six days ago.

But Nawabshah SSP Ameer Saud Magsi said that Shrimati Kareena had not been abducted and had eloped with Khalil Rehman Jono of Meer Mohammad Jono village and had married to him in a court in Karachi.

He said that Asghar Jono, father of Khalil, had been arrested after the FIR was registered under Section 365-B on a complaint lodged by Sundurmal. Khalil and his father Asghar were named in the FIR, he said.

The SSP shared a nikahnama purportedly of Shrimati Kareena and Khalil Rehman Jono and said the girl would be produced in a Sindh High Court where she will be asked where she would like to go, he said.

Hindu Panchayat vice president Lajpat Rai rejected the SSPs claim and said that police had registered an FIR but were not rescuing the abducted girl. A delegation of Hindu community met the SSP but he had not helped them, he said.

Manomal, another Panchayat leader, said that the abducted girl was under pressure to change her religion and was not being produced in any court.

He appealed to Asif Ali Zardari to help the Hindu community in the recovery of the girl. When the protestors reached close to Zardari House, police stopped them from advancing to the former presidents residence and persuade them to end the protest over the assurance that the girl would be produced in court.

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Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 83F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.
New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) The Supreme Court Wednesday said, it will list the petitions (appeals) for hearing in connection with Hijab row with respect to the pleas filed challenging the Karnataka High Court order, next week.

A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, said, we will list the mater next week.

Advocate, Prashant Bhushan mentioned today before the Supreme Court bench, led by the CJI Ramana, that the petitions filed against the Karnataka High Court judgement, be heard urgently.

The CJI said, "we will list it for next week, it will come."

Bhushan mentioned the appeal against the Karnataka High Court which refused to lift the ban on Hijab in educational institutions.

"The girls are losing out studies. This matter was filed long back," Bhushan said and sought listing and hearing the appeals filed before the Supreme Court with respect to Hijab ban case.

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A 13-month-old boy has died after being bitten by his familys dog at their home in Pontchartrain Park. When the dog subsequently attacked an animal control officer, a New Orleans police officer shot and killed it, authorities said.

The coroners office identified the boy as Apollo Duplantis but said the cause and manner of his death remained under investigation Tuesday.

The dog bit Apollo on Monday evening in the 5000 block of Seminary Place, sending him to a hospital where he died.

Rookie officer defended

Police obtained a warrant to enter the backyard, and Louisiana SPCA workers tried to leash the dog. But the dog attacked one of the workers, at which point a police officer fatally shot it, the SPCA said.

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The police officer, whom authorities have not identified, has since been put on desk duty pending a department investigation, standard procedure when an officer fires a gun while on duty. The officer was a rookie who just graduated from the police academy, a person familiar with the officer said.

Eric Hessler, attorney for the officer, said he thinks his client ""did exactly what he was trained to do and what he needed to do to protect the animal control officer."

A post on New Orleans resident Amanda Brooks Instagram page identified Apollo as her 13-month-old son. In a birthday wish last month, she described him as loud like my daddy, greedy like my mommy and smart like the both of them.
Sensex up over 300 points 16 Aug 2022 | 9:49 AM Mumbai, Aug 16 (UNI) The BSE Sensex on Tuesday rallied 314.21 pts at 59,828.99 in opening session as buying was seen across the board. see more..

Fuel prices remain unchanged 16 Aug 2022 | 8:43 AM New Delhi, August 16 (UNI) The prices of petrol and diesel remained steady on Tuesday. see more..

Bitcoin briefly surpasses $25k mark 15 Aug 2022 | 8:48 PM Moscow, Aug 15 (UNI) Bitcoin was trading at over $25,000 for less than an hour on Monday for the first time since mid-June before sliding back closer to the $24,000 mark, according to the CoinDesk platform's data. see more..

CM Shinde along with Arjun Deshpande launch 51 new medicines 15 Aug 2022 | 7:41 PM Mumbai, Aug 15 (UNI) In another milestone to make healthcare affordable in India, the 20-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Generic Aadhaar, Arjun Deshpande, on Monday announced the launch of 51 new medicines for consumers in India, in presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. see more..
By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera

Colombo, July 13 (UNI) Sri Lankas embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed in the neighbouring Maldives in the early hours on Wednesday on an AN32 troop transport plane from the Sri Lanka Air Force, ahead of his expected resignation after months of protests, Maldivian airport officials said.

Air traffic control at the Male Airport had initially refused the plane's request to land until order by the Speaker of Maldivian Parliament Majlis and former President, Mohamed Nasheed, the officials said.

The President chose to leave for Maldives after Sri Lanka's main international airport, Bandaranaike International Airport officials refused to stamp his passport when trying to leave for Dubai on Tuesday.

Rajapaksa reportedly missed four flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He, his wife and a dozen other family members and close aides spent the night at a nearby military base.

The President had said he would resign on Wednesday to make way for a unity government after protesters stormed his official residence demanding he step down after three months of continuous protests by the dissenting public.

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Kyiv, July 13 (UNI) Ukraine has become an associate member of the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), which takes care of the technical cooperation of the armies of NATO member states, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

"Ukraine has strong IT (Information Technology) potential and it is a worthy NATO ally. I am sure that we will bring our expertise to the development of collective security," Reznikov said.

According to the ministry, the associate membership in the MIP gives Ukraine a right to join the development and introduction of key NATO standards related to the interaction of combat control systems and related practices.

The MIP is a program of technological cooperation between the Armed Forces of NATO member states, which was established at the level of national developers of combat control information systems and aims to achieve interoperability of national C2IS systems.

After the western military alliance formally invited Sweden and Finland to join during the NATO summit, Zelenskiy made his remarks and urged NATO to admit Ukraine to the alliance.

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Panasonics Chief Technology Officer, Shoichiro Watanabe, has told Reuters that the company is planning to increase the energy density of its batteries by 20% by 2030. The Tesla supplier explained that new additives would help it to achieve enhanced performance. This technology could add over 100 km (~62 miles) range to a Tesla Model Y.

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Panasonic, a primary battery supplier to Tesla, is reportedly developing technology to increase its battery density by 20% by 2030. According to Reuters, the companys chief technology officer, Shoichiro Watanabe, disclosed the information. Watanabe explained that the enhanced battery performance would be possible through new additives, allowing each cell to run at a higher voltage.

To put this into context, increasing the battery density by one-fifth would extend the range of a Tesla Model Y by over 100 km (~62 miles) without enlarging the device. Manufacturers could instead keep a similar range but decrease the batterys volume. It could be that the improved energy density would be around 900 Wh/l; Panasonics latest technology has a 750 Wh/l energy density.

It is currently unclear when Panasonic could release the new technology and if it would be exclusive to Tesla. The company plans to start mass production of its 4680 batteries next financial year. Tesla is planning to use these batteries in new Model Y cars. Samsung has also recently announced new batteries; the company revealed it was developing batteries similar to the 4680 cells it has already worked on for Tesla, but with a higher capacity.

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Collective Soul is set to bring its new show to the Region this weekend.

The alt rock band, which was established nearly three decades ago in Georgia, will perform July 15 at Hard Rock Live at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary. Switchfoot also shares the concert bill.

"It's amazing to get out there and see people's faces again," said Will Turpin, bass player for Collective Soul. "Who would have thought we'd be grounded after touring for years," Turpin said about the shutdown due to the pandemic.

Collective Soul is comprised of Turpin, Johnny Rabb, Dean Roland, Ed Roland and Jesse Triplett.

Turpin said fans of live music were really missing the shows and the band was missing being able to perform.

"I remember thinking this is going to last three or four weeks," he said about the shutdown.

Turpin said the fact the group celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 was an amazing milestone. He said when they first started they didn't really think ahead about how long their career in music would endure.

"We were young. We never thought about how long it would last. We were focused on making music and had a lot of music in us," he said.

Collective Soul released its 10th album "Blood" in 2019 and in mid-August their latest album "Vibrating" is due to be released.

"We're still creating music as well as we ever have," Turpin, 51, said. "We're still at the top of our game."

Turpin added because the band is still interested in recording new songs, it shows a "longevity" in their career.

With their music, Turpin said Collective Soul is always trying to "capture emotion" and the group members view their live performances as a real celebration of life.

"The focus is on intangible things. Music boils down to emotion," he said, adding music is something that vibrates and showcases emotion in great ways.

Turpin said music has always been important in his life.

"I grew up with instruments all around me. I was a natural with all instruments," he said. Turpin's father owned a recording studio in Georgia named Reel 2 Reel Recording Studio. Turpin, who also occasionally performs as a solo musician, said he's involved with the studio and also produces new artists.

"I enjoy watching artists grow and become better musicians," Turpin said.

The bassist said everything having to do with Collective Soul always comes first in his career but he also makes time for solo projects. In 2018 he released a solo album titled "Serengeti Drivers."

"I feel blessed to be able to do this for a living," Turpin said about making music. "Creating music is still something we thrive on." For more information on Collective Soul, visit collectivesoul.com. For more details on Collective Soul's July 15 show, visit hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com.
HAMMOND  Local police teamed up with state officers to serve federal search warrants at an alleged gambling operation in the city, resulting in the arrest of several people and the confiscation of equipment and a large amount of money, officials said.

Hammond police teamed up with officers from the Indiana Gaming Commission to carry out the raid around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Hammond police Lt. Steven Kellogg.

Casino gambling equipment was among the items confiscated, he said.

Indiana Gaming Commission Deputy Director Jenny Reske confirmed the agency's participation in the raid and said officers were executing a federal warrant.

She referred all further inquiries to the United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Indiana, which declined comment.

A spokesperson with the FBI said Wednesday that the raid with the federal search warrants involved members of the agency's Gang Response Investigative Team.

"The investigation is ongoing," the spokesperson said.

"Hammond Police want to thank the Indiana Gaming Commission and other participating agencies for their assistance," Kellogg said.

The identities of those arrested have not yet been released.
A beach hazard has been issued for local stretches of Lake Michigan starting Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

"High wave action and dangerous currents expected at Lake Michigan beaches," according to the warning.

The hazardous conditions are expected from 3 p.m. Wednesday through late night for Lake Michigan beaches in Lake and Porter counties, and along the nearby shoreline in Cook County, Illinois, the NWS says.

"Swimming conditions will be life threatening, especially for inexperienced swimmers," weather officials predict. "Remain out of the water to avoid dangerous swimming conditions and do not venture out onto piers, jetties, breakwalls, or other shoreline structures."

The shoreline warning was issued along with a hazardous weather outlook for the Region, which calls for a limited thunderstorm risk through Wednesday night.

"Isolated thunderstorms are possible along and south of the Kankakee River Valley this afternoon," the NWS said. "Severe weather is not anticipated, though gusts from a few showers or storms reaching 40 mph are possible."

"Strengthening northeast winds over Lake Michigan this afternoon will result in building waves and dangerous swimming conditions that will continue through this evening."

The beach warning comes in the wake of a report of a 9-year-old girl drowning Tuesday afternoon in an unguarded portion of Lake Michigan off Marquette Beach in Gary.

A 14-year-old girl seen struggling at the same time was able to be rescued by beachgoers and was later released after being treated at an area hospital, officials said.

A 72-year-old Illinois man pulled from Lake Michigan Sunday by Indiana Dunes State Park lifeguards near Chesterton was later pronounced dead, according to the Porter County coroner's office.

Autopsy and toxicology results are pending for the deceased, identified as Kirshnaraju Rudraraju, of Woodridge, according to the coroner.

Lifeguards at Washington Park in Michigan City are credited with saving three drowning children Tuesday afternoon from rough water conditions in Lake Michigan, city firefighters said.

The children, ages 9, 10 and 11 years old, were being overtaken by waves and rip currents when lifeguards came to their rescue around 1:30 p.m.
GARY  A Lake County Sheriff's Department vehicle was involved in a fatal crash Wednesday afternoon with a civilian vehicle at Fifth Avenue and Colfax Street, Indiana State Police said.

A preliminary investigation by the Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit revealed a black 2019 Dodge Charger police car was traveling east on Fifth Avenue when it struck a silver 2005 Toyota Corolla that was making a left turn from Fifth Avenue onto southbound Colfax.

The driver of the Toyota, Gloria Melton, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced deceased on the scene by the Lake County coroner's office. Melton was 77 and was from Gary. Her family has been notified, the coroner's office said.

The driver of the Charger, sheriff's Officer Zachary Norcutt, was transported to Methodist Hospitals Southlake Campus for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Norcutt is also a K-9 officer, and his K-9 was not injured in the crash.

He was on duty and assigned to patrol in the area at the time of the crash.

"The Indiana State Police will be investigating the crash per Lake County's protocol," said Gary police Lt. Dawn Westerfield. "The Gary Police Department responded in a support capacity only."

Westerfield referred further questions to the Lake County Sheriff's Department, which said ISP will be answering questions at this time.

The investigation is in preliminary stages, and no further information can be released by ISP at this time. Once completed, the Lake County Sheriff's Department will be able to release further information.

Assisting units at the scene included the Gary Police Department, Gary Fire Department, Indiana State Police Criminal Investigation Division, Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit, Lake County coroner's office, Gary Street Department and Bert's Towing.
Percy Jackson, like most Region residents, remembers when attending a summer festival or holiday parade didn't involve looming thoughts of potential gun violence or mass shootings.

There used to be a time when you could pack your lunch, grab a blanket and lay in the park, said Jackson, a resident of Merrillville. You can do it now, but not feel safe.

Festivals and parades should be exhilarating experiences during the summer, giving families and friends opportunities to spend quality time together, eating elephant ears, drinking freshly squeezed lemonade and escaping life's troubles.

"The main concern I have is the gunfire; it's ridiculous," said Jackson, who fondly recalls attending Concert in the Park at Gleason Park in Gary with his wife, Cheryl, in the 1970s.

The recent July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, left seven people dead and dozens wounded after Robert E. Crimo III allegedly used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle to turn a traditional spectacle into a national tragedy.

I really dont think theres much we can do except try to regulate some of these people carrying guns around that shouldnt have them to begin with, said Suellen Tauber, of Highland. We cant just say we wont attend these events. This has to come to the state government and what theyre doing to prevent crazy people from getting guns, especially automatic weapons.

Tauber, who attends Highlands Fourth of July parade and festival each year, said state lawmakers should be concerned about the safety of local residents more than gun owners.

An outdoor event isnt roped off. ... How can you prevent someone from just walking up to people with their guns? she said. The government lets gun owners have full control over what they do, and its just not right in my opinion.

Jessica Peterson Rogers, a Merrillville resident, used to participate in local Fourth of July parades when her children, Eugene and Kristyn, were members of Merrillville High Schools Band of Pirates.

Nowhere is safe. You never know when something can happen, Peterson Rogers said. Seeing those band kids in the parade running and screaming for their lives ... just didnt sit right with me.

Public safety authorities in Northwest Indiana are creating a Special Events Emergency Action Plan to prepare for potential active shooter situations at public events.

David Bagnall, manager of the Porter County Fair, said plans continue to be in effect to prevent altercations by stationing local sheriff's department personnel on the fairgrounds and up to 50 off-duty police officers at any given time.

Porter County law enforcement also has metal detectors in certain areas and K-9 police units trained to sniff out firearms. Bagnall said that although Indiana recently passed a permitless carry gun law, guns are absolutely prohibited on county property. It's important for people attending public events to be aware of their surroundings at all times and to create a potential exit strategy if a dangerous situation unfolds, experts say.

The Rev. Michael Yadron, pastor of St. Thomas More Church in Munster, said its annual festival transitioned last year from hosting a carnival to hosting a music and food fest. In years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival often experienced altercations, he said.

In 2016, a 26-year-old woman was shot after gunfire was exchanged in the Munster Jewel-Osco parking lot near the time the festival was wrapping up for the night, police said.

The town of Munster had some concerns with the festival starting back up after the pandemic, Yadron said. They really had us consider taking out the carnival rides altogether or else they were going to mandate the rides be shut down at an earlier time compared to the rest of the festival each night.

St. Thomas More officials decided to remove the carnival rides altogether, and the festival hasn't experienced any problems in the past two years.

The town of Griffith has a team of individuals working with its police department to look at safety at different events throughout the summer, including the Griffith Central Market, Broad Street Blues and BBQ Festival and Rock N Rail Music and Street Festival.

The annual Rock N Rail Music and Street Festival, which takes place in September in downtown Griffith, has officers patrolling from rooftops and concrete barriers around the outskirts of the festival to prevent trucks from coming through, according to Griffith Town Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd.

Weve spent years and years redefining safety procedures, Ryfa said. We have things that are visible and behind the scenes to ensure everyone is safe.
CROWN POINT  The process by which Lake County purchases tens of millions of dollars a year in goods and services on behalf of its different departments and agencies is set for a major shakeup.

In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 Tuesday that the seven-member Lake County Council is entitled to control both the appropriation and spending of taxpayer dollars, supplanting the contracting authority of the three-member county executive known as the Board of Commissioners.

The appeals court said a 1981 Indiana law authorizing the council to take over the county's purchasing and data processing agencies from the commissioners remains valid, even though the council waited nearly 40 years to do so.

Moreover, the court said the commissioners' statutory contracting authority always has been limited to the extent such powers are expressly assigned to other elected officials, such as the county council.

"The council did not grant itself the power to contract on behalf of Lake County, the General Assembly did," the court said.

The contracting rift between the council and commissioners stems in part from a dispute involving Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr.

The council repeatedly has appropriated funds requested by the sheriff for various law enforcement equipment, including a controversial $777,557.48 Lake Michigan patrol boat, only to see the commissioners decline to purchase it after independently evaluating the sheriff's need for the equipment.

If the appeals court ruling stands following review by the Indiana Supreme Court, and the purchasing statute remains unaltered by the General Assembly, the decision should enable the sheriff to bypass review by the commissioners and acquire all the equipment he wants through a council-run county purchasing agency.

Separately, Martinez last month won approval from Lake Superior Judge Stephen Scheele to contract independently of both the county council and commissioners for purchases relating to the Lake County Jail.

Ray Szarmach, an attorney for the county council, described the appeals court's opinion, affirming an April 16, 2021, ruling by Lake Superior Judge John Sedia, as a "historic decision" for Lake County government jurisdiction and home rule authority.

"I'm looking forward to working with the council and seeing that implemented," Szarmach said.

On the other hand, Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond, said in response to the ruling: "I guess the decades of practice is not good enough for the judicial branch."

"The state legislature now has some work to do to determine what roles each branch of county government is supposed to have. They will need to make it so clear that even a judge can understand  no small task, apparently," Repay said.

The appeals court ruling applies only to Lake County and possibly St. Joseph County, if the St. Joseph County Council in South Bend similarly chooses to take over purchasing from the county commissioners.

The special statute that sets the rules for governing Lake and St. Joseph counties does not apply in Indiana's 90 other counties.
HOBART  "We're putting our life's treasures in garbage bags. It's heartbreaking," said Lorraine Guillen-Wentz, a resident who was displaced Monday after her apartment building was shut down by the City of Hobart Building Department.

Guillen-Wentz had returned from the burial of her husband's mother and was not even able to get in the door of 215 East St., her home for the last eight years. Inspectors were blocking it and expressed to residents they were in danger.

She was not able to take many of her items, as there was concern that asbestos or mold could be in the building. She was left without a mattress and forced out, she said.

"We are homeless. We are literally homeless right now. They are uprooting our lives right now," Guillen-Wentz said.

Guillen-Wentz and her husband were among 11 region families who were displaced Monday after serious safety issues were found in a Hobart apartment building. Councilman Chris Wells, R-5th, said he saw 20 adults and five children vacate.

A "Do Not Occupy" notice given to property owner Joe Gore indicated the building was a fire hazard, hazard to public health and violates codes. Notable issues included electrical problems, blocked exits, unlit exit signs, water leaks, sewage backup, expired fire extinguishers, potential asbestos and black mold, unsanitary conditions and inoperable smoke detectors in units.

Hobart firefighters were called to conduct a wellness check in a basement apartment at 215 East St., a building east of downtown, in the afternoon Monday. Upon arrival, they learned the resident no longer lived in the building.

However, upon further investigation into building conditions, assistant chief John Reitz said they noticed several safety concerns, prompting them to alert the Hobart Building Department.

Both the Fire Department and Building Department will be conducting further investigations.

Hobart Building Code Official Karen Hansen said that they met with Gore on Tuesday morning and that he made a commitment to address violations and plans to fix the issues. Gore did not respond to a request from The Times for more information.

Hobart Township Board covered the families for two nights in a local hotel, and Mission BBQ donated dinner for the families.

While Guillen-Wentz was appreciative of the nights in the hotel, she said, she was not sure where she would go next. She wondered if she was expected to live in her car and eat out for every meal.

"I am contacting my rental insurance to see if they can put me somewhere temporarily, but after tomorrow, I am not sure where I am going. Where are we supposed to go?" Guillen-Wentz said. She said she does not have the money to eat out for every meal and her husband has heart issues that require him to eat specific foods.

Wells met with residents Tuesday morning to provide gift cards for food. A meeting was then held at City Hall to find more information and set a plan in place.

He also encouraged donations through social media and PayPal. He said he will provide a plan and update regarding how any money will be spent.

Wells said more than $700 was donated and some has been spent to help provide food for the families. Litehouse Whole Food Grill will be providing dinners for families tonight.

When Wells arrived on scene, he tried to stay out of the way but said he found major concerns, such as mold and electrical and plumbing issues. He said he would not want a member of his family to stay in the building under those conditions.

"We have 11 homeless families on our hands," Wells said on Facebook. "There is a small army of people here working to do everything we can to help, but there is a HUGE need! The residents here have been told to get out asap, and are in need of shelter and meals. We are looking to house these families as best as possible."

Wells said his role as councilman is not to investigate and enforce the codes but to help the community. He wants to do more to help residents.

"We see an area where people are in pain, and it's a question of how can we ease that pain for as long as possible," Wells said.
VALPARAISO  Eight Valparaiso city employees who recently retired will receive premium pay.

In May, the Valparaiso City Council unanimously approved an ordinance allocating about $650,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for premium pay. Under the original ordinance only currently active full-time city employees who performed in-person work during the pandemic were eligible for premium pay.

During a Monday night meeting, the council unanimously voted to extend premium pay to eight city employees who performed in-person work during the pandemic but have since retired.

Councilman Peter Anderson, R-5th, said he believed "it would be the right thing to do to let these folks in on the COVID pay."

Under the premium pay ordinance, employees will receive either $1,000, $2,000 or $3,000.

The $3,000 bonus is reserved for first responders. Valparaiso Clerk-Treasurer Holly Taylor said department heads decided which employees got $1,000 and which got $2,000.

Mayor Matt Murphy said the eight former employees came from the Valparaiso City Utilities, the Police Department, Fire Department, the Public Works Division and City Hall. The additional premium pay will come out to about $18,000.

Valparaiso was awarded a total of $7.6 million in ARPA funds. At the end of January, the city launched a portal where residents could share how they would like to see the money spent. The portal closed on March 1, and on March 28, the city approved an ARPA spending plan.

So far, the city has appropriated a total of $750,000. The appropriations have gone toward premium pay, the police and fire departments and consultant fees to help distribute funds to the seven nonprofits outlined in the spending plan.

The council will hold a public hearing for additional ARPA appropriations during the July 25 meeting at 6 p.m.
GARY  The 9-year-old female who drowned at Marquette Beach on Tuesday has been identified.

Tianna Hatten, of Hammond, died of asphyxia due to drowning, the Lake County coroner said.

Two females were struggling in the water in an unguarded portion of the beach Tuesday afternoon. Visitors were able to pull a 14-year-old female from the water, but a 9-year-old was not visible. Gary Police Department, beach patrol and the fire department began a chain search in the water while the Lake County Sheriff's Department helicopter did an overhead search.

Both were treated at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus, and the 14-year-old was released. The 9-year-old was pronounced deceased. DNR said.

Gary Fire Department, Gary Police Department, Merrillville Fire Department, Hobart Fire Department, Crown Point Fire Department, Cedar Lake Fire Department, Lake County Sheriff's Marine and Aviation units and Indiana Conservation Officers all responded to the scene.
The first report that someone was spreading white supremacist literature in Hornell, N.Y., came to the police early Sunday.

A worshiper arriving for services at Rehoboth Deliverance Ministries  a largely Black church in the mostly white city of around 8,500 about an hour south of Rochester  found a leaflet affixed to the door, the police chief, T.J. Murray, said in an interview on Tuesday. On it were the words Aryan National Army and an image of a skull inside a swastika, he said.

By the time the weekend was over, Chief Murray said, officers had found similar material across town, mostly in plastic bags that also held rocks (presumably to keep them from blowing away). The tracts were in doorways, driveways and a park; on the porches of homes; and attached to the front of the Temple Beth-El synagogue.
During last years Windy fire, which burned through more than 1,700 acres in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, smoke jumpers  firefighters who usually leap into an active fire zone by parachute  spent about two days making their way up a smoldering tree, he said.

It took some workshopping, Mr. Dickman added. How do you climb a tree thats on fire?

The Mariposa Grove, scientists say, is probably less at risk than some other giant sequoia groves, given the decades of prescribed burning by the National Park Service that they hope has prepared it well to avoid the most serious consequences of a wildfire.

On Wednesday, the fire was 17 percent contained; with temperatures forecast to reach the low 90s this week, it was expected to run through the crowns of some trees and produce a large smoke column, the authorities said. More than 1,000 firefighters have been working to put out the blaze, they added.

The fire has already burned slowly along parts of the groves floor. Scientists and the authorities say the priority is to ensure it does not reach the tree canopy. Sequoias can withstand some heat and scorching on their trunks, but flames that reach the crown can torch them, as if it were a giant matchstick.

Once a majority of a giant sequoias leaves are gone, it can lose its photosynthetic capacity and die, Nate Stephenson, a scientist emeritus in forest ecology for the United States Geological Survey, said. Though giant sequoias need some fire to regenerate, Dr. Stephenson added, the conditions that fires are burning under right now have changed.
The rally organizer, Kylie Kremer, wrote: It cannot get out about the second stage because people will try and set up another and Sabotage it. It can also not get out about the march because I will be in trouble with the national park service and all the agencies but POTUS is going to just call for it unexpectedly.

Other text messages sent around that time showed that right-wing activists also believed Mr. Trump would be joining them as they massed at the Capitol.

Trump is supposed to order us to the capitol at the end of his speech but we will see, said Ali Alexander, who led the Stop the Steal campaign.

The committee also cited a deposition by the White House photographer, Shealah Craighead, who was present at an Oval Office gathering on the evening of Jan. 5, when Mr. Trump and some of his aides could hear a crowd of his supporters who were gathered nearby. Ms. Craighead testified that Mr. Trump was saying, We should go up to the Capitol. Whats the best route to the Capitol?

An Epic Oval Office Clash

Four days after states voted in the Electoral College, essentially ending all legal challenges to Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory, a group of Mr. Trumps outside advisers were hustled into the West Wing to meet with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office. The advisers  including the lawyer Sidney Powell and Michael T. Flynn, the retired general who had served briefly as Mr. Trumps national security adviser  came armed with draft executive orders they wanted Mr. Trump to sign that would have used the Defense Department to seize voting machines to try to prove baseless claims of election fraud.

Shortly after the meeting began, the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone  who did not believe the election had been stolen and had been pushing for Mr. Trump to concede  learned of it and rushed into the Oval Office so fast that Ms. Powell said he set a new land speed record.
WASHINGTON  President Donald J. Trump attempted to make the Jan. 6, 2021, march on the Capitol appear spontaneous even as he and his team intentionally assembled and galvanized a violence-prone mob to disrupt certification of his electoral defeat, the House committee investigating the attack showed on Tuesday.

POTUS is going to have us march there/the Capitol, Kylie Jane Kremer, an organizer of the Save America rally on Jan. 6, wrote in a Jan. 4 text shown by the panel on Tuesday as it detailed Mr. Trumps efforts to gather his backers in Washington for a final, last-ditch effort to overturn his loss. Ms. Kremer added that Mr. Trump was going to just call for it unexpectedly.

Mr. Trump weighed announcing the move, according to documents obtained from the National Archives, which provided the investigators with a draft tweet that said: I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!
But now, after Georgia Republicans passed an extensive law last year with a variety of balloting restrictions, Jackson and other Black faith leaders across the state worry that they need to do more to help Black Georgians exercise their right to vote.

So this week, more than a dozen of these faith leaders are starting Faith Works, a project with an initial budget of $2.6 million that will seek to organize voting operations across more than 1,000 churches in Georgia.

The enterprise is a first for Black churches in Georgia, leaders say, with a formal fund-raising and operations center that will bridge different regions and denominations. Informally, the leaders call themselves the Faith Avengers.

The initiative, which will be housed in a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded by the church leaders called Transforming Georgia, will offer small grants to churches to help customize get-out-the-vote operations, begin a social media advertising campaign, coordinate faith leaders messages on voting and build partnerships with other voting rights organizations, which are numerous across Georgia and have large national followings.
The meeting lasted for more than six hours, past midnight, and devolved into shouting that could be heard outside the room. Participants hurled insults and nearly came to blows. Some people left in tears.

Even by the standards of the Trump White House, where people screamed at one another and President Donald J. Trump screamed at them, the Dec. 18, 2020, meeting became known as an unhinged event  and an inflection point in Mr. Trumps desperate efforts to remain in power after he had lost the election.

Details of the meeting have been reported before, including by The New York Times and Axios, but at a public hearing on Tuesday of the Jan. 6 committee, participants in the mayhem offered a series of jolting new details of the meeting between Mr. Trump and rival factions of advisers.
WASHINGTON  Pat A. Cipollone, who served as White House counsel for President Donald J. Trump, was asked detailed questions on Friday about pardons, false election fraud claims and the former presidents pressure campaign against Vice President Mike Pence, according to three people familiar with his testimony before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The panel did not press him to either corroborate or contradict some specific details of explosive testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who captivated the country late last month with her account of an out-of-control president willing to embrace violence and stop at nothing to stay in power, the people said.

During a roughly eight-hour interview conducted behind closed doors in the ONeill House Office Building, the panel covered some of the same ground it did during an informal interview with Mr. Cipollone in April. In the session on Friday, which took place only after Mr. Cipollone was served with a subpoena, investigators focused mainly on Mr. Cipollones views on the events of Jan. 6 and generally did not ask about his views of other witnesses accounts.
In spring 2002, Representative Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat who was born in Vietnam, returned to the country for the first time as an adult with her father, as local elections were underway. She was shocked by the propaganda, as well as her relatives frank acknowledgment that their votes would not make a difference.

Her aunt basically checked the box, literally, on having voted  but knowing that it didnt matter what box she checked, Ms. Murphy recalled in an interview. That, to me, is so stunning. And we cant, in this incredible democracy, sow that kind of cynicism and allow people to get to a place where they believe that their vote doesnt count.

Her familys escape from a war-torn Vietnam to the United States is part of what has shaped Ms. Murphys work on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The first Vietnamese American woman elected to the House, Ms. Murphy is also reflecting on the work she did as a national security specialist for the Defense Department that often involved what she described as struggling or nascent democracies abroad.
Sri Lankas president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has fled to the Maldives, whose leaders have close ties with the president and his family.

Mr. Rajapaksa left around 2 a.m. Sri Lankan time on an air force plane, said Col. Nalin Herath, a spokesman for Sri Lankas Defense Ministry, on Wednesday.

The president arrived in the Maldives in a small, two-engine military transport plane, an AN-32, after asking to be taken to the neighboring island nation, according to Group Capt. Gihan Seneviratne, a spokesman for Sri Lankas air force. The plane has returned to Sri Lanka, he said.
GULF OF ADEN, July 13 -- Recently, the 41st Chinese naval escort taskforce, which currently is on escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, conducted a live-fire training exercise, in a bid to test the combat effectiveness of weapons and equipment in high temperatures, high humidity and high salt circumstance, as well as the warships' strike capacity in unknown sea areas.

The guided-missile destroyer Suzhou (Hull 132) attached to 41st Chinese naval escort taskforce sails to the designated maritime region to conduct live-fire exercise.
Sri Lankas leader, who fled the country on Wednesday, appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while the president is overseas, the speaker of the countrys parliament said in a statement.

The announcement by Mahinda Yapa Abywardena, the speaker, is likely to further complicate a day of tension and uncertainty in the country.

It fell short of an official resignation by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which the protesters had been expecting. And it promoted another leader whose resignation they have been demanding.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was named acting president of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled with his wife to the Maldives overnight.

But protesters have been calling for a wholesale change of the political leadership, whom they blame for nearly running the country into bankruptcy. And they did not back down after Mr. Wickremesinghe was appointed, storming his office as the police and military fired tear gas.

A prime minister six times over, Mr. Wickremesinghes leadership has been equated with Sri Lankas economic ambitions as well as its collapse.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksas ousting, after months of protest against him and the powerful ruling dynasty, does not necessarily open an easy path for Sri Lanka out of its economic and political crisis.

The transition to a new government now puts the spotlight on a parliament that has long frustrated the island nation of 22 million, with lawmakers and political parties engaging in protracted and messy fights over positions of power. What complicates the process: The ruling party loyal to the Rajapaksas still maintains a majority of the seats.

Sri Lankas constitution is clear on the succession. In the event of the president resigning, the prime minister takes on his duties in an interim capacity. The proceedings then turn to the parliament, where lawmakers vote for a new president from their midst to complete the remaining two years of Mr. Rajapaksas term.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  Police and military forces used tear gas to try to disperse a growing crowd outside the office of Sri Lankas prime minister, who was the top leader in the country after the president fled.

Protesters tried to push through the gates of the office of the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. A military helicopter flew overhead. Some people entered the grounds. Protesters have also demanded that Mr. Wickremesinghe resign. A spokesman for Mr. Wickremesinghe said the prime minister was not in his office.

Mr. Wickremesinghe expects to be sworn in as acting president, according to the Constitution, once President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hands in his resignation.
Image President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka in Colombo in February. Credit... Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  Sri Lanka plunged deeper into crisis on Wednesday as the prime minister took over the presidency and protesters lost patience with a political leadership that was not bending to their demands.

There was no clear sign of who was in charge for hours on Wednesday after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives in a military plane, but did not resign. With the uncertainty over who led the country, protesters surrounded the prime ministers residence where they were met with tear gas in the capital, Colombo.

Mr. Rajapaksas appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president is unlikely to satisfy the demands of protesters calling for a wholesale change of the political leadership, whom they blame for nearly running the country into bankruptcy. The movement against Mr. Rajapaksa and his allies has been building for months as fuel, food and other basics have dwindled and become more expensive.

Protesters did not back down after Mr. Wickremesinghe, the prime minister  who had said over the weekend that he would step down  assumed the presidency. The crowd outside his office swelled. They broke through and took over the building; another group took over the state broadcaster. In his first address as acting president, Mr. Wickremesinghe declared a curfew and referred to some protesters as a fascist threat.

Daily life in Sri Lanka has been upended for months, with the country essentially depleted of foreign-currency reserves necessary to buy essential imports. Food, fuel and medicine are in critically short supply and the prices have soared, power cuts have become the norm, and public transportation is often suspended to shore up fuel supplies.

Whoever runs the country next inherits a nation that will be difficult to stabilize. The leadership will need to earn the trust of protesters and convince lenders  including steadfast allies like India  that they can dig the nation out of its economic hole.

The transition to a new government will put the spotlight on a Parliament that has long frustrated the island nation of 22 million, with lawmakers and political parties engaging in protracted and messy fights over positions of power. Complicating matters, the governing party loyal to the Rajapaksa family still holds a majority of the seats.

Sri Lankas Constitution is clear on succession. In the event that a president resigns, the prime minister takes on his duties in an interim capacity. The proceedings then turn to Parliament, where lawmakers vote for a new president from their midst to complete the years left of Mr. Rajapaksas term.
One of the first signs of trouble came just before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

The newly elected president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fulfilled a campaign promise and enacted sweeping tax cuts in November 2019. The move would stimulate the local economy, said Mr. Rajapaksa, a member of a family that has dominated the countrys politics in recent decades.

But that plan was ground to a halt by the virus. Travel restrictions and lockdowns were a body blow to Sri Lankas tourism-based economy. And, crucially, the country was deprived of the foreign currency that it uses to buy fuel.

Credit-ratings agencies were soon warning about Sri Lankas deteriorating ability to pay down its already high debt. But, as the strains from the tax cuts on government coffers intensified and the Sri Lankan rupee lost value, Mr. Rajapaksa was unbowed.
The European Space Agency is formally ending its partnership with Russia on a rover mission to explore the surface of Mars, the agencys chief said on Tuesday, citing Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

ESA, an intergovernmental organization with 22 member nations, paused cooperation with Roscosmos, Russias state space agency, in March to comply with Western sanctions, after ESAs leadership council agreed unanimously on the impossibility of continuing to work together under the circumstances.

As an intergovernmental organization whose mandate was to develop and implement space programs in full respect with European values, the agency said in a news release at the time, we deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine.
Mr. Rasolouf tackled the subject of the death penalty in Iran in There is No Evil, which won Berlins top prize in 2020. He also won a prize at Cannes in 2011 for his film Goodbye, which tells the familiar story of young professionals desperate to leave Iran.

Both men had previously been prosecuted on murky charges. Mr. Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison in 2011, was banned from leaving the country and was banned from making movies for 20 years on charges of creating propaganda against the government. Mr. Rasolouf was sentenced in 2019 to a year in prison, and was given a two-year ban on making films and on leaving the country, on charges of colluding with the enemy against national security.

Kaveh Farnam, a Dubai-based producer who has collaborated with Mr. Rasolouf on his films since 2015, said the governments intention was to silence artists. Their goal is only to create fear and terror among the cinema and artistic community so nobody dares to criticize them, he said. They think if they can shut down Rasolouf and Panahi, everyone else will be silenced, too.

Mr. Rasolouf and Mr. Aleahmad were arrested on July 8 when security forces raided their homes and offices and confiscated their equipment, according to Mr. Farnam. They were taken to Evin prison and placed in solitary confinement, where prisoners typically undergo intense interrogation, he said.

On Monday, a group of the mens supporters, including Mr. Panahi, gathered outside the prison to demand their release. Mr. Panahi was called to the prosecutors office inside the prison, but when he went there, accompanied by a lawyer and another film associate, he was also arrested, said Mr. Farnam.
The portrait artist Barkley L. Hendricks, who died in 2017, considered the Frick Collection one of his favorite museums. Now Hendrickss celebratory, large-scale paintings of Black Americans will hang in that institution, long the home of Rembrandt, Bronzino and Van Dyck, as the first artist of color to have a solo show at the 87-year-old Frick.

In the fall of 2023, the museum will intersperse about a dozen of Hendrickss portraits among its own holdings in an exhibition at its temporary home, Frick Madison. Hendricks made life-size portraits of Black friends, relatives and strangers he encountered on the street  paintings that only recently have been widely recognized by museums and the art market but helped set an assertive tone for figuration and opened the field for many younger artists.

He was painting in the old master tradition  the quality is great, their visual impact is there, said Aimee Ng, a curator at the Frick. We wanted to foreground his paintings as we would treat any historical artist.
The puppet stands 20 inches tall, hand-painted and carved out of wood, its uniform tattered and torn. But for all it has endured over more than 80 years  buried in a backyard in Belgium at the outset of World War II, dug up after the war and taken on a nine-day cross-Atlantic journey, stored and almost forgotten in an attic in Oakland, Calif.  it remains, with its black toothbrush mustache and right arm raised in a Nazi salute, immediately and chillingly recognizable.

It is a depiction of Hitler, hand-carved and painted in the late 1930s by an amateur Dutch puppeteer, Isidore (Mike) Oznowicz, and clothed by his Flemish wife, Frances, as they lived in prewar Belgium.

The Hitler marionette, an instrument of parody and defiance, offers an intriguing glimpse into the strong puppetry tradition in the family of the man who retrieved it from that attic: Frank Oz, one of its creators sons, who went on to become one of the 20th centurys best-known puppeteers, bringing Cookie Monster, Bert, Miss Piggy and others to life through his collaborations with Jim Henson, and later becoming a force in the Star Wars movies, giving voice to Yoda. The marionette will be shown publicly for the first time later this month at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

The book is based on the events and missteps of your late 20s and early 30s. How close does the show hew to your actual life?

Its a healthy combination of writers room and real life. My brother really is a state rep. But I would not hook up with his political rival. Thats not my vibe. We wanted to have fun with it  the times when I was crazy broke and running around, hustling. The whole wear-and-return thing? I did that for years. I would get a cute outfit for an event. And then I would be like: OK, no one spill on me. No one sweat. Because Im going to return this later. We just mix it all up together. TV Phoebe is certainly messier than I ever was. Shes smart and funny and lovable, but she operates with whatever feels good in the moment. I like to believe Im a bit more mindful than that. Shes just living her life.

When I think of comedies about young women being trash, I think of Girls or Broad City. Have Black women felt as free to be trash?
Putins oil war with the West

As Russia pushes to find new buyers for its oil amid tough Western sanctions, it is cutting into the market shares of two of its allies  Iran and Venezuela  and setting off a price war that could hurt them all. Experts expect that if the oil battle intensifies, it will raise tensions with the Kremlin even as Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, works to shore up his alliances.

The oil competition set off by Russias invasion of Ukraine already appears to be pushing Venezuela a bit closer to the West after years of a deep freeze in relations. Any possible deal to bring more Venezuelan crude oil onto world markets would help the U.S., which is increasingly desperate to reduce oil prices to limit the damage to Western economies from the war.

The resurgence of oil and gas prices  and the fact that so much of the global supply comes from Russia  has been Putins strongest weapon against the West, giving him outsize geopolitical clout. Oil prices in recent months hit levels not seen since 2008, increasing Russias oil revenue and helping feed the countrys war machine.
New leadership in Sri Lanka

For hours yesterday, it was not clear who was in charge of Sri Lanka.

The president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives overnight  but did not resign. His appointed replacement, Ranil Wickremesinghe, moved from his role as prime minister to become acting president yesterday. Wickremesinghe had previously said he would resign.

After the transfer of power, crowds took over Wickremesinghes office and the state broadcaster. In his first address as acting president, Wickremesinghe declared a curfew and referred to some protesters as a fascist threat.

Details: The military met protesters with tear gas yesterday. One man died of exposure, a rights group said.
Delta said it had hired more than 18,000 employees since the start of 2021, restoring its work force to about 95 percent of the size it was in 2019. But even then, training bottlenecks have prevented airlines from putting hires to work right away. At Delta, thousands are in the hiring, orientation or training process, Deltas chief financial officer, Dan Janki, said on the call.

Such problems have challenged the industrys ability to capitalize on one of the busiest periods for travel in years. A daily average of nearly 2.3 million people have been screened at airport security checkpoints since the beginning of June, according to Transportation Security Administration data. That figure is still down about 11 percent from a similar period in 2019, but up about 17 percent from last year.

Weve never been in an environment where capacity has been constrained in the way it is today and unable to meet the demand thats out there, said Dan Akins, an aviation economist with Flightpath Economics, a consulting firm.

Airlines have made cutbacks to ensure they have the resources and workers on hand to avoid widespread delays and cancellations. In May, for example, carriers slashed about 2.5 percent of the domestic flights they had scheduled for June through August, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider.

Deltas recent decision to limit capacity reflects greater constraint than any of its peers: The airline is offering fewer flights and seats from July through September, relative to its schedule over the same months in 2019, than any other major U.S. airline, according to Cirium.

Still, Deltas leadership is optimistic about the months ahead, saying the airline expects to report a meaningful profit this year.
Netflix has selected Microsoft to help build its forthcoming ad-supported tier, the streaming giant said on Wednesday.

In April, after announcing in its first-quarter earnings report that it had lost subscribers for the first time in a decade, Netflix unexpectedly said it would introduce a less expensive offering with commercials to try to boost subscription numbers. At the time, Reed Hastings, a co-chief executive at Netflix, said the company would seek a third party to help build the new tier. Netflix has never had a dedicated sales and advertising team, and for years had vowed that commercials would never appear on its service.

Since the announcement, Netflix had talked to a number of companies about a potential partnership, including NBCUniversal, Google and the Trade Desk.
Every day late in the afternoon, women lugging bags of sticks on their back spill out of the brush onto a highway just south of the Equator. Men pass on motorbikes, one after another, hauling bags of charcoal. Boys trudge along with a single log slung over their shoulders, as if theyre toting a baguette.

Deep in the trees, Debay Ipalensenda puts down his ax and joins this forest parade, which is slowly destroying one of the worlds most important landscapes, all to cook a meal.

The scene plays out not only on this stretch of road in the Democratic Republic of Congo but all across the 1.3 million square miles of rainforest across the Congo Basin, home of the second largest old-growth rainforest in the world.
The C.D.C. said the outbreaks of drug-resistant infections were likely abetted by a nationwide shortage of face masks, gloves and gowns  the vital armor that protects health workers and helps limit the spread of pathogens as they travel from room to room. Because of staff shortages and overwhelmed wards at many hospitals, infection control specialists were often reassigned to provide basic patient care rather than carry out their usual duties of promoting the appropriate use of antibiotics, hand washing and other safety measures, the report said.

These setbacks can and must be temporary, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., said in a statement accompanying the report. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear  prevention is preparedness. We must prepare our public health systems to fight multiple threats simultaneously.

Federal officials were especially concerned about the increased spread of some of the most dangerous pathogens. They found a 78 percent spike in infections of Acinetobacter, a bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotic carbapenem and that often spreads among intensive care patients, and a 60 percent rise in Candida auris, a deadly fungus that often stalks nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

The analysis highlights what public health experts have long described as a slow-moving pandemic. More than 700,000 people across the world die each year from infections that no longer respond to antimicrobial drugs, and health experts warn that the death toll could climb to 10 million by 2050 without a concerted effort to reduce the overuse of antibiotics and to develop new medications.
For months, scientists around the world have been investigating cases of severe, unexplained hepatitis, or liver inflammation, in previously healthy children. At least 920 probable cases have been detected in 33 countries since October, according to the World Health Organization. About 5 percent have required liver transplants, and 18 deaths have been reported.

So far, explanations have remained elusive. A significant share of hepatitis cases in children have always been unexplained. There is still no consensus on whether such cases have become more common, and it is not clear whether the recently reported cases, which remain rare, are part of a new medical phenomenon or share an underlying cause.

But more detailed case investigations are beginning to provide clues.

Two new studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, report that two medical centers  one in Birmingham, Ala., and another in Birmingham, England  have seen increases in the number of children with acute, unexplained hepatitis in recent months.
Adapted from the novel The Girl Who Deserves to Die by Bang Jin-ho, the screenwriter Nam Ji-woongs undercooked script leaves the interpersonal dynamics between Ui-gang and his wife underwritten. While the nimble Jang holds together the robust action sequences  bloody freakouts often captured in slow motion  no one else grounds any of the scenes with any emotion. Consequently, The Killer fails to land a real knockout blow.

The Killer

Not rated. In Korean, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. In theaters.
There is a hush-hush building in North Hollywood full of supersuits and scraps, a costume warehouse where Marvel Studios preserves every major outfit that its heroes have worn onscreen during the last decade and a half. For the costume designer Mayes Rubeo, touring the warehouse is always a fun trip, not least because there is an aisle of costume leftovers from her work on Thor: Ragnarok that comprises the most colorful section of the entire building.

Bringing color into somebodys world is so cool, Rubeo said. Im Mexican, and I live in Italy, so Im not afraid of color whatsoever.

If anything, Rubeos work on the new sequel Thor: Love and Thunder is even more vivid: In an era when superhero costumes tend to be toned down from whats on the page, and films like The Batman eschew color and light for dark squalor, Rubeo instead favors a flamboyant approach. And the plot of Thor: Love and Thunder, which finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) teaming up with his ex-girlfriend, Jane (Natalie Portman), as she deals with her suddenly granted superpowers, allowed Rubeo plenty of room to go against the grain.
A WCO National Workshop on Customs Laboratory was held in the headquarters of Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD), in Putrajaya, from 4 to 7 July 2022. The Workshop, which was also a diagnostic mission, was organized jointly by the WCO and Malaysian Customs, with the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund. It was attended by 24 officials who work at the headquarters and the regional Customs.

At the opening of the Workshop, the Deputy Director General of RMCD, Dato Abdullah Bin Jaafar, remarked that world economic activities are progressing more quickly and a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia needed to be established as soon as possible for achieving Customs missions, such as revenue collection and border enforcement of controlled substances by providing analytical results.

During the Workshop, participants and the WCO experts discussed their analysis needs and relevant areas of analytical methodology, the infrastructure model and action plans for the establishment of a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia. The outcomes were compiled as a recommendation and submitted to RMCD at the closing of the Workshop.

At the closing ceremony the Acting Director General of RMCD, Dato Haji Zazuli Bin Johan, remarked that one of the main reasons why RMCD intended to have their own Customs Laboratory as to promote trade facilitation by reducing the time required for analysis. He thanked the representatives from the WCO Secretariat for facilitating the high-level discussion on this topic and expected that the workshop would facilitate the establishment of a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia.
The document dump  a coup for the group but a serious blow to the C.I.A.  included instructions for compromising various commonly used computer tools, and then using them to spy: the online calling service Skype; Wi-Fi networks; PDF documents; and even commercial antivirus programs of the kind used by millions of people to protect their computers.

The breach, known as the Vault 7 leak, caused catastrophic damage to national security, the government said.

Investigators scrambled to find the culprit, and the trail eventually led to Mr. Schulte, a computer engineer for the agency who had helped create hacking tools as a coder at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va.

There, according to the government, Mr. Schulte and his team of elite programmers worked in a secret building protected by armed guards, designing, among other things, malware that targeted the computers of suspected terrorists.

F.BI. agents searched Mr. Schultes Manhattan apartment a week after WikiLeaks released the first of the C.I.A. documents, and then prevented him from flying to Mexico on vacation, according to court records and relatives. In June 2018, he was charged with being at the center of the breach.

When it published the information, WikiLeaks said the source hoped to raise policy questions that need to be debated in public, including whether the C.I.A.s hacking capabilities exceeded its mandated powers.
The accidents cause remained under investigation. In a press briefing on Tuesday, Inspector Anthony Russo of the Police Departments Harbor Unit said that a mix of factors, including a lot of commercial, recreational traffic, may have contributed.

There had been a small craft advisory for New York Harbor, at the mouth of the Hudson, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations New York office. There were gusts of 15 to 20 miles per hour in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, with a peak of close to 27 miles per hour in midafternoon, a spokesman said.

Capt. Richard Werner, owner of Safe Boating America, a training company, said he would not go out during such an advisory because the wind is just too strong.

The boat that capsized was being held at a police harbor unit location on Randalls Island. It was not immediately clear who owned the craft, was operating it at the time of the accident or how the passengers came to be on it.

Ms. Vasquez came to Elizabeth, N.J., about 20 years ago from Medellin, Colombia, said a niece, Lina Vasquez, 30, who got a call from her mother Tuesday telling her to turn on the television. There, she saw her relatives.

Lindelia Vasquez had three children  two young adults and one teenager  who were in the boat with her, according to Lina Vasquez.
At the end of March, the city had 446 fewer municipal employees than it had at the start of the month, according to previously unreported data acquired via a Freedom of Information request. In the previous month, the city had a net loss of 581 employees.

The 7.7 percent staffing vacancy rate  the percent of budgeted positions that remain vacant  vastly exceeds the 1.5 percent figure in March 2019 and in March 2020, as well as the 1.2 percent in March 2014, three months after Bill de Blasio became mayor.

The staffing crisis is part of a national trend: As more workers level up in the job market or set up their own businesses, and as others opt out for lack of child care, a phenomenon known as the Great Resignation has taken hold. But, to paraphrase Tolstoy, each workplace fosters unhappiness in its own way.

Erik Linsalata, 38, left his job as a parks department engineer because he no longer felt he had the resources to do work he was proud of. Casandra Kennedy, a 28-year-old public health adviser, quit because of the citys full return-to-office edict, and her pay was too low.

Rob Poole, a former project manager at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, left for a private-sector job opportunity in the same field that offered significantly more pay. He said that many co-workers had quit before him, causing his workload to balloon.
As it happened, the city was in the midst of a mayoral race at the time. Ed Koch, a long-shot candidate and longtime progressive, capitalized on the fear and outrage spreading across the city to refashion himself into the law-and-order candidate. Its entirely possible that without the blackout, he never would have been elected mayor.

Didnt the city tell cops to report to the nearest station house, not the one they were assigned to?

Yes, after the lights went out, the order went out that officers should respond to the nearest precinct. Of course, many cops lived outside the city, in New Jersey, Westchester or Long Island, and so the nearest precincts were not in central Brooklyn or the South Bronx or other neighborhoods where the looting was especially rampant.

Its also worth noting that at the time, the city was just a few years removed from its infamous brush with bankruptcy, and budget cuts had forced massive layoffs across the N.Y.P.D., so not only were their numbers depleted but morale in the department was low. In some cases, the whole criminal-justice apparatus was just completely overmatched by the sheer number of looters. Many of the cops I interviewed in Bushwick told me wild and disturbing stories about stuffing looters into the trunks of patrol cars, and handcuffing them to radiators and tables in the overcrowded station house.

Did the blackout point the way to where we are now? In 1977, New York was still struggling to put the fiscal crisis in the past. Now New York is struggling to put a different crisis in the past, but one that has created a tremendous economic burden.

Well, Id say yes and no. I think the blackout revealed how desperate the social and economic conditions had become in certain parts of the city, and there was actually some debate about whether the looting should be seen as criminality or as a misguided form of protest. And perversely, because the poorest neighborhoods were hit the hardest, many store owners lacked the means (or insurance policies) to enable them to sustain the losses and damage. For many years after, Broadway, in Bushwick, was largely abandoned.
A cousin of Mr. Murphys, Tameka Wilkerson of Knoxville, Tenn., said that Mr. Murphy had been having mental issues for years and that he was sometimes paranoid, hearing voices and seeing people.

Growing up in Knoxville, Mr. Murphy, the son of a hospital nurse, liked to play video games, tell jokes and liked sports, just a regular teenage kid, Ms. Wilkerson said.

She said he had worked as a patient transporter at a hospital before mental illness overtook him, and that she had not been in contact with him for several years. She and several other family members had heard he had died.

The police in New York said that there was a warrant for Mr. Murphys arrest in Tennessee for violating probation on a drug charge.

While it was not clear when he moved to New York, he was a client of the citys Department of Homeless Services for the first time in 2018, according to an employee of a homeless services provider who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Mr. Murphys case.

In April of this year, Mr. Murphy was charged with assaulting a sleeping roommate at a homeless shelter near La Guardia Airport. According to court papers, Mr. Murphys roommate was woken up by getting hit in the face and saw that Mr. Murphy was the only other person in the room. Mr. Murphy was released without bail and was due back in court next week on the assault charge.
Last year, as an alternative to the temporary expansion of the child tax credit under President Bidens American Rescue Plan, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah introduced a plan to give every family a monthly benefit of up to $350 per child for children 5 and under and $250 per child for children 6 to 17. It was simple, generous (it included a payment before birth, too) and  on paper, at least  effective. According to the Niskanen Center, which helped devise the proposal, the Romney plan would cut overall child poverty by roughly a third and the deepest child poverty by half.

Republicans hated it. His Senate colleagues Marco Rubio and Mike Lee denounced Romneys plan as welfare assistance, and called for pro-work policies to assist families. An essential part of being pro-family is being pro-work, the senators said. Congress should expand the child tax credit without undercutting the responsibility of parents to work to provide for their families.

Romney, who voted against Bidens rescue package, went back to the drawing board and recently unveiled a less generous version of his plan aimed at winning Republican support in the Senate. In this iteration, which would fill the gap left by the expiration of the Biden expansion in December, a family with children would have to earn at least $10,000 per year to qualify for the full credit. Below that, the benefit would scale proportionally so that a family earning $5,000 per year would receive 50 percent of the credit. The most impoverished families would receive the smallest benefits.
I know that the attention Oh God, a Show About Abortion has gotten is not because I wrote a perfect comedy show. Its in part because were living through a tumultuous and painful  and hopefully brief  moment when the right to abortion has been ripped away. Its also because a lot of people appear to relate to my story. I talk in the show about how I feel bad about not feeling bad about my abortion. I talk about how hard it is to be a woman who doesnt want children in a culture that doesnt make room for us outside of a few depressing stereotypes. I talk about how surprisingly simple my abortion experience was, despite the fact that every corner of our society told me it would be an overwhelming tragedy. I get messages from audience members all the time telling me they were delighted or relieved to see something they have felt or experienced accurately reflected back at them, without apology.

I understand that not everyone wants to approach abortion with jokes. I understand it feeling too soon to laugh in the wake of Roe being overturned, and I understand people whose experiences were traumatic. But for those who are up for it, I think having a healthy sense of humor  one that is predicated on personal vulnerability  is an extremely valuable coping mechanism in these dark days of American culture.

While my abortion experience was easy and privileged, and I make jokes about it for a living, the realities of my life without that simple procedure are not funny to me. I would be raising a child alone. I wouldnt be able to live in my apartment in Brooklyn. I wouldnt be able to afford the kind of child care that would allow me to continue my professional life.

I hope that the show helps destigmatize a procedure that should have no stigma. The show also has helped me on a personal level. I needed to laugh through my abortion experience because the alternative  the way my life without the abortion could have turned out  is so upsetting.
The United States needs to demonstrate consistency in support of its values alongside its strategic goals. It is easy for Saudi leaders to dismiss Mr. Bidens human rights rhetoric if the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, which the State Department said was likely caused by gunfire from Israel Defense Forces positions, generates nothing like the official outrage over the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. The absence of a smoking gun didnt stop the United States from investigating Saudi conduct and publicly announcing its findings to demonstrate a commitment to freedom of the press. Failing to raise the issue of Ms. Abu Aklehs death during Mr. Bidens visit to Israel would strengthen Saudi charges that U.S. commitment to its values is entirely conditional.

The United States should push for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia only if it can guarantee that the Saudi government wont suppress Saudi voices opposed to normalization. And the United States must voice its support for Palestinians rights as much as it supports the Israelis. If and when normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel happens, it shouldnt be used to erase the human rights violations of both governments.

Saudi Arabia is substantially investing in the transformation of its digital infrastructure, which has become essential to the success of Vision 2030, Prince Mohammeds plan to overhaul the economy  and his legacy. At the same time, the country has become a case study in digital authoritarianism. The government benefits from its citizens exceptionally high connectivity to promote disinformation and propaganda, collect data on and deploy spyware against dissidents, and hack and trace its enemies.

The United States is already blacklisting firms that provide digital repression tools to Saudi Arabia, such as the Israeli NSO Group. But it should also find ways to collaborate with Saudi Arabia on the institutional and legal frameworks that regulate the technological environment in the kingdom. For instance, the United States can capitalize on Saudi Arabias craving for U.S. technology by linking U.S. digital support and investments to the adoption of safeguards that protect digital human rights and privacy.

The Biden administration also needs to continue targeting Saudi enablers of authoritarian behavior through coercive diplomacy. The Khashoggi ban, a visa restriction policy instituted by the State Department in response to the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, is a good start that should continue. Individuals acting on behalf of the Saudi government who are involved in the repression of Saudi nationals at home and abroad must pay a price.

Similarly, the regulation of relevant Saudi intelligence and paramilitary training must continue. In 2019, The Washington Post revealed that the State Department had refused a proposal to train the Saudi intelligence service because of insufficient safeguards by the Saudis to prevent lawless operations against political dissidents. To go further, the United States could apply more scrutiny to training that former military and law enforcement officials offer the kingdom privately.
To the Editor:

My youngest daughter is deciding where to go to college. Immediately after the Dobbs ruling, she crossed all colleges in anti-choice states off her list. We will not continue to live in Texas after she graduates.

To all corporations moving to Texas, I say, watch out. Top talent will not want to work in this state. Once young families realize how challenging reproductive privacy will be in Texas (theres a bounty for outing women wanting to terminate their pregnancy), they will demand to be relocated.

Its crazy that, in 2022, women have to notify their human resources department for funds to travel to terminate their pregnancy. Why must they negotiate a maze of appointments, airfares, hotels, corporate policy and state laws to control the autonomy of their bodies? I ask all C.E.O.s, how exactly do you think women will feel going through a ritual no man will ever need?

Once again, we are second-class citizens, while men reign supreme. I say to all citizens of this country, do not live in states that do not support a womans autonomy over her body, her life. Do not pay taxes or support any endeavor in these states. We must boycott every anti-choice state and show them how wrong they are!
His interlocutor, the Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, was dubious: After all, the Republican senator Mitt Romney proposed family-oriented legislation last year that would have given direct aid to parents, but that policy scheme has met opposition from other members of his party. My bet  and well find this out  is that rather than a right-wing turn toward a more robust welfare state or kind of more communitarian policymaking, we are going to see even more punitive policies, Goldberg said. Were going to see a focus on who can be criminalized. Were going to see more investigations of miscarriages. Were going to see doctors in jail.

The road ahead for abortion rights

In the short term, one of the most salutary steps abortion-supportive states can take is to pass laws that protect providers and seekers of abortions, David S. Cohen, Greer Donley and Rachel Rebouche argue in The Times. All states, they note, have laws that require their courts to assist in other states depositions, subpoenas and legal processes. Abortion-supportive states could amend those laws to prohibit cooperation with out-of-state investigations into abortions that are legal within their borders and with efforts to extradite those who perform them. Similarly, abortion-supportive states could instruct their medical boards and malpractice insurance companies not to participate in actions against out-of-state abortion providers that would threaten their medical licenses or insurance status.

There is no doubt that these actions could threaten basic principles of cooperation and comity that are required for a country of 50 states to function as a united whole, they write. But these principles already have been frayed by anti-abortion states like Missouri attempting to legislate outside their borders.

In the national electoral arena, Democrats should campaign by appealing to voters credible fears of a national abortion ban, Ana Marie Cox argues in The Times, as well as by pledging to take specific actions to protect abortion access. I am honestly unsure if it matters what those action items are; I do know Democrats will have to throw out any concern for the appearance of moderation, she writes. Right now, all the ideas about bridging the gap to abortion access sound extreme, but, she adds, so did overturning Roe v. Wade.

Some prominent supporters of abortion rights have stressed that voting alone is a necessary but insufficient response to the moment. We need to fill the streets, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at a rally in front of the Supreme Court last month. We need sand in every damn gear.
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These little peeks into my moms life, I felt like they were revelatory, because I got to see how my mom told her own story. Entry by entry, I was witnessing my mom get to know herself in a way I really hadnt ever before. In todays essay, a mother shares something big with her son, a part of her narrative that shes kept hidden for years. This story is written and read by Ayad Akhtar.

So I thought it would be juicy. But the wildest she got was talking about her crush on this guy named Tony. And whenever she wrote his name, she drew this little heart around it. Most of the entries were just pure teen girl, how excited she was to wear the plaid bottoms she saved up for  it was the 70s  or when her friend said my moms house smelled like weird Chinese food. So my mom said her friends house smelled like wet dog.

From The New York Times, Im Anna Martin. This is Modern Love. So a few years ago, I found my moms childhood diary. On the front page are these really big bubble letters shed written: Keep Out.

Can I get you two something cold to drink? the poolside waiter asked my mother. It was a hot day. He was holding a check over his brow to block the sun and wearing only short shorts. He couldnt have presented a stronger contrast to the woman he was addressing. My mother was in a body-length, long-sleeved linen gown.

Virgin pina colada, she said.

Same, I said. My mother knew I drank alcohol, but she didnt like it when I drank in her presence. We were in Naples, Florida on our familys annual spring break vacation, a tradition we had continued even as my brother and I entered midlife.

At this point, the vacation routines were well honed. My father rose early and walked to the pier, where he rented a pole and fished. My mother rose later and after breakfast, planted herself by the pool to read. She was reading The Bluest Eye.

But as we sat side by side in chaise lounges, she kept the book closed. I sensed her stewing and wondered what was bothering her.

All at once, she turned to me and asked brightly, Should we go for a walk along the water?

On the beach my mother was the only person fully covered, neck to foot. In all my years as her son, I had never seen her legs above the tops of her ankles, and certainly never seen her in anything remotely like a swimsuit  though shed worn one as a child, having learned and loved to swim. Whenever we walked along the water, she would roll up her pants or gather the front of her gown so she could feel the surf wash up over her feet.

Id often wondered if she missed being in the water, but Id never thought to ask. I knew the choice was her own. My father was neither a practicing nor believing Muslim and he wouldnt have cared if she wanted to show some skin. At 67, she was still beautiful, though less concerned with appearing so.

My parents had met in Pakistan in the early 60s, both ridiculously attractive, if the tales their friends told and the pictures taken of them at the time could be trusted. My mothers parents had fielded two dozen proposals for her before she ended up surprising her family by falling in love with a fellow medical student in Lahore.

My fathers parents werent any happier about the match. Theyd already announced their decision to arrange their only sons marriage and selected a prospective bride. So they didnt even bother to show up to the wedding.

Though theirs had been a love match, my parents marriage was rocky from the start.

My father had a wandering eye and didnt seem to feel that being married should stop him from acting on it. By the time I was four, I already knew my father had other women, as my mother used to call them.

This was their toxic central conflict. And it defined much of my childhood. It defined the narrative of their marriage, or so I thought.

As she and I walked along the shore, her slippers in one hand, the front of her gown bunched up in the other, she started to tell me a story. In the mid 1980s, when I was not yet in high school, she had worked for a time at the Medical College of Wisconsin. An early specialist in nuclear imaging, she was in unusually high demand then, driving all over Milwaukee to read scans at various hospitals.

Although her time covering shifts at the Medical College had been short, barely two years, I had long known she was particularly fond of the place. I had always assumed her affection had something to do with the institutions prestige. But primarily I would discover it was about a man, a surgeon there.

Like her, he was married with two children. They met one night when he was on call and she was at the hospital late reading a scan for one of his patients. Tall with dusty blond hair and the build of an athlete, he had played football in college, but didnt carry himself with a swagger and self-regard one tended to find, she said, in surgeons  especially those who had been athletes. He was humble, she said of the surgeon, as she watched the water moisten her feet, an insinuation of a smile on her lips. That humility is what drew me to him.

I was glad she wasnt looking at me as she spoke. I had never imagined my mother desiring my father, let alone another man. As startled as I was, I didnt want her to stop.

We would meet in the canteen for dinner, she said. I didnt like the food there. So I brought Desi food from home  daal, bhindi. He fell in love with Pakistani food.

She looked at me. And he didnt fall in love with just Pakistani food. And he wasnt the only one.

There was something about her face I didnt recognize, a quiet fierceness. She looked away. Up ahead, I thought I spied my fathers silhouette on the horizon. It was about that time of morning when he started to make his way back to the hotel. My heart started to race.

He wasnt happy with his wife, she said. I wasnt happy with my husband. But nothing happened. We each had two kids. We were from different cultures.

What was the point of putting everyone through all that pain? Just so we could be happy? I know thats what a lot of people in this country think it means to be free. But thats not the kind of person I am.

I knew this last idea about freedom was a rejoinder addressed to me about my father. I knew she felt this way about him, though I had come to wonder if it was a fair assessment. After all, he hadnt left his family either.

The man ahead I could see now was, indeed, my father, trundling toward us with a red fish dangling from his hand. My mother still hadnt noticed him. I think thats Dad up ahead, I said. She looked up. Speak of the devil.

Caught us some lunch, father said as he approached holding up the fish. Snapper. Going to take it to the kitchen to see what they can do.

She replied, I just had breakfast.

How about you, he said, turning to me.

If her dismissal bothered him, I couldnt tell. Their long domestic strife, waged in withering looks and muttered replies, suddenly appeared less dramatic. Maybe it was just how they got through their decision to stay together.

Sure, I said.

Mom and I were walking, though. Well see you back at the hotel.

Once he was gone, my mother and I continued in silence. The atmosphere of complicity was gone. The confession was over. She dropped her gown as she headed for higher ground.

I followed her to the top of a large dune. Did you stay in touch with him? I said as I joined her. She shook her head. He moved away. We had a few letters, but that was it.

She looked out at the ocean. After an awkward silence, she said, I thought you should know.

For a moment, I saw the younger, arresting woman Id known as a child. I was finally seeing through the role she had played her whole life, that of my mother, a role I believed she had loved and which had come to define her in so many ways  not entirely.

Our eyes met now and her tentative, vulnerable expression surprised me. I fought the urge to look away and spare us a discomfort I assumed we were both feeling. Something new was happening between us.

I didnt want to revert to being the son who only saw a mother he loved and needed, but who he assumed ultimately belonged to him.

I held her gaze.

Im glad you told me, I said.

She smiled.

We lingered on the dune a little longer. And then she gathered up her robe and we headed back down to the water.
When The New York Times tried to view Ms. Macks TikTok profile on Tuesday afternoon, the app displayed a message that read Account banned. In a text message, Ms. Mack said she was not given a warning beforehand and had not known that her account was down. On Tuesday evening, a representative for TikTok told The Times in an email that Ms. Macks account had been restored. The company did not comment on the reason for the apparent ban.

The twerking video quickly gained traction and has since racked up over 220,000 views and 3,000 comments. Some celebrated what they viewed as joyful self-expression. One TikTok user praised Ms. Mack, commenting, If more politicians acted like they were normal people, I would feel more able to trust them.

Others condemned the post. Tucker Carlson mocked Ms. Mack during his show on Fox News, and Lavern Spicer, a Republican congressional candidate in Florida, wrote on Twitter that the state senator had disgraced herself and disgraced every Black woman running for public office.

Ms. Mack said she had not anticipated that the video would go viral. But instead of shying away from the spotlight, she chose to embrace the momentum. She posted more videos on TikTok, wrote an article for Newsweek and started the Twitter campaign #TwerkFor to highlight the core tenets of her political platform. I #TwerkFor joy, abortion justice, body autonomy, trans rights and intersex rights, she wrote.
All three companies said their products would get better over time, and both AudioEye and UserWay said they were investing in research and development to improve artificial intelligence abilities.

David Moradi, the chief executive of AudioEye, said his automated service and others like it were the only way to fix the internets millions of active websites  a vast majority of which are not accessible for people who are blind or low vision. Automation has to come into play. Otherwise, were never going to fix this problem, and this is a massive problem, he said.

Accessibility experts, however, would prefer that companies not use automated accessibility overlays. Ideally, they say, organizations would hire and train full-time employees to oversee these efforts. But doing so can be difficult.

There is absolutely a call for people with accessibility experience, and the jobs are out there, said Adrian Roselli, who has worked as a digital accessibility consultant for two decades. The skills arent there yet to match because its been such a niche industry for so long.

This gap, he said, has given the companies selling automated accessibility tools a chance to proliferate, offering websites seemingly quick solutions to their accessibility problems while sometimes making it harder for people who are blind to navigate the web.

On accessiBes website, for example, the company claims that in up to 48 hours after its JavaScript code is installed, a clients page will be accessible and compliant with the American With Disabilities Act, which the Department of Justice made clear in recent guidance applied to all online goods and services offered by public businesses and organizations.
There are two things that need to happen, said Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group in San Francisco. One is surveillance self-defense, which is important but not sufficient. And the second is to enact legislation that protects reproductive privacy.

In Congress, one of the toughest new legislative proposals is the My Body, My Data Act. Introduced in June by Representative Sara Jacobs, a California Democrat, the bill would prohibit companies and nonprofits from collecting, keeping, using or sharing a persons reproductive or sexual health details without the persons written consent.

Another bill, the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, would prevent law enforcement and intelligence agencies from buying a persons location records and other personal details from data brokers.

To be sure, it is too soon to tell how states that have banned abortion might try to prosecute residents for seeking medical treatments that are legal in other states. But some government officials are not waiting to find out.

The governors of Massachusetts and Colorado recently issued executive orders that prohibit local government agencies from assisting other states investigations into individuals receiving reproductive health services that are legal in their states, unless required by a court order.

Everybody is waking up to the realization that privacy is central  central to human dignity and central to democracy, said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. And unfortunately, it is now central to reproductive autonomy in half the states in the country.
More personally, he is one of the last of his kind: a son of the 60s who imagined hed be a Baptist minister and made a brick-and-mortar building into a flock and a chosen family.

In a video acceptance speech for the Tony, Nicola put it this way: Our community has aspired to be a sanctuary for a certain species of artist  theatermakers who embrace their divinity, who understand their sacred obligation to lead and inspire us.

And in one of several recent conversations that included breaks between work-in-progress readings at Adelphi and lunch at a favorite Hells Kitchen diner, he stood firm in his conviction that idealism is the fuel that kept him going, and that bringing people together to be challenged is the goal.

Nothing makes me angrier than to be called a gatekeeper, he said.

He added: Nothing makes me happier than to be mad when I leave the theater.

RACHEL CHAVKIN HAD BEEN inviting Nicola and his then-associate artistic director, Linda Chapman, to take in her work since she was an M.F.A. student at Columbia University. After seeing Three Pianos, a rambunctious reimagining of Franz Schubert as the center of a drunken posse of musicians and fans, Nicola asked Chavkin and Alec Duffy, one of her collaborators on the show, to his denlike office on the second floor of the East Village building that abuts the theater.

I think he opened by saying I think thats one of the best pieces of theater Ive ever seen, she recalled in a recent phone call. Our jaws dropped.
Go ahead and hit that snooze button one more time.

High school and middle school classes in California will start later than ever when the school year begins this fall. That means that students (and the parents who schlep them to school) can look forward to a little extra sleep.

In 2019, California legislators passed a first-of-its-kind law requiring that public high schools begin classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and that middle schools start no earlier than 8 a.m. The law officially went into effect on July 1.

Teenagers not only need as much as 10 hours of sleep each day, but shifts in their biological rhythms also make them become sleepy later. Asking a teenager to be awake and trying to absorb information at 8:30 in the morning in some ways is like asking an adult to wake up at 4 oclock in the morning, Matthew Walker, a University of California, Berkeley, neuroscience professor, told NPR.
Hawaii has stuck with mask mandates longer than any other state. It waited until late March, when the first Omicron surge was receding, to drop its requirement for most indoor public settings  and even then, the requirement was retained for public schools.

But that rule, the last statewide school mask mandate in the United States, will be scrapped on Aug. 1, when most public school students in Hawaii will return to the classroom for the new school year, state officials announced on Tuesday. (The state lifted its outdoor mask mandate on school campuses in early March.)

We really are looking at trying to move toward a more normal classroom experience this fall, Dr. Sarah Kemble, the state epidemiologist at the Hawaii Department of Health, said at a virtual news conference. This is the best opportunity weve had yet to move toward this new normal.
I had to go in through the fire, reach my arms through and unclip him, Mr. Schneider said.

The pilot, Cori Johnson, was the only person in the helicopter, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

When firefighters arrived, they found helicopter wreckage in the orchard, along with the tractor, which were both on fire, the Orondo Firefighters Association said. The firefighters discovered that as the helicopter fell from the sky it struck high voltage power lines, which had to be de-energized before they could put out the fire, the fire association said.

It was unclear how much damage the orchard sustained.

The helicopter was a Hiller UH-12E, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which said on Wednesday that the crash was under investigation.

More than 12,000 civil helicopters fly about 3 million hours annually, according to the F.A.A. In 2021, there were 114 accidents, or about 3.9 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, the agency said.

David Schneider, Logans father, said that he was at work, about 20 minutes away, when he received a call from a younger son saying a helicopter had crashed in the area. When he arrived at the crash site, Mr. Schneider said he found his son in an ambulance, lying next to the pilot.

Im still in awe, David Schneider said in an interview on Wednesday. I still get goose bumps thinking of what could have happened and trying not to dwell on what could have happened.
The University of Virginia, a highly selective public flagship school that began admitting Black students in the 1950s, sometimes gives extra consideration to legacies, who made up about 14 percent of last years freshmen and transfer students, according to Steve Farmer, the vice provost for enrollment.

In an interview, Mr. Farmer said the topic came up during a meeting of Black alumni this year. I was talking with people one by one, and three of the first five questions had to do with legacy admissions for students of color, Mr. Farmer said.

We have tons of friends whose kids are starting school, said Sanford S. Williams, a lecturer at U.C.L.A. School of Law and an active Black alumnus of the University of Virginia. They think, Why is it every time we get a chance to do something, the rug is pulled out from under us?

Mr. Williams and his wife, Dr. Anastasia Williams, both have Virginia degrees, as do their three children. And he supports legacy preferences, as long as they are a small part of the admissions process.

Future alumni may feel differently.

Logan Roberts, a white student from Groton, N.Y., leads an organization of first-generation college students at Yale, where he said the class divide came into sharp focus following the national Varsity Blues scandal, in which parents were caught trying to bribe their childrens way into elite colleges, including Yale.
On Wednesday, Mr. Yosts office released a statement praising the arrest of Mr. Fuentes.

My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child, the statement said. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street.

In an editorial published before news of the arrest, The Wall Street Journal called the case an unlikely story from a biased source that neatly fits the progressive narrative but cant be confirmed. The Journal later added an editors note acknowledging the arrest.

In a video of the court hearing posted by the conservative news site Townhall, Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified that the victim was a 10-year-old whose mother took her to Indiana to receive an abortion at the end of June when she was just past six weeks pregnant. Detective Huhn said in Wednesdays hearing that Mr. Fuentes confessed to raping the girl twice.

The Columbus Division of Police declined to comment.

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Mr. Fuentes was an undocumented immigrant. A lawyer for Mr. Fuentes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The timeline laid out in the police testimony matches the account provided by Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the OB/GYN who first told The Star about the case.

Its always shocking to me that people are surprised to hear about these stories, Dr. Bernard said in an interview with The New York Times. The fact that anyone would question such a story is a testament to how out of touch lawmakers and politicians are with reality.
But the trip is also partly about stemming Chinas inroads into the region. Last week, Riyadh and Washington quietly signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on building a next-generation 5G cellular network in Saudi Arabia. That is designed to box out Huawei, Chinas 5G champion.

The politics of the war in Ukraine will also be in background.

Mr. Bidens aides made clear that they were annoyed in the spring when the Israeli government insisted on taking a largely neutral stance on the war, insisting that was the only way for its prime minister, Naftali Bennett, to keep an open line to President Vladimir V. Putin.

On Monday, as Mr. Biden was preparing to leave, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, revealed for the first time that intelligence agencies had concluded that Iran  Israels primary adversary  was planning to aid Russia in its battle against Ukraine. He said Iran was preparing to deliver to Russia hundreds of drones, or U.A.V.s, some capable of executing attacks.

Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred U.A.V.s, including weapons-capable U.A.V.s, on an expedited timeline, Mr. Sullivan said as an almost throwaway line at the top of his remarks Monday afternoon.

Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these U.A.V.s with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July, he said.

Mr. Sullivan cautioned that its unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these U.A.V.s to Russia already, but said this is just one example of how Russia is looking to countries like Iran for capabilities that are also being used in attacks on Saudi Arabia.
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department has asked the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol for evidence it has accumulated about the scheme by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to put forward false slates of pro-Trump electors in battleground states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020.

Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, disclosed the request to reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, and a person familiar with the panels work said discussions with the Justice Department about the false elector scheme were ongoing. Those talks suggest that the department is sharpening its focus on that aspect of Mr. Trumps efforts to overturn the election, one with a direct line to the former president.

Mr. Thompson said the committee was working with federal prosecutors to allow them to review the transcripts of interviews the panel has done with people who served as so-called alternate electors for Mr. Trump. Mr. Thompson said the Justice Departments investigation into fraudulent electors was the only specific topic the agency had broached with the committee.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes, a Brazilian prelate in the Roman Catholic Church whose blend of doctrinal conservatism and social progressivism allowed him to move easily between the impoverished slums of Rio de Janeiro and the inner sanctums of the Vatican, especially during the tenure of his close friend Pope Francis, died on July 4 at his residence in Sao Paulo. He was 87.

A representative of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo said the cause was lung cancer.

An outspoken advocate for Brazils poor and Indigenous peoples, Cardinal Hummes (pronounced HOO-mess) was a driving force behind the progressive turn taken by many Latin American Catholics in the 1970s and 80s, insisting that the church must reassert its commitment to lifting up people on the margins and fighting oppression.

He first came to prominence in 1975, when, as the bishop of Santo Andre, an industrial region near Sao Paulo, he sided with striking autoworkers opposed to the countrys military dictatorship. He grew especially close to the workers leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who would go on to become Brazils first leftist president.
Chinas tough language after the Bali meeting was calculated to show that Mr. Wang had stood up to an implacable United States, said Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

The statement implied that the U.S. has to lower its head and bow, an image that fit with Beijings conclusion that Mr. Biden was weak, and that the Democrats were about to lose the midterm elections, she said.

Beijing doesnt believe Biden will change the direction of the China policy, Ms. Sun said. So whats left is to speak tough, stand their position and squeeze Washington as hard as possible.

A Chinese expert on U.S.-China relations, Wang Huiyao, the president of the Center for China and Globalization, which advises Chinas government, said the atmospherics at the Bali meeting were better than in recent encounters between the American and Chinese officials.

But of the United States, he said, the main thing is to stop treating China as the biggest imaginary enemy, so that we can better mobilize the international community and make a more positive response to Russia.

Also at stake in Bali was a possible meeting later in the year between President Biden and Mr. Xi. Both sides were gauging whether it was worthwhile for the two men, who have not met in person since Mr. Biden won the election, to try and defuse the worst of the tensions.
Barely six weeks after Shanghai fully lifted a prolonged and harshly enforced lockdown, Chinas biggest city is again grappling with a surge of coronavirus cases. Residents wary of being suddenly confined in their homes have been alarmed by mixed messages from official sources circulating on social media, including advice that they stock up on food and medicine.

Since early this month, Shanghai has recorded over 400 infections across the city, many of which have been traced to a cluster at a karaoke bar. The authorities in the city have imposed lockdowns on residential buildings where cases and close contacts have been identified, while a dozen of the citys 16 districts have ordered residents to do two P.C.R. tests within three days this week.

Residents expressed concern that the surge could trigger another lockdown of the city like the two-month confinement in May and June that shuttered businesses and schools and brought life to a standstill. Public anxiety grew amid reports, including in the Health Times, a Communist Party newspaper, that two residential committees in Shanghai had sent friendly reminders to residents to stock up food and medicine for 14 days, just in case apartment buildings were suddenly confined.
The Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics for almost two decades, dogged by repeated claims of corruption. The current presidents older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, also served as president, ending the countrys long civil war in 2009 through brutal use of military force, leading to allegations of severe human rights abuses.

After Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president in 2019, he made Mahinda prime minister  his third stint in that post  and two other brothers headed government ministries. The presidents brothers have all stepped down in recent months.

Opposition leaders made clear Wednesday that they would not accept Mr. Wickremesinghe, 73, as acting president, pointing to his lack of popular or parliamentary support. They want to quickly move to the process of succession prescribed by the constitution in the case of a presidents resignation: that Parliament holds a vote for the top job from among the lawmakers.

Mr. Wickremesinghe has served several times as prime minister over the last three decades, but his return to the post in May, after protests forced out Mahinda Rajapaksa, was seen as a nearly miraculous political comeback.
The abrupt departure of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka early Wednesday did little to quell the ire of protesters who have been filling the streets of the capital, Colombo, for months demanding his resignation.

Undeterred by tear gas, the scorching sun and a military helicopter hovering overhead, the crowds continued to swell Wednesday, reinforced by arrivals from across the country. Protesters marched from the presidents office and later in the day, stormed the office of the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Riot police officers carrying rifles and wearing gas masks stood guard but didnt engage the throngs of protesters, which included families with young children.
The plan also calls for a revision of the tax policy and a new Constitution, among other lofty goals. Nuzly Hameem, one of the founders of the seaside protest camp in Colombo, thinks an interim government should be formed first, to provide immediate food, fuel and medicine relief to the Sri Lankan public and to resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for an economic bailout. Presidential and parliamentary elections can take place in six months or so, after the country has stabilized, he said.

Other protesters want to maintain the movements momentum by pushing for constitutional change  and a clean sweep of government  before anything else.

Jhancasie Chatty, a protest organizer in a tent outside the prime ministers residence on Tuesday, said the protesters want to change the whole system.

This is not enough, changing the heads. We want to change the whole system with the Constitution along with the culture of governance where a politician is accountable to citizens. That has not happened so far, he said.
Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed women for the first time to the office that advises him in the choice of bishops across the globe, a move that bolsters efforts to give women a larger voice in the churchs operations.

The decision to name the three women  two nuns and a laywoman  as members of the Congregation for Bishops will put them in position to influence the selection of the 5,300 bishops who lead dioceses and play a prominent role in the churchs interaction with the faithful all over the world.

The Pope is saying that the church is choosing bishops together with women, said Paolo Rodari, a Vatican expert for the Italian daily La Repubblica. Even in the most male chauvinist niches of the church, his message will resonate.
LONDON  Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, stayed at the front of the pack of candidates vying to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain after the first round of the Conservative Partys leadership contest on Tuesday.

But Penny Mordaunt, a relatively little-known junior trade minister, finished a strong second in the vote among Conservative lawmakers. And she has opened a commanding lead among the partys rank-and-file members, according to a new poll, which suggested she could soon supplant Mr. Sunak as the favorite.

In the secret vote, more akin to a papal conclave than a national plebiscite, 357 Conservative lawmakers cast ballots to elect their next leader, who will become the fourth prime minister of Britain in six years.
Luanda  The leader of MPLA Joao Lourenco Monday highlighted the work performed by the former Head of State and President Emeritus of the country's largest political party, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, for the party and Nation's growth.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos passed away last Friday in Barcelona, Kingdom of Spain, at the age of 79, due to illness. He had been in the office for 38 years, until September 2017, being succeeded by the current Head of State.

Joao Lourenco, also President of the Republic, addressing the deepest feelings of sorrow to the bereaved family."

In this moment of deep pain and consternation the party's militants, sympathizers and friends, as well as Angolans in general, pay deep tribute to his memory for all that President Emeritus Jose Eduardo dos Santos had done, for political party and the Nation's growth. ", he expressed.

The president also stressed the need to continue to fight and work for Peace and National Reconciliation among all Angolans.

In turn, the MPLA vice-president, Luisa Damiao, said that they lost a combatant who embraced the MPLA's ideals from a very young age and, at the age of 37, took over, with high patriotism, the country's destiny at a particularly hard time.

The former secretary general of the ruling MPLA party's women wing (OMA), Luzia Ingles, said that she has many memories of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who met him in December 1969, in Moscow and, since then, their relationship had been always of friendship, camaraderie and solidarity.

Also praised the former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos deeds were Rui Falcao, secretary for information of MPLA Politburo, who described Jose Eduardo dos Santos as "a great patriot and an above-average intellectual"

Whereas, the militant Pedro Sebastiao Teta, considered the president emeritus Jose Eduardo dos Santos as a teacher, master and father, with whom he worked for 30 years in the party and in the government.
President Vladimir V. Putin will visit Tehran next week for meetings with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, taking him into challenging diplomatic terrain as he seeks to burnish ties with two nations sometimes aligned, and sometimes sharply at odds, with Russia and with each other.

Mr. Putin, who radically limited his travel during the pandemic, has been engaging in a spree of recent diplomacy, seeking to shore up military and economic backing with non-Western countries to counter the Wests military assistance to Ukraine and its sanctions against Russia.

On a visit to Central Asia last week, his first foreign trip since Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Putin  who had recently compared himself to Peter the Great  held court among his close allies and insisted that the war was going according to plan.
BERLIN  It was as if Ukraines ambassador in Germany had been vying for the title of most undiplomatic diplomat: Determined to spur Berlin into more urgent support for his embattled nation, he mocked the chancellor, told a former lawmaker to shut your trap, and posted memes on Twitter likening Germanys lagging weapons deliveries to a snail with a bullet taped to its back.

Yet it was not the controversies of the present that ended Andriy Melnyks career in Berlin. Instead, it was a thorny question about the past.

Ukraine dismissed Mr. Melnyk last weekend after an interview in which he defended a nationalist Ukrainian leader who collaborated with the Nazis, and whose followers took part in massacres of Jews and Poles.
The strategy by Ukrainian forces was still in its early days, and it was not yet clear whether it was allowing them to disrupt Russian artillery attacks and offensive operations.

Some Ukrainian officials argued that the Russians were being forced to move supply hubs farther from the front, a claim that could not be verified.

The Russian army has not stopped shelling, but it is likely preserving its existing supplies of ammunition because these provisions have been disrupted by the work of our new long-range weapons, said Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regions military administration.

Crucial to this effort, Ukrainian officials say, has been the arrival of new long-range weapons systems and artillery units, particularly the truck-mounted, multiple rocket launchers from the United States known as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems or HIMARS, and similar systems from other NATO countries.

Those rocket launchers, which began arriving in Ukraine in June, are proving effective at targeting Russian military bases and ammunition supply depots far behind enemy lines. The systems fire satellite-guided rockets, whose range of more than 40 miles is greater than anything else Ukrainian troops have in their arsenal.

Ukrainian officials said a strike by such rockets last week on a Russian military base and ammunition depot in the Kherson Region had killed as many as 100 Russian servicemen and wiped out an antiaircraft installation.
Follow our live coverage on Bidens trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia

JERUSALEM  If President Bidens arrival in Israel on Wednesday for his first trip here since taking office could be summarized in just two words, they might be: Donald who?

A year and a half after Donald J. Trump left the White House, Israeli leaders welcomed his successor with a rapturous embrace, as if to prove that their love affair with the former president would not stand in the way of a close relationship with the new president. As for Mr. Biden, he seemed just as determined to prove that he took a back seat to no one in supporting Israel.

At a red-carpet airport ceremony flush with fawning on both sides, Isaac Herzog, Israels president, called his American counterpart our brother Joseph, declaring that you are truly amongst family. The countrys interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, called Mr. Biden a great Zionist and one of the best friends Israel has ever known. For his part, Mr. Biden asserted that our relationship is deeper in my view than its ever been and told an Israeli interviewer that returning to the Holy Land was like going home.
JERUSALEM  Many of Jerusalems main thoroughfares are festooned with American flags in honor of President Bidens visit, but thats not all. Every few yards, notices warn the public of sporadic closure of the roads for the three-day duration of the visit.

With schools on summer vacation and tourism returning after two years of coronavirus measures that prompted Israel to close its borders to foreigners, Jerusalem is bracing for days of urban paralysis and Israelis are anticipating the national traffic snarl of the decade.

The Israel police said that 16,000 officers and volunteers would be involved in securing the routes and the presidential convoy, and directing traffic. The police described the arrangements  Code-named Blue Shield 3  as a complex national operation mainly focusing on Ben-Gurion International Airport, Jerusalem and the main routes leading to the city.
For years, Palestinians have questioned Washingtons ability to neutrally mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, citing strong American support for Israel at the United Nations and the size of U.S. financial and military support to Israel, which has cumulatively received more American aid than any other country since World War II.

Against that backdrop, the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, initially ignored weeks of American pressure to share with Israeli investigators the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh. But the authority reversed its position and handed over the bullet after U.S. officials argued that a forensic examination might link the bullet to the rifle that fired it and therefore help determine who had killed her.

So just days before Mr. Bidens visit to the region, Palestinian anger rose last week after the United States concluded that Ms. Abu Akleh, 51, was most likely killed by accident  probably by Israeli fire  and said that it would not push Israel to pursue a criminal investigation into any Israeli soldier.

The Palestinian Authority and a number of Palestinians, as well as the journalists family, considered the American announcement an attempt to shield Israel from accountability  a claim that Washington denied.
For public consumption, the White House has argued that President Bidens decision to go to Saudi Arabia was driven by a whole range of national security issues, not just oil. But oil is in fact the most urgent reason for the trip at a time of high gas prices.

Sensitive to the appearance of sacrificing a principled stand on human rights for cheaper energy, the president does not plan to announce any oil deal during his stop in Jeddah. But the two sides have an understanding that Saudi Arabia will ramp up production once a current quota agreement expires in September, just in time for the fall midterm election campaign, according to current and former American officials.

Martin Indyk, a former Middle East diplomat for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said that the exact amounts were still uncertain, but that Saudi Arabia was expected to increase production by about 750,000 barrels a day and the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000 barrels a day, for a combined 1.25 million.
TEL AVIV  In the skies east of Israel, a few minutes before 2 a.m., four Israeli pilots scanned the horizon for two unmanned aircraft that were heading toward Israel from Iran. Suddenly, the pilots saw them  two triangular drones, each roughly eight yards wide, speeding westward.

Positive identification, one pilot told his commanders by radio. I will shoot.

Seconds later, both Iranian drones had crashed to the ground, shot down by two Israeli fighter jets in two locations above Arab territory.

The secret episode, which occurred on March 15, 2021, was one of the first successful examples of a fledgling military relationship between Israel, certain Arab partners and the United States  a project that President Biden is trying to cement into a more formal network during his visit this week to the Middle East.
A Secret Service employee working in Israel before President Bidens visit there this week was sent home late Monday after being briefly arrested by the Israeli police in what the U.S. agency called a physical encounter, a spokesman for the Secret Service said on Wednesday.

Agency officials did not provide details about the encounter, but said the allegation did not involve a sexual assault. The employee was briefly detained and questioned by Israeli police, who released him without charges, said Steven Kopek, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

Officials said the employee is back in the United States and has had access to Secret Service systems and facilities during an investigation into the incident. Officials said that was standard procedure for such cases.
JERUSALEM  A long line of international dignitaries have paid visits to Yad Vashem, Israels official Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Even for President Biden, his visit on Wednesday was not his first.

As vice president in 2010, he toured the sites Holocaust History Museum, its Hall of Names, its Childrens Memorial and its Hall of Remembrance, where he participated in a memorial ceremony, and where an eternal flame burns by a crypt containing the ashes of Holocaust victims, commemorating the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II.

Back then, Mr. Biden spoke of how, as a young father, he had taken each of his sons at age 15 to Dachau, the Nazis first concentration camp. Established in Germany in 1933, it was liberated 12 years later by the United States military. Mr. Biden said he had wanted his sons to understand the ability of mankind to be so brutal.
President Nelson Mandela, centre, during the 1994 inauguration ceremony. On the left is Vice-President Thabo Mbeki and on the right is Vice-President FW de Klerk.

opinion

Three former heads of state of Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia reflect on what it takes to end conflict in a meaningful way.

In the wake of the Cold War, the disintegration of an ideologically bipolar world provided an opportunity for peace agreements across the globe. This was even the case in seemingly intractable conflicts like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Namibia, and South Africa.

From that era, three key ingredients for successful peacemaking and mediation stand out.

First, the solution had to be political. The conflicting sides had to believe that there was more to be gained from negotiating than continuing to fight.

Second, there needed to be leadership that was practical and visionary at the same time. In South Africa, for instance, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk both realised that they could not do it alone and that they needed unity within their ranks as well as a common bond between them to bring about another country. They trusted their chief negotiators, Roelf Meyer and (now president) Cyril Ramaphosa, to keep communications open even when tensions were high. The two parties shared the outlook of focusing on the future more than fighting about the past. De Klerk is said to have remarked at the time: "We are going to liquidate this country".

Third, there needed to be a recognition that you can't fix conflicts without international and regional support. The outside world had to keep pushing parties to the negotiating table and not let them off the hook. The isolation of South Africa, for instance, played a critical part in changing the mind of the ruling National Party in the late-1980s, as did the end of Soviet bloc support for the African National Congress (ANC).

Since the early-2000s, this brave new world has descended into a more complex and dangerous one in which a range of actors, old and new, complicate efforts to achieve peace. This complexity has been compounded by the inadequacy of multilateral systems, with the UN being shown to not only be ineffective but to have fundamentally flawed institutional structures. Added to this are widening inequalities, the weakness of state institutions, and the spreading tentacles of transnational criminal interests.

This poses immense risks, especially in Africa, where the majority of the world's poor live. The continent faces a perfect storm of rapidly changing demography, weak development and growth, climate change, widening deficits of democracy and leadership, a diversion of donor interests, and growing debt. International attention is also diminishing, especially with Western partners lacking credibility and turning inwards to confront domestic problems.

There are other challenges too. The multiplicity of state and non-state actors offering their peace services can not only lead to "forum shopping" by participants in peace processes but provide excuses to continue fighting. Today, peacemaking involves less of a "brilliant soloist" mediator than an "accomplished conductor" managing a team or a set of mediation teams.

However, some things remain the same.

For one, local agency is crucial, though external actors have an important role to play in maintaining pressure.

Leadership is also essential to set an example. Properly applied leadership can shape collective views, as Israel's Menachim Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat did over the Sinai in the 1970s. This requires acceptance of the view, however, that nations can be born around the negotiation table, not only in blood.

Vision is still needed too, as is the seizing - and sometimes manufacture - of windows of opportunity. Patience in working out a solution is perhaps the most powerful attribute of all. The setting of arbitrary timelines should be discouraged as drivers of a peace process.

Some mediation techniques remain relevant, including the need to strengthen political opponents to convince their constituencies, something at which Nelson Mandela was, according to FW de Klerk, especially astute. Similarly, confidentiality encourages risk taking at the negotiating table. And it is crucial to work out the details of a solution before a peace agreement is signed.

The constitutional framing of the solution to conflict is necessary too, but constitutions are not self-executing documents. They require building institutional capacity which can take decades, while building adherence to governance systems can take even longer.

It is vital that leadership does not just come from above. Listening to, and supporting local communities and civil society, is essential in embedding a culture of peace and civic participation. Institutions - both public and private - are an essential part of successful societies. Media, civil society and the private sector, along with government, have to support them.

Crucially, politics and values matter. Those favouring peace should give support to each other. This means that Africans should be interested in what happens in Ukraine, for example, just as Africans would like wider international support in resolving their challenges.

Democrats also need to band together just as authoritarians continuously lend each other support. This includes support for political prisoners and their families, legal counsel, financing, media, the building of internal capacity, and an anti-kleptocracy agenda.

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Given the changes to the complexity of the operating environment for peacemakers, some thinking has to take place out of the box. Supporting peace may require novel means of relieving debt of post-authoritarian or post-conflict countries - debt swaps with China for example. There may also be a need to appoint external agencies; without this, the prospects for positive engagement in a situation such as Ethiopia - with a multiplicity of actors from the AU, US, EU, Russia, Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia among others - remains fragmented and diluted at best.

And, crucially in this all, for peace to stick and for there to be metrics of success longer than just a constitution or election; there needs to be ongoing and inclusive discussion. Economic growth is a critical means of ensuring community inclusion, stability, and security. The role of leadership must go beyond liberation to more mundane tasks of state-building from sewerage to education.

Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi neatly summed up the challenge of contemporary peacemaking and nation-building when he said: "Having made Italy, now we have to make Italians".

Olusegun Obasanjo is the former president of Nigeria. Kgalema Motlanthe is the former president of South Africa. Hailemariam Desalegn is the former prime minister of Ethiopia. They are all board members of the Brenthurst Foundation.
Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson will soon be on Britains dole because he failed to live up to the good chap theory of government unwritten protocol.

That protocol is composed of the invisible lines that mandate how the leader of the UK should act, according to a July 12 webinar sponsored by The Economist.

Johnson trashed the good chap theory.

The cascade of scandals, resignations of key ministers and a distant relationship with the truth brought him down.

The waters closed in over his head rather quickly, an editor said.

Johnsons likely successor, former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, is lobbying for the job as the grown up candidate.

Unlike the slew of PM wannabes, Sunak is the only person not promising to roll out big unfunded tax breaks that the struggling UK economy can hardly afford.

A vote by the 180K members of the Conservative Party in September will determine the next prime minister.

He or she will not have an easy job.

The editors noted that Johnson was able to forge a winning coalition based on unique factors.

They included his breezy personality, promise to level up the impoverished north, support for Brexit and an opponent in Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbin who was unfit for the office.

Those factors no longer exist.

Brexit has turned out to be an economic disaster. No one serious would support a Brexit deal, said an editor.

There also is no current support for redistributing wealth from the prosperous south to the north.

The Labour Party has gotten its act together under Keir Starmer.

Johnson will use the remaining time in office to cut ribbons, make speeches and travel to Kyiv to visit his buddy, Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky, in an effort to burnish his legacy.

That legacy will be based on a short but very chaotic time in office.

Congress has a golden opportunity to stand up for freedom of the press by supporting a bill proposed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib to shield journalists from the Espionage Act of 1917.

The more than 100-year-old law, which was originally intended for spies, has been used by the Dept. of Justice to prosecute sources of journalists who disclose information to the media in order to inform the American public, according to Freedom of the Press Foundation.

The Trump administration used the Espionage Act to charge WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

The Obama White House had considered charging Assange under the Espionage Act, but failed to do so because of First Amendment concerns.

The Biden administration picked up the Trump case.

Tlaibs bill would exclude journalists, publishers and members of the general public from Espionage Act prosecution.

Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy and communications at Free Press, has called on Congress to repeal the Espionage Act and safeguard the First Amendment rights of whistleblowers and reporters.

Until that happens, passing of Tlaibs measure will have to do.

Uber arranged shares-for-play deals with media barons in order to win favorable coverage of the ride-sharing company as it was trying to break into the European market, according to the Uber files, a collection of 124K documents that were leaked to the Guardian.

Uber targeted the UKs Daily Mail, Germanys Die Welt and Bild, Frances Les Echos and Italys La Repubblica.

A leaked 2015 email to Rachel Whetstone, who was senior VP communications and public policy, noted that Axel Springer, publisher of the German papers, was interested in a $5M media plus cash for equity deal. That outlay would gain their support and influence Germany and Brussels.

I think having Springer onside is very valuable if we are to make progress in Germany So anything we could do to work with them would be great, Whetstone responded.

Mark MacGann, Uber former European lobbyist who leaked the documents, said Uber really didnt need the money from the media companies. We wanted the top-level political access and influence that came with the money, he told the Guardian.
Allison+Partners enters a three-year global partnership with Special Olympics International designed to support both organizations global inclusion objectives and increase brand awareness for its programming in sports, education, health and athlete leadership. The partnership will provide Special Olympics with access to Allison+Partners offices in each of its 34 markets worldwide for localized PR support around major events and seasonal milestones, including the Special Olympics Unified Cup from July 31  August 6 and the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin in 2023. The two organizations are also launching a program that will match Allison+Partners staff to their local Special Olympics Program. This first-of-its-kind Global Volunteer Engagement Program will give all Allison+Partners employees the opportunity to see inclusion on and off the playing field and be part of something bigger than themselves, said Jason Teitler, SVP of global communications and brand lead, Special Olympics.

InnoVision Marketing Group launches InnoVision Espanol, which will serve businesses and brands wanting to reach the Hispanic community and Hispanic-oriented clients and companies. InnoVision has been executing Hispanic campaigns for clients such as Palomar Health, Penske Automotive, Valley View Casino and Fresh Start Surgical Gifts for several years. InnoVision Espanol will be led by SVP & senior creative director Giselle Campos, and SVP & executive art director Jose Carrillo. 

The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations will present its Betsy Plank Award to APCO Worldwide senior advisor Charlene Wheeless at the centers 12th annual Milestones in Mentoring Gala on Nov. 3 at the Union League Club of Chicago. Wheeless is also principal and chief executive officer of Charlene Wheeless, LLC. Other honorees will include Karp Randel co-founder Jane Randel (Legacy Mentor); Google VP, global communications and public affairs Corey duBrowa (Corporate Mentor); Flowers Communication Group chairman and CEO Michelle Flowers Welch (Agency Mentor); California State University, Fullerton College of Communications dean Bey-Ling Sha (Educator Mentor); and PAN Communications VP, general manager and head of DEI Brandon Thomas (Emerging Leader Award). Sponsorship opportunities for the event are available.
Geraldine Baum

PEN America, the literary and free expression advocacy organization, appoints former LA Times New York bureau chief Geraldine Baum as chief communications officer. Baum was most recently the first assistant dean for external affairs at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, where she led communications, marketing, branding, events, and digital and supported fund-raising efforts. Before that, she was senior vice president for communications and marketing at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a community development not-for-profit. At PEN America, Baum will oversee media outreach, digital presence, marketing and web development while also supporting fund-raising programs and events. Her experience as a journalist, broad networks, and passion for excellence in writing and innovation position her to help elevate PEN America to the next level of visibility and impact in our work, said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel.

Tim Peters,

Sarah Vellozzi

Golin promotes Tim Peters to US corporate lead, Midwest and Sarah Vellozzi to US corporate lead, East. Peters has been with Golin since 2017, serving as executive vice president of corporate and public affairs for Golin Chicago. He was previously an executive vice president at Edelman, founder and principal at the AllianceWorks Group, and senior director of global stakeholder engagement at McDonalds. Vellozzi was most recently executive vice president and head of corporate communications for Golin New York. Before that, she was a senior vice president at FleishmanHillard. Our clients count on us to guide them through challenging situations, and Tim and Sarah have been exceptional counselors and leaders in this regard, said Golin global president of corporate communications Scott Farrell.

Lauren

Lawson-Zilai

Shatterproof, an organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the US, names Lauren Lawson-Zilai senior director, media and public relations, a newly created position. Lawson-Zilai comes to Shatterproof from Goodwill Industries International, where she was head of public relations and a spokesperson for the organization. She has also served as president of the PRSA National Capital Chapter. In her new role, Lawson-Zilai will position Shatterproof and its key leadership as thought leaders, garner awareness nationally and in key markets, and manage key partnerships with the media. Lauren will help make sure that more families across the country are aware of life-saving resources being developed by Shatterproof and she will help break down the stigma of addiction in our country, said Shatterproof chief marketing and communications officer Kirsten Suto Seckler.

Leslie Marshall

The American Marketing Association Chicago names Leslie Marshall, head of experiential marketing at Morningstar, Inc., as the chapters new president. Marshall has served on the AMA Chicago Board for three years and has been a member since 2015. Under her direction, the organization will continue to produce educational events and networking opportunities directed toward marketers at all levels as well as featuring marketing professionals from across the country as events transition to being offered both virtually and in person.
Grubhub Holdings has opened its first DC lobbying office, which will initially handle labor issues pertaining to the food delivery service.

Ashley De Smeth, who served in the Obama White House as an inter-agency liaison, heads the post as director of federal affairs.

Prior to Grubhub, De Smeth was head of PA & policy communications at Postmates, communications director for the American Federation of Government Employees and director of strategic communications & PA at the National League of Cities.

Dominic Sanchez, a one-time staffer to Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Chris Van Hollen (MD), backstops De Smeth.

Grubhub is part of Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.

The Dutch company acquired Grubhub in 2020 via an all-stock deal worth $7.3B, creating the worlds biggest food delivery service operation.


NC Wine and Grape Council Wants PR Partner Mon., Aug. 15, 2022 The North Carolina Wine and Grape Council is looking for a firm to run a campaign aimed at changing the culture and knowledge surrounding wine produced in the state.
A man has been told to stay away from Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy and his family after appearing in court charged in connection to allegedly carrying out a campaign of harassment against him.

Forty-two-year-old David Larkin, 33 Ardnacassa Lawns, Longford was brought before a sitting of Longford District Court on Tuesday charged with allegedly harassing the Ballinalee postmaster.

Sgt Paul Carney gave evidence of having arrested and later charging the accused at Granard garda station just before 10am.

He said when the charge was put to him, Mr Larkin made no reply before this morning's court appearance before Judge Bernadette Owens.

It is alleged Mr Larkin harassed the former Longford County Council cathaoirleach on various dates between December 20, 2021 and February 14, 2022 contrary to Section 10 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

Mr Larkin, who was wearing a blue hoodie and black trousers, initially declined any form of legal representation while standing with his hands clasped in front of him.

Asked by Judge Owens if he wished to both avail of legal representation and agree to and conditions of bail the State were looking to implement, Mr Larkin replied: "I do not consent to any contract of this court."

Judge Owens said owing to Mr Larkin's apparent refusal to agree to those terms, she would have no option but to remand Mr Larkin in custody.

Following a brief interlude, local solicitor Frank Gearty took to his feet to reveal he would now be representing Mr Larkin, informing the court Mr Larkin was "very glad" to agree to the prosecution's conditions of bail.

They included conditions Mr Larkin reside at his home address, to refrain from making any contact directly or indirectly with Senator Carrigy or any member of his family and to not come within 500 yards of the politician's home or 200 yards from his constituency office in Longford town.

Mr Larkin was also ordered to stay off social media platform Facebook, sign on twice a week at Longford garda station and remain contactable on a mobile phone.

Judge Owens remanded Mr Larkin on bail to a sitting of Longford District Court on September 20.
ARDARA Hillwalking Club recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary which had been delayed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The club was founded in 2000 when a number of walkers, who had been exploring the Slieve Blooms for a few years, saw the need for a club that would organise and guide walks to cater for the growth in interest in hillwalking at the time.

At the inaugural meeting in Cadamstown, Paddy Heaney and Paddy Lowry were elected co-presidents, Mick McGrath was the first chairman, Joan Roche was elected secretary/treasurer and Jemima Craven became the first and youngest paid up member. Pat Culleton and Paddy Heaney suggested that the club be named after the 16th century Ardara Bridge on the Silver River just below Cadamstown.

The club has members from all over the Midlands with over 130 members on the text system and walks take place every fortnight. While most of the walks are in the Slieve Blooms, one of the founding principles of the club was that walks could be held anywhere and so over the years the club has organised walks all over Ireland from Donegal to Kerry, from Connemara to Wicklow and all places in between.

Further information on the club can be found on the website at ardarahillwalking.com or by contacting the present chairman Eddie Spain on (087) 9240 652.
THE forthcoming 9th That Beats Banagher Festival was successfully launched on Thursday evening last by the award-winning poet Jessica Traynor.

Having read a selection from her suite of poems inspired by the heritage of Banagher, entitled A Place of Pointed Stones, the author gave the festival her best wishes. She then hoped that the great variety of events be fully attended and that the energetic organisers would plan a bumper 10th festival for 2023 to establish the event on a national level.

This years festival itself will take place over the weekend of the Friday to Sunday July 22nd to 24th with a multiplicity of literary, cultural and sporting events including a food and craft fair in the Bridge Barracks yard on Saturday, craft workshops, children's events, water events, children's outdoor cinema and other surprise events.

The programme is particularly strong on literary events with the launch of two books on Charlotte Bronte's honeymoon in Ireland, the first, Arthur & Charlotte, by Pauline Clooney (published by Merdog) and the second, Charlotte Bronte: An Irish Odyssey by Michael O'Dowd (published by Pardus Media). Pauline & Michael recently spoke with much acclaim at the prestigious Bradford Literary Festival under the title No Net Ensnares Me: Charlotte Bronte Abroad.

This event which begins at 6.30pm on Friday July 22nd will be preceded by the premiere of a short film called The Legacy of the Brontes in Banagher produced by Maebh O'Regan of NCAD. This twenty-minute presentation will feature local actors Cora Stronge Smith, Saoirse Flynn and Brendan Dolan. The film which was shot on location in Charlottes Way, (formerly Hill House), Banagher and the National Portrait Gallery in London, tells the story of the famous Pillar portrait of the three Bronte sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte by their only brother Branwell c.1834 and its sensational discovery in Hill House about eighty years later.

An exhibition of tapestries and other handcraft by the Banagher Craft Group relating to the Bronte connection with Banagher will also be opened and will remain on display all weekend in the Long Room in Crank House

Patrick Flattery's book That Beats Banagher will be introduced by the author himself on Saturday July 23rd at 5pm. Patrick is travelling from Minnesota for the weekend and his book relates to his nineteenth century ancestors in Banagher and Cloghan. The fast moving novel tells the fascinating story of his great, great grandfather Robert Flattery and other members of the historic Flattery family, taking some well-disguised liberties with local history and geography along the way.

On Sunday afternoon at 2pm, Lynn Maloney (Coughlan) of Banagher and Mary Madden of Portumna will speak of their self-publishing exploits during covid times and showcase their books. All literary events will be held in the Long Room in the Crank House. Copies of all books will be on sale throughout the weekend from the ever popular Martello Tower pop-up bookshop which makes a timely return to the festival.

On Sunday morning there will be a heritage related cycle from Banagher to Shannon Harbour and Clonony, via Cuba and Streamstown and the Harbour Cross. The cycle starts at the Crank House car park at 11am and will finish about 1.30pm back in Banagher.

The festival will close with a bang during a visit to the award-winning fortification Fort Eliza on the Crank Road at 6pm on Sunday. Don't miss it!!
ADI Roche, Voluntary CEO of Chernobyl Children International (CCI), visited Herdwatch in Roscrea to collect a donation of more than 10,500 for the victims of the Ukraine conflict. The money had been raised by Herdwatch following a recent climb of the Devils Bit mountain in Tipperary by 25 members of their team.

Some members of the Herdwatch team are based in Ukraine and their Irish friends and colleagues wanted to raise funds in recognition of the difficulties they are experiencing at present.

Speaking about the donation, Ms Roche said, Thank you for your most generous donation to Chernobyl Children International. We are deeply grateful to the whole team at Herdwatch and FRS Network for the incredible amount raised of 10,535 which will make a very impactful difference in supporting the work we do.

We are heartbroken at the crisis in Ukraine, but peoples desire to help and respond to the crisis has been overwhelming and we are so grateful for everyones generosity and goodwill.

As in all wars, we cannot lose sight of the human horror  massive displacement, trauma, refugees, destruction of homes, hospitals, and infrastructure. We aim to work with all those forgotten people. In the magnitude and scale of this war, it is difficult to see any shard of light, but our philosophy has always been heartbeat by heartbeat, breath by breath, one by one, we try to make miracles happen, so we dont become overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis we face every day.

I am personally very grateful to you and everyone at Herdwatch and FRS Network, for your generosity during this dark time. Your donation is very timely and will have an immediate impact on Ukrainian families who are suffering. Despite having been liberated and able to leave their bunkers after being under Russian occupation for five weeks, the children in Ivankiv, in the Chernobyl region of Ukraine are deeply traumatised and are still suffering. CCI has partnered with a humanitarian organisation in Ukraine to provide help and support to the families in this region. Thanks to your kindness, we will be able to provide children of the Chernobyl area with a haven away from their war-torn homes.

In the midst of the horror, it is so reassuring to see so many people come together and offer their help and support. We are faced with so many obstacles and challenges in this crisis but when generous acts such as yours come, it truly lifts our day, as it is so easy to be ground down by the enormity of this tragedy, she said.

Herdwatch, headquartered in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary is the number 1 livestock management software. They are part of FRS Network, the social enterprise co-operative. In March FRS Network donated a further 20,000 towards the victims of the Ukraine conflict via Irish Red Cross.
Police are investigating after images emerged of effigies of Sinn Fein and Alliance leaders hanging from a loyalist bonfire in Co Antrim.

Effigies of Sinn Fein president and vice president Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill and Alliance Party leader Naomi Long were pictured on the Eleventh Night bonfire in Carrickfergus.

Ms Long said the pictures, which she said were of the Glenfield bonfire in Carrick, made her feel physically sick.

Im not sharing the images due to risk of distressing families who have lost loved ones by suicide, she wrote on Twitter.

And because they are utterly sick.

I will, however, be sharing them and the pictures of the bonfire builders standing proudly in front of their creation with the police.

These were not last minute additions. There are photos of a childrens fun day taking place at this fire while our effigies were hanging on it. Some local businesses even sponsored it.

What kind of parent would see that and think its acceptable for their child to see?

I felt physically sick at those photos  not just at the effigies but at the festering hatred and sectarianism they represent; hatred that not only persists in our community but is being passed on to the next generation as normal. This has to stop. Our children deserve better.

So, having become accustomed to seeing my posters burned on bonfires, I honestly thought nothing could shock me anymore. However, late last night I received photos of effigies of me, @moneillsf and @MaryLouMcDonald hanged on the bonfire at Glenfield in Carrickfergus. >  Naomi Long MLA (@naomi_long) July 13, 2022

Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly condemned what he branded a hate crime.

The burning of flags, posters and effigies which included first minister-elect Michelle ONeill, party leader Mary Lou McDonald and other political figures on bonfires is wrong, deeply offensive and is a hate crime, he said.

Sinn Fein has reported a number of hate crimes to the PSNI related to bonfires.

There is an onus on unionist political and community leaders to stand up against these displays of sectarian hatred and make it clear that there is no place for them in this society.

The silence from some senior unionist leaders to date has been deafening.

Mr Kelly said the incident highlighted the need for safeguarding regulations around bonfires.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson condemned the displays.

Whilst the overwhelming number of Twelfth celebrations were hugely successful, some events require further work and other displays must be outrightly condemned as wrong, he said.

Throughout my lifetime I have had the privilege to celebrate and educate others about my identity all over the world. At no point has burning posters, flags or pictures of serving politicians featured as part of that. Nor has slogans or displays that advocate sectarian violence against anyone in this society regardless of their political position or religious views.

I was also horrified to learn of Twelfth decorations being destroyed in Co Tyrone and other hate crimes against the loyal orders having to be investigated across the province.

We have a rich Ulster-British cultural identity. I want people to focus on celebrating and displaying our culture rather than denigrating others.

When republican terrorists waged a campaign of hate against people of my faith, I condemned and stood against it. When anyone tries to incite hate, I will call it out and stand foursquare against it.

All politicians in Northern Ireland must be consistent in their condemnation of hate.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie condemned the effigies as utterly vile.

Hanging effigies on bonfires does not represent the union and unionist culture I believe in, he tweeted.

Staying silent cannot be an option.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: The police service is aware of images which have emerged showing effigies placed on a bonfire in Carrickfergus and are investigating.

Monday night saw crowds gather across Northern Ireland to watch the bonfires being set alight in loyalist areas to start Twelfth of July commemorations.

Before the fires were lit, police said that they were investigating multiple reports of flags, effigies and election posters on bonfires.
On Sunday, the presidential candidate for Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, chose Kashim Shettima, a 55-year-old Muslim, as his running mate for the general elections scheduled for February 25, 2023.

Earlier, his main rival, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -- a 75-year-old Muslim himself -- nominated Ifeanyi Arthur -- a Christian -- as his running mate. Okowa, 62, has been the governor of Delta State since 2015 and is considered a PDP veteran.

It was no coincidence: The presidential and vice-presidential candidates were carefully chosen by their parties to ensure the maxiumum amount of votes in their respective strongholds.

"There is a very interesting ethnic, religious and geographic arithmetic taking place in these elections," security analyst Ryan Cummings told DW. "Currently it seems to favor Tinubu in terms of his ethnic profile and who he chose as a running mate."

An 'unfortunate' development

Analyst Tukur Abdelkadir from Kaduna University believes that all this strategizing is an "unfortunate" recent development in Nigeria's politics. Until the turn of the century, religion did not play a role in politics, he said.

"The leadership we have had from [former Presidents] Olusegun Obasanjo, and Jonathan Goodluck, and President Muhammadu Buhari, have not helped matters, especially in trying to promote reconciliation in the country," Abdelkadir told DW.

Tinubu, 70, is a former governor of Lagos state, Nigeria's commercial hub. A Yoruba Muslim from southwestern Nigeria, he wants to succeed Buhari, who will step down next year after completing two terms.

Heated public debates

Shettima, meanwhile, is a former governor of Borno State, which has suffered greatly under a 13-year-long jihadist uprising that has so far killed 40,000 people and displaced 2.2 million. The APC hopes he will be accepted as deputy by the power brokers in the north, who represent a large voting bloc in the West African nation.

But the APC's choice of candidates still sparked a heated public debate. In the most recent elections, presidential candidates from the largely Muslim north have selected a vice-presidential running mate from the predominantly Christian south -- and vice versa -- in an attempt to foster unity across the culturally diverse country.

"Christians and Muslims always play the ethnoreligious card, whenever they either run short of ideas or they are trying to capitalize on the disillusionment and discontent of the people," lecturer Abdelkadir said.

A chance for Peter Obi?

This time, the disaffected -- especially young people -- could instead hedge their bets on a third candidate: Peter Obi. The 60-year-old ex-governor of Anambra State, who already has a strong following on social media, left the PDP to run for the Labor Party (LP).

"He is well-represented, specifically in southern Nigeria," said Cummings. "[He could] at least play the role of kingmaker."

His potential influence will increase if the race among the main contenders proves to be tight, as seems likely at this stage. Besides coming up with strategies to cancel out each other's voter bases, the two main presidential candidates have more similarities than differences. They are both Muslim, members of the political establishment, over 70 and rich enough to finance expensive campaigns.

Both are in favor of much more liberal economic policies compared to those of Buhari, who has taken a strong protectionist and nationalistic approach. The candidates' stance may also be a signal to outside investors, especially those in the West, that there is no need to already take sides.

Corruption charges

The strategy seems to be working. "No matter what the election outcome, the [economic] policy trajectory will change fundamentally," the Financial Derivatives Company wrote in a note to investors. "The protectionist policies of the last decade are likely to be discarded."

Both candidates have also been investigated for corruption -- Tinubu as recently as last June.

"They are billionaires perceived as using public office as a means of basically furthering their own political and economic aspirations," Cummings said. This means neither of them is likely to dig up old graft allegations as ammunition in the election campaign.

However, their involvement in financial scandals has reinforced accusations that Buhari failed to keep his promise to fight corruption, further fuelling voter apathy.

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Elections and security

A lack of security across the country, where violence continues to make headlines, is another serious obstacle to voter participation. In 2019, 35% of eligible voters went to the polls. Experts expect an even lower turnout in February.

Low participation not only increases the feeling that the elected government lacks legitimacy: "It is definitely a serious concern for the country moving forward," Cummings said, as well as impacting the "strength and resilience of the country's political institutions, which themselves have been looted through the various insurgencies that we've seen across the Nigerian state."

So far, aside from promising better security, neither candidate has put forward a concrete plan to tackle the widespread violence plaguing the country through Islamic terrorism, banditry and ethnic strife. But as the elections get closer, this issue is likely to take center stage soon.

Isaac Mugabi contributed to this article

Edited by: Ineke Mules
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has been the city's mayor since April 2011.
Aged care authorities believe the Australian Defence Force may be required to assist in Queensland aged care homes as a third COVID-19 wave threatens the state.
Queenslands Dane Gagai took protective action shielding his body over an unconscious Selwyn Cobbo as three players were ruled out after less than four minutes.
opinion

Restoring a symbolic monarch may sound anachronistic, but after a decade of division and chaos, it makes perfect sense to many Libyans.

More than a decade has passed since the fall of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011, but the Libyan Uprising is no closer to a happy ending. After three attempts at holding elections without a constitution - or, for that matter, any legal framework - the UN tried, in a last-ditch effort, to hold an "urgent constitutional dialogue" in Egypt last month. Unsurprisingly, the talks failed.

Libya is back to square one. It has "two Prime Ministers", one who refuses to give up power while the other struggles to acquire legitimacy. Violent clashes have started in Tripoli, and oil and gas exports are once again being interrupted by militias. This has followed years of political stalemate and instability, stemming from an inability to elect a government recognised by the East, West and South of the country - the three distinct regions that came together to form Libya in 1951. These geographic divides continue to play a major role in political life and animate debates regarding the allocation of resources and political equality. Many Libyans feel another civil war is just around the corner.

Libya today is a country without a social contract. As in the Gadhafi years, authority derives from force rather than trust; it is about the monopoly of violence rather than the national interest. Those who have been successful in garnering power are those who have resorted to force over consensus, and who have turned to violence rather than risk losing power in an election. It is no way to run a country, and certainly no way to build one. Libyans have no trust in any individual or institution in Libya, and rightly so; they have not earned it. The burning down of Tobruk Parliament and the houses of numerous politicians by protesters in early-July attest to that sentiment.

Peacebuilding efforts to date have focused on creating something new, such as writing a constitution not grounded in Libyan's historical experiences or relying on leaders who do not have the consensus of the people. UN-led efforts have emphasised elections over all else. Yet over and over, these processes have ended in war. Over and over, they have led to an impasse, as local actors string the international community along until opportunities arise to seize power through force.

With the mandate of UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Libya, Stephanie Williams, set to expire, there is no better occasion to change course. It is time for more local and authentically Libyan approaches to take centre stage, and the good news is that there is already an alternative available: Libya's Independence Constitution.

Back to the future

Libya's "birth certificate", as it is known in the country, was the drafted by the UN in 1951. It included freedom of the press, freedom of expression, equality before the law, an elected parliament, and regular elections. At its heart was a largely symbolic monarchy, led by the Libyan hero Idris al-Senussi, who served as father of the nation and King of Libya until his overthrow in a coup led by Gadhafi in 1969.

Over half a century later, there is growing talk in Libya of restoring the independence constitution. And with good reason. It would solve many problems in one fell swoop. It would create a framework for holding elections. It would give us a constitution that we could use as starting point from which to modify and develop. It would give us a sense of national identity beyond the shadow of Gadhafi. While many may see a return to monarchy as anachronistic, a suitable symbolic leader could unite the country and bring competing factions together with assurances that their concerns will be heard.

Restoring a symbolic monarchy would have other benefits too.

First, it would prevent the need for the creation of a ruling Presidential Council that would enthrone Libya's current crooked political class. Those pushing for this as a solution are simply looking for a way to guarantee their individual interests.

Second, it would give us the historical continuity we need to build a nation, a continuity that has been obfuscated by 42 years of dictatorship and 11 years of chaos. This instability has, most concerningly, led to a lack of national identity and unity, and a situation in which powerful parties only seek to promote their own interests at the expense of the Libyan state.

And third, it would put the future of Libya in a clean pair of hands. Though King Idris' reign was far from perfect, a new monarchy would not be implicated in a civil war in which it did not participate. It has not killed, abducted, and tortured. It has no opponents on the battlefield.

Instead, it has the unique potential to reconcile the nation's past with its future, and the ability to reconcile Libya's minorities. Despite decades of anti-monarchy propaganda under Gadhafi, the late King Idris and his son Prince Hassan are still seen positively. Their pictures can be found at every protest across the country. Many Libyans who came of age in 1969 lament the coup to their grandchildren as a terrible mistake and urge them to repair it. The Senussi family - now led by King Idris' 59-year-old grandson Mohammed - also has impeccable Islamic credentials and offers a genuine chance of reconciling secular and Islamist actors.

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Restoring Libya's independence constitution would not be straightforward. It would have to happen by consensus, and the exact mechanisms would need to be agreed by various parties. An Afghan loya jirga model in which tribal leaders make decisions by consensus would be one model to consider.

Such a plan would also likely face resistance from those who currently enjoy a degree of power in Libya. However, support for this solution has grown to the point it cannot be ignored much longer. The independence constitution is finally a serious topic of conversation, validating what Libyans like me have been saying for years. It is now critical that Libya's birth certificate not get hijacked by actors working for their own interests and who seek to spoil Libyans' last chance for peace and reconciliation.

Restoring a monarchy will sound strange to many ears. But in a divided and chaotic Libya, it makes perfect sense.

Ashraf Boudouara is a political analyst based in Libya. Having been involved in advocating for a constitutional democratic solution for Libya for many years, he currently serves as the Chairman of the National Conference for the Return of the Constitutional Monarchy.
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India has so far sent an aid of USD 3.8 billion to Sri Lanka. Apart from this, it has also promised to send additional consignments of diesel-petrol.
opinion

"Climate change is racist". So reads the title of a recent book by British journalist Jeremy Williams. While this title might seem provocative, it's long been recognised that people of colour suffer disproportionate harms under climate change - and this is likely to worsen in the coming decades.

However, most rich white countries, including Australia, are doing precious little to properly address this inequity. For the most part, they refuse to accept the climate debt they owe to poorer countries and communities.

In so doing, they sentence millions of people to premature death, disability or unnecessary hardship. This includes in Australia, where climate change compounds historical wrongs against First Nations communities in many ways.

This injustice - a type of "atmospheric colonisation" - is a form of deeply entrenched colonial racism that arguably represents the most pressing global equity issue of our time. Several upcoming global talks, including the Pacific Islands Forum this week, offer a chance to urgently elevate climate justice on the global agenda.

'Not borne equally'

The effects of climate change are not borne equally between everyone on the planet, and this problem will only worsen. Black people, people of colour and Indigenous people often face the most dire consequences in a warming world.

For example, research suggests global warming of 2 would leave more than half of Africa's population at risk of undernourishment, due to reduced agricultural production. This is despite Africa having contributed relatively little to greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate injustice also manifests closer to home. The Lowitja Institute, Australia's national body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research, says climate change:

disrupts cultural and spiritual connections to Country that are central to health and wellbeing. Health services are struggling to operate in extreme weather with increasing demands and a reduced workforce. All these forces combine to exacerbate already unacceptable levels of ill-health within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

Failure at Bonn

Last month, the continued failure on the part of rich white countries to take responsibility for this injustice was on full display at the United Nations climate meetings in Bonn, Germany.

There, governments failed to make any significant progress towards compensation for "loss and damage". According to Oxfam, loss and damage collectively refers to:

the consequences and harm caused by climate change where adaptation efforts are either overwhelmed or absent.

At Bonn, the G77 (a coalition of 134 developing countries) and China wanted financing for a so-called "loss and damage facility" put on the official agenda at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt in November this year. This facility would comprise a formal body to deliver funding to developing nations to cope with the consequences of climate change.

But the United States and the European Union opposed the move, fearing they would become liable for billions of dollars in damages.

Concerns around "loss and damage" have been long plagued global climate negotiations.

In 2013, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage was established at COP19. Climate activists hoped it would usher in a new era of climate justice. But almost a decade on, there's still no clear path to the financing required.

And rich white countries continue to distance themselves from all language of compensation or reparation for both historic and contemporary emissions.

This refusal continues long histories of European racism, including the deeply racialised processes of large-scale extraction that fuelled and sustained the Industrial Revolution from the outset.

Sugar plantations throughout the Caribbean were worked for generations by Africans who were enslaved, generating massive profits for Europeans that were then invested and reinvested in energy-intensive industrial infrastructure. This infrastructure helped fuel the global emissions that remain in the atmosphere today.

British industrialisation would simply not have been possible without the stolen land and uncompensated labour acquired through colonisation and slavery. Compensation for this plunder was never provided.

And today, the emissions it initiated are doubling back on those whose land and labour made them possible.

Climate change at the centre of reparations

Calls for reparations for colonialism and slavery have grown rapidly over the past few years - particularly as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and UK.

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Some European states have begun to take responsibility and provide redress for colonial theft, violence and displacement.

These efforts are laudable. But there's an urgent need to focus this sentiment on climate change - and in particular, to supercharge demands for climate reparations.

The Pacific Islands forum this week provides an opportunity for Australia to undertake climate reparation, by committing new finance for the loss and damage incurred by poorer Pacific nations under climate change.

UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston recently said the world risks a new era of "climate apartheid". In this scenario, tens of millions of people will be impoverished, displaced and hungry, while the rich buy their way out of hardship.

Going into COP27 in November, negotiators from the US, the EU and Australia must prioritise loss and damage finance. Failing to do so will only further solidify climate injustice.

Erin Fitz-Henry, Deputy Coordinator - Anthropology, Development Studies & Social Theory, The University of Melbourne
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South Africa: Department spells out new regulations for commercial diving sector

The Department of Employment and Labour has told commercial divers that economic costs of poor occupational health and safety practices in the form of medical and rehabilitation costs, as well as loss of income, affects both the employer and the employee.

Speaking during a commercial diving workshop in Gqeberha on Tuesday, Senior Specialist: Occupational Health and Hygiene, Bulelwa Huna said the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 4% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost due to accidents and work-related diseases.

It has been established that the economic costs of poor occupational health and safety practices affects both the employer and the employee. This is as a result of employers' medical and rehabilitation costs plus the employee's loss of income," Huna said.

Huna told the workshop that the department has never accepted the proposition that injury and disease 'go with the job'.

She stressed the importance of occupational health and safety. All social partners have to work together to promote and ensure this fundamental right," she said.

The workshops follow the promulgation of the new commercial diving regulations on May 20, this year.

The workshop dealt with the application of the Occupational Health and Safety legislation in the commercial diving industry, the training standards for commercial divers as well as logistical processes.

Huna reiterated the core values of occupational health and safety as adopted by the ILO.

The core values as reflected in ILO standards on occupational safety and health are expressed in three main principles being that the diving activities should take place in a safe and healthy working environment.

Conditions

Conditions of commercial diving activities should be consistent with divers and workers' wellbeing and human dignity; and work and commercial diving activities should offer real possibilities for personal achievement, self-fulfillment and service to society, she said.

According to the new regulations, for someone to be trained as a commercial diver, the training provider must consider the individual's abilities and course requirements.

Specialist: Occupation Health and Hygiene, Jabulile Mhlophe, told the gathering that for one to be trained as a commercial diver, an individual must have attributes of a diver.

That is, physically capable, capable of rational thoughts during execution of underwater tasks, competent to dive through experience and familiarity of equipment and technique, and capable to safely plan and execute a commercial dive for the certification class trained for, Mhlophe said.

She told the gathering that in addition to the personal attributes, an individual must pass theoretical as well as practical assessments.

Mhlophe also took the workshop through the process of license registration for commercial diving contractors, organisations, commercial diving schools as well as individual divers.

The workshop was also taken through several new regulations which deal with the responsibilities as well as logistical requirements in diving operations.

The next commercial diving workshop will be held today at the University of Cape Town (John Day LT2 in the John Day Building, University Ave North, UCT, Upper Campus, Rondebosch) in the Western Cape.

Additionally, a workshop will be held on 18 July at uShaka Marine in Durban, at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR). SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A dragon dance is performed during the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on July 7, 2022. Tens of hundreds of local and foreign visitors to the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) are flocking to the Chinese pavilion to seek information on a range of products on display. (Xinhua)

DAR ES SALAAM, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Tens of hundreds of local and foreign visitors to the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) are flocking to the Chinese pavilion to seek information on a range of products on display.

The Chinese manufacturing, processing, and construction equipment have been getting inquiries from visitors to the pavilion since the trade fair opened its doors on June 28 in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

The China pavilion is represented by the East Africa Commercial and Logistics Center (EACLC Limited), a company that promotes business between Tanzania and China. Cathy Wang, director-general of EACLC Limited, said 52 firms from China's Shandong province are accommodated in the pavilion covering 450 square meters.

The China pavilion is showcasing a range of products, including agricultural products, agricultural machinery, garments, construction materials, packaging products, spare parts for vehicles, electronics and furniture, power generators and food processing machines and accessories for motorcycles. All these products are originally produced in Shandong province.

In addition, the China Pavilion has invited the Confucius Institute to arrange Chinese lion dance and Chinese kung Fu performances, which attracted a large audience.

Wang said the participation of Shandong companies has been organized by the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province.

"Tanzania-China trade and business relations have improved during the administration of President Samia Suluhu Hassan because of her commitment to the promotion of international relations," she said.

According to her, the business climate is booming in Tanzania and the business community from Shandong is looking for a reliable market for equipment in the agriculture, manufacturing, and construction sectors.

"The Shandong Department of Commerce is working on the promotion of domestic entrepreneurs to jointly explore the African market with genuine products. This goes in line with creating a conducive environment for enterprises to grow and offer employment, set up factories and big investments in Africa, particularly in Tanzania," she said.

Since it opened its doors, the China pavilion has been visited by a good number of dignitaries, including Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi, former Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, and Ashatu Kijaji, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade.

According to the Chinese embassy in Tanzania, in 2020, China and Tanzania bilateral trade volume reached 4.58 billion U.S. dollars.

The 46th DIFT which ends on July 13 has attracted 180 foreign companies and 3,200 local firms displaying products, services and technologies used in the production of goods.

The DITF is an annual major promotional event that has established itself over the years as a shop window for Tanzanian products as well as for the east, central and southern African region. 

People visit the Chinese pavilion during the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on July 7, 2022. Tens of hundreds of local and foreign visitors to the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) are flocking to the Chinese pavilion to seek information on a range of products on display. (Xinhua)
Ivory Coast's National Security Council on Tuesday called on the Malian authorities to immediately release 49 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali.

Mali's military government said on Monday that its forces had captured 49 soldiers who had come into the country from the neighboring Ivory Coast with the intent to stage a coup.

Terming the soldiers "mercenaries," the Malian authorities said they had landed in Bamako, the capital, on Sunday without permission. The soldiers were carrying weapons, ammunition and other military equipment, according to the government statement.

The soldiers had "forced their way into Malian territory illegally," the military government said.

But Ivory Coast contested Mali's claims. "No Ivorian soldier from this contingent was in possession of weapons and ammunition when he got off the plane. The weapons of the contingent, as authorized by the United Nations for personal protection and self-defense cases and according to the procedures in the matter, were in a second plane," Ivory Coast's statement said.

Ivory Coast says soldiers were with peacekeeping mission

According to the Ivory Coast, the soldiers were deployed as part of a security and logistics support contract signed with the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, in July 2019.

They were the eighth rotation sent to Mali under the convention, and their mission order had been sent to both airport authorities and the junta before arrival, Ivory Coast's national security council said in a statement.

UN mission spokesman Olivier Salgado confirmed that the soldiers were working for a German company contracted by MINUSMA.

Since 2012, there have been three coups in Mali, a country of about 20 million people. The country has been ruled by a transitional military government since the last coup in May last year. It is reported to enjoy close links with Russia.

The military government has pledged to hold elections by March 2024.

(AP, dpa, Reuters)
Jeremy Hunt has come out in support of former chancellor Rishi Sunak after he and Nadhim Zahawi were knocked out of the Conservative leadership race.
U.S. President Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday to begin a four-day Middle East visit, the first in his presidency, that would include meetings with the leaders of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia.
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Ukraine said Tuesday 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.



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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left aboard an air force plane bound for the Maldives. His prime minister is the acting president.


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The queen heads, such as the one seen in this picture, are particularly impressive.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday said that Nigeria had signed an agreement for the repatriation of 1,130 Benin bronzes from Berlin in Germany.

Mohammed during inauguration of The Art Hotel in Lagos, said that the bronzes were looted from the ancient city of Benin in 1897, 125 years ago.

He assured Nigerians of the federal government's commitment toward recovering the nation's priceless works of art.

"Let me restate our commitment to recovering our priceless works of art which were looted from our country.

"Our efforts in this regard have started to yield fruits. Last week, in Berlin, Germany, we signed the agreement for the repatriation of 1,130 Benin bronzes which were looted from the ancient city of Benin kingdom in 1897.

"This number represents the single largest repatriation of looted works of art anywhere in the world.

"There is no doubt that the return of the most coveted Benin bronzes to Nigeria will help to stimulate domestic tourism in our country," he said.
Opalesque Industry Update - Atlas Responsible Investors (Atlas), a French independent investment management firm, announced the launch of a UCITS version for its Long/Short impact equity strategy. Atlas has been running this strategy for three years for family offices; under UCITS format, the fund will give a wider access to this unique fusion of authentic responsible investing and traditional equity long/short virtues. Both sustainability and absolute returns are the very core of one of the first SFDR9 absolute returns strategies. Atlas was established in 2019 by Quentin Dumortier, with a mission to align capital with purpose. With the guidance of its Chief Impact Officer, Marie de Muizon, Atlas aspires to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside absolute financial returns. As a testament to the fund's commitment to meeting rigorous social and environmental standards, Atlas is the first B Corp certified hedge-fund management firm. Quentin Dumortier, Founder & Chief Investment Officer at Atlas said: "Our strategy is based on a rigorous investment process aimed at generating absolute returns irrespective of market conditions. We only invest in companies which align with Atlas Eleven Sustainable Investment Goals. We want to capture a source of alpha which comes from being long the companies that are aligned with structural sustainability trends and being short companies that are either going against those trends or are worst in class when it comes to internal practices. Launching a UCITS fund is a natural continuation to offer our unique investment strategy, which has proven its all-weather resilience over the past three years." Atlas' investment process begins with in-depth screening of companies pioneering sustainability, and whose activity or business practices contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This initial investment universe is also reviewed by independent panels of sustainability experts. Atlas then leverages its investment team's experience and expertise to apply a fundamental framework anchored in classical bottom-up analysis and build a high conviction portfolio. Marie de Muizon, Chief Impact Officer, added: "At Atlas we offer an investment strategy which is genuinely committed to deliver both returns and impact. We believe that companies incorporating core sustainability trends at the heart of their business models will unlock untapped growth opportunities, while contributing positively to transforming the current system towards a fairer and more sustainable capitalism. By working with sustainability leaders in the fields relevant to Atlas' sustainable investment goals, we can leverage the power of human judgment and go beyond unharmonized ESG data. We also engage with management teams to further foster progress on their most material sustainability issues."
REMUS  Chippewa Hills Schools recently received grant funding for a Child and Adolescent Wellness Center, thanks to the District Health Department No. 10.

At the Chippewa Hills board of education meeting July 11, Superintendent Bob Grover expressed positivity about how the program could be utilized and benefit students.

What I like about this center is that it will give kids a safe place, Grover said. If a student needs to calm down, they can go into one of these rooms and cool down or talk, then get back to class. We wanted to create a specialized program to meet student individual needs, and I think this does that. Itll be another way that we can help our students stay healthy. So far with the planning, I think things are going well and are on track.

Adolescent Wellness Centers promote the health of children, adolescents, and their families by providing important primary, preventative, and early intervention health care services. These centers provide comprehensive health assessments, vision and hearing screenings, medications, immunizations, treatment of acute illness, co-management of chronic illness, health education, and mental health care for students ages 5-21.

Services will be available to youth who are uninsured, under-insured, and those with public or private insurance coverage.

Katy Bies, school-based health director for DHD No. 10, said the center will be another good resource for the community.

We are thrilled to be adding this Wellness Center for students at Chippewa Hills Public School, Bies said. Research demonstrates that school-based health centers often help increase test scores, reduce attendance problems, address behavioral problems, strengthen support services for at-risk students, decrease school violence and help schools meet increased immunization requirements.

The program is jointly funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). MDHHS and MDE embrace the notion that "healthy kids learn better" and have collaborated to establish the CAHC program with the aim of increasing access to basic health care for children and teens in Michigan.

To educate parents, teachers, school staff, and the community, DHD No. 10 will be hosting a virtual Wellness Center Advisory Council meeting at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 30. To register for this virtual meeting and learn more about the AWC program at Chippewa Hills Schools, please contact Quran Griffin at qgriffin@dhd10.org.

For more information on Chippewa Hills School District and its programming visit the schools website at www.chsd.us.
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The Michigan Primary has two candidates running for the Republican nomination Aug. 2, while the democratic primary will have one unopposed candidate for the newly drawn 9th Congressional District.

On the Republican ballot are current congressional Rep. Lisa McClain, who is running for re-election, and newcomer Michelle Donovan.

Donovan, who graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School with a doctorate degree with a concentration in litigation, also attended the University of Detroit. She currently practices law for Clark Hill as a senior counsel in its construction department, and is an appointed public administrator for Macomb County.

I feel like Ive been called to do this, said Donovan. I have never run for office before, I have worked as an attorney for 20-plus years. I have a daughter, and I just want her to grow up in a different world than we are in now. Make it better for her.

Donovans platform is on transparency and ensuring that the issues affecting community members are taken care of.

The (agriculture) community has been affected by the supply chain," she said. "Our farmers cant get their supplies, which affects everyone.

Donovan also mentioned that both her parents were in the military, and she hopes to help provide the services and resources that veterans need. She is pushing for more transparency and hopes to be the voice for the constituents in D.C.

I promise to do what I say I am going to do, she said.

McClain, the incumbent candidate running for another Republican nomination, is currently on her first term in Congress and holds a BBA in business from Northwood University.

I love what I do, said McClain. In the short time in Congress, Ive learned a lot about our country and this broken thing we call government.

If re-elected, it will be McClains second term in office, and she currently sits on the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Education and Labor. Her focus right now is on issues hitting our economy and infrastructure.

We need to focus on the policies that will move this country forward and the biggest leverage is re-igniting our economy, said McClain. Lets incentivize progress to businesses and people to get back to work and not incentivize dependency on the government.

The Democratic Primary Elections only candidate, Brian Jaye will be the nominee going into the mid-term election in November. Jaye is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2005, and is training as a federal agent. He has practiced law for the last 15 years and worked on senate and presidential campaigns.

When I became a father a couple of years ago, I wanted my son to be raised in a place to feel safe, said Jaye. There are a lot of misconceptions on what a Democrat stands for and what they can do.

He will be running against the winner of the Republican Primary in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8 this year.

Huron County now resides in Congressional District 9 which has a few changes made from the former District 10 since the last election. The new district line now includes most of Tuscola County, the northern part of Oakland County and less of Macomb County.
Nigerian music stars, P-Square, have announced that their upcoming singles will be out in four days.

This was announced by Peter Okoye, who is one-half of the popular singing twin brothers.

"2 brand new singles from PSQUARE 2 will be announced in 4 days' time! And of course it's coming out this same month of July! Get ready to update your playlist and get your dancing shoes ready to dance! #PsquareSeason," Okoye better known by the stage name Mr P said in a tweet.

Their fans on Twitter who have been anticipating the release have reacted. See some of the reactions below:

@Mozez simply wrote, "I can't wait bro, love is the greatest."

@Traditionaliat said, "Glad to hear this announcement! I have been waiting patiently for @rudeboypsquare to dream so that Psquare can drop another banger since most of Psquare's hit songs always came through him by firstly dreaming about it before heading to the studio to kill it."

@Mekury99 said, "We wait patiently, been one of your hard die fans and will remain. can't get your songs off my playlist because I believe they are so tempting and should remain there forever."

@Sharoneagle wrote, "I trust you two... .just last week I was playing some of your old albums. You guys are just incredible. Every song was a hit far and wide. Love you guys."

P-Square is a Nigerian music duo consisting of the twin brothers Peter Okoye and Paul Okoye. They produce and release their albums through Square Records. In December 2011, they signed a record deal with Akon's Konvict Muzik label.
The City of Caro Parks and Recreation committee is hosting a Splash Zone Summer Celebration this Thursday, July 14 at Bieth Memorial Park.

The city is holding this celebration for the completion of the splash zone, which just opened last summer. There are new changing rooms, a new cement apron around the pad, and many other features that will be revealed.

It will create and provide a better, family atmosphere and were really excited about it all, Caros Director of Development Lauren Amellal said.

The free evening will start at 5:15 p.m. with a ceremonial ribbon cutting, followed by live music by the Christian Gramm Band at 6 p.m. Food and drink will be available, including Kona Ice, which is providing a free Kona Ice to the first 100 kids at the event. Marias Mexican Food Truck will also be at the event from 4-8 p.m.

The Caro District Library will also be hosting a free treasure hunt at 6 p.m. Kids will look for clues around different areas of the park, with a chance to cash in for some prizes at the end.

Many organizations will be in attendance including the Boy and Girl Scouts, Caro Famers Market, Caro Area District Library and Growlers Youth Wrestling. Additional organizations and local businesses will also be at the event as more are being added every day. All attendees are encouraged to check them out and get in on the free activities that they have to offer.

This is a great event to highlight the parks and rec events here in Caro, Amellal said. I look forward to a lot more developments that will happen in the future through the department as well new plans.

The event will be until 8 p.m. but the splash pad will stay open and have lights for kids to enjoy into the evening until 10 p.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, which effectively ended federal protections for a woman's right to an abortion, has continued to draw strong and often vocal opinions from all parts of the political spectrum.

Initial research by entities such as NPR, Pew Research, Politico and more have shown approximately 60% of Americans were opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade.

In fact, Gallup, Inc., an analytics company, has tracked the opinion of the nation since 1989, conducting 14 separate readings in that time, showing consistently nearly two-thirds of the nation supported Roe v. Wade, while only one-third favored overturning the case decisions and the protections it put in place for a woman's ability to have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy.

"Partisans' opinions are sharply polarized on the issue, with 80% of Democrats, 62% of independents and 31% of Republicans saying they do not want Roe v. Wade overturned," a June 2, 2022 Gallup article read. "In contrast, 58% of Republicans, 34% of independents and 15% of Democrats want it reversed."

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned the ruling, and state governments across the nation scramble to either reinforce or block a woman's right to an abortion, some may be left wondering what is next.

Impact of the decision

While an initial reaction to the ruling might suggest it only impacts women, experts say that isn't the case.

One can argue that the majority of laws in the country have been written, enacted and enforced by men. This has created a strong public opinion pointing to a mostly patriarchal government that has made decisions on the behalf of all genders. The overturn of women's federally-protected rights to an abortion is no exception. Five men and one woman of a nine-member U.S. Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade  with each of the six being appointed by a Republican president.

While the protections that were stripped away were focused on a woman's choice, men undoubtedly are impacted by those decisions as well. A few weeks ago, the New York Times spoke to several men who shared how abortions have impacted their lives.

The NYT article states "an estimated one in five men in the U.S. has been involved in an abortion," according to analysis of data from the National Survey of Family Growth.

"Men really need to consider what losing access to safe and legal abortion means for them," said Joe Colon-Uvalles, an organizer at the abortion rights group Planned Parenthood, in the NYT article.

Roe v. Wade, the 1973 lawsuit between Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman who sued to challenge Texas abortion laws in 1973 also enforced an individual's "zone of privacy." The ruling effectively stated things like contraception, marriage and child-rearing were included in these zones of privacy. Some experts, such as attorney and educator Sarah Wald, with Harvard University, speculate that overturning Roe will also have an impact on other private matters.

"The decision also has potentially devastating implications for other rights, many longstanding and currently part of the social, historical and moral fabric of America," Wald said in a Harvard article published June 28, 2022.

The impact has prompted some, such as news agencies like the Washington Post and The Conversation  written by academic experts  to suggest men should not only speak up about abortion's impact on their lives but also that it could be more impactful if they do.

"Some men could only hear a message about womens rights if delivered by a man," the Washington Post article reads. "If more men speak up for womens rights, they can help overcome some of the backlash against women who do."

However, The Conversation article, while sharing a similar sentiment, stressed there was a fine line in that.

"Of course, this shouldnt mean men taking over the conversation or making it all about us," The Conversation article reads. "Men can also have too much influence on pregnancy, by seeking to impose their wishes  and reproductive coercion is a common aspect of domestic abuse. Its important to recognize that this is first and foremost about supporting womens right to choose what happens to their bodies  and listening much more to their needs and experiences."

Next steps

"In response to the Dobbs decision, some people have expressed skepticism about the power of protest in protecting or securing rights. But this perspective is misguided," American political scientist Erica Chenoweth with Harvard said in an article. "First, sustained activism in support of choice and reproductive justice has led numerous states  including Massachusetts  to enshrine abortion access into law. This provides a powerful bulwark against the total removal of abortion access in the United States, regardless of Roe. Second, we need to think not only about what happened because of mass movements in the years preceding Dobbs, but also what was avoided due to movement mobilization and popular participation in democracy."

Chenoweth continued by noting the majority of public support was not enough to stop the decision on Roe v. Wade, but provides a good starting point for the "next chapter in a strategic battle to protect reproductive rights and other civil rights facing renewed peril."

Brian Nguyen, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South California, told the NYT that "men have been minimized, if not completely overlooked" in the abortion rights conversation. Nguyen is the founder of Emerge Lab, a reproductive health reserve organization that looks to change that.

According to Nguyen, and Bradley Mattes, the president of Life Issues Institute, an anti-abortion organization, men often hear "It's my body, my choice."

Because the reproductive policies have been dictated by men, there is a perception that men are speaking out, the NYT article reads. However, research clearly shows that the opinions on abortion are split along party lines, not gender lines.

Ultimately, men can do well by educating themselves on women's reproductive systems, and filling in gaps that some sex education and anatomy programs have left, such as those Idaho Rep. Vito Barbieri exhibited in 2015 when asking if a pregnant woman could swallow small cameras to see if she was pregnant. Barbieri's comment from six years ago resurfaced following the Supreme Court decision.

Other impacts

Following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, many states  such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Missouri  had trigger laws that went into effect. Other states immediately started working on laws to ban abortions and the discussions around those actions have prompted some to speculate that some will try to limit even more.

"The states that are trying to limit abortion from the moment of conception  not even from the moment of pregnancy, as the medical profession would define it  could well try to challenge Plan B, emergency contraception, potentially even IUDs," said Wendy Parmet, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University in an NBC News article.

The potential for lawmakers to impede with a doctor's decisions on behalf of their patients has prompted concerns from many.

"To say that we are incredibly concerned would, I think, actually be putting it mildly," Dr. Kavita Arora, chair of the ethics committee at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, told NPR. "This threatens our ability to take care of patients on a daily basis."

Forcing trends

The Court's decision, along with the decisions of lawmakers across the country, has prompted an increased demand for contraception, according to CNN. Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the first-ever request for over-the-counter birth control from HRA Pharma.

News agencies across the country  such as Bloomberg, Washington Post, Time and more  have reported a sudden increase in men seeking vasectomies.

Public outcry prompted President Joe Biden to sign an executive order July 8.

The executive order addressed topics:

Safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception;

Protecting the privacy of patients and their access to accurate information;

Promoting the safety and security of patients, providers and clinics; and

Coordinating the implementation of federal efforts to protect reproductive rights and access to health care.

Biden admitted his powers are limited, but encouraged voters to do their part to codify Roe v. Wade.

"No executive action from the president can do that," Biden said. "And if Congress, as it appears, lacks the vote  votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard. This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a womans right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level."

Biden urged everyone to keep all protests on the matter peaceful, stating threats and intimidation are not speech. Biden said his office would have more on the matter in weeks to come.
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After hearing from constituents, Midland and Gladwin County commissioners unanimously approved the creation of a special assessment district Tuesday in a two-and-a-half hour meeting in the Meridian Early College High School gym.

Gladwin County Commission Chair Karen Moore and Midland County Commission Chair Mark Bone both said the decision will not impact the majority of the taxpayers in the two counties.

The only people that will see a new assessment tax on their winter tax bills are the people that were included in the 2019 special assessment district, Moore said.

Bone said this impacts people with lakefront lots or with back lots with easements to the lakes.

The district impacts property owners on Wixom, Sanford, Secord and Smallwood lakes. Both counties will contribute money from their general funds. For example, 3% of the funding will come from Gladwin County. If you don't live on one of the impacted lakes, you won't see a tax increase.

Gladwin County has done this for other lakes in the past, such as Wiggins Lake.

We were already doing it for other lakes, Moore said. Why wouldnt we do it for this project?

Those living in the assessment district will pay about $180 on average on their winter taxes.

The commissioners vote approved the computation of costs and an assessment roll for operations and maintenance to restore the dams and lakes. The computation of cost with respect to the administration, operations and maintenance of the lake levels and related facilities of the four lakes for 2022-2024 is $4,692,000  that's $1,564,000 assessed each year for the three years.

Commissioners also approved the three-year operation and maintenance special assessment roll for the Four Lakes Special Assessment District for 2022-2024. There is an estimated cost of $250 million in connection with the Lake Level Capital Improvement Project to proceed with restoration construction for the dams of Secord Lake, Smallwood Lake, Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake.

Im pretty pleased with the results, Bone said. Obviously, you cant make everyone happy.

Some residents criticized the commissioners, claiming the elected officials made a knee-jerk reaction with the vote.

Moore and Bone agree the financial planning has been ongoing for more than two years  with much research and listening devoted to it.

We are trying to make a bad situation better, Bone said. This is what was best for the people.

Moore appreciated residents views, saying both sides were passionate about their sides. She said ultimately, while the decision was difficult, commissioners had to do what was best.

In the end, we had to do what was right for the entire community, she said. The vote allowed us to do what we needed to move forward.

The commissioners suspect more property owners will be on board with the plan after people see the results of paying the assessments.

The plan to restore the lakes is in the best interest of the lake communities and the counties, and it is supported by most of the community, said Four Lakes Task Force President Dave Kepler. Its time to start restoration construction of the dams to bring back the lakes.

Bone praised the Four Lakes Task Force, saying none of the efforts would be happening and the lakes wouldnt be this much nearer to returning without the task forces efforts.

Based on the Public Sector Consultants Report of its 2022 survey, of those that participated in the survey:

90% supported rebuilding the dams and restoring the lakes;

75% were willing to pay some level of assessment

Most of those who said they would be unwilling to pay an annual assessment believe that someone else should pay for the capital improvement and maintenance of the dams.

Kepler said the Four Lakes Task Force has been very clear in its public position that the private dam owners and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had the primary obligations to protect the public and the environment and enforce regulations to deal with prevention and recovery.

Since the dam failures, the federal government, by the time the recovery effort is done, will have contributed approximately $30 million and the State of Michigan has granted to date $225 million for recovery, engineering, and construction, to lessen the burden to those in the Four Lakes Special Assessment District.

In addition, Four Lakes Task Force has received $5 million in private donations, significant volunteered time, and in-kind services.

Prior to the dam failures, all four dams required improvements and repairs. Even with the revenue from hydropower, the model for improving the dams was not sustainable under FERC regulation and Boyce Hydros control. Kepler said this was the fundamental issue that led the lake associations to seek a public solution to preserve the four lakes, and further led the counties of Midland and Gladwin to take legal action to gain control.

The legal process employed under Michigan law, the Inland Lake Level Act, permits counties to transition from private dam ownership to public dam ownership and to establish a special assessment district to fund the acquisition, capital improvements, operation and maintenance of dams.
MECOSTA COUNTY  The Mecosta County board of commissioner will hold a public hearing on a petition to annex a portion of land in Fork Township during its regular meeting at 10 a.m. Aug. 4, at the Mecosta County Services Building.

The Barryton village council requested a public hearing regarding the annexation of about 70 acres of land that is currently owned by the village.

Village president James Soriano told the Pioneer that there are three parcels they are wanting to annex  a 52 acre parcel south of the lagoon area, a 3 acre parcel on the east side of 20th Avenue where the village barn is located, and a 19 acre parcel to the north of that.

The village already owns the property and has had ownership of it for decades, he said, but it is not in the village limits.

Part of our reasoning for this is that we are wanting to sell the village barn, and in doing so we want to make the land a green zone, Soriano said. That way, if we were to sell to a marijuana company, we would be able to get a larger value if it is designated a green zone.' The acreage we are currently looking at selling (to a marijuana company), we are getting nearly $15,000 an acre, which we would not be able to get if it was zoned farmland.

Additionally, he said, Fork Township has opted out of marijuana sales and distribution, so unless the land is part of the village limits, it could not be used for a marijuana business.

According to the resolution requesting annexation, it is necessary to rezone the land as industrial to promote business and industrial development, which would add to the payrolls and tax rolls for the village.

In order for us to target the value, it has to be in the village limits so that we can advertise it accordingly, he said. We are trying to get more bang for our buck. In the long run, if we sold it, it would be on the tax rolls for the village, as well as the township. So, there are several positives there.

He said they are also trying to recruit a solar farm company to lease some of the property. Trustee Kathryn Kerr has been investigating potential solar farm companies and has reached out to DTE and Consumers Energy, he said.

Annexing the property in question into the village limits increases the size of the village, while taking nothing away from Fork Township or Mecosta County, the petition reads. This, in turn, opens the village to more funds in grants if the total area is considered for those funds. Additionally, if the village were to sell any of the property, currently, the township would benefit from additional taxes, but the village would not.

The annexation request must be approved by the county board of commissioners and requires a public hearing.


TO THE EDITOR:

Firearms killed 45,200 people in the US in 2020, 33% more than 2019. In 2020, for youth aged one to nineteen, firearm homicides became the leading cause of death, surpassing for the first time the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents.



Killing of American citizens with high-powered assault rifles (AR) is an American tragedy. Assault weapons can be legally purchased at eighteen years, or under 18 in some states, with a parents approval. The AR-15 rifle has been used in massive executions.



Two AR-style rifles and several hundred rounds of ammunition were legally purchased and used by an 18-year-old to kill nineteen students and two teachers in Texas this year. An AR-style rifle was used by an 18-year-old man in the Buffalo massacre. A 17-year old boy who purchased a similar AR-style gun with his fathers approval killed seven people and injured many in Highland Park on July 4.



Please write President Biden and Congressional Representatives to seek legislation that renders the sale and use of these high-powered assault rifles (AR) illegal in the US. They do not belong in our communities. Now is the moment to bring common sense to our gun strategies. Now is the time to make high-powered assault rifles (AR) illegal for personal use in America!



I am begging our country to take the reasonable step to outlaw high-powered assault rifles (AR) that exist for the sole purpose of killing with ease as many people as possible with one gun. These guns were designed for wars, and we are allowing these war machines to be used to kill our our citizens. And then, we wonder why we have these massive tragedies.
During her tenure in the State House, Annette Glenn has become known for one thing  being less awful than her husband, Gary.

Garys regressive brand of neo Christian-Conservative politics, scorched-Earth campaign tactics and hateful anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric didnt garner him many fans in Midland or in Lansing.

Annette is not Gary, though. She is her own person. But recently, Annette Glenn has come across more like Gary Glenn while attacking her State Senate opponents Christian Velasquez and Tim Kelly.

You probably received Glenns recent campaign mailer targeting Velasquez. She claims he landed in federal court after ending a womans career at a local company so he could give her job to his buddy. Glenn also sent out a press release dramatically refunding $1,175 that Velasquez donated to her 2018 and 2020 campaigns.

Her campaign is characterizing Glenn as a hero  "Rep. Glenn had the courage to act as a whistle-blower regarding this court case," said Stacey Ault, Glenn's campaign manager. The campaign has tried to goad the Daily News into publishing its problematic interpretation of that lawsuit. The campaign challenged the Daily News to "just publish the facts" (that the campaign cherry-picked from the lawsuit) so that readers "can judge for themselves."

Here are some facts. Judge for yourselves.

You can also read the court document - and I mean read the entire thing - if you want the whole, unvarnished truth.

According to the 2016 civil lawsuit, a woman who had been with Dow Corning for 30 years injured her eye during a work trip. After her recovery, she returned to work to an office that had been reorganized during her convalescence. She was transferred to another position. Then that job was eliminated.

The woman sued Dow Corning claiming it violated the Family & Medical Leave Act, Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act, for retaliation under the Workers Disability Compensation Act and gender discrimination under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

She sought $75,000 from Dow Corning.

Two years in, Dow Corning asked the court for a summary judgment - an immediate ruling on whether the case had any merit. The company's motion was denied. In his comments, the judge called the case complex but ruled that there were enough discrepancies between the parties to allow the case to move forward.

Courtesy

None of what is in the lawsuit reflects well on Dow Corning or the eight or so people deposed in the case. It sounds like an HR nightmare  and there is no question Velasquez, a supervisor, played some role in this mess.

The parties settled out of court. Glenn's campaign is using language to try to make it seem as if some judgment - other than Glenn's - was rendered against Velasquez.

"I feel awful for voters and especially donors to Mr. Velasquez's campaign, who he misled by failing to fully disclose this federal court ruling up front," Glenn said in a statement defending her attack.

There was no ruling, or judgment, in the case. There was no trial.

State Sen. Ken Horn called out Glenn for the mailer, describing it as "both half-cocked and less than half factual."

In her press release, Glenn makes clear that Velasquezs alleged behavior so sickened her that she wanted to "disassociate herself from him and his money.

Now, that's taking a principled stand!

Or is it?

According to her own campaign finance records, Glenn has accepted thousands of dollars from disgraced House Speaker Lee Chatfield since 2018.

You may remember Chatfield from his previous adventures, such as trying to take a loaded gun onto a plane at Pellston Regional Airport or meeting privately with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., to mull over Michigans 2020 election results. Lately, Chatfield has been in the news because his sister-in-law publicly accused him of raping her when she was a 15-year-old student in a high school in which Chatfield taught.

There's more to tell about Chatfield, but that seems like enough. Chatfield created multiple PACs to support favorite candidates like Glenn  on Aug. 9, 2020 alone, she received $10,500 from the Chatfield Majority Fund.

So did Glenn give Chatfield back the thousands of dollars he gave to her?

Glenn's campaign refused to answer that question but did respond with "unlike former Speaker Chatfield, who has not yet been tried, convicted, or even charged, Mr. Velasquez has already been before a federal judge."

Except Velasquez never appeared before a judge. There was no trial. There was no judgment.

Accused rapist Chatfield should be given the benefit of the doubt, but being deposed in a Dow Corning lawsuit is enough to convict Velasquez?

So much for taking that principled stand...

"It will be disappointing, though not entirely surprising, if the newspaper in a small company town focuses its coverage  as suggested by your questions  on trying to discredit the whistle blower for telling voters the truth," Ault stated in an email to me.

The Daily News no longer endorses political candidates, and thats fine with me. You dont need us telling you which candidate to vote for.

But to those people who have supported Team Glenns brand of toxic politics all these years, it might be time to finally ask yourself why.

Annette has had four years to show us who she is and if Lansing has changed her.

I think she just did that.

That's disappointing, though not entirely surprising.

Dave Clark is editor of the Midland Daily News. Email him at david.clark@hearst.com




Many young Michiganders graduated from high school and college in recent months, and many of them are still wondering: Whats Next? For these ambitious young people at the start of their careerand for any Michiganders looking for their next big career movethere are two words you should remember: Creators Wanted.

Creators Wanted is the name of a national campaign to grow the manufacturing workforce of today and tomorrow, and the phrase is also the best way to describe most manufacturers recruiting efforts. The businesses that make things in Michiganbe they small, family-owned operations or iconic enterprises with thousands of employeesare looking for people excited about innovating, about creating the next big thing and being part of a team of makers.

Being a creator is one of the best careers out there today. The average Michigan manufacturing employee takes home more than $82,000 in pay and benefits, according to the most recent data; thats more than $30,000 beyond the average for all other industries.

Opportunities are available on manufacturing teams for creators with a wide array of skills and educational experience. And theres truly something for everybody, because manufacturers are looking to hire people with all kinds of skills and interests, such as engineers, marketers, drivers, researchers and designers, to name just a few. And given that manufacturers are looking to invest in their workforce, these jobs often come with ample opportunities for continued professional development and education.

And you wont need to wait in line for these opportunities, because there are more manufacturing job openings than people to fill them. This abundance of jobs isnt going away anytime soon; research by The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte shows that the industry will need to fill 4 million jobs by the end of the decade.

If youre curious about how you can get your start in manufacturing, thats where the Creators Wanted Tour Live comes in. The tour is organized by the National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute and supported by leading manufacturers across the country and here in Michigan, like Dow, and it will be stopping in Midland this week, coinciding with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

It gives job seekers, students, parents, teachers and others an interactive and immersive look at the skills and problem-solving abilities manufacturers use every day. Attendees will have hands-on access to new technologies, meet local manufacturing team members, learn about whats created in Michigan and where the career opportunities are and obtain online resources that will help them access those opportunities.

Manufacturers across Michigan arent just looking for creatorstheyre rolling out the red carpet. As youre thinking about how to build a fulfilling career, we hope youll find your way into the ranks of the people who work every day to build the future.

John Walsh is the President of the Michigan Manufacturers Association. John ensures MMAs members remain competitive.
The Super Eagles captain submitted that the country's ruling class don't believe in the system they are administering

With no end in sight for the lingering strike action embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa has questioned the sincerity of those that should be finding a solution to the problem.

In a now-viral post made on his Instagram page, Musa submitted that the country's ruling class doesn't believe in the system they are administering and that is why they send their children abroad to study while the country's ivory towers remain under lock and key.

Just recently, the internet was flooded with pictures of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike reportedly attending the graduation of his son from a U.K university.

Apart from Mr Wike, some other political office holders and several other politicians have openly celebrated the graduation of their children from foreign institutions of learning.

However, in the past few years, students in the government-owned higher institutions of learning in Nigeria have spent more time at home than in their schools and the Super Eagles captain is unhappy with the anomaly.

He wrote: "To our political office holders whose children school abroad. How do you feel visiting your children abroad, taking pictures in their schools and posting online while ASUU is on strike?

"Like seriously, how is it ok to you? You're running a system that you don't even believe in. Show me one Oyibo leader whose child is schooling in Nigeria.

"E no dey touch una? And when you return Nigerian youths will still gather and sing praises for una."

In this latest round of industrial action, ASUU has been on strike for over four months after accusing the federal government of reneging on previous agreements including the agreement to increase funding for public universities.

However, on Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari called on all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly those close to the association's leaders and members, to persuade the lecturers to reconsider their position and the ripple effect on an entire generation and the nation.
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.
Photo: (Photo :  /Pixabay)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, 69, is allegedly going to be a dad again after reports surfaced that his girlfriend, Alina Kabaeva, 30, is pregnant with their third baby.

According to The Sun, Kabaeva's pregnancy was first discussed on a Telegram channel sometime in May. Allegedly, Kremlin insiders recently confirmed in one post that the ex-gymnast is carrying a girl.

The insider added that Putin was not happy to know about the pregnancy, suggesting that this was not planned. He allegedly said that he has enough kids, including two older daughters from his first marriage with ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva. The girls, Mariya and Yekaterina, are now in their 30s.

On the other hand, Putin and Kabaeva have two boys together, who were born in 2015 and 2019. The Russian leader, however, has never confirmed nor talked about his life with Kabaeva in any form of media.

Read Also: Russian Families Clash and Block Each Other on Facebook Over Opposing Views of War in Ukraine

Secret life with Kabaeva

The Daily Mail reported that Putin was not around when Kabaeva gave birth to their sons in Switzerland. He has never told voters about his second family and has notoriously said he doesn't like anyone encroaching on his private life.

Kabaeva was last seen in public more than a month ago at a gymnastics training camp for kids. Local reporters in Sochi, however, commented that Kabaeva appeared to have "lost quite a lot of weight." Video footage of the woman showed her talking to the kids in a lilac blouse with a cardigan and a pair of white trousers.

It's only the second time that Kabaeva has been spotted in public following earlier claims that she and her children have been staying in Switzerland after Putin launched a war against Ukraine. She was featured on TV in April in memorializing war heroes during World War II.

Putin first met Kabaeva when she won gold for Russia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Dubbed "the most supple woman" in Russia for her gymnastics ability, she was rumored to be the president's "secret first lady" in 2008, while Putin was still married to his wife.

The third secret daughter

The Russian strongman is said to have another daughter from another affair. Luiza Rozova, 18, is a popular personality on Instagram but as with Kabaeva, Putin has never spoken about her.

Since being tracked by the media in 2021, Rozova has agreed to speak with Russian GQ and has commented that she likely looks very similar to a younger Putin. However, she did not confirm the rumors about her relationship with the president.

Rozova's mother is Svetlana Krivonogikh, who owns one of the major banks in Russia. The wealthy woman, however, has never confirmed that Putin fathered her child nearly two decades ago.

Dr. Matthew Schmidt, a foreign affairs and political science expert, told People that Putin's secrecy may be for security reasons, especially since the strongman is one of the wealthiest men in the world. The expert said he is protecting his private relationships "both from competitors inside the court and from the public."

Related Article: Trauma Expert Says Daughters of Vladimir Putin Likely Have Similar 'Narcissistic' Traits as Father
Photo: (Photo : Unsplash)

A federal judge from North Dakota ordered a Mexican drug cartel accused of killing nine members of Mormon families in November 2019 to pay $1.5 billion to the families.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. Magistrate Judge Clare Hochhalter's award would be tripled under the Anti-Terrorism Act, increasing the amount to $4.6 billion.

David Langford, the husband of one of the victims, said they went into a United States Courtroom in North Dakota to seek acknowledgment and justice for the trauma inflicted on their family, and they received it. The victim's family filed a lawsuit in North Dakota accusing the Juarez Cartel of carrying out the gruesome November 2019 attack on their wives and children in Mexico.

AP stated that the Cartel did not respond to a published summon nor gave legal representation at a trial in North Dakota. Although the government can freeze the assets of terrorist organizations, it is unclear if the U.S. Treasury Department holds cartel assets.

The brutal murder of the Mormon families

The brutal murder happened in November 2019 in a border community between Chihuahua and Sonora. They were members of the LeBaron and Langford family, a group of dual Mexican and American citizens who lived in a fundamentalist Mormon community.

The victims included Maria Rhonita LeBaron and her 12, 10, and twin eight-month-old children, Christina Langford, Dawna Langford, and her 11- and two-year-old children.

As per The Sun, the women were traveling in a three-vehicle caravan that fateful day. Christina Langford and LeBaron were meeting their husbands in the U.S., while Dawna was headed to a family wedding.

Unkown to the families, 100 heavily armed individuals met at a ranch that belonged to the leader of Juarez Cartel the day before the attack. The meeting was about planning an attack, hoping to regain territory from a rival gang. The gang members were instructed to shoot anyone, regardless of whether they were civilians or the police.

Read Also: Mom Shares Story of How Her 3-Year-Old Almost Died of Sepsis from Cat Bite.

Senseless deaths

The Cartel shot at LeBaron's car for at least five to ten minutes, hitting the car at least 321 times. Then, the Cartel burned the vehicle even if some members were still alive. Survivors shared how shooters peppered their cars with bullets, burned babies alive, and shot one boy in the back as he tried to flee the scene.

Christina Langford's vehicle was hit at least 41 times. Christina Langford stepped out of her car with her hands up in the air, saying there were women and children and asking the Cartel not to shoot. The cartel member killed her anyway.

Dawna came up from her vehicle to help Cristina, but the Cartel fired at the car, killing her two-year-old son as an older sibling held the toddler in her arms. Dawna's 11-year-old son died of a shot in the head. Dawna was shot and killed after that.

The Cartel let out the surviving siblings at gunpoint despite having severe wounds, without food, medical supplies, or jackets to protect them from the cold. Two children carried their younger sibling down the mountain, while another ran eight miles to his family for help while dodging shots from the Cartel.

Per Vice, the attack was one of the worst in Mexico's drug war history.

Related Article: Florida Woman Admits to Keeping Her Mom's Body Inside a Freezer to Claim Disability Benefits
Photo: (Photo : Donald Clark/Pixabay)

A pair of Green Bay parents are facing charges of child neglect, among other felonies, after their 18-month-old child died from fentanyl poisoning.

On Tuesday, May 3, 2022, Derrick Young, 23, and Tyana Putzlocker, 22, found their son unconscious and hardly breathing when they woke up from their naps, so they called emergency services for help. When the team arrived, they found the mother attempting to perform CPR on her son.

The emergency services immediately took the child to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. According to ABC 2 News, the medical examiner did not find any signs of physical abuse, but there was an alarming level of fentanyl poisoning in the child's body. The authorities concluded that the 18-month-old boy accidentally got hold of the powerful drug in their home.

Read Also: Oregon Moms Protest at Governor's House to Demand Better Action on Opioid Crisis

Parents were drug users and sellers

This was not the first time Young and Putzlocker placed their child in harm's way. In November 2021, the parents were also investigated by Wisconsin's Brown County Drug Task Force agents, who found guns and narcotics, including fentanyl pills, in their basement.

Young was sent to jail for drug trafficking and possession, but he's been out of custody after paying the bond. By this time, Young and Putzlocker had lost custody of their toddler and an older son. The kids were transferred to their grandparents' home, but the parents were allowed supervised visits, per WGEM.

However, on the day of the child's death, the grandmother took the kids to their parent's house for a visit. Apparently, the grandmother stepped out of the house when the family was taking naps.

Young and Putzlocker initially denied that they had been using or dealing drugs, but the authorities discovered their social media profiles with chats about drug transactions. The parents then admitted to their criminal activities. Young also admitted that he keeps fentanyl pills inside a closet.

The father, however, said that their toddler might have gotten the pills from Putzlocker because she is allegedly careless about her drug use.

On the other hand, the mother told the police that their son might have picked up the substance when she was doing laundry in the basement with the toddler joining her.

Authorities took both parents into custody on Monday, July 6, with a $25,000 bail on Young and $10,000 on Putzlocker. The court has not yet listed the defendant's name.

Parents warned of candy-colored Fentanyl pills

Meanwhile, the police in Monterey, California, had warned parents that there are rainbow or candy-colored fentanyl sold in the streets that could be very attractive to children, making them easy prey to fentanyl poisoning.

"We encourage parents to speak with their children about the dangers of this deadly drug," the authorities said in a Facebook post. "Just one use can be fatal."

Over 70 percent of drug overdose cases in the U.S. in 2020 involved fentanyl use. The illegal substance, often mixed with heroin, is the leading cause of the surging drug problem in the country, with over 107,000 deaths in the last year.

Related Article: DEA Cracks Down on Drugs Bought on Snapchat After Increasing Overdose Among Teenagers
Photo: (Photo : torstensimon from Pixabay )

The Biden administration is considering allowing all adults to get a second COVID booster shot, according to a person who knows the plan. The planned directive stems from concerns from White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top administration officials about the current rise in hospitalizations brought upon by the highly contagious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

White House COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha did not confirm that the Biden administration would adopt such a plan during a press briefing on Tuesday, July 12, but he did say that federal health officials have been discussing the possibility of offering boosters for all adults in the United States for a while now.

Jha said they have conversations about what possible things they can do to protect the American people better. He added that ultimately, such decisions are up to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NBC News reported.

Hospitalizations due to COVID spike again in the U.S.

Hospitalizations due to COVID have been rising modestly across the United States, with the subvariants continuing to make up a greater proportion of new cases. According to the CDC, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, considered the most contagious forms of the coronavirus to date, made up more than 80 percent of all new COVID cases in the U.S. for the week ending July 9.

The Washington Post was the first to report that the Biden administration is considering a second booster for American adults. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the planned booster shots. The source said the plan was not finalized yet and could still change. As Jha also noted in the briefing, any changes would still need the CDC and the FDA to sign off.

Federal health regulators signed off on a second COVID booster for people ages 50 and older and immunocompromised individuals in late March amid a rise in cases caused by an earlier Omicron subvariant, BA.2.

Read Also: Bridgeport Mom Accused of Leaving Toddlers in Hot Car to Get Her Nails Done Granted Court Delay

Jha urges Americans to get COVID booster shot

According to data from the CDC, only about 30 percent of people eligible for a second booster have received the COVID shot. Experts at that time theorized that health officials might have difficulty persuading people in the U.S. to get a second booster because COVID cases and hospitalizations were already low.

For those Americans currently eligible for a booster, Jha said getting one now would not preclude a person from getting another COVID shot that may target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants this coming fall or winter. Jha said that his message is simple for people 50 or older who have not gotten a vaccine shot this year, and that is to get one now.

Related Article: New Jersey Mom Shocked After Autopsy Shows Son's Treatment During Navy Seal Hell Week Training
Photo: (Photo : Lisa Runnels from Pixabay )

It has been nearly a month since investigators searched an apartment in Manchester, New Hampshire, to look for missing girl Harmony Montgomery.

Authorities had not said anything about any new clues on Montgomery, who was last seen in late 2019 when she was five years old, that may have turned up inside the Manchester home. That silence is not sitting well with Harmony's mom Crystal Sorey.

In an exclusive interview with NBC10 Boston, she revealed that she has not heard anything from authorities, saying, "Nothing from the search, nothing."

Sorey wants answers from investigators

Sorey said she is still in the dark nearly four weeks after the high-profile search. It was a huge operation with Manchester police, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies, and an FBI evidence response team shutting down an entire block of Union Street.

Sorey said she was just sitting here, twiddling her thumbs, hoping they tell her a little crumb of information about that search. Investigators took out possible evidence on the day of the search, including a refrigerator from the apartment where Harmony's dad, Adam Montgomery, and her stepmom, Kayla, once lived, according to Fox News.

Sorey wants to know what was in that fridge that made authorities take it out from the apartment. Plenty of questions are running through Sorey's mind, including why they took the refrigerator out and the tiles, carpet, and pole. She also wants to know if there was blood and hair found in the apartment.

Sorey said that her advocate gave her an ominous warning in the case before the search took place in the apartment. The worried mom said she was told to be prepared for the worst.

Read Also: Russian Mom Arrested for Selling Newborn Baby to Pay for Her $3,600 Nose Job

No update yet regarding Harmon Montgomery's disappearance

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and Manchester police said that the Harmon Montgomery case remains active but that there is no update regarding her disappearance. They also would not address the mother's concerns about the lack of information being shared.

Sorey explained she just has this really bad feeling all the time, saying that she knows this will end badly and that it will end the way that she did not want it to end at all. Sorey added that she still does not know if her daughter is being held against her will or if she is still alive.

Sorey wants the case to be solved soon, saying that if they never find Harmony, her daughter never gets to lay to rest, or maybe she is being tortured this whole time. She added that if her child is deceased, at least she knows that she has not been suffering this whole time.

Authorities are asking for the public's help in locating Montgomery. Anyone with information about Harmony's disappearance is asked to call or text the 24-hour tip line dedicated to her rescue at 603-203-6060, WCVB reported.

Related Article: Indiana Mom Draws a Heart on Her Children's Hands Every Morning in Case of School Shooting
Photo: (Photo : Vidhyarthi Darpan/Pixabay)

"Fifty Shades" actress Dakota Johnson knew what she wanted to do as soon as she graduated from high school, and college was not part of her plans, much to the disappointment of her father, Don Johnson.

In an interview with Daily Mirror, the star said that she was obsessed with doing movies as a child. She was exposed to show business early on because of her father, her mother, Melanie Griffith, grandmother, Tippi Hedren, and stepfather, Antonio Banderas.

Acting has always been a family business for Dakota growing up. She was still a child when her father became one of the biggest stars in the world for his TV series, "Miami Vice."

Read Also: Ewan McGregor Describes Divorce From Eve Mavrakis as Like a Bomb Detonating His Family

Dakota tells her dad not to worry about her

Don recalled the very conversation he had with Dakota about going to college. In an interview on "Late Night With Seth Meyers," the star of "Miami Vice" said that he told his daughter she would not "stay on the payroll" in the family if she didn't pursue higher education because that was the rule. He even offered to take Dakota to visit colleges, but his daughter said she doesn't have college plans.

The father had to reiterate to his daughter that she won't receive any money from her parents or her grandparents, but her only reply to her dad was, "Don't you worry about it." Don then said that Dakota landed a part in a David Fincher movie, "The Social Network," some weeks after their brief college conversation.

Her choice was not even up for discussion, and she went to land her first big role on her own, without the influences of her family. Now, Don is very proud of how far Dakota has achieved in her decade-long career in Hollywood, filming one movie after another.

"She doesn't really call me for advice," the dad said, per Grazia. "She calls me to say, 'Gosh, I would see you, but I've got three pictures I'm shooting at the same time.'"

Dakota's role of a lifetime

In 2015, Dakota landed the role of a lifetime as Anastasia Steele in the raunchy movie based on the "Fifty Shades of Grey" book series. Those close to the actress feared she would be typecast in the role that would see her naked and exposed.

However, Dakota said she has no regrets about doing the movie because she learned a lot from working on the three successful films with co-star Jamie Dornan. It has also opened doors for better roles. Currently, Dakota is the lead in Netflix's adaptation of the Regency period romantic-comedy, "Persuasion," based on the classic Jane Austen novel.

Away from the limelight, Dakota has kept her personal life very private despite her high-profile relationship with Coldplay's frontman, Chris Martin. The couple has been together for five years, and she has a cordial relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin's ex-wife, and their two kids, Apple and Moses.

Dakota said that coming from a blended family makes it easy for her to relate to Martin's children. She told Vanity Fair she doesn't want Martin's kids to experience animosity because she went through some of that in her childhood. Today, however, Dakota gels well with her stepsiblings and said they have each other's backs.

Related Article: Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith, Daughter of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, Files to Drop 'Griffith' From Name
Oyetola: "I am not a candidate who needs any tutorial to lead Osun. As an apprentice, eight years is more than enough training period for anyone."

When the governorship campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formally inaugurated in September 2018, then-candidate Gboyega Oyetola pledged to take Osun State to the promised land.

Mr Oyetola told a gathering at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in Ile Ife, that he was not a candidate who needed any tutorial to lead Osun.

"I know where we started. I know where we are. I am not a candidate who needs any tutorial to lead Osun. As an apprentice, eight years is more than enough training period for anyone. I am the most suitable person to continue from where we are," Mr Oyetola said.

Mr Oyetola eventually won the election in 2018 and is now seeking a second term in the forthcoming election.

This time around, he said keeping to promises he made to the people of the state in the last three and half years of his administration, with limited resources, will give him victory in the July 16 governorship election in the state.

"We would continue to focus on quality service delivery to the people and the will of God would prevail through the popular support of the people," he said, adding that with the "available meager resources accrued to the state, he had turned the economy of the state around positively for the benefit of those who elected him."

PREMIUM TIMES is examining data on key socio-economic indicators to see what has changed since Mr. Oyetola assumed office in 2015.

The Oyetola era and Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR)

Before Mr Oyetola took office, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Osun State was N10.3 billion in 2018. The state generated N4.7 billion in the first half of that year and N5.5 billion in the second half, data released by the statistics bureau, NBS, shows.

By 2020, Osun's IGR grew to N19.67 billion, placing it among the top 16 states with the highest IGRs in the country. The state raised N9.6 billion in the first six months of the year and N9.8 billion in the last six months.

In 2020, Osun state's IGR per capita stood at N3,678, an increase from N1,378 recorded in 2018.

Meanwhile, when the state's IGR is analysed on a per capita basis, it is relatively low compared to its peers. It falls below the national average of N4,616. Osun state has the second-lowest IGR per capita in the South-West region and 19th nationally.

Last year, the governor was quoted by Businessday as saying his administration has aggressively opened up new revenue vistas through effective tax collection while leveraging on the state's capabilities in agriculture, tourism, and mining. "Through our reform efforts, we are beginning to see results in these areas as significant contributors to our economy," Mr Oyetola said.

Fiscal Strength

In 2018, Osun was placed 32nd on the fiscal sustainability index, finishing just ahead of Taraba, Plateau, Adamawa, and Kogi states.

By 2021, the state climbed to 19th place on the index. It was ranked 13th out of 36 states of the federation, sitting behind Sokoto; Zamfara; Kwara; Edo; Cross River; Gombe; Kaduna; Kebbi; Lagos; Anambra; Ebonyi, and Rivers.

This shows a significant improvement under the Oyetola administration.

Nonetheless, the data reveals that the state is still highly dependent on statutory handouts from the federation account even though those allocations have been declining since 2018. According to not-for-profit BudgIT, depending on the statutory allocations from Abuja is a risky fiscal strategy, especially considering the volatility of crude oil price on which a sizable chunk of federally distributed revenue depends.

The state's statutory allocation (Gross FAAC) declined by 3.93 percent, from N51.41bn in 2019 to N49.39bn in 2020.

BudgIT's fiscal sustainability index examined Nigeria's 36 states' fiscal performance using several indicators. The report used four metrics to measure fiscal sustenance: the ability of states to meet their operating expenses and the ability to meet operating expenses and loan repayment without having to borrow.

Other indicators are fiscal power to borrow more given low debt burden vis-a-vis how much is generated in a year; and prioritisation of capital over recurrent expenditures.

Debt Burden

Osun state continues to struggle financially due to its debt burden. At the end of 2018, the state was the sixth most indebted of the 36 states of the federation. Its external debt stood at $101.5 million in 2018, while domestic debt was at N148.1bn.

By December 2021, the foreign debt had declined to $99.9 million and the domestic debt also saw a downturn to N134 billion, according to Nigeria's Debt Management Office.

In its report, BudgIT noted that debt servicing and repayment obligations would continue to drown out a sizable component of the state's future revenue. For example, loan repayments gulped N21.06bn in 2020, the third-largest loan repayment made by any state in Nigeria.

This high debt burden is one huge contributor to the financial difficulties the state is facing, BudgIT said in its 2021 State of states report.

Unemployment rate

Before Mr. Oyetola took office in 2018, the unemployment rate in Osun was 10.1 percent. When the governor was inaugurated, he promised to create at least 30,000 jobs.

"We, in partnership with private sectors, will establish large manufacturing industries in the major sectors of the economy to create at least 30,000 jobs", Mr. Oyetola said.

Available data shows Mr Oyetola has not fulfilled the promise as the latest labour statistics (2020) by the NBS show an increase in the state's unemployment rate.

The data shows Osun has 11.7 percent unemployment rate even though that is the lowest in the country.

Poverty rate

When Mr Oyetola assumed office in 2018, Osun state had a poverty headcount ratio of 8.52 percent. That was the third lowest poverty headcount, according to the NBS '2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria report, which was based on data from the Nigerian Living Standards Survey.

Since then, the NBS has not released data on poverty but it is possible that the poverty rate has increased in recent times because the national poverty rate has also climbed up and labour statistics also fell according to the NBS' latest data.

In 2019, the national poverty headcount was 70 percent; by 2020 it had increased to 72.32 percent, according to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Last year, the World Bank said the number of persons living in poverty in Nigeria would increase to 79 per cent.

With the increasing national poverty rate, Osun state may likely experience a corresponding increase in its poverty rate, Dataphyte said in a report last year.

Ease of Doing Business Ranking

In 2018, Osun State was ranked 35th on subnational data on the ease of doing business. The state was just two places ahead of Adamawa and Ondo states. It scored 72 out of 100.

The ranking was published in a report Comparing Business Regulation for Domestic Firms in 36 States and FCT Abuja with 189 other economies. It focuses on whether an economy has in place the rules and processes that can lead to good outcomes for entrepreneurs and, in turn, increased economic activity.

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By 2021, the data on the ease of doing business ranked Osun state 15th out of the 36 states and FCT. The state scored 5.57 out of a total index score of 10. This is another major improvement during the Oyetola era.

Under-5 Mortality Rate & Access to Health

Before Mr. Oyetola took office, 92 percent of pregnant women in Osun state had access to four or more antenatal care visits, according to the NBS. The state had the best percentage of the nation's 36 states and the FCT.

Last year, the NBS data shows the figure has improved to 95.6 percent, maintaining the lead in access to antenatal care visits.

On the other hand, the under-five mortality rate was 58 per 1,000 live births before the Oyetola administration but the latest data estimated the under-five mortality rate in the state at 70 deaths per 1,000 live births.

This means the Oyetola administration has seen more under-five children dying in the state, far more than the era before him.

Up from 14 percent, the number of women currently married or in unions who are using or whose partner is using contraceptive methods is 29.4 percent in Osun state.

In a 2020 report by the USAID and Health Policy Plus (HP+), the mortality rate in Osun is higher than the average of 62 deaths per 1,000 live births in Lower-Middle-Income Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

But in 2020, the Executive Secretary of the Osun Health Insurance Agency, Niyi Oginn, disclosed that only 3.7 percent of the Osun state population is covered in the state's Health Insurance Scheme (HIS). He, however, said the state government has a plan to increase this to 60 percent in 10 years (2029).
Photo: (Photo : Unsplash)

A 21-year-old mom from Arizona shared the real-life consequence of overturning the Roe v. Wade decision when her pregnancy was ruled as "incompatible with life" after a 21-week anatomy scan.

The young mom said that she is having constant seizures inside her. As a mom, she thinks her baby is suffering and wants to treat her daughter's birth and death with love. When learning about her baby's condition, her OB-GYN planned to induce her so she could deliver. But when the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision last month, she no longer had that option.

Chloe, not her real name to protect her privacy, posted her story on social media, and many people were surprised that she could not get her child induced. She said she did not know that the decision had consequences for people similar to her situation and wanted people to understand it.

Incompatible with life pregnancy

Chloe and her fiance were parents to an 11-month-old baby when she learned she was pregnant again. She was happy and anxious as her daughter was just five months old. Despite the short gap among her kids, she was excited to have another baby as she loves being a mom.

However, when she had her anatomy scan at 21 weeks, the doctors told her that there were "red flags." Her OB-GYN referred her to a specialist. After two weeks, she learned that her baby was not coping well and was "incompatible with life." Doctors told her that the baby was not going to make it.

Her OB-GYN gave her options: get out of the state to get an abortion, have her baby induced, or stay pregnant until the baby passes away inside of her or is in full-term. Around the time, she said her fetus had seizure-like movements that Chloe could feel.

Read Also: French Drug Company Applies for FDA Approval of First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill in the US

She said she wanted the best for her child. She wanted the more intimate moment of giving birth and having her pass away naturally. She wanted to end her baby's suffering peacefully, spend some moments with her, and be able to love her.

In Arizona, as per AZCentral, legal experts said that the old abortion law, created in Arizona's territorial days, is a strict ban on providing or helping to provide an abortion except to save a mother's life. This year, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy except if necessary to protect the mother's life.

She was supposed to be due for induction in June, but her OB-GYN said he needed the hospital board's approval for her procedure. In cases of nonviable pregnancy like hers, the doctor needs to stop the fetal heart and then induce the delivery of the fetus. When her surgery was finally scheduled, the Supreme Court announced its decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. The doctor called her to say they couldn't induce her, and her only option was to stay pregnant.

Limited options

Meanwhile, Chloe is left with a few options. As she is 26 weeks pregnant, she said she could not deliver her baby with her OB-GYN. Knowing that her baby may not survive is difficult for the couple. As another option, Chloe will have to travel to another state to undergo an abortion, an operation that would cost her $20,000. She created a GoFundMe page so she can cover the cost, Today reports.

Related Article: Emergency Contraception, Long-term Birth Control Demand Increases After Roe v. Wade Decision
Photo: (Photo : David Mark from Pixabay )

Hollywood star Cameron Diaz is going back into acting, this time as the mother of a toddler. The 49-year-old Vanilla Sky actress opened up about her return to acting after an eight-year break in an in-depth interview with CBS Saturday Morning.

Diaz told co-host Dana Jacobson that she missed her craft during her time away. She shared that making movies is a particular skill set that is fun to exercise and be a part of. Diaz added that it is a different lifestyle and you kind of have to be ready to do that.

Diaz married Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden in her time away from acting with the couple welcoming daughter, Raddix, in December 2019. The actress said in the interview that motherhood has definitely changed her.

Diaz returns to Hollywood as a working mom

The star was asked what she enjoys the most about being a mother. Diaz's reply to the question was just being able to have influence on a child that is developing. She further explained her answer, saying that all mothers have that moment where they are watching their child and the kid is doing something the first time. Mothers will remember doing that same thing and for Diaz, that is really cool.

Her much-awaited return to acting also means Diaz must now find some balance as a working mother. She said that everybody only has 100 percent and you always have to figure out how you are going to divide that 100 percent to spread it to all that parts of your life that matter.

Diaz said in an interview last year that she had stepped away from Hollywood after making the 2014 remake of the classical musical Annie in order to focus on parts of her life that she was not touching. An insider close to Diaz's family told People Magazine earlier this month that Madden encouraged her to unretire, adding that he is very excited for her.

Read Also: Georgia Mom Who Could Not Find Formula for Her Twins Overwhelmed by Donations From Strangers

Diaz teams up with Jamie Foxx in Netflix film

A film source also revealed that her Annie co-star Jamie Foxx pursued her for the Netflix action-comedy "Back in Action." The source shared that when this project came along and she was pursued by Foxx, who she has known and worked with for years, she decided to go for it.

Diaz opened up about mom life in an interview with Kelly Clarkson on The Kelly Clarkson Show back in May. ET Canada reported that she shared in the chat the mental checklist she goes through when her toddler is being trying.

Diaz said she feels like as a parent, her job is to just help her child find the words to her emotions, her experience, and what she is going through. She added that what is also really imperative is to repair.





Related Article: Baby Formula Makers Still Have to Wait Longer to Get FDA Approval Despite Nationwide Formula Shortage
Foxconn Industrial Internet Co., a Shanghai-listed arm of Foxconn Technology Group acquired a minority stake in Chinas top chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup during its $9 billion bailout.

Whats interesting about this news, is that Bloomberg News has reported that Apple is considering new memory chips sources for iPhones, including its first Chinese producer of the critical component, to limit supply disruptions. This year, it tested sample NAND flash storage made by Hubei-based Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., which is owned by Unigroup.

The investment by the unit of Apple Inc.s main iPhone assembler, known also as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., could raise eyebrows as tensions rise between Beijing and Taipei over issues including technology and supply chain security.

At the same time, Washington is now considering leveling sanctions on Yangtze Memory, according to a report from The Information, reports Bloomberg. That could be problematic for Apple if that scenario plays out.
The inability of fishermen along the Volta Lake at Akateng in the Upper Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region to secure premix fuel for fishing has led to an acute shortage of fish in the area.



Akateng is a major fishing community which supplies large quantities of fish to various parts of the region and beyond.



However, the shortage of the premix fuel has virtually rendered the fishermen and fishmongers redundant.



According to the Secretary of the local Boat Transport Association, Nicholas Tsornyake, although the commodity had not been coming regularly to the town as it used to, when a consignment finally came, the fishermen realised that they had been given a small quantity which could not last for even a day.



He explained that after exhausting their supplies, they had to obtain the commodity from middlemen at exorbitant prices, which made it uneconomical for fishing because they operated at a loss.



He, therefore, appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, supply them with adequate quantity of the product to save them from the middlemen who sold to them at exorbitant prices.



Middlemen



Mr Tsornyake said the middlemen normally sold seven gallons of the premix fuel to them for between GH120 and GH150 instead of the actual price of GH65.



He stated that the situation had arisen because instead of the communitys premix fuel distribution committee giving out the commodity to the fishermen, that duty had been given to people who are not in the industry.



Most of those supplied with the premix fuel are not fishermen and when we report to the district assembly at Asesewa, nothing is done about it because they are in power, Mr Tsornyake alleged.



There is a lot of fish in the lake but we cannot catch them because there is no premix fuel, and this has brought a lot of hardship on us. If we are not careful the fishing business will collapse and we will not be able to repay loans contracted from the banks, he lamented.



Empty boats berthed



The Chairman of the Inland Canoe Fishermen Council at Akateng, Ossom Asiah Tetteh Mausour, also told the Daily Graphic that the lack of the product had forced the fishing boat owners to berth their empty boats along the shores of the lake for a long time, and that had seriously affected their earnings and their ability to cater for themselves and dependents.



He said the lack of the product had also made it impossible for the boats to ferry livestock, particularly cattle, sheep, goats among other things across the lake to the Akateng market for sale.



A fishmonger who is also a boat owner, Joyce Ayittah, told the Daily Graphic that the acute shortage of the premix fuel had adversely affected the price of fish in the market.



She said most of the fishmongers who bought GH1,000 worth of fish, after selling them at places such as Accra and other parts of the country had to come back with half of that amount because they sold at a loss.



Transportation, fish cost



Madam Ayittah stated that the high cost of transportation had aggravated the situation, as such they did not know what to do to make ends meet.



Most of us the fishmongers and boat owners find it difficult to even pay light bills, let alone school fees of our children in tertiary institutions, so we beg the government to do something about the premix fuel situation, she cried out.



Some housewives who went to the market to buy fish, Sarah Ayittah and Joyce Vede, told the Daily Graphic that the price for fish was too high, and as such they could not buy what they wanted.



They attributed the situation to the lack of premix fuel for the fishermen to go fishing, since that was the only way they could have the required fish in the market.



A visit to the lakeside by the Daily Graphic last Wednesday revealed that some empty canoes had been berthed at the shores with fishermen sitting near the canoes doing nothing.



The Dadematse (community leader) of Akateng, Lawer Terkper, deplored the situation and said he had not been involved in the distribution of the premix fuel.



He pointed out that due to the inability of the fishermen to go fishing, fish had become so scarce that they had to depend on imported fish stored in cold stores.



When contacted, the Chairman of the Premix Fuel Distribution Committee, Jeremiah Nyebu, declined to speak on the current shortage of the commodity.



General problem



For his part, the District Chief Executive for Upper Manya Krobo, Joseph Sam, said the scarcity of the commodity had been a problem in all the fishing communities countrywide.



According to him, people who were not in fishing deceived members of the Premix Fuel Distribution Committee that they were fishermen and managed to secure the product for sale at exorbitant prices, which needed to stop.



He, however, indicated that he would see how best to make the product available in the required quantity for the fishermen at the actual price.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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Mr Mamu told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday he was not aware ransom was paid before the hostages were released.

Tukur Manu, the Publisher of the Desert Herald newspaper, who negotiated the release of seven hostages from the terrorists who attacked a Kaduna-bound train in March, has insisted he is not aware of the payment of ransom to secure the release of the hostages.

"Money cannot achieve what I have done today. And I will never involve myself in any issue that has to do with money, Mr Manu claimed while announcing the release of the hostages.

He was also involved in the negotiation that led to the release of 11 other hostages by the bandits in June.

While reacting to a report by the Daily Trust newspaper that six Nigerian hostages paid N100 million each, while the seventh hostage, a Pakistani, paid N200 million before they were released, told PREMIUM TIMES that the report may have been "exaggerated".

The Daily Trust reported that N800 million was paid to the terrorists to secure the release of the captives.

"The terrorists collected the ransom in naira and US dollars. Only N200 million was collected in naira, the remaining N600 million was paid in the equivalent of US dollars," one of the sources told Daily Trust.

However, Mr Manu told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday afternoon that the report of the ransom payment might have been exaggerated, thus not accurate. He also added that he was not aware any ransom was paid.

"I mediated the release of the captives on health ground and I was able to achieve that," he said during a telephone interview.

"I didn't know how such a huge amount of money was paid as ransom, I don't have any knowledge of that payment, Mr Mamu added.

The terrorists, who are still holding several hostages abducted from the train, have released 20 hostages so far. They have also threatened to kill the hostages if the Nigerian government failed to meet their demands, which include the release of their children being held in a government facility in Nasarawa.

In June President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the country's security forces to do whatever it take to secure the release of the hostages
Ghana's talks with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, for an economic rescue programme could yield fruits in the first quarter of 2023, a JoyNews reportage monitored by GhanaWeb has said.



According to the report, sources close to the IMF made this revelation after a crunch meeting between the officials of the fund and Parliaments Finance Committee on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.



The IMF source, according to the report said, "the Fund is seriously concerned about the countrys debt position and will undertake a debt sustainability analysis before agreeing on a deal with the government."



The Minority side of the Committee in the crunch meeting raised issues over the governments debt and tasked the IMF officials to ensure the deal would not worsen the countrys debt position.



"It also emerged at this closed-door meeting that the earliest government can hope to get a deal with the IMF is at the end of the first quarter of 2023 despite the precarious economic situation which needs immediate assistance.



"The IMF team also raised issues about the countrys international reserves and tasked both sides of the political divide to find means to shore (it) up," the reportage added.



On July 1, 2022, the President directed the Finance Minister to approach the IMF with an economic programme after months of the cedis free-fall and hikes in fuel prices and general rise in cost of living.



This was despite the insistence of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, government functionaries and President Akufo-Addo that Ghana will not return to the IMF.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Tuesday issued warned persons and institutions undertaking unauthorized development on State acquired lands to halt such development in their own interest.



Every person or institution that wants a piece of land for development must first conduct a search at the Lands Commission to ascertain the "true owner of the land" before putting any structures on it, to avert potential future demolition for encroachment, the Deputy Minister advised.



At a news conference in Accra to address Mpehuasem land issues, Mr Owusu-Bio said the Lands Ministry and the Lands Commission were committed to ensuring sanity in the land sector and asked the public to stay off a-60-acre State lands at Mpehuasem and other Government lands across the country.



"This impunity of occupation of State lands must stop," he emphasised.



In recent times, there have been disturbances at Mpehuasem in East Legon of the Greater Accra Region over parcels of Lands owned by the Government, resulting in violent clashes between the Police and some students at Ideal College.



The Lands Commission subsequently accused Dr Joseph Kobina Essibu, the Proprietor of Ideal College, of encroaching on State-acquired lands in the Mpehuasem enclave.



Mr Owusu-Bio said the Ministry had constituted a 10-member team working to secure the Ramsar Site at Tema, Diary Farms at Amrahia, Pantang Hospital, the CSIR Animal Research Institute, Site for Accra Training College at Mpehuasem and other State lands from encroachment.



"It must be stated that the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), section 236 frowns on encroachment on state lands and criminalises such acts.



The Lands Commission as the managers of public/state lands under the 1992 constitution under section 258 is performing its statutory functions to recover the encroached State lands," the Deputy Minister stated stated.



Meanwhile, Mr James E. Dadson, the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, gave an overview of the origin of the Mpehuasem land issues and chronicled measures the successive governments had taken to compensate the pre-acquisition owners of the lands.



He said the Government by an Executive Instrument (E.I. 72) of 1974, compulsorily acquired an approximately 225.18 acres for Accra Training College at Labadi (now Mpehuasem).



This follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the Government signed with the pre-acquisition owners Djirase Family of La and Numoo Nmashie Family of Teshie in December 2008.



The Government, in lieu of compensation, released 114.055 acres to the owners and retained 111.125 acres of the land. Thus, E.I. 72 has been revoked by Executive Instrument (E.I. 16) of 2009, Mr Dadson explained.



In view of that, he said, the Accra Training College fenced off and occupied approximately 50 acres of the 111.125 acres retained by Government.



However, over the years, some unknown persons resorted to alienating and developing part of the retained land outside the walls of the Collegehe stated.



"The Lands Commission conducted drone surveys of the area to ascertain the level of development and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) was engaged to prepare a local plan for the area.



"This was to ensure orderly development of the area for conducive habitation for academic work for both the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and the Accra College of Education," Mr Dadson stated.



He said the survey revealed that the enclave was developing, and a larger part was covered with unauthorized temporary walls and wooden structures occupied by squatters.



The local plan, he explained zoned the Government area outside the Accra Training College measuring approximately 60 acres as mixed use with 30 percent of the land dedicated to creation of access.



Mr Dadson stated that the local plan was approved on 22nd June, 2021 by the Spatial Planning Committee of the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly.



Therefore, the Commission, under the auspices of the Lands Ministry, contracted Messers Aynok Holdings Limited to assist in the recovery of all the encroached lands and provide protection of the site to deter encroachments for implementation of the local plan, Mr Dadson stated.



"The Commission has given several notices since 2010 to persons engaged in these encroachments including Ideal College, the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) hostel and several churches. The last being a Press Release on 16th April, 2022 and Public Notice of demolition posted within the area in April, 2022," he added.



Mr Dadson stated that the Commission was acting under Section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) to recover those lands.





Source: GNA









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The Supreme Court has ordered three Members of Parliament and the Attorney Generals Department to file joint memorandum of issues in the case against the passage of Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) within 14 days.



The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and two of his colleague MPs of the minority caucus filed the application at the Supreme Court to stop the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on April 19 from collecting the controversial E-levy which started on May 1, 2022.



The other two MPs are Mahama Ayariga of Tamale Central Constituency and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of North Tongue Constituency.



In court on Monday, the panel chaired by Justice Nene Amegatcher wondered why lawyers of the Plaintiffs led by Godwin Edudzie Tamakloe failed to comply with previous directives of the court.



But, Mr. Tamakloe, counsel for the plaintiffs in response said, We were served with hearing notice to appear. Just when we filed our reply, we were ordered to appear.



The court after listening to the parties said, Parties are directed to file joint memorandum of issues within 14 days.



EIB Networks Court Correspondent Murtala Inusah reports that, the E-Levy application would be considered in the next legal in October.



On May, the Supreme Court dismissed an interlocutory injunction filed against the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Transfer Levy (E-Levy).



The apex court panel of seven presided over by Justice Nene Amegatcher in a unanimous ruling said greater hardship will be caused to the Ghanaians if the E-Levy is injuncted.





Source: starrfm









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The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has bemoaned the decision of the High Court to throw out its application for the court to confirm the freezing of the estate of the late Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John).



In a statement issued on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the OSP said that the ruling of the court greatly impedes the countrys effort to fight the menace of corruption.



If this decision is left to stand, the Republic will lose the fight against corruption in unimaginable ways. The investigations into the estate of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie alias Sir John will still proceed, parts of the statement released by the OSP read.



Also, it said that the ruling of the High Court is wrong since it was only asking the court to confirm the temporal freezing of Sir Johns estate and not to permanently freeze his assets.



The Special Prosecutor asked for the freezing order to be confirmed to facilitate the investigation into the circumstances of the purported acquisition by the deceased of protected lands in the Achimota Forest enclave and the Sakumono Ramsar site. The Special Prosecutor did not apply for confiscation of the estate of the deceased.



The judge, with respect, totally misapprehended the application for confirmation of the freezing order and misdirected herself by characterizing the application as that of a confiscation order, which regimes are governed by different considerations, it said.



The OSP in June 2022 froze all assets of the late CEO of the Forestry Commission.



This was in line with the OSPs investigations into the acquisition of state lands and properties that were contained in his Will.



Sir John's Will dominated media discussions after leaked documents showed that he had bequeathed lands located in the Achimota Forest enclave and Ramsar catchment at Sakumono in Accra to some beneficiaries.



The outrage also stems from the fact that it was barely a week after the government's Executive Instrument 144, which declassifies portions of the Forest reserve, also became topical.



The government said it was releasing portions of the peripherals of the forest to its custodial owners, the Owoo family of Accra.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Deputy Majority Leader in Ghanas Parliament and Member of the ECOWAS Parliament has disclosed that member-countries of the regional economic body are currently confronted with an unprecedented food crisis that has rendered some 17 million people in need of immediate assistance and an additional 51 million persons including women and children, under pressure.



He added that food insecurity is still a major challenge in the region and out of its 308 million inhabitants, 40 million people are undernourished and suffer from chronic malnutrition.



Mr. Afenyo-Markin said though ECOWAS has adopted pragmatic steps to tackle the challenge to the best of its ability, the 51 million inhabitants under food crisis pressure in the region could lapse into a crisis phase.



Alexander Afenyo-Markin made the remarks when he addressed participants at the International Conference on Food Insecurity held in Rabat, in the Kingdom of Morocco on Thursday July 7, 2022.



His address noted that ECOWAS, in response to the food crisis challenge, adopted a strategy aimed at the modernization of agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency and food security at the regional level.



He disclosed that the strategy was in the form of a common Ten-Year Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) from the year 2005 to the year 2015, to provide a regional response to the food-related challenges.



After the 2015, ECOWAS continued a second phase of the policy, ECOWAP II, which started in the year 2016 and would run till 2025.



Afenyo-Markin said that despite the initiatives adopted by ECOWAS, food and nutrition insecurity are further exacerbated by the phenomenal population with increased rural to urban migration putting more pressure and increased demand for food in urban areas.



This, at the same time, is depopulating the rural and farming communities with able bodied youths to grow sufficient food and other agricultural produce. If this trend continues, countries in our region will have to double their current food production.



He continued: the effect of Climate Change is also aggravating the food and nutrition insecurity in our region. The region is witnessing rapid deforestation and desertification of a significant portion of its fertile agricultural land.



"This situation, coupled with the persistent shortfall in the quantity and duration of rainfall is greatly impacting on agricultural production and productivity.



"Other climate change related phenomenon like depletion of both surface and underground water resources, coastal erosion, high temperatures and various pollution and green house gas emissions are also greatly contributing to the food and nutrition insecurity for our countries.



"Furthermore, scarcity of natural resources, low chemical and fertilizer inputs, and inadequate technologies are aggravating the food and nutrition insecurity.



Another initiative adopted by ECOWAS was when in 2021, it organized an international conference to share with its partners and the other regions of the world, the experience of its regional food security storage system.



The overall objective, he said, was to lay the foundation for a renewed multilateral partnership.



It was also aimed at strengthening a sustainable resilience of the West African Food Security Storage System and its capacity to respond effectively to the amplification and complexity of food, nutrition, and pastoral crises in the region.



After 5 years of implementation of the Support Project, an internal capitalization of the results made it possible to systematize important achievements, challenges and lessons learned for scaling up to make the Regional Food Security Storage Strategy, a pivotal instrument for the elimination of hunger in the region by 2030.



A major strategy which ECOWAS is currently implementing is the creation of Food Reserve Banks, at both regional and country levels. Food and agricultural produce are reserved in these food banks and distributed to food deficit areas, Afenyo-Markin added.



The Conference was jointly hosted by the House of Councilors of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)



Afenyo-Markin, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of ECOWAS Parliament led the official delegation from the West African body to attend the international conference in Morocco.



The ECOWAS delegation comprised of Honourable Billy G. Tunkara the Majority Leader of Gambias Parliament and Mr. Fily Dialo from Nigeria, Senior Protocol Assistant of the ECOWAS Parliament.



The Conference was under the theme: Sovereignty and food security, between the challenges of the international situation and the challenges of strategic security.



The motive was to deepen broad stakeholder dialogue on the issues of food security and to examine ways and mechanisms to confront the challenge of achieving sovereignty and food security in the context of the major transformations that the world is experiencing due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other global conflicts.













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Mrs Abronoma Nyarko Kumi-Larbi, Deaconess at the English Assembly of the Church of Pentecost, Lebanon District in Ashaiman, has advised Christians to activate the promise of God in their lives.



She said, God has given Christians His great and precious promises, so that through them Christians may participate in the divine nature.



Speaking during a sermon at the Palace Temple Auditorium on Sunday, Deaconess Kumi-Larbi said for Christians to activate Gods promises in their lives, there was the need to be fully convinced that His Word was true and what He had promised, is His will for their lives.



She noted that Christians must not be worried about the situation they find themselves in but rather have the courage to declare, confess, and agree to the word and prophesy of God at any point in time.



She stated that although God had a promise for every Christian, the promises were not automated unless they were activated.



The Deaconess added believe and have faith, just confessing is not enough. After that, you must have faith, and ask and obey directions. Have you ever heard people say, why did God allow that to happen or why did it happen to them, theyre such good Christians?



Deaconess Kumi-Larbi reiterated that unbelief was the decision to believe in things that one fears, rather than the promise of God.



She noted that, when Christians asked for something from God they must believe and not doubt, adding that those who doubt were like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.



She noted that Christians must not be oblivious of the fact that the first step to activating the promises of God in their lives was to believe His Word, His promise is true, and refuse to allow doubt to occupy their thoughts.



Making reference to Hebrews chapter 3: 8-11, she said the children of Israel missed out on the Promised Land, because of their unbelief; God had brought them kicking and screaming out of Egypt, showed them His power in the wilderness and yet they failed to walk into the promises of God, because of unbelief.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Mr. Alfred Amoah and his driver, died in a ghastly road accident on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.



According to information available to GhanaWeb, the incident happened at Sefwi Akaasu along the Accra-Kumasi Highway.



An eyewitness who spoke to GhanaWeb said the accident involved a trailer with a registration number AS 4229 X and the Toyota Landcruiser in which the MCE was travelling.



The trailer, coming from Kumasi to Accra is said to have lost control a few meters from the Birim river on the Accra-Kumasi highway after its axle broke in the middle of the road.



It subsequently crashed into the MCE's car, with registration number GC 2060-18, crashing the engine and the driver's part along with the seating area of the front passenger.



The MCE was reported to be on his way back to Kumasi from Accra where he and other appointees had met with the President earlier in the day.



The deceased Alfred Amoah and his driver, yet to be identified, died instantly at the time of filing this report. Their bodies were still trapped in the car but the Police and Fire Service were at the scene trying to restore vehicular order and retrieve the remains.



The state-owned Daily Graphic's account states that the accident said to involve multiple vehicles, reportedly occurred at Apedwa near Tafo in the Eastern Region.



It also quoted the Western North Regional Minister, Richard Rocky Joojo Obeng as having confirmed the incident.









Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, Alfred Amoah, and his driver met their untimely death on Tuesday, evening while on their way to stop a demonstration.



The two were involved in a ghastly road crash in between the Akyem  Apedwa to Asafo Junction on the Accra-Kumasi highway in the Eastern Region while they were traveling back to the Municipality after being engaged in a meeting with President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.



DGN Online source indicated that the MCE received a distress call that some people were planning to embark on a demonstration in the Municipality.



This pushed the MCE to rush to the area to go and calm tempers down when the deadly crash unexpectedly occurred.



We were in a meeting with his excellency the president at the Jubilee House, and according to some of his colleagues, he received a call that there is going to be a demonstration at his district tomorrow (Wednesday) so he was rushing back to the district after the meeting to go and calm things down, and that was the result, the source said.



A Police report cited by DGN Online indicated that on Tuesday, at about 5:15 pm, a suspect driver not yet known was in charge of a Nissan Patrol 44 No. GC 2060- 18 belonging to the Municipal Assembly with Alfred Amoah the MCE of the Municipality on board traveling from Accra towards Kumasi direction.



On reaching a section of the road on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, a Man Diesel Articulated truck No. AS 4229-X from Kumasis direction veered off its lane and crashed head-on with the Nissan Patrol 44.



The MCE and his driver got trapped in the vehicle and both died on the spot.



With the help of the National Fire Service from Bunso and Kyebi, the bodies of the deceased were removed and sent to Kyebi Government Hospital where they were confirmed dead by the Medical Officer on duty.



A Man Diesel Fuel tanker No. GN 8540-20 driven by Habibu Adam aged 35 years old with an empty tank from Kumasi direction on seeing the danger ahead applied his brakes to avoid a crash.



In the process, he lost control of the steering wheel veered off his lane, and landed into a ditch on the offside when facing Accra direction.



Meanwhile, efforts were being made to tow the accident vehicles from the scene and effect the arrest of the Articulated truck driver who is currently at large as of Tuesday night.



The bodies have since been deposited at the mortuary for preservation, identification, and autopsy, as the Police investigation is ongoing.

Bibiani-Anwhwiaso Bekwai MCE Accident: The Inside Story

The Eastern Regional Police Command is hunting for the driver of the trailer truck who reportedly caused the accident that led to the death of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Bibiani-Anwhwiaso Bekwai in the Western North, Alfred Amoah and his driver, Samuel Gyasi.



Information gathered by DGN Online indicates that the Tuesday July 12 evening accident occurred when the MCE was on board his official government vehicle, Nisaan Patrol 44 GC 2060-18 travelling from a meeting in Accra and heading towards his base in Bibiani.



Upon reaching a section of the road at Akim Fisher on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, a Man Diesel articulated truck with registration number AS 4229-X which was also traveling from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region direction veered off its lane and crashed head-on with the Nissan Patrol.



The accident led to the MCE and his driver being trapped in the vehicle as both unfortunately died on the spot.



The National Ambulance together with the help of the National Fire Service from Bunso and Kibi together with the police removed the two and sent them to Kibi Government Hospital where they were confirmed dead.



Few minutes after the aforementioned crash, the Man Diesel petroleum haulage truck with registration number GN 8540-20 being driven by a 35-year old Habibu Adam with an empty tank from Kumasi direction on seeing the danger ahead applied his brakes to avoid a crash.



In the process, he lost control of the steering wheel, veered of his lane and landed into a ditch on the offside facing Accra direction.



Meanwhile, the bodies of the MCE and his driver were deposited at the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.





Source: UTV/Daily Guide









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Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin on Tuesday constituted an ad-hoc panel of five parliamentary committees to probe the activities of the National Food Buffer Stock Company and the National School Feeding Programme.



He said the mandate of the committees was among others to investigate the feasibility and sustainability of the organisations, especially in recent times when there were reports of food shortage in Senior High Schools and the demand from school feeding caterers for an increment in the cost of feeding students.



Speaker Bagbin gave these directives to Parliament following his visit to the organisations on June 23, 2022.



In constituting the committees, the Speaker said: Let me once more reiterate that the School Feeding Programme provides great potential. It is therefore critical that we address issues regarding the efficient implementation of the programme while instituting measures to avert a possible occurrence in the future.



The Conference of Heads of Assisted Schools in the Upper West Region last week notified that Senior High Schools in the region may soon shut down if the government failed to supply them with adequate foodstuff to feed students.



"It came out that the food suppliers contracted by Buffer Stock Company and those local suppliers contacted to help out are all refusing to supply due to non-payment of outstanding monies owed for food supplied to the schools.



"This has led to serious food shortages in all the schools in the region. An assessment of the situation indicated that most schools cannot go beyond one week if nothing urgent is done about it, a statement from the Upper West branch of CHASS complained.



Mr Angel Carbornu, President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), blamed the Government for the food shortages.



He said the current centralised system that authorised only the National Buffer Stock to distribute food to Senior High Schools had largely contributed to food shortages in various schools.



According to him, a decentralisation of food distribution to Senior High Schools would address the challenges.

Source: GNA









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Mr. Stephen Ayesu Ntim has assured the partys Members of Parliament that if elected as the National Chairman, he will ensure that the party wins more seats than it did in the 2020 elections.



According to him, the partys inability to win more seats or maintain the number of seats it had prior to the 2020 elections has cost the party in Parliament.



I am making this promise to you that if I am given the mantle of leadership of the party, we shall regain our list seats and add a few ones to them he stated.



He further entreated them to support his bid to become the National Chairman so as to deliver an overwhelming majority of seats in Parliament for the NPP.



I am appealing to you to support my bid for the National Chairman. I will work hand-in-hand with you and together, we shall retain your seats and reclaim the lost ones. I will deliver an overwhelming majority of MPs in 2024 if you elect me as Chairman on Saturday.



Stephen Ntim met with the Members of Parliament on the side of the New Patriotic Party on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, ahead of the partys National Executive elections slated for Saturday.



Surveys conducted by several research bodies put Ntim far ahead of his competitors in the National Chairmanship race of the NPP.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Access to information is a human right, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday, underscoring that for peacekeepers, it can be "a matter of life and death, and the difference between peace and war".

"Communications is not a side issue or an afterthought," he said during the first-ever High-Level Debate dedicated to the importance of strategic communications, calling it "central to the success of all our work".

He recalled his 2016 pledge when sworn in as Secretary-General, to "communicate better about what we do, in ways that everybody understands".

"We need a substantial reform of our communications strategy, upgrading our tools and platforms to reach people around the world," Mr. Guterres declared, noting that the Organization has since embarked on an ambitious Global Communications Strategy.

Today the @UN Security Council is discussing Strategic Communications in peacekeeping. As peace ops face growing threats, incl. misinformation & hate speech, strategic communications play a  role in protecting communities & peacekeepers alike. @antonioguterres @Brasil_NY_ONU pic.twitter.com/F8tjN075Um-- UN Peacekeeping (@UNPeacekeeping) July 12, 2022

Weapons of war

The landscape in which UN peacekeepers operate is more hazardous today than any time in recent memory; geopolitical tensions at the global level reverberate locally; conflicts are more complex and multi-layered; and international discord often translates into heightened tensions on the ground, the UN chief said.

Moreover, peacekeepers are facing terrorists, criminals, armed groups - many with access to powerful modern weapons, and "a vested interest in perpetuating chaos", he continued.

"The weapons they wield are not just guns and explosives. Misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech are increasingly being used as weapons of war" with a clear aim "to dehumanize the so-called other, threaten vulnerable communities - as well as peacekeepers themselves - and even give open license to commit atrocities", Mr. Guterres spelled out.

Deadly disinformation

Strategic communications are critical across UN peacekeeping to achieve its multiprong mission of protecting civilians and preventing violence; securing ceasefires and safeguarding political settlements; and investigating and reporting on human rights violations - all while ensuring the safety and security of peacekeepers and the communities they serve.

"That is why strategic communications is a top priority within the Action for Peacekeeping+ initiative," he explained.

"We know disinformation is not just misleading, it is dangerous and potentially deadly", he said, fuelling violence against peacekeepers, mission staff, and UN partners, transforming "our blue flag from a symbol of security into a target for attack".

Fake news "spreads like wildfire" he noted, obstructing UN missions from their "lifesaving and lifechanging work".

The UN chief cited a bogus letter on Facebook in Mali that alleged peacekeepers were collaborating with armed groups.

It went viral and was picked up by national media, sparking "hostility and resentment towards our peacekeepers, making their vital task of protecting civilians that much harder".

Disinformation is not just misleading, it is dangerous and potentially deadly - UN chief

Evidence-based communication

Credible, "human-centred" strategic communication is one of the Organization's "best, and most cost-effective instruments to counter this threat," he told the Council.

"More than just defusing harmful lies, engaging in tailored two-way communication itself builds trust as well as political and public support... strengthens the understanding amongst the local population of our missions and mandates - and in return, strengthens our peacekeepers' understanding of the local population's concerns, grievances, expectations, and hopes".

Moreover, it can create a safe space for reconciliation and allow peacebuilding to work, as well as providing women, young people, and civil society with greater access to peace processes.

But to be effective, Mr. Guterres stressed, it must be "grounded in evidence, based on verified data, open to dialogue, rooted in storytelling, and delivered by credible messengers".

Concrete actions

To improve strategic communications in peacekeeping, he outlined six concrete actions underway, beginning with adopting "a whole of mission approach" across uniformed and civilian components for networked field communication.

Second, he said mission leaders must ensure that strategic communications are fully integrated into their planning and decision-making.

Third, guidance and training need to be provided to missions, including sharing best practices. Fourth, the best tools need to be deployed to counter misinformation, disinformation and hate speech.

Fifth, he called for continuous monitoring of UN information campaigns, to evaluate their effectiveness.

"While we live in an increasingly digital world, direct person-to-person communication often remains the most powerful way to build trust and counter false narratives," said Mr. Guterres.

Finally, he called for better strategic communications to strengthen accountability and end misconduct - including combatting sexual exploitation and abuse.

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International solidarity

Amidst threats and mounting challenges, we must all play our part for UN peacekeeping to succeed, said the Secretary-General.

"The United Nations must play a more deliberate role as an information actor in conflict environments... [and] seen as a trusted source by... facilitating inclusive dialogue, demanding the removal of harmful speech, calling leaders to account, and promoting the voices of peace and unity".

He closed by affirming that Member States are "crucial partners in this critical effort".

Plague of 'fake news'

The Force Commander for the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) explained that an "anti-mission sentiment" prevailed in parts of the restive country, where armed groups control large swathes of territory.

"Now, more than ever, an effective force depends on a stronger communication strategy," said Lieutenant General Marcos De Sa Affonso Da Costa.

"Fake news, diffused through messaging and social media, are difficult to distinguish from reality and will soon be virtually undetectable".
The Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng has indicated its resolve to challenge a High Court ruling against his request to freeze the assets of the late CEO of Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, also known as Sir John.



The SP initiated the freezing of the assets as part of his outfit's investigations into the acquisition of state lands and properties that were contained in Mr Afriyies will.



Eyebrows Raised



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.



Formalise Order



Lawyer Agyabeng followed it up by filing processes in court to formalise the order.



Under Section 38 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, Act 959, the SP is empowered to direct the freezing of assets if he holds the view that it is necessary for investigations. He is then required to apply to a court within fourteen days for a confirmation of the freezing order.



This is what led the SP to file the current processes.



However, on Tuesday, July 12th, Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe dismissed the application by ruling the Special Prosecutor should have initiated the process under Section 54 of the Act. This provision deals with the procedure where a person dies or absconds.



This ruling has not gone down well with the SP.



Decision To Appeal



Hours after court's decision, the Special Prosecutor who appears undaunted issued a statement sighted by Peacefmonline.com, wherein Lawyer Agyabeng held that Justice Afia Serwaa misapprehended the application for confirmation of the freezing order and misdirected herself by characterizing the application as that of a confiscation order, which regimes are governed by different considerations.



Consequently, he said, he has directed the filing of an appeal against the ruling of Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe. The net effect of the ruling of the High Court is that a person may, in his lifetime, gleefully acquire property through corruption and then upon his demise happily pass on the corruptly acquired property to his beneficiaries for their benefit and by so doing, extinguishes all scrutiny as to the propriety or otherwise of the acquisition of the property because his corrupt activities were not discovered during his lifetime.





Read full statement below

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Source: Peacefmonline.com









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A seven-member Supreme Court panel presided over by the Chief Justice, Anin Yeboah, has set 9 November 2022, as date for judgement in the case seeking interpretation of Article 71 of the 1992 constitution on the payment of Ex Gratia to member of Parliament among others.



Private legal practitioner, Elikplim Agbemava, filed the application at the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of Ex Gratia payments, particularly, to members of Parliament.



Ex Gratia law



Article 71 of the 1992 constitution states that; The salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities and privileges available, to the Speaker and Deputy Speakers and members of Parliament, the Chief Justice and the other Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, the Auditor-General, the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of the Electoral Commission, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and his Deputies and the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator, among others;



Being expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund, shall be determined by the President on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State.



Reliefs sought



The reliefs being sought by Elikplim Agbemava, from the Supreme Court are; first, a declaration that on the true and proper interpretation of article 71 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, and by the combined effect of sections 30 and 31 of the National Pensions Act, 2008 as amended, members of Parliament and other office holders mentioned in article 71 of the Constitution are exempted and are not obliged by law to contribute to tier 1 basic national social security scheme operated by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust.



Second, a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of article 71 of the Constitution, 1992 and by the combined effect of section 30 and 31 of the national Pensions Act, 2008 as amended, any contribution by Members of Parliament and other public office holders mentioned in article 71 to the Tier 1 basic national social security scheme operated and managed by the Social Security and national Insurance Trust is contrary to the National Pensions Act, 2008 as amended and article 71 of the 1992 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.



Third, a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 98 (1), 114, 95 (6), 44 (2) and (3),155 (1), 68 (4), 194 (5), 187 (14), 199, 203 (3) (0), 208 (9) (), 223 (1), 235 (1) and 71 of the 1992 Constitution, the approval by the President (on recommendation of the Committee set up under article 71 of the Constitution) of the payment and receipt, every 4 years, by members of Parliament ( who are still serving or continue or intend to continue in Parliament for more than one 4 year term) of gratuity in the form of Ex Gratia and Pension is indefensible, excessive, unconscionable and inconsistent with the real spirit and intendment of the 1992 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.



Fourth, a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 98 (1), 95 (6), 44 (2) and (3),155 (1), 68 (4), 194 (5), 187 (14), 199, 203 (3) (c), 208 (3) (), 223 (1), 235 (1) and 71 of the 1992 Constitution, gratuity and Pension is payable under the 1992 Constitution after and full and final retirement of a public servant from public service and not intermittently while he /she is still in public service.



Fifth, a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 17, 98 (1) and 71 of the 1992 Constitution, the approval by the President (on recommendation of the Committee set up under article 71) for the enjoyment of retiring benefits or awards by members of Parliament on the basis of a model that DOES NOT oblige Members of Parliament to contribute to any Pension Insurance Scheme, during their years of service in Parliament before drawing on public funds for the payment of their pension is discriminatory against all other public sector workers or employees in Ghana, unfair, unconscionable and contrary to article 17 of the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.



Sixth, a declaration that section 6 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463) that provides that presidential staffers (whose Offices are not mentioned in article 71 of the 1992 Constitution) shall be entitled to such salaries, allowances, facilities and privileges as shall be determined under article &! of the constitution, is inconsistent with article 71 and therefore unconstitutional.





Seventh, a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of section 20 (6) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) that provides that the emoluments of a District Chief Executive shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund and shall be determined by Parliament in accordance with article 71 of the Constitution is inconsistent with article 71 of the 1992 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.



Issues set down



Flowing from the reliefs sought by the applicant, the parties (The Attorney General and the applicant) agreed on 6 issues which have been set-down for determination by the Supreme Court.



They are; one, whether on a true and proper interpretation of article 71 of the 1992 Constitution and sections 30 and 31 of the National Pensions Act, 2008 as amended, members of parliament and other office holders mentioned in article 71 of the constitution can contribute to the Tier 1 basic national social security scheme operated by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT)?



Two, whether on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 98(1), 114, 95(6), 44(2) and (3), 155(1), 68(4), 194(5), 187(14), 199, 203 (3)(c), 208(3) (c) 223(1), 235(1) and 71 of the 1992 Constitution the practice by the Ministry of Finance of paying gratuity or ex gratia every 4 years to persons who have not yet ceased to be members of parliament is contrary to article 114 of the 1992 constitution and therefore unconstitutional?



Three, whether on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 98(1), 95(6), 44(2) and (3), 155(1), 68(4), 194(5), 187(14), 199, 203(3)(c), 223(1), 235(1) and 71 of the 1992 constitution, gratuity, ex gratia or pension is payable only after a full and final retirement of a public officer/ servant from public service or intermittently while he/she continues to serve as a public officer?



Four, whether on a true and proper interpretation of Article 17, 98(1) and 71 of the 1992 constitution the practice of paying pension or retiring benefits to members of parliament without any contribution from such members to any pension insurance scheme is discriminatory against all other public servants, contrary to article 17 of the 1992 constitution and therefore unconstitutional?



Five, whether section 6 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463) that provides that presidential staffers shall be entitled to such salaries, allowances, facilities and privileges as shall be determined under article 71 of the 1992 constitution is inconsistent with article 71 and therefore unconstitutional?



Lastly, whether section 20(6) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) that provides that the emoluments of a District Chief Executive shall be charged on the consolidated fund and shall be determined by parliament in accordance with article 71 of the 1992 constitution is inconsistent with article 71 of the 1992 constitution and therefore unconstitutional?





Source: asaaseradio.com









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General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has once again reported Ghana's state of affairs to the Socialist International (SI) over what he describes as poor and incompetent leadership which is gradually bringing the country's economy to its knees.



The SI is a worldwide organisation of progressive political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, and the NDC is a leading member on the African continent.



Mr. Asiedu Nketia who is also the Vice President of SI believes if the country really wants to gain financial and economic freedom, then the current administration must make way for technocrats who truly understand the economy to handle the state of affairs.



Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that as the vice president of the forum he is expected to explain to member countries the happenings in his country and there is no way he will paint a bright picture when the opposite is what is on the grounds.



"The country, under the bad leadership of the NPP led by Nana Akufo-Addo government has benefitted immensely from world donor institutions during the Covid- 19 pandemic, but there is nothing significant to show for all the numerous donations they have received financially.



"They have even gone to the IMF to seek financial support and things won't be better if the world do not hear the plight of the country and offer assistance in whatever form they can," he said.



The NDC General Secretary further held that the economy will continue to nose dive and Ghanaians wallow in more hardships simply because of the bad leadership of the current NPP government.



"Ghanaians are reeling in hardships under this government and those in authority seem clueless about what they can do to help remedy the situation.



"I have said it and I will say it again the President should sack the Finance Minister and disband the Economic Management Team and make way for technocrats who understand the economy to handle the affairs of the country if we want to gain financial and economic freedom," he added.



Watch Video Below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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A security analyst, Dr Adam Bonaa, has warned of a possible uprising if President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo fails to, with immediate effect, sack non-performing ministers and reshuffle his cabinet.



He also wants the president to cut down on the size of the government while taking urgent steps to address the ongoing economic protests by organized labour.



According to Dr Bonaa, the country is likely to face the Sri Lanka kind of situation where hundreds of angry youth besieged the Presidential Palace over the mismanagement of the economy should this advice not be heeded.



The angry protestors blamed the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, for an unprecedented economic meltdown that has been catastrophic for the nations 22 million people.



Speaking to Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV and monitored by GhanaWeb, Dr Adam Bonaa argued that a reshuffle, plus the dismissal of some non-performing ministers, will force citizens to give the new entrants some time to ascertain what they will bring on board.



Yes, it can happen in Ghana but what the president can do is to sack all non-performing ministers and pave way for some who can do the job. He must also cut down the size of government because some of the ministers are not doing anything.



"Most of them (Ministers) are not working but they receive fuel allowances, provision of state security (Police) and also receive ex gratia at the end of their term. He must also reshuffle some of the ministers. The president must also act quickly in dealing with the labour agitation while reducing fuel prices, he admonished.



He also added that the move will give the people hope and ensure the stability. Because where the people live in a state of hopelessness as it happened in Sri Lanka where there was no hope, people begin to challenge those who are not giving them hope.



Dr Bonaa, however, observed that the president has demonstrated little capacity in dismissing some of his appointees, citing the absentee Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, as an example.



In the view of Adam Bonaa, some of the labour agitations stem from President Akufo-Addos inability to sack the MP, who is also the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, being aware too that she is still being paid for no work done.



I dont believe the president has demonstrated that he will reshuffle his ministers because a president who cannot sack Sarah Adwoa Safo cannot sack anybody; a president who cannot sack the agric minister cannot sack anybody. Adwoa Safo has been appointed to occupy a very sensitive position but has been away for almost a year whilst drawing her salaries. I will only have confidence in the president when he begins to sack people like Adwoa Safo. Some of these things are annoying everybody including organized labour.



He will be the one we will hold responsible if this country goes into the drain, he said.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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The team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be meeting the Finance Committee of Parliament today, Tuesday, July 12.



This follows the arrival of the IMF team in the country led by Carlo Sdralevich, mission chief for Ghana on July 7, after government announced engagement with the latter for a rescue program amidst the financial crisis in the country. The engagement is expected to extend through to July 13.



The meeting is scheduled to take place in Committee Room 7W (West Wing 7th Floor, Job 600) at 4 PM.



The engagement is to ensure stakeholder input and support ahead of an imminent financial bailout programme.



The Government of Ghana on Friday, July 1 announced that it was seeking support from the IMF.



This followed a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghanas decision to engage with the Fund, a statement by the Ministry of Information said.









Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has dismissed reports that it intends to compile a new voters' register for the 2024 election.



This follows allegations by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the electoral body wants to compile a new voters register using the Ghana Card as the sole requirement or identification card.



The Minority in Parliament has thus made its stance clear on the matter by kicking against the EC's reported plan to use the Ghana Card for the compilation of the 2024 Voters Register.



The group holds the view that aside the huge amount of monies expended in compiling the 2020 register, such a move will also disenfranchise a lot of Ghanaians because many citizens are yet to receive their Ghana Cards.



Haruna Iddrisu addressing a press conference at Parliament House, in Accra described reports of the EC's intention as a matter of democratic concern.



If you used that instrument of a national ID card against a voter population of 17million then there is a critical technical departure from the requirement. We may not even have a voter register to rely on for the conduct of the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary election because the number of Ghanaians on the voter register far exceeds the number of Ghanaians on the ID cards data and yet the national ID cards have other persons including foreigners on it, he added.



But Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe speaking in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo' debunked the Minority's assertion.



"Indeed the 2020 voters register came at a cost so I dont think anyone at the Electoral Commission will say they want to discard the register. I can assure you that it is the best register ever compiled by the commission; so we have confidence in the register and we will never dispose of it," he assured.



He said, "we decided that instead of always changing the register why dont we go through continuous registrations and that is the new C.I in parliament".



Per the new Constitutional Instrument (C.I), whoever turns 18 will have to go to the Commission's district offices with their Ghana card to register, and then the name will be added to the existing register.



"So it's not going to be touched," he insisted.



Disenfranchise



Meanwhile, Dr Serebour has also shot down claims of the new C. I disenfranchising Ghanaians; insisting by 2024 people without the Ghana card would have received theirs.



"Maybe they (Minority caucus) have not read the law because it doesnt state theres going to be a new register," he added.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ukrainian refugees Olga and her daughter Anna clear customs at the St. John's International Airport on Tuesday June 14, 2022. They are with the second group of Ukrainian refugees who arrived on a chartered flight to St. John's. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered a probe into the July 8 Mile 2-Ibeshe boat accident in which lives were lost.

The governor in a statement signed by the commissioner for information and strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso said he is deeply saddened by the incident and commiserates with the families who lost their loved ones.

Four passengers died and 12 others including children were declared missing from the ill-fated boat that capsized while ferrying passengers from Mile 12 to Ibeshe axis of Ojo local government area to Mile 12 area of Lagos State.

It learnt that the boat mishap happened when the passenger boat hit a stationary barge along the Mile 2 waterways and emptied the passengers into the ocean.

Reacting to the incident the governor said, "The police are probing what went wrong and treating the sad incident as criminal. The boat, which is said to be unlicensed, obviously broke the waterways rules of "no night travel" and no overloading. Besides, not all of the passengers wore life jackets and the boat did not take off from a government-approved jetty.

"The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and others are assisting the investigators.

"Anybody who is found to have contributed in any way to this tragedy will surely face the law to ensure that we do not have any such incidents in future. The waterways rules and regulations are clear; they must be respected in accordance with the greatest value that the Sanwo-Olu administration places on human life."

He maintained that their thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families, praying God to strengthen them in this difficult time.
Former Professional StarCraft Player Jinho Hong Wins Poker Hall of Fame Bounty

July 12, 2022 Shirley Ang Live Reporting Manager

After scoring his best-ever live cash of $696,011 a mere three weeks ago, Jinho Hong has now won his first bracelet and an additional $276,067 by coming out victorious in the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty. He defeated Punnat Punsri heads-up in a field consisting of 865 entries. The total prize pool of this event was $1,495,363 with 130 players getting paid in the end.

Hong, also better known as "YellOw" in the StarCraft scene, was visibly touched by the win and his rail. After taking the usual winner shots, his rail flooded the feature table area for the group picture and then spent some time taking selfies while he proudly showed off his bracelet.

"For now I'm so happy, my head is empty, very nervous but I am just so grateful that I've won a bracelet," was his response right after winning. "The win at the Wynn Summer Classic was a bigger cash but for me, the bracelet is a lot more meaningful to me and hopefully in the future, a lot more Koreans keep on trying to get the bracelet and hopefully our country grows."

When asked about his connection to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier he indicated that they discuss hands and strategy sometimes. He also added this: "The foreign scene is a lot better than the Asian scene, especially the Korean one. Korean players are still slightly left behind due to the language barrier and the skill level but it's good that I finally achieved something for Koreans."

Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty Final Table Results

PLACE Player Country Prize 1 Jinho Hong South Korea $276,067 2 Punnat Punsri Thailand $170,615 3 Jakob Miegel Germany $120,756 4 Daniel Weinman United States $86,730 5 Pavel Spirins Latvia $63,225 6 Yuri Dzivielevski Brazil $46,791 7 George Rotariu Romania $35,164 8 Bas de Laat Netherlands $26,841 9 Dov Markowich Canada $20,814

Fast-Paced Action

Hong came into the day as the chip leader with Punsri following him hot on his heels. "It was good that I was the chip leader, but Punsri was sitting directly to my left, it was pretty tough to deal with that, but it was what it was," he reflected back on the start of the day.

Hong increased his chip lead to having almost twice as much as Punsri when he knocked out both Yuri Dzivielevski and George Rotariu in the second hand of the day. Dzivielevski had shoved with pocket fives and Rotariu put his tournament life at risk while holding ace-jack. Hong held the ace-queen and while both Rotariu and Hong flopped top two pair, Hong held with the queen-kicker to get the final table down to five players.

Pavel Spirins was short with four big blinds and managed to double up through Punsri but then lost all those chips to Daniel Weinman with ace-nine versus king-queen of diamonds. Spirins turned the straight draw and hit it on the river but Weinman also hit his flush to knock out the Latvian player in fifth place.

Daniel Weinman finished in fourth place for $86,730.

But Weinman failed to hold on to those chips as he had to surrender them to Punsri when his ace-nine failed to connect on the deuce-five-king-jack-seven board while Punsri hit a pair of jacks on the turn with the queen-jack in his hand. Weinman earned 419 points for the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard, not quite enough to overtake Daniel Zack, who also came over for a bit to check out the action.

A few moments later, Jakob Miegel fell in third place when his pocket tens couldn't beat the kings of Punsri to send the young German to the payout desk for his biggest life-time cash while Punsri increased his narrow chip lead over Hong.

After a short break, heads-up play commenced and the action slowed down a bit as small pots went back and forth but things turned around when Hong doubled up when all the chips went in for them on the eight-queen-six-deuce board. They had both flopped top pair but Hong had an ace for the kicker to leave Punsri behind with four big blinds.

Punsri doubled up once but the curtains fell for him when he shoved 11 big blinds in with pocket rockets and saw them get cracked by Hong's ace-four when the board gave him a backdoor flush.

The moment Jinho Hong sees he has won!

This concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event, but make sure to follow all the action in the other events including the Main Event!

Sharelines Jinho Hong won the 2022 @WSOP Event 76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty for $276,067.
Yaounde  Cameroon President Paul Biya says the government will increase funding to grow more wheat after protests over wheat shortages and price spikes sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Before Russia's Black Sea blockade, Cameroon imported 60 percent of its wheat from Ukraine. The cut-off has led to a nearly 50 percent increase in the price of bread.

Cameroon government says President Paul Biya on Monday ordered an immediate disbursement of over $15 million to grow wheat in the central African state.

Cameroon's agriculture minister, Gabriel Mbairobe, says Biya responded to pleas from civilians that the cost of living is becoming very high, and many Cameroonians are finding it very difficult to put food on the table.

Mbairobe says Russia's war in Ukraine has completely disrupted supply chains of consumer goods, especially wheat, which is the main staple food in Cameroon. He says investing in wheat production is a wise decision because each Cameroonian consumes 33 kilograms of wheat each year which is far more than 23 kilograms of rice each Cameroonian eats annually. He says wheat can be grown in several places in Cameroon.

The government says Cameroon produces less than one-fourth of the 1.6 million tons of wheat it needs each year. Last year, the government imported more than 850,000 tons from Russia and Ukraine. Now, according to the Cameroon Importers Union, up to 25,000 tons have been imported since January 2022.

Mbairobe says while the nation waits for its own newly planted wheat to be harvested before the end of the year, local substitutes like sweet potato, cassava and yams should replace the wheat Cameroon imports from Russia and Ukraine.

Cameroon says while baking bread, backers should replace imported wheat with local substitutes such as cassava, yams and potato.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Cameroon Europe and Africa Food and Agriculture By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Biya's instructions for more than $15 million to be invested to grow more wheat comes after several weeks of nationwide protest against cereal shortages. The shortage of wheat has led to a close to 50 percent increase in the price of bread.

Delor Magellan Kamseu Kamgaing, the president of Cameroon's Consumers League, says his league organized the protests to force the government to take immediate actions that will reduce growing hunger and anger among civilians.

Kamgaing says after COVID-19, Russia's war in Ukraine is leading to severe food shortages and unprecedented hikes in the prices of imported staple foods like cereals. He says people are hungry and unable to afford bread which is consumed by a majority of households in Cameroon. Kamgaing says the government should dialogue with its citizens and take measures that will stop a looming famine.

Kamgaing said the government should provide fertilizers and subsidies to local farmers to increase plantain, rice, yam and cassava production.

Kamgaing said the war in Ukraine though causing sufferings, should provide an opportunity for Cameroon to invest in its local industries and stop over dependency on imports.

The government says the money ordered by Biya will either be used in buying fertilizers or paid out as subsidies to wheat farmers. Some of the money will be used to purchase tractors.

The U.N. reports that 1.7 billion people in 107 economies including 41 African countries are exposed to either rising food prices, rising energy prices or tightening financial conditions as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine.
PN Podcast: Layne Flack's Daughter Talks Poker Hall of Fame, WSOP Main Event Enters End Game

July 12, 2022 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

In the latest edition of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway and Jesse Fullen bring you all the latest from the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas. That includes a discussion about Phil Hellmuth's lackluster entrance, Vince Vaughn's appearance, and their picks to win.

They also recap recent bracelet winners, including an interview with Young Sik, and discuss Matt Berkey's criticism regarding players like Ali Imsirovic and Jake Schindler receiving coverage in live updates. Plus, Chris Moneymaker is opening a social poker room in Kentucky, Matt Glantz nabbed the $1M bounty in the WSOP Mystery Bounty event, and how were the bluffs by Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and Alejandro Lococo perceived?

Finally, Halie Flack, the daughter of the late, great Layne Flack, gives an exclusive to PokerNews offering her thoughts on her father's induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Listen to those stories and more on the latest PokerNews Podcast!

2022 World Series of Poker Hub Bookmark this page! All you need to know about the 2022 WSOP is here. Click here

Time Stamps

Tell us who you want to hear from. Let us know what you think of the show  tweet about the podcast using #PNPod, and be sure to follow Sarah Herring, Chad Holloway, and Jesse Fullen on Twitter.

Subscribe to the PokerNews Podcast on Apple Podcasts here!

Check Out Past Episodes of the PN Podcast Here!

Sharelines PokerNews Podcast: Hear from Layne Flack's daughter, Halie Flack, about her father's PHoF induction.
After ten levels of play, only three players remain in Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em where the champion will win $535,610 and the prestigious WSOP gold bracelet.

There were 41 players from 13 countries who returned to the felt for Day 4, but only three Americans remain to compete for the top prize as Mike Allis leads the field with a colossal 142,700,000.

Allis has almost two-thirds of the chips in play but will be wary of the man in second place, 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess, who bagged 46,700,000 and will be looking for his first WSOP title since winning $8,361,570 nine years ago. Third place currently belongs to Basel Chaura from Scarsdale, New York, who is still in the running with 38,600,000.

Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop Final Three Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chips Big Blind 1 Mike Allis United States 142,700,000 71 2 Ryan Riess United States 46,700,000 23 3 Basel Chaura United States 38,600,000 19

Final Table Action

Germany's Niklas Warlich was the first casualty of the official final table when he ran Big Slick into Allis' pocket aces. Rio Fujita finished eighth after two clashes with Mohammed Jaafar.

Andrew Robinson was down to four big blinds when he moved all in with king-jack but succumbed to Riess' ace-queen to finish in seventh. It was a similar story with Salah Nimer who was short when he pushed with ten-nine suited and was out-pipped by Chaura's jack-ten to leave in sixth place.

There was no question that Leonardo De Souza had the loudest rail of the day but they were quieted by Chaura who went runner-runner to hit a straight to eliminate the Brazilian in fifth place.

The last person to be eliminated was Jaafar who pushed with ace-five and was called by Allis with ace-queen. Allis flopped a queen to take a commanding lead and felt Jaafar in fourth place.

Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop Final Table Payouts

Position Name Country Payout 1st $535,610 2nd $331,056 3rd $250,157 4th Mohammed Jaafar United States $190,363 5th Leonardo De Souza Brazil $145,892 6th Salah Nimer United States $112,162 7th Andrew Robinson United States $87,551 8th Rio Fujita United States $68,562 9th Niklas Warlich Germany $54,085

Play will resume at 12 noon Wednesday, July 13th, in The Horseshoe in Bally's Event Center with blinds resuming at 1,000,000/2,000,000 and a big blind ante of 2,000,000.

PokerNews will provide blow-by-blow coverage of the finale of this event and others, so stay tuned!
Day 2 of Event #75: $777 Lucky 7's No-Limit Hold'em at the 2022 World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas begins at 12:00 p.m. with just 285 players returning to their seats from a starting field of 6,903.

Two-time WSOP Bracelet winner Calvin Anderson has been having a hot summer as he has had eight previous cashes already in the this 53rd Annual WSOP, including finishing in third place for $49,557 in Event #73: $1,500 Razz. Anderson will be starting the day with 2,280,000 in chips and is looking to capture his third Bracelet.

Alon Messica will be starting the day with an impressive stack of 3,050,000, followed by Joseph Eipayaa (2,875,000), and Xinli Ye (2,800,000) to round the top three.

Other players to keep an eye on throughout Day 2 include Jaspal Brar, Ben Yu, and Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein.

Play will start at Level 23 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante and 40-minute blind levels throughout the rest of the event. There will be a 15-minute break every three levels. Play will continue for 17 levels or until just five players remain.
Pot-Limit Omaha

In a blind versus blind situation, Aden Salazar raised to 300,000 and Robert Topham tanked a minute before shoving for a remaining stack around 900,000. "Oh I didn't mean that!" said Salazar jokingly, before ended up making the call:

Robert Topham:

Aden Salazar:

Topham had good hopes for the double up but the board ran out and Salazar hit a straight to eliminate Topham before the final table for $18,558.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 82F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
A drive-thru-only coffee shop might be constructed in the near future on the site of the vacant Checkers fast food restaurant on Aikens Southside.

The Aiken Planning Commission on Tuesday voted 7-0 to recommend the approval to Aiken City Council of a concept plan for Scooters Coffee and a rezoning request, with conditions.

According to the Planning Commission, the applicant, WalReedBevCo. LLC, needs to provide more information about traffic flow, signage and the location of a dumpster.

There also are other issues that should be addressed.

The applicant wants the zoning designation for the approximately 1-acre parcel at 2223 Whiskey Road to be changed from General Business to Planned Commercial.

Scooters Coffee is a chain founded by Don and Linda Eckles in 1998. They opened their first drive-thru coffee shop in Bellevue, Nebraska.

There now are more than 300 Scooters Coffee locations in more than 20 states.

In addition to coffee, the Scooters Coffee menu includes teas, various types of iced drinks, smoothies and blenders with an ice cream base.

Among the food options are Spicy Sausage Burritos, Maple Waffle Sandwiches and Bacon Ciabatta Sandwiches, according to scooterscoffee.com.

Based on the concept plan for the proposed Scooters Coffee on Aikens Southside, the vacant 688-square-foot Checkers restaurant building would be torn down. A 664-square-foot Scooters Coffee shop then would be built.

In June of this year, SCEF Real Estate Ventures LLC purchased the Checkers site for $510,000 from Carmella Sears, according to Aiken County land records.

Checkers closed for good in the summer of 2019.

Tuesdays meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the City of Aikens new Municipal Building on Chesterfield Street.

It was the first time that the panel had met there.

In other action, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to City Council the approval of a request for city water and sewer service for Clifton Place, a proposed 171-unit single-family attached townhome development.

The townhomes would be located off Powderhouse Road on 34.3 acres, which are part of a 179.65-acre parcel

The development plan calls for the construction of 100 four-bedroom townhouses on 26-foot wide by 110-foot deep lots.

There also would be 71 3-bedroom townhouses on 20-foot wide by 110-foot deep lots.

The applicant was the CSRA Development Company in Augusta.

CSRA Development also is involved in the construction of a new subdivision, The Sanctuary, on Powderhouse Road near Athol Avenue.

The Sanctuary, which is located near the proposed Clifton Place, was the first phase in the development of the Watson Tract, according to information provided with the agenda for the Planning Commissions meeting.

Clifton Place would be the second phase.
South Carolina Humanities, the state humanities council, has announced the 2022 recipients of its two prestigious awards: the South Carolina Governors Awards in the Humanities and the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Awards.

The awards recognize outstanding achievement in humanities-related work, from teaching to community engagement. This year they honor an array of individuals who have trained an expert lens on South Carolina culture through decades-long immersions in disciplines spanning everything from photography to archaeology.

In 1991, the council established the Governors Awards to highlight noteworthy accomplishments in humanities research, teaching and scholarship; institutional and individual participation in helping communities in South Carolina better understand its cultural heritage or ideas and issues related to the humanities; excellence in defining South Carolinas cultural life to the nation or world; and exemplary support for public humanities programs.

The three 2022 recipients of the Governors Awards in the Humanities are Jack Alterman, an acclaimed Charleston-based photographer; Beryl Dakers, a broadcast trailblazer and award-winning documentary filmmaker; and Gail Wagner, a prominent Southeastern paleoethnobotanist and archaeologist.

The pursuits of the three recipients are divergent, but a through line is clear. That is an abiding fascination with the people, places and stories that together represent South Carolina's cultural heritage.

Since opening his Charleston studio 40 years ago, Alterman has long been inspired by Charleston's blend of old and new, capturing the city's architecture and people.

The photographer has trained his lens on several notable community-based projects. Among them are "Who Among Us," an exhibition and documentary film produced to benefit the Crisis Ministries of Charleston and to raise awareness of the indiscriminate effects of homelessness, and "Eastsiders Matter," a public portrait exhibit displayed along a 150-foot fence on Columbus Street.

Jack Altermans work is a great example of the close ties between the arts and humanities; he uses photography to tell the story of the people and culture of Charleston, and it is a catalyst for further discussion," said Randy Akers, executive director of SC Humanities.

Dakers is no stranger to the camera either, though it is moving images that have most shaped her career. That four decades-plus career has included serving as a reporter, show host and public affairs director at WIS Television in Columbia, and in roles including news and public affairs director and director of cultural programming at SC-ETV. She has created and hosted dozens of award-winning local programs and documentaries, including "Nature Scene," which ran for 25 years and was nationally syndicated.

The third recipient, Wagner, has unearthed South Carolina's layered past in her role as professor emerita of anthropology at the University of South Carolina and a respected paleoethnobotanist. Her work has focused on fields of study including precolonial archaeology of eastern North America, particularly those in South Carolina, and ethnobotany, the study of the interrelationships between plants and peoples.

A statement from SC Humanities shared that Wagner "feels she has been fortunate as both an ethnobotanist and an archaeologist to conduct research at the intersection between science and the humanities, and through a number of venues she attempts to bring the excitement of that mixture to the general public."

The recently introduced Fresh Voices in the Humanities Awards honors innovative individuals who use culture and history to bring people together, but whose efforts may have gone relatively unnoticed beyond their own community.

The 2022 recipients are Len Lawson, assistant professor at Newberry College, published poet and advocate for South Carolinas African American poets, and Rhondda R. Thomas, Calhoun Lemon professor of literature at Clemson University who contributed significant research on the history of African Americans at Clemson.

The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. The 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer board of directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state.

For the recipients, these awards can represent more than recognition, but are a means to shine light on the subjects who are part of their work.

"For me to receive the Governors Award in the Humanities is, to say the least, a humbling experience, especially when I look at the past recipients of this prestigious award," Jack Alterman said. "I consider myself extremely fortunate that my photography has brought attention to the otherwise overlooked people and places of my city, Charleston, and the state of South Carolina."

The Governors Awards in the Humanities award ceremony and luncheon will be held at the Pastides Alumni Center in Columbia on Oct. 20. Table sponsorships are available, as well as individual tickets. To reserve a table and to learn more about this event, visit the Governors Awards Sponsor page or call 803-771-2477.

To learn more about this years winners and see a list of past recipients, go to the Governors Awards page of SC Humanities website at schumanities.org.
A map showing the location of Eritrea (in orange) and Somalia (in green).

The leaders of Eritrea and Somalia have announced the signing of an agreement covering defense, security, diplomatic and political cooperation.

The agreement, finalized by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was reached following a four-day visit to Asmara by the new Somalia leader.

In a seven-point memorandum of understanding released Tuesday, the two leaders said they have agreed to enhance defense and security cooperation to safeguard peace, stability and security. They also have agreed to strengthen diplomatic and political cooperation, to protect and advance their national interests, and to promote relations between their two peoples, they said.

Afwerki and Mohamud said the memorandum they signed is based on historical and fraternal ties and common interests they share and on recognition that the successful fight against terrorism in Somalia is a "prerequisite for peace, stability and security, not only in Somalia but in the Horn of Africa."

Eritrea has been training thousands of Somalia forces for nearly three years. Most of the military has received regular and specialized training, including the naval force, as well as mechanized units.

VOA Somali has reported the number of Somali troops trained in Eritrea at 5,167, a figure later confirmed by former president of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, who sent the troops to Eritrea.

The first wave of Somali soldiers was flown from Mogadishu to Eritrea on Aug. 19, 2019. There were second and third waves in February and June 2020, respectively.

The training of the soldiers was a clandestine operation hidden from the public and the media. The program was criticized by Somali parents of the soldiers and opposition politicians. It attracted controversy after unverified media reports alleged their participation in the conflict in Tigray, a claim strongly denied by the previous Somali government. VOA Somali did not find evidence backing their alleged link to the Tigray war.

During this week's visit, Mohamud attended a parade by the Somali forces and congratulated them for completing their military training.

According to a statement issued by the president's office, Mohamud renewed his pledge to return the troops to Somalia and said he has told them about his plans to stabilize the country and to liberate areas still under al-Shabaab control.

"The Somali people will be excited by your sight, and the enemy will be demoralized by [your] strength," Mohamud told the soldiers, thanking the Eritrean government.

Earlier this month, the new Somali government reported that "some" Somali soldiers died during the training, and "some" died of natural causes. No exact figure was given, but some of the soldiers who defected last year gave mixed figures, with one deserter reporting that four died, and a second soldier saying seven soldiers died.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Eritrea East Africa Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

According to one soldier who deserted and arrived in Somalia in July of last year, one died of dehydration from severe diarrhea, one was electrocuted and a third drowned in a lake while escaping from Eritrean guards.

Ali Said Faqi, the Somali ambassador to the European Union who is among just a few Somali officials to visit the soldiers' training camp in late 2019, said the troops received "tough training" and most of them were trained as special forces. He said the original plan was that Eritrea would train them and arm them.

"That was the plan, and I believe that is still the decision," he said.

Faqi said it's the new president's call to determine a policy of operation and decide about how specifically the soldiers will be deployed.

"They can participate in the fight against terrorism; they can participate in opening the highway between Afgoye and Baidoa; they can participate in the opening of the highway between Mogadishu and Kismayo," he said. "These are young personnel who obtained the best military training."

Somali President Mohamud last week introduced a new security strategy to counter al-Shabab, comprising a military, ideological and economic approach toward the militant group.

Meanwhile, the leader of al-Shabab, Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah, vowed in a new audio threat to fight the new government, asserting the group will "never allow a government that is not founded upon Islam and an administration that doesn't fully implement Sharia [law]."
COLUMBIA  For the second time this year, a Lexington-Richland School District Five board leader is facing charges from the state Ethics Commission.

Ken Loveless, board vice chairman for the 17,000-student Chapin and Irmo school district, is accused of failing to recuse himself from decisions and actions in 2020 involving Contract Construction, the company responsible for building Piney Woods Elementary School. Loveless' company was a Contract Construction subcontractor on a different project, receiving $1 million for work on a new State Law Enforcement Division lab.

Public officials are required by state law to recuse themselves from decisions regarding companies in which they have financial stakes.

After complaints were first reported, the Ethics Commission advised Loveless in 2021 to recuse himself from board decisions on Contract Construction.

Loveless sent a formal notice to the board chair in February 2021 and has not been involved in decisions involving Contract Construction, his attorney, Butch Bowers, said.

Still, the Ethics Commission charged Loveless for his previous votes and actions two months after Lexington-Richland Five's board chair settled ethics charge on separate accusations.

Loveless faces four charges of "failure to recuse from government decisions" on a business with which he has an economic interest. One charge stems from asking about Contract Construction's work on Piney Woods Elementary in a letter. Two more charges are for participating in board decisions on the school's construction. A fourth charge came from Loveless visiting the construction site for an evaluation.

In a response to the Ethics Commission, Bowers wrote that Loveless has "no individual ability" to make decisions for the entire board.

Bowers also noted that Loveless had criticized Contract Construction's work on Piney Woods Elementary School, voting "no" on hiring the company to build the Chapin school in 2018 and feeling "vindicated" this year by an engineering report that documented structural problems at the school.

Bowers said in the response that if Contract Construction was trying to silence Loveless' criticism by hiring him for the SLED work then the Ethics Commission should investigate the contractor.

Efforts to reach Contract Construction were unsuccessful.

Loveless' Ethics Commission hearing is set for Feb. 16.

Earlier this year, Lexington-Richland Five Chairwoman Jan Hammond was accused by the Ethics Commission of using her district email account to influence the elections of fellow board members Rebecca Hines, Matt Hogan and Katharine Huddle. Also a teacher in Lexington County School District Two, Hammond was additionally accused of failing to disclose her income.

She settled the charges in early May with a $2,000 fine.

Loveless has made news in recent months by suing two people over critical comments made on a Facebook page, including posts calling him Crooked Ken and "loser." Another comment questioned Loveless over recusals.

The ethics complaints and lawsuits follow a year of upheaval for Lexington-Richland Five.

Following a 2020 election that shifted the makeup of the school board, a rift formed between members and then-Superintendent Christina Melton over safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to emails released by the district.

It ended with Melton resigning. She left with a $226,000 severance last June soon after she was named the states superintendent of the year.
Columbia, SC (29201)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 92F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms in the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
EDISTO ISLAND  When "Ms. Emily" Meggett, 89, answered the phone at her sea island residence, she had to put this journalist on hold for a moment.

That's because her neighbor was dropping off a cooler of fresh fish on her front porch. Meggett gets food all over the island for free  butterbeans and okra from the King's Farm Market, crab and shrimp from Flowers Sea Food, sweet potatoes and squash from George & Pink's.

"I always bring my wallet, and they say put that away," said Meggett with a laugh.

That's because the food isn't just for her. It's for the whole island community. When the Gullah matriarch leaves her side door open, that means she's got food prepared for anyone who needs it.

"There was a community passion growing up that nobody go hungry, nobody don't have a place to stay," she said.

She's continuing that tradition, and now, to memorialize all the meals she's made for Edisto Island residents over the decades, she's released a cookbook.

The irony is that she's never used one herself. The recipes just come from memory, from making meals her whole life from the ingredients provided by the surrounding land and sea.

"Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island" was published at the end of April and includes not only 123 recipes, but also Meggett's own story and Gullah history.

"Cooking teaches, cooking heals, cooking loves," she wrote in its pages.

And food is essential to a community, she added over the phone.

"It brings people together, whether its a church community or a family gathering," Meggett said. "When you say food, everybody is ready."

While many adults have stopped by for Meggett's envied deviled crab, even more kids have run into her kitchen asking for her homemade biscuits, pancakes or pecan waffles.

"I call this house the community center because it's where you find all the children in the community," she said. "They come for their cornbread and syrup, lemonade and Kool-Aid, and when I say go home and run them off, they run home and then come right back."

Meggett was taught to cook by her grandmother and would make big batches of tomato casserole, lima beans, and shrimp and gravy for the whole family, the church and neighbors, too.

It gave her such a joy when she saw how much people in the community appreciated the act of kindness and enjoyed the fruits of her labor.

"That gave me a love for it," said Meggett. "I learned to cook with my brain, my hands and my heart."

Her grandmother had 14 children, and Meggett herself had four siblings before having 10 kids of her own and a whole bundle of grandchildren  too many to even count, she said with a laugh.

"I've got an army," Meggett emphasized.

That's why she has always cooked oversized batches of food.

"It's hard for me to cook for just one or two people," she said. "When I cook, I cook big  so everybody can have some, nobody won't be left out."

Because of that, she's the most loved person on the whole island  a local celebrity, though she remains humble.

"I don't feel like a celebrity," said Meggett. "I just feel blessed and privileged to know that I could've done something that would make somebody happy besides me and my family. ... All I want people to do is enjoy the recipes in this book. If makes them happy, that makes me extra happy."

Meggett had a long list of people to thank for helping her release the cookbook. At the top, however, was a White woman named Becky Smith who Meggett said she shared a bond with from the first time they met.

Meggett cooked for her, and the rest was history.

"My grandmother used to say you can feel people," said Meggett. "I dont care whether theyre Black or White, young or old, ugly or pretty, you can feel them. Becky and I felt each other from the first time we saw each other. I don't know how it happened, but it happened."

Smith is the one who convinced Meggett to release a cookbook. They would sit down in Meggett's living room, and Smith would write down the recipes on scraps of paper as her friend recalled them. They'd do a couple a day, here and there.

That turned into a book deal, Zoom meetings with a New York City team at Abrams Books during the onset of COVID-19, and everyone post-pandemic meeting in Meggett's kitchen for a photo shoot and to try her recipes.

Her favorite part, of course, was cooking the big meals for everyone to enjoy.

She added over the phone that she doesn't care if she "makes 50 cents" off her book, though she surely will, and then some.

To Meggett, it's all about sharing joy and bringing people together through food. That's what it's always been about.

Deviled crab recipe from Ms. Emily Meggett When you order deviled crab from restaurants in bigger cities like Charleston, youre not getting the best deviled crab. City folks stuff these crabs with heavy breadcrumbs and reduce the essence of the dish  the crabmeat. This here is real deviled crab  not a lot of junk. Hard work, but worth the effort. Deviled crab is best when you kill, clean and stuff the crab yourself, but you can find crab backs and crabmeat at the store to reduce prep time. Dont be shy with stuffing your crab back. You want that deviled crab to be overflowing so its a real treat for guests. The Worcestershire sauce adds a light, tangy flavor, and you should add more if you like. It also doesnt hurt to be generous with your breadcrumbs. They add that subtle crunch that, when combined with the crab mixture, can take you back to memories of a sunny, sandy beach. 10 slices white or whole wheat bread 3 pounds crabmeat, or about 20 blue crabs (if using prepared crabmeat, youll also need 15 to 16 crab backs) 1/4 cup Natures Seasons, or seasoning of choice 2 cups diced onion 2 cups diced celery 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) for the crab tops 1 tablespoon mustard 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon) 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise Preheat your ovens broiler to 500F or its highest setting. On your ovens highest rack, broil all the bread slices for about 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and crisp, but not burned. Flip all the slices over and broil for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the broiler off and allow the bread to crisp in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and let cool. Using a hand grater, grate the bread slices into breadcrumbs. The crumbs should look and feel like sand. Set the breadcrumbs aside. If using fresh crabs, cook them in a large pot of boiling water with 1 tablespoon of Natures Seasons, or your seasoning of choice. Drain, let cool, then remove the crab back from each crab. Then, remove what we call the dead man (the grayish crab gills) and pick the crabmeat from the shells. Set the crabmeat aside. Clean the crab backs and save the crab bodies to stuff later. Saute the onion and celery in 1/2 cup (1 stick) of the butter over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl, add the crabmeat, mustard, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce, and use a fork to stir slowly and carefully so as not to break up the crabmeat. Add the breadcrumbs to the crabmeat mixture, saving about 1/4 cup for later, and toss gently. Preheat the oven to 350F. Add the mayonnaise to the crabmeat mixture, and toss gently with the fork until well mixed. If the mixture is still too dry, add more mayonnaise. Fill each crab back with the crabmeat mixture. Be generous here! Each crab back should be filled to look like a mountaintop. After stuffing the crab backs, top each with some of the saved breadcrumbs, and add just a dot of butter to the top of each crab. Set on a baking sheet and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Pecan waffles recipe from Ms. Emily Meggett My children know how important breakfast is in my household. My daughter, Lavern Meggett, remembers: Shed be cooking breakfast every morning before school. We had to eat breakfast every morning. Shed say, A child cant learn on an empty stomach. Just like with pancakes, lots of people see waffles as one of the most important breakfast foods. Its one I made in my house at the time. My children loved my waffles. Theyd run in the kitchen before school and bring their plates to me, waiting in excitement for that first warm bite. These waffles cook until they get a nice crisp on the edges, while the center of the waffle maintains a light, fluffy texture and preserves a nutty crunch from the chopped pecans. Serve waffles with just a bit of butter and syrup. 1 large egg 1/3 cup sugar 2 cups self-rising flour 1 1/3 cups milk, whole or 2%, plus more if needed 1/2 cup Crisco shortening, melted 1/3 cup sour cream 1/3 cup pecans, chopped Plug in your waffle iron, allowing it to get hot. In a medium mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to beat together the egg and sugar. Add the flour and 1 cup of the milk and gently stir the mixture until combined. Add the melted Crisco. Stir gently until combined. The batter should stiffen a bit. Allow the mixture to sit and thicken for 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in the sour cream and pecans. Add the remaining 1/3 cup milk and stir gently. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it becomes a batter. Spoon three heaping spoonfuls of waffle batter into the hot waffle iron. Cook until the waffle iron light goes on, or until golden brown. The edges should be slightly crispy. Cook the remaining waffles, and serve immediately. Serves 10.
Stereo Complexs sound system was barely set up as guests began to arrive at the house show venue on June 11 for the concert headlined by Stere Fiction, Gamine and Dawning. The shows hosts ran around harried but excited, while everyone there seemed to be sipping something alcoholic.

The Rosewood venue is the latest Columbia house show venue in a lengthy history in the citys independent music scene  and since the COVID-19 pandemic has waned, it and a small handful of other venues have opened. For members of Columbias music scene, they said house shows are an integral part of the scene by offering opportunities for up-and-coming musicians, while being part of the city's rich history.

Columbia music veterans recalled the floor falling in at an antic-heavy show by the band Fratmouth almost a decade ago. More recently, shows have taken place in a quaintly lit Monticello Road swimming pool.

In most cases, the venues have a scrappy, homegrown culture to them.

House shows feel like they are held together with Band-Aids, gum and string, said Gabe Crawford, a member of two Columbia bands Flippants and Gamine.

Crawford, whos played at many house shows in the region, finds these shows to be one of the most vital parts of a music scenes health. The multi-instrumentalist said that they offer a chance for a local music scene to create something outside of the conventional club environment through offering early exposure of new bands.

They offered Crawford a way to get involved in the local music community when he was first starting out. Its a dynamic, decades-old way to break into the scene, as many house shows have catered to specific genre niches in Columbia's history.

In the 2010s venues like Queen Punks Palace, near Five Points, offered crust punk sounds, according to Crawford. Meanwhile Earlewoods Moon House hosted indie shows and Video Dome, in Olympia, was open to any genre of music.

There was a time when there were a number of houses and you had to pick a sound and choose which one you wanted to attend that weekend, Crawford said.

But now, there are fewer houses hosting shows than in the past, local musicians said.

John Vail, who plays lead guitar in the groovy indie group Rex Darling, played his first house show when he was 16. In Columbias early 2000s music scene, Vail encountered a strong hardcore rock scene, but thats since evolved towards indie music in the two decades since.

Vail recalled a house venue named 112 as the first house show spot in Columbia that he could remember. Other spots like House of Hardcore and Queen Punks Palace were active in that era, according to Vail, with his early heavy rock group playing in the latter.

In that same era, Scene S.C. founder and editor David Stringer offered a contrast in response. He turned his rental home into the low-key House of Softcore, which hosted acoustic shows, in 2010, two years after he started his local music site.

The idea behind our house shows, we felt like it was important to make people comfortable in the music scene, and make it congregational, Stringer said. We had potlucks and hangouts. We preferred if people paid, but if you didnt have money we didnt mind.

Stringers venue had bands from California to Canada show interest in playing there and shows at the house lasted nearly five years. Yet, as is often the case in house venues, it was temporary.

The citys music scene has shifted over time in waves, Stringer explained, and he noted the COVID-19 pandemic was another variable in this.

Thats the special thing about house shows, theyre always in a moment often rental houses. Theyre not going to last forever, he said.

And at many house shows, theres an amateur-like quality to them. Theyre often run by people without much experience in hosting concerts, putting together audio; and the bands are often in their early stages as well without many connections to book gigs at more formal venues.

For instance, at Stereo Fiction's June show, pieced together from hand-me-down, taped-together wires and Craigslist audio monitors. It created a do-it-yourself appeal.

The energy at house shows is totally different than a club. (Its) for artists to make connections and gain fans and friends for life, Stringer said.

And in the last year, new local venues like Stereo Complex, the Comeback and others opened up and continued in this tradition of offering a diverse array of genres and types of shows.

At the Stereo Complex, with its yard large enough to fit multiple stages, one can find a jammy old-school atmosphere that is welcoming to all genres. It hosts open jams nearly every Friday and has developed a consistent attendee base of excited students and local artists.

The venues co-founder Duncan Grey, and frontman of the band Stereo Fiction, recently hosted Columbias goth-inspired synthwave band Gamine and Charleston shoegaze band Dawning, as well as Philadelphia-based Ruth in the Bardo the month prior.

House shows provide a way for new bands to have soft openings for their songs and seasoned musicians find house shows to be a refreshing moment of respite while on tour, he said. He said they offer strong community building in a local music scene.

Grey, who has lived in Columbia for six months, grew up in Raleigh where he went to house shows often in the North Carolina city. He contrasted the two scenes, describing Columbias house show venues as a more welcoming and close-knit environment than his hometown.

I never saw it coming, I didnt expect to be doing this, said Grey. It feels so good to be able to construct and design your own show, but the best part is not having to go through the middle man of formal venues.

Gamines and Flippants Crawford described the role of house shows in the scene as being a space that is safe and informal for bands to form their own stomping grounds within the scene. He compared a good house show to the way a wedding should feel  a space where people come together to celebrate something in a familial way.
GEORGETOWN  A Pawleys Island man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to a 2020 fatal shooting in Georgetown.

Javon Jacob Hair, 30, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter July 11 before Circuit Judge Jennifer McCoy, Liz Smith, 15th Circuit assistant solicitor, said in a news release.

The charge stemmed from when 27-year-old Herman McCray Jr. was shot about 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 5, 2020. Multiple people witnessed the shooting and called police while others attempted to render aid to McCray.

McCrays parents and sister were at the sentencing hearing and told the judge that Herman McCray was the light of their households and his loss will never be forgotten.

We hope that this outcome will help to bring a measure of peace to Hermans family and friends, said Jimmy Richardson, 15th Circuit solicitor. We appreciate the efforts of Georgetown Police to bring this case to justice and make Georgetown a safer community.
GEORGETOWN  A member of the South Carolina House of Representatives representing Georgetown requested this week that the state look into the gap in gas prices between Georgetown County and neighboring counties, but the office of State Attorney General Alan Wilson said price gouging can only be investigated in states of emergency.

Rep. Carl Anderson, a Georgetown Democrat, requested that Gov. Henry McMaster look into the matter, while the South Carolina House Democratic Caucus said Anderson had sent a letter asking Wilson to investigate. As of July 13, Georgetown County gas prices  at an average of $4.32 per gallon  are below the national average of $4.63 per gallon but 18 cents above the state average of $4.14 per gallon, according to AAA.

"The residents of Georgetown County are seeking some source of relief at the pump as well," Anderson wrote to Wilson. "I respectfully ask that you investigate the discrepancy in the prices of gas per gallon and report back to me your findings."

AAA recorded Horry County's average as of July 13 at $4.10 per gallon and Charleston County's at $4.28 per gallon, though Anderson noted that GasBuddy, an aggregator of gas prices at stations throughout the U.S., shows several stations in southern Horry County below the $4-per-gallon mark.

Meanwhile, Anderson spoke with Charleston television station WCSC-TV on July 13 at a gas station near Pennyroyal Road selling regular gasoline for $4.39 per gallon, the going price at several gas stations throughout Georgetown.

Just six South Carolina counties  Abbeville, Anderson, Greenwood, Lexington, Saluda and Union  had average prices below $4.00 per gallon on July 13, according to AAA.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Robert Kittle said the afternoon of July 13 that Wilson's office had not received a letter from Anderson, and further stated that price gouging cannot be investigated at this time because South Carolina's price gouging law is in effect only in a declared state of emergency.

"I guess a part of it, too, is theyre passing the buck," Anderson said. "You know how that goes. Were still in a pandemic, basically, so why cant you check this out?"

In a statement to Georgetown Times, governor's office spokesman Brian Symmes laid the blame for high gas prices at the feet of the White House.

"The governors confident that the appropriate authorities will thoroughly investigate any potential predatory pricing in the state, but the bottom line is that every South Carolina family  like families across the country  are hurting at the gas pump because of President Bidens failed energy policies that have left the country dependent on foreign oil," Symmes said.

But Anderson said his concern is more focused locally. He said he has received calls from local workers, including commuters or those in the logging and trucking businesses, who no longer buy their gasoline in Georgetown.

"When its 50 to 60 cents more, what do you expect people to do?" Anderson said.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Some sun in the morning with increasing clouds during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy in the evening with scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Charleston County Council has postponed action on a November voter referendum to fund affordable housing efforts after deciding it's first try at a proposed ballot measure was a dud.

The wording was so unspecific that it didn't include how much it would raise, who would control the money or where it would be spent.

Councilman Kylon Middleton, the most outspoken advocate of affordable housing on the council, said even he would not support the proposed referendum that was on the council's July 12 agenda.

Its almost like a blank check, without a plan," he said. "This is what we did two years ago."

In 2020, Charleston County asked voters if they would support a modest property tax increase in order to raise $8 million yearly to fund affordable housing efforts. Few details were offered. With 199,468 votes cast, the measure failed by 3,466.

The county wants to try again amid a housing affordability crisis that's only gotten worse. County Council this year agreed to set aside $20 million in one-time federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for affordable housing efforts and hopes the proposed ballot question could create an ongoing source of money going forward.

From an economic development point of view, housing is becoming a liability," said Josh Dix, chairman of the county's housing steering committee. "We are losing to Nashville, to Austin, to areas that have a housing fund.

Dix also is the government affairs director for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. He said the private sector needs "some government intervention" to address housing needs as prices soar partly due to lack of supply.

The July 12 council meeting was to be a vote on forwarding the voter referendum. Dix said the committee he chairs recommended asking for a property tax increase that would be 50 percent higher than the one voters rejected in 2020.

Instead, Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt proposed moving forward with a referendum calling for a property tax increase the same size as the one on the 2020 ballot, which would have raised $8 million yearly. The impact of such a tax increase would depend on the value of one's property. The add-on could have cost the owner-occupant of a $300,000 home an extra $24 yearly, for example.

We absolutely need to get this on the ballot this year," said Honeycutt.

There was some debate about the wisdom of having an affordable housing referendum this year. Councilman Dickie Schweers said the county should first demonstrate results with the $20 million it's dedicated to affordable housing.

But the real problem was the vague ballot question on the desks. It contained two questions in just two sentences. The first: "Shall Charleston County Council levy a ____ mill tax in Charleston County to fund the Charleston County Housing our Future Plan and fund affordable housing initiatives operated by Charleston County or jointly operated by the County and other private or governmental entities?"

No details were offered, and the "Housing our Future Plan" hasn't been created yet.

The second question simply asked if the county should be allowed to borrow the money that the tax in the first question would have raised.

"There should be a blueprint somewhere on the internet that we can follow thats successful," Council Chairman Teddie Pryor said. "Greenville and Spartanburg have done this and theyve been successful."

The county has scheduled two more council meetings, on Aug. 9 and Aug. 11, in the hope of crafting an appropriate referendum before the deadline to get the question on the November ballot. The wording needs to be approved by Aug. 15.

In 2020, Charleston County had an unusually large coalition of business and social advocacy groups supporting the idea of a property tax increase to fund affordable housing. The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors  both groups that typically oppose property tax increases  supported the measure.

But affordable housing is much misunderstood, often perceived as low-income housing projects rather than an effort to support creating more housing that middle-income people can afford.

That referendum narrowly failed county-wide, 50.88 percent to 49.12 percent, with strong support seen in North Charleston and parts of Charleston, and strong opposition in suburban and rural areas including Mount Pleasant and Johns Island. Among the barrier island, only Sullivans Island supported the measure.

After the measure failed, some felt the county hadnt clearly explained how the money would be used. Now, County Council is trying to avoid a repeat.
The Berkeley County's Sheriff's Office is searching for a woman wanted in connection to last week's fatal shooting at an apartment complex in Summerville's Nexton area.

Jennifer Mae Todus is wanted by authorities on murder warrants, Berkeley County sheriffs Cpl. Carli Drayton said.

Todus, 34, should be considered armed and "extremely dangerous," Drayton said.

Todus is wanted by authorities in the July 8 shooting that killed 20-year old Caleb Mitchell of Summerville.

At approximately 8 p.m. July 8, deputies were dispatched to the Isaac Apartments at 195 North Creek Drive for reports of a shooting. Deputies located Mitchell lying in a pool of blood in front of a black sedan, according to an incident report released July 11.

Anyone with information on Todus' whereabouts can contact the Berkeley County Sheriffs Office at 843-719-4412.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Grahams claim that he called Georgia Secretary of State Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the days following the 2020 presidential election because he was curious about how the state verified absentee voters never made sense.

It made less sense last week when his attorneys tried to dress it up with the suggestion that he was doing his duty as chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss with state officials the processes and procedures around administering elections. After all, the U.S. Constitution leaves it up to the states to decide whether they even hold a presidential election  and Mr. Grahams home state was the last one in the country to allow voters to participate in a decision that had been made by our all-powerful Legislature for nearly a century.

Still, even if you reject Mr. Grahams efforts to downplay the disturbing phone calls and accept Mr. Raffenspergers interpretation of the calls, it never looked to us like Mr. Graham had done anything illegal. Bad judgment to call the person overseeing the highly contested count in an election that your best pal is claiming was rigged, yes. Something we never would have imagined Mr. Graham doing, yes. But illegal pressuring from someone who has no power over the Georgia secretary of state? No.

So it was no surprise when Mr. Grahams attorneys said they had been assured that he was not a target of a grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally interfered with Georgias 2020 election results.

The surprise  the latest in a growing list of disappointing surprises  was Mr. Grahams refusal to do his duty as a citizen of the United States and comply with a subpoena to testify.

The surprise was the absurd claim made through his attorneys that compelling him to testify as a witness in an criminal investigation would somehow erode the constitutional balance of power and the ability of a Member of Congress to do their job.

The surprise was the insulting suggestion that Mr. Graham shouldnt appear as a witness to testify in a lawfully convened grand jury investigation because he doesnt believe the motives of the investigation meet his standard of apolitical purity.

As a witness, you dont get to decide whether a prosecutor is politically motivated. Thats something the jurors or the courts will ultimately determine. As a witness, your job is to provide your honest testimony. Just like you would if you witnessed a murder or a robbery or a simple traffic accident. Or if the prosecutor simply wanted to know more about a conversation you had with a victim.

The assurances Mr. Graham received that he is not a target should have removed any hesitation he had about testifying. Because, lets face it, there are only three reasons to try to avoid testifying: Youre worried youll incriminate yourself; youre worried youll incriminate someone else you dont want to incriminate; or youre worried the investigation will turn up something you dont like and so you want to undermine its credibility.

In the first case, the Constitution says you dont have to testify. The two others, however, are not legally or morally justifiable reasons to try to weasel out of a subpoena. Its possible that Mr. Grahams high-powered lawyers will convince a judge that he shouldnt be compelled to share what he knows in a criminal investigation that might not go anywhere. But that won't make it right. We expect and deserve better from our senator.
SPARTANBURG  The world of art and coffee merge inside of a new cafe in Spartanburgs WestGate Mall.

The family-owned cafe, Artessence, opened next to JCPenney on June 18. Customers can get a cup of Colombian coffee while working on coloring sheets with paintings from well-known artists.

Everybody here has put all their effort and love in trying to make people feel at home, said Diana Mejia, co-owner of Artessence. You come here, you take a breath, you can forget everything you have outside and you can eat something delicious.

The cafe has a variety of hot and cold coffee and tea options. The coffee is harvested in Quindio, Colombia. Whey protein smoothies and Greek yogurt smoothies are also available.

The menu features items named after famous artists from different time periods. Art history mats on the tables are changed daily. Customers can read about various art movements and famous paintings, sculptures and artists from each movement. Every table has coloring sheets of paintings. Mejia said some of the coloring sheets are from her friends paintings.

She moved to Spartanburg last year with her husband Jonatan Jinete and their two daughters. The family moved to Spartanburg from Bogota, Colombia.

In Colombia, coffee is a culture, Mejia said.

Mejia said she and Jinete enjoy art. Since coffee was also a big part of their lives, they wanted to create something that would bring the two together. Jinete said his favorite part of having the business is making connections with people over something as simple as coffee and a meal.

Gabriela Mejia, one of the couple's daughters, said that not much sugar is needed in the coffee because the beans already have a sweet flavor. She said serving coffee in the right cup is key, and paper cups cause coffee to lose its quality. Warming up a coffee cup before pouring the beverage is another important step in conserving flavor and smell, she said.

People who don't even drink coffee said it tastes really good, Gabriela Mejia said.

Artessence is open on Monday from noon to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning. Thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 87F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
The late Herbert Stein was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Nixon and the author of Steins Law: If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. I wonder if Steins Law applies to the madness that has overtaken the Democratic Party, the partys media adjunct, the United States military, and just about every major American institution. Steins Law seems to be running up against (John) OSullivans First Law: All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.

Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on abortion access and the law. According to C-SPAN, the hearing examine[d] the legal concerns in the country after a recent Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. C-SPAN has posted video of the hearing in its entirety here.

Senator Hawley took a turn questioning Berkeley Law Professor Khiara Bridges (video below). Professor Bridges must have been summoned by the Democrats who ran the hearing and they must think she is somehow helpful to them. Her Berkeley profile lists six areas of expertise, but the lady is testing the reality principle. See Abigail Anthonys NR story with its useful transcript of the exchange in the clip below. Ben Shapiro devotes a column to the exchange in Woke Academic Gobbledygook Makes You Rich and Famous. FOX News has posted a handy round-up of reactions here.

I thought conflict of laws was one of my areas of expertise as a lawyer, but I cant quite resolve the seeming conflict between Steins and OSullivans laws. Its a conflict that should be food for thought.
Todays guest appearance features Kenneth P. Green, my former colleague and frequent writing partner back in our days at AEI over a decade ago. In the intervening years Ken has worked at the Fraser Institute in Canada, and has just lately completed a dazzling manuscript on the problems with all of the models (COVID, climate, you name it) beloved of our policymakers. Podcast listeners may remember him from our episode on science fiction and the defects of all the successors to the original Star Trek. Even further back in his career he worked as an engineer with one of the major aerospace companies that once prospered in California but now no longer exist, on early electric car technology. What did he learn from that experience, and what does the current scene look like? No much has really changed about the fundamentals.

EVs are not the future  the consensus grows

Have you noticed that when it comes to EVs, the smartest guys in the roomthe ones who study energy/technology trends, run successful energy-tech investment firms, and more importantly, the guys who actually build the thingsare uniformly dubious about their future?

Akio Toyoda (CEO of Toyota): TOKYOToyota Motor Corp.s leader criticized what he described as excessive hype over electric vehicles, saying advocates failed to consider the carbon emitted by generating electricity and the costs of an EV transitionToyoda said Japan would run out of electricity in the summer if all cars were running on electric power. The infrastructure needed to support a fleet consisting entirely of EVs would cost Japan between 14 trillion and 37 trillion, the equivalent of $135 billion to $358 billion, he said. When politicians are out there saying, Lets get rid of all cars using gasoline, do they understand this?

The short answer there is no, but lets continue.

Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, natch): Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the worlds car fleets are electrified, increasing the need to expand nuclear, solar, geothermal and wind energy generating sources. Increasing the availability of sustainable energy is a major challenge as cars move from combustion engines to battery-driven electric motors, a shift which will take two decades, Musk said in a talk hosted by Berlin-based publisher Axel Springer.

Of course, Musk. Gotta love the man, but hes not exactly consistent. Musk is also hedging his bet with research into hydrogen (foolish, if you ask me), and has warned about problems with mining enough battery elements to allow for the EV transition Still, he did successfully bogart the name of one of the worlds greatest electrical engineers (Nikola Tesla)so maybe he knows a few things.

Jim Farley (CEO, Ford): Ford CEO Jim Farley explained to Automotive News that not all of its customers are ready to make the transition, due to their specific needs. We have a lot of rural customers at Ford that a lot of other brands dont have. We have Super Duty customers who do heavy-duty towing: horse trailers, people in the energy business who are towing big-time loads over very long distances. Its hard for me to imagine that all those customers will go electric in the next 10 years, Farley said.

In other words, Dude, we sell a hell of a lot of trucks, and youre not powering an F450 with Duracells or Energizers

Hey, when the guys who are building these things warn you that they might not be able to live up to the hype? Our fearless leaders might want to pay attention.

STEVE adds: Since Ken filed this story, Vanity FairVanity Fair! has weighed in with a critical story whose subhed tells the thesis: Could the electric car market collapse under its own weight?
I asked over the weekend if there has ever been an administration with a less impressive cabinet than President Bidens and posited that Michael Barone might be able to come up with one. It occurred to me to ask him. For background he cites his column on the Harding administration here (September 2, 2015). Mr. Barone writes:

Heres my take, based in part on a recent visit to the Warren G. Harding Museum and Home in Marion, Ohio. Harding is often rated one of the poorest presidents  quite wrongly in my view, as I have written on other occasions.

He did have cabinet members who were found guilty of criminal misconduct. But he also had Charles Evans Hughes, highly intelligent and experienced, as Secretary of State; Andrew Mellon, the greatest venture capitalist of the era between the 1873 and 1933 depressions, as Secretary of the Treasury, and Charles G. Dawes as the first director of the Harding-created Bureau of the Budget. Hughes negotiated the Washington naval arms limit treaty, Mellon pushed successfully for major tax cuts, Dawes in just one year established in the agency an institutional culture of excellence which has persisted for a century. The result was surging prosperity and a competent government.

How do the accomplishments (in progress at the moment, after 18 months of the administration) of the Biden cabinet compare with those of their counterparts in the Harding administration (which lasted 29 months until Hardings death in August 1923)?

Anyway, thats my take this morning.
On the night of July 4, criminals used fireworks to terrorize innocent bystanders in Minneapolis. Now its moved indoors. Criminals set off fireworks inside a movie theater just a couple of miles from my house:

"Occurred about 8:30 p.m. at Imagine Theater, according to dispatch audio. One person was injured with part of a firework embedded in their leg and they were bleeding. Suspect: Somali M in a red shirt. With two other Somali juveniles." Via @CrimeWatchMpls  Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) July 13, 2022



Are the Twin Cities descending toward an unlivable state of chaos? And will the voters tolerate this complete absence of any civilized norms? Ask me in November.

This leads to another story. After the July 4 rampage, in which at least a dozen people were shot and many more were harassed and terrorized, new Minneapolis City Council member Michael Rainville tried to respond constructively:

[H]e said during a community meeting about public safety that he planned to talk to Somali elders and tell them their children can no longer have that type of behavior.

Big mistake! The roof fell on Rainvilles head, and he apologized abjectlyalways a mistake:

Minneapolis City Council Member Michael Rainville is facing an avalanche of criticism after he blamed primarily Somali youth for a wave of violence on July 4 that included a shooting at a large gathering at Boom Island Park and others launching fireworks toward cars and buildings while driving on downtown streets.

***

That comment caused Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, to question the sincerity of Rainvilles apology. We are pretty disappointed; the initial apology may not be as genuine as we had hoped, Hussein said in an interview Sunday. We are not satisfied with the apology as it stands today. He cant double down and just say it was a simple misunderstanding.

No apology ever placates the Left.

Three of Rainvilles fellow City Council members issued a statement Friday night calling the Ward 3 council members words inappropriate, incorrect and disturbing. In their statement, council members Jamal Osman, Jeremiah Ellison and Aisha Chughtai called for Rainville to make a formal apology and hold a community meeting to allow community members to share how his comments affected them.

Im going to hazard the wild guess that Rainvilles comments do not rank among the top two or three problems facing the Twin Cities Somali community.

The Somali Student Association at the University of Minnesota also condemned Rainvilles comments, calling his words hurtful and disrespectful.

***

Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation President Samantha Pree-Stinson said Sunday in a Facebook post that she has filed an an ethics complaint against Rainville.

It goes on and on. No one denies, of course, that some of the youths who engaged in shootouts and other violent behavior on July 4 were Somali. Faced with an epidemic of violent crime that is tearing the Twin Cities apart, the one thing no politician can do is utter any true statement about where the violence is coming from.
A short video, one of the most shocking things I have seen in a long time, is embedded below. But first, some comments by my friend Sheila Qualls:

The content of this video is disturbing. Chilling. It is a foreshadowing of poverty, prison, and even death. It tells the story of children  who through no fault of their own  have been corrupted and abandoned by a system that places no value on the traditional nuclear family. When Minneapolis police officers showed up in St. Paul last week to execute a search warrant for a murder suspect, they were met by toddlers  some still in diapers  who punched, kicked, cursed, and threw rocks at them. (Alpha News is only publishing 30 seconds of the video, but it goes on for another two minutes.) The behavior of these children is eerily similar to the behaviors of rioters who burned and looted Minneapolis two years ago. Children who cant read or cross the street unattended hurled profanities and unabashed disrespect at law enforcement officers. As they cussed, berated, and struck police officers with their fists, a bystander can be heard in the background encouraging the children by saying Oreo head, in reference to the black police officer at the scene.

More at the link. Now the video:

As noted, there are actually two more minutes that havent been published. It doesnt get any better.

These are Minneapolis police officers trying to find a murder suspect in St. Paul. Scott has asked the question a number of times: who in his right mind would want to work for the Minneapolis Police Department? Imagine having to deal with this sort of crazed situation without even having the support of your own citys administration.

And Sheila is right, this kind of insanity is the result of decades of liberal policies and a decadent culture:
Nollywood actress Sola Sobowale and comic actor Broda Shaggi have bagged roles in a Bollywood movie by Hamisha Daryani on Netflix.

The 56-year-old actress broke the news on Instagram on Wednesday.

She wrote: I am so excited to announce that I will be working with record-breaking Director/Exec Producer @HamishaDaryaniAhuja on her upcoming project! And get this.we will be going to India to film! I will play a very dynamic role in this project and cannot wait for you to watch it.

Justifying the choice of starring the ace actress in a lead role in the yet-to-be-titled movie, the producer, Ms Daryani, described her as a legend.

When I decided to cast her, I wondered if she would share my vision for this projectand she did! Aunty Sola (as I call her) will bring her top-notch professional acting to the project and, more importantly, her beautiful energy. Youll get to see her in a role that further showcases her acting range!

The movie will be shot entirely in India and feature some notable actors.

While it is Ms Sobowales debut Bollywood movie role, it is Broda Shaggis second, as he made a cameo appearance in Ms Daryanis NamasteWahala movie.

Historic

It is not the first time a Nollywood actor would star in a Bollywood movie. In 2012 and long before she became a household name in Nigeria, Zainab Balogun featured in an Indian film called Cocktail alongside famous Indian stars like Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan.

The same year, Daniel Lloyd starred in the Indian movie JUDE.

In 2018, Samuel Robinson starred in Sudani from Nigeria, alongside famous Indian actor Soubin Shahir.

Two of the worlds biggest movie industries, Bollywood and Nollywood, have teamed up for the first time to produce a movie.

Namaste Wahala, a romantic comedy collaboration between both industries, was released in 2020.

The film is hailed as the first movie collaboration between Nollywood and Bollywood.

Bollywood stars Ruslaan Mumtaz, and Segal Sujata played lead roles in the film.

The cast included Mofe Damijo, Ajoke Silva, Inidima Okojie, Ruslaan Mumtaz, Segal Sujata, Adaora Lumina, Ibrahim Suleiman and Big Brother Naijas Frodd.

Imoh Eboh, Osas, Eneeicha, Lyk10, Mexemania, Tience Pay, MI Abaga and many others starred in the film.
About 61,000 persons suspected to be members of Boko Haram and other criminal gangs are being held in Nigerian prisons in the North-eastern part of the country, an official has said.

Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola said this Tuesday when he paid a visit to the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium Security Custodial Centres in Kirikiri, Lagos, according to his spokesperson, Sola Fasure.

The Boko Haram insurgency across Nigeria has caused over 100,000 deaths and led to the displacement of millions of people, according to official figures.

Mr Aregbesolas remarks came barely one week after the Kuje Custodial Center, Abuja, was attacked by suspected members of Boko Haram. Over 60 Boko Haram members are among the hundreds of inmates who escaped from the Kuje prison and are still at large.

Today, a core of the criminal elements and insurgents across the country are on a path to defeat, they have been heavily degraded. Over 61,000 of them are in our custody in the North-East, Mr Aregbesola said.

He said Nigeria is on the path to totally defeating Boko Haram and other criminals across the country.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how various prisons were attacked between 2020 and 2021, leading to the escape of over 5,000 inmates.

Last Tuesday, Kuje Custodial Center was attacked by suspected members of Boko Haram. Over 800 inmates escaped from the prison with about half of them still at large and others recaptured.

Mr Aregbesola, President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President Ahmad Lawan condemned the security situation in the prison during their separate visits.

A breakaway faction of Boko Haram, ISWAP, has claimed responsibility for the attack and shared a video of the attack.

Mr Aregbesola had earlier lamented the Kuje prison attack, saying the facility was Nigerias most fortified prison.

During his visit on Tuesday, Mr Aregbesola called on officers of the Nigerian security forces and paramilitary agencies in the country to remain vigilant to defeat criminals terrorising the country.

We must acknowledge our servicemen and security agencies, who have sacrificed a lot to make this possible. We must equally charge them to remain eternally vigilant and continuously evolve strategies. And to define these strategies, we have to make decisions based not on fear, but on hard-earned wisdom, he said.

I have also informed our officers and men here that they must fight to defend our institutions, territory and constitution. It also applies to all others wherever they are posted in Nigeria. The ragtag groups of opportunists must not be allowed to attack our institutions and get away. They must not live to tell the story, Mr Aregbesola said.

He urged the management of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) to improve its efforts on intelligence gathering and acting on information garnered. He said that is the panacea to solving the problem of incessant attacks on custodial centres.

Blame on EndSARS

Mr Aregbesola said the recurring incidents of external attacks on prisons began during the EndSARS protest in 2020.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the EndSARS protest during which young Nigerians across the country demanded police reform and the abolition of the notorious police team, SARS.

Some criminals took advantage of the protests to attack prisons in different parts of the country including Edo and Oyo.

So far, no jailbreak by inmates has been successful, we have successfully quelled all of them. What we have reoccurring since the #EndSars protests of October 2020, have been a mass of people attacking our facilities from outside and setting the inmates free, Mr Aregbesola said.

However, I have now directed the Controller General of the NCoS to double his efforts on intelligence gathering to fortify and prevent breaches to the Custodial Centres beyond the use of arms and force.
Tukur Manu, the Publisher of the Desert Herald newspaper, who negotiated the release of seven hostages from the terrorists who attacked a Kaduna-bound train in March, says he is unaware that a ransom was paid to secure the release of the hostages.

Money cannot achieve what I have done today. And I will never involve myself in any issue that has to do with money, Mr Manu claimed, while announcing the release of the hostages three days ago.

He was also involved in the negotiation that led to the release of 11 other hostages by the bandits in June.

However, the Daily Trust newspaper reported that a ransom of N800 million was paid before the seven hostages were released.

The newspaper claimed that six Nigerian hostages paid N100 million each, while the seventh hostage, a Pakistani, paid N200 million before they were released.

The terrorists collected the ransom in naira and US dollars. Only N200 million was collected in naira, the remaining N600 million was paid in the equivalent of US dollars, one of the sources told Daily Trust.

However, Mr Manu told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday afternoon that the report of the ransom payment might have been exaggerated, thus not accurate.

He then appears to contradict himself saying he was not aware any ransom was paid.

I mediated the release of the captives on health ground and I was able to achieve that, he said during a telephone interview.

I didnt know how such a huge amount of money was paid as ransom, I dont have any knowledge of that payment, Mr Mamu added.

It is unlikely that Mr Manu would admit that a ransom was paid before the hostages were released if he knew as he would be risking getting charged with aiding and abetting terrorism.

Section 3 of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2013 stipulates:

Any person who- (a) arranges, manages, assists in arranging or managing, participates in a meeting or an activity, which in his knowledge is concerned or connected with an act of terrorism or terrorist group, (b) collects, or provides logistics, equipment, information, articles or facilities for a meeting or an activity, which in his knowledge is concerned or connected with an act of terrorism or terrorist group, or (c) attends a meeting, which in his knowledge is to support a proscribed organisation or to further the objectives of a proscribed organization, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty years.

The terrorists, who are still holding several hostages abducted from the train, have released 20 hostages so far. They have also threatened to kill the hostages if the Nigerian government failed to meet their demands, which include the release of their children being held in a government facility in Nasarawa.

In June President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the countrys security forces to do whatever it take to secure the release of the hostages
The more than two decades international hunt for Nigerias billions stolen and stashed in various banks across the world by late dictator Sani Abacha and his family and associates yielded its latest result in early May: $23.5 million recovered by the UKs National Crime Agency.

The latest recovery triggered fresh concerns about the plunder of Nigeria by the Abacha family and associates. Using court documents, leaked financial records, and our past reports, PREMIUM TIMES now reports how several persons worked in various roles to systematically plunder Nigeria under the Abacha kleptocracy between 1993 and 1998.

Transparency International estimates that Mr Abacha, in conspiracy with his cronies, stole up to $5 billion.

The U.S. court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES said the conspirators systematically embezzled, misappropriated, defrauded, and extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from the government of Nigeria and others, through three fraudulent schemes.

One was security vote fraud, whereby Mr Abacha and his National Security Adviser, Ismaila Gwarzo, and others were said to have stolen more than two billion dollars by fraudulently and falsely representing that the funds were to be used for national security purposes. Between 1994 and 1998, they were said to have made over 60 false claims of security emergencies to withdraw huge funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), then headed by Paul Ogwuma.

Rather than use the funds for national security purposes, the stolen money was transported out of Nigeria and deposited into accounts controlled by General Abachas associates, including Mohammed Abacha and Abubakar Bagudu, the U.S. investigators said.

This was apart from other stolen funds through bribery and a dramatic conspiracy by Mr Abachas son, Mohammed, and Mr Bagudu to lend money stolen from Nigeria back to Nigeria with zero risks and at an enormous profit by using proceeds of the security vote fraud to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. dollar-denominated Nigerian bonds, called Nigerian Par Bonds (NPBs).

Between 1998 and now, more than 3.6 billion dollars has been recovered through international efforts with different tranches linked to Mr Bagudu, now governor of Kebbi State, alone.

The Abacha Plunder of Nigeria and Those Who Helped

Associates

1. Gabriel Katri: A Swiss-Israeli banker, Mr Katri was a financial advisor to several heads of state in the Middle East and Africa. He was convicted in November 2009 for abetting what was described as a criminal enterprise by Abba Abacha. Mr Katri was later fined $10 million and given a non-custodial sentence by the Swiss investigating magistrate.

2. Gilbert Chagoury: Mr Chagoury is a Nigerian-born businessman of Lebanese descent. He is the founder of the Chagoury Group, whose multi-billion-dollar assets span construction, manufacturing, real estate, and hotels. He has accrued an infamous track record for decades.

Mr Chagoury was convicted in 2000 of money laundering and aiding a criminal organisation. In the 1990s, he set up accounts with SG Ruegg Bank in Geneva for the Abacha family enabling them to benefit from illegal transfers of over $120 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria and secured immunity from prosecution, court documents showed.

He later paid $600,000 in fines to the court in Geneva, Switzerland, and refunded $66 million to the Nigerian government.

3. Abubakar Bagudu: In the plunder machine that late kleptocrat Abacha set up, Mr Bagudu was the most prolific bagman, court documents show.

Abubakar Atiku Bagudu was an associate of General Abacha and his sons who participated in the conspiracy to steal and launder hundreds of millions of dollars, American investigators told the court. Among other things, Bagudu played an instrumental role in setting up and executing the complicated financial transactions used to launder the proceeds of the conspiracy.

Mr Bagudu was involved with all the offshore front companies and bank accounts  from the British Virgin Islands to Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Singapore, England, Paris, Guernsey, and Jersey  used to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria under the Abacha regime. He acted as a director and in some cases as a signatory of accounts or prime beneficiary, court documents revealed.

He was behind the latest recovery in the UK alongside Mohammed Abacha.

Mr Bagudu, who was a former senator, has been the governor of Nigerias northwestern Kebbi State since 2015 and is an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari.

4. David Umaru: An affidavit filed on November 18, 2013, by the U.S. Department of Justice in a suit seeking the forfeiture of assets worth over $500 million stolen by Mr Abacha and hidden in various bank accounts, revealed how Mr Umaru allegedly acted as the official extortionist and money launderer of the Abachas.

He was a legal advisor and associate to the Abacha family. The court papers state that he facilitated the payment of illegal commissions to the family in return for securing the repayment of debts of some $470 million owed by the Nigerian government to Dumez Nigeria Plc, a French company, controlled by Andre Kamel.

In December 1996, Mr Umaru opened an account on behalf of Allied Network Ltd at the Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) in Geneva, Switzerland, which was used to receive the payment of the kickbacks from Dumez and another account at the same bank which was used to receive the payment from the Nigerian government.

In his native Niger State, Mr Umaru, who represented Niger East Senatorial District in the 7th assembly, is something of a folk hero.

5. Danilo Djuroiv: A representative for Ciba-Geigy Corporation in Nigeria and a business associate of Gilbert Chagoury, the Africa Confidential said Mr Djurovic facilitated illegal transfers from the Nigerian state to Abba and Mohammed Abacha.

He was found guilty of money laundering in December 2000 by order of a Geneva court.

6. Ahmadu Daura: Mr Daura was an associate of the Abacha Family. He operated the Sunshine Bureau de Change, a money exchange business in Lagos, Nigerias commercial capital.

The court in Washington was told that Mr Daura participated in the conspiracy by moving criminal proceeds out of Nigeria to accounts he controlled in England and by transferring criminal proceeds into and out of the United States to accounts controlled by the Abacha family.

7. Mark Risser: Recommended to Mr Abacha as an experienced financial consultant, Mr Risser set up several accounts held by intermediary offshore companies with SG Ruegg Bank in SA in Geneva which facilitated the illegal transfer of some $50 million to Abba and Mohammed Abacha and their business associates, according to Africa Confidential.

8. Jean-Pierre Decker: Regional Operations Manager for Addax & Oryx Advisory Services in Nigeria. Mr Decker was said to have agreed to transfer illegal commissions on Nigerian oil contracts of over $76 million to accounts linked to Abba and Mohammed Abacha.

9. Richard Granier-Deffere: A founding director and third in command at Addax and Oryx Advisory Services, Mr Deferre facilitated the illegal transfer of funds from the CBN to accounts at Credit Agricole Indosuez linked to Mr Abacha and Mohammed Abacha, according to Africa confidential, citing Swiss court papers.

10. Raj Arjandas Bhojwani: The Royal Court of Jersey seized 26.5 million from Mr Bhojwani, an Indian, in 2011, after having determined he was guilty of money laundering offences. The case arose out of Jerseys investigation into the activities of Mr Abacha.

Mr Bhojwani was said to have laundered the money through a Jersey branch of the Bank of India. According to Jersey court documents, he made a fortune from selling vehicles to the Nigerian government under two separate contracts in 1996 and 1997 through a Panamanian company, named Tata Overseas Sales and Services, (TOSS), which was, in reality, a front for him personally. The true purchase prices of the vehicles were inflated by between 400 and 500 per cent at the behest of Mr Abacha and Mohammed Buba Marwa, the court was told.

He had earlier been sentenced to six years imprisonment for the money laundering offences.

Ministers and security officers

11. Anthony Ani: Mr Ani held the position of Nigerias Minister of Finance under General Abacha. Court documents showed that he authorized the disbursement of Nigerian government funds in furtherance of the Security Votes Fraud and the Debt Buy-Back Fraud.

In April 1997, Mr Ani ordered the CBN to transfer $228 million in two tranches  to accounts held in the name of Eagle Alliance and Morgan Procurement, two of the stealing vehicles controlled by Mr Bagudu.

Specifically: On or about April 15, 1997, the CBN transferred $141,253,333 into and out of a correspondent bank account at Citibank (New York) to Goldman Sachs in Zurich, Switzerland, for credit to accounts held in the names of Eagle Alliance and Morgan Procurement.

Also, On or about April 22, 1997, the CBN wire $141,253,333 into and out of a correspondent bank account at Citibank (New York) to Goldman Sachs in Zurich, Switzerland, for credit to the Mecosta account, but, instead, these funds were deposited into an account of Eagle Alliance, the U.S. investigators said.

12. Ismaila Gwarzo: Mr Gwarzo held the position of National Security Advisor (NSA) during the regime of Mr Abacha. He participated in the conspiracy to steal and launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

Among other things, Gwarzo prepared and executed the false paperwork that caused the CBN to release hundreds of millions of dollars worth of U.S., U.K., and Nigerian currency as part of the Security Votes Fraud, investigators said.

For instance, in a letter addressed to Mr Abacha on June 2, 1994, Mr Gwarzo falsely wrote: In view of the on-going negative campaign against this country, a small international operation has been mounted to cover itplease approve as a matter of urgency, the sum of Five Million Dollarsfor this operation.

In another letter, the U.S. court was told that on August 20, 1996, Mr Gwarzo falsely stated: In light of the current political situation in the country, coupled with the increase in security operations.there is need for a lot of funds to handle the challenges outlined above such that I require Three hundred and fifty million Naira [N350,000,000.00] plus Thirty million dollars [$30,000,000] and Fifteen million Pounds [15,000,000.00] Please consider the desperate need and approve.

Over 60 false security votes and letters were addressed to and endorsed by Mr Abacha, each of which resulted in the withdrawal of Nigerias public funds from the CBN, according to court documents.

13. Dan Etete: The subject of an international arrest warrant issued by France for money laundering, Mr Etete was said to have presided over negotiations for the $6 billion gas export plant at Bonny Island which was under investigation by the U.S., French, British and Nigerian authorities.

He was the former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum under the regime of Mr Abacha and was found guilty of money laundering by a French court in 2007.

14. Buba Marwa: Mr Marwa, then Nigerias Defence Advisor to the United Nations, was involved in negotiating the two contracts Mr Bhojwani inflated in 1996 and 1997. According to court documents, Mr Bhojwani sold vehicles to Nigeria at prices inflated by some 400 and 500 per cent. The total sum was approximately $184 million, but in truth, the vehicles were worth less than $40 million.

The proceeds were paid to accounts controlled by Mr Bhojwani in Jersey, out of which approximately $100 million was paid to accounts in Switzerland, connected with Mr Abacha and Mr Marwa, the court was told.

A former military administrator of Lagos State, Mr Marwa is the current chairman of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

15. Paul Ogwuma: Former CBN chief, Mr Ogwuma was instructed by Mr Abacha and Mr Gwarzo to make several illegal transfers of funds from the CBN to accounts they controlled.

For example, in a letter, dated November 30, 1994, Mr Gwarzo falsely stated: [100 million dollars are requested] to combat an economy that was deflected and distorted through the black market.

Mr Abacha promptly endorsed the security votes letter with his signature, thereby approving the disbursement of the requested funds. The endorsed letter was then sent to the CBN. The CBN then disbursed the funds as directed.

But Mr Ogwuma, the CBN chief, knew that using these security votes letters to take money from the CBN violated what the CBN had described as Nigerias accepted government procedures. The proper government procedures required the Minister of Finance and the Accountant-General to each approve disbursements by Nigerias budget.

The security vote withdrawals were not properly approved by both the Minister of Finance and the Accountant-General and were also not included in Nigerias budget for the relevant fiscal years.

Family members

16. Mohammed Abacha: The eldest surviving son of Mr Abacha, he played an instrumental role in the conspiracy to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from Nigeria and launder the criminal proceeds throughout the world, according to various court documents.

Investigators said Mohammed Abacha received and helped to launder more than $700 million in cash stolen directly from Nigerias public coffers. He is also a signatory and/or a corporate representative designated on many of the Abachas assets.

After Mr Abachas death, the kleptocrats son was charged with the murder of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Moshood Abiola, the winner of the annulled 1993 Presidential election. Mohammed Abacha was acquitted in 2002 after he agreed that the Abacha family would return stolen funds to Nigeria.

17. Abba Abacha: Second eldest son of Mr Abacha, he was convicted by a Swiss court on November 19, 2009, for membership in a criminal organisation and given a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment. After seizing $350 million of Abba Abachas assets, Switzerland ordered their return to Nigeria.

18. Maryam Abacha: Mrs Abacha, the wife of the kleptocrat and mother of Mohammed and Abba, was the head of the National Commission of Women and Director of Nigerias vaccination campaign through which she and Mr Bagudu allegedly fraudulently appropriated $63 million from a procurement contract with Pasteur Merieux, according to court papers.
A former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabios attempt to stop a retired deputy inspector general of police, Udom Ekpoudom, from being the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State suffered a setback at a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Justice D Okorowo, in a response to a motion by Mr Ekpoudom, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to produce certified true copies of its report of the May 27 APC primary election for the Akwa Ibom North West District.

The court also ordered INEC to produce a letter or form from APC in which the party submitted the name of its candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West District, as well as the INEC calendar of political parties primaries.

The APC and Mr Akpabio, through their counsel, Umeh Kalu SAN, made a futile attempt to stop the court from granting Mr Ekpoudoms motion.

Mr Ekpoudom was represented by Victor Odjemu.

INEC recognises Mr Ekpoudom, and not Mr Akpabio, as the APC candidate for the district for the 2023 election, the commission having monitored the primary that produced Mr Ekpoudom.

But the APC has, however, refused to submit Mr Ekpoudoms name to INEC as a candidate.

The APC is insisting on Mr Akpabio as its candidate, a situation which prompted Mr Ekpoudom to challenge the party in court.

INEC has been delaying to avail the plaintiff, Mr Ekpoudom, of the report of the primary and other relevant documents which he applied for as required by law.

The Electoral Act 2022 empowers INEC to reject candidates that emerge from party primaries that it did not monitor.

The matter has been adjourned to July 19, 2022 for hearing.

The INEC headquarters in Abuja, a few days ago, affirmed that Mr Akpabio is not the APC candidate in Akwa Ibom North West, and that the commission would not revisit the case.

If the court eventually admits as exhibit the INEC report which it ordered the commission to produce, Mr Akpabios dream of returning to the Senate in 2023 would have finally come to an end.

The former minister first contested the APC presidential primary but stepped down for Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, who emerged as the partys presidential candidate.

Mr Akpabios activities may have contributed to the fractionalisation of the APC in Akwa Ibom State.

The APC, for now, does not have a governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has called for the inclusion of commitment against vote-buying in the Peace Accord signed by candidates of political parties ahead of election days.

The anti-graft agencys spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, said this in her contributions during the PREMIUM TIMES weekly TwitterSpaces on Wednesday.

The latest episode of the programme was titled #OsunDecides: Lessons learnt from the Ekiti governorship elections.

Other speakers at the event included Tobi Oluwatola, the Executive Director of the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, and Ene Obi, convener of the Civil Societies Situation Room.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that 13 political parties signed the Peace Accord for peaceful conduct ahead of Saturdays governorship election in Osun State.

The Labour Party was absent at the venue of the peace accord meeting held in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Wednesday.

The ceremony is organised by the National Peace Committee led by a former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and a cleric, Mathew Kukah.

The ICPC said its operatives would be on ground to monitor vote buying and arrest suspects during the Osun governorship election.

Mrs Ogugua said the officers would be deployed from the ICPCs office in Osun State and its South-west zonal office. She added that they would be supported by officers from its headquarters in Abuja.

The official who said she was unaware of the precise number of officers to be deployed, assured that an adequate number of officers would be stationed across the three senatorial districts to provide effective coverage of the election.

As you all know, ICPC monitored the last election in Ekiti State and we are set to monitor the Osun elections coming up this Saturday.

Our work in election monitoring is to track vote buying. In the last election, we noticed they were a lot of vote buying going on at all levels.

The ICPC would be deploying officers from our zonal office in Osun, supported by staff across our Southwest states. And a few of us from Abuja would also join the team of officers.

PREMIUM TIMES and other media platforms reported how the Ekiti State governorship election, held on June 18, was marred by widespread vote-buying.

There were reports of how persons suspected to be working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) handed out cash ranging between N3,000 and N10,000 to voters to buy their votes.

The anti-graft authorities comprising of both the EFCC and ICPC later made arrests of certain party agents who were caught buying votes.

The ruling APC emerged the winner of the election with PDP coming third.

Biodun Oyebanji of the APC secured 187,057 votes to defeat his closest challengers, Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who polled 82,211, and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 67, 457 votes.

How votes are bought  ICPC

Mrs Ogugua said over the years, the commission had observed several methods used in vote-buying during elections.

She said, From our experience, we noticed things have changed as there are innovations vote buyers use at different elections starting with the Anambra elections whereby electorates raise their votes for their agents to verify they have voted for their choice and they go to a specified location where they (electorates) are paid.

Hardly will you see cash at the elections.

She said many of these cases had been reported to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mrs Ogugua also revealed that ICPC is a member of an inter-agency committee aimed at monitoring vote-buying during elections.

Anti-corruption agencies and security personnel should do more

Mboho Enoh, the CJIDs deputy director for accountability, urged the security forces and anti-corruption organisations to step up their efforts by ensuring that individuals detained for election-related offences face legal consequences.

Such a move, according to him, will help many Nigerians faiths.

Mr Enoh, who said that many security personnel are complicit in the issue of vote-buying during elections, further exhorted security personnel to be vigilant in protecting lives and guaranteeing the smooth conduct of elections.

Mr Itodo of YIAGA also called for increased advocacy aimed at discouraging voters from selling their votes for amounts that can barely last them for days.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has asked a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, to watch his utterances on the controversial issue of Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Ganduje, in a statement released on Wednesday by Kano State Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, said Mr Lawal is spreading falsehood and preaching intolerance.

Both Messrs Ganduje and Lawal are members of the ruling APC.

Background

The presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from Lagos State, South-west Nigeria, on Sunday, nominated Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from Borno in the North-east region, as his running mate for the 2023 election.

The nomination has since sparked varied reactions, particularly within the party.

Northern Christian members of the APC had in a statement described the decision as insensitive while Elisha Abbo, an APC senator from Adamawa State, resigned from Mr Tinubus campaign organisation.

Mr Lawal, who backed the former Lagos State governor during the primaries, condemned the decision in a statement on Tuesday.

In the statement, Mr Lawal alleged that several intellectuals around Mr Tinubu have left, allowing bigots to take advantage of his long ambition to be president.

He described Mr Shettima as a Greek gift from the governors of the APC.

Tinubu is a very good man. He is a great listener. He has a very humble and friendly disposition to every one. He is very generous in both cash and kind, especially where it could advance his political interests.

But I have realised that it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits. They will lie to him, malign and disparage others and generally do anything to curry his favour and to also put well-meaning associates in bad light.

I suspect this is what has happened to my friend. He has been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping lapdogs.

It never used to be like this. While in his hey-days in Lagos, he surrounded himself with smart, street-wise guys that could tell truth to power. He had Rauf Aregbesola, Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Dele Alake, Muiz Banire, etc. The Lagos days were the days of think-tanks, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, principles and ideologies. But these people have since grown-up and moved up to establish their own systems leaving my friend stranded. Nature they say abhors vacuum.

Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases  religious bigotry, sycophancy and morbid tribalism. They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means. Gone are the days of think-tanks and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend. Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments.

The result is that they have played on his longterm ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is the calamity that has befallen my friend.

Gandujes response

Mr Ganduje said Mr Lawal ought to consider his relationship with Mr Tinubu before coming out with the statement.

It is unfortunate that at a time when the country needs to be united for national development and religious tolerance, a man of Babachirs caliber, who is highly respected, would spread falsehood without much consideration to his position in the All Progressives Congress and closed relationship with the partys flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he said.

He urged Mr Lawal and other internal critics to be mindful of their utterances, especially on religious matters and support the APC for quality leadership that will deliver the country from its challenges.
An unidentified male has been injured after a two-storey building collapsed in Lagos on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at 15, Oke Arin street, Ilupeju, Palm Grove.

According to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the incident occurred at 12:45 a.m. due to the ageing of the structure.

The victim, who sustained a minor injury, has been taken to the hospital.

The agency said that the abandoned building collapsed to ground zero.

The affected building has been cordoned off to prevent any threat, the agency added.
President Muhammadu Buhari rejoices with Lanre Arogundade, Chairman of International Press Centre, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

A statement by Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, quoted Mr Buhari as lauding the former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), educator and renowned journalist for his relentless efforts in promoting freedom of the press, democratic principles and increased transparency during election processes.

He recognises the important role the association Mr Arogundale leads is playing in ensuring that journalists and other media workers perform their legitimate duties in their respective countries, urging him to do more to ensure that the tenets and code of ethics of the profession are upheld as Nigeria and other West African countries prepare for their general elections, Mr Adesina said.

President Buhari joins family, friends, colleagues and well-wishers in praying for continued health and happiness for the sexagenarian who is a member of the editorial board of PREMIUM TIMES.
The Police in Ogun on Wednesday said they have arrested a suspected Kuje prison escapee, Yakubu Abdulmumuni, at the Sango-Ota area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement issued to journalists in Ota, said the suspect was arrested on Monday.

Mr Oyeyemi explained that Mr Abdulmumuni, 28, was arrested following information received by police officers at Divisional Headquarters, Sango-Ota, that the convict was sighted around the area.

Upon the information, the Divisional Police Officer, Sango-Ota Division, SP Saleh Dahiru, quickly mobilised his men and moved to the area where the convict was apprehended.

The convict confessed to the Police that he escaped from Kuje Correctional centre on July 5, when the centre was attacked by bandits.

Abdulmumuni stated further that he was convicted by Kogi state High Court for offence of conspiracy and culpable homicide and sent to Kuje Correctional Centre, Mr Oyeyemi said.

He said that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to transfer the convict to Correctional Center with immediate effect.

Gunmen invaded the Kuje Correctional Centre last week, freeing hundreds of inmates, including Boko Haram suspects.

The police have recaptured some of the inmates, including one at Suleja, Niger State, and another in Nasarawa State.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ondo State Command, said nine people were injured while one died in a crash involving two vehicles along Ondo/Ore road on Wednesday.

Ezekiel SonAllah, State Sector Commander of FRSC, made the disclosure while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Wednesday in Akure.

Mr SonAllah explained that the accident involved 30 people, including 20 male adults, nine female adults and one female child, adding that those injured sustained head injuries, lacerations and fracture.

According to him, the accident involved a Toyota Hiace Bus marked LND 998 XY and Toyota Previa marked KAA 762BT.

Six male adults, three female adults injured and one male adult died at the hospital after personnel of FRSC recued the victims.

The victims were taken to general hospital and some were taken to FMC Annex, Akure for treatment while the only corpse was deposited at the morgue, he said.

Mr SonAllah, who attributed the cause of the accident to speed violation and loss of control, urged the motorists to install speed limit device in their vehicles and maintain speed limit.

We will continue to appeal to our drivers to always maintain speed limit when they are on wheel and installation of speed limit device is a must for them.

Moreover, this is rainy season, motorists must have functional wipers and drive with care because the person that died is a driver who left Ore to Akure this morning, he said.

(NAN)
The Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State, Olatoye Durosinmi, has ordered the immediate deployment of police operatives to boost security around correctional facilities in the state.

Mr Durosinmi, who gave the directive after visiting all the correctional facilities in the state, urged officers to be vigilant and courageous, the state police spokesperson, Odiko Macdon, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The directive to fortify correctional facilities in the state follows the

in Abuja by terrorists.

Several detainees, including 68 Boko Haram members, escaped from the facility.

Mr Macdon, a superintendent of police, said the step was a proactive security measure to prevent any untoward incident, from occurring in the state.

Accompanied by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Operations, Lawal Mani and the Commanding Officer, 57 Squadron of the Police Mobile Force, Akinbisehin Raph, the visit took the state police chief to the four correctional centres in the state located at Uyo, Ikot Abasi, Eket and Ikot Ekpene.

The tour equips the Commissioner of Police with first hand information of the security situation in each of the locations, Mr Macdon said.

This was the first visit of Mr Durosinmi to correctional centres after he assumed duty as the 31st police boss in the state last month.

Mr Durosinmi enjoined law abiding citizens to go about their lawful duties and report criminal and suspicious elements to security agencies.
The Labour Party was conspicuously absent at the venue of the peace accord meeting in Osogbo on Wednesday when 13 political parties signed an agreement for peaceful conduct of Saturdays Osun gubernatorial election.

Some of the parties in attendance were the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Action Alliance (AA).

Among those who were absent include the Labour Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Peoples Redemption Party.

Oyewole Oladimeji, the spokesperson of Labour Party in the state, told PREMIUM TIMES the partys gubernatorial candidate was absent at the peace agreement meeting because he was hosting their presidential candidate, Peter Obi, at a rally in Osogbo.

Today was our mega rally and Peter Obi was around, he cannot neglect such a person, Mr Oladimeji said.

If security of the state failed to sympathise with him over the gunshot in his house, you should know they have ulterior motives.

Gunmen attacked the home of Yusuf Lasun, the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in the early hours of July 11, firing gunshots into his building and shattering the glass windows.

No one was hurt in the incident.

The Osun state government, while denying Governor Gboyega Oyetolas supporters of carrying out the attack, called on the police to arrest the perpetrators.

Peace accord

Speaking at the peace ceremony organised by the National Peace Committee in Osogbo, Matthew Kukah urged all political parties featuring in the election to work toward peace.

Mr Kukah, a Catholic bishop, said Nigeria needs a peaceful environment and hence the need to encourage political actors to think toward peace.

He said that violence has been one of the fundamental threats to Nigerias democracy.

According to him, civil society organisations, religious groups, traditional institutions, and other key actors have a role to play in achieving peace in Nigeria.

Signing of the accord, the national peace accord will focus on the symbolic gesture, but I think that our focus is ensuring free, fair, non-violent elections.

I think the second phase we need to start interrogating is beyond just having a peaceful election, but Nigeria desperately is in need of peaceful environment.

The amount of violence that has engulfed our nation, in a country that is not at war, this, for me, is a fundamental threat to our democracy and those who run the system must demonstrate commitment and capacity to arrest this threat.

INEC is here, INEC remains the empire, INEC is the midwife and the midwife does not take the baby home.

The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said the success of the peace accord depended on all stakeholders.

Mr Yakubu said that INEC has taken steps to ensure a credible election on July 16 and appealed to all candidates to strive hard to abide by the peace accord.

Adequate security

Meanwhile, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the July 16 election, Johnson Kokumon, reiterated his commitment to ensuring adequate security during and after the election.

The Nigeria Police are in synergy with other security agencies and we are fully prepared to ensure we create a peaceful election in Osun State, Mr Kokumon said.

Mr Kokumon advised political parties and candidates to avoid inciting words capable of causing violence among their supporters.

Recently, we did it in Ekiti State, I want to assure you that we are not just replicating what we did in Ekiti, we are going to improve on what we did in Ekiti so that posterity will judge us.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said Christians have nothing to worry about over Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The partys flag bearer, Bola Tinubu, a southern Muslim, on Sunday announced Kashim Shettima, northern Muslim, as his running mate, a decision that has sparked condemnation within and outside the APC.

Some prominent APC members that have condemned the ticket include; ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; Elisha Abbo, a senator; Kenneth Okonkwo and others.

Mr Keyamo, in a series of Tweets on Wednesday, said Nigerians should focus on the credentials of the duo, adding that Nigerians should not be deceived by clerics on who to vote for.

While justifying the decision, Mr Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the elites are selfishly trying to smuggle religion into politics.

So, the APC comes to the table with two highly successful State Chief Executives who did excellently well in their States during their tenures, picked excellent successors (Fashola and Zulum) & a former First Lady and distinguished Senator. It is a case of buy one, get three free,

Nigerians & Christians, in particular, should have NOTHING TO FEAR in respect of a President & Commander-in-Chief (by Gods Grace and the votes of Nigerians.

No one should deceive us, as ordinary Nigerians, be it a pastor or Imam, to vote or not to vote for anyone based on the religious colouration of the ticket.

Let the debate begin as to the PERFORMANCE of Bola Yinubu as Gov. of Lagos State and not the issue of same faith ticket.

Mr Keyamo noted that Bola Tinubu allowed his only wife to be a practising Christian and a Pastor under the same roof for about 40 years!

Nigerians & christians in particular, should have NOTHING TO FEAR in respect of a President & Commander-in-Chief (by Gods Grace and the votes of Nigerians, @officialABAT) who allowed his only wife to be a practicing Christian and a Pastor under the same roof for about 40 years!  Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) July 12, 2022
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has described Wole Soyinka as the rarest breed of mankind, as the Nobel laureate clocks 88.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Abiodun said Mr Soyinka deserves to be celebrated for conquering the world as a playwright, essayist, poet, and public intellectual of prodigious hues.

Ogun is proud to have a son who studied a language; and began to teach the owners of the language the language, and invented words for the language, which the owners of the language have never heard of and now which has become the regular lexicon of the, or if you like, their language.

In the statement, Mr Abiodun also hailed Theophilus Ogunlesi, the first professor of Medicine in Nigeria. Mr Ogunlesi was 99 on July 11.

He noted that Mr Ogunlesi pioneered research on tropical medicine and mentored the earliest generations of orthodox medical practitioners and researchers.

Read the press release below:

Abiodun eulogises Nobel Laureate, Soyinka at 88, Ogunlesi at 99

As the world-renowned playwright and Nobel Laureate prize winner in Literature, Professor Wole Soyinka clocks 88 years, the Ogun state governor, Dapo Abiodun, has described him as a rarest breed of mankind and one who has straddled planet earth with exceptional candour.

Gov Abiodun similarly described the doyen of Medicine in Nigeria, Professor Emeritus Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi, who trained many other professors and medical experts in Nigeria and abroad as a rare gift to the nation and the medical profession across the world.

Prof Ogunlesi became a medical doctor in 1947 and the first Professor of Medicine in Nigeria in 1965. The medical genius who was born to a blacksmith father in Sagamu turned 99 yesterday.

Abiodun eulogised both scholars as living legends, and two of the most iconic avuncular pathfinders and evergreen brand ambassadors not only for Ogun state but Nigeria and Africa

He further described them as flag bearers of banner of excellence for whch Ogun is revered among the comity of states in Nigeria.

In two different tributes he personally wrote, the governor noted that Ogun is proud to have a son who studied a language; began to teach the owners of the language the language, and invented words for the language, which the owners of the language have never heard of and now which has become regular lexicon of the, or if you like, their language.

Abiodun noted that Soyinka deserves to be celebrated as he had distinguished himself as the conscience of the nation, conquered the world as a playwright, essayist, poet and public intellectual of prodigious hues.

Professor Wole Soyinka, an emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature and the Black races first Nobel Laureate in the Arts of Beautiful Letter (Literature) means many things to different people. To the literary world and the academia, he is celebrated as Kongi, the wordsmith. To the dictators and enemies of democracy, he is a fiery civil fighter. To lovers of democracy, he represents the best in the promotion of peoples rights and good governance, while he remains a father, husband, leader, mentor, hunter and connoisseur of best brewed wine to his buddies.

Ogun has a proud son who studied a language; began to teach the owners of the language the language, and invented words for the language, which the owners of the language have never heard of and now which has become a regular lexicon of the, or if you like, their llanguage. Today, Ogun State, Nigeria, is a famed point on the global map. The name of Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka is one of the compasses pointing to our dear State.

I have read so many books in the three genres of literature; drama, poetry and prose. The Lion and the Jewel; The Jero Plays; A Play of Giants; Death and the King Horseman; Madmen and Specialist; The Strong Breed; A dance of the Forest; The Forest of a Thousand Demons; A collection of Black African Poetry and, if you like depending on which divide you are, The Man Died and so on. All these literary pieces are Kongis footprints in the literary world. But very importantly, these pieces are not just pleasure reads; they are evergreen works of arts and commentary of our religious, political and economical existentialism and essentialism as humans.

Today, the entire World celebrates Professor Wole Soyinka at 88. The Government and the entire people of Ogun State celebrate intellectual accomplishment, integrity, civil liberty defence and so on. And, if Nigeria celebrates our fledgling democracy, Wole Soyinka remains one of the planters of the seed which has grown to bear the bountiful harvest of people-oriented good governance, Abiodun stated in the tribute.

The governor, however, declared that his administration would ensure that the gospel of a free, fair, just and egalitarian society that provides a conducive environment for individual prosperity and growth; and development of humanity in general, that Soyinka preaches is not lost on it.

Since inception of our Administration on 29th May, 2019, we have continued to provide an environment that engenders continued development of our dear State, and increased prosperity for all the people and all those who have made our dear State their home, irrespective of their geographical location, gender, religious or political affiliation, ethnicity or social stratifications. These are all ideals which Soyinka craved for.

We will continue to celebrate WS as our Administration puts in place a structure of good governance which is people-centered; committed to a free, fair and just society which promotes equity, fairness and justice to all the people. We believe this is the best way to celebrate our own Oluwole Akinwande Babatunde Ishola Soyinka. The best reward for this freedom fighter is that he should also witness and enjoy the fruits of the hard-won war for a better Nigeria and greater humanity.

Professor Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka, Kongi, the Lion, the Tiger that needs not proclaim his tigeritude, our own WS; today, on behalf of the Ogun State government and the entire people of Ogun State, I wish you a Happy 88th Birthday. Abiodun submitted.

For Prof. Ogunlesi, Abiodun noted how he pioneered research on

Tropical Medicine and mentored the earliest generations of orthodox medical practitioners and researchers.

He prayed for good health for the legends and thanked them for their contributions to the body of knowledge and national development.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Olajide Adeniran, has described his running mate, Funke Akindele the needed balance to defeat Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor, said Ms Akindele, who is a popular Nollywood actress, can connect to the grassroots and those in cyberspace.

Mr Adeniran disclosed this on Tuesday while appearing on Politics Today, a political Programme on Channels TV.

People have forgotten that the purpose of a political party is to win an election. For the past seven years, we have built foot soldiers at the grass-root level and my running mate is someone that connects with grassroots and my people in cyberspace. Combination of these forces already spelt doom for Lagos APC in 2023, he said.

Mr Adeniran, who has been at the forefront of Lagos4Lagos campaign, said Ms Akindele, who is from Ikorodu area of the state, will help in delivering restoring Lagos State back to indigenes

He also harped on the need for an independent governor that is not beholden to anyone.

For us, nobody asked us to run, we spoke to each other. Lagos needs an independent governor, not the one that will be following somebody around, he said.

Ms Akindele was picked ahead of the other four nominees which include Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Kolawole Vaughan, Adenike Shobajo, and Rasheed Teslim-Balogun.

Mr Adeniran s decision has generated lots of reactions on social media, as many have questioned the capacity of the ticket to dislodge the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party that has been at the helm of affairs in the state since 1999.

Ms Akindele and her estranged husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, were convicted on April 6, 2020, by the Lagos State Magistrates Court in Ogba, days after they held a crowded house birthday party, contrary to Lagos States social distancing order.

The court fined them N100,000 each and 14 days of community service, and thereafter, they embarked on a period of self-isolation.

Lawyer with passion for filmmaking

Mr Adeniran stated that his running mate is a trained lawyer who found passion in filmmaking, adding that Ms Akindele built her business from zero level.

I picked a lawyer who found passion in filmmaking. A lot of people feel like if you are acting, you are a filmmaker, No. A filmmaker is somebody who directs, produces, and scriptssomebody who designs sets and somebody who can identify resources to deploy in the entire production you call film.

My running mate, beyond an actress, is a filmmaker, who has grown her business from zero to something, somebody who has been an employer of Labour for the past 14 years, someone who has won awards in her chosen career over and over again, someone who has huge followership in the process of what she is doing. And she is an Ikorodu-born diva, who I believe is going to add value to the ticket.
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has thrown its weight behind a planned protest by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over the ongoing strike by university lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, had, on July 1, said that the NLC would embark on a nationwide protest if the strike persists.

The strike by ASUU has been on for almost five months since it began on February 14.

Other workers unions across the nations universities hav also embarked on similar industrial actions, grounding completely both academic and non-academic activities across public ivory towers nationwide.

NUPENGs pledge

In a statement, NUPENG condemned the attitude of the government towards finding a lasting solution to the incessant strike.

It, therefore, noted that the rank-and-file members of NUPENG align with the NLCs position on protest against the unfortunate situation in the tertiary education sector and will not hesitate to join in the proposed nationwide strike on the matter.

NUPENGs position is contained in a statement jointly signed by Williams Akporeha, NUPENG President and Afolabi Olawale, NUPENG General Secretary.

The organisation said it is worried and concerned about the prolonged ASUU, NASU, SSANU strike that has crippled activities in Nigerian public universities.

NUPENG demands together with other Trade Unions, that the Federal Government must immediately address and resolve all demands of ASUU, NASU and SSANU without any further delay to avert national solidarity actions from our members across the Country, parts of the statement read.

The inion joins other unions to condemn the lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government towards finding a lasting solution to the crisis.

We are deeply worried that the strike has left thousands of university students stranded and idle, making some of them susceptible to go into various social vices and crimes, thus truncating what otherwise should have been wonderful assets and blessings to our great nation and humanity.

It accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian parents and students who have been thrown into idleness since the commencement of the strike.

NUPENG further added: This also, without doubt, shows the insensitivity of the current administration towards promoting and projecting good and quality education.

We are seriously concerned that instead of addressing the nagging issues in the educational sector, the unscrupulous politicians are busy campaigning and wasting resources over 2023 general elections.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
Ahead of the Osun State governorship election on Saturday, PREMIUM TIMES will host key electoral stakeholders to discuss lessons learnt from the Ekiti gubernatorial election weeks ago.

The conversation will take place on Twitter Spaces  via this papers official handle. It will be anchored by Chiamaka Okafor, QueenEsther Iroanusi and co-hosted by the head of the Development Desk, Mojeed Alabi.

Expected to do justice to the topic are Tobi Oluwatola, the Executive Director of the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) and Azuka Ogugua, the spokesperson for the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

Others are Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and Ene Obi, convener of the Civil Societies Situation Room.

With less than 72 hours to the Osun polls, Nigerians and the electoral umpire, INEC, are hopeful for a peaceful and credible exercise.

The INEC chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, is also optimistic that this time, there would be a lower record of violation of electoral laws  particularly vote buying, which he described as a diabolic act.

This paper reported how the Ekiti election was marred by vote buying.

Officials of top political parties like the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party were seen giving out cash ranging from N3,000 to N10,000 to the electorate before and after voting.

Although some of the governorship candidates feigned ignorance about the case of vote buying, the anti-graft agency, EFCC, would later arrest some party agents caught buying votes.

These are some of the issues that will be discussed at the Space later today as residents of Osun gear up to elect a governor who would drive the affairs of the state for the next four years.

The conversation is scheduled to begin at 6p.m.
An Ikeja High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG) Zone 2, to appear before it over alleged compromise in investigation.

Justice Taiwo Oladokun made the order following an affidavit of urgency filed by the family of late Alaba Bakare, owner of Bama Hotel and Suite.

He was allegedly murdered on January 24 by his wife, Motunrayo.

Olufemi, father, and Taiwo, mother of the deceased in a suit No. ID/5818GCM/2022, through their counsel, Olusegun Raji, prayed the court to summon the IGP and others.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the respondents in the suit include the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, Lagos State DPP, IGP, AIG Zone 2 Police Headquarter, Onikan, Lagos and the commissioner of police, Lagos State.

Others are the Deputy Commissioner of Police State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos and the Divisional Police Officer, Elere Police Station.

Mr Raji prayed the court to order the IGP and others to carry out proper investigation on the death of their son because the police officer(s) designated to carry out the district investigation, allegedly compromised.

The counsel, in his motion on notice, cited portions of Sections 104(1)(2) and (3) of the Evidence Act 2011and Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr Raji prayed the court to compel the third to seven defendants by a way of mandamus to carry out proper autopsy on the corpse of the deceased in the presence of both the deceaseds family, hired pathologist and the pathologist to be hired by the deceaseds wife, within a reasonable period of time from the day the application was effected.

We pray this court to mandate the first and second defendant to produce a qualified pathologist to witness the autopsy to be carried out on the lifeless body of the deceased.

We also urge the court to direct the defendants to re-investigate and prosecute the deceaseds wife and her cousin, one Taye, alias Tycoon, together with other alleged persons with the available circumstantial evidence with or without the autopsy report.

We urge the court to suspend the fabricated autopsy report titled: Report of Medical Examiner dated February 8 together with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) legal advice dated April 29 with reference number LJP/HOM/2022/41 which advice is predicated on the alleged fabricated post-mortem report pending the effective determination of this application.

We also pray the court to direct the respondents or any of their officers to stop further action of any kinds in whatsoever form or manner upon the receipt of this application and pending the final determination of this application, he said.

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The claimants counsel, in his 30 paragraph affidavits in support of his motion, stated that the deceaseds wife, confessed to the third to seven respondents that she placed hot electronic pressing iron on the deceased s chest, neck and nose which resulted in his sudden death.

Mr Raji added that all parties involved had been served on June 8 but the IGP and AIG declined the service.

We have served all parties involved and we have proof of services but we have been unable to file it before the court.

On June 8, the third and fourth respondents declined to accept service. Except for the first and second respondents that have responded.

In the circumstance, I want to pray for a short adjourned date for substituted services, Mr Raji said.

Justice Oladokun adjourned hearing until July 15 for a report of proof of service on the third and fourth respondents.(NAN)
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that the flooding that occurred in Lagos last weekend claimed seven lives.

The Zonal Coordinator, South West, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday.

The post-emergency phase assessment after the unprecedented rainfall of Friday, 8th July and Saturday, 9th July, 2022 has revealed that about seven people  three children of same parent and four adults  died.

About eight lives were also saved during the period, as a result of the flooding that was witnessed during the two-day continuous rainfall, he said.

Mr Farinloye said the three siblings who lost their lives were residing at a church building belonging to Mercy of Christ Apostolic Church, situated in an uncompleted building.

He said that the siblings, Michael, 18, Elizabeth, 17, and Timi, 14, were swept away while trying to relocate from their room to the main church structure.

He said that the youngest child, Timi, who was said to be asthmatic, while trying to climb the plank linking their room to the church building, slipped and was overpowered by the flood.

The coordinator added that the remaining two while trying to rescue their sibling, were also swept away by the flood.

Mr Farinloye said the NEMA team, while on a condolence visit to the families, met with representatives of Progressive Community Development Area, who conducted the agency around the affected communities.

The bereaved parents were said to be somewhere, but the NEMA team had a brief meeting with the community leaders on the way forward.

An appeal was made to them that for the rest of the year, the community must embark on awareness and sensitisation on safe actions, to avoid the situation that they experienced during the period.

The community leaders also informed NEMA that in the same community, four siblings were also swept away on the same day, but that the community members rallied round and rescued all of them, Mr Farinloye said.

He listed the flooded communities as Oke Isagun and Agbado-Oke Odo LCDA, in Alimosho.

The NEMA chief said that members of the Progressive CDA briefed NEMA that rainwater from Meiran, Abbatoir, Alagbado, Agege, and Toll gate converged on their community.

Mr Farinloye also gave an update on the flood at Oyatoki in Orile Agege, saying that two people died, while four were rescued. (NAN)
The Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, has said he was not aware a former Boko Haram fighter, Wilberforce Yohanna, is a staffer of the New Yola Custodial Centre.

Mr Nababa said this on Monday during an interactive session on the Twitter Space organised by PREMIUM TIMES on the recent Kuje prison attack.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation, published on Saturday, exposed how an ex-terrorist was recruited into a prison facility in Yola without proper vetting.

The story, based on leaked official documents and interviews with insiders, said that the presence of Mr Yohanna has created the fear of possible security compromise at the custodial centre.

The Controller-General said the information did not reach him that Mr Yohanna, an Assistant Cadre (ASC11) at the Yola Custodial Centre, was an ex-Boko Haram member until a PREMIUM TIMES investigation revealed it.

He, however, said the correctional service has launched a probe into the matter.

Nothing of such was brought to the attention of the controller-general, Mr Nababa said. Nobody like a former Boko Haram member in Yola.

Although Mr Nababa claimed he is not aware of such a report, PREMIUM TIMES has seen an internal document circulated within the service on February 18, 2022, raising an alarm about the presence of the former Boko Haram fighter as an official in the prison facility.

The documents stated that Mr Yohanna was found to be skilled in the use and operations of firearms. He was said to have confessed that he got the training of weapon handling from a Boko Haram base before he escaped from their custody.

The PREMIUM TIMES story also uncovered the employment racketeering in the correctional service, suggesting that the ex-terrorist could have been recruited through the back door. Inside sources had revealed how it was easy for applicants to buy their way into the service without going through proper vetting.

Mr Nababa, however, said the recent attack on the Kuje prison was a product of the insecurity in the northeast. He also said the prison was not fashioned to withstand such heavy attacks launched by the Boko Haram terrorists.

PREMIUM TIMES could not reach the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, to determine whether the ministry was aware of the situation. But Mr Aregbesolas spokesperson, Ileowo Kikiowo, said he was not permitted to comment on the matter.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has met with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and pledged to intervene in the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Mr Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, met with the leadership of the student body on Thursday in Ososgbo, Osun State.

In a video posted on Twitter by an APC member, Segun Dada, Mr Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, said he was planning to use a back channel to intervene in the industrial action by the university lecturers.

He said he decided to intervene following a recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari on the strike.

We were trying to findeven if it is back door, a way of reaching them. I am assuring you, we are not going to use back door because our leader too Buhari has shown his lamentation in the last 48hours and as a result of that, he has left the door open for our intervention, Mr Tinubu said.

ASUU had embarked on strike on February 14 to demand the adoption of UTAS as a payment platform for its members and the implementation of the renegotiated 2009 agreement.

Mr Buhari, on Tuesday, while meeting with some governors of the APC, legislators and political leaders at his residence in Daura, Katsina State, said the lingering industrial action will have generational consequences on families, the educational system and future development of the country.

In a statement released by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the presidentcalled on all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly those close to the leaders and members of the association, to intervene in persuading the lecturers to reconsider their position, and the ripple effect on an entire generation and the nation.

PREMIUM TIMES has published the response of the lecturers, where they described the comments by Mr Buhari as propaganda.
An Atiku or Tinubu victory would bring problems in four years. Problems that would probably be of a greater magnitude as they would be existential (does Nigeria belong to one ethnic group? Or does it belong to one religion?), and given that both men just want to be president to fulfil lifelong ambitions and not much more, would have been built on top of four more years of rot.

In an ideal situation, a Muslim-Muslim ticket or a Christian-Christian ticket should not be a problem if the two candidates on the ticket are good persons. But having said that, Nigeria is far from ideal, and the current Nigeria is very different from the Nigeria of 1993, when Abiola and Kingibe were clearly heads and shoulders above Tofa and Ugoh. That Nigeria was also a more forgiving place when you consider that the said Sylvester Ugoh was, just over a quarter of a century before, the governor of the Bank of Biafra; but that is a digression.

The Nigeria of today is a hateful place that is coming out of two terms of 97 per cent and 5 per cent division, where it has been made clear that if you are Igbo, or you are a Northern Christian, you do not belong. How else do we explain sermons such as this?

Hausa is a widely spoken language, so translations shouldnt be in short supply.

How else do you explain that people like Danladi Umar, Remi Tinubu, Abu Malami tarred an entire ethnic group with what is not short of hate speech, but till date have not been censured, much less punished? Do you remember the Danladi Umar story? He assaulted someone, got attacked by a mob (made up of Northerners) and in order to deflect from what he did, labelled the mob as Biafra boys.

This is what both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have done in this election cycle  they have further strained the already torn fabric of unity that the country has. Lets start with the PDP: the partys legitimacy rested on the principle of rotation of power. Back in 1999, they gave this power to the South-West, despite Alex Ekwueme being an early front-runner. There was an implicit agreement that power would rotate to the North after Obasanjo, then to the South-South, then back North, and then to the South-East. Then YarAdua died, and we were faced with a quandary.

With the PDPs stance and the real prospect of a Nigerian of Fulani extraction following a Nigerian of Fulani extraction into the Villa, we would set a precedent where power rotation amongst ethnicities, which is a very important aspect of national unity in a diverse country and gives a sense of inclusiveness, dies.

The South-South got pushed in before their expected time in 2015, and then in 2011, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ran, rather than returning power to the North. It was this very action that made people like Atiku leave the PDP. Given that Atiku was crying for fairness, how then is it fair that after two terms of power in the North, when it, presumably, is the turn of the South-East, we are suddenly hearing arguments about competence and that the rotation has ended et al? Why didnt they say so in 2019?

With the PDPs stance and the real prospect of a Nigerian of Fulani extraction following a Nigerian of Fulani extraction into the Villa, we would set a precedent where power rotation amongst ethnicities, which is a very important aspect of national unity in a diverse country and gives a sense of inclusiveness, dies. An Atiku victory next year means that there is absolutely nothing stopping an Abu Malami or a Nasir El-Rufai from trying their luck in 2027 or 2031 (if Atiku somehow serves two terms) and bringing up the same arguments that Atiku has used now. After all, a precedent has been set.

For the APC, the party has, in a time of religious frayed nerves around the country, pandered to an extreme section of the argument. That section, as the video I linked to earlier shows, has made it abundantly clear that Northern Christians do not matter in the scheme of things. There is already a precedent set by Kaduna State. Prior to the exit of Yusuf Bantex in 2019, Kaduna had an uneasy arrangement, where a Muslim is the governor and a Christian is the deputy. El-Rufai shattered that when he picked Hadiza Balarabe to succeed Bantex, and now, Sani Uba, El-Rufais anointed successor, has gone ahead to pick a Muslim as his running mate.

Essentially, Christians in Kaduna have been relegated from de facto second-class citizens to de jure second-class citizens. This is what will happen if the Tinubu-Shettima alliance wins next year. In 2027 or 2031, a Northern Muslim candidate will pick a Southern Muslim as his running mate and couch his choice in the idea of competence and it would be set in stone going forward. That is what precedent achieves. Now ask yourself this question : Will anyone in Muslim Northern Nigeria accept a Christian-Christian candidacy for the presidency?

Whichever option we chose next year, we are in for a rough ride. The locust years of Buhari have guaranteed that. Its just for us to choose our poison. A bullet to the head? Or death by a thousand cuts?

As for the Peter Obi candidacy, my earlier argument about Mr Obis ethnic nationality still stands. You can see it in the attempts by supporters of both major parties to tie him to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and link him with Biafra and separatism, despite the fact that no record exists anywhere of him being tied to that agitation.

It is ironic when you consider that multiple streams of innuendo have linked Kashim Shettima with Boko Haram, yet it didnt matter. I still maintain that an Igbo man succeeding the disaster that Buhari has been would bring problems for the Igbo people. Perhaps its my paranoia as an Igbo person that was born in the decade after the War ended and grew up surrounded by people who survived the most brutal massacre of that war, and so who heard all their stories. Paradoxically though, in the Nigeria of today, the anti-Igbo sentiments that would certainly arise if Peter Obi wins would bring immediate problems for everyone, as the countrys so-called unity has been so frayed that even the regular glue of anti-Igbo sentimentality would not nearly be enough to bring the other groups together.

An Atiku or Tinubu victory would bring problems in four years. Problems that would probably be of a greater magnitude as they would be existential (does Nigeria belong to one ethnic group? Or does it belong to one religion?), and given that both men just want to be president to fulfil lifelong ambitions and not much more, would have been built on top of four more years of rot.

Whichever option we chose next year, we are in for a rough ride. The locust years of Buhari have guaranteed that. Its just for us to choose our poison. A bullet to the head? Or death by a thousand cuts?

Cheta Nwanze is a partner at SBM Intelligence.
The truth is that there are more dangers than we can imagine if impunity is not tamed. Perhaps, if we begin to feel uncomfortable with some of the things thrown at us, we may be having a good start. Following that, then we could begin to speak against those impunities. From that level, we can progress to subtle resistance to some of them. If we maintain the momentum, we may eventually begin to force some reformation, having dealt with our odd complicity.

Yes, this is turning upside down the title of my latest book, Oddity of Impunity.

It is also true that I have kept mute for a while about the issues ravaging our beloved nation. Issues abound everywhere, no doubt. However, the tendency to take a step forward and many backward seems peculiar to our Naija.

First, there was a jailbreak. The breakers operated for three solid hours, it was reported. To add insult to injury, the president expressed displeasure with the security hierarchy for the vulnerability that permitted such brazen behaviour a few kilometres away from the seat of power and the domain of the top military brass. Some months ago, despite its heavy military presence, Kaduna was invaded like a common shanty town, where lawlessness already reigns supreme. One thing that is clear is how impunity has become the rule rather than the exception in the country.

In a nation in which the vast majority of its people are grappling with the existential lot of ekeing out a living daily, the ruling party threw caution to the wind by demanding an outrageous N100 million (one hundred million naira only) as expression of interest and nomination forms fee for its presidential aspirants. That over twenty people coughed up that princely sum signifies a situation worse than that presented in the legendary animal farm by George Orwell. It was a rat race of the absurd, which was like no other (apologies to the Mandators of yore).

How many rides can those in government take the people without blinking their eyelids?

Perhaps, they capitalise on the apparent docility of the people to throw whatever attracts their fancy at them. The primary elections of the two major political parties was won and lost not without the heavy dollarisation of the process. A lot has been said about this through the grapevine.

In as much as we cannot pretend to acknowledge the increasing wave of discontent among the youths and the hopeful phenomenon of desiring a refurbished wine in a new bottle, we do hope that this will translate into an electoral reality at the end of the day.

Although cross-carpeting is not new to our political arena, its brazenness has assumed an unhealthy proportion in recent times. It is no longer a shame that politicians move from one party to as many as possible within the shortest possible time.

Humans are capable of justifying whatever they have chosen to undertake. For political expediency, we now hear that competence is all that matters. Really? The plurality of the people counts for nothing? Yes, it is true that in an ideal situation, most of these issues will not be powerfully relevant. However, we are far from anything idealistic in Nigeria.

Democracys major weakness is the advancement of numbers (quantity) over competence (quality), which is capable of getting the less ideal person to occupy positions they would not have otherwise. Unfortunately, it will take a complete overhaul of democratic practice to fix this.

And, it may never be fixed!

Our institutions are weak and, therefore, unsuitable for taming known and unknown impunity. Institutions do not build themselves. It is the collective will of the people that builds institutions. Unfortunately, we have opted for the easy route, so there is no solution in sight for now.

People are hungry, and their poverty is weaponised to keep them in perpetual subservience to the oppressors.

If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for instance, were pro-people, it would have issued a wrong warning against the outrageous amounts demanded by political parties from aspirants to various political offices. Secondly, it ought to have penalised those known to have dollarised the nomination processes. In modern these days, it is not rocket science to establish water-tight cases against such display and ultimate abuse of our democracy.

Nevertheless, impunity holds sway!

However, the people are seemingly content with the stock of the old block. Is it just elements of trust issues or are our oddities orchestrated by the long-reigning impunity of the ruling elites?

If the answer to the above is in the affirmative, then we are more than complicit in the bottleneck we have found ourselves.

We have boxed ourselves into an uncomfortable corner, inadvertently affecting our ability to think right.

Are we so scared of trying a new set of people?

Although, fundamentally, the tendency to gravitate towards the direction one is familiar with is a natural human propensity, if we are to learn anything from history, we should know that impunity always leads to resistance and pushback.

Our institutions are weak and, therefore, unsuitable for taming known and unknown impunity. Institutions do not build themselves. It is the collective will of the people that builds institutions. Unfortunately, we have opted for the easy route, so there is no solution in sight for now.

The ruling elites will continue to take us for granted so long we continue to act oddly to their impunity.

However, what can we do differently?

We are a nation where the people would rather fight themselves to a standstill, rather than hold those in government accountable, even for the minutest things If this is not another oddity that fans impunity, one wonders what better description can be given to it The peoples oddities sustain the impunity of the ruling elites, and that itself has assumed another genre of impunity.

We should begin to know and understand what constitutes impunity and react appropriately by not encouraging it to fester.

I know there could be dangers along the way.

The truth is that there are more dangers than we can imagine if impunity is not tamed. Perhaps, if we begin to feel uncomfortable with some of the things thrown at us, we may be having a good start. Following that, then we could begin to speak against those impunities. From that level, we can progress to subtle resistance to some of them. If we maintain the momentum, we may eventually begin to force some reformation, having dealt with our odd complicity. It may look utopian or a tall order to achieve, but if we agree that there may be no feasible alternative, perhaps the courage to wean ourselves off the oddities may not be a mirage.

Electioneering is almost assuming frenzied proportions now, even if most able-bodied youths are at home due to the prolonged Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike. Is there any impunity greater than no top aspirant doing anything meaningful to address this national malaise?

Is it not odd that the same demography is at the forefront of cyber wars on behalf of whom they have chosen to support?

Our politicians across all divides can, literally speaking, get away with murder! Maybe in a real sense, they do get away with so many unreported murders.

One thing is prominent; our sleep has been murdered due to a high level of insecurity across the lengths and breadths of our nation.

We are a nation where the people would rather fight themselves to a standstill, rather than hold those in government accountable, even for the minutest things.

If this is not another oddity that fans impunity, one wonders what better description can be given to it.

The peoples oddities sustain the impunity of the ruling elites, and that itself has assumed another genre of impunity.

Who will bail the people out of the impunity of numerous but dangerous oddities?

Bolutife Oluwadele is a chartered accountant, author, and public policy scholar based in Canada. Email: bolutife.oluwadele@gmail.com
We need a catalyst for a sustained, substantive relationship between Africa and the U.S. There is so much to gain from our shared history, culture, and outlook. The second summit could be the beginning of a new chapter in U.S.-Africa relations, one in which we engage as equal partners, leverage the power of the private sector, and reimagine support in a form that promotes self-reliance and independence.

When I visited Washington this spring to explore partnership opportunities with the U.S. government, I wondered what kind of reception to expect. Although President Biden pledged early in his term to reengage with the continent, major policy initiatives remain unclear, and Americas absence on the continent has been felt.

This contrasts with U.S. allies and adversaries alike, who continue to show real commitment in their relationships. In February, at the sixth European Union-African Union Summit, leaders of the 27 EU nations welcomed 40 African heads of state to Brussels and committed 150 billion in investments targeting health, education, digital innovation, transportation infrastructure, and green energy. At the concurrent EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF), the Tony Elumelu Foundation celebrated its 20 million partnership with the European Commission, which has empowered 2,500 young women entrepreneurs across Africa. Last November, China hosted its eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Senegal, and later this year Japan will convene its eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tunisia.

So, I wanted to know: Where is America in all of this?

I was encouraged by what I took away.

In my conversations with U.S. policymakers, I found a genuine interest in reengaging Africa, in a manner that prioritises mutual benefit and self-reliance. Discussion of a second U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit expected to be held this September  an event which Secretary of State Antony Blinken first committed to last year  could demonstrate that the Biden administration is ready to stand up and be counted among Africas partners.

At a dinner in Tanzania in 2013 around the launch of Power Africa, I joined other African business leaders in advising then-President Barack Obama to use the convening power of his office to engage more with the African private sector. A year later, we had the first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and U.S.-Africa Business Forum. The energy in Washington, the enthusiasm for Africa, was unlike anything I had seen before. As such, I look forward to a second U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. The U.S. has an enormous amount of goodwill in Africa that needs to be channeled  and getting the public and private sector at the table is critical.

As an investor in over 20 African countries and founder of the largest entrepreneurship programme on the continent, I would particularly like to see an event that prioritises trade, investment, and business linkages, including the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and young entrepreneurs. The power of the private sector to drive economic growth and social development in Africa is at the core of my economic philosophy of Africapitalism.

Another key component of Africapitalism is the need for an accountable public sector to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. We must push African governments to do a better job of providing security, infrastructure, and the policy reforms necessary to encourage growth  and they must hear this message not only from their own people, but from international partners like the U.S.

I firmly believe the transformation of Africa must be driven by Africans, and that it must be driven by the younger generation, but we still need the support of our friends. We simply need to reimagine the nature of that support.

Africa needs partnerships that foster a collaborative approach to building infrastructure, investing in human capital, and generating economic opportunities that will bring mutual prosperity. This summit represents an opportunity to build that kind of partnership.

It has been encouraging to hear support for this summit from important constituencies, including the diplomatic corps, private sector groups, and Congress, where enhanced U.S.-Africa engagement has long enjoyed rare bipartisan support.

In May, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution cosponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and my good friend, Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), referring to the promised summit as an important opportunity to strengthen ties between the United States and African partners and calling for a roadmap for planning future summits and other events.

While it may seem that high-level diplomatic summits can be just a backdrop for photo-ops, there is real value.

First, a high-level, media-saturated event provides motivation for deals to get done. Meetings can spark new bilateral or multilateral government initiatives, or public-private partnerships.

Second, high-level linkages are critical to shaping policy. The conversations that take place will provide an opportunity for U.S. officials to hear directly from African stakeholders. Let policymakers hear the needs of a diverse continent of people that want investment, not only aid assistance.

Finally, the symbolic impact of these events is important. My greatest wish for a second summit would be to see African entrepreneurs sharing the stage with heads of state. This is an image that would clearly say to the world: The U.S. is engaging with Africa in a whole new way.

We need a catalyst for a sustained, substantive relationship between Africa and the U.S. There is so much to gain from our shared history, culture, and outlook. The second summit could be the beginning of a new chapter in U.S.-Africa relations, one in which we engage as equal partners, leverage the power of the private sector, and reimagine support in a form that promotes self-reliance and independence.

Tony Elumelu is a leading investor and philanthropist. The Tony Elumelu Foundation has funded, mentored and trained over 15,000 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries and connected over one million African entrepreneurs through the TEFConnect digital network. You can follow him on Twitter @TonyOElumelu @TonyElumeluFDN
Fan Milk, a Danone Company, makers of well-loved frozen dairy and ice cream brands including Super Yogo, Fan Vanille, Fan Ice and Go Slo, today unveiled its newly completed model dairy farm in Odeda, Ogun State. Fan Milk Plc is part of the Danone group, a world leading food company (#1 globally in fresh dairy products).

This dairy farm which is Danones first investment in dairy farming in Sub-Saharan Africa was commissioned by the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun and the French Ambassadrice, Madame Emmanuelle Blatmann, in Odeda, Ogun state, on Tuesday 21st June 2022.

As part of Fan Milks commitment to the dairy backward integration programme and as part of the Federal Governments initiative to achieve food self-sufficiency in the country through the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), Danone (through Fan Milk Plc) committed to establishing a model dairy farm. This commitment was fulfilled thanks to a partnership with Ogun State Government allowing Fan Milk (Danone) to set up its farm at Odeda, Ogun State.

The dairy farm is based on three pillars; the model dairy farm which will incorporate a model, best-in-class dairy farm which shall be replicated across Nigeria in the nearest future, the dairy training institute which is targeted at training and empowering local farmers in the Odeda community in Ogun State and the milk collection centre and outgrowers scheme which will have a social impact on the host community as the biggest dairy hub in the South-Western region of Nigeria.

The farm is receiving support Danone directly, particularly in the area of milk collection and the milk will be used in the production line which will reduce the reliance on imported milk over a long period of time.

Ferdinand Mouko, the Managing Director Fan Milk Plc reiterated the commitment to growing with Nigeria and ensuring that eventually the company will be able manufacture its ice cream and frozen yoghurt using milk sourced locally from cattle on the farm, as well as those aggregated from local farmers at the milk collection centre. He also relayed the projected impact of the dairy farm in Ogun State, which includes empowering 100 farmers in the first year and empowering 500 farmers in the next 5 years and scale the number of pastoral farmers that currently benefit from Fan Milk Danones investment in the state. He concluded by thanking His Excellency, Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun, the Executive Governor of Ogun State for his continuous support and encouragement since the inception of the backward integration project.

Special guests of honor that graced the commissioning event include H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, ably represented by Dr. Olusegun Ariyo; Senior Special Adviser to the President on Development Policy, Professor Mohammed Adaya Salisu; The Honourable Minister of Agriculture ably represented by Engr G O Oseni, Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture, Ogun State, Dr. Adeola Odedina; Honourable Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ogun State, Mrs. Kikelomo Longe; royal fathers of the day; the Olu of Odeda, Oba David Ishola Olorunnishola; and the Alara of Ilara, Oba Dr. Olufolarin Kayode Ogunsanwo; senior delegates from Danone Global and West Africa, including Senior Vice President Partners, Danone, Paolo Tafuri; Chairman, Fan Milk Plc, Mr Olayinka Akinkugbe; Managing Director, Fan Milk West Africa & Ghana, Mr Yeo Ziobeieton; as well as representatives from the Odeda Community; amongst others.

Governor Dapo Abiodun lauded the multimillion-dollar investment as being strategically aligned with the present administrations drive to foster relationships that enhance internally generated revenue. He said the growth of this project in about a year since the MOU was signed is symbolic of our administrations commitment to public-private partnerships. We are happy to be part of this success story. I want to assure all stakeholders that our administration will follow up and sustain its commitment to this project by continued support through the Ministry of Agriculture and all other relevant agencies, in order to make good of Fan Milk- Danones investment.

The French Ambassadrice, Her Excellency, Madame Emmanuelle Blatmann commended the companys investment in the country and reiterated Frances pride at the milestone achievement and the companys role in opening up more avenues for bilateral relations between France and Nigeria.

The Chairman of Fan Milk Plc, Mr. Olayinka Akinkugbe recognised the support from the Ogun State government as an investor-friendly state that has supported Fan Milks response to CBNs dairy backward integration programme. He said, This partnership is one of the major investments of Danone because of the social impact it will have on the host community by training dairy farmers in Ogun state, in line with the companys efforts to build farmers capacity and reiterate its commitment to fostering collaboration across the agricultural value chain, for a sustainable dairy farming and ecosystem. It is about the 2,000 people or more who would be impacted through this initiative and the change we seek to bring to Nigerias food architecture. We are investing across the value chain and ensuring the support of the long-term ambitions of the state.

The Senior Vice President, Partners Danone, Paolo Tafuri, commented on the importance of Nigeria to Danone, saying, I should mention that we have a strong commitment at Danone to grow in and with Nigeria. Therefore we have chosen Nigeria as the destination of our first dairy farm investment in Sub Saharan Africa. I am also happy to see the passion that our people have towards the growth of agriculture and the dairy sector in Nigeria.

At Danone, partnership is also very important to us. That is why we are collaborating with the Ogun state government to support the CBNs developmental policies and growth plans. You must know that we support local production, and this is why the raw materials involved in the farms supply chain processes, including livestock feed, are all sourced in Nigeria.

Danone is working to develop and promote regenerative models of agriculture that protect soils, empower farmers through dairy trainings and promote animal welfare. This investment will be a continuation of Danones efforts to boost local milk production across its host communities in Africa, as is ongoing in Algeria, Morocco and Egypt and North-East Africa. Danone partners with farmers globally and is committed to working with stakeholders across the value chain to address the challenges associated with food security.

The Managing Director of Fan Milk West Africa, Yeo Ziobeieton, further reiterated the importance of the partnership to deliver the desired impact for the West and Sub-Saharan Africa region and thanked the Ogun State government for its continued support.

ALSO READ: Fan Milk signs agreement with Ogun State to establish dairy farm to boost local production

The representative of the Director of Development Finance, CBN, Mrs. Oluyemisi Olukoya (Deputy Director / Head Development Finance Office CBN Abeokuta Branch), emphasised the importance of Fan Milk and Danones investment, which she described as a timely intervention for building capacity, creating jobs and contributing to the countrys socio-economic development plans. She said, We are quite impressed with what we have witnessed today. I want us to know that this project is in line with the Federal Governments initiative for backward integration and is beneficial to the Ogun state value chain in particular. The model dairy farm for backward integration, the dairy institute and the milk collection centre will go a long way to build capacity, generate employment, and have a social impact on local dairy farmers in the area. We commend Fan Milk Danone for their commitment towards this project through self-funding. The Central Bank of Nigeria is willing and ready to collaborate to achieve your laudable goal of making Fan Milk-Danone Dairy Farm, Odeda, the biggest dairy farm in South-Western Nigeria.

About Fan Milk

Fan Milk Plc was established in 1961 selling healthy and nutritious dairy products. It is now part of the Danone group, a world leading food company. Since this investment from Danone there have been some phenomenal changes in the operations and business performance of Fan Milk. The business management has been re-ordered and synergised to include Danones Early Life Nutrition (ELN) business, responsible for the distribution of Danones infant milk formula in Nigeria.

Fan Milk Plc operates its head office and production facility in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Fan Milk currently employs over 800 people, with a unique ecosystem that contributes to economic empowerment  currently engaging over 17,745 vendors and 1,200 agents to distribute its nutritious frozen dairy products to individuals and families across the country. Further to this, the introduction of Danones Early Life Nutrition products also broadens the scope of Fan Milks impact in Nigeria.
The Class of 1982 of Saint Maria Goretti Girls Grammar School, Benin City have pleaded with the Edo State Government to consider returning the school to the Catholic Mission to enhance the education of the girl child.

The old students, under the auspices of Saint Maria Goretti Old Girls Association (SMAGOGA), made the passionate appeal in Lagos recently where they marked their 40 years reunion after leaving school.

The event saw many old girls across the world from all walks of life gather to reminisce on their time at the school. The theme of the reunion was: Women, Wealth and Winning.

Speaking during the programme, Mrs. Grace Bose Ojougboh, member of the alumni association and Deputy Director at the Nigerian Communications Commission, called on the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to consider returning the school to the Catholic Mission towards reclaiming the schools age long glory.

Now, more than ever before, there is need to empower and raise girls who are pious, confident and equipped with the skill and capacity to function as leaders and nation builders in the 21st century and we believe our alma mater is poised to deliver on this even more with its management being under the Catholic Mission, Ojougboh said.

She stated that, the Class of 1982 has, over the years, joined hands with the national body of St Maria Goretti Old Girls Association to give the school a facelift as well as support the students through award of scholarships and skills acquisition.

Mrs. Ijeoma Isiolu, a seasoned banker and an old girl of the school, lamented on the very poor state of the school since it was taken over by government. She said the association looks forward to the time when the school will be returned to the Catholic mission.

Henrietta Iweze, a lawyer and member of the Class of 1982, spoke on the need for women to support women and the importance of winning and creating wealth. She emphasised that women should be open to change and stressed the need for women to always give value wherever they find themselves.

Mrs. Maureen Okoro-Sokoh, a human resource consultant and Managing Director, Estymol Group, called on her classmates to use the opportunity of the reunion to really come together and empower each other in different ways.

Speaking in the same vein, Mrs. Ononuju Irukwu, a financial expert and wealth adviser with First Bank of Nigeria who is also of the Class of 1982, stressed the need for women to be empowered through education and financial inclusion.

Irukwu stated that financial literacy opens doors and more opportunities for women and helps them to make informed decisions.

The walk down memory lane by members of Class of 82 brought a lot of nostalgic feeling of joy and gratitude for the wonderful time spent together at the school and the training and discipline they received in their formative years which, they agreed, have molded them into women of excellence.

The Class of 1982 set also used the opportunity of the reunion to visit the Heritage Homes located in the Anthony Village of Lagos Sate to reach out to the less privileged in the society while plans are in the works to visit their alma mater in Benin City.

Saint Maria Goretti Girls Grammar School was founded on March 4, 1959, by the Catholic Mission. It was the first All Girls secondary school in Benin City. The school was named after St. Maria Goretti as it was established the same year Maria Goretti, a 12-year old girl, who stood for purity in mind and body was canonised by the Catholic Church.

Late Rev. Sister Dr. Henrietta Powers, a member of the missionary order of the sister of Our Lady of Apostles, was the 4th Principal and the trailblazer from 1961 to December 1984 when she retired from service. She managed the affairs of the school and raised women, who have become excellent women, breaking barriers, changing and impacting their communities in all spheres of life.

St Maria Goretti Girls Grammar School in its heydays, under the Catholic Mission, was the school of choice for people, who wanted an all-round spiritual, moral, vocational and academic development for the girl child.
CLARESHOLM, AB, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Alberta, Canada, today the largest solar power plant of Canada, the Claresholm Solar farm has been successfully commissioned and started daily operation of electricity power generation. China leading solar PV module brand Astronergy is proud of the delivery of over 180 MWdc ASTRO series PV panels for this solar farm.

The Claresholm Solar farm locates 13km southeast of Claresholm town in the municipal district of Willow Creek in southern Alberta. With total investment of C$200m ($162.76m), this farm occupies 1,280 acres of agriculture lands and planned an installation of 132 MWac. There are 455,758 Astronergy PV panels shipped from China to Canada since 2020 to be installed in a fixed-tilt racking structure.

The Claresholm Solar farm is expected to directly reduce CO2 emission of around 149,000 metric tons each year when it starts to work. Meanwhile, approximately 33,000 households nearby can benefit from the renewable power it generated.

Claresholm Solar is a joint venture between Capstone Infrastructure, a renewable energy investment company based in Canada, and Obton, a Danish investment company involved in the development of solar and wind power projects.

"I'd like to highlight Astronergy as the supplier and manufacturer of Claresholm Solar's bi-facial panels, which are the most advanced technology available in the market. And I'd like to emphasize the significant increase in generation capacity and efficiency of the panels supplied by Astronergy for the project. Our experience working with Astronergy on Claresholm Solar gave us a high level of confidence in terms of quality and ability to deliver, which is why the company has been selected for two more solar projects currently in development (Kneehill and Michichi)", said by David Eva, CEO of Capstone Infrastructure.

The Astronergy panels supplied for this Claresholm Solar project is ASTRO Series reinforced bifacial module with double glass (front side 2.5mm tempered and rear side 2.5mm semi-tempered). Enhanced with excellent encapsulation structure and strengthened frame, this type is specially designed for severe hail (45mm, 30.7m/s), unfriendly environment with high reliability requirements. The module has passed severe Damp & Heat 2000hours and Thermal Cycle 600 and PID 300 tests which were verified and approved by CSA certificate-C450 and PVEL certificate-PQP.

"We are pleased to join this project to build the largest solar PV farm so far in Canada. We set up a special sales team to follow up the entire process including communications, production, quality control, shipment, installation and etc. We had very good cooperation experience with Capstone Infrastructure." Said by Samuel Zhang, vice president of Astronergy, global sales and marketing.

About Astronergy:

Astronergy is committed to becoming the most competitive PV module manufacturer in the world, focusing on R&D, manufacturing, distribution and sales of high-efficient solar cells and PV modules. As a reliable and technology-leading brand Astronergy was honored by PVEL/DNV GL as "Top Performer" among module manufacturers for six times. And the brand also has been listed as the world's Tier 1 supplier of PV modules by Bloomberg.

Cindy Wang, lin.wangBp@astronergy.com, +86-18649009460

SOURCE Astronergy
Rise in internet of things (IoT), increase in investment in simulation technology have boosted the growth of the global connected mining market

PORTLAND, Ore., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Connected Mining Market by Component (Solution, Services), by Deployment Mode (On-Premise, Cloud), by Organization size (Large Enterprises, SME's), by Mining Type (Surface, Underground), by Application (Exploration, Processing and Refining, Transportation): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". As per the report, the global cider industry generated $9.45 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $32.63 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 13.3% from 2022 to 2031.

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in internet of things (IoT), increase in investment in simulation technology have boosted the growth of the global connected mining market. However, dearth of skilled workforce and surge in operational cost along with productivity challenges hinder the market growth. On the contrary, increased inclination toward digitization to improve business operations and advent of 5G technology are expected to unlock lucrative opportunities in the future.

Download Report Sample (315 Pages PDF with Insights) at:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/17372

Covid-19 scenario:

The Covid-19 pandemic positively affected the demand for connected mining due to rapid adoption of emerging technologies such as industrial internet of things (IIoT), artificial intelligence-powered solution, cloud-based technologies, and big data.

As connected mining support company in taking one step toward digitization, its demand increased during the pandemic.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the connected mining market:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/17372

The solution segment dominated the market

By component, the solution segment held the lion's share in 2021, accounting for around two-thirds of the global connected mining market, due to adoption of connected mining provides numerous benefits such as, improve worker safety by tracking mine workers, monitoring entrances or exits, evacuation status, and receiving alerts. However, the services segment is projected to portray the highest CAGR of 14.6% during the forecast period, as connected mining service reduces IT-related complexities and maximizes the firm efficiency with the elimination of the manual process.

The cloud segment to register the highest CAGR through 2031

By development mode, the cloud segment is anticipated is estimated to register the highest CAGR of 15.9% from 2022 to 2031, due to rise in adoption of cloud-based connected mining and low cost and easier maintenance. However, the on-premise segment held the lion's share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global connected mining market.

Europe to manifest the highest CAGR by 2031

By region, the global connected mining industry across Europe is anticipated to register the highest CAGR of 15.2% during the forecast period, due to high rate of adoption of technologies, such as operational analytics & data processing, remote monitoring, and mine safety systems and solution. However, the market across Asia-Pacific held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than one-third of the market, owing to rapid technological advancements, digitization of economies, and government initiatives.

For Purchase Enquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/17372

Key market players

ABB Ltd.

Accenture

Cisco Systems Inc.

Hexagon

IBM Corporation

Rockwell Automation Inc.

SAP SE

Schneider Electric

Siemens AG

Trimble Inc.

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About Us:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Glooko AB ("Glooko") today announced, in partnership with the Diabetes Technology Network (DTN)/ Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD), the expansion into Ireland of Academy, the company's online medical education programme for clinicians who treat people with diabetes. Originally inspired after discussions with the National Health Service England (NHSE) as part of its effort to ensure all healthcare professionals learn uniformly about technology, the programme will help clinicians further increase their knowledge and stay current on the ever-growing assortment of new diabetes technologies.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, Ireland, with a population of just five million people, is ranked 7th in the world for diabetes-related health expenditure per person. For people with diabetes and their healthcare providers, managing the myriad technologies like glucose monitors and insulin pumps, and the data volumes accompanying these technologies, is a well-established challenge. Technology tools like web-based programs, telehealth, mobile apps and remote monitoring are improving users' accessibility and connectivity, but adoption of these innovations can be slow and complicated.

Academy focuses exclusively on diabetes health technology and education. The programme includes an extensive range of online courses for healthcare providers (HCPs) to increase expertise and mastery of these technologies, to help deploy them to people with diabetes. All courses are accessed through the Glooko  platform or the ABCD website .

Ireland is the second country to implement Academy in Glooko's plans to provide the program globally. Since launching in the UK in October of 2020, over 1,000 clinicians across more than 300 clinics have registered for the programme, with more than 750 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certificates awarded.

"We are extremely pleased with the successful adoption of Academy in the UK," said Russ Johannesson, CEO of Glooko. "We are particularly excited to continue our expansion and offer the programme in Ireland. Our goal is to not only equip primary care and specialist HCPs with the technological skill set relevant to their professional development, but to also support them in building a wider range of capabilities, as treating chronic conditions moves increasingly towards a more digital world."

Pratik Choudhary, Professor of Diabetes at University of Leicester, Professor/Honorary Consultant in Diabetes and Chair of DTN UK, stated, "Given the rapidly changing landscape of diabetes technologies, it is very important for healthcare professionals to have a trusted resource for training. The Diabetes Technology Network UK is quite pleased to be able to bring the training of Academy to Ireland and support healthcare professionals using the latest diabetes technology."

The programme is available to all diabetes healthcare professionals in Ireland at no cost and was funded in part via sponsorships from global industry partners like AgaMatrix, Dexcom, Lilly, mylife Diabetescare, Novo Nordisk and Roche. Production was provided by DigiBete (DigiBete Global, Leeds, UK), which remains actively involved in Academy. The curriculum covers the majority of the diabetes devices and technologies, and HCPs that complete the programme will receive CPD accreditation as well as DTN UK/ABCD certification.

Glooko is committed to incorporating newly-developed, online immersive education experiences that complement the Company's portfolio of industry-leading digital health solutions. Academy is part of Glooko's global mission to enhance the lives of people with chronic conditions by connecting them with their HCPs and equipping both with the tools needed to achieve improved outcomes.

For more information: go.glooko.com/academy

Sources:

International Diabetes Federation Diabetes Atlas (2021) https://diabetesatlas.org/ https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/ireland-population

ABOUT GLOOKO

Glooko improves health outcomes of people with chronic conditions through its personalized, intelligent, connected care platform. Our proven technologies make lives better by revolutionizing the connection between patients and providers, driving patient engagement and adherence via digital therapeutics, and accelerating the speed of clinical trials. Glooko is globally deployed in over 30 countries and 8,000+ clinical locations. For more information, please visit glooko.com .

Media Inquiries:

Tanya Rodante

Director of Global Communication, Glooko

pr@glooko.com

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SOURCE Glooko
HONG KONG, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangfor Technologies, a leading vendor of cyber security & cloud computing solutions, announces the opening of its new office in Turkey. This is in response to the growing demand for next-generation Cyber Security and Cloud Computing solutions & services in Western Asia and South-Eastern Europe.

Sangfor plans to grow its operations in Turkey by establishing a new office in this region, where Sangfor will assist local organizations in fulfilling their visions for digital transformation. At the same time, it also aims to provide Sangfor with the opportunity to expand their service areas.

"The opening of Sangfor's new office in Turkey is an important part of our growth strategy as we recognize the value we can bring to this region and its surrounding areas," said Finn Yang, General Manager of Sangfor Turkey. "Digital transformation is at the heart of global innovation, and we have noticed the great demand for Cyber Security and Cloud Computing companies that will promote and aid in advancing this transformation."

The office will be located in Istanbul, Turkey, with coverage over several areas including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. Some of Sangfor's existing clients in the region include Kalyon Gunes Teknolojileri Uretim Anonim Sirketi, Istanbul Lojistik, Ultralab, Kadraj, Sinovac, and Demtas, all of which Sangfor provides services ranging from cyber security to cloud infrastructure.

The Turkish office will be Sangfor's 13th international office, making it one of many dedicated to driving Sangfor's missions surrounding digital transformation.

In order to better serve our local customers & partners, Sangfor has also released a Turkish version of its website available at www.sangfor.com.tr.

About Sangfor Technologies

Sangfor Technologies is an APAC-based, global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions specializing in Cyber Security and Cloud Computing. It has branch offices in more than 60 locations, offering its innovative solutions across various industries and to clients in the Fortune Global 500 such as finance & banking, retail, manufacturing, as well as in government, and education. It has a broad portfolio of products and services, including but not limited to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), next generation firewall (NGFW), internet access gateway, endpoint protection, and more.

Visit us at www.sangfor.com to learn more about how Sangfor's Cloud and Security solutions can make your digital transformation simpler & secure.

Sangfor Media Contact

Sunny Sun

+86-755-8656-0605

Email: pr@sangfor.com

Website: www.sangfor.com

SOURCE Sangfor Technologies
Making Solar and Wind Energy Manageable, Efficient and Profitable for Organisations of All Sizes

NANTES, France and SINGAPORE, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Envision Digital, the largest manager of renewable energy in the world with over 400 GW under management and the creator of the EnOS  net zero platform, today announced it has completed the acquisition of QOS Energy, a global leader in the fast-growing renewables Asset Performance Management (APM) category. The acquisition supports the growth plans of Envision Digital as the worldwide demand for energy transition solutions continues to accelerate across all industries.

QOS Energy is a leading energy management software supplier to the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) market segment and has a strong presence in solar energy in Europe, the US and India, with a client portfolio totaling more than 10GW across 8,000 power plants.

As part of the acquisition, the companies will integrate QantumTM, QOS Energy's cloud-based energy management solution, into Envision Digital's product line to enable the company to provide end-to-end support for renewable energy performance management and control, and to better serve clients with small and medium distributed energy systems.

With the addition of Qantum, the EnOS platform provides comprehensive end-to-end support for the net-zero initiatives of all industries and sizes of organisation and government. EnOS capabilities span not only renewable energy management, but also buildings, factories and transportation system optimisation, EV charging systems, compliance reporting, energy trading, and carbon offset market engagement.

All existing QOS Energy customers will continue to be supported by the QOS Energy team, augmented by Envision Digital's global support and security operations.

With this acquisition, which has received FDI approval by the French government, Envision Digital will increase research and development investment in QOS Energy's platform and French-based research and development team, and expand the market for QOS Energy solutions in Asia and the Americas.

Maher Chebbo, Managing Director Europe, Envision Digital said: "QOS Energy has built a robust solution that its customers depend on to manage their renewable energy programs. By adding QOS Energy's solution to our portfolio, we can provide a truly end-to-end solution for renewable energy management and better support renewable energy producers of all sizes to accelerate our net zero mission. We are impressed by QOS Energy's team and processes and their understanding of the needs of the global C&I market and look forward to working together."

Franck Le Breton, Co-Founder and CEO of QOS said: "Constantly adapting to the rapidly changing needs of our customers is an essential part of our approach. Joining Envision Digital will allow us to redouble our efforts and accelerate the development of value-added features to better serve our customers in making data-driven decisions at the right time to maximize their asset portfolio performance. Combining the flexibility of our solution with the EnOS  platform's AI and IOT capabilities will bring a decisive advantage to the market we address. We look forward to joining the Envision Digital family."

About Envision Digital

Envision Digital is committed to becoming the world's leading net zero technology partner for enterprises, governments, and cities, with the goal of accelerating progress towards carbon-free energy and improving quality of life for all of humanity. The company's EnOS net zero platform manages over 220 million devices and 400 Gigawatts of electricity, powering highly configurable, end to end IIOT solutions that use AI to reduce carbon emissions and costs, improve return on capital, and simplify reporting and compliance.

The company has over 1000 employees and 14 offices across the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan and the United States, with headquarters in Singapore. For more information, please visit www.envision-digital.com/.

About QOS Energy

Founded in 2010, QOS Energy developed QantumTM, a flexible cloud-based solution that provides customers with advanced features for optimal data-driven decision making. With over 8000 plants under monitoring totaling 10GW and more than 10 million of sensors, QOS Energy is dedicated to delivering superior returns to our clients by maximizing revenue, optimizing contractual KPIs, reducing operational expenses, and minimizing downtimes.

Headquartered in Nantes, France and operating in 23 countries, the company works alongside leading renewable organizations in both Commercial & Industrial and mid-size utility scale segment of Renewable Energy market.

SOURCE Envision Digital
Acquisition to deepen life sciences domain capabilities and strengthen footprint across Europe

BENGALURU, India and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire BASE life science, a leading technology and consulting firm in the life sciences industry, in Europe. The acquisition reaffirms our commitment to help global life sciences companies realize business value from cloud-first digital platforms and data, to speed-up clinical trials and scale drug development, positively impacting lives and achieving better health outcomes.

BASE brings to Infosys, domain experts with commercial, medical, digital marketing, clinical, regulatory, and quality knowhow. Backed by a team of data science specialists, BASE is at the frontier of the latest technological developments and trends. It has a strong focus on Data & AI, and the ability to bridge and integrate business logic and technology, driving insights for better health outcomes.

Headquartered in Denmark, BASE is one of the fastest growing technology and consulting partners in the life sciences industry. The company has about 200 of the finest, multidisciplinary industry experts across Denmark, Switzerland, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and a nearshore technology hub in Spain. Together with Infosys, BASE will further expand its portfolio of expertise into Consumer Health, Animal Health, MedTech and Genomics segments. BASE collaborates with leading software technology providers in the life sciences industry such as Veeva, IQVIA and Salesforce.

Ravi Kumar S, President, Infosys, said, "This acquisition augments Infosys' deep life sciences expertise, and expands our footprint further in the Nordics region and across Europe, and scales our digital transformation capabilities with cloud-based industry solutions. We are excited to welcome BASE life science and its leadership team into the Infosys family."

"Over the last five years, BASE life science has delivered tremendous growth, and created a stellar life sciences consulting firm in Europe. With Infosys as our catalyst, we will be able to accelerate our expansion internationally and create development opportunities for our people. Infosys is a solid, global technology leader, that is a perfect match for ensuring continuous success of BASE while sharing our common purpose and values.", said Martin Woergaard, CEO, BASE life science.

The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.

VEEVA is a trademark of Veeva Systems Inc.

IQVIA is a trademark of IQVIA Holdings Inc.

Salesforce is a trademark of salesforce.com, inc.

About BASE life science A/S

BASE life science is an innovative and forward-thinking technology, product and service consultancy specialized in creating real business value from digital platforms and data, growing people, and delivering innovative solutions that have a sustainable and lasting impact in an industry that matters.

Its experienced teams optimize technology and business processes within Customer Engagement, Quality, Regulatory, Compliance and Clinical data management for companies within the life science industry.

BASE life science's aspiration is to be the leading life science technology consulting company in Europe and currently operates from offices located in Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany from where they assist customers across the globe. Fueled by its dedicated teams' hard work and efforts, BASE life science has been cemented as a reliable advisor in the life science industry, striving for continuous excellence to remain an entrusted partner that can bring its customer's visions successfully to life. www.baselifescience.com

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses, and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

For more information, please contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Infosys
WINNERS WILL BE HONORED BY THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL H.E. ANTONIO GUTERRES DECEMBER 2022 (DATE TBD) IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) invites media worldwide to submit entries for its 26th annual UNCA Awards for best print, broadcast (TV & Radio) and online, web-based media coverage of the United Nations, UN agencies and field operations.

Deadline for submissions is September 30th, 2022.

The awards are open to all journalists anywhere in the world.

The Awards are:

The Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize, sponsored by the Alexander Bodini Foundation, for written media (including online media). The prize is for print and online coverage of the UN and UN agencies, named in honor of Elizabeth Neuffer , The Boston Globe bureau chief at the U.N., who died while on an assignment in Baghdad in 2003. The Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize, sponsored by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, for broadcast (TV & Radio) media. The prize is for broadcast coverage of the UN and UN agencies, named in honor of Ricardo Ortega , formerly the New York correspondent for Antena 3 TV of Spain , who died while on an assignment in Haiti in 2004. The Prince Albert II of Monaco and UNCA Global Prize for Climate Change. The prize is for print (including online media) and broadcast media (TV & Radio) for coverage of climate change, biodiversity, and water.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS:

Work in print, broadcast (TV & Radio) and online coverage must be published between September 2021 and September 2022.

The judges will look for entries with impact, insight, and originality, and will consider the courage and investigative and reporting skills of the journalists. Entries from the developing world media are particularly welcome.

Entries can be submitted in any of the official UN languages (English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian), however a written transcript in English or French is necessary to facilitate the judging process.

Each candidate can submit to no more than two (2) prize categories, with a maximum of two (2) stories in each. Joint entries are accepted.

Electronic files and web links uploaded to the online Entry Form are required.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY:

Entries are submitted online by completing the UNCA Awards Entry Form.

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SOURCE United Nations Correspondents Association
SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global 3D printed drugs market is expected to reach USD 269.74 million by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 15.32% from 2022 to 2030. The rising prevalence of chronic diseases, combined with the rising population of patients with dysphagia around the globe is pushing the demand for immediate soluble medications, which is likely to drive the market. For instance, according to a study published in April 2022, the prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia is high in conditions such as stroke and aging and is reported to be 26.19% in the elderly.

Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

By technology, the zip dose segment held the largest share of the 3D market. This is attributed to the increase in the requirement for rapid soluble drugs that disperse quickly in the mouth, which in turn is likely to increase the adoption and anticipate market growth.





The inkjet printer segment is expected to grow lucratively during the forecast period. Due to the 3D medications can be personalized to each patient's needs, assisting them far more than batch-produced medicines, their demand is expected to skyrocket in the coming years

.

. By application, the neurology segment held a larger share of the global market. This is attributed to an increase in the proportion of older people, which is at an increased risk of developing neurological disorders and hence, propelling the market growth.





By end-use, the hospitals & clinics segment held a larger share in 2021, owing to the growing demand for personalized medicines and the cost-effective use of bio-drugs employing this technology.





North America dominated the global market in 2021 due to the availability of technologically advanced healthcare research framework, the presence of high R&D investment, and the development of 3D printed drugs in the region.





dominated the global market in 2021 due to the availability of technologically advanced healthcare research framework, the presence of high R&D investment, and the development of 3D printed drugs in the region. The Asia Pacific is expected to grow considerably in the future owing to the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and the presence of key players.





is expected to grow considerably in the future owing to the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and the presence of key players. A few of the key market players include 3D Printer Drug Machine, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, BV LLC, Hewlett Packard Caribe, and others.

Read 150-page market research report, "3D Printed Drugs Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Technology (Inkjet Printing, Zipdose Technology, Stereolithography), By Application (Orthopedic, Neurology), By End-use, Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030, published by Grand View Research.

3D Printed Drugs Market Growth & Trends

An increase in the aging population has led to the growing demand for the development of easy-to-swallow pills for the elderly. The 3D printed highly soluble and easy-to-swallow drugs can help the elderly who have difficulty swallowing. Moreover, according to the United Nations, the number of people aged 65 and more in 2050 is projected to be 1.5 billion. Thus, the growing elderly population across the world would propel the demand for easy-to-swallow drugs resulting in market growth.

Other factors such as quickly expanding demand for pharmaceuticals, technical improvements in healthcare, as well as the government's focus and expenditures in the 3D printing industry, are also contributing to the market's growth. For instance, in March 2022, Evonik Venture Capital invested in Nevada-based Laxxon Medical for the manufacturing of 3D-printed tablets. The latter company has developed a 3D screen-printing technology for the production of structured tablets with the controlled release of API over time. Such investments are likely to supplement the market growth in the coming years.

The COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to positively impact market growth. Several printers have been launched by the operating companies in the advanced manufacturing industry to help increase the manufacturing of medications and other necessary products. As a result, the usage of these technologies is projected to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growing demand for personalized medicine is expected to majorly drive market growth in the coming years. As 3D printing of pharmaceutical drugs can produce personalized medicine in small batches with carefully tailored shapes, dosages, and sizes, the market is anticipated to grow at an exponential rate in the near future. In addition, the use of 3D printing technology can significantly reduce manufacturing costs thus, further increasing investments in this space.

On the other hand, adverse effects from these drugs, the use of 3D printing to create illegal drugs, and a lack of government restrictions for 3D printed products are limiting the market's growth. For instance, in March 2018, a police case was filed in Amsterdam, for the illegal handling of these drugs. However, increased awareness of the benefits of these medications, such as their immediate solubility, faster manufacturing time, reduced waste, and easy on-demand manufacturing is likely to create multiple prospects for market growth.

3D Printed Drugs Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global 3D printed drugs market based on technology, application, end-user, and region:

Technology Scope Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Inkjet Printing

Fused Deposition Modeling

Stereolithography

ZipDose Technology

Application Scope Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Orthopedic

Neurology

Dental

Others

End-use Scope Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Hospitals & Clinics

Research Laboratories

Others

Regional Scope Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Italy



Spain

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



South Korea

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East & Africa

& South Africa



Saudi Arabia

List of Key Players in the 3D Printed Drugs Market

Aprecia

Extend Biosciences

Bioduro

Affinity Therapeutics

Osmotica Pharmaceuticals

Aprecia Pharmaceuticals LLC

GlaxoSmithKline Plc

FabRx Ltd

Hewlett Packard Caribe

Merck

Cycle Pharmaceuticals

AstraZeneca

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Immunohistochemistry Market - The global immunohistochemistry market size is expected to reach USD 3.92 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period. The high demand for accurate data has driven several technological advancements in IHC techniques, resulting in the delivery of precise and contextual data analyses. The emergence of advanced techniques, such as multiplex IHC, computational pathology, and next-generation IHC, is driving the global market. Immunohistochemistry protocols have gained popularity in clinical pathology, especially in the subspecialties of oncologic pathology, hematopathology, and neuropathology.

The global immunohistochemistry market size is expected to reach by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period. The high demand for accurate data has driven several technological advancements in IHC techniques, resulting in the delivery of precise and contextual data analyses. The emergence of advanced techniques, such as multiplex IHC, computational pathology, and next-generation IHC, is driving the global market. Immunohistochemistry protocols have gained popularity in clinical pathology, especially in the subspecialties of oncologic pathology, hematopathology, and neuropathology. Scaffold Technology Market - The global scaffold technology market size is expected to reach USD 2.1 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2021 to 2028. The market growth can be primarily attributed to the growing popularity of bioprinting for mimicking the tissue microenvironment in printed 3D tissue models. The need to expand the horizon of multidisciplinary research areas has supplemented the adoption of scaffold technologies in 3D printed models.

- The global scaffold technology market size is expected to reach by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2021 to 2028. The market growth can be primarily attributed to the growing popularity of bioprinting for mimicking the tissue microenvironment in printed 3D tissue models. The need to expand the horizon of multidisciplinary research areas has supplemented the adoption of scaffold technologies in 3D printed models. Latin America Digital Biology Market - The Latin America digital biology market size is expected to reach USD 768.9 million by 2027, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 13.8% during the forecast period. Growing R&D costs and clinical trial failure rates have driven the demand for computational biology-based solutions.

Browse through Grand View Research's Biotechnology Industry Research Reports.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Grand View Compass | Astra ESG Solutions

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Radiodermatitis Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global radiodermatitis market reached a value of US$ 464.4 Million in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 579.5 Million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.76% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Radiodermatitis, or radiation dermatitis, refers to a skin condition caused due to radiation therapy used for the treatment of cancer. It generally occurs as a side effect during cancer treatment or after interventional radiology in patients with cancers of the breast, lungs, skin, neck, head or perineum region where the skin is part of the target field.

Some of the commonly used products to treat radiodermatitis include topical antibiotics, corticosteroids, hydrophilic creams, hydrogel and hydrocolloid dressings, silicone-coated dressings, silver-leaf dressings, oral analgesics, and anti-inflammatory agents. In recent years, radiodermatitis treatment has gained traction as it helps reduce discomfort, minimize pain and prevent interruption in ongoing therapy while improving the overall quality of the patient's life.



The widespread prevalence of cancer and the rising adoption of radiation therapy as a treatment option represent the primary factors driving the market growth. Besides this, the increasing geriatric population across the globe and the growing need to counter the adverse side effects of radiation therapy are augmenting the demand for radiodermatitis treatment.

Additionally, numerous governing and non-governing agencies are taking favorable initiatives to spread awareness regarding the available radiodermatitis treatment and management products.

This, in confluence with the rising public and private investments in the ongoing research and development (R&D) activities in the field of life sciences, is catalyzing the market growth. Furthermore, the leading players are focusing on developing innovative product variants to expand their product portfolio and gain a competitive edge.

Moreover, the rising number of clinical trials, favorable government policies, increasing consumer expenditure capacities, improving healthcare infrastructure and easy availability of generic drugs are some of the other factors creating a positive market outlook.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 3M Company, Bausch Health Companies Inc., Bayer AG, BMG PHARMA S.p.A., Charles River Laboratories International Inc., ConvaTec Group plc, Helsinn Healthcare SA, ICON plc, Integra LifeSciences, Molnlycke Health Care AB and Stratpharma AG.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global radiodermatitis market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global radiodermatitis market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the distribution channel?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global radiodermatitis market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Radiodermatitis Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product

6.1 Topical

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Key Segments

6.1.2.1 Corticosteroids

6.1.2.2 Hydrophilic Creams

6.1.2.3 Antibiotics

6.1.2.4 Others

6.1.3 Market Forecast

6.2 Oral

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Dressings

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Key Segments

6.3.2.1 Hydrogel and Hydrocolloid Dressings

6.3.2.2 No Sting Barrier Film

6.3.2.3 Honey Impregnated Gauze

6.3.2.4 Silicone Coated Dressings

6.3.2.5 Others

6.3.3 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Distribution Channel

7.1 Hospital Pharmacy

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Retail Pharmacy

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Online Pharmacy

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 SWOT Analysis



10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Market Structure

13.2 Key Players

13.3 Profiles of Key Players

13.3.1 3M Company

13.3.1.1 Company Overview

13.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.1.3 Financials

13.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.2 Bausch Health Companies Inc.

13.3.2.1 Company Overview

13.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2.3 Financials

13.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.3 Bayer AG

13.3.3.1 Company Overview

13.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.3.3 Financials

13.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.4 BMG PHARMA S.p.A.

13.3.4.1 Company Overview

13.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5 Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

13.3.5.1 Company Overview

13.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5.3 Financials

13.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.6 ConvaTec Group plc

13.3.6.1 Company Overview

13.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.6.3 Financials

13.3.7 Helsinn Healthcare SA

13.3.7.1 Company Overview

13.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8 ICON plc

13.3.8.1 Company Overview

13.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8.3 Financials

13.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.9 Integra LifeSciences

13.3.9.1 Company Overview

13.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.9.3 Financials

13.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.10 Molnlycke Health Care AB

13.3.10.1 Company Overview

13.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.10.3 SWOT Analysis

13.3.11 Stratpharma AG

13.3.11.1 Company Overview

13.3.11.2 Product Portfolio



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6fnfy4

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Frontline Workers Say AT&T Violates Federal Labor Law, Fails to Adequately Staff Critical Telecommunications Infrastructure in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T Alascom workers represented by Teamsters Local 959 have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The 175 tower climbers, technicians and other frontline workers who build, maintain and monitor Alaska's telecommunications infrastructure are taking a stand against AT&T's labor law violations and neglect of Alaskan communities.

Recent surveys of AT&T customers and frontline workers in Alaska show that AT&T executives are failing to invest in staff and in its critical telecom network and facilities throughout the state. Sixty-four percent of Alaska AT&T customers who responded to the survey rated AT&T's services as "low" or "very low" quality.

Additionally, about 70 percent of AT&T Alascom workers who participated in the survey "agree" or "strongly agree" that AT&T is failing to invest necessary resources in its communications system in Alaska.

"AT&T pockets billions of dollars but refuses to invest in workers or communities," said Sean M. O'Brien, Teamsters General President. "Our Alascom members risk their lives in the worst Alaskan weather to repair equipment and keep phone and internet services running. They represent the finest of the Teamsters  taking on yet another corporate bully to protect their families and demand the respect they deserve."

In Alaska, AT&T [NYSE: T] owns and operates the Alascom network, which serves as the primary backbone for all critical services throughout the state. This infrastructure includes more than 200 radio system facilities, the Anchorage-Prudhoe Bay fiber optic cable, and numerous transmitter/repeater sites. Alascom and its workers also provide services to the Alyeska Pipeline, numerous national security and defense systems, and major cities such as Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau.

Local 959's Alascom members have been trying for months to bargain a new contract with AT&T's out-of-state corporate negotiators. Alascom workers have been forced to file over a half dozen unfair labor practice charges against AT&T for violating federal labor law during bargaining, including making unilateral changes to working conditions, bad faith bargaining, and refusing to supply requested information needed for negotiations.

"Right now, AT&T corporate is demanding that we accept annual pay increases as low as half of one percent and pay over $1,100 every month for family health care," said Kurt Foley, a 16-year technician. "That's just not sustainable and it's ridiculous, especially after AT&T paid its CEO $25 million last year and gave him an 18 percent raise. This strike vote is a wake-up call to AT&T, which continues to violate our rights and put critical telecom services at risk. Alaska towns and national security systems depend on these services, as do our own families."

"AT&T corporate executives in the lower 48 are treating our communities like a personal piggybank and exploiting Alaska's working families," said Gary Dixon, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 959. "In Alaska, AT&T has over $2 billion in federal contracts alone. This company seems dead set on pulling every last penny out of the state, even if it means exploiting its own workers and sticking our communities with outdated, inadequate infrastructure."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Rachel Magnin

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Second subsidiary to become independent; decisive step to continue unlocking value at ALFA

ALFA will transfer all its Axtel shares to a new, listed entity: Controladora Axtel

ALFA Shareholders will receive one share of Controladora Axtel for each ALFA share they own

Spin-off, listing and share distribution processes expected to be completed before year end

SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCIA, Mexico, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ALFAA) ("ALFA" or the "Company") held today an Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting where a proposal to spin-off its entire ownership stake in Axtel, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: AXTELCPO) ("Axtel") was approved.

On behalf of ALFA's Board of Directors, Armando Garza Sada, Chairman of the Board, presented the proposal through which ALFA will execute the spin-off as a splitting entity. In addition, a new entity would be constituted as the spun-off company ("Controladora Axtel"), which will be listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange. ALFA will transfer its entire share ownership in Axtel to Controladora Axtel, as well as certain other assets and capital. ALFA expects to complete the spin-off, listing and share distribution processes before year end.

ALFA shareholders will receive one share of Controladora Axtel for each of their ALFA shares, in addition to retaining their share ownership in ALFA's equity.

"We greatly appreciate our Shareholders' vote of confidence, supporting ALFA's transformational efforts to unlock its extraordinary value potential. This approval reinforces our commitment to continue driving an orderly process, following a balanced capital allocation approach," noted Armando Garza Sada, Chairman of ALFA's Board of Directors.

"Axtel begins today a new stage as an independent business from ALFA and will get all of our support to ensure a successful transition. Axtel's talented and dedicated team has an extraordinary capability to drive growth and extend its long track record as an industry leader," said Alvaro Fernandez Garza, President of ALFA.

Contacts

Hernan F. Lozano

V.P. of Investor Relations ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V.

T. +52 (81) 8748-2521

[email protected]

Carolina Alvear

Corporate Communication Director

ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V.

T. +52 (81) 8748-2521

[email protected]

About ALFA

ALFA manages a diversified portfolio of leading businesses with global operations: Sigma, a leading multinational food company, focused on the production, marketing and distribution of quality foods through recognized brands in Mexico, Europe, United States and Latin America. Alpek, one of the world's leading producers of polyester (PTA, PET, rPET and fibers), and the leader in the Mexican market for polypropylene and expandable polystyrene (EPS). Axtel, a provider of Information Technology and Communication (ITC) services for the enterprise and government segments in Mexico. In 2021, ALFA reported revenues of Ps. 308,060 million (US $15.2 billion), and EBITDA of Ps. 41,050 million (US $2.0 billion). ALFA's shares are quoted on the Mexican Stock Exchange and on Latibex, the market for Latin American shares of the Madrid Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.alfa.com.mx

SOURCE ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V.
CLEVELAND, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the addition of Eliott S. Musick as a new Managing Director within its Business & Industrial Services (BIS) vertical. Eliott brings specialized M&A and strategic advisory experience to the firm with a particular focus on the Facility & Field Services sector. Based in New York City, he will also help continue to expand BGL's presence on the East Coast.

BGL is pleased to announce the addition of Eliott S. Musick as a new Managing Director. Tweet this Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the addition of Eliott S. Musick as a new Managing Director within its Business & Industrial Services (BIS) vertical. Eliott brings specialized M&A and strategic advisory experience to the firm with a particular focus on the Facility & Field Services sector. Based in New York City, he will also help continue to expand BGLs presence on the East Coast.

"BGL's strong commitment to advising the marketplace includes identifying and supporting M&A and capital markets bankers with deep industry knowledge and relationships," said Effram Kaplan, Head of the firm's BIS vertical and Environmental & Industrial Services Group. "Eliott is a highly respected banker with strong relationships across the Industrial Services industry, and he has a proven track record in executing efficient transactions. We are very pleased to welcome him to BGL and excited about the additional resources we are able to offer our clients."

Eliott's 15 years of experience working with middle market businesses spans all facets of M&A and corporate advisory, capital raising, debt financing, and principal investing. His clients primarily include private, public, and private equity-backed companies across the industrial, infrastructure, engineering, and commercial services sectors.

"BGL has a reputation in the market as a strong, sector-focused M&A platform with excellent client service," said Musick. "Their EIS team, in particular, has led the North American market in transaction volume for the past several years. I am excited to join them and help expand their growth within the Facility & Field Services sector."

Prior to joining BGL, Eliott led the Industrial & Infrastructure Services effort at Macquarie Capital and founded Pointe Falls Growth Partners, a private investment firm focused on investing growth capital in lower middle market businesses within the Services & Specialty Industrials sectors. Eliott started his career as a consultant at Deloitte and CGI Group. He holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructurings, business valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and New York, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, LLC, an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

Industry Contacts:

Eliott S. Musick

Managing Director

Facility & Field Services

[email protected]

917.688.2781

Effram E. Kaplan

Managing Director

Head of Business & Industrial Services

[email protected]

216.920.6634

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company
ARLINGTON, Va., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Law today announced that it will showcase recent enhancements to its platform at the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting & Conference, taking place in Denver, Colorado, from Saturday, July 16 through Tuesday, July 19. Bloomberg Law (booth #501) is a silver sponsor of the conference.

Bloomberg Law will highlight:

New content and resources that enhance the value of a Bloomberg law subscription, including 500+ new Practical Guidance documents, 11 new Chart Builders and Trackers, 40+ additional Books & Treatises, and 200+ new Fast Answers.

Enhancements to dockets search, which now includes frequently-requested, newly-developed, proprietary fields and filters like Resolution, Settlement, Potential Class Action as well as hundreds of new county filters for state dockets.

Other improvements to Bloomberg Law Dockets, including the acquisition of 700,000+ recent federal court briefs which raises the total of free searchable briefs on Bloomberg Law to over 1 million and strengthens the analysis and recommendations in our AI-driven Brief Analyzer tool.

to over 1 million and strengthens the analysis and recommendations in our AI-driven Brief Analyzer tool. Enhancements to Bloomberg Law's Transactional Intelligence Center, with an improved Draft Analyzer tool covering all contract types, including an enhanced document viewer with an interactive clause outline and definition extraction.

Transactional Intelligence Center, with an improved Draft Analyzer tool covering all contract types, including an enhanced document viewer with an interactive clause outline and definition extraction. New Practical Guidance to help law students and junior attorney's successfully transition to practice.

Additionally, AALL attendees can learn more about Bloomberg Law's efforts to improve the legal market by promoting DEI efforts through our new DEI Framework; identifying the next-gen of legal talent with They've Got Next: The 40 Under 40; and helping law students transition successfully to the first years of practice through the Law School Innovation Program.

"Bloomberg Law is committed to continuous improvement without the upcharge," said Joe Breda, President of Bloomberg Law. "Over the past year, we've focused on streamlining the user experience, strengthening our litigation and transactional solutions, and delivering an increased number of expert resources and practice tools to help the law librarian community optimize their role."

For more information or to request a demo, please visit http://onb-law.com/NT1K50AuWqA.

About Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law combines the latest in legal technology with workflow tools, comprehensive primary and secondary sources, trusted news, expert analysis, and business intelligence. Our deep expertise and commitment to innovation provide a competitive edge to help improve attorney productivity and efficiency. Bloomberg Law is the only legal research provider to include continuous enhancements to its platform at no cost to existing subscribers. For more information, visit Bloomberg Law.

SOURCE Bloomberg Law
Cloud video surveillance company finalizes acquisition of IoT Cybersecurity Company

MIAMI, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cloudastructure, the award-winning cloud video surveillance provider announced the completion of their acquisition of Infrastructure Proving Grounds' assets, including their cutting-edge cloud-based GearBox IoT cybersecurity solution.

The acquisition continues to build on Cloudastructure's vision  and growing reputation for  end-to-end cloud-based security that now includes:

"The acquisition of IPG demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with true end-to-end security." Tweet this

Smart Surveillance

Remote Guarding

IoT Security

Smart Parking

Among its many IoT cybersecurity talents, GearBox can instantly detect non-compliant National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) hardware. All Cloudastructure AI surveillance and/or remote guarding installations now include a GearBox pre-scan of all existing network hardware and devices to minimize risk.

The "plug-and-play" tool inventories all IoT devices, performs risk analysis and offers a roadmap as well as prioritization for remedies.

The entire IPG team will be joining Cloudastructure, including IPG CEO Steve Kiss, who will serve as Vice President of Operations, as well as General Manager of the GearBox Division. The division will encompass sales and installation of the GearBox IoT cybersecurity solution to smart buildings and critical infrastructure.

IPG CEO Steve Kiss commented, "This acquisition is advantageous to all parties involved: GearBox enables Cloudastructure to deploy faster, while Cloudastructure enables GearBox to scale faster. All parties involved are committed to cloud excellence and true security. We are eager to get started."

Cloudastructure CEO Rick Bentley commented, "We are glad to welcome the IPG crew to our team, as well as GearBox to our platform, because security isn't really a term you can parse  you either have it or you don't. Whether a threat is cyber or physical, the outcomes of undetected threats are devastating. The acquisition of IPG demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with true end-to-end security."

About Cloudastructure:

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, with R&D in Silicon Valley, California, Cloudastructure's award-winning surveillance video management system is designed and supported by world-class technical resources drawn from five continents. The platform's unique architecture enables AI and computer vision for scalable, flexible, cost-effective security and eliminates the resource-intensive management and data risks of on-premises solutions. Cloudastructure enables a unified view of multiple sites for motion, facial recognition/detection, anomaly detection, object counting, LPR, advanced analytics, and compliance and delivers up to a 75% lower total cost of ownership than other systems. For more information, visit www.cloudastructure.com .

SOURCE Cloudastructure, Inc
Rise in cases of chronic and unknown diseases and rapid drug development drive the growth of the global computer-aided drug discovery market.

PORTLAND, Ore., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, 'Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market by Type (Structure Based Drug Design, Ligand-Based Drug Design, Sequence-Based Approaches), by Therapeutic Area (Oncology, Neurology, Cardiovascular Disease, Respiratory Disease, Diabetes, Others), by End User (Pharmaceutical Companies, Biotechnology Companies, Research Laboratories): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030.' According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global computer-aided drug discovery market was estimated at $2.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit $7.5 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.48% from 2022 to 2030. The report provides a detailed analysis of changing market dynamics, top segments, value chain, key investment pockets, regional scenario, and competitive landscape.

Download Report (180 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/17201

Prime determinants of growth-

Rise in cases of chronic and unknown diseases and rapid drug development drive the growth of the global computer-aided drug discovery market. On the other hand, shortage of skilled labor to operate computer-aided drug discovery solutions impedes the growth to some extent. However, several growth prospects in the developed and developing economies have been beneficial for the market growth.

Covid-19 scenario-

Despite the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on several industries, the computer-aided drug discovery market was driven positively throughout the global health crisis.

Increased R&D activities among scientists, researchers, biotechnological and biopharmaceutical companies to limit the spread disease impacted the market positively.

Specific Requirement on COVID-19? Ask Our Industry Expert: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/17201?reqfor=covid

The oncology segment to retain the lion's share-

On the basis of therapeutic area, the oncology segment held the major share in 2021, garnering nearly one-fourth of the global computer-aided drug discovery market. The same segment is also projected to cite the fastest CAGR of 12.29% throughout the forecast period. Rise in R&D activities to discover novel drugs drives the growth of the segment.

The pharmaceutical companies segment to dominate by 2030-

By end-user, the pharmaceutical companies segment contributed to the lion's share in 2021, holding more than two-fifths of the global computer-aided drug discovery market. The biotechnology companies' segment, on the other hand, is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 11.97% from 2022 to 2030. Increase in R&D sending to develop biologics for treating several diseases propels the segment growth.

North America exhibited the fastest CAGR throughout the forecast period-

By region, the market across North America dominated in 2021, garnering more than one-third of the global computer-aided drug discovery market. The Asia-Pacific region, simultaneously, is anticipated to cite the fastest CAGR of 12.84% throughout the forecast period. Increasing number of biotechnology companies and R&D expenditure is the major factor are the major factors driving the market growth.

Key players in the industry-

Schrodinger, Inc.

Bayer AG

Aragen Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.

Aris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

AstraZeneca

Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI)

Bioduro-Sundia

Charles River Laboratories

Key Benefits for Stakeholders

The study provides an in-depth analysis of the computer-aided drug discovery market size along with the current trends and future estimations to elucidate the imminent investment pockets.

It offers computer-aided drug discovery market analysis from 2021 to 2031, which is expected to enable the stakeholders to capitalize on the prevailing opportunities in the market.

A comprehensive analysis of four regions is provided to determine the prevailing opportunities.

The profiles and growth strategies of the key players are thoroughly analyzed to understand the competitive outlook of the global computer-aided drug discovery market growth.

We also Offers Regional and Country Reports-

North America Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

Japan Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

South Korea Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

Singapore Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

Australia Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

Europe Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Market

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About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the market research report published by P&S Intelligence, in 2021, the size of the customer engagement solutions market was $18,186.8 million, and it will grow at a rate of about 10% in the coming years, to reach $43,398.9 million by 2030. The advance of the market is because of the increasing usage of these solutions in numerous industries, such as BFSI, FMCG, healthcare, and telecommunications. Furthermore, with the progressions in the internet technology, the cloud is being leveraged increasingly to host these solutions.

The strong requirement for customer gratification and retention is the prime element behind solutions' share of about 66% in the customer engagement solutions market. Customers are preferring online shopping, which is why retailers are looking beyond physical stores for the promotion and placement of their products and, are now, also listing them on e-commerce websites.

Get the sample pages of this report at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/customer-engagement-solutions-market/report-sample

Customer engagement solutions are widely deployed on the cloud because of the increasing smartphone and internet use and need for product and service information across numerous channels, such as company websites, social media, and mobile applications.

According to the Internet World Stats, there are about 5 billion internet users in the world in 2022. Furthermore, small companies are keen to make use of state-of-the-art solutions that syndicate instant self-service analytics with the cloud technology for examining their development potential in the shortest time viable, while outlaying the minimum amount of money.

The IT & telecom industry is the key user in the customer engagement solutions market, and its revenue contribution will grow at the highest rate, of approximately 11%. Since the main operational mode for IT & telecom corporations, particularly with regard to connecting with clients, is the internet, they extensively use cutting-edge software to communicate better with them.

Further, numerous larger enterprises possess CSM teams, helping customers attain their goals by using API analytics platforms, capturing data on the customer engagement on websites, and inspiring them to renew their contracts and subscriptions. In economic downturns, these systems can support the CSM staff in identifying customers' concerns.

Browse detailed report on Customer Engagement Solutions Market Size, Business Strategies, Growth, and Demand Forecast 2030

Furthermore, companies invest in new technologies to raise the volume of sales and the success rate of conversions. For example, Stefanini Group makes use of IoT and AI to improve the experience of digital shopping with improved services, customization, and seamless payments. For this, its digital team syndicates analytics and forward-thinking UX. Moreover, the business can recognize areas of focus by examining the behavior of users through their journey with the company, including through the website, mobile apps, chatbots, and customer support executives.

The customer engagement solutions market of North America will be the fastest growing, with a rate of about 11%, in the near future. The principal software vendors offer a variety of customer engagement solutions for corporations to timely address the apprehensions of customers. These solutions provide helpful insights and metrics to aid users in the improvement of the overall experience of the clientele, which, in line, surges brand allegiance and cuts the churn rate.

Customer Engagement Solutions Market Segmentation Analysis

By Component

Solutions

Services

By Deployment Type

Cloud

On-Premises

By Industry

Retail

Manufacturing

BFSI

IT & Telecom

Healthcare

By Enterprise Size

Small & Medium

Large

Regional Outlook

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



France



U.K.



Italy



Spain

Asia-Pacific

China



Japan



Australia



South Korea



India

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



South Africa

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About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

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P&S Intelligence

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SOURCE P&S Intelligence
Gain access to our report summary describing the market size and forecast along with the research methodology. The sample report is available in PDF format - https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40958&type=sample&rfs=epd&src=report

This sample will also cover the following information

Market Landscape

Key regions and countries

Overall market growth and forecast

Market sizing methodology

List of exhibits and table of contents

Scope of the data center market

The data center market report covers the following areas:

Data Center Market Size - https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40958&type=sample&rfs=epd&src=report

Data Center Market Trends - https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40958&type=sample&rfs=epd&src=report

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Main players in the data center market

The data center market forecast report includes information on various vendors. Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., DXC Technology Co., Equinix Inc., Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and SAP SE are among some of the major market participants. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below:

Alphabet Inc. - The company offers high-performing, secure, reliable, and efficient data centers throughout the world through its subsidiary Google.

Amazon.com Inc. - The company offers data centers through its subsidiary Amazon Web Services.

Cisco Systems Inc. - The company offers data centers namely Cisco Data Center for networking and computing.

DXC Technology Co. - The company offers data centers to optimize and manage your IT estate.

Equinix Inc. - The company offers data centers with real-time, online infrastructure monitoring, flexible power and usage solutions, and secure on-site deployment.

Do you want to know what strategies are used by top players to stay ahead in the competition? Find it here - https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40958&type=sample&rfs=epd&src=report

Segmentation of the Data Center Market

Component

IT Infrastructure



Power Management System



Mechanical Construction



General Construction



Security Solutions

Geography

North America



APAC



Europe



South America



MEA

Key Highlights of the Data Center Market

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025

Elaborate information on factors that will help or hinder data center market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the parent market and its analysis

Projections on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Detailed information on vendors, including key offerings and news

Related Reports

Data Center Server Market - https://www.technavio.com/report/data-center-server-market-industry-analysis

Data Center Market in UK - https://www.technavio.com/report/data-center-market-industry-service-in-uk-analysis

Data Center Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 21.98% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 615.96 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 20.22 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution North America at 35% Key consumer countries US, China, UK, Australia, and Japan Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., DXC Technology Co., Equinix Inc., Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and SAP SE Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period, Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

***1. Executive Summary

***2. Market Landscape

**2.1 Market ecosystem

*Exhibit 01: Parent market

*Exhibit 02: Market characteristics

**2.2 Value chain analysis

***3. Market Sizing

**3.1 Market definition

*Exhibit 03: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

**3.2 Market segment analysis

*Exhibit 04: Market segments

**3.3 Market size 2021

**3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021 - 2026

*3.4.1 Estimating growth rates for emerging and high-growth markets

*3.4.2 Estimating growth rates for mature markets

*Exhibit 05: Global - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 06: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2021 - 2026 (%)

***4. Five Forces Analysis

**4.1 Five Forces Summary

*Exhibit 07: Five forces analysis 2021 & 2026

**4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

*Exhibit 08: Bargaining power of buyers

**4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

*Exhibit 09: Bargaining power of suppliers

**4.4 Threat of new entrants

*Exhibit 10: Threat of new entrants

**4.5 Threat of substitutes

*Exhibit 11: Threat of substitutes

**4.6 Threat of rivalry

*Exhibit 12: Threat of rivalry

**4.7 Market condition

*Exhibit 13: Market condition - Five forces 2021

***5. Market Segmentation by Component

**5.1 Market segments

*Exhibit 14: Component - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

**5.2 Comparison by Component

*Exhibit 15: Comparison by Component

**5.3 IT infrastructure - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 16: IT infrastructure - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*5.3.1 Server infrastructure

*Exhibit 17: Server infrastructure: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.2 Storage infrastructure

*Exhibit 18: Storage infrastructure: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.3 Software-defined data center (SDDC)

*Exhibit 19: Software-defined data center: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.4 Network infrastructure

*Exhibit 20: Network infrastructure: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.5 Converged infrastructure

*Exhibit 21: Converged infrastructure: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.6 Data center automation software

*Exhibit 22: Data center automation software: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.7 Data center backup and recovery software

*Exhibit 23: Data center backup and recovery software: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.3.8 DCIM Solutions

*Exhibit 24: DCIM solutions: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 25: IT infrastructure - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.4 Power management - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 26: Power management - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*5.4.1 Generators

*Exhibit 27: Generators: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.4.2 Transformers

*Exhibit 28: Transformer: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.4.3 UPS

*Exhibit 29: UPS: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.4.4 Transfer switches and switchgears

*Exhibit 30: Transfer switches and switchgears: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.4.5 PDUs

*Exhibit 31: PDUs: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.4.6 Energy storage devices

*Exhibit 32: Energy storage devices: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 33: Power management - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.5 Mechanical construction - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 34: Mechanical construction - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*5.5.1 Cooling solutions

*Exhibit 35: Cooling solutions: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.5.2 Rack

*Exhibit 36: Rack: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.5.3 Server rail kit

*Exhibit 37: Server rail kit: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.5.4 Others

*Exhibit 38: Others: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 39: Mechanical construction - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.6 General construction - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 40: General construction - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*5.6.1 Base building shell construction

*Exhibit 41: Base building shell construction: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.6.2 Architecture planning and designing

*Exhibit 42: Architecture planning and designing: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 43: General construction - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.7 Security solutions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 44: Security solutions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*5.7.1 Logical security solution

*Exhibit 45: Logical security solution: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*5.7.2 Physical security solution

*Exhibit 46: Physical security solution: Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 47: Security solutions - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.8 Market opportunity by Component

*Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Component

***6. Customer landscape

**6.1 Customer landscape

*Exhibit 49: ?Customer landscape?

***7. Geographic landscape

**7.1 Geographic Segmentation

*Exhibit 50: Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

**7.2 Geographic Comparison

*Exhibit 51: Geographic comparison

**7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 52: North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 53: North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 54: APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 55: APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 56: Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 57: Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 58: South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 59: South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**7.7 MEA - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 60: MEA - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

*Exhibit 61: MEA - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**7.8 Key leading countries

*Exhibit 62: Key leading countries

**7.9 Market opportunity by geography

*Exhibit 63: Market opportunity by geography

***8. Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

**8.1 Market drivers

*8.1.1 Rise in adoption of multi-cloud and network upgrade to support 5G

*8.1.2 Demand planning and expansion by hyperscalers

*8.1.3 Growing demand among SMEs

**8.2 Market challenges

*8.2.1 Cybersecurity issues

*8.2.2 Time to market and high initial costs

*8.2.3 Increasing power consumption

*Exhibit 64: Impact of drivers and challenges

**8.3 Market trends

*8.3.1 Implementation of AI in data centers

*8.3.2 Increased adoption of HPC across enterprises

*8.3.3 Consolidation of data centers

***9. Vendor Landscape

**9.1 Overview

**9.2 Vendor landscape

*Exhibit 65: Vendor landscape

*Exhibit 66: Landscape disruption

*Exhibit 67: Industry risks

***10. Vendor Analysis

**10.1 Vendors covered

*Exhibit 68: Vendors covered

**10.2 Market positioning of vendors

*Exhibit 69: Market positioning of vendors

**10.3 Alphabet Inc.

*Exhibit 70: Alphabet Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 71: Alphabet Inc. - Business segments

*Exhibit 72: Alphabet Inc. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 73: Alphabet Inc. - Segment focus

**10.4 Amazon.com Inc.

*Exhibit 74: Amazon.com Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 75: Amazon.com Inc. - Business segments

*Exhibit 76: Amazon.com Inc- Key news

*Exhibit 77: Amazon.com Inc. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 78: Amazon.com Inc. - Segment focus

**10.5 Cisco Systems Inc.

*Exhibit 79: Cisco Systems Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 80: Cisco Systems Inc. - Business segments

*Exhibit 81: Cisco Systems Inc-Key news

*Exhibit 82: Cisco Systems Inc. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 83: Cisco Systems Inc. - Segment focus

**10.6 DXC Technology Co.

*Exhibit 84: DXC Technology Co. - Overview

*Exhibit 85: DXC Technology Co. - Business segments

*Exhibit 86: DXC Technology Co. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 87: DXC Technology Co. - Segment focus

**10.7 Equinix Inc.

*Exhibit 88: Equinix Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 89: Equinix Inc. - Business segments

*Exhibit 90: Equinix Inc. - Key news

*Exhibit 91: Equinix Inc. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 92: Equinix Inc. - Segment focus

**10.8 Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd.

*Exhibit 93: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Overview

*Exhibit 94: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Business segments

*Exhibit 95: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 96: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

**10.9 International Business Machines Corp.

*Exhibit 97: International Business Machines Corp. - Overview

*Exhibit 98: International Business Machines Corp. - Business segments

*Exhibit 100: International Business Machines Corp. - Segment focus

**10.10 Microsoft Corp.

*Exhibit 101: Microsoft Corp. - Overview

*Exhibit 102: Microsoft Corp. - Business segments

*Exhibit 103: Microsoft Corp. - Key offerings

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DENVER, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Interactive, a leading content management system for connected devices, was named a winner of the 2022 Colorado Companies to Watch (CCTW), making the prestigious list for the first time since the company's 2016 founding. With 2,863 percent revenue growth over a recent three year period, this honor acknowledges Edison's drive, excellence and success within the technology industry. CCTW recognizes high-performing second-stage companies across Colorado for their performance in the marketplace, innovative products, unique processes and philanthropic actions. CCTW winners collectively make a $5.8 billion economic impact on Colorado's economy, driving monumental revenue and providing high-quality jobs.

"We are proud to be a Colorado-based company and are thankful CCTW celebrates innovative companies in this beautiful state. As a Colorado native, I can't imagine a better place to call home and really value the work-life balance that Colorado has to offer," said Edison Interactive CEO and CoFounder Jeremy Ostermiller.

More than 1,000 Colorado companies are nominated for the CCTW honor annually and just 50 make the final roster. It is among Edison's rapidly growing list of accomplishments, including having been named #144 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

"CCTW's time-honored and rigorous judging process has revealed Colorado's most visionary, innovative and successful second-stage companies. These companies employ approximately 30% of our state's talent and have made a $595M impact on Colorado's economy," remarked Kim Woodworth, Executive Director of the Economic Development Council of Colorado and CCTW's 2022 Board Chair. "A more resounding impact is the amount of investment they've given back to Colorado's non-profits serving our local communities."

Edison Interactive is a leading out-of-home (OOH) content management system (CMS) for connected devices in hotels and beyond. For more information, visit EdisonInteractive.com .

About Edison Interactive

Edison Interactive is a leading out-of-home (OOH) content management system (CMS) for connected devices in golf cars, rental vehicles, hotel rooms and beyond. Focused on digitally transforming the customer experience, Edison is known for its vast network of premium displays, digital signage and infotainment solutions. The Edison platform delivers valuable back-end insights and management capabilities for businesses while providing end-users with meaningful content and features that can be monetized. With a predominantly Fortune 500 client base, including Verizon Wireless, Avis Budget Group and Yahoo!, EI was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. For more, visit www.edisoninteractive.com .

SOURCE Edison Interactive
Company Named the Leading Provider of Estate Executor Software in North America

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EstateExec, the leading online service for estate executors , announced that it has won the 2022 Worldwide Finance Award for its cloud-based software. This award recognizes EstateExec's achievement and leadership in simplifying the work of the millions of estate executors (and the many probate attorneys) in North America.

EstateExec simplifies executor tasks and accounting EstateExec wins Worldwide Finance Award

The Worldwide Finance Awards are sponsored by Acquisition International, which provides business news around the world and has subscribers in more than 170 countries. These awards were originally launched 8 years ago to highlight those who have looked to redefine the industry, innovate on past best practices, and spearhead greater change on the landscape.

"EstateExec makes estate settlement easier and minimizes the chance for error," explained Marianne Ludlow, estate planning attorney at Parsons, Behle, & Latimer, an innovative law firm with offices in multiple states. "In addition to EstateExec offering significant help for the average executor, it can greatly simplify the lives of probate lawyers, who can use the software behind the scenes, or to directly coordinate with their probate clients online."

Every year, more than 3 million people die in the US and Canada. By law, their estates must be settled by an executor, typically a family member who has never done it before. EstateExec provides step-by-step guidance for the executor, automatically tailored to the particulars of the estate, along with automated financial accounting (including bank transaction download). The easy-to-use software can be used on its own or in conjunction with a lawyer or financial advisor.

"We are honored to receive this recognition from the Worldwide Finance Awards," said Dan Stickel, founder and CEO of EstateExec. "When we first launched EstateExec in 2015, we were revolutionizing something that hadn't really changed in hundreds of years. We're proud to have been the first to make major improvements to this overall process, and to have improved the lives of so many users," Stickel concludes.

Matthew Tove, director of sales and marketing at Interactive Legal, added: "EstateExec provides estate planning attorneys with a powerful tool to administer estates, enhancing the value of the attorney relationship in a time of need for clients, and Interactive Legal is proud to offer our subscribers preferred membership to EstateExec."

EstateExec covers every state, territory, and province in the US and Canada. It offers a free 10-day trial for new customers, and costs only US$99/CA$129 for a five-year subscription (an expense that can be written off to the estate). To switch between countries, simply click the flag icon in the top right.

ABOUT EstateExec: Based in Silicon Valley, EstateExec is the leading provider of software for estate executors. EstateExec is revolutionizing the way executors settle their estates, making it easy to manage, calculate, and finalize. For more information, visit www.EstateExec.com.

Media Contact:

Susan Turkell

[email protected]

303-766-4343

SOURCE EstateExec
Well-established, women-owned Reno trucking company is revving its engine for a major expansion

RENO, Nev., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Full Tilt Logistics, a multigenerational family-owned logistics, transportation and warehousing company, today announced a massive expansion of its operation. The company acquired a new 250,000-square-foot warehouse space located on Prototype Drive in South Reno. The expansion will allow the company to hire additional staff.

Strategically positioned in Northern Nevada, Full Tilt is able to deliver goods nationwide and can distribute to the eleven Western states within 24 hours. Full Tilt Logistics' headquarters and the company's new warehouse are at the epicenter of a massive transportation network on two major highway corridors: Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 395.

"We are so fortunate to have a loyal customer base already. Now we can easily accommodate our existing customers' growing needs, and make room for many new customers," said Tiffany Novich, President of Full Tilt Logistic, "We have been building this business with intention for almost a decade and it's exciting to see our vision coming to fruition."

The new facility has 12 service doors allowing trucks to load and unload goods. The company expects 50 + employees on site, helping to expand not only the company but also generate local jobs.

A fast-growing women-owned business, Full Tilt Logistics has found incredible success in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry by focusing on customer service and building strong customer relationships. Full Tilt Logistics prides itself on being able to deliver shipments faster and at a lower cost than competitors. Full Tilt Logistics supports veteran employment hiring practices; 16% of the company's staff are U.S. military veterans.

About Full Tilt Logistics

Full Tilt Logistics is a family-owned Reno, Nev. logistics, transportation and warehousing company specializing in high value time sensitive freight such as gaming, blanket wrap, trade show, exhibits and special events. Full Tilt prides itself on being a team of strategic problem solvers who take a holistic approach to getting the most out of every network.

SOURCE Full Tilt Logistics
SEATTLE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JND Legal Administration -- A Settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit called Andrews et al. v. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. et al., No. 2:15-cv-04113 (PSG:JEM) (C.D. Cal.).

What is this about?

The lawsuit claims that Plains All American Pipeline L.P. and Plains Pipeline L.P. ("Plains" or "Defendants") caused an underground pipeline to rupture, resulting in an oil spill along the coast in Santa Barbara County on May 19, 2015. The Settlement is on behalf of members of the Fisher Class and Property Class previously certified by this Court. Plaintiffs for the Fisher Class allege the spill caused long term harm to commercial fishing in the affected class blocks, including significant financial losses. Plaintiffs for the Property Class allege that owners and lessees were unable to use and enjoy their properties as a result of the spill because oil washed up onto their properties and onto beaches adjacent to their properties. Plains denies any claims of wrongdoing and disputes all claims. The Settlement, if approved by the Court, will resolve all remaining claims in the class action litigation pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The Fisher Class Settlement is $184 million, and the Property Class Settlement is $46 million, inclusive of attorneys' fees and costs.

The Court has not decided whether Plaintiffs or Defendants should win this Litigation. The Settling Parties do not agree on whether Plaintiffs would have prevailed on any of their claims against Plains, or the amount of damages, if any, that would be recoverable if the Class prevailed on the claims alleged. Instead, both sides agreed to the Settlement after years of contested litigation, including at the motion to dismiss, class certification, and summary judgment stages. The Parties had also completed substantial discovery and were preparing for trial to commence on June 2, 2022.

Who is affected?

You are a Fisher Class Member if you are a person or business who owned or worked on a vessel that was in operation as of May 19, 2015 and that: (1) landed any commercial seafood in California Department of Fish & Wildlife ("CDFW") fishing blocks 654, 655, or 656; or (2) landed any commercial seafood, except groundfish or highly migratory species (as defined by the CDFW and the Pacific Fishery Management Council), in CDFW fishing blocks 651-656, 664-670, 678-686, 701-707, 718-726, 739-746, 760-765, or 806-809; from May 19, 2010 to May 19, 2015, inclusive; or if you are a person or business in operation as of May 19, 2015 who purchased such commercial seafood directly from the Commercial Fishers and re-sold it at the retail or wholesale level. You can find out if you are a Fisher Class Member by going to www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com.

You are a Property Class Member if you owned or leased residential beachfront property or property with a private easement to a beach where oil from the 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill washed up and the oiling was categorized as heavy, moderate, or light. You can find out if your property is included by going to www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com, where a list of properties Plaintiffs claim were impacted is posted.

What does the Settlement provide?

The Settlement, if approved, will result in the creation of two cash settlement funds of $184,000,000 (the "Fisher Class Settlement Amount") and $46,000,000 ("the Property Class Settlement Amount"), together with any interest earned thereon, the "Fisher Class Common Fund" and "Property Class Common Fund," respectively. Each of the common funds less (a) any Taxes and Tax Expenses; (b) any Notice and Administration Expenses; and (c) any attorneys' fees and costs and any service awards to Class Representatives in connection with their representation of the Class, awarded by the Court (the "Net Settlement Funds"), will be distributed to eligible Class Members pursuant to a proposed plan of distribution ("Plan of Distribution"). If you are entitled to relief under the Settlement, the Settlement Administrator will determine your portion of the Net Settlement Fund payable to you pursuant to the Court-approved Plan of Distribution.

Who represents the Class?

The Court has appointed Lieff Cabraser Heimann Bernstein LLP, Keller Rohrback L.L.P., Cappello & Noel LLP, and Audet & Partners, LLP ("Class Counsel") to be the attorneys representing the Class. You will not be charged for these lawyers. Class Counsel will apply to the Court for an award of attorneys' fees in an amount not to exceed 33% of the total Settlement Amount (no more than $60,720,000 from the Fisher Class Settlement Amount and $15,180,000 from the Property Class Settlement Amount). In addition, Class Counsel will apply to the Court for reimbursement of their litigation expenses (in an amount not to exceed $5.2 million from the Fisher Class Settlement Amount and $1.3 million from the Property Class Settlement Amount). If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

What do I need to do to?

If you are a Class Member and you wish to get money from the Settlement, you are required to submit a Claim Form available at www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com, or by calling the toll-free number 1844-202-9486 to request that a hard copy Claim Form be mailed to you. Your Claim Form and, if necessary, any required supporting documentation as set forth therein must be postmarked (if mailed) or submitted online to the address below on or before October 31, 2022.

Plains Oil Spill Settlement

c/o JND Legal Administration

P.O. Box 91450

Seattle, WA 98111

Email: [email protected]

www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com

Telephone: 1844-202-9486

If you are a Class Member you may object or tell the Court what you do not like about the Settlement. You will still be bound by the Settlement, and you may still file a claim. Objections must be served/filed no later than August 19, 2022. Go to www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com for details on how to object to the Settlement. If you are a Class Member and you did not previously opt out of the Class or enter a separate settlement with Plains for which you signed a full release, you are a member of the Class and you will be bound by the release of claims as part of the Settlement. The Fisher Class was first certified on February 28, 2017, and later amended on November 22, 2019. The Property Class was certified on April 17, 2018. You previously had an opportunity exclude yourself from the Fisher Class and the Property Class. If you did not exclude yourself then, you may not exclude yourself now.

What happens next?

The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing on September 16, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, before the Honorable Phillip S. Gutierrez at the United States District Court for the Central District of California, First Street Courthouse, 350 West 1st Street, Courtroom 6A, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90012-4565. At the hearing the Court will determine whether: (1) the Settlement of $184,000,000 for the Fisher Class and $46,000,000 for the Property Class should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate; (2) the Judgment as provided under the Settlement Agreement should be entered; (3) to award Class Counsel attorneys' fees and expenses out of the Fisher and Property Class Common Funds and, if so, in what amount; (4) to award Plaintiffs' service awards (Class Counsel is requesting $15,000 for each of the 14 Class Representatives) in connection with their representation of the Classes out of the Fisher and Property Class Common Funds and, if so, in what amount; and (5) the Plans of Distribution should be approved by the Court.

How do I get more information?

For more details and to print the Settlement Agreement, go to www.PlainsOilSpillSettlement.com. You may also write with questions or notify the Settlement Administrator regarding address changes to Plains Oil Spill Settlement c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 91450, Seattle, WA 98111, email at [email protected] or call the Settlement Administrator at 1844-202-9486.

SOURCE JND Legal Administration
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Influenza Vaccine Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global influenza vaccine market reached a value of US$ 5.9 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 9.1 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.49% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Influenza vaccines, also known as flu shots, provide protection against various types of influenza viruses. They are available in several options, including inactivated influenza vaccine [IIV], recombinant influenza vaccine [RIV], and live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV).

Their effectiveness can vary, depending on the patient's age and health status. Presently, governments of numerous countries have mandated immunization against influenza among children between six months and five years of age. This is escalating the need for influenza vaccines to reduce the high risk of developing severe flu complications and hospitalization among infants around the world.



The rising prevalence of diabetes, cancer, anemia, obesity, immune deficiencies, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), metabolic diseases, kidney disease, neurological disorder, and chronic heart and lung disorders, such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cystic fibrosis, and asthma, is increasing the risk of developing influenza.

This acts as a major factor bolstering the market growth. In addition, children under five years of age are usually at a high risk of complications from high fever, convulsions, and pneumonia. This, in confluence with growing concerns among parents about the well-being of their children, is positively influencing the demand for influenza vaccines.

Moreover, as immune systems decline with age, the rising geriatric population worldwide is catalyzing the demand for influenza vaccines to prevent serious illness, the need for hospitalization, and the possibility of a heart attack. Several vaccines are also available that help boost immune response in adults over sixty-five years. Besides this, health agencies of numerous countries are introducing free seasonal influenza vaccination programs for people of all age groups, which is creating a positive outlook for the market.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca plc, CSL Limited, Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Gamma Vaccines Pty Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co. Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi and SINOVAC.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global influenza vaccine market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global influenza vaccine market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the vaccine type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the age group?

What is the breakup of the market based on the route of administration?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global influenza vaccine market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Influenza Vaccine Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Vaccine Type

6.1 Quadrivalent

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Trivalent

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 Egg-based

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Cell-based

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Age Group

8.1 Pediatric

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Adult

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Route of Administration

9.1 Injection

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Nasal Spray

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis

12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wybkuy

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
LA JOLLA, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- An interracial couple has filed a lawsuit against Fleming's Steakhouse in La Jolla, California, for racial discrimination. Mycheal McKillian and Denise Grimaldo, an African-American and Hispanic couple, allege that Fleming's Steakhouse deliberately served Mr. McKillian, the only African-American customer in the restaurant, an empty plate sprinkled with parsley instead of steak. According to McKillian, the server said: "You're probably used to a loud sizzle with your hot plate, but ours is silent. Enjoy." The bizarre service was followed by a story from the server about how he, at a different establishment, had spilled a drink on a "black guy", but the black guy did not act out. According to the couple, they were dumbfounded and did not know how to respond. According to McKillian: "Words can't express the humiliation I felt. No one should ever have to experience something like that. I can only pray that people can learn to come together and accept each other." According to the couple's attorney, Arthur Kim: "There is way too much racial hostility in our society today. Good people from all races need to affirm that we are brothers and sisters, not each other's enemies. That we are our brother's keeper." McKillian and Grimaldo are are represented by Arthur Kim of Arthur Kim Law Firm in Beverly Hills, California. The case is Mycheal McKillian, et al. v. Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, et al. (San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2022-00026162-CU-CR-CTL).

Empty Plate

Contact: Arthur Kim

Tel. (866) 582-1057

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Arthur Kim Law Firm

Related Links

http://www.arthurkimlaw.com

SOURCE Arthur Kim Law Firm
Confidence gap remains a problematic barrier for many

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. workforce remains on the move with one-fourth of the labor market actively pursuing a career change, according to a new report published by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the technology industry and workforce.

Despite growing economic uncertainty job seekers and employers continue to pursue opportunities. During Q2 U.S. employers deployed more than 15 million job postings, with 1.5 million in tech job roles alone. A net 41% of job seekers view the current employment market as strong or very strong, with 27% rating it about average, according to data from CompTIA's "Job Seeker Trends" research.

Redeploying talent in the U.S. labor market continues to fall short for job seekers and employers alike. Tweet this

"Redeploying talent in the U.S. labor market continues to fall short for job seekers and employers alike," said Todd Thibodeaux, CompTIA president and CEO. "Confidence gaps, career transition gaps and reskilling gaps are not insurmountable barriers but rather opportunities to chart a new course for individuals and the companies that employ them."

Among individuals currently looking for new employment 63% have searched for jobs within their current or most recent career field and 61% have looked at new opportunities in a different career field. The top ten career fields under consideration are:

Sales, Marketing, Retail, Real Estate or Related Hospitality, Food, Travel and Tourism Healthcare or Medical Business, Financial, Accounting, Analyst or Operations Information Technology (IT), Data, Software or Cybersecurity Manufacturing or Production Education, Teaching, or Instruction Personal and Professional Care, Service, or Child Care Transportation, Drivers, or Material Moving Construction, Skilled Trades, Operators, or Architects

Though a majority of job seekers expect to need additional training when transitioning into a new career, a relatively small subset of job seekers reported taking a training class or other instruction (15%). About one in five said they've used career planning tools, skills assessments and related resources to gauge their readiness for a new job.

Regarding technology jobs, a net 55% of current job seekers said that the confidence gap is a factor in their career plans, potentially discouraging them from looking at options in the tech field. These concerns are more prevalent among the 18-34 and 35-44 age segments, and interestingly, slightly higher among those with advanced degrees versus those without a four-year degree.

Gen Z workers have a relatively higher rate of concern around fear of failure in pursuing a tech job (37% vs. 27% for Gen X) and around negative stereotypes of the "tech work culture." Gen X workers express a higher-level confidence gap around pursuing a tech job without a four-year degree (31% vs. 22% for Gen Z), which likely reflects changing practical and philosophical attitudes toward 4-yr degrees among younger cohorts.

The confidence gap is a significant barrier at a time when employers of all sizes and in all industries are looking to hire technology workers. U.S. tech companies have added workers for 19 consecutive months and employers throughout the economy added 160,000 core technology workers in June., according to CompTIA.

Other barriers that deter job seekers from accepting new opportunities regardless of industry include the location of the job and travel or commute time (46% of respondents), "red flags" with the hiring manager or potential co-workers (43%) and a lack of transparency about pay and benefits during the hiring process (43%).

CompTIA's "Job Seeker Trends" is based on a survey of adults in the U.S. labor force encompassing individuals who are currently employed or actively looking for work. Data was weighted to approximate the makeup of the U.S. workforce based on gender, educational attainment, age race and region. The survey was conducted by Morning Consult in mid-June. The full report is available at https://www.comptia.org/content/research/job-seeker-trends/.

About CompTIA

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the estimated 75 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world's economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for unlocking the potential of the tech industry and its workforce. https://www.comptia.org/

Media Contact

Steven Ostrowski

CompTIA

[email protected]

+1 630-678-8468

 CompTIA analysis of employer job posting data from Lightcast.

 CompTIA Tech Jobs Report, July 8, 2022.

SOURCE CompTIA
Nationwide tour "Smarter Lemonade. Sweeter Summer." pops up in select markets promising free lemonade packed with probiotics

CHICAGO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This summer, KeVita, a leading brand of delicious, probiotic sparkling beverages, is putting a modern twist on the beloved classic taste of childhood lemonade with its new line of light and refreshing Sparking Probiotic Lemonades. The delightfully bubbly summertime drinks, available in flavors Classic and Peach, taste delicious, are packed with billions of live probiotics, and are made with organic ingredients and fermented water kefir culture. Each 15.2-ounce serving bottle of KeVita's certified non-alcoholic Sparkling Probiotic Lemonade contains 30 calories or less and 6g of sugar.

KeVita Reimagines a Summer Favorite with New Sparkling Probiotic Lemonades

To celebrate, KeVita Lemonade Stands will be popping up across the country for consumers to have the chance to taste the product as part of a nationwide tour, "Smarter Lemonade. Sweeter Summer." KeVita will delight visitors by giving away more than 50,000 bottles of free lemonade, offering summer-themed giveaways and curating lemonade-themed picnic areas, perfect for lounging and sipping.

Starting this week through National Lemonade Day in late August, KeVita's nationwide tour, "Smarter Lemonade. Sweeter Summer" will visit yoga classes, parks, movie nights, concerts, festivals and more, starting with the following nine cities in July and expanding to more in August.

Albany, New York

New York, New York

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Washington, D.C.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Des Moines, Iowa

Omaha, Nebraska

San Diego, California

"Lemonade is the official flavor of summer, and we love that our new KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Lemonades, packed with probiotics, give people a new reason to enjoy this beloved beverage. Through the "Smarter Lemonade. Sweeter Summer." tour, we're excited to offer people everywhere a delicious new twist on the beloved childhood classic," says Samantha Siegal, Senior Director of Emerging Brands, Tropicana Brands Group.

KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Lemonades are available now nationwide. To find a retailer near you or to attend a local KeVita "Smarter Lemonade. Sweeter Summer." tour stop, visit KeVita.com and follow @KeVitaDrinks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

About Tropicana Brand Group

Tropicana Brands Group brings together an exciting, global portfolio of some of the world's most iconic juice brands including Tropicana, Naked, KeVita, Izze, Dole, Copella, and Punica. Established in 2022 as a joint venture between PAI Partners and PepsiCo, the company aims to promote new growth for its business, opportunities for its people and accelerate a vision to quench the world's thirst for more delight and nourishment. With a global footprint of more than 2,000 associates that spans North America and Europe, we are proud of our industry-leading capabilities in areas that include innovation, R&D, manufacturing, distribution, sales, marketing and nutrition expertise. For more, please visit www.tropicanabrandsgroup.com

Media Contacts:

Hannah Donohue

[email protected]

Sarah Rothe

[email protected]

SOURCE KeVita
Sload, previously KIK's Group President, brings nearly three decades of consumer products leadership experience

Prior CEO Jared Knudson appointed Executive Chairman of Board of Directors

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KIK Consumer Products ("KIK" or the "Company"), a global leader in pool, household cleaning, and automotive products, announced today that Michael Sload has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Sload previously served as KIK's Group President, leading the Company's operating units to record financial performance. Mr. Sload succeeds Jared Knudson, who will become Executive Chairman of KIK's Board of Directors.

Michael Sload

"Over the past few years, KIK has made exceptional progress as we have expanded our product portfolio, broadened our customer base, and significantly grown our revenues to drive profitability," said Mr. Knudson, who was named CEO in 2018. "Michael's wealth of relevant consumer products experience and demonstrated ability to drive sales growth and create value for our stakeholders make him ideally suited to lead KIK's next chapter of successful growth."

Since 2018, KIK has executed numerous organic and inorganic growth initiatives to become one of North America's largest independent consumer products marketers and manufacturers. The Company has expanded in the high-value natural pool treatment category, integrated a large portfolio of acquisitions, divested its contract manufacturing business, and is closing in on the completion of its flagship, state-of-the-art pool products facility. With sales of approximately $2 billion, today KIK has a global team of more than 2,500 employees, operates a portfolio of over 20 leading brands, and manufactures its products at over 20 facilities across North America.

"I am delighted at the opportunity to lead KIK as CEO," said Mr. Sload. "In recent years, KIK has successfully navigated a very dynamic environment, bringing consumers high-quality products while protecting our position with customers as a partner of choice. Moving ahead, our mission will not change. I look forward to working with our entire team as we continue building a leading consumer products company."

Steve Silver, a member of KIK's Board of Directors and Senior Managing Director at Centerbridge Partners, KIK's lead investor since 2015, said: "We want to thank Jared for leading the highly successful revitalization of KIK and making the Company into the growing and profitable organization it is today. We are delighted that Jared will continue his involvement as Executive Chairman and believe that KIK is well-positioned for further success under Michael's leadership as CEO."

About Michael Sload

Mr. Sload is a consumer products global executive with more than 30 years of general management and marketing leadership. He joined KIK in 2019 as Auto President and was promoted to Group President in 2020, where he was responsible for leading KIK's Pool, Household, and Automotive businesses and associated manufacturing organizations.

Previously, Mr. Sload spent 24 years at Colgate Palmolive where his last assignment was leading the company's worldwide Personal Care business. Before then, he was responsible for Colgate's businesses in the UK and Nordics and led all marketing in Latin America and the U.S. He began his career in consumer products at Nestle Food. Mr. Sload has also been Executive Vice President of Brand Marketing at Mastercard, with direct responsibility for brand strategy, advertising, digital marketing, insights and analytics, among other areas.

Mr. Sload received his MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth where he has served on the MBA Advisory Board. He also has an undergraduate degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

About KIK Consumer Products

Since 1993, KIK has successfully grown from a single-plant operator in store-branded (private label) bleach to the leading North American independent marketer and manufacturer in household cleaning products and a global leader in pool and spa treatment and automotive products, with brands including Bioguard, Clorox Pool and Spa (under license), Prestone, Spic and Span, and Comet. In entering these segments, KIK capitalized on an opportunity to leverage its core manufacturing and marketing competencies to drive scale in fragmented industries. KIK has transformed its businesses through a combination of organic growth initiatives and strategic add-on acquisitions and has continued to experience strong growth in all categories. For more information, visit www.kikcorp.com.

Media Contacts

Jeremy Fielding / Daniel Hoadley

Kekst CNC

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE KIK Consumer Products
VALLETTA, Malta, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindred Group will host a Capital Markets Day on 14 September in London. At the event, CEO Henrik Tjarnstrom and CFO Johan Wilsby will be joined by members of the executive leadership team and key managers to provide a detailed update of Kindred's strategic direction, operations and financial performance.

Kindred Group plc (Kindred) is pleased to invite investors, financial analysts, and media to a Capital Markets Day in London on 14 September 2022. The day starts at 11:00 BST and is expected to conclude at 17:00 BST, followed by an informal opportunity to meet with Kindred's management team.

During the day, Kindred management will present Kindred's strategic direction, the company's markets, products, and financial performance. All presentations will be held in English and the event will include audience Q&A.

Information about the day and the registration, can be found here. Please note that there is a limited number of seats available at the event, mainly for institutional investors and financial analysts.

The event will not be live streamed but videos from the day and the presentation will be available afterwards here.

CONTACT:

For more information:

Patrick Kortman, Director - Corporate Development & Investor Relations, +46 723 877 438

Linda Lyth, Investor Relations Manager, +46 767 681 337

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/kindred-group-hosts-a-capital-markets-day-on-14-september-2022,c3600827

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/824/3600827/1604043.pdf Press release - Invitation to Kindred CMD 14 Sep 2022 https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/i/kindred-,c3070481 Kindred

SOURCE Kindred Group
As hospitals compete more fiercely to deliver high-quality treatment, there is a significant demand for these systems since it streamlines systematic documentation, minimized the possibility of error in producing clinical test reports, & paperwork





Due to higher disposable income and rising public healthcare spending, the Asia Pacific market is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period

WILMINGTON, Del., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The value of the global laboratory information systems market size stood at US$ 2.2 Bn in 2021. The global market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% from 2022 to 2031. The laboratory information systems market statistics is estimated to attain valuation surpassing US$ 4.9 Bn by 2031. The increase in demand for lab automation and technical developments in laboratory information systems solutions are likely to widen scope for laboratory information systems. Besides, widespread use of these systems in hospitals is also likely to support future market demand for laboratory information systems.

Since there are more life-threatening illnesses now than there were a few years back, more samples are being produced for study and analysis. Concerns have been expressed about the purity of samples and their handling. By providing relevant biospecimen to end-users, such as clinics and hospitals, laboratory information systems are crucial in promoting scientific findings.

The requirement for compliance with regulations, increase in laboratory automation, higher R&D spending, and technical developments in laboratory information systems are expected to drive the global laboratory information systems market. Growing need for cloud-based solutions to manage laboratory data is another important driver for this market. Data storage using cloud-based solutions is dependable, flexible, and safe, which is likely to present lucrative growth opportunities for the leading players in the laboratory information systems market.

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Key Findings of Market Report

Emergence of lab automation and upgrades in R&D laboratories, particularly in biotechnology and pharmaceutical labs, are likely to drive adoption of laboratory information systems. When performing repeated activities like moving plates and pipetting, lab automation decreases human error. It shows significant improvement as well. The market for laboratory information systems is also being driven by the high efficacy of laboratory informatics solutions.

Widespread use of these systems in hospitals is estimated to boost the global market. Besides, the need for these systems is also being driven by growing access to cutting-edge medical treatment in hospitals. Lean workforce structure and better management of cost can be credited for the increase in hospital patients' accessibility to sophisticated medical treatment. Additionally, the demand for automated clinical testing to get data more quickly and reduced likelihood of management interruption for software deployment are anticipated to fuel the segment's growth.

With a revenue share of more than 65 % in 2021, the cloud-based segment led the global market depending on delivery mode. Data is accessible from several places, numerous systems, and numerous branches in a cloud-based system. Besides, the segment is also being driven by a reduction in IT staff, economical data management, and simple implementation.

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Global Laboratory Information Systems Market: Growth Drivers

Through a number of initiatives, governments encourage the use of IT products and services in the healthcare industry. The necessity to reduce escalating healthcare expenses is also anticipated to fuel expansion of the global laboratory information systems market in the years to come.

The highest revenue share in 2021 belonged to North America, which made up over 35% of the global market. The adoption of various analytical solutions across sectors is being fueled by a well-developed infrastructure and a rise in the use of digitalized technology across North America is likely to drive the region.

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Global Laboratory Information Systems Market: Key Players

Some of the key market players are

Labvantage Solutions, Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

STARLIMS Corporation

Sunquest Information Systems, Inc.

CompuGroup Medical

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Global Laboratory Information Systems Market: Segmentation

Component

Software

Services

Delivery Mode

On-premises

Cloud-based

End Use

Diagnostic Laboratories

Hospitals & Clinics

Others

Modernization of healthcare in terms of both infrastructure and services have pushed the healthcare industry to new heights, Stay Updated with Latest Healthcare Research Reports by Transparency Market Research:

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
ORLANDO, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MCAP Inc. (OTC: MCAP), a financial technology company and electronic securities market maker, today announced the appointment of Peter Baksh, CFA, to the Board of Directors. Mr. Baksh will serve as an independent director and will be a member of the Audit Committee.

Mr. Baksh is currently the Chief Investment Officer at the First National Bank of Mount Dora. He received his MBA from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and BBA from the University of Florida. Mr. Baksh holds the CFA Charter and has served as a Board Member for the CFA Society of Orlando.

David Menn, MCAP's Chairman of the Board and CEO, stated: "I have known Pete for almost a decade and he is a recognized leader in the financial services industry. He has extensive experience in the securities markets, investing and market structure. I look forward to benefiting from his insights on the Board."

MCAP Inc. operates as a financial technology company. The company has three subsidiaries: MCAP Technologies LLC, MBIT LLC, and MCAP LLC. MCAP Technologies LLC develops financial technology software utilized in various global financial markets. MBIT LLC is a digital asset company focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain integration in the global financial markets. MCAP LLC is a U.S. based broker-dealer focused on electronic securities market making. MCAP LLC connects institutional investors, broker-dealers and companies to the global equity and fixed income markets on a 24/7 basis. MCAP focuses on developing technologies to provide customers with customized trading solutions and unique market access.

Please visit our website: www.mcaptech.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. The matters discussed in this news release involve goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE MCAP Inc.
XI'AN, China, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On 11th July 2022, Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism will kick off its online event "Planet of Fantasy" on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, inviting fans to meet in space in the name of planets.

Jingbian Wave Valley, located in Longzhou Town, southeast of Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province. The breathtakingly beautiful landscape gives you a feeling of exploring an alien planet.

During this event, tourists will receive a spaceship ticket for "Star Travel" issued by Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. This spaceship will take tourists to the scenic spots in Shaanxi that are the wonderful works of the great nature. These geographical spectacles on the vast land of Shaanxi will make you feel as if tourists were on alien planets.

Shaanxi is located on the Loess Plateau of China, which has bred the unique loess culture, the "cave dwellings" representative of Shaanxi, as well as folk literature and art represented by folk songs in China's Northwest and Ansai Waist Drum. In Shaanxi, tourists can appreciate the dignified terracotta warriors in Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum and the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River, listen to the ancient Qinqiang Opera of China, taste the delicious Chinese hamburgers, visit the charmingly naive pandas, and have a glimpse of the glorious culture of the Tang Dynasty in Xi'an.

This "Planet of Fantasy" event will show overseas tourists the natural landscapes unique to Shaanxi. The first stop of this "Star Travel" is the Jingbian Wave Valley. The red sandstone and the Danxia landform will make you feel like you were on Mars. Our second stop is the Guanshan Grassland. Away from the crowded downtown, tourists can see the Milky Way here and feel as if you were floating in the brilliant outer space. The third stop is the Hukou Waterfall. It will feel like you were on the Moon when surrounded by the cloud of fine spray that came up from the waterfall during the flood season. At the end of the event, Shaanxi's "Star Travel" video will be officially released to demonstrate the "alien" charm of Shaanxi in a more direct sense.

This event will last for 9 days. Tourists can follow the home pages of "Visit Shaanxi" on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to participate in the event. We will draw lucky fans from those who leave messages under our posts and send gifts to them.

SOURCE Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism
Adoption of Bloomberg's comprehensive sanctions dataset and DL+ data management solution will support M&G's trade compliance and portfolio risk management

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg today announced that M&G Investments, part of M&G plc  a leader in savings and investments, has selected Bloomberg as its sanctions data provider to support confident compliance decision-making and portfolio and risk management.

Through the adoption of Bloomberg's sanctions data solution, M&G Investments will have access to Bloomberg Enterprise Data's comprehensive dataset of legal entities and financial instruments identified by Bloomberg as being potentially impacted by sanctions and process it through Data License Plus (DL+), Bloomberg's data management offering. Bloomberg's solution provides high-quality data that is detailed, verified, and can be integrated into M&G Investments' existing workflows and systems. The solution simplifies and supports pre-trade compliance with sanctions regulations, as well as portfolio monitoring and counterparty risk.

"In today's global marketplace, firms must effectively navigate complex sanctions regimes in order to avoid significant penalties, however a lack of transparency into entities and securities that may be impacted by sanctions, combined with constantly changing regulations, make it challenging to comply," said Brad Foster, Global Head of Enterprise Data Content at Bloomberg. "Using Bloomberg's sanctions data solution and integrating it into relevant workflows will provide M&G Investments with greater data and information to support its compliance and risk management decisions throughout their pre- and post-trade workflow."

Bloomberg's sanctions data solution monitors sanctions across 10 global jurisdictions -- the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, United Nations, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The solution uses Bloomberg's corporate hierarchy database and a sophisticated rules engine in order to identify entities that are explicitly and implicitly sanctioned, as well as instruments issued by such entities.

"One of our greatest investment compliance hurdles has been to implement a robust trade screening process that not only blocks unauthorized securities trading, but also alerts us in a timely fashion when a security that is held is impacted by sanctions," said Valeria Locatelli on behalf of M&G plc. "Bloomberg's solution provides, manages and integrates sanctions data regarding financial instruments so we can meet regulatory requirements without a heavy operational burden."

This announcement marks the latest in Bloomberg's continued partnership with M&G Investments, which engaged the full suite of services offered by Bloomberg Data Management Services (DMS) including its ESG Data Feed Management product.

Data License Plus, launched in May 2020, is a managed service that aggregates a client's Bloomberg data into a single dataset, enabling users to explore and interact with Data License data through a web-based user interface. DL+ also enhances the client experience by making the data more accessible, transparent, and usable throughout the enterprise while reducing processing efforts. To find out more information on DL+, please visit https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/product/data-license/.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration.

For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

Disclaimer

The information contained herein and any related data provided by Bloomberg is not and should not be construed as tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice or opinions, or sufficient to satisfy any tax, accounting, legal or regulatory requirements. Users are solely responsible for the selection and use of appropriate parameters, inputs, models, formulas and data for meeting their tax, accounting, legal or regulatory requirements.

SOURCE Bloomberg
Global survey of 350 recruiters and talent acquisition/HR professionals reveals the key strategies, activities, and technologies driving talent attraction and sourcing success.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clinch, a company that helps recruiting teams deliver authentic candidate experiences from first engagement to application, and Talent Board, a nonprofit candidate experience benchmark research organization, today released their joint research report, Developing a High-Quality Candidate Pipeline in 2022 , based on a global survey of 350 recruiters and TA/HR professionals.

Clinch and Talent Board Research.

The report sheds light on the specific strategies, activities, and technologies that are driving TA teams' success in engaging top-tier talent, particularly during the critical Attraction and Pre-Application stages of the recruiting process.

Among the report's key findings:

Top Talent Attraction & Sourcing Challenges: "Candidates accepting other offers," tops the list, cited by 44% of respondents. This is followed by "candidate diversity" (33%); "candidate ghosting" and "finding worthwhile sourcing channels/partners" (both at 32%); and "engaging passive talent" (31%).





"Candidates accepting other offers," tops the list, cited by 44% of respondents. This is followed by "candidate diversity" (33%); "candidate ghosting" and "finding worthwhile sourcing channels/partners" (both at 32%); and "engaging passive talent" (31%). Top Proactive Outbound Sourcing Activities: "LinkedIn messages" and "sourcing external databases" are respondents' top proactive outbound sourcing activities at 44% and 41%, respectively. Following these are "sourcing internal databases" (36%), and "headhunting" and "building talent communities" (both at 33%). 10% of respondents employ no outbound recruiting activities at all.





"LinkedIn messages" and "sourcing external databases" are respondents' top proactive outbound sourcing activities at 44% and 41%, respectively. Following these are "sourcing internal databases" (36%), and "headhunting" and "building talent communities" (both at 33%). 10% of respondents employ no outbound recruiting activities at all. The Positive Impact of Outbound Sourcing: 43% of respondents said outbound sourcing strategies positively impacted their "candidate quality." Other key performance indicators (KPIs) improved by outbound sourcing strategies are "hiring manager satisfaction with candidates" (36%); "quality of hire" (35%); "time to present potential candidates to hiring managers" (29%); and "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (28%).

The survey also delved into TA teams' key priorities in the next 12 months, the proportion of candidates and new hires attributable to outbound recruiting, specific drivers of hiring manager satisfaction, and activities used to supplement outbound recruiting, among other topics.

"Overall, we found from this research that proactive sourcing strategies and recruiting technologies are driving attraction and sourcing success and satisfaction," said Kevin Grossman, Talent Board president. "Specifically, technologies such as recruitment marketing platforms, candidate relationship management systems, and employee generated content platforms are the ones driving higher candidate attracting and sourcing satisfaction."

"In the tight talent market, it's critical that talent teams provide a unique and differentiated employer brand and candidate experience to attract top talent into their pipelines," said Fiona Moreton, Clinch Recruitment Marketing vice president. "Making connections directly between candidates and brand ambassadors is an overlooked strategy that helps build authentic, transparent candidate experiences and helps to ensure companies are hiring the best fit talent. We were excited to see this strategy as one being prioritized in 2022. We see many of our customers successfully using employee generated content to build stronger connections between candidates and brand ambassadors," says Fiona Moreton, VP Recruitment Marketing, Clinch.

The full survey report is available to download here .

About Clinch

Clinch takes pride in revolutionizing the way companies attract, nurture and convert high quality talent into leads and successful hires both externally and internally. Clinch Recruitment Marketing is an "out of the box" solution that allows recruitment teams to do more with less effort, delivering high quality candidate experiences from first engagement, right through to application. It combines intelligent career sites with an easy-to-use content management system, marketing automation for nurture campaign communications and workflows and candidate relationship management tools to build critical talent pipelines. Underpinned by industry-leading marketing analytics that delivers actionable insights into which channels, content, and talent networks demonstrate the best return on investment. A company of PageUp, Clinch's offices are in New York, Dublin, London, Singapore, Paris, Sydney and Melbourne. For more information go to https://www.clinchtalent.com/ .

About Talent Board

Founded in 2011, Talent Board and the Candidate Experience Awards is the first non-profit research organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. Talent Board delivers annual recruiting and hiring industry benchmark research that highlights accountability, fairness and the business impact of candidate experience. More information can be found at https://www.thetalentboard.org .

Media Contact:

Kevin Grossman

831.419.6810

[email protected]

SOURCE Talent Board
Newcomers to NNN real estate continue to pay too much for lackluster assets at risk of losing their retail tenants; they need to stop relying on online listing info and instead weigh critical locational characteristics to avoid such blunders, advises Richard J. Brunelli

OLD BRIDGE, N.J., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inexperienced investors are running unnecessary risks as they bail on the stock market and flock to single-tenant, triple-net-lease properties, cautions Richard J. Brunelli, Chairman and Principal of R.J. Brunelli & Co., LLC (RJBCO), in an "Investment Strategies" column for WealthManagement.com.

Richard J. Brunelli

Newbies' overreliance on Internet listings is a big part of the problem, notes the veteran of retail real estate brokerage and investing, who founded Old Bridge, N.J.-based RJBCO in 1976. "All too often, they are buying properties based on prominent selling points in those online listingsprice, credit, cap rate, rental levels and length of lease termand failing to properly weigh critically important locational characteristics," he writes.

Brunelli's July 5 column ("Newbies are Running Risks as They Flock to Triple-Net-Lease Assets") is a deep dive into the dangers of ignoring those locational characteristics when pulling the trigger on buildings tenanted by the likes of Family Dollar, Walgreens. and Dollar General.

For starters, many newcomers fail to appreciate the dangers associated with tenants vacating buildings once their lease-renewal dates come up. It is troubling, Brunelli writes, that inexperienced investors are buying triple-net-lease properties at low cap rates despite these assets having five years or less of remaining term on the lease. "Assuming that a tenant with a looming lease-renewal date will stay forever is a rookie mistake," he warns.

Online listings may not reveal undesirable locational characteristics such as difficult ingress and egress, poor visibility, sluggish vehicular traffic and changing demographics. These and other red flags may cause a retail chain to exercise its option to vacate that building in search of a more productive location. "Smart retail chains shutter anywhere from 5 to 10 percent of their least-productive stores every year," Brunelli observes.

In the 1,500-word piece, he also shares his 10-point rating system for evaluating another critical locational characteristic site access. If a single-tenant, triple-net-leased building is on a corner at a traffic light, and customers can make a right in and a left out on both streets, it rates 10 out of 10, Brunelli writes.

The worst-case scenario? Single-tenant buildings on divided highways that require a shopper to drive past the site and make a U-turn to gain access. "Here the rating could range from zero to four based on how far people have to drive before they can whip the car around."

Retail investors also need to better understand potential sources of competition and cannibalization. Earlier this year, Brunelli recounts, a triple-net investor was looking to buy a new dollar store site on a busy retail corridor in Florida. When the investor learned that a dollar store of the same brand was just a quarter of a mile away, he almost balked.

The newer store on the investor's radar screen had extraordinarily strong locational characteristics. The second, older dollar store was buried in the back of a sleepy strip center. "While having two stores located practically on top of each other might seem like a sign of problematic cannibalization, the locational characteristics told another storywith its poor visibility, traffic and access, that older store was headed for the chopping block," Brunelli writes.

And so the deal made sense after all.

Lastly, Brunelli encourages investors to pay attention to how well tenants are maintaining their properties. An online listing may not adequately reveal chronic problems with potholes, oil stains, parking lot striping , on-site trash and the like. "[L]enders require that such maintenance work be performed in a timely manner on properties which they hold as collateral," Brunelli explains. "If not, there may be adverse financial consequences to the property owner in the loan agreement."

While the column is full of warnings, it was not meant to discourage high-net-worth individuals from diving into triple-net investing, Brunelli notes. "These deals are popular for a reason: When rooted in a solid understanding of real estate risks and fundamentals, they yield healthy returnseven as bubbles in other parts of the economy are bursting all around them."

To access RJBCO's proprietary Retail Location Evaluation Checklist, go to:

https://rjbrunelli.com/retail-location-evaluation-checklist/

To read the full article:

https://www.wealthmanagement.com/net-lease/newbies-are-running-risks-they-flock-triple-net-lease-assets

Media Contacts: At Jaffe Communications, Elisa Krantz, (908) 789-0700, [email protected]

Note to Media: Richard J. Brunelli is available as a resource for your coverage of Triple-Net-Lease Properties.

SOURCE R.J. Brunelli & Co.
Twenty-fifth year provides opportunity to celebrate, reflect and look forward

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OST, a Midwest-based digital and IT consultancy, is celebrating 25 years of impact, driving value for market leaders. Over 25 years, small ripples have grown to be significant waves of impact. For each connection, solution, relationship and friendship we've built over the years, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve.

OST, a Midwest-based digital and IT consultancy, is celebrating 25 years of impact, driving value for market leaders.

"For 25 years, OST has walked alongside clients as a transformational partner to architect, build and manage how and where technology runs," said OST President and CEO Meredith Bronk. "This influence carries ripples of impact across the lives of our clients, their customers, our teams and an entire culture of people through the Koniag shareholders. This year, we are pausing to reflect on where we started, celebrate how far we've come and dream of what good we can do next."

OST brings cross-functional knowledge and experience in a broad range of services from the cloud and data center to digital product development to advisory consulting to enable customers' success. OST impacts organizations who are the best at what they do by helping them transform their organization around technology in this rapidly changing world.

Founded in 1997, OST has grown from three to 350 employees with offices in Grand Rapids, Minneapolis and Detroit as well as global reach. As an employee-first organization, OST employees are guided by five principles: honor, delight, serve, embrace and learn.

"We exist to provide a sustainable, employee-first business where people who do what we do can thrive and contribute to a collective, shared impact on the world," Bronk said. "I believe in the collective impact of empowered individuals rallied around a shared purpose," Bronk said. "That's what gets me out of bed every day."

OST is proud to partner with community organizations including long-established partnerships in Grand Rapids, Detroit and Minneapolis. OST and its employees have made contributions to causes including children's food security, diversity in IT and access to STEAM education. In 2012, OST was purchased by Koniag, an Alaskan Native corporation. The work done by OST positively impacts the day to day lives of Koniag Shareholders, Descendants, employees, customers and business partners.

Forward has always been OST's path. A 25th anniversary is about celebration, reflection and dreaming about what the next 25 years will bring for our employees, our clients and the impact we can have on our world, together.

About OST

OST is an integrated, cross-functional business technology firm bringing together strategy and insights, digital experiences, connected products, data center transformation and enterprise managed services as we work alongside clients to optimize and grow their businesses. OST has offices in Michigan and Minnesota with teammates across the nation. Our customers include organizations ranging from startups to global Fortune 500 companies. With an employee-first culture driving our success, OST has been recognized for excellence, including in Inc. Magazine's 5,000's Fastest Growing Private Companies, in CRN's Tech Elite 250 and as a National Best and Brightest Company to Work For.

SOURCE OST
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Home Fitness Products Market (2022-2027) by Type, Channels, End-Users, Price Point, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Home Fitness Products Market is estimated to be USD 11.29 Bn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 19.57 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.63%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Home Fitness Products Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Adidas, Amer Sports, Brunswick, Chattanooga, Corepump, Cybex International, Fitness World, Fitnessathome, HOIST Fitness System, Icon Health & Fitness, Johnson Health Tech, JTX Fitness, Keiser, Life Fitness, Louis Vuitton, Nautilus, NOHrD & WaterRower International, NordicTrack, Octane Fitness, Peloton, Pent, Precor, Proform, Star Trac, Technogym, Tonal, TRUE Fitness Technology, Vectra Fitness, WOODWAY, York Barbell, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Home Fitness Products Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.

The report analyses the Global Home Fitness Products Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.

Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.

Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Home Fitness Products Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Prevalence of Obesity

4.1.2 Government Initiatives to Promote Healthy Lifestyle

4.1.3 Sedentary lifestyles and hectic schedules led to the adoption of home fitness equipment

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 High Cost of Equipment

4.2.2 Alternatives to Home Workout

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Development of Multipurpose Equipment and Connected Fitness Device Technology

4.3.2 Increasing Disposable Income in Emerging Economies

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Limited Space and Maintenance



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Home Fitness Products Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Accessories

6.2.1 Foam Roller

6.2.2 Weighted Jump Rope

6.2.3 Yoga Mat

6.3 Cardiovascular Training Equipment

6.3.1 Air Bike

6.3.2 Elliptical Machines

6.3.3 Punching Bag

6.3.4 Rowing Machine

6.3.5 Treadmill

6.4 Strength Training Equipment

6.4.1 Ab Wheel

6.4.2 Adjustable Dumbbells

6.4.3 Adjustable Kettlebell

6.5 Medicine Ball

6.5.1 Mini Resistance Bands

6.5.2 Mini Resistance Bands

6.5.3 Weight-lifting Bench



7 Global Home Fitness Products Market, By Channels

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Dealers

7.3 Online

7.3.1 Direct distribution

7.3.2 Third-party retailers

7.4 Retail

7.4.1 Mass retailer

7.4.2 Specialty retailer

7.4.3 Gyms/clubs



8 Global Home Fitness Products Market, By End-Users

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Households

8.3 Apartment

8.4 Gym in Apartment



9 Global Home Fitness Products Market, By Price Point

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Low

9.3 Mid

9.4 Luxury



10 Americas' Home Fitness Products Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Argentina

10.3 Brazil

10.4 Canada

10.5 Chile

10.6 Colombia

10.7 Mexico

10.8 Peru

10.9 United States

10.10 Rest of Americas



11 Europe's Home Fitness Products Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Austria

11.3 Belgium

11.4 Denmark

11.5 Finland

11.6 France

11.7 Germany

11.8 Italy

11.9 Netherlands

11.10 Norway

11.11 Poland

11.12 Russia

11.13 Spain

11.14 Sweden

11.15 Switzerland

11.16 United Kingdom

11.17 Rest of Europe



12 Middle East and Africa's Home Fitness Products Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Egypt

12.3 Israel

12.4 Qatar

12.5 Saudi Arabia

12.6 South Africa

12.7 United Arab Emirates

12.8 Rest of MEA



13 APAC's Home Fitness Products Market

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Australia

13.3 Bangladesh

13.4 China

13.5 India

13.6 Indonesia

13.7 Japan

13.8 Malaysia

13.9 Philippines

13.10 Singapore

13.11 South Korea

13.12 Sri Lanka

13.13 Thailand

13.14 Taiwan

13.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Competitive Quadrant

14.2 Market Share Analysis

14.3 Strategic Initiatives

14.3.1 M&A and Investments

14.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

14.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



15 Company Profiles

15.1 Adidas

15.2 Amer Sports

15.3 Brunswick

15.4 Chattanooga

15.5 Corepump

15.6 Cybex International

15.7 Fitness World

15.8 Fitnessathome

15.9 HOIST Fitness System

15.10 Icon Health & Fitness

15.11 Johnson Health Tech

15.12 JTX Fitness

15.13 Keiser

15.14 Life Fitness

15.15 Louis Vuitton

15.16 Nautilus

15.17 NOHrD & WaterRower International

15.18 NordicTrack

15.19 Octane Fitness

15.20 Peloton

15.21 Pent

15.22 Precor

15.23 Proform

15.24 Star Trac

15.25 Technogym

15.26 Tonal

15.27 TRUE Fitness Technology

15.28 Vectra Fitness

15.29 WOODWAY

15.30 York Barbell



16 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dxdu3u

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Microscope Market (2022-2027) by Product, Type, Application, End User, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Microscope Market is estimated to be USD 10.84 Bn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 22.91 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 16.14%.

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Microscope Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.

As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Accu-Scope, Angstrom Advanced, Asylum Corp., Bruker Corp., etc.

Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.

Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Microscope Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.

The report analyses the Global Microscope Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.

Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.

Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Microscope Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Soaring Demand for Cancer and Neuroscience Surgical Procedures

4.1.2 Growth in Focus on Regenerative Medicine and Nanotechnology

4.1.3 Increase in Penetration of Electron Microscopy

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 High Cost of Advanced Microscopes and Software Subscriptions

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Growing Application Areas of Microscopy

4.3.2 Integration of Microscopy with Spectroscopy

4.3.3 Growth Opportunities in Emerging Markets

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Complexities and Lack of Skilled Professionals for Handling Microscopes

4.4.2 Availability of Open-Source Microscopy Software



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Microscope Market, By Product

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Microscopes

6.3 Software

6.4 Accessories



7 Global Microscope Market, By Type

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Optical Microscopes

7.2.1 Confocal Microscopes

7.2.2 Stereo Microscopes

7.2.3 Digital Microscopes

7.2.4 Compound Microscopes

7.3 Electron Microscopes

7.3.1 Scanning Electron Microscopes

7.3.2 Transmission Electron Microscopes

7.4 Scanning Probe Microscopes

7.4.1 Atomic Force Micros



8 Global Microscope Market, By Application

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Semiconductor Application

8.3 Life Science Application

8.4 Materials Science Application



9 Global Microscope Market, By End User

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Construction

9.3 Food Processing

9.4 General Manufacturing

9.5 Healthcare

9.6 Semiconductor & Microelectronics

9.7 Academic & Research Institutes



10 Americas' Microscope Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Argentina

10.3 Brazil

10.4 Canada

10.5 Chile

10.6 Colombia

10.7 Mexico

10.8 Peru

10.9 United States

10.10 Rest of Americas



11 Europe's Microscope Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Austria

11.3 Belgium

11.4 Denmark

11.5 Finland

11.6 France

11.7 Germany

11.8 Italy

11.9 Netherlands

11.10 Norway

11.11 Poland

11.12 Russia

11.13 Spain

11.14 Sweden

11.15 Switzerland

11.16 United Kingdom

11.17 Rest of Europe



12 Middle East and Africa's Microscope Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Egypt

12.3 Israel

12.4 Qatar

12.5 Saudi Arabia

12.6 South Africa

12.7 United Arab Emirates

12.8 Rest of MEA



13 APAC's Microscope Market

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Australia

13.3 Bangladesh

13.4 China

13.5 India

13.6 Indonesia

13.7 Japan

13.8 Malaysia

13.9 Philippines

13.10 Singapore

13.11 South Korea

13.12 Sri Lanka

13.13 Thailand

13.14 Taiwan

13.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Competitive Quadrant

14.2 Market Share Analysis

14.3 Strategic Initiatives

14.3.1 M&A and Investments

14.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

14.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



15 Company Profiles

15.1 Accu-Scope

15.2 Angstrom Advanced

15.3 Asylum Corp.

15.4 Bruker Corp.

15.5 Cameca

15.6 Carl Zeiss Meditec

15.7 Danaher

15.8 Helmut Hund

15.9 Hitachi High-Tech

15.10 Horiba

15.11 JEOL

15.12 Keyence

15.13 Labomed

15.14 Leica Microsystems

15.15 Meiji Techno

15.16 Motic

15.17 Nikon

15.18 NT-MDT SI

15.19 Olympus

15.20 Optika Microscopes

15.21 Semilab

15.22 Tescan Orsay Holding

15.23 Thermo Fisher Scientific

15.24 Vision Engineering

15.25 WiTec



16 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2rz4uh

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
SAN FRANCISO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Energy) announced it has been named one of The San Francisco Chronicle's Top Workplaces in the Bay Area for 2022 and was awarded the highest ranking for a renewable energy company.

"We're honored to be the top renewable energy company in The San Francisco Chronicle's Top Workplaces in the Bay Area," said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy. "We are committed to our employees and to making Pattern the best renewable company at which to work. This means listening to our employees, embracing diversity in all forms, creating an environment of creativity, working together, and having fun as we develop pioneering renewable energy projects. We thank our dedicated employees, who are passionate about our mission  to transition the world to renewable energy."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Top Workplaces in the Bay Area competition honors the best workplaces in the Bay Area, as recognized by their employees. The San Francisco Chronicle, together with Energage, polled over 21,000 workers from 210 organizations across the region and tallied the results to name and rank the top workplaces. The anonymous survey measures more than a dozen culture drivers critical to an organization's success including alignment, execution, and connection.

Those interested in learning more about career opportunities with Pattern Energy should visit www.patternenergy.com/careers.

About Pattern Energy

Pattern Energy is one of the world's largest privately-owned developers and operators of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects. Its operational portfolio includes 35 renewable energy facilities that use proven, best-in-class technology with an operating capacity of nearly 6,000 MW in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Mexico. Pattern Energy is guided by a long-term commitment to serve customers, protect the environment, and strengthen communities. For more information, visit patternenergy.com.

Contact:

Matt Dallas

Pattern Energy

917-363-1333

[email protected]

SOURCE Pattern Energy Group LP
California-based agency to complement customer service, industry knowledge and culture of PCF

LEHI, Utah, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PCF Insurance Services (PCF), a top 20 U.S. insurance brokerage firm, announced today its acquisition of Andreini & Company, a full-service insurance agency based in San Mateo, California.

Sherman & Company advised the Andreini team on the transaction.

Hear more from Peter C. Foy on this acquisition Peter C. Foy, Michael Colzani

Founded in 1951, Andreini & Company offers a complete spectrum of insurance products and solutions, with specialized expertise in industry niches such as agriculture, aviation, transportation, oil & gas, equine mortality, and more.

"We are thrilled to welcome Andreini & Company and its team to the PCF family," said Peter C. Foy, Chairman, Founder and CEO of PCF Insurance. "The Andreini team has a notable history and stellar reputation within the industries and geographies it serves and possesses an entrepreneurial mindset that is reflective of their success. They bring a breadth of industry specializations, such as petroleum and agriculture, that will be beneficial to other agencies in the broad PCF network."

PCF Insurance intentionally selects Agency Partners who independently emulate the high-growth PCF business strategy, possess a proven track record of success, are highly entrepreneurial, and are looking to rise above their current watermark.

"PCF and Peter are like us  a people-centric, family company dedicated to supporting our customers while striving for growth," said Michael Colzani, Executive Vice President of Andreini & Company. "We're confident this partnership will provide a pathway to long-term success through operational resources, new growth opportunities, and a network of knowledgeable colleagues."

About Andreini & Company

Andreini & Company is a full-service insurance brokerage offering a complete spectrum of insurance products and solutions, with specialized expertise in industry niches that include agriculture, transportation, oil & gas, equine mortality and more. Founded in 1951 by John Andreini, Andreini & Company remains one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the United States, with over 200 insurance professionals and 15 offices throughout the United States. Learn more at andreini.com.

About Sherman & Company

Established in 2004, Sherman & Company is an investment banking firm dedicated to the convergence of the insurance, healthcare, technology, and asset management industries. Learn more at sherman-company.com.

About PCF Insurance Services

Headquartered in Lehi, Utah, PCF Insurance Services is a leading full-service consultant and insurance brokerage firm offering a broad array of commercial, life and health, employee benefits, and workers' compensation solutions. A top 20 U.S. broker, PCF Insurance's agency-centric operating model and entrepreneurial environment support its tremendous growth profile, offering partners alignment through equity ownership, significant leadership incentives, and resources to over 2,000 employees throughout the U.S. Learn more at pcfins.com.

SOURCE PCF Insurance Services
Targeting $300 Million of Capital Deployment in the Permian Basin

HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pickering Energy Partners (PEP), a Houston-based energy financial services and investment firm, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with a large institutional investor to acquire and develop Permian Basin oil and gas interests alongside premier operators (PEP Development). Over the next two years, PEP Development will focus on deploying at least $300 million of equity capital alongside highly experienced public and private operating companies in the Permian Basin.

"We are in an environment where oil and gas is strategic again, where energy security and trustworthy barrels are rising as a priority for companies and consumers. We are excited to invest across the Permian and play our part in bringing U.S. production to the marketplace," stated Dan Pickering, Chief Investment Officer.

Oil and gas is strategic again. Energy security and trustworthy barrels are a priority for companies and consumers. Tweet this

"As with prior PEP investment partnerships, PEP Development will lean on our team's history of working with quality institutional investors and established, experienced Permian operators who share the goal of successfully acquiring and stewarding energy and natural resources," added Walker Moody, President.

"Our drilling partnerships may include authorization for expense (AFE) acquisitions, farm-in or drill-to-earn opportunities, drill-ready acreage, or other structured opportunities. We have a lot of flexibility in how we form partnerships. Fundamentally, we deliver a capital solution in a challenging capital markets environment and are excited to build great businesses with great operators," added Lex Hochner, Managing Director.

PEP Development will focus on drilling and development capital opportunities from $50 million to $150 million.

Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to PEP.

About PEP

Pickering Energy Partners is an energy-focused financial services firm. Over the past 30 years, our team has deployed over $15 billion across all energy sub-sectors. At our core, we are trusted energy advisors, investors and partners to our clients. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, PEP delivers an experienced, opportunistic team that aims to provide guidance and long-term value for clients while positively impacting the companies and communities that PEP invests in. PEP has been methodically built over several years, spanning multiple commodity and energy market cycles, with the goal of creating a best-in-class, financial services firm. To learn more about PEP and PEP Private Equity, visit pickeringenergypartners.com.

Pickering Energy Partners LP ("PEP") is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Affiliated PEP Advisory LLC ("PEP BD") is a registered broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC.

Jennifer Petree / Tina Tallant

Petree Partners LLC

713.269.3776

SOURCE Pickering Energy Partners
Shur brings deep healthcare industry expertise, strategic innovation and technology leadership to new position with healthcare navigation's market leader

DUBLIN, Ohio, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Health, the industry leading healthcare navigation and care coordination company, announced today that Dan Shur is joining its leadership team as chief product officer. In his new role, Shur will lead product innovation, strategy and development.

Dan Shur, Chief Product Officer

"Helping consumers effectively navigate through the increasingly complex healthcare landscape is more essential than ever," said Shannon Skaggs, president of Quantum Health. "Dan shares this mission and brings extensive healthcare and technology experience, as well as a deep understanding of the ever-changing healthcare ecosystem. He also understands our key stakeholders  from consumers to providers to payers and benefit plan sponsors  and what they need to feel supported and succeed. We are thrilled to welcome Dan to Quantum Health as we continue to expand and enhance our navigation and care coordination solutions to meet the needs of our growing market."

Shur has over 25 years' experience creating and building innovative technology strategies and solutions for organizations across the healthcare landscape. Prior to joining Quantum Health, he led product strategy and development for multiple companies within GuideWell Venture Group. Before GuideWell, he led innovation and growth at two healthtech organizations, Cloudbreak Health (telemedicine) and Progyny (fertility benefits). Earlier in his career, Shur also led multiple product strategy and development initiatives at EmblemHealth and Cigna.

"I empathize deeply with people struggling to get care and I strive to make their experience better. To that end, I am always looking for ways to make healthcare more accessible, efficient and human," said Shur. "Quantum Health is the respected leader in an area I am passionate about. I am proud to join the Quantum Health team as we help our stakeholders achieve the best experience and results, while continuing to transform the healthcare experience and break new ground in health benefits navigation."

Shur holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Cornell's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, including a prestigious Park Leadership fellowship.

About Quantum Health

Quantum Health is the industry-leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company that delivers an unparalleled consumer experience to its members, as well as validated claims savings and high satisfaction rates for its self-insured employer clients. Quantum Health's proprietary Real-Time Intercept model identifies opportunities for early intervention in a member's healthcare journey, resulting in better engagement, outcomes and cost efficiencies.

The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Dublin, Ohio. Since its inception, Quantum Health has earned numerous awards and honors, including the Fastest-Growing Private Companies by Inc. 5000, the MedTech Breakthrough Award for technology innovation, the Gold Stevie for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year and a Great Place to Work by FORTUNE Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. The Women Presidents' Organization has ranked Quantum Health as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies, and Columbus Business First has honored Quantum Health as a Best Place to Work.

To learn more about the company, visit quantum-health.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Susan Simkins

Quantum Health, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

800-257-2038 x 13494

SOURCE Quantum Health
VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (the "Company" or "Rock Tech") is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a framework agreement (the "Framework Agreement") with a renowned globally operating car producer having its headquarters in Germany establishing the basis for arrangements between the parties for the supply of lithium hydroxide, a key material in the production of lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries. The agreement forms the basis between the automaker and Rock Tech Lithium for future supplies of lithium hydroxide and has a five-year term with renewal options.

Rock Tech Lithium signs framework agreement with renowned car manufacturer based in Germany (CNW Group/Rock Tech Lithium Inc.)

Additionally, the Framework Agreement supports the parties' respective commitments to environmental responsibility and sustainability, including an agreement to create a roadmap to achieve CO2-neutral production of lithium hydroxide by the end of 2030 and requiring that any product supplied to the costumer be sourced from mining sites audited by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurances (IRMA).

Markus Bruegmann, CEO of Rock Tech Lithium, comments: "We are very pleased to have found a renowned partner to advance the topic of e-mobility. We expect to commence production of lithium hydroxide in Guben, Brandenburg, where we are building Europe's first lithium hydroxide converter. The start of production is planned for 2024."

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Dirk Harbecke, Chairman

ABOUT ROCK TECH LITHIUM INC.

Rock Tech (TSX-V: RCK) (OTCQX: RCKTF) (FWB: RJIB) (WKN: A1XF0V) is a cleantech company on a mission to produce lithium chemicals for EV batteries. The company aims to serve automotive customers with high-quality lithium hydroxide made in Germany. Rock Tech plans to build high-tech lithium converters at the door-step of its customers, to guarantee supply-chain transparency and just-in-time delivery. To close the most pressing gap in the clean mobility story, Rock Tech has gathered one of the strongest teams in the industry. It holds itself accountable to strict ESG standards and is developing a proprietary refining process to further increase efficiency and sustainability. Rock Tech plans to source raw material from its own mineral project in Canada as well as procuring it from responsibly producing mines. In the years to come, the company will extract its material from discarded batteries. Rock Tech's goal: to become the first closed-loop lithium company in the world.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

The following cautionary statements are in addition to all other cautionary statements and disclaimers contained elsewhere in, or referenced by, this press release.

Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which are based on Rock Tech's current expectations, estimates, and assumptions in light of its experience and is perception of historical trends. All statements other than statements of historical facts may constitute forward-looking information. Often, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words or phrases such as "estimate", "project", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "believe", "hope", "may" and similar expressions, as well as "will", "shall" and all other indications of future tense. All forward-looking information set forth in this press release is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements referred to in this section.

In particular, this new release contains forward-looking information pertaining to: future activities undertaken in connection with the Framework Agreement, including statements regarding plans, future arrangements between the parties and activities taken in support of their respective commitments to environmental responsibilities and sustainability; statements regarding the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide converter, including the location, features and timing thereof; statements regarding future plans, estimates, and schedules relating to the Company's strategy; anticipated production of lithium hydroxide and the expected timing thereof; statements and expectations regarding the electric vehicle industry; Rock Tech's planning, approval and decision-making process, including relevant factors taken into consideration by the Company; Rock Tech's opinions, beliefs and expectations regarding the Company's business strategy, development and exploration opportunities and projects, and plans and objectives of management for the Company's operations and properties.

Forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on certain assumptions, estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions of the Company and in certain cases, third party experts, that are believed by management of Rock Tech to be reasonable at the time they were made. Such assumptions, estimates and other factors include, among other things: the ability of Rock Tech and the customer to agree on additional terms and conditions in order to give effect to the Framework Agreement and future projects governed thereby; the supply and demand for, deliveries of, and the level and volatility of prices of, feedstock and intermediate and final lithium products; expected growth, performance and business operations; future commodity prices and exchange rates; prospects, growth opportunities and financing available to the Company; general business and economic conditions; results of development and exploration; and Rock Tech's ability to procure supplies and other equipment necessary for its business. The foregoing list is not exhaustive of all assumptions which may have been used in developing the forward-looking information. While Rock Tech considers these assumptions, estimates and factors to be reasonable based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results.

In addition, forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond Rock Tech's control, that may cause Rock Tech's actual events, results, performance and/or achievements to be materially different from that which is expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results, performance and/or achievements to vary materially include the Company's ability to access funding required to invest in available opportunities and projects (the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide converter) and on satisfactory terms, the current and potential adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent geopolitical hostilities, the anticipated benefits of Framework Agreement may not be realized; the risk that Rock Tech will not be able to meet its financial obligations as they fall due, changes in commodity and other prices, Rock Tech's ability to attract and retain skilled staff and to secure feedstock from third party suppliers, unanticipated events and other difficulties related to construction, development and operation of the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide converter, the cost of compliance with current and future environmental and other laws and regulations, title defects, competition from existing and new competitors, changes in currency, exchange rates and market prices of Rock Tech's securities, Rock Tech's history of losses, impacts of climate change and other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Rock Tech's public disclosure documents available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, including those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Rock Tech's most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis. Such risks and uncertainties do not represent an exhaustive list of all risk factors that could cause actual events, results, performance and/or achievements to vary materially from the forward-looking information.

We cannot assure you that actual events, results, performance and/or achievements will be consistent with the forward-looking information and management's assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information reflects Rock Tech management's views as at the date the information is created. Except as may be required by law, Rock Tech undertakes no obligation and expressly disclaims any responsibility, obligation or undertaking to update or to revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, to reflect any change in Rock Tech's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such information is based.

Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking information set forth in this press release.

SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
Unique and Gourmet Salad Franchise Celebrates Ten Years of Consistent Growth While Posting Record Sales Numbers for 2022

HAMMOND, La., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Salad Station  a fully customizable salad franchise famous for serving farm-fresh gourmet ingredients  is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with incredible sales growth and the opening of new locations. Over the last ten years, Salad Station has taken a "Dream Job" hobby of a restaurant to a franchise brand of 26 locations and counting. Slated to open additional locations over the next 12 months in Jonesboro TN, Madison MS, Irving TX, Riverview FL, Oxford MS, Clarksville TN, and Prairieville LA, Salad Station will be well on its way to its goal of 100 locations in the next three years. The brand experienced tremendous same-store sales growth in the first half of 2022, with April and May setting monthly records. Salad Station is on pace to exceed 13% same-store sales growth for 2022.

"When we first created Salad Station, we wanted to create a salad concept focusing on fresh ingredients and empower people to create a gourmet salad their way in our local community. With a low-impact footprint, we help carry on the tradition of our Louisiana family farm of connecting our community with fresh local produce. We wanted to be able to offer delicious, gourmet salads and give our community  fast, fresh, and healthier options," said Scott Henderson, Co-Founder, and CEO of Salad Station. "These past ten years have been a great experience with challenges and growth. Every location we've opened is still open. We've developed a top-level team, invested in systems to streamline productivity, and we are positioned for rapid expansion over the next 10 years."

Celebrating 10 years, Salad Station hosted its First Salabration Conference in New Orleans, LA this summer. The conference, attended by over 30 franchise owners and vendors from all over the United States, included two fun-filled days in New Orleans with social events and awards, to keynote speakers highlighting new trends within the industry.

"The Salad Station 2022 conference was one to remember," said Garrick Robert, Franchise Operations Director of Salad Station. "It was the first time where everyone was able to be together, talk about their success, and learn from one another. We thank the exceptional keynote speakers for delivering insightful presentations that will help us to grow in the future and our Salad Station family for their dedication to the brand. They set the foundation for our future growth."

With sustained expansion, Salad Station has continued to build a top-notch support system with experienced industry professionals. In the early days of the brand, Salad Station added John Mike Heroman, founder of In and Out Phone Repair Franchise, as Franchise Sales Director. After previous stints at Raising Canes and Smoothie King, Garrick Robert joined the team in 2018 as Franchise Operations Director. Tom O'Keefe, previously president of Smoothie King and Chief Legal of Ruth's Chris, joined Salad Station as lead counsel.

In 2022, Salad Station continued building its all-star support staff by adding seasoned operational professionals. Stephanie Zito joined the team as Training Director with extensive training backgrounds at Starbucks and Raising Canes. Matt Battey joined the team as a Franchise Business Consultant with experience as operations consultant at Jimmy Johns Corporate and later managing partner of the Drew Brees led Jimmy Johns franchise group. D'Ann Davis, former Director of Sales with Hampton Inn by Hilton, joined as the Public Relations and Local Store Marketing Manager team to help guide Salad Station's #LettuceHelp initiative in each market.

The brand's booming success can be attributed to its gourmet and fully customizable menu, low labor requirements, proven operational systems, small waste footprint, and the fact that it is pioneering a new category of salad restaurants that have never been seen before. Salad Station is ready to help business owners grow their portfolio in local communities.

Salad Station is now searching for experienced franchise owners that would like to expand their current portfolio by adding a fast, gourmet, and healthy restaurant with minimal labor that align with the family-focused culture of the brand. As Henderson says, "Our franchising opportunity is perfect for a current franchise owner looking to add a healthy concept to their portfolio of businesses. With a franchise fee of $30,000 the estimated initial investment to open a Salad Station franchise is $192,300- $373,800. For more information on Salad Station, or if interested in a franchising opportunity, please visit https://thesaladstation.com/.

About Salad Station

Founded in 2012 and franchising since 2015, Salad Station prides itself as a gourmet salad restaurant serving fresh local produce combined with fast and friendly service. The brand has introduced an entirely new category of restaurant, allowing customers to pay by the pound, and encouraging customers to eat as they like while reducing waste in the process. Salad Station currently has 26 locations open throughout the United States. For more information, please visit https://www.saladstationfranchise.com/.

SOURCE Salad Station
The first SDR agency to use AI technology to increase training efficiency, Whistle offers unlimited opportunities for independently practicing sales pitches, handling objections

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Nature , the automated AI-powered sales training solution, has signed an agreement with global sales development agency, Whistle , to train their SDR/ sales development team using AI-powered sales conversation practice.

The company is the first SDR agency to use this technology which provides natural language simulations, enabling Whistle's sales professionals to hone in their skills with unlimited simulations and receive immediate AI-generated feedback. The training promises a huge improvement in SDR development, which has been commonly delivered via one-on-one role play.

Whistle's team will use Second Nature to fine-tune their SDR methodology and objection handling. In addition, Whistle will incorporate its culture, technology and security awareness training into Second Nature, which will serve as its primary learning management system (LMS). One of the biggest challenges SDRs face is the lack of opportunity to practice within a realistic context before they speak with prospects. Since SDRs are often speaking to prospects with little room for error, sales conversation skills need to be sharp to make the most of interactions on the phone. With Second Nature, sales reps can practice whenever they want, resulting in reduced time spent on training and accelerated development of competencies for specific sales campaigns.

"We're thrilled to be working with Whistle on enhancing their SDRs' learning environment with interactive practice sales conversations," said Second Nature Co-founder and CEO, Ariel Hitron." An SDR might make 100 dials before they reach an actual human being, and by using Second Nature, Whistle ensures that when their SDRs make contact, they will perform at their optimal level to deliver the key messages to achieve the most positive outcome."

"Our customers are fast-growing companies who are looking to build on their momentum and expand their sales," said Whistle CEO, David Zeff." Just as a pilot must complete flight simulation hours to keep their skills sharp, SDRs need to practice often and receive clear feedback on where to improve. By incorporating Second Nature's AI practice conversations into our current SDR onboarding and training programs, we are further investing in our team to ensure that we continue to deliver a world-class service for our customers."

Whistle's new program is based on the strong combination of its methodology, gained from working with dozens of companies and the process they have developed around that, and Second Nature's innovative technology as a learning delivery platform. Whistle has the capacity to scale up its sales training faster compared to using human trainers, giving sellers a chance to acquire new content expertise and skills in the privacy of their own home or office, while offering their managers valuable insights into their sellers' sales readiness.

About Second Nature

Second Nature helps people have better conversations. The company is the first to offer a platform for immersive sales simulations in natural language. By practicing with "Jenny" and other AI-powered conversation partners, sales professionals improve their performance and confidence by gaining real time, personalized feedback. Managers and executives use Second Nature to effectively roll out their strategy and influence their teams' conversations in the field, at scale. The company is based in Tel Aviv and New York. For more information, please visit www.secondnature.ai .

About Whistle

Whistle is a global SDR Agency empowering fast-growing companies with SDR, Sales and Marketing services to drive increased and predictable sales. Whistle's clients include over 50 leading SaaS companies across Israel, the US, UK, Europe, India and Australia. To date, Whistle's clients collectively generate around $50M per month in sales and have raised over $500M in the past year alone. The company is headquartered in London. For more information please visit www.whistle.ltd .

Contact Info

Josh Turner

Si14 Global Communications

[email protected]

+1-917-231-0550

SOURCE Second Nature
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Teladoc Health, Inc. ("Teladoc" or the "Company") (NYSE: TDOC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 22-cv-04687, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Teladoc securities between October 28, 2021 and April 27, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Teladoc securities during the Class Period, you have until August 5, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Teladoc provides virtual healthcare services in the U.S. and internationally through Business-to-Business and Direct-to-Consumer ("D2C") distribution channels. The Company offers its customers various virtual products and services addressing, among other medical issues, mental health through its BetterHelp D2C product, and chronic conditions.

Teladoc touts itself as "the first and only company to provide a comprehensive and integrated whole person virtual healthcare solution that both provides and enables care for a full spectrum of clinical conditions." Despite recent market concerns over new entrants to the telehealth field, such Amazon.com, Inc. and Walmart Inc., the Company has continued to assure investors of the Company's dominant market position in the industry.

In fact, as recently as February 2022, Teladoc forecasted full year ("FY") 2022 revenue of $2.55 - $2.65 billion, as well as adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ("EBITDA") of $330 - $355 million, on anticipated continued growth through its competitive advantages.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) increased competition, among other factors, was negatively impacting Teladoc's BetterHelp and chronic care businesses; (ii) accordingly, the growth of those businesses was less sustainable than Defendants had led investors to believe; (iii) as a result, Teladoc's revenue and adjusted EBITDA projections for FY 2022 were unrealistic; (iv) as a result of all the foregoing, Teladoc would be forced to recognize a significant non-cash goodwill impairment charge; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On April 27, 2022, Teladoc announced its first quarter ("Q1") 2022 financial results, including revenue of $565.4 million, which missed consensus estimates by $3.23 million, and "net loss per share of $41.58, primarily driven by [a] non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $6.6 billion or $41.11 per share." Additionally, the Company revised its FY 2022 revenue guidance to $2.4 - $2.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $240 - $265 million "to reflect dynamics we are currently experiencing in the [D2C] mental health and chronic condition markets." On a conference call with investors and analysts that day to discuss Teladoc's Q1 2022 results, Defendants largely attributed the Company's poor performance, revised FY 2022 guidance, and $6.6 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge to increased competition in its BetterHelp and chronic care businesses.

On this news, Teladoc's stock price fell $22.48 per share, or 40.15%, to close at $33.51 per share on April 28, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Unilever PLC ("Unilever" or the "Company") (NYSE: UL). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Unilever and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Unilever is a British multinational consumer goods company which sells more than 400 products in over 190 countries, including Ben & Jerry's ice cream, which they acquired in 2000. In an attempt to preserve Ben & Jerry's longstanding "Social Mission," Unilever's acquisition of Ben & Jerry's included allowing for an independent board of directors, which was given primary responsibility for preserving and enhancing the objectives of the company's Social Mission (the "B&J Board").

More than 20 years after the acquisition, Ben & Jerry's remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever with an independent board addressing the company's Social Mission. Since the acquisition, the B&J Board continued its Social Mission by engaging in promotions and advocacy across a host of issues concerning the environment, voter turnout, fair trade, and genetically modified organisms. Today, the B&J Board, chaired by Anuradha Mittal ("Mittal"), consists primarily of social activists who joined long after Unilever's acquisition.

The B&J Board passed a resolution in July 2020 to end sales of Ben & Jerry's products in areas that the B&J Board considers to be Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel. According to Mittal, Ben & Jerry's CEO Matthew McCarthy ("McCarthy") chose not to "operationalize" the resolution immediately, thus temporarily thwarting the B&J Board's decision. During the morning of July 19, 2021, Unilever and its hand-picked CEO McCarthy "operationalized" the B&J Board's resolution to boycott Israel. Ben & Jerry's announced on its website and through its Twitter account that, upon the expiration of the current licensing agreement by which its products had been distributed in Israel for decades, Ben & Jerry's would end sales of its ice cream in "Occupied Palestinian Territory", but Ben & Jerry's would purportedly continue to sell its products in Israel.

The decision by the B&J Board appeared to arise out of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions ("BDS") movement. The BDS movement is a pro-Palestinian movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. The BDS movement's objective is to coerce Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians by using boycotts and the like to exert economic and political pressure. Additionally, and of particular significance here, 35 U.S. states have adopted laws, executive orders, or resolutions aimed at discouraging boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israel ("Anti-BDS Legislation").

During the morning of July 22, 2021, CNBC reported that the states of Texas and Florida were examining Ben & Jerry's actions in connection with the states' Anti-BDS Legislation. In addition to condemnation of Ben & Jerry's boycott by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, CNBC reported that Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who controls billions of dollars in assets for Texas' public pension funds, had already told his office to take action. Similarly, the state of Florida's CFO Jimmy Patronis ("Patronis"), who controls Florida's public pension funds, told CNBC that his office was already discussing the issue. In a letter reportedly sent to Ben & Jerry's CEO, Patronis wrote: "It is my belief that Ben & Jerry's brazen refusal to do business in Israel will result in your placement on the Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel List." The letter also stated that Florida would then "be prohibited from investing in Ben & Jerry's or its parent company, Unilever." Being added to the list also meant that Unilever would not be able to enter or renew contracts with the state or any municipality in Florida.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tupperware Brands Corporation ("Tupperware" or the "Company") (NYSE: TUP) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 22-cv-04976, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Tupperware securities between November 3, 2021 and May 3, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Tupperware securities during the Class Period, you have until August 15, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Tupperware operates as a consumer products company worldwide. The Company manufactures, markets, and sells design-centric preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as a line of cookware, knives, microwave products, microfiber textiles, water-filtration related items, and an array of products for on-the-go consumers under the Tupperware brand name.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Tupperware was facing significant challenges in maintaining its earnings and sales performance; (ii) accordingly, Tupperware's full year 2022 guidance was unrealistic and/or unsustainable; (iii) all the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to have a material negative impact on Tupperware's financial condition; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 4, 2022, Tupperware announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2022. Among other items, Tupperware reported adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations and net sales that fell well short of consensus estimates and withdrew its full year 2022 guidance and named a new Chief Financial Officer. The Company attributed the poor performance to the conflict in Russia and Ukraine. However, when pressed by analysts on a conference call, the Company acknowledged that Russia and Ukraine only accounted for 2% of its revenue.

On this news, Tupperware's stock price fell $5.76 per share, or 32.16%, to close at $12.15 per share on May 4, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") (NYSE: WFC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and docketed under 22-cv-03811, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo common stock between February 24, 2021 and June 9, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo common stock during the Class Period, you have until August 29, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company that provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the U.S. and internationally.

In 2020, Wells Fargo expanded its so-called "Diverse Search Requirement", also referred to as a diverse slate hiring policy, requiring that at least 50% of interview candidates must represent a historically underrepresented group with respect to at least one diversity dimension (including race/ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ, veterans, and people with disabilities) for most posted roles in the U.S. with total direct compensation greater than $100,000 per year. In addition, at least one interviewer on the hiring panel must represent a historically underrepresented group with respect to at least one diversity dimension.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Wells Fargo had misrepresented its commitment to diversity in the Company's workplace; (ii) Wells Fargo conducted fake job interviews in order to meet its Diverse Search Requirement; (iii) the foregoing conduct subjected Wells Fargo to an increased risk of regulatory and/or governmental scrutiny and enforcement action, including criminal charges; (iv) all of the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to negatively impact Wells Fargo's reputation; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 19, 2022, the New York Times published an article entitled "At Wells Fargo, a Quest to Increase Diversity Leads to Fake Job Interviews". Citing discussions with "seven current and former Wells Fargo employees", including Joe Bruno, a former executive in the Company's wealth management division, the article reported, in relevant part, that "[f]or many open positions, employees would interview a 'diverse' candidate", but that "often, the so-called diverse candidate would be interviewed for a job that had already been promised to someone else." The article further reported that Mr. Bruno was fired after "complain[ing] to his bosses" about the practice.

On this news, Wells Fargo's common stock price fell $0.44 per share, or 1.04%, over two trading sessions, closing at $41.67 per share on May 20, 2022.

On June 6, 2022, Reuters published an article entitled "Wells Fargo pauses diverse slate hiring policy after reports of fake job interviews." The article reported that "Wells Fargo . . . is pausing a hiring policy that requires recruiters to interview a diverse pool of candidates, after the New York Times reported such interviews were often fake and conducted even though the job had already been promised to someone else." The same article also reported that "[t]he bank also plans to conduct a review of its diverse slate guidelines, Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf told staff on Monday, according to a memo seen by Reuters."

Then, on June 9, 2022, the New York Times published an article entitled "Federal Prosecutors Open Criminal Inquiry of Wells Fargo's Hiring Practices." The article reported that federal prosecutors are investigating whether Wells Fargo violated federal laws by conducting fake job interviews in order to meet the Company's Diverse Search Requirement. The article also revealed that, since the New York Times' May 19, 2022 article focusing on the bank's wealth management business, "another 10 current and former employees have shared stories about how they were subject to fake interviews, or conducted them, or saw paperwork documenting the practice", and that "sham interviews occurred across multiple business lines, including its mortgage servicing, home lending and retail banking operations."

That same day, Wells Fargo issued a press release entitled "Wells Fargo response to New York Times article", which confirmed that "[e]arlier this week, the [C]ompany temporarily paused the use of its diverse slate guidelines", and that, "[d]uring this pause, the [C]ompany is conducting a review so that hiring managers, senior leaders and recruiters fully understand how the guidelines should be implemented  and so we can have confidence that our guidelines live up to their promise."

Following these disclosures, Wells Fargo's common stock price fell $3.68 per share, or 8.62%, over the following two trading sessions, closing at $38.99 per share on June 13, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
In Celebration of its 25th Anniversary, Silverton is Creating a New Boutique Hotel Experience

LAS VEGAS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of its 25th anniversary, Silverton Casino Hotel has announced it is undergoing a complete reimagining of its hotel offering, creating a new boutique hotel experience to anchor the resort.

The remodeled hotel will feature 300 "rustic-luxe" guest rooms and suites including three distinct "design stories," each with its own curated style, decor and spirit that will transport guests into a unique experience during every visit:

Main entrance of Silverton Casino Hotel

 Cowboy Kitsch Collection  rooms featuring a quirky blend of rustic chic with tasteful modern accents

 Rustic Modern Collection  rooms featuring natural, aged, and weathered furnishings, with the sense of natural warmth of the outdoors

 Livin' Lodge Collection  rooms inspired by the elegant Rockies glam design and the legendary cattle baron homes found in the West.

The designs were inspired by the company's award-winning sister property Hotel Drover, a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel, which opened to national acclaim in 2021 in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. Just like Hotel Drover, the Silverton designs include rich details with intentional and eye-catching touchpoints. Since opening, the Drover has been recognized by USA Today, Conde Nast, Forbes, and Travel + Leisure for its unique and elegant western glam design, its curated art, crafted fixtures, and custom furnishings.

"This is more than a room remodel," said Silverton CEO Craig Cavileer. "This was an opportunity to creatively reinvent our entire hotel operation in Las Vegas. While we are keeping aspects of our lodge theme that our guests have enjoyed over the years, our new rooms and suites will envelop our guests in a new spirit of rustic elegance, providing a unique Las Vegas hotel experience."

To prepare for the extensive renovation, the hotel and adjacent Sway pool deck will be out of service beginning in early August and scheduled to reopen in early 2023. The entire resort  including the casino, restaurants, aquarium, Veil Pavilion, Johnny Rockets, Starbucks, and Bass Pro Shops  will remain open during the hotel and pool renovation. In addition, Hyatt Place Las Vegas at Silverton Village and The Berkley, Las Vegas  both located within the Silverton Village district  will remain open.

The design of this $45M project is under the direction of Kayla Wilkie, director of Design and Development for Lifestyle and Hospitality for Majestic Realty Co., an affiliate of Silverton. "Kayla did a phenomenal job in designing the award-winning Hotel Drover in Fort Worth and I expect that she will deliver an amazing product for us here as well," said Cavileer.

In addition to the Las Vegas renovation, Silverton is expanding its brand to Pahrump Nev., where it is set to build the new Silverton Ranch Casino, anchored by Marriott Springhill Suites. The project is expected to break ground later this year.

Architectural and Interior Design for the Silverton renovation project was provided by Klai Juba Wald, the resort's architect of record.

About Silverton Casino Hotel

Silverton Casino Hotel celebrates its Silver Anniversary in 2022, commemorating a quarter century in Las Vegas. The local casino favorite offers 300 deluxe rooms and suites and world-class amenities all located within an upscale, contemporary luxury lodge-themed resort. Silverton features 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art gaming, including the most popular slot machines and table games. A 117,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, home to thousands of sharks, stingrays and tropical fish, was voted "Best Attraction" in the Best of Las Vegas awards.

The resort is a culinary destination, featuring Mi Casa grill cantina, Su Casa sushi bar, Sundance Grill, WuHu Noodle, Shady Grove Lounge, Mermaid Restaurant & Lounge, Starbucks, and Johnny Rockets and Twin Creeks, known as the premier Off-Strip steakhouse in Las Vegas. The unique "Stakes are High" program at Twin Creeks Steakhouse gives diners a chance to roll dice to win a complimentary Creekstone Farms Tomahawk, the restaurant's signature cut.

In addition to the adjacent 165,000-square-foot flagship Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, the Silverton Village features a 150-room Hyatt Place hotel, the 18-story luxury high-rise The Berkley, and several restaurants, including Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Silverton Casino Hotel is located at I-15 and Blue Diamond in Las Vegas. For more information, please call (702) 263-7777 or visit silvertoncasino.com.

Media Contacts

Keith Salwoski

Executive Director of Communications

[email protected]

702.914.8616

OneSeven Agency

Dawn Britt/Carrie Giverson

[email protected]

702.449.2818

SOURCE Silverton Casino Hotel
Immerse in the miraculous world of PITERA in a first-of-its-kind global-scale experience dedicated to the exclusive and iconic ingredient at the heart of SK-II

SINGAPORE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A day of firsts. A day of discovery. A day of miracles. Global prestige skincare brand SK-II celebrates its iconic and exclusive skincare ingredientPITERA with the first-ever SK-II World PITERA Day.

PITERA is at the heart of SK-II, a precious gift from nature and beyond. For over 40 years, every single SK-II product is formulated with PITERA and is the key to millions of skin transformations[1] around the world.

Haruka Ayase discovers SK-IIs latest breakthrough PITERA 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study Haruka Ayase unlocks her skin age with SK-IIs contactless skin analysis tool, the Mini Magic Scan SK-IIs beloved brand ambassadors in SK-IIs boldest PITERA stress test yet, the Late Night Portraits

Held in Tokyo, Japan, and virtually broadcast to the world, World PITERA Day is SK-II's very first global large-scale event dedicated to the iconic PITERA. Exclusively attended by SK-II celebrity ambassadors  including Japanese actress Haruka Ayase, MINA of global girl group TWICE, Japanese actress and model Ayaka Miyoshi, and Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe  and some of the biggest names in beauty across the world, World PITERA Day features an immersive journey that unfolds the miracles of PITERA[2] from its origins to its latest scientific discoveries and innovations like never before.

Begin your journey by entering the world of PITERA with an immersive retelling of PITERA's fascinating origin story and view the first ever bottle of PITERA Essence made. Take a virtual trip to visit the one place in the world where PITERA is crafted, the Shiga Plant in Japan. Marvel at the miracles of PITERA[3] pioneering skin health and beauty as well as skin science discoveries and milestones, including an exclusive first-in-the-world showcase of SK-II's latest breakthrough PITERA 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study based on the skin of young women today.

Get up close and personal with SK-II's groundbreaking PITERA innovations in Brightening and Early Anti-Aging with the award-winning GenOptics UltraAura Essence and Skinpower. Step into the future of skincare with SK-II's latest, most advanced contactless skin analysis tool, the Mini Magic Scan, to unlock your skin age, health and beauty and receive your very own personalized PITERA regimen.

The day of firsts for PITERA culminates with an unveiling of SK-II's boldest PITERA stress-test yet. SK-II's "Late Night Portraits" campaign features a series of stunning bare-skinned photographs starring SK-II's beloved brand ambassadors courageously captured at their worst moments. Inspired by SK-II's first in the world PITERA 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study that uncovers how women's skin condition fluctuates greatly within a day, even looking almost 10 years older, due to multiple daily stressors, "Late Night Portraits" is testament to the power of SK-II's PITERA and PITERA Essence stabilizing her skin's daily fluctuations. Powered by PITERA and PITERA Essence as her skincare essential, her skin is transformed to Crystal Clear Skin3, even when it's meant to be her worst moment.

"PITERA is a precious gift from nature and beyond. For over 40 years, it has changed the destiny of millions of women, and we are delighted to open our doors to its full story for the first time with World PITERA Day," shared Sue Kyung Lee, CEO, Global SK-II. "PITERA has remained unchanged but the miracles of its scientific discoveries and innovations continue to unfold. Through SK-II's partnerships with the world's top scientists and dermatologists on extensive research studies, we have never stopped uncovering new PITERA secrets and its ability to transform skin to Crystal Clear Skin. World PITERA Day is a recognition and celebration of the miracles that PITERA has brought and will continue bringing to the world."

About SK-II

For more than 40 years, SK-II has touched the lives of millions of women around the world through skin and life transformation. The fascinating story behind SK-II began with a quest to understand why elderly sake brewers had wrinkled faces, but extraordinarily soft and youthful-looking hands. These hands were in constant contact with the sake fermentation process. It took years of research for scientists to isolate SK-II's iconic ingredient PITERA, a naturally-derived skincare ingredient crafted from a proprietary yeast fermentation process exclusive to SK-II. Since then, SK-II with PITERA has become a special secret shared by celebrities all over the world such as Chloe Grace Moretz, Simone Biles, Tangwei, Chun Xia, Haruka Ayase and Kasumi Arimura and Naomi Watanabe. For the latest news and in-depth information, please visit http://www.sk-ii.com .

About PITERA

Iconic and exclusive to SK-II, PITERA is a naturally derived skincare ingredient crafted from a proprietary yeast fermentation process that is exclusive to SK-II. Packed with over 50 micro-nutrients  vitamins, amino acids, minerals and organic acids  the unique composition of PITERA harnesses the vital force of nature and is one that can't be achieved artificially or synthetically. PITERA by SK-II is welcomed in by skin like its own because PITERA has a unique composition that resembles skin's Natural Moisturizing Factors. This allows PITERA to be absorbed quickly and deeply* into skin delivering all its goodness.

[1] Within stratum corneum

[2] Japan, Indonesia & Thailand to find alternative articulation for "miracle" i.e. wonders of PITERA

[3] Japan, Indonesia & Thailand to find alternative articulation for "miracle" i.e. wonders of PITERA

SOURCE SK-II
The City of Boston, Greater Boston YMCA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA and Columbia Threadneedle Investments Boston Triathlon partner to increase water safety in Boston communities

BOSTON, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To prevent youth drownings and ensure local families can enjoy a safe summer in the water, the City of Boston, the Greater Boston YMCA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Columbia Threadneedle Investments Boston Triathlon have partnered to expand the Swim Safely Boston program to provide free training for 60 lifeguards and free swim lessons for 900 youth and adults. To date, the program has already trained 30 lifeguards and provided free swim lessons for 700 youth and adults.

Swim Safely Boston Expands Critical Lifeguard Training and Equitable Access to Swim Lessons for 900 Youth and Adults

The Swim Safely Boston partnership launched in 2021 in response to the tragic rise of drownings in Greater Boston. The initiative increases swim safety by providing free lifeguard training and job placement for Boston teenagers, which is imperative to operating safe pools and swimming facilities across the city. The program also expands access to swimming lessons, especially for those who have faced historic and economic barriers, by offering free swim lessons to children and adults at nine YMCAs across Boston and at the Umana Boston Public School in East Boston.

"This summer, all Boston residents should feel safe and confident at our pools and beaches," said Mayor Michelle Wu. "I am grateful for the leadership of the YMCA of Greater Boston and support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Columbia Threadneedle Investments Boston Triathlon for their help providing critical lifeguard training and expanding access to swim lesson to Bostonians who have historically not had the opportunities to enjoy the water."

Nationwide, drowning is the leading cause of death in children aged one to four and the second leading cause of accidental death in children aged one to fourteen. Black children ages 10-14 are more than seven times more likely to drown than white children of the same age, according to the CDC.

Economic inequities also persist. A 2017 report commissioned by USA Swimming found that in families with an annual household income below $50,000, 79 percent of children have little or no swimming ability.

"Swim lessons save lives, and it is part of the mission of The YMCA of Greater Boston to improve community health and demand equity for all," said James Morton, president and CEO, YMCA of Greater Boston. "We are excited to join with civic and business leaders in this program to meet the growing community need to train lifeguards and teach hundreds of children and adults how to swim so that they can safely enjoy the water as summer arrives and temperatures rise."

The YMCA is focused on increasing the lifeguard workforce by providing free training and certification in collaboration with BPS high schools. These trainings provide an excellent opportunity for youth employment in the city, while also ensuring the safety of Boston area pools and waterfront spaces.

"Providing water safety education to the community is a public health imperative, and we are proud to support Swim Safely Boston so community members can enjoy the health benefits of water recreation," said Jeff Bellows, vice president of corporate citizenship and public affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. "Swimming is a great way to exercise and keep cool in the warm summer months, and this program eliminates the barriers of access and education so that people across the city can safely enjoy our local pools and beaches."

As "America's swim instructor," the YMCA teaches children of all ages from all backgrounds that water should be fun, not feared, if you know how to be safe. Swim Safely Boston instructors emphasize cultural competency, including hosting community conversations led by the Boston Harbor Women of Color Coalition and the provision of Soul Caps, specially designed swim caps for natural hair, to program participants.

"One of the main objectives of the Swim Safely program is to lower racial and economic barriers to lessons and help people of color become comfortable with swimming as part of an effort to reduce swimming accidents," said Michael O'Neil, President of the Boston Triathlon. "We also hope it will spark a love of swimming and an interest in triathlon for those who may never have considered it if they hadn't been given the opportunity to receive swim training and education."

Classes are forming now and interested members of the community should reach out to secure a spot. For more information about the Swim Safely partnership, to receive swim lesson sign-up information, or to learn more about lifeguard training, please email [email protected] .

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.org) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to the relentless pursuit of quality, affordable and equitable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience. Consistent with our promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Skyscanner reveals travelers are ready to "go big" for summer and winter 2022 bucket-list trips

MIAMI, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a new survey of over 4,000 travelers*, global travel site Skyscanner found more than 1 in 3 global travelers (37%) [almost 1 in 3 - 30% US] are dreaming of bucket list trips this year.

The research also revealed the post-pandemic traveler is more adventurous and open minded than ever, with 26% of Americans opting to explore somewhere new this year. And of those planning to spend more in 2022, almost half (42%) are planning to spend it on traveling further afield.

Skyscanner's latest extensive global flight booking data shows bookings for bucket list destinations are on the rise. Tweet this

Skyscanner's latest extensive global flight booking data shows bookings for bucket list destinations are on the rise with once-in-a-lifetime destinations such as Saint Barths, UAE and Portugal rising the ranks compared to 2019 levels.

Bucket List Bargains  Skyscanner reveals the best value, trending bucket-list destinations for 2022**:

Destination Increase in bookings 2022 Vs 2019 Average fare (USD) Qatar 522 % 974 Anguilla 420 % 639 Saint Barthelemy 345 % 615 Maldives 138 % 1030 Turks and Caicos Islands 82 % 379 United Arab Emirates 75 % 764 Portugal 47 % 567 US Virgin Islands 42 % 396 Costa Rica 42 % 392 Antigua and Barbuda 41 % 422 Brazil 29 % 780

Skyscanner's Travel Trends Forecaster, Naomi Hahn, comments:

"2022 will be the year we see travelers getting the very most out of cherished, once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences. In fact, half (50%) of US travelers revealed they place more importance now on travel than they did pre-pandemic.

"As travel restrictions have eased and traveler confidence returned, we've witnessed a travel revival with pent-up demand turning into millions of travelers enjoying their much longed for trips again. Our latest traveler pulse research reveals a strong desire to make big bucket list trips a reality this year, and with destinations previously off limits due to restrictions like New Zealand, Australia and Japan now firmly back on our bucket lists, we expect to see more travelers looking to go further.

"Flights to bucket list destinations don't have to cost a lot if you know how to search for the best prices  in fact Skyscanner helps travelers compare more than 1,200 airlines and online travel agents to find the cheapest options. Flight prices are all based on supply and demand and because some dates and routes will be more popular than others, prices will vary. Skyscanner's 'Cheapest Month' search tool is a great way to scour thousands of options in seconds so you can find the cheapest day and deal for your travel plans. Consider traveling a day before or a day after your original departure dates where possible, flying on less popular days of the week i.e. Friday is the cheapest day of the week to fly out of the UK and avoiding popular dates almost always works out cheaper."

Skyscanner's top 4 flight-booking hacks for saving money on that bucket list trip in 2022:

Make the ultimate round the world, bucket list trip an affordable reality: Skyscanner's multi-city search allows travelers to select multiple journey legs, as well plan "open jaw" trips with stopovers, so that you can tailor-make the perfect trip  DIY'ing an around the world trip with individual flights could save $$$s compared to the packaged alternative!

Broaden your options: "If you're lucky to have a few airports in travel distance, you can find out which option is cheapest for your flight with this one simple trick  tick the 'add nearby airports' option when you search on Skyscanner. If you'd like to limit it to specific airports  e.g JFK and Newark  then on the search results page, you can untick the airports you don't want to fly from. This works for your arrival airport, too."

Mix it Up: "Flights don't have to be booked as returns, and by comparing costs and booking separate one-way fares can end up saving you money. Skyscanner's search scours all the options and shows you the best deal, whether it means flying out and back with the same airline or mixing it up."

Timing is everything: "Know where and when you want to travel, but not in a rush to book? You could make savings by setting up a price alert . Simply log into Skyscanner then press the Alarm Bell icon on your chosen search. You'll be sent emails when the flight prices decrease, and you could bag yourself a deal."

Flex travel: "Our new trend research revealed more and more travelers are being increasingly flexible and shopping around for the best deal. Skyscanner's Search Everywhere tool is a great way to see what's available, ordered by price, and can inspire you to go somewhere you've never been before."

About Skyscanner

Founded in 2003, Skyscanner is a leading travel marketplace dedicated to putting travelers first. Skyscanner helps millions of people in 52 countries and over 30 languages find the best travel options for flights, hotels and car rental every month. Skyscanner is available on desktop, mobile web and its highly rated app has over 110 million downloads. Working with 1200 travel partners, Skyscanner's mission is to lead the global transformation to modern and sustainable travel.

*Survey by Skyscanner and OnePoll in April 2022 with >4000 global participants and >1000 participants in US

**based on 2019 v 2022 (year-to-date direct comparison), with average price paid since the beginning of 2022 for travel in 2022 (economy class, return travel from the US  correct on 15th June and subject to change)

SOURCE Skyscanner
HAMILTON, Bermuda, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Government of Bermuda (the "Government") announced today the final results of its previously announced offers to purchase for cash (the "Tender Offers") its outstanding 4.138% Senior Notes due 2023 (the "2023 Notes") and 4.854% Senior Notes due 2024 (together with the 2023 Notes, the "Existing Notes").

The Tender Offers expired at 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on July 12, 2022 (the "Expiration Time"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offers are set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated July 6, 2022 (the "Offer to Purchase").

The table below sets forth the aggregate principal amount of each series of Existing Notes validly tendered at or prior to the Expiration Time and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers.

Description of Existing

Notes

Principal

Amount

Outstanding

Principal Amount

Validly Tendered

at or Prior to the

Expiration Time

Principal Amount

Accepted for

Purchase(1)

Approximate Proration

Factor(2)

4.138% Senior Notes due

2023

$353,905,000

$160,977,000

$160,977,000

N/A

4.854% Senior Notes due

2024

$402,203,000

$170,424,000

$0

0 %



_____________________ (1) Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, including the concurrent (or earlier) closing of the New Notes Offering (as defined below). (2) The proration factor for each series of Existing Notes was determined by the Government and has been rounded to the nearest hundredth of a percentage point. Each Tender Offer that is prorated is rounded down to the nearest $1,000 principal amount, proportionately to the relative size of such tender to all Tender Offers for such series of Existing Notes.

Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, payment for Existing Notes accepted for purchase will be made on the Settlement Date, which is expected to occur on July 15, 2022 (the "Settlement Date"). Holders whose Existing Notes are accepted for purchase in the Tender Offers will also receive any accrued and unpaid interest on their Existing Notes from, and including, the last interest payment date for such Existing Notes to, but excluding, the Settlement Date ("Accrued Interest"). Accrued Interest will be payable on the Settlement Date. Settlement of the Tender Offers is conditioned, among other things, on the closing of an offering of new notes by the Government (the "New Notes Offering"), which is intended to be consummated prior to or concurrently with the Tender Offers.

The Government reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to not accept any tender for any reason or to extend, re-open, amend or terminate the Tender Offers, in its sole discretion.

The Dealer Managers for the Tender Offers are:

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC 200 West Street New York, New York 10282 United States Attn: Liability Management Group Collect: +1 (212) 357-1452 Toll-Free: +1 (800) 828-3182

HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.

452 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10018

United States

Attn: Global Liability Management Group Collect: +1 (212) 525-5552

Toll-Free: +1 (888) HSBC 4LM







Questions regarding the Tender Offers may be directed to the Dealer Managers at the above contacts.

The Tender and Information Agent for the Tender Offers is Global Bondholder Services Corporation.

Global Bondholder Services Corporation 65 Broadway, Suite 404 New York, New York 10006 United States

Banks and Brokers call: +1 (212) 430-3774 Toll-Free: +1 (855) 654-2014 Email: [email protected] By facsimile: (for Eligible Institutions only): +1 (212) 430-3775 Confirmation: +1 (212) 430-3774

Holders of Existing Notes are urged to read the Offer to Purchase carefully. Any questions or requests for assistance in relation to the Offer to Purchase may be directed to the Dealer Managers at their respective telephone number set forth above or to the holder's broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Tender Offers. Requests for additional copies of the Offer to Purchase may be directed to the Tender and Information Agent at the address and telephone number set forth above.

This release shall not be construed as an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any of the Existing Notes or any other securities.

The Tender Offers were not made in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. None of the Government, the Bank of New York Mellon as trustee for each series of Existing Notes, the Dealer Managers or the Tender and Information Agent makes any recommendation as to whether or not holders should tender their Existing Notes pursuant to the Tender Offers.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Government, to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses the Government has made in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. The Government cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The information contained in this press release identifies important factors that could cause such differences. The Government undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements.

SOURCE The Government of Bermuda
TEL AVIV, Israel, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd (TASE: TASE) is pleased to announce that its financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2022 will be published on Monday, August 8, 2022, after market close.

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that at 8:00 PM (Israeli time) on Monday, August 8, 2022, a conference call will take place, in English, in which the Company's financial statements for the second Quarter of 2022 will be reviewed before the Company's investors.

The Company's CEO, Mr. Ittai Ben-Zeev, and its CFO, Mr. Yehuda van der Walde, will host the call followed by Q&A.

Conference Call Dial-in Details (on passcode required):

Israel: 03-9180609

US: 1-888-744-5399 (toll free)

Canada: 1-888-604-5839 (toll free)

UK: 0-800-917-5108 (toll free)

All other Locations: + 972-3-9180609

The conference call will be held in English and will be accompanied by a presentation, which will be reported, in both Hebrew and English, on the Israeli Securities Authority website (MAGNA) and on the MAYA website, shortly before the conference call and, subsequently, also on the Company's website, under Investor Relations, whose address is: https://ir.tase.co.il/en

A day after the call, a recording of the English conference call will be uploaded to the Company's website, under Investor Relations.

The conference call is not a substitute for perusing the Company's interim financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2022 in which full and precise information is presented.

Contact:

Orna Goren

Head of Communication and Public Relations Unit

Tel: +972 76 8160405

[email protected]

SOURCE The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd.
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Tactical Data Link Market by Application (Command & Control, ISR, EW, Radio Communication), Platform (Ground, Airborne, Naval, Unmanned Systems, Weapons), Component, Frequency, Data Link Type, Point of Sale, Military Standard, Region - Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Tactical data link market is estimated to be USD 8.1 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 10.3 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2022 to 2027.

Factors such as the rise in airspace modernization programs, customized communication on the move solution for unmanned ground vehicles, and rising adoption of unmanned vehicles are driving factors assisting the growth of the tactical data link market.



The tactical data link market includes major players such as Collins Aerospace (US), L3harris Technologies (US), ViaSat (US), Thales Group (France), and General Dynamics Corporation (US) are some of the leading companies in this market, among others. These players have spread their business across various countries including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. COVID-19 has affected the tactical data link market growth to some extent, and this varies from country to country.



Ground: The dominating segment of the tactical data link market, by the platform



Based on the platform, the tactical data link market has been segmented into the ground, airborne, naval, unmanned systems, and weapons. The ground segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period.



Product: The fastest-growing segment of the tactical data link market, by component



The component segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR. The growth can be attributed due to the high rate of adoption of technologically advanced tactical data link components due to the ease of usage and maintenance.



Ultra High Frequency: The fastest-growing and leading segment of the tactical data link market, by frequency



The defense segment of the tactical data link market has been classified into a different frequency. The growth of the frequency segment of the tactical data link market can be attributed to the increased use of various technologically advanced components for receiving a large set of data through signals from several parts of the world across multiple platforms.



North America: The largest contributing region in the aerospace and tactical data link market.



The tactical data link market in the North American region has been studied for the US and Canada. North American countries are awarding a number of contracts to major players of the tactical data link market for the delivery of tactical data links and related components, thus driving the growth of the tactical data link market in the region.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Rise in Airspace Modernization Programs

5.2.1.2 Surging Demand for Military UAVs

5.2.1.3 Emergence of Modern Warfare Systems

5.2.1.4 Customized Communication-On-The-Move Solutions for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

5.2.1.5 Increasing Defense Budget of Emerging Countries

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Rigorous Military Standards and Stringent Regulations

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Rising Adoption of Unmanned Vehicles

5.2.3.2 Growing Demand for Enhanced Interoperability

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Lack of Skilled Workforce

5.2.4.2 System Requirements and Design Constraints

5.3 Value Chain Analysis of Tactical Data Link Market

5.4 Trends/Disruption Impacting Customer Business

5.4.1 Revenue Shift and New Revenue Pockets of Manufacturers of Tactical Data Link

5.5 Tactical Data Link Market Ecosystem

5.5.1 Prominent Companies

5.5.2 Private and Small Enterprises

5.5.3 Market Ecosystem

5.6 Innovation and Patent Registrations

5.7 Average Selling Price of Tactical Data Link Products

5.7.1 Average Selling Price Trends of Data Link Components, 2020 (USD Million)

5.8 Pricing Analysis

5.8.1 Average Selling Prices of Tactical Data Link, by Components

5.9 Porter'S Five Forces Analysis

5.9.1 Threat of New Entrants

5.9.2 Threat of Substitutes

5.9.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5.9.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers

5.9.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry

5.10 Key Markets for Export/Import

5.10.1 US

5.10.2 China

5.10.3 France

5.10.4 Japan

5.10.5 Key Conferences & Events, 2022-2023

5.11 Tariff and Regulatory Landscape

5.11.1 Regulatory Bodies, Government Agencies, and Other Organizations

5.11.2 Regulatory Landscape

5.11.2.1 North America

5.11.2.2 Europe

5.12 Key Stakeholders & Buying Criteria

5.12.1 Key Stakeholders in Buying Process

5.12.2 Buying Criteria



6 Industry Trends

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Technology Trends

6.2.1 Development of Cognitive Radios

6.2.2 Use of Software-Defined Radios

6.2.3 Development of Next-Generation Ip

6.2.4 Network-Enabled Weapons (News)

6.2.5 Manned-Unmanned Teaming (Mumt)

6.3 Technology Analysis

6.3.1 Multiband Tactical Communication Amplifiers

6.3.2 Increased Use of Ultra-Compact & High Throughput On-The-Move (Otm) Terminals for Tactical UAVs

6.4 Use Case Analysis

6.4.1 Link 11

6.4.2 Link 11B

6.4.3 Link 14

6.4.4 Link 16

6.4.5 Link 22

6.4.6 Common Data Link (Cdl)



7 Tactical Data Link Market, by Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (Isr)

7.3 Command & Control

7.4 Electronic Warfare

7.5 Radio Communication



8 Tactical Data Link Market, by Component

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Product

8.2.1 Increased Dependence on Small, Lightweight, and Power-Efficient Products to Fuel Demand

8.2.2 Modems

8.2.3 Terminals

8.2.4 Radio Sets

8.2.5 Routers

8.2.6 Controllers

8.2.7 Transceivers

8.2.8 Receivers

8.2.9 Others

8.3 Software Solution

8.3.1 Upgraded Software Increasingly Used to Increase Compatibility of Tactical Data Links



9 Tactical Data Link Market, by Platform

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Ground

9.2.1 Ground Control Stations/Command Centers

9.2.1.1 Increased Demand for Advanced Communication Radios for Army Base Stations

9.2.2 Armored Vehicles

9.2.2.1 Armored Vehicles with Tactical Communication Solutions Provide On-The-Walk and On-The-Move Capabilities

9.2.2.2 Combat Vehicles

9.2.2.3 Combat Support Vehicles

9.2.3 Soldiers

9.2.3.1 Increased Demand for Handheld Tactical Radios from Defense Forces

9.3 Airborne

9.3.1 Ensured Connectivity in Multiple Airborne Platforms Fuels Segment

9.3.2 Fixed-Wing

9.3.2.1 Fighter Aircraft Require Tactical Components for High-Speed Data Transfer

9.3.2.2 Fighter Aircraft

9.3.2.3 Transport Aircraft

9.3.2.4 Special Mission Aircraft

9.3.3 Rotary-Wing

9.3.3.1 Increasing Procurement by Emerging Economies Boosts Demand for Tactical Communication in Military Helicopters

9.3.3.2 Attack Helicopters

9.3.3.3 Maritime Helicopters

9.3.3.4 Multi-Role Helicopters

9.4 Naval

9.4.1 Increasing Maritime Warfare to Boost Demand

9.4.2 Ships

9.4.2.1 Increasing Demand for Secure Ship-To-Shore, Ship-To-Ship, and Ship-To-Aircraft Communications

9.4.2.2 Destroyers

9.4.2.3 Frigates

9.4.2.4 Corvettes

9.4.2.5 Amphibious Vessels

9.4.2.6 Survey Vessels

9.4.2.7 Patrol & Mine Countermeasure Vessels

9.4.2.8 Offshore Support Vessels

9.4.2.9 Other Supporting Vessels

9.4.3 Submarines

9.4.3.1 Integrated Tactical Data Link Components to Facilitate Reliable and High-Quality Communications for Underwater Operations

9.5 Unmanned Systems

9.5.1 Increasing Demand for Unmanned Systems and Advancements in Communication Technologies Assist Market Growth

9.5.2 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

9.5.3 Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs)

9.5.4 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UAVs)

9.6 Weapons

9.6.1 Need for Precision Strike Weapons to Fuel Demand

9.6.2 Tactical Missiles

9.6.3 Guided Rockets

9.6.4 Guided Ammunition

9.6.5 Torpedoes



10 Tactical Data Link Market, by Frequency

10.1 Introduction

10.2 High Frequency

10.2.1 Increased Demand for Short-Range Tactical Radios in Military Applications

10.3 Ultra High Frequency

10.3.1 Uhf Bands Widely Used in Secured Military Communications



11 Tactical Data Link Market, by Data Link Type

11.1 Link 11

11.2 Link 16

11.3 Link 22

11.4 Others

11.4.1 Variable Message Format (Vmf)

11.4.2 Situational Awareness Data Link (Sadl)

11.4.3 Joint Range Extension Applications Protocol (Jreap)



12 Tactical Data Link Market, by Military Standard

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Mil Std 6011

12.3 Mil Std 6016

12.4 Mil Std 6017

12.5 Mil Std 6020

12.6 Mil Std 3011



13 Tactical Data Link Market, by Point of Sale

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Oem

13.2.1 Increasing Upgradation of Military Communication Systems and Procurement of Military Vehicles Drive Segment

13.3 Aftermarket

13.3.1 Upgradation of Existing Military Vehicle Fleets Fuel Segment'S Growth



14 Regional Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Introduction

15.2 Market Share Analysis, 2021

15.3 Revenue Analysis, 2021

15.4 Market Ranking Analysis, 2021

15.5 Company Product Footprint Analysis

15.6 Company Evaluation Quadrant

15.6.1 Star

15.6.2 Emerging Leaders

15.6.3 Pervasive

15.6.4 Participants

15.7 Start-Up Evaluation Quadrant

15.7.1 Progressive Companies

15.7.2 Responsive Companies

15.7.3 Starting Blocks

15.7.4 Dynamic Companies

15.7.4.1 Competitive Benchmarking

15.8 Competitive Situations and Trends

15.8.1 Deals

15.8.2 Product Launches

15.8.3 Others



16 Company Profiles

16.1 Key Players

16.1.1 BAE Systems

16.1.1.1 Business Overview

16.1.1.2 Bae Systems: Products Offered?

16.1.1.3 Recent Developments

16.1.1.4 Analyst's View

16.1.1.4.1 Key Strengths and Right to Win

16.1.1.4.2 Strategic Choices

16.1.1.4.3 Weaknesses and Competitive Threats

16.1.2 General Dynamics Corporation

16.1.3 Collins Aerospace

16.1.4 Honeywell International Inc.

16.1.5 Northrop Grumman Corporation

16.1.6 L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

16.1.7 Viasat Inc.

16.1.8 Thales Group

16.1.9 Lockheed Martin Corporation

16.1.10 Leonardo S.P.A.

16.1.11 Elbit Systems Ltd.

16.1.12 Saab Ab

16.1.13 Curtiss-Wright Corporation

16.2 Other Players

16.2.1 Aselsan A.S.

16.2.2 IBM

16.2.3 Bharat Electronics Ltd.

16.2.4 Leidos Holdings Inc.

16.2.5 Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions Inc.

16.2.6 Rhode & Schwarz

16.2.7 Data Link Solutions

16.2.8 Kongsberg

16.2.9 Ultra Electronics

16.2.10 Terma

16.2.11 Hensoldt

17 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/p2sjd7

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

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SOURCE Research and Markets
STAMFORD, Conn., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE: TROX) announced today the following schedule for its second quarter 2022 earnings release and webcast conference call:

Earnings Release: Wednesday, July 27, 2022, after the market close via PR Newswire and the Tronox Holdings plc website: tronox.com

Webcast Conference Call: Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. ET (New York). The live call is open to the public via internet broadcast and telephone.

Internet Broadcast: investor.tronox.com

Dial-in Telephone Numbers:

United States: 1 (844) 200-6205

International: +1 929 526 1599

Access code: 603841

Conference Call Presentation Slides will be used during the conference call and are available on our investor relations website: investor.tronox.com

Conference Call Replay: Available via the internet and telephone beginning on July 28, 2022, by 11:00 a.m. ET (New York), until August 2, 2022, 5:00 p.m. ET (New York)

Internet Replay: investor.tronox.com

Replay Dial-in Telephone Numbers:

US Toll Free: 1 (866) 813-9403

International: +44 204 525 0658

Replay Access Code: 720357

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc is one of the world's leading producers of high-quality titanium products, including titanium dioxide pigment, specialty-grade titanium dioxide products and high-purity titanium chemicals, and zircon. We mine titanium-bearing mineral sands and operate upgrading facilities that produce high-grade titanium feedstock materials, pig iron and other minerals. With approximately 6,500 employees across six continents, our rich diversity, unmatched vertical integration model, and unparalleled operational and technical expertise across the value chain, position Tronox as the preeminent titanium dioxide producer in the world. For more information about how our products add brightness and durability to paints, plastics, paper and other everyday products, visit Tronox.com.

Media Contact: Melissa Zona

+1.636.751.4057

Investor Contact: Jennifer Guenther

+1.646.960.6598

SOURCE Tronox Holdings plc
Lawsuit Filed a Month After Uber Disclosed That Nearly 1,000 Sexual Assaults Occurred in U.S. Uber Vehicles in Single Year

Complaint Details How Riders Were Assaulted by Uber Drivers As the Company Prioritized Growth Over Passenger Safety

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Uber Technologies, Inc. ("Uber") today has been named in a civil action alleging that women passengers in multiple states were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers with whom they had been paired through the Uber application. The complaint was filed today in San Francisco County Superior Court by attorneys at Slater Slater Schulman LLP, a full-service law firm focused on representing survivors of catastrophic and traumatic events. Slater Slater Schulman LLP has approximately 550 clients with claims against Uber, with at least 150 more being actively investigated.

Last month, Uber released its second U.S. Safety Report , in which it stated that there were 998 sexual assault incidents, including 141 rape reports, in 2020 alone, the most recent year with available data. Uber disclosed that it received 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020, ranging from "non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part" to "non-consensual sexual penetration," or rape.

As detailed in the complaint filed by Slater Slater Schulman LLP today, as early as 2014, Uber became aware that its drivers were sexually assaulting and raping female passengers; nevertheless, in the eight years since, sexual predators driving for Uber have continued to attack passengers, including the plaintiffs whose claims were alleged in today's action:

In February 2022 , an Uber driver sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a woman who was a passenger in his vehicle in Chino Hills, CA.

, an Uber driver sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a woman who was a passenger in his vehicle in In November 2021 , an Uber driver fondled and raped a passenger in Perris, CA.

, an Uber driver fondled and raped a passenger in In August 2021 , an Uber driver convinced a woman passenger to sit in the front seat of his vehicle, where he forcefully kissed her and sexually assaulted her.

, an Uber driver convinced a woman passenger to sit in the front seat of his vehicle, where he forcefully kissed her and sexually assaulted her. In October 2021 , an Uber driver attempted to rape a woman outside Pittsburgh, PA , rather than take her safely to her destination.

, an Uber driver attempted to rape a woman outside , rather than take her safely to her destination. Also in October 2021 , an Uber driver attempted to rape a woman passenger in Boston, MA.

"Uber's whole business model is predicated on giving people a safe ride home, but rider safety was never their concern  growth was, at the expense of their passengers' safety," said Adam Slater, Founding Partner of Slater Slater Schulman LLP. "While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences."

Uber's prioritization of growth over customer safety  and the resulting horror experienced by many of its passengers  is well-documented. As outlined in the complaint, Uber was fixated on getting new drivers onboarded as quickly as possible to fuel growth, so it eschewed traditional background check standards. For example, former CEO Travis Kalanick intentionally opted to hire drivers without fingerprinting them or running their information through FBI databases, and Uber's current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi continued this policy after he took over in August 2017.

Additionally, Uber has a longstanding policy that it will not report any criminal activity  even assaults and rape  to law-enforcement authorities. After widespread media reporting of Uber's sexual assault and harassment problems, Uber in 2018 acknowledged a "deeply rooted problem" of sexual assault. Despite awareness of this problem, the company has refused to install video cameras in cars, even though doing so could prevent passengers and drivers from being assaulted, and it has maintained a "three strikes" policy for its drivers that kept predators at the wheel even after serious passenger complaints.

"There is so much more that Uber can be doing to protect riders: adding cameras to deter assaults, performing more robust background checks on drivers, creating a warning system when drivers don't stay on a path to a destination," said Adam Slater. "But the company refuses to, and that's why my firm has 550 clients with claims against Uber and we're investigating at least 150 more. Acknowledging the problem through safety reports is not enough. It is well past time for Uber to take concrete actions to protect its customers."

Individuals seeking to be linked to resources for sexual assault survivors can call 800.656.HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. The National Sexual Assault Hotline operated by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) provides confidential support from trained staff members and can assist with finding local healthcare resources, help talk through what happened, and offer referrals for long-term support.

ABOUT SLATER SLATER SCHULMAN LLP

Slater Slater Schulman LLP is a prominent full-service law firm with over 40 years of experience representing survivors of catastrophic and traumatic events. Our nationally renowned attorneys are committed to ensuring the best results for our clients through persistence and zealous representation. We have achieved successful resolutions in some of the most challenging cases in the industry, including complex historical sexual abuse cases involving massive institutions, including academic, religious, and youth organizations. Our firm also has been recognized for its efforts representing clients in pharmaceutical drug litigation, product liability litigation, environmental litigation, employment and labor law, medical malpractice, and personal injury, and has successfully represented thousands of World Trade Center survivors to receive compensation for their injuries. Learn more at sssfirm.com.

Media Contact:

For Slater Slater Schulman LLP:

Joan Vollero / Anne Hart

Prosek Partners

[email protected]

SOURCE Slater Slater Schulman LLP
ATMORE, Ala., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- United Bancorporation of Alabama, Inc., parent company of United Bank, Town-Country United Bank and UB Community Development, has received a $123 million investment from the U.S. Department of the Treasury under its Emergency Capital Investment Program, or ECIP.

The new capital is intended to be used by United to further increase lending efforts for borrowers in underserved, low-income and minority communities.

United Bancorporation of Alabama receives capital investment from Department of the Treasury Tweet this

The Emergency Capital Investment Program was created to encourage low- and moderate-income community financial institutions to augment their efforts to support small businesses and consumers in their communities. "ECIP has revolutionized our lending efforts as a CDFI and to the communities and people we serve," United Bank CEO and President Mike Vincent said. "It has provided an unprecedented opportunity for us to expand our services to underserved rural, urban and minority communities."

ECIP will provide up to $9 billion in capital directly to depository institutions that are certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) or minority depository institutions (MDIs) for small businesses, minority-owned businesses and consumers, especially in low-income and underserved communities, that may be disproportionately impacted by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

United Bancorporation of Alabama, Inc. (OTCQX: UBAB) is a $1.2 billion financial holding company that primarily serves Southwest Alabama as well as Northwest Florida. United is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), which recognizes its commitment to stimulating economic development in underserved communities. United operates three subsidiaries: United Bank, Town-Country United Bank and UB Community Development. United Bank is also designated as a CDFI and operates 22 branches across five counties. The recently acquired Town-Country United Bank serves Wilcox County and its surrounding counties. UB Community Development focuses on economic and community development through its New Markets Tax Credits, affordable housing and community facilities programs. United Bank has offices in Atmore, Brewton, East Brewton, Flomaton, Monroeville, Frisco City, Bay Minette, Daphne, Foley, Lillian, Loxley, Magnolia Springs, Semmes, Silverhill, Spanish Fort and Summerdale in Alabama. United Bank serves Santa Rosa County, Florida in Jay, Milton and Pace.

Contact:

Tina Brooks

Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary

[email protected]

251-446-6001

SOURCE United Bancorporation
Fast-casual, chef-driven restaurant brings wholesome, made-from-scratch meals to Silicon Valley; Santana Row location set to open in 2023

SAN DIEGO, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Plates, the fast-casual, chef-driven restaurant concept specializing in wholesome, made-from-scratch meals, celebrated the opening of its newest location in Sunnyvale, California on Monday, July 11. The opening marks the brand's third Bay Area location, joining existing eateries in Pleasant Hill and Dublin. With eyes on further expanding its Northern California footprint, a fourth outpost is planned to unveil at Santana Row in 2023.

"The response to our Bay Area restaurants has been overwhelming and the opening of Sunnyvale will kick start further expansion in the region," said Joe O'Donnell, President of Urban Plates. "Everyone deserves to eat this good, and we can't wait to share our food and grow our local Urban Plates family."

Located at 300 W. McKinley Avenue, the newest Urban Plates is situated in the city's dynamic Cityline development, a bustling 4.5-acre mixed-use project in the heart of Silicon Valley, just steps from Caltrain and historic Murphy Avenue. With signature industrial chic interiors and a sleek, modern aesthetic aligned with Cityline, the 5,070 square foot restaurant seats 135 with both indoor and outdoor dining options. An open concept kitchen and ordering area offers guests a front row seat to watch their meals being prepared.

"This location was several years in the making, and we've planted the seeds for nurturing a strong connection with the Sunnyvale and greater Silicon Valley community," said Lee Walters, general manager of Urban Plates Sunnyvale. "The restaurant is ideally positioned in Cityline and offers a wonderful opportunity for us to serve those who live, work, and play in and around the development. We look forward to welcoming residents, shoppers, and office workers, and introducing them to our quality, craveable food at prices that won't break the bank."

Urban Plates offers an affordable and fully customizable menu of bowls, plates, salads, scratch-made sides, entrees, and desserts featuring sustainably sourced seafood and meats, and their "organics all the time" produce guarantee and caters to gluten-free, plant-based, and low-carb lifestyles. Patrons can choose dine-in, takeout, or delivery options with online ordering and the restaurant's catering operation makes it the ideal choice for neighboring office buildings.

In addition to an $11 everyday menu of high quality, organic, and responsibly sourced options, Urban Plates offers frequent diners an opportunity to join its Plate Pass programa $10 monthly subscription service that reduces the price of every entree on its menu to just $11 (or less) at lunch and dinner.

The restaurant will be open to the public for dine-in, to-go orders, catering, and delivery from 11:00 am - 9:30 pm, on Fridays and Saturdays, and 11:00 am to 9:00 pm Sunday - Thursday. For more details, visit https://urbanplates.com/ .

About Urban Plates

Urban Plates began in 2011 with a single restaurant in Del Mar, California and has grown to 17 locations, including Sunnyvale. Headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif., the brand has locations throughout San Diego, Orange County, the greater Los Angeles area, and Northern California. Urban Plates' expansive menu items are made fresh in-house, from scratch, every day using clean (organic whenever and as much as possible) ingredients. With menus that include gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, pescatarian, low-carb, or any combination of the above, Urban Plates is committed to bringing variety and honest value to its guests. Follow Urban Plates on Instagram or Facebook at @urbanplates or visit Urban Plates online at www.urbanplates.com.

SOURCE Urban Plates
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To facilitate sustainable, local cacao production for the finest chocolate, XAG agricultural drone is adopted by cacao growers in Ecuador and provides relief to labour shortage during the busy season.

As more plantations struggle to improve efficiency and remain profitable, farmers are now seeking better solutions to combat plant diseases that can flourish with rainy spells. XAG's drone technology steps into Ecuador's cacao gardens to spray timely after rains, protecting cacao fruit from yield loss with trustworthy effect.

XAG agricultural drone conducted pest control in an Ecuadorian cacao farm (Photo credit: Megadrone Ecuador)

More Efficient Spraying Solution in Sloped Farm

As the world's leading export of cacao, Ecuador is the top spot of high-quality cacao beans, the major ingredient of single-origin chocolates. Small farm owners account for over 90% of the cacao producers. However, the downward trend in cacao prices and the capricious weather have pushed more pressure on preserving yields.

This season, Ecuadorian farmers are opening their arms to embrace drone technology for fruit tree spraying. XAG's local partner, Megadrone, dispatched an agricultural service team to manage a 180-hectare cacao farm in Guayaquil, the second largest city of Ecuador. Drone was used as an alternative spraying tool to cope with the increasing labour costs.

The cacao farm is located on mountains and the sloped, undulating terrain makes it hard to reach by large ground machinery. Over the previous years, spraying crops and spreading fertilizers were mostly conducted by hired workers manually. It took at least a month to cover the whole fields even with sufficient labour.

Since the drones arrived this April, cacaos can be farmed in a more sustainable practice and become more resilient to climate change. During the operation, the XAG P Series Agricultural Drone was equipped with a full tank of foliar fertilizers and fungicides. It took off from the slope and flew over clusters of bushes to precisely spray on the cacao trees.

Due to the powerful downdraft under propellers, chemical droplets could be easily carried to the whole plant and attach to the leaves uniformly. Two sets of XAG agricultural drones were able to serve the entire 180-hectare cacao fruits in 3 to 4 days.

Keep Cacao Distant from Rain Season Diseases

When the rainy season comes, manual operation is susceptible to the changing climate, and farmers often miss the best time to spray for pest control or disease prevention. In this cacao farm of Guayaquil, the hot, humid weather has last for at least two months, which would accelerate the nutrition loss in plants and increase the risk of infesting diseases.

With the help of drones, now cacao farmers can apply timely fungicide sprays and supply fertilizers to boost growth right after the heavy rains. In addition to aerial spraying, the drone can be fully automated to deal with the complicated landform of cacao trees.

"What's more, XAG's agricultural drone can be easily operated by most people. Before launching the drone, the pilot just plans the flight path and sets up parameters on mobile app. This is convenient to learn even for our elderly workers," said by the farm owner.

In the coming three months, the cocoa plantations in Ecuador will enter a vital stage where foliar feeding and insecticide spraying are required for a bumper harvest of cacao pods. With their high agility and efficiency, drones can strongly support cacao farmers to produce fine aromatic cacao beans that the global market adores.

SOURCE XAG
Funding supports identifying and measuring barriers for patients and providers in accessing care

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 2020 Mom announced it was awarded a multi-year grant from the ZOMA Foundation to allow the organization to grow its capacity to advance solutions to substantive barriers for both providers and patients in accessing maternal mental health care.

Today, 2020 Mom announced it was awarded a multi-year grant from the ZOMA Foundation to allow the organization to grow its capacity to advance solutions to substantive barriers for both providers and patients in accessing maternal mental health care.

"We are grateful for ZOMA's recognition of our work thus far in catalyzing change in maternal mental health," said Joy Burkhard, Executive Director of 2020 Mom. "We will share progress with these initiatives with the maternal mental health field throughout the next two years with great anticipation as these priorities are certainly key in closing gaps in delivery of accessible and high-quality maternal mental health care," she said.

Through this grant, 2020 Mom will advance its strategic plan by:

Tracking and reporting of maternal mental health disorder screening rate measures;

Surveying providers and patients about their insurance experiences;

Re-developing the "Whole Mom" maternal mental health best practices for insurers; and

Researching development of a certified peer support Center of Excellence.

About 2020 Mom

2020 Mom is working to prevent the suffering of mothers, babies, and families associated with untreated maternal mental health disorders, like postpartum depression. 2020 Mom has driven the national conversation from one centered around raising awareness of one disorder, postpartum depression, to building a movement to address maternal mental health. The organization's work centers around closing gaps in the healthcare system by scaling change through identification of evidence-based and emerging solutions, cross-sector collaboration, and advancing legislative and regulatory policy solutions.

Learn more at http://www.2020mom.org .

About ZOMA Foundation

ZOMA Foundation was founded by Ben and Lucy Ana Walton to catalyze systemic, scalable solutions to key issues facing their home regions of Colorado and Chile to support the development of resilient, thriving communities. Using philanthropy as a catalytic tool, ZOMA Foundation seeks to explore traditional and non-traditional methods, pilot new models, and incubate place-based approaches in service of advancing systems change in early childhood and community economic development.

Contact

Kelly Nielson

[email protected]

310 760-1313

SOURCE 2020 Mom
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cosmetic Laser Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cosmetic laser market reached a value of US$ 1.9 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 4.1 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.68% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



A cosmetic laser is used in surgical procedures to remove hair, tattoos, scars, sunspots, wrinkles, birthmarks, stretch marks, and spider veins. It relies on precisely focused light sources to treat skin conditions, such as skin resurfacing, hair removal, and improving the appearance of scars, lines, wrinkles, and acne.

It offers the advantages of decreased postoperative discomfort, reduced blood loss, minimized risk of wound infection, and better wound healing. Presently, there is a rise in the utilization of newly introduced carbon dioxide (CO2) technology, which aids in deep collagen stimulation and superficial tightening and pigment reduction.



Rising beauty consciousness among individuals, in confluence with the increasing influence of social media, rapid urbanization, and inflating per capita income, represents one of the key factors catalyzing the demand for cosmetic lasers worldwide. In addition to this, a significant rise in the aging population across the globe, along with the increasing focus on maintaining a youthful appearance, is contributing to market growth.

Apart from this, the emerging trend of cosmetic tourism and minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) is influencing the market positively. Moreover, as excessive sun exposure leads to various skin conditions, the demand for cosmetic lasers is escalating among individuals. The growing prevalence of obesity is also propelling the adoption of body contouring devices to tighten lax skin and remove undesired fat from various parts of the body.

Furthermore, the introduction of advanced light-based technologies, such as infrared, radiofrequency, intense pulsed light (IPL), and light-emitting diode (LED), is driving the market. The leading manufacturers are also offering hand-held, over-the-counter (OTC) cosmetic laser and light devices for home use, which is creating a positive market outlook.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Aerolase Corporation, Candela Corporation (Syneron Medical Ltd.), Cutera, Cynosure, El.En. S.p.A., Lumenis Ltd., Sciton Inc., Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd., SharpLight Technologies Inc and Solta Medical Inc. (Bausch Health Companies Inc.).

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global cosmetic laser market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global cosmetic laser market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the modality?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end user?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global cosmetic laser market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface

2 Scope and Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Cosmetic Laser Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast

6 Market Breakup by Modality

6.1 Pulsed Dye Laser (PDL)

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 YAG Laser

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Carbon Dioxide Laser

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Erbium

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Radiofrequency

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Infrared

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast

6.8 Others

6.8.1 Market Trends

6.8.2 Market Forecast

7 Market Breakup by Product

7.1 Ablative

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Non-Ablative

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Hair Removal

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Skin Resurfacing

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Vascular Lesions

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Scar and Acne Removal

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Body Contouring

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast

9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Hospitals

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Skin Care Clinics

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Cosmetics Surgical Centres

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

10 Market Breakup by Region

11 SWOT Analysis

11.1 Overview

11.2 Strengths

11.3 Weaknesses

11.4 Opportunities

11.5 Threats

12 Value Chain Analysis

13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

13.1 Overview

13.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

13.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

13.4 Degree of Competition

13.5 Threat of New Entrants

13.6 Threat of Substitutes

14 Price Analysis

15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Aerolase Corporation

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Candela Corporation (Syneron Medical Ltd.)

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Cutera

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.4 Cynosure

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 El.En. S.p.A.

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 Financials

15.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.6 Lumenis Ltd.

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 Sciton Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.9 SharpLight Technologies Inc

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 Solta Medical Inc. (Bausch Health Companies Inc.)

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q0rlzp

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
Key Market Dynamics:

Market Driver

One of the key factors driving the HVAC services market growth is the development of EVs charging infrastructure. Electric vehicles have the potential to become one of the most disruptive technologies changing our behavior, but they are also the most daunting challenges facing the automotive supply chain and electric companies across the grid in the last 100 years. The growth in the number of electric vehicles is impressive, and the future scenario is also very interesting; by 2025, it will reach 40-70 million. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) has been identified as a substantial contributor to EV power usage, in addition to the electric motor. The primary job of automobile climate controls has been to ensure the passengers' thermal comfort by controlling the HVAC system. In the three most advanced electric vehicle markets in China, the 27 EU countries and the United Kingdom, and the United States, the charging of residential and commercial buildings will dominate in the foreseeable future and will continue to be the key to expanding the industry.

Market Challenge

High cost of batteries used in EVs is one of the key challenges hindering the HVAC services market growth. The global HVAC services market is geographically diverse and witnesses intense competition. The existence of numerous international and regional players has intensified market competition. Fierce competition exists among international vendors, in terms of technological innovations and modifications in existing products, for gaining a significant position in the market. As the market is intensive, it is essential for vendors to showcase product differentiation. Many international players are finding it difficult to retain their position in the market due to low-cost offerings of HVAC components and parts by regional vendors. Moreover, the emergence of local vendors has intensified market competition, especially in APAC. Local players enjoy low-cost advantages in manufacturing due to the low cost of raw material procurement because of well-established distribution channels within the supply chains of respective regions. Also, the cost of standardizing the product is minimal. Due to these factors, regional vendors sell HVAC chillers at a relatively lower price per unit when compared to other international players.

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Market Drivers, Trends, and Challenges on Higher Priority

Segmentation Analysis & Forecasts

The HVAC services market share growth by the non-residential will be significant during the forecast period. The non-residential sector has seen growth in terms of the number of office buildings, data centers, and healthcare facilities. The moderate development rate of China's economy is the key factor contributing to APAC's slow growth in the market. There are significant opportunities in the market in the Middle East. Such an increase in construction activities in the commercial sector will propel the growth of the global HVAC services market during the forecast period.

For More Insights on the Market Contribution of Various Segments that will Help

Companies Evaluate and Develop Growth Strategies. Download Sample Report

Some of the Major Companies Mentioned

AB Electrolux

Daikin Industries Ltd.

Emerson Electric Co.

Gardner Denver Holdings Inc.

Johnson Controls International Plc

LG Electronics Inc.

Nortek Inc.

Robert Bosch GmbH

Siemens AG

United Technologies Corp.

The HVAC services market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as expanding the product portfolio to compete in the market.

To Recover from Post COVID-19 Impact Market Vendors Should Focus More on the Growth Pospects in the Fast-growing Segments. Read Sample Report to Learn More

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Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 01: Parent market



Exhibit 02: Market characteristics

2.2 Value chain analysis

Exhibit 03: Value chain analysis: Specialized Consumer Services

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 04: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 05: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2020

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025

Exhibit 06: Global - Market size and forecast 2020 - 2025 ($ million)



Exhibit 07: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2020 - 2025 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 08: Five forces analysis 2020 & 2025

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 09: Bargaining power of buyers

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 10: Bargaining power of suppliers

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 11: Threat of new entrants

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 12: Threat of substitutes

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 13: Threat of rivalry

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 14: Market condition - Five forces 2020

5 Market Segmentation by End-user

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 15: End-user - Market share 2020-2025 (%)

5.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 16: Comparison by End-user

5.3 Non-residential - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 17: Non-residential - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)



Exhibit 18: Non-residential - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

5.4 Residential - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 19: Residential - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)



Exhibit 20: Residential - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 21: Market opportunity by End-user

6 Customer landscape

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 23: Market share by geography 2020-2025 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 24: Geographic comparison

7.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 25: APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)



Exhibit 26: APAC - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 27: Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 28: Europe - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 29: North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 30: North America - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.6 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 31: MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)



Exhibit 32: MEA - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 33: South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 34: South America - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.8 Key leading countries

Exhibit 35: Key leading countries

7.9 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

Exhibit 37: Impact of drivers and challenges

8.3 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

Exhibit 38: Vendor landscape

9.2 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 39: Landscape disruption



Exhibit 40: Industry risks

9.3 Competitive scenario

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 41: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 42: Market positioning of vendors

10.3 ABM Industries Inc.

10.4 Air Comfort

Exhibit 48: Air Comfort - Overview



Exhibit 49: Air Comfort - Product and service



Exhibit 50: Air Comfort - Key offerings

10.5 Alexander Mechanical

Exhibit 51: Alexander Mechanical - Overview



Exhibit 52: Alexander Mechanical - Product and service



Exhibit 53: Alexander Mechanical - Key offerings

10.6 Blue Star Ltd.

Exhibit 54: Blue Star Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 55: Blue Star Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 56: Blue Star Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 57: Blue Star Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 58: Blue Star Ltd. - Segment focus

10.7 Carrier Global Corp.

Exhibit 59: Carrier Global Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 60: Carrier Global Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 61: Carrier Global Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 62: Carrier Global Corp. - Segment focus

10.8 Daikin Industries Ltd.

Exhibit 63: Daikin Industries Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 64: Daikin Industries Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 65: Daikin Industries Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 66: Daikin Industries Ltd. - Segment focus

10.9 ENGIE SA

Exhibit 67: ENGIE SA - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 68: ENGIE SA - Business segments

- Business segments

Exhibit 69: ENGIE SA - Key offerings

- Key offerings

Exhibit 70: ENGIE SA - Segment focus

10.10 J and J Air Conditioning

Exhibit 71: J and J Air Conditioning - Overview



Exhibit 72: J and J Air Conditioning - Product and service



Exhibit 73: J and J Air Conditioning - Key offerings

10.11 National HVAC Service

Exhibit 74: National HVAC Service - Overview



Exhibit 75: National HVAC Service - Product and service



Exhibit 76: National HVAC Service - Key offerings

10.12 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 77: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 78: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 79: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 80: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 81: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 82: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.3 Research methodology

Exhibit 83: Research Methodology



Exhibit 84: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 85: Information sources

11.4 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 86: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Chico's FAS, Inc. Debuts Redesigned Rewards+ Loyalty Programs Across All Three Brands

FORT MYERS, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS) ("Chico's FAS" or the "Company") announces the launch of new customer loyalty programs for its three brands, Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma, reinforcing the retailer's digital-first, customer-led strategic priorities.

For the Chico's brand, this marks the first significant change in the customer loyalty experience since the Chico's Passport loyalty program launched in 1990. The new Rewards+ loyalty programs provide more personalized and seamless opportunities for Chico's FAS customers to reap the benefits of their loyalty to the company's brands.

With a tiered benefits structure, the new Programs revitalize the Company's customer retail experience by emphasizing a "future-fit" loyalty approach that offers earned benefits aligned to customer spending trends. The programs amplify the unique strengths of each brand, allowing for simplified yet meaningful customer engagement across all touchpoints. For example, with a minimum annual spend of $500, Chico's Rewards+ members will access enhanced benefits with each new tier level, like personalized rewards offers; a new birthday reward experience; VIP access to limited edition products, collection previews and collaborations; enhanced styling services and personalized campaigns.

"Chico's FAS's purpose is to promote a kind world where women never have to compromise. Providing solutions, building communities and creating memorable experiences to bring women confidence and joy through personalized shopping experiences designed to help women look and feel their best. Our Rewards+ Programs celebrate the exceptional customer loyalty that we work so hard to earn every day. The new Programs offer curated benefit suites matched to spend, that deliver industry-leading value with more meaningful ways to reward her every time she shops with us; two things that are important to our customers now more than ever," said Molly Langenstein, CEO of Chico's FAS.

About the Programs

Chico's Rewards+ moves customers from one lifetime tier into 4 tiers (Daring, Magnetic, Fierce and Phenomenal) based on annual spend thresholds that unlock access to benefits from her first purchase. For example, members that unlock the Phenomenal tier receive benefits including 5% back in rewards, free shipping and returns for all chicos.com purchases plus early access to new products.

In addition to the new Chico's Rewards+ program benefits and to preserve the loyalty of legacy Chico's Passport members (now called Founders 5), the everyday 5% off and free shipping benefit will continue in addition to the new benefits.

WHBM Rewards+ Shifting from a loyalty program that limited benefits access to WHBM members that reached minimum spending thresholds to a program that unlocks new earned rewards and shipping benefits with her first transaction allows the brand to start engaging and rewarding new WHBM customers sooner.

Soma Rewards+: This program reinforces the customer's wellness journey and investment in herself through accessible, tiered thresholds featuring benefits designed to motivate increased engagement and incremental spend. Unlike the former Love Soma Rewards program, the new Soma Rewards+ program features 4 tiers (Dream, Serene, Bliss and Cloud 9) to drive frequency across customer segments and reduce plateau effects.

"Consumer experience and consumer expectations go hand in hand, and Chico's FAS was facing the challenge of revamping a program like Chico's Passport that shoppers had known for more than 30 years. Drawing on exhaustive consumer research and their strong executive vision, we were able to work together to redesign and launch exciting new loyalty experiences for each brand," said Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, EVP of Loyalty for Mastercard, Chico's FAS' loyalty strategy partner. "This new suite of loyalty programs reinforces Chico's FAS position as a leader in customer engagement and loyalty, and we look forward to continuing to partner closely in the future."

Quick fact - As of August 24, 2021, the Company operated 1,284 stores in the U.S. and sold merchandise through 66 international franchise locations in Mexico and 2 domestic franchise airport locations. The Company's merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com , www.chicosofftherack.com , www.whbm.com and www.soma.com as well as through third-party channels.

ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.

Chico's FAS is a Florida-based fashion company founded in 1983 on Sanibel Island, Fla. The Company reinvented the fashion retail experience by creating fashion communities anchored by service, which put the customer at the center of everything we do. As one of the leading fashion retailers in North America, Chico's FAS is a company of three unique brands  Chico's, WHBM and Soma  each thriving in their own white space, founded by women, led by women, providing solutions that millions of women say give them confidence and joy.

Our Company has a passion for fashion, and each day, we provide clothing, shoes and accessories, intimate apparel and expert styling in our brick-and-mortar boutiques, digital online boutiques and through Style Connect, the Company's proprietary digital styling tool that enables customers to conveniently shop wherever, whenever and however they prefer.

To learn more about Chico's FAS, please visit our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on our corporate website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press release or incorporated into our federal securities law filings.

Media Contact:

SEQUEL

Sheila Smith

[email protected]

203-917-8644

SOURCE Chicos FAS, Inc.
IRVINE, Calif. , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Advisors Group (AAG), the nation's leader in home equity solutions, today announced its partnership with EZ-ACCESS, a division of Homecare Products Inc., a leading provider of quality access and mobility solutions. The partnership allows EZ-ACCESS dealers to connect customers with AAG to help them understand options for accessing their home equity to fund home modification projects such as modular and portable ramping, patient transfer and vertical platform lifts.

"AAG is excited to partner with a company that provides durable, safe and convenient mobility products for seniors across the country. It's a partnership that naturally embodies our core values of being caring, driven and ethical," said Scott Slifer, AAG Chief Administrative Officer. "In 2022, the industry can expect AAG to bring more companies into our family of partners who align with our company mission and provide wholistic solutions to seniors both financially and in the home."

AAG's products allow seniors to responsibly access their home equity to make home modifications needed to remain in their home long term. All AAG borrowers are of course required to maintain the home, pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, and otherwise comply with loan terms.

According to a recent AAG study, over 80% of seniors wish to live in their home for the rest of their lives, but the vast majority do not have homes equipped for the journey. In fact, according to the CDC, each year 3 million older Americans are treated for emergency injuries due to falls and over 800,000 are hospitalized at an estimated cost of over $50 billion. AAG believes this issue can be countered with the responsible use of home equity to help seniors fund their home safety and preparedness projects.

"EZ-ACCESS is driven by our mission to enrich lives by providing access to life beyond barriers," said Don Everard, CEO and Co-owner EZ-ACCESS. "Our environment simply isn't flat, and this is challenging for anyone with limited mobility and especially those who rely on a mobility device to get around. By partnering with AAG, we are excited to bring our customers a trusted option to help them get the accessibility solutions they need for a fulfilling life."

In the agreement, EZ-ACCESS dealers will now be able to connect their customers who are 62 and older directly with AAG loan officers in their area. These loan officers will work in-person with each individual client and their families to discuss the financing options they have available to fund home modifications unique to their situation. As part of the partnership, AAG will also provide EZ-ACCESS dealers with educational material about home equity usage and will take part in industry related events. AAG's partnership with EZ-ACCESS is another step in ensuring that seniors have access to a variety of helpful resources for their later years.

To find out more about the AAG/ EZ-ACCESS partnership dealers can call (855) 288-0456 or visit: https://www.aag.com/vgm-home/p/1

About EZ-ACCESS

EZ-ACCESS has been a family-owned and operated company since 1984 and continues to be one of the World's leading producers of high-quality accessibility solutions. We remain dedicated to providing access to life beyond barriers by offering our nationwide network of dealers safe, durable, and dependable ramps, platforms, stairs, and lifts that help get elderly, disabled, or recovering individuals where they need to go. Our products are suitable for home, vehicle, or travel and offer temporary or long-term solutions to accommodate a wide variety of needs. To learn more about EZ-ACCESS and our suite of products, you can visit our website at www.ezaccess.com.

About AAG

AAG is dedicated to helping older Americans find new ways to fund a better retirement through the responsible use of home equity. As the nation's leader in reverse mortgage lending, AAG offers a suite of home equity solutions, including Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, traditional and proprietary mortgages, that are designed to give seniors a better financial outcome in retirement. AAG is a proud member of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA). To learn more about AAG and reverse mortgage loans, please visit the company's website at www.aag.com.

American Advisors Group, NMLS ID: 9392, 18200 Von Karman Ave., Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92612.

Contact:

Ryan Whittington

[email protected]

(657) 236-5220

SOURCE American Advisors Group (AAG)
Acquisition is a key step in AHF Products' growth strategy & expands U.S. manufacturing footprint to 10 facilities stateside

MOUNTVILLE, Pa., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AHF Products announced today that it has received bankruptcy court approval to purchase certain assets of Armstrong Flooring, Inc., strengthening AHF Products' leadership position in resilient flooring solutions and adding another gear to its expanding commercial market business. The purchase includes the purchase and operation of three U.S. manufacturing facilities, in Lancaster and Beech Creek, PA and in Kankakee, IL.

"Our investments in new brands, products and capabilities, both organically and through acquisitions, has fueled our growth. Our strategic acquisitions have been a key driver in expanding both our reach and product offering to provide our customers with industry-leading commercial and residential products, including hardwood, resilient and laminate. That is, and will continue to be, our strategy moving forward," said Brian Carson, President and CEO, AHF Products. "Our ongoing commitment is to create products that bring more value to our customers, across categories."

Since its inception, AHF Products has grown rapidly in both the residential and commercial flooring segments by innovating and broadening its product offerings through its world class brands, manufacturing capabilities and channels of distribution.

"Our stable of top brands allows us to bring our channel partners the right style, value, innovation and marketing to enable them to differentiate themselves and grow market share. We will continue to be a leader and a one-stop-shop for our customers," said Carson.

AHF Products continues to invest in U.S. manufacturing and this purchase expands AHF Products' domestic footprint, enhancing the company's customer base, production efficiencies and logistical capabilities. Ten U.S. facilities mean sustaining American manufacturing jobs and boosting local economies. Further, the company's domestic production capacity provides insulation from volatility around tariffs, duties and high shipping costs, which positions AHF Products to continue providing superior customer service given the dislocated global supply chain.

AHF Products is well situated to continue its remarkable growth trajectory through continued innovation and industry-leading customer service. Headquartered in Mountville, Pa., AHF Products is a leader in hardwood, vinyl plank, laminate and commercial products. After acquiring the Armstrong assets, the company will operate 11 manufacturing facilities  seven wood plants and three vinyl facilities in the U.S., and one engineered hardwood plant in Cambodia. Three domestic distribution facilities serve customers through a multi-channel strategy that includes dealers, home centers and distributors.

The purchase is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

About AHF Products

AHF Products is a leading hardwood flooring manufacturer in the USA with a family of trusted brands serving the residential and commercial hardwood and vinyl flooring markets. With decades of experience in award-winning wood flooring design, product development, manufacturing and service, we create quality flooring to last for generations through inspiring designs, product innovation and a deep commitment to outstanding customer service. Our residential flooring brands include Bruce, Hartco, Robbins, LM Flooring, Capella, HomerWood, Hearthwood, Raintree, Autograph, Emily Morrow Home and tmbr. Our commercial brands include Bruce Contract, Hartco Contract, AHF Contract and Parterre. Headquartered in Mountville, Pennsylvania, with manufacturing operations across the United States and in Cambodia, AHF Products employs over 2,600 dedicated team members. www.AHFProducts.com

Armstrong is a trademark of Armstrong World Industries, Inc. All other marks are owned by AHF, LLC, its affiliates, or subsidiaries. All rights reserved.

SOURCE AHF Products
OAKVILLE, ON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. ("AQN") (TSX: AQN) (NYSE: AQN) today announced plans to release its second quarter 2022 financial results on Thursday, August 11, 2022, after market close. AQN will hold an earnings conference call at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on Friday, August 12, 2022, hosted by President and Chief Executive Officer, Arun Banskota, and Chief Financial Officer, Arthur Kacprzak.

Conference call details are as follows:

Date: Friday, August 12, 2022 Time: 10:00 a.m. ET Conference Call: Toll Free Dial-In Number (800) 806-5484

Toll Dial-In Number (416) 641-6104

Event Passcode 2602549# Webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/e2rpq7md

Presentation also available at: www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com

About Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and Liberty

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., parent company of Liberty, is a diversified international generation, transmission, and distribution utility with over $17 billion of total assets. Through its two business groups, the Regulated Services Group and the Renewable Energy Group, AQN is committed to providing safe, secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy and water solutions through its portfolio of electric generation, transmission, and distribution utility investments to over one million customer connections, largely in the United States and Canada. AQN is a global leader in renewable energy through its portfolio of long-term contracted wind, solar, and hydroelectric generating facilities. AQN owns, operates, and/or has net interests in over 4 GW of installed renewable energy capacity.

AQN is committed to delivering growth and the pursuit of operational excellence in a sustainable manner through an expanding global pipeline of renewable energy and electric transmission development projects, organic growth within its rate-regulated generation, distribution, and transmission businesses, and the pursuit of accretive acquisitions.

AQN's common shares, Series A preferred shares, and Series D preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQN.PR.A, and AQN.PR.D, respectively. AQN's common shares, Series 2018-A subordinated notes, Series 2019-A subordinated notes and equity units are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQNA, AQNB, and AQNU, respectively.

Visit AQN at www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com and follow us on Twitter @AQN_Utilities.

SOURCE Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.
CHICAGO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "All Wheel Drive Market by System (Automatic, Manual), Vehicle Type (Passenger & Commercial Vehicle), EV Type (BEV, PHEV), Component (Power Transfer Unit, Differential, Propeller Shaft, Transfer Case, Final Drive Unit) and Region - Global Forecast to 2027", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global All Wheel Drive Market size is projected to reach USD 53.8 billion by 2027, from an estimated value of USD 35.9 billion in 2022, at a CAGR of 8.4%.

Browse in-depth TOC on "All Wheel Drive Market"

205  Tables

47  Figures

209  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id= 9918277

The growth is influenced by factors such as growth in the demand for AWD vehicles such as SUVs, MUVs& premium cars, strengthening emission norms and growing awareness of vehicle safety are considered to be the largest drivers of the All Wheel Drive Market. The rapid urbanization and growing standard of living are expected to lead to the demand for high-end vehicles such as AWD vehicles and hence are expected to propel the demand for AWD systems during the forecast period.

The automatic AWD segment is expected to register the highest growth rate of 8.6% from 2022 to 2027

Factors such as growth in demand for SUVs, MUVs and high end premium cars due to demand for enhanced safety and comfort is contributing to the growth of AWD market. The share of SUVs to total sales of passenger vehicles has risen due to their advantages such as large passenger capacity, better comfort, bigger luggage capacity, ease of handling and higher ground clearance. Automatic AWD is expected to witness faster growth than manual AWD by system type. Automatic AWD system is more fuel-efficient, can optimize engagement of AWD without driver intervention and, have better performance.

Moreover, newer crossovers of SUVs and mid-capacity passenger cars such as MUVs have also seen growth in adoption of automatic AWD systems. For example, the Toyota Hyryder Urbancruiser is one of the few recently launched automatic AWD MUV in Asia pacific which has been well received by customers. Premium high-end car manufacturers such as Subaru Corporation, Mitsubishi Motors Ltd, BMW Motors, Ferrari, etc prefer AWD systems as 2WD or FWD drivetrains cannot effectively transfer torque and lead to poor vehicle handling. For instance, BMW M4 which is available in both rear-wheel drive(RWD) and AWD variants, takes 0.6 seconds less to reach 60 MPH than RWD variant.

The automatic AWD penetration is comparatively lower in Heavy Commercial Vehicles(HCV), due to higher costs. Still leading HCV manufacturers such as Volvo have launched specialty HCVs that have automatic AWD systems. Leading commercial vehicle drivetrain manufacturer Hyliion Holdings is developing a cost-effective electric AWD system that can compete with RWD HCV drivetrain.

Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the largest market for automatic AWD as more and more AWD manufacturers are localizing their manufacturing operations in the region. Manufacturers such as Subaru which already have a significant share in Japan are developing various AWD system with advanced performance. Various safety standards with advanced safety features is also expected to drive the adoption of AWD in countries such as China, Japan, South Korea etc. Further, North America has a higher penetration of automatic AWD systems comparatively than Asia Pacific and Europe.

The EV segment is expected to improve its market share during the forecast period

The sales of EVs are projected to grow at a CAGR of 33-35% during the forecast period as compared to ICE vehicles at 1.5-2%. The share of EV sales in some regions will be higher, with EVs reaching 40%-50% of sales in 2025 in Europe. China, one of the largest EV markets, is anticipated to account for more than 35-40% of EV sales to ICE sales in 2025. The North American market is forecast to pick up from 2023 and will likely have a 27-30% share in regional total vehicle sales in 2025.

As of 2022, most EVs are FWD and few of them have RWD systems. Due to their higher prices and smaller range they were limited to urban spaces. But the scenario is changing and more and more EVs are being launched with preinstalled AWD systems. One of the key reasons is the installation of an AWD system on EV is more sophisticated than on ICE. The 2WD EV can be converted to an AWD EV with just an addition of an extra motor on the drive axle. Further advanced differential technologies such as torque vectoring systems have demonstrated their ability to improve the EV performance with no or little impact on the range. The AWD system is also known to improve maneuverability and the comfort of driving. Hence, a large number of EV manufacturers have launched AWD EVs such as Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Jaguar I-Pace and Audi e-Tron.

As of 2022, PHEV has a higher travel range and more flexibility than BEV. Moreover, the AWD PHEV improves all year and all-weather operability. Hence, even though the penetration of the AWD system is higher in BEV, the penetration is expected to grow significantly in PHEVs as well.

Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growth market for EV AWD market with China being the major hub. Growing market share of premium and luxury EVs such as Tesla, Audi etc. is expected to be a major driving factor for AWD market.

Request FREE Sample Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id= 9918277

The Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market

The all wheel market in the Asia-Pacific has witnessed significant year-on-year growth. Asia-Pacific is the largest automobile and automobile component manufacturer and hosts manufacturing plants of leading automobile manufacturers such as Honda Motor Co., Ltd (Japan), Tata Motors Ltd( India), Toyota Motor Corporation(Japan), BYD Motors (China), Mitsubishi Motor Corporation (Japan) and, Subaru corporation (Japan). The Asia Pacific region produced 55%-57% and 50-55% share of total EV and ICE vehicles produced globally. The growth of AWD vehicles in Asia Pacific can be attributed to the growth of SUVs in the region. Factors such as the growing need for premium vehicles in China, India, Japan and South Korea, due to the growth of the disposable income along with the rising the purchasing power of the population are boosting the growth of the SUV market in the forecast period. Additionally, China, India, Japan, and South Korea are host to leading AWD system manufacturers such as ZF Friedrichshafen AG(India), Continental AG(China and India), BorgWarner Inc. (China, Japan and South Korea) and Jtekt Corporation(Japan). The localization of leading AWD system manufacturers is projected to reduce the cost difference between non-AWD and AWD premium vehicles.

Key Market Players

The globally established players lead the All Wheel Drive Market. These are - ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Germany), Continental AG (Germany), Magna International Inc. (Canada), BorgWarner Inc. (US), and JTEKT Corporation (Japan).

Browse Related Reports:

Automotive Differential Market by Type (Open, Locking, LSD, ELSD, Torque Vectoring), Drive Type (FWD, RWD, AWD/4WD), ICE & Hybrid Vehicle, Off-Highway (Construction & Mining, Ag Tractor, Forklift), Component Aftermarket and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

Torque Vectoring Market for Automotive by Vehicle type (PC and LCV), Technology (ATVS and PTVS), Propulsion (AWD/4WD, FWD, RWD), EV Type (BEV and HEV), Clutch Actuation Type (Hydraulic and Electronic), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
OSTUNI, Italy and CHENNAI, India, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Altamura Distilleries a distillery of premium spirits from the unique Italian wheat of Altamura, and Royal Reach Spirits a Chennai-based emerging leader in intercontinental distribution of premium alcoholic beverages have made a partnership to distribute Altamura Distilleries' spirits in Asia-Pacific region.

When life hands you lemons... Altamura Vodka

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Royal Reach Spirits, a leader in Asia-Pacific and to be able to share our products with people in the region," said Frank Grillo, managing director of Altamura Distilleries. "It is a genuine pleasure to share a bit of La Dolce Vita with cocktail lovers throughout Asia."

"We are pleased to add Altamura spirits of Italy to our portfolio of more than 20 brands sold in 50 plus countries. From centuries-old names to exciting new entrants like Altamura; and global giants to local legends, we're building the very best brands out there," commented Srinivasan Balakrishnan, Executive Director of Royal Reach Spirits.

"Our goal is to represent the terroir of Altamura. Our vodka is specifically distilled to express the unique character of the famous Italian Altamura wheat. The result is a vodka with a hint of sweetness and earthiness with a bit of a creamy mouthfeel the Italians call morbida," Grillo commented.

Product is expected to be in market by the end of summer 2022.

About Altamura Distilleries

Based in Ostuni BR, Italy, Altamura Distilleries is what can happen when three Americans decide to act on their lifelong dream of moving to Italy, it's amazing what can happen. Our love of warm weather, beaches, and life led us to Puglia, a special region in the south of Italy. Our love of food led us to discover Pane di Altamura, a traditional bread from the Puglia region. And our love of all things distilled led us to realize that an amazing loaf of bread is just an amazing bottle of vodka, gin, or whiskey waiting to happen. We believe that our origin is in Puglia and we are there to live our dream. For more information visit https://www.altamuradistilleries.com/en/

About Royal Reach Spirits

Royal Reach Spirits is an emerging leader in distribution of premium drinks, across spirits and beer, a business built on the principles and foundations laid by the giants of the industry especially in Asia Pacific Region. From centuries-old names to exciting new entrants, and global giants to local legends, we're building the very best brands out there, and with over 30 exclusive distribution channels based in over 25 countries, we're a truly a pan Asian company. With such diversity, we're able to truly represent our broad consumer base and think differently about the future. To maintain our position as leaders in the alcoholic beverage market, we always invest in the future and are mindful of the impact we have. Because just like the legends of our past, we're here to raise the bar  for people as well as the planet. Let us all enjoy responsibly.

Altamura Distilleries Media Contact:

Scott Hamilton

+1 601-214-1133

[email protected]

Royal Reach Spirits Media Contact:

William Tarchies

+91 99529 12142

[email protected]

SOURCE Altamura Distilleries
VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. (TSXV: LIT) (FSE: OAY3) (OTC: PNXLF) ("Argentina Lithium" or the "Company") announces the completion of the first exploration diamond drill hole at its Rincon West Project in Salta Province, Argentina, and reports positive lithium analyses from brine samples collected over a 70 metre thick permeable interval with lithium grades ranging from 225 to 380 mg/litre. The Rincon West project covers 2,470 hectares of the salar basin, located west of the adjacent Rincon Project owned by Rio Tinto. Five exploration holes are initially planned to test prospective brine targets identified with geophysics (see May 2, 2022 News Release).

"The first hole at Rincon West has revealed a permeable 70 metre interval with moderate to high-grade lithium values. This validates our belief that the concentrated lithium brines mapped in the adjacent resources does extend beneath our property. We are continuing our exploration drilling to delineate this mineralization with the aim of defining a mineral resource." stated Miles Rideout, V.P. of Exploration.

The results of the brine analyses and the respective intervals are shown in Table 1. Drill collar information is presented in Table 2. Figure 1 presents a map of the Rincon West property showing the positions of RW-DDH-001 and the subsequent drill hole in progress, and seven additional prospective locations for future exploration drilling. The map presents these drill locations overlaid on the conductive zones delineated with geophysics, mentioned above.

Table 1: Interval data and results of brines analyses for lithium, potassium, and magnesium for drill hole RW-DDH-001

Sample interval (m) sample method Li K Mg Density top bottom thickness

(mg/litre) (g/ml) -- 24 n/a bailer-spot sample 14 267 159 1.08 49 52.3 3.3 Bailer 92 1673 949 1.06 75 111 36 single packer 355 5957 3132 1.184 126 156 30 single packer 252 4501 2100 1.134















73.3 77.2 3.9 double packer 346 6496 2868 1.19 92.8 94.1 1.3 double packer 369 6992 3038 1.2 118.3 122.2 3.9 double packer 225 3634 2090 1.1 121.3 125.2 3.9 double packer 241 4035 2157 1.12 134.3 135.6 1.3 double packer 297 5587 2446 1.162 140.3 141.6 1.3 double packer 380 7231 3112 1.210

*Drill hole RW-DDH-001 was drilled vertically to a depth of 300m below surface; the salar strata is believed to be flat lying resulting in reported intervals approximating true thickness

Hole RW-DDH-001 was executed with diamond drilling (HQ-size), permitting the extraction of core samples of the salar basin formations and collection of brine samples where possible. Drilling was conducted between May 28 and June 17, stopping at 300 metres depth in basement rock units. Final sampling and lining the hole with 2" diameter PVC filters and casing was completed on June 30, 2022. Drilling was carried out by Salta-based AGV Falcon Drilling SRL, under the supervision of Argentina Lithium's geologists.

Table 2: RW-DDH-001 Collar Information Hole ID East North Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth

UTM Zone 19S (WGS84) (m) (deg.) (deg.) (m) RW-DDH-001 681437 7339184 3747 n/a 90 300

Brine sampling was conducted using a single packer sampling unit during drilling. A bailer was employed on two occasions when temporary equipment failure precluded sampling with a packer. Upon completion of the drilling, selected intervals of the hole were re-sampled with a double packer system, permitting isolation of certain intervals. The packer sampling method allows the collection of brine samples at specific depths while sealing the hole at the bottom and at the top of the interval.

Core logs and the monitoring of drill mud conductivity indicated that the hole entered brackish-to-brine aquifer at approximately 45 metres depth. The initial hole was cased from surface to 42 m depth to stabilize the loose upper formation sediments. Sand, black sand and gravel host formations were logged between 50 and 76.3 m depth, with silt and traces of sulphates. From 76.3 m to 127.5 m, the core logs show interbedded sand and silt with sulphates. Gravels with sand were logged from 127.5 m to 144.0 m, where the drill entered ignimbrite (a welded pyroclastic rock), displaying varying degrees of fracturing and alteration. In consideration of the young volcanos south of the property, drilling continued to 300 m, to assure that deeper permeable sediment units did not exist in the sequence in the area of RW-DDH-001.The hole was stopped in granitic igneous units representing basement. All core samples recovered in drilling are retained for logging and are available for subsequent laboratory evaluation of factors such as total and effective porosity, permeability and other measureable characteristics of the aquifer formation.

Samples of brine were submitted for analysis to Alex Stewart International Argentina S.A., the local subsidiary of Alex Stewart International. an ISO 9001:2008 certified laboratory, with ISO 17025:2005 certification for the analysis of lithium and potassium. Alex Stewart employed Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry ("ICP-OES") as the analytical technique for the primary constituents of interest, including: boron, calcium, potassium, lithium, and magnesium. Measurements in the field included pH, conductivity, temperature and density. The quality of sample analytical results was controlled and assessed with a protocol of blank, duplicate and standard samples included within the sample sequence. Differences between original and duplicate samples and results for standards and blanks are considered within the acceptable range for lithium. Two duplicates, one blank and two standards were included in the samples reported in this news release.

Argentina Lithium has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Rincon West project, as described in the Company's September 28, 2021 News Release.

Qualified Person

David Terry, Ph.D., P.Geo. is the Company's Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Terry is responsible for oversight of the Company's early-stage exploration at the Rincon West property. The disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Terry.

About Argentina Lithium

Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp is focused on acquiring high quality lithium projects in Argentina, and advancing them towards production in order to meet the growing global demand from the battery sector. The management group has a long history of success in the resource sector of Argentina, and has assembled a first rate team of experts to acquire and advance the best lithium properties in the world renowned "Lithium Triangle". The Company is a member of the Grosso Group, a resource management group that has pioneered exploration in Argentina since 1993.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Nikolaos Cacos"

Nikolaos Cacos, President, CEO and Director

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, statements about the Company's plans for its mineral properties; the Company's business strategy, plans and outlooks; the future financial or operating performance of the Company; and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: the impact of COVID-19; risks and uncertainties related to the ability to obtain, amend, or maintain licenses, permits, or surface rights; risks associated with technical difficulties in connection with mining activities; and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's public disclosure documents for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, unless required pursuant to applicable laws. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties.

SOURCE Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp.
 Three Franchisees Expand Current Territories Amid Summer-Travel Spike, Creating Healthy Vehicle Interiors for Road-Trippers and Commuters 

DALLAS , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NuVinAir , which offers a suite of patented and proprietary products that safely create healthy vehicle interiors, today announced the company's expansion of its franchise program to new territories, adding Louisiana and Illinois as the 31st and 32nd state, respectively. The following franchise groups will bring the innovative products to new territories across the country:

NuVinAir North's Jason Freeland (currently serving Minnesota and Wisconsin ) will expand to Chicago and northern Illinois , his second expansion





(currently serving and ) will expand to and northern , his second expansion NuVinAir Southeast's Susan and Bobby Hanley (currently serving Alabama , the Florida Panhandle , and Mississippi ) will expand to Louisiana regions in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and additional territories in Mississippi





(currently serving , the , and ) will expand to regions in and and additional territories in NuVinAir CGR's Brad Scott (currently serving Charlotte - Greenville - Raleigh ) will expand to Winston-Salem , Wilmington , Jacksonville , and Fayetteville, NC

"I have been in the automotive space for over 20 years and have never seen a more effective solution for odor remediation than NuVinAir, especially during an unprecedented era when cleanliness is paramount," said Susan Hanley. "Since first franchising these products in 2020, we've been revolutionizing the Southeast's automotive market by giving drivers healthier, safer, and more confident commutes, which we can do even more successfully through our recent territory expansion."

Among NuVinAir's product offerings is its autonomous Cyclone treatment, the safest, fastest, and most effective way to provide healthy, clean vehicle interiors. The Cyclone is used with ReFresh and ReStore , respectively, to freshen a vehicle's interior, as well as eliminate extreme odor and reset the vehicle to a like-new condition. As part of the product portfolio, ReKlenz-X is a high-performance stain remover and an EPA-approved, eco-friendly disinfectant that kills 99.9% of germs, bacteria, and viruses on vehicle surfaces. Also rounding out the offerings, ReNuSurface is an eco-friendly, all-in-one cleaner that replaces multiple products and saves on supply costs.

"We treat our franchise groups as true business partners," said Marty Schoenthaler, Chief Franchise Officer of NuVinAir. "Given the ongoing shortage of rental cars, especially amid the huge spike in summer travel, there's a good reason why a majority of our franchise network has expanded their original territories to grow further with us."

About NuVinAir:

Based in Dallas and founded in 2019, NuVinAir is a franchise-supported company that creates healthy vehicle interiors for the automotive industry. With cleaning innovation and patented technology, the market leader caters to rental-car companies, dealerships, and other automotive businesses. Products and programs are sold through its franchisees, who own exclusive rights to their defined territories. To learn more about NuVinAir, visit nuvinair.com and follow their blog nuvinair.com/blog/ .

SOURCE NuVinAir
A New Funding Round led by Cleveland Ave, with participation from a16z, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

OAKLAND, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayvenn, a beauty-tech company with a network of over 50,000 hair stylists nationwide, announced a $40m Series C round led by Cleveland Ave, with participation from the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a16z. Mayvenn's mission is to use technology to empower the professional stylist community. The Mayvenn platform enables stylists to earn money selling beauty products and over the past two years has expanded into a marketplace, offering salon services through its curated network of beauty pros. The services marketplace, combined with the e-commerce platform, lay the foundation for an end-to-end beauty ecosystem encompassing services and products. This unique offering financially empowers the professional beauty community and is simplifying the beauty experience for customers. This Series C round of funding will go towards Mayvenn's next big expansion of its ecosystem - an unprecedented partnership with Walmart to bring tech-enabled, physical beauty experiences into Walmart's across the country. Funds from this raise will also support the continued expansion of Mayvenn's digital platform into more productivity tools for stylists.

Customers can currently find Mayvenn Beauty Lounges inside 5 Walmart's in Texas.

Customers can currently find Mayvenn Beauty Lounges inside 5 Walmart's in Texas. These spaces are both retail shopping experiences for buying hair extensions and wigs, and are virtual booking centers, where customers can digitally browse local Mayvenn network stylists and book salon services. The stores generate both product sale revenue, as well as marketplace salon services revenue. These retail experiences will be heavily augmented with technology and are the first elevated beauty shopping experiences that are truly inclusive to women of color. With plans to expand these Beauty Lounges to 400 Walmart locations, this omni-channel strategy will bring immense scale to Mayvenn's brand and platform, while driving income to tens of thousands of local hair stylists and small salon businesses.

"I couldn't be more excited to partner with Walmart to bring Mayvenn's brand and platform into the real world," says Diishan Imira, CEO and co-founder of Mayvenn. "These Mayvenn Beauty Lounges are more than retail experiences - they drive digital bookings to local small salon businesses, bringing them added income, which is core to our mission. This expansion has the potential to elevate the beauty shopping experience for millions, while also scaling the financial impact to the community. The possibilities are endless from here."

"Mayvenn aims to deliver a first-class beauty experience for women by partnering with stylists and delivering unprecedented economics to these important entrepreneurs," said Ben Horowitz, cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "The Walmart relationship moves the transaction from the virtual to the physical world and dramatically expands Mayvenn's reach. We believe they are now poised to become a top brand in women's beauty."

Cleveland Ave, founded by former CEO of McDonalds, invests in Retail Technology, and brings immense value to the partnership through its internal consulting firm "Edge Consulting," which specializes in retail operations, and has valuable experience working with Walmart. Mayvenn has attracted some of the most prestigious and strategic investors in technology, including a16z, and now by partnering with Cleveland Ave has brought a new dimension of expertise to the business. The investment is additionally part of Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women initiative, a $10 billion commitment to narrow opportunity gaps and impact the lives of Black women over the next decade across key pillars including job creation and workforce advancement.

Hillel Moerman, managing director within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said, "In addition to innovating the beauty industry, Mayvenn is creating economic opportunity for independent stylists, who are primarily women of color. We believe that Mayvenn's omni-channel approach, combined with its direct financial impact on local communities, embodies the goals of our One Million Black Women initiative and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Mayvenn team as they scale their business.

"Supporting diverse businesses is a priority for Walmart," said Darryl Spinks, Sr. Director, Walmart Services. "Innovative businesses like Mayvenn bring a fresh perspective to a segmented industry. They are making products and services more accessible while also giving other small business owners an opportunity to grow. We're excited to offer this experience to the community while collaborating with Mayvenn as they grow."

"Mayvenn is a leading innovator in the beauty industry. The Company has a thoughtful and profitable business strategy that also supports diversity, access and entrepreneurship. Cleveland Avenue is thrilled to partner with Mayvenn's leadership team and support brand expansion into retail outlets including the Company's recent partnership with Walmart," said Dr. Mingu Lee, Managing Partner, Cleveland Avenue Tech Fund.

For more information, please visit https://shop.mayvenn.com/ .

About Mayvenn:

Founded by Diishan Imira in Oakland, CA in 2013, Mayvenn is the first venture-backed beauty tech company enabling beauty professionals to increase their earning potential. Growing up with hair stylists in his family, Diishan witnessed their impact on his local community, as well as their lack of equity in the industry and how underserved they were technologically. Mayvenn offers both an e-commerce tool and a marketplace for salon services, driving new clientele to its stylists. To date, Mayvenn has paid out over $35m to the more than 50,000 hair stylists in its network, nationwide.

Mayvenn's end-to-end digital salon and omni-channel hair shopping platform, proves high-quality hair products and salon services are game changing for both stylists and their clients. In partnership with Walmart, Mayvenn's new Beauty Lounges offer clients a new way to buy, with free consultations, in-store shopping, and the ability to book hair appointments with any Mayvenn certified hairstylist in their area.

Mayvenn has raised $76 million in venture funding from Andreesen Horowitz, Essence Ventures, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, SB Opportunity Fund, Serena Ventures, and other notable investors.

Media Contact:

Jessica McCafferty

773.319.2581

[email protected]

SOURCE Mayvenn
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bessemer Investors LLC ("Bessemer"), a New York-based investment firm, announced today that it has made a strategic investment in RotoCo, LLC ("RotoCo" or the "Company") headquartered in North San Diego County, CA. RotoCo is the largest franchisee of the Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Drain Service in the US and Canada, with branches and franchises in California from Sacramento to San Diego. Bessemer is partnering with RotoCo's existing management team, including Founder and CEO, Jim Holcomb, and President, Brian McCann, who will both continue to lead the Company in their current roles. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For decades, Roto-Rooter and its franchisees have been some of the nation's largest and most trusted providers of plumbing and drain cleaning services for both residential and commercial customers, and currently provide service coverage to 90% of the US population and 40% of Canada. Bessemer invested in RotoCo in support of the Company's continued growth, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.

Mr. Holcomb said, "We are delighted to join with Bessemer in the expansion of our business. We have significant opportunity to continue growing the business as we have successfully done since its founding and are excited to work alongside Bessemer through our next phase of business growth."

"Our skilled service technicians provide unmatched service to our customers and the Roto-Rooter name is synonymous with quality," said Mr. McCann. "Bessemer's support will help expand our operational capabilities and provide additional resources and opportunities to our team internally."

"We are excited to be partners with Bessemer whose long-term, flexible capital base will allow us to accelerate our expansion while focusing on long-term value creation," said Martin Szumski, Chief Financial Officer at RotoCo.

Bohdan Tyshynsky, Vice President at Bessemer, said, "RotoCo is a proven leader in residential plumbing services with an excellent operational team and a systematic model and approach to providing its services. RotoCo has a long and successful history of growing both organically and through acquisitions, and we look forward to supporting Jim, Brian and the management team as they continue to build a great platform. Plumbing and drain cleaning services have been resilient during changing economic cycles, and we anticipate growth as homeowners increasingly outsource their home services and from the rising plumbing maintenance requirements of the nation's aging housing stock."

The Bessemer team included David Barr, Andrew Mendelsohn, Bohdan Tyshynsky, and Joe Middleman.

BofA Securities, Inc. served as financial advisor to RotoCo, while DLA Piper and SkarlatosZonarich served as legal counsel. Cowen served as financial advisor to Bessemer Investors, while Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP served as legal counsel. Audax Private Debt and Treeline Capital Partners are providing debt financing for the transaction.

About RotoCo Inc.

Founded in 1974 by Jim Holcomb, RotoCo is a family-owned business and the largest franchise partner of Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Drain Service. RotoCo operates under the Roto-Rooter brand in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, The Inland Empire, The County of Santa Barbara, Monterey County, California's entire Central Valley region, and north beyond Sacramento County. RotoCo continually invests in its people and technology to offer best-in-class services to both commercial and residential property owners, and has grown into the leading plumbing, drain and flood restoration company in California. For more information, please visit http://www.RotoRooterca.com.

About Bessemer Investors

Bessemer Investors is a New York-based investment firm focused on partnering with middle market businesses to support growth and enhance value creation. Bessemer differentiates itself by combining a long-term, flexible capital base with a team of experienced private equity professionals. This approach offers unique solutions to Bessemer's partners and the flexibility to maximize long-term value. For further information, please visit https://www.bessemerinvestors.com.

Media Contact:

Lisa Baker

Lambert

603-868-1967

[email protected]

SOURCE Bessemer Investors
Christopher Shaw to hold news conference with Attorneys and Rainbow PUSH Coalition

BEAUMONT, Texas, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Christopher Shaw, the 41-year-old black man who was paralyzed by a Beumont Police Officer while he was in custody for public intoxication on June 12, 2021, will join his attorneys and representatives from Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition for an important announcement tomorrow (July 14, 2022) at 10:00 AM in front of Beumont's Federal Courthouse (300 Willow St, Beaumont, TX). Shaw is represented by renowned Civil Rights attorneys Harry Daniels ( The Law Offices of Harry Daniels ), Chimeaka White ( The White Law Firm ) and Chance Lynch ( Lynch Law ).

Body camera video of the incident shows that Shaw was handcuffed and restrained by deputies at the Jefferson County jail when Beaumont Police Officer James Gillen "body slammed" him onto the jail's concrete floor. Shaw, who posed no physical threat to Gillen or any of the officers present, landed on his head breaking his neck.

Shaw's attorneys have viewed the video while officials with the Beaumont Police Department has refused to release it publicly. Tomorrow's announcement follows national outrage over Randy Cox, the 36-year-old black man paralyzed while being transported by police in New Haven, Connecticut.

WHO

Christopher Shaw

Attorney Harry Daniels

Attorney Chimeaka White

Attorney Chance Lynch

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition

WHEN

10:00 AM on Thursday, July 14, 2022

WHERE

Jack Brooks Federal Building and United States Courthouse

(Front Steps)

300 Willow St. Beaumont, Texas

Tuesday's news conference will begin promptly at 10:00 AM. Media are asked to arrive no later than 9:45 AM.

SOURCE The Law Offices of Harry M. Daniels LLC
DALLAS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BreachQuest , the company modernizing incident response, announced today that over the past year of operations it has been added to the panel of preferred vendors, or is trialing with, some of the biggest cyber insurance providers in the world. These companies include Allied World, EmerginRisk, Markel, and Munich Re Specialty Group Insurance Services, Inc., as well as over a dozen others.

"This is an important milestone, especially with it happening at the same time as our anniversary as a company," said Shaun Gordon, CEO, and Co-Founder of BreachQuest. "It's great progress in the first year and we are especially proud to have been able to deliver excellent outcomes for many global organizations challenged by severe cyber threats."

In the first year of operation, BreachQuest has already helped many leading organizations prepare and respond to a variety of impactful threats while managing regulatory requirements and reputational risk. In addition to cyber insurance carriers, BreachQuest has delivered its tailored solutions in partnership with many of the leading incident response law firms including Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, McDonald Hopkins LLC, Polsinelli PC, Wilson Elser, and many more.

"BreachQuest is thrilled to be working closely with these top insurance companies and their law firms to provide forensics, remediation, and security advice and assistance from our experts," said Shawn Melito, Chief Revenue Officer of BreachQuest. "Having a cyber insurance policy in place is crucial to the success of these companies as it can help protect them from liability and assist in financing the costs involved with recovering from a cyberattack."

Cyberattacks have not only raised threats to a company's system at large, but also pose a financial threat as well. Last year's 2021 IBM report found that the average time to identify a breach was 212 days, and 75 days to contain with a global average cost of $4.24 million. BreachQuest's approach with the Priori Platform enables rapid containment, thereby minimizing breach cost and elevating the preparedness of an organization to internal and external threats.

In addition to receiving BreachQuest's world-class threat response services, organizations that partner with BreachQuest also gain exclusive access to security experts from BreachQuest's Qmunity program. Qmunity allows clients to benefit from leading cyber threat intelligence, ask direct questions to BreachQuest experts, and gain insights from peers, to ensure they are following best practices to protect their enterprise from attack.

For more information on BreachQuest, please visit: https://www.breachquest.com/

About BreachQuest

BreachQuest is reimagining incident response with an elite team of cybersecurity veterans, including former NSA, DoD and US Cyber Command operators that have serviced more than 40 percent of the Fortune 100. BreachQuest was founded in response to the growing threat of ransomware, offering organizations the ability to minimize the cost and downtime associated with breaches through a re-engineered approach to incident response and recovery. Built around the proprietary PRIORI Platform, BreachQuest improves organization's security posture with automated end-to-end readiness and response capabilities which enhances cyber resilience and reduces attacker dwell time. To learn more about BreachQuest, visit: https://breachquest.com/ .

Media Contact

Nathaniel Hawthorne for BreachQuest

Lumina Communications

(661) 965-0407

[email protected]

SOURCE BreachQuest
The Chaparral will carry 300500 pounds (136 to 226kg) of cargo over a 300-mile (482 km) range with its hybrid-electric powertrain and simple, redundant vertical and forward-flight propulsors

Bristow will leverage its 70+ years of aviation expertise to move time-sensitive cargo for logistics, healthcare and energy applications

Elroy Air expects to deliver 100 autonomous-flight Chaparral VTOL aircraft to Bristow

SAN FRANCISCO and HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: VTOL), the world's leading global provider of innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Elroy Air to pre-order 100 Chaparral hybrid-electric cargo VTOL aircraft.

The Chaparral will be the first of its kind vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft dedicated to cargo movement to be introduced into Bristow's aircraft fleet. Bristow plans to use the Chaparral to serve logistics, healthcare, and energy applications. Additionally, the Chaparral provides a solution to challenges helicopter operators are facing across the world, including reducing emissions by introducing hybrid-electric powertrain and helping offset the pilot shortage by introducing autonomous aircraft for cargo operations.

"Leveraging our expertise as both a helicopter and Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operator, we plan to use the Elroy Air Chaparral aircraft to fill an increasing demand for the movement of time-sensitive cargo for logistics, health care and energy applications," said Bristow Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer Dave Stepanek. "Bristow has 70+ years of experience moving people and cargo. We expect to leverage that experience to usher in a new era of vertical lift operations and meet the express shipping cargo needs in cities and regions without relying on existing or new airport infrastructure."

The first production version of the Chaparral will carry 300500 pounds (136 to 226kg) of cargo over a 300-mile (482 km) range with its hybrid-electric powertrain and simple, redundant vertical and forward-flight propulsors. Goods are loaded into an underslung pod that latches to the fuselage and can autonomously be picked up and dropped off in a 50-foot landing square.

The Chaparral is the flying part of an integrated, high-throughput autonomous aerial logistics system. The vehicle can land, deposit cargo, pick up another load, and take-off again, all in just a few minutes and without operator interaction. Although operated autonomously, the Chaparral can also be remotely piloted to comply with civil aviation authorities and airspace integration policy.

"The response and excitement around the Chaparral and problems it can address have been amazing over these last few months since we unveiled the aircraft. The Chaparral was built for the challenges we're facing today. Demand for rapid logistics is outpacing today's infrastructure," said Elroy Air's VP of Business Development and Strategy, Kofi Asante. "The Chaparral creates a 'fast-lane' for middle-mile logistics to an unprecedented range of locations that can serve remote, rural areas and can fly over rough terrain. We're proud to work with the global leader in vertical flight solutions to create the future of express logistics."

To date, Elroy Air has secured agreements to supply 900 aircraft to commercial, defence and humanitarian customers. The LOI is expected to be replaced with a separate purchase agreement.

The Chaparral features distributed electric propulsion, with eight vertical lift rotors, four forward propellers for cruise flight, a high-wing airframe configuration, as well as automated ground autonomy and cargo-handling systems. Its airframe is fabricated using carbon composite materials.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements represent Bristow Group Inc.'s (the "Company") current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "project," or "continue," or other similar words. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, reflect management's current views with respect to future events and therefore are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such forward-looking statements include statements regarding the capabilities, development, certification, marketing, and future operations of Elroy Air's hybrid-electric aircraft, the Company's purchase of aircraft from Elroy Air, and the anticipated benefits of the collaboration between the Company and Elroy Air. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. The Company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to provide any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which the forward-looking statement is based that occur after the date hereof. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements because the matters they describe are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond our control. Our forward-looking statements are based on the information currently available to us and speak only as of the date hereof. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these matters or how they may affect us. We have included important factors in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 (the "Annual Report") which we believe over time, could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ from the anticipated results, performance or achievements that are expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. You should consider all risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Annual Report and in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), all of which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. is the leading global provider of innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions. Bristow primarily provides aviation services to a broad base of major integrated, national and independent offshore energy companies. Bristow provides commercial search and rescue (SAR) services in several countries and public sector SAR services in the United Kingdom (U.K.) on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). Additionally, the Company offers ad hoc helicopter and fixed wing transportation services.

Bristow currently has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, Guyana, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the U.K. and the U.S. To learn more, visit our website at www.bristowgroup.com.

About Elroy Air

Elroy Air is developing industry-first autonomous aircraft systems and software to expand the reach of express shipping to every person on the planet. Building on the powertrain and perception technology enabling the hybrid-electric / autonomous vehicle revolution, its vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) aerial logistics systems can operate outside of airport infrastructure and advance the possible in commercial air cargo. The company's solutions will expand delivery locations and reduce timeframes, provide immediate aid and relief in disaster and firefighting situations, as well as rapid autonomous resupply for troops in the field. The company's headquarters is in South San Francisco, California and it is financed by world-class venture capital firms including Catapult Ventures, Marlinspike Capital, Shield Capital and Prosperity7 Ventures, strategic investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, and pioneering angel investors including early Uber executives.

For more information, visit http://elroyair.com.

SOURCE Bristow Group
LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- California Credit Union, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), recently honored 17 first-year District teachers through its annual Rookie of the Year program. California Credit Union, which has served the education community with premier financial services for 90 years, created the Rookie of the Year program in 2015 to recognize exceptional new LAUSD teachers within the greater Los Angeles community.

California Credit Union CEO Steve O'Connell said, "We are proud to honor each of the 2022 LAUSD Rookies of the Year for a wonderful start to their new career in education. We all know the life-long influence a special teacher can have in our lives. We applaud the commitment and passion of these new educators, and want to thank each of these inspiring new teachers for their dedication to their students and schools."

"Teachers play an integral role in the academic outcomes of our students," Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. "We are incredibly impressed by the service, insights and performance of our 17 Rookies of the Year, each who has provided outstanding academic support during their first year in the classroom as a teacher. Thank you to each of our honorees!"

Representing elementary, middle and high schools throughout the greater Los Angeles area, the 2022 Rookies of the Year are:

2022 Winner School Stacey Amezcua Gerald A. Lawson STEAM Academy Victoria Andal Bushnell Way Elementary School Nestor Avelar Liggett Street Elementary School Stephanie Bartolo Esteban Torres HS Social Justice Leadership Academy Magnet Jennifer Camacho Hollenbeck Middle School Lizette De Santos Liberty Blvd. Elementary School Isabella Fritch Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High School Berenice A Galvan Ramirez Miguel Contreras LC - Business and Tourism Erik Garcia Alexander Fleming Middle School Jacqueline Gongora Cantara Street Elementary School/VAPA Magnet Jennifer Isbell Panorama High School Kimberly Kircher Sun Valley Magnet: Engineering Technology Jasmin Martinez Gulf Avenue Elementary School Tamara Morozov Palisades Charter Elementary School Alyssa Newman Calabash Charter Academy Martha Estrella Novoa Amestoy Elementary School Melissa Ruano Ranchito Ave. Elementary School

The Rookie of the Year winners were recognized during a ceremony at Dodger Stadium on July 1st, which included the teachers and their guests, as well as California Credit Union and Los Angeles Unified School District officials.

The winning teachers were selected based on a number of factors, including effectiveness in preparing and delivering instruction, providing a positive classroom climate with strong routines and procedures, adopting a dynamic and engaging teaching style, and showing high levels of professionalism.

California Credit Union created the Rookie of the Year program in partnership with LAUSD to acknowledge first-year District teachers who have shown exemplary commitment to education. Teachers are nominated by school administrators, and winners are selected by a LAUSD committee. Since the program began in 2015, California Credit Union has recognized 147 LAUSD teachers as a Rookie of the Year.

About California Credit Union

California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 that serves public or private school employees, community members and businesses across California. With more than 165,000 members and assets of over $4 billion, California Credit Union has 24 branches throughout Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The credit union operates in San Diego County as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. California Credit Union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Visit ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram or Facebook @CaliforniaCreditUnion.

SOURCE California Credit Union
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The cancer stem cells market growth is driven by several factors, such rise in prevalence of cancer cases globally which has increased the funding for stem cell research and cancer research therapy & development.

Cancer Stem cells Market by Cancer Type (Blood Cancer, Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Lung Cancer, Liver Cancer, Brain Cancer, Others), by Mode of Action (Stem Cell-Based Cancer Therapy, Targeted Cancerous Stem Cells (CSCs), by End User (Hospitals, Specialized Cancer Treatment Centers, Research Institutes, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2029-2029." According to the report, the global cancer stem cells market generated USD million in 2021, and is expected to reach USD million by 2029, witnessing a CAGR of 15% from 2022 to 2029.

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

The factors driving the growth of the global cancer stem cells market are increasing funding for stem cell research and cancer and the growing anti-CSCs therapeutics pipeline. However, clinical concerns relating to stem cell therapy development and implementation is one major factor expected to hinder the market growth. Contrarily, the rising applications of cancer stem cells and increasing research is expected to create large opportunities in the forecast period.

Download Report (336 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.datamintelligence.com/download-sample/cancer-stem-cells-market

Covid-19 Scenario

COVID-19 has impacted several industries, including the cancer stem cell market.

Stem cell therapies, and more recently, their released extracellular vesicles (EVs), are emerging as novel promising treatments that may reduce inflammation while also repairing COVID-19-induced lung damage.

There are currently 17 clinical trials examining MSCs for the treatment of COVID-19, the majority of which are administered intravenously, with just one experiment testing MSC-derived exosomes by inhalation.

The stem cell-based cancer therapy segment to continue its dominant share during the forecast period

Based on mode of action, the stem cell-based cancer therapy segment contributed to the highest market share in 2021, accounting for more than XX% of the global cancer stem cells market, and is estimated to continue its dominant share during the forecast period. Stem cell transplants are treatments that help people who have had their blood-forming stem cells destroyed by heavy doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy used to treat certain cancers. The stem cell-based cancer therapy is further segmented into autologous SC transplants and allogeneic transplants. People who require severe doses of chemotherapy and radiation to cure their conditions frequently have autologous stem cell transplants. Hence, the demand for stem cell therapies is expected to drive market growth.

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Based on the end user, hospitals is dominating segment in the global cancer stem cells market

The hospital segment held the highest share in 2021, and is projected to maintain its leadership status by 2029. The growth of this segment is attributed to several factors such as, as hospitals provide with maximum health insurance facilities and are a most trusted resource for treatment and also growing adoption of minimally invasive surgical procedures and also equipped with advanced infrastructure and adequate facilities for the treatment of various cancer types.

The North America region is expected to hold the largest market share in the global cancer stem cells market

Based on region, North America contributed to the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2021 and is estimated to dominate by 2029. This is attributed to rising prevalence of cancer and growing R&D. For instance, as per the CDC, there were about 1,752,735 new cancer cases were reported in 2019 and 599,589 cancer deaths in the United States. In addition, several major companies in this region are contributing to the growth of the market, such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., AbbVie, Inc., Stemline Therapeutics, Inc, STEMCELL Technologies Inc, among others.

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Leading Market Players

Merck KGaA

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Bionomics.

AbbVie, Inc.

Stemline Therapeutics, Inc

LONZA

PromoCell GmbH

Miltenyi Biotec

STEMCELL Technologies Inc

BIOTIME, Inc

Modernization of healthcare in terms of both infrastructure and services have pushed the healthcare industry to new heights, Stay Updated with Latest Healthcare Industry Research Reports by DataM Intelligence:

Additional Benefits Post Purchase:

1) Unlimited Analyst support for a period of 1 year.

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DataM Intelligence has set its standards in the market, which resulted in having our own set of recurring clients who are willing to invest in us and build business relationships with customers across the globe. We started working with clients on customized reports and providing market intelligence insights pulling ahead of our competitors.

DataM Intelligence was established on an elemental idea of publishing Advanced Market Research Reports with precise data points & utmost accuracy that will accelerate the decision-making in designing disruptive solutions.

We monitor and analyze the market by dissecting various market influencers, competitive intensity, innovations, trends, and emerging products. This aids us in providing a detailed scenario of the present and future of the market.

We have evolved by building our own strong syndicated business arm through which we publish market reports that have been extensively researched by our in-house team of analysts. These unique solutions cater to every business segment, irrespective of the size of the organization.

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SOURCE DataM Intelligence
Grand opening festivities will include live music, food, giveaways, and more for all registered patients. Additionally, one lucky visitor will have the chance to win a month of Cookies on Grand Opening Day and 15 others will be chosen for an exclusive event with Berner on August 6th.

"We feel honored and excited to be the first cannabis company in Missouri to bring the iconic Cookies brand retail store to our patients here in the show me state" said Jason Corrado, Co-founder and CEO of 3Fifteen Primo Cannabis. "Cookies was born in California, has grown international, and today boasts a huge brand following, due to their innovative products and proprietary strain genetics library. We look forward to supporting this thriving community by bringing this well-respected and top-selling cannabis brand to Missouri."

At the new location, Cookies patients can choose from a large selection of THC and CBD products available in a variety of consumption methods. In particular, the store will open with a new menu of exclusive strains. The Company's portfolio of in-house brands includes Lemonnade, Collins Ave, Runtz, Minntz and more.

In addition to Cookies latest location, the Company also serves patients in Detroit, Oklahoma City, Denver, Las Vegas, Portland and more.

For more information regarding Cookies product offerings in Missouri, along with openings and hours of operation, please visit cookies.co .

About Cookies

Cookies, founded in 2010 by Billboard-charting rapper and entrepreneur Berner and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai, is the most globally recognized cannabis company in the world. Cookies values the power of the plant and focuses on creating game-changing genetics. The company offers a collection of over 70 proprietary cannabis cultivars and more than 2,000 products. Cookies also actively works to enrich communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs through advocacy and social equity initiatives. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company opened its first retail store in 2018 in Los Angeles, and has since expanded to over 45 retail locations in 17 markets across 5 countries. Cookies was named one of America's Hottest Brands of 2021 by AdAge; the first cannabis brand to ever receive this accolade. Learn more at cookies.co

SOURCE Cookies St. Louis
Award-Winning Fast-Casual Restaurant Franchises Expand National Footprint with 62 New Store Signings in Second Quarter

LAS VEGAS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of an impressive Q1, Capriotti's Sandwich Shop and Wing Zone announced today the signing of 18 franchise agreements in the second quarter which will bring an additional 62 stores to states across the country. These signings will add 37 Capriotti's and 25 Wing Zone locations to the development pipeline  bringing the total number of stores in development for both brands to more than 430. Between the two fast-casual concepts, there will be 90 new locations open and operating by the end of the year.

The Q2 agreements will expand both brands into new territories  bringing award-winning food to new areas across the country. In the second quarter, Capriotti's will develop its brand in:

St. Louis, MO

Georgia

North Carolina

South Carolina

Las Vegas

San Francisco Bay Area

West Palm Beach, FL

Philadelphia

Idaho Falls

Inland Empire

Columbia / Florence, S.C.

Second quarter signings for Wing Zone include:

New Brunswick, N.J.

Philadelphia

Georgia

North Carolina

South Carolina

Sacramento, CA

Reno, NV

Las Vegas

Houston

New Orleans, LA

Columbia / Florence, S.C.

/ Milwaukee, WI

"We are thrilled with the momentum Capriotti's and Wing Zone have seen so far in 2022," said David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer for Capriotti's and Wing Zone. "To sign over 100 units between the two brands just halfway through the year is an incredible accomplishment, and we look forward to expanding our national footprint and serving communities as the premiere sandwich and wing brands in these new markets."

Existing locations have maintained strong sales as the brand continues to attract investors in markets across the country. In addition to celebrating its 46th birthday in June, Capriotti's was also named one of the top 25 most successful brands on Fast Casual's 2022 Top 100 Movers & Shakers list. The brand ranked No. 24 this year, marking it the third consecutive year that Capriotti's was included in Fast Casual's Top 100. The brand was also named one of the Top Workplaces by the Las Vegas Review-Journal this year, making it the third year in a row that the franchise was ranked by their employees as being one of the best brands to work for in Nevada. And just as well, the International Franchise Association (IFA) named Javier Gomez, franchisee of Capriotti's in Fresno, California, as Franchisee of the Year for 2022. Capriotti's AUV remains impressive with the top 25 percent averaging over $1.3 million, with contributions from newly-opened stores in 2022 producing a sales average of 50 percent higher than the brand's AUV of $994,847.

This month, the award-winning wing franchise launched the first Wing Zone 2.0 location in Las Vegas, positioning the brand for future growth by creating a unique experience for wing fanatics with its innovative, customer-facing technology to provide a fresh take on the dining experience. In the realm of innovation, Wing Zone is also opening the first robotic outfitted ghost kitchen this August in Pasadena, California, an attractive options for potential franchisees with its low-operating costs and high sale expectancy. The brand's AUV of $1,017,337 continues to attract potential franchisees- the proof being the development pipeline surpassing 130 stores since 2021. In addition, the brand will open its first robotic outfitted ghost kitchen in Pasadena, California on August 15th.

"With both brands having grown immensely into new markets and states the past few years, it's incredible to be recognized for more than just our recent development. Challenging our brands and franchisees to be innovative and efficient, all while producing the high-quality menu items that our customers expect is what continues to land us a spot on these prestigious lists year after year," added Bloom. "And that's why Capriotti's and Wing Zone attracts some of the best entrepreneurs in the country."

Founded in 1976, Capriotti's is most famous for its 40-year nightly tradition of slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house and hand-shredding them each morning to feature in a variety of subs. This includes The Bobbie, the shop's acclaimed best-seller, made with homemade turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mayo on a soft roll. Founded in 1993, Wing Zone is an international fast-casual restaurant franchise known for its cooked-to-order, flavor-fused chicken wings, and tenders.

Both brands are backed by a corporate leadership team that offers a continuous support program for franchise partners through online and field programs, which provides significant support for marketing, retail sales, operations, and growth strategies through every stage of their ownership.

For more information about the Capriotti's franchise opportunity, please visit http://www.ownacapriottis.com. For more information about the Wing Zone franchise opportunity, please visit https://wingzonefranchise.com/.

About Capriotti's Sandwich Shop

Founded in 1976, Capriotti's Sandwich Shop is an award-winning national franchised restaurant chain that remains true to its 40-year tradition of slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house every day. Capriotti's cold, grilled, and vegetarian subs, cheesesteaks and salads are available at more than 175 locations across the United States. Capriotti's signature sub, The Bobbie, was voted "The Greatest Sandwich in America" by thousands of readers across the country, as reported by AOL.com. Capriotti's fans can also download the CAPAddicts Rewards app for iOS and Android, where they can earn and redeem rewards. Capriotti's plans to grow to over 500 locations by 2025 and was ranked on Fast Casual's Top Movers & Shakers List each of the last three years (2020-22). For more information, visit capriottis.com. Like Capriotti's on Facebook, follow on Twitter or Instagram.

About Wing Zone

Founded in 1993, Wing Zone is an international fast-casual restaurant franchise known for its cooked-to-order, flavor-fused chicken wings and tenders. Wing Zone's award-winning flavors are available at more than 31 locations in North American and its 30 restaurants internationally. The brand plans to grow to 200 profitable restaurants by 2025. For more information, visit www.wingzone.com. Like Wing Zone on Facebook, follow on Twitter or Instagram.

Media Contact: Julianne Stevenson, Fishman Public Relations, 224-558-2510 or [email protected]

SOURCE Capriotti's Sandwich Shop
Cardiac Ablation Industry is anticipated to register 14.2% CAGR between 2022 and 2030 due to rising demand for minimally invasive procedures globally.

SELBYVILLE, Del., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The cardiac ablation market value is anticipated to reach USD 11 billion by 2030, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights Inc. Continuous rise in prevalence rate of cardiovascular ailments along with growing preference for minimally invasive procedures will boost the market size.

Cardiac Ablation Market

Increasing elderly population base is one of the prominent factors that will positively impact the market revenue. As elderly people are highly prone to suffer from several cardiovascular disorders will accelerate the number of ablation procedures in upcoming years. Aging leads to several changes in functionality of heart and blood vessels, thus resulting into enhanced risk of cardiac ailments. The cardiac ablation procedure is safe and highly effective treatment for conditions such as atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia and tachycardia among aging population is likely to drive the cardiac ablation market demand.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3702

The key market players involved in the cardiac ablation industry are continuously engaged in developing newer technologies to offer enhanced precision and better outcomes. Moreover, these industry players are highly investing in the research and development activities for new product development and launches, thereby expanding the product availability factor. In April 2022, Atricure, Inc. launched the Encompass Clamp, a part of company's isolator synergy ablation system portfolio for cardiac ablation procedures in the U.S.

Some major findings of the cardiac ablation market report include:

Growing geriatric patient pool suffering from cardiovascular diseases will proliferate the number of ablation procedures thereby, augmenting the market demand.

Continuous technological advancements in ablation devices to provide safe and effective treatment is anticipated to impel the cardiac ablation industry landscape.

Rising patient preference for minimally invasive treatments owing to its several benefits will propel the business outlook.

Developing healthcare infrastructure along with integration of advanced technologies in the settings are the factors contributing to overall business expansion.

The COVID-19 pandemic has moderately affected the cardiac ablation industry owing to temporarily banned or delayed elective procedures. Also, disrupted supply chain in several economies also restricted the business growth.

Browse key industry insights spread across 158 pages with 243 market data tables & 18 figures & charts from the report, "Cardiac Ablation Market Analysis By Product (Radiofrequency (RF) Ablators, Electrical Ablators, Cryoablation Devices, Ultrasound Ablators), Approach (Catheter-based, Open/surgical), Application (Atrial Fibrillation & Flutter, Tachycardia), End-use (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Cardiac Centers), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2022  2030" in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/cardiac-ablation-market

Ultrasound ablators segment exceeded USD 50 million in 2021. High adoption of ultrasound technologies in cardiovascular diseases treatment is a major factor contributing to segment demand. Additionally, expanding geriatric population base further leads to increase in demand for ultrasound ablators in order to reduce pain and prevent excessive blood loss.

Cardiac ablation market from catheter-based cardiac ablation segment is projected to proceed at 14.5% CAGR during the forecast timeframe. Rapid upsurge in the number of catheter-based ablation procedures and continuous introduction of advanced ablation technologies is estimated to augment the market outlook. The American Heart Association (AHA) states that catheter-based ablation procedures have around 90% success rate, with minimal risk of complications, and short recovery time.

Atrial fibrillation & flutter segment held over 57% of revenue share in 2021. Efficacy of catheter ablation in atrial fibrillation is estimated to spur the segment revenue. Catheter ablation procedures eradicate or minimize the serious symptoms associated with atrial fibrillation such as shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue. Furthermore, increase in number of product launches to cater rising disease burden will foster the market forecasts.

Asia Pacific cardiac ablation market held around 22% revenue share in 2021 and is projected to register a lucrative CAGR during the analysis timeline. This is attributable to the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the region. Moreover, high incidence rate of cardiac arrhythmia is one of prominent factors contributing to the market value. Leading industry participants expanding their business in Asian countries will impel the market expansion. Furthermore, rising availability of cardiac ablation devices integrated with advanced technology and growing awareness of advance treatment therapies among all population groups are some of the significant factors that will fuel the regional market progression.

Request for customization of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/3702

Some of the key established players operating in the cardiac ablation industry are Angiodynamics, Abbott Laboratories, Atricure, Medtronic, Biosense Webster (Johnson & Johnson), Boston Scientific Corporation, Japan Lifeline, Biotronik, Stereotaxis and MicroPort Scientific Corporation, among others.

About Global Market Insights

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

Contact Us:

Arun Hegde

Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
Centinel Spine now has four PMA approved cervical Total Disc Replacement (TDR) devices, offering the broadest spectrum of solutions to address surgeon preference and individual patient anatomy.

The variety of cervical TDR endplate configurations, coupled with the proven and well-documented pro disc CORE technology, allows for optimization of implant fit and surgical outcomes.

pro The newly approved pro disc C Vivo and pro disc C Nova products have extensive clinical usage outside of the U.S. since 2009.

pro pro The prodisc technology is the most studied and clinically-proven TDR system in the world, validated by over 540 published papers.

WEST CHESTER, Pa., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Centinel Spine, LLC, a leading global medical device company addressing cervical and lumbar spinal disease through anterior surgical access, today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Pre-Market Application (PMA) Approval for 1-level indications for three additional cervical total disc replacement (TDR) devices: prodisc C Vivo, prodisc C Nova, and prodisc C SK. Along with the currently available prodisc C implant, which continues to be widely used throughout the U.S., Centinel Spine now has the broadest offering of cervical TDR solutions in the world to address surgeon preference and individual patient anatomy.

prodisc C Portfolio of Recently FDA Approved Cervical Total Disc Replacement Devices Complete prodisc Portfolio of FDA Approved Cervical & Lumbar Total Disc Replacement Devices

The TDR market is expected to remain the fastest growth segment within the spine industry, growing globally in excess of 11% CAGR and reaching $2.69B by 2026 (Artificial Disc Market Insights, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecast-2027, DelveInsight Business Research LLP, 2022). The prodisc platform has been a pioneering TDR technology and a major contributor to this growth with continuous innovation over the past 30 years. Centinel Spine is the only company offering multiple cervical TDR options for surgeons to select from based on each patient's anatomy at the surgical level.

The prodisc C Vivo and prodisc C Nova products have been in use outside the U.S. since 2009, and prodisc C Vivo is currently the most frequently implanted TDR outside of the U.S. The prodisc C Vivo product has keel-less endplates including a convex, superior endplate to match more concave vertebral anatomy, while the prodisc C SK and prodisc C Nova implant designs have flat endplates with low-profile keels to better match flat vertebral anatomy. All of these products incorporate prodisc CORE technology, the basis behind the predictable clinical outcomes of every prodisc device after 30 years and over 225,000 implantations, worldwide.

"The FDA approval of the prodisc C Vivo, Nova, and SK devices offers the surgeon a new level of modularity and stability for cervical disc replacement," says Jason Tinley, MD, orthopedic spine surgeon and founder of DFW Center for Spinal Disorders in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. "The patient can now receive an implant that best conforms to their anatomy intraoperatively, with variable endplate characteristics that best suit the surgeon's preference of technique," Dr. Tinley adds.

Centinel Spine's CEO, Steve Murray, stated, "Anatomic cervical total disc options provide surgeons the benefit of selecting implants to optimally fit the disc to each patient. This is unique and represents a major advancement in spinal reconstruction. PMA approval for these three additional devices is a significant accomplishment and we look forward to bringing the new prodisc options to the market in Q4 2022."

Centinel Spine also continues to enroll for a two-level prospective, randomized, multi-centered clinical study evaluating prodisc C Vivo and prodisc C SK.

About Centinel Spine, LLC

Centinel Spine, LLC is a leading global medical device company addressing cervical and lumbar spinal disease through anterior surgical access. The company offers a continuum of trusted, brand-name, motion-preserving and fusion solutions backed by over 30 years of clinical successproviding the most robust and clinically-proven technology platforms in the world for total disc replacement (prodisc) and Integrated Interbody fusion (STALIF).

Centinel Spine continues to advance its pioneering culture and corporate mission to become a catalyst of change in the spine industry and alter the way spine surgery is perceived. Centinel Spine remains the only company with comprehensive motion-preserving and fusion solutions for both cervical and lumbar anterior column reconstruction.

For more information, please visit the company's website at www.CentinelSpine.com or contact:

Varun Gandhi

Chief Financial Officer

900 Airport Road, Suite 3B

West Chester, PA 19380

Phone: 484-887-8871

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Centinel Spine, LLC
Cote d'Ivoire planted more than 28 million trees for the purpose of forest regeneration. Ghana restored 9,488 ha of degraded forest and helped 4,302 farmers to register 50,344 forest trees;

Cocoa and chocolate companies distributed 11.3 million non-cocoa trees for the development of agroforestry in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and have reached a stable 72% traceability in their direct supply chains;

Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire have reached new milestones in traceability: The government of Cote d'Ivoire has mapped 1 million farmers with 3.2 million ha of cocoa farms. In Ghana a total of 515,762 farmers owning 845,635 farms have been registered in the national Cocoa Management System, accounting for 72 percent of the total cocoa area.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and 35 companies in the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), including IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), today reported progress made towards ending deforestation in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in two joint public/private sector reports.

Actions in 2021 included more development of agroforestry with the distribution of 11.3 million non-cocoa trees by cocoa and chocolate companies in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. This brings the total number of multi-purpose trees supplied by the private sector since the launch of CFI to 21.7 million. In both countries, companies reached on average 72% traceability in their direct supply chains. Companies are also investing in large scale farmer training for better livelihoods and less incentive to encroach into forests.

Governments' efforts have focused on the further development of national cocoa traceability systems and forest monitoring. In Ghana, a total of 515,762 farmers have been enumerated into the Cocoa Management System, owning 845,635 farms in the Western South, Ashanti, and Central regions of Ghana. Cote d'Ivoire has mapped more than 1 million farmers 3.2 million ha of cocoa farms. The satellite forest monitoring tool IMAGES was adopted by the Ivorian CFI signatories. Based on IMAGES it was observed that in the cocoa belt forest cover disturbance almost halved compared to the previous year.

All signatories invest in reforestation. The government of Cote d'Ivoire, with the Ministry of Water and Forests (MINEF) in the lead, has planted over 28 million trees in the past year, which accounts for almost one tree per capita. This includes the 3.5 million trees planted by Le Conseil Cafe Cacao as part of its new program to achieve the planting of 60 million trees on cocoa farms by 2024. In Ghana, under the leadership of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MNLR), authorities were directly involved in the restoration of 9,488 ha of degraded forest and the distribution of 5.297.739 multi-purpose tree seedlings by both the public and private sector.

Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are looking to accelerate public private collaboration to preserve primary forests and to foster reforestation in protected areas. This includes a further scaling of the public private partnerships for the preservation of selected primary and secondary forests in Cote d'Ivoire. This comes in addition to the Memoranda of Understanding which were signed between MINEF and cocoa companies, now bringing the area under public-private protocols for the conservation and restoration of category III classified forests to 666,081 ha. In Ghana, seven additional companies signed onto agreements in the collaboratively identified priority Hotspot Intervention Areas (HIA) landscapes of Asunafo, Bia-Juabeso, and Atwima.

Quote Ghana: "The story of CFI is an interesting one and a lot has been invested over the past years for its implementation. The Green Ghana Project I launched in 2021 will augment the effort of CFI to restore our degraded forest reserves and off-reserve landscapes."

Quote Cote d'Ivoire: "The observed decrease in deforestation in Cote d'Ivoire is a positive signal. The government does everything possible to completely end deforestation in the coming years. The slowing down of deforestation can be attributed to the many ongoing actions and programs, including the Cocoa & Forests Initiative."

Quote WCF: "We must continue to strive for complete provenance of all cocoa no matter where it is grown or by whom. It cannot be acceptable that any cocoa that is linked to deforestation finds its way to consumer countries.Additionally, farmers must be rewarded and benefit from the traceability protocols that make this possible. We look forward to the next phase of Cocoa & Forests Initiative that will bring us closer to this goal."

Quote IDH: "As we learn more about deforestation trends, we see that it is crucial that signatories maintain the current level of ambition and build on CFI's significant track record of public-private collaboration. Through our convening role, we look forward to contributing to key milestones such as the joint investments in forest preservation, the roll-out of the national traceability systems and assuring community engagement"

About the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI)

CFI is a joint partnership of the governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and 35 cocoa and chocolate companies facilitated by IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), with support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BUZA), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Partnership for Forests (P4F) through the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank. Cocoa and chocolate companies and governments collaborate within the framework of CFI with other stakeholders such as NGOs, farmer organizations and civil society organizations on the development and implementation of business-driven solutions.

SOURCE Cocoa & Forests Initiative
NEW YORK , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Credit Suisse Asset Management's Credit Investments Group ("CIG") today announced the final close of its Private Credit Opportunities Fund (PCO), CIG's first direct lending-focused fund, with USD 1.67 billion in capital commitments.

PCO seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily by providing private debt financings across the capital structure including secured first and second lien loans, unitranche financings, and preferred equity made directly to upper middle market companies in North America and Europe. To date, PCO has deployed approximately half of the Fund which will have in excess of USD 3 billion of deployable capital including leverage.

John G. Popp, Global Head and Chief Investment Officer of Credit Suisse Asset Management's Credit Investments Group, said, "We are pleased to close our first direct lending fund launched to take advantage of the convergence between the syndicated and private credit markets. The investor demand we have seen validates CIG's position as an experienced investor of choice in the non-investment grade credit markets while our ability to deploy significant capital speaks to the breadth and depth of Credit Suisse's unrivaled leveraged finance and financial sponsors franchises."

PCO is managed by a dedicated private credit team within Credit Suisse Asset Management's Credit Investment Group. CIG is one of the largest and most experienced providers of leveraged finance solutions in the industry, managing approximately USD 65 billion in primarily non-investment grade credit assets. For more than 20 years through various market cycles, CIG has maintained a disciplined approach and demonstrated leading experience in sourcing and servicing credit relationships. Private credit is a natural extension of CIG's business as a leading provider of capital solutions to non-investment grade companies in North America and Europe issuing in the broadly syndicated market.

Press Contact:

Candice Sun, Credit Suisse, +1 (212) 325-8226, [email protected]

Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse is one of the world's leading financial services providers. Our strategy builds on Credit Suisse's core strengths: its position as a leading wealth manager, its specialist investment banking capabilities and its strong presence in our home market of Switzerland. We seek to follow a balanced approach to wealth management, aiming to capitalize on both the large pool of wealth within mature markets as well as the significant growth in wealth in Asia Pacific and other emerging markets, while also serving key developed markets with an emphasis on Switzerland. Credit Suisse employs approximately 51,030 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.

Credit Suisse Asset Management

The Asset Management division of Credit Suisse offers investment solutions and services globally to a broad range of clients, including pension funds, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations and individuals. Backed by the Group's global presence, Asset Management offers active and passive solutions in traditional investments as well as alternative investments. As of March 31, 2022, the division managed assets of over CHF 462 billion worldwide.

Disclaimer

This document was produced by and the opinions expressed are those of Credit Suisse as of the date of writing and are subject to change. It has been prepared solely for information purposes and for the use of the recipient. It does not constitute an offer or an invitation by or on behalf of Credit Suisse to any person to buy or sell any security. Any reference to past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future. The information and analysis contained in this publication have been compiled or arrived at from sources believed to be reliable but Credit Suisse does not make any representation as to their accuracy or completeness and does not accept liability for any loss arising from the use hereof.

Copyright  2022 Credit Suisse Group AG and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Credit Suisse
HELSINKI and LIMASSOL, Cyprus , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After seven years of close cooperation, Embria , one of the oldest venture builders in Europe, exits Duunitori , the largest Finnish job search and recruiting media, as part of the deal led by Intera Partners venture fund. Embria's return counts about 70x, making it the company's most successful venture investment so far.

As a result of the deal, Intera becomes a majority owner in Duunitori and forms a close partnership with the company to support further growth and internationalisation.

Duunitori was founded in 2009 by two friends Thomas Gronholm and Martti Kuusanmaki. Embria invested in Duunitory in 2015, shortly after both companies' representatives first met in Helsinki attending Slush. Embria was the biggest among Duunitory's external shareholders and the last one before the current deal.

In 2021 Duunitori officially became the largest job board and recruitment services provider in Finland. It has seen substantial growth over the past years and expanded its operations to Sweden under the name Jobbland. In the last five years, Duunitori's turnover has seen an average annual increase of 70 percent, with a turnover of 14 million in 2021.

"Our extensive experience in creating startups from scratch helps us recognise the potential in early-stage companies, seeing them through the eyes of an entrepreneur and not only an investor. It was a pleasure for us to work and exchange expertise with Duunitori's highly professional and motivated team through all these years, and I'm happy that Embria was a part of this highly successful journey,"  comments Pavel Yakovlev, co-founder and co-CEO of Embria.

About Embria

Embria is a Cyprus-based venture builder that founds, funds and grows its own startups from scratch. Founded in 2007, Embria is one of Europe's most long-lasting and profitable venture builders. Being a founder of successfully operating companies like HypeAuditor, EdTech Holding, Datalead, Mobilipay and Red Panda Labs, Embria continues reinvesting profits and creating new ventures. It currently focuses on Well-being and Social verticals. Aside from startup building, Embria also acts as a venture investor, monetizing its expertise and supporting like-minded entrepreneurs. By 2021, Embria's combined portfolio of 20+ companies has generated 1.1Bn of total value with a 105% Internal Rate of Return. More information on https://embria.com .

SOURCE Embria
The collaborative event continues to boast a record number of attendees for both organizations.

PLANTATION, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer (DDF) and the Korean Cancer Association (KCA) hosted the 2nd International Gastric Cancer Educational Symposium for Patients on Thursday, June 16, 2022. The event was hosted in Seoul, South Korea, at the Lotte Hotel Seoul in Seoul, Korea. It was broadcast virtually to 1,158 participants from 41 countries, beating its previous record of 935 virtual attendees in 2021. Participants tuned in to presentations by medical experts from Korea, China, Japan, Europe, and the United States to highlight surgical and non-surgical treatment options for early and late-stage gastric cancer patients in each represented region.

Dr. Han-Kwang Yang being presented with an award by DDF's CEO Andrea Eidelman during the 2022 DDF-KCA International Gastric Cancer Educational Symposium Presenters of the 2022 DDF-KCA International Gastric Cancer Educational Symposium

Dr. Han-Kwang Yang, the Director, Professor of Surgery at the Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, Korea, and Chairman of the Board of Directors for KCA, led the event for a second year. The program was broadcast in English via Zoom and translated into Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Attendees could submit questions to medical experts and patients during the live Q&A patient panel discussions. Dr. Yang and his planning committee were proud to have hosted such an informative event to help educate patients on the latest in gastric cancer research from world-renowned doctors and stomach cancer patients.

"There has been a consistent upward trend in demand for this kind of information for stomach cancer patients," said Dr. Han-Kwang Yang. "They want to better understand their prognosis and their best options as they navigate this disease. By sharing the latest in research and best practices from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, patients can see what's being done in other countries and become better advocates for themselves."

This year, the symposium was supported by the Korean Gastric Cancer Association, Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Japanese Gastric Cancer Association, Digestive Cancers Europe, KIBOUNOKAI, Associazione Vivere senza stomaco si puo, Rare Cancers of Australia, and My Gut Feeling. Sponsors of the program include DDF's National Title Sponsors Amgen, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and Daiichi Sankyo, Title Sponsor Taiho Oncology, National Platinum Sponsor Merck, National Gold Sponsor Astellas, and Gold Sponsor Lilly Oncology. Andrea Eidelman, DDF's Chief Executive Officer, is grateful for the support of those within the gastric cancer community and industry partners who helped make this year's symposium a tremendous success.

"More and more, we're recognizing that stomach cancer is not just an isolated problem that affects a small population in the U.S.," said Andrea Eidelman. "It's a deadly disease that affects many people and their families across the globe. We're extremely thankful for our sponsors and international partners who are willing to collaborate to bring information that will help educate the stomach cancer community, no matter where they reside. We look forward to expanding this program as long as stomach cancer is a deadly disease and there is a need for education."

All video presentations from the symposium will be available in DDF's lecture library at https:debbiesdream.org/lecture-library/. In addition, DDF and KCA look forward to hosting an in-person or hybrid symposium in the fall. For more information, visit www.DebbiesDream.org.

About Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer

DDF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about gastric cancer, advancing funding for research, and providing education and support internationally to patients, families, and caregivers. DDF seeks as its ultimate goal to make the cure for stomach cancer a reality.

DDF was founded in 2009 by Debbie Zelman after she was diagnosed with stage IV incurable gastric cancer in 2008 and given only weeks to live. Debbie is considered a pioneer by

many for bringing awareness to the plight of stomach cancer patients worldwide, as well as to the lack of federal funding for stomach cancer research. She did all of this while receiving hundreds of rounds of chemo, in addition to daily oral treatments. Debbie passed away on December 23, 2017, at the age of 50, almost a decade later. As a result of her leadership, DDF now has a Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of world-renowned doctors and chapters throughout the United States and in Canada and Germany. DDF strives to continue Debbie's mission and to make her dream a reality. To learn more about DDF, please visit us at www.DebbiesDream.org .

About the Korean Cancer Association

Korean Cancer Association (KCA) aims to prevent and control cancer, host meetings and lectures, issue reports and related publications, support cancer research, and cooperate with other related societies. The organization was formerly Korean Cancer Research Association and became KCA in 1974.

Media Contact:

Brittnay Starks Communications Director

Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer (954) 475-1200

[email protected]

www.DebbiesDream.org

SOURCE Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer
Deci's deep learning development platform bridges the AI efficiency gap, empowering AI teams to efficiently build next generation deep learning applications.

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deci, the deep learning company harnessing AI to solve the AI efficiency gap, today announced it has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Square Peg, Emerge, Jibe Ventures, and Fort Ross Ventures, as well as new investor ICON. The investment comes just seven months after Deci secured $21 million in Series A funding, also led by Insight Partners, bringing Deci's total funding to $55.1 million. The funds will be used to expand Deci's go-to-market activities, as well as further accelerate the company's R&D efforts.

Deep learning-powered advancements in AI have led to innovations that have the potential to revolutionize services, products, and consumer applications across industries such as medicine, manufacturing, transportation, communication, and retail. However, the AI efficiency gap - a situation in which hardware is unable to meet the increasing computing demands of models that are growing in size and complexity - has proven to be an obstacle to more widespread AI commercialization. This efficiency gap means that inference is still generally bound to the cloud, where computer hardware is abundant but costs are high and concerns around data privacy and safety are prevalent.

Deci's deep learning platform helps data scientists eliminate the AI efficiency gap by adopting a more productive development paradigm. With the platform, AI developers can leverage hardware-aware Neural Architecture Search (NAS) to quickly build highly optimized deep learning models that are designed to meet specific production goals.

"The growing AI efficiency gap only further highlights the importance of 'shifting left' - accounting for production considerations early in the development lifecycle, which can then significantly reduce the time and cost spent on fixing potential obstacles when deploying models in production," said Yonatan Geifman, CEO and co-founder of Deci. "Deci's deep learning development platform has a proven record of enabling companies of all sizes to do just that by providing them with the tools they need to successfully develop and deploy world-changing AI solutions - no matter the level of complexity or production environment. This funding is a vote of confidence in our work to make AI more accessible and scalable for all."

The platform empowers data scientists to deliver superior performance at a much lower operational cost (up to an 80% reduction), reduce time to market from months to weeks, and easily enables new applications on resource-constrained hardware such as mobile phones, laptops, and other edge devices.

Deci's deep learning development platform is powered by Deci's proprietary AutoNAC (Automated Neural Architecture Construction) technology, an algorithmic optimization engine that empowers data scientists to build best-in-class deep learning models that are tailored for any task, data set, and target inference hardware. Deci's AutoNAC engine democratizes NAS technology, something that until very recently was confined to academia or industry giants like Google due to its high cost.

"Having a more efficient infrastructure for AI systems can make AI products qualitatively different and better, not only cheaper and faster to run," said Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners and board member at Deci. "Deci's powerful technology lets you input your AI models, data, and target hardware  whether that hardware is on the edge or in the cloud  and guides you in finding alternative models that will generate similar predictive accuracy with massively improved efficiency. We are very excited to double down on our investment in Deci, backing Yonatan and the team as they bring this critical technology to AI builders across the world."

Deci recently announced the launch of version 2.0 of its platform, which helps enterprises build, optimize, and deploy state-of-the-art computer vision models on any hardware and environment, including cloud, edge and mobile, with outstanding accuracy and runtime performance. Deci also announced the impressive results of its AutoNAC-generated DeciBERT models at MLPerf v2.0. For natural language processing (NLP), Deci's models accelerated question-answering tasks' throughput performance on various Intel CPUs by 5x (depending on the hardware type and quantization level) while also improving the accuracy by +1.03%.

Deci collaborates with various hardware manufacturers, Computer OEMs and other ML ecosystem leaders, and is an official partner of Intel, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and NVIDIA among others.

About Deci

Deci enables deep learning to live up to its true potential by using AI to build better AI. With the company's deep learning development platform, AI developers can build, optimize, and deploy faster and more accurate models for any environment including cloud, edge, and mobile, allowing them to revolutionize industries with innovative products. The platform is powered by Deci's proprietary automated Neural Architecture Construction technology (AutoNAC), which empowers data scientists to build best-in-class deep learning models that are tailored for any task, data set and target inference hardware. Leading AI teams use Deci to accelerate inference performance, enable new use cases on limited hardware, shorten development cycles and reduce computing costs. Founded by Yonatan Geifman, PhD, Jonathan Elial, and Professor Ran El-Yaniv, Deci's team of deep learning engineers and scientists are dedicated to eliminating production-related bottlenecks across the AI lifecycle.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of February 24, 2022, the closing of the firm's recent fundraise, Fund XII, brings Insight Partners' regulatory assets under management to over $90B. Insight Partners has invested in more than 600 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Insight Partners meets great software leaders where they are in their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

Media contact:

Garrett Krivicich

Headline Media

[email protected]

+1 (786) 233-7684

SOURCE Deci
Delta Dental is one of only two perennial winners since beginning of recognition program

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Dental of Arkansas has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Arkansas for the 10th consecutive year in the 2022 survey conducted by Arkansas Business Publishing Group and Workforce Research Group. Delta Dental is one of only two Arkansas companies that have won the recognition every year since the survey was launched in 2013.

The largest provider of dental benefits in the state, Delta Dental of Arkansas has a passion for making people smile, starting with its workforce. It invests heavily in the onboarding, ongoing training and professional development of its team. All employees, including those in non-supervisory or non-executive roles, are actively encouraged to participate in career-aligned programs, leadership education and internal advancement opportunities. Furthermore, Delta Dental provides competitive salaries and bonuses, excellent insurance and retirement benefits and above-average paid time off to facilitate a healthy work/life balance.

"We are pleased and deeply grateful that our employees voted Delta Dental of Arkansas as one of the Best Places to Work for the 10th year in a row," said President and CEO Kristin Merlo. "The endorsement reflects their appreciation of teamwork, mutual trust and commitment to deliver on our core values. It takes all of us to create a great company that serves our customers with sustained levels of excellence."

To be considered in the annual Best Places to Work in Arkansas survey, companies from across the state pay a fee to participate in an employee satisfaction survey about their work environment, workplace policies, career advancement options and more.

The complete list of honorees includes 50 companies, including perennial winners Delta Dental of Arkansas and St. Bernards Medical Center. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/36nYS20.

About Delta Dental of Arkansas

Delta Dental of Arkansas is the largest dental benefits provider in the state, helping more than 800,000 Arkansans keep their smiles healthy through commercial and Medicaid coverage. As a not-for-profit company, Delta Dental is committed to improving the oral health of Arkansans through the philanthropic efforts of its Foundation, which donated more than $3 million to support oral health education initiatives in the last three years. For more information, visit https://www.deltadentalar.com/.

Media Contact: Claudia Utley

Public Relations & Social Media Strategist

(c) 501-442-6951

[email protected]

www.deltadentalar.com

SOURCE Delta Dental of Arkansas
POINT LISAS, Trinidad and Tobago and WOLLERAU, Switzerland, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today DeNovo Energy Limited (DeNovo), part of the Proman family of companies, announced delivery of first gas from its Zandolie field. The Unmanned Minimum Facility is DeNovo's second offshore field development to be completed in Block 1 (a) on the West Coast of Trinidad.

Proman and DeNovos new renewably-powered Zandolie platform (PRNewsfoto/CropX,Proman AG)

DeNovo has once again proven its commitment to increasing Trinidad's national gas supply by safely and quickly developing stranded and marginal gas reserves. With an investment of USD 52 MM, Zandolie was completed within 31 months amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, with approximately 371 persons employed at peak of construction, there has been Zero (0) Loss Time Incidents (LTIs) from 476,613 manhours. Of the total manhours spent delivering the project, 66% were local content manhours. Overall, the Zandolie project was delivered with 56.4% local content spend.

Zandolie is a single well, conductor-supported platform with a nameplate capacity of 40 MMSCFD. The field development builds off the existing Iguana Infrastructure enabling a more compact topside structure that is lighter and more efficient. The space saving achieved also minimises the use of steel in the design allowing for a modular design and greater use of local fabrication services.

The ground-breaking integration of renewable resources makes Zandolie the first design of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago. Powered by wind and solar, the 100% renewably powered platform was also fully fabricated in country, affirming DeNovo's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and maximising local talent and resources. The facility has also been designed to prevent methane slip in the transportation of gas during the extraction process and in its movement to DeNovo's on-shore gas processing facility within the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

Construction of the platform was completed at the United Engineering Services Limited (UESL) local fabrication yard, and the Zandolie Drilling campaign was also safely conducted by the local Well Services Rig 110.

Minister of Energy and Energy Industries and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Honourable Stuart R. Young, M.P., proudly commended DeNovo remarking: "I am very pleased to witness this successful milestone achieved by DeNovo. The story of local fabrication and skills as well as personnel used for Zandolie proves that it can be done. I encourage DeNovo to continue pursuing opportunities for increased gas production in Trinidad and Tobago and look forward to more success from you."

DeNovo's Managing Director, Bryan Ramsumair stated: "This critical milestone in DeNovo's second field development highlights the drive by the team to constantly improve and learn. We pushed ourselves to deliver a greener and more local platform. The result is that the Zandolie platform is a local fabrication which is 100% powered by renewable energy  and which will minimize the carbon footprint of our operations. It is our intention to keep acquiring access to new acreage to allow us to do more projects like this on a regular basis. With Zandolie, DeNovo is demonstrating that our future energy industry can be done locally and with a lower carbon footprint  both aligned to the country's development objectives."

Claus Cronberger, Managing Director Proman Trinidad and Tobago and Chairman of DeNovo, said: "The first commercial gas supply from Zandolie is a significant accomplishment. Across the Proman family of companies, we have always been driven by innovation and the use of best-in-class technology in our facilities, and Zandolie exemplifies this thinking. Our teams at DeNovo and Proman Trinidad and Tobago, and our local contractor partners, have done an outstanding job delivering this world-class facility. Together we have achieved a significant first for Trinidad and Tobago, demonstrating our drive to enhance the competitiveness of the local energy sector, increase the security of our country's gas supply by developing stranded gas reserves, and continuing to deliver opportunities to grow local talent."

ABOUT DENOVO

DeNovo is an energy company focused on meeting the energy needs of Trinidad and Tobago with specific focus on the petrochemical sector. With strong local capability and global collaboration, DeNovo is distinguished for delivering innovative results to meet current and future energy needs.

DeNovo is committed to delivering its business with zero harm to people and the environment, and increasingly reducing its carbon footprint by using innovative and green technology. Since commencing gas production on its first field (Iguana) in November 2018, DeNovo has demonstrated safe and reliable operations with an uptime of 99.8%. Its second field development (Zandolie) will be powered by 100% renewable energy.

A member of the Proman family of companies, DeNovo remains committed to maximizing the use of local content and innovative technology to unlock opportunities and to find new and better ways to contribute to the sustainable development of hydrocarbon resources for the benefit of Trinidad and Tobago.

https://denovo.energy/

ABOUT PROMAN

Proman is an integrated industrial group and global leader in natural gas derived products and services. Headquartered in Switzerland, with assets in the United States, Trinidad and Oman, and ongoing expansion into Mexico, Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Proman is the world's second largest methanol producer and has extensive experience in petrochemical plant operations, petrochemical and power plant construction, product marketing and logistics, and project management.

Proman has been one of the largest investors in Trinidad and Tobago's energy sector for over 30 years, expanding its portfolio to include methanol, anhydrous ammonia, urea ammonium nitrate and melamine. Proman was one of the first major investors in DeNovo and is the majority owner.

Proman is committed to developing sustainable methanol and ammonia globally as cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, offering a pathway to drastically cutting emissions in power generation, overland transportation, shipping and industry.

www.proman.org

SOURCE Proman AG; DeNovo
TSX.V: DME

U.S. OTC: DMEHF

Frankfurt: QM01

VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY CORP. (the "Company") (TSXV: DME) (U.S. OTC: DMEHF) (Frankfurt: QM01) From the President of the Company.

Desert Mountain Energy is pleased to announce the spudding of the Gunnar Dome Wildcat Well. The intended depth of this well is 4,500'+- and is designed to test all zones to the top Granite Formation. DME will be utilizing the same successful drilling procedures, including multiple casing strings designed to protect all zones and the environment. Our geologic modelling suggests that the gas composition should contain high concentrations of nitrogen.

Due to market conditions, the Company has decided to cancel the previously announced private placement for $7.5 million dated 2022-06-28.

ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded resource company primarily focused on exploration, development and production of helium, hydrogen and noble gases. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries.

We seek safe harbor

"Robert Rohlfing"

Robert Rohlfing

Exec Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp.
New design features clamping-arm opening angles that are adjustable up to 105

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Destaco, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), today announced the introduction of its new 82L-3E Series Power Clamps, which feature lightweight, enclosed aluminum housing and optimized mechanics that are more precise and significantly longer-lasting than previous power-clamp designs.

"When it comes to flawlessly clamping and positioning workpieces, the new flexible, adjustable and enclosed 82L-3E Series Power Clamps are the perfect choice for users," said Christian Schubert, Global Product Manager for Power Clamps Research at Destaco. "The full lineup of clamps in the new 82L-3E series fulfill the stringent requirements for use in the sheet-metal processing and automotive industries, which can feature millions of working cycles."

These clamps were designed to maximize flexibility. In the event of a compressed-air outage during operation, the 82L-3E can be unlocked manually. The 82L-3E's opening angle can also be quickly adjusted with just one tool. Additional flexibility is provided by an optional hand lever, which can be mounted on the clamp's left or right side. Multiple mounting surfaces offer increased mounting and installation optionality. The 82L-3E's modular structure simplifies the procurement of spare parts and reduces storage requirements, with the same clamp arms also available as U, H and lateral versions.

The 82L-3E power clamps are a perfect complement to the 82M-3E models and are available in three versions with a holding-torque range of 75 Nm to 380 Nm, and clamping torques of 25 Nm up to 120 Nm at 5 bar.

To learn more about any of Destaco's high-performance automation, workholding or remote-handling solutions, please visit www.destaco.com or call (888) Destaco (888-337-8226).

About Destaco:

Destaco, a Dover Corporation company, is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance automation, workholding and remote-handling solutions. The company serves customers in a variety of end-markets, including the automotive, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, aerospace, industrial and nuclear sectors.

Built on a legacy of more than 100 years, Destaco offers a comprehensive portfolio of products designed to engineer precise movement, placement and control solutions that drive productivity and uptime for manufacturers around the world. The Destaco family of products consists of industry-leading brands such as Destaco Manual Clamps, Power Clamps, and End Effectors; Camco and Ferguson Indexers; Robohand Grippers; and CRL Manipulators and Transfer Ports. Destaco is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S.A. The company has more than 800 employees with 13 locations, in 9 countries, across the Americas, Europe and Asia. More information is available at destaco.com.

About Dover:

Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $8 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 25,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com.

Destaco Contact:

Kristen Fairbrother

(248) 836-6674

[email protected]

Dover Media Contact:

Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications

(630) 743-5039

[email protected]

Dover Investor Contact:

Jack Dickens, Senior Director, Investor Relations

(630) 743-2566

[email protected]

SOURCE Dover
Highlights include:

Hole C22-200  Gran Bestia

0.70 g/t gold equivalent over 144 metres from 206m  one of six significant intercepts in -45 degree hole

 one of six significant intercepts in -45 degree hole Extends higher grade Gran Bestia breccia to the north  mineralization remains open in this direction

Extends mineralization 100m below PEA resource estimate constraining pit shell

below PEA resource estimate constraining pit shell Significantly higher grade than predicted by PEA resource estimate model

Hole C22-199  Cangrejos

0.96 g/t gold equivalent over 88 metres from 22m  one of four significant intercepts in -50 degree hole

 one of four significant intercepts in -50 degree hole Extends mineralization at Cangrejos to the north and northwest  mineralization remains open in these directions

Higher grade than predicted by PEA resource estimate model

VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Lumina Gold Corp. (TSXV: LUM) (OTCQX: LMGDF) (the "Company" or "Lumina") is pleased to announce results from ten drill holes at its Cangrejos project (the "Project") in Ecuador. Six of the reported drill holes are from Cangrejos and four are from Gran Bestia (see Table 1). To date, eighty-eight drill holes have been completed and five drill holes are in progress, totalling 31,000 metres of resource definition drilling. Resource drilling is estimated to be completed by the end of August.

Cangrejos Drill Hole Results

Hole C22-199 was drilled on the northeastern margin of the deposit and intercepted 88m from 22m down the hole grading 0.75 g/t gold and 0.14% copper, for 0.96 g/t Au Eq., in sodic-altered breccias with tourmaline and mineralized with chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite. Including intervals above and below this, a total of 182 metres exceeding the cut-off grade were drilled in the uppermost 252m from surface in hole C22-199 (see Table 1). This hole extends the north and northeastern margin of the Cangrejos deposit and, in addition, it contains grades that significantly exceed those predicted by the PEA resource estimate.

Holes C22-197 and C22-205 were drilled along the northwestern margin of the Cangrejos deposit and grades were typical of those encountered in this area, including 54 metres from surface grading 0.40 g/t gold and 0.11% copper, for 0.56 g/t Au Eq. Holes C22-201, C22-204 and C22-206 were drilled in the south and southwestern margin of Cangrejos and all holes contained intercepts reported in Table 1, including hole C22-204, that intersected 208 metres from 88 metres down the hole grading 0.31 g/t gold and 0.06% copper, for 0.39 g/t Au Eq. This intercept exceeded the grades predicted by the PEA resource estimate model.

Gran Bestia Drill Hole Results

At Gran Bestia, hole C22-200 intersected 144m grading 0.59 g/t gold with 0.07% copper for a gold equivalent of 0.70 g/t gold from 206 metres down the hole and, furthermore, in its upper part it intersected 10m grading 0.98 g/t gold with 0.03% copper for a gold equivalent of 1.03 g/t gold from 132m down the hole. This -45 degree hole targeted an area below the northern wall of the PEA resource constraining pit and adds volume and continuity to the higher grade breccia body in this area.

Also at Gran Bestia, hole C22-202 intersected 94.4 metres grading 0.49 g/t gold with 0.07% copper for a gold equivalent of 0.59 g/t gold from just two metres down the hole. This intercept occurred in the eastern contact area between the mineralizing porphyry and batholith host and the result is expected to extend the Gran Bestia pit in that direction, towards Cangrejos. Also, hole C22-202 contained significantly higher grades than those predicted by the PEA resource estimate. Holes C22-198 and C22-203 were drilled along the south and southeastern margins of the deposit and generally encountered grades typical of this area.

Table 1: Drill Results

Hole Deposit / From To Interval Au Cu Au Eq Cu Eq Total

Depth (m)

Azimuth / Dip () (m) (m) (m) (g/t) ( %) (g/t) ( %)

C22-197 Cangrejos 0 54 54 0.4 0.11 0.56 0.41 277.2

330 / -55  114 144 30 0.35 0.08 0.47 0.34





244 260 16 0.22 0.04 0.28 0.20





















C22-198 Gran Bestia 0 42 42 0.23 0.09 0.36 0.26 157.6

0 / -90  58 84 26 0.27 0.08 0.39 0.28





96 110 14 0.2 0.07 0.31 0.23





114 130 16 0.2 0.07 0.32 0.23





















C22-199 Cangrejos 22 110 88 0.75 0.14 0.96 0.70



330 / -50  128 154 26 0.25 0.07 0.35 0.26 287.3



170 200 30 0.28 0.05 0.35 0.26





214 252 38 0.56 0.04 0.63 0.46





















C22-200 Gran Bestia 34 92 58 0.22 0.05 0.30 0.22 510.8

95 / -45  132 142 10 0.98 0.03 1.03 0.75





154 172 18 0.43 0.03 0.48 0.35





206 350 144 0.59 0.07 0.70 0.51





366 428 62 0.22 0.03 0.27 0.19





452 508 56 0.43 0.05 0.51 0.37





















C22-201 Cangrejos 32 86 54 0.28 0.04 0.34 0.25 165.7 incl 0 / -90  100 160 60 0.25 0.03 0.30 0.22





















C22-202 Gran Bestia 2 96.4 94.4 0.49 0.07 0.59 0.43 96.4

150 / -72 



































C22-203 Gran Bestia 36 50 14 0.27 0.01 0.29 0.21 206.5

0 / -90  112 128 16 0.3 0.03 0.35 0.26





180 206.5 26.5 0.23 0.03 0.29 0.21





















C22-204 Cangrejos 88 296 208 0.31 0.06 0.39 0.29 343.6

0 / -90 



































C22-205 Cangrejos 80 104 24 0.2 0.06 0.30 0.22 195.4

330 / -63 



































C22-206 Cangrejos 0 44 44 0.29 0.06 0.41 0.30 241.1

0 / -90  68 128 60 0.32 0.07 0.42 0.31



Note: Intervals in the reported holes are calculated using a cut-off of 0.2 g/t Au with maximum internal dilution of ten continuous metres. Sampling is done in consistent, continuous 2-metre intervals. The highest gold value used in the reported weighted averages is 4.67 g/t Au. In addition to the above results there were multiple intercepts of lower-grade material in the drill holes. Equivalent values were calculated using Gold equivalent calculations assume 100% recovery of all quoted metals and the following prices were used: a gold price of US$1,500 per ounce, a copper price of US$3.00 per pound, a molybdenum price of US$7.00 per pound and a silver price of US$18.00 per ounce.

Quality Assurance

All Lumina sample assay results have been independently monitored through a quality control / quality assurance ("QA/QC") program that includes the insertion of blind standards, blanks and pulp and reject duplicate samples. Logging and sampling are completed at Lumina's secure facility located at the Cangrejos Project. Drill core is sawn in half on site and half drill-core samples are securely transported to either Bureau Veritas Labs' (BV) or ALS Labs' ("ALS") sample preparation facilities in Quito, Ecuador. Sample pulps are sent to BV's or ALS' chemical labs in Lima, Peru for analysis. Gold content is determined by fire assay of a 30 gram charge with total copper content determined by four-acid digestion with ICP finish. Both labs are independent from Lumina.

Lumina is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein.

Qualified Persons

Leo Hathaway, P.Geo., Senior Vice President of Lumina and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the Cangrejos Project has reviewed, verified and approved the contents of this news release and has verified the data underlying the contents of this news release.

About Lumina Gold

Lumina Gold Corp. (TSXV: LUM) is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on the Cangrejos Gold-Copper Project located in El Oro Province, southwest Ecuador. Cangrejos is being advanced to a Pre-Feasibility Study and is the largest primary gold deposit in Ecuador. Lumina has an experienced management team with a successful track record of advancing and monetizing exploration projects.

Follow us on: Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://luminagold.com/. To receive future news releases please sign up at https://luminagold.com/contact.

LUMINA GOLD CORP.

Signed: "Marshall Koval"

Marshall Koval, President & CEO, Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to the completion of the drill program by August. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "will" or "projected" or variations of those words or statements that certain actions, events or results "will", "could", "are proposed to", "are planned to", "are expected to" or "are anticipated to" be taken, occur or be achieved.

With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the prices of gold and copper, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the business of the Company; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities administrators. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Lumina Gold Corp.
Family-owned and operated company sweeps all seven study factors and is ranked "Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upper Midscale Hotel Chains"

ST. LOUIS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- They did it again! For the 17th year in a row, the Drury Hotels team has set a record for guest satisfaction. J.D. Power ranked Drury "Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upper Midscale Hotel Chains" in the J.D. Power 2022 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.SM The recognition marks Drury's 17th consecutive year earning the guest-satisfaction award and sets a record for most consecutive wins in the J.D. Power travel and hospitality category.

The Drury Plaza Hotel in downtown Nashville, which opened in 2019, is one of more than 150 Drury hotels in 26 states. Photo credit: Drury Hotels

"Being recognized for a 17th-straight year of providing our guests with top-notch service and value is certainly something to celebrate, but more importantly, this recognition reflects the trust our guests continue to place in us when they stay at one of our hotels," said Chuck Drury, president and CEO of Drury Hotels. "Every day, at each of our hotels, our team members build this trust by being attentive, friendly and considerate. These tokens of human kindness and connection are what truly set us apart."

Drury earned the number one ranking in all seven J.D. Power hotel factors, which include reservations, arrival/departure, guest room, food & beverage, services & amenities, hotel facilities and cost & fees.

"Drury Hotels ranks highest in the Upper Midscale hotel segment because guests continue to respond positively to their stay experiences," said Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power. "J.D. Power surveys thousands of hotel guests each year, and for 17 consecutive years, Drury Hotels has led this segment for overall guest satisfaction."

The J.D. Power 2022 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study is based on responses gathered between June 2021 and May 2022 from 34,407 guests in Canada and the United States who stayed at a hotel in North America. Click here for the J.D. Power press release, which includes rankings for all hotels.

Drury Hotels has been family-owned and operated since 1973. Since its founding the company has been known for providing guests with a variety of amenities. It was the first hotel chain in the mid-priced segment to offer guests a free hot breakfast. And today, guests can count on Drury to provide a host of free, best-in-class amenities including a fresh, hot breakfast; dinnertime snacks and drinks during the 5:30 Kickback; Wi-Fi throughout the hotel; on-site 24-hour business and fitness centers; refreshing pools and spas; and more.

For a complete listing of all Drury hotels or for reservations, visit www.druryhotels.com or call 1-800-DRURYINN. For information about career opportunities at Drury Hotels, please apply online at www.drurycareers.com.

About Drury Hotels Company

Drury Hotels Company is a Missouri-based, family-owned and operated hotel system with more than 150 hotels in 26 states. Founded in 1973, Drury Hotels has been recognized by the J.D. Power 2022 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study,SM earning the award for "Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upper Midscale Hotel Chains." In 2022, Drury received this award for a record 17th consecutive year.* Brands include Drury Inn & Suites, Drury Inn, Drury Plaza Hotel, Pear Tree Inn by Drury, as well as other hotels in the mid-priced hotel segment. Drury Hotels continues to provide exceptional value for business and leisure travelers with its many free amenities  Travel Happy. For more information, visit www.druryhotels.com or call 1-800-DRURYINN. You also can find Drury Hotels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

*Drury Hotels received the highest numerical score among upper midscale hotels in the proprietary J.D. Power 2006-2022 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Studies.

About J.D. Power

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

For additional information, contact:

David Nischwitz

314-587-3041

[email protected]

Patrick Barry - BYRNE PR

314-540-3865

[email protected]

SOURCE Drury Hotels
The expansion strengthens the College's drafting, estimating and design programs

MINNEAPOLIS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunwoody College of Technology , a private, non-profit institution and pioneer in technical education, today announces the addition of two new online degree options in the sought-after fields of electrical drafting, estimating, and design. The Associate of Applied Science in Electrical Construction Design & Management and the one-year Electrical Drafting & Estimating Certificate will both provide a flexible, online learning option for students and working professionals.

"Electrical designers and estimators are very much in-demand right now," said Polly Friendshuh, Dean of Construction Sciences & Building Technology, Dunwoody College of Technology. "Our hope is that these programs will bridge the gap between the field, the engineers, and the front office. Both programs have online options, allowing a tremendous amount of flexibility for working professionals and potential students."

There continues to be a shortage of professionals in the electrical field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment among drafters , estimators and designers has shrunk to less than 3 percent as demand continues to increase for these highly skilled positions. Dunwoody has a long-standing commitment to creating programs and degrees that align with industry needs and provide opportunity for students to enter successful careers. The addition of these two online degree options reinforces this mission for the electrical field.

Program Designed for In-Demand Job Skills

The Electrical Construction Design & Management program is the only two-year program of its kind in Minnesota. The program, now being offered online in addition to the on-campus option, provides students with the skills and knowledge necessary to create estimates, develop schedules, and effectively manage complex electrical construction projects from start to finish.

The program covers a range of topics, including project management, cost estimation, drafting, designing, and BIM modeling. Throughout the program, students engage with industry experts and compete in national competitions. The new online option allows more flexibility for working professionals and students. Following graduation, students are primed with the skills and knowledge for a career in electrical estimating, design, and project management. Throughout its years being taught in-person, the program has a 100 percent job placement rate, according to Dunwoody's Graduates Employment Report.

Education Advancement for Industry Professionals

The Electrical Drafting & Estimating Certificate is a new one-year program, designed for working professionals in the electrical field, with an anticipated first graduating class in May 2023. Course sessions are available in the evenings and online, taught by experts who have worked professionally in the field.

This program focuses on basic and advanced estimating, 3D drafting and design, and illumination technology. Students will gain the skills and knowledge to build construction documents, develop schedules, and estimate the cost of a project. Using industry-current software, graduates will become sought-after professionals in the electrical design field.

Dunwoody's Construction Sciences & Building Technology department is committed to providing coursework and degree programs that fulfill current industry needs. Through interdisciplinary projects, online students throughout all construction programs learn to work together, with the guidance of instructors directly from the industry.

For more information on Dunwoody's Construction Sciences & Building Technology department and programs that are preparing the next generation of doers, visit https://dunwoody.edu/ or follow the College on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok .

ABOUT DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Founded in 1914, Dunwoody College of Technology is the only private, not-for-profit technical college in the Upper Midwest. Having provided hands-on, applied technical education to more than 250,000 individuals, Dunwoody is the college for experimenters and makers, a place where the curious and the confident learn by doing. Located in Minneapolis, Dunwoody offers a unique campus experience in dedicated labs, studios, and shops that treats students like future professionals from day one. With certificates, associate's, and bachelor's degrees in more than 46 majors - including engineering, robotics, design and other STEM-related fields - Dunwoody challenges students to come determined and graduate destined. More information on Dunwoody can be found at www.dunwoody.edu or by following Dunwoody on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok .

SOURCE Dunwoody College of Technology
CALGARY, AB and EDMONTON, AB, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EECOL Electric has announced its new partnership with global innovation platform Plug and Play. EECOL Electric is one of the first partners to officially have joined Plug and Play's new Sector Agnostic Program in Alberta and will work directly with selected startups in advancing AI and ML innovation and adaption across Alberta and the region.

"We are excited to partner with the industry leader Play and Plug to accelerate our transformation and strategic plan. EECOL is also thrilled to be Plug and Play's first corporate partner in the AI/ML space as we work to bring greater value and solutions to Western Canadians. Having Plug and Play in Alberta allows us to partner with the local startup community to deliver solutions on a large scale. Given today's market conditions, those on the leading edge of innovation will have a competitive and commercial advantage. By combining EECOL's 103 years of success with Plug and Play's proven track record, we look forward to delivering exceptional value that will provide our customers with a rich and satisfying experience," said Sean Grasby, President of EECOL Electric.

The announcement was made at Plug and Play Alberta's recent EXPO Day event in Calgary, Alberta. EECOL Electric's Winn Tran, VP of Technology attended the event. He stated, "EECOL is proud to foster a new generation of innovation and extremely excited to work with some great talent."

Plug and Play launched its Alberta location in January 2022 with three initial program focus areas: Sustainability, Health, and Sector Agnostic with an emphasis in AI and Machine Learning. Plug and Play is committed to building a world-class innovation platform in Alberta to attract top technology companies and talent, support investment in the Alberta region, and support Albertan entrepreneurs to scale and grow to propel digital transformation across the province.

"We are very proud to announce EECOL Electric as our first Corporate Partner for the Sector Agnostic Program in Alberta. EECOL has been a leader in electrical material supply for over 100 years, and through our partnership, we will work together to lay the foundation for the next 100 years of business," said Kevin Dahl, Director of Plug and Play Alberta.

EECOL Electric has been an engaged member and supportive partner to the Alberta Sector Agnostic program and startups, delivering considerable value to participating startups. For startups interested in joining the platform to work directly with EECOL Electric, please apply today: www.pnptc.com/join

About Plug and Play Alberta

Plug and Play Alberta is building a world-class innovation platform to attract top technology and investment to the region and support Albertan entrepreneurs to scale and grow, hire tech talent, and propel digital transformation across the province. Plug and Play is part of the Alberta Scaleup and Growth Accelerator Program that is run by a consortium led by Alberta Innovates. The consortium, which also includes Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Innovate Edmonton, the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, and Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), allocated $35 million over three years to retain business accelerators. It's part of the Alberta government's goal to help create 20,000 jobs and increase technology firm revenue to $5 billion by 2030.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting start-ups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 40+ locations across 5 continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize start-up acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

About EECOL Electric

Founded in 1919, EECOL Electric is an electrical wholesaler that provides material and technical support to the construction, industrial and residential markets from over 60 locations in Western Canada. EECOL is driven to provide exceptional service, proprietary solutions, and a complete product portfolio to a diverse range of customers' electrical requirements in automation, utility, lighting, data communication, wire & cable, power distribution, and renewable energy. EECOL's company culture is built on respect, integrity, honesty, and a shared passion for delivering a positive, memorable experience for our customers, partners, and communities. Visit www.eecol.com

SOURCE Plug and Play
Established in 2011, the ENA Lantern Award recognizes excellence in emergency departments



SCHAUMBURG, Ill., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, the Emergency Nurses Association announced 29 emergency departments being honored with the prestigious ENA Lantern Award  the only award dedicated to showcasing EDs for their outstanding work.

"These emergency departments are doing so many remarkable improvements and initiatives and they deserve to be honored for their work," said ENA President Jenn Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC. "I look forward to meeting some of these emergency nurses in Denver and celebrating them for their incredible achievement."

The ENA Lantern Award was created to recognize emergency departments that demonstrate exceptional and innovative performance in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research. When applying, emergency departments share stories that highlight their commitment to care, and the initiatives put in place that improve the well-being of nursing staff. Applications are reviewed and recipients are selected by the ENA Lantern Award Committee.

There are many noteworthy accomplishments from this year's honorees including improved collaboration between nurses and physicians; developing new flow areas in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; creating a simulation program to help emergency nurses better prepare for pediatric patients; and undertaking a significant quality improvement project to create a more age friendly emergency department.

The 2022 ENA Lantern Award recipients are:

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Emergency Department  Barrington, Illinois

 Bethesda North Hospital Emergency Department  TriHealth  Cincinnati, Ohio

  Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Emergency Department  Atlanta, Georgia

 Chilton Medical Center Emergency Department  Pompton Plains, New Jersey

Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center Emergency Department  Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital Emergency Department  Medina, Ohio

 Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida Emergency Department  Fort Myers, Florida

 Good Samaritan Hospital Emergency Department  TriHealth  Cincinnati, Ohio

  Gulf Coast Medical Center Emergency Department  Fort Myers, Florida

 Huntington Hospital Reichert Emergency Department  Huntington, New York

 Inspira Medical Center Vineland Emergency Department  Vineland , New York

 , Lenox Health Greenwich Village Emergency Department  New York, New York

 Lenox Hill Hospital Emergency Department  New York, New York

 Maine Medical Center Emergency Department  Portland, Maine

 Mather Hospital Northwell Health  Emergency Department  Port Jefferson, New York

 Monmouth Medical Center Emergency Department  RWJBarnabas Health  Long Branch, New Jersey

 Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware  Emergency Department  Wilmington, Delaware

Northern Westchester Hospital Emergency Department  Mount Kisco, New York

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Emergency Department  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla Emergency Department  La Jolla, California

Seattle Children's Hospital Emergency Department  Seattle, Washington

St. Elizabeth Healthcare Fort Thomas Emergency Department  Fort Thomas, Kentucky

 Staten Island University Hospital North Emergency Department  Northwell Health  Staten Island, New York

Staten Island University Hospital Prince's Bay Emergency Department  Staten Island, New York

The Children's Hospital at Saint Peter's University Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department  New Brunswick, New Jersey

The Valley of Hospital's David F. Bolger Emergency Department  Ridgewood, New Jersey

University of Kansas Health System Emergency Department  Kansas City, Kansas

USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Emergency Department  Glendale, California

Yale New Haven Children's Hospital Emergency Department  New Haven, Connecticut

The 2022 ENA Lantern Award recipients will receive a physical award to display in their emergency department as a visible symbol of their commitment to quality, safety and a healthy work environment. Each will be recognized during ENA's annual conference  Emergency Nursing 2022  in Denver, Colorado in the association's Hall of Honor. Additionally, each emergency department's award-worthy efforts will be spotlighted in ENA's member magazine, ENA Connection. Learn more here.

About the Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With more than 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines, and guides emergency healthcare public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

ENA Media Contact:

Dan Campana

Director of Communications

847-460-4017

[email protected]

SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association
Idaho, West Virginia and Oregon See Improvement in the DII US Rankings; Maryland, North Carolina, North Dakota and Vermont Fall

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Draper Hero Index (DHI) announces the commencement of quarterly review executive summaries to its United States Draper Innovation Index (DII US), which evaluates each state's environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. The DII US now includes Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) data, the leading provider of location-based business data and analytical tools.

"While the real estate mantra is 'location, location, location,' the innovation mantra is 'trust, trust, trust,' where states with the most freedom and human trust allow for the most innovation, and those with the strictest regulations smother innovation. Regulation kills innovation, while trust allows innovation to flourish. The DII US is the best, most up to date map of the current American economic, regulatory and entrepreneurship landscape and will become even more important as Bitcoin, Blockchain and other emerging technologies continue to transform and drive the economy forward," said Tim Draper, founder of the Draper Hero Institute.

The DII US Top 10 States saw significant movement between January and May 2022, especially at the top, with Florida and Texas leapfrogging Washington for the Top 2 spots; they were buoyed by their performance in both the OBHI and SBHI metrics as well as considerable improvements in overall capital investments and in cryptocurrency/blockchain-related sectors and businesses. California fell out of the overall DII US Top Ten and was surpassed by Massachusetts as the nation's #1 tech innovation environment. The table below highlights the change in ranks for the Top 10 countries in the DII-US from January 2022 to May 2022:

January 2022 Top Ten May 2022 Top Ten Change Washington 1 Florida 1  Florida 2 Texas 2  Texas 3 Washington 3  Wyoming 4 South Dakota 4  South Dakota 5 Wyoming 5  Massachusetts 6 Massachusetts 6 - Utah 7 Utah 7 - Colorado 8 Colorado 8 - Alaska 9 Virginia 9  California 10 Alaska 10 



Virginia and Alaska rounded out the Top 10 ranks and pushed California out of the top 10, where it had been in early 2022 due to its overall performance and cryptocurrency/blockchain investments in particular. California's fall was due to softness in its OBHI and SBHI rankings. Other movements in the Top 10 included South Dakota and Wyoming trading 4th and 5th places while Massachusetts, Utah and Colorado remained steady at 6th, 7th, and 8th.

Idaho saw by far the most significant jump in the rankings overall, increasing by eight (8) places from January 2022 to May 2022; Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin all rose by two ranks during the same time period. Idaho's dramatic improvement stemmed from relative strengths in its Overall Business Health Index (OBHI) and Small Business Health Index (SBHI) as well as considerable improvements in both overall capital investments and investments into cryptocurrency/blockchain related sectors.

States declining in the rankings included:

Maryland (-4),

North Dakota (-4),

Vermont (-3),

Iowa (-2),

Nebraska (-2),

Washington (-2).\

Maryland's decline was largely attributable to comparative weakness in overall capital and cryptocurrency/blockchain investments as well as poor performance on the OBHI and SBHI. North Dakota has yet to register any cryptocurrency/blockchain investments for the year suggesting it will continue to underperform when compared against more innovative states. In Vermont, cryptocurrency/blockchain investments began to slow in the latter half of the quarter, dragging down the state's overall ranking.

Despite California being home to some of the nation's most successful tech companies, traditionally the nation's tech leader  and the destination for more venture capital funding and Bitcoin/blockchain investment than any other state  dropped to 11th in the overall rankings, primarily due to its performance on the Small Business Policy Environment and Tax Environment sub-indices. It has consistently finished at or near the bottom of these indices since the first publication of the DII US. Additionally, Massachusetts surpassed the state in DII's Tech Environment scenario.

"High cost of living states, in addition to relatively unfriendly small business and tax policies and regulations, could create significant economic repercussions in the long term," Dr. Wallace Walrod, DHI's Chief Economic Advisor. "Non-traditional tech powers such as Wyoming, South Dakota and Utah, on the other hand, are leveraging small business policy and in some cases cryptocurrency policy as powerful ways to attract new entrepreneurs and investors."

The DII US will continue to be updated each month and can be accessed here.

About the Monthly DII-US Data Methodology

The DII US aggregates six sub-indices that reflect key aspects of state-level business and innovation environments:

Technology R&D and Workforce Environment;

Global Economic and IT Infrastructure;

Entrepreneurs/Startup Environment;

Small Business Policy Environment;

Tax Environment; and

Social Environment.

As of January 2022, the DII-US includes Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) data, incorporating two key indices: the Overall Business Health Index (OBHI) and the US Small Business Health Index (SBHI). The former surveys currently open U.S. businesses, evaluating their:

likelihood of continued survival

likelihood of delinquency,

and likelihood of defaulting on a payment.

The SBHI evaluates businesses with less than a hundred employees based on the following criteria:

credit card utilization;

credit card delinquency;

total number of business failures compared to the previous year;

and past-due dollar delinquency.

The SBHI strongly correlates with other key indices of economic activity, such as GDP growth, which makes it a particularly important addition.

About Draper Hero Institute

Founded by legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist and entrepreneur Timothy C. Draper, Draper Hero Institute (DHI) provides applicable and modern resources for future entrepreneurs globally and ensures inclusiveness and opportunities for all. As an action-based research institution, DHI focuses its efforts on non-traditional pathways to guide future entrepreneurs in the new economy. Through programs that ignite innovative research; united through connectivity and networking; and mentoring efforts through applied education, DHI provides a portal for creative thinking and ultimately driving change to better prepare future entrepreneurs to take on heroic endeavors.

https://www.draperhero.org/

SOURCE Draper Hero Institute
YOUSICIAN IS THE WORLD'S LEADING PLATFORM TO LEARN AND PLAY MUSIC WITH AI TECHNOLOGY THAT LISTENS AND CORRECTS YOU AS YOU PLAY

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yousician, the world's leading interactive music platform, has named Brynn Putnam, founder and former CEO of the smart home gym, Mirror, to its board of directors. The appointment was made by Chris Thur, Yousician's co-founder and CEO.

Prior to joining Yousician's board and establishing Mirror, Putnam was a professional ballerina who graduated with a degree in Russian Literature and Culture from Harvard University. Her entrepreneurial journey began in 2010 by opening a New York City boutique fitness studio chain: The Refine Method. Her idea for The Mirror came from identifying the need to elevate home fitness into a concept that had it all. Putnam built and led the impressive success of Mirror as founder and CEO, leading the business to its ultimate success of acquisition by Lululemon in 2020 for $500 Million.

Putnam's experience in harnessing advanced technology and hardware to help people learn and do what they love at the comfort of their own home will play a vital role as she works closely with Yousician's CEO and leadership team on the global growth strategy for the business.

"We could not be more excited about Brynn joining our board. Her experience in building and scaling a hugely successful advanced tech at home platform will be invaluable to us as we look to further grow and scale our business and further Yousician's position as the world's leading platform to learn and play music."

Thur expects the subscription user base to grow by +50% percent in 2022 due to product innovation, increased song licensing catalog, and artist relations, like its partnership with Metallica  giving its over 20 million monthly active users more ways to enjoy the innovative learning and playing experience.

Putnam added, "Though I am not musically gifted, as my childhood piano teacher will attest, I have always loved music. This opportunity is really music to my ears. I am truly inspired by Chris's passion for what he and the team are building. "Yousician has built a big profitable business that most companies fail to do, and has clearly already built something that people love and find value in. It was really clear that the business has a ton of potential and is bringing really important change to the world. I'm excited to be a part of it."

Yousician's proprietary audio recognition AI technology and engaging interactive learning techniques has helped the platform quickly become the leading music learning platform. Earlier last year, Yousician raised $28.5 million in a Series B funding round that attracted major investors including Amazon's Alexa Fund, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, Trivago co-founder Rolf Schromgens, and MPL Ventures.

Yousician is the world's leading platform for learning and playing music, driven by the belief that the more people play music, the better this world will be. With a combined 20 million monthly users, the platform's groundbreaking products, Yousician and GuitarTuna , are the leaders in their field.

Yousician has revolutionized how people learn and play music with innovative technology that gives players real-time feedback. It offers interactive learning for guitar, bass, ukulele, piano and voice with lessons, exercises and songs.

GuitarTuna is the #1 instrument tuner in the world, providing the fastest, easiest, and most accurate tuning anytime, anywhere. Users can discover 100+ tunings across 15 instruments, including chromatic and custom options. And GuitarTuna's new Play feature introduces "Smart Scroll" AI technology that makes it the tune-and-play choice app for guitarists everywhere.

Yousician and GuitarTuna are available for download on the App Store and the Google Play Store. The Yousician platform can be used on any phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. GuitarTuna is available on any mobile or tablet devices.

CONTACT: Natasha Weber, Director of Communications - 646-427-1635 / [email protected]

SOURCE Yousician
SEOUL, South Korea, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On the July 12, 2022, GenScript ProBio (Brian Ho-sung Min, CEO), a global CDMO, and ACT Therapeutics (Seogkyoung-Kong, CEO), developing next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy platform targeting solid cancer, announced that they had entered into a strategic partnership MOU concerning the development of a new CAR-T cell therapies. GenScript ProBio and ACT Therapeutics have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the cell therapy field through this MOU.

LeftSeogkyoung-Kong CEO of ACT THERAPEUTICS/Right-Brian H. Min CEO of GenScript ProBio

GenScript ProBio and ACT Therapeutics are in the process of signing a contract for plasmid and virus vector development and production for the first pipeline of ACT Therapeutics' Advanced CAR-T Platform (ACT platform), which will also be commissioned to produce raw materials for ACT Therapeutics' subsequent pipeline.



With this agreement, GenScript ProBio has become a global partner that can support ACT platforms for ACT therapeutics.



The ACT platform is an immune cell-based next-generation cell and gene therapy technology that uses virus vectors to insert genes designed to target cancer antigens into immune cells. GenScript ProBio has a high-quality virus vector process development and one-stop service platform for GMP production required for cell and gene therapy development.

ACT Therapeutics' ACT platform, is an advanced CAR-T technology that has a next-generation structure beyond the second-generation CAR-T cell therapy targeting existing blood cancer by overcoming the immune suppression microenvironment of solid cancer and activating surrounding immune cells. And various studies have secured animal experimental data on the efficacy and safety of the ACT platform, and confirmed the therapeutic characteristics while remaining in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of solid cancer and it complements the shortcomings of the existing second-generation CAR-T, which makes it competitive technology for solid cancer.

ACT therapeutics is a Korean bio venture company that has received initial investment through DAYLI Partners, Korea's leading bio and healthcare venture capital since its establishment in 2020, and has been recognized for its technology such as receiving pre-series A investment in Samho Green Investment. Currently, investment consultations are underway with securities firms and venture capital to attract Series A investment

Brian H. Min, CEO of GenScript ProBio, said, "We are very happy to cooperate with ACT therapeutics in strategic partnership, and we are looking forward to support ACT Therapeutics' ACT platform as a global partner through our accumulated technology."

Seogkyoung-Kong, CEO of ACT Therapeutics, said, "We have completed preparations for the ACT platform to emerge globally through a strategic partnership with GenScript ProBio. We will accelerate the development of treatments targeting refractory and intractable solid cancers."

About GenScript ProBio

GenScript ProBio is the subsidiary of GenScript Biotech Corporation, proactively providing end-to-end CDMO service from drug discovery to commercialization with proactive strategies, professional solutions and efficient processes in cell and gene therapy (CGT), vaccine, biologics discovery and antibody protein drug to accelerate drug development for customers. GenScript ProBio has established companies in the United States, the Netherlands, South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Nanjing and other places to serve global customers, and supported customers in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and other regions to obtain more than 30 IND approvals.

Toward the mission of "Innovation through Collaboration", GenScript ProBio is committed to helping customers shorten the timeline for the development of biological drugs from discovery to commercialization, significantly lowering R&D costs and building a healthier future.

www.genscriptprobio.com

SOURCE GenScript ProBio
The first installation of GivexPOS in a five-unit, multi-branded restaurant group launches mid-July

TORONTO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Givex Information Technology Group Ltd. ("Givex") (TSX: GIVX) announced today the upcoming mid-July launch of GivexPOS in a fine dining restaurant with three Michelin stars in Hong Kong, the first in a five-unit, multi-branded restaurant group.

"In the last 20 years, Givex has proven to be a global tech leader, with more than 100,000 active locations that utilize our POS, gift card, loyalty and other products," said John Sydoruk, Givex Managing Director, Asia. "Our recent new partnerships in Hong Kong show that GivexPOS is successful in markets across the globe, and in all types of restaurants, from QSRs to fine dining establishments and everything in between."

Givex is a comprehensive global customer engagement and business insights platform. In addition to GivexPOS, Givex offers gift card and loyalty programs, payment systems and robust analytics to help its clients make efficient business decisions.

The recent partnerships in Hong Kong mark the next step in Givex's continued international growth.

"Givex delivers the technology innovation that our partners strive for," said Sydoruk. "We are thrilled to be expanding our reach in Asia, and look forward to being a key partner in our clients' growth."

About Givex

Givex (TSX: GIVX;OTCQX: GIVXF) is a global fintech company providing merchants with customer engagement, point of sale and payment solutions, all in a single platform. We are integrated with 1000+ technology partners, creating a fully end-to-end solution that delivers powerful customer insights. Our platform is used by some of the world's largest brands, comprising approximately 100,000+ active locations across more than 100 countries. Learn more at www.givex.com .

SOURCE Givex
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Density Meter Market (2022-2027) by Type, Applications, Industry Vertical, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Density Meter Market is estimated to be USD 1046.5 Mn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 1285.52 Mn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.2%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Density Meter Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are A. Kruss Optronic GmbH, Ametek Inc, Anton Paar GmbH, Berthold Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, Eagle Eye Power Solutions LLC, Emerson Electric Co, Endress+Hauser,, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Density Meter Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses the Global Density Meter Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, The analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Density Meter Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description

2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Rising Demand from Oil & Gas and Pharmaceutical Industry

4.1.2 Government Initiatives in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Industry

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Tradeoff Between the Accuracy and Cost of the Density Meter Equipment

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Escalating Adoption in APAC Countries

4.3.2 Rise in the Volume of Industrial Automation

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Illegal Supply of Patented Technologies



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Density Meter Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Benchtop

6.3 Portable

6.4 Submersible



7 Global Density Meter Market, By Applications

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Ultrasonic

7.3 Microwave

7.4 Coriolis

7.5 Others



8 Global Density Meter Market, By Industry Vertical

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Chemical & Petrochemical

8.3 Oil & Gas

8.4 Metals & Mining

8.5 Food & Beverages

8.6 Waste Water Treatment

9 Americas' Global Density Meter Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's Global Density Meter Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's Global Density Meter Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's Global Density Meter Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 A. Kruss Optronic GmbH

14.2 Ametek Inc

14.3 Anton Paar GmbH

14.4 Berthold Technologies GmbH & Co. KG

14.5 Eagle Eye Power Solutions LLC

14.6 Emerson Electric Co

14.7 Endress+Hauser

14.8 GPS Instrumentation Ltd

14.9 Koehler Instrument Company Inc

14.10 Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing Co. Ltd

14.11 Lemis Baltic

14.12 Meidensha Corp

14.13 Mettler Toledo

14.14 Red Meters

14.15 British Rototherm Company Ltd

14.16 Schmidt + Haensch GmbH & Co

14.17 SensoTech GmbH

14.18 Thermo Fisher Scientific

14.19 Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corp

14.20 VWR International (Avantor)

14.21 Yokogawa Electric Corp



15 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/h42lw8

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Sunglasses Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global sunglasses market is expected to grow from $14.66 billion in 2021 to $15.41 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.11%. The sunglasses market is expected to reach $18.86 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 5.18%.



North America was the largest region in the sunglasses market in 2021 and it is also expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the sunglasses market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The growing popularity of sunglasses as a fashion product is expected to propel the growth of the sunglasses market. The rise of consumer preference for well-designed and quality products to elevate their outfit and style has boosted the demand for sunglasses. Sunglasses bring instant symmetry to customers' faces which increases the perception of their natural beauty.



Polarized sunglass-cum-face shield is a key trend gaining popularity in the sunglasses market. A polarized sunglasses-cum-face shield is a type of sunglass with a full-face shield including a polarized lens. A polarized lens is a type of lens that filters out light. The polarized protective face shield is equipped with UV protection that covers the entire face from eyes to chin providing complete protection.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Sunglasses Market Characteristics



3. Sunglasses Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Sunglasses



5. Sunglasses Market Size And Growth

5.1. Global Sunglasses Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion

5.1.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.1.2. Restraints On The Market

5.2. Global Sunglasses Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

5.2.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.2.2. Restraints On the Market



6. Sunglasses Market Segmentation

6.1. Global Sunglasses Market, Segmentation By Type

Non-Polarized

Polarized

6.2. Global Sunglasses Market, Segmentation By Design

Aviator/Pilot

Rectangle

Round

Square

Oval

Cat Eye

Others

6.3. Global Sunglasses Market, Segmentation By Frame Metal

Injected

Metal

Acetate

Others

6.4. Global Sunglasses Market, Segmentation By Distribution Channel

Specialty Stores

Supermarkets & Hypermarkets

Online

Others

7. Sunglasses Market Regional And Country Analysis

7.1. Global Sunglasses Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

7.2. Global Sunglasses Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion



8. Asia-Pacific Sunglasses Market

9. China Sunglasses Market



10. India Sunglasses Market



11. Japan Sunglasses Market



12. Australia Sunglasses Market

13. Indonesia Sunglasses Market



14. South Korea Sunglasses Market



15. Western Europe Sunglasses Market



16. UK Sunglasses Market



17. Germany Sunglasses Market



18. France Sunglasses Market



19. Eastern Europe Sunglasses Market



20. Russia Sunglasses Market



21. North America Sunglasses Market



22. USA Sunglasses Market



23. South America Sunglasses Market



24. Brazil Sunglasses Market



25. Middle East Sunglasses Market



26. Africa Sunglasses Market



27. Sunglasses Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles



Companies Mentioned

Fielmann AG

Marcolin S.p.A. (Marcolin Group)

De Rigo Vision S.p.A.

Stylrite Optical Industries

Eyevan Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6lxm6r

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
New funds will scale Syrup's AI-powered platform, expand its reach and increase use cases along the end-to-end inventory planning workflow

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Syrup Tech, the AI-powered predictive software platform for inventory excellence in commerce, raised $6.3m in funding led by Gradient Ventures , Google's AI-focused venture fund. The round also included Flybridge Capital, Firstminute Capital, Rackhouse Ventures, as well as Angel investors incl. (former) executives at Adidas, Bonobos, Salesforce, ASOS, ThredUp, Casper, Zalando, and Stripe. 1984 Ventures, who led the company's pre-seed round last year, continued investing in this round.

"Inventory planning is such a critical function that drives any brand or retailers' profitability and sustainability  and yet, it's managed by spreadsheets and bad legacy software," said James Theuerkauf, CEO and Co-Founder of Syrup. "Syrup provides predictive software that delivers AI-driven recommendations on orders and allocations directly to merchandise planners, driving full-price sell-thru, more efficient workflows, and less waste."

The funding will be used to service new and existing demand from Syrup's fast-growing list of customers, as well as develop new modules and features. The funding comes on the heels of Syrup winning the SXSW 2022 competition in the "Enterprise and Smart Data" category in Austin, TX earlier this year.

"Today, it's harder than ever to accurately forecast inventory demand due to macroeconomic factors like supply chain disruptions and labor shortages," said Zachary Bratun-Glennon, Partner at Gradient Ventures. "With Syrup, merchandisers and planners can easily access rich datasets to inform their inventory plans down to the SKU, which is critical for any company looking to optimize their business. We're proud to back James and his team and look forward to what's next."

As omni-channel brands and retailers look to migrate from excel-based planning and poor legacy systems, Syrup provides an intuitive, AI-based system that generates recommendations for merchandisers and planners, empowering them with data-driven decision support. The proprietary technology plugs into internal systems to analyze internal data (e.g. transactions, e-comm, marketing, inventory data), that is enhanced with external sources (e.g. social media trends, weather). Syrup's recommendations are powered both by advanced forecasting and stochastic optimization models.

Syrup's customers are seeing double digit increases in profit margins through reductions in stock-outs, significant reductions in excess inventory and waste, while more efficient and less manual workflows are giving time back to highly stretched merchandising teams.

About Syrup Tech

Syrup Tech is an AI-powered predictive software venture for inventory excellence in commerce. Syrup's mission is to pave the way for a world where commerce is no longer a wasteful industry. The company's decision-support engine is empowering merchandisers and planners at omni-channel brands and retailers to make data-driven inventory decisions. Syrup was founded in 2020 and is based in New York. For more information, visit www.syrup.tech .

About Gradient Ventures

Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund, helps founders build transformational companies. The fund focuses on helping founders navigate the challenges in developing new technology products, using the latest best practices in recruiting, marketing, design, and engineering so that great ideas can come to life. Gradient was founded in 2017 and is based in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit www.gradient.com .

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Syrup Tech
Company Recognized on Prestigious List for 17th Year

ST. LOUIS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, is pleased to announce that it ranked No. 11 on Selling Power's 2022 list of the 50 Best Companies to Sell For, up from No. 13 in 2021. This year marks the 17th time Graybar has appeared on the prestigious list, which will be published in the July/August 2022 issue of Selling Power magazine.

Graybar Named to Selling Power 50 Best Companies to Sell For List in 2022.

"We are proud to once again be recognized by Selling Power magazine as one of the best companies to sell for," said Graybar's Chairman, President and CEO Kathleen M. Mazzarella. "Receiving this honor for 17 years is a testament to our employee ownership culture, our focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience, and our commitment to providing opportunities for employees to build successful careers with Graybar."

To compile the list, Selling Power's research team created a comprehensive application that covered several key areas, including compensation, benefits, sales rep onboarding, sales training and sales enablement. The research team also evaluated companies' sales culture and diversity and inclusion efforts.

This recognition comes on the heels of Graybar being named a Top Workplaces USA Award winner for the second consecutive year, along with receiving Culture Excellence Awards for Compensation and Benefits and Work-Life Flexibility. In addition, Graybar recently received the Top Workplaces Award for the Distribution Industry.

Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of more than 300 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR. To view available career opportunities at Graybar, please visit graybar.com/careers.

Media Contact:

Tim Sommer

(314) 578-7672

[email protected]

SOURCE Graybar
Flexible online curriculum provides knowledge, skills, and certificates to help students succeed in rapidly-growing industry.

WORCESTER, Mass., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Flower, a California-based education company focused on the cannabis industry, announced four new online certificate programs in partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

These certificate programs focus on the cannabis industry in four areas; business, law and policy, agriculture and horticulture, and healthcare and medicine. Offered in an online format and open to anyone over the age 18, the programs are designed to help students gain industry-specific knowledge and experience related to the rapidly developing industry. WPI is the first Massachusetts higher education institution to partner with Green Flower to offer the programs.

"Green Flower is thrilled to announce the launch of our partnership with WPI to offer education programs related to the legal cannabis industry," said Daniel Kalef, Vice President of Higher Education University Partnerships at Green Flower. "We appreciate WPI working with us to expand opportunities in the cannabis industry for students in Worcester and beyond," said Kalef.

Massachusetts generated $1.65 billion in total cannabis sales last year, supporting more than 27,000 legal cannabis jobs. According to the Leafly 2021 Jobs Report, Massachusetts has the fifth largest cannabis jobs market in the country. In the US, cannabis jobs are projected to increase by 250 percent by 2028, making it the fastest-growing industry in the nation.

Each certificate program consists of three eight-week courses and takes six months to complete. Expert instructors with experience in the cannabis industry lead the courses and are selected, vetted, and provided by Green Flower.

The programs are now open for enrollment with classes starting on September 5. The cost is $2,950 per program, with payment plans and financing options available to provide the highest degree of affordability possible to all students.

Upon completion of a cannabis certificate program, students will receive a digital badge credential issued by The Green Flower Institute and Worcester Polytechnic University. Students will also receive access to Green Flower's robust employer network. For more information, visit cannabiseducation.wpi.edu .

About Green Flower

Founded in 2014, Green Flower is the industry leader in cannabis education, empowering thousands of consumers, regulators, and professionals with the knowledge they need to succeed in the emerging cannabis industry today. Green Flower's content and technology platform powers the cannabis programs of top universities and colleges across the country, provides customized learning and compliance solutions for cannabis businesses of all sizes, and equips individuals with the skills and credentials necessary to make an impact in the modern cannabis industry.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute holds firm to its founding mission to provide an education that balances theory with practice. Its aim is to create a quality experience for its students and a positive impact for its partner communities. The university's curriculum features flexible, rigorous programs that are project-based and globally engaged. WPI faculty members work with students on interdisciplinary research with the goal of finding solutions to important and socially relevant problems.

Green Flower Contact:

Adam Summers

[email protected]

708.223.2336

SOURCE Green Flower
HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: GPI) ("Group 1" or the "Company"), an international, Fortune 300 automotive retailer with 204 dealerships located in the U.S. and U.K., today announced that it will release financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, before market open. Earl J. Hesterberg, Group 1's president and chief executive officer, and the Company's senior management team will host a conference call to discuss the results later that morning at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The conference call will be simulcast live on the Internet at http://www.group1corp.com/events. A webcast replay will be available for 30 days. A copy of the Company's presentation will also be made available at http://www.group1corp.com/company-presentations.

The conference call will also be available live by dialing in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call at:

Domestic: 1-888-317-6003 International: 1-412-317-6061 Passcode: 2917777

A telephonic replay will be available following the call through August 3, 2022, by dialing:

Domestic: 1-877-344-7529 International: 1-412-317-0088 Replay Code: 7058394

ABOUT GROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Group 1 owns and operates 204 automotive dealerships, 273 franchises, and 47 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom that offer 35 brands of automobiles. Through its dealerships and omni-channel platform, the Company sells new and used cars and light trucks; arranges related vehicle financing; sells service and insurance contracts; provides automotive maintenance and repair services; and sells vehicle parts.

Group 1 discloses additional information about the Company, its business, and its results of operations at www.group1corp.com , www.group1auto.com , www.group1collision.com , www.acceleride.com , www.facebook.com/group1auto , and www.twitter.com/group1auto .

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are statements related to future, not past, events and are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. In this context, the forward-looking statements often include statements regarding our strategic investments, goals, plans, projections and guidance regarding our financial position, results of operations and business strategy, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should," "foresee," "may" or "will" and similar expressions. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate. Any such forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, (a) general economic and business conditions, (b) the level of manufacturer incentives, (c) the future regulatory environment, (d) our ability to obtain an inventory of desirable new and used vehicles, (e) our relationship with our automobile manufacturers and the willingness of manufacturers to approve future acquisitions, (f) our cost of financing and the availability of credit for consumers, (g) our ability to complete acquisitions and dispositions and the risks associated therewith, (h) foreign exchange controls and currency fluctuations, (i) the impacts of COVID-19 and the armed conflict in Ukraine on our business and the supply chains upon which our business is dependent, (j) the impacts of any potential global recession, (k) our ability to maintain sufficient liquidity to operate, (l) the risk that proposed transactions will not be consummated in a timely manner, and (m) our ability to successfully integrate recent and future acquisitions. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor contacts:

Jason Babbitt

Vice President, Treasurer

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected]

Media contacts:

Pete DeLongchamps

Senior Vice President, Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services and Public Affairs

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected]

or

Clint Woods

Pierpont Communications, Inc.

713-627-2223

[email protected]

SOURCE Group 1 Automotive, Inc.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Haig Partners LLC, the leading buy-sell advisory firm to auto, heavy truck and RV dealers in the U.S., served as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Minneapolis based Forest Lake Auto Group in its sale to Morrie's Auto Group. Forest Lake Auto Group consists of Forest Lake Chevrolet and Forest Lake Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-RAM of Forest Lake, MN, outside Minneapolis.

Randy Wilcox, the owner of Forest Lake Auto Group, stated, "It's been my pleasure to work with a great staff at these two stores to serve many thousands of customers in the greater Minneapolis area. We built a terrific business and I expect Morrie's will provide even more opportunities for our people and our customers. I wish them all much success for the future. I'd like to thank Alan Haig and Nate Klebacha from Haig Partners for running a confidential sale process that brought me the outcome that I wanted. Also, I'd like to thank Chris Penwell and Scott Weaver at Siegel Brill for their astute legal advice to help get this transaction closed."

Haig Partners has advised on the sale of 29 dealerships nationwide so far in 2022. Tweet this

Mr. Wilcox has been a successful entrepreneur for over 40 years. Prior to investing in auto dealerships, he built BIX Produce into a leading specialty produce processing and distribution company serving the Upper Midwest. It was acquired by Northwest Equity Partners in 2015.

Morrie's Auto Group is one of the largest dealership groups in the upper Midwest. Including this transaction, Morrie's has acquired 14 additional locations since 2016 through seven transactions. They now represent 22 brands across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. "We are excited to add these dealerships to the Morrie's platform and expand our presence in Minnesota," said Lance Iserman, CEO of Morrie's. "This acquisition will strengthen our offering across the Midwest as we continue to grow and acquire additional stores. The Forest Lake dealerships share a similar strategy and community approach to that of Morrie's, with a customer friendly, best-price sales process and a focus on customer experience. We look forward to working with the existing team to drive benefits for our collective customers, employees and brand partners."

Alan Haig, President of Haig Partners which represented the seller, said, "We congratulate Randy Wilcox on the sale of his dealerships to Morrie's. He grew his stores into two of the highest-performing domestic dealerships in the upper Midwest. Also, we applaud the Morrie's team with this acquisition that adds further strength to their position in Minneapolis. This transaction demonstrates that buyers remain confident about the future of auto retail and want to continue to grow."

The team at Haig Partners has been involved in the purchase or sale of 12 dealerships in Minnesota in recent years. Haig Partners has advised on the sale of 29 dealerships nationwide so far in 2022.

About Haig Partners

Haig Partners LLC helps dealers to maximize the value of their businesses when they are ready to sell. The team at Haig Partners has unmatched experience with executives from leading retail dealer groups and financial institutions. They have advised on the purchase or sale of more than 575 dealerships for over $9.0 billion, and have represented 22 groups that qualify for the annual Automotive News Top 150 Dealer Groups list, more than any other firm. Haig Partners leverages its expertise and relationships to lead clients through a confidential and customizable sales process that also maximizes the value of their businesses. They author the Haig Report, the leading industry quarterly report that tracks trends in auto retail and their impact on dealership values, and are co-author of NADA's Guide, "Buying and Selling a Dealership." For more information, visit www.haigpartners.com.

Transaction Contact:

Alan Haig, Founder and President

Haig Partners

[email protected]

(954) 646-8921

Media Contact:

Aimee Allen, Director of Marketing and Business Development

Haig Partners

[email protected]

(603) 933-2194

SOURCE Haig Partners
TAIPEI, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Health2Sync, Asia's leading digital chronic disease management platform, announced today that it is signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with AstraZeneca Taiwan to provide its first digital solution for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in Taiwan. The partnership targets to reach an early diagnosis and optimize the quality of everyday chronic kidney disease care through the smart detection feature on the Health2Sync patient management platform, which is currently used by over 400 medical institutions worldwide.

"With over nine years of experience in diabetes management, we are excited to see that our continuous efforts have helped patients with diabetes improve their HbA1c after usage of the Health2Sync app," said Ed Deng, Co-founder and CEO of Health2Sync. "These achievements have proven that data integration and digital intervention can be further applied to other chronic diseases since Health2Sync has one of the industry's largest datasets of self-monitored and examination data"

Aligned with AstraZeneca's ambition to increase earlier CKD diagnosis and help slow disease progression, the latest version of the Health2Sync Patient Management Platform will automatically filter and categorize patients into various groups according to their lab results, and notify the healthcare professionals as well as patients for early intervention, which may prevent disease progression and reduce the risk of complications.

Once the Platform identifies patients' CKD risk levels, physicians can review the analysis and the long-term trends of the examination data, and align it with medical interventions. Patients can also utilize the easy-to-use mobile app to consult their care providers for timely adjustments of medication regimens, enabling better chronic disease care.

In Taiwan, Acute and Chronic Kidney Disease is reported to cost almost US$1.8 billion every year, making it the costliest disease to the National Health Insurance system."By working with Health2Sync, we hope to assist primary care physicians in the early identification and better management of chronic kidney disease, ultimately alleviating the healthcare expenditure by slowing down disease progression and preventing debilitating complications," said Claudio Longo, President of AstraZeneca Taiwan.

Through the new partnership with AstraZeneca, Health2Sync is demonstrating its plans to provide digital touchpoints for the management of other disease areas such as CKD and cardiovascular. The company is developing a portfolio of digital therapeutics (DTx) that includes but is not limited to insulin management and behavior change.

About Health2Sync

Established in 2013, Health2Sync aims to provide personalized and scalable digital solutions for chronic disease patients. The product offerings, which include a mobile application for diabetics, cloud-based analytics, and a cloud platform for healthcare providers, are proven to help users improve their blood glucose outcomes with continuous usage.

With a comprehensive portfolio of partners ranging from pharmaceuticals to private and public payers, the Health2Sync mobile application serves over 900,000 users worldwide in 2022, thus becoming the largest digital chronic disease management platform in Asia (excl. China). The Health2Sync mobile application was elected by Healthline as one of the "10 Best Diabetes Apps" for three consecutive years since 2017.

For more information, please visit https://www.health2sync.com

SOURCE Health2Sync
Memphis Agency Becomes Third in Tennessee this Year to Combine with the National Top 20 Independent Insurance Firm

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis, an independent broker of commercial and personal property/casualty insurance, surety bonds and employee benefit plans in Memphis, TN, has joined Higginbotham, an insurance, financial and HR services firm ranked as the 20th largest independent broker in the U.S. Higginbotham entered Tennessee in 2020, and Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis gives it a sixth location in the state, the third agency to join Higginbotham in this year alone.

Higginbotham is strategically growing to expand its footprint and increase its service capability by selectively partnering with other independent agencies that have strong reputations in their local markets, a desire to keep growing by tapping into Higginbotham's single source solution and a strong cultural match.

Johnny Pitts, a managing partner for Higginbotham's Tennessee region, said, "Since joining Higginbotham, I've become a proud advocate of our firm because I've seen the positive impact it's had on our own client and employee satisfaction. When I see a good fit, I want to bring those agencies to our firm so they can reap the same rewards while strengthening Higginbotham as a whole. That's what I want for Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis."

Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis is a boutique agency that serves hundreds of businesses and individuals in the Mid-South. It provides bespoke solutions for commercial and personal coverage and group health insurance with a hands-on approach to customer service. By joining Higginbotham, the agency gains access to additional insurers the firm represents and the ability to offer in-house risk management, employee benefits administration and HR services.

In a joint statement, Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis principals Gene Mathis and Alex Mathis said, "It's hard to deny Higginbotham's growing presence in Tennessee, but it's easy to see why. Partnering with them immediately gives agencies the means to offer more coverage lines, more support and more value to customers. The added resources will help us deliver what our clients want while keeping the one-on-one client relationships we've built."

Higginbotham named Gene Mathis and Alex Mathis managing directors, and they will continue overseeing the agency's operations and staff.

About Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis

Mathis, Tibbets & Mathis is a commercial and personal property/casualty, surety bonds and employee benefits agency that has served businesses and individuals in the Mid-South since 1986. It serves all markets with a concentration in the construction industry. Visit mtmins.com for more information.

About Higginbotham

Employee owned and customer inspired, Higginbotham is a single source solution for insurance, financial and HR services. The firm was established in 1948 and ranks by revenue as the nation's 20th largest independent insurance firm. Serving thousands of businesses and individuals through locations coast to coast, Higginbotham's approach to finding insurance, employee benefit and risk management solutions is more individual and less institutional. By understanding customer priorities, eliminating inefficiencies and committing to transparency, Higginbotham is a place that leads with values so value leads. Visit higginbotham.com for more information.

SOURCE Higginbotham
DENVER, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HighBridge Premium and Colorado based Realm of Caring, (RoC) are happy to announce that they have entered into a "Charitable Sales Promotion Agreement." Under the terms of the Agreement, HighBridge will donate a portion of sales proceeds to the Realm of Caring Foundation. This foundation focuses on research, education, building community, and improving quality of life through the use and application of hemp and cannabis derivatives. HighBridge is a Multi-State Organization (MSO) that specializes in the formulation, production & sale of recreational cannabis beverages.

HighBridge PremiumTM Realm of Caring

"HighBridge has always considered Social Responsibility a part of its corporate and community obligation and are thrilled that our paths intersected with that of Realm of Caring. We are honored to announce our partnership with RoC and look forward to being a part of its noble mission," said James Hunter, Founder of HighBridge Premium .

Founded in 2013, Realm of Caring serves anyone in need of more information about cannabinoid therapies. "We currently serve more than 70,000 people that receive 'One on One' support and have more than 4,000 people in our Observational Research Registry," said Sasha Kalcheff-Korn, Executive Director of Realm of Caring. Adding, "Our collaboration with HighBridge will help support our mission and grow our programs."

"Our relationship with RoC has been unanimously and enthusiastically received by our partners, from California to Texas to Massachusetts. Co-packers, distributors and dispensaries have expressed their support," added Hunter. "Our thanks to Sasha and Rochelle Kwiatkowski (Leader of Impact) for their help in making this collaboration a reality. The HighBridge Team is already brainstorming on how we can further work with RoC to help it continue its work."

About HighBridge Premium:

HighBridge Premium (The Highbridge Company, LLC) is a Wyoming corporation that, in conjunction with its consulting, lab and marketing partners, develops premium beverages for the recreational cannabis industry. HighBridge currently has 10 products market ready and expects to add several more each quarter. HighBridge products are currently available in California and Arizona. Additional product launch venues targeted for 2022 include Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Nevada, Massachusetts & Illinois. The HighBridge goal is to be a Multi-State Organization with an International footprint. Our dedication is to quality and product integrity. For more information visit the company website: www.highbridgepremium.com

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail and discussed in the Company's website; www.highbridgepremium.com. Forward-looking statements are made and based on information available to the Company on the date of this press release. HighBridge assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.

Contact:

Victoria Hunter

[email protected]

Tel: 763.443.5337

Sheridan, Wyoming

SOURCE HighBridge PremiumTM
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial Sensor Market study by "Data Bridge Market Research" provides details about the market dynamics affecting the Industrial Sensor Market, Market scope, Market segmentation and overlays shadow upon the leading market players highlighting the favorable competitive landscape and trends prevailing over the years.

All the studies carried out in the first class Industrial Sensor Market Report are based on large group sizes at global level. The report also gives out an idea about the complete background analysis of the industry which comprises of an assessment of the parental market. As this market research report is formulated by taking into account and thoroughly understanding specific requirements of the business, it results into an excellent outcome. This market report describes CAGR value fluctuations during the forecast period of 2022-2029 for the market. An outstanding Industrial Sensor Market report showcases all-embracing study about production capacity, consumption, import, and export for all the key regions across the world.

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the Industrial Sensor Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.6% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029, at a USD 20.6 billion in 2021 and is further estimated to reach USD 42.89 billion by 2029. The market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, import/export analysis, pricing analysis, production consumption analysis, and pestle analysis.

Access PDF Sample Report (Including Graphs, Charts & Figures) @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-industrial-sensor-market

Industry 4.0 and automation rely heavily on industrial sensors. Industrial sensors provide excellent precision, low labour costs, lower energy use, and higher production. Industrial sensors in automation systems provide high precision, higher productivity, lower labor costs, and lower energy consumption. Furthermore, various government efforts, such as South Korea's 'Manufacturing Innovation 3.0' and Japan's 'Industry Value Chain Initiative,' encourage the use of robotics and smart factories.

Some of the major players operating in the Industrial Sensor Market are:

Rockwell Automation, Inc.,

Honeywell International Inc.

Texas Instruments Incorporated,

Panasonic Corporation,

STMicroelectronics,

First Sensor AG,

Siemens,

Amphenol Advanced Sensors,

Renesas Electronics Corporation,

Bosch Sensortec GmbH,

TE Connectivity,

OMEGA Engineering,

Sensirion AG Switzerland,

ams AG,

Microchip Technology Inc.

Recent Development

In May 2020, STMicroelectronics introduced the VL53L3CX, a multi-object range time-of-flight sensor for next-generation industrial and consumer electronics applications.

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This report is compiled using a vigorous and thorough research methodology. Data Bridge Market Research is also known for its data accuracy and granular market reports.

A complete picture of the competitive scenario of industrial sensor market is depicted by this report.

The report consists of a vast amount of data about the recent product and technological developments in the markets.

The extensive spectrum of analysis regarding the impact of these advancements on the future of market growth.

The insights in the report are easy to understand and include a graphical representation of the numbers in the form of histograms, bar graphs, pie charts, etc.

Components such as market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities for industrial sensor market are explained in detail.

It also provides a complete assessment of the expected behaviour about the future market and changing market scenario.

Making an informed business decision is a tough job; this report offers several strategic business methodologies to support you in making those decisions.

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Critical Insights Related To The Industrial Sensor Market Included In The Report:

Exclusive graphics and Illustrative Porter's Five Forces analysis of some of the leading companies in this market

Value chain analysis of prominent players in the market

Current trends influencing the dynamics of this market across various geographies

Recent mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships

Revenue growth of this industry over the forecast period

Marketing strategy study and growth trends

Growth driven factor analysis

Emerging recess segments and region-wise market

An empirical evaluation of the curve of this market

Ancient, Present, and Probable scope of the market from both prospect value and volume

Global Industrial Sensor Market Scope and Market Size

The Global Industrial Sensor Market is segmented on the basis of type, sensor type, technology and end user. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyze meager growth segments in the industries and provide the users with a valuable market overview and market insights to help them make strategic decisions for identifying core market applications.

Type

Contact

Noncontact

Sensor Type

Level Sensor

Temperature Sensor

Flow Sensor, Position Sensor

Pressure Sensor

Force Sensor

Humidity and Moisture Sensor

Image Sensor

Gas Sensor

Technology

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Technology

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Technology

End User

Manufacturing

Oil and Gas

Chemicals

Pharmaceuticals

Energy and Power

Mining

Access This Premium Research Report at https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-industrial-sensor-market

Global Industrial Sensor Market Regional Analysis/Insights:-

The Industrial Sensor Market is analysed and market size insights and trends are provided by country, test type, package type, panel type, sample type, technology, condition, sample collection sites, and distribution channel as referenced above.

The countries covered in the Industrial Sensor Market report are U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Rest of Europe in Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), Brazil, Argentina and Rest of South America as part of South America.

Asia-Pacific dominates the industrial sensor market due to the sturdy occurrence presence of large number of manufacturing base in the advancing countries. Furthermore, the rise in the coal production will further boost the growth of the industrial sensor market in the region during the forecast period.

North America is projected to observe significant amount of growth in the industrial sensor market due to the rise in the investment in technology. Moreover, the growing adoption of the technology is further anticipated to propel the growth of the industrial sensor market in the region in the coming years.

Industrial Sensor Market Dynamics

Drivers:

Major factors that are expected to boost the growth of the industrial sensor market in the forecast period are as follows:

Rise in the adoption of Industry 4.0 and IIoT in manufacturing

The industrial 4.0 revolution has already begun, and the advantages of implementing new disruptive technologies are becoming increasingly apparent in today's businesses which will further accelerate the growth market growth.

Rise in the adoption of wireless connectivity in manufacturing units

Sensors in industrial applications rely on wireless connection for the most part. The manufacturing facilities' battery-powered wireless sensors and nodes may readily scale to hundreds of sensing points per site which is further anticipated to propel the growth of the market.

Increase in the adoption of sensing technology in the process industry

In the process sector, industrial sensors are used to detect and report certain features relating to the safety, health, and security of equipment will further accelerate the growth of the industrial sensor market.

Opportunities

In addition, growing demand from automobile manufacturers to deliver enhanced safety and comfort for smart sensors is further estimated to provide potential opportunities for the growth of the industrial sensor market in the coming years.

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An absolute way to forecast what future holds is to comprehend the trend today!

Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavours to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process. Data Bridge is an aftermath of sheer wisdom and experience which was formulated and framed in the year 2015 in Pune.

Data Bridge Market Research has over 500 analysts working in different industries. We have catered more than 40% of the fortune 500 companies globally and have a network of more than 5000+ clientele around the globe. Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.

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SOURCE Data Bridge Market Research
PITTSBURGH, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I live in a 5th wheel RV full time and disliked the process of changing the sheets on my bed," said the inventor from Sacramento, Calif. "I thought of this idea to create a system that would aid in accessing all parts of the bed and storage spaces beneath it."

He invented SLIDING BED TABLE, patent-pending, to prevent excessive reaching, stretching, and struggling to change the sheets and mattress pad in a RV. This system would help adjust the bed into a much more convenient position when dressing it and help save time and energy. The lift system would allow users to access hard to reach storage spaces underneath the bed. Additionally, this would be user-friendly and prevent strain on the body for those that have disabilities.

The original design was submitted to the Sacramento sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-SCO-179, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com

SOURCE InventHelp
World leading expert and key opinion leader in nephrology

GLASGOW, Scotland, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Invizius Limited ("Invizius"), a biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses in haemodialysis, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Peter Stenvinkel to its Clinical Advisory Board. Professor Stenvinkel is a world-renowned expert senior lecturer at Karolinska University Hospital and Professor of Nephrology at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden.

Invizius is developing its H-Guard Haemodialysis Priming Solution which comprises a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response preventing a repetitive, hostile inflammatory reaction that increases the risk of cardiovascular and other complications.

A leading expert in the field of nephrology, Prof Stenvinkel has over 610 original publications and reviews and more than 30 book chapters on various aspects of inflammation, wasting and metabolism in chronic kidney disease patients (CKD). He has given more than 400 invited lectures at various international meetings and congresses in more than 30 different countries. He conducts translational research with a focus on risk factors for metabolic, cardiovascular and nutritional complications in CKD. Prof Stenvinkel has been on the Scientific Advisory Boards of AstraZeneca, Baxter, Fresenius Medical Care, Reata Pharmaceuticals and Vifor Pharma.

Richard Boyd, Chief Executive Officer of Invizius, said: "Prof Stenvinkel is one of the world's foremost authorities in nephrology and is focused on the translation of novel approaches into impactful treatments for renal patients. We are very privileged to have him join our Clinical Advisory Board. His expertise is particularly relevant to the work we are doing at Invizius and we look forward to his invaluable contributions as we accelerate the development of our programmes."

Prof Stenvinkel, Senior lecturer at Karolinska University Hospital and Professor of Nephrology at Karolinska Institutet, added: "Invizius has been founded on world-class research and I am very impressed by its H-Guard technology which has the potential to improve quality of life and safety of patients on dialysis. I am very pleased to begin working with the talented team developing novel and improved therapeutic approaches to improve the quality of life for this expanding patient group."

Prof Stenvinkel joins Invizius' Clinical & Scientific Advisors, Professor Sandip Mitra (Manchester Royal Infirmary), and Professor Paul Barlow (University of Edinburgh).

Invizius recently announced it had been awarded two Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Grants to bring anti-inflammatory haemodialysis treatment to the clinic and to research peritoneal dialysis indication for its H-Guard technology.

About Invizius

Invizius Limited is a late pre-clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses, focused initially on reducing the life-threatening inflammatory effects of dialysis. Founded in 2017, the University of Edinburgh spin-out is developing its proprietary H-Guard Priming Solution, comprising a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response, thereby preventing a hostile inflammatory reaction. The technology can also be used with other devices or treatments such as continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), cardiopulmonary bypass, organ transplants and immunomodulating therapeutics. The company is looking to expand its product pipeline into other, high-value indications.

Invizius is supported by a strong syndicate of investors including Mercia, Downing Ventures, Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Solvay Ventures, Calculus Capital and experienced life science entrepreneur and investor, Dr Jonathan Milner.

For more information on Invizius, please visit: www.invizius.com

About Prof Stenvinkel MD, PhD, FASN

Prof Stenvinkel has received numerous accolades and awards including the prize for the best Swedish thesis in diabetology (1994), Baxter Extramural Grant (1996), the Karolina Prize (2005) and Vizenca prize (2009), the Addis Gold medal by the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (ISRNM) for nutritional research (2010) and was the National Kidney Foundation international awardee in 2012. As a fellow of the European Renal Association, he has also received the ERA-EDTA prize for outstanding educational contribution (2017). He is a member of the council of International Society of Nephrology and an associate Editor of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (NDT) as well as previously its editor-in-chief. He has received an honorary membership of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology 2010 and of the Polish Society of Nephrology in 2012. His Hirsch index is 92 according to PubMed and 118 according to Google Scholar.

About Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Its vision is to advance knowledge about life and strive towards better health for all. Karolinska Institutet accounts for the single largest share of all academic medical research conducted in Sweden and offers the country's broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

For more information on Karolinska Institutet, please visit www.ki.se/en

SOURCE Invizius
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaleyra, Inc. (NYSE: KLR) (NYSE American: KLR WS) ("Kaleyra" or the "Company"), a rapidly growing omnichannel business communications platform, has rejected an unsolicited offer from TCR Acquisition LLC to acquire 100% of the Campaign Registry Inc. ("The Campaign Registry"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaleyra.

After careful consideration and with the assistance of its advisors, the Board of Directors of the Company unanimously concluded that the unsolicited, non-binding proposal from TCR Acquisition LLC significantly undervalues The Campaign Registry and its strong prospects for continued growth, and is not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

"The Campaign Registry is fundamental to our vision for Kaleyra's future," said Kaleyra Chief Executive Officer Dario Calogero. "Kaleyra has always held itself to the highest standard for trusted service and security for its partners, and The Campaign Registry embodies these traits not only for Kaleyra's customers, but for the entire CPaaS industry. In addition, due to the significant growth that The Campaign Registry's Software-as-a-Service offering has displayed over its first few quarters, we remain encouraged by the extended outlook for this portion of Kaleyra's business. We are committed to driving significant shareholder value both through The Campaign Registry as well as the rest of the business over the long-term."

The Campaign Registry, a reputation authority for the 10-digit long code business messaging campaign ecosystem, works with North American mobile operators and companies in the messaging business to provide visibility into campaign messaging source and content, allowing mobile carriers to provide a more reliable and simple messaging service for Campaign Service Providers and Brands. For more information on The Campaign Registry, please visit its website at www.campaignregistry.com.

About Kaleyra

Kaleyra, Inc. is a global group providing mobile communication services to financial institutions, e-commerce players, OTTs, software companies, logistic enablers, healthcare providers, retailers, and other large organizations worldwide.

Kaleyra today has a customer base of 3800+ companies spread around the world. Through its proprietary platform and robust APIs, Kaleyra manages multi-channel integrated communication services, consisting of messaging, rich messaging and instant messaging, video, push notifications, e-mail, voice services, and chatbots.

Kaleyra's technology makes it possible to safely and securely manage billions of messages monthly with over 1600 operator connections in 190+ countries, including all tier-1 US carriers.

Investor Contacts:

Colin Gillis

Vice President of Investor Relations

[email protected]

Tom Colton or Matt Glover

Gateway Investor Relations

949-574-3860

[email protected]

SOURCE Kaleyra
HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KBR (NYSE: KBR) is pleased to announce it is a major partner to Axiom Space, which NASA selected as one of two companies eligible to support the development of NASA's next-generation spacesuit and spacewalk systems through the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract. This comprehensive contract includes a full range of services, including design, testing, and verification of manufacturing and processing of the new spacesuits. KBR will co-locate with Axiom Space in their facilities.

The xEVAS contract, which advances extravehicular activity capability for low-Earth orbit, on the lunar surface, and future human missions to Mars, is managed out of NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) through the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) and Human Surface Mobility Program. The milestone-based contract's period of performance continues through 2034 with a potential total value of $3.5 billion across the life of the program.

"KBR is honored to have the opportunity to help humanity return to the moon and confident in our decades of development experience to help produce a safe and flexible suit unlike any other," said Byron Bright, President of KBR Government Solutions U.S. "Having worked with every astronaut since 1968, this historic project is a fitting continuation of our existing human space flight efforts. Our team could not be more thrilled to support this exciting endeavor for the next generation."

Working together on Axiom's spacesuits, the AxEMU, is the latest collaboration between Axiom Space and KBR. The two companies worked together on Axiom's first commercial space mission, Axiom Mission 1, and will continue to collaborate on Axiom Mission 2. This new commercial partnership contract with NASA enables Axiom Space, together with KBR, to build next generation astronaut spacesuits that serve commercial customers, private astronauts, and future space station goals while meeting NASA's ISS and Artemis lunar exploration needs.

KBR's science, space, and engineering experts have more than 25 years of experience leading spacesuit development and are key assets to the project. The company currently processes and refurbishes NASA spacesuits and related components used on the International Space Station, and will use its experience and knowledge to focus on the development and delivery of services related to the new next-generation spacesuits.

To read more about KBR's latest news, visit kbr.com/insights-news.

About KBR

We deliver science, technology and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. KBR employs approximately 28,000 people performing diverse, complex and mission-critical roles in 34 countries.

KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long-term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver.

Visit kbr.com.

Forward Looking Statement

The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the significant adverse impacts on economic and market conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the company's ability to respond to the resulting challenges and business disruption; the recent dislocation of the global energy market; the company's ability to manage its liquidity; the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; changes in capital spending by the company's customers; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; the possibility of cyber and malware attacks; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company.

The company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that the company has identified that may affect its business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

SOURCE KBR, Inc.
The invite-only event is back for its second year following last year's hugely successful gathering during Art Basel Week

MIAMI, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Funders , eMerge Americas and Carve Communications are pleased to announce the second annual La Casa will take place on November 30, 2022, during Art Basel Week in Miami. La Casa is an invite-only event dedicated to conversation, collaboration and celebration of the tech & innovation ecosystem in South Florida.

"We're excited to once again open the doors of La Casa to founders, investors and other key tech ecosystem players and continue to further establish Florida as a hub for innovation and capital," said Tom Wallace, Managing Partner of Florida Funders.

In 2021, the first La Casa drew more than 500 attendees and hosted more than 50 innovation and ecosystem leaders including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava, City of Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez, Grammy award-winning artist, investor & entrepreneur Armando Christian "Pitbull" Perez, Co-Founder & CEO of Cameo Steven Galanis, Co-Founder & CEO of Blockchain.com Peter Smith, Founder & GP of Arrington Capital Michael Arrington, and more. During the two-day gathering, dynamic panels were held across a variety of topics including How to Grow Miami's Tech Scene, The Explosion of FinTech Innovation in South Florida, LATAM Innovation & How Miami Plays a Key Role and others.

"It's important to keep connecting the innovators and decision-makers that make Miami the place to be," said Melissa Medina, Co-Founder & President of eMerge Americas. "I've watched Miami evolve over the years, and its trajectory continues to inspire. La Casa is about celebrating the growth and diversification of the Miami tech scene and collaborating on new ways to keep us moving forward."

"We have a shared mission and that is to create a robust support system for startup founders, investors and key players to take Miami's tech and innovation community to the next level," said David Barkoe, CEO and Founder of Carve Communications. "Last year's event was tremendously successful, and we could not be more excited to once again partner with Florida Funders and eMerge Americas to bring the community together and continue to celebrate the #MiamiTech movement."

The location of La Casa 2022, along with an agenda and speakers will be announced at a later date.

To learn more, visit lacasamiami.co , or for sponsorship inquiries, please contact [email protected].

About eMerge Americas

eMerge Americas is a venture-backed platform focused on transforming Miami into a global tech hub. The eMerge signature event, launched in 2014, is a global tech conference held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center, attracting more than 20,000 attendees from 50 countries and over 4,500 unique participating organizations. In addition to the annual conference, eMerge organizes and hosts year-round executive summits, innovation challenges, startup pitch competitions, masterclasses, webinars, as well as publishes venture activity and investment insights reports. For the last decade, eMerge has served as a catalyst for innovation and investment across the Americas, working at the forefront of building the South Florida entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem. To learn more, visit emergeamericas.com

About Florida Funders

Recognized as the top VC in the Southeast region by Pitchbook, Florida Funders is a venture capital firm and angel network that invests in early stage technology companies in Florida and beyond. The Florida Funders platform creates a unique experience that educates our community of investors, provides transparency during the funding process, fosters communication across the ecosystem, and empowers the strategic relationships that drive investments. Our experienced team is composed of investors, entrepreneurs and advisors focused on being the most respected and impactful early stage tech investment firm in the U.S. To learn more, visit floridafunders.com .

About Carve Communications

Carve Communications is a Miami-based PR agency, with team members across the U.S., that exists at the intersection of technological innovation and real life. Our focus is on generating awareness, establishing authority, driving engagement and fostering activation for our clients through media relations, advocate marketing, thought leadership, content creation and distribution and other digital marketing strategies.

SOURCE eMerge Americas
Call Scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, August 5, 2022

HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) ("Main Street") is pleased to announce that it will release its second quarter 2022 results on Thursday, August 4, 2022, after the financial markets close. In conjunction with the release, Main Street has scheduled a conference call, which will be broadcast live via phone and over the Internet, on Friday, August 5, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Investors may participate either by phone or audio webcast.

By Phone: Dial 412-902-0030 at least 10 minutes before the call. A replay will be available through August 12, 2022 by dialing 201-612-7415 and using the access code 13731056#.



By Webcast: Connect to the webcast via the Investor Relations section of Main Street's website at www.mainstcapital.com. Please log in at least 10 minutes in advance to register and download any necessary software. A replay of the conference call will be available on Main Street's website shortly after the call and will be accessible for approximately 90 days.





ABOUT MAIN STREET CAPITAL CORPORATION

Main Street (www.mainstcapital.com) is a principal investment firm that primarily provides long-term debt and equity capital to lower middle market companies and debt capital to middle market companies. Main Street's portfolio investments are typically made to support management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings, refinancings and acquisitions of companies that operate in diverse industry sectors. Main Street seeks to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provides "one stop" financing alternatives within its lower middle market investment strategy. Main Street's lower middle market companies generally have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. Main Street's middle market debt investments are made in businesses that are generally larger in size than its lower middle market portfolio companies.

Main Street, through its wholly owned portfolio company MSC Adviser I, LLC ("MSC Adviser"), also maintains an asset management business through which it manages investments for external parties. MSC Adviser is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Contacts:

Main Street Capital Corporation

Dwayne L. Hyzak, CEO, [email protected]

Jesse E. Morris, CFO and COO, [email protected]

713-350-6000

Dennard Lascar Investor Relations

Ken Dennard | [email protected]

Zach Vaughan | [email protected]

713-529-6600

SOURCE Main Street Capital Corporation
Bringing innovative AI solutions to state Medicaid dental programs and policies to increase operational efficiency, lower costs, and improve access and quality of care

WASHINGTON and BOSTON, Mass., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicaid | Medicare | CHIP Services Dental Association (MSDA) today announced the first-ever national Medicaid Artificial Intelligence (AI) dental program initiative, introducing as its inaugural partner Overjet , the leader in dental Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Aiming to advance quality, policy, and efficiency through innovative AI strategies, MSDA will design and implement the Medicaid Dental Program Artificial Intelligence Learning and Action Collaborative with the goals of improving operational cost-effectiveness resulting in improved beneficiary oral healthcare.

MSDA's collaboration with Overjet establishes the first-ever foundational learning framework and curricula for the use of AI in Medicaid dental program administration. Participants will learn how the use of AI will increase efficiency, especially in claims processing, and will improve payment integrity.

"MSDA is pleased to be partnering with Overjet to help establish the de facto standard of operation for modernizing the claim workflows for Medicaid dental program administration," said Mary E. Foley, Executive Director of MSDA, who brings over 20 years of experience in federal and state oral health policy. "By increasing efficiency, lowering the costs of claim reviews, and improving program integrity, Medicaid programs will be able shift administrative costs to expanding and improving dental benefits for members. Overjet is a wonderful partner who has demonstrated rich knowledge, understanding and proven expertise of AI to effectively transform Medicaid dental programming."

Overjet's advanced AI-enabled claims review platform, Claim Intelligence, is already in use by most of the largest dental insurance companies, covering over 75 million Americans. "Overjet's mission is to improve oral health for all, and we are honored to be chosen by MSDA as a partner," said Wardah Inam, CEO and co-founder of Overjet. "We look forward to supporting MSDA's efforts in advancing quality and access to care for all Medicaid beneficiaries. Not only is MSDA a proven advocate in helping states find innovative solutions that increase efficiency and effectiveness for programs and services, MSDA advances data-driven policies aimed at improving health and healthcare equity for Medicaid beneficiaries."

MSDA and Overjet will introduce the dental AI initiative across every U.S. region, kicking off the multi-state educational collaboration in over eighteen states. To learn more, contact [email protected] .

About Medicaid|Medicare|CHIP Services Dental Association (MSDA)

Medicaid-Medicare-CHIP Services Dental Association (MSDA) aims to improve the oral health of vulnerable children and adults by advancing evidence-based, quality-driven policies and practices. MSDA's mission is to improve Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP oral health programs by collaborating with key stakeholders, sharing resources, and disseminating innovative strategies. MSDA established and published the first National Profile of State Medicaid and CHIP Oral Health Programs. Learn more at www.medicaiddental.org .

About Overjet

Overjet is the leader in dental artificial intelligence, helping both payers and providers improve patient care. By combining deep expertise in dentistry and advanced engineering, Overjet develops accurate and quantified ways to detect pathologies, and integrates actionable insights into systems and workflows to operationalize a feedback loop between payers, providers, and patients. The company was founded by experts from MIT and Harvard School of Dental Medicine and has assembled a seasoned team of technologists and domain experts with deep AI, dental, and insurance experience. Every day, some of the largest DSOs and insurance companies rely on accurate information provided by Overjet to deliver care and service to patients. Overjet is the first and only company with dental AI technology cleared by the FDA for detection and outlining of cavities on dental radiographs, and quantification of bone levels to aid in the diagnosis of periodontal disease. Learn more at www.overjet.com .

SOURCE Overjet
David Kim Recognized at the 2022 Service Members of the Year Awards

ARLINGTON, Va., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- David Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Children of Fallen Patriots, was honored on July 12 as the 2022 Veteran of the Year, an award of distinction given by the Military Times Foundation recognizing the recipients' pride, dedication and courage beyond their call of duty. Kim joins five other distinguished service members from each military branch for this year's awards ceremony, which took place at the Ronald Reagan Building in Arlington, VA.

Since 2001, the annual Service Member of the Year Awards, established by The Military Times Foundation, has honored a soldier, Marine, sailor, airman and Coast Guardsman annually, adding the Veteran distinction in 2018. The Foundation was created to recognize the exemplary service of active duty personnel serving in each branch of the U.S. Armed Services and support other organizations conducting activities with similar goals.

"The actions and stories behind this year's winners are beyond exceptional and we are excited to shed light on these honorable service members," said Mike Gruss, editor-in-chief of Military Times. "Veteran of the Year is a unique recognition and David Kim exemplifies the spirit of the award."

Kim, a partner at the global private equity firm Apax Partners, is a former U.S. Army artillery officer and United States Military Academy graduate. Together with his wife Cynthia, Kim founded Children of Fallen Patriots in 2002 and has worked tirelessly to advance its mission of providing support through scholarships, educational counseling and community support to military children from all branches who have lost a parent in the line of duty. Since the non-profit's inception, Children of Fallen Patriots has provided more than $55 million in support to Gold Star children in all 50 states.

"To be named Veteran of the Year by the Military Times Foundations is an immense honor," said David Kim, co-founder and CEO of Children of Fallen Patriots. "The pride and sense of duty that remains from my time in the armed forces has helped shape my entire life. The very mission of Children of Fallen Patriots is to honor the sacrifices made by our brothers and sisters in arms by taking care of their legacy. I share this honor with the thousands of veterans who motivate our mission daily."

To learn more about Children of Fallen Patriots visit www.fallenpatriots.org .

About Children of Fallen Patriots

Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation honors the sacrifices of our fallen military heroes by ensuring the success of their children through college education. Since 2002, we have provided over $55 million in support to over 2,200 military children from all branches who lost a parent in the line of duty. Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation has earned a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator, and due to generous Board donations, 97% of third-party donations go to programs. Help today by visiting www.fallenpatriots.org.

About Military Times Foundation

Military Times Foundation is a nonprofit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes to recognize, salute and highlight the exemplary service of active duty personnel serving in each branch of the U.S. Armed Services and support other organizations conducting activities with similar goals who operate within Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Military Times Foundation has a flagship program entitled Service Members of the Year, which recognizes and awards outstanding service members and veterans each year.

About Military Times

Service members and their families rely on Military Times as a trusted, independent source for news and information on the most important issues affecting their careers and personal lives including branch updates, financial services, pay and benefits, healthcare, education, transition resources, and more. Military Times is a part of the Sightline Media Group who also owns Army Times, Marine Corps Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, Federal Times, Defense News, and C4ISRNET. For coverage, visit www.militarytimes.com.

Media Contacts

Josh Anderson | Punch PR | [email protected] | (512) 963-8224

SOURCE Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation
Newest integration with Google Workspace designed to address the need for rich collaboration in hybrid team meetings

SAN FRANCISCO and AMSTERDAM, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Miro , the online platform accelerating innovation through visual collaboration, today announced the availability of Miro for Google Meet . Created in partnership with Google Workspace, the integration enhances the Google Meet experience through the ability to quickly launch Miro and begin collaborating on new or existing boards without switching apps. Miro for Google Meet is the newest addition to a number of Google Workspace integrations and add-ons that help teams collaborate visually from anywhere, building on Miro for Google Calendar , and the capability to collaborate in real time across Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly in a Miro board.

"The future of work is hybrid, and it requires organizations to rethink our old meeting format, especially when it comes to bridging the gap between participants who are in-person and those who are remote," said Varun Parmar, Miro's Chief Product Officer. "Miro for Google Meet represents a new form of meeting that restores employee engagement. It's an experience where teams can communicate and co-create simultaneously using a single, shared platform that's flexible and seamlessly connected to the tools teams know, love, and use daily."

Together, Miro and Google Meet create an immersive, digital-first meeting experience where all attendees, whether remote or in-office, can engage and interact in equal ways. Meetings are most effective and productive when teams do some preparation beforehand. With the Miro add-on for Google Calendar, meeting organizers can ensure attendees are familiar with meeting content and ready to collaborate by attaching a Miro board to their Google Calendar invite. Once a team gathers in Google Meet, attendees simply launch Miro from the activities panel and instantly gain access to the powerful capabilities of Miro's visual collaboration platform while they remain directly inside their meeting. No sign-in or sign-up needed to use Miro for Google Meet means that anyone can collaborate in just a few easy steps. Whether attendees are working together in the office or at home, they all see the same board content and interact with it equally. Miro for Google Meet helps encourage active participation from all members of the team for collaboration parity.

"Fostering rich collaboration equity among teams  where all voices are heard and valued  is a major challenge in hybrid work environments, especially when it comes to ideation and brainstorming activities, which have historically taken place in person," said David Citron, Director of Product for Google Meet. "By bringing Miro's digital whiteboard platform inside Google Meet, we're making it easier for our users to ideate and co-create, giving them multiple ways to collaborate together and keep the momentum going when the meeting is done."

Miro and Google Workspace are committed to creating collaborative experiences that reignite creativity and boost engagement among hybrid teams. To learn more and try Miro for Google Meet today, please visit: https://miro.com/google-integration/ .

About Miro

Miro is an online, visual collaboration platform designed to unlock creativity and accelerate innovation among teams of all kinds. The platform's infinite canvas enables teams to lead engaging workshops and meetings, design products, brainstorm ideas, and more. Miro, co-headquartered in San Francisco and Amsterdam, serves more than 35M users worldwide, including 99% of the Fortune 100. Miro was founded in 2011 and currently has more than 1,500 employees in 11 hubs around the world. To learn more, please visit https://miro.com .

SOURCE Miro
Proposed EU legislation poses security threat to internet users

In the wrong hands, the changes could enable state-sponsored internet surveillance says Mozilla's Chief Security Officer

Brussels sees growing criticism of article 45.2 of the eIDAS regulation

BRUSSELS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- There is a serious threat to existing internet security measures stemming from the European Commission's proposed revision to the eIDAS regulation. If implemented, experts say it could open individuals browsing online to additional security risks and set a precedent to allow state-sponsored internet surveillance. As currently drafted, article 45.2 could undermine the EU's own ambitions to be the frontrunner of a more secure, responsible and competitive internet that protects people from illegal activity.

Under the revised article 45.2 of the eIDAS regulation, browsers would be mandated to accept the EU-designed Qualified Web Authentication Certificates (QWACs) even though they have weaker security properties than those most browsers currently allow. Moreover, browsers would be prevented from applying any of the existing security due diligence checks to the entities which issue these certificates, thereby bypassing the critical first line of defense against cybercrime.

Article 45.2 is attracting growing attention from parliamentarians and cybersecurity experts alike. In her draft report , MEP Romana Jerkovic, the file's rapporteur, deleted it in order to have more time to figure out an approach that doesn't compromise security. Meanwhile, in a letter sent to MEPs and EU countries, academics said that mandating the use of QWACs could introduce "significant weaknesses into the global multi-stakeholder ecosystem for securing web browsing." They added that the move could make it "more difficult to protect individuals from cybercriminals."

Attempts have been made in the past to forcefully bypass browser security checks for rights-interfering ends, most notably in Kazakhstan in 2020 and Mauritius in 2021. In both cases, the governments aimed to use so called "man-in-the-middle" attacks to carry out state-sponsored surveillance of internet traffic.

Marshall Erwin, Chief Security Officer at Mozilla, said: "While this is not the intent of the EU, the inclusion of article 45.2 in eIDAS will make it more difficult to push back on these surveillance attempts in future. The EU sets many global standards and we're concerned that if this is copied elsewhere, the regulation will give the tools to governments to carry out state-sponsored surveillance of internet traffic. Such actions present a very real and dangerous unintended consequence of the EU's digital identity plans."

For more information see here .

SOURCE Mozilla
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that Sanofi Consumer Healthcare discontinue "#1 doctor recommended" claims for its Zantac 360 heartburn medicine. Sanofi will appeal NAD's decision.

The claims, which appeared on Sanofi's social media pages, the websites of third-party retailers, and in a television commercial, were challenged by Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc., manufacturer of competing Pepcid products.

The parties manufacture and market the leading brands of OTC heartburn medication in a category called Histamine-2 (H2) Blockers which prevent and relieve heartburn by reducing stomach acid. H2 blockers are indicated for mild to occasional heartburn or indigestion.

In 2020, Sanofi introduced Zantac 360, an H2 blocker formulated with the active ingredient famotidine - the same active ingredient used in the challenger's Pepcid products.

NAD determined that one reasonable message conveyed by the challenged claims that Zantac 360 "contains the #1 doctor recommended medicine approved to both prevent and relieve heartburn" and "with the #1 doctor recommended heartburn medicine" is that Zantac 360 is the #1 doctor recommended product or brand to prevent and relieve heartburn. In so finding, NAD disagreed with the advertiser's contention that the challenged advertising clearly refers to Zantac's active ingredient.

NAD came to the same conclusion regarding the "#1 doctor recommended" claim in various iterations of the Google Ads appearing in search results for Zantac 360. NAD determined that in the absence of anything grammatically or syntactically tying "#1 doctor recommended" to the ingredient famotidine or otherwise qualifying the claim, one message reasonably conveyed by the Google Ads is that Zantac 360 is the #1 doctor recommended product for heartburn.

As support for its claims, the advertiser relied on the results of IQVIA survey data that documented physicians' average weekly recommendations in the acid reducer category. Although NAD considered whether this data could substantiate modified claims that Zantac 360 contains famotidine which, among H2 blockers, is the #1 doctor recommended ingredient to prevent and relieve heartburn, NAD concluded that it was inadequate support. NAD noted that ingredient-level data cannot be used to support product-level claims and that this same principle applies in reverse. NAD agreed with the challenger that although famotidine-based products received most doctor recommendations in the H2 category, these facts were not a viable substitute for an affirmative active ingredient recommendation and fell short of the evidence required to support a "#1 doctor recommended" claim.

NAD also concluded that data from a single run question in the March monthly survey directed to active ingredient recommendations in the acid reducer category did not support claims that Zantac 360 contained the #1 doctor recommended ingredient to prevent and treat heartburn. Although a majority of doctors who responded with an H2 blocker choice selected famotidine as the ingredient they recommend most, NAD noted the recommendations were expressly directed to "frequent heartburn"  a specific, clinically meaningful kind of heartburn and one that is distinct from the indication stated in the challenged claims, e.g., "to prevent and relieve heartburn."

For these reasons, NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue the claims:

Zantac 360 "contains the #1 doctor recommended medicine approved to both prevent and relieve heartburn."

"With the #1 doctor recommended heartburn medicine."

"#1 Doctor Recommended."

In its advertiser statement, Sanofi stated that it will appeal NAD's decision because it "disagrees with NAD's conclusions that the underlying IQVIA survey cannot substantiate doctor recommended ingredient claims" and because it "has concerns about the downstream industry-wide ramifications" of this finding. The advertiser further stated that although it "respectfully disagrees" with NAD's conclusions regarding the "contains the #1 doctor recommended medicine" claim, it will "nevertheless take the NAD's recommendations with respect to this ruling into consideration in future advertising."

Appeals of NAD decisions are made to BBB National Programs' National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate-level truth-in-advertising body of BBB National Programs.

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive.

About BBB National Programs:

BBB National Programs is where businesses turn to enhance consumer trust and consumers are heard. The non-profit organization creates a fairer playing field for businesses and a better experience for consumers through the development and delivery of effective third-party accountability and dispute resolution programs. Embracing its role as an independent organization since the restructuring of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in June 2019, BBB National Programs today oversees more than a dozen leading national industry self-regulation programs, and continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-directed marketing, and privacy. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division:

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.

SOURCE BBB National Programs
The new book reveals why most independent investors make the wrong investment decisions, and how they can invest scientifically and predictably and without losing sleep worrying about their portfolio.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The new book  Build Your Wealth and Keep Your Health  reveals that 2 of 3 independent investors (66%) make instinctive or emotional investment decisions, which are often wrong, causing disappointment and loss of money. Moreover, since their investment selection is arbitrary, most independent investors also lose sleep worrying about their portfolio, according to Dr. Dan Geller, the author, a behavioral economist and the developer of the Scientifically Predictable investing model.

Dan Geller Dan Geller

The book features the latest scientific research in the field of behavioral economics and finance on how people make investment decisions. Dr. Geller shows how they can improve their investment outcome. The research shows that people have two modes of financial decisions; instinctive, a.k.a. system 1, and analytical, a.k.a System 2. The instinctive-response mode originates in the reptilian part of the brain, which is in charge of survival. The analytical-response mode originates in the cortex part of the brain, which is used for analytical decisions.

Most independent investors use their instinctive-response mode to select stocks because it is a quick and easy way to make a decision, which often leads to a bad financial outcome. The scientific research shows that when the level of money anxiety increases, as it does during market volatility, people automatically default to their instinctive-response mode as a survival mechanism, he said.

According to John McCrank of Reuters, more than 100 million independent users/accounts exist at six of the top online brokerages. This means that more than 100 million investors make their own decisions on which equity to invest in and for how long. This book reveals how independent investors make investment decisions, and the reality is not pretty, Dr. Geller said. A survey published by MagnifyMoney reveals that 66% of independent Investors make impulsive or emotional investing decisions.

The research presented in the book shows that independent investors can avoid making instinctive-investment decisions by using scientific methodologies to select equities for investment. By using scientific investment models, such as Dr. Geller's Scientifically Predictable Model, investors have high confidence in their investment decisions, which provides them with a peace of mind and an improved quality of life.

"Achieving higher returns is possible, and having peace of mind is possible," said Dr. Geller, "but can you have both at the same time?"

By investing scientifically and predictably independent investors have an edge over investors, who use instincts to select stocks. Moreover, independent investors, who use an analytical approach to investment decisions, can effectively compete with professional investors, who use scientific methodologies to invest, he said.

The purpose of the new book is to provide investors with a new investment philosophy that caters to both sides of the coin  earning a good return with high confidence and peace of mind. The mission of this book is to convey to investors the latest discoveries in decision science, and reveal to them the latest in the science of behavioral economics and finance.

About Dr. Dan Geller

Dr. Dan Geller is the President of Analyticom LLC, a financial modeling firm specializing in the application of behavioral economics to predictive financial models. Dr. Geller is a pioneer in the research of financial-decision making, specifically how people alternate between their instinctive-response mode (a.k.a system 1), and their analytical-response mode (a.k.a. system 2). Dr. Geller made a significant contribution to the field of decision science by showing that money anxiety is a major factor in people's response to financial issues. The Theory of Money Anxiety has been peer reviewed and published in the Journal of Applied Business and Economics.

Disclaimer

The authors of these documents are not brokers, dealers or registered investment advisors. The information contained in all featured documents are opinions only and are not intended as a solicitation, an offer, a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any securities, products, service, investment or participate in any particular trading scheme in any jurisdiction.

Contact:

Dr. Dan Geller

415-891-3093

[email protected]

SOURCE Dr. Dan Geller
HENDERSON, Nev., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition"), a multi-national epigenetics company, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Namur and QUALIblood in Belgium has published a poster presentation entitled "Evaluation and comparison of NETosis biomarkers in sepsis and COVID-19 patients" at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Congress earlier this week.

Commenting on the poster, joint lead author Professor Jonathan Douxfils, University of Namur and QUALIblood's Chief Executive and Scientific Officer, said: "A key finding from this study was the correlation reported between the Nu.Q NETs level and the currently used SOFA score. Interestingly Nu.Q NETs may also enable discrimination between critical COVID-19 and septic shock patients. Further studies are warranted to confirm whether using Nu.Q NETs and indeed other Nu.Q assays may predict disease severity and help in categorizing patients at diagnosis."

Commenting on the ISTH Congress, Dr Jake Micallef, Chief Scientific Officer of Volition, said: "This has been a fantastic congress for the Volition team. Not only was new Nu.Q data presented by the QUALIblood team, but we also had the opportunity to meet with many of our existing collaborators and develop relationships with clinicians, researchers, and industry partners for some possible future projects."

"NETosis has become a huge focus for medics in recent years, given elevated levels of NETs are associated with poor patient outcomes in a range of diseases, such as COVID-19, but also including sepsis and cancer. This was the first large-scale congress we have attended since our Nu.Q NETs test was CE-marked for the detection and evaluation of NETosis, enabling clinical use across Europe. As the only analytically validated test for NETs, we believe that Nu.Q NETs has significant potential to support clinical decision-making, enabling physicians to act quickly, and improve patient outcomes."

NETosis is a unique form of cell death that is characterized by the release of NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps) composed of decondensed chromatin, that trap and kill bacteria and viral particles. Although NETs play an important role in our immune system, excessive production can lead to tissue damage and, in severe cases, sepsis, shock, and death.

Dr Micallef added: "Anyone interested in finding out more about our Nu.Q NETs test should join an upcoming GenomeWeb webinar titled 'The Promise of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) as Biomarkers in Inflammatory Disease' which takes place on Wednesday, July 20 at 13:00 U.S. Eastern Time. Click HERE to register.

"In addition, as a proud sponsor of the International Sepsis Forum, we will be exhibiting at the 26th International Symposium on Infections in the Critically Ill Patient later this year."

Volition is developing simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases in both humans and animals. For more information about Volition's Nu.Q technology go to: www.volition.com

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company that applies its Nucleosomics platform through its subsidiaries to develop simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis such as sepsis and COVID-19. Early diagnosis and monitoring have the potential to not only prolong the life of patients but also improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present. Volition is primarily focused on human diagnostics and monitoring but also has a subsidiary focused on animal diagnostics and monitoring.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with an innovation laboratory and an office in the U.S. and additional offices in London and Singapore.

For more information about Volition, visit www.volition.com

The contents found at Volition's website address are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. The address for Volition's website is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only.

Volition Enquiries:

Louise Batchelor/Debra Daglish, Volition, [email protected] +44 (0)7557 774620

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other topics, Volition's expectations related to the potential uses, benefits and effectiveness of its Nu.Q NETs test. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including the results of studies testing the efficacy of its Nu.Q NETs test, a failure by the marketplace to accept Volition's Nu.Q NETs test; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition will face fierce competition and its intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics and disease monitoring markets and their rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1858451/Volition_Logo.jpg

SOURCE VolitionRx
JUNO BEACH, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Water Texas, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of a portfolio of rate-regulated water and wastewater utility assets in eight counties near Houston, Texas, from Quadvest, L.P.

"This acquisition marks our first purchase of water and wastewater assets and furthers our strategy to build a world-class water utility in the coming years," said Bruce Hauk, president of NextEra Water. "We are committed to meeting high standards for the operation of these assets and providing exceptional service to community residents and businesses."

Through this transaction, NextEra Water acquired a portfolio of 23 water and five wastewater utility systems located in the counties of Aransas, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris, Jackson, Matagorda, Montgomery and Waller. The approximately 2,700 customers are now being served by NextEra Water Texas.

In addition, NextEra Water previously announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the wastewater system owned by Towamencin Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Assuming timely regulatory approval, the sale is targeted to close in the second half of 2023.

NextEra Water

NextEra Water and its affiliate, NextEra Water Texas, LLC, are regulated water and wastewater utilities that pursue opportunities to acquire, develop, build and operate potable water, wastewater and reclaimed water utilities projects. To learn more, visit www.NextEraWater.com

SOURCE NextEra Water
Former Virginia Legislator Now at George Mason University Brings 30 Years of Experience in Business, Government, and Higher Education to Fast-Growing

University Partnership Team

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Noodle , the country's fastest-growing online learning network, announced today the appointment of David Ramadan, Ed.D. as the company's newest Vice President of University Partnerships. A former legislator who is now an adjunct professor at the Schar School at George Mason University and a Resident Scholar at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, Dr. Ramadan brings more than 30 years of experience in business, government, and higher education to Noodle's fast-growing University Partnerships team.

David Ramadan joins Noodle as VP, University Partnerships

"We are confident that David will utilize his finesse at cultivating relationships, and experience in higher education, politics, and business, to help us grow our university portfolio, which now includes 26 of the nation's leading universities," said Lee Bradshaw, Noodle Chief Strategy Officer.

"I am excited to join the Noodle team, and, in particular, to work with EdTech pioneer John Katzman, who I have gotten to know during my Doctoral studies at Vanderbilt," said Ramadan. "Noodle is truly a unique offering in the OPM space - more transparent, more flexible, more collaborative - and a perfect fit for my passion for innovation in higher ed."

In addition to his role as an adjunct professor, Ramadan was a member of the George Mason University Board of Visitors, appointed by the Governor of Virginia. Since 2001, Ramadan has also managed a boutique consulting firm servicing a small number of clients with customized solutions.

Additionally, Ramadan was elected and served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he successfully worked across the aisle. In that capacity, he was a member of the oldest and newest committees: Privileges and Elections, where he chaired the Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee, Science and Technology Committee, and General Laws Committee.

Ramadan emigrated to the United States from Lebanon in 1989 after attending International College in Beirut. He graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor's in Government and Politics, and a Master's in International Trade and Transactions. Ramadan completed graduate studies at Oxford University, the American Graduate School of Business in Geneva, Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University. David holds an Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University.

About Noodle:

Noodle is a certified B Corp that creates excellent online and agile programs that elevate campus-wide teaching and technology. Since January 2019, Noodle has launched as many online programs with elite U.S. universities as have all of its competitors combined. Its network of universities, higher education leaders, providers, and students fuels innovation and efficiency in learning design, marketing, recruitment, technology, student and faculty support, and clinical placement. Follow Noodle on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alissa Pinck

Noodle

[email protected]

SOURCE Noodle
Program provides each startup with $100,000 and access to training and resources

MILWAUKEE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual, in partnership with gener8tor, today announced the addition of five tech startups to its Black Founder Accelerator program  an initiative the company launched this past year to provide targeted resources and financing to promising Black entrepreneurs nationwide.

"This next class of five startups builds upon the success of the 10 founders we were proud to team up with in 2021. This group was selected based on their unique business models and drive to build tech solutions that help people live longer, better, and healthier lives across multiple areas of focus, including financial services, insurance, and digital health," said Craig Schedler, managing director of Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. "With such positive momentum coming from last year's cohorts, including 115 investor introductions and more than 100 full-time employees supported by the 10 startups, I'm both excited to see how this group of founders will make a positive impact in their communities and honored to be a part of a company that continues to meaningfully support Black entrepreneurship."

Black founders receive less than 1% of venture capital. As an extension of Northwestern Mutual's Sustained Action for Racial Equity (SARE) Task Force, the initiative is designed to help address this racial wealth gap. The Black Founder Accelerator program provides those selected with a $100,000 investment, a 12-week business training program, access to venture capital partners and Northwestern Mutual mentors and more. Past recipients have included Black founders from cities nationwide, including Milwaukee, Wis.

"Northwestern Mutual continues to drive our commitment toward diversity, equity and inclusion, with a focus on the Black and African American community," said Abim Kolawole, vice president  financial planning excellence and strategy at Northwestern Mutual. "Through targeting the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs, our Black Founder Accelerator is designed to reinforce an ecosystem that provides an even greater ripple effect on the next generation and beyond."

The cohort includes startups in Atlanta, Ga., Boulder, Colo., Lexington, Tenn., and Philadelphia, Pa., spanning Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures' key strategic areas of focus including fintech, insurtech, digital health and data analytics. This class of startups marks the first of two the company will recognize and support this year.

"We are both honored and eager to welcome this year's Black Founder Accelerator startups into our portfolio," said Precious Drew, senior managing director of the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator, powered by gener8tor. "This partnership with Northwestern Mutual directly supports Black founders nationally by providing important resources, mentorship and funding these innovative entrepreneurs might otherwise not have had access to. We look forward to seeing how they continue to develop their unique solutions."

The five startups listed below were selected to participate in and receive investments from the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator, powered by gener8tor:

Sherisse Hawkins: Founder and CEO | [email protected]

Pagedip (Boulder, Colo.) creates a no-code authoring tool that makes it easy for teams to create and share smart documents. Pagedip's granular "in-document analytics" can be viewed in real-time, providing key insights about reader interest down to the word or widget.

Bryan Hobbs: Founder and CEO | [email protected]

Pruuvn(Atlanta, Ga.), a credentialing and data trust company, leverages blockchain technology to develop tools to empower the gig economy. Targeting companies that use contractors, Pruuvn's frictionless SaaS platform simplifies contractor verification, onboarding and compliance from multiple steps to one-click, significantly reducing time to hire and costs.

Cody Eddings: Founder and CEO | [email protected]

SnapRefund (Philadelphia, Pa.) allows businesses to send payments instantly and securely through a variety of digital payment rails. SnapRefund partners with insurance carriers, MGAs and TPAs to provide them and their policyholders with a simple, mobile-friendly dashboard where claim payments can be sent and received.

Tiffanie Stanard: Founder and CEO | [email protected]

Stimulus (Philadelphia, Pa.) makes the purchasing process more transparent and helps various stakeholders collaborate to achieve their corporate goals, such as improving diverse purchasing. Stimulus Score evaluates suppliers to provide an objective view of performance, which provides a 360 view for buyers to engage better with current or future vendors.

Victor Brown: Founder and CEO | [email protected]

Xcellent Life (Lexington, Tenn.) provides a comprehensive digital health platform that evaluates more factors utilizing a three-dimensional approach involving advanced methodologies for predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. As a result, this can provide more personalized health insights and identify potential issues more accurately and faster.

About gener8tor

gener8tor is a venture capital fund and startup accelerator. Ranked one of the top-15 accelerators in the United States, gener8tor operates programs for startups, musicians, artists, investors, and workers and prioritizes investing across race, place, and gender. Fast Company named gener8tor one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in 2020 and one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2021.

Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator

The NMBFA is a joint collaboration between Northwestern Mutual and gener8tor to advance Black tech startups based in the United States focused on fintech, insurtech, digital health and data analytics. gener8tor is the administrator of the twelve-week accelerator that runs two cohorts of five Black-led tech startups a year.

About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 165 years. Through a holistic planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. With more than $560 billion in combined company and client assets, $34 billion in revenues, and $2.1 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to nearly five million people with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. Northwestern Mutual ranked 97 on the 2022 FORTUNE 500 and was recognized by FORTUNE as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2022.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (investment brokerage services), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC) (investment advisory and services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance). Not all Northwestern Mutual representatives are advisors. Only those representatives with "Advisor" in their title or who otherwise disclose their status as an advisor of NMWMC are credentialed as NMWMC representatives to provide investment advisory services.

SOURCE Northwestern Mutual
Extensive experience in Law, Finance, and Management of Public and Private Biotechnology Companies

Proven track record of creating value for shareholders

National Science Board Presidential Appointee, 2018-2024

Former roles at Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and E*Trade Financial

RADNOR, Pa., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: NRXP): ("NRx Pharmaceuticals", or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of Stephen Willard, as its Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and a member of the Company's Board of Directors. The Company's interim CEO, Robert Besthof, will continue to support the Company and return to his roles as Head of Operations and Chief Commercial Officer.

@NRXP Board Appoints BioPharma Veteran and National Science Board Presidential Appointee to Lead NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Tweet this Stephen Willard, Chief Executive Officer, Director, NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

"We are delighted to have attracted a candidate like Steve whose background and experience align with NRx Pharmaceuticals' current needs. Steve's passion to provide breakthrough therapies to address critical unmet needs positions the Company for success," said Patrick Flynn, a member of the Company's Board of Directors. "We look forward to Steve's leadership of the Company in the next stages of growth to benefit patients, our shareholders, and the broader NRx team."

Mr. Willard brings a wealth of experience in the management of publicly traded biotechnology companies, together with his background in law and finance. Most recently, Mr. Willard served as CEO of Cellphire Therapeutics, where he grew the company and shepherded their revolutionary human platelet platform through key clinical trials, growing the company and significantly increasing the share price. Prior to Cellphire, he served as CEO of publicly traded Flamel Technologies now known as Avadel Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Willard is currently serving a six-year term from 2018-2024 as a presidential appointee to the National Science Board.

Mr. Willard's career in financial services includes government service as Associate Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), where he served in the United States Senior Executive Service (SES) from 1991-1994, and on the board of E*Trade Financial Services from 2000-2014. He has practiced law in New York, London, and Washington, D.C. Mr. Willard earned his undergraduate degree from Williams College and attended Yale University where he earned a JD in law.

"I am honored to have been chosen by the NRx Pharmaceuticals Board to lead the Company as it conducts its trials for NRX-101 in the treatment of Suicidal Bipolar Depression and continues to develop its pipeline of drugs for depression, PTSD, and other potential neuroscience indications based on more than 90 issued and pending patents worldwide," said Willard. "The NRx Pharmaceuticals team has built an extraordinary scientific, patent, and regulatory foundation. I look forward to leading the Company, working with Robert and the NRx Pharmaceuticals leadership in its quest to bring NRX-101, a potentially life-saving medicine, to patients."

The Board of NRx Pharmaceuticals thanks Mr. Besthof for having assumed the additional responsibilities as interim CEO during this transition period.

About NRX-101

Up to 50% of individuals with Bipolar Disorder attempt suicide over their lifetime, and estimates indicate that up to 20% may succumb to suicide. The only FDA-approved treatment for patients with bipolar depression and acute suicidal ideation and behavior (ASIB) remains electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Conventional antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide in certain patients, hence their labels contain a warning to that effect. NRX-101 is a patented fixed dose combination of D-cycloserine and Lurasidone, neither of which has shown addiction potential. Based on the results of a Phase II study, NRX-101 received Breakthrough Therapy designation (BTD) from the FDA for the Treatment of Severe Bipolar Depression in Patients with ASIB after initial stabilization with ketamine or other effective therapy.

NRX-101 is one of the first oral antidepressants currently in late stage clinical studies targeting the NMDA-receptor in the brain, which represents potentially a key new mechanism to treat depression with and without suicidality, PTSD and other indications. To date, NRX-101 is the only oral NMDA investigational medicine focused on bipolar depression in patients with acute and sub-acute suicidality.

In the coming year, the Company aims to complete the FDA registration trials for NRX-101 under a Special Protocol Agreement (SPA) awarded by the FDA.

About NRx Pharmaceuticals

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. draws upon decades of collective, scientific, and drug-development experience applying innovative science to known molecules to address very high unmet needs and bring improved health to patients. NRx Pharmaceuticals is led by executives who have held leadership roles at Lilly, Pfizer, and Novartis as well as major investment banking institutions.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement of NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our financial outlook, product development, business prospects, and market and industry trends and conditions, as well as the Company's strategies, plans, objectives, and goals. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections of, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company's management.

The Company assumes no obligation to revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, you should not place reliance on any forward-looking statement, and all forward-looking statements are herein qualified by reference to the cautionary statements set forth above.

CORPORATE CONTACT

Molly Cogan

Sr. Director, Global Communications

[email protected]

INVESTOR RELATIONS

Tim McCarthy

Investor Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The first-ever in-person Summit will focus on security, training, AI, Linux on Z and Cloud Native and will be accessible online for attendees around the world

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Mainframe Project, an open source initiative that enables collaboration across the mainframe community to develop shared tool sets and resources, announces the schedule for the 3rd annual Open Mainframe Summit, which will be in-person in Philadelphia, PA, and streaming online for global attendees. This year's theme focuses on security, which is top of mind for every company that uses mainframes.

Critical enterprise systems are more connected than ever, which means vulnerabilities have increased. In fact, according to The Essential Holistic Security Strategy, a recent report by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Open Mainframe Project Silver Member BMC, 81 percent of organizations surveyed are prioritizing the integration of security functions and improving security detection and response.

This year will highlight security as it relates to all aspects of mainframes and beyond including cloud native services, automation, software supply chain management and more. The Summit will also highlight projects such as Zowe and COBOL, education and training topics that will offer seasoned professionals, developers, students and thought leaders an opportunity to share best practices and network with like-minded individuals.

Some of the security sessions include:

Additionally, David Wheeler, Open Source Supply Chain Security Director at the Linux Foundation, will also give a keynote.

Other highlights include:

See the full conference schedule here.

Open Mainframe Project would like to thank this year's Open Mainframe Summit planning committee including Alan Clark, CTO Office and Director for Industry Initiatives, Emerging Standards and Open Source at SUSE; Donna Hudi, Chief Marketing Officer at Phoenix Software; Elizabeth K. Joseph, Developer Advocate at IBM; and Michael Bauer, Staff Product Owner at Broadcom, Inc.

Early bird pricing ($500 US) for in-person attendees ends on July 15. Registration for academia is $50 for in-person and $15 for a virtual pass. Register here.

Open Mainframe Summit is made possible thanks to Platinum Sponsors Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM, and SUSE and Gold Sponsors BMC, Micro Focus and Vicom Infinity, a Converge Company. For information on becoming an event sponsor, click here by August 5.

Members of the press who would like to request a press pass to attend should contact Maemalynn Meanor at [email protected].

About the Open Mainframe Project

The Open Mainframe Project is intended to serve as a focal point for deployment and use of Linux and Open Source in a mainframe computing environment. With a vision of Open Source on the Mainframe as the standard for enterprise class systems and applications, the project's mission is to build community and adoption of Open Source on the mainframe by eliminating barriers to Open Source adoption on the mainframe, demonstrating value of the mainframe on technical and business levels, and strengthening collaboration points and resources for the community to thrive. Learn more about the project at https://www.openmainframeproject.org.

About The Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 2,950 members. The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, Hyperledger, RISC-V, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact:

Maemalynn Meanor

[email protected]

SOURCE Open Mainframe Project
Acquisitions help Optimove advance the CRM marketing industry in delivering a one-stop, full-service multichannel marketing hub built for personalization at scale

TEL AVIV, Israel and LONDON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimove, a leading CRM marketing platform, announced today it has acquired Graphyte, a real-time, cloud-based personalization platform optimizing the web and mobile experience for consumers. The announcement comes on the heels of Optimove's purchase of Kumulos, a leading provider of a personalized messaging platform for mobile applications. The combined purchase price of the two deals was not disclosed. The acquisitions help bolster Optimove as one of the most comprehensive CRM marketing platforms. Its AI-driven solutions autonomously determine the next-best-action for each customer, eliminating the need for marketers to manually map every customer journey.

With the new capabilities added to the Optimove platform, for the first time, marketers can deeply personalize every customer touchpoint, empowered by Optimove's hallmark capability of transforming customer data into customer-led journeys at scale. Optimove's Customer Data Platform unifies all customer data from all sources to create a comprehensive single customer view. Graphyte adds real-time content recommendations across any channel and touchpoint. Kumulos bolstered Optimove's journey orchestration engine, adding native mobile capabilities to allow brands to seamlessly orchestrate multichannel marketing journeys across the web, email, and mobile channels. The result is a one-stop, full-service multichannel marketing hub built for personalization at scale.

The new joint offering builds upon Optimove's ability to eliminate marketing misfires in cross-channel communication with customers to ensure the most relevant and the most personalized message reaches customers. It is helping marketers increase customer loyalty, retention, and lifetime value.

Newly acquired London-based Graphyte provides a real-time, cloud-based personalization platform for customer relationship programs and campaigns. The platform delivers improved conversion rates, click-through rates, and revenue uplift by leveraging personalized recommendations across channels. For example, Gala Bingo has driven a 35% turnover uplift using Graphyte's web personalization models and seen a 300% increase in site visits when providing intelligent recommendations in emails instead of traditional static emails.

Graphyte delivers improved business results because its platform enables marketers to serve personalized content recommendations and dynamically adapt their web, native mobile sites, and mobile apps to engage customers effectively. Graphyte provides over 20 different AI models that, unlike other personalization engines, empower marketers with complete control over how recommendations are made when testing and deploying personalized treatments, without needing to make any changes to the core CMS. Furthermore, personalized recommendations can seamlessly be embedded in outbound digital channels.

Pini Yakuel, CEO and Founder of Optimove, said, "With the addition of Graphyte, marketers can transform their customer data into personalized customer-led journeys at scale. Our platform seamlessly delivers real-time symmetric messaging across any channel and touchpoint. The Graphyte acquisition was a natural next step in our evolution. It is part of Optimove's relentless journey of empowering marketers to optimize customer data into deeper relationships, incremental sales, and loyalty at scale. The winner in these acquisitions is our clients and their customers."

Said Damien Evans, CEO of Graphyte. "Optimove's CRM Marketing capabilities are second to none. Our goal has always been to create unprecedented freedom for brands to realize their CRM marketing visions. We are confident that our machine learning personalization models, combined with Optimove, will enable brands to connect with their customers intelligently. We couldn't be happier to join forces with Optimove as an integral part of their offering."

Said Bob Lawson, co-founder of Kumulos, who is now Director of Mobile Offering at Optimove, "Kumulos has brought a unique blend of mobile messaging and engagement capabilities, such as geo-fencing and deferred deep linking, to enable personalized mobile-first experiences for brands. Marketers are already building mobile campaigns and journeys within Optimove."

A recent Forrester report underscored Optimove's evolution. The report entitled, The Forrester Wave: Cross-Channel Campaign Management (Independent Platforms), noted, "Optimove transforms from CDP (customer data platform) to full-fledged CCCM (cross-channel campaign management) solution. Optimove leverages its CDP as a foundation for personalized customer-led journeys aligned with business key performance indicators (KPIs)."

Yakuel added, "If you think about marketers when they engage with their customers, it doesn't matter if they do it in one channel or another. It doesn't matter if they do it with a small amount of data or a lot. They want customer data to guide them properly in developing the best ideas and communication strategies. And they want symmetric communication across all the channels. Ultimately, that's what we're doing with these acquisitions  pushing the CRM industry forward while making sure marketers leverage customer data for value. Realizing the full value of customer data is a never-ending mission," he concluded.

With the acquisitions of Graphyte and Kumulos, marketers using Optimove are now empowered with the following:

Symmetric multichannel journeys : Symmetry ends cross-firing messages that can confuse or alienate a brand's customers. It ensures customers view the same personalized recommendations in outbound campaigns when clicking through to the brand's website or mobile app. It is enabled when marketers leverage Graphyte's real-time, cloud-based personalization platform and Optimove's multichannel marketing platform.

: Symmetry ends cross-firing messages that can confuse or alienate a brand's customers. It ensures customers view the same personalized recommendations in outbound campaigns when clicking through to the brand's website or mobile app. It is enabled when marketers leverage Graphyte's real-time, cloud-based personalization platform and Optimove's multichannel marketing platform. Geolocation-triggered personalized recommendations : An example of geolocation is triggering relevant product recommendations when customers walk into a retailer's store. Marketers now have the power to meet the customer in the moment by maximizing Graphyte's product recommendation relevancy, leveraging past-purchase behavior from tens of thousands of customers, and combining it with Kumulos' geo-fencing technology to trigger personalized messages to customers' mobile apps.

: An example of geolocation is triggering relevant product recommendations when customers walk into a retailer's store. Marketers now have the power to meet the customer in the moment by maximizing Graphyte's product recommendation relevancy, leveraging past-purchase behavior from tens of thousands of customers, and combining it with Kumulos' geo-fencing technology to trigger personalized messages to customers' mobile apps. True 1-to-1 personalization: 1-to-1 personalization means the ability to overlay powerful AI-based models with historical customer data, such as customers' loyalty tiers or RFM attributes. Marketers can now achieve this by selecting one of Graphyte's 20 distinct, open AI models to personalize player experiences based on robust segmentation from Optimove's Customer Data Platform.

Joint customers will benefit from synergies which will see Graphyte's models enriched with robust data from Optimove's CDP. At the same time, the models' results will be readily accessible within customer profiles inside Optimove for segmentation, activation, and analysis. Joint customers will soon be able to reap these benefits and more.

Separately, Optimove announced in September 2021 that it raised $75 million in funding to accelerate its platform development through M&A and strategic hiring, already increasing its workforce to 370 employees.

ABOUT OPTIMOVE

Optimove is a leading CRM Marketing Platform, empowering brands to personalize CRM journeys at scale with customer insights, AI-led orchestration, and all the channels they need in one place. With a customer data platform (CDP) at its core, Optimove leverages AI to autonomously surface valuable customer segments, orchestrate self-optimizing CRM journeys, and accurately deliver the marketing interaction of the highest incremental impact across email, mobile, web, and more. Optimove has been recognized as a Cross Channel Campaign Management Leader by Forrester and a Customer Data Platform (CDP) Leader for Retail and CPG by IDC. Optimove's clients gave it a 95% "Willingness to Recommend" score on Gartner Peer Insights. Optimove is used by leading brands, including Dollar Shave Club, BetMGM, SodaStream, Pennsylvania Lottery, Papa John's, and Staples, to maximize customer loyalty, retention, and lifetime value. For more information, go to www.optimove.com

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Optimove
LOS ANGELES, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Patterson's OC Auto Team, the leading car dealership in Orange County, will hold a special ceremony awarding Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, home of the nation's premier Suicide Prevention Center and a leading provider of whole-person mental health and crisis care, with a donation to support their impactful efforts within the mental health space. Patterson's OC Auto Team has been an avid supporter of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services since 2021 and continued their efforts this past May during Mental Health Is Health month. The company was able to collect over $25,000 through the company's proceeds, raffles, employee donations and service incentives to further champion Didi Hirsch and their most recent philanthropic initiative in California. The check will be presented at the organization's quarterly meeting this Wednesday, July 13th, at the Tustin Community Center.

DATE: July 13th, 2022





TIME: 11:30am (PST)





LOCATION: Tustin Community Center at The Market Place, 2961 El Camino Real, Tustin, CA 92782





Tustin Community Center at The Market Place, 2961 El Camino Real, 92782 WHO: Patterson's OC Auto Team owner, John Paterson , will be joined by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services CEO, Lyn Morris , as well as 200 employees of OC Auto for the check presentation.





OC Auto Team owner, , will be joined by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services CEO, , as well as 200 employees of OC Auto for the check presentation. WHAT: Patterson's OC Auto Team, a car dealership that emphasizes philanthropy as a pillar of their organization, will conduct a check presentation at their quarterly meeting, with funds raised in May during Mental Health Month (MHIHM) for Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. Patterson's OC Auto Team has been supporting Didi Hirsch since 2021 and in this second year, the team has come together to raise money and awareness for mental health and support Didi Hisch . The OC Auto family has raised $25,189.50 to support the recent Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services proclamation, proclaiming May as MHIHM.





OC Auto Team, a car dealership that emphasizes philanthropy as a pillar of their organization, will conduct a check presentation at their quarterly meeting, with funds raised in May during Mental Health Month (MHIHM) for Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. OC Auto Team has been supporting since 2021 and in this second year, the team has come together to raise money and awareness for mental health and support . The OC Auto family has raised to support the recent Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services proclamation, proclaiming May as MHIHM. WHY: The mental health crisis faced by our country today impacts everyone differently, whether directly or indirectly. Recognizing that our loved ones need help is the first step of many. Didi Hirsch is an established and leading mental health organization in the State of California for over 80 years and is continuing to make strides toward the de-stigmatization of mental health for the betterment of not only California state but the country. Didi Hirsch has a history of providing direct services in this community and works closely with the Orange County Healthcare Agency, Providence St. Joseph Hospital and Children's Hospital of Orange County . In recognizing their efforts, Patterson's OC Auto Team supported Didi Hirsch through raffles at their four dealerships once a week for a month, and the majority of the donations came from various sources from the company.

MEDIA PARKING : Available on-site

: Available on-site Photo and video footage of the aforementioned event will be provided by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services.



Access to the check presentation is reserved for media representatives with confirmation.



Media representatives who want to attend the check presentation but do not have confirmation need to get in touch with [email protected] as soon as possible.

NOTABLE ATTENDEES:

Lyn Morris, LMFT , CEO of Didi Hirsch

LMFT Didi

John Paterson , Owner OC Auto

Media Contact:

[email protected]

310.849.0304

Dora Nunez

Director of Marketing & Communications

Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services

SOURCE Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: PAG), a diversified international transportation services company and one of the world's premier automotive and commercial truck retailers, announced today it will release its second quarter 2022 financial results on the morning of Wednesday, July 27, 2022. PAG will host an audio webcast and conference call to discuss these results later that day at 2:00 PM (Eastern).

The Company's earnings press release and related investor presentation will be accessible that morning on the company's website at www.penskeautomotive.com/investors.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

For telephone access to this conference call, please register in advance using this link: https://conferencingportals.com/event/dbtxjpcq

Upon registering, participants will receive a confirmation which includes dial-in numbers and a unique conference call access code and PIN for entry. We suggest registering at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.

To access the live audio webcast, please use the following link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/328850966

A rebroadcast of the audio webcast and conference call will be available approximately two hours after its initial completion for the following seven days. The replay may be accessed via www.penskeautomotive.com/investors.

About Penske Automotive

Penske Automotive Group, Inc., headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is a diversified international transportation services company and one of the world's premier automotive and commercial truck retailers. PAG operates dealerships principally in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Japan and is one of the largest retailers of commercial trucks in North America for Freightliner. PAG also distributes and retails commercial vehicles, diesel and gas engines, power systems and related parts and services principally in Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, PAG owns 28.9% of Penske Transportation Solutions, a business that manages a fleet of over 373,000 vehicles providing innovative transportation, supply chain and technology solutions to North American fleets. PAG is a member of the Fortune 500, Russell 1000, and Russell 3000 indexes, and is ranked among the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune Magazine. For additional information, visit the company's website at www.penskeautomotive.com.

Inquiries should contact:

Shelley Hulgrave Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 248-648-2812 [email protected] Anthony Pordon

Executive Vice President - Investor Relations and

Corporate Development

248-648-2540 [email protected]

SOURCE Penske Automotive Group, Inc.
New facility set to be the largest, most sustainable PepsiCo Beverages North America plant in U.S. and create 250 new jobs for Denver-area residents

DENVER, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) acquired nearly 152 acres of land at the Denver High Point development area where it will build a state-of-the-art, 1.2 million square foot manufacturing facility. Set to open in 2023, the new facility is PBNA's latest project as part of its near 75-year investment in the Denver community, including the company's River North Art District location that has been in operation since the 1950s. This new development, located near the intersection of 72nd Avenue and Argonne Street, holds three times the capacity of the current facility and will be PBNA's largest U.S. plant location.

PepsiCo Beverages North America set to open new High Point facility in Denver, CO in 2023.

Following a lengthy and competitive site selection process that analyzed four states, PBNA chose Denver to build on its long history in the state through sustainable business. The initiative is part of PBNA's effort to double down on its commitment to both the company's 1,200 current Coloradan employees and Denver's highly educated and skilled workforce populations.

With a positive value chain at the forefront of its design, the new development supports PepsiCo's pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) pledge to positively impact people and the planet. As the company's most sustainable domestic outpost, the new facility will aim to achieve 100% renewable electricity, best-in-class water efficiency, and reduced virgin plastic use.

From supply chain leadership roles to hourly positions including mechanics, truck drivers and forklift operators, the High Point facility will create nearly 250 new jobs in the Denver area in addition to retaining all 250 current employees who will be upskilled as needed to operate the innovative manufacturing equipment.

"We're thrilled to call Denver, a city that shares so many of our values, home to PepsiCo's most sustainable U.S. plant location," said PepsiCo Beverages North America's West Division President, Johannes Evenblij. "With the High Point facility serving a model for the future of PBNA's supply chain, we're eager to continue deepening our dedication to Colorado through positive impacts such as new job opportunities and more sustainable business solutions."

To support the new facility, PBNA is partnering with the City and County of Denver through Denver Economic Development and Opportunity (DEDO) for outreach and hiring activities to connect Denver area residents with these employment opportunities.

"PepsiCo has been committed to our community for nearly 75 years, and we're proud that they have chosen to deepen their roots here and grow that commitment," said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. "Not only will their new facility create more quality jobs in our city, it significantly boosts their commitment to sustainability and supports my administration's climate action efforts. We've been working hand in hand with the PepsiCo team on this project and look forward to taking it across the finish line."

This significant project was supported by several organizations including multiple agencies within the City and County of Denver, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and Xcel Energy.

"Our strong workforce and thriving economy are proving that Colorado is the best place to live, work, and do business, and we are thrilled over 250 new jobs are being created in our state," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis.

"Metro Denver welcomed this opportunity to support the expansion of such a distinguished company like PepsiCo," said Raymond H. Gonzales, President of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. "Their dedication to upskilling and reskilling their workforce, all while implementing sustainable business practices, speaks to the collective values of the region. We look forward to PepsiCo's future success and the positive impact their new facility will have on our communities."

The new PBNA High Point facility is scheduled to open in Summer 2023 and will produce many popular products including Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, Gatorade, bubly, Rockstar, Propel and Muscle Milk.

Additional details about hiring, technological innovation, facility operations and community initiatives will be announced in the coming weeks. To learn more about current open positions across PepsiCo, visit www.PepsiCoJobs.com.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

About Denver Economic Development & Opportunity

Denver Economic Development & Opportunity is leading an inclusive and innovative economy for all Denver residents, businesses, and neighborhoods by supporting local and global business development, workforce development programs, and stabilization efforts in Denver's diverse neighborhoods. Learn more at www.denvergov.org/economicdevelopment.

CONTACT:

Megan O'Malley

(409) 766-0750

[email protected]

Yera Ha

(603) 505-1268

[email protected]

Chelsea Rosty

(970) 250-2189

[email protected]

SOURCE PepsiCo
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.  Petrobras (" Petrobras ") (NYSE: PBR) today announced the expiration and expiration date results of the previously announced cash tender offers (each, an " Offer " and collectively, the " Offers ") by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Petrobras Global Finance B.V. (" PGF "), with respect to any and all of (i) its notes of the series set forth in the table below under the heading " Tender Group 1 " and (ii) its notes of the series set forth in the table below under the heading " Tender Group 2 ." Tender Group 1 and Tender Group 2 are referred to herein individually as a " Tender Group " and collectively as the " Tender Groups ." The notes for each Tender Group are referred to herein collectively as the " Notes ."

The following tables set forth certain information about the Offers for each Tender Group, including the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted in such Offers, and the aggregate principal amount of Notes reflected in notices of guaranteed delivery delivered at or prior to the Expiration Date (as defined below):

Tender Group 1

Title of Security

CUSIP/ISIN

Acceptance

Priority Level

Principal Amount

Outstanding(1)

Consideration(2)

Principal Amount

Tendered

Principal Amount

Accepted

Principal Amount

Reflected in

Notices of

Guaranteed

Delivery 6.250% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

MARCH 2024

71647NAM1 /

US71647NAM11

1

US$593,396,000

US$1,025.47

US$17,957,000

US$17,957,000

US$5,185,000 4.750% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2025

- / XS0982711714

2

310,660,000

1,017.45

28,715,000

28,715,000

- 5.299% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2025

71647NAT6, 71647NAV1, N6945AAJ6 / US71647NAT63, US71647NAV10, USN6945AAJ62

3

US$663,099,000

US$1,018.00

US$14,558,000

US$14,558,000

US$75,000 8.750% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

MAY 2026

71647NAQ2 /

US71647NAQ25

4

US$446,205,000

US$1,125.48

US$14,766,000

US$14,766,000

US$1,100,000 6.250% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

DECEMBER 2026

- / XS0718502007

5

566,110,000

985.36

75,612,000

75,612,000

- 7.375% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2027

71647NAS8 /

US71647NAS80

6

US$928,947,000

US$1,062.92

US$99,093,000

US$99,093,000

US$300,000 5.999% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2028

71647NAW9,

N6945AAK3,

71647NAY5 /

US71647NAW92,

USN6945AAK36,

US71647NAY58

7

US$1,266,485,000

US$1,000.44

US$19,533,000

US$19,533,000

US$283,000 5.750% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

FEBRUARY 2029

71647NAZ2 /

US71647NAZ24

8

US$634,952,000

US$979.05

US$3,965,000

US$3,965,000

US$275,000 5.375% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

OCTOBER 2029

- / XS0835891838

9

345,965,000

897.62

45,643,000

45,643,000

- 5.093% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2030

71647NBE8,

71647NBF5, N6945AAL1 /

US71647NBE85,

US71647NBF50,

USN6945AAL19

10

US$716,179,000

US$928.56

US$13,691,000

US$13,691,000

US$75,000 5.600% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2031

71647NBH1 /

US71647NBH17

11

US$1,422,035,000

US$935.09

US$12,539,000

US$12,539,000

US$4,226,000 6.625% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2034

- / XS0982711474

12

436,759,000

933.56

19,805,000

19,805,000

-

































_____________________________________________________________________________ (1) Including Notes held by Petrobras or its affiliates. (2) Per each US$1,000, 1,000 or 1,000, as applicable, principal amount of each series of Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. The applicable consideration does not include accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes accepted for purchase through the Settlement Date (as defined below), which will be payable in cash.





Tender Group 2

Title of Security

CUSIP/ISIN

Acceptance

Priority Level

Principal Amount

Outstanding(1)

Consideration(2)

Principal Amount

Tendered

Principal Amount

Accepted

Principal Amount

Reflected in

Notices of

Guaranteed

Delivery 5.500% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JUNE 2051

71647NBJ7 /

US71647NBJ72

1

US$993,780,000

US$780.84

US$71,439,000

US$71,439,000

US$558,000 5.625% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

MAY 2043

71647NAA7 /

US71647NAA72

2

US$400,753,000

US$853.58

US$4,483,000

US$4,483,000

US$137,000 6.750% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JUNE 2050

71647NBG3 /

US71647NBG34

3

US$616,139,000

US$887.78

US$12,145,000

US$12,145,000

US$179,000 6.850% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JUNE 2115

71647NAN9 /

US71647NAN93

4

US$2,162,705,000

US$839.85

US$209,931,000

US$209,931,000

US$2,200,000 6.900% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

MARCH 2049

71647NBD0 /

US71647NBD03

5

US$996,602,000

US$914.41

US$95,479,000

US$95,479,000

US$2,315,000 6.750% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2041

71645WAS0 /

US71645WAS08

6

US$766,874,000

US$948.84

US$5,103,000

US$5,103,000

US$3,736,000 6.875% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

JANUARY 2040

71645WAQ4 /

US71645WAQ42

7

US$786,965,000

US$961.59

US$23,843,000

US$23,843,000

- 7.250% GLOBAL NOTES DUE

MARCH 2044

71647NAK5 /

US71647NAK54

8

US$1,023,732,000

US$968.50

US$23,700,000

US$23,700,000

US$100,000

































_____________________________________________________________________________ (1) Including Notes held by Petrobras or its affiliates. (2) Per each US$1,000 principal amount of each series of Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. The applicable consideration does not include accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes accepted for purchase through the Settlement Date, which will be payable in cash.





The Offers were made pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the offer to purchase dated July 6, 2022 (the " Offer to Purchase " and, together with the accompanying notice of guaranteed delivery, the " Offer Documents ").

The Offers expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 12, 2022 (the " Expiration Date "). The settlement date with respect to the Offers is expected to occur on July 15, 2022 (the " Settlement Date ").

In order to be eligible to participate in the Offers, holders of Notes reflected in notices of guaranteed delivery received by PGF prior to the Expiration Date must deliver such Notes to PGF by 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 14, 2022 (the " Guaranteed Delivery Date ").

On the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, PGF has accepted for purchase all of the Notes in Tender Group 1 validly tendered, and expects to accept all of the Notes in Tender Group 1 for which PGF has received notices of guaranteed delivery and that are delivered on or prior to the Guaranteed Delivery Date.

On the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, PGF has accepted for purchase all of the Notes in Tender Group 2 validly tendered, and expects to accept all of the Notes in Tender Group 2 for which PGF has received notices of guaranteed delivery and that are delivered on or prior to the Guaranteed Delivery Date.

The principal amount of Notes that will be purchased by PGF on the Settlement Date is subject to change based on deliveries of Notes pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Offer to Purchase. A press release announcing the final results of the Offers is expected to be issued on or promptly after the Settlement Date.

The total cash payment to purchase Notes accepted and expected to be accepted in the Offers , excluding accrued and unpaid interest, will be approximately US$796.2 million.

The exchange rates used to calculate the maximum consideration payable for each Tender Group were 1.1888 per US$1.00 and 1.0050 per US$1.00, the applicable exchange rates as of 11:00 a.m., New York City time on the Expiration Date, as reported on Bloomberg screen page "FXIP" under the heading "FX Rate vs. USD."

All conditions described in the Offer to Purchase that were to be satisfied or waived on or prior to the Expiration Date have been satisfied.

PGF engaged BofA Securities, Inc. (" BofA "), Banco Bradesco BBI S.A. (" Bradesco BBI "), Credit Agricole Securities (USA) Inc. (" Credit Agricole CIB "), Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (" Deutsche Bank Securities "), J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (" J.P. Morgan "), and SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc. (" SMBC Nikko " and together with BofA, Bradesco BBI, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank Securities and J.P. Morgan, the " Dealer Managers ") to act as dealer managers with respect to the Offers. Global Bondholder Services Corporation acted as the depositary and information agent (the " Depositary ") for the Offers.

This announcement is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities.

Any questions or requests for assistance regarding the Offers may be directed to BofA collect at (646) 855-8988 or toll-free at (888) 292-0070, Bradesco BBI collect at (646) 432-6643, Credit Agricole CIB collect at (212) 261-7802 or toll-free at (866) 807-6030, Deutsche Bank Securities collect at collect at (212) 250-2955 or toll-free at (866) 627-0391, J.P. Morgan collect at (212) 834-2064 or toll-free at (866) 834-4666 and SMBC Nikko collect at (212) 224-5328 or toll-free at (888) 284-9760. Requests for additional copies of the Offer Documents may be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at +1 (855) 654-2015 (toll-free) or +1 (212) 430-3774 (banks and brokers call). The Offer Documents can be accessed at the following link: https://www.gbsc-usa.com/Petrobras/.

The Offers were made solely pursuant to the Offer Documents. The Offer Documents have not been filed with, and have not been approved or reviewed by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority of any country. No authority has passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the Offer Documents or any other documents related to the Offers, and it is unlawful and may be a criminal offense to make any representation to the contrary.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

The communication of this announcement and any other documents or materials relating to the Offers is not being made and such documents and/or materials have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. This announcement and any such related documents and/or materials are for distribution only to persons who (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the " Order "), (ii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.") of the Order, (iii) are outside the United Kingdom, (iv) are members or creditors of certain bodies corporate as defined by or within Article 43(2) of the Order, or (v) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) in connection with the offer to purchase any securities may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This announcement and any such related documents and/or materials are directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this press release and any such related documents and/or materials are available only to and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are information of a non-historical nature or which relate to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. No assurance can be given that the transactions described herein will be consummated or as to the ultimate terms of any such transactions. Petrobras undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or for any other reason.

SOURCE Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras
Home in Henrico, Virginia, and partnership with InterGlobix and DE-CIX keys to rapid ascension

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and HENRICO, Va., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- QTS Data Centers recently acquired 200 acres at its Richmond Mega Data Center campus for expansion that could encompass up to 240 megawatts across 1.5 million square feet of additional capacity.

In the late 1990s, a dirt road led to a 2,300-acre patch of woods in eastern Henrico, Virginia. The Henrico Board of Supervisors, Economic Development Authority (EDA), and three companies  Motorola, Siemens, and Hewlett-Packard  transformed that patch of woods into a stringent semiconductor and data center environment. The County government made an investment of over $45 million in roads, water, and sewer infrastructure and the White Oak Technology Park opened.

In 2010, QTS Realty Trust invested more than half a billion dollars in a commitment toward the growth of its Richmond Mega Data Center in the White Oak Technology Park. It hosts the Richmond Network Access Point (NAP) , which provides access to more than 20 network providers and four transcontinental subsea cables, including Dunant  Google's undersea cable that offers the fastest data speeds on the planet. These features, plus a recent collaboration with DE-CIX, have helped solidify QTS Richmond Data Center's status as a leading global interconnection hub.

"Henrico and the White Oak Technology Park have been great to QTS and we will continue to seek new opportunities for investment as evidenced by the recent addition of 200+ acres to the Richmond campus," said, Clint Heiden, co-founder of the QTS Richmond NAP and Chief Revenue Officer of QTS Data Centers. "We recognize that the digital business world is thriving, the data center industry is growing at exponential pace to accommodate that change, and we have all the tools to usher in a new era of global communications. We look forward to leading the charge together as we have found a great home to build the foundation of Internet infrastructure at the Richmond NAP in Henrico, Virginia."

"The rapid evolution of the Internet ecosystem in Henrico is the result of years of dedication to the data center industry and Internet infrastructure companies," said Vinay Nagpal, co-founder of the QTS Richmond NAP and President of InterGlobix. "In order for businesses to succeed in our modern age, the digital world has to be accessible and operational 24/7. To facilitate this, we have developed rock-solid infrastructure with resiliency and diversity top of mind as reflected in the mission of the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC). Henrico is posed to accentuate economic growth on this foundation."

Thanks to the valued public-private partnership with Henrico officials and a vision of connectivity dominance that is shared by the Henrico EDA, QTS Richmond has evolved into a digital infrastructure powerhouse and a second hub of interconnection in Virginia outside of Northern Va.. The data center has benefited from Henrico's many assets, including a strategic location in the middle of the East Coast, access to renewable energy sources, and low tax rates on computers and related equipment for data centers ($0.40/$100).

The facility also benefits from a unique integration with the new DE-CIX Richmond located within QTS. This revolutionary internet exchange (IX) is part of the largest carrier and data center neutral interconnection ecosystem in North America.

"Businesses that tap into DE-CIX Richmond are not dependent on one carrier or one data center to transmit their data," said Tyrone E. Nelson, Henrico's Varina District Supervisor. "We're talking increased reliability and flexibility at unsurpassed speeds. Data can travel to Europe and back in one-third of a second  a literal blink of an eye."

About QTS

QTS Realty Trust, LLC. is a leading provider of data center solutions across a diverse footprint spanning more than 9 million square feet of owned mega scale data center space within North America and Europe. Through its software-defined technology platform, QTS is able to deliver secure, compliant infrastructure solutions, robust connectivity and premium customer service to leading hyperscale technology companies, enterprises, and government entities. QTS is a Blackstone portfolio company. Visit QTS at www.qtsdatacenters.com , call toll-free 877.QTS.DATA or follow on Twitter @DataCenters_QTS.

About the Henrico EDA

Located in the heart of the Eastern Seaboard, Henrico is an AAA-bonded full-service community adjacent to Virginia's capital city of Richmond. The EDA is your single point of contact for business development and site selection services. Find properties and run reports with our GIS tool, HenricoProperties.com . Learn more about White Oak Technology Park, a master-planned high-tech manufacturing center, at whiteoaktechpark.com . Visit Henrico.com for the latest news and to sign up to receive our Property Now and Henrico Now newsletters.

SOURCE InterGlobix LLC
Quantinuum to conduct joint materials research with JSR Corporation, a global pioneer in materials innovation. The collaboration will include the use of Quantinuum's Model H1 hardware, Powered by Honeywell, and InQuanto, its computational quantum chemistry software platform, to model complex organic and inorganic semiconductor materials

TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, England, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantinuum, the world's leading integrated quantum computing company, has announced a global collaboration with materials technology leader JSR Corporation of Japan to explore the application of quantum computing methods in semiconductor research.

The collaboration brings together JSR's world-leading materials scientists with quantum computing experts at Quantinuum in Japan, Europe, and the USA. The joint team will use the state-of-the-art InQuanto software platform to explore methods using quantum computers to model semiconducting materials, such as metal complexes and transition metal oxides.

These materials are essential to microelectronics. It is hoped that new modeling methods using quantum computers may achieve accurate predictions of their physical properties, which in the future could accelerate the identification of new candidate molecules and materials, and open the way to future microelectronic device paradigms.[1]

Rei Sakuma, Principal Researcher of the Materials Informatics Initiative of JSR, said: "We are delighted to have formed this new collaboration with Quantinuum, which builds on our previous work together. The Quantinuum team continues to lead the field in quantum computing hardware and software, complementing our scientists' deep expertise in materials innovation. Our aspiration is to develop materials that can enrich society and the environment. Quantinuum's software platform InQuanto is already helping our team to gain a greater understanding of how quantum computing may help us accelerate our path towards that ambitious goal."

One focus of the collaboration will be developing quantum algorithms and methods based on dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). This approach could provide a more accurate understanding of the electronic properties of complex organic and inorganic materials in the real world, such as optical absorption and conductivity, which could pave the way for future progress in the silicon-based information age.

Quantinuum and JSR will use InQuanto to explore new methods to model these complex molecular systems and defect subsystems. The new methods discovered will be incorporated into InQuanto, and will become available for the use of other scientists and researchers using the software platform.

Ilyas Khan, CEO of Quantinuum, said: "The work we do with JSR is at the absolute cutting edge of materials science using quantum computers, and we are thrilled to continue our relationship. This work will further develop InQuanto's functionality, making sure that new developments will become available to other users in the future. This is the value of such a collaboration: JSR's scientists know materials science, we know quantum computing, and the scientific community benefits."

InQuanto was recently launched as a standalone platform and brings together the latest algorithms, methods, and noise mitigation techniques used by molecular and materials scientists and researchers on quantum computers and emulators. It will give JSR's scientists and researchers a greater understanding of the capabilities of quantum computers in their path towards quantum advantage in computational chemistry.

As a recognized leader in quantum computing, Quantinuum has active collaborations with industrial partners across automotive, chemicals, pharmaceutical and energy. InQuanto is enabled by Quantinuum's TKET toolkit making it simple for researchers to re-target algorithms from one device or simulator to another.

Quantinuum

Quantinuum is the world's largest integrated quantum computing company, formed by the combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions' world leading hardware and Cambridge Quantum's class leading middleware and applications.

Quantinuum employs over 450 people including 350 scientists, at eight sites in the US, Europe, and Japan.

Science led and enterprise driven, Quantinuum accelerates quantum computing and the development of applications across chemistry, cybersecurity, finance, and optimization. Quantinuum's focus is to create scalable and commercial quantum solutions to solve the world's most pressing problems, in fields such as energy, logistics, climate change, and health.

Quantinuum's open-source developer toolkit TKET provides platform-inclusive access to the world's leading quantum hardware and simulators and enhances the performance of every Quantinuum product, including cybersecurity key-generation platform Quantum Origin, quantum computational chemistry and materials science package InQuanto, and ambeq, Quantinuum's quantum natural language processing and computational linguistics toolkit.

Quantinuum's H1 generation quantum computer, Powered by Honeywell, is one of the most advanced in the world and was the first to pass the industry standard quantum volume 4096 benchmark. In March of 2020, Quantinuum (as Honeywell Quantum Solutions) committed to increasing the quantum volume of its commercial H-Series quantum computers by an order of magnitude each year for the subsequent five years.

The Honeywell Trademark is used under license from Honeywell International Inc. Honeywell International Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to this product. This product is produced by Quantinuum.

www.quantinuum.com

[1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1243098 (paywall)

SOURCE Quantinuum
CHERRY HILL, N.J., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Real Good Food Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: RGF) ("Real Good Foods" or the "Company"), an innovative, high-growth, branded, health- and wellness-focused frozen food company, today announced the expansion of its Breakfast platform with new Breakfast Bowls and Breakfast Bites. This builds off Real Good Foods' Breakfast Sandwiches, which are the #1 selling better-for-you sandwiches in the Frozen HWI Breakfast category as measured by SPINS.

Real Good Foods Announces Expansion of Breakfast Platform with New Breakfast Bowls & Breakfast Bites

Real Good Foods' Breakfast Bowls are made from nutritious ingredients, including Real Good Foods' Crispy Tots, along with whole eggs, cheese, and traditional breakfast proteins. Real Good Foods' Breakfast Bites are made with an innovative, grain-free shell, using clean, real food ingredients such as Lupin bean and cauliflower, and stuffed with eggs, cheese and traditional breakfast proteins.

Real Good Foods' new Breakfast Bites and Breakfast Bowls are now available in select grocery stores across the U.S., including, Kroger, Publix, Safeway, and more. They can also be purchased directly from www.realgoodfoods.com.

"These breakfast offerings are the result of our mission to make our favorite comfort foods more nutritious and improve human health. Our community continues to push us to provide nutritious and convenient options at breakfast, and I am proud of our talented and dedicated team that worked hard to make these innovative items possible," said Bryan Freeman, Executive Chairman of The Real Good Food Company. "Unlike other breakfast options on shelves today that are made with processed grains and are loaded with carbohydrates, our new, nutritious breakfast items have a limited amount of carbs, made 100% grain-free, and are loaded with protein."

To learn more about Real Good Foods and to find a store near you, please visit www.realgoodfoods.com.

About The Real Good Food Company

Founded in 2016, Real Good Foods believes there is a better way to enjoy our favorite foods. Its brand commitment, "Real Food You Feel Good About Eating," represents the Company's strong belief that, by eating its food, consumers can enjoy more of their favorite foods and, by doing so, live better lives as part of a healthier lifestyle. Its mission is to make nutritious comfort foods that are low in carbohydrates, high in protein, and made from gluten and grain free real ingredients more accessible to everyone, improve human health, and, in turn, improve the lives of millions of people. Real Good Foods offers delicious options across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking occasions available, in over 16,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Target, and directly from its website at www.realgoodfoods.com. Learn more about Real Good Foods by visiting its website or on Instagram at @realgoodfoods, where it has one of the largest social media followings of any brand within the frozen food industry today with nearly 420,000 followers. For interviews with Bryan Freeman, Executive Chairman, email [email protected].

Media Contact

[email protected]

Investor Contact

Chris Bevenour

[email protected]

SOURCE Real Good Foods
HOUSTON, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RockStep Capital is proud to announce its organizational rebranding and repositioning of its investment strategy to include larger metropolitan markets.

Over the last 25 years, RockStep has built or acquired over 9 million square feet of malls and shopping centers, and currently has more than 7.5 million square feet of assets in its portfolio. With more investment properties on its radar, the company decided that now is the time to realign its brand identity with the path of growth they're already pursuing.

RockStep plans to partner with institutional investors to facilitate a move into larger market areas by continuing innovation and leveraging past successeswhile retaining key elements that separate them from competitors. Inspired by an authentic heritage and a retailer's perspective, RockStep has the expertise and know-how to create modern, engaging community-centric destinations for generations to come.

As an investment firm, RockStep is performance-driven, growth-oriented and values-focused. Their acquisition decisions will be built upon those pillars, influencing their relationships with investors and tenants alike. RockStep is deeply committed to The RockStep Way, an industry-leading set of 25 principles that guide the company's operations and culture, day in and day out.

To learn more about RockStep Capital, and to receive insights on retail revitalization strategies and company investments, please visit www.rockstep.com and follow the company on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/rockstep-capital/ .

About RockStep Capital

RockStep Capital is a privately held, full-service, vertically integrated real estate investment firm that owns and manages enclosed malls, open-air shopping centers and institutional third-party retail assets. We acquire and develop underperforming assets into relevant and vital properties. www.rockstep.com

SOURCE RockStep Capital
PHOENIX, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Phoenix-based Colling Media, one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies, has partnered with Rosendin Electric to take a stand against the labor shortage and reach new recruitment heights. In 2021 yahoo.com reported 68% of trades were struggling to hire skilled workers. By utilizing a full-funnel marketing approach Colling Media has closed the gap in the labor shortage and aided in Rosendin's recruitment of 221 skilled workers in the first quarter of 2022.

"Colling Media's team has been essential in our recruiting efforts for electricians in the Phoenix Metro area. The team is not only knowledgeable and highly experienced with various advertising tactics, but they are engaged in helping us maximize our reach to get qualified candidates. We have expanded our relationship with Colling Media to assist us in markets in Middle Tennessee, throughout Texas, Oregon, and Northern California with varying target markets and projected outcomes. We feel that we have a true partner in Brian, his leadership team, and Colling Media." said Salina Brown, Director of Marketing Rosendin Electric

"We feel that we have a true partner in Brian, his leadership team, and Colling Media." Tweet this

Rosendin Electric, headquartered in San Jose, CA contracted Colling Media to recruit qualified electricians to complete some of the most complex construction projects in the U.S.A. Colling Media, with over a decade of recruitment advertising experience, is helping the company reach its 2022 placement goals.

"We're honored to partner with Rosendin Electric and support their recruitment needs.'' said Brian Colling, CEO of Colling Media. "We look forward to more strong results as we effectively connect new audiences to their amazing company and culture."

Recruitment isn't getting easier. It's time to start recruiting smarter.

About Colling Media

Based in Phoenix, AZ, Colling Media is a full-service national digital advertising and marketing agency specializing in advertising branding and strategy, digital and traditional advertising, media buying, paid search, lead generation, content marketing, and SEO. For more information, visit www.collingmedia.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/colling-media/), Facebook, (https://www.facebook.com/collingmedia/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/collingmedia).

SOURCE COLLING MEDIA
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sa'ar Waisman is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Trusted Business Professional for his excellence in the Private Security Services industry and in acknowledgment of his firm, Waisman Security.

A decorated military veteran, Sa'ar Waisman serves as the Founder and CEO of Waisman Security, based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. His newly founded company offers a wide range of protective services for its clients, including residential, business, personal, and event security.

"Our number one priority is the safety, security, and peace of mind of our clients," Mr. Waisman says. "We are dedicated to providing the highest-quality service, supported by exceptional officers. Personal and community safety are a major focus in the world today. At Waisman Security, we believe in deploying effective preventative measures to deter crime and unwelcome media attention before an issue arises."

Before founding his security firm, Mr. Waisman served in the Israeli military, where he was honored for his dedicated service. In his current role, he has incorporated his extensive training and knowledge from his military background into providing the highest-quality protection and security details for the clients he serves. The company features a team of highly-trained and experienced security guards who are dedicated to ensuring the safety of individuals.

In addition to personal and residential protection, Waisman Security is also available to provide expert security for large public gatherings and other significant events, such as concerts, conferences, festivals, churches, and more. In addition to providing guards, Waisman will soon offer a training facility to provide class D and class G security licensing. Most states have specific laws detailing requirements for security guards' licensure to work in the field. The majority of states require an initial Class D security license to allow persons to work as unarmed security. Class D training typically requires 40 hours of training. After this training, persons can opt to further their movement toward a Class G security license, which allows the guard to carry a weapon.

For more information or to learn more about job openings at Waisman Security, visit https://www.waismansecurity.com.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
Leading testing and wellness provider expands services to support clients' natural glow and bolster immunity amidst the summer months

LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sameday Health , a world-class testing and wellness provider, announced today the launch of their Inner Beauty IV drip therapy. The service will be administered at Sameday Health clinics nationwide where wellness services are offered to support clients' collagen production, fortify their hair and nails, and keep their skin and blood cells healthy, among other benefits.

The Inner Beauty IV drip contains Vitamin C and Vitamin B complex vitaminsincluding Biotin (B7), thiamine (B1), and niacin (B3)that work to fortify hair and nails, reduce wrinkles, and hydrate skin from the inside out. In addition to improving natural glow, the Inner Beauty IV drip is designed to boost immunity and reduce fatigue to help clients feel just as good as they look.

Sameday Health, a world-class testing and wellness provider, announced the launch of their Inner Beauty IV drip therapy. Tweet this

According to McKinsey & Company, the global $1.5 trillion wellness industry is driven by consumers' interest in better health and appearance. As consumers increasingly seek out wellness services that will bolster their overall well-being and improve their appearance, more are turning to IV drip therapy to infuse essential vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients into their bloodstream.

Sameday Health's Inner Beauty IV drip joins the company's current service menu of 10+ IV drips and wellness injections, including their Immunity IV and Get Up & Go IV.

"At Sameday Health, we strive to help our clients lead their fullest lives  that's why we've introduced our Inner Beauty IV drip to boost confidence and improve skin quality from the inside out with premium, nutrient-rich vitamins," said Patrick Emad, Sameday Health VP of Clinics. "We're proud to bring to market an all-in-one solution that will help our clients feel and look their best  especially during the on-the-go summer months."

"The Inner Beauty IV drip is part of our extended effort to make Sameday Health clinics a consistent home base for all of our clients' health and wellness needs," said Felix Huettenbach, Sameday Health CEO and Founder. "We remain dedicated to continuously expanding our menu with services that revitalize our clients' lives through improved health and wellness."

The Inner Beauty IV drip is available now across the country in participating Sameday Health clinics  including Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington D.C.

To learn more about Sameday Health's IV drip therapy, visit here.

About Sameday Health

Sameday Health is dedicated to healthcare as a complete experience, not simply a service. Our purpose is to create healthcare that centers around the client, combining a human approach with intuitive technology. We offer quality, personalized care wherever you are including in our clinics or at your door.

Inspired by the lotus flower's ability to grow in even the toughest terrains, Sameday Health is determined to create a sense of hope and help with our clients. Since opening our first clinic in Venice, CA at the height of the COVID 19-pandemic, the Sameday team has been focused on closing gaps in the healthcare system from testing to wellness to care. Devoted to responding immediately to our client's needs, we are providing expanded same day healthcare in our locations including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, DC, Boston, and more.

Sameday Health serves its clients wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them. In most cases there is at home and same day.

SOURCE Sameday Health
NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Samin K. Sharma, MD, FACC, MSCAI, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished Interventional Cardiologist for his excellence in the Medical field and in acknowledgment of his outstanding work with Mount Sinai Hospital.

A globally-renowned expert in interventional cardiology, Dr. Samin K. Sharma serves as the Senior Vice President of Operations and Quality at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He additionally serves as the hospital's Director of Interventional Cardiology and President of the Mount Sinai Heart Network.

Samin K. Sharma

Dr. Sharma is highly regarded for his ability to perform the highest number of complex coronary interventions in the U.S. while maintaining the most significant success rate and lowest number of patient complications. In addition to coronary interventions, he also specializes in the non-surgical treatment of mitral and aortic stenosis and transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Due to his extensive knowledge, Dr. Sharma is highly sought as an expert on heart matters for media outlets, medical conferences, and scholarly publications. He has authored over 300 articles, 420 abstracts, 15 book chapters, and three books. The doctor also hosts monthly live web series focusing on interventional disease management. Dr. Sharma has also served since 2004 on the Cardiac Advisory Board of New York State. In recognition of his service, he was awarded N.Y. Governor's Award of Excellence.

A native of India, Dr. Sharma says that while growing up, he dreamed of one day moving to America, even though he had no relatives there. "So I tell all the young people that one needs to determine (a goal) and then work for it," he says. "The key is always to work towards the thought process."

In pursuit of his medical career, Dr. Sharma earned his Medical Degree with the highest honors from S.M.S. Medical College in Jaipur, India, in 1978. Five years later, he came to New York City, where he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the NY Infirmary-Beekman Downtown Hospital. He followed his training with a Fellowship in Cardiology from Elmhurst Hospital and interventional training at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

In 1990, Dr. Sharma joined the medical staff at The Mount Sinai Hospital, where he has served for 26 years as Director of Interventional Cardiology. In 2011, Dr. Sharma accepted additional responsibilities at Mount Sinai as Director of Clinical Cardiology, the Dean of International Clinical Affiliations, and the Mount Sinai Heart Network president.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Sharma is also involved in teaching and mentoring medical students. He has additionally been instrumental in the continuing education of cardiologists in his native India. He has also founded a 250-bed hospital in India that provides care to all patients, even those who do not have the resources to pay for their healthcare.

Dr. Sharma is a distinguished Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and an honored member of the Master Interventionalists of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography Interventions (MSCAI). He has also been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards for his excellence in the interventional cardiology field.

Dr. Sharma wishes to dedicate this honor in loving memory to his parents, Anandi Lal Sharma and Kamla Sharma.

Outside of work, he enjoys bowling, watching movies, and spending time with his family.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
64-bed facility  part of the Upshot Medical Center at Mills Park  will help meet growing needs for locally based long-term acute care and acute rehabilitation services.

LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ScionHealth today announced the signing of an agreement with Upshot Capital Advisors (Upshot)  a vertically integrated real estate platform  to lease space in the Upshot Medical Center at Mills Park (UMC) in Orlando, Florida, and operate a 64-bed long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) featuring an acute rehabilitation unit.

ScionHealth's hospital will be an anchor tenant at UMC, occupying one of two towers on the campus, which boasts approximately 160,000 square feet of Class A, LEED designed, healthcare space, including a six-story parking garage. Upon completion, the 85,500-square-foot LTACH facility will include six floors with approximately 36 long-term acute care beds and an acute rehabilitation unit with approximately 28 beds. While the new hospital will be ScionHealth's first facility in Orlando, the company currently operates 10 specialty hospitals in Florida under the Kindred Hospitals brand.

Construction on UMC is already underway, and the new hospital is expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2024.

"We are excited to establish a presence in one of the fastest-growing markets in the nation, and eager to leverage our expertise in caring for the most medically complex patients to benefit the residents of Orlando and the surrounding community," said Rob Jay, chief executive officer of ScionHealth. "We are proud to become an anchor tenant in the centrally located, accessible, state-of-the-art Upshot Medical Center at Mills Park. This de novo growth strategically expands ScionHealth's portfolio of specialty hospitals across the country and affirms our commitment to deliver high-quality, patient-driven healthcare solutions in the communities we serve."

"ScionHealth has extensive experience operating specialty hospitals in Florida, and we look forward to delivering the expert, specialized care to meet the needs of patients in the Orlando area," said Mike Warrington, president of ScionHealth's Specialty Hospital division. "With a dedicated acute-level rehabilitation unit within the long-term acute care hospital, we will be able to offer a broader range of physician-led rehabilitation care while avoiding the disruption of transferring a patient to a separate facility, providing enhanced clinical integration for individuals requiring these services."

The Orlando hospital is the first new-construction growth project to be announced by ScionHealth since it launched in December 2021. The company currently operates 61 specialty hospitals and 18 community hospital campuses and associated health systems across the country. It has also reached a definitive agreement to acquire Dallas-based Cornerstone Healthcare Group, a transaction that is expected to close later this year, pending completion of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Upon closing of the Cornerstone transaction that will include the addition of 15 specialty hospitals, the total number of hospitals operated by ScionHealth will stand at 94.

About ScionHealth

ScionHealth strives to provide high-quality, patient-centered acute and post-acute hospital solutions. The health system is focused on driving innovation, serving its communities, and investing in people and technology to deliver compassionate patient care and excellent health outcomes. Based in Louisville, ScionHealth operates 79 hospital campuses in 25 states  61 long-term acute care hospitals and 18 community hospital campuses and associated health systems. For more information, please visit www.scionhealth.com.

Media Contact:

Scott Shepherd

Vice President, Communications and Marketing

ScionHealth

[email protected]

About Upshot

Upshot is a vertically integrated private equity real estate platform with business-units focused on the management of its discretionary funds, real estate development and construction operations, and its asset management and property management operations. With over 20 years in the medical and healthcare industry, Upshot uses its sector expertise to deliver its best-in-class healthcare projects by partnering with national healthcare systems and other healthcare related companies. For more information, please visit www.upshotca.com.

Media Contact:

Erin Simpson

Investor Relations Officer

Upshot Capital Advisors

[email protected]

SOURCE ScionHealth
Lisa Feria will serve a two-year term with the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to drive the innovation of critical technologies across the United States

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stray Dog Capital , a venture capital fund investing in early stage, next-generation foodtech startups, today announced Lisa Feria, managing partner and CEO, has been appointed to a two-year term as a voting member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). NACIE is a federal advisory committee in the U.S. Economic Development Administration's Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Lisa was selected as a voting member for the committee out of hundreds of nominees.

As a voting member of NACIE, Feria will help discover solutions to propel the innovation economy, aiding in eliminating obstacles for entrepreneurs to bring innovative technologies into the market. She will join forces with other committee members to create a national entrepreneurship strategy focused on improving America's capacity to prevail as the world's leading startup nation and top innovator in crucial new technologies.

"Cutting-edge technology is abundant in the U.S., but it's our job to dedicate resources to find them quickly and to support them in making the biggest impact," said Lisa Feria, CEO and managing partner of Stray Dog Capital. "Over the past couple of years, there have been great strides and I have been lucky to work with many forward-thinking companies in the food, beverage, and biotechnology sectors. I am eager to get started with NACIE to continue driving innovation across the country."

Stray Dog Capital has made more than 45 investments focusing on early-stage food, food-tech, and biotech companies that are transforming the food system. Lisa has more than 20 years of experience in food operations and consumer packaged goods and led billion-dollar brands in global companies such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills, and has been selected twice to the " Top 100 Most Influential Latinas " list.

About Stray Dog Capital

Stray Dog Capital is a venture capital fund investing in innovative, early-stage companies across the food, beverage, and biotechnology sectors that are driving a healthier, humane, and more sustainable future. Stray Dog Capital supports its portfolio of investments with broad experience from its team as entrepreneurs, operators, advisors, and investors. www.straydogcapital.com

Media Contact

BAM on behalf of Stray Dog Captial

[email protected]

SOURCE Stray Dog Capital
AUSTIN, Texas, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sumatra, an Austin-based real-time data platform company, today announced that it has secured $1.5 million in seed financing led by S3 Ventures with participation from Sentiero Ventures, Data Power Ventures, and AI Sprouts. The funding coincides with General Availability of the company's SaaS platform, after building in partnership with select pre-launch customers.

Greg Kuhlmann, Co-Founder and CEO. Lucas McGrew, Co-Founder and CIO.

With Sumatra's self-serve tools, data scientists of all skill levels can build their own streaming data pipelines  removing the data engineering dependencies that delay or block most real-time machine learning and analytics deployments  including fraud prevention, cybersecurity, conversion optimization, credit underwriting, and delivery logistics.

"The platform has enabled our small data science team to ship multiple real-time ML and analytics services. Additionally, with Sumatra, our team is quickly able to leverage the tool for new use cases across the organization," said Meetesh Karia, CTO and Chief Data Officer of The Zebra, the nation's leading home and auto insurance comparison site.

Co-Founders Greg Kuhlmann and Lucas McGrew formed Sumatra in 2020 after prior roles spent overcoming the challenges of deploying machine learning in time-critical settings.

"We've seen firsthand how much value can be created by real-time ML when teams have the tools to iterate and ship quickly. We also see organizations struggling to build these capabilities in-house, while staying focused on their core business," said Kuhlmann, the company's CEO.

After earning his Ph.D. in Machine Learning from UT Austin, Kuhlmann joined Apple where he led anti-fraud data science teams for its App Store and Apple Pay services, while also helping develop the company's centralized operational ML platform.

Having previously built algorithmic financial trading systems, McGrew, who leads Sumatra's technology development, has designed the platform using a serverless cloud architecture for scalability and easy deployment.

"Sumatra is democratizing real-time machine learning. Once data scientists of all stripes are empowered to deploy on their own  without having to depend on a costly, over-stretched data engineer  we will see a flurry of new use cases across companies of all types and sizes," said Eric Engineer, Partner at S3 Ventures, who lead the investment and will join Sumatra's Board of Directors.

About Sumatra

A simpler way to deploy real-time machine learning, the Sumatra platform gives data teams self-service tools to build real-time feature pipelines from event-based data. Data science is a creative endeavor. Sumatra's mission is to give creators at every experience level the tools to do their most inspired workand we're just getting started! To learn more about Sumatra, visit sumatra.ai.

We're Hiring!

The Zebra Case Study

About S3 Ventures

Based in Austin for 17+ years, S3 Ventures is the largest venture capital firm focused on Texas. Backed by a philanthropic family with a multi-billion-dollar foundation, we empower visionary founders with the patient capital and true resources required to grow extraordinary, high-impact companies in Business Technology, Digital Experiences, and Healthcare Technology. With $900M+ in assets under management, we lead Seed, Series A, and Series B investments ranging from $500K to $10M with the capacity to invest $20M+ over the life of a company. Learn more at www.s3vc.com.

Media Contact:

Greg Kuhlmann

512.750.9350

[email protected]

SOURCE Sumatra
Diversified Restaurant Group brings the new digital concept to the Nevada market

LAS VEGAS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Diversified Restaurant Group (DRG), a multi-brand quick-service restaurant franchisee, is opening the first Taco Bell Go Mobile on the West coast. It's the first Taco Bell location of its kind to have two drive-thru lanes, with one fully dedicated to accommodating mobile orders and delivery drivers. The new design makes it an easy and convenient experience for customers who've ordered ahead online. The Las Vegas Taco Bell Go Mobile is located at 2224 E. Craig Rd., North Las Vegas, NV 89030, and will celebrate its grand opening on Monday, July 18th.

"Taco Bell is a significant part of the DRG portfolio and we are thrilled to be part of the exciting growth and evolution of the brand by bringing this new concept to Las Vegas," said SG Ellison , President of Diversified Restaurant Group. "This location is our first Go Mobile and is particularly special, as we've recently opened corporate headquarters in the market. We're delighted to have this location in our backyard and be able to celebrate and share this momentous occasion with our new neighbors."

Recently, the Las Vegas Go Mobile Taco Bell hosted a driver preview day where DoorDash drivers could redeem an exclusive offer - a free combo meal of their choosing. Over 200 Door Dash drivers showed up and enjoyed how fast the drive-thru experience is. The Go Mobile Taco Bell grand opening will feature an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce at 10 am.

The Taco Bell Go Mobile restaurant concept features all the Mexican-inspired fan favorites of tacos, burritos, nachos, and more. The building is a new micro concept at around half the size of a typical Taco Bell with no indoor seating. However, If customers want to get out of their car, they can order inside on a kiosk and enjoy a meal on the covered patio.

To place your orders with the new Las Vegas Taco Bell, Go Mobile restaurant, download the Taco Bell app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

For more information about Diversified Restaurant Group, visit www.drgfood.com.

Images: HERE

About Diversified Restaurant Group

Diversified Restaurant Group is a restaurant business comprised of owners and operators working to innovate and grow with quick service and fast-casual brands across the country. What started as a limited partnership in a 30-unit Taco Bell franchise in 2012, has since grown into a 300+ unit, multi-brand QSR operation with restaurants in Nevada, California, Kansas, Missouri, and Alaska.

About Taco Bell Corp.

For more information about Taco Bell, visit www.TacoBell.com/news or www.TacoBell.com/popular-links. You can also stay up to date on all things Taco Bell by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Taco Bell's Twitter, Taco Bell News' Twitter, TikTok and subscribing to our YouTube channel. For updates on how Taco Bell is navigating COVID-19, click here.

Media Contact:

Brianne Barbakoff

[email protected]

786.605.9228

SOURCE Diversified Restaurant Group
Failure to Reach Agreement Could Negatively Impact Residents

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters Local 377 is calling on negotiators for the City of Youngstown, OH to meet with its members so they can address outstanding issues in the collective bargaining agreement they are negotiating. Local 377 members work in the Street Dept., which repairs and maintains roads, among other responsibilities.

"This proposal isn't just bad for our members, it's bad for Youngstown," said Steven Anzevino, Local 377 President. "The department is losing staff because many jobs that require a commercial driver's license pay better, additionally, some members are working twelve-hour days for 21 days straight during the winter. This puts the public at risk of having unsafe roads due to drastically delayed maintenance and driver fatigue. The good news is that we can resolve this contract if the City returns back to the bargaining table."

At issue is the City's proposals regarding paid time off and overtime, which effectively lead to a pay cut, and the municipality's refusal to grant the workers retro-active pay since their last contract expired on December 31. Dan Watson and Fred Saunders are drivers in the Street Dept. who serve on the union negotiating committee.

"We only have 19-20 members who can plow a street, and we're already down one third from seven years ago," said Saunders. "Our hourly wages aren't that high. We're willing to put up with that because of the benefits we have, but now they're trying to take that away."

"The other side saying 'we're done negotiating,' we feel that's a slap in the face," said Watson. "The City is trying to remove provisions from the contract that provide better benefits, so we need to return to bargaining and hash this out, because it isn't over."

Teamsters Local 377 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Northeastern Ohio.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid, (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 377
A unique 21st Century evolution of the grand piano

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 19, 2022, celebrated pianist Kirill Gerstein's performance at the Verbier Festival, which will be broadcast live on Medici.tv, will mark the public debut of the Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand Piano.

Unique 21st Century evolution of the grand piano by renowned architect Rafael Vinoly and master piano maker Chris Maene. Tweet this Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand Piano

The novel instrument was developed jointly by master piano maker Chris Maene and renowned architect Rafael Vinoly. The piano's curved ergonomic keyboard matches the natural sweep of a pianist's arms rotating from the shoulders and facilitates effortless playing across all registers. The keyboard's radial arrangement is extended to strings that fan out over a much larger soundboard augmenting the instrument's capacity for nuance, clarity, and power.

Mr. Vinoly is an avid amateur pianist whose own experience and close friendships with master pianists has sharpened his awareness of the instrument's biomechanical demands and inspired his idea to curve the keyboard. In a 2016 conversation with legendary artists Maestro Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich, he was encouraged to develop the concept. Soon after, Vinoly sought out a partnership with Chris Maene, who had previously developed a straight-strung grand piano for Maestro Barenboim.

First, the team collaborated with noted piano kinematics researcher Renzo Pozzo, professor at the Department of Medical and Biological Sciences at the University of Udine (Italy), and German pianist and researcher Dr. Henriette Gartner to determine the keyboard's ideal arc. The further technical and aesthetic development leveraged time-honored piano-building traditions, computer-aided design and acoustic modeling, and the generous feedback and support of some of the world's most prominent piano technicians and artists including Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Gerstein, and Stephen Hough, among others.

After six years of development, we are proud to present a grand piano that exceeds our team's expectations of sound quality, ergonomics, construction, and aesthetics.

Kirill Gerstein said:

Classical forms remain vibrant and relevant through change and development. The Maene-Vinoly concert grand advances the discourse of what a modern grand piano is while acknowledging and utilizing the traditions and ideas of the past. Its curved keyboard, designed to follow the natural arc of the arm's movement, is a starting point for a re-examined layout of the larger soundboard that follows along this curvature. The unified design, ergonomics, and function give the piano a unique sonic signature. This piano is a musical and artistic creation, as art innovates and provokes by building on the achievements of the past to look into the future. I am thrilled and honored to give the first public performance on the Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand.

Chris Maene said:

Rafael Vinoly is an exceptional architect with a clear vision and a profound passion for his creations. In the instrument's design, the visual aspects are a logical extension of the drive to meet its acoustic and ergonomic goals. By considering it as an integrated whole, he drove us to challenge a grand piano's traditional set-up and embrace the consequences of the foundational idea. The physics of conveying the forces applied to the ergonomic keyboard lent itself to a radial straight strung arrangement and to our unique expertise. The result is astonishing: from Rafael Vinoly's ideas arose a radically new concert grand, with unique looks and an exquisite sound!

Rafael Vinoly said:

Chris Maene's obvious expertise, sensitivity and commitment to excellence can only have come out of a lifetime of probing and learning about making pianos. But more than that, no other piano maker has the courage to challenge the status quo of a culture and industry that has seen little innovation on behalf of its most important exponents, professional artists. Chris has the courage of an artist, because he is one, as well as a consummate craftsman.

**At 1pm on July 19, 2022, immediately following the piano's debut, a Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand will be presented to the press and the public by Messrs. Maene, Vinoly, and Gerstein at the W Verbier, Rue de Medran 70, 1936 Verbier, Switzerland. Light refreshments will be served.

PRESS KIT AND IMAGES:

https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/yIS5zdyxPN

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Henk Swinnen, Senior Adviser

Atelier Chris Maene

+32 (0) 484 151 989

chrismaene.be

Raymond Lee, Communications Director

Rafael Vinoly Architects

+1 212 924 5060

vinoly.com

SOURCE Rafael Vinoly Architects
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Microtome Market (2022-2027) by Product, Application, End User, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Microtome Market is estimated to be USD 449 Bn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 596.34 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 5.84%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Microtome Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are AGD Biomedicals, Amos Scientific, Boeckeler Instruments, Bright Instruments, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Microtome Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.

The report analyses the Global Microtome Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.

Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.

Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Microtome Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Consumer Awareness of Early Disease Diagnosis

4.1.2 Growth in Incidence of Chronic Diseases such as Cancer

4.1.3 Increasing Geriatric Population Coupled with Increasing Healthcare Expenditure

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Lack of Skilled Expertise and Unfavorable Reimbursement Policies

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Increasing Demand for Personalized Medicine

4.3.2 Emerging Introduction of Technologically Advanced Diagnostic Equipment and Pathological Systems

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Reduced Adoption Rate in Under-developed and Developing Economies



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Microtome Market, By Product

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Microtome Instruments

6.2.1 Rotary Microtomes

6.2.2 Cryostat Microtomes

6.2.3 Vibrating Microtomes

6.2.4 Other Microtomes

6.3 Microtome Accessories

6.3.1 Microtome Blades

6.3.2 Other Microtome Accessories

6.4 Technology

6.5 Manual Microtomes

6.6 Semi-Automated Microtomes

6.7 Fully Automated Microtomes



7 Global Microtome Market, By Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Disease Diagnosis

7.3 Medical Research



8 Global Microtome Market, By End User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Hospital Laboratories

8.3 Clinical Laboratories

8.4 Other End Users



9 Americas' Microtome Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's Microtome Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's Microtome Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's Microtome Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 AGD Biomedicals

14.2 Amos Scientific

14.3 Boeckeler Instruments

14.4 Bright Instruments

14.5 Campden Instruments

14.6 Cardinal Health

14.7 Danaher

14.8 Diapath

14.9 Histo-Line Laboratories

14.10 Jinhua YIDI Medical Appliance

14.11 Laboid International

14.12 Lafayette Instrument

14.13 Medimeas

14.14 Medite Medical

14.15 Microtec Laborgerate

14.16 Milestone Medical

14.17 RWD Life Science

14.18 Sakura Finetek

14.19 Shenzhen Dakewei Biotechnology

14.20 SLEE Medical

14.21 SM Scientific Instruments

14.22 Ted Pella



15 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lw3rkt

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
CANTON, Ohio, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST), a leader in high-quality specialty steel, manufactured components, and supply chain solutions, on July 7, 2022, entered into an agreement to purchase a group annuity contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America ("Prudential") to settle approximately $250 million of the company's approximate $800 million in U.S. pension obligations under the TimkenSteel Corporation Bargaining Unit Pension Plan (the "Pension Plan").

In connection with the agreement, Prudential will pay future benefits under the group annuity contract starting October 1, 2022, for a specified group of approximately 1,900 retirees and beneficiaries who are currently receiving payments from the Pension Plan. Prudential is a highly rated insurance company and was selected by the Pension Plan's fiduciary, with the advice of an independent expert.

"Prudential was carefully selected as a highly rated and experienced retirement benefits provider," said Kristopher R. Westbrooks, TimkenSteel's executive vice president and chief financial officer. "This transaction is a significant step to further strengthen the Company's balance sheet and de-risk our pension plan."

Benefits payable to the retirees and beneficiaries and to other Pension Plan participants will not be reduced as a result of this transaction. The group annuity contract is an irrevocable commitment by Prudential to make annuity payments to participants and beneficiaries covered under the contract. TimkenSteel is notifying by mail those individuals who are covered by the forthcoming change and will provide a customer service number to address any questions that covered participants and beneficiaries may have.

The group annuity contract will be purchased using existing assets of the Pension Plan and requires no cash contribution from the company. Once finalized, this annuity purchase is expected to reduce TimkenSteel's U.S. pension obligation by approximately $250 million, or 25% percent. The company expects to realize a non-cash pension settlement gain of approximately $2 million in the third quarter.

The Pension Plan's fiduciaries, with the assistance of an independent expert, conducted an objective and thorough analysis of potential insurance companies with sufficient capacity, creditworthiness, and administrative claims-paying capabilities so that the Pension Plan could purchase the group annuity contract in accordance with applicable law and U.S. Department of Labor guidelines. Following this process, the Pension Plan fiduciaries selected Prudential to provide the group annuity contract.

ABOUT PRUDENTIAL

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a global financial services leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2022, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees help make lives better and create financial opportunity for more people by expanding access to investing, insurance, and retirement security. Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise, and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.

ABOUT TIMKENSTEEL CORPORATION

TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST) manufactures high-performance carbon and alloy steel products from recycled scrap metal in Canton, OH, serving demanding applications in mobile, energy and a variety of industrial end markets. The company is a premier U.S. producer of alloy steel bars (up to 16 inches in diameter), seamless mechanical tubing and manufactured components. In the business of making high-quality steel for more than 100 years, TimkenSteel's proven expertise contributes to the performance of our customers' products. The company employs approximately 1,800 people and had sales of $1.3 billion in 2021. For more information, please visit us at www.timkensteel.com .

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can generally identify the company's forward-looking statements by words such as "will," "anticipate," "aspire," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "outlook," "intend," "may," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "seek," "target," "should," "would," "strategy," or "strategic direction" or other similar words, phrases or expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. The company cautions readers that actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the company due to a variety of factors, such as: the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company's operations and financial results, including cash flows and liquidity; whether the company is able to successfully implement actions designed to improve profitability on anticipated terms and timetables and whether the company is able to fully realize the expected benefits of such actions; deterioration in world economic conditions, or in economic conditions in any of the geographic regions in which the company conducts business, including additional adverse effects from global economic slowdown, terrorism or hostilities, including political risks associated with the potential instability of governments and legal systems in countries in which the company or its customers conduct business, and changes in currency valuations; climate-related risks, including environmental and severe weather caused by climate changes, and legislative and regulatory initiatives addressing global climate change or other environmental concerns; the effects of fluctuations in customer demand on sales, product mix and prices in the industries in which the company operates, including the ability of the company to respond to rapid changes in customer demand including but not limited to changes in customer operating schedules due to supply chain constraints, the effects of customer bankruptcies or liquidations, the impact of changes in industrial business cycles, and whether conditions of fair trade exist in U.S. markets; competitive factors, including changes in market penetration, increasing price competition by existing or new foreign and domestic competitors, the introduction of new products by existing and new competitors, and new technology that may impact the way the company's products are sold or distributed; changes in operating costs, including the effect of changes in the company's manufacturing processes, changes in costs associated with varying levels of operations and manufacturing capacity, availability of raw materials and energy, the company's ability to mitigate the impact of fluctuations in raw materials and energy costs and the effectiveness of its surcharge mechanism, changes in the expected costs associated with product warranty claims, changes resulting from inventory management, cost reduction initiatives and different levels of customer demands, the effects of unplanned work stoppages, and changes in the cost of labor and benefits; the success of the company's operating plans, announced programs, initiatives and capital investments, and the company's ability to maintain appropriate relations with the union that represents its associates in certain locations in order to avoid disruptions of business; unanticipated litigation, claims or assessments, including claims or problems related to intellectual property, product liability or warranty, employment matters, and environmental issues and taxes, among other matters; cyber-related risks, including information technology system failures, interruptions and security breaches; the company's ability to achieve its environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") goals, including its 2030 ESG goals; the availability of financing and interest rates, which affect the company's cost of funds and/or ability to raise capital, including the ability of the company to refinance or repay at maturity the convertible notes due December 1, 2025; the company's pension obligations and investment performance, and/or customer demand and the ability of customers to obtain financing to purchase the company's products or equipment that contain its products; the overall impact of pension and other postretirement benefit mark-to-market accounting; the effects of the conditional conversion feature of the convertible notes due December 1, 2025, which, if triggered, entitles holders to convert the notes at any time during specified periods at their option and therefore could result in potential dilution if the holder elects to convert and the company elects to satisfy a portion or all of the conversion obligation by delivering common shares instead of cash; and the impacts from any repurchases of our common shares, including the timing and amount of any repurchases. Further, this news release represents our current policy and intent and is not intended to create legal rights or obligations. Certain standards of measurement and performance contained in this news release are developing and based on assumptions, and no assurance can be given that any plan, objective, initiative, projection, goal, mission, commitment, expectation, or prospect set forth in this news release can or will be achieved. Inclusion of information in this news release is not an indication that the subject or information is material to our business or operating results.

Additional risks relating to the company's business, the industries in which the company operates, or the company's common shares may be described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. All of these risk factors are difficult to predict, are subject to material uncertainties that may affect actual results and may be beyond the company's control. Readers are cautioned that it is not possible to predict or identify all of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect future results and that the above list should not be considered to be a complete list. Except as required by the federal securities laws, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE TimkenSteel Corp.
Creators cite lack of fair compensation and reliability as challenges to industry growth

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tipalti, the leading automated global payables solution, today released a new study on the future of the Creator Economy and the challenges creators face as the industry matures. According to a survey of 750 creators from the U.S. and U.K., while a majority of people would like to pursue content creation as a full-time job, industry challenges such as being fairly and quickly paid for their work prevent them from doing so, which may ultimately impact the industry's ability to scale.

The global Creator Economy is valued at over $104 billion , with nearly 50 million people identifying as creators. Content creators are navigating one of the most complex economic environments of our time in an industry bereft with growing pains: specifically, how creators are compensated fairly for their work. Tipalti's report, conducted in partnership with Wakefield Research, identified that creators are optimistic for the future and see growth within their industry over the next five years, but there are common impediments to true prosperity that need to be addressed.

In the next five years, content creators predict growth within their industry.

Many content creators are optimistic about the maturation of the Creator Economy, anticipating an increased appetite for content and the professionalization of the space.

More than a quarter of creators (26%) are leaving a 9-5 job to focus on creating content full-time.

When asked about continued growth expectations within the industry, more than 2 in 5 creators (42%) predict companies will directly hire more content creators in the next five years, and 40% predict more people will start their own practice in the same time frame.

Nearly 2 in 5 (39%) predict content creators will establish professional associations to represent their interests, and 38% predict more graduates will pursue content creation as a career.

However, the Creator Economy risks stagnation if it does not address key concerns, including compensation.

While the desire to turn content creation into a full-time gig is there for most creators, major roadblocks are preventing them from making that a reality. The inability to get paid easily is holding back creators and ultimately impacting growth of the creator economy.

The majority of creators (90%) have experienced issues just getting paid.

41% have increased their rate to compensate for the late or incorrect paychecks hassle and 36% have had to hire someone to handle business-related tasks.

More than two thirds (70%) of creators agree that administrative tasks such as invoicing and payment prevents them from creating content for a living.

Nearly 83% of creators are less than completely confident in handling necessary, but complicated administrative tasks entirely on their own.

More than a third (35%) of content creators predict more people will leave the industry because they can't make enough money.

The industry needs to identify and incorporate solutions to help creators and streamline experiences.

Organizations working with content creators risk losing talent and brands risk losing content creators due to negative experiences. Ease of use, security, and timeliness are critical to creators as the industry continues to grow. Businesses that offer automated solutions will be able to better capitalize on the opportunities the Creator Economy offers by allowing their creators to focus on content, not admin.

Nearly 3 in 4 (72%) creators who earn revenue for content other than that which they create for their employer say automatic payments are important to growing their business.

The biggest obstacles creators face when dealing with getting paid include receiving payments from multiple platforms (30%); the time required for invoicing, tracking payments and resolving payment disputes (33%); being uncertain on how to fully monetize it (32%); and the tax implications of setting up a side business (32%).

When it comes to choosing a payment platform, the most common "must-have" is secure payments: it is the top requirement for more than 1 in 5 content creators (21%) and in the top three for 50%.

On-time payments is the second biggest requirement, with 47% of content creators listing it in their top three.

"With Covid and the Great Resignation, more and more people started to look at content creation as more than just a side-gig and saw the potential for it to be a full-time job. However, more than 80% of content creators surveyed identified they are not confident they can handle invoicing and payments on their own, stopping them from making the full-time leap into the Creator Economy," said Paco Sure, GM of Global Partner Payments at Tipalti. "Now's the time for the platforms that creators work with to invest in modern automated payable solutions to alleviate these concerns for creators and ensure the Creator Economy continues to grow rapidly."

Click here to access the full report.

Methodology

The Tipalti 2022 Trends in the Creator Economy report was conducted by Wakefield Research among 750 (500 U.S, 250 U.K.) "Content Creators" defined as writers, graphic designers, digital content creators, app developers, game developers, photographers, videographers, musicians and artists; it excludes Marketing, Advertising and PR roles. The survey was conducted in May 2022.

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.6 percentage points for the total, 4.4 percentage points in the United States and 6.2 percentage points in the United Kingdom from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

About Tipalti

Tipalti comes from the Hebrew expression for "We handled it." Tipalti is the only company handling both Global Partner Payments and Accounts Payable workflows for high-velocity companies across the entire financial operations cycle: onboarding and managing global suppliers, instituting procurement controls, streamlining invoice processing and approvals, executing payments around the world and reconciling payables data across a multi-subsidiary finance organization. Tipalti enables high-growth companies to scale quickly by making payables strategic with operational, compliance, and financial controls. Companies can efficiently and securely pay thousands of partners and suppliers in 196 countries within minutes. Thousands of companies, such as Amazon Twitch, GoDaddy, Roku, Wordpress.com, and ZipRecruiter use Tipalti to reduce operational workload by 80% and accelerate the financial close by 25%, while improving partner visibility and strengthening financial and spend controls. For more information, visit tipalti.com.

Contact:

Lisa Astor

650-319-8999

[email protected]

SOURCE Tipalti
New speculative building will be 150,574 square feet and strategically located near Interstate 40 at 98th Street

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan Development ("Titan") has broken ground on its first speculative building at Westpointe40, a business park located at I-40 and 98th Street in Albuquerque, New Mexico, containing 106-acres of shovel-ready sites. Building 1 is a Class A, institutional-grade facility with 150,574 square feet of space targeted for completion in the second quarter of 2023.

Westpointe40 will be ideally located within a one-minute drive of Interstate 40, a major thoroughfare for warehousing and distribution users, and Titan will target these users in addition to light manufacturing companies. Many major cities, including Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City, are within an eight-hour drive of Albuquerque, making the city and Westpointe40 an important hub for commerce. The park is also in close proximity to Interstate 25, Albuquerque International Airport and within close driving distance to most of the city's labor force.

Building 1 at Westpointe40 has been designed to accommodate a wide variety of warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing and services users, with a rear-load configuration, 32' clear height, dock-high and grade-level doors and ample trailer parking. The building is designed for users between 50,000 and 150,000 square feet, with 54,000 square feet pre-leased to an undisclosed tenant. Wilger Enterprises is the general contractor for the project, GBA is the architect, Tierra West is the civil engineer and Consensus Planning serves as an entitlement consultant. Riley McKee, Alex Pulliam, Jim Wible and Jim Hakeem of NAI SunVista are currently marketing the property for lease.

Titan's efforts at Westpointe40 follow its strong industrial successes over the last several years in the Texas markets of Austin and San Antonio where demand is surging. Titan has also received strong support and interest from the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance (AREA) in exploring options and opportunities to create new jobs for the community.

"Thirteen years ago, Titan, the city and county elected officials joined together to reach an agreement to address jurisdictional challenges, multiple landowners, ongoing zoning issues and neighborhood concerns, in order to allow this 106-acre area to be properly developed," said Kurt Browning, Partner at Titan Development. "This groundbreaking reflects the fulfillment of these efforts and the guidance and support of the late Councilor Ken Sanchez."

"I am thrilled to see the first piece of this industrial project come to fruition at Westpointe40, which will drive job growth for the Westside," said District 1 Albuquerque City Councilor Louie Sanchez. "The completion of the Daytona Road/Loop at Westpointe40 will also create a route for trucks to avoid the nearby neighborhood and improve overall quality of life for residents."

"With industrial vacancy rates at an all-time record low in Albuquerque, we know Westpointe40 is just one step in the right direction to creating an industrial hub in New Mexico," said Brian Patterson, PE and Senior Vice President at Titan.

"The first 54,000 square feet pre-leased not only demonstrates the strong demand for industrial space in our area, but also the trust that comes in developing with Titan," said Sal Perdomo, Director of Acquisitions and Development. "Titan's experience developing industrial buildings over the past twenty years gives confidence to potential tenants that a quality project will be delivered on time and on budget."

About Titan Development

Titan Development is a leading Southwest full-service development and real estate investment firm with proven returns, via diversified asset classes across varied geographic markets. Titan has completed more than $2.5 billion in project cost since the firm was formed in 1999. Titan Development has a wealth of real estate development experience in many asset classes including private equity fund investment and management, and has offices in Albuquerque, NM and Austin, TX.

Titan Development recently announced the close of its third fund, Titan Development Real Estate Fund III (TDREF III) at $122 million on May 12, 2022, continuing its successful strategy of focusing on multifamily and industrial investing in secondary and tertiary markets. Titan's previous fund, TDREF II, which raised $95 million, commenced in November of 2020, has identified all fund projects and is investing in 13 projects in TX, NM, CO and CA. Titan's inaugural fund, TDREF I, raised $112 million and invested in a variety of real estate asset classes.

To learn more, please visit www.titan-development.com.

Media contacts:

Lisa Baker, Lambert

[email protected]

603.868.1967

Megan Bowman, Lambert

[email protected]

616.780.1610

SOURCE Titan Development
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - (NYSE: UEC) ("UEC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has filed a Technical Report Summary ("TRS") on EDGAR, disclosing mineral resources for the Company's Anderson Project in Arizona (the "Project").

Background:

As a U.S. domestic and domiciled company, UEC is now reporting all mineral resources in accordance with Item 1302 of Regulation S-K ("S-K 1300");

S-K 1300 was adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to modernize mineral property disclosure requirements for mining registrants and to align U.S. disclosure requirements more closely for mineral properties with current industry and global regulatory standards;

The mineral resource estimates set forth in this TRS have not previously been reported under the S-K 1300 format; and

The Anderson Project is the largest uranium deposit in the State of Arizona and ranks among the largest U.S. deposits in states that support uranium mining.

Total disclosed Indicated Resources for the Anderson Project is stated at 32,055,000 lbs. eU 3 O 8 with 16,175,000 tons grading 0.099% eU 3 O 8 . Drill data from 1,175 drill holes was used in the current mineral resource estimate.

The TRS was prepared under S-K 1300 and was filed on July 12, 2022 with the SEC through EDGAR on Form 8-K and is also available on SEDAR as a "Material Document" filed on July 12, 2022. The TRS was prepared on behalf of the Company by Douglas L. Beahm, P.E., P.G., Principal Engineer of BRS Engineering, and by Clyde L. Yancey, P.G., Vice President of Exploration of UEC.

Amir Adnani, President and CEO stated: "We are very pleased with this update of the Company's former NI-43 101 resources into fully compliant S-K 1300 resources for our Anderson Project and to see resources move up from the Inferred category to the Indicated category. America's uranium resources are becoming increasingly important for utility and government buyers looking for reliable supplies from stable U.S. jurisdictions. The Anderson Project is an important asset in UEC's project pipeline that will be available to supply the longer term needs of utilities and the Federal government seeking U.S. supply assurance."

About the Anderson Project

The Project is located in Yavapai County, west-central Arizona, approximately 75 miles northwest of Phoenix and 43 miles northwest of Wickenburg, Arizona. The general area is situated along the northeast margin of the Date Creek Basin. The planned mining method for the Project is by a combination of open-pit and underground conventional mining. The Project covers 8,268 acres (12.9 square miles) and is comprised of 386 contiguous, unpatented lode mining and placer claims and one Arizona State land section. The northern section of the Anderson Project area holds the open-pit resource, and the adjacent southern section holds the underground resource.

The Project is located along the northeast margin of the Date Creek Basin of the Basin and Range Province of the western United States. Uranium mineralization is strata bound and occurs exclusively in the sequence of Miocene-age lacustrine lakebed sediments. The lacustrine sediments unconformably overlie the andesitic volcanic unit over most of the Project.

The area was discovered by radiometric surveys at outcrop in the 1950s, and 10,758 tons of material containing 33,230 pounds of uranium at a grade of 0.15 % eU 3 O 8 was mined and shipped to the Atomic Energy Commission buying stations prior to 1960.

Within the Project area, drill data from 1,175 drill holes was used in the current mineral resource estimate, including hole location and radiometric equivalent data in 0.5 foot downhole increments. The Company has not completed any drilling on the Anderson Project since acquisition.

Mineral Resources

Estimated indicated mineral resources are summarized in following table at a 0.02% eU 3 O 8 grade cutoff and a 0.1 ft % GT cutoff. Mineral resources were estimated separately for each mineralized zone. The total contained mineralized material was first estimated, then reasonable prospects for economic extraction were applied.

Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. However, considerations of reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction were applied to the mineral resource calculations herein.

Mineral Resource Estimates (0.1% Sum GT Cutoff) Tons (millions) Average Sum

Thickness (ft) Average

Grade

(%eU3O8) Pounds

eU3O8

(millions) Resource Zone A Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 0.862 3.8 0.111 1.907 Resource Zone B Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 7.347 9.5 0.108 15.816 Resource Zone C Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 6.211 10.4 0.094 11.730 Resource Zone D Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 0.760 3.2 0.093 1.421 Resource Zone E Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 0.911 7.6 0.060 1.095 Resource Zone F Reasonably Extractable Indicated Resource 0.084 4.6 0.051 0.086 ALL ZONES GRAND TOTALS Extractable Indicated Resource 16.175 8.2 0.099 32.055 Notes: 1. Mineral Resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. 2. Economic factors have been applied to the estimates in consideration of reasonable prospects for economic extraction. 3. Totals may not add due to rounding.

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed by each of Douglas L. Beahm, P.E., P.G., Principal Engineer of BRS Engineering, and Clyde L. Yancey, P.G., Vice President of Exploration of UEC, being Qualified Persons under Item 1302 of Regulation S-K.

About Uranium Energy Corp

Uranium Energy Corp is America's leading, fastest growing, uranium mining company listed on the NYSE American. UEC is a pure play uranium company and is advancing the next generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly In-Situ Recovery (ISR) mining uranium projects. The Company has two production ready ISR hub and spoke platforms in South Texas and Wyoming, anchored by fully licensed and operational processing capacity at the Hobson and Irigaray plants. UEC also has seven U.S. ISR uranium projects with all of their major permits in place. Additionally, the Company has other diversified holdings of uranium assets, including: (1) one of the largest physical uranium portfolios of U.S. warehoused U 3 O 8 ; (2) a major equity stake in the only royalty company in the sector, Uranium Royalty Corp.; and (3) a pipeline of resource-stage uranium projects in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Paraguay. The Company's operations are managed by professionals with a recognized profile for excellence in their industry, a profile based on many decades of hands-on experience in the key facets of uranium exploration, development and mining.

Stock Exchange Information:

NYSE American: UEC

WKN: AJDRR

ISN: US916896103

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" as such term is used in applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans, "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as "forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this news release and in any document referred to in this news release. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and that could impact the Company and the statements contained in this news release can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

SOURCE Uranium Energy Corp
Read Our Sample Report

According to the report, the market will observe an incremental growth of USD 10.11 billion between 2021 and 2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 10.37% during the forecast period.

The global transactional and marketing emails market is fragmented because of the presence of several global and regional vendors. Global vendors have already established a strong foothold in the market due to the extensive range of their flagship services. Global suppliers are concentrating more on innovation and technical developments to remain competitive in the industry in terms of brand, quality, and dependability. Some vendors are focused on increasing their global reach and improving their product offerings to increase their consumer base. Vendors are also strengthening their customer base by enhancing their product offerings and expanding their geographic reach.

Factors such as the growing focus on engaging the audience through email marketing, high return on investments and cost-effectiveness of email campaigns, and the growth in email users will offer immense growth opportunities. In addition, market trends such as the growing use of interactive elements in marketing emails will further increase the growth opportunities for vendors. However, the presence of stringent user data protection regulations, frequent changes in email filters, and the need for frequent product customization and upgradation will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

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Transactional and Marketing Emails Market 2022-2026: Segmentation

The global transactional and marketing emails market is segmented as below:

Application

Transactions



Marketing

The transactions segment accounted for the largest share of the market. The segment is driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of online purchases and payment gateways and digitization in the banking and financial sector. The market growth in the segment will be significant during the forecast period.

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



South America



The Middle East and Africa

The market will observe significant growth in APAC. About 32% of the overall market share will originate from the region during the forecast period. The growth of the regional market can be attributed to the growth in the number of SMEs and large enterprises in the region and the presence of a large customer base that uses email every day. In addition, the digitization of the banking and finance sector in the region will have a positive impact on the growth of the transactional and marketing emails market in APAC during the forecast period.

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our transactional and marketing emails market report covers the following areas:

Transactional and Marketing Emails Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the transactional and marketing emails market. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research report on the transactional and marketing emails market is designed to provide entry support, customer profile, and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Transactional and Marketing Emails Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist transactional and marketing emails market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the transactional and marketing emails market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the transactional and marketing emails market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of transactional and marketing emails market vendors

Related Reports:

Transactional and Marketing Emails Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.37% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 10.11 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 10.02 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 32% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, UK, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AC PM LLC, Amazon.com Inc., Constant Contact Inc., DMi Partners Inc., Elastic Email Inc., Ignite Visibility LLC, Inbox Army LLC, Intuit Inc., MailerSend Inc., Mailgun Technologies Inc., MH Digital Consulting Group LLC, Netcore Cloud Pvt. Ltd., Oracle Corp., Pepipost, SAP SE, Sendinblue SAS, Sinch AB, SmartMail, Technetto Email Marketing, and Twilio Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Application

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Application

5.3 Transactions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Transactions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Transactions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Transactions - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Transactions - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Marketing - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Marketing - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Marketing - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Marketing - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Marketing - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.14 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Amazon.com Inc.

Exhibit 93: Amazon.com Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 94: Amazon.com Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 95: Amazon.com Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 96: Amazon.com Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 97: Amazon.com Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Constant Contact Inc.

Exhibit 98: Constant Contact Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 99: Constant Contact Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 100: Constant Contact Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 Inbox Army LLC

Exhibit 101: Inbox Army LLC - Overview



Exhibit 102: Inbox Army LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 103: Inbox Army LLC - Key offerings

10.6 Intuit Inc.

Exhibit 104: Intuit Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Intuit Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 106: Intuit Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 107: Intuit Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Mailgun Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 108: Mailgun Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 109: Mailgun Technologies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: Mailgun Technologies Inc. - Key offerings

10.8 Netcore Cloud Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 111: Netcore Cloud Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Netcore Cloud Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 113: Netcore Cloud Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Oracle Corp.

Exhibit 114: Oracle Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 115: Oracle Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 116: Oracle Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 117: Oracle Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Oracle Corp. - Segment focus

10.10 SAP SE

Exhibit 119: SAP SE - Overview



Exhibit 120: SAP SE - Business segments



Exhibit 121: SAP SE - Key news



Exhibit 122: SAP SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: SAP SE - Segment focus

10.11 Sendinblue SAS

Exhibit 124: Sendinblue SAS - Overview



Exhibit 125: Sendinblue SAS - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: Sendinblue SAS - Key offerings

10.12 Twilio Inc.

Exhibit 127: Twilio Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Twilio Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: Twilio Inc. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 130: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 131: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 132: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 133: Research methodology



Exhibit 134: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 135: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 136: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
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According to the report, the market will observe an incremental growth of USD 33.97 trillion, accelerating at a CAGR of 8.40% during the forecast period.

The IT spending market in Southeast Asia is fragmented with the presence of several global and regional vendors. The dynamically changing consumer requirements are encouraging vendors to develop new solutions to meet the demands of consumers. Existing vendors in the market are continuously investing in R&D to advance their offerings and increase their consumer base. On the other hand, several new players are expected to enter the market during the forecast period with innovative solutions. This is increasing the competition among market vendors.

Factors such as increased adoption of mobility solutions in Southeast Asia, the rise of IoT solutions, and the proliferation of data will offer immense growth opportunities. In addition, market trends such as the growth of big data and analytics services will further accelerate the growth of the market. However, the lack of skilled talent and retention of the talent pool, lack of security in cloud computing, and system integration and interoperability issues will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Request a Sample Report Now

IT Spending Market in Southeast Asia 2022-2026: Segmentation

The IT spending market in Southeast Asia is segmented as below:

Type

Hardware



Services



Software

The hardware segment will have the largest share of the market during the forecast period. The growing adoption of VoLTE and 4G standards by telecom operators is encouraging consumers to upgrade their phones, causing an increase in the demand for phones equipped with VoLTE and 4G technologies. In addition, the increasing investments in 5G services are contributing to the growth of the segment.

Geography

Malaysia



Singapore



Thailand



Indonesia



Rest Of Southeast Asia

Malaysia will be the key market for IT spending in Southeast Asia during the forecast period. Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our IT spending market in Southeast Asia report covers the following areas:

IT Spending Market in Southeast Asia 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the IT spending market in Southeast Asia. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research report on the IT spending market in Southeast Asia is designed to provide entry support, customer profile, and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

IT Spending Market in Southeast Asia 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist IT spending market growth in Southeast Asia during the next five years

during the next five years Estimation of the IT spending market size in Southeast Asia and its contribution to the parent market

and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the IT spending market in Southeast Asia

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of IT spending market vendors in Southeast Asia

Related Reports:

IT Spending Market In Southeast Asia Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.4% Market growth 2022-2026 33.97 USD Tn Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.78 Regional analysis Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Rest of Southeast Asia Performing market contribution Southeast Asia at 100% Key consumer countries Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Rest of Southeast Asia Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Accenture Plc, Acer Inc., Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc., ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Broadcom Inc., Capgemini Service SAS, Cisco Systems Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Dell Technologies Inc., HCL Technologies Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SAP SE, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table Of Contents :

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Country Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Southeast Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 14: Data Table on Regional - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Southeast Asia : Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 16: Data Table on Regional - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Type

5.3 Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Type ($ billion)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography - 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography - 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 Malaysia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Malaysia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Malaysia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Malaysia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Malaysia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Singapore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Singapore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Singapore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Singapore - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Singapore - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Thailand - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Thailand - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Thailand - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Thailand - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Thailand - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Indonesia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Indonesia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Indonesia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Indonesia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Indonesia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Rest of Southeast Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Rest of Southeast Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Rest of Southeast Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Rest of Southeast Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Rest of Southeast Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 66: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 67: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 68: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 69: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 70: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 71: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 72: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Accenture Plc

Exhibit 73: Accenture Plc - Overview



Exhibit 74: Accenture Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 75: Accenture Plc - Key news



Exhibit 76: Accenture Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 77: Accenture Plc - Segment focus

10.4 Alphabet Inc.

Exhibit 78: Alphabet Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 79: Alphabet Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 80: Alphabet Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 81: Alphabet Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 82: Alphabet Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 Apple Inc.

Exhibit 83: Apple Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 84: Apple Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 85: Apple Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 86: Apple Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 87: Apple Inc. - Segment focus

10.6 Dell Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 88: Dell Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 89: Dell Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 90: Dell Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 91: Dell Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 92: Dell Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Exhibit 93: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Overview



Exhibit 94: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 95: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Key news



Exhibit 96: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 97: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Segment focus

10.8 International Business Machines Corp.

Exhibit 98: International Business Machines Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 99: International Business Machines Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 100: International Business Machines Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 101: International Business Machines Corp. - Segment focus

10.9 Microsoft Corp.

Exhibit 102: Microsoft Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 103: Microsoft Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 104: Microsoft Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 105: Microsoft Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 106: Microsoft Corp. - Segment focus

10.10 Oracle Corp.

Exhibit 107: Oracle Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 108: Oracle Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 109: Oracle Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 110: Oracle Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 111: Oracle Corp. - Segment focus

10.11 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 112: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

10.12 SAP SE

Exhibit 117: SAP SE - Overview



Exhibit 118: SAP SE - Business segments



Exhibit 119: SAP SE - Key news



Exhibit 120: SAP SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 121: SAP SE - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 122: Inclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 123: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 124: Research methodology



Exhibit 125: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 126: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 127: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Veriff, a global identity verification provider, today announced that it now supports Arabic identity documents for identity verification that use the Arabic alphabet. Currently, the Arabic documents supported include Egyptian ID, Saudi ID and Saudi residence permit; this will be expanded to additional documents in the near future.

The Arabic document support for our clients gives wider access to commonly used identity documents and supporting users who were previously unable to be verified because their identity documents feature personal data, such as names, written only in Arabic characters. Now, with Veriff they can go through the IDV process seamlessly with documents where the Arabic alphabet is used.

Aryna Dashkovskaya, Product Manager at Veriff said, "We at Veriff want to support businesses expanding globally and verifying as many potential customers as possible. Therefore we're always pushing to add new languages and documents to our flow. The Arabic document update is a huge advantage for potential customers who couldn't previously get verified with Veriff."

Veriff strives to be the global solution to online identity verification, and continues to expand its offerings to make it possible for all businesses and users to safely live online. Veriff's intelligent decision engine can analyze thousands of technological and behavioral variables in seconds, matching people to more than 10,200 government-issued IDs from over 190 countries. Veriff's verification flow is available in 45 languages, making identity verification service available in more languages than competition in the industry.

About Veriff

Veriff is a global online identity verification company that enables organizations to build trust with their customers through intelligent, accurate, and automated online IDV. Founded in 2015, Veriff serves a global portfolio of organizations across financial services, crypto, gaming and mobility sectors. Veriff's clients include Blockchain, Bolt, Deel, Starship, Trustpilot, Uphold, Wise and others. Veriff's latest $100 million investment round brings its total funding to $200M and its valuation to $1.5B. Veriff's investors include Tiger Capital, Alkeon, IVP, Accel, Mosaic Ventures, Y Combinator, Nordic Ninja and others. With teams in the U.S., UK, Spain and Estonia, Veriff employs over 500 people from 56 different nationalities. To learn more, visit www.veriff.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1654545/Veriff_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Veriff
LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Garrett Thierry has joined the team at Vision Films, Inc. as the new Director of Global Digital Distribution and Marketing to accommodate the company's ongoing expansion into the world of Global VOD. He will work directly with CEO/Managing Director Lise Romanoff. Vision Films is a leading independent worldwide sales and VOD aggregator specializing in the distribution, licensing, and marketing of over 800 feature films and documentaries.

Garrett Thierry, Vision Films' Director of Global Digital Distribution & Marketing

Thierry comes to Vision from Savant Artists where he was previously a partner. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Marketing Management from Wayne State University with a dual concentration in Information Systems and Global Supply Chain Management. In addition, he has accumulated numerous course credits from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles.

"Vision is looking forward to Garrett sharing his impressive business knowledge and organizational skills with our established team. The world of VOD is changing so fast, it takes 'out of the box' thinking and creativity to keep up. We are confident that our extensive catalog of films, that includes new releases and our library, will benefit long-term under his guidance," shares Romanoff.

Thierry will lead the effort with on-going movie acquisition and platform expansion. He succeeds Kristen Bedno who has been with the company for the past 3  years and who is moving on to pursue other endeavors.

About Vision Films

Vision Films is a leading independent sales and VOD aggregator specializing in the licensing, marketing, and distribution of over 800 feature films, documentaries, and series from some of the most prolific independent film producers in the world. Led by Lise Romanoff, Managing Director/CEO Worldwide Distribution, Vision Films releases 2-4 films a month across Theatrical, VOD, DVD, and television platforms. visionfilms.net

Media Contact:

Andrea McKinnon

[email protected]

(818) 415-9442

SOURCE Vision Films, Inc.
Company Now Has Ten Coil Coating Lines in North America

PITTSBURGH, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VORTEQ Coil Finishers (VORTEQ or the Company), a leading provider of coil coating services for aluminum and steel products, today announced the acquisition of the coil coating assets owned by Almexa Alumino S.A. DE C.V. (Almexa). As part of the transaction, the former Almexa coil coating operation, located in Mexico City, will be renamed VORTEQ Mexico. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

This transaction becomes the fourth add-on acquisition for VORTEQ in the last six years. Now operating ten continuous coil coating lines, VORTEQ offers the broadest geographical reach in the pre-painted metals industry for a wide range of metal products and multiple end use markets across North America.

"The addition of VORTEQ Mexico will drive significant growth for us, much like our highly successful acquisitions completed in 2016, 2018, and 2019," says Jim Dockey, VORTEQ's Chief Executive Officer. "The transaction will add incremental capacity, additional capabilities, and geographic reach to our extensive North American footprint. Additionally, it also fortifies VORTEQ's long-term strategic alliance with Almexa as the exclusive channel to the U.S. market for Almexa's 3105 common alloy coil, which now can be painted by VORTEQ in Mexico."

Matt Homme, Managing Partner of Shadowbriar Capital Partners (Shadowbriar) adds, "The Almexa transaction is a highly compelling acquisition for VORTEQ, further strengthening the Company's North American leadership position in aluminum coil coating. Shadowbriar will continue to support the outstanding VORTEQ team as the Company looks to further deepen its processing capabilities, geographical reach, and strategic partnerships."

About VORTEQ Coil Finishers

Since 1982, VORTEQ has been a trusted American source for quality coil coated steel and aluminum. With ten distinctly different coil coating lines strategically located in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, California and Mexico City, VORTEQ differentiates itself by offering a broad range of metal coil coating services to the industry. VORTEQ works with customers in diverse markets to offer industry specific services including wide and narrow coil coating, printing, slitting and embossing for a diverse range of building products, transportation, automotive, signage, energy and lighting end markets. For further information about VORTEQ, please visit www.vorteqcoil.com .

About Shadowbriar Capital Partners

Shadowbriar is a Los Angeles based private equity firm that seeks to make control investments in leading lower middle-market industrial businesses that demonstrate strong potential. Shadowbriar looks to partner with outstanding management teams on a long-term basis to drive significant growth, both organically and through post-closing add-on acquisitions. For more information on Shadowbriar, please visit www.shadowbriar.com .

Media contact:

Sunny Flynn

[email protected]

SOURCE Vorteq
Lease, Renewal Conversion Automation rolled out at 52 Western Wealth apartment communities

PHOENIX, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nurture Boss , a premier lease conversion automation tool that provides marketing solutions for the multifamily industry, today announced it has rolled out its Lease and Renewal Conversion Automation across Western Wealth Communities ' entire portfolio.

Western Wealth Communities, headquartered in Phoenix, is an apartment management company with 52 apartment communities under management. After piloting Nurture Boss' Lease Conversion Automation platform at three of its communities and experiencing tremendous results, Western Wealth has expanded the use of Nurture Boss' Lease and Renewal Conversion Automation across its entire portfolio.

"Most renters are searching for their next apartment home online and expect a customer journey that caters to them on a personal level and engages with them right off the bat," said Jacob Carter, CEO of Nurture Boss. "In conjunction with a CRM, Nurture Boss' Lease Conversion Automation provides a seamless method of gathering necessary information to reach customers with hyper-personalized messaging at all of the right times throughout their journey to increase the likelihood of them signing a lease."

Through Nurture Boss' Lease Conversion Automation, prospective residents are contacted during the early stages of the leasing process with hyper-personalized information pertaining to their individual needs. Lease Conversion Automation nurtures every lead by automating timely, consistent and personalized follow-up messaging via the customers' preferred method of communication and provides an optimal number of touchpoints to make a confident decision.

"Nurture Boss' Lease Conversion Automation was something different than we had seen in the marketplace," said Jennifer Staciokas, executive managing director of property management at Western Wealth Communities. "We were looking for automation that could provide more value not only to our customers, but also to our onsite teams. The personalized and consistent communication Nurture Boss provides not only keeps customers engaged throughout their apartment search with the essential information they need, but it also helps keep our onsite teams focused on the high-level actions they need to close leases at a higher rate."

In addition to utilizing Lease Conversion Automation, Western Wealth also integrated Nurture Boss' Renewal Conversion Automation to continue enhancing the resident experience while decreasing delinquencies and increasing renewals.

"We are thrilled that our automation tools add such value to Western Wealth's leasing strategies," Carter said. "Enhancing the customer experience begins the moment a prospective resident inquires about a community, but it doesn't end there. Better lead nurturing truly enhances the overall customer experience and increases resident satisfaction. That customer experience is a pivotal deciding factor for many modern renters."

About Nurture Boss

Nurture Boss operationalizes CRMs with data-powered Lease and Renewal Conversion Automation and helps apartment operators orchestrate marketing efforts into a cohesive strategy. Lease and Renewal Conversion Automation means automating all follow up and communication with prospects and residents to ensure each customer receives the right message at the right time. Nurture Boss identifies hot leads, schedules more tours, gets more applications and signs more leases with Lease Conversion Automation. Nurture Boss' Renewal Conversion Automation creates a better move-in experience, drives more resident referrals, captures more online reviews and achieves more renewals. For more information, visit nurtureboss.io .

About Western Wealth

Western Wealth Communities provide efficient operations with proven systems focused on delivering a best-in-class living environment and enhanced resident experience. As a people-first company, Western Wealth strives to cultivate a company culture that provides opportunities for team members to succeed and grow just as much as it wants residents to feel proud to call its communities home. From property improvement, maintenance, management and resident satisfaction, Western Wealth Communities is changing the way it's done. For more information, visit westernwealthcommunities.com .

SOURCE Nurture Boss
Their mission is to create an unbiased, community-driven source for CBD product data

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WhyReviewsan emerging authority in CBD research, today launched a proprietary review platform to accurately define the benefits of CBD. The company is focusing initial efforts on collecting reviews spanning thousands of products of popular CBD brands.

WhyReviews has created a standardized review form developed in collaboration with industry experts. They aim to develop a more holistic understanding of the specific benefits of individual CBD products.

WhyReviews is working closely with Realm of Caring Foundation (RoC), well known for their research-based education on hemp, CBD, and medical cannabis. RoC's Care Team has served more than 67,000 clients and medical professionals worldwide. Through its collaboration with RoC, WhyReviews has adopted a science-based approach to data collection. The review form was developed in close collaboration with CBD research experts.

Consumer interest in CBD is growing rapidly, even though there is confusion about CBD's specific benefits. WhyReviews aims to answer important questions about CBD to empower consumers to choose the best CBD products for their needs. WhyReviews will also offer 360 degree customer feedback to CDB producers to help create more effective products.

WhyReviews plans to launch a consumer-facing website later in 2022, including product reviews, useful and interesting analytical insights, as well as resources to help consumers. CBD consumers can complete the review form here: https://svy.q-oasis.com/uQpUBAA2?src=pr

About WhyReviews

WhyReview's was founded with the mission of creating the #1 source for honest, unbiased CBD product reviews. Through the use of science-based research tools and methods, WhyReviews aims to empower consumers to choose the best CBD products for their needs. To learn more, visit https://whyreviews.info/

About Realm of Caring Foundation

Founded in 2013, Realm of Caring (RoC) is an independent 501c3 non-profit organization who serves anyone in need of more information about cannabinoid therapies. Through revolutionary research, innovative education, and empowering global community connections, RoC seeks to facilitate and encourage the mainstream acceptance of transformative, plant-powered therapies to benefit individuals and families and serve healthcare providers as well as the hemp and cannabis industries. Since becoming a formal non-profit in 2013, RoC has cherished a vision that has remained unchanged: the belief that the quality of life matters. To learn more or to donate to this cause, visit www.realmofcaring.org or call 1-888-210-3772.

SOURCE WhyReviews
Health supplement brand joins as event partner of the largest action-sports festival in Southern California

IRVINE, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Youtheory and the World Surf League (WSL) announced today their partnership for the VANS US Open of Surfing Event in Huntington Beach, California this year. The award-winning supplement brand is keen to have a strong relationship with the WSL in order to promote a more balanced and healthy lifestyle to fans and athletes alike.

"Youtheory is beyond excited to be partnering with the World Surf League for our shared vision in health and wellness," said CEO, Darren Rude. "We've always been big fans of surfing and how surf culture embraces the mind-body-spirit lifestyle, so when the opportunity came along for us to team up it was a no-brainer."

"We are excited to welcome Youtheory and their incredible line of health and wellness supplements to the World Surf League and the VANS US Open of Surfing," said Cherie Cohen, WSL Chief Revenue Officer. "We know how important mental and physical health is, and we are thrilled to partner together with Youtheory to promote these benefits to our athletes and fans."

WSL fans will be introduced to the Youtheory brand through displays and signage at the Huntington Beach Challenger Series event.

A leading brand in wellness, Youtheory offers an array of supplements to boost internal health including its award-winning collagen, turmeric, and ashwagandha products. The collagen line helps boost protein intake, supports tendons and ligaments, and fight the effects of aging, ideal for any athlete. Additionally, Youtheory Turmeric supports healthy inflammation response and antioxidant action to aid in quick recovery. And lastly, Youtheory ashwagandha helps relieve modern stress naturally.

All Youtheory products are created with the utmost integrity, authenticity, and quality. Youtheory is sold online and in 60,000+ retailers worldwide, including Canada, China, Dubai, France, Iceland, Japan, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States.

About Youtheory

Youtheory is a Southern California based lifestyle brand on a mission to inspire wellness in all. Our goal is to develop pure, safe, and innovative supplements that improve one's health, beauty and overall well-being. We believe that our products are only as good as our ingredients, so we travel the world to source the highest quality raw material from the places where they are cultivated best. From farm to shelf, we're committed to best-in-class manufacturing processes, guarantee purity, potency and traceability of every product that is made and put on the retail shelf. Learn more at youtheory.com

About the WSL

The World Surf League (WSL) is the global home of competitive surfing, crowning the undisputed World Champions since 1976 and showcasing the world's best surfers on the world's best waves. WSL is comprised of the Tours and Competition division, which oversees and operates more than 180 global competitions each year; WSL WaveCo, home of the world's largest high-performance, human-made wave; and WSL Studios, an independent producer of unscripted and scripted projects.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com .

[email protected]

SOURCE Youtheory
Will help law enforcement strengthen response tactics for Hobbs Municipal School District (NM), Rancocas Valley Regional HS (NJ), South Side Area School District (PA)

PHILADELPHIA, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZeroEyes, Inc., creators of the only A.I.-based platform focused on weapons detection that holds the US Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act Designation, today announced a roadshow to support active shooter training events at multiple U.S. schools. The company will conduct demonstrations and discussion sessions to educate schools and law enforcement on how to prepare for and respond to active shooter scenarios by leveraging A.I. gun detection software supported by real-time threat intelligence.

Save Time and Save Lives with ZeroEyes A.I. Gun Detection Solution

ZeroEyes is planning training events with several schools, and will begin its roadshow at the following locations:

Hobbs Municipal School District ( Hobbs, NM ) - July 20

) - South Side Area School District ( Beaver County, PA ) - July 28

) - Rancocas Valley Regional High School ( Mt. Holly, NJ ) - August 17

The Gun Violence Archive has recorded more than 300 mass shootings in 2022, averaging 1.7 mass shootings a day. School districts remain a prime target, as evidenced by the recent shooting in Uvalde, TX. Active shooter training events are designed to improve active shooter prevention tactics and boost first responder and police response to future gun threats.

As part of the drills, law enforcement will test their response times for real-world active shooter scenarios both with and without the ZeroEyes platform. Additional school districts and businesses will be invited to attend lunch and learn sessions, hear law enforcement speak about ZeroEyes' technology, and see a demonstration of the platform.

"When we conducted an active shooter drill in 2019, it took law enforcement three minutes to reach the active shooter without ZeroEyes, and only 30 seconds with ZeroEyes," said Dr. Christopher Heilig, Superintendent, Rancocas Valley Regional High School. "ZeroEyes provides invaluable situational intelligence that helps first responders rapidly locate the person with the weapon and minimize casualties."

ZeroEyes' A.I. gun detection platform integrates with existing security cameras and utilizes hundreds of thousands of proprietary images to detect the brandishing of a gun and alert a potential gun threat. The gun detection is then sent to the ZeroEyes Operation Center (ZOC) for human verification, and a timestamp, keyframe image, and location are dispatched over desktop and mobile applications to faculty, staff and first responders within 3-5 seconds.

"I believe ZeroEyes to be a response multiplier that allows students and staff to remain safe and respond quicker when an individual decides to carry out an attack," said Gene Strickland, Superintendent, Hobbs Municipal Schools. "ZeroEyes performs as billed and is an essential component of our Safety and Security Ecosystem within Hobbs Municipal Schools."

"ZeroEyes is an integral and central part of our proactive approach to school security," said Alan R. Fritz, Jr., Superintendent, South Side Area School District. "In the event of an emergency, time is of the essence and the AI technology provided by the ZeroEyes system provides us with extra time to deploy our security measures."

"Our research has found that the average police response time for an active shooter event is approximately twelve minutes," said Mike Lahiff, CEO and co-founder of ZeroEyes. "When it comes to saving lives, response time is crucial and can have a significant impact on lives saved. By participating in active shooter training events across the U.S., we hope to demonstrate how threat intelligence provided by ZeroEyes can help schools and law enforcement respond to gun-related threats more swiftly and efficiently."

Learn more about ZeroEyes and its mission to mitigate gun violence by visiting ZeroEyes.com.

About ZeroEyes

ZeroEyes delivers a proactive, human-verified A.I. gun detection software solution that integrates into existing security cameras and mitigates mass shootings and gun-related violence by reducing response times, providing actionable intelligence with images and delivering clarity among chaos  ultimately saving lives. ZeroEyes has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a promising anti-terrorism technology and is the first video analytics technology to receive SAFETY Act DT&E Designation.

Founded by Navy SEALs and Special Operations military veterans, ZeroEyes delivers accurate and real-time actionable intelligence about the brandishing of a gun near or in an occupied area or building, to local staff and law enforcement with an image of the shooter(s) and location of the threat, within 3 to 5 seconds from the moment the gun is detected. The ZeroEyes team also provides tech consulting, installation assistance and practice drills for active shooter events to enhance safety at schools, corporate and government facilities. Headquartered in the Greater Philadelphia area, the company's affordable and effective gun detection solution has been adopted by the US Department of Defense, leading public K-12 school districts, colleges/universities, commercial property groups, manufacturing plants, Fortune 500 corporate campuses, shopping malls, big-box retail stores and more. Learn more about ZeroEyes at ZeroEyes.com.

SOURCE ZeroEyes
Plant will be Powerhouse's first outside UK

Powerhouse Energy Group PLC (AIM:PHE, ETR:BT81) (PHE) and its partner Hydrogen Utopia (HUI) are proposing jointly to develop a waste plastic to hydrogen facility at Lanespark in Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

Once developed, it would be PHE's first such operational full-scale facility outside of the UK.

Keith Riley, Powerhouses interim chairman said: "This is an important strategic step forward".

"Not only does it provide a new project for Powerhouse's hydrogen production technology, but it also represents our first major project outside the UK, and the first time Powerhouse has been party to the special purpose vehicle that will develop and construct the facility."

Initially, Powerhouse will pay HUI a non-refundable 400,000 in cash along with a loan of 600,000 in recognition of HUI's contribution to date to the Lanespark Project with development costs subsequently split 50:50.

"Lanespark, which encompasses a suitable site in an EU Just Transition Fund region, would provide potential access to an investment-grade plastic feedstock supplier and the potential to agree on offtake for the facility's anticipated hydrogen and syngas outputs," said the statement.

Definite contracts are still to be signed, while the development also needs the site owner to agree to an equity stake for the joint venture.

Powerhouse added that its exclusive deal with HUIs UK arm will also end if Lanespark goes ahead, leaving it free to enter developments with other parties.

Paul Drennan-Durose, chief executive, said: "Powerhouse Energy must create a quality of choice on projects. In this early stage of commercialisation there is a need to consider the unusual, and to have a more flexible business model.


ValiRx PLC (AIM:VAL), the life science company focusing on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women's health, is in demand after its latest update.

The company said a project subject to an evaluation agreement announced on 16 September 2021 had been successfully completed, and it has told the academic team and IP & Licensing team at King's College London that it wishes to proceed to full in-licensing.

The project was evaluated to confirm the impact of a peptide drug candidate against triple negative breast cancer.

Commercial terms for progression have been pre-negotiated with King's so the project will be placed into a subsidiary of ValiRx for the next stage of development.

Dr Suzy Dilly, ValiRx chief executive, said: "It's a really exciting step to confirm the first of our projects progressing from evaluation stage to full in-licensing."

ValiRx shares have jumped 25.58% to 13.5p.

3.09pm: ADM Energy soars after deal involving Aje field in Nigeria

ADM Energy PLC (AIM:ADME, ETR:P4JC) has seen its shares nearly double after a deal involving a block in Nigeria where it holds a stake.

PetroNor E&P Limited is buying an economic interest of 12.19% in OML 113 , which contains the Aje oil and gas field, for up to US$26.67mln from Panoro Energy.

ADM Energy holds a 9.2% profit interest in the Aje field in OML 113.

Osamede Okhomina, chief executive of ADM Energy, said: "The conclusion of PetroNor's acquisition of Panoro's interest in OML 113 marks a significant event for the joint venture as it now allows us to further concentrate on accelerating the development plans for Aje. PetroNor's decision to acquire a stake in the Aje field is a strong endorsement of the quality and considerable potential of the asset and we look forward to working with them to take Aje to the next stage."

ADM is up 78.57% to 1.25p.

12.16pm: CMO loses half its value after weaker than expected growth

CMO Group PLC (AIM:CMO) the online-only retailer of building materials, has seen its shares crumble after it forecasts weaker growth than previously expected.

It now anticipates full year revenues will grow from 76.3mln in 2021 to not less than 86mln but adjusted earnings are likely to be flat at around 3.7mln due to difficult trading conditions.

It said: "CMO has not been immune to the well documented macro-economic and geo-political pressures, which have created conditions that have become more challenging since Easter.

"On the supply side CMO has experienced higher carriage costs and supplementary product price charges. All other metrics such as basket size, spend per head and conversion have remained consistent, albeit the group is seeing a slight shift in mix with higher conversion rates in lower margin product ranges.

"The impact of these factors has been to soften margin performance in the short term, and the group has taken actions to limit the future impact on margin.

"Given the trading challenges outlined above, which are anticipated to continue through the second half and into the first half of 2023, the board has now taken a more cautious near-term outlook and expects to see less strong growth in the short term."

Its shares have slumped 49.68% to 39p.

11.46am: GetBusy set to beat expectations after strong first half

GetBusy PLC (AIM:GETB), which specialises in productivity software for professional and financial services, said full year revenues would be above previous guidance after a strong first half.

Six month revenues rose 21% to 9.07mln, higher than it reported at its annual meeting two months ago, and the company has cut its losses from 949,000 to 880,000.

It said: "Despite the wider backdrop of economic uncertainty, our core markets remain robust, driven by structural changes in the way people work and a strengthening mandate for productivity optimisation."

So full year revenues are now expected to reach at least 18.4mln, compared to earlier guidance of 17mln/

It also anticipates being "modestly profitable" at the adjusted EBITDA level during the second half of 2022, marginally ahead of current expectations for 2022.

Its shares have added 5.36% to 59p.

10.20am: Itaconix climbs as revenues hit a record

Itaconix PLC (LSE:ITX, OTCQB:ITXXF) has seen its shares clean up as it reported record revenues.

The firm, which makes plant-based specialty polymers used as essential ingredients in everyday consumer products, said half year revenues grew 124% to US$3mln.

That represents 118% of the full year revenues for 2021, putting the company in a strong position to meet market expectations for revenues in 2022.

Cleaning applications led overall revenue growth for the period with a 212% increase over the first half of 2021 as Itaconix polymers found new usage in European detergent formulations and continued to gain share in North America.

However the gains were offset by lower revenues from beauty and hygiene applications in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021.

It said overall gross profit margin for the first six months was lower than in previous periods due to the mix of product revenues and the timing of passing on higher raw material costs. The company expects a more favourable blend of product mix and raw material prices in the second half of the year, together with some sales price increases.

Its shares are up 8.13% to 6.65p.

9.18am: Harland & Wolff jumps after winning its first defence contract

Harland & Wolff Group Holdings PLC (AIM:HARL) is steaming ahead after winning its first defence contract, a vessel for the Lithuanian Navy.

The infrastructure projects firm said it had been awarded the 55mln contract - the M55 Regeneration Programme - by the Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Lithuanian Defence Materiel Agency after a competitive bid process.

The value of the contract - which involves the delivery of a regenerated vessel with mission and sonar systems - could be increased through additional equipment and further upgrades.

Contractual payments will be spread across the next three financial years, creating a predictable, ongoing revenue stream.

Harland said it was a landmark deal, and should enhance its reputation in the market and pave the way to securing future defence and government contracts

Chief executive John Wood said: "This is a watershed moment.

"This contract has provided the breakthrough that we needed to activate our fifth and final key market of Defence. Our strategy has been well and truly validated and we intend to capitalise on this win through bidding on and securing further government contracts."

Harland's shares are up 22.22% at 15.13p.

8.38am: t42 IoT Tracking Solutions boosted by Argentina ports deal

t42 IoT Tracking Solutions PLC (AIM:TRAC) has seen its shares surge after it signed a distribution agreement in Argentina.

The firm will provide its shipping container tracking systems to local port authorities over four years from 2023, with an estimated total value of over US$16mln.

The deal follows a pilot programme conducted at an Argentinian port, and will allow port authorities to limit smuggling activities, ensure compliance with cross-border regulations, and secure significant local jurisdiction tax revenues.

Chief executive Avi Hartmann: "We are thrilled to announce a further contract win in Latin America following a successful pilot scheme. It is especially pleasing to see more evidence of the growing recognition of the value of our offering in the region and beyond. We have always known that the best way to showcase our products is to show them in action.

"We are seeing increased needs from many directions for better information about containers, as they are at the heart of so many global supply chains. There is strong demand for current, reliable, and actionable data for all kinds of stakeholders, including governments, manufacturers, shipping companies, and customers."

t42 shares have jumped 31.71% to 13.5p.

Meanwhile Aeorema Communications (AIM:AEO) has also moved sharply higher after a positive update.

The live events agency said it had seen its strongest year on record, with trading ahead of management expectations.

Revenues were up 130% to at least 11.8mln as live events returned, with a particular success being the Cannes Lions.

It now anticipates a record profit of 700,000, compared to a 159,698 loss.

Its shares are up 32.73% to 73p.
Anglo Pacifics acquisition of the South32 copper/nickel project portfolio has won approval from several City analysts.

Peel Hunt says it is the cornerstone acquisition it was looking for to replace Kestrel, its Australian coal mining royalty, where revenues are winding down (read more).

Royalties from West Musgrave and Santo Domingo alone should replace Kestrel and help boost APGs base level contributions as high as US$100min the medium term, said the broker.

The dividend also looks solidly backed at 7p a share post completion of the acquisition, which is expected to be in the second half of this year.

Berenberg, meanwhile adds that this deal removes the risk of revenue tail-off from Kestrel and adds exposure to high-quality future-facing metals to the portfolio.

The company notes that it believes that South32 will be a supportive, long-term shareholder, which is encouraging from an overhang perspective.

Effectively, this takes the windfall cash that Kestrel is generating  given (i) high coal prices and (ii) the change in the Queensland Royalty regime  and recycles it into an attractive portfolio of long-life royalties in an attractive commodity mix. 

Berenberg has a 450p price target, while Peel Hunt goes for a slightly less bullish 215p.

Shares rose today by 0.7% to 151p.
A British Airways flight or one from Gatwick airport are where passengers have had their journeys scrapped most often this year.

That conclusion comes from an analysis of data from OAG, which receives light intelligence from airlines, government agencies and other sources.

Flights from Gatwick are ten times more likely to have been cancelled this year than Stansted, according to an analysis of the numbers carried out by Sky News. with 3% of flights from Londons second airport scrapped compared to 0.3% at its rival.

June was especially poor at Gatwick, said the report, with one in 14 flights cancelled.

British Airways, owned by IAG, meanwhile was the airline most affected, scrapping 3.5% of flights or twelve times as many as Ryanair, which has cancelled less than any other major carrier worldwide, according to the OAG.

Michael O Leary, Ryanairs chief executive, said it planned ahead better than rivals, while still being based in the EU has allowed it to deal better with the labour shortages that have plagued UK-based carriers since Brexit and the easing of Covid restrictions.

John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, told Sky: "When we entered COVID, airlines made a lot of people redundant. During that two-year furlough period, those people found jobs elsewhere and have not returned to the industry.

"Of those that have returned, their security policies will have expired. They need to be vetted again and go through the same process as they did two years ago.

Shares in IAG dropped 4.5% today to 105.5p.
Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) has been given the distinction of presenting at the IASLC 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2022) taking place in-person and online from August 6-9, 2022, in Vienna, Austria.

At the conference, the clinical stage immuno-oncology company, will present new data from non-small cell lung cancer patients in the Phase I IMPRINTER trial.

The company will present its findings on August 7, 2022, between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm CEST and can be found on Imugenes website at www.imugene.com/conference-presentations following the presentation.

IMU's abstract title is 'Phase 1: IMU-201 (PD1-Vaxx), a B-Cell Immunotherapy as Monotherapy or in Combination with Atezolizumab, in Adults with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer' while the session title is 'Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer  Immunotherapy'.

The presentation will be given by Professor Michael Boyer MD, MBBS, FRACP, PhD and Chris OBrien Lifehouse Hospital.

About WCLC 2022

WCLC is the world's largest international gathering of clinicians, researchers and scientists in the field of lung cancer and thoracic oncology.

It is held by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), which is a global network of more than 8,000 lung and thoracic cancer specialists from all disciplines dedicated to the study and eradication of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Visit wclc2022.iaslc.org for more information.

About IMU

Imugene is developing a range of new and novel immunotherapies that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to treat and eradicate tumours. Its platform technologies seek to harness the bodys immune system against tumours, potentially achieving a similar or greater effect than synthetically manufactured monoclonal antibody and other immunotherapies.

IMUs product pipeline includes multiple immunotherapy B-cell vaccine candidates and an oncolytic virotherapy (CF33) aimed at treating a variety of cancers in combination with standard of care drugs and emerging immunotherapies such as CAR Ts for solid tumours.

The company aims to help transform and improve the treatment of cancer and the lives of the millions of patients who need effective treatments. The company is well funded and resourced, to deliver on its commercial and clinical milestones.
Massive sulphides in hole TOR05 from drilling at the Thor target.

Venture Minerals Ltd (ASX:VMS, OTC:VTMLF) welcomes the news that its joint venture partner Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX:CHN, OTCQB:CGMLF) has received results from a recently completed auger soil geochemistry program at the South West Project, identifying two new target areas in the process.

In doing so, Chalice has met the requirement that it spend $1.2 million in the earn-in deal for a 51% share in the WA-based project.

Sulphide potential supported by underlying geology

The targets at the Thor prospect have magmatic nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) sulphide potential supported by underlying geology that is consistent with the presence of ultramafic rocks.

And there are more areas running parallel to the 20-kilometre-long Thor magnetic anomaly that remain unexplored and warrant exploration follow-up.

These new targets were not part of Chalices ground EM program completed last year and the auger geochemical results for these new targets have stronger coincidental magmatic indicator metals, including nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium, platinum and gold, than the area covered by the recent ground EM.

Earn-in fulfilled

The auger soil geochemistry program, in combination with a recently completed maiden drilling program at Thor, have met Chalices expenditure requirement of investing $1.2 million to earn 51%.

Ventures partner would now need to spend, at its election, a further $2.5 million by July 29, 2024, to earn 70% in Ventures South West Project.

The next stage for the project will include following up the auger soil geochemistry program results with ground EM and infill geochemical sampling, to prepare the generated targets for potential drill testing.

About the South West Project

The 256-square-kilometre South West Project is roughly 240 kilometres south of Perth and is hosted in the Balingup Metamorphic Belt, within the highly prospective West Yilgarn nickel-copper-PGE Province discovered by Chalice, which hosts its Julimar discovery, one of the largest greenfield nickel-copper-PGE sulphide discoveries in recent history.

The two main prospects within the project are Thor and Odin, both of which contain areas of potential nickel-copper-PGE prospectivity.

An airborne EM survey by Venture identified 13 highly conductive anomalies within the southern 6.5 kilometres of the regional magnetic feature.

Only two of the anomalies were tested by single holes in Ventures 2018 maiden drill program, the last of which intersected 2.4 metres of massive sulphide averaging 0.5% copper, 0.05% nickel, 0.04% cobalt and anomalous gold and palladium.

At Odin, in the only hole drilled, nickel and copper sulphides were intersected within a highly prospective mafic-ultramafic unit that extends over 10 strike kilometres.

This was further supported by surface sampling returning significant nickel and copper geochemical anomalies.
Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) has executed a non-binding term sheet to acquire up to a 60.5% controlling interest in Amalgamated Minerals Pty Ltd, a private Singaporean registered company, which holds a 100% interest in the Simandou North Iron Project in Guinea, West Africa.

The Simandou North Iron Project offers an early-stage opportunity to access the premium iron belt in West Africa at a time when significant infrastructural improvements are underway, including the ongoing construction of shared-purpose rail and port infrastructure.

This project, at the northern end of the Simandou Range, forms an extension of the stratigraphy that hosts one of the largest undeveloped high-grade iron deposits in the world, including Rio Tintos Simandou Project, with a total measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of 2 billion tonnes grading 65.5% iron.

"Extraordinary opportunity"

Historical exploration work through the early to mid-2000s, including airborne magnetic geophysical surveys, geological mapping and completion of four diamond drill holes, confirmed the continuation of the iron-hosting Simandou Group stratigraphy into the Simandou North permit.

The company has a three-month exclusive due diligence period to assess the Simandou North Iron Project.

Managing director Hugh Bresser said: We are excited to be able to provide shareholders with exposure to this extraordinary opportunity.

"Global demand for high-grade iron ore continues to grow and the Simandou Range hosts the worlds largest undeveloped high-grade iron deposits.

"Simandou North Iron Ore Project allows Arrow to participate in the development of an area where until now mineral wealth has locked up due to infrastructural constraints.

"The emergence of a combined commitment between government and industry opens the way for Arrow to potentially establish itself as a major West African mining company.

Capital for the move

Arrow has also received commitments from qualified sophisticated and professional investors for a non-brokered, private placement of nearly 60 million shares at 0.6 cents per share to raise A$350,000. The share price represents a 200% premium to market.

Proceeds of the raising will be used on Arrows existing projects and to complete the due diligence on the Simandou North Iron Project.

Managing director Hugh Bresser said: We are pleased to be able to deliver a placement at a significant premium to market.

This permits the company to execute its corporate growth strategy while minimising dilution to existing Arrow Minerals shareholders.
Rooster Talk Episode 60 is with David Riekie, executive director - Adavale Resources Ltd (ASX:ADD).

Focusing on the Dominant land holding in the East African Nickel Belt

David is here to update us on the exploration activities of the company. It has been a while since we had Adavale on the Samso platform.

This episode of Rooster Talk is all about the East African Nickel Belt.

As in all of the exploration stories that have merits, the process is usually lengthy and is filled with ups and downs.

Over the years of hearing all sorts of stories, the ones that reap rewards have always been the nondescript types. Their process is always very subtle or even silent...and then a discovery happens. When that happens, investors get the feeling that it is an overnight success.

Trust me, it is never an overnight success. The easiest example is the discovery made by Galileo Mining Ltd - Palladium Discovery - Persistent Mineral Exploration Rewarded.

I do feel that Adavale falls into this type of category. Great exploration potential in a known Nickel belt. As we discover in this episode of Rooster Talk, Adavale is all about the East African Nickel Belt.

I have interviewed many companies with different stories but the ones that are most memorable are the green roots categories.

These are the stories that need strong minds and character, and a focused management for success. Management needs to be believers of the story.

As I heard from a recent podcast, Entrepreneurs need to believe their own Bull#@&t.

Adavale is a story that has been developing for over 12 months and if you look over the recent videos with Allan Ritchie, the focus on developing the Tanzanian assets has not changed.

Previous Videos with Adavale Resources Limited:

Finding Nickel Sulphide in Tanzania - Adavale Resources Limited - Episode 74

Nickel Sulphide in Tanzania - Adavale Resources Limited - Episode 39

In this episode, David highlights that the East African Belt is the key to the Adavale story. What we need to appreciate is that this belt could be the Kambalda Nickel Belt. Take some time out and watch what David has to share.

Chapters

00:00 Start

01:05 David updates.

04:59 How Geophysics is helping Adavale.

07:22 The refinement with Geophysics.

10:09 How should investors capture the ADD Story?

13:46 What has the feedback been from investors?

16:44 What is the Jurisdiction standing?

20:04 How has the market turbulence affected Adavale?

22:59 What is the News flow for investors?

24:26 Why Adavale?

25:51 Conclusion

PODCAST

About David Riekie - Executive Director, Adavale Resources

David is an experienced director in the capacity of both Executive and Non-Executive roles of ASX listed companies. His career has spanned multiple continents. Within Africa Namibia, Tanzania, Eritrea, South Africa, DRC and Mozambique are notable. He has overseen exploration and resource development, scoping and feasibility studies, production optimisation, stakeholder engagement, acquisition programs and expansion initiatives.

David most recently has served on the Boards of remote power generation and energy solutions specialist Zenith Energy Limited (ASX: ZEN) and independent uranium producer Paladin Energy Limited (ASX: PDN). David also served as interim CEO to Poseidon Nickel Limited (ASX: POS).

David holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Graduate Diploma of Accounting from Flinders University and has been a member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1986.

About Adavale Resources Limited

Adavale Resources Limited (ADD) holds 100% of the Kabanga Jirani Nickel Project (the Project) consisting of six granted licences and one application covering nearly 1145km2. These licences are adjacent and along strike from the worlds largest undeveloped nickel sulphide resource, namely The Kabanga Deposit which contains a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 58Mt @ 2.62% Ni (Barrick and Glencore, 2014).

The ADD licences are located along a trend of mafic/ultramafic intrusions known as the Kabanga Musongati belt and contain Nickel Sulphide ores and PGE concentrations.

Project 1  Nickel  Kabanga Jirani Nickel Project, Tanzania

Adavale Resources Limited also holds 100% of the Lake Surprise Project with three exploration tenements covering nearly 396 km2 within part of the highly prospective sedimentary uranium province within the northern part of the Lake Frome Embayment.

These tenements lie within a flat, semi-arid landscape located just to the north of the Flinders Range in South Australia. These include EL 5892 comprising 92km2 , EL 5893 comprising 167km2 and EL 5644 of 137km2. These are known as the:

Jubilee Prospect Mookwarinna Prospect Canegrass Swamp Prospect

Project 2  Uranium  Lake Surprise, South Australia

The Lake Surprise Project Area is located in South Australia, 550km north of Adelaide, and 70km East of Marree. The company holds 3 tenements, EL5892, EL5893, and EL5644 with a total area of 396 km2. Adavale explored the original tenements in this area between 2007 and 2011 with 486 holes drilled in that period.

Please let Samso know your thoughts and send any comments to info@Samso.com.au. Remember to Subscribe to the YouTube Channel, Samso Media and the mail list to stay informed and make comments where appropriate. Other than that, also feel free to provide a Review on Google.

For further information about Coffee with Samso and Rooster Talks visit: www.samso.com.au

About

Samso is a renowned resource among the investment community for keen market analysis and insights into the companies and business trends that matter.

Investors seek out Samso for knowledgeable evaluations of current industry developments across a variety of business sectors and considered forecasts of future performances.

With a compelling format of relaxed online video interviews, Samso provides clear answers to questions they may not have the opportunity to ask and lays out the big picture to help them complete their investment research.

And in doing so, Samso also enables companies featured in interviews to build valuable engagement with their investment communities and customers.

Headed by industry veteran Noel Ong and based in Perth, Western Australia, Samsos Coffee with Samso and Rooster Talk interviews both feature friendly conversations with business figures that give insights into Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) companies, related concepts and industry trends.

Noel Ong is a geologist with nearly 30 years of industry experience and a strong background in capital markets, corporate finance and the mineral resource sector. He was founder and managing director of ASX-listed company Siburan Resources Limited from 2009-2017 and has also been involved in several other ASX listings, providing advice, procuring projects and helping to raise capital.

He brings all this experience and expertise to the Samso interviews, where his engaging conversation style creates a relaxed dialogue, revealing insights that can pique investor interest.

Noel Ong travels across Australia to record the interviews, only requiring a coffee shop environment where they can be set up. The interviews are posted on Samsos website and podcasts, YouTube and other relevant online environments where they can be shared among investment communities.

Samso also has a track record of developing successful business concepts in the Australasia region and provides bespoke research and counsel to businesses seeking to raise capital and procuring projects for ASX listings.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this article is the writers personal opinion and is provided for information only and is not intended to or nor will it create/induce the creation of any binding legal relations. Read full disclaimer.
Alicanto Minerals chief executive Peter Georgar talks to Proactive about what he described as a 'whirlwind' twelve months for the company - a period that has included the delivery of a maiden resource estimate.

The Sala Zinc-Silver-Lead project is now ranked as the largest active undeveloped polymetallic base metals deposit in Sweden, he noted.

The project's JORC-compliant inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) comprises a total of 9.7mln tonnes at 4.5% zinc equivalent, containing more than 311,000 tonnes of zinc, 15mln ounces of silver and 44,000 tonnes of lead.
Bitcoin has hit its lowest point in a week, dropping 1.95% to US$19,323 in the opening hours of Wednesday.

Ethereum likewise hit a weekly low, falling 2.99% to US$1,056.

Global market cap fell 1.92% to a total value of US$873.42bln, having reclaimed the US$1tln price point only four days prior.

There were few upwards movers this hump day, although decentralised exchange (DEX) Serum hit the top-100 club by adding 4.92% to its US$266mln market capitalisation.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol Convex Finance rose 3.57% while play-to-earn project Gala Games added 1%.

Network tokens suffered a collective slump, with Tezos, Polygon, Cosmos, Kava and Fantom all being among the ten biggest losers this Wednesday.

Fan-engagement token Chiliz fell by 7.32%.

In the news, Bitcoin miners across Texas have powered down amid a heatwave across the Lone Star State causing daily temperatures in the high 30s.

The move, which should free up about 1% of grid capacity,is the right thing to do to be a good grid citizen, Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council told The Verge.

Blockchain investments continue despite the raging bear market, with US-based venture fund Multicoin Capital announcing a US$430mln fund for early-stage and later-stage projects.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL) reported record gold production from the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe in the second quarter and said it was on track to meet its full-year output guidance.

It produced 20,091 ounces of gold, up 20% from the year-earlier quarter, lifting first-half output to 38,606 ounces, a 29% increase on the first half of 2021.

"Production in the first half of 2022 was excellent and exceeded our expectations, said chief operating officer Dana Roets.

Production excludes an estimate of approximately 1,500 ounces of recoverable gold included in an ore stockpile which will be processed after the commissioning of additional milling capacity in the next few weeks.

"We have now achieved our quarterly target of 20,000 ounces and are on track to hit our annual production target of between 73,000-80,000 ounces of gold."
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For gold, the miner received an average of US$1,874 per ounce in the quarter, and for silver, it received US$22.05 per ounce

Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE-A:GORO, ETR:GIH) told investors the miner had delivered "another" three months of over 10,000 gold-equivalent ounces from its Mexico operation in its second quarter.

For the three months to June 30 this year, the miner sold 11,475 ounces of gold-equivalent (Au-Eq) compared to 9,685 in the second quarter of 2021.

The figure for the latest quarter comprised of 8,746 ounces of gold and 231,622 ounces of silver.

In addition, the company sold 3,590 tonnes of zinc, 286 tonnes of copper, and 1,755 tonnes of lead from its flagship mine in Mexico, leading to a strong cash balance of over US$33 million.

"Production remains solid at the Don David Gold Mine in Mexico and the feasibility study continues to advance at the Back Forty Project in Michigan," Allen Palmiere, the CEO of GORO, told investors in a statement.

"While the volume of tonnes processed during the quarter dipped at DDGM, grades and recoveries helped ensure we delivered another quarter of over 10 thousand gold equivalent ounces," he added.

For gold, the miner received an average of US$1,874 per ounce in the quarter, and for silver, it received US$22.05 per ounce.

Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer, and explorer focused on the Don David mine in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Under the direction of an experienced board and senior leadership team, the aim is to unlock the significant upside potential of its existing infrastructure and large land position surrounding the mine in Oaxaca, Mexico and to develop the Back Forty project in Michigan, USA.

Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
Colombo, July 13 : Amidst severe public protest and an ultimatum to resign by protestors who took over the President's House in a violent protest on Saturday, Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country secretly, an emigration officer confirmed to IANS on early Wednesday.

President Rajapaksa had left for the Maldives together with his wife and a bodyguard from the country's main airport in Katunayake, closer to the capital, the officer said, seeking anonymity.

Rajapaksa who attempted to escape together with his brother former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa on Tuesday early was prevented to do so by immigration officers. However, he left the country in an Antonov-32 aircraftbelonging to Sri Lanka Air Force which took off from the main international airport, the source confirmed.

On Tuesday morning, the two Rajapaksa brothers were to leave for the UAE to go to the US, but immigration officers at the VIP lounge protested and declined to serve them. Amidst protests, the Rajapaksa brothers had left the airport, and Gotabaya is said to have taken refuge for almost a day at an Air Force base adjoining the airport.

On July 9 (Saturday), Rajapaksa left his official residence after protestors entered it and symbolically ousted the President. Gotabaya had announced that he would resign on Wednesday but had allegedly retracted stating that he would not resign if his family members were not allowed to flee the country.

Protestors had given an ultimatum till Wednesday by 1 p.m. for the resignation of the President and warned that mass crowds will be summoned to Colombo if retract his promise.
Ayodhya, July 13 : The Ayodhya administration has issued an ultimatum to traders on the Hanuman Garhi road in here, asking them to vacate their establishments within three days or else be prepared for forced eviction.

The eviction is for road widening in the area.

A large number of shops on both sides of the Hanuman Garhi Road will have to be demolished to enable widening of road.

The Ayodhya administration made announcements on Hanuman Garhi Road through public address system, issuing the ultimatum to shopkeepers to vacate shops.

The traders have accused the state government and the Ayodhya administration of backtracking on their promises to rehabilitate them first before demolishing their shops.

Moreover, the month-long annual Sawan Mela begins on July 16 and traders want the decision to be postponed till the fair is over. The fair is being held after two years.

Nand Kumar Gupta, trader leader, said on Wednesday, "The district administration had assured the traders to allot land behind the existing shops or in the same area before demolishing their shops. This assurance was given in every meeting by the district administration." He said, "Till date, no land has been made available to shopkeepers and no construction of shops has begun. Despite this, the local administration is issuing ultimatum to vacate shops in three days." Around 500 shopkeepers from Shringar Hat barrier up to Ram Janmabhoomi would be affected by the road widening project.

The traders' lobby of Ayodhya, associated with the BJP, is also opposing the move but no one is willing to come on record to register their protest.

"We will try to meet the Chief Minister and apprise him of the issue," a leader said.
Srinagar, July 13 : Officers of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Central Armed Police Forces and Civil Administration led by Additional Director General Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar laid floral wreaths on the mortal remains and paid rich tributes to Jammu and Kashmir police Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), Mushtaq Ahmad for his "supreme sacrifice" in the line of duty.

Police said on Tuesday evening that terrorists fired indiscriminately upon a police naka party in Srinagar in which one police personnel attained martyrdom and two other personnel got injured.

Preliminary investigation reveals that terrorists fired upon the naka party near G.D Goenka Public School area of Lal Bazar Srinagar, resulting in gunshot injuries to three personnel ASI Mushtaq Ahmad, HC Fayaz Ahmad and SPO Abu Bakar.

"However, one injured ASI Mushtaq Ahmad succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom. Meanwhile, both the injured Police personnel have been shifted to Hospital for the treatment of their injuries," police said.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated.

Officers continue to work to establish the full circumstances of the terror crime while the whole area had been cordoned off with the help of reinforcement and search in the area is going on.
United Nations, July 13 : In a diplomatic win for Russia, the United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution extending on Moscow's terms the mandate to continue humanitarian aid to rebel-held areas in Syria for six months after the three Western permanent members waived their veto.

The resolution's adoption on Tuesday will help provide humanitarian supplies for "nearly 4 million people in the northwest of Syria, 2.7 million of whom are IDPs (internally displaced persons), many of whom are women and children", said India's Charge d'Affaires R. Ravindra who voted for it.

Last week the US, the UK and France had vetoed a similar resolution proposed by Russia after Moscow had vetoed a Western-backed motion to extend the provision to send aid through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey for a year.

The three Western permanent members abstained on Tuesday allowing its passage with the votes of the other 12 members.

India had voted on Friday for the 12-month extension but abstained on the Russian resolution for a six-month extension.

The Council mandate to use the crossing for humanitarian aid to the rebel areas expired on Sunday and without the renewal, the people there would have been left without their lifeline.

Russia used the threat of a humanitarian catastrophe to wear down the three Western permanent members to agree not to veto a resolution similar to theirs for a six-month extension that was repackaged by Ireland and Norway, which hold the Council portfolio for Syria, and presented on Tuesday.

US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained the turn-around: "The reason is simple - this was a mandate that was held hostage by the Russian Federation." Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyansky said dismissively that it was time for the US and its allies "to get used to respecting the interests of other states".

Norway and Ireland had proposed the 12-month extension resolution last week, but whittled it down to six months after hectic negotiations failed to move an adamant Moscow, which backs Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in the civil war-wracked country.

"It is no secret that this has been a difficult negotiation," said Ireland's Permanent Representative Geraldine Byrne Nason.

Last week's standoff in the Council was grandstanding by both sides because the 12-month extension resolution provided for a two-stage extension with the second six months made subject to there being no objections.

Ravindra criticised the politicisation of humanitarian aid.

He said, "Humanitarian assistance cannot be a matter of political expediency (and) linking humanitarian and developmental assistance with the progress in the political process will only exacerbate the humanitarian sufferings and should be avoided." While the resolution provides for aid to the people in the areas under rebel control, he said that "we should not lose sight of the fact that more than 14.5 million people across Syria need humanitarian assistance in one form or the other, with essential food items and fuel in short supply".

"We reiterate call for enhanced and effective humanitarian assistance to all Syrians throughout the country without discrimination, politicisation and preconditions," he added.

France's Permanent Representative Nicolas de Riviere restated the Western permanent members' main objection to a six-month extension: It would expire in the middle of winter.

France would work to ensure that the mandate is extended in January when the needs would be great, he said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Kiev, July 13 : Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has welcomed the decision of the European Union (EU) to grant Ukraine a new aid package of 1 billion euros.

The aid, which was approved by the finance ministers of the EU member states earlier in the day, would help Ukraine to maintain financial stability amid the conflict with Russia, Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine also plans to attract up to 200 million euros on preferential terms from Italy, Shmyhal was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said that Kiev has received a grant of $1.7 billion from the US and will use it to cover state budget expenditures for medical services under the medical guarantee program.

Kiev plans to raise $20 billion in international aid from its Western partners by the end of 2022, said Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko at a public event last month.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Kiev, July 13 : Ukraine has become an associate member of the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), which coordinates technological cooperation of the armies of NATO member states, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said.

"Ukraine has strong IT (Information Technology) potential and it is a worthy NATO ally. I am sure that we will bring our expertise to the development of collective security," Reznikov was quoted as saying by the Defence Ministry's press service.

According to the ministry, the associate membership in the MIP gives Ukraine a right to join the development and introduction of key NATO standards related to the interaction of combat control systems and related practices, Xinhua news agency reported.

The MIP is a program of technological cooperation between the Armed Forces of NATO member states, which was established at the level of national developers of combat control information systems and aims to achieve interoperability of national C2IS systems.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Jammu, July 13 : Alert troops of the army on Wednesday foiled an infiltration bid by terrorists along the line of control (LoC) in J&K's Poonch district.

A defence ministry statement said, "During the midnight hours of 12/13 July 2022, there was an infiltration attempt along LoC in the Poonch sector (J&K) which was suitably foiled by our alert troops." Further details will be shared later, added the statement.
Colombo, July 13 : A three-pronged battle is set to take place for the selection of the next Sri Lankan President by approval of Parliament on July 20, state media reported.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Dalles Alahapperuma and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa mull the submission of nomination papers to run for presidency in the secret ballot.

The Presidential post fell vacant prematurely in Sri Lankan history on one occasion -- the assassination of President R. Premadasa on May 1, 1993 . It is now slated to be vacant after the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as already announced by him, the Daily Mirror reported.

Parliament will take a secret ballot on July 20 to elect the new President. According to Daily Mirror sources, Wickremesinghe will contest for the post to serve the rest of the current presidential term. A section of the SLPP is planning to back him while another faction of the SLPP, including the 10-party alliance supports Alahapperuma.

Earlier, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya announced that Sajith Premadasa will be its presidential candidate, the Daily Mirror reported.

The candidates who get more than 50 per cent of valid votes will become the President. Unless any of the contestants cross the 50 per cent mark, the preferential votes marked by the MPs will be counted.

According to informed sources, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramun (JVP) has taken up the position that a neutral MP with no future electoral ambitions should be appointed the next President, the Daily Mirror reported.

The party says Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane should be appointed. The JVP believes the appointment of a political leader with future presidential ambitions will work for the interests of his party with the next election in mind.
New Delhi, July 13 : India has "categorically denied baseless and speculative media reports" that it facilitated Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to escape out of Sri Lanka.

The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka clarified on Twitter and rejected such claims being made by several media outlets and also assured that India will continue to stand with the people of the distressed island nation, the Daily Mirror reported.

Earlier, President Rajapaksa arrived in the Maldives after fleeing Sri Lanka in the middle of Tuesday evening.

The Sri Lanka Air Force has now confirmed that military aircraft was provided for President Rajapaksa, his wife Ioma Rajapaksa and two security officers to fly to the Maldives, following a request by the existing government, the Daily Mirror reported.

It remains unclear whether the embattled President will remain in the Maldives or is simply using it as a temporary port of call before flying on to another destination.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bhopal, July 13 : Voting for the second phase of elections was underway on Wednesday amid tight security in five Municipal Corporations, 40 Municipal councils and 169 Nagar Parishads.

As per the State Election Commission (SEC), close to 7,000 polling centers have been set up for voting in 43 districts of the state. Out of which 1,627 polling centers have been identified as sensitive.

About 17,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair elections. Besides these, 34,000 duty officers and personnel have also been deployed. Meanwhile, efforts have been made to provide voters slip to the eligible voters by the commission.

Notably, after the first phase of municipal elections that covered Indore and Bhopal, the ruling BJP had blamed the election commission for not distributing voter's slip due to which voting percentage was recorded low, especially in Bhopal.

Five Municipal Corporations where voting is being held for mayoral and cooperators' posts are -- Katni, Rewa, Dewas, Ratlam and Morena. Voting that began at 7 a.m. will conclude at 5 p.m.

There are 49.9 lakh voters who will seal the fate of these candidates on Wednesday during the second and final phase of the civic polls. Of these, 25.20 lakh are males, 23.88 lakh are female voters and 292 are voters from the third gender.

Among the five municipal corporations, there are 2.52 lakh voters in Morena municipal corporation, 1.71 lakh voters in Rewa, 1.93 lakh voters in Katni, 2.39 lakh voters in Dewas and 1.21 lakh voters in Ratlam municipal corporation.
Puducherry, July 13 : The cyber police in Puducherry have registered a case against 69 loan apps following complaints of extortion, threats and blackmailing by these fintech apps.

The Cyber cell officials told IANS that a case has been registered under Section 66(A), 67, and 67(A) of the Information Technology Act and 420 of the IPC against these financial apps that are available in the google play store.

The police, according to officials, have already sent emails to the app platforms to delink these apps from their platforms. According to the sleuths, the Puducherry Union Territory has received more than 45 complaints against the loan apps in the past six months.

These apps are attractive to housewives, students, and people with low-income jobs who have difficulties in getting bank loans as they require several proceedings.

An engineering student, who had to pay Rs 70,000 after he took a loan of Rs 10,000 told IANS, "The loan apps are threatening me that they would morph my photographs into sexual postures and circulate it among my family and friends. They are asking for Rs 12,000 more which I cannot provide." He said that the loan apps have already taken the details of his PAN card, Aadhaar card as well as the details of his bank accounts and these people are able to access his phone address book.

Several women have fallen prey to these loan apps and even after a single default, the morphed photographs of these women were sent to their husbands. An officer with the Cyber cell police, while speaking to IANS, said, "In many cases, the police had to intervene and speak to the families of the affected women to make them believe." The major hurdle faced by the investigating team is the presence of the servers hosting these apps in foreign countries. However, officials of the Puducherry cyber cell told IANS that they are on the job and will crack it and bring relief to the people who have faced extortion, threats, and blackmailing by these app providers and their agents.
New Delhi, July 13 : Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees that the company will be slowing down the pace of hiring for the rest of the year, as global macro-economic conditions continue to hit industries across the spectrum.

According to an internal memo sent by Alphabet and Google CEO Pichai to employees, the company will have to "be more entrepreneurial" and work with "greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we've shown on sunnier days".

"In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes. In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas," Pichai noted.

However, the Google CEO said that the company will still hire for "engineering, technical and other critical roles." Pichai said that the uncertain global economic outlook has been top of mind.

"Like all companies, we're not immune to economic headwinds. Something I cherish about our culture is that we've never viewed these types of challenges as obstacles. Instead, we've seen them as opportunities to deepen our focus and invest for the long term," said the Indian-origin CEO.

In the second quarter (Q2) this year, Google hired approximately 10,000 people.

"Because of the hiring progress achieved so far this year, we'll be slowing the pace of hiring for the rest of the year, while still supporting our most important opportunities," said Pichai.

"For the balance of 2022 and 2023, we'll focus our hiring on engineering, technical and other critical roles, and make sure the great talent we do hire is aligned with our long-term priorities," he added.
London, July 13 : England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler doesn't want to press the panic button just yet in spite of his side losing the opening One-day International to India at The Kennington Oval by 10 wickets on Tuesday.

England suffered the ignominy of being bundled out for just 110 in 25.2 overs, their lowest total against India in ODIs, with pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah grabbing a career-best 6/19 in 7.2 overs.

Buttler, appointed recently as England's white-ball skipper after long-serving captain Eoin Morgan called time on his international career, was the highest run-getter for his side, scoring 30.

Buttler said batting has been his team's biggest strength, and with big guns such as Ben Stokes and Joe Root returning to the side following the side's triumph in the rescheduled fifth Test against India at Edgbaston recently, it was a matter of time before the group starts to click.

"If you look at the names of the guys in there, they are some of the best players we've had," said Buttler. "Over the last five or six years, the batting has been our super strength, so there's certainly no need to panic," the captain was quoted as saying in Daily Mail.

"When you have had a lot of success over such a long period of time, it's always going to be tough trying to continue that and evolve that. Pressure and expectation are always going to be there. That is the standard we have set ourselves over a long period of time and we deserve that expectation. This doesn't change the fact we are a good team. We were challenged today, and we've come up very short, but there is a lot of confidence that we can come back strongly." Though Root and Stokes returned to the ODI side after playing the gruelling Test against India, they were both dismissed for duck, with Liam Livingstone too unable to open his account.

Buttler said England will have to look at doing better and not lose wickets at the start of the innings. "But we must look at it and think, is there a way we can try and manage it better, try and not lose as many wickets at the start? And we've got to learn quickly." Following England's 2-1 loss in the T20 series, the ODI series starting on a disastrous note, though, certainly rattled Buttler who added it was a "tough loss to take".

"It was a really disappointing day, and a tough loss to take. There was a little bit in the wicket early on, and Bumrah bowled fantastically well, but we didn't deal with it as well as we'd like."
Chennai, July 13 : Newly-anointed AIADMK interim general secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappady K. Palaniswami is facing a tough time bringing up the party as a credible opposition amid the internal churn.

In its general council meeting on July 11, the AIADMK had paved the way for the crowning of Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) as its interim general secretary and expelling of his opponent, O. Panneerselvam. With the majority in the general counsel and the support of second-rung leaders, EPS could achieve the feat and expel OPS from the party.

However, OPS has moved the Election Commission of India, Madras High Court, and the Supreme Court against it and has also written to the manager of Karur Vysya Bank, Mylapore branch not to allow anyone from operating the party accounts.

OPS, in his letter to the manager, said that he was still the treasurer of the party and that if anyone else was operating its multiple accounts in the bank, the manager would be held responsible. Notably, the July 11 general council meeting appointed senior party leader Dindigul C. Sreenivasan as the treasurer.

With the expulsion of OPS, V. K. Sasikala, and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, all from the Thevar community, the party has lost its grip among the traditional supporters, and with Palaniswami being a Gounder, it would be difficult for him to explain the void of these leaders.

The Thevar community of South Tamil Nadu has been traditional supporters of the AIADMK and with the expulsion of OPS, the bridge to the community has lost for the party.

Another challange EPS is likley to face is the approach of the BJP, the ally of AIADMK which has not yet brought out any comment on the expulsion of OPS and the support to EPS. With an assertive leader like former IPS officer K. Annamalai at the helm of BJP affairs, it will be tough for EPS style of politics to have a comfortable working relationship with the saffron party. It has to be seen whether BJP will throw its weight behind OPS or support EPS in the long run.

If EPS falls to steer AIADMK in turbulent times, then it would be curtains for the legacy of the party which has been either in power or in the opposition and in the limelight of Tamil Nadu politics. The party will have to give a lot of answers to the dedicated cadres who have been its mainstay.

With cases in court and petitions with Election Commission of India, it has to be seen how things are shaping up in AIADMK and whether the opposing factions find a common ground to settle differences.
San Francisco, July 13 : Former US President Donald Trump incited the violence at the Capitol Hill on January 6 by his tweets last year, a former Twitter employee who worked in the content moderation team has told the congressional investigators in a testimony.

Twitter later permanently suspended Trump's account due to the risk of further incitement of violence, which is still banned.

The Verge reported late on Tuesday that the employee, whose identity remains anonymous, pointed to a December 19th tweet from Trump, which asked his supporters to join him in "protest" of the 2020 election results.

"Be there. Will be wild," the tweet read.

According to the Twitter employee, this particular tweet was seen by several people within Twitter as "directly responsible for the violence that followed, which left five dead and has resulted in more than 700 arrests," the report mentioned.

The employee told the January 6th committee that Twitter was wary of the former president's presence on the platform as early as September 2020 when Trump urged members of the violent far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, to "stand back and stand by".

"My concern was that the former president, for seemingly the first time, was speaking directly to extremist organisations and giving them directives," the employee told the investigators.

If Trump were any other user on Twitter, "he would have been permanently suspended a very long time ago," the employee told investigators.

Dr Donell Harvin, chief of Homeland Security for Washington, DC, said in his testimony that "we got derogatory information from OSINT (open source intelligence) suggesting that some very, very violent individuals were organising to come to DC".

A Twitter spokesperson said that they are "clear-eyed about our role in the broader information ecosystem in regards to the January 6th attack on the US Capitol." "On January 6th, we leveraged the systems we had built leading up to the election to respond to the unprecedented attack in real-time and are committed to iterating on this work in order to address violent extremism in the US and globally," the company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Trump was banned from Twitter two days after the storming of the Capitol Hill.

While suspending his account, Twitter had made it clear that such high-profile accounts "are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things".
Mumbai, July 13 : Vijay Deverakonda has the most loving response to Bollywood actress Sara Ali Khan, who in an episode of 'Koffee With Karan' said that she wishes to date the Telugu superstar.

At least that is what Sara is seen saying reluctantly in the latest 'Koffee with Karan' 7 promo.

In the teaser of 'Koffee with Karan Season 7', Sara shyly shares her crush on Vijay Deverakonda.

Sara will be seen with Janhvi Kapoor on the couch. She was asked by filmmaker-host Karan Johar to name a guy she would like to date from the film industry.

Deverakonda on Tuesday evening responded to the promo of 'Koffee with Karan'.

He took to his Instagram story and wrote: "I love how you say, Deverakonda. Cutest. Sending big hugs and my affection." In her previous appearance with father, actor Saif Ali Khan, Sara had gone on to reveal her crush at that time on Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan.

This time when Karan asked: "Sara, give me a name of a boy you feel like you want to date today."

Sara is heard saying, "No no, no," at first, and then after a pause, mentions Deverakonda's name.

On the work front, Deverakonda will soon be making his Bollywood debut with 'Liger'.

Latest updates on Koffee With Karan Season 7

-- Syndicated from IANS
Colombo/Male, July 13 : Maldivians and Sri Lankan expatriates are protesting near Maldives President Ibrahim Solih's house urging the authorities to send ousted Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out from their country's soil, the Head of the Maldivian TV channel told Daily Mirror.

President Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives early on Wednesday morning, along with his wife and two security officers amid mass scale protests against him in Sri Lanka, Daily Mirror reported.

The Sri Lankan President arrived at the Velena International airport in the Maldives at 3.07 a.m. on Wednesday and the Maldives capital was under heavy security at that time, sources confirmed to Daily Mirror.

Sources said that former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed had requested President Ibrahim Solih for the Rajapaksas to land in Maldives and clearance was received.

Rajapaksa is expected to be in the Maldives on transit before flying to another destination which is yet to be known.
Patna, July 13 : On BJP-led NDA fielding Draupadi Murmu as its presidential nominee, the opposition leaders on Wednesday asserted that the election is not a question of identity but a contest of ideology.

"If we see the track record of BJP, they have not taken any initiative to uplift the tribals, extremely backward class, and the deprived class. On the other hand, the RJD or other parties of Mahagathbandhan always thought about them. Now, BJP has put a tribal face and is forcing us to support her. Why has it not asked all parties to come to a mutual consensus on one name for the presidential candidate?" asked Mritunjay Tiwari, national spokesperson of RJD.

"Our leader Tejashwi Yadav said had the NDA announced Draupadi Murmu's name first, he would have given it a thought but BJP has an ideology (influenced by Hitler) to impose its policy on people. So we are again saying that our contest is not with Draupadi Murmu but we are fighting against the BJP and its policies," Tiwari said.

Tejashwi Yadav and leaders of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar have unanimously decided to support their candidate Yashwant Sinha. He is scheduled to visit Bihar on July 15 for the presidential poll campaign.

Mahboob Alam, MLA of CPI(ML) said: "BJP is doing politics of symbolism. It has nothing to do with the people of the tribal community. The left parties on the other hand live among tribal communities. BJP is putting the face of Draupadi Murmu to gain support of opposition parties. We are against BJP and its ideology. We are firmly standing with Yashwant Sinha and will support him on the day of polling on July 18." As of now, the NDA candidate is ahead in the presidential poll.

Members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Assemblies are the eligible voters for the presidential poll.

In Bihar, 56 MPs and 243 MLAs will participate in the presidential poll to do the voting. The vote value of one MP is 700 while the vote value of MLA is 173.

The total votes values of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and MLA of Bihar is 81239 including MLAs have 42039 vote value and MPs of both the houses have 39200.

BJP has the highest votes in Bihar. It has 23 Lok Sabha MPs and 77 MLAs. The total vote value of BJP in Bihar is 28,721. JD-U has 22,485 vote values with 47 MLAs and 16 Lok Sabha MPs. RJD has 17,340 vote values with 80 MLAs, Congress has 4,687 vote values with 19 MLAs. Left parties have 2,768 with 16 MLAs and AIMIM 173 vote values with one MLA in Bihar.
Colombo, July 13 : The Sri Lankan Police on Wednesday used tear gas to disperse a group of protesters near the Prime Minister's Office at Flower Road in state capital Colombo.

Protests so far on Wednesday around the state capital had been largely peaceful, with demonstrators chanting and giving speeches, the BBC reported.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered in Galle Face Green early Wednesday morning.

Chants of a popular phrase 'Aragalayata Jayawewa', or "Victory to the struggle" in Sinhalese -- which is commonly used at protests -- can be heard in the air, while some wave flags high in the air.

Others are listening to fiery speeches by fellow citizens who are flanked onstage by posters that say "Go home Gota", referring to ousted Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, BBC reported.

President Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka on a military jet, amid mass protests over its economic crisis.

The country's air force confirmed the 73-year-old flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security officials. They arrived in the capital Male at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, BBC reported.

Rajapaksa's departure ends a family dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for decades.

The President had been in hiding after crowds stormed his residence on Saturday, and had pledged to resign on July 13.
New Delhi, July 13 : Did the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi bypass the chain of command and force the Indian Army's hand into launching the "ill conceived, poorly planned, terribly executed" Operation Blue Star by compelling an ambitious army commander to pull "the carpet out from under the feet" of the army chief? Would the course of history have been different if the heavily-armed militants holed up inside the Golden Temple had been asked to surrender as this "could have delegitimised them in the public eye" had they failed to do so?

Why were the instructions issued in 1982 by an army commander on the "procedure for conducting such an operation" if necessary, that included its videotaping and inviting two prominent but non-political Sikhs to witness the operation, ignored?

These are some of the intriguing questions that have been rekindled by a new thoroughly-researched book, 'Turmoil In Punjab - Before And After Blue Star - An Insider's Story' (HarperCollins) by Ramesh Inder Singh, who was the District Magistrate of Amritsar from 1984 to 1987 and went on to become the state's Chief Secretary, who terms Operation Blue Star "a black chapter in our history" that "continues and probably will continue to cause pain for a long time to come".

"The plans for the attack were ad hoc, and virtually all basic tenets of fighting in a built-up area were ignored...The most obvious lesson was: never bypass the chain of command. The genesis of the entire problem lay in the Prime Minister inviting the Western Army Commander (Lt. Gen. K. Sundarji, who went on to become the army chief) to her residence when the decision to involve the army was taken. The events that were set in motion that day eventually cost the Prime Minister her own life," the book quotes General V.K. Singh, a former army chief and a minister in the current government, as noting.

"The moment General Sundarji pulled the carpet out from under the feet of the COAS (Chief of Army Staff General A.S. Vaidya), the military logic had compromised and each subsequent decision was guided by political rather than operational logic. It also underlined the fact that someone somewhere along the line had to have the gumption to point out that the situation was being handled wrongly. This never happened and Army HQ effectively became a spectator," Gen. V.K. Singh adds.

Ramesh Inder Singh, who was awarded a Padma Shri in 1986 at the age of 36 for his notable contributions in the field of public administration, writes that he has "often asked people about how they perceive Operation Blue Star - was it an assault on the Golden Temple or was it an operation to clear the temple of the armed radicals who had laid siege to the hallowed space and posed a challenge to the legitimacy of a constitutionally established polity"? Not surprisingly, he writes, most Sikhs viewed Blue Star "as a premeditated, sacrilegious invasion of their holy shrine. And that explains the backlash that followed the operation; it synthesised the sentiments of the quam against the state as a collective voice. In the battle of public perception, the state had miserably failed to carry the community along. This was, more than any other factor, the cause of the fatal consequences that followed Blue Star, and it continues to haunt the community even today".

In matters of faith, they say, reason usually is the first casualty. Sacrosanct spaces require emphatic handling; the holier a hallowed place, the greater the sensitivity of the faithful, and still stronger their reaction if in their eyes its sanctity is violated. The state ignored this sentiment and the consequences were catastrophic.

"Still worse was the way Blue Star was carried out. It was a disaster - ill conceived, poorly planned, terribly executed. Consequently, for the troops it was a pyrrhic victory. A few hundred militants were killed. But their death sowed the seeds for ethno-religious nationalism to proliferate and generate a violence far worse than what the operation had eliminated. Blue Star was not the epilogue, but a prelude to the violent struggle for Khalistan. The army won the battle, but at the cost of peace in Punjab," Singh writes.

As the events unfolded, he writes, it became obvious that the Central leadership and the key military advisers were not conscious of the public sentiment or the political consequences of launching a direct assault on the sacred space. The troops deployed in the operation were oblivious to Sikh sentiments. Hurriedly inducted without familiarisation with the area or the layout of the temple precincts, a frontal assault on a well-fortified built-up area without cover or camouflage against religiously motivated militants was suicidal. There could only be one kind of outcome - death and destruction. The holy space was desecrated, soldiers were massacred, a large number of innocent civilians were killed and collateral damage was prohibitive.

Anticipating a situation where the army may be summoned to aid the civil administration, Lt. Gen S.K. Sinha, the then GOC-in-Chief, Western Command, had issued instructions in 1982 on the "procedure for conducting such an operation" that included its videotaping and inviting two prominent but non-political Sikhs to witness the operation.

He had emphasised the need to execute the operation in a manner that would cause minimum alienation, and later regretted that the psychological aspect was not factored in and the mistake "cost us dearly".

"Those in command of Blue Star - and two of them were Sikhs - did not pay heed to what had been proposed earlier by the other generals, erroneously presuming that the operation would be swift; or rather they suffered from the illusion that the mere sight and rumbling of the heavy armaments, tanks and APCs, the flying choppers, and the numerical superiority and might of the army garrison would scare the militants out of their pigeonholes and they would not put up a fight. It was a fatal miscalculation," Singh writes.

It was a flawed strategy to presume that the militants would give up on their own. Consequently, at no stage did the troops appeal to the militants to surrender. The army commanders made no attempt to hold a dialogue or negotiate with the militants to forestall the armed confrontation. The troops launched the attack suo moto.

"The extremists under Bhindranwale, Bhai Amrik Singh and ex-Maj. Gen. Shahbeg Singh fought because they were given no option," observed Lt. Gen. V.K. Nayar, who had succeeded Sundarji as GOC-in-Chief, Western Command, in 1987-89.

"When the militants repulsed the attack, the top army brass responded by deploying more troops and weapons of higher calibre. When repeated frontal assaults failed, the APCs and tanks were employed, with catastrophic consequences," Singh writes.

The operation also invited censure from three iconic warriors - Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, hero of the Pakistani surrender at Dhaka in 1971 that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh; Lt. Gen. Harbaksh Singh, who saved the overrunning of Punjab by Pakistan in 1965, and the only Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Singh - particularly the way it was executed.

"The list of critics is long. Suffice to say that the armed solution in the absence of a political narrative to address the ethno-religious Gordian knot was rife with problems. Before launching the assault, attempts to seek a surrender from the militants could have delegitimised them in the public eye, if they did not surrender, the blame would lie squarely on the militants and not on the security forces for the operation's consequences," Singh writes.

The media blackout further led to the otherwise avoidable rumours of alleged excesses; it resulted in a loss of credibility for the State, as the press and public only saw the death and destruction in the aftermath of the military action and not the bloody attack the militants had unleashed on the army.

"The inappropriate choice of a day sacred to the Sikhs to launch the operation, the excessive use of force that killed a large number of innocent pilgrims and extensive damage to the sacred shrine alienated the Sikh community; that helped the radicals multiply their ranks, aided by Pakistan, post-Blue Star," Singh writes.

Much has happened since then and the author expresses his guarded optimism for the future.

Today, terrorism "has been eliminated decisively" from Punjab but "the deep, fundamental ethno-socio-religious fault lines that led to the turmoil in the state still persist", Singh writes.

"History has an uncanny habit of repeating itself, and we have to be on guard, for only the civilisations that draw lessons from their history and move forward prosper," he adds.

Noting that this is the earliest opportunity he received to publish the book post his superannuation as Punjab's Chief Secretary and thereafter as Chief Information Commissioner, Singh writes that he does not regret the interregnum "because the passage of years has helped crystallise issues and cooled down tempers. In these thirty-eight years, a lot has been said and written about Operation Blue Star and the chaos in Punjab. An abundance of pop history books and documentaries and a few eyewitness accounts - mostly hearsay - have been published. Everything, however, has not been said and probably may not be said for a while, considering the sensitivity of the subject and the security imperatives".

"I hope, as passions mellow over time, people within and outside the establishment will be more receptive of this work. My words may displease some; however, the intention is not to hurt any feelings or apportion blame - though in historical accounts this may be unavoidable - but to initiate dialogue, open the way to introspection and, most importantly, move toward reconciliation and closure over a tragic past," Singh maintains.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
New Delhi, July 13 : The Uttar Pradesh government has told the Supreme Court that the intervention applications filed by Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, are nothing but "proxy litigation" and that owners of two partially demolished properties in Kanpur have already admitted to the illegality of construction.

The Uttar Pradesh government in an affidavit, said: "It is submitted that the present intervention applications are nothing but proxy litigation to protect illegal encroachments, and that too, not by actual affected parties, if any and respondent no. 3 state takes strong exception to the same and to the applicant's naming the state's highest constitutional functionaries and attempting to falsely label the local development authority's lawful actions as a method of collective retribution. Such allegations are absolutely false and vehemently denied." The state government said the pleas against the demolitions were filed to mislead courts.

In June, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had filed a plea in the Supreme Court after the administration in Prayagraj, Kanpur, and Saharanpur demolished houses of accused, who were allegedly involved in violent protests following former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad.

The state government said: "The two instances of demolition referred to by the applicant in the district of Saharanpur are cases of encroachment on public land and removal were strictly in accordance with law..." The affidavit added, "The applicant in its rejoinder has failed to address the fact brought on record by the counter affidavit that the owners of the two partially removed illegal constructions in Kanpur have already admitted to the illegality of the constructions and submitted compounding applications for the same." Jamiat's plea had sought directions that no action be taken in Kanpur against the residential or commercial property of any accused in any criminal proceedings as an extra-legal punitive measure.

The Uttar Pradesh government said the Saharanpur demolitions were "lawful" and also denied the allegation that a minor boy was arrested while protesting the demolition.

"The said accused has been duly produced before the court and is being proceeded in accordance with law, and has in fact neither claimed minority nor produced any documents to show that he is minor, as alleged by the applicant...", added the affidavit, saying the applicant is only trying to sensationalise the issue.

The top court is scheduled to take up the matter later in the day.
Mumbai, July 13 : Ever since the finale of season 3 of the anti-hero series released on OTT, one question has been raging in the subconscious of the audience -- will Soldier Boy return in Season 4? The character had a major showdown with The Boys, but Grace Mallory laid him on the ice to save him. Actors from the show -- Jensen Ackles, Claudia Doumit and Erin Moriarty recently spoke about the future that the fourth season of the show holds for their respective characters.

Erin Moriarty, who plays Starlight, said that her character has become more powerful than ever before, which will be a gamechanger.

"She has powers maybe that are beyond what she's even aware of," Morirarty said. "The cool thing is Hughie is the person who makes her aware of that and empowers her at that moment. They go through a hiccup where he feels emasculated by her power, and this is him making the redemptive move of empowering her in this amazing moment, where she's able to fly." Jensen Ackles, who plays the character of Soldier Boy, has "no answer" for the question of Soldier Boy's future.

He said, "I don't think (Eric Kripke) ever wants to close any door. So, keeping that door open a crack for Soldier Boy to use, in whatever capacity that fits, is something that I think he would do as a writer. I don't know what the future holds for Soldier Boy. I think that's all being worked out right now, as to how or when or why that character will be used in the future." Another question bothering viewers is: Will Victoria Neuman rule over the Vice President's chair? Things will turn dirty if this super-powerful villain does and Homelander supports her in all her evil actions.

Revealing the secret, Claudia Doumit said she's nervous too about the high stakes now, as Victoria is in no way out of danger. "She's right in the eye of the hurricane right now. I'll see when I get the scripts. But she's on a path of, not redemption, but a darker one," Claudia said.

All episodes of The Boys 3 are streaming on Prime Video in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
New Delhi, July 13 : Hitting out at the Arvind Kejriwal government, the BJP on Wednesday said the increased power charges will disturb the household budget by putting additional burden on them in the national capital. BJP demanded immediate withdrawal of increased power charges.

BJP national spokesperson Sardar R.P. Singh said had the AAP lost the Rajinder Nagar Assembly bypoll last month, Kejriwal would not have dared to increase the charges.

"Thanks to the voters of Rajinder Nagar, from next month the minimum monthly power bill will be increased by Rs 250. If he had lost the Rajinder Nagar, Kejriwal would not have dared to increase the power charges," Singh said.

Singh alleged that the Kejriwal government has looted Rs 37,127 crore with power discoms.

"In the name of fixed charges, pension charges, electricity charges, PPAC charges, the Kejriwal government and power discoms have looted Rs 37,127 crore from people of Delhi," Singh added.

Meanwhile, demanding withdrawal of the hike in power charges, Delhi BJP warned of a massive protest at the chief minister's residence if it is not withdrawn.

Lok Sabha Member from South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri said that while farmers across the country get electricity at low or free of cost, in Delhi they are forced to buy electricity at commercial rates.

"The rates, which are levied in the name of energy, distribution, purchase and fixed charges in the bill, affect the people. The Kejriwal government increased the rate by six per cent through backdoors, it will actually pass up to 12 per cent to the consumers," Bidhuri said, demanding that the hike in electricity rates should be withdrawn immediately.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Indian tech industry generated $103 billion in revenue and directly employed 2,07,000 people in the US last year, with an average wage of $106,360 -- witnessing a 22 per cent employment growth since 2017, a new Nasscom report showed on Wednesday.

The direct impact of the Indian tech industry has helped the US economy generate a total of $396 billion in sales to date, supporting 1.6 million jobs and contributing over $198 billion to the American economy -- larger than the combined economies of 20 US states in 2021, according to report by Nassom and IHS Markit (now part of S&P global).

"The Indian tech sector works with more than 75 per cent of the fortune 500 companies, most of them headquartered in the US and is therefore well equipped to understand and meet the critical skill challenges of the digital age," said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

The Indian technology companies have contributed over $1.1 billion and developed partnerships with nearly 180 universities, colleges, community colleges, and others to strengthen and diversify the STEM pipeline in the US.

It also has provided over $3 million more for just K-12 initiatives. These efforts have touched over 2.9 million students and teachers to date in the US.

In addition, over 2,55,000 current employees have been upskilled by the sector, the report noted.

The Indian technology industry in the US has played a significant role in expanding the talent pool outside of traditional tech hub states.

This has contributed to some of these states, such as North Carolina, becoming emergent tech hubs.

Over the last decade, these states have grown their employment rate by 82 per cent, making outsized contributions particularly in states that have below US average concentrations in IT talent, according to the report.

"The Indian technology Industry makes critical contributions to the US economy through local investments, fuelling innovation and the labour force, and enabling skill development for the local workforce," said Ghosh.
Suva, July 13 : Two Chinese defence attaches have been kicked out by Fijian police from a Pacific Islands Forum meeting at which the US Vice-President Kamala Harris was giving a virtual address, The Guardian reported.

The men were sitting in on a session of the forum's fisheries agency at which Harris announced the step-up of US engagement in the region, believed to be in response to China's growing influence.

They were sitting with the media contingent, but one was identified as a Chinese embassy official by Lice Movono, a Fijian journalist who is covering the forum for 'The Guardian'.

Movono said she "recognised him because I've interacted with him at least three times already," including during the visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, to Suva in June, at which journalists were removed from events and blocked from asking questions.

"He was one of the people that was removing us from places and directing other people to remove us," she added.

Diplomatic sources later confirmed that the men were a defence attache and a deputy defence attache from China, and part of the embassy in Fiji, The Guardian reported.

The incident comes after an intensification of Chinese involvement in the region in the last few months, which is simmering as an undercurrent to the year's Pacific Islands Forum.

However, Harris was invited to attend the forum virtually, in what is seen as a huge coup for the US and a blow to China, which has been not afforded a similar honour.

The US has made a concerted effort to step up its engagement with the Pacific in light of Chinese interest, including by reopening its embassy in Solomon Islands, which was announced in February, plus a slew of measures announced by Harris on Wednesday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hyderabad, July 13 : Incessant rain and floods continued to wreak havoc in parts of Telangana on Wednesday as several villages and some towns were inundated by overflowing water bodies.

The North Telangana region was reeling under the monsoon fury with water flowing over roads, cutting off remote villages while normal life remained paralysed.

Inundation of villages and parts of some towns in the worst affected districts of Adilabad, Nirmal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial and Jagtiyal have forced hundreds of families to move to safer places.

The heavy rainfall and floods have led to incidents of house collapse, disrupted electricity supply and caused widespread damage to crops.

Godavari and Krishna, the two major rivers flowing through the state, and their tributaries were in spate while streams, canals, lakes, tanks and other water bodies were overflowing due to incessant rain for nearly a week.

All major, medium and small projects on both the major rivers were receiving heavy inflows. Authorities are releasing the water downstream from almost all the projects.

Nirmal district collector Musharraf Ali Faruqui said Kadam reservoir was receiving highest ever inflows. Over 3,000 families were shifted to safe locations across 12 villages. The collector said many parts of the district were receiving extremely high rainfall and urged people to avoid all low-lying areas.

Villages around Kadam project across the Kadam River, a tributary of Godavari, are being vacated as the water level is likely to rise further. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao spoke to forest minister Indrakaran Reddy over phone. The minister along with officials visited the project to review the situation.

The project is receiving heavy inflows from upstream of the Kadam River and also Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) across Godavari. Out of 18 gates, the irrigation officials have opened 17 gates to release the water while one gate has stopped functioning.

People from GNR Colony in Siddapur near Nirmal town also left for safe places as nearby stream Swarna Vagu was overflowing.

Low-lying areas of Basara town in the same district were also inundated.

In Mancherial, pregnant women and children from government-run Mata-Shishu Arogya Kendram near Godavari were shifted to another place Residential areas in Dharmapuri town of Jagtiyal district were also inundated. Flood water entered into houses, forcing many people to move to safer places.

Several villages were inundated in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. Low-lying areas in Sirpur constituency were under water due to overflowing streams.

Sri Ram Sagar Project in Nizamabad district was also receiving massive inflows. The irrigation department has lifted all 26 gates to let out the water.

Godavari was in spate at Kaleshwaram in Bhupalapally. Pushkar ghats were inundated and even the road was under water. Officials said the river was flowing above the second danger mark.

At Bhadrachalam town in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Godavari continued to flow above the second danger mark. People from low-lying colonies were shifted to relief camps.

Normal life remained affected in Hyderabad and surrounding districts due to rains. Twin reservoirs Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad continued to receive heavy inflows from catchment areas. The flood water is being released into the Musi River, which flows through the city.

Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city also filled to the brim. The authorities were letting out water through outer channels into the Musi River. People in areas along the channels and Musi River have already been alerted.
Chennai, July 13 : Tamil star Vikram has showered praise on the Mozart of Madras, A.R. Rahman, calling the ace music director who has scored music for his upcoming film 'Cobra', a living legend.

Participating in the audio launch event of the film in Chennai, Vikram jokingly said, "I shouldn't place my hand on my chest for there is a good possibility that people might say that I have suffered a heart attack."

Referring to a section of the media that had wrongly reported that he had suffered a heart attack, Vikram said, "I saw lots of wrong information out there. Some said I had suffered a heart attack and that I was lying at a hospital. There were some who photoshopped my face onto some poor patient."

To the delight of his cheering fans in the audience, he added: "I feel that I have seen lots and that this is nothing. When my family, my fans, my friends and people like you support me, nothing can happen to me.

"That is because you all know that I suffered an accident when I was 20 years old and that I faced a situation where my leg had to be amputated. When I have recovered from such a situation and come back, all this is nothing."

Vikram went on to clarify, "I only had a small chest discomfort and that was blown out of proportion. Thank you."

Stating that he had always lived for cinema, Vikram said: "A long time ago, I did an advertisement when I hadn't come to cinema. I played a Chola king in an ad for a tea brand. A cameraman called Chang, a technician called Subramani and a musician named Dilip worked on it as well. Today, I have played the role of the Chola king Aditya Karikalan, that too in an epic film like 'Ponniyin Selvan' under the direction of my dream director Mani Ratnam.

"The man who was Dilip then, has won two Oscars and is known the world over and is present before us today as A.R. Rahman sir. What this shows is that if you have a dream for yourselves, if you have a goal and if you work for it, whoever you are, you can reach heights that you never imagined. Rahman sir is a big example of that. I have to thank you sir for giving such a great honour to our country," Vikram said.

He went on to add, "Rahman sir is a living legend. Be it 'Ponniyin Selvan' or 'I' or 'Ravanan', I get a fresh burst of energy when I act in his songs because I have loved his music and I am such a great fan of him."

-- Syndicated from IANS
Colombo, July 13 : Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Acting President in accordance with the Article 37.1 of the Constitution, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardhane said on Wednesday.

He added in a special statement that the President has informed him that the Prime Minister was appointed as the Acting President as he was away from the country, the Daily Mirror reported.

President Rajapaksa has arrived in the Maldives earlier on Wednesday morning after having fled Sri Lanka and will be making his way to a final destination. Where that is however, is still unclear.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Colombo, July 13 : Sri Lankan Police have fired more volleys of teargas on the protesting crowd outside the Prime Minister's office in a bid to drive them back.

The avenue is wreathed in smoke. People are running, trying to escape the gas. Those hit are dousing themselves with water and coughing, the BBC reported.

"Soldiers are still holding down the fort. Perched on the building's gates, they're even dumping water on protesters to help those struggling to breathe." There is tense situation outside Prime Minister's Office as police and military personnel started shooting in air after heavy tear gas attack, the BBC reported.

Sri Lankan protesters are staying defiant in the face of a nationwide curfew imposed by the Prime Minister's office on Wednesday.

"Our country is facing an extreme economic crisis," a 31-year-old protester Viraga Perera told the BBC.

"The people here are here so they can have a vote for the future," he said from Galle Face Green, which has been the site of multiple mass protests against the Rajapaksa administration.

"This kind of behaviour, of sending helicopters that are armed around the people who are gathered here peacefully, sends a clear signal to deter peaceful protests against the current regime," he added, referring to the military helicopters that have been flying low over the heads of protesters gathered there.

"We will not stand by this," he said.

"We will keep coming, we will keep fighting until we have some assurance that we and our children have some future in this country."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Colombo, July 13 : With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa failing to announce his resignation by 1 p.m. local time on Wednesday as promised, angry protesters surrounded the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is tipped to be acting president in the absence of head of the state.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered imposition of curfew in the Western Province with immediate effect and emergency law island wide. Security forces have also been directed to arrest people acting in a riotous manner and seize the lorries they are travelling in.

As the president did not step down as demanded by the protesters, they have called people to flock to the capital. The police and the military used heavy force, including tear gas and shooting in the air, to chase away protesters who are aiming to take over Prime Minister's office.

On July 9, braving similar forces, people took control of the President's house, his office and Prime Minister's official residence symbolically overtaking the government and the presidency.

The President announced he would resign on Wednesday to make a replacement on July 20. On the early hours of Wednesday, the President fled the country using Antonov-32 aircraft belonging to Sri Lanka Airforce.

Airforce later justified the act saying that the president is entitled to exercise such a travel.
Seoul, July 13 : South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed on Wednesday to establish reserve forces for cyber warfare to better respond to growing cyber threats.

Yoon made the remark during a ceremony marking the 11th Information Security Day, which was designated by law in 2012 to enhance the protection of personal information, Yonhap news agency reported.

"As the digital transformation accelerates, so too are cyber threats increasing," he said at Pangyo Techno Valley in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

"Cyber attacks occur indiscriminately without distinguishing between the private and public sectors and threaten everything from infrastructure to ordinary citizens," he added.

Yoon pledged to launch "cyber reserve forces" composed of both the civil and government sectors to strengthen the country's capacity to conduct cyber warfare.

The President also vowed to address the shortage in cyber personnel by expanding related courses in universities and graduate schools and fostering a 100,000-strong workforce, including 40,000 new personnel.
New Delhi, July 13 : Education institutions, both higher and lower education, are increasingly being hit with ransomware, with 60 per cent suffering attacks in 2021 compared to 44 per cent in 2020, a report said on Wednesday.

According to cybersecurity firm Sophos, education institutions faced the highest data encryption rate (73 per cent) compared to other sectors (65 per cent), and the longest recovery time, with 7 per cent taking at least three months to recover -- almost double the average time for other sectors (4 per cent).

"Schools are among those being hit the hardest by ransomware. They're prime targets for attackers because of their overall lack of strong cybersecurity defenses and the goldmine of personal data they hold," Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist at Sophos, said in a statement.

"Education institutions are less likely than others to detect in-progress attacks, which naturally lead to higher attack success and encryption rates," added Wisniewski, in the report that polled 5,600 IT professionals, including 320 lower education respondents and 410 high education respondents, in mid-sized organisations across 31 countries.

The survey mentioned that education institutions report the highest propensity to experience operational and commercial impacts from ransomware attacks compared to other sectors.

At least 97 per cent of higher education and 94 per cent of lower education respondents say attacks impacted their ability to operate, while 96 per cent of higher education and 92 per cent of lower education respondents in the private sector further report business and revenue loss.

Only 2 per cent of education institutions recovered all of their encrypted data after paying a ransom (down from 4 per cent in 2020); schools, on average, were able to recover 62 per cent of encrypted data after paying a ransom (down from 68 per cent in 2020).

Higher education institutions in a particular report the longest ransomware recovery time; while 40 per cent say it takes at least one month to recover (20 per cent for other sectors), nine per cent report it takes three to six months.
New Delhi, July 13 : The last-mile emissions of the six largest global delivery and e-commerce companies alone amount to approximately 4.5 mega tonnes of CO2, a report released on Wednesday said.

Commitments from these companies are far less than what is required to achieve zero-emission deliveries, it added.

The report also finds that the last mile CO2 emissions in India are at least half of all overall emissions from e-commerce deliveries and at the same time, praises India's homegrown brand Flipkart for its commitment to transition their last mile fleets to electric vehicles (EV) by 2030.

"The figure of 4.5 mega tonnes of CO2 is expected to rise exponentially in the coming years. This is roughly equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions from 1 million petrol passenger vehicles," according to the new research conducted by Stand.earth Research Group and commissioned by the Clean Mobility Collective.

The report highlights the top six companies in terms of overall emissions: UPS, FedEx, Amazon Logistics (Amazon's logistics and courier division), DPD (Strategic partner & significant minority stakeholder of DTDC India), eKart (Flipkart's courier division), and DHL eCommerce Solutions (courier division of Deutsche Post DHL Group).

Stating that the commitments from them are not just lagging but also lack transparency, lead author Greg Higgs of Stand.earth Research Group said, "We researched 90 courier companies across Europe, India, and North America. None of them are open about their last-mile emissions." The report does not offer any explanation as to why only India was selected with developed countries.

The researchers discovered that the top six polluters account for more than two-thirds of total CO2 emissions in their database of parent companies. "Furthermore, because these six companies are primarily responsible for subcontracting delivery services to many of the remaining companies, their negative impact on the environment and public health is likely to be even greater," Higgs added.

Pointing out that much of the research on emissions and delivery is around particulate emissions and their subsequent health impacts rather than CO2 and hence, difficult to derive accurate greenhouse gases emissions conversion factors for India compared to obtaining such factors for Europe, the researchers said they did derive an emissions factor for India using data from a variety of sources.

"The relevance of last mile as expressed by our calculations for India are roughly in line with CO2 emissions figures for Europe. Our intermediate figures for India are an estimated 285 gCO2 per parcel and 51 per cent share of total delivery emissions versus an estimated 194 gCO2 and 53 per cent respectively for Europe. (Thus) strongly suggesting that last mile delivery constitutes a significant share of delivery emissions around the globe," the report said.

The report extrapolated published figures for parcels delivered in US, Germany, India, France, and Italy and extrapolated for the EU as a whole. In India, the total number of parcels was multiplied by the share attributable to the largest cities and extrapolating according to the population. "Five Indian cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai - emit more CO2 from last-mile delivery than the last mile emissions of entire countries such as France and Canada," it said.

Flipkart, with its commitment to transition their last mile fleets to EV by 2030, has articulated the ambition wherein along with committing to Climate Group's EV100 target of 100 per cent EV fleets by 2030, it has also committed to achieve net zero across operations by 2040, the report acknowledged.

"The short trips that millions of delivery vehicles take every day have a disproportionate impact on pollution, smog, air quality, and, ultimately, our health as well as our ability to achieve a zero-emission future. It is critical that businesses collaborate with our governments to come clean about their emissions and commit to clear, time-bound plans to reduce them," said Siddharth Sreenivas, Clean Mobility Collective India Coordinator.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday queried counsel representing Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, which has challenged the bulldozer action in Uttar Pradesh, how it can pass an omnibus order restraining the authorities from carrying out demolition of unauthorised constructions, even though the court concurred that the rule of law must be followed.

The top court did not pass an interim order in the matter, and fixed the matter for further hearing on August 10.

A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and P.S. Narasimha said there is no dispute that rule of law has to be followed. "If under the municipal law the construction is unauthorised, can an omnibus order be passed to restrain authorities?" Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing Jamiat, citied a news report claiming house of a murder accused was demolished and pressed the authorities should not take advantage of municipal laws. Dave said: "We are against this culture...it is happening across the country", and also claimed that the authorities are doing pick and choose action against a community. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, "They're also Indians, we can't have community-based litigation".

Jamiat's counsel further questioned the validity of demolition of houses and establishment of riots accused by the Uttar Pradesh government, and urged the top court to pass a direction to stop such selective demolition drives in future.

The top court reiterated its query to the petitioner, whether the court can pass an omnibus order in a public interest litigation, restraining state authorities from acting against illegal buildings and constructions. It said, "There is no dispute that the rule of law has to be followed. But can we pass an omnibus order?" Dave pressed that selective action is being taken and the entire Sainik Farms is illegal but nobody touched it so far. Dave said PIL is the only remedy here and where else will the affected poor people go.

Senior advocate C.U. Singh, also representing the petitioner, citing the demolition carried out by authorities in Jahangirpuri in Delhi, said the same modus operandi is being adopted for city after city, and the problem was that the police were picking up accused and then their houses were being demolished.

Mehta raised the issue of locus standi of the petitioner and added that the people who participate in riots cannot claim immunity from demolition of illegal constructions. "Let us not sensationalise the issue," said Mehta. Dave said, "What relief can they get after demolition?" Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that could the court pass an order that a house of a person should not be demolished merely because he is an accused? Salve was defending the demolition carried out by the authorities in Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Saharanpur against the accused, who had participated in violent protests. Citing demolition carried out by authorities, Dave said, "It is not good for us as a society..." Jamiat's counsel argued that the authorities had sought a cover up by saying municipal laws are being followed. After hearing arguments, the bench scheduled the matter for further hearing on August 10.

In June, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had filed a plea in the Supreme Court after the administration in Prayagraj, Kanpur, and Saharanpur demolished houses of accused, who were allegedly involved in violent protests following former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad.

The Uttar Pradesh government has told the Supreme Court that the intervention applications filed by Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, are nothing but "proxy litigation" and that owners of two partially demolished properties in Kanpur have already admitted to the illegality of construction.

The Uttar Pradesh government in an affidavit, said: "It is submitted that the present intervention applications are nothing but proxy litigation to protect illegal encroachments, and that too, not by actual affected parties, if any and respondent no. 3 state takes strong exception to the same and to the applicant's naming the state's highest constitutional functionaries and attempting to falsely label the local development authority's lawful actions as a method of collective retribution. Such allegations are absolutely false and vehemently denied." The state government said the pleas against the demolitions were filed to mislead courts.
Addis Ababa, July 13 : The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance (MoF) has announced it has signed a third-party implementation agreement with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the rehabilitation of infrastructure projects in the East African country's northern Tigray region.

The MoF said on Tuesday in a press statement that the agreement is part of the Ethiopian government's national recovery programme financed by the World Bank, which is titled Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities in Ethiopia Project.

"Based on the agreement with UNOPS the agency will implement activities identified under rebuilding and improving access to basic services and climate-resilient community infrastructure," the MOF statement added.

The MoF also said under the agreement the UNOPS will implement activities of providing rapid response services to communities in Tigray in consultation with communities, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UNOPS will also reconstruct basic service-providing infrastructures affected by the conflict in consultation with the communities, as well as support community-level social institutions in Tigray.

Earlier in June, the World Bank and the MoF signed a $715 million financial assistance agreement to help Ethiopian communities affected by conflict and drought.

Humanitarian aid is recently heading to the Tigray region after the Ethiopian government and the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to a conditional cessation of hostilities and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into the region.

The TPLF and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, backed by allied forces, have been engaged in a 20-month conflict that has reportedly left thousands of people dead and millions of others in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The Ethiopian parliament designated the TPLF as a terrorist organisation in May 2021.
Jerusalem, July 13 : Israel and Austria have signed an agreement on establishing "a comprehensive strategic partnership" to expand security cooperation.

The deal was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who held talks at the PM's office in the HaKirya military base in Tel Aviv on expanding cooperation in various fields, especially on security issues, Lapid's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The main fields covered by the agreement are "cyber and counter-terrorism, health in light of the coronavirus pandemic, tourism, technology, innovation, trade, investment promotion, the struggle against climate change, green tech and digitisation," the statement added.

The two leaders also discussed regional issues, "especially the Iranian threat," it said.

Lapid reiterated Israel's opposition to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, emphasising "the importance of the international awareness against the agreement and concerns over the continuation of the Iranian nuclear program," the statement added.
New Delhi, July 13 : Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has declared that the Shiv Sena led by him would support BJP-led NDA's presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.

The decision to back Murmu was taken a day after 16 Shiv Sena MPs conveyed to Thackeray to support her as she is a woman from tribal community.

Thackeray said that he is not under any pressure to back Murmu in the upcoming presidential elections. "Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs," Thackeray said, referring to the deliberation at the meeting of Sena MPs.

However, the decision is being seen as an attempt on the part of Thackeray to avoid further dissension in the party. Shiv Sena faced a major rebellion last month that resulted in the split in the party. Almost 40 of 55 party MLAs broke away under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the chief minister of the state.

CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a countrywide survey for IANS to know people's opinion about Thackeray's decision to back Murmu and the possible impact on the party if Shiv Sena had backed opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

During the survey, the majority of respondents opined that the Shiv Sena would have faced another split if the party had supported Sinha. According to the survey data, 63 per cent respondents said the Shiv Sena could have broken once again if the party had supported Sinha. However, 37 per cent of respondents disagreed with the sentiment.

The survey further revealed that while a majority of the NDA supporters -- 77 per cent believe that Shiv Sena would have faced another rebellion if the party had not supported Murmu, views of opposition supporters were divided on the issue. During the survey, while 54 per cent of opposition voters said that Thackeray decided to back Murmu to avoid another revolt in the party, 46 per cent did not share the sentiment.

According to the survey data, while a majority of most of the social groups believe that Thackeray decided to back Murmu under pressure from the Shiv Sena MPs to avoid dissension in the party, a majority of Muslims did not share the sentiment.

According to the survey data, 75 per cent Upper Caste Hindus (UCH), 63 per cent Other Backward Classes (OBC), 69 per cent Scheduled Tribes and 66 per cent Scheduled Castes opined Shiv Sena would have faced another division if the party had hot declared its support for the NDA presidential candidate. At the same time, the majority of Muslims - 68 per cent did not agree with this opinion.
Hyderabad, July 13 : A journalist working for a Telugu news channel went missing after the car in which he was travelling along with his colleague was washed away in flood waters in Telangana's Jagtial district.

Zameeruddin, a journalist of NTV, along with his friend was returning to Jagtial after covering rescue of nine labourers stuck in Godavari flood waters by NDRF personnel at Bornapalli.

Police said the car in which the duo were travelling was swept away by swirling water between Ramojipet and Bhupatipur villages in Raikal mandal late Tuesday.

The incident occurred when they tried to cross a flooded bridge over a stream. The vehicle fell off the road and was swept away in the flood water.

While Lateef escaped by catching hold of a tree, Zameer went missing. Rescue teams launched a search for the missing scribe but he remained untraced till Wednesday afternoon.

The local officials were using the service of expert swimmers for the search operation.

Officials said flood intensity was hampering the search operation. Rescue teams traced the car and were trying to pull it out with the help of a crane.

Lateef said he opened the car door but washed away in the flood current till he managed to catch hold of a tree. He was not sure if Zameer managed to come out or was stuck in the vehicle.
Mumbai, July 13 : Digital content creator and social media influencer Kusha Kapila, who is set to host the upcoming season 3 of reality stand-up comedy competition OTT show 'Comicstaan along with comic artiste Abish Mathew, recently opened up on her experience of being a show host.

Talking about it Kusha said, "Hosting was one of the most taxing jobs that I have done. I was very nervous in the beginning but the way all the judges welcomed and supported me, it was all very helpful. I feel incredibly lucky." She praised her co-host and shared how this journey was a learning curve for her, "Abish as a co-host is incredible. There is so much prep that happens in the background so I got to learn so much. For me it was a school, an institution. And I loved it." Kenny Sebastian, who is one of the judges on the show, is impressed by Kusha's hosting skills. He said, "Kusha was amazing on the show. She mastered the room. She was like a knowledge sponge, always observing and adapting according to her surroundings. She brings a certain set of skills that are unique and really enhanced the show's experience." Kenny will be joined by Zakir Khan, Sumukhi Suresh, and Neeti Palta on the judge's panel. The 8-episode comedy series is set to stream on Prime Video from July 15.
San Francisco, July 13 : The TikTok threat to Google's business is not just limited to YouTube, but core Google services, including Search and Maps, are also being impacted by a growing preference for social media and videos, says a Google executive.

Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan, who runs Google's Knowledge and Information organisation, referenced the popular social apps in a broader conversation at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference about the future of Google's products and its use of artificial intelligence (AI), reports TechCrunch.

In a discussion about the evolution of search, he somewhat offhandedly noted that younger users were now often turning to apps like Instagram and TikTok instead of Google Search or Maps for discovery purposes.

"We keep learning, over and over again, that new Internet users do not have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to," Raghavan was quoted as saying. He also added that "the queries they ask are completely different".

As per the report, these users do not tend to type in keywords but rather look to discover content in new, more immersive ways, he said.

"In our studies, something like almost 40 per cent of young people, when they are looking for a place for lunch, they do not go to Google Maps or Search," he said.

"They go to TikTok or Instagram," he added.

The tech giant has confirmed to the tech website that Raghavan's comments were based on internal research that involved a survey of US users, ages 18 to 24.
July 13 : The Cocktail fame Diana Penty is celebrating her ten-year milestone today. As the actress clocks a decade in Bollywood, she took to social media and penned down a heartfelt note expressing her gratitude to everyone who supported her throughout her journey.

Sharing a throwback video consisting of snippets from all her films so far, the actress wrote, As I look back over the last 10 years, I feel so grateful for everything - the work Ive done (although not enough ), the people Ive met along the way, the friends Ive made, and the many, many things Ive learnt that have moulded me into the person I am today.

Special mentions were given to Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan, co-stars of her debut film Cocktail. She also thanked the film producer and director Dinesh Vijan and Homi Adajania for discovering her potential.

I cant end my speech without telling you what Im most grateful for#Cocktail. And for Dinoo (Dinesh Vijan) & Homi (@homster), who saw potential in me when I didnt know my face from my toes! And for the two bestest co-actors to have had for my first film,@deepikapadukoneand #SaifAliKhan.

The actress who made her debut with the 2012 film Cocktail went on to act in Happy Bhag Jayegi, Lucknow Central, Shiddat, and so on. The actress was last seen in the Malayalam crime thriller Salute with Dulquer Salmaan. She will be next seen in the Sabir Khan directorial Adbhut. Selfie starring Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi will also feature the actress in a pivotal role. The film is a remake of the Malayalam comedy-drama Driving Licence.
Colombo, July 13 : Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Wednesday appointed as the acting President of Sri Lanka after Gotbaya Rajpaksa fled to Maldives.

As per reports, President Rajapaksa informed this to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

Soon after taking charge, Wickremesinghe imposed curfew in the Western province where the capital Colombo is and declared emergency regulations island wide.

Protesters have surrounded prime minister's office and tense situation prevails with police resorting to tear gas and firing in the air. Protesters who have occupied President's house, his office and PM's official residence have called the public to gather to Colombo despite the emergency and the curfew.

He has also ordered the security to arrest people acting riotous manner and blocked vehicles coming to Colombo. National Television station has stopped transmission.
Udupi, July 13 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said that 32 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in the recent past in the state.

He said the state government will release Rs 500 crore to restore public infrastructure damaged in heavy rainfall and floods across Karnataka.

"Five persons are still missing and more than 300 persons have been evacuated to safe places against the backdrop of landslides and floods," he added.

Talking to reporters after holding a meeting with officials in Udupi, Chief Minister Bommai said 34 persons sustained injuries in the rain-related incidents.

Fourteen relief camps have been set up and eggs are being distributed to people to ensure nutritional food to them.

He said that coastal districts have borne the brunt of incessant rainfall in July. The three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts have received additional rainfall this year in July. North Karnataka districts have also received more rainfall.

Four teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pressed into service in Kodagu, Belagavi, Raichur districts and as many State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) teams are working in Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts, he said.

He stated that the state government has ordered studies by agencies regarding earthquakes in Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada, landslides in coastal and Kodagu districts and sea erosion.

To study repeated earthquakes in Kodagu and coastal region, the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and Universities of Bengaluru and Mysuru have been asked to conduct studies and find out solutions.

"Amrutha University are experts in the field of studying landslides and they have taken up the research in Kodagu district. The order will be given to conduct the study of Western Ghats region," he said.

Karnataka has 330 km of sea shore. Though Rs 300 crore have been spent for prevention of sea erosion here, the problem still persists.

"Our state will implement modern wave breaker technology implemented by the Kerala government. It will be implemented on a trial basis for 1 kilometer and later will be extended to the whole stretch," Chief Minister Bommai said.

Bommai maintained that he will visit Karwar, Belagavi and other north Karnataka districts next week.

Five people were killed in Dakshina Kannada district while three in Uttara Kannada districts in rain-related incidents.

Crops in 214 hectare of Dakshina Kannada and 129 hectare in Udupi were damaged. Rainfall has damaged 355 hectares of agricultural and horticultural lands.

As many as 429 houses in Dakshina Kannada, 437 houses in Uttara Kannada and 196 in Udupi have been damaged. In total, 1,062 houses were damaged in three districts, in which 55 were damaged fully and 26 houses suffered major damages, the chief minister said.

He said that 727 km road in Dakshina Kannada, 500 km in Uttara Kannada and 960 km in Udupi are damaged. In total, 2,187 km of road has been washed away.

Around 5,595 electric poles, 427 transformers, 168 bridge, culverts have been destroyed by floods triggered by heavy rain in three districts.
Colombo, July 13 : Sri Lanka's Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has announced that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will make arrangements to send his official letter of resignation on Wednesday.

The Speaker said Rajapaksa, who is out of the country, had called him and told him he would resign on Wednesday as previously promised on Saturday, the BBC reported.

The letter of resignation would pave the way for Sri Lanka to trigger a succession plan, by allowing an interim President to step in for up to 30 days before MPs vote to elect a new leader.

Meanwhile, a second state television broadcast station has now gone off air in the island nation, the BBC reported.

The news comes less than an hour after the largest national broadcaster, Rupavahini, suspended operations after protesters entered the Prime Minister's office. Officials say engineers shut the channel down as thousands of protesters entered the state television office.
Colombo, July 13 : Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who left for Maldives early Wednesday morning will leave for Singapore later in the day, sources in Maldives told Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on a military jet reportedly accompanied by his wife, days after thousands of protestors entered his residence.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed the acting President and has declared a state of emergency in the country following a standoff between police and military personnel with angry protestors which tried to enter the Prime Minister's office, the Daily Mirror reported.

Thousands have taken to the streets in Sri Lanka in recent weeks, with many blaming the Rajapaksa family and their government for the economic crisis plaguing the nation.
Colombo, July 13 : A committee, comprising of Chief of Defence Staff, Tri force Commanders and IGP, had been appointed to ensure the security and safety of the citizens and to restore law and order in the country, Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced on Wednesday.

He said the committee will be given every authority to act without interference from politicians, Daily Mirror reported.

As curfew has been imposed in the Western province at the moment and following instructions from the Prime Minister's Office, trains reaching Colombo Fort from distant places, have been halted until further notice, the Railway General Manager (GMR) Dhammika Jayasundara said.

The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters' Union (SLRSMU) said they are prepared to bring the trains which have already started their journey to Colombo by taking their occupational risk, Daily Mirror reported.

So far, a number of station masters and several stations have been attacked.
Seoul, July 13 : The new Head of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Wednesday presided over his first meeting with major military commanders since taking office earlier this month, a military source said.

During the meeting, General Kim Seung-kyum ordered commanders to establish a firm readiness posture amid a grave security situation due to recent provocations from North Korea and signs that the recalcitrant regime is preparing for a nuclear test, according to the source.

Kim also stressed improving the readiness posture and capabilities in order to respond firmly and punish any provocation, Yonhap news agency reported.

In his inauguration speech on July 5, Kim warned that North Korea's provocations will be met with "unsparing retaliation".
New Delhi, July 13 : The BJP on Wednesday castigated the Congress for its leader Ajoy Kumar's objectionable comment against NDA's presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu saying this is how the grand-old party insults India's first woman tribal president candidate.

As per reports, former Lok Sabha Member and Congress leader had said: "Draupadi Murmu is a decent person but she represents a very evil philosophy of India. We should not make Draupadi Murmu ji the symbol of adivasis. Ram Nath Kovind is the President and Hathras happened, did he say a word? The condition of Scheduled Caste has become worse." Slamming the Congress, national in-charge of BJP Information and Technology Department Amit Malviya tweeted: "At a time when the NDA, led by PM Modi, has announced Smt Draupadi Murmu, a woman from Adivasi samaj, as it's nominee for the President's office, a move that will significantly empower the Tribals, Congress leader calls her evil by association! Just because she is a Tribal. Shame." Sharing a video of Kumar, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said: "Ajoy kumar #Congress Droupadi Murmu represents a very evil philosophy so we should not make her as a symbol of "adivasi". After calling Droupadi ji "dummy candidate" (Puducherry Cong handle) now this! This is how Congress insults India's first woman tribal president candidate.

"What evil philosophy does Droupadi Murmu represent? The fact that she rose up from grassroots by sheer hard work and commitment? That she broke barriers of socio economic circumstances & served as MLA, Minister & Jharkhand Governor in an effective manner? Deplorable mindset," Poonawalla said.

Another BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said: "Saying NDA presidential candidate is an evil force is not healthy politics and people of this country repeatedly rejected it. By making such a comment Congress party is demeaning the office of President. I request Congress to not destroy the reputation of an institution."
Seoul, July 13 : Prosecutors raided the South Korea's state intelligence agency on Wednesday as part of an investigation into its two former directors in two separate incidents linked to North Korea during the previous administration.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office sent a team of prosecutors and investigators to the head office of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in southern Seoul to seize documents and other evidence, officials said.

The investigation came after the NIS filed a complaint with the prosecution against Park Jie-won, a former Head of the NIS, and his predecessor, Suh Hoon, for destroying intelligence documents and ordering an investigation to end early, respectively. Both of them served under the previous South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration.

The agency has brought multiple charges against its own former chiefs, such as abuse of power, damaging public records and falsifying official records, Yonhap news agency reported.

Park allegedly deleted intelligence-related reports without authorisation pertaining to North Korea's killing of a South Korean fisheries official in September 2020.

The 47-year-old official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by the North's Coast Guard near the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection boat.

The Moon government concluded at the time that the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North, but that conclusion was overturned last month as the Coast Guard announced it has found no concrete evidence backing the defection allegations.

Park served as the NIS chief from July 2020 to May 2022 until new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took charge.

Park has dismissed the allegations, saying that he knew nothing of the deleted documents.

Separately, the NIS also requested the prosecution look into suspicions that Suh ordered an early end to an internal investigation into the case of two North Korean fishermen who were sent back to the North in 2019.

In November 2019, two North Korean fishermen were captured near the eastern inter-Korean sea border, and they later confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect.

However, the Moon administration sent them back to the North, where they could face harsh punishment, saying their intentions are insincere. The move stoked suspicion the Seoul government tried to repatriate the defectors in an effort to curry favor with Pyongyang.

Suh worked as head of the NIS from 2017 to 2020 and then served as Moon's national security adviser for two years.

Suh, who has not made any announcement, is currently staying in the US
Mumbai, July 13 : Its been four years since the audiences have seen Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor on screen. His last outing 'Sanju the biopic of Sanjay Dutt was a superhit, and the actor is coming back to the silver screen with his upcoming film 'Shamshera where as destiny would have it, he is featuring alongside the subject of his last film - Sanjay Dutt.

While the city of Mumbai soaks in the heavy downpour which is a regular affair during the monsoon season, Ranbir, sitting inside one of the stages of the conglomerate premier film studio YRF - Yash Raj Films, speaks with IANS about his upcoming film, a friendly advice from his late father Rishi Kapoor and working with Sanjay Dutt in the film.

He starts the conversation by saying "First of all, I'm very happy that I will soon become a father." A wave of laughter runs through the staff members and other journalists awaiting their turn for the interview, who by now have started rejigging their questions.

"There's no feeling like this in the world!", Ranbir, who has been answering the same question by different media for the whole day, finally lets his boredom out as he jests and nudges the IANS correspondent to ask meaningful questions or as he says, "kaam ki baat (related to work)." Somewhere 'Shamshera' has a sense of rebellion on Ranbir's part whose father once told him not to do any period film because they don't generally click with the audience.

Sharing his childhood memory, Ranbir shares, "When I was growing up my father said 'kabhi bhi dhoti wali picture mat karna (never do a period film). It's very rare that a film like that works'. Having said that, he came from a different school of thought of that period but for me 'Shamshera' was a no-brainer when it came to saying yes to the script." For Ranbir, the film is just perfect because it has "everything".

Furthering his point, the actor says, "It presented a great opportunity to me as an actor to reach out to a larger audience. It had a great director, producer, music, action, romance, emotion and drama. It is a perfect film which came at a perfect time in my life." When he started working on 'Shamshera' he was fresh off the success of 'Sanju', was there initially a mirroring of personalities since there were two Sanjay Dutt's in the room - one the man himself and second Ranbir - who portrayed him in the film.

Ranbir said, "When I started working on Shamshera Sanju sir was not cast at that time." He continues, "I have so much love and respect for him not just as an actor or a personality on screen but also as a human being. I was ecstatic that I was finally getting an opportunity to work with my screen hero, in a film. He is a person who has gone through so much in life." "And has played Kancha Cheena which definitely is one of the greatest villains of Hindi cinema", the actor lauds his hero.

He fails to understand why there's a certain perception about Sanjay Dutt among the masses. "There's a certain perception about him in the minds of people, it could be created by the media or something but he is a very loving person. When Sanjay Dutt was on set the entire unit used to surround him because they wanted to be in his company." Prior to the release of 'Sanju', Ranbir had spoken during a podcast with the now defunct comedy collective and YouTube channel 'AIB' about his reservation to come on the medium of OTT. The resistance seems to be melting as he has now studied the post-pandemic power of OTT and its reach.

The actor shares, "I have also begun to understand the importance of a new medium and the format which is the OTT. But having said that, I really believe that I have the privilege to be a movie theatre actor to do movies which demand a big screen experience, that privilege is something which not a lot of people have, I respect that and I am very grateful for that." "But, if I have an exciting offer of a series or a film comes to me, I would definitely consider it. In the last 3-4 years, I guess we all have changed since things around us were changing so rapidly and I'm no different so yeah, I will definitely like to work on OTT but haven't been offered anything so far", he concludes.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, July 13 : After a leaked trove of internal Uber documents revealed that the ride-hailing platform allegedly broke laws and secretly lobbied governments to expand globally, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday that the government is planning tougher rules to tame Big Tech and social media platforms operating in India.

In an interview with Nikkei Asia, the minister said that the government is set to tighten laws for the internet and digital players.

"India will also have new laws and regulations. The issue of laws and rules in the tech space will be a continuously evolving one. Whether there will be structurally new laws, amendments to old laws, additional rules and directions, I would say, all of the above," Chandrasekhar was quoted as saying in the report.

According to The Guardian report, revelations from the leaked files include how senior Uber executives ordered the use of a "kill switch" to stop police and regulators accessing sensitive data during raids on its offices in India and other countries.

"In some ways, the (Uber) revelations only confirm that in many cases, the Big Tech companies are, in a sense, gaming the system, and most importantly, the customers," Chandrasekhar noted.

India has drafted new IT Rules, 2021 to fix more responsibility on social media intermediaries and a personal data protection bill is also in the pipeline.

After Twitter took the government to court last week over content blocking orders, Chandrasekhar said that all foreign intermediaries and platforms have a right to approach the court and judicial review in India.

"But equally, all intermediary/platforms operating here have an unambiguous obligation to comply with our laws and rules," he posted last week, as Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court against the government's order to take down some content on its platform.

The micro-blogging platform has clearly said that it will listen to the Indian government's content removal demands seriously only when the personal data protection bill is firmly in place.

The proposed Personal Data Protection Bill also has provisions that impose heavy penalties on tech companies for non-compliance.

It has also proposed to term social media companies as publishers, which will make them liable for the content on their platforms.

Chandrasekhar told Nikkei Asia that large technology companies have been evading regulatory scrutiny for "more than a decade" by positioning themselves as "innovators that help citizens with convenience".

"There was not enough scrutiny and regulations because they were seen as doing good. It is only recently that the awareness of user harm that these platforms are capable of, or responsible for, has come to the forefront," he stressed.

The republished draft by the IT Ministry has revealed a plan to form an appeals panel that can reverse content moderation decisions by Big Tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

The new IT rules also require big social media platforms to help the government trace the originator of messages in special cases.
Seoul, July 13 : North Korea fired an artillery shot into the Yellow Sea earlier this week, presumably from a multiple rocket launcher, a defense source said here in Wednesday, as the US has deployed six F-35A stealth fighters on the peninsula for combined drills.

The South Korean military had detected a single trajectory believed to be an artillery shot on Monday morning, the source said without providing additional details, including where it was fired,Yonhap news agency reported.

On Sunday, North Korea fired two suspected artillery shots from multiple rocket launchers.
New Delhi, July 13 : As the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) unearthed alleged customs duty evasion of nearly Rs 4,389 crore by OPPO India, the smartphone maker on Wednesday said it will take appropriate steps against the DRI show cause notice, including "remedies provided under the law".

The DRI said in its statement that it detected that Oppo Mobiles India Private Ltd has evaded customs duty of around Rs 4,389 crore.

OPPO India told IANS that it has a different view on the charges mentioned in the show cause notice.

"We believe it's an industry-wide issue many corporates are working on. OPPO India is reviewing the show cause notice received from DRI, and we are going to reply to the notice, presenting our side, and will be working further with the related government departments," the company said.

OPPO India said that it is a responsible corporate and believes in a prudent corporate governance framework.

"OPPO India will take appropriate steps as may be needed in this regard including any remedies provided under the law," it added.

OPPO is the third Chinese smartphone maker in India, after Vivo and Xiaomi, that have come under the government's scanner for various charges, like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case of Vivo and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations in the case of Xiaomi.

The DRI said that during its investigation pertaining to Oppo Mobiles India Private Ltd, a subsidiary company of Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Ltd, China, "we have detected customs duty evasion of around Rs 4,389 crore".

"OPPO India is engaged in the business of manufacturing, assembling, wholesale trading, distribution of mobile handsets and accessories thereof, across India. OPPO India deals in various brands of mobile phones, including Oppo, OnePlus and Realme," it said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed Vivo to operate its bank accounts on the condition of furnishing a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore and maintaining Rs 250 crore in its accounts.

The court also directed the Chinese firm to submit details about its bank activities and remittances to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Centre will provide free booster doses of Covid vaccines for the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive from July 15, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Wednesday.

The free booster dose drive will be held for next 75 days as part of the government's Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's Independence and to boost the uptake of Covid precaution doses, he said.

"Under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, a 75-day free vaccination campaign will be conducted from July 15, in which all citizens above the age of 18 years will be given free vaccination doses at government centres", Mandaviya said in a tweet. Mandaviya thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision.

Urging eligible population to get the precaution doses, he said in subsequent tweet: "With this decision, India's fight against Covid will be strengthened and additional security of citizens will also be ensured. I urge that all adult citizens must get the prevention dose."

Less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose, as per a source. The initiative has been undertaken to increase the uptake the precautions doses.

However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose.

To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government also had initiated the second round of the 'Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0' across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Syndicated from IANS
New Delhi, July 13: Has the arrival of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) changed the dynamics of the ongoing war between the Russian and Ukrainian forces, if not its course? Yes, if statements from both sides which have stepped up the ante with some heavy fighting over the past few days are to be believed.

On Monday, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that its high-precision, long-range, sea-based Kalibr missiles have destroyed the Ukrainian ammunition depots in Radushnoye village of Dnepropetrovsk region which had under its roof the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers supplied by the United States to Ukraine.

It was not the first time that the Russians had targeted the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the precision munitions which had arrived in its neighbouring country on June 23.

Last week, the Russian forces said that its high-precision air-launched missiles had destroyed two US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket launchers and two ammunition depots for them in the settlement of Malotaranovka in Donetsk People's Republic.

"The enemy suffers significant losses in all directions," Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday during his daily briefing on the conflict.

He added that the Russian aircraft, missile forces and artillery have hit Ukraine military's three command posts, three ammunition depots, artillery units at firing positions in 97 districts, as well as manpower and military equipment in 111 districts in the last 24 hours.

Moscow also claimed that the American-made and supplied HIMARS was used in the Monday evening's strike by the Ukrainian army at Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson region which left seven dead and over 60 injured.

The Lockheed Martin HIMARS is considered the most technically advanced and sustainable artillery solution which allows for the launching of multiple, precision-guided rockets, hitting targets up to 70 kilometers away.

With the cutting-edge technology in its arsenal, Kyiv has the opportunity of striking Russian locations way beyond the front lines.

"HIMARS have arrived to Ukraine. Thank you to my colleague and friend @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools! Summer will be hot for russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them," Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov had tweeted last month.

Meanwhile, even as US President Joe Biden announced more security assistance to Ukraine - including more artillery and ammunition, counter-battery radars, more HIMARS and additional ammunition for the multiple launch rocket system - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked for more supply of weapons, in particular the artillery systems.

"I talked about the artillery with all the partners who are ready to talk with us and provide strong support. Artillery is really not enough," Zelenskyy said on Monday following a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Kyiv.

Washington has already delivered eight HIMARS to Kyiv and four more launcher units will be delivered soon as per the package while the US military continues to impart HIMARS training to the Ukrainian troops.

"The HIMARS system is a very high-end system and so there was a -- I would say weeks long training process where Ukrainian crews needed to be trained on these systems. They were new to them because it's not a Soviet legacy system and it's a higher end capability," a senior US Defence official said during a media briefing on Friday.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, July 13: The Amarnath shrine, located to the north of Pahalgam in Kashmir, and south of the Zojila Pass, gateway to Ladakh, is believed to be the holy spot where Lord Shiva took Samadhi (deep meditative contemplation leading to higher consciousness), before narrating the story of eternity and immortality to Goddess Parvati, hence the name Amarnath. The remote mountainous cave, tucked away from living beings, is at an altitude of 5,486 metres (13,000 ft).

According to legend, as Lord Shiva undertook the ascent, he progressively detached himself from the world around him. He left his Nandi (Sacred Bull) at Pahalgam (Bail gaon); at Chandanwari, he released the Moon from his Jata (hair); at the banks of Lake Sheshnag, he released the snakes; and at Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh Hill), he chose to leave his son Ganesha behind. Finally, at Panjtarni, he detached himself from the five elements of Nature - Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Sky.

Having foregone all worldly attachments, Lord Shiva took Samadhi at the Amarnath Cave.

There are stories on the discovery of the Holy Cave. A shepherd named Buta Malik of Batkote village near Pahalgam, strayed into the area while grazing his sheep, where a Sadhu gave him a sack of coal. Upon reaching home, he discovered that the sack, in fact, contained gold. Overjoyed with his discovery, Buta Malik rushed back to thank the Sadhu, only to discover the cave at their meeting site. Yet another mythological legend has it that when Kashyap Rishi drained the water out of Kashmir valley, which was a vast lake, the cave and the lingam were discovered by Bhrigu Rishi.

Shri Amarnathji Yatra - mammoth administrative and security exercise Legends arouse human imagination and the desire to seek blessings of Lord Shiva, driving many to undertake the arduous journey to the holy shrine of Shri Amarnathji. The number of pilgrims vary from 3 to 4 lakhs each year.

The Amarnath Cave can be accessed through two routes. The traditional one is from Pahalgam, touching holy places where Lord Shiva is believed to have detached from various elements of life - Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Mahagunas Parvat, Panjtarni. The Pahalgam route is 33 kms long, with a journey time of five days to and fro. The second route from Baltal is new and shorter, 18 kms from the roadhead, and the Yatra can be done in a day. The two routes meet at Sangam, for the final 3 km trek up to the Holy Cave.

The Amarnath cave is also accessible by helicopter from Neelgrath in the North and Pahalgam in the South to the helipad at Panjtarni, approximately 5 kms from the Holy Cave. This year (in 2022), helicopter services have been introduced from Srinagar to Neelgrath and Pahalgam, enabling pilgrims to finish the Yatra in one day.

Management of the yatra is done by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) that was constituted by an Act of J&K State Legislature in 2000, with the Governor of J&K as its ex-officio Chairman.

The duration and schedule of the Shri Amarnathji Yatra is decided each year, keeping in view the extent of snow fall in the preceding winter, and the date of Raksha Bandhan, on which the Yatra traditionally concludes.

In earlier times the Yatra would last for around two weeks, with persistent demand to increase the duration. After the constitution of the SASB, this was streamlined to a period to 60 days, which continued up to 2009. Since then, a regular scaling down has taken place with the duration being curtailed to 55 days in 2010, 45 days in 2011 and 39 days in 2012. This year the Amarnath Yatra has resumed after a hiatus, interruption in 2019 due to repeal of Article 370, and Covid in 2020 and 2021. This year the Yatra is scheduled for 43 days - 30 June to 11 August.

The Yatra is a colossal security and administrative exercise involving multiple agencies. The base camps, staging areas, porters, ponies, palanquins, medical facilities, langars (community kitchens), security and communications are put in place every year and dismantled at the end of the Yatra.

Shri Amarnathji Yatra encourages economic activity providing livelihood to many. Every year thousands of Kashmiri locals join the Yatra, offering their services with ponies, palanquins, motor transport, hospitality, and associated logistics. Similarly transport and hospitality services providers in Jammu, and airlines from all over the country benefit from the Yatra.

Terrorist threat to the Yatra is however significant. In 1993, Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Ansar had announced a ban on the Yatra for two years. In 1998, Harkatul Mujaheedin declared a ban on the Yatra, two days after it began. The Yatra, however, continued under heavy security arrangements. Major terrorist attacks on Yatris in the past, include Pahalgam in 2000, Sheshnag in 2001 and Nunwan Camp in 2002. In 2003 and 2006, terrorists hurled grenades at vehicles carrying pilgrims in Srinagar and Ganderbal respectively. In July 2017, a bus carrying pilgrims was attacked in Anantnag District, killing seven people, and injuring nineteen. In response to a question in the Parliament on July 25, 2017, Minister of Home Affairs stated that from 1990 to 2017, 36 terrorist attacks had been reported on Shri Amarnathji Yatris, in which 53 Yatris were killed and 167 Yatris were injured.

An extensive security grid is deployed for the Yatra every year. The Indian Army, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and J&K Police provide a 3-tier counter terrorist security structure. Additionally, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Mountain Rescue Teams (MRT) are deployed to deal with natural disasters. The first tier creates a secure envelope with the Forces dominating the mountain heights in and around the area. The second tier does route opening and security to provide safe passage for the yatris. The third tier provides security at camps enroute, including frisking of yatris and their baggage. In addition, yatri convoys moving from Jammu to Nunwan (Pahalgam) and Baltal and back, are accompanied by armed police personnel.

This year The Resistance Front (TRF), a terrorist outfit that came up after August 2019, a proxy of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, has threatened to "spill blood" during the yatra. Notwithstanding the threat, because of the two years gap in the Yatra, higher numbers of pilgrims are expected. Therefore, additional provisions in terms of numbers of security forces and technologies to improve intelligence, surveillance and administration have been incorporated in the scheme of things.

The Challenges of Natural Disasters Shri Amarnathji Yatra has been affected by natural disasters on numerous occasions. In 1996 heavy rains, snowstorms and avalanches resulted in about 60,000 yatris being stranded at different points. 243 people were reported dead, and hundreds of people were severely affected by exposure to the cold, high altitude problems, and accidents caused by the stampede due to widespread panic among the yatris. In fact, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) was constituted as a corrective measures post the 1996 disaster.

In 2015, three people died in the multiple mudslides in Kulan, Gagangir and Sonamarg villages. The Srinagar - Leh National Highway, which leads to the Baltal base camp, remained closed for three days. In 2018, five people died and four were injured after a landslide triggered by flash floods hit pilgrims near Brarimarg, on the Baltal route. Almost every year the Yatra is suspended for short durations and sometimes pilgrims are diverted from one route to another to keep the flow going.

On 8 July this year, severe rainfall at the higher reaches of The Cave, triggered high-speed muddy slush that washed away 25 to 30 tents and five 'Langars' from the base camp near the Cave. 16 people have died, and 40 injured, even as some are still missing. 15,000 pilgrims have been evacuated.

Threat of natural disasters are not unique to Amarnath or Kashmir, it is the fragility of the Himalayas, and the associated complex processes like deforestation, soil erosion, global warming, weakening glaciers and severe localised rainfall. Even when there have been no natural disasters, the ice Shiva Lingam had melted well before the close of Yatra due to environmental factors.

Clearly losses due to natural disasters far exceed terrorist attacks on the Yatra. Nonetheless, in Kashmir, terrorist threat and natural disasters are often concomitant and need to be dealt with deftly. In September 2014, even as Kashmir was enduring the worst floods, with South Kashmir and Srinagar fully inundated, Indian Army undertook disaster rescue and relief, while simultaneously eliminating infiltration bids from Pakistan across the line of control.

The Past and the Future meet in the Present - responsibility and sensitivity essential The long spell of terrorist incident-free Yatra between 2006 and 2017, can be attributed to lessons learnt and year on year strengthening of the security grid. Similar strategies need to be applied to mitigate natural disasters and deal with the aftermath.

Management of the Yatra in terms of duration, number of pilgrims, modes of transportation, siting of base camps and staging areas have to factor the fragile ecology and environment. Well formulated plans must go hand in hand with effective implementation.

The makeshift camps must be replaced by permanent assets sited carefully keeping in mind potential threats, natural disasters, and terrorists.

The number of Yatris must be determined based on the capacities established, and no ad hoc and makeshift arrangements should be permitted.

The stretch between Sangam and the Holy Cave should be a 'restricted zone', with only medical facilities and essential security. Langars and other administrative paraphernalia must remain outside this zone.

Use of helicopters for Yatra has to be controlled keeping in mind ecological factors. Eco-friendly disposal of waste should be high priority.

In 2015, the Army undertook a well-planned extensive plantation drive along the Yatra route in collaboration with the Govt of J&K. The idea was to help nature renew, even as humans sought spiritual blessings and livelihood from its benevolence. Responsibility and sensitivity for the sake of eternity is essential in our actions.

(The author was the Kashmir Corps Commander in 2014-15, former Member, National Security Advisory Board and Deputy Chief of Army Staff) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mehsana, July 13 : Opposition in Gujarat is demanding action against BJP leaders for conducting a membership drive in Government Arts College, Becharaji, here, without permission.

Photographs and video clips in which the BJP leaders can be seen asking students to become members of the saffron party, have gone viral.

The opposition has demanded action against the BJP leaders for entering the college campus without permission and conducting the membership drive.

"On Monday afternoon, I along with other BJP leaders, entered the Arts college campus and asked the college students to join BJP," party's Becharaji general secretary Bhavesh Chauhan said.

"We wrote party phone numbers for membership drive on the blackboard, asked students to give a missed call on the number and fill the forms online," he said.

"We did not conduct the membership drive during the teaching hours," he pointed out.

College principal Alpesh Joshi claimed that he was on leave.

"We have not given permission to the BJP leaders to conduct membership drive in the campus," Joshi added.

In a letter to Education Commissioner and the Election Commission, Congress MLA from Becharaji Bharatji Thakor demanded that an FIR should be filed against the BJP leaders for carrying out political activities in the government college without permission.

He has even demanded to file a complaint against the college principal.

AAP national Joint Secretary Isudan Gadhvi took a jibe at the BJP on the membership drive in college, saying "It means people are not joining the BJP, so it is asking students to join the party."
New Delhi, July 13 : After keeping away from party activities since being ignored for a Rajya Sabha nomination, former Leader of Opposition and J&K ex Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad attended a meeting on Wednesday called to discuss the preparations for state polls and appointment of the J&K Congress President following the resignation of Ghulam Ahmed Meer.

Azad, who is a force in the G-23 group, was unhappy and has been pushing for a more inclusive Congress setup, was ignored for the Rajya Sabha polls last month. Since then he has not been seen at party programmes including the satyagraha against the ED and the Agnipath scheme. The official reason was that he was not well at that time.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the Azad supporters wanted the removal of Mir and the appointment of someone who is close to him. The first demand was accepted and now the party will take a view on it. Party General Secretary KC Venugopal admitted that there are differences but the party is united in the fight against the BJP. "There are little differences, I am not hiding that, but now is the time to go together that everybody agreed to," Venugopal said.

Sources in the meeting said that Azad discussed ways of strengthening the party in the state and issues related to elections.

Congress' J&K President Ghulam Ahmad Mir had submitted his resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi in the first week of July. In his letter of resignation, he said that he would abide by the party high command's decision on the selection of his successor.

Mir, who was the party chief in J&K since 2015, said that following the best traditions of the party, he had put in his papers to facilitate the Congress President's appointment of the next chief of J&K Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Congress in J&K has remained faction-ridden for the last many years with a tug of war going on between supporters and opponents of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Sources said the decision to replace Mir has been prompted by reports that the Assembly elections could be held in J&K by the year end. Reports here also said that the name of Azad loyalist, Vichar Rasool Wani is being considered by the Congress high command as Mir's successor.
Chennai, July 13 : With both Edappady K. Palaniswami (EPS) and O. Panneerselvam (OPS)claiming to operate the bank accounts of AIADMK, Tamil Nadu police have provided security to the residences of both the leaders.

The AIADMK general council meeting held on July 11 has appointed Palaniswami as the party interim general secretary and expelled Panneerselvam from the primary membership of the party.

Panneerselvam, who was also the treasurer of the party, was removed and Dindigul C. Sreenivasan was appointed in his place. OPS shot off a letter to the manager of Karur Vysya Bank, Mylapore branch where the party accounts were held, and informed that he was the party treasurer and the bank must not allow anyone else to operate the account.

He also said that he had already challenged the posting of Palaniswami as the interim general secretary before the Election Commission of India as well as in Madras High Court. It is to be noted that the newly appointed party treasurer Dindigul C. Sreenivasan also approached the bank for operating the account.

Following this tense situation developed in Chennai and state police have provided security to the residences of both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami fearing an attack. It may be noted that on July 11, supporters of EPS and OPS had clashed outside the AIADMK headquarters and police had to resort to force to separate them.

Meanwhile, party leader and Member of Parliament, CVe Shanmugham said that the general council meeting held on July 11, 2460, members participated and 2424 gave their support favouring amendments. The AIADMK leader who is also the former law minister said that these amendments were presented before the Election Commission of India and said that the OPS group was in single-digit and had not presented any affidavit.

However, R. Vaithalingam, the AIADMK leader close to OPS said that the party cadres are with Panneerselvam and that they have moved the Election commission of India against the capturing of power by EPS and supporters.
London, July 13 : Thousands of people experiencing the debilitating symptoms of long Covid are paying more than Rs 40,000 for unproven treatments such as "blood washing", according to an investigation carried out by The BMJ and ITV News released on Wednesday.

Researchers found that such patients are travelling to private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and Switzerland for apheresis -- a blood filtering treatment normally used for patients with lipid disorders that have not responded to drugs - and anti-clotting therapy.

However, these invasive therapies are being offered without sufficient evidence, the report said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of patients suffer symptoms for at least two months after an acute Covid-19 infection - a phenomenon commonly known as long Covid. Currently, there is no internationally agreed treatment pathway for the condition.

Apheresis involves needles being put into each arm and the blood is passed over a filter, separating the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is filtered before being recombined with the red blood cells and returned to the body via a different vein.

ITV News spoke to Gitte Boumeester, a trainee psychiatrist from the Netherlands, who was forced to quit her job due to long Covid symptoms. Boumeester learned of the "blood-washing" treatment of apheresis from a Facebook group for long Covid patients.

She underwent the treatment at The Long Covid Centre in Cyprus at a cost of more than 42,376 pounds (over Rs 40,000), but returned home with no improvement to her symptoms. She received six rounds of apheresis, as well as nine rounds of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and an intravenous vitamin drip at the private Poseidonia clinic, next door to the Centre.

Boumeester was also asked to sign a consent form at the long Covid centre before undergoing apheresis, which lawyers and clinicians described as inadequate, the report said.

Further, she was also advised to buy hydroxychloroquine as an early treatment package in case she was reinfected with Covid.

"We as a clinic do neither advertise, nor promote. We accept patients that have microcirculation issues and want to be treated with help apheresisaIf a patient needs a prescription, it is individually assessed by our doctor or the patient is referred to other specialised doctors where needed," Marcus Klotz, co-founder of the Long Covid Centre told The BMJ.

A spokesperson for the Poseidonia clinic said all treatments offered are "always based on medical and clinical evaluation by our doctors and clinical nutritionist, diagnosis via blood tests with lab follow ups as per good medical practice.

While some doctors and researchers believe apheresis and anticoagulation drugs may be promising treatments for long Covid, others worry desperate patients are spending life-changing sums on invasive, unproven treatments.

According to Shamil Haroon, clinical lecturer in primary care at the University of Birmingham such "experimental" treatment should only be done in the context of a clinical trial.

"It's unsurprising that people who were previously highly functioning, who are now debilitated, can't work, can't financially support themselves, would seek treatments elsewhere," he said.

"It's a completely rational response to a situation like this. But people could potentially go bankrupt accessing these treatments, for which there is limited to no evidence of effectiveness." In February of last year, Dr Beate Jaeger, an internal medicine doctor, began treating long Covid patients with apheresis at her clinic in Mulheim, Germany, after reading reports that Covid causes issues with blood clotting. She told The BMJ she has now treated thousands in her clinic, with success stories spreading on social media and by word of mouth.

Jaeger accepts that the treatment is experimental for long Covid, but said trials take too long when the pandemic has left patients desperately ill.

The investigation also found that apheresis and associated travel costs are so expensive that patients are setting up fundraising pages on websites like GoFundMe in order to raise the money.
Vadodara : , July 13 (IANS) Vadodara rural police on Wednesday morning arrested the Sarpanch (elected village head) of Mokshi for raping his elder brother's widow.

Bhadarva Police Sub-Inspector M. B. Kotwal said in a media briefing that "Shantaben's (name changed) husband died few years ago and to make ends meet, she works in a private factory's housekeeping division. On Monday evening when she was returning from work, her brother-in-law Hasmukhbhai approached her and offered her a work opportunity that would fetch her a remuneration of Rs. 3000." The official further said: "As she agreed to the offer, Hasmukh took her on his bike and went to a deserted place near Poicha village where he raped her, after which she fell unconscious. Hasmukh, after committing the misdeed, fled the spot. Few hours later, when Shantaben regained consciousness, she reached Bhadarva Police station and lodged a complaint there." She was admitted in a private hospital in Bhadarva town and was later shifted to Vadodara's Sayaji Hospital for medical examination and treatment.

Based on her complaint, police arrested the culprit. He will be produced in the court, said police officer.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will "go to the root of the matter" and asked conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar to bring on record the names of all those, including Tihar jail officials, whom he bribed to run a "criminal syndicate", and also the ultimate beneficiaries were.

Senior advocate R. Basant, representing Chandrashekhar, contended before a bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit that jail authorities are intimidating his client and his wife and also money is being extorted from him.

Basant said his client is required in many cases across the country, therefore he had sought transfer to Bengaluru, adding that he knows that the petitioner has no right to choose, but his aging mother stays there.

As the bench queried what their allegations were, Basant said it was of paying a bribe. Asked how did he make the payments, counsel said it was through a person his client was allowed to meet.

Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, submitted that Chandrashekhar had conned people of hundreds of crores while sitting inside the jail, and after he was caught, he wanted to continue from another place.

Opposing the conman's plea for transfer to another jail, Raju submitted that authorities have seized chits and mobiles, and he has impersonated judges and made arrangements everywhere.

Raju added he made Rs 214 crore already through extortion and now it is not conducive for him to operate from Tihar as several corrupt officials who colluded with him have been removed, therefore he wants to shift base to Bengaluru etc.

Informed that Chandrashekhar paid Rs 12.5 crore to jail officials to allow him to run a criminal syndicate from jail, the bench said it wants to get to the root of the matter and also wanted to know whom did Chandrashekhar pay the money and to whom did it go.

The ED said while being inside Tihar jail, he was running a crime syndicate and he was paying Rs 1.5 crore every month to use mobile phones without any hindrance. Also, some jail officials were on his monthly payroll.

The bench told Chandrashekhar's counsel that their allegation is that his client had jail staff on his payroll through which he ran criminal rackets, which was punctured and now he is agitating.

Basant submitted he can't say the names right now. He also cited an order passed by a vacation bench of the apex court on June 17, which observed that it would be appropriate to shift Chandrashekhar and his wife from Delhi on account of threat perception At this, the bench told the counsel: "Get the names tomorrow... We're not going to shirk away. When will you give the names?" It noted that the petitioner has claimed to be subjected to threats and victim of an extortion racket run by prison officials.

The bench observed that the petitioner was able to garner support from outsiders to the extent that Rs 12.5 crore could be paid to public servants, therefore whether he was running a syndicate or bribing his way through, it is important to identify the persons.

Fixing the matter for further hearing on July 26, the bench asked Chandrashekhar to submit the names of who paid and to whom the payments were made.

The ED had opposed to the shifting of Chandrashekhar from the Tihar jail and urged the top court to prosecute him under perjury for making false allegations of torture and assault on the jail premises.

Chandrashekhar and his wife are currently lodged in Tihar Jail in cases related to cheating and extortion. They moved the apex court seeking transfer to any other jail citing threat to their lives. The prison authorities have denied allegations that he was assaulted within the jail and that the medical examination did not report any external injuries on him.
Barkham : , July 13 (IANS) Monks from the Gyalrong Tsodun Kriti Monastery in northeastern Tibet do not know if they will receive help from local Chinese officials to rebuild after the structure was destroyed by an earthquake last month, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

The temblor that rocked Barkham (in Chinese, Maerkang) in the Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture on June 10 displaced more than 25,000 residents, locals told RFA in an earlier report.Buddhist temples, senior living facilities, schools, stupas and more 150 monastic residences were also damaged or destroyed.

The destruction of the Gyalrong Tsodun Kriti Monastery, which is about 85 km (53 miles) from Barkham, forced 290 monks who reside there to move to a temporary makeshift location, the Tibetan source said. Neither monks nor residents know if the local Chinese government will provide assistance to rebuild the monastery, the Tibetan added, the RFA reported.

"With assistance from nearby monasteries and towns, the Tsodun Monastery has now completely moved to a temporary tent, and all daily religious activities are being performed (there)," the source said, adding that wet weather conditions have made the situation tougher.

"Many local Tibetans in the region still continue to live in temporary tents," said the source, RFA reported.

Government rescuers did not reach Barkham until June 13, three days after the initial quake. After they arrived, Chinese authorities dismissed Tibetan civilians and monks who provided food, water and tents to survivors, RFA reported earlier.

Authorities then imposed a strict clampdown on information from the area, forbidding residents to post reports or photos about the earthquake on social media.
Mumbai, July 13 : Actress and cancer crusader Sonali Bendre, who was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2018, visited the hospital in New York where she had undergone treatment.

She penned down her "bittersweet" experience of re-visiting the hospital four years later.

Sonali wrote: "This chair, this view, this exact same spot... 4 years later. From sheer terror to continued hope, so much has changed yet so much remains the same. It was unreal to sit there and see patients going in and I could see that I had been through a similar journey... Saw the chemotherapy suite, the same waiting room, faces were different." "I felt like telling the patients that there's HOPE, and I am there on the other side and look at me today I have come in for a visit on the other side of the spectrum... It was, as you can guess, a very bittersweet, emotional day. I stepped out, looked my son in the eye, with the sunshine on my face and thanked the universe for everything." Sonali is known for her work in hit movies like "Sarfarosh" and "Hum Saath Saath Hain", to name a few.

She made her OTT debut in web-series "The Broken News", a Hindi adaptation of the popular 2018 British series Press.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Customs department has seized as many as 45 hand guns from two passengers -- both Indian nationals, here at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, an official said on Wednesday.

The guns were seized from Jagjit Singh and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, who arrived here from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) on July 11 along with their infant daughter.

"The passengers were intercepted by the Customs officers when they had crossed the green channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the east gate," the official said.

"Jagjit Singh was carrying two trolley bags which were handed over to him by his elder brother Manjit Singh, who had arrived from Paris almost at the same time and day Jagjit and Jaswinder arrived from Vietnam," the official said, adding after this Manjit managed to slip out of the airport.

He said that Jaswinder Kaur was also an active part of the plan and helped remove and destroy the tags of both the trolley bags containing 45 guns.

"Both the accused passengers have admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling of 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey," said the official.

Accordingly, the two trolley bags along with recovered guns were seized and the passengers were arrested under section 104 of the Customs Act.

Meanwhile, sources told IANS that a ballistics report will confirm whether the guns are real or not. "But in a preliminary report, the NSG has confirmed that the guns are fully functional and can be used," a source said.
Mumbai, July 13 : Actress Monica Chaudhary talks about gaining 20 kilos for her role in the web series 'Salt City', which also stars Piyush Mishra, Gauahar Khan, Divyendu Sharma, and Eisha Chopra, among others.

She talks about her role as Ela Bajpai and says: "It was one of the toughest decisions I have made in my entire life. The first and foremost requirement for me to play Ela was to put on 20 Kilos more weight." "Ela is stereotyped and fat-shamed throughout the series. There are scenes where she is running on the treadmill just to lose those extra pounds for her wedding so that she can look like the conventional pretty bride. In the series, we show how society's harsh judgement affects and traumatises her," adds the actress who was seen in 'Apharan', 'Dark 7 White' and 'Rudrakaal'.

She continues: "For me at this stage of my career, putting on 20 kilos meant losing out on a lot of other work that was coming my way. But I decided to go ahead regardless as I fell in love with Ela's character. Director Rishabh told me they will show different stages in her weight gain and weight loss journey and I'd have to prepare for the same." "I realised that it isn't easy because it impacts your health negatively and you become lethargic. Now I'm back to being my normal fit self but have got stretch marks for life." Sharing about what prompted her to take the role, she reveals: "It was the ensemble cast as I have grown up watching movies of Piyush sir. When I met him, I told him how much I'd learnt from watching his performances." "Working with him was one item checked off my bucket list. And then there was Divyenndu whom I absolutely loved as Liquid in 'Pyaar ka Punchnama' and Munna Bhaiya in 'Mirzapur'. I have always been a fan of Gauahar as well. When I met the director Rishabh, his narration of the series intrigued me and I wanted to explore this genre of family drama. So I said yes." Talking about her work experience with the entire cast, she says: "Working with an ensemble always gives you a lot to learn because every actor works using their own noteworthy style and method. And I'm that curious student who is looking to learn from everyone. I have been extremely fortunate that I have acted alongside some brilliant performers." "They have all been so helpful as well. I remember once I was in my own zone and wasn't aware if my look was right for the scene. Guahar made sure of that, she fixed my hair. She is such an amazing and humble actor to work with. Also Divyenndu has helped me in every scene to bring out a fine performance. With Piyush sir, I used to ask him a lot of questions about his approach. So it's always a learning experience," she concludes.
Thiruvananthapuram, July 13 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the recent bomb blast in Kannur district in which a father, son duo from Assam, Fazal Haq (52) and his son Shaheedul Islam (24), engaged in rag picking, died was due to the bomb culture practiced by the RSS and the Islamic organization, SDPI.

The Opposition UDF raised the issue of the blast which took place at Iritty in Kannur district on July 7 to corner the Chief Minister and his party, the CPM.

Congress MLA Sunny Joseph, from Mattanur assembly constituency in Kannur district, moved the adjournment motion in the assembly and pointed out the blasts that took place in Naduvanad, Maruthayi, Panoor, Koladi, Kudiyanmala, Cheruvanchery, Thillenkeri and had killed several women and children.

Sunny Joseph said that several BJP, RSS and CPM workers had lost their lives during the making of the bombs and mentioned the bomb blast in which CPM leader and state committee member P. Jayarajan's son was injured. He said that the local police investigated the case. Initially it was said to be a festival cracker but later the police had to register a case against P. Jayarajan.

Vijayan in his reply said that Sunny Joseph intentionally did not mention anything about communal forces like the RSS and the SDPI. He blamed the Congress and said that the opposition party was trying to create a narrative that the CPM was unleashing widespread violence in Kerala.

Opposition leader V.D. Satheeshan said that the Chief Minister must own up to the fact that the police which was under him is not able to crack 80 percent of the bomb blast cases in Kannur district which is the home district of Pinarayi Vijayan.

Vijayan said that the Congress MLA in his notice was targeting the CPM and not a word was used against the fundamentalist forces like the RSS and SDPI. He added that these elements were trying to disturb peace in the state and were involved in most of the blasts.

The Opposition leader said that Vijayan's party, the CPM had butchered a former CPM leader, T.P. Chandrashekaran who was killed by inflicting 52 cuts on his body. Satheeshan said that Pinarayi Vijayan was the CPM state secretary during that time and that without the knowledge of Pinarayi such a killing could not have taken place. He added that he was not speaking much on the subject as the deceased Chandrashekaran's wife K.K. Rema was a UDF MLA and present in the House.
New Delhi, July 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh on July 16 and inaugurate the Bundelkhand Expressway. The 296 km-long four-lane expressway has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore.

The Prime Minister's office (PMO) said that the government has been committed to enhancing connectivity across the country, a key feature of which has been the work towards improvement in road infrastructure.

"A significant endeavour towards this was the laying of foundation stone for the construction of Bundelkhand Expressway by the Prime Minister on February 29, 2020. The work on the Expressway has been completed within 28 months and it will now be inaugurated by the Prime Minister," the PMO said.

The expressway has been constructed under the aegis of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority.

The four-lane expressway can later be expanded up to six lanes as well.

It extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway. It passes through seven districts -- Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah.

Along with improving connectivity in the region, the Bundelkhand Expressway will also give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people.

The work on the creation of industrial corridor in Banda and Jalaun districts, next to the Expressway, has already been started.
New Delhi, July 13 : As the Indian probe agencies tighten the noose around Chinese smartphone makers like Vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi, the Chinese state-run media has said that the companies should not give up using legal weapons to defend their legitimate rights.

If the Indian legislation system really fails them, it will be a huge loss to both sides, according to an opinion piece in Global Times.

"For Chinese companies such as Vivo that have long contributed to the Indian economy and operate legally in the local market, legal weapons have become the last line of defense for these companies to continue their business in India," it read.

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court allowed Vivo to operate its bank accounts on the condition of furnishing a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore and maintaining Rs 250 crore in its accounts.

The court also directed the Chinese firm to submit details about its bank activities and remittances to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.

Last week, the ED had conducted searches on the premises of Chinese companies, including smartphone maker Vivo, at 44 locations in 22 states.

The probe agency found that Vivo remitted 50 per cent of its total sales -- Rs 62,476 crore -- to China.

The Global Times report said that for Vivo, taking up legal weapons to protect its rights and interests is a forced move to resume normal operations.

"Although filing a lawsuit must bear a certain cost of time and money, it is the most reasonable choice available to the company," it said, adding that for Indian financial investigating authorities and courts, as the Vivo case has attracted wide spread attention, "it is imperative for them to take efficient, fair and transparent action".

"If the Indian court does not handle this case fairly or discloses information in a timely manner, it will certainly undermine the authority of the Indian legal system and further damage India's business environment," the paper said.

As the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) unearthed alleged customs duty evasion of nearly Rs 4,389 crore by OPPO India, the smartphone maker on Wednesday said it would take appropriate steps against the DRI show cause notice, including "remedies provided under the law".

The DRI said in its statement that it detected that Oppo Mobiles India Private Ltd has evaded customs duty of around Rs 4,389 crore.

In April, the ED had said they seized Rs 5,551.27 crore of Xiaomi Technology India Private Ltd lying in the bank accounts under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act in connection with the illegal outward remittances made by the company.
Ernakulam : , July 13 (IANS) A special NIA court in Kerala's Ernakulam has convicted three terrorists for providing support to IS/Daesh.

The court convicted Midlaj, Hamsa and Abdul Razak under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on July 15.

The three were members of a proscribed terrorist organisation and were attempting to travel out of India to join the IS in Syria and fight for its cause.

The case was initially registered on October 25, 2017 at Kerala's Valapattanam police station and taken over for investigation by the NIA on December 16, 2017.

After investigation, a charge sheet was filed by the NIA on April 21, 2018.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that they conducted searches at eight locations in Sikkim, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai in the Sikkim MCX fraud case.

The locations include various premises of LLPs in Sikkim, which were controlled by brokers trading in MCX and NSE in Kolkata and Delhi.

The ED official said that a total amount of Rs 4.65 crore was frozen from the bank accounts of brokers that corresponded to the undue gain availed by such brokers by illegally availing stamp duty exemption.

"Premises of various stockbrokers in Delhi and Mumbai, where many fake Sikkim based traders were registered were also searched. Incriminating evidence relating to such traders was found," said the ED official.

The ED initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR lodged on May 17, 2022 by the Sikkim Vigilance Police Station against unknown persons and companies based on a complaint filed by a resident of Gangtok, Sikkim.

It was alleged in the FIR that the disproportionate data in MCX trading from Sikkim is highly doubtful and some Limited Liability Partners (LLP) company and private individual, traders from other states of India are doing high frequency MCX trading either using the identities of Sikkim residents or using co-location of Sikkim illegitimately for taking undue advantage of the Income Tax and Stamp Duty exemption given to the people of Sikkim.

Further investigation in the matter is on.
Kolkata, July 13 : Arrival of the 'kachcha' or fresh Raidighi Hilsa, considered the best among estuarine varieties of the fish, in markets across the city and suburbs may have brought some cheer to those who can afford it but farmers in south Bengal are a worried lot. A good catch of Hilsa in the Bay of Bengal is indication of fair weather conditions and less rainfall. However, the lack of adequate rainfall is threatening crops like paddy and jute in parts of rural Bengal.

In June this year, south Bengal districts recorded a rain deficit of 49 per cent while there was a surplus of 50 per cent in the north. Rainfall in south Bengal has been scanty so far and standing crops have begun to wither.

After the dry summer, most farmers depend on the Monsoon for sustenance. Unless the situation improves over the next few days, thousands of farmers -- many of them marginalised -- will incur heavy losses.

"In districts like Nadia and North 24-Parganas, there are hundreds of acres where jute is cultivated. As it is, the demand for jute has come down and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is low. Unless we produce enough, there will be no earnings. All our investment and effort will go to waste. In many areas, the saplings have already started dying due to lack of water," Nasim Ali, a farmer from Nadia said.

In districts like Burdwan, Hooghly and South 24-Parganas, the story is the same for paddy. Saplings have already been planted and have grown to a height where they require more water. Farmers gaze up to the skies every morning, hoping for a heavy downpour but meteorologists have not been able to provide much information about when this will happen.

"We need sufficient water to submerge the paddy partially. Paddy requires a lot of water. The rainfall that has taken place so far was not even sufficient to form puddles. The mango growers from this region have already taken a huge beating this year due to insufficient nor'westers in April. The nor'westers add moisture to the stems of unripe mangos and provide strength for them to ripen. This year, there was hardly any Himsagar variety of mangos that is a mainstay for many orchard owners and lessees," said Samir Mandal, a farmer from Hooghly.

There is some cheer among fishermen in the South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore districts though. Their first foray into the Bay in search of the silver harvest (Hilsa) went to waste as the winds and tides were unfavourable. It's 'Bhora Kotal' (high tide) season now and the Hilsa is returning to the sea after spawning in rivers like the Hooghly and Rupnarayan. The best Hilsa, after all, is the one without eggs.

"Good catches of Hilsa have started coming in and they have reached markets. The price has also come down now," a trawler owner in Kakdwip said.

The Raidighi variety is now going for Rs 1,500-1,600 a kilogram (for fish weighing 900 grams to a kg). It goes up to Rs 2,000-2,200 for fish weighing 1.5 kg to 2 kg.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed displeasure with the interim orders passed by the Patna High Court in connection with Sahara India Group Head, Subrata Roy, in relation with an anticipatory bail application of a third person.

A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and J.B. Pardiwala observed that the high court, in an anticipatory bail application under Section 438 CrPC, had exceeded its jurisdiction. It noted that the high court passed orders directing the Sahara Group to come up with a plan for return of the investment of the investors before the next date of hearing, and also sought Roy's presence before it.

On May 13, the top court stayed the high court's direction. It had also stayed a February 11 order by the high court directing to add Sahara Credit Cooperative Societies Ltd and Roy as opposite parties to a bail petition pending before it and later, directed him to personally appear before it. The high court on April 27 had directed Roy to personally appear before it. Roy moved the top court against the high court orders.

Appearing for Roy, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, along with advocate Nizam Pasha, said that even the RBI has assailed the high court order.

The top court noted that the high court issued the direction with respect to the return of investment, while exercising jurisdiction under Section 438 CrPC and made it clear it has not expressed any opinion that the high court cannot pass such an order, but this definitely, cannot be done while exercising power under Section 438 CrPC in an application for anticipatory bail.

"Let the high court exercise other jurisdiction. We have no problem. Not Section 438...," said the bench.

Counsel representing the respondent submitted that the high court had passed such sweeping orders in all economic offence cases and Roy's matter is no exception. The bench said this is absolutely a wrong trend where on application of bail, the court started inquiring about issues not related to bail and emphasised that Section 438 has limited power.

The bench further remarked that if a sessions court were to pass such an order, then the high court would have come down heavily on it. Justice Pardiwala said in an application for anticipatory bail, the high court should not have emphasised on Roy's presence.

The top court said the high court was not hearing a public interest litigation and in a bail matter, the court either grants bail or does not.

The top court is likely to continue hearing the matter on Monday.
Hong Kong, July 13 : Hong Kong will impose a China-style Covid-19 app on the city's seven million residents, sparking fears of ever-increasing state control over the movement of individuals, media reports said.

The city will start putting electronic bracelets on those who test positive for the virus from July 15, Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said during a press briefing, RFA reported.

In China, red codes banning movement in public places have already been used to target people for political reasons that have little to do with their health, the report said.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the city needed to "be realistic" about the kind of risks it could be facing, citing average daily infections of around 3,000 with rapidly rising hospitalisation rate.

"That is why we are thinking of designing methods that will be able to allow us to react more quickly, to respond more precisely, and at the same time, allow more people to be not so restrictive in their activities," Lee told journalists.

Health Secretary Lo said the LeaveHomeSafe app would be updated soon, and would require people to register using a ID verified form.

Lo said a person's health code would turn red, preventing them from going to public places, on confirmation of a Covid positive result, while new arrivals to the city would be given an amber code, restricting them entry to certain high-risk places.

A Hong Kong resident surnamed Mak said the app will function as a tool for those in power to monitor and control citizens.

"It divides people into different categories, and people with a red code are denied the right to use any facilities or services, including withdrawing money from the bank," Mak said, RFA reported.
New Delhi, July 13 : The recent monkeypox outbreak, with about 9,200 cases reported across 63 countries, was avoidable, according to a US expert.

According to Anne Rimoin, Professor of Epidemiology at the University California Los Angeles (UCLA), the monkeypox infection has been there in African countries for decades but it sparked a global response only after the virus spread beyond rural Africa to Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and South America, NPR.com reported.

"This virus has been spreading in marginalised and vulnerable populations [in Africa] for decades, and we've done nothing about it," Rimoin was quoted as saying.

"We have known that monkeypox is a potential problem for decades," she added.

Monkeypox is rarely fatal and doesn't generally lead to hospitalisation. It is mostly not spread through the air, and people have been getting it from close physical contact. But the lack of readily available tests and vaccines is behind the current outbreak, Rimoin noted.

Rimon, who has spent the last 20 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo working on monkeypox, said while the recent outbreak started in May, till last Monday, there was no "aggressive public health response".

The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) said on Monday that commercial laboratories have now started testing for monkeypox.

"This will not only increase the testing capacity, but also make it more convenient for providers and patients to access tests," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky had said in a statement.

Rimoin questioned why there wasn't a more concerted effort to address or prepare for the virus years earlier when monkeypox was spreading in rural Africa.

She said she had co-authored a paper in 2010 that documented a large increase in monkeypox cases since the eradication of smallpox and the end of the smallpox vaccine, which also protects people from monkeypox, the report said.

"If we do want to get in front of emerging infectious diseases, we have to prioritise dealing with emerging global disease threats at the site where they are spreading early on," Rimoin said.

"We are totally interconnected by trade and travel, population growth, population movement, and we cannot make the mistake again of thinking that an infection that's happening somewhere in a remote area of the world isn't going to affect us right at home.

"We will continue to be chasing them, and always be paying the price for not doing what's needed ahead of time," she said.

Latest updates on Monkeypox Virus Outbreak
Chennai, July 13 : Continuing their protest against low salaries, the aircraft maintenance technicians (ATMs) of two airlines -- IndiGo and Go First -- have reportedly gone on mass sick leave.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) hopes the situation will get back to normal soon.

However, when contacted by IANS, a Go First spokesperson said: "We would like to clarify that there has been no general protest/agitation by the technicians as construed.

"There are a few technicians who were absent for 2-3 days. We are in constant discussion with our employees, explaining the present situation and addressing all concerns, if any." "Additionally, it is also clarified that unlike as perceived or as in some other cases, we have reinstated employees from 'leave without pay' to normal working conditions and restored salaries to pre-Covid level since August/September 2021," the official said.

The official also said that the airline has adequate technicians to manage the present operations and like any growing airline, it is also constantly reviewing, recognising the present team and recruiting new talents.

On the other hand, it is learnt IndiGo has started taking disciplinary action against the protesting aircraft maintenance technicians.

The officials of IndiGo were not reachable for comments.

IndiGo through its public relations agency issued a statement saying that it is in dialogue with its employees to take care of any issues or grievances.

According to the statement, IndiGo is in the process of addressing some of the issues related to employee remuneration.
Chennai, July 13 : A Tamil Nadu woman, who, according to the BJP, was "hit on the head" by state Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, on Wednesday clarified that he rather had tapped on her head with affection.

Addressing the media at the minister's residence, Kalavathi of Palavanatham, said that Ramachandran was related to her and that she had gone to meet him to seek an old age pension for her mother. She said that the minister had then tapped her with affection and did not hit her on her head as made out.

BJP state President K. Annamalai, in a tweet on Tuesday along with a video, said that the Minister "had shown his arrogance toward a poor woman and had hit her on the head while she had approached him with some application".

He had said that the minister should resign from the post for his arrogance or else the party would lay siege to his residence.
New Delhi, July 13 : Former Vice President Hamid Ansari has refuted the charges levelled by the BJP that he invited a Pakistan scribe to visit India when he was the Vice President, stating that only the government can shed light on the matter and tell the truth.

The remarks came after the BJP on Wednesday slammed Ansari and the Congress and sought their clarification over claims made by Nusrat Mirza, a Pakistani journalist, that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule, and shared sensitive information collected during his visits with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) back home.

In a signed statement, Ansari said that a litany of falsehood has been unleashed on him in some sections of the media and by the official spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing the media earlier on Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had said, "If Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and the then Vice President, remain silent on the questions raised by the ruling party, it will amount to their admission to these sins.

"People of India are giving you (Ansari) so much respect and you are betraying the country. Isn't this treason? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Hamid Ansari should come out and reply to this." Responding to the allegations, Ansari said, "It is a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice President are sent on the advice of the government, generally through the Ministry of External Affairs.

"I had inaugurated the 'International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights' on December 11, 2010. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him." In his defence, Ansari said that his work as Ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the government of the day.

"I am bound by the commitment to national security in such matters and refrain from commenting on them. The government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth. It is a matter of record that after my stint in Tehran, I was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. My work there has been acknowledged both at home and abroad," Ansari said.

He added that it has been alleged that as the Vice President, he had invited the Pakistani journalist whom he had met during a conference on terrorism in New Delhi, and that as the Ambassador to Iran, he had betrayed the national interest for which allegations were levelled by a former official of a government agency, both of which are false as their is no truth in them.

Earlier, Bhatia had said that in an interview, Pakistani journalist Mirza has claimed that Ansari had invited him five times to India during 2005-11 and shared extremely sensitive and classified information, which he shared with the ISI.
Barcelona, July 13 : FC Barcelona and Sporting Club have reached an agreement on the loan of Francisco Trincao until 30 June 2023.

The deal includes the option to purchase the player when the loan period expires.

"FC Barcelona and Sporting Clube de Portugal have reached an agreement on the loan of Francisco Trincao until 30 June 2023. The deal includes the option to purchase the player when the loan period expires," Barcelona said in a statement.

There are no details provided of the purchase option but reports have suggested the total cost could be around a10 million with Barcelona also retaining 50 per cent of any future sale.

Trincao spent last season on loan at Wolves but the Premier League side opted against signing him permanently and he now gets another challenge back in Portugal.

After signing the deal the 22-year-old told Sporting's website, "I'm really happy to be here, it's what I've been wanting for some time and it's finally come true." "I believe that I have grown a lot in recent years and that will help me already this season," he said, adding, "I want to continue to evolve and give my best in each training session and in each game. I will give everything for Sporting to do the best I can."
New Delhi, July 13 : More than a month after Indonesia lifted the ban on exports, India's June import of vegetable oils was reported at 991,650 tonnes in June this year compared to 9,96,014 tonnes in June 2021, down by 0.44 per cent, data showed on Wednesday.

According to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI), the 991,650 tonnes imports this year comprised 941,471 tonnes of edible oils and 50,179 tonnes of non-edible oils.

Indonesian palm oil exports had plummeted to a 10 years low due to restrictions imposed on April 28 by the government, resulting in very high stock and full tanks at factories there. Market reports suggest stock is over 8.5 million tonnes, SEAI Executive Director B.V. Mehta said.

Indonesia was compelled to lift the ban on May 23 to reduce its overburden stock. It also reduced the export tax & levy to $488 from $575, which is expected to further reduce to stimulate more exports.

"This has increased export from Indonesia which has had a dampening effect on price in the world market. This can be seen in the continuous downfall in the last few weeks in palm oil prices in the international market," he said.

The overall import of vegetable oils during first eight months of oil year 2021-22, i.e. from November 2021 till June 2022 has been reported at 87,60,640 tonnes compared to 86,74,012 tonnes during the same period of last year, up by 1 per cent, data compiled by the SEAI said.

The total stock as on July 1 has increased by 7,000 tonnes to 22.56 lakh tonnes from 22.49 lakh tonnes as on June 1.

The import of RBD Palmolein jumped from 29,376 tonnes to 11,00,941 tonnes mainly due to high export levy on CPO ($575) and lower duty on RBD Palmolein ($408).

Indonesia and Malaysia are the major suppliers of palm oil to India. Between November 2021 and June 2022, Malaysia supplied 19,99,407 tonnes of CPO and 3,44,611 tonnes of RBD Palmolein. Indonesia supplied 6,43,199 tonnes of CPO and of 7,47,330 tonnes of RBD Palmolein.

In the case of crude soybean degummed oil, India mainly imported from Argentina (17,24,557 tonnes) and Brazil (7,20,313 tonnes), apart from about 1,59,815 tons from the US.
New Delhi, July 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke on phone with his Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte and discussed bilateral ties, an official statement said.

"The two leaders discussed India-Netherlands bilateral ties, including Strategic Partnership on Water, cooperation in the key area of agriculture, potential for bilateral cooperation in high tech and emerging sectors," the Prime Minister's Office said.

With regular high-level visits and interactions, the India-Netherlands ties have gained tremendous momentum in recent years.

The two Prime Ministers held a Virtual Summit in April 2021 and have been since then speaking regularly.

The 'Strategic Partnership on Water' was launched with the Netherlands during the Virtual Summit.

"The two leaders also exchanged views on India-EU relations, regional and global issues including convergence and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific," the PMO said.

In the current year, India and the Netherlands are jointly commemorating 75 years of establishment of diplomatic ties. This milestone was celebrated with the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to the Netherlands in April.
New Delhi, July 13 : The Congress has sought a report on party MP Manish Tewari for his alleged anti-party line on key issues. The party is mulling action as Tewari recently defied the party line on the Agnipath scheme and supported it despite the party being against it.

Sources say that a senior Congress leader close to the Gandhis called Tewari and persuaded him not to go against the party line. However, the next day Tewari did not sign the memorandum seeking immediate withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme, submitted by the Opposition MPs during a crucial meeting with members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence on Monday, sources had said.

This is not the first time that Tewari has taken an independent view on issues where the Congress is targeting the government. Earlier party general secretary Jairam Ramesh distanced the party from his support to the scheme.

Tewari is one of the most vocal voices of G-23 and feels that since 2014 he is being ignored and after his electoral win in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 he is not being given key positions in the party nor in the parliamentary party despite having a good grip over various issues.

Tewari, who is considered close to former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has a long association with the Congress starting from the NSUI, Youth Congress and was Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting in UPA-2. Tewari has been part of the meeting of the parliamentary strategy group which is chaired by Sonia Gandhi.

In the past also, Tewari has supported the 'Agnipath' scheme. Speaking to IANS, Tewari had said, "The process of defence reforms including right sizing the military started in the US way back in 1975 when Donald Rumsfeld was the Defence Secretary in the Ford administration and every successive administration has seen it through. Rumsfeld initiated the conceptual basis of preparing the armed forces for future warfare as he could envision the changing nature of the battlefield. Even the Chinese started the process of right-sizing the PLA way back in 1985." Apart from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Defence Secretary, the three chiefs of the Armed Forces and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence were also present at the Monday meeting.

Out of the total 12 MPs at the meeting, six were from the Opposition parties that included the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
New Delhi, July 13 : The Congress on Wednesday termed the BJP's charges against former Vice President Hamid Ansari, and the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi as the worst form of character assassination and insinuations.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh in a statement said: "Insinuations and innuendos by a spokesperson of the BJP against Sonia Gandhi and Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India, are to be condemned in the strongest possible language." "The facts regarding the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights held on December 11, 2010 in New Delhi are already in the public domain. The insinuations and innuendos of the spokesperson of the BJP are character assassination of the worst form. The levels that the Prime Minister and his party colleagues will stoop to debase public debate and spread their patented brand of lies is staggering. It reflects sickness of mind and lack of any form of integrity whatsoever," he said.

The BJP on Wednesday slammed Hamid Ansari and the Congress, and sought their clarification over claims by a Pakistani journalist that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule, and shared sensitive information collected during his visits with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) back home.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said this while referring to Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza's claims that he had visited India on Ansari's invitation and also met him.

Addressing a press conference, Bhatia said, "If Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and the then Vice President remain silent on the questions raised by the ruling party, it will amount to their admission to these sins." "People of India are giving you (Ansari) so much respect and you are betraying the country. Isn't this treason? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Hamid Ansari should come out and reply to this," Bhatia said.

He said that journalist Mirza has claimed in an interview in Pakistan that Ansari had invited him five times to India during 2005-11 and shared extremely sensitive and classified information, which he passed on to the ISI.

"Mirza collected the information from Ansari and it was used against India," Bhatia claimed.
New Delhi, July 13 : Terming Buddhism one of the greatest spiritual traditions of India, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said the country's democracy has been deeply influenced by its ideals and symbols.

"Our democracy has been deeply influenced by Buddhist ideals and symbols. The national emblem is taken from the Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath, which also has the Dharma Chakra engraved on it. Behind the chair of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the sutra 'Dharma Chakra Pravartanaya' is inscribed," he said as he addressed the Dhammachakra Day 2022 celebrations at Uttar Pradesh's Sarnath, through a video message.

The chief architect of our Constitution, Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar had said that in our parliamentary democracy, many processes of ancient Buddhist associations have been adopted, he said, as per a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The President also said that according to Lord Buddha, there is no greater joy than peace, and in the teachings of Lord Buddha, emphasis has been given on inner peace.

"The purpose of remembering these teachings on this occasion is that all people should inculcate the right meaning of the teachings of Lord Buddha and remove all the evils and inequalities to make a world full of peace and compassion." The Ministry of Culture in association with the International Buddhist Confederation is celebrating the Aashadh Purnima Divas, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Patna, July 13 : A day after he fumbled during his speech before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the Bihar Assembly centenary celebrations, BJP leaders on Wednesday "advised" RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to avoid public addresses without practice.

BJP OBC Morcha national General Secretary-cum-Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand expressed sympathy with Tejashwi Yadav for appearing nervous and stumbling during the speech at the closing ceremony of Assembly's centenary celebrations.

"Politics has its place, but the respect of the Leader of Opposition is also related to the honour of Bihar. So Tejashwi should not be ridiculed. On the historic occasion of completion of 100 years of Bihar Assembly, the Leader of Opposition should have come fully prepared to address and should have avoided presenting himself in a casual manner," he said.

Anand also asked RJD to change the speech-writer.

"Instead of taking out anger on Tejashwi Yadav, we all should find out the person who had written such a bad speech. RJD should sack the present speech-writer and get a new speech-writer," he said.

However, his fellow spokesman Arvind Kumar Singh said: "Due to non-education, the Leader of Opposition insulted the image of Bihar with his poor speech on Bihar Vidhan Sabha centenary celebration on Tuesday.

"We are giving the slogan of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padao' in the country and our Leader of Opposition is uneducated. Leader of Opposition should learn lessons from this, and take admission in the high school." In response, RJD state spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said: "BJP is doing low grade politics by raising it at this point. Every person has their own style to deliver the speech. The important aspect of his speech was his point which he raised before the Prime Minister. He demanded the Bharat Ratna for Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur and a research institute of political science in Bihar where students and legislators will get the training and learn democratic values of the country." "We never do cheap politics. At once, PM Narendra Modi forgot to deliver his speech after his malfunctioning in the teleprompter reportedly failed during a global event. Are BJP leaders forgetting that? We never raise this point as it is related to our Prime Minister. We do not do cheap politics," he added.
Agartala, July 13 : In a rare gesture, the CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack on the Congress leaders in Tripura and demanded punishment for the accused "BJP workers".

AICC Secretary Szarita Laitphlang and Tripura Congress leader Ashis Kumar Saha were attacked allegedly by the "BJP workers" at Bishramganj in western Tripura on Tuesday afternoon.

Though both the Congress leaders remained unhurt, their vehicles were damaged.

Claiming that the broad daylight attack was perpetrated in front of the police officers and security personnel, the Congress leaders filed an FIR with the police naming the attackers, but none was arrested so far.

While Congress announced launching state-wide agitations against the frequent attacks on the opposition party, the CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress in an unusual gesture separately condemned the attack.

The AICC Secretary and Saha on Wednesday went to south Tripura district headquarters Belonia to attend organisational events. They told the media that the Congress has been organising agitations against the series of attacks by the "BJP workers" across the state and in the current phase the stirs would continue till July 17.

Szarita Laitphlang in a letter to the Director General of Police V.S Yadav, explaining many attacks on the Congress workers and leaders, requested him to take legal action against the attackers.

Referring to the June 26 attack on the state Congress headquarters, she demanded adequate security to the party offices and leaders to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.

The BJP, responding to this, said their workers were also attacked by the opposition party workers and an FIR was also registered with the police accordingly.

"Our Chief Minister Manik Saha has already announced that the police and the administration would not tolerate any attempt to disturb the peace and the democratic environment. The government is determined to maintain peace and democratic atmosphere in the state. Police would take appropriate legal action against the attackers," BJP spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty told the media.
Jaipur, July 13 : The Rajasthan BJP was left red-faced on Wednesday after an ugly war of words erupted between two senior BJP leaders in Jaipur over giving entry to some party workers at an event organised for NDA's Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena Meena could be seen slamming Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore for not giving entry to some party leaders and workers from the tribal belts of the state. In response, Rathore advised Meena to be mind in his tone.

The war of words between the two leaders went on for some time before Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat intervened and pacified the two parties.

At the reception programme for Draupadi Murmu in Hotel Clarks Amer, entry was given only to those leaders who carried valid passes.

Meena had arrived for the programme along with some leaders and workers from the tribal belts. When the workers accompanying him were stopped at the entry gate, they got angry.

Meena then intervened and took the tribal leaders inside. Some leaders were seen carrying the BJP flag. Seeing this, Shekhawat and Rathore asked them to leave the flags outside. Shekhawat also advised them not to raise slogans in favour of BJP. After this a heated argument broke out between Meena and Rathore.

Soon after the video of the incident went viral, the two leaders explained the situation and ensured that all is well between them.

Meena tweeted, "It was natural for an emotional person like me to get angry when the tribal workers, who came to Jaipur from Dungarpur-Banswara and other remote areas to felicitate NDA's Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu, did not get entry into the programme. I put forth the suffering of my tribal brothers and sisters in front of Rajendra Rathore.

"If you don't share your problems with your loved ones, whom would you tell? There is no question of any difference of opinion with my brother Rajendra Rathore." Rathore on his part said, "The video has been presented in a wrong way. Me and Kiroriji have been friends for the last 30 years, and we are more like brothers. He presented his thoughts to me as a brother." Meanwhile, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra shared the video and quipped that everyone is claiming to be fit for the CM's chair and hence are throwing mud on each other and roaring, raising infighting in the party.

They are least worried about the people, he said.
Thiruvananthapuram, July 13 : The Kerala tourism department is elated over TIME magazine shortlisting the state as one among the 50 extraordinary destinations in the world to explore in 2022.

Tourism minister Mohammed Riyaz told media persons that the recognition is a result of the hard work of the tourism department and the new policies and programmes in the sector.

Kerala is ranked ninth in the "World's Greatest Places 2022" list as an eco-tourism spot. The US magazine wrote that Kerala has spectacular beaches and lush backwaters, temples, and palaces and is known as 'God's Own Country' with good reason.

The new project of the tourism department 'Karavan Meadows' also finds a mention in the TIME magazine report which is considered by the department as a recognition of its caravan tourism project.

The magazine said that just like the houseboat tourism promoted by the state, caravan tourism is also expected to follow suit with a similar promise of sustainable tourism.

Ras al Khaimah (UAE), Park City (Utah, US), Galapagos Islands, Dolni Moravo of Czech Republic, Seoul, Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Doha, and Detroit are ranked above Kerala in the TIME magazine report.
Patna, July 13 : A total of 10 Maoist leaders, including one who was found to be Covid positive, were arrested in raids at different places in Bihar's Aurangabad district in the last three days, police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent of Police, Aurangabad, Kantesh Kumar Mishra, said that these Maoist leaders were involved in many incidents and were wanted in several districts of Bihar. The police also recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition as well.

"We have arrested Manish Yadav, a native of Arwal, Kamlesh Yadav of Aurangabad, and Yogendra Yadav, Saryu Ram, and Devilal Yadav from three different places. The leader of this Maoist gang is Manish Yadav who was notorious for taking levy from brick kilns in Arwal district to execute Maoist operations," he said.

The raids were conducted under the supervision of Superintendent of Police, Operations, Mukesh Kumar, and teams of Rafiganj, Pauthu, and Goh police stations were involved.

"The accused are having 15 members in the gang and they were involved in murder, loot, kidnapping for ransom, and other crimes. The efforts are on to nab other members of this gang," Mishra said.

"We are making efforts to learn about the incidents they were involved in," he added.

Meanwhile, a joint search operation of the CRPF's Cobra battalion, STF, and district police in Laduiya mountain and Chakkar Bandha jungle of the district continued on the third day on Wednesday. So far, the joint team has seized 75 IEDs, 274 IED series, 200 metres codex wire, 200 metres plastic pipe, 200 batteries, 200 piece gelatin sticks, and food items.
Kolkata, July 13 : In order to communicate better with the people of the Darjeeling hills in north Bengal, who are predominantly Gorkhas, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to learn the Gorkhali language.

She expressed this wish while addressing a function on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Nepali poet, Bhanu Bhakta. She said that she has already found a way to learn Gorkhali.

"One of my nephews is getting married to a girl who is a resident of Kurseong. Both of them are doctors by profession. I have decided to learn Gorkhali from her after the marriage," the chief minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, she referred to the life of Bhanu Bhakta and said this great Nepali poet never believed in creating division among the people. "We in Trinamool Congress speak of unity among people. We believe that one can become a true leader only if he or she works among the people," the chief minister said.

On Wednesday morning, Banerjee moved around the streets of Darjeeling and interacted with the people, especially the children. She gifted chocolates to the children and also attended photo sessions with them.

Incidentally, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were also in Darjeeling. On Wednesday, the governor invited the chief minister of both the states for tea. After the tea, the chief minister said that it was just a courtesy call and there was no discussion on politics.

When asked whether there was discussion between her and Biswa Sarma on the forthcoming Presidential polls, the chief minister said "How is that possible since we are from two different parties." She refused to comment on the controversy over the new look of the national emblem. "I need to study that matter first and before that I will not make any comment," she said.
Washington, July 13 : US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday offered a full-throated justification for elevating ties with India, specially through multilateral platforms such as the newly launched I2U2 that the two countries form with Israel and the UAE, and the Quad with Japan and Australia, calling India the "most strategically consequential countries in the Indo-Pacific".

India's "longstanding" ties in West Asia and with Israel was cited as reason for the Biden administration involving India in the I2U2, which will hold its first-ever summit in a four-way virtual meeting later Wednesday with Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid joining from Israel, where the American leader is for the next few days on his first trip to the region.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters accompanying Biden on Wednesday that a "significant announcement" is expected to be made at the I2U2 summit on food security, which, he had said earlier, would be the focus of the first-ever summit of the new body.

Sullivan was more expansive about Biden administration's approach on India in response to a specific question about India's involvement in all of the President's recent foreign policy initiatives such as I2U2 and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, which is designed to offer countries a sustainable alternative to China's predatory Belt and Road Initiative, and the Quad, which has had multiple summit-level meetings since Biden took office.

"First, India plays a critical role in the Indo-Pacific. And it's one of the largest, most significant, most strategically consequential countries in the Indo-Pacific, and so it should play a central role in our strategy, including through the Quad," he said.

Citing India's "longstanding" ties to the West Asia region (called the Middle East by the rest of the world) and "a relationship over the years" with Israel, Sullivan went on to say, "just as the United States can play a critical and central role in helping deepen Israel's integration into the region, India has a role to play in that as well".

Ties between India and Israel have improved rapidly with bipartisan support on body sides after the two countries established full diplomatic ties in 1980. India's ties with the Gulf region countries go a long way back, but it has made rapid progress with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar in recent years.

The new Quad for the West Asia region is Biden's attempt to broaden US policy from its decades-long narrow focus on terrorism and wars.

"Bringing together Israel, India, and the United Arab Emirates, especially around an issue where the four countries have unique capacities to bring to bear on agricultural technology, leading to greater food production, leading to an alleviation of the food security challenge -- this is the kind of thing that really fulfills the President's vision of a more integrated, more globally engaged Middle East across the board that isn't just focused on issues that have been top of mind for American foreign policymakers over the last 20 years -- terrorism and wars," the US National Security adviser said.

"This is a different kind of approach, and it's about expanding partnerships, expanding the geography rather than contracting or narrowing it." I2U2 can become "a feature of the broader region, just as the Quad has become a central pillar of the Indo-Pacific strategy of the United States", Sullivan said in conclusion.
New Delhi, July 13 : With the arrest of five people, including one woman, Delhi Police on Wednesday said that it has busted a gang, which was in nexus with Lawrence Bisnoi gang, and was facilitating criminals to escape from the clutches of law by making forged IDs, Aadhaar cards, and passports for them.

The five accused were identified as Rahul Sarkar, 27, Arjit Kumar, 55, alias Ajeet Diwan alias Ajit Kumar alias Tony alias Mahesh alias Sidhu Paji, Navneet Prajapati, 33, Somnath Prajapati, 33, and a 27-year-old woman.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Benita Mary Jaiker said they had received credible input regarding the movement of Sarkar who was in contact with members of the Bishnoi gang.

"The information was further developed, a trap was laid and the accused Sarkar nabbed and later arrested," she said.

On interrogation, clues about his gang was revealed and his accomplices, Arjit Kumar, Navneet Prajapati, Somnath Prajapati and a woman were also apprehended.

During the course of interrogation, Sarkar disclosed that he was in touch with criminals, especially with members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang, and disclosed that he helped Bishnoi's nephew Sachin Thapan in making his passport on the basis of forged documents.

He revealed that he came in contact with Arjit Kumar through the arrested woman, who asked him to get an Indian passport prepared with any forged ID.

Approximately, a year ago, Sarkar prepared his forged Voter ID and Aadhaar in the name of Tilak Raj Toteja, a resident of Sangam Vihar, Delhi from the fourth arrested accused Navneet, a resident of Tughlakabad Extension, and on the basis of that Aadhaar card, he obtained a Voter ID Card in advance for the purpose of forgery.

According to the police, this Aadhar was prepared by him with the help of his associates, the two Prajapatis.

"Toteja was the previous land ord of the property, which is at present in the possession of accused Sarkar's family. The electricity bill is still in the name of Tilak Raj Toteja. From here, he got an idea to create his ID with intention to commit forgery in future," the DCP said.
Kolkata, July 13 : A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe into the role of leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

The PIL filed by advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar is likely to be heard on July 18.

Recently, Saradha Group founder and chairman Sudipta Sen, who is currently under CBI custody, had told mediapersons that Adhikari was a beneficiary in his business related to chit fund and multi-level marketing operations.

Sen also filed a prisoners' petition with Calcutta HC Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mayukh Mukherjee, where he made similar allegations.

Sen alleged that Adhikari blackmailed him and extorted crores of rupees.

Following these allegations by Sen, the Trinamool Congress leadership became vocal demanding the arrest of Adhikari by the CBI, which is probing the Saradha chit fund scam.

However, Adhikari has been claiming since the beginning that Sen levelled the allegations following pressure from the police and Trinamool Congress leaders.

The Saradha chit fund scam that accounted for several crores of rupees became a sensational issue just a year after the first Trinamool government took charge in 2011.

Several top Trinamool leaders, MLAs and MPs, including Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Basu and former DGP Rajat Majumdar, were arrested in this connection.

Meanwhile, other central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) too launched parallel probes into the matter.
Guwahati, July 13 : The joint Opposition candidate for the Presidential election, Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said the Indian democracy is in grave danger, and every institution of democratic governance is being subverted by the ruling party.

Sinha said that government agencies like the ED, CBI, income tax department and even the Governor's office are being weaponised to target opposition leaders, to engineer defections in opposition parties and to topple state governments.

"Never before did the Indian Republic face as many simultaneous threats to the Constitution," he said while addressing the meeting of Congress and other opposition MLAs and MPs in Guwahati.

Contrary to speculation that Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) may not support Sinha, the party leaders met him and assured their support to him in the Presidential polls.

The AIUDF has 15 MLAs in the 126-member Assam assembly and the party supremo (Ajmal) is the lone Lok Sabha member.

Sinha further said that the economy is mismanaged.

"The Indian rupee has suffered the steepest fall against the US dollar during the tenure of the current Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) from 58.44 in 2014 to 79.63 on Tuesday. The unprecedented price rise has badly hit the common people. Here is an example. The price of an LPG cylinder in 2014 was Rs 410. Today in Guwahati, it is Rs 1,129 - nearly 300 per cent increase. Record unemployment, especially in the northeast, has created a bleak future for our youth." Sinha said that to win elections, the ruling party has embarked on an evil design to communally polarise India's multi-faith society.

"We have seen this in Assam, too. This will have perilous consequences not only for social peace, but also for the nation's unity and integrity. The ruling dispensation's agenda of one nation, one party, one ruler is meant to convert democratic India into an imitator of communist China. This must be stopped," he asserted.

Sinha said: "I have a great personal regard for Draupadi Murmu. However, I have repeatedly stressed that this election is not about persons and their identities, it is about ideologies. It is about their commitments to the Constitution." "Should India have a silent Rashtrapati? Should India have a rubber-stamp Rashtrapati?" Sinha asked, and announced: "I shall serve as the impartial Custodian of the Constitution. I shall use my powers, without fear or favour, to restrain the government if it deviates from the principles of the Constitution." He also said that Shiv Sena leader Udhhav Thackeray was forced to declare that they would support the NDA candidate.

Sinha said that as the common candidate of the combined opposition, he has so far visited Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

"I regret that due to paucity of time, I am unable to visit other states in the northeast. The election for the President of India is taking place in highly troubled conditions," he added.
Bengaluru, July 13 : The Karnataka government has decided to release 84 prisoners lodged in different jails across the state on the occasion of celebration of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' on the basis of good conduct, sources said on Wednesday.

It has been a tradition in the state to release prisoners during the celebration of Independence Day every year on August 15. Sources confirmed that this time, a decision has been made to release 84 prisoners chosen among more than 15,000 inmates.

The Chief Superintendent of Prisons would give a report on prisoners to be released based on their good conduct during serving of sentence to the Home department.

The Home department in turn would discuss the issue with the Law Department and the matter would be presented in the cabinet meeting.

The Chief Minister would take a call on the issue and finally the list would be sent to the Governor for approval.

The prison department has identified 84 prisoners including 4 women prisoners who are serving life sentence in the prisons. A total of 81 prisoners have served two third periods of their sentences, sources said.

The state government is likely to finalise the list within 15 days.

The Central government has also given directions in this regard to the state. They will be released on August 15.

The prison department is planning to release more prisoners during the occasion of the Republic and Independence Day celebration in 2023, sources said.
Bengaluru, July 13 : The classification of 56,826 square km of Western Ghats region including the area in Karnataka and other states as per the report of the Kasturirangan Committee by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has led to stiff opposition in the state.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had earlier clarified in a virtual meeting with Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, that classifying the Western Ghats region as a eco-sensitive zone will impact the life of people of the region and affect their livelihood. He added that the proposal was opposed by the people as well as the state government.

A meeting has been called condemning the move of the Central government under the leadership of Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on July 18.

The Central government ministry has released the draft notification in this regard last week and sought objections from respective states within 2 months.

Araga Jnanendra said on Wednesday that the meeting will take a resolution against the Central government condemning the recent draft notification seeking objections from the states.

The meeting will be attended by MLAs from the Western Ghat region of the state. They will discuss the pros and cons of the decision of the union government. The public opinion is against the classification of sensitive zones as it directly affects the life of people living in malnad (hilly) regions of the state.

The development of the region will suffer and it will cause severe setbacks in terms of development of the region. The Karnataka government has already rejected the Kasturirangan Committee report in this regard and made its opposition to implement the recommendations of the report.

The MLAs of the region have been pressurising the government to stick to its earlier stand.

The ruling BJP government had further taken a decision against the implementation of the Kasturirangan Committee report in the cabinet after elaborate discussions in this regard.

Karnataka has one of the largest forest cover in the country.

Experts have opined that opposition to the Kasturirangan Committee is disastrous for ecologically fragile Western Ghats.

The report proposes 37 per cent of the total area of Western Ghats, which is about 60,000 square kilometers, should be declared as eco-sensitive area (ESA).

Out of this, 20,688 sq km will fall in Karnataka state covering 1,576 villages.

The report has recommended prohibition on mining, quarrying, setting up of red category industries and thermal power projects.
Jaipur, July 13 : NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu who arrived here on Wednesday to garner support for the upcoming July 18 election was given a rousing welcome.

Programmes were organised at three places to welcome Murmu from the Jaipur airport to the hotel. Tribal dance, folk songs and music programmes that exhibited a blending of tribal culture and Rajasthani tradition were held at different locations to welcome her.

While veteran leaders welcomed Murmu at the airport, the BJP Mahila Morcha showered flowers on Murmu and applied 'tilak' on her.

BJP leader Jitendra Meena said: "Gabri dance was held... there were flower showers... 'dhol-nangade' etc. were played to welcome her." Murmu, while addressing the MLAs and MPs, said: "I salute all the people of the state from the bottom of my heart and pay obeisance to brave mothers of the brave land of Rajasthan." "Despite the difference in geographical conditions in Rajasthan and Odisha, there are many similarities in both the states, which include living in harmony with nature," she said, adding that when she was made the Presidential candidate by NDA and supporting parties, she understood the thinking behind it because she was aware of the visionary thinking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"He wants to see the book and pen in the hands of the mother and daughter of the desert and is committed to bring the mother and daughters of the forest land into the mainstream. I am very happy that under the rule of the Modi government, water is reaching the house of women. Along with this, by connecting the daughters of tribal society with education, they are realising their dream," she said.

Murmu said: "A daughter of a tribal community, who grew up with small dreams in Odisha, was given a way to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, this is a democratic dream, this is 'Antyodaya', this is to show faith in the daughter of the village, the poor and the jungle. Through the MPs and MLAs present here, I am seeking the support of the people of Rajasthan.

"I never thought of becoming the President, but the NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made me a medium to connect with the people of the last villages. The deprived, the tribal and the exploited can see themselves in me. We are hopeful, moving and confident to build a new India," she added.
Ahmedabad, July 13 : A man in Gujarat, who passed away during the course of treatment, has been identified with a unique blood group, which is said to be the first in the country and 10th in the world, as per reports.

The 65-year-old man from Rajkot needed a heart surgery last year after he suffered a heart attack. However, after the doctors conducted a test to determine the blood group of the patient, they couldn't find any match in Rajkot.

The patient was then referred to Ahmedabad, but here too the doctors couldn't find a match.

The lab testing the blood sample found something strange, and subsequently sent it to a lab in New York for testing. It took a year for the researchers to come to the conclusion that the blood group was AB+ blood group with EMM 'negative' frequency. In the meanwhile, the patient died a natural death a month ago.

Zalak Patel, transfusion medicine specialist in the Red Cross society, Ahmedabad, told IANS that O, A, B and AB are the common blood groups found in human bodies.

There are more than 40 blood systems like Rh and Duffy and more than 350 antigens connected with red cells. EMM is kind of a high-frequency antigen, which is very much common to find. But this patient did not have EMM in his blood, Patel said.

EMM antigens are antibodies that develop naturally in the human body. There are nine globally registered persons in the world with EMM negative blood type. Now a 10th person from Gujarat has been added to that list.

Ripal Shah, Medical Director at Prathama Laboratory in Ahmedabad, said that the patient has AB+ blood group, which was cross-checked with 40 to 50 samples which the lab had.

"We tried various techniques available in India to match his blood. I realised there was something strange with his blood. We also matched his blood with his son and daughter's samples. But that did not work either. So we sent the sample to New York.

"It took more than a year for them to come to a conclusion. The process also got delayed due to the Covid pandemic. In between, the doctors gave him medicines to increase the haemoglobin level. While the haemoglobin level increased, the patient was not in a condition to undergo the surgery, so the doctors postponed it. He also got infected by Covid. He died a natural death a month ago," Shah said.
New Delhi, July 13 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches at three locations in Kashmir Valley in connection with the Sunjwan terror attack case, officials said.

The NIA conducted raids in Pulwama and in Anantnag district.

The case pertains to the indiscriminate firing on the security personnel on April 22 during a joint search operation in the area of Sunjwan in Jammu by the terrorists in which an ASI of the CISF was killed and several others were injured.

The security forces had retaliated, and killed two terrorists on the spot.

The case was initially registered in PS Bahu Fort, Jammu and later on, the probe in the matter was taken over by the NIA.

The searches on Wednesday led to recovery and seizure of different types of incriminating materials.

In May, the NIA had arrested Abid Ahmad Mir, a resident of Pulwama.

The NIA later learnt that Mir was an Over Ground Worker of JeM. He was a close associate of arrested accused Bilal Ahmed Wagay, and was also in touch with Pakistan-based handlers of JeM.

He had also extended support to the other co-accused persons
New Delhi, July 13 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the juvenile, who was accused in the murder of child at Gurugram private school in 2017, should be re-examined whether he could be prosecuted as an adult.

It noted that the world acknowledges that children in conflict with law should be treated differently than adults, and asked the Central government, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and others to consider passing appropriate guidelines on "preliminary assessment" of the child for trial as an adult in heinous offences.

It said these guidelines should assist and facilitate the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to decide if a child between 16-18 years of age should be tried as an adult for a heinous offence.

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath noted that there could be a number of reasons for a person to commit a crime -- enmity, poverty, greed, perversity in mind, coercion, to help family and friends etc. It added that the process of taking a decision, on which the fate of the child in conflict with law precariously rests, should not be taken without conducting a meticulous psychological evaluation.

It noted that children may be geared towards more instant gratification and may not be able to deeply understand the long-term consequences of their actions. "They are also more likely to be influenced by emotion rather than reason. Research shows that young people do know risks to themselves. Despite this knowledge, adolescents engage in riskier behaviour than adults (such as drug and alcohol use, unsafe sexual activity, dangerous driving and/or delinquent behaviour)," the bench added.

The top court agreed with the finding of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that further assessment of the accused ought to have been carried out once the psychologist had recommended it.

Citing the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the bench said it does not lay down either any guideline or framework to facilitate preliminary assessment by the JJB on the relevant aspects. And, the JJB could only obtain assistance from an experienced psychologist or a psychosocial worker or other expert.

It further added that the world acknowledges that children in conflict with law should be treated differently than adults. "The reason is that the mind of the child has not attained maturity and it is still developing. Therefore, the child should be tested on different parameters and should be given an opportunity of being brought into the mainstream," said Justice Nath, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench.

He added that the task of preliminary assessment under Section 15 of the Act is a delicate task with requirement of expertise and has its own implications as regards trial of the case. In this view of the matter, it appears expedient that appropriate and specific guidelines in this regard are put in place, he said, in the 94-page judgment.

The Act mandates when a child has committed a heinous offence and is above 16 years, the Juvenile Justice Board and children's court would make a preliminary assessment and pass appropriate orders.

Elaborating on the importance of preliminary assessment, the bench said the report of the assessment decides the germane question of transferring the case of a child between 16 to 18 years of age to the children's court.

Justice Kant added that the evaluation of mental capacity and ability to understand the consequences of the child in conflict with law cannot be relegated to the status of a perfunctory and a routine task. "The process of taking a decision on which the fate of the child in conflict with law precariously rests, should not be taken without conducting a meticulous psychological evaluation," he said.

The apex court junked an appeal by the CBI and the father of the victim challenging the 2018 Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict, which set aside a decision to try a class 11 student of a private school in Gurugram as an adult in the murder of a class 2 student in September 2017.

The high court had directed fresh consideration of intelligence, maturity, and physical fitness. The top court agreed with the high court remanding the matter for a fresh consideration after correcting the errors on lack of adequate opportunity to the child in conflict with law.
Kiev, July 14 : Ukraine and Russia have made some progress at the talks on grain exports in Istanbul that also involved representatives of Turkey and the United Nations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sai.

"The Ukrainian delegation informed me that there is some progress. We will agree on the details with the UN secretary-general in the coming days," Zelensky was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

According to the presidential press service, the President on Wednesday said that Ukraine is making significant efforts to restore the supplies of food to the global market.

Earlier in the day, delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey met with a UN delegation in Istanbul to find ways to export Ukrainian grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports to the global market.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
We scored these brokerages utilizing sophisticated, industry-first algorithms, and we applaud the winners demonstrated commitment to service, quality, and positive employer feedback.

Mployer Advisor, the leading independent platform for employers to research, review, and evaluate insurance brokers is pleased to announce the winners of its Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards based in Greenville, South Carolina. Mployer Advisor has named more than 600 winners in over 50 regions as part of its second annual 2022 awards. The class of 2022 winners account for less than 5% of all brokerages nationwide.

Mployer Advisors Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards Program evaluates brokerages based on the breadth and depth of their experience across employer industries, sizes, insurance products, and employer reviews. We recognize esteemed brokers that demonstrate market-leading competencies and a proven track record of success among employers, insurance providers, and peers.

The team at Mployer Advisor is proud to honor this group of top insurance consultants as part of the 2022 class for our second annual Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards, said Brian Freeman, the Founder, and CEO of Mployer Advisor. Employer-sponsored healthcare and benefits cover over 150M Americans. Who an employer selects as their benefits advisor has more impact on cost and quality than who they choose as the insurance carrier. We scored these brokerages utilizing sophisticated, industry-first algorithms, and we applaud the winners demonstrated commitment to service, quality, and positive employer feedback.

Mployer Advisor determined the winners of the second annual Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards by analyzing each brokerage based on historical data, online reviews, their M Score rating, and demonstrated business experience.

The Greenville, South Carolina job market is one of the most competitive in the U.S. Southeast, employing over 400,000. Offering competitive employee benefits is a critical factor in hiring top talent for the regions employers. Finding and partnering with a highly rated insurance consultant is imperative to retaining talent in any market.

The recipients of the 2022 Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards for Greenville, South Carolina are as follows:



The above winners are a snapshot of Mployer Advisors matrices and proprietary M Score on June 1, 2022. To view a full list of consultants in Greenville, South Carolina, visit MployerAdvisor.com.

To view a complete list of the 2022 recipients of Mployer Advisors Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards, visit https://mployeradvisor.com/best-insurance-brokers.

About Mployer Advisor:

Mployer Advisor is changing the way employers search, evaluate, and select insurance advisors. The intuitive platform connects employers and employees to great benefits and insurance plans by providing employers with actionable data to easily evaluate and select the best advisor for a companys specific needs. Most brokerages have a profile on Mployer Advisor, which provides independent ratings of insurance advisors to support employers. Insurance brokers cannot pay to influence their Mployer Advisor rating. Only highly rated brokerages are allowed to advertise on the platform. To learn more about Mployer Advisor, visit https://mployeradvisor.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Disclaimer: Rankings are dynamic, and this report may not reflect the rankings currently listed on Mployer Advisors website. Because Mployer Advisors research is ongoing, interested companies that want to join next years list are encouraged to claim their free profile on Mployer Advisor.

Media Contact

Abbey Dean (Head of Content)

Abbey.dean@mployeradvisor.com

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Her wealth of experience in treatment and diagnosis should prove to be a substantial asset for everyone at our clinic and, most importantly, our patients.

TMS Health and Wellness (TMSHW) today announced the addition of Sylvia C. Guthrie, MSN, PMHNP-BC, to the experienced therapeutic healthcare staff at its clinic in Costa Mesa, California. Guthrie brings over seven years of experience to TMSHW, including a proven ability to oversee care for critically ill patients, deliver psychiatric mental health assessments, and diagnose and treat illness. Before joining TMSHW, Guthrie spent much of her career as a charge nurse at Aurora Las Encinas Mental Health Hospital in Pasadena, CA, where she managed staff and precepted nursing students and clinical duties. She holds a board certification as a critical care registered nurse and is proud to have supported the Orange County community during the height of the COVID pandemic. Guthrie treats patients of all ages and walks of life, with a particular interest in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy, the specialty of TMSHW.

TMS Health and Wellness is delighted to welcome Sylvia to our patient care team, says Dr. Claudia Eppele, M.D., founder and Chief Medical Officer at TMS Health and Wellness. Her wealth of experience in treatment and diagnosis should prove to be a substantial asset for everyone at our clinic and, most importantly, our patients.

Guthrie joins the TMSHW medical team, assembled by Harvard-trained TMS specialist, Dr. Claudia Eppele, M.D. The practice has rapidly grown to become one of the countrys premier centers for TMS Therapy. With a success rate of over 89% regarding the reduction of symptoms stemming from Major Depressive Disorder.

Guthrie earned a master's degree from Azusa Pacific University as PMHNP in 2021. In addition to TMS therapy, she is interested in Spravato (nasally administered Ketamine). She was born in Brazil before immigrating to the United States in 2012 and speaks Brazilian-Portuguese and communicative Spanish. Guthrie is exceptionally skilled in developing appropriate treatment and rehabilitation plans for mentally ill patients and interacting with diverse patient populations during extreme circumstances, including crisis scenarios in the Intensive Care Unit. She has experience managing critically ill clients, illicit drug withdrawals, and postoperative surgery patients.

With over half a decade of experience serving diverse patient populations and encouraging fellow nurses, Guthrie has repeatedly demonstrated her excellent communication skills and knows the importance of empathy, fairness, and professionalism.

TMSHW aims to treat the whole person, recognizing that people are more than just the conditions that ail them. The clinics unique approach to wellness enhances standard care by augmenting TMS therapy with various inner resource tools and natural remedies such as meditation, mindful self-compassion, homeopathy, and aromatherapy. This supports the end treatment goal of offering non-drug alternative treatments that actually work.

TMS Health and Wellness continues to advance treatment alternatives by offering both rTMS and Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS), utilizing the latest H-coil technology. Through TMS treatment, the brain begins to heal itself.

For more information about the clinic, visit http://www.tmshealthandwellness.com.

Guthrie can be made available for select in-person interviews with television news media in the Orange County, CA area and select Zoom interviews with media outlets nationwide.

About TMS Health and Wellness: Founded by Harvard-trained doctor, Claudia Eppele M.D., TMS Health and Wellness is one of the nations premier Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy centers. Practitioners use magnetic systems to impact the brains mood center and provide results in as little as eight weeks.
"Content is a core business strategy and Quark provides the tools organizations need to unify content creation, automation and intelligence to improve their content strategies, better manage content assets throughout their lifecycles, and determine their ROI, said Martin Owen, CEO of Quark.

- Innovations in content automation solutions portfolio address current and emerging content lifecycle challenges



Additions to leadership bench and re-energized partner strategy fuel global expansion

Business recognition and technology award validation for Quark Publishing Platform (QPP) NextGen reinforce market authority

Quark Software, the global provider of content design, automation and intelligence software, today announced it has been shortlisted in the 2022 SaaS Awards program in the Best Content Management Innovation category. The company has achieved significant milestones, including technology advancements across its content automation and intelligence solutions, global expansion, and other industry accolades, since Martin Owen became CEO in May 2021. This strong business momentum and solution recognition points to the critical role of content in digital transformation, regulatory compliance, customer satisfaction and revenue growth.

Content is a core business strategy, so organizations are taking a long, overdue look at their strategies and technologies to determine if their content operations effectively support their business objectives, said Martin Owen, CEO of Quark. Enterprises see silos and inefficiencies across their content ecosystems, so they want to address these and other complexities to ensure they can create, assemble and publish omnichannel content in line with their corporate and regulatory requirements  plus understand how that content performs. We provide the tools these organizations need to unify content creation, automation and intelligence to improve their content strategies, better manage content assets throughout their lifecycles, and determine their ROI.

Innovating for todays Big Content era

Quark has been in the content business for more than 40 years, revolutionizing graphic design and professional desktop publishing with the debut of QuarkXPress (QXP) in 1987. Thousands of independent, agency and inhouse creative professionals around the world use QXP for its powerful page layout and unmatched digital publishing capabilities.

Quark also provides tools for structured/modular authoring, content authoring, componentized content management, omnichannel publishing and analytics for content consumption and engagement. Quark Publishing Platform (QPP) NextGen automates all the stages of the content lifecycle (creation, collaboration, assembly, publishing and analysis), so enterprises can address the complexity and compliance challenges of Big Content.

With QPP NextGen, its possible to create, manage and deliver accurate, up-to-date and personalized content to the right audience at the right time. It also simplifies authoring and publishing complex, industry-specific documents with built-in compliance controls and uses intelligent analytics to show how content resonates. A SaaS delivery model, with multiple deployment and API options, allows organizations to create and control a scalable content ecosystem to support current and future business requirements.

New capabilities now available in the latest release of QPP NextGen include:

Content modeler  Allows users to take a self-service approach to creating smart-schema content models for easy management and control of design layouts for industry-specific structured authoring.

Section previews  Enables users to control their content preview preferences. Users can choose between viewing the entire document, just one section or sub-section, and see preview results fast, improving the user experience and accelerating time to output.

Enhanced metadata security  Gives authors and admins the ability to check-mark content components as read-only to ensure no additional changes are made to the metadata. This reduces the risk of content in use being edited without approvals and increases confidence that it is accurate, compliant and up to date when accessed during a repository search.

Investments in leadership team, office expansions support customer growth

Recent additions to Quarks product development and executive leadership bench reinforce a commitment to product innovation, growing and nurturing a partner ecosystem, and supporting customer success. These include:

Recently appointed vice president of risk and compliance helps ensure that Quark and its customers in highly regulated industries, such as financial services, healthcare and government entities, meet stringent security and compliance requirements.

New strategic alliances and partner programs extend Quarks reach, driven by the companys new vice president of partners and channels, and strengthen the companys ability to support customers in these regulated industries.

Investments in a customer service platform coupled with recent global office expansions in the United Kingdom and Ireland address current and emerging needs of Quarks global customer base.

In addition to being shortlisted in the Best Content Management Solutions category for the 2022 SaaS Awards, which recognizes excellence and innovation in software solutions around the world, Quark also received other industry recognitions for business success and technology innovation, including:

2022 American Business Award  QPP NextGen named Bronze Stevie Award winner in the Content Management Solution category in the 20th Annual American Business Awards.

2022 People's Choice Stevie Award  Quark won favorite new product for QPP NextGen in the Content Management Solution category.

KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management 2022  Quark recognized in this prestigious listing of inventive knowledge management companies whose offerings help organizations expand their use of information and knowledge to accelerate their growth.

The Aragon Research 2022 GlobeTM for Workflow and Content Automation  Quark listed as an Innovator among a select list of vendors that enterprises should consider as they carefully evaluate workflow and content automation providers.

About Quark Software, Inc.

Quark knows content. The company revolutionized desktop publishing and today provides content design, automation and intelligence software for end-to-end content lifecycle management. Customers worldwide rely on Quark to modernize their content ecosystems so they can create complex print and digital layouts, automate omnichannel publishing of mission-critical documents, and analyze production and engagement insights for the greatest return on their content investments. Quark is backed by Parallax Capital Partners and headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., with offices in the United Kingdom, Ireland and India. Quark. Brilliant content that works. For more information, visit http://www.quark.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
With our Managed Microsoft Sentinel service, we are helping our customers get the most out of their Microsoft investment while shielding their environments from threats with our industry recognized Security Operations Center and detection and response capabilities. - Bob Meindl, CEO

Binary Defense announced it has added Microsoft Sentinel to its Managed Security Service offering today. Microsoft Sentinel is Microsoft's scalable, cloud-native, security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solution.

As security threats continue to evolve, Binary Defense is committed to shielding customers from threat actors through its industry-recognized security operations services. By adding Microsoft Sentinel to its platform of supported technologies, Binary Defense is enabling its customers, regardless of security maturity, to maximize their investments with Microsoft beyond Defenders anti-virus capabilities and into enterprise-grade security monitoring and incident response.

As part of this Microsoft Sentinel Managed Security service, Binary Defense security engineers will plan, deploy, tune, and monitor Microsoft Sentinel to each customer's unique environment. The service package includes:



Custom detection rules, queries, playbooks, and reports tuned to customers' environments

Integration of tools, threat intel feeds, ticketing systems, and other important logs.

Enriched security alerts, triage, containment, and remediation activities

24/7/365 monitoring, alert triage, and threat investigation through the in-house Security Operations Task Force

Ongoing policy and rule tuning to eliminate noise and ensure the latest detection for emerging threats

Our mission at Binary Defense is to make the world a safer place. By adding Microsoft Sentinel to our security services portfolio, we are doing exactly that, said Bob Meindl, Chief Executive Officer, Binary Defense. We are customer-focused, and our customers continue to make investments in Microsoft's platforms. With our Managed Microsoft Sentinel service, we are helping our customers get the most out of their Microsoft investment while shielding their environments from threats with our industry recognized Security Operations Center and detection and response capabilities.

Binary Defense brings its Forrester recognized, attack-first perspective to customers security operations. Their analysts are trained to identify abnormal patterns and analyze behaviors, so as cyberattacks evolve and hackers become more sophisticated, Binary Defense stays a step ahead to keep its customers secure. Through Binary Defenses Deploy, Tune, and Monitor approach to Microsoft Sentinel service delivery, they offload the burden of managing the SIEM from customers internal IT security teams by providing custom filtering, pre-defined behavioral detections, alarm thresholding, and dedicated 24x7x365 monitoring through their Security Operations Task Force.

Learn more about Microsoft Sentinel with Binary Defense.

About Binary Defense

Binary Defense is a managed security services provider and software developer with leading cybersecurity solutions that include SOC-as-a-Service, Managed Detection & Response, Security Information & Event Management, Threat Hunting, and Counterintelligence. With their human-driven, technology-assisted approach, Binary Defense can provide their clients with immediate protection and visibility, combating and stopping the next generation of attacks that their business faces. The company is headquartered in Stow, Ohio at 600 Alpha Parkway.

For more information, please contact David White at David.White@binarydefense.com.

Follow Binary Defense: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Benetrends logo When you reflect on the caliber of these individuals who recently joined our team, there can be no doubt that weve recruited an absolute all-star team of executives, stated Rocco Fiorentino, CEO of Benetrends

Nations leader in ROBS funding staffs up for a busy future of franchise financing

Benetrends, the International Franchise Associations (IFA) preferred vendor for ROBS rollover financing and a trusted leader in franchise and small business funding for over 40 years, has spent the last few months on an executive recruiting spree. Today, the company is proud to announce the addition of three new team members, a key internal promotion, and the acquisition of an outsourced advisor, to join the companys executive management team.

Benetrends new executive hires, promotion, and outside advisor include the following individuals:

Ali Kraus has joined the company as Benetrends new vice-president of marketing and will develop a new department to manage all the brands corporate marketing and outreach efforts. The new position was necessitated in part by two recent company announcements, the naming Benetrends as the official IFA preferred vendor and the brands acquisition of DCV Franchise Group. Kraus is a highly experienced industry veteran, skilled in franchise development marketing, digital strategy, branding, social media marketing, PR, and event management. Prior to joining Benetrends, Kraus served as Entrepreneur Magazines director of franchise marketing, as well as a three-year stint as the director of franchise development marketing at Celebree School.

Mike Minitelli is a new hire at Benetrends, joining the company as the vice-president of business development. In this newly created role, Minitelli will target and drive the growth of the companys new business relationships with franchisors, as well as managing the departments existing clientele. Benetrends created this position to provide more communication and relationship support for the franchise brands on their roster. In addition to Minitellis Six Sigma Green Belt certification, he brings more than 15 years of Fortune 500-level sales experience and has a proven track record of driving multimillion dollar growth and market expansion. Prior to joining the Benetrends team, Minitelli served as the national sales and relationship manager for one of the industrys leading franchise consultancy firms.

Jen Wherrell is the final new hire for Benetrends and has accepted the role of franchise funding consultant. An entrepreneur at heart, Wherrell is also an industry veteran who, along with her husband, launched their own franchise concept over a decade ago. Her first-person experience as a franchisor has provided her with a unique perspective into the funding needs of entrepreneurs from all walks of life. Throughout her career, Wherrell has worked with dozens of franchise brands and broker networks to help entrepreneurs turn their own business ownership dreams into a reality.

Kristen Gordon was promoted from senior funding consultant to the newly created position of major account manager at Benetrends. In this role, Gordon will oversee and manage all updates and communications with major accounts, including FSOs and multi-brand franchisors. Shell be the new centralized point of contact for Benetrends leads, brokers, franchisors, and internal sales team members, keeping all parties apprised of the latest updates, processes, and timelines.

Sally Facinelli, CFE, has been retained by Benetrends to act as an outside advisor to the company. Facinelli brings 25+ years of experience and mentorship as a dynamic executive and outside-the-box strategist. A natural-born problem-solver, Facinelli has years of in-category franchising experience under her belt, having worked with franchisors, franchisees, suppliers, vendors, and brands to enhance productivity and streamline company operations.

When you reflect on the caliber of these individuals who recently joined our team, there can be no doubt that weve recruited an absolute all-star team of executives, stated Rocco Fiorentino, CEO of Benetrends. This year has been one of continuous momentum and it has only motivated us to achieve even more success, new partnerships, widespread expansion, and corporate growth. With the talent we now have in place, the sky is truly the limit and Im tremendously excited to see how their contributions will shape the future of our company.

Benetrends is the pioneer of the Rainmaker Plan, is ranked No. 1 by Investopedia, and holds the top net-promoter score in the industry. Earlier this year, Benetrends was named as a preferred vendor by the IFA and also announced the acquisition of DCV Franchise Group. These updated credentials and partnerships have made Benetrends the go-to option for franchise financing, especially the 401(k) ROBS business funding option, the companys tax-free and tax-deferred funding specialty.

Eric Schechterman, chief development officer at Benetrends, echoed Fiorentinos excitement about the companys new team members, stating As a company, weve committed ourselves to growing our brand beyond expectations. It takes talented individuals in the right roles to drive an effort of this magnitude. These new hires, promotions, and acquisitions have put us in perfect position to do so, and Im excited to see what our newfound synergy is capable of achieving.

For more information on Benetrends, please visit http://www.benetrends.com.

About Benetrends:

Benetrends is the authority in franchise and small business financing and is acclaimed for its Rainmaker Plan that enables entrepreneurs to use their qualified retirement plan to purchase, or recapitalize a business or franchise, tax deferred and penalty free. Benetrends originated 401(k)/IRA rollover funding nearly 20,000 entrepreneurs in the last 40 years. Benetrends provides a comprehensive suite of small business solutions including SBA Loans, Securities Backed Lines of Credit, Equipment Leasing, Commercial Insurance, Individual and Group Healthcare, Payroll Services and more. For more information, please visit Benetrends and connect on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn.
We are excited about the potential of Spinview's Digital Twin technology to improve safety and operational efficiency for clients...throughout North America.

Integrity Aerospace Group Inc. (IAG), a leading North American reseller and holding group for first class technology, equipment and services, announced the formation of Spinview-NA, LLC. Its new company will support IAGs exclusive partnership with Spinview, the Enterprise Metaverse startup based in London, to bring their visual intelligence platform and technologies to customers in North America as part of Spinviews global expansion efforts.

Spinview leverages digital twin technology together with Building Information Modeling (BIM), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and immersive and visual technologies in one platform, allowing countless teams to operate in the same cloud-based visual project environment. Spinview creates digital twins, based on real world data (utilizing LiDAR and environmental sniffers), which afford owners, engineers, and maintenance professionals the context to make informed decisions that enhance operations, drive efficiencies and meet regulations.

Leon Bunch, CEO of IAG, commented Spinviews vision of providing key information on the structural, operational, and environmental efficiencies of infrastructure and facilities all on one platform is the kind of innovation and service that our customers at IAG have come to expect from our team.

Mr. Eric Thams, an IAG owner who is leading Spinview's North American business development activities, added: "We are excited about the potential of Spinview's Digital Twin technology to improve safety and operational efficiency for clients in a wide range of markets throughout North America. We look forward to growing with the Spinview team as we hit the ground running in key sectors that have the immediate need to leverage these innovative solutions. For example, with the coming regulations proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on the mandatory reporting of registrants greenhouse gas emissions, the data that Spinview provides through its VQecosystem will meet the key requirements through an automated real-time service."

ABOUT SPINVIEW

Spinview creates measurement accurate volumetric digital twins of buildings and infrastructure to deliver insights on both the health and structure of any building or space. Combining IoT, BIM, Scanning and advance visualisation, data is processed into one simple to use visual model of the asset and our AI translates and automates this data into useable information for all the employees in a business. For more information, please visit http://www.spinview.io.

ABOUT INTEGRITY AEROSPACE GROUP

Integrity Aerospace Group Inc., through its portfolio of companies, provides first class new & used equipment, accessories, supplies and equipment service & repair for a diverse range of end markets in the industrial, infrastructure, medical and security sectors. For more information, please visit http://www.integrityaerospace.com.
Dave Macon is an absolute force of nature. He brings to Jiant a deep playbook and proven track record of success, having helped scale two of the most venerable alcohol brands of the past 20 years in Firestone Walker and New Belgium- Jiant Co-Founder Larry Haertel Jr.

The Los Angeles-based modern alcohol brand Jiant announces the hire of beer industry executive David Macon in the role of Chief Sales Officer. Macon joins Jiant during a year of unprecedented growth, as they consistently implement widespread expansion and are currently the fastest growing hard kombucha brand in the U.S. Supported by a recent flow of formidable product innovation and inspired flavor releases in the Hard Kombucha and Hard Tea categories, Macons turn as CSO marks yet another stake in the ground for the small but mighty adult beverage brand, furthering its unique growth potential in the beyond beer category.

Dave Macon is an absolute force of nature. He brings to Jiant a deep playbook and proven track record of success, having helped scale two of the most venerable alcohol brands of the past 20 years in Firestone Walker and New Belgium, exclaims Jiant Co-Founder Larry Haertel Jr. His passionate brand of leadership and experience building a culture of winning will be invaluable as Jiant enters this exciting next chapter of growth.

On joining the venerable team at Jiant, Macon notes: Aaron, Larry and the team have built an incredible foundation and have achieved impressive inroads in the category with innovative approaches, commitment to ingredient transparency and not cutting corners on quality. This central vision is why I decided to join them in their quest. I am very honored to be a part of it and look forward to continuing the journey with the team.

David Macon has proven to be a progressive and dynamic leader in the adult beverage and beer industries for the last 23 years. He joins Jiant from California craft brewer Firestone Walker, where he was promoted to Chief Sales Officer in 2020 after six years serving as Vice President, Sales and Marketing. As CSO, Macon led a team of over 100 with four division sales leads as direct reports and oversaw all sales operations, fulfillment, training and development, national accounts, and analytics. In his VP role, he was actively involved in brand development for top tellers Mind Haze IPA, 805 Blond Ale, 805 Cerveza, and more. Prior to his tenure at Firestone Walker Macon held various sales roles over almost 15 years at New Belgium Brewing Company including Sales Director (West Division).

Jiant continues to be a leader in innovation and ingredient transparency within the ever-evolving alcohol beverage industry. Last month, they took their first dip into RTD craft cocktail culture with the launch of Mai Tai - a 12oz, 8% ABV cocktail-inspired hard kombucha - which offers a layered, complex, and satisfying cocktail-like experience using teas and botanicals rather than spirits. Of equal importance to the brand platform are Jiants immensely popular, higher ABV hard teas - such as Kiwi Strawberry Yerba Mate - a 19.2oz, 7% ABV Hard Tea - another full strength option for consumers looking for a refreshing iced tea-like experience that packs a punch and deliciously flavorful.

Since 2019, Jiant has taken pride in crafting responsibly sourced hard kombucha and hard teas and has quickly created an expansive network with top-tier distributors and retail partners such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, Total Wine & More, and Sprouts. In addition to the newly launched Southeast states, Jiant is currently available throughout California, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. Jiant will also be launching the brand in Washington and Oregon with Columbia Distributing.

ABOUT JIANT:

Founded in 2019 by Larry Haertel Jr and Aaron Telch, Jiant views tea and botanicals as the perfect canvas for a new kind of adult beverage, one that doesnt rely on conventional ingredients and has a nutritional profile more aligned with what todays consumer wants. Their approach to hard kombucha, and now hard tea, is traditional in process but unconventional in results, offering beverages that are expressive and interesting while remaining accessible and surprisingly light.

Follow along on Instagram @jiantkombucha.

PR Contact | The Door: jiant@thedooronline.com
New Westcott Homes Townhomes - Balbirnie Park in Kenmore WA Westcott Homes has served the Pacific Northwest for over 25 years. Building thousands of homes in dozens of communities throughout the Puget Sound, we create beautiful living spaces that appeal to the needs and lifestyles of contemporary homeowners. For more info, please visit www.westcotthomes.com.

Westcott Homes is pleased to announce their newest townhome community, Balbirnie Park in Kenmore, WA. The distinctive neighborhood, located minutes away from I-405 & I-5, features 83 modern townhomes with spectacular floor plans and state-of-the-art amenities. Construction has started on this one of a kind community and they're planning on a Grand Opening in July.

Nestled in the community of Kenmore, Balbirnie Park offers close proximity to job centers, award winning schools, a variety of restaurants and plenty of recreational opportunities. Not only is Balbirnie Park minutes from the shores of Lake Washington and the Burke Gillman Trail, the community itself includes an off leash dog park, tot lot, and territorial views.

Balbirnie Park combines modern living and smart design with todays active homeowners in mind. These 2, 3 and 4 bedroom floor plans provide flexibility and convenience so you can live your best life. Enjoy a large contemporary kitchen, quartz countertops, covered and heated outdoor living spaces, SMART lighting, luxurious master bathroom, office space, 2 car garage and extra storage throughout.

In the words of satisfied homeowner Ryan, "My life is indeed simplified and your team had their finger firmly on the pulse of tech-industry millennials with the design and included features."

For information, please visit: https://www.westcotthomes.com/balbirnie-park-townhomes/
Albert Romanosky, MD, Ph.D. was recently awarded the 2022 AADM Distinguished Service Award by the American Academy of Disaster Medicine (AADM). The AADM Award recognizes the vital role physician specialists play in the disaster life cycle  preparation, planning, response, and recovery.

According to AADM President Carol Iddins, MD, FAADM, Dr. Romanoskys tireless dedication to public health and to the disaster medicine community exemplifies the qualities of a great physician. As Medical Director and State Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in the Office of Preparedness and Response at the Maryland State Health Department, Dr. Romanosky has been actively supporting state health department disaster emergency preparedness planning and response, said Dr. Iddins.

Dr. Romanosky has contributed to the disaster and emergency plan writing and review, managed grants, reviewed and developed legislative policy, acted as liaison with federal, state, local, and private stakeholders and partners as well as participated in multiple operational roles during disasters and emergencies.

Board Certified in Internal, Emergency, and Disaster Medicine, Dr. Romanosky has been actively involved with Emergency Medical Services as a jurisdictional Medical Director. He was the Assistant Medical Director for one of the nations first Tactical Emergency Medical Services Teams trained to provide lifesaving care to victims during special operations such as active shooter incidents.

He serves as a subject matter expert and instructor in weapons of mass destruction and hospital-based management of mass casualty events for the US State Departments Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program. He also operates in disaster and emergency management, facilitating and supporting on-scene disaster and emergency response operations.

According to Dr. Iddins, Dr. Romanosky is currently coordinating Marylands efforts to support medical and healthcare delivery to residents of Ukraine through donation and shipment of 200 ventilators, personal protective equipment, ballistic plates, and panels. All donations total more than $12,000,000; this includes more than 200 pallets and 5 tractor-trailer loads of donated supplies and equipment.

The American Academy of Disaster Medicine promotes the practice of disaster health care, ensuring that all physicians are aware and prepared to effectively respond to future disasters either natural or man-made. AADM is an affiliate academy of the American Association of Physician Specialists, Inc. (AAPS), the governing body of the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) that certifies both allopathic and osteopathic physicians in a variety of specialties including Disaster Medicine.
Being selected to partner with American Health Plans is an honor and yet another validation of RAM as the leader in the Medicare Advantage solutions and services space.

RAM Technologies, Inc. (RAM), the perennial leader in enterprise software solutions and services for Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid health plans, is pleased to announce the newest addition to the RAM family of clients, American Health Plans based in Franklin, Tennessee.

American Health Plans selected RAM to provide the technology platform and administrative services to support the growing book of business for its Medicare Advantage Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPS). RAMs industry leading solution (HEALTHsuite Advantage core and eHealthsuite member and provider portals) combined with the preeminent Medicare Advantage operational expertise of RAM Health Services (RAMs internal BPaaS division) will drive operational efficiencies, control costs, and ensure compliance with CMS allowing American Health Plans to focus on the expansion of their business.

American Health Plans manages I-SNPs in nursing homes across more than ten (10) states and is the largest and fastest growing provider-owned I-SNP in the country. American Health Plans roots in managed care run deep and its plans can be found in over 300 nursing homes. American Health Plans grew its facility footprint by one-third in just the first quarter of 2022 by adding more than one-hundred (100) new nursing homes to its network of provider-owned I-SNPs.

Robin Bradley, Chief Operating Officer, of American Health Partners, the parent company of American Health Plans, said, Our organization is growing rapidly as we continue to add new facilities and members across an expanding number of states. We needed a platform and a partner focused on the administration of Medicare Advantage to support our operations today and enable continued and compliant growth in the future. We found the combination of RAMs advanced technology and experienced staff to be the best fit for our needs.

Mr. James (Jimmy) Kolata, Chief Strategy Officer for RAM Technologies, added, American Health Plans is an innovator and leader in the I-SNP market and continuously prove this by expanding into new geographies and locations to support the lives of institutionalized members. Being selected to partner with American Health Plans is an honor and yet another validation of RAM as the leader in the Medicare Advantage solutions and services space. We look forward to supporting American Health Plans continued growth for many years to come.

RAM Technologies, Inc. provides both technology (SaaS) and business process solutions (BPaaS) to health plans serving the Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid markets. RAMs core administrative solution, HEALTHsuite Advantage, represents the next evolution in Medicare and Managed Medicaid administration. HEALTHsuite Advantage deploys rapidly in a pre-configured state. This innovative approach slashes implementation durations, eliminates risk and reduces TCO. HEALTHsuite Advantages robust features and functions include all the essential core system capabilities, including benefit administration, enrollment, billing, reconciliation, provider data management, provider contracting and reimbursement, utilization management, encounter and claims administration, fulfillment, customer service and more including fully integrated workflow and bi-directional integration with CMS  a must for Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid organizations.

The RAM Health Services (BPaaS) offering provides health plans with the option to outsource all or select portions of their operations. This increased level of engagement affords plans, small and large, with a wealth of expertise in government sponsored healthcare programs, a benefit that had traditionally been available only to larger organizations. For new market entrants, this offering is particularly attractive as it dramatically reduces time to market, alleviates hiring and HR issues and enhances health plan revenue.

About American Health Plans:

American Health Plans, a division of Franklin, Tennessee-based American Health Partners, is a leader in the provider-owned Medicare Advantage industry. Through Institutional Special Needs Plans (ISNPs) and Institutional-Equivalent Special Needs Plans (IESNPs), American Health Plans equips senior living providers with a business model that can reduce financial risk by improving clinical outcomes across all levels of care. This division currently has co-ownership and partnership agreements with long-term care providers in Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah, Texas and Tennessee and Idaho. For more information, visit AmHealthPlans.com or call (800) 766-9404.

About RAM Technologies:

RAM Technologies is the leading provider of enterprise claims processing software and CMS Integration tools for health care organizations administering Medicare Advantage, Special Needs and Managed Medicaid plans. For over 40 years RAM Technologies has led the way in the creation of benefit administration software for these programs and continues to enhance their managed care software to meet the needs of a rapidly changing market. RAM Technologies has been recognized on Inc. Magazines List of Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Philadelphia Business Journals List of Top Software Developers for their advancements in the creation of comprehensive auto adjudication software for Medicare and SNP administration. To learn more about RAM Technologies healthcare claims processing solutions call (877) 654-8810 or visit http://www.ramtechinc.com.
I am honored to join the Arizona Dispensaries Association as they continue to grow their membership and serve as the voice for Arizonans involved in the cannabis industry. My experience in the industry lends itself to continued success for our members, said Torrez.

Arizona Dispensaries Association, the political and legal voice of Arizonas cannabis industry, recently announced that Ann Torrez has been hired as new Executive Director. Torrez has 8 years of extensive experience in the cannabis space. She most recently served as Project Manager for Receivership Specialists where she acted with the Court Appointed Officer tasked with protecting and growing the assets of cannabis businesses in litigation.

In this role, Torrez will be supporting ADAs mission to promote and advocate for a safe, consumer-focused cannabis industry in Arizona, developing best practices and effectively representing the industry with a constant legislative and regulatory presence.

I am honored to join the Arizona Dispensaries Association as they continue to grow their membership and serve as the voice for Arizonans involved in the cannabis industry. My experience in the industry lends itself to continued success for our members, said Torrez.

With the continued growth of the association, Torrez brings important leadership skills from her past experience in licensing, regulatory and operational projects. Torrez's specialty in compliance in all areas of the industry will provide the Association and its members guidance as the industry continues to evolve.

Christie Lee will continue in her role as Membership & Program Director.

Torrez will be taking over the role from Samuel Richard, who has served as Executive Director since 2019. Richard will continue to work in the cannabis industry and ADA looks forward to their continued relationship.

Pamela Donner, Board Member and Treasurer, stated, The Association is thrilled to have Ms. Torrez as an integral part of our team to guide the association and Arizona cannabis industry as it continues to develop and mature.

The Arizona Dispensaries Association membership is open to individuals who are officers, directors or members of an Arizona organization holding a valid dispensary registration certificate. Affiliate membership is open to those actively engaged in business in Arizonas cannabis industry. To learn more about the Arizona Dispensaries Association, please visit: Arizona Dispensaries Association

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About Arizona Dispensaries Association

The Arizona Dispensaries Association (ADA) is the political and legal voice of Arizonas cannabis industry. ADA is dedicated to advancing the Arizona cannabis industry through political advocacy, public education, and professionalization. Our mission is to promote and advocate for a safe, consumer-focused cannabis industry in Arizona. We develop best practices and effectively represent the industry with a constant legislative and regulatory presence. Our practice is to recruit and retain responsible industry members who believe in protecting consumers and providing high quality cannabis in Arizona.
Stella Eburuo, who currently lives in Newark, New Jersey, with her husband and their three children, has completed her new book How to Avoid Police Brutality: a gripping and potent work that emphasizes the need to end police brutality.

Author Stella Eburuo discusses the purpose behind her work, sharing, I am writing this book out of a broken heart of what I see happening here and around the world, about every other time occurrence, death, brutality, permanent injury of people in the community, only because of a stop or encounter by the police officers. But this problem is reversible by making some changes from both the police officers and the people in the community. If the police give enough time for verbal orders, the person of interest will stop resisting arrest; not resisting arrest will help to avoid police brutality and save lives.

She continues, But if the police use enough verbal order and the person of interest still resists arrest, in order to save lives, police officers can use a Taser instead of gunshots, which is deadly. Also, police can successfully de-escalate situations without anyone getting hurt.

Published by Page Publishing, Stella Eburuos poignant work highlights different steps that can be taken to stop police brutality.

Readers who wish to experience this thought-provoking work can purchase How to Avoid Police Brutality online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Ashley Hershey, CPA/CITP, MBA, was promoted from Manager to Senior Manager. She joined BSSF as a Manager when RLH CPAs & Business Advisors merged with BSSF in 2019. Ashley has over eight years of public accounting experience with extensive experience in financial statement services, tax services and consulting services. Ashley graduated from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania with both a bachelors degree in accounting and personal financial planning and a master's in business administration. She is located in the Hanover, Pennsylvania, office.

Alan Ennis, CPA, MBA, was promoted from Senior Staff Accountant to Supervisor. Alan joined the BSSF Tax Team in July of 2018 after graduating with his master's in business administration from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. He is located in the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, office.

Katie Voorhies, CPA, was promoted from Staff Accountant to Senior Staff Accountant. She joined the For-Profit Audit Team as a Staff Accountant in February of 2018. Katie has over four years of accounting experience and specializes in the audits of for-profit organizations and employee benefit plans. She received her bachelors degree in accounting from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. She is located in the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, office.

Courtney Catlin, CPA, was promoted from Staff Accountant to Senior Staff Accountant. She joined the BSSF Tax Team as an intern in June of 2019 and joined as a full time Staff Accountant in July of 2020. Courtney has a bachelors degree in accounting from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. She is located in the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, office.

Erik Peachey, CPA, was promoted from Staff Accountant to Senior Staff Accountant. Erik joined the For-Profit Audit Team as an intern and was hired as a full time Staff Accountant in May of 2020. Erik earned his bachelors degree in accounting and Business Administration from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia and his masters degree in accounting from James Madison University, also located in Virginia. He is located in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, office.

Natalie Ciepiela was promoted from Staff Accountant to Senior Staff Accountant. She joined the Tax Team as a Staff Accountant in July of 2021. Natalie has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Grove City College in Pennsylvania with a minor in international business. She is located in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, office.

Crissy Dopkowski, SHRM-CP, is being promoted to Senior Human Resources Generalist. Crissy has worked in the Human Resources industry for over 10 years and is a key member of BSSFs Human Resources Consulting Practice. Crissy joined the Human Resources team in December of 2020 and holds the designation of Society of Human Resource Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP). Crissy graduated with a bachelors degree in worksite health promotion from East Carolina University in North Carolina. She is located in our Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, office.

Rebecca Frye is being promoted to Senior Internal Accountant. Rebecca joined the internal accounting team in February of 2020. Rebecca graduated from Shippensburg University in 2017 with a bachelors degree in accounting and in 2018 with a master's in business administration. She is located in our Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, office.

ABOUT BROWN SCHULTZ SHERIDAN & FRITZ

Brown Schultz Sheridan & Fritz is a premier advisory firm, providing accounting, assurance, tax, and consulting services across the Mid-Atlantic Region. In 2021, BSSF was named the #1 Best Place to Work in PA in the medium-sized company category, nationally ranked as a Best Accounting Firm to Work For and named one of the top ten Best Firms for Young Accountants in the U.S. Learn more at http://www.bssf.com
Dr. Jacqueline Herd, DNP, RN, joins Prevent Blindness Board of Directors. Prevent Blindness has a long and accomplished history working collaboratively with nurses to protect healthy vision and save sight, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. We welcome Dr. Jacqueline Herd to our Board of Directors to continue that important legacy.

Prevent Blindness, the nations leading volunteer eye health and safety organization, has announced that Dr. Jacqueline Herd, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, Chief Clinical Officer at Odyssey Clinical Leadership Consulting, LLC, has been named to the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors. The vote was held at the 2022 Prevent Blindness Spring Board Meeting with Dr. Herd starting her term today.

At Odyssey Clinical Leadership Consulting, Dr. Herd is in charge of Leadership Development, and Nursing Finance. Prior to joining Odyssey Clinical Leadership Consulting, Dr. Herd was the Executive Vice President/Chief Nursing Officer at Grady Health System where she directed patient care and implemented a variety of programs in areas including the Critical Care, Medical Surgical/Oncology, Womens Services, Nursing Quality and Education. Before that, she was the Vice President of Nursing/Chief Nursing Officer at Midtown Medical Center, and the Chief Nurse Officer/Chief Nurse Executive at Atlanta Medical Center.

Dr. Herd earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Walden University, Md., Master of Science in Nursing at California State University, Carson, Calif., Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, at California State University, Carson, Calif, and Associate of Science in Nursing Degree from Compton Community College, Compton, Calif.

Dr. Herd currently is on the Board of Directors for the American Organization of Nurse Leaders, Region 4. She is on the Advisory Board for Georgia State Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, and is a member of The Beryl Institute Nurse Executive Council.

Prevent Blindness has a long and accomplished history working collaboratively with nurses to protect healthy vision and save sight, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. We welcome Dr. Jacqueline Herd to our Board of Directors to continue that important legacy.

For a full listing of members of the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors, please visit https://preventblindness.org/prevent-blindness-board-of-directors/. For more information about Prevent Blindness or general eye health information, visit preventblindness.org.

About Prevent Blindness

Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, Prevent Blindness is committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, visit us at preventblindness.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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A Cappella & Unplugged 2022 Finalists-- L to R: Willeby Hayes, Cagan Goldstein, Dee Calhoun, Ryan Brandenburg, Anne Spangle, Lauren Dukehart, and Andelena Jackson Join the Franklin County Visitors Bureau on July 16 at 7 PM, enjoy amazing talent, vote for your favorite performer, and be there to find out this years champion.

Franklin County Visitors Bureau (FCVB) invites all to experience the talent of the final round of A Cappella & Unplugged 2022 on July 16, 7 PM. Seven finalists will take to the steps of the 1865 Franklin County Courthouse to perform two songs as they vie for the $500 first prize and a chance to perform in front of thousands as part of the evenings 1864 Ransoming, Burning & REBIRTH. The winner of this years competition will be chosen by the public with in-person ballot and a text-in option.

Finalists are Willeby Hayes, Cagan Goldstein, Dee Calhoun, Ryan Brandenburg, Anne Spangle, Lauren Dukehart, and Andelena Jackson. All the Cappella & Unplugged finalists share a passion for music. During the 2022 competition, some of this years finalists shared their feelings about music and its importance in their lives.

Ryan Brandenbrg said, To me, music is all about the freedom of expression. The freedom to pass on traditions that have existed in music for centuries, as well as the freedom to try new things, and experiment. I perform to be a part of the simple magic that is live music. Theres nothing else like it!

Another contestant, Andelena Jackson, offered her feelings. Music and singing are my way of remembering and honoring my late mother. Shes the one who taught me to sing.

Dee Calhoun, also known as Screaming Mad Dee, said he was a shy kid and music helped bring him out of his shell. Ive always been a very creative person, and music (along with writing) gives me a place to channel that creativity. Its awarded me many opportunities in life; and through it, Ive seen many great places and have met many wonderful people. Ive gotten to travel the world playing music, and for that I am very grateful.

Lauren Dukehart gave her perspective, too. Music is a way we can communicate feelings and experiences that can't just be spoken. Music brings people together in a world that is divided. I perform simply because it's fun and something that I love. I don't think people do things just for fun nearly enough.

Finalist Anne Spangle summed up her feelings, Music is a true gift I have been blessed with. It's my calling to write and sing songs and the way I express who I really am.

The 2022 A Cappella & Unplugged musical competition is the eighth annual event. Past winners of A Cappella & Unplugged are 2015: Taylor Piper & Kristopher Potter/A World Apart, 2016: Kate & Isaac, 2017: Elly Cooke, 2018: Alexus Lawson, 2019: For F4ith, 2020: Gabrielle Stone, and 2021: Bailey Appleby. Who will be the 2022 winner?

Join the Franklin County Visitors Bureau on July 16 at 7 PM, enjoy amazing talent, vote for your favorite performer, and be there to find out this years champion.

The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore history, arts and architecture, recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods and the warm hospitality of communities like Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. Franklin County PA is located just north of the Mason Dixon Line and is an easy drive from Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Plan a visit at ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com, contacting 866.646.8060, or stopping by the new Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center in downtown Chambersburg.


RE/MAX partners with Inside Real Estate

RE/MAX, LLC, one of the largest global real estate franchisors with over 140,000 agents in almost 9,000 offices and a presence in more than 110 countries and territories, has partnered with Inside Real Estate to provide kvCORE, the industrys #1 rated technology platform, at no additional cost, to all of its company-owned regions across the US and Canada. RE/MAX will also provide CORE Present, the award-winning CMA and presentation builder, CORE ListingMachine & Design Center, an automated print and digital marketing suite, and unlimited CORE Team accounts, a uniquely designed team solution built within kvCORE, ensuring all RE/MAX teams can operate with full autonomy to grow their own independent businesses.

RE/MAX is the worlds most productive real estate network, as measured by residential transaction sides, and now RE/MAX agents in the U.S. and Canada will be equipped with the industrys most proven productivity platform, kvCORE, said Nick Bailey, RE/MAX President and CEO. Inside Real Estate has the resources, scale, and vision to deliver innovative and proven technology solutions. We know they are the best partner to keep us moving at a pace that stays ahead of the market and the competition. They are the perfect choice to help power the next chapter of our technology journey.

We are proud to partner with RE/MAX, a brand well-known for supporting the highest level of productivity across its global footprint, said Joe Skousen, CEO of Inside Real Estate. At Inside Real Estate, our tech is purpose-built to drive maximum results for every user, and were excited to deliver these solutions tailored specifically to RE/MAX.

Highlights of the enterprise-level implementation of the kvCORE Platform for RE/MAX include:



High-performing IDX websites for brokerages, agents, and team with deep consumer behavior tracking and intelligent nurturing to convert more leads into customers

The industrys most powerful built-in lead generation engine, helping agents and teams expand their pipeline with new buyers and sellers at no cost

A personal, private CRM that keeps agents and teams in complete control of their database, while connecting them with their RE/MAX generated leads

Behavioral automation that works to nurture contacts at every stage of their homeownership journey, creating 5-10 times more client engagement

Powerful communication tools including dynamic email campaigns, mass-texting, CORE Video messaging, and a built-in mobile dialer to drive more high-value conversations

Full RE/MAX branding, including Mobile Apps and tight integration to RE/MAXs proprietary systems, tools, and support resources

In addition, RE/MAX will provide the following, fully integrated kvCORE add-on solutions:



CORE Present, the fully interactive CMA and presentation tool which was recently awarded a perfect 5-star product rating by Inman News, helps agents win the listing, win the offer and wow clients every time

CORE ListingMachine & Design Center, a fully automated listing marketing solution to effortlessly promote properties throughout the listing lifecycle. Plus, a newly enhanced digital and print design center for beautiful, on-brand marketing materials

CORE Team Accounts, which unlock powerful team functionality including advanced team lead generation and lead routing, pond accounts with dynamic lead nurturing, team accountability tracking and more

kvCORE Marketplace: a built-in and seamlessly integrated Marketplace for premium add-on solutions and integrations like PropertyBoost, done for you lead generation, and more

"RE/MAX's history is rooted in innovation and a commitment to excellence," said Alissa Harper, Chief Sales Officer, Inside Real Estate. "Their leadership team has taken a bold stance to continue that legacy and provide their network with the most proven, highest-rated technology solutions available. We're thrilled to be partnered with RE/MAX and excited to deliver our kvCORE Platform to their powerhouse network of franchisees, teams and agents."

The uniquely RE/MAX instance of kvCORE will be delivered through a phased rollout beginning later in 2022 and continuing into next year for all RE/MAX affiliates in company-owned regions across the US and Canada.

About Inside Real Estate

Inside Real Estate is a fast-growing, independently owned real estate software firm that serves as a trusted technology partner to over 250,000 top brokerages, agents, and teams. It was ranked the No. 1 Real Estate Tech Company in G2's Top 100 Software Awards, based solely on verified user reviews. Their flagship product, kvCORE Platform, is the most modern and comprehensive solution in the industry. kvCORE is known for delivering profitable growth at every level of a brokerage organization and. Built on a modern, scalable, and flexible architecture, kvCORE enables every brokerage to create their unique technology ecosystem through custom branding, robust integrations, and high-quality add-on solutions. With an accomplished leadership team and over 225 employees, Inside Real Estate brings the resources, scale, and vision to deliver ongoing innovation and success to their growing customer base. Learn more at insiderealestate.com.

About the RE/MAX Network

As one of the leading global real estate franchisors, RE/MAX, LLC is a subsidiary of RE/MAX Holdings (NYSE: RMAX) with more than 140,000 agents in almost 9,000 offices and a presence in more than 110 countries and territories. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX, as measured by residential transaction sides. RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. RE/MAX agents have lived, worked and served in their local communities for decades, raising millions of dollars every year for Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities. To learn more about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit http://www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit news.remax.com.
2022 has been a tremendous year for our firm so far, as we added new services, developed strategic partnerships with complementary vendors and orchestrated other offerings for our clients.

IT Solutions has again been listed as one of the worlds premier managed service providers, ranking #10 on the prestigious 2022 Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings. This represents the thirteenth time IT Solutions has made this list of foremost technology providers.

Firms on the MSP 501 represent the most elite MSPs in the world, and we are honored to be among them once again, said Garrett Graney, CEO IT Solutions. 2022 has been a tremendous year for our firm so far, as we added new services, developed strategic partnerships with complementary vendors and orchestrated other offerings for our clients. We anticipate announcing even more great news during the remainder of 2022.

MSP 501, the worlds first, largest and most exhaustive survey and ranking list of its kind, is widely recognized as a definitive record of the most innovative and influential MSP market leaders around the globe. The 2022 MSP 501 list identified the top managed service providers by taking a deep dive into the managed services and recurring revenue that member organizations generate, delivering a list of the top MSPs that represent where the needle is moving in the industry.

Winners of the award will be honored during a special awards and recognition ceremony at the MSP 501 Gala, which will be held during the Channel Partners Conference and Expo / MSP Summit, September 12-15, 2022 in Orlando. The complete 2022 MSP 501 list is available on the Channel Futures website.

In such a hot market, MSPs on our 2022 MSP 501 list are not only surviving, but also thriving and growing, noted Channel Futures in its announcement. This years crop of 501ers arent simply adding more customers, seats and endpoints under management. They have realistic, actionable business plans aligned with their capabilities and their owners own personal goals.

In addition to making the MSP 501, IT Solutions was also recently named a CRN Solution Provider 500 in 2022 and voted a Best Place to Work in Philadelphia by its personnel.

About Informa Tech

Channel Futures, Channel Partners Online, Channel Partners Conference & Expo and Channel Partners Evolution are part of Informa Tech, a market-leading B2B information provider with depth and specialization in the Information and Communications (ICT) Technology sector. We help drive the future by inspiring the Technology community to design, build and run a better digital world through our market-leading research, media, training and event brands. Every year, we welcome 7,400+ subscribers to our research, more than 3.8 million unique visitors a month to our digital communities, 18,200+ students to our training programs and 225,000 delegates to our events.

About IT Solutions

IT Solutions is an IT services leader, providing expert managed services, custom application development, secure data and easy-to-maintain backup solutions for both on-premise and cloud environments, all of which are accompanied by proactive IT support. Through 25+ years of strategic partnership building and a focus on adopting innovative technologies and improving processes, we have transformed IT Solutions from a solo venture start-up in 1994 to the award-winning solutions provider it is today. For more information, visit http://www.ITSolutions-Inc.com.
Jasper County Emergency Services joins the Missouri Purchasing Group Jasper County Emergency Services invites all potential vendors to register online.

Jasper County Emergency Services announced today that it has joined the Missouri Purchasing Group, a regional purchasing group that helps local governments post, distribute and manage RFPs, quotes, addendums and awards online. bidnet directs Missouri Purchasing Group provides notification to registered vendors of new relevant solicitations, any addenda and award information from 5 participating agencies from across Missouri. Jasper County Emergency Services invites all vendors to register online to access its upcoming solicitations by visiting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/missouri/jasco.

Jasper County Emergency Services joined the purchasing group in April. In joining, Jasper County Emergency Services has become the 5th participating local government agency utilizing the system to streamline the purchasing process. The Missouri Purchasing Group is a single, online location for managing sourcing information and activities and provides local Missouri government agencies a method to minimize costs and time delays associated with the procurement process. Jasper County Emergency Services was distributing bids and managing the procurement process manually before joining the system. In joining, Jasper County Emergency Services looks to save time, increase competition and achieve cost savings over the traditional paper-based bid process.

Jasper County Emergency Services now has access to an extensive vendor pool, thereby enhancing competition without increasing distribution costs. In addition to the existing vendors on the Missouri Purchasing Group, all vendors looking to respond to bids with local government agencies can register online: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/missouri/jasco. Jasper County Emergency Services invites all current vendors not already registered on the purchasing group to do so today. Vendor registration is easy and takes only a few minutes online.

Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information. In addition, the Missouri Purchasing Group offers a value-added service to notify vendors of new bids targeted to their industry, all addenda associated with those bids and advance notice of term contract expiration. A robust NIGP code category list allows vendors registering to find the correct codes and receive matched bids.

By using the Missouri Purchasing Group, our valued vendors can now access not only our open bids, but those from other municipalities, counties and school districts throughout the state. In addition to the time savings we anticipate, our vendors will also benefit from registering in one location for all local bid opportunities. We invite all of our current vendors to register or contact the vendor support team with any questions, stated Steven Williams, Systems Specialist of Jasper County Emergency Services.

Vendors may register on the Missouri Purchasing Group: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/missouri/jasco. bidnet directs vendor support team is available to answer any questions regarding the registration process or the bid system at 800-835-4603 option 2.

Other local Missouri government agencies looking to switch from a manual bid process, please contact the Missouri Purchasing Group for a demonstration of the no-cost sourcing solution.

About Jasper County Emergency Services:

The Jasper County Emergency Services Board, in operating its 9-1-1 Call Center affirms its commitment to provide competent, effective, prompt and truly responsive emergency telecommunication services to every resident of and visitor to the county.

About bidnet direct:

bidnet direct, powered by mdf commerce, is a sourcing solution of regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. bidnet direct runs regional purchasing groups, including the Missouri Purchasing Group, across all 50 states that are used by over 1,600 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
CyberFortress Data Centers "Now, all across the world, from our headquarters in San Antonio to our facilities in Australia, CyberFortress is empowering customers everywhere with the fastest, most pain-free data recovery experience.  Bret Piatt, CEO of CyberFortress

Following the integration of its September 2021 acquisition of KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync from J2 Global, Jungle Disk has rebranded as CyberFortress, a global company providing managed data backups built to prevent business disruption through rapid recovery. The synergy of these combined products, services and specialists enables CyberFortress to provide a level of security and speed unique to the industry. For customers, the burden of managing such a complex and critical function can now be shifted to the credentialed backup and recovery specialists at CyberFortress.

Once a simple nightly task, data backup has become a daunting endeavor. Downtime is unacceptable, so recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) must be measured in minutes. Data is everywhere  in SaaS apps, laptops, servers, smartphones and the cloud. And the threat of cyberattack, especially from ransomware, has never been higher. For too many companies, backup has become disorganized and incomplete, requiring multiple vendors with different specialties, which must then be managed by the customer.

CyberFortress provides comprehensive backup, Disaster Recovery (DR) and recovery, with coverage for all of a companys data protection needs, no matter its size. All backups are kept safe in a combination of highly secure, geo-separated data backup locations, and recovery can take as little as 15 minutes.

CyberFortress is also differentiated by the quality and training of its people. The companys specialists follow a Four-Step Backup system, beginning with the creation of a data recovery map to understand what data a customer has, where its located, and what RTOs and RPOs are necessary. After building and executing on a custom backup and recovery plan, CyberFortress then continuously backs up, monitors and tests to help ensure data is ready for recovery at a moments notice. Customers will never have to wonder whether their data is recoverable because CyberFortress keeps them constantly informed with Continuous Readiness Reporting.

Should a customer need to recover data, CyberFortress Rapid Recovery Force members are available directly by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year  no matter where or when a data emergency occurs.

CyberFortress has combined four companies to create an experienced and innovative backup and recovery solutions and services provider. As a result of our strong partnership with the BaaS and DRaaS parts of the business, we are confident in their team of specialists delivering Veeam-powered solutions and services to our joint customers. We look forward to continued collaborative success as we work alongside CyberFortress to deliver the most efficient and trusted data protection products.

 Matt Kalmenson, Vice President of Cloud & Service Providers, Americas, at Veeam

As a healthcare provider with more than 40,000 patient records, it is our responsibility to ensure that our patient business records are protected in the event of an IT failure. Should a catastrophic event occur, data preservation, business continuity and patient privacy is our first concern. But with CyberFortress comprehensive backup and complete disaster recovery solutions, it is our last worry.

 Deborah Beyer, Practice Administrator at Rochester Gynecologic and Obstetric Associates, PC

We saw that organizations were struggling to manage all their data, and especially to recover all of it when disaster strikes. The market lacked a comprehensive, secure solution that didnt require half a dozen vendors. So, we crafted a plan to build a company that could provide that solution. Now, all across the world, from our headquarters in San Antonio to our facilities in Australia, CyberFortress is empowering customers everywhere with the fastest, most pain-free data recovery experience.

 Bret Piatt, CEO of CyberFortress

For more information on CyberFortress, please visit https://cyberfortress.com.

About CyberFortress

CyberFortress is a global company that makes it simple to fully back up and rapidly recover all lost or stolen data to prevent damage and disruption to organizations of all sizes. Data is stored in secure, geo-redundant facilities, and our suite of solutions enables our data recovery specialists to create a custom, comprehensive solution for each customer. Whenever a customer needs data recovery, they receive live, personalized support from a credentialed specialist, every hour of every day of the year.

CyberFortress is based in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, please visit https://cyberfortress.com/
"MSI is rapidly expanding distribution, growing our assortment, and actively growing our strong team that supports increased company revenue year after year," said Raj Shah, President of MSI.

M S International, Inc. (MSI), the leading supplier of flooring, countertops, wall tile, and hardscaping products in North America, is honored to be recognized as one of the 50 best companies to sell for in 2022.

The distinct honor highlights 50 companies that lead the charge in true selling power, post-pandemic. According to Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power, The Best Companies to Sell For have mastered the alignment of people, processes, and technologies and created a sales organization that excels in hiring, onboarding, training, and compensation of their sales representatives.

Organizations were selected through extensive data across four key areas to determine the top 50:



Company Overview

Compensation and Benefits

Hiring, Sales Training & Sales Enablement

Diversity and Inclusion

Since MSIs founding in 1975, the organization has grown to over $3 billion in annual revenues, with more than 3,000 employees worldwide. Looking ahead, our goal is simple: to contribute to a world where anyone can afford to create a beautiful space to live, work, and play.

"MSI is rapidly expanding distribution, growing our assortment, and actively growing our strong team that supports increased company revenue year after year," said Raj Shah, President of MSI.

To learn more about MSIs complete product assortment, visit https://www.msisurfaces.com.

To view available opportunities with MSI and to join this high-growth team, visit https://www.msisurfaces.com/careers/

About M S International, Inc. (MSI)

Founded in 1975, MSI is a leading supplier of flooring, countertop, wall tile, and hardscaping products in North America. Headquartered in Orange, California, MSI also maintains over 40 state-of-the-art showroom and distribution centers across the U.S. and Canada. MSI's product line includes an extensive offering of quartz, porcelain, ceramic, LVT, natural stone, and glass products imported from over 37 countries on six continents.

About Selling Power

In addition to Selling Power, the leading digital magazine for sales managers and sales VPs since 1981, Personal Selling Power, Inc., produces the Sales Management Digest and Daily Boost of Positivity online newsletters as well as videos featuring interviews with top executives. Selling Power is a regular media sponsor of the Sales 3.0 Conference (https://www.sales30conf.com), which is attended by a total of more than 4,500 sales leaders each year. For additional information, please visit http://www.sellingpower.com.
No matter the conditions, its wise to plan now for a likely recession ahead. - Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller

In a recent study, 57% of American companies indicate they will forge ahead with hiring despite a looming recession, highlighting a stark departure from the Great Recession of 2008 when unemployment hit 10%.

This is according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

As consumer sentiment fades along with CEO confidence, just more than half (51%) of U.S. companies feel the next recession will happen within the next year. However, around 1 in 10 (12%) are optimistic that there will not be another recession.

Looking to the future, if a recession were to occur soon, more than 2 in 5 businesses (44%) feel their company wont survive much longer. Service industries are more likely than professional services and manufacturing industries to say their company wont be able to survive a recession (50% vs. 40% and 34%).

The impact of this potential recession could extend beyond the company in general. Sixty-four percent of businesses feel it would have a major/moderate impact on the overall business and the companys hiring/recruitment needs (61%).

But companies dont appear poised to pump the brakes on hiring like in previous recessions as 30% will continue hiring but cut back on the volume of workers, and 27% anticipate extending offers as planned.

For businesses that expect to continue hiring as planned if a recession were to happen (27%), 89% of those will be full-time positions, 30% part-time and 27% seasonal, temporary or contract. This will include recent college grads (61%), vocational/career tech grads (45%) and college students (43%).

In both New Jersey and Florida, Express franchise owners Mike Nolfo and Mike Brady, respectively, say from what their clients are experiencing, a recession is already here.

I feel like we are actually in a recession right now, but nothing is official yet, Nolfo said. There is pessimism with the overall economy and clients are having a lot of trouble producing and transporting products right now. Labor and supply chain issues are huge right now.

Brady predicts that with rising costs across the board, he believes more industries will continue to slow down as evidenced by a decline in new home construction in Florida.

I think by this fall, we will be in a full-blown recession, he added.

A recessions impact would vary by industry and demand, Nolfo says.

We have several food manufacturers that should not be as affected by a downturn because their product is always essential, he said. But we also have a lighting company in our region that produces luxury/high-end lighting fixtures for commercial buildings. In the past during a recession, this business would be greatly affected due to a high price-point and lack of new commercial construction.

While each recession historically involves a period of high unemployment, a shortage of available workers is one of the main factors propelling the country toward a recession.

These next few months are going to be interesting because usually in a recession, companies lay off employees because of the economic downturn, Nolfo said. Direct hire staffing would slow down, and contract staffing would increase due to the uncertainty. However, right now, the labor market is one of the reasons why we are having a recession. Companies are already at bare-bones staffing levels, and you cant lay off employees if you dont have employees to lay off.

Facing financial insecurity is a good opportunity for both job seekers and businesses to consider a contingent workforce.

Using this flexible staffing option enables a company to control costs by adapting staff needs daily to the demand of their business, said Stephanie Miller, Express Employment International Director of Talent and Acquisition. While contingent work has long been referred to as temporary, many companies and job seekers have established long-term employment relationships because of the initial arrangement.

Navigating this time of uncertainty, Miller advises employees to assess their current employment situation at a macro level.

Considering company culture, growth opportunity, business longevity and stability are as important as pay and benefits, she said. Before a recession occurs, job seekers need to position themselves with the right company. This will be the key to success in the right career opportunity.

Increasing chatter around the possibility of a recession can be beneficial for workers and businesses to allow them time to prepare, according to Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller.

Predictions surrounding the length and impact of a recession vary widely, reinforcing the unusual hiring circumstances absent from previous economic slowdowns, he said. No matter the conditions, its wise to plan now for a likely recession ahead.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between May 3 and May 23, 2022, among 1,003 U.S. hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in the U.S. who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than one employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

***

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment

International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor

supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 586,000 people globally in 2021 and 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.


Republic has funded several of our portfolio companies in the past few years. With an already agreed set of documents, we confidently and easily executed the closing process.

When a Gulf Coast-based, private equity-owned oil field services company chose to refinance its bank line of credit, its leaders tapped the oil field expertise of Republic Business Credit.

The oil field company nearly sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during the recent energy downturn; its private equity partner committed to the companys future by providing a substantial equity and subordinated debt contribution as a bridge. But they still needed a senior partner who could be flexible.

Republic was an easy decision, given the firms long-standing customer relationships, niche market, and sophisticated management team to continue our support, the companys managing director said. While the private equity fund stepped up, the team needed a more agile debt partnership for the resurgence.

Republic has funded several of our portfolio companies in the past few years. With an already agreed set of documents, we confidently and easily executed the closing process, the managing director added.

The company and sponsor sought a growth orientated ABL facility that would support future growth plans. Republic Business Credit understood their business and provided industry expertise.

An oil field service and products manufacturer that supplies large energy production and refinement companies throughout the Permian and Eagle Ford basins, the company needed to refinance its existing bank line of credit to access its full availability while providing sufficient liquidity to scale the business back up during the energy recovery. The company specializes in equipment rental, completion services, pressure, and manufactured wellhead products.

The company president said: We needed a senior debt partner who could react decisively and consistently and who viewed us as a trusted partner in our growth strategy.

Republic has demonstrated unique expertise in our industry time and time again while delivering on its promise of providing a unique facility for each of our structured credit and portfolio companies, a founding partner of the private equity firm said.

Republic Business Credit provided a $3.5 million asset-based loan facility secured by accounts receivables, inventory, and equipment that refinanced the companys incumbent bank lender while providing significantly more borrowing base liquidity at closing. The company closed the senior debt facility with Republic during the third quarter of 2021 and has outperformed its budget every month since closing.

Republic was introduced to the opportunity directly from the private equity fund as a result of Republics reputation within the private equity community for lower and middle market, sponsor-owned ABL facilities.

We continue our focus on providing asset-based loans, direct to consumer loans and factoring to private equity portfolio companies across the country, Republic President Robert Meyers said. Our team worked with the company to structure a growth oriented facility that provided significantly more liquidity to enable the management team to focus on growth.

Republic CEO Stewart Chesters added: Since our founding, we have always been committed to providing broad and inclusive access to working capital for lower and middle market companies that seek a better partnership than a traditional bank loan structure will provide.

Republic Business Credit partners with banks, accountants, sponsors, lawyers, and investment banks to collaboratively support entrepreneurs across the United States, to create value, by enabling them to focus on growing successful businesses.

About Republic Business Credit. Republic Business Credit is a national provider of working capital facilities to private equity and entrepreneurial owned businesses. Republic provides asset-based lending, ledgered lines of credit, traditional factoring, direct to consumer loans, factoring, and Fast AR Funding. Republic partners with its clients to provide up to $12 million in senior credit facilities to rapidly growing businesses, start-ups, and companies experiencing recoverable distress. Nationally recognized as Winner of the 2015 Emerging Growth Company of the Year award from Association of Corporate Growth, Republics expert and knowledgeable team boast four Top 40 Under 40 winners, two Top Women in Secured Finance and a Top Women in Asset Based Lending by the Secured Finance Network and ABF journals respectively. Republic is recognized by the Secured Finance Network as one of the largest independently owned finance companies in the United States of America. The company is proudly headquartered in New Orleans, La., with client service offices in Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago.
Rainier Compact Duffel Timm Fenton, Vice President of Design and Development says, The Skyway Rainier collection was designed for the end-user who leads an active lifestyle. We are thrilled that all of these fabric silhouettes are made from recycled plastic."

The Skyway Luggage Company, the Washington-based global luggage, and travel accessories leader, announced today the launch of their new Rainier collection of lifestyle bags for men and women. Eco-style meets versatility with this new group of five casual backpacks and travel bags designed to meet the needs of digital nomads exploring the world.

Each style in the Skyway Rainier collection is made from recycled PET plastics. A first for the brand in soft bags, and a new step in the companys forward-looking commitment to using recycled materials wherever possible. In this instance, PET plastics, which are typically plastic water bottles, were converted into durable fabrics which would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. Depending on the size of the bag, the production utilized anywhere from 6 to 26 recycled plastic bottles for use in the various sizes of this collection.

Timm Fenton, Vice President of Design and Development says, The Skyway Rainier collection was designed for the end-user who leads an active lifestyle. It was a challenge but we are thrilled that all of these fabric silhouettes are made from recycled plastic and at the same time meet our high durability standards. By designing these bags in PET sustainable materials we are doing our small part to save our environment from another plastic container being tossed into a landfill.

Interior details on all of the styles include padded laptop sleeves and multiple interior pockets constructed in a combination of solid and camo print PET fabrics.

Collection Styles from Large to Small:

Weekender Backpack  40L This large-size backpack is a great option for a long weekend, offering a generous-sized main compartment, large-sized zipped pockets, and multi-attachment options that provide flexibility. A padded back pocket is designed to fit the largest laptop. The pack also has contoured, padded, tuck-away shoulder straps, a removable waist stabilizer strap, and two side zipper pockets.

Roll Top Commuter Backpack - 20L Carry all your belongings in one place throughout the day with this smart roll-top backpack with a metal slide buckle and a magnetic closure. A padded zipped side pocket will hold a 15 laptop. There are contoured padded shoulder straps for comfort with a webbing grab handle. This bag also features a hidden back panel zipper pocket for a cell phone, two side water bottle pockets, and a mesh zipper storage pocket inside the main compartment.

Compact Duffel Backpack - 20L This versatile and utilitarian duffel is a great companion for your trip to the gym or a quick overnight. Its capacity can easily hold a pair of shoes and a change of clothes. It has both a comfortable carry handle and a loop webbing handle at the top. The bag has a bullet shape with padded tuck-away shoulder straps. It also features a side zipper pocket with a card holder, a hidden zipper pocket for the phone, and a large capacity main compartment with a zippered mesh pocket.

Deluxe Backpack - 17L Travel or work remotely with your laptop safely with this backpack specially designed to hold a laptop securely. Its multiple carry handle options make it a great bag to travel for a meeting or an overnight escape. Features include side access to a fully padded, zippered laptop compartment which can be accessed while wearing with one strap. Comfortable bail carry handles, side-mounted quick-grab handle, and contoured/padded tuck-away shoulder straps. It also has a magnetic closure phone pocket, side water bottle pocket, front pocket with key leash, and cardholder.

Simple Everyday Backpack - 15L Our no-fuss essential backpack is built with a padded pocket so you can take your laptop wherever you go. Its double front pocket allows for additional storage capacity and its adjustable, padded shoulder straps will be easy on your back. Essential features include the padded straps that tuck away and the add a bag strap that slides over a wheeled case, two front zippered pockets, and a padded laptop pocket in the main compartment. Contoured/padded tuck-away, adjustable shoulder straps make the bag easy to handle and wear.

The 5-piece collection is available in the following colors: Zion Gray, Tahoe Blue, Moab Red, and Kohala Black. Prices range from $140 for the everyday backpack to $200 for the weekender. All styles will be available exclusively at http://www.skywayluggage.com

About Skyway Luggage Company:

Founded in 1910 by A.J. Kotkins, Skyway began operation from Seattles Pioneer Square under the name Seattle Suitcase, Trunk and Bag Manufacturing Company. A.J.s son, Henry Louis Kotkins, joined the business in 1936. With a vision inspired by the growing airline industry and the excitement of air travel, he introduced a line of luggage called Skyway. Kotkins commitment to delivering high-quality products earned him a loyal following of international travelers seeking a reliable-yet-accessible travel experience. The Skyway Luggage Company is fully owned and operated by Ricardo Beverly Hills.


Dorina Brown, Military Outreach Specialist, Trident University International

Trident University International (Trident) is proud to welcome Dorina Brown as the Universitys new Military Outreach Specialist for Hawaii.

In this role she will assist current and prospective students as they work towards their respective educational goals. Additionally, she will work closely with representatives on military bases and community members in helping to support Tridents mission of providing a quality and affordable education. Beyond her work in the field, she will collaborate with key staff members across the University in helping to ensure a positive experience for all students.

I am excited to join the team at Trident, explains Brown. I see my role as a bridge between the University and current/future students. Their education is important, and Im enthused to be in a position to [help] them strive towards their academic goals.

Prior to joining Trident, she worked in higher education assisting students within the admissions department. Brown has been immersed in the military world for her entire life. Her husband actively serves in the U.S. Army, while her father proudly served in the Army for 25 years.

Brown holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication and Business from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and an Associate of Applied Science in Business Administration and Human Resource Management from Fayetteville Technical College.

About Trident University International

Founded in 1998, Trident University International is a member of the American InterContinental University System, which is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org). Trident uses the EdActive learning approach, which employs case-based learning in an online setting to teach real-world relevant critical thinking skills designed to enhance the lives and education of students. Trident offers quality associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs and certificates, led by a qualified faculty team, over 80% of whom have doctoral degrees. Trident has over 32,000 alumni, of which more than 27,000 have a military affiliation, and has received acknowledgements from Washington Monthly, Military Times, and Military Advanced Education & Transition for their dedication to student success. Visit http://www.trident.edu or call at (855) 290-0290 to learn more about Trident's wide range of educational options.
We continue to be impressed with USCs unique optimization of our full suite of solutions and are thrilled to continue the partnership as they move to the cloud." -- Kerry Cooper, CEO of CollegeSource.

The University of Southern California (USC) is taking its long-lasting partnership with CollegeSource to the next level and expanding its use of uAchieve Degree Audit by moving to the cloud, CollegeSource today announced. By upgrading to uAchieve in the Cloud, USC will receive the most sophisticated degree audit and transfer articulation engine in the market with a modern user interface that can automatically manage increased credential production.

Since becoming a client, USC has heavily relied on CollegeSource to manage its increasingly complex transfer articulation and degree audit processes to ensure students are awarded credits deserved based on a tight integration between CollegeSources Transfer Evaluation System (TES) and uAchieve. With 5,000+ transfer credit evaluations each year, USC is able to automatically track and evaluate the transfer credit for 100 percent of the coursework in its self-service transfer engine.

CollegeSource has continued to deliver time and again, from Transfer Articulation (TA) in uAchieve to TES, which has been a game-changer for the entire institution, especially during the onset of the pandemic, said Matt Bemis, associate registrar at USC. Based on our longstanding marriage with CollegeSource, were incredibly excited to shift our heavily relied upon degree audit and transfer articulation engine to the cloud.

USCs migration to the cloud will offer the institution greater security, scalability, control, stability and unparalleled feedback experience through activity reports. Additionally, USC will be able to view the number of users accessing the system, how theyre accessing it, users sessions, time of day and the most popular pages. Theyll also have access to the number of audits run, the type of audit and the average speed of audits providing the institution further insights into critical systems needed to help students and advisors daily. USC will also have access to Degree Discovery, allowing the institution to help students uncover degrees and credentials that wouldnt have been known otherwise.

We continue to be impressed with USCs unique optimization of our full suite of solutions and are thrilled to continue the partnership as they move to the cloud, said Kerry Cooper, CEO of CollegeSource. Their work to ensure students incoming courses from transfer get the proper evaluation deserved and setting up current students for a clearer path toward graduation is commendable in the higher ed community.

CollegeSource uAchieve is a comprehensive degree audit solution that ensures students and advisors have the information needed to make informed education decisions along their path of earning degrees and credentials. Tailored reports illustrate each students progress and outlines the remaining courses and other requirements needed to graduate. It also offers robust transfer articulation and evaluation capabilities to ensure all transfer credits are captured and accurately represented.

To take the guesswork out of transfer credit decisions, CollegeSource TES empowers higher education professionals to quickly research and locate course descriptions, route and track all transfer evaluation tasks to faculty and administration, and manage and communicate course equivalencies. With 130+ million courses compiled and maintained by CollegeSource, TES employs powerful algorithms to generate lists of likely equivalencies between institutions.

For more information on CollegeSources uAchieve solution, please visit: https://www.collegesource.com/products/uachieve/

About CollegeSource

CollegeSource is the higher education industrys trusted provider of transfer and degree achievement solutions. For 50 years, CollegeSource has led market-changing transformation by inventing and investing in technology solutions that aid the staff and students of higher education in their quest to plan and complete academic careers. As the archiver of the nations extensive higher education course catalogs, CollegeSources degree audit, academic planning, and transfer credit evaluation solutions are depended on by more than 2,000 institutions and millions of individuals worldwide. Founded and led by higher education and technology veterans, CollegeSource is a privately-held company based in San Diego with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, please visit collegesource.com.


What: The Wharton School is pleased to invite business journalists to apply for the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists flagship program. After two years of a virtual format, the program will return in-person to Whartons Philadelphia campus. There are several funding opportunities available for journalists, including an all-expenses-paid fellowship for U.S.-based journalists offered by the National Press Foundation (NPF). View the program agenda here.

The Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists, led by the Wharton Schools most prominent professors, help reporters gain a better understanding of key business and economic issues through intensive lectures and hands-on exercises. For more than 50 years, the Seminars have offered participants an opportunity to expand their knowledge, network with journalists from around the world, increase their exposure to leading experts and broaden their perspectives in a stimulating environment.

When: The program runs October 17-19, 2022. The deadline to apply for National Press Foundation fellowships is Monday, August 29, 2022, and the remaining applications are due Monday, September 26, 2022.

Where: The Seminars will take place at the Wharton School on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia.

How: Interested journalists can apply via the NPF application and/or Wharton application.

Who: In recent years, journalists from media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, PBS NewsHour, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, Fortune, CNN, Marketplace, Bloomberg, and BuzzFeed News have attended the Seminars. Past winners of the National Press Foundation fellowship can be seen here.

Eligibility: Applications are open to those who are employed full-time as a print, broadcast, or online business journalist by legitimate media companies. Additional details about specific funding opportunities can be found here.

Program Benefits: Todays global economy requires a strong foundation in business and economic knowledge for business journalists. At the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists, participants:



Gain an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of business strategy.

Interact with colleagues from some of the worlds leading business news organizations.

Receive a Wharton School Certificate of Completion.

Learn More: For complete information on the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists, visit https://journalists.wharton.upenn.edu/ or contact Wharton Media Relations at +1-215-898-8036 or communications@wharton.upenn.edu.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the worlds first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Educations individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit http://www.wharton.upenn.edu.
Bobby Byrd, cofounder and publisher of Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, Tex., has died. He was 80. The publisher and poet retired last year, as he and his wife, Lee Merrill Byrd, sold their publishing house to Lee & Low Books. The publishing house was established in 1985 and became a countercultural force, focusing on the underrepresented authors of the border.

Byrd was born in Memphis and lost his father in a plane crash when he was seven years old. He was an academic and a poet prior to turning to publishing.

Byrd was especially proud of having published La Llorona/The Weeping Woman by Joe Hayes, which helped give the company an identity in the market. It was a favorite story that every Mexican and Mexican American kid grew up hearing. Joe insisted that it be bilingual and thats when we entered the world of childrens bilingual books. We hit the wave of a Mexican diaspora that spread from the border throughout the entire country. The title has sold more than 500,000 copies in several formats.

Other titles published by the company included The Story of Colors, by Chiapas revolutionary Subcomandante Marcos; Selavi, That Is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope, written and illustrated by Youme; Pitch Black: Dont Be Skerd, also by Youme; Vatos, written by Luis Alberto Urrea with photographs by Jose Galvez; Sammy & Juliana by Benjamin Alire Saenz; and Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero. Among the hundreds of authors published by Byrd included Dagoberto Gilb, Rudolfo Anaya, and the poet Joseph Somoza.

Byrd worked closely with his family, including his wife Lee and son Johnny. After selling his company, Byrd told PW, When we started out, I read a how-to book about publishing. We didnt know anything, so we just did what we wanted to and what we found really interesting. Today, when people ask us for advice about starting an independent publishing company, the first word out of my mouth is, Dont! But if you do, especially if youre in an out-of-the-way place like El Paso, I tell them to learn all they can about the publishing industry first. Have good friends and have some money in the bank. Maybe a second income. Remember, its a turkey shoot. The fact is that publishing is already a strange and precarious industry, and it is only getting stranger and more precarious, especially for the smaller companies.

He added, We would do it all over again. It was a miraculous journey filled with great friends and wonderful manuscripts that opened up our imagination and our hearts with a new understanding of this placethis planetwhere we all live.

Among his own books are White Panties, Dead Friends & Other Bits & Pieces of Love (2006) and Otherwise My Life is Ordinary (2014). He is survived by his wife and three children.

In one of his final published poems, Byrd wrote:

A Poem for my 79th Birthday

Please

when its over

scatter my ashes

bones

whatever

in the Milky Way.

Thank you.
PS4 compatibility is effective immediately while the service, which has expanded throughout 2022 on ad-supported streaming TV , will be accessible through PS5s later this year meaning gamers can take advantage of the Molotov platform, the application that provides access to nearly 200 TV channels, and the MANGO free video-on-demand service.Since its launch six years ago, Molotov has adapted its platform portfolio so that, said the company, it could rise to what it said were the new challenges of the audio-visual industry. It noted that the plurality of media on which its service was available allowed users to choose their own pace but also their own way to watch their favourite TV programmes.Access to Molotov on PS4/PS5, old and new models, is done directly by downloading the application via the PlayStation Store , or from the dedicated Molotov rail in the TV & Video menu.
More than two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment at American colleges and universities is continuing to plummet. College enrollment had been falling by about 1% each year for a decade before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated that trend. In the past two years, more than 1 million students have walked away from higher education. Public universities, private colleges, community colleges, and graduate schools are all getting hit.

Theres no shortage of speculation as to where students are going. The pandemic and a robust job market have siphoned off more students in the short term. In the long term, experts are projecting a decade-long decline in high school graduation rates that will leave colleges with a shrinking pool of students to draw from.

Perhaps more troublingly, the American public is becoming disenchanted with educations promise to transform lives, if recent surveys are to be believed. With each year, more people  especially young Americans still paying off their college loans  are saying that the cost of college is too high, the debt burden is too crushing, and the payoff isnt worth it. More and more Americans, in other words, are rejecting higher educations value proposition.

American higher education should view this belief as an existential threat. To ensure their long-term survival, most colleges and universities  all but a handful of ultra-selective and wealthy institutions  will be forced to confront fundamental questions about the value of what they do.

Quantifying higher education in terms of skills and outcomes will become increasingly critical in the years ahead. Traditionally, colleges and universities have struggled to articulate the value of what they teach in the classroom and on campus. But students and employers will pay for value  that is, affordable educational experiences and academic credentials that lead to meaningful employment for graduates and that create talent for companies.

For that reason, its essential that higher education can demonstrate  and students and companies can see  a high return on educational investment. The institutions that do the best job of quantifying skills and creating more transparency around return on investment will be the ones best able to attract students.

Take the Colorado School of Mines, which appears in the 99th percentile of Georgetown Universitys Center on Education in the Workforce rankings of return on investment of 4,500 American colleges and universities. This public university emphasizes hands-on learning and real-world experience as it prepares its graduates for engineering or other STEM careers.

The school is crystal clear about outcomes for its graduates, and employers and prospective students are responding. Ninety-five percent of the class of 2020 was employed in their first-choice career  at an average salary of nearly $80,000  or enrolled in graduate school right after they earned their degrees. Just as impressively, the schools enrollment is up 22% in five years, at a time when many colleges are struggling to stay even.

The recent and rapid decline in college enrollment should breathe new life into the long-running debate about the most accurate way to measure return on education investment and how to increase accountability in higher education.

Several ongoing efforts around credential transparency hold promise. The Department of Education lists the highest and lowest tuition and net prices among American colleges and universities. Its College Navigator and College Scoreboard features give students a wealth of data about cost and post-graduation outcomes.

A coalition of more than 70 selective private institutions developed their own tool to give prospective students a better understanding of the true cost of attending college. Twenty-eight states and regions have partnered with Credential Engine, which has created a common language and data set to help students sort through the maze of more than 1 million degrees, certificates, and other credentials and pick the one that will pay off for them.

Floridas performance-based funding model for its public universities includes two workforce metrics  employment and median wages of graduates  that show if college degrees are paying off. The College Transparency Act, now pending in the Senate, would give the public even more data about college access, price, and outcomes.

Taken together, these initiatives can help students navigate an uneven landscape of education and training programs. But these efforts are not yet complete. Most are third-party efforts, not originating from the colleges and universities themselves. Institutions of higher education should be working on their own ways to communicate how academic credentials and educational experiences translate into skills that companies will want.

If theres a silver lining in the cloud hanging over student enrollment, its that this moment of decline provides the opportunity for colleges and universities to take a hard look at what their students are learning and where their graduates are going. As college costs and debt continue to climb and put an affordable higher education increasingly out of reach for many, it is perhaps inevitable that colleges and universities will embrace outcomes and transparency.

Its incumbent on colleges and universities to respond to this new challenge. The students coming to college and the companies hiring college graduates demand nothing less. Ultimately, the institutions of higher education that prosper in the 21st century will do so not because of price, location, or reputation, but because they can demonstrate measurable and accountable results.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 81F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with showers later at night. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
The suspects imported drug precursors and equipment to Cambodias capital via Vietnam.

Cambodia authorities have arrested 11 Chinese nationals on suspicion of illegal drug trafficking, confiscating hundreds of metric tons of narcotics and drug precursors during raids in Phnom Penh and three other provinces, national police said Wednesday.

Agents from Cambodias National Authority for Combating Drugs worked with local authorities in the capital and in Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Kandal provinces to arrest the suspects, who were allegedly operating large-scale narcotics factories.

The raids took place July 4-9 in seven locations, according to information posted on the website of the General Commissariat of National Police. The factories had allegedly been operating for the past three months, authorities said. Agents confiscated two metric tons of the hallucinogenic drug Ketamine, 300 tons of precursors, and drug-producing equipment.

Police are sending the 11 suspects to court for processing, according to the national police.

Lt. Gen. Mak Chito, deputy national police commissioner in charge of drug crimes, said the suspects had been importing the precursors and equipment from Vietnam through Phnom Penhs port since April 7. They then distributed drug ingredients to different locations for production.

They hid those ingredients in containers, he told RFA. Those chemical ingredients are banned [in Cambodia]. The finished products were intended for shipment to Taiwan and Australia. They are using Cambodia as a place to produce the drugs, he said.

Mak Chito said many others suspected of illegal drug trafficking are now fleeing Cambodia. He also said there has been no indication that local authorities colluded with the suspects.

NGOs have called on government authorities to enact tougher measures against Chinese drug lords operating in Cambodia, as methamphetamine use continues to surge in the country, RFA reported a week ago following news of the arrest in Sihanoukville of seven Chinese nationals who set up a factory in the coastal province to make the drugs from smuggled ingredients.

During that operation, authorities seized several tons of drug precursors and production equipment during the arrests.

Am Sam Ath, chief of general affairs for the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), urged authorities to conduct a transparent investigation into suspected drug operations, including whether local authorities were involved.

Illegal drug trafficking threatens Cambodias national security and economic development, Am Sam Ath also said.

If there are suspected factories, [authorities] have to take action in advance to prevent them [from operating], he said. We have seen loopholes when it comes to authorities cracking down on them.

Am Sam Ath urged routine factory inspections to prevent suspects from using the places of operation to produce illegal drugs.

Yong Kim Eng, President of The People's Centre for Development and Peace, an NGO that advocates for human rights and democracy, said Chinese illegal drug operations in Cambodia have detrimentally affected the countrys reputation and that authorities have failed to effectively combat it because of corruption.

This is a tragedy for Cambodia to be used by Chinese to produce illegal drugs, he told RFA. We must be vigilant.

During a National Day for Combating Drugs on June 26, Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng said that police seized a combined total of more than 100 metric tons of finished drugs and drug ingredients from 2020 to 2021.

However, of the nearly 10,000 metric tons of the finished drugs that were seized, only 6,000 were destroyed, he said.

Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The USS Benfolds operation comes as a separate U.S. carrier strike group moves into the South China Sea.

A U.S. Navy Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Wednesday has drawn a strong reaction from Chinese military officials who said the U.S. warship illegally trespassed into its waters.

A spokesman from the Southern Theater Command of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), whose areas of responsibility include the South China Sea, said in a press release that the command organized air, naval forces to track and warn away USS Benfold destroyer that illegally trespassed into Chinese territorial waters off Xisha Islands.

Xisha is the Chinese name for the Paracel archipelago, claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan but entirely under Chinese control.

The U.S. Navys 7th Fleet meanwhile released a statement saying its Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS Benfold (DDG 65) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.

The destroyer then exited the excessive claim and continued operations in the South China Sea, according to the statement which said that the U.S. challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant.

Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations, the 7th Fleet said.

Under international law, as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all States, including their warships, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea, it said.

A MH-60 Sea Hawk conducting flight operations aboard the USS Benfold. CREDIT: U.S. Navy



China's illegal claims



Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold competing claims over parts of the South China Sea and some islands in it but the Chinese claims are by far the most expansive, covering up to 90% of the sea.

Beijing also developed islands that China occupies in the South China Sea to back up its claims and has fully militarized at least three of them.

The U.S. Navy has also challenged Chinas self-proclaimed territorial waters around the Paracel Islands.

An international tribunal in 2016 ruled that the Paracels are in fact not islands and the occupying nation  China  cannot claim territorial sea around them.

The lengthy statement by the U.S. 7th Fleet said by conducting this FONOP, the United States demonstrated that these waters are beyond what the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] can lawfully claim as its territorial sea.

U.S. forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, as they have for more than a century, it added.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), July 13, 2022. CREDIT: U.S. Navy





In another development, a U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan has moved into the South China Sea.

The U.S. Navy said in a press release the strike group is operating in the South China Sea for the first time during its 2022 deployment.

It includes the USS Ronald Reagan, the navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, with aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 and crews from Task Force 70 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15. The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) are also involved in the operation, according to the release.

While in the South China Sea, the strike group is conducting maritime security operations, which include flight operations with fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, maritime strike exercises, and coordinated tactical training between surface and air units, it said.

Carrier operations in the South China Sea are part of the U.S. Navys routine operations in the Indo-Pacific.

Chinas South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) think-tank said that, according to the latest flight trajectory of the carrier-borne C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft, the USS Ronald Reagan is sailing on Wednesday just south of the Spratly Islands, some 1,000 kilometers from the Vietnamese city of Danang.

Vietnamese sources told RFA last week that the Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier plans to visit Danang in the second half of July, an event that would draw criticism from China.

The U.S. Navy declined to confirm the visit, saying as a matter of policy, we dont discuss future operations.
Five years on from the death in prison of Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, activists in China have been forced to mark the anniversary mostly in private, due to ongoing bans on public references to him.



A friend of Liu's who gave only the pseudonym Gu Tian said some people had found ways to mark the anniversary despite a ban on the topic on social media platforms.



"Xiaobo ... has been gone for five years. Xiaobo was a very good and honest person, who could see beyond the basic concept of the Chinese nation and China," Gu told RFA.



"He fought back against an autocratic regime," he said.



Some people took to Twitter, which requires circumvention tools to access from mainland China, to leave messages commemorating Liu's death at the age of 61 from advanced liver cancer, while serving an 11-year jail term for "incitement to subvert state power."



An account named for rights lawyer Yu Wensheng said Liu had "sacrificed his life to lead China towards democracy."



"Today, I bowed three times in the direction of the sea to honor his heroic spirit."

A pro-democracy activist holds a portrait of late Chinese Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo while attending a vigil outside a train station in Shinjuku district of Tokyo on June 4, 2022, to mark the 33rd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. (AFP)



Twitter user Li Fang wrote: "Many have forgotten Liu Xiaobo ... who died in prison five years ago. But China hasn't changed in those five years; the oppression and persecution are still the same. Forget Liu Xiaobo, and you forget China."



Another user identified as Wang Xiaoshan also mentioned the fifth anniversary of Liu's death, which came after he was jailed for co-authoring Charter 08, which promoted democracy and constitutional government.



In previous year, activists have gathered or taken photos at the shoreline to commemorate Liu, whose ashes were scattered at sea on the insistence of ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.



Gu said he was among of around a dozen people detained in 2017 in the southern city of Guangzhou for a shoreline gathering.



"I was in Guangzhou back then, and I was detained ... a dozen of us were detained together for a month," he said.



"It's only now, looking back, with the myth of Chinese nationalism exploded, I realize that we should stand on the side of the people."



Widow in self-isolation

Liu Xiaobo died of liver cancer while in hospital in police custody in 2017.



His wife Liu Xia, who had been under house arrest since his Nobel Peace Prize was announced in October 2010, was finally allowed to leave the country in 2018 and settled in Berlin.



Since then, she has kept a low profile and rarely appears in public.

Liao Tianqi, vice-chairman of the PEN International Peace Committee, who maintains contact with Liu Xia, Liu remains in a form of self-isolation for various reasons, but is generally in good health.

"She may choose to have very little contact with others, but I know she doesn't have major health problems, and her financial situation is OK, too," Liao, who officiates at a memorial service for Liu in London on Wednesday, told RFA.

In the five years since Liu's death, China has seen very little in the way of organized or large-scale activism.

What's more, the daily movements of petitioners, dissidents, and human rights activists in various places are being monitored ever more closely.

At the end of 2019, more than a dozen human rights lawyers and activists were harassed, summoned, detained, and even arrested by police for gathering in the southeastern port city of Xiamen, including New Citizens' Movement founder Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, who were recently tried for subversion behind closed doors.

Shortly before his arrest, Liu Xiaobo told RTHK that under a dictatorial regime like China's, he has had to "pay the price of telling the truth."

But he added: "I insist on my beliefs. I insist on telling the truth. I insist on criticizing this dictatorship. I insist on a fair evaluation of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, and for historic justice for the spirits of the dead."

Former 1989 student leader Wang Dan, founder of the Washington-based think tank Dialogue China, said in a commentary broadcast on RFA's Mandarin Service that Liu represented a tenacious tendency to civil resistance in the face of state violence over the past three decades.

After Xi Jinping came to power, he launched a crushing attack on Chinese civil society, which made many people stop hoping for any kind of civil resistance, Wang wrote.



"But if we understand the history of Liu Xiaobo's personal struggle, we will know that even in the most difficult and darkest period after the June 4th [1989] crackdown, the flame of resistance was never extinguished among the Chinese people," Wang said.

Chinese Dissident, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo, 61, Dies of Cancer



"We shouldn't forget Liu Xiaobo, because he carried a symbolic meaning."



Zan Aizong, one of the first signatories of Charter 08 and a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Association, said it was hard to see any scope for resistance in today's China, however.



At the core of a civil society is a certain degree of freedom and rule of law, some judicial independence to guarantee the rights of citizens," Zan said.



"If the authorities claim that everyone has freedom of speech, but there is no judicial independence to guarantee that freedom of speech, how can there be a civil society?"



And there are growing concerns at the targeting of those closest to anyone bold enough to take a stand.



Yuan Shanshan, the wife of Beijing human rights lawyer Xie Yanyi, posted on Monday that the couple's six-year-old daughter was due to start primary school in September, but when she completed the enrollment procedures required by the Miyun district education commission, the application was rejected.



Repeated calls to Yuan's phone rang unanswered on Tuesday.



The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network tweeted on Wednesday that Liu was the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in prison since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky.



"Remember Liu Xiaobo, carry on his legacy," the group said.



Hong Kong suppresses commemorations

In Hong Kong, where a draconian security law has ushered in a citywide crackdown on peaceful dissent and political opposition, activists said they are no longer able to mark Liu's anniversary with public ceremonies and exhibits as they once did.



Former pro-democracy lawmaker Avery Ng said the city is now fairly similar to other cities in China when it comes to freedom of speech.



"We in Hong Kong have been less and less able to speak freely on certain issues over the years," Ng said. "Ordinary citizens, civil organizations and political parties, even the media, all face the same concern."



"I'm sure many frontline reporters or media organizations haven't forgotten this day, and would like to report it, but there isn't even cursory coverage, given the current environment," he said.



"I fear that, over time, some of the history of Hong Kong will be forgotten or even rewritten by the new generation."



Liu's best-known work as co-author was Charter 08, a document that was signed by more than 300 prominent scholars, writers, and rights activists around the country.



In the document, the former literature professor called for concerned Chinese citizens to rally to bring about change, citing an increasing loss of control by the Communist Party and heightened hostility between the authorities and ordinary people.



Liu's late diagnosis, and the refusal of the ruling Chinese Communist Party to allow him to go overseas on medical parole, sparked widespread international anger.



Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" in a decision that infuriated Beijing, which said he had broken Chinese law. During the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, he was represented by an empty chair.



Beijing cut off trade ties with Norway in the wake of the award, and placed Liu's wife, the poet and photographer Liu Xia, under house arrest for eight years from the date the award was announced.



Liu Xia, who has been living in Germany since 2018, has suffered from severe mental health problems as a result of her treatment at the hands of the authorities.



Liu said in 2019 that she and Liu Xiaobo had little chance to speak to each other in the weeks before his death, and that she was having trouble accepting his loss.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Sources say they were slaughtered while returning to feed their livestock.

Residents of Pale township, in Myanmars embattled Sagaing region, said four people, including a teenage girl, were killed by junta troops after they returned to their village to feed their livestock following a military raid in the area.

Sources from Pales Taung Ywar Thit village identified three female victims as Aye Win, 45, her daughter Moe Yee, 15, and their relative Nyo Kyin, 54, and one male victim as Tin Maung, 64.

Around 100 junta troops entered the village on July 10, forcing all residents to escape into the jungle, the sources told RFA Burmese. One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the victims were killed when they returned to the village that afternoon to feed their animals, thinking the troops had left.

At about noon on July 10, [the troops] came in from the eastern part of the village. The whole village fled, the resident said.

The two women and the girl returned to the village at about 3:30 p.m., thinking the soldiers had left. We found the girl lying dead on her belly. Daw Nyo Kyin was lying dead on her side. The old man was shot dead with a rope around his neck. The bodies of the women were found near the toilet [behind the village].

The troops finally left the village on July 11. Residents discovered the bodies upon returning to the area the following day, the source said.

Residents told RFA that Tin Maungs body was found hastily buried in a shallow grave just outside the village tract. Moe Yees earrings had been removed from her body, they said.

It was not immediately clear which army unit raided Taung Ywar Thit on July 10. Residents said that while the troops had left the area, they dare not return to their village, fearing another attack.

Another resident of Taung Ywar Thit, who also declined to be named, told RFA that evidence of the killings had been documented on video.

They went to feed their cows and pigs in the village and were shot dead by the junta soldiers, the resident said.

[The military has] no regard for human life. People were tortured and killed. We have video files recorded at the site of the murders of the women and the shallow grave  about 1.5 feet deep  where the man was buried.

The resident said copies of the video files had been sent to a local unit of the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group, which said they would be forwarded to representatives of Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

PDF sources told RFA that the victims were civilians and had nothing to do with the armed opposition.

Clothing lies scattered inside a home following a military raid in Pale townships Taung Ywar Thit village, July 12, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Strategic route

Boh Naga, a member of a Pale township-based PDF group known as the Tawwin Nagar (Royal Dragon) Army, told RFA that junta troops have been attacking villages along the highway that snakes west through Sagaing and neighboring Magway region into Chin state every day since the beginning of July.

He said that people from several villages, including Taung Ywa Thit, have been arrested and killed as the military, which orchestrated a putsch on Feb. 1, 2021, tries to gain control of the strategic corridor.

They seized power in a coup because they do not care about the people, and now they are focusing on crushing the armed resistance, giving priority to areas where the opposition is strong, he said.

The road from [the Magway city of] Pakokku and the road from [the Sagaing city of] Monywa meet here in Pale before proceeding north through [the Magway town of] Gangaw and on to Chin state. It is a strategic communication and transportation route for them, and as we are in full control of the area, they are attacking places where there are no PDF units and harassing and arresting ordinary people.

Taung Ywar Thit village, where the bodies of the four victims were discovered on Tuesday, lies about 18 miles outside of the seat of Pale township, near the border with Magway region. The village comprises around 500 homes with a population of some 2,000 people.

Boh Naga said the junta is carrying out less of a military operation than a brutal crackdown on civilians.

Repeated attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun about the July 10 killings and other military raids along the route to Chin state went unanswered Wednesday.

Completely defenseless

A resident of Pale township, whose name was withheld over concerns for their security, told RFA that the military needs to be held accountable for its actions  particularly the crimes committed by members of its lower ranks.

The military junta is trying to rule by fear and those responsible need to be prosecuted under the countrys anti-terrorism laws because their soldiers are committing torture and rape at gunpoint, they said.

Civilians are fleeing for their lives and those who cannot escape are arrested or killed. The people are completely defenseless and we are regularly seeing troops kill women and the young.

The discovery of the victims in Taung Ywar Thit village came amid reports by area PDF groups on Wednesday that junta troops set fire to around 100 homes in Htay Aung village, located only one mile away in Magways Myaing township.

Thailand-based NGO Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says that junta forces have killed at least 2,081 civilians in Myanmar since the coup last year, but acknowledges that its documentation is incomplete, suggesting the death toll is likely much higher.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, which happened near a traffic police station.

Police step up security after the explosion beneath the Myaynigone overpass in Yangon on July 12.

Two people were killed and nine injured in an explosion in Yangons Sanchaung township on Tuesday.

The blast happened at around 3 p.m. on a platform beneath the Myaynigone overpass, according to locals and rescue services.

The injured were taken to Yangon General hospital and a military hospital in Dagon township by the Sanchaung township Red Cross Society, the fire brigade and voluntary relief teams.

One volunteer, who declined to be named, told RFA two women died in the night after receiving critical chest wounds.

A total of 11 people were hit. Two women died. One at Yangon General Hospital and the other in the military hospital, the relief worker said, adding that the women appeared to be in their twenties.

Security forces blocked the overpass immediately after the blast and sealed off the nearby Dagon Center, one of Yangon's busiest shopping malls.

It is not yet clear what caused the blast and the military council has not commented on the incident. Anti-junta militias have also remained silent. There has been speculation that Peoples Defense Forces were targeting a traffic police station beneath the overpass.

Recent months have seen a series of bombings in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city and the former capital.

A woman was wounded in an explosion on July 1.

Last month two explosions in Hlaing Tharyar township injured three people, including a young child.

A week earlier an explosion in Kyauktada township killed the suspected bomber and injured nine others.

There is little data on the number of people killed in anti-junta attacks but they are far outstripped by those who died at the hands of the military.

At least 2,077 people were killed by the junta from the Feb. 1, 2021 coup to July 12 this year according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
A middle-aged Vietnamese man died after 10 hours in custody at the Ke Sach district police headquarters in Soc Trang province.

Nguyen Ngoc Diep, 49, was arrested with 10 others who were watching a cockfight at the Chi Be Ba restaurant on the afternoon of July 1. Betting on cockfighting is illegal in Vietnam but popular, particularly in the south of the country.

Diep, who worked growing fruit trees, only had the equivalent of 90 cents on him when he was arrested, according to his family.

They said Diep suffered from a stomach disorder and they brought food and medicine to the Ke Sach district police headquarters, asking officers to give it to him. Despite repeatedly telling the police about his medical condition Dieps family said the police ignored them.

The family asked the police to let Diep out of jail, since they didnt think watching cockfighting was a serious offense and only warranted a fine. They said Diep would return the following day to answer police questions. However, the police refused to let him go home and interrogated him repeatedly about betting on the fight. Diep reportedly collapsed the same night and died.

I warned them that if they kept him locked up for a while, it would be dangerous for him because he's very sick, Dieps wife Nguyen Thi Hong told RFA. They didnt care and I had to wait outside. I told the police my husband had a serious stomach complaint and would not be able to stand a long detention. At 11 p.m. he fainted and died. The police took him to hospital but the emergency doctor said he was dead on arrival.

Diep's brother, Nguyen Van Do, witnessed the forensic examination of his brother's body by Soc Trang provincial police the following morning. He said Dieps lungs were swollen and blood had pooled in his heart.

There was a small bruise on the bottom of his eyelid but the medical examiner said that was not the cause of death, he said.

Dieps body was returned to the family after the medical examination.

As of this Tuesday the family had not received the autopsy report. The district police have not commented on the case and did not sent a representative to offer condolences, according to the family.

RFA called the Soc Trang Provincial Police Director, but he hung up as soon as the reporter introduced himself. The Deputy Directors did not pick up the phone and the Ke Sach police chief also failed to answer RFAs calls. State media have not reported on the incident.

Dieps wife said she did not believe her husband died from a beating during interrogation. However, she said the family was upset about the police ignoring their repeated warnings about Dieps health and she believed he died from being confined too long with no rest.

"The family wants the police to be held accountable for my brother's death because they were warned [about his health] but disregarded it, Dieps elder brother said. They have to properly explain it to our family."

The district police released the other prisoners directly after Dieps death, the family said, asking them to report back to the station in the following days to deal with paperwork related to illegal beatings.

At the end of 2014, Vietnams National Assembly ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Treatment. In spite of the law numerous suspects and prisoners have been tortured to death or seriously injured in police stations across the country.

RFA statistics, based on information from state newspapers, show that at least 16 people died in police stations and prisons from 2019 to the end of last year.
Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to speak after suffering serious injuries in a knife attack.

Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed the information on August 13 to U.S. media without providing further details.

Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him on August 12 at a nonprofit education and retreat center in western New York pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a "preplanned" crime.

An attorney for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment in western New York. A judge ordered him held without bail.

Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye in the attack. He was likely to lose the injured eye, Wylie said after the attack.

Rushdie has faced years of death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims see as blasphemous.

Matar, 24, is accused of running onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and stabbing Rushdie at least 10 times in the face, neck, and abdomen.

There was no official reaction to the attack in Iran, but several hard-line newspapers praised the attacker.

"A thousand bravos...to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York," wrote the Kayhan newspaper, whose editor in chief was appointed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The hand of the man who tore the neck of God's enemy must be kissed."

The Satanic Verses was banned in Iran. A year after it was published in 1988, Iran's leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdies death.

Iran's government has distanced itself from Khomeini's decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered. In 2012, a semiofficial Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.

Rushdie, who was forced into hiding for many years because of the fatwa, dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was no evidence of people being interested in the reward.

In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.

Khamenei has never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn't focused on the writer.

Rushdie was at the Chautauqua Institution to take part in a discussion about the United States serving as asylum for writers and artists in exile and "as a home for freedom of creative expression," according to the institution's website.

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the "vicious attack" and praised Rushdie for his "refusal to be intimidated or silenced."

In a statement on August 13, Biden said that he and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, "together with all Americans and people around the world, are praying for his health and recovery."

He added that Rushdie "stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear."

Born in Mumbai, India, Rushdie holds British and U.S. citizenship and has lived in New York since 2000, according to Politico.

Matar was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told the AP news agency on August 13

Flags of the Iran-backed Shi'ite militant group Hizballah are visible across the village, AP reported, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini, and slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden began his first visit to the Mideast since taking office by telling Israeli leaders he is determined to stop Iran's nuclear program.



Biden arrived in Israel on July 13 with Iran high on the agenda in his visits with U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, both bitter rivals of the Islamic republic.



Biden will discuss Western powers' negotiations with Iran on reviving the landmark 2015 nuclear deal during his three days in Israel, administration officials have said.



Biden, who was vice president when the original deal was struck, has made reviving the deal a priority of his presidency.



Setting the tone for his visit in Israel, he used tough language in an interview with an Israeli broadcaster taped before he left Washington.



"The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons," Biden said in the interview with Israel's Channel 12. Asked about using military force against Iran, Biden said, "If that was the last resort, yes."



The United States and Israel are expected to unveil a joint declaration on July 14 cementing their close military ties and reiterating calls to take military action to halt Irans nuclear program.



Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid made clear that Iran's nuclear program was the top agenda item.



"We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear program," he said as he greeted Biden at the airport.



Biden said he would not remove Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IGRC) from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, even if that kept Iran from rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.



Sanctions on the IRGC have been a sticking point in negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The deal was abandoned by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. Indirect talks for the U.S. to reenter it have stalled as Iran has made demands that the U.S. has said are beyond the scope of the deal, which placed significant restrictions on Irans nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.



At the airport, Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked Biden for championing Israel during his more than 50 years in public office. He then reminded him of the "security challenges emanating directly from Iran and its proxies, threatening Israel and its neighbors and endangering our region."



Underscoring that threat, Biden's hosts briefed him immediately after he arrived on the country's U.S.-funded Iron Dome and new Iron Beam missile-defense systems.



Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders, then meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank.



Biden said he will emphasize in the talks his continued support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but acknowledged that outcome likely wouldn't be feasible "in the near term."



In Saudi Arabia, Biden is expected to press for further normalizing of relations between Israel and the Saudis, historic enemies that both oppose Irans moves to increase influence in the region.



Biden will visit the Saudi port city of Jeddah on July 15 to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who is widely known by his initials MBS.



Trump had close relations with the Saudis, but those ties have frayed since Biden took office, with his administration taking a harder line on Riyadh's human rights record.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Due to delays in the construction of power plants, Iran will experience a deficit of 15,000 megawatts of electricity this summer, a member of the Electricity-Producers Syndicate told Iranian media.

Payam Bagheri told the semiofficial ILNA news agency on July 12 that to avoid the electricity deficit, 6,000 megawatts should have been added to the country's electricity production, "something that has not happened in recent years."



At the same time, Abbas Jabal Barezi, the deputy chairman of the Industries Committee of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, said that because of the electricity deficit, large enterprises had been asked not to produce for five to six weeks this summer season.



"Right now, some factories are operating at 50 percent capacity, and many at 20-30 percent capacity," he added.



According to statistics from the Energy Ministry, during the last three years, less than half of the government's planned power-plant construction has been implemented. Last year, only one-third of electricity-production growth targets were achieved.



The government had set a target of launching new power plants with more than 5,000 megawatts of capacity this year, while the Energy Ministry figures show that only 648 megawatts of new production was launched in April and May.



Iran's power sector is a money-losing industry due to low electricity prices and the poor efficiency of power plants. Therefore, generation of electricity is a loss for the government, which controls the whole network.



According to the International Energy Agency, Iran is the largest single provider of fossil-fuel subsidy payments in the world. Almost one-fourth of this subsidy is allocated to the electricity sector.

This is far more than what other countries in the Middle East allocate.

With writing and reporting by Ardeshir Tayebi
A group of 11 human rights organizations have appealed to Belgium to cancel a recent agreement with Iran on the mutual exchange of prisoners.



In a joint statement released on July 12, the groups appealed to the Belgian parliament to cancel the accord, saying it could result in the release of a convicted terrorist and "legitimize Iran's hostage-taking."



The groups warned that the agreement violated the commitment of Belgium and the European Union to hold perpetrators of terrorist acts accountable.

According to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, the accord was expected to pave the way for the release of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Brussels university professor with dual Iranian-Swedish citizenship who has been held in Iran since 2016 and has been convicted of espionage, and Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian aid worker who has been held in isolation in Iran for five months after being accused of spying.

Iran has called for the release of Assadollah Assadi, sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium in 2021 in connection with a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, outside Paris in June 2018.

The NCRI is the political wing of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK), an exiled opposition group that seeks to overthrow the Islamic republic.



The Foreign Relations Committee of Belgium's lower house of parliament debated the treaty over two days before finally approving it on July 6.



The measure still needs to be put before the full 150-member lower house, but the chamber normally follows the votes of its committees.



The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, the Siamak Pourzand Foundation, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network are among the signatories of the statement.



They have warned that Belgium should not facilitate the "shameless use of human lives as a tool" by the authorities of the Islamic republic.

With writing and reporting by Ardeshir Tayebi
An imam is courting controversy in Kyrgyzstan after he blamed skyrocketing meat prices in the Central Asian country's bazaars on women who "cheapen" themselves by showing too much skin.

"Do you know when meat prices go up in your town? It goes up when women's flesh cheapens. Woman's meat becomes cheap when she bares skin, exposes her thighs like a thumb," Sadybakas Doolov told a congregation in the capital, Bishkek, earlier this month.

The award-winning mullah, who had served as the head of an Islamic university, called on elderly men to put an end to "this disgrace" and stop women from wearing skimpy outfits.

The comments by Doolov, 53, provoked a lot of angry replies in the predominantly Muslim country after footage of his sermon was shared on social media. Some accused the imam of insulting and discriminating against women and called for a criminal investigation.

The country's highest Islamic authority, however, is standing by the imam, saying his comments haven't broken any rules.

The state-backed Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (DUMK) launched a probe into Doolov's controversial speech. The DUMK said its investigation found that Doolov's remarks didn't violate any Islamic laws, didn't insult anyone's honor and dignity, and didn't interfere with politics. The probe examined Doolov's speech according to those three criteria, it said.

The agency has also spoken with the imam, who was awarded the DUMK's prestigious Aikol medal in 2020. According to the DUMK, Doolov's speech was merely misunderstood by many.

The DUMK's probe came after two Kyrgyz activists filed official complaints with the State Committee for National Security and the Prosecutor-General's Office, calling for an investigation.

Doolov says the comments made during a 30-minute sermon were taken out of context and misinterpreted by critics. The unapologetic mullah said he meant for people to examine their own moral values and not to "blame authorities or traders for everything."

"There were some words on why you're talking about the [high] price of meat but your honor is not offended when women walk around with their naked bodies," Doolov explained. The imam said he didn't intend to demean women.

But many Kyrgyz social-media users accused him of misogyny, ignorance, and misrepresenting religion.

"Simply genius! Now, please check on Google the price of meat in some Arab countries [where women are covered head-to-toe] and see if your theory works there, too," one commented.

A Kyrgyz woman reacted with sarcasm, saying she wouldn't have worn short skirts had she known it had such severe consequences. "Women must be behind the economic crisis and bad roads, too," she wrote.

A Kyrgyz man wrote that Doolov's remarks represented extremist ideas and that his interpretation of Islam should be examined by the security services.

Several others voiced concern that religious figures with questionable ideas are teaching Islam to the young generation.

Doolov is active on social media, often sharing videos with his more than 124,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.

He reportedly received his religious education at a private madrasah in neighboring Tajikistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Doolov also studied philology at the Osh State University in southern Kyrgyzstan.

According to Kyrgyz media reports, Doolov had worked as the head of at least two Islamic schools in Kyrgyzstan. He currently is an imam at a mosque in Bishkek's Sverdlov district.
A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has indicated that three foreigners sentenced to death for "mercenary activities" could be executed in secrecy if their appeals against their sentences are denied, Russian state-run TASS news agency said.

Denis Pushilin, head of a Russia-backed separatist group in Ukraine's Donetsk region, was also quoted as saying on July 13 that the timing of any executions would be up to the penitentiary service.

"The penitentiary service will be guided by its internal decisions," Pushilin said. "The execution of the sentences shall not be made public."

Pushilin told Russian TV that "all the foreigners filed appeals.

"We are awaiting a court session. If the court finds this punitive measure and the sentence to be appropriate, then their cases will be handed over to the corresponding agency to carry out the verdict," he said.

A day earlier, the Russia-backed separatists lifted a moratorium on the death penalty, weeks after handing down the death sentence to Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, who were captured on the battlefield.

All three men say they were serving in the Ukrainian military when they were captured by separatists while fighting Russian forces. They are currently awaiting a decision in the appeal process.

Two more Britons who were captured on July 1 have been charged with carrying out "mercenary activities" as well, and a pro-Kremlin website said the men -- aid worker Dylan Healy and military volunteer Andrew Hill -- would face the same charges as the others.

The separatists are also holding other foreign fighters, including two men from the United States.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not exclude the possibility that the men would be shot and said Russia would not interfere in the jurisdiction of what he referred to as the Donetsk People's Republic, which Moscow recognized as independent three days before launching its invasion of Ukraine.

Only Russia and Syria have recognized the area of Donetsk as independent.

Britain and other Western governments expressed outrage after Aslin, Pinner, and Brahim were sentenced to death.

The British Foreign Office said on July 2 it was in constant contact with the government of Ukraine on their cases and supported Ukraines efforts to get them and the other two Britons released.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on June 30 warned Moscow it must ensure the death penalty is not carried out. Moscow has said the ECHR's rulings have no bearing on Moscow since parliament ended the Strasbourg court's jurisdiction in Russia in a measure passed in June.

The British government insisted that as legitimate members of the Ukrainian armed forces, they should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and TASS
Military delegations from Russia and Ukraine have made enough progress in talks on resolving their dispute over blocked grain exports to hold new talks in Turkey next week, the Turkish defense minister said.

Hulusi Akar said in a statement on July 13 after the talks that they agreed on "joint controls" at ports and on ways to "ensure the safety of the transfer routes" across the Black Sea.

After the meeting next week in Turkey, "all the details will be reviewed once again and the work we have done will be signed," Akar said.

The Russian and Ukrainian military delegations held the meeting in Istanbul in an attempt to break an impasse over grain exports that has helped send global food prices soaring.

Turkish military officials and UN envoys also took part in the meeting on July 13, which is aimed at finding a way to get millions of tons of grain sitting in silos in Ukraine shipped out of the country's ports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the meeting -- the first face-to-face between the two sides since March -- was an "important and substantive step" toward a comprehensive deal to resume exports of Ukraine grain through Black Sea ports.

"Next week, hopefully, we'll be able to have a final agreement. But, as I said, we still need a lot of goodwill and commitments by all parties," he told reporters in New York.

While the outcome demonstrates that Ukraine and Russia can hold talks, "for peace we still have a long way to go."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged "some progress" in the negotiations.



"We are indeed making significant efforts to restore the supply of food to the world market. And I am grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their respective efforts," he said in a video address.

He added that success was necessary not just for Ukraine but the whole world.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said Moscow had presented a package of proposals for a "speedy, practical resolution of this issue" during the meeting, the Interfax news agency reported.

The first day of the planned four-day meeting came with the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its seizure of ports on the Black Sea that were previously used to export Ukrainian wheat.

The meeting came with Russias invasion of Ukraine in its fifth month and with the seizure of its ports on the Black Sea raising worries about hunger among people in Africa and the Middle East.

Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat and other grains such as barley and maize and sunflower seeds. Kyiv has estimated that up to 25 million tons of grain are currently blocked in its ports.

The negotiators hope for a solution that would empty the silos in time for upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain currently is being transported through Europe by rail, road, and river, but the amount is small compared with what could be exported through sea routes.

WATCH: Russia's Grain Blockade Costing Ukrainian Farmers Serious 'Bread'

Many in Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of attempting to export grain it has stolen from Ukrainian farmers in regions under its control.

Diplomats have said a plan being discussed includes having Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through port waters that its forces have mined to prevent a feared amphibious assault by Russian forces.

The plan would also entail Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move and Turkey -- with UN assistance -- would inspect ships to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling.

Despite being a member of NATO, Ankara has maintained good relations with the Kremlin.

Turkey said it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the Black Sea region that could be quickly loaded with grain and moved on to world markets.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Dominic Nicholls is the defense and security editor for the national British daily The Telegraph. He's also a British Army veteran of tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Northern Ireland, and he earned his master's degree in defense studies from King's College London.

In an extensive conversation with RFE/RL's Georgian Service fellow Vazha Tavberidze, Nicholls predicted that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's eventual successor won't waver on Ukraine. He also said Western diplomats now openly scoff at "bombastic statements" from the Russian officials' "cosplay pantomime from the 1960s." And he argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't care about the human cost of his war but that "it will be the money that will get him."

RFE/RL: From Johnson and from many prominent Western political leaders, we've been hearing statements like "it's the West's war as well" or "it's the civilized world's war against Putin in Ukraine," and "it's Europe's war." If that's the mindset, why change horses mid-race?

Dominic Nicholls: Well, one man doesn't make a government policy, one man doesn't make a national endeavor. We don't have a presidential system. So the prime minister, as powerful as he or she is, also is very much beholden to his or her cabinet and ultimately to the people. I think the individual MPs (members of parliament) have to really take into account their constituency's feelings, the 70-odd-thousand people who vote for them, to a much greater degree than probably in the U.S. system. And therefore if there's a groundswell of opinion among the population, it very quickly feeds through to the members of Parliament, who then start lobbying the cabinet and prime minister because they may fear for their seats in any future general elections.

So I think there's a much more dynamic lightning rod between the public and the prime minister in our system. And "why change horses mid-race?" It's not as if [Johnson] had, regarding Ukraine anyway, any particularly outlandish or forthright views that are not shared across the political scene here in Britain, and therefore it's extremely unlikely that whoever succeeds him will change the policy in any way.

RFE/RL: The impression was that for Boris Johnson it was important also on a personal level. How much of an important figure was he on the geopolitical chessboard?

Nicholls: Well, he always saw himself as a grand statesman. He was a big fan, a biographer, of [Winston] Churchill -- saw himself, I think, in that mold. But I don't think that was his prime motivation for going and visiting [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy before many other Western leaders, and very early in the war -- at great personal risk, it has to be said. I think he did it from genuine motivation. So there's partly his personal feelings, and perhaps a little bit of his personal domestic political troubles that led him to want to go.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

But he really was channeling the spirit and the feeling here in Britain. Regarding any successor, there might not be so many visits [to Ukraine], but I don't see any wavering of support at all. And the one great thing that Johnson did do was, in the early weeks of the war, to rally the European political establishment to harden up their position, particularly on weapon transfers.

And I think that ball is rolling, so you might not need such a powerful voice now to get it going, you just need a good, strong, steady hand at the tiller. So any successor who might not be the razzmatazz, flamboyant showman that Johnson was, but I think the political heft of a British prime minister just to keep on with that policy -- and I can say there's no suggestion at all that anybody would change that -- I think that will be sufficient to keep the political momentum going.

RFE/RL: About this meeting with Russian-British businessman Yevgeny Lebedev, what implications are there? And we could probably talk about this for an hour, we don't have that much time. But if you could very shortly sum up what implications are there -- and how strong and embedded the Russian oligarchy and their money is in the U.K.?

Nicholls: The suggestion was that after a NATO conference a number of years ago when Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, he went straight from there to a meeting with Yevgeny Lebedev, who Boris Johnson made a member of the House of Lords -- son of a former KGB officer. And I mean, not only is that an odd place to go straight off to [after] a NATO conference. But also, he should, as foreign secretary, not have gone there without his officials and without all sorts of clearances in advance, which didn't happen.

So, who knows, they might have just had a nice couple of days on the yacht, swimming and having a nice time. But the suggestion is that there could be national security concerns about that, or at the very least that somebody in such a position of high office did not see that you can't play around with national security, you've got to do it properly.

I mean, Boris Johnson liked making his own rules and being a bit of a groundbreaking politician -- that's fine when you are announcing a new housing strategy, or new education strategy, you can be as groundbreaking as you like, as innovative and break-the-mold as you like. But you don't mess with national security. When you're in a position to deal with national security, you have to do things properly. Might sound boring, it might sound very bureaucratic, old school, but actually, it is so, so dangerous, not only what might, may, or may not happen but the impression it gives that you'd have to tread very carefully there.

And I think he was extremely unwise to listen to his own counsel to think that such an action was acceptable. And although, I mean, it's somewhat past now because he has gone, but I think this in itself would have been yet another scandal.

RFE/RL: Russians, both the general public and officials alike, are gloating that Johnson's fall from power will happen to anyone who tries to "destroy Russia." Is that a warning that's going to affect Western leaders, such as French President Emmaneul Macron and his ilk, for example?

Nicholls: [Laughs] No. I think people now look at these bombastic statements that come out of the Kremlin and quite frankly, laugh. They have been laughing openly. They used to laugh diplomatically, sort of when the cameras were off and when the newspapers had switched off our recorders, and now they're doing it openly. I mean, these statements are meaningless. This is just a bunch of old men, generally, mostly exclusively in Moscow, who see themselves in some sort of cosplay pantomime from the 1960s tub-thumping in the Cold War. I mean, it's just so boring. Come up with some more ideas!

Dmitry Peskov is wheeled out every day as the Kremlin spokesman. And he throws this insult and that insult, and there's always "Oh, watch out, watch out, we'll come and get you." Oh, come on, then. Crikey.... Just so boring. They haven't updated their language. They haven't updated their ideas, as we can see playing out in Ukraine. They've not updated their view of the world to keep up with the pace of society and the changes going on around them and in their own society. And we just get these insults. It's like, "OK, right, [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov, what do you say, who are you insulting today? Yeah, fine. OK, whatever, great."

We all move on. And the world moves on and progresses and advances. And I think this is part of the problem, that there's increasingly a young society in Russia who, if they're able to access free information, they look around and they see other people getting on with their lives and embracing technology and embracing new ideas and new cultures. And they're being left behind. And it's sad to see, it's a horrible thing, because Russia is a wonderful country currently being led by a bunch of gangsters who think they're in some sort of black-and-white movie that they once watched.

RFE/RL: But speaking about that disappointment among young Russians: For the last 15 years I've been interviewing people, and it's prevalent and it was as important 15 years ago as it is now. But that young generation is now in its 30s or 40s. And some of them now are supporters of Putin. So what changed?

Nicholls: Well, I think it's exceptionally hard if you grew up in an atmosphere where the information is starved, it takes a great leap of imagination and humanity to question your world and question what is happening about you. The information age really kicked off in the late '90s, and with smartphones and all the rest of the access to information has been very good. But also I think it's led to a lack of clarity. There's so much information now that you almost can't make sense of it. And you then go out to the world, to the Internet, to try and get more information to make sense of it, and actually, that extra dollop of information just adds to the chaos.

And we want clever and ambitious politicians, quite frankly. But clever, ambitious, duplicitous, mischievous, corrupt? No, we don't want that. But this chaos of the information environment has allowed these types of characters to come along and cherry-pick from history and cherry-pick information from history, and cherry-pick their information, and put a very convincing case over about why people should vote for them or should support them, and why any grievances in society can be exacerbated.

And I think what's happened over the last 20-odd years is that it's been far easier to divide society. It's led to a them-and-us-type society. And, as I say, unless you are particularly strong-willed, it takes a great leap of confidence to question that and to say, "No, I'm not going to believe that, I'm going to look for my own information."

So I can't necessarily blame a lot of people who have grown up not listening to the propaganda but living on it -- it's the air they breathe -- so I can't really blame them for then having the mindset and the framework of understanding the world that they do. All we can do is continue to put out factual, honest, accurate, well-analyzed information offering different viewpoints rather than just one viewpoint and allow their humanity to make their own minds up and take the information in and hopefully be independent, sentient beings to make sense of it.

There's no point in trying to meet disinformation with disinformation -- that just adds to this murky world of information. All we can do, it's the classic aim of journalism, is shine a light in dark places. That's all we can do, and hope that the sort of inner humanity will allow them to reach their own conclusions and start questioning some of the fundamental architecture that they've grown up with.

RFE/RL: On the Ukraine front lines now, as you write, July 6 was the first day since the beginning of the war that Russia neither claimed nor was assessed to have made any territorial gains. What does that imply on the grander scale?

Nicholls: Two things. I think as Russians themselves have said, Russian forces are on an operational pause, in terms of military necessity. I think that's correct. I think they are exhausted, they've lost a huge amount of fighters and equipment -- as has Ukraine, we shouldn't deny that, I'm not suggesting it's all glowingly one-sided and Russia is inevitably going to lose -- far from it.

This is a very, very hard-fought fight that's going on. But I think Russia have used up a lot of their better equipment, which is why we're seeing old T-62 [tanks] being brought out of retirement and out of the old storage yards. They've used up a lot of fighters, certainly their best ones. In the Ukraine theater, they've drawn men and equipment from around Kharkiv to the north and Kherson to the south, to fight this battle in the Donbas. And even then, they were just having to grind forward at barely a kilometer a day, very, very heavily led by artillery, absolutely pulverizing the place, and then moving in afterwards to metaphorically plant a flag on the rubble that remains. So they do need to pause.

Now, I don't know whether this pause has also been forced upon them by Ukrainian tactics, and in particular the flow in over the last few weeks of the heavy artillery, the HIMARS [rocket] systems, the very long-range, very precise artillery system that seems to be targeting Russian ammunition supply dumps, and headquarters.

On the first possibility, if they don't have the ammunition, they simply can't keep up -- their tactics are to use artillery first and then roll in with the tanks and infantry later. So if you deny them the access, either the ammunition itself because you destroy it, or the access to it, by destroying the railways -- Russia primarily uses railways to transport its ammunition -- then it can't proceed.

And if you destroy its headquarters, then we know Russia doctrinally has a very top-down leadership model. It doesn't allow low-level initiative at a battalion or company/platoon level. It has to wait for the big decision up there to filter down through the chain of command. If the headquarters is destroyed, then the orders are not sent and certainly nothing is acted upon. I think a combination of those two has forced this pause on Russia.

Now, it probably suits Ukraine more to have a pause now, because they also are extremely tired. They've been fighting a very hard war for four months now, and they also are in need of recuperation, to rest and fix their people and their equipment.... And there's training of new [Ukrainian] fighters in Western countries. So the longer Ukraine can hang on, the more they're able to train people and take delivery of these very high-powered and precise weapon systems.

I would imagine Putin would want [Russian forces] to keep going. He doesn't really care about casualty figures. He's quite happy with a kilometer a day, regardless of the cost, as long as he sees the line moving west. But I would have thought if he was at all listening to any military advice -- and there's absolutely no evidence that he is -- but I would have thought the military advice would be that the army needs to rest for a few weeks.

RFE/RL: On the Luhansk retreat, you write that Ukrainians have achieved their goal of "slowing the Russian advance, making the enemy pay dearly for every mile gained, and getting out without being decisively engaged." But then again, the Ukrainians do have to reclaim those territories at some point. Do you see that happening, and at what cost?

Nicholls: Yes, they do. I'm no propagandist for the Ukrainian government. I'm not trying to say that everything's fine and they're not taking casualties and they're not losing [troops or territory]. I mean, it's a horrific situation that's happening there. I'm just trying to put it into what it means militarily, diplomatically, and in geostrategic terms. But yeah, you never want to give up ground because you're going to have to take it back. If it's your country, you're going to have to take it back at some point. It is a bold decision to trade ground for time; you are making the gamble that you will preserve your fighting power to come back to another day and take that ground back. And of course, there are no guarantees in war. So to give up any territory is a bold choice to make.

All the messaging from Ukraine is that they will take it back. Of course, time is on their side, it's their country, they are in no rush. Russia needs to get this done quickly; the longer they stay there, the more they are exhausting themselves and the more opportunity there is for their own domestic support to dwindle, when this "special military operation" turns out to be a long, grinding war. So Russia wants to get this done sooner rather than later.

Ukraine, they don't they don't want any land to be held in Russian hands. But they have had Russians camped inside their country since 2014, let's not forget. So they've been preparing for a very long time for this, to eventually counterattack. Whether they're in a position to do so yet, I'm not sure. I don't think they are right now. And it will be costly at the time, but this is existential for Ukraine. They know, they've seen with their own eyes that regardless of what nonsense comes out of the Kremlin.

Let's say [Russians] take the [entire] Donbas, which I don't think they're going to anytime soon at all. But let's imagine Russia takes the Donbas and then sues for peace and says: "Right, that's it. All we wanted to do was protect the Russian-speaking people in the east of the country, and we'll hang on to the south." Who's going to believe them? Because they've been camped out in the east of the Donbas since 2014. And then they rested, they built the forces up, and then they've pushed through since February 24. So who's going to believe them now if they say, "Oh, no, we've got no territorial aspirations over the rest of the country, you're perfectly safe." It's just fanciful to think that that's going to be believed.

So Ukraine now know that they're in the fight for their very existence. So they're not going to stop now. They might play a long game, and build up their forces slowly and incrementally, but there's no chance that they are not going to go back and seek to push Russia back, at least to the February 24 boundaries, which would include getting all Russian forces out of the south.

RFE/RL: Which would be victory for Ukraine?

Nicholls: Well, "victory" is a very loaded term. I don't like using "victory" unless it's small tactical victories. I don't like talking about victory in the big sense, like winning and losing. I keep getting asked, who's winning and losing? Who's winning this war? And I say "China," and people look at me in a bemused fashion. But you could argue that all Ukraine has to do to win is survive. Russia wants to destroy this democratic, sovereign, independent, successful former Soviet state on [its] doorstep; it cannot allow Ukraine to be used as an example...because people in Russia will say: "Hey, look, can we have some of that? That looks good. Can we have some of that as well?"

RFE/RL: When you ask who is going to believe Russia, I can think of at least one, not figure, but group in Western Europe, and those are the guys who will be calling for a cease-fire as soon as possible and a cease-fire at any cost. Do you see that pressure increasing on Kyiv?

Nicholls: I don't see the pressure increasing much, if at all.

RFE/RL: As the situation worsens inside Europe, as well, do you see those calls being intensified?

Nichols: No, they're a constant background noise. This is what happens in a healthy democracy. It's very interesting that these arguments are seized upon by Russia all the time to show huge cracks in the alliance. I mean, guess what: In an open democracy, you're going to have differences of opinion. Differences of opinion don't mean the alliance is in crisis and about to crumble; it's just a different way of looking at how humans debate things. We have a much more open society here. This sort of access to information and the ability to hold our leaders to account, it's just unheard of in Russia.

So the fact that some people are calling for a cease-fire, and to give up land, and Ukraine should do a deal, I mean, that's fine. I'm glad these voices are out there, because it allows the issues to be exposed. And then we could all have a look at it and discuss it and throw stones at the idea. And we come out to what people really want.

The idea of suppressing these ideas as if they don't exist and pretending they're not there, and shutting down any kind of debate, I think that is more damaging. But no, I don't see that these issues -- suggesting Ukraine should give up ground and sue for peace now -- I don't see them gaining any great strength. And the more we see evidence of what Russia has been doing in some areas, the more it hardens up the opinion that this needs to be stopped right here and now.

RFE/RL: You say Putin doesn't care about losses. If estimates, including the British ones, are correct, the Russian forces are losing around 250 to 300 soldiers a day. What figures should that be to make Putin reconsider? Can 1,000 make Putin have second thoughts about his operation?

Nicholls: I don't think it will come down to casualty figures for Putin. They've expanded the age of conscription up into the 50s now in Russia, so he doesn't care [about] the human cost. I think it will be the money that will get him -- the cohort of his client oligarchs, basically.

Although Putin is very, very powerful, we shouldn't forget that there's a coterie of people around him who, if they wanted to and if they all were of the same mind, they could have a very serious effect. And they are more motivated by money. It is a big issue, of course it is.

So there are two ways of ending this, as I see it, which is: firstly, you impact those people and they then do something to get rid of their leader in Russia; or you physically push the Russian forces out of the country or back to the February 23 start line. So that is either a military solution, which is going to be long and hard and very costly, or a longer-term, possible economic solution -- that's when sanctions start to bite -- and that's when you need the united front from the West to keep those sanctions up and that sort of financial pressure.
TBILISI -- Speaking to journalists, architects, and art lovers last week in a mixture of Georgian and English, Shalva Breus painted a wistful portrait.

A Georgian-born billionaire businessman from Russia, the 64-year-old Breus downplayed potential rifts arising from Moscow's wartime isolation as he announced plans for an art center in historic Tbilisi that he said would be a haven for transcendent international culture.

He drew comparisons to one of Europe's best-known art spaces, the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

But the paper-and-pulp magnate, longtime art collector, and onetime deputy governor in Siberia immediately faced questions about the intersection of art and politics in the Caucasus.

"I have one request," Breus said in the courtyard of his future site, the aging St. Mikheil's Hospital. "We are in the territory of culture. In this territory, from today, nationality, citizenship, education, gender, and political interests and so on do not matter. We officially declare this as the territory of culture, and in this territory we will talk only about culture."

It's unclear whether he can convince nearly 4 million Georgians and a growing minority of Russian expatriates here to do the same.

Russian troops are still occupying two breakaway Georgian regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, since a bitter and bloody war in 2008, and Tbilisi recently joined Kyiv and Chisinau in accelerating its EU bid to send a pro-Western signal to an aggressive Moscow. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of disaffected Russians have moved here since the Ukraine war began, possibly to escape persecution at home for their anti-war views or to avoid international sanctions.

But Breus's ability to separate art from politics could largely determine the fate of his $26 million vision in this ancient city of around 1 million people.

'Not A Temple'

In March, one of Breus's companies won a multimillion-dollar auction for the hospital, which is nestled among 19th century buildings on Tbilisi's posh Agmashenebeli Avenue on the left bank of the Kura River.

The sale followed the Georgian state property agency's confiscation of St. Mikheil's when a previous investor failed to meet deadlines in a plan to convert it into a 200-room, five-star hotel.

The agency tried unsuccessfully to sell the hospital on four occasions before the sale to Breus's Hansi Ltd., which is fully owned by the businessman and one of at least three companies he established in Georgia in 2021.

The sale price of 16 million laris ($5.5 million) was around 40 percent of the agency's 2021 valuation of nearly 40 million laris.

The terms included a further investment of 30 million laris to turn the site into a modern art museum.

Breus has vowed to transform the site into "not a temple" but a venue for young people who "can enter our museum with a skateboard, set it against the wall, sit down, open your laptop, work, and leave."

He likened his vision to Paris's Centre Pompidou rather than Tbilisi's only other major, purpose-built center for exhibiting art, the august Georgian Museum of Fine Arts frequently referred to by the names of its founders, Gia Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardnadze, the daughter of former Soviet foreign minister and Georgian ex-president, Eduard Shevardnadze.

It should open in 2028.

Breus said he hopes his acquisitions as an art collector over the past two decades help build a robust main collection in Tbilisi that can also be loaned out to other institutions.

No Stranger To Politics

Breus is among the world's foremost art patrons and influencers, with an expansive collection highlighted by German Expressionism but including major Georgian artists spanning from prewar primitivist Niko Pirosmani to contemporary fantastical painter Rusudan Khizanishvili. His collection is said to number at least 700 pieces.

His nonprofit, the Breus Foundation, formerly ArtChronika, is a major player on Russia's art scene that has awarded the prestigious Kandinsky Prize for contemporary art each year since 2007.

Breus said he chose Tbilisi instead of Venice or Brussels because he was born and raised in Georgia. But previously, the billionaire more than dabbled in an equally audacious, high-profile project under the iron-domed roof of Moscow's historic Udarnik Cinema before Russian officials pulled the plug.

His advanced plans for a contemporary art museum in that constructivist landmark near the Kremlin eventually fell apart after Moscow city officials reconsidered their 49-year lease to his foundation.

Russia's Soft Power?

The selection process for the sale of St. Mikheil's also stipulated that the space should house a museum and Georgians have long complained of a lack of gallery space in their capital, although many are also adamant that the state should be establishing its own major center for contemporary art rather than entrusting it to any wealthy individuals' hands.

And privately, some within Tbilisi's art community expressed concerns about whether Breus's or any other Russian project might lend itself to furthering the "soft power" of Moscow.

Last week, Breus said simply that his love for his Georgian roots and art provided an opportunity to "cross two vectors." But Breus, whose own industrial rise coincided with the lawless expansion of Russian oligarchy in the 1990s, has had his feet squarely planted in politics and promoting Russians in the past.

His career includes a tenure as a deputy governor in Siberia's Krasnodar Krai within Russian President Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled power vertical. He also served under controversial Governor Aleksandr Lebed.

Russian media have alleged that the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian party for the past decade, Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose fortune was also made in Russia, funded Lebed's campaign. But those claims have never been proven.

The Breus Foundation's Kandinsky Prize is meanwhile aimed at promoting Russian contemporary artists. Its selection of ultranationalist Aleksei Belyayev-Guintovt for the prize in 2008 sparked outrage from many critics, including one art-world editor who questioned whether the painter might donate the prize money to "some kind of fascist party." Another suggested he get the "Leni Riefenstahl prize," a reference to the Nazi propagandist and Adolf Hitler's official filmmaker.

Home To Fleeing Russians

About one-fifth of Georgia is still occupied by Russian troops who moved into Abkhazia and South Ossetia during a lightning war in 2008. Many Georgians are still eager to further integrate with Europe and are wary of their treatment by their former Soviet masters.

Several hundred kilometers to the south of Tbilisi, around 2,000 Russian troops are positioned between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces to maintain a shaky cease-fire since an intense war in 2020.

Hundreds of kilometers to the northwest, some 1,500 Russian soldiers are guarding a Soviet-era depot in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniester, despite Chisinau's repeated requests that they leave.

And, of course, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are still waging or providing operational support for the brutal invasion of another Black Sea neighbor, Ukraine.

As a result, in addition to Ukrainian refugees, Georgia has become host to tens of thousands of Russians fleeing the violence, sanctions, or the clampdown on dissent at home.

Also in recent weeks, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to express their pro-Western sentiments and to criticize Ivanishvili and his ruling Georgian Dream party for their failure to accomplish reforms that could help bring them into the EU tent.

Breus's ability to adhere tightly to "the territory of culture" at St. Mikheil's might prove essential to the fate of his Tbilisi art center and his own Georgian dreams.

Asked at last week's event whether the new center would exhibit Russian artists, Breus said simply, "We will exhibit all artists."

Written by Andy Heil based on reporting by RFE/RL Georgian Service correspondent Nastasia Arabuli in Tbilisi
Ukrainian officials say there was sustained Russian shelling across the eastern Donetsk region on July 13 as Russian forces continue their push to capture of the Donbas.



In the adjacent Luhansk region, Ukrainian soldiers battled to retain control of two villages as they came under Russian shelling, said Serhiy Hayday, the governor of Luhansk.



The Russians are "deliberately turning Donbas into ashes, and there will be just no people left on the territories captured," Hayday said.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Russian state news agency TASS quoted an official with the Russian-backed separatists, Vitaly Kiselyov, as saying Russian and proxy forces had entered the town of Soledar in Donetsk and could take it in a couple of days.



It was not possible to independently verify the claims of either side.



The city of Bakhmut faced heavy shelling as the current focus of Russia's offensive, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration.



Kyrylenko said Russian shelling also hit a granite factory in Slovyansk. There were no injuries, but the destruction was extensive, he said on Telegram, where he posted videos of the bombed factory.

Russia also struck 28 settlements in the Mykolayiv region bordering the Black Sea, killing at least five civilians, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office.



Russian missiles also struck the city of Zaporizhzhya, injuring 14 people at a factory. Law enforcement officers opened an investigation to determine whether the attack violated the laws of war.

In Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov accused Russian forces of trying to "terrorize civilians" in the capital, Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.



Russia, which says it does not target civilians, said it had shot down four Ukrainian military jets, an assertion the Ukrainian Air Force dismissed as propaganda.



The British Defense Ministry in its daily intelligence briefing early on July 13 said the Kremlin's troops were nearing the towns of Siverskiy and Dolyna, with the urban areas of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk "the principal objectives for this phase of operation."



British intelligence also said anti-Russian sentiment in the occupied parts of Ukraine had led to Russian and pro-Russian officials being targeted, noting that the Russian-appointed administration in Velykiy Burluk acknowledged one of its mayors was killed on July 11 in a car bombing.

The State Emergency Service of Donetsk region said the number of people confirmed killed in a rocket attack over the weekend on an apartment block in the city of Chasiv Yar in the region increased to 48.



Crews have been searching through the rubble since the rocket struck on July 9 and caused the five-story apartment block to collapse. Moscow claims it does not target civilians despite evidence to the contrary.



As battles raged in the east and south, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ruled out ceding any territory to Russia should peace talks ever resume and he made clear that no such negotiations were taking place.



"The objective of Ukraine in this war...is to liberate our territories, to restore our territorial integrity and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine," Kuleba told a briefing on July 13.



"This is the end point of our negotiating position."



Russia has taken control of wide swathes of Ukrainian territory in the south along the Black Sea coast and in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions that make up the Donbas.



Russia in 2014 also captured and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and has backed separatists occupying parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions since that time.

In Luhansk, Andrei Marochko, an official for the Kremlin-backed separatist group that calls itself the Luhansk People's Republic, said the Ukrainian military had used U.S.-supplied high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to hit several settlements in the region.

This comes a day after Ukrainian forces hit what they said was an ammunition depot in the southern town of Nova Kakhovka, about 55 kilometers east of the key Black Sea port city of Kherson. Russian officials said civilian sites were hit in the attack.

The claims could not be independently verified.

The Ukrainian government has not commented on whether the newly acquired HIMARS were used in any attack.

The strike on Nova Kakhovka followed statements by the Ukrainian military that it was preparing a massive counterattack in the south to recapture territory while Russian forces were occupied with action in eastern regions.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Western media focuses on table sizes while the Summit discusses Caspian transportation and logistics that affect the EU, Middle-East, India, South Asia and China.



Caspian States Leaders Meeting In Ashgabat

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Russian President Putin, fresh from his visit to Dushanbe to meet with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, arrived in Ashgabat last Wednesday to discuss matters over the development of the Caspian Sea and hold one-to-one meetings with the Turkmenistan and Iranian Presidents.

The Caspian Littoral States Summit

While the EU has closed its borders and ports with Russia, they may have misjudged the connectivity implications. Rather than EU-China freight passing EU-Russia-Kazakhstan-China, with that route now disconnected, the alternative southern route EU-Georgia/Turkey-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China has now come to the fore. The issue here for the EU is that Russia is a powerful Caspian Sea nation and a member of the Caspian Littoral States group, which includes the Caspian Five  Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The EU simply doesnt have a seat at the Caspian table, yet the Caspian routes from Azerbaijans Baku Port east to China, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are critical components of EU imports and exports with Asia.

In fact, Western media mainly mocked the meeting for the size of the table its leaders used, in examples here, here and here amongst several others. This attitude is misplaced when considering the importance of the summit and the future developments of the Caspian Sea in transportation and energy supplies.

Putin supported the Kazakh and Azerbaijani Presidents intent to increase the capacity for a rapid response to natural and man-made incidents in the Caspian Sea, and suggested holding a meeting of the countries  signatories of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, also known as the 2003 Tehran Convention, which serves as a legal basis for addressing different issues in the Caspian region.

Putin noted the necessity to address ecological problems, including the reduction of the sturgeon population and the protection of marine mammals and birds for the purification of seawater.

Regarding the development of the regions energy resources, he said Caspian countries have already implemented agreements on joint exploitation of oil and gas fields located in the Caspian Sea, an issue that affects oil and gas rich Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in particular and which again is of strategic importance to the EU as they search for new suppliers. Russia considers the main tasks of the countries included in the Caspian five to continue building economic ties, Putin said.

Caspian countries have a lot to do to improve the transport infrastructure, which in turn will contribute to the development of tourism and trade in the region he stated.

Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the growing importance of the Caspian Sea due to its geostrategic location, rich natural resources, and transit potential which become more relevant taking into account the geopolitical developments in the region. The coronavirus pandemic, the growing geopolitical tension and other challenges require us, as never before, to combine our efforts to ensure the stability and sustainable development of the Caspian region. said Tokayev.

Over the past 30 years, the status of the Caspian Sea has been a matter of heated geopolitical discussion. The Caspian didnt make waves before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 when it was shared only between the Soviet Union and Iran, which classified it as a lake in the 1921 and 1940 treaties. The years after 1991 witnessed a long debate between Russia, Iran, and the three independent states that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union and now bordered the body of water: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

After more than two decades of diplomatic negotiations, the five states gathered in Aktau in western Kazakhstan in August 2018, to sign the Caspian Convention, which decided that the Caspian has a special legal status.

The convention grants the states jurisdiction over 15 miles of territorial waters extending from their coastlines and exclusive fishing rights over an additional 10 miles. The rest of the water is subject to bilateral agreements between the littoral countries.

According to Tokayev, the Caspian Sea is not only a huge reservoir of useful resources, but also a sea of unlimited opportunities. He outlined promising areas for cooperation to fully unlock the potential of the Caspian countries.

Today, our primary objective is to ensure a fast entry into force of the Convention. For four years we have been working diligently to find mutually acceptable solutions for this issue. We in Kazakhstan are sympathetic to the position of the parties, as these issues directly affect national interests. For our part, we are ready to make every effort to achieve the desired result, said Tokayev.

He noted that with the disruption of traditional logistics chains, transport interconnectivity is becoming a key factor for sustainable growth and strengthening economic ties between states, stressing the increasingly important role of the Trans-Caspian international transport route in ensuring transit flows between Europe, Central Asia, and China.

Following the results of five months this year, the volume of transportation of Kazakhstans cargoes along the route increased 2.5 times, and the total cargo turnover with the Caspian countries increased by more than nine percent. To increase the volume of cargo flows by sea, we have started modernizing its port infrastructure and expanding the maritime fleet. I believe that we should jointly and promptly solve urgent organizational issues. This concerns timely approval of mutually acceptable and unified tariffs and eliminating bottlenecks.

Speaking about food security, Tokayev stated that the volume of mutual trade of Kazakhstan with the Caspian countries was approximately US$3.5 billion, and around 70 percent of it was with Russia via land routes.

Kazakhstan has significant potential to increase exports of meat and dairy products. To strengthen trade cooperation between our states, we have to consistently develop modern logistics infrastructure. Therefore, we propose to create a Caspian food hub, which will allow increasing mutual trade turnover with minimal costs.

Putin also held talks with the acting head of state of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov as well as holding discussions with Irans President Ebrahim Raisi. These will have included discussions on trade in addition to oil and gas supplies and future connectivity. Between them, Russia, Iran, and Turkmenistan hold 45.4% of the worlds total gas reserves, while Russia and Iran hold 14.3% of global oil reserves.

Black Sea connectivity to the Caspian via rail routes from Georgia and Turkish Black Sea ports to Azerbaijans Baku Port is also very much part of the remaining EU-Asia connectivity. It should be noted that Russia will in all probability also control the northern Black Sea coast following its conflict with Ukraine. In closing the borders to Russia, the EU has instead made itself more reliant upon Russias wishes in the region, not less as Moscow retains significant influence in both seas. That creates the potential to further affect supply chain routes and regional energy supplies with the EU.

The Summit concluded with the following remarks: The Caspian Sea has tremendous potential for economic and energy cooperation. By revitalizing economic connectivity, and regional alignment will be enhanced. This broader integration will provide a win-win cooperative framework and avoid any conventional rivalry. In the 21st century, orthodox and dysfunctional principles have been replaced by advanced systems and ideas. Thereby, it is crucial to understand the utility of new logistic, economic, and energy corridors. Good transportation routes are necessary to make Caspian economies more diversified and competitive. It is noteworthy that the five Caspian littoral states have been fulfilling the agreements on joint cooperation of the offshore oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea. In this aspect, the natural wealth of the Caspian Sea will rationally and effectively serve the interests of all parties.

Western media however discusses table sizes a sign of just how far apart East and West have become in their mutual ability to discuss matters of regional and global importance.

Related Reading
A boat fire near the Berkeley Marina left one man dead early Wednesday morning, Berkeley police said.

The Berkeley Police and Berkeley Fire departments said they responded to a report of a boat on fire in the water near Marina Boulevard and Virginia Street around 12:38 a.m., where they located a male subject who had been pulled out of the water, the departments said in a news release Wednesday.

The fire aboard the boat was extinguished shortly after the fire department arrived, according to the release. The victim was transported to a local trauma center but died at the hospital, according to the release.

The agencies are working with Cal Fires Office of the State Fire Marshal Arson and Bomb Unit and the Alameda County Coroners Office, the departments said.

Neither the victims age nor identity was released. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the departments said.

Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annievain
Since last spring, California has passed along federal aid to hundreds of thousands of low-income renters who faced debt and possible eviction because of the pandemic. But the state has also denied funds to nearly one-third of the applicants, sometimes with little explanation, and a judge says he will prohibit housing officials from denying any more rental-assistance applications while the legality of their actions is under review.

Although its not clear whether the states Department of Housing and Community Development has improperly rejected applications to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or failed to adequately explain its rejections, the hardships of any wrongdoing fall entirely on the renters rather than the state, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said at a hearing Thursday.

Roesch said he would issue a preliminary injunction this week barring the department from rejecting any pending requests for rental assistance, or appeals of those that were denied less than 30 days ago, until he holds a hearing on whether the states procedures for reviewing the claims violate renters rights to fair treatment and a clear explanation of its decisions.

That hearing will probably take place in September, said attorney Lorraine Lopez of the Western Center on Law and Poverty, one of the organizations representing the renters. During the interim, Lopez and her colleagues said, nearly 100,000 households will be entitled to rental benefits without interference by the department.

California received $5.2 billion from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program in March 2021 to protect tenants whose incomes were 20% or more below average and whose jobs and finances were being slashed by COVID-19. So far, the state says, it has granted applications from 342,000 households and paid them an average of $11,800 in aid since the start of the assistance period.

But Lopez said Housing and Community Development has also denied 161,000 applicants and often left them in the dark about where they stood.

They told you that you could appeal, but didnt say what you could appeal, she said. They often werent told why they were denied, who was deciding the appeal or how long it would take.

According to a lawsuit filed by renter advocates last month, the states notices of denial were generally vague  asserting, for example, that the applicant had submitted inconsistent or unverifiable information  and failed to spell out the reasons, cite any supporting documents or describe the appeal process. The suit said there had been a dramatic increase in denials this April, which the department has failed to explain.

Over the past few months, Ive worked with hundreds of tenants who received a denial with little to no explanation and are terrified about losing their homes, said Patricia Mendoza, an organizer with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, an advocate for the renters. Im just so relieved to see the judge take action to address this problem.

The program has had other shortcomings affecting low-income renters. As The Chronicle reported in August, during the first four months that aid was available, state and local programs in the Bay Area paid just $88.5 million in a region where the federal government had allocated $889 million.

And despite an official statewide ban on tenant evictions during much of the pandemic, court officials reported that nearly 36,000 eviction suits were filed in California between July 2020 and June 2021.

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While Roesch has not decided whether the state violated tenants rights, he was openly skeptical of an argument by a lawyer for the Department of Housing and Community Development that it was not required to show a tenant the documents or other evidence that justified denying rental aid.

What do you mean, they dont need to see the documents? the judge asked at Thursdays hearing. If they want to file an appeal of the denial, shouldnt they see the evidence?

The states lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Jackie Vu, replied that the department identified the relevant law, which tenants could look up on their own, but could not release documents provided by property owners because that would open the door to possible fraud.

In response to Roeschs order, Nurulain Kausar, a spokesperson for Housing and Community Development, said, We stand by the work we have done to keep more than 340,000 low-income households  over 700,000 Californians  stably housed through the CA COVID-19 Rent Relief Program and will continue to do what we can to support Californians in need of assistance. We are disappointed by the courts ruling and will continue to defend Californias COVID-19 Rent Relief program.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Lauren Hepler contributed to this report.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
The former chief cardiologist at the U.S. veterans hospital in Palo Alto was sentenced to eight months in prison Tuesday for sexually abusing a colleague who was under his supervision.

John Giacomini, 73, of Atherton, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of sexual battery in March, three days before he was scheduled to go to trial. He led the cardiology section at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital from 1985 to 2018 and also taught at Stanford Medical School until 2018, losing both positions when the accusations surfaced.

Starting in the fall of 2017, federal prosecutors said, Giacomini started touching and hugging a cardiologist he supervised, ignoring her statements that she was not interested in a relationship with him. He began kissing and groping her in subsequent meetings, and in December 2017 he turned out the lights, reached inside her clothing and touched her breast and genitals, leaving only after a janitor entered the office, prosecutors said.

The woman left the VA to work at a private hospital, largely because of Giacominis treatment of her, prosecutors said. At the sentencing hearing in San Jose on Tuesday, she said she was dismayed that my chief and former mentor who I trusted would abuse his position like that.

The primary reason I reported these events was to help prevent this from happening to anyone else again, the victim, who was not identified in court papers, told U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.

Prosecutors said another former cardiologist at the hospital was prepared to testify that Giacomini had made unwanted advances to her in 2008.

Prosecutors recommended a 10-month sentence. Giacominis lawyer, Anthony Brass, asked for a lesser term, possibly with home confinement instead of prison.

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In a court filing, he said Giacomini was in declining health and was the primary caretaker and a loving, albeit very flawed husband for his 72-year-old wife, who sent a supportive letter to the court. After decades of distinction in the medical field, Brass said, Giacomini now must end his career in professional and social disgrace.

Beside the prison term, Freeman fined Giacomini $15,000 and ordered him to spend a year on parole supervision after his release.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko

An earlier version of this story misstated the term of Giacominis prison sentence.
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San Franciscos LGBTQ community, led by a city supervisor, is calling on the federal government to greatly step up distribution of vaccines against monkeypox, a highly infectious virus now spreading mostly through male-to-male sex.

The city is home to more gay, bisexual and transgender men per capita than anywhere in the country, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said Tuesday, which makes residents among the most vulnerable to the virus. He introduced a resolution urging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prioritize vaccine distribution based on risk.

Gay and bisexual men are once again being failed by our federal government, Mandelman said on the steps of City Hall, invoking memories of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. He was joined by the citys top health officials, Dr. Grant Colfax and Dr. Susan Philip, and representatives of other communities at heightened risk for monkeypox, including transgender people and sex workers.

Would monkeypox receive a stronger response if it were not primarily affecting queer folks? Mandelman asked rhetorically as supporters hissed.

He and other speakers drew comparisons not only to the early years of the HIV epidemic  when the government was slow to respond to the public health emergency hitting primarily gay men  but to the COVID-19 pandemic, where federal officials have made the coronavirus vaccine as easy as possible for everyone to get.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

San Franciscos public health experts said they arent seeing the feds prioritizing monkeypox the same way.

We are literally begging our federal partners to provide more vaccine, Colfax said, noting that the citys health department has received only 2,888 vaccines from the state since early June  and it took until this week to get 2,300 of them.

Yet the monkeypox hotline at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is ringing off the hook, getting one to two calls per minute, said Tyler TerMeer, chief executive at the agency, which held a monkeypox virtual town hall Tuesday evening.

Across the country, 866 monkeypox cases have been reported, including 148 in California, according to the CDC. Of the states cases, 40% are in San Francisco  up sixfold in the past month, to 60.

On Tuesday, Dr. Erica Pan, state epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health, revealed that scientists have detected monkeypox in Bay Area wastewater surveillance systems, the first such occurrence in the country.

This implies theres a lot more disease there than we realize, she said in an online health update.

Pan said the state is giving a vaccine, called Jynneos, mainly to people who have been exposed to monkeypox: lab workers who do testing, doctors and others who treat infected patients, and people who have attended an event where someone had a confirmed case.

A cousin of smallpox, the disease generally is not deadly, and most people recover without treatment. But its painful lesions can last for weeks. Other symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and chills.

Children and people with medical conditions that make them more vulnerable can have more severe cases.

Two patients are hospitalized for monkeypox at UCSF, one of only four or five hospitals in the state with Tpoxx, a drug to treat smallpox, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF infectious disease expert who appeared with Pan.

Unlike COVID-19, monkeypox is not generally transmitted through respiratory droplets, although it can be caught through kissing and breathing at close range. It spreads mainly through intimate contact, and most cases so far have been reported among male-to-male partners.

The White House announced its vaccine strategy on June 28, and said it will allocate 296,000 doses over the coming weeks, and 1.6 million doses over the coming months.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Noting that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said it will buy enough additional vaccine to fully vaccinate about 2 million people through 2023, Mandelman said thats not enough.

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More than 4.5 million men in the U.S. say they have sex with other men, the supervisor said, citing a 2016 study in the journal JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. The same study indicates that in San Francisco, 18.5% of men have sex with other men.

Having to wait five to seven days to get monkeypox test results is also a problem because people may pass along the virus before they know they have it, Paul Aguilar, HIV chair of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, said from the City Hall steps, where he joined Mandelman.

Philip, the citys health director, blamed the testing problem on a bottleneck at the state level but said new labs are opening, and were hoping to speed up the process.

Mandelmans resolution would require the Board of Supervisors to urge the CDC to release a vaccine prioritization plan based on the risk of contracting the virus and medical vulnerability.

The board would also call on the Department of Health and Human Services to buy and distribute enough vaccine for every at-risk person to easily get it.

The board is expected to vote on the resolution next week.

Chronicle staff writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
Photo by Johnny Louis/Getty Images / Getty Images

Oakland police said they were aware of threats circulating around a concert Tuesday evening at the Oakland Arena.

The threats concerned the Stray Kids concert, which is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. The wildly popular eight-person South Korean pop group was founded in 2017.
Opioid manufacturers Allergan and Teva have agreed to pay San Francisco $54 million in cash and curative products to settle claims that they were responsible for drug addictions and deaths, leaving Walgreens, which sells the opioids, as the only defendant in the citys groundbreaking federal court trial. The trial was wrapping up with closing statements Tuesday.

City Attorney David Chiu said the companies would pay a total of $34 million in cash and provide $20 million worth of Narcan, which treats drug overdoses. Earlier, San Francisco reached settlements of $10 million with Endo Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of the opioid pain-reliever Percocet, and $60 million with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and distributors McKesson, Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen. The city will also receive part of Californias $500 million share of a settlement with the bankrupt Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin.

Opioids include legally prescribed painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin and legal and illegal forms of the powerful drug fentanyl, as well as heroin. They can be highly addictive and sometimes lethal.

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, quoted in the citys lawsuit, 80% of U.S. heroin users in the past decade had started with opioid prescriptions. In San Francisco, health officials say 712 people died of opioid overdoses in 2020, and one-fourth of all emergency-room visits at the citys General Hospital involve opioids.

Several thousand opioid lawsuits by state and local governments nationwide were transferred to a federal judge in Ohio, who approved a handful, including San Franciscos, as bellwether cases to go to trial.

The citys lawsuit, filed in 2018, accused the companies of using deceptive advertising to boost sales, pushing more opioids into the market than were medically necessary, and failing to design and implement effective controls. The companies countered that the government-approved drugs were vital for control of severe pain and that they informed customers about the products benefits and risks.

Opioids have wreaked havoc across our nation, and cities like San Francisco have shouldered the burden of the epidemic, Chiu said in a statement Tuesday announcing the settlement. Under this agreement, our city will receive significant resources to combat the opioid crisis and bring relief to our communities.

Frank Benenati, spokesperson for Allergans parent company, AbbVie, said Allergan had previously decided to voluntarily discontinue its branded prescription opioid business, which had a minimal market share of less than 1% of nationwide prescriptions. Teva, the other company in the settlement, could not be reached for comment.

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A similar suit in state court by Oakland and the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara was rejected last November by an Orange County judge, who ruled after a non-jury trial that the drugs did not present an undue danger when prescribed by an experienced physician and cited federal government findings that their benefits as pain relievers outweighed their potential for abuse.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco refused to dismiss the citys suit and said its allegations, if proved, could show violations of the law. Breyer presided over the 11-week non-jury trial and will now decide whether Walgreens is at fault for its distribution of opioids.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Oakland police were investigating a shooting that killed one man and injured two women early Wednesday, authorities said.

The shooting happened just before 1:30 a.m. in the 450 block of 19th Street in Oakland, Officer Candace Keas said in a statement. Police were sent to that area after reports of a shooting and found three wounded people.
Bill Hutchinson/The Chronicle

People at a Concord shopping center saw a man set himself on fire Monday night, extinguished the flames and called for help, authorities said. The man was airlifted to the burn center at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Witnesses called 911 at about 9:46 p.m. Monday to report a man on fire outside of a Lucky supermarket in a shopping center at 5190 Clayton Road, said Steve Hill, a spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Witnesses put out the flames using bottled water and blankets, said Lt. Tamra Roberts of the Concord Police Department, and the man was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Despite opposition, a Wine Country restaurateur accused of sexual harassment will be able to open a new restaurant in Sebastopol  on the condition that he never drink alcohol there.

The Sebastopol Planning Commission approved an alcohol use permit on Tuesday for Piala, a Georgian restaurant and wine bar at 7233 Healdsburg Ave. from Lowell Sheldon.

Eleven former employees who had worked with Sheldon between 2015 and 2021 accused him of sexual harassment or creating a toxic work environment in a Chronicle investigation last year.

His plans to open Piala with two partners, including Jeff Berlin, who previously ran Oaklands A Cote, roiled the Sebastopol community. Accusers said Sheldons presence at Piala could be a safety concern while supporters pushed back at the idea of blacklisting him because of the allegations.

If Sheldon drinks at the restaurant or violates any of the other conditions  which Berlin is responsible for monitoring  Pialas alcohol use permit could be revoked.

The conditions state that Sheldon cant be involved, directly or indirectly, in the operations or supervising of employees. The owners also agreed to hire an outside human resources firm to handle any complaints.

Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle 2017

The commission approved the permit 3-1, with commissioner Deborah Burnes casting the sole no vote and Evert Fernandez absent. At their last meeting in June, commissioners proposed that Sheldon never be able to set foot inside Piala, a condition that Sheldon was unwilling to accept.

The owners since suggested instead that he never drink or serve alcohol at the restaurant. Many of the allegations of misconduct occurred after hours at his restaurants and involved alcohol. To approve the alcohol use permit, the commission is required under city code to find that the proposed use will not adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of both employees and customers.

The city alcohol use permit will be transferred to Berlins name and reviewed by the planning commission a year after Piala opens, at which point Sheldon could ask to consume alcohol there again. They plan to open Piala in August.

Commissioners  who were put in the unusual and even, they said, awkward position of debating restorative justice and sexual violence in the context of city bureaucracy  granted the permit despite some reservations.

Im very uncomfortable in approving this alcohol use permit, said commissioner Linda Kelley. Im hoping that we can believe Mr. Sheldon in terms of his change of heart and also understanding his part in these complaints. Its not just people picking on you. Women have not been believed, and are still not believed, including in this whole hearing.

Burnes said that her concerns werent solely linked to Sheldons alcohol use, but also the power he holds as an owner of the business. His attorney pushed back against this, and Planning Director Kari Svanstrom told Burnes that denying an alcohol use permit on the basis of his position of power was a bit tenuous.

They acknowledged the citys inability to monitor the conditions on a regular basis, and said that community members will help enforce them. Svanstrom suggested that if diners saw Sheldon drinking at Piala, they could take photos and send them to the planning department.

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There are many eyes on this project, said commissioner Paul Fritz. I think the community is monitoring this.

Chair Kathy Oetinger acknowledged the communitys and her own concerns, but said she felt comfortable with the final conditions.

I feel comfortable putting the risk into their hands, knowing they have the opportunity to succeed or to blow it, she said of Sheldon and his business partners. Im feeling like they deserve an opportunity to try and that weve done the things that we think we can legally do to protect the customers.

The commissioners had voted at their last meeting to not continue public comment on Tuesday. In an email submitted before the meeting, Bay Area resident Caitlin Palmer said even the previous, more restrictive proposal to prohibit him from entering Piala entirely will not provide the safeguard that community members are requesting.

Sheldon told the commission that he and Berlin have every intention of making sure that we follow every one of the conditions as theyre laid out. We understand the risk to our livelihoods should we not meet any of these conditions.

In addition to Piala, Sheldon is also trying to redevelop the historic Freestone Hotel into an inn and wine-focused restaurant, though the Sonoma County permit department recently asked that he withdraw his application after determining its inconsistent with the countys general plan.

Elena Kadvany (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com
At Buddy, a buzzy new bar and restaurant in San Franciscos Mission District, the Campari and soda is built with nary a drop of Campari. In place of the bitter orange Italian liqueur, bartenders use an intense digestivo from the Italian Alps made from mountain herbs, Marsala wine and Sicilian tree sap, which gets blended with orange bitters and charged with carbon dioxide. It is an impressive dupe, capturing all the intent of a Campari-soda with none of the cloying sweetness and much more citrus flavor, particularly brilliant when offset by a bowl of Buddys warm olives speckled with apricot and zaatar.

Campari is one of many liquors that Buddy cannot serve due to its license, which permits only beer and wine. But here, limitation is the parent of ingenuity, and bureaucratic red tape has been an unexpected source of inspiration. Rather than gin and vodka, these drinks are built around an elaborate interplay of fortified wines and bitters, low in alcohol and high in flavor. The end result is something joyful and unexpected: a spiritless bar nonetheless offering a uniquely compelling cocktail list.

Buddy is not the first bar to make the most of license limitations, nor is it unique in taking low-ABV drinks seriously. But it may be the Bay Areas most effortlessly natural exhibitor of the style, omitting hard alcohol from cocktail classics without sacrificing a touch of flavor, splash of texture or ounce of panache.

In the beginning wed have people walk in and say, give me a gin and tonic! says co-founder Nicolas Torres (also an owner of True Laurel), and its like  no, sorry, we cant. Torres co-owns Buddy with three other experienced barkeeps: Alvaro Rojas (formerly of Elda), Claire Sprouse (Brooklyns Hunky Dory) and Nora Furst (Uma Casa). Their sessionable, daytime-friendly cocktail program is indebted to the tricks and techniques learned from their combined decades of serving the hard stuff.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2021

We think of all this as being shaped by the wider cocktail renaissance, says Torres. Low-ABV cocktails are increasingly being developed by serious bartenders, and have found a home at establishments both with and without liquor licenses.

Still, the limitation aspect is part of the DNA at Buddy, and it helps separate this program from, say, somewhere like True Laurel, whose cocktail list also favors fortified wines. A new liquor license costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and thats almost as much as we raised to start this entire project, says Torres. Buddy inherited the beer-and-wine-only license from the spaces previous tenant, Californios. We just had to do without it.

It sounds rather conceptual  a cocktail list without liquor  but in the hands of Buddy, it works, creating spirit-free interpretations of cocktail classics with startling effect. Start with the bars riff on a milk punch, a drink dating to the 17th century. In place of the typical bourbon, Buddy blends bitter aperitifs and vermouths with an entire bottle of Angostura bitters, a cheat to give the drink weight and body, Torres says. An ever-changing range of seasonal ingredients finishes the drink: In the heat of late June, its lemon and apricot; in early spring, stewed pears and cinnamon.

Its not all riffs and reimaginings. Wine cocktails are among the oldest examples of the form, in particular the cobbler and the bamboo, which are built around Sherry wine as the base. On a recent visit, Buddy served a soft, lovely bamboo cocktail, gussied up with gin bitters and fresh lemon peel. Youre also likely to find a variation on the Garnatxa and tonic, built around the Catalunyan fortified sweet wine Garnatxa dEmporda, or a simple vermouth on a rock, in which a vermouth of your choice  imported or local  is served over a single, substantial cocktail ice cube, like those youd find in a high-end bars manhattan.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2021

I dont personally care for the French 75, a WW1-era cocktail made with gin, lemon, sugar and a wasted splash of blessed Champagne, though the riff at Buddy is at least compelling, subbing lavender wine and blended vermouths in for the spirits, and adding Thai basil for depth. It is somebodys idea of a good time, just not mine.

Glassware and ice are essential components of the effect at Buddy. All the cocktails are served in vintage vessels, and in the case of the milk punch, the effect of a little cocktail teacup filled delicately with liquid around a perfectly apportioned single cube helps sell the drinks meta-reality: Close your eyes, take a sip and youll forget completely this drink has no more alcohol than a glass of wine.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2021

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A low-ABV approach to cocktail making has many happy benefits  you could try several of the drinks over dinner and still walk home with your composure intact. Theres also a capable selection of table wines (of a natural bent) available by the glass and bottle. It adds up to a drinks program that feels relevant and contemporary, unique and of the moment. Its refreshing to be somewhere thats having so much fun with wines place behind the bar, licensing and economics be damned.

In this city, everything is a very thin margin, and you have to have patience and an appreciation for what you do, Torres says, as the sun begins to set across the western reaches of the Mission District, and the evening rush arrives. But at the end of the day, we love this stuff. This is how we like to drink.

Buddy. 4-10 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 4-11 p.m. Friday; noon-11 p.m. Saturday and noon-10 p.m. Sunday. 3115 22nd St., San Francisco. buddythebar.com

Jordan Michelman is an author and James Beard Award-winning journalist. Instagram: @suitcasewine Email: food@sfchronicle.com
The omicron coronavirus strain continues to spawn highly infectious subvariants, and the latest one gaining ground, known as BA.2.75, has already shown up in the Bay Area.

While BA.5 is currently the dominant subvariant worldwide, BA.2.75 has turned up in at least a dozen countries since it was first detected in May in India, where it is driving a new surge.

Seven cases have been recorded in the U.S. - two in California and one each in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Washington.

Both California cases were detected in Bay Area wastewater sampling in mid-June - though since genetic sequencing is limited, experts say it is likely far more widespread.

We dont sequence all the samples and there is a lag between when you identify a variant and when someone actually has it first diagnosed, wrote UCSF infectious disease expert Peter Chin-Hong in an email. What this means, including the fact that it is in wastewater, suggests that there are likely many more cases in California and in the U.S. in general.

Heres what we know so far about the subvariant.

Why is this subvariant concerning?

Research into BA.2.75 is still ongoing, but it appears to have a large number of mutations that could make the subvariant more infectious and evade prior immunity from vaccines and infection. Experts say it shares many of the same mutations as BA.4 and BA.5, but it has at least nine unique mutations on the spike protein.

Those mutations are the main thing that distinguish BA.2.75 from previous variants, Chin-Hong said, with the most concerning ones influencing immune escape and receptor binding.

Immune escape means the subvariant is able to get around the front-line antibody defenses learned by the body after vaccination or a previous infection - though other sorts of blood cells retain their ability to combat coronaviruses to prevent serious illness.

That means it can be another escape artistlike BA.2 and cause another round of reinfections and infections for first timers, Chin-Hong wrote in an email.

However, he said its still unknown if BA.2.75 is more transmissible or will cause more severe disease.

How worried should we be about this subvariant?

Anupam Nath/Associated Press

While health officials are monitoring BA.2.75 carefully, no evidence so far indicates that it poses any more of a threat than the original omicron variant, experts say.

And though the subvariant may evade prior immunity better, it doesnt render vaccines ineffective, said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, in an interview on Monday with public radio program The World

The antibodies that the vaccines are generating may not be preventing infection, but they're preventing severe disease, he said.

Additionally, evidence so far has shown that vaccinated people, particularly those with at least one booster dose, have at least a 20-fold lower risk of hospitalizations and deaths from omicron compared to unvaccinated individuals, he said.

I dont think people need to be any more concerned about these new variants than they should be about omicron in general, Kuritzkes said. Its important that people continue to take reasonable measures to safeguard themselves despite the changing requirements.

He said he would continue to wear a mask on airplanes and other public transportation, and in crowded indoor settings.

Will BA.2.75 overtake BA.5?

We dont know yet how BA.2.75 will stand up against BA.5, and whether there will be a hostile takeover, Chin-Hong said.

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It may well be a battle of BA2.75 versus BA.5, but they havent been given a chance yet to directly compete, he said. For all we know, BA.2.75 may stay mainly local to India like the California (variant) did for us, or lambda and mu did for South America. Only time will tell.

Where did the nickname centaurus come from?

The origin of the nickname centaurus, which has popped up in some references to BA.2.75, is not entirely clear and may have started as a joke on social media - but its not an official designation by the World Health Organization in the way that other variants (omicron, delta, alpha, etc.) have been named.

At the end of May 2021, the WHO announced a COVID variant naming system using Greek alphabet letters to make it easier to report, and eliminate any stigma associated with where the variants were first detected.

However, subvariants of named variants like omicron, including BA.2.75, arent given their own Greek letter designations.

The World Health Organization has classified BA.2.75 in a new category with a rather lengthy name: variant of concern lineage under Omicron subvariants under monitoring.

This new designation falls under the established umbrella category of variants of concern, which includes the most-concerning strains: those associated with higher transmissibility, more severe disease or greater ability to thwart public health measures including vaccines. Variants of concern are a step up from variants of interest, and have included alpha, beta, gamma, delta and omicron.

The WHO says it is singling out certain omicron subvariants because they may need prioritized attention in monitoring compared to other circulating strains.

If a particular lineage is shown to have distinct characteristics from the original variant of concern, the WHO says it may consider giving it a separate label.

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang
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San Franciscos monkeypox vaccine supply is running critically low, city health officials said Wednesday in an effort to urge action from the Biden administration.

Some vaccination sites in the city are down to their last remaining doses of Jynneos, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said in a statement.

San Franciscos LGBTQ community, led by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, called on the federal government Tuesday to step up the distribution of the vaccines against monkeypox, a highly infectious virus now spreading primarily through male-to-male sex.

There are 68 probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox among San Francisco residents.

The health department said it received 2,308 doses last week from federal supplies and distributed those vaccines to more than 10 sites, including community clinics and the Kaiser Permanente health system.

About 50 doses are remaining at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General monkeypox clinic, which was administered on Wednesday on a first come, first served basis. The site will then be forced to shutter until another shipment of vaccine doses arrive, city officials said.

To date, health department sites have administered a little over 1,700 doses, while hundreds more people have been waiting for their chance to get inoculated against the virus.

It is extremely infuriating that our federal government has once again failed in their response, especially after a two-year public health crisis, said Ande Stone, a senior community manager with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during a monkeypox town hall on Tuesday.

San Franciscos public health experts are concerned government officials are not prioritizing monkeypox the same way they did COVID-19.

We are literally begging our federal partners to provide more vaccine, Dr. Grant Colfax said at a news briefing at City Hall Tuesday.

Soaring demand for the monkeypox vaccine on Wednesday caused the appointment system to crash in New York City, one of many places where supplies have been running out almost as soon as they arrive.

Infections now exceed 1,000 from the growing outbreak in the U.S., including 150 in California, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the states cases, 40% are in San Francisco  up sixfold in the past month, to more than 60.

Two patients are hospitalized for monkeypox at UCSF, one of only four or five hospitals in the state with Tpoxx, a drug to treat smallpox, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF infectious disease expert, during a Tuesday briefing.

Most patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue.

People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.

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The skin sores can sometimes be painful but usually not fatal. Most people dont require hospitalization and recover within two to four weeks.

Many callers are frightened, said Dr. Tyler TerMeer of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. I want to acknowledge that this stuff is scary, regardless of whether it is fatal or not. Things are scary when there are a lot of unknowns.

Infections are spread by direct contact with rashes, scabs or body fluids, according to the CDC. Monkeypox can also spread through kissing, sex and body contact. In some cases, prolonged face-to-face exposure, as well as unwashed laundry contaminated by the virus, could lead to infection.

The CDC said that commercial laboratories have been developing ways to test for the virus. According to the agency, the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis will be accepting samples from across the country beginning this week to boost the countrys testing capability.

This will not only increase testing capacity but also make it more convenient for providers and patients to access tests by using existing provider-to-laboratory networks, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement earlier this week.

Chronicle staff writer Annie Vainshtein contributed to this report.

Aidin Vaziri (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com
Regarding Lets discuss body rights (Letters to the Editor, July 11): Mary Gomes letter appears to be a clever little tale about a person in need of a kidney transplant. Comparing being forced to donate a kidney to being forced to donate ones body for nine months of pregnancy shows a lack of logical thinking.

A kidney never will be a person. It will never have a brain nor a heart. It is an organ. It seems that the idea that a fetus is an organ instead of a collection of human organisms has permeated many peoples idea of what is growing inside of a uterus.

It makes it so much easier to get rid of a non-human organ when you convince yourself that what is growing inside a uterus is not really human, just an organ that you dont need.

Arlene Balin, Menlo Park

Expand psychiatric care

Regarding Homeless crisis rooted in mental health system (Front page, July 12): For a person in the midst of an acute psychotic episode, with paranoid delusions and terrifying hallucinations, hospital treatment is often the only workable option.

A little-known provision the federal Medicaid law forbids payments for treatment in a psychiatric hospital with more than 16 beds. No other illness is subject to such discrimination.

As a result of the 16-bed rule, our psychiatric hospital capacity has drastically shrunk. Over the same time, the number of mentally ill people living on the streets or behind bars has sharply increased.

Hospitals closed, I believe, not for reasons of humanity, but because providing such desperately needed care without Medicaid is a losing proposition. Its time for us to end this cruel and discriminatory law.

Alice Feller, Berkeley

Return party to people

Regarding Democrats do nothing (Letters to the Editor, July 10): I cant disagree with Brian Kleins litany of complaints against the Democratic Party. Especially galling was the national leaderships support for Rep. Henry Cuellar (anti-abortion, pro-oil) against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros in Texas.

However, Kleins solution  never voting for another Democrat for federal office  sounds like simply giving up. Im guessing the Democratic National Committee and friends are delighted at the prospect of knocking another progressive activist out of the fight.

I thought Cisneros was an inspiring and credible candidate, as did voters in her district, where she lost to Cuellar by fewer than 300 votes.

Progressives need to dig deeper for candidates like Cisneros and rebuild the Democratic Party as a party of the people, rather than abandoning it to corporate donors and billionaires. Its our last best hope to save our democracy and our planet.

John Holme, Oakland

Kudos to teachers

Regarding Teachers who ran LGBTQ club cleared (Front Page, July 11): During this time when we are inundated with endless stories of gun violence and the Jan. 6 insurrection, it was an unexpected treat to read some truly good news. Educators who endeavor to create safe inclusive spaces in their schools for vulnerable kids are to be celebrated, not litigated.

Despite my momentary joy, as a licensed mental health professional for 44-plus years, I was deeply troubled by a parent who has filed a lawsuit over not being informed that her child had chosen to use a different name and pronouns. The most troubling aspect of this lawsuit is the statement that this parent and her child, have sought guidance from their pastor to overcome the harm (done) and they are likely to continue seeking such guidance ... among other potential mental health treatment. Unless their pastor is a licensed mental health professional, guidance is not mental health treatment.
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A San Francisco supervisor announced legislation Wednesday urging new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to keep her agencys Innocence Commission intact.

Jenkins, a former assistant district attorney, praised the commission when it was created by her boss-turned-rival Chesa Boudin in 2020. Jenkins, who quit the District Attorneys Office to become a lead spokesperson for the campaign to recall Boudin, told The Chronicle that she supports continuing the commission.

In a written statement Wednesday, Jenkins said that she is deeply committed to pursuing justice.

That is why I am committed to continuing and supporting the work of the Innocence Commission to ensure that we help free any innocent individuals who may have been wrongfully convicted and provide justice that has been delayed, she said.

Two days later, she fired Arcelia Hurtado, the DAs office representative with the commission.

Supervisor Dean Preston, who didnt support the recall that propelled Jenkins to office, is looking for assurances from Jenkins that the panel remain independent from the District Attorneys Office and continues its work as presently constituted.

Preston is seeking those assurances through a resolution he announced during a Wednesday morning press conference on the steps of City Hall.

The Innocence Commission has proven that it can fairly and efficiently do the difficult work to address the harms perpetuated against individuals on behalf of the People, he said in a statement Tuesday, and we should be doing everything in our power to make sure it can continue its crucial work.

A draft of the resolution obtained by The Chronicle urges the district attorney to keep the commission intact and also to allow the offices separate Post-Conviction Unit to continue its work, which involves helping resentence people who were sent away during times of harsher tough-on-crime policies.

The Innocence Commission is investigating two cases of potentially innocent people in prison. Its first case led to the exoneration of Joaquin Ciria after 32 years in prison. The commission voted unanimously to recommend Boudin join a motion to overturn the conviction after evidence emerged that another man was seen by a long-silent witness committing the crime.

Ciria said Tuesday that its critical to preserve the Innocence Commission, which changed his life.

Its a neutral panel that isnt in favor of anybody, he said in a phone call from San Antonio, Texas, where he was meeting his wifes family for the first time. They bring back the confidence to innocent people in prison (that they can go free).

The commission is a panel of legal experts of varying backgrounds that works pro bono to investigate claims of wrongful convictions in the city.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

The panel is chaired by University of San Francisco law Professor Lara Bazelon, a vocal Boudin supporter. Bazelon debated Jenkins about the recall in May, put on by the Commonwealth Club.

Bazelon, who directs her universitys clinical programs on juvenile and racial justice and personally raised money to hire the commissions staff attorney, told The Chronicle she is concerned about the commissions future.

She said shes been inundated with questions since Jenkins took over about what will happen to the commission. I tell them the truth, which is that I dont know, she said, adding, I dont want the commission to exist in name only.

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Many prosecutors have been accused of running a so-called CRINO, or Conviction Review Unit in Name Only. Such units can be underfunded or understaffed for the task of reinvestigating cases, which can take years, researchers with the National Registry of Exonerations have found.

Prior to the commission, the District Attorneys Office had a post-conviction unit that hadnt exonerated anyone.

The Innocence Commission is a different model from others in that its meant to be more independent of the District Attorneys Office. The reasoning is the notion that any prosecutors leading such a process would inevitably run into conflicts when investigating their offices own potential failures.

The country has 93 conviction-integrity units, and almost all are within prosecutors offices, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Only 41 have helped overturn wrongful convictions.

Bazelon said the Innocence Commission expects to see a second case resolved soon.

The resolution is expected to be on the July 19 agenda for the Board of Supervisors meeting. The board could vote or send the resolution to a committee.

Chronicle staff writer Mallory Moench contributed to this report.

Joshua Sharpe is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: joshua.sharpe@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joshuawsharpe
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins reiterated her promise to crack down on the Tenderloins open-air drug markets on Tuesday, vowing to tackle a problem thats confounded city officials  including the mayor and police chief  for years. It was a risky pledge, and Tenderloin residents said they will be watching closely.

Standing Tuesday outside the Phoenix Hotel on Eddy Street  across the road from people using drugs on the sidewalk  Jenkins vowed more accountability for drug dealers, although she was light on new policy specifics.

Jenkins already directed her office to review plea offers not yet accepted in drug sale cases, saying that some might be revoked. She said Tuesday she saw problems with the status quo under former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, whom she replaced, appointed by Mayor London Breed in the wake of a nationally watched recall election. Under Boudin, only three offenders were convicted of felony drug sale charges in 2021, with others in drug cases pleading guilty to lesser charges.

Jenkins also said her office would work with police, the U.S. Attorneys Office and Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who has proposed legislation to create zones of increased enforcement against drug dealing around treatment facilities. Her remarks followed a meeting with around 20 Tenderloin residents and business owners.

I have committed to them, just like I did the entire city, to make sure we end the open-air drug market and clear these streets so that kids and the people who live here can go about their daily lives without being scared, Jenkins said. We cannot continue to allow people to die on the street of overdoses  without holding those who sell fentanyl accountable.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

More than 1,500 people have fatally overdosed in the city since the start of 2020. A majority of deaths involved the opioid fentanyl.

Many Tenderloin residents at Tuesdays event welcomed the commitment to ending drug dealing. But others, including some using drugs on the streets, criticized an enforcement-heavy approach as ineffective in addressing addiction and drug-related crimes.

Jenkins comments echoed those of Mayor London Breed, who in December pledged to boost police presence in the Tenderloin and crack down on drug activity. But open-air drug dealing has continued despite police adding at least 10 extra officers a day in the Tenderloin as the emergency ended.

During Breeds three-month emergency to address overdose deaths, drug arrests rose compared to the prior three months. There were fewer arrests during the emergency than during the same three months the year before, but there were also more police officers citywide the year before. The number of drug charges remained flat compared to the previous three months. Officers seized twice as much fentanyl during the emergency than the three months before, and more than three times than the same period the year before.

Breed had criticized Boudin, saying she wanted him to hold repeat offenders of drug dealing and violent crime accountable, and now has handpicked a district attorney who shares her vision. Jenkins is also backing another controversial policy Breed introduced in December to expand the use of live camera surveillance by the Police Department, opposed by civil rights advocates.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Jenkins said Tuesday the measure would help in prosecuting drug cases and making sure dealers, not people suffering from addiction, are held responsible for selling drugs.

Police spokesman officer Robert Rueca said in an emailed statement that the drug crisis in the Tenderloin was both a public health and policing issue and the department would continue enforcement with the goal to work with the new district attorney.

"Our goal is to make constitutional narcotics arrests and constitutional seizures of narcotics to present the required evidence to enable the District Attorneys Office to do their jobs effectively and hold narcotics offenders accountable," Rueca wrote. "Our continued goal with all our partners is to save lives."

Tracey Mixon, a Tenderloin resident and organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, wants to be able to walk down the street with her 12-year-old daughter and not get harassed by drug dealers but doesnt support a crackdown.

I feel like everybody is going to be targeted, she said. This is a cycle thats not going to stop. When one drug dealer is gone, theres going to be somebody else to take their place.

Mixon wants to see people addicted to drugs get help, low-level dealers get new jobs and the district attorney go after high-level kingpins.

Jenkins said Tuesday that she is committed to ensuring those struggling with addiction can enter into recovery. She hasnt directly answered whether she would prosecute people for drug possession, saying last week that we have to figure out what accountability is appropriate for each and every one.

City leaders arent the only officials whove tried to crack down on Tenderloin drug dealing. The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California charged 230 people for crimes including drug sales as part of a 2019-2020 initiative. But the situation remained dire in the wake of the federal push, with more people dying from drug overdoses during that time period than the year before.

Some neighborhood leaders and many business owners and residents back targeting drug dealers.

I dont know where we got the idea that its progressive to allow drug dealing, said Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, the citys largest provider of homeless housing. But if you think its progressive, put it out in Bernal Heights, put it out in Haight-Ashbury, take it away from the Tenderloin, because we dont accept it here.

Cyntia Salazar, who works for the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, said dealers sometimes harass women or block sidewalks so that wheelchairs cant pass, and residents are at times unable to sleep because of noise or fear leaving their homes because of violent crime.

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Salazar said she supports more prosecution for drug dealing, balanced with reform. Shes not a huge advocate of more police because of cases of brutality, but said she recognizes the need for foot patrols and arrests to address drug dealing and violent crimes. Salazar said that it shouldnt fall all on the district attorney, and that she wants to see more police activity within the next month, and more arrests and charges within six months.

But others are wary of Jenkins stated approach. Del Seymour, a Tenderloin community leader for 35 years, said that he would support moderate enforcement of drug laws, such as arresting a few dealers to encourage others to get new jobs, but that officials need to help dealers replace their incomes so they can figure out how theyre going to feed their kids.

He added that the neighborhood also needs more medical practitioners and caseworkers to address drug abuse.

Jenkins tough talk didnt bother drug users. One man, who was using drugs across the street from where Jenkins was speaking, said he doesnt think prosecuting drug dealers would make them go away.

Its never going to happen. Its an illusion, said the man, who declined to give his name, but shared that hed used fentanyl and meth for 15 years. The person will come out and do exactly what theyre doing. Theyre doing it to support themselves.

He understood concerns about loss of life from overdoses  he said people need to get drugs from a trustworthy source and use safely, although there are always risks  and the need to shield kids from drug use, which he says he tries to do.

We wish there was somewhere else to go, he added.

But Jenkins said that children, families and elders should not have to walk through drug dealing and open drug use anymore: Thats not something we can tolerate any longer.

Mallory Moench (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
As we settled into plush, violet-hued seats on the spotless subway train whizzing beneath London, my sons couldnt quite believe it.

Like their mom, my boys love public transit and ride it often. They wanted to ride as many lines in the citys famous Tube subway system as possible during our recent trip, and the brand-new Elizabeth line was a must. Named after the queen and decorated with splashes of royal purple, it was everything Muni and BART struggle to be.

Its so clean, my boys remarked. And quiet. And fast  reaching 60 mph. We rode it on a weekday morning at commute time, and there was no crowding. Train cars stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction.

The trains were also frequent and reliable. If you missed one, no big deal. Another would arrive in a few minutes. It was also easy  with lots of wayfinding signs, helpful staff and the ability to pay your fare with the tap of a credit card at the gates.

Traveling can be fun and adventurous, but it can also be instructive in how some cities seem to be work better than San Francisco. Theres no question that when it comes to public transportation, London and many other cities in Europe and Asia have San Francisco squarely beat.

You must have been riding the Tube a lot and seeing what its like to have a functional transit network, Hayden Clarkin, a former San Francisco resident who now lives in New York, told me when I described my trip. Hes a transportation engineer and founded TransitCon, an annual gathering devoted to public transportation and the people who love it.

And San Francisco is one of the best cities in America for transit, so what does that tell you? he added with a laugh.

Alastair Grant / Associated Press

Always on the hunt for my next column, I did some research. How did Londons new Elizabeth line, which debuted in May, compare to San Franciscos soon-to-open Central Subway line?

Like seemingly every infrastructure project these days, they both went over budget and saw long delays. Though construction started at about the same time  2009 for the Elizabeth line and 2010 for the Central Subway  in typical San Francisco fashion, the latter still isnt open. Staff at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said yet again this week that the subway will open sometime this fall, with nothing more specific.

The Elizabeth line  which is mostly open now and should be fully open in the spring  includes 26 new miles of tunnel and nine new subway stations compared to the Central Subways 1.7 new miles of tunnel and three new subway stations. So it took about six months per mile of tunnel to build the Elizabeth and seven years per mile of tunnel to build the Central Subway.

Trains on the Elizabeth line come every five minutes, a gap that will decrease to just two or three minutes when its fully operational. The SFMTAs goal for the Central Subway is for trains to arrive every 10 minutes.

Including above-ground railway and stations, the Elizabeth line will stretch across 62 miles from Heathrow Airport through the heart of London to outlying suburbs, passing through 41 stations, increasing Londons already expansive rail capacity by an astounding 10%.

The Central Subway, which critics said never needed to be built in the first place, will connect to the T-line stretching a few miles south to Visitacion Valley. The SFMTA doesnt have an estimate for how many people it will carry, its spokesperson said.

Sixty-two miles of track here could zig and zag across San Francisco numerous times. Or stretch from Mill Valley to San Jose. Or Ocean Beach to Tracy.

But thats just a pipe dream  and thats a shame. The United States has never invested heavily in public transit, instead prioritizing cars and highways, often slashing right through the centers of cities.

Alastair Grant / Associated Press

London has one main transit agency  Transport for London  that operates the Tube, light railway lines, the citys famous double-decker buses, taxis, trams and ferries on the River Thames. The nine-county Bay Area, which has about a million fewer residents than London, has a mind-boggling 27 transit agencies that dont work very well together and havent created a seamless, expansive system for getting around.

Very few American cities seem to have a really good long-distance, integrated system that has the commuter piece from the suburbs into the central city with a good integration all on the same fare, said Eric Goldwyn, an assistant professor of transportation at New York Universitys Marron Institute of Urban Management. The British, they do a nice job of that.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

More Information Share your stories visiting other cities Have you traveled lately to another city in the United States or abroad and noticed what they do better than San Francisco? E-mail me your stories for possible inclusion in an upcoming column: hknight@sfchronicle.com See More Collapse

And the farther weve gotten from building major transit projects  BART turns 50 this year  the less we know how to do it, Clarkin argued. He called it a brain drain with few universities offering programs related to rail engineering and few factories in this country that make trains. Add in notorious politics and red tape, and its a recipe for, well, not much public transit.

Its a lot of incompetence and a lack of political will, he said of Americas approach to building more transit.

To its credit, the SFMTA had restarted several bus lines paused during the pandemic by the time I got back. But then again, it had also implemented a sketchy shuttering of the popular Slow Streets Program on Lake Street and likely faces a ballot measure in November to reopen John F. Kennedy Drive and the Great Highway to traffic.

Two steps forward, one step back, like so much of life in San Francisco.

And, to be clear, San Francisco is better than other cities in some ways, too. Its still one of the most beautiful cities in the world, prettier than London, in my book. Its airport is much cleaner and easier to get around than Heathrow. And for our first meal back home, we raced to our neighborhood taqueria. Fish and chips are tasty, but nothing beats a great burrito.

Plus, heres guessing the long-awaited grand opening of the Central Subway will be even cooler than Mays debut of the Elizabeth line. The queen attended that one. My suggestion for ours? Drag queens.

Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
After a two-year hiatus, the San Francisco Art Book Fair, which offers visitors the chance to turn the pages of a staggering number of artists books, monographs and zines from around the world, returns this weekend for its most ambitious edition yet.

The fair, co-presented by local art gallery and bookshop Park Life, book publisher Colpa Press and Minnesota Street Project, launched in 2016 to coincide with Minnesota Street Projects opening. The first edition, planned over only about three months, was inspired by the New York and Los Angeles Art Book Fairs, presented by Printed Matter, ground zero for zine and art book publishing in New York. Since then, the SF Art Book Fair has steadily grown to be the third largest art book fair in the country.

The scale of this years iteration, however, was initially up in the air.

We thought it might be a more regional iteration of the fair because of the pandemic, said Jamie Alexander, co-owner of Park Life. But we have more international exhibitors than ever this year, which was a pleasant surprise for us.

The finalized roster of over 130 exhibitors, almost twice as many as in 2019, includes publishers, antiquarian book dealers, artists and galleries from Canada, French Polynesia, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, France, Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands, as well as a national presence with an emphasis on the Bay Area.

Lindsay Albert, director of programming and public engagement at Minnesota Street Project, sees this explosive interest in the fair as an upside to the pandemic and a result of the way Minnesota Street Project pivoted during the downturn.

The pandemic allowed for us to focus more on online programming and tap into an international audience that we now have, she said.

One of those efforts was the launch of the SFABF Publishing Grant, which awarded nine $1,000 grants to a diverse set of local and national publishers, many of whom who will be exhibiting at this years edition of the fair, including Bay Area publishers Sming Sming Books, Sun Night Editions and Unity Press.

Another way the fair emphasizes the local art community is by commissioning local artists to produce limited edition prints to benefit the fair. In the past, featured artists have included major names such as Sadie Barnette, Barry McGee and Alicia McCarthy. McCarthy, a painter and founding member of the Mission School art movement, has returned to contribute again this year, alongside painter and textile artist Jeffry Sincich, who recently exhibited at Park Life.

In addition to the exhibitors at the book fair, a robust lineup of programming runs Friday through Sunday. This years slate, featuring book signings, talks and panels, was curated by David Senior, head of library archives at SFMOMA. Standout programs include: Senior in conversation with legendary San Francisco artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose work is currently on view in the Venice Biennale; Dana Beard in conversation with local curator Jordan Stein, whose recent book Rip Tales: Jay DeFeos Estocada & Other Piecespresents an eclectic San Francisco art history revolving around its titular subject; and a screening of animated films presented by Telematic Media Arts.

The fair kicks off Thursday evening with an opening night celebration including live DJs and food trucks. Galleries inside Minnesota Street Project are also open through the weekend for those inclined to see some art.

Ive never seen this much energy of this sort in a building in San Francisco, ever, Alexander said, speaking to the response to previous years iterations of the fair.

While this years fair promises to be even more rousing than in the past, the best part comes after all the hubbub is left behind: the chance to curl up with a good book  or maybe a few dozen of them.
As a regulatory crisis engulfs Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, officials are preparing to cut 120 beds from the skilled nursing facility, according to a letter sent to hospital staff and obtained by The Examiner.

The setback comes as The City already is struggling with a well-documented shortage of skilled nursing beds and an ongoing regulatory clampdown that threatens to close the hospital and displace more than 600 medically fragile San Franciscans.

Staff at Laguna Honda were notified on June 30 that the hospital will go from 769 to 649 beds due to changes in federal guidance on long-term care facilities set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing the hospitals simultaneous ongoing effort to regain certification.

The changes urge skilled nursing facilities across the country to have no more than two patients per room in an effort to increase safety and quality of living for residents.

There are currently 623 people living at Laguna Honda, which has not been at full capacity since prior to the pandemic.

In preparation for recertification, Laguna Honda is required to internally move 90 patients to different rooms to meet the CMS regulations, a spokesperson for Laguna Honda said in an email. Laguna Honda leadership is initiating a process to ensure this process is the least disruptive to patients and the units. All internal moves will follow a set protocol that respects the patients needs and their belongings.

Without any plans to offset the bed cuts in some other way, such as opening up 120 skilled nursing beds elsewhere, The City faces an even bigger challenge to meet the needs of its aging population. The availability of affordable nursing homes and board-and-care facilities in San Francisco has plummeted while the cost of living has gone up.

The hospital stopped admitting new patients earlier this year after federal regulators decertified the facility following several inspections between October and April found the hospital was out of compliance with several safety issues. Laguna Honda is still licensed, but federal regulators terminated its participation in Medi-Cal and Medicaid. The vast majority of patients and residents at Laguna Honda are low-income and losing the reimbursement in government-subsidized health care plans puts the facility at risk of closing as soon as September.

While preparing for visits later this year that could recertify the facility, the hospital has started discharging patients in the meantime. To continue receiving federal funding throughout the recertification process, federal regulators at CMS are requiring Laguna Honda simultaneously implement a closure plan that attempts to discharge patients ahead of the possible closure.

That process has caused confusion and anxiety among residents and their families due to a lack of available options in San Francisco for patients to safely transfer. The hospital had 681 patients as of mid-May when discharges were initiated, compared with 623 living there as of Tuesday. That decrease includes at least 27 transfers to skilled nursing facilities primarily in San Mateo County and 12 discharges back to the community, according to data reported by the hospital.

This is not an institution thats nice to have, it is fundamental. It cant be closed. It must be here to do the purpose it was built, to serve the community and the most vulnerable, said Teresa Rutherford, a former Laguna Honda certified nursing assistant and representative for the union that represents them, SEIU 1021.

No layoffs are anticipated to follow the reduction in beds, according to Roland Pickens, interim CEO of Laguna Honda.

In addition to removing beds, the letter to staff shows Laguna Honda is piloting a management structure that includes increasing leadership roles on each unit and integrating more employee training.

While this change has financial, operational and staffing implications, we have approximately 100 budgeted vacant positions which we are working to fill. Before any permanent positions are impacted we will reduce the use of registry, temporary staffing and overtime to manage changes in our staffing model, the letter sent to staff reads.
Standing amid the same drug-laden streets Mayor London Breed pledged to clean up months ago, a new San Francisco leader pledged Tuesday to hold dealers accountable.

After taking a tour of the Tenderloin to view its notorious open-air drug markets, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins doubled down on that commitment, which includes a review of pending plea deals in drug cases offered under her predecessors leadership.

No longer can children and families and our elderly residents have to walk through the situations that I walked through this morning, seeing the drug dealing, seeing the open drug use on the street, Jenkins said. That is not something we can tolerate in the Tenderloin any longer.

Jenkins has offered few specifics just days into her tenure, but has begun to stake out a policy vision.

Its a fine line for the prosecutor to walk.

Public polls, including one commissioned by The Examiner, demonstrate voters disapproved of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled in June, but generally supported the policies that he touted. For example, more than two-thirds of respondents to The Examiner poll supported sending low-level criminals to diversion-type rehabilitation programs instead of jail custody.

Jenkins, who is expected to run in November to finish out the final year of Boudins term, could be aiming to appear tough on crime without coming off as retrograde.

The sight of open-air drug markets in areas like The Tenderloin and SoMa served as a compelling backdrop for proponents of Boudins recall. Now, with one of the most prominent recall leaders in office, theyll have to chart a new path forward, and how her message is received in The Tenderloin remains to be seen.

Joining Jenkins on Tuesday was Randy Shaw, the executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and a vocal Boudin critic.

Lets hope that today is the start of change because the people of the Tenderloin  the working class, multiracial community  should not be a containment zone for open-air drug dealing, Shaw said.

But the self-described mayor of the Tenderloin, Code Tenderloin founder Del Seymour, interjected during the Jenkins' conference and noted he was not invited on the neighborhood tour.

You really havent talked to the real residents and the business owners of Tenderloin  we walk through the streets every day, Seymour said.

In response, Jenkins agreed to meet with Seymour and said today was only the start.

Jenkins approach to the office has begun to take shape in the days since her appointment by Breed, who allowed her Tenderloin emergency declaration to expire several weeks ago.

In her first meeting last week with top attorneys from her office, Jenkins asked them to review every plea deal offered by prosecutors in a drug case that remains on the table, indicating she may withdraw them and pursue a stricter course.

On Tuesday, she also expressed support for a proposal from Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents SoMa and Mission Bay, to create right to recovery zones in which enforcement against open-air drug dealing will be prioritized.

Jenkins commitment to stricter enforcement of drug laws have led to questions about the potential impact on immigrants, who risk deportation if convicted. Noting her father is from El Salvador and not a U.S. citizen, Jenkins said her office is legally required to take a defendants immigration status into account and would continue to do so.

But Jenkins lamented that Boudins office secured only three convictions for possession with intent to sell drugs in 2021. It's a figure Boudins office attributed to a concerted effort to minimize the jail population during the COVID-19 pandemic and the legal requirement that prosecutors take into account a defendant's immigration status, which is placed in jeopardy by higher-level crimes.

I want to know what types of offers are on the table  so that we can craft a policy that promotes more accountability, said Jenkins, who placed particular focus on repeat offenders.

In another key issue, Jenkins has voiced support for the proposed law that would set standards for how and when the San Francisco Police Department is allowed to monitor private security camera footage, which has drawn scrutiny from privacy and civil rights advocates.

The law, she said on Tuesday, will have a great aid in how we prosecute cases.

Jenkins isnt set to throw away all of Boudins creations.

She voiced support for the Innocence Commission, which was established by Boudin in 2020 and investigates the claims of innocence made by incarcerated people. Its work led to the April exoneration of Joaquin Ciria, who had been wrongfully imprisoned for 32 years for a murder he did not commit.
Though she distinguished herself through biting criticism of Chesa Boudin during the recall campaign, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took a more conciliatory tone in her first meeting with the offices senior staff last week.

Jenkins told staff in the DA's office that she wanted to calm the waters and extend a hand, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Examiner. She also said she did not want the office to be negative or to stay divided.

I just dont think we can continue to function in a state that is pre-Chesa, post-Chesa.  I want you all to know that Im committed to figuring out how we bridge that gap, said Jenkins.

The new DA made it clear she would take a different approach to drug cases, requesting a review of pending plea deals. But Jenkins, who clearly favors a more punishment-heavy approach, rejected the notion that her appointment signified a defeat for criminal justice reform.

My view of accountability and restoring accountability is not a rejection of reform and progressive policies, said Jenkins. We have to continue to maintain as many as we can  but we also have a job to do, and thats to clean up what's going on outside.

The softer tone mirrors a noticeable message shift by Boudins critics. After pushing a divisive campaign to blame the DA for every crime in San Francisco, they now want to end the political wrangling and unite the community behind Jenkins who  like Boudin  casts herself as a progressive prosecutor.

The time for finger-pointing and blaming other people is over, said Mayor London Breed last week. We have got to put the political rhetoric behind us and move forward to get our city on the right path.

No district attorney can snap their fingers and do away with all crime, Jenkins told the New York Times.

Not so fast. Breed appointed Jenkins in the aftermath of a bitter campaign that saddled the DA with direct responsibility for crime rates. Why move the goal posts now?

Judging from anecdotal evidence, the new DA did not have an immediate impact on crime. On Saturday, a fresh pool of shattered auto glass shimmered on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights. And drug dealers plying their trade in well-known hotspots apparently did not receive the memo that things have changed.

Jenkins vowed to target open-air drug markets on day one, but the drug trade flourished in the usual zones on Monday afternoon. At Eighth and Mission, dozens of users, attended by dealers, crowded the corner.

Same thing up at Eddy and Larkin, where two of the dealers  openly displaying drug-filled baggies in front of the Phoenix Hotel  appeared to be teenage girls. A block away, four SFPD officers walked up Polk Street with barely a glance toward the action.

The next morning, Jenkins held a news conference in the Phoenix Hotels parking lot.

No longer can children and families and our elderly residents have to walk through the situations that I walked through, said Jenkins, after a tour of nearby drug hotspots. Seeing the drug deals, seeing open drug use on the street, that is not something that we can tolerate in the Tenderloin any longer.

Her sentiments were mild compared to those Breed expressed in December, when she gained national media attention for decrying the bullsh-t thats destroyed our city and declaring an emergency in the Tenderloin. Still, Jenkins reaffirmed her commitment to making sure that we end these open-air drug markets, that we clear these streets.

But Breeds 90-day emergency fizzled without results, and its not clear how Jenkins will succeed where the mayor failed. In a troubling sign, neither Breed nor San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott attended her news conference.

During a question and answer session, Jenkins stuck to platitudes. When asked what new strategies she might have to target the drug problem, she said she would work with the SFPD narcotics unit and the U.S. attorneys office.

One of the main things is working with the other agencies that are going to be necessary to solve this problem, right? said Jenkins.

But if police could solve drug addiction, they would have done so by now. Decades of trying to treat the problem with incarceration just made it worse, and even the harshest of approaches have resulted in miserable failure.

Just look at the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Duterte pursued a strategy of killing drug users and dealers. In 2017  after an estimated 12,000 extrajudicial murders  Duterte admitted defeat, saying that his promise to eliminate methamphetamine use wont be fulfilled, that this (drug use) really will not end.

If death squads couldnt get the job done, neither can narcotics squads. Sure, they can launch big sweeps to create shock and awe. They can make examples out of the few dealers they manage to catch. They can jail as many drug users as possible in an effort to temporarily suppress public drug use.

None of these tired approaches are progressive, and none will solve the actual problem, but they will definitely worsen existing social inequities.

Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs, wrote Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

Campaigns run on simple ideas that fit neatly into soundbites and slogans. Jenkins excelled at attacking Boudin, but as DA shell confront the buzz saw of reality. The recall sold voters on the idea that an aggressive DA could invisibilize the problems of street drug use and rampant property crime, but such promises are easier made than kept.

On Tuesday, Jenkins received a poignant reminder of her limited power. As she stood before a phalanx of cameras, dealers lurked and the addicted imbibed just across the street. People who regularly sell and use drugs in full view of police officers probably arent worrying about revoked plea deals.

Later that evening, I returned to the Phoenix Hotel. One SFPD patrol car sat idly at the corner as the reputed drug crews ate meals catered out of a car. A few feet down the sidewalk, a half-dozen drug users brandished paraphernalia.

On Eddy Street, a group of masked men beckoned me with eye contact. They lost interest when I identified myself as a journalist, and they declined to answer questions. But one shot back a terse reply when asked whether he feared new plans to clean up the street: No.
Twitter sued Elon Musk on Tuesday to force the billionaire to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company, setting the stage for a prolonged legal battle over the fate of the social media service.

Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter but declared last week that he intended to walk away from the deal. To push Musk to abide by the acquisition agreement, Twitter sued him in Chancery Court in Delaware. The court will determine whether he remains on the hook for the purchase or whether Twitter violated its obligation to provide Musk with data he requested, entitling him to walk away.

At the heart of the case is the issue of disclosure. To terminate the deal, Musk claimed that Twitter balked at handing over information about spam bots, also known as fake accounts, on the platform. He repeatedly said he did not believe the companys public statements that roughly 5 percent of its active users are bots. Twitter intentionally misled the public, he said, and obstructed his efforts to get more information about how it accounts for the figures. Musk has also taken aim at Twitter for not giving warning before recently firing two key executives.

But Musk signed a legally binding agreement with Twitter. And in that contract, Twitter included a specific performance clause that allows it to sue to force the deal through, so long as the debt that the billionaire has corralled for the acquisition is in place.

In a letter to Musks lawyers on Sunday, Twitters lawyers said that his move to terminate the deal was invalid and wrongful and that Musk knowingly, intentionally, willfully and materially breached his agreement to buy the firm. The company has said that it is confident in its figures about spam accounts, and that it uses experts in spam to audit the count and ensure its accuracy.

Still, Musks threat of walking away could bring Twitter back to the negotiating table, allowing the billionaire to buy the company at a discount. Musks reluctance to proceed with the Twitter deal has coincided with a significant dip in the value of many Silicon Valley companies, including Tesla, his electric vehicle company, which is the main source of his wealth.

The two sides could also settle. Or they could pay a $1 billion breakup fee and walk away, an option allowed only under certain circumstances, such as if Musks financing fell through.

If Musk successfully disentangles himself from Twitter, it could be disastrous for the company. Its stock has fallen more than 35 percent below his offer of $54.20 per share. Twitters business has also deteriorated in recent months. In May, Parag Agrawal, Twitters chief executive, said in a memo to employees that the company had not lived up to its business and financial goals.

Now that Twitter has sued, Musk and his lawyers are expected to respond. While the timeline beyond then depends on many factors, the company and Musk will most likely be called to a hearing in Delaware and go through the discovery process, with the two sides digging up facts they believe are relevant to the case.

The case may then move to a trial, though there is a chance the judge assigned to the case will dismiss Musks efforts to walk away. If the suit proceeds to trial, the judge will decide whether Twitters disclosures were insufficient and constituted a material harm to the deal. The process is likely to take months.

In the past, Delawares Chancery Court has prevented companies from trying to walk away from deals. In 2001, for example, when Tyson Foods tried to back out of an acquisition of the meatpacker IBP, the court ruled that Tyson had to follow through with the agreement. In situations where the court has allowed buyers to exit, it has required them to pay damages. By most readings of Twitters contract with Musk, damages would be capped at $1 billion.

Twitter and Musk have assembled legal teams to duke it out. Leading Twitters efforts in Delaware is William Savitt, a lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Wachtell Lipton is famous for, among other things, developing legal tactics to protect companies from hostile buyers, like the so-called poison pill that Twitter originally put in place to defend itself against Musk.

Savitt has experience before Delawares Chancery Court and previously defended companies against the likes of Carl Icahn and Pershing Square, the investment firm run by the billionaire William Ackman. But Musk is unlike any other corporate raider who preceded him, making him a particularly complex opponent.

Musks legal team includes his personal lawyer, Alex Spiro, as well as lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Skadden is a go-to corporate law firm, with ample experience arguing cases in front of the Delaware court, including the attempt by the luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to break up its $16 billion deal to acquire Tiffany & Company. Skaddens client, LVMH, ultimately shaved about $420 million off its purchase price.

This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
The Berkeley Police Department said Wednesday that a 15-year-old Berkeley High School student was charged with sexually assaulting another student at the school.

"The sexual assault occurred on campus and during school hours," the department said in a news release.

The department said it responded to a report of an assault at the school at 1980 Allston Way on May 20 at 12:40 p.m. After an investigation, the department obtained a Ramey warrant and arrested the teen at his home, police said. Police can obtain a Ramey warrant by going directly to a judge and bypassing the district attorney. The suspect was booked into juvenile hall, police said.

The suspect is a male, the department told SFGATE. No other details about the suspect or the victim are being shared.

The teenager was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, police said. The district attorney can't reveal any details on the case because it involves juveniles.

Berkeley High School didn't immediately respond to a request for a statement. The story will be updated if the school responds.

Berkeley High is the only public high school in Berkeley and has 3,200 students. It's located near Downtown Berkeley.

This is a developing story and details will be added as they become available.
In the latest large tech departure out of downtown San Francisco, Salesforce has listed nearly half of its office space at 50 Fremont St. for lease.

The tech giant listed roughly 412,600 square feet of the 817,000-square-foot, 43-story Salesforce West tower, the San Francisco Business Times reported. This is the most recent and sizable example of high profile companies doing away with San Francisco offices since the coronavirus pandemic radically changed how people work.

The company will maintain ownership of the building and may reoccupy the space in the future, a Salesforce spokesperson said in a statement sent to SFGATE. 352,300 square feet of the listing will be available August 1, with the rest freeing up in December.

We are subleasing floors in Salesforce West to make the most efficient use of our real estate footprint, the statement says. As the largest private employer in San Francisco, we are deeply committed to the city and are actively welcoming employees back to Salesforce Tower."

In February of last year, Salesforce gave its employees the option to permanently work remotely or on a hybrid schedule. Since then, the company has cut back on its office space in the city multiple times and even canceled a 325,000-square-foot lease at an unbuilt tower on Howard St. Two-thirds of the namesake Salesforce Tower at 415 Mission St., which has dominated San Francisco's skyline since it was topped out in 2017, is currently leased.

Salesforce has over 10,000 employees in the Bay Area. Despite downsizing in San Francisco, the company announced in a March blog post its plans to open Salesforce Towers in Tokyo, Dublin, Sydney and Chicago over the next two years.

Salesforce thrives in city centers around the globe where we can get together, embrace all that downtown areas have to offer, and be active members of our communities, the blog post says.
A Bay Area lawmaker is warning that San Francisco is "veering toward a public health mess" over monkeypox, citing a Wednesday announcement from the San Francisco Department of Public Health that said the agency is running low on monkeypox vaccines and will shutter its clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital until more supply arrives.

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said the timing of the vaccine shortage is especially troubling given the disease's growing prevalence in the area.

"This exhaustion of existing vaccine supply is happening exactly as San Francisco and other communities continue to see an increase in monkeypox infections and exposures," he said in a statement. "More vaccine doses will be sent to San Francisco shortly, but the amount will still be quite limited."

A news release from the San Francisco Department of Public Health said the vaccine clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has 50 remaining doses it will administer Wednesday on a first come, first served basis. Afterward, it will close until the next batch of doses arrive. The release said other community clinics  such as the San Francisco City Clinic and the Adult Immunization and Travel Clinic  will continue to administer remaining doses but also expect to run out of supply sometime this week.

A Tuesday report from KTVU said the line outside of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital stretched down the block as dozens of residents waited to receive a vaccine before supplies run out. Some interviewed by KTVU said they'd waited as long as two hours to be inoculated.

California has the second-highest number of confirmed monkeypox cases in the nation, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC map shows that California has 150 confirmed cases  just behind New York, with 158  but doesn't specify where in-state outbreaks are most prevalent. However, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said the community has seen 68 confirmed cases so far.

In his statement, Wiener said the federal government is to blame for the vaccine shortage. He said public health experts warned back in 2010 that monkeypox would inevitably spread beyond West Africa  where the disease is most common  and said the Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine for use in 2019.

"Yet, the United States government ordered a mere 56,000 vaccine doses (enough for 28,000 people) for the national vaccine stockpile and failed to order the millions of doses that should have been ordered in preparation for an inevitable outbreak," he said.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health release said officials "urgently" ordered 35,000 new doses this week but didn't specify when it expects to receive the entirety, or a portion, of that order.

Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious disease that's typically characterized by a new, unexplained rash and skin lesions. Other early symptoms include fever, chills and swollen lymph nodes. The CDC says the disease is rarely fatal, but warns that children under 8, people with weakened immune systems and people with a history of eczema are especially susceptible to becoming seriously ill.

"We need an enormous amount of additional vaccine doses, and we need them immediately," Wiener said in his statement. "The federal government's failures are threatening to deeply harm our community. Once we move past this emergency, we need accountability for these failures  failures that put people's lives and health in jeopardy."
A California fire has been burning in the marshland of the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 6 weeks, and a material known as peat is fueling this blaze and making it difficult to extinguish, officials said.

"It's a very stubborn fire," said Steve Hill, the public information officer for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. "It's a peat fire, which means that it's burning in a combination of organic materials and minerals. Peat is good for gardens but it has a little pesky problem, a worldwide problem, in that it can spontaneously combust. The fire is burning underground in a huge area and it has proven to be really hard to put out. "

The Marsh Fire ignited in a homeless encampment that was completely consumed by flames along with 200 acres on May 28 near Suisun and Solano Avenues in Bay Point, Hill said.

Flames spread into the peat across an area that was inaccessible to firefighters and engines and Hill said the decision was made to let the fire burn itself out.

The fire activity was limited for weeks, but on Saturday winds fanned flames and and it flared up, pushing into a grassy area of neighboring Pittsburg and threatening overhead high-voltage PG&E transmission lines and decommissioned industrial sites.

"It could have threatened homes, but fortunately we were able to stop it," Hill said. "But our residents have been suffering from smoke and the smoke has been bad since the flare up. We're no longer satisfied with just allowing it to burn out, which often happens with a peat fire."

The fire is contained and not threatening any homes, but the smoke is significant.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued an air quality advisory due to the March Fire for eastern Contra Costa County for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Hill said that on July 10 and 11, a helicopter dumped more than 400,000 gallons of water on the blaze"and it has done nothing."

"Onshore winds during the day are expected to disperse smoke but as winds die down overnight localized pollution levels may rise," the district said. You can monitor your area's air quality on the federal AirNow website.

Hill said the fire protection district is looking at options for putting out the fire including pumping water from the Delta onto the blaze.

"The solution could be flooding that entire area," Hill said. "The good news is that it's surrounded by water on three sides by the Delta. The bad news is there are going to be a lot of organizations that have to approve this. We can't just go out and pump millions of gallons of water on it."
This article, 550 Women Sue Uber Over Alleged Sexual Assaults, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Uber has been sued by 550 women who allege they were sexually assaulted, harassed or attacked by Uber drivers, according to law firm Slater Slater Schulman.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that 550 women across several states, including California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, had been "kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers."

In addition to the 550 women currently involved in the civil suit, another 150 cases are being looked into by the law firm.

"Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously," an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CNET. "While we can't comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work."

Uber's second US safety report was released last month. It included 141 rape reports in 2020.

In 2015, Uber was sued for sexual assault, and in 2018 it faced additional allegations and reports of rape. Its first US safety report, released in late 2019, noted nearly 500 rape reports in two years.

"While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences," said Adam Slater, founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman. "There is so much more that Uber can be doing to protect riders: adding cameras to deter assaults, performing more robust background checks on drivers, creating a warning system when drivers don't stay on a path to a destination."

In 2019, Uber added a number of safety features, including the ability to directly text 911 responders. It also has RideCheck, which pings drivers and passengers if it detects an unusually long stop or crash.
Click here to read the full article.

A contestant on the second season of Netflixs Love Is Blind reality series is suing the streamer and the shows producers, charging them with a string of labor-law violations, including fostering inhumane working conditions and paying cast members less than minimum wage.

The lawsuit, filed by Jeremy Hartwell, alleges Love Is Blind producers plied the cast with alcohol and deprived them of food and water  while paying rates that were below Los Angeles Countys minimum wage. The suit, filed in California Superior Court in L.A., names as defendants Netflix, production company Kinetic Content and Kinetics casting company Delirium TV.

Mr. Hartwells involvement in Season 2 of Love is Blind lasted less than one week. Unfortunately, for Mr. Hartwell, his journey ended early after he failed to develop a significant connection with any other participant, Kinetic said in a statement to Variety. While we will not speculate as to his motives for filing the lawsuit, there is absolutely no merit to Mr. Hartwells allegations, and we will vigorously defend against his claims.

Hartwell, who is director at a mortgage company in Chicago, claims he spent several days recovering from the effects of sleep deprivation, lack of access to food and water and copious amounts of alcohol that he was provided. Love Is Blind Season 2 premiered on Netflix in February 2022.

According to the lawsuit, Love Is Blind contestants should have been classified under California state law as employees rather than independent contractors because producers dictated the timing, manner and means of their work. During the production, producers paid contestants a flat rate of $1,000 per week  despite forcing them to work up to 20 hours per day, seven days per week. That works out to as little as $7.14 per hour, well under the minimum wage in Los Angeles County of at least $15 per hour, according to the complaint.

Producers of the show intentionally underpaid the cast members, deprived them of food, water and sleep, plied them with booze and cut off their access to personal contacts and most of the outside world. This made cast members hungry for social connections and altered their emotions and decision-making, said attorney Chantal Payton of Payton Employment Law, the L.A.-based firm that is representing Hartwell.

Hartwells suit seeks class-action status on behalf of all participants in Love Is Blind and other non-scripted productions created by the defendants over the past four years. Payton Employment Law estimates the potential size of the plaintiff class to number more than 100 individuals.

According to Hartwells suit, the shows contracts required contestants to agree that if they left the show before shooting was completed, they would have to pay $50,000 in liquidated damages. The lawsuit alleges that reality show cast members either have a genuine fear of retaliation and harm to their reputation for any resistance to the orders of those holding the purse strings or they arent aware of their rights.

Payton said in a statement provided by his attorneys, Reality show production and casting companies exert a lot more control over the contestants than the law allows for a worker to truly be considered an independent contractor, especially in shows where cast members are supposedly searching for love.

Kinetic Content, in addition to Love Is Blind, also produces the reality shows The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, which debuted this year on Netflix, and Married at First Sight, which was created in 2014 and airs on Lifetime and streams on Netflix.

In Love Is Blind, the contestants  15 men and 15 women  meet their dates from separate pods and converse through speakers, unable to see each other. Two contestants must get engaged before they are allowed to meet face-to-face, which for some participants leads all the way to an on-screen marriage and for others a wedding-day breakup. Love Is Blind just picked up a 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards nomination for structured reality program (and earned Emmys two noms in 2020) and has spawned Brazilian and Japanese versions.

Season 3 of Love Is Blind, shot in Dallas, is slated to hit Netflix later this year.

The combination of sleep deprivation, isolation, lack of food, and an excess of alcohol all either required, enabled or encouraged by defendants contributed to inhumane working conditions and altered mental state for the cast, reads Hartwells complaint. At times, defendants left members of the cast alone for hours at a time with no access to a phone, food, or any other type of contact with the outside world until they were required to return to working on the production.

Hartwells lawsuit seeks unpaid wages plus, financial compensation for missed meal breaks and rest periods, plus unspecified monetary damages for unfair business practices and civil penalties for labor code violations.

The suit was filed June 29 in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles. The case number is 22STCV21223. The court has scheduled a Sept. 16 initial status conference.

Emily Longeretta contributed to this report.

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No list of iconic San Francisco figures would be complete without House of Prime Ribs Joe Betz  one of the citys longest-running restaurateurs.

At 83, hes a living history book, filled with pages that are lovingly inscribed with remarkable San Francisco tales from his time running an enormously popular discotheque in the Transamerica Pyramid to presiding over one of the citys flagship restaurants for more than a third of a century.

I do not come from a golden spoon

House of Prime Ribs gold-accented, wooden front doors are still locked before dinner service on a recent Thursday afternoon, when a spry gentleman wearing a crisp blue and red patterned button-up and dark denim smiles from behind its glass windows. He unlocks the entrance and welcomes me inside the acclaimed restaurant thats been known for its well-marbled cuts of prime rib and chilled martinis since 1949.

Patricia Chang/Special to SFGATE Patricia Chang/Special to SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Patricia Chang/Special to SFGATE Photos: Patricia Chang / Special to SFGATE Photos: Patricia Chang / Special to SFGATE

As we walk past tables draped in white fabric and garnished with pristine glassware perfectly set, Betz invites me into one of HOPRs wine rooms, where he sits, surrounded by thousands of dark olive bottles (some dating back to 1932) that somehow arent covered in a single speck of dust.

Behind a pair of soft blue eyes, the man known for his generous philanthropy during the annual HOPR Christmas Eve lunch hosted at Glide Memorial Church, unfolds his deep adoration for the Van Ness institution and describes his role in its 73-year legacy.

Patricia Chang/Special to SFGATE

Prime rib is a comfort food. When the economy goes down, you dont have the money to go for experience food, he candidly said. You want to go somewhere where you know youll get your moneys worth  and thats what we are  and we stay that way.

Born in Bavaria, Betz began working in restaurants in Munich when he was 14 years old. Before he purchased HOPR in 1985 from its original owner, Lou Balaski, he waited tables at Hoffmans Grill, a no-fuss diner and historic landmark at 619 Market St. between New Montgomery and 2nd streets. At just 28 years old, Betz ended up buying Hoffmans in 1968 and became the citys youngest restaurateur.

It was an American restaurant and it had a big bar. Needless to say, being there for so long at that time, it was running down, Betz described. ... Dont forget, I was 28 when I opened. I mean, I had very little money. I was worried how I was going to pay my bills, but I stuck it out. I had a wife and two kids, so I worked a little harder.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Betz said he welcomed all walks of life into Hoffmans. It was during a time when political tensions ran high, and anti-Vietnam War protests roared loudly from Washington, D.C., and throughout the Bay Area. But despite that, Betz remembers calling down to Letterman Army Hospital at the Presidio to offer his hospitality.

During the time with the protests, I invited always on Thursdays at Hoffmans, four wounded soldiers for lunch as my guest  every Thursday, he said. One day, a guy comes in with a wheelchair, and the guy looked at me and said, Mr. Betz, do you remember me? and I said, Maybe I should, but Im sorry I dont.

The soldier remembered as a boy, Betz visited his home with his father to watch a program on their new color TV. As he recalled the memory, it came flooding back to Betz, too. At the time, Betz said he worked two to three jobs before he purchased Hoffmans, and recalls taking a break between one of his many shifts to pass the time at his friends place.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

He was a young kid, and then he went into the military and then he stepped on a land mine and it blew his legs, Betz solemnly said. So I could understand why people protest.

But Betz also said he respects different opinions on such sensitive topics, acknowledging that a persons upbringing and life experiences play major roles in shaping their beliefs.

If you come from a family whos struggling, you may have a more different opinion about people who struggle  and you may be more sympathetic, he said. If you come from something with a golden spoon, then maybe you dont understand. I do not come from a golden spoon, because Ive been working since Im 14.

While Betz said he certainly did not agree with the Vietnam War, or any war for that matter, he has always felt a duty to feed those in need  no matter their background. For him, every person who walks through his doors deserves respect.

Alain McLaughlin

One Sunday, Betz recalls attending service at Glide Memorial Church, where he was struck by the mornings teachings about hope, not class differences, when he decided to begin donating his efforts to the organization. Now a nearly 30-year tradition, HOPR has donated thousands of meals to the community during the holidays, which includes cuts of its signature, dry-aged beef and sides such as honey-lemon broccoli, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and eclairs.

We serve a couple of thousand people at Christmas Eve, he said. Were not just donating it, but my sons and I and my grandchildren are there serving it because I want my grandchildren to see there are two sides of the world  and people work very hard.

You could shoot a cannon through it

As Hoffmans became a Market Street staple well into the 70s, Betz also ran all of the food operations inside the tallest building in San Franciscos skyline at the time, the Transamerica Pyramid, including catering and a coffee shop known as the Bank Exchange. While there, Betz saw an opportunity when night blanketed the 48-story skyscraper.

In 1978, you could shoot a cannon through it and it wouldn't hit anybody at night, Betz said. So I put a discotheque in there, and it became one of the top five in the country.

He dubbed this venture the Park Exchange, a gazebo-like glass structure on the ground floor with a sophisticated sound system. It launched a year after the famous celebrity-clad Studio 54 nightclub debuted in New York, and was the No. 1 liquor seller among discos in Northern California  a whopping $64,000 a month, according to an article from the SF Examiner in 1979.

San Francisco Examiner

An earlier account from the Examiner reported that Betz also acquired a Rolls-Royce for the Park Exchange, where the best-dressed couple and best-dressed disco lady won the chance to be chauffeured around for the city for the day in all its luxury before ending their night at the club.

Yet there was one stark difference between Betzs popular dance hall and the cocaine-fueled parties at Studio 54.

I think the success in that one is a simple one. I dont use drugs. I drink maybe sometimes too much, but I dont use drugs and never did. And so, I had a very dislike for these pushers, Betz said. I dont care what people do, but I had very close connections with the police department and with the narcotics [unit], so they helped me out to assure me the place was clean.

There were two dance floors and an enclosed game room in the center of all the action, and late-night suppers were served to keep guests well fed as they danced the night away to some of the eras most popular music from the Bee Gees to Donna Summer.

So you could go there with your parents, for example, or with somebody, and not worry about being in a raid, he said. We had some big celebrities there and big political figures because of that.

Notable figures included the king of Malaysia, three Saudi princes and one sultan. The governor of Guam even brought his son to Park Exchange for a college graduation party, according to the Examiner.

As disco faded and left traces of glitter in its wake, San Francisco experienced more growth, with historic buildings being revamped throughout the city. But instead of demolishing entire landmarks, city planners would leave the facade of their presence on the outside, while they became trendy new businesses and housing developments on the inside.

OpenSFHistory / wnp32.3426 / Courtesy Emiliano Echeverria

Although recognized as a historic landmark in 1981, Hoffmans was ultimately closed in 1984 and gutted, making way for big high-rises that were erected around the Edwardian-style building.

An article from the San Francisco Chronicle archives describes the days leading up to Hoffmans demolishment, a mainstay at 619 Market St. since 1913.

Historic Hoffman's Grill, last relic of the pre-World War I restaurants on Market Street, closed June 29 with toasts to a vanished era, the article described. Hearty German fare, salty waiters, generous drinks and authentic atmosphere of stained glass, murky paintings and slow fans  that was Hoffman's.

OpenSFHistory / wnp32.3430 / Courtesy Emiliano Echeverria

Betz was 44 years old at the time of the shift, but the end of Hoffmans wasnt without its silver lining. According to the Chronicles article, Betz and his former wife Heide received a $3 million dollar settlement to vacate the beloved restaurant so that it could make way for a new office building.

We were lucky that we had a great lease, so they had to buy us out, Betz said. So it was actually a very good ending. I miss Hoffmans more emotionally than financially.

I live this place

Back inside HOPR, the evenings bartender starts taking inventory of his ingredients before the restaurant opens for cocktail hour at 4:30 p.m. Betzs son, Steven Betz, is seen zipping about the aisles making sure everything is just so before dipping behind the scenes to the kitchen.

Joe points Steven out, acknowledging that he couldnt run HOPR without him and noting that hes just as passionate about the family-run business as his father. The two recently flew out to Chicago in June for the James Beard Awards, where HOPR was one of five finalists in the country in the Outstanding Hospitality category.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

I live this place. And, Im very fortunate I have my son here. Hes doing a great job with how things are going, Betz said. Steven and I went [to the awards] together, and I realized that I wouldnt be there without him, and Im very fortunate that he has the same interest that I have.

Less than a year after Hoffmans shuttered, Betz immediately jumped back into the restaurant business with HOPR in 1985. He completely remodeled his newly purchased restaurant to bring it into a new era, where it would no longer stick to its former coat-and-tie dress code and he would also remove the high booths that boxed in its guests.

He tore everything out from floor to ceiling, put in a new kitchen and retained HOPRs original back-of-the-house crew and brought in some familiar Hoffmans servers to operate the front of house. He describes the bare bones layout as very much the same as it was in 1949, its just been updated to give its five dining rooms a fresh look that he said is a bit more feminine in nature.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

We just recently repainted everything. Its a constant upgrade. We dont want to be stale, Betz said. When youre around for so many years, sometimes you dont see dirt grow. Later on today, somebodys going to come around and change the light fixtures.

Before Betz took over the restaurant, he said HOPR was only churning out about 75 dinners a night. Now, the famed prime rib hotspot easily dishes out 600 plates during evening service  and thats considered a slow night.

When youre in the business, and dealing with so many people, you have to like it and you become emotional, he said. Im going to be 83 in two days, and I still love what Im doing. I dont like it. I love it. Youre emotionally involved. Its not just a bank account. Its an emotion.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Betz often meets with his employees to reinforce that as long as hes buying the best, top-quality beef in the country, he expects them to do the best they can while serving it to customers. Sides such as mashed or baked potatoes, creamed corn and spinach are all basic accompaniments that Betz says his customers are quite fond of, but there is one recipe at HOPR that is anything but ordinary.

Whats not basic is our house salad dressing. To make the dressing, at the base, you have to almost ferment it and from the beginning to table ready is about 10 days, he said, before cracking a playful smile. Its a creamy dressing, based in sherry and apple vinegar. If I tell you the secret, Id have to kill you.

And while other fancy steakhouses dont always cater to children and the younger generation, Betz is there to welcome them to a seat at his table. Hes watched generations of families grow up through the decades, a true testament to HOPRs longevity.

Its an institution. Before my father took it over, we used to come here, Steven said. So as a child, before I had anything to do with the restaurant, we used to come here as children. A lot of San Francisco, Id imagine, has done the same thing.

Patricia Chang/Special to SFGATE

After nearly 40 years, Betz is admittedly his own biggest critic and says the moment a business owner doesnt find something to perfect or to tweak, that means theyre on their way out  and he doesnt plan to retire anytime soon.

My job is not to bask in glory, Betz said. My job is to keep things going as best as we can.

House of Prime Rib, 1906 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Open Monday through Friday, 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 4 p.m.-10 p.m.
NEW BRITAIN  Nearly three decades after killing his teenage daughter, Robert Honsch was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison, according to New Britain States Attorney Christian Watson.

In March, a Superior Court jury found Honsch, 78, guilty of murder. Honsch has been serving a life sentence in Massachusetts since being found guilty five years ago of killing his wife.

Police found the body of a teenage girl in a parking lot in New Britain on Sept. 28, 1995. She had been shot in the head, wrapped in garbage bags and covered with two sleeping bags, Watson said in a news release.

Eight days later, police discovered another woman about 40 miles away in Tolland State Forest in Massachusetts. She was also shot in the head, but her body was in an advanced state of decomposition, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Both women went unidentified for years until investigators got a break in the case.

In 2014, the womens relatives filed a missing persons report, allowing investigators to identify the bodies for the first time since they were found 19 years earlier.

Law enforcement later identified the women as Robert Honschs daughter, 17-year-old Elizabeth Honsch, and his wife, 53-year-old Marcia Honsch.

Police determined Honsch had been living with his wife and daughter in New York at the time of the fatal shootings. Shortly after the murders, Honsch went to family members homes and told them that Marcia and Elizabeth had left for Australia. He said he would join them because of a job transfer.

Honsch then fled to South Africa and came back to the United states years later, Watson said.

In 2014, investigators found Honsch living in Ohio under the name Robert Tyree with a wife and three children. DNA and fingerprint evidence linked Honsch to his daughters murder and police arrested Honsch in Dalton, Ohio.
A man looking to get his eyebrows done at Honolulus European Wax Center threw a tantrum when he refused to abide by the businesss rules and mask up, Hawaii News Now reported.

Spa employees who witnessed it on Saturday said they were shocked by his belligerent behavior.

Ive never had anyone get violent over not wanting to wear the mask, assistant manager Kacey Morichika told the outlet.

He ended up flinging our desk supplies down, he broke our little stamp card that we need to validate parking for our garage, she said. He threw our card reader at the computer and he left.



According to Hawaii News Now, the spa owner plans on pressing charges and continuing to enforce masking as they work in close contact with clients.

While statewide indoor mask mandates were lifted in March 2022, Honolulu businesses can still enforce their own masking rules. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Hawaii officials recommend wearing masks in crowded settings even if it's outdoors. As of July 13, community transmission is high in Honolulu County, with the omicron BA.5 subvariant reportedly making up 65% of the countys new cases last week and the BA.4 subvariant accounting for 16%, Hawaii News Now said.

BA.5 is the most infectious coronavirus subvariant that has emerged from the pandemic, in part because it's better at evading "neutralizing antibodies" that identify and block it from infecting the body's cells.

"BA.5 appears to be more transmissible than prior omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2, which were already more transmissible than delta and earlier variants," Dr. Anne Liu, a professor of infectious diseases at Stanford, previously told SFGATE. "The antibodies we have from vaccination or prior infections are less protective against BA.5 than they were against prior variants."

SFGATE news director Amy Graff contributed to this report.
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI  Credit Union Trust has appointed a new board chair and added two new members to its Board of Directors. The appointments include:

Jessica has been a valuable member of the board of directors since Credit Union Trust was founded, and is a highly engaged leader, said Jordan Summers, president and CEO of Credit Union Trust. Her deep experience in compliance and operations has been particularly valuable and we will benefit greatly from her expanded leadership.

I am honored to serve in this expanded role, said Hillborg. The value and growth of this organization is noteworthy, and my goal is to contribute to the expanded impact of its services on more members of the Michigan community.

Hillborg also welcomed Luciani and Wisner-Frank to the board.

They bring significant and valuable experience and are well respected in the industry, said Hillborg. I look forward to the perspective they bring to the Board as Credit Union Trust continues to grow.

I am thrilled to join the Board of Directors of Credit Union Trust, said Luciani. The leadership, vision, and entrepreneurial spirit of this group has created an organization that provides critical solutions to our members and communities. I look forward to contributing to our next phase of growth and expansion.

Credit Union Trusts board and management have laid a great foundation, said Wisner-Frank. I am looking forward to contributing to the future growth and success of the company.

Luciani and Wisner-Frank replace the CEOs from their respective credit unions, who were part of the initial board formed in 2018 that helped launch Credit Union Trust.



Hillborg leads the compliance and fraud, audit, legal, asset recovery, investment, and trust services areas at the credit union. She is a graduate of Northwood University, with a bachelors in management; she also holds the Credit Union National Associations (CUNA) Credit Union Certified Executive certification through the University of Wisconsin School of Business as well as a BSA and Compliance certification through CUNA and the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist designation from ACAMS.

Luciani has more than 20 years experience in the credit union industry and was recently recognized as Professional of the Year by Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) for her leadership and accomplishments within the credit union industry, particularly within the state of Michigan. Prior to joining Honor Credit Union, Luciani served as CEO at Marshall Community Credit Union for 11 years. She is also the chair of the Michigan Credit Union League Board of Directors, vice chair of PAC Trustees and director of CU Solutions Group.

Wisner-Frank joined Community Choice Credit Union in 2001 and serves as the chief financial officer. Wisner-Frank received the Credit Union Times Trailblazer CFO of the Year award in 2015. She serves on the board of directors for Member First Mortgage, Commercial Alliance, and Michigan Credit Union League. She also holds an executive position with the Oakland County Chapter of Credit Unions.
BRIDGEPORT  A Danbury man was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, according to federal prosecutors.

The minor had been reported missing from her home in Georgia in May when a man  34-year-old Robert Fyke  took her to his home in Lubbock, Texas. While she was in his home, Fyke produced sexually explicit images of the victim, according to court documents.

Wayne Marcell, 36, of Danbury, met the girl online through video game and social media platforms the following month. Prosecutors discovered through his search history that Marcell knew the child was missing.

Marcell chose to exploit the situation, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in Marcells sentencing memorandum.

Instead of contacting law enforcement to share his information and assist in the Minor Victim's rescue from the sexual abuse she was suffering in Texas, Marcell exploited her vulnerable state by arranging her to be transported across state lines so that he could continue her abuse, Avery said.

In June 2021, Marcell paid his friends wife $2,000 to drive the minor from Texas to Illinois. He told his friend that that the minor was a family member who needed help getting out of a sticky situation, Avery said in the memorandum.

Marcell then drove from Connecticut to Illinois, picked up the girl and brought her to his home in Danbury  a 32-hour round trip. On the drive, he also sexually abused the victim at a hotel in Ohio, according to the memorandum.

Over the next 12 days, Marcell sexually abused the girl multiple times and took photos and videos of the sexual abuse, Avery said.

Marcell has been detained since he was arrested on related state charges on June 23, 2021. On April 5, 2022, he pleaded guilty in federal court to sexual exploitation of a child, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

He has since paid $86,885.74 in restitution to the minor victim. According to the memorandum, the restitution comes from the expected therapy costs for the minor and her family.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport sentenced Marcell to 22 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. Bolden also ordered Marcell to pay a $30,000 fine.

Before meeting Marcell, the victim met Fyke online through a video chat platform in April 2021. The next month, Fyke drove from Texas to Georgia and picked up the minor. The teenager lived with Fyke for about four weeks while Fyke produced sexually explicit images of the victim.

Fyke pleaded guilty to a related charge in the Northern District of Texas. In December 2021, Fyke was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

To report cases of child exploitation, visit CyberTipLine.com.
Midland Daily News

A 29-year-old Flint woman was arrested and charged in connection with child abuse after her 3-year-old daughter shot herself after she was left alone in a car with a loaded pistol.

Detectives for the Flint Police Department said the mother left the girl inside the car with an older sibling around 5 p.m. on Friday when she went inside the Sunoco Gas Station in the 1300 block of Court Street.
REED CITY  MichiganWorks! West Central is inviting job seekers to a hiring party from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, July 15 at the Reed City service center, 240 E. Church Street.

There is something about food that always seems to bring people together, communications manager Jonathan Eppley said in a news release. In an effort to connect job seekers with employers looking to hire, MichiganWorks! West Central is hoping a free lunch will attract community members looking for work.

The job fair will be set up like a block party-style event where attendees can stop at each booth to grab a portion of their meal and talk to employers about positions they have available, the news release said.

We feel these hiring parties are a great way to bring job seekers and employers together in a more relaxed, casual setting, all while sharing a meal together, said Michigan Works! West Central Executive Director Shelly Keene. We will be providing hot dogs, and participating employers are encouraged to provide side dishes, snacks, drinks, etc. We also have invited area service organizations, such as Michigan Rehabilitation Services, Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency and veterans services, to talk to attendees about any support services they have that may benefit those in attendance.

Employers participating in the event include, Chippewa Plastics, DT Construction, DT County Line Service, DT Logisitcs, Eagle Village, Ebels General Store, Employment Services, Inc., Grand Oaks Nursing Center, Kirbys Adult Foster Care, military recruiters from the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, Reed City Group, Seven Slotte Grille, Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital, Subway, Ventra, Wesco and Yoplait.

Additional employers are still being added as the event gets closer.

According to the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, Michigans unemployment rate in May 2022, was 4.3% (the most recent data available), which is slightly higher than the national average at 3.6%.Unemployment was 4.2% in Osceola County and 5.4% in Mecosta County during the same timeframe.

COVID-19 case numbers continue to remain low and unemployment rates are at pre-pandemic levels, Keene said. However, there still are a number of employers across all industry sectors struggling to hire. We encourage all those looking for work or to advance their career to come to one of our Hiring Parties to help bridge the hiring gap.

Our staff also will be available to help assess job seekers individual circumstances to potentially enroll them in programs and services we offer that may be able to help them advance their career.

The team at Michigan Works! West Central held its first-ever hiring party in mid-June at its Baldwin service center. The event was so successful, the organization decided to host similar events at all of its service centers, the news release said.

Another hiring party event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, July 22, at the Big Rapids service center,14330 Northland Drive, in Big Rapids. Additional events are being scheduled in August at the organizations Ludington, Newaygo and Shelby offices.

For the most up-to-date list of employers participating in the upcoming hiring parties check the organizations social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

For more information about Michigan Works! West Centrals programs and services, visit MWWC.org.
EDWARDSVILLE  Eight methamphetamine-related felony charges were filed Tuesday by the Madison County States Attorneys Office.

Justin L. Hamann, 24, of St. Clair, Missouri, was charged July 12 with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 1 felony.

The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department.

According to court documents, on April 27 Hamann allegedly had 15-100 grams of methamphetamine.

Bail was set at $100,000.

In an unrelated incident, Ryan O. Scott, 33, of Belleville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 2 felony.

The case was presented by the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois.

According to court documents, on May 16 Scott allegedly had more than five grams of methamphetamine.

Bail was set at $30,000.

Other methamphetamine-related charges filed July 12 include:

 Travis L. Clemmons, 39, of Festus, Missouri, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony, and retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On April 26 Clemmons allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine and had taken a Hart trimmer and blower kit valued at less than $300 from the Collinsville Walmart. He has a 2018 conviction for theft (fourth subsequent) out of Perry County, Missouri. Bail was set at $15,000.

 David B. Huggins, 61, of Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On May 1 Huggins allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Stephanie L. Stayton, 40, of Troy, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Glen Carbon Police Department. On April 1 Stayton allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Cathy A. Battiato, 65, of Maryville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by MEGSI. On May 16 Battiato allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Nathaniel P. Posey, 42, of Cahokia, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On May 13 Posey allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Joshua T. Chapman, 37, of Mitchell, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On May 4 Chapman allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Dilon R. Wright, 28, of East Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. On May 3 Wright allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.
More than 43,000 lives could be saved each year in the United States by ensuring people wear helmets and seat belts, respect speed limits and don't drive while drunk, according to a June 2022 study.

The majority of traffic deaths are preventable, Adnan Hyder, coordinator of the study series and professor of global health at George Washington Universitys Milken Institute School of Public Health, said in a statement, adding deaths continue to rise annually in low-income countries while "progress in high-income countries has slowed over the past decade."

Global and country-level estimates suggest that routinely wearing helmets and seatbelts, obeying speed limits and avoiding drunk driving could save between 347,000 and 540,000 lives worldwide each year, according to the series of studies published in the "Lancet" on June 29, 2022, focused on road safety.

Anywhere from 25% to 40% of road deaths could be prevented by targeting speeding, drunk driving and helmet and seat-belt wearing in 185 countries each year, researchers estimated using a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed studies.

Tackling speeding with changes such as infrastructure improvement or electronic speed controls would save the most deathsmore than 340,0000 annuallyresearchers estimated.

Researchers suggest many governments have not prioritized enhancing traffic safety in recent years.

Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide for those ages 5-29, while low- and middle-income countries see the greatest number of deaths and injuries from road traffic incidents, which are continuing to rise.

"There have been many successes on road safety at the global level including its inclusion in the [United Nations] Sustainable Development Goals, but the rhetoric has yet to deliver results on the ground," series co-author Margie Peden, head of the Global Injury Programme at the George Institute for Global Health in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "A real, sustained decline in global road traffic injuries and deaths will only happen with a focus on the implementation of effective interventions and concerted country action."

Researchers argued governments should focus on minimum drinking age laws, seat belt and helmet laws, enforcement of speeding laws and lower blood-alcohol content level requirements for new drivers, all of which have been proven to prevent traffic deaths.

According to Michigan State Police data, 14 people died on Michigan roadways since last week, making a total of 513 this year. Additionally, 130 more were seriously injured for a statewide total of 2,537 to date.

Compared to this time last year, there are 49 fewer fatalities and 42 fewer serious injuries on Michigan roads, according to Michigan State Police in a Tweet on Tuesday.

Last year, Michigan traffic fatalities reached a 16-year high, according to data released in June 2022 by the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center.

The Michigan State Police explained the 1,131 fatalities in 2021 marked the most traffic fatalities in Michigan since 1,129 deaths in 2005. The deaths include pedestrians, cyclists and others who may have died during a crash.

In response to the rise in traffic crashes and injuries in 2021, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning said it planned to run more campaigns in the summer of 2022. The campaigns are set to focus on impaired driving, speed and seat belt use to help "reverse the trends we're seeing," according to the agency's interim director, Alicia Sledge.

"The rising fatalities on our roadways are a national crisis; we cannot and must not accept these deaths as inevitable," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a March 2022 statement. "People should leave the house and know theyre going to get to their destination safely, and with the resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, plus the policies in the National Roadway Safety Strategy we launched last month, we will do everything we can to save lives on Americas roads."
MIDLAND  Ann Manary supports the regulation of assault weapons, while Bill G. Schuette is advocating for "red tape" to halt.

"There are things that we can do and that we need to do," she said, in a reply to a question of what she would support in terms of gun laws. "We need to address the issues, mental health is one of the biggest ones."

This issue, among several others, was discussed Tuesday, during a forum with two of three Republican candidates vying for the 95th State House district. The forum was moderated by President Kim Steinke with the Midland Area League of Women Voters. About 25 attendees watched the broadcast at the MCTV Studio, which is located in the lower level of the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library.

In response to the same question about gun laws, Schuette said that strict gun laws lead to more crime with an example of Chicago.

According to the Associated Press, states like California and New York generally have stricter gun laws than Illinois. Federal data shows that California, Illinois and New York experience lower per capita firearm death rates than Texas, which has less stringent gun laws.

"I'm opposed to any new gun control," he said. "We already have hundreds of gun laws that are on the books that we are not doing a good job enforcing."

Schuette said he has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

"Let's not look at putting more government red tape and more government regulations, when they are not doing a good job right now," he later continued, adding he would support increased security measures in schools, which have been targets of mass shootings.

Schuette and Manary both said they support the Second Amendment. They agreed mental health measures, among others, play a role in the statewide conversation on gun violence.

However, Manary said this "can, and should be" a bipartisan effort.

"I don't feel that there's a need for anyone to own an assault weapon, unless you're in the military," she said. "That's not a Republican opinion, it's my own personal opinion."

In terms of addressing poverty within the 95th District, which will cover all of Midland County and a few townships in Gladwin County, Schuette said "times are tough for many across the district." He believes the best poverty reduction strategy is creating more "good paying" jobs.

"The price of gas is skyrocketing, same with the price of groceries," Schuette said. "That's making it tough to make ends meet. When that's the case ... I want to give every Michigander a pay raise. We can accomplish that by cutting your taxes (to) put more of your money back in your wallet."

Manary said the district needs to provide jobs at a sustainable living, "not just a $10 per hour job."

"You have to provide people with skills to be able to get those jobs that will sustain them throughout their entire career," she said.

A third Republican candidate, Charles McGinnis Jr., did not participate in the Tuesday forum. He withdrew from participation prior to the event on Tuesday, according to the moderator.

In opening statements, Schuette described himself as a young, energetic candidate with a fresh approach.

Manary, who is currently the Midland County Clerk, described herself as a hardworking public servant.

The candidate selected by voters in the Aug. 2 Republican Primary will be on the November general election ballot. Democratic candidates are Matthew Dawson and Larry Grell in this race. For more on these candidates, visit ourmidland.com.

The event series will be rebroadcast throughout local TV channels and YouTube. Questions to candidates were developed by the League of Women Voters. Participants had two minutes to respond, with one minute later allotted for a reply.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization, which aims to help facilitate informed voters with active participation in government. The organization does not support nor oppose candidates.

The organization has shared online information on primary election candidates for races at the federal, state and local levels at www.VOTE411.org.
On May 24, a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers in two adjoining classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Over an hour passed from the time officers followed the 18-year-old gunman into the school and when they finally entered the fourth-grade classroom where he was holed up and killed him.

Meanwhile, students trapped inside repeatedly called 911 and parents outside the school begged officers to go in.

Questions continue to swirl about why police armed with rifles and bulletproof shields waited so long. Authorities have given shifting and sometimes contradictory information about what happened and how they responded. The fallout has driven recriminations and rifts between local and state authorities, and angered many who live in the small South Texas city.

On July 17, a damning report was released by an investigative committee from the Texas House of Representatives and the city released hours of officers' body camera footage, further laying bare the chaotic response, which included 376 officers. The findings were the first to criticize both state and federal law enforcement, and not just local authorities, for the bewildering inaction by the heavily armed officers.

During a May 27 news conference, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steve McCraw put the blame on the commander at the scene  school district police Chief Pete Arredondo  saying he made the wrong decision not to send officers in sooner.

McCraw also gave a detailed timeline during a state Senate hearing on June 21, calling law enforcements response an "abject failure. He said that three minutes after the gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered the school, enough officers and firepower had been deployed to stop him. McCraw also noted that while officers spent time searching for a key to the classroom, they would have found it unlocked if they had checked.

So far, only two responding officers are known to have been put on administrative leave pending investigation of their actions: Arredondo and Lt. Mariano Pargas, a Uvalde Police Department officer who was the citys acting police chief during the massacre.

The state House report said that according to the school district's active shooter policy, Arredondo should have assumed command at the scene, but Arredondo told the committee he didn't consider himself in charge.

The report said that despite the obvious deficiencies in command and control at the scene, no law enforcement responders offered Arredondo command assistance.

Below is a minute-by-minute look at the tragic events that day.



Sometime after 11 a.m.  Ramos shoots his grandmother in the face. Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who was in his backyard across the street from Ramos' and his grandmother's home, heard the shot. He sees Ramos speed away in a pickup truck as Ramos grandmother pleads for help. Covered in blood, She says: Berto, this is what he did. He shot me, says Gallegos, whose wife calls the police.

11:21 a.m.  Ramos says in a text message to a teen in Germany that he just shot his grandmother and is going to go shoot up an elementary school, McCraw tells the state Senate hearing on June 21.

11:27 a.m.  Video shows a teacher, who authorities havent publicly identified, propping open an exterior door of the school, McCraw says on May 27.

11:28 a.m.  Ramos crashes the pickup into a drainage ditch near the school, state police say in a timeline released June 21, citing footage from a funeral home opposite the school.

11:29 a.m.  Two men at the funeral home run out to see what happened, the footage shows. They see Ramos jump out of the passenger side carrying an AR-15-style rifle and a bag full of ammunition. Ramos shoots at the men three times but misses, McCraw says on June 21. One of the men falls but both make it back to the funeral home, McCraw says on May 27. The teacher calls 911 and reports a man with a gun, state police say in their June 21 timeline, citing phone recordings. DPS spokesman Travis Considine says on May 31 that after propping open the door, the teacher had run back inside to grab her phone to call 911 but when she came back out she realized Ramos had a gun. She removed the rock propping open the door and it closed behind her, but the door did not lock, Considine says.

At some point just after the crash, Robb Elementary coach Yvette Silva, who was outdoors with a group of third graders, saw Ramos toss his backpack over a school fence and climb over, then raise a gun and begin to shoot, the state House report says. Running from the field toward her classroom, she reports what she'd seen to the school office via a school radio. Principal Mandy Gutierrez tries to initiate lockdown using the school's alert software but has trouble with the school's Wi-Fi signal, the report says. She didn't announce a lockdown over the intercom but told the head custodian to ensure all doors were locked. The report says the custodian started locking doors from the outside but heard gunshots and went to the cafeteria, where he remained.

About 11:30 a.m.  Teachers start to lock down based mostly on word-of-mouth reports about the gunman, the state House committee says. Teachers told the committee of hearing Silva yelling and the sounds of gunshots. One teacher in room 105 says she did receive the school's lockdown alert, at 11:32 a.m.

11:31 a.m.  Ramos shoots at the school and a patrol car accelerates into the parking lot, driving by Ramos, the funeral home video shows. The Uvalde school district police officer on duty wasnt on campus, contrary to previous reports, McCraw says on May 27. The officer drives to the school after getting a report about the shooting and approaches someone at the back of the school who he thought was the gunman. As the officer sped toward the man, who turned out to be a teacher, McCraw says the officer drove right by the suspect who was hunkered down behind a vehicle.

11:32 a.m.  Ramos fires multiple shots outside the school, according to state police on June 21, citing school surveillance. In audio of the 911 call from the teacher obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, she can be heard shouting: Get down! Get in your rooms! Get in your rooms!

Around this time, the state House report, says, Uvalde police Staff Sgt. Eduardo Canales, commander of the SWAT team, arrived at the school and saw a man firing a gun. He grabbed his rifle, put in a magazine, grabbed an extra magazine and heard someone say the attacker was in or near the building. He entered an open gate and met up with city police Lt. Javier Martinez. Another city officer, Sgt. Daniel Coronado, soon arrived and heard gunfire while getting out of his patrol car.

Another officer, who was not identified, told the state House committee that he believed the shooter was firing in their direction. When he saw a person dressed in black that he thought was the gunman, he raised his rifle and asked Coronado for permission to shoot. Coronado said he heard the request but hesitated because there were children present. The officer who made the request said there was no opportunity for Coronado to respond before they heard on the radio that the attacker was running toward the school. The officers told the committee that it turned out the person in black wasnt the attacker, but elementary school coach Abraham Gonzales, who was headed to the parking lot for his lunch break.

The committee said this contradicts a report released July 6 by a training center at Texas State University for active shooter situations, which said that a city officer had watched Ramos walk toward campus but didnt fire while waiting for permission from a supervisor to shoot. On July 8, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin disputed the training center report, saying no city police officer saw the gunman outside the school and none had an opportunity to shoot him. He said that while an officer did see someone outside, the officer could not tell who it was.

11:33 a.m.  Ramos enters the school through the unlocked door on the schools west side and begins shooting into adjoining fourth-grade classrooms 111 and 112, school surveillance footage shows. Ramos then enters, exits and re-enters classrooms 111 and 112. The state House report says Ramos spent about two and a half minutes rapidly firing over 100 rounds between the two rooms. The report says it is most likely Ramos entered through the door to room 111, finding it unlocked or unsecured. The report says there's evidence that one of the two teachers in room 112, Irma Garcia, who died in the attack, did lock her door. The report says there's substantial evidence that the door to room 111 didn't secure properly. The report says the teacher in room 111, Arnulfo Reyes, who was shot but survived, told the House committee he had no recollection of getting a lockdown alert or any memory that he took the special effort needed to get his door to lock before the attacker arrived. The state House report says problems with the room 111 door lock had been reported to the school administration, but no one placed a work order for a repair.

11:35 a.m.  Three city police officers enter the school through the west door, the same door Ramos entered, according to school surveillance footage. The state House report says that these officers were Martinez, Canales and city officer Louis Landry. The report says that Martinez said he heard gunfire from inside the building before entering and then heard a few muffled shots.

11:36 a.m.  Arredondo, another school district officer and two more city police officers enter through the buildings south door, according to school surveillance footage. The state House report says that city officer Donald Page and school district officer Adrian Gonzalez were the first to enter, followed by Arredondo and Coronado. The report says Page and Gonzales heard rounds, as did Coronado, who yelled, shots fired. Surveillance footage shows three more city police officers and another officer from the school district then entered through the west door.

11:36 a.m.  Uvalde police dispatch gets a report that a woman, who turned out to be Ramos' grandmother, had been shot in the head, the state House report says. Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco told the committee that while on his way to the school, he learned about the woman from a man who flagged him down. The committee said other information suggests he learned of the shooting by other means, possibly earlier, and are requesting additional records.

11:37 a.m.  The officers converge from both sides of the hallway on rooms 111 and 112, the state House report says. Ramos fires as officers approach the classroom doors, according to school surveillance footage. McCraw says on June 21 that Ramos fired 11 rounds at this time and two officers were grazed. The state House report says Martinez was grazed on the top of his head by fragments of building material, while fragments also hit Canales on his ear. Both retreated, along with Landry. The report, without giving an exact time, says that after the initial shock of taking gunfire, Martinez returned down the hallway toward rooms 111 and 112 but no other officers followed him. He later helped evacuate children and was ultimately among the officers when the classroom was finally breached.

11:38 a.m.  An unidentified officer says, Hes contained in this office, according to state police, citing body camera footage on June 21. McCraw testified the same day that the school floor plan showed no office in the classroom. Canales can be heard saying on his body camera after retreating down the hall, and as he walked in and out of the building: Dude, weve got to get in there. Weve got to get in there, he just keeps shooting. Weve got to get in there. Another officer can be heard saying: DPS is sending their people. The state House report says Coronado's body camera shows him making a request by radio for ballistic shields and helicopter support.

11:40 a.m.  Arredondo calls a Uvalde police landline, state police say, citing phone records. Thirty-five seconds later, Ramos fires one round, according to school surveillance footage. According to a transcript of Arredondos call released by state police, he says hes in the building and a man has an AR-15, he shot a whole bunch of times. He says theyre inside the building and the shooter is in a room, adding: I need a lot of firepower, so I need this building surrounded. Surrounded with as many AR-15s as possible. He tells the dispatcher that he doesnt have a radio with him. Arredondo says hes in the hallway and that the shooter is in rooms 111 and 112. We need this place surrounded and if you have SWAT I need them set up, Arredondo says. We dont have enough firepower right now, its all pistol and he has an AR-15. He says he needs a radio and a rifle.

The state House report says Arredondo arrived at the school with his radios but he dropped them by the school fence because they bothered him, and he knew Coronado had his.

11:41 a.m.  A city police officer says, We believe that he is barricaded in one of the offices, theres still shooting, according to body camera footage. When dispatch asks if the door is locked, a city police officer replies by referring to a specialized crow bar, saying, I am not sure but we have a hooligan to break it. School surveillance footage shows two constables, a fire marshal and a Uvalde city police officer. After arriving on the north end of the hallway, Constable Johnny Field began communicating by phone with Arredondo, who was on the south end, the state House report says. Arredondo told the committee that the only direction he gave, through Field, was to evacuate kids and to test keys. The report says the city's acting police chief that day, Pargas, dominated the north end of the building. Pargas told the committee he figured Arredondo was in command but he was never in communication with him and did not coordinate with any other responding agencies.

11:42 a.m.  A state trooper and two city police officers enter from the east hallway, according to school surveillance footage.

11:43 a.m.  After radio traffic indicates the attacker is in room 112 and the question is asked whether students are in there, Coronado asks for a mirror to look around corners. A voice on the radio says, the class should be in session," the state House report says, citing Coronado's body camera footage. The report says that after the initial responders took fire, Coronado remained outside for about 30 minutes, advising officers about potential crossfire in the hall and helping evacuate students through windows on the west side of the building.

11:44 a.m.  Ramos fires one round, according to school surveillance footage. A city police officer says,: Have some officers that are available get everybody back, according to body camera footage.

11:48 a.m.  Body camera footage shows school district officer Ruben Ruiz, the husband of one of the teachers in the classrooms, enter the building through the west door and tell other officers, She says she is shot. His wife, Eva Mireles, who was in room 112, later dies. McCraw says on June 21: What happened to (Ruiz) is he tried to move forward into the hallway, he was detained and they took his gun away from him and they escorted him from the scene. He did not say exactly when that was.

11:50 a.m.  Body camera footage shows an unknown officer saying, They need to get out of the hallway. The state House report says Coronado replies: Chief is in there. Chief is in charge right now. The report says that suggests Arredondo was in control and in communication with the other side of the building.

11:51 a.m.  Seven Border Patrol agents enter through the west door, according to school surveillance footage.

11:52 a.m.  The first ballistic shield is bought into the building through the west door, according to school surveillance footage. Body camera footage captures a city police officer saying, Units just showing up, can you help with crowd control? McCraw says on June 21, So, officers after 11:52 were being diverted to crowd control activities.

11:53 a.m.  Body camera footage shows an unknown officer telling a DPS special agent that all they currently need is perimeter. Someone asks whether there are still kids inside, and the DPS special agent responds: If there is then they just need to go in.

11:54 a.m.  According to body camera footage, a DPS agent asks an unknown officer, Are kids still in there? The officer responds, Its unknown at this time. A city police officer says: Hes in classroom 111 or 112. But chief is making contact with him. No one has made contact with him.

11:56 a.m.  According to body camera footage, an unidentified officer says, Yall dont know if theres kids in there? The state House report says that DPS Special Agent Luke Williams replied, If theres kids in there, we need to go in there. The unknown officer says: Whats that? The DPS special agent says, If theres kids in there, we need to go in there. The unknown officer says, Whoever is in charge will determine that. The state House report says Williams then resumes clearing classrooms, which he'd started upon his arrival after disregarding a request to assist on the perimeter. The state House report notes that at this time, according to a timeline released by DPS, radio communication of unknown origin says it's critical for everybody to let PD take point on this. The state House report says none of the witnesses interviewed indicated any knowledge of that communication, nor did they know what it meant. The report says the consensus of those interviewed was that officers on the scene either assumed Arredondo was in charge or couldn't tell that anyone was in charge.

11:58 a.m. - According to a phone recording, when an unidentified officer asks where the shooter is, another unidentified officer replies: "The school chief of police is in there with him. According to body camera footage, a DPS special agent says: It sounds like a hostage rescue situation. Sounds like a rescue, they should probably go in.

12:01 a.m.  According to body camera, when a DPS special agent says he wants to clear more rooms, an unidentified officer says, Dont you think we should have a supervisor approve that? The DPS special agent replies, Hes not my supervisor.

12:03 p.m.  A 911 call from a student inside the classroom comes in, and that is relayed on police radio, the state House report says. The girl was in room 112, and was the only uninjured child in that room, according to McCraw. Eight children and two teachers were killed in the classroom and nine children were injured, he says on June 21. Surveillance shows a second ballistic shield being carried into the building through the west door, where as many as 19 officers were in the hallway outside the classrooms where Ramos was holed up.

12:04 p.m.  School surveillance shows a third ballistic shield being carried into the building.

12:06 p.m.  Anne Marie Espinoza, a school district spokeswoman, posts on the districts Facebook page: All campuses are under a Lockdown Status. Uvalde CISD Parents: Please know at this time all campuses are under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the buildings. The buildings are secure in a Lockdown Status. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as the Lockdown Status is lifted you will be notified. Thank you for your cooperation!

12:09 p.m.  According to body camera footage, a city police officer says, Go around and get the master key to the rooms.

12:10 p.m.  Members of a U.S. Border Patrol tactical team arrive, according to body camera footage. The first group of deputy U.S. marshals from Del Rio arrive from nearly 70 miles (115 kilometers) away to assist officers on the scene, according to the Marshals Service. The female student who called 911 at 12:03 p.m. calls 911 again and says there are multiple dead, McCraw says on May 27.

12:11 p.m.  Arredondo requests the master key, according to body camera footage.

12:13 p.m.  The female student calls 911 again, McCraw says on May 27.

12:14 p.m.  Arredondo tells officers to have a sniper on the east roof, according to body camera footage.

12:15 p.m.  A Border Patrol tactical team member enters the building, according to school surveillance footage.

12:16 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says, I just need a key. The female student who called 911 earlier calls again and says there are eight to nine students alive, McCraw says on May 27.

12:17 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: Tell them to (obscenity) wait. No one comes in.

12:19 p.m.  A girl in room 111 calls 911 and ends the call when a fellow student tells her to hang up, McCraw says May 27.

12:20 p.m.  A fourth ballistic shield is brought into the building through the west door, according to school surveillance footage. It is the only shield that was rifle-rated, the state House report says.

12:21 p.m.  Ramos fires four rounds, according to school surveillance footage. According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: Can you go get a breaching tool? Like for a trailer house? McCraw says during his June 21 testimony, So if this is a barricaded subject, why is he still firing?

12:23 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: Weve lost two kids. These walls are thin. If he starts shooting were going to lose more kids. I hate to say we have to put those to the side right now.

12:24 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo tries to communicate with Ramos in English and Spanish. The entire communications was always one way. The suspect never communicated. So it wasnt communication, were talking at, McCraw said on June 21.

12:26 p.m.  According to body camera footage, an unknown officer says: Theres a teacher shot in there. A city police officer replies, I know.

12:27 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: People are going to ask why were taking so long. Were trying to preserve the rest of the life. He then said: Do we have a team ready to go? Do we have a team ready to go? Have at it.

12:28 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: There is a window over there obviously. The door is probably going to be locked. That is the nature of this place. I am going to get some more keys to test. He then says: These master keys arent working here, bro. We have master keys and theyre not working.

Just before 12:30 p.m.  The state House report reports a burst of activity on the north side, including officers apparently preparing to breach the classrooms, indicating the Border Patrol tactical team had assumed command.

12:30 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: OK. Weve cleared out everything except for that room. We still have people down there just past the flag to the right. But, uh, were ready to breach but that door is locked.

12:33 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: I say we breach through those windows and shoot his (obscenity) head off through the windows.

12:35 p.m.  A breaching tool is brought into the building through the west door, according to school surveillance footage. The state House committee says it received no evidence that the arrival of the breaching tool was ever communicated to Arredondo.

12:36 p.m.  A 911 call that lasts for about 21 seconds comes in. Around this time a student calls 911 and is told to stay on the line and stay very quiet, McCraw says on May 27. He shot the door, the girl says.

12:38 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo tries again to communicate with Ramos in English and Spanish.

12:41 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: Just so you understand, we think there are some injuries in there. And so you know what we did, we cleared off the rest of the building so we wouldnt have anymore besides whats already in there, obviously.

12:42 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: Were having a (obscenity) problem getting into the room because it is locked. Hes got an AR-15 and hes shooting everywhere like crazy. So, hes stopped.

12:43 p.m.  The girl who called 911 and was told to stay on the line urges the dispatcher to please send the police now, McCraw says on May 27. According to body camera footage, Arredondo says: They gotta get that (obscenity) door open, bro. They cant get that door open. We need more keys or something.

12:46 p.m.  According to body camera footage, Arredondo says, If yall are ready to do it, you do it but you should distract him out that window. McCraw says on May 27 that at this time, the girl who called 911 and was told to stay on the line says she can hear the police next door.

12:47 p.m.  A sledgehammer is brought into the building through the east hallway, according to school surveillance footage. McCraw says on May 27 that the girl still on the line with the 911 dispatcher says, Please send the police now.

12:50 p.m.  Officers breach the classroom and fatally shoot Ramos, according to surveillance footage. McCraw asserts on May 27 that they breached the door using keys they got from the janitor because the door was locked. But on June 21, he says the classroom door could not be locked from the inside and there was no indication officers tried to open it during the standoff. He also says a teacher reported before the shooting that the lock was broken.

Arredondo tells the state House committee that he didn't send in the Border Patrol tactical team that eventually breached the classroom. Paul Guerrero, the acting commander of the Border Patrol team, tells the committee that after obtaining a master key, he had another agent use the rifle-rated shield to cover him as he placed a key in the door to room 111 and opened it. The committee notes theres reason to question if the door was actually locked. Guerrero says Ramos was standing in front of a closet in the corner of the room 111 when the officers rushed in. He said Ramos fired at the officers, who returned fire and killed him.

State police say an hour and 14 minutes went by from the time police entered the school to when Ramos was killed.

___

Associated Press writer Sean Murphy contributed to this report.

___

For more AP coverage of the Uvalde school shooting: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting
When Denis Vladmirovich Molla told authorities that his camper was set on fire and his garage defaced, the Minnesota man said that whoever carried out the attack was motivated by the "Trump 2020" flag he had displayed from his vehicle. As pictures circulated of a vandalized garage door in September 2020 that was spray-painted with "Biden 2020," "BLM" and an anarchy symbol, Molla collected thousands of dollars for the reported arson through his insurance company and online donations from sympathetic Trump supporters who denounced the politically motivated attack.

"It just shocked me," Molla told WCCO hours after the incident. "This kind of stuff should not happen, especially over beliefs of some sort."

But prosecutors have concluded almost two years later that Molla staged the entire incident.

Federal authorities announced Tuesday that Molla, 29, has been charged with two counts of wire fraud for filing fraudulent insurance claims and benefiting from online fundraisers connected to the faked arson event.

Prosecutors allege that Molla filed a claim with his insurance company for more than $300,000 and received about $61,000. He later accused his insurance company of "defrauding him." Molla also used donations from his "Patriots for the Mollas" GoFundMe account for a deposit of more than $17,000 into his personal bank account, according to charging documents.

Shortly after the incident, Molla and his wife, Deana, had told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that they, along with their 2-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter, were asleep in the house when the camper was set ablaze. He had initially reported to authorities that someone set his camper on fire, and told local media he had seen three people running from his home.

"In reality, as Molla well knew, Molla started his own property on fire, Molla spray-painted the graffiti on his own property and there were no unknown males near his home," prosecutors said in charging documents.

Molla, of Brooklyn Center, Minn., was released from custody without bail based on a promise that he would appear in court, according to court documents. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday.

If he is indicted on one of the federal wire fraud charges, Molla could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The announcement of the charges came the same day that the Jan. 6 committee held another hearing in which it attempted to tie former president Donald Trump to the most violent extremists leading the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee again pressed its argument that Trump knew what he was doing and should be held responsible. On Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., argued that Trump was, at the very least, "willfully blind" to the fact that his own advisers were telling him that he had lost the election to Joe Biden.

"President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child," Cheney said. "Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices. . . . Donald Trump cannot escape responsibility by arguing he is willfully blind."

First responders arrived at the home in Brooklyn Center just after 3 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2020. The fire from the camper ended up burning down the detached garage, totaling three vehicles and inflicting minor damage on the home. Police said at the time that first responders helped retrieve three dogs and four puppies from the home, according to the Star Tribune.

"I heard just a big, loud boom, or a bang," Molla told WCCO at the time. He said he recalled thinking, "What's going on?"

The family told the CBS affiliate in 2020 that Molla, a contractor, got the flag about a week after he had a workplace dispute over his support of Trump. Molla, who claimed at the time that people had driven by the house slowly when he had the Trump flag up, told KARE last year that he saw three "figures" in his yard the night of the fire, and claimed that one of those people dropped a matchbox as he chased them away.

"Our family's safe, that's the main thing," he told WCCO hours after the incident. "All this is material, it's all material. It's not as important as our family."

That didn't stop Molla from filing hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance claims, according to prosecutors. When his insurance company rejected some of his claims, Molla claimed he was being defrauded, and he threatened to report the alleged bad practice to the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Molla's case gained national attention. Two GoFundMe fundraisers in support of Molla were up for nearly two years. (They appeared to have been taken down Wednesday.) The story was promoted by conservative and right-leaning media, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

"This is a message being sent by the far left, and I think people are beginning to see that arsonist behavior, looting, even murder - none of it is off the table," Ingraham said at the time.

Yet an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Brooklyn Center Police Department found that Molla, and not a person or group of people, was responsible for the arson and vandalism, authorities said.

It's not the first time a Trump supporter has staged a fake incident and pinned it on someone else. In 2017, Stephen Marks admitted to spray-painting playground equipment at a Hartford elementary school in an effort to frame liberals and Democrats. Marks, who wrote phrases such as "Kill Trump," "Left is the best," "Bernie Sanders 2020" and "Death to Trump," was charged with third-degree criminal mischief and breach of peace, and he was ordered to stay away from the school, the Hartford Courant reported at the time.

- - -

The Washington Post's Amber Phillips contributed to this report.
By Keith Burbank

Bay City News

BERKELEY (BCN)

A person died from a fire early Wednesday morning on a boat at the Berkeley Marina, police said.

Berkeley firefighters and police officers responded at 12:38 a.m. following a report of a boat fire near Marina Boulevard at the Virginia Street Extension road.

The victim had been pulled from the water before paramedics and officers arrived, and CPR was underway, police said.

Paramedics took over the life-saving efforts and firefighters put out the fire. The victim was taken to a trauma center and died there, according to police.

An investigation has begun involving the arson and bomb unit of Cal Fire's Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Alameda County coroner's bureau.

Copyright  2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
During her tenure in the State House, Annette Glenn has become known for one thing  being less awful than her husband, Gary.

Garys regressive brand of neo Christian-Conservative politics, scorched-Earth campaign tactics and hateful anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric didnt garner him many fans in Midland or in Lansing.

Annette is not Gary, though. She is her own person. But recently, Annette Glenn has come across more like Gary Glenn while attacking her State Senate opponents Christian Velasquez and Tim Kelly.

You probably received Glenns recent campaign mailer targeting Velasquez. She claims he landed in federal court after ending a womans career at a local company so he could give her job to his buddy. Glenn also sent out a press release dramatically refunding $1,175 that Velasquez donated to her 2018 and 2020 campaigns.

Her campaign is characterizing Glenn as a hero  "Rep. Glenn had the courage to act as a whistle-blower regarding this court case," said Stacey Ault, Glenn's campaign manager. The campaign has tried to goad the Daily News into publishing its problematic interpretation of that lawsuit. The campaign challenged the Daily News to "just publish the facts" (that the campaign cherry-picked from the lawsuit) so that readers "can judge for themselves."

Here are some facts. Judge for yourselves.

You can also read the court document - and I mean read the entire thing - if you want the whole, unvarnished truth.

According to the 2016 civil lawsuit, a woman who had been with Dow Corning for 30 years injured her eye during a work trip. After her recovery, she returned to work to an office that had been reorganized during her convalescence. She was transferred to another position. Then that job was eliminated.

The woman sued Dow Corning claiming it violated the Family & Medical Leave Act, Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act, for retaliation under the Workers Disability Compensation Act and gender discrimination under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

She sought $75,000 from Dow Corning.

Two years in, Dow Corning asked the court for a summary judgment - an immediate ruling on whether the case had any merit. The company's motion was denied. In his comments, the judge called the case complex but ruled that there were enough discrepancies between the parties to allow the case to move forward.

None of what is in the lawsuit reflects well on Dow Corning or the eight or so people deposed in the case. It sounds like an HR nightmare  and there is no question Velasquez, a supervisor, played some role in this mess.

The parties settled out of court. Glenn's campaign is using language to try to make it seem as if some judgment - other than Glenn's - was rendered against Velasquez.

"I feel awful for voters and especially donors to Mr. Velasquez's campaign, who he misled by failing to fully disclose this federal court ruling up front," Glenn said in a statement defending her attack.

There was no ruling, or judgment, in the case. There was no trial.

State Sen. Ken Horn called out Glenn for the mailer, describing it as "both half-cocked and less than half factual."

In her press release, Glenn makes clear that Velasquezs alleged behavior so sickened her that she wanted to "disassociate herself from him and his money.

Now, that's taking a principled stand!

Or is it?

According to her own campaign finance records, Glenn has accepted thousands of dollars from disgraced House Speaker Lee Chatfield since 2018.

You may remember Chatfield from his previous adventures, such as trying to take a loaded gun onto a plane at Pellston Regional Airport or meeting privately with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., to mull over Michigans 2020 election results. Lately, Chatfield has been in the news because his sister-in-law publicly accused him of raping her when she was a 15-year-old student in a high school in which Chatfield taught.

There's more to tell about Chatfield, but that seems like enough. Chatfield created multiple PACs to support favorite candidates like Glenn  on Aug. 9, 2020 alone, she received $10,500 from the Chatfield Majority Fund.

So did Glenn give Chatfield back the thousands of dollars he gave to her?

Glenn's campaign refused to answer that question but did respond with "unlike former Speaker Chatfield, who has not yet been tried, convicted, or even charged, Mr. Velasquez has already been before a federal judge."

Except Velasquez never appeared before a judge. There was no trial. There was no judgment.

Accused rapist Chatfield should be given the benefit of the doubt, but being deposed in a Dow Corning lawsuit is enough to convict Velasquez?

So much for taking that principled stand...

"It will be disappointing, though not entirely surprising, if the newspaper in a small company town focuses its coverage  as suggested by your questions  on trying to discredit the whistle blower for telling voters the truth," Ault stated in an email to me.

The Daily News no longer endorses political candidates, and thats fine with me. You dont need us telling you which candidate to vote for.

But to those people who have supported Team Glenns brand of toxic politics all these years, it might be time to finally ask yourself why.

Annette has had four years to show us who she is and if Lansing has changed her.

I think she just did that.

That's disappointing, though not entirely surprising.

Dave Clark is editor of the Midland Daily News. Email him at david.clark@hearst.com




Take three parcels of coastal land, two existing homes, and one buildable lot, and you have a legacy estate with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Listed for $28.5 million, the 6.27-acre property on Highway One has a Monterey, CA, address, but listing agent Mike Gilson says everyone considers the coastal compound as part of Big Sur.

Its three separate, contiguous parcels. Theyre all buildable or have been built on, he says.

On the point is this extraordinary little beach house, which probably sits closer to the ocean than any other home I've seen along the coast," he says. "It's almost like you're on a boat at times just because you're so close to the ocean.

Aerial view Kodiak Greenwood Beach house Kodiak Greenwood Over 6 acres Kodiak Greenwood Beach house round design Kodiak Greenwood

The beach house dates to the 1960s and features a round design with a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a fireplace.

It's right at the southern end of Garrapata Beach, which is a beautiful, giant white-sand beach that is open to the public, and the owners can access that beach very easily, Gilson says.

___

Watch: Inside a Rare $2.7M Frank Lloyd Wright Home Near the Beach in Virginia

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The interior is dark wood and stone with a raised platform leading to huge windows and a deck near the rocks.

The garage Kodiak Greenwood

Garage entry Kodiak Greenwood

Garage dining Kodiak Greenwood

Garage bedroom Kodiak Greenwood

Wine cellar Kodiak Greenwood

Near the beach house is what Gilson calls "the garage," a flexible, open space clad with stone. The creative spot comes with a bedroom, bathroom, and nearby wine cellar.

Its one of the nicest garages you could imagine. Its a beautiful space for meetings or whatever you like, he says. It has roll-down glass windows and all kinds of storage, Gilson says

Main house Kodiak Greenwood

Main house living room Kodiak Greenwood

Main house kitchen Kodiak Greenwood

Main house fireplace Kodiak Greenwood

Bedroom Kodiak Greenwood

The estates main living quarters is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house that was completed in 2009.

Its a more modern style compared to the beach house. Its real clean with simple lines with a great view out toward the ocean and the rocks of Garrapata Creek, Gilson explains.

Plus, theres room to build even more.

The beach house and the garage are on one parcel, and the new house and detached garage are on the first parcel. Between that, you have an open parcel, which could be developed, Gilson explains.

View Kodiak Greenwood

Aerial view Kodiak Greenwood

Sunset Kodiak Greenwood

Big Sur is a unique community that welcomes new residents and their contributions, Gilson says.

Its a really special place and would make a great family compound, he says. I think it's so unique that [the perfect buyer] would be someone who would either be full time or near full time, at least that's what we would hope. It's not the kind of place that should sit empty.

Deck with beach views Kodiak Greenwood

The post Sprawling Big Sur Beach Compound Asking for $28.5M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.




Nguyen Manh Dong, Third Secretary of the Vietnam Trade Office in Japan, said that apart from the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), the two countries have also joined other trade deals such as the CPTPP and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which brings more chances for Vietnamese aquatic products in this market.

Japans commitments in the CPTPP for aquatic products is high, including the exemption of 65 percent of the total tax lines and cutting the remaining in a roadmap of 6-16 years, he added.

The CPTPP allows Vietnam to import materials from 11 member countries to export to Japan with secured tax preferences, he added, holding that the deal brings great advantages for Vietnamese aquatic products in Japan in both origin and tax.

Currently, Japan is the third largest market of the Vietnamese aquatic sector, with export revenue reaching US$638.91 million in the first five months of this year, up 15.7 percent year on year, accounting for 13.6 percent of the total export revenue of the whole sector.

However, the Vietnam Trade Office representative reminded exporters to strictly follow food safety regulations when exporting aquatic products to this choosy market to protect their interest and good image of Vietnamese fisheries sector.

He also advised domestic firms to try to keep their products price stable to win confidence from sensitive Japanese consumers.

VNA
Vietnam's rice exports to the UK drop by 20 percent. (Photo: congthuong.vn)

The volume of rice imported into the UK increased by 13.5 percent in 2020, from 671,601 tons in 2019 to 762,526 tons. Rice imported from Vietnam rose from 1,296 tons, worth US$1.29 million, to 3,396 tons, worth $2.67 million, in the same period. Thus, Vietnam's rice exports to the UK in 2020 have surged spectacularly by 116 percent in volume and 106 percent in value compared to 2019.



However, the volume of rice imported into the UK suddenly decreased by 15 percent in 2021, from 762,526 tons in 2020 to 651,803 tons. The corresponding value declined by 8 percent from about $520.6 million to $574.7 million.



Supply from Southeast Asia saw a sharp decrease. Specifically, rice imports from Thailand dropped by 43 percent, Myanmar by 63 percent, and Cambodia by 51 percent.



Meanwhile, the amount of rice imported from Vietnam slid by 20 percent, from 3,396 tons to 2,731 tons. However, the rice export value in 2021 reached $2.76 million, up 4 percent compared to 2020, thanks to the increase in unit price.



Among Southeast Asian countries that export rice to the UK, Vietnam had the highest average unit price of $1,012 per ton, while the average unit price of rice from Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar was $999, $991, and $502 per ton, respectively.



In contrast to the declining supply from Southeast Asia, four countries increased rice exports to the UK in 2021, including the Netherlands with an increase of 22,396 tons, with a unit price of $696 per ton, equivalent to an increase of 67 percent, Argentina with an increase of 5,194 tons, with a unit price of $569 per ton, equivalent to 68 percent, India increased 2 percent, and Pakistan increased 1 percent.



Rice consumers in the UK are mainly Asian communities, in which the largest and second-largest are the Indian and Pakistani communities. As a result, the market share of Indian and Pakistani rice accounts for a high proportion of 27 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The most used rice in the UK currently is Bastima rice.



Vietnam's commercial counselor in the UK, Mr. Nguyen Canh Cuong, said that Vietnam ranks 15th among rice exporting countries to the UK, with a market share of only 0.42 percent. The room for Vietnamese rice in the UK can also be expanded thanks to the 100,000 people of Vietnamese origin and the tariff quotas in the UKVFTA.



However, to turn this potential into reality, rice growers and exporters need to thoroughly apply the GlobalGAP standard on a large scale, and at the same time, promote the production of high-quality fragrant rice.



The Department of Crop Production, the Department of Plant Protection, and the local governments with large areas of rice land need to implement programs to support farmers in rice varieties, safe agricultural materials, and milling and storing rice before exporting.

By Van Phuc  Translated by Thuy Doan
At the conference

The conference reviewed the implementation of the Politburos Resolution No.53-NQ/TW, dated August 29, 2005, on promoting socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the southeastern region and the southern key economic region by 2010 with a vision towards 2020, along with Conclusion No. 27-KL/TW, dated August 2, 2012, on continuing to materialize the resolution.



The meeting was attended by Chairman of the HCMC Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai and Chairwoman of the Peoples Council of the city Nguyen Thi Le.

According to Vice Director of the Transport Department of HCMC Phan Cong Bang, road obstruction due to severe traffic jams in the city have caused an estimated US$6 billion every year.

Director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment Le Thi Huynh Mai proposed a State capital budget prioritized for major transport construction projects, and planning, building and developing of a logistic system in the southern key economic region connecting with the national logistic system.



Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung speaks at the conference.

Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai noted that the city needs to mobilize investment for key major programs and projects linking transport infrastructure with the technical infrastructure in digital transformation.

He proposed a financial mechanism for localities to mobilize resources for socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security, and a higher level of empowerment to localities to implement assigned tasks, especially building of a new mechanism to replace resolution 53.

The city hoped the establishment of the Vietnam international financial center in HCMC will be carried out as soon as possible. It is not only an international financial center of HCMC and the southern key economic region but also the country. The municipal government has completed a project for the establishment of the Vietnam international financial center. However, it needs the completion of a legal framework to implement the project, he added.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that the ministry will continue to accompany HCMC in speeding up the projects progress.

He also suggested the city and the southern key economic region shape development opportunities and propose mechanisms for better development.



Chairman of the HCMC Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai speaks at the meeting.

By Van Minh  Translated by Kim Khanh
Page Content

Over the past few years, California has seen many new developments in wage and hour laws. The new rules cover a wide array of topics, ranging from labor-law disputes to COVID-19-related requirements.

The developments include:

Three California Supreme Court decisions on meal and rest periods.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

Reinstatement of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave through SB 114.

COVID-19 exclusion-pay requirements issued by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).

It's a mixed bag for companies, with the business community welcoming some of the new rules but not others. To adapt, employers should review their policies and practices to ensure they align with the law.

Meal and Rest Breaks

California has strict requirements for employee meal periods and rest breaks.

In 2021 and 2022, three California Supreme Court decisions increased employers' risk of liability for meal and rest break violations, said Michael Nader, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Sacramento, Calif.

In Donohue v. AMN Services, the court prohibited employer policies that round time entries for meal breaks.

The court ruled on premium payments for noncompliant breaks in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel. According to the decision, the payments should be made using the "regular rate of pay" used for overtime.

This year, the court released another major decision on meal and rest periods. In Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, it ruled that premiums are considered to be wages, and employers can face many legal risks arising from noncompliance.

"Nonpayment of that wage could lead to recovery of other penalties, such as waiting-time penalties and wage-statement penalties," observed Los Angeles attorney David Cheng of FordHarrison.

The three cases highlight the importance of properly calculating premiums, according to Lonnie Giamela, an attorney at Fisher Phillips in Los Angeles.

"If they're not paid properly, there could be significant penalties," he said.

PAGA

In California, employees can help state officials with the task of enforcing the Labor Code. Through PAGA, employees alleging labor-law violations can bring civil actions on behalf of themselves and other workers. The employees get 25 percent of any civil penalties, while the remaining 75 percent is allocated to the state government to enforce labor laws.

In general, arbitration is more efficient for companies than litigation, Cheng said. However, employers have faced limitations in their ability to compel arbitration. The 2014 California Supreme Court decision in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles LLC led to a prohibition on PAGA waivers in workplace arbitration contracts.

This year, in the high-profile case of Viking River Cruises Inc. v. Moriana[KK1] [SL2] , the U.S. Supreme Court provided employers with more flexibility. Under the ruling, businesses can require individual PAGA claims to be arbitrated.

As for other types of claims, there are several issues to consider. The court held that Moriana's non-individual claims "may not be dismissed simply because they are 'representative.' " Nonetheless, if a plaintiff's individual claims are forced to arbitration, the plaintiff then cannot maintain non-individual PAGA claims in court.

The Viking River Cruises decision is a win for employers, although they should closely analyze their arbitration agreements to ensure compliance with the ruling, Giamela said.

Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement emphasizing that PAGA is still an important tool for combating labor violations.

COVID-19 Leave

California provides COVID-19-related leave in two ways, Giamela said.

Under Cal/OSHA regulations, employees who are excluded from the workplace because of specified COVID-19-related reasons must receive "exclusion pay" for a certain time period.

Separately, California law requires 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for eligible workers. The state enacted the new COVID-19 leave law in February 2022 after the previous one expired in September 2021.

The new law provides two banks of leave.

The first is for employees who can't work because of quarantine requirements, COVID-19 symptoms, the need to care for a family member in certain situations or vaccination-related reasons.

The second is for workers who have tested positive or who need to care for a family member who has tested positive.

Navigating the rules is a complicated process. To help employers, the California Department of Industrial Relations has posted FAQs, including a description of how the new law interacts with Cal/OSHA regulations.

Insights for Employers

For businesses, the recent court decisions and legislation highlight the need to audit their practices to ensure compliance, attorneys said.

Companies should review their policies at least twice per year to determine if they need to be updated, Giamela said. He also urged employers to be flexible in their ability to adapt to change.

Meanwhile, education and training are also important.

"Managers and supervisors should promote a culture of encouraging employees to take meal and rest breaks," Nader said.

Toni Vranjes is a freelance business writer in San Pedro, Calif.
Page Content

Colorado employers must disclose a salary range in job listings, and so far there have been few fines for noncompliance. Employers with workers in more than one state and employers who might hire Colorado residents to work remotely may find it tricky to follow the law, though.



We've gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other outlets.

Post Information

Employers covered by the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act must post wage and benefits information for all promotional opportunities and job openings, including remote jobs that can be performed anywhere, unless that work is specifically tied to a non-Colorado worksite.

(SHRM Online)



Law's Requirements

The law requires that all job postings include salary compensation information and a general description of all employee benefits, and the final regulations require only a general description of any bonuses, commissions or other forms of compensation.

(SHRM Online)

Few Fines

Only three employers have been fined for violating Colorado's wage transparency law. But there's still plenty of confusion. The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2021, was intended to help close the gender pay gap, whereby women earn less than men for the same job.

(Colorado Sun)

Record-Keeping Obligations

Colorado's law requires employers to keep records of job descriptions and wage rate history for every employee for the duration of their employment, plus two years after the end of their employment. It prohibits employers from:

Paying one employee a wage rate less than the rate paid to an employee of a different sex for similar work.

Asking about or relying on an applicant's salary history.

Restricting employees from discussing their compensation with other employees.



(Fisher Phillips)



Growing Trend

The trend toward greater pay transparency is not going anywhere. Moreover, the impact of one pay transparency law is likely to be felt well beyond its borders, especially as the number of remote jobs continues to increase.



Pay range disclosures have the potential to tighten up the hiring process itself. By posting the pay range for a job, employers may find that they waste less time screening applicants whose pay requirements are higher than the position warrants.



(SHRM Online)


Page Content

On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right for citizens to carry a firearm outside the home for self-defense. The opinion invalidates the licensing regimes for carry permits in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia.

Although New York and New Jersey each allow for licenses to carry, they were previously limited to those who could show some extraordinary need, and therefore not available to the average citizen.

In New York Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that such restrictions are unconstitutional and that law-abiding citizens have a right to carry a gun for self-defense purposes.

This means that, for the first time since the early and mid-20th century, respectively, residents of New York and New Jersey will be permitted to carry firearms in public.

State legislatures are already considering revised laws. But that will take time, and business owners must prepare now to address the issues to be faced by employees and customers who will seek to carry a weapon onto the business' property.

While legislation may eventually resolve some issues, others may not be answered by specific laws. Companies should carefully consider their own policies. To that end, below are the most pressing questions companies in New York and New Jersey will face in the immediate aftermath of Bruen.

Will Residents Be Permitted to Carry Firearms Right Away?

No, residents will not be permitted to begin carrying firearms right away.

Both New York and New Jersey have separate licenses and licensing procedures for owning and carrying firearms. Those with existing licenses to own a firearm must still obtain a license to carry a firearm. Bruen only invalidates the requirement that applicants must show a special need and obtain discretionary approval from a licensing official. Any remaining application requirements (i.e., background checks, letters or affidavits of good character, proficiency certifications, etc.) must still be met by an applicant. Both states have issued statements that these requirements and procedures remain in place.

In addition, the penalties for carrying an unlicensed firearm are severe and may result in the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences of at least three years in both jurisdictions.

Nearly everyone that will seek to carry a firearm in New York and New Jersey will still have to undergo the licensing process. This will likely take several months to complete, depending on the locality.

Will Residents Be Permitted to Carry Openly, Concealed or Both?

New York does not permit open carry. A New York resident seeking to carry a handgun outside of his or her home may only apply for a license to carry concealed.

New Jersey makes no distinction between open carry and concealed carry once a carry license is issued. That means that New Jersey license holders may be permitted to carry openly once they obtain a license.

Will Businesses Be Permitted to Ban Firearms from Their Establishments?

Yes, private property owners, including businesses open to the public, will have the right to ban firearms from their property. The Second Amendment prohibits only governmental restrictions on firearms. Private property owners, including businesses, may ban firearms on their property.

Businesses seeking to ban firearms on their property should post a sign indicating as such. Some states have statutory requirements for such signage, but it remains to be seen whether similar laws will be passed in New York and New Jersey.

If a business bans firearms, it should consider what measures it will take to enforce that ban and provide employees with clear instructions on how to proceed should someone bring a firearm onto the premises.

Will Employers Be Able to Prevent Employees from Bringing Firearms to Work?

Yes. In all states, employers have the right to ban firearms from the workplace. This extends to the parking lot, provided the parking lot is owned by the business.

While some states have passed laws that restrict an employer's ability to ban guns in the parking lot, it is unlikely that such a law would be passed in New York or New Jersey in the near future.

Will Companies Be Liable for Harm Caused by Armed Employees and Customers?

Possibly. Some states have statutory liability shields, but no such law exists yet in New York or New Jersey. Whether or not a business is liable for injury caused by an armed customer is going to be a matter of tort common law.

In other jurisdictions, theories imposing liability have been advanced whether businesses ban guns from the property or not. On the one hand, permitting weapons on the premises carries the obvious risk of injury to another. On the other hand, some plaintiffs' attorneys have advanced a theory that a business has liability where it has deprived a person of his or her lawful weapon and where that person is injured by another on the property. Further considerations concerning employee health and safety also need to be considered.



Businesses should undertake a careful analysis of their own policies, the risks, the current states of local tort law, federal health and safety laws, and their own personal preferences.

What Should Businesses Do Now?

The above are just a few of the issues that require careful consideration by companies and business owners operating in New York and New Jersey, and much still remains to be determined by new laws and the courts.

Businesses can go a long way to protecting themselves, their employees and their customers by considering the issues carefully and adopting clear, written policies that can guide management and employees. Such policies should address, at a minimum, the company's position on guns on the premises, procedures for reporting unsafe situations, emergency procedures and procedures for enforcing the policies.

Melissa S. Geller and Justin Joseph D'Elia are lawyers with Duane Morris in New York City.  2022. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Reliance Retail, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, is in talks with London-based luxury gourmet, gifting and hospitality retail chain Fortnum & Mason for an exclusive partnership for India, two executives directly aware of the development said. The British luxury department store chain is known for curated premium foods, wine and spirits, gifting and restaurants, and has a close association with the British royal family.

"Reliance Retail is in advanced talks with Fortnum & Mason to set up premium luxury stores in India under the Fortnum & Mason brand," one of the executives said. He said the group is exploring multiple options for India, which could include physical stores as well as an online presence in India.

A spokesperson for Reliance Retail said in an email revert that as a policy, the company does not comment on media speculation and rumours. "Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis," the spokesperson said. A Fortnum & Mason spokesperson said: "At the moment there are no concrete plans in place. F&M is always looking at ways to expand opportunities for people in the region to have access to its brand and products, and they will continue to do so".

Fortnum & Mason is pushing growth in Asian markets post pandemic, having started its first online store in China last month. In 2019, the luxury chain set up its first fully-owned and operated shop and restaurant in Hong Kong, paving the way for a large-scale presence in Asia.
Internet safety is one of the most important factors in today's world. With the number of hackers rising daily, it is common to take care of the basics. After all, more and more people are becoming victims of these. Therefore, companies using residential proxy servers can easily combat these.

Residential proxies are great tools for businesses that want to gather and analyze data, and they will help them analyze their market reach without being detected or blocked by websites. As a result, it can prove to be an effective marketing strategy, thereby determining growth.

What Are Residential Proxies?

Apart from hiding your identity, these residential proxies can be helpful in various things. It can assist in price comparison, ad verification, SEO research, and more.

Residential proxies provide the IP address to a physical address. These proxies mostly provide information regarding the homes, which is why they are named residential. Various homeowners have received special addresses from the ISP, determining that they can be traced. Many customers consider these trustworthy. sites

Residential proxies are often considered a far better option than casual ones. When you're trying to access a website, there are fewer chances of getting blocked when you're using these proxies.

Why Should Companies Use Residential Proxies?

Comparatively, the residential proxies have a lot to offer. Companies should consider that they're using these in the right way. You should consider getting these when you want to boost your marketing campaign and stay anonymous.

The residential proxies can be considered to be far more useful than others. Some benefits of using residential proxies over the others include the following:

1. Privacy

Privacy has always been a concern for businesses. When you're online, you may want your data to be protected. Therefore, one of the significant residential proxies use cases has been securing online privacy.

Since your business data is crucial, you don't want it to be hacked or stolen. That is what residential proxies promise, and there is very less chance of the data being stolen by hackers.

Every company's detail or data is extremely crucial since it offers protection. Therefore, maintaining privacy while browsing online can greatly help prevent the loss of any valuable information.

2. Higher Browsing Speed

Every business desires to get the benefit of super-speed browsing. The residential proxy services are pretty good at compressing online traffic. Furthermore, they also play an important role in ensuring that the relevant files and web pages are accessed on different devices.

Ads on websites can be pretty annoying, and using residential proxies can help get over it. When there are no ads, there will be less bandwidth. This will play an important role in ensuring you can browse the internet smoothly even when there's a busy network.

The residential proxies are essential in helping you get high-speed internet and a clutter-free experience. When browsing the internet connected to a residential proxy service, you can expect the best connection without blocks, timeouts, or even lags or errors.

3. Bypass Geo-blocking Feature

Considering the rules and regulations of the country, various contents from the internet are being blocked from access. When there is certain geographical content that is blocked in your area, you can consider the use of a residential proxy.

You can use your IP and access content from all around the world. Since you bypass the geo-blocking feature, you can access content from almost all parts of the world.

If your business needs to access such content often, these can be highly efficient in the long run.

4. Less Risk of Getting Blocked

When one website receives constant access from the same IP, they are likely to block it. Apart from that, there is also a risk of being marked as spam, which can harm your business browsing experience.

When you have residential proxy servers, you will benefit from bypassing all these. These are meant to offer you protection. Proxy servers can help prevent the data from being blocked and ensure authentic regional addresses. Therefore, you can browse the website and content without fearing being blocked.

5. Saves Money

One of the significant reasons businesses must consider using these proxy servers is that they help save money. Various websites use cookies to store data, which are further used for advertisement purposes, leading to personalized prices.

Since proxies help to maintain anonymity on the internet, they can play an essential role in saving money. You can save money in terms of products, travel, and hotels and get a wide range of discounts that prove beneficial.

Conclusion

The future of the internet is here, and the proxies have a considerable role to play in them. But you must adopt the right policies and implement them. The residential proxies have many benefits, whether for business or personal purposes. These can therefore be an excellent investment. Consequently, you can make a choice accordingly.
Zoho Corporation founder and chief executive Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday said that he plans to emulate Tenkasi district model in Tamil Nadu and transform 100 rural districts across India by setting up offices.

It is better to invest in people than investing in real estatemy goal is to do what we are doing in Tenkasi in around 100 rural districts (in India). The 1,000-2,000 jobs will transform the entire district, Vembu said while speaking at Karnataka government's Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms event.

Zoho had opened its office in Tenkasi, a rural town in Tamil Nadu, in 2011 with six employees and has 500 employees working out of the location. The software companys presence has helped entire real incomes jump 50-60% over a seven year period while also helping in rural development such as schools, shopping malls, movie theatres and establishment of new highways, Vembu added. The company had hired an external consulting firm last year to survey the impact, he said. Tenkasi has now become headquarters of a new district in the state in 2019.

It is very easy to find talent in the hinterlands. In Bengaluru, companies complain about not having talent. But if I go to Tirunelveli and put out a requisition, around 1,000 people will show up, he said at a conference on bringing entrepreneurs and government closer for good governance organised by both the central and state government of Karnataka.

The company said it has three such rural hubs right now and is scouting for locations in tier III and IV towns in Uttar Pradesh to set up an office.

Zohos revenue from operations jumped over 22.3% to close at Rs 5,230 crore for FY21, according to ROC filings while it clocked a net profit of Rs 1,917.7 crore for the year, more than doubling on year--making it arguably India's most profitable unicorn. Its global headcount stood at 10,800 employees.

Vembu also pressed for India to "master" the art of making capital goods to reduce dependence on imports from countries like Japan, Germany and New Zealand. The next project Im on is to make capital goods that go into factories. It is mastery of those capital goods that are very essential for our economic future, he said.
Dr Ravi Kolli, a psychiatrist with specializations in addiction, geriatrics, and forensic psychiatry, serving as the psychiatric medical director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services, took over as the president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin

Dr Ravi Kolli, the Psychiatric Medical Director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services and a psychiatrist with specialities in addiction, geriatrics, and forensic psychiatry, was elected president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) last month. The AAPI is an organization that represents over 120,000 physicians of Indian origin, with 120 local chapters and chapters of alumni and speciality associations across America. While the AAPI vision of representing physicians of Indian origin in the United States remains unchanged, Covid has had an impact on lives and provided us with the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. As humans emerge from the darkness, the bright side is that they are more technologically savvy, allowing them to communicate not only locally but also globally.

Dr Kolli, who graduated from Rangaraya Medical College and NTR University of Health Sciences Medical School in Andhra Pradesh and immigrated to the United States in 1983, believes that mental health issues have become more important in the context of the pandemic, even for Indian-origin healthcare professionals. As a psychiatrist, the themes of healing the healer and raising general public awareness about mental health issues are both important to him. The main barrier he wants to overcome is that healing begins within, the physician's community. To address the challenges of physician burnout and suicide, they actively promote physician wellness and self-care. Liaisons with mental health professionals in India and around the world are also formed to promote wellness and recovery from mental illness and substance use disorders.

Dr Kolli will also work to increase AAPI's focus on connecting with the next generation of Indian-origin physicians. He is a proponent of legislation to address the green card backlog faced by Indian physicians. A large number of physicians of Indian origin in the United States are on H-1B work visas and face significant delays in obtaining permanent residence status. These doctors are highly qualified and well-trained, and many of them work in America's underserved rural areas. While this generation of Indian American physicians faced many challenges, they did not have to face immigration barriers such as having to wait 15-20 years for their green cards. Over the last 4-5 years, the issue has been brought to the attention of the AAPI leadership, and there are efforts underway to support young physicians through advocacy for immigration reforms and political action. While the legislation is complicated, they are aware of the disruption that Indian doctors and their families are experiencing. Many of the senior members are well-connected and have reached out to senators and influential people to make an impact and find long-term solutions. He believes that the organization's leadership, which had previously fought hard to end discrimination against international medical graduates and achieve parity in having the same United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for all medical graduates, was now carrying on the tradition of supporting young Indian doctors in the US.

Another area of focus for AAPI is connecting with yoga practitioners in the United States who are conducting their scientific evidence-based research on yoga as a time-tested ancient holistic healing practice that works on multiple levels, including mental, physical, and spiritual. It helps to build social connections, avoid loneliness, and connect with nature and traditions, and there are many mental health benefits as well.
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Vladimir Putin has prepared the ground for a drastic cut in supplies of both oil and gas at any moment, giving him the means to strike a psychological hammer blow against the Western democracies before a global recession erodes his energy leverage.

The coming weeks may be his best chance to try to force the West to the table on Russian strategic terms, locking in territorial gains on Ukraines Black Sea coast and in the Donbas before the delivery of heavy weapons from Nato raises the military cost for Russia to excruciating levels.

Putin spelt out his operating premise at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in late June, calling the EUs sanctions policy a double-edged sword that would cause Europe to lose its footing in the global economy and lead to a system-wide decline for years to come. He left no doubt that generating inflation in the West is a primary goal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin as he addressed the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last month. Credit:AP

This will aggravate the deep-seated problems of European societies. There will be a further growth of inequality, which will split their societies still more. Such a disconnect from reality will inevitably lead to a surge in populism and extremist and radical movements, he said.
According to the proverb, imitation is the sincerest form of what?

This is the first question of Tuesdays instalment of the TikTok10, a viral trivia series that Melbourne quiz maker Miles Glaspole has been running since 2021. But its also a tongue-in-cheek message to The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun  two News Corp-owned newspapers which he strongly suspects have been plagiarising his work in their daily Quizmaster quiz.

The questions are word-for-word verbatim [from my videos], he tells The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. It is identical.

TikTok10 creator Miles Glaspole has made a tongue-in-cheek video in response to questions that first appeared on his quiz being published in News Corp papers. Credit:Miles Glaspole/TikTok10

Its a trend that he first noticed this Monday, after a fan brought it to his attention. All 10 questions from that days quiz (which were published in both papers) had previously appeared on the TikTok10  across two videos on June 2 and 3.
Los Angeles: Succession received a leading 25 Emmy nominations on Tuesday, but the satirical drama about the rich and ruthless has a landmark rival in Squid Game, the first non-English language series to vie for televisions top honour.

Netflixs Squid Game, a South Korea-set drama in which the poor are fodder for brutal games, has earned a best drama nomination and 13 other bids for Septembers Emmy Awards. HBOs Succession captured the best drama trophy and six other awards when it last vied for the Emmys in 2020.

Successions Brian Cox has been nominated for best actor in a drama series while the show is up for best drama. Credit:HBO

Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said he appreciated that Squid Games nomination was a milestone for Hollywood and signalled a change of attitude in the US.

Instead of just exporting the content around the world, it is now shifting to become a participant in the global content realm to facilitate exchanges of cultures around the world, he told The Associated Press through a translator.
Just over six months ago, United States Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was at the COP26 talks in Glasgow celebrating that summits considerable successes in raising climate ambition.

Since then, global and US domestic efforts to address the existential threat have been struck by hurdles, ranging from medical to logistical to geopolitical.

In her senior role in US president Joe Bidens cabinet she is one of the people tasked with leading the administrations ambitious plan to coax the world towards net zero and she remains defiantly upbeat.

Diversity of energy sources is strategic strength, the United States Energy Secretary said during a visit to Sydney this week. Credit:Brook Mitchell

In Sydney this week for an energy conference attended by a swag of global heavy-hitters in the sector, Granholm concedes her job has got even tougher. Certainly, the ground has shifted, she says in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The next 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children must give greater emphasis to the experiences of First Nations communities, LGBTQ Australians, young people, and other at-risk groups, a major report has recommended.

A consultation report, taking in the views of almost 500 policy experts and community advocates, has called for a more inclusive understanding of family and sexual violence to underpin the new plan, with children recognised as victims in their own right and the experiences of Indigenous Australians, women with disabilities, migrant women and LGBTQ groups embedded in the rollout.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has released a long-awaited consultation report into family and domestic violence. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Prepared by Monash Universitys Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, led by Associate Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, the report suggested the name of the national plan be changed to ensure it is inclusive of violence experienced by all priority populations and forms of gendered violence.

Fitz-Gibbon said the findings of the report, which was handed to the federal government last year and finalised in February but not previously released, had been reflected in the draft national plan circulated earlier this year.

In the drafting of the plan, you can definitely see concerted attempts to ensure that we recognise a range of different priority communities and there will be divergent views on how well thats been achieved, she said.

[Those groups] experience perhaps similar forms of violence, but access to services and the way in which the system works for them are vastly different. We need to ensure that thats identified and that we can provide the most effective tailored responses.

Read more here.
Australian and Solomon Islands leaders meet to discuss the rise of China

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Hidden amid the controversy of former deputy premier John Barilaros short-lived appointment to the coveted position of trade commissioner to the Americas was a glaring gap in diversity. Of the six lucrative NSW trade postings announced, only one went to a woman.

Helen Sawczak, the former head of the Australia China Business Council, was the sole woman appointed to one of the roles, although not without a smidgen of concern. Sawczak, who was named China trade commissioner, had previously raised eyebrows after public comments she made when working for the business lobby.

Jenny West appears before the parliamentary inquiry on Monday. Credit:Nick Moir

In mid-2020, Sawczak warned that Australia needed to keep on top of national security issues but not to the detriment of our economic interests. Her comments unleashed a flurry of criticism from national security experts, as well as federal MPs on both sides of politics, who warned business could not dictate foreign policy.

Sawczak also lamented that the then Morrison governments calls for an inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic had undermined the Australia-China relationship. To go out like a shag on a rock, little Australia demanding an inquiry and insinuating blame, was probably not a great foreign policy move, Sawczak said.
Doctors and aged care facilities are urging the state government to reverse a decision ending the legal requirement for visitors to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as NSW faces a surge in Omicron cases.

From Monday, visitors to residential aged care homes will no longer need to be vaccinated under changes to the NSW public health order authorised by Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant on Wednesday.

Visitors to NSW aged care homes will no longer need to be vaccinated against COVID under changes to the public health order. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Under the relaxation of the health order, compulsory daily visitor limits of two adults and two children will revert to a recommendation. Vaccination will remain mandatory for aged care workers.

Facilities can choose to maintain vaccination requirements for visitors.
COVID complacency means virus can still wreak havoc Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: I was grateful that a government that cares about deaths in older and vulnerable people was making COVID antivirals more widely available until I examined the process of acquiring them by day five of illness (Patients decry broken system in hunt for viral access, July 13). After waiting for your positive result, you find a doctor to write the script, then you try to find a pharmacy with stock. Our two local pharmacies had no stock and neither did the wholesaler. One pharmacist told me they didnt keep much stock because it is too expensive for them. It seems the job of government here is not done. Unless they turn their attention to enabling people to get their hands on a potentially life-saving drug in time, their promises are empty ones.

Jennifer Briggs, Kilaben Bay

The withdrawal of access to free rapid antigen tests shows how the government has become as complacent as the majority of Australia (Free RATs to stop as more tests advised, July 13). It is fine for the minister to say masks are now affordable but with the skyrocketing costs of everyday living, this could be a significant amount to take out of struggling family budgets resulting in no testing being done. COVID-19 is not over; it is getting worse by the day and every small measure that was reducing the infection rate has been withdrawn or toned down. Low vaccination rates, no mask wearing, forcing employees to return to work, and now no free access to test kits are all measures that will see a marked rate of hospitalisations and deaths. Joy Paterson, Mount Annan As someone whose partner has been an epidemiologist since before anyone knew what that was, I guess its not surprising that Ive fully absorbed his informed views about COVID-19 in its burgeoning forms. It is an ongoing challenge, but people are so over it that they dont realise that it continues to be a danger that needs co-ordinated national action. Anne Ring, Coogee More than two years into this wearying pandemic and we have learned nothing (COVID-stricken cruise ship docks in Sydney, July 13). Thousands of passengers will be let loose from a cruise ship in Sydney provided they are negative on a rapid antigen test. We all know people who have tested negative on a RAT and have been positive on a PCR test in subsequent days. Already we know that more than 20 people have tested positive since disembarking in Brisbane. Those whose lives and businesses have suffered greatly during the previous harsh lockdown measures must be shaking their heads in disbelief. Kim Hobbs, Kings Langley

Schools bottom of priorities list Is anyone really surprised (NSW students await $1 billion in upgrades and new schools, July 13)? Wasnt it obvious that throughout the tenure of the various iterations of Coalition governments that other projects of community benefit had (or have) a higher priority, for example, a car park for a flourishing community sports club, a new/replacement inner-city football stadium, relocation of a perfectly functional museum, to mention just a few. Surely people are aware of the need to fund train storage in order to pursue an ideological argument with the union movement, not to mention the commercial necessity to create and fund five new $2.5 million (per year) international trade commissioner jobs. Thats just some of the government initiatives with a higher priority than the quality of public education facilities, or regional health facilities. Graham Tooth, Kings Point High-tech future awaits When the pandemic struck, there was a hue and cry over Australias lack of industrial sustainability. Now, after some two years, we are still at emerging nation status. We have still not taken any action to ensure we are not under the thumb of those who strategically would like to control aspects of the control chain as stated by US Energy Secretary (Chinas control of solar cell production a global threat, July 13). Our home grown science and technology could guide us towards high-tech manufacturing to cancel the effect of our high wages. Ed Husic, Minister for Science and Industry, might well take a trip to the Tesla factory in Fremont, California to see how its done. The video of this extraordinary factory makes salutatory viewing in this context. Tesla is, of course, sourcing from all over the world but their strategy is a clear pointer to how a western country can be industrially self-sufficient. David Catchlove, Newport

Livestock on a knife-edge I am an Indonesianist, interpreter/translator, and have worked with the AFP, AusAid, the ADF and a number of other Australian agencies in Indonesia, over some 20 years. My opinion of most Australians who go to Bali in order to behave in a way which would see them jailed in Australia is very low (Bali tourists asked to stop disease spread, July 13).

Some returning travellers will heed this warning, but it takes only one, from a potential cohort of hundreds, to flout this warning, and our livestock industry is doomed. Let the government step up, institute meaningful regulations, checking of all baggage, foot-baths and heavy fines or jail sentences for failure to declare possible hazards and we may have a better chance. Tomorrow is too late. Ian Usman Lewis, Kentucky An honest politician How refreshing that one of the 11 candidates vying for Boris Johnsons job is brave enough to state the unpalatable truth (Battle for next PM to drag on for weeks, July 13.). While his fellow contenders promise tax cuts in various areas to curry favour, Rishi Sunak reminds them that the adoption of comforting fairy tales would leave future generations worse off. A lesson we all need to learn, perhaps. Joan Brown, Orange

Rural revival opportunity The Randwick Barracks proposal for housing is a perfect example of the federal government not caring about rural Australia (Barracks plan for Randwick angers locals, July 13). Close the barracks. Turn it into parkland and build a new barracks in a rural area. It would bring millions of dollars in health facilities, schools and shopping to rural communities. And it would stop the destruction of Sydney by over-population. Chris Beal, Forster Towering ambition a failure Apart from the profit motive, why build towers in Hornsby town centre up to 36 storeys (Council to vote on 36-sotrey towers for centre of Hornsby, July 13)? Have any of the planners walked down a 36-storey fire escape? Why not build up to 10 storeys and let some sunlight in? How can towers in the town centre possibly reflect its bushland setting? Mirrored windows, reflecting a token tree? Its time we said no more towers no matter how many developers we upset. Barbara Grant, Castle Hill

Stacks of memories 1963, uni begins and there is a new share house needing the standard student bookcase of planks and bricks (From a grimy past emerges a green playground for all, July 13). I took my Austin A30 to St Peters brickworks to collect a load of bricks. As the A30 slowly chugged up the dirt road out of the pit, tail sagging from the weight, half a dozen workers cheered us on. Long live St Peters brickworks and the stacks. Jenny Mooney, Karuah The force is with her Imagine this. A religious sect run by a single sex. The opposite sexs role is to provide support to the leaders (Letters, July 13). Now imagine all the leaders were female. Do the words righteous indignation come to mind? Neville Turbit, Russell Lea I would like to point out the old saying that will settle all arguments. God did not create man, man created God. That is valid for all religions. Zuzu Burford, Heathcote

Credit:Cathy Wilcox The church reflects society. Both are gradually giving grudging recognition that differences in the physical realm do not preclude equality. The Catholic Churchs deficiencies are currently highlighted, but would a tantrum-throwing sportswoman receive the same indulgent, wall-to-wall media coverage as the man who just came second at Wimbledon? There is no artistic, spiritual, serving or leading occupation in church or society that women could not perform. Glacial pace or not, its coming. Sister Susan Connelly, Lakemba Your correspondent is being silly. We all know that all the stars were created in the fourth day  although how God knew it was the fourth day before She created the Sun eludes me. Robert Hosking, Paddington

Lights, camera ... action I suspect that John Barilaro would probably fancy playing himself in any movie adaptation, the absence of any talent to do so being irrelevant (Letters, July 13). However, will a movie length feature be sufficient? I think a spin-off series is in order. Perhaps Underbelly: Macquarie Street or Decline of Duty? Michael Thompson, Bexley North And, of course, Meryl Streep as Gladys Berejiklian and Jim Carrey as Dominic Perrottet. John Dinan, Cheltenham Hats off to manners Its been my parenting rule of thumb that the best way to engender good manners in children is to explain how a particular failure discomfited others (Letters, July 13). In other words, manners grew from practical origins. My husband, too, is renowned among his grandchildren for caps off in the house but cannot justify it or tell me how it is offensive, except to those who grew up with the rule. Nor why a woman may wear her hat inside with impunity, but its rudeness in a male. There must have been a practical reason originally, but what was it?Margaret Clark, Riverview
His final feature film, Flight Of The Albatross  shot in New Zealand and Germany  won the Crystal Bear for best childrens film at the 1995 Berlin International Film Festival.

He is best known for his insightful and compassionate work with children. His first feature, The Children from Number 67, won worldwide acclaim, and first brought him to Sydney  initially as a participant in the 1980 Sydney Film Festival and later as a teacher at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Meyer described looking down from the plane on his first visit to Australia, flying over the glistening blue waters of Sydney Harbour, and deciding right then that this was where he could happily spend the rest of his life. The message was confirmed, and the decision sealed, by a white cockatoo which buzzed him on the roof of a Berlin hospital, where Meyer, having returned to Germany, was recovering from the removal of his gall bladder.

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His beloved four-bedroom cottage on a corner block in Balmain was the very first house he inspected when he decided to settle here permanently. It remained his home for the next 40 years, with its burnished wooden floors, its corner shop across the street, its scarred kauri pine kitchen table and its tropical garden out the back.

The door was always open to guests, oddballs, drop outs and foreign visitors, however unexpected. When his niece Mran-MareeMran-Maree, then aged 13, fled her unconventional upbringing (on a yacht with her divorced father and brother off the coast of Lamu, East Africa), arriving in Sydney with dreadlocks and one shoe, Meyer met her at the airport and took her under his wing.

Though he never had children of his own, Meyer had been a loving stepfather to the children of his first partner, Usch Barthelmess-Weller. Having trained as a child psychologist, Usch was the co-writer and co-director of Meyers early works, and he helped raise her children, Anna and Til, from childhood into their early 20s.
Suva: Pacific Minister Pat Conroy says Australia is open to collaborating with China on infrastructure in the Pacific, but has warned that Beijing must lift the quality of its projects and hire more local workers.

Were open to partnering with other countries in supporting the development aspirations of the Pacific, Conroy said. We partner, for example, in projects that go through the Asian Development Bank that might involve Australian finance, mixing with other peoples finance, developed by the Asian Development Bank and built by a Chinese company.

Pat Conroy says Australia is open to collaborating with China on infrastructure in the Pacific. Credit:Joe Armao

Conroys comments follow a push by Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi to engage more with Australia and New Zealand after Beijing failed to land a Pacific-wide security and economic deal in May.

China has carried out trilateral co-operation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region and achieved positive results, Wang said after his meeting with Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week. China is willing to give play to its respective advantages to achieve a win-win outcome.


Australias electoral system works pretty well, which is why proposals for reform should be considered very carefully.

The former Coalition governments main focus in this area, for example, was a bill requiring voters to present identification at polling booths to combat voter fraud. The Senate was right to reject the bill because it would have disenfranchised many voters, mostly Indigenous and poor, to solve an imaginary problem. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Australia.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell has revealed Labors plans for very different and more far-reaching reforms. Some of them, such as the proposals for reform of campaign financing law, are long overdue.

When vested interests make campaign donations to buy political favours it corrodes peoples trust. Voters should know who is funding parties when they cast their ballots.

Yet at a federal level the rules are too opaque. The current threshold of $15,200 for disclosure of campaign donations is far too high, allowing many donors to avoid scrutiny, and it also creates inconsistency between federal law and the states which have much lower disclosure caps. In NSW, the cap is $1000.
Two major Australian retailers are being investigated by the privacy watchdog for their use of facial recognition technology in stores.

Kmart and Bunnings will be investigated over the technology, which captures images of shoppers faces and stores the unique face prints.

Kmart and Bunnings will be investigated over their use of technology that captures images of shoppers faces.

The retailers say facial recognition is being used in some stores to protect shoppers and staff, to combat anti-social behaviour and reduce theft.

But the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has concerns over the companies personal information handling practices.
Rajapaksa had agreed to step down under pressure and was due to formally resign his position on Wednesday. MPs agreed to elect a new president next week but have struggled to decide on the make-up of a new government to lift the bankrupt country out of economic and political collapse. Rajapaksas demise is surprising to Sri Lankans not so much for the fact it has happened, as much as for how long it has taken for the maelstrom of the nations economic and political issues to result in a forced resignation. For months, opinion polls have shown as much as 90 per cent of the countrys 22 million people wanted to see him gone. One diplomat spoken to by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald said that in most democracies around the world, Rajapaksa would have long ago been forced out by a party spill, given the vast unpopularity of many of his decisions.

That he has not is a reflection of how tightly the Sri Lanka Peoples Front (SLPP) has coalesced around the Rajapaksa family. Given this dynamic, the wider Sri Lankan population was left with no choice but to gradually increase direct pressure on the governments leadership. People throng President Gotabaya Rajapaksas official residence three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Credit:AP Its a process that began with a massed protest outside Rajapksas personal residence as far back as March. All of 101 days elapsed, many of them wracked by the combination of fuel and other shortages, skyrocketing food prices and the collapse of the nations agriculture, before the presidential palace was finally stormed on Saturday. That pressure had been imposed, with very rare exceptions, in a manner characterised by peaceful disobedience. The only major outbreaks of violence prior to Saturday had been initiated by pro-government forces - though the perpetrators of the fire at the private residence of Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday night remain unknown. One major reason for the emphasis on non-violence is through the blood-soaked history of Sri Lanka itself. The civil war between 1983 and 2009 marked the lives and premature deaths of so many Sri Lankans - something of which those who walked into the Rajapaksa residence on Saturday were reminded.

There was a bunker inside the Palace, which nobody knew before, Janith Weerasinghe told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. This bunker with all facilities including a gym and a lift had been built during the wartime just in case an attack happened. It was cleverly disguised and the entrance was through a wardrobe. Rajapaksa had not hidden there on Saturday, having fled the day before. He reportedly made numerous attempts to find sanctuary overseas, including in the United States and India. The promised resignations brought no end to the crisis, and protesters have vowed to occupy the official buildings until the top leaders are gone. For days, people have flocked to the presidential palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction  swimming in the pool, marvelling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows. They also burnt the prime ministers private home. While MPs agreed late on Monday to elect a new president from their ranks on July 20, they have not yet decided who will take over as prime minister and fill the cabinet. People wait in queue to enter the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three days after it was stormed by anti-government protesters in Colombo. Credit:AP

The new president will serve the remainder of Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024  and could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by parliament. The prime minster is to serve as president until a replacement is chosen  an arrangement that is sure to further anger protesters who want Wickremesinghe out immediately. Corruption and mismanagement have left the island nation laden with debt and unable to pay for imports of basic necessities. The shortages have sown despair among the countrys 22 million people. Sri Lankans are skipping meals and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel. Until the latest crisis deepened, the Sri Lankan economy had been expanding and growing a comfortable middle class. People walk past a poster showing defaced portraits of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Basil. Credit:AP

The political impasse added fuel to the economic crisis since the absence of an alternative unity government threatened to delay a hoped-for bailout from the International Monetary Fund. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement. In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from neighbouring India and from China. Asked whether China was in talks with Sri Lanka about possible loans, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official gave no indication whether such discussions were happening. China will continue to offer assistance as our capability allows for Sri Lankas social development and economic recovery, said the spokesman, Wang Wenbin. On Tuesday, Sri Lankas religious leaders urged protesters to leave the government buildings. The protesters have vowed to wait until both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe are out of office.

After the storming of the government buildings, it was clear there is a consensus in the country that the government leadership should change, said Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a think tank. Loading Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. The protesters accuse the president and his relatives of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksas administration of hastening the countrys collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajakpaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown. The president had not been seen nor heard from since Saturday, though his office issued statements indicating that he continued to carry out his duties.
London: Four women and four non-white MPs will fight it out to be the next British prime minister in the UKs most diverse contest for any partys leadership in history.

Conservative MPs will begin voting on Wednesday (UK time) and the result of the final two candidates should be known before the Commons rises for the northern summer recess on Thursday.

Credit:

Sajid Javid, who sensationally plunged the knife into Boris Johnsons prime ministership last week when he quit as health secretary over a series of scandals engulfing No.10 Downing Street, failed to gather support from the required 20 MPs and withdrew from the race just minutes before the deadline closed.

The former chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who followed Javid in quitting Johnsons cabinet led with the most MP endorsements and is widely considered to be frontrunner.
The BBC cited one newly unearthed military report that said one unit may have killed 54 people in one six-month tour.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, a former SAS soldier, has consistently supported the inquiry into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. Credit:James Brickwood

Hastie made the comments in London shortly after the BBCs Panorama aired allegations the UKs SAS repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances.

London: Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has told a British audience that if the West is to stand up to Russian barbarism in Ukraine and defend the Indo-Pacific from Chinese aggression, it must account for its own wrongdoings, including in Afghanistan.

In Australia, we have been through a tough public accounting for our time in Afghanistan specifically, the alleged unlawful actions of a small number of our special forces over the course of the war, he told a conference hosted by think tank Henry Jackson Society.

The oppositions defence spokesman Andrew Hastie at the In and Out Naval Club, St James, London speaking at a conference for the Henry Jackson Society.

The Brereton Inquiry, as it is known, has been very tough but it has been necessary. For if we cannot hold ourselves to account for unlawful battlefield conduct in Afghanistan, by what standard do we condemn Russian acts of barbarity in Ukraine?

The UKs Minister for Armed Forces said alleged war crimes in Afghanistan had already been twice investigated but if the program aired any new allegations that met the evidential threshold, then we will absolutely investigate it.

Nobody in our organisation no matter how special, gets a bye on the law and thats that, he said.
New York: A former CIA software engineer has been convicted on charges of causing the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history.

Joshua Schulte, who chose to defend himself at a New York City retrial, had told jurors in closing arguments that the CIA and FBI made him a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017.

Former CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte was convicted of causing the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history. Credit:AP

Schulte watched without visibly reacting as US District Judge Jesse Furman announced the guilty verdict on nine counts, which was reached in mid-afternoon by a jury that has deliberated since Friday.

A sentencing date was not immediately set because Schulte still awaits trial on child pornography possession and transport charges. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Washington: Donald Trump said he could have made Elon Musk beg on his knees when he was in the White House, escalating a war of words between the businessmen.

The former president increased his attacks on the worlds richest man after Musk said Trump was too old to stand for leadership again and needed to sail into the sunset.

The 75-year-old recalled the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive visiting him in the Oval Office and said he would have begged him for government subsidies, in a message on Truth Social, his own social media app.

The war of words between Tesla founder Elon Musk and former US president Donald Trump has escalated. Credit:Bloomberg, AP

Trump said: When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidised projects, whether its electric cars that dont drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocket ships to nowhere, without which subsidies hed be worthless and tell me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, drop to your knees and beg, and he would have done it.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in an urgent Public meeting on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

The Public meeting is scheduled for 11.45 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Advice request advice Council of Advice regarding article 50, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Constitution

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. All persons visiting the House of Parliament must adhere to the house rules and all health and safety protocols, including the wearing of a mask.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, Soualiga Headlines, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx and www.youtube.com/c/SintMaartenParliament
AMSTERDAM/SABA:--- A youth orchestra pilot will be launched at the beginning of the upcoming academic year on Saba, Commissioner of Culture Rolando Wilson announced on Wednesday, July 13.

Commissioner Wilson and Franklin Wilson, board members of the Saba Association of Caribbean States Foundation, on Tuesday, July 12, met with Director of the Leerorkest Marco de Souza and a member of his team at the offices of the Foundation Leerorkest in Amsterdam to further discuss the launching of the youth orchestra pilot on Saba.

During the pilot, Saba children will be taught how to play various musical instruments. The Leerorkest will be assisting and working along with the local musicians in training the schoolchildren. The instruments are already available on the island, thanks to the assistance of Saba Association of Caribbean States Foundation.

The Leerorkest has already established foundations in Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire and is already working with children on these islands, teaching them how to play various instruments. The Leerorkest visited Saba and St. Eustatius in October 2021 and saw the potential of the two islands and the children.

Commissioner Wilson is a great supporter of this project which offers great opportunities for the Saba children. I would really like to see music lessons in the curriculum of the schools. There are many young, talented people eagerly waiting to learn how to play an instrument, he said.

Wilson said that during his visit to the Leerorkest in Amsterdam, he got to see children playing different kinds of instruments. It felt good seeing them playing. With this pilot, our children on Saba will also be able to benefit from this wonderful initiative, he said.

The Leerorkest will be working with the Saba Association of Caribbean States Foundation, a foundation that has been in existence since January 2003. Funding has been made available by the Ministry of Justice and Safety (JenV) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW) to the Foundation Leerorkest to assist Saba and Statia.
(Inter)continental passenger transport with a small footprint

On November 19, a large sailing ship departs from Rotterdam (Netherlands) for the Caribbean, where it will arrive on January 17, 2023. This is the Journey to the New

World with which Fair Ferry takes travelers from Europe to America and back in a sustainable way. A low emission alternative to flying.

From Martinique, they will visit various Caribbean islands, St Marten will be the island they will sail back to Rotterdam, stopping at Bermuda and the Azores on their

way.

Fair Ferry

Fair Ferry, the ferry service by a sailing ship, stands for adventure with a tall ship at sea. Because the journey is just as important as the destination. And because there is so much more to see and experience while sailing. Since 2019, Fair Ferry has been bringing passengers with large sailing ships to their destinations on European waters.

At the end of this year, Fair Ferry will make the crossing to the 'New World'! This way, the Dutch company is taking its next step toward intercontinental passenger

transport. In the future, Fair Ferry will use fast sailing ships to make sustainable ferry connections accessible to a wider public.

Alternative to flying Karel de Boer (Fair Ferry founder): By organizing our trips, we offer a high-quality, positive alternative to flying. The journey to the New World is the first step towards sustainable intercontinental passenger transport. We travel in ships powered by renewable energy, elevating vegetarianism to the norm and embracing the consequences of slow travel.

The journey to the 'New World'

The journey to the 'New World' is made with the Morgenster, a two-masted Tall Ship of almost 50 meters in length. The ship follows an ancient route from Europe, with the trade wind, to South America and the Caribbean, before making the crossing back to the Netherlands. Along the way, stops are made at the most beautiful places. The journey is divided into seven stages that can be booked separately. True adventurers book all seven stages independently, or the Grand Tour.

For active travelers

Sailing experience is not necessary, an active and open attitude is. Along the way, the crew is happy to give (practice) education without obligation in everything that

is involved in nautical life, from hoisting the sails to navigating. Steering the ship is possible as well. Of course, there is also plenty of time to relax, read a book and have a good conversation.

The journey is divided into 7 stages:

Stage 1: Rotterdam - Lisbon 19-11-2022 to 03-12-2022

Stage 2: Lisbon - Cayenne 04-12-2022 to 02-01-2023

Stage 3: Cayenne - Paramaribo 03-01-2023 to 08-01-2023

Stage 4: Paramaribo- Grenada 09-01-2023 to 17-01-2023

Stage 5: Grenada - Martinique 18-01-2023 to 29-01-2023

Stage 6: Martinique - Sint Maarten 30-01-2023 to 09-02-2023

Stage 7: Sint Maarten - Rotterdam 10-02-2023 to 17-03-2023

Founder Karel de Boer

Karel de Boer has been sailing all his life. As a child, he bonded with his Optimist (one-man boat). After high school, he sailed on spec on various sailing yachts from Europe to the Caribbean. De Boer then completes a study at the Gerrit Rietvel Academy and the Higher Institute for the Fine Arts, after which he starts working as a spatial designer/artist. But blood is thicker than water. When Karel is increasingly troubled by flygskam - especially on short-haul flights - he sees an opportunity to use sailing ships as an alternative to the airplane, resulting in: Fair Ferry (2019).

www.fairferry.co.uk
PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of the Party for Progress were left with their mouths hanging on Wednesday when they tried to dupe parliament into adding an agenda point to the urgent meeting of parliament called to debate the constitution of St. Maarten in order to bring back suspended Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper.

PFP MP Raeyhon Peterson asked that the chair of parliament add an agenda point to the meeting on Wednesday on the confidence of parliament in the Minister of VROMI Egbert Jurendy Doran.

The urgent meeting of Parliament was called during the recess which commenced with 9 members present, including MP Rolando Brison and MP Hyacinth Richardson.

When the PFP requested the agenda point be added which the chair of parliament obviously agreed with, MP Brison in a point of order pointed out the shenanigans that are being played in parliament by some politicians, he then notified the chair that she could only continue with such a meeting when the parliament has more than half of its members present. MP Rolando Brison and Hyacinth Richardson then walked out of the meeting leaving them without a quorum to continue.

Certainly, the Minister of VROMI was once again saved by at least two members of the coalition namely Brison and Richardson. It is clear that the feud between the chairlady of parliament and MP Rolando Brison has boiled over and now politics are being played at the expense of the people. The chairlady of parliament clearly left the coalition government with the way she has been handling the affairs of parliament in order to accommodate members of parliament in the opposition benches.

In the Council of Minister's press briefing on Wednesday, SMN News asked the Minister to give his thoughts about the motion that was promised two weeks ago. Doran said that he does not believe the motions have anything to do with the reports of the Ombudsman but instead its a personal on various points, he promised to enlighten the public sometime in the future on where he believes the current development derives from.

He made clear as a minister he has a job to do, and some drastic changes are being made in the Ministry of VROMI with respect to lower costs for the government when awarding contracts. The Minister said the government saved NAF 130,000.00 monthly on the wastewater treatment plant alone which he believes upsets some people. He did promise to execute his duties and return to parliament with the answers to the questions when the meeting resumes.
Article Published by the Pan African website: Panafrikanist on the Moroccan crime against humanity committed last June 24th against African migrants near the Moroccan Spanish borders in Melilla.

The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

Around 2000 African migrants, from a number of unidentified African countries, tried last Friday 24th June 2022, to cross the borders between Northern Morocco with the Spanish city of Melilla, which is a Spanish Enclave under Madrids sovereignty since 1491.

Citizens and Media present on the ground filmed atrocious videos showing how the Moroccan police was violently handling the situation, which turned out to be a terrible massacre, full of images of extreme violence, inhumane treatment, and terrible detention scenes that shocked everyone, except maybe the Moroccan authorities and their allies, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who commented on the event saying that Morocco is dealing in an extraordinary and efficient way with the African migration invasion.

The Spanish government in fact doesnt miss an opportunity to emphasise that Morocco is its strategic partner in the migration policy, and is pushing the European Union to support Morocco in fortifying and equipping its police forces to control and stop African migration to Europe.

Morocco received some 343 million Euros since 2014 from the EU. Continued cooperation on migration could reportedly see that figure rise to as much as 3.5 billion Euros for the period between 2020 and 2027 as Reporters without Borders indicated in an Analysis in 2021.

And for this Morocco is deploying such atrocious measures against migrants to showcase, to its European allies, how seriously it is taking the issue.

The EU is in fact funding an 18 Million Euros project to fortify fences around the two Spanish Enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla to better block migrants, but of course, they never say what this means in human lives losses, tragedies, and desperation.

The whole issue is really disturbing not only because of the terrible videos and stories of ill-treatment, sexual abuse, and killings and torture of the poor victims; it is in fact worrying because of Morocco, and its King, are supposedly the African Union Champion on Migration!

Big question marks would therefore arise from this fact. Why are these acts of systematic violence against migrants, which have been repeated by the Moroccan authorities many times during the last two decades at least, tolerated and even funded by the EU, accepted or ignored by the AU, and most shockingly never brought to the table by the countries of these victims themselves?

Is what the Champion of the AU on Migration committing against African and even Moroccan migrants the way and strategy of the African Union on migration? Because this accomplices silence from the AU, and the poor and useless Tweets issued by the AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, who couldnt even denounce and condemn these acts, cannot be accepted or tolerated.

The problem is that none is asking the right questions that should be asked here. One of these is: How could these thousands of migrants reach Morocco in the first place? Arent all the borders of Morocco closed, at least since 2019?

One should recall here that the Moroccan borders with Algeria are totally closed since 1994, while Morocco is at war with the Western Sahara army, so the southern borders of Morocco are a war zone. And therefore, the only access these migrants must have had, or at least their majority must have been through air flights.

In fact, it is reported that the Moroccan airlines and Moroccan consulates are providing thousands of African citizens, especially from countries covered by the Moroccan Airlines with free access to the country.

Many young Africans find it an opportunity to fly to Morocco may be to get a job or to be close to the European borders and try to cross to the Promised Land. But once they reach Morocco, another reality unveils itself before their eyes.

First, Morocco is facing huge economic problems, unemployment is rocking high, and poverty and lack of opportunities is widespread. The Moroccan authorities seem to be cognisant of the issue and are tolerating the presence of thousands of African migrants in makeshift villages, living in unbelievable poverty and terrible conditions.

But not for nothing, in fact whenever the political relations of Morocco are not that good with its neighbours, we suddenly hear about massive attempts of migration, waves of migrants from many nationalities, including Moroccans, cross the borders, and immediately after, the Spanish and the EU starts responding favourably to the demands of Rabat, including by giving millions in aid, expressing some sort of support to the Moroccan claims on Western Sahara, as Spain lately did a few months ago, or simply praising Morocco as a model and a strategic ally.

Morocco is simply using African migrants, and even Moroccan migrants, weaponising them against Spain and Europe. It has done that last April 2021, when it opened the path to around 8000 migrants to cross the borders to Ceuta and Melilla in retaliation of Spain for having accepted Saharawi President, Brahim Ghali in hospital for a Covid case. Morocco never shied out declaring that it is doing this to force Madrid to behave.

The migration policy of Morocco and the violence with which it is treating African citizens on its soil is worthy of the most violent regimes humanity has known before.

The African Union response has always been weak if even expressed, and should totally change because we cannot as Africans tolerate such terrible acts from an African State, and worse from the AU Champion on Migration.

The AU must assume its responsibility and call Morocco to order not only on this migration issue but on all its violations of the African Unions Constitutive Act, illegal occupation of parts of the Saharawi Republic, shameful attempts to force the admission of Israel as an Observer Member of the AU and for all its previous policies that aim at destroying the African Union from inside.

It is also shameful to see many African states standing in silence in front of these terrible acts, and even worse is the lack of reaction from African civil societies as if these kids who died and who will be buried by Moroccan police unaccounted for are not our kids and our blood.

Source: The Panafrikanist
The Post Road in Westport could have been confused for New York City on Tuesday night. Not because there were movie premieres or red carpets, but because some of the Big Apples fashionable celebrities attended the opening of Christian Sirianos new Westport shop, The Collective West.

Billed as a mini department store, The Collective West features clothing exclusive to the store, according to Vogue, as well as accessories, interior furnishings and art Siriano began making during the COVID-19 pandemic. His store will also feature local designers, such as home furnishings shop Swoon Westport, Josh Levkoff Jewelry and menswear from brand Future Lovers of Tomorrow designed by Kyle Smith (Sirianos boyfriend).
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NEWTOWN  Attorneys getting ready for a jury trial to decide how much Alex Jones will pay Sandy Hook families he defamed want a judge to bar evidence about white supremacy and right-wing extremism, saying such associations would violate his right to a fair trial.

[E]vidence on the topics of white supremacy and right-wing extremismis not relevant to the issues that will be before the jury and would also be unfairly prejudicial and inflammatory to (Jones), reads an argument by Norm Pattis, Jones high-profile New Haven attorney. [E]vidence relating to those topics is irrelevant, would be an attack on (Jones) character and play to the emotions of the jury and distract from the main issues.

Lawyers for an FBI agent and eight Sandy Hook families who won a defamation case against Jones here last year were yet to respond in court to Jones request by Wednesday. The two sides are due before state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis on Thursday for a pretrial conference where the main issue is likely to be the showdown between Bellis and a district court judge in Texas, who has scheduled two defamation awards trials for Jones that compete with Bellis schedule here for jury selection in August and a trial in September.

The short version of the showdown is that in addition to the defamation lawsuit Jones lost to families here last year, Jones lost two other defamation lawsuits to Sandy Hook parents in Texas and a fourth defamation lawsuit to a Norwalk native Jones Infowars site defamed as a mass shooter. There was no conflict in the trial dates to award damages until Jones filed for federal bankruptcy protection one week before the first Texas trial was to begin. Jones bankruptcy maneuver didnt work, except to cause the judge in Texas to reschedule the three trials in Travis County  two of which are now in conflict with the Connecticut trial.

Pattis in a separate motion this week asked Bellis to reconsider her refusal to reschedule the Connecticut trial, arguing, this courts refusal to continue the trial to a time when (Jones) is not concurrently on trial in another state amounts to a due process violation.

He is a victim of the vagaries of federalism and requests simply that the Connecticut case be adjourned until completion of the first Texas case, Pattis wrote.

Pattis said his effort to bar evidence relating to associations of racism or extremism was out of concern about two potential witnesses the families may call at trial.

Pattis motion is part of a larger legal effort to ensure that Jones notoriety as a leader in the conspiracy community, and the national sympathy for the Sandy Hook families does not work against him in trial.

In a separate motion also filed this week, Pattis asked Bellis for permission to introduce her decision that defaulted Jones and made him liable for defamation damages.

(Jones was) found liable by way of a disciplinary default because the court concluded (he) failed to comply with discovery obligations, Pattis argued. (We) seek to introduce the courts rulingto ensure that jurors know that the liability finding was disciplinary in nature, and not a result of any finding as to the underlying merits of the claims against Mr. Jones.

The Sandy Hook families attorneys were yet to respond to Pattis motion Wednesday.

Jones called the 2012 massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors.

Pattis argued that sanctimonious outrage jeopardizes (Jones) rights to a fair trial before the proceedings ever get underway.

[W]hile (Jones) may not challenge the threshold proposition that (he) caused damages to the (families), the issue of causation is inextricably intertwined with determining the amount of the damages that the (families) may recover, Pattis argued.

The public has not viewed this case as the law views it. To the public, this case is not about liability and damages. It is about whether Mr. Jones and Free Speech Systems, LLC have been found guilty under the rubric of moral outrage, Pattis writes. In Connecticut where the horrors of the Sandy Hook tragedy have struck so close to home, the rubric delivers a near-universal outcome: Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems, LLC are guilty and must be punished as much as possible  the law be damned.

The fact that Pattis is defending Jones again is also news.

Earlier this summer, Pattis asked be dropped from representing Jones because Pattis firm had not spoken with Jones in a month, following Jones unsuccessful bankruptcy maneuver.

Bellis said no, ruling that Pattis and other Jones attorneys have either replaced themselves or asked to be dropped 13 times in four years.

Pattis later withdrew his request to drop Jones.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Dita Bhargava, one of three Democrats competing for state treasurer in a sleepy midsummer primary, made a grab for voter attention Tuesday with a television commercial asserting the next treasurer can play a role fighting the loss of reproductive rights after Roe v. Wade.

The ad now airing opens with a tight shot of a bare-shouldered Bhargava, followed by a quick succession of other women who stare wordlessly into the camera, their bare shoulders suggesting a naked vulnerability as the candidate narrates:

This is who had freedom over their own bodies stripped away. This is who the Supreme Court left completely vulnerable. As Democrats, we need to fight harder. So Ill lead the crusade for our right to choose as state treasurer. Well push companies that we invest in to guarantee employees access to safe abortions. This is whos fighting back and why we need more women in office.

The ad is titled, Stripped Away.

With the first television ad, Bhargava is pressing the advantage of being the first of the three Democrats to qualify for and receive public financing available to candidates who participate in the states voluntary Citizens Election Program. Erick Russell, the convention-endorsed candidate, and the other challenger, Karen Dubois-Walton, also have applied for public financing.

People might ask why a candidate for state treasurer is focused on this issue. Its a fair question, Bhargava said in a written statement. Im focused on it because the state treasurer has the power to affect corporate behavior by the investments it makes. Or doesnt make. And I promise you, when Im treasurer, this state will not invest in companies that do not support a womans right to a safe, legal abortion.

The state treasurer is the sole trustee of Connecticuts retirement funds, a portfolio valued at about $47 billion last spring.

As such, the treasurer historically has used the investments as instruments of social activism, including divesting from companies doing business in South Africa during apartheid and, more recently, from Russian assets to protest the invasion of Ukraine.

Russell previously has promised to divest from gun manufacturers, move away from fossil fuels, promote fair labor practices and oppose excessive executive compensation. Dubois-Walton says one of her priorities is to stimulate equitable growth.

The public financing grant for a qualified candidate in a primary for treasurer is $484,125. To qualify, Bhargava had to agree to spending limits and raise $86,600 in increments ranging from $5 to $290, mostly from in-state donors.

The applications of Russell and Dubois-Walton will be considered once their qualifying donations are vetted by the State Elections Enforcement Commission

Russells application is on the commissions agenda for Wednesday.

Connecticuts primary day is August 9. Republicans have statewide primaries for U.S. Senate and secretary of the state. Democrats have primaries for treasurer and secretary of the state.

Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, a Democrat, is not seeking reelection. Harry Arora, the Republican nominee, has no primary and already has qualified for his public grant.
STAMORD  A city man was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl.

Fredy A. Orellana, 35, pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal sexual contact with a minor in state Superior Court in Stamford in April as a part of a deal with state prosecutors.

In return for pleading guilty, Orellana was handed a 15-year sentence suspended after six years, five of which are mandatory, according to Supervisory States Attorney Michelle Manning.

Once released from prison, Orellana will receive 20 years of probation and will also be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Manning said the state entered the plea agreement with Orellana, in part, because they didnt want the minor victim to have to testify during a trial.

The facts are what can only be called horrendous and are something that this child will have to deal with for the rest of her life, as well as the rest of the family, Manning said prior to Orellanas sentencing on Wednesday.

Orellana was arrested by law enforcement officials in Los Angeles in July 2021 after he fled Connecticut after learning about a warrant for his arrest, police said at the time.

Orellana was charged with first-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor under the illegal sexual contact with a minor subsection of Connecticut statute.

According to Manning, Orellana had been sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl over a two-year period between her time in kindergarten and first grade.

Manning said Stamford police started investigating Orellana after the victim went to the hospital with a suspected sexually transmitted disease.

Officers later conducted a forensic interview of the victim and corroborated many of the allegations made, according to his arrest warrant.

Investigators worked with the states attorneys office to secure an arrest warrant for Orellana in May 2021, but he fled Connecticut when he became aware of his pending arrest, police said.

The U.S. Marshals Service helped track down Orellana in California, police said.
Last fall, a jury found the town of Cromwell had intentionally discriminated against people with disabilities in its treatment of a group home on Reiman Road. Town municipal leaders are now asking residents of Cromwell to vote to sequester millions of dollars so it can appeal that decision. The refusal of Cromwells leaders to come to grips with its conduct continues to harm the town and people with disabilities in the state of Connecticut.

I am not a resident of Cromwell, but I was present at the town forum held to discuss the group home on Reiman Road. I was not planning to speak that night, but after listening to some of the comments from town residents and elected officials, I was compelled to speak. I am a person who lives with a psychiatric disability. When my husband and I bought our house, which is down the street from one of my towns elementary schools, I did not have to disclose my mental health history to anyone. I did not have neighbors starting a Facebook group to drive me from the neighborhood. I did not have elected officials saying they did not want me as part of our community.
As many as 91,838 persons have entered Romania on Tuesday, through border crossing points nationwide, including 9,808 Ukrainian nationals (down by 10% from the previous day) the Border Police Inspectorate General (IGPF) informs in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

In the last 24 hours, approximately 186,360 people, Romanian and foreign nationals, with over 48,500 means of transport, underwent control formalities (both on the outbound and on the inbound) through the border crossing points at the level of the whole country.

Thus, starting with February 10 (pre-conflict period) and until Monday, at 24:00, nationwide, 1,543,493 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania.

As part of the specific activities at crossing points and the green border, the border police found 50 illegal acts (26 infractions and 24 contraventions) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens. Undeclared goods (which were to be smuggled into the country) were discovered, independently or in collaboration with other staff, exceeding the customs ceiling allowed or suspected to be counterfeit, amounting to approximately RON 6,200. Fines worth over 13,470 RON were also issued.AGERPRES
Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Wednesday that a memorandum on an agreement with Ukraine for the establishment of new border crossing points between Romania and Ukraine can be approved at the next government meeting, as all the necessary approvals are secured.

He made the statement at a government meeting at the request of the prime minister, who asked him to present a deadline for completing the steps related to increasing the number of border crossing points.

"We already have all the approvals secured for the memorandum proposing to conclude an agreement by exchange of verbal notes with Ukraine in order to amend a previous agreement of 2012 on the establishment of the Racovat - Dyakivtsi, Vicovu de Sus - Krasnoilsk and Ulma - Rusca border crossings. Therefore, at the next government meeting we will be able to pass this memorandum, which means that the conclusion of the agreement will be possible soon," said Aurescu.

Prime Minister Ciuca said in his turn that steps are being taken for the construction of a border crossing point with Moldova over a pontoon bridge under development on the banks of the Prut River.

Aurescu said that the agreement also takes into account that fact.

"Basically, under this agreement amending the 2012 agreement, we are opening up the border crossings to heavy traffic. We are trying to facilitate a higher transit at the border crossing points with Ukraine. And you also mentioned the crossing point on the border with Moldova at that bridge," said Aurescu. AGERPRES
The Government on Wednesday approved the draft law on the ratification of the NATO accession protocols of Finland and Sweden, informs the spokesman of the Executive, Dan Carbunaru.

"The government has approved the draft law on the ratification of Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO. (...) Romania is among the first states to initiate these steps for the national adoption of Finland's and Sweden's decisions to join NATO. This approach confirms, on the one hand, the success of the North Atlantic Organization as a security organization, but also the "Open Doors" policy, which allowed the consolidation, strengthening and expansion of its capacity to provide its members with the strongest security guarantees," Carbunaru told a press conference at the Victoria Palace.

AGERPRES
Minister of the Interior Lucian Bode, in remarks at Wednesday's government meeting where Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca asked him to present the conclusions of the talks held at the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council in Prague, immediately after the Czech Republic's taking over the EU Presidency, declared that Romania will request a voluntary evaluation at European level in September, of its Schengen bid.

"On the sidelines of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) meeting in Prague, I had the opportunity of a bilateral meeting with Commissioner Ylva Johansson, on which occasion I asked for support to speed up the process of Romania's Schengen accession. I would like to say, Mr. Prime Minister, that we are at the stage where we await a voluntary evaluation, which we will request at the first technical meeting. (...) We intend to have this evaluation done in September, with the member states' experts, so that at the first meeting of the JHA Council in October 2022 we be able to present all the required details and show that we meet all the technical requirements so that Romania gets a favorable decision," said Lucian Bode.

He brought to mind that the assessment of Romania and Bulgaria, as regards their fulfilling the technical requirements for accession, was made 11 years ago.

"Romania meets the technical requirements to join the Schengen Area. Romania is calling on the Commission, on the member states, for a balanced approach to the obligations Romania is taking up as the manager of the largest border of the European Union, no less than 2,070 kilometers, and the rights that Romania must enjoy in terms of the free movement of persons, goods and services. (...) I am confident that Romania is on the right track and that it also benefits from the fulfillment of its obligations assumed in the regional security context, as it has proven that the security of national borders and of the EU the borders is ensured. Therefore, under the Czech Presidency, we are in the position to seek the approval of the Schengen expansion file, and I am obviously referring to the three countries: Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, mentioning them in alphabetical order," Bode said.

Prime Minister Ciuca reiterated his call on all the institutions involved in finalizing the steps related to Romania's joining the Schengen Area. AGERPRES
Deputy Prime Minister Kelemen Hunor, leader of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), said on Tuesday evening that there will be several changes in the future Fiscal Code, but these are discussed with representatives of local authorities and those in the economic area, one of which is the taxation of gambling.

"It was a draft law put up for public debate and other opinions from society are emerging. There were some meetings with the representatives of the mayors, the local authorities, with representatives from the economic area and of course from HoReCa. And in such situations it is natural to listen to their arguments and possibly make some changes (...) For HoReCa, the conclusion is that what the Government is proposing stands, although not from August 1, but from January 1. In the end, it is a correct approach, because the tourist season is underway, on the one hand, on the other hand the law says to wait 6 months, not to implement the amendment to the Fiscal Code, in the Fiscal Procedure Code. (...) There are other small changes related to SMEs, related of micro-enterprises, related to gambling, where we are proceeding with a higher taxation. That was our proposal and we argue - if you tax work, you must tax luck, there is no other way. But there are still small changes ... until the form that will be adopted in the Government is achieved," Kelemen Hunor told private broadcaster B1 TV.

With regard to the property tax, he pointed out that there have been discussions since the beginning about the minimum threshold, the value to which this tax relates, whether a minimum threshold, respectively a maximum threshold will be left for mayors to decide.

Kelemen Hunor said, on the other hand, that there are several cases in Bucharest, in the country, respectively 20-30 micro enterprises with one person, without any employees, with a turnover of one million each, with minimum fees of 3 % and owner of more than half of the blocks of flats built by micro-enterprises.

According to him, Romania is still below the European average when it comes to collecting money from the budget, especially from VAT. "And there we have to make an effort, unfortunately we have not made so far. (...) First of all, invoicing, digitalization. And this is what ANAF [the Tax Administration Authority] is doing, at a very high pace," the Deputy Prime minister went on to say. AGERPRES
The government will approve on Wednesday an emergency ordinance regarding measures on water and wastewater infrastructure projects that will benefit from a European financing of approximately 2.2 billion euros, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said at the beginning of the Government Meeting.

"We have on the agenda an emergency ordinance which is very important for the projects we are carrying out with European funding. We are talking about the emergency ordinance regarding measures on water and wastewater infrastructure projects and we are talking about a European funding of about 2, 2 billion euros. And also the amendment of some normative acts regarding the adjustment of the prices in carrying out the infrastructure programs and here we have in mind an amount of 1.5 billion euros, so overall, 3.7 billion euros," Nicolae Ciuca stated.

In this context, he pointed out that in the first 6 months of the year there has been an increase in the absorption rate of European funds of 7 percent.

"Practically, through these steps, we continue to consolidate the Government's entire commitment to increase the absorption rate of European funds. In the first six months we can announce publicly that we have an absorption growth rate of 7 percent and through the measures we will continue to take, we will make sure that this absorption rate will increase and, of course, once again I draw attention to the fulfillment of milestones and targets, so that we can continue to access the money through PNRR [the National Recovery and Resilience Plan]," Ciuca said. AGERPRES
New Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea's first task of including a "solid and articulate program for the real situation, in the field" on the development of irrigation systems was assigned by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca at the beginning of the Government meeting on Wednesday.

"Everything related to this side must be established in a solid and articulate program, for the real situation in the field, on the development of irrigation systems is, basically, the first task, Mr. Minister, which I am asking you to take into your set of priorities. There have been talks about this need and certainly, about the resource which our country has, and I am speaking about the hydro network, which is fairly rich, and must be put to use for the benefit of Romanian agriculture," Nicolae Ciuca said.

The head of the Executive added that following an analysis of the situation, conducted together with the Minister of European Projects, Marcel Bolos, the conclusion was reached that there is a possibility for Romania to attract European funds for developing the irrigation system.

In the same context, Minister Daea made a presentation of the results of Friday's work visit which he carried out in the past few days in several counties that are affected by drought.

He specified that after visiting the 10 counties, Calarasi, Braila, Galati, Vrancea, Vaslui, Iasi, Botosani, Neamt, Bacau, Buzau, he ordered to continue and increase the irrigation capacity, wherever possible, by supplementing aggregates.

"Secondly, I introduced specialists in the county structures that take part, based on the order that the prefects have issued, in order to see, to measure, to evaluate each parcel to see what has been lost," Daea added.

Furthermore, the Minister of Agriculture mentioned that he signed, along with the Minister of Internal Affairs, a joint order based on which farmers have the freedom to change the destination of calamity cultures.

"Through this order we gave freedom to the farmers to be able to immediately intervene, based on the situation, to gather their damaged crops and to change their destination. Basically you have a corn crop which no longer has perspectives, the plants have died, they need to be immediately harvested and the destination to be changed towards feed or something else. (...) This needed to be solved and I have done that," Daea explained.AGERPRES
Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) informed on Wednesday that it had informed the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry of Romania's agreement to allow third-country-flagged bulkers loaded with cereals to pass through the Chilia and Bastroe canals.

Romania's decision is part of the country's efforts to support Ukraine in order to reduce the consequences of the Russian Federation's premeditated, illegal and unjustified aggression against Ukraine.

According to MAE, the Romanian side's agreement for the use of the Bastroe canal for the transit of grain-laden bulkers is exceptional in nature, given the importance of diversifying and streamlining the transport routes used for Ukrainian grain exports.

"With the agreement of the Romanian side, it was also underlined Romania's keeping up its position of principle regarding the development of the Bastroe canal for navigation purposes, as well as the need for the project to comply with the provisions of applicable international law, including environmental protection regulations," MAE added.

At the same time, says MAE, Romania is keeping its commitment to continuing sustained efforts, on a national basis and inside the European Union, to facilitate the transit and export of grains from Ukraine, including through the Romanian Danube and Black Sea ports.

MAE also highlights Romania's constant call for strengthening efforts to mobilise consistent international support to create a transit corridor, including a maritime component, for the shipment of Ukrainian grains to third countries amid a worsening food crisis generated by Russia's actions.

AGERPRES
As many as 3,777 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, with over 18,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Wednesday.

Of the new cases, 763 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 - 982, and in the counties of Cluj - 185, Brasov - 197, Constanta - 148, Timis - 145, Iasi - 119, Prahova - 190, Ilfov -224 and Mures - 80.

As of Wednesday, 2,949,951 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 1,442 people with COVID-19, including 198 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities - up 81 from the previous reporting.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 87 are in intensive care, of whom 68 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, another four Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 (two men and two women) are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health, one of the deaths was registered in the 50 - 59 years age category, one in the 60 - 69 years age category, one in the 70 - 79 years age category and one death in the 80+ age range.

All deaths were in patients who had comorbidities, two were vaccinated and two were not vaccinated.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,801 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania. AGERPRES
BRIDGETON  Several nurses on Tuesday spoke out about long-standing security concerns at the SSM Health DePaul Hospital emergency department following Mondays stabbing that left two employees seriously injured.

Current and former DePaul nurses who spoke to the Post-Dispatch said hospital administrators have for years ignored their pleas to increase security at the Bridgeton facility by adding more guards and a metal detector to prevent physical assaults against medical staff by patients and visitors.

This is something that we have been begging for help for, for years, said one registered nurse at DePaul. She was one of several SSM Health nurses who spoke to the Post-Dispatch on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

SSM, a Catholic health system with 23 hospitals across four states, said in a statement that it takes the safety of its staff, patients and visitors seriously, and has a zero-tolerance policy for violence and aggression of any kind. The statement said the system is evaluating security measures at its emergency departments, and leadership is seeking input from staff to improve hospital safety.

Sadly, violence against health care workers is a national crisis impacting all hospitals and health systems, the health system said in the statement.

Assaults

Nurses who spoke with the Post-Dispatch repeatedly said they werent surprised when they heard a patient had stabbed a nurse and a paramedic in the emergency department on Monday.

Prosecutors have charged the patient, Jimissa Rivers, with two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action. She remains in custody on a $2 million cash-only bail.

Current and former nursing staff at the hospital described frequent instances of physical and verbal violence at the hands of patients  including being punched, choked and sexually assaulted, and enduring threats to their and their families lives.

(SSM) had all the warnings they could possibly need. This was 100% preventable, said one SSM nurse who previously worked at DePaul. When youre working at DePaul youre literally walking down the halls looking over your shoulder.

The nurses said because of the lack of a security checkpoint upon entering the emergency unit, they are often in charge of confiscating weapons found on patients, particularly from those who are there for behavioral and mental health treatment.

Everyone who spoke to the Post-Dispatch said SSMs response after an assault is to focus on the staff members actions.

One of the first things they are going to ask the nurse and paramedic is What could you have done better? said Samuel Shaefer, who left his position at the emergency room in October 2020 because of safety concerns. They will reprimand the paramedic for getting involved and trying to help their colleague.

We had to put ourselves in harms way to protect each other, he said of his time working in the emergency unit.

Several of the nurses spoke about their strained relationship with security guards, who are often stretched thin or do not respond in a timely manner. Guards often say they are not paid enough to perform some of their duties, nurses said.

Sara Marcello was the emergency room and trauma services director at DePaul from 2017 to 2020 and said she on several occasions asked the administration for more security and was turned down every time.

At one point they told me if I didnt stop bringing it up there would be a change in leadership, she said.

A spokeswoman for SSM said Tuesday evening that she couldnt immediately address Marcellos complaints, but the health system takes such concerns seriously.

A national concern

Attacks on hospital workers have become a well-known problem in the U.S., and some health care workers say it has only gotten worse during the pandemic. Patients are often scared, intoxicated, injured, or experiencing mental health crises. Patients family members are often distressed and dont understand that health care workers are stretched thin.

We have seen a rise in violence as people become more and more frustrated with their disease state, and their lack of control over the pandemic, said Jason Grellner, Mercys executive director of public safety. And for some, it became a very political issue, an ideological issue.

SSM said it follows national best practices on workplace violence policies and training. It has workplace violence committees at its hospitals, and on-site security and state-of-the-art video surveillance in its emergency departments.

Metal detectors have not been standard at emergency rooms across the health care industry, but adoption rates are on the rise, the statement said.

Area hospitals have been increasing precautions in response to the incidents.

The emergency departments at BJC HealthCare Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Childrens Hospital both have metal detectors, a BJC spokeswoman said Tuesday. Behavioral health patients are checked for weapons when they arrive by ambulance. At some hospitals, BJC has started providing staff with emergency notification buttons  some wearable, some kept at nursing stations.

Grellner said there arent metal detectors at Mercys area hospitals, but the system will soon roll out a weapons detection system that it started using at Mercy Hospital Springfield two months ago.

It will be deployed at Mercy Hospital St. Louis within the next month, and soon will roll out across all Mercy emergency departments.

In the first six days of July, the artificial intelligence-based system intercepted five firearms and seven large, edged weapons, Grellner said, including a machete.

DePaul staff have set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the nurse and paramedic attacked on Monday.
BELLEVILLE  The Catholic Diocese of Belleville said Tuesday it will sell the home its bishops have lived in for 70 years and use the proceeds in the fight against abortion.

Bishop Michael McGovern made the decision to sell the residence, a 13-bedroom, 160-year-old home just outside of downtown Belleville, after a year of discussions among clergy and laity, according to a release.

But it was the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case legalizing abortion, that pushed the diocese to devote the money to its anti-abortion pregnancy crisis centers.

We must accompany young women who are expecting children and help them on the side of life, a spokesman, Monsignor John Myler, told the Post-Dispatch. With a good heart, (McGovern) said some of the proceeds of this big residence need to be directed to that.

Illinois is at the center of the abortion rights debate in the Midwest. Many states that border it have either restricted the procedure or outlawed it altogether, as has Missouri, leaving clinics in Illinois some of the few left across a wide swath of the country.

Clinics in the Metro East, such as Planned Parenthood in Fairview Heights, are bracing for a surge of out-of-state patients.

The diocese said the proceeds will be used to help pregnant women and also for other church outreach programs.

McGovern, who was appointed bishop in 2020, will relocate later this summer to the rectory of the Cathedral of St. Peter, located about a mile northeast on Harrison Street, and live in a suite of rooms in the residence for priests, the diocese said in a release.

I enjoy Belleville and think it is important for the bishop of the diocese to continue living near the Cathedral, McGovern said in a statement. I hope to live more simply.

Claire Leopold of Nester Realty is the listing agent for the home. It is not clear what the homes listing price will be nor for how much the home has been appraised. Leopold did not immediately respond to a request for information.

The diocese purchased the home, built around the 1860s at 925 Centreville Avenue off South Belt West and Illinois 158, in 1948.

Before the churchs purchase, notable Belleville businessmen had owned the home, including George Baker, president of Baker Stove Works, and Edmund Heinzelmann of Heinzelmann Bros. Carriage Co.

The home was originally built for James Lowry Donaldson Morrison, a U.S. congressman.
The name is new, but the address is a familiar corner of Paris by way of Clayton.

Bistro La Floraison opens Wednesday (July 13) at 7637 Wydown Boulevard. The new venture from the group behind Vicia and Winslows Table succeeds Bar Les Freres, one of the trio of celebrated restaurants Zoe Robinson closed during the pandemic.

Take Root Hospitality  married duo Tara and Michael Gallina and their business partner and director of culinary operations, Aaron Martinez  said in March it would reopen the restaurant as Bar Les Freres. Last month, however, the group announced the space would instead become Bistro La Floraison.

Tara Gallina said there has been a really delicate balance between preserving what was at Bar Les Freres and letting Bistro La Floraison become its own place.

I wanted people to walk in and know, like, Yeah, I'm in a different place, she said. But I love Zoes style, and I think there (were) elements of the restaurant that just made sense to hold on to, and then things that made sense to be different.

Bar Les Freres regulars will recognize some of that restaurants signature pieces of furniture, but Bistro La Floraison has installed a new banquette in one of its two dining rooms and introduced new color schemes and new artwork by local artist Andrew Millner in both spaces. The restaurant seats 40 between those two rooms, with another 24 seats out front.

The menu features snacks (gougeres, citrus-marinated olives), chilled seafood and caviar service and such small plates as steak tartare, smoked trout rillette and duck pate en croute. The compact selection of main courses includes short rib au poivre and chicken cordon bleu with smoked bacon and Gruyere.

Patrick Fallwell leads the kitchen under the guidance of Michael Gallina and Martinez. The turn to classical French cooking might be surprising for the team behind the forward-thinking Vicia, but Fallwell is excited for the shift.

At the end of the dayinstead of so much focus on trying to come up with something really crazy that no one's ever done before, its like, how can I make this chicken the best chicken I can make," he said.

Bistro La Floraison also draws on Take Root Hospitalitys beverage team, which earlier this year earned James Beard Award semifinalist nods for Best Bar Program and Best Wine Program nationwide at Vicia. Beverage director Kara Flaherty leads the wine program, with certified advanced sommelier Patricia Wamhoff on site, while bar manager Phil Ingram has developed the cocktail list.

Bistro La Floraison is open 4-10 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 4-10 p.m. Sunday.
In 2018, retired zoologist Delia Owens, the author of the bestselling 1984 memoir Cry of the Kalahari, published her first novel at age 69. Where the Crawdads Sing is set on the North Carolina coast in the 1950s and 60s, threading romance and murder mystery through the life story of a young, isolated woman, Kya, who grows up abandoned in the marsh. The story is a bit far-fetched, the characterizations broad, but theres a beauty in Owens description of Kyas relationship to the natural world. Her derisive nickname, the Marsh Girl, ultimately becomes her strength.

Where the Crawdads Sing has become a legitimate publishing phenomenon, one of the bestselling books of all time, despite a controversy bubbling in Owens past  a connection to the murder of a suspected animal poacher in Zambia. Reese Witherspoon gave the novel her book club blessing, and as she has done with other titles such as Big Little Lies, Witherspoon has produced the film adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing, written by Lucy Alibar, directed by Olivia Newman and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as the heroine, Kya.

The film is easily slotted into the Southern Gothic courtroom drama subgenre  its like A Time to Kill with a feminine touch. While the nature of adaptation requires compression and elision, the film dutifully tells the story that fans of the book will turn out to see brought to life. But in checking off all the plot points, the movie loses what makes the book work, which is the time we spend with Kya.

Kya is a tricky protagonist whose life story requires a certain suspension of disbelief. Abandoned by her mother (Ahna OReilly) and siblings escaping the drunken abuse of her father (Garret Dillahunt), who later disappears, young Kya (Jojo Regina) survives on her own, selling mussels to the proprietor of the local bait and tackle shop, Jumpin (Sterling Macer Jr.). His wife, Mabel (Michael Hyatt), takes pity on Kya and offers her some clothing and food, but its an exceedingly tough existence, something that the film does not fully convey.

As a teen, Kya (Edgar-Jones) forms a friendship with a local boy, Tate (Taylor John Smith), who teaches her to read, and though their relationship turns romantic, he ultimately leaves her for college. Abandoned once again, she seeks companionship with popular local cad Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). Its his death, from a fall at the rickety fire tower, that sees Kya on trial in the town of Barkley Cove, which ultimately becomes a referendum on how shes been harshly judged over the years by the townspeople.

The only reason Kya works in the book is the amount of time the reader spends with her in the marsh, understanding the tactics she uses to get by, and getting to know the natural world in the way that she does, observing the patterns and life cycles of animals, insects and plants. The deep knowledge of her environment and ad-hoc education from Tate helps Kya overcome poverty, as she publishes illustrated books of local shells, plants and birds. But in the film, which sacrifices getting to know her in order to prioritize the more scandal-driven twists and turns, Kya comes off as somewhat silly, a bit easy to laugh at in her naivete and guilelessness.

Theres also the matter of plausibility, and the shininess with which this rough, wild world has been rendered by Newman and cinematographer Polly Morgan. The marsh (shot on location in Louisiana) is captured with a crisp, if perfunctory beauty, but its hard to buy English rose Edgar-Jones in her crisp blouses and clean jeans as the near-feral naturalist who has been brutally cast out by society. Everythings just too pretty, a Disneyland version of the marsh.

The whole world feels sanded-down and spit-shined within in an inch of its life, lacking any grime or grit that might make this seem authentic, and that extends to the storytelling. It is exceedingly rushed, as the actors hit their marks and deliver their monologues with a sense of obligation to moving the plot along rather than developing character. Hyatt, as Mabel, and David Strathairn, who plays Kyas lawyer, Tom Milton, are the only actors who deliver grounded performances  everyone else comes across as a two-dimensional version of an archetype spouting the necessary backstory or subtext to keep the plot churning forward.

Though it is faithful, Where the Crawdads Sing is lacking the essential character and storytelling connective tissue that makes a story like this work. An adaptation such as this cannot survive on plot alone.
The number of out-of-state patients traveling to Illinois for an abortion has doubled in the more than two weeks that states have been allowed to ban abortion, and doctors in states like Missouri where abortion is restricted except in cases of medical emergencies are unsure how to care for pregnant patients when their health is threatened.

Thats according to testimony Tuesday in a hearing called by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to learn about the legal consequences of the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision on June 24 that took away the constitutional right to an abortion and left laws governing the procedure up to states.

Missouri is among a dozen states that no longer allows abortion except in limited circumstances, and more are expected to follow.

Two of the five witnesses to testify at the hearing were Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.

The others included two legal experts and the director of a Sacramento crisis pregnancy center, a nonprofit that discourages pregnant women from choosing abortion and supports them through pregnancy and after birth.

McNicholas said patients are traveling as far as 1,000 miles each way to the clinic where she works in Fairview Heights, just across the border from Missouri.

Almost overnight, our Illinois clinic has seen appointments triple and that is already on top of a double-booked schedule we sustaining in the wake of Texas and Oklahoma bans, which restricted abortion through civil litigation even before the Supreme Court ruling, McNicholas said.

McNicholas, a licensed obstetrician in Missouri and Illinois, also said shes been fielding questions and hearing from doctors in her role as vice chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Missouri section.

She described mass chaos among obstetricians, emergency room physicians and pharmacists  unsure how to interpret new state laws and concerned they could face prison time.

Patient care is being denied or delayed, McNicholas said. Some patients cant get medications to treat conditions such as lupus, arthritis and cancer because the drugs might increase the risk of miscarriage or be used for abortion in other indications.

OB-GYNs are sitting on patients in emergency rooms while they bleed, while their vital signs become unstable, while they are waiting for hospital lawyers to decide, Is this patient sick enough? to require an abortion, she said. When the consequence of violating a law is criminal, doctors are put in impossible positions where they know the right care, they know what to do to help somebody, but yet they have to wait  making folks sustain totally preventable harm.

She said shes received phone calls from physicians across the state of Missouri, where abortion is banned except in cases of medical emergencies.

What I am hearing people say is My hospital sent me a policy that says I have to wait until their blood count drops or until their vitals are unstable before I can take them. I have to wait until it is clear that they are so sick, that their infection is so bad that they now require intensive care, McNicholas said.

The result will be lifelong health complications, some that could prevent the ability to get pregnant in the future, or even death.

There are some real tragic impacts that we are going to see in the coming days, weeks and months, McNicholas said.

Six states with the highest maternal mortality rates are also states that have banned abortion, McNicholas testified. That is not a coincidence.

In addition, maternal mortality rates among Black woman are three to four times that of white women, which is has been estimated to get worse if more states ban abortion.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused Democrats of falsely portraying an apocalyptic world since the Supreme Courts decision. He called the decision a victory for democracy that returns the question of abortion to elected officials, whom residents can advocate and vote for.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pointed out during his questioning that 90% of Americans oppose abortion in the third trimester.

Yet, that is the law that D.C. politicians want to impose on every voter in America, to take this away from the people, take it away from my state, take it away from all the other states and the voters of those states, to impose this law uniformly that is not supported by 90% of the American people, Hawley said. Talk about anti-democratic.

Most abortions, 93% take place in the first trimester, and less than 1% of abortions take place after 21 weeks gestation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stratton said patients are traveling to Illinois from neighboring states and from as from far away as Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

The Supreme Courts decision does not quote leave abortion up to the states when every state will be impacted, Stratton said.

She urged the lawmakers to create a centralized hub used by abortion providers and patients to coordinate patient demand across the country, eliminate laws that prevent Medicaid coverage of abortions and explore federal rules that could be used to protect access.

Within Illinois, Stratton said, state leaders are discussing what they can do to protect privacy and prevent the sharing of information such as cellphone location data and online search history.

The potential criminalization of patients coming to our state is certainly of top of mind in Illinois, but its not just the patients, its also the abortion care providers that also could potentially risk that same sort of criminalization, she said.

In Illinois, Stratton said, all hands are on deck as we brace for what is coming.

Posted at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday, July 12.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

The jurors who were assembled in a third-floor St. Louis County courtroom on Tuesday will ultimately be asked to answer two questions, attorney Kenneth Bean told them in his opening statement.

First, were his clients, Mercy Hospital and some of the doctors who practice there, negligent in causing the death of Lyla Anderson? If they answer yes, then the next question is: What is the value of that death?

Lyla was the first daughter of Emily Wampler, who was 26 when she gave birth on Dec. 3, 2017. Lyla died an hour after she was born. She had been delivered by caesarean section after more than 20 hours of labor. She died, in part, because of a compressed umbilical cord that was wrapped around her neck.

Her world ended on Dec. 3, 2017, Wamplers attorney, John M. Simon, told jurors. But that was just a tragic beginning for Emily and (her husband) Steve. They were devastated. They were numb. They could not feel anything but pain.

This is a complicated medical malpractice case that will take several days to try in front of St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph S. Dueker. There will be medical experts from around the country who will testify on Wamplers behalf or on behalf of Mercy.

Simon argued to jurors that Mercy and its doctors failed to intervene early enough, despite multiple warning signs, to save Lylas life.

Bean, of course, told them he doesnt believe his clients did anything wrong.

This is an unfortunate and sad event, but it is not related to any malpractice, he said.

What neither attorney was allowed to tell the 11 men and one woman on the jury is that the second question  what is the value of death?  has already been decided to some degree by Missouri lawmakers.

Its $787,671.

Thats the cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases as of 2022. The cap  originally set at $700,000 in 2015  limits the liability of doctors and hospitals in cases where jurors determine their negligence caused harm, or death, to patients.

Last summer, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the caps  long opposed by attorneys like Simon on behalf of their clients  were constitutional. That ruling takes on added importance in light of the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling last month overturning the right to an abortion because it creates a conundrum for the politicians, most of them Republicans, who refer to themselves as pro-life.

Many of the states that immediately banned abortion after the Dobbs ruling  Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee  have historically had infant mortality rates above the national average.

In Missouri, 6.3 babies per 1,000 births die. The national average is 5.4. The states child mortality rates are even worse, ranking 44th in the country. The statistics in both categories are compounded by Missouris historically lowest-in-the-nation funding for public health.

In Missouri, Republican majorities have passed an abortion ban but have also refused to fund health care for children after theyre born, and have passed caps limiting the damages a parent can recover if their child dies.

The numbers remind me of that old bit by comedian George Carlin: They will do anything for the unborn. But once youre born, youre on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they dont want to know about you.

Before they were chosen, the jurors in the Lyla Anderson trial were asked about their views of Roe v. Wade, in part to help determine how they might answer the question Bean posed in his opening argument: What is the value of that death?

Attorneys who long fought a medical malpractice cap have argued that its a proper question for jurors, not lawmakers. But the big-business types that pushed for the caps got what they wanted. Since the caps have been in place, many attorneys in Missouri have shied away from medical malpractice cases like the one going in the St. Louis County courtroom because even with a winning jury verdict, most of the money will end up going to the heavy costs sunk into a four-year legal battle.

Thats not why his clients chose to pursue justice for Lyla, Simon told the jurors.

The real reason were here is Emily and Steve didnt want what happened to Lyla to happen to anybody else, he said. They promised their daughter that they would never stop fighting for her.

So what is the value of her brief life?

A still-grieving mother awaits the answer.
UPDATED with additional details

ST. LOUIS  A 12-year-old was shot in the head while riding in a car late Tuesday in the city's Penrose neighborhood.

The girl was hospitalized in critical condition after being shot about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday near Bessie and Shreve avenues.

Police said they have no suspects.

The unidentified girl is at least the 59th child to be injured by gunfire this year across the St. Louis metro region. In addition, nine children have died by gunfire.

The girl was shot while riding in a car with two men.

One of the men, 36, told police he had just left his home and was driving east on Bessie. He stopped at the intersection of Bessie and Shreve, and someone started shooting at his car, he told officers.

When the shooting stopped, the men noticed the girl slumped in the backseat, injured.

As police questioned the driver, he became irate and refused to cooperate, police said.

Check back for updates.
ST. LOUIS  Joe Lengyel was stuck.

The homebuilder was ready to start construction on three houses on Norfolk Avenue. Like many building projects, they needed variances from the St. Louis Board of Adjustment.

Hed already built eight houses scattered across the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, all of which needed variances to comply with the neighborhoods special zoning code. A neighborhood group had given his plan support back when he started the infill project in 2017. Hed built housing in other city neighborhoods and always had a good experience.

But this time, Lengyel lacked what is an essential key to doing business in St. Louis: an aldermanic support letter.

City Halls bureaucracy has long deferred to aldermen on routine functions, including zoning and variances. But the tradition, known as aldermanic courtesy, has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks following the federal indictment of two aldermen and the former board president. The three, who have pleaded not guilty, are accused of accepting bribes from a businessman in exchange for shepherding legislation through the board granting his projects tax breaks.

According to the indictment, they also offered him crucial aldermanic support letters needed to get city staff processing the businessmans abatement applications and his offer to purchase city-owned real estate.

Aldermanic support letters are often viewed as a proxy for neighborhood support. But in Alderman Tina Pihls busy 17th ward covering two of the citys hottest neighborhoods  the Central West End and Forest Park Southeast  those letters have been difficult for some to get.

I understand an alderperson wanting to ensure that development plans in their ward are appropriate and benefit the greater good, Lengyel said. But theres other ways to do that. ... It is extremely inefficient. And as we have seen, it leads to corruption.

Lengyels application was tabled at a February Board of Adjustment meeting after zoning staff told him that, in addition to needing some design tweaks, Pihl wanted to speak with him about the project.

He immediately sent her an email offering to meet. He followed up. Finally in April she emailed back, asking where his other projects were and indicating a neighborhood association committee would be reviewing development projects.

Then there was radio silence for weeks on end, Lengyel said. I left phone messages. I sent more follow-up emails.

Getting desperate, he called the citys zoning division back.

I said, Look, what am I gonna do here? I need to move forward, Lengyel said. My builder has other projects. Im getting nothing to react to.

Lengyel would finally get that support letter in June so he could apply for variances.

In an interview with the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday, Pihl apologized for the delay and said she needed more staff. Other aldermen say the same thing about the lack of staff, she said, and her ward is particularly busy with construction.

Im one person and theres only so much I can delegate, and because I have to make the decision, theres only so much I can do, Pihl said.

Lengyel wasnt the only developer who faced delays. Scott Siekert, also had trouble reaching Pihl to get a support letter for his project, an infill multifamily commercial building on Manchester Avenue.

I was told Alderperson Pihl wanted me to call her to talk about the project, Siekert said at a June 22 Board of Adjustment hearing. I tried calling twice and left phone messages and didnt hear anything back.

The board tabled Siekerts request for 60 days, with board member Mona Parsley citing a request from Pihl.

Chairman Joe Klitzing, who has been on the board for about a decade, voted to approve Siekerts variances. He said in an interview that he saw no reason to hold up someones project if theyd tried their best to reach neighborhood stakeholders. The Board of Adjustment has granted variances in instances where aldermen havent weighed in, and it has even gone against their wishes on occasion. But he said aldermen do have considerable sway.

It just has been something in this town, the alderpeople have their opinions, or whatever, on any development done in their ward, Klitzing said. Typically you want to get their approval before you even come to us.

Hes not a city employee

When Lengyel finally did get his support letter from Pihl, she didnt send it. It was attached to a June 22 email from Daniel Pate, a local real estate agent and a frequent critic on Twitter of development incentives.

Thanks for your patience with me on this, Pate wrote Lengyel. Please find the attached letter of support.

Lengyel said Pate was helpful enough, apologizing for the delay and explaining he had been out of town. But the episode left him perplexed.

It was like she was waiting for him to get back to do anything, Lengyel said. I dont understand why hes involved if hes not a city employee. It doesnt make any sense to me how thats appropriate.

Pihl is new on the Board of Aldermen. She was elected last year after the retirement of longtime alderman Joe Roddy. In a ward that has among the most development in the city, her hallmark has been pushing developers to contribute to affordable housing in exchange for her support of zoning and tax incentives.

But for Lengyel  he isnt seeking tax abatement for the three houses  it was never clear what she wanted. He still has never spoken to Pihl.

Months of waiting and then magically a letter of approval from Dan Pate popped out the other side, Lengyel said.

Pate lives in the 8th Ward, not in Pihls 17th, according to a biography on the STL Vacancy Collaborative, where he served on a working group with Pihl. He has long been a critic of the citys use of tax incentives, and he has expressed his support for Pihl.

I can promise (Pihl) thinks about development differently than prior administrations, Pate said on Twitter in May 2021. She was voted in to fix it. Shes ready for this.

Pate deferred comment to Pihl, who said he volunteers to help her with administrative tasks. Shes lucky, she said, to have someone like Pate familiar with community development and willing to help.

I dont have many unfortunately  I need more volunteers, Pihl said. Nobody sends emails or anything on my behalf. I direct them.

Lengyel said he has heard other complaints about Pihls responsiveness. Maybe Pate was just helping her keep up.

This might just be because shes overwhelmed with the demands of the role, he said. I feel for her if thats the case. But its what you signed up for.

A disconnect

Meanwhile, theres confusion about how to develop in one of the citys most in-demand areas.

Siekert said in a brief interview that he is in contact with Pihl now about getting her support for his project on Manchester Avenue, which isnt seeking tax incentives.

But his hearing at the board demonstrated what one member termed a disconnect between the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood Association and the Park Central Community Development Corporation that, under Roddy, long served as the neighborhood review entry point for developers and businesses.

Stephen Begany, a neighborhood resident, asked the board to delay approving Siekerts project, saying the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood Association hadnt reviewed it.

I think it sounds great, we just havent seen it, Begany said.

Siekert explained that he had gone through Park Central to present past projects to the community, and its current director, Abdul-Kaba Abdullah, told him he should present this project to the board of the Grove Community Improvement District, made up of businesses on Manchester.

City staff at the meeting also sounded confused.

I have a couple questions for you, St. Louis Zoning Administrator Mary Hart Burton told Begany. So youre, are you a different organization from the Park Central organization?

Begany explained they were separate.

The recent precedent has been Alderwoman Pihl has been asking developers to present their projects to the neighborhood association, he said. I dont know why she didnt respond to (Siekerts) request. Thats unfortunate.

Parsley, the Board of Adjustment member, made a motion to table the request so Siekert could present to the neighborhood association and get in touch with Pihl.

Park Central as we used to know it isnt the same as we used to know it since Roddy is no longer there, Parsley said And there is some type of disconnect now.

Park Central stopped doing development reviews after Pihl was elected to give her a chance to get acclimated and decide how she wanted to solicit community feedback, Abdullah, the director, said in an interview. They never got clarity on their role.

What we have is a disconnection where we have a new alderperson who has not defined the process for how you would like to see development work in this space, Abdullah said. We dont know what to tell developers.

In a statement, the neighborhood association said Pihl told them in late 2021 that she was putting together a new development review committee.

It was our understanding that she did not want to work through the pre-established committees administered by Park Central Development, the group wrote.

The neighborhood association was tapped in the interim to vet a large project  the proposal from Lux Living to build apartments on the prominent site long occupied by vacant houses at Kingshighway and Oakland Avenue.

Our community engagement facilitation was a temporary process and was not intended as a permanent replacement for an official neighborhood development review process, the neighborhood said.

Pihl said she stopped using Park Central because some residents felt that their voices were not being heard and there were not enough community meetings.

I ran on making some changes and this is one of the changes, Pihl said.

She acknowledged there has been some confusion because of the changes I made. But she said she was about to solicit applications for a new development review committee.

I want it to go quicker, she said of development reviews. And there is going to be a development review committee that reviews these a lot quicker.

Park Central always included neighborhood residents on its development review board, Abdullah said, along with business and building owners. But he recognizes that some see the group as a holdover from Roddy, who clashed with the citys progressive political faction where Pihl draws her support.

Contrary to popular belief, were not a partisan group that was started by Joe Roddy, Abdullah said.

Whoever ends up reviewing development in the neighborhood, St. Louis city government needs to lay out whats required for a variance rather than relying on tradition, said Abdullah, a former city manager in Berkeley.

If you need an aldermanic letter of support, that should be codified, he said. That should be in the rules.

Burton, the zoning administrator, didnt respond to a question about whether aldermanic support was required for staff to process variance requests. Instead, Nick Dunne, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, sent a statement on behalf of Burtons boss, Building Commissioner Frank Oswald.

Community support is essential for the Building Division to consider supporting a variance, Oswalds statement said. Letters of support or opposition from neighbors of adjacent properties, community organizations, or the Aldermen are key to determining whether the Building Division will bring the variance requests before the Board of Adjustment for consideration.

Posted at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, July 13.

Editor's note: A Tweet quoted in this article referenced a house the author said received tax abatement. The property is not abated.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouris treasurer, who is running for state auditor this year, said Wednesday a new ad by his Republican primary opponent is a lie that should be taken off the air.

Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, who is running against state Rep. David Gregory, R-Sunset Hills, in the Aug. 2 primary, said Gregory lied about his experience as an auditor and accountant in a 15-second spot Gregory released this week.

He should take the ad down and stop lying to Missouri voters, Fitzpatrick told the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday.

In the ad, Gregory said hes an actual auditor and goes on to claim the establishment politician hes running against  Fitzpatrick  is not even an accountant.

A search for Gregory in the states database of certified public accountants turns up no records. (Missouris current auditor, Democrat Nicole Galloway, who is not running for reelection, does show up as a licensed CPA in the state database.)

Gregorys name also doesnt appear in a registry of certified internal auditors maintained by the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Asked what made Gregory an accountant, a campaign official said Gregory earned a bachelors degree in accounting and a masters of business administration with an emphasis in accounting.

Asked what made Gregory an auditor, a spokesman for Gregory said he worked ... as an auditor for Todd Kohlfeld, associate director at Protiviti, a consulting firm.

As a Risk Recovery Auditor, he had a great work ethic and was a highly capable professional, Kohlfeld said, according to a quote provided by Gregorys campaign.

(Fitzpatricks campaign said Gregory was referring to work he performed at the Protiviti firm; he is called an accountant, not an auditor, in a 2016 article mentioning his work at Protiviti.)

Gregorys campaign also said he pointed out $36 million in possible savings to the state in a 2018 report on the Department of Revenue, which he described as a fiscal opportunity audit at the time.

Fitzpatricks campaign said the report never resulted in savings to taxpayers, but Gregorys campaign cited statements by Ken Zellers, the then-director of the Department of Revenue, who in 2020 praised Gregory during a House Budget Committee hearing for his work with the department.

The Department of Revenue did work with Rep. Gregory to improve processes and reduce costs, said Chris Moreland, spokesman for Zellers, who is now the commissioner of the Office of Administration.

Gregory also describes himself as an investigative attorney on his website.

Asked what that meant, Gregory said in a statement that My law firm prides itself on conducting thorough investigations for our clients. I conduct financial investigations for clients to uncover fraud and other financial misappropriation.

Fitzpatrick dismissed the explanations from Gregory and his campaign.

David Gregory is a trial attorney, not a certified auditor or CPA. His ad is a lie, Fitzpatrick said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday.

I have spent my entire career building the business I started as a teenager from the ground up, and as state Budget Chairman and State Treasurer, my oversight work has actually resulted in tens of millions of dollars in savings for Missouri taxpayers, Fitzpatrick said.

Gregory has spent his career profiting off lawsuits against Missouris small businesses, Fitzpatrick said. Lying about your credentials to win public office is straight out of the Biden playbook.

Scott Fitzpatrick is clueless about what an auditor is and does, which ought to disqualify someone running for auditor. Im not only an auditor, I have a degree in accounting, Gregory said in response.

I worked as an auditor and use those skills and my accounting background every day to help save money for taxpayers and serve my clients as an investigative attorney, he said.

Scott Fitzpatrick is flailing because he has no experience as an auditor, or even as an accountant, and his false attacks show he knows absolutely nothing about what it takes to be an auditor, or even what an auditor is, Gregory said.

Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, released his first ad last week. In the 30-second spot, the current state treasurer rides around in a motorboat and catches a largemouth bass. He then fries a breaded filet.

When I find political insiders trying to get fat off of your tax dollars, I wont just throw em back, he said in the ad.

Fitzpatrick is the CEO of MariCorp US, a marine manufacturing and construction company based in Shell Knob, Missouri. He and his wife, Mallory, have three sons, including a set of twins.

Gregory is listed as founder and partner of The Injury Counsel, a personal injury law firm, on the firms website. He lives with his wife, Paige, in St. Louis County.

Former state Rep. Alan Green, D-Florissant, is running for auditor as a Democrat.

Libertarian John A. Hartwig Jr. of Clayton is also running. Hartwig is a CPA.

Originally posted at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 13.
CLAYTON  The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday appeared to commit to keeping public any meetings of a three-member working group charged with recommending how to spend $74.2 million in federal pandemic aid.

The decision reverses a proposal three days prior to have the group meet without the public. A Sunshine Law expert told the Post-Dispatch on Monday that the closed meetings would violate open records laws requiring such panels to keep their meetings public.

In no way shape or form are we going to exclude the people of St. Louis County from being a part of this process, said 4th District Democrat Shalonda Webb, who was appointed by Council Chair Rita Days on Saturday to lead the group.

Webb said the working group also will include Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, and Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District.

Days added that the council commits to ensuring the public will be kept informed as to developments of the work group, and subsequently the councils final determination and we will be making sure the public is aware of those decisions.

The idea to keep the working group closed had been suggested by Days and Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, who argued it would help expedite decisions on how to navigate a long list of proposals for the money.

The state has set aside a total $74.2 million in matching grants for a handful of specific St. Louis County projects. But the council has another list of proposals seeking a total $77.4 million.

Associate County Counselor Margaret Brueggemann had advised the council that she couldnt condone the idea that you could be meeting in private.

And Jean Maneke, an attorney with the Missouri Press Association, said the working group would violate open records laws that forbid government bodies from meeting with less than a quorum, or majority, with an express purpose to discuss public business and then ratify decisions at a later meeting.

Paid family leave advances

The council on Tuesday also voted 5-1 to give first-round approval to 12 weeks paid parental leave for full-time county employees, up from the two weeks currently available.

Voting in favor were co-sponsors Fitch and Days, Clancy, Webb and Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, D-2nd District. Supporters said the change would be a boon for county employees health and quality of life, and also aid the countys efforts to recruit and retain talent.

Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, voted against the proposal, citing concerns raised at an earlier hearing that the cost of the new policy would be untenable as early as 2024, without other changes to the budget.

Lets find savings first that justify this expense before we drive the county into a greater budget deficit, Trakas said.

County Budget Policy Director Paul Kreidler told the council that it was not possible to calculate a cost for the proposal, but said the county is running on a $30 million deficit into next year and that the deficit is expected to grow afterward, Kreidler said.

The short answer is that, in the mathematical sense, yes, can we can afford this initiative in 2023, but in 2024 that becomes significantly more difficult, he said.

Fitch, who had asked for the hearing on costs associated with his proposal, said it was a worthwhile cost that the council could find a way to pay for.

I do understand the fiscal impact as a former department head, said Fitch, a former county police chief. However I look at this no different than I do education, training ... its an investment in our people.

The county bill would expand paid leave for both merit and appointed county employees who are new parents, for birth or adoption of a new child.

The leave would also include 80 hours for prenatal appointments and up to 80 hours for first-year health care appointments for infants, as well for children up to 18 years old who were adopted within the last year.

The bill would also add four weeks of paid parental leave for parents of a child who are both county employees by providing a designated secondary caregiver four weeks leave, in addition to 12 weeks for the designated primary caregiver.

Public transit funding

The council voted 4-2 along party lines to give final approval annual funding to Bi-State Development Agency, the regional public transit operator. The measure passed with the support of Days, Dunaway, Webb and Clancy.

Trakas and Fitch opposed the measure, expressing support for a bill by Councilman Mark Harder, R-7th District, that would have carved out roughly $34.6 million from public transport sales tax proceeds to set aside for the county to use for road and bridge maintenance and repairs.

I would have hoped that we could have carved out some funds for our subdivision streets, Fitch said.

Council Democrats had rejected Harders proposal at the councils last regular meeting, arguing tax proceeds were set aside for public transport and that roads could benefit from other funding sources.

Harder was absent from council meeting Tuesday.

Posted at 9:09 p.m. Tuesday, July 12.
ST. LOUIS  The citys top fiscal body on Wednesday endorsed spending $1 million in federal funds to help St. Louis women get abortions in Illinois and other states where the practice remains legal. Just hours after the vote, Missouri Attorney Eric Schmitt renewed his threat to sue the city.

The 2-1 vote by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment clears the way for final passage by the Board of Aldermen, which gave the plan preliminary approval last week. Aldermen could take up the issue again as soon as Friday.

Voting in favor Wednesday were Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green. The negative vote was from Acting Aldermanic President Joe Vollmer.

The measure would allocate federal American Rescue Plan Act money for transportation, child care and other logistical help for women getting abortions outside Missouri.

A Missouri state ban on nearly all abortions was activated by the U.S. Supreme Courts recent reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision.

The money would go to a new Reproductive Equity Fund in the city Health Department, which would contract with private organizations to spend the funds.

The bill also allocates $500,000 to the same fund for other reproductive health services such as access to doulas and lactation support and $250,000 for administrative oversight.

The measure also has $1.64 million for additional COVID testing, treatment and vaccination at local health clinics and $500,000 for another round of $100 gift cards to be used as an incentive to getting coronavirus shots.

The estimate board voted for the allocation without debate. Jones has been an outspoken supporter of the idea and has traded strong comments on the issue on social media with Schmitt, who has pledged to file a lawsuit to challenge the citys plans and a similar proposal before the St. Louis County Council.

Schmitt reiterated that threat late Wednesday, saying in a tweet: St. Louis has trash piling up and is defunding the police during a murder crisis but evidently has $1 million to pay for abortions. This brazen political maneuver clearly violates state law and I will file suit to stop this illegal action.

Previously, the mayor responded to Schmitt, calling his threats frivolous.

The citys homicide rate remains high, but the number year-to-date is lower than the same period in 2021, and well below 2020, when the city recorded its highest-ever rate. The Jones administration, which took office last year, has acknowledged problems with trash pickups, blaming staffing issues and other factors.

Vollmer in an interview said he opposed using ARPA funds on abortion access because there are so many other dire immediate needs of the city that could benefit all residents.

He said people in his 10th Ward, which he continues to represent while he serves as acting president, generally oppose the Supreme Courts action. But he said most who have contacted him also say theyre against ARPA money on abortion access especially when people have trash piled up.

The estimate board on Wednesday also signed off on various other expenditures, such as using $10 million from ARPA funds on additional violence prevention efforts in city neighborhoods and $3.6 million on youth programs.

The board also OKd giving the Regional Arts Commission $10.6 million in the citys share of ARPA funds and spending up to $35 million in other federal aid for emergency rental assistance to people economically impacted by the pandemic. Final aldermanic approval is still needed for the spending.

Updated at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 13.
Richmond, Va., dodged a bullet when Richmond police foiled what they say was a plot to carry out a mass shooting on the Fourth of July.

Unfortunately, as we should know all too well in the Richmond area, you dont need a mass shooting to set off a body count. During a celebration of independence, Americas addiction to gun violence was on full display.

During the wee hours of July 4, six people  four men, two women  were shot near The 4 Cyber Cafe in downtown Richmond.

Less than an hour earlier, a 30-year-old Richmond man driving a Honda Civic was shot on Interstate 95. He managed to make his way to Commerce Road with serious but non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

The previous night, Kyle Stoner, of Richmond, described as a regular at City Dogs on Main Street in Shockoe Slip, was shot to death. An Alexandria man was arrested in the shooting.

On July 2, a retired Henrico police officer was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and stepdaughter. And Chesterfield police have charged four teens in the shooting death of another juvenile at a birthday party.

Its easy to feel relieved that Richmond did not suffer a fate similar to that of Highland Park, Ill., where seven people were slain and dozens of others were injured by a rooftop shooter during a Fourth of July parade. But its hard to feel good about ourselves when so many locals were victimized by gun violence over the holiday weekend.

This tension was also evident in the city of Chicago, an hour south of Highland Park, where the relatively impoverished West and South sides saw at least eight people fatally shot and 68 people injured by gun violence over the Fourth of July weekend, according to CNN.

The relative lack of attention to this everyday violence is a byproduct of race, poverty and distance, but runs deeper than that. Theres plenty of blame to go around: The news media. News consumers. The poverty, inequity and trauma that breed hopelessness, dysfunction and violence. The easy availability of guns in communities with a paucity of life-sustaining essentials. And, of course, perpetrators who make a mockery of Black Lives Matter  in the process providing a cache of ammunition for those who argue that our gun problem is really a Black problem.

Its just got to stop, Richmond police Chief Gerald Smith said of the violence during a news conference praising the hero citizen who tipped police off. You know, I may be the police chief, but Im also a citizen. Its ridiculous. At some point in time, this has got to stop.

But the numbing, metronome-like quality of everyday gun violence struggled to compete with a mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Americas heartland.

In Richmond, the idea that we averted similar carnage was an attention grabber  though authorities, it must be said, performed a disservice in initially stating without equivocation that Dogwood Dell was the target when the facts were not so clear-cut.

But, hey, Im among the myriad folks whove enjoyed Dogwood Dell. Our concern about gun violence is tied to both proximity and possibility. If violence is so random that it can follow us anywhere  a grocery store, a house of worship, a holiday celebration  who can breathe easy?

Whether youre at home in your cul-de-sac or in your neighborhood or in a park or at a parade, out dining  you have to keep your head on a swivel, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said. And thats not the country that I know I desire to live in ... but those are the facts of the matter at this moment.

Whatever collective trauma we felt at this near-miss was fleeting, compared to what folks in crime-ravaged Richmond communities experience every day. But anyone who deems this the price of normalized violence is missing the point: Whether in a Black enclave of Buffalo, N.Y., a Latino schoolhouse in Texas or a leafy suburb of Chicago, theres plenty of bloodshed and trauma to go around.

Mass shootings make it harder to compartmentalize a national bloodlust intent on expanding its boundaries. To stem the tide, the affluent folks of Highland Park must develop common cause with the poor people on the South and West sides of Chicago. The denizens of Glen Allen, Midlothian and Mechanicsville must resolve the same regarding their urban brethren.

We need more empathy and fewer firearms, from Highland Park, Ill., to Highland Park, Richmond. Until we reach that consensus, were all in the crosshairs.

Williams: Abortion rights aren't the first the U.S. has curtailed. And they won't be the last. "Today, the Supreme Court is dominated by so-called originalists who ardently view the Constitution as frozen in a time in which women, Indigenous people and Black people were subordinate to the framers," writes columnist Michael Paul Williams.

Williams: Racism is a public health crisis. So is the Virginia health commissioner's racism denial. "This sort of denial characterizes so much of the political right's approach to problems, from racism, to gun violence, to climate change to the existential threat to our democracy," writes columnist Michael Paul Williams.
The National Press Club has awarded one of its highest honors to Post-Dispatch journalist Josh Renaud for uncovering a major privacy breach in Missouris computer system  and then enduring a bizarre, sustained attack from Gov. Mike Parson for it. The story behind Renauds well-deserved national honor highlights both the value of good public-service journalism and the poison of demagogic politics.

To recap: Last October, in the course of his news coverage, Renaud made a startling discovery in the states online teacher-certification data. Teachers Social Security numbers were embedded in the source code of the database, making them accessible to website visitors. A state online database that revealed personal information of more than 500,000 teachers was, undeniably, a government failure that needed to be reported to the public.

However, reporting it immediately, while the information was still vulnerable, would have invited outsiders to access and exploit the sites vulnerabilities. So Renaud and his editors did the responsible thing and quietly alerted Parsons administration to the problem, then agreed to hold off reporting on it while state programmers fixed it.

The states education commissioner initially proposed a public statement to thank a member of the news media  Renaud  who brought this to the states attention. Which would have been a reasonable response. But Parson had something else in mind: portraying the newspaper as the enemy.

In an astonishingly cynical and dishonest attack on a reporter who had helped his administration close a major security breach, Parson went on the warpath. Without naming Renaud but clearly referring to him, Parson publicly and repeatedly accused him and the Post-Dispatch of hacking, falsely alleging it was a criminal act, and demanding a criminal investigation.

The probes confirmed the obvious: Renaud and the newspaper did nothing wrong. Parsons motives remain a mystery. Was it embarrassment at having this security breach exposed? Was it cheap press-bashing so his political allies could fundraise off it? (They did.) Or was he just that ignorant about his own states computer system and the very meaning of the word hacking?

In any case, Parson has never offered an apology or even acknowledged he was wrong. But he was, obviously. He needs to apologize and officially clear the record.

In announcing last week that Renaud had won its 2022 Domestic John Aubuchon Award, a National Press Club statement lauded him as a public-service journalist who is helping pioneer how to use technology to highlight and expose government failings. It also called Parsons actions a particularly egregious example of the deeply regrettable national trend by some public officials of attacking the free press.

Renauds handling of the story was the epitome of aggressive but responsible journalism. Parsons self-serving and malicious reaction remains a shameful example of the exact opposite of responsible governance.
Regarding  Post-Dispatch reporter wins press freedom award after attack by Missouri governor" (July 7) and " Media Views: Frank Cusumano causes stir after dismissing 'Tuna' from his 'Pressbox' KFNS show" (July 8): The Post-Dispatch recently highlighted the work of two of my former students: reporter Josh Renaud, who received the National Press Club's Freedom Award for uncovering vulnerability on a state website, and Frank Cusumano, for decision-making at KFNS.

Some people berate "the media" for poor performance. After years of teaching thousands of students, I have found a few who set-out to be among the best at what they do, and who achieved that goal  in their own hometown. As an UMSL Board of Curators distinguished teaching professor, I'm so proud of them.
Flight delays and cancellations are uncomfortably frequent right now. In fact, the on-time arrivals rate thus far in 2022 among U.S. airports hasnt been this low since 2014, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

For the period between January and April 2022, just 76% of nonstop, domestic flights arrived on time, according to the BTS. Meanwhile, about 20% of flights were delayed (also a high not seen since 2014) and 4% were canceled completely. For context, 87% of flights arrived on time during the same period last year, and less than 2% of flights were canceled.

So how do you improve your odds of traveling on one of the three-quarters of flights that arrives in good time? And how have flight delays and cancelations become so prevalent?

Why are so many flights being canceled?

There are several reasons flights are being canceled, and theres currently a lot of finger-pointing, too.

Contributing factors include:

Airline issues, like not having enough staff. Mechanical issues and delays may be compounded by staffing shortages.

Mechanical issues and delays may be compounded by staffing shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration is also experiencing staffing issues. While a shortage isnt to blame, the agency is still managing backups in training new air traffic controllers quickly enough. National Aviation System delays, such as heavy traffic volume or air traffic control challenges, account for about 5% of delays.

While a shortage isnt to blame, the agency is still managing backups in training new air traffic controllers quickly enough. National Aviation System delays, such as heavy traffic volume or air traffic control challenges, account for about 5% of delays. Weather. This issue is minor; weather delays have accounted for less than 1% of late arrivals so far this year.

This issue is minor; weather delays have accounted for less than 1% of late arrivals so far this year. Increased travel demand. If one aircraft previously flew two flights a day with a six-hour buffer between flights, the second flight wouldnt be impacted, even if the first flight was delayed three hours. Now, if that same aircraft has increased its flight numbers to three a day with less downtime, even a short delay can severely impact future flights.

How to improve your chances of avoiding airline cancellations

Know which airlines actually arrive on schedule

While past performance doesnt guarantee future performance, its at least a good indicator. NerdWallet analyzed BTS arrival data between January and April 2022 for the 10 largest U.S. airlines by passenger miles to determine each airlines on-time arrivals rate.

If timeliness is a priority, consider booking Delta or Hawaiian, which arrived on time 82% of the time. Skip JetBlue, which only landed on schedule 60% of the time.

Air carrier problems  meaning the issue was due to circumstances within the airline's control, such as maintenance, cleaning, baggage loading or fueling delays  were the top cause of late arrivals for the first four months of 2022, accounting for nearly 8% of delays.

Book the earliest flight in the day

The second most common cause of delays: The aircraft arrived late from its previous destination. Nearly 7% of flights in the first four months of 2022 were delayed for this reason.

Its not uncommon for the aircraft flying an evening flight to have already made a couple of trips earlier in the day. If one of the earlier flights was delayed, thered likely be a snowball effect.

For example, the aircrafts first flight of the day may have been fine, but if the second flight had maintenance problems and arrived late, then the third flight would probably run behind schedule, which could in turn affect any subsequent flights. You can try to avoid the snowball effect by booking the days first flight.

Avoid layovers

Sadly, it doesnt do you much good for the first leg of your flight to arrive on schedule if the second leg is delayed. Who wants to sit twiddling their thumbs in a layover city or airport?

Its potentially even worse if the second leg of your journey departs on time, but you miss it because your incoming flight was delayed.

Mitigate this risk by booking nonstop flights. Even if the airfare is more expensive, it could be worth it to avoid the headache of missing a connecting flight.

If a layover is unavoidable, its almost always better to book the entire journey with the same airline on a single itinerary, as opposed to booking with separate airlines for each leg of the trip. That way, if your first flight ends up being delayed, the airline may work with you to adjust your connecting flight, provided that the delay was its fault. If you book the two legs of your trip on different airlines, you likely wont get that kind of consideration.

Choose an airline with multiple flights per day

If your flight is canceled, most airlines will rebook you on their next flight with available space for no additional charge, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. If your airline runs multiple flights on the same route per day, you may only have to wait a few hours. Sure, having to take a later flight would be annoying, but it likely wouldn't ruin your trip.

As an example, let's say youre flying from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, a route that United usually flies four times per day. But you choose to take JetBlue, which typically only flies that route two times per day. If your ticket is for the single afternoon flight  and it then gets canceled  theres a good chance you wont be able to get to Vegas that day, period.

And no, you likely won't be able to persuade JetBlue to pay for one of United's remaining flights, as there are no federal regulations requiring airlines to put you on another airline's flight or reimburse you for another airlines tickets.

What to do after booking

Even if you follow our advice to decrease the chances of your flight getting canceled (say, by booking the first, nonstop flight of the day on Delta  one of the most on-time airlines), you could still hit a patch of bad luck. These next steps might save you some headaches:

Check your flight status

To stay informed, opt-in to receiving flight status updates by email, text or push notification, a feature of some airline apps. Or, simply plug your flight number into a search engine to get real-time flight data.

If your flight is canceled, you might decide youre better off staying put and booking a new flight from home rather than scrambling to do so at the airport. If your flight is delayed, you might simply head to the airport at a more leisurely pace. Just be sure to keep an eye on the flight status, because a flight marked delayed can sometimes revert back to being on time.

Dont pack a checked bag (but do pack your patience)

If your initial flight gets canceled and you have to book a different airlines last-minute flight, it might be difficult to retrieve a suitcase thats still in the first airlines hands. Traveling with a carry-on lets you move more nimbly between flights.

There is one thing you can pack that wont take up any luggage space: patience. The gate agent likely isnt responsible for the delay, so be kind  and they might be more likely to help book you on another flight.

Additionally, consider joining an airport lounge membership program like Priority Pass. (Membership is sometimes free with certain credit cards.) Lounge amenities  which sometimes include luxuries like nap suites, Peloton bikes, showers and buffets  can usually make it easier to stomach a long delay.

Understand your rights

If your flight is delayed or canceled, know what compensation youre entitled to. Sadly, its not much when it comes to delays; there are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with compensation for delayed flights.

Some airlines choose to offer meal vouchers or hotels to stranded passengers, but that's uncommon among budget airlines. Airlines are not required to reimburse you for non-air expenses, such as a prepaid hotel room or a missed cruise departure.

For canceled flights where you opt not to be rebooked on another flight, you are entitled to a refund of the airfare, even if you bought nonrefundable tickets.

Have a backup plan

Given that airlines arent legally required to do much to help you, understand how to help yourself.

Map out nearby airports or alternative transportation: For example, if your in-state flight from Burbank to Oakland, California, gets canceled, you might be able to hail a cab to the airport in Los Angeles or Long Beach and catch a different flight. Look beyond airports too; you might give up on flying completely and hop on a train up north.

For example, if your in-state flight from Burbank to Oakland, California, gets canceled, you might be able to hail a cab to the airport in Los Angeles or Long Beach and catch a different flight. Look beyond airports too; you might give up on flying completely and hop on a train up north. Book refundable travel: You may be able to book a refundable ticket if you're willing to pay extra. Otherwise, as long as you book a non-basic economy fare, you'll probably at least get a voucher to use on the airline toward another flight if you decide to change or cancel the flight due to itinerary changes.

You may be able to book a refundable ticket if you're willing to pay extra. Otherwise, as long as you book a non-basic economy fare, you'll probably at least get a voucher to use on the airline toward another flight if you decide to change or cancel the flight due to itinerary changes. Consider trip insurance: Travel insurance, which can be purchased separately from your flight (and is sometimes offered as a benefit on certain credit cards), might help you get money back if a trip is canceled or delayed. It might also fund expenses incurred by delays, like an extra hotel room night. This can be helpful, say, if a hurricane prevents you from flying home from your Caribbean vacation, forcing you to book an additional night at your resort. Read the fine print, as many policies exclude delays caused by the airline.

The bottom line

On-time arrival rates havent been this bad since 2014. Unless youve got a crystal ball, theres no way to guarantee you wont book a flight that gets delayed. But even without one, a thoughtful booking strategy can better ensure you get to your destination on schedule.

Sally French writes for NerdWallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SAFmedia.
TERRAOIL SWISS AG / Key word(s): Market Report

TERRAOIL SWISS AG: Terraoil Provides Shareholder Update



13.07.2022 / 07:05





NOT FOR PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD NOT BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS



Terraoil Provides Shareholder Update

Terraoil Publishes English Version of Update Letter to Shareholders

Steinhausen, Switzerland, July 13, 2022 - Terraoil Swiss AG, an energy company with a strong focus on the Mediterranean is pleased to announce that, together with the invitation for the extraordinary Shareholders Meeting that was mailed to all registered shareholders, the Company also provided an update letter to the shareholders. An English version of this letter is now available on the Companys website at https://terraoil.swiss/shareholdersletters.

If you are an Terraoil shareholder and would like additional information, contact Peter Krempin either via email investors@terraoil.swiss or by telephone at +41 71 544 01 20.

About Terraoil Swiss AG

Terraoil is an international energy company with a focus to identify and rapidly advance business opportunities in the upstream oil and gas and renewable energy sectors in the Mediterranean region.

https://terraoil.swiss

Terraoil forward-looking statements

This media release serves informational purposes and constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation or an advertisement to buy any shares of Terraoil Swiss AG in any jurisdiction. This media release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Article 35 et seqq. of the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Services. In addition, investors should seek advice from their bank or their financial adviser. This media release and the information contained therein are not being issued for the purpose of selling shares in the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the European Economic Area and must not be distributed within or to such countries or via publications with a general circulation in such countries.

This media release contains forward-looking statements such as projections, forecasts, and estimates. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those anticipated in this media release. Readers should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this media release are based on the views and assumptions of Terraoil Swiss AG as of this date and Terraoil Swiss AG does not assume any obligation to update or revise this media release.
Once more, journalists have publicized details of another HUMINT (Human intelligence) activity by obtaining and publicizing more details of a known HUMINT operation called 127e. This was one of the many HUMINT programs SOCOM was authorized to use since 2001 to obtain information in dangerous parts of the world where the United States government and military had little or no official presence. Americans can dig for classified information via FOI (Freedom of Information) laws that force release of classified documents with sensitive (could get someone killed) information redacted (blacked out). Congress has oversight of these HUMINT programs but rarely request details, because when those details are provided there is a record of who was told what. Congress is notoriously leaky when it comes to classified information and when HUMINT leaks can get people killed, few members of these oversight committees want to be identified as the culprit. Oversight tends to include general details so Congress seeks more only when there is a defensible reason. It was already public knowledge that 127e operations were probably involved when there were vague reports of American SOCOM (Special Operations Command) personnel in some hotspot gathering information any way they could. This involves obtaining secret cooperation from locals. These are called confidential informants (Cis) and are paid in cash or services for critical information.

For good reason, little is heard of the role paid informants have played in the war on terror. Not just the big rewards, but the many twenty- and hundred-dollar bills that are quietly passed out for of tips every day as well as payments made with services or information the local CIs want. After 2001 the CIA and the U.S. military had to be reeducated on the usefulness of this sort of thing, because the military usually doesn't do it, and the CIA has been discouraged from using human agents (HUMINT) since Congress cracked down on it three decades ago.

After 2003 in Iraq, American military advisors, and reservists who were cops and detectives in civilian life, brought some practical experience on how to make CI concepts work in a warzone. The role of U.S. police, on reserve duty, is worth several book length treatments. Some day. But these probably won't be written any time soon, because of security considerations. The bottom line is that police rely heavily on "confidential informants" (CIs), and most large departments have budgets for paying them and procedures for handling them. The FBI also has a lot of practical experience with CIs, and they sometimes contributed practical experience to the troops, and the CIA.

The Israelis added their experience using other forms of enticement like favors from the government, in criminal and administrative matters, as well as the use of blackmail, and other forms of coercion, to get CIs to work for them. The use of CIs is now a common practice in the war on terror. Not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and many other nations. New York City police, many of whom are in the reserves, brought another element to the table, and that was the use of computer database software to make the most of even the most innocuous bits of information. New York City continues to drive down its crime rate, because of the use of these data mining efforts. Such techniques have been used to locate many terrorist leaders. In some cases, this didn't result in capturing or killing someone, but in recruiting them, or getting them to publicly switch sides.

In many foreign nations, the leaders are more interested in trading information with the United States. Islamic terrorists are often heroes in Moslem majority nations where there is not much Islamic terrorism, and the local police know the best way to keep the terrorists out is to know who they are, where they are, and where they are planning to go next. Because of this there were deals to be made even with nations that were, as far as the rest of the world knew, your enemy. That's why Iran, Sudan and Syria are often a good source of information, if you have something to trade. Actually, if you reach the right guy, a briefcase full of hundred-dollar bills will do the trick. All you need to know is who is approachable, and that's where CIs can be vital.

The terrorists know of this danger, and are being increasingly theatrical in how they execute accused CIs. Some of the CIS getting their throats slit on camera are innocent. The terrorists are often quite terrorized themselves when a CI gives up the location of a senior leader, who suddenly explodes when a Predator and its missile finds him. There is then an outcry to find the spy. In desperation, the Taliban, al Qaeda or whatever, will sometimes grab a likely suspect, kill him, and declare the problem solved. That leaves the CI alive, a bit shaken, but often still operational. As the war on terror faded, the need for CIs in danger zones did not. The 127e program grew even as the Islamic terrorist threat faded in the usual hot sports.

Covert SOCOM CI operations in many parts of Africa and Asia as well as Ukraine continued. Openly exposing details can be political suicide for politicians but for many journalists its a business opportunity. Hot headlines (or clickbait online) pays the bills and enhances reputations, often for all the wrong reasons.

HUMINT is a nasty business, but it often gets information all the spy satellites, listening posts and UAVs cannot.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 12, 2022 / Deepspatial (CSE:DSAI)(OTCQB: DSAIF) ("Deepspatial" or the "Company"), an outcome-based artificial intelligence company, enabling organizations to enhance their decision-making capabilities by leveraging the power of data and AI, today announced that it had secured a purchase order with a large global frozen-food conglomerate, headquartered in North America.

Deepspatial will provide the frozen-food organization with its Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (Geo-AI) Platform to plan, optimize, and govern the client's distribution network while enhancing its decision-making capability for market expansion.

The global frozen food market in 2021 was valued at US$290 billion, with a CAGR of around 6.34% from 2022 to 2030. An increase in the retail landscape, high demand for convenience food, and technological advancement in the frozen-food sector are the main driving factors for the ever-growing market.1

Despite the rapid growth of the market, many companies are still facing expansion challenges due to multiple factors. In several jurisdictions, lack of proper infrastructure often results in a failure to supply safe, frozen food products in a timely manner. Frozen food usually has a long shelf-life, however, if not stored well (rapid change in temperatures), the product is wasted easily. Distribution remains a pain point for the frozen food sector and companies are looking for solutions to these challenges.

"We are confident that we are going to make a significant impact in the frozen-food industry, as we are addressing the needs of one of the largest players in the segment. As companies around the world seek to enhance their cold-chain operations to increase profitability and productivity, the demand for solutions like ours will continue to grow," commented Dr. Rahul Kushwah, Chief Executive Officer at Deepspatial.

"Our outcome-oriented Geo-AI Platform is a unique offering for the entire industry ensuring high growth for our clients, and for building long-term value for our shareholders," concluded Kushwah.

1https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/frozen-food-market-104138

About Deepspatial Inc.

Deepspatial is an outcome based artificial intelligence company, enabling organizations to enhance their decision-making capabilities by leveraging the power of data and AI. From finding the most efficient supply chain routes to knowing where to develop next, Deepspatial's AI-driven platform enables its clients to visualize what's going on, predict what's coming, analyze data, and optimize processes to make smarter decisions for a better future. For more information, visit www.Deepspatial.ai and follow us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Caution regarding Forward Looking Information:

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED NOR DOES IT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results of the Company. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. The Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulations under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein, such as, but not limited to dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; the ability to obtain intellectual property rights related to its technology; limited operating history; general business, economic, competitive, political, regulatory and social uncertainties, and in particular, uncertainties related to COVID-19;risks related to factors beyond the control of the company, including risks related to COVID-19; risks related to the Company's shares, including price volatility due to events that may or may not be within such party's control; reliance on management; and the emergency of additional competitors in the industry.

All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except required by law.

Contacts

For more information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Corey Matthews

[email protected]

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Rahul Kushwah

[email protected]

SOURCE: DeepSpatial Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 11, 2022 / Forward Water Technologies Corp. (TSXV:FWTC) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has filed its condensed consolidated audited financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis for the twelve months ended March 31, 2022. Copies of these financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis can be found on the Company's issuer profile at www.sedar.com . All financial information in this news release is reported in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

Fiscal Year End Financial Highlights

Total expenses were $4,184,920 for the year ended March 31, 2022, compared to $1,541,845 over the same period in 2021, an increase of $2,643,075. The increase in the expense was largely due to expenses that were incurred in connection with the completion of a qualifying transaction (the "Transaction") with Forward Water Technologies Inc. ("FWTI") and the listing of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").

Net loss and comprehensive loss was $4,178,676 for the year ended March 31, 2022, compared to a loss of $1,500,270 for the same period in 2021.

Basic and diluted loss per share was $0.05 and $0.03 for the same period in 2021.

Operating Highlights and Recent Corporate Developments

On October 20, 2021 the Company completed the Transaction

The Transaction constituted a reverse acquisition in accordance with IFRS as the shareholders of FWTI took control of the Company

On November 4, 2021, the Company was listed on the Exchange under the symbol "FWTC"

In connection with the Transaction, FWTI completed a brokered private placement offering of an aggregate of 6,470,000 subscription receipts ("Subscription Receipts") at a subscription price of $1.00 per Subscription Receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of $6,470,000

In December 2021, FWTC began the building of a mobile commercial demonstration unit which can be placed on a customer's site to allow for a longer term (3-4 month) performance of the Company's forward osmosis ("FO") technology. This is expected to be completed in July 2022 at a cost of $1.1 million

As a result of successful financing, FWTC executed on its staffing plans. Grant Thornley was hired as the VP of Engineering Sales as of October, 2022 and Alessandra Rodrigues who was on short term contract was converted to full time as Laboratory Manager and Research Engineer. Mr. Thornley brings years of sales and marketing experience in the water treatment industry including experience at Xenon and Fibracast. FWTC also confirmed that it has renewed its contract with Mr Leonard Seed to serve as Director of Engineering and Operations

On May 4, 2022, FWTC entered into an agreement with Cornish Lithium Ltd. ("Cornish") to fund trials of the Company's FO technology on Cornish's geothermal waters. This follows favourable initial results, which demonstrated the potential of the Company's technology to increase lithium concentrations of Cornish's geothermal waters.

Management Commentary

Forward Water has continued to execute on its business plan and on-going market intelligence continues to indicate the growing interest in various wastewater sectors by saving water from being permanently destroyed, and realizing large reductions in commercial operating expenses associated with legacy water solutions. "The market is also expected to accelerate with global pressure to adopt new technologies that are lower energy and have a lower carbon footprint. This has brought greater attention to Forward Water's solution as not only is water recaptured for re-use but lower carbon emissions are a noted advantage," said Howie Honeyman CEO of the Company.

Summary of Financial Results

Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Loss

Statements of Consolidated Financial Position

Statement of Consolidated Cash Flows

About Forward Water Technologies Corp.

Forward Water Technologies Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company dedicated to saving the earth's water supply using its patented Forward Osmosis technology. The Company was founded by GreenCentre Canada, a leading technology innovation centre supported by the government of Canada. The Company's technology allows for the reduction of challenging waste streams simultaneously returning fresh water for re-use or surface release. The Company's mandate is to focus on the large-scale implementation of its technology in multiple sectors, including industrial wastewater, oil and gas, mining, agriculture and ultimately municipal water supply and re-use market sectors. In addition, the Company has initiated early stage R&D for the treatment of food and beverage process streams.

For more information, please visit www.forwardwater.com .

Contact Information

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

C. Howie Honeyman - Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

416-451-8155

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws including statements regarding expansion and uptake of the Company's technology and the ability for the Company to achieve its growth strategy and business plan. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, the ability to scale the technology and the adoption of the technology by potential customers.

Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the impacts from the coronavirus or other epidemics, general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and globally; unanticipated operating events; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Forward Water Technologies Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:
Nomura analyst Aichi Amemiya said in a note to investors Wednesday that they now expect a 100 basis point hike in July, with June CPI data cementing the need for an even more aggressive Fed.

"The Fed remains extremely data dependent, and the data suggest a larger rate increase is needed," said Amemiya.

June CPI data rose 9.1% year on year in June, with the Nomura analyst stating it "surprised to the upside across both headline and core components, with monthly core inflation accelerating further to 0.71% m-o-m from 0.63% in May and 0.57% in April."

Fed participants have previously communicated they are looking for stabilizing or moderating monthly inflation measures when determining whether 75bp or 50bp in July is more appropriate. Amemiya believes the outright acceleration, for the second consecutive month, will likely encourage participants to now push for a 100bp hike.

"One of the major drivers of the upside surprise in June was rent inflation, which remains a driver of overall trend inflation measures. The choice between 75bp and 100bp in July may still be close for participants, but we believe 100bp is the "right" call, both from a forecasting perspective and from the perspective of optimal monetary policy," wrote the analyst.

By Sam Boughedda
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Audax Private Debt announced that, as Administrative Agent & Joint Lead Arranger, it provided a unitranche credit facility to support the acquisition of RotoCo (the Company), a franchisee of Roto-Rooter, by Bessemer Investors, a New York-based private equity firm.

Founded in 1974 and headquartered in North San Diego County, CA, RotoCo provides plumbing, drain, and water restoration services to residential and commercial customers. RotoCo is the largest Roto-Rooter franchisee comprised of 23 franchises across 10 regional branches in California.

RotoCo has built an impressive operational network of franchises through its best-in-class plumbing and water restoration services, trusted by customers all over California, said Peter Stern, Managing Director at Audax Private Debt. We are excited to partner with Bessemer in this transaction which will augment RotoCos historically strong organic growth, and to support the Company in furthering their long-standing legacy of customer-focused service and safety.

We are very excited to be working alongside Audax Private Debt, said Andrew Mendelsohn, Principal at Bessemer Investors. Audax has thoughtfully collaborated with us to support our financing needs, and we appreciate their continued partnership throughout this process. We look forward to leveraging the Audax teams valuable experience and market knowledge as we continue to pursue new growth opportunities for RotoCo.

About RotoCo

Founded in 1974 and headquartered in North San Diego County, California, RotoCo offers 24/7 emergency plumbing, drain and water restoration services. RotoCos experienced team of technicians provide essential plumbing services to residential and commercial customers. RotoCo is the largest Roto-Rooter franchisee comprised of 23 franchises across 10 regional branches in California. To learn more, please visit www.rotorooter.com.

About Audax Private Debt

Based in New York, Audax Private Debt is a leading debt capital partner for North American middle market companies. Since its inception in 2000, Audax Private Debt has invested over $30 billion across more than 1,150 companies in support of over 260 private equity sponsors, and has raised $22 billion in capital. The platform offers its clients a range of financing solutions, including first lien, stretch senior, unitranche, second lien and subordinated debt, as well as equity co-investments. With more than 45 investment professionals and over 130 employees, Audax Private Debt provides financing certainty, add-on investment capability, and the experience and collaborative approach to partner with private equity firms and their portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.audaxprivatedebt.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Audax Private Debt is an integral part of Audax Group, a leading alternative investment manager with offices in Boston, New York and San Francisco.

About Bessemer Investors

Bessemer Investors is a New York-based investment firm focused on partnering with middle market businesses to support growth and enhance value creation. Bessemer differentiates itself by combining a long-term, flexible capital base with a team of experienced private equity professionals. This approach offers unique solutions to Bessemer's partners and the flexibility to maximize long-term value. For further information, please visit www.bessemerinvestors.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005705/en/

Peter Stern

Audax Private Debt

(212) 703-2774

[email protected]



Media

FGS Global

Julie Rudnick / Zak Tramonti / Catherine Livingston

[email protected]

Source: Audax Private Debt
OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BioTalent Canada announced today that Erin Ward has won the 2022 Catalyst Award for Top New Hire.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005618/en/

Erin Ward, winner of the 2022 Catalyst Award for Top New Hire (Photo: Business Wire)

Erin earned this recognition for her contributions as a CleanSlate UV co-op student. CleanSlate UV is a healthcare start-up that harnesses UV light to sanitize mobile devices.

I am incredibly excited and honoured to have been chosen [as winner of the Catalyst Award], and I know that this day wouldn't have come without the unwavering support from my mentors at CleanSlate UV, Manju Anand and Rochelle Mary Gonzales, says Erin Ward, Honours Immunology student at McGill University. Having a chance to work in an industry position while studying at university opened up so many different career options to me that I never knew existed, and showed me that you don't need to enter a position as an expert to achieve things that you will be proud of if you have enough curiosity and determination."

Erin joined the CleanSlate UV team as a Clinical Affairs Intern in 2021 as part of a three-and-a-half month work placement. From the get-go, she was quick to adopt the all-hands-on-deck culture and started joining meetings with other departments across the company to see how she could add value and make an impact. From creating scientific enablement documents to product testing, Erins curiosity allowed her to develop skills beyond her area of knowledge.

During the pandemic, the need for a solution like CleanSlate UV became more prominent to protect the general public from acquired infections including COVID-19, says Manjunath Anand, President and Chief Technology Officer at CleanSlate UV. Today, CleanSlate UV is deployed in Pearson International Airport, Metrolinx stations, and many other airports in the US. This wouldnt have been possible without Erin.

BioTalent Canadas recent LMI Study addressed the need to hire an additional 65,000 workers by 2029 to meet the demands of the growing bio-economy. Among their solutions to meet this impending talent shortage was to increase on-the-job training through work-integrated learning which helps build the practical skills in addition to putting to use the skills learned in the classroom.

Our wage subsidies are meant to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises in Canadas biotechnology sector to onboard talent and continue innovating, says Rob Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada. Its an honour to give out this award and recognize Canadas brightest young minds.

The Catalyst Award for Top New Hire demonstrates the potentially transformative contributions wage subsidies can have on organizations in the Canadian bio-economy.

Learn more about which programs your organization may qualify for, visit biotalent.ca/programs.

About BioTalent Canada

BioTalent Canada is the HR partner of and catalyst for growth in Canadas bio-economy. Our engagement with employers, associations, post-secondary institutions, immigrant serving agencies and service providers has built a dynamic network that is strengthening skills, connecting job-ready talent to industry and creating opportunities. Recently awarded a Great Place to Work Certification, BioTalent Canada practices the same industry standards they recommend to their stakeholders. For more information visit biotalent.ca.

About the Catalyst Award for Top New Hire

BioTalent Canadas Catalyst Award is an employee recognition award, granting $1,000 prize to the young employee who has contributed most significantly to their Canadian biotechnology employer in 2020-2021. Biotechnology employers are invited to submit applications, detailing their most recent hires through the programs  how these young scientists and entrepreneurs have enhanced innovation, and made substantial contributions to their companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005618/en/

Media Inquiries

Siobhan Williams

VP, Marketing and Communications

BioTalent Canada

613-235-1402 ext. 229

[email protected]

Source: BioTalent Canada
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, announced today that it will release financial results for the second quarter of 2022 on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, after the close of trading on the NYSE. BXP will host a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time to discuss the financial results for the second quarter and provide an update on BXP.

Participants who would like to join the call and ask a question may register here to receive the dial-in numbers and unique PIN to access the call. There will also be a live audio, listen-only webcast of the call, which may be accessed in the Investors section of BXPs website.

Shortly after the call, a replay of the call will be available on BXPs website for up to twelve months following the call.

ABOUT BXP

Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, concentrated in six markets - Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP is a fully integrated real estate company, organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), that develops, manages, operates, acquires, and owns a diverse portfolio of primarily Class A office space. Including properties owned by unconsolidated joint ventures, as of March 31, 2022, BXPs portfolio totaled 53.1 million square feet and 201 properties, including eleven properties under construction/redevelopment. For more information about BXP, please visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005861/en/

AT THE COMPANY

Helen Han

Vice President, Investor Relations

[email protected]

(617) 236-3429

Source: Boston Properties, Inc.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE: EEX), the owner and organizer of NY NOW, the wholesale market for retail where brands, buyers, and designers gather to connect and discover, today announced the acquisition of Bulletin Inc, a wholesale marketplace connecting over 3,000 independent brands with over 26,000+ retailers.

All Bulletin employees will join Emerald as part of the acquisition, including co-founders Alana Branston and Ali Kriegsman. The co-founders will remain committed to and lead the future growth and success of both Bulletin and NY NOW, with Branston moving into an expanded role of Group Vice President, Gift & Home and Kriegsman moving into the role of Vice President, Strategy, Gift & Home.

The acquisition of Bulletin will elevate the experience for wholesale buyers to discover a broader array of innovative brands and makers via a fusion of in-person and e-commerce offerings, creating a 24/7 platform for brands and retailers to connect and transact with each other. Further, the merger will infuse the iconic NY NOW Gift and Home Show with Bulletins entrepreneurial spirit, industry expertise and extensive customer base of brands and retailers. The union of these two platforms will provide small businesses access to a solution that allows them to fuel innovation and design and provide buyers with year-round inspiration and discovery.

NY NOW is experiencing a period of transformation and revival, said Karalynn Sprouse, EVP, Emerald. The combination of Bulletin and NY NOW not only provides us with a dynamic platform that delivers year-round discovery and engagement, but Alana, Ali, and the Bulletin teams thought leadership, forward-looking perspectives, and extensive network of makers, designers, influencers, and media will serve as new pathways of expression and creativity. In addition, this union reconfirms our unwavering commitment to NY NOW, especially as our 100th anniversary of being the preeminent resource for the Gift and Home industry grows near.

We see a massive opportunity to combine the efficiencies of our leading digital platform with the pure magic of an iconic in-person event, says Alana Branston, Bulletins CEO and Co-founder. During the pandemic, our industry lost a lot of its humanity despite the explosion of wholesale e-commerce and became very transaction-driven and impersonal. Because of this, its grown harder for brands and buyers to broker real, enduring relationships. So, were excited to rethink and revamp NY NOWs format, programming, and positioning to guarantee an in-person show that puts those relationships front-and-center, underpinned by transactions and commerce at the event and year-round. Its exactly what our customers have been asking for.

The Bulletin marketplace supports independent brands like Piecework Puzzles, Apotheke, Golde, Kitsch and Brightland, and powers wholesale discovery and order management for innovative online-only retailers like Fast AF and social shopping app Flip, as well as a diverse pool of brick-and-mortar stores like Prelude & Dawn, Onatah General Store, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Friends NYC, and thousands more.

For more information on NY NOW and Bulletin or to inquire about participating in the upcoming Summer Market taking place August 14-17, 2022, at the Jacob Javits Center, NYC, please email:

NY NOW: Amy Hornsby, [email protected]

Bulletin: Rachel Krug, [email protected]

Emerald was exclusively represented and advised by Progress Partners.

About Bulletin Inc: Bulletins wholesale marketplace connects 3,000 independent brands with over 26,000 online-only and omni-channel retailers all over the U.S. The platform offers a consumer-grade discovery, checkout and order management experience for buyers sourcing inventory from its platform, transforming a once-manual process with line-sheets, phone calls and emails between buyer and seller into a seamless and central transaction for both parties. For more information, please visit: www.bulletin.co

About NY NOW: NY NOW is todays wholesale market for tomorrows retail world. Rich with diverse products for discerning retailers, museum stores and specialty buyers. Where artisans meet designers, celebrate creativity and tell their stories. Where eclectic products shine, from home style to fashion statements, from amazing accessories to the perfect gift. Twice a year in New York City, Americas design capital. NY NOW is the best platform to build brand exposure. To generate leads and write orders. For more information, please visit: www.nynow.com

About Emerald: Emeralds talented and experienced team grows our customers businesses 365 days a year through connections, content, and commerce. We expand connections that drive new business opportunities, product discovery, and relationships with over 140 annual events, matchmaking, and lead-gen services. We create content to ensure that our customers are on the cutting edge of their industries and are continually developing their skills. And we power commerce through efficient year-round buying and selling. We do all this by seamlessly integrating in-person and digital platforms and channels. Emerald is immersed in the industries we serve and committed to supporting the communities in which we operate. As true partners, we create experiences that inspire, amaze, and deliver breakthrough results. For more information, please visit: www.emeraldx.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005636/en/

Emerald Media Contacts:

Financial Contact:

Emerald Holding, Inc

David Doft

Chief Financial Officer

1-866-339-4688 (866EEXINVT)

Emerald Media Contact:

Beth Cowperthwaite

SVP, Communications

[email protected]

Bulletin Media Contact:

Ali Kriegsman

VP Strategy, Gift and Home

[email protected]

Source: Emerald Holding, Inc.
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Emergn, a global digital business services firm helping companies deliver valuable digital products and customer experiences faster, today announced Richard Meirion-Williams has been named the companys Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).

As Emergns CRO, Meirion-Williams will play a key role in shaping the companys global business development organization for its next phase of growth, including expanding into new geographies. As part of that mission, his focus will include:

Recruiting world-class enterprise sales talent that understands the current challenges C-level leaders face around digital transformation and the company-wide changes that support it

Building on Emergns engagement and relationship management practices to continue the companys advisory-led approach, including providing high-touch, high-quality account management

Collaborating closely with marketing and product strategy teams to mold the go-to-market approach for business development

Richard is a seasoned, effective leader with experience in building sales organizations to better serve multi-national enterprise companies, said Alex Adamopoulos, founder and CEO of Emergn. His experience in this role at a global level and success taking organizations through the type of growth journey Emergn is currently on make him the perfect fit to achieve and exceed our goals as a business.

Meirion-Williams has more than 25 years of experience in the business consulting, IT software, and services market. He joins Emergn from global innovation service provider Zuhlke, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and industries in the UK and delivered over 30% growth within two years. Prior to this role, Meirion-Williams was responsible for sales at technology and engineering consultancy BJSS, where he helped grow revenues to over $192 million and was originally responsible for the financial services practice, which delivered $56 million by 2018.

He has also held roles at leading companies, including IBM, Intel, Hitachi Consulting, Capgemini and start-up companies in software and IT services.

Throughout my career, Ive driven growth at organizations poised to rapidly scale and Emergns track record of client success puts them in the perfect position to do just that, said Meirion-Williams. Emergns services and offerings directly address the challenges C-level leaders are facing globally, and Im eager to grow and lead a world-class team that will not only bring those services to new clients but ensure those client relationships thrive.

To learn more about Emergns leadership team, visit the leadership page.

About Emergn

Emergn is a global digital business services firm with a mission to improve the way people and companies work. Forever. Emergn helps some of the worlds most respected businessesincluding Fortune 500, FTSE 100 and Global 2000 companiesdevelop their most promising ideas into valuable digital products and customer experiences, faster. Emergn offers learning, consulting, and technology services to help clients own their transformation, and create high-performing teams. Our capabilities span product innovation, experience design, product delivery, intelligent automation, learning skills and capabilities, data and analytics, and business transformation. Emergn has spent more than a decade perfecting its context-specific and outcomes-driven approach to transformation based on three principles: Value, Flow and Quality. This unique approach provides Emergns clients with the frameworks, models and tools needed to drive lasting, sustainable change to the way they work and transform. Emergn has a strong presence in over a dozen countries, with its U.S. headquarters in Boston and EMEA headquarters in London. For more information, visit Emergns website and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005258/en/

V2 Communications for Emergn

[email protected]

Source: Emergn
Featuring more space and new equipment, the nearly 60,000-square-foot plant will help the company meet growing product demand while enhancing delivery times, customer service, and employee safety.

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fabral Metal Wall and Roof Systems has opened a new manufacturing plant in Salt Lake City. The facility replaces the manufacturers existing plant in Cedar City, Utah, providing more space, enhanced features, and easier access to its core customer base and a deeper labor pool. The new plant, one of eight the company operates around the U.S., will primarily manufacture Fabrals post-frame product lines, including Grandrib panels, 7/8 and 2 corrugated panels, Mighti-Rib panels, and accessories such as flashing and trim.

We are thrilled to be relocating to Salt Lake City, as the area will not only provide us greater access to a diverse workforce but will greatly improve our ability to service our customers and partners, said Brian Below, CEO of Fabral Metal Wall and Roof Systems. Its part of our continued investment to improve safety for our employees, modernize our manufacturing processes, and ensure our products are being built to the highest quality standards.

At nearly 60,000 square feet, the Salt Lake City plant is significantly larger than the Cedar City location, increasing production space for improved ergonomics and greater output.

In addition to the employees relocating from Cedar City, Fabrals Salt Lake City plant will include 15 new positions.

The move allows us to tap into a larger pool of talent and skilled labor here in Salt Lake, said Joe Peters, Director of Operations for Fabral. It also reinforces Fabrals commitment to safety and providing a first-class working environment that supports employee health, wellness, and increased productivity.

The opening of the Salt Lake City facility is a great milestone for Fabral as we celebrate 55 years as a metal cladding supplier, said Mark Hansen, Vice President of Sales for Fabral. This new facility will vastly expand our production capacities and enable us to better support the needs of our customers in this significant and growing market.

Learn more about Fabral at www.fabral.com.

ABOUT OMNIMAX INTERNATIONAL

OmniMax is a leading national manufacturer of residential building products and a top supplier of products for outdoor living, recreational vehicle, and other building end markets. As the leader in the residential roof drainage market, OmniMax has extensive scale, top brands such as Amerimax, Berger, Flamco, and Verde, and longstanding relationships with the nation's largest home center retailers and building product distributors. The Company's high-growth outdoor living business is a manufacturer of outdoor shade and exterior structures through brands such as Equinox, Alumawood, and Knotwood. OmniMax's commercial segment supplies made-to-order metal roofing, wall panels, and architectural products for large, custom jobs under the Fabral and CopperCraft brands. The Company is also a leading supplier to the recreational vehicle industry, which is benefiting from strong outdoor recreation and living trends. OmniMax International is owned by funds managed by SVPGlobal, a global investment firm with more than $18 billion in assets under management, established by Victor Khosla in 2001. Learn more at www.omnimax.com and www.svpglobal.com.

ABOUT FABRAL METAL WALL AND ROOF SYSTEMS

Founded in 1967, Fabral Metal Wall and Roof Systems is widely recognized as the benchmark leader. From supplying corrugated steel panels to the U.S. government during the Vietnam War to helping Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, reach net-zero status, Fabral has been an integral part of the largest building projects in America. Our quality products, advanced LEAN manufacturing processes, and dedicated customer service have elevated Fabral to become the metal cladding supplier of choice. www.fabral.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005736/en/

Katy Tomasulo | [email protected]

Source: Fabral Metal Wall and Roof Systems
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As the eCommerce holiday shopping officially kicks off this week with Amazon Prime Days, GroupBy, a SaaS-based eCommerce product discovery technology leader, published an infographic outlining how retailers can maximize sales with next-gen search.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006192/en/

GroupBy Infographic: How to Maximize eCommerce Holiday Sales with Next-gen Search. To download, visit https://groupbyinc.com/-/blog/blog-posts/maximize-ecommerce-holiday-sales-with-next-gen-search.html. GroupBy's fully cloud-native technology powers the world's most relevant and highly converting eCommerce websites. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Online holiday sales are projected to reach $235.86 billion this year, with half coming from mobile devices, according to Adobe. The customer experience is critical to maximizing the holiday shopping season, regardless of where or how consumers are shopping  in-store, online or buying online and picking up in-store.

Starting with Search

A website's search function is one of the most significant online revenue sources. Poor search experiences account for $300 billion in lost revenue in the U.S. each year, with three out of four consumers leaving a site for a competitor after an unsuccessful search, according to Google. When selecting a site search partner, the essential features to look for include:

AI-powered product discovery solution built using state-of-the-art AI algorithms.

Hyper-personalization that leverages Al, real-time data, and connects in-store and online user profiles to deliver more relevant results.

Scalable omnichannel functionality that enables store/zip code level search across platforms and devices, while supporting all fulfillment types.

Merchandising platform that is optimized for revenue, increases productivity and empowers merchandising teams to make data-driven decisions with actionable insights.

GroupBy's Product Discovery Platform powered by Google Cloud Retail AI taps into Google's years of experience delivering personalized content across flagship properties such as Google Search, Google Shopping and YouTube. Gain access to Search, Recommendations, Data Enrichment, Merchandising and Reporting & Analytics directly within a single platform.

To download the infographic, visit groupbyinc.com/-/blog/blog-posts/maximize-ecommerce-holiday-sales-with-next-gen-search.html.

About GroupBy Inc.

GroupBy's fully cloud-native technology powers the world's most relevant and highly converting eCommerce websites. Our SaaS-based, Product Discovery Platform powered by Google Cloud Retail AI, provides industry-leading features for data enrichment, search, recommendations, navigation, personalization, merchandising and search analytics, and is backed by our ongoing commitment to partnering with our clients. We excel with complex, large-scale B2B configurations and in dynamic, high volume B2C scenarios. Founded in 2013, GroupBy is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and has offices in Austin, Texas.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712006192/en/

Brianna LaRouche

(404) 214-0722 Ext. 142

[email protected]

Source: GroupBy Inc.
Partners digital solutions and IT services help P&C insurers across Europe transform business processes, improve operational excellence, and enhance the customer experience

SAN MATEO, Calif. & COPENHAGEN, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Guidewire (NYSE: GWRE) announced that Netcompany A/S, an IT solutions and service provider with customers throughout Europe, has joined Guidewire PartnerConnect as a Consulting alliance member at the Select level for the EMEA region.

Headquartered in Denmark and with a footprint in Europes Nordic region and other countries, Netcompany has helped customers for more than two decades navigate their digital transformation. The companys P&C expertise, customer-centric focus, and scalable solutions accelerate implementations in Guidewire products including PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter and BillingCenter  enabling insurers to drive efficiency gains and operational excellence.

Netcompany continues to build its Guidewire practice of approximately 200 experts focused on digital transformation, providing expertise ranging from strategy and inception through implementation and production support.

Our emphasis on quality, budget, time and scope, plus our expertise in Guidewire products, helps insurers streamline operations, realize speed and agility, and improve their customer experience, said Thomas Holst Demant, partner, Netcompany. We are excited to join Guidewires PartnerConnect program and continue to deliver powerful, next-generation digital solutions insurers require for their transformation.

We are pleased to welcome Netcompany as a Select partner within our PartnerConnect program, said Lisa Walsh, group vice president, Global Consulting Alliances, Guidewire Software. Netcompanys proven track record in delivering Guidewire core and digital applications to insurers in the Nordic market along with providing its regionally-specific expertise, is commendable. We look forward to continuing our collaboration.

About Netcompany

Netcompany provides end-to-end IT services to a diversified customer base, including large and mid-sized European companies from various industries in the private and public sectors. With the acquisition of Intrasoft International in 2021, Netcompany added 2,800 people to its roster of 3,500 people and today it is an international company with more than 7,000 employees working from 17 countries. As a pure-play IT services company, Netcompany delivers strategic IT projects that accelerate customers transformation through platforms, core systems and infrastructure services. For more information, please visit https://www.netcompany.com/int.

About Guidewire PartnerConnect

Guidewire PartnerConnect Consulting partners provide consulting services such as business transformation and strategy, implementation and related solution and delivery services. To date, Guidewire Consulting practices worldwide include 18,000+ consultants who have been trained or are experienced in Guidewire products. Guidewire PartnerConnect is an invitation-only program.

For more information about Guidewire PartnerConnect please visit https://www.guidewire.com/partnerconnect.

About Guidewire

Guidewire is the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver our platform as a cloud service. More than 450 insurers, from new ventures to the largest and most complex in the world, run on Guidewire.

As a partner to our customers, we continually evolve to enable their success. We are proud of our unparalleled implementation track record, with 1,000+ successful projects, supported by the largest R&D team and partner ecosystem in the industry. Our marketplace provides hundreds of applications that accelerate integration, localization, and innovation.

For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on Twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

NOTE: For information about Guidewires trademarks, visit https://www.guidewire.com/legal-notices.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005210/en/

Melissa Cobb

Senior Public Relations Manager

Guidewire Software, Inc.

+1 650-464-1177

[email protected]

Christina Tomsen

Press Advisor

45 5053 5455

[email protected]

Source: Guidewire
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kontrol Technologies Corp. (NEO:KNR) (OTCQB:KNRLF) (FSE:1K8) (Kontrol or the Company) announces that its operating subsidiary - CEM Specialties Inc. - is receiving advisory services and funding of up to $300,000 from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program ("NRC IRAP") supporting a research and development project to accelerate its new wastewater testing technology, the Kontrol BioWater analyzer ("BioWater analyzer" or "Kontrol BioWater"), for the detection of viruses including COVID-19.

We are pleased to continue to add to our growing technology platform and intellectual property as we advance the Kontrol BioWater to the next stage of its development, says Paul Ghezzi, CEO, Kontrol Technologies.

Kontrol BioWater Innovation

The Kontrol BioWater technology will be designed with the goal of being the first real-time, in the cloud, detection technology for virus in wastewater. The current process for the collection of wastewater sampling involves on-site technicians, transporting samples to a laboratory and then undertaking a separate analysis of the wastewater. This process is time consuming and can take several days to complete. The intention of the Kontrol BioWater is to advance sampling automation for faster, on-site detection which can potentially accelerate a response plan.

Early viral detection is in its infancy, and we continue to build our BioCloud technology which will now include Kontrol BioWater, says Gary Saunders, President of Kontrol BioCloud.

According to the following statement from the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, wastewater surveillance can provide an early warning of COVID-19s spread in communities. To learn more visit www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance.com

As per the CDC, The virus can then be detected in wastewater, enabling wastewater surveillance to capture presence of SARS-CoV-2 shed by people with and without symptoms. This allows wastewater surveillance to serve as an early warning that COVID-19 is spreading in a community. Once health departments are aware, communities can act quickly to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Data from wastewater testing support public health mitigation strategies by providing additional crucial information about the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community.

The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus).

About Kontrol BioCloud

Kontrol BioCloud (BioCloud) is an operating subsidiary of Canadian public company Kontrol Technologies Corp. The BioCloud technology is a real-time analyzer designed to detect airborne viruses and pathogens. BioCloud is an air quality technology and not a medical device. BioCloud has been designed to operate as a safe space technology by sampling the air quality continuously. Additional information about Kontrol BioCloud can be found on its website at www.kontrolbiocloud.com

Kontrol BioWater is a technology extension of the Kontrol BioCloud and will be developed to operate as a branded solution for water monitoring applications.

Kontrol Technologies Corp.

Kontrol Technologies Corp., a Canadian public company, is a leader in smart buildings and cities through IoT, Cloud and SaaS technology. Kontrol provides solutions and services to its customers to improve energy management, monitor continuous emissions and accelerate the sustainability of all buildings.

Additional information about Kontrol Technologies Corp. can be found on its website at www.kontrolcorp.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as may, will, expect, likely, should, would, plan, anticipate, intend, potential, proposed, estimate, believe or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions, and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions may or will happen, or by discussions of strategy. Forward-looking information contained in this press releases includes, but is not limited to, the following: future testing to be conducted by Kontrol of its products; the future success of any of Kontrols products; and customer demand relating to air quality and water testing products.

Where Kontrol expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, that sufficient capital will be available to the Company; that future testing can be conducted as planned; that technology will be as effective as anticipated; that existing relationships and contracts entered into by the Company will continue on the same or similar terms, or at all; and that demand will continue for air quality or water monitoring products and for the Companys products in particular.

However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, that sufficient capital and financing cannot be obtained on reasonable terms, or at all; that the Companys technologies will not prove as effective as expected; that customers and potential customers will not be as accepting of the Company's product and service offering as expected and/or that demand for such products and services will not continue; that the Companys test results will not be replicated in the future or that future testing will not be conducted; that the Company will not maintain its existing relationships or contracts on the same terms or at all; and government and regulatory factors impacting the energy conservation industry. Kontrol BioCloud is an air quality technology and not a medical device. The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus).

Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and are based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations, and opinions of management on such date. Kontrol does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required under applicable securities law. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties, and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005664/en/

Kontrol Technologies Corp.

Paul Ghezzi

CEO

[email protected]

180 Jardin Drive, Unit 9, Vaughan, ON L4K 1X8

Tel: (905) 766.0400

Source: Kontrol Technologies Corp.
Shares Honor With Previous Recipients President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, and Eunice Shriver

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- It was announced on July 4th that Lloyd Lewis, president and CEO of the Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado, was the recipient of the World Citizenship Award by Civitan International at its 102nd Civitan International Convention on July 4th in San Antonio, TX.

The award will put Lewis in a distinguished group of recipients that include President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics. Civitan International, a volunteer service organization that includes more than 22,000 members in over 500 clubs in 25 countries across the globe, gives its World Citizenship Award to an honoree who has made significant contributions to mankind. The prize is voted upon by Civitan International Board of Directors and is not given every year, but only when its dutifully earned. The organization started giving out the award more than sixty years ago.

Lewis was chosen to receive the award in recognition of his nearly two decades of supporting advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The journey that brought him to this place, however, was anything but ordinary.

View a video of Lloyd telling his remarkable story here.

Before joining Arc Thrift Stores, Lewis had a successful financial career in Philadelphia and most recently in Denver. But in 2003 his world changed when his son Kennedy was born with Down syndrome. Before that moment, Lewis knew very little about intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

My world changed in a split second, he said. From that moment on, it was time for me to do my part to help change the world for my son, and for others like him.

Lewis joined the Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado, a nonprofit corporation that includes 31 thrift stores across the state, in 2005 to help change the way people think about, connect with, and employ people with disabilities. Under his leadership, Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado is the states largest funder of advocacy for persons with IDD, having provided over $120 million to advocacy programs benefitting 15 Arc Chapters in Colorado. The Arc Chapters of Colorado, affiliated with The Arc of the United States, help individuals with IDD find jobs, housing, medical services, and services in schools, serving over 10,000 individuals and families. Additionally, Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado is one of the states largest employers of people with IDD, employing nearly 400 of these wonderful individuals working in all sorts of jobs, from production to office staff, including supplemental education, social, and community service programs for these employees. Lewis also takes pride in having led Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado in becoming one of the states largest social enterprises, with a $3 billion economic impact on Colorado during his tenure.

Under Lewis leadership, Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado has also funded hundreds of nonprofits throughout the country through its vehicle donation program and is one of Colorados largest providers of food and vouchers and other supplies for marginalized populations (including seniors, people experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges, substance abuse, those living in poverty, people exiting the criminal system, refugees, immigrants, rescue missions, shelters, senior centers, etc.).

In total, charitable funding for all of these programs under Lewis leadership is approximately $225 million since 2005.

The Civitan award is a remarkable honor, Lewis said. What guides me every day is a desire to promote dignity and equality. Each of us has something to contribute to the world we live in.

Under Lloyd Lewis leadership, Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado has become a shining example of what all chapters of The Arc in this country can achieve, said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc of the United States. He is truly a citizen of the world and a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion of all people.

We give this award out rarely and only to those who are truly deserving. Lloyd Lewis is making a difference beyond just his community but to the global community, said Scarlet Thompson, executive vice president of Civitans International.

I have known Lloyd Lewis for years, said Michelle Sie Whitten, president and CEO of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. He and I both have children with Down syndrome. Because of Lloyd, I know that my daughter  and thousands like herwill have bright and productive futures.

Lewis was honored at the 102nd Civitan International Convention on July 4th in San Antonio, TX.

ABOUT ARC THRIFT STORES OF COLORADO: arc Thrift Stores of Colorado operates 31 thrift stores and 15 donation stations throughout Colorado. Store operations provide funding to 15 Colorado Arc Chapters, which in turn provide advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. arc Thrift Stores of Colorado is one of the largest employers of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state of Colorado. http://www.arcthrift.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005056/en/

Lisa Metzger

[email protected]

720-771-4238

Source: Arc Thrift Stores
This project marks Medlines fifth rooftop solar project in the U.S., with more in progress

UXBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Medline yesterday hosted an event to celebrate the completion of the rooftop solar installation atop its state-of-the-art Uxbridge, Massachusetts, distribution facility. Uxbridge officials, Medline employees, and solar developer PowerFlex were present to give remarks and commemorate this notable achievement. This 6.7 megawatt (MW) DC system is the fifth rooftop system Medline has completed at a facility in the U.S. The system will produce an estimated 8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually with the environmental benefits of avoiding 5,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annuallya reduction equivalent to fully powering 700 homes or consuming more than 630,000 gallons of gasoline a year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005715/en/

Solar project at Medline's distribution facility in Uxbridge, MA (Photo: Business Wire)

The 820,000 square-foot Uxbridge facility distributes medical products and devices across the continuum of care  including hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, hospice providers, and physician offices. The company has invested more than $34 million in renewable energy since 2016, with solar projects in several states, including California and Florida, and its headquarters in Northfield, Illinois. Medline has continued to expand existing systems with other projects underway at various locations.

We established our renewable energy portfolio in 2009, when our first geothermal facility was built, and its been growing ever since, said Francesca Olivier, Vice President of Environmental, Social and Governance at Medline. Were committed to helping healthcare run more sustainably  extending beyond our responsibility to provide sustainable products and services to our customers and looking to our own operations to determine how we can best preserve Earths natural resources.

As a designated Green Community within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Town of Uxbridge is pleased to see that one of our business partners, Medline, is also contributing to this effort by undertaking the roof top solar project, said Town Manager Steven Sette. It is our hope that other businesses in Town will follow Medlines leadership with this project and will also work to reduce our carbon footprint for the future.

To complete this project, Medline partnered with its long-term solar developer, PowerFlex, a national provider of intelligent onsite renewable energy solutions.

Were proud to be Medlines trusted solar provider and deliver multiple rooftop projects across the country, said Raphael Declercq, CEO of PowerFlex. Medlines continuing commitment to sustainability is evident as they expand their solar portfolio and take steps to mitigate their carbon footprint. We encourage other corporations to continue building healthier and more eco-friendly communities.

About Medline:

Medline is a healthcare company; a manufacturer, distributor, and solutions provider focused on improving the overall operating performance of healthcare. Partnering with healthcare systems and facilities across the continuum of care, Medline provides the clinical and supply chain resources required for long-term financial viability in delivering high-quality care. With the scale of one of the countrys largest companies and the agility of a family-led business, Medline is able to invest in its customers for the future and rapidly respond to a dynamically changing market with customized solutions. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., Medline has 30,000+ employees worldwide and does business in more than 125 countries and territories. Learn more about Medline at http://www.medline.com.

About PowerFlex:

PowerFlex, an EDF Renewables company, is a leading national provider of intelligent onsite energy solutions that support carbon-free electrification and transportation. The Company delivers integrated solar, storage, EV charging, and microgrid systems to businesses and organizations. As a single full-service provider, PowerFlex customizes clean technology solutions to help clients achieve their energy and sustainability goals. Through the comprehensive PowerFlex X platform, PowerFlex leverages patented smart software to control, monitor, and optimize a client's distributed energy resources to reduce cost and maximize return on investment. For more information, visit www.powerflex.com. Connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005715/en/

Jesse Greenberg | Medline | [email protected]

Emily Lau | PowerFlex | [email protected]

Source: PowerFlex
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sound Point Capital Management (Sound Point) is pleased to announce that it provided an Accounts Receivable Facility for Dura Automotive (Dura or the Company), a global designer and manufacturer of highly engineered automotive systems and portfolio company of MiddleGround Capital (MiddleGround or the Sponsor). Dura will use proceeds of the facility to support the continued growth across its three core business segments, including its electric vehicle (BEV) battery trays business unit.

MiddleGround is excited to broaden our relationship with Sound Point. The Strategic Capital team was able to provide a highly bespoke facility that will allow Dura to continue to execute on rapid growth across their core business units, especially in and around Electric Vehicle battery trays, said Tyler May, a Senior Associate on MiddleGround Capitals investment team.

We are excited to support Duras next phase of growth. MiddleGround Capitals industry expertise was evident throughout our process, and we look forward to future transactions with their impressive team, added Morgan Dean, a Managing Director in Sound Point Capitals Strategic Capital business.

The Strategic Capital team at Sound Point partners with sponsors and management teams to provide debt capital for a variety of uses, including M&A, working capital, and owner distributions. We focus on complex transactions that require flexible solutions, including asset-based, cash flow and hybrid facilities. Our transaction size ranges from $50 - $500 million.

About Sound Point Capital Management, LP

Sound Point is an alternative asset management firm founded in 2008 with particular expertise in credit strategies. Based in New York, with offices in London, the firm manages money on behalf of institutional investors including top-tier pensions, foundations, insurance companies, wealth management firms and family offices. Sound Point's strategies span the spectrum of liquid and illiquid credit alternatives and include funds and managed accounts focused on leveraged loans, special situations, distressed debt, structured credit, direct lending and commercial real estate. Sound Point currently manages approximately $31 billion of assets. Five principals of Stone Point Capital LLC, as well as Dyal Capital Partners, a division of Blue Owl Capital Inc. [NYSE: OWL], are strategic investors in our business. For more information, please visit Sound Point's website at www.soundpointcap.com

About Dura Automotive

Dura is a specialized Tier I global designer and manufacturer of highly engineered automotive systems. It operates through its Lightweight Structural Systems and Electric Vehicle Battery Trays, Precision Formed Products and Driver Control Systems (DCS) business segments making products such as electric vehicle (BEV) battery trays, aluminum and high-strength steel cross-car beams, stamped high-strength steel door panels, shift-by-wire actuators and mechatronic control systems. Dura supplies leading automotive OEMs and Tier one partners worldwide, with a presence on more than 300 platforms across all light vehicle and powertrain types.

About MiddleGround Capital

MiddleGround Capital is a private equity firm based in Lexington, KY with over $2.0 billion of Assets Under Management. MiddleGround makes control equity investments in middle market B2B industrial and specialty distribution businesses. MiddleGround works with its portfolio companies to create value through a hands-on operational approach and partners with its management teams to support long-term growth strategies. For more information, please visit: www.middlegroundcapital.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005264/en/

Media

Greg Cresci

(212) 895-2277

Investor

Julie Smith

(212) 895-2293

Source: Sound Point Capital Management
SPRING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN) today announced it will host a conference call and live audio webcast on August 5, 2022 to discuss second quarter 2022 financial and operating results. The Company plans to release results on August 4, 2022 after market close, which will be available on SWNs website at www.swn.com.

Date: August 5, 2022 Time: 10:00 a.m. CT Webcast: ir.swn.com US/Canada: 877-883-0383 International: 412-902-6506 Access code: 2234740

A replay will also be available on SWNs website at www.swn.com following the call.

About Southwestern Energy

Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN) is a leading U.S. producer and marketer of natural gas and natural gas liquids focused on responsibly developing large-scale energy assets in the nations most prolific shale gas basins. SWNs returns-driven strategy strives to create sustainable value for its stakeholders by leveraging its scale, financial strength and operational execution. For additional information, please visit www.swn.com and www.swn.com/responsibility.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005859/en/

Brittany Raiford

Director, Investor Relations

(832) 796-7906

[email protected]

Source: Southwestern Energy
Representatives from Topcon, AEM and AGCO Corporation discuss trends reshaping food production

LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Topcon Agriculture announces a new Topcon Talks Agriculture episode titled State of the Industry: The Future of Food. Michael Gomes, vice president of strategic business development at Topcon Agriculture, joins Curt Blades, senior vice president of Ag Services for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), as well as Grant Good, director of global smart ag engineering at AGCO Corporation, to discuss how the agriculture industry could potentially be reshaped over the next decade.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005774/en/

Topcon Agriculture announces a new Topcon Talks Agriculture episode titled State of the Industry: The Future of Food. (Photo: Business Wire)

The guests examine several pieces of key data and findings detailed in a white paper recently published by AEM titled The Future of Food Production. The report identifies 13 trends that are shaping the future of farming, including global population growth, shifting natural resources and ever-evolving supply chain challenges, and how these trends will accelerate the evolution and adoption of technology as it connects productivity, sustainability, cost control, food security and more.

Topcon has always been committed to forward thinking in our industry. Our investment and collaboration with other industry leaders in the Future of Food Production research allowed us to evaluate the changing landscape were facing, Gomes said. Through this effort, we shared experiences and insights to identify areas we can best support these growing demands. Topcon will continue to evolve its precision ag portfolio by creating and innovating new technologies as our industry grows toward a bright future.

Listeners can tune in to Topcon Talks Agriculture Podcasts at topconpositioning.com/podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever podcasts are available.

The White Paper

The Future of Food Production is a report prepared by AEMs agriculture-focused member leaders to determine current and future changes in the agriculture industry and the resulting impact on farmers around the world. AEMs Future of Food Production Vision Team, including sponsorship and participation from Topcon, invested two years of research, discussion and debate to build a consensus regarding how the agriculture industry will evolve over the next decade.

Trends indicate that consumers are showing growing interest in food origination at a time when issues impacting food production include ongoing supply chain vulnerabilities, environmental challenges, demographic shifts and technology innovations. Farmers efforts to secure a critical supply of food for the world face another challenge as the shrinking skilled workforce continues to do more with less.

For more information on Topcon Agriculture, visit topconpositioning.com/agriculture.

About Topcon Positioning Group

Topcon Positioning Group, always one step ahead in technology and customer benefits, is an industry leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Topcon Positioning Group is headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. (topconpositioning.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). Its European head office is in Capelle a/d IJssel, the Netherlands. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005774/en/

Topcon Positioning Group

[email protected]

Staci Fitzgerald, +1 925-245-8610

Source: Topcon Positioning Group
Fisker, Inc. (NYSE: FSR) names Alpay Uguz as Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing, reporting to CEO Henrik Fisker, effective immediately.

In his role at Fisker, Alpay will oversee the companys global manufacturing as Fisker grows towards its goal of producing one million vehicles annually in 2027. Alpay will focus on lean manufacturing and innovative techniques to reduce parts starting from the earliest development phase.

"Alpay's wealth of hands-on, global manufacturing experience will boost Fisker's already ultra-fast development process, creating greater efficiency by incorporating the latest in new manufacturing methods," CEO and Chairman Henrik Fisker said. Alpay and his team will integrate advanced manufacturing processes early in the vehicle design and engineering phases. We are developing a seamless approach from design to production with faster assembly times, ultimately providing high-quality vehicles optimized for cost and service to our customers."

"I'm excited to apply my knowledge of lean manufacturing deployment, new product launches, and appreciation for innovation in Fisker's fast-paced environment, utilizing my cross-cultural experience working in China, Germany, the UK, and the US," Uguz said.

Before joining Fisker, Alpay worked at BMW's production facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina as the general manager of the brand's SUVs.
Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: MOH) (Molina) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of My Choice Wisconsin (MCW). The purchase price for the transaction is approximately $150 million, net of expected tax benefits and required regulatory capital.

MCW is a Medicaid managed care organization serving members across Wisconsin. It has a 22-year history of serving managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) populations, with a deep commitment to the communities it serves. As of May 2022, MCW served over 44,000 MLTSS and core Medicaid members throughout Wisconsin, delivering approximately $1 billion in premium revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2022.

The addition of My Choice Wisconsin to Molinas expanding footprint is not only complementary to our existing Medicaid business in Wisconsin, but also representative of our strategic growth initiatives, said Joe Zubretsky, President and CEO of Molina Healthcare. Todays announcement demonstrates our continuing success acquiring value enhancing revenue streams at attractive valuations.

The transaction represents a strong strategic fit with Molinas portfolio of core Medicaid, high-acuity, and duals businesses and brings additional scale to Molinas growing MLTSS franchise and existing Wisconsin core Medicaid business. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Molinas adjusted earnings per share. Molina intends to fund the purchase with cash on hand. The transaction is subject to receipt of applicable federal and state regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in 2022.
MONTREAL, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AM Resources Corporation (AM or the Corporation) (TSXV: AMR) (Frankfurt: 76A) is providing an update to its previously disclosed management cease trade order (MCTO), initially announced on April 29, 2022, in respect of the audited annual financial statements and corresponding managements discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021, including the CEO and CFO certifications, as well as the interim financial statements and corresponding managements discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31, 2022, including the CEO and CFO certifications (collectively, the Financial Documents) that were not filed by their respective filing deadlines of April 30, 2022 and May 30, 2022 (the Filing Deadlines).

As previously disclosed, the Financial Documents were not filed on or before the Filing Deadlines due to the delay in the completion of the audit of the Corporations financial statements before the Filing Deadlines. The Corporation is working closely with the auditor to finalize the audit and provides an update that the expected filing date of the Financial Documents is now no later than July 29, 2022. The Corporation will provide updates as further information relating to the Financial Documents becomes available.

The MCTO will be in effect until the Financial Documents are filed.

Until the Financial Documents are filed, the Corporation intends to issue bi-weekly default status reports in accordance with National Policy 12-203  Management Cease Trade Orders. The Corporation intends to satisfy the provisions of the Alternative Information Guidelines during the period it remains in default of the filing requirements. The Corporation confirms that there is no other material information relating to its affairs that has not been generally disclosed.

About AM ResourcesAM Resources Corporation (TSXV: AMR) is a mining exploration company with interests in coal and natural bitumen projects in Colombia. AM is betting on Colombia's excellent mineral potential and favourable climate to pursue its Colombian venture.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information:

David GrondinAM Resources CorporationPresident and Chief Executive Officer1-514-360-0576www.am-resources.com

Source: AM Resources Corp.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP. (Azincourt or the Company) (TSX.V: AAZ, OTCQB: AZURF), is pleased to present the analytical results from the Winter 2022 drill program at the East Preston uranium project, located in the western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Drilling for the 2022 winter season at the East Preston Project resulted in 5,004.5 meters completed in 19 drill holes between January and March of 2022. Preliminary results of this program were reported in a news release dated March 29th, 2022. Drilling during the 2022 program focused on the A-G and K-H-Q trends and commenced in the G-Zone where the 2021 drill program ended (Figure 3).

A total of 420 samples were collected throughout the program and sent to the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for analysis. After unexpected delays at the lab, results were finally received by TerraLogic Exploration in late June and immediately underwent a thorough quality control assessment prior to being accepted.

The analysis from drill core is encouraging, said VP, Exploration, Trevor Perkins. The uranium enrichment within the alteration zones is a sign that uranium bearing fluids were present within the alteration system. We have the alteration system, and uranium moving around within it. The next step is identifying the areas of concentration within the system where significant uranium is dropping out, continued Mr. Perkins.

An analysis of the results shows uranium enrichment within the previously identified alteration zones along the G, K, and H target zones (Figure 2). Uranium enrichment is identified as uranium (U) values and a uranium/thorium ratio (U/Th) above what would normally be expected in the given rock type or area.

Along the northeast trending G-Zone, extensive hydrothermal alteration, and evidence of east-west cross-cutting structures were highlighted in holes EP0030 and EP0037. The primary rock types in the alteration zone are granodiorite and diorite gneiss with average expected values of 2-3 ppm U and U/Th ratios of 0.25-0.3. A sample from Hole EP0037 returned 14.6 ppm U and a U/Th ratio of 1.5, five times the expected values. A sample from EP0032 returned 19.5 ppm U and a U/Th ratio of 0.8.

The H-Zone covers a change in orientation of the structural and conductive trend from north south to southwest trending and contains a thick zone of hydrothermal alteration and an intense graphitic fault and mylonite zone. A sample from EP0041 retuned 12.5 ppm U and a 0.5 U/Th ratio within a mylonite in the fault zone.

Along the north-south trending K-Zone extensive zones of hydrothermal hematite have been intersected in all holes, with clay alteration also being present. A zone of localized elevated radioactivity more than 10 times background values was identified in EP0035 (Azincourt Energy news release dated March 1st, 2022). The rock type in this zone is gabbro with average expected values of 0.5-1.5 ppm U and U/Th ratios of 0.25-0.5. A sample from this zone in EP0035 returned 5.4 ppm U and a 1.2 U/Th ratio.

The company considers sample analysis results to be an important indicator that uranium bearing fluids were present within the alteration systems identified. Continued testing of the alteration system to identify the extents of the alteration and areas of fluid concentration and strong uranium enrichment will be the aim of follow-up programs.

The results of this drill program continue to support our exploration model at East Preston, said President and CEO, Alex Klenman. The alteration zones are considerable in both size and scope. The results now confirm uranium is present within these alteration zones, which is a significant and critical step in the exploration process. We are eager to get the next round of drilling completed as the knowledge gained from this winters program will aid immensely in vectoring toward areas of more significant mineralization, continued Mr. Klenman.

A thorough review and interpretation of the results of the winter 2022 program at East Preston is underway and preparation for an extensive follow up program in the winter of 2022-2023 is planned to continue evaluating alteration and structure on the G-, K-, and H-Zones as well as get a first look at the Q-Zone.

The Company is also planning to complete its first drill program at the 13,711-ha Hatchet Lake project, located along the Wollaston Domain on the northeastern side of the Athabasca Basin, in September and October of this year. This well known structural corridor hosts the majority of known high-grade uranium deposits and all of Canadas operating uranium mines. High-grade mineralization, up to 2.43% U308, has already been established at Hatchet Lake. Azincourt is earning up to 75% interest in the project as part of an earn-in agreement with ValOre Metals. The permitting and consultation process is in progress, and updates will be provided over the next several weeks.

The next eight to ten months will be busy for Azincourt as we follow up at East Preston, and we also begin drilling at Hatchet Lake, which we plan to drill as early as this fall, said Mr. Klenman. Despite the recent decline in overall market sentiment, were in an excellent position. Our treasury is extremely strong, and were fully funded to execute all of our exploration plans over the next year, and beyond. Were going to be very active and plan to be aggressive with the drills, continued Mr. Klenman.

Webinar Today

The Company will be conducting a live webinar, in conjunction with Red Cloud Securities, to discuss the drill results in more detail, today Wednesday, July 13, at 11am PST/2pm EST. We invite readers to register and attend, please follow this URL to participate:

https://redcloudfs.com/rcwebinar-aaz-3/

East Preston Target Areas

The primary target area on the East Preston Project is the conductive corridors from the A-Zone through to the G-Zone (A-G Trend) and the K-Zone through to the H and Q-Zones (K-H-Q Trend) (Figures 1 and 3). The selection of these trends is based on a compilation of results from the 2018 through 2020 ground-based EM and gravity surveys, property wide VTEM and magnetic surveys, and the 2019 through 2022 drill programs, the 2020 HLEM survey indicates multiple prospective conductors and structural complexity along these corridors.

Drilling programs to date have confirmed that identified geophysical conductors comprise structurally disrupted zones that are host to accumulations of graphite, sulphides, and carbonates. Hydrothermal alteration, anomalous radioactivity, and elevated uranium have been demonstrated to exist within these structurally disrupted conductor zones.

While the A-G and K-H-Q trends are the primary focus, many additional trends and zones exist to the east and west of the primary trends on the East Preston property (Figure 1). These additional target areas will require ground geophysics to constrain conductor locations and drilling to properly evaluate their potential.

Permitting and Community Engagement

The permitting process is underway to obtain authorization for the winter 2022-2023 drill program. Azincourt Energy continues to be engaged in regular meetings with the Clearwater River Dene Nation and other rights holders to ensure that concerns of the local communities are addressed. Azincourt looks forward to a continued close working relationship with CRDN and other rights holders to ensure that any potential impacts and concerns are addressed and that the communities can benefit from activities in the area through support of local business, employment opportunities, and sponsorship of select community programs and initiatives. Several members of the Clearwater River Dene Nation were directly employed on site or to provide support and services to keep the camp and program running.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6f71eb63-ed77-4b29-a2c6-348ea24a15e3

Figure 1: Target corridors at the East Preston Uranium Project, Western Athabasca Basin Saskatchewan

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0aa363aa-2342-4a4b-97c5-0a20f3e7fae2

Figure 2: 2022 Drill Holes and Target areas at the East Preston Uranium Project

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0aef4a37-d9e6-48dc-97f6-771b890422ac

Figure 3: Project Location  Western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada

About East Preston

Azincourt controls a majority 72.8% interest in the 25,000+ hectare East Preston project as part of a joint venture agreement with Skyharbour Resources (TSX.V: SYH), and Dixie Gold. Three prospective conductive, low magnetic signature corridors have been discovered on the property. The three distinct corridors have a total strike length of over 25 km, each with multiple EM conductor trends identified. Ground prospecting and sampling work completed to date has identified outcrop, soil, biogeochemical and radon anomalies, which are key pathfinder elements for unconformity uranium deposit discovery.

The East Preston Project has multiple long linear conductors with flexural changes in orientation and offset breaks in the vicinity of interpreted fault lineaments  classic targets for basement-hosted unconformity uranium deposits. These are not just simple basement conductors; they are clearly upgraded/enhanced prospectivity targets because of the structural complexity.

The targets are basement-hosted unconformity related uranium deposits similar to NexGens Arrow deposit and Camecos Eagle Point mine. East Preston is near the southern edge of the western Athabasca Basin, where targets are in a near surface environment without Athabasca sandstone cover  therefore they are relatively shallow targets but can have great depth extent when discovered. The project ground is located along a parallel conductive trend between the PLS-Arrow trend and Camecos Centennial deposit (Virgin River-Dufferin Lake trend).

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by C. Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of Azincourt Energy, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Azincourt Energy Corp.

Azincourt Energy is a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration, and development of alternative energy/fuel projects, including uranium, lithium, and other critical clean energy elements. The Company is currently active at its joint venture East Preston uranium project in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, and the Escalera Group uranium-lithium project located on the Picotani Plateau in southeastern Peru.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP.

Alex KlenmanAlex Klenman, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Azincourt. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information represents managements best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially.

For further information please contact:

Alex Klenman, President & CEOTel: 604-638-8063[email protected]

Azincourt Energy Corp.1430  800 West Pender StreetVancouver, BC V6C 2V6www.azincourtenergy.com

Figure 1: Target corridors at the East Preston Uranium Project, Western Athabasca Basin Saskatchewan Figure 1: Target corridors at the East Preston Uranium Project, Western Athabasca Basin Saskatchewan Figure 2: 2022 Drill Holes and Target areas at the East Preston Uranium Project Figure 2: 2022 Drill Holes and Target areas at the East Preston Uranium Project Figure 3: Project Location  Western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada Figure 3: Project Location  Western Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada

Source: Azincourt Energy Corp.
MIAMI, FLORIDA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The executive management of Bebuzee, Inc. (OTC Pink: ENGA) a company that is a video-sharing platform and a streaming service that allows its members to watch a wide variety of contents such as movies, series, documentaries and talk shows on thousands of internet-connected devices. It is a one-stop platform for breaking news, interesting and important blogs, videos, and photos, that scans the worlds news, features and information flow to give its dedicated readers the best of the Internet in one place, today reacted to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that management believes verifies the direction the Company is focused upon Super Apps.

Joseph Onyero, Chief Executive Officer of Bebuzee, Inc., said: Bebuzee arrives in North America with what may be the first super app produced in and aimed at users in the West. This is a game changer for users of all ages, combining many previously individual apps into one integrated whole. Here comes a non MAANG company beating the big boys with something more useful and complete than any of them have even begun to design, let alone provide.

He concluded: We will also be addressing the final components of our Super App in the coming weeks, which is scheduled to be launched in a couple of months.

The WSJ articles1 headline said:

What the Heck Is a Super App and Why Are Elon Musk, Evan Spiegel and Jack Dorsey So Interested? Super apps, immensely popular in Asia but not in the U.S., are the new hot thing for companies scrambling to capture ever more of our time, attention and money

The article said in part: Unlike regular apps, which for years have been built to do one thing well, so-called super apps can do it all, or at least thats the idea. By granting them powers that previously required firing up many other apps, their builders hope youll spend more time with them than ever.

If the phrase super app sounds familiar, its because a procession of big-name tech companies have been touting the idea recently, including Uber, Spotify, PayPal, Snap and Jack Dorsey Elon Musk raised the concept when discussing his plans for Twitter.

The definition of super app is fuzzy, but companies and their leaders most often use it to describe a state of cramming ever more features and functions into their appsoften ones adjacent to, but distinct from, their core functionality. So, for example, a financial-tech super app might start with payments and bolt on buy-now-pay-later, cryptocurrency and in-app storefronts. For social media, it could mean incorporating things like shopping. And for a delivery and ride-hailing company, it might mean adding new modes of transportation or other categories of goods for drivers to convey

For companies, building super apps is about maintaining growth despite current economic headwinds and changes in how revenue is generated on the internet. Its also about gaining an edge in the battle with competitors to capture as much of our time, attention and money as possible

If the super-app idea is newly current, its hardly new. WeChat, launched in 2011 by Chinese internet giant Tencent, is the archetypal super app. It started as a cross between a messaging app and a social medium but has grown to encompass everything from ride hailing and e-commerce to mobile payments and even government services. Today it has nearly 1.3 billion users, mostly in China

The dominance of these super apps has long been a source of envy for U.S. tech executives, who must content themselves with dividing users attention and spending among their companies.

There are many theories about why a true super app hasnt arisen in the West. The most common is that by the time companies like Tencent began building them, the West already had a well-developed ecosystem of companies and services serving the different needs that Asian super apps consolidated

Even if the West is unlikely to get a true super app like WeChat, executives of U.S. and European tech companies have lately grown fond of the idea of turning their app into a super one

While they havent said the magic phrase, many other companies have announced features or plans that show super-app ambitions, says Yoram Wurmser, principal technology analyst at Insider Intelligence, a research firm that specializes in tech

Bebuzee, Inc. (OTC Pink: ENGA)

Based in Miami, Florida, Bebuzee, Inc. offers a unique, proprietary video-sharing platform and streaming service that allows our members to watch a wide variety of content such as movies, series, documentaries and talk shows on any internet-connected device. Bebuzees technology scans the worlds news, features and information flow to give its dedicated readers the best of the Internet in one place. A one-stop platform for breaking news, interesting and important blogs, videos, and photos. Bebuzee offers an addictive resource for those millions of people without time to scavenge the Internet and other sources for news and information. Bebuzees latest investor pitch deck may be found at: https://www.bebuzeegroup.com/brochure

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, about Bebuzee, Inc. and the companys industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including statements regarding the proposed terms of the shares, the completion, timing, and size of the proposed offering of the shares, and the anticipated use of the net proceeds from the proposed offering of the shares are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as anticipate, believe, contemplate, continue, could, estimate, expect, going to, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, target, will, or would or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. Snap cautions you that the foregoing may not include all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release.

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Bebuzee has based the forward-looking statements contained in this press release primarily on its current expectations and projections about future events and trends, including its financial outlook and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that it believes may affect the companys business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties related to: Bebuzees financial performance; the lack of historical profitability; the ability to generate and sustain positive cash flow; the ability to attract and retain users, publishers, and advertisers; competition and new market entrants; managing Bebuzees international expansion and growth and future expenses; compliance with new laws, regulations, and executive actions; the ability to maintain, protect, and enhance Bebuzees intellectual property; the ability to succeed in existing and new market segments; the ability to attract and retain qualified and key personnel; the ability to repay outstanding debt; future acquisitions, divestitures or investments; and the potential adverse impact of climate change, natural disasters, and health epidemics, as well as risks, uncertainties. In addition, any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that Bebuzee believes to be reasonable as of this date. Bebuzee undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

Contact:Bebuzee, Inc.www.Bebuzee.com[email protected]

1 https://www.wsj.com/articles/super-app-musk-spiegel-dorsey-11657306485

Source: Bebuzee, Inc,
CALGARY, Alberta, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Diamond Group Limited (Black Diamond or the "Company) (TSX: BDI), a leading provider of space rental and workforce accommodation, today announced the timing of its 2022 second quarter earnings release and conference call/webcast.

Black Diamond intends to release its 2022 second quarter results after markets close on Thursday, August 4, 2022, and hold a conference call and webcast at 9:30 a.m. MT (11:30 a.m. ET) on Friday, August 5, 2022.

CEO Trevor Haynes and CFO Toby LaBrie will discuss Black Diamonds financial results for the quarter and then take questions from investors and analysts.

To access the conference call by telephone dial toll free 1-800-319-4610. International callers should use 1-604-638-5340. Please connect approximately 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call.

To access the call via webcast, please log into the webcast link 10 minutes before the start time at: https://www.gowebcasting.com/11999

Following the conference call, a replay will be available on the Investor Events section of the Companys website at www.blackdiamondgroup.com.

About Black Diamond

Black Diamond is a specialty rentals and industrial services Company with two operating business units  Modular Space Solutions (MSS) and Workforce Solutions (WFS). We operate in Canada, the United States, and Australia. MSS through its principal brands, BOXX Modular, Britco, MPA, and Schiavi, owns a large rental fleet of modular buildings of various types and sizes. Its network of local branches rent, sell, service, and provide ancillary products and services to a diverse customer base in the construction, industrial, education, financial, and government sectors. WFS owns a large rental fleet of modular accommodation assets of all types and sizes and a fleet of liquid and solid containment assets. Its regional operating terminals rent, sell, service, and provide ancillary products and services including turn-key operated camps to a wide array of customers in the resource, infrastructure, construction, disaster recovery, and education sectors. The WFS business unit also includes the Companys wholly owned subsidiary, LodgeLink, which operates a digital marketplace for business-to-business crew accommodation, travel, and logistics in North America.

Learn more at www.blackdiamondgroup.com.

Investor and Media InquiriesJason Zhang at 403-206-4739 or [email protected]

To sign up for news alerts please go to https://www.blackdiamondgroup.com/investor-centre/news-alerts-subscription/.

Source: Black Diamond Group Limited
TORONTO, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing customers are invited to be among the first to experience a reimagined boutique vacation in the tropical destination of Cayo Largo, Cuba this fall. Considered Cubas sunshine coast thanks to its 25km of pristine, white-sand shores and summertime feeling year-round, Cayo Largo is offered through Sunwing to Canadians in search of a getaway like no other. With its prime location and warm temperatures, the destination will appeal to the most discerning of travellers.

Cuba has long held its top spot as a Canadian favourite for Sunwing customers and, as we expand on our offerings to welcome more guests back to this beautiful island, were thrilled to bring new life to Cayo Largo with Sunwing as the destinations leading choice of tour operator in the Canadian market, says Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing. Cayo Largo offers an intimate experience in a small, boutique setting that our customers wont find anywhere else in Cuba, along with great weather, beautiful beaches, new all inclusive offerings and now with an exclusive international food import license, more comforts of home, all at an attractive price point. We anticipate the fall and winter season in this destination hot spot will sell fast, so now is the time for our customers to book their upcoming getaways.

Canadians will be able to enjoy an intimate vacation experience at the resorts, many of which are being rebuilt or renovated to open as early as November 2022. The 11 resorts will be rebranded as Grand Memories Resorts & Spa, Memories Resorts & Spa, Starfish Resorts and Villa properties, meaning Sunwing customers will have even more opportunities to enjoy the best of Cayo Largo with the level of service these brands are known for. These resorts are available to book now for fall and winter 2022/2023 vacations starting from November 1, 2022 onward.

Situated on Cubas far south coast, nature lovers and travel enthusiasts will have plenty to keep them busy, exploring local aquatic life in some of the best diving conditions in the Caribbean with more than 30 dive sites and a protected marine reserve, plus over 200 ancient shipwrecks.

The island is also committed to sustainability and the integrity of the environment to ensure Cayo Largo will be as desirable as it is today for generations to come. This means electric vehicles only, a ban on plastic use and sustainable water developments in place.

With boutique all inclusive resorts or villas suited to every lifestyle, discerning travellers can find what they desire and an experience far from the ordinary, all within 15 minutes of Cayo Largo Airport.

The resorts will appeal to a variety of vacation styles and include:

Family-friendly resorts with amenities guest of all ages will love, including Grand Memories Cayo Largo, Memories Cayo Largo, Starfish Cayo Largo, Villa Coral, Villa Linda Mar, Villa Marina, Villa Serena and Villa Soledad

Adults only resorts for the ultimate friends and couples paradise, including Sanctuary at Grand Memories Cayo Largo and Villa Caprice

Plus, customers seeking a 2SLGBTQ+ friendly resort welcoming everyone under the sun will enjoy visiting the adults only Villa Natura

Sunwing customers can book Cayo Largo today for travel starting November 1, 2022 with five weekly direct flights from multiple gateways, and the potential to add more for the fall and winter season as customer demand evolves. The current flight schedule will be as follows:

Between Toronto and Cayo Largo, Fridays starting November 4, 2022

Between Montreal and Cayo Largo, Fridays starting November 4, 2022

Between Quebec City and Cayo Largo, Saturdays starting December 17, 2022

Between Ottawa and Cayo Largo, Saturdays starting December 17, 2022

Between Halifax and Cayo Largo, Tuesdays starting January 10, 2023

Plus, customers who book by July 28, 2022 can still take advantage of Sunwings early booking bonus, with reduced deposits and added perks. For even more peace of mind, customers can purchase one of the tour operators comprehensive travel coverage options ahead of their fall and winter travel.

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from airports across Canada to popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing customers benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. The company supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid.

For more information:

Melanie Anne Filipp Director, Corporate Communications & Media RelationsSunwing Travel Group1-800-387-5602 | [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7e84ecf9-2c61-44dd-a0e2-5a502483d720

Welcome to Cayo Largo, Cubas sunshine coast Canadians can enjoy the boutique vacation destination come fall

Source: Sunwing Vacations Inc.
DENVER, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa, the community management industrys largest company, recently named Georgie Zuppa, AMS, CMCA, PCAM, as regional sales director.

Mrs. Zuppa joined Associa in 2021 as a vice president of client success in Colorado, bringing with her more than 10 years of sales, management, and strategic partnership business development experience in the community management and commercial real estate industries. As the vice president of client success, she focused on client satisfaction and growth, company development, and sales activities. In her new role as a senior member of Associas sales leadership team, Mrs. Zuppa will be responsible for the development and performance of all sales activities in branches throughout the Western US, working toward maximum profitability and growth that aligns with Associas company vision and values.

Associa is fortunate to have a producer of Georgie Zuppas caliber on our leadership team, said Leslie Baldwin, AMS, CMCA, Associa vice president of sales. She is a highly motivated team leader who understands how to develop and implement initiatives that consistently drive employee engagement and improve performance while maximizing property values and revenue growth.

About Associa

With more than 225 branch offices across North America, Associa is building the future of community for nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 11,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise, and trailblazing innovation. For more than 43 years, Associa has brought positive impact and meaningful value to communities. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.

Stay Connected

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa

Subscribe to the Blog: https://hub.associaonline.com/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa

Join us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa

Attachment

Tom Womack Associa 214-272-4107 [email protected]

Source: Associa
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Icanic Brands Company Inc. (Icanic or the Company) (CSE: ICAN) announced today that the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the Court) has issued an interim order (the Interim Order) authorizing, among other things, the holding of a meeting (the Meeting) of holders (the Secured Debentureholders) of 9.00% secured convertible debentures (the 2019 Debentures), to consider and vote upon a plan of arrangement (the Plan of Arrangement) to implement the previously-announced recapitalization transaction (the Recapitalization Transaction). The 2019 Debentures have been issued pursuant to a convertible debenture indenture dated June 6, 2019 (the 2019 Debenture Indenture) between LEEF Holdings, Inc. (LEEF) and Odyssey Trust Company (Odyssey), as trustee and collateral agent, as amended by the first supplemental indenture between the Company, LEEF and Odyssey. The Plan of Arrangement is proposed to be effected through an arrangement (the Arrangement) under the British Columbia Business Corporations Act.

"We are pleased with the order issued by the Supreme Court of British Columbia on July 8th. This interim order allows us to proceed with the previously announced recapitalization plan that will provide liquidity to our previous debenture holders while providing the Company with the resources to continue to execute on our vision and goal of being a leader not only in the state of California but across North America. This Plan of Arrangement should go a long way towards ensuring the company has the right resources in place to grow both organically and through acquisition and execute on our model that we have laid out. While things like this are never easy, we are very excited about the future of the Company and the growth prospects ahead, and we want to thank all of our investors for their continued support," said Brandon Kou, CEO of Icanic.

The Recapitalization Transaction

As disclosed in the Companys news release dated June 8, 2022 (a copy of which is available under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com) (the June 8 News Release), the Recapitalization Transaction will be implemented pursuant to the Plan of Arrangement, or, only if necessary, the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

If the Recapitalization Transaction is completed through the Plan of Arrangement, each Secured Debentureholder will receive: (i) 25% of the principal and interest and interest outstanding on the 2019 Debentures on the effective date of the Plan of Arrangement (the Effective Date); and (ii) a new secured debenture (each, a New Secured Debenture) in the principal amount equal to 75% of the principal and interest outstanding on the Effective Date under the Secured Debentureholders 2019 Debenture. The New Secured Debentures will be issued pursuant to a debenture indenture (the New Debenture Indenture) to be entered into as of the Effective Date between Icanic and Odyssey as trustee and collateral agent. The New Secured Debentures will bear interest at 11% per annum and mature on that date (the New Maturity Date) that is 24 months following the Effective Date. Interest on the New Secured Debentures shall be payable in cash on the New Maturity Date. The New Secured Debentures shall be convertible into units of Icanic at a conversion price of $0.10 per unit (each, a Unit), with each Unit comprised of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and a Common Share purchase warrant exercisable at $0.15 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of conversion (a Warrant). The Warrants will be governed by a warrant indenture (the Warrant Indenture) to be entered into as of the Effective Date between Icanic and Odyssey, as warrant agent.

If the Recapitalization Transaction does not obtain the required support from the Secured Debentureholders, the Recapitalization Transaction will be implemented through proceedings under the CCAA.

The Meeting

The Meeting is scheduled to be held on August 8, 2022, at 10 a.m. (Vancouver time) at Suite 1500  1055, 1055 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 4N7.

Pursuant to the Interim Order, the record date for the right to receive notice of and to vote at the Meeting is the close of business (Vancouver time) on June 27, 2022 (the Record Date). The deadline for Secured Debentureholders to submit their respective proxies in order to vote on the Plan of Arrangement is 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time), on August 5, 2022.

Requisite Approval for the Plan of Arrangement

The required level of approval for the Plan of Arrangement at the Meeting will be a majority in number of the Secured Debentureholders voting in person or by proxy at the Meeting, representing not less than three-quarters (75%) in value of the 2019 Debentures. Each Secured Debentureholder will be entitled to one vote for each US$1,000 principal amount of 2019 Debentures held.

Pursuant to the terms of a restructuring support agreement dated July 6, 2022 (the Restructuring Support Agreement), among the Company, its subsidiaries and certain of the Secured Debentureholders (the Consenting Debentureholders), Consenting Debentureholders who hold 2019 Debentures representing approximately 77.34% of the value of the 2019 Debentures have agreed to vote in favour of the Arrangement at the Meeting. For additional details on the Restructuring Support Agreement, see the June 8 News Release.

Information Circular

The Circular contains information regarding procedures for voting on the Plan of Arrangement, as well as other background and material information regarding the Recapitalization Transaction. The Company expects the mailing of the Circular to begin on or about July 11, 2022. The Circular and the forms of proxies will also be available under Icanics SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Court Approval and Implementation

If the Plan of Arrangement is approved by the requisite threshold at the Meeting, the Company will attend a hearing before the Court currently scheduled for August 15, 2022, or such other date as may be set by the Court to seek final Court approval for the Plan of Arrangement (the Final Order).

MI 61-101

Since certain related parties of the Company hold 2019 Debentures and, under the Plan of Arrangement, will be issued New Secured Debentures, the Arrangement will be considered a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101). The Company is relying on section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 (Issuer Not Listed on Specified Markets) from the requirement to obtain a formal valuation as the Companys Common Shares are listed for trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company is relying on the financial hardship exemption from the requirement to obtain minority approval, pursuant to section 5.7(e) of MI 61-101 based on the following: (i) the Company is in serious financial difficulty; (ii) the Arrangement is designed to improve the financial position of the Company; (iii) the Company has one or more independent directors (as defined in MI 61-101) in respect of the Arrangement; (iv) paragraph (f) of section 5.5 of MI 61-101 is not applicable; (v) the board of directors of the Company, and at least two thirds of such independent directors, acting in good faith, have determined that items (i) and (ii) above apply and that the terms of the Arrangement are reasonable in the circumstances of the Company; and (vi) there is no other requirement, corporate or otherwise, to hold a meeting to obtain any approval of the holders of any class of affected securities.

About Icanic

Icanic Brands Company Inc. is a cannabis branded products manufacturer based in California, the largest and most competitive cannabis market in the world. The companys mission is to make cannabis safe and approachable - that starts with manufacturing high-quality products delivering consistent experiences.

For more information please visit the companys website at: www.icaninc.com or [email protected].

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including concerning COVID-19 and the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in Icanics periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as will, hope, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should, our vision and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements relating to: the implementation and completion of the Recapitalization Transaction and the Arrangement, potential implementation of the Recapitalization Transaction pursuant to the CCAA, the Company entering into the Debenture Indenture and the Warrant Indenture and the issuance of securities thereunder, the mailing date for the materials for the Meeting, approval of the Plan of Arrangement by Secured Debentureholders, the Company obtaining the Final Order, the provision of liquidity to Secured Debentureholders, the Recapitalization Transaction providing Icanic with the resources needed to execute its vision, the impact of the Arrangement on the future growth of Icanic, future acquisitions by Icanic and the execution of Icanics business model.

Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. Icanic disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and Icanic does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including but not limited to the ability of the Company to execute its business plan, the continued growth of the medical and/or recreational cannabis markets in the countries in which the Company operates or intends to operate, that the Company can obtain requisite approval from Secured Debentureholders of the Plan of Arrangement at the Meeting and can obtain the Final Order from the Court. The Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances. However, forward-looking statements are subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Such risks include, without limitation: the requisite approval of the Secured Debentureholders for the Plan of Arrangement may not be obtained at the Meeting and the Recapitalization Transaction will be required to be proceed pursuant to the terms of CCAA, the Court may not provide the Final Order, risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic or other disease outbreaks including a resurgence in the cases of COVID-19; engaging in activities, considered illegal under United States federal law, the ability of the Company to comply with applicable government regulations in a highly regulated industry; unexpected changes in governmental policies and regulations affecting the production, distribution, manufacture or use of cannabis in the United States, or any other foreign jurisdictions in which the Company intends to operate, unexpected changes in governmental policies and regulations affecting the production, distribution, manufacture or use of adult-use recreational cannabis in the United States or Canada, any change in accounting practices or treatment affecting the consolidation of financial results, the Companys reliance on management; inconsistent public opinion and perception regarding the use of cannabis, perceived effects of medical cannabis products, adverse market conditions; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; costs of inputs, crop failures, litigation; currency fluctuations, competition; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, industry consolidation, loss of key management and/or employees, and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. For more information on the Company and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

The New Secured Debentures to be issued pursuant to the Recapitalization Transaction, the Units issuable upon their conversion, the Common Shares and the Warrants comprising the Units, and the Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any U.S. person or any person in the United States, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available. In particular, the conversion rights attaching to the New Secured Debentures, and any Warrants issued upon such conversion, may not be exercised within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any U.S. person or any person in the United States, absent an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The Company intends to rely on the exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act provided by section 3(a)(10) thereof (which is conditioned on, among other things, receipt of the Final Order), and on available exemptions from applicable state registration or qualification requirements, to issue the New Secured Debentures in partial exchange for the 2019 Debentures. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. United States and U.S. person are as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.

Source: Icanic Brands Company Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Newcore Gold Ltd. ("Newcore" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NCAU, OTCQX: NCAUF) is pleased to report the voting results from its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on July 13, 2022. Shareholders voted in favour of all resolutions set out in the Companys Notice of Meeting and Information Circular, dated June 14, 2022.

Shareholders voted in favour of setting the number of directors at nine and the following incumbent directors were re-elected as directors for the ensuing year: Douglas B. Forster, Blayne Johnson, Luke Alexander, Omaya Elguindi, Edward Farrauto, Douglas Hurst, Ryan King, George Salamis, and Michael Vint. The shareholders also approved the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditors of the Company for the ensuing year at a remuneration to be fixed by the directors. A total of 48,571,595 common shares were voted, representing 40% of the Companys total shares issued and outstanding as at the record date of the meeting.

About Newcore Gold Ltd.

Newcore Gold is advancing its Enchi Gold Project located in Ghana, Africas largest gold producer (1). Newcore Gold offers investors a unique combination of top-tier leadership, who are aligned with shareholders through their 24% equity ownership, and prime district scale exploration opportunities. Enchis 216 km2 land package covers 40 kilometres of Ghanas prolific Bibiani Shear Zone, a gold belt which hosts several 5 million-ounce gold deposits, including Kinross Chirano mine 50 kilometers to the north. Newcores vision is to build a responsive, creative and powerful gold enterprise that maximizes returns for shareholders.

(1) Source: Production volumes for 2020 as sourced from the World Gold Council

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Newcore Gold Ltd.

Luke AlexanderPresident, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Mal Karwowska | Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations+1 604 484 4399[email protected] www.newcoregold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Source: Newcore Gold Ltd.
NEW YORK and ATLANTA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One Equity Partners (OEP) and Cox Media Group (CMG) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for OEP to purchase CoxReps and Gamut.

OEP is a middle-market private equity firm with approximately $10 billion in assets under management, focused on building market-leading companies through transformative combinations within the industrial, healthcare, technology, and media sectors in North America and Europe. CMG is an industry-leading media company with unparalleled TV and radio brands, award-winning content, and exceptional people.

Andrew Dunn, Managing Director of OEP, said, OEP is thrilled to begin its investment partnership with these two superb teams leading two companies at the forefront of the television advertising and digital streaming industries. While both CoxReps and Gamut are leaders in their respective markets, and will continue to operate as sibling companies, we expect to foster even greater collaboration between them, increasing the flow of advertising dollars into local video. We will assist these efforts with increasing investment in technology and by capitalizing on OEPs own deep expertise in the media industry.

CoxReps is the country's premier national television representation company, delivering local, smart media solutions on a national scale on behalf of the most respected broadcast groups in the United States. Gamut, the award-winning leader in local OTT media, helps brands connect with relevant streaming audiences in every DMA. CMG will continue its long-standing and valued commercial relationships with each business after the transaction closes. CoxReps will continue to represent CMG in national advertising, and CMG will maintain its business relationship with Gamut.

"This comes at the right time strategically for CMG and both CoxReps and Gamut. The transaction maximizes the value of all three businesses and increases the long-term growth potential for CoxReps and Gamut  and their talented teams  under OEPs ownership, said Steve Pruett, Executive Chairman for CMG. The sale will allow CMG to increase its focus on our core businesses. At the same time, both CoxReps and Gamut are poised to thrive in ways that will be reinforced and accelerated with OEP.

The transaction is expected to close within approximately 30 days.

About One Equity PartnersOne Equity Partners (OEP) is a middle-market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, technology, and media sectors in North America and Europe. The firm seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, a broad and senior team, and an established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.

About Cox Media GroupCMG Media Corporation (d/b/a Cox Media Group) is an industry-leading media company with unparalleled brands, award-winning content, and exceptional people. CMG provides valuable local content to viewers in the communities in which it serves. The company's operations primarily include 35 high-quality, market-leading television stations in 21 markets, 53 top-performing radio stations delivering multiple genres of content in 11 markets, and numerous streaming ana digital platforms. CMG's portfolio includes primary affiliates of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo and MyNetworkTV, as well as several valuable news and independent stations. For more information about CMG, visit www.coxmediagroup.com.

About CoxReps CoxReps is the country's premier national television representation company, delivering local, smart media solutions on a national scale on behalf of the most respected broadcast groups in the United States. The company is driven by a highly talented workforce with experience and expertise in innovative research and targeted advertising solutions, and a deep understanding of the media landscape. This approach allows CoxReps to identify and fulfill opportunities for customers at local and national scale.

About GamutGamut is the leader in local OTT, helps brands connect with relevant streaming audiences in every DMA. Leveraging our direct access to brand-safe, premium OTT inventory and advanced advertising tools, advertisers deploy highly engaging, personalized ads to intended, local audiences on a national scale. With more than 20 years of digital media experience in this evolving video landscape, Gamut is committed to delivering the highest-level of service and expertise to ensure maximum results for our clients and partners.

AdvisorsOne Equity Partners was represented by Latham & Watkins.

Progress Partners served as financial advisor to Cox Media Group and Terrier Gamut Holdings, and the companies were represented on the transaction by Perkins Coie LLP and Fenwick & West, with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP serving as special regulatory counsel.

Media Inquiries: One Equity Partners Cox Media Group Tom Faust [email protected] [email protected]

Source: Cox Media Group LLC
HAMILTON, Ontario, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (TSXV:RHT or OTC:RQHTF or WKN:A2AJTB) (Reliq or the Company), a rapidly growing global healthcare technology company that develops innovative Virtual Care solutions for the multi-billion dollar Healthcare market, today announced that it has signed a new sales partnership to access over 500 physicians and more than 100,000 eligible patients in the US Mountain and Pacific regions. The Company is also pleased to announce that it has signed new contracts with two physician practices and a Rural Health Clinic (RHC) to add over 4,000 new patients in 2022.

We are pleased to be adding two new physician practices and a Rural Health Clinic as clients, said Dr. Lisa Crossley, CEO at Reliq Health Technologies, Inc. These three clients are expected to add over 4,000 patients to our platform in 2022, at an average revenue of $50 per patient per month at 75% gross margin. We are also very excited to have signed an agreement with a new sales partner who will give us access to over 500 physicians and more than 100,000 patients with eligible chronic conditions. This partnership is expected to greatly expand Reliqs client base in the US Mountain and Pacific states. The Company expects to add more than 20,000 patients to the platform over the next 12 months through this partnership, at an average revenue of $50 per patient per month (at 75% gross margin). We have already begun onboarding patients for the first client acquired through this partnership. As previously disclosed, the Company expects the second half of 2022 to be a period of rapidly accelerating growth. Reliq remains on track to have over 100,000 patients on our iUGO Care platform by December 31, 2022.

Reliq HealthReliq Health Technologies is a rapidly growing global healthcare technology company that specializes in developing innovative Virtual Care solutions for the multi-billion dollar Healthcare market. Reliqs powerful iUGO Care platform supports care coordination and community-based virtual healthcare. iUGO Care allows complex patients to receive high quality care at home, improving health outcomes, enhancing quality of life for patients and families and reducing the cost of care delivery. iUGO Care provides real-time access to remote patient monitoring data, allowing for timely interventions by the care team to prevent costly hospital readmissions and ER visits. Reliq Health Technologies trades on the TSX Venture under the symbol RHT, on the OTC as RQHTF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the WKN: A2AJTB.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDDr. Lisa CrossleyCEO and Director

For further information please contact:

Company ContactInvestor Relations at [email protected]

US Investor Relations ContactInvestor RelationsLytham Partners, LLCBen ShamsianNew York | Phoenix646-829-9701[email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking InformationCertain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements".

We caution you that such "forward-looking statements" involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to commercial operations, including technology development, anticipated revenues, projected size of market, and other information that is based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management.

Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (the "Company") does not intend and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, technology development and marketing activities, the Company's historical experience with technology development, uninsured risks. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Reliq Health Technologies Inc.

Source: Reliq Health Technologies Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rubicon Organics Inc. (TSXV: ROMJ) (OTCQX: ROMJF) (Rubicon or the Company) announces that in accordance with the Companys Equity Incentive Plan (the Plan), it has granted 734,600 incentive stock options and is proposing amendments the terms of 765,000 incentive stock options (the Proposed Amended Options).



Incentive Stock Option Grant

The Company has granted incentive stock options (Options) to directors and officers of Rubicon to acquire an aggregate of 734,600 common shares at $0.86 per share, for a period of 5 years. The Options have been issued in lieu of cash compensation to directors and officers of Rubicon where their cash compensation has been partially or fully reduced in order to reduce cash spend in Rubicon in fiscal 2022. The Options vest over the remainder of 2022 and have been granted in accordance with the Plan.

Incentive Stock Option Proposed Amendments

On July 13, 2022, the directors of the Company also approved proposed amendments to the exercise price, vesting terms, and expiry date of 765,000 incentive stock options (the Proposed Amendments) in accordance with the Plan. The Proposed Amended Options were initially awarded to directors and officers of the Company on July 31, 2018 at an exercise price of C$3.25 per unit expiring on July 31, 2023. The Proposed Amended Options were fully vested prior to the Proposed Amendments. The Proposed Amendments would change the exercise price to $0.86 per unit, would vest 1/3 on December 31, 2022, 1/3 on June 30, 2023, 1/3 on December 31, 2023, and expire on December 31, 2025.

The Proposed Amendments remain subject to approval from disinterested shareholders of the Company at the upcoming annual general and special meeting and acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Proposed Amendment applies to directors and officers of the Company holding stock options and is on consistent terms with the stock option re-pricing for employees of the Company announced on May 26, 2022. This Proposed Amendment is to recognize directors and officers significant contributions to Rubicon.

ABOUT RUBICON ORGANICS INC.

Rubicon Organics Inc. is becoming the global brand leader in organic cannabis products. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Rubicon Holdings Corp, a licensed producer, the Company cultivates, processes and sells organic certified, sustainably produced, super-premium cannabis products from its state-of-the-art hybrid greenhouse located in Delta, BC, Canada. Rubicon Organics is focused on achieving industry leading profitability through a focus on innovation and the development of brands and cannabis 2.0 products, including its flagship super-premium brand Simply Bare Organic, its super-premium concentrate brand LAB THEORY, its premium flower and hash brand 1964 Supply Co and mainstream brand Homestead Cannabis Supply.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Margaret Brodie

Chief Financial Officer

Phone: +1 (437) 929-1964

Email: [email protected]

The TSX Venture Exchange, its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, and statements such as the Companys expectation that it will achieving industry leading profitability are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as will or variations of such words or statements that certain actions, events or results will be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. The forward-looking information in this press release is based upon certain assumptions that management considers reasonable in the circumstances, including that its capital needs will be as currently projected. Risks and uncertainties associated with forward looking information in this press release include, among others, information or statements concerning the Companys expectations of financial resources available to fund operations; Rubicon Organics' limited operating history and lack of historical profits; obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; that regulatory requirements will be maintained; general business and economic conditions; the Companys ability to successfully execute its plans and intentions; the Companys ability to obtain financing at reasonable terms through the sale of equity and/or debt commitments; the Companys ability to attract and retain skilled staff; market competition; the products and technology offered by the Companys competitors; that our current relationships with our suppliers, service providers and other third parties will be maintained; and the impact of the current global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although Rubicon Organics has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Rubicon Organics assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.
SALT LAKE CITY, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With a vision of rapidly scaling and delivering accessible communication services to Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and diverse communities worldwide, Sorenson today announced a new relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The collaboration will support Sorensons digital transformation from on-premises data centers to AWS. The virtual, automated infrastructure will increase Sorensons operational efficiency and enable the leading provider of communication solutions for the Deaf to deliver critical services to new countries and in new languages.

Collaboration with AWS, our main provider for cloud-based services, delivers the agility and scalability to empower our expansion and enhances our capacity to innovate for future customer needs, notes Chief Technology Officer Rick Kreifeldt.

Moving to the cloud will result in improved, ease-of-use services for our customers, which is our priority, Kreifeldt says, adding Sorenson is now leveraging the cloud services to provide sign language interpreting for international customers that are being served from the companys U.K. office.

Additional work between AWS and Sorenson includes interpretive services for AWS events provided by Sorenson, including re:Invent, AWSs flagship conference. This important work ensures the Deaf community is able to join technical conversations and lead digital transformations, and ensures AWS events are inclusive to all. As part of Sorensons own digital transformation, AWS will power next generation services and enhance the firms technology platforms to enable new and innovative solutions, while helping to drive functional equivalency to better serve the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

Earlier this year, Sorenson announced The Corporate Consortium Paid Partnership, in collaboration with Amazon, to support the development of sign language interpreters. This pilot is designed to support the development of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters by working together to provide paid practicum and mentoring experience to current students and new graduates of ASL interpretation programs.

Were thrilled to work with Sorenson to create accessibility for the Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and diverse communities worldwide, said Rich Geraffo, Vice President of North America at AWS. At AWS, we believe that technology should be built in a way thats inclusive, diverse, and accessible. Im proud to be working alongside the Sorenson team to innovate new solutions and create meaningful experiences to help this community.

Communication inclusion for everyone in every setting  work, school, medical offices, and beyond, is a basic human right, notes Jorge Rodriguez, CEO of Sorenson. We are thrilled to team with Amazon in these endeavors as we continue to advance human connection for all people  universally  through the power of language and conversation.

View this new announcement in ASL.

View this new announcement in Spanish.

About Sorenson Sorenson taps the power of language for human relationships to thrive. As one of the worlds leading language services providers and the worlds leading provider of accessible communication for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, Sorenson combines patented technology with human-centric services to connect signed and spoken languages. Sorenson offers caption and video relay services, over-video and in-person sign language and spoken language interpreting, real-time event captioning services, and post-production language services. For more information on how we advance human connection, visit www.sorenson.com or es.sorenson.com.

Press Contact Ann Bardsley Director of Public Relations Sorenson 801-287-9400 [email protected]

Source: Sorenson
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fremont Emergency Services, one of Nevadas largest emergency medicine groups, serving over 300,000 patients annually, filed suit today against UnitedHealthcare in U.S. federal court in Las Vegas. Fremont seeks a permanent injunction against United's downcoding policy, which arbitrarily reduces payments to clinicians who have provided life-saving emergency care to patients United insures. The suit will shed light on Uniteds egregious nationwide scheme, which has unlawfully shifted billions of dollars of costs onto patients, hospitals, taxpayers, and front-line clinicians.

"Despite having faced sanction, jury awards, and settlement payments of some half a billion dollars, United persists in exploiting vulnerable patients and refusing to adequately pay providers," said Dr. Scott Scherr, medical director at Fremont. "This filing would never happen were it not for United's ongoing, extensive wrongdoing that puts their billions in profits ahead of patients well-being and the needs of the U.S. healthcare system."

Today's suit relates to critical emergency care given to a baby with a severe head injury, a boy with a ruptured appendix, and a veteran with heart failure, all of whom were treated by Fremont physicians. United initially denied each of these claims and later significantly underpaid them, having unilaterally determined that each patients condition was not serious. Fremont alleges that United's conduct violates federal ERISA law and the No Surprises Act.

Our coding of high acuity claims as a percentage of all claims is less than the national averages published by CMS and the Nevada averages published by CMS. Based on our experience under Uniteds Prepayment Review Program, United must believe that Nevadans who visit our emergency departments experience high acuity illness at a rate that is half the national average. That is simply absurd. In light of the facts here, we ask the court to ban United from employing its downcoding policy that allows the companys nefarious conduct to victimize United's members, their employers, and clinicians who deliver life-saving care, Dr. Scherr continued.

In December 2021, a Clark County, Nevada, jury awarded TeamHealth $60 million in punitive damages from United. The jury found, by clear and convincing evidence, that United had underpaid thousands of claims for the emergency treatment provided by Fremont and was "guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice." This finding appears to have had no deterrent effect on United or its policies.

About TeamHealth

At TeamHealth, our purpose is to perfect the practice of medicine, every day, in everything we do. We are proud to be the leading physician practice in the U.S., driven by our commitment to quality and safety and supported by our world-class operating team. To improve the experience of our physicians and advanced practice clinicians, we empower clinicians to act on what they believe is right, free clinicians from distractions so they can focus on patient care, invest in learning and development to promote growth in the clinical field and foster an environment where continuous improvement is a shared priority. Through our more than 15,000 affiliated healthcare professionals and advanced practice clinicians, TeamHealth offers emergency medicine, hospital medicine, critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, obstetrics, ambulatory care, post-acute care, medical call center, and virtual care solutions to approximately 2,900 acute and post-acute facilities and physician groups nationwide. Join our team; we value and empower clinicians. Partner with us; we deliver on our promises. Learn more at www.teamhealth.com.

The term "TeamHealth" as used throughout this release includes Team Health Holdings, Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, affiliated medical groups and providers, all of which are part of the TeamHealth organization. "Providers" are physicians, advanced practice clinicians, and other healthcare providers who are employed by or contract with subsidiaries or affiliated entities of Team Health Holdings, Inc. All such providers exercise independent clinical judgment when providing patient care. Team Health Holdings, Inc., does not have any employees, does not contract with providers, and does not practice medicine.

The collective term "United" as used throughout this release references Defendants, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company ("UHIC"), and United HealthCare Services, Inc. ("UHS"). United is the largest health insurer in the U.S., administering care for 26.6 million people across all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories.

Plaintiff Fremont is a Nevada professional corporation whose medical professionals staff emergency departments throughout Nevada. These clinicians are on the front lines of responding to and resolving life- and health-threatening medical emergencies in Nevada. For the calendar year 2021, Fremont treated roughly 12,500 patients per month in the Clark County emergency departments in which they practice.

The case is Fremont Emergency Services (Scherr), Ltd. v. UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company and United Healthcare Services, Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (filed July 12, 2022).

###

Josh Hopson TeamHealth 865.328.7689 [email protected]

Source: TeamHealth
UNCEDED TERRITORIES OF MUSQUEAM, SQUAMISH, AND TSLEIL-WAUTUTH NATIONS/VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Today Vancouver Foundation, United Way British Columbia, and New Relationship Trust have launched the Recovery and Resiliency Fund  a new granting initiative that will inject a vital $34 million into the charitable and non-profit sector as it recovers from the pandemic and builds its capacity for long-term resiliency.

The Fund will provide three-year flexible grants of $50,000 and $72,000 to support organizations that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes smaller organizations with annual budgets of less than $1 million, organizations in rural and remote communities, and organizations led by equity-denied communities.

We know that investing in the non-profit sector will lead to thriving communities, said Niki Sharma, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits. Non-profit organizations throughout the province will be able to apply for multi-year funding to make their organizations more resilient.

This new money for the sector is also bringing a new opportunity to do things differently, says Kevin McCort, president and CEO of Vancouver Foundation. Weve come together with some of BCs biggest funders with a shared desire to explore and test different ways of innovating grantmaking. In doing so, our goal is to meaningfully shift and share power with the communities we serve.

Some of the ways in which the Fund is disrupting traditional grantmaking are:

Organizations without charitable status are eligible to apply for a grant as long as their purpose is to benefit the community-at-large.

By providing multi-year, flexible grants, the Fund is challenging the idea that the sector can and should do a lot with little and instead, is providing stability and shifting decision-making power to the grantee to use the funding as they see fit.

Grants will be awarded by randomly selecting from a pool of eligible applications, removing competition between applicants based on merit, minimizing adjudication bias, and focusing awarding grants based on eligibility.

United Way British Columbia is proud to partner with the Government of BC, New Relationship Trust and Vancouver Foundation on the Recovery and Resiliency Fund in supporting the charitable and non-profit sector in B.C. to continue to strengthen vital connections as it recovers from the pandemic and builds its capacity for long-term resiliency, says Michael McKnight, President & CEO, United Way British Columbia. We are also proud to be at the forefront with our funding partners in disrupting traditional grantmaking, and creating more innovative and accessible pathways in the sector.

$5 million of the Fund has been earmarked for New Relationship Trust to grant directly to Indigenous-led organizations with more than $1 million in annual revenues. Indigenous-led applicants with annual budgets of less than $1 million can apply through Vancouver Foundation and United Way BC and will be assessed and supported by Vancouver Foundations Indigenous Priorities team (which is Indigenous-led).

We are excited to collaborate with, and stand beside the Province of BC, Vancouver Foundation, and United Way British Columbia in delivering an initiative that advances reconciliation beyond the crossroads of just talk, says Walter Schneider, CEO for New Relationship Trust. A key commitment of reconciliation is the foundational understanding, knowledge, and willingness to meet Indigenous organizations where they are at on their own journey towards recovery and resiliency within their own contexts. We believe this initiative is at the vanguard of that commitment.

Applications are now open at Vancouver Foundation and United Way BC until September 30, 2022. To learn more and apply now, visit: https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/grants/recovery-and-resiliency-fund

Applications are now open for the Indigenous Resiliency and Recovery Grants at New Relationship Trust until September 30, 2022. To learn more and apply now, visit: https://www.newrelationshiptrust.ca/initiatives/indigenous-resilience-and-recovery-grant-initiative-guidelines-and-application/

 30 

About Vancouver FoundationVancouver Foundation is dedicated to creating healthy, vibrant and livable communities across BC. Since 1943, our donors have created 1,800 endowment funds and together we have distributed more than $1 billion to charities. From arts and culture to the environment, health and social development, education, medical research and more, we exist to make meaningful and lasting improvements to communities in BC. Visit: www.vancouverfoundation.ca

About United Way British Columbia  working with communities in BCs Interior, Lower Mainland and Central & Northern Vancouver IslandUnited Way supports healthy, caring and inclusive communities by strengthening vital connections that support people in need. Representing the six regions of Central and Northern Vancouver Island, East Kootenay, Lower Mainland, Southern Interior, Thompson Nicola Cariboo, and Trail and District, our organization serves a population of more than 4 million people, with a focus on kids and youth, seniors, poverty, mental health and food security. www.uwbc.ca

About New Relationship TrustIn 2006, NRT was created by the BC Government and First Nations leadership and launched as a $100 million fund. NRT is mandated to support BC First Nation communities to build capacity in order to become healthy, prosperous and self-sufficient. To date, 98% of the 203 First Nations in BC have accessed NRT funding. Visit: www.newrelationshiptrust.ca

Media Contacts: Vancouver Foundation Glenn Ewald [email protected] 604-629-2728 United Way BC Pinder Rehal [email protected] 604-969-8637 / 647-542-8545 New Relationship Trust Jessie Williams [email protected]

Source: Vancouver Foundation
GEORGETOWN, Ontario, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vision Food Innovations (the Company) is pleased to announce their Upcycled Pant-Based Muffins are now available in Sobeys stores across Ontario. The Companys hero brand Natures Flairs core products, plant-based cupcakes and muffins, are currently available in major retailers across Canada.

Sobeys has more than 111 years of experience in the food retail business. As one of only two national grocery retailers in Canada, Sobeys serves the food shopping needs of Canadians with approximately 1,500 stores in all ten provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drugs, as well as more than 350 retail fuel locations.

Vineet Jain, CEO of Vision Food Innovations, said, Were very pleased to further extend our distribution into such a well-known and established retailer as Sobeys. It builds on our existing network of retailers committed to plant-based bakery goods that use food tech to enrich the products to taste delicious and be Better for You.

Vision Food Innovations Vision Food Innovations Inc. (Vision) is a Canadian industrial plant-based bakery committed to innovation and sustainability while providing the market with plant-based products that are easy, affordable, and nutritioustaking plant-based products mainstream. They have seen exponential growth since launching in March 2021 and are already in commercial production and available for purchase in retailers across Ontario.

Website: https://naturesflairfoods.com/ IG: @visionbakeries @natures.flair FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vision-Bakeries Twitter: @VisionFoodinnoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vision-bakeries-limited/

For more information or questions, please contact Victoria Bennett of Bennett Milner Williams Consulting Ltd [email protected]

Source: Vision Food Innovations Inc.
Los Angeles, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ranker, the leader in fan-powered rankings whose brand encompasses Ranker.com, Watchworthy, Weird History, Nerdstalgic and more, continues to expand its impressive YouTube presence with the addition of Weird History Food to its highly viewed portfolio of properties. Evolving from the successful format of Weird History, Weird History Food revolves around the stories and history of food, focusing on products, famous foodies, the business of food and foods role in pop culture.

Weird History Food takes viewers on a uniquely entertaining, informative and nostalgic journey, exploring foods that have had an impact on generations. The channel tells fascinating stories in a way only the Weird History franchise can. The power of the Weird History brand, coupled with relatable, entertaining content, has led Rankers newest YouTube channel to collect over 2 million views during its soft launch.

To date, Weird History Food has produced videos showing the creativity and diversity the channel brings. Starting with The Dark and Seedy Origins of Wonder Bread, the soft launch of Weird History Food has also included videos discussing What Ever Happened to Zima?, Who Was the Real Colonel Sanders?, Chuck E. Cheese's Origin Story Is Sadder Than You Remember and How the California Raisins Got Huge in the 80s.

Weird History Food joins the growing Ranker Video Network, which has become a destination on YouTube with over 5.5 million subscribers and 750 million views across the platform. Ranker now runs five distinct, popular channels that encompass the diverse nature of the Ranker brand. Weird History on its own currently has over 3.8 million subscribers, who have accounted for 470 million views and over 54 million hours of watch time.

Ranker was made to give people an outlet to express their passions through the ability to vote on almost any topic, said Clark Benson, CEO and founder of Ranker. Our video team and the network they created have done a remarkable job of spinning that vision into content where the unexpected is not only brought to life, but its also really damn entertaining.

Weird History has been both a viewership and critical success. The channel is everything you didnt learn in history class, touching on the unexpected, the untold and the flat-out weird parts of history. Viewers come to the channel to understand that as weird as people seem today, we don't hold a candle to history. The channel currently has over 3.8 million subscribers, who have accounted for 470 million views and over 54 million hours of watch time.

The Ranker channel explores the extensive library of Ranker content and brings it to life in a whole new form. Using Rankers extensive well of lists containing over 1.2 billion votes, the channels flagship series ReRank brings in celebrities and experts from various fields to reorder our lists from their perspectives. Call Me Kat (FOX), Young Rock (NBC), The Wilds (Prime Video), The Bachelor and The Bachelorette (ABC), Panic (Prime Video), Keenan (NBC), Resort to Love (Netflix), La Brea (NBC), Among the Stars (Disney+) and more have all done videos with the channel. Additionally, the channel produces Rank vs. Rank, which features influencers Jack OShea and Mikaela Pascal putting their own twist on popular pop culture arguments.

Nerdstalgic provides content revolving around everything nerd. From film to television to comic books and more, the channel takes deep dives into topics passionate fans care about. Nerdstalgic currently has over 1.1 million subscribers and is nearing 200 million lifetime video views.

Nerdstalgic Gaming is the newest offshoot of Nerdstalgics success. This channel takes the successful in-depth approach of Nerdstalgic and applies it to all things gaming. The channel tackles everything from Minecraft to Grand Theft Auto. Over 650,000 subscribers currently tune into Nerdstalgic Gaming, which boasts over 60 million views.

The Ranker Video Network is spearheaded by Rich Kuras and Kyle Segal. The co-heads of video bring years of expertise to the growing network. Rich Kuras oversees Weird History (which he took from 10,000 to 3.8 million subscribers), Weird History Food and Rankworthy for Snapchat. Kyle Segal oversees the Nerdstalgic and Ranker channels while also heading up branded sales initiatives.

Ranker is the leader in fan-powered rankings on just about everything. Whatever the topic - TV, movies, video games, sports, brands, food - Ranker puts the vote into the hands of millions rather than a few critics to answer the questions we are most passionate about. Over 1.2 billion votes now power Ranker Insights, a treasure trove of psychographic correlation data that delivers personalized consumer recommendations and audience insights.

Attachment

Drew Shane Ranker [email protected]

Source: Ranker
Adults aged 21 and older in Nevada may soon be able to use cannabis products publicly in cannabis consumption lounges by the end of the year after the Cannabis Compliance Board approved regulations for the consumption sites.

Although Nevada launched the recreational cannabis market back in 2017, the state only allows adults to consume the substance in

Read More>>

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Infosys (NYSE: INFY) announced a definitive agreement to acquire BASE life science, a leading technology and consulting firm in the life sciences industry, in Europe. The acquisition reaffirms our commitment to help global life sciences companies realize business value from cloud-first digital platforms and data, to speed-up clinical trials and scale drug development, positively impacting lives and achieving better health outcomes.

BASE brings to Infosys, domain experts with commercial, medical, digital marketing, clinical, regulatory, and quality knowhow. Backed by a team of data science specialists, BASE is at the frontier of the latest technological developments and trends. It has a strong focus on Data & AI, and the ability to bridge and integrate business logic and technology, driving insights for better health outcomes.

Headquartered in Denmark, BASE is one of the fastest growing technology and consulting partners in the life sciences industry. The company has about 200 of the finest, multidisciplinary industry experts across Denmark, Switzerland, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and a nearshore technology hub in Spain. Together with Infosys, BASE will further expand its portfolio of expertise into Consumer Health, Animal Health, MedTech and Genomics segments. BASE collaborates with leading software technology providers in the life sciences industry such as Veeva, IQVIA and Salesforce.

Ravi Kumar S, President, Infosys, said, "This acquisition augments Infosys' deep life sciences expertise, and expands our footprint further in the Nordics region and across Europe, and scales our digital transformation capabilities with cloud-based industry solutions. We are excited to welcome BASE life science and its leadership team into the Infosys family."

"Over the last five years, BASE life science has delivered tremendous growth, and created a stellar life sciences consulting firm in Europe. With Infosys as our catalyst, we will be able to accelerate our expansion internationally and create development opportunities for our people. Infosys is a solid, global technology leader, that is a perfect match for ensuring continuous success of BASE while sharing our common purpose and values.", said Martin Woergaard, CEO, BASE life science.

The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 12, 2022) - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") announces that it has awarded incentive stock options pursuant to its stock option plan, to various directors, officers, and consultants of the Company, to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,110,000 common shares of the Company. The stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.57 per share and will expire five years from the date of grant.

About Getchell Gold Corp.

The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and two earlier stage exploration projects, Star (Cu-Au-Ag) and Hot Springs Peak (Au). Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties, Churchill County, Nevada.

The Company reiterates that its near-term strategy to advance its assets is not impacted by the COVID-19 Corona virus. The Company continues to monitor the situation and is in compliance with all government guidelines.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company at [email protected].

Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO

Getchell Gold Corp.

1-647-249-4798

[email protected]

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130716
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Northern Superior Resources Inc. (TSXV: SUP) (OTCQB: NSUPF) ("Northern Superior" or the "Company")and Genesis Metals Corp. (TSXV: GIS) ("Genesis") are pleased to announce the successful completion of the previously announced acquisition by Northern Superior of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Genesis (the "Genesis Shares") pursuant to a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the "Transaction").

The Transaction has established Northern Superior as a premier gold exploration company with six early-to-advanced staged gold exploration projects across major gold camps in Qubec and Ontario and creates significant synergies and scale in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp. The combined company is expected to benefit from the following:

NI 43-101 compliant mineral resources: a) 643,000 oz gold in the inferred category at Croteau Est* (Northern Superior); and b) 652,000 oz gold in the inferred category and 260,000 oz gold in the indicated category at Chevrier**(Genesis);

Material synergies from consolidating exploration activities at its Croteau Est and Chevrier gold projects, which are located only 25 km apart and are both near key infrastructure including highways, low-cost grid power, skilled labour, rail line and a regional airport;

Exposure to the large and expanding Falcon gold discovery at the Lac Surprise property, which has been defined over 900m of strike length and 380m of vertical continuity with all 31 holes drilled to date intersecting gold mineralization, and is located just 27 km south of the Chevrier gold project;

The largest property holdings, gold resources and market capitalization of all gold exploration companies that are active in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp, a mining-friendly region that has produced over 6.7 million ounces of gold and is host to several major deposits including IAMGOLD Corporation and Vanstar Mining Resource's Nelligan deposit (hosts an NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.1 million ounces of gold at 1.02 g/t gold***); and

A strong balance sheet with approximately $12MM cash at year end 2021, improved trading liquidity and larger capital markets profile that is now better positioned to attract a broader base of institutional and retail investors.

Thomas Morris, President, CEO and Director of Northern Superior, stated: "Northern Superior is pleased to complete the acquisition of Genesis which creates the dominant exploration company in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp with the largest land position of over 56,000 Ha, with NI 43-101 compliant gold resources inferred (Croteau Est and Chevrier) and indicated (Chevrier) and three distinct discoveries and large scale properties (Lac Surprise (Falcon Gold Zone) Croteau-Est and Chevrier), each within 50 km of each other that all have significant exploration upside and will be aggressively drilled and explored over the next 12 months.

The Chapais-Chibougamau Camp is one of the more active and prospective mining and exploration areas in Quebec, as highlighted by the Nelligan deposit controlled by the IAMGOLD/Vanstar joint venture directly adjacent to our Lac Surprise property that hosts the recently discovered Falcon Gold Zone. The Falcon Gold Zone is thought to be the extension of the Nelligan gold deposit. As the new largest landholder and one of most dominant companies in a rapidly evolving and expanding mining camp, we feel we are ideally positioned to maximize the value of these assets for our combined shareholder base going forward.

Northern Superior is in a strong financial position with approximately $10MM in cash at the end of Q1 2022. It plans to aggressively advance exploration on this exciting and newly expanded portfolio in Ontario and Quebec for the benefit of the combined shareholders with a 2022 exploration budget of close to $10MM. The Company has a highly experienced technical team that has demonstrated its acumen through multiple successes in making grassroot discoveries across Quebec and Ontario."

Details of the Transaction

Pursuant to the Transaction, former Genesis shareholders received 0.2304 (the "Exchange Ratio") of a Northern Superior common share (each whole common share, a "Northern Superior Share") for each Genesis Share held. As a result of the Transaction, Northern Superior issued an aggregate of 14,500,037 Northern Superior Shares, resulting in existing Northern Superior and former Genesis shareholders owning approximately 83% and 17%, respectively, of the Northern Superior Shares outstanding, on a non-diluted basis.

As part of the Transaction, all outstanding stock options of Genesis have been exchanged for economically equivalent stock options to purchase Northern Superior Shares (subject to adjustment based on the Exchange Ratio). Holders of outstanding Genesis warrants are entitled, in accordance with the terms of such warrants, to receive Northern Superior Shares on the exercise of such warrants (subject to adjustment based on the Exchange Ratio).

As a result of the Transaction, Northern Superior acquired the Chevrier Project located in Chibougamau, Quebec and the October Gold Project located in Ontario.

Northern Superior has received acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") to list the Northern Superior Shares issued pursuant to the Transaction on the TSXV. The Genesis Shares are expected to be delisted from the TSXV at the close of trading on or about July 15, 2022. Genesis intends to submit an application to the applicable securities regulators to cease to be a reporting issuer and to terminate its public company reporting obligations as soon as possible.

Pursuant to the letter of transmittal mailed to shareholders of Genesis as part of the materials in connection with the special meeting of shareholders of Genesis held on July ,7 2022 (the "Meeting"), in order to receive the Northern Superior Shares to which they are entitled, registered holders of Genesis Shares are required to deposit their share certificate(s) representing Genesis Shares, together with a duly completed letter of transmittal, with Computershare Investor Services Inc., the depositary under the Transaction. Shareholders whose Genesis Shares are registered in the name of a broker, dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee must contact their nominee to deposit their Genesis Shares. Further information about the Transaction is set forth in the materials prepared by Genesis in respect of the Meeting which were mailed to Genesis shareholders and filed under Genesis' profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.

None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Transaction have been or will be registered under the United State Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and any securities issued pursuant to the Transaction are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemptions from such registration requirements pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable exemptions under state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

Early Warning Reporting

By virtue of its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding Genesis Shares under the Transaction, Northern Superior is required to file an early warning report pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of the early warning report will be filed on Genesis' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Northern Superior's TPK, Lac Surprise and Croteau Est Projects

The reader is encouraged to visit the Company's web site for more detailed information regarding each of these projects (www.nsuperior.com).

The Lac Surprise property is located within the Chapais-Chibougamau gold camp of Quebec and is large (approximately 20kms x 20 kms). The Company recently discovered the Falcon Gold Zone (FGZ), a gold zone consisting of gold assay grades and widths comparable to the neighboring including IAMGOLD Corporation and Vanstar Mining Resource's Nelligan deposit (hosts an NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.1 million ounces of gold at 1.02 g/t gold***). Highlighted assays associated with the FGZ include: LCS21-029 (1.36g/t Au over 40.0m; 273.00-313.00m); LCS19-005ext (1.54g/t Au over 44.9m; 293.50-338.40m); LCS21-43 (1.10g/t Au over 43.0m; 95.00-138.00m); and LCS21-032 (1.99g/t Au over 42.6m; 107.40-150.00m) (Table 1, Figure 4; see Northern Superior press releases, August 17, 2021; March 10, 2022).

The FGZ is thought to represent the westward extension of the Nelligan gold deposit. The robust, lateral continuity of the FGZ is highlighted by a 100% drill hole strike rate (29 of 29 holes), currently defined with a 900m long strike length (remaining open along strike to the west ) and defined to 343m, remaining open at depth along the 900m strike length.

The Lac Surprise property has many gold showings across the property including those to the west of the FGZ, and in the "Confluence" and "Amber" areas. Northern Superior is currently completing a 15-hole (6,650m) core drill program designed to test the western and vertical extensions of the FGZ. The Company is also in the process of planning a property scale bedrock mapping and prospecting program for the summer of 2022.

The Croteau Est property is also located within the Chapais-Chibougamau gold camp of Quebec and is large (approximately 30kms x 15kms). The property has a 43-101 compliant inferred gold resource defined and several gold showings discovered across the property. The inferred gold resource is defined as consisting of 11.6 million tonnes, grading 1.7g/t gold, yielding 640,000 ounces of gold. Assays associated with this deposit includes intersections of; 11.06g/t gold over 9.10m including 43.75g/t gold over 2.00m, 61.24g/t gold over 5.95m including 705g/t gold over 0.5 m, 7.50g/t gold over 7.95m including 56.40g/t gold over 1.00m, 1.99g/t gold over 34.65m including 9.46g/t gold over 2m). The resource is defined from only 64, shallow holes, most of which are only 350m deep. The system is open along strike in both directions and at depth. A core drill program and budget has been set for this project to expand the resource and test several of the regional showings.

The TPK property is located in northwestern Ontario and is large (approximately 20kms x 30kms), containing two regional scale mineralized systems. The first system is primarily gold bearing, stretching 35kms across the Big Dam and New Growth areas of the property. The Big Dam area contains the largest gold grain-in-till dispersal aprons in North America stretching 6kms by 11kms, with as many as 1262 gold grains, most of which are pristine (92%). Embedded within this apron are numerous high-grade gold mineralized boulders assaying as high as 94g/t gold. A discovery hole of 25.87g/t gold over 13.45m has already been intersected. The second system within the Annex area of the property is defined by a gold grain-in-till dispersal corridor 3.5kms x 13.5kms wide, with gold grain counts as high as 1263 gold grains, mostly pristine in shape. Embedded within this corridor are boulders assaying as high as 727g/t gold, 111g/t silver and 4.05% copper.

Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SUP", and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "NSUPF".

* Reference for Northern Superior's 640,000 ounce Inferred Gold Resource: "Drabble, Mark (B. App. Sci. (Geology), MAIG, MAusIMM); Glacken, Ian (BSc Hons (Geology), FAusIMM (CP), MIMMM, CEng; Kahan, Cervoj (B. App. Sci., MAIG, MAusIMM); Morgan, Rebecca (BSc Hons (Geology), GDip (Mining), MAIG, MAusIMM). October 12, 2015. Technical Report on the Croteau Est Gold Project, Quebec September 2015, Mineral Resource Estimate."

** Reference for Genesis Metals Mineral Resources Estimation: "Lomas, Susan (P.Geo); Lavoie, Jonathan (Eng., M.Sc.); Liboiron, Andre (Geo). March 10, 2022.NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimation for the Chevrier Main Deposit, Chevrier Project, Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada."

*** Reference for IAMGOLD/Vanstar's Nelligan 3.2MM Inferred Gold Resource: "Carrier, Alain (M.Sc., P.Geo); Nadeau-Benoit, Vincent (P.Geo); Fauvre, Stephane (PhD., P.Geo). October 22, 2019. NI 43-101 Technical Report and Initial Resource Estimate for the Nelligan Project, Quebec, Canada."

Qualified Person

Rodney Barber (BSc., P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person for the TPK property. Michel Leblanc (BSc., PGeo) and Sarah Dean (BSc., P.Geo.) are the Qualified Persons for the Croteau Est and Lac Surprise properties. All three individuals are Qualified Persons within the meaning of NI 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.

Neither the TSXV nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

For further information contact:

Thomas F. Morris PhD., P.Geo., FGAC, ICD.D

President and CEO

Tel: (705) 525 0992

Fax: (705) 525 7701

email: [email protected]

www.nsuperior.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian, United States and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the anticipated benefits and advantages of the Transaction, including establishing Northern Superior as a premier gold exploration company with six early-to-advanced staged gold exploration projects across major gold camps in Quebec and Ontario and creating significant synergies and scale in the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp, the delisting of the Genesis Shares and the application for Genesis to cease to be a reporting issuer. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Northern Superior and Genesis' current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as Northern Superior and Genesis' actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are set forth in the "Risk Factors" section in Northern Superior's latest management discussion and analysis dated April 12, 2022. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to Northern Superior and Genesis. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is made as of the date hereof and Northern Superior and Genesis undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130758
Business development results spike following key additions to sourcing and engagement team

LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group, one of America's largest networks of financial professionals, announced today that it achieved record business development results in the second quarter of 2022, attracting more than $3.6 billion. The record quarter was fueled by efforts from Cetera's sourcing and engagement team, which added several new team members in 2022.

Several notable financial professionals  both individuals and teams  affiliated with Cetera in the second quarter 2022. In June, the $1 billion Harvest Wealth team joined Cetera from Merrill Lynch, converting their practice to an independent model to help ensure they can serve their clients in the best manner possible. Shortly after the Harvest Wealth affiliation, Cetera attracted two practices that manage more than $600 million combined, led by Mark Nakamitsu* and Rick Farrar**. In May, Skafco, a financial planning team that manages approximately $300 million, left Mass Mutual to join Cetera's branch community, while two teams managing nearly $400 million combined  Sonnenfeld Financial Group and Lincoln Capital  affiliated with regions within Cetera Advisor Networks.

"We are pleased with our accelerated business development results as we continue to attract growth-minded financial professionals who value independence and industry-leading tools, resources and support," said John Pierce, head of business development at Cetera. "Our expanded sourcing and engagement team is deeply committed to making sure that financial professionals understand the value of affiliating with Cetera, and the onboarding and integration team leads the industry in helping financial professionals affiliate with Cetera quickly and seamlessly. We expect continued positive momentum as our teams execute our strategic plan and financial professionals increasingly embrace a more personal and independent model for their practice."

The record quarter follows several key home office hires, as Cetera bolstered its business development team earlier in 2022. In April, Cetera further complemented the team with the addition of industry veteran Steve Dripchak, a senior recruiter who joined the team from Securities America. Dripchak covers the mid-Atlantic region, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Click here for more information about Cetera's resources and support for financial professionals.

About Cetera Financial GroupCetera Financial Group (Cetera) is a leading financial services firm whose purpose is to enable the delivery of best-in-class financial advice to as many Americans as possible. Cetera empowers its financial professional communities to help clients achieve their version of financial wellbeing through the Advice-Centric Experience. Cetera proudly serves independent financial professionals, tax professionals, banks and credit unions in providing wide-ranging financial planning and wealth management services.

Cetera oversees approximately $353 billion in assets under administration and $122 billion in assets under management, as of December 31, 2021.

Visit www.cetera.com, and follow Cetera on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

"Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, and First Allied Securities, Inc. All firms are members FINRA/SIPC. Located at: 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101.

Individuals affiliated with Cetera firms are either Registered Representatives who offer only brokerage services and receive transaction-based compensation (commissions), Investment Adviser Representatives who offer only investment advisory services and receive fees based on assets, or both Registered Representatives and Investment Adviser Representatives, who can offer both types of services.

*Mark Nakamitsu: Registered Representative offering securities and insurance products through Cetera Investment Services LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC.

**Rick Farrar: Registered Representative offering securities and advisory services through Cetera Advisors LLC, member FINRA/SIPC, a broker/dealer and a Registered Investment Adviser.

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SOURCE Cetera Financial Group
??Las #exportaciones peruanas podrian alcanzar los US$ 66 500 millones a diciembre del 2022, logrando un nuevo record a fin de ano.???? Este es un importante anuncio que confirma que el trabajo que se viene realizando en el sector es el correcto.??



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The investment highlights Baltimore as a thriving investment region, with local and national participation

BALTIMORE, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Conscious Venture Partners today announced Conscious Venture Fund II has raised $15.8 million of its $50 million goal. Sagamore Ventures - the investment arm of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank - leads the local investments with a $2.5 million commitment to the Conscious Venture Fund II, which is on the path to become the largest minority managed fund in Baltimore City.

The Fund's growth supports the emergence of Baltimore's innovation ecosystem, particularly in the arena of companies using innovations to create a more equitable society or "Equitech."

"Despite the amazing talent and technology we have in the US and specifically here in Baltimore, new innovations for things like the delivery of preventative care, better mental health outcomes, access to technology and healthy food and predictive analytics for under-served communities are clearly needed if we are to continue the standard of living - and give all our citizens access to such - that we so dearly appreciate and enjoy in America," said Jeff Cherry, Founder and Managing Partner of Conscious Venture Partners. "COVID has shown us how much work we have to do to create a more equitable society and economic system."

Conscious Venture Partners seeks out minority and women founders to invest in entrepreneurs that others are ignoring for all the wrong reasons. They support companies that are using technology to break down barriers to access and create a more equitable society, including in the healthcare, food, technology, media, mobility, and education industries.

The strategic investment from Kevin Plank's Sagamore Ventures is part of a $10 million overarching set of commitments made by Sagamore and the Port Covington Development Team, stemming from an agreement with local stakeholders, to help build capacity and improve the landscape for Baltimore City minority and women-owned small businesses.

"Jeff Cherry and Conscious Venture Partners share our commitment to creating a positive impact in Port Covington- and all of Baltimore. The Conscious Venture Partners team has a proven track record of identifying and supporting diverse and innovative Baltimore entrepreneurs, which is critical to the future of the city," said Kevin Plank, Founder of Sagamore Ventures.

Conscious Venture Partners believes businesses that practice a more holistic or "Stakeholder" form of capitalism create financial, as well as societal, value. As such, most companies funded by Conscious Venture Partners are graduates of its Conscious Venture Lab accelerator program. Local companies looking to receive funding are encouraged to apply for the upcoming cohort of the Conscious Venture Lab here: https://www.f6s.com/cvlabcohort9. Applications for the current cohort are being accepted now.

Conscious Venture Partners' successes - including the eight cohorts graduating from the Conscious Venture Lab's accelerator program, and a newly designed digital platform in partnership with Annapolis based FounderTrac - have given investors confidence in Conscious Venture Fund II and the Baltimore region as an investment market. The funds raised by Conscious Venture Partners support businesses like Fearless Sports, a Baltimore-based social impact clothing company founded by Baltimore Business Journal Power 10 winner, Delali Dzirasa; Outlook Enterprises, the first ever digital production studio to be located in East Baltimore, founded by ex-Baltimore Raven Trevor Pryce; and HeyZRO, a unique metaverse e-commerce platform which is one of the first to be founded in Baltimore by a black-woman technologist.

Joining Plank and Sagamore Ventures is repeat Conscious Venture Partners investor Point Field Partners, the investment arm of Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, with additional investments being made by other prominent local investors including Brown Advisory, Capital Funding Group, Robb Merritt, Mary Miller and Guy Filippelli. The company's recent successes and list of growing local investors have garnered national attention and proven to be a catalyst for interest in Baltimore from outside of Maryland, including a recent $5 million commitment from the UFCW  Northern California Employers Joint Pension Plan, a Concord, California based pension fund.

"Mr. Bisciotti certainly believes that equity and prosperity go hand-in-hand. This is one of the reasons we were so excited to invest and partner with Jeff and his team at Conscious Venture Partners" said Ryland Sumner of Point Field Partners. "It's all about their mission and innovative approach to community investment, This is the way you build communities: investing through a lens of equity to create financial as well as societal returns."

Mary Miller, Baltimore investor and former T. Rowe Price executive, echoed: "This is the kind of ground-up investment opportunity Baltimore needs. I'm excited to see the impact these entrepreneurs will have in their communities."

The continued flow of investment capital into the fund affirms the shared value of giving significant opportunity to women and minority-owned businesses. Cherry believes supporting entrepreneurs in communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by lack of access to capital and networks represents an opportunity to provide better services in those communities and to invest in new innovations that are likely to have broad-based applicability in very big markets.

"We believe that Conscious Venture Partner's approach to entrepreneurship is forward-thinking and fantastic for our community," said Mike Hankin, CEO of Brown Advisory. "We are proud to partner with Jeff and his great team and hope that, together, we can help support emerging businesses in Baltimore, as well as the broader start-up ecosystem."

The Conscious Venture Fund II is established to do what they call rolling closes, so the fund will grow and new investments will be added as additional capital is committed. The final close is expected to be sometime in the third quarter of 2022.

Media Contact:[email protected][email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/conscious-venture-partners-raises-15-8-million-for-conscious-venture-fund-ii-led-locally-by-kevin-planks-sagamore-ventures-301585334.html

SOURCE Sagamore Ventures
HELSINKI and LIMASSOL, Cyprus , July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After seven years of close cooperation, Embria, one of the oldest venture builders in Europe, exits Duunitori, the largest Finnish job search and recruiting media, as part of the deal led by Intera Partners venture fund. Embria's return counts about 70x, making it the company's most successful venture investment so far.

As a result of the deal, Intera becomes a majority owner in Duunitori and forms a close partnership with the company to support further growth and internationalisation.

Duunitori was founded in 2009 by two friends Thomas Gronholm and Martti Kuusanmaki. Embria invested in Duunitory in 2015, shortly after both companies' representatives first met in Helsinki attending Slush. Embria was the biggest among Duunitory's external shareholders and the last one before the current deal.

In 2021 Duunitori officially became the largest job board and recruitment services provider in Finland. It has seen substantial growth over the past years and expanded its operations to Sweden under the name Jobbland. In the last five years, Duunitori's turnover has seen an average annual increase of 70 percent, with a turnover of 14 million in 2021.

"Our extensive experience in creating startups from scratch helps us recognise the potential in early-stage companies, seeing them through the eyes of an entrepreneur and not only an investor. It was a pleasure for us to work and exchange expertise with Duunitori's highly professional and motivated team through all these years, and I'm happy that Embria was a part of this highly successful journey,"  comments Pavel Yakovlev, co-founder and co-CEO of Embria.

About Embria

Embria is a Cyprus-based venture builder that founds, funds and grows its own startups from scratch. Founded in 2007, Embria is one of Europe's most long-lasting and profitable venture builders. Being a founder of successfully operating companies like HypeAuditor, EdTech Holding, Datalead, Mobilipay and Red Panda Labs, Embria continues reinvesting profits and creating new ventures. It currently focuses on Well-being and Social verticals. Aside from startup building, Embria also acts as a venture investor, monetizing its expertise and supporting like-minded entrepreneurs. By 2021, Embria's combined portfolio of 20+ companies has generated 1.1Bn of total value with a 105% Internal Rate of Return. More information on https://embria.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cyprus-based-embria-exits-finnish-duunitori-with-70x-return-on-investment-301585059.html

SOURCE Embria
MILWAUKEE, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A.B. Data, the leading class action administrator focused on providing innovative notice and claims administration solutions, has announced the hiring of Elaine Pang as Vice President of Media. Elaine joins the company's leadership team, where she will commit to the ongoing growth and success of the company. Elaine will join the company in its Washington, D.C. location.

Elaine has spent the past 15 years in the class action industry, transforming legal notice media programs and logging a successful record of developing, implementing, and evaluating some of the largest complex legal plans. She has led the process in shifting toward multichannel notice campaigns based on a holistic approach using new technologies, methodologies, and measurement tools.

In her new role, Elaine will be responsible for leading the media department, overseeing campaigns, and ensuring service excellence for clients. She will spearhead the development of media strategies across domestic and international class action media programs on multichannel platforms, with a data-driven focus to achieve results.

"Elaine is a seasoned marketer that will lead the charge in this ever-changing media landscape," said A.B. Data President Thomas R. Glenn. "We are very excited about her joining Team AB Data."

A.B. Data provides resources and services involving product liability, construction defect, antitrust, medical/pharmaceutical, human rights, civil rights, telecommunications, media, environment, government enforcement actions, securities, banking, insurance, data breach, privacy, and product recall. It is a true testament that none of their class action notice plans has ever been successfully challenged.

About A.B. Data, Ltd.

A.B. Data manages the unique challenges of class action administration for high-profile law firms and government entities with convenience, efficiency, and precision. A.B. Data simplifies the claims administration process for its clients and delivers successful results with advanced technology, products, and services. Learn more at ABDataClassAction.com and follow us on Twitter at @ClassActionABD.

Related Links

https://abdataclassaction.com

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SOURCE A.B. Data, Ltd.
Acquisition to deepen life sciences domain capabilities and strengthen footprint across Europe

BENGALURU, India and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire BASE life science, a leading technology and consulting firm in the life sciences industry, in Europe. The acquisition reaffirms our commitment to help global life sciences companies realize business value from cloud-first digital platforms and data, to speed-up clinical trials and scale drug development, positively impacting lives and achieving better health outcomes.

BASE brings to Infosys, domain experts with commercial, medical, digital marketing, clinical, regulatory, and quality knowhow. Backed by a team of data science specialists, BASE is at the frontier of the latest technological developments and trends. It has a strong focus on Data & AI, and the ability to bridge and integrate business logic and technology, driving insights for better health outcomes.

Headquartered in Denmark, BASE is one of the fastest growing technology and consulting partners in the life sciences industry. The company has about 200 of the finest, multidisciplinary industry experts across Denmark, Switzerland, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and a nearshore technology hub in Spain. Together with Infosys, BASE will further expand its portfolio of expertise into Consumer Health, Animal Health, MedTech and Genomics segments. BASE collaborates with leading software technology providers in the life sciences industry such as Veeva, IQVIA and Salesforce.

Ravi Kumar S, President, Infosys, said, "This acquisition augments Infosys' deep life sciences expertise, and expands our footprint further in the Nordics region and across Europe, and scales our digital transformation capabilities with cloud-based industry solutions. We are excited to welcome BASE life science and its leadership team into the Infosys family."

"Over the last five years, BASE life science has delivered tremendous growth, and created a stellar life sciences consulting firm in Europe. With Infosys as our catalyst, we will be able to accelerate our expansion internationally and create development opportunities for our people. Infosys is a solid, global technology leader, that is a perfect match for ensuring continuous success of BASE while sharing our common purpose and values.", said Martin Woergaard, CEO, BASE life science.

The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.

VEEVA is a trademark of Veeva Systems Inc.IQVIA is a trademark of IQVIA Holdings Inc.Salesforce is a trademark of salesforce.com, inc.

About BASE life science A/S BASE life science is an innovative and forward-thinking technology, product and service consultancy specialized in creating real business value from digital platforms and data, growing people, and delivering innovative solutions that have a sustainable and lasting impact in an industry that matters.

Its experienced teams optimize technology and business processes within Customer Engagement, Quality, Regulatory, Compliance and Clinical data management for companies within the life science industry.

BASE life science's aspiration is to be the leading life science technology consulting company in Europe and currently operates from offices located in Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany from where they assist customers across the globe. Fueled by its dedicated teams' hard work and efforts, BASE life science has been cemented as a reliable advisor in the life science industry, striving for continuous excellence to remain an entrusted partner that can bring its customer's visions successfully to life. www.baselifescience.com

About InfosysInfosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses, and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe HarborCertain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

For more information, please contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Infosys
Membership Offers Guaranteed Availability, Hourly Rates and Highest Safety Standard

OMAHA, Neb., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jet Linx, the only locally-focused, global private jet management and Jet Card company with 21 Base locations nationwide, today announces the return of its Enterprise Jet Card Membership, designed uniquely to serve its corporate clients, and a Tier II Executive Jet Card Membership for leisure travelers who fly less frequently than its Tier I Executive Membership offering.

The relaunched Enterprise Membership comes as 81% of companies are planning to resume domestic business travel in the next several months, according to a recent Global Business Travel Association survey. The Enterprise Membership guarantees business travelers the highest level of flexibility, safety and service, while its Tier II Executive Membership allows leisure travelers to have access to its Members-only fleet. The announcement was made by Jamie Walker, President and CEO of Jet Linx.

"We made the decision to temporarily pause these Jet Card Membership programs last October to ensure we could properly serve our existing Members as we experienced a surge in demand for our private jet services coming out of the pandemic. Now that we have optimized the fleet to comfortably operate in this new marketplace, we are opening up sales again to serve these types of Members," said Walker. "Through our unparalleled standards of safety and service excellence, both on the ground and in the air, we are proud to reintroduce the Enterprise and Tier II Executive Jet Card Membership programs and serve as a trusted partner for business and leisure travelers."

Jet Linx remains the only private aviation company to deliver expansive resources at the national level with the service and personal attention of a local team. Exclusive to Jet Linx clients, the Company offers private, executive terminals across 21 Base locations nationwide, which provide safe and secure environments and maximum privacy for business teams before and after their flight. Each terminal is outfitted with high-speed Wi-Fi, conference rooms, secured entries, and local, dedicated flight concierge services available 24/7.

In addition to exceptional service and unmatched privacy, safety is of the utmost importance to Jet Linx. The Company boasts numerous national and international safety accreditations, including ARGUS Platinum Elite, IS-BAO Stage 3 and Wyvern Wingman safety ratings. Less than 1% of all aircraft operators in the world have earned all three safety ratings.

Jet Linx is also the first and only private aviation company to partner with Forbes Travel Guide to expertly train all flight concierge personnel and flight crew in their proprietary luxury service standards, unmatched in private aviation.

For more information on Jet Linx's Enterprise Jet Card Membership and Tier II Executive Jet Card Membership, visit www.jetlinx.com.

About Jet Linx Aviation

Jet Linx Aviation is a locally-focused private jet company founded in Omaha, NE in 1999 as a more personalized approach to national private jet companies. Jet Linx offers three different ways to experience private aviation  a guaranteed Jet Card, Joint Ownership, and Aircraft Management program  providing its clients with an all-encompassing, local solution to all of their private jet travel needs. Jet Linx is an IS-BAO Stage 3, ARGUS Platinum Elite and Wyvern Wingman safety rated operator, an accomplishment earned by less than one percent of all aircraft operators in the world. In 2019, Jet Linx became the only Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star trained and accredited private aviation company in the world. In addition to establishing the independent global rating system's preeminent and unparalleled service standards for the in-flight experience, Jet Linx also collaborated with Forbes Travel Guide to develop their own customized, proprietary Jet Linx standards of service excellence. Jet Linx is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and has Base locations in Atlanta, Austin, Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Omaha, San Antonio, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Tulsa and Washington D.C. For additional information, please visit the Jet Linx website (www.jetlinx.com).

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SOURCE Jet Linx
Branch Leaders Kim Arrington and Maui Parra Support the Next Generation

ATLANTA, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Top mortgage lender New American Funding has branches across the country. The roots go deeper than mortgages in those areas to nurture and support the communities they serve.

The company's team in Atlanta, led by Branch Managers Kim Arrington and Maui Parra, are shining examples of that. Together, the team is leading an effort to increase financial literacy in the Atlanta metro area, working closely in partnership with Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Ga.

Through this partnership, students at Meadowcreek are offered financial literacy classes and learn about managing personal finances, setting them up for success after graduation. Included in the curriculum is information about saving money, budgeting, credit and debt, taxes, real estate, and investing.

Recently, Arrington and Parra presented a financial scholarship to a graduating senior to help with continuing education. A ceremony took place at Meadowcreek on May 17, 2022.

"We believe in educating, equipping, and empowering our community," Arrington said. "That's why we are so proud of our partnership with Meadowcreek. We believe so deeply in our mission and truly enjoy being able to help prepare these great students for their future. That's also why we were so thrilled to be able present this scholarship to a deserving student to help them on their way to greatness."

The student plans to apply the scholarship toward attending Gwinnett College in Georgia in the fall.

To learn more about New American Funding, visit our website: newamericanfunding.com.

About New American Funding

New American Funding is an independent mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of over 233,000 loans for approximately $61.9 billion, 167 nationwide locations, and about 4,200 employees. The company is a 2021 Mortgage Professional America 5-Star Retail Lender and has made Inc. 5000's list of Fastest-Growing Companies in America seven times. It offers state-of-the-art career training and provides its branch Loan Officers with innovative technologies to streamline the mortgage process.

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SOURCE New American Funding
Global leader in lithium-ion batteries, Panasonic Energy, reaches agreement with one of the nation's leaders in economic development, Kansas, aiming to advance the EV industry in the US

TOPEKA, Kan., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., a Panasonic Group company, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly jointly announced that the state of Kansas has approved an Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion (APEX) state incentive* application submitted by Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.The agreement would make the state the location for a proposed US-based lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility, pending approval by Panasonic Holdings Corporation Board of Directors.

Panasonic Energy plans to develop the project at a property in Kansas, which is expected to drive significant economic activity and opportunities for the local economy and could create up to 4,000 new jobs and result in an investment of approximately $4 billion. The company has identified a site in De Soto, Kansas for this potential project.

"This project will be transformative for the Kansas economy, providing high-quality, high-tech jobs while bringing a new industry to the state that is forging a more sustainable future," said Governor Laura Kelly. "This is a significant milestone for Kansas that is sure to drive economic growth and development."

"With the increased electrification of the automotive market, expanding battery production in the US is critical to help meet demand," said Kazuo Tadanobu, President, CEO of Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. "Given our leading technology and depth of experience, we aim to continue driving growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and accelerating towards a net-zero emissions future."

Panasonic Energy is a global leader in lithium-ion batteries, with a 100-year history of innovation in batteries spanning both battery cell technology and battery business operations. Panasonic Energy plans to expand its production of EV batteries, as the automotive industry shifts to more sustainable electric technologies. The company has contributed to achieving greater efficiency and economies of scale necessary to drive this transformation, and the planned facility in Kansas supports the company's commitment to contribute to society by reducing global carbon emissions.

"Kansas has an impressive history of being home to a skilled manufacturing workforce," said Kris Takamoto, Executive Vice President of Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., Head of EV Battery Business. "We appreciate Kansas's dedication to sustainability and its commitment to and growth in the clean and renewable energy space."

The announcement comes five years after Panasonic Group began production of lithium-ion batteries at Panasonic Energy of North America (PENA) in Sparks, Nevada. PENA is now one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery factories, surpassing six billion EV battery cells shipped. While PENA's operations in Sparks, Nevada will continue, the new facility in Kansas is intended to further support Panasonic's long-term commitment to advancing the EV industry in the US.

*An incentive program established by the State of Kansas to attract investment in the state, available to qualified companies within specific industry sectors that agree to invest at least $1.0 billion.

About Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., established in April 2022 as part of the Panasonic Group's switch to an operating company system, provides innovative battery technology-based products and solutions globally. Through its automotive lithium-ion batteries, storage battery systems and dry batteries, the company brings safe, reliable, and convenient power to a broad range of business areas, from mobility and social infrastructure to medical and consumer products. Panasonic Energy is committed to contributing to a society that realizes happiness and environmental sustainability, and through its business activities the Company aims to address societal issues while taking the lead on environmental initiatives. For more details, please visit https://www.panasonic.com/global/energy/

About the Panasonic Group

A global leader in developing innovative technologies and solutions for wide-ranging applications in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industry, communications, and energy sectors worldwide, the Panasonic Group switched to an operating company system on April 1, 2022 with Panasonic Holdings Corporation serving as a holding company and eight companies positioned under its umbrella. Founded in 1918, the Group is committed to enhancing the well-being of people and society and conducts its businesses based on founding principles applied to generate new value and offer sustainable solutions for today's world. The Group reported consolidated net sales of 7,388.8 billion yen for the year ended March 31, 2022. Devoted to improving the well-being of people, the Panasonic Group is united in providing superior products and services to help you Live Your Best. To learn more about the Panasonic Group, please visit: https://holdings.panasonic/global/

Connect with Panasonic Corporation of North America: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube

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SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America
PHOENIX, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Phoenix-based Colling Media, one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies, has partnered with Rosendin Electric to take a stand against the labor shortage and reach new recruitment heights. In 2021 yahoo.com reported 68% of trades were struggling to hire skilled workers. By utilizing a full-funnel marketing approach Colling Media has closed the gap in the labor shortage and aided in Rosendin's recruitment of 221 skilled workers in the first quarter of 2022.

"We feel that we have a true partner in Brian, his leadership team, and Colling Media."

"Colling Media's team has been essential in our recruiting efforts for electricians in the Phoenix Metro area. The team is not only knowledgeable and highly experienced with various advertising tactics, but they are engaged in helping us maximize our reach to get qualified candidates. We have expanded our relationship with Colling Media to assist us in markets in Middle Tennessee, throughout Texas, Oregon, and Northern California with varying target markets and projected outcomes. We feel that we have a true partner in Brian, his leadership team, and Colling Media." said Salina Brown, Director of Marketing Rosendin Electric

Rosendin Electric, headquartered in San Jose, CA contracted Colling Media to recruit qualified electricians to complete some of the most complex construction projects in the U.S.A. Colling Media, with over a decade of recruitment advertising experience, is helping the company reach its 2022 placement goals.

"We're honored to partner with Rosendin Electric and support their recruitment needs.'' said Brian Colling, CEO of Colling Media. "We look forward to more strong results as we effectively connect new audiences to their amazing company and culture."

Recruitment isn't getting easier. It's time to start recruiting smarter.

About Colling Media

Based in Phoenix, AZ, Colling Media is a full-service national digital advertising and marketing agency specializing in advertising branding and strategy, digital and traditional advertising, media buying, paid search, lead generation, content marketing, and SEO. For more information, visit www.collingmedia.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/colling-media/), Facebook, (https://www.facebook.com/collingmedia/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/collingmedia).

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SOURCE COLLING MEDIA
PHOENIX, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RRA Capital, a leading investment firm specializing in CRE bridge loans, announced today that it has welcomed two new executive team members, Dimple Patel as General Counsel and Kyung Kim as Managing Director of Originations.

RRA Capital announced today that it has added two seasoned executives to the company's leadership team.

Dimple Patel , General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer: Previously a Partner at Philadelphia-based Raju LLP, Dimple has more than 15 years of experience in structured finance. Prior to her time at Raju Dimple quickly climbed the ranks at Dilworth Paxson LLP, taking the shortest road to partnership in the firm's prestigious and storied history. She has also represented and counseled energy services companies, public and private bio-tech companies, and film production companies. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from the Beasley School of Law at Temple University and has a B.A. from New York University. Dimple is also an active member of her community, committing hundreds of hours of community service via the Junior League of Phoenix and previously serving on the Board of the United Communities of Southeast Philadelphia, a non-profit committed to serving underprivileged, vulnerable populations in the Philadelphia area.

Previously a Partner at Philadelphia-based Raju LLP, Dimple has more than 15 years of experience in structured finance. Prior to her time at Raju Dimple quickly climbed the ranks at Dilworth Paxson LLP, taking the shortest road to partnership in the firm's prestigious and storied history. She has also represented and counseled energy services companies, public and private bio-tech companies, and film production companies. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from the Beasley School of Law at Temple University and has a B.A. from New York University. Dimple is also an active member of her community, committing hundreds of hours of community service via the Junior League of Phoenix and previously serving on the Board of the United Communities of Southeast Philadelphia, a non-profit committed to serving underprivileged, vulnerable populations in the Philadelphia area. Kyung Kim, Managing Director of Originations: Kyung has more than 20 years of experience in finance, strategy mergers, and acquisitions. Throughout his career, he has been integral to closing over $1 billion in financings and $6 billion in M&A transactions. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President at AVANA Capital, a private debt fund focused on construction, bridge, and permanent loans for commercial real estate. He led the originations efforts as well as built the infrastructure and implemented the processes critical to a highly effective lending platform. Prior to his work at AVANA, Kyung worked at GE Capital's $12 billion restaurant and hotel lending business, where he led business development initiatives to drive loan originations. In earlier roles at GE Capital, he led the execution of strategic M&A transactions, including a $3 billion REIT, and various loan portfolio acquisitions. Mr. Kim holds a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Quantitative Economics and Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dimple and Kyung to our team," said Marc Grayson, President & COO of RRA Capital. "Their perspectives will help RRA further its mission of delivering exceptional service and intelligent investments to our clients and partners."

For more information, please visit www.rracapital.com.

About RRA Capital

RRA Capital is a privately held direct commercial real estate bridge lender and investment firm. Operating nationwide, RRA finances value-add commercial and multifamily real estate nationwide with flexible bridge and intermediate term loans customized to fit the sponsor's needs. RRA's principals have over $10 billion worth of commercial real estate (CRE) investment experience in value-add and distressed CRE for numerous global financial institutions, and across multiple markets, products, and cycles. To date, RRA has originated and managed over $1B in commercial real estate bridge loans across the US. More information and financing terms can be found at www.rracapital.com.

For More Information:

Hallie WhiteDirector of Marketing[email protected]

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SOURCE RRA Capital
Diversified Restaurant Group brings the new digital concept to the Nevada market

LAS VEGAS, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Diversified Restaurant Group (DRG), a multi-brand quick-service restaurant franchisee, is opening the first Taco Bell Go Mobile on the West coast. It's the first Taco Bell location of its kind to have two drive-thru lanes, with one fully dedicated to accommodating mobile orders and delivery drivers. The new design makes it an easy and convenient experience for customers who've ordered ahead online. The Las Vegas Taco Bell Go Mobile is located at 2224 E. Craig Rd., North Las Vegas, NV 89030, and will celebrate its grand opening on Monday, July 18th.

"Taco Bell is a significant part of the DRG portfolio and we are thrilled to be part of the exciting growth and evolution of the brand by bringing this new concept to Las Vegas," said SG Ellison, President of Diversified Restaurant Group. "This location is our first Go Mobile and is particularly special, as we've recently opened corporate headquarters in the market. We're delighted to have this location in our backyard and be able to celebrate and share this momentous occasion with our new neighbors."

Recently, the Las Vegas Go Mobile Taco Bell hosted a driver preview day where DoorDash drivers could redeem an exclusive offer - a free combo meal of their choosing. Over 200 Door Dash drivers showed up and enjoyed how fast the drive-thru experience is. The Go Mobile Taco Bell grand opening will feature an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce at 10 am.

The Taco Bell Go Mobile restaurant concept features all the Mexican-inspired fan favorites of tacos, burritos, nachos, and more. The building is a new micro concept at around half the size of a typical Taco Bell with no indoor seating. However, If customers want to get out of their car, they can order inside on a kiosk and enjoy a meal on the covered patio.

To place your orders with the new Las Vegas Taco Bell, Go Mobile restaurant, download the Taco Bell app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

For more information about Diversified Restaurant Group, visit www.drgfood.com.

Images: HERE

About Diversified Restaurant Group

Diversified Restaurant Group is a restaurant business comprised of owners and operators working to innovate and grow with quick service and fast-casual brands across the country. What started as a limited partnership in a 30-unit Taco Bell franchise in 2012, has since grown into a 300+ unit, multi-brand QSR operation with restaurants in Nevada, California, Kansas, Missouri, and Alaska.

About Taco Bell Corp.

For more information about Taco Bell, visit www.TacoBell.com/news or www.TacoBell.com/popular-links. You can also stay up to date on all things Taco Bell by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Taco Bell's Twitter, Taco Bell News' Twitter, TikTok and subscribing to our YouTube channel. For updates on how Taco Bell is navigating COVID-19, click here.

Media Contact: Brianne Barbakoff[email protected]786.605.9228

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SOURCE Diversified Restaurant Group
16:26 | Lima, Jul. 12.

The UN official indicated that a total of 94 countries are considered as those which will face "severe exposure" to the food crisis, as well as the high prices of energy and financing.





According to Grynspan, those nations have been identified. However, Peru does not belong to that group.





"Peru is not in a situation like many other countries, which are about to default on their debt; Peru does not face very high indebtedness, but rather has conditions of greater strength, greater resilience," she said in remarks to TVPeru.





Grynspan specified that the country is being affected by the issue of high food and energy prices, as well as the fertilizer problem triggered by the war in Ukraine.





However, it has strengths such as being a food exporter, whose sales "are going very well and have grown during this four-month period."









Later, in remarks to the press, the Secretary-General indicated that the fertilizer crisis is a problem which affects the whole world. In this sense, Grynspan said she hopes that this will be resolved promptly given the pressure on crops which exist in different countries.





"More importantly, it should be noted that we believe Peru has many strengths, and that puts you at a relative advantage over other countries that are in a difficult situation," she added.





(END) JCC/VVS/MVB
LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tony Roma's, the globally recognized casual family dining brand, joined Stored Value Solutions (SVS) in announcing an expanded international partnership aimed at driving gift card sales and enhancing the overall guest experience with gift cards. Tony Roma's engaged SVS, a worldwide leader in gift card program marketing and management in 2019 to help drive their online gift card sales, significantly enhancing the customer experience.

"Casual diners love gift cards, whether they're in Detroit or Dubai."

According to Ramon Bourgeois, Chief Executive Office at Romacorp, the expanded partnership will focus on two key areas: tying gift cards into Tony Roma's loyalty program to increase guest engagement through rewards; and utilizing gift cards as a marketing tool in local rollouts of its new restaurant concept, "Bones and Burgers". Romacorp, Inc. is the parent company of Tony Roma's and Bones and Burgers.

"Our partners at SVS are always helping us find new and better ways to reach and satisfy our guests for whom gift cards are an important part of the dining experience," Gino said. "With our accelerated expansion across the globe, their international expertise in the areas of hospitality and dining is invaluable." Tony Roma's restaurants are in more than 25 countries on 6 continents.

Mark Schatz, President of SVS described the collaboration as a perfect fit. "When both teams are completely committed to the customer experience, solutions reveal themselves," he said. "Casual diners love gift cards, whether they're in Detroit or Dubai. We're proud to be a part of a team at Tony Roma's that keeps that guest-focus at the center of everything they do."

About Romacorp, Inc.

Romacorp, Inc., is the parent company of Tony Roma's restaurants, the world's largest casual dining concept specializing in ribs. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Tony Roma's has more than 90 restaurant locations in more than 20 countries and is one of the most globally recognizable names in the industry. The first Tony Roma's restaurant opened 50 years ago in North Miami, Florida. For more information about Romacorp, Inc. and Tony Roma's, visit www.tonyromas.com.

About Stored Value Solutions

A leading prepaid provider, SVS manages more than 750 million card products and processes over 1.5 billion transactions annually. SVS partners with top retailers around the world to offer stored value solutions that effectively drive the behavior that will lead to business success. SVS is headquartered in Louisville Kentucky, USA, and owned by Atlanta-based FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT). For more information, visit: www.storedvalue.com.

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SOURCE STORED VALUE SOLUTIONS
WILMINGTON, Mass., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), a North American leader in providing customized business uniform programs, facility service products, and first aid and safety services, has been named as one of Selling Power's "50 Best Companies to Sell For." This marks UniFirst's 19th consecutive year being included on the list, coming in at 23, up three spots from last year.

"For nearly two decades we've had the honor and privilege of being selected as one of Selling Power's '50 Best Companies to Sell For.' This distinction validates UniFirst's commitment to the success of our people," said David Katz, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "We've built a sales culture focused on helping our customers by understanding their needs and offering the right solutions."

Over the years, UniFirst has invested in state-of-the-art sales enablement technology and created award-winning training programs to equip the sales team with the best available tools and industry knowledge they need to excel as uniform experts and trusted advisors. UniFirst serves nearly half of the Fortune 500 and outfits more than two-million uniform wearers throughout North America.

Companies on this year's list include a mix of sizes ranging from medium to enterprise. Selling Power's research team gathered data across four areascompany overview: compensation and benefits; hiring, sales training and sales enablement; and diversity and inclusionto determine the final list.

"As companies are facing economic headwinds sales organizations are sharpening their focus on sales talent. The Best Companies to Sell For have mastered the alignment of people, processes, and technologies and created a sales organization that excels in hiring, onboarding, training, and compensation of their sales representatives. What attracts salespeople to work for these leading organizations is their great culture, their commitment to diversity, and their steady support of the sales team by servant leadership that focuses on creating customer value and a meaningful work environment that offers unlimited opportunities to win," says Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power. "These companies aim at a higher level of professionalism and trust, which in turn leads to increased sales and a lower turnover of the sales force" Gschwandtner continued.

UniFirst is actively recruiting talented individuals to join our sales team. For more information about the company and how we always deliver exceptional service to businesses, please visit https://jobs.unifirst.com.

About UniFirstHeadquartered in Wilmington, Mass., UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and workwear programs, as well as the delivery of facility service programs. Together with its subsidiaries, the company also provides first aid and safety products and manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. UniFirst manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products; and with 260 service locations, over 300,000 customer locations, and 14,000 employee Team Partners, the company outfits more than 2 million workers each business day. For more information, contact UniFirst at 800.455.7654 or visit UniFirst.com.

About Selling PowerIn addition to Selling Power, the leading digital magazine for sales managers and sales VPs since 1981, Personal Selling Power, Inc., produces the Sales Management Digest and Daily Boost of Positivity online newsletters as well as videos featuring interviews with top executives. Selling Power is a regular media sponsor of the Sales 3.0 Conference (https://www.sales30conf.com), which is attended by a total of more than 4,500 sales leaders each year. For additional information, please visit www.sellingpower.com.

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A Japanese mayor signed off this week on U.S. military plans to fly unarmed drones from a base in southern Japan to keep tabs on Chinese activity in the seas nearby.

Mayor Shigeru Nakanishi of Kanoya city agreed to a yearlong deployment of MQ-9 Reapers at the nearby base, a city official told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. City residents had expressed reservations about the drones and Nakanishi labored over his approval, NHK reported.

I have decided that its inevitable to accept temporary deployment of U.S. forces unmanned aircraft MQ-9, he told the city assembly Monday, according to a news clip posted by Kagoshima Television that day.

The Japanese and U.S. governments plan to fly eight drones from Kanoya Air Base, a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force installation on Kyushu Island, starting in September, according to public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday.

Nakanishi signed off because intelligence gathering is necessary for defense of our country under the Japan-U.S. alliance as the security environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe, the city official said.

The Reaper is primarily a surveillance aircraft but can carry an inventory of weapons, including Hellfire missiles and Paveway laser-guided bombs, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The Reapers will be configured for surveillance and cant be equipped with weapons, according to a document from Japans Ministry of Defense posted on the Kanoya city website. We have confirmed with the U.S. side that it takes time to change the specifications and that the specifications wont be changed while they are at Kanoya Air Base.

Nakanishi plans to meet with Gov. Koichi Shiota of Kagoshima prefecture and explain his decision before the city signs an accord with the national government, the city official said.

U.S. Forces Japan did not immediately respond to questions about the deployment from Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

A Ministry of Defense spokesman said that an agreement with local governments is necessary for the ministry and Self-Defense Forces to operate.

We are grateful that he showed understanding for the temporary deployment, which is to perform our defense and to strengthen the intelligence gathering ability of Japan and U.S. alliance, the spokesman said Wednesday by phone.

He said the ministry has no plans to introduce unmanned aircraft that have offensive capabilities.

We will prepare for the temporary deployment of the MQ-9 by continuing to listen to the suggestions and feedback from the local governments, he said.

Some government spokespeople in Japan customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

Area residents in February expressed concerns about potential accidents and crimes involving U.S. military personnel operating the drones. Between 150 and 200 personnel will live at off-base hotels, according to the Defense Ministry.

Kanoya Air Base is already home to P-3C Orion maritime surveillance planes and UH-60J Black Hawk and SH-60K Seahawk helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. U.S. aircraft such as Marine Corps KC-130 tankers and Osprey tiltrotor aircraft visit the base during training.

The Reapers, made by General Atomics of San Diego, can carry 3,000 pounds of ordnance and first saw combat in Afghanistan in 2007 and Iraq the following year. The U.S. has employed them on numerous missions throughout the Middle East and Africa.
A routine run at Fort Hood this week turned into an opportunity for three soldiers to save a life.

Cpt. Aaron Mills, commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment; Sgt. Maj. Rocio Picazarri, 1st Medical Brigade operations sergeant major; and Staff Sgt. Justin Schaffer, 1st Medical Brigade schools non-commissioned officer, were recognized Tuesday with an impact Meritorious Service Medal for saving a fellow troopers life.

The three 1st Cavalry Division soldiers were running on Legends Way at Fort Hood, Texas, on Monday when they saw a fallen trooper on the side of the road.

After getting closer and realizing the trooper was unresponsive and had no pulse, Mills, Picazarri and Schaffer immediately performed CPR and instructed other troopers around them to call 911.

The quick response time is really what helped the situation, Picazarri said.

When emergency personnel arrived, the unconscious trooper was transported to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

The trooper is awake and responsive, according to a press release.

Command Sgt. Maj. Shade S. Munday, 1st Cavalry Division command sergeant major, lauded Mills, Picazarri and Schaffer for their quick action.

Leaders take action, and thats exactly what these soldiers did to save the troopers life, he said.
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany  U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria welcomed its new commander Tuesday, and his previous posting meant he didnt have far to travel.

Col. Kevin Poole, the former director of manpower and personnel at U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, took command from Col. Christopher Danbeck at a ceremony.

The garrison comprises Grafenwoehr, Vilseck, Hohenfels and Garmisch as well as the sprawling Grafenwoehr Training Area.

Poole previously spent time at Hohenfels as an operations officer and rifle company commander.

We so love to be back here, he said Tuesday in a message on the garrison's Facebook page.

Danbeck is headed to his next assignment as deputy director of Installation Management Command Europe in Wiesbaden.

In that role, he will be responsible for training facilities, power projection platforms, family housing and base operations support services for seven garrisons across Europe.

As the garrison commander for the past two years, Danbeck was in charge during the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

It was scary, but we made it through it all together, he said in his farewell speech.
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription.

(Tribune News Service)  Due to the current COVID surge, Redstone Arsenal is requiring masks to enter all buildings on the big Army post in Huntsville, Arsenal officials said.

This applies to personnel in all buildings on Redstone Arsenal, the arsenals Facebook page said. We will monitor the data and act [accordingly].

The masking requirement also applies to Army facilities like the gym and commissary.

COVID is making a comeback in Alabama with new, more contagious variants BA.4 and BA.5 spreading rapidly even among vaccinated and previously infected people, AL.com reported July 9.

The arsenal has a workforce of 40,000-plus civilian and contract employees and 800 active duty soldiers.

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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
TOKYO  A U.S. Navy officer, Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, convicted of negligent driving resulting in the deaths of two Japanese citizens, must serve his three-year prison term, an appellate court ruled Wednesday.

The appeal of this case is dismissed, said Tokyo High Court Judge Akira Ando as he denied Alkonis plea and upheld the sentence from the Shizuoka District Court in October. This is a case which is sufficient to consider a prison sentence.

Alkonis was negligent in falling asleep and failing to stop the car when he felt drowsy, Ando said. He said the three-judge panel considered Alkonis remorse, the fact he has three children and that he paid the victims families $1.6 million in compensation. But they agreed the gravity of the offense outweighed the mitigating factors.

Alkonis was driving May 29, 2021, in Shizuoka prefecture, about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, when his car plowed into pedestrians and parked cars outside a soba restaurant in Fujinomiya. Alkonis, his wife and three children were returning from a hike up Mount Fuji.

A woman, 85, died that day; her son-in-law, 54, died June 11, 2021. A second woman, 53, the daughter and wife of the other victims, was injured.

A spokeswoman for Naval Forces Japan called the ruling Wednesday disproportionate. Alkonis at the time was a weapons officer at Yokosuka aboard the destroyer USS Benfold. He remained on duty while free on bail pending the outcome of his appeal, the Navy said.

This was a tragic event that resulted in the loss of two precious lives, and tremendous pain for everyone involved, spokeswoman Cmdr. Katie Cerezo told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday. We respect the judicial process. However, we are disappointed with the result, which we believe is uncommonly disproportionate given the mitigating evidence.

Alkonis, 34, asked the court on June 8 for a lesser, suspended sentence, meaning he would serve no time provided he adhered to conditions set by the court. His defense team said a three-year prison sentence was severe and unjust.

He has 14 days to appeal the High Courts decision to the Japan Supreme Court. His father, Derek Alkonis, said after the ruling that he was unsure if his son intends to appeal.

Ando went point-by-point explaining why the High Court upheld the lower court. He said the appellate panel also considered Alkonis medical evaluation by the Navy and the fact that no drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident.

Alkonis left the courthouse on his own Wednesday; a court spokeswoman said she didnt know when he would be placed in custody.

Alkonis testified Aug. 24 that he lost consciousness due to a case of mountain, or altitude, sickness. Ando on Wednesday said it was unlikely that Alkonis suddenly fell asleep; he should have pulled over once he felt drowsy.

Alkonis expressed remorse during the appellate hearing in June.

I feel the pain, shame and sorrow in every way possible, he told the panel. I feel the burden of the damage Ive caused every minute of every day.

In June, a family friend, Kristin Martin, created a Change.org petition that alleged Japanese police mistreated Alkonis and that he was not tried fairly. More than 37,000 people signed the petition as of Wednesday evening.

The Alkonis familys spokesman, Jonathan Franks, alleged that Japanese authorities ignored the status of forces agreement, which allows the release to U.S. custody of some service members accused of crimes in Japan. SOFA outlines the rights and responsibilities of individuals in Japan with the U.S. military.

Franks alleged that Alkonis detention violated SOFA, and his interrogators didnt video tape his questioning as required by Japanese law. However, video-recorded interrogations are not required in most criminal investigations, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Outside the courthouse Wednesday, Alkonis parents told Stars and Stripes they felt sympathy for the victims families, but aspects of the case didnt add up. Although a Navy doctor examined their son days after the crash, Japanese law enforcement never conducted their own medical examination.

This was a travesty of justice. There was no justice in that courtroom today, Suzi Alkonis said after the ruling. We dont put people in prison for heart attacks, we dont put people in prison for strokes. This is ridiculous.
A U.S. warship cruised past the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea to assert navigational rights and freedoms on Wednesday, according to a 7th Fleet spokesman.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold steamed by the island group about 200 miles off the coasts of Vietnam and Hainan, China, and continued into the South China Sea, said an emailed statement from Lt. Nicholas Lingo.

The operation asserted rights to freedom of navigation and innocent passage by challenging restrictions imposed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, Lingo wrote. It also challenged Chinas claim of straight baselines enclosing the islands, a bid to extend Chinas claim of maritime sovereignty far into the South China Sea. That claim is disallowed under international law, according to a 1996 State Department report.

Beijing has occupied the Paracel Islands since 1974 and has about 20 outposts throughout the chain. More than 1,000 Chinese personnel reside on the largest feature, Woody Island, according to the CIA World Factbook website.

China, Taiwan and Vietnam require either permission or advance notification before a military vessel makes an innocent passage through the territorial sea, a violation of the Law of the Sea Convention, Lingo wrote. The U.S. demonstrates the illegality of those restrictions by making an innocent passage without prior notice or asking permission, he said.

As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all, according to Lingo.

The Chinese Ministry of Defense, which typically condemns these moves by the U.S. Navy, had made no statement on its website about the Benfolds movement by Wednesday afternoon.

The Benfold last carried out a freedom-of-navigation operation in January when it steamed past the Paracels and the Spratly Islands, another scattered group of small features farther south and about 200 miles off the Philippine coast.

The Chinese military said it warned the Benfold off in January, a claim the Navy called false.
A statue of Sugawara no Michizane as a child holding a surfboard stands in the precincts of a shrine overlooking Suma Beach, a spot crowded with beachgoers during the summer.

Sugawara no Michizane, a powerful aristocrat who lived in the late 9th to early 10th century, was deified after his death and is widely worshipped throughout Japan as Tenjin, the patron deity of academics. Because of the popularity of this deity, Tsunashiki Tenmangu shrine in Kobe is known to many locals as Tenjin of Suma, and many students visit to pray for success on entrance exams.

But why does the patron deity of academics hold a surfboard? Is it because the shrine is near a beach?

Michizane was an influential politician and scholar in Kyoto, but he was transferred to Dazaifu in the Kyushu region because of a false rumor that he was plotting treason. It is said that as he was sailing to Kyushu, he was met with rough seas caused by a storm off Suma, and he took shelter in the area. Legend has it that the local residents made a round seat cushion out of rope to serve as a rug for Michizane and there entertained him.

This episode is the origin of the shrines name, Tsunashiki, which means to lay a rope in Japanese.

The Tsunashiki Tenmangu shrine was founded in 979, giving it a relatively long history even compared with the many other shrines throughout Japan named Tenmangu or Tenjin shrine that celebrate the scholar.

But despite this lofty pedigree, Tsunashiki Tenmangu is home to many quirky and objects. The statue of Michizane holding a surfboard is one such example. It takes for its inspiration the legend around the scholar overcoming rough seas, says Keita Kunogi, the 56-year-old priest of the shrine.

Hes praying that we may ride the waves of life, said Kunogi.

In the stone pavement leading to the precincts of the temple, there are two surfboard-shaped stones said to be lucky charms; if you stand on these stones, you will be able to catch a good wave, according to the shrine.

In front of the main shrine building, there is an artistic reproduction of Michizanes legendary round seat of rope, but even more eye-catching is a giant purple eggplant. It is also a lucky charm, touted to make any wish come true if a visitor sits on it, according to the shrine.

Eggplant blossoms bear fruit without any wasted energy. You will achieve your great desire, said Kunogi, laughing at a pun on the Japanese word for eggplant and clearly enjoying the joke.

More than 50 colorful wooden statuettes of uso birds, or Eurasian bullfinches, are lined up at the amulet and lucky charm stand. These, too, come from a legend about Michizane - when he was attacked by a swarm of bees, he was saved by the bird.

The statuettes are popular for their social media appeal, and there is no end to the number of people snapping pictures of them. They have been made by hand by the staff of the shrine for the past five years.

The shrine got its upbeat atmosphere in the aftermath of tragedy: The 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake caused severe damage to the shrine, including causing the collapse of the main shrine building and the torii gate. Kunogi had taken over as shrine priest at the age of 29, a year before the earthquake. He was determined to offer upbeat topics for conversation, trying to cheer up the community and pull it out of its dejection. The shrine staff began to devise ways to attract more visitors, even as the shrine underwent major renovations.

I want people to feel close to the shrine, and I hope those who visit our shrine feel motivated to do their best again, Kunogi said.

Visitors to shrines and temples often get a stamp called a goshuin to commemorate the visit. Tsunashiki Tenmangu has about 70 different goshuin; it changes the design every month.

The shrine is also a prime spot during the Shichi-go-san festival, celebrating the growth of children. Young visitors dress up in clothes from the time of Michizane or in junihitoe, the formal attire of ancient female nobles.

I cant wait to see what kind of playful spirit I will encounter on my next visit.
NAHA, Okinawa  A teacher and a school nurse with the Department of Defense Education Activity pleaded guilty in Naha District Court on Tuesday to possessing and cultivating cannabis at their home in Okinawa.

John R. Gouldman, 59, a teacher at Kadena Middle School, and Holly A. Gouldman, 57, a nurse at Kubasaki High School at Camp Foster, were indicted June 7 for having cannabis at their home in Chatan. John Gouldman was indicted June 30 on an additional charge of cultivating cannabis, according to the prosecutor at Naha District Court on Tuesday.

The Gouldmans pleaded guilty to Judge Hironobu Ono. John Gouldman told Ono the cannabis was only for medicinal reasons.

John Gouldman admitted possession of over 5 ounces of dried cannabis and cultivating 32 cannabis plants to relieve shoulder pain. He recommended that Holly Gouldman, his wife, use cannabis after she had a surgery on her knee in September, he told the court.

Holly Gouldman was charged with possession of just over an ounce of cannabis.

The Gouldmans expressed remorse in court. John Gouldman apologized for having modeled disobedience to my students and violated the trust of their parents, as well as embarrassing his family on Okinawa.

Holly Gouldmann said she was very sorry. To the court and the people of Okinawa.  I am ashamed, and I will be a stronger person in the future and make better decisions and never do anything like this again.

The prosecutor demanded 2  years in prison for John and one year for Holly, saying that strict punishment is appropriate.

Their defense attorneys requested suspended sentences because the couple used cannabis at home for medicinal purposes and not for distribution. Sentencing is scheduled on July 20.

Local police acted on a tip from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and arrested the Gouldmans on May 17 on suspicion of cannabis possession, then arrested them again June 8 on suspicion of cultivating the plant.
YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. The State Department of the United States of America has expressed support to the ongoing process of normalizing the relations between Armenia and Turkey.

The United States strongly supports the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations which will positively affect the entire region. The Armenian-Turkish dialogue has a potential to increase regional stability, curb adverse impact and lead to a greater economic development that is beneficial to all, the State Department said in response to the inquiry of Voice of America relating to the Armenia-Turkey normalization process and the recent telephone conversation between the Armenian Prime Minister and the Turkish President.

The State Department said that the dialogue between Armenia and Turkey is important especially today, given the developments happening in Ukraine. It added that the United States is ready to support this important dialogue in a way that both parties consider appropriate.
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  New COVID-19 cases among U.S. military personnel stationed in South Korea have nearly tripled as infections in the country have soared to levels not seen since May.

U.S. Forces Korea counted 157 new infections in the week ending Monday, according to an update on its website. Nine of those cases were people who recently arrived on the peninsula.

The command reported 56 new cases from June 28 to July 4, close to the previous low for the year thus far of 50 infections between June 14 and 20.

South Korea reported 40,266 new cases on Tuesday, up from 19,371 from the same day the previous week, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

South Koreas caseload has jumped to levels not seen since it lifted its outdoor mask mandate in May. The KDCA reported its one-day record of 621,328 new infections on March 17 and 18.6 million cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

The surge is due to COVID-19s omicron subvariant, BA.5, which is starting now faster than we expected, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a meeting Wednesday at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

The BA.5 and BA.4 subvariants represent 80% of new COVID-19 cases in the United States and preliminary studies indicate they may have some increased ability to escape immunity, including from prior infections, according to a fact sheet from the White House on Tuesday.

Han said South Korean health officials expect infections to rise to 200,000 cases daily in August and September.

The virus is smuggled into the crack or chance of inattention, Han said. Again, the government calls upon the people to thoroughly maintain the basic COVID-19 prevention and control guidance.

South Korea lifted some of its social distancing restrictions but still requires face masks on buses and subways. USFK, which has about 28,500 troops, has rescinded nearly all its social distancing regulations, including its mandatory face mask policy on military bases. U.S. personnel are expected to adhere to South Korean restrictions while outside U.S. bases.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
NATO will add missile defense assets along the alliances eastern borders to guard against any potential threats that arise from Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Air Force and NATO officials said Wednesday.

The strategy is called air shielding, an expression coined during last months meeting of NATO leaders in Madrid, said German Brig. Gen. Christoph Pliet, deputy chief of staff operations at NATO Allied Air Command headquarters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The idea is to deter and shield against any possible Russian aggression, Pliet said, going beyond what NATO already has employed on the eastern flank since the Feb. 24 invasion.

Additional assets will be deployed for four to six months at a time, shoring up an area from Turkey to the Baltic states, Pliet said, while speaking with reporters alongside Maj. Gen. Joel L. Carey, U.S. Air Forces in Europe  Air Forces Africa director of operations, strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.

NATO partners will add both air and ground-based air defense assets and the supporting enablers needed for rotational forces, Carey said. Officials didnt go into details on the number of additional troops that would rotate east.

Earlier this month, Air Force F-35s, deployed from the U.S. to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, were sent on to Amari Air Base in Estonia. Beyond traditional air policing patrols, theyll be able to react on very short notice from multiple locations, Pliet said.

Some ground-based air defense systems have been deployed as well, Pliet said, though he did not disclose where.

Theres no indication Russia intends to attack NATO territory anytime soon, Pliet said.

But the stepped-up use of missiles, drones and combat aircraft near the borders of NATO countries increases the chances of a miscalculation, or loss of guidance or control, NATO has said.

We are currently in a shield, Pliet said. If a miscalculation occurs, we want to intercept, interrogate and escort the aircraft out of NATO airspace.

He said the war in Ukraine has brought back the sense of unity to the alliance and helps us elevate to a new level, helps us to challenge any threats that we might see in NATO.
The European Union told member states that sanctioned goods transiting from Russia are not prohibited if they're moving by rail, in a move that may calm tensions with Moscow over its Kaliningrad exclave.

National authorities still have the right to conduct checks -- including on rail cargo -- for sanctioned military and dual-use goods, which are banned regardless of the mode of transport, the bloc said. Member states need to ensure transit volumes are in line with previous years to ensure there is no circumvention of sanctions. The EU also reaffirmed that sanctioned goods may not be moved by road.

"This guidance confirms that the transit of sanctioned goods by road with Russian operators is not allowed under the EU measures," the EU said in a statement after Lithuania sought clarification on the issue, which affects the transit of goods to Russia's Baltic territory. "No such similar prohibition exists for rail transport, without prejudice to member states' obligation to perform effective controls."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova welcomed the EU statement as a show of realism and common sense, the state-run Tass news agency reported. She said Moscow still has questions about the details and will monitor implementation closely.

Lithuania's Foreign Ministry said the bloc's original guidance was acceptable and understands that the newer language may give the unfounded impression that the EU is softening its approach.

Sanctions agreed unanimously by the bloc's member states prohibit banned goods from transiting between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia through the EU, and it falls on member nations to ensure that the measures are enforced by carrying out checks, the European Commission said in a Q&A document last month.

The EU's executive arm had stated through its chief spokesperson that Lithuania was correctly implementing the restrictive measures that have been imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

In its new guidance, the EU said member states must also ensure that sanctioned goods that have illegally arrived in any part of Russia cannot be transported onwards via EU customs territory. National authorities are under the legal obligation to prevent all possible forms of circumvention of EU restrictive measures.

"For that purpose, it is necessary for member states to continue monitoring the two-way trade flows between the noncontiguous parts of the Russian Federation," the guidance says.

The vast majority of trade flows, including the free transit of people, non-sanctioned goods and essential items such as food, is unaffected by the restrictions and continues to move freely.

Still, Moscow had threatened to retaliate if the restrictions, which include steel and luxury items, were not reversed. Bans on the transit of more sanctioned goods, including coal, gasoline and diesel are due in the coming months, further raising concerns of an escalation and a push by some to defuse the standoff.

Bloomberg had previously reported that a number of nations and officials were concerned that Lithuania was being pressured into effectively ignoring the sanctions and allowing banned goods to pass through its territory.

Lithuania has accused the Kremlin of waging a propaganda campaign over the issue, saying the restrictions tied to EU measures involve only a small portion of trade. Kaliningrad's geographic position between Lithuania and Poland leaves its population cut off from Russia's main territory, though shipments still arrive by air and sea.
A glowing orb, a back-slapping embrace, a formal handshake, or a cool, COVID-appropriate fist bump? For all the talk of oil, the most pressing decision for President Joe Biden this week could come down to choosing the appropriate greeting when he meets the Saudi leader he vowed to snub.

It's a decision that just got more complicated after Biden was caught in an extended handshake with Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and then couldn't seem to stop shaking hands of other Israeli officials during a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Holocaust.

Biden wasn't supposed to shake hands with any foreign leader during his first Middle East trip. It's a precaution aides said was meant to protect him from COVID-19 - but one that would conveniently help avoid a handshake with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the second leg of his tour.

It started off well, with Biden cautiously - if awkwardly - fist-bumping the Israel premier and several other officials after stepping off Air Force One in Tel Aviv. Then, after speeches, came the quick handshake with recently-resigned premier Naftali Bennett followed by the fulsome overture from Netanyahu.

That'll make it awkward to fist bump Prince Mohammed, widely known as MBS, without causing potential offense. The world will be watching the body language almost as closely as the statements and whatever photo emerges could haunt Biden the rest of his presidency.

Biden entered office vowing to turn Saudi Arabia into a "pariah" over the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist and government critic Jamal Khashoggi.

The decision was made to warm relations after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent gasoline prices soaring, putting domestic pressure on Biden. But the U.S. administration has been at pains to reset the relationship without creating a photo op that could haunt him in an election year.

When former President Donald Trump made his inaugural visit to the Middle East, he was pictured standing with the Saudi king and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi around a glowing orb at the opening of a terrorism conference.

The unfortunate snap spawned a deluge of memes since immortalized on social media.

With the Saudi leg of the trip set to last no more than a day, opportunities for PR slip-ups of that magnitude could be limited.

The president is scheduled to meet with King Salman, Prince Mohammed and other members of the Saudi leadership on Friday in Jeddah after departing Israel. The White House has avoided saying whether the president will have any one-on-one interactions with MBS.

So far, there's no joint news conference planned, potentially dodging any photos that could make the two leaders appear too friendly, like this image of Prince Mohammed sharing a joke with Russian Vladimir Putin weeks after the Khashoggi killing hit global headlines.

Biden, who has called himself a "tactile politician," has done little to avoid handshakes even before his four-day trip.

He was seen embracing lawmakers during a congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday shortly before departing for Israel. He also spent more than an hour working a rope line during a trip to Cleveland last week, putting his arms around and taking photos with supporters.

It's hard to say how he might respond if confronted with Prince Mohammed's outstretched hand.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not answer directly when asked if the new guidelines around handshakes were a deliberate effort to avoid a photograph of Biden shaking hands with Prince Mohammed.

"We are saying that we're going to try to minimize contact as much as possible. But also there are precautions that we are taking because this is up to his doctor," she told reporters.
YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. From now on, with the technical support of Ucom, a number of centers of the Armenian Charitable Foundation SOS - Children's Villages will be provided with a high-speed internet access.

Internet access is necessary to meet the educational needs of the students of those centers and organize their pastime. In particular, online classes and seminars will be organized as necessary, and children will also have access to information available on the internet for a faster organization of their educational process and completion of the homework assigned.

As supporters of innovative methods in education, we have always tried to support educational institutions operating in different parts of Armenia as much as possible, so that every child would not be left out of the most modern educational programs and materials available on the net. That is why we responded to the proposal of the SOS - Children's Villages Foundation very promptly and with great readiness, said Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom.

Cooperation between the Armenian Charitable Foundation SOS - Children's Villages and Ucom CJSC is important and provides ample opportunities to support children and their families in difficult life situations. In particular, as a result of cooperation with Ucom CJSC, children in difficult life situations and their families are provided with the opportunity to benefit from the internet services using uninterrupted communication tools, which makes it possible to provide services faster and more efficiently, in particular, in the area of online education for children, online counseling, raising awareness in various fields, which has a direct impact on the self-sufficiency of the above-mentioned children and their families," said Spartak Sargsyan, the national director of the Armenian Charitable Foundation SOS - Children's Villages.

The Armenian charitable foundation "SOS - Children's Villages" began its activities immediately after the devastating Spitak earthquake in 1988. The Foundation is a child-centered organization whose mission is to help children in difficult situations in a family-like environment.
JERUSALEM  Joe Biden and Israel go way back. As he began his 10th trip to the Holy Land, he can look back on visits - as a senator and vice president  spanning almost five decades and nearly a dozen prime ministers.

I was saying to a couple of younger members of my staff, before I came over, about the many times Ive been to Israel, he said in December at the White House Hanukkah celebration. I said  and then, all of a sudden, I realized, God, youre getting old, Biden. I have known every  every prime minister well since Golda Meir.

It wasnt the legendary Meir, who led Israel from 1969 to 1974, hosting Biden on his first trip as president, of course, or even Benjamin Netanyahu, the longtime premier whose frenemy relationship with Biden goes back 30 years. It was the newly minted Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the former TV news anchor who is in his 13th day on the job as he greeted the president on the tarmac.

Biden landed in Israel touting his decades-long relationship with the country and reaffirming his Zionist credentials.

The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep, he said at the airport after disembarking. Its bone deep. Generation after generation, that connection grows. We invest in each other. We dream together. Were part of what has always been the objective we both had. Ive been part of that as a senator, as a vice president, and quite frankly, before that, having been raised by a righteous Christian.

Israels unsettled political scene  Lapid assumed office when the coalition government collapsed in turmoil at the end of June  means that the leaders will be navigating domestic pressures during a tightly scripted state visit, according to officials in both countries.

Lapids centrist party faces a November election and polls that show Netanyahu poised for a possible comeback. Biden, an old-school Democratic Israel supporter, is contending with the left wing of his own party, which has increasingly aligned itself with the Palestinians and connected the Middle East conflict to the struggle for racial justice in the United States.

Lapid, a centrist and Israels most moderate leader in more than a decade, is one of the few national politicians willing to endorse the possibility of an independent Palestine and the two-state solution that Biden has returned to the center of American policy. But the dynamics in both countries will take the most contentious issues off the table.

Some things are just not in the cards, said Dan Shapiro, President Barack Obamas ambassador to Israel and now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank. Any significant moves on the Palestinian issue are not possible during election season in Israel, adding that the current leadership could easily be gone in a few months.

In a joint statement Wednesday ahead of the arrival, Biden and Lapid announced the creation of a strategic high-level dialogue on technology. The leaders said the two countries will partner to address a range of issues including climate change, pandemic preparedness and the implementation of artificial intelligence.

Bidens trips to Israel havent always gone smoothly. Diplomats here still cringe at the 2010 dust-up in which the vice president nearly cut his trip short after the Israeli government announced an expansion of settlement construction soon after Air Force Two landed.

But a repeat of that sort of controversy  which Netanyahu at the time blamed on a bureaucratic mistake  is unlikely during the two days Biden is scheduled to spend in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

For their part, many Israelis view Biden as a throwback president, a staunch supporter of Israel who is neither the right-wing booster Donald Trump was nor the ideological scold that Obama was seen to be.

His relation to Israel, his relationship to foreign policy is different. Hes a realist, a practical man, said Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States.

Discussions between Biden and Lapid could cover very different ground than in the meetings between Netanyahu and Trump, who dramatically tilted U.S. policy toward Israel by moving the embassy to Jerusalem, approving the annexation of the Golan Heights and declaring West Bank settlements legal.

But like Netanyahu, Trump has declined to retire from political life. The former president is weighing a comeback run in 2024, and Israelis know that the current moment, with centrists in both Washington and Jerusalem, may be fleeting.

It has to be said, this may soon look like just a blip, and well have Trump and Bibi back again, said one Israeli official familiar with government planning for the visit, using Netanyahus nickname, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on internal discussions. Both of them could be waiting in the wings.

Biden and Netanyahu have a history going back decades. But Netanyahu infuriated the Obama White House by airing his complaints about the potential nuclear-containment agreement with Iran at a joint session of Congress. Biden, when he was declared the winner of the 2020 election, waited almost a month before calling Netanyahu, which many Israelis viewed as a snub.

Biden, as is customary, will meet with Netanyahu in his role as the official leader of Israels parliamentary opposition. But Israeli media has reported that just 15 minutes is allocated for the session and no joint appearance is scheduled.

The president will take pains not to be seen as favoring any of Israels competing parties in the upcoming election, Israels fifth in the last three years. But Lapids supporters relish his chance to appear at the U.S. leaders side just as campaigning begins.

The president will also meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. He plans to visit a hospital in East Jerusalem and is expected to announce $100 million in new aid to the Palestinian health system.

But those gestures may not satisfy liberal Democrats who decry Israels six-decade occupation of the West Bank. When fighting broke out between Israel and Gaza in May of last year, prominent liberals admonished Israel for its military strikes and called on Biden and United States to condemn its actions more forcefully.

We oppose our money going to fund militarized policing, occupation and systems of violent oppression and trauma, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who rose to political prominence as a Black Lives Matter activist, said in a speech on the House floor in May 2021. Until all our children are safe, we will continue to fight for our rights in Palestine and in Ferguson.

The dynamic has put Biden, an ardent and steadfast supporter of Israel, at odds with a growing contingent of Democrats who not only refuse to shy away from criticizing Israel, but also have called for significant policy changes in how the United States supports the country.

Beyond the most prominent critics of Israel in Congress, several politicians who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and then-South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, signaled at a 2019 event hosted by J Street, a liberal Jewish lobbying group, that they would be willing to make foreign aid to Israel contingent on the country forging more peaceful relations with Palestinians. Biden, who participated in the event, notably did not bring up the idea of conditioning aid.

Still, Israel has long enjoyed bipartisan backing in the United States, and even as the mood toward the country shifts, U.S. politicians still overwhelmingly support it. In September, for example, the House of Representatives approved $1 billion in new funding for Israels Iron Dome missile defense system by a vote of 420 to 9.
Democratic House members have introduced two amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that would limit the United States existing diplomatic and defense relationship with Saudi Arabia.

The hope is to amend the NDAA to reflect Saudi Arabias involvement with the Yemen Civil War as well as human rights concerns regarding the treatment of their own citizens.

Both of the amendments have been co-sponsored and written by Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey. In one amendment, Malinowski and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York call upon temporary restrictions of arm sales to the oil monarchy.

Another amendment introduced by Malinowski, Rep. Ted Lieu of California and five other Democrats would require the Secretary of State in consultation with the Secretary of Defense to determine whether defense articles have been used in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition in substantial violation of relevant agreements with countries participating in the coalition, including for unauthorized purposes.

The house will begin to deliberate these amendments to the defense bill on Wednesday and vote on them later during the week.

The amendments come as President Joe Biden visits the Middle East. They also come amid strained ties with Saudi Arabia following the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Kashoggi by the kingdoms government in 2018, and an effort by Biden to reset diplomatic ties with the kingdoms Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Republican officials across the country, tearing a page from the ongoing culture wars, are launching a broad assault on the movement by big financial firms to use their economic power to curb climate change and address other politically sensitive national issues.

In recent years, big finance companies have used their clout to advance causes that are popular among liberals. The giant asset manager BlackRock, for instance, has voted against the candidacies of hundreds of corporate board members over their lackluster records on climate issues and called climate change a defining factor in companies long-term prospects. JPMorgan Chase, the nations largest bank, has stopped lending to new coal mines or coal-fired power plants.

Even though the positions dont satisfy many left-leaning activists, GOP officials are intensifying their counteroffensive, attacking the campaigns - often referred to as environmental-social-governance, or ESG - by threatening to retaliate against financial firms for their positions on the climate and other issues, including firearms sales.

@BlackRock is using its massive size to drive up the price of gas & weaken national security-all so BlackRocks rich executives can feel better about themselves, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on Twitter last month. The next Congress is going to take on this collusive racket.

State officials are moving more swiftly. This spring, Kentucky lawmakers voted to empower state officials to stop doing business with any firm that says it wont invest in fossil fuels. The move drew praise from other Republican officials, although the state hasnt penalized a firm yet.

Kentucky joins our growing coalition of states that have taken concrete steps to push back against the woke capitalists who are trying to destroy our energy industries, West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore said after Kentucky adopted the legislation.

Moore last month told six of the nations largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and Wells Fargo, that they might no longer be allowed to do business with the state of West Virginia because of their positions on working with the fossil fuel industry.

Texas has blocked a handful of financial firms, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, from bond offerings over the banks reluctance to lend to certain gun manufacturers and fossil fuel developers, including coal mines.

Late last year, Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder barred JPMorgan Chase from taking part in a $700 million bond offering because, he said, the banks lending policies on firearms violated the Second Amendment.

Peter Bisbee, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said the Republicans were seeking to protect consumers from the collusion of these woke institutions who are jeopardizing the retirement accounts of millions of Americans for the sake of pleasing woke environmental zealots, while also creating dangerous instability within our financial markets.

The financial firms have defended their choices. BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink said in his annual letter that over the long-term ESG issues - including climate change, diversity and board effectiveness - have real and quantifiable financial impacts but that BlackRock does not pursue divestment from oil and gas companies as a policy.

JPMorgan Chase told the Texas attorney general that it would not finance the manufacture of military-style weapons for civilian use regardless of a states views. And it said that it does not boycott energy companies but would make decisions on fossil fuel loans based on ordinary business reasons.

Preventing big firms from doing business in GOP states could come with a cost.

A new paper by University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor Daniel Garrett and Federal Reserve Board economist Ivan Ivanov argues that Texas state entities will pay an additional $303 million to $532 million in interest costs on the $32 billion in borrowing during the first eight months following the passage of two laws last September. Government regulation limiting the adoption of ESG distorts financial market outcomes, the paper says.

In a May 13 letter to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, JPMorgan Chases general counsel, Stacey Friedman, said that the firm would not lend to greenfield coal mines, new coal-fired power plants, or new oil and gas development in the Arctic.

We also restrict activity with clients who derive the majority of their revenues from the extraction of coal and coal mining clients involved in mountaintop mining, she wrote.

Yet JPMorgan Chase remains a large lender to energy companies.

In her letter, Friedman said that the banks credit exposure to the oil and gas industry was $42.6 billion, with an additional exposure of $33.2 billion in the utility sector. In addition, the bank had more than $100 billion in the finance and facilitation of clean energy projects.

But with hurricanes, floods and rising temperatures in places such as Texas, some argue that big firms like BlackRock or JPMorgan Chase must assess and address climate risks if they are going to manage their financial risks.

One of the other things were hearing is that the attorneys general are really betraying the GOPs long-standing belief in free markets, said the Rev. Kirsten Snow Spalding, senior program director of Ceress investor network, which advocates for shareholder resolutions. It is no longer furthering free capitalism but stifling it. It is interfering with free capital markets, and those on the right are putting their thumbs on market investments.

Conservatives disagree, with some saying that big financial firms have so much power that they cant accurately reflect what the free market would favor. In a June 29 letter to S&P Global Ratings, five Kentucky officials objected to the agencys decision to use unnecessarily subjective ESG tools in its new evaluations of the state.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said in an interview that the sheer power that is consolidated among the three firms - BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street - has caused the massive distortion in our public markets.

For years, investors have been attracted to index and mutual funds at big firms because of their low fees and broad diversification. Those investors have mostly given the voting power of their shares to the big advisory firms.

Shareholder activists have taken advantage of that, urging the firms to throw their weight behind social and climate issues.

This year, there were 226 climate-related resolutions proposed by shareholders and opposed by management, according to Ceres.

According to Morningstar, a Chicago-based financial services firm, even after a weak first quarter for stocks in general, $343 billion was invested in sustainable funds.

But the ESG trend is facing growing skepticism in Congress. Sullivan has introduced legislation that would require investment advisers with more than 1% of a funds shares to vote only upon the instruction of the funds investors, not at their own discretion.

The big three investment advisers - BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street - manage more than $20 trillion in combined assets and control around 25% of all votes cast at annual meetings. They are the largest owners in approximately 90% of S&P 500 companies. And they control between 73% and 80% of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market, according to Sullivan.

His bill has 10 co-sponsors.

The GOP is ginning up similar action nationwide.

The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a nonprofit that includes 27 Republican state treasurers and auditors in 23 states, was part of a successful effort this year to undercut Sarah Bloom Raskins nomination to the Federal Reserve. Raskin has already served on the Fed board and was deputy treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, but her views on measuring and accounting for climate change at the Fed made her a target.

The foundations website links to more than a dozen conservative groups, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). SFOFs five-person advisory board includes Adam Andrzejewski, who spoke at an ALEC conference in December, and Jonathan Williams, chief economist and executive vice president of policy at ALEC. The groups biggest donors include the conservative Consumers Research as well as Fidelity Investments, Mastercard, Visa and others.

The foundations chief executive, Derek Kreifels, said in an email that ESG standards were designed to impose punishments or rewards on the basis of compliance to subjective criteria. He said it was up to financial officers to make sure financial institutions and markets remain free of political agendas and avoiding investments that would harm their own states financial well-being.

The State Financial Officers Foundation filed comments opposing a Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rule that would require companies to disclose climate-related information. The foundation complained on June 27 that the rule was a violation of the First Amendment because it required companies to say they regarded climate risks as worth mentioning.

This proposed rule is the Biden administrations attempt to take power from the states by circumventing the democratic process and legislating through SEC regulations, John Murante, Nebraskas treasurer and the foundations chairman, said in the filing.

Beset by pressure, BlackRock has increasingly been offering clients the power to vote their own shares. Clients representing nearly half of BlackRocks indexed equity assets globally will now be eligible for BlackRock Voting Choice. Clients representing 25% of eligible index equity assets - $530 billion out of $2.3 trillion - had elected to participate in BlackRock Voting Choice by early June, the firm said.

BlackRock says this isnt a response to Republicans attacks. It launched a more limited program last year and has been planning to expand it. And BlackRock - which still has 70 people doing ESG analysis and a fiduciary responsibility to vote in 1,300 index funds - will still weigh in on shareholder votes.

But those who favor BlackRocks greater activism are concerned.

BlackRock last year voted 34% against management. The year before, 17%. They were moving in a good direction in terms of risk reduction, said Andrew Behar, chief executive of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group. He said the votes included climate resolutions, political spending and racial justice.

Now, Behar says, BlackRock seems to be reevaluating its approach.

It seems to me like BlackRock is seeing voting as a liability, Behar said.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump recently tried to call an unnamed witness in the investigation of the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot  an effort that the panel has since referred to the Department of Justice, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., its vice chairwoman, said Tuesday.

The revelation came toward the end of a hearing in which the committee zeroed in on the violent rhetoric and planning that flowed from a tweet by Trump weeks before Jan. 6 promising a wild protest. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., one of the panel members leading Tuesdays hearing, said what transpired was openly homicidal.

Raskin did not mince his words about Trump as he wrapped up Tuesdays hearing.

American carnage: Thats Donald Trumps true legacy, Raskin said. His desire to overthrow the peoples election and seize the presidency interrupted the counting of electoral college votes for the first time in American history, nearly toppled the constitutional order and brutalized hundreds and hundreds of people.

The Watergate break-in was like a Cub Scout meeting compared to this assault on our people and our institutions, the Maryland Democrat added.

Trump had vowed to end American carnage at his presidential inauguration in 2017.

The Founders, Raskin said, actually warned everyone about Donald Trump. Not by name, of course, but in the course of advising about the certain process that ambitious politicians would try to mobilize violent mobs to tear down our institutions.

A violent insurrection to overturn an election is not an abstract thing, Raskin said As weve heard, hundreds of people were bloodied, injured and wounded in the process.

Raskin appeared to wipe away tears as he revealed that Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell, who fought insurrectionists on Jan. 6, 2021, suffered injuries so critical that he will no longer be able to serve as a police officer.

Gonell, an Army veteran who has spoken to the committee about the insurrection, told the panel that nothing he saw during his time in Iraq prepared him for the Jan. 6 attack.

He was savagely beaten, punched, pushed, kicked, shoved, stomped and sprayed with chemical irritants along with other officers by members of a mob carrying hammers, knives, batons and police shields taken by force and wielding the American flag against police officers is a dangerous weapon, Raskin said.

Now Gonell must leave policing for good and figure out the rest of his life, Raskin said.

Stephen Ayres, who marched on the Capitol on Jan. 6, testified Tuesday that he genuinely believed the election had been stolen because of everything Trump said.

I was very upset, as were most of his supporters. You know, thats basically what got me to come down here, Ayres said, referring to the Capitol on the day of the attack. He added that he now does not so much believe the election was stolen, after deleting his social media and doing my own research after the insurrection.

Asked whether it would have made a difference if he had known the extent to which Trump himself had been told by his advisers that the election wasnt stolen, Ayres said, Definitely.

Who knows? I may not have come down here then, he said.

Ayres said that when he was in Washington on the morning of Jan. 6, he originally planned to just see the Stop the Steal rally but had no intention of marching to the Capitol.

The president, you know, got everybody riled up, told everybody, Head on down, he said. So we basically just were following what he said.  I was already worked up, and so were most of the people there.

Ayres said he thought Trump would be marching to the Capitol with them. When asked what made him decide to leave the Capitol, Ayres said it was after Trump tweeted a video at 4:17 p.m. on Jan. 6 asking the crowd to leave.

Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out, we literally left right after that, he said. If he would have done that earlier in the day  maybe we wouldnt be in this bad of a situation.

Another Twitter post, a dead-of-night tweet by Trump on Dec. 19, 2020, followed what was described as an unhinged meeting in which White House lawyers and Trump allies advocating conspiracy theories about the election  including that the vote had been stolen via Nest thermostats  shouted at one another for hours.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., one of the panel members leading Tuesdays hearing, said the Dec. 19 tweet served as a call to action and, in some cases, as a call to arms for many of President Trumps most loyal supporters.

He lied to his supporters that the election was stolen. He stoked their anger, Murphy said. He called for them to fight for him. He directed them to the U.S. Capitol. He told them he would join them, and his supporters believed him.

And many headed towards the Capitol, she added. As a result, people died, people were injured. Many of his supporters lives will never be the same.

On Dec. 18, 2020, an outside group showed up at the White House to meet with Trump to push conspiracy theories about the election and figure out ways to keep him in power. The meeting lasted more than six hours and was characterized by the Jan. 6 committee as a heated and profane clash between the group and White House advisers, according to testimony from six meeting participants and former White House staffers who said they could hear screaming from outside the Oval Office.

The outside group included Sidney Powell, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. (I looked at him and I said, Who are you? former White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified he asked Byrne.) The outside group pushed outlandish theories, including that Venezuela was meddling with the 2020 election and that Nest thermostats hooked up to the internet were somehow changing votes.

The group demonstrated a general disregard for the importance of actually backing up, say, facts, Cipollone told the committee.

Throughout the meeting, the outside group accused Trumps White House advisers of lacking the courage to continue contesting the election results.

I would categorically describe it as: You guys are not tough enough, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said in taped testimony. Or maybe I put it another way. Youre a bunch of p------. Excuse the expression, but  Im almost certain the word was used.

Jason Van Tatenhove, a former Oath Keepers spokesman who for years served as a close aide to founder Stewart Rhodes, portrayed the group as a violent militia that dreamed of and trained for a seminal event such as the storming of the U.S. Capitol to trigger a wider extremist revolt. He left the group years ago and didnt offer insight into Jan. 6 events, instead describing the general ideology and goals of the anti-government group.

About 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the insurrection, including members of U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. police. Rioters attacked law enforcement officers as they broke into the Capitol, set bonfires outside the building and protested efforts to officially declare Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.

One post on the site instructed people on how to get to lawmakers whom they viewed as threats to keep Trump in office. Discussions of the tunnels beneath the Capitol complex that could be used to find Trump critics in Congress grew more aggressive online as the former president riled up his supporters on Twitter.

During the wild, six-hour White House meeting Dec. 18, 2020, described in Tuesdays hearing, Flynn  asked repeatedly to provide evidence that the election was fraudulent  brought up smart thermostats. He made some comment about, like, Nest thermostats being hooked up to the internet, White House lawyer Eric Herschmann recalled in recorded testimony played at the hearing.

The notion that smart thermostats somehow helped Biden win might be one of the lesser-known conspiracy theories that made the rounds after Nov. 3, 2020, but it reached into the highest levels of government. Not only was it invoked during the Dec. 18 meeting, but Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark referenced it as he tried to pressure his superiors into taking action to overtusrn the election outcome.

If you have not seen it, white hat hackers have evidence (in the public domain) that a Dominion machine accessed the internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China, Clark wrote Dec. 28, 2020, in an email released last year by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Salty Cracker, a pro-Trump YouTube streamer, said a red wedding would be carried out in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

A red wedding is, in pop culture, a reference to a massacre.

The reference comes from the Game of Thrones series by author George R.R. Martin, which was adapted for television by HBO. The red wedding in the series refers to a gruesome massacre carried out during a wedding celebration that resulted in the deaths of multiple main characters. The phrase has come to signify violence and mass murder in popular culture.

The panel used the clip to show how some of Trumps supporters interpreted his messages and actions as invitations to come to Washington and commit acts of violence against Congress and Vice President Mike Pence.

The committee played a montage of right-wing influencers such as Alex Jones and Tim Pool seizing on Trumps tweet summoning people to Washington for Jan. 6.

One of the most historic events in American history has just taken place, Jones said in the first clip. He is now calling on we, the people, to take action to show our numbers.

Were going to only be saved by millions of Americans moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if necessary, storming right into the Capitol, commentator Matt Bracken said. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall.

This could be Trumps last stand, Pool said in another clip. Trump supporters need to say this is it, its now or never.

While the Jan. 6 committee has provided shocking information from inside and around the Trump White House, it has not revealed as much about the armed groups that supported him.

Testimony on Tuesday about the role of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in the Capitol attack largely echoed public court filings describing how the two groups coordinated in advance and worked with Trump associate Roger Stone on the day of the riot. Messages indicating Florida Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs led those efforts were produced in court months ago.

Raskin noted that he was relying on a recent filing from prosecutors for the allegation that the Oath Keepers brought not just guns but explosives to the U.S. Capitol that day. While several members of both groups have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, Meggs and other leaders are planning to go to trial and have refused to cooperate with investigators.

The Washington Posts Emma Brown, Hannah Allam, Tom Jackman and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
A statue of Mary McLeod Bethune was unveiled Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol, making her the first Black American in the National Statuary Hall collection.

Bethune was a civil rights activist, a presidential adviser and the founder of the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, which became Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. Her statue represents the state of Florida.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hosted an unveiling ceremony Wednesday morning, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla.; Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla.; and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., among those in attendance.

Since 1864, each state has been able to send two statues of distinguished citizens to represent it in the U.S. Capitol, constituting the National Statuary Hall collection. Since 2000, states have been able to remove and replace existing statues with new ones. A handful of states have done so, but until Wednesday none of those new additions depicted Black Americans.

The statue of Bethune replaces one of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith. The change was directed by a state law signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, in 2018. The Smith statue was removed in 2021.

The Bethune statue will be joined by others in the next few years. Virginia removed its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in 2020 and plans to replace it with one of civil rights leader Barbara Johns. In 2019, Arkansas decided to replace both its statues - of white supremacist James Paul Clarke and Confederate sympathizer Uriah Milton Rose - with depictions of civil rights activist Daisy Bates and musician Johnny Cash, though both of the old statues remain in the Capitol.

Including Rose's, nine statues depicting Confederates are still displayed in the Capitol: Joseph Wheeler representing Alabama, Alexander Stephens representing Georgia, Edward Douglass White representing Louisiana, Jefferson Davis and James Z. George representing Mississippi, Zebulon B. Vance representing North Carolina, Wade Hampton III representing South Carolina and John E. Kenna representing West Virginia.

Neither Congress nor the Architect of the Capitol, the agency that maintains the statues, has the authority to remove them. Under current law, statues representing a state may only be replaced with the approval of that state's legislature and governor.

Although the Bethune statue is the first of a Black American in the Statuary Hall collection, it is not the first statue of a Black American in the Capitol building. There are also statues of Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks, and busts of Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth. The latter three were commissioned by Congress and don't represent any single state. The Douglass statue was a gift from D.C.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., is trying to get Congress to commission a statue of abolitionist and Union spy Harriet Tubman. A 2011 Maryland effort to replace one of its Capitol statues with Tubman failed in the state legislature.

The U.S. Capitol was built using enslaved labor.

Bethune was born in a cabin in South Carolina in 1875, the daughter of two formerly enslaved people. She had 16 siblings and was the only one able to attend a mission school, the only school available to Black students there at the time. She then went to seminary in North Carolina. Bethune taught in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida before starting her own boarding school in 1904. In 1936, she began serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration.

She also served in his unofficial "Black Cabinet" and was a close friend of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a civil rights activist and helped start the United Negro College Fund before her death in 1955.
WASHINGTON - When President Joe Biden took office, one of his key pillars was a pledge to begin "strengthening and empowering the federal workforce."

Yet in 2021, federal workers were broadly less satisfied and less engaged with their work under the avowedly pro-employee Biden administration than they were in their final year under President Donald Trump, according to a study released Wednesday.

An index of job satisfaction and engagement across the federal government fell from 69% positive to 64.5% in the latest annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government assessment by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.

"It's a big drop and we saw that drop across most of the government" with scores down or flat in two-thirds of agencies, said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership.

Stier added in an interview, "President Biden is the first recent president that came out on day one that said 'I value public servants, we care about you, what you do is really important.' And still, we have a government that is just being crushed."

Officials pointed toward two possible contributing factors behind the plunge: Continued turmoil in the federal workforce over the pandemic, and dissatisfaction with appointed leaders - many of whom have yet to be confirmed by Congress.

The assessment is based on an annual poll of federal employees, called the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. During the survey period last fall, there was a resurgence in coronavirus infections, plus uncertainty about returning teleworkers to their regular worksites and about a newly issued Biden order generally requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against the virus. (That order has not been enforced due to court challenges.)

"After two years of experiencing a huge amount of work on the covid-19 front lines, responding to completely new missions they had never had to undertake before, at the end of 2021 federal employees had a lot going on," said Loren DeJonge Schulman, the Partnership's vice president for research, evaluation and modernizing government.

Officials at the Partnership and the Boston Consulting Group, which contributed to the study, added that comparable assessments of private sector workplaces also showed declines in the second half of 2021. But even so, one such study calculated a private sector employee engagement score of 79.1, which only 12 of the 71 federal agencies in the rankings exceeded.

"The administration is stepping up with a lot of targeted management fixes in a stressful environment. But the basic fundamental management issues - how do you get good talent in, how do you retain and develop it, how do you pay it effectively, how do you support innovation - those big challenges still remain," Partnership president Stier said.

Employees gave higher marks in the survey to their immediate supervisors, who generally are other career employees, than to senior leaders, many of whom are political appointees. Also, when the survey was conducted, many senior positions still were being filled only on an acting basis; only 55% of nominations requiring Senate confirmation were confirmed by year-end, Stier said.

"There's often an intuition that a change in administration from the last administration to this one, all federal employees were immediately joyous," he said. "Oftentimes, for most federal employees the president has less effect than their own agency leaders."

The drop in scores occurred despite Biden's moves to reorient the federal government toward its employees, including quickly revoking Trump administration disciplinary policies seen as hostile to workers. Biden also restored civil service protections to a large class of employees, increased the role of unions in the workplace, expanded leave entitlements, and made "strengthening and empowering the federal workforce" one of his top management priorities.

Because of changes to the survey since the rankings began in 2003, the decline from 2020-2021 cannot be directly compared with any other point in the survey's history - but it is notable in contrast to the previous year, Stier and other Partnership officials said.

In addition to their engagement and satisfaction scores, ratings for individual agencies include responses to survey questions about leadership, innovation, work-life balance, response to the pandemic and several other issues.

Among Cabinet departments and other large agencies, only the Veterans Affairs Department posted a gain over 2020 - from 70 to 70.2. Even NASA, the top agency in that category for the 10th straight year, fell from 86.6 to 85.1.

The Government Accountability Office led among midsized agencies for the second straight year with a score of 89.8, up by 0.4 points, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation took over the top position among small agencies despite a 0.5 point decline to 85.6.

At the bottom of those three categories were the Department of Homeland Security, the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Election Commission, with scores of 56.5, 60.9 and 56.8 respectively.
(Tribune News Service)  Some Kansas farmers haying last year found a potentially explosive World War II shell, and one rode around with it in their truck for months, Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said Wednesday.

The farmer had forgotten about the round until Monday, when they called their brother-in-law who told them to call 911.

"Which is good advice," Bellendir said.

Officers went to the home near Great Bend and found the 75 mm round, which used to be fired from a WWII-era M20 recoilless rifle. The large rounds were loaded from the rear of the gun. The gun sat on a tripod. The rifle could use different rounds, including explosive ones.

The round that was found had no fuse, but it was filled with a substance that could be an explosive charge. The round appeared to be sealed.

Bellendir said the round appears to have been fired.

The round had been brought to the sheriff's office gun range, where a member of the Wichita Police Department bomb squad picked it up Tuesday. The round is still being examined to find out what it contained.

Local historians told Bellendir the round likely came from training at the former Great Bend Army Air Field, now the Great Bend Municipal Airport. The base was used for training during World War II and closed in 1946.

Bellendir said it wasn't uncommon in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s to find rounds and explosives in that area, but it's become rarer lately. He said a grenade shell was found five years ago, and before that it had been about 15 years.

"I suspect there are many more laying around that area," he said. "Hard telling if they will ever be found."

He said people used to find belts of 50 caliber ammo around Cheyenne Bottoms, where pilots would drop bombs for practice. Bellendir said in the '90s he asked an elderly neighbor who had been an instructor at the base about the belts of ammo. The man told him that pilots would dump the ammo so that they didn't have to clean the machine guns on their planes.

Bellendir said sometimes in the past, explosives were also left behind by oil companies.

"If people find that stuff, call us, and we will deal with it," he said.

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With new omicron variants again driving COVID-19 hospital admissions and deaths higher in recent weeks, states and cities are rethinking their responses and the White House is stepping up efforts to alert the public.

Some experts said the warnings are too little, too late.

The highly transmissible BA.5 variant now accounts for 65% of cases with its cousin BA.4 contributing another 16%. The variants have shown a remarkable ability to get around the protection offered by infection and vaccination.

"It's well past the time when the warning could have been put out there," said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who has has called BA.5 "the worst variant yet."

Global trends for the two mutants have been apparent for weeks, experts said  they quickly out-compete older variants and push cases higher wherever they appear. Yet Americans have tossed off their masks and jumped back into travel and social gatherings. And they have largely ignored booster shots, which protect against COVID-19's worst outcomes. Courts have blocked federal mask and vaccine mandates, tying the hands of U.S. officials.

"We learn a lot from how the virus is acting elsewhere and we should apply the knowledge here," said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha appeared on morning TV on Wednesday urging booster shots and renewed vigilance. Yet Mokdad said federal health officials need to be push harder on masks indoors, early detection and prompt antiviral treatment.

"They are not doing all that they can," Mokdad said.

The administration's challenge, in the view of the White House, is not their messaging, but people's willingness to hear it  due to pandemic fatigue and the politicization of the virus response.

For months, the White House has encouraged Americans to make use of free or cheap at-home rapid tests to detect the virus, as well as the free and effective antiviral treatment Paxlovid that protects against serious illness and death. On Tuesday, the White House response team called on all adults 50 and older to urgently get a booster if they haven't yet this year  and dissuaded people from waiting for the next generation of shots expected in the fall when they can roll up their sleeves and get some protection now.

Los Angeles County, the nation's largest by population, is facing a return to a broad indoor mask mandate if current trends in hospital admissions continue, health director Barbara Ferrer told county supervisors Tuesday.

"I do recognize that when we return to universal indoor masking to reduce high spread, for many this will feel like a step backwards," Ferrer said. But she stressed that requiring masks "helps us to reduce risk."

LA County has long required masks in some indoor spaces, including health care facilities, Metro trains and buses, airports, jails and homeless shelters. A universal mandate would expand the requirement to all indoor public spaces, including shared offices, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail stores, restaurants and bars, theaters and schools.

Sharon Fayette ripped off her mask the moment she stepped out of a Lyft ride in LA and groaned when informed another universal mask requirement might be coming. "Oh man, when will it end?" she wondered about the pandemic.

Fayette said she was exhausted by shifting regulations and dubious another mandate would be followed by most residents. "I just think people are over it, over all the rules," she said.

The nation's brief lull in COVID deaths has reversed. Last month, daily deaths were falling, though they never matched last year's low, and deaths are now heading up again.

The seven-day average for daily deaths in the U.S. rose 26% over the past two weeks to 489 on July 12.

The coronavirus is not killing nearly as many as it was last fall and winter, and experts do not expect death to reach those levels again soon. But hundreds of daily deaths for a summertime respiratory illness would normally be jaw-dropping, said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. He noted that in Orange County, California, 46 people died of COVID-19 in June.

"That would be all hands on deck," Noymer said. "People would be like, 'There's this crazy new flu that's killing people in June.'"

Instead, simple, proven precautions are not being taken. Vaccinations, including booster shots for those eligible, lower the risk of hospitalization and death  even against the latest variants. But less than half of all eligible U.S. adults have gotten a single booster shot, and only about 1 in 4 Americans age 50 and older who are eligible for a second booster have received one.

"This has been a botched booster campaign," Topol said, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still uses the term "fully vaccinated" for people with two shots of Moderna or Pfizer. "They haven't gotten across that two shots is totally inadequate," he said.

Noymer said if he were in charge of the nation's COVID response he would level with the American people in an effort to get their attention in this third year of the pandemic. He would tell Americans to take it seriously, mask indoors and "until we get better vaccines, there's going to be a new normal of a disease that kills over 100,000 Americans a year and impacts life expectancy."

That message probably wouldn't fly for political reasons, Noymer acknowledged.

It also might not fly with people who are tired of taking precautions after more than two years of the pandemic. Valerie Walker of New Hope, Pennsylvania, is mindful of the latest surge but is hardly alarmed.

"I was definitely concerned back then," she said of the pandemic's early days, with images of body bags on nightly news broadcasts. "Now there's fatigue, things were getting better and there was a vaccine. So I would say from a scale between one and 10, I'm probably at a four."

Even with two friends now sick with the virus, and her husband recently recovered, Walker says she has bigger problems.

"Sometimes when I think about it I still put a mask on when I go into a store, but honestly, it is not a daily thought for me," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Bobby Caina Calvan in New York and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.
YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. This year Sevan Startup Summit will not take place due to technical and time-related reasons, Startup Armenia Foundation said in a statement.

Despite that we have found a new convenient area for the summit as a result of the joint work with the Sevan National Park and other government agencies, and have carried out major works since 2021 for the Sevan Startup Summit 2022 to happen, we have to inform that this year as well, due to technical and time-related issues, the biggest and the most awaited gathering in the region will not take place in late July with its scale and format as it is perceived by our ecosystem, Seaside Startup Summit executive director Vahagn Rapyan said.

Currently, Startup Armenia Foundation is working for holding Seaside Startup Summit Australia and SSSholidays India Goa this year in autumn. The organizers said that the preparations for the Sevan Startup Summit 2023 will start soon and assured that it will take place.
After Chloe Rogers (25) dog was taken, it vomited fresh blood. He had a large spleen tumour, bacterial infection, and had to be euthanised

Chloe Rogers, 25, of South Circular Road, Rialto, Dublin, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Animal Health and Welfare Act for neglecting her 14-year-old Japanese spitz dog and causing unnecessary suffering on September 2, 2021.

She has been ordered to pay 3,000 in costs and a charity donation.

Judge Anthony Halpin heard that the ill dog was surrendered to the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA).

After the dog was taken, it vomited fresh blood. He had a large spleen tumour, bacterial infection, and endocarditis and had to be euthanised, said DSPCA vet Elise OBryne White.

The court heard that the problem with maggots, which grew a millimetre a day, had begun 16 days before.

After hearing the vets evidence of maggots feeding on the dogs open wounds, Judge Halpin told prosecution counsel Matthew Holmes he did not wish to see the photographic evidence.

"I wouldn't be able to look at those photos; that's disgusting," he said.

The offence can result in a maximum 5,000 fine, a pet ownership ban and a six-month sentence.

Asking for leniency, defence solicitor Fergal Boyle said his client had never been in trouble before; she planned to move abroad, and a conviction could affect her career.

Judge Halpin remarked she worked in a caring industry "and had a dog being eaten alive by maggots."

Mr Boyle said she panicked and had attempted to contact a vet before the dog was surrendered.

Judge Halpin also noted the condition of the pet's matting, adding, "that does not happen overnight". He estimated that this case would have been a nine on a one-to-ten scale of seriousness due to the pain suffered by "the poor animal".

He noted, however, that she had no prior criminal convictions and warned her she was getting "one last chance". He said he had to consider that it was out of character and that she did not deliberately allow her dog to suffer like that.

He said he would apply the Probation of Offenders Act if she paid 1,500 toward the prosecution costs. He also ordered her to donate the same amount to the Little Flower Penny Dinner charity to help underprivileged people in Dublin city centre's Liberties area.

He granted her legal aid and adjourned the case until September.
He accepted that intoxication was not a defence.

Paul Harrington (26), of Shannonharbour, Birr, Co. Offaly, at Dublin District Court where he was charged with sexual assault. PIC: Collins Courts

Paul Harrington (26), of Shannonharbour, Birr, Co. Offaly, at Dublin District Court where he was charged with sexual assault. PIC: Collins Courts

Paul Harrington (26) approached the woman out of nowhere and grabbed her forcefully on her private parts, leaving her crying and in shock.

He had denied the charge, claiming he accidentally touched her around the waist area while dancing.

Adjourning the case, Judge John Hughes said Harrington had been so intoxicated he was bouncing off and hugging total strangers before the assault.

Judge Hughes reminded the club of its legal responsibilities not to serve drunk people and warned a licence is a privilege not an automatic right.

Harrington, from Shannonharbour, Birr, Co Offaly had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman at the Harcourt Street club on July 7, 2019.

The victim told Dublin District Court she went to the club with friends after a Westlife concert in Croke Park. She had one drink in the club and was enjoying the night but began to not feel the best and went to the bathroom, asking a friend to go with her for protection and safety.

As she left the toilets, out of absolutely nowhere, a young man came right up to me, walked by and grabbed me forcefully on my vaginal area.

She was shaken and shocked and told her friend what happened. The victim was in a frozen state so her friend went to security and pointed out Harrington, who was brought over and said Im so sorry.

Outside, she heard Harrington say he didnt touch me in that area" but touched her back and shoulder. She was so shaken she just wanted to go home and when she did, she realised how unacceptable that was to happen and reported it to the gardai the next day.

In cross-examination, she agreed with defence barrister Shane Geraghty that Harrington had not been pestering her or trying to dance with her earlier. It was a completely random incident, and a forceful grab on her private parts and nowhere else," she said.

Her friend told the court the victim was visibly upset and crying.

A security consultant at Copperface Jacks said Harrington was also crying and upset when told about the allegation and was apologising for whatever happened.

Garda Shane Monaghan said Harrington in interview initially said he did not remember what happened before saying I didnt do that.

In evidence, Harrington said friends asked him to come up to Dublin for the night and they stayed in the Harcourt Hotel.

It was my first time ever up in Dublin, I dont go out much at all, he said.

They had quite a few drinks in a number of pubs before going to the club, where he was dancing away. He had his hand out when he accidentally touched a person around the waist area, he said. He accepted there was contact but said: I never had any intention to do anything. It was just pure accidental.

When the victim made a scene and the bouncer called him over, he was roaring crying because he was so shocked, he said.

Cross examined by state solicitor Mairead White, he accepted that in CCTV he was seen stepping out directly towards the victim and stretching out his hand, but said he was just dancing with my hand out.

When the complaint was made, Harrington was bawling crying and did not flee, which was not the mindset of a sexual predator, Mr Geraghty argued.

Ms White said the grab was not an accident but deliberate.

Paul Harrington (26), of Shannonharbour, Birr, Co. Offaly, at Dublin District Court where he was charged with sexual assault. PIC: Collins Courts

Judge Hughes said the prosecution case was proved. Harrington had no prior convictions.

In a victim impact statement, the woman told the court she wanted to speak on behalf of so many women who dont have a voice.

She no longer felt safe by herself, was now extremely reluctant to go out and would go everywhere with either her boyfriend or closer friends, she said.

I am constantly looking over my shoulder thinking is something like this going to happen to me again? she said.

The accused, who also worked in Bord na Mona had never put a foot wrong before, Mr Geraghty said. He accepted that intoxication was not a defence. It was a sad case and a conviction could potentially follow him around for the rest of his life. He was prepared to offer compensation.

Judge Hughes said it may not have been the accuseds first disco but it was his first disco in Dublin.

Music, alcohol and crowds could result in people becoming less inhibited, but any tolerance there may have been of some behaviour in such circumstances was long gone, he said.

He noted the accused did apologise. The judge adjourned the case for a probation report and full mitigation before finalisation.

He also said he wanted to remind the nightclub of its legal responsibilities.

Judge Hughes told the security consultant a quick tot up of the drinks Harrignton said he had before arriving at the club was 10, with another couple of drinks there.

The security man said he would have been shocked if the accused walked through the front door with that amount of drink on him as staff were very strict, with constant monitoring.

Judge Hughes said on CCTV, Harrington was intoxicated, wandering around, bouncing off people and hugging total strangers. The possession of a licence is a privilege its not an automatic right, he said.
Mr McStay Murphy, of Foxdene Drive, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and failing to comply with garda directions.

Jake McStay Murphy of Foxdene Drive, Clondalkin, made a 200 charity donation

Jake McStay Murphy (20) became abusive when people were being moved on from outside a house.

Judge Treasa Kelly struck the case out, leaving him without convictions after he made a 200 charity donation.

Mr McStay Murphy, of Foxdene Drive, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and failing to comply with garda directions.

Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at Reuben Street, Rialto, on July 2 last year.

Garda Shane Monaghan said he was called to a house party and arrived to find a large crowd outside.

While he was moving people on, Mr McStay Murphy began shouting abuse and was arrested. He had no previous convictions.

The accused apologised for his behaviour, his lawyer said.

Mr McStay Murphy was in first year studying law and working part time in a shop.

He hoped to one day practise law and realised the effect a criminal conviction could have on this. His lawyer asked the judge to leave the accused without convictions.

You have to have respect for the law, Judge Kelly said. If you are going to be an officer of the court you cant treat the gardai like that.

As a law student, she said Mr McStay Murphy should have a greater understanding of this.
Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said he accepted that McCartney was in an unhealthy, coercive, abusive and controlling relationship at the time.

Lenamore Stables on the Donegal/Derry border which was the victim of an arson attack. (North West Newspix)

Lenamore Stables on the Donegal/Derry border which was the victim of an arson attack. (North West Newspix)

A woman involved in an incident in which more than 250,000 of damage was caused when an equestrian centre was firebombed has avoided jail after a court heard she was under the influence of her ex-boyfriend.

Julie McCartney, 35, appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court in Co Donegal where she pleaded guilty to handling a large quantity of stolen equine equipment.

The haul included four horse bridles, 12 harnesses, a saddle and 10 sets of reins.

The equipment went missing after a huge fire at Lenamore Stables in Muff, Co Donegal on November 4th, 2018.

Two showjumping horses, including one worth more than 100,000 were burned alive in the blaze while a person working at the stables was also injured.

The owner of the stables, Ms Geraldine Graham, was awoken after 5am after she heard a loud bang and found the stables on fire.

Her son Kenneth and some other staff managed to get five out of seven horses out of the stables but two perished while a horse transporter was also destroyed.

A victim impact statement from Ms Graham told how she watched in horror as sheets of perspex fell into the stables and noticed a horrific smell and saw two dead horses.

Ms Graham added that they could have all been killed in the blaze and how she will never forget the horror of the night.

Lenamore Stables on the Donegal/Derry border which was the victim of an arson attack. (North West Newspix)

A suspect was quickly identified after an earlier incident in which a man was asked to leave his bed and breakfast lodgings at the stables because he annoyed other guests.

Garda Declan Lambe said Ms Graham realised the man had given a false name and was along with Ms McCartney who Ms Graham knew personally.

The court heard that the accused had been attending the stables from when she was 11 years of age after being brought there by her grandmother for 'horse therapy.'

The couple were asked to leave and had walked across the border into Derry just hours before the huge blaze.

Gardai contacted the PSNI who interviewed Ms McCartney in Derry and she made certain admissions.

Lenamore Stables on the Donegal/Derry border which was the victim of an arson attack. (North West Newspix)

The stolen equine equipment was later recovered at an apartment complex in the Donegal seaside village of Greencastle where McCartney and her then-boyfriend had been staying.

She was later interviewed on five occasions by Gardai and admitted driving the suspect in the fire to the bottom of the lane to Lenamore Stables but did not know about the blaze until the following day.

Barrister for Ms McCartney, a mother-of-three, Mr Sean Magee, stressed that his client had nothing to do with the arson attack.

At the time she was in an abusive and controlling relationship with a man and one which could be classified as coercive.

READ MORE:

When later told about the consequences of the fire for the Graham family Ms McCartney was left "devastated", added Mr Magee.

He added that his client had known three generations of the Graham family and had now lost touch with them all as a result.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said he accepted that McCartney was in an unhealthy, coercive, abusive and controlling relationship at the time.

He placed the offence of handling stolen goods in this case at the lower end of the scale but one which merited a sentence of two years in prison.

However, in mitigation he said she went to Gardai herself and reported the matter, had entered an early guilty plea and is genuinely remorseful.

He added that she had already spent 82 days in custody and that this was a very sobering experience for her.

He added that she had been identified at an early age as having some special needs and this is why her grandmother had initially brought her to the stables.

Judge Aylmer noted she is now a careworker and that her employers have kept her job open for her.

He said this appeared to be a case where it was appropriate to suspend the entire sentence but ordered McCartney to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 12 months.
Tthe first alleged incident occurred during the time period when public health restrictions were imposed to combat the spread of Covid 19.

The investigation is one of two currently being carried out by Military Police into allegations of inappropriate behaviour within the ranks of the Irish Defence Forces during health restrictions imposed to curtail the spread of Covid 19.

The second investigation relates to allegations from a female private that she was the subject of behaviour from a non-commissioned officer that breached guidelines concerning respect and dignity in the workplace.

In a statement, an Army spokeswoman confirmed to the Sunday World: Oglaigh na hEireann are aware of the alleged incidents.

As they are both the subject of ongoing Military Police investigations, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

In common with armies across the world, the Irish Defence Forces retains the right to police itself under the 1954 Defence Act.

Military police can investigate and charge offenders at court martial.

According to our source, the first alleged incident occurred during the time period when public health restrictions were imposed to combat the spread of Covid 19.

The incident is alleged to have taken place at a Leinster based barracks and occurred following a passing out ceremony.

It is alleged that following the passing out ceremony, an unofficial function was organised at which alcohol was consumed.

Allegations of sexual misconduct towards female recruits in the recruit platoon are understood to have emerged following this function.

Our sources said: The unit involved should not be allowed train recruits again until the investigations are complete.

The second investigation concerns an unrelated incident at a separate military facility  which again is understood to have occurred during the context of an unofficial celebration.

It is understood the allegations arising from this gathering relate to issues concerning respect and dignity in the workplace  and do not include a sexual element.

The Defence Forces is currently in the midst of an ongoing review of allegations of sexual misconduct, abuse and assaults on female officers dating back a number of years.

In an RTE documentary last September, a group of female Defence Forces veterans, dubbed the Women of Honour detailed allegations of sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination.

The women's careers suffered as a result while their perpetrators were able to progress up the ranks, they alleged.

A large number of former and serving members of the Defence Forces have come forward with complaints of abuse within the military since the Women of Honour veterans group highlighted the issue last year.

An interim report summarising the complaints was made to Minister for Defence Simon Coveney earlier this year and was to be passed on to a judge-led independent review group which is examining the issue.

The Women of Honour group previously said it is disappointed with the format of the review.

It had sought a statutory investigation which would have the power to compel witnesses to appear.

In February of this year the Defence Forces launched the Defence Forces Victim Booklet.

In a previous statement, an army spokesperson said: The rationale for this victim information initiative is to support both the victims of a crime and to support commanders at every level in dealing with criminal offences.

The booklet's primary aim is to ensure that victims of crime will be treated fairly, and with compassion and sensitivity.

The document highlights to the victim of crime that they can, if they so wish, report the matter/ incident to either the Military Police or An Garda Siochana.

ENDS
Jordan had produced a document but gardai werent satisfied that this covered him to drive the vehicle in question.

Jordan, sporting an injured nose, appeared before the court charged with a single charge of driving without insurance at Downings North in Prosperous, Kildare on August 26, 2020  after a number of associated charges were dropped.

Sgt Brian Jacob told the court that Jordan was stopped at 3.15pm on that date by gardai conducting a checkpoint. He said the defendant was driving a 2016 registered Black Audi A6.

Sgt Jacob said the officers made a lawful demand of Jordan that he produce his driving licence and insurance.

He continued that Jordan had produced a document but gardai werent satisfied that this covered him to drive the vehicle in question.

He said gardai believed the insurance documents covered Jordan to drive a different vehicle while residing at a UK address.

When we checked it out, he continued, it was accepted that it did not cover him to drive that car on that date.

Sgt Jacob told the court that Mr Jordan had no previous convictions for no insurance. He said the defendant did have 16 previous convictions.

Most of these, he said, were for minor traffic matters.

Counsel for Jordan, Aishling Murphy, said she would be asking the court to use its discretion in not imposing a disqualification.

She said the court had already heard there was a policy in place at the time and her client was not aware this policy did not cover him to drive this vehicle, by virtue of the fact it was a garage vehicle.

Mr Jordan, she said, is not someone who gets behind the wheel without being fully insured, Judge.

He is a gentleman who is working at the moment in the horse trade and he needs his licence.

Troy Jordan in court last week

She said her client wanted to apologise to the court for his oversight and would ask that he not be disqualified.

Judge Cephas Power said he would deal with the matter by way of a 350 fine allowing the defendant two months to pay.

Jordan is currently appealing a five-month sentence and four-year disqualification handed down to him in February after being convicted of driving an English registered Mercedes without insurance at Prosperous Road in Clane, Co Kildare on May 19, 2020.

His appeal is scheduled to take place in December.

Jordan has previously been closely linked to some of Irelands most notorious criminal figures, including John Gilligan.

He was twice arrested by gardai investigating the murder of Latvian woman Baiba Saulite in Swords in 2006. but he was never a suspect in the case.

Jordan helped start The Viper Debt Recovery and Repossession Services in 2005, although he resigned as a director in June 2010.

During her unsuccessful legal battle with the Criminal Assets Bureau, Geraldine Gilligan told the High Court in 2008 that her only income was 5,000 a year she received from Jordan for grass.

Previously, Jordan has described himself as a horse breeder in his legal battles with the CAB. He is currently challenging a 800,000 demand from the Bureau and has taken his case to the Supreme Court.
John ODriscoll says he cartel have been hit from many angles

It comes as the OFAC sanctioned the mob in April following a major investigation involving An Garda Siochana, UK National Crime Agency, European police Forces and the DEA in the US.

"An organised crime group of the size of the Kinahan OCG took a lot of time to put together and will take a lot of time to dismantle. But these are the steps that are necessary, he told Today with Claire Byrne.

There is no doubt that the inclusion of the Department of Treasury and also at that event in City Hall, the US ambassador Claire Cronin representing the state department revealing that an award was being offered, he continued.

"I would say that it is having a significant impact. Some of that is obvious, he said.

"Organised crime groups survive on power and that power is achieved through wealth and if you remove the money from these groups power dissipates and that can have a significant impact.

He explained that the cartel is being hit from many angles.

Including the US customs and border protection agency which has refused many people access to the US based on their association with the gang.

That certainly restricts the capacity of the OCG, he said.

A reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the Financial Disruption of the Kinahan Criminal Organisation or the arrest and/or conviction of Christopher Kinahan Snr, Christopher Kinahan Jnr, and Daniel Kinahan, was also offered.

The Kinahan Organised Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement when the measures were announced in April.

READ MORE: Kinahan Cartel will use cryptocurrency to move cash from Dubai, terrorism experts claim

READ MORE: Kinahan Cartel 'won't go unpunished for their crimes, vows Justice Minister

READ MORE:Christy Kinahan Snr orders Sean McGovern probe as 'mole' suspicions run high

Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate.

In June, a leading US counterterrorism group claimed that the Kinahan OCG are likely to start using cryptocurrency to move its illicit profits out of Dubai.

Law enforcement will almost certainly be unable to detect illicit financial flows through the cryptocurrency market due to cryptocurrencys decentralised nature, they wrote in a recent report.

The Counterterrorism Group (CTG) further warned that sanctions alone are unlikely to stop the Kinahan cartel - and that the US will need to extradite the group's leaders to bring an end to the mob's activities.

"[The] sanctions will very unlikely disrupt the KOCGs criminal operations or impact its ability to generate funds due to its global illicit activities.

"The KOCG very likely takes advantage of weak anti-money laundering controls in the UAE to conceal the origins of its illicit finances, likely generating further funds for its criminal empire.

"Without extradition from the UAE, it is very unlikely law enforcement will be capable of stopping Christopher Kinahan Senior or his sons from conducting their international operations."
Abe has been successful in transforming Japans foreign policy from being Japan-centric to a broader multilateral engagement

Shinzo Abes demise has left Japan completely shaken, as it has lost a leader of reckoning. Though he was out of power, as a leader of a strong faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a repository of knowledge as the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, he continued to impact decision-making through his wise counsel.

Shinzo Abe has an illustrious family history. He comes from a family which has given Japan a Prime Minister, Nobusuke Kishi, his maternal grandfather and chief cabinet secretary, MITI, and foreign minister Shintaro Abe, who was his father. Shinzo Abe aided his father as his political secretary and in that capacity he was a part of many high-level delegations.

Today, while we mourn his death, world leaders eulogies stand witness to how he had impressed them. He has been successful in transforming Japans foreign policy from being Japan-centric to a broader multilateral engagement, thus, defining a role for Japan beyond bilateralism.

What Shinzo Abe envisaged for Japan is scripted in Utsukushii Kunie (Towards a Beautiful Country). When he returned as the Prime Minister in 2012, he laid out his agenda prudently. Realising that revitalising the economy was critical, and also the need to secure his country as the environment around Japan was marred by Chinas aggressive posture and North Koreas belligerence, he embarked on creating policies which would straddle both requirements. As a result, he formulated what came to be known as Abenomics, through which he planned an economic recovery. As part of the growth strategy embedded in Abenomics, he forayed economic engagement with the world.

Recognising that the age-old policy of seri-bunri, separating business from politics, had got dated, he crafted the doctrine of Free and Open Indo-Pacific as an anchor for Japanese foreign policy. He addressed democratic nations across the two oceans to converge and protect the sea lanes for the free flow of trade and services, encourage multilateral engagements and ensure the rule of law. In so doing, he created a leeway for Japan to expand its engagement in multilateralism.

Japan was not new to multilateralism as it was a member of a number of forums, such as the United Nations, the G-5, G-20 and East Asia Forum, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation. Shinzo Abes tenure saw brisk activity on Japans part in improving its image in its international outings. He worked relentlessly to change the outlook of both members of the Didue et (the Japanese Parliament) and the public at large. He was instrumental in crafting the National Security Council, reinterpreting the pacifist Article 9, and expanding its scope of the right to collective self-defence. This enabled the Self-Defence Forces of Japan to participate more actively in UN peacekeeping forces. While this was a remarkable overture from Japan at the UN, in other forums, too, Shinzo Abe, in his capacity as Japans leader, drove the implications of the fluidity of the regional architecture of the Asia-Pacific and built the narrative of the Indo-Pacific. The Free and Open Indo-Pacific gained currency and made leeway into the foreign policy of the United States, and by the time he stepped down, a sizeable number of nations had incorporated this into their engagements.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, popularly known as the Quad, was also formulated by Shinzo Abe, in which he aspired to bring four strong maritime democracies  the United States, Japan, Australia and India  to help secure the Indo-Pacific. The spontaneous coming together of these nations during the tsunami that rocked Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, and successfully catering to its needs, aided Abe in peddling for convergence of the major democracies, leading to the formation of the Quad in 2007. Unfortunately, however, it remained a stillbirth as Australia and India withdrew because of domestic compulsions. Pursuing his vision with conviction, however, Abe, in his second tenure, successfully navigated Chinas protests and Aseans anxiety to push for the Quad with a nominal security agenda and larger development agenda. The Quad has been under the scanner due to its informal structure, Chinas constant badgering and the question of deliverables. However, the summit meeting in May 2022 clearly put it on a firmer track. It is undeniable that Shinzo Abe was instrumental in shaping this through his charismatic leadership.

Economic multilateralism rooted in free and open trade and services witnessed Abes tenacity, perseverance and determination for a cause. The CPTPP, with most of its members from the Pacific region, aspires to be a gold standard agreement and incorporated new areas of economic engagement like intellectual property rights, labour and environment. When the US withdrew presumably due to domestic compulsions, it was speculated that lack of a heavyweight would lead to its death. However, Abes astute diplomacy enabled the establishment of CPTPP. The RCEPs formulation was mainly to do away with the noodle bowl syndrome created from multiple free trade agreements. In the formation of the RCEP, Japan faced substantial challenges from China during the signing of the agreement. Abe, at his diplomatic best, used his bilateral links with Asean nations and other nations in Asia to convince them to favour instituting rules and regulations for a liberal order. Thus, he prevented China from imposing its total dominance over RCEP.

If Yoshida is remembered for setting the agenda of seri-bunri; Nakasone for seeking to internationalise Japan; Shinzo Abe will be remembered for transforming Japans foreign policy into a robust multilateralism.
Taghi, who had previously been heavily involved with Daniel Kinahan, is currently being held in the Netherlands where he is one of 16 defendants in the Marengo trial

Taghi, who had previously been heavily involved with Daniel Kinahan, is currently being held in the Netherlands where he is one of 16 defendants in the Marengo trial in which they are accused of ordering six murders between 2015 and 2017.

According to the FBI, Taghi regularly had unsupervised physical and/or electronic communications with contacts outside prison with the help of one or more compromised prison guards while he was in Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Nieuw Vosseveld, a maximum-security prison in Vught.

Messages recovered from cryptophones show that Taghi was in contact with Italian mafia boss Raffaele Imperiale while incarcerated in November 2020.

Police believe that the pair were communicating about drug deals and deduced from other reports that Taghis son was in frequent contact with Raffaele on behalf of his father.

This year, a Dutch investigation codenamed 26Velp revealed that Jaouad F., the eldest son of Taghis sister, was trying to corrupt guards at Nieuw Vosseveld through bribery, blackmail, and threats in order to smuggle a phone inside for Taghi.

Despite warnings from the FBI, Dutch authorities allowed Taghi's cousin Youssef to visit him in the EBI and speak to him as a lawyer. The Ministry of Justice and Security said that they initially saw no reason to refuse Youssef entry to the prison.

Their first meeting took place in March last year and Youssef was arrested at the prison in October, accused of helping Taghi plan a prison break and passing on his messages.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) told the Dutch media organisation NRC that there were indications that Taghi could communicate with the outside world.

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This had been investigated, but no hard evidence was found as to whether and how this happened. Therefore, in March 2021, there was insufficient legal ground to refuse this new lawyer, they said.

The trial for two men charged with the murder of celebrity Dutch journalist Peter R. De Vries opened in Amsterdam last month and heard of the text messages sent between the hit team and an un-named overlord who ordered the shooting in broad daylight.

Police suspect that Taghi is behind the De Vries murder and ordered his killing in April 2021.

The Dutch crime lord is a close associate of Kinahan and was a guest at his wedding in Dubai in 2017.

The pair were said to be part of a 'super cartel' that is believed to have imported a staggering 23 billion worth of cocaine into Europe.
Courts

Rush hour ruckus | Pictured: Two men accused of hijacking Tesco van to get back to their own side of town
The 49-year-old was reported missing on January 7 after her coat and bag were found on Donabate Beach.

The death of Dublin woman Bernadette Mary Connolly, whose body was discovered on a beach in Blackpool earlier this year, has been described as a mystery at an inquest in England.

The 49-year-old was reported missing on January 7 after her coat and bag were found on Donabate Beach.

A few weeks later, on February 4, a body washed up in Blackpool and DNA analysis confirmed that it was Bernadette.

The tragic mum, of Berwick Avenue in Dublin, was last seen being dropped off by a taxi at the car park of the Shoreline Hotel in Donabate shortly before midday on January 7.

She walked towards the entrance to Donabate Beach and, less than an hour later, took a picture on her phone of Malahide Bay.

Her coat and handbag, which contained her mobile phone, were later discovered on the beach.

An inquest was held at Blackpool Town Hall on Tuesday and reported by Lancashire News.

Senior Coroner Alan Wilson heard that Ms Connolly had no mental health issues and her family insisted that she would not have taken her own life.

The coroner said: Bernadette Connolly unexpectedly went missing on January 7. Her clothing was located on Donabate Beach and despite an extensive search she could not be located until the afternoon of Friday February 4 when her body was located by the seawall.

This lady had been found because the tide had receded and there was nothing to indicate she had been the victim of a crime.

"She probably entered the sea, but it cannot be established how or why.

This lady had a lot to look forward to; she had a new career, she didn't have any financial concerns, she had a loving family, she had enjoyed a nice Christmas and she had recently paid her health insurance. Did she die as a result of her own actions, or did she intend to end her life? I cannot say that.

An investigation, led by gardai with assistance from Lancashire Constabulary, concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances or evidence of third-party involvement in Bernadette's death.

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A pathologist was unable to determine a medical cause of death due to the extensive decomposition of her body.

In a report to the coroner, Bernadettes GP, Dr Ellen Jones, said the Dublin mum never expressed anything about ending her own life, adding that the day before she disappeared, she had made a not insignificant contribution to her health insurance premium.

The inquest heard that Bernadette, who worked as security personnel at Dublin Airport for 17 years, lived with her parents and her daughter Jade, who described her beloved mum as intelligent, independent and kind.

In a statement, she said: Our bond is unbreakable, it is so, so strong. We're the best of friends who shared many laughs, many cries, highs and lows.

Countless memories that will live on forever and I promise to make many more for us both. I wanted to say how proud I am to be your daughter. My teacher, my protector, my world.
14 terrorism-related arrests were reported in Ireland in the last year

Released annually, The Terrorism Situation and Trend Report details the situation and trends observed in terrorism across the EU member states.

On review of the past year, the report states: No terrorist attacks were perpetrated by Dissident Republican (DR) groups in the Member States.

Disruption by law enforcement and the COVID-19 restrictions has had a suppressive effect and the number of attacks in Northern Ireland continued to drop, with two failed attacks on national security targets reported in 2021.

One of the failed attacks mentioned was the March 2021 shooting directed at Enniskillen police station.

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READ MORE:Republican inmate kicked off dissident wing at Portlaoise Prison after phones and drugs find The report alleges that the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) were behind the incident which reported no casualties.

The other attack referenced was the April 2021 pipe bomb attack on an off-duty police officer in Dungiven which it has been alleged the new Irish Republican Army (nIRA) were responsible.

Further to this, the Europol report says that in Northern Ireland the main threat of terrorism comes from the NIRA and the CIRA.

Both groups rely on a support network of members active in Northern Ireland (UK) and the Republic of Ireland. 

Both the NIRA and CIRA maintained the intent and capabilities to conduct attacks, with police, military and prison officers as the preferred targets.

The report also says that Loyalist paramilitary groups are concerned about the repercussions of the UKs exit from the EU.

There is a growing perception in the loyalist community that their identity and culture is under threat.

It was further stated that DRs and other paramilitary groups, both republican and loyalist, engaged in violence and intimidation against their own communities.

Activities included drug trafficking, extortion, fuel laundering, and murder.

In 2021, there were 15 terror attacks reported in the EU, down from 57 in 2020.

Ireland reported no attacks in 2021, however, there were 14 arrests.

In total 7 people were arrested in connection with Ethno-nationalist and Separatist Terrorism, 1 person was arrested in connection with Right-Wing Terrorism and 4 people were arrested in connection with Jihadist Terrorism.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on terrorism was particularly visible in terms of shaping extremist narratives, Executive Director of Europol, Catherine De Bolle, said.

This has made some individuals more vulnerable to radicalisation and recruitment into terrorism and extremism. Social isolation and more time spent online have exacerbated the risks posed by violent extremist propaganda and terrorist content, particularly among younger people and minors.

The societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will stay with us for some time and we must remain vigilant about some of the long-term challenges that follow on from this unprecedented crisis.
The Sinn Fein bid to unseat the Government was defeated in the Dail by a margin of 85 votes to 66, with one abstention.

The Sinn Fein bid to unseat the Government was defeated in the Dail by a margin of 85 votes to 66, with one abstention.

The result, at 7.15pc, was better for the Coalition than many had expected, with the Government having substituted a confidence motion.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the Governments working majority was evident from the result, and Sinn Fein had inadvertently demonstrated that the Government would pass a Budget and ensure there would be no SF government next year, the year after that, or possibly even afterwards.

If the motion had been passed, the Budget would have been pushed back and the people would not get relief ahead of the winter. It was a good Government, he insisted, with the highest number of people in work in the history of the State and record FDI. Jobs were being created in all regions.

All change isnt change for the better, and Sinn Feins would be change for the worse, he said. In a few years there would be fewer jobs and less investment because SF doesnt understand how the economy works.

Earlier the Taoiseach faced into the Sinn Fein motion of no confidence by saying it was a debate between those who believe in tackling problems and those who believe in exploiting them.

Micheal Martin said: We are being told the Government has supposedly failed because it hasnt implemented its full programme in just two years.

"Last week Mary Lou McDonald insisted Sinn Fein should only be judged after 10 years and two full terms of office. As always, double standards are the watchword of this cynical opposition.

Ireland is a modern and dynamic country, with its problems to overcome. But those who denied the successes are simply showing that they have no interest in honest debate, he said.

They are proving that the progress of our country, and the future of our people, is not actually their core concern, the Taoiseach said.

Shouting not enough, more and what-about represents an approach to politics that is, at heart, deeply dishonest.

The two most urgent crises facing the coalition taking office were a historic pandemic and the fastest moving recession ever recorded, he said.

I promised that we would do everything possible to mitigate the terrible toll and to work to achieve as fast a recovery as possible. By any fair judgement. this Government has served the Irish people well on these critical challenges.

Ireland had been assessed one of the top three in the world for the resilience of its Covid response. It had the second-highest vaccination rate in Europe.

We got more right than the great majority of countries. If Ireland had performed at the average EU level, there would have been over 4,500 more Covid deaths.

If we had performed at the same level as the UK, there would have been 5,500 more deaths.

Ministers had to endure attacks on the vaccine rollout as a shambles, he said, but it was the largest public health mobilisation in Irish history, and frankly the glitches it had were minor. Meanwhile youth unemployment in Ireland was the lowest in Europe.

Sustained government action has helped our country emerge from recession faster and more successfully than most, the Taoiseach added, but the hard yards of working to ensure high levels of employment and a strong economy is something which appears to bore the Opposition.

The Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the motion was tabled because change was needed now more than ever. The Government was out of touch, out of ideas and now out of time, she said.

A Government that is unravelling before our very eyes has lost the support of the people. Last week it lost its Dail majority, now the Taoiseach scrambles to get the votes to win a confidence motion, she said.

The writing is on the wall -- this coalition is coming apart at the seams.

The coalition should go now and make way for a government that will finally put workers and families first, she said.

Not only has this Government failed to make improvement, but it has in fact managed to make a bad situation so much worse. This is especially true in housing, healthcare and the cost-of-living crisis that has literally pushed households to the brink.

The Government has no urgency, no vision, no capacity to grasp the severity of these problems in the lives of ordinary people, Ms McDonald said.

By any fair judgment, the Taoiseach is failing.

Far too often the message from Government to the people has been suck it up, get on with it, shop around, you are on your own. Well, that is just not good enough.

"People expect so much more from those they elect -- those who they pay very handsomely to get the job done.

Let us not forget this coalition came to office declaring that it would fix housing. This was a very bold statement that has not aged well. On the Taoiseach's watch the housing crisis has escalated to a housing disaster.

Darragh OBrien, Fianna Fail minister for housing, said however that Mary Lou McDonald had demonstrated that her arrogance was not just stratospheric  it has gone intergalactic.

It would take Nasa to track its progress, he added. Meanwhile Sinn Fein blocked progress and sowed discontent, he said.

Labour Party leader Ivan Bacik said the country needed a new Government and the people also needed a pay rise.

The tone of the debate was mock outrage and mock anger, she claimed, but the Government we need is one of the Left and that is not this Government.

Sinn Fein spokesman on housing Eoin O Broin cited homelessness and alleged policy failures on the accommodation crisis  which Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said had lapsed into a disaster, echoing the description of President Michael D Higgins.

Just one in two were likely to have become home-owners by the time they retired. Deliberate housing policies were making homes unaffordable, she said.

Paul Murphy of People Before Profit said the Government is doing a good job at representing the people who are profiting from the housing emergency and the cost-of-living crisis.
Martin Ward protested a new anti-trespass law at Glastonbury last month

Irish traveller Martin Ward has said that riot police storming a traveller camp in Milton Keynes is an act of racism.

Riot police descended on the encampment in Milton Keynes on Monday, just weeks after a new trespass law came into force.

Under new powers introduced by Pritti Patel, thousands of people from Traveller communities living in the UK could face penalties for parking their caravans on roadsides and unauthorised camps overnight if they cause significant harm, disruption or distress.

They can be fined up to 2,500 with police doling out jail sentences of three months for non-compliance after the bill came into force earlier this month.

While the Home Office say that they expect enforcement action will not be based on race or ethnicity, the Traveller community have expressed that they do not feel the same way.

Riot police, armed with batons, stormed the camp at Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes on Monday.

The school closed their doors to pupils on Tuesday, citing unforeseen circumstances.

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Two men were arrested during the three-hour raid which began when police closed off a nearby road at approximately 4 pm.

Moments after police arrived on the scene, tow trucks also arrived.

It has been reported that there were two cars and two caravans impounded by the police.

However, it was reported that there was little trouble at the scene and most of the group moved their caravans.

To see travellers get treated in the way they did, women and children crying men getting arrested and children saying mommy they are taking our home away, Martin told sundayworld.com.

I am absolutely outraged and disgusted by the way the travellers were treated by Thames Valley Police force.

I think Thames valley police should be ashamed of themselves for using this inhuman law against travellers I would just like them to know they are not going to get away with this.

This is now the time every Gypsy and traveller needs to come together and be united and tackle this law head-on until we spread the word we are not having it what this is an act of racism against the Gypsy and travelling community.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said: "A notice to leave the site was issued to those in the encampment at 8.30 am on Monday morning, utilising the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, as amended by recent legislation.

"However, this was not complied with, so officers entered the site to seize vehicles and where necessary arrest anyone suspected of failing to comply with the requirement to leave."

Martin, who is also from Milton Keynes, attended Glastonbury in June with Traveller Pride to protest the new law.

Speaking to sundayworld.com from Glastonbury he said of the new legislation: I believe they're basically stripping us of our human rights and trying to take away what we've done for hundreds and thousands of years across this nation and this country.

I don't think it's fair for the gypsies and travellers to be treated in such a way, he said.

It's not like we've been here for five years or 10 years. We've been here for decades. Our ancestors fought in the war for this country. We've got family and first cousins now from Leicester and Dublin and they're in the army over here, fighting for this country.
The news of his death has sent shockwaves through the local community.

The teenage boy was taken from the water by gardai and emergency services at approximately 7.30pm on Monday evening and later died in Dublins Temple Street Hospital.

The news of his death has sent shockwaves through the local community.

Several experienced swimmers who bathe at the Burrow Beach regularly, said it has become increasingly busy in recent years and most visitors do not realise how dangerous it can be.

Luke Tobin (72) has lived in nearby Offington for most of his life and he said the area to the right of the lifeguard hut on the beach is especially treacherous.

Mr Tobin said he swims at the beach all year around and while the shallow section between both entrances is safe, care is still needed.

"Theres a little jetty up there, but its broken and when the tide is coming in, theres a ferocious pull there, he said.

Theres loads of rough, jagged rocks by the jetty and two years ago I was caught there and my leg got all ripped. Last year I was swimming with my son. I spotted a seal and lost track of where I was and all of a sudden, I couldnt get out of this current. My son was gone and he couldnt understand why I was taking so long because it was January, he said.

It took me about 10 minutes to get two metre against the current. Theres just such a strong current against the rocks and yesterday the tide was coming in. It is very dangerous as the tide is coming in.

Hide tide at the strand on Monday evening was just before 10.30pm.

There is one manned lifeguard hut located at the Sutton entrance to the beach, but Mr Tobin argued more supervision is needed, particularly during the busy summer months.

If you go to Belgium or some place, theres lifeguards on a beach like this; theyre on the sand, right at the waters edge and theyre posted everywhere. If you turn around for a few seconds, somebody could be gone, he added.

As you walk onto the beach from the Howth side, the first thing you see is a sign which reads: Strong currents, dangerous currents.

Paula Smith said she is visiting the area, from the UK, and she has swum at the beach many times over the years.

Yesterday evening there were huge numbers of people coming down from the Dart Station in their droves, she said.

Yesterday morning funnily, somebody said to me the current is very strong, dont go out to far. The thing is its quite shallow, so you have to go out a bit far to get out of your depth... Its just shocking.

A woman who was swimming with Ms Smith this afternoon and who has swum at the beach for many decades described it as lethal.

Ive never felt safe there, she added.

Tony OSullivan (86) and his wife Kay cycle to the Burrow Beach from their home in Drumcondra regularly.

Its the speed of the current, the speed that it goes out that make it really dangerous. Weve been coming here for years and weve seen people getting into trouble before. Its a strange beach because the tide goes out kind of northwards and little islands appear. You can see from here the current thats created, Mr OSullivan said.

Its the only sad thing about the good weather that sometimes tragedies can happen, Mrs OSullivan added.

In a April last year, a 26-year-old a Saudi Arabian national, who was living in area, also drowned after he got into difficulty while swimming off Whitewater Brook beach near the Baily lighthouse in Howth.
It's a terrible tragedy, his family need the time and space to come to terms with the immeasurable loss they have suffered

A man in his 60s has died following a fatal accident on a farm in Galway earlier this week.

Gardai attended the incident with occurred in the Derreen area near Gort around 7pm on Tuesday.

The mans body was transferred from the scene to University Hospital Galway, where a post-mortem is due to take place.

Gardai and emergency services attended the scene of a fatal workplace accident that occurred on Tuesday, 12th of July 2022 in the Derreen area of Gort, Co Galway, a Gardai spokesperson said.

At approximately 7:10pm, the body of a man aged in his 60s was located on a farm in the area.

The body of the man was removed from the scene to University Hospital Galway where a post-mortem will take place at a later date.

The Health & Safety Authority (HSA) have been notified and will conduct an investigation of their own.

It is still unknown what happened during the accident.

Cllr Geraldine Donohue of Galway County Council said: "My thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and community of the gentleman that lost his life at this very sad time.

"It's a terrible tragedy, his family need the time and space to come to terms with the immeasurable loss they have suffered.
Seamas de Faoite was speaking after election posters of Sinn Fein, SDLP, and Alliance politicians were burned in the Cregagh area of east Belfast last night as part of the Eleventh Night celebrations.

A bonfire in the Cregagh area of east Belfast that reads "All Taigs are targets"

An SDLP councillor in Belfast has said that enough is enough when it comes to tolerating sectarian threats on Twelfth of July bonfires in the north.

Seamas de Faoite was speaking after election posters of Sinn Fein, SDLP, and Alliance politicians were burned in the Cregagh area of east Belfast last night as part of the Eleventh Night celebrations.

He said that the council and the PSNI must act to put an end to out-of-control bonfires that seek to stop people from doing the work that they were elected to do.

Unfortunately, it isnt the first time weve seen ourselves be targeted like this, he told sundayworld.com.

At the bonfire in Orangefield, there was a direct attack at my party in a neighbourhood where Ive done a lot of work in improving the area and improving the park itself. There was a large sign saying SDLP not welcome in Orangefield.

My colleague Matthew OTooles election poster was placed on the Cregagh bonfire alongside that sign that said All Taigs are targets.

I spent a significant amount of time around the Cregagh estate with residents there on a number of different issues. Im not going to step away from that work and Im not going to be intimidated away by people who think they can pose threats like this.

Any intimidation like that shouldnt be accepted and we as a council should be stepping in to act on that. We really need to come to a point now, 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, where we have to say enough is enough.

There is an onus on us as elected representatives in the council, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in Westminster to seriously take a look at our approach to peace building.

But its clear that more work needs to be done to take them on.

He believes that thugs who burn slurs next to pictures of politicians would not get away with this behaviour south of the border.

I was talking to a friend of mine who used to work for the Irish government and he was saying Can you imagine what would happen if this happened in the south?

Whether it was the case of bonfires being draped in Union flags, it would be condemned by everybody. It just wouldnt be accepted or tolerated.

Cllr de Faoite said that these actions do not represent the whole community, who are celebrating the Twelfth in good faith and its part of their culture, their heritage and tradition.

I know quite a few people  friends, family members  who've been celebrating over the last night or who have been involved in the parades and the events of today.

All of us are let down by these people who insist on putting effigies of people on bonfires or putting up posters that are designed to intimidate people out of areas or prevent elected representatives from getting on with doing their job.

It comes after Sinn Fein councillor Gary McCleave revealed his children asked him why daddy is on a bonfire after one of the Eleventh Night pyres in the city featured the politicians poster.

One of the Lisburn and Castlereagh councillors election posters featured prominently on the Highfield bonfire in Belfast, which he slammed as a hate crime.

As well as a couple of Irish flags, the pyre featured election posters belonging to People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll and Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan with the sectarian slur KAT painted on a board below it.

A large banner on the bonfire read: HF bonfire here to stay. F*** SF/IRA. Culture B4 cash.

Councillor Gary McCleave shared an image of the bonfire in the Highfield area before it was lit and tweeted: Tonight I am having to answer questions from my children who came across this on social media why their daddy is on a bonfire to be burnt.

This is not culture, it is a hate crime. Those within political unionism need to show leadership & stand up against this sectarian hatred.

Representatives from Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance and People Before Profit have all condemned the actions with some calling for unionist politicians to act.

North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said that his party Sinn Fein has reported various hate crime incidents to the PSNI.

"The burning of flags, posters and effigies on bonfires is wrong, deeply offensive and is a hate crime," he said.

"Sinn Fein has reported a number of hate crimes to the PSNI related to bonfires.

"There is an onus on unionist political and community leaders to stand up against these displays of sectarian hatred and make it clear that there is no place for them in this society.

"It is also deeply concerning that some of the bonfire builders are warning people that some bonfires they intend to light are unsafe.

"This highlights the need for safeguarding regulations which has become an imperative.

"No bonfire should pose a threat to the safety of people, property or the environment.
Shutterstock

Gone are the days when the federal government would cheer on Australias fossil fuel exports to the exclusion of all else, while seemingly doing everything in its power to hold back the switch to renewables.

Now we have a new government, the clean energy transition is accelerating. Labor is framing the transition not just as decarbonisation but as a green economic boom through manufacture of electrolysers, green steel, green cement and green fertiliser. If successful, this will amount to a green industrial revolution.

This radical new vision was laid out in Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses speech this week to the Sydney Energy Forum. He proposed a new era for Australian energy industries and exports as well as using our wealth of renewables to drive deeper involvement in our region.

It makes good commercial and climate sense for the federal government to target the Indo-Pacific for this green industrial revolution, since the region is already the worlds leader in clean energy investments.

As of 2021, our region accounts for over 80% of the worlds private investment in clean energy. India, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Pacific nations are natural partners for Australia in this new green push as well as leaders creating the market for clean energy and green products.

What does this actually look like?

For a sign of whats to come, look to the massive Sun Cable project, launched four years ago with early funding by Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes of Atlassian and Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Minerals Group.

The projects ambitious goal is to become the first intercontinental exporter of renewables, by generating massive amounts of energy from solar farms in the Northern Territory and transmitting it to energy-hungry Singapore through a 4,200 km-long high voltage undersea cable. Government backing will help it progress faster.

The project has gained strong support from both territory and federal governments, and is now attracting support from the Indonesian and Singaporean governments. Indonesias government has given in principle approval for the cables undersea route through its national waters and has approved the undersea survey permit. There will be spillover benefits, such as $A1.5 billion earmarked for a marine repair base in Indonesia.

Story continues

Sun Cable and other renewable megaprojects, such as Western Australias proposed Asian Renewable Energy Hub, show the move away from reliance on fossil fuel exports is actually happening. The Albanese government has signalled its intention to promote clean energy exports as well as green industrial development across the Indo-Pacific.

Our research project on the clean energy shift in north-east Asia has captured the progress made by major regional economies China and Korea in powering ahead with their own green transitions since the 2000s. These ongoing transitions offer major opportunities, such as exporting Australian-made green hydrogen to fuel cars in these countries.

Our clean and green transition is bigger than just renewables

Since Labor took office, weve heard a lot about our future as a renewables superpower. Often overlooked is the fact this would mean not just generating renewable electricity and green hydrogen at vast scale but also investing in new industries and processes to grasp as many opportunities as we can.

This would mean investing in upstream industries such as solar array fabrication and electrolyser manufacture, as well as downstream industries such as green steel, green cement and green fertiliser. These new green products would be produced using locally generated supplies of green hydrogen and cheap clean renewable power, as economist Ross Garnaut has outlined.

Green energy is no longer a niche concern. Australias largest companies are leading the way.

Andrew Forrests new spin-off company, Fortescue Future Industries, has begun constructing a $1 billion project building green hydrogen manufacturing components, cabling and renewable generation in central Queensland. This single project is expected to double the global production capacity of green hydrogen. It will make Queensland home to a new green hydrogen fuel and components export industry.

Read more: Will Australias new climate policy be enough to reset relations with Pacific nations?

If our new government can pull this off and turn vision to reality, we could embrace a new green growth economy and begin our own green industrial revolution.

Better yet, Australia could finally make full use of its abundant land and renewable resources to fast-track the clean economic development of our Indo-Pacific neighbours.

Green energy comes with security and geopolitical benefits

For decades, Pacific nations have seen climate change as the single greatest threat to their people. As a result, Australian investment in exportable renewables will become a key diplomatic tool as geopolitical competition between China and the US intensifies in our region.

China isnt standing still either. Until recently, China focused its regional aid and investment on traditional infrastructure projects such as airports, roads and stadiums. Now Beijing is ramping up its climate responses to the region, with climate change issues at the top of the agenda at the China-Pacific Islands forum held in 2019.

In light of Chinas growing green activism in the Pacific, the Australian government has a lot of ground to make up.

It should start with a major rethink of Australias traditional approach to financing energy projects, which has seen us support fossil fuel power in the region.

We can no longer keep propping up fossil fuels, with the costs of this support not only environmental, but geostrategic as well. Partnering with China on Pacific projects, as Pacific minister Pat Conroy has flagged, could also help.

Albaneses speech this week was promising. He laid out a very different role for Australia in our region  one where our regional engagement policy is in line with a new domestic policy on climate goals, and where renewable energy provides a means of deepening regional cooperation on tangible investment projects. Now comes the hard part: delivery.

Read more: South Korea's Green New Deal shows the world what a smart economic recovery looks like

This article is republished from The Conversation is the world's leading publisher of research-based news and analysis. A unique collaboration between academics and journalists. It was written by: John Mathews, Macquarie University; Elizabeth Thurbon, UNSW Sydney; Hao Tan, University of Newcastle, and Sung-Young Kim, Macquarie University.

Read more:



John Mathews receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2019-2022.

Elizabeth Thurbon currently receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC), the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), and the Commonwealth Department of Defence. She has previously received funding from The Korea Foundation and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). She is currently a Fellow of The Asia Society (sponsored by the Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and a member of the Research Committee of the Jubilee Australia Research Centre.

Hao Tan receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2019-2022. He previously received funding from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and funding from the Confucius Institute Headquarters under the "Understanding China Fellowship" in 2017.

Sung-Young Kim receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) and has previously received funding from the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS). He is on the Executive Committee of the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) and also on the Executive Committee of the Korean Studies Association of Australasia (KSAA).
Now, Id like to make people laugh again. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

COMEDIAN Al Porter has revealed he is set to make a comeback to the entertainment business after being cleared of being a sex pest.

The Dubliner also today details for the first time the personal trauma he endured over the past five years.

The 29-year-old was one of the biggest stars on the comedy circuit and had also become a household name due to his TV work before he abruptly left all that behind him five years ago.

The openly gay star had been accused of various acts of sexual misconduct, including one at St Patricks University Hospital.

However, two subsequent investigations ultimately found no evidence of sexual assault.

Gardai also investigated an sexual assault allegation made by a male in his late teens in 2016. But in November 2019, it emerged that no charges were to be brought against the comic.

Today, Dubliner Porter issued a statement on social media adressing the controversy and vowing to make a comeback.

Hi everyone, it's been a while. About five years ago I kind of disappeared. If you remember me and know about how my life changed beyond all recognition, youll have heard and read about it, but this will be the first time youre hearing from me.

I have a quiet life these days, very different to the future I had once imagined. Back then, I was a 24-year- old comedian with an exciting road ahead, doing the work I loved.

"As I write this, I am at the kitchen table of my parents house, where I live, in Tallaght. Im fit and healthy and a long-time sober.

Ive learned that people are a lot kinder in person than they are on a keyboard. Whenever I'm out, Im approached by people asking me 'Whats next for you? Many people also ask, What happened?.

Porter, addressing his fans on his official website, then summarises the trauma he experienced.

In November 2017, a series of tweets making allegations against me snowballed into newspaper articles, and eventually more.

Al Porter

"I took these issues in my personal life very seriously and I decided to walk away from all my work commitments as I couldnt possibly keep working and deal with everything else too.

" From the age of 19 my life had been a runaway train, I had been burning the candle at both ends, leaving me overwhelmed and unable to cope, he said.

At the time all I wanted to do was go home to my family, but I couldnt even do that as the media were outside my Mam and Dads house. In the space of 48 hours, it felt like Id lost everything.

Through a newspaper article, I learned there was a complaint of sexual assault against me made to the Gardai. I immediately and repeatedly contacted the Gardai, but it was a year before I was told what the accusation actually was, which I denied.

"It was another year before the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the charge against me. I wouldnt wish those two years on anyone.

In that time, I've had death threats, funny mocked up headlines saying I've committed suicide, that kind of thing. this is actually something my family and I have had to get used to.

He adds: When I was 21, I did a charity radio show at St Patricks Hospital in a glass walled studio in the foyer.

"In 2017, a complaint was made to the hospital by a former service user.

"Following investigation, it was concluded that when we posed for a requested photograph outside as I was leaving, I kissed this person on the cheek, while putting my hand on his chest.

That was uninvited and made him feel uncomfortable. I accept this and for that I was and still am genuinely sorry.

This all began with people tweeting about me. Some of these people were from the comedy scene in Ireland, which is very small and social, and I considered them good friends.

"Not only that, these were guys I looked up to. I was just 19 when we all met, and they were the older, more experienced comics.

"They said publicly that I had been inappropriate with them back then, some said that they laughed at the time, but they felt uncomfortable. I remember events differently and we remained in contact for years, messaging online and working and socialising together in person.

"Although I started getting higher billing, and some bigger gigs, I was never in a position of power over anyone, despite what some people may have written.

He admits his life has changed. One thing that is clear is they deserved a better friend. In the last few years, I contacted them because I wanted to send them each a letter I had written to them, but I only heard back from one person who I did write to in 2020.

" I know now I had to listen and grow up and make changes in my life. I should have been a better colleague and a better friend, he explains.

Reflecting on that time in my life, from 19 to 23, it's obvious to me now that I was hugely immature.

"Career wise, I was composed. But in my personal life I could be a mess, oblivious to the times I was obnoxious. I wasnt considerate enough of others because I was too busy thinking the world revolved around me.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, I was an idiot. I let my family and friends down. I let my partner down, who has been with me since before and through all this. I let my community down, Tallaght, the comedy scene and the LGBTQ community. I let down the people I worked with. And I let down the people who came to my shows and have always supported me. Above all I got a major wake-up call. I paid a high price and learned my lessons the tough way and in the most public way imaginable.

"When you last heard from me, I had been on the comedy scene for about four and half years, since I was 19. On that basis, as Im now 29, Ive spent the entire second half of my adult life growing, learning and making amends where I could.

He now says hes a changed man. But at the end of the day, nothing I can write can prove that. From here on, Ill let my actions speak for me, in my work and in my life.

So, what next? As someone who made their living making people laugh, Im also aware that I cant make everyone happy but, as they say, fail we may, sail we must. I would rather fail on my terms than sail on someone elses. Thats my story. A shortened version of it. There is a much, much longer version I could post, but I'm looking ahead to brighter days. Over the years thereve been offers to go back on stage, but I just wasn't ready. I expected the time away to be shorter, and the lockdown years played their part too. Now, Id like to make people laugh again. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. "Mine starts now.
An outdated playground on the drive through Coromandels gateway could get a million-dollar makeover thanks to philanthropists.

Thames Porritt Park playground, on State Highway 25, has been eyed as the perfect location for a destination playground.

With a significant amount of funding from an anonymous donor, the concept is expected to be the first of its kind outside a city centre.

Thames Business Association chief executive Sue Lewis-OHalloran says its an exciting development that will blow families away and attract visitors from near and far.

We want a playground that can be used by everyone, all ages and stages, regardless of their physical abilities or disabilities.

The rejuvenation idea came from two philanthropists who approached the business association earlier this year, she says.

The couple  who want to remain anonymous  have great connection in the community and have since got others on board, she says.

Sue wouldnt disclose how much the group planned to spend on the build but says it will be very significant, with room for fundraising.

Over in Hamilton, there are eight destination playgrounds costing $1m each, but few have been developed outside city borders.

Porritt Park went through a significant enhancement from 2015 to 2017.

TCDC acting chief executive Bruce Hinson says the council had no intention of funding a destination playground prior to this project.

The council will be contributing staff time ... and will take on the operating costs of maintaining the new play equipment and the Changing Places toilet once they are built, Hinson says.

The destination playground has the potential to include water play, flax weaving, barbecues, swings, wheelchair accessible features and a more accessible changing bathroom facility.

A renowned playground designer Philippa Muir has also joined the team, to create a bespoke piece, says Sue.

What that might look like, however, is hush-hush.

I cant show you it, but I can tell you its one of the most exciting things Ive seen in a playground.

I have a hunch it will be the focal point of the playground and will address a lot of the issues that the families are already telling me the want.

Community engagement will begin shortly at schools around Thames, before opening up to community groups and local businesses.

It's hoped the transformation will take place in 2023.

-Stuff/Sharnae Hope.
A man who waited more than 4.5 hours on the phone to Air New Zealand says the airline needs to introduce a permanent call-back service.

The company is facing the wrath of customers unable to reschedule and cancel bookings over the phone.

Six Air New Zealand flights into Auckland and four flights out were cancelled on Monday morning alone, as the school holidays began.

At the same time, the airline's call centre wait times averaged at least two hours.

Air New Zealand prevents online changes to some bookings, forcing customers - like Brian Robertson - to call the 0800 number.

Last week he finally cancelled a booking at the customer service desk, after days of calling Air New Zealand and going on hold for hours, as well as failed attempts in-person at the airline's regional airport customer services.

"I ended up four or five times on hold, for over two or three hours when I was travelling, or when I had time I would try."

Then he made his longest call attempt on Saturday, July 2 - but hung up after listening to hold music for nearly five hours through headphones all afternoon.

"I just couldn't wait any longer," he told RNZ.

"It was very frustrating."

He hopes Air New Zealand will offer a permanent call-back service to stop customers spending hours waiting on the line.

"That would be a far better situation. Or even if the people at the airport were trained [to reschedule bookings], I wouldn't mind it to get in the car and drive 10 minutes up the road to Palmerston North Airport and speak to people there that could fix the problem."

He says it's "really easy" to book new flights but "virtually impossible" to cancel those he did not need.

"I think that was probably the most frustrating. They seem to have the spending end good. But not so much the customer support end."

Six-hour wait to rebook

Another traveller, who RNZ agreed not to name, waited nearly six hours on the phone to speak to Air New Zealand customer services on Saturday night when their flight from Christchurch to Auckland, and their partner's, was cancelled.

They also say the airline "desperately needs" a call-back service.

"Along with an automated response telling the caller their position in the queue," they say.

"We were lucky enough to have enough time to wait on the line but not everyone can do that."

But the customer says "it's obviously a frustrating wait and instead of doing something fun on our last night in Christchurch, we ended up driving around and then just sitting at home while waiting".

"I honestly felt bad for the employee who answered our call - he was very helpful but it was clear from the tone of his voice that he was incredibly exhausted as well."

An RNZ employee also spent more than three hours on hold to the call centre late last week.

The airline gave a statement to RNZ saying about one in three customers are now calling before they flew, and calls averaged 50 per cent longer than pre-pandemic.

It says it has hired an additional 170 customer service staff this year and would hire another 70 in the "next few months".

The company accepts it's a "frustrating" time for customers and "stressful" for staff.

RNZ asked why Air New Zealand did not offer customer call-backs, and why it prevented online changes to some bookings - but received no reply.

Customers can check call wait times on the company's travel alerts webpage.

Throughout the pandemic, customers have expressed frustration at Air New Zealand's policy of giving credit, but not refunds, for flights cancelled by the airline.

But Air New Zealand is also offering credit to anyone who wishes to cancel their booking, and is wiping change fees, this month.

More than 10,000 customers have opted for this so far.

The airline services 20 domestic destinations and competitor Jetstar services five.

The government currently owns 52 percent of Air New Zealand ordinary shares, and it made a $1.5 billion loan available to support the company's cash reserves through the pandemic.

-RNZ/Sam Olley.
National leader Christopher Luxon is defending his comment about businesses being soft, laying the blame at the government's door.

Luxon has just returned from a 10-day overseas mission, seeking policy ideas from Singapore, Ireland and London.

While speaking to the right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange in London last week, Luxon said New Zealand needed to have more consistent micro-economic reform for "unleashing enterprise".

The public already looks to the government for all the answers and now businesses are "getting soft" and also rely on government backing.

Asked why he's criticising businesses overseas, Luxon told Morning Report that there was some great entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation among businesses but a government that is not empowering them.

"We've got a government that frankly adds cost compliance, red tape, doesn't support small medium enterprises whatsoever and makes their job incredibly hard."

The country needs a much more pro-business environment so they can grow but the government keeps changing the rules and people are not investing.

Asked again why he says businesses are getting soft, Luxon says there needs to be more businesses like Fonterra and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare that are of a global scale.

Reminded that New Zealand sat at the top of the World Bank's ease of doing business index, Luxon says in recent times the country's competitiveness and economic management has dropped in other tables.

In the last four years it has got "really tough" to do business in Aotearoa, leading to a lack of investment, he says.

He's impressed by Ireland which is tourism and agriculture based but also encourages its businesses to get out into the world and export.

"This [in New Zealand] is a government that frankly doesn't support businesses, it's a government that doesn't have many people that have run businesses."

Businesses need an environment in which they convert their commercial opportunities and can grow and become more successful globally.

NZ 'fearful, inward looking'

Regarding his belief that the rest of the world has moved on from Covid-19, he says none of his conversations in the UK, Ireland and Singapore were about the pandemic.

"Staying very fearful, very inward, very negative looking as I've said we've been in New Zealand for the last four years when we need to be much more ambitious and aspirational and positive and out there in the world. We've got to balance those things."

While the government has handled the pandemic well in 2020, in 2021 and this year it has been "a shambles", citing the vaccine rollout, slow availability of rapid antigen tests, MIQ and the traffic light system.

Luxon says with a health crisis in the country at present everyone should get a booster shot if they wanted one and healthcare workers should be able to test themselves before a shift (allowing the return of unvaccinated nurses and doctors).

The health sector had seen 30,000 cancelled surgeries and 57,000 people were waiting more than four months to see a specialist.

There are 500 unvaccinated nurses and 50 unvaccinated doctors and it will be a "pragmatic response" to allow them to work again, Luxon says.

-RNZ.
The Ministry of Health is today reporting 11,464 community cases, 729 current hospitalisations, and 29 deaths.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 9710

Today's reported deaths are in increase on the 19 reported yesterday.

T"he Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora  Health NZ are closely monitoring the continued increase in Covid-19 positive cases and hospitalisations as part of our ongoing review and updating of the response to the current community outbreak," says a ministry spokesperson.

"The increase in cases and hospitalisations emphasises the importance of everybody doing the basics well to help prevent infection and serious illness. In particular, people should stay home if they are unwell, take a rapid antigen test (RAT) and upload the result on MyCovidRecord, and isolate if positive or while still symptomatic.

"It is important to ensure to you are up to date with all vaccinations, including Covid-19 vaccinations. Many are now eligible for a second booster dose, and flu vaccinations, which are free for many people."

The ministry is urging people to "mask up to add another layer of protection".

"Wearing a mask remains one of our best measures to reduce transmission against infectious respiratory illnesses, including Covid-19.

"The more layers of protection we put in place - such as mask wearing, vaccinations, and staying home when sick - the more we reduce the risk of spreading respiratory viruses.

"Even if youre fully vaccinated, or have had Covid-19, continuing to wear a face mask is important in keeping you, your whanau and your community safe.

"As a general rule, we urge people to wear a mask in public indoor settings outside the home and in poorly ventilated spaces, or when it is hard to physically distance from other people.

"You must wear a mask on public transport and at transport hubs like airports and bus stations, inside public venues like museums and libraries, when visiting a health care service, and inside retail businesses like supermarkets and shopping malls.

"Masking up is particularly important when around more vulnerable members of the community, especially those who are older, those in aged residential care and healthcare settings where appropriate.

"Wearing a mask also helps protect our healthcare and aged residential care staff, reducing their chances of becoming unwell and supporting them to continue to provide care to those that need it."

There are many tips to help reduce your chance of serious illness this winter. See the information in the links below.

Covid-19 hospitalisations

Covid-19 Cases in hospital: total number 729: Northland: 14; Waitemata: 145; Counties Manukau: 49; Auckland: 93; Waikato: 56; Bay of Plenty: 49; Lakes: 13; Hawkes Bay: 25; MidCentral: 25; Whanganui: 13; Taranaki: 16; Tairawhiti: 4; Wairarapa: 10; Capital & Coast: 30; Hutt Valley: 29; Nelson Marlborough: 10; Canterbury: 90; West Coast: 1; South Canterbury: 14; Southern: 43.

Weekly COVID-19 Hospitalisations - 7 day rolling average: 643 (This time last week 454)

Average age of current Covid-19 hospitalisations: 63

Cases in ICU or HDU: 18

Vaccination status of new admissions to hospital*: Unvaccinated or not eligible (53 cases); double vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (79 cases); received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case (370 cases).

*These are new hospital admissions in the past 7 days prior to yesterday who had COVID at the time of admission or while in hospital, excluding hospitalisations that were admitted and discharged within 24hrs. This data is from Districts with tertiary hospitals: Auckland, Canterbury, Southern, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Capital & Coast, Waitemata and Northland.

Covid-19 vaccinations administered

Vaccinations administered in New Zealand

Vaccines administered to date: 4,028,821 first doses; 3,981,424 second doses; 33,489 third primary doses; 2,690,592 first booster doses: 120,651 second booster doses: 264,827 paediatric first doses and 138,247 paediatric second doses

Vaccines administered yesterday: 49 first doses; 47 second doses; 67 third primary doses; 964 first booster doses; 13,065 second booster doses; 63 paediatric first doses and 446 paediatric second doses

More detailed information, including vaccine uptake by District, is available on the Ministry website.

Tests

Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 3,887

Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 18,292

PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 3,299

Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last seven days as of 12 July 2022): 2.4 million

Covid-19 cases

Total number of new community cases: 11,464

Covid re-infection in community cases 469, of which 168 were cases between 29 and 90 days of a previous infection

Number of new cases that have recently travelled overseas: 355

Seven day rolling average of community cases: 9,710

Seven day rolling average of community cases (as at same day last week): 7,591

Number of active cases (total): 67,926 (cases identified in the past seven days and not yet classified as recovered)

Confirmed cases (total): 1,452,748

Location of new community cases by district over past 24 hours

Please note, the Ministry of Healths daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a District or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.

Covid-19 deaths

Todays reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1737 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 19.

Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today: seven were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, two were from Taranaki, one was from Hawkes Bay, one was from MidCentral, two were from the Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, two were from South Canterbury, and eight were from Southern.

One was in their 50s, one was in their 60s, seven were in their 70s, ten were in their 80s and ten were aged over 90. Of these people, 15 were women and 14 were men.

"This is a very sad time for whanau and friends and our thoughts and condolences are with them. Out of respect, we will be making no further comment on todays reported deaths."
A Tauranga Rottweiler that attacked a veterinarian has been freed, after a judge dismissed the charge against his owner.

Chopper has been in the Tauranga City Council dog pound since the attack in October 2021 and spent Tuesday night at home with his family.

Tauranga City Council charged Choppers owner, Helen Fraser, with owning a dog that caused serious injuries after he bit vet Liza Schneider during an appointment to have him neutered on October 14.

Frasers son Ryan Tarawhiti-Brown said the family were relieved and their hearts are full from having Chopper home.

Following a trial at Tauranga District Court on June 21, Judge David Cameron ruled the defence of total absence of fault was established and dismissed the charge against Fraser.

In court, both parties agreed the attack occurred outside Schneiders practice, Holistic Vets, and on the injuries that resulted.

The attack left Schneider with a fractured ulna, four puncture wounds, and nerve and muscle damage. The injury required a three hour surgery and a plate and six screws and left Schneider unable to carry out surgeries for five months.

The dispute was whether Fraser was liable for the attack.

Helen Fraser and Chopper on his first night home after nine months at the pound. Photo Supplied.

Schneider gave evidence that staff asked Fraser to leave Chopper in the car for examination because of concerns Fraser had raised about him being wary of small dogs.

Fraser said the arrangement was to meet in the carpark, not leave her dog in the car. She said she told the vet nurse she arranged the appointment with that Chopper was anxious in new situations.

I was never asked to leave the dog in the car. I just told that we were meeting in the carpark, she told the court.

When Schneider went to meet Fraser in the carpark, Chopper was being held by Frasers 13-year-old son outside of the car. She continued to approach Chopper and spoke in a loud voice to be heard through her mask, the court heard.

When the vet was within 2m of Chopper he lunged twice and on the second time, bit her arm.

Fraser said when this happened, she put her hands in Choppers mouth to release Schneiders arms.

The vet did not recall Fraser putting her hands in Choppers mouth.

In his decision, Judge Cameron said Schneiders evidence differed from Frasers in certain respects.

Dr Schneider undoubtedly suffered a traumatic event and it is to be expected that other less significant details immediately preceding the attack may not have been accurately recalled, he said.

On the other hand Ms Fraser, as a witness to the attack, had no reason to exaggerate those details.

I prefer the evidence of Ms Fraser as to what occurred. In particular, I accept Ms Frasers evidence that Dr Schneider got between Ms Fraser and her son and the dog and was talking in a loud voice.

Holistic Vets owner Liza Schneider. Photo: Bruce Barnard/SunLive.

When Schneider was questioned as to why she didnt ask for Chopper to be put back in the car, she said she didnt want them to put him back in the car because that would bring him closer the entrance of the veterinary clinic, which could have put other animals at risk.

She also said there was potential for Frasers son to be dragged by the dog while he was holding the lead that could have led to an attack on another dog.

Judge Cameron said the difficulty with that explanation was all the evidence pointed to Chopper showing no signs of aggression prior to his attack on Schneider.

There is simply no basis for there having been a concern about an increased risk had she required Chopper to be returned to the vehicle, said Cameron.

Schneider was also questioned by defence lawyer James Carter about the use of a muzzle to reduce the risk of an attack.

She said not all dogs were muzzle friendly and muzzles can cause some dogs to be very anxious.

Evidence was given from a witness about their Rottweiler, who had an appointment with Schneider at Holistic Vets in June or July 2021.

The dog was initially seen in the car and Schneider asked the witness to muzzle it. The witness said they had never owned or used a muzzle and borrowed one from the clinic for the appointment.

Judge Cameron said he found Schneiders explanation for not speaking with Fraser about Chopper being muzzled unconvincing.

To conclude, Cameron said: I consider that Dr Schneider was responsible for determining how the situation should be handled from the moment she walked out of the clinic and saw Chopper out of the car.

From that point, she was in a position to take appropriate steps to maintain and exercise control.

She failed to take any steps to maintain and exercise control, despite having every opportunity to do so.

Had she done so, the incident would have been avoided.

I consider that Dr Schneider put herself in a position where she was vulnerable to attack by a dog who had not been assessed for safety purposes, he said.

The New Zealand Veterinary Association has expressed its disappointment with the decision.

Chief executive Kevin Bryant said "We are disappointed with todays ruling. Liza is a highly regarded member of the veterinary profession both in Tauranga and across the country.

Natalie Picton travelled from Pukekohe to Tauranga to support Chopper at the court hearing. Photo: Supplied.

Since Choppers impoundment the community has rallied around Fraser and her family.

On the day of the trial, about 25 people gathered outside the court sporting t-shirts and signs emblazoned with the words free Chopper.

The Facebook page Chopper #saveChopper posted videos of Choppers arrival home which were met with thousands of likes and comments.

Tarawhiti-Brown says: My family and I are grateful for everyones love and support over the past nine months.

We thought we were fighting a losing battle at the start, until the community backed us and kept our spirits high and positive until Chopper came home.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Two people accused of murdering a Tauranga man will go to trial in two years. Kiri Mererina Pini, 40, and another man who has name suppression, appeared in the High Court at Tauranga via audio-visual link on Wednesday morning. They both entered not guilty pleas and have elected trial by jury. The trial is set down for six weeks in February 2024. The pair were arrested and charged with murder following a police investigation into the death of Mitchell Te Kani. A homicide investigation was launched after Mitchell was found dead at a Maungatapu Road property just after 10.30pm on May 14. Police were initially called to a disorder incident involving a group of people at the residential address. When officers arrived, they found Mitchells body at the scene. Prior to murder charges being laid, the alleged offenders were previously charged with aggravated burglary in relation to an incident at the same address earlier in the night. Both have been remanded in custody until a bail hearing on August 4.
The Conference Center at Fingerlakes Mall will once again fill with used books this weekend as the Book Faire sale returns for its 30th year.

Sale hours are 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 15; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 16; and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, July 17, which will be a bag day.

The 11,000-square-foot Conference Center is located in the west wing of the mall, 1579 Clark St. Road, Aurelius.

Proceeds from the sale will support the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia University in New York City.

Formerly known as the Book Bonanza, the sale used to support St. Joseph School in Auburn before the school closed in 2020. There was no sale that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, call (315) 255-1188 or visit fingerlakesmall.com.
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As part of a campaign supporting veterans, Tractor Supply Co. and the Farmer Veteran Coalition have awarded Marvin Russell, of Locke, $1,000 for his business, Finger Lakes Nut Farm.

The grant will help Russell grow his business of chestnut crops and educate people on the benefits of eating chestnuts. Russell served in the Army from 1992 to 2000.

According to a news release, the award is part of a nationwide campaign with Tractor Supply donating $100,000 to the FVC, including awarding $1,000 gift cards to 50 military veterans nationwide to support their agriculture businesses and $50,000 from the Tractor Supply Company Foundation to support additional programming and grants.

Each year, Tractor Supply partners with FVC to assist farmer veterans from all branches of service. In the last four years, the company said it has donated a total of $350,000 in gift cards and monetary funds, assisting more than 260 farmer veterans. This years 50 gift-card recipients were selected based on need to support their agriculture projects and businesses and represented four branches of the military across 32 states. The supplementary $50,000 donation from the Tractor Supply Company Foundation will provide grants to seven additional farmer veterans and support FVCs diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to support the journey toward racial equity in agriculture.

The freedoms we enjoy in America have been made possible by our active military, veterans and their families. We are honored to thank them for their sacrifice by contributing to causes that support the military community, Colin Yankee, Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Tractor Supply and former U.S. Army Captain said in a news release.
The 44th annual Myles Keough Paddle, Wheel, and Run, also known by most as the Great Race, returned to Emerson Park Sunday. It's the first tim
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Join Date: Mar 2022 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 33 Thanked: 149 Times

Re: Solo traveller on a group tour !! Manali, Kaza and Chandratal. Day 1

With almost 5 hours of journey remaining, woke up and witnessed some of the most scenic views on the way to Manali, one or two short breaks, music and a round of ice-breaking all of us settled down and now we knew each of the 34 fellow travellers by their professions/companies but not names, LinkedIn on the move.





View at daybreak, near Manali.



By 12 noon, we reached Manali, we were shifted to three mini travellers and then taken to our hotel, Snow Bloom Resort. Quick check-in and a round of chit-chatting three of us settled down, got freshened up and had lunch.



View from our room.



After lunch, we had a free day and we could go around Manali, we were dropped and picked up at Mall road by the organizers. With very limited time in hand, we decided to head towards the famous Vashishtha temple, known for its elaborate wooden structure and the hot water springs. the temple wasnt crowded, hence the darshan was quick and then we moved towards the hot water springs, one can keep their feet in these hot water springs. In the beginning, it feels too hot to handle, but once you get the hang of it is really soothing and can put you to ease after a long journey. After the visit to the temple, we did some cafe hopping and called it a day on the banks of river Beas, while enjoying the sunset.





View from one of the cafe's.





The river bank and the string of headlamps.



The day ended with the briefing from our tour guide on AMS, layering and the tough road to Kaza and not to forget the 5:00 am wake-up. (I didn't sign up for a punishment trip nor to be a part of the Tour of Duty)



Day 2, Manali to Kaza, 185KMS: The adventure begins !!



We started at 7:00 am, towards the Kaza.

First stop, the Atal Tunnel



North Portal, Atal Tunnel, a B.R.O. marvel, we stopped here for 30mins to take millions of photos !! #Julley



Second stop @ Koksar

We stopped at a small eatery, not very far from the river bank dishing out parathas, Maggi, butter toast and the famous butter tea (which provides you with caloric energy suited to high altitudes and may also help prevent chapped lips). Koksar is the last point where one gets network, from now on you can keep your phone in flight mode till Lossar and enjoy the back-breaking ride, taking you across some of the most beautiful landscapes.



View from the river bank @ Koksar.



We took the Gramphu-Kaza highway, the road is nothing less than a nightmare for many, but for an off-roading junkie, it is a dream come true. This road takes you through some of the most serene views, every turn you take, tells you a story and your eyes widen with every turn. Indeed a paradise, but can be deadly if you lose your concentration. Civilization doesnt exist here, all you see is green and white patches on the mountains, gravel and rocks on the road. You come across civilization at Chhatru, a bridge across the Beas helps you cross the river and shacks welcome you with some tea and snacks. This is also the place where the Hampta Trek ends, hence you find a lot of campsites.





From all roads to no roads !! This traveller will be our ride for the next five days. Do we call it, the Gurkha's grandfather



This road is the lifeline of Kaza and is generally closed from November to July, since the last two years the road is opened in May, giving a larger window to the tourists. On the same road, you come across the famous Chacha-Chachi Dhaba, we reached here by noon and it was jam-packed. I wasnt aware of this place and its popularity did a little bit of research and found out, that the lovely couple has helped numerous travellers and are saviours in the true sense.



At Batal, a famous stop for lunch on this route.



After a quick lunch at Batal and we head towards the Kunzum Pass located at around 15000ft, as soon as you get down here. A strong, cold wind hits you and wakes you up, a lot of drivers seek blessings from the Kunzum Mata, before going ahead. We offered our prayers here, took some photos and started towards Lossar.



At Kunzum pass, a brief encounter with the bone-chilling winds.



An half hours drive from Kunzum pass, we reached Lossar and this is where our backs breathe a sigh of relief. From here we had good tarmac and mobile network, we stopped here for tea/coffee and started towards our destination Kaza, and enjoyed the mesmerizing, tall sand mountains all along the way.





Welcome to Lossar



We reached our camp at around 7:30 pm, totally exhausted. The camp is managed by Wanderon, the camp was neat and clean and each of the tents had attached washrooms and proper plumbing in place.



At the camp, all the travellers assembled at the common dining area, listening to music and chit-chatting, while yummy dinner was being served, after dinner, our heart rate and O2 levels were checked and recorded. And then we were briefed about the next days itinerary(a daily routine from now on). With almost 5 hours of journey remaining, woke up and witnessed some of the most scenic views on the way to Manali, one or two short breaks, music and a round of ice-breaking all of us settled down and now we knew each of the 34 fellow travellers by their professions/companies but not names, LinkedIn on the move.View at daybreak, near Manali.By 12 noon, we reached Manali, we were shifted to three mini travellers and then taken to our hotel, Snow Bloom Resort. Quick check-in and a round of chit-chatting three of us settled down, got freshened up and had lunch.View from our room.After lunch, we had a free day and we could go around Manali, we were dropped and picked up at Mall road by the organizers. With very limited time in hand, we decided to head towards the famous Vashishtha temple, known for its elaborate wooden structure and the hot water springs. the temple wasnt crowded, hence the darshan was quick and then we moved towards the hot water springs, one can keep their feet in these hot water springs. In the beginning, it feels too hot to handle, but once you get the hang of it is really soothing and can put you to ease after a long journey. After the visit to the temple, we did some cafe hopping and called it a day on the banks of river Beas, while enjoying the sunset.View from one of the cafe's.The river bank and the string of headlamps.The day ended with the briefing from our tour guide on AMS, layering and the tough road to Kaza and not to forget the 5:00 am wake-up. (I didn't sign up for a punishment trip nor to be a part of the Tour of Duty)We started at 7:00 am, towards the Kaza.First stop, the Atal TunnelNorth Portal, Atal Tunnel, a B.R.O. marvel, we stopped here for 30mins to take millions of photos !! #JulleySecond stop @ KoksarWe stopped at a small eatery, not very far from the river bank dishing out parathas, Maggi, butter toast and the famous butter tea (which provides you with caloric energy suited to high altitudes and may also help prevent chapped lips). Koksar is the last point where one gets network, from now on you can keep your phone in flight mode till Lossar and enjoy the back-breaking ride, taking you across some of the most beautiful landscapes.View from the river bank @ Koksar.We took the Gramphu-Kaza highway, the road is nothing less than a nightmare for many, but for an off-roading junkie, it is a dream come true. This road takes you through some of the most serene views, every turn you take, tells you a story and your eyes widen with every turn. Indeed a paradise, but can be deadly if you lose your concentration. Civilization doesnt exist here, all you see is green and white patches on the mountains, gravel and rocks on the road. You come across civilization at Chhatru, a bridge across the Beas helps you cross the river and shacks welcome you with some tea and snacks. This is also the place where the Hampta Trek ends, hence you find a lot of campsites.From all roads to no roads !! This traveller will be our ride for the next five days. Do we call it, the Gurkha's grandfatherThis road is the lifeline of Kaza and is generally closed from November to July, since the last two years the road is opened in May, giving a larger window to the tourists. On the same road, you come across the famous Chacha-Chachi Dhaba, we reached here by noon and it was jam-packed. I wasnt aware of this place and its popularity did a little bit of research and found out, that the lovely couple has helped numerous travellers and are saviours in the true sense.At Batal, a famous stop for lunch on this route.After a quick lunch at Batal and we head towards the Kunzum Pass located at around 15000ft, as soon as you get down here. A strong, cold wind hits you and wakes you up, a lot of drivers seek blessings from the Kunzum Mata, before going ahead. We offered our prayers here, took some photos and started towards Lossar.At Kunzum pass, a brief encounter with the bone-chilling winds.An half hours drive from Kunzum pass, we reached Lossar and this is where our backs breathe a sigh of relief. From here we had good tarmac and mobile network, we stopped here for tea/coffee and started towards our destination Kaza, and enjoyed the mesmerizing, tall sand mountains all along the way.Welcome to LossarWe reached our camp at around 7:30 pm, totally exhausted. The camp is managed by Wanderon, the camp was neat and clean and each of the tents had attached washrooms and proper plumbing in place.At the camp, all the travellers assembled at the common dining area, listening to music and chit-chatting, while yummy dinner was being served, after dinner, our heart rate and O2 levels were checked and recorded. And then we were briefed about the next days itinerary(a daily routine from now on).
In brief: Google and Microsoft are following in the footsteps of other large tech companies by streamlining their businesses. In the case of Google, it will be slowing down hiring as it looks to be more entrepreneurial. Microsoft, meanwhile, is cutting jobs, though it will also keep hiring staff in other roles.

Insider, citing two senior Google employees, reports that Google managers were informed of the company's hiring slowdown last month. They were instructed by leaders to give back a percentage of their headcount grants for the third quarter.

CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly sent an email to employees confirming the hiring reductions. "Moving forward, we need to be more entrepreneurial, working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we've shown on sunnier days," he wrote. Google hired 10,000 people in Q2 2022, up 17% year-on-year.

"In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes. In other cases, that means pausing deployment and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas," Pichai continued.

The Google boss pointed toward an "uncertain global economic outlook" for the decision, not unlike Elon Musk's "super bad feeling" about the economy last month that prompted him to pause all Tesla hiring and cut 10% of the EV maker's jobs.

Microsoft is also doing some reorganizing. Bloomberg reports it is laying off a small portion of its workforce, less than 1% of its 180,000 employees, from groups including consulting and customer and partner solutions. The cuts will cover jobs from around the world.

"Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly," Microsoft said in an emailed statement. However, the company stressed that it would still be hiring in other areas and increase its overall headcount in the coming year. It also claimed that the layoffs haven't come about due to the shaky economic outlook, though it did slow hiring in its Windows and Office groups back in May.
What just happened? Reports surfaced earlier this week that Bandai Namco had been targeted by a ransomware attack. The group claiming responsibility, known in circles as BlackCat, listed Bandai Namco as a target with the reference "data soon" on Monday. The company has since confirmed rumors that it was recently targeted by hackers and is continuing to investigate the matter.

"On 3rd July, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. confirmed that it experienced an unauthorized access by third party to the internal systems of several Group companies in Asian regions (excluding Japan)," the company said in a statement issued to Eurogamer.

The publisher added that it has since taken measures to block access to the servers to prevent further attacks. Notably, Bandai Namco didn't rule out the possibility that customer information related to its toys and hobby business in Asian regions was compromised.

Bandai Namco said it is still investigating the scope of the damage and will share new information as appropriate. The company also vowed to work with external organizations to strengthen its security and take the necessary measures to prevent a repeat incident.

Bandai Namco joins a growing list of video game companies that have been targeted in recent memory. Capcom was hit with a ransomware attack in late 2020 that compromised customer and corporate data. In early 2021, hackers got their hands on source code and business documents from CD Projekt Red. A few months later, Electronic Arts was targeted in an attack that resulted in the loss of source code and more.

Image credit: Max Bender
WTF?! For companies headquarters in Japan, it is not uncommon to release new products locally first and then expand them to other regions later. With the Mini Genesis 2 Mini, Sega is offering customers outside of Japan to receive the console on the same day Japanese buyers get their Mega Drive 2 Minis. However, the privilege will cost US consumers about $50 more due to shipping and import fees.

Sega announced that it is releasing the Genesis 2 Mini for US customers this fall. Previously, the company announced the Mega Drive 2 Mini in early June, but only in Japan and with a vague "fall" release date. Now it seems both versions will launch on October 27. But only in Japan. Wait. What?

Yes. It seems that Sega of Japan is also distributing the US version instead of letting Sega of America manage it, which means US customers have to import it. Amazon will exclusively handle stateside sales.

Whatsmore, Sega priced the Genesis 2 Mini about $30 more than the Mega Drive 2 Mini, plus buyers have to pay Amazon $22 in shipping costs for the import. Preorders opened on Wednesday. The total outlay for US customers is $127 compared to the $75 Japanese version. It's rather odd that Sega chose to release the US collectible console this way, considering the Genesis Mini from 2019 was available from local retailers.

On the bright side, Team Sega based the updated mini on the Genesis Model 2, so it will have more power and games. Over 50 retro classic titles are preinstalled on the Genesis 2 Mini, including six Sega CD games  Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, Silpheed, Mansion of Hidden Souls, Night Striker, and The Ninja Warriors. A few of the regular Genesis games worth mentioning include After Burner II, Super Hang On, Sonic 3D Blast, Splatterhouse 2, and Rolling Thunder 2.

Another positive is that the Genesis 2 Mini will come with a six-button controller. The three-button gamepad bundled with Sega's first mini console is also compatible, but it makes some games impossible to play. Sega didn't mention if a second controller could be purchased separately or bundled. However, the initial Mega Drive 2 Mini press release said a two-gamepad bundle would be available for 1,100 ($8) extra.

Sega might learn a hard lesson about releasing products outside their intended regions. Having to shell out so much for a nearly 30-year-old retro console will likely turn off many US customers. After all, Sega is asking for more than one-third the cost of a brand new Xbox Series S purchased directly from Microsoft ($290), which is not limited to just a handful of old games.
Any organization's performance and growth are determined by how well its people are handled and treated. To improve staff management, top-performing companies use HR software. With it, tasks in the HR department become easier to deal with, and it keeps workers engaged and pleased.

An applicant tracking system, administrative task automation, personnel management, and other services are just a few of what you can obtain from a human resources software. You may even encounter more features with our top 5 best core HR software.

Which Software Is Used by HR?

Like the other employees, the human resource staff are also driving forces of a company. Without them, there will be no order inside your organization. And because of the nature of their job, their role tends to be tedious.

They use human resources software to reduce mundane tasks and automate some of their most important work. These software packages offer an applicant tracking system, employee management, personnel directories, performance overview, and more.

In detail, HR management software, as the term indicates, offers a digitized system so your HR department can easily manage and optimize their duties and accomplish HR goals.

What Is the Role of HR Software?

HR software primarily assists in automating manual activities, organizing personnel information, and providing data-driven reports. Technology takes charge of these tasks entirely, so paper and bulk manual processes are no longer required.

Thus, an HR software can empower and drive your HR personnel towards efficient job processes from start to finish. A human resource software can also help with application tracking systems and other onboarding capabilities when looking for new personnel. They can also help manage your employees and assess their performance.

Which Software Is Best for HR?

HR software improve staff management by automating routine HR duties. However, it is critical to select the most appropriate HR softwareone that is compatible with your organization's requirements. Check out our top 5 best HR software to see which one is ideal for you.

#1 Bamboo HR

BambooHR is all-in-one human resource management software designed for small and medium-sized organizations. Their platform simplifies the collection, maintenance, and analysis of people data, allowing you to enhance how you acquire talent, onboard new workers, manage compensation, and grow your corporate culture.

Looking for the best talent for your vacant roles is difficult enough, but if your recruiting process is delayed or inconsistent, it may be even more challenging to ensure exceptional prospects.

For that, BambooHR takes a contemporary approach to the employment process, with applicant tracking tools that optimize the whole hiring process, from applications to offer letters. It enhances communication, eliminates bottlenecks, and allows you to employ the right individuals faster than ever before.

With BambooHR, all your employee records are stored in a single, secure database, with comprehensive monitoring and updating tools at your disposal. Because of that, managing workforce data has never been simpler, quicker, or more flexible.

Key Features and Advantages

One-stop solution for your HR department

All employee records under one dashboard

Reporting and analytics for all HR activities

Available in mobile app

Applicant tracking system to onboard new hires

Offboarding features

#2 Zoho People

Zoho People's HR software includes all the resources you need to design and implement an employee engagement. Your data may be collected and stored in a single, centralized database. It's simple to use, easy to access, and tough to breach.

Zoho also allows you to prepare your recruits for the big day by inviting them to your candidate site. Send the offer letter ahead of time, and assign paperwork such as business regulations, tax forms, and other documentation to alleviate the strain on their first day. With e-signature technology, new hires may securely sign all essential papers.

Hiring and onboarding fresh talents are as crucial as it is difficult. Create a customized onboarding experience based on your experience or job role. Zoho People assists you in developing a personalized onboarding process to engage, connect, and keep new hires.

Moreover, you can also simplify other tasks such as approving leave requests with a single click or tap. Define leave forms and rules. Process and report your employees' vacation time, performance, and other metrics.

Key Features and Advantages

Easy to use and with secured access

Manage employee leave, vacation time, and more

Employee performance reports and tracking

Expense and payroll management

Onboarding feature to welcome new hires

#3 Namely

Namely is an all-in-one HR, personnel management, payroll, and benefits solution. Businesses may use the platform to enhance their HR operations while maintaining compliance. It is used by over 1,400 organizations globally. The program is marketed as a "people operations platform," with capabilities such as personnel administration, onboarding and recruiting process, talent management, time and attendance, employee performance and analytics, and more.

It is also classified as a human resource information system or HRIS. This is because the consolidated platform will allow you to handle all your HR rules and processes. Other than that, the software also intends to boost employee engagement. It provides your employees simple access to all HR information they may want through an employee portal.

The software is accessible via the Namely mobile app from any location. Namely may also be used to disseminate corporate news, boost collaboration, and create a company directory. There are other add-ons and plugins for billing, compensation management, recruitment, time and attendance, and other managed services. Obtain the robust core system, and adapt it to your needs.

Key Features and Advantages

Onboarding and applicant tracking system

Tracks employee performance and business goals

Creates a task list for HR personnel

Manages time off, leave, and absence

E-signature for onboarding documentation

Features for employee self-service and workflows

Custom fields to make the HR software more personalized

#4 Kissflow

Kissflow is also one of the best platforms for managing human resources procedures. It is an excellent solution for companies looking to boost the talent management part of human resources. Their platform includes an applicant tracking system, new employee onboarding and offboarding, attendance management, absence and leave management, and so on.

You can automatically disseminate your job advertising to a selection of successful employment sites with a single click. Make it possible for your hiring team to interact in real-time. Collect qualitative input from candidates to improve and modify the interview process. Custom processes, automatic notifications, and ready-to-use forms let you speed up the recruiting process with the software's onboarding capabilities.

In addition, your dashboard provides a 360-degree view of crucial employee performance data. Collect, monitor, and manage employee performance data to discover performance gaps, recognize top performers, and reduce employee turnover. When an employee's performance deteriorates, supervisors can launch a performance improvement plan directly from the review panel.

Key Features and Advantages

Fill up vacant job positions and find top-performing talents

Can also improve employee engagement and other HR activities

Also comes with employee self-service tools

Customizable features to adapt to your needs

Lets you access 360-degree company feedback and evaluations

#5 Folks HR

Folks HR's revolutionary HR solutions based in Canada helps hundreds of SMBs save up a day every week. This best HR software for SMBs can accomplish everything and boost productivity, from employee onboarding through performance review and HR analytics. Their cost-effective and user-friendly solutions are ideal for manufacturing, engineering, construction, nonprofit sectors, and many more.

Key Features

Employee onboarding: Onboarding is an important aspect of the employment process. With Folks HR's employee onboarding software, you can easily welcome new workers and maintain them for a longer time. This feature allows you to establish tasks, assign them to different persons, and guarantee that everything is finished on time, thanks to its planned deadlines and automatic reminders.

Employee profile: Utilize your Human Resources Software to centralize employee profiles and records. Your human resources information system or HRIS stores all necessary information about each employee. The employee administrator can modify profiles and add attachments and comments to the employee directory. Employees can also make changes to their data.

Leave management: This functionality allows you to accept and approve employee absence and vacation requests quickly. With a few clicks, you can acquire numerous reports and an absence and vacation calendar.

HR dashboard: Requests that need to be authorized, certifications that need to be renewed, impending anniversaries, and more are all set up in the dashboard. It allows you to easily discover outstanding requests and visualize those in process or overdue. This feature also provides you with an overview of your numerous HR objectives and strategic HR management insights.

All-in-one applicant tracking system: Folks ATS is an easy-to-use applicant tracking system that improves workflow for your recruiters. In return, you can easily improve applicant experience, attract top talent, and hire the greatest fit with Folks, Canada's finest ATS for small businesses.

Using this applicant tracking system, you can:

Send customized emails or other templates to the applicants on your platform.

Access candidate profiles from the platform with a single click, and keep track of all vital information about your prospective candidates.

Quickly locate a candidate's profile in your applicant tracking system database. Or, utilize an ATS search engine that allows you to target keywords from all aspects of a candidate's profile: resume, cover letter, PDF file, and so on.

Create your interview questionnaire templates for the various roles you wish to fill and configure interview procedures in each hiring process.

If you think these are already jam-packed features, know that you can also access tools such as Certificate Management and Training, HR KPIs and Employee Data Management, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Self-service System, Employee Summary, Offboarding, Employee Discipline, Organization Chart Performance Evaluation, Salary Grid, and more.

Everything your HR department will need is already here, and they won't even have to switch tabs when they need another functionality.

Pros

Made to be intuitive and friendly

Most suitable for Canadian small businesses

Customizable based on your requests and suggestions

Innovative HR dashboard to track data in real-time

Highly advanced encryption algorithms to safeguard your data

Manage human resources department without an HR manager

Lets you access your data 24/7 whenever and wherever you are

Cons

Human resources solution focusing on Canada

Overall, this Canadian HR software works to improve your team with its all-in-one solution that provides your HR department with all of the resources they will ever require. You can begin optimizing your workforce through employee onboarding, performance reviews, and leave management and take your productivity to new heights! Book your free demo with Folks HR to get started.

If you're a large company, you may need to access more sophisticated HR requirements that certain technologies just cannot provide. If your company ranges from small to medium, it's unlikely to need all the functionalities offered by these various HR software.

However, one thing is sure; HR software can assist every organization. This remark is true no matter the size or sector of your firm. Besides, whether you're trying to attract new talent, manage your staff, or combine all personnel information in one location, our top 5 best core HR software promises to assist you with everything necessary for efficient processes and management.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Not mere weeks following its official bankruptcy filing, fledgling cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) heads into a rather difficult liquidation process as creditors seemingly cannot find the firm's two founders, Zhu Su and Kyle Davies. Added to the current list of dockets amid 3AC's Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing is a new entry posted on Friday, July 8, wherein a special Emergency Motion was set, scheduling a videoconference hearing for Tuesday, July 12 at 9 AM.

Unfortunately, the docket also highlights via lawyers representing the liquidators that the location of both Kyle Davies and Zhu Su remains "currently unknown" as the hearing time wanes. The additional material within 3AC's bankruptcy filing also suggests that the two founders have yet to cooperate with liquidators "in any meaningful manner." Court proceedings also show that the lawyers have requested to keep the creditors anonymous during the liquidation process in a motion filed on Monday, July 11.

The Singapore-based crypto hedge fund was managing nearly $10 billion in assets before the cryptocurrency markets were hit with an unprecedented winter. From the depeg of terraUSD to the volatile collapse of Bitcoin's previous highs, many in the industry have faced immense hardship and uncertainty as the state of crypto swirls in anguish. For 3AC, all roads led to an untimely demise as a British Virgin Islands court required the firm to liquidate in the face of its myriad debts.

Related Article: Crypto Hedge Fund Three Arrows Capital Defaults on its $670M in Loans

On July 1, 3AC's bankruptcy was put into writing within the Southern District of New York. An introductory Zoom call was held last week to go over preliminary liquidation proceedings, yet 3AC founders Zhu and Davies were present only as muted black screens and allowed the introductory call to be held amongst the lawyers. According to the two executives' lawyers, both Zhu and Davies "intended to cooperate" in all basic steps to preserve their assets and undergo a smooth liquidation process.

Upon request of bank accounts and digital assets information, neither party relinquished any necessary documentation or access to facilitate its liquidation. Additionally, representatives were also stunted when attempting to enter 3AC's Singapore office, citing that "the offices appeared vacant except for a number of inactive computer screens." In the interim, creditors are attempting to collate as many assets that remain within 3AC's coffers as is possible, yet according to Russel Crumpler of Teneo, a "real risk" exists in the potentiality of 3AC assets disappearing.

Creditors have already asked to suspend 3AC transfer capabilities, as well as asset disposal protocols. The filing was dated on Friday, a little less than a month after a highly valued NFT under a 3AC wallet was moved to another crypto wallet, per MoonOverlord on Twitter. Due to the fact that much of 3AC's current holdings are composed primarily of, as Crumpler puts it, "readily transferable" digital assets, the risk associated with 3AC's assets vanishing is substantially raised.

Thus, the liquidation process has yet to actually begin, given said cooperation via both Zhu and Davies has been nonexistent, adding that their physical whereabouts remain uncertain. The pair were prior Credit Suisse traders before starting 3AC in 2012, giving them ample confidence amongst crypto investors. As one finance and business economics professor at the University of Southern California, Nik Bhatia, puts it: "3AC was supposed to be the adult in the room."

Read Also: Voyager Digital Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Following Exposure to Three Arrows Capital

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope releases more space images, including the new Southern Ring Nebula.



For the past few years, this galactic formation has been hidden since the space telescope before JWST could not capture it.

(Photo : Screenshot from Twitter post of @NASAWebb)

NASA James Webb's Captures Southern Ring NebulaShowing How It's More Capable Than Other Space Telescopes

Put a ring on it! 



Compare views of the Southern Ring nebula and its pair of stars by Webbs NIRCam (L) & MIRI (R) instruments. The dimmer, dying star is expelling gas and dust that Webb sees through in unprecedented detail: https://t.co/tlougFWg8B #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/yOMMmQcAfA  NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022

However, thanks to the advanced features of James Webb, it was able to take the astounding image of the so-called Southern Ring Nebula.

For those who are not familiar with nebulae, these are shells of dust and gas formed by dying stars. This means that they emit tons of light, leading to a spectacular space display.

NASA James Webb's Captures Southern Ring Nebula

NASA Gov's official report published the latest photo captured by JWST on July 12. The international space agency also posted an astonishing image on its official Twitter account.

Bonus: Check out the Southern Ring Nebula as captured by @NASAHubble in 1998! pic.twitter.com/89y0hx5sUQ  NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022

Also Read: NASA James Webb: Deeper Photos of the Universe to Come This July-What to Expect?

Thanks to this, many people are now able to see the actual appearance of the Southern Ring Nebula.

As of writing, the official Twitter post of NASA has already generated more than 35,000 likes, 1,300 quote tweets, and 8,900 retweets.

The stars  and their layers of light  steal more attention in the NIRCam image, while in the MIRI image, Webb reveals for the first time that the dying star is cloaked in dust. In thousands of years, these delicate, gaseous layers will dissipate into surrounding space.  NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022

"The details are just....mindblowing! All those little filaments, casting shadows and rays on the nearby gas clouds, giving the appearance of orange flames!" said one of the Twitter users who re-posted NASA's tweet.

The details are just....mindblowing!



all those little filaments, casting shadows and rays on the nearby gas clouds, giving the appearance of orange flames! https://t.co/qWr2VgOXaU pic.twitter.com/m9u7eCgG6I  XelArtz (TEAM BLOOM) (@xel_artz) July 12, 2022

What Does Southern Ring Nebula Look Like?

The latest Southern Ring Nebula image of JWST shows a formation of dust and gas, which is what nebulae commonly consist of.

James Webb's features generated a very detailed photo of the planetary formation, showing the space materials being released by the dying star.

In the middle, the red giant can also be seen as well. Aside from this, a white dwarf with its companion star was also captured by JWST's advanced infrared function.

NASA explained that two cameras of James Webb were used to capture the newest Southern Ring Nebula photo. Unlike the previous images, the planetary formation's look was pretty dull.

For example, the 1998 photo captured by NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows only one faint light (the red giant) in the middle of a brown gas formation.

Meanwhile, the version of JWST shows a sharper version, with all the nebula's roughness around the edges of its formation. In the background, stars were also captured.

On the other hand, NASA JWST's NIRISS modes were developed to capture crips images of the universe.

Previously, James Webb's first image was published, offering the deepest photo of space.

For more news updates about NASA's JWST and its upcoming space photos, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: 'Hubble vs James Webb Telescope:' Is NASA Webb's Deepest Image of the Universe Stunningly Clearer?

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RTHK: Rajapaksa flees Sri Lanka, appoints PM as president

Sri Lankas president fled the country early on Wednesday, slipping away only hours before he promised to resign under pressure from protesters angry over a devastating economic crisis. But crowds quickly trained their ire on the prime minster, storming his office and demanding he also go.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the Maldives, the air force said in a statement. That brought little relief to the island nation gripped for months by an economic disaster that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel  and now is beset by political chaos.

Thousands of protesters demanding that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also step down rallied outside his office compound and some scaled the walls, as the crowd roared its support, waving Sri Lankan flags and tossing water bottles to those heading inside. As protesters feared, Rajapaksa appointed his prime minister as acting president in his absence, according to the speaker of the Parliament.

Australian journalist Luke Hunt, who is in Colombo, told RTHK that Wickremesinghe resigned as prime minister saying he would make way for an all-party government which is currently being negotiated behind closed doors.

No one expected Ranil Wickremesinghe to make a bid for the presidency. His name had been touted but so had a lot of other names, Hunt said.

According to the prime ministers resignation, the speaker was going to act as president for a maximum of 30 days. That would have given the politicians time enough to form an all-party government.

So somewhere along the line hes decided that he wasnt going to continue down this course, he added.

In the crowd outside Wickremesinghe's office was Supun Eranga. We need both ... to go home," the 28-year-old civil servant said. Ranil couldnt deliver what he promised during his two months, so he should quit. All Ranil did was try to protect the Rajapaksas.

Police used tear gas to try to disperse the protesters but failed, and more and more marched down the lane and towards the prime minister's office. As helicopters flew overhead, some demonstrators held up their middle fingers.

Video footage also showed that protesters had broken into the main state television station and briefly took over broadcasts.

While Rajapaksa agreed under pressure to resign on Wednesday, Wickremesinghe has said he would only leave once a new government was in place.

Protesters have already seized the president's home and office and the official residence of the prime minister following months of demonstrations. Luke Hunt said the protesters were unlikely to leave any time soon.

The protesters have set up camp, theyve been well established for quite some time, theyve established a rapport with the military, which is also out in force. (RTHK/Agencies)

______________________________

Last updated: 2022-07-13 HKT 17:30

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Cayuga County Board of Elections is hoping to have a cost-saving tool deployed to all polling places for the general election in November.

Katie Lacey, the county's Democratic elections commissioner, told The Citizen on Wednesday that the board has ordered 30 ballot-on-demand printers  enough to have at least one printer at each of the 27 polling locations. A grant the board received to cover equipment purchases will be used to buy the printers.

The printers were first deployed in 2019 when Cayuga County and New York state implemented early voting. The printers, which produce a ballot after a voter is signed in, have been used at the county's three early voting locations over the past three years.

Beginning in 2021, the Cayuga County Board of Elections expanded the use of ballot-on-demand printers to Election Day sites in the city of Auburn. Because less paper was used, the board saved the county more than $10,000.

Lacey said printing is one of the biggest costs for the county to administer elections.

"There's a lot of waste because you have to make sure you have enough ballots for however many people show up," she explained. "That's, quite frankly, a crapshoot. You never can tell. If you go by past years, you could all of a sudden have a big jump in turnout and you end up with no ballots for people. You got to overorder."

With the paper ballots, there are also archiving requirements. Even if a ballot is unused, it must be retained for two years. That is a "big storage problem," Lacey said. With ballot-on-demand printers at all county sites, there would no longer be excess ballots.

Cayuga has been ahead of other counties with its use of ballot-on-demand printers. When it began using the printers outside of early voting, it was a step toward a larger goal that was achieved this year: Allowing Auburn voters to cast ballots at any of the city's four polling locations. The plan was adopted in time for the June primary election.

"We really liked it from the start," Lacey said. "As it's turned out, it was a wise move. It saved money and now a lot of the counties are trying to get equipment and they are having trouble."

There haven't been a lot of mechanical issues with the ballot-on-demand printers, according to Lacey. Poll workers like using them and voters like it, too, she said. It hasn't had any effect on the time it takes to sign in a voter and give them the appropriate ballot.

While the goal is to have ballot-on-demand printers at all polling locations for the November election, Lacey said there is a possibility that some sites, namely the towns that surround the city, could have the machines for the primary election in August. That will depend on how quickly the printers are shipped to the board.

"We're eager to get it countywide," Lacey said.
Solectrac decided to partner with Nolan Manufacturing, a startup that focuses on assisting companies in meeting their clients' demands.

(Photo : Photo grab from Solectrac's official website )

Solectrac x Nolan Manufacturing Collab To Boost Electric Tractor Production; e25 Model as Priority

This latest collaboration is expected to ramp up the production of Solectrac's popular electric tractors.

With Tesla, Ford, and other giant automakers announcing their new models and service enhancements, many consumers are unaware of the happenings in other smaller zero-emission vehicle developers.

In this weeks #eSmart post, we want to highlight the efficiency and efficacy of our #electrictractors. Electric motors are over 50% more efficient than internal combustion engines. And electric tractors charged from the grid produce 10x fewer emissions than diesel. pic.twitter.com/g31kxjbXns  Solectrac Electric Tractors (@Solectrac) July 5, 2022

One of the EV makers under the radar is Solectrac, announcing that the demands for its electric tractors are further increasing.

Solectrac Electric Tractor Production To Be Enhanced!

According to Electrek's latest report, the new partnership of Solectrac with Nolan Manufacturing will allow the EV maker to use its North Carolina-based facility.

We're excited to scale our operations in North Carolina! Nolan Manufacturing's 10,000-sq-ft facility will help us meet the growing demand for #ElectricTractors on the East Coast. https://t.co/7SjzuVSfU7 #ElectricTractor  Solectrac Electric Tractors (@Solectrac) July 12, 2022

Also Read: Rivian Plans Substantial Layoffs of Non-Manufacturing Employees As it Ramps Up Production for Amazon

This manufacturing plant is around 10,000-square-foot, which is more done enough for the production ramp-up.

The EV manufacturer became popular after it donated its CET (Compact Electric Tractor) to Jack Johnson's non-profit organization, which is located in Oahu, Hawaii.

As of writing, Solectrac is still growing its e70N, the latest electric tractor, as the demand for sustainable, zero-emission farming tools increases.

"As the demand for Solectrac's electric tractors continues to increase, I'm excited about our persistent progress on the East Coast towards a more sustainable future and regenerative agriculture," said Solectrac's CEO Mani Iyer via their official press release.

Solectrac's Other Successful Partnerships

Aside from the latest partnership with Nolan Manufacturing, Solectrac's success also attracted other new partners. These include Schow's Inc., Georgia Land Equipment, and Ocala Tractor, LCC.

The electric tractor maker announced its new collaborations with the three mentioned companies on June 28, which is less than a month after its newly announced partnership with Nolan Manufacturing.

This shows that Solectrac is further growing. Because of this, Iyer said that they are thrilled since their dealer network is rapidly expanding.

He added that the new partnerships would help them enhance their zero-emission tractor production to meet the demands of their consumers completely.

The CEO further shared that Ocala Tractor, Schow's, and Georgia Land Equipment have improved their nationwide strategy to offer low-maintenance zero-emission farm tractors.

If you want to see further details about the rise of Solectrac's electric tractor business, you can visit this link.

Meanwhile, Tesla's Giga Berlin became the largest industrial employer in the region.

On the other hand, China's first pure solar-powered vehicle was launched.

Related Article: BMW Heated Car Seat Subscription Expands in South Korea? Here are the Details of This Luxurious Feature

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BMW's heated car seat disappoints some car owners after they discovered that the hardware is already installed in their vehicles right from the beginning.

(Photo : Lennart Preiss/Getty Images)

A logo of German automaker BMW in seen on a rim during the celebration marking the 100th anniversary of BMW on March 7, 2016 in Munich, Germany. BMW began as a producer of aircraft engines in Germany during World War I.

This is not actually an illegal business practice since subscription services are no longer new in the auto industry.

When you say vehicle subscription services, these pre-installed features are not yet activated. Carmakers will only turn them on if you decide to pay for them per month or every year.

Although automakers have already explained how subscription services work, it seems like many drivers are still surprised with these being available at the very start of their purchase.

BMW Heated Car Seat Upsets Consumers

According to New York Post's latest report, some BMW owners are outraged after knowing that the heated seat hardware is already installed on their vehicles.

(Photo : Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

BMW vehicles stand in a showroom in Manhattan on August 01, 2019 in New York City. Blaming slowing sales in the U.S., China and Europe, BMW announced that its pre-tax profit fell to 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) from 2.9 billion ($3.2 billion) in the same period of 2018.

Also Read: BMW M4 CSL: What is It and Why is it Better than its Previous Release? Meet the New Beast

"Do NOT get the heated seat subscription. The f**king hardware is in your car and you've already paid! And a f**king subscription on top of that is nonsense," said one of the BMW owners.

He added that the heated car seat is already a deal breaker. The driver further stated that if the German automaker wants to continue offering their car features as subscription services, then they will not have their support as consumers.

BMW Heated Car Seat is Expanding?

The Verge reported that the heated car seat feature is already being offered by the German carmaker in selected markets.

These include the United Kingdom, South Africa, Germany, and New Zealand. As of press time, the United States still hasn't received the subscription service yet.

But, rumors claimed that BMW is already expanding its heated car seat feature to other countries, especially in South Korea.

This may hint that the automaker will soon bring the sub service to the U.S. sooner than you expect. However, since many consumers are already complaining about the $18-monthly heated car feature, it seems like BMW needs to re-think its plans.

Meanwhile, the BMW XM is expected to arrive around 2023.

On the other hand, BMW vehicles without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were expected to be launched temporarily.

For more news updates about BMW and other giant automakers, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: BMW Heated Car Seat Subscription Expands in South Korea? Here are the Details of This Luxurious Feature

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Rivian is one of the latest companies that is planning major cost-cutting efforts. The confusing thing is that the company was rumored to cut off 700 layoffs primarily for their non-engineering teams, and although layoffs have not yet been confirmed, the company hosted an all-hands meeting just recently.

Rivian CEO Gives a Memo Regarding Reports Saying They Were Going to Lay Off 700 People

In an article by Bloomberg, it was reported that the company was planning hundreds of staff cuts, especially in the non-manufacturing positions. In response to the reports of the job cut, Rivian CEO, RJ Scaringe, decided to write a memo to employees.

According to the story by Engadget, Scaringe noted that the news of the layoffs is not how they intended their employees to heart about the situation. He stated that they had hoped that the sensitive and complex conversations "would have stayed within Rivian" until they could address the decisions more comprehensively.

Scaringe is Expected to Say More Regarding the Company's Decision After an All-Hands Meeting

The CEO is expected to share more about their decisions after they have an all-hands meeting that is scheduled to take place shortly. Scaringe announced that the company is already pausing a number of non-manufacturing hires and that the company is trying to reduce its outlay on both materials and operating expenses.

As per Scaringe, it was noted that they will always be focused on growth but are not immune to the economic circumstances needed in order for them to sustainably grow. It was noted that Rivian was well-positioned financially and that their outlook still remains strong.

Here's What Rivian is Planning to Focus On

The CEO said that they will prioritize certain programs while halting others as the company tries to restructure certain business aspects. Earlier during the year, the company announced that it would be focusing on just a few areas for the time being.

As noted by Tech Crunch, Rivian will be focusing on increasing R1T, R1S, and electric delivery van production. The company will also be prioritizing building out EV charging and service infrastructure as well as speeding its R2 platform development and finding efficiencies for both operating expenses and costs.

Read Also: Rivian Plans Substantial Layoffs of Non-Manufacturing Employees As it Ramps Up Production for Amazon

Rivian is Planning to Achieve 600k Vehicles Manufactured a Year

The company has already almost doubled the number of employees it had over the years, reaching over 14,000 staff in total. Despite adding to its workforce, the company has still had to face certain problems, including the state of the economy and the supply chain crisis.

Aside from that, Rivian is also dealing with the delay in deliveries of the R1S SUV, which happened on multiple occasions. Although the company plans to be able to achieve 600,000 vehicles a year manufactured, it still forecasts just being able to build 25,000 EVs this year.

Related Article: Tesla Giga Berlin Becomes Region's Largest Industrial Employer! Road to 500,000 EVs Yearly?

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TikTok was attempting to unleash targetted ads to users despite not receiving their consent but luckily, Italy warned against it. Now, the company is reconsidering its decision to launch targeted ads after it received a warning.

TikTok Initially Wanted to Use On-App Data to Serve Targeted Ads to Users

Despite getting ready to launch a new feature that would force users to receive targeted ads, due to backlash it received from some places, TikTok might have decided to pause its decision on personalized ads.

Early in July, users of TikTok in Europe were told that the platform would start using on-app data to serve them targeted ads. Just less than a day before the change was supposed to roll out around the EU, the company seems to be reconsidering its decision.

Authorities Around the World are Questioning TikTok's Decision to Serve Targeted Ads

As noted by a company spokesperson to Tech Crunch, the company decided to pause the update while it deals with questions from stakeholders regarding how personalized ads are handled.

According to the story by Gizmodo, there are still a lot of questions being thrown around regarding TikTok's decision to use personalized ads from the data protection authorities in the UK, US lawmakers, and privacy experts from across the globe.

TikTok Planned to Use the 'Legitimate Interest' Clause for Them to Use Data

Before the change occurs, all European users need to do to get personalized apps is to offer their consent. The update planned to get rid of this step and directly provide users with targeted ads based on a legal basis called "legitimate interest."

The legitimate interest clause noted that the company would be able to process the data from people consent-free if TikTok thought it was reasonable. Gizmodo notes that since the company earns from targeted ads, it could be reasonable for them to use these ads to rake in revenue.

Read Also: Google Play System Update July 2022: Rebranded 'Google Wallet,' Play Store Improvements, and More

How Authorities from Around the World are Dealing with TikTok

Just while TikTok was getting ready to launch its targeted ads, the data protection authorities from Italy decided to issue a formal warning regarding the changes. As per Italy, the legitimate interest clause should not be used willingly, and the company doesn't have the necessary grounds to rely on it.

On top of the issue at hand, the same warning was also given to TikTok regarding how the potential ads might target underage users. Meanwhile, the data watchdog of Ireland is also launching a separate probe into TikTok over alleged GDPR violations for about a year.

Aside from that, TikTok is also dealing with lawsuits in the UK for alleged GDPR violations. While lawmakers from other parts of the world are already doing something about it, in the US, lawmakers are also calling for the FTC to launch a probe into the data-sharing details of the app.

Related Article: Russian Authorities Fine Apple $33,900 for Refusing to Store iCloud Data of Locals in the Country's Servers

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Elon Musk is not taking things lightly anymore, and everything thrown at him would surely be something that the CEO will react to, even a screenshot from an alleged post by Donald Trump against him. The post appears online now, and users share screenshots of it online, and though it may not seem legitimate, it is still something against his person.

(Photo : Max Whittaker/Getty Images)

CARSON CITY, NEVADA- SEPTEMBER 4: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, listens as Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada speaks during a press conference at the Nevada State Capitol, September 4, 2014 in Carson City, Nevada.

Elon Musk Reacts to Donald Trump's Statement Against Him Online

A screenshot by Ashley Vance, a writer from Bloomberg, shows a statement made by Donald Trump via Truth Social, the platform that the former President started after getting kicked off mainstream social media. Here, it says that Trump is bashing all of Musk's projects, and without his support as the then President, Musk and his companies would be nothing.

The tech CEO saw this screenshot and reacted to it, saying the famous Gen Z acronym "Lmaooo" which means "laughing my a** out" after seeing the post. Musk also shared a GIF of "Grampa Simpson" from the hit television show, "The Simpsons," which depicts an old man who is mostly confused and angry about what is happening in the modern world.

Read Also: Twitter Seeks Legal Action, Now Hires Legal Team to Sue Elon Musk Over Failed Deal

Lmaooo  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022

Musk's Support for Trump's Twitter Return, Backlash Surfaces

Despite the previous support that Musk showed for the former President of the United States after his ban on most social media platforms online, he still gets bad publicity from these people, especially from Trump. The backlash from Trump may be insignificant as it is from a platform that not a lot is a part of, most of its content is still demeaning for Musk.

Donald Trump's Online Ban and Musk's Twitter

Musk initially expressed his plans as the future owner of Twitter back when the deal was still something that he looks forward to and openly discusses online. Here, the tech CEO addressed former President Donald Trump's online ban among most social media platforms, including Twitter, with the executive aiming to do something about it.

Once Musk already owns Twitter, he could do something about it and make people leave or return at his will, as the company would be private and it would all follow what he aims to do. In a discussion about it, Musk insists that Trump should be back on Twitter, and it is to give all sides an equal chance to express themselves online.

However, it seems that Musk and Twitter's fallout is something that would prevent this from happening under the current administration present.

Now, the statement Trump made against Elon Musk is something that may change the CEO's perspective on his reinstatement on the social media platform. While Musk may go the high road and be objective regarding his opinions on Trump's return after this incident, it may not be much of a factor as the Twitter deal is facing a dispute.

Related Article: Elon Musk Vs. Twitter: Experts Say Billionaire's Deal Cancellation May Not Go Well as Planned; Here's Why

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Organ shortage from the public's donations and availability in many organ banks is something that most people find to be difficult to obtain, and it is because there is no abundance of it from the public. However, there are alternative ways how people would obtain their needed organs for their health, and it is through Xenotransplantation methods.

A research team from the NYU Langone Transplant Industry thinks that pig heart transplant is effective.

Pig Heart Transplant, Xenotransplantation Effective?

(Photo : NYU Langone Health)

Xenotransplantation is effective, humans get pig heart for organ needs.

According to a news release from the NYU Langone Transplant Industry, a pig heart transplant that it did for a man that suffered from an accident and became brain dead, is effective. The man, Lawrence Kelly from Pennsylvania, became brain dead but is still a living person. Instead of pulling the plug on him, his family donated him to NYU Langone Health for medical purposes.

Here, the researchers and medical professionals focused on using Kelly's body as a subject for Xenotransplantation, as it would still be a living person's body receiving the animal organ. Kelly received a pig heart to replace his original human cardiovascular muscle, and it was successful even while suffering from being brain dead.

Read Also: 'Cancer-Killing Worms:' Scientists Create Tiny Worms That Can Cure Cancer

Xenotransplantation from NYU Langone

Dr. Robert Montgomery, MD, Ph.D. from the NYU Langone Transplant Industry, said that the researchers would be able to monitor the status and conditions that the bodies are undergoing, better. It is because these people are with them, and the institute added another patient for its xenotransplantation venture for monitoring and experiments.

Pig Heart's Past Transplants

One of the famous Xenotransplants in the world is with the departed, David Bennet Sr., who got his heart from a pig, and has researchers and medical professionals from the University of Maryland attach it last January. However, after several months, Bennet Sr. died in March and it remains unknown if the patient died because of the pig heart.

The same man, Bennet Sr., got autopsied by different health professionals to investigate the causes of his apparent death. It was initially perceived that the pig heart would go for long in the person's body, as the transplant was a success for the patient. MIT researchers said that they found traces of an animal virus that allegedly may be a result of his death.

The pig heart transplant is one tricky thing to do, and there is a low number of successful operations that back its effectiveness for all people.

However, there is a massive shortage of real human organs, and an abundance from animals, especially pigs which people consume on a daily basis. Xenotransplants are the most ideal medical procedures now to give those that need the organs the most, a chance to live and continue on with their lives.

Related Article: Non-Invasive Electrical Stimulation of the Eye May Be Effective to Treat Neuropsychiatric Diseases

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Twitter reveals the "Most Tweeted About Games" in the first half of the year, or in the first six months of 2022.

The phenomenal action royale game on mobile devices, "Genshin Impact" impressively reigned at the top of the "Most Tweet About Games" on the microblogging social media platform.

(Photo : Joshua Hoehne from Unsplash )



"Genshin Impact" outperforms other massive gaming titles, such as "Final Fantasy" and "Elden Ring," to name a few of the most talked-about games on Twitter.

Twitter's Most Tweeted Games in the First Half of 2022

As per the latest news story from Nintendo Life, Twitter is back at it again at ranking as the most popular video game title in its huge community of users based on its number of tweets.

The renowned social media giant has been tallying the most tweeted about video gaming titles on its platform in the past few years. It gives a glimpse of the most popular game among Twitter users each year.

And this time around, the microblogging platform disclosed that the number of gaming tweets has ballooned to a whopping 15. Million posts in merely the first half of 2022.

In fact, according to a recent report from Venture Beat, the gaming tweets in the first six months of 2022 massively increased by roughly 36 percent than it was a year ago, or in 2021, to be more exact.

The online news outlet further notes that the significant growth in the number of gaming tweets on Twitter is primarily due to the phenomenal release of highly anticipated games, such as "Elden Ring."

Venture Beat also mentioned various esports events have also contributed to the uptick of gaming tweets.

It includes prominent occasions this year like the Professional Gamers League Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty League, and Valorant Champions.

On top of these tournaments, gigantic gaming showcases like the Xbox Showcase and the PlayStation State of Play have also pushed the number of gaming tweets in the giant social media service.

Read Also: Elon Musk is Cancelling the Twitter Deal, As Confirmed by a Twitter Chairman

'Genshin Impact' Tops Twitter's 'Most Tweeted About Games'

Nintendo Life says in the same report that the mobile gaming title "Genshin Impact" garners the top place in the list of the "Most Tweeted About Games" on Twitter from January to June 2022.

Meanwhile, the instantaneously popular word game, aptly known as "Wordle," took the second spot.

"Ensemble Star!" and "Final Fantasy" are the third and fourth, respectively, most talked about games on Twitter in the first six months of the year.

(Photo : freestocks from Unsplash)

On the other hand, Project Sekai sits in fifth place, whereas the free-to-play battle royale game, Apex Legends, places in the sixth ranking.

The 2022 game, "Elden Ring," got the seventh place, outperforming "Fate/Grand Order'' and the free-to-play shooter, "Valorant," which respectively sits in the eighth and ninth spot.

Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda" ranks at the last of the top ten "Most Tweeted About Video Games" list.

Related Article: Elon Musk's Twitter Deal: Bots Are the Problem, Not China - Is the Deal Pushing Through?

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NASA unveiled the first images of the James Webb Space Telescope's discoveries and exploration of the distant systems and space objects around us. One of them is the exoplanet known as "WASP-96 b," which is a gas giant in the galaxy that orbits a Sun-like star, with no direct analog to the known Solar System in the public.

NASA James Webb: WASP-96 b Exploration Sees Detailed HD Photo

(Photo : NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

An exoplanet that is long known to NASA and something that the Hubble has already seen before is a subject for the latest images and deep file photos by NASA James Webb. According to NASA, the image of WASP-96 b presents a more in-depth look at the exoplanet considered to be a gas giant in the Milky Way galaxy.

James Webb's massive mirrors and different instruments joined forces and worked together to provide a more detailed and comprehensible image of the exoplanet that gave them a unique view of it. WASP-96 b is 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, and the space object has a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.2 times greater.

Read Also: NASA, James Webb Space Telescope Shares First Image-'Deepest' Look on the Universe

What Discoveries are Available from the WASP-96 b?

The WASP-96 b is still a gas giant, but NASA's James Webb saw that it has a steamy atmosphere that is different than what they are accustomed to. The new images show pieces of evidence of haze clouds that are unknown to the studies before, as shown by the previous spacecraft that delivers these images to the public.

NASA and the James Webb's Deep Images

NASA has massive plans for the James Webb space telescope, and it is only beginning its missions from the many target and sights for it to see. The national space agency unveiled the upcoming locations where James Webb would explore with its instruments, and the cosmic target list will focus on the locations that are not seen in detail before.

However, James Webb's main cameras and arrays are not the only powerful instruments aboard the spacecraft that launched last December 2021, as it brings several more for it to use. One of the deeper photos it brought is a look at a distant galaxy, and it was released before July 12, with the Fine Guidance Sensor capturing the clear image.

Almost all of the components of James Webb are a masterpiece for space, and it aims to capture a lot for the public.

NASA's James Webb is not yet reaching its first year in space, but it already brings a lot for the public and the researchers for them to see. The spacecraft aims to explore more of the unknown space around us and unlock more information or knowledge that would help in discovering more of the many elements or objects surrounding the planet.

Related Article: NASA James Webb's Captures Southern Ring Nebula, Proving It's More Advanced Than Other Space Telescopes

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Walmart and Canoo announced their latest projects to date, and it is the two companies signing on a deal that would partner them towards the creation of electric delivery vans for future deliveries. Walmart ordered a massive 4,500 delivery van fleet from Canoo, and the company said that it is for the clean energy focus it has for its ventures.

Walmart, Canoo to Bring EV Delivery Vans for Future Ventures

(Photo : Canoo)

Walmart chose Canoo for its massive fleet that would replace its current delivery vehicles that still uses internal combustion engines to power its mobility. According to Walmart, the joint venture would task Canoo to create a massive fleet for its massive presence in the country, and it would help attain its goals of alleviating environmental destruction.

Canoo said in its press release that its production will begin by 2023, and next year, the manufacturing would focus on bringing the electric delivery vans for Walmart that would focus on battery power. Canoo also said that its expected delivery dates for the EV would come next year, and it would be road-ready for Walmart's needs.

Read Also: Canoo EV: No Funds to Release Electric Cars? Lawsuits, Issues Plague Company

Walmart's 4,500 EV Purchase from Canoo

Walmart purchased a massive number of its electric delivery vans that would service the country for all orders on its platform. A total of 4,500 electric vehicles are coming from Canoo, as per the order of the famous retail e-commerce company.

The company will utilize the Lifestyle Delivery Van (LDV) from Canoo, and they have the option to upgrade its fleet for up to 10,000 vehicles from its manufacturing.

Canoo's EVs for Different Ventures

Canoo's largest venture now is with NASA, and it focuses on two projects with the space agency that brings two ventures for the company on its electric vehicle towards the space progression projects. One is with the EVs to run on different NASA locations to transport astronauts from the facilities or holding centers, down to the launchpad for their mission.

The startup electric vehicle company promised that it is already starting its production in the Oklahoma plant that it owns, and it aims to deliver on the different adventure vehicles that it has available for all. However, there are massive problems with the retail sale of its electric vehicles for the public, as the company already lacks funds for its manufacturing.

Canoo is mostly staying on contracts and deals with massive companies that bring their partial payments to the company to create its EVs.

Apart from being NASA's official partner and transportation system that will come to the Artemis I mission, as the modern "Astrovan," Canoo still has multiple projects up its sleeves. One of them is the delivery vans for Walmart that would bring the future of package deliveries for the many orders nationwide, focusing on a clean energy fleet for all.

Related Article: NASA, Canoo to Transport Astronaut on the Moon for Artemis- EV to Replace the 80's 'Astrovan'

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BAE (British Aerospace) Systems has delivered an undisclosed number of GPS receivers to Germany's military forces, according to Space. It was two years ago when the deal to sell Germany the GPS receivers were signed, under the Foreign Military Sales program.

(Photo : Mufid Majnun on Unsplash)





The Pentagon sells GPS user equipment to allies to improve their interoperability with the US system, and these recent deliveries were part of the agreement for Germany to be the first non-US buyer of the most advanced GPS receivers.

The new GPS receivers will be used by the German army. It is the Miniature Precision Lightweight GPS receiver Engine-M-Code (MPE-M) that is compatible with the M-code GPS signal. It is hardened against signal jamming and spoofing; plus, it provides cryptography for additional security.

A lot of the current 31 GPS satellites in orbit broadcast the M-Code signal. BAE produced these receives under its contract with the US Space Systems Command. It will be used in handheld devices, ground vehicles, and unnamed aerial systems.

The M-Code systems have been in development for almost ten years under a $1.4 billion US Air Force program, which is also known as the Military Global Positioning System User Equipment.

According to a statement on Businesswire, "Germany is the first country to receive M-Code GPS capabilities via FMS, leading the way among our allies. Accelerating the delivery of M-Code capabilities to allied warfighters around the globe is critical to ensuring trusted PNT in the face of modern threats from our adversaries," said Greg Wild, director of Navigation and Sensor Systems at BAE Systems.

Also Read: USSF's 'Anti-Jamming' GPS III M-Code Early Use Now Operational Despite Being 5 Years Behind Schedule

The Importance of GPS to the Military

Military commanders rely on GPS for global navigation and targeting. It is considered a highly accurate and secure source of navigational and targeting data for precision weapons and weapons guidance, and it is the most powerful and accurate system ever deployed.

They can also use the system to fight against terrorism. A lot of terrorist groups use GPS to direct their attack and their movements and the US military makes use of them to track the plots and the terrorists.

The US military relies on GPS to tag and track its combat units, equipment, and supplies. So, it is no surprise that the US military has been spending a lot of money to update the system. There is no question the majority of the US military's GPS systems are based on the satellite-based location system.

The system is in daily use by military forces around the world, which is why the US military's space program is well-funded and has been for many years.

The GPS system has proved to be a valuable asset to the US military and the US' allies. Moreover, the US military sells GPS receivers to its allies and adversaries, so that they can use the system to improve their military's overall combat efficiency.

Related Article: New GPS-Assisting Tech Unveiled by India! Here's How GAGAN Can Help Passenger Airplanes

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Written by April Fowell

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AUBURN  A top state official liked what he saw as he received an update on the city's implementation of its Downtown Revitalization Initiative plan.

New York Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez visited Auburn for a downtown walking tour on Tuesday. The stroll included stops at sites where the city is investing its $10 million DRI award.

The tour began at the Equal Rights Heritage Center, where local officials gave a brief presentation on the status of its DRI projects. According to Christina Selvek, the director of the city's capital improvement program, eight of the 13 projects are either finished or near completion. One of the completed projects is the construction of a new public safety building, which houses the Auburn Fire Department. The facility opened last year.

Rodriguez's tour also included a stop at the Cayuga Culinary Institute, which opened last summer. At Cafe 108 and Auburn Public Theater, the final leg of the downtown swing, he met one of the institute's first graduates.

He saw the State Street Event Plaza, which is nearing completion and will begin hosting live music in August, and went inside Rudolph's Sugar Shack, a candy store and ice cream shop, where he ordered maple walnut ice cream on a waffle cone.

At Auburn Public Theater, Rodriguez learned more about its plans to create a new theater space and make other improvements. The opening of Cafe 108 was supported by the DRI funds.

"There's so much more happening in terms of tying together the public arts component with the downtown restaurants and some of the businesses that are happening along the corridor," Rodriguez told The Citizen after the tour.

The Downtown Revitalization Initiative launched in 2016. The program, which is administered by the Department of State, awards $100 million annually  $10 million each to municipalities in the 10 economic development regions.

In 2018, Auburn was selected as the central New York winner. After it won the $10 million grant, a local committee formed to determine how to invest the funds. An initial list of 18 projects was whittled down to 13.

While most of the projects are underway or finished, some haven't started yet. Selvek explained that the DRI-backed projects at cultural and historical sites were affected by the pandemic. Many of those sites were closed for an extended period during the first COVID wave, so they couldn't begin those projects.

Rodriguez visited one of the historic sites, the Seward House Museum. The museum is moving forward with plans to rehabilitate its barn and carriage house.

With significant progress made in the city, Rodriguez was impressed with what he saw during his time touring downtown.

"It's about that cohesive feel that you want to create through the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and you see that ... It really comes through in Auburn in a meaningful way," he said.
Geely debuts its all-electric pickup, SUV, and ATV under its all-new Radar Auto brand.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have started to expand to all-electric pickup offerings, which the startup automaker Rivian started when it introduced the RT1 truck.

It was then followed by another giant automaker, no less than the American giant, Ford with its F-150 Lightning electric pickup.

(Photo : Manuel Asturias @manuel_asturias by Unsplash )

The giant electric car maker, Tesla, is also working to release its oddly shaped all-electric pickup truck, known as the Cybertruck.

But this time, the renowned Chinese car maker, Geely Auto, has unveiled its first-ever electric pickup truck under its Radar Auto branding, which also comes with an all-new SUV and ATV EVs.

Geely Debuts its All-Electric Pickup Lineup

As per the latest news story by Electrek, Geely Auto, the subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group or shortly referred to as Geely, owns iconic auto brands, such as Volvo Cars and Lotus.

The online electric car news outlet also says in the same report that Geely is one of the largest automakers in the Chinese territory.

And now, according to a recent report by Reuters, the owner of the iconic auto brand, Volvo, introduced its first-ever pick up truck offering.

The all-electric truck goes by the name RD6. It flaunts an impressive driving range of up to 600 kilometers or 370 miles in just a single battery charge.

The news outlet Reuters notes that the all-new Geely electric pickup was previously called R6. But upon its official debut, it now carries the moniker RD6.

Read Also: Geely's New EV Battery Auto Swap Stations Arrive! Lifting Heavy Electric Cars No Longer Needed

Why Geely Introduced its First Electric Pick Up

The executive vice president of design at Geely Auto, none other than the design veteran, Peter Horbury, says that "the Radar product portfolio is focused on electric pick-up trucks and SUVs, this direction challenges us to mix functionality and usability with aesthetic form."

The British veteran auto designer also shares that the Chinese automaker aims to "let Radar users expand their horizons and explore nature in a sustainable way."

Meanwhile, Reuters notes in its new story that pickups are considered a niche type of vehicle in China.

Unlike in the US, pickup trucks are typically popular with farmers. It comes as the Chinese nation actually bans these rugged vehicles on most of the urban roads in the country.

But despite that, Geely expects more people to take on the pickup market as more people are now embracing the outdoors lifestyle. It is after staying indoors for a long time due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief Executive Officer of Radar Auto, Ling Shiquan, told Reuters that the lifestyles of most folks have already greatly shifted.

The Radar CEO says that "more people are pursuing a healthy lifestyle with more outdoor activities while the governments are also relaxing restrictions for pickups in cities."

Related Article: Tesla Urges Texas EV Owners to Avoid Charging as Powerwalls Await ERCOT Regulation Amendments

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Written by Teejay Boris

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EV giant Xpeng, which is Tesla's rival in China, is not stopping at producing electric vehicles, but it is also placing a wager on rideable unicorn robots for kids, according to TechCrunch's report.

(Photo : XPeng Robotics)

In a Series A round headed by the IDG Capital, Xpeng Robotics, a company that makes bionic robots and is connected to Xpeng, just raised an astonishing $100 million at a period when venture capital investments are declining in China.

The Series A transaction, according to businesswire, is the biggest single-tranche fundraising for China's bionic robot industry in the last two years.

Smart Robots in the Future

Xpeng itself, as well as some unknown backers, are additional investors. Following the most recent round, it is unknown how much power Xpeng still possesses over Xpeng Robotics.

However, considering their shared brand identification, it won't come as a surprise that the two companies are tightly partnered in terms of development, according to TechCrunch.

He Xiaopeng, the chairman and CEO of Xpeng, said in a statement that he believes producers of smart Xpeng Robotics as part of their objective to be technology innovators and explorers. automobiles would also produce smart robots in the future. According to the CEO, they will keep supporting.

The initial offering from Xpeng Robotics, which was established in 2016, is a quadruped robot that can move around on its own and communicate with people.

Read Also: Xpeng Robotics Raises $100 Million in Series A Funding to Commercialize Household Robotics in 2024

All About the Robotic Pony

The robotic pony is seen nodding and winking at a child while riding him about in a 3D teaser that was unveiled last September. In another video, the pony follows a person while delivering refreshments throughout a workplace by the voice directions he was given with.

According to TechCrunch, there have been several companion robots, such as the bionic cat from Elephant Robotics in Shenzhen, but few are as large as Xpeng Robotics' pony, which has the same height as a child.

Even though it stated in a press release that it anticipates intelligent robots to enter homes within the next two years, Xpeng Robotics has yet to specify a delivery date for its robots. The idea is certainly not something that a startup could take on instantly without funding from a wealthy sponsor.

The investment will enable Xpeng Robotics to attract top personnel, accelerate product development, and increase its R&D spending on robotic hardware and software.

XPENG Robotics was founded in 2016, making it one of the pioneering businesses in China's walking robot industry. The company's R&D facilities are located in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, and Beijing in addition to its Shenzhen headquarters.

The company has a strong focus on technology, and its areas of expertise include robot movement, autonomy, interaction, and artificial intelligence.

Related Article: Scientists Create A 'Robot Fish' That Eats Microplastics - Will It Solve Plastic Pollution?

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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What may appear to be emergency rescue operations on Seneca Lake Friday and Saturday will actually be part of a training drill.

Two New York Naval Militia patrol boats and 35 Naval Militia members will conduct emergency response exercises on Seneca Lake and Alexandria Bay on July 15 and 16 using the Scout Camp Babcock-Hovey, near Ovid, as a base.

According to a news release, the exercise scenario calls for the Naval Militia boats and personnel to simulate post storm response actions on Seneca Lake, while taking part in a larger radio communications exercise which will involve people across New York state.

The drill, dubbed Empire Challenge, will test the Naval Militia members skills as boat operators and also train the sailors who man their command post trailer.

The New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services will also be involved in the communications exercise, as will members of the New York Guard, the state's uniformed defense force. About 100 people located across the state will participate in the emergency communications component of the exercise.

The Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the Air Force, whose civilian members assist in search and rescue operations, will take part in the communications portion of the drill as well.

The boats will be trailered to Sampson State Park and launched into the lake there.

On Saturday afternoon, the two boats will travel up Seneca Lake into the Erie Canal, and from there to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to Alexandria Bay to conduct another rescue drill with the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Reserve medical personnel.

"Exercises like Empire Challenge provide our Naval Militia members with opportunities to practice skills that would be required in an actual emergency response," Naval Militia Rear Admiral Larry Weill, commander of the New York Naval Militia, said in a statement. "The training on Seneca Lake will be unique in that our people will be to test three new means of radio communications, which is always one of the biggest challenges in any operational environment."

The New York Naval Militia is a component of the New York Military Forces, which also includes the Army and Air National Guard and the New York Guard.

The Naval Militia is composed of 2,800 current Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Reserve members who agree to serve in the Naval Militia as well as in their federal military reserve unit. They put the skills they've acquired in federal military service to work for New York.

There are also a small number of members who are no longer drilling Reservists or are retired members of the Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.

The Naval Militia operates the Military Emergency Boat service, a fleet of 11 boats which conduct missions in support of New York State, the Coast Guard, and other federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The two boats being used in the exercise will be the PB (patrol boat) 281, a 28-foot patrol boat based in Buffalo, and the LC (landing craft) 350, a 35-foot landing craft based in Coxsackie on the Hudson River.

The radio communications portion of the exercise will involve communications with National Guard headquarters in Buffalo and Latham. The drill will also involve the short-wave emergency radio network operated by the New York Guard.

The exercise in Alexandria Bay will involve 12 Naval Militia members who are crewing LC-350 and PB-281. The training scenario calls for them to rescue people who have been blown into the St. Lawrence River during a storm.

The "victims" recovered in the river will be transported on shore and turned over to members of the Navy Reserve Medical Training Unit, based in Portsmouth, Virginia, for treatment.
Son "genetic mismatch" that was hard to get through a test tube... Loss of contact with the person in charge
Hyundai is planning to build an electric vehicle factory in South Korea by 2025. Based on a report by Reuters, this EV factory will be Hyundai's first all-new manufacturing site in its home country since its established a factory in 1996. Hyundai has not revealed many details about the upcoming EV factory,

Hyundai's factories in Ulsan, South Korea and West Java, Indonesia currently manufacture the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The automaker is getting ready to introduce its much-awaited Hyundai Ioniq 6 electric sedan. Hyundai is also gearing up to bring in the Ioniq 7 electric SUV.

(Also read | 2022 Hyundai Tucson facelift breaks cover in India with ADAS, digital cluster )

Hyundai in May announced a significant investment of $5.54 billion in Georgia where it aims to build an electric vehicle as well as battery-producing units over 2,923 acres. The construction of this production site will begin early next year and will start manufacturing electric vehicles in the first half of 2025. It is being reported that the factory will be able to produce 3,00,000 vehicles annually. It will mainly manufacture the Ioniq 7 and the Kia EV9. This factory will focus on EVs for the US market.

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(Also see | In pics: 2022 Hyundai Tucson facelift with ADAS breaks cover )

With an aim to lead the electric mobility market in the United States, Hyundai had earlier shared that the establishment of these manufacturing units will lead to around 8,100 job creations. Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Euison Chung said during the announcement of this production site that the US market holds an important position in the company's electrification plans. The U.S. has always held an important place in the Groups global strategy, and we are excited to partner with the State of Georgia to achieve our shared goal of electrified mobility and sustainability in the US," said Chung reportedly.

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Vinfast's parent Vingroup JSC warned earlier this year that an initial public offering for VinFast might be delayed until next year due to market uncertainty.

Vietnam carmaker VinFast said it has tapped Credit Suisse and Citigroup to raise at least $4 billion to build its planned electric vehicle factory in North Carolina and fund its U.S. expansion. Wednesday's announcement marks the most significant development for the company, which is betting big on the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with electric SUVs and a battery leasing model.

Vingroup said in a statement that it had appointed Credit Suisse to arrange the issue of offshore securities to raise $2 billion for VinFast or its subsidiaries globally, while Citigroup Global Markets was tapped as an advisor on transactions with the same value. Each agreement "could include debt or private placements of equity," the statement said, without elaborating.

Credit Suisse and Citi declined to comment. The news of the funding arrangement comes after Vinfast's parent Vingroup JSC warned earlier this year that an initial public offering for VinFast might be delayed until next year due to market uncertainty.

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(Also read | Vietnamese EV maker VinFast set to begin production in US in July 2024 )

Vingroup is Vietnam's largest listed company with a market value of $11.4 billion, with businesses in retail, real estate and resorts. It established VinFast in 2017, with its first conventional combustion-engine cars hitting the streets two years later before switching exclusively to EVs in 2021. VinFast is preparing to launch its first overseas model and roll out a network of showrooms in the United States and Europe.

The North Carolina factory, covering an area of 800 hectares, will initially produce 150,000 electric vehicles a year, the company said. VinFast has promised to create 7,500 jobs at the factory and said it aimed to start production by 2024.

(Also read | Vietnam's indigenous carmaker VinFast to stop making ICE vehicles in a year )

The company said it is due to open its first overseas showrooms in California in coming days, including a flagship store in Santa Monica. For the North Carolina factory, it has also been seeking support from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for potential financing through a fund for advanced-technology vehicles.

In addition, VinFast has filed for an IPO in the United States through a shell company in Singapore that now legally holds almost all of the startup automaker's assets. Despite its cold start in an increasingly crowded market for EVs, VinFast has won support from suppliers, some analysts and the Biden administration in part because of the perception that it is a rising national champion in Vietnam. In late March, Biden tweeted that VinFast's then just-announced U.S. investment plans were "the latest example of my economic strategy at work."

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Erick Knezek, president of the Lafayette Parish School Board, speaks during press conference about the newly expanded School Resource Officer Program Tuesday, August 7, 2018, at the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office in Lafayette, La. The School Resource Officer (SRO) Program will put at least one officer in every public school in Lafayette Parish. That brings the number of SRO's from 20 last year to more than 40 this year, with an additional undisclosed number of floating officers who can fill in or provide additional officer support. In addition to more officers, a new, free smartphone app called Lafayette Parish Student Protect is available for students, teachers and parents to annonymously report illegal or suspicious activity. The app also sends push notifications to warn users about emergency situations.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- HUAWEIs Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit has seen its chief architect, Dr. Chen Yilun, leave recently, according to a local media outlet.

HUAWEI-backed AITO M5; photo credit: AITO

Dr. Chen, a master's graduate and doctorate alumni from Tsinghua University and the University of Michigan respectively, joined HUAWEI as chief scientist of the ICT giants autonomous driving department, in charge of perception technologies in 2018.



Prior to HUAWEI, Dr. Chen also worked as technical expert and project manager in Eaton. In 2017, Dr. Chen joined DJI as chief engineer.

Gasgoo has contacted HUAWEIs Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit for Chens resignation, but the company has yet to respond.

In fact, under the constant organization adjustment of the unit, several other key executives have left HUAWEIs auto department.

In January 2022, the former head of Huawei's Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit, Su Jing, resigned from the company. In April, the general manager of the units intelligent auto control segment, Cai Jianyong, also left HUAWEI to join CATL, assuming the head position of CATLs CTC business.

Moreover, several other former team members of HUAWEIs auto business has taken on executive rolls in ZEEKR, NIO, and others.
Geo Prep Baker, a new charter school, plans to open in Baker next month with kindergarten and first grade in the former home of Bethany Christian School on Plank Road. It will be the third charter school in Baker.
Germanys all-time literary giant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, once suggested to Caspar David Friedrich he should paint landscapes that systematically depicted each type of cloud identified in a famous treatise. Friedrich, by all accounts, was horrified at the suggestion. Being attracted by the freedom and mutability of clouds, he resisted the idea of placing them in neat categories. To reduce nature to a mere mechanism was to diminish the power and glory of the Creator.

I thought of Goethe when looking at Robert Wilsons Moving Portraits at the Art Gallery of South Australia. In his unutterably boring novel, Elective Affinities (1809), a group of friends amuse themselves by organising tableaux vivants staged versions of famous paintings. A lot of organisation results in a brief moment in the spotlight, when the amateur actors stand as still as wax dummies.

Wilsons video portraits are a new type of tableau vivant for an era of globalised culture and digital media. They are as highly structured as anything Goethe conceived, but with more variety and oblique humour. Neither are they completely still. Taking hours to shoot, each piece has been condensed into a few minutes that repeat on a loop. Although the subjects adopt fixed poses, there are slight movements, such as the blink of an eye, which remind us these are videos, not photographs.

Robert Wilsons Princess Caroline, Princess of Monaco; Lady Gaga: Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere; and Jeanne Moreau, actress. Credit:Courtesy of RW Work Ltd

One of the worlds most celebrated directors of large-scale theatrical projects, Wilson has been making these portraits for more than 50 years, initially for public TV. During the past two decades, taking advantage of advances in HD technology, he has produced a succession of works, squeezing photo sessions into those rare times he is not preoccupied with the theatre and opera. His commitments are prodigious. At the age of 80, Wilson currently has more than 20 productions being staged in different parts of the world.
That seems like a lot to carry, given that Saul is one of the most critically acclaimed series on television. But if it is, Seehorn, 50, who has been acting on screens and on stages since the 1990s, handles it gracefully. Unlike the tight-lipped, inscrutable Kim, Seehorn isnt afraid to be vulnerable, either professionally or, as it turns out, in conversation. She has no problem, for example, talking at length about a rash. She is funny and has a blinding, unguarded smile that made me wonder if I had ever actually seen Kim Wexlers teeth (all those tooth-brushing scenes notwithstanding). Kim would think I was a giant dork, she said. She would not hang out with me at all. Still, there was something Kim-like beneath the dorkiness. Several times during our conversations, she acknowledged feeling as if she were getting away with something, as if all the colleagues, critics and Emmys forecasters must be lying. She wasnt breaking rules. But like Kim, she fought back a nagging fear, she said, that someday, somehow, she was going to be found out. I feel like I walk around in the world and pretend to be a normal person, she said. And Im not. Seehorn grew up much differently from Kim, who was essentially homeless as a child, with a grifter mother. But there was enough dislocation in the early life of Seehorn, who was born in Norfolk, Virginia, that it seems no accident she has proved so adept at inhabiting the character.

Seehorns family moved a lot because of her fathers job in counterintelligence, doing stints in Japan and Arizona before settling in Virginia Beach when Rhea was in elementary school. She was universally liked, said Trish Goodwin, one of her best friends since childhood. She was smart, and she did her work, but she wasnt an annoying brainiac. Loading When Seehorn was 12, her parents split, and around that time she started going by her middle name, Rhea (pronounced: RAY; her first name is Deborah). Her mother had done musical theatre in high school, but Seehorn was more drawn to the passions of her father, a Vietnam War veteran who loved drawing and painting. It was while pursuing studio art at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, that she discovered acting, in an elective class. She didnt change her major, but she dived right in. I think ignorance was bliss, she said. Because it seemed very simple to me at the time in a way that I understand now that its not.

In Hollywood, where Seehorn moved in 2002, producers sometimes asked her in auditions to be more feminine, more likable, more like what they expected from a pretty blonde. She ignored those notes as best she could  her heroes were Madeline Kahn, Gilda Radner, Gena Rowlands  and found plenty of regular work anyway, often in short-lived sitcoms. She was grateful but restless. One day, after failing to land a part in the Amazon series Sneaky Pete, she was walking through the Sony Pictures Studios lot, and she saw the famous meth lab RV from Breaking Bad. Rhea Seehorn in a scene in the final season of Better Call Saul. My last day, I left the set, and I just thought, Im going to be thinking about that ending for a very, very long time. Credit:Greg Lewis In my head, I was like, I miss that type of storytelling where you really have to dig deep, she said. The next day, Sharon Bialy, who was the casting director for Sneaky Pete, rang her up. There was a Breaking Bad spin off in the works, and she thought Seehorn would be perfect. A lot of people pigeonholed her in the industry as a comedy actress, Bialy said. But I had an instinct that she was so much more than that.

Odenkirk said he and Seehorn had connected instantly. I think shes rolled with the punches her whole life, he said. Instead of letting it make her into a cowering, delicate person, he added, shes tough, and she bounces back, and shes fun. That toughness has found its way into Saul. Gould said it was evident from the beginning what Seehorn could bring to the role. There wasnt even a remote second choice, he said. But as the character grew, he added, Seehorns specific qualities informed Kims evolution  and by extension, the storys. If we had not cast Rhea Seehorn in this role, Gould said, we would be talking about a very different show right now. Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn in a scene from Better Call Saul. Its hard to imagine much fun awaits Kim in an arc that, as viewers know, seems bent toward tragedy. Seehorn was tight-lipped about Kims fate in the final stretch but not about her experience making it. The next six episodes, this whole season, was probably the most challenging work Ive done in my career  but blissfully so, she said in a follow-up phone conversation. My last day, I left the set, and I just thought, Im going to be thinking about that ending for a very, very long time. 

When Seehorn and I first met, at the Getty Center, one of the first things she offered was a disclaimer: Im not very good at playing me. She said it laughingly, in what came to seem like a reliably self-deprecating manner, a reflex pointed out by several of her friends and colleagues. I took it under advisement then, but after spending some time with her, Im not so sure. Loading By most measures of success  career, friendship, family  Seehorn has found it. She is engaged and seems to enjoy helping raise her fiances two boys. Odenkirk, as Variety reported in a recent cover story on Seehorn, hopes to cast her in a coming mockumentary he created with his Mr. Show partner, David Cross. It seemed to me that such successes were the result of a persons playing herself pretty well. Odenkirk appeared to agree. She doesnt know how great she is, he said. She doesnt give her herself enough credit, but she shows what she can do, and hopefully she knows that.
The father of a former choirboy who prosecutors had alleged was sexually abused by George Pell in Melbournes St Patricks Cathedral has launched civil action in an attempt to sue the cardinal and the Catholic Church.

In 2018, Pell was found guilty by a County Court jury of abusing two teenage choirboys in December 1996. However, those convictions were quashed by the High Court in 2020 and Pell was released from prison after spending more than a year in custody.

George Pell has been accused of sexually abusing two former choirboys when he was the Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. Credit:AP

The full bench of the High Court unanimously quashed Pells convictions after the countrys seven most senior judges found there was a significant possibility an innocent person was found guilty at trial. Pell pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence.

At the trial, one of the former choirboys gave evidence alleging he and his friend were abused after a Sunday mass by the church leader, who in 1996 was the Archbishop of Melbourne.
Detectives are seeking dashcam footage and CCTV from the public after shots were fired at three homes in Sydneys south-west on Tuesday night.

Officers were called to Maiden Street in Greenacre just before 9.30pm after residents in the area reported hearing a number of gunshots.

Police found a property in the road, as well as two other homes in nearby Juno Parade, had been hit by a flurry of bullets, causing damage to all three properties. A number of people were inside each of the homes, but no injuries were recorded.

Bankstown Police Area Command Superintendent Adam Whyte said there was no evidence at this stage to suggest the homes were targeted. Crime scenes were established at each of the homes and were forensically examined.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The ORA Ballet Cat, a new small-sized BEV model under Great Wall Motor's ORA brand, formally hit the market on July 12. Coming with four trim levels, the new model is priced at 193,000 yuan to 223,000 yuan ($28,730-$33,200) after subsidies.

ORA Ballet Cat; photo credit: ORA

The retro-inspired Ballet Cat features horseshoe-like headlights and chrome-plated front bumper.

ORA Ballet Cat; photo credit: ORA

As to the side profile, the two-tone paint, the silvery side-view mirrors, and the more-intricate alloy wheels contribute to the vehicles sense of stylishness. The slight tilt behind the C pillar allows for enough headroom for passengers at the rear bench.

The taillights are also shaped like horseshoes. Besides, the ducktail-like rear spoiler accentuates the cuteness of the vehicle.

The ORA Ballet Cat measures 4,401mm long, 1,867mm wide, and 1,633mm tall, with a wheelbase that spans 2,750mm. It comes with six options for body colors.

ORA Ballet Cat; photo credit: ORA

Styling-wise, the interior of the Ballet Cat has two screens in one oval-shaped pod. The left screen is for the instrument panel and the right one for the infotainment. The soft-color theme continues with pastel blue and pink colors in almost every detail in the cockpit.

The ORA Ballet Cat is driven by a front-wheel-mounted electric motor that is good for a maximum output of 126kW and a peak torque of 250 Nm. The model comes with the choice of a 49.92kWh or a 60.5kWh LFP battery pack, which can offer a range of 401km and 500km respectively.

Notably, batteries on the 401km version are supplied by Gotion High-Tech.
This weeks summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in Suva comes not a moment too soon. The lack of face-to-face meetings over the past three years has contributed to division in the region at a time when it most needs to come together to secure its future.

Our world faces a syndemic of challenges, prominent among them the climate crisis, COVID-19 and several conflicts. These have consequences for all countries, but for small island developing states with inherent vulnerabilities like those in the Pacific, there are particular impacts.

The first in-person bilateral meeting between Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Damukana Sogavare on Wednesday began with a hug. Credit:JOE ARMAO

Rising sea levels and evermore intense weather events pose threats to coastal villages, agriculture, infrastructure and whole economies. The pandemic has devastated the tourism-dependent economies. Now spillover impacts from the war in Ukraine have driven food and fuel costs sky-high, added to the already heavy burden of import costs in the Pacific.

All these issues and more, from the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases to the state of the oceans, will be uppermost in the minds of Pacific leaders as they meet. They will endorse the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific  a comprehensive regional plan to tackle the challenges. With unity, the Pacific can build the partnerships and mobilise the funding and capacities required to turn the strategy into action.
Queenslands peak legal profession body has flagged support for a broader reform of laws that can see people arrested for swearing at police, as the state moves to act on a narrower set of long-awaited legislative changes.

A parliamentary inquiry, due to make recommendations to government by November, was quietly set up last month to consider overhauling laws banning begging, public urination and public intoxication.

A total of 2102 people were charged or fined for begging, public urination and public intoxication across Queensland in 2021, with charges for the latter accounting for more than half of that figure. Credit:Wolter Peeters

So-called public order offences are disproportionately used against First Nations people, with the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody urging their removal more than 30 years ago.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, asked if she supported the call to overturn public intoxication laws this week, stopped short of explicitly supporting change, but accepted her state was the last to act.
A wrong decision can open the way for an appeal on the basis that the jury was not provided with a balanced account. Days can be spent defining moments, and words spoken under white-hot stress examined in the cool light of day. Loading In 2002 Roberts and his partner in crime, Bandali Debs, were convicted of the murders of Silk, 34, and Miller, 35, who were ambushed in Cochranes Road, Moorabbin while on a stake-out searching for two men who had committed a series of armed robberies. Nineteen years later Roberts won a retrial after the Court of Appeal found his conviction was tainted by police malpractice. The second jury listened to evidence that lasted nearly four months and had five COVID-related interruptions.

They were diligent, with many taking copious notes. Trial judge Stephen Kaye observed the jury was the most durable I have ever seen. At the trials conclusion he excused them from ever having to sit on a jury again. They took four days to decide. No one could doubt their commitment. To understand Roberts arrest, conviction, retrial and ultimate acquittal we must look at two laws, one good and one bad. First the bad: Roberts was the victim of a miscarriage of justice by the state government, which passed a law designed to be tough on police killers but which actually sabotaged the justice system. When Roberts was first convicted, trial judge Justice Phil Cummins sentenced him to life with a minimum of 35 years, believing the young offender should be given a chance at rehabilitation. He sentenced Debs to life with no minimum because he knew Debs would never change. Debs groomed Roberts to be his armed robbery apprentice. Roberts was just 17 at the time of the police murders and was manipulated by the man he saw as a father figure. Debs has since been convicted of two more murders.

In 2016 the government changed the Sentencing Act, banning police killers from seeking parole unless chronically infirm - effectively throwing out Cummins judgment and re-sentencing Roberts to life. On any level, this was manifestly unfair and allowed politicians to hijack the sentencing process. But then there is the good law: That a case can be reopened if new evidence is unearthed. In late 2012, respected veteran homicide investigator Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles undertook a review of the evidence that led to Roberts conviction. How and why the review was conducted remains a matter of dispute, as it was not authorised through the normal chain of command. The head of the squads at the time was Superintendent Paul Sheridan, who had been the officer in charge of Lorimer, the taskforce that investigated the Silk-Miller murders.

Sheridan is a man with a reputation for being stubborn, a stickler for the rules and a police officer of the highest integrity. But there was a flaw in Lorimers evidence that came into existence under Sheridans watch but without his knowledge. Roberts told Iddles he was Debs partner in 10 previous armed robberies but was not with him in Cochranes Road when Debs was looking at the Silky Emperor restaurant as a potential 11th target. Silk and Miller were on surveillance duty (Operation Hamada) looking for the two bandits robbing suburban soft targets when they pulled over Debs, who was driving his daughter Nicoles Hyundai. Police at the scene of the Silk-Miller shooting in 1998. Credit:Jason South Roberts told Iddles he had helped cover up the crime after the fact but had not shot the police. Nicole Debs said Roberts was with her, and they had been out that night, although she couldnt remember where.

In 2013 Iddles completed his report, codenamed Rainmaker, concluding: I am unable to find any material or evidence which would show Roberts new account is contradicted in any way by evidence presented at the original Supreme Court trial. Iddles expressed an expert opinion. It was not evidence. When the report was made public, Iddles went further, saying: On the basis of probability, he [Roberts] was not there. Loading It created headlines and little else. To win a retrial, Roberts legal team had to produce new and compelling material denied to the original 2002 jury. Roberts could have given the account he gave Iddles at his original trial. Instead, he had denied everything. It would have ended there, except that a copy of the original statement from one of the first police at the scene where Silk lay dead and Miller dying was unearthed - a statement hidden from the defence and the jury in the first trial.

An addition to a statement is common when filed as a supplementary document, giving the defence the chance to explore potential inconsistencies. In this case, however, the original statement had been destroyed and a later one backdated to appear as if it was taken within hours of the shooting. It related to a key plank of the prosecution case: that Miller said there were two offenders, allegedly Debs and Roberts. The fact that several original statements had been altered to back the two offenders call was the new and compelling evidence that made the Court of Appeal order a retrial. Sergeant Gary Silk (left) and Senior Constable Rodney Miller. The act of hiding the original statements was a spectacularly stupid attempt to produce a watertight case.

Any suggestion the statements were altered to falsely implicate Roberts is misguided, since Debs and Roberts did not become suspects until five months after the alterations were made. It was a tidy-up rather than a cover-up, yet still inexcusable. It was the subject of severe criticism from the Court of Appeal and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and is now being investigated by police to see if disciplinary charges should be laid. If the Court of Appeal believed there was insufficient evidence to convict Roberts it could have ordered an acquittal. Instead, it found the prosecution case was strong, saying: We accept that the consistent history of the manner in which the Hamada robberies were committed by Debs and the appellant [Roberts] raises a strong probability that (absent other evidence) if the Hyundai car was present at the Silky Emperor for the purposes of robbery, then both men were present. In this trial, the first responders were questioned on what they heard, what was recorded in their first statements and any contradictions in previous evidence. Their evidence that Miller said two offenders was pivotal because two police who drove along Cochranes Road saw Silk and Miller near the Hyundai and only one other person standing at the drivers door. The Crown claimed they didnt see Roberts because he was slumping in the front passenger seat. Loading

One witness who has since died said he drove past to see a police car and a second car parked in Cochranes Road with both the passenger and drivers door of the second car wide open. The prosecution claimed that if it was the Hyundai, two people had left the car to speak to police. During the second trial, one first responder denied he could be mistaken about what he heard, saying those words were going to haunt me until my death. One of the first police there was Cheltenham Constable Brad Gardner, who was on a routine 6pm to 2am patrol. The most junior officer at the scene, having only graduated the year before, he held Millers hand and cradled his head. He took notes at the time, which included what Miller said when asked for descriptions. Prosecutor Ben Ihle, QC, asked: And what was his response?

Gardner: Two, one on foot. Ihle: What did you do with that information? Gardner: I wrote it into my notebook. Gardner hopped into the ambulance to write down anything else Miller might say. He followed him all the way to the Monash Hospital operating theatre and waited outside until he was told Miller was dead. Gardner has left policing and is now a truck driver.

The scene on Cochranes Road, Moorabbin, the day after the murders. Credit:Jason South The Court of Appeal had earlier made reference to Gardners recollections. He wrote two, one on foot. Gardner was a very deliberate and precise witness. Three of Victorias most experienced judges clearly believed him. Senior defence barrister David Hallowes, SC, repeatedly questioned the credibility of some of the first responders but accepted Gardners version from his notes taken at the time that Miller said two, one on foot. (Hallowes did however question whether it meant categorically that Miller was referring to two offenders.) The reason for the retrial - whether Miller had referred to two people - was finally conceded.

While the retrial gave the defence the chance to examine the first responders on inconsistencies in statements, it gave the prosecution the chance to recalibrate. As Roberts now admitted he was Debs partner in the 10 armed robberies, the prosecution argued the jury could reasonably conclude he was in Cochranes Road for the 11th. And this time Debs would break his silence. His evidence was fascinating and horrible. He showed no remorse and discussed the ambush murder of two police as if checking off a shopping list. Bandali Debs (left) outside court in 2002 and Jason Roberts during his retrial in 2022. Credit:Simon Schulter, Jason South His version was different to the prosecutions, and he admitted to the defence he was a liar. He had a motive to give evidence: he hoped to be rewarded by being transferred from NSWs Goulburn Prison back to Melbourne to be closer to his family.

But for all that he was unshakeable: Roberts was there and killed Silk. Kaye warned the jury that as a convicted criminal, any evidence Debs gave should be treated with caution. Clearly the jury didnt believe him. Debs was a serial killer. His life sentence has saved lives. For Roberts to stand any chance he had to jump into the witness box and open himself up to cross-examination - a high-risk, high-reward tactic. An accused usually stays silent, leaving it to the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Roberts was solid and articulate, giving his version of what happened that night - based on what he said Debs had told him.
Staff members are required to affirm the statement of belief each year. The transgender reference was introduced this year.

According to Scripture, our gender identity is to align with our biological sex, as designed by God, the document states.

St Andrews Christian College in Melbournes east this year requested staff sign an updated statement of belief that acknowledges the biological sex of a person as recognised at birth and requires practices consistent with that sex.

The statement of belief also says that marriage, and therefore sexual intimacy, is to be between one man and one woman and sex should occur only within a monogamous marriage, with abstinence from pre-marital sex, extra marital sex, de-facto marriage and homosexual relationships.

The statement has prompted warnings that Victorian schools could be sued for discriminatory practices under the states recently updated Equal Opportunity Act, which largely prohibits religious schools from discriminating against employees and prospective employees because of their sexuality or gender identity.

Paul OHalloran, of Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers, said religious schools will need to think very carefully about introducing policies that might contravene the act, which states that gender identity means a persons gender-related identity, which may or may not correspond with their designated sex at birth.

The explanatory background material relating to exemption in the Equal Opportunity Act contemplates that action taken by religious schools in this area could result in harsh or unjust consequences, he said. Schools need to be cautious balancing their religious beliefs against the rights of individuals.
Homicide detectives have arrested two people over the fatal shooting of a man in a street in Melbournes inner-north on Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators believe the man was running away from the shooter when he was struck in the back. The alleged attacker was inside a black Audi SUV at the time.

Investigators leave a public housing block in Fitzroy. Credit:Jason South

Special operation officers arrested a 43-year-old man from Doveton and a 21-year-old woman from Yarraville in a Noble Park cul-de-sac about 5.30pm on Wednesday following a 24-hour search. Detectives also located the black SUV in South Yarra.

Residents expressed concerns for their safety after emergency services were called to Napier Street in Fitzroy at 4.15pm on Tuesday following reports that a man had been found with life-threatening injuries and the gunman was still on the run.
Andrew Dyson Credit:.

I have to agree with Shaun Carney (Comment, 13/7). It strikes me the Greens focus largely on the over-arching issues of warming and emissions but are much quieter on related environmental matters. After all, anyone these days can mouth the words climate change and global warming. Perhaps in addition to supporting Labors targets they could liaise with Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek in tackling the complex challenge of shrinking habitat and loss of bio-diversity. However temperatures resolve, the ocean, rivers, wetlands, mangroves, forests and woodland and all the rest, will need to be preserved and enhanced in order that the creatures who inhabit them have a future. If, for example, the Greens could help to stop reckless and illicit land clearing, then the effort to save the Plains-Wanderer  wonderful name  wont be wasted.

Michael Read, Carnegie

There was an agreement, then along came Abbott

Shaun Carney laments a free-market carbon price was a lost opportunity. In actuality the Labor-Greens carbon tax agreement showed real carbon emission reductions while it existed. Then Tony Abbott as prime minister scrapped it. Anthony Albanese needs to undo the wasted nine years. He needs to work with civil society, stare down the mining giants so we avert the catastrophe of our country washing away and burning down.

Leon Zembekis, Reservoir

The target was chased down, and is still chaste

Shaun Carneys bob each way piece trots out the shibboleth about the Greens blocking Kevin Rudds Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009. The CPRS was a dud that would have paid billions in compensation to mining companies and achieve no more carbon reduction than happened anyway, with next to no effective policies from the Coalition. The Greens and Labor subsequently brought in the Clean Energy Future package that established among other things, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Carney warns Labor about going too fast on climate policies. Go and tell that to the bushfire victims of a year or so ago, or the flooded communities of Lismore and elsewhere. He concludes with a nod to the need for action reminiscent of St Augustines plea, Lord make me chaste, but not yet.

Michael Hassett, Blackburn

There were many forces at work

Yes it can be argued that the Greens made a mistake in opposing Kevin Rudds emissions policy in 2009. Maybe they should have accepted a weak policy and worked to improve it over time. But given that just two years later they worked with Julia Gillard and the independents to produce a better emissions policy, claims they are responsible of a decade of climate inaction are ridiculous. Gillards policy was not only better than Rudds, we have several aspects of that policy enduring to this day. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency are both legacies of that policy suite.

So why the selective memory of that period and why attempt to blame the Greens for the mess?

The Coalition has been a major source of the denial, delay and deceit on climate change action from the minute Tony Abbott defeated Malcolm Turnbull in 2009. Yet despite Abbotts axe the tax slogan in 2013 the Gillard-Green policy was working well and gaining majority support in the polls. What wasnt working well was the internal functioning of the Labor party itself. It was that internal dysfunction more than anything else that caused Labor to lose the 2010 election. The Greens make a convenient scapegoat but their role in defeating Labor in 2010 and thus ending effective climate change action was minimal compared to the cynicism of the Coalition and the self-destruction within Labor during that time.

Graeme Henchel, Yarra Glen
A sex worker has tearfully admitted lighting a fire that killed a couple and their baby daughter in a townhouse blaze in Melbournes south-west suburbs.

Jenny Hayes on Wednesday pleaded guilty to three charges of arson causing death over the fire at a Point Cook property on December 2, 2020, that killed Abbey Forrest, 19, Inderpal Singh, 28, and their three-week-old daughter, Ivy.

Abbey Forrest, Inderpal Singh and their baby daughter Ivy.

Hayes sobbed as she entered a plea of guilty to each charge while on a video link from prison before the Supreme Court, as family members of the victims watched the online hearing.

Forrest and Singh moved in to the Totem Way townhouse in the weeks before the blaze, around the time of Ivys birth.
Two months on from its first major COVID-19 peak Western Australia is headed for another, but this time around the states apathy is obscuring the real story.

With 6880 new cases recorded on Wednesday and 34,375 active cases, the state is at the base of a new peak that Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson believes will hit more than 15,000 daily cases within six weeks.

WA Premier Mark McGowan is so far resisting any urge to implement mask mandates in the face of rising COVID-19 cases. Credit:Matt Jelonek/Getty

The wave is being fuelled by the antibody-dodging BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants, but has also sparked much higher rates of hospitalisation to active cases compared with the May peak.

The figures seem alarming but experts believe they are probably a product of COVID-19 burnout rather than something more sinister.
Suva: Anthony Albanese is facing his first major international test as prime minister as he attempts to negotiate with Solomon Islands, sell a climate package and convince Pacific leaders that Australia will remain a valuable security partner in the region.

Albanese will head into the second day of the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting facing calls from the president of the strategically significant island nation of Palau to lift Australias emissions reduction ambition. On Wednesday, after a warm but frank meeting with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Albanese announced Australia would build a new $83 million headquarters for the Fijian Navy to head off Beijings rising security ambitions.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavares greeting to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: How about a hug? Credit:Joe Armao

In a warning ahead of Australias campaign to host the United Nations climate change conference in 2024, Palaus President Surangel Whipps told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that Labor should match the 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 target that other advanced economies including Britain and the US have adopted.

Islands in the Pacific are going under, Australia should be taking the lead. It should be more ambitious, Whipps said. The most vulnerable nations are in the Pacific. If they are going to be a host, lets set that target at 50 per cent.
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

NIO, Li Auto enter Fortune China 500 list for first time

Both NIO and Li Auto were among the 500 largest publicly traded Chinese companies in terms of the annual revenue in 2021, ranking 344th and 427th respectively, according to the Fortune 500 China 2022 list released today.



MG's overseas sales to surpass 1 million units soon

On July 13, the new MG ZS officially hit the market with a guidance price range of 85,800 yuan ($12,760) to 99,800 yuan ($14,840). Meanwhile, a sport version newly added to the MG ZS series rolled off the production line, and will become the one millionth MG-branded complete vehicle sold abroad.

China's monthly FCV sales in June 2022 surge 67.3% YoY

According to the data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China's fuel cell vehicle (FCV) output and sales reached 527 units and 455 units in June 2022, growing 18.7% and 67.3% year on year.

All-new Honda CIVIC HATCHBACK e:HEV expected to hit market at Chengdu Motor Show 2022

The all-new Honda CIVIC HATCHBACK e:HEV is expected to hit the market at Chengdu Motor Show 2022 kicking off on August 26, according to a local media outlet.

HiPhi X crowned China's best-selling luxury EV priced above RMB500,000 in June

In the sixth month of 2022, China's luxury electric vehicle brand HiPhi from Human Horizons scored another monthly sales title compared to other automakers of electric vehicles priced at or above RMB500,000 ($74,200) in China.

NIO-backed battery assets operator Mirattery forges partnerships with many firms

Mirattery (Chinese name: Wuhan Weineng), NIO's battery asset management joint venture, on July 12 signed cooperation agreements with a slew of auto industrial chain players to boost development of the battery service industry.

Dongfeng Chenglong H5 obtains China's first autonomous heavy-duty truck license

Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor ("DFLM"), a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Group, recently completed the first 5G remote driving test and received China's first open-road inbound logistic license for autonomous driving heavy-duty trucks.

GWM's ORA Ballet Cat starts at 193,000 yuan

The ORA Ballet Cat, a new small-sized BEV model under Great Wall Motor's ORA brand, formally hit the market on July 12. Coming with four trim levels, the new model is priced at 193,000 yuan to 223,000 yuan ($28,730-$33,200) after subsidies.

HUAWEI reportedly sees another executive leave Intelligent Automotive Solution BU

HUAWEI's Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit has seen its chief architect, Dr. Chen Yilun, leave recently, according to a local media outlet.

Qt, SemiDrive complete automotive chip adaptation

On July 13th, global leading software supplier Qt and China's automotive chip developer SemiDrive jointly announced the completion of Qt's adaptation of SemiDrive's X9 smart cockpit chip and the MCU E3.

Chery OMODA 5 hits market, priced at RMB92,900-RMB126,900

On July 12th, Chery Holding officially put the OMODA 5, the automaker's first global-oriented model, onto the market.

Geely launches new outdoor lifestyle auto brand RADAR

On July 12, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) launched a fire new brand, RADAR, which the company claimed as China's first full electric outdoor lifestyle vehicle brand.
North Sydney MP Kylea Tink has called for the Albanese government to prioritise the first speeches of independent MPs so they can to contribute to debate of the governments climate change legislation.

The new House of Representatives has to get through some 15 hours of first speeches and Tink is one of several crossbenchers worried theyll be at the end of the list  which would effectively gag them because of a rule that says lower house members cant contribute to debate before they make their speech.

Incoming crossbenchers Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel, Kate Chaney, Kylea Tink, Dai Le, Libby Watson-Brown, Sophie Scamps and Allegra Spender arrive at Parliament House for the first time as MPs. Credit:James Brickwood

There are 35 new MPs in the parliament, who are each given 20 to 25 minutes for their first speech  a chance to outline their background and indicate policy priorities  and the government is aiming to get through them by late October.

However, parliament returns on July 26 and the government plans to introduce its climate action bill as a priority, along with paid domestic violence leave and creating a new jobs agency.
Newly elected independent senator David Pocock has warned that the Albanese governments plan to axe the union-hunting construction watchdog shouldnt be driven by ideology, saying 1.2 million workers could be left out in the cold, in an early sign Labor faces crossbench resistance to its industrial agenda.

While the Greens have backed the governments move to defund the Australian Building and Construction Commission, Pocock criticised Labor for trying to kill it off slowly while almost 40 cases are still on the books, adding the nation was fortunate to have a separation of government and courts.

Newly elected senator David Pocock has raised concerns about the abolition of the construction watchdog. Credit:Rhett Wyman

Having grown up in Zimbabwe, where people dont have that luxury, or that right, we should be protecting it and actually valuing it, Pocock said.

Pocock said a mature debate needed to be had about the commissions removal, prioritising the wellbeing of workers.
Western Australias beleaguered Liberals will look to reclaim ground by competing with their Nationals alliance partners in an upcoming by-election.

The Liberals have chosen pastoralist Will Baston to contest the seat of North West Central following the retirement of sitting Nationals MP Vince Catania.

North West Central candidate Will Baston, flanked by Liberal leader David Honey, left, and Liberal MLC Neil Thompson. Credit:Will Baston/Facebook

Pub owner Merome Beard is running for the Nationals, who retained the states largest electorate by just 259 votes at last years election.

Labor ran a close second after securing an 8.4 per cent swing but is yet to confirm whether it will run a candidate this time around, having already secured unprecedented dominance with 53 out of 59 lower house seats.
LOS ANGELES  Justin Saynes Fetish Mafia line was recently introduced to the Walmart.com website to increase consumer awareness of the brand, which includes water-based Weinerschleiden and d-AZ lubricants, Body Bags condoms, and Insanity male enhancement pills.

The reason I am on Walmart.com is to increase brand awareness in order to support the many brick and mortar retailers I have for my products, Justin said. I intentionally priced everything at MSRP and did not lower my prices in order not to compete with brick-and-mortar stores. The sheer visibility of Fetish Mafia products on the Walmart.com website reaches millions of people which, in turn, supports consumers who may also shop at local adult stores.

Creating demand for a small product line has always presented a challenge for manufacturers with limited goods available. By finessing his way onto the Walmart.com website with the Fetish Mafia brand, Sayne has created a funnel to promote the line with little advertising overhead.

Honestly, Ive been making more money because of Walmart.com than I have directly from Walmart.com. Its been a win for the Fetish Mafia brand," he added.

Fetish Mafia was created in 2018 by Justin Sayne Leathers, which is based in Arizona.

For more information or wholesale inquiries, contact Justin at 928.583.4819 or DM him on Twitter @MafiaFetish and IG at @JustinSayneLeather.
SAN FRANCISCOThe Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) applauds California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing Senator Scott Weiners Senate Bill (SB) 357, the Safer Streets for All Act, into law. SB 357 repeals Section 653.22 of the California Penal Code that criminalizes loitering for the intent to engage in sex work and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

Said ESPLERP Chair Claire Alwyne, "This 'walking while trans law' was always a horribly discriminatory law that allowed law enforcement enormous leeway in deciding who they would arrest. And people of color and transgender folks always seemed to be targeted regardless of whether they actually worked as a sex worker or not. And then that resulted in a criminal arrest record that would invariably be used to further discriminate against them when applying for work and housing."

According to ESPLERP, Section 653.22 in practice allowed law enforcement to harass people based on how they looked, what they were wearing, or where they were standing. And law enforcement used that power in an entirely discriminatory mannertargeting Black and Brown women and trans women at an alarming rate. For example, a recent report from UCLA Law students found that Black adults accounted for 56.1 percent of the Section 653.22 charges in Los Angeles between 2017-2019, despite only making up 8.9 percent of the citys population.

Ironically, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon referenced those statistics in a tweet supporting SB 357. But back in 2015, as San Francisco District Attorney, he was one of the District Attorneys named as defendants in ESPLERPs lawsuit ESPLERP v Gascon [case 16-15927], which challenged Californias anti-prostitution law, Penal Code 647(b), arguing for the decriminalization of sex work. At the time, Gascon was quoted as saying, There may be some consenting workers, and if there are, how do we differentiate one from the other?"

SB 357 means that law enforcement will no longer be allowed to criminalize LGTBQ+, Black and Brown communities for perfectly civil activities like walking or standing in publicjust because a law enforcement officer somehow deduces that the person intends to engage in sex work. Additionally, SB 357 will enable persons who have previously been convicted of loitering with the intent to commit prostitution to clear their records.

ESPLERP is a diverse community-based coalition advancing sexual privacy rights through litigation, education and research.

For more information, visit esplerp.org and sexwork.com.
With aggregators recently getting a bad rap for taking comments out of context, LeBron James deserves blame for doing it to himself, via his own show, that he produces.

In a trailer for an upcoming episode of The Shop: Uninterrupted, James was critical of the United States response to the Brittney Griner situation in Russia, questioning if it should make her rethink coming back to America. Griner has been in Russian custody since February when the WNBA star was detained at a Moscow airport for bringing vape cartridges with hashish oil, a marijuana concentrate, into the country.

The criminal trial has been considered a sham, with experts believing Russia is using Griners celebrity to drive negotiations with the United States. James, like many, has not been satisfied with Americas response.

Now, how can she feel like America has her back? James says in the trailer. I would be feeling like, Do I even want to go back to America?

James comment quickly went viral and was widely criticized for being anti-American, forcing him to later clarify the quote on Twitter.

My comments on The Shop regarding Brittney Griner wasnt knocking our beautiful country. I was simply saying how shes probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage shes been in for over 100+ days! Long story short #BringHerHome  LeBron James (@KingJames) July 13, 2022

My comments on The Shop regarding Brittney Griner wasnt knocking our beautiful country, James wrote. I was simply saying how shes probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage shes been in for over 100+ days! Long story short #BringHerHome

This stemmed from a five-second quote that was featured in a 30-second trailer, regarding a topic that required more context and was almost certainly part of a much larger conversation. So is James at fault for making the comment, or should a producer be faulted for sharing what was sure to be a polarizing comment when isolated from any context and handed off to aggregators? The problem, however, is that James name is on The Shop as executive producer.

But as James, Peyton Manning, Shaquille ONeal, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and other great athletes are listed as executive producers on various projects, it begs the question as to whether there should be a new title called honorary producer. Because how much production work are they actually putting into the project?

No one really believes LeBron James sits there and plays the role of executive producer for every episode of The Shop. Its more likely that hes given the title because The Shop operates under his production company and James probably contributes to discussions about who will be on the show and what topics will be covered.

Maybe James follows the all publicity is good publicity mantra, but if so, then why did he clarify the quote? While you have to question his marketing team for isolating a controversial quote that James would eventually have to clarify three days before the episode airs, its hard not to ignore the fact that he gave himself the title of executive producer. And as executive producer, James didnt wait for the aggregators to find controversy, he handed it to everyone on a silver platter.
Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) recently released a 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment for its service area that includes both Flagstaff and Verde Valley medical centers. The assessment looks at a variety of health issues in northern Arizona to help determine going forward areas of focus.

The report, created by healthcare consulting firm PRC, follows a 2012 assessment looking at similar fields of focus. In addition to research at the local, state and national levels, the report is based on a survey of 400 people (200 each in FMC and VVMC's service area) as well as a survey of 106 community partners and health experts (referred to as key informants).

It identified several areas of opportunity, representing each communitys greatest health needs. In the Flagstaff region specifically, needs included the cost of physician visits, prevalence of fast food, homicide deaths, the mental health provider ratio, incidence of chlamydia and impacts from substance abuse.

Top concerns of surveyed community stakeholders across the service area were mental health, substance abuse and access to healthcare services, followed by heart disease and stroke.

FMC and NAH will use the information from this Community Health Needs Assessment to develop an Implementation Strategy to address the significant health needs in the community, according to the reports summary. While the hospital will likely not implement strategies for all of the health issues listed above, the results of this prioritization exercise will be used to inform the development of the hospitals action plan to guide community health improvement efforts in the coming years.

NAHs most recent assessment from 2019 led to the organization deciding to focus on developing and/or supporting strategies and initiatives in three priority areas -- access to health services, mental health and chronic disease.

For each area, the report outlines additional goals, the strategies used to address them and the impact each program has had.

Strategies under the health access goal included adding capacity to primary care clinics, enrolling patients in the community care network and a remote patient monitoring program.

To address chronic disease, NAH set up a COVID-19 vaccination clinic, administering more than 32,000 doses, developed a comprehensive cardiovascular service line and hosted community screenings for diabetes, tobacco and cardiovascular disease.

Mental health strategies included partnerships with community agencies such as the Guidance Center and NAU, mental health first aid training and telehealth options for behavioral health.

The report also details the rates of a variety of health issues and related community characteristics for each hospital's service area, as well as for NAHs overall service area, Arizona and the United States.

Categories where FMCs service area fell behind Arizona overall included the amount of the population with low food access (32.5% in FMC, 26.8% statewide) and the prevalence of fast food restaurants (98.9 per 100,000, 77.3 in Arizona), binge drinking (23%, 16.5% in Arizona) and vaping (11.8% used vape products, 5.3% in Arizona).

Areas the FMC region was ahead of the state included a lower portion of the population that was linguistically isolated (1.8%, compared to 3.6% in Arizona), without a high school diploma at the age of 25 or older (9.5% in Flagstaff, 12.9% in Arizona) or with late or no prenatal care (7% in FMC, 9.2% in Arizona). It also reported a lower amount of children in poverty (17.2% in Flagstaff, 21.5% in Arizona).

Most respondents in the total service area reported very good (37.2%) or good (28.4%) health, with a combined total of 19.8% in the Flagstaff region reporting fair or poor health. The 18.9% in the service area reporting fair or poor health represents an increase from the 2012 survey, in which a total of 16.8% reported fair or poor health.

Compared to Arizona, the FMC region had lower incidence rates of lung disease, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, HIV and gonorrhea.

Across NAHs service area, 38.1% saw the health services offered in the community as good, with another 25.4% seeing them as very good. A total of 8% saw them as poor. In the FMC area, a combined total of 22.4% saw local health services as either fair or poor.

Of those aged 18 to 64 in the NAH service area, 59.7% had private insurance, 24.3% had some form of government insurance and 9.6% had no insurance or used self-pay. In the FMC area, 7.9% between those ages lacked coverage. The amount of those in NAHs service area without coverage fell from 21.4% to 9.6% since 2012.

The survey of key informants shows that 42.3% saw access to healthcare as a moderate problem in the community, with 27.9% each seeing it as a major and minor problem, respectively.

FMC's service area has a rate of 110.3 primary care providers per 100,000 population in 2021, with 47.1% or residents saying they'd visited a physician for a checkup in the past year (73.8% of Arizona residents had had a routine checkup in the past year).

In 2021, the area had 38.6 dentists per 100,000, with 52.7% visiting a dentist in the past year.

In the past year, 20.7% of those in FMCs service area reported that the cost of a doctor visit prevented them from accessing care. Another 14.5% reported the cost of prescriptions prevented their accessing care, and 12% cited lack of transportation.

Most respondents in the service area reported a very good (26.1%) or good (26.8%) mental health status, though a smaller share than for physical health. In the Flagstaff region, a combined total of 28.1% reported either fair or poor mental health. The rate of people reporting fair or poor health for the overall region almost doubled from 2012s total of 12.3%, to 23.9%, according to the 2022 survey.

A total of 33.1% of respondents in the Flagstaff area said they had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder, compared to 16.8% across Arizona. In NAHs overall service area, the total reporting a diagnosis of a depressive disorder was 27.5%, more than double 2012s total of 12.5%. Suicide rates were also higher in FMCs service area than in Arizona as a whole (27.3 per 100,000, with 18.3 in Arizona).

Coconino County had 90.3 mental healthcare providers per 100,000 population in 2021. In the past year, 14.6% of respondents in the Flagstaff region said they were unable to access mental health services when they had needed them.

Of key informants, 61% saw mental health as a major problem in the community, with one healthcare leader quoted in the report as saying theres a serious lack of resources for people with mental health problems and people in mental health crises."

Contributors

In Coconino County, 17.6% of the population was reported as in poverty, with 31.6% not having enough cash on hand to cover an emergency expense of $400. Across NAHs entire service area, 28.4% of the population had a member of their household who had lost a job, hours, wages or health insurance because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The county also reported that 30.4% of residents had housing costs over 30% of their households income between 2016 and 2020 and 15.5% of those in the FMC region reported unhealthy or unsafe housing conditions in the past year.

Though the overall violent crime rate was lower in FMCs service area than across the state, the rates of deaths from unintentional injury (79.3 per 100,000), motor vehicle crashes (21.8 per 100,000) and homicide (8.2 per 100,000) were all higher than statewide rates (58.8, 13.2 and 6.5 per 100,000, respectively).

As of May 31, 2022, Coconino County's COVID mortality rate was 334.6 per 100,000.

A total of 73.3% of the service area population had been fully vaccinated against COVID, with another 3.4% planning to get their vaccinations. A total of 7% was undecided, with 16.4% not planning to be vaccinated.

The most common reasons given among those who had not received the vaccine were side effects (19.2%), safety or trust (19%) and lack of research (13.9%). Smaller percentages said they didnt want the vaccine (8.3%), didnt believe in it (5.9%), had refused out of personal preference (5.9%) or already had COVID (4.5%).

Of key informants surveyed, most (40%) saw COVID as a moderate problem in the community, with 18% seeing it as a major problem and 16% seeing it as no problem at all. Across the entire service area, 28.4% had a member of their household lose their jobs, hours, wages or health insurance as a result of the pandemic, which had also caused 21.6% of those within FMCs service area to forgo some kind of medical care.

The full report is available at nahealth.com/about-us/community-health-needs-assessment.
Panama City, Fla.  Advisories have been issued for the Carl Gray Park (SP 9) location on Collegiate Drive in Panama City and the Beach Drive (SP 10) location in the 1600 block of West Beach Drive, Panama City.

The Bay County Health Department, Bay CHD, conducts saltwater beach water quality monitoring in accordance with the Healthy Beaches Monitoring Program. Water samples are collected twice a month between March and October. The samples are checked for enteric bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and animals. The presence of enteric bacteria can be an indication of fecal pollution, which may come from storm water runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage. Poor results are posted as an Advisory at the affected beaches.

Healthy Beaches advisories are issued to protect swimmers from increased risk of gastrointestinal illnesses. At a lower occurring level, there may also be increased risks of upper respiratory infections, skin rashes, and ear infections. Healthy Beach advisories are not related to Necrotizing fasciitis, a rare complication.

Sampling is usually done on Mondays with results on Tuesday, with exception of holidays. Results are shared at Bay.FloridaHealth.gov, through media releases, and real-time on the Florida Healthy Beaches page at FloridaHealth.gov and search for Healthy Beaches.

Florida Healthy Beaches Program Categories are; Good = 0-35 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water, Moderate = 36-70 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water, and Poor = 71 or greater Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water. If levels are above 70, Bay CHD notifies the local Florida Department of Environmental Protection for further investigation.

If you have any questions, please contact the Bay County Health Department at 850-481-4806 or visit the Department of Healths Internet Beach Water Quality website at http://www.floridahealth.gov/healthy-environments/beach-water-quality/index.html.

####

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pauses as he discusses the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, June 24, 2022. During the news conference Newsom signed a bill that shields abortion providers and volunteers in California from civil judgements from out-of-state court.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
That, my friends, is KING behaviour!



What we were shocked to hear was that the event staff were "yelling at" the star for taking too long with the people who had paid to see him, after they were the ones who had effed up.
If you are in touch with your spiritual side, you should know that the Buck Super Moon is occurring in the Earth sign of Capricorn, opposite the Sun and Mercury in Cancer, so Caps should expect things to be a bit more heightened this month.
A Beagle, the 5th most popular breed of 2016, is shown at The American Kennel Club Reveals The Most Popular Dog Breeds Of 2016 at AKC Canine Retreat in New York on March 21, 2017. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

4,000 Beagles to Be Rescued From Virginia Research Lab

Four thousand beagles will be transferred from a Virginia breeding and research facility to be put up for adoption after it was cited for animal welfare violations.

A judge in July approved a plan to transfer the 4,000 beagles housed at Envigos facility in Cumberland, Virginia, to shelters.

The Humane Society of the United States worked with the United States Department of Justice on a transfer plan to remove all of the approximately 4,000 remaining beagles housed at Envigos facility in Cumberland, Virginia, a July 7 statement by the Humane Society reads.

At this time, we are connecting with our shelter and rescue partners and preparing to take on the monumental process of securing placement for these dogs.

The Human Society will coordinate the removal of the beagles from the Cumberland facility and transport them to partner animal shelters and rescue organizations mostly on the East Coast and Midwest from where they will be adopted out.

The transfer will take approximately 60 days, according to the court-approved plan (pdf). None will be transferred to shelters outside of the United States and puppies under 8 weeks old will be transported with their mothers.

According to the approved plan, the Humane Society will cover the expense of transporting the beagles but Envigo will pay a fee per animal, which will be passed on to the shelters to defray the costs of preparing them for adoption.

Envigo was acquired in November last year by Inotiv, a contract research organization. Inotiv announced in June that it was shuttering two Envigo facilities in Virginia, the Cumberland purpose-bred canine facility and a Dublin rodent-breeding facility.

More than 300 puppies died of unknown causes at the facility between January and July of last year, according to an inspection report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Senators Welcome Move

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats, released a joint statement celebrating the plan.

After months of advocacy, were heartened to know that nearly 4,000 Envigo dogs will be spared a lifetime of suffering and will instead head to loving homes, Warner and Kaine said in a joint statement.

Were also pleased to know that InotivEnvigos parent companywill shutter its Cumberland facility and that no more dogs will be subject to the appalling conditions and inexcusable distress endured by so many dogs and puppies at the facility.
Officials investigate after officers found two victims with gunshot wounds following a robbery at a 7-Eleven in La Habra, Calif., on July 11, 2022. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP)

7-Eleven Asks LA-Area Stores to Close as Police Search for Gunman

LOS ANGELESOfficials at 7-Elevens corporate office encouraged all Los Angeles-area stores to close again on Tuesday night as police continue to search for suspects involved in robberies at six of its Southern California stores Monday, which resulted in two deaths.

Two victims in Orange Countya store clerk in Brea and a 24-year-old man in Santa Anawere fatally shot July 11 during separate robberies. Three other victims are recovering from gunshot wounds.

Our hearts remain with the victims and their loved ones, and our focus continues to be on Franchisee, associate and customer safety, 7-Eleven told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. With that in mind, we have encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close again tonight.

The early-morning robberies occurred within five hours at independently owned 7-Eleven stores in Brea, La Habra, Riverside, Upland, Santa Ana, and Ontario.

Police investigate a shooting at a 7-Eleven store in Brea, Calif., on July 11, 2022. (Eugene Garcia/AP Photo)

Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department, said closing stores Tuesday night might be wise as investigators search for suspects.

Im sure, in the circumstances, it could be a smart idea, he told The Epoch Times. Safety is paramount to anything else. If 7-Eleven is recommending that, I think youd see law enforcement getting behind that as well for the purposes of safety until this killer is found.

At least four of the police departmentsLa Habra, Brea, Riverside, and Santa Anahave confirmed their investigators have connected the shootings to the same male suspect, whom they are working together to identify.

Were comfortable saying it appears our guy is the same, he said.

Riverside police detectives continued to investigate a shooting that occurred at 1:51 a.m. July 11 at the 7-Eleven at the 5100 block of La Sierra Avenue.

A person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California on July 11, 2022. (Brea Police Department via AP)

The suspectwearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a black mask in photos released by policehas not yet been identified or arrested by Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

In Brea, a male clerklater identified as 40-year-old Matthew Hirschat the convenience store on Lambert Road and North Brea Boulevard was shot and killed allegedly by the same suspect, according to Capt. Phil Rodriguez, spokesman for the Brea Police Department.

Yellow police tape was strung in the early morning hours along the parking lot, next to a makeshift memorial which had been created for Hirsch.

The Brea location was one of several stores that opted to close Monday evening and early Tuesday morning.

In La Habra, officers responded to a robbery report at a 7-Eleven at 381 E. Whittier Boulevard at about 4:55 a.m. and found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were treated by paramedics and transported to a local hospital where they are listed in stable condition and are expected to survive, the citys police spokesman Lt. Jose Rosha told The Epoch Times.

La Habras shooting happened less than an hour after the one in Santa Ana.

Santa Ana Police Department identified Matthew Rule, 24, as the victim of the homicide that occurred at 3:25 a.m. at a parking lot outside the convenience store in the 300 block of East 17th Street.

The suspect apparently never entered the store, and it appears he robbed Rule, according to Santa Ana Police Department Sgt. Maria Lopez. It wasnt clear if Rule was a customer of the store or why he was there, she said.

Based on surveillance photos of the suspect in the Brea and La Habra shootings, Santa Ana police said they believe it was the same suspect in Santa Ana, Lopez said.

A person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California on July 11, 2022. (Upland Police Department via AP)

The 7-Eleven robbery spree may have started in Ontario. Police said just after midnight Monday, the store at 636 N. Vine Avenue was robbed. The suspect held up the store with a handgun, but no shots were fired, and no one was injured, police said.

Shortly after, a 7-Eleven store at 2410 W. Arrow Route in Upland was robbed at 12:40 a.m., police said. Investigators there had not yet confirmed a connection between the case and the other robberies.

City News Service contributed to this report.
Police crime scene tape closes off a parking area following a shooting at a 7-Eleven store in Brea, Calif., on July 11, 2022. (Eugene Garcia/AP Photo)

7-Eleven Offers $100,000 Reward for Info Leading to Shooter

BREA, Calif.With a manhunt continuing for the assailant who robbed a series of Southern California 7-Eleven stores, killing two people and injuring at least three others in the process, the convenience store chain offered a $100,000 reward July 13 for information leading to the gunman.

The company is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect, according to a 7-Eleven statement. Tipsters may remain anonymous by contacting Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

The rash of violencecarried out on July 11, or 7-11prompted the 7-Eleven corporation to recommend that Los Angeles-area stores temporarily close their doors Monday night and again on Tuesday night.

In this image from video released by the Brea Police Department is a person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California, Monday, July 11, 2022. (Brea Police Department via AP)

Our hearts remain with the victims and their loved ones, and our focus continues to be on franchisee, associate and customer safety, according to a company statement Tuesday. With that in mind, we have encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close again tonight.

Investigations were continuing in six cities, but the same suspect may have been involved in a crime spree that stretched from San Bernardino County, to Riverside County, then to Orange Countyall involving 7-Eleven stores.

The first 7-Eleven holdup in the crime spree may have occurred in Ontario. Police said just after midnight Monday, the 7-Eleven at 636 N. Vine Ave. was robbed. The suspect held up the store with a handgun, but no shots were fired and no one was injured, police said.

At 12:40 a.m. Monday in Upland, the 7-Eleven store at 2410 W. Arrow Route was robbed at 12:40 a.m. Monday, police said.

At 1:50 a.m., a 7-Eleven store at 5102 La Sierra Ave. in Riverside was robbed by a gunman. That robbery escalated, with the suspect shooting a customer, who was hospitalized in what was described as a grave condition.

The suspect entered the store, brandished a firearm and robbed the clerk, then shot a customer before fleeing the store on foot, Riverside police officer Ryan Railsback said.

In this image from video from a 7-Eleven store in Upland, Calif. released by the Upland Police Department is a person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California, Monday, July 11, 2022. (Upland Police Department via AP)

Santa Ana police said 24-year-old Matthew Rule of Santa Ana was fatally shot at 3:25 a.m. Monday outside the 7-Eleven store in the 300 block of East 17th Street. Police found Rule in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the upper body, Santa Ana Police Department Sgt. Maria Lopez said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect apparently never entered the store in Santa Ana and it appears he robbed Rule, Lopez said. It wasnt clear if Rule was a customer of the store or why he was there, Lopez said.

Brea police said they responded at 4:17 a.m. Monday to the 7-Eleven store at Lambert Road and North Brea Boulevard and found a male store clerk fatally shot in what officers determined to be a robbery.

The clerk was later identified as 40-year-old Matthew Hirsch, who died at the scene, police said.

About a half-hour later, the 7-Eleven store at 381 E. Whittier Blvd. in La Habra was robbed, and two people were shot, according to La Habra police Sgt. Eric Roy. Both victims were taken to a hospital, and both were expected to survive. Police said the victims were a clerk and a customer.

Based on surveillance images, police have said the same suspect is believed to have been involved in the heists in Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra. Investigations were continuing in the San Bernardino County robberies.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Tuesday afternoon that detectives are investigating a similar string of robberies at two convenience stores and two doughnut shops within the LAPDs Devonshire Division in the San Fernando Valley that occurred between 3:55 and 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

The four businesses that were robbed were located in the 16000 block of Parthenia Street, the 16000 block of Nordhoff Street, the 16000 block of Devonshire Street and the 16000 block of San Fernando Mission Boulevard.

The suspect in those four robberies was described as a man between 25 and 30 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 160 to 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a black face covering and dark jeans, and was armed with a black semi-automatic handgun

No injuries were reported in the robberies, and LAPD detectives were working with other agencies to determine if the suspect in the four robberies may be linked to Mondays 7-Eleven heists.

The Brea location where Hirsch was fatally shot was one of several stores that opted to close Monday evening and early Tuesday morning. Yellow police tape was strung along the parking lot in the early morning hours and a makeshift memorial next to the parking was created for Hirsch.

Anyone with information was asked to call Brea Police Department Detective Alfred Rodriguez at 714-671-4438 or alfredr@cityofbrea.net.
Camping in the mid-atlantic offers a multitude of ways to enjoy the great outdoors. From tent sites and RV parks to luxurious yurts and rustic-yet-air-conditioned cabins, several of the Mid-Atlantic states have all your camping (and glamping) needs covered.

Quaint Villages

Delawares Quaint Villages are home to some of the best year-round off-the-beaten path camping locations in Kent County. Camp under the stars at Smyrnas Blackbird State Forest or at Feltons Killens Pond State Park. Both offer birding, outdoor activities, and more. Or head to family owned G&R Campground located in Houston.

Hagerstown  Washington County

The Treehouse Camp at Maple Tree Campground has 20 wooded acres backing up to the Appalachian Trail on South Mountain, providing a peaceful escape and relaxing atmosphere for your next outdoor adventure. Enjoy a unique camping experience at rustic tent sites, tree houses, tree cottages or the new Hobbit House.

Harford County

Come see beautiful, preserved open space where nature, untouched, can be enjoyed by all. Go RV-camping on the Bush River at Bar Harbor RV Park where amenities include a swimming pool, a gift/grocery store, and a playground. For a more primitive adventure, rent a camper cabin at Susquehanna State Park.

Wicomico County

Camp by the water in Wicomico County. Bring your tent or RV to Roaring Point Waterfront Campground in Nanticoke or Sandy Hill Family Camp in Quantico, which are both along the Nanticoke River. Woodlawn Campground in Delmar is another local place to camp.

Potter County-Tioga County

Camp under the darkest skies on the East Coast at Allegheny River Campground in untamed, untouched, and unspoiled Potter County. The river offers great fishing and tubing opportunities. Drive Historic Route 6 for a visit to Pennsylvanias Grand Canyon. You just might catch a glimpse of a wild elk herd!

Lancaster County

Among Lancasters many overnight options, a visitor favorite is the open-air fun of our many campgrounds. Theres nothing more natural than a restful stay in a tent, RV, or cabin at one of these well-maintained properties like Lake-in-Wood Camping Resort in Narvon or Yogi Bears Jellystone Park in Quarryville.

Charlottesville and Albemarle County

Located a short and scenic drive from downtown Charlottesville, Shenandoah Crossing offers up some of the most glamorous camping options around in luxurious yurts. The yurts are large, round canvas tents with central heat and air, flat-screen TVs, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms, for the ultimate Central Virginia glamping experience!

Another place we love to camp in the mid-atlantic is Gettysburg, PA. It offers everything from tents to cabins and the historic backdrop makes for a fun and educational trip. Drummer Boy Campground offers theme weekends that are sure to be a hit with the family.

This article was originally published on journeyswithjenn.com.

You can follow Jenn on Instagram.
Samos Island, Greek, in April 2022. (Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

A Helicopter Fighting Fire on Greek Island of Samos Crashes in the Sea

ATHENSThree people were missing on Wednesday, after a helicopter fighting a forest fire on the Greek island Samos crashed in the sea, fire brigade officials said.

 rescue operation is under way, a fire brigade official told Reuters adding that four people were on board.

A coast guard official said one person has been rescued.

The helicopter had been leased by the government to fight forest fires, a Defence Ministry official told Reuters without providing any further details.
The University of Southern California in Los Angeles on March 11, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Alumna Gives USC History Department Historic $15 Million Gift

The University of Southern Californias humanities department just received a $15 million donation from alumna Elizabeth Van Hunnick, who was born and raised in Cypress.

She donated in her familys name to the Department of History at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, from which she graduated. It was the largest single donation to USCs humanities department.

With this gift, she is ensuring new opportunities for both faculty and students whose scholarship rigorously examines and illuminates the history that shapes our communities and our world, said USC President Carol L. Folt.

USC announced it now will be called the Van Hunnick History Department. The gift will endow three faculty chairs named after family members, establish a faculty research fund and create a graduate student fellowship.

The three new faculty chairs will be the Elizabeth J. Van Hunnick Endowed Chair in History; the Garrett Van Hunnick Endowed Chair in History, named after her late father; and the Wilhelmina Van Hunnick Endowed Chair in History, after her late sister.

Van Hunnick, a dedicated teacher, said she hoped that the donation could help to support the departments development and attract more prominent scholars.

History is important because you can see whats happening in the world today; you see leaders and politicians making the same mistakes over and over again, she said.

Van Hunnicks parents emigrated to the United States from the Netherlands in the 1920s and started a dairy business in Orange County. Van Hunnick grew up learning about European history and culture, which inspired her to pursue a degree in history.

A 2016 donation to the school established the Garrett and Anne Van Hunnick Chair in European History to honor her late parents. The inaugural chair is held by Anne Goldgar, an expert in European history with an emphasis on Netherlands and Francophone cultures.

I agree with the Greeks that in order to be a well-educated person you should study many, many different things, Van Hunnick said. Its not just taking a course to get a job. Thats fine, but its important to be, I guess the old-fashioned term is well-rounded.

The two landmark donations represent one of the largest endowment contributions to any U.S. university history department.
A man was arrested in Blue Springs after authorities conducted an investigation into a sex offender who was alledgedly living at an unregistered address.

On Tuesday the Gage County Sheriffs Office executed a search warrant in Blue Springs at 310 W. Broad St.

The search warrant was for an investigation into a registered sex offender living at an address that he had not reported to the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. A press release stated that during the execution of the search warrant, Dusty Mayhew was located in the residence along with several of his personal items. Mayhews vehicle was also located at the residence along with another vehicle that Mayhew recently bought.

The investigation determined that Mayhew has been staying at the residence off and on since June and has regularly been at the residence for the last week.

Mayhew was arrested for violation of the Sex Offender Registry, a class 2A felony, due to Mayhew having previous convictions for previously violating the sex offender registry requirements.

Deputies also arrested Randall Cameron, 38, of Wymore after he was located in the residence and found in possession of a methamphetamine pipe.

Ronald Mayhew, 57, also of 310 W. Broad St. in Blue Springs, was issued a citation for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
American Pride Is Out Here, Hiding in Plain Sight

Commentary

WEST NEWTON, Pa.As the sun dipped below the horizon of the Laurel Mountains off in the distance of the Evergreen Drive-In Theater, families with children were spread out on their sleeping blankets in front of their cars. A cluster of couples were sitting in folding chairs, enjoying each others company.

Then, they all stood and placed their hands over their hearts. They joined together in singing the national anthem as it was played across all three screens.

They remained standing and sang along with the images on the screen to Lee Greenwoods Proud to Be an American immediately after that. Seasoned attendees can always tell who the newbies are to the experiencetheyre the ones moved to tears and wonder on their faces.

Its a scene repeated over and over again seven days a week before each movie; I have been hard-pressed to find anyone, young or old, who refuses to participate. When the music starts, everyone immediately stands up and sings. It is and remains a truly remarkable and moving experience for anyone who consumes the news or social media on a regular basis.

Equally rare is a night, any night, when the Evergreen Drive-In isnt packed. There are often several dozen cars waiting in line at dusk, hoping there will be enough room for their family or their group of friends to attend this nights showing.

The minute you pull up with your family or friends, theres a sense of community all around youvery different from the sterile atmosphere at a traditional movie theater. Everyone here has bought into the experience of spreading out a blanket and chairs and taking in a movie under the stars, downing some concession food, and even meeting some new friends during the show.

The Evergreen Drive-In got its start in 1947 as the Ruthorn Drive-In. Its opening made the front page of the local newspaper with the headline Capacity Audience at Opening Night; Drive-In Theater. The story gushed that the first drive-in theater in Westmoreland County drew people from all points across this county and Fayette County, with ushers escorting each car to its space.

The Ruthorn Drive-In opened in the industrys infancy just two years before Richard Hollingsheads 1933 patent for Drive-In Theater was to expire. Subsequently, the drive-in industry exploded. In 1949, the same year Hollingshead lost his patent, Ruthorn became the Evergreen and has been so ever since.

It was here during the heyday of B-movies that splashed across the screens on pastures across the Midwest, Appalachia, and both the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines; it was a rite of passage for the American family (as well as lusty teenagers) to spend at least a dozen weekends at a drive-in every summer.

The 60s were the golden age of the drive-in, peaking with more than 5,000 outdoor screens across the country. Now, that number is at around 500, according to numbers calculated by the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association.

The Warren family, which has been in the drive-in business since 1949 and owns seven other such drive-ins in the area, purchased the Evergreen in 1999. Two years later, they added two additional screens, and they began showing first-run movies a year later.

This week, if you get here in enough time, you have your choice of Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on screen one, Minions: The Rise of Gru and Elvis on screen two, and Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick on screen three.

Admission is $10 for ages 12 and older, $5 for ages 6 to 11, and free for ages 5 and younger. Its cash only, and you must follow the rules: no cussing; the speed limit is 5 mph; no alcohol; and dont even think about littering.

In an era filled with news stories and social media posts listing grievances and reasons to hate living in this country, places such as the Evergreen Drive-In, where they celebrate America, are more common than you think.

Last weeks Gallup poll showed that Americas love of country is at an all-time historic low. A dwindling number of Americans, just 38 percent now, are extremely proud to be American. Thats down from 70 percent just after 9/11 and before the boom of social media.

Perhaps the question lacks nuance. Peoples views on politics and government and the current state of the nation may have muddled many peoples answers. But Im guessing that the answers at the Evergreen Drive-in would be remarkably different if you asked the same thing. Even with love of country falling out of fashion with our cultural curators (the people in power in news organizations, Hollywood, corporations, government, politics, institutions, academia, and Big Tech), many, many people out there remain deeply proud to be American.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping toast during a State Luncheon for China hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Department of State in Washington, on Sept. 25, 2015. (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)

Americas Retreat by 1,000 Small Steps

Commentary

Originally published by Gatestone Institute

President Joe Biden has been lying about his knowledge of and likely his involvement in his sons business dealings since at least 2018.

Thats the inescapable conclusion to draw from a short voicemail recording discovered on the laptop computer that belonged to his son Hunter and reported by the Daily Mail and New York Post recently.

It begins innocently enough. Hey pal, its Dad, Joe Biden begins. Its 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance, just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you.

The elder Biden then turns to a specific subject. That subject was the publication of a New York Times article detailing how, in 2014, Ye Jianming courted the Biden family and networked with former United States security officials. The article offers some details of Yes efforts to lure Hunter Biden into business deals that would enrich him and curry favor with his father, vice president of the United States and the recently designated point person for the administration of President Barack Obama on China.

I thought the article released online, its going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good, Bidens voicemail to Hunter continues. I think youre clear. And anyway, if you get a chance, give me a call. I love you.

On its own, this is not dispositive. It could be explained as a politicians take on a news story that implicates his own son in business dealings with a Chinese investor whose commercial enterprises went into default. But placed into proper context, against what had already been reported in my 2018 book Secret Empires and reported on previously, it shows that Joe Biden in 2018 knew plenty about his sons business dealings, all of which involved foreign nations in which the elder Biden was simultaneously serving as the United States most important diplomatic presence.

Moreover, it tracks with the words of an eyewitness, namely Hunter himself, who told The New Yorker in 2019 that he discussed Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas producer, with his father as far back as December 2015, when Hunter sat on Burismas board of directors, as USA Today reported in September 2019.

Around the time of the 2015 conversation, Joe Biden was preparing for a trip to Ukraine, and the Obama administration special envoy had raised the issue with the vice president, according to the article. Hunter Biden told The New Yorker he and his father spoke about Burisma just once.

Dad said, I hope you know what youre doing, Hunter told The New Yorker. And I said, I do.

His fathers presidential campaign declined to comment.

Joe Biden would go on, as candidate and then as president, to continue to deny, then backpedal, on whether he had knowledge of what his son was doing overseas. For those who wouldnt be convinced by what I disclosed in Secret Empires, which was published in April 2018 and spent five weeks on The New York Times bestseller listfor those who wouldnt be convinced by Hunters own words that he had in fact discussed his overseas business interests with his fathertheres now the direct, recorded voice of Joe Biden himself telling his son in 2018 that he was in the clear on at least one of these deals.

He denied any of this, categorically, throughout the 2020 campaign. But, as Gordon Chang agreed in a recent interview, there it is.

Some may be tempted to chalk this up to past indiscretions or even as a fathers natural protectiveness for his own son. But none of this is really past, and given the investigations ongoing into Hunters business dealings, its hard to see that it provided much protection to him at all. But the lies did protect Joe Bidens viability as a candidate against President Donald Trump and defused an issue that led to Trumps impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives over his efforts to coax Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into investigating the matter from his own perspective.

But the issue remains red-hot because theres still so much at stake in U.S.China diplomatic and trade relations that requires a U.S. president to prioritize American interests above those of China  or of himself.

In an interview with Jason Chaffetz on the Fox News show Sunday Futures, I described the Biden administrations policy toward China as a retreat by 1,000 small steps.

Thanks to a Treasury Department interpretation, Americans can still own stock in companies that were placed on a blacklist by the Trump administration because of their direct ties to the Chinese military.

Thanks to the Biden administration, the China Initiative at the Department of Justice to crack down on Chinas attempts to acquire or steal American technology has been discontinued.

Thanks to the Biden administrations green energy enthusiasm, tariffs on solar panels made by Asian countries that are assembling or repackaging solar panels made in China were removed.

The Biden administration has also signaled its intention to remove or lift other tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese products. It has also been friendlier toward Chinese companies such as Huawei and ByteDance (owner of TikTok) in recent weeks.

And all of this has been done with zero concessions from the Chinese government on any of the outstanding diplomatic, military, strategic, health, or trade issues that so concern most Americans.

This story is shocking, threatens national security, and should dominate the attention of the major newspapers and news networks because of the damning implications. Because the Biden family has been so deeply involved and so vehemently denied their involvement with Chinese business, the next question is as inescapable as the first: Does the flow of money to the Biden family from China influence the foreign policy of the United States?

Based on a mountain of documentary evidence topped with one short, intimate voicemail message, the answer appears clearer than ever.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Tarawa atoll, the capital of the vast archipelago nation of Kiribati in the South Pacific. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

Australia to Provide $2 Million in Aid to Kiribati as Countrys Drinking Water Dries Up

Australia will provide an extra $2 million (US$1.4 million) in aid assistance for Kiribati as the pacific countrys drought continues to worsen.

The assistance comes following the countrys state of disaster declaration on June 13, after the pacific nation experienced below-average rainfall over the past 6 months, which has led to high levels of salinity in the drinking water across the country.

This year, Kiribati has recorded less than 5.8 cm (2.3 inches) of rainfall, and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least 119,000 people residing in Kiribati have been affected by the drought, including 79 percent of the total population in the southern islands of the Pacific nation, who are dependent on rainwater harvesting.

Australias Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, said in a media release on July 11 that Australia was committed to supporting the people of Kiribati to meet the challenges of climate change and its impacts.

Kiribati is experiencing acute water shortages resulting from a prolonged La Nina weather pattern and low rainfall, he said. Australia will provide a further $2 million to support Kiribati to maintain drinking water supply during the State of Disaster.

Australia and New Zealand Join to Provide Desalination Plant

Conroy noted that the funding package, along with joint financial assistance of $1.1 million from New Zealand (NZ), would enable Kiribati to install and maintain a high-quality desalination plant for Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati.

Extreme weather events are the existential security threat in the Pacific, NZ Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a media release on July 13.

The new funding will enable the installation of a new desalination unit in Tarawa, as well as an electricity generator and ongoing technical and maintenance support. It will have the ability to convert seawater to fresh water and produce an additional 200,000 litres per day (52,800 gallons). Our countries are now working together to procure and deliver the unit.

Australias aid will also provide transportation links for Australia and international partners to assist Kiribati, as well as portable water storage bladders and flatbed trucks to support water distribution into local communities and technical advisers with expertise in water and engineering.

The financial assistance package follows an initial $675,000 aid package from Australia, announced on June 16, to install 100 solar distillation units to convert well water into safe drinking water and support local partners to promote sustainable and inclusive access to water.

Droughts Becoming Longer in the Pacific

UNICEF Pacific chief Nick Rice Chudeau in a press release, said that although droughts were a common feature in the Pacific, they were becoming more frequent and lasting longer, especially around the Gilbert Islands chain16 atolls and coral islands that make up a large proportion of Kiribatiwhich sits around halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea.

The weather and rainfall patterns have become more erratic in Kiribati, he said. These kinds of droughts are not new to the country but have become more frequent, lasting longer, and are more intense, Chudeau said.

The drought outlook is most concerning for islands in the Gilbert group, most notably in South Tarawa and the southern islands of the Gilbert group. Over 94,000 people or 79 percent of the total population live on those islands and are therefore at higher risk, Chudeau told Radio New Zealand.
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, as he is shown views of aerial defense systems as Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, right of Biden, looks on, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 13, 2022. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Biden Shakes Hands, Hugs Woman After White House Said Hed Minimize Contact in Israel

President Joe Biden shook hands with multiple officials and hugged a woman in Israel on July 13, hours after the White House said hed seek to minimize contact with others because of COVID-19 concerns.

Biden shook hands with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz while touring the Iron Dome defense system near Tel Aviv.

He also shook hands with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Later in the day, Biden hugged Holocaust survivor Giselle Cycowicz and kissed Rena Quint, another survivor, while visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem.

He also spoke to the women while crouching in front of them.

Biden did not wear a mask on Wednesday, nor did Israeli officials or others.

Did you see the president hug me? Quint asked. He asked permission to kiss me and he kept on holding my hand and we were told not to touch him.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters en route to Israel that the White House was looking to increase masking, reduce contact, to minimize spread.

How exactly that plays out in any given interaction is something that we will see unfold, he added, responding to a query about Biden reportedly planning not to shake hands on his Middle East trip.

U.S. President Joe Biden embraces Holocaust survivor Giselle Cycowicz during a ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, on July 13, 2022. (Debbie Hill/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli media reported this week that the White House had told Lapids office that Biden would refrain from shaking hands during the visit due to the surge in COVID-19 infections in the United States and Israel.

Before Biden travels abroad, White House officials work with host nations to coordinate COVID-19 protocols, including testing for anyone expected to come in close contact with Biden. Its not a perfect system, as Biden often decides to greet people in large crowds that may not have been universally tested. Separately, everyone traveling in the presidential entourage is required to be tested at least once daily, in addition to any host country protocols.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was going to follow advice from his doctor and minimize contact due to the rise of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the virus that causes COVID-19.

That was a change from a day before, when Biden mingled and shook hands with members of Congress at a White House picnic.

He bumped fists with Israeli officials who greeted him at Ben Gurion International Airport, but later shook hands and hugged people.

During a speech at the airport, Biden said he wanted to reaffirm the unshakable commitment of the United States to Israels security but also said he supported a two-state solution, or separate countries for for Israelis and Palestinians.

After visiting Israel, Biden is scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia to meet with officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) bumps fists with Israel's President Isaac Herzog as caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid looks on, at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, on July 13, 2022. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden to Minimize Contact on Middle East Trip: White House

President Joe Biden will likely not shake hands during his Middle East trip, the White House indicated shortly before Air Force One arrived in Israel.

There are concerns about an increase in COVID-19 cases and other metrics, triggering the shift in normal protocol, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

I think just the simplest way for me to put it is that were in a phase of the pandemic right now where were looking to increase masking, reduce contact, to minimize spread, Sullivan said on Air Force One. Thats the approach were taking. How exactly that plays out in any given interaction is something that we will see unfold.

While Biden tested negative for COVID-19 before departing the United States, and has shaken hands during domestic events in recent days, the change is not abnormal because trips outside the country trigger precautions, according to Sullivan.

The decision was made by Bidens doctor, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. She called the moves reasonable because of the rise of BA.4 and BA.5, two subvariants of the Omicron strain of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Early evidence indicates both BA.4 and BA.5 are more transmissible than earlier subvariants and strains, but there is no evidence showing either causes more severe disease.

Still, the transmissibility factor means the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus can better bypass the protection from vaccines, according to recent studies. That may also apply to protection from prior infection.

US President Joe Biden (L) is welcomed by Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid after arriving at Israels Ben Gurion Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, on July 13, 2022. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

The shift in protocol is meant to minimize contact as much as possible, Jean-Pierre said. That is what the focus is going to be on this trip.

When Biden deplaned in Israel, he bumped fists with several officials who greeted him. He also put a hand on the shoulder of more than one.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog were among the contingent at Ben Gurion Airport.

Biden was later shown the Iron Dome and Iron Beam, two defense systems that protect Israel from attacks. He was slated to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, receive Israels Presidential Medial of Honor, and visit American athletes competing in the Maccabiah Games.

After his time in Israel, Biden plans to travel to Saudi Arabia.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during a panel discussion at the 2022 Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2022. (Alexandra Beier/Getty Images)

Bill Gates Announces He Will Give Virtually All His Wealth to His Foundation

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Wednesday that he plans to give his wealth to his foundation.

In a Twitter thread that doesnt allow replies, Gates announced he was transferring $20 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations endowment this month and will increase spending to $9 billion per year by 2026.

As I look to the future, I plan to give virtually all of my wealth to the foundation, Gates wrote. I will move down and eventually off of the list of the worlds richest people.

Gates is currently the fourth-richest person on earth and has a net worth of about $129 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Gates has also been characterized as the largest private owner of farmland in the United States, owning over 260,000 acres of land.

I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives, Gates added on Twitter. And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too.

According to FoundationSource, private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are classified as tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations by the Internal Revenue Service. They are not subject to either federal or state estate taxes.

Being self-funded is an advantage, enabling foundations to avoid the IRS tests that are required of public charities. Although not prohibited from doing so, private foundations do not typically engage in fundraising, the website says.

Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge about 12 years ago, asking wealthy individuals to commit to donating more than half their fortunes to various causes. In his Twitter thread, Gates also thanked Buffettalso one of the richest people in the worldfor donating to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in recent years.

Farmland Purchase

In recent days, Gates has courted controversy in North Dakota after a Gates-associated entity, Red River Trust, purchased 2,100 acres of farmland in the state for $13.5 million. But on June 29, North Dakotas attorney general cleared the sale of the land after finding that it complies with state laws.

Ive gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, its not even from that neighborhood, Doug Goehring, the state agricultural commissioner, told local media. Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.

When asked about why he purchased so much farmland in recent years during a Reddit thread, Gates said that my investment group chose to do this. It is not connected to climate.

The agriculture sector is important. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions, Gates said.
American Airlines flight 718, the first U.S. Boeing 737 MAX commercial flight since regulators lifted a 20-month grounding in Nov., lands at LaGuardia airport in N.Y., on Dec. 29, 2020. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Boeing Deliveries Reach Highest Monthly Level Since March 2019

Boeing Co delivered 51 airplanes in June to bring its first-half tally to 216 jets, up 38% from the same period last year, pushing its shares sharply higher on Tuesday.

Junes deliveries exceeded the 50 threshold for the first time since March 2019 and included 43 Boeing 737 MAX, which is recovering from a nearly two-year safety crisis, according to new company data.

Boeings shares rose more than 8 percent as it also confirmed that monthly MAX production had touched a target of 31 airplanes, while cautioning it had yet to be stabilised at that level as aerospace faces worldwide supply chain snags.

Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu estimated that the average second-quarter MAX production rate was 28 per month.

June deliveries included six wide-body commercial freighters but, for the 12th consecutive month, no 787 Dreamliners.

Deliveries of the long-haul jet have been halted for a year as Boeing and regulators address production problems.

A model of Boeing 737 Max airliner is seen displayed at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China on Sept. 28, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

In new business, Boeing won 50 airplane orders in June, including 49 MAX, of which 48 were sold to customers whose names were not immediately disclosed. The one public purchaser was American Airlines

Boeing took cancellations for 35 planes in June, mainly related to airline restructurings, including 29 jets originally earmarked for Norwegian Air.

It also benefited in June from dozens of jets being taken out of limbo and placed back on a list of orders expected to be fulfilled as Boeing reversed some accounting adjustments.

In total during the first half, Boeing booked 286 gross orders and took 100 cancellations, leaving a net total of 186 orders after cancellations and conversions.

Europes Airbus on Friday posted 259 net orders after cancellations in the first half, up sharply from a year earlier. Deliveries were flat at 297 planes.

After retrieving a six-month total of 19 jets from an accounting category designed to filter out orders unlikely to be fulfilled, Boeing ended the first half with an adjusted total of 205 net orders as it took a more optimistic view on some deals.

Boeings undelivered backlog after these so-called ASC-606 accounting adjustments stood at 4,239 units at end-June.

By Tim Hepher
California Governor Signs Bill Allowing Victims to Sue Gun Makers

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation to allow Californian victims of shootings to sue gun makers and sellers for the harm caused by criminals using guns.

The governor, a Democrat, said in a video statement that most industries are held to account when their products cause harm except for the gun industry.

Today, California is going to change that, Newsom said. They can no longer hide from the mass destruction that they have caused.

Gun makers and sellers have been shielded from civil lawsuits when crimes are committed using the guns they produce by the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

The new state law, which comes into effect in July 2023, takes advantage of an exemption to the federal statute that allows gun makers or sellers to be sued for violations of state laws concerning the sale or marketing of firearms.

If youve been hurt or a family member is a victim of gun violence, you can now go to court and hold the makers of these deadly weapons accountable, Newsom added.

Irresponsible gun manufacturers and distributors can no longer hide from the mass destruction they have caused in California. With @AsmPhilTings bill, victims of gun violence can go to court and hold the makers of these deadly weapons accountable. pic.twitter.com/aEskHjQ5hs  Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) July 12, 2022

Opposition

Prior to the bill passing the state Assembly, the California Republican Assembly urged lawmakers to vote against the measure.

Assembly Bill 1594 would allow governments and victims of violence involving firearms to sue firearm manufacturers or retailers for liability when firearms are used in incidents of deaths or injuries, even if they have broken no laws! Californias oldest Republican volunteer organization said on its website.

The organization warned that the bill would open the door to a wave of lawsuits designed to bury firearms retailers and manufacturers in legal fees. It is a direct attempt to put them out of business.

State Lawmakers Hail Bill

The bill was authored by California state representative Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and will allow for lawsuits to be filed by individuals, state, and local governments and the state attorney general.

Ting said the firearms industry has enjoyed federal immunity for too long.

Hitting their bottom line may finally compel them to step up to reduce gun violence by preventing illegal sales and theft, he said.

The bill has come in the wake of a spate of mass shootings across the United States.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta echoed Newsoms sentiment that the gun industry should not be immune from responsibility for the misuse of guns.

In California, we refuse to settle with thoughts and prayers as innocent lives are lostwe demand and will deliver urgent action, now, Bonta said.

California state lawmakers are confident the law will withstand legal challenges from gun makers and sellers after a New York court upheld a similar New York state law.
President Joe Biden is heading to the Middle East Tuesday night. The White House says he wants to help bring Israel and Saudi Arabia closer together.

House Republicans are calling for legislation to boost legal farmworker immigration, saying itll lower food prices. How much will it help, and what do lawmakers tell us about efforts to strengthen food and national security?

Cleo Paskal is a China expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She joins us to discuss the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party on the American homeland.

As Biden meets his Mexican counterpart, First Lady Jill Biden is facing backlash from the Latino community. She made a statement that isnt sitting well with the Latino population.

NASA releases images from the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing the cosmos as weve never seen before. Biden reveals why he is so impressed during a preview event at the White House.

Is the nations heritage linked to the prosperity the United States has experienced over the past century? if so, where might our country be heading?

Starbucks will permanently close 16 stores across the nation over employee-safety concerns related to drug use, theft, and assault.

* Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List.

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CDC Issues Health Alert on Virus that Affects US Newborns, Infants

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert to inform hospitals and doctors that a virus called parechovirus that can cause severe symptoms among young infants and newborns, is currently circulating in the United States.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky made note of the alert on July 12, writing on Twitter that clinicians should consider PeV infection in infants presenting with fever, sepsis-like syndrome or signs of neurologic involvement without other known cause.

Since May 2022, the agency said it has received reports in several states about parechovirus infections.

Parechoviruses are a group of viruses known to cause a spectrum of disease in humans, the CDC notice reads. Clinicians are encouraged to include [parechovirus] in the differential diagnoses of infants presenting with fever, sepsis-like syndrome, or neurologic illness (seizures, meningitis) without another known cause and to test for [parechovirus] in children with signs and symptoms compatible with the virus.

A couple in Connecticut, for example, told local media that their son who was born in May recently died after contracting the virus. They said that doctors saw that their son had swelling in areas of his brain before detecting parechovirus, which currently has no specific treatment.

The CDC said that to date, all parechovirus cases the agency has reviewed are type PeV-A3.

Because there is presently no systematic surveillance for PeVs in the United States, it is not clear how the number of PeV cases reported in 2022 compares to previous seasons, the CDC said. PeV laboratory testing has become more widely available in recent years, and it is possible that increased testing has led to a higher number of PeV diagnoses compared with previous years.

Health officials say that anyone can contract parechovirus, although young babies under the age of 3 months are more likely to suffer severe symptoms and may need to be hospitalized.

Parechovirus may cause a mild diarrheal illness or respiratory infection. Infection with some strains can, rarely, lead to more severe blood infection (sepsis) and neurological infection (meningitis or encephalitis), particularly among young children, according to the Childrens Health Hospital in Queensland, Australia.

Common symptoms include meningitis-like symptoms such as a headache, an inability to tolerate bright lights, and irritability. Other symptoms include a fever over 101.3 F, diarrhea, sepsis-like symptoms, respiratory problems such as shortness of breath, and lethargy or trouble feeding.

The virus is typically spread from person to person through contact with respiratory droplets such as coughing or sneezing, as well as saliva or fecal matter from an infected individual.
Thanks to a new national suicide hotline number going into effect on July 16, hope will be closer than ever for those in the state struggling with mental health, according to Montana officials who spoke at a press event on Tuesday.

This new 988 number is for those in crisis or for those who know someone who is in crisis, said Gov. Greg Gianforte at Tuesday's event.

The new 988 Lifeline comes from the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020. Gov. Gianforte sponsored the bill when he was Montanas representative in the U.S. House.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in Montana, and the state has the third highest suicide rate in the nation. The Montana fact sheet from AFSP also states, 74.91% of communities did not have enough mental health providers to serve residents in 2021, according to federal guidelines.

Tuesdays press event promoted the new number. At the event, experts talked about the importance of having a national, three-digit number.

Its more than just being an easy number to remember, said Matt Taylor, a Missoulian and the director of network development for the national suicide prevention lifeline. Its also about providing more equitable services across the nation and in Montana. Its about putting mental health crisis services at the same level of accessibility as our emergency medical services and law enforcement.

Posters to help promote the 988 number in Montana were revealed at the event. Montana State University students made the posters as part of a service project in a graphic art class, said Bruce Barnhart, an instructor in MSUs School of Art.

When a Montanan calls the hotline starting July 16, Gianforte said, they will be routed to one of three Montana call centers. Those centers operate in Great Falls, Bozeman and Missoula, and field up to 10,000 calls each year, Gianforte said. All three centers  Voices of Hope in Great Falls, the Help Center in Bozeman and Western Montana Mental Health in Missoula  are accredited to field calls to the 988 number.

At 2 in the morning, when Im hopefully asleep, theres someone sitting in that office ready to take a call and ready to walk with somebody through a very difficult journey from darkness to light, Taylor said. He added that hope, help, healing and recovery is the normal path for those who reach out to the lifeline.

At a Legislative Finance Committee work group hearing on June 30, Karl Rosston, the states suicide prevention coordinator, pointed to other organizations ready to help with suicide prevention in Montana along with the new 988 number  thanks in part to receiving grants from Montanas House Bill 118 from 2017.

That bills text requires the Department of Public Health and Human Services to administer a grant program from funds appropriated by the state legislature for suicide prevention activities. The organizations must prove their activities are effective at suicide prevention to earn funding.

This year, Rosston said at the June 30 hearing, those grants are going to: the Tamarack Grief Resource Center, the Rural Behavioral Health Institute, Riverside Health and the Lewis and Clark County Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) teams.

The HB 118 grants were awarded on July 1. Many of these organizations received HB 118 funding before this year and are building on previous suicide prevention work.

Janet Lindow, RBHIs executive director, said shes received HB 118 grants four times  twice at RBHI. The funding, Lindow said, allows her organization to continue a project implementing suicide prevention screening at schools. The June 30 hearing brought up the lack of legislation requiring suicide prevention in Montana's schools, but RBHI is working to fill that gap.

Last year, the organization partnered with 10 schools and reached 1,020 students, Lindow said. This year, the states funding allows it to expand the screening program statewide, giving half the money to do this in the form of $99,800. Lindow anticipates RBHI reaching up to 10,000 students this year.

Were collecting real-time statistics on sixth through 12th graders and 10% are exhibiting suicidality, Lindow said. Ten percent of sixth to 12th graders are suffering and they need help.

Tamarack Grief Resource Center and the LOSS teams in Lewis and Clark County use their funding to offer support for people who have lost someone to suicide.

Individuals impacted by suicide loss are at an increased risk of suicide themselves, Meg Smith, the assistant director of Tamarack Grief Resource Center, wrote in an emailed statement. Access to specialized postvention support (support for individuals grieving a death by suicide) in the form of trauma and grief-informed care is a crucial element in comprehensive suicide prevention efforts.

Tamarack Grief Resource Center, which has received HB 118 funding since 2018, offers counseling, grief support in the form of things like support groups and bereavement camps, and grief education.

The LOSS teams, according to Jess Hegstrom, Lewis and Clark Countys suicide prevention coordinator, also focus on postvention. The teams started in the county with an HB 118 grant in 2021. They are the first of their kind in Montana, but the teams have been present in other places since 1998, Hegstrom said.

Im incredibly grateful to have more support at the community level and to make sure they have the support they need, Hegstrom said.

The teams consist of a mental health expert and a suicide loss survivor. The pair goes to the home of someone whos just lost a loved one to suicide and offers resources and support. Hegstrom said it usually takes up to four and a half years for suicide loss survivors to reach out, and the LOSS teams offer an earlier opportunity to work through those feelings.

I was one of those people, and working with this is just so hopeful, Hegstrom said.

The DPHHS, in addition to the HB 118 grants, is also doling out a $400,000 grant to Montanas three suicide lifelines to help maintain the staffing necessary to handle call levels as the state transitions to the 988 number.

In Montana, we look out for one another. Its what we do, Gianforte said. Neighbors help neighbors. And I ask all Montanans to reach out to your family members, friends or neighbors who might be struggling. Dont wait. Check in on them.

If you are in crisis, please call the national suicide hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Starting on July 16, you can get help by calling or texting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. The old numbers will still be able to connect you to help as well.
Children prepare to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 at a vaccination site in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Nov. 18, 2021. (Getty Images)

Chinese Children Coerced to Motivate Grandparents to Get COVID Jabs

An official notice encouraging children to promote vaccine use among elderly relatives that was published by a district educational body of Chinas Beihai City on July 6 has triggered widespread criticism among Chinese netizens.

The online notice, titled A Special Summer Vacation Homework Assignment, requires young students, including kindergarten children, to motivate paternal and maternal grandparents of 60 and above to take their first COVID jab successfully.

Children will be awarded a merit certificate and a nice small gift by their teachers when going back to school or their kindergarten in the coming semester upon presenting their grandparents vaccination certificate, the notice by the Haicheng District educational body reads.

The post has since been removed from the educational bodys official social media account but is still visible online in reposts by netizens.

The notice is part of recent efforts by Beihai citys health committee to have local seniors jabbed since April, according to a report on Chinas news portal Sohu. The health committee encouraged seniors to take their first COVID jab by offering them a free physical check which was worth roughly the equivalent of $37, as the health committee aims to ensure that the first-dose vaccination rate of 91.2 percent of the elderly over 60 years old is completed by the end of July this year, reported Sohus article.

Hui Ngai-seng, 75, receives his first dose of Chinas Sinovac COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a community vaccination center in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Beihai is a coastal city in the south of Chinas southwestern Guangxi region bordering Vietnam on its southwestern borderline.

The July official notice also includes $15 cash or shopping coupons of equal value to seniors who have taken their first COVID vaccine.

Chinese authorities at all levels have been reportedly using various tactics to coerce residents to take COVID-19 vaccines produced by domestic manufacturers, including cash stimulus.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Beihai health commission and the Haicheng educational body but did not receive a reply as of press time.

Children Are Tools

Netizens expressed their outrage at the notice before it was removed by saying that children are now held as hostages by local authorities.

Children are hostages and can bind six adults [parents and grandparents], one netizen wrote, stating that children are a new generation of stability maintenance tools. The netizen was also worried that the child might have a lifetime psychological burden if an older adult is affected by an adverse vaccine reaction.

A child receives the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a school in Handan, in Chinas northern Hebei Province on Oct. 27, 2021, after the city began vaccinating children between the ages of 3 to 11. (AFP via Getty Images)

The government claims vaccination is voluntary to the public, but it has a rigid vaccination goal internally, another netizen wrote.

The netizen said in the post that his uncles little daughter, a primary school pupil, was required by her school to have 10 adults vaccinated and therefore coerced the netizens parents to be vaccinated. I was mad at hearing this. It is so true that netizens say they have given birth to a hostage, the netizen wrote.

Netizens are doubtful about the efficacy of Chinese domestically manufactured vaccines.

If the vaccines are effective, is it still necessary to lock down the city? a Beijing netizen asked in a post responding to an article on July 7 on NetEase, a popular Chinese news outlet, which reported a rural community committee in Beijing threatening to remove seniors eligibility for orchard dividends plus other welfare and benefits if they dont take the COVID-19 vaccines.

As of July 11, a total of 3.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country to a population of 1.4 billion, according to Chinas National Health Commission, the top health body in the country. As for people over 60, 86.23 percent have received one dose of the vaccine and 81.67 percent have received the full regimen of doses as of May 5.

Although China says it has achieved widespread immunization, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still insists on maintaining its harsh zero-COVID policy, even in cities like Shanghai and Beijing, each of which has over 20 million residents.

Li Jing contributed to the article.
Chinese Leadership Dispute in the Spotlight as Premier Urges Provinces and Cities to Stabilize Their Economies

News Analysis

In a recent economics symposium, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang emphasized the need to stabilize the economy and revealed that Chinas current economic situation is very challenging. But on June 29, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping reiterated the zero-COVID policy and called the policy important in affecting economic development and advancement. The clash between Xi and Li is once again in the spotlight.

On July 7, Li convened an economic seminar in Fujian Province with key officials from the provincial governments of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong.

At the meeting, Li said that Chinas economy has undergone a very unusual experience since the start of this year, but looking forward, our economy is recovering, a very big task. He further adds, but the foundations for recovery are not stable and a lot of efforts are needed to stabilize the economy.

Li said that the five provinces and cities along the southwest coast account for more than a third of Chinas GDP, and nearly 40 percent of total fiscal revenue. He demands these cities and provinces to continue stabilizing the economys anchor and further breaking through the blockages in the industrial and supply chain and promote economic mechanisms to normal as soon as possible.

He further said that these particular areas economies are more energetic and should help main market players, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households. He emphasized that 70 percent of Chinese migrant workers work in these 5 cities and provinces so we must do everything to stabilize employment of local and migrant workers.

The developed coastal regions are more integrated with the world economy through international trade on the Yangtze River Deltathe eastern coastal region centered around Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta in southern Guangdong provinceaccounting for nearly 60 percent of Chinas trades, said Li. He said it is important to speed up the level of collection and distribution of items in ports and steady foreign trade and investment.

Xi previously emphasized the need to adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID policies and said that he would rather sacrifice economic development to a certain degree to implement this policy. He also said that if one calculates the total losses and gains, this prevention measure is the most economical and effective.

The dispute between the Chinese Communist Partys coronavirus responses has become public. Li Keqing never mentions the dynamic zero-COVID approach in public speeches while Xi continues to emphasize the need for dynamic zero-COVID, even at the cost of the economy.

Analysis: XiLi Conflict Impossible to Reconcile

Chinese current affairs commentator Lu Tianming told The Epoch Times that Chinas economy is now in a very bad state, especially this year as all metrics are declining. The main reason is that under the dynamic zero-COVID policy, extreme closure measures lead to poor logistics, sluggish demand, and declining exports; which disrupt industrial chains and local enterprises that can not get foreign trade orders, eventually forming a vicious circle.

In China, the premier of the State Council is responsible for economic issues, said Lu, but Li does not approve the dynamic zero-COVID policy, so now he is unwilling to take responsibility for the continuous economic decline caused by this policy and this is why he never mentions dynamic zero-COVID in public. He wants to stabilize the economy, employment and opening up, but this precisely contradicts the policy Xi wants, thus creating a conflict.

Lu also said that Xi sees the zero-COVID policy as his political achievement and has tied himself to that policy and cannot give it up.

Giving up now is basically admitting that his policy and decisions are wrong, which will give his political rivals a chance to attack him, so he has no other way but to keep going down this path.

There will be a redistribution of power before the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and now the Beidaihe Conference is about to take place, so this is a critical moment on whether Xi will be reelected.

[Xi] was previously criticized by the Party on [supporting] the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so the last chance he has is the so-called epidemic control, and this naturally clashes and conflicts with Lis approach. Xi is more concerned with creating a favorable political situation than he is with the current economic issues.

In short, Li and Xi form a natural opposition, concludes Lu. It is impossible for Li to support Xis extreme zero-COVID policy and let the economy collapse. Their current clash is impossible to reconcile and no one can take a step back.

Li said the five provinces and cities along the southeast coast are significant contributors to Chinas economy, most small enterprises and farmers cluster there and closure measures lead to surging employment. When firms earnings and profit growth are not good, tax revenue will also drop sharply. The Chinese Communist Partys treasury is already quite empty and Li mentioned that provinces and cities cannot rely on the central government during previous meetings, suggesting that the central treasury is also quite empty. So from Lis perspective, Chinas economy has reached a very dangerous state, Lu said.

Public Disagreement

Chinas economy has been on a steep decline since Xis zero-COVID policy was implemented, and it is clear that Xi and Li clash on epidemic prevention and economic issues.

On May 25, Li convened an urgent meeting with about 100,000 Chinese Communist Party officials at all levels, emphasizing the need to stabilize the macroeconomic metrics. Li did not mention the zero-COVID policy at the meeting and publicly acknowledged that Chinas economy is slipping out of a reasonable range.

On the same day, the Chinese Communist Partys mouthpiece Peoples Daily published an article titled Chinas Economic Development Prospects Will Be Brighter, claiming that under Xis leadership, China has made major achievements in dealing with the Ukraine crisis and COVID containment measures.

But previously on May 23, Li admitted there are increasing risks that Chinas economy will decline and deployed 33 measures to stabilize the economy.

On May 18, in Xis address to the Conference of the 70th Anniversary of CCPs Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit, he said that the epidemic also caused globalization to go backward, but did not mention Chinas economic decline.

On the same day, Xi mentioned in his address to the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Health Assembly that it is necessary to strengthen the coordination of international macroeconomic policies and maintain the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chain, in order to restore [the] global economy. But he did not mention the downward pressure Chinas economy faces and Xi pledged to provide $2 billion in international aid within two years to support developing economies in responding to the epidemic.
A cruise ship is seen in a 2022 file photo in Sydney, Australia. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

COVID-Hit Cruise Ship Docks in Sydney, Infected Not Allowed to Disembark

A cruise ship carrying over 100 COVID-19 cases has docked in Sydney, with passengers who tested positive not allowed to disembark.

The Coral Princess, carrying more than 2,300 people and 118 COVID cases, docked in Circular Quay at about 6:30 a.m. on July 13.

NSW Health asked passengers to take a rapid antigen test (RAT) before disembarking and required those infected to be isolated on board for the time being.

While a small number of passengers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since boarding the Coral Princess, their infections were most likely acquired prior to boarding, and they subsequently tested positive, reads an NSW Health statement.

The vast majority of COVID-19 cases on the ship are currently in crew members. All COVID-positive people are isolating and being cared for by the on-board medical team.

NSW Healths assessment is that the Covid-19 risk level for the Coral Princess during this cruise is amber, which indicates a moderate impact to the vessel.

The Coral Princess docks at Circular Quay on July 13, 2022, in Sydney, Australia. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

All crew members are fully vaccinated as required by the cruise industry protocols, according to a spokesman for Princess Cruises.

We also regularly conduct surveillance testing of all crew, he said.

Some recorded positive tests in a recent full screening and were isolated and have no contact with guests. These crew members are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

The Coral Princess is a sister ship to the Ruby Princess, which was linked to 28 deaths and at the centre of a lawsuit amid the 2020 COVID wave.

The operator of the Coral Princess cruise has offered refunds to more than 2,000 passengers.

Cruise Commentator: Dangerous to Call it Outbreak

This is the first cruise to return to Eden after Australias once-thriving cruise industry restarted. The industry was shut down for over two years after the former government banned international cruise ships from entering the country.

However, some experts said the authorities additional restrictions are unnecessary.

I think its quite dangerous to call it an outbreak or that it ripped through the ship, cruise commentator Honida Beram told Nine.

Up to 100 people tested positive, the majority being crew, which shows the testing protocols are working.

Passengers from the Coral Princess wait to board buses on July 13, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

It is quite hypocritical that other industries arent held under the same scrutiny, on planes or sporting events, we dont hear about how many people are testing positive.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said passengers on cruise ships would need to wear face masks.

Face masks will be required in settings for those passengers who are on that vessel, Perrottet told reporters on Tuesday.

As the situation develops over the course of the day, well make sure we provide further information.
Candidates Patrick Brown, left, Leslyn Lewis, Scott Aitchison, Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest and Roman Baber, pose for photos after the French-language Conservative Leadership debate May 25, 2022, in Laval, Que. (The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

Disqualified Candidate Patrick Brown Says He Will Vote for Jean Charest in Tory Leadership Race If Appeal Fails

Disqualified Conservative Party leadership candidate Patrick Brown will vote for former Quebec premier Jean Charest if he fails in his bid to be reinstated, his campaign has announced.

In a July 12 letter to supporters, Browns campaign says theres a strong likelihood that the appeal wont succeed before the vote.

Party members have already started receiving their mail-in ballots, which need to be returned to the party before 5 pm EST on Sept. 6. Browns name appears on the ballots.

If the appeal fails, Patrick has been clear he would support any new leader of the CPC [Conservative Party of Canada] except Pierre Poilievre, says the letter.

The Toronto Star reported early in the race that Brown and Charest, who are longtime friends, had allegedly made a pact to ensure either one would become leader, but Charest disputed this in late April.

Patrick came into politics while I was leader of the Federal party, and were friends and I have a lot of respect for Patrick. We do get along, but there is no particular deal, Charest told insauga.com.

The Brown campaign also commented on other contenders, saying that Brown has high regard for MP Leslyn Lewis and great admiration for MP Scott Aitchison.

But at the end of the day Jean Charest has the best chance to stop Pierre Poilievre extremism, it said.

Brown and Charest have argued that Poilievres policy proposals are not moderate enough to win a general election and have criticized his brand of conservatism.

Other candidates Lewis and Roman Baber, a former Ontario MPP, share many views with Poilievre, including on the issue of individual freedoms.

Poilievre has claimed he signed up over 300,000 new members before the June deadline. The Conservative Party has 675,000 members in total.

Disqualification

Brown was disqualified by the CPC Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) based on what the committee says are credible and verifiable allegations that he violated campaign rules and the Canada Elections Act.

LEOC says the Brown campaign was given time to address the allegations but its response was not satisfactory.

Brown countered that he could not respond properly to a phantom allegation.

All we know is theres an anonymous allegation that a corporation was paying someone who worked on my campaign, Brown told CTV News on July 6.

The next day, a whistleblower working within Browns campaign came forward with details about the allegation.

Debra Jodoin, who served as a regional organizer, said Brown had made a deal for Jodoin to be paid by a corporation while volunteering for the campaign.

He connected me by text message with a third-party for that purpose. I trusted him, but as time went on I became increasingly concerned with the arrangement and suspected it was not OK, she said via her lawyer in a July 7 statement.

Its illegal for companies in Canada to donate to a campaign, directly or indirectly by paying campaign staff.

In the July 12 letter, the Brown campaign says it was disqualified because of a flawed process meant to prevent people like Brown from gaining influence within the party.

Brown has retained high-profile lawyer Marie Henein for his appeal and potential legal action against the CPC.

The CPC has brought in outside lawyers to review the appeal process.
DNA Testing IDs Executed Man as Texas Girls Killer in 1979

CONROE, TexasA man executed more than two decades ago has been identified through DNA testing as the person who killed a Texas girl in 1979, authorities have announced.

The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office said Monday it had spent decades investigating the September 1979 strangulation death of 12-year-old Lesia Michell Jackson. She went missing after going swimming in her Conroe neighborhood, and her body was found six days later. An autopsy concluded she was sexually assaulted before her death. Conroe is located about 40 miles (64 km) north of Houston.

In October, a new forensic technology called M-Vac was used to test evidence believed to be on the girls clothing, the sheriffs office said.

In April, forensic scientists with the Texas Department of Public Safety identified an unknown male DNA profile from the evidence and that was sent to the FBIs Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS database.

The database identified Gerald Casey of Conroe, and additional testing last week of a blood sample previously obtained from him was an exact DNA match to the evidence collected from the girls clothing, confirming Casey as her killer, the sheriffs office said.

When deputies searched for Casey, 47, they found out that he had been executed in April 2002 for fatally shooting a Montgomery County woman during a robbery in 1989.

When arrested for murder, Casey already had been to prison twice for burglary.

The tenacity and diligence in solving this case by a dedicated team is a reminder to our public and to those who commit crimes in our communities that we will never cease our efforts to solve the hardest of cases and bring closure to traumatized families, the sheriffs office said in a statement.
Drivers Face Black or White Choice to Speed up New-Car Delivery

PARISFor Emilie Malherbe, choosing the color of her brand new Renault Arkana SUV was easy because only three were available: black, pearl-white, and gray.

She and her husband swiftly settled on gray because what mattered most was getting the car delivered quickly.

We heard on television that we could face delays of six to eight months to get a new car, said Malherbe, 41, a resident of the Calvados region in northern France. I smiled when I was told 30 days. But I got it in 15 days, which was great.

Facing a global shortage of semiconductor chips and other supply-chain disruptions, carmakers in Europe are offering pared-down options for cars so customers can get a new car before summer vacation season ends.

This is a major reversal for an industry that has leaned heavily on customization, which complicates manufacturing processes and erodes profit.

Instead, legacy carmakers are following Tesla Inc., whose bare-bones approach to car options has helped boost profit.

If they want a car fast, consumers have little to choose from.

Renaults Fast track offer on the Arkana, already being delivered in France, guarantees a new car in a maximum of 30 dayscompared with an average wait of five months.

The cars come in only three colors, versus the usual full range of six. Only the single trim level (RS Line) is available and there is but one choice of engine. Fast-track orders accounted for half of Arkana new car registrations in France in June.

If any buyers request additional options, delivery is not guaranteed, according to Renault.

Industry Paradox

Some major carmakers have talked periodically about the need to get back to fewer options, but have found it hard to follow through.

In the U.S. market, for instance, large light-duty pickup trucks come in 70,000 combinations, said J.D. Power analyst Doug Betts.

The industry has charged up this hill many times, Betts said. Its just not ever been clear how to address the problem.

The fear is that if you dont have data on which versions to eliminate, you could eliminate sales, he added.

Supply problems and the need to simplify industrial processes to meet the vast cost of electrification may have changed that. The automotive industry is experiencing a real paradox: on the one hand, it wants to produce on demand rather than pushing metal, but reduced product diversity makes it easier for customers to find the models they want in stock, said S&P Global Mobility analyst Denis Schemoul.

The reduction in diversity benefits everyone, he added. And everyone will follow, even the Germans. Faced with component shortages, Volkswagen AG in February cut options for its electric ID3, now available in Europe in a single version to shorten delivery times. The priority of the Volkswagen brand is indeed to provide an offer that can be delivered to its customers as soon as possible despite restrictions linked to the shortage of semiconductors, VW said in a statement.

Choice Overload

The slimmed-down Up & Go offer from Renaults low-cost brand Dacia is focused on engines and trim lines rather than reducing color options.

By guiding customers to two engines and a single finish, there is no longer an embarrassment of choice  and thanks to this, from an industrial point of view, it is much easier to program, to schedule, said Dacia logistics and distribution director Dimitri Manoussis.

The program cuts 40 days off delivery times. Dacia says Up & Go, which is available in just 14 combinations, accounts for 30 percent of Duster SUV sales in France, while 400 combinations account for the remaining 70 percent. The Duster is Dacias second-best selling car.

If we reduce product diversity, we make a lot of things more fluid, Manoussis said.

Dacia will roll out Up & Go across its entire range and expand it to Belgium, Morocco, and Portugal by the end of the year, followed by the United Kingdom.

Renaults Ready to Go is also good for the carmakers margins since the simplified fast track Arkana starts at 38,630 euros ($39,348), a similar price to the models top trim, the RS Line.

For customers like Emilie Malherbe, who originally wanted a fully loaded RS Line, going for a simpler option was the only way to get a car in time for summer.

More simplification is coming. Stellantis has cut the entry-level version of its new Peugeot 408 and will offer only two trim levels.

The new 408 focuses on the most requested trim levels, said Peugeot product director Jerome Micheron. This will simplify the customer journey.

It is easier and faster to configure your car on our website when there are not too many options, he added.

($1 = 0.9817 euro)

By Gilles Guillaume and Joseph White
Dutch dairy farmer Martin Neppelenbroek at his farm in Lemelerveld, The Netherlands, on July 7, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

Dutch Dairy Farmer Faces Having to Cull 95 Percent of His Cows

I cant run a farm on 5 percent

In the Netherlands, dairy farmer Martin Neppelenbroek is near the end of the line.

New environmental regulations will require him to slash his livestock numbers by 95 percent. He thinks he will have to sell his family farm.

I cant run a farm on 5 percent. For me, its over and done with, he said in a July 7 interview with The Epoch Times.

In view of the regulations, I cant sell it to anybody. Nobody wants to buy it. [But] the government wants to buy it. And thats why they [have] those regulations, I think.

Neppelenbroek made the remarks while speaking with Roman Balmakov, host of Facts Matter on EpochTV, during Balmakovs recent trip to the Netherlands.

Neppelenbroek pointed out that not all farmers are required to get rid of so many of their cattle.

People living farther from areas protected under Natura 2000, a European Union agreement for species and habitat preservation, can own more cattle.

Thats because the Dutch governments regulations on nitrogen oxide and ammonia emissions are tied to sites proximity to those protected areas.

Farmers, truckers, and others across the Netherlands have led nationwide protests against that vision, partly spurred by a June 10 national and area-specific plan to curtail nitrogen greenhouse gas emissions.

Theres a sword of Damocles hanging over them: the possibility of compulsory seizure of property by the government.

Media outlet NOS News reported that Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink, the countrys minister of nature and nitrogen policy, hasnt ruled out expropriating land from uncooperative farmers.

According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agricultures Foreign Agricultural Service, the Dutch government has said its approach means there is not a future for all [Dutch] farmers.

For now, Neppelenbroeks 70-acre-plus property is home to roughly 130 milking cows. Its been in his family for half a century.

Im the second generation, he said, adding that many farms in the Netherlands have been in families for much longer.

The Netherlands punches well above its weight in agriculture. The small, coastal country is one of the worlds top 10 food exporters.

When you havent a lot of space, you have to use it as effectively as possible, Neppelenbroek said.

Its a delta, and the climate is not too hot, not too cold. Its an ideal place to grow.

Cows, Neppelenbroek acknowledged, produce lots of ammonia through their bodily waste.

Yet you cant blame just one small group in your country for polluting the environment, he said, adding that farmers feel theyre being overburdened.

Closing Dutch farms will just necessitate food imports from elsewhere, he argued.

He noted that cow manure can benefit soil healthcertainly more so than the synthetic fertilizers that would need to replace it.

Cows can also be fed leftovers that people wont eat, he said. They can get rid of a lot of stuff we cant use as humans and put it into high-quality food.

Like many others in the Netherlands, Neppelenbroek suspects the government wants to use the land that it takes to build housing.

Correction: A previous version of this article gave an incorrect number of acres for Martin Neppelenbroeks farm. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 2, 2022. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Elon Musk Reacts to Starship Booster Exploding During Test Run

SpaceX and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said it was not good after an explosion took place during the testing of a prototype Super Heavy rocket booster.

What Happened

Musks comments came in response to a tweet that featured the explosion that occurred during the testing of the Super Heavy Booster 7 at SpaceXs Boca Chica, Texas facility on Monday.

Yeah, actually not good. Team is assessing damage.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022

Earlier, Musk had told software engineer and live stream producer Michael Baylor that the incident was planned. Baylor said Musk deleted the tweet where he said it was planned and corrected himself.

Elon has corrected himself. Anomaly as expected. I appreciate the transparency and honesty.https://t.co/MdOFzxzf38  Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) July 11, 2022

Why It Matters

Musk said last month that SpaceXs Starship orbital launcher could see its first launch countdown as early as July.

The Starship utilizes the Super Heavy booster and is powered by the next-gen engines called Raptors. The Super Heavy is the first stage of the space vehicle, while the Starship is the second.

SpaceX needs a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch the space vehicle, according to a prior report.

The test on Monday is part of many SpaceX must undertake to launch the vehicle, reported Insider.

The space exploration company has yet to complete all FAA-mandated actions, according to Insider.

Benzingas Take

There is no clarity on what caused the explosion, according to Insider. However, the latest tweet from Musk does not bode well for the planned timeline of Starships first countdown. He has plans to build more than a thousand Starships to transport humans to Mars; the vehicle is critical to his plans to populate the Red Planet.

By Shivdeep Dhaliwal

 2022 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Police arrest a man (C hidden) suspected of seriously injuring by stabbing a woman at the Almedalen political festival in Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland on July 6, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Fatal Stabbing at Sweden Annual Event Now Labeled as Terror

STOCKHOLMThe killing of a woman at an annual political event in Sweden earlier this month is now being investigated as an act of terror, authorities said.

Swedens domestic security agency, known by its acronym SAPO, said that the 32-year-old man who is in custody over the July 6 knife attack is now suspected of terrorist crimes through murder, meaning SAPO has now taken over the investigation.

Agency spokesman Gabriel Wernstedt told Swedish broadcaster SVT on Monday that information has emerged that has led to the new suspicions. Wernstedt declined to give further details.

The suspect, identified by Swedish media as Theodor Engstrom, was detained on the spot, and has confessed to the killing. SVT reported he has links to the neo-Nazi group NMR, the Nordic Resistance Movement.

The victim, 64-year-old Ing-Marie Wiselgren, was a medical doctor and psychiatric coordinator for Swedens municipalities and regions.

There is no other suspect in the case, SAPO said Monday.

The Almedalen Week is an annual event attended by leading politicians from different parties, lobbyists, pressure groups, and interested members of the public. It takes place in and around Almedalen, a park in Visby, the main town of the island of Gotland, and features debates that are more informal than the ones in parliament.
A vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine is seen ready for use in the trial at St. George's University hospital in London on Oct. 7, 2020. (Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

FDA Grants Emergency Authorization for Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued an emergency use authorization for Novavaxs protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

Authorizing an additional COVID-19 vaccine expands the available vaccine options for the prevention of COVID-19, including the most severe outcomes that can occur such as hospitalization and death, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.

The agency said the vaccine, under the emergency use authorization, can be given to adults aged 18 and older. The vaccine, which is given in two doses several weeks apart, can become available once the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signs off on the FDAs authorization.

Califf added that Wednesdays move gives people another option that meets the FDAs rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency-use authorization.

Novavax uses different technology than the vaccines that are currently available. Pfizer and Moderna both use mRNA technology, whereas the Johnson & Johnson shot uses an adenovirus.

Novavax uses a protein-based vaccine that places parts of the COVID-19 spike protein directly in the body. That technology is commonplace in older vaccines such as the ones for shingles and hepatitis.

But clinical trials that were used to authorize the vaccine were carried out in early 2021, coming months before the Delta and Omicron variants spread across the world, according to the FDAs statement Wednesday.

Studies from across the world have shown Omicron and the latest sub-variants can evade COVID-19 vaccines. Numerous public officials, including White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci, have contracted the virus in recent months despite having received two booster shots.

Novavax, of Maryland, previously said that its vaccine could appeal to people who have been reluctant to get the Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J vaccines. According to the CDCs most recent data, about 22 percent of Americans have not received any vaccine.

This authorization reflects the strength of our COVID-19 vaccines efficacy and safety data, and it underscores the critical need to offer another vaccine option for the U.S. population while the pandemic continues, Novavax Chief Executive Stanley Erck said in a statement after the FDAs authorization.

Like the Moderna and Pfizer shots, the fact sheets for the Novavax vaccine say that it increases the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis, two types of heart-inflammation conditions, according to the FDA.

The agency said that symptoms of heart inflammation started within 10 days following the administration of the vaccine. Individuals who experience shortness of breath, chest pain, and other serious symptoms should seek immediate medical attention, the agency warned.

The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is slated to meet on July 19, where they will likely discuss the Novavax emergency use authorization. On Monday, the Biden administration announced the United States has obtained 3.2 million doses of the vaccine.

The FDAs authorization took longer than we wanted, Erck told NBC News. But were there and we have gotten the companys first approval with the FDA for a vaccine in the United States.
Verizon-Cellular Plus in Billings and the surrounding areas will be giving away free backpacks filled with school supplies on Saturday, July 30 from 10 a.m. to noon.

We are honored to give back to our local community by helping students kick off the school year with a brand-new backpack, stated Verizons Adam Kimmet. We want to ease some of the stress that can be placed on families while trying to get the school supplies they need. Its really rewarding to see the kids parade out of the store, excited to show off their new backpack and ready to start the school year prepared and confident.

The program incorporates employees, customers, and vendor partners. An internal employee donation program was organized while stores are also accepting donations from their guests in order to help as many families as possible. Donations stay local so each backpack that is donated at a specific location will be distributed to children in that same area.

No purchase is necessary to receive a backpack, but a child must be present with an adult to claim their free backpack. There are a limited number available and will be distributed while supplies last.

Cellular Plus has 17 locations in the region.
(LR) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Chair of the Jan. 6 committee Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) listen during a hearing by Jan. 6 committee in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington on June 13, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Fear of Trump 2024 Run is Driving Jan. 6 Committees Potential Indictment of Former President: Defense Attorney

A criminal defense attorney who is defending five people charged with crimes related to the events of Jan. 6 told the Epoch Times that no matter what the House Jan. 6 Committee does in relation to a potential criminal referral for former President Donald Trump, it wont stop Trump from running for reelection.

The Jan. 6th Committee will not stop President Trump from running again, no matter what it does, predicted attorney Joseph McBride of the McBride Law Firm in New York City.

No matter how hard it tries, it will never, ever succeed, because there is no nexus between President Trump and the violence that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, McBride added.

GITMO for Jan. 6 Prisoners

McBride had previously charged that the Jan. 6 defendants were being mistreated while in jail, calling the prison where defendants are detained DC-GITMO, in reference to the notorious facility the United States keeps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where foreign terroristsknown as enemy combatantsare kept, without rights afforded to American citizens.

In October of last year, a federal judge agreed with McBride, after a prisoner represented by the attorney was left waiting for over four months to have surgery to repair a broken wrist he sustained while being arrested.

Its more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers, said U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth at the hearing where he noted bad faith amongst prison officials saying that he had to threaten them with contempt charges before the prisoner received basic medical care after the judge had ordered it, local media reported. Judge Lamberth found two senior D.C. Department of Corrections officials in civil contempt over the months-long delay in medical treatment.

McBride said that the bad faith extends beyond just the prison system for the Jan. 6 defendants and for former President Trump, telling The Epoch Times that the Jan. 6 Committee hearings are the product of a leftist conspiracy.

Committee

This is demonstrated by the fact that the Committee gives the illusion of being bipartisan, but in all reality is nothing more than a cohort of despicable swamp creatures that detest President Trump, said McBride.

While technically bipartisan, the Committee has just two Republican members, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), both of whom have been highly critical of Trump even prior to the events of Jan. 6.

The Committee is a jokea house of cards built on a foundation of lies that will implode under the weight of its own hypocrisy, McBride said.

Both Cheney and Kinzinger were critical of Trumps efforts to scale back U.S. troop commitments while president, especially when he failed to keep troops in Syria to defend the Kurds, according to CNN and The New Yorker.

Cheney called the scaled-back defense posture that kept U.S. troops at home sickening, while Kinzinger said Trumps decision on Syria was shortsighted and wrong.

Cheneys father, Dick Cheney, was vice president when the United States launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But McBride, who also represents clients who have appeared before the Committee and plaintiffs who are suing over alleged police misconduct on Jan. 6, cautioned that Trump loyalists who think that a declaration by Trump that he is running for the Republican nomination for president might protect the former president from an indictment, would be mistaken.

Trumps Election Strategy

Trump will announce his intention to runor notat the best possible time, because that is exactly what winners do, McBride said, while noting that Trumps candidacy will not confer any additional legal protection more than he [has] now.

Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz agreed with that assessment.

Legally it would have no effect if Trump declared his candidacy, Dershowitz told The Epoch Times, while saying he didnt know if it would be a good strategy politically to declare for the nomination earlier rather than later.

Members of the Jan. 6 Committee have already said that they think they have enough legal evidence to support an indictment against Trump for inciting the riot on Jan. 6.

Rep. Adam Schiff

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, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said as the hearings got underway, the Associated Press reported. But they need to be investigated if theres credible evidence, which I think there is.

But critics have pointed out that Schiff has previously made similar claims, using similar vague charges.

First, Schiff made such claims in 2019 as the House investigated unfounded allegations that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election from Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.

Schiff predicted in 2019 that the Department of Justice had enough evidence to indict Trump on the Russian election meddling charges even though the subsequent report on the investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller didnt recommend an indictment.

Later, Schiff made similar comments during the Trump impeachment trial in 2020 regarding allegations that Trump attempted to blackmail Ukraine into investigating then-candidate for president Joe Biden, charges of which Trump was ultimately acquitted.

But despite the legalities surrounding the decisions by the Jan. 6 Committee to indict Trump or not, its politicsnot lawthat is driving Trumps opponents in Congress, said McBride.

Quite simply, McBride thinks that Jan. 6 Committee members are terrified of a Trump candidacy.

The announcement of his candidacy will strike the heart into the fear of Americas enemies, both foreign and domestic, McBride concluded, leaving little doubt on which side the defense lawyer stands.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the House Jan. 6 Committee and Rep. Schiffs office for comment.
Florida Emergency Management Sued for Allegedly Not Paying for COVID-19 Test Kits

A private contractor filed a lawsuit on July 7 against the Florida Division of Emergency Management for $4.4 million for allegedly not paying for COVID-19 test kits, seeking damages, interest, and other costs.

According to the lawsuit, the state agreed to order a total of 600,000 test kits in March 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emails from emergency management confirm the purchase, but the lawsuit claims that the state only paid for one-third of the tests that were ordered.

Morgan and Morgan, a Florida-based law firm known for its class-action lawsuits, filed suit against the state in the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County.

Everyone, from individuals to the smallest of small businesses to the largest of entities like the state of Florida, is bound to honor the contracts they sign, attorneys John Morgan and Thomas Cargill said in a statement. Our client expended considerable resources and effort to fulfill two huge COVID-19 test orders during a time when those critically needed tests were in short supply.  We are ready to fight to compel the Department of Emergency Management to uphold their end of the bargain.

Amelia Johnson, deputy director of communications and external affairs at the Division of Emergency Management (DEM), told The Epoch Times in an email that the division doesnt comment on ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit claims that the DEM agreed to purchase approximately 200,000 COVID-19 viral sample collection kits from Essential Diagnostics for $2.2 million through its agent, Global Innovative Concepts on March 22, 2020.

The agreement was for the state to pay within 45 days of delivery of the kits, according to the lawsuit. Two days later, according to court documents, another state official requested more test kits from Global. Global then sent another 400,000 kits for $4.4 million along with a purchase order to the state of Florida for payment. Allegedly the state had to pay half of the money upfront.

The lawsuit says half was paid and the remainder was due within 45 days of delivery.

However, the second purchase order wasnt signed, but a letter was sent to Essential Diagnostics agreeing to the additional kits and a check for $2.2 million was issued.

In the first week of April 2020, another state official, Jared Rosenstein, then legislative affairs director for the Division of Emergency Management, said the state would not pay for an additional 400,000 kits until all of them had been delivered.

In May 2021, Rosenstein left the division and joined Capital City Consulting, a Tallahassee lobbying group.

Rosenstein wasnt available for comment.

Global  was able to secure a much-needed product during the peak of COVID test demands, and it did so relying on DEMs promise, the complaint reads.
A Telus sign is seen on a storefront in Halifax on Feb. 11, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)

Following Rogers Outage, Telus Touts Network Reliability to Woo Customers

Telus sent a marketing email to customers boasting of its network designed with reliability in mind days after a nationwide outage left Rogers customers without phone and internet connection.

Our mobile network wont leave you hanging, Telus said in the July 13 email.

The Epoch Times reached out to Telus for comment but didnt hear back by publication time.

The Rogers outage began in the early morning of July 8, with both its wireline and wireless systems affected. The company later said the cause of the outage was a network system failure following a maintenance update to its core network, which caused a malfunction in some routers.

By July 9, Rogers said it had restored services to the vast majority of its customers, and continued to monitor its systems.

As part of its remedial actions, Rogers said in a statement on July 12 that customers will be given a credit equivalent to five days of services, which will be automatically reflected in their bills next month.

On July 11, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri and the CEOs of other major telecommunications service providers in Canada, demanding they develop a framework to improve the resiliency and reliability of their networks.

The companies were given 60 days to reach agreements on mutual assistance during future outages and emergency roaming, and to establish a communications protocol to keep the public and authorities informed.

In a July 9 statement, Staffieri released a three-pronged action plan to improve Rogers network, which includes monitoring network stability as the company works to restore all services, completing a root cause analysis and testing of its systems, and making any necessary changes.

We will take every step necessary, and continue to make significant investments in our networks to strengthen our technology systems, increase network stability for our customers, and enhance our testing, he said.

In the aftermath of the outage, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with the executives of the major Canadian telecom companies and asked them to reach agreements to assist each other during outages.

I brought together the heads of the major telecom companies to demand they take immediate action to improve the resiliency and reliability of our networks by ensuring a formal arrangement is in place within 60 days, Champagne said on Twitter on July 11.
Brenda Forbes, a former neighbour of Gabriel Wortman in Portapique, N.S., is questioned by commission counsel Emily Hill, right, at the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry into the mass murders in rural Nova Scotia on April 18/19, 2020, in Halifax on July 12, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)

Former Neighbour Stands by Story RCMP Did Nothing on NS Killers Spousal Abuse

A former neighbour of the man who carried out the 2020 Nova Scotia mass killing stood by her story on Tuesday that RCMP did nothing when she reported a violent domestic assault years before the rampage.

Brenda Forbes said, You bet, when she was asked at a public inquiry if she still holds that view, despite a differing story from the RCMP investigating officer at the time.

Forbes, a military veteran in her 60s, testified under oath at a public inquiry that shed told two young constables about a violent assault by the killer against his spouse, Lisa Banfield, in the summer of 2013, and that she and her husband had seen weapons at the killers home.

In previous statements to media after the April 2020 murders of 22 people, Forbes had said the RCMP didnt follow up after hearing her account when she met them at her workplace in Debert, N.S.

Forbes told the inquiry Tuesday that shed been told about the assault by the killers uncle, Glynn Wortman. She said shed called Glynn Wortman in front of the officers, put him on speakerphone, and that the uncle refused to speak directly to them because he feared Gabriel Wortman would kill him.

Nothing was ever done. Nothing. Zip, she testified on Tuesday.

Retired RCMP constable Troy Maxwell told the public inquiry in an interview that when he spoke to Forbes on July 6, 2013, it was a complaint about the killer tearing around the neighbourhood in an unmarked police car. Maxwell hasnt yet testified under oath.

When I look back at this instance, and remember everything that I remember, there was no allegation of any kind of domestic. There was no allegation of any other kind of complaint other than him driving around in the old, decommissioned police car, Maxwell told the inquirys interviewers on April 29.

However, his handwritten notes from July 6, 2013, entered as evidence include the name of Glynn Wortman as well as those of Forbes and Gabriel Wortman, with Lisa written in brackets in the margin. Questioned by inquiry investigators, Maxwell said he didnt know who Glynn Wortman was and that he wrote down Lisa because Forbes had said that was the name of Gabriel Wortmans wife.

Glynn Wortman provided police with an account of the assault when he spoke to them in May 2020, saying he and a couple of friends were drinking beer at Wortmans property, and he left after Wortman made a crude comment about Banfield.

The uncle said he went to check on Banfield a while later, because he knew Wortman was off the rails, and as he approached through the woods to Wortmans property he saw him straddling on top of her, strangling her, choking the st out of her.

During cross-examination by a lawyer for the federal Justice Departmentwhich represents the RCMPForbes said that though the killer threatened her after she reported the assault, she didnt call police again.

The reason I didnt report this to the police was  I lost a lot of respect for the police. I didnt think anything would ever get done, she testified.

Forbes also testified her first awareness of Wortmans domestic violence was in the years after they moved to Portapique in 2002, when Banfield came to her door and asked for help after shed been assaulted by the killer. Forbes said she encouraged her neighbour to seek help but recalled that she was frightened of her partner, who had threatened her family.

She was definitely afraid he would go after her, she said, testifying from her home in Alberta.

George Forbes, Brendas husband, hasnt given sworn testimony. However, he has said in an interview that at one point when the couple were in Wortmans garage in 2002 or 2003, Wortman opened up a couple of boxes containing firearms. He said the weapons werent your normal weapon youd buy at a gun show, and they looked like handguns.

The RCMP did not seek a search warrant for weapons at Gabriel Wortmans residence before the mass shooting, according to evidence presented to the inquiry to date.

Evidence has been presented that in 2010, after Glynn Wortman reported to police that his nephew was threatening to kill his parents in Moncton, N.B., police decided against seeking a search warrant because it had been more than five years since the killers father, Paul Wortman, had seen weapons in the residence.

Brenda Forbes testified that after she reported the assault of Lisa Banfield to police, her fear of the killer grew, and she and her husband decided to sell their home, moving first to Truro, then to Halifax andafter encountering the killer in Halifaxto Alberta.

Forbes became emotional as she testified over her regrets at not telling the purchasers of her home, John Zahl and Joanne Thomas, about the danger she believed Gabriel Wortman posed to the community.

The people that bought it, he killed them and he burnt the house down, she said.

By Michael Tutton
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton answers journalists questions after his meeting with Belarus President in Minsk on Aug. 29, 2019. (Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images)

Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton Says He Helped Plan Attempted Foreign Coups

John Bolton, the former White House national security adviser for the Trump administration, has claimed that he previously helped plan attempted coups of foreign leaders.

Bolton made the comment in an interview with CNNs The Lead on Tuesday, shortly after the Jan. 6 House Select Committee had wrapped up its seventh congressional hearing, regarding the breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Panel lawmakers focused much of Tuesdays hearing on evidence around testimony provided by former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and alleged ties between former President Trump and extremist right-wing groups.

The committee claims that Trump intentionally tried to mount an insurrection against the United States government in a last-ditch effort to remain in power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Speaking to CNN, Bolton insisted that Trump could not have pulled off a carefully planned coup detat aimed at the Constitution because thats not the way Donald Trump does things.

Its not an attack on our democracy, Bolton said. Its Donald Trump looking out for Donald Trump. Its a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

CNN host Jake Tapper responded, I dont know that I agree with you, to be fair, with all due respect adding that one doesnt have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.

However, Bolton said he disagreed with this statement before referencing his own alleged experience helping to plan a coup.

Helped Plan Coups

As somebody who has helped plan coups detatnot here but, you know, [in] other placesit takes a lot of work. And thats not what he [Trump] did, Bolton continued. It was just stumbling around from one idea to another. Ultimately, he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol. As to that, there is no doubt. But not to overthrow the Constitution to buy more time to throw the matter back to the states to try to redo the issue.

And if you dont believe that, then youre going to overreact, and I think thats a real risk for the committee, which has done a lot of good work mostly when the witnesses are testifying, not when the members are opining, he added. It is invariably the case when you go too far trying to prove your case, you undermine it.

When pressed to provide further details regarding his alleged help with coups, Bolton declined to provide more information, stating that he was not going to get into the specifics before going on to mention Venezuela.

Under the 2020 Operation Gideon, Venezuelan dissidents and an American private military company, Silvercorp USA, attempted, unsuccessfully, to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

At the time, Maduro blamed the attacks on the Trump administration and neighboring Colombia, both of which denied involvement.

A year prior to the incident, Bolton, as national security adviser, had aired his public support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidos call for the military to back his effort to oust Maduro, stating that the socialist leaders reelection was illegitimate.

Ultimately Maduro remained in power.

It turned out not to be successful, Bolton said. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed.

The notion that Donald Trump was half as confident as the Venezuelan opposition is laughable, he added, to which Tapper responded, I feel like theres other stuff youre not telling me.

Im sure there is, Bolton replied while again declining to give further details.

Reuters contributed to this report.
George Soros answers to questions after delivering a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 24, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Growing Number of Spanish Radio Stars Bolt From Station Bought by Soros-Backed Group

A growing number of hosts are leaving a Spanish-language radio station after it was bought by a group backed by billionaire leftist George Soros.

Nelson Rubio announced his resignation from Radio Mambi on July 12, following Dania Alexandrino and Lourdes Ubieta.

Radio Mambi has been the voice of the Cuban exile, the voice of conservative men and women who defend freedom, democracy, family principles, truth, and faith in God, Rubio said during a press conference in Miami. Many in this community have felt betrayed by the acquisition of this radio by a company financed by the left liberal extremist, George Soros.

Rubio and Ubieta are joining Americano Media, where Alexandrino already had a show.

Being faithful to my principles I couldnt accept being part of any business associated with these leftist activists and their socialist agenda, Alexandrino told reporters.

Radio Mambi was one of 18 radio stations in 10 cities that was recently purchased by the Latino Media Network from Univision. The stations were said to reach about one-third of U.S. Latinos. The deal was $60 million, all cash, according to the network.

The network, which did not respond to a request for comment, said its funding came from leading Latino investors and Lakestar Finance LLC, an investment entity affiliated with the Soros Fund Management, one of the many entities owned or linked to Soros.

Lourdes Ubieta. (Courtesy of Americano Media)

Nelson Rubio. (Courtesy of Americano Media)

Dania Alexandrino. (Courtesy of Americano Media)

Relevant Content

Jess Morales Rocketto, one of the networks founders, said in a statement that the group hope[s] to create relevant content for radio and other audio platforms with content that our community can trust and rely on and is going to ensure that the Latino community continues to be served with the news and information that local communities deserve.

The transition to the new ownership will not happen until the Federal Communications Commission approves the deal. The network said the deal is expected to finalize in quarter four of 2023. The network also said it intended to retain employees who work at the stations.

Americano Media bills itself as the nations first national conservative Hispanic network in Spanish. It launched in March and broadcasts on Sirius XM, GETTR, and applications, with plans to launch on television soon.

CEO Ivan Garcia Hidalgo said during the briefing that the purchase of Mambi indicated to us that the Left is trying to silence truth and the conservative narrative, and we offered an opportunity to these great hosts and talent to come to Americano and continue their work.

These individuals make up a powerful team that has fled from what will become a voice of oppression and disinformation, to come join a strong network of Hispanics that care deeply about their communities, he added.

Brazilian journalist Paulo Figueiredo was among others sounding the alarm, telling EpochTVs Crossroads that the Latino Media Network move stemmed from a desire to get Hispanics voting for Democrats again, as more and more have shifted to Republicans in recent elections.
On July 9, 2021, Jeff Diamond, a professional musician, vocal instructor and backup guitarist, got the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine.

About a week later, Diamond was found unconscious in his apartment, He was taken to a local hospital in Minnesota, where he remained in a coma for three weeks.

Pervasive blood clots  a known side effect of the J&J vaccine  had shut down his kidneys and other organs. The condition caused doctors to amputate eight of his fingers, without his knowledge or consent, while he was still in a coma.

Diamond, a guest on the July 5 episode of RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast, told Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., he got the vaccine only because hed been performing at an event in Atlanta, and didnt want to risk infecting his mother.

I was taking care of my mother, and thats the only reason I got the shot in the first place, Diamond said.

When Diamond awoke from the coma, he also found himself intubated, which impaired his singing voice.

With his kidneys barely functioning and his balance thrown off by all the medications he was prescribed, Diamond lay in the hospital for another three weeks until he was able to go into a nursing home.

While in the nursing home for six weeks, Diamonds feeding tube burst open and he was rushed to an emergency room. Blood was gushing out of my stomach, he told Kennedy. It almost killed me.

A doctor in Minneapolis saved his life, but Diamond told Kennedy hes been in pain with these fingers ever since. Diamond was fitted with prosthetic fingers, but while they may look great, he said, theyre not working out for playing the guitar.

Diamonds singing voice has bounced back a bit, he said, but not all the way.

And its all from, I believe, the Johnson & Johnson shot, Diamond said.

Asked if doctors acknowledged a link between the vaccine and his injuries, Diamond said all but one were non-committal.

Now, a year after he was injured, Diamond said hes taking things day by day, and hopes to someday play guitar again.

More importantly, though, he wants to get the word out about what happened to him.

What happened to me  I dont want to see this happen to anybody else, Diamond said. I think its a crime  People have got to be held accountable.

Watch the podcast here:

07/12/22 Childrens Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Childrens Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Childrens Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Childrens Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
A man reacts on a street amid a heat wave warning, following the COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai on July 13, 2022. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Heat Waves Hammer Megacities in Chinas Yangtze River Basin

BEIJINGSearing heatwaves swept across Chinas vast Yangtze River basin on Wednesday, hammering densely populated megacities from Shanghai on the coast to Chengdu deep in the heartlands.

More than 90 red alerts, the most severe in a three-rung warning system, were active across China as of 3:30 p.m. Most were in the Yangtze basin, which spans nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles).

Shanghai, Chinas commercial capital, issued its second red alert in four days, warning of temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Construction and other outdoor activities are reduced or halted under a red alert, historically very rare for the city of 25 million.

In Nanjing, a nearby city of over 9 million, the summer has never been hotter, said one 77-year-old resident.

The province of Zhejiang south of Shanghai issued a record 51 red alerts in one day, with local media reporting people being admitted to hospitals for heatstroke or even dying from it.

The hot spell of the past 30 days has been described by Chinese weather watchers as widespread, prolonged and extreme and, due to higher demand for air-conditioning, the load on the power grids of seven provinces and regions has hit a record high, according to state media.

The hashtag #heatstroke was trending on social media with 2.45 million views on the Weibo platform, with discussions ranging from people being admitted to hospital to the detrimental effects of long-term heat exposure.

Like a Food Steamer

In Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province, a scheduled outage and upgrade of the grid this week coincided with hot weather, sparking loud protests from some of its 21 million residents on social media.

This is a large-scale blackout, said a netizen on Weibo.

Residents cant be guaranteed their power supply. No one is doing anything about it.

In the city of Yanjin, also in Chinas southwest, temperatures reached 44 degrees Celsius on Monday, the highest since record-keeping started in 1959, state television reported.

In the past month, high-temperature events have affected more than 900 million of Chinas 1.4 billion people and a total area of 5 million square kilometers, or half of the country, the National Climate Center said on Wednesday.

In Henan province, maintenance workers cleaned and checked air-conditioners on top of trains that pass through its capital Zhengzhou, a transportation hub in central China, under the piercing rays of the sun.

Up here, it is very hot, it is like a food steamer, Wang told state television, said one worker, Wang Mian.

Our clothes are wet every day. Sometimes they never dry.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), flanked by his wife Erin and family, is sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence during the swearing-in re-enactments for recently elected senators in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 3, 2019. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

Heres the Surprising Backstory of the Downfall of Roe v Wade

Erin Hawley didnt know that she would help make history when she took a job in February with the conservative legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom. Two months later, the former law professor was on a plane to Mississippi to serve as co-counsel with the states attorney general, Lynn Fitch, and its solicitor general, Scott Stewart, to win the most momentous Supreme Court case in half a centurythe overturning of Roe v. Wade.

I think it was really meaningful for me because I had a 6-month-old that I actually took to Mississippi to that meeting, Hawley said of her efforts to end the constitutional right to abortion. It made why Dobbs matters really concrete, to be talking about this legal strategy and these issues with a baby in tow.

The role of Hawley, wife of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and the central role played by the Alliance Defending Freedom, are part of the untold story behind the case that overturned Roe and Thomas E. Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, et al. v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Their relative anonymity was not an oversight, but instead part of a deliberate strategy reflecting the political sensitivities of todays partisan political landscape.

Though Erin Hawley was a Supreme Court clerk under Chief Justice John Roberts and her legal acumen is not in doubt, her husband, a former state attorney general, is a bete noire of abortion activists and other liberals. Knowledge of her involvement behind the scenes would have been an unwelcome distraction to her legal team.

And although the Alliance Defending Freedom has won 14 victories at the Supreme Court since 2011including affirming Christian bakers right to refuse making custom cakes for gay weddings and the right of churches to receive taxpayer-funded state grantsit kept its role under wraps for fear of attacks to undermine its case from progressive groups such as Southern Poverty Law Center, which has designated it a hate group for defending traditional Christian sexual ethics.

As the state of Mississippi publicly litigated the case, it strategized closely with the alliance, which conceived of the successful legal reasoning behind Dobbs. In interviews with RealClearInvestigations, the groups leaders detailed their internal deliberationsand the deep concerns among pro-life allies about the principles and arguments ultimately presented to the court.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade can be traced back to the day the court ruled in 1973 that there was a constitutional right to abortion. Through the decades, pro-life forces embraced various strategies to challenge that ruling with limited success.

Starting in 2016, the ADF began to focus on challenging a core foundation of Roethe issue of fetal viability. In Roe, the high court established that abortion was legal until the unborn child has the capability of meaningful life outside the mothers womb, wrote Justice Blackmun in the majority opinion. In 1992, another Supreme Court decision on abortion, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, allowed states to place some restrictions on abortion while still embracing the concept that women have a right to get an abortion before viability. At the time, it was hard to define when such viability occurred, leading some abortion-rights advocates to claim it does not occur until birth.

But ongoing scientific advances have repeatedly redefined viability in the 50 years since Roe and the 30 years since Casey. Its now generally agreed that children can survive outside the womb after as few as 20 weeks. Along the way, the viability standard had come to be seen as beneficial for pro-life legislatures attempts to restrict abortion to earlier in pregnancy.

But if many in the pro-life movement came to rely on the viability standard to make incremental gains in abortion restrictions, viability remained controversial as a legal and ethical matter. We know that at 15 weeks that a baby can do things like open and close her hands.  Can stretch and move and quite likely feel pain, says Hawley. So why cant a state protect her life at that point when they can a few weeks later? It doesnt make a lot of sense legally as a constitutional matter. Its just junk thats totally made up.

At meetings in 2016, the alliance tried to get the pro-life cause on board with a new strategy. It wasnt easy. Candidly, it was it was difficult to get support from a number of life groups, because the consensus was, you know, you should stick with 22-week limitations or 20-week limitations, says Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for the ADF and one of the most experienced Supreme Court lawyers in the country. That was the strong consensus, but it was very clear that Planned Parenthood wasnt challenging 20-week laws, because that was too close to the viability line.

There was another challenge. Cases dont just magically appear at the Supreme Court. There would have to be a legal conflict for the court to take up, and that conflict would have to be created. A state legislature would have to essentially pass a law restricting abortion before viability, wait for that law to be challenged under the viability standard established in Roe and Casey and then hope it would be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court. Even then, there was no guarantee the court would hear the case, let alone rule in their favor.

[We were] looking at specific courts, Attorney Generals offices, looking at the legislatures in the states to try to figure out where to go, says Waggoner. When you think about, its not just a campaign that you would run as a case is going through the courts. Its also campaign that you would run to get a bill passed.

The ADF found leaders in three states were amenable to the idea. Arkansas and Utah expressed interest in passing laws to challenge the viability standard, and both states eventually passed laws restricting abortion before 18 weeks in 2019. But Mississippi moved more quickly. After reaching out in December 2017, the ADF soon found leaders in Mississippi were also open to the idea. We had some allies on the ground and the governors office down there, which was Governor [Phil] Bryant at the time, so the legislation took off. The legislators loved it, says the alliances director of government affairs, Kellie Fiedorek.

Pro-life politicians in Mississippi had already been working on legal challenges to abortion. In April 2012 the state passed a law requiring doctors performing abortions to be board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists and have admitting privileges at an area hospital. The law was effectively struck down when the Supreme Court in 2016 refused to hear the case. Given another opportunity to overturn Roe, Mississippi leaders jumped at the chance.

In March 2018, the state legislature passed the Gestational Age Act, restricting abortions in Mississippi after 15 weekswell before the accepted viability line. Right after signing the bill, Bryant remarked: Well probably be sued here in about a half hour, and thatll be fine with me. It is worth fighting over.

The state was, in fact, promptly sued by the states only abortion clinic, Jackson Womens Health Organization. In November 2018, a federal judge in the Southern District of Mississippi invalidated the Gestational Age Act, and that ruling was appealed. In December 2019, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower courts ruling on the ground that the law violated the viability standard created by Roe and Casey. There was only one place left to appeal. The plan to get Dobbs v. Jackson before the Supreme Court was afoot.

Still, in the years a case winds its way through the legal system there is plenty of time for things to go wrong. Of particular concern was a lack of continuity between state officials charged with defending the Gestational Age Act, given that the states defense of the law depended on elected officials who come and go.

The Fifth Circuit had ruled against the state in December 2019and the following month in Mississippi a new governor, Tate Reeves, and a new attorney general, Lynn Fitch, would take office.

The new officials pursued the conservative legal strategy they inherited with equal zeal. Fitchs office petitioned the Supreme Court to hear Mississippis case in June 2020. Three months later, liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. A Republican Senate quickly confirmed Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett, and suddenly Republican-appointed justices comprised a solid 6-3 majority on the court. The possibility of the Dobbs case overturning Roe started to seem real.

With a lot riding on the case, Fitch appointed Scott Stewart as solicitor general, a role which would ultimately make him the lead litigator in Dobbs v. Jackson and responsible for conducting the oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

Aside from being a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Stewart was notable for being at the center of an earlier controversy when he was working for the Justice Department. A 17-year-old illegal immigrant who was staying in a federal shelter had obtained a court order to get an abortion, and the Trump administrations Justice Department told the girl she would have to go through with the pregnancy or leave the country. Stewart was the Justice lawyer tasked with defending the governments position, which was rejected by a federal judge, who allowed the underage girl to go through with the abortion.

Now, the Supreme Court having granted a petition for its review of the Mississippi law on May 17, 2021, it limited the review to only one question presented in the states appeal: Whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.

As the stakes for the case rose, so did the internal pressure and second-guessing. I can tell you without naming names that many, many people who were advising Mississippi informally said that they were crazy to ask for Roe to be overturned in fullthat this could backfire and lead the court to strike down the law under existing precedent. And that the most they could hope for was a slight tweak to existing precedent to allow 15-week laws, but not much more, says Sherif Girgis, a law professor at Notre Dame. We can easily forget that just a few months ago, it seemed to a lot of seasoned court watchers to be insane for Mississippi to ask for this.

In spite of the pressure, Mississippi never wavered from questioning the viability standard as the basis for legal abortion. The Attorney General of Mississippi Lynn Fitch, and the SG Scott Stewart as well, I think they both deserve a huge amount of credit for going whole hog, says Ryan T. Anderson, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. I think it was a good strategy of bringing the Mississippi law limiting abortion to 15 weeks, to make them realize how radical [our abortion] law is15 weeks puts us in line with [abortion restrictions] in Europe, and no one thinks Europe is like the religious right.

With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court, it might be tempting to reduce the outcome of Dobbs v. Jackson to GOP machinations in the appointment and confirmation of Supreme Court justices. But the legal team defending Dobbs also benefited from a widespread sentiment even among liberal legal scholars that Roe v. Wade rested on shaky legal ground. Harvard law professor and prominent constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe has said, One of the most curious things about Roe is that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found. Even Justice Ginsburga pro-choice advocate who remains an icon among the progressive leftdescribed Roe as a heavy-handed judicial intervention [that] was difficult to justify and appears to have provoked, not resolved, conflict.

Given that defending existing abortion precedents on the legal merits was a difficult task, the opposing litigators tasked with defending the right to an abortion also adopted a maximalist position that didnt leave the court room for compromise.

The biggest mistake I think the opponents of the Mississippi law made was to refuse to give the court a middle ground, says Girgis, to refuse to give the court a way to uphold the regulation while still leaving intact some right to an abortion. Obviously they didnt want to give the court a way to strike down a way to uphold the regulation period. But the fact that they kept saying theres no middle ground made it easier for the court to say: Look, our hands are tied. We just have to decide thumbs up/thumbs down on Roe and on the constitutional rights on abortion.

Waggoner, whos set to present oral arguments before the court for the third time this fall, was also taken aback. I was surprised that the lawyers basically told the court its one way or the other here, you either have to reverse Roe and Casey or you dont, she says.

Facing the weakness of the legal arguments underpinning Roe and the conservative majority on the court, Girgis thinks that the opposing lawyers in the case may not have even tried to preserve the existing precedent. The calculation there seems to be that for the sake of the pro-choice cause, its better to lose big than to lose small, he says. If Roe and Casey are overturned in full, and the American people know that theres now no constitutional right to an abortion, that has a better chance of rallying people to restore the right [to an abortion] politically.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which tried the case for the opposing side, did not respond to a request for comment.

With neither side presenting an argument that pointed the way to a compromise that would allow the court to uphold the existing abortion precedents, the conservative majority on the court went ahead and overturned a 49-year-old precedent. A legal victory that had been doggedly pursued by two generations of conservative legal scholars and pro-life activists had been achieved.

The Dobbs victory, which is a product of outside groups working with elected officials to engineer a favorable Supreme Court outcome, may also have a lasting effect on the legal strategy for the conservative movement going forward.

Former Governor Bryant observes that the ADFs efforts to aid Mississippi were of tremendous value in Dobbs. When the Alliance Defending Freedom came in, it was the emphasis that we needed to begin this process, he says. You need outside legal review and [someone] watching the [legislative] language, understanding what judicial scrutiny its going to come under, and understanding that the media are going to hype this.

As for the efforts to prod the court, that strategy seems vindicated as well. The left has filed preemptive litigation at least since the civil rights era and they have effectively advocated in the public square for their position, not just to defend the truth, but to be assertive about it. And I think that [the Dobbs victory] vindicates that on the conservative side as well, says Waggoner.

In this respect, the Dobbs victory is the result of embracing an activist legal strategy that many conservatives who care about constitutional order havent been entirely at ease with. But other conservative activists have long argued the pro-life movement was a moral cause on par with the civil rights movementand ignoring the strategies commonly used to get the Supreme Courts attention would amount to unilateral disarmament in a lot of important legal battles. The fact that youre percolating those issues up to the Supreme Court is sending a message to the court, this is coming, this is coming, this is coming, youve got to deal with this, says Waggoner. And it creates this momentum, that isnt just a momentum in the law, but a momentum in the culture.

Whatever Dobbs portends for the future of conservative legal strategy, after six years of careful legal maneuvering its hard to argue with winning the biggest Supreme Court case in five decades. I lost a lot of sleep, says Waggoner. I think it felt like a dream in certain moments  an almost unrealistic dream that was too big to even imagine.
A commonly prescribed painkiller and anticonvulsant (seizure medication) widely believed to be benign has become increasingly associated with overdose deaths in the United States.

The medication is gabapentin, commonly marketed as Neurontin, Horizant, and Gralise.

Over the years, gabapentin prescribing has steadily increased, with 64 million prescriptions dispensed in 2016, making the drug the 10th most prescribed medication.

By 2019, this number increased to 69 million, putting the drug in the top 7 most prescribed drugs.

However, with the increase in gabapentin prescription, overdose deaths where gabapentin was detected have also increased.

From 2019 to 2020, gabapentin was detected in up to 1 out of 109.7 percentoverdose deaths, with half of these deaths determined to be gabapentin-involved, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Overdose deaths in which gabapentin was detected, also doubled from the first quarter of 2019 (449) to the second quarter of 2020 (959).

This ultimately raises the question, why is gabapentin so commonly prescribed, and why is it so dangerous?

A Popular Off-Label Medication

Gabapentin was approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in 1993 under the market name of Neurontin, and was once a very minor drug.

It was approved to be used in conjunction with other prescriptions to control partial seizures and pain from nerve injury following a chickenpox infection, giving the drug very limited uses.

However, after its approval, the drug, manufactured under Warner-Lambert and later acquired by Pfizer in 2000, became increasingly popular for off-label use, often for conditions that lacked solid scientific evidence.

In 1996, Dr. David Franklin, former medical liaison for Warner-Lambert, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company for illegal promotion of gabapentin in off-label use.

The case closed in 2004. Pfizer, then the acquirer of Warner-Lambert, pleaded guilty to civil and criminal charges for illegally promoting gabapentin for off-label use and paid a total of $430 million in settlement.

A person walks past a Pfizer logo amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York, on April 1, 2021. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Medication approved by the FDA can be prescribed off-label by doctors, and is actually seen as a sign of good medical practice, if done ethically and responsibly.

A major example is aspirin, which was initially approved as a painkiller, but is also used off-label to prevent blood clotting and to improve circulation.

The problem is, for ethical and legal reasons, companies can not actively promote off-label use, which is what Warner-Lambert allegedly did, and Pfizer blew it even more out of proportion, according to Franklin and plaintiffs for later lawsuits.

According to Franklins lawsuit, Warner-Lambert and later Pfizer illegally promoted the drug for at least 11 off-label uses including seizures, restless leg syndrome, bipolar disorders, migraines, and alcohol withdrawal seizures.

The company also promoted it as a mono-therapy drug, meaning that the drug does not have to be taken with other drugs, even though the FDA approved it only as an adjunctive therapy.

Many of these off-label uses persist to this day. Though it should be noted that in 2011 the FDA approved the drug for restless leg syndrome, and the drug has been effective for off-label treatment of neuropathic pain.

Pfizer also lost subsequent lawsuits following the first whistleblower case in 2014, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements after each one.

Nonetheless, these settlements did not represent significant loses for Pfizer. Since its acquisition of Neurontin in 2000, global sales for the prescription rose from $1.3 billion in 2000 to $2.7 billion in 2003.

According to Franklin, he was hired by Warner-Lambert as a medical liaison, whose job was to answer technical questions for physicians.

Usually, medical liaisons are not considered sales representatives of a company and are forbidden to talk to doctors about off-label uses, except when a doctor asks.

However, Franklin was taught to win doctors trust and mislead doctors by showing them studies that suppressed unfavorable results and lying to doctors as an expert of cardiology, neurology, and other fields, depending on the doctors he faced.

My Ph.D. was in microbiology. At 9 in the morning I was an expert in cardiovascular medicine. At 10 when we walked across the street to a neurologist office, I was an expert in neurology, Franklin said on an NBC interview in 2003.

Franklin said he and other staff were pushed to encourage doctors to prescribe Neurontin as a monotherapy for off-label uses despite the lack of solid scientific evidence.

I want you out there every day selling Neurontin holding their hand, whispering in their earNeurontin for pain, Neurontin for monotherapy, Neurontin for bipolar, Neurontin for everything. I dont want to see a single patient coming off Neurontin before theyve been up to at least 4,800 milligrams a day, said a senior Warner-Lambert executive on a conference call, according to NBC.

This also meant that patients would be switched off from their original prescription that worked for them to gabapentin; this has allegedly led to cases where patients reported a worsening of their symptoms.

Regina Adams had her prescription changed from Depakote to Neurontin for her bipolar disorder by her doctor.

Though Depakote controlled her mood, it also made her gain weight, therefore Adams was looking for an alternative that would give her the benefits of Depakote without gaining weight.

After she switched to Neurontin, Adams felt better at first and lost weight, but it soon fell apart.

I became more and more out of control. My whole personallyIm very a sweet, nice person, and I got hostile, Adams said in the NBC interview.

Adams went back to her doctor but she just kept increasing the Neurontin, said Adams.

I didnt want to go any higher. I didnt want to get harmed from it.

Adams later attempted to kill herself and ended up in the hospital. In the 2003 interview, she said she has since switched back to her old medication and is doing fine.

A lot of people say its a benign drug, said Franklin, but its dangerous when patients are [taken off other] drugs that are effective. An interview with Franklin about the law suit was published in the British Medical Journal in 2003

To this day, gabapentin is still predominantly prescribed off-label.

A study in 2006 showed that 83 percent of gabapentin prescription is off-label, but a 2018 study showed this number has increased to 95 percent.

Further, in 2016, in an attempt to decrease opioid prescriptions, the CDC released a training module for alternatives to opioids for chronic pain and recommended gabapentin as an option.

Gabapentin is also used as an adjuvant (additional drug) along with opioids, gaining popularity as a drug of abuse in individuals experiencing withdrawal for opioids and alcohol.

Some experts argue gabapentin is significantly less addictive than opioids, and has been used to treat cocaine and alcohol withdrawals.

Since gabapentin is cheap and mostly uncontrolled, access to the drug is a lot easier than most abused substances.

Studies have found gabapentin misuse constitutes 1 percent of drug abuse in the United States, and this increase may be linked to the opioid crisis.

The Effects of Gabapentin

The exact mechanism of gabapentin is not clear. However, the molecule is a chemical similar to a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

GABA suppresses the activity of neurons in the brain and spinal cord, which may be why gabapentin can reduce seizures and neuropathic pain.

Though gabapentin is an analogue of GABA, clinical trials in rats show that gabapentin does not have direct interaction with GABA receptors and does not block GABA uptake or metabolism.

The drug, however, binds preferentially to neurons in the outer layer of the brain at sites that differ from other anticonvulsants. It is speculated that gabapentins attachment to these sites maximizes its anticonvulsant effect.

General side effects include drowsiness, muscle weakness, lethargy, diarrhea, and sedation.

However, serious side effects includes kidney, liver, and mood abnormalities. The medication has also been linked with an increased risk of suicides. The American Addiction Centers also suggest a sudden removal of gabapentin can cause a rebound in seizure activity in withdrawal.

When used in conjunction with other drugs, particularly opioids, gabapentin can potentiate the effects of the drug.

Some clinicians speculate that gabapentins enhancing effect may be the cause behind the observed increase in gabapentin up take among individuals that abuse opioids in order to experience the high from opioids again.

In 2019 the FDA also warned that gabapentin consumption with opioids can cause respiratory depression (ineffective breathing), especially in the elderly and people with poor lung function.

By itself, high doses gabapentin have also been reported to create a euphoric effect similar to cannabis.

Since many testing areas do not test for gabapentin in drug tests, those that abuse opioids may get high on gabapentin to come out clean for their drug tests while still maintaining their high.

Gabapentin is not a controlled drug in most states; a 300 mg pill can be bought for less than $1. Therefore, its easy accessibility and cheap prices may explain why its rise as an opioid alternative.

Gabapentin and Mortality

Gabapentin was detected in 5,687 of 58,362 overdose deaths with documented toxicology from 2019 to 2020 in the United States, around 10 percent of all overdose deaths.

Up to 90 percent of these deaths were opioids-involved and half of the overdose deaths detected illicitly manufactured opioids.

From 2019, there has been an observed increase in illicit opioid overdose deaths, while overdoses from prescription opioids have decreased.

A study in 2017 found individuals that took opioids with gabapentin had a 60 percent increased risk of death, but this risk was not present with individuals that took opioids with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen.

Therefore, it is likely that gabapentin also enhances the dangers of opioids as well.

The CDC authors highlighted concern at the increased detection of gabapentin in fatal drug overdoses, with a potentially greater number of cases in more recent times.

Overdose deaths involving gabapentin or with gabapentin detected are likely underestimated, the authors wrote.

These findings highlight the dangers of polysubstance use, particularly co-use of gabapentin and illicit opioids. Persons who use illicit opioids with gabapentin should be educated about the increased risk for respiratory depression and death.
American Prairie has announced that access to 9,300 acres of its newly acquired ranch along the Musselshell River will be open to hunters this fall through the state Block Management Program.

Under the program run by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, additional public lands that may be accessed on the ranch include 18,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property and almost 2,000 state acres for a total of almost 30,000 acres, one of the larger BMAs in Eastern Montana.

"We're pretty excited to see they're going to do that," said Billings resident Jake Schwaller, the Eastern Montana board member of the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. "We think Block Management is one of the best programs the state has."

American Prairie finalized the purchase of the 32,000-acre 73 Ranch in December 2021. Prior to the acquisition, the Bureau of Land Management had been seeking to buy the ranchs deeded land in a deal that fell through over pricing. The property adjoins the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge south of the UL Bend.

Schwaller said his group is "definitely disappointed" the BLM was not able to acquire the land for the public and that the problem highlighted the agency's need to update its land purchasing process.

Alison Fox, CEO of American Prairie, said in a statement, Sharing the 73 is a highly rewarding component of our mission and expands the quality of outdoor experiences we can provide to the public."

According to FWP, reservations to hunt the 73 Ranch can be made beginning Aug. 22 by calling the Region 4 call center (they handle permission for all the AP properties) at 406-422-6087. Reservations are taken on Wednesdays only from 9 a.m. to noon for the following Thursday-Monday. There is a limit of 12 hunters a day. The BMA is closed to hunting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for rest days.

A no-shooting zone has been established along the Musselshell River for elk that congregate in irrigated fields during the general hunting season while American Prairie and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks study elk use and distribution, the group said.

Big buyer

American Prairies purchase of ranches across Eastern Montana  now totaling more than 450,000 acres of deeded and public land  has stirred resentment by some residents and retribution by several local, county and state lawmakers. The groups stated goal is to create the largest nature reserve in the contiguous United States.

The groups reintroduction of bison and pursuit of changes in BLM grazing leases to allow bison prompted opposition last year from Gov. Greg Gianforte, along with other state officials including the director of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the leaders of the Departments of Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources and Conservation. Despite the opposition, in March the BLM issued a proposed decision to allow American Prairie to graze bison on about 63,000 acres of federal land in Phillips County under 10 year leases.

On the properties American Prairie has purchased, the organization has opened 79,476 acres spread across 10 areas to hunters through the Block Management Program. Other American Prairie properties enrolled in the hunter access program include more than 20,000 acres on the PN Ranch, over 18,000 acres on Timber Creek and 12,000 on the Dry Fork.

Across Montana, as of 2020, the program has provided access to about 7.1 million acres and made payments to more than 1,200 landowners under the agreements.

American Prairie's enrolled Block Management properties are equally split between those that require the hunter to simply sign in at a box (Type 1), to those that require a reservation and landowner permission (Type 2). The 73 Ranch will require permission.

Our philosophy is to strike the right balance between growing healthy wildlife populations and providing high-quality hunting experiences, said Daniel Kinka, senior wildlife restoration manager for American Prairie, in a statement. A healthy prairie ecosystem relies on balanced interactions between predator and prey, which have historically included human hunting on the grasslands. When carefully managed, wildlife populations can continue to grow and thrive amidst human hunting.

Recreation

Hunting and wildlife groups have previously hailed American Prairies openness to public access, which is not limited to hunters. Campgrounds, rental cabins and yurts have been established on the properties and mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding encouraged. Dispersed tent camping is allowed on some deeded lands.

The group has also opened its National Discovery Center in a historic downtown Lewistown building as an educational form for its lands, providing an introduction to the areas habitat and wildlife, as well as a community meeting space and theater.

Mike Kautz, director of Public Access and Recreation, said all visitors should be prepared for rugged, remote conditions if they plan to explore the 73 Ranch or other American Prairie parcels.

This is an amazing landscape to explore, but its not without a few risks, Kautz said in a statement. We really encourage visitors to come prepared and pay attention to inclement weather conditions, which can leave roads impassable at times.

On the 73 Ranch, as with all American Prairie properties, e-bikes are allowed on motorized travel routes only.

A full list of American Prairies Block Management acreage and more information about hunting opportunities can be found at https://www.americanprairie.org/hunting. More details on 2022 BMAs will be available from FWP in mid-August.
The Twitter logo is seen on the exterior of the social media company's headquarters in San Francisco on July 26, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

How Much Did the US Government Pressure Twitter to Ban Alex Berenson?

Commentary

In August 2021, Alex Berenson, a former journalist for The New York Times, was permanently banned from Twitter for writing the following lines about the COVID-19 shot.

It doesnt stop infection. Or transmission. Dont think of it as a vaccine. Think of itat bestas a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS. And we want to mandate it? Insanity.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 hysteria, we followed and cited Berenson many times on the Ron Paul Liberty Report. Berenson took government and mainstream media rhetoric about the pandemic the way journalists used to take it: with a heavy dose of skepticism. And not long after he was banned for saying so, even the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted that what Berenson wrote was true.

But at the time, he was a danger to the government narrative on COVID-19, and the private social media company Twitter silenced him. The company did not only silence one reporter who was a thorn in its side, however. Twitter preemptively silenced anyone else who might might question the narrative. The message was clear to all the would-be Alex Berensons out there: Do you want to follow him to the digital gulag?

So not only was Berensons free speech under attackfree speech itself was under attack.

Many people, especially libertarians, might respond that Twitter, as a private company, has the right to do business with anyone it wishes. That is true, but only to the extent that Twitter is actually acting as a private entity. The real question is, to what degree have Twitter and other social media companies been directly doing the bidding of the government?

After nearly a yearlong legal battle with Twitter over the ban, Berenson settled with Twitter and was reinstated in early July. Writing about his reinstatement, he hinted at something very ominous: The settlement does not end my investigation into the pressures that the government may have placed on Twitter to suspend my account. I will have more to say on that issue in the near future.

Elon Musk, who had been in a deal to purchase Twitter until a few days ago, responded to Berenson on Twitter: Can you say more about this:  pressures that the government may have placed on Twitter 

Berenson replied, I wish I could, but the settlement with Twitter prevents me from doing so. However, in the near future I hope and expect to have more to report.

Questions about the vaccine were silenced, just as were questions about the origins of the virus. Was it possible that the outbreak originated in a Chinese lab that just happened to be funded by the U.S. government? And if so, how far would powerful people in the government wish to suppress any discussion or investigation into this possibility?

At a critical time in the United Statesjust as authoritarians were locking the country down and threatening anyone who refused the shotall public discussion about the matter was shut down by private companies that just happened to have very close ties with the U.S. government.

This raises fundamental questions about the First Amendment that hopefully might be explored by Congress after the November elections. The American people deserve to know who is trying to shut them up, and why.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Ron Paul Follow Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of Congress and distinguished counselor to the Mises Institute.
A person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California on July 11, 2022. (Upland Police Department via AP)

Police Search for Gunman Who Killed 2 in Wave of 7-Eleven Holdups

LOS ANGELESPolice across Southern California were seeking a lone gunman Tuesday who is wanted in connection with at least fourbut possibly as many as sixrobberies at 7-Eleven stores where two people were killed and three were wounded.

The robberies occurred across a five-hour span July 11or 7/11, the day when the national 7-Eleven brand celebrates its anniversaryand prompted the parent company to urge Los Angeles-area employees to close their stores Monday and Tuesday nights for safety.

It wasnt immediately clear to investigators what prompted the attacks in the cities of Ontario, Upland, Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea, and La Habra.

I think the only person to answer that would be the suspect, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesperson for the Riverside Police Department.

Police identified the Santa Ana victim as Matthew Rule, 24. The Brea victim, 40-year-old Matthew Hirsch, was identified by his father, Jim Hirsch, KCBS reported.

The Riverside victim remained in grave condition on Tuesday morning, police said, while the victims from the La Habra shooting were in stable condition.

While police in Riverside, La Habra, Brea, and Santa Ana said they believe they are seeking the same suspect, officials in Ontario and Upland have not yet made that determination though they said they were aware of the other crimes at 7-Eleven stores. Authorities did not immediately release additional details.

Authorities in Brea and Upland shared images of a masked man wearing what appeared to be the same black sweatshirt with a hood over his head. The sweatshirt had white lettering with green leaves on the front.

It could potentially be the same person but were not confirming that at this time, Upland Sgt. Jake Kirk said.

A person that police are attempting to identify in connection with two people who were killed and three who were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in Southern California on July 11, 2022. (Brea Police Department via AP)

7-Eleven Inc. issued a statement saying it was gathering information and working with police. Monday was the companys 95th anniversary and stores gave out free Slurpee drinks. Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the statement said.

Right now, our focus is on Franchisee, associate and customer safety. With that in mind, we have encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close (Monday night), 7-Eleven Inc. said in a statement to KTLA.

Railsback said the date was no accident.

Theres no way it can be a coincidence of it being 7-Eleven, July 11, he said.

The first robbery happened around midnight Monday morning in Ontario, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.

The masked man brandished a handgun at the stores employee and demanded money, according to Ontario Cpl. Emily Hernandez. He did not fire any shots and the clerk was not injured. It was not immediately clear to investigators what, if anything, was stolen.

The second robbery happened about 45 minutes later in Upland, less than 5 miles away from the Ontario store.

The suspect approached the store clerk with a few items, some drinks and things, and brandished a semi-automatic handgun, Kirk said. The man stole the items and about $400 to $500 in cash and fled. No shots were fired.

About an hour after the Upland robbery and 25 miles away in Riverside, a gunman brandished a gun and robbed the 7-Eleven clerk, then turned the weapon on a customer, opened fire and fled, Railsback said. Police believe the clerk handed over cash from the register.

It doesnt appear to be any reason that the suspect shot the customer, Railsback said of the gravely wounded victim. It sounds like the clerk gave him whatever he asked for.

Railsback said criminals typically know that robberies at convenience stores rarely yield large amounts of money, especially during the overnight hours.

If you go hit a liquor store or a 7-Eleven or a fast food place, youre not going to get a lot of cash out of it, he said. Its kind of odd that they would do this.

Another shooting occurred around 3:20 a.m., about 24 miles away, in Santa Ana, authorities said.

Officers responding there reported gunfire and found a man dead in the 7-Eleven parking lot with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to Santa Ana Sgt. Maria Lopez.

At this moment, we dont believe he was an employee, Lopez said of the victim. We dont really know yet what he was doing there in a parking lot, if he was a potential customer or just walking by.

Surveillance video shows the suspect dropping itemsbelieved to be the victims belongingsas he fled, Lopez said.

About 40 minutes later, a 7-Eleven employee in Brea was shot and killed, Brea Police Capt. Phil Rodriguez said.

Police investigate a shooting at a 7-Eleven store in Brea, Calif., on July 11, 2022. (Eugene Garcia/AP Photo)

Jim Hirsch told KCBS that his son, known as Matt, had been working an overnight shift alone.

I am so angry at this, Jim Hirsch told the TV station I never thought all the commotion in the world right now would affect me but its under my roof.

Less than an hour after Matthew Hirsch was shot, officers in neighboring La Habra were sent to a reported robbery at a 7-Eleven. They discovered two gunshot victims around 4:55 a.m., according to Sgt. Sumner Bohee. Both victims are expected to survive.
Escaped inmate Casey White arrives after waiving extradition in Indiana, at the Lauderdale County Courthouse in Florence, Ala., on May 10, 2022. (Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)

Inmate Charged With Murder of Jail Official During Escape

FLORENCE, Ala.A prisoner who prompted a nationwide manhunt when he disappeared this spring from an Alabama jail has been charged with killing the corrections official authorities said helped him escape.

Casey White, 38, has been indicted on a murder charge for the shooting death of Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly announced Tuesday. The pairs disappearance from an Alabama jail in April sparked a national manhunt that came to a bloody end in Indiana where Casey White was captured and Vicky White died.

The indictment alleges that during the escape, White caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot to the head. The indictment does not specify who pulled the trigger. Authorities have said Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

(Left) Inmate Casey White. (Right) Lauderdale County Detention Center assistant director Vicki White. (U.S. Marshals Service, Lauderdale County Sheriffs Office via AP)

White will plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing, defense attorney Mark McDaniel said in a statement. The defense previously pointed blame at Vicky White for the escape, saying Casey White was in her care and custody the entire time of his disappearance from jail.

Casey White in April walked out of an Alabama jail in handcuffs in the custody of Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections at the facility, prompting a national manhunt for the pair. On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers she was transporting the inmate to a mental health evaluation but authorities later learned no such appointment existed.

The two were eventually discovered in Indiana where Casey White was captured. Authorities said Vicky White shot herself in the head.

Alabama law allows a murder charge if someone, causes the death of any person while engaging in certain other felonies such as escape or if the person, recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person.

Friends and colleagues had said they were bewildered by the involvement of Vicky White, who had worked for the sheriffs office for 16 years, with the inmate who was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
This controversial therapy is more widely used than ever, but its troubling consequences remain

There are few psychiatric therapies that are as controversial as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) which sends pulses of electric currents through the brain to intentionally cause a seizure. Few people would expect it to make a comeback.

Intended to treat severe and treatment-resistant depression, severe mania, catatonia, and dementia-associated agitation and aggression, ECT is usually conducted two to three times per week for three to four weeks. Its a treatment, not a cure.

Most people treated with ECT need to continue with some type of maintenance treatment, the American Psychiatric Association stated.

Kitty Dukakis, wife of the Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, told media outlets in 2016 that she receives maintenance treatment every seven or eight weeks. At least 100,000 Americans receive ECT every year, according to Mental Health America.

It isnt known why ECT affects mental conditions, although the supposition of early developersthat the seizures of epilepsy somehow obviated schizophreniawas subsequently debunked, according to Desperate Remedies: Psychiatrys Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness by Andrew Scull, a distinguished professor emeritus of sociology at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego. In the 1930s, doctors tried to induce seizures with drugs until Italian psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti saw the fits of electrically stunned pigs at a Rome slaughterhouse and thought the same could be done with humans.

Many believe that electroconvulsive therapy, historically linked to patient punishment or efforts to produce patient compliance in mental health settings, has vanished. But its still popular and even experiencing an image makeover. According to Scull, in the days of Cerletti, the sheer violence of the induced seizures often produced fractures of the long bones or of hips sockets and dislocated jaws. Many medical attendants were necessary to hold patients down during the procedures.

Today, patients are typically asleep under anesthesia during the procedure, so they feel no pain. Muscle relaxants are given so that fractures dont occur during the seizures. Major or minor memory loss still continues to be an existential risk with ECT.

Some critics say that the procedures only look less violent and still take a bodily toll. According to Somatics, the company that makes the top-selling ECT machine Thymatron: During the ECT stimulus and seizure the jaw muscles commonly clench tightly. This poses risks of tooth fracture or displacement and biting of [the] tongue and cheeks. These can cause mouth bleeding with pulmonary aspiration of blood. These risks are mitigated by inserting a mouth protector prior to the electrical stimulus.

Tooth fracture isnt the only ECT risk listed in the Somatics Thymatron instruction manual. As with drug ads on TV, an entire list of possible adverse effects from ECT includes:

adverse reaction to anesthetic agents/neuromuscular blocking agents; adverse skin reactions (e.g., skin burns); cardiac complications, including arrhythmia, ischemia/infarction (i.e., heart attack), acute hypertension, hypotension, and stroke; cognition and memory impairment; brain injury; dental/oral trauma; general motor dysfunction; physical trauma (i.e., if inadequate supportive drug treatment is provided to mitigate unconscious violent movements during convulsions) including fractures, contusions, injury from falls, dental or oral injury; hypomanic or manic symptoms (e.g., treatment- emergent mania, postictal delirium or excitement); neurological symptoms (e.g., paresthesia, dyskinesias); tardive seizures; prolonged seizures; non-convulsive status epilepticus; pulmonary complications (e.g., aspiration/inhalation of foreign material, pneumonia, hypoxia, respiratory obstruction such as laryngospasm, pulmonary embolism, prolonged apnea); visual disturbance; auditory complications; onset/exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms; partial relief of depression enabling completed suicide; homicidality; substance abuse; coma; falls; and device malfunction (creating potential risks such as excessive dose administration), and death.

The Thymatron instruction manual also cautions staff to avoid the risk of accidental shock by not contacting the patient, or any conductive surface touching the patient, unless wearing electrically insulated gloves.

If holding the patients jaw or touching the patients head during the electrical stimulus, make sure to use electrically insulating gloves, it reads.

Does Money Drive the Continued Use of ECT?

Many critics of the mainstream medical system say that reimbursement potential shapes the character of treatmentthat clinicians and hospitals base care on a wallet biopsy of how much the patients insurance will pay.

According to Kenneth Castleman, a biomedical engineer who has been on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology and the University of Texas, ECT costs little to administer and brings in about two billion dollars per year in the USA alone.

On a forum of the nonprofit Student Doctor Network website in 2019, one poster detailed ECTs financial appeal:

I think ECT has the potential to be extremely lucrative, but the challenge is that it only becomes so with volume. Paying nursing staff, an anesthesiologist, whatever it costs to have the space, the device itself, etc. is going to be expensive and completely [nonviable] if youre treating only a handful of patients each day. If you have staff that know what theyre doing, youre efficient, patients show up on time, and youre only running one treatment room, I think its possible to treat anywhere from 35 patients per hour. If you really get things running and can run two rooms at once  you could double that, but that would be an extremely busy day and arguably unsafe.

In 2018, research cited in MedPage Today also showed that finances factor into the use of ECT.

Specifically, it was found that when health care providers start patients with treatment-resistant depression on ECT earlier rather than later, its more cost-effective. ECT is usually only given after a patient has tried seven antidepressants unsuccessfully, according to the article, but giving a patient ECT treatment after only two unsuccessful antidepressants, maximizes ECTs health-economic value.

Writers and Public Figures Touched by ECT

References to ECT arent just found in movies such as the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, in which ECT was cruelly administered to Randle McMurphy, the character played by Jack Nicholson.

In 1972, the Democratic nominee for vice president, Thomas Eagleton, a senator from Missouri, was dropped when his prior shock treatment for depression was revealed. Famous writer Ernest Hemingway had shock therapy at the Mayo Clinic shortly before killing himself in 1961.

Hemingway reportedly said of the experience: What is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient.

The poet Sylvia Plath referred to ECT in her autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, writing, I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done to deserve the punishment of ECT.

Yet not all ECT recounted by public figures is cast in a bad light. Referring to the memory loss that occurs with ECT, late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher said: Some of my memories will never return. They are lostalong with the crippling feeling of defeat and hopelessness. Not a tremendous price to pay.

Kitty Dukakis told The New York Times that despite lost memories, the treatment had banished her demons. Both women were troubled with mental health conditions and substance abuse.

Is ECT Making a Comeback?

Google electroconvulsive therapy today, and youll be assured the treatments are safe and effective and that outdated myths need to be put to rest, such as that it produces brain damage. In 2018, a 60 Minutes segment, Is Shock Therapy Making A Comeback? anchored by Anderson Cooper told viewers that ECT is now considered one of the most effective treatments for people who havent been helped by antidepressant medication.

During the segment, Dr. Sarah Lisanby, of the National Institute of Mental Health, told Cooper: Its not something that you have to be afraid of, and so many of my patients, after theyve had ECT, say to me, Why did I wait so long to do this? Dukakis makes an appearance in the segment and viewers are told that she has undergone ECT more than 100 times.

Many dont welcome such a comeback. Dr. Peter R. Breggin, who has been called the conscience of psychiatry, has criticized ECT as early as 1979 in his medical book, Electroshock: Its Brain Disabling Effects.

ECT works by damaging the brain, he wrote in an ECT synopsis. The initial trauma can cause an artificial euphoria which ECT doctors mistakenly call an improvement. After several routine ECTs, the damaged person becomes increasingly apathetic, indifferent, unable to feel genuine emotions, and even robotic. Memory loss and confusion worsen. This helpless individual becomes unable to voice distress or complaints, and becomes docile and manageable. ECT doctors mistakenly call this an improvement but it indicates severe and disabling brain injury.

In a phone interview, Breggin told The Epoch Times that ECT isnt just growing in use, but that the intensity of the shocks that new machines are delivering is also increasing.

What Patients Say

While some patients embrace ECT, as we saw with Dukakis and the late Fisher, those touched by ECT whom The Epoch Times interviewed had sad and upsetting stories. Fred, 58, said ECT was suggested for his 82-year-old depressed mother, who was no longer making her own health care decisions. Before he could investigate the treatments, a sibling authorized the procedures.

At first, she was like our old momhappy and energetic, he said in an interview. But after a few months, the positive effects wore off, and in two years, she had serious dementia, which she had not had before. She was never the same and died with the severe dementia.

One woman using the pseudonym Jill was hospitalized with treatment-resistant depression and said the memory loss from her ECT treatment was so severe that she did not remember having it or consenting to it until I opened the file with the paperwork from the hospital. Jill couldnt even remember the name of the doctor who recommended it. I was in a total fog after the treatment, she said. After five years, memories of much of her life are gone and unretrievable.

While suicide certainly occurs from depression, we also spoke to siblings of another family whose loved one took her own life soon after being talked into taking ECT. They blame the treatments.

A Final Note

ECT promoters often cite neurogenesisthe growth of new brain cellswhich is often seen on brain scans after ECT, as physical evidence that ETC works and how it works. For example, research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2020 opines that neurogenesis might contribute to the efficacy of ECT. Research published in Psychiatry Research in 2015 suggests that ECT could possibly bring the long-term beneficial cognitive effect by regulating neurogenesis.

Yet the medical literature also shows that neurogenesis tends to develop after brain injurythe very side effect of ECT that Breggin cited.

Research published in 2013 in the Journal of Neurotrauma states: Many studies demonstrate that various brain injuries induce neurogenesis in a number of neurological disorders in humans, including Huntingtons disease, ischemic stroke, Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Our data suggest that neurogenesis may be induced in [the] human brain after TBI [traumatic brain injury].

ECT may look better and cleaner today than it did half a century ago, but questions remain about its safety and increasing usage.
First Lady Jill Biden speaks at the unveiling of the Met Museum Costume Institute's exhibit "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" in New York on May 2, 2022. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Jill Biden Apologizes for Speech Comparing Latinos to Tacos

First Lady Jill Biden apologized on Tuesday for remarks she made on Monday in which she compared Hispanic people to tacos, prompting outrage among the Latino community.

Biden was at a San Antonio event called the LatinX IncluXion luncheon, when she referenced the traditional Mexican food in her speech.

Her reference sparked outrage among the Latino community and prompted the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) to state, We are not tacos.

Bidens press secretary issued a statement on Tuesday apologizing for the comments.

The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community, wrote Michael LaRosa.

During her appearance in San Antonio, Biden had said that UnidosUS President Raul Yzaguirre had helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength.

Biden was also criticized for mispronouncing the word bodega, a word used to describe convenience stores in Spanish, pronouncing it instead as bow-get-taas.

The awkward blunder comes at a time when President Joe Bidens approval rating among Hispanic voters has been dwindling.

A Quinnipiac opinion poll published in May (pdf) found that just 26 percent of Hispanic Americans approve of Bidens performance as president, while 60 percent disapprove.

Should Not Be Reduced to a Stereotype

Following the first ladys remarks on Monday, the NAHJ took to Twitter to slam her for the inappropriate comment, stating, We are not tacos.

Using breakfast tacos to try to demonstrate the uniqueness of Latinos in San Antonio demonstrates a lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity to the diversity of Latinos in the region, the association said in a statement. NAHJ encourages Dr. Biden and her speech writing team to take the time in the future to better understand the complexities of our people and communities.

Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by a variety of diasporas, cultures, and food traditions, and should not be reduced to a stereotype, the statement added.

Others from the Hispanic community also took aim at the first ladys comments, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is from Miami and of Cuban descent.

The lawmaker took to Twitter to share a photo of a taco, writing, New profile pic.

No wonder Hispanics are fleeing the Democratic Party! wrote Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) on Twitter.

However, Janet Murguia, the head of UnidosUS, wrote that she was honored to have Biden speak at the annual conference in San Antonio, adding: She has been a great educator in, and a great amiga to, our community for years. Privileged to call her a friend.

The first ladys apology came shortly before President Joe Biden was set to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House.

The meeting was already looking likely to be tense after Obrador boycotted the recent U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas at the Los Angeles Convention Center in protest over the White Houses exclusion of the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the event.
John Durham Requests 30 Subpoenas in Trial Against Steele Dossier Source

Special counsel John Durham asked a federal court to send out 30 subpoenas for testimony in the pending trial against research analyst Igor Danchenko, who was the alleged main source for the discredited Steele dossier that targeted former President Donald Trump.

In a June 13 filing, Durhams team said, It is respectfully requested that the Clerk of said Court issue subpoenas as indicated below for appearance of said Court in Alexandria, Virginia  to testify on behalf of the United States on Oct. 11.

The judge in the case is U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2008.

Danchenko, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with lying to the FBI. Durham alleges that he made five false statements to the FBI in connection to information he provided to former UK spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by an opposition research company on behalf of a law firm working for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.

According to Durhams indictment, Danchenkos alleged fabrications were material to the FBI because  the FBIs investigation of the Trump Campaign relied on the dossier to obtain secretive warrants to spy on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The FBI ultimately devoted substantial resources attempting to investigate and corroborate the allegations contained in the dossier, including whether Danchenkos sub-sources were reliable, the indictment states. The dossier and information provided by Danchenko played a role in the FBIs investigative decisions and in sworn representations that the FBI made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court throughout the relevant time period, according to last years complaint.

Steele Dossier

Memos compiled by Steelecollectively known as the Steele dossierclaimed that Trump colluded with Russian officials to help him defeat Clinton in 2016. Trump has categorically denied the allegations, saying theyre part of a longstanding Democrat-backed narrative designed to discredit him.

Igor Danchenko is seen at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Nov. 10, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

And a number of allegations contained within the dossier turned out to be false, sparking inspector general, criminal, and congressional investigations.

Durham said Danchenko made up a conversation that he claimed was the source of some of the more sordid claims contained within the dossier. The dossier also alleged that Russian intelligence officials were blackmailing Trump, which the former president has denied.

The indictment suggests that the claim came from a Democratic public relations executive, Charles Dolan Jr., who toured a suite in Moscow in 2016 that was once used by Trump. But Dolan and another witness told investigators that there was no mention of inappropriate behavior in the suite, according to the indictment, casting further doubt on Steeles claims.

In a 2019 report released by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Danchenko told the FBI that he obtained his information via word of mouth and hearsay from sources in Russia. But some of his sources denied that they provided him with information that was contained within the Steele dossier, according to court filings submitted in 2021.

Danchenko is the third person to be charged by Durhams team. The second, former Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann, was found not guilty of lying to the FBI several weeks ago.

As he appeared at the federal court in Alexandria last year, Danchenkos former lawyer, Mark Schamel, issued a statement saying that his clients work as a researcher is above reproach.

For the past five years, those with an agenda have sought to expose Mr. Danchenkos identity and tarnish his reputation while undermining U.S. National Security, Schamel said.

One of Danchenkos lawyers, Stuart Sears, didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves while walking to a waiting car as he leaves from 10 Downing Street to head to the Houses of Parliament for the weekly Prime Minister's Questions, in central London, on July 13, 2022. (Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)

Johnsons Government Puts Forward Confidence Motion in Itself After Blocking Labour Bid

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government says it will put forward a confidence motion in itself after it blocked the oppositions bid for a vote of no confidence in both the government and the leader.

The governmenteffectively a caretaker administration after Johnson announced he will step downtook the measure after Labour said it intended to seek a no confidence motion on Wednesday in response to Johnsons declaration that he will carry on in his role until a new Conservative leader is in place in September.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it would be intolerable for Johnson to cling on for weeks and weeks and weeks when his own party has concluded he is unfit for office.

Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks to the media after he delivers a speech outlining his partys plan to fight the next election, at Sage Gateshead, England, on July 11, 2022. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

But the government blocked the vote on Tuesday, accusing Labour of playing politics by seeking a vote of no confidence in both the government and the prime minister when Johnson had already resigned.

As the prime minister has already resigned and a leadership process is under way, we do not feel this is a valuable use of parliamentary time, a government spokesman said. Should Labour amend their motion appropriately, they can have the next business day for it to be debated.

Different Wording

The Conservatives are now planning to put forward their own motion for the House of Commons to ask whether this House has confidence in Her Majestys government.

The prime minister is expected to open the debate, which is due to take place on Monday.

A government spokeswoman said Labour had chosen not to follow convention by putting forward a straightforward vote of no confidence in the government.

To remedy the situation, she said, the government is proposing a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide if it has confidence in the government.

The government will always allow time for appropriate House matters whilst ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve peoples everyday lives, she said.

A Labour spokesman rejected the criticism and insisted that its motion was in order.

He suggested it would be hypocritical for Conservative MPs who have demanded Johnsons resignation to vote in favour of his caretaker government.

We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed no confidence in Boris Johnson in writing to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy, said the spokesman.

PA Media contributed to this report.
A pro-life activist holds plastic unborn babies during a protest on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July, 29, 2010. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Judge Blocks Louisianas Abortion Ban, Allows Procedure to Resume for Now

Louisianas abortion ban is prevented from being enforced for a second time after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday.

Judge Donald Johnson in Baton Rouge granted the temporary restraining order and set a hearing on July 18 at 8:30 a.m. CT for both sides to argue the case.

Kathaleen Pittman, director of the Hope Medical Group for Women, told The Associated Press on July 12 after Johnsons order that the clinic is ready to resume abortions.

Louisianas two other clinics are in the capital, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. It was unclear as of late Tuesday whether these two clinics will reopen at least until the July 18 hearing.

Jenny Ma, a senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRP), said on Twitter that the temporary restraining order is an incredible relief for people who want an abortion. Our work continues and we now look ahead to our hearing on Monday, where we will ask the judge to block the bans more permanently, she added.

State Attorney General Jeff Landry criticized the ruling in a series of posts on Twitter that didnt reference the case directly.

To have the judiciary create a legal circus is disappointing and what discredits the institutions we rely upon for a stable society, he wrote. The rule of law must be followed, and I will not rest until it is. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a little bit longer for that to happen.

He added: Any society that places themselves before their children (the future) does not last.

States Abortion Ban Challenged

Louisiana had a trigger abortion ban law passed in 2006 that would come into effect immediately if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that enabled most abortions across the country to be performed up until 24 weeks of gestation with no penalty for almost 50 years.

The law was updated with further exceptions earlier in the year and signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, on June 22. The abortion ban does not have exceptions in the case of incest or rape, but covers most exceptions related to medical reasons, including for saving the life of the mother.

Days later, on June 24, the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe.

A pro-life activist holds a model fetus during a demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 29, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The CRP and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP filed a lawsuit on June 27 in New Orleans on behalf of the Hope Medical Group for Women, a north Louisiana clinic in Shreveport, to challenge the states abortion ban.

Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin Giarrusso granted a temporary restraining order to block the laws enforcement on the same day.

The abortion law went into force on July 8 after Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Ethel Julien said that because the suit alleges that the laws are unconstitutionally vague, the case must be heard in state court in the state capital of Baton Rouge. She forwarded the case there, and then said that she lacked authority to extend the restraining order because the case was no longer going to be heard in her court.

According to a press release by the CRP on June 27, Plaintiffs challenge the unconstitutionally vague trigger laws which make it impossible to tell: (1) whether any of the trigger laws are in effect; (2) if so, which one; and (3) what conduct would be prohibited, including what exceptions exist for doctors performing procedures to save a pregnant persons life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This combination of photos shows actor Johnny Depp (L) testifying at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., on April 21, 2022, and actress Amber Heard testifying in the same courtroom on May 26, 2022. (AP Photo)

Judge Rejects Amber Heards Request to Set Aside Depp Win

FALLS CHURCH, Va.A Virginia judge on Wednesday rejected an effort by actress Amber Heard to set aside the $10 million judgment awarded against her in favor of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

Depp won a defamation suit against Heard last month in a high-profile civil trial. Heard won a smaller, $2 million judgement on a counterclaim she filed against Depp.

Earlier this month, Heard filed a motion seeking to have Depps verdict set aside, or have a mistrial declared. Her lawyers cited multiple factors, including an apparent case of mistaken identity with one of the jurors.

In a written order, Judge Penney Azcarate rejected all of Heards claims and said the juror issue specifically was irrelevant and that Heard cant show she was prejudiced.

The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Courts instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury, Azcarate wrote.

Actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp watch as the jury leaves the courtroom for a lunch break at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va., on May 16, 2022. (Steve Helber/Pool via AP)

Depp sued for $50 million in Fairfax County after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post about domestic violence in which she referred to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyers said several passages in the article defamed him by implication by referring to highly publicized abuse allegations she made in 2016 as she filed for divorce.

Heard then filed a $100 million counterclaim, also for defamation. By the time the case went to trial, her counterclaim had been whittled down to a few statements made by one of Depps lawyers, who called Heards abuse allegations a hoax.

The jury awarded $15 million to Depp and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. The $15 million judgment was reduced to $10.35 million because Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000.

Actress Amber Heard hugs her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after the verdict was read at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va., on June 1, 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

The judge did not spell out rationale for rejecting Heards other claims in Wednesdays order.

Among other things, Heard argued that the $10 million verdict is unsupported by the facts, and seems to demonstrate that jurors failed to focus on the fallout from the 2018 op-ed pieceas they were supposed to doand instead just looked broadly at the damage Depps reputation suffered as a result of the alleged abuse.

Heards lawyers also argued argue that the verdicts for Depp on one hand and Heard on the other are fundamentally nonsensical.

The jurys dueling verdicts are inconsistent and irreconcilable, her lawyers, Elaine Bredehoft and Benjamin Rottenborn, wrote.

Heards lawyers also challenged the verdict on the basis that one of the seven jurors who decided the case was never summoned for jury duty. According to court papers, a 77-year-old county resident received a jury summons. But the mans son, who has the same name and lives at the same address, responded to the summons and served in his stead.

Heards lawyers argued that Virginia law is strict about juror identities, and the case of mistaken identity is grounds for a mistrial. They presented no evidence that the 52-year-old son, identified in court papers only as Juror #15, purposefully or insidiously sought to replace his father, but they argue that possibility should not be discounted.

The Court cannot assume, as Mr. Depp asks it to, that Juror 15s apparently improper service was an innocent mistake. It could have been an intentional attempt to serve on the jury of a high-profile case, Heards lawyers wrote.

Heard still has the ability to appeal the verdict to the Virginia Court of Appeals. The issues presented to the appellate court could well be different from the issues Azcarate rejected Wednesday.

In a separate order, the judge ordered that dozens of court documents be unsealed, including motions seeking to compel independent medical examinations of both Depp and Heard. A handful of documents will remain sealed, mostly because they contain personal contact information or personal medical information.

In this matter, both litigants sued one another, thereby opening themselves up to the public forum of a jury trial. Court records are public information, Azcarate wrote.

By Matthew Barakat and Denise Lavoie
Signage is seen at the United States Department of Justice headquarters on Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Justice Department Announces Task Force to Ensure Access to Abortion

The Department of Justice announced on July 12 that it has established a task force to identify ways to protect access to abortion.

The Reproductive Rights Task Force formalizes similar efforts that were already underway by the department and an existing working group leading up to the Supreme Courts overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions on June 24.

Roe v. Wade prohibited states from banning abortions prior to when the fetus is deemed viableat about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed the Roe ruling and prohibited laws that place an undue burden on a womans ability to obtain an abortion. The rulings had largely enabled abortions up until 24 weeks across the country for up to five decades, overturning state laws.

In a statement, the Justice Department said the task force will monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation and enforcement actions on abortion and coordinate appropriate federal government responses, including proactive and defensive legal action where appropriate.

The task force seeks to monitor any actions that infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care; impair womens ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal; impair individuals ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states; ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDAs expert judgment about its safety and efficacy; or impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta talks with guests in the East Room of the White House on July 22, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta will chair the task force. She said the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe and Casey is a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the country.

The Justice Department is committed to protecting access to reproductive services, Gupta said in a statement.

The department stated that its working with external stakeholders, including abortion providers and advocates, as well as state attorneys general. It will also centralize online legal resources to help attorneys in their work to protect access to abortion. Such resources include filed Justice Department legal briefs and information about the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The task force will also work to provide technical assistance to Congress over federal legislation to codify reproductive rights and ensure access to comprehensive reproductive services, according to the department. It will also coordinate to provide technical assistance to protect states seeking to shield abortion seekers and providers.
In collaboration with Western Montana Creative Initiative and Open AIR, on Thursday from noon to 1 p.m., artist Salisha Old Bull will host a virtual discussion about her work.

Old Bull, who is Salish and Crow, is a beader, photographer and painter. Old Bull, 40, describes herself as a rookie artist and said she hopes to lead an honest discussion about what its like to enter the Native art scene.

Old Bull said she remembers listening to an episode of the Tribal Research Specialist podcast featuring Ben Pease when she was starting out. In the podcast, Pease, who is Crow and Northern Cheyenne, described a tension between the art he wants to create versus the art buyers want from him.

He talked about how if he wanted to do something that was interesting to him, it wouldnt sell as well as if he were to paint a headdress or something with more stereotypical Native imagery, Old Bull said. As a beginner artist, it was hard to hear that at first.

Old Bull said Peases insight has informed her work.

I feel that yes, Im Indigenous, and yes, Im an artist, she said. I should be able to create what I want to create and have confidence knowing I can pursue things I find interesting in my heart.

In her virtual presentation, Old Bull is excited to explore this tension and talk about the challenges and successes she's seen as a Native artist. She also hopes to help beginner artists enter the field.

I think my advice to people just starting out is to believe in yourself, she said. Dont quit. Keep creating. There will be really good moments and really challenging moments. The good ones make it all worth it.

Founded in 2019, Western Montana Creative Initiatives (WMCI) promotes diverse and intellectual dialogues and experiences surrounding art. A WMCI initiative, Open AIR is an artist residency program that connects artists and communities in western Montana.

Register for the free event at openairmt.org/events.
Handguns are displayed at the New York State Arms Collectors Association's annual gun show at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, N.Y., on Jan. 26, 2013. (Philip Kamrass/AP Photo)

Key Part of New York Concealed-Carry Law Challenged in Court

A key part of a newly-passed gun law in New York got its first challenge on July 11 as more Republicans are expected to join similar legal efforts.

Carl Paladino, a Republican, filed a lawsuit challenging Section 5 of the gun law in the federal court in Buffalo.

The challenged section bans concealed carry licensees from bringing their concealed weapons into private businesses unless the owners put up signs saying guns are welcome. People who bring guns into places without such signs could be prosecuted on felony charges.

Section 5 will turn the Second Amendments guaranteed right to self-defense into a right New Yorkers may only exercise after receiving permission from strangers, the lawsuit claims.

Paladino also planned to file a motion to block this section before it takes effect on Sept. 1.

I am confident that I will win my lawsuit, and I am prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court to do so, he said in a statement.

Then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino speaks to his supporters at American Defense Systems in Hicksville, N.Y., on Oct. 26, 2010. (Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images)

Paladino is competing in a primary in New Yorks 23rd Congressional District, which runs from the suburbs of Buffalo to rural communities along the Pennsylvania border.

Hes apparently not the only Republican whos challenging the strict gun law.

State Republican Party Chair Nick Langworthy, who also is competing in that GOP primary, said last week the party would challenge the law as part of a coalition.

Hochul: Ready to Defend Gun Law in Court

New York lawmakers this month approved an overhaul of licensing rules after the Supreme Court struck down a 109-year-old state law that required people to demonstrate an unusual threat to their safety to qualify for a license to carry a handgun outside their homes.

The sweeping law signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to take effect Sept. 1. Among other provisions, it will require people applying for a handgun license to complete 16 hours of firearm safety training, prove themselves to have good moral character, and turn over a list of their social media accounts for the last three years which will be used to confirm  character and conduct.

The new law will also prohibit carrying firearms at a long list of sensitive places, including schools and airports.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks to guests during an event with President Joe Biden and several family members of victims of the Tops market shooting at the Delavan Grider Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 17, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Hochul, at an unrelated public appearance July 12, said the new gun legislation is solid, and that she is ready to defend it in court.

We worked very intentionally with top legal minds in this country to craft legislation, working with the Legislature to make sure this met all constitutional requirements and thresholds, she said. It was not rushed other than the fact that the Supreme Court took away the right of the governor to protect the people in her state.

Caden Pearson and The Associated Press contributed to the report.
LA County Supervisors Approve Proposal Enabling Removal of Sheriff

LOS ANGELESThe Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has repeatedly clashed with Sheriff Alex Villanueva on a variety of topics, directed its attorneys on July 12 to draft a proposed ballot measure that would give the panel power to remove an elected sheriff from office for cause.

The issue will still need to return to the board for final passage before it goes before voters in November. The proposal was passed Tuesday on a 41 vote, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger casting the lone dissenting vote.

The motion by Board Chair Holly Mitchell and Supervisor Hilda Solis directed county attorneys to draft the required documents and ordinance to put before voters on Nov. 8 that would allow the board to remove an elected sheriff for cause with a four-fifths vote.

The issue of sheriff accountability before us is both urgent and systemic, having impacted past generations of Angelenos, but also with important consequences for the future, Mitchell said. Unfortunately, the county has had long and troubling history with sheriff oversight and transparency.

Under the motion approved Tuesday, county attorneys were asked to draft a ballot measure that would give the panel power to remove a sheriff for cause. Such cause is defined as a violation of any law related to the performance of their duties as sheriff; flagrant or repeated neglect of duties; a misappropriation of public funds or property; willful falsification of a relevant official statement or document; or obstruction of any investigation into the conduct of the sheriff by the Inspector General, Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, or any government agency with jurisdiction to conduct such an investigation.

Villanueva blasted the proposal as unconstitutional. He sent a letter to the board Monday saying the motion would allow corrupt board members to intimidate sheriffs from carrying out their official duties to investigate crime.

This motion is a recipe for public corruption, particularly when cause remains so broad and undefined, the sheriff wrote. Allowing political appointees with an agenda to determine cause is fundamentally flawed.

It appears you are making yourselves the judge, jury and executioner for the office of the sheriff, nullifying the will of the voters. This illegal motion seeks to undermine the role of the sheriff and render the office subordinate to the Board of Supervisors. On its face, your proposed ordinance language is not a proper reading of the law and will be challenged on these multiple grounds.

Villanuevas re-election campaign issued a statement last week saying the supervisors have no business seeking such authority to remove a sheriff.

The people of Los Angeles would be better served if the supervisors spent their time doing their jobs by reducing homelessness and improving healthcare, instead of trying to seize even more power, according to a statement from Villanuevas campaign.

The sheriff is an elected position, just like the supervisors. Just as the sheriff has no business asking for power to fire the supervisors, the reverse is also true.

At the board meeting, Barger questioned the impetus behind the proposal, calling it politically motivated, and asked why it only targets the sheriff and not other county leadership positions. She said in a statement after the vote the proposal creates a slippery slope for the Board of Supervisors to override the will of the voters.

I remain concerned that this action, as approved by the board today, dilutes the voice of Los Angeles County voters and deepens voter apathy, Barger said.

Mitchell denied that the proposal was politically motivated.

At no point since being elected to this position have I ever speculated about what motivates a member to bring a matter before us, Mitchell said.

Villanueva has repeatedly clashed with the board, accusing members of defunding his agency at the expense of public safety, while also rebuffing subpoenas to appear before the countys Civilian Oversight Commission.

The motion does not mention Villanueva by name, but states, The current sheriff has been openly hostile to oversight and transparency and has tested the functionality of existing oversight structures by consistently resisting and obstructing these systems of checks and balances.

Supervisors were also critical of Villanueva during the meeting. Mitchell accused him of having flagrant disregard of lawful oversight and accountability. Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said that the board probably would not have brought up the proposal had Villanueva not been so egregious in his behavior.

It is an important thing because this particular elected office is more powerful, Kuehl said. I dont see the assessor getting people killed. It is not for me just about this sheriff. Its really about the ability to hold someone accountable when they have a very powerful position.

The motion also refers to previous sheriffs Lee Baca, who was sent to federal prison on corruption charges, and Peter Pitchess, who resisted any involvement in the first internal investigation of deputy gangs from outside the department.

According to the motion, despite efforts to provide oversight of the department, the board has nevertheless been limited in its ability to serve as a sufficient check against the sheriffs flagrant disregard of lawful oversight and accountability.

The Republican National Committee issued a statement Friday blasting the proposal as another prime example of how Democrats like to change the rules when they dont get their way.

Not only is Sheriff Villanueva an elected official, hes one of the few who has been willing to stand up to the board for reducing law enforcement funding and effectively endangering the lives of Angelenos, according to the committee.  This decision from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors would attempt to bully the elected sheriff into doing what they want and would be yet another blow to a free and fair democracy, thanks to California Democrats.

Villanueva is a registered Democrat.

County attorneys will now draft the necessary paperwork to put the issue on the November ballot, then return to the board for a July 26 vote on whether to move forward. Supervisor Janice Hahn instructed the attorneys to make sure the language in the motion is specific in identifying what type of behavior would qualify for removal.

I am wary of any vague language that would in any way leave it up to matters that arent exactly spelled out and that rise to the level of [a potential vote to remove the sheriff], Hahn said.

Villanuevas bid for a second term is headed for a November runoff against former Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna. On Monday, Lunas campaign announced that all five members of the Board of Supervisors had endorsed him.
Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles on Sept. 10, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

LA County Supervisors Looking to Enhance School Safety

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved July 12 a motion instructing county departments to collaborate with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and other school districts on increasing campus safety.

The motion was a response to violence in local schools and the recent national spate of school shootings. Specifically mentioned was the massacre in May in Uvalde, Tex., that left 19 students and two teachers dead, and 17 others wounded.

The departments will work with the districts in areas with high rates of violence to support student safety and well-being.

Too many students across LA County are impacted by violence on campus, in their homes, and in their communities, the motion said. This can be in the form of bullying, suicide, domestic and intimate partner violence, and community and gang violence. Increased violence in the county, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in the loss of social and school connectedness  making it difficult for youth to thrive.

The motion cited a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that revealed 13 percent of LAUSD high school students avoided going to school in 2019the year before the pandemic lockdownsbecause they felt unsafe at school or traveling to or from it.

The motion included a 20172019 state survey (pdf) reporting 20 percent of LA Countys 7th graders feared being beaten up at school, and 16 percent of 9th graders reported suicidal ideas.

The motion called the Uvalde shootings an urgent call to action to do more to support youth and schools. These forms of violence are interconnected and require a holistic approach that includes prevention and intervention strategies.

A makeshift memorial at Robb Elementary School is filled with flowers, toys, signs, and crosses bearing the names of all 21 victims of the mass shooting that occurred on May 24, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 27, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

The motion directed district departments to do the following:

Create a list of county schools with the highest rates of on-campus violence.

Gather from parents and students suggestions on ways to prevent violence and support students.

Identify several schools with the highest rates of violence.

Run a pilot effort that includes developing schools Comprehensive School Safety Plan.

Update the plan with clear roles and responsibilities to address a range of safety issues and emergency scenarios.

Integrate social-emotional learning for students.

The county Office of Violence Prevention was tasked with reporting back to the board with its findings in 180 days.

The action comes after LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho pledged in May to expand school safety in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. Details of the superintendents plan have not yet been released.

In 2020, the LAUSD Board of Education, which is separate from the Board of Supervisors, voted to slash the school polices budget by $25 million. Despite the more recent concern about school violence and calls from the local teachers union to further defund the LA School Police Department, Carvalho opted to keep its budget at $13.2 million for the 20222023 school year, roughly the same as the previous years.

Last month, the county board unanimously approved another motion (pdf) by Supervisor Holly Mitchell that changes the safety contract process between county schools and the LA Sheriffs Department.

Previously, school boards and administrators negotiated safety contracts directly with the sheriffs department, and the contract then was sent to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

Under the new system, schools seeking a safety contract will need approval from the countys Office of Inspector General before beginning negotiations with law enforcement.

The motion also calls for expanding schools safety services to include mental health and behavioral specialists that focus on restorative justice, over punitive practices such as arrest.

There is a need to comprehensively improve school climate and safety in many communities. and that requires providing additional support, such as mental health services, Mitchell said during a June 8 board meeting. So, to that end, this motion takes steps toward providing school districts with more options, not less.

On July 12, the board also approved a motion directing county attorneys to draft a proposed ballot measure that would give the board the power to remove an elected sheriff from office for cause. This is part of the board members recent clashes with County Sheriff Alex Villanueva for his crime crackdown policies. Villanueva, a registered Democrat, is running for re-election this November.

A spokesperson for LAUSD, along with spokespersons for Mitchell and Supervisor Hilda Solis, who also is backing the ballot measure, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
LoanDepot to Lay Off 2,000 Workers Following Mortgage Market Slowdown

California-based mortgage lender LoanDepot has announced that it intends to lay off thousands of workers as the company deals with rapidly changing market conditions.

LoanDepot is aiming to generate about $375 million to $400 million in annualized savings by the end of 2022 by adopting measures like headcount reduction, the company said in a July 12 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the firms Vision 2025 plan, LoanDepot aims to reduce staffing levels from the 11,300 total at the end of 2021 to 6,500 by the end of 2022. At present, the company employs 8,500 people, which means another 2,000 employees are likely to lose their jobs.

According to Chief Financial Officer Patrick Flanagan, the company currently has a cash position of about $1 billion. The firm is expecting continued challenging market conditions, estimating mortgage originations to decline by about 50 percent in 2022.

An accelerated decline is expected in the second half of the year, followed by a further decline in 2023.

LoanDepot was focused on cutting down costs significantly during the second quarter of 2022. Severance packages and benefits-related payments in the second quarter were calculated to be worth about $3.5 million to $4.5 million.

Over the next two quarters, we expect to accelerate these efforts and aggressively drive down our costs in line with our previously stated goal of exiting this year with a profitable operating run rate, Flanagan said in the filing.

After two years of substantial headcount and expense growth that was necessary to support unprecedented origination volumes we are returning to previous levels of staffing and expense, he said.

Industry-Wide Layoffs

Rising prices of homes and increasing mortgage rates have created a housing affordability crisis in America.

According to Harvard Universitys annual State of the Nations Housing Report released in June, about four million renter households have been priced out from buying a home as they do not have the qualifying income necessary to be approved for a mortgage.

As affordability becomes a challenge, the demand for homes and mortgages falls, thereby affecting the mortgage industry. Wells Fargo & Co. has already terminated at least 114 employees in 2022 from its mortgage lending team. JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced layoffs in June, which affected over 1,000 employees.

Some people have been shifted to new teams.

There is almost no incentive to refinance. So that drop off in business, in addition to our view of slowing (home) sales, suggests there will need to be layoffs across the industry, Douglas Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, told Reuters.

Olu Sonola, head of U.S. Regional Economics at Fitch Ratings, said the western, midwestern, and southern regions of the United States are likely to see more job losses in the housing market.
Believe me, the London cabbie said, were even happier to see you than you are to see us.

Riding back to our hotel from an afternoon matinee in the West End, careering down narrow streets toward Blackfriarsoh, those old English names!the driver and his American passengers had a brief conversational lovefest. Delighted to be back in London. Delighted to have you back. Old friends week, right?

Hyde Park was established by King Henry VIII in 1536. (Simon Hurry/Unsplash)

Exactly. My recent trip to London reminded me how precious the familiarities of travel are, every bit as meaningful as the novelties of exotic discovery. As often as I head off somewhere new, I schedule a trip in the lap of familiarity.

Later that evening in London, at a window-side table in my favorite restaurant, with St. Pauls lit amber by the evening sun across the Thames, sensational food on our plates, and a dandy jazz duo playing in the corner, I was reminded of Peter Allens song from All That Jazz, Everything Old Is New Again.

The London Underground first opened in 1863. (Kevin Grieve/Unsplash)

My companions eyes were glistening with wonder.  Her first time in the U.K.; I hadnt been here in three years. The restaurant was buzzing happily, with diners, servers, and cooks alike. The food was close to divine, imaginatively conceived, and perfectly prepared. If experiences were diamonds (and they are), this evening at Oxo Tower Brasserie would be a 10-carat brilliant. For Diana, glistening newness; for me, a marvelous rerun.

St. Pauls Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the English Baroque style in the late 17th century. (Alex Tai/Unsplash)

Forty years ago, Allen wrote:

Dont throw the past away

You might need it some rainy day

Dreams can come true again

When everything old is new again

On my first overseas trip in more than two years, in April, old things were indeed new againnew, that is, like anniversaries, holidays, and birthdays.

Ive been around the world, 60 countries, four continents, but Europe has always called me most. London is arguably the economic and cultural capital of the world, the worlds greatest urban destination. We spent five days here along the Thames, each day an odyssey among London gems.

At the British Museum, vast new gallery space depicts modern indigenous culture around the world. At the Natural History Museum, a gorilla portrait was our favorite contest-winning wildlife photograph from around the world.

The Natural History Museum. (Claudio Testa/Unsplash)

In Hyde Park, we had tea and biscuits in the sun near the Diana memorial, chatting with a couple whose bulldog Oscar is friends with all the world. At Royal Albert Hall, the worlds premier concert venue, we heard a Mass for peace by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, performed by a thousand-voice choir.

The Tube took us everywhere, seamlessly. Helpful staffers still answer questions, solve problems, and ease transit for everyone. And that famous melodious upper-class British voice urged us hundreds of times to Mind the gap, the worlds best sound bite.

Last, but definitely most, in a small warehouse theater we saw a jaw-dropping production of Henry V, starring Kit Harington. Yes, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. The whole three-month run was long sold out, but our amazing friends at the front desk at the equally amazing Bankside Hotel found us second-row seats. The play was like no other Shakespeare production Ive ever seen, and will linger in my mind for the rest of my life.

The Tower Bridge is one of Londons iconic sights.

(KarlosWest/Shutterstock)

Is London theater the best? Yes, but thats not what I am celebrating. Its that London theater is still there, and still best. My favorite hotel is still perfectly located, and staffed by very capable angels. After 15 months shut, my favorite restaurant is not just as good as ever, its better. The British Museum is actually evolving, a bit, and the Tube remains the best urban transit system.

All this  still.

You dont miss your water til your well runs dry, says one grizzled axiom of human folklore. Two years of enforced stasis certainly reinforced that thought. I live on a beautiful small farm on a remote small island north of Seattle, and I love it. Even so, in 2020, I did not leave the island at all for more than seven months, and felt like a dead stick in dry mud.

Royal Albert Hall hosts many performances throughout the year. (Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock)

But theres more to the visceral, cell-soothing delight I experienced in London in early April. I am not trying to convince you London is the best. I am praising the comforting meaning of it all. Perhaps you treasure Omaha, Nebraska, or Sarasota, Florida, or Montana, as much as I do Hyde Park, the Tube, and the West End. Wherever your favorites lie, go there. Touch it, taste it, hear it, love it. We live in a beautiful world with a million amazing places to go and people to meet.

Its not just bright lights and big city. Later this summer, Ill drive 12 hours to a remote Western park, ease into a hot spring hidden in a mountain meadow, and watch the evening star rise above the sage while nighthawks dive through the dusk. Ive been there almost every year for a quarter-century. Its an irony of modern life that I can get to London in almost the same amount of time as to that sagebrush mountain meadow.

Sunrise over Tower Bridge and the Thames River. (Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock)

I still want to see new suns and lands and walk new streets filled with faces new to me. But I equally treasure the known and well-loved, and the long life that has brought me these opportunities to find what I love and enjoy it, in person, over and over.

Its a troubled world, true; but one where dreams can come true again, and everything old is new again.
Man Arrested in Rape of 10-Year-Old Ohio Girl Who Received Abortion in Indiana

A man suspected of being in the country illegally has been arrested for the rape of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on July 12 for rape of a person under 13 years old, according to court records reviewed by The Epoch Times. The offense took place on May 12.

Fuentes confessed at the Columbus Police Department headquarters after being served with a search warrant, according to a probable cause statement obtained by The Epoch Times.

Detective Jeffrey Huhn said in court that the suspect waived his right and spoke with us and admitted to having vaginal intercourse with the victim on no less than two occasions.

The girl who was raped, who just turned 10, identified Fuentes as the father of the child, according to Huhn.

The girl went to Indianapolis, Indiana, to receive an abortion on June 30, police said.

The case started after a referral from a Franklin County Children Services caseworker, according to the police. The mother of the victim spoke with a caseworker.

A probable cause statement said that detectives collected a saliva sample from Fuentes and Huhn said testing is pending.

The aborted fetus was also entered into evidence.

The judge set a bond of $2 million for Fuentes.

Fuentes is in the country illegally, according to a government official. He was provided a translator during the hearing.

Fuentes is currently being held in the Franklin County Jail, according to jail records.

Police Decline to Share Information

Reached after the hearing, the Columbus Police Department declined to share any further information.

Out of compassion for the victims, the Columbus Division of Police will not comment on any rapes/sexual assaults of juveniles, Sgt. Joe Albert, an aide to Police Chief Elaine Bryant, told The Epoch Times.

The Franklin County Prosecutors Office said it was conducting a legal review of The Epoch Times request for documents on the case.

The Franklin County Public Defenders Office, which is representing Gershon, did not respond to a request for comment.

A public defender said in court that there appeared to be no evidence definitively linking Fuentes to the crime.

At this point really all you know for certain is that this 10-year-old girl was impregnated by somebody, correct? he said.

Correct. Thats all I know for certain, that she is pregnant or was pregnant, and somebody impregnated her and that Mr. Fuentes admitted to it, Huhn responded.

Fuentes faces life in prison if convicted.

The story of the rape was first reported by the Indianapolis Star, based on an account from pro-abortion doctor Caitlin Bernard.

No other evidence was provided in the initial report, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost had cast doubt on whether it happened.

My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child, Yost said in a statement on Wednesday. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street. Justice must be served and BCI stands ready to support law enforcement across Ohio in putting these criminals behind bars. BCI refers to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

President Joe Biden cited the story in a speech on July 8 before signing an executive order aimed at ensuring women can get abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade.

Some of the states dont allow for exceptions for rape or incest, Biden said. Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio10 years oldand she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the [pregnancy] and maybe save her life.

Ohio legislators passed an abortion ban on pregnancies over six weeks that was signed into law by Gov. Mark DeWine, a Republican, in 2019. It took effect in June after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. The law has no exceptions for rape or incest, though it does allow abortions if they are deemed necessary to save a pregnant womans life.
Kim Glass (C) and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (L) console each other on the podium with their silver medals in Beijing on Aug. 23, 2008. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Man Who Attacked Olympian in Los Angeles Is Known Felon, Was on Parole: District Attorney

The man who allegedly attacked Olympic volleyball player Kim Glass in California over the weekend with a metal pipe has a history of attacking others, prosecutors said on July 12.

This was a brutal, unprovoked attack. Mr. Tesfamariam has a troubling history of attacking apparently random people with dangerous weapons. His behavior appears to have escalated with time, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement.

Semeon Tesfamariam, 50, was convicted in 2020 of a serious and/or violent felony, according to Gascons office.

Tesfamariam also committed at least one other felony assault.

He was sentenced to probation and later received jail time, but was on parole when he attacked Glass on July 8, authorities say.

Video footage shows the man approaching Glass and striking her with the 10-inch pipe. People on the scene detained him until police officers arrived.

Tesfamariam was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He faces 11 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors asked the court to deny bond for the accused, asserting he poses a danger to the public, and the court granted the request.

Contact information for Tesfamariams lawyer could not be located.

Glass said in a social media video that she had been eating lunch before exiting a restaurant and bidding farewell to a friend.

This homeless man ran up. He had something in his hand on the other side of the car in the street, she said.

And as I turned to go tell my friend I think somethings like wrong with him, and I think hes gonna hit the car, before I knew it, a big metal pipe hit me, she said. It just happened so fast.

Kim Glass. (Screenshot/Kim Glass via Instagram)

The attack happened in broad daylight. It caused fractures and other damage.

Glass, 37, is a volleyball player who won a silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games.

She is also a model.

Gascon, who was sworn into office in late 2020, is set to face a recall over his lenient policies, including a rule against seeking the death penalty, a ban on transferring juvenile defendants to adult court, and prohibitions on filing sentencing enhancements in most cases.

Critics submitted 715,833 signatures this month, well over the number needed to get a recall question on Novembers ballot.

County officials have until Aug. 17 to review the signatures.

Gascon has repeatedly defended his policies, saying his stances were well-known during his campaign and his election signified public support of his agenda.

Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
By Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson

From Tribune News Service

Dear Helaine and Joe:

I have enclosed photos of a doll that was my mothers as a child. She was born in 1918, so I think this doll would have been purchased in the early 1920s. It has a trademark on its hip that informs me this is a Chase doll. It is 14 inches tall and has clothes consisting of pantaloons, chemise, dress, socks, shoes and a crocheted sweater. I do not know how many of these items are original. Any information about this doll would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

S. P., Austin, Texas

Dear S. P.:

Just the other night while watching network television, we saw an episode of a popular show in which the wife decorated the family living room with her aunts doll collection. The idea was to freak out her husband so he would remove an eyesore that he had placed above the familys fireplace.

Predictably, the husband came home, found these childhood playthings and had an attack of the so-called heebie-jeebies. In short, the husband found the collection of dolls to be creepy, menacing and even spooky. This is not an uncommon attitude, but many other people  including millions of doll collectors  find the toys to be charming and warm reminders of their youthful make-believe.

This is indeed a Martha Jenks Chase doll, and we agree it was probably made in the 1920s. Chase was a doctors wife living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and a competent seamstress. She had some progressive ideas and felt the dolls available to children during the late 19th century were too fragile and too heavy.

Chase also disliked the mechanical dolls of the time because she thought they diminished childrens use of their innate imagination. She also disliked the popular fashion dolls because it was Chases opinion that they imparted a materialistic point of view.

In 1889 (some sources say 1899) Chase started a doll-making factory in a building in her backyard that became known as the Dolls House. Chases dolls were made from stockinette (a cotton knit material usually used to make undergarments). The material was stiffened with sizing and then hand painted with insoluble paint so the dolls could be washed when they got dirty.

The dolls were stuffed with soft cotton (instead of sawdust), and she reportedly had molds made from bisque doll heads that could be used to form her dolls heads. The resulting dolls could be purchased either dressed or undressed. They were soft, lightweight and perfect for doll play that would exercise a childs imagination.

Around 1905, Chase introduced character dolls meant to represent such characters as George and Martha Washington, Benjamin Franklin, various characters from Dickens and Alice in Wonderland. Chase died in 1925, but her family continued making dolls into the 1970s.

S. P.s doll is a typical Chase baby and is appropriately dressed. It appears to be in very good condition and should be valued at retail in the $250 to $350 range. Word of warning: Beware of Chase reproductions made in China.

Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson have written a number of books on antiques. Do you have an item youd like to know more about? Contact them at Joe Rosson, 2504 Seymour Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917, or email them at treasures@knology.net. If youd like your question to be considered for their column, please include a high-resolution photo of the subject, which must be in focus, with your inquiry.

2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Pro-life demonstrators gather at the California state capital building in Sacramento on April 19, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Minnesota Judge Rules Several Abortion Laws Unconstitutional in Extreme Ruling

A Minnesota court on Monday blocked several abortion-related laws saying they violate the states constitution in what pro-life advocates called an extreme ruling.

Ramsey County Judge Thomas Gilligans ruling in Doe v. Minnesota struck down an informed consent law, parental notification law, and the requirement that only doctors perform abortions.

These abortion laws violate the right to privacy because they infringe upon the fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution to access abortion care and do not withstand strict scrutiny, Gilligan wrote in his ruling, CBS News reported.

Gilligan also ruled that the law requiring only doctors to perform abortions in hospitals was unconstitutional. He let stand a requirement to report to the state health department but nullified the criminal penalties for any violations of that law.

The Minnesota judges ruling comes at a time when states are tightening abortion restrictions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide.

Even the U.S. Supreme Court, under Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions, allowed these very modest types of laws. Yet todays ruling blocks them and prevents Minnesotans from enacting reasonable protections for unborn children and their mothers. The decision must be appealed.  MCCL (@MCCL_org) July 11, 2022

Scott Fischbach, the executive director of pro-life advocacy group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), said the decision must be appealed.

Todays ruling striking [the laws] down is extreme and without a foundation in the Minnesota Constitution. Even the U.S. Supreme Court, under Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions, allowed these very modest types of laws, Fischbach said in a news release.

Yet todays ruling blocks them and prevents Minnesotans from enacting reasonable protections for unborn children and their mothers.

Similar Laws Upheld By Supreme Court

Two of the abortion-related laws have withstood U.S. Supreme Court challenges in Minnesota and another state.

Minnesotas parental notification law requires that parents are notified before an abortion is performed on a minor. This law was previously challenged and then upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1990 Hodgson v. Minnesota decision.

The informed consent law, known as the Minnesotas Womans Right to Know Act, was passed in 2003.

That law requires the Minnesota Department of Health to make certain information available in print and on the state website and also requires a 24-hour waiting period for anyone seeking an abortion.

Gilligan wrote in his ruling that to require abortion seekers to be really, really certain of their decision, insults their intelligence and decision-making capabilities, Fox 9 reported.

A similar informed consent law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision.

A lot of women have been helped by these policies, said Fischbach. Now they will be harmed as these protections are taken away by an egregiously mistaken court ruling, one that goes well beyond Roe v. Wade. This mistake must be corrected.

Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt expressed his view that the ruling needs to be appealed.

Attorney General [Keith] Ellison must appeal this ridiculous ruling and defend Minnesotas longstanding bipartisan pro-life laws, Daudt wrote on Twitter.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Monday that he would review the 140-page ruling before deciding on an appeal, CBS News reported.

I believe in a womans right to choose. But I also have a duty to defend Minnesotas statutes. Both of those are my jobs at the same time. Were going to take good, strong look at the decision, he said.
A general view of a flooded residential area next to the overflowing Hawkesbury River in Sydney, Australia, on July 6, 2022. (Muhammad Farooq/AFP via Getty Images)

More Flood Victims in NSW Get Access to Government Support Payment

The Australian government has extended flood disaster support payments to more flood-stricken areas in New South Wales (NSW) as clean-up activities in the state continue.

Residents in eight additional local areas, including Cumberland, Mid Coast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Newcastle, Port Stephens, Randwick and Warren, can now apply for the tax-free support payments of up to $1,000, bringing the total number of eligible council regions to 37.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the government would continue to provide support as the extent of the damage was revealed.

This funding will help to provide for immediate needs, including temporary accommodation, food and clothing, he said.

In addition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the federal and NSW governments were working closely together to support flood victims and had made more than $514 million (about US$348 million) in support payments to over 600,000 impacted residents in the state.

We want to work with all states and territories when disaster strikes because we know that its a long road back for people who are suffering through the current period, he told reporters in Sydney.

A family are evacuated by State Emergency Service workers due to rising floodwaters in Sydney, Australia, on July 4, 2022. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Also, on July 12, a support package jointly funded by the NSW and federal governments was announced, which included $80 million for clean-up activities and grants of up to $75,000 for primary producers and up to $50,000 for small businesses and not-for-profit organisations impacted by the floods.

Meanwhile, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said an independent review of the states preparedness for floods in February and March would be released by the end of July.

Theres no doubt these events are becoming more prevalent, he said.

A lot of (the review) will focus on the immediate response to these disasters, but theres no doubt there will be a medium to long-term focus.

Preliminary Discussions on Relocating Residents in Flooded Areas

On the issue of relocating residents in flood-prone areas, including Lismore in northern NSW, the prime minister said the state and federal governments had held preliminary discussions with informal talks about planning.

I dont think weve had a discussion about relocating the whole of Lismore, he said.

At the same time, Perrottet said his government would try to avoid mistakes of the past in allowing real estate development projects on floodplains.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of evacuated residents have returned home to assess the damage and clean up their premises with the help of NSW State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue and the Australian Defence Force.

On July 12, many social housing tenants, who had to move out after severe floods damaged their homes in February, were able to return to their properties.

The NSW government said 73 buildings had been repaired and were ready for residents to settle in.
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Most Democrats Want to Abolish Supreme Court or Involve UN: Poll

A majority of Democrats want to abolish the Supreme Court, according to a new survey.

A total of 53 percent of Democratic respondents to a Rasmussen Reports poll said they would favor legislation that would terminate the court and replace it with a new, democratically elected court with justices chosen by the American people.

Majorities of independents and Republicans opposed the idea.

Democrats also were more likely to say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court, and a majority agreed with the statements that the court is a fundamentally racist institution and is a fundamentally sexist institution that favors men over women.

A majority of Democrats said they supported expanding the size of the Supreme Court to 13 members from the current nine, which would enable President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to choose four justices and turn whats now a court featuring six Republican-appointed justices and three Democratic-appointed justices into one with a majority of justices picked by Democrats.

A number of Democratic lawmakers have voiced support for expanding the court, particularly since former President Donald Trump was able to choose three justices during his four years in office.

Democratic respondents also were more in favor of a constitutional amendment that would enable the United Nations to reverse Supreme Court decisions that U.N. members believe violate human rights.

A total of 39 percent of Democrats supported the amendment proposal, compared with 30 percent of independents and 17 percent of Republicans.

Majorities of all three groups opposed the proposal. Some voters said they werent sure about all of the questions.

The national survey was conducted on July 6 and July 7 by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute. Out of 1,025 likely U.S. voters, 35 percent were Democrats, 33 percent were Republicans, and 32 percent were other. Nearly half of the respondents were between the ages of 40 and 64, with a nearly even split between men and women.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The survey was conducted shortly after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, a 1973 decision by the same court that declared access to abortion to be a constitutional right, even though abortion isnt mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

Justice Samuel Alito, a George W. Bush appointee who wrote the majority decision, said the earlier decision was egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided.

After the ruling, the U.N.s Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and two special rapporteurs claimed the ruling lacked sound legal reasoning, and decried the development as a serious regression of an existing right that will jeopardize womens health and lives.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during an electric battery announcement at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, on July 13, 2022. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

N-word on French CBC: Trudeau Says Balance Needed Between Freedom of Expression and Avoiding Perpetuating Crimes

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waded into the freedom of expression debate on July 13 as he addressed Radio-Canadas decision to appeal a CRTC ruling requiring it to apologize publicly for saying the N-word in a radio program.

Its extremely important to underline that defending freedom of expression, defending journalistic independence and integrity, is always going to be a foundation not just of Canada, but of any strong democracy, Trudeau said during a press conference in Kingston, Ontario.

At the same time, there are words that carry deep, deep historical and current weight to them, cause harm, he said, adding that we need to make sure  were avoiding perpetuating deep societal injustices and crimes.

The hosts of the program on the state broadcaster Radio-Canada (French CBC) mentioned the N-word in August 2020 in the context of discussing the essay Negres blancs dAmerique by Quebec Marxist and separatist Pierre Vallieres.

The essay was written by Vallieres in the late 60s after he spent time with the Black Panther Party in New York City and while being incarcerated there with mainly black people. Vallieres sought to draw parallels between the plight of Quebecers in Canada and blacks in the United States.

Radio-Canada announced its decision to appeal the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision in a July 13 statement.

It says that the N-word is a hurtful and racist insult and must be contextualized when used on rare occasions. The broadcaster also said it will apologize to the person who made the initial complaint and put a warning on the controversial program.

But Radio-Canada said it was not taking these steps because of the CRTC, but rather because its the right thing to do.

Radio-Canada claims that the CRTC overstepped its mandate, and its decision represents a threat because the Council is trying to give itself the power to compromise journalistic independence.

At Issue

The issue stems from an individual initially complaining to Radio-Canada about the N-word being used on the radio program, which was discussing the attempt to cancel a Concordia University professor who had mentioned Vallieress essay in class.

Radio-Canadas ombudsman said in October 2020 that the broadcaster did not breach journalistic standards, which led to the individual filing a complaint with the CRTC in November 2020.

In a June 29 decision, the CRTC ruled that Radio-Canadas program went against the Canadian broadcasting policy objectives and values set out in the Broadcasting Act.

Radio-Canada did not implement all the necessary measures to mitigate the impact of the N-word on its audience, particularly in the current social context and given its national public broadcaster status.

Two dissenting opinions were attached to the decision.

In this case, neither the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms  nor the applicable broadcasting provisions protect the complainants right to not be offended, wrote vice-chair of broadcasting Caroline J. Simard.

A second dissent by Commissioner Joanne T. Levy advanced a similar argument, saying the decision will have unintended consequences leading to journalistic chill, silencing discussion, and encouraging censorship.

Controversial Essay Title

Vallieress essay, run-of-the-mill late-sixties hard-left material, has caused other controversies with the new progressive left due to its title.

Long-time CBC journalist and host Wendy Mesley got in trouble for referencing the book in an editorial meeting. She also used the N-word in another context. This led to her suspension by CBC in June 2020 and the cancellation of her show The Weekly.

Around the same time frame, some Concordia University students sought to have a professor stripped of a teaching assignment for mentioning the essay title in class months earlier.

These events took place a few weeks after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Film professor Catherine Russell was not suspended by the university, nor was the N-word banned. University management instead opened a dialogue with students who suggested ideas to address related issues on campus.

Russell issued an apology to the students in her class in July 2020, using key social justice concepts.

As a white teacher, I am very much in a position of privilege and power and I clearly need to do better for all students to feel more respected in the classroom, and especially for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour] students to feel that they are in a safe space.
NATO Does Not Have Enough Ammunition For High Intensity Conflictex US General

A former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe has told a House of Lords committee in London NATO didnt have enough ammunition for a high intensity conflict like the war in Ukraine.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges was giving evidence to the international relations and defence committee and was asked to comment on Britains integrated review of defence, security, and foreign policy, which was published in March 2021.

Hodges, speaking by videolink from Washington, said the review had been a solid effort but looked a bit like doing the best you can with the available resources rather than anything more.

He said: After watching the last four-plus months of Russias continued attack against Ukraine weve been reminded about the enormous consumption of ammunition and other logistics in a high-intensity conflict  the Chinese are watching this, as well as Russia and other potential adversaries.

Hodges said there was no doubt the NATO countries, including the United States, did not have enough ammunition for a high intensity conflict and he said he felt the integrated review did not address that issue, although he accepted it was written long before the Ukraine conflict.

How Much Depth can you Afford?

One of the most difficult challenges for any legislative body is  how much depth can you afford? None of us has enough depth. Even ours, which is the biggest defence budget in history, is stretched, he added.

Earlier Professor John Louth, director of the defence, industries, and society research programme at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), was asked by Lord Stirrup, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, if NATOs forces were agile enough to cope with the current threats.

Louth said: The honest answer is nowhere near enough. That is probably due to the speed of technological change we see now.

He said: Flexibility is needed to make sure those emerging elements, like AI, artificial intelligence, which is used in the oil and gas industry, but less so in defence, but much more so in the future. AI is going to be right at the heart of our posture.

The agility needed to get all that to work together is significant and its difficult for programme managers to do that effectively if they have only been educated in linear processes, Louth added.
A Chinese police version of WeChat, shown here with a blue logo, is a Chinese language-only version of the messaging app WeChat. (Provided by a Chinese netizen via Twitter)

Netizen Claims Chinese Police Have Special Surveillance WeChat Version

A Chinese netizen claims that there is a police version of WeChat, a messaging app thats widely used in China.

The app logo is blue, different from the typical green WeChat icon, and the blue version comes with a bonus: the user is also an administrator who can visit the records of connected users.

She said, You dont get any privacy with these Chinese apps.

The netizens name was not revealed to protect her security.

Its a Recording Device

Jiu Jushui, an analyst of Chinese internet censorship, believes the WeChat app will allow Chinese police to use a backdoor and enjoy the convenience of access permission granted by the app.

Its a recording device on the go, whether you like it or not, Jiu said.

WeChat, launched by Tencent, has been questioned more than once about the data security and privacy issue.

In 2017, Tencent Vice President Ding Ke said that Wechat would never read and store user chats. He said, We are user-oriented. My chat log with my wife is not suitable for others to know, so I understand the feelings of my users.

However, he also mentioned that Tencent will collect the data when chat logs or users are under surveillance by the country.

A U.S. flag is seen on a smartphone along with Tik Tok and WeChat logos in this illustration taken on Sept. 18, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

The regime has arrested dissidents based on the chat content provided by Tencent. Chat content was also presented as court evidence to finalize sentences.

Huang Qi, publisher of the human rights news website 64 Tianwang, was arrested in 2016 and received a 12-year sentence on accusations of deliberately leaking state secrets, and illegally providing state secrets to foreign countries in 2019.

In 2018 during the interrogation, Huang filed a lawsuit against Tencent and its founder Pony Ma for releasing his chat content to the police as evidence on his charge.

The Uncapped Users Authorization

In a 2021 YouTube video, Sophia (pseudonym), a Chinese woman, said that her relative who lives outside China, was harassed by the Chinese police because of the content of a message he sent to China on WeChat. A reporter from the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times interviewed her on July 4 to confirm the information on the video.

She said her cousin was attending a U.S. college, and in 2021, received a warning from the police about a chat he had with his mother in China in which he complained about how many people the Chinese Communist Party had killed.

The police threatened him saying that his WeChat account had provided the police details of his relatives inside China. The police also visited his mothers home.

With the app, the police told him they could monitor him 24 hours a day, and connect to all users on his WeChat account.

The police revealed the records of his daily log, such as when he took a shower and how long it lasted. The phone would also automatically play rock versions of Communist Party songs when he was sleeping at night, even when the phone had been powered off.

When the much-troubled young man finally went to an iPhone store seeking help, the Chinese police immediately called him and asked what he intended to do there.

The iPhone store traced the line to a control center in the mountain area of Guizhou Province in southwest China.

Spies Inside the Spy Network

Commentator Wang He said to The Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times that many years ago, a director at the public security tracking department admitted to him that the telephones of cadres above the deputy director level were already tapped before the digital era.

The so-called privileged are also the subjects of surveillance, Wang said.

He indicated that for private enterprises such as WeChat, there are CCP spies inside the companies watching.

Li Xinan contributed to this report.
An undated photo shows Robert John Lanoue, of Reno, Nev., who was charged in the 1982 killing of 5-year-old Anne Pham. (Washoe County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Nevada Man Charged in 1982 Killing of Child in California

A 70-year-old Nevada man has been charged in the 1982 killing of a 5-year-old girl who disappeared while walking to her kindergarten class in California after detectives solved the case using DNA evidence, authorities said.

Robert John Lanoue, of Reno, Nevada, was charged last week in the killing of Anne Pham.

Pham disappeared while walking to her kindergarten class at Highland Elementary School in Seaside, California, on Jan. 21, 1982. Her body was found two days later in the former Fort Ord.

The child had been kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled, California authorities said.

Interim Police Chief Nick Borges (2nd R) and Detective Joshua Parker (R) stand next to a photo of Anne Pham outside Highland Elementary School in Seaside, Calif., on July 7, 2022. (Seaside Police Department via AP)

According to court records, Lanoue has waived extradition to Monterey County in California. As of Monday he was still in the Washoe County jail.

Lanoue, who is a registered sex offender in Nevada, was 29 years old at the time of the girls killing and lived near her home in Seaside, said Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni.

The case was reopened in 2020 when investigators with the Monterey County District Attorneys Office Cold Case Task Force worked with the Seaside Police Department to submit evidence from the case for DNA testing after receiving a grant to reopen cold cases.

Lanoue was charged with one count of first-degree murder, with special circumstance allegations that he murdered Pham while committing kidnapping and a lewd act on a child under the age of 14, said Pacioni.

It was not immediately known if Lanoue has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

On July 6, California investigators obtained a warrant for Lanoues arrest, Pacioni said. Lanoue was already in the Washoe County jail where he was booked on June 8 for a parole violation, records showed.
New Zealand Announces New Police Powers to Tackle Exploding Violent Gang Crime

The New Zealand government has unveiled new powers and tools for police to use in the fight against gang violence and intimidation, which has escalated to a point where some have compared the situation to South Africa.

Police Minister Chris Hipkins said the recent brazen gang activities were totally unacceptable, and New Zealand residents deserved better.

Some new powers include the ability to find and seize weapons from gang members during a conflict and impounding vehicles under an expanded range of offences.

Work to strengthen a sector-wide approach to youth crime is also in progress.

Police asked for legislative changes that will give them more tools to crack down on violent offending and other criminal activities, he said in a media release. We have listened and will introduce a package of changes that target this activity as an omnibus Amendment Bill as soon as possible.

These are practical and targeted measures that will help the Police do their job to keep communities safe. We are interested in real solutions, not empty slogans.

Justice Minister Kiri Allan added that efforts to address the underlying drivers of crime were also underway to ensure that the problem was being tackled at both ends.

We know people dont become gang members overnight and that the causes are complex and often intergenerational, Allan said.

We will continue to ensure we are upping the ante on intervention and prevention measures that are focused on steering young people away from a life with organised criminal groups.

I will be looking closely at the youth justice system, in particular, to see how we can make changes that will improve both the lives of at-risk young people and public safety over the long term.

Former Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins speaks to the media during a post-cabinet press conference at Parliament, in Wellington, New Zealand, on June 28, 2021. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

National Party Says Not Good Enough

The opposition party said it would support the proposals but believed they did not go far enough and merely tinker around the edges of a problem.

National has long called for greater search powers for police to take firearms out of the hands of gangs, so it is positive the government is finally acting to provide these for police. But this still doesnt go far enough, Nationals acting police spokesman Chris Penk said.

The National Party has long advocated its own four-point plan, which includes banning gang patches, giving police powers to prevent gangs from communicating and planning criminal activity, dispersal notice powers, and warrantless search powers to confiscate guns from violent gang members.

Nationals leader Christopher Luxon said the most powerful method would be cutting back illegal guns that gangs had access to.

That requires what we call the firearms prohibitions orders with warrantless search powers to be able to execute that, so that police actually have the tool to go after gang members who are using illegal guns, he told reporters.

Mixed Response From Minor Parties

However, the Greens Party called for more action to address underlying causes of crime and not more of the same simplistic solutions that we know do not work.

The recent episodes of gang violence and crime will be scary for whanau and our communities. But granting police expanded powers is not going to address the problem of organised crime, prevent violence, or keep people safe, Greens justice spokesman Golriz Ghahraman said.

Ghahraman noted that Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand, and Pasifika communities are many more times likely to be subjected to searches. She called for a greater focus on Maori solutions as well as more sensible gun regulation.

Meanwhile, the ACT Party said the tougher action on shootings was long overdue, citing new data that showed a 26 percent increase in gang member firearm offences between 2018 and 2020.

Its a shame that things have had to get this bad before theyve finally taken some action, ACTs justice spokesman Nicole McKee said.

I hope this new focus on gangs means Labour will now stop targeting law-abiding firearms owners and that they will scrap their plans to create a firearms register that gang members will see as a shopping list for firearms they can steal.
Ohio 10-Year-Olds Alleged Rapist Is an Illegal Immigrant: ICE Official

The man who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl who later got an abortion is in the United States illegally, an official confirmed.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official told The Epoch Times on July 13 that 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes is an illegal immigrant.

The man has no history of being deported, according to the agency.

The Epoch Times later obtained a court document that says Fuentes is not a U.S. citizen.

ICE lodged an immigration detainer on Fuentes after he was arrested by police officers in Columbus, Ohio. A detainer notifies local officials not to release a suspect, due to their immigration status, before alerting ICE, so federal officials can take the person into custody.

An ICE source told Fox News that Fuentes is originally from Guatemala.

The Columbus Police Department listed Fuentess nationality as Central America information accompanying his mugshot.

Fuentes confessed to raping the 10-year-old, who has not been identified, according to the department. The victim identified Fuentes as the babys father.

A probable cause statement said that detectives collected a saliva sample from Fuentes. Testing is pending, a police detective said during the suspects arraignment earlier Wednesday.

The girl received an abortion in Indiana on June 30, six days after Ohios six-week abortion ban took effect.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has said the girl could have received an abortion inside the state because the case fits within a part of the ban that says abortion is allowed to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

Held on Bond

Fuentes was charged with rape of a child under the age of 13 and is being held on a $2 million bond, according to court records.

Fuentes was living at a residence in Columbus off Dumont Lane, according to the records. The records listed his date of birth as April 5, 1995, and the date of the offense as May 12, 2022. He was arrested on Tuesday.

The story of the rape was first reported by the Indianapolis Star, based on an account from pro-abortion doctor Caitlin Bernard.

No other evidence was provided in the initial report, and Yost had cast doubt on whether it happened.

My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child, Yost said in a statement after Fuentes was arrested and charged. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street. Justice must be served and BCI stands ready to support law enforcement across Ohio putting these criminals behind bars.

BCI refers to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The account drew national attention when President Joe Biden made reference to the story while signing an executive order last week to try to make sure that women across the country can obtain abortions following the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Zachary Stieber Reporter Follow Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news. He is based in Maryland.
People gather at the airport three times a week to welcome and farewell passengers from Suva of Fiji in Funafuti, Tuvalu, on Aug. 15, 2018. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Lumix)

Pacific More Concerned With Climate Change Than China: Australian Defence Minister

The Australian Labor government is pinning its hopes on climate change policy as the key to winning over Pacific nations amid increasing geopolitical competition with Beijing.

Top leaders have emphasised the Albanese governments support of climate change action, including a higher emissions reduction target, as a key differentiator from the previous government.

On July 12, Defence Minister Richard Marles said the biggest concern he was hearing from the Pacific region was the threat of climate change.

The Albanese government wants to make climate change a pillar of the [U.S.-Australia] alliance. Because it is clear climate change is a national security issue, he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. during a four-day trip to the United States.

Australias 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)

When you stand on the shores of our Pacific neighbours, as I have, you understand the intense vulnerability felt by those living on small islands. The Pacific Islands Forum, of which Australia is a member, has been consistent in declaring climate change as the single greatest threat to livelihoods in our neighbourhoodit is an existential threat, he said.

The Pacific has been clear in saying that geopolitical competition is of lesser concern to them than the threat of rising sea levels, economic insecurity, and transnational crime. Australia respects and understands this position. And we are listening.

His comments echoed that of Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Minister for International Development Pat Conroy, who attended the Pacific Island Forum meeting in Suva, Fiji.

The new Australian government is committed to bringing new energy and new resources to the Pacific, and we recognise, in particular, the importance of climate change, she told reporters on July 12.

Calls for Unity in Pacific Islands Forum

Wong also called for unity following Kiribatis recent decision to withdraw from the Forum.

Can I note that we are continuing to work towards greater unity, and I note the position that the president of Kiribati has articulated, and I say, along with all other members of the Forum, that we seek reconciliation, and the door remains open, and we hope that progress can be made there, the foreign minister said.

The Pacific Islands decision has major implications for the effectiveness of the body, which was seen as a key bulwark against Beijings influence.

South Pacific expert Cleo Paskal said some Pacific leaders, like President David Panuelo of the Federated States of Micronesia, worked hard to try to reform the Forum so it could more effectively counteract the Chinese Communist Party. The Forum has struggled to deal with ongoing discontent from Micronesian leaders who feel their interests are being sidelined.

Paskal said it was unsurprising that Kiribati decided to withdraw from the Forum.

Clearly, Kiribati is perfectly fine with its relationship with China, and it sees no benefit being part of an organisation where its marginalised or feels that its marginalised, she previously told The Epoch Times.

Paskal also said that over the last three years, the Forum played a very minor role in dealing with four major crises in the region, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tongan volcanic eruption and tsunami, the riots in the Solomon Islands, and the institutional crisis around the University of the South Pacific.

The Pacific Island Forum just issued press releases but was not a major player in resolving any of those crises. So what does it do?

Meanwhile, U.S. leaders have ramped up their response to the weakening hand of democratic nations with an all-out diplomatic offensive.

On July 12, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced the Biden administration would be dispatching the Peace Corps to the region, establishing new embassies in Kiribati and Tonga, appointing the first-ever U.S. Envoy to the Forum, and is looking at reestablishing a U.S. Agency for International Development Regional Mission for the Pacific to deal with natural disasters and humanitarian aid.
Mail-in primary election ballots are processed at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Pa., on May 28, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Pennsylvania Counties Refuse to Count Undated Mail-in Ballots; State Sues

Pennsylvania state is suing officials from three counties to force their local governments to count undated mail-in ballots from a recent primary election.

The Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS) and Acting Secretary Leigh Chapman filed a lawsuit on July 12 against the boards of elections of three counties in the commonwealthLancaster, Berks, and Fayetteto seek a court injunction forcing the counties to count undated mail-in ballots cast in Pennsylvanias 2022 primary elections.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said in the filing that election officials in the three Republican-controlled counties refused to count absentee and mail-in ballots that were lawfully cast by qualified voters, but lack a date on the return envelope.

This Court should order the three county boards that are delaying resolution of the 2022 primary election to send to the Acting Secretary certifications reflecting all lawfully cast ballots, the plaintiffs wrote.

In a July 12 statement, the Lancaster County Board of Elections wrote that the plaintiffs demand is contrary to the law or any existing court order.

To be absolutely clear, the Lancaster County Board of Elections properly certified the 2022 primary election results in accordance with the PA Election Code at 25 P.S. 2642(k) and any court order regarding undated mail-in ballots and submitted that certification to the Department of State on June 6, 2022, the statement reads.

The County received confirmation of receipt from the DOS on June 7, 2022. The Commonwealths demand is contrary to the law or any existing court order. The County will vigorously defend its position to follow the law to ensure the integrity of elections in Lancaster County.

Pennsylvania state law requires ballots that are received on time and cast by a qualified voter but are missing a handwritten date on the envelope to be rejected.

Undated Ballots

The states lawsuit piled onto a series of legal battles focused on whether absentee and mail-in ballots that are cast by qualified voters but are undated should be counted in elections in Pennsylvania.

The legal contention on the undated ballots this year arose from an election for a seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, when Republican judicial candidate David Ritter tried to prevent the counting of such disputed ballots.

After a series of court appeals, the case went to the Supreme Court, which vacated an injunction by Justice Samuel Alito and ruled on June 9 to allow the Lehigh County election administrators to resume counting ballots that omitted a handwritten date on their envelopea decision that would later apply to all elections in the state.

The 63 ruling from the high court affirmed a decision by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which cited the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 in saying that government officials shouldnt deny citizens the right to vote because of an error or omission that is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under state law to vote.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch joined Alitos dissenting opinion.

Judicial Activists

The Third Circuits interpretation broke new ground, and at this juncture, it appears to me that that interpretation is very likely wrong, Alito wrote in the dissent. 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.

He noted that the Third Circuit courts ruling seems plainly contrary to the statutory language.

Jenna Ellis, former senior counsel to President Donald Trump, told The Epoch Times in an interview in June that the dissent from Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch was absolutely correct.

This is another example of the judicial branch actually violating the law and becoming activists. They are violating state law because the judicial branch is supposed to simply hold everyone to the law, Ellis said, referring to the Supreme Courts majority opinion. When the state has established these voting regulations, it is not for the Supreme Court to determine policy, but to make sure that they are holding the administrators of elections  to state law.

They may not have liked it. But thats not their job. Their job is not to set policy; their job is to arbitrate, according to the U.S. Constitution of the supreme rule of law, and every law that they are required to enforce.

The commissioners offices at Lancaster, Berks, and Fayette counties didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.
Poll: Most Democrats Favor Packing or Abolishing the Supreme Court

Democrats also say the court is fundamentally racist and sexist

Most Democrats would abolish the Supreme Court, an institution they described as fundamentally racist and fundamentally sexist in a new national poll.

Democrats anger at the court has grown dramatically in recent weeks after a leaked court opinion indicated the court majority was planning on overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 abortion precedent.

Democrats have been incensed by its perceived rightward shift since former President Donald Trumps appointment of three justices gave conservatives a 6-3 advantage over the courts liberal bloc.

Recent decisions on abortion, public carry of firearms, and reining in carbon dioxide emission regulations, set the stage for raucous protests nationwide, including at justices homes. Justices and their families have been threatened and harassed and one man was charged after he plotted to assassinate a justice. Some Democrats have been supportive of a left-wing group that, as The Epoch Times reported, is offering bounties to the public to report the whereabouts of conservative justices so flash mobs can harass them.

Reimagine the Supreme Court

Calls to pack the court, expanding its membership to 13 from 9 where it has been since 1869, and to abolish the Senate filibuster to facilitate the packing, have grown among Democrats. Some Democrats say conservative justices should be prosecuted for perjury or impeached after allegedly implying during their confirmation hearings that they would not overturn Roe v. Wade, something the court did in fact do on June 24.

There is absolutely a movement afoot, principally among leftists and Americas youth, who desire to reimagine the Supreme Court so that it will become nothing more than a rubber stamp for their radical agenda, Chris Talgo, a senior editor at the conservative Arlington Heights, Illinois-based Heartland Institute, said in a statement.

The poll, carried out by the Heartland Institute and polling firm Rasmussen Reports on July 6 and 7, surveyed 1,025 likely voters. The partisan affiliation of respondents was Republicans (33 percent), Democrats (35 percent), and independents (32 percent).

Although only one-third (33 percent) of Democrats have a favorable opinion of the court, the American public overall is more confident in the court. Among likely voters regardless of affiliation, 52 percent had a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the court. Among Republicans, 72 percent said they had a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of the court.

A woman pushes a stroller as she walks by the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on May 11, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The Heartland-Rasmussen poll also unearthed other evidence of Democrats antipathy towards the court.

Although 55 percent of all likely voters say they oppose legislation increasing the size of the court to 13 justices, 64 percent of Democrats support the idea, compared with just 19 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of independents.

The survey found 53 percent of Democrats favored legislation that would abolish the current Supreme Court and establish a new, democratically elected Supreme Court with justices chosen by the American people directly. The 53 percent figure was broken down into 33 percent strongly favoring the proposal and 20 percent somewhat favoring it.

Of course, mere legislation purporting to abolish the court would not be sufficient, legal experts say. A constitutional amendment changing the wording of Article 3, Section 1, of the Constitution, which begins The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, would be needed. A question about this amendment was not posed by the survey.

Giving Power to the United Nations

But survey respondents were asked about a proposed constitutional amendment that would eviscerate the power of the court by giving the United Nations the authority to reverse U.S. Supreme Court decisions that U.N. members believe violate human rights.

Just 29 percent of respondents overall supported the idea, but 39 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of black Americans, and 48 percent of voters between the ages of 19 and 39 gave it a thumbs-up. Among Republicans, 17 percent supported the idea, compared to 30 percent of independents.

Although just 34 percent of likely voters agreed with the statement that the Supreme Court was a fundamentally racist institution, 56 percent of Democrats agreed with it. A mere 14 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of independents agreed with the statement.

Among likely voters, 41 percent agreed with the statement that the court is a fundamentally sexist institution that favors men over women. But 67 percent of Democrats, compared to 18 percent of Republicans and 36 of Independents agreed with it. A minority of women (48 percent) agreed that the court was fundamentally sexist.

Donald Kendall, a Heartland research fellow, said he was shocked and dismayed by the polls findings.

How can an institution like the Supreme Court function properly when the majority of those who call themselves liberal think the Court is sexist and racist? he said.

I know our country has been divided in recent years; Im starting to fear that division is becoming irreparable, Kendall added.
The school board in North Dakotas largest city decided to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings. That's prompted a Republican lawmaker to vow to push for a voucher program that would allow public money to pay for private school tuition. The Fargo School Board voted 7-2 Wednesday to halt the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, saying it doesnt align with the districts diversity code, largely because it says under God in one phrase. The state Republican Party called the boards action laughable and an affront to our American values. Grand Forks state Sen. Scott Meyer said he would begin working on a school voucher bill draft next week.
President Joe Biden delivers a speech on stage, as part of the World Leaders' Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 2, 2021. (Evan Vucci/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

President Bidens Whole of Government Climate Spending Extravaganza

Just two years ago, the National Endowment for the Arts made only one grant to an art project that promised to address the issue of climate change, awarding $25,000 to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art to commission work informed by research on the Earths dissolving permafrost layer.

During the last two years, the federal agency has provided $1,369,000 to fund some 40 climate-focused projects. The 29 such grants approved for fiscal year 2022 include support for multidisciplinary artist Hajra Waheeds collaboration with researchers and organizers on issues such as land sovereignty and food and climate justice; development of a Baltimore Center Stage production titled, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction; and a grant to the Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, Maryland, to use movement and storytelling to explore the ways different landscapes and communities are navigating climate change.

Never mind the prospect of reins on executive climate action in light of the Supreme Courts stinging regulatory rebuke last month: These art projects are one small piece of an explosion of climate spending since President Biden called during his first days in office for a whole-of-government approach to combating the climate crisis. In response, every department, bureau, and agency has climate-related budget lines, responding to Bidens mandate by claiming a slice of the climate pie.

Where the Trump administrations 150-page budget overview for the fiscal year 2020 mentioned the word climate just once (and that was a reference to school climatethat is, educational environment), the current White House 2023 budget overview mentions the word climate 187 times and the phrase climate crisis 33 times in its 158 pages.

The administrations proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 calls for a total of $44.9 billion to tackle the climate crisis, $16.7 billion more than climate spending in 2021, according to the presidents budget.

Climate change is not only a real and growing threat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said, but it also presents an economic opportunity. These include:

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to boost spending on the CDCs Climate and Health Program from $10 million to $110 million, to identify potential health effects associated with climate change and implement health adaptation plans.

The National Institutes of Health are ramping up research on climate change impact on health, with grants for projects that address the impact of climate change on health and technologies for measuring the effects of climate change and extreme weather events on human health.

Even as it struggles with the growing crisis on the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security in its 2023 fiscal year budget asks for $55 million to battle climate change. Of that, $2 million will be spent to stand up a Climate Change Program Management Office, and $4 million will go to the bureaucratic activities of tracking, monitoring, and auditing  environmental planning compliance actions. DHS is also committed to electrifying half its fleet of motor vehicles by the end of the decade.

The State Department is seeking $2.3 billion for a broad range of climate-related expenditures including $2 million on support for post-led climate diplomacy; $7 million for global climate diplomacy; $2.6 million for the Climate Change Public Diplomacy Fund; $7.9 million for the Center of Climate and Sustainability; $17 million for Overseas Climate Resilience, Building Energy, and Sustainability Projects; and over $16 million to support the Special Presidential Envoy for Climateaka John Kerry currently. State is also seeking $5 million to buy or lease electric vehicles for the department.

Linda J. Bilmes, a professor at Harvards Kennedy School of Government who studies the federal budget, says that the Biden administration is trying to send a message that in everything we do, we should be attentive to the issue. Part of the problem of dealing with an issue so big, Bilmes added, is that responsibility is so fragmented.

Increased funding to protect coastlines, inspect wind turbines and solar farms, and promote the use of carbon-free energy sources directly align with Bidens call to address what he calls the existential threat of climate change. But there are other organizing principlesreflecting progressive concernsthat inform the budget requests. Chief among these is Bidens belief that climate should be addressed across the government as an issue of environmental justice. The NIH supports that agenda, stating that Research has shown the impact of climate change differs across populations depending on socioeconomic advantages.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to spend over $1 billion in climate resilience and energy efficiency improvements. For example, HUD promises to advance climate resilience and environmental justice by redeveloping and replacing distressed public and multifamily housing and neighborhood amenities with resilient and energy-efficient structures. It might be pointed out, however, that one of HUDs main responsibilities is to redevelop distressed public housing. Is HUDs commitment to confronting the threat of climate change a new imperative, or just a new way to justify the department and its activities?

The Environmental Protection Agency is also pursuing environmental justice. Under EPAs new strategic plan, the top goal is to Tackle the Climate Crisis. Following a close second is Goal 2, which commits the EPA to Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights. In practice that means embedding environmental justice into all of the agencys Programs Policies and Activities.

It isnt clear, however, whether the EPA will be able to re-invent itself as a ministry of environmental justice, given the Supreme Courts recent consequential decision limiting what powers the agency can exercise without explicit authorization by Congress.

The Courts ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, with its requirements that regulators stick to their lanes, may also put the brakes on President Bidens efforts to turn every department and agency into climate police.

At least for now, the Department of Justice is committed to environmental justice too. Dont confuse the new effort with the old. The Environment and Natural Resources Division at DOJ has been enforcing federal environmental laws for more than a century. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in May a new DOJ Office of Environmental Justice. Although violations of our environmental laws can happen anywhere, communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-income communities often bear the brunt of the harm caused by environmental crime, pollution, and climate change, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with advancing environment justice, as is the Department of Energy. DOE recently awarded $3.6 million in cash prizes to fund Climate solutions for underrepresented communities. Climate change isnt just a crisis, it is a crisis that demands redistribution, which in turn calls for greater intervention by the federal government. The prizes involved various offices and entities within Energythe Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, and the Office of Technology Transitions.

In response to the presidents call for climate adaptation plans across the government, the Department of Education came up with a Green Ribbon Schools award for institutions that teach effective environmental and sustainability education. This years Green Ribbon School winners were announced in April. One awardee was Escuela Verde in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a public charter school devoted to ecopedagogy. The Department of Education celebrates the schools emphasis on food and food justice which has led to an entirely vegetarian school lunch.

Ive seen this before, says Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute. When an issue gets hot, every federal agency knows they can maximize their budget by tailoring their programs and messaging around the hot theme.

Among the topics that have been used to justify spending are everything from rural broadband to gender and structural racism. Even the Department of Transportation is receiving money to deal with past racial discrimination related to the Interstate Highway System.

The sweeping agenda has also inspired projects that tap into New Deal nostalgia. With overtones of the Great Depression program to put young, unemployed men to work on public landsthe Civilian Conservation Corpsthe Department of the Interior proposes to launch a new Civilian Climate Corps. And Interior is hardly the only department getting into that action: The Department of Labor proposes spending $10 million to partner with AmeriCorps and other agencies to establish a Civilian Climate Corps. Among those agencies is the departments Employment and Training Administration.

Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager for Friends of the Earth, says she is pleased with the Biden administrations whole-of-government approach. Shed actually like to see even more of it. Unfortunately, she says, not every agency is doing its fair share to combat climate change. DeAngelis complaint is that agencies such as the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Corporation continue to support fossil fuel projects around the world, despite the devastating impacts it will have on the climate.

Still, some agencies appear to be hard-pressed to find a slice of the climate pie they can call their own.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is promoting new building codes, calling for research on the impacts of climate change to shape those codes. (One easy approach might simply be for state and local governments to deny permits for oceanside high-rises built on sand.) FEMA shows how departments and agencies have been using the specter of a climate crisis to build political support for government actions. One of FEMAs main goals is to Drive public action on building codes, an effort spurred by using climate science messaging to increase public demand for building codes and standards.

Agencies few Americans have ever heard of are trying to get in on the action. Among the environmental initiatives being promoted at the Department of the Treasury are those found at the office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA. With a proposed budget for the 2023 fiscal year of $182 million, TIGTA has many responsibilities. It is tasked with protecting taxpayer information, improving tax compliance, and overseeing Internal Revenue Service efforts to implement tax law changes. The tax IG investigates scams targeting the elderly; prosecutes cyber criminals who attack IRS web sites; and improves the integrity of IRS operations by detecting and deterring waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct.

Treasury promises that in its audits and investigations TIGTA will support the departments strategic goals. Among them, Combat Climate Change. But how? TIGTA points to its fleet of 200 vehicles and promises to replace them with electric vehicles.

But that may be easier said than done. Plans to replace government cars and trucks with electrics, whether at TIGTA, Homeland Security, or the State Department, are not to be taken seriously, says Benjamin Zycher, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Eliminate every vehicle used by the federal government and the effect on the climateeven under the worst-case scenario calculationswould be vanishingly small. Even if one were to eliminate the auto emissions of the entire federal government, the change in expected global temperatures would be essentially zero.

Professor Bilmes says that energy efficiencies are important across the federal government, and particularly at the Department of Defense, given that DOD is the worlds single largest purchaser of fuel and vehicles.

We spend so much money on government, says Bilmes, that government should be in the vanguard of being energy efficient.
'Where are you going?' is a question for us today

Quo vadis  is Latin for Where are you going? and a question posed in the apocryphal Acts of Peter. It forms the centerpiece of MGMs 1951 epic, inspired by the 1896 eponymous novel by Polish Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz.

The film Quo Vadis (QV), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, centers around the love of Commander Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) for a former slave, Lygia (an incandescent Deborah Kerr), now an adopted daughter of a Roman family. This story is set during the reign of Nero (an astonishingly young Peter Ustinov, in his 20s), who burns Rome for his own purposes and blames Christians, who are thrown into the Colosseum to be martyred.

Sienkiewiczs story pits ancient Rome against early Christians. First, the Christians fall; they are hunted down and thrown to lions in the arena. Next, the Romans are burned and buried by their excesses. Then, as if by some invisible law, the Christians rise. Perhaps the sharp irony of it tickled Sienkiewiczs 19th-century sensibilities. Rome crushed Christians for centuries; it now hosts the Vatican, seat of the Roman Catholic Church.

Director and producer Mervyn LeRoy puts a crown on actor Peter Ustinov during the filming of LeRoys film Quo Vadis. Ustinov is dressed in costume as the Roman Emperor Nero. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Neros Rome

Who embodies Rome in director LeRoys film? The madand maddeningEmperor Nero, Cmdr. Vinicius, and Neros adviser Petronius (an impeccable Leo Genn).

Who embodies the Christians? Slave girl Lygia and her giant bodyguard Ursus (6 1/2 foot tall American boxer Buddy Baer). From the bath in which Vinicius sits, the camera gapes up at the mighty Ursus as he fills the doorway, bearing a giant cauldron of water that even three men would struggle with.

In a memorable action scene, Ursus wrestles a bull. For all of 120 seconds, the scene pulsates with energy and dread. You see Ursus sweat, hear his labored breathing, and share his struggle with a beast that drags and then lifts him clean off the ground, as if he were no more than a toga.

Like earlier emperors, Nero treats Rome as his property. Only, hes worse. He lights a city up with about as much thought as a chain-smoker lights up a cigarette, never mind that the city houses thousands of citizens. Likewise, Vinicius treats Lygia as his property.

Conquest is Romes truth, the language it understands and transacts in. Lygia gently repels that truth with a more powerful truth: love.

Love conquers, too, just differently. Unlike the flame of lust, loves fire doesnt consume, doesnt burn up, doesnt burn down, doesnt burn out. Love endures.

Buddy Baer as Ursus and Deborah Kerr as Lygia in the coliseum scene in Quo Vadis. ((Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Lust for Blood

Nero, like modern-day Neros, is whimsical and wicked. Petronius wields just enough wit to match the emperors waffle. Together, they form a grimly funny political satire team not too different from those in White House films such as Dave or My Fellow Americans, or in TV farces such as Parks and Recreation or Threes Company. Only one of two speakers is ever serious. Think Canadian Bacon (1995), Bulworth (1998), Primary Colors (1998), or Veep (20122019).

Moments after a lustful Vinicius spies Lygia, he pesters Petronius: Whats the law regarding hostages? Can they be bought, reassignedWhat?

Robert Taylor as Vinicius and Deborah Kerr as Lygia in Quo Vadis. ((Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

When Lygia resists, Vinicius responds with typical sexual predatory entitlement, A young mare often enjoys fighting the bit.

The minute citizens realize that Neros lust for power has lit up Rome, they charge his palace, just as his terrified advisers cut to the chase.

Nero (frantic): What do they want? Justice?

Neros Advisers: No mob ever wants justice. They want vengeance. A victim!

Cornered, they conjure a minorityChristianswho can serve as bait for the mobs lust for blood. Frankly, any minority will satiate, as long as those chosen cant defend themselves.

As Rome burns, a belatedly conscientious Petronius chastises himself. He and his silently complicit courtier friends should have spoken the truth and exposed Nero for the walking corpse that he is: I could have gone to the mob and told them that Nero burned Rome . But I did not  because out of force of long habit, Ive become content only to be an amused cynic, a selfish onlooker, leaving others to shape the world.

Stunned, a desperate Vinicius turns to Petronius.

Petronius: Did you not hear his orators at the street corners? Already the people are being given the story, along with grain and wine, that it was the Christians and not Nero who set fire to Rome.

Vinicius: They wont believe such a lie!

Petronius: But they are believing it. People will believe any lie if it is fantastic enough.

Of Its Time

LeRoy is in no hurry to show off the grandeur of his sets. It isnt until a full half hour that you see (in a scene lasting over seven minutes) the spectacle that Rome is used to. Crowds in the thousands, in a stadium-sized courtyard: dancers, musicians, roaring spectators, pagan priests, skyscraper-sized statues of the gods. Pan and tracking shots of horse-drawn chariots thundering through the countryside. And some 30,000 costumes.

The spectacle of Rome in Quo Vadis. ((Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

In light of the totalitarianism in parts of the world today, only occasionally does producer Sam Zimbalists Quo Vadis look and feel like satire. It captures the cut and thrust of a state that makes gods of mere men. Though set in A.D. 64, the script bristles with conversations that wouldnt be out of place in the corridors of contemporary power; you can almost hear them echo through some air-conditioned corridor, as if from last evening, or last week.

Youll need to be patient with the films leisurely pace, its indulgences, its distractions, unwieldy romantic subplots, and English accents jostling with those of Italian, American, and Scottish. But MGM had been wrestling with a screen version of Sienkiewiczs novel from as far back as 1925; their fits and starts straddled a bruising six-year world war. Pared-down storytelling may have helped endear it to wider, younger audiences, but QV is a product of its time.

Marquee showing the theatrical release of Quo Vadis. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Youve seen the CGI-pumped Gladiator (2000) and Troy (2004)? Now imagine the audacity of filming QV so realistically, decades before special effects and CGI overwhelmed Hollywood. QV must be judged by its ambition: to show moral decay full-scale. By that yardstick, its outstanding.

Nominated for eight Oscars, QV failed to win any. Yet alongside Cecil B DeMilles Samson and Delilah (1949), its LeRoys 1951 classic Quo Vadis that spurred the ambition for subsequent sword-and-sandal epics. These earned the Oscars: The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Ben Hur (1959), and they were the ones that deserved the extravagance of IMAX but didnt get it.
Magnificent preparatory sketches that stand on their own

While cartoons in the United States generally refer to humorous or satirical drawings, during the Renaissance era cartoons meant something entirely different: preliminary sketches that served as studies for future work, or perhaps work to be transferred to another medium.

The Raphael cartoons, in this case, preparatory sketches for tapestries, are some of the greatest examples of High Renaissance art found in Europe outside of Rome. They at Londons Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and are personal favorites of mine; I have visited the exhibit dozens of times, most recently in March of this year.

The pieces are a set of seven full-scale designs for tapestries, the only surviving pieces of the original set of 10 cartoons. Painted by Raphael (14831520), they were commissioned in 1515 by Pope Leo X, who was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, son of the great art patron Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Paul Preaching in Athens, 1515, by Raphael. Cartoon for tapestry in bodycolor over charcoal on many sheets of paper, mounted on canvas; 12.7 feet by 14.4 feet. Royal Collection. Victoria and Albert Museum. (Public Domain)

The pope wanted them for his private chapel, also known as the Vaticans Sistine Chapel. Evidence suggests Raphael began drafting the drawings in 1514. The work was completed between June 1515 and December 1516, as suggested by the first and last payments the Vatican made to Raphael.

A Focus on Detail

Raphael, who was at the peak of his career, began with rough drafts and sketches of figures, using members of his inner circle as models. He was well aware that these tapestries would be seen up close by elite members of society, and it was of the utmost importance to concentrate on extreme detail. He was also aware that his rival Michelangelo would see the work.

In the cartoon The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, the scene shows men fishing in Lake of Gennesaret (also known as the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberia). They are hauling onboard an abundance of sea life including sardines, eels, shellfish, and a shark; ravens fly overhead, an ominous sign of human sin; cranes are on the shore. Jesus, Peter, and Peters brother Andrew look on, all crowned with halos. Jesus raises his hand, and, according to the biblical reference, states: Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Either Pope Leo X, who commissioned the cartoons, or poet Tommaso Fedra Inghirammi, a close friend of Raphaels, is depicted wearing a red hat in Paul Preaching in Athens on the left of the figure of Paul. A statue of Ares, the god of war, is in the far right. Raphael placed the back of Ares facing Paul to show the new religion of Christianity overpowering the old beliefs of polytheism.

Like pieces of a mosaic, each drawing had many sections and, when completed, the drawings were rolled up and taken to the workshop of Pieter van Aelst in Brussels. From there, tapestry artisans stitched with silk and gold thread, weaving on low-warp looms. Van Aelsts workshop also made duplicates of the original drawings to serve as guides. The weavers worked from the back and created images which would be reversed in final form.

This arduous process took three years, and the finished tapestries were delivered to the Vatican between December 1519 and December 1521. It is likely that Raphael oversaw and supervised installation of the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel.

The Healing of the Lame Man, 1515, by Raphael. Cartoon for tapestry in bodycolor over charcoal on many sheets of paper, mounted on canvas; 11.1 feet by 17.7 feet. Royal Collection. Victoria and Albert Museum. (Public Domain)

Sketches With a Message

The lives of apostles Peter and Paul are the subject of the cartoons and, eventually, the tapestries. The tapestries, Christs Charge to Peter and The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, show Pauls connection to Christ. The Death of Ananias and The Healing of the Lame Man portray miracles; and The Conversion of the Proconsul, The Sacrifice at Lystra, and Paul Preaching at Athens depict key elements of Pauls life.

The tapestries conveyed a special message: Peter and Paul founded the Christian church and their mission was to convert the world to Christianity.

Using the scriptures as a guide, the pope decided on the subjects that Raphael was charged to convey. Christs Charge to Peter was from the books of Matthew and John; The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, was taken from the book of Luke; The Death of Ananias, The Healing of the Lame Man, The Conversion of the Proconsul, The Sacrifice at Lystra and Paul Preaching at Athens all came from the book of Acts.

Debates have persisted over how much of the cartoons Raphael painted himself. Although the creation of cartoons and tapestries required collaborative efforts of many artisans as were most large-scale works produced during the Renaissance, Raphael designed and oversaw their execution. According to the V&A, It is evident that he was directly responsible for the overall composition and most of their execution, supervising and harmonizing the occasional interventions of his assistants.

Prince Charles (later to be King Charles I) purchased the works in Genoa, Italy, and brought them to England.

Once these cartoons were in England at the Mortlake tapestry factory, copies of the sets were made, and the cartoons then influenced the powerful, famous, and wealthy of Europe. Many of the tapestries created were commissioned by aristocrats for their country homes and for continental European collectors, royals, and ecclesiastical officials.

Revered Works of Art

The tapestries survived King Charless execution in 1649 and remained intact in the Royal Collection. It seems Cromwell, who had the king executed, had a soft spot for Raphaels art and tapestries. Cromwell was rumored to have taken an interest in the tapestry factories at Mortlake.

After the monarchy was restored, William III hired architect Christopher Wren to design a new gallery for the tapestries at Hampton Court. The tapestries moved among royal residences (Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Hampton Court) between 1763 to 1865.

The Conversion of the Proconsul, 1515, by Raphael. Cartoon for tapestry in bodycolor over charcoal on many sheets of paper, mounted on canvas; 12.6 feet by 14.5 feet. Royal Collection. Victoria and Albert Museum. (Public Domain)

Eventually, the tapestries made their way to the V&A via Queen Victoria. Her husband, Prince Albert, had devoted much energy to collecting Raphaels art, and he pioneered a robust collection of the Renaissance artist. In 1865, Victoria provided a long-term loan of the tapestries to the V&A to honor Albert.

The tapestries have remained at the V&A ever since Queen Victorias initial bequest.

The Raphael cartoons are on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Room 48a, on loan to the V&A from the queen since 1865.
Logo of an Apple store is seen as Apple Inc. reports fourth quarter earnings in Wash., on Jan. 27, 2022. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Russia Fines Apple and Zoom for Alleged Data Storage Violation

MOSCOWU.S. tech giant Apple and Zoom Video Communications were fined on Tuesday for allegedly refusing to store the data of Russian citizens on Russian territory.

Moscow has clashed with Big Tech over content, censorship, data and local representation in a simmering dispute that has erupted into a full-on battle since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Apple was fined 2 million roubles ($34,000), the court in Moscows Tagansky district said, with Zoom and Ookla, which runs the internet performance tool Speedtest, fined 1 million roubles each. Alphabets Google was ordered to pay 60,000 roubles for a different offence relating to data.

Apple, Zoom, Ookla and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

($1 = 59.0000 roubles)
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he throws out Alba Party pair Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) and Neale Hanvey (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) at the start of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, on July 13, 2022. (House of Commons)

Scottish Nationalist MPs Thrown out of Parliament Over Protest Against Johnson

Two Alba Party MPs were kicked out of Parliament on Wednesday after they refused to stop shouting at Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a protest over Scottish independence.

The first Prime Ministers Questions session after Johnson resigned as the prime minister was delayed for several minutes because of the rowdy incident.

At the start of the session, Kenny MacAskill, deputy leader of the Alba Party, could be heard shouting we need a referendum before his voice was drowned out by heckling from other MPs.

MacAskill then ignored House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyles order to sit, prompting Hoyle to issue a warning.

I will not tolerate such behaviour. If you want to go out, go out now. Hoyle said. If you stand again, I will order you out.

Hoyle also had to tell Conservative MPs to shut up for a minute from heckling as he attempted to maintain order in the chamber.

MacAskill rose to his feet again before his colleague Neale Hanvey, parliamentary leader of the party, also stood up and started speaking, but it was impossible to hear what he said.

After issuing another warning, Hoyle ordered a serjeant-at-arms to escort the two MPs out.

Indyref2

MacAskill and Hanvey were both elected as Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs and defected to the Alba Party last year. There are no other Alba Party members in Parliament.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament after being kicked out, MacAskill accused Johnson of distorting parliamentary democracy and denying Scotland its legitimate right to referendum.

Hanvey later told GB News that their protest was effectively direct action activism in the chamber, giving voice to the concerns of our supporters in the wider yes movement and to say that up with this, we will not put.'

In a Scottish independence referendum in 2014, around 55 percent of Scottish voters voted no to independence. But the pro-independence SNP has pushed for another referendum, colloquially known as indyref2, since the UK voted to leave the European Union.

After pro-independence parties won the majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament in 2021, the parties have insisted that they now have an indisputable mandate for another independence vote, while Johnson insists another referendum shouldnt happen so soon after the first one.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the New York State Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Aug. 24, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

2nd Amendment Advocacy Group Sues New York Over New Concealed Carry Restrictions

Gun Owners of America (GOA) is suing New York state over new restrictions on the public carrying of firearms that were rushed through the state Legislature and signed into law after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the states requirement that a carry permit applicant must demonstrate a special need for self-defense.

The lawsuit takes aim specifically at the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed into law earlier this month. It takes effect on Sept. 1.

At the time, Hochul denounced the court for issuing what she called a reckless decision removing century-old limitations on who is allowed to carry concealed weapons in our statesenselessly sending us backward and putting the safety of our residents in jeopardy.

The name of the statute itself is ironic because it is New Yorks attempt to flout the Supreme Courts June 23 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, according to the legal complaint (pdf) filed July 11 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. The new law puts into effect several blatantly unconstitutional new infringements of the enumerated right to keep and bear arms, the complaint states.

The case is Antonyuk v. Bruen, 1:22-CV-734. The plaintiffs are gun owner Ivan Antonyuk, Gun Owners of America Inc., its foundation, and its New York affiliate. Defendant Kevin Bruen is superintendent of the New York State Police.

We are confident that we will pretty much overturn everything they did in this legislative package because they were clearly in violation of the direct ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, Sam Paredes, the executive director of Gun Owners of California, a member of GOAs board of directors, and treasurer of its affiliated foundation, told The Epoch Times in an interview.

Specifically, the lawsuit targets the CCIAs good moral character requirement for permit applicants, the requirement that applicants supply character references at in-person interviews with police and submit their own social media posts for government inspection, the vastly expanded ban on sensitive locations where concealed weapons may not be brought, and a raft of new administrative fees the lawsuit calls a Second Amendment tax.

Applicants must undergo 18 hours of combined training where presently its only four hours. The fact of the matter is that we know that this is just an angry, vicious response to the Supreme Court ruling because concealed carry weapons permit holders in New York are amongst the most law-abiding of all citizens in the state, just like they are in California and across the country, Paredes said.

The four-hour training requirement and background checks were sufficient to maintain that level of purity amongst the CCW [i.e. concealed carry weapons permit] holders, but the new mandates serve no purpose other than to limit gun ownership, he said.

So what they did is they shifted from the good cause [requirement] to a display of good moral character. There is no plain definition of good moral character in New York statutes or California statutes, or any statutes.

So, they have added this great amount of subjectivity to the process, he said. Subjectivity is the enemy of the Second Amendment, and they are adding it in spades.

Paredes recalled that California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, also recently embraced his states own good moral character requirement for permit applicants, a development The Epoch Times reported on.

In a statewide memo to law enforcement, Bonta encouraged permit-issuing authorities to include the absence of hatred and racism as a positive factor in determining whether to grant a permit, leading to concerns among Second Amendment advocates that an applicants political views, expressed on social media or elsewhere, could lead to a permit denial.

Although Paredes said as far as he knows the CCIA doesnt specifically reference hatred or racism, these potentially inflammatory terms, which are malleable in todays politically polarized environment, could still somehow find their way into the New York permitting process.

On social media people will say stuff that they dont understand what it means, or they do understand, but they want to express something. And they have the First Amendment right to do so. Now, New York and California want to use the expression of a First Amendment right, as a reason to deny a Second Amendment right.

You cannot use a constitutional right to invalidate another constitutional right, Paredes said.

The Epoch Times reached out to state officials.

We are not commenting, the New York State Police replied by email.

The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, didnt respond by press time.
Sex Offenders Could Be Punished Through Chemical Castration in Thailand

The Thai Senate on Monday approved a bill that would allow recidivist sex offenders to choose chemical castration in exchange for a reduction in their prison terms.

The bill, which the House of Representatives first passed in February, was approved by the Senate with two abstentions, but it has not yet been enacted.

The draft will be returned to the House of Representatives before it can be submitted for royal endorsement, Bangkok Post reported.

Under the bill, sex offenders deemed at risk of reoffending can get injections of drugs that will reduce their testosterone levels in exchange for shorter jail sentences. But they would need approval from at least two physicians.

I want this law to pass quickly, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said on Tuesday. I dont want to see news about bad things happening to women again.

Chemical castration requires an injection every three months, costing approximately 100,000 baht ($2,757) per treatment. Sex offenders who consent to the process will be monitored for 10 years and have to wear electronic monitoring bracelets.

According to estimates from the government, 4,848 of the 16,413 convicted sex offenders released from Thai prisons between 2013 and 2020 reoffended.

But some argued that chemical castration will not help to reduce sex crimes in Thailand. Sen. Triroj Krutvecho, who is also a doctor and a member of the House committee, said there is no proof that chemical castration can effectively reduce offenders sexual urges.

Jaded Chouwilai, director of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, a non-governmental organization that addresses sexual violence, among other areas, said use of chemical castration would not tackle sex crime.

Convicts should be rehabilitated by changing their mindset while in prison, Chouwilai said. To use punishment like execution or injected castration reinforces the idea that offender can no longer be rehabilitated.

Poland, South Korea, Russia, Estonia, and nine U.S. states are among the nations that use chemical castration on sexual offenders.

Indonesia in 2020 mandated chemical castration for child rapists as a way to prevent sexual violence against children. But Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned it as a cruel and degrading form of corporal punishment.

The Indonesian government has an obligation to protect children from sexual predators, but those efforts shouldnt involve abusive measures that violate international human rights law, HRW said in a statement.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Sri Lankan protesters storm the compound of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 13, 2022. (Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

Sri Lankas Prime Minister Refuses to Go, Countrys Crisis Deepens

Fury exploded onto the streets of Sri Lankas capital on July 13 following the failure of the countrys leadership to honour an agreement for the president and prime minister to relinquish their positions.

The official resignations of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe occurred, but then were backtracked on.

Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards chose to flee the island nations capital city of Colombo for the Maldives early on July 13, leaving Wickremesinghe in charge as the interim president amid an escalating economic and civilian crisis.

Protesters responded en masse to this decision by storming the office of Wickremesinghe, demanding that he also vacate his post.

The prime minister previously agreed to resign in a public statement released on July 9.

After taking charge, Wickremesinghe promptly declared a state of emergency, which he rescinded hours later.

This was followed by demands for a return to order within the besieged capital.

Wickremesinghe then declared a nationwide curfew until the morning of July 14 in a desperate bid to stem the tidal wave of unrest within the capital.

He said the demonstrators had no right to destroy his office and were trying to disrupt a proper transition of government.

They want to stop the parliamentary process. But we must respect the constitution. So security forces have advised me to impose an emergency and a curfew. Im working to do that, he said during a press statement.

Demonstrators run from tear gas used by police during a protest demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 9, 2022. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Police and protesters clashed in the streets outside the prime ministers office on July 13 as law enforcement fired tear gas into crowds of demonstrators.

At least one 26-year-old protester reportedly died in a hospital after developing breathing difficulties from excessive gas exposure.

Earlier the same day, the state-owned television station Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) suspended telecasts as angry dissenters surrounded the station.

An official from the corporation reported a group of demonstrators managed to enter the premises and demanded the station only run news related to the anti-government demonstrations.

Parliament is expected to elect a new president next week.

Some experts say any attempt by Wickremesinghe to hang on to powerwhether elected or notwould be met with violent opposition.

Outrage among civilians has built since March over the countrys dire economic crisis that has left thousands of Sri Lankans without food, fuel, or medicine.

The fact that Wickremesinghe, the ousted presidents close confident, could potentially be elected to the nations highest office next week has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the opposition.

This is the Rajapaksa style of democracy. What a farce. What a tragedy, opposition presidential nominee Sajith Premadasa said in a post on Twitter.
Superbug Infections, Deaths Significantly Increased During Pandemic: CDC

U.S. hospitals saw a surge in superbug infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemica setback of progress in combating antimicrobial resistance in recent yearsaccording to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Superbugs refer to bacteria and fungi that have become resistant to commonly used antibiotics and other medications to treat the infections they cause.

In a new report (pdf) released on July 12, researchers found the pandemic caused at least 15 percent increases in both resistant hospital-onset infections and deaths in 2020.

Although public health efforts had brought down antimicrobial-resistant deaths in hospitals by nearly 30 percent between 2012 and 2017, the pandemic has pushed health care facilities, health departments, and communities near their breaking points in 2020, CDC head Rochelle Walensky wrote in the report.

After years of steady reductions in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), U.S. hospitals saw significantly higher rates for four out of six types of HAIs in 2020. Many of these HAIs are resistant to antibiotics or antifungals, the report reads, citing a 2021 study.

Patients required more frequent and prolonged use of catheters and ventilators, which increased the risk of HAIs and the spread of pathogens, especially under personal protective equipment and lab supply challenges, reduced staff, and longer lengths of stay, according to the report.

In 2020, at least nearly 30,000 people died of superbug infections commonly associated with health care, CDC found after monitoring 18 drug-resistant bugs nationwide.

A healthcare worker looks out from a window in the door to the COVID-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on July 2, 2020. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the knock-on effects of COVID  is with these antibiotic-resistant infections, infections that are very difficult to treat, in some cases untreatable, with very high rates of mortality, The Washington Post quoted CDCs Arjun Srinivasan, who leads the agencys prevention efforts to control superbugs.

He said some patients who recovered from COVID died from a drug-resistant infection.

The study found the pandemic also impacted antibiotic prescribing. We saw a significant increase in antimicrobial use, difficulty in following infection prevention and control guidance, Walensky said.

Although several studies had shown that COVID patients were rarely infected with bacteria when they were first admitted to a hospital, almost 80 percent received an antibiotic from March 2020 to October 2020.

Those life-saving drugs, which destroy bacteria but not viruses, would give patients no benefit and even put them at risk for side effects, according to the report.
Taiwan's Vice President William Lai leaves after the funeral of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, Japan July 12, 2022. (Reuters/Issei Kato)

Taiwan Vice President Attends Abes Funeral, Beijing Complains

Taiwan Vice President William Lai visited Japan to attend the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, much to the displeasure of Beijing.

Abe was gunned down while giving a campaign speech in the Japanese city of Nara on July 8.

Lai attended the funeral at Tokyos Zojoji temple, along with Abes relatives, foreign dignitaries, and close acquaintances.

Lai and Taiwans Ambassador to Japan Frank C.T. Hsieh earlier on Monday visited Abes home in Tokyo to offer condolences.

Lai is the highest-ranking official to visit Japan since Tokyo cut off diplomatic ties with Taipei (Republic of China) in 1972 and established official relations with Beijing (Peoples Republic of China).

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference on Tuesday that Lais visit was in a private capacity to pay respect to Abe as a friend.

Lai returned to Taiwan on Tuesday evening. He did not make any remarks during this trip but only nodded to the media at the airport.

People watch the hearse transporting the body of late former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe as it leaves Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, Japan, on July 12, 2022. (Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)

Diplomatic Breakthrough

Akio Yaita, director of the Taipei office of Japanese media Sankei Shimbun, who was stationed in Beijing for 10 years, pointed out that Japan and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations, and Taiwans president, vice president, chief executive, and foreign minister cannot visit Japan by convention.

This (Lais visit) is the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in the 50 years since Japan and Taiwan cut off diplomatic relations in 1972, Akio Yaita said.

It also shows that Prime Minister Kishida has not only inherited Prime Minister Abes policy of supporting Taiwan but has also taken a big step forward.

Lin Fei-fan, deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Lais visit to Japan is friendship diplomacy.

Although the interactions between Taiwan and Japan are based on diplomatic strategic considerations, friendship and mutual trust in peacetime have played an important role as well, Lin said.

Chinese Regime Complains

In response to Lai attending Abes funeral, the Chinese communist regime lodged solemn representations to Japan.

After the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Abe, the Taiwanese DPP government used the opportunity to engage in political manipulation and petty tricks. This kind of scheming will not succeed, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

Wang also said that Taiwan was part of China and that there is no such thing as a vice president.

The Chinese communist regime has claimed that the self-rule island (formally known as the Republic of China) was its territory and has made threats to invade Taiwan in the name of unification with the mainland.



Zhong Yuan contributed to the report.
Tech Company CEO Charged in Decades-Old Murder of California Woman

A tech company executive was arrested in New York over the weekend in connection with the 30-year-old homicide cold case of Laurie Houts, according to prosecutors.

John Kevin Woodward, 58, the chief executive officer of the online training company ReadyTech, was taken into custody on July 9 at John F. Kennedy airport after arriving from Amsterdam, the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office said in a July 11 press release.

Woodward has been charged with the 1992 strangulation murder of his roommates 25-year-old girlfriend, Houts, the DAs office confirmed. A recent breakthrough in DNA enabled police to arrest the CEO. If convicted, Woodward faces life in prison.

Authorities said Woodward is currently being held without bail in New York while awaiting extradition to California. He is expected to be arraigned once he returns to the western U.S. state.

On Sept. 5, 1992, a passerby discovered the body of Houts, a computer engineer, inside her vehicle. The car was located near a garbage dump about a mile from her workplace in Mountain View, California.

The rope used to kill her was still around her neck and her footprints were visible on the interior of the cars windshield, a sign of her struggle with her killer. Her untouched pocketbook was found nearby.

Woodward was unsuccessfully tried twice in the early 1990s when a judge dismissed the case, citing insufficient evidence, the DAs office said. The business executive then moved to the Netherlands, where hes been residing for the past few decades.

The DAs office said Woodward was openly jealous of his roommates girlfriend and investigators alleged that his motive for the murder emerged from his unrequited romantic attachments toward his roommate.

At the time of his questioning, Woodward provided no alibi for the night of the murder. Investigators found his fingerprints on the outside of Houtss car, but no evidence was collected proving hed actually been inside the vehicle.

I want Ms. Houtss family and friends to know that we never gave up on her, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the release, thanking crime units and the Mountain View Police Department (MVPD) for their work leading to Woodwards charge.

Neither time nor distance will stop us from finding out the truth and seeking justice, Rosen said.

The latest updates in DNA technology helped solve this decades-old cold case after detectives were able to connect Woodward to the rope used in the murder.

The biggest hurdle from those cases was being able to find new evidence, MVPD Sgt. David Fisher told KGO. Since then, these advancements have really given the district attorney the ability to file charges here.

Fisher told the network that his crime unit is responsible for reviewing cold cases at the MVPD. A team started looking into Houtss murder again in late 2020.

For this case specifically, they were able to go back to a much earlier sample that was taken in 2005 from the murder weaponwhich in this case was a ropeand they were able to use new technology to locate new DNA evidence on that rope, from that sample, he said.

Meanwhile, Rosen praised the cooperation between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security.

In less than 24 hours, Dutch authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Woodwards home and business in the Netherlands, while also seizing a number of electronics, including computers and USB drives.

From NTD News
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Aug. 28, 2020. (Franck Robichon - Pool/Getty Images)

The Assassination of Shinzo Abe Is an Assault on Democracy

Commentary

The world has reacted with shock to the assassination of the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. Abe was the Prime Minister of Japan on two occasions, from 2006 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020, when he resigned for health reasons. But he maintained his interest in politics and continued to advocate on behalf of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

He was assassinated on July 8 in Nara when he was making a stump speech for Kei Sato, a candidate for election to Japans Upper House. The culprit has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, who confessed to murdering Abe with a handmade gun.

Yamagami indicated to police that Abe was associated with an organisationsince named as a religious organisationthat swindled his mother out of her money. Regardless, the assassination is the handiwork of a sick and disturbed mind. Moreover, this happened in a country with moderate levels of violent crime and strict gun laws.

The election campaign resumed on July 9, and elections were held, as scheduled, on July 10. Politicians of all parties felt that violence should neither impede nor delay the democratic traditions of Japan.

Nevertheless, the process of mourning generated a genuine outpouring of sadness in Japan. The prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, described the assassination as a cowardly, barbaric act.

Although most commentators and political leaders outside Japan also lamented Abes assassination, Chinese nationalists celebrated his murder and hailed the assassin as a hero. Nationalists still maintain their anti-Japanese sentiment, nurtured by the armed conflicts in the second Sino-Japanese War, when war crimes were committed and the Japanese occupied large swathes of mainland China. This reaction is certainly a sickening response to an event that all civilised nations should condemn.

Australias Great Friend

Abe was a great friend of Australia. He visited Australia in 2014 to promote trade in the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, he and then Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA) on July 8, 2014exactly eight years before his assassinationto facilitate the liberalisation of trade and investment between Japan and Australia.

In his tribute to the slain leader, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained that Abe visited Australia five times during his tenure as prime minister and was instrumental in recognising the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Specifically, Albanese said: Mr Abe understood instinctively the values that Australia and Japan share of democracy and human rights and the shared interest we have in bolstering the global rules-based order.

Australias landmark Opera House in Sydney, Australia, is lit up in the colours of Japan on July 10, 2022, in honour of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Muhammad Farooq/AFP via Getty Images)

Following Abes assassination, the Opposition Home Affairs spokesperson, Karen Andrews, predicted that it is a matter of time until we experience such an assassination attempt in Australia. Andrewss prediction reflects miserably on Australia and discloses the existence of a defeatist attitude because of its unqualified acceptance that such a disastrous event will happen in Australia in the future.

Of course, anything will happen in the fullness of time, but for the time being, the prediction, in promoting doom and gloom, does not serve any useful purpose. In fact, Andrewss statement may well stimulate the prurient and unbalanced minds of people, who might want to emulate the example of the Japanese assassin.

Nevertheless, Andrewss prediction is a timely reminder that political assassinations are always possible and politicians safety is a precarious commodity, even at the best of times.

Assassinations in History

Indeed, even a cursory review of history reveals that assassinations have occurred in many democracies. For example, the assassinations of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the very end of the American Civil War and of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 are well-documented.

In recent times, the United Kingdom was rocked by the murder of Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Jo Cox, in 2016 and British Conservative MP Sir David Amess, in 2021.

Politicians views generate both admiration and rancour in society. And the greater their achievements, the more likely depraved people will target them.

The validity of this view is evidenced by the assassination of Shinzo Abe, who sought to reform his pacifist Constitution to recognise his countrys military and capably managed the economic resources of Japananalysts commented favourably on his brand of economics, Abenomics. Abe also cultivated close ties with former U.S. President Donald Trump. But he also had to defend himself against allegations of cronyism.

The assassinations of Abe and presidents Lincoln and Kennedy also provide evidence that visionary politicians are more likely than mainstream politicians to cause resentment.

Indeed, Lincoln and Kennedy, in their own way, contributed to their country and the world. In emancipating African Americans, Abraham Lincoln sacrificed his life for his daring and courageous decision. And Kennedy may have paid the price for his strong stance against the placement of the USSRs nuclear missiles in Cuba.

They both had strong views, which generated hatred and contempt in some people, who sought revenge by undermining the normal processes of democratic governance by resorting to utterly unacceptable methods.

The statue of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, is seen inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Feb. 12, 2009. (Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images)

What Can Be Learned From This Episode?

Indeed, it is necessary to improve the protection of politicians and political candidates by providing better police and personal security. However, there is only so much that police can do, and it is impossible to provide targeted politicians with a cordon of security constantly.

Heightened security would also defeat the purpose of campaigning because the idea in a democracy is to bring the message of politicians to the people. This type of democracy is practised in Japan, where kerbside campaigning by politicians has been turned into an art form.

The sad result of Abes assassination is that politicians may resort to more virtual campaigning, which could sever the link between the governed and the governors.

Of course, in a democracy, it is impossible to make decisions that will please all members of society and hence, we need an unimpeded, free, and rational debate on the policies taken into an election campaign by politicians.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Education Wars: Trenches Deepen in Tennessee

Hillsdale College dared to threaten leftist hegemony in the states classrooms. Entrenched establishment forces have responded.

Commentary

As a disclaimer, I am an incoming student in Hillsdale Colleges doctoral program at the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. I speak only on behalf of myself. Additionally, I am also a citizen of Tennessee.

Sometimes, you can judge a man as much by the enemies who align against him, as by the friends who rise up to support him.

Leaked audio of a speech by Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn at a private reception in Tennessee has brought out the leftist attack dogs. Comments taken out of context are being used in bad faith to mobilize against not only Arnn and the college, but also Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and his initiative to fight left-wing ideological influence in the public school curriculum.

Arnn is accused of ridiculing public school teachers as dumb and claiming that they dont care about students. This is more than a distortionits an abject lie. Arnn pointed to the fact that education departments are often the most ideologically radical sections of U.S. universities, which have themselves largely adopted the role of left-wing indoctrination mills. You dont need access to a syllabus from one of these programs to grasp that fact (although it would certainly drive the point home).

Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, in Washington on Dec. 10, 2021. (York Du/The Epoch Times)

Politically motivated actors took the opportunity to attack Arnn and demand that Lee distance himself from the Hillsdale president and the school itself. State media and the leftist publication The Tennessean readily accepted the task of kickstarting the manufactured outrage over the comments.

Following suit, the self-proclaimed online publication of the world Trotskyist movement, the International Committee of the Fourth International, and its affiliated sections in the Socialist Equality Parties around the world, the World Socialist Web Site joined the offensive. The piece took the opportunity to attack Hillsdale in general because of alleged ties to former President Donald Trump (evidence provided by Vanity Fair). In reality, one suspects that the socialist piece instead seems to take issue with Hillsdales role as a bastion against the left-wing ideological tentacles that have firmly gripped all of U.S. higher education.

It hardly seems to be a coincidence that a concerted effort is underway to attack Hillsdale and pressure Lee over his relationship with the school and its president. Earlier this year, Lee announced his intention to partner with Hillsdale to expand [schools] approach to civics education and K-12 education in Tennessee.

The 1776 Curriculum promoted by the college is summarized best by one of the central premises upon which it is built: America is an exceptionally good country. This notion contrasts sharply with what most students currently get in classrooms that increasingly focus on skin color, radical gender theory, sexual identity, and the general notion that the United States is a uniquely evil place.

In the same pronouncement, Lee proposed $32 million to increase the number of high-quality charter schools. The real motivations behind the current offensive against Hillsdales involvement in Tennessee schoolrooms should begin to become apparent.

Public schools prioritize the monopoly they hold over the type of material taught to students. It provides the opportunity to ensure that their accepted worldview is the one that is uniformly professed. Charter schools are a traditional enemy of the entrenched position of teachers unions and centralized education enthusiasts; Hillsdales influence in public school classrooms would further intrude into space traditionally controlled by the latter.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on April 30, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Hillsdale College and their warped version of history have no right to be in our kids public schools, state Sen. Raumesh Akbari said after Lees initial decision.

Believing that its actually Hillsdale who has the warped version of American historyas opposed to the radical perversion of the latter that largely holds sway in the U.S. todayperfectly illustrates the danger that a program such as the 1776 Curriculum poses to leftist institutional power over education.

Disingenuous activists like to claim that critical race theory (CRT) is a concept of law only taught at the highest levels of university. Its central tenet is that all legal (and social) interaction is imbued with and fundamentally dictated by white supremacist racism that actively seeks to marginalize communities of color for white advantage.

CRT segues directly into identity-politics-based intersectionality, as well as gender studies and concepts of queerness, all of which further profess the Marxist conflict theory view of an endemically oppressive American system that can only be rectified by totally imploding the structure and rebuilding from the ground up. Education departments at U.S. universities have, by and large, gleefully embraced this theoretical interpretation of reality as the lens through which to present all subject matter.

Arnn alluded to this exact point in his speech. He discussed the fact that many graduates of university education programs are taught that their role isnt to just simply be an individual who facilitates the intellectual development of students; instead, the goal is to be an activist who teaches a radical reimagining of morality that prioritizes ethereal systems of power as well as demonizing whiteness and privilege, which are said to pervade all social interactions.

Antiracist curriculum has been propagating at an accelerated pace since the death of George Floyd in 2020. Nonprofits and individuals work to promote its content. Workbooks designed for middle schoolers implore students to examine abuse of power and white privilege, and focus intently on issues of identity.

There are clearly grounds for concern over what is being injected into schools from leftist ideologues. Of course, Akbari will likely see this as just a correction to the warped version of history that doesnt attempt to simultaneously racialize and sexualize every facet of society.

Proponents of this latter mindset jumped on the bandwagon of attacking Arnn after his words were twisted around to fit the mainstream media narrative. The Tennessee Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and leftist Democratic politicians loudly voiced their outrage.

The president of the Tennessee affiliate of the countrys largest labor union, the National Education Association (NEA), admonished Lee, Gov. Lee allowed an out-of-state privatizer to stand on a stage in Tennessee and insult public school educators and teacher prep programs.

The NEA happens to be currently holding its annual conference in Chicago.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Education Association 2022 Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, on July 5, 2022. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

While an out-of-state privatizer tries to promote a warped version of history that says, no, actually America is a pretty amazing and good place, what is the countrys largest labor group and influencer of public school classrooms promoting?

A new business initiative (NBI) proposal for the term mother to be changed to birthing person, in order to promote inclusivity ultimately failed.

NBI 53 proposed to develop strategies for placing the intersectionality of climate justice and environmental racism at the center of all relevant conversations and business.

Others are purported to discuss mandatory masking and COVID-19 vaccines, focus on encouraging students to develop their unique gender and sexual identities, and even to publicly stand for abortion.

NBI 68 (awaiting debate) would fight for courses that allow individuals to navigate white supremacy culture.

NBI 11 (passed) focused on supporting queer and people of color to run for school boards.

Good thing that outlets such as The Tennessean and all those leftist politicians remain vigilant to the infiltration of pernicious ideas like America is good into Tennessee classrooms. The socialist Fourth International undoubtedly stands in solidarity with the gatekeepers of the U.S. unipartys establishment-approved education.

In reality, this attack is just one part of a much broader front. It isnt about the misconstrued words of Arnn or even Hillsdale College in general. It is about a war for the future of American education. As such, some will subsequently lack the courage to stand for what is right in the face of lies and slander. They will opt to play it safe and avoid any perceived public backlash from the vocal minority. This includes a charter school in Tennessees Hamilton County that has already decided to end its partnership with Hillsdale out of fear or ignorancein the end, its one and the same.

Others will weather the assault and keep fighting. Not because it is easy, but because it is right. As alluded to earlier, the attacks of your enemies often reflect better on your character than any praise from a friend ever could. One would expect that Hillsdale College as an institution likely takes pride in being the target of such ire from the likes of shameless race-baiters, avowed Trotskyists, and people who just downright dislike America.

I know I would.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's U.S. head office in Culver City, California, U.S., September 15, 2020. (Reuters/Mike Blake)

TikTok Concedes Australian User Data Accessible in China

TikTok has confirmed that employees in mainland China can access the data of millions of Australian users of the video-sharing app.

The company provided details after James Paterson, the shadow minister for cybersecurity and countering foreign interference, wrote to TikToks Australian general manager on July 3, asking for clarification on local user data.

Paterson, also the chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security, publicized the correspondence on social media.

TikTok Australia has replied to my letter and admitted that Australian user data is also accessible in mainland China, putting it within reach of the Chinese government, despite their previous assurances it was safe because it was stored in the US and Singapore, he wrote in a Twitter post on July 12.

TikTok Australia has replied to my letter and admitted that Australian user data is also accessible in mainland China, putting it within reach of the Chinese government, despite their previous assurances it was safe because it was stored in the US and Singapore pic.twitter.com/ITY1HNEo6v  James Paterson (@SenPaterson) July 12, 2022

Our security teams minimize the number of people who have access to data and limit it only to people who need that access in order to do their jobs. Brent Thomas, TikToks Australian director of public policy, wrote in reply.

We have policies and procedures that limit internal access to Australian user data by our employees, wherever theyre based, based on need.

However, Thomas said, We have never provided Australian user data to the Chinese government, we have never been asked for Australian user data by the Chinese government, and we would not provide it if we were asked.

Signage is displayed at the TikTok Creators Lab 2019 event hosted by Bytedance Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg)

TikTok is a hugely popular short-format video platform that allows users to create, share, and view 15-second videos, often featuring singing, dancing, or comedy. Started in China as Douyin in September 2016, it attracted 100 million Chinese users within one year.

The app was relaunched as TikTok internationally in September 2017, attracting dozens of A-list celebrity users and partnerships with the NBA, NFL, and Comedy Central.

By 2020, TikTok reported nearly a billion active users worldwideless than four years after its launch.

However, the app has come under scrutiny because of censorship, its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance, and reported link to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which can make a direct request for access to the user data under the 2017 National Intelligence Law.

TikToks Similar Admission to US Lawmakers

Patersons letter comes after reports in the United States that data of TikToks U.S. users can be accessed in mainland China.

BuzzFeed reported that 14 statements made by nine different TikTok employees indicated that engineers in China had access to U.S. data between September 2021 and January 2022, at the very least.

U.S. engineers had to rely on their China-based colleagues to determine how U.S. user data was flowing, as they arent allowed to access the data on their own, according to BuzzFeed.

The news outlet also referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a Master Admin who has access to everything.

The detail was confirmed by eight different employees in nine statements.

The article pointed out that the statements bear a stark contrast to the sworn testimony by a TikTok executive in an October 2021 Senate hearing that a world-renowned, U.S.-based security team handled access to user data.

In a reply letter dated June 30 to U.S. lawmakers, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the companys Chinese staff are provided with access to U.S. data but emphasized that robust controls are imposed under the supervision of a U.S.-based security team.

Chew dismissed the findings from the news report, claiming that they are incorrect and are not supported by facts.

In response to a query regarding the disclosure of U.S. data to the CCP, the CEO briefly said that the company hadnt received such a request and wouldnt comply if asked.

Liberal Sen. James Paterson in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Nov. 21, 2016. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Call for Albanese Government to Take Action

However, Paterson expressed concern that Australian user data could be accessible to the regime in Beijing.

TikTok denies they would ever hand over data to the Chinese Communist Party, but this is very hard to believe, given their national security laws, he wrote.

Its now time for the Albanese government to wake up and take action on this serious threat to the privacy of 7 million Australian users.

Hannah Ng and Daniel Teng contributed to this report.
Pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the OPAL long-distance gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, on June 21, 2022. (AP/Stefan Sauer)

Turbine Shipment to Germany to Defuse Weaponization of Energy by Russia: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending Canadas decision to return six turbines for a pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia to Europe, even as the Ukrainian World Congress says it is seeking a judicial review in Federal Court.

The Liberals decision to grant Siemens Canada an exemption to deliver the equipment to Germany while it has sanctions in place against the Russian regime has earned it sharp rebuke from the Ukrainian government and critics at home.

At a news conference in Kingston, Ont., Trudeau says it was a difficult decision, but the government returned the equipment in response to Russias attempts to weaponize access to energy in Europe.

He says the Canadian sanctions against Russia are aimed at President Vladimir Putin and his cronies, not Canadas allies who rely on Russian oil and gas.

The Ukrainian government says Canadas decision sets a dangerous precedent at a time when the international community needs to show resolve against Russian threats and its invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian World Congress says it and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress have been urging the federal government to reconsider its decision to return the turbines, which had been in Canada for scheduled repairs.
President Joe Biden (L) gives remarks before meeting with small business owners in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington on April 28, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images); Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press conference in Mexico City on April 11, 2022. (Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images)

United States, Mexico Pledge Billions for Infrastructure Modernization Effort at Border

The United States and Mexico have agreed to invest nearly $5 billion to improve infrastructure along the 2,000-mile border between the two countries.

President Joe Bidens Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes a $3.4 billion investment in infrastructure at land ports of entry along the border with Mexico.

These projects will create good-paying local jobs, bolster safety and security, and make the economy more resilient to supply chain challenges, Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a joint statement on July 12.

In addition, Mexico will fund $1.5 billion in border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024.

Borders that are more resilient, more efficient, and safer, will enhance our shared commerce. We are committed like never before to completing a multi-year joint U.S.Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border, the leaders stated.

The presidents committed to maintaining strong border enforcement policies while ensuring that human rights are protected. For migrants seeking access to legal pathways, the joint statement promised to promote greater worker protections. The two nations plan on convening a working group for a response to the issue of child migration.

They also committed to pursue the multibillion-dollar criminal smuggling industry that is preying on migrants. The Mexico Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security have coordinated to arrest and prosecute individuals involved in related crimes.

Biden met with Lopez Obrador in the Oval Office to talk about several issues, including illegal immigration.

In June, Lopez Obrador boycotted the Summit of the Americas held in Washington, as the leaders from South American countries of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba werent invited to the event.

Illegal Migrant Crossing

The joint statement to build and modernize border infrastructure comes amid a spike in illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.

Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that agents from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego apprehended a total of 232,628 illegal border crossers in May, the highest monthly total in more than two decades.

At the same time, there has been a decline in the number of deportations of alien convicts, falling to just 15,044 in fiscal year 2021 from 90,000 in the fiscal year 2019.

The Biden administrations relationship with Border Patrol has been confrontational.

In September 2021, Washington criticized agents from the Border Patrol who were on horseback after a photo purporting to show the agents whipping Haitian migrants seeking to cross illegally and claim asylum at the Del Rio border went viral. Biden had promised that the agents would pay for their actions.

However, a nine-month investigation by the CBPs Office for Personal Responsibility revealed that there was no evidence of agents intentionally striking migrants with their reins. Moreover, agents were found not to have been carrying whips at the time of the alleged incident.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65), forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, conducts underway operations in the South China Sea on July 13, 2022. (U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)

US Destroyer Sails Near Disputed Islands in South China Sea

The United States sent a destroyer through the South China Sea on July 13, in a region where the Chinese regime has made increasingly aggressive moves to bolster its illegal territorial claims.

The USS Benfold sailed near the disputed Paracel Islandswhich China calls the Xisha Islandsas part of the U.S. Navys freedom of navigation operation, the U.S. IndoPacific Command said in a statement.

The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle. The U.S. will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here, it said.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command accused the Navy destroyer of trespassing in its territorial waters, and dispatched naval and air forces to warn it off.

The U.S. Navy rejected Beijings assertion and said the Chinese regime aims to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims at the expense of its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea.

Regardless of which claimant has sovereignty over the islands in the Paracel Islands, straight baselines cannot lawfully be drawn around the Paracel Islands in their entirety, the U.S. Navy said, citing Article 7 of the Law of Sea Convention.

With these baselines, China has attempted to claim more internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf than it is entitled to under international law.

Disputed Territory

While China seized the Paracel Islands from the former government of Vietnam in 1974, Taiwan and Vietnam contest Beijings claim to the islands. In Vietnam, the islands are called the Hoang Sa Islands.

Beijing claims much of the South China Sea as its own under its nine-dash line. A tribunal in the Hague ruled in 2016 that Chinas claims to the bulk of the waters were without merit and ruled in favor of the Philippines; China has refused to abide by the decision.

Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam also have competing claims against China regarding the South China Sea.
Alternatives Pregnancy Center Executive Director Heidi Matzke speaks during a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on July 12, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Violence Has Been Overwhelming: Pro-Life Clinic Director Tells Senators

A pro-life womens medical clinic in California has spent $150,000 to boost its security in the face of overwhelming violence following the Supreme Courts abortion decision overturning Roe v. Wade, according to the facilitys executive director.

Pregnancy care centers from coast to coast are being targeted for violent assaults of vandalism, and hateful attacks online and in the media, Heidi Matzke, executive director of the Alternatives Pregnancy Center in Sacramento, California, told a Senate hearing on July 12.

Just last week, she added, a man approached our care center with an armed machete.

Threatened by violence, the clinic has taken steps to secure its premises and safeguard its staff, Matzke said.

We have been forced to hire 24-hour on-site security. We have had to reinforce doors and bullet-proof our walls. Weve had to paint our building with anti-graffiti coating, she continued.

Weve added cameras, armed our staff with pepper spray, and stopped running our mobile clinic because of threats of violence.

Beefing up security meant diverting resources from those needing help, the executor director added.

We have been forced to expend valuable resources, resources for women of up to $150,000 just to protect ourselves. Why? Because we offer free care to women, Matzke said.

The amount of money weve had to spend to protect ourselves just so we can offer free services to women is unbelievable, she said.

Matzke said that violence has been overwhelming for pregnancy centers in her area since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

There have been at least 57 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers since the Supreme Courts decision was leaked on May 2, according to the nonprofit Catholic Vote. In Yuba City, located north of Sacramento, a pregnancy resource clinic was vandalized overnight between June 27 and June 28.

Another recent vandalization incident happened at a Massachusetts pregnancy clinic on July 7, when its front steps were spray-painted with the words Janes Revenge, and its door and windows were damaged.

In mid-June, the FBI said it investigated over two dozen attacks against pregnancy resource centers and faith-based organizations. Days later, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and his counterparts from 18 other statesincluding Texas, Florida, Utah, Missouri, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Mississippisent a joint letter (pdf) to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking him to investigate violence against pro-life groups.

It is the federal governments job to protect the American people against violent acts, threats, and persecution, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement accompanying the letter.

This should not change if those citizens are conservative, pro-life, or align with a political party this administration opposes.

Matzke also used the hearing to rebuke a consumer alert warning issued by California Attorney General Rob Bonta in June. The alert said the states crisis pregnancy centers do not offer abortion or comprehensive reproductive care.

Attorney General Bonta issued a misleading consumer alert about Californias pregnancy care centers, Matzke said according to her prepared statement (pdf). A great deal of misinformation has been spread about pregnancy centers, including public statements made by the administration.

During the hearing, Matzke talked extensively about what her clinic offers.

We offer pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, [and] prenatal care up to 24 weeks, she said. We offer abortion pill reversal services, abortion recovery counseling, and parenting classes.

When a woman comes in so afraid of what an unplanned pregnancy will mean for her life, her ambitions, her relationships, we do not urge her in that moment to make any decision, she continued. We listen. We try to hear her heart. We offer professional services and emotional support.

Whether she chooses parenting, adoption, or abortion, we will continue to be there for her for years if necessary.
VP Harris Pledges Support to Pacific Leaders, Announces New Strategy

Vice President Kamala Harris met virtually with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) July 12, wherein she vowed new and increased U.S. commitments to the region as well as a forthcoming Pacific islands strategic document.

The United States is a proud Pacific nation and has an enduring commitment to the Pacific islands, which is why President Joe Biden and I seek to strengthen our partnership with you, Harris said.

We recognize that, in recent years, the Pacific islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve. So today I am here to tell you directly, we are going to change that.

The Slow Pivot to the Pacific

The PIF is an 18-nation body that aims to increase regional cooperation through the building of a Pacific trade bloc and joint peacekeeping operations. The U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands maintain observer status in the PIF, but the United States is not a member nation.

Harris was invited to speak by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, who is the PIFs current chair. No other representatives from the PIFs dialogue partners, which include China, France, and the UK, were issued an invitation.

Harris used the opportunity to vow increased U.S. commitments to the region, intended to deepen U.S.-Pacific partnerships and further develop regional alliances.

A White House fact sheet released ahead of the meeting said that the promises reflected a growing commitment to the Pacific Islands region.

Among the commitments announced by Harris were efforts to establish new U.S. embassies in Kiribati and Tonga, increased funding for numerous economic and environmental programs, and an announcement that the United States would appoint its first-ever envoy to the PIF.

Harris also told the PIF that the United States would make progress toward re-establishing a regional mission of the United States Agency for International Development in Fiji, and bring the Peace Corps to the Pacific islands.

In all, Harris address served to underscore the momentum of the United States so-called Pacific pivot, which was announced by the Obama administration in 2011, but which is only now solidifying around what the current administration has termed the pacing challenge of China.

A China Strategy Without China

White House documents announcing the PIF appearance and Harris herself were careful not to single China out by name. There are indications, however, that the renewed focus on Pacific partnerships through the PIF is related to the United States ongoing strategic competition with China.

Specifically, Harris used her PIF appearance to announce that the Biden administration would design and release the first-ever U.S. National Strategy on the Pacific Islands.

The Biden-Harris Administration will craft and publish the first-ever U.S. strategy on the Pacific Islandsa whole-of-government strategy to prioritize the Pacific Islands in American foreign policy and drive effective implementation, the White House said.

That strategy, it added, would be nested under the greater Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States (pdf), which the Biden administration released earlier in the year and which contends with Chinas efforts to remake the global order in its favor.

As such, Harris appearance at the PIF appears to be a realization of one of the administrations key strategic concepts for the Indo-Pacific: to leverage regional partnerships in order to shape Chinas environment.

Our objective is not to change [China] but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favorable to the United States, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share, the Indo-Pacific Strategy reads.

To that end, the White House appears eager to further develop relations with the PIF in order to actively build a regional coalition more favorable to Western-style democracies.

In the words of the White Houses PIF fact sheet, the administration is bolstering Pacific regionalism and expanding opportunities between the Pacific and the world.

Another indicator that the move was made with China in mind was the White Houses announcement that it would be focusing on regional cooperation to combat the scourge of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, an issue which the administration has previously accused China of being the greatest perpetrator of.

Still, the administration was careful to clarify that the purpose of the visit was not to drive a wedge between China and the PIF nations, but to improve engagement between the PIF and the United States in a positive way.

Were not asking countries to choose, said a senior administration official in the lead-up to the meeting. Were not asking countries not to have relations with China. Its a big, important country.

So this is not about countering any one country or China. Its about the positive engagement that these leaders are asking for and were trying to be responsive to.

To that end, the administration hailed Harris invitation and subsequent address as evidence of a meaningful development in relations between the United States and Pacific island nations.

We think this invitation speaks to the longstanding and deep partnership the United States has with the Pacific Islands, and our mutual interest in strengthening our relationships, the official said.

We have a very strong foundation with the Pacific Islands, including historic ties, deep people-to-people bonds, and shared interests and values. And we believe that were now embarking on a new chapter in this longstanding partnership.
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford speaks to Labour Party members during the launch of the Welsh Labour local government campaign, at Bridgend College, Wales, on April 5, 2022. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Wales Introduces 20 Mph Default Speed Limit; First Country to Do So

The new slower speed limits are currently being trialled in eight communities across Wales and will be rolled out nationally in September 2023, making it the first nation to impose it as the default on all restricted roads.

The Labour-run Welsh government led by Mark Drakeford announced on Tuesday that Parliament had passed a law (pdf) for a 20 mph speed limit that will come into force on all restricted roads.

Speed Limits

However, the opposition Conservative Shadow Minister called it yet another diktat imposed by Labour from Cardiff Bay.

Speed limits like this should be decided by councils in their local areas, not top-down by Labour ministers. Lets give local people the power over their communities, the very people who know their roads best, said shadow transport minister Natasha Ashgar MS to the Daily Mail.

Currently, just 2.5 percent of Welsh roads have a speed limit of 20 mph, but from next year this is expected to increase to approximately 35 percent.

The government says the new limits will reduce the risk and severity of injuries as a result of collisions between vehicles and vulnerable road users, encourage more people to cycle and walk, make Wales more attractive for communities and bring physical and mental health benefits.

Anyone caught speeding in England and Wales faces a minimum 100 fine and three penalty points. The government said that an Enforcement Strategy has been agreed upon with the Police and Wales speed camera agency GoSafe.

Speaking after the vote, Minister for Climate Change, Julie James said she was delighted that the move to 20 mph has received cross-party support across the Welsh Parliament today.

The evidence is clear, decreasing speeds not only reduces accidents and saves lives, but helps improve peoples quality of life, making our streets and communities a safer and more welcoming place for cyclists and pedestrians, whilst helping reduce our environmental impact, she said.

We know this move wont be easy, its as much about changing hearts and minds as it is about enforcement, but over time 20 mph will become the norm, just like the restrictions weve introduced before on carrier bag charges and organ donation, added James.

Blanket Roll-out

Ashgar MS added that a blanket roll-out is quite frankly ludicrous but that the Welsh Conservatives are not against introducing 20 mph speed limits outside schools, playgrounds, places of worship, and high streets.

With a price tag of more than 32 million, is this really money well spent at a time when the Labour Government should be focused on tackling the big issues at hand such as the cost of living? I dont think it is, and I am sure residents across the country will be thinking the exact same, said Ashgar.

The SNP and Greens who run Scotland are expected to also pass a 20mph speed limit restrictions law by 2025.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in his office in Florence, Ariz., on Nov. 12, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Watchdog Group Asks County Sheriffs to Investigate Alleged Election Fraud

Since a number of state and federal law enforcement agencies have shied away from taking on cases of alleged voter fraud, one election watchdog group has turned to Americas county sheriffs to do the job.

Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of the non-partisan election integrity watchdog organization True the Vote (TTV), said she believes, Its the only way investigations of election fraud will move ahead.

Speaking at a July 12, 2022, press conference called by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Engelbrecht told the audience of 300, which included many sheriffs from around the country, Weve been burned by state and federal investigators.

Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote. (Courtesy of Catherine Engelbrecht)

TTV used cellphone tracking technology, digital geo-fencing techniques, and government surveillance video, to document thousands of instances of illegal vote trafficking across key swing states in the 2020 presidential election.

Engelbrecht spoke of the reluctance of the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to seriously investigate the evidence presented to them by TTV.

She said witnesses have been doxed by law enforcement officials in key states and notes from active ongoing investigations undertaken in a few places have been given unredacted to the press.

The organizations findings gained national attention by being featured in the Dinesh DSouza movie 2000 Mulesa film viewed by an estimated 25 million Americans since its release in the first week of May.

CSPOA president Richard Mack said in a statement, We are asking for all local law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue investigations to determine the veracity of all elections.

If allegations are incorrect, we want them exposed. If correct, we want proper investigations fully undertaken and the criminals responsible prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

We ask for all Americans and public officials to demonstrate civility and cooperation as we pursue the truth. What we want is the truth; let the consequences fall where they may.

Engelbrecht said TTV sued a Republican secretary of state in Nevada over what, she said, were unconstitutional changes to state election processes.

State Rep. Mark Finchem, an Arizona Republican, told the audience, I am disgusted with some Republican secretaries of state who are acting worse than the Democrats.

Gregg Philipps, TTVs chief cyber investigator, told the crowd that his group has begun raising money to create grants to be awarded to sheriffs offices across the nation to make secure and surveil all absentee ballot drop boxes still in use.

Engelbrecht added, We will cooperate with and give everything needed to sheriffs to accomplish this.

Mack said, CPSOA will be participating in True the Votes efforts to help provide local law enforcement with the information and resources they need to support election integrity.

In Wisconsin, Racine County sheriff Chris Schmaling reported that his office was still investigating how severely mentally debilitated nursing home residents were able to vote in the 2020 electiondespite zero interest from state attorney general Josh Kaul, a Democrat.

In Michigan, when Barry County sheriff Dar Leaf opened an investigation into alleged election fraud in his jurisdiction, he told the crowd that he was made the target of a government investigation.

Engelbrecht stated that since she founded True the Vote in 2010, she has been subjected to 23 audits.

I sued the IRS. The case dragged on from 2013 to 2019, but we won.

Mack reported that a county sheriffs investigation in Yuma, Arizona, had resulted in three arrests for alleged vote trafficking.

Engelbrecht said that although most states have not yet changed their 2020 laws and policies, she remained optimistic.

Mack told The Epoch Times in a phone interview on July 11, The states are not the puppets of the federal government. In our system of checks and balances, different levels of government control each other.

The county sheriff is elected directly by the citizens and is directly accountable to them.

My concern is that bureaucrats at all levels think they answer to no one.

Retired Michigan sheriff Garry Biniecki served in law enforcement for 45 years, including three four-year terms as sheriff of Sanilac County.

Biniecki told The Epoch Times that a county sheriff is the only police officer in the American system elected by the people.

He said he fought many battles with the county board of commissioners, insisting that the office of sheriff was created in the state constitution and was therefore not to be considered one of the countys departments.

Biniecki said, The sheriffs office is a big line of defense for the public. There is a lot of power that goes with it, but we dont get to pick and choose which laws adopted by the legislature we will enforce.

Thats why its very important to elect the right individuals.

Biniecki said a lot can be learned if citizens would contact their local sheriff and find out where he or she stands on the role and authority of a sheriff.

When they are more interested in keeping their job than doing their job, the mission is lost, he said.

There are over 3,000 county sheriffs in the United States, nearly all of whom are elected by the voters.

According to Binieckifederal, state, and county department policies are different from laws passed by elected representatives.

Ive had to say many times in my career, Forget policy! What does the Constitution say?
Elizabeth Spalding, founding director of the Victims of Communism Museum and vice chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, in Washington on June 27, 2022. (York Du/The Epoch Times)

Why Life Is Cheap Under Communist Rule: Elizabeth Spalding, Victims of Communism Museum Curator

A harsh reality of communism is that when an atheist state dictates every aspect of peoples lives, life itself becomes cheap and expendable in the eyes of the state, according to Elizabeth Spalding, founding director of the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington.

In an interview with Epoch TVs American Thought Leaders, Spalding said the museum commemorates over 100 million people killed by communism in the last century as well as the hundreds of millions who have lived under communist regimes.

Today, that figure is more than 1.5 billion people [living under communism], she told host Jan Jekielek. Because if you count up the populations of the PRC (Peoples Republic of China), North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba, you get to over 1.5 billion.

Part of the museum features the horror of Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed an estimated 4 million people from 1932 to 1933 in Soviet Ukraine, where crop collectors confiscated the peasants last remaining food reserves in order to meet Stalins unrealistically high grain procurement quotas. Millions who didnt have to die died, and the communiststhey dont care about life, either, Spalding said.

This is another truth of communism: life is very cheap to them, she continued, noting that Stalin knew that Ukrainian people would starve, but ordered the grain confiscation anyway. Its extraordinary to think on, and we need people to understand thats not the way that any leader or any country or any state should run things.

When asked why human lives are so cheap under communist rule, Spalding said this has to do with communisms atheistic and anti-religious nature, which essentially places the state and its authoritarian leaders above everything else.

Theres no religious liberty under communism. Its based on atheism, she said. If you say that the state is the be-all the end-all, then everything must serve or be made to serve the state. Thats what happens under communism, and the state and the party are the same thing. So it means all life is cheap in comparison to that.

My parents escaped from communist Poland in the 70s. They were among the lucky ones. Elizabeth Spalding is founding director of the new @VoCommunism museum honoring the over 100 million people killed by communism in the last century PREMIERE 7:30pm ET: https://t.co/zd1AHqiObV pic.twitter.com/pfnQ0wVL4H  Jan Jekielek (@JanJekielek) July 9, 2022

Victims of Communism Memorial Day

In an effort to raise awareness and educate the American public about the historical and ongoing crimes of communism, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has been advocating to establish Nov. 7 as Victims of Communism Memorial Day. The initiative has so far gained official recognition in Alabama, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and most recently, Florida.

Under a law signed in May by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, public schools across Florida are not only encouraged to observe the memorial day but also required to teach high school students on topics related to communism, including how people suffered under Cubas Castro regimes. Known as home to generations of Cubans fleeing communist rule, Florida has already required 12th-graders to learn about the evils of communism and totalitarian ideologies in their civics class.

Thats something that I commend to other states, Spalding said. Its not something that we have nationwide. Thats one important thing to do.

Another one of the Foundations initiatives is Captive Nations Week, which falls on the third week of July. It has been observed since 1953 to show solidarity with people held captive by communist regimes across the world.

At one point, it was very much focused on the Soviet Union, its satellite countries, China, and other countries in Asia. But now its to not only teach people about past as well as present, Spalding explained, adding that teachers can be assigned this as an optional summer activity for students.

Were just trying to get the education out there so that people know, and thats what it is, she said. Its person by person, student by student, teaching them so that they understand what happened, what is happening, and that they should care about these victims.

Bill Pan Reporter Follow Bill Pan is a reporter for The Epoch Times.
A Brazilian flag is seen during a demonstration to support Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Sergio Lima/AFP via Getty Images)

Will There Be a Fair and Transparent Presidential Election in Brazil?

Commentary

Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro has always been critical of the electronic voting machines used during elections in his country. He suspects that these machines may be not entirely reliable and insists on using printable and auditable paper ballots as a better guarantee of transparency. The president would like to see a physical register for each electronic ballot, a sheet of paper that could be printed so that citizens could confirm whether their votes were cast properly.

These suggestions have been rejected by the Brazilian Supreme Court. Some members of this Court have even threatened to investigate Bolsonaro for abuse of office and improper use of official communication channels. His crime was simply raising concerns about the transparency of these voting machines.

I refuse to be intimidated. I am going to continue exercising my right to freedom of expression, to criticize, to listen to, and above all answer to the will of the people, Bolsonaro said to his supporters outside the presidential palace. On Aug. 1, 2021, thousands of Brazilians took to the streets of major cities to support him and protest against the apparent lack of transparency in the electoral system.

The president of the federal tribunal in charge of organizing, conducting, and supervising Brazilian elections is Edson Fachin. He is also a vocal adversary of Bolsonaro.

As president of the superior electoral tribunal, we will not tolerate the intolerant, Fachin said in an interview on Feb. 18, referring, of course, to the conservative opinions of the Brazilian president.

Landless Workers Movement

One may agree that it is deeply problematic for the head of the top electoral tribunal to attack a presidential candidate in such a manner. However, J.R. Guzzo, a well-known journalist in Brazil, explains that, before becoming a top judge, Fachin had served as a lawyer for the Landless Workers Movement (MST) and as a supporter of Lula da Silva and his Workers Party.

Bernardo Kucinski, a former special adviser to Lula, explains that the MST supports his candidature and the Workers Party in elections campaigns and is, in turn, supported by the party. Founded in 1984, the MST has a history of illegal invasions of property, sometimes leading to violent clashes with landowners, especially during the Lula administration, from 2003 to 2010.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is pictured during a meeting with members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) at the Eli Vive camp in Londrina, Parana State, Brazil, on March 19, 2022. (Ricardo Chicarelli/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the U.S. State Department, many people were killed in those years in conflicts involving disputes over land ownership and usage. The land rights organization known as the Movement of the Landless (MST) continued its campaign of invasion and occupation of private and public lands that it wanted the federal and state governments to expropriate for land reform. The MST also continued its occupation of public buildings. MST activists often used confrontational and violent tactics and destroyed private property during some occupations.

The MSTs strongly communistic program proposes confiscating private property and changes in patterns of consumption as necessary for a redistribution of income.

Maria Jaime, the head of the MSTs central propaganda apparatus, was a guerrilla Maoist during the 1970s who had received political and military training in Communist China in 1969.

The prominent leader of the MST, Jose Stedile, is an admirer of former Vietnamese dictator Ho Chi Min. He was elected a member of the Brazilian Congress and has served in this capacity since 2011 for the Workers Party.

Corruption During the Lula Administration

As was widely reported, corruption was an endemic problem during the Lula administration. No other government in Brazils history had many politicians, ministers, and functionaries under investigation for private gains through bribery, fraud, extortion, and embezzlement. All of Lulas closest and most influential advisers were eventually forced to resign for large-scale illegal transfers of funds into electoral campaigns, private enrichment, and financing of full-time functionaries.

In July 2017, Lula was sentenced to 12 years and a month in prison for corruption and money laundering. He spent only a year and a half in jail. In March 2021, Justice Edson Fachin, the top judicial officer in charge of organizing, conducting, and supervising the next presidential election, annulled all these convictions on technical grounds, taking the entire nation by surprise.

Fachin did not say a word about Lulas culpabilitydemonstrated in three court decisions, before nine judges, and in a series of criminal proceedings where there are numerous witnesses, plea bargains, and even the return of stolen money. Instead, he limited himself to saying that Lula should not have been prosecuted in the city of Curitiba but rather in Brasilia.

Fachins monocratic decision was later confirmed by a full plenary vote following an appeal by state prosecutors, restoring Lulas political rights ahead of the presidential election this year.

Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin speaks during a hearing on Turkeys extradition request for Brazilian-Turkish businessman Ali Sipahi, in Brasilia, on Aug. 6, 2019. (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)

Who Is Edson Fachin?

Some context about Justice Fachins nomination may be necessary.

In March 2016, in an attempt to shield her political ally and supporter from criminal charges, then-President Dilma Rousseff tried to appoint Lula to her cabinet. Although Rousseff failed in her attempt because Congress concluded her process of impeachment in time, there was still time to appoint a progressive academic lawyer from Parana StateEdson Fachinto a judicial position in the Brazilian Supreme Court in April 2015.

On Aug. 31, 2016, the Brazilian Senate voted 61-20 to remove Rousseff from office on charges of manipulating the federal budget to conceal the nations economic problems and a serious recession.

There was, however, a more serious accusation.

Between 2004 and 2014, the state-run oil company Petrobrasthe countrys largest corporation and one of the largest in the worldbecame the victim of one of the most astonishing corruption schemes ever made known to the public. We are talking about $5.3 billion deviated from the company by construction executives who secretly created a cartel to coordinate bids on Petrobrass contracts. As a result, these constructors overcharged the company, and some of the profits were sent to the companys bosses as bribes and politicians linked to the government.

Justice Fachins radical views on property rights made him a notorious defender of the cause of social groups such as the MST.

He follows a progressive line of constitutional law, said Gabriel Petrus, a political analyst who studied law under Fachin at the Parana Federal University. He also said Rousseffs decision to pick a progressive for the Supreme Court was to balance what was perceived as an increasingly conservative Congress.

Before becoming a top electoral judge, Fachin was not only an academic lawyer but also a supporter of Lula and her ally Rousseff. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he spoke favourably about the then-ruling Workers Party and asked for Rousseffs re-election in a passionate speech.

Is Electoral Transparency Possible?

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (top C) attends the Opening Plenary of the IX Summit of the Americas at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 9, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

As can be seen, President Bolsonaro has some good reasons to be suspicious about the impartiality of the head of the Superior Electoral Tribunal. But unfortunately, Justice Fachin is not entirely apolitical.

And he is not the only one to take sides in this years presidential election. Other Supreme Court justices, in particular Luis Roberto Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes, have overruled several government policies and claimed that the president was spreading fake news about the safety of vaccines.

In an interview on Jan. 10, Bolsonaro accused these top judges of wanting Lula to be president. Then he asked rhetorically: They might not want to vote for me, but do they want to return to office the man who robbed the nation for eight years?

His concerns are justifiable, particularly because Justice Moraes has been censoring the presidents political supporters, even to the extent of opening an inquiry concerning alleged fake news.

One of the materials censored by Moraes refers to a 2018 federal police inquiry that investigated how hackers might have attacked the computers of the Superior Electoral Tribunal. This is not fake news. One, even, stole the password of a judge, Bolsonaro said.

Of course, any member of the judiciary who swore to uphold the Brazilian Constitution should not be so hasty in limiting free expressions of political opinion.

But, whether or not that information is fake news, one thing is for sure: many top judges in Brazil, including those in charge of supervising the next Brazilian elections, still have a lot to learn about a democratic right to freedom of speech, including when it comes to debates about the transparency of voting machines.

You either have or dont have freedom, said Bolsonaro.

With a presidential election looming, is there any hope for electoral transparency in Brazil?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A woman holding her ballot walks past a Vote by Mail Drop Box for the 2020 U.S. Elections in Monterey Park, Calif., on Oct. 5, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

No Guidance for Wisconsin Election Clerks After Top State Court Bans Ballot Drop Boxes

The Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) has yet to release new guidance on how to handle absentee ballots for the Aug. 9 primary election after the states Supreme Court ruled that ballot drop boxes are illegal.

Republicans and Democrats on the commission repeatedly hit an impasse on July 12, when it came to deciding the meaning of the courts July 8 ruling and how it should be interpreted and handled by more than 1,800 municipal clerks ahead of the primary.

The court ruled 43 that drop boxes that enable people to drop off ballots cast by themselves and others are illegal under state law and voters must return their ballots in person.

We hold the documents are invalid because ballot drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin statutes, Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in the majority opinion on July 8. An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerks office or a designated alternate site.

The court didnt address the question of who can put an absentee ballot in the mail.

While state law says an absentee ballot shall be mailed by the elector, federal law allows for disabled people to receive assistance with their ballot, meaning the Supreme Courts decision could make it more difficult for the disabled, as well as the elderly, to vote.

Potentially Confusing

At the commission meeting on July 13, Republicans said the panel should provide guidance to clerks running the elections to help them better understand the ruling, while Democrats argued that its unclear what the commission can tell clerks, saying that the proposed guidance went too far and could potentially confuse clerks and spark a slew of lawsuits.

Meanwhile, Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell offered a proposal that would require voters to present identification when returning a ballot to a clerks office, calling it a security measure that would ensure only the voter can return a completed ballot, in line with the courts decision.

Its inherent in something like this that we have the person who is actually doing that to show an ID to show in fact it is his or her [ballot], he said. Otherwise, you have the problem of it could be anyones.

That motion was ultimately rejected by WEC.

The commission also rejected another motion to issue guidance stating that the voter must be the one to mail a ballot.

It would be inappropriate for us to start making stuff up and I think thats what this memo does, unfortunately, Democratic Commissioner Mark Thomsen said of proposed guidance written by commission staff.

I think the fact that weve looked at the Supreme Court decision today and that we still need to digest some of it means that there will be guidance at some point in time, but at this moment in time, were not ready to give guidance, said commission member Marge Bostelmann.

The WEC is scheduled to meet again on July 22.

Zachary Stieber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Toronto resident Tracey Thompson says the enduring effects of long COVID have left her in a state of constant fatigue and unable to work, leading her to begin the process of medically assisted suicide. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

Woman Applies for Assisted Suicide, Saying Long COVID Has Rendered Her Unable to Work

A Toronto woman says she will apply for medically assisted death due to her long COVID symptoms, which she says have rendered her unable to work.

Tracey Thompson, who contracted COVID-19 over two years ago, says the enduring symptoms and lack of financial support have led her to start the process of applying for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), a procedure first made legal by the federal Liberal government in 2016.

From being able-bodied and employed to basically bedbound. I cant get up on average for 20-plus hours, said Thompson in an interview with CTV News, reported on July 11. I have very little capacity to expend the energy physically, mentally, and emotionally, so I try to stay home all the time.

Prior to contracting COVID-19, Thompson was working as a chef in Toronto, where her role demanded long hours of standing and making quick decisions. She said after the infection, even standing up to fill a glass of water can bring her day to a standstill.

In addition to the severe fatigue, Thompson, who is in her 50s, told CTV her symptoms also include difficulty breathing, blurred vision, digestion problems, and an altered sense of taste and smell.

Exclusively a Financial Consideration

Having had no income for the past 26 months, and no foreseeable ability to return to work, the former chef said she expects her savings to be depleted in about five months time.

She told CTV that even though there is the Ontario Disability Support Program, which grants an eligible applicant a maximum of $1,169 a month, it would take years for her to qualify, as her illness is not clearly defined in the program. Even if she did qualify, Thompson said the total sum could only cover her rent.

I dont relish the idea of suffering for months to come to the same conclusion. When support is not coming, things arent going to change, she said.

[MAiD] is exclusively a financial consideration.

A person walks past a COVID-19 mural designed by artist Emily May Rose on a rainy day during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, Canada, on April 12, 2021. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

On March 17, 2021, Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code (MAiD), received royal assent, permitting individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable to access medically assisted death. Prior to that, only patients with terminal illnesses were allowed to do so.

In a report by Health Canada last June, 7,595 cases of MAiD were documented in 2020, accounting for 2.5 percent of all deaths in Canada.

The number of cases of MAiD in 2020 represents a growth rate of 34.2 [percent] over 2019. All provinces experienced a steady year over year growth during 2020, the report said.

Thompson told CTV that she has sought the approval of one doctor for MAiD, and is waiting for a second specialist to get back to her. To be eligible, her signed written request will need the assessment from two independent doctors or nurse practitioners to confirm that she has met the criteria.

According to the governments website, applicants have until the moment before the procedure to withdraw consent. Once criteria are met and consent is given, their lives will be in the hands of the doctors.

At Risk for Premature Death

Isabel Grant, a law professor who specializes in criminal and mental health law at the University of British Columbia, responded to Thompsons story on Twitter, saying the federal government has made it easier for people to seek assisted death than it is to receive financial support.

This is where we have landed  that people are seeking MAiD because they cant afford to live with disability and the state has decided that helping people die is cheaper than helping people live, she said in a tweet on July 11.

With the new amendment to the legislation, Canadians whose only medical condition is a mental illness, including depression, will also be eligible for MAiD beginning March 17, 2023.

In a press release issued in February last year, Conservative Sen. Denise Batters said the amendment to Bill C-7 is a four-alarm fire for mental illness in Canada.

This amendment is a runaway train. The consequences of passing it will be dire. This will undermine suicide prevention efforts and treatment for mental illness, she said.

It places Canadians with mental illness at risk for premature death when they might otherwise have recovered successfully. Experts have repeatedly told usmental illness is not irremediable, it is difficult to predict, and there is no consensus in the medical community on this issue.

Sen. Denise Batters, the wife of Regina MP Dave Batters who killed himself while on leave for depression, appears as a witness at a commons health committee on mental illness in Ottawa on March 8, 2012. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Investigation

On April 26, CTV News reported that police in Abbotsford, B.C., was investigating the medically assisted death of Donna Duncan, a long-time psychiatric nurse whose daughters say should not have been approved for the procedure due to ongoing concerns over her mental health.

Duncan, 61, who received medically assisted death on Oct. 29, 2021, was involved in a car accident on Feb. 25, 2020, and was diagnosed with a concussion the following day.

She soon became depressed, was in constant pain, and experienced severe weight loss among other symptoms. The tests she underwent were unable to identify the cause. Her problems were exacerbated when COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in March 2020, leading to the decline of her mental health amid isolation, while curtailing her treatments for months and months, according to her daughters.

Despite her family doctor saying that she suffered from depression and did not qualify for MAID, several other doctors Duncan consulted said she was not depressed and was capable of making the decision.

Duncan eventually went to B.C.s Fraser Health to seek MAiD and received approval for the procedure from a second medical practitioner on Oct. 24, 2021. Her daughters say they didnt learn of their moms plans for a medically-assisted death until two days prior, on Oct. 22.

A petition titled Change Laws for Medical Assisted Death launched by her daughters, Alicia and Christie Duncan, says the two tried every means possible to prevent their mother from receiving MAiD, but to no avail.

We spent the next week fighting for my moms life by any legal means, including having her sectioned under the Mental Health Act, the petition states.

Unfortunately, my mothers depression was not enough to hold her in the Psychiatric Unit beyond 48 hours. On Oct. 29 at 8:30 p.m., we were notified that she was dead, less than 4 hours after being released from the psychiatric unit.

The Duncan sisters said they initiated the petition to raise awareness about the gaps in Canadas assisted suicide legislation.

Our hope is that we can enlighten others about the shocking legislation that leaves Canadas Euthanasia deaths among the highest in the world. These already lax laws are relaxing even further in 2023. We should all be very concerned.
The Washburn Fire burns next to a roadway north of the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Calif., on July 11, 2022. (National Park Service via AP)

Yosemite Fire Caused by Human Activities: Officials

The destructive Washburn fire at Yosemite National Park, which had reached 3,221 acres by Monday evening, was caused by human activities, according to park officials.

Yosemites Fire and Aviation team held a public meeting on July 11 informing residents of suppression strategies for the Washburn fire.

As you all know, there was no lightning on that day. So its a human start fire and its under investigation, the parks Superintendent Cicely Muldoon said. Thats all I can really say about that right now. Were looking at that really hard.

Seen from unincorporated Mariposa County, Calif., a helicopter drops water on the Washburn Fire burning in Yosemite National Park on Saturday, July 9, 2022. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

During the meeting, Muldoon also addressed fallen trees and debris from the mono-wind event last year and said the park has been working on a project to reduce fire hazards that may affect local communities.

We are actively working on a project around the community  We will continue that work soon as its safe to be working in there again, she said.

The fire was reported on Thursday near the Washburn Trail in the Mariposa Grove area of Yosemite National Park.

As of Monday, the fire was 22 percent contained, according to park officials.

The fire was a threat to more than 500 mature sequoias in the parks Mariposa Grove including the most well-known treethe Grizzly. In addition, the residents from the nearby community of Wawona were told to evacuate.

Currently, a structure defense group is in place to assess structures and areas that need to be cleaned up around Wawona and put hose lines where appropriate.

As a threat increases, we increase the resources. We bring in the appropriate resources within this community, said Matt Ahearn, operations section chief.

Due to the Washburn fire, Yosemite National Park had to close several campgrounds including the popular Wawona Campground located at the southern end of the park.

Many reservations were canceled and refunded due to the closure. Yosemite national park is asking campers with existing reservations to double-check if their campgrounds were affected by the closure.

As other parts of Yosemite remain open, the park is requiring all visitors to have a reservation to enter the park during peak hours6 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.
Youre a Scientist? So What?

Commentary

A caller on my radio show on July 11, a physician, took strong issue with me regarding COVID-19 therapeutics. He accused me of not believing in science. His last words before we had to go to a commercial break were, Im a scientist.

Given that Im not a scientist, he assumed that comment would persuade meor at least persuade many listenersthat I wasnt qualified to disagree with him.

If that was his assumption, he was wrong.

I dont care, I said. Its irrelevant. Scientists have given science a bad name.

I wouldnt have said that as recently as three years ago. But in recent years, and especially in the past two years, some basic suppositions of mine have changed.

I no longer assume when I read a statement by a scientist that the statement is based on science. In fact, I believe Im more committed to scientific truth than many scientists are.

The American Medical Association (AMA) advocates the removal of sex designation from birth certificates. If many doctors or other scientists have issued a dissent, Im not aware of it.

Assigning sex using binary variables in the public portion of the birth certificate fails to recognize the medical spectrum of gender identity.

Those are the words of the author of the AMA report, Dr. Willie Underwood III.

Dr. Sarah Mae Smith, an AMA delegate from California, speaking on behalf of the Women Physicians Section, said, We need to recognize gender is not a binary, but a spectrum.

When the American Medical Association and a plethora of physicians tell us that human beings, unlike every other animal above some reptilian species, are not binary, i.e., neither male nor female, the assertion I am a scientist becomes meaningless.

In mid-2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the medical community was demanding physical distancing, mask-wearing, and the lockdown of businesses and schools, more than 1,000 health care professionals announced that the protests against racism then taking placeevents with no social distancing, often no masks, plenty of yelling, and people coughing uncontrollably (The New York Timess description)were medically necessary.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, wrote on Twitter: We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus. In this moment, the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.

More than 1,000 health care professionals signed an open letter advocating for an anti-racist public health response to demonstrations against systemic injustice occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter states, among other things, Do not disband protests under the guise of maintaining public health for COVID-19 restrictions and labeled pervasive racism  the paramount public health problem. Thats a left-wing cant, not science.

Now you can better appreciate why I am a scientist no longer means what it once did.

How about the cruelty of not allowing the dying to be visited by loved oneseven if they wore a hospital mask, even if they agreed to wear a hazmat suit? Did that enhance your view of scientists medical judgment?

Then there was the American medical communitys opposition to therapeutics, dismissing hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin (both used with zinc) as frauds, despite the testimony of numerous physicians that they saved COVID-19 patients lives when used appropriately. State medical boards around the country threatened to revoke the medical license of any physician who prescribed these drugs to treat COVID-19despite these drugs being among the safest prescription drugs available.

As early as July 2020, Dr. Harvey Risch, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote in Newsweek:

I myself know of two doctors who have saved the lives of hundreds of patients with these medications, but are now fighting state medical boards to save their licenses and reputations. The cases against them are completely without scientific merit.

As a result of the American medical communitys opposition to therapeutics, Risch wrote that tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19 are dying unnecessarily.

Doctors throughout the United States were essentially telling COVID-19 patients, Go home, get rest, and wait to see if your COVID-19 gets worse. If you cant breathe, come to the hospital where we can put you on a ventilator.

Ventilators, it quickly became clear, were a virtual death sentence for COVID-19 patients. And then they died alone.

Another example of the decline of seriousness about science among scientists was National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins urging his colleagues to boycott any high-level scientific conference that doesnt have women and underrepresented minorities in marquee speaking slots.

And another: Heather Mac Donald reported that in 2020, the NIH announced a new round of Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research. Academic science labs could get additional federal money if they hire diverse researchers; no mention was made of relevant scientific qualifications.

How many scientists protested the shutting down of schools for nearly two years? Some did, such as those who signed the Great Barrington Declaration, but, for the most part, the scientific community was silent. In other words, scientists helped ruin millions of American childrens educations, not to mention abetted the unprecedented increase in depression, drug use, and suicide among young people.

These are only a few of the reasons not to take I am a scientist as seriously as we once did.

But there may be two consolations:

One is that the same rule now applies to I am a professor, I am a teacher, I am a rabbi, I am a priest, I am a pastor, I am a journalist, and I am a doctor.

The other is that there are exceptions. Thank God.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Berkay Ataseven/Getty Images/iStockphoto

An investigation is underway at the St. Louis Health Department following a probable case of monkeypox.

This would be the city's first case of monkeypox, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed three cases in Missouri.
Germany's much-vaunted trade surplus disappears as import prices surge

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/05/germanys-much-vaunted-trade-surplus-disappears-as-import-prices-surge.html

Jul 5 2022, Updated Jul 6 2022

Germany trade entered negative territory in May, raising questions about the stability of its economy in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Germany is no longer exporting more than what it buys from other countries, highlighting the strains that the nation and other European economies are facing from surging energy and food prices.

Data released Monday showed that in May, Germany posted a foreign trade deficit of 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion). This marks a significant moment for the German economy, which had reported trade surpluses for several decades. Bloomberg reported that 1991 was the last time the country reported a monthly trade deficit.

Its high level of exports had been an important economic driver and the trade surplus was even attacked by former President Donald Trump, who wanted Americans to buy more U.S.-made products.

Germanys vaunted trade surplus is gone, Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note Tuesday, adding that higher prices for imports of energy, food and materials are goosing up the import bill.

Germanys exports in the month of May were still 11.7% higher than a year ago, according to the countrys statistics office, though 0.5% lower from the previous month.

However, the imports bill went up by 27.8% from a year ago and it was no longer offset by its sales abroad.
During an address by Harvard Political Professor, Samuel Huntington, in August 1995, at Taipei, he was, among other things, asked of his impression about Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yews effort to develop Singapore, and he scantly summed it up this way: the honesty and efficiency Senior Minister Lee has brought to Singapore are likely to follow him to his grave.

However, like faith which is a belief in things not seen, coupled with the fact that ordinary calculation can be upturned by extraordinary personalities, not only did Lees efficiency survive him, but history has since assisted in providing answers to the correctness or otherwise of Professor Samuel Huntington's declaration.

Accordingly, its now available in the public domain that two years after the observation, Singapore- a country with a GDP of $3billion in 1965 grew to $46billion in 1997, making it the 8th highest per capita GNP in the world according to the World Bank ranking.

Clearly, a bracing account and unprecedented result! What is however left for those who are living is to learn the lessons from such history and gain wisdom, or ignore it, and wonder in dilemma.

Essentially, the crux of this piece is to use Prime Minister Lee Quen Yews account to analyze and understand the essential ingredients of foresight in leadership and draw a lesson as to how leadership decision making process involves judgment about uncertain elements, and differs from the pure mathematical probability process.

From accounts, aside from the fact that the story of Singapores progress is a reflection of the advances of the industrial countries-their inventions, technology, enterprise and drive, a united and a determined group of leaders, backed by practical and hard-working people who trust them made it possible, It is part of the story of a leaders search for new fields to increase the wealth and well being of his people.

From this new awareness, flows the major difference.

When one juxtaposes the above account with the current situation in Nigeria, without minding what others may say, points in one direction; Nigerias current security and socioeconomic posturing/challenges is more man-made than natural, more of leadership gaps than lack of resources. The challenge is further compounded by a misguided view of amalgamation by some segments of Nigerians as more of a historicized occurrence without any barefaced or hidden advantage to the nation; a mindset that further promoted deliberate demonstration of impunity, as well as superiority by one group or region against the other.

But in dramatizing this superiority, the point/warning the people did forget is that never should one be so foolish to believe that you are stirring admiration by flaunting the qualities that raised you above others. By making them aware of their inferior positions, you are only stirring unhappy admiration or envy that will gnaw at them until they undermine you in ways that you may not foresee. It is only the fools that dare the god of envy by flaunting his victory.

The sad news, however, is that this avoidable situation was allowed to complete its gestation and finally gave birth to what is now known and addressed in our political domain as call for restructuring or agitation for resources control.

But at a more significant level, it is the leadership performance deficit which has plundered the socio-economic affairs of the nation to a sorry state; an occurrence that stems from an unknown leadership style described by analysts as neither system nor method based; without anything exemplary or impressive.

While this appalling situation daily unfolds on our political space, the global leadership stage is littered with telling evidence about leaders that have demonstrated leadership sagacity and professional ingenuity that our leaders have refused to replicate their resourcefulness on our shores.

For instance, in 1932, Franklin D Roosevelt, the Democratic Party candidate, United States of America was elected president in the midst of the great depression. At the time of inauguration in 1933, one-quarter of the labour force was out of a job, with many thrown into poverty. Industrial production had fallen and investments had collapsed.

But within two years of his administration, he revived the economy and moved to the next stage of his agenda. He signed the social security act which introduced the modern welfare state into the United State pension at retirement, unemployment benefits and some public health care and disability benefits. When asked how? he responded thus;extraordinary conditions call for extraordinary remedies This to my mind is leadership accomplishment worthy of emulation.

Regrettably, here in the country, leadership challenge is given a boost by the ground propensity and penchant for corrupt, nepotistic practices of our leaders since independence, a development that is gradually becoming a norm; a state of affairs vast majority of Nigerians claim was responsible for the inability of the nations successive leaders to alleviate the real condition of the poor, the deprived, the lonely, the oppressed or get into their lives and participate in their struggle.

Looking at commentaries, one can discern that the above fact is largely responsible for the youths restiveness and tribal aggressions as the masses continue to fight in order to register their grievance against state-sponsored socioeconomic deprivations.

As the nation Nigeria races towards 2023 general election, it is also of considerable significance to this discourse to note that this leadership challenge has visited Nigerians with not just poverty but what analysts described as island poverty or poverty in the midst of plenty; which has in turn promoted both hopelessness and powerlessness among innocent Nigerians.

But in all, one thing seems to stand out, our leadership challenge or bad governance was implanted by the leaders, encouraged by our unquestioning obedience to the authorities and can only be reduced or erased by Nigerians.

Having discovered the challenge threatening the continued existence of our country, it becomes imperative that whatever measure the nation may want to use in tackling this challenge can only succeed if it probably puts in place steps that will guarantee leadership restructuring.

Catalyzing the process of building the Nigeria of our dreams that is laced with good leadership will among other demands require a sincere and selfless leadership, a politically and economically restructured polity brought by the national consciousness that can unleash the social, economic and political transformation of the country while rejecting the present socio-economic system that has bred corruption, inefficiency, primitive capital accumulation that socially excluded the vast majority of our people.

Above all, to completely put things right, the Federal Government must recognize, and position Nigeria to be a society of equal citizens where opportunities are equal and personal contribution is recognized and rewarded on merit regardless of language, culture, religion or political affiliations. If we are able to achieve this, it will once again, announce the arrival of a brand new great nation where peace and love shall reign supreme as no nation enjoys durable peace without justice and stability, without fairness and equity!

Part of that effort will entail recognizing that the solution to our leadership challenge may afterward not be based on argument or debate but by the quality of the people in charge. This will be followed by frantic effort to create a civil society' that will help sort out the irresponsible from the response in leadership. Another inoculation that will cure this leadership challenge will demand development of mindset for details and history necessary for todays leadership.

Above all,in this electioneering season, Nigerians must not wander in dilemma. They must recognize that poor leadership is their common enemy!

Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He could be reached via; [email protected]/08032725374.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province 40, Solid Rock Parish, Ojodu has donated a Modern School Building of 10 classrooms, its third in that community, to the Lagos State Government.

The 10- classroom block complex built in Ojodu Primary School was handed over to the government in a brief but colorful ceremony held on Friday, July 8 at the school compound.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, the Pastor In Charge, Lagos Province 40, Pastor Bola Odutola restated that, RCCG Lagos Province 40 has been providing assistance to support education development efforts by Lagos State Government through various projects.

Still explaining further, Odutola said,  as a church, we believe that education is one of the important sectors for the socio-economic development of any country and it is, therefore, essential that we all work together to assist the Government in delivering quality education for all.

He said, we also believe it is important for all the children to learn in a conducive and safe environment, hence the resolve of our church to support the Government continuously.

 We seek to mitigate the problem of overcrowded classrooms in this community thereby making the learning environment conducive for learners and educators. We are driven by a resolve to restore dignity to our public schools as most of us are beneficiaries of quality education from public schools.

We are, therefore, very pleased with the successful completion of the construction of this block of classrooms, Odutola stated.

While expressing gratitude to the builders and other professionals involved for their efforts, as well as the principal and staff of Ojodu

primary School for their cooperation, Odutola urged the school authority to ensure that the new block of classrooms is well -utilized and properly maintained.

In her response to the good efforts of the church, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, who received the school on behalf of the government, expressed appreciation to the church saying,  the state had a long and good relationship with the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

She said,  On behalf of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, we thank the church very much. We are proud of the relationship with RCCG. This is not the first RCCG church project I am commissioning as a Commissioner. My own first commissioning as a Commissioner was a school built by RCCG church in Lagos Island where they also gave school bags and a lot of school equipment to children. Again, I say thank you.

Adefisayo also urged the school authority to maintain the building and make sure the facilities are always in good condition.

Also present at the event to anchor the formal presentation of the building was Pastor Brown Oyitso, Intercontinental CSR Missions Coordinator of RCCG. In his speech, he commended LP 40 and other provinces of the church for their swift and prompt response to the directive of the General Overseer, Pastor E.A Adeboye, asking all provinces of the church to impact positively on their host communities.

Oyitso, who came with many other ministers involved in Christian Social Responsibilityprogrammes of the church, stated that Christian Social Responsibility provides a conscious avenue for Christians to make a visible impact in various key areas that can impact society. Where others see societal challenges as unscalable barriers all around the world, we see opportunities to take decisive effort to create solutions as we work with people, communities, leaders, and governments worldwide he explained.

It could be recalled that in 2016, RCCG Solid Rock Parish also handed over a block of ten classrooms to the same school. The school is perhaps the biggest public primary school cluster in the Ojodu community with at least three schools in the same compound. The new classrooms will help the school to further bring its student-per-classroom ratio to a good point.

RCCG is a frontline institution in Nigeria and beyond, making massive impact in its corporate social responsibility projects. The CSR initiative of the church is sub-divided into eight identifiable sections tagged SHEMBAGS. The acronym stands for Social, Health , Education, Business, Arts and Culture, Government and Sports. Each section specifically targets needs in areas vital to people and societies globally.
Boutique hotels in Patong appeal for help

PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam was in Patong yesterday (July 12) to hear firsthand how more than 200 small hotels that were not allowed to legally open had been seized in foreclosure motions for failure to pay loans.

tourismeconomicspatong

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 13 July 2022, 11:16AM

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu was in Phuket in his capacity as President of Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC). He was joined by Assoc Prof Waraporn Samkoset, Chairperson of the OPDC sub-committee assigned to evaluate the promotion and development of high-quality tourism in Patong.

The officials were met by a group of about 80 small hotel operators led by Manosit Jangjob, Acting President of the Phuket Boutique Accommodation Consortium (BAC).

The group met at the parking lot behind Krung Thai Bank in Patong, then moved to show the Deputy Prime Minister some of the hotels that had been foreclosed.

The group pointed out that small hotel operators were still suffering under the current economic conditions, and had been since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

As a result, at least 200 small hotels in Patong were subject to confiscation cases and sold at auction, Mr Manosit said.

Therefore, he would like the government to help. We request a waiver to allow the opening of the [small] hotels and help to resolve the problematic law, which has been demanded for a long time because we are in a lot of trouble with the hotels forced to close due to COVID, he added.

The Phuket consortium of boutique hotel operators in August last year filed a formal request pleading for the government to extend the amnesty to upgrade their hotels in order to be registered under the Hotels Act.

Many small hotels fail to legally qualify to register as hotels under the definition under the Hotels Act due to the building requirements.

The amnesty, initially brought into effect by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in 2016 was extended four years ago, and finally expired on Aug 18, 2021.

As a result, there are no tourists, no income, and unlicensed hotels have to be closed, resulting in no money to pay the bank, Mr Moanosit said.

Potential investors dont want to take over the hotels because some people who have had their assets seized still have to pay their debts, he added.

Let the government have mercy on us, not just be conducive to large hotels, Mr Manosit said.

The issue had been presented to the relevant agencies many times, Mr Manosit added.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu said he was aware of the situation and confirmed that he had received specific information from many small hotel operators in the same situation.

Therefore, I would like to urgently take care of this matter, because now there are quite a number of business operators who have already been affected. The subcommittee is processing dozens of other submissions, of which all information has been requested and received in order to summarise and present to the Prime Minister as the next step, he said.
Island ferries in Surat Thani resume

SURAT THANI: Ferries to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan resumed yesterday (July 12), but small boats were advised to remain ashore until 5am today due to high winds and strong waves.

marineSafetyweather

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 13 July 2022, 11:15AM

Seatran ferry resumes its service to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan in Surat Thani yesterday (July 12) after ferry services were halted on Monday due to rough seas in the Gulf of Thailand. Photo: Supapong Chaolan

Seatran Ferry Co and Racha Ferry Co resumed services from a pier in Don Sak district to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan yesterday morning, reports the Bangkok Post. The ferries also took passengers and vehicles from the two popular islands to a pier in Don Sak. The provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office earlier ordered all ships and boats not to leave the shores in all districts located on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand from 2pm on Monday to 5am yesterday, as storms whipped up high seas in the gulf. Yesterday, the agency banned boats with less than 200 gross tonnes or less than 24 metres in length from leaving the shores from 1pm until 5am today after the Meteorological Department issued a strong wind wave warning for the gulf. Ferries and large passenger boats were allowed to operate while speedboats and small tourism boats were banned from operating on five routes  Muang district-Koh Phangan-Koh Tao, Don Sak-Koh Samui, Don Sak-Koh Phangan-Koh Tao, Koh Samui-Koh Phangan-Koh Tao and Koh Phangan-Koh Tao-Chumphon.
Strong winds down trees in Kamala

PHUKET: Strong winds brought down trees and branches in Kamala yesterday (July 12), landing on power cables and peoples houses. No injuries or serious damage were reported.

weather

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 13 July 2022, 09:43AM

Emergency officers were called to homes near the Lay Seafood restaurant, where a tree had fallen onto the roof of one house and a large branch had fallen onto motorcycles parked outside.

Officers were also called to clear a fallen tree that blocked the road in Soi Police Station and in Naka Village in Moo 6, Kamala, and in Soi Nam Tok, Kathu.

Udomporn Kan, chief of the Phuket Provincial office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), and Jutha Dumlak, Chief of the Kamala Tambon Administrative Organisation (OrBorTor), both joined the emergency workers clearing the debris to inspect the damage done.

Mr Jutha said that emergency workers had been called to five areas in Kamala where strong winds had brought down trees and large branches which had fallen on to homes and brought down power poles.

Officers had been assigned to assess the damage to the homes and provide assistance to those directly affected, Mr Jutha said, adding that the Phuket Governor had issued a notice expressly ordering officials to care for people affected by the heavy weather in recent days.
Twitter is suing billionaire Elon Musk over his attempt to withdraw from the deal he struck to buy the company, reports Kate Conger for the New York Times.

Mr. Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter but declared last week that he intended to walk away from the deal. To push Mr. Musk to abide by the acquisition agreement, Twitter sued him in Chancery Court in Delaware. The court will determine whether he remains on the hook for the purchase or whether Twitter violated its obligation to provide Mr. Musk with data he requested, entitling him to walk away.

Twitter ostentatiously called Musk's bluff when he made that demand, providing access to the famous "firehose" of tweets. The impression Musk has given throughout the imbroglio, though, has been at best mercurialbut mostly contemptuous and insincere. It's as if he was trolling all along and realized that his inane, half-hidden Twitter agenda may actually become financially ruinous.

Twitter's lawsuit is openly insulting in return, calling his rhetoric a "model of hypocrisy". The beatific corporate smile is gone and the gloves are off.

Musk apparently believes that he  unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law  is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away. 

Musk wanted an escape. But the merger agreement left him little room. With no financing contingency or diligence condition, the agreement gave Musk no out absent a Company Material Adverse Effect or a material covenant breach by Twitter. Musk had to try to conjure one of those.

The details describe the company's efforts to get him to take an interest in the things he was demanding and getting. But he was instead constantly shitposting.

Musk exhibited little interest in understanding Twitter's process for estimating spam accounts that went into the company's disclosures. Indeed, in a June 30 conversation with Segal, Musk acknowledged he had not read the detailed summary of Twitter's sampling process provided back in May. Once again, Segal offered to spend time with Musk and review the detailed summary of Twitter's sampling process as the Twitter team had done with Musk's advisors. That meeting never occurred despite multiple attempts by Twitter.

He could do anything he wants with all his wealth, and all he wants to do is be the Ultimate Poster.
Since its inception in the 1980s, tales of the "Supernote" have popped up here and there throughout the years like a bad case of shingles. This post however is not about the aforementioned Supernote, but rather the Made-in-Murica pseudo-Supernote that earned Jeff Turner the "Picasso" of counterfeiters moniker.

At the time of his arrest, Jeff Turner had printed over one million dollars. Let's stop here and address that "over one million dollars" figure; for each $100 dollar bill, Jeff Turner had to print 2 sides of the note on 2 pages of blank bible paper taped to regular printer paper and then print the watermark and security thread on the "back of the back side." Why bible paper, you ask?

Jeff Turner used Art Williams' technique culled from Jason Kersten's book The Art of Making Money: The Story of Master Counterfeiter which relies on opaque, ultra-thin paper glued together to mimic a monolithic bill.

From the custom-blended eyeshadow used to make the color-shifting ink to using a red invisible ink marker to make the security thread properly fluoresce red under UV light, to using matte lacquer for creating a liquid resistant barrier to the iodine-based counterfeit detector marker ink and also re-create the texture of Crane's proprietary cotton/linen rag used in real dollars for centuries, Jeff Turner had a solution to these and other security features implemented by the Federal Reserve.

Just as Eldon Tyrell once said in Blade Runner: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly Roy." Eventually Jeff Turner was arrested with all tools, files, and even a document with every serial number used since day 1. Jeff Turner's sentence was reduced from 3 years to 10 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense or to defraud the United States by counterfeiting obligations of the United States, by giving a full DIY to the Secret Service on the tools, techniques, and background info on how said tools & techniques were chanced upon.

As a side note, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Danny Jones and his team at Koncrete.com, where they peel back the thin facade of society's normality to reveal the varied machinations of criminality that lubricate the wheels that drive history forward. Below is a short list of captivating stories that you may like if you've made it this far below the fold:
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 28C. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 18C. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Have an interesting bit of news youd like to see mentioned in the Along the Way column? Email it to Natasha Connolly at news@thesunchronicle.com .
Dr. Candice Jones is a general pediatrician in private practice in Orlando, Florida, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
CNN shares that people are getting sick enough of Elon Musk to stop buying his EV cars. It appears too much to ask people to buy into his politics, antics, and Tesla's erratic build quality. Folks are canceling orders and refusing delivery of cars at a time when EV automobiles are wildly in demand.

I enjoy that the gentleman in this quote correctly equates Tesla with Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A.

CNN:

Steven Kronenberg of California canceled an order for a Tesla solar roof this spring after seeing Musk announce his support of Republicans.

He also said he didn't like seeing Tesla face a lawsuit from a California civil rights agency for its treatment of Black workers.

"If someone wants to spend money at Hobby Lobby, or Chick-fil-A or Tesla, they can do that," Kronenberg told CNN Business. "I have plenty of other options." (Chick fil-A had donated for a time to organizations that were critical of same-sex marriage and Hobby Lobby was at the center of a Supreme Court ruling that the Affordable Care Act couldn't force closely held companies to cover certain contraceptives for employees.)

Tesla isn't the only one of his companies suffering from his leadership. SpaceX employees have clarified their position, and a Neuralink exec is also parenting his twins.
Zolnierek/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Ian N. Merideth, 38, of Centralia, Illinois, was sentenced today in federal court to 240 months in prison for possession of a stolen firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Merideth also received a $500 fine and was ordered to pay $200 in special assessment fees. Upon his release, he will spend three years on supervised release.
EDWARDSVILLE  A homeless Granite City man was charged Monday in the burglary of a Granite City bar over the weekend.

Pedro L Bustillos, 35, listed as homeless out of Granite City, was charged July 11 with one county of burglary, a Class 2 felony.

The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department.

According to court documents, on July 10 Bustillos allegedly entered Nicks Bar at 3900 Nameoki Road, Granite city, to commit theft.

Bail was set at $45,000.

Other theft- or property-related felony charges filed July 11 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Clarisa E. Thomas, 35, and Mikayla T. Clemons, 33, both of Washington Park, were each charged with retail theft over $300, a Class 3 felony. In addition, Thomas was charged with resisting a peace officer, a Class A misdemeanor, and Clemons was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The cases were presented by the Collinsville Police Department. According to court documents, on July 10 the two allegedly took clothing, beauty, hygiene products, sheets, a pillow, a back pack and washcloths valued in excess of $300 from the Collinsville Walmart. Clemons also allegedly had less than 15 grams of cocaine, and Thomas resisted arrest. Bail was set at $30,000 for Thomas and $50,000 for Clemons.

 Paul E. Lara, 49, of Alton, was charged with theft over $500, a Class 3 felony, and possession of burglary tools and criminal damage to property over $500, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On July 9 Lara allegedly took an air conditioner valued in excess of $500 from another person, damaging the unit, and had a number of burglary tools. Bail was set at $50,000.

 Asa E. Johnson, 46, of Alton, was charged with retail theft over $500, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On July 9 Johnson allegedly took a bicycle, back pack and power tools valued in excess of $300 from the Godfrey Walmart. Bail was set at $25,000.

 Heather N. Smith, 33, of Edwardsville, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On July 9 Smith allegedly took a Pocket Juice portable charger, valued at less than $300, from the Collinsville Walmart. She has a prior conviction for unlawful use of credit card out of Madison County in October 2021. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Deanna R. Renfroe, 41, of Staunton, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On July 9 Smith allegedly took a carbon monoxide detector, valued at less than $300, from the Collinsville Walmart. She has a prior conviction for retail theft out of Madison County in June 2021. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Annette Porter, 60, of East St. Louis, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On July 8 Smith allegedly took a Ninja Foodie flip toaster, valued at less than $300, from the Collinsville Walmart. She has a 2016 conviction for retail theft (second subsequent offense), out of Madison County in 2016. Bail was set at $20,000.
Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images

The Illinois Poison Center (IPC) is warning the public to stay safe by avoiding recreational drugs, especially synthetic recreational drugs. Multiple fatal and non-fatal overdose clusters in several Northern Illinois counties related to heroin, cocaine and fentanyl took place in June, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reports.



We are seeing a significant spike of overdose cases across the nation due to synthetic drugs, Dr. Michael Wahl, medical director at the Illinois Poison Center, said in a statement. Illegal drug manufacturers are mixing fentanyl with cocaine, methamphetamines, ecstasy and other known party drugs and selling the product at parties, festivals and special events. Experimenting with street drugs can be fatal and that first time could be your last.



According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), drug traffickers are using fake pills to exploit the opioid crisis and prescription drug misuse in the United States, bringing overdose deaths and violence to communities nationwide. Since fentanyl is cheap and easy to produce, illicit drug manufacturers often mix it into counterfeit oxycodone (brand names: Percocet and OxyContin), alprazolam (brand name: Xanax) and Adderallsubstances popular with young adults and teenagers.



Taking prescription drugs for recreational purposes, especially those provided by someone other than your physician or pharmacist, can be a deadly decision, Carol DesLauriers, vice president of the Illinois Poison Center, said in a statement. Fake pills are being deliberately laced with synthetic opioids like fentanyl and sold to people across the country, which has proved to cause life-threatening symptoms. These drugs are dangerous and addictive and not worth the risk.

Here are IPCs safety recommendations:
When news that a 10-year-old girl was raped in Ohio, became pregnant, and then had to travel across state lines to Indiana to get an abortion (thanks Republicans), many in the GOP claimed the story was a hoax. For instance, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the story was likely "a fabrication," according to The Washington Post, while Rep. Jim "Gym" Jordan (ROH), accused in the past of turning a blind eye when it comes to sex crimes, called the rape "a lie." And South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem "said the story was 'fake to begin with,'" according to Insider.

But then 27-year-old Gershon Fuentes, from Columbus, Ohio, actually admitted to raping the child at least twice and was arrested "on a charge of felony first-degree rape" yesterday, news that was first reported by the The Columbus Dispatch. So naturally, Yost and Jordan switched gears, applauding the arrest and pretending they'd never doubted that the rape occurred.

From The Washington Post:

Gershon Fuentes, 27, was arrested Tuesday after he confessed to authorities that he had raped the 10-year-old on at least two occasions, according to the Columbus Dispatch, which first reported the news. Fuentes, whose last known address is in Columbus, was arraigned on Wednesday on a charge of felony first-degree rape. He is being held in Franklin County Jail on a $2 million bond.  The girl had to travel to Indiana for her procedure because abortions are now banned in Ohio after six weeks. Ohio was among the 13 states with "trigger bans" designed to take effect once Roe was struck down. Since the Dobbs decision, Ohio has imposed a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. While performing an abortion before six weeks remains legal in Indiana, lawmakers are expected to meet this month to consider further abortion restrictions.  Jordan, who called the story a "lie" on Tuesday in a tweet that has since been deleted, joined Yost in celebrating the arrest.

Fuentes faces life in prison if convicted.
The Telegraph

JERSEYVILLE  A Jersey County man was taken into custody after an approximately six-hour standoff with police Monday that closed Illinois 267 for several hours.

Joshua J. Hearn, 33, was charged Tuesday with intimidation/physical harm, a Super Class 3 felony, and aggravated assault, a Class A misdemeanor. He was being held in the Jersey County Jail Tuesday afternoon with bail set at $150,000.
File photo

GODFREY  During the Lewis and Clark Community College board meeting Tuesday night, trustees voted to extend the agreement with the Montessori Children's House on the college campus.

In 1988, Lewis and Clark established an on-campus child care facility to enable students with children a place to leave their children while they attend classes.
GRAFTON  Freshly opened, The Mississippi Monster  the newest attraction at Raging Rivers WaterPark in Grafton, is getting off to bumpy start.

Since the new multi-chamber water slide opened Saturday, the park has had a few minor injuries, according to an employee who didn't want to be named. The park also has placed scales at the top of the water slide and limited the size if its riders.

Andrew Batton went online to post that when his 13-year-old daughter reached the top of the slide Monday, she was greeted by the scales and told there was a 200-pound limit.

"Through all the delays in roll-out, and all the announcements leading up to it, there was never any mention of a weight limit," Batton posted. "Neither was there any mention of a weight limit at the bottom of the hill as she and her friend excitedly climbed the hill to ride the Monster for the first time  only to get to the top and be confronted with a scale."

Batton said his daughter was denied access to the water slide because she was five pounds over the limit.

A Raging Rivers employee on Tuesday said that the park originally had a 300-pound weight limit for the new attraction, based on what the park had been told by the slide's manufacturer. However, the employee said, the water slide manual given to employees said the weight limit was 200 pounds.

The employee said there were several signs posted regarding the weigh limit. Batton disagrees.

"Nowhere, not one sign," he said.

Batton said he is not seeking anything from Raging Rivers, except an apology.

"I'm more concerned about other people's kids and making sure that this doesn't happen to somebody else," he said. "This is a mentally damaging moments for my daughter."
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St. Louis County Police detectives are trying to identify a person of interest in a bank robbery.

In a press release, St. Louis County Police said the robbery occurred at the U.S. Bank in 11000 block of Larimore Road in Spanish Lake, Missouri. They believe the person of interest may be a woman or a man dressed as a woman.

Police say the person entered the back and showed a teller a note demanding money and then fled to a nearby Dirt Cheap liquor store and changed clothes in the restroom.

The person was last seen walking westbound down Dunn Road.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bureau of Communications at 636-529-8210 or 314-615-8686.
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ALTON  Yvonne Campbell, the owner of My Just Desserts in Alton, has died from her injuries in a taxi accident in Jamaica.

Campbell and her family, while on vacation in Hanover, Jamaica, were in a taxi that crashed head on with a truck Saturday, July 9. Two people involved in the accident were trapped and had to be extricated from the wreckage by firefighters. A total of eight people, six of whom were tourists, were rushed to hospital with severe injuries.

Campbell had been unresponsive since the accident. News of her death was shared Wednesday morning on the Facebook page for her business, My Just Desserts at 31 E. Broadway in Alton.

"Anyone that knew her loved her and knew how much of a bright light she brought to every room she entered," the post said. "No one will ever bake a pie, cobbler, or cake as good as her.

"Please give us room for grievance at this time," the family posted. "We will be closed until further notice and will let everyone know when we will be back. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers; this is a devastation to all."

Campbell was the mother of three children  Nakiyah, Prince and Anaiah. She started working at the store while attending high school, leaving at 21 and obtaining culinary degrees. In 2018, she became the owner of the popular My Just Desserts.

Campbell was "a joy to be around," according to Alton Mayor David Goins who described her as a "marvelous human being."

"That's how I'll always remember her," Goins said. He noted he met with Campbell just days before her trip to Jamaica.

"It's almost like we had an opportunity to say goodbye," he said. "That's special, and I will forever hold that in my heart."

Several bouquets of flowers, a candle and a teady bear were laid on the steps of the business by midday Wednesday. Two men stopped to pay their respects, one in tears, as they looked at the 4-by-8-foot photo of Campbell and her sister in the shop's window.

Many on Wednesday remembered Campbell both for her skill and her community spirit.

"My very first job was at My Just Desserts and I worked with Yvonne," Megan Kane said in a Facebook post. "If she wasnt helping me or giving advice, its because she had me laughing."

"I absolutely adored Yvonne and became so close to her during COVID," posted Andrea Janek. "We worked together to keep My Just Desserts, her dream, open. I am so heartbroken."

Alyssa Hennessey said Campbell was "the most amazing lady."

"Every time we would come in for lunch she would greet us with a smile and always came by for conversation," she said. "There arent many restaurant owners who take time to be personable with their customers. My Just Desserts will not be the same without her."

Campbell also was known for her volunteering with groups such as the YWCA of Alton, Oasis Womens Center, Alton Main Street and the Great River and Routes Tourism Bureau. Last year she was one of 15 people selected as the YWCA's 2021 Women of Distinction.

YWCA Executive Director Dorothy Hummel said Campbell was "an incredibly giving and generous person."

"We're all really feeling this painful loss and mourning this beautiful spirit," she said. "She was a true community person and it is a loss for this community."
American cities and states are laboratories of innovation and democracy. In an increasingly globalized world, they also help redefine how we think about U.S. diplomacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that local governments  city, state, county  are at the center of addressing complex global threats that ignore national borders. Our communities face other challenges, from terrorism to climate change, that require innovation and global collaboration. That collaboration that should begin at home.

U.S. Reps. Ted Lieu, Gregory Meeks and Joe Wilson and U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and John Cornyn introduced legislation to establish a permanent Office of City and State Diplomacy within the State Department. The office would create ties between the State Department and mayors and governors engaged internationally. Congress should pass the City and State Diplomacy Act to strengthen coordination among all levels of government on U.S. foreign policy priorities.

A recent report by the Truman Center recommends ways for the State Department to connect and coordinate with local governments and for local governments to build their capacity for diplomacy. Congressional delegations across the Midwest should support this initiative. Strong international relationships are key to the revival and future growth of Midwestern communities.

A stronger U.S. foreign policy is one that draws on the diverse talents of our nation, including local leaders from a variety of demographic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. To endure, U.S. foreign policy should represent the interests of all Americans. This means it should be built beyond Washington by engaging citizens and their elected officials from Cincinnati and Chicago to Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Connecting Midwestern urban and rural communities and state and local officials with State Department personnel deepens understanding of U.S. foreign policy by demonstrating how American global leadership benefits American communities. Strategic investments to build our diplomacy from the bottom up increases political, economic and cultural opportunities for communities such as Gary and Albion, Michigan, while decreasing threats to our security.

Mayors and governors already represent their localities in multinational policy networks, international trade forums and cultural exchange programs. Nearly 100 Midwestern mayors are members of the bipartisan Climate Mayors network upholding the Paris climate accord through climate policy. Chicago and Pittsburgh are building and investing in urban resilience as part of the continent-spanning Resilient Cities Network.

One of the busiest international crossings in North America, Detroits Ambassador Bridge, is in the Midwest. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative boasts more than 120 cities on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border leveraging freshwater resources for economic renewal. Even smaller communities such as Rockford and Troy, Michigan, are engaging the world by participating in global markets and welcoming immigrant talent.

American cities and states are engaging with their counterparts around the world because it adds value to the lives of their populations through trade and investment, job creation, foreign students and international tourism.

In the process, state and local leaders have developed new expertise and shared their own lessons learned with communities overseas experiencing similar challenges. Cities such as Detroit and Indianapolis have a long history of global innovation and economic leadership.

Mayors and governors are first responders to national security priorities such as COVID-19, countering violent extremism, building democratic resilience and integrating refugees into their host communities. Midwestern leaders can bring local ingenuity to global issues. It makes sense for the State Department to work alongside city and state officials to clarify the benefits, motives and risks of international exchange and support those efforts. Right now, each municipality is on its own.

Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Atlanta have full-time international affairs staffs. But many Midwestern communities have yet to prioritize a dedicated team or strategy for international engagement. An Office of City and State Diplomacy would strengthen the capacity of city and local governments, large and small, to build their bandwidth and connections, and amplify the benefits for their communities.

People, ideas and goods travel rapidly through interconnected transportation, communication technologies and the global economy. Contemporary security threats disregard national boundaries. Foreign ministries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have departments to support subnational diplomacy by assigning personnel to local communities and offering significant funding to boost international engagement and exchange. The federal government must similarly value and support this kind of diplomacy just to keep pace with our global competitors.

Broad bipartisan support for an Office of City and State Diplomacy is preferable to executive action. It would create a permanent, more institutionalized, representative and legitimate office that is appropriately funded  all of which will add to its effectiveness. But if Congress fails to act, the administration must. The potential return on investment for American diplomacy and Midwestern communities is just too high.
The security camera footage shows the foyer door to a Chinatown apartment as it cracks open. In the wee hours of the morning, a young woman slips through the narrow opening, mask still partially covering her face. As she makes her way up the six flights of stairs, she is unaware of the man trailing her. She walks down the hall to her front door with the man still close behind. They walk out of frame.

Soon, her screams flood the building, and neighbors call the police, but she is quiet by the time they break through the front door. On February 13th, 2022, 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee was found dead in her bathtub, naked from the waist up. The alleged assailant, 25-year-old Assamad Nash, had stabbed her more than 40 times.

Photo of the previous memorial taped up at the current one (Madeleine Lee)

Christina Yuna Lee has had her makeshift memorial set outside the apartment building since her murder. It has been desecrated four times.

Just a month before that, on January 15th, 40-year-old Michelle Alyssa Go was murdered, shoved in front of an oncoming train at the Times Square station. The man charged with her murder, 61-year-old Simon Martial, has been deemed unfit to stand trial.

These murders happened one right after the other and have put New York Asian-American women on edge.

In early 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, China sparked an unyielding trend of unprovoked abuse towards Asian-Americans, who were being scapegoated for the pandemic.

Nationwide, nearly 11,000 anti-Asian hate incidents were recorded between March 19th, 2020, and December 31st, 2021.

Civil rights attorney and supervisor to the OCA-NY Hate Crimes Prevention Art Project, Elizabeth OuYang has worked on hate crimes since the 1990s and found that a pattern has emerged throughout her career.

"Hate crimes have always occurred, right? But it wasn't emanating from a major incident," she said. "Then after 9/11, 2001 and then covid you know, in 2019 and 2020 and '21, you know, the number of instances I know, has been off the charts"

In 2021, 1 in 6 Asian American adults experienced a hate crime or hate incident.

Women and seniors have been among the most common targets. Women make up 61.8% of all reports. Although, according to a recent survey by AAPI Data, men are as likely to experience a hate incident, but are less likely to report it. Non-binary AAPI report they experience more deliberate shunning or avoidance, being coughed at or spat on, denial of service, and online harassment.

"What you're seeing now is a mix-up of issues," OuYang commented. "A high number of instances involving people who are homeless, and not knowing exactly what their motivation was. There's intersectionality between gender and race and more nuanced issues."

Both Lee and Go were murdered by reportedly homeless men with previous criminal records. Both Simon Martial and Assamad Nash have had psychiatric evaluations at Bellevue Hospital, a well-known destination for mental health services.

There was no explicit symbol of anti-Asian racism. Without visible symbols or verbal slurs, it can be hard to get a hate crime categorized as one.

"We don't know how much of his thinking was attributed to societal unconscious biases, right? And their perceptions of Asian women, right? You know, so we don't know," OuYang said.

The day Simon Martial pushed Michelle Go onto the tracks, he approached a white woman just seconds before her.

"We are not only being vilified as women but as Asian Americans, which results in being found at the inescapable intersection of racism and misogyny," 20-year-old student Rachael Park said.

One of the most blatant cases was the Atlanta Spa Shootings from March last year when 21-year-old Robert Long shot up three different massage parlors to "eliminate sexual temptation." He killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women.

The hypersexualization of Asian women in America goes as far back as 1875 with the introduction of The Page Act. The law prohibited the recruitment of laborers from "China, Japan or any Oriental country" who were not brought to the United States of their own will or for "lewd or immoral purposes." This effectively barred many Chinese women from immigrating, even with family, based on the assumption that Chinese women would work as prostitutes.

This stigma has largely been perpetuated through America's military presence in Asian countries. Particularly Vietnam, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. When the U.S withdrew from those countries, American GIs brought back the description of the submissive and sexually servile Asian woman. This stereotype has been further spread and reinforced through popular culture in movies and television shows.

This dehumanizing view of Asian women can put the many Asian immigrant women who work in service industries at a higher risk for human rights abuses and violence. Sex work can happen, but it could often be because the women are being trafficked to pay off debts for family back home, smugglers, or labor traffickers. These circumstances can leave their businesses highly susceptible to repeated police raids. But when raids happen, it is often the women who end up behind bars, whether there is trafficking involved or not.

In the case of the Atlanta Spa Shootings, there is no evidence to suggest that the women killed were involved with sex work. They were mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters who worked to provide for their families. On the first anniversary of the shootings, a memorial was held in Times Square that doubled as a rally to "protect Asian women."

"It's crazy how desensitized we've become to violence," Elizabeth Kari, one of the speakers, said. "These are real people and real-live, real community members and like you know, a whole culture of people that's being affected by this."

Kari's mother, Vilma Kari, was attacked last year in Times Square on her way to church. She suffered a broken pelvis after being kicked down and stomped on repeatedly. The perpetrator said something to the effect of, "F-ck you Asian, you don't belong here."

The perpetual foreigner stereotype categorizes ethnic minorities as the "other." Regardless of where they were born, or how long they have been in America, the other is typically assumed to be foreign. In times of fear and uncertainty, it tends to become a part of the American coping mechanism. Groups affected by this rhetoric then become perceived as the enemy.

This "otherness" being a major component in her mother's attack prompted Kari to create AAP(I Belong), where Asian Americans can share their stories to find a sense of belonging.

25-year-old Cailin Liu stands under the bright mid-afternoon sun. She's wrapped in a chocolate brown vintage coat that complements the color of her almond eyes. Her hand peeks out from the faux fur cuff clutching her phone. She is showing off her new haircut on FaceTime. Her black hair hugs the contours of her face freshly bobbed and slightly waved, like an old Hollywood starlet.

"[My] grandparents, literally just didn't leave their house for like over a year too. And I don't know how much of it was them being afraid and us being like, 'Please don't go outside. They're attacking elderly people on the streets.'" said the Columbia Law student.

Now, standing in Manhattan's Chinatown, she says the population here reminds her of her grandparents. "And so that's had me thinking about how, you know, like, this is just a really concentrated population of really vulnerable, elderly, Asian, Chinese immigrants. And that I feel like I worry for everyone constantly."

62-year-old GuiYing Ma was the third Asian woman to die this year after being bashed in the head with a rock while cleaning up the sidewalk in front of her home in Corona, Queens. She died on February 22nd, a few days after waking from a 3-month coma.

"It's such a cowardice-kind of act because you're really targeting the most vulnerable of the population and the most respected of our population," said Kari.

"I think people know that it'll be an easy fight and that's where I think we need to stand up and say, 'No, don't even think about it.' Because yes, maybe this person might appear like someone you can take on but, be prepared to feel the full force of a whole culture of people that are going to stand behind them.'"

In Chinatown, the force has been staunchly opposed to the city's plans to add four more homeless shelters to the existing six within a half-mile radius, in addition to the construction of a mega jail.

Flyer for meeting about the shelter on the corner of Chrystie & Grand (Madeleine Lee)



Online Petition



It's a surprisingly warm day, a harbinger of the spring to come. Miles Jojur and Oscar Garcia take in the sun on the corner of a park on Chrystie and Grand street. Seeming opposite in disposition, Oscar dressed head to toe in baggy black, eyes concealed behind black sunglasses.

Miles stands behind their horizontally parked grocery carts, resting their hands on top. With a pleasant demeanor, they reveal a soft toothy smile, with long black hair slicked into a low bun. Their mellow orange top feels reflective of their aura.

"We sleep in the train and outside in the street or on the train sometimes we go to the Mission to sleep. Pero, every day in the train, outside sleep," Garcia said. The Mission Garcia refers to is the Bowery Mission located close by on the Lower East Side.

"That's why we got blankets too, from the Mission. We go to eat and will collect bottles and bottles to make money."

Covid-19 triggered the rise of Asian hate, but it has also contributed to homelessness in New York City reaching its highest since the Great Depression. Coalition for the Homeless recorded more than 48,000 people in the shelter system.

Miles said they stay mostly at Stuyvesant High School on the Tribeca Bridge. "If you see cardboard there, that's me."

Unhoused individuals in Chinatown have also been on the receiving end of grisly attacks. In 2019, four men sleeping on the streets were murdered with a metal pipe. The assailant was also allegedly homeless with a lengthy criminal record. The Chinatown community held a vigil for the lives lost.

Just this March, a shooter targeted homeless people in Washington D.C and New York City. Authorities believe it was because the person was seeking easy targets and people who live in the streets are a vulnerable group.

It came just after Mayor Eric Adams began to implement efforts to "clean up" the subway systems by pushing homeless people out, as well as dismantling their encampments. This was part of an effort to combat crime underground.

Staying in the subway system is often safer than being exposed to the elements or sometimes even the shelter system.

The rhetoric used by this new administration has implied there's a direct correlation between homelessness in the city, particularly in the subway system, and crime. However, there's no real data point that can give an idea of whether or not unhoused individuals are responsible for more incidents than housed individuals. Mainstream media can perpetuate this narrative by consistently pointing out when a crime is committed by a homeless person. Whereas, if the perpetrator is not homeless, the housing status is never mentioned.

"I've been really disappointed to see some of the same folks who are fighting displacement and gentrification failing to support the creation of new shelters in Chinatown, which seems particularly cruel given the heightened violence carried out by both individuals and the City against people experiencing homelessness in this exact area," Andrew Hiller from the NYC-DSA said.

A common thread between many of the perpetrators of all the attacks that have made the news circuit is that they need psychiatric care. According to Coalition for the Homeless, safe havens, or low-threshold shelters, such as the proposed 231 Grand Shelter, are more effective because they are generally more supportive of those with psychiatric disabilities.

At a Manhattan community board meeting for district two, about 300 Chinatown and Little Italy residents appeared in protest of the shelter. A handful of speakers who took the floor were 1st graders and above from the Transfiguration School. They spoke of a few "scary" experiences where "strange men" entered the property and wouldn't leave.

17-year-old Michael Chen spoke of how he was recently slashed in the neck with a boxcutter by a man in the neighborhood.

"I'm well aware of the concerns that have arisen around the various violent incidents that have taken place, both on the subway and the recent incident in Chinatown, and what we're talking about is people who have serious behavioral health issues, who are disconnected from care," King said in a document outlining Housing Works' model for the proposed haven. "We're not going to be able to coerce homeless people who are in the subways and on the street. We can only entice them into carePart of what this facility does is it addresses the mental health issues at the moment that is most critical not only to the people we're serving but to the community."

The shelter plans to use a harm reduction model that provides clean needles, Narcan, supervision, and drug education.

Many of the parents in attendance were concerned about the permittance of drugs and weapons. King responded that he doesn't know of a neighborhood without schools, daycares, or senior housing, but he promised to keep them safe.

The proposed 231 Grand Shelter is just around the corner from Christina Yuna Lee's apartment.

Overall, the consensus by community speakers was that Chinatown has more than its fair share of shelters compared to other districts of Manhattan. With just about every speaker, it was made clear that this wasn't a crusade against the homeless. They often talked about how the issue was that they could be directing the money used to keep building new shelters towards actually ending homelessness.

The lack of affordable housing is a major factor in pushing out Chinatown residents, many of them older immigrants, who have lived there for years. Luxury developers are bulldozing over existing housing and small businesses.

One of the largest low-income housing complexes for Chinese people is called the Knickerbocker Village. A luxury developer is on the cusp of acquiring it. Jihye Song from the National Mobilization of Sweatshop Workers said, "So, you know right now the Knickerbocker Village is like 16,000 units. So, let's see the 16,000 households at risk of displacement just in this one building complex."

She added, "The city's just sort of doing these dead-end of the line Band-Aid, like barely Band-Aid Solutions, like these homeless shelters and not really going to the root cause of what the problems that they are in fact driving the displacement, that results in the need for homeless shelters."

Adam Johnson of the podcast Citations Needed, says that "mayoral campaigns are often funded by real estate interests. That's who drives local politics." If this is the case, it could explain why the default "solution" is to add shelters, get rid of encampments, and drive the homeless out of the city. It's an, "out of sight, out of mind," solution.

Jawanza Williams from the grassroots organization, VOCAL-NY, estimates that it will take at least $15 billion directed into housing to begin ending homelessness. As of now, the single adult homeless population has a budget of $2 billion.

Recently there has been an even larger show of protest against the construction of a mega jail in Chinatown to house relocated prisoners due to the closure of Riker's Island. An NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health found that construction poses serious health risks for the older adult population. The structure shares a wall with a low-income senior housing center and a daycare. Mayor Adams said during his campaign there would be no new jails, but is following through with construction plans.

Ten people have been arrested in the protests so far. The arrests included state assembly candidate Grace Lee, state Senator candidate Vittoria Fariello, and Evelyn Yang, wife of former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

The $2.8 billion budget for the jail begs a similar question as to the$2 billion budget for the homeless adult population  why is it not being used to fix the existing problem instead of creating another?

The visible type of homelessness on the streets is typically more widely discussed than the other, quiet suffering not seen on the streets.

"Well, mentally, obviously, I was probably clinically depressed. There were many nights I cried myself to sleep. You know, I was just bleak. A man myself, as proud as myself and a man who had a career and went to college could end up in my situation," said a 52-year-old Korean American man who experienced a four-month stint of homelessness. To protect his privacy, I'll call him Henry.

When Henry lost his job, he found himself in a period of decline that eventually left him to find himself unhoused. Cultural pressures, pride, and stigma kept him from asking for help.

He calls the kind of homelessness he experienced "stealth" homeless since he was, mostly, able to rotate between the couches of members of the church. Otherwise, he would find a spot to sleep in his car, out of sight on some of Boston's most frigid nights.

Even though he was able to "keep up appearances" with his stealth homelessness, the people closest to him still knew about his plight. One of the most devastating parts was when the people he thought were friends started to turn their backs on him.

"All of a sudden I had this blemishnobody treated me exactly the same as before."

Systemic racism exists. It creates and keeps housing inequalities. It keeps people moving from shelter to shelter. It contributes to racist ideologies, which fuels racial violence. Especially in times of fear when nativist Americans need to find an outlet for that anxiety.

Systemic racism exists to maintain power imbalances and oppression, and it does it by pitting people of color against each other. When it works, it keeps us divided and distracted. But, looking a little deeper, sometimes we realize, like in a horseshoe, the opposites end up touching and meeting at the same place.

Update: After the edition of this piece closed, New York City Mayor Eric Adams canceled plans for the proposed 231 Grand Shelter.
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Some sun in the morning with increasing clouds during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy in the evening, then off and on rain showers after midnight. Low 62F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Botched work: Laura Ashley became the first major victim of the pandemic when it went bust in March 2020

The accounting watchdog has slapped Laura Ashley's auditor with a fine and temporary ban over its botched work for the retailer.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) banned UHY Hacker Young from auditing public companies until at least May 2024.

It hit UHY with a 'severe reprimand' and a 217,500 fine over its auditing of fashion and furnishings retailer Laura Ashley before it failed. UHY partner Martin Jones was fined 32,625 and barred from auditing public companies for two years.

Laura Ashley became the first major victim of the pandemic when it went bust in March 2020.

At the time it had 155 stores in the UK and 2,700 staff. Before the collapse its annual losses jumped tenfold from 1.4m to 14m in the year to June 2019. But the annual report did not flag up concerns about its ability to remain in business.

The FRC said UHY and Jones admitted 'serious breaches' of their requirement to ensure the reports were accurate.

Deputy executive counsel Jamie Symington said the auditors failed to 'adequately challenge or investigate' Laura Ashley's assertions it would remain in business for the foreseeable future.

UHY said: 'Audit quality is a key focus and priority for UHY Hacker Young, but we recognise that the audits relating to Laura Ashley Holdings for the financial years 2018 and 2019 fell below the high standards that we set for ourselves.'

It said the collapse was caused by the pandemic.

Laura Ashley was founded in 1953 by the eponymous fashion designer and her husband Bernard, growing into a global brand. Celebrity fans included Princess Diana, who wore it through the 1980s.

It was plucked out of administration by restructuring and investment firm Gordon Brothers and has returned to the High Street via a deal with Next, which sells its homeware at more than 500 stores.

Laura Ashley also has 48 stores in the UK and is sold online.
A Devon shipyard rescued from closure has been boosted by a 55m Ministry of Defence (MoD) deal to refurbish a minesweeper.

It is the biggest announced contract for the Appledore site, where vessels have been built for nearly two centuries, since it reopened in 2020 under the ownership of Titanic maker Harland & Wolff (H&W).

Appledore was previously operated by Babcock but closed in March 2019. The deal involves the refurbishment of a British ship, HMS Quorn, which was decommissioned by the Royal Navy In 2017.

New lease of life: HMS Quorn scours the seabed for mines and explosives

The ship was part of a fleet using high-definition sonar to scour sea-beds for mines and lost explosives. It will be given a new lease of life serving with Nato ally Lithuania. H&W said the value of the contract, awarded by the MoD and the Lithuanian Defence Materiel agency, had the potential to increase through additional equipment and further upgrades. It is its first contract in the sector.

Chief executive John Wood hailed it as a 'watershed', providing 'the breakthrough that we needed' to enter the market.

The shares rose 14.1 per cent, or 1.75p, to 14.13p on the deal. The company 'strongly believes that this will significantly enhance the company's reputation in the market and pave the way to securing future defence and government contracts'.

Appledore, founded in 1855, has built more than 350 vessels over its history including military and cargo ships, ferries, superyachts and oil industry support craft.

Its work has included building sections of the 3bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

After closing in 2019 it was acquired by Harland & Wolff's parent company Infrastrata, which subsequently renamed itself Harland & Wolff.

Appledore's first contract win under the new ownership was a deal worth more than 2m to build a steel pontoon for an RNLI lifeboat station under London's Waterloo Bridge, which was announced last November.

Harland & Wolff, which dates back to 1861, is best known for its giant site in Belfast where the Titanic was built  and where it today still operates one of the largest dry docks in Europe. It also now owns two shipyards in Scotland as well as the Islandmagee gas storage facility in Northern Ireland.

H&W is also part of a consortium which is one of four shortlisted by the MoD in the competition to design and build support ships for Royal Navy carrier groups. City broker Cenkos said in a note to clients, following the latest announcement: 'This is a significant breakthrough for the company, being its first contract in the defence sector, and gives H&W a strong platform to build upon as it pursues additional pipeline opportunities.

'Russia's invasion of Ukraine highlights the valuable role H&W can play in supporting the defence industry, as many Nato countries (including the UK) look to increase their defence spending.'

The note also highlighted that the deal had 'established a new UK competitor in the industry' widening the MoD's choice in the sector beyond BAE Systems and Babcock.

The MOD said the deal would support 100 jobs at Appledore and the ship is expected to be delivered to the Lithuanian navy in 2024.

Minister for Defence Procurement, Jeremy Quin, said: 'I'm pleased that this multi-million pound contract will see a former Royal Navy mine-hunting vessel restored and regenerated in a British shipyard, supporting UK jobs and strengthening shipbuilding in the south-west.

'Lithuania is a key Nato ally and Joint Expeditionary Force partner, and this mine-hunting vessel will bolster Nato maritime capability across Europe, ensuring the Alliance remains ready to respond to evolving global threats.'
Casey White, an inmate in an Alabama jail, was broken out by corrections officer Vicky White. The two, unrelated and reportedly lovers, then went on the run. They were soon found, and after a brief pursuit Vicky shot herself dead and Casey was taken back into custody. Casey has now been charged with her murder, reports CNN.

The indictment alleges Casey White, while committing first-degree escape, "caused the death of Vicky White," who authorities previously said killed herself during a car chase on May 9 after authorities found the pair in Indiana.

White is not accused of shooting her himself. They're pinning her suicide on him on through some whackadoodle legal theory wherein you become vicariously responsibile for something that only becomes a crime when you are vicariously responsible for it. Casey White is already in jail forever (barring future escapes), so it's all just for show.

A felony murder charge indicates the victim died while the accused was committing another dangerous felony, even if the accused did not intend to kill the victim or cause his or her death. Casey White was previously charged with first-degree escape in connection to his jailbreak, and the indictment announced Tuesday accuses him of committing felony murder "during the course of and in furtherance" of that crime, Connolly said.

Where is our fucking movie, Hallmark Originals?
Advice for international travelers: don't book a connecting flight in the United States of Gilead if you don't want to be detained, fingerprinted, searched, photographed, interrogated about whether or not you've had an abortion, and deported. That's what happened to Australian Madolline Gourley who was stopped by US border officials in Los Angeles on her way to Canada, where she was planning to house- and cat-sit in exchange for free accommodation.

The Guardian reports that a US border official asked Gourley if she was pregnant. She said no, and was taken to another room where another official asked her the same question. She repeated that she wasn't. The official then asked her if she had an abortion.

From The Guardian:

"She was walking me from one room to the next, and she asked the pregnancy question again," Gourley told Guardian Australia. "I don't know if she had forgotten, or she wanted to work out if I was lying or something. "I said no, and she looked at me again and said, 'Have you recently had an abortion?' "I don't know the thought process behind that  I just thought, 'What's the relevance of that to my situation?'" Gourley was told she would not be granted entry to the US and would be deported on the next flight back to Brisbane, five hours after arriving, because she had breached the conditions of the visa waiver program, which applies to citizens of Australia and many other countries making short visits to the US for business or tourism, but not regular employment. A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the visa waiver program prohibited applicants from engaging "in any type of employment or get compensation for services rendered". The rule, which appears to prohibit house-sitting for free accommodation, took Gourley completely by surprise and she said she now wanted to warn other Australians of the consequences of volunteering to house-sit or pet-sit in the US or neighbouring countries.
ALBANY  A judiciary watchdog panel is investigating whether outgoing Chief Judge Janet DiFiore abused her position when she wrote a letter last year calling for professional punishment to be meted out to the president of the New York State Court Officers Association, who had allegedly threatened DiFiore in an email in 2020.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct agreed to probe the complaint lodged by NYSCOA 's Dennis Quirk, who accused DiFiore of using the "enormous weight and prestige" of her position to stifle his free speech and get him fired for his email to her, according to documents provided to the Times Union and people familiar with the matter.

Quirk accused DiFiore of violating judicial ethics rules in an Aug. 24, 2021, "impact letter" that the judge sent to retired Queens-based state Supreme Court Justice Phyllis O. Flug, the independent hearing officer presiding over Quirk's disciplinary matter.

"The commission will consider your complaint and communicate with you thereafter," Robert Tembeckjian, the administrator of the Judicial Conduct commission, told Quirk on Sept. 1, 2021.

DiFiore, 66, has served as the chief judge of the Court of Appeals since January 2016. The investigation, first reported by Law360.com, surfaced after DiFiore announced Monday that she was retiring from her position at the end of August.

The former Westchester County district attorney and chairwoman of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics did not specify why she is retiring. I believe that I have made my contribution. ... This is the right moment in time for me to move to the next chapter in my professional and personal life," she said.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state court system, said complaints to the Commission on Judicial Conduct are supposed to be kept confidential.

"Clearly someone chose to break that confidentiality. The chief judge will not," Chalfen said in a statement. "However, she always does the responsible thing, so if she was asked to respond to a complaint, she certainly would have done so.'

Chalfen added: "And to be clear, her decision to retire is absolutely in no way connected to anything other than her desire to move on professionally and personally."

The sequence of events leading to the commission's involvement began early in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Quirk's complaint and documents that he filed with the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

On June 12, 2020, a New York Post reporter called Quirk to ask the union leader about DiFiore's demand for an investigation of Quirk over allegations of racial inequality and brutality committed against Black court officers.

Quirk, in turn, emailed DiFiore, documents show. "Your call to the NY Post that I am a racist is false and you know it," he wrote her.

The 72-year-old asked DiFiore how she would like it if damaging stories about her personal life were "posted all over every court building in NYS."

Quirk told the commission he was simply drawing a parallel between what DiFiore said about him and past rumors published about her. It put his job in jeopardy, he said, because DiFiore alleged he violated rules for state court officers.

On Aug. 24, 2021, after all the testimony in the disciplinary proceedings against him was complete, DiFiore sent a letter to Flug, the hearing officer, calling Quirk's email "disrespectful and threatening." DiFiore asked Flug to use every power at her disposal to address Quirk's "childish temper tantrum."

DiFiore sent the letter on her official stationery as the state's chief judge.

"I appreciate the opportunity to address you directly to describe the grave impact that Respondent Dennis Quirk's contemptuous misconduct has had on me, my work and our entire court system," DiFiore told Flug.

DiFiore ended the letter: "I implore you to use your authority wisely to uphold the values of our entire court system."

The chief judge noted that after the May 25, 2000, police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, she had commissioned Jeh Johnson, who served as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, to conduct an independent review of New York's court system and issues of institutional racism.

In her letter to Flug, the chief judge highlighted a portion of Johnson's report that documented a "culture of toxicity and unprofessionalism exhibited by court officers towards litigants, litigants relatives and attorneys of color" and that multiple officers of color mentioned white court officers using the N-word.

"We also note that certain union leaders have themselves posted offensive messages on social media, leading several court officers to complain that union leadership is a 'safe haven for racist speech and actions,'" Johnson's report said.

Though he remains the union president, Quirk retired last fall after being suspended for posting DiFiore's home address in what he said was planning for a protest against the state's vaccine mandate. He told the Commission on Judicial Conduct that DiFiore's letter to Flug was highly inappropriate, violated rules that guide the chief judge and was "unsolicited attestation as a character witness against me and my due process and First Amendment rights."

A spokesperson for the commission could not be reached Tuesday.
29-year-old Denis Vladmirovich Molla reported to police and insurance that his MAGA flag emblazoned camper was set on fire and his home vandalized. The US Attorney's office claims he did it all himself.

CBS Minnesota:

Molla reported to police that someone set fire to his camper "because it had a Trump 2020 flag displayed on it," and spray painted the Antifa or anarchy symbol, "BLM" and "Biden 2020" on his garage door. The U.S. Attorney's Office says Molla actually lit the fire and defaced the garage himself.



Court documents show that Molla then "submitted multiple insurance claims seeking coverage for the damage to his garage, camper, vehicles, and residence caused by the fire."

Molla submitted insurance claims totaling more than $300,000, receiving only $61,000 in the process. He then accused his insurance company of "defrauding him." Court documents show he also yielded more than $17,000 from two GoFundMe accounts.
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has honored 14 members of the government team that took down NXIVM leader Keith Raniere but a major contributor was missing from that list: the lead prosecutor.

The Department of Justice did not include former Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza in its 69th annual Attorney Generals Award Ceremony  an outcome attributed to the timing of her departure from the Brooklyn-based office and the timing of the award application.

In a news release, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York praised the "groundbreaking work" of the award-winners. And Peace said Raniere was "ultimately demolished" by the work of the "prosecution team."

But his release made no mention of Penza, who delivered the government's closing argument and led the team in court. It was Penza who spearheaded the probe that sank the NXIVM guru known as "Vanguard" after she read about his notorious "master/slave" group known as Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS),

On June 19, 2019, a jury convicted Raniere, 61, formerly of Halfmoon, in less than five hours on all charges, including sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and racketeering charges with underlying acts of extortion, identity theft and possession of child pornography. He is serving a 120-year sentence in a Tucson, Arizona, prison.

That afternoon, a visibly pleased Penza stood prominently beside then-U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue at a news conference outside the courthouse as Donoghue referred to Raniere as the "crime boss of a cult-like organization involved in sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation."

Raniere, who spent decades controlling women through shame and manipulation, was convicted in a case headed by Penza and another woman, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar, who has led the prosecution team since Penza left.

Garland awarded Hajjar, former acting U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Trowell, and Teri Carby, a paralegal specialist; as well as FBI supervisory agents Anthony Bivona and Christopher Donohue; FBI Special Agents Delise Jeffrey, Michael Lever, Maegan Rees, and Michael Weniger; FBI Victim Specialist Laura Riso, State Police and task force officer Charles Fontanelli; and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents Megan Buckley and Christopher Munster.

The award is only open to current employees at the time of nomination.

Penza  now a partner at the firm of Wilkinson Stekloff in Manhattan  had already left the office when the application form was submitted. Lesko was still a DOJ employee when the nomination was sent in, which explains why he was eligible, according to John Marzulli, an Eastern District of New York spokesperson.

On Wednesday, Penza told the Times Union: "Bringing Keith Raniere to justice was a team effort, and Im delighted to see my colleagues, especially our law enforcement partners, honored for their tireless work dismantling this criminal enterprise."

The award honors Department of Justice employees and partners for extraordinary contributions to the enforcement of the nations laws. On Tuesday, Garland honored 298 department employees and 54 nondepartment employees.

"This years awardees have served selflessly to further the departments important work upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting civil rights, Garland said in a statement. I am proud to recognize these individuals for their professionalism, skill, and leadership, and I am grateful for their service to our department and our nation.

In his news release, Peace also said the case serves as a model for using racketeering, labor and sex trafficking statutes to combat crimes that have caused victims significant harm.

Raniere has an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His legal team contends federal agents tampered with child pornography evidence; the government rejects the argument.

At the center of Raniere's sex-trafficking convictions was DOS, a secret clan in which sleep-deprived, calorie-starved women joined a supposed women's empowerment group only to be blackmailed to be "slaves" to "masters" in a pyramid-shaped organization headed by Raniere, the only man in DOS. Women were ordered to wear chains to symbolize collars and, at times, given assignments to "seduce" Raniere. Many were branded on their pelvic areas with a symbol revealed to be his initials.

The existence of DOS, first reported by onetime NXIVM publicist Frank Parlato, drew Penza's attention when whistleblower Sarah Edmondson, a former high-ranking NXIVM member in Vancouver who belonged to DOS, went public with her story to The New York Times in October 2017.

"What stood out was that I immediately thought there was more to this story and that there's potential criminal activity here," Penza said last November on Edmondson's podcast, A Little Bit Culty, which Edmondson hosts with her husband, former NXIVM member Anthony "Nippy" Ames.

As a federal prosecutor, Penza said on the podcast, she was in a position to do something about it. From there, she said, a team of prosecutors and investigators was put together.

The prosecution included the guilty pleas of NXIVM president Nancy Salzman, known as "Prefect"; her daughter, Lauren Salzman; actress Allison Mack; Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman; and bookkeeper Kathy Russell.

Nancy Salzman is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for racketeering conspiracy. Lauren Salzman, the government's star witness received five years probation, and Mack, who cooperated with prosecutors, got a three-year sentence. Both women pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. Bronfman, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal and harbor illegal immigrants for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification, is serving six years and nine months in prison. Russell received two years probation for visa fraud.

Only Bronfman still supports Raniere.
ALBANY  For the second time in nearly four years, a former Rensselaer County correction officer is facing charges that he sexually abused a female inmate.

The first case against Sean Morrissey, brought by county prosecutors in 2018, was dismissed the same year in Rensselaer City Court. But last month, the 51-year-old Waterford resident was indicted in U.S. District Court on a charge of abusive sexual contact of a ward for allegedly rubbing the genitalia of the same female county jail inmate over the course of two weeks in September 2018.

Which begs the question: Why the delay between cases?

Don't expect an answer if you put that question to various Capital Region law enforcement entities: A City Court judge in Troy sealed the case in early 2019, and law enforcement officials at the state and federal level are not talking about what happened  leaving even Morrisseys attorney, Arthur Frost, seeking answers.

Mr. Morrissey and I were both surprised and disappointed at the new charges filed against him, Frost told Law Beat. The charges in Rensselaer (City) Court were dismissed four years ago, and we were surprised that the U.S. attorney's office would bring these new charges. We are still evaluating the charges and measuring our reaction to them.

Asked about the delay between the charges, Frost said: "I have no idea why they waited four years, but that will likely be a part of the defense: that they have deprived my client of his due-process rights by delaying so long. The state charges were dismissed because they were meritless."

The U.S. attorney's office, in a news release last month, alleged that Morrissey treated the inmate "with the intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a person." The crime, upon conviction, carries a maximum of two years in prison. The federal prosecution is believed to involve the same alleged criminal conduct as the 2018 state case.

Prosecutors announced Morrissey's indictment last month, noting the investigation involved the FBI and the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office. But none of those agencies are commenting on the delay in cases.

It is not unusual for a lag to take place in the aftermath of COVID-19, but the initial charges against Morrissey preceded the arrival of the pandemic by a year and a half. And a delay of four years, even in today's legal world, seems unusual.

On Monday, Sheriff Patrick Russo said Morrissey left his job as a correction officer in 2018 around the time the officer was charged.

Cases are sealed upon dismissal in New York under Criminal Procedure Law. While those cases are not expunged, they are generally unavailable to the public  outside of whatever news reports remain online or in print.

What sets the Morrissey case apart from ones involving most defendants, however, is that it involved his alleged actions as a law enforcement officer. In June 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law to repeal Civil Rights Law 50-a, which had blocked the public release of past misconduct allegations used in personnel decisions against law enforcement.

Based on that law change, the prior allegations against Morrissey would seem to clearly warrant public disclosure.

Morrissey's alleged misconduct was not the first time he was accused of wrongdoing. In 2004, he was sued in U.S. District Court in Albany on allegations related to his conduct on Aug. 14, 2001. That day, after his pickup truck was struck by a paintball pellet on Spiegeltown Road, Morrissey  while wearing his correction officer uniform  allegedly stopped his truck, grabbed a 13-year-old who was crossing the street, and choked and handcuffed the child, who was not the person who shot the pellet. He then allegedly put the teen in the back seat of his truck.

In 2006, the case was settled for $12,500 and dismissed. The records of that case remain public.

Morrissey is tentatively scheduled to go to trial on the federal charge Aug. 29 before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby in Syracuse.






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STILLWATER  State Police say they've found a 13-year-old girl who went missing on Monday.

On Tuesday, troopers asked for the public's help in the search for the teen but announced Tuesday afternoon that she'd been located and "is safe."
Donald Boyd has spent nearly his entire career at Kaleida Health and, over the last 25 years, has risen through the ranks of Western New York's largest health system.

Now, after working in roles from ambulatory services to a stint as a hospital president and then a decade leading business development efforts, it's time for the 50-year-old to take the big job as CEO.

"He's been through all of Kaleida's twists and turns," said Larry Zielinski, a health care administration expert at University at Buffalo and a former Buffalo General Medical Center president. "Like all health system executives, he's going to have enormous challenges facing him."

Enormous indeed.

Consider: Kaleida is in the midst of high-stakes negotiations with unions that represent about two-thirds of its roughly 10,000-person workforce  employees who want improved staffing and who closely watched the Mercy Hospital strike in the fall at rival Catholic Health System.

Want more pressure? Throw on stinging financial effects from the pandemic, forcing the health system to spend millions on travel workers to fill staffing gaps.

As a cherry on top: Health care is a rapidly changing industry, shifting to value-based and preventative care  which, historically, has not been a hospital system's bread and butter.

Given these ongoing challenges, the late-in-the-day announcement Tuesday from Kaleida that named Boyd the CEO to succeed Bob Nesselbush, 57, shocked many in the Western New York medical community.

The announcement said Nesselbush was retiring  something that had never been hinted at publicly  after roughly 18 months in the CEO post and just over three years with Kaleida.

Gary Crosby, the newly elected chair of Kaleida's board of directors, said in a statement that Boyd is "the right person" to move the organization forward as it navigates choppy waters. Crosby did not return a call seeking further comment Wednesday.

Zielinski, who has known Boyd for 20 years and calls him smart, hardworking and personable, said it is nice to see someone work their way up "the old-fashioned way."

"I'm sure he's very happy, but my guess is he didn't sleep well last night," Zielinski said.

Major labor talks

Boyd's most immediate challenge is settling contract negotiations with Communications Workers of America Local 1168 and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represent about 6,300 Kaleida workers  a figure that would be north of 7,000, the unions say, if all open jobs were filled.

The two sides have, so far, agreed to two 30-day contract extensions, the most recent of which runs through the end of July.

But the clock is ticking.

Kaleida Health chooses insider to become its new CEO Kaleida Health's new CEO is Don Boyd, who succeeds the retiring Bob Nesselbush.

CWA Area Director Debbie Hayes said the unions have a significant staffing proposal on the table and last week presented their economic package to Kaleida. Talks have moved along slowly since beginning in mid-March, now entering the difficult topics such as wages, benefits and staffing.

While union leaders said the timing of the CEO switch is not ideal during contract talks, Hayes and others noted Boyd has been a regular at the bargaining table. Hayes called him a "consistent, active participant in negotiations" and told him in a conversation Tuesday that she hopes the time he has invested in the process will lead to a solid agreement.

"I just hope that the change in leadership positions at Kaleida does not have an adverse effect on contract negotiations as we try to wrap this up," Hayes said.

How Mercy Hospital strike set the stage for key contract talks at rival Kaleida Health The Catholic Health contract sets a benchmark that Kaleida Health officials will need to consider as they negotiate with their workers. It's work that starts Wednesday, when Kaleida and the unions representing about 6,300 of its workers sit down for their first joint bargaining session.

A contract settlement at Catholic Health last fall, following a nearly six-week strike at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo, set the bar for negotiations at Kaleida by hammering out benchmarks for staffing levels. That means the pressure is on Kaleida to match, or exceed, the Catholic Health contract.

And, unlike an agreement at Catholic Health that specified a strike could only happen at Mercy, Kaleida has no such assurances if negotiations were to stall and labor action was threatened.

Hayes said how contract talks get resolved "is going to set the tone for what happens at Kaleida over the next several years."

Financial pressure

Many hospitals across the country are facing financial troubles.

Hospitals are struggling to discharge patients into nursing homes and other settings, which have decreased their bed count to adjust for staffing challenges. That means certain patients are staying longer in hospital beds, creating backlogs in the emergency department. Rather than wait, some patients opt to leave without being seen  taking their reimbursable visit to another setting, such as an urgent care center.

Meanwhile, expenses are rising: Amid staffing challenges, wages have increased to recruit and retain workers. And hospitals continue to shell out big money for travel workers.

"Every health system in Western New York is facing cash issues, and that issue was not as prevalent prior to Covid," said Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., president and CEO of Erie County Medical Center. "This is 100% Covid-related."

Kaleida Health and its affiliated Upper Allegheny Health System, which includes Olean General Hospital and Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, logged nearly $230 million in pandemic-related losses from lost revenue and incremental expenses such as premium pay, surge staffing and personal protective equipment, according to a lawsuit Kaleida filed this year against its insurance company.

Kaleida Health's pandemic-related losses near $230 million  and it wants its insurer to cover it It's yet further proof of the financial beating that WNY's hospitals endured during the pandemic, already margin-challenged due to this region's high concentration of Medicaid and Medicare patients and the lower reimbursements that accompany them.

That missed revenue and higher expenses translated to deficits on the bottom line in 2020: about $61 million for Kaleida and $5.4 million at Upper Allegheny, according to the most recent annual reports filed with the IRS.

Kaleida also lost $18 million in 2019, which broke a streak of five straight profitable years.

Quatroche, who has known Boyd for 16 years and started working more closely with him once Kaleida and ECMC became partners in Great Lakes Health System, said Boyd is a strategic person who understands where health care is headed.

"I think Don's up for the challenge," he said. "He's got a very cool head. He understands the market."
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SCHENECTADY  A year after newcomers Erica Brockmyer and Jamaica Miles won seats on the Board of Education, making it for the first time within memory an all-female panel, the group recently elected two Black women, one of them Latina, to top leadership posts.

Board members during last Wednesdays Board of Education organizational meeting unanimously elected Bernice Rivera as board president and Nohelani Etienne as vice president, according to Karen Corona, a spokeswoman for the district.
New York states Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill is just one step away from becoming law after both houses of our state Legislature voted overwhelmingly in its favor.

Like many other practicing veterinarians who support this legislation, I witness the negative effects of puppy mills on a regular basis. This bill (A.4283/S.1130) would prevent the sale of mill puppies, kittens, and rabbits in pet stores across the state. Similar legislation has already passed in Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Washington, and California; I urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign this measure into law and add New York to the growing list.

It is all too common for consumers to feel an impulsive draw toward the cute animals displayed in pet stores. This can lead to their unwitting patronization of the inhumane breeding operations from which these animals originated. Unfortunately, these animals often arrive to pet stores afflicted with infections, parasites, and other ailments resulting from the cramped and unsanitary conditions at the mill as well as the lack of adequate veterinary care -- or in some cases none at all.

This not only means widespread animal suffering, but also heartbroken families whose new puppy cannot be saved or ends up being relinquished to a shelter if care proves to be too intense or too expensive. Even more commonly, irresponsible breeding practices lead to many pet store animals being afflicted with lifelong congenital or genetic ailments.

I see these problems firsthand and can attest to the turmoil and anxiety they create for all involved. Often, veterinary clients are unable to afford the diagnostics and treatment necessary to combat these conditions, which should have never been bred into the animals in the first place.

One of the most difficult aspects of examining pet store puppies in veterinary practice is explaining to families that the animal was sold to them under false pretenses. Pet store employees typically assure buyers that they are purchasing a healthy puppy from a high-quality, responsible breeder. Most buyers are unaware that their vulnerable young animal typically traveled across multiple states in an extremely stressful transport. They do not know that its parents were left behind in inhumane conditions that no animal-loving New Yorker would knowingly condone.

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I and many other veterinarians educate clients about puppy mills as a central part of veterinary practice. We encourage clients to adopt animals from local shelters or rescues, and we underscore the difference between small, traditional family breeders and inhumane puppy mills. Veterinarians are nonetheless fighting an uphill battle against both puppy mill practices and the misleading pet store sales pitches that keep mills thriving. Without sensible and targeted legislation, numerous New Yorkers will continue to end up on the other end of such deceptive marketing.

By signing the Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill, Hochul can help animals, protect consumers, and foster humane businesses  including hundreds of New York pet stores that offer products and services without choosing to sell cruelly milled animals. Thousands of New York residents from all walks of life, including many in the veterinary profession, vocally supported this bill. If it is signed into law, our state will be both more responsible and more respected for having prioritized its humane values.

Eileen Jefferson, DVM, has been practicing veterinary medicine for 14 years and is the New York state representative for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.
A generic apology and a cash payment: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany's settlement proposal has all the contrition of a corporate lawyer saying, "How can we make this go away?"

It's ultimately up to the more than 400 people who have sued the diocese with accusations of sexual abuse whether this offer is enough. But it would not be surprising if for many, if not most, it is not. Surely a religious institution can do better.

If the sole purpose of the diocese's proposed "Path Forward Plan" was to avoid the time and high cost of litigating each and every lawsuit in order to provide victims the highest settlement payment possible  and avoid bankruptcy  it would arguably be a framework worth pursuing. But the plan does considerably more, not all of it wholesome.

As the Times Unions Brendan J. Lyons reports, dozens of attorneys for plaintiffs in the cases brought under the states Child Victims Act feared the churchs proposal would end the pretrial discovery process in which the diocese must produce documents relevant to the lawsuits. Those documents, going back decades, would likely detail sexual abuse accusations against priests and how church officials handled them. On Monday, a state Supreme Court justice declined to hit the pause button on that process. Thats for the best.

It's broadly known that accused priests were frequently not defrocked, but sent for psychological treatment and reassigned to other parishes. But knowing the general approach is not the same as seeing the internal correspondence or mental health evaluations of individuals and how diocesan officials heeded them, or failed to. It's important, for the sake of the victims and all the other people who look to the church for spiritual and moral sustenance, to know what church authorities knew, when they knew it, and what they did or did not do with that knowledge.

Victims especially have a right to know this. While they already know how individual priests violated them, they deserve to know if and how church leaders betrayed them.

The problems with the plan don't end there. It would also require plaintiffs to enter into a confidentiality agreement prohibiting public disclosure.

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That's the sort of strategy long employed by corporate entities to keep sexual harassment and abuse cases and other embarrassing matters under wraps. It was used in the state Legislature, too, to keep victims of predatory lawmakers from going public, and keep the public from knowing about taxpayer-funded settlements structured to ensure that secrecy.

It is shameful for the church to try to keep the whole story from coming out, and to threaten victims that if they don't settle, the diocese will file for bankruptcy. Victims must live with the fear that their cases could drag on for years, and the guilt of playing a role in the bankrupting of their church.

It's a terrible tactic for people to be made to feel they bear responsibility for a religious institution whose leaders harmed or failed to protect them. This is not about faith. It's about facts and truths that church leaders seem loath to reveal.
Landlord and tenant disputes usually play out behind closed office doors. It's not every day you see a landlord parking a tractor in front of a store's doors to prevent it from leaving.

But that was the unusual  and highly public  move Uniland Development made Monday night in its fight with the BFLO Store, which is moving its flagship location down the street to Transitown Plaza. The two sides are involved in a dispute over who owns fixtures and other improvements made to the space.

But there's more to the story than a spat over light sconces and store display hardware.

Tensions have been building for some time between Uniland and the store that had been a feather in the mall's cap for years, filling a prominent 28,000-square-foot empty Sears anchor spot. Eastern Hills was the BFLO Store's flagship location.

But the relationship soured recently.

Contract negotiations for the space did not go well, with Uniland seeking a substantial rent increase, according to BFLO Store owner Nathan Mroz. The BFLO Store balked and struck a deal to move to Transitown Plaza, leaving Uniland without one of its anchor tenants at a time when malls already are scrambling to lure shoppers.

It also wasn't just about the BFLO Store.

The BFLO Store has a store-within-a-store concept, where it leases space to other tenants, including Chrusciki Bakery, Sto Lat Bar, Simply Pierogi, Home Today and Lox Salon.

Mroz and a Sto Lat Bar spokesperson contend Uniland has been trying to get those tenants to move to sign leases with the mall  a move that would take revenue away from the BFLO Store and redirect it to Uniland.

In negotiations with tenants that had subleased with BFLO, Uniland was marketing the BFLO Store space  space that Mroz spent $2 million renovating when he took over what was an old, empty Sears store, they said.

The break between the BFLO Store and Uniland came less than a month after the BFLO Store announced that it was moving out of the mall to a competing plaza less than a mile to the south.

But the simmering issues boiled over this week, with the padlocking and blocking of the store.

The mall said it took the action because it was concerned that the BFLO Store was removing fixtures that belonged to the mall as workers packed up in advance of the move.

Sto Lat Bar officials expressed concern over items removed from the event space, which it shares with the BFLO Store, has the liquor license for and is in negotiations to possibly take over. The sublease tenants are attached to the store by a hallway, and items in that hallway, bathroom and other shared spaces have been removed, including windows, doors and plumbing.

"The lighting fixtures have been taken down. At the end of the day, it is between the BFLO Store and the mall but it kind of affects all of us at some point," said Alyssa Menickelly Klink, a spokeswoman for Sto Lat Bar, Simply Pierogi and Chrusciki Bakery."

Mroz said he has left tenant spaces alone so as not to disrupt their business but has removed fixtures from shared spaces, patching and cleaning as he goes.

"I paid for them, and there is nothing in my contract that says I need to leave them," he said. "I am trying to be respectful of their wishes for me to move, but I have two loans on the redevelopment of that building and I must take what is mine."

In a statement, Uniland said it prevented the store's access over "concerns that they were removing unauthorized structural components" including windows, doors, flooring, light fixtures and plumbing. Uniland said it could create a safety issue and took action.

"We find these actions alarming as they could create life safety issues and/or building code violations, and out of an abundance of caution and safety we have decided that this is the best course of action," Uniland said in a statement.

Uniland declined to answer questions.

Burt Flickinger III, a retail expert and managing director at retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group, which has helped tenants dispute leases, said he was surprised by the accusations.

"I'm not sure I can believe my ears on this one," he said. "This is some of the most outrageous, tortious interference I've ever seen."

It is made all the more puzzling considering how desperate malls are for good retailers, and Mroz said the "substantial" increase in his rent seemed to indicate the mall was trying to get rid of him.

"Here you've got a great merchant literally breathing life into the mall to rescue it from unviability to tremendous viability," he said.

The BFLO Store is set to reopen Saturday in its new location at Transitown Plaza, but this incident could delay that, Mroz said. Uniland representatives entered the store during business hours Monday night, told customers to leave and began padlocking doors shut, the store said.

The BFLO Store started at Eastern Hills 10 years ago and now has four locations, including ones at McKinley Mall, Walden Galleria and Canalside.
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ALBANY  Several local elected officials gathered with advocacy groups on Wednesday to announce they will press state lawmakers to adopt robust protections for tenants in the wake of a recent state Supreme Court ruling that struck down the city of Albany's "good cause eviction" law.

The advocacy efforts include pressing lawmakers to return to Albany immediately, ahead of next year's legislative session, to address an issue that has faced fierce opposition from landlords and the real estate industry, which pushed against statewide legislation during this year's session.

Wednesday's gathering of local officials and advocates at the Capitol followed a June 30 ruling by state Supreme Court Justice Christina L. Ryba that invalidated Albany's first-in-the-state "good cause eviction" law. The decision came nearly a year after the city passed its landmark law, which has since been mirrored in the cities of Beacon, Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

The judge's decision, which is expected to be appealed, unraveled the local law that was intended to prevent a landlord from evicting a tenant who is paying their rent on time, giving the landlord reasonable access to the unit and not doing anything illegal or creating a nuisance.

The Albany ordinance also stipulated that there is no grounds for a landlord to evict a tenant who is unable to pay rent if it is increased more than 5 percent on a renewal lease. A state version of that law sets a slightly different standard with the threshold at 3 percent or 150 percent of the consumer price index.

Ryba wrote in her decision that she did not view the local law as a form of rent control  which was a top concern from the real estate industry  but that it was preempted by state law governing who can be evicted and how that process takes place.

The tenant advocates and several local officials said the state should pass its own version of a "good cause" eviction bill.

"Come back and and take up this action," said Albany Common Councilman Alfredo Balarin, who sponsored the local legislation. "And give us back the protections that have been taken away by the courts."

The city filed a notice of appeal of Ryba's decision on Monday. It could set in motion a protracted legal fight with the landlords who challenged the local ordinance. It was not immediately clear whether tenants who believed they were protected by the city's law would be covered while the case is on appeal.

Balarin, who is a landlord, said that he believes it is particularly notable the judge said the city's law was not a version of rent control, which many landlords have contended. He noted under the city's version of the law, landlords could offer a unit at whatever rent they wanted if it is vacant.

A landlord can also raise rent on a renewal contract by more than 5 percent if it is to offset substantial improvements to the unit, like remodeling a bathroom or kitchen, Balarin said. Increases in rent to cover repairs would not be a part of that formula.

The elected officials who gather at the Capitol called on the Legislature to convene a special session to address the issue.

"We did the right thing and now we're calling on our state legislators to do the right thing," Council President Corey Ellis said at the rally.

Councilman Owusu Anane pointed to the fact Democrats control both houses in the state Legislature and the governor's office so there is nothing stopping them from convening.

"This is not a time to wait," Anane said.

Earlier this year, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan advocated for the state to pass good cause legislation during "tin cup day."

Sheehan had noted she supported the state passing its own version of "good cause" because of the ethical and economic reasons but also because of the litigation.

"Well, we've been sued," the mayor had said, noting if the state passed its own version it would buttress the city in the legal challenge pending at that time.

Sheehan has typically aligned herself with the policies of Gov. Kathy Hochul, but "good cause" is one where there is some distance between them.

Nearly a year ago, Hochul stepped into office and almost immediately turned to an "extraordinary session" to extend a controversial eviction moratorium while state and federal funds stalled in getting distributed to landlords and tenants. At the time, housing advocates also pressed for lawmakers to take up a "good cause" eviction bill.

The progressive-backed legislation continues to face skeptics in the Democratic Party, including Hochul, who in her campaign for a first full term as governor has received significant financial contributions from the real estate industry.
ALBANY  The former Fort Edward village police chief and a sergeant each pleaded guilty recently to a misdemeanor crime to settle multiple felony charges alleging they had falsified training records involving nearly a dozen police recruits.

The former chief, 43-year-old Justin C. Derway, retired from the department and agreed to surrender his police certification credentials prior to his guilty plea on June 24 in Albany City Court. The former sergeant, Dean E. Watkins, 51, who pleaded guilty on Monday, voluntarily resigned from the department and also surrendered his police certification credentials, according to attorneys in the case.

Both pleaded guilty to a single count of offering a false instrument for filing. Their pleas resulted in a conditional discharge so neither of the former police officers faced penalties beyond being ordered to pay $250 in surcharges, according to court records.

The cases were prosecuted by the state attorney general's office, which did not immediately comment for this story.

"Sgt. Watkins trained people as he was trained and ultimately the court determined there was a technical violation in his paperwork," said his attorney, Thomas A. Capezza.

Kevin A. Luibrand, Derway's attorney, gave a similar account of the outcome.

"He trained people and did his reports exactly as he was told by his supervisors and exactly as he was trained," Luibrand said. "That proved to be wrong."

Derway and Watkins had been placed on administrative leave in January by the Village Board in connection with the investigation.

Criminal complaints filed by the attorney general's office in Albany City Court accused both men of falsifying hundreds of hours in certification documents that indicated they had been supervising police recruits.

The alleged falsification of the documents took place during an 11-month police academy the village police force conducted beginning in October 2018. The academy training, headed by Watkins, involved 15 police recruits, according to the criminal complaint.

Watkins was a field training officer for seven of the recruits and Derway for four.

After they submitted training certification records to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, officials there noticed that both police officials had claimed to work seemingly impossible numbers of hours while conducting field training.

"Specifically, they observed that Watkins and Derway worked an astronomical number of hours as (training officers)," the complaint states.

After reviewing the time records of the recruits, DCJS officials determined that Watkins and Derway signed off on 668 and 228 hours, respectively, of supervised field training that they allegedly did not work.

The state attorney general's office and DCJS have targeted other smaller police departments where officials have been accused of falsifying police certification training records.

In a similar investigation in 2018, the attorney general's office charged Galway's police chief and two other senior officers with systematically falsifying records that documented state-mandated training courses for officers on that tiny police force in Saratoga County.

The charges were the result of a two-year investigation by then-state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office.

Then-Galway police Chief Leslie R. Klein allegedly sanctioned the filing of official forms with the state that falsely stated officers completed mandated training courses when they had not. Klein also worked as a Broadalbin-Perth school district janitor.

Also charged were Mark E. LaViolette, a former Schenectady officer who was a Galway sergeant and Schenectady County's director of emergency management; Galway Sgt. David Goodwin and Mark Kirker, who was also a Glenville police officer.



Klein, LaViolette and Goodwin, later pleaded guilty to reduced charges of criminal solicitation and agreed to resign as well as have their police officer certifications invalidated. Kirker also pleaded guilty, resigned and agreed to relinquish his certification to be a police training instructor.

The Times Union reported in January that Watkins also was under investigation in an unrelated matter for allegedly improperly using a stun gun on a man who was handcuffed and in police custody. Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney was appointed as a special prosecutor in that investigation, which remains open.
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ALBANY  Republican congressional candidate Carl Paladino has filed a lawsuit challenging New York's new gun laws, which he claims are "patently absurd" and have set an unconstitutional restriction on the ability to carry a firearm on private property.

The lawsuit was filed ahead of a related legal challenge from his primary opponent, state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy, who said recently he is planning to file litigation on behalf of the state party. The state Conservative Party is also expected to be a party in the case and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association has helping research the legal issues.

Paladino's lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo asserts a section of the new law is "one of the most expansive infringements on the constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense ever adopted by a state Legislature." The case was filed against the State Police, Erie County Sheriff's Office and the Buffalo Police Department.

A spokesman for the State Police declined to comment.

"We passed a law we believe is constitutionally sound and we will defend it," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.

Paladino's petition seeks a court ruling allowing licensed handgun owners to to carry their handguns on private property without permission of the owner. He claims the inability to do so would be a violation of a person's rights under the First, Second, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

State lawmakers passed a host of laws earlier this month to restrict who can acquire for a firearm and where they can carry that gun. Democratic elected officials said they were responding to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state's concealed carry permit law, which had stood for over a century. The laws included a mandate that private business owners must post signs notifying patrons if they allow handguns to be legally carried in their premises.

Paladino is represented by Paul J. Cambria Jr., a Buffalo criminal defense lawyer. Cambria is the former president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the former chairman of the criminal justice section of the New York State Bar Association.

Earlier this month, Hochul characterized the Supreme Court's decision striking down New York concealed-carry permitting process as "a reckless decision removing century-old limitations on who is allowed to carry concealed weapons in our state  senselessly sending us backward and putting the safety of our residents in jeopardy."

New York has been under a state of emergency related to gun violence for over a year. It has also declared it a public health crisis; about half of the state's gun deaths are attributed to suicide. The state has substantially increased its financial support to remedy gun violence associated with surging crime in cities.

The new gun laws were immediately criticized by state Republicans and law enforcement officials, who cast them as poorly worded and legally insufficient legislation that was rushed through during a special session. They said the measures are an unconstitutional overreach infringing on the public's right to self defense.

The amended laws have quickly become a rallying cry for both sides of the aisle. Democrats, including Hochul, are campaigning that they are protecting New Yorkers from potential violence in public spaces. Republicans are campaigning that the measures are an assault on the Second Amendment  messaging similar to criticism of New York's "SAFE Act," which was signed into law a decade ago by then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Democratic leaders contend the news laws, passed during a hastily called "extraordinary session," were narrowly tailored toward the Supreme Court's ruling on concealed carry. Paladino's lawsuit asserts they illegally would ban lawfully permitted handgun owners from carrying concealed weapons on private property.

A legislative memo, released in the middle of the night during the recent session, states that the purpose of the law is to identify "sensitive locations where it is prohibited to carry a concealed weapon."

The law defines sensitive locations where a person would be charged with criminal possession of a firearm, including a rifle or shotgun, without specifically indicating it is about concealed carry. Handguns cannot be carried in New York unless they are concealed, except by law enforcement officers.

Paladino alleges the amended state laws, which will go into effect in September, would limit "New Yorkers constitutional right to armed

self-defense" beyond the confines of their homes and public streets.

The lawsuit also lists Paladino's real estate company, Ellicott Development. He states the company, which has offices in downtown Buffalo, would like to allow people with concealed-carry licenses to bring those weapons there without the need to post signs saying it's allowed.

The lawsuit frames it as New York treating the Second Amendment as a "second-class constitutional" right and interpreting it in a "patently absurd manner."

Hochul has said the amended laws are intended to both protect the rights of property owners and increase public safety.

The rule to have property owners have to opt-in to allowing guns on their premises, according to a release from the governor's office, would allow people to "make an informed decision on whether or not they want to be in a space where people could potentially be carrying a weapon."
Village of Menands photo

MENANDS  The village is sponsoring the Summer Food Truck Festival, being held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on four Wednesdays, from July 13 to Aug. 3, at Ganser-Smith Memorial Park. Live music will be performed each week.

There will be multiple trucks each week, according to the village's clerk, Don Handerhan, from a rotating roster that includes Burger 21 (burgers), Buena Comida (Mexican street food/tacos), Bull and Basil (wood-fired pizza), Two for the Road (Italian-American), Grafoodi (grill items), Greta's Gourmet (homemade ice cream sandwiches) and Mr. Ding-a-Ling (ice cream).
Tributes are being paid to a local girl who has passed away three months after a freak accident.

Aisling Kennedy from Ballymacarbry was a First Year student at the Presentation Secondary School in Clonmel.

The 13-year-old was returning home from school on April 7 last when the tragic accident happened.

The happy family life of the Kennedy family living in Glasha, Ballymacarbry was thrown into turmoil on that fateful Thursday.

Aisling was left fighting for her life after she was struck by the wing mirror of a van shortly after she got off the school bus that brought her home.

Aisling had leaned out from behind the school bus when she was struck in the head by the wing mirror of a passing van in a freak accident.

Fighting for her life, Aisling was airlifted to Temple Street hospital in Dublin and her parents Tom and Louise stayed by her side.

Describing the moment she was informed of her daughter's conditions, Aislings mother, Louise wrote on their GoFundMe page: On the 7th of April 2022, I received the phone call which every parent fears most, and what was a routine journey home from work and school for everyone in our family culminated in Temple Street Hospital.

On walking the last few yards to home, our beautiful little girl, Aisling, was struck in the head by the wing mirror of a van and in the movement from one side of the road to the other her life was changed forever.

Aisling was so fortunate to immediately receive the help of passing motorists, of our wonderful neighbours, and of the life saving paramedic and air ambulance teams which treated her at the scene.

She was immediately airlifted to Dublin, such was the severity of her injury.

May she Rest in Peace.
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Here are a few of the more enticing live music events on offer in the clubs and concert halls this week.

DakhaBrakha

8 p.m. July 14 at Artpark, Lewiston; $12.

Returning to Artpark following a still buzzed-about 2019 performance, DakhaBrakha leaves behind their now war-torn homeland of Ukraine capital city Kyiv, to bring a live musical score set to the 1930 Ukrainian silent film Earth. The film earned director Alexander Dovzhenko a reputation as one of the bravest and most significant Ukrainian filmmakers of the Soviet era. Sadly, the upheaval, destruction and turmoil wrought by political forces that is the subject of Dovzhenkos film remains relevant nearly 100 years later. Together, we tried to convey the authenticity, and also the naivety, of those feelings and messages brought to us from that time and that era, to us today and our Earth, DakhaBrakha said in a press release.

Following the film and live performance, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture at University at Buffalo Bruce Jackson will lead a discussion.

Cobblestone Live

6 p.m. July 15 and 1 p.m. July 16 at Historic Cobblestone District; $30/$40 single day; $45/$55 two day.

The fourth Cobblestone Live Festival takes place across a pair of outdoor stages on Illinois and Columbia Streets and indoor stages at Buffalo Iron Works (49 Illinois St.) and Lockhouse Distillery (41 Columbia St.). The schedule on July 15 features sets from Cypher at 6 p.m., Dirty Work (an all-star Steely Dan tribute) at 6:30 p.m., returning Cobblestone favorites Andy Frasco and the UN at 8 p.m., Funktional Flow at 8:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., and Doom Flamingo at 11 p.m. Grace Greenan opens proceedings at 2 p.m. on July 16, followed by Mom Said No at 2:30 p.m., the Sideways at 3:30 p.m., Mihali at 4 p.m., Canetis at 5:15 p.m., Grub at 6 p.m., An all-star Alanis Morrissette Tribute at 6:30 p.m., the Hip Abduction at 8 p.m., Workingmans Dead at 8:30 p.m., Misterwives at 9:45 p.m., and a '90s alternative/hip-hop silent disco at 11 p.m.

The Tea Party

7 p.m. July 16 and 7 p.m. July 17 at the Town Ballroom, 681 Main St.; $35/$60.

The mighty, the majestic and the sometimes mystical sound of Canadian power-trio the Tea Party is something that seems to defy space, time and trend. Jeff Martin, Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood have been thrilling and elevating Buffalo audiences since the tour behind their sophomore album, 1993s brilliant Splendor Solis. This visit, twice delayed by the pandemic, finds the band taking over the Town Ballroom for twin nights of beautiful bombast and soul-stirring intimacy, culled from what is by now one of the most consistently engaging discographies in modern rock. If youre planning on attending either night, its advisable to grab your tickets ahead of time, as they are disappearing quickly.

Tonawanda Canal Fest

Various times beginning on July 17 and running through July 24, Sweeney St. Stage, North Tonawanda, free.

Live music on the Tonawanda Canal returns with Canal Fest. This years all-local lineup offers cover and tribute bands playing everything from Dave Matthews Band and Led Zeppelin to various classic and modern country, polka and metal favorites. The full lineup is as follows. Busted Stuff and 90 West, 4 p.m. July 17; River Rocks, Rambin Lou Family Band and Reset 2 Vinyl, 4 p.m. July 18; Under Arrest and Coda (Led Zeppelin Tribute), 4 p.m. July 19; Joe Childs Student Bands, Phocus and Bloodline, noon July 20; Yellow Jack and High Horse, 4 p.m. July 21.

Reggae Fest

6 p.m. July 21 at the Liberty Hound, 1 Naval Park, Canalside; $20/$55.

In Buffalo, we run our musical influences through a filter that is decidedly our own, one that is surely influenced by long winters, all-too-brief but always brilliant summers, and our own version of what it means to have the blues and to strive for soulfulness. Its no surprise, then, that our reggae artists find their own wrinkles within the timeless tonalities and grooves of Caribbean music. Neville Francis, The Rockaz & Olmsted Dub System will team to offer their own takes on the Rasta Man Vibration at this mini-festival on the waters edge, which will also include a Caribbean-style pig roast.

Also worth checking out:

The Sheila Divine with A Potters Field. 5 p.m. July 14 at Thursday & Main, Fountain Plaza, Main & Chippewa Streets; free.

Blaise Mercedes, 8 p.m. July 15 at Tappo Pizza, 166 Chandler St.; free.

Pastmasters - Celebrating the Music of the Beatles, 7 p.m. July 20 at Centennial Park, 80 North Main St., Angola; free.

Critt & the Buffalo Music Club featuring the Music is Art Good Neighbors Project, 5 p.m. July 20, Live at Larkin, Larkin Square; free.

McCarthyizm, 6 p.m. July 21 at The Irishman Pub & Eatery, 5601 Main St., Williamsville; free.
Quick update on a few reports worth checking tonight starting with more gunfire erupting this evening.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Investigation underway after 3 teens are shot in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Police Department is investigating after three people, all teenagers under 18 years old, were shot on Tuesday evening. According to the police, they received a call shortly after 5 p.m. about the sound of shots in the area of 83rd and Lydia.

Local mom urges KC police board to make changes after son's death KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A local mom is still looking for answers after her son's death last month. Kayla Edmond said her son, Brelande Edmond, passed out while taking a physical test to become a Kansas City police officer. He died days later. On Tuesday, Edmond spoke before the KC Board of Police Commissioners.

Kansas City PD possibly find vehicle linked to hit-and-run that injured child KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police in Kansas City, Missouri, may have found a vehicle linked to a hit-and-run that injured a girl on the Fourth of July. Zy'Najsia "Nae" Nunnally, 11, was lighting a firework when she was hit near East 85th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Kansas man sentenced in international drug ring KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WIBW) - A Kansas man has been sentenced to 144 months in prison for his role in an international drug trafficking ring. In April 2022, Jovanny Medina, 24, of Kansas City, Kansas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Kansas City, Missouri 2022 homicide tracker KANSAS CITY, Mo. - FOX4 is tracking homicide cases in Kansas City, Missouri following the two deadliest years on record in 2020 (179) and 2021 (157). The FOX4 Kansas City, Missouri Homicide Tracker is updated weekly. The most recent charges can be found on the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office website.

Developing . . .
Right now we share a few more topics we've been thinking about today as we check pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Check www.TonysKansasCity.com news gathering . . .

Kansas City Explores Big Picture

Science City expert explains what images from NASA's Webb telescope tell us With NASA releasing new images from the James Webb telescope, a lot of people wonder what exactly we are learning from these pictures and what they tell us about our universe.Experts at Science City explained that the images we are seeing are of different galaxies and stars, and in some cases, even other planets.

Golden Ghetto Welcomes More Friends

Overland Park commission OKs rezone for 400-unit apartment complex OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Despite pushback from surrounding property owners, the Overland Park Planning Commission advanced a rezoning request that could bring more than 400 new apartments to the southern portion of the city. On Monday, the commission voted 9-0 to approve a request to rezone roughly 17 acres of land in the southwest corner of 135th Street and Antioch Road.

Today's Blaze Near The Loop

Black smoke spotted near downtown KCMO after 3 rail cars catch fire KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Smoke from three burning rail cars sent a plume of black smoke into the air Tuesday afternoon near downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The burning trailers were spotted by a train conductor near the train tracks in the 500 block of Atlantic Street.

Local Water Park Tragedy

Young girl pulled from Oceans of Fun pool dies from injuries KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 7-year-old girl pulled from a pool at Oceans of Fun last week has died, according to the owners of the park. It happened as Stephanie Craig was about to leave the Coconut Cove part of the park Tuesday evening, July 5 th with her husband and two young boys.

Show-Me Crackdown Consequences

Impact of Missouri's trigger law on KCMO hosting conferences remains unclear KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The effects of Missouri's abortion trigger law following last month's Supreme Court ruling to overturn abortion protections from Roe vs Wade are still being decided. The National Association for College Admission Counseling was looking at Kansas City, Missouri, as a spot for its annual conference in 2025.

Hottie Gets Haterz Off Her Chest

Florence Pugh slams 'vulgar' men who attacked her for wearing revealing dress Written by Toyin Owoseje, CNN Florence Pugh wants the world to know she is proud of her body -- nipples and all. The "Black Widow" actress has addressed the "aggressive" and "vulgar" criticism she received after sharing a picture on social media of the sheer gown she wore to the Valentino haute couture show in Rome.

First Sun Hot Take Part Deux

'Who Is Hunter Biden?: Part II': Judge Pirro explores the president's son's unhinged life The controversy surrounding Hunter Biden began when his infamous laptop came under scrutiny in 2020, and mainstream outlets and social media giants rushed to defend his name against alleged "Russian disinformation," but Fox Nation continues to dig deeper into the life of President Biden's son, exploring the scandals that created such a controversial figure.

MAGA Moves Away From Trump

Half of G.O.P. Voters Ready to Leave Trump Behind, Poll Finds As Donald J. Trump weighs whether to open an unusually early White House campaign, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows that his post-presidential quest to consolidate his support within the Republican Party has instead left him weakened, with nearly half the party's primary voters seeking someone different for president in 2024 and a significant number vowing to abandon him if he wins the nomination.

Horrific Video Hits MSM

Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos roam Uvalde school halls, cops running away from gunshots Cops responding to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting ran away from gunshots while 19 children and two teachers were left to die in their classrooms, according to new footage of the horrifying attack published Tuesday.

Faith & Hope Amid War

Exclusive: Rev. Franklin Graham reveals war's impact on Christians in Ukraine but also the hope of God As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 138th day on July 11, 2022, many people have found themselves tuning out at this point to the seemingly endless tragedy, horror and destruction in Ukraine. Yet many faith leaders and God-filled volunteers will never ignore the suffering of others.

KCI Quick Exit

Passengers on flight from KC to Denver scramble for safety after fire reported just after landing Hide Transcript Show Transcript IDENTIFIED. PEOPLE ON A FLIGHT FROM KANSAS CITY TO DENVER WERE RUSHED OFF THE PLANE AFTER REPORTS OF A FIRE. COME THIS WAY. COME THIS WAY. HALEY: A PASSENGER SHOT THIS VIDEO AS THE PLANE WAS EVACUATED, MOMENTS AFTER IT LANDED IN DENVER.

Local Label Check

Belfonte Dairy recalls 'Chocolate to Die For' ice cream in 1.5 quart packages KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Belfonte Dairy announced a product recall Tuesday night that involves its 1.5 quart container of "Chocolate to Die For" premium ice cream. A news release from the company sent Tuesday night states, "the product may contain undisclosed peanuts, which could cause illness if consumed.

Cowtown Overhead After Dark

The 'Buck Moon' will be back overnight Tuesday KC is clear and cooler tonight with lows in the low and mid-60s. Things are sunny with highs near 90 Wednesday and Thursday. Showers are possible Friday morning with more clouds. Highs will be in the low 90s Friday through the weekend.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Fair play for our council lady this evening . . . Katheryn Shields making power moves in the Missouri U.S. Senate contest on the Democratic Party side.



Whilst the Republicans are slugging it out with gun & blowtorch commercials . . . Veteran Lucas Kunce is touting his unabashedly progressive credentials.



Despite the red state leanings of Missouri . . . Let's not downplay KC's role in fundraising . . . And let's not forget the Kunce has MORE THAN THREE MILLION BUCKS IN HIS CAMPAIGN PIGGY BANK.



And so . . . Tonight the council lady introduced the contender to a small but important crowd which seems to think that an anti-gun, pro-abortion, and pro-immigrant politico can win in Missouri . . . And that might be the case if Eric Greitens gets the nod from his party.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

In Senate race, Democrat Lucas Kunce pledges fight for abortion rights, stronger action on guns Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Lucas Kunce has a relatively straightforward contention on why he'd be the best candidate in November: The Jefferson City native wants someone who's experienced economic hardship to provide a voice to Missouri. "Most Missourians grow up paycheck to paycheck or one disaster from bankruptcy," Kunce said during an episode of St.

Lucas Kunce: National identification program will crush independent farmers With the recent recalls, there's been talk in Washington about bringing back a Big Brother government program that has devastated independent farmers: National Identification. Originally introduced in 2006, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was allegedly put in place to curtail diseases and bacteria in animal products after the Mad Cow Disease outbreak.

Dems Hope Greitens' 'Twistedness' Makes Him Vulnerable Eric Greitens' Senate campaign is racking up more backlash by the day. His once allies are turning on him-with some calling on the former Republican governor to drop out. And Democrats in the state are practically salivating at the thought of a former governor who resigned in disgrace being their competition this fall.

Developing . . .
The Kansas City background chatter in the aftermath of deadly Westport gunfire has been racially charged and exceptionally divisive.



Just for laughs we consider this perspective which also plays the blame game and might be ignoring so many local calls for a midtown party district crackdown.

Here's the hot take . . .



"Why is it that when Black establishments get shot up, everyone calls for it to be shut down immediately and also go directly at the owner, yet such demands have never been made of white establishments like Westport?



"Is it because Westport is part of the deep rooted racism, and white supremacy in our city that desperately wants to see any type of black entrepreneurship/ownership fail, and all forms of white economy flourish?"

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Racism or Something Else? Why People Call to Shut Down 18th & Vine But Not Westport Following Shootings As the community continues to recover from the tragic mass shooting which took place at Ale House on Sunday evening, many community members are already discussing the difference in media coverage and broader response when gun violence takes place in white KC establishments (Westport) vs. Black-owned establishments like 18th & Vine and others.

Just for balance and a glimpse at the real world . . . Here's a more hopeful link . . .

Man killed in Westport Ale House shooting died defending others, family says KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The family of a man killed on Sunday night said he died while defending others. Cardell Crawford, 24, was killed this weekend when a big fight erupted from Westport Ale House and spilled onto Broadway. Crawford, who was identified by police on Tuesday, was one of six people shot in that incident.

You decide . . .
A morning homicide investigation starts the news cycle on the other side of the state line.



Here are the basics . . .



Police were dispatched to the 1700 block of North 58th Street on a shooting call shortly after 12:30 a.m.



Upon arrival, officers discovered an adult male dead inside a home.



A person of interest is in custody.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Confidence, community connections as teens work this summer with Toronto police

I want to join this program to see how I can bring change in my community: student participant
Toronto police seek to ID man in connection with alleged sexual assault of girl, 13, at bus stop

Police say 13-year-old girl was waiting at a bus stop in Scarborough when a man came up to her
The saga of Buffalo's reapportionment could end up in a courtroom.

The Buffalo Common Council contends it cannot accept other options for district boundaries.

Amid criticism, amended Common Council map tweaks reapportionment plan The Common Council decided on Monday to allow at least a few more days for the public to review proposed changes to council district boundaries.

But if the Council approves its amended version of what the citys reapportionment commission developed, there will be a legal challenge, said attorney Adam Bojak, a volunteer with Our City Action Buffalo community group, which has promoted its own version of a district map for the Council.

The Council may not be able to accept additional maps like the one that Our City Action has developed, but the Councils hands are not tied, Bojak said. The Council can still amend the redistricting map submitted by the citys reapportionment commission, he said.

"The Common Council made changes to the map that the commission gave them," Bojak said Tuesday. "And they have the ability to make more changes anytime they want before it comes up for a vote as long as they follow the proper procedure. We cant just walk in and give them something to vote on. We dont have that legal authority, but they do. They have the legal authority to throw out the commissions map right now."

At Tuesday's Common Council session, Assistant Corporation Counsel Carin Gordon explained the redistricting process.

At this point, the commission has been decommissioned," Gordon said. "They have completed their task. Without the ... commission to accept new additional maps or plans, at this point the most the Common Council can do is accept comments and consideration."

The citys redistricting process and product has drawn increased criticism from hundreds of residents organized by Our City Action Buffalo, which contends the proposed district lines the Council will vote on do not take into account neighborhoods or promote racial fairness.

Tuesday's meeting was contentious from the start as residents and members of Our City Action and PUSH Buffalo packed Council chambers on the 13th floor of City Hall.

When the Council began to discuss the item and hear from the assistant corporation counsel, many in the audience stood up and chanted, This is what democracy looks like."

Individuals repeatedly interrupted the city lawyer as she explained the redistricting process.

Council President Darius Pridgen asked audience members several times to quiet down.

The Council did not act on its amended redistricting map, partially to give more time for residents to review it.
Toronto Fire Services opens new fire hall near Downsview Park

Toronto's 84th firehall 'strategically located' in proximity to more than 1,000 new homes
Police concerned for safety of missing man, 24, last seen in 2020 in Toronto
Toronto has been named one of the 50 Greatest Places of 2022 by Time Magazine. - Bobby Niven photo
Starting Thursday, July 14, individuals age 18 and older who received their third dose (first booster) five months ago will be eligible for a second booster dose. - Paige Taylor White/Toronto Star file photo
Fifteen fire companies provided mutual aid Monday evening as a stubborn blaze heavily damaged a complex of businesses at 3491 E. Main St. (Route 20) at Roberts Road in the Town of Sheridan, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office reported.

Sheridan Fire Department volunteers arrived about 5:15 p.m. at the sprawling building three miles east of Fredonia that housed Pawn Starz, a pawn shop, along with a pet grooming salon and other stores.

Firefighters were at the scene for several hours, the Sheriff's Office noted, and were hampered by the numerous additions and renovations to the structure, which formerly was a bowling alley.

The Chautauqua County Fire Investigation Team determined that the blaze started in an auto detailing garage at the rear of the building. A cause has not yet been identified.
A Buffalo man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon on Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls Police went to the 900 block of Pine Avenue after receiving a report of a person down, according to city spokeswoman Ann Harenda.

Officers found the 22-year-old man laying in the street with a gunshot wound at 5:45 p.m. They initiated first aid until the Niagara Falls Fire Department and an ambulance arrived. The victim, who was not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police ask anyone with information regarding the incident to contact Niagara Falls Police Criminal Investigation Division Detectives at 716-286-4553 or the General Information number 716-286-4711.
Iconic Events and Kit Promotions have combined to create Iconic Mas on the streets of Tobago
Ukraine has become an associate member of NATO's Multilateral Interoperability Program, so the country now not only implements NATO standards, but can also participate in the development of new standards.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a video address on July 12, Ukrinform reports.

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today I would like to highlight one decision that looks like a technical one, but there is a lot of symbolism and meaningful political work behind it. Ukraine became an associate member of NATO's special multilateral program on technological interoperability. To put it more simply, it is about Alliances standards. Now Ukraine not only implements NATO standards, but also can participate in the development of new standards.

The experience of our military, the capabilities of Ukrainian institutions, the IT potential of our country - all this will now be the Ukrainian contribution to the development of collective security in Europe.

And when does it happen? On the 139th day of a full-scale war, with which Russia planned to destroy us in a week. And the Ukrainian state not only survived, not only defends itself, but also develops and will help the development of its partners. Such success is worth noting.

Every day we receive and experience a lot of painful news. The war continues, Russian shelling does not stop for a single day. Today there were regular strikes at Mykolaiv - missiles, artillery. The occupiers once again hit Kharkiv and the communities of the region - Staryi Saltiv, Zolochiv, Bayrak and others. There are victims - wounded and killed. In Donbas, offensive attempts do not stop, the situation there does not get easier, and the losses do not get smaller. We must remember this. We must see this, draw attention to this.

And it should also be remembered that even in such conditions, the state takes steps forward - in cooperation with partners - in institutional development. And, of course, on the frontline.

The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is, and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land, which they occupied. They have felt that the operations of our reconnaissance officers to protect their Homeland are much more powerful than any of their "special operations". Russian soldiers - and we know this from interceptions of their conversations - are truly afraid of our Armed Forces.

139 days of such a war, almost 20 weeks... The so-called second army of the world is afraid of Ukrainians and is able to do something only on the basis of bottomless stocks of old Soviet weapons.

They no longer have strategic strength, character, or understanding of what they are doing here on our land. They also dont have even an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from Ukrainian territory.

Today in Kyiv, I held talks with Mariusz Baszczak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Poland. And he brought us "Krabs" - those that will powerfully feed our enemy with fire.

Of course, the key topic of our negotiations was further defense cooperation. But it is important not only what we talked about, but also how we talked. With absolute confidence in the Ukrainian future. In the Ukrainian European future.

The same goes for all my other negotiations. It is always felt.

A really difficult road is ahead. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do otherwise when you are protecting your home from a terrorist assault. But it is also clear that what lies ahead is the success of our state. Ukraine will be able to defend itself. Ukraine will be able to rebuild itself. Ukraine will be able to fulfill all its foreign policy goals.

When millions of people work sincerely for this - each and every one at their own level - the result will be inevitable.

And you know, for some reason I rarely thanked ordinary people who work in Ukraine. Who stay here no matter what. Who do their job every day. With faith in Ukraine, with faith in victory. Now I want to thank you all. Thank you for having you. Thank you for being with Ukraine.

In the evening, as always, I signed the decree awarding our heroes. 156 warriors were awarded state awards. 56 of them - posthumously.

Eternal glory to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine!

Eternal glory to all those who fight for the future of our people!

Glory to Ukraine!
The German government has published a complete list of weapons systems, equipment, other lethal and non-lethal military support delivered to Ukraine, as it is resisting Russia's armed aggression.

A respective document has been posted on the official website of the German government, Ukrinform reports.

"In 2022 Germany has increased its funds for security capacity building to 2 billion Euros. These additional funds are primarily dedicated to Ukraine as well as German contributions to the European Peace Facility, from which cost of military support measures for Ukraine can be reimbursed to EU member states," the report said.

According to the report, delivered lethal and non-lethal military support to Ukraine includes:

3,000 anti-tank weapons Panzerfaust 3 with 900 firing devices

14,900 anti-tank mines

500 Man Portable Air Defense Systems STINGER

2,700 Man Portable Air Defense Systems STRELA

7 self-propelled howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000 including adaption, training and spare parts (joint project with the Netherlands)

21.8 million rounds of ammunition for fire arms

50 bunker buster missiles

100 machine gun MG 3 with 500 spare barrels and breechblocks

100,000 hand grenades

5,300 explosive charges

100,000 m detonating cord and 100,000 detonators

350,000 detonators

10,500 projectiles (155mm)

10 anti-drone guns

14 anti-drone sensors and jammers

100 auto-injector devices

28,000 combat helmets

15 palettes of military clothing

280 vehicles (trucks, minibuses, all-terrain vehicles)

100 tents

12 generators

6 palettes of material for explosive ordnance disposal

125 binoculars

1,200 hospital beds

18 palettes of medical material, 60 surgical lights

protective clothing, surgical masks

10,000 sleeping bags

600 safety glasses

1 radio frequency system

3,000 field telephones with 5,000 cable reels and carrying straps

1 field hospital (joint project with Estonia)

353 night vision goggles

4 electronic anti-drone devices

165 field glasses

medical material (inter alia back packs, compression bandages)

38 laser range finders

Diesel and gasoline (ongoing deliveries)

10 tonnes of AdBlue

500 medical gauzes

402,000 pre-packaged military Meals Ready

MiG-29 spare parts

30 protected vehicles

The planned deliveries of weapons and equipment include M113 armored personnel carriers, GEPARD self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, COBRA counter-battery radar systems, MARS multiple rocket launchers, and other systems.
Russian forces made unsuccessful attempts to attack Ukrainian positions in the east of Ukraine, whereas the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched successful strikes on Russian invaders in the south, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said in its latest report.

The report was published on the ISW's website on July 12, Ukrinform reports.

"Russian forces conducted limited and unsuccessful ground assaults north of Sloviansk and east of Siversk," the report states.

Russian forces conducted multiple unsuccessful ground assaults north of Kharkiv, the report said.

At the same time, Russian invaders have lost several high-ranking officers in the occupied territory around Kherson in recent days as a result of strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian forces likely conducted false-flag attacks in Enerhodar, Zaporizhia region, amidst Ukrainian official announcements for civilians to evacuate from occupied territories.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian ammunition depots in southern Ukraine on July 11 and July 12, the report said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin cynically uses hunger as an instrument of war by blocking grain exports from Ukraine.

According to APA, Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg addressed the issue after the meeting of foreign ministers of the five Central European nations, dubbed the Central 5 (C5), in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, July 13.

"The minister (Alexander Schallenberg - ed.) criticized the fact that Putin is waging a war with incredible cynicism, using hunger as a weapon. It is necessary to focus on getting grain out of Ukraine in view of the approaching famine," the report says.

Austrias top diplomat emphasized the importance of preserving the unity of the EU, in particular, in the matter of responding to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. When asked by a Hungarian journalist whether sanctions against Russia prolong the war in Ukraine, the Austrian foreign minister responded with a categorical "no". According to Alexander Schallenberg, there was simply no other alternative and violation of international law was unacceptable. At the same time, the official said that sanctions should weaken Russia, not the European economy.

As APA reports, the key topics of the meeting of the C5 foreign ministers (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia) were the war in Ukraine, Russia sanctions, migration, and EU unity.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak have discussed the necessary military aid to Ukraine from Poland.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said this in a statement posted on its website, Ukrinform reports.

Reznikov thanked Poland and his Polish colleague for supporting Ukraine in its fight against the terrorist state - the Russian Federation.

"I am glad to welcome Mr. Mariusz Blaszczak as our guest. He is a good friend of Ukraine. Our acquaintance with him began with a phone call after my appointment. Back then, I told my colleague that Lithuania gave us Stingers. He immediately asked me, 'How can I help?' This is how the idea of the Piorun man-portable air defense system was born. Currently, Polish MANPADS are very successfully reducing the number of Russian aircraft and helicopters," Reznikov said.

He also noted that Poland is one of the first countries that felt the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Civilians, children and elderly people who have been forced to flee this war, first of all, went to Poland, which received them hospitably.

"Poland ranks second in the world after the U.S. in terms of assistance to Ukraine. Just appreciate it. The people of Poland really consider themselves a real friendly neighbor who wants to help us," Reznikov said.

Blaszczak, in turn, said that Ukraine deserves to be free and independent.

"A free Ukraine means a free Poland. If Ukraine, God forbid, fails to win, it will mean a threat to Poland's security. In this regard, we are interested in Ukraine being free in order to stop Russian aggression. Our Pioruns passed a good test on the battlefield. We believe that the supply of Polish Krab will be of great importance to Ukrainian artillery," Blaszczak said.

Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) together with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has been pleading with the Government of Canada to revoke the waiver provided to Siemens Canada that allows the return of repaired Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany.

This is said in a press release issued by the Ukrainian World Congress, Ukrinform reports.

Today in the Federal Court of Canada, the Ukrainian World Congress has filed a notice of application for judicial review together with Daniel Balik, a Canadian citizen, practicing lawyer, and current resident of Ukraine. The application states that the decision to grant the permit was not reasonable, transparent, or properly authorized, the document reads.

According to Paul Grod, President and CEO of the Ukrainian World Congress, Canadas decision to break sanctions and send the Siemens turbine back to Russia is a grave mistake with dire consequences.

This exemption to the sanctions regime against Russia is totally unacceptable. There are real alternatives to Germanys gas needs, including buying through Ukraines pipeline. We cannot supply a terrorist state with the tools it needs to finance the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people. This is not just about a turbine or possible many turbines to support Russias energy exports, this is about continuously succumbing to Russias blackmail, he said.

Monique Jilesen, Partner at Lenczner Slaght and legal counsel to the co-applicants, added that if the court decides that the decision to grant the permit was unreasonable, it can quash the permit, effectively upholding the sanctions regime.

As reported, Canada decided to return to Germany a gas turbine repaired in Canada by Siemens Energy AG, which was used in the Nord Stream pipeline system. The decision was made despite objections from the government of Ukraine and the large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, who stressed that returning the turbine would undermine the sanctions regime.

Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said on Saturday that the temporary export permit was granted after lengthy discussions with European allies, as well as the International Energy Agency.

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Turkish Airlines has extended the cancellation of flights to and from Ukraine until August 31 inclusive, as well as to and from certain destinations in Belarus and Russia.

Our flights to and from Ukraine have been cancelled until August 31, 2022 (inclusive), reads the announcement on the carriers website.

As noted, passengers who have tickets for flights arriving to/departing from Ukraine between February 24, 2022, and August 23, 2022 (included), have been granted additional change and refund rights with a condition that they make or demand transaction to their tickets until August 23, 2022 (included).

Ticket changes and refunds can be made through the Turkish Airlines website, mobile applications, sales offices, call center, and the agencies from which the ticket was purchased.

These rules apply to flights operated by Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet.

Turkish Airlines also canceled flights from/to Minsk (Belarus), Sochi (Russia), Rostov (Russia), Yekaterinburg (Russia) until August 31, 2022 (inclusive).

As reported, due to the high risk to civil aviation safety, the Joint Civil-Military Air Traffic Management System of Ukraine took urgent measures to close Ukraine's airspace to civilian airspace users from 00.45 utc (02:45 Kyiv time) on February 24.

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Ukraine invites Lithuanian businesses to participate in measures to restore and rebuild the Ukrainian economy after the victory in the war. A total of 614 promising projects have been prepared for investment.

"After the victory of Ukraine, economic relations with Lithuania should reach a new level. It is about close economic cooperation and the participation of Lithuanian partners in large-scale reconstruction projects of Ukraine," the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

It is noted that the issues of economic cooperation between the countries were discussed during the Rebuild Ukraine international conference.

In particular, Ukrainian government officials presented the Investment Menu to Lithuanian colleagues featuring the main measures to restore and rebuild the Ukrainian economy. Lithuanian businesses are invited to participate in investing in 614 promising projects from eight priority industries and sectors: militaryindustrial complex, agro-industrial complex, metallurgy, machine building, energy, mining industry, furniture and woodworking industries, logistics.

The Ministry of Economy notes that investment needs and opportunities for each of these projects were calculated, so key associations and companies of Lithuania can now choose promising projects for investment.

The Ministry emphasizes that increasing trade with Lithuania will be a priority in the development of the post-war economy.

As reported, Lithuania will transfer an additional 10 million euros to an account at the National Bank of Ukraine for urgent restoration works. According to Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Simonite, the volume of bilateral aid from Lithuania to Ukraine and support for refugees in Lithuania already exceeds half a billion euros. Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, the PM of Lithuania emphasized that "Lithuania will support Ukraine until your and our victory and after it."

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The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine sealed a resolution on raising a 200 million interest-free loan from Italy.

As the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine informs, the Government adopted on July 12 a resolution "On public external borrowings in 2022 by raising loan from the Government of the Italian Republic represented by the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Italian Republic" on raising a 200 million interest-free loan from Italy through the IMF's administrative account.

It is noted that the funds will be transferred to the state budget of Ukraine to finance the salaries of the teaching staff of general secondary education institutions.

It is also emphasized that the loan is granted for 15 years (taking into account the grace period of deferring loan repayment for a period of 7.5 years). Interest is not accrued for using the loan.

As reported, the actual state borrowings to the general fund of the state budget for JanuaryJune 2022 amounted to UAH 561.3 billion, or 133.5% of the planned for this period. In particular, UAH 211.6 billion was raised from external sources.

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In a campaign document, Buffalo developer Carl P. Paladino's congressional campaign identified as its assistant treasurer a man who is a registered sex offender and who was convicted in 2017 of possessing child pornography.

A spokesperson for the Paladino campaign on Wednesday denied that Joel J. Sartori is a part of Paladino's bid for Congress in New Yorks newly redrawn 23rd Congressional District, calling the filing "a simple oversight."

Sartori, a 63-year-old Lancaster resident whom law enforcement considers a moderate risk to the public, was listed as the assistant treasurer of the Paladino for Congress campaign in documents the campaign filed last month with the Federal Election Commission.

Sartori, who was listed as the campaigns custodian of records on a federal campaign document filed June 14, is also the part owner of two limited liability companies Paladino has used to make political donations as recently as last year. He contributed more than $11,000 to one of Paladinos prior runs for office and was paid more than $6,000 by Paladinos campaign for office expenses in 2010, according to state campaign finance records reviewed by The Buffalo News.

"This individual is one of over 600 employees, who works in the billing department of Ellicott Development Co., a company Paladino founded, campaign spokesperson Vish Burra said in a written statement. He has no affiliation with Mr. Paladino's campaign for Congress. He has been removed from the campaign document. Mr. Paladino strongly condemns the atrocity of child pornography."

Sartori did not respond to messages left at his home and downtown office seeking comment.

He pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court to one count of promotion of a sexual performance by a child and four counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child  all felonies  in April 2017.

The defendant knowingly had in his possession images and videos of a child engaged in a sexual performance, a spokesperson for Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. said in a statement. A search warrant was executed at the defendants home in March 2013. Investigators seized several digital storage devices from the defendants residence that contained the images and videos.

Sartori in 2017 was sentenced to 10 years of probation, the spokesperson said, and as part of his sentence was required to register as a sex offender on the state's sex offender registry. The state Division of Criminal Justice Services considers Level 2 sex offenders like Sartori to be a medium risk of re-offense.

In Sartoris case, the female victim was less than 16 and did not know him, according to information posted online by the state agency that administers New Yorks sex offender registry. The DAs spokesperson clarified that the offense related to the possession of  not the production of  child sex abuse images.

Campaign officials said Sartori works in the billing department of Ellicott Development, the company Paladino founded and which his son, William, now runs.

When Paladino ran as the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, Sartori made four donations totaling $11,525 to Paladinos campaign committee, according to records filed with the state Board of Elections.

Also that year  which was prior to Sartoris child porn conviction  state campaign finance records indicate the Paladino for the People campaign paid more than $7,200 to Sartori for what the campaign described as office expenses.

Burra did not immediately respond to questions about whether Sartori had a campaign role in 2010.

State law requires limited liability companies, also known as LLCs, to disclose their ownership interests when the companies make political contributions.

In 2019, Sartori contributed $50 to the Erie County Republican Committee on behalf of 1093 Group LLC, which records show was created by Paladino in 2004.

Last year, Sartori contributed $128 to the re-election campaign of Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown, records show. The contribution was part of a $5,000 campaign donation made by 224 Group LLC, which is also affiliated with Paladino, according to state records.

Federal Election Commission records show Paladino's campaign amended its original campaign filing to include Sartori. On June 6, the campaign listed a national political consultant as its records custodian. On June 14, the campaign filed an amended statement listing Sartori in that role.

Last month, Paladino told The News that he planned to spend $1.5 million of his own funds on the campaign for the seat, which will soon be vacated by Republican Chris Jacobs. Paladino is preparing for a primary matchup against Nicholas A. Langworthy, the state Republican chairman making his first run for elective office.

Sartori's link to the campaign is the latest controversy to beset Paladino's campaign.

In June, he first denied, and then admitted, he had posted material on his Facebook page linking recent mass killings in Buffalo and Texas to "false flag" ideas that claim government involvement in similar tragedies.

Also last month, Media Matters, a left-leaning nonprofit group, reported on its website that Paladino told a WBEN Radio program last year that Adolf Hitler was "the kind of leader we need today." He later walked back those remarks.

Paladino and Langworthy are well-known conservatives and allies of former President Donald Trump running in an overwhelmingly Republican and pro-Trump district.
A meeting between the military delegations of the defense ministries of Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the UN delegation, to discuss the export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea ended in Istanbul.

The Ministry of National Defense of Turkey said this on Twitter.

"The four-way meeting between the military delegations of the defense ministries of Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine with the delegation of the United Nations regarding the safe transportation by sea of grain and foodstuff waiting in Ukrainian ports has ended," the tweet reads.

There are currently no official statements regarding the results of the meeting or the agreements reached.

On July 5, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey intends to intensify the negotiation process regarding the opening of "corridors" for the export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea and to reach a result within 7-10 days.

On February 24, Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine. Due to Russian aggression and blockade in the Black Sea, more than 20 million tonnes of grain intended for export are stuck in Ukrainian ports. This caused the threat of global hunger, as Ukraine supplies almost half of grain under the UN World Food Program.

Photo: @tcsavunma
At todays meeting of the military delegations of the defense ministries of Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the UN officials, an agreement was reached on technical issues regarding grain exports from Ukraine through the Black Sea.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stated this following the four-way meeting in Istanbul, according to Ukrinform.

Following the meeting, which took place in a positive and constructive atmosphere, an agreement has been reached on basic technical issues, such as the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul, where representatives of all sides will be present, joint controls at entry and exit of ports, as well ensuring navigational safety on transfer routes, the minister said.

Hulusi Akar also announced another meeting in Turkey next week to review the details of the agreement and sign relevant documents.

As Ukrinform reported, on July 13, the military delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as the UN delegation met in Istanbul to discuss the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from the ports of Ukraine through the Black Sea.
Prime Minister of France Elisabeth Borne suggested that the members of the newly elected National Assembly should organize a debate on the war in Ukraine and create a parliamentary committee for relations on this issue.

"It is important for the national representation to have all the information and be able to discuss this important topic," said the prime minister, Le Monde reports.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Chief of Defense Thierry Burckhardt are to take part in the debate.

According to Borne, Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 entailed "concrete consequences for our fellow citizens which, in particular, are linked to Russian retaliatory measures and, therefore, consequences for the supply of energy and raw materials."

The Prime Minister also called on lawmakers to pay tribute to the Ukrainians whose courage and determination she highly appreciated. The MPs stood up and gave a standing ovation.

On February 24, the Russian Federation began a new stage of the war against Ukraine  the full-scale invasion. Russian invaders shell and bomb Ukrainian cities and villages, killing the civilian population. Defense forces of Ukraine are resisting Russian troops.

The world community has imposed large-scale sanctions on Russia.

Photo credit: Alfonso Jimenez/Shutterstock/SIPA

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U.S. Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Intelligence Committee, says any escalation of Russian aggression toward Ukraine will only lead to stronger support for Kyiv on the part of Washington.

The senator also noted he would continue engaging in efforts to assist Ukraine on security, intelligence, and diplomacy, Guildhall reports, according to Ukrinform.

The violent actions and rhetoric that we have seen from Vladimir Putin in recent months represent the latest in a long string of offensive actions by the Russian President. Accelerated Russian aggression will only strengthen U.S. assistance for our Ukrainian partners, and reinvigorate NATOs collective defense posture, Senator Warner said.

We must continue closely engaging our partners and allies to present a united stance in strong opposition to Russias aggression, and I will continue working to ensure that Ukraine has the diplomatic, security, and intelligence backing that they so critically need, the lawmaker concluded.

Earlier, MEP Raphael Glucksmann (France) called on the EU to define as its strategic goal defeating Russia militarily.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani says the country did not sell hundreds of its own drones to Russia amid the Kremlins ongoing aggression toward Ukraine.

Thats according to the press service of Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

"Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has responded to a question by journalists regarding the US national security advisor's remarks about Iran's sale of homegrown new technologies to Russia. Kanaani said cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation dates back to before the onset of the Ukraine war and no specific development came about recently in this regard," reads the statement.

Read also: UIA files lawsuit against Iran over downing passenger plane

The spokesperson added that Iran's stance on the ongoing war is absolutely clear and has been declared time and again officially.

As reported by Ukrinform, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday, July 11, during a briefing at the White House that the Iranian government was preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline. The official also added that Iran was preparing to train Russian forces to use these drones as soon as this month.

On February 24, the Russian Federation began a new stage of the war against Ukraine  a full-scale invasion. The occupiers have been shelling and bombing the cities and villages of Ukraine, torturing and killing the civilian population.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the decision by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to recognize the so-called "independence" of the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said this in a Facebook post, Ukrinform reports.

"We consider this decision as an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a gross violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, the UN Charter and the fundamental norms and principles of international law," he said. He also added that the recognition by the North Korean regime of the Russian occupation regimes in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is null and void, will have no legal consequences and will not change the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.

Nikolenko said that in response to such an unfriendly act, Ukraine is severing diplomatic relations with North Korea.

"Political and economic contacts with the DPRK are not carried out due to the international sanctions imposed on this country," Nikolenko noted.

"Russia's appeal to the DPRK for support in legitimizing the seizure of part of the Ukrainian territory by force speaks more about Moscow's than Pyongyang's toxicity. Russia has no more allies in the world, except for countries that depend on it financially and politically, and the level of isolation of the Russian Federation will soon reach the level of isolation of the DPRK. Ukraine will continue to react as harshly as possible to encroachments on its sovereignty and territorial integrity," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Russian media outlets reported on July 13 that North Korea had officially recognized the "independence" of the puppet entities "DNR" and "LNR."
Almost 41,000 people arrived in Ukraine on July 11, including more than 38,000 Ukrainians.

The Western Regional Department of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said this in a Facebook post, Ukrinform reports.

"On July 11, some 78,000 people and almost 17,000 vehicles crossed Ukraine's western borders with the EU and Moldova," the report reads.

Some 36,000 people left Ukraine in the past day. As many as 21,000 of them crossed the border with Poland, whereas the rest traveled to other EU countries and Moldova.

Forty trucks carrying humanitarian aid were registered at the western borders on July 11.
A Hamburg man faces a murder charge among other counts after his sister was killed and his elderly mother seriously injured during an attack inside their home.

Michael A. Osuch, 64, allegedly hit his 91-year-old mother in the head and body with an object at about 4:51 p.m. May 8 inside their home on Bristol Road, according to Erie County District Attorney's Office.

The mother ran out of the home to escape the attack and to call for help.

Her daughter, Christine T. Osuch, saw her bleeding and went inside the house to get a towel. That's when she was attacked by her brother, according to District Attorney John J. Flynn.

Christine Osuch suffered a large cut to her head, fractured skull and a brain bleed, according to a release from the office. She was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center, where she died on May 23. The Erie County Medical Examiners Office ruled the death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

The mother's injuries included a laceration to her head and a fractured skull. She continues to recover from her injuries, Flynn said in a tweet.

Michael Osuch was arraigned Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges.

His attorney, Frank Bogulski, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

He had been arraigned May 9 in Hamburg Town Court on two charges of second-degree assault, and he was ordered held without bail. A forensic exam concluded he was competent to proceed with the case.
Both the science and the motivations behind the promotion of offshore wind turbines were taken to task Tuesday during a community meeting on plans to install the large structures in Lake Erie.

The meeting, organized by Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie, attracted about 70 people to the Southtowns Walleye Building, 5895 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, to hear from local anglers, biologists and lawmakers on the potential impact the plan might have on the water supply, fisheries and the ecosystem of Lake Erie.

"There's no reason for this," said State Sen. George Borrello, R-Jamestown. "This is just virtue signaling on the part of a bunch of radical environmentalists and to the benefit of a lot of people that are going to put a lot of money in their pockets as part of this. And that is why we can't jeopardize Lake Erie for somebody's personal financial gain."

Borrello introduced legislation in the State Senate that would ban industrial wind turbines in freshwater lakes in New York.

"I forced it into a committee and it was voted down with very little discussion," he said.

Of concern to Borrello and others attending Tuesday's meeting is a yet-to-be released $1 million study by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, that was ordered by the State Public Service Commission on whether wind power on the lakes should be part of New York's green energy portfolio, including whether the turbines can be placed on floating platforms instead of being anchored to the lake beds.

A law passed in 2019 committed the state to generating 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and all of its electricity from sources that don't produce any carbon emissions by 2040.

Those goals include 9,000 megawatts of power from offshore wind by 2035  enough to power 6 million homes, according to NYSERDA.

Borrello and others at Tuesday's meeting not only questioned the likelihood that offshore wind turbines could help the state reach those goals, or that the results would be economical. Opponents said the structures, which would be as much as 460 feet tall, would increase energy costs from $20 per megawatt hour to $95 per megawatt hour.

"Quite frankly, they're very costly," Borrello said. "The power is intermittent, and the reality is that, in New York State, we are now importing more power than we ever have. Instead of doing a responsible transition using natural gas as a bridge fuel and considering other things like hydroelectric power, we are pushing this one-trick pony idea that we just have to have wind turbines and solar panels."

Sharen Trembath of Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie described the fight against installing the structures in the lake as "a David and Goliath battle," as she alluded to the dangers of toxins from the region's industrial past contaminating the source of drinking water for more than 11 million people who rely on Lake Erie.

Republican Erie County Legislator John Mills of Orchard Park, in a brief interview with The Buffalo News before Tuesday's meeting, said installing turbines in Lake Erie would be unprecedented.

"There's no wind turbines in any fresh water lakes anywhere in the world. They are in the oceans, but not in the fresh water lakes," Mills said.

"The ironic part of this whole wind turbine project in Lake Erie is that the backup power  when the turbines aren't circulating  the backup power for the grid comes out of a coal-burning plant in Pennsylvania," he added.

He and other opponents of have accused California-based Diamond Offshore Wind Development of conducting its own secret studies on the feasibility of offshore wind turbines on Lake Erie.

"They put a buoy out there off Silver Creek, N.Y., to test the wind velocity and waves and stuff last year," Mills said.

Borrello said he had little faith the state study, which was scheduled to be released this past spring, will be fair.

"It's loaded with people that will actually benefit from having these wind turbines in the water," he said of those responsible for conducting the study.

"There are no experts on hydrology. There are no experts on wildlife, ecology, nobody that truly understands the potential negative impacts. It's packed with people that are green energy advocates. So I have no faith that this study is going to come out with anything that will be considered fair or objective," Borrello added.
When Surgo Ventures, a nonprofit organization that uses data to tackle health problems, looked at the overlap between mental health issues and vulnerability to Covid-19, Buffalo  along with Rochester and Syracuse  was one of only 13 cities across the nation that ranked near the top of both lists.

Besides being a dubious distinction for New York State, its also part of the reason the three cities were picked to host Mental Health in Communities of Color symposiums this week during Minority Mental Health Month.

The Buffalo symposium on Thursday is sandwiched between forums in Rochester on Wednesday and in Syracuse on Saturday. But the session here takes on added significance, coming exactly two months after the May 14 Tops supermarket massacre that killed 10 and wounded three.

Beyond devastating the victims families and friends, the mass shooting also traumatized an entire community  trauma that no doubt will be triggered again when the store reopens Friday  because the market was targeted precisely because it serves a predominantly Black neighborhood.

That realization adds to the mental strain Blacks already were dealing with as a result of the disproportionate toll Covid-19 exacted because of socioeconomic disparities that make communities of color more vulnerable. The shooting by a white supremacist also adds to the normal toll imposed by more everyday forms of racism.

Yet, according to a 2020 American Counseling Association article, people of color are less likely to have access to mental health services, less likely to seek out those services or receive needed care, more likely to get poor care and more likely to end care prematurely.

Part of that is because the stigma still associated with mental illness prevents too many people from seeking care. But when it comes to Blacks or other people of color, theres more to it than that.

I wouldnt say its worse because, honestly, theres still a stigma in all communities when it comes to mental health, said Dr. Jonathan Shepherd, president of the Black Mental Health Alliance and a symposium panelist.

What makes it worse for Blacks, Shepherd said, is that disparities in health care make it easier for whites to get treatment. In addition, he pointed to the strong faith element in the Black community and the notion that someone with a problem should just turn to their pastor.

On top of all of that, there is also the issue of cultural competency and the fact that in 2019, according to an American Psychological Association analysis of Census Bureau data, whites accounted for 83% of the U.S. psychology workforce while Blacks made up only 3%, Hispanics comprised just 7% and 4% were Asian.

A joint declaration last year from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Childrens Hospital Association pointed to soaring rates of mental health challenges among young people during the pandemic. But it also noted that the inequities that result from structural racism have contributed to disproportionate impacts on children from communities of color.

In a separate statement, the AACAP noted that Black youth with mental health challenges are often not recognized as such due in part to bias, discrimination, and structural racism. Instead, they are misdiagnosed as having behavioral problems and are more likely to receive poor quality care.

Such obstacles are what pushed Sara Taylor to become an advocate after a teenage niece shes raising faced mental health challenges three years ago and Taylor began talking to other parents she met in emergency rooms.

There was a lot of discrimination, a lot of racism, said Taylor, who spearheaded the symposiums after founding BIPOC PEEEEEEK, a long acronym for Black, Indigenous and people color working as parents to empower one another to eliminate inequities in mental health care for their kids.

Our children are often treated like criminals, Taylor said, explaining that white providers often dont know what its like to have Child Protective Services called on a family whose kid is experiencing mental health problems or to have police show up and wrestle that child to the ground.

Thats why our movement started, she said, adding that the field needs more people of color not just as clinicians but also as peer advocates to guide people through the system and to press for change. Those needed changes include expanding access by putting programs tailored to people of color in churches, housing complexes and other community locations.

Some people will never show up at a mental health clinic, and thats OK, said Taylor, who runs the Positive Steps events management company. But they should not be exempt from care.

One challenge, though, is recognizing the signs that someone needs help. Shepherd will focus his remarks on what adults should look for in children as they cope with mass shootings like those in the Buffalo store, the Uvalde elementary school and at the July 4 parade in his native state of Illinois.

Shepherd, a psychiatrist and chief medical director with Hope Health Systems in Baltimore, said children respond to such trauma in several ways and its important for parents to know their kids so they can spot deviations from normal behavior. Those warning signs could include not being able to sleep or not being able to sleep alone in their own bedroom, changes in eating patterns, not wanting to leave home or being more irritable.

Just overall being more anxious, he said.

For those skeptical of the impact traumatic events like the Tops shooting can have, Shepherd noted how the Highland Park, Ill., parade shooting affected him, recalling how he had attended a similar Independence Day event the day before.

You think about the fact that terror can strike anywhere. It doesnt have a name on it, or certain neighborhoods that it occurs in, he said.

The Buffalo symposium will be at Ephesus Ministries on Grider Street. Registration is required at bipocparentvoice.org. Like the other two, it will include keynotes by national experts as well as a panel discussion featuring Shepherd along with the equity director from the state Office of Mental Health and representatives from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of WNY, BestSelf Behavioral Health and the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers.

Taylor said one goal  in addition to spotlighting the need to diversify the industry  is to change the perception of mental illness, removing the stigma so that its regarded like diabetes or any other physical illness.

Talking about it openly in forums like these is a good start.
For over 30 years the City of Austin has welcomed the tradition of Blues on the Green. Produ Read more
Thomaston, GA (30286)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 91F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 70F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
July 13 2022

Riverfront Property has brought forward plans for a 174-room hotel at 11 Oswald Street, Glasgow, necessitating conservation area consent for demolition of the present unlisted structure.

A project team including Sheppard Robson and Turley has been assembled for the job, which aims to 'activate' the street by driving footfall and delivering an open ground floor frontage comprising the front of house areas including a lounge and breakfast room.

Set behind an arched double-height elevation of grey granite tile this would support regular buff stone piers above with white precast feature stringer and window head details. A dark grey metal upper floor would be set back to reduce apparent mass.

In a statement, the applicant wrote: "The existing building at 11 Oswald Street has been vacant and empty for two decades since its last use as a health club in 2001. There has been no maintenance carried out during this period and the building has fallen into a severe state of deterioration."

A separate apart-hotel is planned for the junction with the Broomielaw.
A recent editorial noted that the costs of electric school buses dont add up unless the impact on global warming is considered. Indeed, the cost of electric school buses are more than double the cost of diesel school buses, adding over $100,000 to the cost of each bus. Furthermore, as noted in the editorial, the fuel savings dont account for the difference.

The justification for electric school buses is the need to address global warming, which the editorial claims makes the calculation all but irresistible.

Unfortunately, the conversion to electric school buses might actually increase, not reduce, global emissions of greenhouse gases.

For example, much of the electricity for New Yorks southern tier comes from a coal powered generating station in Homer City, Pa. Thus, the conversion to all-electric school buses means that those school buses will ultimately be powered by coal, hardly a wise environmental move.

The utility system upgrades to accommodate these electric school buses also have significant environmental impacts when considering all the raw materials involved and the resulting environmental footprint.

The all-electric school buses use batteries that rely on cobalt mined in the Congo using child labor in horrific work conditions.

These batteries also rely on rare earth minerals that are mined and refined in China, which relies extensively on coal power. China accounts for about 29% of global greenhouse gases, compared to less than 0.5% for New York.

As a result of the extremely expensive mandate to convert to electric school buses, New York taxpayers will be sending millions of dollars to some of the worst miners and worst polluters in the world.

Perhaps a better alternative, financially and environmentally, is to support the purchase of school buses that use the cleanest engines produced in the world from the Cummins engine plant located here in Jamestown, including the potential use of compressed natural gas or hydrogen.

Addressing global warming is certainly an important and laudable goal, but a thorough environmental evaluation is needed to ensure that well-intended initiatives actually reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and do not simply create even greater emissions in other states or countries.

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell

Jamestown
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The global oil production in June increased by 690,000 barrels per day and reached 99.5 million barrels per day due to Russia's "resilience" despite sanctions imposed against it, The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Wednesday.

"Russia's resilience despite international sanctions bolstered world oil supply in June and helped offset outages elsewhere due to operational issues and civil unrest. Global output rose by 690 kb/d to 99.5 mb/d during June, as a surprising increase from Russia along with higher US and Canadian flows more than offset steep maintenance-related losses from Kazakhstan and smaller declines from other producers," the report read.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The Russian ambassador to Iran said Wednesday he expected 2022 to become a defining year for the economic relationship of the two countries.

"This year will become a watershed year in our trade and economic cooperation," Levan Dzhagaryan told Rossiya 24 television channel.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during his trip to Tehran in June that trade between Russia and Iran had grown by a record 80% in 2021 to exceed $4 billion. The trend continued this year and Russia will do its utmost to keep it going, the diplomat said.
New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :Manhattan's district attorney on Tuesday charged three people with conspiring to illegally possess and sell some 100 pages of handwritten notes and lyrics for the Eagles album "Hotel California." Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski allegedly knew the documents -- collectively valued at over $1 million -- were stolen, but conspired to sell them anyway.

According to court documents, the men manufactured false provenance and lied to auction houses, potential buyers and law enforcement about how they acquired the notes by Don Henley, which included lyrics to the hits "Hotel California" and "Life in the Fast Lane." A biographer for the band originally stole the manuscripts in the late 1970s, according to the legal filing, eventually selling them to Horowitz, who in turn sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski.

Court documents say Eagles founding-member Henley filed police reports upon learning that Inciardi and Kosinski had the pages, allegations the duo fought for years.

"New York is a world-class hub for art and culture, and those who deal cultural artifacts must scrupulously follow the law," said Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg.

"These defendants attempted to keep and sell these unique and valuable manuscripts, despite knowing they had no right to do so. They made up stories about the origin of the documents and their right to possess them so they could turn a profit." Inciardi, 58, is an "employee with curator responsibilities" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, the museum confirmed to AFP.

"When we became aware of this matter, we suspended the employee and retained experienced outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation," the Rock Hall said in a statement, insisting it was not named in the investigation.

Attorneys for the men vowed to "fight these unjustified charges vigorously.""The DA's office alleges criminality where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of well-respected professionals," they wrote in a statement given to AFP.

The men pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance.
Bordeaux, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :France and Britain suffered soaring temperatures Wednesday, edging closer to the blistering heat already engulfing Spain and Portugal as wildfires destroyed vast stretches of Western European forestland.

Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula have seen temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.

In southwestern France a wildfire raging since Tuesday had ripped through 1,000 hectares of pine trees just south of Bordeaux by Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of 150 residents from their homes.

Near the Dune of Pilat -- Europe's tallest sand dune -- another fire consumed about 700 hectares of old pine trees, authorities said, with the blaze still not contained.

Regional prefect Fabienne Buccio told reporters that fires were spread out over five kilometers (three miles), fuelled by dried-out vegetation.

About 6,000 campers near the dune were evacuated as firefighters worked through the night on the sandy terrain.

Further inland, 500 people were evacuated around the village of Guillos as their homes came under threat from advancing fire.
Minister for Planning, Development and Special initiatives Prof Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday met Under Secretary General of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Liu Zhenmin on the sidelines of High Level Political Forum 2022 here at the United Nations and discussed matters of mutual interests

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :Minister for Planning, Development and Special initiatives Prof Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday met Under Secretary General of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Liu Zhenmin on the sidelines of High Level Political Forum 2022 here at the United Nations and discussed matters of mutual interests.

Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN Ambassador Munir Akram also accompanied him, a news release said.

The planning minister thanked the UN USG for his support to the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) presenting countries for the ongoing HLPF session.

HLPF is the core United Nations platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs (Social Development Goals) on no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, peace, justice and strong institutions, and partnerships in depth.

Ahsan Iqbal also met UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed.
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ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :The Pakistan Army troops on Wednesday killed four terrorists during fire exchange occurred after the forces observed and engaged terrorists' movement in general area Datta Khel of North Waziristan district.

The troops also recovered weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) media release here received.

The killed terrorists remained actively involved in terrorist activities against the security forces, it added.
LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Belarusian mercenaries captured in the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) may face life in prison and even death penalty if they are guilty of crimes in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), LPR Interior Ministry official Vitaly Kiselev told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The official has said that the LPR has captured a sabotage group consisting of Belarusian mercenaries who were planning a terrorist attack in Lysychansk.

"Life sentence is expected for mercenaries, and if it is established during the investigation that the captured mercenaries committed crimes in the DPR, then the cases can be combined and transferred (to the DPR) which has death penatly," Kiselev said.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The European Commission condemns the usage of "intrusive" Israeli Pegasus spyware against Poland, Hungary, France and Spain, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said on Wednesday

The international scandal over Pegasus spyware, used by the Israeli authorities to spy on terrorists, broke in July 2021 after a joint media investigation unveiled that the spyware had also been used to keep an eye on politicians, businessmen, activists, journalists and opposition figures around the world.

"We have included in our report the description of issues around Pegasus spyware. We are mentioning Poland, Hungary, Spain and France.

In the EU targets included journalists, lawyers, national politicians and the members of the European Parliament. While often this is linked to national security, this doesn't mean there is a blank check for such an intrusive tools," Jourova said during a press conference.

In November 2021, the US Department of Commerce included the Israeli NSO Group, the spyware's creator, in its list of entities engaging in activities contravening US national security.

Later in November, Apple launched a lawsuit against NSO Group for the surveillance and targeting of the company's customers. They are also seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or devices.
CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Moldova was not even 20% ready to receive the status of a candidate for the European Union, former Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Tuesday.

"We were not even 20% ready to receive the status of a candidate for EU accession in any of the areas. We are in the EU waiting room," Voronin told the N4 broadcaster.

The authorities need to work very hard and adopt many new laws, as well as carry out reforms, according to Voronin.

The heads of state and government of the EU approved granting Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for joining the union on June 23. The European Council will take further steps after the candidate countries fulfill the conditions formulated by the European Commission. Moldova is yet to resolve the issue of the breakaway region of Transnistria, 60% of whose population is Russian and Ukrainian.
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The Hungarian government declares a state of energy emergency in the field of energy, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's office, said on Wednesday

BUDAPEST (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The Hungarian government declares a state of energy emergency in the field of energy, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's office, said on Wednesday.

"To protect Hungarian families and provide energy like many other countries, the Hungarian government is declaring a state of emergency in the energy sector," Gulyas said at a briefing broadcast by the M1 channel.

Hungary bans exports of energy resources and firewood, he added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier in the day that Hungary had begun negotiations to purchase 700 million cubic meters of gas in excess of existing long-term contracts, and that Hungarian gas storage facilities were 44% full now.
Critical Resources Ltd (ASX:CRR) has fast-tracked phase two of its inaugural diamond drilling program at the Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada, to include a further 5,000 metres of drilling.

The objective of the phase two drilling is to test the continuity between pegmatite 6 and pegmatite 18, with a potential strike length of 1.8 kilometres.

What's more, the drilling will focus on high-priority targets identified through geophysical interpretation, aiming to define a maiden mineral resource at Mavis Lake

Cornerstone project

Critical managing director Alex Biggs said: The combination of strong drill results and newly identified geophysical targets puts the company in a clear position to continue drilling at the Mavis Lake Lithium Project.

"Mavis Lake is quickly becoming a cornerstone project for the company as demonstrated by the consistent drill results we have seen in the first 5,000-metre campaign.

Our strategy is to define a JORC compliant resource which requires both infill and extensional drilling along strike.

Phase one drilling results

In total, 37 holes were drilled during the phase one program for a total of 5,000 metres, testing pegmatite 6 at greater depths than was initially anticipated.

The phase one program intersected spodumene-bearing pegmatites in 35 of 37 holes including:

18.1 metres of ~20% spodumene in MF22-64;

23.1 metres of ~32% spodumene in MF22-72;

17.5 metres of ~18% spodumene in MF22-73;

15 metres of ~20% spodumene in MF22-85; and

14.75 metres of ~16% spodumene in MF22-96.

Phase two rationale

CRR received positive litho-structural interpretation from the geophysical airborne survey flown across the Mavis Lake property in late 2021.

The interpretation is based on magnetic, radiometric and VLF electromagnetic data and has provided a significant basis for the potential of a further 28 new drill targets.

Exploration on these targets has been undertaken to develop a drilling strategy to expand on the inaugural 5,000-metre program.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The statement of the former US National Security Adviser John Bolton on the involvement in the organization of coups is an absolutely new revelation for an American politician that requires an analysis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, in an interview with CNN, while discussing former president Donald Trump's actions, Bolton stated that he helped planned coups abroad and said that they required a lot of work.

"I do not remember any other person, who occupied such senior positions and was directly responsible for the international policy of the United States, would plainly say that he planned coups d'etat in other countries.

Once again: not supporting the democratic forces (in the countries), not promoting democracy, pluralism, etc. But like that, for a person, who has been in a position of power in the administrations of different presidents, to say in such an open and arrogant way that he was involved in planning coups abroad, I do not remember," Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.

According to the spokeswoman, Bolton's statement requires a reaction and demands a thorough analysis.

"It is important to know in which other countries the United States planned coups d'etat," Zakharova added.
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NATO air forces have good coordination with partners in Sweden and Finland and are ready to integrate them as soon as the two countries join the alliance, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations at NATO's Headquarters Allied Air Command Brigadier General Christoph Pliet said on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) NATO air forces have good coordination with partners in Sweden and Finland and are ready to integrate them as soon as the two countries join the alliance, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations at NATO's Headquarters Allied Air Command Brigadier General Christoph Pliet said on Wednesday.

"On the air side, we are prepared, we had some initial discussions with our partner nations already," Pliet told a virtual press briefing.

He expressed confidence that the integration of both countries with NATO is "quite strong already," and the military is awaiting a political decision with regard to approving the bids of Finland and Sweden.

"They are practicing day to day with us," Pliet said.

In May, Finland and Sweden submitted membership applications to NATO, abandoning decades of neutrality due to a shift in the European security environment that they said was caused by Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

The membership bids were initially blocked by Turkey due to the two nations' long-standing support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization and threat to its national security.

However, the three countries signed a security memorandum last month prior to the NATO summit in Madrid, unblockingthe accession process and agreeing to bolster cooperation on counterterrorism.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in early April that further expansion of the alliance eastward is aggressive in nature and will not make Europe more secure. At the same time, the Kremlin does not consider the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO an existential threat to Russia, he noted.
The leaders of the European Union and NATO have agreed to work on a new declaration on EU-NATO cooperation, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The leaders of the European Union and NATO have agreed to work on a new declaration on EU-NATO cooperation, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

"Now, (European Commission President Ursula) Von der Leyen and (European Council President Charles) Michel and I have agreed that we should look into the third declaration (on NATO-EU cooperation). I'm not able to tell you exactly when we will be able to have the third declaration, but it is something which is now supported by both two EU presidents and me, so we will start to work on that as soon as possible," Stoltenberg said during a session of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The EU and NATO continue to work on a joint declaration, which was to be signed at the end of 2021, but the signing was not reported. Its contents have not been disclosed by the parties.

On May 30, Stoltenberg said that NATO would embark on a path to deepening cooperation with the European Union at the Madrid summit held from June 29-30.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) There is no specific date for execution of foreign mercenaries who were sentenced to death as the law does not presuppose it, with the decision set to be non-public, DPR Head Denis Pushilin said on Wednesday.

"The DPR legislation does not presuppose the exact date of the execution, and the enforcement service is guided by its internal decisions. The execution of the sentence is non-public and will not be made public," Pushilin told the Russia-1 broadcaster.
North Korea is ready to support Russia's position regarding the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, the country's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song said on Wednesday

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) North Korea is ready to support Russia's position regarding the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, the country's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song said on Wednesday.

"The government of the DPRK (North Korea) is fully ready to support the position of the Russian Federation... concerning Donetsk and Luhansk," Kim Song said.
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BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, arrived at the Velana International Airport located nearby the Maldivian capital of Male after fleeing his county on Wednesday, media reported.

On Monday, the country's air force provided a flight for the president, hours after he announced that he would resign this Wednesday, and his wife, according to Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror. The flight took off from the Katunayake International Airport for the Maldives later in that day. The couple was accompanied by two security officers.

The flight was reportedly requested by the incumbent government and provided by the air force in accordance with the president's powers, the Sri Lankan constitution, the immigration, customs and other relevant laws, subject to the full endorsement of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry.

Colombo, Sri Lanka's commercial capital, was rocked by thousand-strong protests this past weekend, caused by public dissatisfaction with the government's inefficiency in fighting the economic crisis. Angry crowds tore through barricades surrounding the president's residence, climbed over a fence and took control of the area. Rajapaksa was evacuated.

Following the unrest, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an emergency meeting of political party leaders, who demanded that both the prime minister and president resign immediately. Parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeiwardana was assigned to become the acting president.

On Monday, the president submitted his resignation, planning to step down on Wednesday, July 13. The resignation letter is now supposed to be handed over to Abeiwardana for the official announcement.
Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday held their first direct negotiations since March in a bid to break an impasse over grain exports that has seen food prices soar and millions face hunger

Istanbul, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday held their first direct negotiations since March in a bid to break an impasse over grain exports that has seen food prices soar and millions face hunger.

The high-stakes meeting involving UN and Turkish officials in Istanbul broke up after slightly more than three hours without any immediate signs on a breakthrough.

The Turkish defence ministry issued a one-statement sentence saying the talks had "ended" and offering no hint as to whether progress had been achieved.

But the stakes could not be higher for tens of millions of people facing the threat of starvation in African and other poorest nations because of the battles engulfing one of the main grain producing regions of the world.

Ukrainian officials said at least five people died in Russian shelling on the region surrounding the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv.

"You never get used to war. It's dreadful and scary," 60-year-old Lyubov Mozhayeva said in the partially destroyed frontline city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine is a vital exporter of wheat and grains such as barley and maize. It has also supplied nearly half of all the sunflower oil traded on global markets.

But shipments across the Black Sea have been blocked by Russian warships and mines Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.

The Istanbul negotiations are being complicated by growing suspicions that Russia is trying to export grain it has stolen from Ukrainian farmers in regions under its control.

Russia authorities in Ukraine's southern region of Kherson on Wednesday countered with accusations that Kyiv's forces were deliberately burning crops and mining fields.

US space agency data released last week showed 22 percent of Ukraine's farmland falling under Russian control since the February 24 invasion.

The two sides entered the talks saying that a deal was close but some contentious issues remained.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv was "two steps from an agreement with Russia".

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Moscow had "submitted a package of proposals for the speediest practical solution" of the crisis.

Russia said on Tuesday its requirements included the right to "search the ships to avoid the contraband of weapons" -- a demand rejected by Kyiv.

NATO member Turkey has been using its good relations with both the Kremlin and Kyiv to try and broker an agreement on a safe way to deliver the grain.

Turkey says it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the region that could be quickly loaded and sent to world markets.

A plan by the UN proposes the ships follow safe "corridors" that run between the known location of mines.

Kyiv has also asked that its vessels be accompanied by warships from a friendly country such as Turkey.

Experts say de-mining the Black Sea is a complex operation that could take months -- too long to address the growing global food crisis.

Kuleba said he did not think Moscow actually wanted to reach an agreement because proceeds from grain sales would help support a Western-backed government in Kyiv that the Kremlin brands as "Nazis".

"They know that if we start to export, we will get proceeds from world markets, and this will make us stronger," Kuleba said.

The talks in Istanbul precede a meeting in Tehran next Tuesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Erdogan's ultimate goal is to bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky down to Istanbul for talks aimed at pausing the fighting and launching formal peace talks.

But the Ukrainian army warned this week that Russia was preparing to stage its heaviest attack yet on the Donetsk region -- the larger of the two areas comprising the Donbas war zone.

The Russian army has not conducted any major ground offensives since taking the last points of Ukrainian resistance in the war zone's smaller Lugansk region at the start of the month.

Analysts believe the Russians are taking an "operational pause" during which they are rearming and regrouping forces before launching an assault on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk -- Ukraine's administrative centre for the east.

Ukraine is trying to counter the Russians by staging increasingly potent attacks with new US and European rocket systems targeting arms depots.

US officials believe the Russians are trying to recoup their losses by negotiating to acquire hundreds of combat drones from Iran.
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Russia and Iran agreed to intensify dialogue on cooperation in the field of peaceful atom and come up with specific solutions, Russian state corporation Rosatom said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Russia and Iran agreed to intensify dialogue on cooperation in the field of peaceful atom and come up with specific solutions, Russian state corporation Rosatom said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Rosatom Deputy Director General for International Affairs Nikolay Spassky held detailed working consultations in Tehran with Vice President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi and a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami.

"All main issues of the current and future agenda of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy were discussed. The parties agreed to intensify the dialogue to reach specific solutions," the statement says.
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The decision of the European Commission on Kaliningrad transit is a manifestation of common sense, Moscow will closely follow how these steps are implemented, although there are some questions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The decision of the European Commission on Kaliningrad transit is a manifestation of common sense, Moscow will closely follow how these steps are implemented, although there are some questions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

She noted that Moscow was carefully studying the explanations provided by the European Commission, analyzing them from the point of view of a priority task the comprehensive life support of the Kaliningrad region.

"This decision, which removes restrictions on a certain range of products transported by rail, is a manifestation of realism and common sense. Although we still have questions about the content of this document.

Of course, the Russian side will closely monitor how these EU steps will be implemented in practice," Zakharova said.

Earlier in the day, the European Commission issued additional recommendations on the transit of Russian goods between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia in connection with the European sanctions against a number of goods, in which it recommended not to ban the rail transit of sanctioned Russian goods, subject to appropriate control. The European Commission added that the transit of sanctioned military or dual-use goods and technologies was completely prohibited, regardless of the type of transport.
HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Approximately 12,000 tonnes of explosive fertilizers are stuck in the largest Estonian cargo port Muuga near Tallinn and cannot be removed as their owners and the port's terminal are included in sanctions against Russia, a local media reported on Wednesday.

Currently 80,000 tonnes of fertilizers, including 12,000 tonnes of explosive ammonium nitrate are in Muuga. The owner of the terminal in the port, the company DBT, and the owner of the fertilizers, the Russian chemical production company Acron, are under sanctions, Postimees newspaper reported.

Last month, the representatives of several Estonian ministries convened to discuss the situation with the fertilizers stuck in Muuga, however no decision on their removal was made. The DBT representative gave no comments regarding the problem, according to the news outlet.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Western nations and their allies have imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia in response to the military operation.
Corazon Mining Ltd (ASX:CZN) is progressing toward the potential redevelopment of the historical nickel sulphide Mining Centre at its flagship Lynn Lake Project in Manitoba, Canada.

The company has made significant progress in exploration drilling, metallurgical test-work and defining additional resources within the project area.

Corazon took the strategic step of consolidating the entire Lynn Lake nickel field under its ownership in 2015  the first time this world-scale nickel belt had been controlled by one company.

Exploration drilling

Exploration drilling at the Fraser Lake Complex is continuing, following early encouraging results from drilling at the Motriuk Ultramafic intrusion.

The existence of visible pentlandite (nickel sulphide) in blebs and the potential for these sulphides to accumulate at depth, provide a compelling target for the drilling in progress.

Following a 10-day scheduled break in drilling, it is due to recommence on July 22, 2022.

With an all-inclusive per-metre rate for this drilling program, Corazon bears no additional cost for drilling downtime or slow meterage.

Mining centre exploration

Corazons geological personnel are working with international mining consultants, Palaris, on incorporating all relevant historical data into 3D digital models that will facilitate the identification of areas for potential resource upside within the Lynn Lake Mining Centre.

At the Mining Centre, the company is assessing the potential to benefit from the extensive low-grade sulphide mineralisation surrounding known deposits and identifying relatively untested extensions to the current resources (within the upper levels of the mine surrounds).

Also, Palaris has been engaged to undertake mining studies, which are focused on four separate disciplines - geology, geotechnical, mining strategy and processing.

The study program seeks to assess and maximise the synergies and interactions across all four disciplines to ensure optimal whole-of-project outcomes.

The final deliverable of the mining studies will be a revised mining strategy for the entire mineralised area, focused on optimal production rates and low mining costs.

Metallurgical test-work

Metallurgical test-work on lower-grade material is underway and new 3D models of structure, rock type and geophysical surveys for the A-Plug Mining Centre are being utilised to define potential areas for exploration and resource definition drilling.

The company is incorporating an innovative ore-sorting technology as an upgrading option for the metallurgical test-work program.

Consequently, two third-party suppliers of ore-sorting (upgrade) technology have been engaged to complete initial bench-scale test-work on low-grade material from the EL Deposit.
Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, on Wednesday called an emergency meeting of party leaders following reports of the country's president fleeing country, Sri Lankan media said

BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, on Wednesday called an emergency meeting of party leaders following reports of the country's president fleeing country, Sri Lankan media said.

The speaker is convening an urgent meeting of leaders of political parties and parliamentary factions on Wednesday at 17:00 (11:30 GMT), according to the Ada Derana news portal.

Earlier in the day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa confirmed to Abeywardena his intention to resign and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as interim president.

Wickremesinghe has declared a countrywide state of emergency and a curfew in Colombo, Sri Lanka's commercial capital. Rajapaksa, who was supposed to leave his post on Wednesday, fled late Tuesday night to the Maldives.

On Saturday, the protesters took control of the residences of the president and the prime minister in Colombo, demanding the officials' resignation. The parliament will hold a presidential election on July 20 and appoint a caretaker government, which will remain in power until the next general election.
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Three people were missing after a firefighting helicopter carrying four on board crashed into the sea off Greece Wednesday, the coastguard and firefighting service said

Athens, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2022 ) :Three people were missing after a firefighting helicopter carrying four on board crashed into the sea off Greece Wednesday, the coastguard and firefighting service said.

"One person had been saved and a rescue operation is under way to find the three other members of the crew," a coastguard official told AFP.

A fire brigade official said the helicopter "was participating in fighting a forest fire on Samos", a mountainous island in the Aegean Sea.

The coastguard said three of its patrol vessels and two other boats were involved in the rescue operation.

The fire started around 2 pm (1100 GMT), prompting authorities to dispatch three helicopters and five planes as well as some 50 firefighters.

Strong winds hampered their efforts to bring the blaze under control, as temperatures hovered around the 30 Celsius mark (86 Fahrenheit) in Greece.
At a meeting of delegations from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN on the "grain issue," an agreement was reached on the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday

ISTANBUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) At a meeting of delegations from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN on the "grain issue," an agreement was reached on the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday.

"As a result of the meeting, which was held in a positive and constructive atmosphere, the main technical issues were agreed, such as the creation of a coordination center in Istanbul, where representatives of all parties will be present, joint control at the exit from the port and at points of arrival, ensuring the safety of navigation on transitional routes," Akar told reporters. "We see that the parties are ready to solve this problem."

Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN discussed all the details regarding the safe passage of ships loaded with grain during a meeting in Istanbul, Akar said.

The minister said that next week the Ukrainian and Russian delegations would meet again in Turkey to discuss the "grain issue."

"We will try to draw certain conclusions by carrying out our work in coordination with the UN. In this sense, it was decided that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet again in Turkey next week," the minister said.

At a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian delegations on the "grain issue" next week in Turkey, a document is expected to be signed on the issues discussed, he said.

Turkey will continue to contribute to the solution of the food crisis, which is a humanitarian problem, as well as contribute to regional and international peace, Akar said.
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LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Ukrainian troops delivered a massive strike on the air defense unit, which ensures the security of the city of Luhansk, Andrei Marochko, an officer of the People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), said.

"Armed formations of Ukraine carried out a massive strike on the military air defense unit, which ensures the security of the city of Luhansk. At the moment, all measures have been taken to ensure the safety of civilians," Marochko said on Telegram.

Marochko added that several Ukrainian rockets reached their target, but the sky over Luhansk is controlled by reserve forces.

Ukraine "once again showed its terrorist nature" when it carried out a strike on facilities that protect civilians of the LPR, Marochko said.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) The US Embassy in Sri Lanka said on Wednesday that it was suspending consular services for two days as precautionary measure after the embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.

"Out of an abundance of caution, Consular is canceling our Wednesday afternoon services (American citizen services and NIV (nonimmigrant visa) passback) as well as all consular services on Thursday," the embassy said on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, media reported that the Sri Lankan president had arrived at Velana International Airport in the Maldives. Rajapaksa signed his resignation letter on Monday, and was supposed to officially leave his post on Wednesday.

Colombo, Sri Lanka's commercial capital, was rocked by thousand-strong protests over past weekend, provoked by public dissatisfaction with the government's inefficiency in fighting the economic crisis.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2022) A US jury found ex-CIA employee Joshua Schulte guilty on all counts of an alleged massive theft of classified information, WikiLeaks said on Wednesday.

"Alleged WikiLeaks Vault 7 whistleblower Joshua Schulte found guilty on all counts in response to the embarrassing Vault 7 publication," WikiLeaks said via Twitter referring to a batch of classified US government information of sensitive nature stored in the so-called Vault 7.

Schulte has been on a trial for the second time after he was convicted by a jury on two counts in 2020 for contempt of court and for making false statements to the FBI.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2022) The United States continues to maintain air and ground deconfliction channels with Russia in Syria to protect the Coalition forces and avoid any miscalculation, senior Pentagon official Dana Stroul said at a virtual middle East Institute conference.

"The coalition maintains air and ground deconfliction channels with the Russian military solely to protect Coalition forces and reduce the risk of an adverting escalation or miscalculation," Stroul, who is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, said on Wednesday.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) head Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said in March that the US deconfliction relationship with Russia in Syria has been very professional.

The US has conducted multiple strikes against terrorist leaders inside Syria in recent weeks, including one on Tuesday that killed two members of the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia). Damascus has said the United States is in Syria illegally to steal the country's oil under the excuse of fighting terrorists.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2022) The United States is opposed to a possible military operation by Turkey in northern Syria, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the middle East Dana Stroul said.

"We strongly oppose any Turkish operation into northern Syria and have made clear our objections to Turkey specifically because ISIS (Islamic State terror group, banned in Russia) is going to take advantage of that campaign and not to mention the humanitarian impact," Stroul said on Wednesday.

Stroul noted that the issue concerns not only some 10,000 fighters of the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), who are Syrian Democratic Forces custody, but also some 60,000 displaced persons in the Al Hol and Al Roj camps in northern Syria who are vulnerable to radicalization and exploitation.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said earlier that Ankara was ready to launch a new military operation in northern Syria that could begin at any moment. Damascus has repeatedly called the presence of Turkish forces in the border area of Syria, which carry out operations there against Kurdish formations, illegal and urged Ankara to withdraw its troops.

Syrian Democratic Council Representative in the United States, Bassam Saker, told Sputnik last weekthat the Syrian Kurds are warning Turkey's potential military operation in northern Syria will make it impossible to safeguard prisons there and thousands of Islamic State fighters may break free.

The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011, with different insurgent groups, including terrorist organizations, fighting the Syrian Army in order to topple the government of President Bashar Assad. In late 2017, the Islamic State was declared defeated in Syria and Iraq, but counterterrorism mop-up operations are still underway.

Washington backs the Kurdish armed groups in Syria despite protests by the Syrian government.

Damascus does not recognize the so-called autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria, and calls the presence of the US military on its territory an occupation while the theft of Syria's oil state-sponsored piracy.
Recently launched inside the Marshall Student Center (MSC) on the USF Tampa campus, is Local Restaurant Row (LRR), an Aramark-developed program that brings minority- and women-owned vendors to client locations within higher education, health care and corporate dining. Philadelphia-based Aramark has been the universitys food service partner since 2002. USF Dinings LRR can be found at the 813 Eats convenience market in the food court.

Local Restaurant Row provides opportunities for local small businesses to really find a voice in the community and be able to utilize a huge community like USF to advertise for their restaurant concept and food, said Jessica Cicalese, marketing director for USF Dining Services.

By design, the program criteria is rigorous enough to meet Aramarks quality standards, but with contract terms that are feasible for small businesses. Local restaurants, food trucks and area chefs are strategically engaged and carefully evaluated before theyre invited into the program. Once approved, partners are continuously evaluated across a variety of operational criteria, such as licensure and safety practices. USF Dining works with the USF Office of Supplier Diversity to help foster an inclusive supply chain, identifying on-trend businesses with the ability to integrate into a variety of different environments. Since the spring, diners have been able to enjoy Diggy Dogs hot dogs, Tanya and Matts Ice Creamiest ice cream and Louisiana-inspired cuisine by Livy O's Catering.

We sold out the first day because we underestimated what the appeal was going to be on campus, said Staci Ashwood, operations manager for Livy Os Catering. Almost every day we had long lines wrapped around for our garlic aioli fries and buttermilk chicken and waffle sandwich.

Founded in 2014, Livy Os is a minority, family owned small business offering full-service catering for corporate and private events. They are also registered vendors of the National School Meal Program and are currently serving charter and private schools throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

The 813 Eats storefront allows USF Dining to feature the program's participating restaurants in a similar fashion to the rest of the food court's national brands, with customized signage and a digital menu board for each new vendor. LRR is designed to take many shapes and forms. If a featured concept's menu offering is better suited for a food cart or food truck, that can be brought to life on campus as well. According to Ashwood, the on-campus exposure of LRR has led to opportunities to cater for different departments at USF.

This semester, Livy Os is back again at 813 Eats with a new sandwich concept, The Messy Bun, offered through Aug. 10. The flavors from the neighborhood have rotated monthly so far, but the length of the feature is negotiable. According to Cicalese, a vendor can choose to be on campus for just one day or stay for a full semester, as long as they have enough variety to rotate through so there isnt menu fatigue. Livy Os is currently working with USF Dining to stay for the entire school year, with plans to offer a new concept each semester. Students can use USF Dining Dollars from their meal plan at LRR.

Thank you to USF, Aramark and all of the students, faculty and staff that have come out and supported us, Ashwood said. A physical location is something weve been working on for quite a while and Local Restaurant Row has given us that checkmark that tells us we can do it. Wed like to get a more permanent spot at USFs campus.

Operating behind these physical locations is an online guest restaurant finder and management platform. Once a vendor is set up in the database, their menu can be found by all of Aramarks clients operating the LRR program, and in turn, picked as a feature at a variety of locations. Through this technology-enabled platform, the small businesses gain new revenue streams while customers at these participating locations enjoy local cuisine.

813 Eats was specifically created to bring in a local flair and menu variety to the food court. Opened in 2019 as a part of the MSCs large-scale food court remodel and dining option rebranding, 813 Eats offered a variety of specialty grab n go snacking options and everyday essentials. Once the LRR program was developed, USF Dining jumped on board, introducing full-fledged to-go meals at 813 Eats that have quickly become a campus favorite.

The concept has been wildly successful and appreciated by the USF community, Cicalese said. So much so, that we are expanding the program to USF St. Petersburg this fall.

Located in the University Student Center on the St. Petersburg campus, 727 Eats at The Reef will soon be home to its own LRR. The Reef was transformed in 2021 to include this expanded convenience store concept. Another local, but permanent addition to 727 Eats is Kahwa Coffee, a boutique coffee roasting company headquartered in St. Petersburg.
USM Joins Prestigious Carnegie Consortium - CPED

Wed, 07/13/2022 - 16:14pm | By: Karelia Pitts

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has been accepted into the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) Consortium, joining more than 125 national and international institutions working together to redesign professional practice preparation in education for the improvement of individuals and communities.

CPED is a grassroots effort of faculty, administrators and practitioners collaborating to strengthen the doctorate in education (Ed.D.) degree. Members seek to better understand the needs of those working in PK-20 educational settings and educational leadership positions to improve the training of scholarly practitioners. Since CPEDs creation in 2007, a knowledge forum like none other has emerged for reimagining and moving forward leadership in education. USM was invited to join the Consortium to push CPEDs collective work even further.

We are honored to join CPED as we continue to improve the educational experiences we provide Golden Eagles earning an Ed.D., said Dr. Holly Foster, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs. This membership will connect us to a network of accomplished colleagues who are dedicated to student success and high standards of instruction. Opportunities to learn and share with this group will be invaluable as we analyze all aspects of our doctoral programs at USM to make them even better.

USM offers two Ed.D. degree programs: P-12 educational administration and higher education administration. In contrast to USMs Ph.D. program in education, which is designed for training academic researchers and future college professors, the Ed.D. programs focus on training educational practitioners to connect research to application. Rigorous coursework and capstone requirements are used to uniquely prepare these students who hold one foot in academia and one foot in professional practice.

Our Ed.D. students are advancing their education while continuing to work in leadership roles at elementary schools, district offices, junior colleges, universities and more. We help them explore ways to put theory into practice and solve real-world problems in their school systems through action research, said Dr. Melissa Thompson, associate dean for faculty development and graduate affairs. CPED membership is going to help us refine and advance our processes for preparing these transformational leaders. It will also allow our current students to engage in exclusive networking and professional develop opportunities that will benefit them greatly.

CPED membership benefits for students include monthly webinars, fireside chats, annual convenings and a Scholarly Practitioner Alliance of graduates and students from around the U.S., Canada and Ireland.

Vanessa Gonzalez-Figuereo is a fifth-semester student in USMs higher education Ed.D. program who works as assistant dean for advising and student services at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. When asked which CPED member benefits she planned to take advantage of, she enthusiastically responded, All of them!

Im glad to be earning my doctoral degree during such an exciting time for the program! When I learned about all of the opportunities CPED membership will afford us as students, I immediately began exploring how I can get involved to advance my research while representing and promoting USM, said Gonzalez-Figuereo. Membership in CPED shows me that our faculty are committed to continuous improvement and taking the right steps to strengthen curriculum, secure additional opportunities for students and further collaborations. Im excited for whats to come!

To learn more about CPED, visit cpedinitiative.org. For more information about the USM School of Education, visit usm.edu/education.
NETosis is a unique form of cell death that is characterized by the release of NETs composed of decondensed chromatin, that trap and kill bacteria and viral particles

VolitionRx (NYSE-A:VNRX) Limited announced it had presented data about its work on neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs, at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Congress.

The firm, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Namur and QUALIblood in Belgium, published a poster presentation entitled "Evaluation and comparison of NETosis biomarkers in sepsis and COVID-19 patients" at the conference.

NETosis is a unique form of cell death that is characterized by the release of NETs composed of decondensed chromatin, that trap and kill bacteria and viral particles.

While NETs play a role in supporting the immune system, excessive production can lead to tissue damage and, in severe cases, sepsis, shock, and death.

A key finding from the study was the correlation reported between the Nu.Q NETs level and the currently used SOFA score, professor Jonathan Douxfils, University of Namur and QUALIblood's Chief Executive and Scientific Officer noted.

Interestingly Nu.Q NETs may also enable discrimination between critical COVID-19 and septic shock patients, Douxfils said. Further studies are warranted to confirm whether using Nu.Q NETs and indeed other Nu.Q assays may predict disease severity and help in categorizing patients at diagnosis."

Commenting on the ISTH Congress, Volitions chief scientific officer Jake Micallef called the meeting a fantastic congress.

"NETosis has become a huge focus for medics in recent years, given elevated levels of NETs are associated with poor patient outcomes in a range of diseases, such as COVID-19, but also including sepsis and cancer. This was the first large-scale congress we have attended since our Nu.Q NETs test was CE-marked for the detection and evaluation of NETosis, enabling clinical use across Europe, Michallef said.

As the only analytically validated test for NETs, we believe that Nu.Q NETs has significant potential to support clinical decision-making, enabling physicians to act quickly, and improve patient outcomes."

Henderson, Nevada-based Volition is developing simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases in both humans and animals.

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas
As the Bishops of Eastern Africa hold their 20th plenary assembly, the President of Tanzania praises their desire to protect the environment and promises to work with them to improve our common home.

By Angella Rwezaula  Dar Es Salaam

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan told the Bishops of Eastern Africa that she was pleased to discover that Pope Francis stresses the issue of environmental protection.

She addressed participants in the 20th Plenary Assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) on Tuesday, 12 July.

"It should be part of your mission and strategic plan to be more inspiring, and as the Holy Father stated, the Earth is our common home. Certainly, we here in Tanzania value the social life that is in line with the Catholic Church's strategy, that we now build our own home."

The 20th annual meeting of AMECEA is taking place on 10-18 July in Julius Nyerere Hall in Dar es Salaam.

Members of AMECEA with the Tanzanian president

Peace and environmental protection

The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, called on religious and political leaders and Catholic faithful in the region to ensure that they maintain peace and take care of the environment everywhere.

President Samia said the presence of peace in the country helps to preserve ecology and protects against environmental degradation and deforestation, as well as reducing sea pollution.

It is therefore everyone's responsibility to protect the environment and not jeopardize overall development.

President Samia also said Tanzania must take care of water sources and forests, and plant trees to ensure that the environment is clean in all cities, as outlined in the National Environmental Policy.

Bishops of AMECEA

Development

On the other hand, President Samia said that the Government of Tanzania is pursuing an integrated development policy, and is therefore ready to work with non-governmental organizations, including religious and social organizations to achieve a better future for human life and development.

"It is great to think and implement the goals of sustainable development which do not concern only the world but also they are our goals in the African Union. So, congratulations to all the Bishops, Cardinals and Religious Leaders, she said.

President Samia lauded Pope Francis desire to address the issue of environmental protection "as part of your mission and strategic plan to be more inspiring. It is for this reason the Holy Father stated, the Earth is our common home."

Certainly, we here in Tanzania value the social life that is in line with the strategy of the Catholic Church, so we agree that we should now build our own home.

In this regard, President Samia called upon religious leaders to continue implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the world at large, but also in the African Union (AU), including environmental protection.

As you know, our government is a responsive and receptive government, she said. Bring your feedback on environmental stewardship, so that we can set up forums. Today, as you are discussing the issue of the environment, we would like to get your resolutions and see how we are integrating them in our national policies. We all want to protect our treasure, our home that God created for us.

Dinner

All bishops and participants in the 20th AMECEA Confederation Conference had been invited to dinner at the State House.

The meal was also attended by political leaders and council elders.

After the reception, the prayer before the meal was led by Bishop Flavian Kasala, Vice President of the Bishops Conference of Tanzania.

The meal was followed by an exchange of gifts, among which were those given by the AMECEA Cardinals, Archbishops, and others.

President Samia reiterated her message to bring their views on environmental protection so that together they can come to a common agreement.

The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is a regional institution of Catholic Bishops in Eastern Africa with nine member countries, namely Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
The Kenya Bishops Conference highlights the importance of keeping the public peace and respect for the rule of law, as the country prepares for its general elections set to take place in August.

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

As Kenyans prepare for general elections scheduled for 9 August, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) has enjoined civil servants in the country to abide by the law and remain faithful in their service to citizens.

We count on our civil servants to be faithful and law-abiding during the forthcoming transitions and focus on service to citizens, and not so much about positions in the new Government, the Bishops said in their weekly Sunday message, read by Fr. Kevin Ndago on behalf of Bishop Salesius Mugambi of the Meru Diocese.

The Bishops further encourage the civil servants to ensure that people with bad morals do not take advantage of the period of transition to steal public funds and property.

Appreciation of civil servants

The KCCB expressed their appreciation of the civil servants who work in the background to ensure the smooth running of government systems, and urged them to be non-partisan in the execution of their duties.

In particular, the Bishops point at those in key ministries, including healthcare and education, encouraging them to ensure continuity in their ministry even if elections disrupt government operations in many ways, including delivery of service to the citizen.

Campaign challenges

The Bishops further reflected on the challenges associated with electoral campaigns, with emotions shown in support of preferred candidates. They invited citizens to embrace civic education while shunning people who incite others to break the law.

We should not only operate within the law but also go beyond it. Our conscience tells us what is right and what is wrong, the Bishops said.

Not knowing the law is not an excuse, as we have the higher law, they insist, adding that we have Gods law and conscience that speaks to us.

Putting a stop to corruption

The KCCB went on to speak up against corruption in Kenya, noting that it should be curtailed in all it forms.

They highlight that many break the law in a bid to seek personal benefit, including by disobeying traffic rules, overloading vehicles, overspeeding, forging documents and engaging in covering for one another.

This is why corruption thrives in our country, because we use corruption to short circuit the law, the Bishops said, noting that the rich and powerful enjoy impunity even if they incite others or use character assassination or personal insults.

The KCCB, in this regard, calls for change from within and in groups, urging Kenyan citizens to stop covering anyone who disobeys the law.

Joint responsibility of keeping the peace

With less than a month away from the elections, the Bishops invite Kenyans to work together to keep the peace within the country.

The keeping of peace starts with each of us rejecting anything unlawful, especially the rampant bribery during the campaigns, they said, cautioning Kenyans against unruly public behaviour and calling on them to reject incitement to unlawful acts.

The Bishops also stated their opposition to the tactics employed by political leaders who divide the citizens along lines of political parties, ethnicity, class or religion. They further urge the law enforcers to bring such persons who promote division among Kenyans to justice.

The Catholic leaders then reminded citizens that Keeping law and order is not a duty reserved only to the police, national government, administration and the courts. Rather, citizens are to work together with these agencies to pre-empt any form of public indiscipline that might rob us of the peace and quiet we need as we vote on August 9.

We must commit totally to defend and safeguard peace before, during and after elections, the KCCB stressed.
HighGold recently released an updated resource exceeding 1 million ounces of gold equivalent for the JT Main deposit at its Johnson Tract property in Alaska

HighGold Mining Inc (TSX-V:HIGH, OTCQX:HGGOF) stock is set for a re-rate according to broker Stifel GMP as the miner continues to conduct exploration on its flagship Johnson Tract (JT) property located near Anchorage in Alaska.

In a note, Stifel analysts reiterated their Buy rating for the stock with a target price of C$2.75 per share. Shares of HighGold are currently trading at C$0.68 per share.

The analysts wrote that the high-grade bulk tonnage at the JT main deposit was ideally suited for low-cost underground extraction and remained open for significant expansion beyond the current resource in several directions.

On July 12, HighGold released an updated resource for the JT Main deposit exceeding 1 million ounces of gold equivalent, in line with analyst expectations, but with a grade of 8.22 grams per tonne of gold equivalent, which was 21% higher than the analysts model  representing a 37% increase from the April 2020 resource.

We also expect the advancement of additional targets and discoveries on the historically under-explored JT property to create excitement in the market, including the faulted off, high-grade Offset portion of JT Main, the VMS-style NEO target, the Difficult Creek area and Kona prospect, analysts wrote.

We think the company will present an attractive takeout target for a major producer with an ideal combination of deposit scale and regional exploration runway.

Analysts also noted that the companys extensive Timmins properties also offered free optionality with no value for them currently reflected in the stock price.

HIGH currently trades at a very attractive valuation on an (enterprise value per ounce) basis of just $13 per ounce - an undeserved discount to the North American explorer peer average of $31 per ounce, analysts wrote. Given the high grade and bulk tonnage nature of the [JT Main] deposit, favourable permitting environment and prospectivity of the broader property we think it should trade at a notable premium to peers.

HighGold Mining is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade gold projects located in North America.

Contact the author Emily Jarvie at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @emilyjjarvie
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher says Pope Francis wishes to go to Kyiv, Ukraine, but when and how this could happen remain unknown, and reflects on the diplomatic "failure" that did not prevent the war when there were warning signs of violence and aggression.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov and Luca Collodi

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher says Pope Francis plans to go to Kyiv, Ukraine, as soon as possible.

The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations made these comments on the sidelines of an event to present the annual Meeting of Rimini at Palazzo Borromeo, the residence of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See on Tuesday.

Speaking to some journalists present, including Vatican Radio's Luca Collodi, Archbishop Gallagher reaffirmed the Pope's interest in visiting the nation under attack, reflected on his own trip to the war-devastated nation recently, and on what he called 'diplomatic failures' that did not work hard enough to prevent the war, despite warning signs.

Archbishop Gallagher made an appeal to never forget the war and grow accustomed to it.

Interest to go to Ukraine eventually

Responding to questions about a possible papal visit to Ukraine, he reiterated the Pope's desire to go, underlining however that "the when and how we do not know."

Recalling his own trip to the country, the Vatican official said he was fortunate to go to Kyiv in a moment of serenity on the ground, with bombings taking place both before and after our visit."

"I registered dismay and disbelief," he continued, "to find myself in the war in Europe."

"At home it was my father and my grandfather who told about war. I saw destruction, protection and all this is a scandal for us. I saw a people resist, ready to fight and win. All this happened to us, in our time, while we thought that the war was now closed for Europe."

"As [far as] diplomacy - Archbishop Gallagher admitted, - we must recognize a failure.

"It did not work; [diplomacy] did not know how to avoid this conflict," he said.

Need for a diplomacy which prevents

"When I arrived in Rome from Australia in 2015, the Pope told me," he shared, "that he did not want a diplomacy that reacts but foresees things, a preventive diplomacy. Ukraine tells us that we must try to anticipate conflicts, that diplomacy must have the ability to see the gravity of what is happening in the world. It must reaffirm the fundamental principles of international law. All this represents our failure. Perhaps we have not said any of this. We cannot be silent in the face of violence."

While applauding the numerous States in Europe who were not indifferent to the tragedy, he expressed his concern that despite this great reception of Ukrainian refugees throughout Europe, a fatigue could start to set in and end this momentum.

"I think, perhaps, that it is too early to talk about reconstruction, but it is good to have a positive attitude. However, we must help the Ukrainians to rebuild the social fabric of the country with traumatized people in need of accompaniment," he said.

Need for reconciliation and pardon

Archbishop Gallagher affirmed that "as a priest I feel the obligation to remember that we cannot ignore the message of reconciliation and forgiveness despite the intensity of suffering."

In Europe, he said, we had the miracle of peace, recalling the reconciliation between France and Germany a few years after the World War II. "However," he continued, "we have to renew some international institutions. The OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], for example, which should be the body that protects us, but also the European Union and the UN."

The Archbishop further appealed, "We must not forget the Ukrainian crisis."

Today, he said, news about the war "is forgotten."

"We must instead continue to remember Ukraine, the war, keeping attention high for a peace project of the Spirit of God, to rediscover peace, a gift of God with which man must collaborate."

Rimini meeting

The Meeting of Rimini, also known as the Meeting for Friendship among Peoples, sponsored by Comunione e Liberazione, with collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, will welcome to the Italian city situated on the Adriatic Sea, many well-known speakers and participants.

This year's Meeting marks its 43rd edition, and is scheduled at the Fieri di Rimini from 20 to 25 August 2022 on the theme "A passion for the person."

Some participants this year include Italy's Premier, Mario Draghi; the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi; Archbishop Paolo Pezzi for the Archdiocese of Mother of God in Moscow; His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem; Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic.
Pope Francis sends a message to participants in a Vatican conference on resilience and climate change, and urges all nations to work together to reduce carbon emissions and help people adapt to climate change.

By Devin Watkins

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is hosting a two-day conference at the Vaticans Casino Pio IV, on 13-14 July, focusing on the theme: Resilience of People and Ecosystems under Climate Stress.

As the event kicked off on Wednesday, Pope Francis sent his greetings to participants, and encouraged their efforts to discuss the environmental crisis.

The phenomenon of climate change has become an emergency that no longer remains at the margins of society. Instead, it has assumed a central place, reshaping not only industrial and agricultural systems but also adversely affecting the global human family, especially the poor and those living on the economic peripheries of our world.

The Pope said the world is facing the twin challenges of lessening climate risks by reducing emissions and of assisting and enabling people to adapt to progressively worsening changes to the climate.

These challenges require everyone to come up with a multi-dimensional approach to protect people and the planet, he added.

International cooperation on climate issues

Pope Francis made reference to his oft-repeated call for an ecological conversion, saying this process requires everyone to be grateful for Gods Creation, to live in communion with one another, and to work together to deal with environmental problems.

Courageous, cooperative and far-sighted efforts among religious, political, social and cultural leaders on local, national and international levels are needed in order to find concrete solutions to the severe and increasing problems we are facing.

The Pope called on the most-developed nations to reduce their own carbon emissions, while also offering financial assistance to less prosperous areas of the world.

Access to clean energy and drinking water are other issues that world leaders need to address, he said, adding that farmers need help to shift production to more resilient crops.

Common good of the planet

The Pope recalled the related concerns of loss of biodiversity and the various wars that threaten human survival and lead to problems of food security and increasing pollution.

Everything is connected, repeated Pope Francis, adding that promoting the long-term common good of our planet is essential to genuine ecological conversion.

He noted that the Holy See and Vatican City State have recently acceded to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Protecting the human family

In conclusion, Pope Francis encouraged participants in the Vatican resilience conference in their efforts on behalf of people and the planet.

In working together, men and women of good will can address the scale and complexity of the issues that lie before us, protect the human family and Gods gift of creation from climate extremes, and foster the goods of justice and peace.
Officials from the Biden administration have upped the chatter on BA.4 and BA.5, two clades of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), using their growth as a basis to push for booster injections for modified versions of the existing vaccines.

Associated Press paraphrased CDC Director Rochelle Walensky as stating that the U.S. has seen a doubling in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since April, reflecting the spread of the new subvariants, though deaths have remain steady around 300 per day, in July 12 reporting.

Walensky, Anthony Fauci, and White House COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha were all quoted in the article as pushing for the public to take the third booster injection of the novel gene therapy vaccines as a measure.

Jha boasted that for the unvaccinated aged over 50, Its going to save your life.

The officials also said that the Administration is considering approving a fourth injection in the form of a second booster to all U.S. adults.

MORE ON SOCIAL CRISES

Notably, Jha directly referenced a variants specific vaccine likely to be approved as we get into the later part of fall and winter.

Media chatter hyping BA.4 and BA.5 likewise ramped up, such as a July 11 piece published by The Atlantic titled Is BA.5 the Reinfection Wave?

Those who have managed to avoid the virus for close to three years will find it a little harder to continue that streak, and some who recently caught COVID are getting it again, said author Ed Yong.

Yong quoted Stephen Goldstein, a virologist from the University of Utah, as supporting his point, People shouldnt be surprised if they get infected, and they shouldnt be surprised if its pretty unpleasant.

The outlet also quoted an epidemiologist from the Communist China-friendly World Health Organization, Maria Van Kerkhove, as stating that against the new clades, We will not prevent all transmissionbut we have to reduce the spread.

Its not over, and we are playing with fire by letting this virus circulate at such intense levels, she added.

July 11 data from aggregator Our World In Data shows that the Omicron variant currently comprises 100 percent of all U.S. SARS-CoV-2 sequences, and has since February.

On June 14, Reuters reported, based on CDC data, that more than 21 percent of all U.S. variants were BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron.

On June 28, Reuters reported, again based on CDC data, that 52 percent of U.S. cases were the dueling clades.

But as for the Biden administrations claim that getting boosted is the way to go, a June 23 article by CNN told the public that BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people who had previous Covid-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted.

The statement was based on a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the Harvard Medical School.

And although it was already well known that the efficacy of existing vaccines were heavily reduced by Omicron, and in some cases actually making takers more likely to contract the variant, the Harvard study was particularly notable.

The researchers stated they observed 3-fold reductions of neutralizing antibody titers induced by vaccination and infection against BA4 and BA5 compared with the original Omicron and its BA.2 clade.

CNN added that the conclusions echo separate research by scientists at Columbia University, which differed in that its results point to a higher risk for reinfection, even in people who have some prior immunity against the virus.

However, Harvards study added the caveat that it is likely that vaccines will still provide substantial protection against severe disease from BA.4 and BA.5.

The chatter comes on the back of a June 29 announcement that the Biden administration had inked a $3.2 billion deal to purchase an additional 105 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, AP reported.

However, the article was ambiguous whether the new doses would be the existing versions or an upgraded version, as it stated that the deliveries would occur in early fall pending a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to authorize new versions of the shots.

The contract also gives the government the option to purchase up to 300 million doses.
Authorities in South Africa have arrested the owner of a bar and two employees in connection with the deaths of 21 teenagers, who lost their lives at a tavern last month under mysterious circumstances. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town, South Africa.

A team of detectives working on the case made the arrests.

Officials say the three suspects face charges of violating the liquor act, while a forensic investigation into the cause of the deaths continues.

The two employees, ages 33 and 34, have been fined $118, while the owner must appear in court for his alleged role in selling alcohol to minors.

The 21 youths, the youngest of whom was just 13 years old, died in the early hours of Sunday, June 26. Some had been celebrating the end of mid-year exams. There is speculation they ingested something poisonous or were the victims of a gas leak.

Others at the tavern made it to a hospital, where they were treated for headaches and vomiting and discharged after observation.

Police have appealed for patience as the investigation continues.

The 52-year-old bar owner will appear in the East London Magistrate's Court in Eastern Cape Province on August 19.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday opened his first visit to the Mideast since taking office by offering anxious Israeli leaders strong reassurances of his determination to stop Iran's growing nuclear program, saying he'd be willing to use force as a "last resort."

The president's comments came in an interview with Israel's Channel 12 taped before he left Washington and broadcast Wednesday, hours after the country's political leaders welcomed him with a red-carpet arrival ceremony at the Tel Aviv airport.

"The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons," Biden said. Asked about using military force against Iran, Biden said, "If that was the last resort, yes."

U.S. ally Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy, citing its nuclear program, its calls for Israel's destruction and its support for hostile militant groups across the region.

The U.S. and Israel are expected Thursday to unveil a joint declaration cementing their close military ties and strengthening past calls to take military action to halt Iran's nuclear program. A senior Israeli official said before Biden arrived that both countries would commit to "using all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat." The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending the formal release of the statement.

Israeli leaders made clear as they marked Biden's arrival that Iran's nuclear program was the top item on their agenda.

"We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear program," said Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, as he greeted the Democratic president at the airport ceremony in Tel Aviv.

Biden said he would not remove Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, even if that kept Iran from rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.

Sanctions on the IRGC, which has carried out regional attacks, have been a sticking point in negotiations to bring Iran back into compliance with the agreement meant to keep it from having a nuclear weapon. Iran announced last week that it has enriched uranium to 60% purity, a technical step away from weapons-grade quality.

Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, though United Nations experts and Western intelligence agencies say Iran had an organized military nuclear program through 2003.

Biden made reviving the Iran nuclear deal, brokered by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, a key priority as he entered office. Biden said Trump made a "gigantic mistake" by withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal.

"There are those who thought with the last administration we sort of walked away from the Middle East, that we were going to create a vacuum that China and or Russia would fill, and we can't let that happen," he said.

But indirect talks for the U.S. to reenter the deal have stalled as Iran has made rapid gains in developing its nuclear program. That's left the Biden administration increasingly pessimistic about resurrecting the deal, which placed significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Israelis seemed determined to underscore the imminent threat from Iran. Soon after he arrived, Biden was briefed on the country's "Iron Dome" and new "Iron Beam" missile defense systems.
U.S. President Joe Biden launched his first Middle East visit Wednesday by attesting to the bone-deep bond between the United States and Israel as he landed in Tel Aviv. His three-day trip is part of a broader Middle East tour that includes stops in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.

I am proud to say that our relationship with the state of Israel is deeper and stronger, in my view, than it's ever been, Biden said at Ben Gurion Airport. With this visit, we're strengthening our connections even further. We've reaffirmed the unshakeable commitment of the United States to Israel's security, including partnering with Israel on the most cutting-edge defense systems in the world."

Biden was greeted by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, whose coalition dissolved in June. He also met former prime minister now the opposition leader  Benjamin Netanyahu, who is running against Lapid in an early election to be held in the next few months.

Israeli leaders were effusive in their remarks, with Herzog calling Biden, our brother Joseph.

"You have been a true friend and staunch supporter of Israel and the Jewish people, of our security and well-being, your entire life. In this visit, you will discuss the security challenges emanating directly from Iran and its proxies," he said.

Biden reiterated the long-standing U.S. policy supporting a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people.

Even though I know it's not in the near term, a two-state solution remains, in my view, the best way to ensure the future of equal measure of freedom, prosperity and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians alike, Biden said.

To strengthen deterrence against Tehran, the U.S. is encouraging Israels further integration with its Arab neighbors, a continuation of the Trump-era deal known as the Abraham Accords, that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab countries.

Biden concluded his speech at the airport vowing the U.S. and Israel will "continue our shared, unending work to fight the poison of antisemitism wherever it raises its ugly head."

As Israel heads to its fifth election in three years, Bidens aides insisted the political instability in Israel will not hinder U.S.Israeli cooperation against the threat of a resurgent Iran.

The relationship between the United States and Israel is not about who sits in what chair in Israel or in the United States. It is about a relationship between two countries and two peoples, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Tel Aviv. And so, despite the fact that Israel has entered election season, the president can have an equally robust engagement with the Israeli government and the Israeli public as he could if we were not in election season.

Air-defense systems

At Ben Gurion, Biden was given a tour of Israel's advanced missile-defense capabilities developed in partnership with the U.S.

They include the Iron Dome, a system designed to intercept short-range missiles that has thwarted thousands of rockets fired by Gaza militants. The U.S. has contributed about $1.6 billion to the system, with another $1 billion recently approved by Congress. Biden also inspected a new laser-based system called the Iron Beam, which is not yet operational.

The U.S. is encouraging an integration of Israeli air defense systems with those of its Arab neighbors as it deals with the threat from Iran.

I don't think we're referring necessarily to it as a Middle Eastern NATO, said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications in an interview with VOA. What we're talking about  and we have been talking about this for quite some time  is a better, a more integrated air defense capability in the region. That is a networked opportunity, really, between nations that are living there and are dealing and sharing the increasing ballistic missile threat that Iran poses.

Katherine Zimmerman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said Iran looms large on Israels security horizon.

Both from Hezbollah on its Lebanese border in the North, the Iranians now are able to project force from Iran into Israel, she said, speaking via Zoom. And then of course, now with Iran's partner in Yemen, the Houthis, they have long-range missiles that can threaten Israel from the south.

The U.S.-Israeli cooperation extends beyond military ties, the administration said, announcing Wednesday that it will launch a new, high-level dialogue on technology in which the U.S. will partner with Israel to tackle challenges like pandemic preparedness, climate change and more.

We pledge to boost our mutual innovation ecosystems, to deepen bilateral engagements, advance and protect critical and emerging technologies in accordance with our national interests, democratic principles and human rights, and to address geostrategic challenges, the White House said in a statement.

Biden ended his first day in Israel by participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, the country's Holocaust Memorial.

On Thursday, he will hold bilateral meetings with Israeli leaders. Friday, he will meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The administration seeks to reset relations with the Palestinian Authority after the Trump administration slashed aid and closed the American consulate in Jerusalem that served as the U.S. mission to the Palestinians.

But Palestinians say this presidential visit has yet to address their concerns. While Arab nations deepen engagement with Israel, clashes continue in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

Most of his time is spent in locations with Israeli officials and Israeli dignitaries, said Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She spoke to VOA via Zoom from Ramallah. The Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking front is really a very marginal issue for this president on this trip.

Later, Biden will attend the GCC+3 Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. There, he will lay out his vision for U.S. engagement in the region.

Handshake or fist bump?

One question that has loomed is what level of engagement Biden will have with leaders of Saudi Arabia  a kingdom he once characterized as having very little social redeeming value.

Citing the rapidly spreading new coronavirus subvariant, White House officials appear to be laying the groundwork for Biden to avoid being photographed together with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom U.S. intelligence concluded approved the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and U.S. resident.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One the administration was being cautious about contact  especially handshakes.

We're trying to minimize contact as much as possible where we can. And so, that is what the focus is going to be on this trip, she said.

When asked about the nature of meetings with Saudi leaders, she said, I'm not going to get into specifics.

As Israeli officials stood on the red carpet with hands outstretched, Biden offered fist bumps. However, he appeared to have forgotten, and minutes later, shook hands with Bennett, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Biden did not wear a mask during his first day and did not limit physical contact, including hugging the two American Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem.
Mexico's president made his second White House visit Tuesday as the Biden administration said it is on track to double the number of temporary-worker visas for migrants from Mexico and Central America. The move comes as migration increases from Central America's Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

The left-leaning populist leader held a lengthy public discourse with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office before the two sat down privately to discuss the neighbors' shared challenges.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador previously met with Biden in the White House in late 2021, for a three-way summit with Canada.

On Tuesday, the left-wing leader had Biden all to himself in the Oval Office.

Biden was visibly amused as Lopez Obrador, through a translator, spoke for more than a half-hour on topics that included economics  "the reality we live in now makes it necessary and indispensable for us to produce everything we consume in our countries and regions," he said  and the contentious nature of American politics.

"I know that your adversaries, the conservatives, are going to be screaming all over the place," Lopez Obrador said as Biden chuckled. "Even to heaven, they're going to be yelling at heaven."

Both leaders indicated that their previous disagreements, while not forgotten  and possibly not quite forgiven  were firmly in the past.

"In spite of our differences and our grievances that are not easy to forget  neither with time nor with good intentions, on many occasions  we've been able to meet and work together as good friends and true allies," Lopez Obrador said.

"This is a relationship that directly impacts the daily lives, the daily lives of our people," Biden said. "And despite the overhyped headlines that we sometimes see, you and I have a strong and productive relationship."

Expanding legal options for migrants

That, the Biden administration said, is evident in their decision to expand legal options for migrants from the Americas. U.S. Border Patrol said the number of attempted crossings has jumped. In fiscal 2021, the border force reported 684,000 encounters at the Southwest border, up from 400,000 the previous year.

"We actually think we will reach that target of doubling the number of H-2 temporary-worker visas for Central Americans this fiscal year," Katie Tobin, senior director for transborder at the National Security Council, told VOA as the two presidents met.

"This is really at the heart of the Biden administration's policy of how we want to address irregular migration," she said. "We know that if we want to reduce the number of people that are migrating irregularly and having to rely on these criminal smuggling networks, we have to expand the number of legal pathways."

Looking ahead to 2024

While it is notable that Mexico's president has visited the White House twice within a year, Mexico's former ambassador to the U.S. told VOA that Lopez Obrador's focus is largely domestic.

While Lopez Obrador has now visited Washington three times  and New York, once  as president, he has only made five trips abroad in total since being elected to the one-term, six-year post in 2018.

"I don't think that Lopez Obrador will be a bridge to Latin America simply because Lopez Obrador is not interested in foreign policy," Arturo Sarukhan told VOA, via Zoom, from London.

"This is a man who famously ran his presidential campaign saying that the best foreign policy is domestic policy," Sarukhan added. "I think what is really important about this meeting in Washington today is President Biden's commitment to ensuring that the U.S.-Mexico relationship stays on an even keel, particularly as both countries remember every 12 years Mexico and the United States have presidential elections the same year."

The next U.S.-Mexico election eclipse comes in 2024.

VOA's Jorge Agobian and Chris Hannas contributed to this report.
Most days Danielle Carlson is teaching high schoolers about renewable energy in her Fennimore classroom. This week, she was learning to install actual solar panels on a Madison rooftop.

Carlson is one of 16 high school and technical college instructors from across the country who came to Madison Area Technical Colleges outdoor solar laboratory Wednesday to learn hands-on skills as part of a new effort to advance clean energy development.

Funded through a $7.5 million National Science Foundation grant, the Center for Renewable Energy Advanced Technology Education  or CREATE  is a collaboration of five state, technical and community colleges from across the country.

The goal is to advance the clean energy transition by providing resources like curriculum guides, faculty workshops and industry partnerships to ensure a skilled workforce.

Were going through a once-in-a-century transformation in how we produce electricity, said Ken Walz, CREATE director and MATC instructor. Were retiring legacy coal-fired plants  and we arent building any new coal-fired plants  all that capacity is being replaced with wind and solar.

Walz said technical colleges are uniquely positioned to train workers for two of the nations three fastest-growing trades, wind turbine technicians and solar installers.

That just means a tremendous number of jobs that need to be filled, Walz said. And all those jobs require something more than a high school education, but usually not a four-year bachelors degree.

Each of the member institutions focuses on a different area, including green construction, electric vehicle technology and battery storage. MATCs focus is solar energy.

Walz said the grant will allow the college to expand the work it has done in recent years with Wisconsin educators.

Its amplifying our efforts and taking us to a national stage, Walz said. Now well be serving teachers from all over the county.

As part of this weeks workshop, high school and community college instructors installed solar panels on mock rooftops at MATCs Commercial Avenue campus.

One team worked on a sloped, shingled roof, another on a flat roof, and a third put up a pole-mounted system. Once installed, the panels will be commissioned and begin pumping energy into the grid until they are dismantled for the next round of training.

Kalie Brunton, a community college instructor from the Columbia River gorge in the state of Oregon, said she hopes to apply the skills she learned at the workshop to help meet the growing demand for skilled technicians.

Theres a lot of renewable energy in the gorge, Brunton said. Theres a lot of wind, a lot of hydro. We dont really have a ton of solar in our program right now, so Im here learning how they teach it.

Carlson, who teaches about wind power as part of her science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum, said she didnt know much about solar before attending a workshop earlier this summer.

She said learning how the systems actually work will help her be able to explain the concepts and even steer students toward new opportunities.

A lot of the kids who take my STEM classes are very hands-on and like going into trades, she said. Now that I know this is here, I can definitely send kids this way.
A Tokyo court has ordered four former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company to pay the company about $95 billion in damages over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

Wednesdays ruling was in response to a civil lawsuit filed by TEPCO shareholders, who blamed the executives for ignoring recommendations to protect the plant from a possible tsunami.

The plant became inoperable on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept across northeastern Japan before reaching Fukushima prefecture.

The high waves knocked out the plants power supply and cooling systems and led to a meltdown of three reactors, sending massive amounts of radiation into the air and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents, making it the worlds worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

The ruling is also the first time any TEPCO executives have been held legally responsible for the Fukushima disaster. Three company executives were acquitted of criminal charges in 2019 by a Tokyo district court, which ruled they could not have predicted the huge tsunami that struck the plant.

The Japanese government approved a plan last year to release millions of tons of radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean as part of an effort to decommission the facility.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday there is broad agreement on a deal between Russia and Ukraine, with Turkey and the United Nations, to export millions of tons of Ukrainian grain stuck in silos since Russias invasion on February 24.

Today is an important and substantive step, Guterres told reporters of developments at talks in Istanbul among the four parties. A step on the way to a comprehensive agreement.

The U.N. chief broke his public silence on the negotiations, pointing to a statement from Turkeys defense minister, who said there is agreement on major points, including the creation of a coordination center with Russia, Ukraine and the U.N.; agreement on controls for checking grain at ports; and ensuring the safety of cargo ships carrying the grain out of Odesa.

Of course, this was a first meeting, Guterres noted. The progress was extremely encouraging. Now, the delegations are coming back to their capitals, and we hope the next steps will allow us to come to a formal agreement.

While Guterres would not predict when the final agreement would be ready, he said he hoped the parties would reconvene next week and have a final agreement. Whenever it is, he said, he would be ready to go to Istanbul to sign it.

A U.N. official with knowledge of the talks said there was an important meeting of the Russians and the Ukrainians where they were able to make a lot of progress on sticking points.

More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain are being stored in silos at the Black Sea port of Odesa, and dozens of ships have been stranded because of Russia's blockade. Turkey said it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the region that could be quickly loaded and dispatched to world markets.

The grain deal has been in the works for months, with U.N. officials raising the alarm nearly immediately after the war started about the consequences for global food security if Ukraine, which is one of the worlds top grain exporters, is unable to get its harvests out.

Truly, failure to open those ports in Odesa region will be a declaration of war on global food security, World Food Program chief David Beasley warned at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on May 19. And it will result in famine and destabilization and mass migration around the world.

WFP says 276 million people worldwide were facing acute hunger at the start of this year. They project that number will rise by 47 million people if the conflict in Ukraine continues, with the steepest increases in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fighting continues

Meanwhile, the war rages on. Russia shelled Ukrainian cities across the industrialized eastern Donetsk province, part of the Donbas region that Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to capture after failing earlier in the war to topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or take the capital, Kyiv.



Ukrainian official Kyrylo Tymoshenko said Russia also struck 28 settlements in the Mykolaiv region bordering the Black Sea, killing at least five civilians.

Zelenskyy told a conference in Asia via video link that Russia had launched 2,960 missiles on Ukraine's cities so far during the 4-month war.

"Of course, this is Russia's tactic ... directed at chasing people out of our cities so that every Ukrainian feels fear," he said.

Britains Defense Ministry said Wednesday it expects Russian forces to focus on taking small towns near the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region.

The urban areas of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the operation, the ministry said.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly address late Tuesday that Russian shelling does not stop for a single day.

In the Donbas, offensive attempts do not stop, the situation there does not get easier, and the losses do not get smaller. We must remember this. We must see this, draw attention to this, he said.

Ukraine said Tuesday that 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy.

"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraines southern military command said in a statement.

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on February 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance.

A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed, and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Russias Tass news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded.

There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses, Leontyev said in the Tass account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of indiscriminately killing civilians in the war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, while adding that the actual toll likely was much higher.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
France's new foreign minister said on Tuesday there were only a few weeks before the window of opportunity to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers would close.

Speaking to lawmakers, Catherine Colonna said the situation was no longer tenable and accused Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during talks in Doha earlier this month, while forging ahead with its uranium enrichment program.

"There is still a window of opportunity  for Iran to finally decide to accept an accord, which it worked to build. But time is passing," Colonna said, warning that if Iran kept on its current trajectory, it would be a threshold nuclear-armed state.

"Time is passing. Tehran must realize this," she said, adding that the U.S. mid-term elections would make it even harder to seal a deal.

"The window of opportunity will close in a few weeks. There will not be a better accord to the one which is on the table."

Last week, the U.S. envoy for the talks to reinstate the deal said Iran had added demands unrelated to discussions on its nuclear program during the latest talks and had made alarming progress on enriching uranium.

Under the 2015 nuclear pact, Iran limited its uranium enrichment program, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, though Tehran says it seeks only civilian atomic energy, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring Tehran to breach nuclear limits in the pact.

Western officials have repeatedly said that the talks between world powers and Iran only had a few weeks to conclude a deal, with Colonna's predecessor Jean-Yves Le Drian even saying in February it was just a question of days.
Iran has arrested an internationally renowned filmmaker, several newspapers reported Tuesday, the third Iranian director to be locked up in less than a week as the government escalates a crackdown on the country's celebrated cinema industry.



The arrest of award-winning director Jafar Panahi and wider pressure on filmmakers follows a wave of recent arrests as tensions escalate between Iran's hardline government and the West. Security forces have detained several foreigners and a prominent reformist politician as talks to revive Tehran's nuclear accord with world powers hit a deadlock and fears grow over the country's economic crisis.



Panahi, one of Iran's best-known dissident filmmakers, had gone to the prosecutor's office in Tehran on Monday evening to check on the cases of his two colleagues detained last week, when security forces scooped him up as well, the reports said.



A colleague of Panahi, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals, told The Associated Press that authorities sent him to Iran's notorious Evin Prison to serve out a prison term dating back years ago.



In 2011, Panahi received a six-year prison sentence on charges of creating anti-government propaganda and was banned from filmmaking for 20 years. He was also barred from leaving the country.



However, the sentence was never really enforced and Panahi continued to make underground films  without government script approval or permits  that were released abroad to great acclaim.



Panahi has won multiple festival awards, including the 2015 Berlin Golden Bear for "Taxi," a wide-ranging meditation on poverty, sexism and censorship in Iran, and the Venice Golden Lion in 2000 for "The Circle," a deep dive into women's lives in Iran's patriarchal society.

The Berlin International Film Festival said it was "dismayed and outraged" to hear of Panahi's arrest, calling it "another violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the arts."



His detention came after the arrest of two other Iranian filmmakers, Mohamad Rasoulof and Mostafa al-Ahmad.



Authorities accused Rasoulof and al-Ahmad of undermining the nation's security by voicing opposition on social media to the government's violent crackdown on unrest in the country's southwest.



Following the catastrophic collapse of the Metropol Building that killed at least 41 people in May, protests erupted over allegations of government negligence and deeply rooted corruption. Police responded with a heavy hand, clubbing protesters and firing tear gas, according to footage widely circulating online.



Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival's top prize in 2020 for his film "There Is No Evil" that explores four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under tyranny. In 2011, Rasoulof's film "Goodbye" won a prize at Cannes but he was not allowed to travel to France to accept it.



Cannes sharply condemned the arrests of the three filmmakers and "the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists."



PEN America, a literary and free speech organization, said their detention marks a "brazen violation of their human right to free expression and speech."



Several foreigners have also landed in Iranian prison in recent weeks, including two French citizens, a Swedish tourist, a Polish scientist and others, spurring concerns that Iran is trying to leverage them as bargaining chips in negotiations.



It's a tactic Iran has used in the past, including in 2014 when authorities arrested Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. He was released a year and a half later in a prisoner swap with the United States as the landmark nuclear accord took effect.

On Monday, the family of a Belgian humanitarian worker being held in Iran, Olivier Vandecasteele, appealed to Brussels to do "everything" to secure his release from Evin Prison. They said he was arrested in late February after working for more than six years in Iran to help its Afghan migrant community.



The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the AP on Tuesday it had asked Iran for his release on "several occasions" and still had "no information on the reasons of his arrest." It said the government was providing him with consular assistance.
Ivory Coast released a written statement demanding the immediate release of 49 soldiers arrested at Bamakos airport Sunday, claiming they were unjustly arrested. Malis military government has called the soldiers mercenaries.

The Ivorian statement also denied allegations by Malis military government that the soldiers were armed and arrived in Mali without authorization, and said both Malis minister of foreign affairs and the Malian armys chief of staff received copies of the soldiers mission order.

Both the U.N. mission in Mali and the Ivorian governments statement have said that the soldiers were sent to Mali as support for a U.N. Mission contingent.

The U.N. mission in Mali, MINUSMA, recently renewed its mandate, with Malis U.N. representative voicing the governments refusal to allow the U.N. to carry out human rights investigations during a June 29 Security Council meeting.

The U.N. has carried out a number of human rights investigations in Mali in recent years, including events that implicate the French army as well as Islamist militants. The U.N. sought access to the town of Moura in Mali, which was the sight of what many witnesses said was a massacre by the Malian army working with Russian mercenaries. Witnesses say the alleged massacre was carried out over five days.

The Malian government has continually denied access to the town of Moura, saying the government itself would carry out an investigation.

The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, which includes neighbor Ivory Coast, sanctioned Mali in January over delayed elections but lifted sanctions this month after the government proposed a 2024 election plan.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision, which said women have a constitutional right to have an abortion. Heres a look at the cases beginning.
Protesters stormed the prime ministers office in Sri Lankas capital, Colombo, hours after the embattled president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled the country, forced out by a popular uprising that has targeted the top leadership over the countrys dire economic crisis.

Rajapaksa went to the Maldives just before dawn Wednesday on a military aircraft with his wife, four days after he went into hiding, as protesters, furious over his refusal to step down, overran his residence and office.

His departure effectively ends the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa political dynasty that had a grip on power in Sri Lanka for nearly two decades.

But Rajapaksas exit did not appease protesters, who were incensed he had named Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, seen as a close ally, as acting president.

Hundreds gathered outside the heavily guarded prime ministers office demanding that he also step down. Undeterred as police fired tear gas shells, dozens scaled the walls and broke through barriers to enter the building chanting Go home Ranil, Go home Gota. They stood on chairs, singing and shouting that's what we said, dont mess with us and waved the Sri Lankan flag from a terrace in a triumphant mood. Some held mock meetings in board rooms.

Throngs of protesters also briefly entered the main state television station.

Wickremesinghe said in a televised statement that he would continue in office until a new government had been put in place. They [the protesters] want to stop the parliamentary process. But we must respect the constitution. He said he has created a committee of police and military chiefs and asked them to restore order.

A nationwide emergency and curfew were imposed earlier in the day, but it is unclear whether they remain in place.

The opposition also slammed his appointment, with opposition leader Sajith Premadasa calling it a "farce" and "tragedy."

Wickremesinghe has been at an undisclosed location since protesters set fire to his private residence Saturday, and he was not in his office when it was overrun.

The president has not yet formally resigned, but the speaker of parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, said that the president had communicated to him that he would send in his resignation, which he was supposed to hand in on Wednesday.

Reports said Rajapaksa had not stepped down earlier because he wanted to leave the country while his official position still gave him immunity from prosecution.

Earlier in the morning, as Sri Lanka woke up to the news that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled, thousands gathered in Colombo chanting Gota, thief, and Victory to the Struggle  the rallying cry of the protest movement that has forced out the president and other family members, who held top posts in his administration. While others had quit earlier, the president had clung to power.

Many were angry that he had escaped, saying he should have faced justice in the country.

Rajapaksas reputation as a strong leader, who, as a former defense secretary had crushed a Tamil separatist struggle, had helped him win a landslide victory in 2019 after Islamic extremists targeted churches in suicide attacks.

But a series of policy blunders by his government in the last two years has virtually bankrupted the country. Then, as inflation spiraled, food became unaffordable for many, and lines for fuel became longer, the popular tide turned against the president and other Rajapaksa family members, who for years had faced allegations of corruption.

Earlier, people were willing to turn a blind eye to allegations of corruption as the Rajapaksas promoted an ultra-nationalist image of leaders who could protect the country, says Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council in Colombo. Now, people, including the Sinhala majority who were their main supporters, believe the country is poor because they stole the dollars.

The government implemented populist tax cuts that some had warned could bankrupt the country. An abrupt switch to organic farming last year slashed crop yields. With tourism earnings battered by the pandemic, the country ran out of foreign exchange to import food and fuel.

Rajapaksas dramatic fall was a stunning reversal for a leader nicknamed the Terminator for his ruthless military campaign against Tamil rebels, which killed thousands of Tamil civilians. He also was accused of targeting critics.

Their corruption, lack of expertise to govern, and arrogance and authoritarianism led to the popular uprising against them, says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, at the Center of Policy Alternatives in Colombo. They did not create the economic crisis, but they exacerbated it to such an extent, they took it to a different level.

With anger in the country running high as the weary public copes with the fallout of the economic collapse, lawmakers now face the challenge of putting in place a new administration.

Lawmakers have agreed to elect a new president on July 20, but they still must decide on the makeup of a new government. The task may not be easy  the ruling party that had been led by the Rajapaksas still commands a majority in parliament.
Authorities in Togo are working to prevent their small, West African nation from becoming the next country in the region to struggle with a violent, spreading, Islamist insurgency.

Saturdays deadly explosion could mark a turning point if its confirmed that the seven minors killed were the first civilian casualties in the conflict.

Togos military did not immediately confirm the cause but local media reported the victims were killed when an improvised explosive device went off.

In June, Togo declared a state of emergency in its northern Savanes Region after Islamist militants attacked near the border with Burkina Faso in May, killing eight troops and wounding 13.

They were the first recorded deaths from terrorism in Togo, a country of 8 million people wedged between Ghana and Benin on the West African coast.

An al-Qaida-affiliated group fighting in Burkina Faso and Mali claimed responsibility for the attack.

Recruiting

But Togo authorities are also concerned that Islamists are recruiting disaffected youth for domestic terrorism and have formed the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Prevention and Fight Against Violent Extremism (CIPLEV).

Ouro-Bossi Tchacondoh, the committees rapporteur, said the group exists to capitalize on the thoughts and requests of the local population. He said it centralizes information and sends it to a committee of ministries that analyzes it and delivers its conclusions to the government. He said his group aims to find and study the vulnerabilities that can attract citizens or, more specifically, young people to violent extremism.

While there are no confirmed reports of Togolese being recruited by insurgents, analysts say dealing with the emergence of terrorism means going beyond security operations.

Michel Douti, an independent security expert working with Togos committee against extremism, said Togolese security forces have the men and the women necessary for the fight against violent extremism. But no country in the world is immune to this phenomenon, Douti said. More important, he said, is the collaboration between security forces and the local population.

Aid groups, including religious ones, are also looking at ways to prevent Togolese youth from being recruited.

Initiatives for youths

Stanislas Namitchougli, who is with the Episcopal Council for Peace and Justice in Dapaong, northern Togo, said the council has initiatives that help young people avoid being influenced by extremist groups. He said they are working with the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services on a study that shows how youth might join these groups because of lack of jobs or education.

Namitchougli said they are also trying to build some basic infrastructure like markets and schools to give economic opportunities to youth considered prone to violent extremism.

Security experts on Africas Sahel region note that Islamist violence has been spreading, despite security crackdowns, including by neighboring military governments in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Jeannine Ella Abatan, a researcher on violent extremism and security in the Sahel at the Dakar office of the Institute for Security Studies, said, "This already shows the capacity of violent extremist groups to actually stage attacks in those countries to instrumentalize the porosity of borders to go to those countries but also pose explosive devices.

"In Benin we have a number of attacks with improvised explosive devices. But beyond these attacks, at the ISS, what weve been doing is actually to look at the extension of violent extremism beyond what we see as attacks, because for us that is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Togolese government is also working with Western partners and Gulf states to train their military and fund projects to help locals.
Tunisian opposition lawmakers are in Paris to lobby against a controversial constitutional referendum taking place later this month, which they argue risks plunging the fragile Arab Spring democracy back into dictatorship.

For years, Tunisias bickering parties delivered gridlock in parliament and mounting public anger. So today, its strange to see onetime political foes here in Paris, united against one man  Tunisian President Kais Saied  and his new draft constitution.

The international community hasnt to recognize the Saied process in Tunisia because its not a legitimate process," said Makhloufi.

Sofiane Makhloufi is a member of parliament from Tunisias Tayyar party  which once supported Kais Saied. That was before Tunisias president dismissed his government, suspended parliament and seized wide-ranging powers in July 2021.

Now, President Saied wants Tunisians to vote on a new draft constitution in a July 25 referendum. The United States and European Union have called for an inclusive democratic processone, critics say, that guided Tunisias last 2014 constitution, but not this one. Even the legal expert behind the new charter has disavowed it, saying its not what his committee originally drafted.

He didnt respect the (2014) constitution (but) he has been elected by the constitution. I think everybody in the world, and Tunisians, must not recognize the legitimacy Saied is (trying to get) for himself," said Makhloufi.

Makhloufis Tayyar and multiple opposition parties are now calling on Tunisians to boycott the referendum. The parties include the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party that retains fading but still sizable popular support.

Ridha Driss is senior advisor to Ennahdhas leader Rached Ghannouchi. He warns President Saied is bent on one-man rule and will ensure the constitution is passed, one way or another.

Also, part of the alliance is Ennahdhas once-staunch enemy, the Qalb Tounes, or Heart of Tunisia party. Lawmaker Oussama Khlifi says his party is calling for national unity, as the only way to save Tunisia.

The tiny, North African country has faced a rocky ride toward democracy since its 2011 revolution that kicked off the wider Arab Spring revolt. Tunisia's economy has stumbled, and politics have been marred by paralysis and corruption.

Many Tunisians hailed Saieds unlikely presidential win in 2019. They cheered when the former law professor seized wide-ranging powers last year. But today, public support is fading and disenchantment growing as the country battles a mounting economic crisis. Experts predict low voter turnout for this upcoming referendum.

For his part, President Saied denies authoritarian goals and says hes committed to political freedoms. He sees this new draft constitution, which among other things, strengthens presidential powers and waters down legislative ones, as correcting a dysfunctional system.

If the constitution is passed, the opposition fears more unrest and troubled times for Tunisia in the weeks and months ahead.
British Conservative Party lawmakers cast ballots Wednesday in the first round of the election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Eight candidates have secured the necessary support of 20 of their colleagues to make the first ballot. If necessary, further rounds of voting will take place on Thursday and next week.

Once only two candidates remain, they will participate in a runoff vote by about 180,000 Conservative Party members across the country. The winner is scheduled to be announced September 5 and will immediately become the new prime minister.

Several high-profile candidates are in the first round, including former treasury chief Rishi Sunak, the bookies favorite, who has several declared supporters. Other candidates are Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt.

Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Attorney General Suella Braverman are also on the ballot.

Johnson resigned as Conservative leader last week amid months of scandals. He said he would remain prime minister until his replacement is chosen.

Mordaunt said at her official campaign launch Wednesday that the party has standards and trust to restore after Johnsons scandals.

The slate of candidates is diverse, with four candidates from ethnic minorities and four women. All the candidates have similar ideas in terms of tax-slashing policies, though Sunak expressed caution.

A spokeswoman for Johnson insisted he would remain neutral in the search for his replacement.

At the weekly Prime Ministers Questions (PMQ) session at the House of Commons on Wednesday, Johnson told Labour leader Keir Starmer, The next leader of my party may be elected by acclamation. So, its possible this will be our last confrontation.

He added that it was true that I leave not at a time of my choosing, but I will be leaving soon with my head held high.
The Cumberland County District Attorneys Office on Tuesday said it is seeking the death penalty in a double homicide case out of Southampton Township.

The DAs office filed a Notice of Aggravating Circumstances, indicating its intention to seek the death penalty if Larry Burns is convicted of first-degree murder.

Burns, 59, of Chambersburg, is charged with criminal homicide, arson, conspiracy and related offenses in connection with the Feb. 23 shooting deaths of Eddie Shaw and Frankie Thomas in the 100 block of Neil Road in Southampton Township.

Burns was arrested by U.S. Marshals in North Carolina in March, and a man the DAs office is labeling as a co-conspirator, Cordaryl Burns, was arrested the same day in Detroit.

Its Larry Burns for whom the DAs office is seeking the death penalty. In May, the DAs office unsealed its court documents in the case, which detailed the investigation that started with a house fire and the discovery of two bodies.

According to court documents, police discovered Shaw inside the home, while Thomas was discovered at the wheel of a car in the driveway. Both died of gunshot wounds, and a gun was found in a field across the street from the home.

Documents said Larry Burns was obsessed with a woman staying at the home and that he had been looking for the two men killed in the shooting, as well as the owner of the home.

Larry Burns was formally arraigned on the charges on Monday in Cumberland County Court, and a pre-trial conference is scheduled in September.
Uzbekistan's desert region of Karakalpakstan lies astride the bone-dry Aral Sea. But it has another distinction besides its harsh climate: it has autonomy, and even the right to secede from Uzbekistan by referendum, both guaranteed by the country's 1992 constitution.



But many Uzbeks resent that special status. "While we debate how much of Ukraine Russia controls, we may lose nearly 40 percent of our land," warned Shuhrat Shokirjonov, a blogger, watching unrest in Karakalpakstan.



Karakalpaks took to the streets of Nukus, their administrative center, on July 1-2, to protest constitutional changes penned in the national capital, Tashkent, that would have removed the region's "sovereignty." Demonstrations quickly turned violent, with security forces and citizens accusing each other of bloodshed and destruction.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev initiated the changes, which would also enable him to remain in power until 2040. But it was the draft provisions on Karakalpakstan's unique status that precipitated the crisis, which has left at least 18 dead and poses the biggest test Mirziyoyev has faced in his six years in power.



He flew to Nukus amid the turmoil and passed the buck onto local leaders. "Why didn't you call me to let me know about people opposing these proposals?" he asked the Karakalpak parliament, which had itself approved the amendments.



And Mirziyoyev quickly reversed course, saying: "No article will ever change without the approval of the Karakalpak people."

Days later, the president fired his chief of staff, Zaynilobiddin Nizomiddinov, allegedly the mastermind of the constitutional changes. VOA sources predict more heads will roll in Tashkent and Nukus, where the parliament chair serves as head of the autonomous republic.



Karakalpakstan has been under tight emergency measures since July 3. Hundreds remain jailed, dozens face criminal charges, and dozens more remain in critical condition.



Promising transparency and justice, Tashkent is promoting its own narrative through domestic media. It says the Karakalpak people exercised their right to express opposition but "criminal groups supported from the outside" hijacked the demonstrations and pushed for secession, even declaring a new leader, Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, who is behind bars. Tajimuratov's supporters believe he never promoted separation but found himself used by separatists for their propaganda.



Washington, Brussels, the U.N., OSCE, Human Rights Watch, and other advocacy groups have called on the Mirziyoyev government to carry out a full, credible and independent investigation.



Javlon Vakhabov, Uzbekistan's ambassador in Washington, said his government is "grateful for America's consistent and unique support of his country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Vakhabov told VOA that members of the U.S. Congress have encouraged Uzbekistan to consider international calls, learn lessons from the unrest, and "do the right thing."



He said Uzbekistan is "talking with leading human rights organizations and hearing their concerns and advice."



Vakhabov argued the bloodshed in Karakalpakstan will not hinder Uzbek-U.S. relations. "Every message from Washington has been supportive and empowering. President Mirziyoyev has instructed the entire system to adhere to our laws and stick to our international obligations."



But Tashkent has many questions to answer. In Uzbek media reports from Karakalpakstan, security officers speak of ordinary Karakalpaks as "peaceful protesters" and stress that "the order from the highest level was to absolutely refrain from using force against citizens."



But social media footage, claimed to be from Nukus, shows abuses both by demonstrators and the military. The authorities call some of these unconfirmed videos fakes.



On social media, the public is divided about Karakalpak complaints but equally blames the government for ignoring tensions, failing to prevent violence and restricting internet access there.



"The role of foreign elements" is pushed by both government and citizens, including Mirziyoyev himself, who does not specify any particular state or groups.



Some 2 million residents of Karakalpakstan have long been mired in poverty and environmental despair. Yet others claim these problems are prevalent in most parts of Uzbekistan and should not be an excuse to destabilize the country. Other ethnic groups, such as Uzbek and Kazakhs, also live in Karakalpakstan.

Uzbek blogger Hamid Sodiq points to deeply rooted distress. "Inequality has meant political subjugation for Uzbeks but ethnic discrimination for Karakalpaks," he wrote.



State records show the Mirziyoyev administration has spent at least $1 billion to develop Karakalpakstan since 2017 but the population still largely relies on remittances from Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan.



For Sodiq, more funding of Karakalpakstan may in fact have elevated separatist sentiment by bolstering the middle class. "This should not stop economic reforms. But we need to smartly channel that newly acquired prosperity," he wrote.



"Economic progress and political reforms must go together. Imbalances bring back old grievances. Well-fed people want to be part of political processes."



Uzbek political analyst Kamoliddin Rabbimov told VOA he does not think the Karakalpak crisis will have an impact beyond the country's borders. Uzbekistan's neighbors and major partners, including China, Russia, and Turkey, are backing Mirziyoyev's "swift measures" in Karakalpakstan. "They all are siding with Uzbekistan, supporting its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They understand Tashkent's predicament."



Rabbimov argued that Karakalpakstan's sovereignty "has been one of the biggest challenges for Tashkent for the last 30 years."



When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, Karakalpakstan had already been part of Uzbekistan for 55 years.



"There is no political, geopolitical, legal, or demographic basis for Karakalpakstan to secede even through a referendum as the constitution says. Because in Uzbekistan's unitary system, referendums cannot be held regionally, and any proposal for a national vote must be approved by the Uzbek parliament," Rabbimov said in an interview with VOA.

He also argued that "there is no potential for Karakalpaks to win any referendum, since more than half of the region's population are Uzbeks and other ethnic groups."



He said the government should promote an inclusive national identity. "By taking down regional barriers, and most importantly ending systemic corruption and monopolistic practices, you can dramatically improve the situation."



Rabbimov sees major differences between Mirziyoyev and his predecessor, Islam Karimov.



"Karimov feared his people. He did not tolerate any protest or opposition. Force was justified to put down any uprising, including the 2005 Andijan unrest, which started as a local social-economic tension. Karimov aimed to teach a lesson that no dissent would endure."



Mirziyoyev, observed Rabbimov, is doing the opposite. "He is not afraid of people and cares about Karakalpaks in particular. He's been to Nukus twice to engage the public. The situation is under control. His administration admits the issues and promises to work on them.



"The message we've got from Mirziyoyev is that the government is seeking political and legal solutions to the problem. In my view, he realizes that disproportionate use of force would be a historic mistake."
U.S. lawmakers this week introduced a resolution to condemn the violence directed at journalists in Mexico.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez, and Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, along with eight Democratic Senate colleagues, expressed support for better safeguards for media in Mexico.

The resolution came as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador met with President Joe Biden in Washington on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, Kaine acknowledged the importance of Lopez Obradors visit to Washington to discuss trade, migration, security and other issues.

But he said, Equally important will be action on strengthening protections for journalists in Mexico, who continue to confront record levels of violence in the country.

The country ranks as one of the most dangerous for media outside war zones and has a poor record in securing justice in the cases of journalists killed for their work.

Safety measures that include a federal program to offer practical assistance and protection to journalists under threat exist, but those enrolled say efforts dont go far enough.

At least 12 journalists have been killed in Mexico since the start of the year. On July 1, a radio journalist in the central state of Jalisco narrowly survived a knife attack.

Assailants forced Susana Carreno out of her vehicle and onto the ground at gunpoint, then repeatedly stabbed the Radio UDG journalist.

The attack left her needing emergency surgery on her neck and chest, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Describing the attack as shocking and brutal, CPJ Mexico representative Jan-Albert Hootsen said in a statement the case once again shows the Mexican authorities utter failure to protect the countrys press.

The press relations office of Mexicos president told VOA in May that Lopez Obradors administration is taking action to address violent attacks.

Progress is being made in the eradication of impunity in crimes against journalists, the press office said, noting that officials have taken action against suspects in at least six of the fatal attacks in 2022.

Urgent need to protect

In their resolution, the U.S. lawmakers called on Mexico to commit to thorough and impartial investigations into violence directed at media, to assist state bodies in improving protection measures, and to work with civil society to monitor conditions for the media.

In a statement published to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations website, Kaine said, Press freedom must remain the cornerstone of every democratic nation, including Mexico. At its core, this resolution underscores the urgent need to protect journalists who risk their lives to report the truth.

Noting that the European Parliament passed a similar resolution earlier this year, Menendez said, As journalists risk everything to advance truth, expose injustice and hold bad actors to account, they deserve nothing less than our  and the government of Mexicos  full support.

Click below for our Special Project:

Lopez Obrador responded to the European Parliament criticism at one of his regular media briefings in March. The president said he was taking steps to address the killings and that criticism of Mexicos response to the attacks on the media was part of a campaign against the government.

Media rights groups have previously criticized Lopez Obrador over hostile rhetoric directed at journalists.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said the Lopez Obrador administration accuses journalists of bias and attempts to discredit journalists, and said the president himself has described the press as biased and scum.

Arturo Sarukhan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and Mexicos former ambassador to the United States, told VOA Tuesday that a commitment to protect journalists is what matters at the end of the day.

The Lopez Obrador administration should commit to protect journalists, to provide them with the protection they require so that they are not intimidated, in some cases by organized crime, and that the president himself does not  attack, revile, criticize and question the media.

For Mexicos journalists, the killings and violence leave them feeling vulnerable.

We are tired  sad and tired  of these violent events, Juan de Dios Garcia Davish, CEO of news site Quadratin Chiapas, told VOA last month after the killing of Antonio de la Cruz, in Tamaulipas state, on June 29.

De Dios Garcia Davish moved to Las Vegas, in the U.S. state of Nevada, because of safety concerns.

Maria de Jesus Peters, another Mexican journalist who moved to the U.S. for safety reasons, said, The truth is not killed by killing journalists. And today, we are demanding that justice.



Jessica Jerreat, Anita Powell and Cristina Caicedo Smit contributed to this report.
The United States is pledging more diplomatic and financial support to the Pacific region in the face of growing influence from China.

Vice President Kamala Harris made the pledge Wednesday in a video address to the Pacific Islands Forum being held in Suva, Fiji. Vice President Harris said the U.S. is planning to appoint an envoy to the Forum and open new embassies in Tonga and Kiribati.

Harris also said the administration of President Joe Biden has requested $60 million a year from the U.S. Congress that would triple current funding for fisheries assistance, marine conservation and climate resilience projects.

The vice president acknowledged that in recent years the Pacific islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve from the United States. So today I am here to tell you directly, we are going to change that.

The Forum is being held just three months after China and the Solomon Islands signed a security pact that has raised concerns in Australia and the United States that Beijing would establish a military presence in the Solomon Islands, located less than 2,000 kilometers from Australia. A draft of the agreement that emerged on social media included a provision that could allow Beijing to send armed police and soldiers to the Solomons, as well as base its navy ships off the Solomons coast.

Climate change, which the Forum considers the regions major security issue, is top of the agenda for this weeks gathering. But it has been overshadowed by the surprise withdrawal earlier this week by Kiribati.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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US President Joe Biden has extensive agenda as he heads into a four-day trip to the Middle East, his National Security Council coordinator tells VOA
U.S. President Joe Biden has an extensive agenda as he heads into a four-day trip to the Middle East, his National Security Council coordinator told VOA on Tuesday.

John Kirby, the NSC coordinator for strategic communications at The White House, discussed the upcoming trip with VOAs White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara.

There's so much that needs to be discussed on this trip and the agenda is quite extensive, between going to Israel and furthering our defense partnership and reaffirming our ironclad commitment to Israel's defense to meeting with (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and to reaffirming our commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, said Kirby, the former Pentagon spokesperson. And then of course in Saudi Arabia, where we will have bilateral discussions with King Salman and his leadership team.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: John Kirby, thank you so much for joining VOA today. I'm going to start with the news of the day which is the killing of the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) leader in Syria, Maher al-Agal. Can you explain or can you share any more of his identity beyond his nom de guerre. The Pentagon also said that he's one of the top five leadership in ISIS. What are the statuses of the other four?

NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS JOHN KIRBY: Well, I don't get into intelligence issues. Obviously, we continue to be interested in degrading ISIS capabilities in Iraq and Syria, that remains a core function of U.S. military forces that are in those areas. This gentleman here was one of the top five. So he was right at the very senior echelons of the leadership and now that he's been taken off the battlefield, we know, based on his leadership and what he was focused on, that this will degrade ISIS capabilities. This will affect their ability to resource themselves to plan to organize and to conduct attacks.

VOA: Now moving on to the Middle East trip, this is a complicated trip for President (Joe) Biden. In Israel, he will be meeting a caretaker government. In Saudi Arabia, he will be meeting the leadership of a kingdom he was characterized as having no redeeming values. Can you describe what would be the indicators of success for this trip, as well as the broader aim for the administration in the region?

KIRBY: There's so much that needs to be discussed on this trip and the agenda is quite extensive, between going to Israel and furthering our defense partnership and reaffirming our ironclad commitment to Israel's defense to meeting with (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and to reaffirming our commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. And then of course in Saudi Arabia, where we will have bilateral discussions with King Salman and his leadership team.

Again, this (has been) a strategic partner for 80 years. The Saudi pilots flew with American pilots as they went after ISIS targets in 2014. Saudi sailors still today are sailing with American sailors in the Persian Gulf, trying to minimize the Iranians destabilizing activities there, in their maritime environment. They are a strategic partner. And there's a lot to talk about whether it's counterterrorism, whether it's certainly about the Iranian threat or the war in Yemen.

Now we're on our second extension of a truce in Yemen. Thousands of Yemenis now, lives have been saved because that war has stopped for the longest period of time in seven years. So that's significant. And of course, on his last day, he'll be sitting down with nine other leaders in the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council and, my goodness, there's a lot to talk about there. Again, counterterrorism and security but also economic security, energy security, food security and climate change. So, there's an awful lot on the table for the president. He's very much looking forward to this trip.

VOA: What are some of the signs of warming bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel that we can expect, whether it's during the presidents trip or beyond, in terms of steps towards normalization. Something that the administration can point toward normalization.

KIRBY: Well look, normalization is going to take some time, and clearly these are sovereign decisions that nations have to make. We support the Abraham Accords. We want to see a normalization proceed. We think that a more integrated Israel in the region is better for the region. It's certainly better for the Israeli people, certainly for their Arab neighbors, as well as our own national security interest. So that kind of process will take some time.

I think you'll see when President Biden flies, you know, from Israel right to Jeddah directly, that is not a small thing. That is not something that we would have imagined could have happened not very long ago. So it's another example of how there is a deeper integration between Israel and Israel's Arab neighbors, which again, we think is better for the region.

VOA: I'm going to talk about that integration a little bit further, but right now, I really am curious, where does the president stand in terms of Saudi-Israeli normalization vis a vis Palestinian statehood? Does the president believe that the two go hand-in-hand or does he believe that normalization can proceed whether or not there's progress in terms of the two-state solution?

KIRBY: I dont think the president is putting it in terms of a building block approach like that. I mean, he continues to believe that a two-state solution is the best solution. And you will hear him talk about that on this trip, particularly when he goes and has a chance to meet with President Abbas. But he also believes that normalization is healthy, integration is healthy for the region. And I think in President Biden's view, both of these things are equally important to a more stable, a more secure and more integrated Middle East and that's what you're gonna see him want to focus on.

VOA: OK, and on the integration of Israel, further integration into the region. One of the things that officials such as yourself have been talking about is this missile defense system integrating between Israel and Gulf Arab states. Can you explain what it is? Where is it heading to? Is it finally leading to what some are calling a Middle East NATO?

KIRBY: I don't think we're referring necessarily to it as a Middle Eastern NATO. What we're talking about and we have been talking about this for quite some time, is a better, a more integrated air defense capability in the region. That is a networked opportunity, really, between nations that are living there and are dealing and sharing the increasing ballistic missile threat that Iran poses. Now, obviously, we have air defense capabilities there because we have troops, we have facilities that we're using in the region, but so to our partners, and we believe that we've learned this over so many years of military experience, that integrated air defense is really the best kind of air defense.

So I think, with or without the trip, we've been wanting to pursue this idea of better integrated air defense in the region. And I think the president will have some things to say about that. Obviously, when we get on the ground, I don't want to get ahead of him, but we continue to believe that better, more robust, more networked air defense is really to the betterment of everybody.

VOA: Does the president still believe or still have any faith in the JCPOA process? Does he believe it's dead? And is there a Plan B?

KIRBY: The president continues to believe, stridently, that the best solution here to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear armed state is diplomacy. And there is a deal, it's on the table. And the onus now is on Iran to take that deal. And they have not proven willing to do that; they have been adding a bunch of requirements outside the boundaries of the deal. There is a deal that we have agreed to and that our partners have agreed to, its up to Iran now to take that deal. But the president continues to believe that diplomacy, and a negotiated settlement here, that's the best way forward, and that no problem in the Middle East gets easier to solve, none, if Iran has a nuclear weapon.

VOA: Sixty days have passed since the president signed the Lend-Lease Act. When is the administration going to come out with a mechanism in terms of describing how that will work?

KIRBY: I think we're looking at lend-lease authorities and what they provide, and most grateful (to) Congress for that piece of legislation. Clearly it was passed in a bipartisan way, clearly indicates the degree to which members on Capitol Hill value the kind of support that were giving to Ukraine and want to make sure that we can continue to do that. They also recently just passed a $20 billion supplemental piece of legislation, that not all but a lot of it goes to security assistance. What were focused on is in real time doing what we can to help Ukraine defend itself. ...

VOA: Can we expect it in a matter of days or weeks?

KIRBY: Just on Friday, the president signed another $400 million in presidential drawdown authority. We have a lot of authorities already available to us, and were using them.

VOA: Congresswoman Victoria Spartz sent a letter to the president, saying or requesting due diligence and oversight to Andriy Yermak, one of (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyys top aides. Does the administration believe that thats the case? Does the president still have confidence in Andriy Yermak? Does he believe that oversight is needed or more oversight is needed?

KIRBY: Well, well respond to the congresswoman appropriately. I wont get ahead of correspondence in that regard. What we're doing and what we're focused on is talking to Ukrainians at all levels, at staff levels and all the way up to President Zelenskyy to make sure that we understand their needs and the capabilities that they require, as they continue to try to prosecute this war, which is now focused largely on the Donbas and making sure that we're meeting them.

And it is not just about making sure the United States is meeting those demands, its about making sure so many other countries that are able and willing to contribute, are able and willing to meet those needs. And (U.S.) Secretary (of Defense Lloyd) Austin has now chaired the Ukraine Contact Group, I think hes had four such meetings, where the last one there were 50 countries that signed up to provide security assistance to Ukraine. So there's an awful lot of work being done at all levels between Ukraine and the United States.

VOA: Does the president have confidence in the way that President Zelenskyy is using the money?

KIRBY: The president is confident that we are doing everything we can to meet Ukraine's needs. And I think it's important for people to know we share the concerns expressed by members of Congress -- that we want to make sure there's proper accountability for the material that Ukraine is getting. But we need to remember that it is Ukrainian property once it is in their armed forces, and that we're not dictating how they're using every piece of equipment on the battlefield. But obviously, they have said, and they agree with us, they have said they also share concerns about accountability and oversight and they are willing to work with us on that.

VOA: Next month will be the one-year anniversary of the withdrawal (of U.S. troops from Afghanistan). What would be the presidents message at that time to the American people?

KIRBY: The president wants to make sure that as we get into the anniversary, that we are appropriately recognizing the lives that were lost in that evacuation, but also the lives that were saved. 124,000 people were brought out safely from Afghanistan in just the course of those two weeks. The president also wants to make sure that we're focused on the future, that people understand we are on a stronger footing now for having ended this war after 20 years. That has actually benefited us in our national security, and that we are looking forward for how best to secure our interests around the world.

One of the reasons why he's going on this trip is because we have so many national security interests in the Middle East, and the president wants to work on that. He wants to take serious his responsibility to protect and advance those interests.
Ukraine said Tuesday 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy.

"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka," Ukraine's southern military command said in a statement.

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on February 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance.

A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Russias TASS news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded.

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Leontyev said in the TASS account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of indiscriminately killing civilians in the war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, while adding that the actual toll was likely much higher.

Ukraine's deputy prime minister on Sunday urged civilians in Kherson to evacuate, as Kyiv's armed forces were preparing a counterattack.

"It's clear there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling ... and we therefore urge (people) to evacuate urgently," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on national television.

Meanwhile, fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops were shelling Ukrainian-held positions in Donetsk province.

Regional Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told a briefing there was a significant buildup of Russian troops, particularly in the Bakhmut and Siversky areas, and around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

The whole front line in the region was under constant shelling as Russian troops tried to break through but were being repelled, he said.

Britains Defense Ministry said Russian forces continued to make incremental territorial gains in Donetsk.

The British statement said Russia is likely maintaining pressure on Ukrainian forces while regrouping and reconstituting for further offensives in the near future.

Officials in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar said the death toll from a Russian missile strike last Saturday on an apartment building rose to 34, with nine people having been safely rescued from the rubble.

Chasiv Yar is about 20 kilometers southeast of Kramatorsk, a city that is expected to be a major target of Russian forces as they push farther westward into Donetsk province after claiming victory more than a week ago in the adjoining Luhansk province. Donetsk and Luhansk make up the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, near Russias border.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa says Zimbabwes security forces are on high alert and ready to crush the opposition, which he accuses of organizing violent activities ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Speaking at his partys Politburo meeting in Harare today, Mnangagwa also said Zanu PF will use the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) voter registration numbers to do a countrywide auditing of actual voters for forthcoming polls.

The security systems are fully aware of various antics at play and stand ready to appropriately deal with such mischief. Peace, unity and tranquility must continue to prevail in our motherland Zimbabwe.

The main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa dismissed Mnangagwas remarks, saying they are a non-violent party. CCC accused Mnangagwa and his ruling party of launching a crackdown on its members, leading to the arrest of lawmakers - Job Sikhala, Godfrey Sithole and others.

Sikhala and others are accused of inciting political violence in Nyatsime where a CCC member, Moreblessing Ali, was butchered by suspected Zanu PF activists and her body tossed into a disused well.

In its latest report, the Zimbabwe Peace Project said it recorded more than 20 incidents of political violence in the country in June this year. According to the ZPP report, some of the alleged perpetrators are Zanu PF officials and junior members.

ZPP also noted that Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and former Vice President Kembo Mohadi have urged traditional leaders to support the ruling party of face dire consequences.
The worlds population is expected to reach 8 billion on November 15, the United Nations said Monday, with India replacing China as the worlds most populous country.



The United Nations released its report, World Population Prospects 2022, on World Population Day, which is observed every year on July 11. This years theme is "A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all  Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all."



Despite 2022 being a "milestone year" for global population, according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the population growth rate fell below 1% in 2020 and is growing at its slowest pace since 1950.



The U.N. said global population could potentially reach 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion by the 2080s. The population is projected to remain steady at 10.4 billion until 2100.



More than half of the growth by 2050 is expected to come from Africa, which is the worlds fastest-growing continent, the U.N. said. The growth in Africa comes despite a slowing global fertility rate, which is expected to decline to 2.2 births per woman by 2050, down from 2.5 births in 2019, and 3.2 births in 1990.



World Population Day is a reminder of the worlds most pressing issues, including overpopulation. The current global population stands at 7.942 billion people.
Ukraine said Wednesday that a deal appears close to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports that have been blocked for months by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, without elaborating, said a deal was two steps away before talks about the exports began in Istanbul with officials from Russia, the United Nations and Turkey.

After the meeting ended, the United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will make an announcement about developments in Istanbul later Wednesday.

More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain are being stored in silos at the Black Sea port of Odesa, and dozens of ships have been stranded due to Russia's blockade. Turkey said it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the region that could be quickly loaded and dispatched to world markets.

Meanwhile, world health officials have been increasingly expressing concern about the impasse over the exports, particularly for its effect on food supplies in developing nations. Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat and grains such as barley and maize. It has also supplied nearly half of all the sunflower oil traded on global markets.

After three hours of talks, Turkey said the discussions had ended but gave no hint of a resolution. Russia's defense ministry said Moscow had put forward proposals to resolve the grain issue as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the war raged on. Russia shelled Ukrainian cities across the industrialized eastern Donetsk province, part of the Donbas region Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to capture after failing earlier in the war to topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or take the capital, Kyiv.

Ukrainian official Kyrylo Tymoshenko said Russia also struck 28 settlements in the Mykolaiv region bordering the Black Sea, killing at least five civilians.

Zelenskyy told a conference in Asia via videolink that Russia had launched 2,960 missiles on Ukraine's cities so far during the 4 1/2-month war.

"Of course, this is Russia's tactic ... directed at chasing people out of our cities, and so that every Ukrainian feels fear," he said.

Donbas fighting

Britains defense ministry said Wednesday it expects Russian forces to focus on taking small towns near the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region.

The urban areas of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the operation, the ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address late Tuesday that Russian shelling does not stop for a single day.

In the Donbas, offensive attempts do not stop, the situation there does not get easier, and the losses do not get smaller. We must remember this. We must see this, draw attention to this.

Ukraine said Tuesday 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy.

"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraines southern military command said in a statement.

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on February 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance.

A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Russias TASS news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded.

There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses, Leontyev said in the TASS account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of indiscriminately killing civilians in the war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, while adding that the actual toll was likely much higher.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
TEL AVIV  President Joe Biden arrived Wednesday in Israel, part of a broader Middle East visit with stops in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.

He received a formal welcome at Tel Avivs Ben Gurion airport, where he spoke of the deep bone bond between the U.S. and Israel.

Biden expressed support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians and said the U.S. would deepen Israel's integration into the Middle East.

During his visit to Israel, Biden will meet caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Israels security amid a resurgent Iran, including the integration of its air defense capabilities with Gulf Arab countries.

In the West Bank, Biden will seek to reset relations with the Palestinian Authority after the Trump administration slashed aid and closed the American consulate in Jerusalem that served as the U.S. mission to the Palestinians.

Later, Biden will attend the GCC+3 Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, where he will lay out his vision for U.S. engagement in the region.

He is set to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, to repair ties with Saudi Arabia  a country he once called a pariah.

Complicated trip

In addition to pushing for Israels deeper integration into the region, Biden will urge Gulf countries to pump more oil to alleviate the global energy crisis and offer assurances that the U.S. is not deprioritizing the region, despite its focus on the war in Ukraine and strategic competition with China.

The Middle East trip, the first of his presidency, will be a complicated one for Biden. He has been criticized by activists and members of his own party for his apparent reset of relations with the Saudi kingdom that he once characterized as having no redeeming social value.

"Our goal has been to recalibrate but not rupture the relationship with Saudi Arabia," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday. Sullivan argued that in a world thats increasingly geopolitically competitive, especially in the Indo Pacific and Europe, the U.S. must remain intensively engaged in the Middle East.

The Middle East is deeply interwoven with the rest of the world. And if we act now to create a more peaceful and stable region, it will pay dividends to the American national interest and to the American people for years to come.

Observers will be watching how Biden might balance those interests with a foreign policy doctrine that centers on the supremacy of democracies over autocracies, especially in light of the killings of journalists Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh.

VOA's Anita Powell contributed to this report.
Cumberland County commissioners may be only weeks away from deciding how to divvy up $46.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to the county.

Businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations had until July 1 to apply online for pandemic recovery grants ranging from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $2 million.

We are in the first stage of the review, which is a review of all the applications to determine eligibility versus ineligibility, Chief Clerk Stacy Snyder said Monday.

We have identified county subject area experts, she said. Later this week, early next week, there will be an in-depth review of all the applications. After a week or two of intense review, we will bring forth recommendations to the commissioners for the award of grants.

Grants are being made available to support mental and physical health initiatives, infrastructure projects and business/nonprofit COVID-19 recovery efforts.

Since ARPA funding has to be spent by the end of 2026, the county will look at projects that are ready to move forward within a four-year timeframe.

The American Rescue Plan Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. That legislation includes $350 billion in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds for eligible state, county and local governments.

Of the $350 billion, Cumberland County was awarded $49,214,152. In September, commissioners approved the allocation of $2.5 million of ARPA money to three local higher education institutions, awarding $1.4 million to Central Penn College, $600,000 to Messiah University and $500,000 to Shippensburg University.

Since then, the county has gathered input on how to allocate the remaining $46.7 million. The sources include input from focus groups, a public survey process and networking by staff in county departments.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday there is broad agreement on a deal between Russia and Ukraine, with Turkey and the United Nations, to export millions of tons of Ukrainian grain stuck in silos since Russias invasion on February 24.

Today is an important and substantive step, Guterres told reporters of developments at talks in Istanbul among the four parties. A step on the way to a comprehensive agreement.

The U.N. chief broke his public silence on the negotiations, pointing to a statement from Turkeys defense minister, who said there is agreement on major points, including the creation of a coordination center with Russia, Ukraine and the U.N.; agreement on controls for checking grain at ports; and ensuring the safety of cargo ships carrying the grain out of Odesa.

Of course, this was a first meeting, Guterres noted. The progress was extremely encouraging. Now, the delegations are coming back to their capitals, and we hope the next steps will allow us to come to a formal agreement.

While Guterres would not predict when the final agreement would be ready, he said he hoped the parties would reconvene next week and have a final agreement. Whenever it is, he said, he would be ready to go to Istanbul to sign it.

SEE ALSO:

Latest Developments in Ukraine: July 13

A U.N. official with knowledge of the talks said there was an important meeting of the Russians and the Ukrainians where they were able to make a lot of progress on sticking points.

More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain are being stored in silos at the Black Sea port of Odesa, and dozens of ships have been stranded because of Russia's blockade. Turkey said it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the region that could be quickly loaded and dispatched to world markets.

The grain deal has been in the works for months, with U.N. officials raising the alarm nearly immediately after the war started about the consequences for global food security if Ukraine, which is one of the worlds top grain exporters, is unable to get its harvests out.

Truly, failure to open those ports in Odesa region will be a declaration of war on global food security, World Food Program chief David Beasley warned at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on May 19. And it will result in famine and destabilization and mass migration around the world.

WFP says 276 million people worldwide were facing acute hunger at the start of this year. They project that number will rise by 47 million people if the conflict in Ukraine continues, with the steepest increases in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fighting continues

Meanwhile, the war rages on. Russia shelled Ukrainian cities across the industrialized eastern Donetsk province, part of the Donbas region that Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to capture after failing earlier in the war to topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or take the capital, Kyiv.



Ukrainian official Kyrylo Tymoshenko said Russia also struck 28 settlements in the Mykolaiv region bordering the Black Sea, killing at least five civilians.

Zelenskyy told a conference in Asia via video link that Russia had launched 2,960 missiles on Ukraine's cities so far during the 4-month war.

"Of course, this is Russia's tactic ... directed at chasing people out of our cities so that every Ukrainian feels fear," he said.

Britains Defense Ministry said Wednesday it expects Russian forces to focus on taking small towns near the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region.

The urban areas of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the operation, the ministry said.

A local resident, 79, reacts next to his house destroyed by alleged Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, July 13, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly address late Tuesday that Russian shelling does not stop for a single day.

In the Donbas, offensive attempts do not stop, the situation there does not get easier, and the losses do not get smaller. We must remember this. We must see this, draw attention to this, he said.

Ukraine said Tuesday that 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy.

"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraines southern military command said in a statement.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike on a Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine, July 12, 2022.

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on February 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance.

A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed, and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Russias Tass news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded.

There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses, Leontyev said in the Tass account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of indiscriminately killing civilians in the war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, while adding that the actual toll likely was much higher.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Video from the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency showed workers freeing a man from the rubble of a destroyed apartment block on July 10, 2022, in the Donetsk region. (Reuters)
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Arequipa (50.1 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Windows making noise and floor moving like if big train coming | 3 users found this interesting.

Cono Norte, Provincia de Arequipa, Arequipa (55.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / several minutes : Soy Aaron y senti un terremoto muy fuerte pero duro unos minutos vino y regreso con 3 veces vino y regreso y despues paro. | One user found this interesting.

Puno (170.6 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : Das Bett hat mehrfachim Hotel gewackelt. | 2 users found this interesting.

Arequipa (48.3 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Muy fuerte | 2 users found this interesting.

Arequipa,Paucarpata,Cesar Vallejo. (45.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 30-60 s : Iba a ir afuera a comprar comida.Todo empezo a temblar de manera brusca. | One user found this interesting.

Tacna tacna peru (166.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Mucho tiempo | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (50.9 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : Estaba trabajando | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (24.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 20-30 s : Bastante fuerte !!! 4 grados minimo supongo | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (49.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Strong vibrations | One user found this interesting.

arequipa, peru (53 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : The whole house shook, a little more than we've gotten used to here. | One user found this interesting.

Ciudad Satelite, Provincia de Arequipa, Arequipa (46.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Very loud and shaking doors and furniture | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (46.8 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 10-15 s : Strong | One user found this interesting.

arequipa (48.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) : In Bed, everything started shaking, cats panicked | One user found this interesting.

Playa chinchorro, Arica (214.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s : I was at my dinning table AND the Windows vibrate with noise, the shair move and the lamp vibrate | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (49.2 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 30-60 s : Hotel | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (39.8 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Inesperado y fuerte con replica | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (56.1 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Temblor muy fuerte | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (50.7 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 minutes : Muy fuerte y rapido | One user found this interesting.

Selva Alegre, Provincia de Arequipa, Arequipa (49.1 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 1-2 minutes : Todo se movia y sonaba fuerte, temblo toda la zona hasta mi edificio de 7 pisos | One user found this interesting.

Calle Moquegua in Arequipa / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling : We were scared and went to safety place | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa, Peru / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Light shaking. People running | One user found this interesting.

Puno / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Felt a sudden shake | One user found this interesting.

Arequipa (51.1 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating : Moser shaking things fell off, it shook then stopped and shook again

Selva Alegre, Provincia de Arequipa, Arequipa (49.8 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Ciudad Satelite, Provincia de Arequipa, Arequipa (44.8 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 minutes

Ilo (99.5 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Vessel shaking from bow to stern, sea depth 60 mtrs

Arequipa (45.7 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s

Arequipa (48.3 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Mollendo (78.7 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s

Peru Arequipa Tiabaya (47.7 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI)

Arequipa (45.6 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s
DOYLESTOWN  A woman has been sentenced to prison in the death of an infant nearly three years ago at an unlicensed day care in suburban Philadelphia.

Lauren Landgrebe, 50, of Upper Southampton, had pleaded guilty in Bucks County to involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the August 2019 death of 11-month-old Victoria Watson.

Prosecutors said she left the child strapped in a car seat on her dining room table and returned to find her unresponsive. An autopsy later concluded that the child wasnt properly secured in the car seat and had been strangled by its chest harness.

President Judge Wallace Bateman chastised her for what he called the callousness of her actions as he sentenced her Tuesday to one day less than a year to one day less than two years in jail, followed by 10 years probation.

Defense attorney Louis Busico called the sentence in the interest of justice but said he recognized the pain of the family. The childs parents and other relatives told the court of the joy she brought them in her short life and the grief they have wrestled with in the years since her death.

There is forever a piece of us that is missing that will never be replaced, Victorias mother, Marita Watson said.
The judge in the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation case ruled Wednesday against Heard's attempt to get the $10 million verdict against her set aside and a new trial ordered.

Judge Penney Azcarate, the Fairfax County judge who presided over the six-week spectacle trial, issued a written order, obtained by USA TODAY, denying Heard's multiple reasons for seeking a do-over trial.

Her ruling was swift: Heard filed her motion seeking to vacate the verdict last week; Depp's legal team responded on Monday.

"Defendant Amber Laura Heard's Post-Trial Motions I through VI are DENIED for the reasons stated on the record," Azcarate's order read.

Johnny Depp testifying in court in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 21, 2022, and Amber Heard testifying in the same courtroom on May 26, 2022, during their six-week defamation trial.

'Deeply troubling': Amber Heard's attorney's claim juror served improperly in Johnny Depp defamation trial

Johnny Depp's lawyers respond, argue against Amber Heard's 'outlandish' efforts to get a new trial

In addition, the judge denied Heard's motion for a mistrial on due process grounds: Heard's lawyers asserted one of the jurors who ruled against her in favor of Depp was not properly vetted by the court.

The judge said that under Virginia court rules, Heard's legal team should have raised the issue at the time the jury was picked, and she presented no evidence that Juror 15's inclusion on the panel "prejudiced" Heard in any way.

"Juror Fifteen was vetted by the Court on the record and met the statutory requirements for service. The parties also questioned the jury panel for a full day and informed the Court that the jury panel was acceptable. Therefore, Due Process was guaranteed and provided to all parties in this litigation," the judge's order said. "There is no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing"

Through one of his lawyers, Benjamin Chew, Depp said he was "most gratified by the Courts rulings.

USA TODAY has reached out to Heard's legal team for comment.

Original filing: Amber Heard files to dismiss verdict or grant retrial in Johnny Depp defamation case

Johnny Depp's attorney Benjamin Chew gives closing arguments in the Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 27, 2022.

Azcarate's order is final. That means there won't be another trial in Fairfax County in suburban Washington D.C. to transfix the nation for weeks with toxic testimony about the volatile 15-month marriage of two movie stars and whether either defamed the other with shocking allegations of abuse.

Story continues

But the legal battle will continue: Heard has vowed to pursue an appeal to a Virginia appellate court. She must post a bond for $10.3 million plus 6% interest while her appeal is pending.

Last month, the jury in the case found overwhelmingly in Depp's favor that Heard defamed him when she published a column in The Washington Post in December 2018 calling herself a victim of domestic abuse. Depp's name was not mentioned but during their 2016 divorce proceedings she had accused him of abusing her.

Depp sued her for defamation in 2019, seeking $50 million. She countersued, also for defamation, seeking $100 million.

The jury agreed Heard had defamed Depp and awarded him more than $10 million in damages. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in damages over remarks Depp's lawyer at the time said about Heard's abuse allegations being a "hoax."

Juror in Amber Heard case said she wasn't 'believable.' What experts in domestic and sexual violence say about believability

LEGAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Johnny Depp won his defamation suit against Amber Heard. So what happens now?

Amber Heard with her attorney Elaine Bredehoft before closing arguments in the Depp v. Heard trial at the in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 27, 2022.

Following the verdict, Heard and her lawyers made a series of TV appearances to talk about the outcome, and to lament the social media commentary during the trial, which was overwhelmingly against Heard.

Heard's legal team filed a 53-page brief arguing that the verdict was unfair, inconsistent and "excessive," citing multiple reasons, including that Depp did not present evidence of required "actual malice," and that what Heard wrote in her column was "true" and thus protected by the First Amendment.

In response, Depp's brief argued that Heard's legal team failed to present sufficient reasons for setting aside the jury's decision or for retrying the case and that her arguments were "outlandish" and verges into the frivolous."

"Though understandably displeased at the outcome of the trial, Ms. Heard has identified no legitimate basis to set aside in any respect the jury's decision," Depp's lawyers argued in their brief. "Virginia law is clear that a verdict is not to be set aside unless it is 'plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.' "

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amber Heard loses setting aside verdict, get new Johnny Depp trial
Police seal off area around Italian parliament as taxi drivers protest.

Italian taxi drivers demonstrated near parliament in central Rome on Wednesday, in protest over the government's competition bill amid claims that deregulating the sector would favour multinationals over independent drivers.

Police have cordoned off the area around Palazzo Chigi, seat of government buildings, as hundreds of taxi drivers from all over Italy chant slogans against premier Mario Draghi and ride-hailing app Uber.

Footage shows large crowds of protesters on Via del Corso, amid flares and firecrackers, after five taxi driver union representatives spent the night chained to the railings in front of Palazzo Chigi in protest at the bill which they say will favour the expansion of Uber.

The unannounced demonstration in Rome, the latest in weeks of protests, follows a wildcat protest by taxi drivers across Italy on Tuesday, one week after a two-day nationwide strike on 5-6 July.

Amid chants against Uber, Italian taxi drivers clashed with police as they tried to reach parliament in Rome on Tuesday during a two-day nationwide strike.pic.twitter.com/aRqAM3pQWS  Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) July 6, 2022

Rome's airport management company Aeroporti di Roma has warned of disruption for those making their way to and from Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, advising travellers to uses buses or trains instead.

Photo ANSA - Emanuele Valeri
Pontiff addresses retirement rumours in interview.

Pope Francis said that in the event of an eventual resignation from the papacy he would live in Rome, ruling out a return to his native Argentina or staying in the Vatican.

The pontiff, 85, addressed the persistent retirement rumours in an interview with the Spanish-language networks Univision and Televisa broadcast on 12 July.

Underlining his role as bishop of the Italian capital, the pope said that if he were to retire it would be as the bishop emeritus of Rome.

Asked by Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki if he would go to the Archbasilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano, the pontiff replied: Perhaps. I would go to a church and hear confessions.

Rumours about the pope's possible retirement come as Francis deals with poor health and worsening mobility, forcing him to cancel a trip to Africa this month.

Speculation was fuelled further after Francis called a consistory in August, instead of the more traditional November, during which he will create 16 new cardinals who will have the power to elect his successor.

The rumour mill went into overdrive when it was announced that in August Francis would visit the Basilica of S. Maria de Collemaggio, in L'Aquila, which holds the tomb of Pope Celestine V who in 1294 became the first pope to resign.

Last week, in an interview with Reuters, Francis dismissed reports that he is planning to resign in the near future.

He did so again in the latest interview, stressing that for the moment he is not considering resigning from the papacy, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did in 2013 when he stunned the world by becoming the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Francis shrugged off the analysis of his possible resignation as "pure coincidence", saying: Truly, in this moment, I dont feel that the Lord is asking me to retire. When I feel that he asks me, then yes."

Photo Daniel Ibanez - Catholic News Agency (CNA)
Tourists also fined for defacing archaeological remains in Roman Forum.

Rome police caught up with a 30-year-old Canadian tourist after she used a stone to carve the initials of her name into an external wall of the Colosseum on Tuesday evening, Italian media reports.

The woman was stopped by Colosseum staff who notified the carabinieri after witnessing the vandalism taking place.

The tourist, who reportedly expressed regret for her actions, was cited for causing damage to a monument of historical and cultural importance.

Separately, police fined two American tourists 800 for carving their initials and a love heart on the base of the Arch of Augustus in the Roman Forum, reports RadioRoma.

In recent years there have been numerous episodes of people vandalising the Colosseum by carving their names into the ancient amphitheatre.

In 2019 a 39-year-old Israeli tourist caused outrage after carving the initials of the names of her husband and children into an internal pillar of the landmark.

The fullscale return of tourists to Rome this summer has coincided with a surge of negative headlines, from swimming in the Trevi Fountain and crashing drones into Palazzo Venezia to throwing scooters down the Spanish Steps.

Photo credit: Pajor Pawel / Shutterstock.com.
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Youve probably heard of ESG, and may know it as a form of investing and finance that involves considering material financial risks from environmental factors, social issues and questions of corporate governance. If youre like most people, youre probably not clear on the difference between ESG and socially responsible investing, impact investing and similar, sometimes overlapping approaches -- in part because ESG has come to means different things to different people. That vagueness has helped fuel rapid growth in recent years. But with that growth has also come increased scrutiny from regulators cracking down on banks and investment firms making exaggerated claims. In the US, ESG has also faced backlash both from conservatives who deride it as woke capitalism and from insiders who say it isnt creating the kinds of real-world impacts it seemed to promise.

Heres a guide to the basics.

1. Whats the big idea?

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The broadest umbrella term for the strategy of which ESG is a part is sustainable investing. Proponents say the goals of sustainable investing, which covers fund assets valued globally at $2.7 trillion by Morningstar Inc., are to achieve societal impact, align with personal values or manage risks. And make money along the way, of course.

2. Where did ESG come from?

The acronym was coined in the mid 2000s. A British law firm wrote a report for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative in 2005 that argued that the use of ESG factors in financial analysis was compatible with investors fiduciary responsibilities. The idea was that incorporating ESG data would help protect investments by avoiding material financial risks from things such as climate change; worker disputes and humans rights issues in supply chains; and poor corporate governance and resulting litigation. As time has passed, the label has come to be slapped on investments that run the gamut from predictable things such as owning renewable-energy stocks to things you wouldnt expect, like funds that track benchmark indexes containing oil companies or assets in autocratic nations such as Russia.

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3. How big is ESG?

Estimates vary depending on what people count as ESG. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, assets are set to climb to $50 trillion by 2025 from about $35 trillion now. They have grown from $30.7 trillion in 2018 and $22.8 trillion in 2016, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Association.

4. How is ESG different?

The popularity of ESG has depended in part on a belief that it will play a positive role in making the world a better place. But critics say that such a warm-and-fuzzy feeling helps asset managers blur a key distinction -- that ESG is mainly about using data to identify risks that might undermine investment performance, or to find opportunities to make money. Thats a contrast to some other branches of sustainable investment that sometimes go further:

 Ethical and Values-Based Investing: These are broad strategies that enable investors to shun or invest in companies that reflect their political, religious or philosophical beliefs and values. Its earliest practitioners were religious groups such as the Quakers who shunned investments in things like alcohol, weapons and gambling. Church-affiliated groups in Sweden began the first ethics-based mutual fund in 1965. The Pax World Fund began in the US in 1971.

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 Socially Responsible Investing: Galvanized by anti-Vietnam War protests, consumer boycotts of napalm producers and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, a group of investors in the 1980s and 90s sought to do good by not only avoiding companies that harm society but investing in those that are improving their business practices. They may also focus on companies that are engaged in clean-technology efforts.

 Impact Investing: While socially responsible investing tends to focus on publicly traded companies, impact investing centers on private projects. Its a niche strategy where investors target specific outcomes that can be measured, such as the promotion of sustainable agriculture or companies that provide affordable housing.

 Systems-Level Investing: A nascent strategy that has yet to take off in a big way. As people increasingly point to the failure of ESG in catalyzing large, real-world impacts, they are looking at systems-level investing. This involves making decisions that take into account the entirety of ones portfolio and how its elements intersect across all assets in the long term. An example would be climate change: A systems-level approach would examine how it affects entire portfolios, from shares in energy and insurance companies to sovereign bonds and foreign exchange. Systems-level investors are then meant to work with other investors to collectively push companies to improve their business practices by creating industry standards, sharing data with other investors and pressing for public policy changes.

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5. What do critics think about ESG?

Some think the term has become so broad as to lose much of its meaning. Many point to the prevalence of greenwashing, which happens when companies exaggerate the environmental benefits of their actions. Even the man who coined the acronym has said the finance industry has sprinkled ESG fairy dust on products that dont merit the label, and that there will be an industry shakeout in the coming years. Other criticisms focus on the way fund managers rely on ESG ratings that rank companies by how they are performing on ESG factors. There is a lot of inconsistency in those scores -- in some cases, companies are ranked by the risks that ESG factors pose to them rather than, say, the risks the companies pose to the environment and society.

6. What do regulators think?

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With the ESG label now widely used by money managers and bankers selling everything from mutual funds to complex derivatives, European and US regulators are clamping down on firms exaggerating their ESG bona fides. In May, German authorities raided the offices of Deutsche Bank AGs fund unit amid allegations that it overstated its ESG capabilities to investors. The following month, it emerged that US regulators are looking into whether ESG funds sold by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s asset management group are in breach of ESG metrics promised in marketing materials.

7. What is being done?

The US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a slate of new restrictions in May aimed at ensuring that ESG funds accurately describe their investments, and which may require some money managers to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of companies theyre invested in. These proposed rules come off the back of new laws in Europe, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations, where investments have to be labeled under categories commonly referred to as light green and dark green, according to the priority placed on sustainability.

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8. Does sustainable investing actually make a difference?

A cohort of ESG executives and academics have bemoaned the lack of far reaching and long-term impacts the strategy has had. Of course, sustainable investors have made some strides, such as pressing companies to reduce their plastics use, addressing workers rights and performing so-called civil rights audits. They have also succeeded in replacing directors on Exxon Mobil Corp.s board to help the oil giant position itself towards cleaner fuels. Other proponents have said that had investors in U.K.s Deliveroo Plc taken ESG issues into account, they could have avoided losses after the company faced a backlash over gig-economy exploitation and worker pay last year. Still, detractors say the idea that ESG investment alone is enough to address complex problems is being shown to be wrong and that more government intervention is needed to address societal issues such as living wage minimums and greenhouse gas emissions.

9. How do these approaches stack up in terms of investment returns?

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Across three categories -- Europe-focused, US-focused and global  ESG large-cap equity funds have done better this year, on average, than their non-ESG counterparts. While they have lost money -- in line with the broad market selloff -- those losses are smaller. Globally, ESG funds are down 11.7% this year through June 10, compared with the 14.8% slump of the MSCI World Index. But there have been some early signs that investors are souring on ESG. They pulled a record $2 billion net from US equity exchange-traded funds in May, ending three years of inflows, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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American presidential trips to the Middle East are always freighted with anticipation and apprehension, but few have been burdened with the geopolitical baggage attached to Joe Bidens visit  to Jerusalem today and Jeddah later in the week. Unusually, the guest will be as anxious about the outcome as his hosts.

Biden, having come to office with ideas about deprioritizing the Middle East in US foreign policy, now wants to reassert what he calls Americas vital leadership role in the regions affairs. But Israeli and Arab leaders need proof that Biden is serious about taking on that role. The princes of the Gulf states are especially skeptical, sensing that the president will say anything to get them to pump more oil.

Doubts about his sincerity center on his attitude toward the country that the Israelis and Arabs fear most: Iran. They believe Biden, eager to revive the 2015 nuclear deal Tehran struck with the world powers, is too tolerant of Irans destabilizing activities in the region, ranging from financing and arming a wide network of militias and terrorist groups to enriching uranium to levels well beyond any peaceful purpose.

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Biden has argued that the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, will constrain Irans nuclear program. He also hopes to persuade Tehran to agree to a follow-up deal to end its non-nuclear threats to the stability of the region.

This is a 180-degree departure from the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who pulled the US out of the JCPOA and sought to restrain Irans activities by imposing tight economic sanctions.

The Biden administration has for the most part looked the other way as Iran has flouted the sanctions, exporting ever more oil and greatly increasing its military spending. One of Bidens first acts upon taking office was to overturn Trumps decision to designate the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terrorist group.

All this seems naive to the Israelis and Gulf Arabs, who point out that Biden has gotten nothing in return for his conciliatory attitude. Iran will not even negotiate directly with the US, preferring to use European intermediaries. Tehran has made no meaningful concessions; on the contrary, Bidens chief negotiator says Tehran has added new demands even as it has sped up its enrichment activities.

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More than likely, Iran is deliberately dragging out negotiations until it has achieved the status of a nuclear weapons threshold state, akin to Japan and South Korea, which have stopped short of weaponizing their stockpiles. The United Nations nuclear watchdog says Iran already has enough material for one bomb. In effect, Iran is enhancing its ability to terrorize its neighbors and blackmail the international community while pretending that enrichment is just a pressure tactic to bring the US back into the JCPOA.

There are some signs that the wool is finally falling from Bidens eyes. His officials have acknowledged that prospects of a return to the nuclear deal are tenuous at best and have announced new sanctions against Iranian oil smuggling. They are also warning of Tehrans threat extending beyond the Middle East: On Monday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that Iran was preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred drones, likely for use in the invasion of Ukraine.

Under the circumstances, the president will be hard-pressed to explain in Jerusalem and Jeddah why he still clings to hope that a return to the JCPOA is possible, or that Tehran will agree to a second deal to curb its non-nuclear menace. Nor will his hosts be satisfied with vague promises of a Mideast security alliance against Iran.

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Rather than try to defend the indefensible, Biden should take the opportunity to make a clean break from his failed Iran policy. On Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the announcement of the JCPOA, the US president should announce that time has run out for its revival. He should end the charade of negotiations and press the other signatories to invoke the snapback feature in the deal, which imposes broader United Nations sanctions on Iran.

Not all the signatories will agree, but it will take only one; the terms of the JCPOA allow no veto. The Europeans, like the US, are losing patience with Irans refusal to make a deal. China and Russia will disagree: President Vladimir Putin is traveling to Tehran next week in a show of solidarity. But unlike in 2020, when Trumps attempt to impose the snapback was met with universal derision, nobody can argue that his successor hasnt made a sustained, good faith effort to revive the deal. The added sanctions might not stop Irans race toward nuclear threshold status, but neither will Iran be able to continue pretending that its enrichment activity is merely a bargaining tactic.

In the meantime, the Biden administration should rigidly enforce US sanctions, starting with a crackdown on all who enable Irans illicit oil trade  including some Gulf Arab individuals and companies. And it should provide the Israelis and Arabs the weapons they need to defend against Iran and its proxies.

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The president may have started his trip to the Mideast with a metaphorical hat in hand. But by seizing the initiative on the issue that causes his hosts the greatest worry, he can make the visit a turning point for the region. If he is sincere about reclaiming Americas vital leadership role in the Mideast, Biden should demonstrate leadership where it is most vital.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:



Expect More Hostage Diplomacy From a Desperate Iran: Bobby Ghosh



Biden Can Unite Israel and Saudi Arabia to Meet Iran Threat: Hussein Ibish



People Power Has Brought Down Sri Lankas Strongman. What Now?: Ruth Pollard

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. Previously, he was editor in chief at Hindustan Times, managing editor at Quartz and international editor at Time.

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Joe Biden has a familiar list of U.S. partners and allies to woo and admonish on his current trip to the Middle East: Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf emirates. But theres a new dance partner on his schedule hed be wise not to ignore: India. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight On Thursday, Biden will hold a virtual I2U2 summit with Israel, India and the United Arab Emirates. This new grouping was formed last October when the four countries foreign ministers met in Israel and was promptly christened the West Asian Quad by the Indian press. Its importance has now been kicked up a notch by a leaders meeting.

What makes the confab worth squeezing onto the US presidents already crowded agenda? For the United States, incorporating India as a stable eastern pole in its web of West Asian partnerships would be a big plus. Pre-independence India was a crucial security provider for the region. The country has high and increasing economic stakes in West Asia, upon which it depends for energy and for remittances. Over time, Washington would like to see New Delhi match those interests with a commitment of resources.

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Indian enthusiasm is more unexpected, given that it has traditionally sought to build up bilateral relationships with West Asian countries while remaining aloof from any joint projects. That suited Indias conception of strategic autonomy, ensuring that the regions apparently intractable rivalries did not limit its room to maneuver. In different ways, Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia all became important in Indias security calculations.

But Indias studied distance from multinational partnerships in West Asia also reflected distrust of the US role in the region. Leftists in India saw the United States as biased against the Arab world; the right saw it as over-trusting of the Pakistani military. Over the past few years, however, as Pakistans star has dimmed in Washington and Israel has grown closer to U.S. (and Indian) partners in the Gulf, India has had fewer reasons for isolation.

That does not mean it trusts the U.S., however  and with good reason. Indian policy makers saw the unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan as a betrayal, for example. At the same time, the debacle may also have convinced them that West Asia needs a more robust security architecture that does not depend entirely on the whims of a US president.

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Yet another Indian concern about U.S. reliability has to do with oil supplies  also at the top of Bidens to-do list this week. India has been reluctant to sign up to Western sanctions on Russian oil. Its foreign minister has pointed out that, in deference to the US, India has in the past agreed to cut down on oil imports from Venezuela and Iran without gaining much, either in terms of energy security or even a voice in energy supply decisions or regional security. Meanwhile, China has happily snapped up Iranian oil at a convenient discount.

If this quadrilateral grouping is to work out the way the U.S. would like, then Indias legitimate concerns about returning Iran to the mainstream, and getting a fair deal on West Asian oil, will have to be taken into consideration. The Indo-Pacific Quad is divided over Russia; the West Asian Quad over Iran. From Indias point of view, restoring the Iran deal to its original status as a pure arms control agreement, free of geopolitical trimmings such as sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is essential. In the past, Indian policy makers have quietly marketed the benefits of the deal to their interlocutors in Tehran; they would do so again, if convinced of the benefits.

The West Asian Quad doesnt have the glue of shared concerns over China the way the Indo-Pacific Quad does. But it has the potential to be as transformative, particularly for Indias role in the region as the US tries to scale down its involvement. And the glue in the West Asian Quad isnt the US. Indias partnership with both Israel and the United Arab Emirates  the latter country being the closest thing that New Delhi has to an ally  will grow stronger over time regardless of who else is involved.

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The new India will thus play a key role in multinational West Asian partnerships with or without the U.S. But things will go far better for everyone if its the former, not the latter.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Biden Should Call Off Iran Nuclear Talks: Bobby Ghosh

 Can Saudi Aramco Meet Its Oil Production Promises?: Javier Blas

 Biden Can Unite US Allies in the Middle East: Hussein Ibish

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, he is author of Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy.

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Safety and fun went hand in hand last week as kids gathered at Azalea Park with their bikes for Safety Day.

The Ozark Regional Library, Missouri State Parks, and Shepard Mountain Bike Park, along with a special visit by Fredericktown Police Department's "Safety Pup," provided fun ways for kids to learn about safety and their bikes.

A safety course was set up to teach kids about proper road rules and hand signals. Every child who completed the course was given a memento bike license complete with their photo.

To round out the information, representatives from Shepard Mountain Bike Park had information about bike maintenance and Police Chief Eric Hovis talked about "stranger danger."

Head of Programming at ORL Suzette Spitzmiller said, the idea came from Bryan Bethe of Missouri State Parks. He had previously held a similar event at another park and said the response from the local community was great.

"Ozark Regional Library wanted to provided helmets and connect with our active patrons in a way that can be challenging inside the library," Spitzmiller said. "Also, Shepard Mountain Bike Park recently opened in Ironton, and these events were an excellent bridge to provide families with the accessories and know-how to utilize the park."

Bethel said, the event is a fun activity but also draws attention to kids wearing helmets for safety to avoid serious injury.

"We also spend some time working with the parents drawing attention to documenting their kids information on the alert cards in case there is ever an emergency which requires they give the kids information to law enforcement," Bethel said. "So the kids and parents have fun but also learn some important topics."

Spitzmiller said, kids were so excited to receive their official-looking bike licenses. She said, one child brought their ID back in during a Missouri State Parks program at the library to excitedly show Bethel they still had it.

Bethel was a big part of Safety Day. He taught the children how to do bike hand signals for left and right turns as well as what to do when they encounter a stop or yield sign.

Missouri State Parks also provided take-home safety guides for parents to document important details of their children such as fingerprints, in case of emergency.

Bethel said, all the kids and parents learned how wearing a helmet is essential for protecting children from traumatic brain injuries, which would affect them for the rest of their lives.

Thanks to generous sponsors, free helmets were given to children throughout the event. During the Fredericktown event, July 7, and the Pilot Knob event, June 25, roughly 50 helmets were distributed.

Spitzmiller said, Dr. Joseph Cangas, founder of Helmets First!, generously offered a donation letter, ordered all of the helmets and donor labels, and shipped them to ORL.

"Helmets First! is a non-profit started by a pediatrician that partners with St. Louis area police to fit and provide free helmets to local children," Spitzmiller said. "They covered the shipping costs and even gave us some free helmets with our order."

The helmet sponsors included Cap America, Iron County Medical Center, Rebecca McClanahan, Iron County Farm Bureau, and Ronnie Gibbs at American Family Insurance.

The City of Fredericktown and the City of Pilot Knob donated bikes for a raffle and six bikes went to local children.

"We would like to thank Chief Eric Hovis and Fredericktown Police Department's mascot 'Safety Pup' for coming to speak to the children, Mayor Travis Parker and the City of Fredericktown for donating bikes," Spitzmiller said. "We would like to thank the Pilot Knob Police Department for assisting at the event and the City of Pilot Knob and Mayor Shelby Chan for donating bikes. We would also like to thank all of the attendees for coming to support our events."

This event reached more than 100 kids and adults and hopefully helped to keep local youth safe as they continue to learn and grow.

The Ozark Regional Library and Missouri State Parks will join forces once again as they host Geocaching and Orienteering events next week.

At 10 a.m., July 21 at Azalea Park this event will teach people how to use maps and compasses and will have a fun, search-and-find component. It's best for ages 10 and older.
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Europe is sweltering under a heat wave that has pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several countries. As households and businesses turn on their air conditioners, electricity demand has jumped and wholesale power prices have surged. But far more concerning  and far less discussed  is the drought spreading from Germany to Portugal that has the potential to worsen the current energy crisis for a lot longer than the current hot spell.

The drought is a gift from nature for Vladimir Putin, making Europe even more reliant on Russian natural gas at a time when the Kremlin is reducing supply sharply. Last winter, the weather favored Europe, as unseasonably high temperatures during the Christmas holidays cut demand for energy; now, the lack of rain is working against the continent.

That winter bonus came at a price, with the Alps, the Pyrenees and other mountain ranges getting less snow than usual. Water levels in the Rhine dropped precipitously by late winter and early spring, but the snow melt in May and June masked the crisis for a while. Since then, large swathes of Europe have received very little rain. Now the problems are re-emerging, and are widespread across the continent. The list of European drought-stricken rivers is long, including the Rhine, the Ebro, the Rhone and the Po, among others.

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The drought matters for electricity beyond hydropower generation. Coal-fired power stations in Germany rely on waterways such as the Rhine to ship in their fuel via barges. And French nuclear plants rely on rivers for cooling. If hydropower, coal and nuclear production is disrupted, all Europe has left is wind and solar, both subject also to the vagaries of the weather  and natural gas.

The water level at Kaub, a picturesque town south of Cologne on the Rhine, is paradigmatic of the crisis. On Tuesday, the gauge stood at 104 centimeters, the lowest at this time of the year in at least 15 years. On average, the river typically flows at a level of more than two meters through the town in July. Even in 2018, when the Rhine suffered its worst drought in a century, the water level at Kaub was slightly higher it is now.

Upriver, at the Maximiliansau gauge, the water has dropped to its lowest seasonal level since at least 2005, endangering shipping to French and Swiss industrial and commercial hubs including Strasbourg, Mulhouse, and Basel. The big drop upstream signals that the middle and lower Rhine will soon be even drier.

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The problems in the Rhine are well documented as its dotted by dozens of metering stations that allow investors to gauge the water level by the minute. But multiple waterways in Europe are suffering equally, even if they generate fewer headlines. For example, the Po, the longest river in Italy, is enduring its worst drought in 70 years.

The first casualty is hydropower generation, forcing the likes of Spain and Italy to burn more gas at a time when every cubic meter is expensive. Seasonally, Spanish hydro generation is running at the second-lowest level in 20 years. In France, hydro generation is the weakest in a decade. In a typical year, hydropower is the fourth-biggest source of electricity across the European Union, after gas, nuclear and wind, generating nearly 14% of all the electricity.

Worse could come. Electricite de France SA, which runs the biggest fleet of nuclear power stations in Europe, has warned its likely to trim output at some atomic plants this summer as the drought reduces the amount of river water available for cooling. The French company, which has closed dozens of reactors to check their welding, was forced last month to curb output at its Saint-Alban nuclear plant, nearly Lyon after the Rhone river level dropped. Another five EDF nuclear plants are at risk, the company said last week.

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For now, coal-fired power stations appear well stocked, having used the period of high water during the spring snow melt to replenish their inventories. But theyre not immune; the Karlsruhe generator in Germany is already reporting resupply issues, suggesting the problems will re-emerge sooner rather than later, potentially hitting Germany at the worst possible time. The Rhine is the cheapest, and easiest, way to transport coal from Rotterdam into southern Germany.

So when gauging what happens next in the energy conflict between Europe and Russia, keep an eye on the sky. And pray for rain.

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Biden Needs More Than Oil From Saudi Arabia: Editorial



OPEC+ Did Its Job, But Dont Expect It to Disappear: Julian Lee

 The US Is Depleting Its Strategic Petroleum Reserve Faster Than It Looks: Javier Blas

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. A former reporter for Bloomberg News and commodities editor at the Financial Times, he is coauthor of The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earths Resources.

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A desire to spend more than $50 billion to bolster the US semiconductor industry seemed to be a rare point of bipartisan consensus in Washington. But legislation to carry out that initiative -- with the goal of increasing US competitiveness with China -- now faces an uncertain fate, caught in a larger struggle between Democrats and Republicans over spending.

1. What does Congress propose to do?

Similar but not identical bills passed by the House and Senate would provide $52 billion over five years in emergency funding for semiconductor research and development, legacy chip manufacturing, packaging research and microelectronics development. (Legacy chips are frequently used in cars, aircraft and a variety of military hardware.) The vast majority of that money, $50 billion, would be distributed through a new fund overseen by the Commerce Department; the other $2 billion would be overseen by the Defense Department. On top of that, the House version authorizes $45 billion for grants and loans to support supply chain resilience and manufacturing of critical goods in the US. Both measures authorize billions more for research and development at the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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2. Why is this necessary?

While the U.S. is a leader in chip design, roughly 90% of global chip manufacturing capacity is elsewhere -- primarily in Taiwan and South Korea. That puts the U.S. at high risk of supply chain disruptions in the event of trade disputes, military conflicts or, as seen in the past two years, a pandemic. Chinas state-led industrial policies, which aim to achieve self-sufficiency in all stages of chip production, also threaten U.S. competitiveness. The Chinese government plans to boost its domestic production using government subsidies and tax preferences.

3. How are the House and Senate bills different?

The House bill would contribute $8 billion over two years to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations-overseen initiative to help developing countries address climate change. Republicans are opposed; Representative Michael McCaul of Texas said the money would go to an unaccountable slush fund. The two bills also take different approaches to creating a new directorate at the National Science Foundation, the federal agency that funds basic research in science and engineering. The Senates version would focus it on technology issues. The House bill would focus it on research and development to address societal issues such as climate change and inequality. Another sticking point is on trade -- the Senate bill would create a new exclusion process for tariffs on Chinese imports and reinstate previous exemptions that have expired. The House bill is silent on tariffs but would extend a trade assistance program for US workers displaced by foreign trade.

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4. In what way are the bills aimed at China?

Neither bill explicitly states the U.S. is in a race with China for semiconductor sovereignty, but lawmakers regularly describe the bills that way. The Senate bill will allow the United States to out-compete countries like China in critical technologies like semiconductors, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last May. Any doubt that China is the real target of the bills is put to rest by the many provisions unrelated to semiconductors.

5. What are those provisions?

Both bills include funding to develop alternatives to Chinese 5G telecommunications equipment, which the U.S. worries could be used to carry out cyberattacks or espionage. (China denies that.) Both bills would impose sanctions on China for its treatment of the predominantly Muslim Uighurs in the far-western region of Xinjiang and elevate the rank of U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues at the State Department. The Senate bill would require U.S. agencies to treat Taiwans elected government as the legitimate representative of the people of Taiwan and to stop using Chinas preferred term, Taiwan authorities. The Senate would also impose additional sanctions on China for cyberattacks and theft of trade secrets. The House bill would allow Hong Kong residents to apply for temporary protected status in the U.S. and extend an export ban on certain crowd control equipment to the Hong Kong police. After the Senate passed its bill last June, Chinese lawmakers said the legislation smears Chinas development path and domestic and foreign policies and interferes in Chinas internal affairs under the banner of innovation and competition.

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6. What are the prospects?

Lawmakers have been working on reconciling the two versions of the bill since May, and Democratic leaders want to bring a compromise measure to the floor by the August recess. But the bill hit a snag when Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced that he would pull his support for the bill if its tied to other Democratic domestic proposals, such as prescription drug price cuts and tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations. McConnell has been backed by other Senate Republicans, including John Cornyn of Texas, a key player in crafting the China bill. Some lawmakers, including Cornyn, have pushed to pass the chips funding by itself or as a part of priority legislation like spending bills or the annual defense authorization. Republicans are also pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a vote on the Senate-passed version of the bill without reconciling it with the Houses version, clearing it for the presidents signature.

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The ways we think about the Covid pandemic have evolved with the virus: In 2020, it was a potentially deadly threat we could avoid by being careful; in 2021, it was something that was likely to infect everyone eventually; and now, its becoming seen as a persistent health hazard that can re-infect people multiple times, each time inflicting cumulative damage and increasing the odds of long-duration symptoms.

Now that most people have been infected, theres really no other way a new variant can take over except by breaking through immunity from past infections and vaccinations. Thats one reason the Washington Post called BA.5, the currently circulating sub-variant of the highly transmissible omicron, the worst variant.

Your definition of the worst may vary. Its certainly the most infectious so far  but the widespread availability of vaccines will make it far less deadly than earlier versions. The concern about cumulative harm, especially to the heart and brain, is reason to avoid getting reinfected, but there are understandable limits to how far people can or will go to evade BA.5. The young and healthy may brush off repeat infections like common colds, while older, sicker or more-vulnerable people whove already battled with the virus have yet another thing to worry about.

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Some of the latest concerns about cumulative damage stem from a study of health care records from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The researchers looked at records from more than 5 million people to compare fates of the never-infected with more than 250,000 who sought care for one Covid-19 infection, and about 38,000 who sought care for two or more. The conclusion: The risk of long-term damage or prolonged symptoms increased with that second infection.

Whats not clear yet is whether the damage came from having fairly severe repeat infections or whether it has anything to do with long Covid, the mysterious syndrome that afflicts previously healthy people with months of crippling fatigue and other health problems. Moreover, because of the sample  the average age of the subjects was over 60, and they all got sick enough to seek treatment, which not all Covid patients do  the results might overstate the risk of reinfection to the general population.

Another study, published in Science, hints at why reinfections are such a problem even among the vaccinated, despite earlier work showing people build up powerful antibodies against this virus. The study authors suggested that immunity from previous versions of the virus might actually dampen the bodys ability to develop immunity to omicron  the variant thats been dominant, in different forms, since the winter.

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The researchers used blood samples from 731 vaccinated and boosted healthcare workers in the UK. They found hints that previous infections with the original variant, or the offshoots alpha and delta, might interfere with the bodys ability to make antibodies specific to omicron and its offspring, thus leaving people more vulnerable to re-infection. In other words, some forms of natural immunity might prove a long-term liability.

The idea, which the researchers called immune damping or imprinting, is that the immune system can get stuck creating antibodies programmed to fight these earlier variants, and so produce weapons not quite geared to fit the new targets.

The study was too small to conclude anything  at best, it hints that immune imprinting deserves more study. As the infectious disease specialist Monica Gandhi of the University of California at San Francisco pointed out, only 17 of the subjects in the study even got omicron. Moreover, the study didnt track actual re-infections  as a proxy, it examined how well antibodies and immune cells left from the vaccines and previous infections fought the omicron variant in a test tube. Because the researchers looked at natural immunity, its also not clear whether vaccines would have the same effect.

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And antibodies are also not our only line of defense; Gandhi pointed to several larger studies such as this one in Science showing that a long-lasting component of immunity, T-cells, are acquired from the vaccines and past infections.

But this issue of immune imprinting deserves more, bigger, better studies because scientists are still far from understanding the battle between this evolving virus and our immune systems. Its something that has to be well understood to develop a more effective next generation of vaccines.

Current vaccines are still working at preventing severe disease, however, and that may mean that fully vaccinated and boosted people who get two or three mild infections over a period of years wont experience the kind of long-term risk faced by the unvaccinated.

Amesh Adalja, a physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said its not surprising that the virus is continuing to mutate and evolve in ways that allow it to survive in an increasingly immune population. To me, it was always a secondary purpose of the vaccines to prevent infection, said Adalja. The primary purpose was to remove the hell that was going on in hospitals.

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Given how terrible the hospital crowding situation got in New York City in 2020, this BA.5 variant might not qualify as the worst in everyones book. People arent dying at the same tragic rate they were in 2020, but now the survivors of that horror have a new concern. And how bad things get depends in part on whether US Centers for Disease Control and the public health community can start giving people clear, honest guidance on how to navigate this evolving health threat over the long run.

More From Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 When the Weather Gets Hot Enough to Kill: David Fickling & Ruth Pollard

 Abortion Pill Wont Be the Only One Restricted by State Bans: Lisa Jarvis

 How Much Covid Relief Was Stolen? No One Really Knows: The Editors

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering science. She is host of the Follow the Science podcast.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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As they worked to overturn Donald Trumps 2020 election defeat, Sidney Powell and other lawyers arranged for a forensic data firm to access county election systems in at least three battleground states, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

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Tuesdays hearing of the House committee investigating the assault on the US Capitol of Jan. 6, 2021 provided a stark reminder of how the boycott by all but two Republicans has set the context of the proceedings. Remember: After Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed Minority Leader Kevin McCarthys suggestions for Republicans to serve on the panel, McCarthy pulled all Republican participation, leaving Pelosi to name two Republican adversaries of former President Donald Trump who defied the boycott.

The hallmark of these hearings  seven this summer and one last year  has been that theyve run smoothly. They start on time. There is no partisan sniping. No motions made and argued over. The use of taped segments  from depositions and from other evidence  has been professional and effective. The hearings even appear to end on time.

The committee has been shockingly effective at teasing each session in advance without giving away the bulk of their story. Theres even a ritual at the end in which Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the senior of the two Republicans, previews the next hearing and drops a bombshell, supplying the media with a sidebar story and keeping everyones interest up to the last moment. This Tuesdays Cheney surprise was the revelation that Trump tried (unsuccessfully) to contact a committee witness.

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Its not unusual for a lot of what happens in congressional hearings to be scripted; indeed, its pretty normal. But even when partisanship is minimized and members are cooperative (and yes, even in these days of partisan polarization, theres plenty of cooperation), representatives almost always read off their own individual scripts, with no more than halting coordination even within the parties. For a hearing to be centrally scripted  thats highly unusual.

Some of this would have been possible had there been additional, dissenting Republicans on the committee. But it would have been a lot harder. Even if the other Republicans had been pro-democracy and acted in good faith  unlikely, but lets suppose  they probably would have appealed to the impulse of many journalists to hold both parties responsible for any disputes that break out. More likely, they would have deliberately provoked fights to make the story about committee squabbling, rather than the evidence presented. They also could have selectively leaked things from the depositions to take the steam out of the hearings. But even just adding minority member time would have broken up the force and the effectiveness of the presentations.

To be sure, it would also have given critics a chance to expose weak points in the committees argument. Tuesdays session demonstrated how. The topic was actions taken by Trump after losing the 2020 election, from mid-December up to Jan. 6, with the committee trying to pin the eventual violence on Trump himself.

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If the committees goal was simply to prove that Trump was aware of the potential for violence, including violence by organized militia-like groups, and even encouraged it, it was successful. However, I thought it was less successful at tying Trump directly to those groups. Overlap between the extended Trump camp and the extremist groups was exposed  Trump confidant Roger Stone, in particular, was involved with both  but a few skeptics on the committee could have pushed the majority harder about whether there was more to Trumps involvement than simply inspiring anyone who was willing to follow him to commit mayhem.

I dont mean to minimize what the committee did demonstrate, which was certainly more than enough to produce a legitimate impeachment and conviction if Trump was still president, and may now be enough for indictment and conviction. And the committee has said that it hasnt yet revealed all the evidence it has gathered. But the feel of the hearing would have been different had there been someone present to poke holes at the conclusions drawn by the current members. Different, but perhaps not weaker; after all, one defense Trump can now trot out on the political stage is that no one is standing up for him in the committee, which is true even if the bulk of what is being presented is irrefutable.

One thing that is clear after eight hearings: Pelosi was correct to veto the Republican attempt to add committee members who were deeply involved in Trumps plotting. But that still left McCarthy with plenty of options, including strong Trump supporters who didnt get involved in planning to overturn the election and, in doing so, to overthrow the legitimate US government.

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Because if theres one thing thats been obvious starting on Election Day 2020 and is even more obvious now that weve seen hours of evidence, not to mention 18 months of Trumps public behavior, that overthrowing the government is exactly what Trump and his allies were attempting to do. Unfortunately, it seems that there are only two Republicans in the entire House of Representatives willing to side with democracy and against the former president. But theyve made the committee a lot more effective.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

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The cybersecurity community was set alight last week by the announcement of new cryptographic algorithms designed to protect our digital futures. Now the race is on to roll out software and hardware that will secure computers against a threat that still only exists in theory. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight After a six-year search, the US Commerce Departments National Institute of Standards and Technology on July 5 announced it had found four algorithms that are designed to withstand the assault of a future quantum computer that will be included in its set of official standards. Another four remain under consideration and may be included in the list later. The final standards, which will include parameters and implementations of the algorithms, will be finalized over the next two years.

An algorithm is a mathematical recipe for taking one set of information and converting it into another form. In cryptography, such algorithms are deployed to make messages hard to read by an external party, or to verify the legitimacy of data such as a signature or password. Many of those examined by NIST have been around for decades, meaning theres plenty of time for researchers to break the algorithms  some were shown to be insecure during the selection process.

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Its a common misunderstanding that secure cryptography is impossible to break. Instead, computer scientists use the term infeasible  meaning an encrypted message can be reverse engineered, in theory, but it would take an extremely long time to do so.

Current security approaches hold because modern computers use binary units  bits  to reduce all numbers to 1s and 0s, and then perform calculations. But quantum computers can function on more than two binary bits at a time (theyre known as qubits), meaning they can crunch huge amounts of data faster. What might take years on a classic computer could take hours or even minutes with a quantum computer. That makes everything we keep secure  from encrypted messages to cryptocurrencies  vulnerable to quantum attack.

The caveat is that no such quantum computers exist. Scientists have been rushing to master related concepts such as quantum entanglement, but no one has yet worked out how to create a system that is stable, accurate and reproducible. Simply knowing that such a breakthrough will come is enough to force governments to start preparing now.

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The last time the world was united around such a huge digital task was a quarter century ago. A bug, known as Y2K, occurred because many digital calendars only accounted for two digits. As a result, the one-year shift from 1999 to 2000 would be incorrectly viewed as a 99-year jump backwards. Everything from banks to aviation systems to traffic lights were considered vulnerable, so software was rewritten to handle the error.

Now its time to prepare for the post-quantum era.

Its kind of like the Y2K problem, except that we dont actually know the date, said Nicolas Roussy Newton, Taipei-based co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of BTQ, which is developing post-quantum software and semiconductors. Theres the threat that data stolen today could be decrypted in the future by quantum computers.

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In May, US President Joe Biden ordered all federal departments to develop plans to safeguard against the looming threat ahead of NIST choosing its recommended algorithms. Germany and France had already announced their choices, giving them a small head start.

NISTs announcement serves as the starters gun for government and civil-society organizations to make preparations. Some of it will be pretty straightforward because even though the final standards arent decided, the broad approaches are already known. Semiconductors and computers will take longer.If you do anything in software, you can start migration immediately, said Andersen Cheng, London-based chief executive officer of Post-Quantum, a startup which developed software to survive quantum-computing attacks, including a virtual private network and biometric identity systems. But if you do it in hardware, it takes time for parameters to be decided, which could take another 18 months.

The rollout wont come all at once, and could take decades. Those organizations with more money and a greater need for secrecy will start first  likely the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency  before trickling down to banks and communications providers. Within 20 years even email services and webcams will have post-quantum algorithms built in to ensure security.

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The road to a post-quantum world is a long one. Unfortunately, we dont know how long. But at least preparations have begun.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 A Billion Files Leaked by Sloppiness, Not Hacking: Tim Culpan

 Expensive Hacks Are Becoming Part of Web3 Life: Parmy Olson

 Global Cyber Guerrillas Coming to Ukraines Aid: Culpan & Olson

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Tim Culpan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology in Asia. Previously, he was a technology reporter for Bloomberg News.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Fiction 1 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (Putnam, $18). By Delia Owens. A young outcast finds herself at the center of a local murder trial. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight 2 BOOK LOVERS (Berkley, $17). By Emily Henry. Two adversarial book professionals from New York keep running into each other during a small-town vacation. 3 THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO (Washington Square Press, $17). By Taylor Jenkins Reid. A Hollywood icon recounts the story of her glamorous life to a young reporter, and both discover the cost of fame.

4 IT ENDS WITH US (Atria, $16.99). By Colleen Hoover. A woman questions her relationship with a commitment-phobic partner when her old flame appears.

5 VERITY (Grand Central, $16.99). By Colleen Hoover. A writer hired to complete an incapacitated best-selling authors manuscript learns disturbing secrets.

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6 PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION (Berkley, $16). By Emily Henry. Two college best friends who had a falling out reunite for one more vacation together.

7 MALIBU RISING (Ballantine, $18). By Taylor Jenkins Reid. An end-of-summer party is the backdrop for the story of four famous siblings trying to reckon with their upbringing.

8 BEACH READ (Berkley, $16). By Emily Henry. Two writers who are summer neighbors challenge each other to write novels in each others genres.

9 UGLY LOVE (Atria, $16.99). By Colleen Hoover. A mutual attraction between two young adults leads to a casual relationship with no commitment, but emotions get in the way.

10 CIRCE (Back Bay, $16.99). By Madeline Miller. This follow-up to The Song of Achilles is about the goddess who turns Odysseuss men to swine.

Nonfiction

1 BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS (Milkweed Editions, $18). By Robin Wall Kimmerer. Essays by an Indigenous scientist offer lessons in reciprocal awareness between people and plants.

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2 THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE (Penguin, $19). By Bessel van der Kolk. A scientific look at how trauma can reshape a persons body and brain.

3 ALL ABOUT LOVE (Morrow, $15.99). By bell hooks. The first volume in the feminists Love Song to the Nation trilogy considers compassion as a form of love.

4 FINDING THE MOTHER TREE (Vintage, $17). By Suzanne Simard. An ecologist illuminates the connections between trees and people.

5 THE BOMBER MAFIA (Back Bay, $18.99). By Malcolm Gladwell. How a strategy to reduce bloodshed with precision bombing in World War II was thwarted by military leaders.

6 EDUCATED (Random House, $18.99). By Tara Westover. A memoir by a woman from a survivalist family who earned a PhD at Cambridge.

7 THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE (Crown, $20). By Erik Larson. A look at how Winston Churchill led Britain through World War II that explores his political gamesmanship and his family dynamics.

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8 TALKING TO STRANGERS (Back Bay, $18.99). By Malcolm Gladwell. An examination of why humans are so bad at recognizing liars and lies.

9 ENTANGLED LIFE (Random House, $18). By Merlin Sheldrake. A biologist explains the importance of fungi to our bodies and the environment.

10 FOX AND I (Spiegel & Grau, $18). By Catherine Raven. A memoir by a woman who follows the life of a wild fox that visits her property every afternoon.

Mass Market

1 DUNE (Ace, $10.99). By Frank Herbert. In the classic science fiction novel, a young boy survives a family betrayal on an inhospitable planet.

2 1984 (Signet, $9.99). By George Orwell. The classic novel about the perils of a totalitarian police state.

3 ANIMAL FARM (Signet, $9.99). By George Orwell. Animals stage a workers coup on a farm, then devolve into a totalitarian state, in this classic broadside against Stalinism.

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4 DUNE MESSIAH (Ace, $9.99). By Frank Herbert. The second book in the Dune Chronicles picks up the story of Paul Atreides 12 years after he becomes emperor of the known universe.

5 THE NAME OF THE WIND (DAW, $10.99). By Patrick Rothfuss. Kvothe the Kingkiller tells the story of his rise to near-legendary heroism.

6 THE WAY OF KINGS (Tor, $9.99). By Brandon Sanderson. The first volume in the Stormlight Archive series.

7 MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE (Tor, $9.99). By Brandon Sanderson. A fugitive and a thief join forces to overthrow the oppressive Lord Ruler.

8 LORD OF THE FLIES (Penguin, $11). By William Golding. The classic, unsettling tale of English schoolboys stranded on a deserted isle.

9 GOOD OMENS (Morrow, $9.99). By Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. A novel imagining the end of the world and the fallout.

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10 THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Del Rey, $7.99). By Douglas Adams. Just as Earth is demolished, mild-mannered Arthur Dent escapes to the galactic freeway.

Rankings reflect sales for the week ended July 10. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from the American Booksellers Association, the trade association for independent bookstores in the United States, and indiebound.org. Copyright 2022 American Booksellers Association. (The bestseller lists alternate between hardcover and paperback each week.)

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Its the show thats guaranteed to live up to its theme this year.

The 2022 theme for The Baby Boomer Reunion Concert is The 20th Anniversary Spectacular!

The show began in 2003 after construction was completed of the Farmington Centene Center. Dr. Kevin White had taken a tour of the brand-new theater with then-Director Bill Towler when White suggested that a concert consisting of talented local musicians take place.

The pair collaborated and essentially created the first-ever Baby Boomer concert. A total of 75 vocalists and instrumentalists performed music from the well-known rock group Chicago.

White took on the challenge to ensure every one of Chicagos 25 hit songs sounded precisely like the original singles and album cuts. He realized the only way to ensure this would happen was for him to transcribe every part of every song from those early Chicago recordings. For those who do not already know this, original music is not available for purchase. In the rare occurrence that it is, White has found the music has errors and shortcuts, or the material has been been watered down.

This time-consuming process took White three months to complete, followed by more time in mixing and matching all of the musicians with the songs. Each performer received CDs and hard copies of the music for which they had been assigned.

One rehearsal was held the night before the one-show performance. This is when many of the musicians met for the first time.

Since then, The Baby Boomer Concert Series is considered a gift to the community.

Its the real reason why we keep doing it year after year, said White.

The Centene Center seats 750, but only about 300 attendees made it to the first-ever Baby Boomer concert.

I dont think any of them knew what to expect, but the performers came through, the crowd loved it, and I think they were amazed that this was all created locally, said White.

Since that first show, there are some musicians who have performed since that first concert: Kurt Bauche, Alan Berry, Doug Berry, Steve Berry, Marilyn Berry, Brad Glore, Mike Goldsmith, Phil Hoffman, Sarah Hogan, Chris Howard, John Lodholtz, Colleen Mitchell, Bob Monks, Kevin Pearce, Dan Schunks, Austin Sikes, Shane Verges and White.

The Baby Boomer Reunion Concert features 50 talented local musicians from a variety of backgrounds who perform together one weekend each year to recreate music that was recorded during the Baby Boomer era of 1955 to 1984.

For each years concert series, a new theme and song list are chosen; songs are also paired with musicians. The concert is held annually during the first week of August. In addition, tickets go on sale each year on July 1.

This years 20th anniversary Baby Boomer concerts take place at the Farmington Centene Center on Aug. 5-6 at 7 p.m. with a matinee on Aug. 6 at 1 p.m. All seats are reserved. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in person or by calling the Farmington Civic Center at 573-756-0900.
The Undeclared War 

Stan

Melanie Gutteridge, Simon Pegg, Andrew Rothney and Alex Jennings in The Undeclared War. Credit:Stan

British espionage thrillers are like old-timey London buses. If you miss one, dont worry  therell be another along in a minute. This one, though, sets itself apart with riveting contemporary relevance as it examines the whole suite of offensive cyber capabilities available to an extremely hostile Russia.

Were not just talking about the hacking and disabling of military and civilian infrastructure  terrifying though that is. Theres also a look at how Moscows dedicated troll factories use social media to spread misinformation and exacerbate division, and at how deepfake technology could be used to create convincing fake news footage and even fake interviews with real people.

Its all exceedingly well-made too, with director Peter Kosminsky (Wolf Hall, The State) drawing what should be a career-making performance out of young lead Hannah Khalique-Brown while maintaining tension and great visual style across the six episodes.
An aerial relocation of 60 native rats, which build communal homes made of sticks that are passed down through multiple generations in a matriarchy system, from South Australian islands to the westernmost point of the country has marked the halfway point for an ambitious recovery program.

The greater stick-nest rat, also known as wopilkara, was once abundant across southern Australia until feral predators like foxes and cats wiped out its mainland populations leaving it a threatened species.

Sixty-two greater stick-nest rats have been flown from South Australia to Dirk Hartog Island in nine hours. Credit:Steve Reynolds

The species is being re-established at Dirk Hartog Island off the coast of Western Australia alongside 11 other native mammals and a bird, the western grasswren, as part of a large-scale program setting out to return the areas environment to something closer to how it was 400 years ago.

Return to 1616, a globally significant program, began with the eradication of sheep in 2016, goats in 2017 and feral cats in 2018. The plan since there has been to return 10 mammals which were once abundant in the region as well as two additional marsupials facing an uncertain future in other parts of the country over a 12-year period.
Apartment owners claim theyre under siege from telcos determined to install broadband services in their buildings  whether residents want them or not.

And they say theyre being forced to hire lawyers to try to stop them and protect their common property from potential damage caused by subcontractors when companies bully their way in.

Derek Graham is vowing to fight telcos seeking access to apartment buildings. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone

Its just like the movie The Castle all over again, said Derek Graham, the treasurer of a scheme at Cape Cabarita in Sydneys inner west.

Weve been told we are powerless to stop them if they want to come in and install a system, even though the NBN we already have is perfectly sufficient.

They apparently have the right to access our building, and we dont have any rights to stop them.

Private telcos or internet service providers have the right to enter apartment buildings under the Telecommunications Act 1997  reviewed and updated in 2021  and originally designed to ensure all apartment residents have internet access.

But even after the national rollout of the NBN, some telcos are still demanding the right to install their own infrastructure too.

Read more here.
Our stomachs start to churn with anger because of what happened and how it happened, said Holroyd, a former nurse. Loading Smiths death is one of four potentially preventable deaths uncovered by a Herald investigation where the coroner wasnt notified or chose not to investigate. There was no internal investigation either, until two years later, when the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) received an anonymous complaint. A spokesman for the Western NSW Local Health District said after the complaint was made Dubbo hospital engaged an independent surgeon from a tertiary hospital outside the LHD to review the case.

This review did not find any deficiencies in care, the spokesman said. Loading The spokesperson noted Smith was not in the care of Dubbo Hospital when clinicians decided her death was not reportable to the coroner, and such decisions were based on criteria in the NSW Coroners Act. These criteria state that deaths that are not the reasonably expected outcome of a health-related procedure must be reported. The Herald was alerted to Smiths death by whistleblowers unhappy with how it was handled.

The Herald contacted three senior surgeons from other parts of NSW, who agreed to review the case anonymously because they are not authorised to speak to the media. The surgeons were also fearful of repercussions from the NSW Health bureaucracy, saying it punished clinicians who spoke out about patient deaths and safety issues. Their comments echoed damning findings from a recent parliamentary inquiry, sparked by a Herald investigation. It raised serious concerns about the governance of the health bureaucracy and found hospital staff were operating in a culture of fear. NSW Health has since insisted it has a just culture, where staff are openly encouraged to report problems. The surgeons were highly critical of Smiths care at Dubbo, and incredulous that local health districts chose not to investigate.

They argued the case raised serious questions about whether regional hospitals like Dubbo were adequately resourced to recognise and intervene to save patients deteriorating as a result of complications from surgery. The surgeons said the fact the investigation was commissioned by Dubbo Hospital and not the HCCC raised broader questions about self-regulation and failure to investigate appropriately. A spokeswoman for the HCCC said upon receiving the complaint it obtained significant information from the Local Health District which generated further actions by the LHD. She said the HCCC was still reviewing material obtained as a result. Home to Gilgandra

After family and doctors in the RPA agreed the most compassionate thing they could do was cease the treatment keeping Heather Smith clinging to life, they told her she was going home to Gil. Loading She said that was wonderful, Holroyd recalled. When she woke up, I think she thought she was in Gil. And she died. She thought she was home. Smiths procedure, known as a laparoscopic hiatus hernia repair with fundoplication, carries a mortality rate of 1 per cent or less according to several studies, and perforation of the oesophagus is a rare complication.

After the surgery, Smith struggled to keep food down, suffering nausea, pain and low blood pressure. She also developed a productive cough and was diagnosed with hospital-acquired pneumonia. One doctor noted she looks miserable and was dry-retching during my review. She rallied enough to ask, tongue in cheek, why there was no The Bold and the Beautiful on television. On a day when Smith was experiencing 10 out of 10 pain, she refused to participate in mobility and breathing exercises with the physiotherapist. Smith received a firm education on the necessity of the exercises, records show. The explanations for her poor recovery always put it in her basket, such as the lack of deep breathing, Holroyd recalled. Never that something had gone wrong with their work. Holroyd becomes tearful as she recalls feeling powerless to challenge the staff, despite her nursing experience.

The honour board at Dubbo Hospital bears Holroyds name after she completed her training there 40 years ago. The decline is so sad to see, she said. The spokesman said the Western NSW Local Health District offered sincere condolences to Smiths family and was committed to reflecting and making improvements where possible when patient outcomes or experiences did not meet expected standards. Dubbo Hospital provides outstanding and high-quality care to thousands of people every year, he said. Its team of healthcare workers is caring, professional and well-regarded. The rescue

The surgeons who reviewed the case for the Herald said the biggest factor determining survival of a perforated oesophagus was time taken to detect and repair it, as the mortality rate increases exponentially after the first 24 hours. Loading I dont believe that any rural facility is suited to repair a perforated oesophagus, one added. The surgeons said Smiths death was a classic example of failure to rescue  a delay in recognising and responding to a patients deterioration after complications arising from surgery. One of the surgeons interviewed by the Herald explained that poorer-performing hospitals tended to lack large teams of experienced staff and specialists, well-equipped ICU facilities and 24-hour radiology cover, which all contribute towards diagnosing and treating complications.

A 2014 study by researchers at the University of NSW explored rates of failure to rescue according to the patients home address, across 153 local government areas in NSW. Smiths hometown of Gilgandra was among 31 LGAs identified as hot spots with elevated rates of failure to rescue between 2002 and 2009. One surgeon said patients who underwent hernia repair procedures usually went home after two nights. He would be horrified if a patient was vomiting and in severe pain on day 10. He believed there should have been a root cause analysis investigation. For RPA to say there was a hole that appeared necrotic, there was a missed diagnosis.

The surgeon said the case reflected the Swiss cheese model of risk where several holes aligned to result in a bad outcome. He argued hospitals needed appropriate back-up when performing challenging operations. Transferring someone from Dubbo to RPA is not back-up, he said. You need to have a couple of surgeons who have a specialty interest in this area available 24/7 to troubleshoot any problems. The Western NSW LHD spokesperson noted that Smith had been informed she was at increased risk of known surgical complications because she was in her mid-80s and living with serious, complex medical conditions and history. This included medications that suppressed her immune system. The surgeons also questioned the appropriateness of the patient selection. A healthy, fit patient having a fundoplication in Dubbo is one thing, another surgeon said. This lady was never that.

The spokesman for the Western NSW LHD said decisions about whether patients would be transferred to tertiary facilities for surgery were made by treating physicians and specialists after extensive investigations and patient consultation. The spokesman noted the independent reviewer found it was not necessary for Smiths procedure to be performed at a tertiary hospital and given her comorbidities, the outcome was very unlikely to be different if it was. The spokesman said the procedure was performed at Dubbo Hospitals new surgical unit after the hospitals $306 million redevelopment and that in the 2019-20 financial year alone it performed more than 9100 surgical procedures. Mistakes were made Smiths death bears striking similarities to the death of another patient at Dubbo Hospital in 2010.

Kylie Greenaways small intestine was perforated during surgery on a hernia. It took staff four days to transfer the 29-year-old to Sydney, where she died from sepsis. Deputy Coroner Hugh Dillon found staff did not recognise the gravity of some of Greenaways symptoms as she deteriorated, and appropriate action was delayed. They did have the decency to acknowledge that mistakes had been made and that Kylie had died as a result, he said. Two experts gave evidence Greenaway should have been immediately transferred to a high-volume hospital in Sydney once she developed sepsis. Management told the inquest the patient transport system would buckle if that was standard practice. The Herald understands the NSW Coroner has also been investigating, after a patient deteriorated five weeks after surgery in Dubbo Hospital and was transferred to RPA, where he died from sepsis.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announced the Missouri Smallmouth Slam on June 1. This announcement came just a few years after they had announced the Missouri Blue Ribbon Trout Slam.

Both programs have the potential to be huge successes. They could also be huge mistakes depending on which side of the opinion poll you stand. No matter what side you are on, these are my thoughts.

The Missouri Blue Ribbon Trout Slam was started in January of 2020. When it began, I was very interested in it. I began to research it. To be completely honest, I researched to the point that I followed the stocking of trout back to the mid-to-late-1800s. Back then you could buy a milk can of Mccloud Rainbow trout fingerlings off the railroad for 11 cents.

Over the last 100 years or so, they have stocked salmon, arctic grayling, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, and lake trout all over the Ozarks trying to get them to reproduce and provide Missouri with the closest thing to wild trout that they could. Currently, there are only around 30 confirmed locations or streams in Missouri that have a breeding population of rainbow trout. The confirmed brown trout locations are a much smaller list.

The rainbow and brown trout are the only breeds that excelled in our Ozark streams rivers and lakes. I am confident that there are a whole lot more small springs throughout the Ozarks that have trout in them that no one will ever find, or if they do, it will be on accident. Sounds crazy but 11 cents to have your own trout in your spring sounds like a small price to pay even in the 1800s to have your own breeding stock of fish.

Fast forward to now. The Trout Slam is a list of the nine blue ribbon trout streams. They are the Barren Fork, Blue Springs Creek, Crane Creek, Current River, Eleven Point River, Little Piney Creek, Mill Creek, North Fork of the White, and Spring Creek they are spread throughout Missouri. These streams are confirmed to have a sustained number of trout dating back over 100 years. They continue to spawn there.

The nine streams are some of the most pristine waters in Missouri. God knows trout live in beautiful places. Some of these streams run through private property and some of them are on public ground. This led MDC to communicate with landowners that this is what they were going to do and causing some feathers to get ruffled. Because, as we all know, some people dont stay on public ground and decide they need to travel through private property without permission to do things they want to do. Sadly, this has taken place.

There have also been instances of guides from in and out of state guiding on these streams for money  which is illegal on MDC property. Of course, fish handling and caring for the streams always need improvements. These are all negative sides of this story and of course, there are always two sides to every story.

There has been a huge growth in people starting to fish and get in the outdoors in Missouri. This could be in part because of this program. I can see that this has caused lots of people to be more concerned about conservation efforts, including the younger generation that has not been overly interested in the past. This has also brought more people to Missouri to try their hand at the slam, which brings revenue for the state as well as local fly shops restaurants and hotels.

With the proper education on fish handling and catch and release methods, this could be a wonderful program. In my opinion, this program has been good for the state and marginal for the environment. With more efforts in education and fellow outdoorsmen policing each other I believe it can and will continue to be a successful program.

Now that the MDC has announced the Smallmouth Program, it has been taken a whole lot less gracefully. I have read hundreds of posts and comments in which people complain that now all their spots have been shared, how unsuccessful the trout program has been and what it has done to the trout areas. The research shows that both programs are set up so the outdoorsman has the ability to report issues to MDC that are found.

They may not see their concerns answered today or tomorrow, but everything is carefully reviewed. Biologists with the state go to all the streams, whether it be the trout or smallmouth program, and do testing to ensure the numbers of fish and the environment the fish live in is safe and not deteriorating by the influx of fishermen. Truth be told, most of the streams have not seen a massive influx of visitors.

The smallmouth program also gives awards at a bronze silver and gold level, as well as a medallion when you complete it. There are 12 rivers and streams listed that are spread all across the Ozarks including the Big Piney, Big River, Courtois Creek, Eleven Point River, Elk, Gasconade, Hussah Creek, Jacks Fork, James, Joachim Creek, Meramec, and the Mineral Fork.

All of these rivers are great rivers with good access and huge numbers of natural smallmouth bass. It is my hope that this program has the same or similar effect on the people, as well as a better effect on the environment. It has the potential to bring more and more revenue to the state and local economies.

The bottom line is, that these are both great programs that have the potential to be successful for many years to come. Hopefully our environment and fish do not pay the price for them to be successful. As sportsmen, we need to join together and support state programs and help them be successful.

They bring funding to conservation which helps our efforts. This much attention allows us to have a louder voice when it comes to funding projects that protect these fish and fisheries. In closing, dont be part of the problem  be part of the solution. Dont be afraid to speak your mind and correct people when they are wrong.
The Europeans and the Americans and most of the Pacific islands have welcomed us back into the tent. All Australians who want us to do our bit once again should be pleased. But are they?

Instead, the Albanese government is out and proud on the issue. No more finessing on the reality of climate change or the need to move to clean energy; the government wants Australia to be a renewables superpower.

And its not the absence of the obsession with empty announcements that characterised Scott Morrisons prime ministership. Its the way the PM and his ministers approach climate change. The Coalitions passive-aggressive denialism in the guise of action shtick is no more.

The most arresting change in national politics since the installation of the new government hasnt necessarily been getting used to the combination of the words prime minister and Albanese.

Not the Greens. The day after the election, their leader Adam Bandt sought policy deals with Anthony Albanese in return for guaranteeing confidence and supply. No other crossbenchers wanted to do that. Albanese, mindful of his painful experience in office in the Rudd-Gillard years, told Bandt to go jump.

On decarbonisation, the Greens and Labor are miles apart. Labor was elected on a promise of a 43 per cent reduction of emissions on 2005 levels by 2030. The Greens target is 75 per cent. On this, theyre backed by the Climate Council. Key industry groups also favour higher targets. The Business Council wants 46-50 per cent. The Australian Industry Group wants 50 per cent.

But of the aforementioned, only the ALP was running at the election with a view to heading up a government. Therein lies one big inconvenient truth. We have a majority Labor government  but only just. Its surely operating under a probationary licence given that it won just over 50 per cent of the seats with fewer than a third of voters putting a 1 in the Labor box. It cant afford to get too far ahead of public opinion, and it definitely cant start ripping up its pre-election promises.

If it does, its likely to meet the same fate as the Gillard government, which screwed up its mandate soon after the 2010 election when it cheerfully, and cluelessly, negotiated with the Greens and some independents to introduce what came to be known as a carbon tax. Gillard had famously promised just before the election that there would be no carbon tax. It was a clear breach of faith with the public. Once that deal was done, she and the minority government she led were cooked.
Apartment owners claim theyre under siege from telcos determined to install broadband services in their buildings  whether residents want them or not.

And they say theyre being forced to hire lawyers to try to stop them and protect their common property from potential damage caused by subcontractors when companies bully their way in.

Derek Graham is vowing to fight telcos seeking access to apartment buildings. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone

Its just like the movie The Castle all over again, said Derek Graham, the treasurer of a scheme at Cape Cabarita in Sydneys inner west. Weve been told we are powerless to stop them if they want to come in and install a system, even though the NBN we already have is perfectly sufficient.

They apparently have the right to access our building, and we dont have any rights to stop them.
Members of the Desloge Chamber of Commerce heard updates from MoDOT Southeast District Area Engineer Chris Crocker regarding projects including the US 67 southbound bridge in Desloge.

Crocker said the bridge project is progressing as planned, and the bridge should reopen by the end of August. Crocker said there was hope to have the bridge done early before school started, but the timeframe of it was not feasible.

He said the contractor will be pouring the footings at the end of the bridge this week.

Crocker discussed other area projects. He said Highway 47 is complete on the paving side, and they are just waiting for weather to cooperate to finish striping.

US 67 south of Farmington down to Fredericktown is looking to receive fresh pavement, with work to start either fall of this year, or the start of next year. MoDOT is also looking at repaving US 67 from Jefferson County down to the southern half of the county starting at a later date.

Another project, while outside of St. Francois County, is the Chester Bridge that connects Missouri to Illinois. MoDOT just signed a contract to rehabilitate the existing bridge with the goal to keep the bridge in a good enough shape to last through the construction of a new bridge. The construction on the new Chester Bridge will begin in spring of 2023 with completion planned in winter 2025.

The audience then heard from St. Francois County Sheriff's Department Lt. Mike Ryan about Prop P.

He said if approved in the August election, the safety tax is an internet sales tax of 1.62%, which the state of Missouri had approved in 2019. Ryan said the department cannot utilize the tax unless this proposition is passed.

The purpose of putting this on the ballot is to increase the number of patrol deputies, as well as improve training and the equipment. Currently, the department has 19 patrol deputies for 450 square miles of St. Francois County, and this would allow another 10 deputies to be added.

Currently, according to Ryan, the department is also not able to compete with wages from other counties, citing that Jefferson and Washington counties have both passed their propositions. The department is not able to compete against cities in the county, with deputies leaving to go to either better paying counties or cities rather than staying with the department.

According to Ryan, the national average per 1,000 residents is to have 3.14 officers, St. Francois County currently has one officer per 3,600 residents.

If Prop P passes, the department will not be able to start collecting these funds from the internet sales tax until 2023.

The Chamber's July Spotlight was on Town Hall Monthly, a new magazine put together by Christy Hall and Angela Reaves

Reaves introduced herself as one of the founders of a new free magazine for those in the North County School District. Saying that the magazine is for positive news, the goal is to cultivate a closer community in the school district. The magazine is published once a month on the fifth of every month.

The next Desloge Chamber of Commerce Luncheon is set for Aug. 2 at noon at the Lincoln Street Event Center. Desloge City Administrator Dan Bryan will be talking about his journey of playing catch.

Other events on the calendar include the Labor Day Picnic from Sept. 2-5 with a run on Sept. 3 and the parade the morning of Labor Day. The Shop Small event is set for Nov. 26, and the Jingle Bell Run is set for Dec. 3.
The St. Francois County Conservative Club held a candidate debate at Long Memorial Hall in Farmington Monday night.

Incumbent Pat King squared off against his August Primary challenger Julie McCarver for Associate Judge, Division 4 in St. Francois County.

The debate remained civil with minor disagreements over how a judge should conduct themselves in the courtroom and interpret the law. There was a key difference between King and McCarver, whether they allow or would allow pretrial off-the-record discussions with attorneys to narrow the issues or settle cases. King was asked the question first.

I dont do it, I dont agree with it, he stated. Sometimes lawyers will come to me and we have this particular issue, we want to talk about it. Thats fine. But talking with the lawyers about the substance of the case or knocking their heads together to proceed, I dont believe in it at all. When I ran for this position, I was told by a number of people that they went forward, never got to see the judge, they were in the back room and decisions were made without them talking to the judge. I dont believe in that.

King stressed that judges are also not to give advice on what they would do on hypothetical examples as he had not heard any evidence in the case. He also said that he will not force lawyers to settle a case.

McCarver agreed that some of her clients had felt that they werent heard by judges in decisions made in back rooms, however, she would be in favor of pretrial discussions in some cases.

If all parties agree to a pretrial discussion and feel like it might be helpful to them in settling a case, I, as judge, would typically be willing to do a discussion like that, she said. But after the discussion, bring the parties out and have a discussion with them if they feel like they are being heard, whether or not they agreed with whatever agreement the attorneys have discussed. I think that would make me feel better about the process.

I do not want any party to feel they are coerced, but I feel like its a practical way to allow parties to come to an agreement. In my experience, people in domestic cases, when they come to an agreement will be much happier in the long run.

Later in the meeting, Incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Gilliam answered questions. Originally, she was to debate with challenger Blake Dudley. However, Dudley canceled his appearance due his fathers declining health following being hit by a car last week. His father died Monday.

Gilliam said that there are three conditions on filing a charge for a crime: Is this the appropriate charge? Did this crime occur? Did this person commit this crime?

In 2021, we filed 75% of the cases referred over to us from law enforcement, she said. We have over 5,000 cases.

Gilliam read the Missouri Standards on how prosecutors should handle cases. Prosecutors should seek or file criminal charges only if the prosecutor reasonably believes the charges are supported by probable cause, that admissible evidence would be sufficient to support conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, and the decision to charge is in the interests of justice.

One of the questions that Gilliam was asked is if she has the support of law enforcement.

I have support of law enforcement, she said. There are individuals who support me, theyve told me that. Most importantly, I support law enforcement, themselves. My staff and I successfully work together with law enforcement every single day of the year. That includes weekends, that includes nights.

Gilliam addressed the problem of criminals being arrested and then promptly released.

I know from many folks and our own office frustration to see these people release, rinse and repeat, she said. In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court changed the rules on us. The standard was to issue a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in every felony case. In 2019, theCourt reversed that so that it could only happen if we can demonstrate that: 1.They are a danger to the community; 2. A danger to the crime victim; 3. They were a flight risk and not show up in court.

Gilliam also noted that to keep someone incarcerated, the prosecution must present a warrant to a judge within 24 hours after the arrest. She noted that several departments simply do not have the resources to complete the reports for warrants within that time frame.

Earlier in the day, Dudley released a statement on why he couldnt attend the debate.

As many of you may know, my father was seriously injured in an accident last week. My family truly appreciates the outpouring of prayers from our community. I apologize, but I simply cannot attend the debate this evening as I am needed at the hospital. I have sent a message to be offered at the debate, as follows:

"My name is Blake Dudley. I am running for Prosecuting Attorney in St. Francois County, Missouri. I am sorry that I am unable to attend the debate tonight. However, as many of you may know, my father was severely injured in an accident and is currently in the hospital fighting for his life. I was informed that today the doctors intend to perform a medical procedure that will determine his future and it is imperative that I am there.

With that being said, I want the voters of St. Francois County to know that I believe that I am the best candidate for this job. I started my legal career as a prosecuting attorney in St. Francois County. I have lived here for more than 25 years and consider St. Francois County my home. As such, I am invested in ensuring the safety of this community by making certain that crimes are prosecuted. I want St. Francois County to again be a safe community for all of our residents, and especially our children.

I have seen the rise in crime in our community and I want you to know that I will be a law and order kind of prosecutor. I strongly oppose the catch and release policy for criminals. I will work to ensure that charges are filed promptly and will advocate that criminals who commit crimes are and remain incarcerated.

I am glad to have the support of law enforcement and the general public and would appreciate your vote in the primary election on August 2.
If you know of local business openings or closings, please notify us here.

PREVIOUS OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

 Nowhere Coffee Co. to open second location at 318 Main Street in Emmaus, sharing space with South Mountain Cycle

 Jimmys Barbershop in Allentown has moved to 822 N. 19th Street

 Air Products and Chemicals Inc.'s chosen warehouse developer, Prologis Inc., will have to wait until July 13 for a final decision by Upper Macungie Township's zoning hearing board on 2.61 million square feet of warehouses.

 Chubby's of Southside Easton has added Krispy Krunchy Chicken to its offerings and name.

 Curaleaf Holdings Inc., which operates in the U.S. and Europe, will open a medical-marijuana dispensary at 1801 Airport Road, Hanover Township.

 Habitat for Humanity, which has "ReStores" that sell new and lightly used furniture, has leased 30,000 square feet at the South Mall.
The Virginia NAACP has taken issue with two school board members comments.

During Mondays Madison County School Board Meeting, resident and former political candidate Annette Hyde read a statement issued by the Virginia State Conference NAACP condemning comments made by school board members Christopher Wingate and Charles Sheads. The organization said it is disgusted and dismayed by Wingates statements regarding the school systems goal of hiring a more diverse workforce.

Mr. Wingate expressed caution that this should not hinder the systems pursuit of excellence, Hyde read. Mr. Wingate also stated at the school board retreat that with equity, theres a focus on race, and of course we shouldnt focus on race.

The organization also took issue with Sheads comments at an April school board meeting, saying he blamed parents for achievement disparities and erroneously stated that the mission of Black Lives Matter is to destroy the nuclear family.

The NAACP Culpeper Branch issued a statement regarding its own concerns about the school board. In addition to pointing out Wingate and Sheads comments, the organization said Black students in the county have consistenly performed at lower levels than their white peers in reading, writing and math, also graduating at a lower rate. The organization said there have also been numerous incidents of students using racist language and engaging in racially motivated incidenents.

Members of the school board have repeatedly demonstrated a willful ignore of history that has deprived many Black Americans of equal opportunities and contributed to disparities in education, including practices and cultural biases that persist to this day, branch president the Rev. Dr. Uzziah Harris wrote.

The organization said the school board recently proposed extremist policy revisions designed to prevent students in need of affirmation and support from receiving counseling and resources.

The policies demonstrate a clear mistrust of our education and counseling workforce, Harris wrote.

The branch also took issue with Wingates assertion that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s speech regarding the Vietnam War doesnt reflect alove of country. The organization quoted King is saying he opposed the Vietnam War because he loved America.

The NAACP Culpeper Branch requested the Madison County School Board to become more education about racial and LGBTQ intolerance in the community, schools and nations history and to support efforts by the public school administration by focusing on creating a safe environment for all students where racism and bigotry are not tolerated; uphold the language and true spirit of the boards 2020 equity statement and continue the work of the equity task force; and commit to closing the school systems achievement gap and address disparities in school discipline and teach accurate and complete history including diverse and competing perspectives that will encourage critical thinking and empower students to succeed.

The Virginia State Conference NAACP said it commends the Culpeper NAACP Branch for fighting for honest and accurate discussions about this countrys history, including its sordid legacy of systemic racism.

At the close of the meeting, Sheads said Wingate was not saying people of color couldnt be exceptional. He told Hyde that was wrong and she should be ashamed. Sheads also reaffirmed his statements about Black Lives Matter stating the group had in its mission statement the breaking down of the nuclear family. According to the Washington Examiner, language on the groups What We Believe page on its website encouraged the disruption of the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable. That page was pulled in September 2021.

Wingate also spoke about his comments, saying he owes the community a response to a serious charge. He said discrimination of any kind is an assault against a person. Wingate said he believes the school system should be colorblind in hiring and hire the best person for the job regardless of demographics. He said in doing so he believes the board will have a diverse workforce.

As for the King speech on Vietnam, Wingate said King is an important voice and his issue with the essay was it maligns soldiers who fought in a war they didnt have a choice in. He said there wasnt any balance or opposing voice.

Following the meeting, two county residents stood near the doors, handing out portions of school board chairman Karen Allens comments from the June 13 board meeting. The comments were made by Allen regarding the vote to not approve the 9-12 Language Arts textbook. Allen was the swing vote, pushing the decision to 3-2 to not approve the book. A special called meeting was held three days later in which Allen reversed her decision and the book was approved.

I hate the optics of it, Allen said regarding her vote switch. It looked terrible. The optics are terrible, but I thought it was the right thing to do.
Reading, PA (19601)

Today

A mix of clouds and sunshine, seasonable, and mainly dry. Just the slight chance of a spotty shower. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Just the slight chance of a spotty evening shower.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

A mix of clouds and sunshine, seasonable, and mainly dry. Just the slight chance of a spotty shower. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Just the slight chance of a spotty evening shower.
Minority alliance seeks Bell award nominations

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerces Minority Business Alliance is seeking nominations for its 2022 John F. Bell Sr. Vanguard Award.

The award recognizes a minority business or individual who promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in the local business community, according to a news release.

Bell, the awards namesake, opened the J.F. Bell Funeral Home in 1917. The funeral home is still operating and is areas oldest existing business owned by people of color, according to the company.

The chambers Minority Business Alliance established the award in Bells honor in 2015. Previous recipients include the Community Investment Collaborative, Eugene and Lorraine Williams, and William Jones III. Nominations will be accepted until Aug. 5.

The winner will be announced Sept. 9 at the alliances 10th anniversary gala. Tickets for the event can be purchased at CvilleChamber.com/mba.

The group is looking to recognize someone who displays high business and personal integrity and has made significant contributions in the area of business diversity, according to the awards webpage. Additional criteria include understanding the importance of community service and mentoring minority entrepreneurs in order to develop future business leaders.

To nominate an individual or business, go to business.cvillechamber.com/form/view/23671.

- From staff reports
Complicite has announced a new show, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which will be directed by Simon McBurney.

Based on Nobel Prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk's novel of the same name, it is billed as a "scathing reproach of toxic masculinity". The book caused controversy in Tokarczuk's native Poland due to its "defiant attack on authoritarian structures". It was translated into English in 2018 by Antonia Lloyd-Jones for Fitzcarraldo Editions.

The production will open in December at Theatre Royal Plymouth (1 to 3 December 2022) ahead of a three-week run at the Bristol Old Vic (19 January to 11 February 2023).

It will then tour throughout 2023 with UK dates at Oxford Playhouse (1 to 4 March), the Barbican (15 March to 1 April), Nottingham Playhouse (4 to 8 April), Belgrade Theatre Coventry (18 to 22 April) and The Lowry (25 to 29 April) before international dates in May and June 2023 including Les Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Theatre Amsterdam and L'Odeon-Theatre de l'Europe, Paris.

The story unfolds through the eyes of 65 year-old local woman, Janina, who is engaged in fierce resistance against the injustices around her, and refuses to be a prisoner of society and gender. Her actions ask questions both of the male world which surrounds her and of our deeper human intentions. What does it mean to be human and what does it mean to be animal, and can we separate the two? Why is the killing of animals sport and that of humans murder?

Collaborating with McBurney on the project are set and costume designer Rae Smith, lighting designer Paule Constable, sound designer Christopher Shutt, video designer Dick Straker and dramaturgs Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and Laurence Cook, together with Complicite's senior producer Tim Bell and executive director Amber Massie-Blomfield.

McBurney said: "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a tale about the cosmos, poetry, and the limitations and possibilities of activism. Tokarczuk is a prophet for our times who understands us in all our hilarity, messiness, cruelty and animalism, and it is a great privilege to bring to the stage what is surely one of literature's most urgent accounts of being alive today."
The Lehman Trilogy, which recently took home five Tony Awards, has announced further details for its 2023 West End return.

Produced by the National Theatre and Neal Street Productions, Sam Mendes' celebrated production will run for a limited 17-week season at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from 24 January until 20 May, with an opening night set for 8 February.

The show's Broadway transfer triumphed in the prestigious Best Play category at Radio City Music Hall as part of its collection of prizes, with actor Simon Russell Beale also receiving his first-ever Tony Award.

Written by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, the play tells the tale of the powerful banking Lehman dynasty as they ascend to, before rapidly descending from, power.

It was first seen in the UK at the National Theatre before transferring to the West End. Sarah Crompton gave it a glowing review, saying "across three hours, and three acts, three magnificent actors conjure the story of the three Lehman brothers."

Set design is by Tony Award-winner Es Devlin, with costume design by Katrina Lindsay, video design by Luke Halls, and lighting design by Jon Clark. The composer and sound designer is Nick Powell, the co-sound designer is Dominic Bilkey, with music direction by Candida Caldicot, and movement by Polly Bennett. The West End director is Zoe Ford Burnett.

The casting director for the return West End engagement is Jessica Ronane, with the cast itself still to be announced.
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead while living in exile in the UK in 2013, is the timely focus of Peter Morgan's new drama. It is principally the story of how his political protege, a certain Vladimir Putin, left Berezovsky as a Frankensteinian figure who came to regret the monster he created.

Morgan, whose 2013 play The Audience grew into Netflix hit The Crown, has never been shy of showing powerful figures behind closed doors (see also Frost/Nixon). And so it proves here; the other major characters in the drama are Roman Abramovich and Alexander Litvinenko. It can feel at times like watching a pastiche of a modern Russian history play, as these globally infamous men slap each other's arms (there's a lot of arm slapping) and speak romantically of the motherland.

However, once you attune to the slight weirdness of it all, there is a meaty drama of money, power, friendship and betrayal to enjoy. Berezovsky is a live by the sword, die by the sword' type; in the early scenes we see how his mathematical genius morphed into an obsession with the notions of decision-making and infinity, particularly in relation to money. He bribes his way to the top. Keen to further his commercial interests in the era of Yeltsin, he promotes Putin as the ideal puppet Prime Minister, one who will "do my bidding", before growing to regret his choice.

But, as played by the eminently likeable Tom Hollander, he is also a sympathetic figure, someone who had the guts to stand up to Putin when so many others  Abramovich included  would not. We all know where their failure to do so has led. Hollander shows him as a man able to sing Vysotsky love songs one minute before flying into a rage and slamming the piano shut the next; his (admittedly justified) genius complex is never far from the surface.

His foil as Putin is Will Keen, who gives an eerily believable portrayal of the enigmatic Russian dictator, from his early days as an upstanding regional mayor to a president coolly dispatching assassination threats from the Kremlin. He somehow humanises him, even in exchanges that feel at times overly contrived; an example being when he visits Abramovich on a Chukotka mountaintop to pontificate about loyalty.

There is a jumble of dialects; Jamael Westman (best known for playing another famous Alexander) gives Litvinenko  whose poisoning is particularly affecting  a broad scouse accent, and at one point there is a comic intervention from a Glaswegian nurse. Wisely, Bond film-esque Russian accents are largely avoided, but nevertheless it feels incongruously British, existing in a kind of pseudo-reality where Russia is filtered through a BBC sitcom lens.

Rupert Goold's characteristically lucid production plays out on Miriam Buether's plush red carpeted barroom set. Oligarchs are not known for their taste, and it all feels suitably gaudy. The thrust arrangement means characters can sit around the edge of the stage nursing their vodkas, and lends the whole thing a sense of immediacy. Jack Knowles' lighting is full of menacing shadows; in the opening scenes Putin lingers ominously in darkness.

It's highly watchable, and moves at a lick; Morgan writes with admirable precision. And it's good to get an insight into the machinations of the Russian state at a time when they're threatening to destabilise the world. But I'm not convinced Patriots tells us much that is profoundly new, and the play is not entirely successful in painting a fully dimensional portrait of Berezovsky. In the end he feels like a man whose story is more emblematic than emotionally involving.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's current production of Richard III will be broadcast to cinemas across the UK from 28 September 2022.

Directed by Gregory Doran, it features Arthur Hughes in the title role, marking the first time Richard III has been performed by a disabled actor in the company's history.

Hughes made his debut with the RSC in April this year playing the young Richard of Gloucester in Owen Horsley's Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses.

Richard III will also be broadcast as live direct into UK classrooms for free on Thursday 24 November.

Erica Whyman, RSC acting artistic director, said: "I am delighted that we will share this critically acclaimed Richard III on screen. Gregory Doran, artistic director emeritus, has directed a vivid and imaginative production, in which Arthur Hughes is both terrifying and gloriously charismatic."

The production continues in Stratford-upon-Avon until Saturday 8 October 2022.
ORANGE  A jury of eight men and six women was seated Tuesday in the first-degree murder trial of a Gordonsville woman.

Brianna Cole Knicely, 27, is also charged with use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and shooting into an occupied building in the June 16, 2021, death of James Manning, 36, at his home on Hamm Farm Road in Barboursville.

She was arrested the next morning during a traffic stop in Culpeper County.

Knicely was a former childcare client of Mannings wife, Jessica, who had watched the defendants two young children at home for nearly three years. At one time, the women were friends.

Louisa County lawyer Richard Harry, Knicelys court-appointed counsel, is arguing that his client acted in self-defense.

Orange County Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Crystal Hasting and Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Katie Fitzgerald are prosecuting the case, which is anticipated to conclude Friday.

James Manning, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, was working that day to fix the motor on his boat so he could take his wife and three kids to the lake, Hasting said in opening statements Tuesday. His family had gone swimming at his mother-in-laws house and he was supposed to join them when he was finished, the prosecutor said.

He didnt get a chance to swim because within minutes, (Knicely) had ended his life, Hasting said. The defendant entered his world and shattered it.

Shot several times, Manning collapsed and died alone at the bottom of the basement steps, the prosecutor said.

Knicely has pleaded not guilty in the case.

She admitted to authorities she killed Manning, according to court testimony.

Her lawyer will attempt to prove it was self-defense, that Manning attacked her when she came to the house to retrieve some of her childrens clothing.

Two weeks prior to James Mannings death, Knicely was told to leave their house and never come back, Hasting said.

She had no reason to be there, the prosecutor said.

Two weeks earlier, Jessica Manning had terminated their childcare relationship after a dispute at the residence with Knicely, according to testimony.

June 1, she showed up at my house accusing me of telling her mom things about her kids  she raised her fists to me, Jessica Manning said on the stand Tuesday.

Knicely was late on her childcare payments, Mannings widow said, and the Department Social Services had recently called her to inquire about Knicelys children.

When Harry objected to mention of the reported DSS investigation involving Knicelys children, Orange Circuit Court Judge David Franzen had the jury leave the courtroom.

In a recent pre-trial hearing, Franzen approved a defense motion to exclude references at trial to prior DSS involvement with the defendant.

Jessica Manning recalled a text exchange she had with her husband June 1 after the argument with Knicely.

He thought they may try to retaliate, she said in court.

Harry, in his opening statement, said its not an open-shut case, questioning why tape footage was missing during the time of the alleged murder from a Ring camera at the front door at the Manning house.

It would remove all doubt about what happened, the defense attorney said.

In interviews with Orange County Sheriffs Office detectives the day of her arrest, Knicely claimed James Manning grabbed me, so I shot him, according to testimony.

She has also claimed Manning pulled her hair and that he sexually assaulted her, according to court testimony. A former nurse with no prior criminal history, Knicely has also claimed to have been sexually assaulted while in jail.

What was the intent? Harry said of what Knicely was asked by investigators in taped interviews.

To get the hell up out there. You aint killing me, the attorney said of his clients response.

The defense argued Tuesday that James Manning had an established record of violence against women. Harry entered evidence of a past DUI charge and a criminal complaint regarding a domestic incident involving Jessica Manning from more than 10 years ago.

Harry argued James Manning suffered from PTSD due to his military service. He said his client was protecting herself the day she shot James Manning.

Jessica Manning said her husband of 10 years was a great husband and a hard worker who spent every spare minute with his kids. Manning worked as a United Parcel Service driver.

Jessica Manning testified that she never suffered violence at his hands.

She recalled arriving home with their kids on the night of his death after swimming at her moms with the kids. The family had planned to leave town for a family funeral in Arizona, so Jessica Manning had given their house key to her mother.

The front door was locked and James Manning was not answering his phone, his widow testified. Jessica Manning looked inside the front door into the kitchen and saw blood on the floor.

She noticed four pieces of mail on her front lawn addressed to Knicely, and the father of her children.

It seemed out of place because I hadnt seen or heard from her in two weeks, Jessica Manning testified.

She found a shell casing on the front porch, and called 911, after calling Knicelys mother, Jessica Atkins. The emergency call was played in court Tuesday.

Hes not answering the phone and he wont answer the doorplease send somebody, Jessica Manning can be heard saying.

The 911 operator asked her if she knew of anyone who might someone tried to harm her husband and she replied Brianna Knicely and her partners name, mentioning the ongoing DSS investigation.

The commonwealth called six other witnesses Tuesday, including two female neighbors who testified they heard pops or shots fired about 4:30 p.m. on the day of Mannings death.

I heard gunshots and almost immediately saw a small black vehicle going down the road very fast, Jacqueline Hurlbert testified.

Landlord Jeff Buck and Barboursville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Wes Sheler found Manning in the basement after entering through the back door. The shooting victim was face down in a pool of blood, his body slightly warm. He had no pulse, Sheler said.

The trial resumes Wednesday morning.
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Increasing clouds with showers arriving sometime in the afternoon. High 78F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.
Living Studios started out in 2020 as a way for neurodiverse artists in Corvallis to connect over Zoom, and has since grown into a program for the artists to exhibit their work professionally and gain national recognition.

Its to really look back and think about what weve done, because its really been quite broad and amazing, program director Bruce Burris said. We dont teach  were acting as cheerleaders and artists who are encouraging others.

The artists with Living Studios are in residence at the Joan Truckenbrod Gallery, 517 SW Second St. in downtown Corvallis, for the month of July. During this period, they are hosting a Design Cafe, in which the artists will create new artworks, participate in daily workshops and host a Corvallis Art Walk event on July 21.

Burris said he is eventually trying to move Living Studios downtown from its current location in Southtown, so the Joan Truckenbrod residency has provided a taste of what it will eventually be like.

Its easier to be a part of your community when youre at the heart of it, he said. We really try to connect people to community and community to people.

Living Studios is an arts and culture program under Cornerstone Associates Inc., an organization that creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Executive Director Ken Smith said he is extremely proud of this particular arts program.

What Bruce has done to that program in the last few years has been a stellar feat, Smith said. Hes a wonderful curator for our population, and he sees potential and builds on it.

The artists create all kinds of art: painting, drawing, crocheting, sculpting, writing and more. At the gallery, Rachel Grant worked on converting a journal into one of her 60 fantasy novels, while Lin Musick created photographic scenes on a leaf.

One time I made a Black Lives Matter zine, Musick said. I drew Black life heroes, like Michelle and Barack Obama, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman, and included quotes.

All of the artists with Living Studios exhibited in 2021 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland. Burris said theyve also exhibited all over the country, from New York to Lexington, Kentucky, to Miami Beach and places here in Oregon.

Each week in July has a different theme: The first week was history and celebration of self-taught artists, the second is book- and zine-making, the third is language and culture, and the fourth is fiber arts, stickers and multimedia.

A fundraiser is set for 3:30 to 6 p.m. July 28 at the gallery. Smith said the fundraiser is a step toward the goal of eventually getting a ceramics program going.

Julianna Souther has worked for Living Studios since the beginning, and runs the daily Zoom workshops. Artists from Eugene to Portland participate in these sessions, and she said its a great way for people to meet each other and connect over shared interests.

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Burris said it is important to transition the program downtown so the artists can volunteer or take field trips to the museum, go to the farmers market and walk along the river.

I dont think people understand how successful the artists in this program are, he said. I dont think they get it. It is really incredible.
EDMONTON  The Alberta government says it is changing how it tests people for COVID-19.

Starting next week, Albertans who need a PCR test to inform their medical treatment must have a referral from a health-care professional.

Clinicians are to determine the best testing option for their patients, which could include rapid testing at home or in a clinic, in-clinic swabbing with the sample sent to the lab for PCR testing or a referral to an Alberta Health Services site for testing. Jason Copping gives an update in Edmonton, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Starting next week, the province says Albertans will need a referral from a medical professional to get a PCR test and some testing locations are to change. The Alberta health minister said in a statement the changes will allow the province to direct its testing capacity towards those who are most at risk.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Physicians will also be required to request lab tests on their patients behalf while using the Alberta Health Services online appointment booking system.

Self-referrals will still be available to people with symptoms who live or work in isolated Indigenous communities and workers in certain high-risk settings, such as health care, continuing care and correctional facilities.

Health Minister Jason Copping says in a statement that the changes would allow the province to direct its testing capacity toward those who are most at risk and allow health-care workers who were deployed to assessment centres during the pandemic to return to their regular roles.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the provinces chief medical officer of health, says Alberta can expect to see waves of COVID-19 continue into the fall.

I would like to remind Albertans of the importance of monitoring for symptoms, staying home when sick and, for those eligible for treatment, quickly accessing rapid or PCR testing when sick, she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2022
HONOLULU (AP)  Guams attorney general said a 1990 law that prohibited virtually all abortion is invalid and wont take effect even though the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned the national right to abortion outlined in Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide.

That means the status quo allowing women to obtain abortions via telemedicine may continue in the predominantly Catholic U.S. territory in the Pacific.

Attorney General Leevin Taitano Camacho issued his opinion last week in response to questions from senators as to whether the overturning of Roe v. Wade would affect the 1990 law.

That law made it a felony for a doctor to perform abortion except to save a womans life or prevent grave danger to her health. The U.S. District Court on Guam blocked it from being enforced in 1992, citing Roe v. Wade. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ruling.

Camacho told senators in a memorandum the 1990 law violated the U.S. Constitution and the Organic Act of Guam. He said the Legislature didnt have the power to pass it in the first place, rendering it void.

Instead, abortion on Guam continues to be governed by a 1978 law allowing abortion in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. This law also allows the procedure up to 26 weeks in the case of rape or incest, if a child would be born with a grave physical or mental defect or if theres a substantial risk the pregnancy could endanger the life or health of the mother.

In practice, however, the last Guam physician to perform surgical abortions retired in 2018. That means the only way for people to legally obtain abortions without leaving the island is to take pills sent through the mail. This is generally only possible through 10 or 11 weeks gestation.

Traveling to get an abortion is particularly onerous for Guams residents as the island is 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) west of Hawaii, the nearest U.S. state where the procedure is legal.

A 2012 Guam law also required those getting abortions to be provided with information about the procedure in person 24 hours beforehand.

A judge in September issued an injunction against that provision, saying the information could be provided via live face-to-face videoconference instead.

Guams attorney general on June 28 asked the 9th Circuit to reverse this injunction, citing the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade and related precedents.

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, the deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said she hopes the appeals court will keep the injunction.

But even if that injunction is lifted, it is important to remember that telemedicine abortion will remain legal in Guam, she said in an email. And we will keep fighting to lift burdensome, and medically unnecessary obstacles that make it more difficult for people to get the care they need.

Camacho told lawmakers in his memorandum that after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it was up to the Legislature and not the courts to decide whether to allow or limit abortion. He said the Legislature could forge its own path on the matter.

Even before the high courts ruling, Guams legislature was debating a bill that would ban abortion once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks.

Sen. Mary Camacho Torres, one of the senators who asked the attorney general for his opinion, said she would back new abortion legislation only if lawmakers put the question directly before Guams voters.

Torres said in an email she will not support any measure to restrict or expand abortion procedures on Guam unless it has a referendum requirement attached to it.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Physicians and researchers are urging New Mexico legislators to allow the use of psychedelic mushrooms in mental health therapy aimed at overcoming depression, anxiety, psychological trauma and alcoholism.

A legislative panel on Tuesday listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms.

Oregon is so far the only state to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin. FILE - People walk under the state Capitol rotunda during the annual legislative session on Feb. 2, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. A legislative panel on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

Recent studies indicate psilocybin could be useful in the treatment of major depression, including mental suffering among terminally ill patients, and for substance abuse including alcoholism, with low risks of addiction or overdose under medical supervision.

Physician Lawrence Leeman, a medicine professor at the University of New Mexico, urged legislators to move forward without waiting for federal decriminalization or regulatory approval to expand responsible therapies using doses of psilocybin.

Leeman and other advocates outlined emerging psilocybin protocols, involving six-hour supervised sessions and extensive discussions about the experience in subsequent counseling. He warned legislators that public interest is spawning illicit, underground experimentation without safeguards.

I do think there is a lot of promise from these medications, said Leeman, who also directs a program providing prenatal and maternity care to women with substance abuse problems. If this does go ahead, lets do this really safely, lets make sure we have people who are well trained (to administer the psychedelics)  Lets make sure that people have counselors to see afterward.

It was unclear whether any New Mexico lawmakers will seek legislation for the medical use of psychedelics, which are still federally illegal. The Democratic-led Legislature convenes its next regular session in January 2023.

The study of psychedelics for therapy has made inroads in states led by Democrats and Republicans alike, including Hawaii, Connecticut, Texas, Utah and Oklahoma. And psilocybin has been decriminalized in the cities of Washington and Denver as well as Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Oakland and Santa Cruz in California.

In several states, military veterans are helping to persuade lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use in addressing post-traumatic stress.

Currently in New Mexico, lawful access to psilocybin-assisted therapy is available mostly through clinical trials.

Yale University psychiatrist Gerald Valentine said that leaves out people with low incomes and severe afflictions. He said the University of New Mexico is expanding its expertise in psychedelics-based therapies, and that a supportive environment can be found in communities such as Santa Fe, known as a progressive hub for healing and the arts.

These questions are starting to be answered about who might benefit from this therapy, Valentine said. I just feel very fortunate to be in a position to really bring this forth into real world situations.

Classic psychedelics include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and ayahuasca. Plant-based psychedelics have long been used in indigenous cultures around the world.

At least one New Mexico church group uses hallucinogenic ayahuasca tea from the Amazon as a sacrament. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision ensured access to ayahuasca imports for a temple on the outskirts of Santa Fe affiliated with the Brazil-based Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal.
ROME (AP)  Italys agriculture minister warned Parliament on Wednesday that a third of Italys agricultural production was at risk because of drought and poor water infrastructure, and that the situation is only going to get worse in years to come.

Stefano Patuanelli provided the latest data from government research institutes which showed that Italy lost 19% of its available water resources from 1991-2020 compared to 1921-1950, and that the next decades could see further decreases of up to 40%.

We are thus witnessing a slow but unrelenting wasting away of water availability in our country, Patuanelli told the lower Chamber of Deputies. People cool off in pools realized by volunteers in Cornate D'Adda, on the Adda river, northern Italy, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Temperatures in Italy are expected to rise up to 38 degrees Celsius (100,4 degrees Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The government has declared a state of emergency in several northern regions because of a prolonged drought and accompanying heat wave that has dried up the Po River, a crucial artery for irrigation across an area of north-central Italy that is a key producer of fruits, vegetables and grain.

The drought followed unusually light precipitation during the winter that deprived mountains of fresh snowfall which would normally feed rivers and reservoirs in summer. The combined climactic events have been blamed for the July 3 cleaving off of the melting Marmolada glacier and ensuing avalanche that killed 11 hikers in northern Trento.

Patuanelli told lawmakers that such droughts occur cyclically in Italy, roughly every five years, but that they are projected to occur more often and with ever more devastating consequences.

He said the Po River basin is currently the biggest worry because the area concerns a third of national agricultural production.

Were talking about the cultivation of fruit, vegetables, tomatoes and cereals, especially corn and rice, as well as the breeding farms that produce the regions famed Parmesan cheese and prosciutto.

Italian farm lobby Coldiretti has said the emergency has already cost Italian farmers about 3 billion euros in losses, coupled with soaring energy prices stemming from Russias war in Ukraine.

While unusual heat and lack of rainfall are to blame for the current crisis, Italy has a notoriously wasteful water infrastructure that national statistics agency ISTAT estimates loses 42% of drinking water from distribution networks each year, in large part due to old and poorly maintained pipes.
LISBON, Portugal (AP)  A spate of wildfires is scorching parts of Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain, Croatia and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that authorities are linking to climate change.

In Portugal, Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes said multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people  one civilian and one firefighter  suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.

Water-dumping planes helped 1,300 firefighters combat the worst of the blazes in the nations central area, while another 1,000 worked to bring other fires under control. A firefighting airplane drops its load on a forest fire raging in the village of Casal da Quinta, outside Leiria, central Portugal, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Hundreds of firefighters in Portugal continue to battle fires in the center of the country that forced the evacuation of dozens of people from their homes mostly in villages around Santarem, Leiria and Pombal. (AP Photo/Joao Henriques)

The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France  and in Turkey at the other end of the Mediterranean.

More than 800 firefighters battled two wildfires in the region outside Bordeaux in southwest France, according to the regional emergency service. The fires began Tuesday near the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and firefighters hadnt been able to contain them by Wednesday morning.

About 6,500 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and villages in the forested area. The number of injuries is unclear. The two fires have destroyed more than 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of terrain. Images from firefighters showed flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland, fanned by strong winds, and smoke blackening the horizon. A grey seal enjoys an ice cake made of fish on a hot and sunny day at the Madrid Zoo, Spain, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

The regional administration banned activity in forested areas at risk. Several regions in southern France are on fire alert because of hot, dry weather and high winds. Wildfires swept through the Gard region in southeast France last week.

Portugal has long experienced fatal forest fires. In 2017, wildfires killed more than 100 people. No one has died from a wildfire since then as Portugal improved its forest management and firefighting strategies.

Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds are driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs. A truck carrying tanks with water drives by a forest fire as smoke darkens the sky in the village of Bemposta, near Ansiao, central Portugal, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Thousands of firefighters in Portugal continue to battle fires all over the country that forced the evacuation of dozens of people from their homes. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

The Atlantic country, which has been on alert of wildfires since last week, is sweltering under a spike in temperatures that is forecast to send thermometers in the central Alentejo region to 46 C (115 F) on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said that 96% of the country was classified at the end of June as being in either extreme or severe drought.

More than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) had been consumed alone in the district of Leiria, just north of Lisbon, Mayor Goncalo Lopes told Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who canceled a trip abroad to deal with the emergency, said that better care of woodlands and abandoned farmland was key to protecting them.

In 2017, the country realized that having enough firefighters is essential, but it is not enough, Costa said. We have to get to the root of the problem  The abandonment of property and its non-management is one of the biggest risk factors for forest fires.

Neighboring Spain hit highs of 43 C (109.4 F) in several southern cities on Tuesday. Over 400 people were evacuated Tuesday because of a wildfire that has consumed 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) in western Spain.

Fuelled by strong winds, fires raged along Croatias Adriatic Sea coast as well, with the most dramatic situation reported near the town of Sibenik, where water-dropping planes and dozens of firefighters struggled to contain the flames that briefly engulfed some cars and a church tower. Regional N1 television reported that some residents evacuated the area in rubber boats. Fires were also reported near the coastal town of Zadar.

Firefighter Boris Dukic told state HRT television that its hell, we dont know where to go first.

European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.

Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spains national weather forecaster, said that the unusual heat wave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.

These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which when you add to that some wind, you have have guaranteed propagation, he said.

In southwestern Turkey, a blaze erupted close to the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, and was moving toward homes in the area, according to the provincial governors office. It said at least nine water-dropping helicopters and five planes were deployed to battle the fire.

Last summer, blazes that were fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures tore through forests in Turkeys Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The wildfires, which killed at least eight people and countless animals, were described as the worst in Turkeys history.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government came under sharp criticism for its inadequate response and preparedness to fight large-scale wildfires, including a lack of modern firefighting planes.

___

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Angela Charlton in Paris, Renata Brito in Barcelona, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed to this report.

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Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate
A new leader will helm the Free Press and its sister papers starting this month.

Mike Power is set to begin as FP Newspapers Inc.s president and CEO July 25. He replaces both Bob Silver, the companys president and CEO, and Bob Cox, the publisher.

The two are stepping down from their roles; Cox announced his plan to do so last November. SUPPLIED Mike Power is set to begin as FP Newspapers Inc.s president and CEO July 25. He replaces both Bob Silver, the companys president and CEO, and Bob Cox, the publisher.

I have big shoes to fill, said Power, whos been a publisher since 1998.

Power, 56, comes from Postmedias Atlantic Canada division, where he held the role of vice-president of editorial and sales operations.

The news giant bought Brunswick News Inc.  the paper Power had led as publisher  in March, and he transitioned to the Postmedia role.

Power has been publisher for the Toronto Sun and the Barrie Examiner, among others.

The Free Press has a tradition of quality journalism, and thats at the heart of what we do, Power said. I will ensure that we continue on this path.

He said hed focused on growing digital subscriptions in his past workplaces.

I see opportunity, he said of FP Newspapers Inc. On the business side, were going to look at, What are other opportunities for new revenue streams?

Silver, 72, will continue to chair FP Newspaper Inc.s board of directors.

The Free Press deserves a more active and hands-on president, Silver said. I have not dedicated the time that I think the Free Press deserves.

Age also factors into his decision, he said.

Silver co-owns the newspaper company with Ron Stern. Silver is president of Western Glove Works, which owns Silver Jeans, and he volunteers on a number of boards, including the Pan Am Clinic Foundation, CentrePort Canada and the University of Winnipeg Foundation.

Thats after cutting back, Silver noted.

Traditional media face a variety of challenges  namely adapting to the way people consume information  and a full-time leader is necessary, Silver said.

The Free Press management has been very, very good at adapting to the changes that are needed in this media business, he said. Many other newspapers have gutted their content to survive, and that is not the (route) that the Free Press has taken.

The greatest challenge for the business going forward will be to deliver content in the form consumers want, in an increasingly digital age.

Its information first  its not digital first or print first, Silver said. Its understanding your customer.

Power is absorbing the publishers responsibilities while acting as president and CEO. Its not due to cost-cutting, Silver said.

The board chose Power because he is a forward thinker who understands all of these issues the importance of content, the importance of local information, the importance of maintaining a printed product as long as possible, Silver said.

Were not going to do it like some of our competitors by gutting the company, he said. Were going to invest where it makes sense, and were going to grow where it makes sense.

Cox, 61, will sideline as an adviser as Power adjusts.

I feel I had a really good run, and Im happy about that, Cox said.

He was publisher for nearly 15 years  the second-longest run in the 150-year history of the Free Press. During his tenure, the readership has shifted from print-only to majority digital.

Weve changed a lot, and well continue to change (and) reach people in the way they want to be reached, he said, adding the company has stayed true to itself.

Cox has held various roles with the newspaper for more than 20 years. He said he plans to do something else, though he doesnt have concrete plans yet.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, slipping away in the middle of the night only hours before he was to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Rajapaksa had agreed to resign under pressure. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would leave once a new government was in place. A boy tries to lift an empty cylinder as he along with others wait in a queue to buy domestic gas at a distribution center, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. A political vacuum continues in Sri Lanka with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry over the countrys deep economic woes. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The presidents departure followed months of demonstrations that culminated Saturday in protesters storming his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister. The protests have all but dismantled his familys political dynasty, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

On Wednesday morning, Sri Lankans continued to stream into the presidential palace. A growing line of people waited to enter the residence, many of whom had traveled from outside Colombo on public transport.

What Rajapaksa did  flee the country  is a timid act, said Bhasura Wickremesinghe, a 24-year-old student of maritime electrical engineering, who came with friends. Im not celebrating. Theres no point celebrating. We have nothing in this country at the moment. A driver of an autorickshaw sleeps inside his rickshaw while waiting in a queue to buy petrol at a fuel station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. A political vacuum continues in Sri Lanka with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry over the countrys deep economic woes. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

He complained that Sri Lankan politics have been dominated for years by old politicians who all need to go. Politics needs to be treated like a job  you need to have qualifications that get you hired, not because of what your last name is, he said, referring to the Rajapaksa family.

There was no end to the crisis in sight, and protesters vowed to occupy the official buildings until the top leaders are gone. For days, people have flocked to the presidential palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction  swimming in the pool, marveling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows. At one point, they also burned the prime ministers private home.

At dawn, the protesters took a break from chanting as the Sri Lankan national anthem blared from speakers. A few waved the flag. Sri Lanka army soldiers patrol near the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. A political vacuum continues in Sri Lanka with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry over the country's deep economic woes. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Malik D Silva, a 25-year-old demonstrator occupying the presidents office, said Rajapaksa ruined this country and stole our money. He said he voted for Rajapaksa in 2019 believing his military background would keep the country safe after Islamic State-inspired bomb attacks earlier that year killed more than 260 people.

Nearby, 28-year-old Sithara Sedaraliyanage and her 49-year-old mother wore black banners around their foreheads that read Gota Go Home, the rallying cry of the demonstrations.

We expected him to be behind bars  not escape to a tropical island! What kind of justice is that? Sithara said. This is the first time people in Sri Lanka have risen like this against a president. We want some accountability. A man takes selfie at the swimmimg pool of the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. A political vacuum continues in Sri Lanka with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry over the country's deep economic woes. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The air force said in a statement that it provided an aircraft for the president and his wife to travel to the Maldives with the defense ministrys approval. It said all immigration and customs laws were followed.

This shows what befalls a leader who uses his power to the extreme, said lawmaker Ranjith Madduma Bandara, a senior official of the main opposition party in Parliament, United Peoples Force.

Sri Lankan lawmakers agreed to elect a new president next week but have struggled to decide on the makeup of a new government to lift the bankrupt country out of economic and political collapse. Sri Lanka army officer stands guard as a protester sits on the table inside the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The new president will serve the remainder of Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024, and could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament.

The current prime minister is to serve as president until a replacement is chosen  an arrangement that was sure to inflame protesters who want Wickremesinghe out immediately.

Sri Lankan presidents are protected from arrest while in power, and it is likely Rajapaksa planned his escape while he still had constitutional immunity. A corruption lawsuit against him in his former role as a defense official was withdrawn when he was elected president in 2019. People take selfie at the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Corruption and mismanagement have left the island nation laden with debt and unable to pay for imports of basic necessities. The shortages have sown despair among the countrys 22 million people. Sri Lankans are skipping meals and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel.

Until the latest crisis deepened, the Sri Lankan economy had been expanding and growing a comfortable middle class.

Sithara said the people want new leaders who are young, educated and capable of running the economy. People takes picture inside the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

We dont know who will come next, but we have hope they will do a better job of fixing the problems, she said. Sri Lanka used to be a prosperous country.

As a restaurant manager in a hotel in Colombo, she once had a steady income. But with no tourists coming in, the hotel closed, she said. Her mother, Manjula Sedaraliyanage, used to work in Kuwait but came back to Sri Lanka a few years ago after she suffered a stroke. Now the daily medication she needs has become harder to find and more expensive, Sithara said.

The political impasse added fuel to the economic crisis since the absence of an alternative unity government threatened to delay a hoped-for bailout from the International Monetary Fund. In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from neighboring India and from China. Protesters dance shouting slogans against president Gotabaya Rajapaksa outside his office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, slipping away in the middle of the night only hours before he was to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Protesters accuse the president and his relatives of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksas administration of hastening the countrys collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajapaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown.

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Associated Press Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas president fled the country Wednesday, plunging a nation already reeling from economic chaos into more political turmoil. Protesters demanding a change in leadership then trained their ire on the prime minister and stormed his office.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left aboard an air force plane bound for the Maldives, and he made his prime minister the acting president in his absence. That appeared to only further roil passions in the island nation, which has been gripped for months by an economic meltdown that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

Thousands of protesters who wanted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to go had anticipated that he would be put in charge. They rallied outside his office compound, and some scaled the walls. The crowd roared its support for the people charging in and tossed water bottles to them. People arrives at the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Dozens could later be seen inside the office or standing on a rooftop terrace waving Sri Lankas flag  the latest in a series of takeovers of government buildings by demonstrators seeking a new government.

We need both  to go home, said Supun Eranga, a 28-year-old civil servant in the crowd. Ranil couldnt deliver what he promised during his two months, so he should quit. All Ranil did was try to protect the Rajapaksas.

But Wickremesinghe appeared on television to reiterate that he would not leave until a new government was in place  though he urged the Parliament speaker to find a new prime minister agreeable to both the government and the opposition. It was not clear when that would happen, in part because the opposition is deeply fractured. Sri Lanka army officer stands guard as a protester sits on the table inside the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Although he fled, Rajapaksa has yet to officially resign, but the speaker of the parliament said the president assured him he would do so later in the day.

The political impasse only threatened to worsen the bankrupt nations economic collapse since the absence of an alternative government could delay a hoped-for bailout from the International Monetary Fund. In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from neighboring India and from China.

Police initially used tear gas to try to disperse the protesters outside the prime ministers office but failed, and more and more marched down the lane toward the compound. As helicopters flew overhead, some demonstrators held up their middle fingers. Sri Lankan protesters storm prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe 's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Eventually security forces appeared to give up, with some retreating from the area and others simply standing around the overrun compound. Inside the building, the mood was celebratory, as people sprawled on elegant sofas, watched TV and held mock meetings in wood-paneled conference rooms. Some wandered around as if touring a museum.

We will cook here, eat here and live here. We will stay until (Wickremesinghe) hands over his resignation, said Lahiru Ishara, 32, a supervisor at a supermarket in Colombo who has been a part of the protests since they kicked off in April. Theres no other alternative.

Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Shavendra Silva issued another call for calm Wednesday and asked the public to cooperate with security forces. Similar comments in recent days rankled opposition lawmakers, who insisted that civilian leaders would be the ones to find a solution. People watch propaganda materials displayed against prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe outside president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Over the weekend, protesters seized the presidents home and office and the official residence of the prime minister following months of demonstrations that have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa familys political dynasty, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

Protesters accuse the president and his relatives of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksas administration of hastening the countrys collapse by mismanaging the economy.

The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajapaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown, which has left the island nation laden with debt and unable to pay for imports of basic necessities. A protester, carrying national flag, stands with others on top of the building of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office, and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a nationwide state of emergency to counter swelling protests over the country's economic and political collapse. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The shortages have sown despair among Sri Lankas 22 million people. The countrys rapid decline was all the more shocking because, before the recent crisis, the economy had been expanding, and a comfortable middle class was growing.

Not only Gotabaya and Ranil, all 225 members of Parliament should go home. Because for the last few decades, family politics have ruined our country, said Madusanka Perera, a laborer who came to Colombo from the citys outskirts on the day protesters occupied the first government buildings. He lost his job, and his father, a driver, cant work because of fuel shortages.

Im 29 years old  I should be having the best time of life, but instead I dont have a job, no money and no life, he said. A Sri Lankan protester waves the national flag from the roof top of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office, and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a nationwide state of emergency to counter swelling protests over the country's economic and political collapse. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

As the protests escalated Wednesday outside the prime ministers compound, his office imposed a state of emergency that gives broader powers to the military and police and declared an immediate nationwide curfew. It was unclear what effect the curfew would have: Some ignored it, while many others rarely leave their homes anyway because of fuel shortages.

In his TV appearance, Wickremesinghe said he created a committee of police and military chiefs to restore order.

The air force earlier said in a statement that it provided an aircraft, with defense ministry approval, for the president and his wife to travel to the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean known for exclusive tourist resorts. It said all immigration and customs laws were followed. Protesters, one carrying national flag, storm the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office, and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a nationwide state of emergency to counter swelling protests over the country's economic and political collapse. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Local media in the Maldives reported that Rajapaksas planned travel to another country was delayed, forcing him to remain there Wednesday night.

The whereabouts of other family members who had served in the government, including several who resigned their posts in recent months, were uncertain.

Sri Lankan presidents are protected from arrest while in power, and it is likely Rajapaksa planned his escape while he still had constitutional immunity. A corruption lawsuit against him in his former role as a defense official was withdrawn when he was elected president in 2019. Protesters storm the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Sri Lankas president fled the country without stepping down Wednesday, plunging a country already reeling from economic chaos into more political turmoil. Protesters demanding a change in leadership then trained their ire on the prime minister and stormed his office. (AP Photo/ Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Assuming Rajapaksa resigns as planned, Sri Lankan lawmakers agreed to elect a new president on July 20 who will serve the remainder of Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024. That person could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament.

Gotabaya resigning is one problem solved  but there are so many more, said Bhasura Wickremesinghe, a 24-year-old student of maritime electrical engineering, who is not related to the prime minister.

He complained that Sri Lankan politics have been dominated for years by old politicians who all need to go. Politics needs to be treated like a job  you need to have qualifications that get you hired, not because of what your last name is, he said, referring to the Rajapaksa family. Protesters use an iron barricade to break the gate as they storm the compound of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Sri Lankas president fled the country without stepping down Wednesday, plunging a country already reeling from economic chaos into more political turmoil. Protesters demanding a change in leadership then trained their ire on the prime minister and stormed his office. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

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Associated Press writer Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.

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Find more of APs Sri Lanka coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/sri-lanka
HALIFAX  For 19 years, Lisa Banfield lived with a man described as a controlling, abusive psychopath who repeatedly beat her.

This long-term pattern of gender-based violence is described in detail in a document released Wednesday by the inquiry investigating why Gabriel Wortman fatally shot 22 people in Nova Scotia on April 18-19, 2020  the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history.

Part of the inquirys mandate is to examine the role of intimate partner violence, as it formulates recommendations aimed at preventing this kind of tragedy from happening again. Lisa Banfield, spouse of Gabriel Wortman, puts on a face mask at Nova Scotia provincial court in Dartmouth, N.S., on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

In her own words, Banfield told inquiry investigators about the physical abuse she endured as the killers common-law wife.

The things Gabriel would do to me included: grabbing me sexually  (and) physically push me around (out of the way, on the bed, or to the ground/floor), she said in a written statement provided to the inquiry June 22.

(He would) pull me up by my hair to get me off the ground until my scalp felt like it was going to rip off  punch me (body, face, neck), and kick me. Though I remember he only raped me once. I felt that I was his wife and what could I do?

Aside from the physical abuse, there was also plenty of psychological harm, the statement says.

He pulled a gun on me and came after me a couple of times, saying that we are done. And I dont even know how I talked him down, she said.

He would even beat me in front of his friends. They would watch and not do anything about it. I knew no one could help me. They were all scared of him, too.

Banfield, now 53 years old, is expected to testify at a public hearing on Friday.

In a series of interviews this year, she told inquiry investigators she first met Wortman at a bar in Halifax in May 2001. Both had left previous marriages, and three months later, they moved in together.

Within a year, he pressured her to sign a document aimed at protecting his ownership of properties and other assets.

In previously released interviews with the RCMP, Banfield had said the first two and a half years of their relationship were positive, and she described her spouse as loving, kind and generous.

But she told inquiry investigators that his violent behaviour began much earlier. In particular, she described an assault she endured in 2001 or 2002 outside a cottage near Sutherland Lake, north of their summer home in Portapique, N.S. Banfield said Wortman threw punches at her when she climbed into their Jeep and insisted on leaving.

I jumped out and I just ran through the woods, she said. And then he caught me. I had blood all over me and he was dragging me back to the Jeep.

There were witnesses to the assault. Police were called, but no action was taken. When she returned home, she found Wortman removing the wheels from her car in a bid to keep her from leaving.

Ms. Banfield told the commission that throughout her relationship with the perpetrator, she had to focus on what was in front of her at that moment, rather than what happened in the past  as a means of coping, the 100-page summary of evidence says.

It was only when Ms. Banfield went back and read some of the journals she kept during their relationship that she recognized the frequency of the violence and how early on  the mistreatment started.

The inquirys latest report goes on to describe Wortmans frequent infidelity, his chronic alcoholism and his persistent efforts to control Banfield through manipulation, intimidation, threats and financial coercion.

For years, she worked as his assistant in his Dartmouth, N.S., denture clinic, which provided her only source of income. Her family was worried she was becoming too dependent on him.

Im close to my siblings and I talk to them every day, but he didnt like that, Banfield told the RCMP. He wanted all of my attention, and if I didnt give it to him, he was like a little boy  that needed a constant build-me-up kinda thing . Throughout our relationship, hed be very controlling.

She initially told the RCMP that she could recall about 10 times when she suffered abuse at the hands of her partner. But she later told inquiry investigators that the number was higher, based on what she had written in her journals.

At one point, in 2003 or 2004, a neighbour confronted Wortman at his Portapique home and demanded that he allow Banfield to collect her things and leave, the document says. No ones coming in this house, he is quoted as responding. And Im just letting you know, Ive got guns in here.

Banfield confirmed that she never told police about her dangerous living situation, despite encouragement from some of her siblings. At one point, they took photos of her injuries, but those pictures have since disappeared.

Where am I going to go even if I left, she told the inquiry investigators. He knows where (my relatives) all live and I didnt know what he would do.

Banfield also said that while she was aware Wortman had illegal guns, she was scared to report them. She also said when police came to the couples door in 2010, after Wortman had threatened to kill his parents, she lied to them, saying there were no guns in the house  fearing a possible gun battle between police and her spouse.

Inquiry lawyer Gillian Hnatiw asked Banfield: And so, when they asked you about the presence of firearms in the house, you told them no as part of wanting to keep them out of it? Banfield replied, (I was) afraid they (the police) would get hurt.

Banfield said she eventually stopped talking to her siblings about the violence, but they knew Wortmans controlling, abusive behaviour had not stopped.

Hes a psychopath or a sociopath, hes a narcissist, Banfields sister, Janice, told the inquiry, adding that he was a ticking time bomb.

Meanwhile, the inquiry released a series of four videos Wednesday that show Banfield in Portapique on Oct. 23, 2020, where she re-enacted for the RCMP what happened on the first night of the rampage after she and Wortman got into an argument over their anniversary plans.

In the video, Banfields voice is shaky and she sobs as she explains how Wortman attacked her in their Portapique home before setting it on fire. He then dragged her to a nearby warehouse, where he pushed her into the back seat of his replica RCMP cruiser.

Looking at his eyes, there was nothing there, she said. It was just so cold.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2022.

 With files from Michael Tutton in Halifax.
Hes only six and has just arrived in Winnipeg from Ukraine, but Sviatsolav Nakonechnyi proudly made his first Canadian vehicle using a cardboard packing box and construction-paper wheels.

Im making a car, a huge car, he proclaimed in Ukrainian to a group of visitors touring the nursery room at St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church Monday, where 20 five- and six-year-olds were building their own cardboard vehicles as part of an English language and life skills summer program.

Down the hall, a group of seven- and eight-year-olds learned about road signs through a bingo game, while elsewhere in the building tweens and teens played games or learned how to marble paper. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Metropolitan Archbishop Lawrence Huculak greets a group of children at a summer camp for school-aged Ukrainian refugee children on Tuesday.

Now in its second week, the day camp for about 70 school-aged Ukrainian newcomers  dubbed U-WIN  is a collaboration between the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg and N.E.E.D.S. Inc, a non-profit organization that supports immigrant and refugee children and youth.

Its trying to be a positive spin on you, Ukrainian, Winnipeg, win, and opportunity, explained camp logistics co-ordinator Susan Zuk about the name of the eight-week program, which operates out of the East Kildonan-area church this month and will move to R.F. Morrison School in August.

Born out of a call to Ukrainian Catholic churches by Metropolitan Archbishop Lawrence Huculak to support Ukrainian families in Winnipeg displaced by the Russian invasion of their country, the idea to hold a summer day camp for children ages 5 to 15 quickly gathered momentum and supporters well beyond the archeparchy, said Rev. Mark Gnutel of St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Day camp leader Lesia Yaroshenko helps 10-year-old Yeva Chaikovska make marbled paper.

The N.E.E.D.S. partnership is crucial to making this happen, said Gnutel, whose parish donated space and volunteer time.

As a church, we wanted to help, but we didnt know how.

About two-thirds of the camps $140,000 budget has been raised from churches, community groups, foundations and other Ukrainian organizations. More donations are anticipated, said Huculak, who visited the summer camp on Tuesday sporting a hat in yellow and blue, the colours of the Ukrainian flag. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Five-year-old Oryna Bganka plays around with a cardboard box craft on Tuesday.

The need is there, the desire to help is there, the finances are out there, said Huculak, adding the archeparchy issues tax receipts for donations toward the summer camp expenses.

Its a matter of co-ordinating it together.

The budget covers salaries for nine staff members, buses to transport children to and from camp, program supplies and field trips, said Zuk. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dima Oliinyk (left), 15, and Oleksil Petruchek, 15, solve Rubiks Cubes on Tuesday.

With the church and archeparchy supplying the infrastructure, the staff at N.E.E.D.S. offer their expertise in orientating newcomers to Canadian life, said director of operations Kirby Borgardt.

Without partnering to do this, neither of us would have the capacity to do this on our own, she said.

The campers spend half of each day developing English language skills and orientation to Winnipeg provided by N.E.E.D.S. staff, and the other half participating in games, crafts and outdoor activities led by U-WIN staff. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Day camp leader Alona Oliinyk (right) helps Arina Chychul, 13, solve a Rubiks Cube.

For a pair of 15-year-olds who attend the program, the day camp has led to making new friends and understanding more about Canadian culture and geography. The teenagers are gaining volunteer experience by assisting younger children on field trips or outings to the local park or splash pad.

Its pretty fun and I like it, said Dima Oliinyk, who will enter Grade 10 in the fall.

I was planning on coming here (to Canada) after graduation to study at university, added Oleksii Petruchek, who arrived in Winnipeg in late April along with his parents and two brothers.

(We have) no family, no friends (here), we are the first.

Many of the staff are also Ukrainian newcomers, grateful to add Canadian work experience to their resumes, explained camp director and senior counsellor Lesia Yaroshenko, a resident of Kyiv who arrived in Winnipeg two months ago.

It was a great idea to mix Ukrainian and Canadian counsellors, said the journalist and communications specialist, whose husband, a cameraman, is now in the Ukrainian army.

We feel the same things the kids feel, and the Canadian team does not feel this, (which) is good news.

Although its only the second week in, Zuk cautiously calls the camp a success, judging by the enthusiasm and energy of the campers, the support of Winnipeggers and the continued requests for them to take more children. Unfortunately, the program is at capacity, she said.

Were going to affect about 100 kids lives by the end of this, and almost 70 families, Zuk said of the impact for Ukrainians recently arrived in Winnipeg.

We can see some of the struggles (the children) are having and some of the fun and relief theyre having.

brenda@suderman.com
Ottawa has committed more than $5 million to improve rail safety in Manitoba.

The lions share ($4.4 million) will fund a University of Calgary study on thawing permafrost along the Hudson Bay Railway, which connects Churchill with the south of the province, including potential mitigation strategies, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Wednesday in Winnipeg.

Increased temperatures in the north are creating hazards along the 1,300-kilometre railway, thawing the typically frozen earth beneath rail lines and making them unstable, Alghabra said at the Canadian National Railways intermodal terminal. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says a new study will help find ways to keep the rail line to Churchill and other northern lines safe in the face of climate change.

The study will help us find ways to keep the corridor and other northern lines safe and resilient in the face of a rapidly changing climate, he said.

Along with the permafrost research, Ottawa tabbed a further $700,000 to finance 10 projects that will upgrade and research safety for Manitoba rail lines.

The minister, who arrived Tuesday night from Windsor, Ont., encountered some of the recent issues impacting air travel in Canada.

There was about an hour delay to my flight, Alghabra said. We are witnessing a lot of pressure on our aviation network, and there are a lot of causes for this, but it really boils down to a surge in demand where labour is still trying to come back to its traditional level.

The federal Liberal government has given $11 billion in funding to the aviation industry in the form of direct support and loans over the last year, Alghabra said, adding his department has been working directly with airports to resolve travel bottlenecks.

Alghabra stressed the aviation industry is improving and pointed to a new automated gate system at Toronto Pearson International Airport as an example of how airports are investing federal funds.

Pearson, Canadas largest airport, has faced public criticism in recent months, with passengers complaining of extensive delays, cancellations and lost luggage.

According to a government news release, Alghabra met with chief executives from WestJet and Air Canada last week to discuss current and planned efforts to improve air travel.

The railway investments are among the recent efforts by the Department of Transport to confront Canadas COVID-crippled supply chains.

On Tuesday, Alghabra announced $5 million in funding to increase warehouse capacity and loading efficiency at Ontarios Port of Windsor, the third-largest Canadian port on the Great Lakes.

with files from Dylan Robertson

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
A firefighter-in-training has died after being injured on duty.

Tyler Riley Manych was training for the Manitoba Wildfire Service in The Pas when he was critically injured on Monday in an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle, a social-media post from the Thompson Professional Firefighters Association said.

He died on Tuesday. SUPPLIED Tyler Riley Manych was training for the Manitoba Wildfire Service in The Pas when he was critically injured in an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle.

The tragedy is another reminder of the danger faced by firefighters, said Alex Forrest, president of the Manitoba Professional Firefighters Association.

This is a tragedy for not only the firefighters of Manitoba, who will be mourning a loss of one of their own, but this is a tragedy for every citizen in the province of Manitoba because this individual was training to do his job representing the jurisdiction that he was trained to protect, he said.

Manych will be memorialized like any other firefighter who has died on the job.

I have attended multiple funerals for firefighters who have died while training, Forrest said.

Wildlife firefighters often begin the job while young, and training can put them in dangerous situations, Forrest said. Manychs death will be investigated by the wildfire service and the fire department that was training him.

Firefighters will be fully co-operative, will be fully involved in that process, because we want to find out exactly how this occurred as much as anybody. We want to find out how we can avoid this in the future, he said.

The United Firefighters of Winnipeg union has recorded 92 firefighters who have died while working, or of illnesses related to the nature of firefighting, since 1921.

Staff
The police helicopter will be grounded, Winnipeg will have net-zero emissions, and all residents will have a key to a safe home.

Those are key elements of Glen Murrays vision for Winnipeg, which the mayoral candidate has laid out in five campaign priorities.

While he doesnt expect to achieve some of the most ambitious goals until 2040, a date thats more than four full council terms away, Murray said his 2022 campaign will unveil specific steps toward achieving all of the goals. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayoral candidate Glen Murray laid out five campaign priorities on Tuesday.

I havent been mayor for (18) years, but the (Canada Life Centre) arena got built, the human rights museum got built, rapid transit got built  these are all things that we laid the groundwork for and we steered and navigated and negotiated, said Murray.

Its not just what you do when you are mayor, but (its also about) the things that came out of it.

While he did serve as Winnipegs mayor from 1998 to 2004, Murray acknowledged those developments were led by other groups and didnt take place during his time in office. However, he said its important that city council supported them. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Glen Murray doesnt expect to achieve some of the most ambitious goals until 2040, but will unveil specific steps toward achieving all of his goals.

If elected mayor, Murray said he would introduce a quick-start program within councils first 100 days in office to lay out his first round of five-year planning targets.

Perhaps one of the earliest targets would be paired with a goal to ground the Winnipeg Police Service helicopter, as one part of a strategy to partner with community groups to reduce crime.

Its a cost that I dont think is justifiable there are lots of better ways to spend a couple of million dollars in policing (and) also in community development. I think the time has come and gone for that and I think its time to move on, said Murray.

He would prefer to have more beat cops on the street and rely on more drones instead.

There is a whole new generation of (technology) that is more agile, less expensive and more flexible than a helicopter. I think that there are replacements for the helicopter that may be much more effective, said Murray.

The citys mayor doesnt have the authority to manage police operations, but council could pass a safety strategy, in consultation with police, to get those changes implemented, Murray said.

By contrast, the police department has long described the chopper as a valuable tool. A police report credits Air1 for helping to save 13 lives, locate 738 people, assist with 101 pursuits and respond to 371 incidents involving weapons and/or assaults. The helicopter responded to 2,446 events in 2020 and cost about $2.1 million to operate that year.

Other parts of Murrays vision would be much more complicated to implement, such as his goal to ensure Winnipeg produces net-zero waste and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, which he argues the city is the right size to achieve.

Winnipeg is a Goldilocks city. Its just big enough to have everything we need to make these things happen, but its small enough to have a leadership group where people know each other and we can make decisions much more quickly than a big city like Toronto, he said.

Its within reach to ensure all Winnipeggers have a key to a safe place to call home by 2040, Murray said, estimating the city could commit to housing 3,000 more people over the next 10 years with the right investments and partnerships.

In both cases, details will be available later in the campaign, he said.

His other priorities include ensuring the citys infrastructure is in a state of good repair and entering a bold new partnership in shared governance with Indigenous people.

A political expert said the former mayor is a front-runner.

The front-runners are starting to be Scott Gillingham and Glen Murray because theyre showing some of the indicators of drawing strong endorsements from reputable folks (and) they have a good profile, said Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

Several past and present city councillors have endorsed Gillinghams mayoral bid, while the United Firefighters of Winnipeg union is backing Murray.

That endorsement by the firefighters means that Glen Murray is not just a has-been, hes a for-real candidate, said Adams, noting Murrays priority list should appeal to centre-left voters.

However, Adams cautioned its tough to predict who will lead the race this early in the campaign, due to a lack of publicly released polls to rank the many candidates.

Jenny Motkaluk, Chris Clacio, Don Woodstock, Rick Shone, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Shaun Loney, Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, and Desmond Thomas have also registered to run for mayor.

The election takes place on Oct. 26.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson took aim at Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth and threw her support behind front-line officers, after a recent streak of violent crime was described as nothing new by the citys top cop.

In an interview late Tuesday afternoon, Stefanson told the Free Press she was really disappointed with comments made by the police chief following a series of high-profile incidents, including the stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee at The Forks.

It sort of seemed to almost normalize these violent activities that are taking place in Winnipeg and Im very concerned about that, Stefanson told the Free Press. Our front-line officers have done such amazing work throughout very, very difficult times and I wanted to send a message: we have their backs. Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson to front-line WPS officers: We have their backs.

During a news conference July 8, the WPS chief suggested such crimes were not unusual in the city. Nothing that were talking about today is new. Nothing. This is a concern to us, but its not new to us (police), Smyth said.

On Tuesday, Stefanson said she had a productive call with Winnipeg Police Association president Moe Sabourin to hear whats really happening within the ranks of the service and express her support.

He was very appreciative, and was going to let his front-line officers know.

A statement issued by the premier further solidified her allegiance with the union representing more than 1,400 officers, which has challenged Smyth to do more to address public safety concerns and the health of its members.

In her statement, Stefanson said she and Sabourin agreed the incidents cannot be the new normal in Winnipeg.

Let me be clear, violent attacks against innocent civilians will never be acceptable. Manitobans deserve to feel safe and protected in their community, the premier said.

Sabourin said it felt very good to have the premiers staff reach out to him about having a conversation, which occurred virtually.

Because weve had that relationship in the past, and weve had good conversations, to have the premier reach out and say, We hear you, and to make a statement in support of us, is very important.

He said he hoped Stefansons vocal support would make it clear comments made by the union arent self-serving, rather, made out of concern for the public.

A survey of WPS officers taken last year reported high percentages of burnout, anxiety and overwork. While Sabourin stopped short of calling on Smyth to step down, he said members are ready to see him go after a year of slow-moving action from the top.

There are operational things that need to be done, but I would also say that, as far as morale, I dont know if there is anything that the chief can do at this point that would reverse that weve seen in the past year, he said.

The WPA is calling on the Winnipeg Police Board to make a decision based on concerns being brought forward now when the decision to extend or end Smyths contract next comes. (In 2021, the board extended Smyths contract until at least 2023.)

The majority of my members would be ecstatic if we had a new chief, Sabourin said.

Board chairman Coun. Markus Chambers said the acrimony between the union and chief is no secret. However, the premiers concern over Smyths stance on crime will not influence the board, he added.

As a board, we report to the citizens of Winnipeg, not to the premier.

Chambers did not answer directly Tuesday when asked if the premiers disappointment with the chief weakens public confidence in the WPS. However, he acknowledged it is rare for a premier to weigh in on the public communications of a police chief.

Elected officials words are very powerful words That does have a direct impact in terms of those statements that are made, he said.

Smyth continues to have the full confidence of the board and the WPS is responding to public safety concerns  not trying to normalize violence, Chambers said.

He added the provincial government is responsible for housing, mental health and addictions services: issues that often occupy police resources.

In some cases, they dont need a gun and a badge response, Chambers said. From that perspective, if the province could step up on those issues, (the premier) is welcome to make those comments accordingly.

Opposition justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said the premiers public disappointment with Smyth undermines the police chief, while adopting a narrative of rising crime ahead of the next general election (2023).

Im not entirely surprised that this premier chose to lean into this moment, when the public seemingly is worried about a rise in crime, the NDP MLA said. Despite the chief of police saying these are numbers that we typically see, she has actually just stoked those fires.

I think thats incredibly naive and irresponsible for a premier to do.

 with files from Dylan Robertson and Malak Abas

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  Premier Heather Stefanson said the federal government has missed a major opportunity to begin shifting health care out of crisis mode, by refusing to indicate when it will increase funding for hospitals and doctors.

I just find it really disappointing. We just need to get to the table, she told the Free Press at the end of a two-day meeting of Canadas premiers in Victoria. I dont think were that far off of alignment.

The Trudeau government has said it will negotiate more generous health transfers to the provinces, but has refused to hold a meeting on the issue  something the 13 premiers and territorial leaders first asked for in the fall of 2020. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Premier Heather Stefanson said Manitoba has been rolling out its priorities in part to show Ottawa how it would use more health funding, including reducing diagnostic and surgical backlogs, and on personal care homes.

The premiers have demanded the federal government increase its share of health funding to 35 per cent, from the current 22 per cent. Associations that represent nurses and doctors say the formula has failed to keep up with costs and made it difficult to provide quality care to Canadians.

If theyre not acknowledging and recognizing the crisis in communities across the country, theyre asleep at the switch, summit host B.C. Premier John Horgan said at a closing news conference.

This week, Liberal ministers chastised the premiers for not using the power they received years ago to raise taxes to pay for health care.

They said their government is reluctant to hand over cash that isnt tied to specific outcomes, given auditors general have raised questions about whether Ontario and Alberta used federal COVID-19 funding for its stated purpose.

In past years, some provinces have diverted federal health stipends to other uses, such as tax cuts and rebates they gave to voters ahead of an election cycle.

The Manitoba NDP raised a similar concern Tuesday, urging Ottawa to tie any increased cash to specific health-care targets that are publicly reported.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew accused the PCs of just taking advantage of a popular issue, and then theyre going to come back and use that money for their own pet projects.

Halfway through the summit, the former head of Manitobas civil service lifted the curtain on past health funding negotiations. David McLaughlin told the news site Politico that former premier Brian Pallister had tried to convince premiers to peg their requests for health care cash to specific projects.

McLaughlin claimed that was a non-starter for Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

On Tuesday, Stefanson said Manitoba has been rolling out its priorities in part to show Ottawa how it would use more health funding, including reducing diagnostic and surgical backlogs, and on personal care homes.

Weve already started to indicate what our priorities are; I think theyre pretty much in alignment with where the feds want to go, said Stefanson.

I hope they will put whatever it is aside, and just come to the table, she said, striking a more conciliatory tone than her peers.

Horgan, for example, said tying funding to specific projects smacked of a serf relationship instead of respecting provinces as having equal importance as Ottawa.

The federal government is creating a problem that doesnt really exist, he said.

Horgan said the collaborative spirit Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had with the premiers throughout the pandemic has been replaced with quibbling.

In a joint statement Tuesday, the premiers promised to harmonize labour codes and regulations so nurses and other professionals can more easily work across Canada.

Stefanson acknowledged that improving labour mobility could mean higher wages in Manitoba, to avoid nurses and others from getting poached.

We will be looking at some sort of an increase, said Stefanson.

If we want to attract people to Manitoba, we need to make sure that were competitive with other provinces, she said, adding its not just about wages, but affordability and competitive taxation.

The premiers want more of a voice in reforms to welfare and job training, to reflect provincial needs.

Their final statement said Ottawa could help to expand hydroelectricity and other energy exports to alleviate global supply shortages.

Stefanson wants the federal government to help ensure the Prairies fill gaps in a projected food shortage caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

We as a country, and we as a province, are looking at ways to help those countries that need our help.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Just three days after a woman jumped out of her moving vehicle during a terrifying broad-daylight carjacking in the Grant Park Shopping Centre parking lot, nearby residents were forced to deal with more shocking, random violence Tuesday evening.

An 84-year-old woman remained in critical condition Wednesday after undergoing surgery to repair wounds suffered in a vicious stabbing at about 9 p.m. while walking near the intersection of Lorette Avenue and Thurso Street, two blocks from the mall.

A 15-year-old Winnipeg teen is charged in the attack, which occurred while he was being chased on foot by two men after a failed break-in attempt at a nearby home owned by one of them. The pursuit ended in the malls parking lot, where both men suffered stab wounds while subduing the suspect, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said.

Officers responding to reports of multiple stabbings were assisted by the WPS helicopter and found the 43- and 46-year-old victims and the suspect in the lot before locating the woman whod been attacked.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Officers responding to reports of multiple stabbings found the 43- and 46-year-old victims and the suspect in the Grant Park mall parking lot.

Neighbours rushed to help the seriously wounded woman as she lay bleeding on the sidewalk.

Maria Kusumoto, 74, was in her Lorette Avenue home when she saw someone trying to get through her yards locked gate, and then jumping a fence into a neighbours yard. She went outside and saw a big commotion at the corner.

I went to see and there was this lady on the ground, stabbed. I saw she had white hair and found out she was 84 years old, said Kusumoto, motioning toward the sidewalk where blood was still visible at midday Wednesday.

A neighbour was applying pressure to the womans wounds and his wife was on the phone with 911, Kusumoto said, but it took a long time for an ambulance to arrive.

Imagine yourself being hurt and no help coming, she said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Gord Harris said his wife witnessed the initial chase and attack on the woman.

Gord Harris, 60, has lived on Lorette Avenue since 1985.

Its an 84-year-old lady walking down the street, didnt even have a purse, he wasnt trying to rob her  just senseless violence, he said, adding his wife witnessed the initial chase and attack on the woman.

This is very surprising  this is a super quiet neighbourhood.

The Winnipeg youth arrested at the scene faces two counts each of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon and mischief under $5,000, and one count each of assault with a weapon and break and enter with intent. He in custody.

Chancy said officers recovered two edged weapons at the scene, adding the victims did not know the suspect.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Residents say the attack was surprising, calling it a quiet neighbourhood.

Harris said hes frustrated with the youth criminal justice system.

The kids just going to keep doing the same thing, because theres no recourse. Itll be on your record until youre 18, he said, slapping his wrist for emphasis.

The violence follows Saturdays carjacking in the same parking lot. The victim, a woman in her 20s, was parked when she was confronted by a man who got into the vehicle and assaulted her.

The victim, who was taken to hospital in stable condition, later took to social media to share her story and photos of her injuries. In her online post, she said she had to jump from the vehicle as the suspect sped off.

The vehicle was later found nearby in the 900 block of Carter Street.

Police describe the suspect as a man with tanned skin, 23-35 years old, approximately six feet tall with a medium stocky build, a shaved head and trimmed beard. He remains at large, Chancy said.

The shopping centres general manager, Graham Bialek, said his thoughts are with the victims.

The safety and security of our community is the highest priority, he said in a statement.

The centre has already started to enhance its security policies and procedures, including increasing the security presence related to the exterior of the centre.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
The young woman was covered in blood and applying pressure to her boyfriends slashed-open stomach, as he prayed and waited for help after being repeatedly stabbed at a bush party on the outskirts of Winnipeg early Saturday morning.

I was terrified, I couldnt believe what was going on, I was in a state of shock  thats someone who I spend a lot of my time with, who I trust and love more than anyone else in the world, the 18-year-old woman who asked not to be identified told the Free Press.

Weve talked about the future together. I was just terrified that that was going to be taken from us.

Weve talked about the future together. I was just terrified that that was going to be taken from us.  Victims girlfriend

The attack that left her 18-year-old boyfriend in critical condition occurred around 12:30 a.m., after an argument between the teens who organized the gathering in a wooded area off Community Row about two kilometres south of Wilkes Avenue and others who werent invited.

Just-graduated Oak Park High School students organized the event also attended by an estimated 60 students and recent graduates from Westwood and Vincent Massey collegiates, among others.

The group of people who crashed the party included men who appeared older than school age and were asked to leave. The situation became heated and the group was escorted away from the site. The situation deteriorated on the path out of the bush, leading to a fight and the stabbing.

The victim appeared with blood squirting from his armpit, holding his left lower abdomen, where he had been partially eviscerated.

ERIK PINDERA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A rail crossing and set of hydroelectric lines on Community Row about two kilometres south of Wilkes Avenue. A bush party near this location turned bloody last week when an 18-year-old man was stabbed.

His girlfriend applied pressure to the stomach wound until a friend took over, allowing her to hold the victims head. She told him he would be OK, while others frantically tried to tend to his numerous wounds.

He was praying and just saying, This isnt how its going to be, this cant be how I die, the woman said.

His friends directed her away from the scene as they took over his care, and she collapsed to her knees when she found her girlfriends, sobbing as they washed her boyfriends blood from her hands.

Everyone is pretty traumatized by it, but banded together really well, and I think that everyone who was there helping him deserves credit for being so brave and for saving his life, she said.

They stabilized him before paramedics and officers were there he deserves a lot of credit, too, for being so brave.

Everyone is pretty traumatized by it, but banded together really well, and I think that everyone who was there helping him deserves credit for being so brave and for saving his life.  Victims girlfriend

Winnipeg Police Service was called to the scene at 12:39 a.m. The first two officers to arrive couldnt locate the victim initially, but travelled down the gravel road for about two kilometres until several teens flagged them down.

The teens said that their friend had been stabbed but was some distance away in a bushy, muddy area. The officers gathered their medical equipment and were led about a kilometre through the difficult terrain to where he was.

He was suffering from a large stab wound to his right chest, another near his left armpit and a laceration near his spine, a police source said.

The worst injury, the source said, was on the mans lower left abdomen, where his intestines were protruding from the wound.

ERIK PINDERA/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

The intersection of Wilkes Avenue and Community Row, near where a bush party turned bloody Saturday, July 9, 2022, when an 18-year-old man was stabbed.

At a news conference Monday, police spokesman Const. Jay Murray said officers applied multiple chest seals and other emergency medical aid along with Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel.

Our officers were told when they arrived at the hospital, that had those attempts to stabilize him not occurred, this wouldve been a homicide, Murray told reporters.

The police source said Tuesday responding paramedics bandages werent large enough to treat the gaping wound alone, so officers had to assist with bandages from tactical medical kits. In total, 11 police cars responded to the scene on the edge of south Winnipeg, along with fire paramedic service personnel.

The victim remains in hospital, where his condition has improved, his girlfriend told the Free Press.

Our officers were told when they arrived at the hospital, that had those attempts to stabilize him not occurred, this wouldve been a homicide.  Const. Jay Murray

Apart from many fresh-looking ruts in the muck, there were no obvious signs of the near-death emergency response Tuesday morning on Community Row, a gravel road that turns to dirt set between farm fields with patches of dense bush on the edges.

A few crushed beer cans and an empty vodka bottle sat near a spent firework left near a rail crossing adjacent to hydro lines, which intersect the single-lane road about two kilometres south of Wilkes Avenue.

Major crimes investigators have spoken to numerous witnesses from the scene and made significant progress on the investigation, Murray said Monday, but as of Tuesday morning no arrests had been made.

 With files from Jeff Hamilton

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
Opinion

The Winnipeg Police Service recently did an excellent job of acknowledging carjackings  the oft-violent theft of an occupied vehicle  are on the rise.

Police confirmed last week, in the first four months of 2022, there have been 59 reported carjackings. It is a pace that far exceeds the last three years, when the city logged an average of 120 occupied vehicle thefts annually.

WPS also did a good job of explaining it believes the spike in carjackings was due to increased desperation among those with substance abuse problems.

What local police did not say is this is hardly a Winnipeg problem; auto thefts in general are on the rise almost everywhere. Toronto has logged 93 carjackings in the first five months of 2022, up from 21 over the same period the year before. In Montreal, police reported more than 6,500 vehicle thefts in 2021, a 36 per cent increase over 2020.

Chicago, which leads the U.S. in carjackings, had more than 1,800 occupied vehicles stolen last year, an increase of more than 500 per cent since 2014.

Recognizing a continent-wide phenomenon should help curb the tendency of politicians  including candidates in this falls Winnipeg municipal elections  to politicize the issue.

Crime is almost always top-of-mind in politics. While that can make for great theatre, it ignores a fundamental reality: crime rises or falls regardless of which party or politician is in power, how many police are put on the street or how severely criminals are punished.

Crime is the product of the chemical reaction that comes from the collision of social and economic factors. Even though most politicians know this, they cant resist the temptation to use the issue as a political wedge.

A prime example could be found Tuesday on Manitoba Premier Heather Stefansons Twitter feed. With nobody asking her to weigh in, Stefanson nonetheless pledged her support to the Winnipeg Police Association in an increasingly bitter feud with WPS Chief Danny Smyth.

The chief drew the ire of the police union last week, when he said a recent spate of assaults at The Forks, while concerning, were no reason for panic. Smyth said such assaults were not new, but part of the challenge police and the community have faced for some time.

As good unions do, the WPA immediately seized on these comments to slam Smyth and call for more police foot patrols to combat a situation that is spiralling out of control.

In a tweet, Stefanson threw in with the WPA while throwing Smyth under a bus.

Very concerned with the comments from Winnipeg police chief on recent crime events in Winnipeg, Stefanson posted. Glad to connect with WPA president Mo Sabourin today to offer my unwavering support for our officers. Youve got our backs. We have yours.

Politics is a cynical world, but even so, this was a pretty shameless bit of pandering by the first minister. Its also evidence politicians will incite panic on crime when it serves political agendas.

In Toronto, for example, police have responded to the spike in carjackings by launching the organized crime investigative support team. With a budget of $2.3 million, it will investigate citywide major crime activity where the investigative scope exceeds the resources of local divisions or has links to organized crime.

Although it makes for good headlines, it has very little chance of curbing carjackings.

The quintessential crime of opportunity, carjackings are committed when victims are isolated from other vehicles or pedestrians and certainly outside the line of sight of law enforcement. A dedicated investigative unit may be able to slowly catch up to the busiest repeat offenders, but only well after they have stolen the cars.

If not a blue ribbon police task force, then what are we to do? The solution depends on what you think is driving the issue.

Toronto police have positioned this as an organized crime issue. In Winnipeg, police believe the rise in vehicle thefts is due to desperate drug addicts.

Neither of those explanations captures the complexity of this situation.

A recent study from the University of Chicagos Crime Lab says carjackers were getting younger. The study ultimately found a correlation between youth being arrested and absenteeism in virtual education. The authors theorized rampant absenteeism meant vulnerable youth were missing out on recreational opportunities and contact with social and mental health services provided by schools.

If the study is a fair and accurate picture of the forces behind the carjacking epidemic, then we all need to be more skeptical about anyone  be they premier, union president or candidate for mayor  who claims the problem can be solved with more officers or stiffer penalties.

Smyth may have lacked compassion in his comments, but he was not wrong. This is a long-standing problem that requires more attention to root causes  and entirely less political theatre.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

During the 2008 global financial meltdown, the phrase too big to fail was employed to describe corporations so large and influential that their failure would cause catastrophic damage to the economy.

Governments offered massive support packages to allow such corporations and sectors  automotive, banking, insurance, investment  to weather the financial storm. The strategy proved generally effective, but it also offered a stark lesson regarding the dangers of allowing massive, oligopolistic corporations to hold excessive control of societys key levers.

Canadas telecommunications industry is by no means in the midst of an existential financial crisis  quite the opposite, if recent years balance sheets are any indication  but the events of last Friday suggest the nations telecom giants are both too big and too powerful, and yet are fully capable of failing. Daniel Crump DANIEL CRUMP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Rogers experienced a massive outage on Friday that disrupted internet and cellular service across Canada.

As a result of what its executives vaguely described as a network system failure following a maintenance update in our core network, which caused some of our routers to malfunction, Rogers Communications Inc. last Friday experienced a massive outage that disrupted internet and cellular service across Canada for what amounted to an entire day.

In addition to shutting down cell-phone communication for millions of subscribers, the outage also interrupted commercial activity by rendering the Interac debit system inoperable and, more crucially, made 911 emergency service unavailable to millions who depend on the Rogers system for communication.

It was an excruciatingly extended moment that exposed the weakness of Canadas telecom sector, which is dominated by three massive corporate players  Rogers, BCE (Bell) Inc. and Telus Corp. And in the aftermath, federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne summoned top executives from those companies, as well as Quebec-based Videotron Ltd., SaskTel and Maritime-based Eastlink, to an emergency conference-call discussion aimed at ensuring Canadians are protected from any such system-wide interruption in the future. ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne wants to create a co-operative framework that will require wireless carriers to support each other in the event of major network outages.

Mr. Champagne rightly demanded the companies chief executives immediately create a co-operative framework that will require wireless carriers to support each other in the event of major network outages, including the provision of emergency roaming across networks to protect wireless users from being shut out of critical services.

That framework must be implemented within 60 days.

While such an initiative might help shield Canadians  who, like citizens everywhere, have become overwhelmingly reliant on digital technology and mobile-device connections  from dangerous interruptions of service, it doesnt speak to a larger issue which has been central to the evolution of telecommunications technology and services: the inherent contradiction that lies in the countrys communications infrastructure  a public trust  being almost completely controlled by a small number of huge, for-profit corporations.

Over the span of decades, companies such as Rogers, BCE and Telus have expanded and consolidated to create massive conglomerates that hold great influence in the realms of cable/specialty television, telephone, internet and more. The nations communications/broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, has monitored and approved their growth, apparently in the belief a concentration of ownership and control, and a lack of competition in the sector, would not negatively impact Canadians.

Perhaps its time to reconsider that position. Perhaps its time to ask whether theres room for a publicly owned provider  one whose sole purpose is provision of digital service, rather than ensuring a healthy shareholder return  in the telecommunications landscape.

Last weeks massive technological failure should be seen by the government and the CRTC as an urgent call for action. As last Fridays events made abundantly clear, its possible for companies in key sectors to be, at the same time, far too big and far too fallible.
BOSTON (AP)  A familys beloved pet cat thats been dodging airport personnel, airline employees, and animal experts since escaping from a pet carrier at Bostons Logan International Airport about three weeks ago was finally caught Wednesday.

Whether out of fatigue or hunger well never know, but this morning she finally let herself be caught, an airport spokesperson said of the cat named Rowdy in a statement.

Rowdy was given a health check and will be returned to her family. This image provided courtesy of Massport, shows Rowdy the Cat, after being captured on Wednesday July 13, 2022, at Logan Airport in Boston. The cat has been dodging airport and airline personnel as well as animal experts since escaping from a pet carrier at Boston's Logan International Airport about three weeks ago. Patty Nolet Sahli posted on Facebook that the 4-year-old black female cat looks great and the family can't wait to be reunited. The family was returning to the U.S. after a deployment to Germany with the Army when Rowdy escaped her cage upon landing. (Courtesy of Massport via AP)

Im kind of in disbelief, said her owner, Patty Sahli. I thought, What are the odds were actually going to get her back? But I got a call this morning and I am just so shocked.

Rowdys time on the lam began June 24, as Sahli and her husband, Rich, returned to the U.S. from 15 years in Germany with the Army. When their Lufthansa flight landed, the 4-year-old black cat with green eyes escaped her cage, in pursuit of some birds.

Soon Rowdy herself was on the receiving end of a chase, as her getaway set off a massive search involving airport and Lufthansa personnel, construction workers, and animal welfare advocates, as well as the use of wildlife cameras and safe-release traps.

Despite numerous sightings, Rowdy always eluded her pursuers  but now, a little calm has been restored.

It was such a community effort, said Sahli, who is originally from New Hampshire and is moving to Florida. Were just so grateful to everyone who helped look for her.
In recent years, conversations around mental health have become more common, and perceptions are changing. And yet, while individuals are increasingly open about their depression and anxiety, some mental illnesses still bring feelings of shame or embarrassment and the harsh judgement of others.

There is an enormous amount of stigma around mental illness, says Alice Holstein, doctor of education and longtime mental health advocate in the La Crosse community. Its the one illness that, unlike cancer, unlike Parkinsons, unlike heart disease, is trouble by stigmatization.

Holstein herself has bipolar disorder, a mental illness often sensationalized in the media as sparking violence, inability to function or extreme episodes. For some, their mental illness can be debilitating, leading to impulsive or destructive behaviors and outbursts, while for others the effects are less intense or perceptible to the public.

No matter the diagnosis or severity level, Holstein is a proponent of thinking about mental illness under a fresh, multifaceted lens, the premise of her newest book, Reframing Mental Illness: Affirmations of Hope.

(Its about) seeing mental illness in a new way to change your mind, change your view of yourself, and improve your ability to heal and feel like a human being, Holstein says.

Holstein, 79, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder late in life at the age of 51. She had 17 stays in psychiatric wards, Holstein says, and struggled with paranoia, excessive spending, erratic behavior and, for a period, homelessness. She talks about her experiences in a previous book, A Tough Grace: Mental Illness as a Spiritual Path.

It was 12 hard years before I started to reclaim myself in a healthy way, Holstein says.

While Reframing Mental Illness touches on her personal experiences, it is designed as a workbook rather than a read-through biography.

Its history is that when I was at my sickest with my mental illness, I yearned for a book that would give me inspiration and make me think versus (a tome full of) platitudes, Holstein says. I found lots of affirmation books, but nothing for mental illness, so I wrote one myself.

Reflection, Holstein says, is what causes the transformation. The book is broken down into sections, with topics such as pride, clearing negativity, self examination, transforming bitter memories, and more. Holstein relates the topics to her own journey and then poses associated questions for the reader to journal about or discuss with a friend, therapist or support person. Prompts are wide ranging, from What dreams did you give up because of your mental illness? to In what ways do you honor your suffering?

(The) companion reflection questions help the reader think about the gifts or growth or lessons or skills that might be employed to encourage recovery, Holstein says. This often amounts to having the situation be a reframing from the usual aint it awful aspects of mental illness. When people change their minds about something, especially the stigmatized arena of mental illness, new possibilities for healing emerge. Motivation to make changes arises.

The book, Holstein says, Does not sugarcoat things  it deals with the rigors, the breakthroughs, the hard work that recovery requires. It challenges the reader, supports, comforts, encourages self-discovery and the distillation that creates wisdom ... urging healers and those needing to be healed to see things as a brave journey, worthy of the highest esteem and honor. It illuminates what it is like to suffer and recover.

Holstein advises working through the book a bite at a time, tackling one to three pages a day. The book, she stresses, is not a substitute for professional help or medication, but has the specialness of coming from an authentic voice that knows what its like.

This book is unique precisely for (the) reason that it is not clinical, and unique in the field of books on the subject, says Patti Jo Severson, MS, RD, an educator and family advocate of 25 years. Her experience includes serving as chair of the Mental Health Coalition, co-president of NAMI Wisconsin, member on the State Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, family educator for NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program and member of the Patient and Family Advisory Council of Gundersen Inpatient Behavioral Health.

The lived experience, and vignette, handbook style of the book make it so accessible for the reader, Severson says.

This is a book about getting well and finding hope, says Severson. It expresses the personal side of living with an illness, surviving and thriving in an often unforgiving world. The power of finding someone else who has walked the path, navigated the experience, and thrives. Alice has given voice to those living with mental illness, and insight for those who treat mental illness, and family and friends.

Dr. Ron Malzer, who worked for over three decades as a psychologist and taught family medicine residents principles of psychology for use in their work with patients, also sees value in a book written from a personal perspective. Mental health professionals, he says, Need to work hard to keep up with ongoing research into what helps with mental illness. But if in the midst of their focus on medical and technical skills they lose track of the healing power of the one-on-one relationship with their patient, their best interventions will be compromised.

The book, Malzer says, Is a powerful statement that compassion was a vital part of saving (Holsteins) mental health. It will help those needing mental healthcare to look for compassionate healers. Its also a good read for professionals, showing them what receiving help and healing feels like from the inside.

The one thing needed desperately by people struggling with mental illness, Malzer says, is Hope hope that ones current distress will change for the better. Alices book, telling her personal story of being hit by serious mental illness, and then making a solid recovery from it, will provide a great deal of hope to those who read it. I believe individuals who become emotionally challenged, and their families, will find both hope and practical suggestions for managing mental illness.

Mental illness is a lifelong journey, and Holstein still counts on the support of the people in her circle of love who help keep her accountable, grounded, and conducting my life in an orderly way. An author of four books, writing is part of her healing, but Holstein emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to managing and living with mental illness.

We are mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and social beings, Holstein says. To be well you need to work at all those levels.

Reframing Mental Illness: Affirmations of Hope, is available for purchase on Amazon.com. Holstein will be hosting book signings from 1 to 4 p.m. July 13 and 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 27 at Oolala Consign, 1006 19th St. S., Jackson Plaza, and 11 a.m. Aug. 13 at the La Crosse Public Library main branch.

Twenty percent of book proceeds will be donated to mental health programming at the YWCA.
While medical care has rapidly changed at Winona Health in the past 53 years, a familiar face has been there throughout: Dr. Andrew Edin.

Edin, 84, who recently retired, remembers being inspired to go into health care after a doctor spoke to his father at the local hardware store in his small Minnesota hometown.

The doctor suggested Edin go into medicine, based on the skills and interests Edins father told the doctor Edin already had.

Before this, Edin had never considered going into the field, as he always assumed he would go into business like his own father had in Hinckley.

But Edin did grow up around people in the medical field; his neighbor was also his doctor.

(Medicine) sounded appealing to me, Edin remembered.

When he applied for medical schools, Edin was accepted into a university in Minnesota, but decided against it, realizing college might be his only chance to spend some extended time outside of the state.

Edins father was supportive of this, even selling his American Tobacco Co. stock to afford to send Edin to Yale University.

Many people during that time were talking a lot about lung cancer, he recalled, and he remembered his father saying, Itd be a good joke to sell that stock to pay for medical school.

While attending Yale and starting his career at Winona Health in 1969, medicine was very different than it is today, he said.

Edin recalls back then that when people were diagnosed with lung cancer, patients could expect to live about 13 weeks. Now, many of Edins patients have been able to live with lung cancer  thanks to the help of options such as early detection, chemotherapy and radiation  up to seven years.

At Winona Health, Edin helped change how treatment was done locally, leading the way for equipment to be brought in for pulmonary function and bone density tests to be completed on site. Edin was able to read the results of both of tests, advancing the organizations ability to treat patients locally.

Edin, who is a general medicine doctor for adults, has held a variety of roles at Winona Health over the years, including working in the coronary care unit.

When he became older, Edin worked at the clinic as a general internist.

One of his specialities was pacemakers  which Edin shared was revolutionized to be more efficient when he was in training.

Edin, who continued to do pacemakers up until his retirement, placed his first one in a patient in 1967.

Since beginning, Edin has placed anywhere from about 12 to 30 pacemakers every year  totalling about 750 to 800 pacemakers through his career, he said.

Edin has enjoyed his time at Winona Health, especially caring for and tracking patients health throughout the years  not just doing a single procedure or consultation and then saying goodbye like at some other bigger facilities.

I really wanted to be a long-term person and thats exactly what I got here, he said.

Winona Health president and CEO Rachelle Schultz, in a statement about Edins retirement, said, Winona Health is 128 years old, and Dr. Edin has been a caregiver here for 53 of those years. The impact he has made on families in our community is unparalleled. Winona Health and the Winona community are very fortunate to have had Dr. Edin delivering stellar care to patients. His retirement is certainly bittersweet.

When talking about ending his work, Edin shared a perspective he once read, The truth is, at least in a town like Winona thats fairly small, your patients become your friends and my friends have become my patients.

So, while Edins time at Winona Health may have come to an end, the relationships he has built will continue on into his retirement.
JUNEAU  Utilizing federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds involves much more than cashing a check.

In order to meet the demands of federal reporting, Dodge County is considering hiring a third party administrator to help with the task, utilizing its portal and consulting on various aspects of meeting federal ARPA funding requirements, including reporting on the progress of projects now and in the future.

The Dodge County Executive Committee met this week to discuss that possibility, and to debate whether such a service is needed to meet the requirements for fund use as proscribed by federal law.

The full County Board previously approved the use of nearly $5 million of the $17.6 million allocated to Dodge County from the American Rescue Plan Act funding. In total, area agencies, county departments and municipalities submitted nearly $72 million in requests, ranging from infrastructure needs to child care initiatives to broadband expansion.

Among the requests previously approved are:

The recondition and repair of County Highway Q between Highway 19 and Highway K, $1.98 million; the recondition and repaving of County Highway J between Highway 26 and Highway M, $700,000; the installation of 3 miles of fiber optic cable from Juneau to the St. Helena Tower, $360,000; the building of two pavilion and picnic shelters at the Dodge County Fairgrounds, $60,000.

Also: The purchase of a property by Dodge County Mens Shelter to provide temporary housing for homeless men, $175,000; the replacement of Astico and Ledge parks vault toilets, $372,000; the Highway S project at a cost of $490,000; a $200,000 allocation to the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation for its Childcare Works Project.

Reporting to the federal government and keeping track of those many projects is beyond the scope of current county staff, especially for the Finance Department, which has been without a director for months. While the search to fill that position continues, the challenges of budget formation and regular duties are taking up all the time that department has.

CLA (Clifton Larson Allen) of Massachusetts presented a plan to use its portal and expertise to track projects with Shawn McGoldrick and Tom Maurer discussing the plan.

There are two words we use over and over, said McGoldrick, appearing remotely, Customizability and flexibility.

The portal  a place for gathering and storing information needed to report to the federal government  can also help screen proposals for the next round of awards in 2023. System design began a year ago and went live last October.

Projects are approved, documented and supported so you can update them on a quarterly basis, said McGoldrick. The system avoids lots of trouble with follow-up and administering (reporting) progress. The Feds want this information. They need this information. Our system tracks this information because its what the government wants across the nation.

Supervisor Donna Maly summarized, Its a relatively simple system. There are lots of parts to it but it seems really easy to use.

The cost is a one-time fee of $5,000 and an annual fee of $30,500. There are additional fees for consultation.

Its a very valuable tool to have, said Finance Department Interim Director Eileen Lifke. We just want to make sure that all the is are dotted and the ts are crossed, and they have the expertise to ensure that will happen.

CLA services are all-inclusive, said Interim County Administrator Jon Hochkammer. They were not the cheapest, but theyre the best way for Dodge County to get the support we need to do this. Things are really stretched with our staff as they are now. Whether its through ARPA funds or through using your own staff, one way or another youre going to have to pay for this.

I suggest we revisit this at our next meeting, said Supervisor Kira Sheahan-Malloy. I do believe, however, that we need a third party administrator.

Supervisors Lisa Derr and Rob Boelk suggested that the committee wait until the new administrator, Cameron Clapper of Whitewater, begins his duties. Clapper will begin work in Dodge County on Aug. 21.

A consensus was reached to consider the matter further at future meetings.

Supervisor Andrew Johnson, who chaired the ARPA Ad Hoc Committee, suggested that the ARPA Committee re-form next year when another $8 million in funding will become available. He suggested that the county utilize those funds internally, given the countys urgent needs and the challenge of reviewing 76 requests for funding.

That was really, really hard work evaluating that many proposals, and a lot of them will come back for reconsideration, said Johnson. Given our own urgent needs I think that might be something to consider.

Executive Committee, and ad hoc committee members present, suggested that might be a decision for the committee as it re-forms next year.
FOND DU LAC  A public hearing was held at Moraine Park Technical College on Monday as the school inches closer to a November referendum. Voters will be asked to approve $55 million in proposed projects to meet the needs of workers and employers in the area.

No one from the public spoke during the meeting.

We, as a college, have historically created a 10-year master plan for facility purposes, Moraine Park Technical College President Bonnie Baerwald said. Knowing the list that we created in the last few years totaled more than $27 million in projects over the next 10 years is an issue because by statute we are only allowed to do remodeling projects and capital expansion additions to the tune of $1.5 million per project. If you expand that calculation out it will be more than 20 years to create learning and work spaces that meet the demands of the employers who in some cases are needed now.

Also, due to a number of economic factors, employers need skilled workers today, Baerwald said. There will be over 14,000 job openings in the manufacturing industry and 10,000 in the healthcare careers in the Moraine Park region over the next 10 years, and many of those jobs require some sort of college education.

Some employers are partnering with neighboring technical colleges to train their incumbent workforce primarily due to more specific sophisticated and robust learning environments and equipment that those neighboring technical colleges have, she added.

Many of the neighboring technical colleges have passed comprehensive referendums over the last few years, Baerwald said.

The two dozen K-12 school districts in the Moraine Park region are not always able to retain credentialed faculty to teach the college level courses needed by some students. Baerwald said they would like to create spaces on the Moraine Park campus.

The Moraine Park district includes Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake and Washington counties, and small portions of surrounding counties. The college, with campus locations in Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac, and West Bend, plays a critical role in training more than 12,000 students each year for industry-critical jobs.

Moraine Park students pursue degrees in many high-demand areas, including information technology, cybersecurity, accounting, nursing, respiratory therapy, advanced manufacturing, and website and graphic design.

The projects being proposed are:

1. Fond du LacAn addition of an automation, innovation and robotics (AIR) center and an extensive remodel in the B-wing to include the integration of the welding and fabrication labs currently located in the E-wing.

2. Fond du LacAn extensive remodel of the E-wing to create a new health simulation suite and an addition on the east for future childcare and health services programming.

3. West BendAn addition of an AIR Center to include additional spaces for a new conference center and main entrance. The AIR Center addition would also include the creation of a welding and fabrication space.

4. Dodge County  The college is exploring the purchase of land in the district, hopefully in Dodge County, to build a new fire training center that will serve the 40-plus fire departments within the district.

Moraine Park Technical College sent out a random amount of surveys to area residents to help gauge the support for a referendum. Originally there were five projects on the list including an additional project in Green Lake County. However, the survey results did not show support for that project. Baerwald said they surveyed 10,000 voters, but received only a less than 3% response rate.

Our consulting firm said that it was statistically validated with our plus or minus 6% margin of error, Baerwald said.

In May the survey results were shared with the board and they decided on asking voters the $55 million question in November. Baerwald said they have already raised $2 million to offset the costs for automation, innovation and robotics at the trade and manufacturing wing in Fond du Lac.

The entire $55 million would not be borrowed right away, but the entire project would impact the mill rate by 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, Baerwald said. For example, if the full amount were borrowed, the financial impact to a taxpayer owned a $100,000 home would be $21 per year.

The board will further discuss the results with a decision on the approval of the referendum occurring on Aug. 17 for the question to be asked on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Two public officials in Juneau County are not seeking re-election, and two candidates each for both races are running in the Aug. 9 primary.

Sheriff Brent Oleson and Clerk of Circuit Court Lori J. Lowe each filed non-candidacy papers in April. Therefore, the two positions will have new representatives.

Candidates for Sheriff to succeed Oleson are current Undersheriff Andrew Zobal and Steven Johnson. Alecia Pellegrini-Kast and Terry Reynolds, who both work in the Juneau County judicial system, are running for Clerk of Circuit Court to replace Lowe.

SHERIFF

Andrew Zobal

Zobal, who has served as Undersheriff in the county since 2018, is running against Steven Johnson.

I believe my 25+ years of law enforcement in Juneau County has given me the experience, knowledge and skills to lead the men and women of the Juneau County Sheriffs Office, said Zobal in a statement.

Zobal is a native of Juneau County who graduated from New Lisbon High School in 1992 before receiving an associates degree in police science from Western Wisconsin Technical College Law Enforcement Academy two years later.

Being a lifelong resident, I have been able to establish relationships throughout the county that have helped me to better understand each community and their needs, said Zobal in his statement. I believe that with my community relationships, I will be able to further promote a strong partnership between the Juneau County Sheriffs Office and our communities.

Since 1994, Zobal has been employed with the Juneau County Sheriffs Office, spending his first 24 years with the department as a part-time deputy, performing jail, boat, ATV, and snowmobile patrol. He also has been a part-time police officer in Camp Douglas and Mauston, the latter of which he was full-time from 1997-2018 before becoming Undersheriff.

During his time as a Mauston Police Department officer, Zobal was a school resource officer in the School District of Mauston from 2001-2018, as well as a Juneau County Tactical Team member from 1998-2014.

Its important for everyone to be heard and I would have an open door policy, said Zobal in his statement. Id like to grow and enhance mental health training for deputies to be able to assist those in crisis, continue mental health/substance use counseling in the jail, build and strengthen our already strong community partnerships while continuing to look for opportunities to make new ones, and continue to be proactive in keeping drugs out of our communities.

Oleson endorsed Zobal to succeed him as Juneau County Sheriff, according to a social media post. In his post, Oleson said that Zobal possesses all the qualifications necessary to effectively lead the Juneau County Sheriffs Office.

Zobals hobbies include hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. He has taken his nieces, nephew, and children of friends of his on youth hunts and enjoys sharing his love and knowledge of outdoor life with them. Zobal also likes to attend banquets and benefits, or events supporting various causes in the county, seeing them as opportunities to connect with community groups.

Steven Johnson

Johnson, a native of Wonewoc who currently resides in Elroy, has spent time as the Norwalk-Wilton Chief of Police and Sauk County Sheriffs Office deputy during his career in law enforcement.

I am a candidate for sheriff because I truly believe that our nation was built in the faith and strength of God, said Johnson in an email. I believe strongly in the Constitution and do not like where our country is headed. Too many good men and women sacrificed their lives and families to simply stand by and do nothing. I do not want my grandchildren to ask me someday, Grandpa why didnt you do anything to help! I have multiple years of experience both in the military and law enforcement and its time for a change.

Johnson was a member of the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association as well as the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association. He was a liaison officer in the Hillsboro School District as well as an officer in the Ontario Police Department in Vernon County. Johnson also served as bailiff in Monroe County.

Along with his duties with the Sauk County Sheriff's Office, Johnson served as a rescue diver in the county.

One of Johnson's plans as Juneau County Sheriff is to speak on WRJC Radio in Mauston once a week to provide an update to the county on happenings within the department. This information will include financials regarding where department funds are being spent, as much information as can be publicly shared regarding investigations, commendations of officers and dispatchers for distinguished job performance, as well as improvements that need to be made within the department.

Prior to working in law enforcement, Johnson was a U.S. Army service member who served in Desert Shield and Storm and had drill sergeant experience during his service time. Johnson is also a dump and log truck driver for Bollig & Sons in Mauston.

Johnson raised five children, all of whom are currently adults, in Juneau County and has custody of three more with his current fiancee, Shelly, who all attend school in the Royall School District.

Three of Johnson's children, Austin, Khrystyna, and Steven, have also served in the Army. Steven Sr. and Shelly enjoy motorcycle riding, hunting, fishing, and raising chickens. They also launched a website titled SS Rustic Design, where they turn wood boards from old barns into home furnishings, as well as sell nature and still photography.

Shelly has two daughters and a son of her own as well. One of her daughters, Teagan, attends school in the Royall district with the three foster children.

He is a member of American Legion Post 115 in Elroy and the Elroy United Methodist Church.

In addition to law enforcement and military service, Johnson has taught a defense and arrest tactics course as well as Constitutional law courses, has experience in human resources management, and training with jail operations and inmate dealings as well as Uniform Code of Military Justice. He also has education in police science.

Other management areas in which Johnson has experience include stress, assertiveness, effective listening, time, and supervisory, as well as ensuring good workplace behavior and conflict mediation.

Richard Mack, a renowned former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, endorses Johnson, who is a vetted member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.

LETTER: To the citizens of Juneau County As your elected Sheriff of Juneau County, I will take an oath. This oath is extremely import

CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT

Alecia Pellegrini-Kast

Pellegrini-Kast, who currently serves as Small Claims Clerk in the county, has served in the Juneau County judicial system since 2019 and has worked for the county since 2014.

I am confident I can do a good job for Juneau County with experience in court proceedings, budgets, computer technology, policy and procedures, said Pellegrini-Kast in a statement. I am energetic, hard working, devoted and honest. My goal is to have efficient productivity, while meeting fiscal responsibility.

Raised on a dairy farm in the Town of Lindina, where she and her husband currently reside on a hobby farm, Pellegrini-Kast is a member of the Juneau County Dairy Council as well as the Mauston/Lyndon Station Sharing Supper.

Pellegrini-Kast graduated from Mauston High School before receiving collegiate education at Madison Area Technical College (MATC), University of Phoenix, and University of Wisconsin online. She studied court reporting at MATC and business management at the other two institutions.

Prior to her financial work for five years in the Juneau County Department of Human Services and payroll, Pellegrini-Kast spent 12 years as an administrative assistant with Reedsburg Area Senior Life Center.

Endorsements for Pellegrini-Kast have come from area dairy farmers including former Juneau County Board Chairperson Alan Peterson, and co-owners of Wisconsin River Meats Dave and Carrie Mauer.

Terry Reynolds

Reynolds has served as the Register of Probate in the county since September 2016 and also serves as the Juvenile Court Clerk.

I am running for the office (Clerk of Circuit Court) because I believe my experience and qualifications would be a benefit to the citizens of Juneau County, said Reynolds. Additionally, I really enjoy working with the legal field and have done so for nearly 20 years.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Reynolds has lived in a rural area near New Lisbon for nearly 25 years and has six adult children. She has served as president of the Wisconsin Register in Probate Association and is the current president of the Wisconsin Juvenile Court Clerks Association.

She graduated from Viterbo University with degrees in pre-law and organizational management.

Reynolds has been a judicial employee since 2003. Before working in Juneau County, she served as Register of Probate in Adams and Portage counties. She spent 10 years (2003-2013) in Adams County and worked for two years in Portage County.

She also was employed as a paralegal in the Ho-Chunk Nation for a short time from 2013 to 2014.

NOTE: This story was updated to include additional information from Andrew Zobal, along with Steven Johnson and his fiance, Shelly.
Portage Police arrested four people who authorities believe were involved in a hit-and-run accident after fleeing the scene of a traffic stop.

Portage Police Captain Daniel Garrigan said the vehicle was reported stolen out of Chicago.

The incident began Monday evening around 6:46 p.m. with a Portage Police Officer initiating a traffic stop near DeWitt Street and East Pleasant Street in Portage.

The vehicle fled the traffic stop at a high rate of speed. Police officers initially followed before terminating the pursuit because it was unsafe.

Garrigan said the suspect vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run crash in the 900 block of West Carroll Street. A witness allegedly saw three individuals exit the vehicle and enter a home on East Emmett Street.

Portage Police attempted to contact the homeowner to cooperate by surrendering the suspects, but those attempts were unsuccessful. Garrigan said a search warrant was executed on the house.

Located and seized as a result, included but are not limited to, were multiple firearms, illegal drugs (heroin, marijuana, cocaine, THC wax), drug paraphernalia (scale, baggies/packaging materials, smoking devices), US currency and a stolen vehicle, Garrigan said.

Jane M. Gramza, 61, Portage, Robert M. Pecina, 19, Chicago, Abraham J. Siegel, 39, Portage, and Pierre D. Toney, 31, Madison, have all been arrested and remain in custody at the Columbia County Jail. Garrigan said three of the suspects were found hiding in an upper attic crawl space in the home.

Garrigan said the four individuals will face multiple felony charges related to this incident.
Lake Deltons administration facility is set to undergo renovations and the village discussed specifics regarding the projects on Monday.

The 31-year-old Kay C. Mackesey Administration Building is ready for significant changes and upgrades following the Lake Delton Police Departments move to its new facility on Miller Drive in June. Village administrator Tim McCumber said that the age of the building makes it up for an update.

An initial cost projection of the renovations is around $2 million for structural and interior changes, according to McCumber. He said that after the village puts out a request for proposal (RFP) for architectural design, there will be a more concrete estimate.

With the police station moving out, were looking at just a lot more space available to us to utilize, said McCumber at the July 11 village board meeting.

Kendall Kolb, the director of business development for Madison-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Company, was at the meeting to discuss possibilities and gave board members a preliminary design estimate for the renovations.

One of our project managers and estimator kind of went through the building with Tim and what you (the board) have in front of you, at least from a drawing standpoint, is taking some sort of concept from Tim and putting some high-level numbers to it, said Kolb.

Kolb added that Kraus-Anderson is also working on projects in Janesville, Lafayette County, and Sparta, as well as having recently finished a project on the La Crosse Center in La Crosse.

McCumber is proposing that the village open up the area left of the buildings entrance with a larger customer service window and have administrative staff together in the area to increase supervision of the service window.

What Ive observed already is that they (visitors) come down the hall and sometimes they have to wait in line, said McCumber, also pointing out that if one of the building staff members is not at the current service window, nobody is.

He also wants to convert one of the office areas in the building into a conference room. In the meeting room, McCumber is proposing adding an entrance to a conference room in the rear area of the building, which is the former site of the police department. The former sergeant office could become the zoning office under McCumbers proposal, with an adjacent vaulted area becoming a possible storage space for zoning records.

Additional building staff will have more office space under McCumbers renovation ideas, as well as converting the former police locker room into a breakroom for staff.

The former garages for police vehicles would be walled off according to McCumber, who said that the space would be prime for expansion in future years but is currently costly to convert. He mentioned the possibility of a long-term storage area there.

We would help write the RFP for the architect, get them on board, and then work together for whatever budget the board would approve, said Kolb.

Village trustee Tom Diehl asked Kolb and McCumber about expanding the bathrooms in the building to become compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

McCumber responded by saying his plan is to make the building entrance and bathrooms ADA compliant and said the former police clerks office space may be used to expand bathroom space. Kolb said there is enough vacant space in the building to make the bathrooms compliant.

Diehl also mentioned the importance of selecting an architect who specializes in renovating governmental buildings. He cited police chief Daniel Hardmans suggestion of a contractor who only designs police stations. He added that the decision saved the village a considerable amount of money and ensured a thorough design of everything needed in the station, which was built to adequately service the departments needs for the next 30 years.
Widely-used kidney function tests underestimate scale of kidney disease in Africa

A commonly used blood test which measures how well a persons kidneys are working may not pick up kidney disease for people in Africa.

This means that many people could miss early diagnosis and life-saving treatment.

A study, titled Measurement of kidney function in Malawi, South Africa, and Uganda: a multicentre cohort study and published in The Lancet Global Health on 13 July 2022, was the largest study to analyse kidney disease testing and prevalence in Africa.

The findings suggest that methods developed in high-income settings to check kidney function are not accurate for many people in Africa.

Researchers from the African Research on Kidney Disease (ARK) Consortium ran the study, which focused on more than 2 500 people in Malawi, South Africa and Uganda.

About the study

Testing how well kidneys function is essential to diagnosing kidney disease in individuals and predicting the burden of kidney disease in populations.

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the most common way to assess kidney function and is a measure of how much blood the kidneys are filtering per minute.

Testing kidney function involves measuring how much creatinine or cystatin C is in a persons blood.

Creatinine is a by-product of muscle breakdown while cystatin C is a protein made by cells in the body. Healthy kidneys filter creatinine or cystatin C out of the blood and excrete these in urine. A creatinine or cystatin C test thus measures how well kidneys are performing. High levels can be a sign that the kidneys are not functioning properly.

To study the most accurate way to measure kidney function in African populations, the ARK Consortium compared the widely used creatinine and cystatin C-based tests with a benchmark test called the iohexol measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR).

Iohexol is an iodine-like dye used as a diagnostic contrast agent in CT scans.

The ARK researchers found that creatinine-based tests were inaccurate for predicting kidney disease in African populations.

Importing tests to Africa undermines accuracy

The creatinine-based test was shown to be inaccurate for predicting kidney disease and this may be because it does not account for unique biological characteristics in African populations.

For example, Africans can have lower creatinine levels due to inadequate nutrition (especially low protein ingestion), short stature and low muscle bulk. Creatinine may also be excreted differently in African populations.

The equation that is used to test kidney function is wrong for 1.4 billion people  Africans, says co-lead author of the study, Dr June Fabian of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits University), South Africa. Kidney disease can be debilitating and ultimately fatal if left untreated. Blood tests are useful to spot early signs of kidney problems  and can help identify people who would benefit from treatment.

Kidney disease prevalence in Africa may be 1 in 8 not 1 in 30

ARK researchers used the results of their study, along with population data from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda, to estimate overall levels of kidney disease.

The results suggest that kidney disease prevalence may be substantially higher in Africa than previously thought, increasing from about 1 in 30 people to about 1 in 8 people.

The results of our study show that it is critical to consider whether research into what we consider to be normal blood tests applies to all parts of the world, says senior author Dr Laurie Tomlinson of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). We have shown that for people living in Africa, differences in factors such as childhood health and current nutrition mean that if were using equations developed in the US and Europe, we may not be accurately estimating the kidney function of people globally. The burden of kidney disease in Africa has been substantially underestimated and kidney disease has not received the public health focus it requires.

Cystatin C test trumps creatinine  but it costs

Tests based on cystatin C worked better than creatinine as an indicator of poor kidney function  but the cystatin C testing is not widely used or available in Africa.

The cystatin C test, which would be more suitable in Africa, costs around R320 [US$19], significantly more expensive than the widely-used but less accurate creatinine, at just R67 [US$4].

We know that cystatin C is better in Africa but relatively speaking its a no-go in resource poor settings, says Fabian.

The findings of the ARK study suggest that switching from the creatinine test of kidney function to cystatin C would be preferable. Ensuring accessibility and enabling doctors to use them should be a priority for Africa, researchers say, and further research for alternative biomarkers is also vital.

Kidney disease has been neglected across the world but more so in countries in Africa, where it has devastating effects, says co-lead author Dr Robert Kalyesubula of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit.

Our study provides evidence that kidney disease in Africa is much more rampant than previously thought. This is why it is important that we continue to engage all stakeholders to ensure access to better diagnostic tests, like cystatin C, to improve early detection and care for patients with kidney disease in Africa.

The African Research on Kidney (ARK) Disease Consortium comprises researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, including the Medical Research Council/Wits-Agincourt Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) in SAs Mpumalanga province; the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU); the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit; and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK.

Limitations: The ARK Consortium acknowledges limitations in the study, in particular that inaccuracies in the measurement of creatinine or measured GFR could have impacted the results. The study population was predominantly people with normal levels of serum creatinine, unlike previous studies into measured kidney function which have included many people with known kidney disease. Finally, while the study is the largest of its kind from Africa and includes measured GFR from three countries, the diversity of African populations means it is possible that there is greater variability in the relationship between creatinine and measured GFR than the team identified, which could affect the accuracy of the estimates of prevalence of kidney disease in the broader population studies.

Funding: The South African study was jointly funded by the South African Medical Research Council with funds received from the National Department of Health and the UK Medical Research Council-Newton Fund, and GSK Africa Non-Communicable Diseases Open Lab (via a supporting grant). The study in Uganda and Malawi was funded by a project grant from GSK Africa Non-Communicable Diseases Open Lab.
BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua)  Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Monday encouraged young people across the Taiwan Strait to jointly strive for the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. He made the remarks in a letter replying to young people from China's Taiwan who were attending the Straits Youth Forum.

"I am pleased to learn that through attending the forum, you have formed closer ties with the mainland where you have found the stage to realize your dreams and witnessed with your own eyes the rapid changes taking place in the motherland. I am also very glad to know that you have felt the deep attachment like family members between compatriots across the Taiwan Strait," Xi wrote in the letter.

Xi stressed that a nation will prosper only when its young people thrive, and a country will be strong only when its young people have strength. The future of the motherland and the nation lies with the youth. We will, as always, create favorable conditions for young people across the Strait to learn from each other and provide more convenience for young people from Taiwan to study, find jobs, start businesses and live in the mainland. I hope you will share your experiences and insights about the mainland with your peers in Taiwan so that Taiwan youth will know more about the mainland, and join hands with young people in the mainland to strive with tenacity and make their life blossom in the great process of realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, Xi said.

The Straits Youth Forum, founded in 2003, is jointly run by the All-China Youth Federation, the Chinese Youth International in Taiwan and the department of youth affairs of the Kuomintang. It serves as an important platform for exchanges between young people across the Strait. The 20th Straits Youth Forum was held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, from July 11 to 12. Fifty young people from Taiwan invited to take part in the forum have written a letter to General Secretary Xi recently. In the letter, they talked about their experiences and insights concerning their studies, working and living in the mainland, and expressed their firm determination to contribute to the national rejuvenation and reunification.

(Source: Xinhua)
Proxy Falls is one of the most popular waterfalls in Oregon, and it is located in the Three Sisters Wilderness of the Willamette National Forest. Large numbers of tourists are drawn to the falls by its pure beauty, and the short hike there is also rich in picturesque vistas. Proxy Falls, nevertheless, isn't any typical waterfall. It is distinctive since the bottom doesn't have a pool of water. Instead, the falls penetrate the earth through the porous lava rocks below.

Geography And Geology Of Proxy Falls

The Proxy Falls.

Proxy Falls is located in Lane County, Oregon, close to McKenzie Bridge, in the Willamette National Forest. The 1.6-mile Proxy Falls Loop Trail winds through the Three Sister Wilderness and offers stunning views of the waterfall. On your journey, you will cross an ancient lava flow and reach a dense forest. At Proxy Falls, two distinct falls drop 226 feet from Proxy Creek, making it one of the highest in Oregon. Proxy Creek flows across a wall of columnar basalt heavily covered in mosses and is supplied by springs on the summit of North Sister. Upper Proxy Falls and Lower Proxy Falls are the two distinct parts of Proxy Falls. The top waterfall is made up of 126-foot gentle cascades, while the lower waterfall is the more well-known one since it is much more dramatic and scenic. The Proxy Falls Trail, which leads hikers through coniferous woods and open lava fields before arriving at the falls, is a short, straightforward trip that takes less than a mile.

Proxy Falls is a hanging-valley waterfall and was created when glaciers carved through the rock around 6,000 years ago, elevating the tributary springs above the valley floor. The stair-step formations and symmetrical mounding that divide the creek into two sparkling curtains over the 226-foot plunge among thick carpets of moss were developed due to erosion on the particularly geometric basalt. The water pools at the bottom but does not flow out through any opening; instead, it drains into the earth via the porous lava rock that the Three Sisters, a group of adjacent volcanoes, have been depositing there for eons.

Proxy Falls Hike

Direction signboards on the Proxy Falls trail.

The loop begins at the information sign at the southwest corner of the parking lot. The route is hard for the first 0.5 miles since you are going through a lava flow, but as you get closer to the falls, it levels off and meanders through the forest. The stroll through the lava becomes a rainbow route in the autumn (mid-September to early October) when the vine maples become spectacular vibrant yellow, orange, and red trees. A trail split will be encountered once you have traversed the lava field. You can reach Lower Proxy Falls by taking the right route, and you can reach Upper Proxy Falls by using the left trail to complete the loop. There is a vantage spot from the top of the path where you can see the waterfall very beautifully just after the sign before trekking down the hill to Lower Proxy Falls.

It is entirely worthwhile to descend to the base of Lower Proxy Falls. The falls' (226 ft.) height is clearly visible from the bottom. Return to the trail intersection after seeing the upper falls, then turn right to reach Upper Proxy Falls. These falls are quite difficult to see because of all the trees that grow in the grotto, but if you hike up a tiny hill just across from the falls, you may get a decent sight of this 129-foot-tall cascade. Return to the main path and complete the loop after completing the short out-and-back route to Upper Proxy Falls. You will encounter a little bit more lava on the route as well as some unobstructed views of the surroundings. The route finishes on the other side of the parking lot.

You won't be able to get enough of the beautiful scenery that Proxy Falls provides! It is one of Oregon's most magnificent waterfalls that offers a genuine sense of deep-forest seclusion and mountain splendor. Its hiking trail is surrounded by lush forests, which enhances the adventure. You will feel delighted and refreshed after the hike.
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With last months U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights advocates in Alaska are encouraging voters to vote no on a constitutional convention during the general election this November, while abortion opponents are encouraging voters to vote yes.

The right to have an abortion in Alaska is protected through the state constitutions provision on privacy, as recognized by the Alaska Supreme Court in 1997. This November, voters will be asked whether or not to call a constitutional convention, which would pave the way for changing the constitution and potenti...
Debate to begin on which roads should remain 30MPH as Senedd backs default 20MPH speed limits

Legislation to lower the default national speed limit on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets from 30mph to 20mph has been approved by the Senedd yesterday afternoon.

Wales becomes the first UK nation to make the move, which the Welsh Government say will help to save lives, develop safer communities, improve the quality of life and encourage more people to make more sustainable and active travel choices.

The new slower speed limits are currently being trialled in eight communities across Wales and will be rolled out nationally in September 2023.

The new legislation will not apply a blanket speed limit on all roads. It will make the default limit 20mph, leaving local authorities to engage with the local community to decide which roads should remain at 30mph.

Currently, just 2.5% of Welsh roads have a speed limit of 20mph, but from next year this is expected to increase to approximately 35%, helping to create safer roads and communities across Wales.

The controversial legislation was backed by 34 Members of the Senedd, with 15 voting against.

Speaking in the Senedd North Wales MS, Sam Rowlands, described the blanket approach to changing the speed limit as a knee-jerk reaction.

He said: This may work in city centres where theres good infrastructure, good public transport in place, but many of our villages and towns that are linked by 30 mph roads at the moment simply do not have that same transport system, the same connectivity, the same infrastructureits nothing like Cardiff, its nothing like Swansea, Minister.

These rural villages and towns are going to be suffering because of this.

As we know, the Welsh Governments currently trialling this scheme across areas in Wales, including, as the Member for Alyn and Deeside pointed out, in Buckley in north Wales, where I had the pleasure of meeting up with residents and local representatives last week.

In meeting with those residents in Buckley whove had the speed trial in place there, they highlighted to me a number of issues that they believe they noted with their eyes and noted around them.

They believe they see a higher level of pollution, theyve observed more accidents and more delays. And they also feel that Government have not been listening to them and to their concerns through this process.

And theyre concerned about the level of pollution, because what they observe is cars and drivers having to drive in a lower gear, churning out more fumes.

However the legislation was welcomed by Plaid Cymru politicians.

Heledd Fychan MS, said: You cant on the one hand say that you welcome it outside schools, outside hospitals, but not think about the infrastructure overall, and that is whats being addressed here.

I think it will be far easier in terms of messaging and communication that we have this approach, because in my own community 20 mph road signs have been part of the trial here outside of a school, and there hasnt been the reduction required with speeding outside of school because it hasnt gone hand in hand with that awareness-raising campaign.

It seems ludicrous that people need to be told or reminded not to speed outside of schools, but that is the reality.

I think by having that messaging, having this campaign, I would hope that it is money well spent to make our communities safer. Not everybody has a car either.

People cant afford to put petrol and diesel into their cars, even, now. We are talking about more people wanting active travel, and this will help with that.

So, I am looking forward to voting in favour and supporting this, but obviously as part of that wider package that we need to look at in how we take it forward to make our communities safer.

Speaking after the vote, Minister for Climate Change, Julie James said: I am delighted that the move to 20mph has received cross-party support across the Welsh Parliament today.

The evidence is clear, decreasing speeds not only reduces accidents and saves lives, but helps improve peoples quality of life  making our streets and communities a safer and more welcoming place for cyclists and pedestrians, whilst helping reduce our environmental impact.

We know this move wont be easy  its as much about changing hearts and minds as it is about enforcement  but over time 20mph will become the norm, just like the restrictions weve introduced before on carrier bag charges and organ donation.

Once again Wales is leading the way for other UK nations to follow.
Sexual harassment in schools so common its become normalised, new report reveals

Children as young as nine are being sexually harassed by their peers inside and outside of school, an event so common its considered normal behaviour according to a Senedd report.

The shocking information has been revealed in a report released today by the Senedds Children, Young People and Education Committee, which heard evidence that harassment amongst pupils is so common it is often missed or considered normal by schools.

Previous figures from Estyn revealed that 61 per cent of female pupils and 29 per cent of male pupils had experienced sexual harassment.

82 per cent of female pupils and 71 pr cent of male pupils have seen others experience it.

However these figures are likely to be a significant underestimation.

The report also highlights how LGBTQ+ pupils are particularly at risk of sexual harassment as well having substantial personal experiences of verbal homophobic harassment, with many saying that homophobic bullying is happening all the time.

In written evidence provided to the committee, Barnados highlighted the issues faced by individuals with additional learning needs.

The organisation said: Research shows that disabled children including those with learning difficulties, are three to four times more likely to experience abuse.

To add to this, children with disabilities and special educational needs are much more likely to keep their abuse hidden and remain unidentified.

Welsh Womens Aid also highlighted how black and minoritised young people are less likely to turn to education professionals for support.

It revealed that 86 per cent of white British young people respondents identified education (teachers, support staff, tutors, lecturers, other staff) as a potential source of support for young people, compared to just 66 per cent of black and minoritised young people did.

The committee is now calling for the Welsh Government to use a national campaign to target not only learners, but their families and school staff too, to raise awareness of behaviours considered to be sexual harassment and empower pupils to call out such behaviour with the confidence it will be dealt with correctly.

In total, the report makes 24 recommendations to better protect children and young people.

These include:

A review into peer on peer sexual harassment among primary school-aged children, drawing on the expertise and guidance of childrens charities, academics and the Childrens Commissioner for Wales as appropriate

The Welsh Government must treat peer on peer sexual harassment as an Adverse Childhood Experience and ensure that it prioritises, and allocates resources to its response to peer on peer sexual harassment accordingly

The Welsh Government and Estyn must adopt/continue to use the definition of sexual harassment used by Estyn in its 2021 report We Dont Tell our Teachers, including the specific examples of peer on peer sexual harassment Estyn used in its work with pupils

The Welsh Government must ensure that schools and colleges create a culture in which sexual harassment is unacceptable, reports of sexual harassment are taken seriously and responded to promptly and consistently

The Welsh Government must publish the LGBTQ+ action plan no later than autumn 2022. The action plan must acknowledge the scale and impact of sexual harassment on LGBTQ+ learners, and set out how the Welsh Government will support schools and others to address it

The causes of peer on peer sexual harassment are described as being deep-rooted societal attitudes amplified by pornography, social media, and, in recent years, the COVD-19 pandemic.

However schools are seen as ideal places for the process of denormalisation to begin, and for interventions promoting healthy relationships to make a real different to the lives of children and young people.

The report states: Clearly, sexual harassment does not begin and end in schools.

It permeates into school culture because it is so endemic and widespread throughout culture more widely.

We recognise that tackling sexual harassment will require an enormous collective effort by governments, schools and other public bodies, parents and even pupils themselves to denormalise harmful and unhealthy behaviours that are so engrained across society.

Nevertheless, schools are ideal places for the process of denormalisation to begin, and for interventions promoting healthy relationships to make a real different to the lives of children and young people.

We have heard that schools and colleges are mindful of the wider causes of peer on peer sexual harassment, and work hard to teach children about the risks and unhealthy behaviours associated with pornography, social media, online gaming platforms and across society more generally.

We encourage them to continue to do so as part of Personal and Social Education within the current curriculum, Relationships and Sexuality Education within the new curriculum, and beyond.

Jayne Bryant MS, chair of the Children, Young People and Education committee, said: Sexual harassment among learners is shockingly commonplace. Many schools simply dont know how to react to sexual harassment and in some cases dont even recognise the signs of sexual harassment.

We need the Welsh Government to empower teachers, parents and pupils to support and identify when sexual harassment is happening. There is an element of boys will be boys or its just teasing and frankly, this attitude needs to change. The alternative is dire.

The impact of sexual harassment on some learners is so severe that t not only affects their learning, it can affect their relationships, mental health, life prospects and  in the most serious of cases  lead to self-harm and suicide.

We have asked a lot of the Welsh Government in this report; our young people deserve no less.
David is an award-winning Senior Investigative Reporter at The Gazette and has worked in Colorado for more than two decades. He has been a journalist since 1982 and has also worked in New York, St. Louis, and Detroit.
Denver Enterprise Reporter

A 40-year Colorado news veteran, Carol McKinley started in radio, and traveled the world as a network TV correspondent/producer. In 2021, she decided to return to local news. A Baghdad alum, she has 4 grown children and lives with her husband and her mom.
The number of people killed by COVID-19 in the province of Quebec during the first 6 months of 2022 already exceeds the number of pandemic dead for all of 2021.

According to figures from the National Institute of Public Health compiled by the Montreal daily La Presse, 3,471 Quebecers died of COVID-19 between January 1 and June 28, 2022, while the number of deaths for the entire year of 2021 was 3,273.

The increase in deaths is linked to a massive increase in infections since the beginning of the year. In 2021, the province officially recorded 642,930 COVID-19 cases. Since January 2022, 1,088,743 cases have been reported. Even the latter extraordinary number is a vast underestimate. Most testing facilities were shut down last winter, even as a fifth Omicron-driven pandemic wave was ravaging Quebec, and access to the more reliable PCR tests was severely curtailed.

A member of the Canadian Armed Forces working at a Quebec nursing home during the first wave of the pandemic. (Canadian Dept. of Defence)

The COVID-19 death curve is rising dangerously throughout Canada. In a July 4 tweet, Dr. Amit Arya, a palliative care physician in Toronto, explained that in the first 181 days of this year Canadas COVID death toll reached 82.5 percent of the number of COVID fatalities in all of 2021. At 62.6, the average number of daily deaths is higher than during the pandemics first 300 days in 2020 and all 2021.

Last week, health officials in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia acknowledged that their provinces are facing a new wave of COVID-19 infections. Ontario, the countrys most populous province, announced last Thursday increases in the 7-day daily averages of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. The COVID test positivity rate is at its highest since early May, at 13.5 percent. The World Health Organization considers that the pandemic is out of control when the positivity rate is above 5 percent.

For several weeks now, it has been clear that Quebec is in the grip of a new Omicron-variant driven wave, the seventh since the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Last Thursday, as 20 fatalities were added to the provinces grim tally of 15,646 COVID deaths, a 67 percent increase in deaths was reported in the preceding 7 days. Hospitalizations and the number of people in intensive care are also up, by 18 percent and 8 percent respectively.

The public health care system in a permanent state of disrepair due to the savage austerity measures imposed for decades by federal and provincial governmentsis once again on the verge of collapse. As of July 7, 7,318 health care workers in Quebec were absent due to COVID-19, an increase of more than 1,000 over the previous week and nearly 3,000 since the beginning of June.

These absences directly related to COVID-19 are in addition to the chronic staff shortages caused by the deplorable working conditions that have been imposed by the right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government, led by the multi-millionaire former airline CEO Francois Legault, with the full complicity of the trade unions.

On July 7, at a press conference during which he paid lip service to the growing evidence that the pandemic is taking the form of a [new] wave, Quebec's Director of Public Health, Dr. Luc Boileau, stated that all in all, we did not see it coming, this increase.

What nonsense! The seventh wave, like the staggering number of deaths since the beginning of 2022, is the foreseeable and expected result of the criminal policy of herd immunityletting a deadly virus rip through the population so as not to disrupt the flow of profitthat has been enforced by all provincial governments and the federal Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.

At the end of 2021, governments in Canada, as elsewhere, aggressively lifted virtually all COVID-related public health restrictions on the spurious grounds that the Omicron variant was so contagious that its spread could not be stopped and that it was mild. The higher death toll caused by the Omicron wave and the well-documented ability of its subvariants to reinfect its victims have shown all this to have been a pack of lies.

The dismantling of the remaining public health measures was completed under pressure from the Freedom Convoy, a far-right movement encouraged by the federal Conservative Party and much of the corporate media that occupied Ottawa for more than three weeks in late January and February 2022 to demand an end to all anti-COVID restrictions. The response of governments across Canada was to proclaim the end of the pandemic and tell Canadians to learn to live with the virus.

In Quebec, the campaign to scrap the remaining COVID-19 mitigation measures was particularly frenetic. In late February and March there was a cascade of almost daily announcements from the Legault government setting a date, then advancing it, for the lifting of virtually every single anti-COVID public health measure, from capacity limits to mask mandates.

As of May 14, face masks are no longer required in public places. Under the fraudulent pretext that the pandemic is essentially behind us, the CAQ government has encouraged people to crowd into restaurants, bars, theaters, cinemas and sporting events without any protective measures. Schools remained open until the end of the school year at the end of June regardless of the number of infections, only to be replaced by summer and day camps. Many of these have already had to suspend activities due to outbreaks among children who were herded together without any protections.

The current rise in cases is fueled by increasingly contagious and immuno-evasive variants, such as Omicron BA.4 and Omicron BA.5, which represent more than 30 percent of cases in Quebec, a proportion that is constantly increasing. Their appearance had been predicted by several experts who warned public health officials that by letting the coronavirus circulate freely among the population, they had allowed it to evolve and become more contagious, more resistant to vaccines and to the antibodies created by the previous infections.

Nothing about the current situation is a surprise for the ruling class. It is the deliberate result of its homicidal back to normal campaign, i.e., forcing children back to schools (or summer camps) and parents to their workplaces, exposing them to a potentially lethal and debilitating disease so that big business, wealthy shareholders and banks can continue to pile up the profits extracted from the labor of working people.

At the July 7 press conference, the CAQ government publicly reassured the ruling class that it is not going to do anything that will disturb the flow of profits. Health Minister Christian Dube, an accountant and businessman, said the government has no intention of imposing new measures under the pretext that the situation is under control.

This lie is so blatant that even the right-wing Montreal Gazette felt compelled to respond. In an editorial titled Quebecs COVID plan is everyone for themselves, it seems the Gazette highlighted Dubes under control claim, asking pointedly, Is it really? And if so, for how long? The editorial went on to provide a long list of indicators that prove the pandemic is once again surging, writing in summary that cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise.
The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is continuing to receive statements for Dr. David Berger, an Australian physician and dedicated Zero-COVID advocate, who is facing disciplinary action from the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) because of his exposure of government and corporate lies about COVID-19.

Since the publication of our first article, which calls on scientists, health workers and other sections of workers to speak out in defence of Dr. Berger, the WSWS has published three articles compiling these statements and will continue publishing others throughout this week. These articles have been read by many thousands of people throughout the world.

We urge readers to speak out in Bergers defence by emailing your statements here. Please indicate in the email how you would like to be identified in our next article, and if you want to include a photo, please attach one to the email.

Steve Strietberg, a retired nurse from Melbourne, Australia

Respected scientists and doctors like Dr. Berger have consistently exposed the Australian governments lying claims and warned the public of the consequences of COVID-19 if good public health practices werent undertaken.

Steve Strietberg

I had been a nurse for 32 years with specialist training in infectious diseases and public health when, at the start of the pandemic, I read that the then-Morrison governments most senior health official had said, Masks are not necessary, which is patently untrue if you want to prevent the transmission of airborne pathogens. The statement was soon followed, contrary to scientific evidence, by state and federal health officials comparing COVID to the flu; claiming that it only affects the aged and those with co-morbidities; that schools are safe; we have to learn to live with the virus, and finally, the utterly false claim that the pandemic cant be stopped.

Dr. Bergers warnings, like those of other reputable scientists, have been borne out much to the chagrin of the ruling class, which has reacted to these exposures with a bureaucratic campaign of intimidation. It bears a striking similarity to the Australian ruling classs operation against Julian Assange and his persecution in the courts by the UK and US. Dr. Berger is to be punished, while those same health officials responsible for disseminating the criminal policies of Labor and Liberal governments are able to continue to do so.

AHPRA is setting out to persecute Dr. Berger and to send a chilling message to any Australian health practitioner who dares to criticise the governments policies. There are now 30,000 cases of COVID a day in Australia, one of the worst rates in the world, and a total of more than ten-thousand deaths. The attitude of the government and AHPRA is blithe indifference.

I am completely opposed to this attack on freedom of speech and call on all health workers to join me in opposition.

Vicki Ferry, a parent member of the Committee For Public Education (CFPE) in Melbourne, Australia

AHPRAs primary role is supposed to be the protection of the public, and yet it is clear that its political agenda, based on bogus claims of unprofessional conduct, is to silence Dr. Berger from correcting the misinformation put forward by government apparatchiks. Claims that children do not get COVID, the virus isnt airborne, schools are safe, vaccines alone will stop the virus and Omicron is mild, have all been shown to be incorrect.

Vicki Ferry

What the government fails to understand is that the public is no longer as naive as it was just twenty years ago. Weve learnt the truth behind the war in Iraq and claims of weapons of mass destruction. Weve seen what has happened to Julian Assange for exposing the truth about US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. And more and more of us are being silenced in the workplace with spurious claims of misconduct. We must stand united and demand that AHPRA withdraw its threat of deregistration and show that the community will no longer tolerate being silenced.

A Western Australia reader of the WSWS

Dr. Bergers Twitter advice has enabled me and my family to stay safe and avoid COVID. I deplore AHPRAs actions against him and call on AHPRA to apologise and withdraw their judgement.

Helen Dawson, Frankston, Australia

Dr. Bergers concern for better understanding of COVID-19 is a consistent source on Twitter of good information and encouragement to avoid infection.



The Federal Health Department allowed Greg Hunt to give a COVID-19 mitigation contract to Aspen Medical, who had ZERO qualifications, ZERO contractors, and ZERO PPE, resulting in the death of people in Aged Care in Victoria. This was a politically motivated withholding of expertise and provisions from the National Medical stockpile.



The petty vindictiveness shown by various Canberra medical luminaries against Dr. Berger only highlights their extreme arrogance and incompetence. We will lobby politicians to get rid of these moribund organisations from public funding.

Sandhya Ramanathan, a general practitioner in Auckland, New Zealand

Colleen Jones, from Shepparton, a regional centre 190 kilometres north of Melbourne, Australia

I never thought I would live to see the day in Australia, when those who stood up to tell the truth would be persecuted and vilified.

Colleen Jones

Dr. Berger has not lied; the pandemic is not over, it is getting worse, yet he is being disciplined by medical authorities. I applaud Dr. Bergers brave actions and all the scientists, medical people, health care workers, teachers and other trades who are striking and telling the world the truth. Still the ruling class calls for moremore productivity for less wages, in the middle of a pandemic, even at the cost of death and disability to workers.

Dr. Berger has lived by his Hippocratic oath and tried to save lives by telling the truth. What a pity that those who are condemning him, in order to prevent others from speaking out, do not have as much honour.

Steve Pollock, retired worker from Melbourne, Australia

Steve Pollock

The anti-democratic attack on Australian physician Dr. David Berger by AHPRA, as with the anti-democratic attacks on Julian Assange, is a dire warning to the working class and anyone who believes in democratic rights and for the truth to be disseminated around the world.

I demand hands off Dr. David Berger, Julian Assange, and all campaigners for the truth.

Send us your statements of support for Dr. Berger and we will publish them in the coming days.
As COVID-19 infections and deaths continue to mount and with hospitalisation figures approaching those seen at the height of the first Omicron wave in January, Australian governments are refusing to implement any public health measures to suppress transmission.

Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas made this explicit yesterday when she told reporters: The Chief Health Officer has provided his advice and I have accepted his advice, except that I have chosen not to extend mandates for mask wearing.

Rather than following the recommendation of the states most senior health official, Thomas explained she had taken the opportunity to consult with business leaders and based her decision on their demands that nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of profits.

It is significant that the most open expression of the fact that health policy is now being entirely dictated by big business comes from Victoria. During earlier stages of the pandemic, the Victorian Labor government of Daniel Andrews implemented more stringent public health measures than most other states, albeit only in response to a crisis in the health system and seething anger from medical experts and workers.

The newly elected federal Labor government is not merely continuing the homicidal let it rip policies associated with former Liberal-National Prime Minister Scott Morrison, but deepening the attacks on the health and lives of working people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday ruled out any extension to government-funded pandemic leave payments, which ended in June, citing the need to be fiscally responsible.

Australian Health Minister Mark Butler (Photo: Facebook/Mark Butler MP)

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Insiders program on Sunday: Were beyond ... lockdowns and mandates and emergency payments.

Butler also refused to extend the supply of free rapid antigen tests (RATs) to pensioners and welfare recipients beyond the end of July. As infections surge, he claimed it was about the right time to end the program.

In other states, governments are proceeding along precisely the same lines. In Queensland, Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk refused to reintroduce a mask mandate, declaring Its peoples personal responsibility, okay, so if youre in a crowded area, it is your choice to put on that mask.

In New South Wales (NSW), the Liberal-National government has also ruled out mask requirements, despite Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant declaring face masks were common sense, and warning of the increasing danger of reinfection with Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.

The removal of virtually all COVID-19 restrictions across the country, far from appeasing industry lobbyists, has provoked increasingly strident opposition to any hint that even the most limited public health measures may be reintroduced.

The mere suggestion yesterday by Butler that employers could consider allowing some employees to work from home for a little period provoked a vitriolic outpouring from business groups.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the public health crisis was no excuse to impose draconian restrictions or wind down the economy as some of the medical fraternity clearly want to do.

Restaurant and Catering Association Chief Executive Belinda Clarke declared: This winter season is a test for governments throughout Australia on their stance on whether they want to live with Covid-19 or shut down the economy with every variant in the years to come.

This statement makes clear that the corporate elite is fully conscious of the fact that the pandemic is not over, and that the let it rip strategy condemns the population to ongoing and worsening waves of infection, illness and death. They simply do not care as long as it is not allowed to interfere with production and profits.

These are the interests that are directing the COVID-19 policy of all capitalist governments, throughout Australia and around the world, with the exception of China.

The homicidal agenda demanded by big business requires the muzzling of all those who advocate a scientific response to the deadly pandemic. This is what is behind the decision of the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority (AHPRA) to level disciplinary action at Dr. David Berger, a general practitioner and Zero-COVID advocate, over his continued criticism and exposure of the official response.

While governments openly reject health advice for even limited safety measures, Berger faces censure for consistently advocating scientifically-based policies aimed at protecting the lives of the population.

Across Australia, there are more than 314,000 active cases of COVID-19, according to official reports, which vastly understate the real spread of infection due to the dismantling of the public testing infrastructure and increasing reliance on self-reported rapid antigen tests (RATs). Epidemiologists estimate that the real figure is likely at least double what is reported.

More than 4,400 people across the country are hospitalised for COVID-19, an increase of 38 percent over the past two weeks, while 130 are in intensive care.

In Queensland alone, 860 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, more than on all but six days during the pandemic and the most since February 1. In addition, over 100 patients are being treated for influenza in the state. Queensland hospitals have been forced to begin cancelling elective surgery due to both the influx of COVID-19 patients and the inability of more than 2,300 health staff to work because they are infected.

At least 4,200 more health workers are in COVID-19 isolation across New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. In NSW, more than 2,000 people are hospitalised for COVID-19 for the first time since February 8, while the Victorian figure of 739 is the highest in that state since February 3.

In Tasmania, over 100 people are hospitalised for COVID-19, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. This is more than double the 44 hospitalised on June 30, when the requirement to wear masks in health care settings ended in that state.

This situation in aged care is particularly stark. There have been at least 2,972 COVID-19 fatalities in the sector since the beginning of the pandemic, including more than 2,000 this year and 302 between June 10 and July 8, a rate of over ten per day.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 62,000 aged care residents and 46,000 staff have been infected. On July 8, there were 5,897 active COVID-19 cases in 737 ongoing outbreaks in residential aged care facilities across Australia. Of these, 3,816 cases were among residents and 2,081 among staff.

Over the past week, 311 people have died from COVID-19 in Australia, bringing the total to 10,442, including 8,203 in 2022 alone. At the current rate, the country will record almost 16,000 deaths this year, which, based on historical figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, would make COVID-19 the second-highest cause of death.

In fact though, the actions of Australian governments this year have created the conditions for the real toll to be far higher. The systematic elimination of even the limited public health measures that were still in place during the first Omicron wave will mean even more widespread transmission of the virus.

More of those infected will suffer severe illness as a result of waning immunity from vaccines. While 95 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, meaning they have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, less than 68 percent have received a third shot, as a result of the concerted campaign by governments, corporations and the media to declare the pandemic over and the Omicron variant mild. Fourth doses were only made generally available to people under 65 on Monday, and less than 13 percent of the adult population has received one.

Even four doses of vaccine provides minimal protection against the new Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, which now account for two thirds of COVID-19 samples subjected to genomic testing in Australia and 80 percent of those in Queensland and Tasmania. These are the most infectious strains to date, comparable to measles and twice as contagious as Omicron BA.1.

The new subvariants are also more likely to cause reinfection, which has led to governments in NSW, Western Australia, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory reducing the period in which those who have had COVID-19 are considered immune from 12 weeks to 4 weeks.

The open refusal of governments to reintroduce even the most basic public health measures, in the face of these stark figures, and in opposition to doctors, epidemiologists and even their own health authorities, demonstrates that the working class must take matters into its own hands.

Rank-and-file committees, independent of Labor and the unions, must be established in schools, hospitals, workplaces and neighbourhoods, and link up with other such committees across the country and around the world to fight for a scientifically grounded program for the global elimination of COVID-19.

Above all, this means a fight for socialism, a society in which health and lives will no longer be subordinated to the profit interests of the wealthy elite.
On June 19, Randy Cox, a 36-year-old African American resident of New Haven, Connecticut, suffered severe spinal injuries when the police van transporting him to jail, stopped suddenly and catapulted him headfirst into the steel cage wall of the vehicle. He was handcuffed and without a seatbelt.

Left: Randy Cox (family photo); Center: Cox in the back of police van (New Haven Police photo); Right: Randy Cox in hospital (family photo)

Much of the incident has been caught on police video camera, which the city has released to the public, although the city has withheld about two hours of footage.

Weeks later, Cox, after two neck operations, remains intubated and paralyzed. The rough ride of detainees is a common type of police torture in the United States.

Coxs injuries were almost certainly exacerbated afterward by the cops, who, even though Cox told them he could not move, dragged him out of the van and forced him to sit up in a wheelchair. As they were processing him, they even made him listen to and sign off on a pre-recorded statement about sexual harassment. They then dragged him into a cell, where he lay, with his paralyzed ankles handcuffed together, until paramedics arrived.

Coxs case immediately recalls the case of Freddie Gray who was murdered by police in a similar case of a rough ride in a police van in Baltimore in 2015. Grays murder sparked mass protests against police brutality. The treatment meted out to Cox is also reminiscent of the Gray killing in another way: It was an assault by the police in a city run by the Democratic Party, in the case of Baltimore the administration of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and in New Haven, Mayor Justin Elicker.

Coxs family held a press conference on the steps of the New Haven Courthouse on June 28, where attorney Ben Crump who has worked on numerous cases of police abuse, including that of George Floyd, murdered by police in Minneapolis in 2020, announced he would be representing Cox.

Crump called Coxs situation the Freddie Gray case on video. He suggested that videos that had not yet been released by the city would prove even more shocking.

At a public meeting held by the Connecticut NAACP on the same evening, attended by several hundred people, Scott X. Esdaile, the organizations state president, said, People from the community have been coming to us for years talking about how they torture people in the back of paddy wagons. They put individuals in the paddy wagons, they go real fast and they slam on the brakes.

Cox was participating in a Fathers Day-Juneteenth block party on Lilac Street, in the working class Newhallville neighborhood of New Haven when he was arrested.

Officers from the New Haven Police Department arrived at the event around 7:30 p.m. after they allegedly received a weapons complaint. Police body cams show several cops surrounding and frisking Cox who offered no resistance. A cell phone and a pint bottle of liquor Cox was holding were taken from him and a handgun removed from his waistband. He was immediately cuffed and placed under arrest, charged with possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit, second degree threatening, and second-degree breach of peace. Another body cam video clip released by the city, shows him being put into a police van for transport to jail. Cox remained co-operative.

The next video clip made available to the public shows Cox, arms handcuffed behind his back, raising himself up off the floor of the narrow, restrictive, prisoner cage inside the van and easing himself onto a bench that runs the length of the cage. He kicked at the steel wall opposite the bench and then, in an instant, the camera captures him pitching forward and slamming head-first into the steel dividing wall separating the cage from the cab of the vehicle.

The New Haven police say the vans driver, Officer Oscar Diaz, was forced to brake to avoid colliding with another vehicle and that the sudden braking led to Coxs being injured. Video intended to provide proof of this is inconclusive.

What is conclusive is the mocking, demeaning and indifferent way the cop treated Cox, who for the remainder of the trip to the jail, lay in agony, squeezed in between the bench and the cage wall, unable to move, and pleading over and over again for help. When Diaz, who can clearly see his prisoner in a video monitor in the cab, finally pulled over purportedly to physically check on Cox, it was only to taunt the man further from the open door of the cage.

Police regulations state that at the point a prisoner is injured in a vehicle, the driver is supposed to immediately pull over and make an ambulance call. Diaz told Cox he was going to call an ambulance but instead closed the cage door and proceeded to the jail, radioing a police dispatcher and requesting an ambulance be sent to meet him there.

Body cam videos capture the criminal disregard shown to Cox in lock-up by his jailers, who took the word of Diaz and treated the severely injured man like they would a drunk, actions that would be despicable regardless.

In total, five officers are being investigated by the city and have been put on administrative leave.

According to the New Haven Register, LaToya Boomer, Coxs sister, said after seeing the video, Wheres the first aid training? Wheres the on-the-job training? Wheres the accountability? I want to know, wheres the person that sees whats going on and says, maybe hes not joking, maybe hes not drunk, maybe hes in distress.

Injury and death at the hands of the police are a commonplace in the United States. Barely a week after Randy Coxs rough ride, Akron, Ohio, resident Jayland Walker was executed by eight cops who riddled the young mans body with over 60 bullets after a routine traffic stop. Peaceful protests over this heinous crime have been met with tear gas, baton charges, and arrests. A friend of Jayland Walkers fiancee, told the World Socialist Web Site, They are not protecting and serving, they are hunting and killing us.

During the protests that have followed the killing of Walker, the police have reputedly rioted, beating demonstrators, arresting them without cause and firing tear-gas cannisters at pointblank range.

At a rally in New Haven earlier this month, following a two-mile march ending at a police station, Randy Coxs brother, Jeff Brown of Tallahassee, Florida, responded with contempt toward the changes Democratic Mayor Justin Elicker has promised, including an order clarifying that police cruisers should be the primary means of transporting a prisoner, and that police vans should only carry prisoners under certain circumstances along with the requirement that police inquire whether a person requires medical attention both when they are arrested and when they arrive at a detention facility. I heard the mayor and the police chief, he said. I read theyre going to do a new initiative and institute some new procedures. What we want is some goddamn accountability!

According to media reports, one marcher summed up the mood of the protesters: They keep telling us to be peaceful, she said. No. We are non-violent, but we are not peaceful ... Not peaceful, not calm. We are outraged!

Meanwhile Randy Cox still lies in a hospital bed where his sister, LaQuavius LeGrant, told the media, The man cant eat. He cant sleep, he cant talk, he cant breathe. He cant do anything, at all, but cry. He cries every time we come thereand all we do is cry.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), jointly operated by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), has been successfully commissioned. The images and accompanying data released on July 12 are a first glimpse of the full capabilities of the new astronomical observatory and mark a major step forward in humanitys ability to understand the Universe and our place within it.

By all accounts, the imagery unveiled is a stunning scientific achievement. Hundreds of commands from ground control to the astronomical observatory since it launched on December 25 were carried out flawlessly. Thousands of researchers, scientists and engineers in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere in the world worked tirelessly to understand and characterize the spacecrafts performance while in orbit. As a result, the data taken has already pushed past many of the previous capabilities set by earlier space telescopes.

The event also has a mass social character. The first light of the JWST has been anticipated by astronomers and the public for more than a decade. The telescope builds off of the legacy of other space observatories like Chandra, Spitzer and, above all, Hubble which have produced groundbreaking scientific results and have simultaneously captivated and inspired workers and youth across the globe.

Webb's First Deep Field is an image which focuses on SMACS 0723 and was taken with the telescope's NIRCam instrument. The image also demonstrates gravitational lensing, magnifying galaxies otherwise invisible, some as old as 13.1 billion years. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Millions watched live as the images were unveiled and millions more have read reports, watched videos, posted on social media and talked among co-workers and friends about what the JWST has so far observed. After many years of delays and a near cancellation in 2011 by the culturally backward American state (the telescopes $10 billion cost could have, after all, been spent on yet another aircraft carrier), the JWST has successfully joined and advanced the constellation of humanitys space-based observatories.

The first operational image taken by the telescope, known as Webbs First Deep Field, depicts the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Light from the cluster took 4.6 billion years to reach Earth, providing a snapshot of the galaxies within from that period in cosmic history. The cluster is so massive that it also acts as a lens, its gravity so powerful that light from more distant galaxies is focused and amplified. The JWST was as a result able to gather light from one galaxy that has traveled for 13.1 billion years, originating just a 700 million years after the Big Bang.

The most striking aspect of the image, however, is the improvement in resolution of this deep field over those previously taken by Hubble. One of the chief design considerations of the JWST was to have a 6.5-meter diameter primary mirror, which has a light-collecting area about six times that of Hubble. As a result, it is capable of capturing internal structural details of galaxies that Hubble simply cannot, such as star clusters and other diffuse features.

It is also worth noting that the JWST was able to use its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument to collect the necessary data to produce its image of SMACS 0723 in just 12.5 hours. In comparison, it took Hubble weeks to collect comparable but less resolved data.

The JWST will also be capable of looking back further in time. While the galaxy GN-z11 is the most distant object Hubble has observed, light having traveled 13.4 billion years to be captured, it is expected that the new telescope will break past this milestone in the coming months. The JWST primarily observes wavelengths in the infrared, compared to the visible for Hubble, and is thus designed to observe light that has traveled for even longer.

The top image is a view by Hubble of the Carina Nebula's "cosmic cliffs" and the bottom image is a similar one taken by the JWST. The composite demonstrates the higher resolution of the newer observatory and its increased capability to see star formation otherwise hidden by the clouds of gas and dust. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, The Hubble Heritage Team; acknowledgment: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley)

Another object imaged using the NIRCam was the Carina Nebula. It is located about 7,600 light years from Earth and is a rich target for those studying star and planetary formation. The JWST in particular imaged what are known as the nebulas cosmic cliffs, which look like a range of mountains and valleys but are in fact the edge of a colossal cavity carved out by stars emitting intense ultraviolet light during their early years after formation.

Past observations of this region have shown star formation, but none have been able to pierce through the gas and dust to the extent achieved by the JWST and at the current resolution. The observations were also aided by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), revealing previously suspected but hitherto unseen areas of star birth.

Astronomers also used NIRCam and MIRI to observe Stephans Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies first observed in 1877. While the leftmost galaxy is not a true member of the cluster (it is 40 million light years away, while the other four are 290 million light years from Earth), the other four are gravitationally bound to each other and a very well-studied group showing how galaxies can be ripped apart as they interact with each other.

The JWST has captured fresh data from these galaxies, including clusters of young stars as well as regions of star formation induced by the mutual interactions. The telescope also imaged a shock wave produced as the galaxy NGC 7318B crossed through the cluster, as well as outflows produced by the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 7319. The high resolution provided by the JWSTs large size also provided more detail on the hundreds of galaxies in the background, essentially another deep field.

The last image released to show the capabilities of NIRCam and MIRI was of the Southern Ring Nebula, which consists of a binary star system about 2,500 light years away where one of the stars has lost much of its mass at the end of its life through recent periodic ejections of gas and dust. As the stars revolved, they churned the emitted material into a complex network of shells. In addition, the distance of each shell from the binary pair and its molecular composition provide a history of the system over thousands of years, analogous to studying geological epochs using layers of rocks on Earth, allowing researchers to better understand how such star systems evolve.

The JWST's operators used the NIRISS instrument to conclusively demonstrate that the atmospheric composition of the large gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b includes water, one of the key ingredients for Earth-like life. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

NASA has also released data taken by the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) of the exoplanetary system WASP-96. During a 6.4-hour observing campaign, the instrument watched as a gas giant in that system, one with half the mass and 1.2 times the diameter of Jupiter, passed in front of its parent star. It confirmed previous evidence of water in the atmosphere of a planet 1,150 light years away and provided evidence of haze and clouds that had not previously been detected.

The JWST is also capable of imaging objects in our own Solar System. Part of its commissioning included imaging Jupiter in an attempt to image objects moving rapidly through the telescopes field of view. The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) proved fully capable of ensuring that such objects can be tracked and imaged successfully, and as a bonus the NIRCam was shown to be capable of simultaneously imaging both the bright planet and its fainter rings and moons.

These NIRCam images of Jupiter demonstrate that the JWST can track fast moving objects within the solar system, such as planets and near-Earth asteroids, as well as simultaneously image bright and faint objects in its field of view. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Overall, these initial images demonstrate that the JWST is capable of achieving the scientific goals for which it was built: peering farther back into cosmic history and viewing complex astronomical phenomena with more clarity than ever before. Moreover, the final results from the commissioning indicate that the telescope well exceeds its pre-launch specifications in virtually every area of operation. To quote the JWST Science Performance from Commissioning document, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected.

Among the most significant improvements is the telescopes life expectancy. In order to maintain its orbit, which is at Lagrange Point 2 (1.5 million kilometers from Earth), it must use a finite supply of propellant to maintain its station. Initial estimates predicted that the JWST would have enough fuel to last 10.5 years. Final calculations indicate that the launch and insertion into its orbit were so smooth that the spacecraft will be able to carry out observations for at least 20 years.

Of course, the release of the images and the beginning of the telescopes science operations were marred by the intervention of the Biden administration, which released the deep field image of SMACS 0723 a day early. Vice President Kamala Harris, once a career state prosecutor, declared that the JWST will be for the benefit of humankind. Biden himself, heading a war drive against Russia that threatens to engulf the planet in nuclear annihilation, provided a nationalist overtone, stating the telescope is for America and all humanity.

But the hypocrisy of Biden and Harris do not diminish the immense scientific and cultural achievement of the James Webb Space Telescope. It is ultimately a demonstration of social progress, of what can be done when humanitys collective energy is put toward social need, in this case a deeper understanding of nature and how humans interact with it. That same understanding is increasingly being applied by the worlds population to social questions, inevitably leading them to realize the necessity of sweeping away Biden and the capitalist socioeconomic system he and his ilk internationally defend and construct a new and higher social order.
Seven weeks after 19 students and two teachers were massacred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, marking the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, security footage from inside the school was obtained by the Austin-American-Statesman and KVUE, which they published in two separate videos on Tuesday.



That the footage was only published now, after apparently being leaked to the press by a source close to the investigation, is a testament to the massive police cover-up and deliberate slow drip of informationmuch of which has been proven falsethat has been underway since the day of the massacre.



For over a month, Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee has refused requests from media to release the hallway video, which was originally given to her by the Texas Department of Safety, which likewise refused to release the video or show family members of the deceased who have been demanding answers and accountability for police inaction since May.



In the two videos released on Tuesday by the Statesman, footage is shown from outside and inside the school as well as some police body camera tape. The tape begins by showing 18-year-old Salvador Ramos crash his grandmothers truck, which he stole after shooting her in the face, in a ditch outside the school at 11:28 a.m on May 24. Two persons are shown trying to help Ramos, who responds by shooting at them, causing them to run in fear.

In the video released by the Statesman, audio is included from the Robb Elementary School teacher who called 911 at 11:31 a.m. to report a gunman outside the school.



By this time there had been at least three phone calls to emergency services regarding Ramos rampage, including from a teacher inside the school, Ramos neighbors, who were tending to his injured grandmother and witnessed him drive off, and the two people who fled after attempting to help Ramos following the crash.



I cannot see him! the teacher tells the operator. The kids are running! Oh, my god. As the teacher speaks, video from a bystander shows Ramos enter the school parking lot and begin shooting at the school.



As Ramos is shooting, the teacher is heard yelling, Get down! Get in your rooms! Get in your rooms!



At 11:33 a.m. the school camera inside the hallway captures Ramos entering the school. Roughly 25 seconds later, he begins shooting inside the school.



Police surveillance video of the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

As Ramos begins his massacre, an Editors Note appears on screen: The sound of children screaming has been removed. Police claim to have recovered over 100 shell casings fired by Ramos from inside the classroom.

Image from security footage taken inside Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2020 at approximately 11:36 a.m. The footage was obtained by the Austin-American-Statesman. [Photo]

The footage shows at least seven police officers wearing body armor and equipped with at least one AR-15-style rifle enter the school three minutes after Ramos did, almost exactly at 11:36 a.m.



After initially moving towards Classrooms 111 and 112, within a minute of entering the school, the police hear more gunfire from inside the classroom where Ramos is shooting. Instead of moving towards the sound of gunfire, the cowardly cops sprinted away from the classrooms and took cover down the hallway.

Cops fleeing from the sound of gunfire inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022. [Photo]

It would be another 74 minutes before police attempted to open the classroom door and engage Ramos. From 11:37 a.m. through 12:49 p.m., not a single cop tried to open the door or engage Ramos. This is despite the fact that by 11:38 a.m., as Ramos continued to fire from inside the classroom, seven cops were in the hallway with body armor and at least one AR-15. By 11:43 a.m. at least two different cops are observed on the camera with AR-15s, and seven cops have body armor on.



By 11:51 a.m., 18 minutes after Ramos entered the school and more than 20 minutes after receiving multiple emergency calls from teachers and community members that Ramos had shot multiple people inside and outside the school, heavily armed federal Border Patrol agents are observed in the hallway. There were now well over a dozen cops in the hallway, with at least four equipped with AR-15 style rifles.



By 11:52 a.m. at least one Uvalde county sheriff took a position at the end of the hall with a ballistic shield, body armor, a combat helmet and an AR-15 style rifle. Ramos continued to fire sporadically from inside the classroom yet no police had tried to open the door.



At 12:04 p.m., 31 minutes after Ramos first entered the school and 28 minutes after cops followed him in, two more ballistic shields are shown on the camera while at least five cops are observed carrying AR-15 style rifles. At 12:21 p.m. over a dozen cops were in the school with at least three ballistic shields and over six AR-15s as gunshots from inside the classroom continued to ring out in the hallway.

Dozens of heavily armed cops with ballistic shields and AR-15 style rifles refuse to engage gunman even as shots ring out inside the classrooms at 12:21 p.m.

By 12:23 p.m. at which point emergency services has received multiple calls from injured children inside the classroom, over two dozen highly armed militarized local, state, county police and Border Patrol agents were in the hallway. Ramos continued to fire inside the classroom. Not a single cop tried to enter the classroom.



For over an hour heavily armed police walked up and down the hallway, checked their gear, readjusted the chin straps on their helmets, looked at blueprints of the school, scrolled on their phones, texted and made phones calls. One cop in body armor and with a helmet took some time to clean his hands with hand sanitizer, in-between leaning up against the wall, standing around and generally looking disinterested at doing anything to stop the ongoing massacre.

A cop takes a break after leaning up against the wall to get some hand sanitizer as Ramos continues to shoot inside the classroom.

While police inside the school took a lackadaisical approach to saving the lives of innocent children, outside the school, police assaulted, tasered and arrested parents who attempted to enter the school to save their children after cops refused their pleas to engage the gunman.



The first edit released by the Statesman is roughly four minutes long, while the second is roughly an hour and 22 minutes. Almost all of the footage was taken from a single camera in the hallway of Robb Elementary, which the police have been in possession of since the day of the massacre.



The police accounting of events has changed multiple times in an attempt to cover for their criminal inaction. At the forefront of the cover-up is the man who has been put in charge of leading the investigation into the police response that day, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw.



On May 25, one day after the shooting and more than enough time for McCraw to have viewed the security footage from inside the school, the lying cop spread known disinformation in a press conference. He said that a team of Uvalde police officers and school district officers immediately breached [the classroom] because we know as officers, every seconds a life.



In the same May 25 press conference McCraw put forward another falsehood, claiming that police did engage immediately ... [and] saved other kids. They kept him pinned down. And were very proud of that.



At that same news conference, the fascistic Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who no doubt has had access to the same footage as McCraw, defended the courage of the police, telling reporters: The reason it [the massacre] was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do: They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives. And it is a fact that because of their quick response... and eliminating the gunman, they were able to save livesunfortunately, not enough.



At a contentious Uvalde City Council meeting held on Tuesday evening, two days after hundreds of Uvalde residents marched throughout the city demanding more gun control and accountability for police inaction, outraged family and community members called out the ongoing cover-up.



One woman who spoke at the meeting addressed the council directly: While we wont forget the names of those that died, we also cant forget the names of the people responsible for protecting the children who failed. It was not just [former Uvalde school district police chief] Pete Arredondo, it was also the acting police chief... one of your own. The Uvalde county sheriff... DPS units... units for Border Patrol. The leaders of these agencies, if not just as responsible, are more responsible for their officers actions that day. They were supposed to be on the front line, leading the troops.



When I looked at the video seeing them all standing in the hallway doing nothing, except standing back. I was very very disappointed Have you interviewed all of these officers? Have you asked them, Where were you? What did you do? Were your officers debriefed? Do you even know the truth?




In the run-up to Brazils October presidential elections, the right-wing, nationalist and pro-corporate character of the program of Workers Party (PT) candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has emerged ever more openly. In recent weeks, Lula and PT officials have met with businessmen and bankers to assure the markets that a PT government will place the full weight of the growing global capitalist crisis upon the backs of the Brazilian working class. They are promising to escalate the attacks carried out under the PT when it governed Brazil between 2003 and 2016 as the party of choice of the national and international ruling elite.

A central figure in these meetings has been Lulas vice-presidential running mate, the right-wing politician Geraldo Alckmin, now in the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB). Before joining the PSB to run with Lula, Alckmins entire political career was in the hated Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which under former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso pursued a brutal neoliberal agenda against the Brazilian working class. During the 14 years that Alckmin was governor of Sao Paulo, Brazils richest and most populous state, he followed the script of Cardosos administration, applying pro-corporate programs in public education and harshly repressing social protests.

In pursuit of the PTs right-wing agenda, Alckmin met in mid-June with representatives of the pro-herd immunity movement, Escolas Abertas (Open Schools). The meeting took place during an offensive by this movement against any measures to close classrooms in the face of the rising fourth wave of the pandemic in Brazil.

Geraldo Alckmin with Open Schools representatives, June 2022 (Instagram)

With the rapid spread of more transmissible and vaccine-resistant Omicron BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in the schools, where the most basic mitigation measures, such as mask mandates, have been abandoned, Open Schools protested on social media against schools that are illegally closing entire classrooms! There hasnt been a [National Public Health Emergency] as a result of coronavirus since May 22, 2022.

Working closely with the ruling elite, Open Schools met in late June with Sao Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes, who soon after issued a decree abandoning the recommendation to send students with confirmed COVID infections home from class.

The Open Schools movement was created in 2020, ostensibly by a small group of elite private school parents who were protesting against temporary school closures. Behind it, however, were powerful sections of the ruling elite determined to carry out the full reopening of the economy and end all measures to contain the spread of the virus. Before denouncing the suspension of classes in this current wave of the pandemic, Open Schools played a prominent role in making education an essential service, enabling schools to reopen even with the pandemic out of control, and in ending the mandatory wearing of masks in the countrys precarious classrooms.

Like the ruling classes around the world, the Brazilian capitalist elite saw the pandemic as an opportunity to increase corporate profits and personal wealth. The Open Schools pro-herd immunity program, aimed at keeping parents in their workplaces, is connected to its broad defense of the privatization of public education and attacks against teachers, whom the movement claims are left-wing indoctrinators.

Recently, the movement has allied itself with fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro in promoting homeschooling, and has been one of the most vocal advocates of vouchers in public education, a policy modeled upon the brutal experience of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

Members of Open Schools have been received on several occasions by the Joao Doria (PSDB) government of the state of Sao Paulo. After being elected governor on a far-right platform and directly supporting Bolsonaro in 2018, Doria broke with the fascistic president, demagogically posing as a defender of science, while fully reopening both schools and the economy during the pandemic. Doria copied the strategy of the global ruling elites, limiting pandemic control measures to vaccinations. The same strategy was followed by PT state governments in the Northeast, and Lula praised Doria for his supposed fight against the pandemic in Sao Paulo.

Alckmin was Dorias principal political patron, preceding him as governor of Sao Paulo. Alckmins terms as governor were marked by extensive attacks on public education, with the introduction of full-time charter schools, external evaluations, and corporate management policies, which cut teachers salaries in the state to among the lowest in Brazil. In 2015, he announced a sweeping school reorganization that would result in the closure of 1,000 schools across the state. The announcement sparked an explosive school occupation movement by high school students in 2015-6, forcingthe government to abandon its project.

The rapprochement between Lula and Alckmin was largely mediated by Fernando Haddad, one of the most right-wing figures within the PT. Haddad is one of the biggest advocates of a broad front against Bolsonaro, i.e., the subordination of the popular anger against the fascistic president to the same sections of the ruling class and bourgeois state that enabled him to freely implement his herd immunity policy and attacks on the Brazilian working class. During his time as minister of education in the Lula administration (2005-2012) and as mayor of Sao Paulo (2013-2016), Haddad , like Alckmin, had a record of attacks against teachers and public education.

In 2005, he implemented the first national external evaluation for basic education, the Prova Brasil (Brazil Exam). Like external evaluations around the world, it opened the way for privatizing public education, as was the case with the high school reform during the government of President Michel Temer in 2016. Haddad himself, as education minister, had defended key aspects of the educational reform later implemented by Temer.

It was also during the period when Haddad headed the education ministry that Brazil saw exponential growth in private higher education. The increase in university enrollments, driven by the commodities boom during Lulas administrations, was fueled by massive federal subsidies to low-quality private colleges, which turned Brazilian higher education into a highly profitable business.

One of the greatest beneficiaries of this process was education businessman Walfrido dos Mares Guia, who also served as a minister under Lula. In 2013, he created Kroton Educacional, which became the largest private educational group in the world. Returning favors received from PT governments, he provided million-dollar donations to Haddads campaign for mayor of Sao Paulo in 2016, to the Lula Institute, and even lent his private jet to Lula. Today, Mares Guia is serving as one of the intermediaries between the PT and the corporate world, repeating that businessmen need not be afraid of Lula.

As mayor of the city of Sao Paulo, Haddads policies also benefited private education, which now administers practically all the day care centers inaugurated under his mandate. Haddads administration was also marked by large strikes of municipal teachers. In 2015, he attempted to force through a pension reform that would result in cutting the pensions of teachers and other public employees and create a retirement plan administered by private funds. After Haddad vowed to withdraw his pension reform plan, he sent the proposal to the Sao Paulo City Council three days before leaving office, paving the way for it to be approved the following year with even harsher attacks on Sao Paulos teachers and public employees.

It was during his term as mayor that Haddad began his fruitful political relationship with Alckmin, then governor of the state of Sao Paulo. In a recent interview, Haddad said: I have a well-known personal relationship with Alckmin, and when I was mayor I got along very well with him as governor. We had disagreements, but we knew how to build together and we built a lot of things.

Among the things they built together is the brutal repression unleashed by the Sao Paulo Military Police against demonstrations over the increase in public transportation fares in 2013. This crackdown sparked what became known as the Brazilian Spring, the largest mass movement in the last 30 years against widespread corruption, poor social services, social inequality, and the entire political establishment, including the PT governments.

The attacks on public education by Alckmin and Haddad could not have happened without the complicity of the Sao Paulo state teachers union, APEOESP, and its pseudo-left apologists, particularly the so-called opposition to the PT leadership in APEOESP headed by Morenoite and Pabloite groups within the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL). They have a long record of isolating and sabotaging teachers strikes, which allowed then governor Alckmin to carry out his broad attacks on public education in the state, while Haddad did the same as mayor of Sao Paulo.

During the pandemic, the betrayals of APEOESP and the pseudo-left took on a criminal character as they sabotaged strikes for life before the second deadly wave early last year. Today, these political forces are supporting Lula, Alckmin and Haddad, who will be the PTs candidate for governor of Sao Paulo, claiming that these bourgeois politicians will rebuild Brazil. Quite the contrary, for decades they have spearheaded the destruction of public education and the living conditions of the working class, paving the way for the election of Bolsonaro in 2018.

In the midst of a growing global economic crisis and a pandemic still out of control, the world ruling elites are unleashing a broad assault on social and democratic rights, with the advancing threat of dictatorial forms of rule and a nuclear world war. Under these conditions, the guarantee of quality public education is ever more inseparable from a political struggle against the capitalist system. This means confiscating the wealth of the likes of Mares Guia and the other Brazilian billionaires with whom Lula and Alckmin are now meeting to assure the financial markets that there is nothing to fear from a PT administration.

To this end, we call on teachers, students and the entire Brazilian working class to fight for a policy of eliminating COVID-19 and defending the most basic democratic and social rights through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), of which the Rank-and-File Committee for Safe Education in Brazil is a part. The IWA-RFC is a network of committees independent of the trade unions and the bourgeois parties and their pseudo-left supporters, that is being created internationally to unite workers struggles across industries and national borders.
The seventh in the current series of televised hearings by the House Select Committee on the January 6 coup focused on former president Donald Trumps mobilization of violent, far-right terrorists in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and seize dictatorial power.

The hearing, held on Tuesday, largely reiterated previously reported aspects of the plot to reverse Trumps defeat by a wide margin at the polls, emphasizing that his own White House lawyers and Justice Department officials repeatedly told him there was no basis for his claims of a stolen election.

However, it brought forth chilling examples of videos and tweets posted by his far-right allies, showing that Trumps call on December 19 for a mass rally on January 6 (Be there, will be wild!) was, as one committee member said, A call to arms.

The committee used clips from the eight-hour deposition given last Friday by Trumps White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to corroborate testimony provided last month by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on Trumps summoning of armed supporters to overrun the US Capitol and halt the certification of the Electoral College vote.

Cipollone described the raucous meeting held in the White House late into the evening of December 18, four days after the electors chosen by the popular vote in each state had met and certified Joe Bidens victory by a margin of 306 to 232 electoral votes.

At the White House meeting, Trumps sacked former national security adviser Lt. General Michael Flynn (retired), conspiracy lawyer Sidney Powell and then-CEO of Overstock.com Patrick Byrne proposed that Trump order the military to seize voting machines and appoint Powell as independent counsel to investigate vote fraud.

Cipollone and another White House lawyer barged into the secret meeting and denounced the scheme, forcing Trump to back away from issuing the necessary orders.

Just a few hours later, in the early morning hours of December 19, Trump posted his tweet calling for his supporters to flood into Washington DC and Stop the Steal on January 6. He promised that the day will be wild.

That this was a call for far-right violence, including murder, directed against elected officials and others opposed to Trump, both on January 6 and thereafter, was documented by the statements and exhortations of leaders of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other fascist paramilitary groups, as well as far-right bloggers such as Alex Jones.

Tweets shown by the committee included: We need volunteers for the firing squads. Why dont we just kill all Democrats? Bring handcuffs and wait near the tunnels. Im locked and loaded and ready for Civil War part two. Is this D-Day We will need volunteers for the firing squad.

Speakers at a Washington D.C. rally of Trump supporters on January 5 included Stop the Steal founder Ali Alexander and Alex Jones, both of whom called for a new 1776.

The second part of the hearing featured an in-person panel of two witnesses. Stephen Ayres, who recently pleaded guilty of disorderly conduct for invading the Capitol as part of Trumps mob, said he was convinced that the election had been stolen on the basis of social media posts by Trump and his allies, but had since changed his mind.

Jason Van Tatenhove, who joined the Oath Keepers in 2014 and handled the groups media operations until he left several years ago, called the organization dangerous, racist and white supremacist. He said he resigned after a discussion in which members were insisting that the Holocaust was not real.

Asked about Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes call for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act on January 6, Tatenhove said, It would have been an armed insurrection They see in Trump an opportunity to become a paramilitary force.

Asked if he had ever heard Rhodes speak of committing violence against elected leaders, Tatenhove said, Yes. He wanted me to create a deck of cards of people to take out, different politicians, judges, including Hillary Clinton as the queen of hearts.

He said the American people were exceedingly lucky that more bloodshed did not occur on January 6, and said he feared what the next election would bring.

The committee outlined the links between Trumps inner circle, including Flynn and Roger Stone, and far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. It noted that Trump pardoned both Flynn and Stone, who were facing charges in connection with the Mueller investigation, between the November 3, 2020 election and January 6, 2021.

It showed a photo of Flynn and Patrick Byrne being guarded by a Proud Boy. Stone was shown in a video clip about his Friends of Stone network, which includes the Proud Boys, calling himself a Western chauvinist.

Flynn has known ties to the 1st Amendment Praetorian paramilitary group, which provided security for him when he spoke at a pro-Trump march in Washington in December 2020. Joining that group in providing security for the event were the Oath Keepers, including Rhodes.

The committee also cited a chat group called The Ministry of Defense in which Proud Boys and Oath Keepers discussed tactical plans for January 6, including pinpointing police locations.

Panel member Jamie Raskin said that Kelly Meggs, a leader of the Florida Oath Keepers, held direct discussions with Stone on January 5 and January 6.

Trump spoke twice to Stephen Bannon on January 5, according to White House logs examined by the committee. That day, on his podcast, Bannon told his audience that all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.

As for claims that Trump decided at the last minute to call for the crowd gathered at the Ellipse on the morning of January 6 to march to the Capitol and force Congress to halt the certification, the hearing presented proof that the attack on Congress had been decided on well before then.

The panel noted that after a January 2 phone call with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Katrina Pierson, a former Trump aide who was involved in organizing the January 6 rally at the Ellipse, sent an email to other organizers saying that the president planned to call on everyone to march to the Capitol.

And in a January 4 text message, Kylie Jane Kremer, another rally organizer, stressed the need to keep secret the plan to march on the Capitol.

Totally evaded in the hearing, as in all of the prior ones, were a number of obvious questions: Why was nothing done to stop the coup conspiracy, which was being carried out in the full light of day? Why were the plotters, beginning with Trump, not arrested and put in jail? Why was the public not alerted to the danger of mass murder at the hands of fascist paramilitary killers? Why were no measures taken to secure the Capitol? And why are the plottersTrump, Flynn, Giuliani, Powell, Bannon, Eastman, Stone, etc.still at large and free to prepare for the next coup?

That there was massive intelligence in advance of the coup in the possession of the FBI, CIA, the military and the Democratic Party is beyond dispute. The internet was teeming with plans to keep Trump in power by violent and illegal means, including by the means employed on January 6. Last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that there was not sufficient intelligence to warrant any special preparations for the joint session of Congress. That was an obvious lie and act of perjury.

Indeed, Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, has been publicly identified as a prolific FBI informant. So too has Joseph Biggs, another Proud Boy leader who is facing seditious conspiracy charges. The fascist right is deeply penetrated by the intelligence agencies, which value them as potential weapons to be thrown against the working class.

In fact, neither Biden, nor the Democratic Party did anything to stop the coup. They either cowered in silence or bided their time, waiting to see the outcome. They made no appeal for an outraged public to mobilize and smash the coup. This proves that had the mob succeeded in capturing one or more officials, the Democrats would have capitulated and allowed Trump to remain in powers as dictator-president.

In this hearing, as in all those that have preceded it, the Democrats and their Republican allies such as the neo-con war hawk Liz Cheney have attempted to present the attempted overthrow of the Constitution as the work of one evil individual, Donald Trump. They have sought to cover up the role of the military, the police and the intelligence agencies, within which there was substantial support for the coup.

The Pentagon, headed by hand-picked Trump loyalists, waited for 199 minutes to approve the deployment of D.C National Guard troops to clear the mob from the Capitol. The Capitol police were virtually stood down in advance of the attack and given no reinforcements after it was launched.

Likewise, the Democrats have attempted to cover up the critical role played by the entire leadership of the Republican Party and the bulk of its members of Congress. The Democrats continue to call for unity and bipartisanship with their Republican friends and colleagues.

In her concluding statement, Committee Vice-Chair Cheney reviewed the different tentacles of the plot to overturn the election, and declared, They all have one thing in commonTrump.

Both she and the Democrats on the committee have sought to boost Republican officials who, after promoting the stolen election lie and the accompanying conspiracy, balked at the outright coup of January 6, such as Pence (who has since the Supreme Courts overthrow of Roe v. Wade announced his support for a nationwide ban on abortions). Cipollone was shown in a video clip calling for Pence to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Jamie Raskin, the Democrat from Maryland who oversaw the abortive shutdown of the second impeachment trial of Trump following the coup, used his concluding statement to hail the Capitol police and warn that Trump threatens to take one of our two parties down the road of authoritarianism. This is said about a party that has already officially declared the January 6 coup a legitimate form of political discourse.

Stephanie Murphy, a right-wing Democrat from Florida whose family fled Vietnam after the defeat of US imperialism and its puppet regime, invoked anticommunism and patriotism in her closing remarks, declaring, My family fled a communist dictatorship. I love this country.

That Trump and his allies continue to plot the destruction of democratic rights was made clear at the end of the hearing, when Cheney announced that Trump had attempted to phone one of the committees witnesses following the previous hearing. She said the committee had referred this act of witness tampering to the Justice Department.
On Monday, New York Citys Office of Emergency Management (OEM) released a 90-second public service announcement (PSA) giving instructions to city residents on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack on Americas largest city.

The video begins with the narration, So there has been a nuclear attack. Dont ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit.

The narrator, standing in what appears to be an undamaged luxury apartment, gives the following suggestions: Get inside, stay inside, and await further instructions.

New York City Nuclear Preparedness PSA (with captions)

The advice given to residents includes to shower with soap or shampoo and to stay tuned using the notify NYC internet-based phone app. The video concludes with the narrator saying, All right? Youve got this, before walking out of the frame.

Everything about the video, from its breezy narration to its trivial advice, is completely absurd.

In the event of a nuclear strike on New York City, there will be no buildings to shelter in, no water to shower with, and certainly no internet to get phone notifications.

At first glance, it would appear that the people who commissioned and released the video have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

But such a video, dealing with critical civil defense issues, could only have been produced in consultation with the highest echelons of the Pentagon and the US government. Its absurdity is a product not of ignorance, but of deception. Its aim is to acclimate the public to the idea of nuclear war, while hiding its horrifying reality.

A nuclear attack on New York City would be part of a full-scale thermonuclear exchange, involving the launching of thousands of warheads at cities and infrastructure throughout the United States and the world.

Such an event would make 9/11 seem minuscule in comparison. The city and its environs would be struck by multiple thermonuclear warheads, each with a yield of over one hundred times the Fat Man nuclear weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

In such a scenario, the entire New York City skyline would be incinerated and leveled, killing almost everyone taking shelter in the metropoliss skyscrapers. Those who somehow survived in underground shelters would face not only the collapse of agriculture and trade, but the permanent effects of nuclear radiation that would continue to kill and maim year after year.

A nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States would release soot and smoke into the upper atmosphere that would block out the Sun resulting in crop failure around the world, a study published by Louisiana State University concluded last month.

The study found that such an exchange would lower global temperatures by approximately 13 degrees, greater than the last ice age that ended around 11,700 years ago.

The global ice age triggered by a nuclear war between Russia and the United States would decimate the population of every single part of the planet, even the residents of the most remote Pacific islands or the deepest Amazon rainforest. The scenario depicted in the PSA would, in other words, be the end of human civilization.

The PSA begins by stating, Dont ask me how or why. However, faced with this horrifying prospect, the population must clearly ask how and why before its too late.

Left completely unexplained is why the OEM of Americas largest city decided that now was an appropriate time to issue the first public service announcement on nuclear war in decades.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, it is important that New Yorkers know we are preparing for any imminent threats and are providing them with the resources they need to stay safe and informed, said New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol.

Asked by a reporter about the timing of the announcement, and is there something we should know, New York City Mayor Eric Adams replied that the PSA was issued after the attacks in the Ukraine, adding later in the briefing that it was really taking necessary steps after what happened in Ukraine.

But these evasive statements only raise other questions. Did instructions for the creation of this announcement come from the federal government? Will other cities be making similar announcements? Who proposed the publication of this video?

By any standard, the release of such a video is a major news event. Its release can only mean that New York City officials, acting on information they have received from Washington, believe that a nuclear war is now a distinct and even imminent danger.

The reality is that this video is part of a systematic effort to acclimate the public to the plans of the US government for nuclear war.

The announcement takes place just two weeks after a NATO summit in which the US, among other NATO allies, announced plans for high-intensity. warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitors, including Russia and China.

This open declaration of plans for nuclear war follows a years-long buildup of US nuclear forces and the systematic dismantling of all remaining international restrictions on the use and deployment of nuclear weapons.

In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, freeing the United States to ring Russia and China with short-range nuclear weapons capable of hitting major cities in a matter of minutes. This was accompanied by a massive expansion of the USs nuclear modernization program, the cost of which subsequently ballooned to nearly $2 trillion.

The Biden administration has doubled down on the nuclear preparations of its predecessors. Bidens proposed 2023 budget calls for creating new versions of every single weapons system in the US nuclear triad.

By systematically building up its nuclear forces, destroying international arms control agreements, and recklessly provoking conflicts with Russia and China, both nuclear-armed states, the US is putting its own population, and that of the world, in massive danger.

Last week, the Pentagon gave what was in effect a public green light for Ukraine to attack Crimea, an action that observers have warned could trigger nuclear retaliation by Russia.

As the US escalates its war with Russia, Americas generals are publicly declaring that the population must accept the prospect of nuclear war.

We have been so worried about nuclear weapons and World War III that we have allowed ourselves to be fully deterred, said Lt. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges, the former top US Army commander in Europe in April. We have been deterred out of an exaggerated fear of what possibly could happen, complained Frederick B. Hodges, the former top U.S. Army commander in Europe.

Washingtons nuclear arms race and its escalation of the war with Russia and conflict with China are the outcome of a decades-long drive by the American ruling class for global hegemony through war, which has already led to the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. Now, confronted with a social, economic and political crisis it sees no way out of, the ruling class is recklessly escalating conflicts that threaten to lead to nuclear war.

As demonstrated by US capitalisms homicidal response to the pandemic, the American ruling class is capable of sacrificing the lives of millions of Americans in pursuit of its aims.

Stopping the reckless and homicidal war aims of American imperialism requires conscious political intervention by the working class. Throughout the country, workers are entering into struggle against the soaring cost of living. All over the world, workers must take up the struggle against war. We urge our readers who agree with this perspective to contact us today.
BBC TVs flagship Panorama programme has revealed further evidence that UK special forces killed unarmed detainees in Afghanistan and planted weapons near their bodies to justify their crimes.

The BBC also found evidence that senior officers, including recently retired General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith who headed the Special Forces at the time, were aware of concerns within the Special Air Service (SAS) but failed to pass on evidence to the military police.

British soldiers storm a building in Afghanistan, 2007 [Photo by Defence Imagery / Flickr / CC BY-NC 4.0

Last Tuesday nights screening of SAS Death Squads Exposed: A British War Crime? broadcast interviews and evidence based on official files from police investigations and a four-year probe showing that one SAS unit in Helmand province had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances between 2010 and 2011. The units tour of duty resulted in a total Afghan death toll more than double that number, yet none of its members sustained any injuries in the raids, indicating their lives had not been at risk.

The Ministry of Defence had been forced to hand over a tranche of emails and documents during a long-running hearing of a civil case in the High Court brought by Afghan citizen Saiffulah Yar into the deaths of four family members at the hands of the SAS, after previously suggesting it had no such documents. Further documents were obtained via Freedom of Information requests.

The documents, written by SAS officers and military personnel, provide evidence of war crimes. They show that while the government claimedand continues to claimthat there was no credible evidence of criminality, the evidence had been sitting in Whitehall all this time.

According to the 1977 Geneva Conventions, shooting civilians is only lawful if they are participating directly in hostilities. Under UK domestic law, a soldier can use force to defend him/herself and others, including lethal force, only if it is reasonable in the circumstances, while the failure of a commanding officer to inform the military police if he or she becomes aware of potential war crimes is a criminal offence.

The airing of SAS Death Squads Exposed: A British War Crime? comes at a sensitive time amid furious claims by Britain that Russias armed forces have committed multiple war crimes in Ukraine and calls for Russias referral to the International Criminal Court.

Last week, the MoD lambasted the BBC for engaging in irresponsible, incorrect journalism by broadcasting the allegations, arguing it could put British soldiers at risk because it jumps to unjustified conclusions with its claims that both investigations by military police resulted in no prosecutions. It said, Neither investigation found sufficient evidence to prosecute. Insinuating otherwise is irresponsible, incorrect and puts our brave armed forces personnel at risk, both in the field and reputationally.

Members of parliament have called for an urgent investigation into the BBCs deeply disturbing claims.

Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, said, The optics of this dont look good, and called on armed forces minister James Heappey to explain the situation. Heappey gave the now standard government response that the claims have been investigated, I believe, twice and on each occasion havent met the evidential threshold.

This was a reference to the launch in 2014 of Operation Northmoor by the Royal Military Police, an investigation into 657 allegations of abuse, mistreatment, and killings at the hands of British forces that was wound down in 2017 and closed in 2019, with the MoD finding no evidence of criminality. The BBC said members of Operation Northmoor disputed the MoDs conclusion that there was no case to answer.

Heappey pledged yet another whitewash investigation, should the BBCs evidence justify it.

The programme noted a quite incredible pattern of strikingly similar reports of SAS operations, aimed at killing or capturing Taliban members, in which the SAS shot and killed Afghan men during night raids. After capturing family groups, soldiers would force one of them to enter the building and then shoot him, claiming the man had produced a hand grenade or an AK47 rifle. Typically, the number of rifles were far fewer than the number of men detained, while the position of the bullets in the walls indicated that the victim was lying on the ground and not in a position to fire a rifle.

So standardised were the reports that they begged the question whether the raids amounted to war crimes. Internal emails described one incident as the latest massacre. A senior SAS officer warned in a secret memo that it sounded like a deliberate policy of unlawful killings. But following the commissioning of a rare formal review of the squadrons tactics, the investigating officer sent to Afghanistan accepted the SAS version of events at face value.

According to the BBCs sources, SAS units competed to get the highest number of kills on their six-month tours of duty, with the unit at the centre of the investigation seeking a higher body count than its predecessor.

Colonel Oliver Lee, a commander of the Royal Marines in Afghanistan in 2011, told the BBC its allegations of misconduct were incredibly shocking and merited a public inquiry. He said the apparent failure by special forces leaders to disclose evidence was completely unacceptable.

Britains Special Forces, which have carried out operations in 19 countries since 2011, are not subject to any parliamentary oversight, reporting only to the MoD. With their exemption from Freedom of Information requests, any information that does become available is leaked by whistleblowers who risk serious criminal charges.

The killings and cover-up flow inexorably from the filthy and criminal nature of the war carried out by British imperialism, starting from the very top. It was Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair who lined up shoulder to shoulder with US President George W. Bush in the US-led coalitions illegal war of aggression and occupation of Afghanistan, persuading NATO to support the war on behalf of US and British imperialism. He never retracted his support, maintaining it was a war to bring democracy to Afghanistan. Last August, he berated President Joe Biden for the tragic, dangerous, unnecessary US withdrawal from the country.

The illegal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan has led to more than 175,000 deaths, although the real toll, including deaths caused indirectly by the war, is closer to a million, with hundreds of thousands of wounded and millions more forced to flee their homes. One of the poorest countries on the planet, its population suffers grinding deprivation and oppression.

While the British government claims the military costs of Operation Herrick were 23 billion, Frank Ledwidge, author of Investment in Blood published in 2013, estimates the total cost is now around 40 billion, including the human and financial cost of long-term care for more than 2,600 British troops injured, more than 5,000 psychologically injured and the pittance paid in compensation to the families of the 7,000 civilians the UK government has officially admitted were killed, injured or lost their homes due to its operations.

The UK government had sought to introduce a statutory presumption against prosecution for British soldiers over events five or more years old, giving the green light to future war crimes, including the mass murder of civilians. Ministers were forced to concede that the five-year limit would not include war crimes in the legislation enacted last year.

It is not just those soldiers who perpetrated these crimes on behalf of the imperialist powers who have gone unpunished. Crucially, those at the very top of the political and military ladder who planned and executed a criminal war have escaped punishment. Blair, like Bush, has never been held to account for his role in ordering the invasion of Afghanistan or his central role in the Iraq war in 2003.

The only two people who have faced criminal repercussions are those who reported war crimes: Chelsea Manning, who has endured a decade of persecution, and Julian Assange, who is imprisoned in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison and faces extradition to the US to serve 175 years imprisonment under the Espionage Act.
Last week, Arizonas Republican-controlled state legislature approved a law limiting the ability of reporters, protesters and bystanders to record police interactions with citizens. Although couched in terms of prohibiting a person from obstructing governmental operations, its real purpose is to intimidate people from making videos of police violence and malfeasance.

Phoenix Police stand in front of police headquarters on May 30, 2020, in Phoenix, waiting for protesters marching to protest the death of George Floyd (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Republican Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2319 into law on July 6, and it is scheduled to take effect in September. Its main provision states that it is unlawful for a person to knowingly make a recording within eight feet of an activity and without the permission of a law enforcement officer (LEO). It defines law enforcement activity as any of the following:

Questioning a suspicious person, Conducting an arrest, issuing a summons or enforcing the law; Handling an emotionally disturbed or disorderly person who is exhibiting abnormal behavior.

The original bill, sponsored by Republican state representative and former policeman John Kavanagh, had set a limit of 15 feet, but that was reduced to eight feet in the final version after strongly worded opposition voiced by civil liberties, police transparency and press organizations.

On February 18, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) sent a letter, endorsed by over two dozen organizations, to the House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Regina Cobb and vice-chairman Kavanaugh, in opposition to the bill.

In the letter, the NPPA et al. said, We are extremely concerned that this language violates not only the free speech and press clauses of the First Amendment, but also runs counter to the clearly established right to photograph and record police officers performing their official duties in a public place, cited by all the odd-numbered U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal including the Ninth Circuit, under whose jurisdiction Arizona falls.

It also noted that the requirement of permission of a law enforcement officer would not survive a constitutional challenge and is completely unworkable in situations (such as demonstrations and protests) where there are multiple officers and people recording. Moreover, it quoted the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit opinion that [a] police officer is not a law unto himself; he cannot give an order that has no colorable legal basis and then arrest a person who defies it.

The letter concluded, Given our concerns and legal citations in opposition to HB 2319, we respectfully request that the bill not be voted out of committee and that the legislature consider withdrawing it entirely from consideration.

Kavanaugh maintained that the law is necessary because there are groups hostile to the police that follow them around to videotape police incidents, and they get dangerously close to potentially violent encounters. He also claimed that the law now only applies to filming during police-citizen encounters where there is a potential for violence, such as arresting or summonsing people, questioning suspicious persons, and handling emotionally disturbed people.

He also claimed that the distraction of being filmed at close range could put cops in harms way and inhibit their ability to collect evidence.

Critics of the law, and some editorials, have punctured Kavanaughs rationalizations, pointing out that there are already disorderly conduct and harassment laws on the books, that it would have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights, would be unworkable and would give the cops the power, especially in fluid situations like protest demonstrations, to invoke the law whether a person is outside the eight-foot perimeter or not.

However, the law has to be seen both in the regards to policing in Arizona and across the United States and in view of the developing world capitalist crisis.

Arizona police are among the trigger-happiest in the nation. A June 2019 article by the Arizona Republic reported that Phoenix, Arizona police officers shot more people per year than any other city in the US. Statewide, Arizona cops shoot somebody every five days. Per capita, Arizona ranked fourth after Oklahoma, Alaska and New Mexico in the number of fatal police shootings from 2015 to 2018.

While the police violence shows disproportionate treatment of Hispanic, African-American and Native people, the largest number of victims nationwide are white, and the overwhelming majority of victims are working class and poor. A significant number of those brutalized and killed have mental health issues.

Recent revelations of police violence in Phoenix have included video of police repeatedly striking a person at a homeless encampment and making a joke of a protester being shot in the groin during an anti-Trump protest.

With animosity toward and protests against police violence growing, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on August 5, 2021 that its Civil Rights Division would conduct an investigation into the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department (PhxPD). The DOJ statement said that it would assess all types of use of force by PhxPD officers including deadly force. The investigation will also seek to determine whether PhxPD engages in retaliatory activity against people for conduct protected by the First Amendment; whether PhxPD engages in discriminatory policing; and whether PhxPD unlawfully disposes of the belongings of individuals experiencing homelessness. In addition, the investigation will assess the City and PhxPD policies, training, supervision, and force investigations, as well as PhxPDs systems of accountability, including misconduct complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition, and discipline.

Police Chief Jeri Williams responded in a news conference, Any police department has room for improvement; mine is no different. Democratic mayor Kate Gallego declared, Comprehensive reform of policing in the City of Phoenix has been my priority since the first day I took office.

Governor Ducey, meanwhile, stated in his January 11 State of the State address that the DOJ, instead of attacking Police Chief Jeri Williams and her officers for risking their lives and keeping Arizona streets safe during civil unrest, your time would be better spent protecting the federal courthouses in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco.

Regardless of the lip service of Democrats and the denunciations of Republicans, the result will be at best cosmetic changes that will whitewash the worst abuses and not bring about any fundamental improvements for the workers who are the targets of harrassment and worse. The crisis-ridden capitalist system demands more, not less repression, to stifle any dissent to its warmongering, austerity and attacks on the working classs democratic rights. HB 2319 is but one more item on this agenda.
On July 4, Robert Crimo III opened fire from a rooftop on an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, killing seven and wounding dozens more. The human price paid for Crimos actions continues to increase with heart-wrenching consequences.

Robert Crimo (Screenshot of social media video)

For instance, the WSWS had previously reported on one wounded victim in particular, 8-year-old Cooper Roberts whose spinal cord was severed as a result of being shot by Crimo. While he was sedated and in stable condition only days ago, Roberts is now having to undergo an extremely complex surgery to repair a torn esophagus and fight a new infection.

CBS News reports Roberts regained consciousness briefly and asked for his twin brother, Luke and his dog before eventually being rushed for emergency surgery. Luke suffered shrapnel-related injuries during the shooting and, while in stable condition at home, will have to live with pieces of shrapnel inside him for the rest of his life.

A motive for the shooting has yet to be offered by Lake County authorities with Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli maintaining there was no racial or political motive for the attack. However, there is mounting evidence to suggest that Crimo was an active participant in far-right movements, steeped in antisemitism and fascist rhetoric, and a loyal follower of former President Donald Trump.

In addition to recent reports on on Crimos political activity, newly revealed messages from his account Awake47 on 4chan underline his fascist tendencies. The comments, which contain extreme racist and violent content typical of far-right movements and paramilitary groups, were written within days of his Fourth of July attack.

On June 25, for example, Crimo parroted an antisemitic talking point used by Holocaust deniers saying, the math is all scewed (sic) up. the logistics of 6m jews doesnt make sense but im just retarded. On July 2, he posted simply retarded jews. Both of these comments, the second of which was posted only two days before the shooting, bring light to the antisemitic sentiments exhibited by Crimo and potential motivation for targeting the Chicago suburb which has a large Jewish population.

Crimos fascist vitriol extended beyond anti-Semitism. On June 28, Crimo also posted i say we just get rid of the blacks all together. On July 2, he wrote, orientals should be gassed and washed.

Photos of Crimo wearing a Sad Boys Pepe the Frog t-shirt, a well-known symbol of the far right and Trump supporters have been documented, as well as photos showing him present at at least two pro-Trump rallies. Newly revealed posts also show Crimo had a Trump bobblehead taped in the back of his Acura, while more photos showcase the 21-year-old draped in a Trump flag.

Highland Park community activist Rachael Wachstein told Forward that she had seen Crimo with a band of other pro-Trump supporters at a Blue Lives Matter rally in September 2020 in Highland Park. Crimo allegedly pushed and intimidated counter-protesters aggressively and was a known quantity in the neighborhood as a particularly recognizable pro-Trump element. Despite Crimos involvement with the far right and his recognizable stature, he was able to purchase multiple firearms legally and passed four background checks without any further questioning before committing the shooting.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that Crimo was heavily involved in Trumpism and fascist politics, no national Democratic officials have discussed these facts in relation to the shooting. The antisemitic and racist rhetoric from Crimo has all but been totally unreported by major media outlets as well.

Acting as cover for the increasingly fascistic Republican party, the Democrats use crocodile tears and blame the populace as a whole to avoid any meaningful action in curtailing tragedies such as the Highland Park shooting.

Senate Democratic Majority Whip and Illinois senator Dick Durbin repeatedly side-stepped questions regarding Crimo and his motivations in an interview on Fox News Sunday. Instead, he offered conventional platitudes such as how a mass shooting like Crimos is not consistent with Americas values or its constitution, before echoing toothless claims for stricter gun safety laws.

President Joe Bidens attempts to quell popular anger over the deluge of mass shootings in recent weeks that have left so many dead or wounded was exemplified in his signing of a bipartisan gun safety package in late June; the first gun safety law ratified in 30 years. However, the bill does little beyond offer tepid restrictions on assault weapons usage and allocating funds for mental health and school safety which have yet to be revealed in detail. Since the signing of the bill there have been 30 more reported mass shootings throughout the country.

According to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden still has no plans to visit Chicago or the Highland Park suburb, instead choosing to focus on traveling to Ohio to promote his American Rescue Plan.

On CNN, Illinois governor and potential 2024 Democratic presidential nominee J.B. Pritzker remained elusive regarding Crimos motives, saying there were signs of this white supremacy symbol  [but] we dont exactly know whether it is focused on one particular group or another.

When pressed about the failure of Illinoiss red flag laws to stop the shooterwherein a citizens purchasing of firearms would be halted once a family member has identified them as a potential violent threatPritzker blamed Crimos family for not stepping up and reporting him to the authorities.

These half-measures and tepid excuses offered by the most prominent faces of the Democratic Party underlie the partys complicity in the growth of inequality which is undermining democratic rights and accelerating the trend of mass shootings in the United States.

The Democratic Party is incapable of speaking to the roiling social and political crisis that pervades the United States and is accordingly unwilling to offer more than the most meager opposition to the far right. Only a movement of the working class armed with a socialist program can overthrow the rotten capitalist order which spawns figures like Crimo.
Australian Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles is currently conducting a four-day visit to Washington. The trip is the first by a senior member of the Labor government to the US since it scraped into office in the May 21 federal election.

Richard Marles addressing the Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 12, 2022 (Photo: Twitter/RichardMarlesMP)

Marles has used the tour to proclaim Labors unshakeable commitment to the US-Australia military alliance and Washingtons militarist aggression against Russia and China, which threatens a nuclear world war.

He has emphasised that Labor will oversee an even greater build-up of the Australian military, on top of record spending, despite an unprecedented national debt. As a consequence, it is already implementing the first stages of an austerity agenda aimed at slashing essential social spending.

Marles first engagement typified the pro-war line of the new government. He delivered a keynote address to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), one of the most hawkish think-tanks in Washington, which has been at the forefront of the US-led campaign against Moscow and Beijing.

The warmongers turned out the red carpet for Marles, who was the subject of effusive tributes before he had said a word. CSIS president and CEO John Hamre, who has been in the top levels of the American military-intelligence apparatus since the 1970s, hailed the Labor minister for taking on remarkable responsibilities.

This was a reference to the central focus of the Labor government on foreign policy. In the space of less than two months, it has been on a frenetic campaign as a regional attack dog for the Biden administration, with senior ministers continuously in Asian and Pacific countries demanding that the regions leaders align with the US against China.

Hamre insisted, however, this was only the beginning. Words would need to be matched by actions. Theres been a lot of momentum thats been created, but now were getting really serious, he declared. Announcing something is one thing, and really implementing it is where the hard work of government comes in. Fortunately, we have such a talented man who has accepted the assignment on behalf of Australia to lead the way in this new, crucial phase.

Marles received two more glowing introductions, including one from Anthony Pratt, an Australian businessman. The right-wing billionaire, who was a close associate of former fascistic President Donald Trump, also heaped praise on the new Labor government.

Marles is a true friend of the United States and I believe he will be the greatest defence minister Australia has ever had, Pratt declared. He said that the new government was operating within the tradition laid down by John Curtin, the Labor prime minister who oversaw Australias entry into World War Two and the beginning of its alliance with the US.

Pratt particularly hailed Labors diplomatic offensive against China in the Pacific region. Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had done more to engage the Pacific Island nations in that period [two-month] than any government in recent history.

Marles address was a frothing, bellicose and militarist diatribe. No doubt seeking to live up to the plaudits, his remarks included bloodcurdling references to military power and unalloyed backing for US aggression.

Marles solidarised the Labor government fully with the strategy adopted by NATO at its Madrid conference last month, which explicitly labelled Russia and China as threats and called for member states to prepare for high-intensity, multi-domain warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitors.

The US-Australia alliance, he proclaimed, had been forged through war. In 1941, when Australian Prime Minister John Curtin looked out across a Pacific Ocean in which war breathed its bloody steam, the United States wrote itself into Australian history in indelible ink, he declared.

Over the ensuing years, that alliance had surpassed its origins. It had become a cornerstone of Australias foreign and security policy.

The alliance was not constrained by geography, he insisted. That was why Labor was participating in the US-NATO proxy war against Russia, including by dispatching $100 million in military material this month. Covering up the role of the US in stoking the Ukraine conflict, Marles said that Russia was seeking to roll back the post-Soviet order, i.e., the one dominated by American imperialism.

This cant be allowed to succeed, Marles declared. Only by ensuring such tactics fail can we deter their future employment in Europe, in the Indo-Pacific, or elsewhere. He hailed the leadership of the Biden administrationthe United States is proving the pivotal power.

This segued into an angry denunciation of those who branded NATO and other US-led military alliances, including in its partnership with Australia, as Cold War relics.

Marles said: Critics of alliances need to answer why countries like Australia would be better served going it alone, why doing so would not, in fact, constrain national sovereignty rather than enhance it. Because in reality, the alliance with the United States affords Australia capability, technology, and intelligence advantages we could not acquire or develop on our own.

In other words, Labor is all the way with the USA. Marles denounced China, falsely accusing it of a military buildup occurring at a rate unseen since World War II. In reality, it is the US and its allies, including Australia, which have militarised the Indo-Pacific over the past decade as part of the preparations for open conflict with Beijing.

Marles unsubstantiated accusations against China were a means of legitimising a further intensification of this US-led military build-up. We will make the investment necessary to increase the range and lethality of the Australian Defence Force so that it is able to hold a potential adversary....further from Australia, he declared.

The Labor government had committed to ensuring funding certainty for this pathway, had already commissioned a force posture review, and would ensure that the expansion of the army would focus on how we best integrate and operate with the United States and other key partners.

At the centre of this project, he said, was AUKUS, the military pact with Britain and the US unveiled last September and openly aimed at preparing for war with China. Labor would ensure Australias acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines and would fill any capacity gap in the interim. It was also looking at greater missile capability and looking at new technologies; hypersonic, cyber, and as I said area-denial capabilities.

Australian military spending is already more than $600 billion over the decade, the highest level ever. Hypersonic missiles would likely cost $100 million each, while the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines will cost an estimated $121 billion or more. In other words, Labor is preparing the largest military build-up in Australian history, in open preparation for offensive conflict. The cost will be borne by working people.

Marles pledged, moreover, that Australias diplomatic offensive against China throughout the Indo-Pacific would proceed and deepen. The Pacific is the part of the world where the United States rightly looks to Australia to lead, and we will, he promised.

Marles concluded: The Albanese government will ensure that Australia plays its part in the success of the alliance in the years ahead... We will make the alliance even stronger

Marles is meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday US time, where they will reportedly discuss the accelerated sharing of military technology under AUKUS. Australia is also coordinating closely with the US during the current Pacific Islands Forum of leaders from the region. US Vice-President Kamala Harris announced a major Pacific push, during Marles trip, aimed at reasserting American dominance in the Pacific.

Marles visit, and his speech, are proof that Labor leads a right-wing, militarist administration that is fully-committed to US-led war plans, whatever the consequences. For workers and young people, the fight against war is a fight against the Labor government.

Marles statements, and the fawning reception he was accorded by the military-intelligence establishment, demonstrate again why the Labor government refuses to defend Julian Assange. As it engages in new wars, the Biden administration, to which Marles has pledged his fealty, is determined to extradite the Australian citizen and journalist from Britain and imprison him for 175 years for having exposed American war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A report released last week by the US Customs and Border Protections (CBP) Office of Professional Responsibility whitewashes the assault carried out last year against thousands of mostly Haitian migrants in a brutal anti-immigrant campaign involving federal and Texas state forces and overseen by the Biden administration.

Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into the United States from Mexico in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

The 500-page report reviews the events of September 19, 2021 when roughly 15,000 migrants mostly from Haiti had assembled in a slumlike camp underneath a freeway overpass in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing the border from Mexico. The migrants were greeted by a savage crackdown by Border Patrol agents, as video footage, photographic images, and eye-witness testimony from several news agencies confirmed. Border Patrol thugs mounted on horseback swinging their reins like whips and charging at the defenseless refugees sent shockwaves around the world.

The report noted that the Border Patrol agents on horseback used unnecessary force against the migrants and did so in the absence of clear instructions from their supervisors. The agents took commands from the Texas state police and improperly used force or the threat of force to drive migrants back into the Rio Grande River from which they had crossed.

Chris Magnus, the commissioner of the CBP, said during a news conference on Friday that the agency has sought to demand that agents should take orders only from their own supervisors instead of Texas local authorities. The horse patrol unit that rushed the migrants was carrying out a request from the Texas Department of Public Safety and not the Border Patrols senior leadership.

A local Border Patrol supervisor reportedly approved of the request from Texas authorities without securing approval from higher federal authorities. The report noted that the decision to carry out the operation resulted in unnecessary use of force against migrants who were attempting to re-enter the United States with food.

Magnus recounted a degrading obscenity uttered by one of the fascistic Border Patrol thugs caught in a recorded statement. The agent, who is one of four agents currently facing disciplinary action for charging the migrants on horseback, was recorded telling a Haitian refugee, This is why your countrys shit because you use your women for this. The same agent also reportedly steered his horse dangerously close to a child while pursuing the migrant he had yelled at.

Magnus comments came only a day after Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott directed state authorities to return migrants they apprehend to the border in flagrant violation of federal authority to enforce immigration laws. In a fascistic tirade delivered on Sunday during a Fox News interview, Abbott provocatively declared there is an invasion happening on the southern border driven by cartels.

The far-right governor is raising the prospect of even more repression at the border by empowering state law enforcement and National Guard troops to bring migrants to the ports of entry. Republican politicians across the country have been demanding state authorities be given the ability to expel migrants from the country once they enter, a procedure only federal authorities can administer.

In a news release last week, Abbott announced an executive order allowing state law enforcement to apprehend immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry or commit other violations of federal law, and to return them to ports of entry. This comes as record numbers of immigrants are seeking to cross the border to escape destitution and gang violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, an outcome of decades of imperialist oppression and subjugation.

Republican officials are also demanding that Abbott invoke invasion powers under the Constitution which contains a federal guarantee of protection against invasion and affirms the power retained of local officials to repel supposed threats on the southern border. The aim is to give states solid legal ground to invoke war powers to allow the states National Guard to deport migrants.

White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced the Republican action on Friday as a mere political stunt brought by Abbott, saying, The immigration enforcement is a federal authority, and states should not be mandating itmeddling in it.

The September 19, 2021 assault is evidence that culpability for the repression meted out to refugees and immigrants on the southern border falls on both the fascistic Republican lawmakers and the Democratic Party.

Media coverage of the CBP report has presented the violent event as a challenge to the Biden administration, recalling Bidens lukewarm promise last fall that those people will pay, for the violent assault. Entirely left out is that the anti-immigrant campaign has fallen in direct line with Bidens policies, as more than 208,000 migrants had been in detention by August, 2021 and the Democratic administration has overseen record deportations.

As of February of this year more than 20,000 Haitian migrants had been sent back to the Caribbean nation since Bidens inauguration, according to Witness at the Border. The group found that 161 of the 198 planes carrying the desperate refugees, containing approximately 17,900 people, have flown in just the five months since September 19. This shatters both the absurd claim of the Republican Party that Biden and the Democrats are pursuing an open border policy, and discredits the hypocritical claims of the Democrats to be supportive of the rights of refugees.

Moreover, nothing has been done thus far to prosecute the four agents directly responsible for the horse charge. The so-called disciplinary action being enforced is a slap-on-the-wrist punishment, with the agents being merely demoted to administrative positions.

The mostly Haitian refugees had been traveling to and from Mexico to get food and other essential products, and resided inside the makeshift camp under the freeway bridge to avoid crossing through lines set up on the US and being arrested by the Border Patrol and Texas state police.

Despite widespread international condemnation of the assault in Del Rio, the Biden Administration began summarily deporting refugees in an airlift back to the Caribbean just days after the incident. Many had not lived in Haiti for years and were forced back to fend off homelessness and starvation in a country long oppressed by American imperialism and dominated by a corrupt Haitian oligarchy.

The pretensions of the Biden administrations ostensible concern for the plight of migrants have been exposed by the report, which significantly downplays and covers up the inhumane and criminal treatment of migrants by Border Patrol. The investigators concluded that there was no evidence to corroborate allegations from migrants and others that agents used horses reins to whip the migrants.

The infamous images and video footage from the incident, which circulated broadly online in subsequent days, clearly showed federal agents corralling migrants in and around the Rio Grande, whipping and herding them as they sought to cross the river.

One of the images was in fact imprinted on an unofficial Border Patrol commemorative coin, known as a challenge coin. On the coin, a Border Patrol agent is seen chasing down Haitian migrants. Although it is unclear who produced the coins or how widely they have been distributed, many believe that the coins are connected to Border Patrol agents.

The increasing denial of the right to asylum and the swift deportation of migrants exposes the hypocritical and fraudulent claims of US imperialism and its claim to be fighting for democracy in its predatory US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. The horrific scenes on the border are testament to both capitalist parties being united in their attacks on the democratic rights of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Oppo was found to have evaded in total INR43.8 billion (US$550m) in customs duty by the Indian government, the smartphone maker is the latest Chinese company to face intense scrutiny and raids in India.

In a statement, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said its investigation included raids on Oppo India premises and residences of key management and employees.

The searches recovered incriminating evidence and wilful mis-declaration of parts imported to manufacture smartphones, which saved the company INR29.8 billion.

Staff accepted the submission of wrongful description to Indias customs authority at the time of importing the gear.

The DRI also found the company made royalty and licence fee payments to various multinational firms, including those based in China. This was a violation of the customs act as the payments were not added to the transaction value of imported goods, resulting in Oppo avoiding paying INR14 billion.

Oppo paid INR4.5 billion as partial differential Customs duty short paid by them. The DRI issued a show of cause notice to Oppos Indian unit to demand the INR43.8 billion in customs duty and to push further penalties on the company.

Oppo said in a statement to Developing Telecoms: "OPPO India is reviewing the notice from Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) office, and we are going to reply to the notice and present our side. OPPO is a responsible corporate organisation and believes in prudent corporate governance framework. OPPO India will take appropriate steps as may be needed in this regard including any remedies provided under the law.

Fellow Chinese smartphone maker Vivo was also recently hit with raids in India, with the Chinese government warning its confidence in investing in the country was waning.
Mobile network expansion is in the news again, with Vodacom in South Africa and Telkom in Kenya announcing plans to invest in better coverage.

Vodacom has said it plans to spend over R500 million (US$29.4 million) on its mobile network across the Western Cape province during this year to grow coverage reach, increase capacity and improve network uptime.

It says that this significant investment into the network will help the region expand connectivity in urban, deep rural areas and townships that had no or poor connectivity before.

Almost 90% of all Vodacom's data traffic is carried on 4G technology, so this amount will also go towards expanding 4G capacity across 530 sites in the region.

Vodacom points out that its network investment of more than R1.5 billion (US$88.2 million) in the past three years in the Western Cape has allowed it to switch on 38 new sites and upgrade over 75% of its existing 1,659 base stations with 4G capacity over the past year.

Ongoing investments have provided 98% of the Western Capes population with 3G coverage, with 96% of the regions citizens enjoying 4G coverage. As for 5G, Vodacom has 49 5G base stations across the region, with plans to triple this footprint across the region this year.

Vodacom also recently installed power back-up batteries at 240 sites in the Western Cape, while alarms and cameras are being put in place to alert Vodacom to any illegal activity.

In Kenya meanwhile, Telkom Kenya has announced plans to expand its 4G coverage, targeting the Coast and Lower Eastern regions including Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu and Taita Taveta, and extending to Mkueni, Machakos, Kitui, and Kajiado Counties.

The project, a partnership with Ericsson and systems integrator NEC XON, was announced in November 2021. It will add 2,000 4G sites to Telkoms 4G/LTE network by 2023. Telkom says it will spend US$100 million on the project.
11J Protests in Cuba: 'It was the State that was responsible for the most extreme politicization of the event' 'I'm not aware of any case of a deputy or a member of the Women and Family Orientation Houses approaching anyone to show their interest in the situation of a family living in their community,' says a former judge.

As the first anniversary of the historic protests that erupted on July 11, 2021 in several cities across the country about to be marked, DIARIO DE CUBA spoke with three Cuban jurists about the arrests, the charges brought, and the human rights violations committed by the regime against the demonstrators.

Former judge Edel Gonzalez Jimenez pointed out that the arrests specifically violated "constitutional and special regulations like the Criminal Procedure Law, linked to the principles of legality and that of criminal specialty."

"There are requirements and provisions for detention that were ignored. There had to be minimal evidence of an offence, under the Criminal Code, or certain indications of participation in order to proceed with the arrests."

"Demonstrating, expressing oneself, criticizing the Government, should never be viewed as a crime," Gonzalez Jimenez remarked, referring to the words of the president of the Supreme Court of Cuba, Ruben Remigio Ferro, who acknowledged in a press conference that demonstrating was a constitutional right of Cubans. Hence, Gonzalez Jimenez believes that there should not have been so many arrests, and that they were "arbitrary, according to International Law."

The application of the crime of sedition, in this case, was "the Cuban state's cry of desperation in the face of these protests."

Concurring with him, jurist and former Law professor at the University of Havana Julio Fernandez Estrada pointed to "flagrant violations of the Constitution of the Republic" and due process regulations through the arbitrary arrests. "The authorities beat people who were demonstrating peacefully on the street, without them having attacked law enforcement officials. There were clashes that led to the death of a person, and we don't even know what kind of proceedings are being carried out to try the murderer of (Diubis) Laurencio (Tejeda) in La Guinera."

"There were many accusations of physical and psychological torture," noted the jurist, adding that the arbitrary actions "when collecting and presenting evidence, classifying and applying the criminal law, for crimes as serious as sedition, even against people who demonstrated peacefully, and not to overthrow the regime, or oppose the Constitution, but rather as part of a spontaneous citizen protest. The fact that the crime of sedition, eminently political, was levelled, gives one an idea of the impact that the protests had on the Government."

The bringing of this charge, despite international criticism, and from the independent press, and the population, Fernandez Estrada said, was due to the fact that "the fundamental objective of these proceedings after July 11 was to make an example of them and to intimidate anyone considering engaging in similar protests."

The use of the crime of sedition in this case, he said, "is a cry of desperation by the Cuban State in the face of these protests. It was the State that was responsible for the most extreme politicization of this event, as it deemed spontaneous demonstrations, in a large number of cities across the country, acts of sedition."

Gonzalez Jimenez pointed directly to calls for a civic march on November 15 to explain the charge of sedition.

"The radical shift in the charges brought by the Prosecutor's Office, and then improperly admitted by the court, is striking. After 11 July, the most common charge was that of simply disturbing the peace, and, to a lesser extent, incitement of a crime. For these crimes, individuals would be given sentences ranging from 8 months to 1 year of incarceration, depending on their ages and the circumstances of their participation in the protests."

"But another popular demonstration began to be organized, slated for 15 November, using institutional channels. They knew that thousands of people were going to turn out, and became afraid of the results. Therefore, they implemented a media and legal scare campaign, requesting the political crime of sedition, and irrational punishments to discourage new protests, both organized and other spontaneous initiatives."

"The values of humanity, commitment and sensitivity that the Revolution sowed in families have crumbled."

Maylin Fernandez Suris, a former judge who presided over the Family section of the Santa Clara Municipal Court, believes that Cuban society has lost its faith in justice.

"They did not expect such a repressive and violent response to the demonstrations. Personally, as a Cuban, I was very surprised by the position taken by those in power. "The values of humanity, commitment and sensitivity that the Revolution sowed in families have crumbled." Much damage and suffering have been inflicted on Cuban mothers, in addition to institutional neglect, with regards to the detainees' situations. Although the Cuban legal system is quite closed, from an ideological point of view, the moment was propitious for the State to reconcile and recognize rights and freedoms, because there are also legal mechanisms for this. However, it chose to tighten its fist, to widen the gap and engage in more discrimination for political reasons."

It is very difficult for those indicted in Cuba to be acquitted

Regarding the low number of acquittals, despite the criticism that the regime was already receiving for its quashing of the protests, Fernandez Estrada maintained that "acquittal at that time was not a solution."

"The courts do not act independently, they receive direct instructions from the Cuban State and, therefore, from the Party (Communist Party of Cuba), because the Party controls the State in Cuba, as per Article 5 of the Constitution," he explained.

In his view, the acquittals were due to a total lack of evidence. He also pointed out that the president of the Supreme Court himself recognized, in 2018, with satisfaction (as shown in a video revealed by DIARIO DE CUBA) that these constituted just 6% to 8% of cases.

It is very difficult for the accused in Cuba to be acquitted, he explained, because the courts themselves return files to prosecutors with guidance on how to strengthen their cases in order to win, something that is also documented in the aforementioned video.

"The aim was to punish them and make it clear that the State would not hesitate one bit to treat as enemies of the Government, the system and the political regime anyone who thought that the right to demonstrate was something that could be freely exercised on any given day."

Gonzalez Jimenez, who was a judge in Cuba for 17 years, says that in Cuba he did not have to explain the most serious sentences he handed down, such as life terms, but rather his acquittals.

"In situations such as those of 11J, secret instructions are also generated that are not published in the Official Gazette, and failure to comply with those instructions results in disciplinary consequences for the violator," he explained.

In the context of the trials and convictions, former judge Fernandez Suris believes that "all the organizations failed, from those that are supposed to handle complaints and petitions, to those whose mission it is to attend to women and minors: the Federation of Cuban Women, and the Prosecutor's Office, as a watchdog of legality. ?I am not aware of any cases of a deputy or a member of the Women and Family Orientation Houses showing an interest in the situations of families living in the community; those with juvenile detainees, with mothers who are raising their children alone because their father is in prison."

Gonzalez Jimenez believes that similar protests could occur, and advises civil society to organize such actions in an orderly way so that "it can stand up to the violence wielded against it, so that its actions are not dismissed as vandalism." He also recommends "not to renounce Law in writing, however restrictive it may be." He believes that it is important to orient not just the people as to how to do things, but state employees too. ?Changes must be demanded of them, or civic processes of revocation must be promoted."

"Justice, the rule of law, democracy, legality and human rights were subverted"

Fernandez Estrada is less optimistic about the legal channels in Cuba, and finds it difficult to advise family members and lawyers regarding a similar outburst.

"Lawyers cannot do their jobs without direct intervention by the Party, the Ministry of the Interior, State Security and the National Organization of Collective Law Firms itself, which is led by the Ministry of Justice, although it is, nominally, an NGO," he explained.

"Everyone knows that they can receive political or ideological pressure at any time," he said. Therefore, he concludes that the lawyers who defended 11J protesters "did what they could."

His concern also extends to the teaching of Law in Cuba, as he ponders what it now is for those who teach it.

"This is a context in which justice, the rule of law, democracy, legality and human rights were subverted," he says. "People are witnessing how the administration of justice, the rules, the protection of rights, are all trampled on when it is a supreme objective of the State to make an example of people who oppose it in some way, by punishing them."
In a weird twist of celebrity couple events, Bradley Cooper is reportedly dating Huma Abedin  longtime advisor to Hillary Clinton and soon-to-be ex-wife of disgraced politician Anthony Weiner.

The actor has been quietly dating the political staffer for the past few months, according to a Page Six source. And the celebrity who set-up the unlikely couple was none other than Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Bradley has been quietly dating Huma for a few months now, [and] theyve been keeping it really quiet, the source told the outlet, adding that the Star is Born actor broke up with Glee alum Dianna Agron prior to dating Huma.

Anna definitely played matchmaker, they said. Shes BFFs with Bradley and adores Huma.

Abedin is in the final stages of divorcing her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, the former New York congressional representative who confessed to having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011, and was sentenced to 21 months in prison in May 2017 after pleading guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor. That year, Abedin filed for divorce. The two share a 10-year-old son, Jordan Zane Weiner.

While Bradley Cooper, 47, and Huma Abdein, 46, have yet to confirm reports of their relationship, the internet could not contain themselves after hearing news of the unlikely pairing, and took to Twitter to share their reactions to the new couple.

BRADLEY COOPER IS DATING HUMA ABEDIN?! said one shocked user.

real rollercoaster ride here, tweeted reporter Matthew Zeitlin.

How does one go from Anthony Weiner to Bradley Cooper? Asking for a single friend. Fine, by friend I mean me. I am asking for me, another person quipped.

BRADLEY COOPER IS DATING HUMA ABEDIN?!  Emma Chapple (@emma_chapple) July 12, 2022

real rollercoaster ride here https://t.co/F5HsZoQr9g  Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) July 12, 2022

How does one go from Anthony Weiner to Bradley Cooper? Asking for a single friend. Fine, by friend I mean me. I am asking for me. https://t.co/HHN7qN9NlT  CH (@chertz) July 12, 2022

Others were more surprised thatThe Hangover star was apparently dating Dianna Agron right under their noses.

Story continues

bradley cooper was dating dianna agron? huh, tweeted one confused fan.

bradley coopers dating history is truly fascinating and must be studied, said someone else.

bradley cooper was dating dianna agron? huh  dee-uhn-druh (@diandrasdiandra) July 12, 2022

bradley coopers dating history is truly fascinating and must be studied  jihane (@jihanebousfiha_) July 12, 2022

According to the Page Six source, Cooper and Abedin attended this years Met Gala together. Although they split up for the red carpet. Pictures from the exclusive event show Abedin posing in a yellow gown on the red carpet, while Cooper is seen keeping his distance behind her.

Bradley is a big step up from Anthony Weiner, to say the very least, the source told Page Six. The insider also explained that the two share many interests, including power and politics and human affairs.

Bradley Cooper previously dated model Irina Shayk, 36, for four years before splitting in 2019. The former couple are parents to five-year-old daughter Lea De Seine.
Huma Abedin

Arturo Holmes/MG21/Getty

Get to know Huma Abedin.

As a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, the American political staffer is no stranger to the public eye  but she's recently made headlines for her romance with Academy Award winner Bradley Cooper.

The two have reportedly been dating for a "few months" after getting connected through Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, per Page Six. Both have built individual friendships with the matchmaking fashion icon through the years.

In fact, Abedin and Cooper both attended the 2022 Met Gala in New York City on May 2, where they walked the famed red carpet separately.

RELATED: How Huma Abedin Discovered Her Husband's Betrayal Was Even Worse Than We Knew  and Learned to Forgive

While Abedin has surely made her mark in the sartorial scene, given her friendship with Wintour, her day-to-day is rooted in politics, an environment she's engulfed herself in since she was a White House intern in 1996.

Amid the respective career she's built for herself in public service and national politics, she made headlines in 2011 as her then-husband Anthony Weiner became embroiled in sexting scandals, just one year into their marriage.

From her professional background to her family background, here's everything to know about Abedin.

She grew up in Saudi Arabia

Huma Abedin attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City.

John Shearer/Getty

Abedin was born in Michigan but grew up in Saudi Arabia shortly after her birth. She credits her international and multicultural childhood  her parents emigrated from India and Pakistan to the United States before eventually moving to Saudi Arabia  for shaping her identity, causing her to embrace being both Muslim and American, while also Indian and Pakistani.

RELATED: Huma Abedin Writes of 'Fury' Over Ex-Husband's Sexting Scandal

She works for Hillary Clinton

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) receives a note from her aide Huma Abedin (L) as she testifies about the State Department's FY2012 budget during a hearing of the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 10, 2011 in Washington, DC. Secretary Clinton has recently warned that proposed budget cuts would have a negative effect on U.S. national security policy.

Jonathan Ernst/Getty

For over 25 years, Abedin has served as Clinton's longtime aide. Her duties date back to 1996 when she first entered the White House as an intern and worked in the First Lady's office, where she first began her career in public service and national politics.

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Since then, she has been the reliable keeper of details, optics, and logistics for Clinton and has moved up the ranks alongside her throughout her career. After four years of interning, she was named senior advisor to Senator Clinton in the U.S. Senate, followed by traveling chief of staff for Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008.

Then, she served as deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of State in 2009 and later vice chair of Hillary for America in 2016. Currently, she's Clinton's chief of staff.

"I've known @HumaAbedin for 25 years and counting, and I can't imagine any of that time without her," Clinton wrote in an Instagram post dedicated to Abedin.

She was married to former congressman Anthony Weiner

Political staffer Huma Abedin and former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner attend the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards at Spring Studios on November 2, 2015 in New York City

Jim Spellman/WireImage Huma Abedin and former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner

Despite being Clinton's right-hand woman, Abedin mostly kept out of the spotlight until she made headlines with former Democratic congressman Weiner, whom she married in July 2010.

Just one year into their marriage, when she was pregnant, Weiner was embroiled in controversy for a sexting scandal, which resulted in him stepping down from Congress.

Several other sexting scandals followed, including one lewd photo with the couple's sleeping son in the frame. Abedin announced her separation from Weiner in August 2016, and eventually filed for divorce in May 2017 shortly after Weiner pleaded guilty to sexting with a minor.

RELATED: Huma Abedin Says Anger Toward Ex-Husband Anthony Weiner and His Many Scandals 'Almost Killed Me'

In January 2018, PEOPLE confirmed that she and Weiner were seeking to settle the divorce privately "to reduce any impact of these proceedings on their child," according to Abedin's attorney. In November 2021, CBS News reported that their divorce was still being finalized.

She wrote a tell-all memoir about her life

Huma Abedin book Both/And

Huma Abedin/Instagram

In November 2021, Abedin released Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, a memoir that gives a detailed look into Weiner's sex scandals and how the controversy affected the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign.

She told PEOPLE that her chance to "write [her] own history" was also a manifestation of her determination to close the book on the scandal and move on. "It was better to relive  to feel  than to do what I had done over the course of years, which was to collect anger, to be bitter, to resent my partner for the circumstances he caused. It was slowly eating at me," Abedin said. "I can't live any more in that state of anger, resentment or what I lost, or what could've, would've, should've."

The 500-page political and personal coming-of-age tale also chronicles her early life in Kalamazoo, Michigan to her upbringing in Saudi Arabia all while being raised in an Indian-Pakistani household.

She has a son named Jordan

Huma Abedin, son Jordan Zain Weiner and Elizabeth Banks Haim Saban honored with star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, USA - 22 Mar 2017

Jim Smeal/Shutterstock

In December 2011, Abedin gave birth to a baby boy named Jordan Zain Weiner, whom she shares with Weiner.

She spoke to PEOPLE in November 2021 about seeking therapy and working to find a good place with Weiner for the sake of their child. "Anthony is always going to be in my life because he is the father of my child. I want to make sure he's healthy, that we are in a healthy relationship, that our son sees model behavior that is healthy for him."

She wrote her memoir with her son in mind, as there's a short span between his youth and his unrestricted access to the internet. "I liked being an invisible person, but I felt like if I didn't write my story, somebody else is telling my history," she told The Cut of her decision to personally tell all.

RELATED: Huma Abedin Shares Guilt Over Hillary Clinton Losing Presidency

She's friends with Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour and Huma Abedin pose at the opening night after party for "Sea Wall/A Life" at The Public Theater on February 14, 2019 in New York City.

Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Wintour has played a valuable role in Abedin's life, and the two have created a close friendship over the years. In 2016, Abedin told The Cut that Wintour came to her rescue during a difficult time.

"[She would say,] 'We're going to the theater for a random movie and we're going to go eat,'" Abedin recalled of Wintour. "And just being out and being with her, I just felt sort of normal and loved."

Wintour also introduced her to an alternate universe of "writers, people in the fashion world. Mostly people who just weren't really into politics," per the outlet. Wintour gave Abedin what she described as "a safe space."
There are some amazing movies still to come in 2022 including Nope, Black Adam, and Avatar: The Way of the Water. (Universal/Warner Bros./Disney)

From crowd-pleasing hits like Top Gun: Maverick and The Batman, and family favourites Minions: The Rise of Gru and Sonic The Hedgehog 2, to genre gems like Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Black Phone, 2022 is already shaping up to be a great year for movies.

As we move towards the second part of the year, this is usually the time to start thinking about all the movie releases that could eventually end up in the running for awards season.

Read more: The most exciting TV still to come in 2022

With Cannes yielding some worthy contenders and Venice just around the corner, here are the movies we can't wait to see before the end of the year.

Where the Crawdads Sing - 22 July

Where The Crawdads Sing (Sony Pictures)

This long awaited adaptation of the popular novel of the same name by Delia Owens stars Normal Peoples Daisy Edgar Jones, The King's Mans Harris Dickinson and Taylor John Smith.

Read more: The most complained about movie age rating of 2021

Directed by Olivia Newman, the film tells the story of Catherine "Kya" Clarke, a resourceful young girl who grows up in a North Carolina marsh.

Bullet Train - 3 August

Brad Pitt in Bullet Train. (Sony Pictures)

John Wick and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch returns with this action comedy in which Brad Pitt stars as a trained killer who wants out, but is pulled back in by his handler.

Sandra Bullock, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Zazie Beetz also star.

Prey - 5 August (Disney+ exclusive)

The first look at Prey (20th Century Studios)

The fifth Predator movie (not counting the dreadful AvP movies) takes the alien hunter-killer back in time, and is set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. Taking the sci-fi horror series back to its roots, it sees a young warrior tackling the greatest predator to ever stalk the plains, and the trailers have promise a return to form for the mandibled-terror.

Nope - 12 August

Daniel Kaluuya in Nope, written and directed by Jordan Peele. (Universal Pictures)

After giving us one of the best directorial debuts of all time with his post-race horror comedy Get Out in 2017, and the outstanding US in 2019, writer-director Jordan Peele is back with Nope, yet another groundbreaking  potentially twist-laden  production, this time in glorious IMAX.

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Read more: Keke Palmer says Nope is 'next level'

Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star as two siblings living on a remote ranch who make an otherworldly encounter.

The Invitation - 26 August

After the death of her mother and having no other known relatives, Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) takes a DNA test and discovers a long-lost cousin she never knew she had. The stylish looking horror film is directed and co-written by Jessica M. Thompson.

Beast - 26 August

Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley star in Baltasar Kormakurs film about a father and his two teenage daughters who find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion. Icelandic filmmaker Kormakur knows how to create tension on screen, and this premise sounds promising, Riley Keough also stars alongside Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffries.

The Forgiven - 2 September

Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain in The Forgiven. (Universal Pictures)

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain and Matt Smith, John Michael McDonaghs The Forgiven takes place over a weekend in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The film from the acclaimed Irish director of The Guard and Calvary explores the fallout from a random accident on the lives of both the locals and western visitors to the region.

Three Thousand Years of Longing - 2 September

Mad Max and Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller is back with an adaptation of a short story by A. S. Byatt. The film follows a scholar who encounters a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba star, and you can expect the unexpected.

Crimes of the Future - 9 September

Body horror maestro David Cronenberg returns with another mind-bending chiller. This new offering stars Viggo Mortensen, Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux. The Canadian filmmaker premiered his new film at Cannes earlier this year, prompting some walkouts and jeers. The film is a return to his horror roots.

See How They Run - 9 September

Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan in the film See How They Run. (Searchlight Pictures)

An American film producer visits London in the 1950s to adapt a play, but things go off the rails when crew members are murdered in this mystery comedy from director Tom George. Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Reece Shearsmith and Harris Dickinson star in the farcical romp.

Moonage Daydream - 16 September (IMAX), 23 September (wide release)

Moonage Daydream will release exclusively in IMAX on 16 September and wide in UK Cinemas from 23 September. (Universal Pictures)

The first officially sanctioned David Bowie documentary was hailed at Cannes Film Festival for its unique approach to the incredible legacy of a unique artist. Described as an 'experiential cinematic odyssey', the film  directed by Brett Morgen (Montage of Heck)  is guided by Bowie's narration and told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performance and music.

Dont Worry Darling - 23 September

Harry Styles and Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling. (Warner Bros.)

Olivia Wildes long awaited second foray into film direction stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine. It follows the life of a 1950s housewife living in a utopian experimental community with her husband who begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding some disturbing secrets.

The Woman King - 4 October

This historical epic from director Gina Prince-Bythewood is inspired by real life events. It tells the story of the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The film stars Lashana Lynch, Viola Davis and John Boyega

Halloween Ends - 14 October

Michael Myers continued his murderous rampage in Halloween Kills. (Ryan Green/Universal Pictures)

The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode finally comes to an end in this final instalment of this rebooted franchise. Jamie Lee Curtis stars alongside Will Patton and Kyle Richards. Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021) director David Gordon Green is back at the helm, but what Myers has in store for Haddonfield remains to be seen.

My Policeman - 21 October

David Dawson, Emma Corrin and Harry Styles in My Policeman. (Prime Video)

The second Harry Styles movie release of the autumn sees him taking his first lead role in the adaptation of the book of the same name by Bethan Roberts. Starring alongside Emma Corrin and David Dawson, the pop star plays a closeted copper in the 1950s, and will also debut on Prime Video on 4 November.

Black Adam - 21 October

Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam. (Warner Bros.)

Orphan and Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra returns with this adaptation of the popular DC comic in which Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is the titular character. Pierce Brosnan plays Dr. Fate, while Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge and Aladdins Marwan Kenzari also star. The Rock has been teasing his DC debut for years now, so we'll finally find out if it was worth the wait.

Amsterdam - 4 November

(L-R): Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

Acclaimed writer-director David O. Russell (The Fighter, American Hustle) returns with this star-studded comedic caper set in the 1930s. Russell's first new film in seven years follows three friends who witness a murder and become suspects themselves.

It stars Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Anya Taylor-Joy and Oscar winner Rami Malek.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 11 November

The title treatment for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (2022)

Ryan Coogler is back at the helm in this sequel to his groundbreaking 2018 MCU hit. While we dont yet know the fate of T'Challa after the untimely death of Chadwick Boseman, we are told the film will continue to explore the world of Wakanda.

Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright and Martin Freeman reprise their roles, while Michaela Coel makes her MCU debut.

Roald Dahls Matilda The Musical - 2 December

Roald Dahls Matilda the Musical. (Sony Pictures)

Matthew Warchus directs this adaptation of the Olivier award-winning, and earworm-inspiring musical based on Roald Dahls much loved childrens book. The film will star Emma Thompson as Trunchbull and Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey, while newcomer Alisha Weir plays the title role. Expect Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough to steal the show as Matilda's obnoxious parents.

Avatar: The Way of Water - 16 December

(L-R): Spider and Kiri in Avatar: The Way of the Water. (20th Century Studios)

James Camerons long awaited follow up to the highest-grossing film of all time follows the life of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) on the planet of Pandora. Zoe Saldana reprises her role as Neytiri, while newcomers to the franchise include Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh and Jemaine Clement. Coming 13 years after the original, the sequel has a lot to live up, but as history has proven over and over again: never bet against James Cameron pulling off the impossible.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - 21 December

Shazam returns in Fury of the Gods. (Warner Bros)

Director David F. Sandberg is back for a second helping in this follow up to his 2019 film about the much loved DC superhero story. Zachary Levi is joined by Helen Mirren, Adam Brody and West Side Story sensation Rachel Zegler.
Alabama

Florence: A prisoner who prompted a nationwide manhunt when he disappeared from a jail this spring has been charged with killing the corrections official authorities said helped him escape. Casey White, 38, has been indicted on a murder charge for the shooting death of Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly announced Tuesday. The pairs disappearance from an Alabama jail in April sparked a national manhunt that came to a bloody end in Indiana, where Casey White was captured, and Vicky White died. The indictment alleges that during the escape, Casey White caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot to the head. The indictment does not specify who pulled the trigger. Authorities have said Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Casey White will plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing, defense attorney Mark McDaniel said in a statement. The defense previously pointed blame at Vicky White for the escape, saying Casey White was in her care and custody the entire time of his disappearance from jail. Alabama law allows a murder charge if someone causes the death of any person while engaging in certain other felonies such as escape or if the person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person.

Alaska

Anchorage: The U.S. government on Monday agreed to a request from environmental groups to study increasing critical habitat designations in Alaska waters for North Pacific right whales, one of the rarest whale species in the world. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries estimates there are about 30 of the whales left after centuries of hunting, ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements have devastated the species. The agency in 2008 designated about 1,175 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and approximately 35,460 square miles in the southeast Bering Sea as critical habitat for the whales. Two groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Save the North Pacific Right Whale, in March petitioned the agency to expand the habitat by connecting the existing two areas. This would extend the Bering Sea boundary west and south to Alaskas Fox Islands, through Unimak Pass to the edge of the continental slope, the agency said in a statement. The proposal would also extend the critical habitat area off Kodiak Island east to the Gulf of Alaska to include new feeding grounds the Center for Biological Diversity has said were confirmed by new research.

Arizona

Phoenix: The leader of the states largest abortion provider said Tuesday that her organization will not resume the procedures in one county even though a federal judge has blocked a fetal personhood law that abortion rights advocates feared could lead to criminal charges against doctors and others. Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, blamed vague and confusing statements from Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich about a near-total pre-statehood ban on abortions for the decision. That law has been on the books since at least 1901 but has been blocked since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. That injunction covers Pima County, home to Tucson, so the judges decision on the personhood law left open the possibility abortions would resume in Tucson. Brnovich announced last month that the pre-1901 law was enforceable and that his office would seek to have that injunction lifted, although it has not yet done so. We are not going to put our patients, staff and communities at risk especially when a majority of our frontline providers and patients identify as POC, LGBTQ or immigrants and we know that the criminal justice system is particularly cruel to those communities, Forteno said in a statement.

Arkansas

Fort Smith: A burn ban has been issued in Sebastian County due to hot weather and a lack of rainfall, County Judge David Hudson said Monday. The ban prohibits burning outdoors of trash, debris, brush or other materials while conditions are extremely hot and dry. We urge all citizens to work together to protect the lives and property, themselves, their families and neighbors, Hudson said. The burning ban will stay in existence until sufficient rain has reduced the fire hazard. Sebastian County has not had significant rainfall in over a month, and the forecast showed several more days of triple-digit heat with no rain through Sunday. The high temperature each day is expected to be near or above 100 degrees with higher heat indices. Lawns, fields and wooded areas are exceptionally dry, and the flashpoint for outdoor fires is unusually low. Without any significant rain, conditions will continue to dry out vegetation and spread fire more quickly, Hudson said Monday. Winds can make wildfires hard to contain and pose a hazard to firefighters who battle outdoor blazes in dry, hot weather. The fine for violators of the ban could be $25 to $300.

California

San Diego: A TikTok video showing dozens of beachgoers running and jumping out of the way of two fast-moving sea lions has generated nearly 10 million views and sparked conversations about whether the mammals were going after people and reclaiming picturesque La Jolla Coves narrow strip of sand. But sea lion expert Eric Otjen of SeaWorld San Diego said what he saw was normal sea lion behavior for this time of year, when males spar as breeding season gets underway. Otjen said the male flopping along at a rapid-fire pace as he darted around people was fleeing the other male closer to the waters edge that was chasing him because they were likely fighting over which females they could get. Both sea lions had ample opportunities to attack people but instead barreled past them, he said. Hes got swimmers all around him on his way back out, but they dont bother him. What this is all about is his right to mate, Otjen said. This behavior is not uncommon at all. The reason why the video has gotten like 10 millions views is because everybody is running like Godzilla is chasing them. And with good reason, he said. It may look funny that everybody is running, but its not a bad choice. You dont want to be caught in the cross fire. Even if they dont bite, its not a great feeling to have 200 to 300 pounds roll over you.

Colorado

Denver: People have a right protected by the First Amendment to film police while they work, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday in a decision that concurs with decisions made by six of the nations other 12 appeals court. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruling came in the case of a YouTube journalist and blogger who claimed that a suburban Denver officer blocked him from recording a 2019 traffic stop. Citing decisions from the other courts over about two decades as well as First Amendment principles, the 10th Circuit said the right to record police was clearly established at the time and reinstated Abade Irizarrys lawsuit. A three-judge panel from the court said that Mr. Irizarrys right to film the police falls squarely within the First Amendments core purposes to protect free and robust discussion of public affairs, hold government officials accountable, and check abuse of power. While bystander video has played a vital role in uncovering examples of police misconduct in recent years, whether it is a right is still being determined in courts and debated by lawmakers. The nations five other appeals courts have not ruled yet on the issue, and the U.S. Supreme Court would likely not get involved unless appeals courts were on opposite sides, said Alan Chen, a University of Denver law professor and one of the First Amendment experts also urged the appeals court to rule in favor of the right of people to record police.

Connecticut

Bridgeport: The state is boosting service along two Metro-North rail lines, a move that comes as ridership on the commuter railroad that serves Connecticut and New York moves closer to pre-pandemic levels. Gov. Ned Lamont announced six new express trains on the New Haven Line and seven new weekday trains on the Waterbury Branch Line began service Monday. It marks a 47% increase in service on the Waterbury line, a 27-mile stretch that has undergone safety and infrastructure improvements. This is the biggest day on the Waterbury Branch ever, Jim Gildea, chair of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council and rider on the Waterbury line, said during a news conference in Bridgeport. This is transformational  transformational not only for the rail commuter such as myself, to get us to our places of destination, but for economic development in the downtowns that this line runs through. Waterbury Mayor Neil OLeary said the expanded service coincides with a rise in population in parts of western Connecticut. He said about 4,000 people moved into his city, which is about a two-hour drive from New York City, during the coronavirus pandemic. He said improvements to the rail line were one of the biggest reasons.

Delaware

Dover: A Delaware Superior Court judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the states Democratic attorney general against agricultural giant Monsanto Co. over environmental damage from now-banned toxic chemicals known as PCBs. In recent years, PCBs have been at the center of multimillion-dollar settlements reached between Monsanto and multiple states whose waterways had been contaminated, but Judge Mary Johnston rejected public nuisance, trespass and unjust enrichment claims asserted by Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. Citing her own 2019 ruling in a lawsuit filed by Jennings against opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, as well as an earlier lawsuit by the city of Wilmington against gun manufacturers, Judge Mary Johnston noted that Delaware courts do not recognize product-based public nuisance claims. Johnston also said the state has no standing to bring trespass claims regarding PCB contamination of lands and waterways. The judge said while the state may have regulatory control of land and water, there is no basis to support the notion that it has exclusive possession of water. She also pointed out that the state had not alleged that Monsanto had control of the PCBs at the time of the alleged trespass.

District of Columbia

Washington: The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington has announced dates and participating restaurants for next months Summer Restaurant Week, WUSA-TV reports. The summer promotion is happening from Monday, Aug. 15, through Sunday, Aug. 21. Participating restaurants will offer multi-course brunch and lunch menus for $25 per person and multi-course dinner menus for $40 or $55 per person for on-premises dining. Many restaurants will also offer cocktail pairings and to-go dinner meals, available at two price points: $70 or $100 for two people and $140 or $200 for four people. Diners across the region can look forward to what will be a delicious promotion celebrating the seasons summer flavors with menus at great price points, Kathy E. Hollinger, president and CEO of RAMW, said in a statement This promotion is designed to give the most options for patrons as they dine their way around our great region. This years slate of restaurants includes some returning heavy-hitters in the D.C. food scene, such as Michelin Star winners Cranes and Bresca, as well as some fresh faces, like the just-opened Il Piatto Italian restaurant and Annabelle, which features a menu crafted by a former White House chef who served three presidents.

Florida

Tallahassee: A majority of Sunshine State residents oppose the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights, according to a new poll that also shows strong support in Florida for the gun violence prevention law recently signed by President Joe Biden. However, Floridians give Biden lower marks than Gov. Ron DeSantis on everything from his handling of the economy to COVID-19 and race relations. Just 34% of Floridians approve of Bidens economic stewardship, according to the survey by the University of South Florida and Florida International University, compared with 50% who think DeSantis is doing a good job with the economy. The survey provides a snapshot of how Floridians view the abortion issue in the wake of last months blockbuster ruling striking down Roe, with 57% saying they oppose the decision. There are a wide range of opinions on what Florida policymakers should do next on abortion but little interest in banning the procedure in most or all cases, according to the survey. Just 9% of Floridians said they want a complete abortion ban, while 21% said they want a ban with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or when the mothers life is at risk. DeSantis celebrated Roe being overturned and has promised to expand pro-life protections.

Georgia

Atlanta: Republican U.S. Reps. Jodi Hice and Andrew Clyde are calling on the University of Georgia to end any support for a Crisis Pregnancy Center mapping website developed by two professors. Andrea Swartzendruber and Danielle Lambert, both professors in the College of Public Health, created the website, which allows users to identify crisis pregnancy centers in a given city, state or ZIP code. Crisis pregnancy centers offer pregnancy testing and other limited medical services. They are often funded by religious and conservative groups and attempt to dissuade women from getting abortions, according to the website. The website says the centers frequently provide inaccurate and misleading health information, and it calls them fake womens health centers. The purpose of the map is to allow people to identify the centers and help facilitate academic research into the centers. Hice and Clyde sent a letter to UGA President Jere Morehead on Saturday demanding that the university end any support for the mapping website. The website is ... clearly nothing more than pro-abortion activism masquerading as academic research, the letter said. Although it does not appear to be hosted on a UGA website, the letter points to the use of a UGA email address by the websites creators as evidence of alleged university involvement.

Hawaii

Honolulu: Three former state prison guards were found guilty of civil rights violations for assaulting an inmate and trying to cover it up, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday. A U.S. judge ordered Jason Tagaloa, Craig Pinkney and Jonathan Taum into custody after a jury convicted them last week, the department said. A fourth former correctional officer, Jordan DeMattos, previously pleaded guilty for his role in the 2015 assault and cover-up, and he testified for the government at the three-week trial, federal prosecutors said. The Hawaii Department of Public Safety fired the men in 2016. Justice has been served as those involved were held accountable, Public Safety Director Max Otani said in a statement. The Department will not tolerate this type of behavior from any employee. The guards punched and kicked the inmate while he was lying facedown in a pool of his own blood in the recreation yard at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on the Big Island, prosecutors said. They later wrote false reports omitting the beating, prosecutors said. They face up to 10 years in prison for depriving the inmates rights, 20 years for the false report and five years for conspiracy.

Idaho

Nampa: An insurance company that covers counties and other public entities in the state says it wont renew Canyon Countys insurance policy because of increasing risks and a high volume of claims. The Idaho Counties Risk Management Program sent a letter to Canyon County officials May 23 citing numerous factors including adverse claim development and increasing risk exposures, the Idaho Press reports. The Nampa-based newspaper obtained the document through public records requests. Canyon County Public Information Officer Joe Decker said the countys elected officials were not able to offer comment on the ongoing situation. We are working to evaluate all options, including potential renewal with ICRMP and the potential acquisition of replacement coverage, Decker wrote in an email. More information will be forthcoming when available. Canyon County Commissioners responded to ICRMP in a June 2 letter that suggested the county might appeal the non-renewal notice. They took issue with the decision, saying that the abruptness and comprehensiveness of this total separation, and the lack of warning or opportunity to cure any perceived issue, is shocking. The commissioners also said the insurance companys documentation showing the countys loss history isnt accurate.

Illinois

Chicago: Mourners shared memories and tears Tuesday during the funeral for the mother of a 2-year-old boy who lost both his parents in the attack on a suburban Independence Day parade, and they pledged to care for young Aiden McCarthy and ensure he shares in their memories of his mom and dad. Irina McCarthy, 35, and husband Kevin McCarthy died on the parade route in Highland Park on July 4. Strangers cared for their young son in the chaotic hours following the barrage of gunfire that killed seven people and wounded more than 30. A photo of the boys round-cheeked face spread online, eventually helping authorities to reunite him with his mothers parents, who had lost their only daughter. Irina McCarthys friends who spoke during the funeral in Wilmette, Illinois, remembered her as a big-hearted, dedicated woman who cherished her relationship with her parents and threw herself into marriage and motherhood. Each speaker pledged to remain a part of Aidens life and make sure he hears stories of his parents, noting his own cheerful approach to life that echoes his mothers smile and can-do attitude. (Aiden) will be cared for by all of us, said Vic Lichtenberg, a friend of Irinas parents. He will have a family, a home, and hell thrive and grow with us. Every moment, every time I look at that child, I see Irina.

Indiana

New Castle: Federal prosecutors have charged a former eastern Indiana police officer with civil rights violations, alleging he used excessive force during three arrests, including by kicking a man in the head and shooting another with beanbags from close range. The U.S. attorneys office announced Friday that former New Castle police Officer Aaron J. Strong has been indicted on three counts of deprivation (of civil rights) under color of law and a single count of witness tampering. According to the charging documents, Strong, 44, kicked a man in and about the head during an arrest July 12, 2017. On the same day, he used a beanbag shotgun to shoot another man at close range in the back during an arrest, prosecutors allege. The federal grand jury that indicted Strong found that both of those incidents took place without legal justification and resulted in injuries to both men. The third incident for which Strong was indicted stemmed from a 2019 arrest in which he allegedly used an expandable baton to repeatedly strike a man who had reportedly already surrendered. That man later filed a federal lawsuit accusing Strong of hitting him more than 20 times with the baton, resulting in injuries to his head, jaw, arms and back. The 2019 encounter also led to Strongs conviction on a misdemeanor count of criminal recklessness.

Iowa

Des Moines: An assistant attorney general is suing the city and its police chief over his arrest during a June 2020 racial justice protest, alleging he was tackled, pepper-sprayed and handcuffed for no reason. The lawsuit filed by Assistant Attorney General Paxton Williams is among at least eight cases filed against Des Moines police. The cases involve protests following George Floyds death in the custody of Minneapolis police. Paxton, who is Black, alleges police used unnecessary and excessive force in arresting him in front of his home, a few blocks from the Iowa Capitol. The lawsuit, filed May 31 in Polk County District Court, says Williams felt the effects of the pepper spray for several days and suffered shoulder, arm and hip pain. According to court records, a failure-to-disperse citation that Williams received was dismissed under an agreement requiring him to avoid further criminal charges for six months. A representative for the police department did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment about the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the attorney generals office, Lynn Hicks, declined to comment, calling it a personal matter. Paxton also is suing a police sergeant and 10 unnamed officers. Paxton alleges the sergeant told him hours after his arrest that police video refuted Paxtons claims.

Kansas

Volunteers with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America discuss the Aug. 2 anti-abortion constitutional amendment with Mike Hogeland of Olathe.

Overland Park: Opponents and supporters of a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution are trying to reach suburban Johnson County voters to state their case on the hotly debated issue, dealing with historically hot weather as their door-knocking campaign ramps up. Both sides have spent millions in television advertisements and campaign activities in recent weeks. And opponents and advocates alike for the amendment are attempting to use the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health, striking down the long-standing Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights nationally, to motivate their supporters into turning out for the Aug. 2 vote. As volunteers canvassed houses recently, some voters were engaged and could nearly read back the talking points to volunteers. One was attempting to urge his daughter to vote on the amendment by absentee ballot from Malaysia, where she was on an internship. The vote is on whether the state constitution confers a right to an abortion. A yes vote would give the Legislature significantly more power to restrict or even outlaw the practice, though lawmakers would still need to vote to do so. Kansas will be the first state where voters will weigh in on abortion following the Dobbs decision.

Kentucky

Frankfort: A judge has struck down a measure that would have weakened Democratic Gov. Andy Beshears appointment authority over a key ethics commission by shifting power to Republican officials to select a majority of the members. In his ruling Monday, Jefferson Circuit Judge McKay Chauvin said the measure severely diminishes and diverts the governors constitutional duty to ensure the states executive branch ethics code is faithfully executed. By shifting appointment authority away from the governor, the law empowered other constitutional officers who arent charged with that same constitutional duty, he said. The GOP-dominated Legislature passed the measure  House Bill 334  this year over Beshears veto. The new law was set to take effect Thursday but is now blocked by the judges decision. Republican Attorney General Daniel Camerons office said the ruling will be appealed. Under the measure, five statewide officeholders  currently all Republicans  each would make one appointment to the reconstituted state Executive Branch Ethics Commission. The governor would appoint two members to the panel that enforces the executive branch ethics code. The measure would have removed all five current commission members  all gubernatorial appointees.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Despite some Republicans hoping to overturn the governors recent vetoes, the GOP-dominated Legislature voted not to hold an override session this week. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards rejected 29 pieces of recently passed legislation, all but one authored by Republican lawmakers. Under Louisiana state law, an override session is automatically scheduled when a governor vetoes legislation, unless a majority of lawmakers in either chamber say its not necessary. Historically, a majority of representatives and senators send in ballots saying that the session is not needed. However, since 2021, the Legislature has returned to the Capitol twice to override the governors vetoes. Lawmakers had until the end of Monday to send in ballots opposing an override session. Twenty-five of the 37 senators and 39 of the 105 representatives returned ballots. With a majority of the Senate voting against the session, it was canceled, Senate President Page Cortez and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder announced in a letter Tuesday morning. Bills vetoed by Edwards, following the 2022 regular legislative session, included legislation that would have toughened criminal sentences and banned government entities from denying building entry based on a persons COVID-19 vaccination status.

Maine

Augusta: The state has added a suite of new rules designed to cut down on catalytic converter thefts from cars. Catalytic converters are sometimes targeted by thieves because they contain precious metals and are fairly easy to detach from a car. The Legislature has passed a law that puts safeguards into the chain of custody for the converters to try to stop thefts. The rules require car dealers to engrave the autos vehicle identification number onto the catalytic converter. Recyclers must also engrave or permanently mark either the VIN or their license and stock number. The states new rules also require residents who remove unmarked catalytic converters to engrave or mark the converter with the VIN. The states new rules go into effect Aug. 8. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows called the thefts an infuriating trend and said the new law would provide some peace of mind to Mainers who are worried they may be next. The number of incidents of catalytic converter theft has spiked around the country over the past three years.

Maryland

Salisbury: A video in which a Wicomico County Board of Education members teenage son holds a rifle and says a threatening statement against Black people, using a racial slur, was shared among students at Parkside High School on one of the last days of the school year. The community was already on edge  two days before the video was shared, in mid-June, Wicomico County Sheriffs Office deputy Cpl. Glenn Hilliard, a Black man, was killed in the line of duty in Pittsville. Front of mind nationwide was the killing a few weeks prior of 19 children and two adults in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Wicomico County Board of Education member Tonya Lewiss 15-year-old son was holding what was later determined to be a pellet rifle in the video. Wicomico County public schools issued a statement the week the video was shared assuring the public the incident was being investigated and saying, among other things: We are shocked and revolted by both the language and the visual content of this video. The statement noted federal law prohibits the school district from revealing information about individual students. The sheriffs office announced June 29 that the teen was being charged with misuse of electronic mail and disturbing school activities, both misdemeanors.

Massachusetts

Quincy: A Boston suburb that was the birthplace of two of the nations earliest presidents is planning to build a center honoring their legacies. Quincy officials on Tuesday announced the formation of a new nonprofit foundation to raise money and oversee the design and construction of the Adams Presidential Center honoring former President John Adams and his son, former President John Quincy Adams, as well as former first ladies Abigail Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams. Mayor Thomas Koch said the announcement marks the beginning of a formal, public process for building the long overdue center, which he hopes will offer more than a traditional presidential library and museum. Were in the infant stages, but we envision it as a center for civic engagement, a place to really get some education about the history of our country, he said during remarks at the Adams Academy. The mayor has proposed the historic former school as a future home for the center. The school was built in the 1800s using money John Adams left to the city of Quincy, which is named after Abigail Adams grandfather, Col. John Quincy. Koch has also asked the Boston Public Library to transfer John Adams collection of more than 3,000 books to the city to serve as a focal point of the project.

Michigan

Detroit: The states largest district court and bail reform advocates have agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over cash bail practices, which activists say routinely and unconstitutionally jail poor and working-class defendants despite evidence of their inability to pay. Both sides say the reforms announced Tuesday strike at racial inequality in the criminal legal system. On any given day in Wayne County  which includes Detroit, the nations Blackest city  nearly three-quarters of those jailed are Black, a proportion much higher than their share of the population. If the reforms narrow that disparity, it could be a model for court systems nationwide, where race and wealth are significant factors in the administration of justice, advocates say. Detroits 36th District Court, the American Civil Liberties Union and The Bail Project, a nonprofit that pays bail for people in need, said the status quo wreaks unnecessary havoc on defendants jobs, homes and families. This is a historic agreement that we believe can and should be a template for how courts around the country can adapt their bail practices to what is lawful, constitutional and sensible, said Phil Mayor, senior staff attorney for the Michigan ACLU.

Minnesota

Minneapolis: A farmer is accused of making $46 million by passing off chemically treated corn and soybeans as organically grown. James Clayton Wolf has been charged in federal court with felony wire fraud. Prosecutors say Wolf falsely labeled crops grown on his rural Cottonwood County farm as organic, defrauded grain buyers and undermined the nations organic labeling system. Organic farming uses seeds from non-genetically modified organisms. Crops are grown without chemicals or fertilizers and generate higher prices at market than non-organic crops. Organic crop certification is controlled by the federal National Organic Program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grand jurys indictment says Wolfs organic farming certification was revoked in 2020. However, according to the document, Wolf continued selling non-GMO grain falsely labeled as organic through an associate, the Star Tribune reports. Mr. Wolf is a 65-year-old career farmer, who has never been in trouble, said Paul Engh, his attorney. Hes led a good life and now seeks his vindication. Wolf is scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge July 22.

Mississippi

Gulfport: Animal shelters across the Mississippi Gulf Coast are coping with too many animals and too few staffers and volunteers. The Sun Herald reports that one shelter, the Jackson County Animal Shelter, is being forced to considering euthanizing healthy, adoptable dogs. Kennels are stacked on top of one another with dogs of all ages and breeds at the Humane Society of South Mississippi in Gulfport. The shelter has 500 animals, more than it can handle. Its a capacity crisis, said Katie King, the shelters development director. The Humane Society, like many other businesses and organizations on the Gulf Coast, is struggling to fill job vacancies during a tight labor market. Its a similar story at the Jackson County Animal Shelter. When the Jackson County shelter is at its capacity, staffers are forced to euthanize animals that are not considered adoptable  those that are aggressive or so sick they cannot be treated by the shelters vets. But we are running short on animals that are not adoptable, and we are fearful that we will have to do some that are to make space, shelter director Joseph Barlow said. HSSM and the Jackson County Animal Shelter are looking for volunteers, as well as donations including cleaning supplies, food, treats and more.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Two leading Democratic state lawmakers on Monday asked the Republican governor to call a special session to pass legislation that would safeguard contraception and medical treatment for ectopic pregnancies after a near-total ban on abortion was instituted. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, of Independence, and House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, of Springfield, wrote in a letter to Gov. Mike Parson that medical and legal experts have expressed concern and confusion since the state law banning abortion except in cases of medical emergency took effect last month. Most notably, a large Missouri hospital chain briefly stopped providing emergency contraception, fearing that doctors who provide the medication could be at risk of criminal charges, even in cases of sexual assault. Quade said in a phone interview that constituents have called fearful of whether or not they can get their birth control, if they can get the morning-after pill. What do they do with their IVF treatments, ectopic pregnancy, etc. You know, theres still a lot of confusion around what the actual law means in the state of Missouri in terms of who can be prosecuted and what is covered. Parson had already said he plans to call a special session to deal with tax cuts; Democrats want abortion added to the agenda to provide clarity.

Montana

Big Medicine, a sacred white bison, who lived his entire life from 1933 to 1959 on the National Bison Range. Today, hes on display at the Montana History Center in Helena.

Helena: Native American leaders throughout the state are pushing for the return of a sacred white bison that has been housed at the Montana State Historical Society since his death in 1959. Big Medicine is the name given a white bison calf born on the range in 1933, The Daily Montanan reports. Not an albino, Big Medicine had a mostly white coat with a tuft of brown that sometimes appeared near his horns. Many Indigenous cultures, including the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, regarded the birth as an omen of good fortune and renewed hope, and Big Medicine was kept alive on the range for 26 years, nearly triple the age of the average bull bison. The display at the Montana State Historical Society is right across from the archives on the second floor, and he remains one of the most popular attractions. However, the Montana Native American Caucus has supported the effort by the CSKT to bring Big Medicine home, back to where he lived, to be a part of a planned museum and interpretative center. Molly Kruckenberg, executive director of the historical society, said while the decision to return Big Medicine to the CSKT is in the hands of the societys board of trustees, staff generally support the effort so long as the animal, in somewhat fragile condition, can be returned safely and preserved for the next generation.

Nebraska

Omaha: A newly formed nonprofit says it wants to create a community center for LGBTQ+ people in the metro area and as far away as western Iowa, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Mayor Jean Stothert has thrown her support behind the effort by Omaha ForUs, which said support groups and mental health services would be among the offerings it hopes the center can provide. JohnCarl Denkovich, director of programs for Omaha ForUs, said the city is among just seven in the 50 biggest U.S. cities without such a center in its metro area, according to the newspaper.

Nevada

Las Vegas: Homicides are down in Clark County in the first half of this year, but authorities say gun violence and domestic killings remain a real concern. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports at least eight people were killed because of domestic violence in the metro area in the first six months of 2022. Across Clark County, 89 people have been killed between Jan. 1 and June 30, including 74 deaths that were investigated by the Las Vegas Metro Police. Across all departments in the county, police investigated three mass shootings in the first half of this year, according to the Review-Journal. At least 30 homicides in the county involved men killed during a fight with another man. Perceived disrespect associated with social media and in-person fighting has become a significant issue, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told the Review-Journal. Instead of reacting with their words and feet and hands, now theyre reacting with guns, and that is a disturbing trend. County authorities had investigated 104 killings by July 1, 2021  15 more than this year.

New Hampshire

Concord: State homeland security officials said Tuesday that a siren was inadvertently activated at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station and that there was no emergency and no danger to the public. The state Homeland Security and Emergency Management agency and plant owner NextEra Energy Resources put out statements more than 30 minutes after beachgoers in nearby Hampton and Rye said they heard announcements about 11 a.m. about the beaches being closed because of a problem at the plant. We are aware of the sirens calling for an evacuation near Seabrook Station, said Bill Orlove, a spokesperson for plant. The sirens activation was sent in error during testing of the system. ... Seabrook Station is currently operating with no issues that impact the nearby community. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. Police and fire departments in the area said the beaches were not closed. The Seabrook Station Alert was inadvertent there is NO EMERGENCY, the Hampton Fire Department posted on Facebook. The plant is about 40 miles north of Boston and 10 miles south of Portsmouth. It has operated since 1990.

New Jersey

Atlantic City: Workers at five casinos have ratified new contracts giving them significant raises and are now turning their attention to the two that have yet to settle, their union said Tuesday. Officials with Local 54 of the Unite Here union said 99% of workers who voted in ratification elections Monday approved the new pacts, under which housekeeping employees will immediately see their hourly salary increased to $18, up from varying levels at different casinos. Their pay will increase to $22 per hour at the end of the four-year contract. Its hard to sell a housekeeping job at $16 an hour, said union President Bob McDevitt. Its a lot easier to sell one at $20 or $22 an hour. He said the strike authorization vote is a way to prepare for the possibility that a work stoppage may be needed. Casino workers have needed raises for a long time, said Dave Dorfman, a cook at Harrahs and member of the worker negotiating committee. Now there is an easier way forward for us, and the money will go a long way towards affording my daily expenses. Next, we need to make sure that Resorts and Golden Nugget workers dont get left behind. The union plans to vote July 19 on whether to authorize a strike at those two casinos if new deals are not reached by then.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: State regulators said Monday that several horses that were feared dead by animal advocates following a weekend of racing at one of the states premiere horse tracks are alive and well. Officials with the New Mexico Racing Commission said that only one animal died after being injured during recent trials at Ruidoso Downs and that photographs and veterinary reports submitted to the state show the other seven were in their stalls and were fine. The Washington, D.C.-based group Animal Wellness Action had raised concerns about the horses welfare. Apparently it was so brutally hot the horses had to be vanned back to the stables after they ran, which of course to us means they shouldnt have been running in the first place, said Marty Irby, the lobbying groups executive director. Irby leveled his criticisms as advocates push for track owners and regulators nationwide to be more vigilant now that new federal safety mandates took effect this month and as the industry prepares to adopt more uniform anti-doping rules. Irby was among those who testified before Congress in support of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, which was signed into law in 2020. It is being implemented in stages, with the racetrack safety program starting first. The anti-doping and medication rules are expected in early 2023.

New York

Deane E. Smith, cardiothoracic surgeon and director of mechanical circulatory support at NYU Langone Health, left; cardiothoracic surgeon Syed T. Hussain, center; and Nader Moazami, surgical director of heart transplantation at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, prepare a pig heart for xenotransplantation at NYU Langone Health on July 6 in New York.

New York: Researchers at NYU Langone Health transplanted pig hearts into two brain-dead people over the past month  the latest in a string of developments in the long quest to one day save human lives with animal organs. The experiments announced Tuesday come after a historic but failed attempt earlier this year to use a pigs heart to save a dying Maryland man  sort of a rehearsal before scientists try again in the living. We learned so much from the first one that the second one is much better, said Dr. Nader Moazami, who led the operations at NYU Langone Health. You stand there in awe when the pig heart starts to beat in a human body, he said. This time around, Moazamis team mimicked how heart transplants routinely are done. Once last month and once last week, researchers traveled to a facility housing genetically modified pigs, removed the needed hearts, put them on ice and flew them hundreds of miles back to New York. They used special new methods to check for any worrisome animal viruses before sewing the heart into the chest of each deceased recipient  a Vietnam veteran from Pennsylvania with a long history of heart disease and a New York woman whod benefited from a transplant earlier in life. Then came three days of more intense testing than living patients could tolerate before doctors disconnected life support.

North Carolina

Raleigh: A federal judge has blocked state laws that greatly restrict who can help people with disabilities request absentee ballots, fill them out and return them. A disabled person needing help to vote by mail can now seek assistance from anyone they choose, not just from a close relative or legal guardian as state law has limited, the State Board of Elections told county election officials after the decision filed Monday by U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle. He declared that such restraints in state law conflict with the federal Voting Rights Act, which allows people who are blind, cant read or write, or have a disability to pick whomever they wish to assist them, save for the voters employer or union. The elimination of these restrictions applies to all citizens with such disabilities, not just the thousands who reside in hospitals, clinics or nursing homes, Boyle ruled in a lawsuit filed last September against the state board by the nonprofit Disability Rights North Carolina. Voting is a fundamental right in this country, and these barriers not only violated federal law, they effectively denied the dignity, autonomy and humanity of disabled people by preventing their full participation in voting, Disability Rights North Carolina CEO Virginia Knowlton Marcus said in a news release Tuesday.

North Dakota

Bismarck: A group that wants to legalize recreational marijuana turned in more than 25,000 signatures to the secretary of state Monday in an effort to place the matter before voters in November. The group, New Approach North Dakota, needed 15,582 signatures to get the measure on the ballot for the general election. The organizations campaign manager, David Owen, said all the additional signatures they gathered show there is broad support for legalization. Weve had signature-gatherers in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, Williston we were at Country Fest this weekend in New Salem. This was a campaign that was done in less than 100 days, and we averaged 2,000 signatures a week the whole way through, Owen told KFGO. We think that this really shows true, strong support across the state, the fact that we were able to get so many people to sign. Secretary of State Al Jaegers office has 35 days to review the signatures and determine if enough of the petitions are valid to place the measure on the ballot. The New Approach initiative would allow people 21 and older to legally use marijuana at home, as well as possess and cultivate restricted amounts of cannabis. Public consumption of marijuana would not allowed under the proposed provision.

Ohio

Columbus: A Franklin County judge described the ongoing effort to put a green energy initiative on the ballot in city elections as an illegitimate attempt to steal taxpayer money when he sentenced its leader Tuesday to 120 days in jail for filing a false campaign finance report in 2019. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Chris M. Brown also sentenced John A. Clark Jr., 50, to pay a $2,500 fine, work 250 hours of community service and serve five years of probation. Im specifically going to ask the community service be through the Columbus Parks Department so you can work with the people you were trying to steal money from. Youll work in programs that wouldve been shut down had you been successful, Brown said. Clark has led multiple petition drives in recent years to get a green energy initiative put on the Columbus ballot that, if any had passed, would have diverted more than $40 million of taxpayer money from the city budget toward ProEnergy Ohio LLC, a limited partnership group led by Clark. After a back-and-forth with the City Council and the courts, a version of the initiative that would have redirected $87 million to ProEnergy Ohio made it onto the ballot last November. It was soundly defeated. One of Clarks attorneys said theyll appeal the sentence, which they feel was overly harsh.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Three proposed new turnpike routes were approved Monday by the Oklahoma Transportation Commission despite concerns by one member about the process being rushed and the absence of a member representing threatened homeowners. The turnpikes are part of Access Oklahoma, a $5 billion, 15-year expansion of the states turnpike network that opponents say will uproot hundreds of homes and businesses where new toll roads are proposed between south Oklahoma City and Norman. PIKE OFF, a grassroots group battling the three turnpikes, unsuccessfully asked the commission to delay a vote until a new District 3 representative could be appointed by Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall. John Estus, House spokesman, said the appointment, required after the seat was vacated by T.W. Shannon, is one of hundreds requiring McCalls attention. While this is a recent vacancy, it has been prioritized and will be filled very soon, Estus said. Nobody has advised the speakers office on why the vote on this matter occurred before the appointment was made. Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz said the routes approved Monday can still be adjusted based on talks with property owners and other considerations.

Oregon

Portland: Forestry officials said Monday that an invasive beetle known for decimating ash trees throughout North America and Europe was recently discovered west of Portland  a first for the West Coast. The Oregon Department of Forestry said the iridescent green emerald ash borer is considered the most destructive forest pest in North America and had been detected in 34 other states before it was discovered in Forest Grove on June 30, KOIN-TV reports. Officials said its the first discovery of the insect on the West Coast. The beetle is believed to have come from Asia through Canada to the U.S. about 20 years ago. The insects have killed up to 99% of the ash trees in some North American locations. The emerald ash borer was discovered in Oregon by Dominic Maze, an invasive species biologist for the city of Portland. He was waiting outside a summer camp in Forest Grove to pick up his children when he noticed several ash trees with D-shaped exit holes in their bark, state officials said. He recognized the holes as a sign of the emerald ash borer and then spotted the beetles. Its an ecologically vital tree, as it shades water, keeping it cooler for fish, said Wyatt Williams, the Oregon Department of Forestrys invasive species specialist. The roots stabilize streambanks, reducing erosion.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The states elections agency sued three Republican-controlled county governments Tuesday, seeking to force their election boards to report primary results that include ballots with undated exterior envelopes  the subject of several other lawsuits. The Department of State sued Lancaster, Berks and Fayette counties in Commonwealth Court, describing them as outlier counties that have not properly certified vote tallies from the May 17 election that included nominating contests for U.S. Senate, governor and most of the Legislature. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled May 20 that mail-in ballots without a required date on the return envelope must be allowed in a 2021 county judge race in Pennsylvania. Although the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the Senate vote-counting after the primary, three justices signed onto an opinion that said the 3rd Circuit was very likely wrong. A Commonwealth Court judge, in a separate case that was directly about reporting this years Senate primary election results, ruled June 2 that county boards of election should count mail-in votes that lack the security envelopes handwritten dates and report vote totals both with and without those ballots.

Rhode Island

Providence: Low-income people who are charged with crimes will be spared from paying court costs and fees if they prove to the court they dont have the financial means to pay those debts, under a new state law. Recognizing court costs can prove an insurmountable hurdle for some people that can tie them to the courts, state lawmakers this past session passed legislation that eliminates all costs, assessments and fees for those determined to be indigent. Such costs will also be waived for anyone who serves more than 30 days in prison under the law enacted late last month. Its done a great deal of healing and relief for those who have been in the system for too many years, too long, said Cedric Huntley, executive director of the Nonviolence Institute. Huntley recalled one man finally feeling free to get his drivers license after a judge waived his court costs. It gives people an opportunity to explore other opportunities. It changed the way he viewed the system, Huntley said. Previously, state law specified that judges may waive fees for those unable to pay, but that lenience was applied unevenly by judges. Under the new law, the fees will be automatically eliminated for the indigent and those serving sentences longer than 30 days.

South Carolina

Columbia: The nations ninth-busiest port is at risk of pollution by more than 100,000 gallons of fuel from a Navy aircraft carrier that served in World War II and the Vietnam War before its decommissioning and designation as a National Historic Landmark. The USS Yorktown, located in Charleston Harbor, is experiencing continued corrosion on its outer hull. If hazardous materials leak into the harbor, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster warned it would impair commercial shipping and harm the ecosystem. McMaster  who has supported environmental protection in office but failed to get the endorsement of conservation groups in his 2018 gubernatorial bid  took steps Monday to minimize that risk. Speaking at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, the governor announced an executive order directing the states Office of Resilience to study the cost of remediation efforts and remove all 140,000 gallons of fuel from the USS Yorktown. The aircraft carrier also picked up the Apollo 8 crew and spacecraft in 1968 after the first human mission to the moon. This is a special place for a whole lot of reasons, McMaster said at a Monday afternoon news conference. Its been entrusted to us. And we have to be sure that it continues to flourish.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: A pair of campaigns trying to expand access to Medicaid through the November ballot announced Monday that they will join efforts to focus on passing an amendment to the state constitution. The announcement from the two organizations  South Dakotans Decide Healthcare and Dakotans for Health  puts to rest a potential rivalry between the two campaigns. Both brought separate ballot proposals to require the state to make Medicaid government health insurance available to people who live below 133% of the federal poverty level, which is currently about $18,000 for an individual or $37,000 for a family of four. South Dakota is one of 12 states that has not accepted federal incentives to expand Medicaid eligibility, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. South Dakotans Decide Healthcare, which is sponsoring Constitutional Amendment D and is backed by the states health care industry, said that Dakotans for Health would join its coalition rather than push its own proposal for a voter-initiated measure. After conversations with South Dakotans Decide Healthcare members, we have agreed that the best path forward to accomplishing this goal is to join efforts behind one campaign, Rick Weiland, the co-founder of Dakotans for Health, said in a statement.

Tennessee

Nashville: More of the states students met grade-level requirements in reading this year, but the number of students scoring below grade level has also grown. More than 36% of students are on grade level in English language arts, up from about 29% of students last year, according to results from this years state assessments. But 25.8% of students are also scoring below grade level  also up from 23.8% of students last year and the highest since 2017. This growing achievement gap is especially acute at some grade levels and among certain groups of students, including Black and Hispanic students and students with disabilities. And it comes as state education officials tout successes in literacy instruction and implementation of statewide efforts to boost reading skills for all students. Students TNReady or TCAP scores fall into one of four categories: mastered, on track, approaching and below grade level. A student who tests on track is considered proficient for their grade level. This school year, of all students tested from third grade and up, 35.1% of students scored on or above grade level.

Texas

Austin: The states juvenile prison system is giving employees pay raises to address high staff turnover and staffing shortages that prompted officials to stop accepting new children into the facilities last week. Direct-care staff, including correctional officers and case managers, will be getting 15% raises. The salary hikes had been temporary following an emergency measure in April but will now be permanent, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department announced Friday. The raises are the first step in stabilizing the agency, said Interim Executive Director Shandra Carter. In a letter sent last month to Texas juvenile probation chiefs but only made public last week, Carter had said her agency would have to temporarily halt the intake of youth to its five state facilities as the juvenile justice department was hemorrhaging staff. Following media reports in 2007 that detailed physical and sexual abuse in state facilities and raised concerns with state judges and lawmakers, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department has worked to improve conditions at its facilities. In a May report to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, the agencys ombudsman said a leadership overhaul due to persistent problems at the juvenile prison system, including on ongoing federal probe, has failed to address the primary cause of the agencys current turmoil: chronic staff shortages.

Utah

Salt Lake City: A judge on Monday granted a request from Planned Parenthood to delay implementing the states trigger law banning most abortions, as implications of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade reverberate nationwide. With the decision, abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks in Utah, which is among a group of states where abortion rights have been thrown into limbo amid the legal and political challenges shaping the post-Roe landscape with states now holding the power to restrict abortion. What Im really doing is saying we have serious things to talk about, Judge Andrew Stone said after granting an injunction delaying the trigger law. He said the status quo should remain in effect until a challenge from the states Planned Parenthood affiliate can be heard fully. Utah is among more than a dozen states with trigger laws designed to limit abortion upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The decision Monday comes two weeks after the court put a temporary hold on the law, which bans most abortions with exceptions for rape, incest or maternal health. Stone, appointed by a Republican governor, blocked its enforcement for 14 days after the states branch of Planned Parenthood sued. His decision effectively extends the hold and allows Planned Parenthood clinics to continue providing abortions until the case is resolved.

Vermont

Montpelier: The newly established Vermont State University unifying three state schools has received accreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education, the Vermont State College System announced Tuesday. Vermont State University will be composed of Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College and will welcome its first class in the fall of 2023. Consolidation talks started in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, as increasing costs and declining student enrollment exacerbated the college systems financial challenges. Achieving accreditation for Vermont State University is monumental, Lynn Dickinson, chair of the Vermont State Colleges System Board of Trustees, said in a statement. Accreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education recognizes our strategic planning work, holds us accountable for maintaining high educational standards, and ensures we make continuous quality improvements for our students. Vermont State University will launch next July and open applications for its inaugural class in the coming months, said President Parwinder Grewal.

Virginia

Leesburg: A judge on Monday rejected an effort by the Loudoun County School Board to shut down a special grand jury investigating the school systems handling of two sexual assaults. The school board has said the special grand jury empaneled by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares is politically motivated and illegally usurps the mandate in the Virginia Constitution giving local school boards authority over educational affairs. Miyares argued that the special grand jury he empaneled is needed to uncover why the school system allowed a boy who had been accused of sexually assaulting a girl in one high school to transfer to another high school, where he was convicted of sexually assaulting a second girl. Miyares launched the grand jury after Gov. Glenn Youngkin, on his first day in office, issued an executive order requesting an investigation by the attorney generals office. Both Youngkin and Miyares had criticized the Loudoun County board in their successful 2021 political campaigns. They argued the board was not forthcoming in how it handled the case as it revised its guidelines over policies governing transgender students. The assaults attracted national attention in part because the boy  who was convicted in juvenile court  was wearing a skirt when he committed at least one of the attacks.

Washington

Spokane: The Biden administration on Tuesday released two reports arguing that removing dams on the lower Snake River may be needed to restore salmon runs to sustainable levels in the Pacific Northwest and that replacing the energy created by the dams is possible but will cost $11 billion to $19 billion. The reports were released by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Business as usual will not restore salmon, said Brenda Mallory, chair of the council. The Columbia River system is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest. If the four Snake River dams were ultimately removed, it would be largest such project in U.S. history. In 2012 the Elwha Dam on Washington states Olympic Peninsula was removed to restore habitat. At the time, the National Park Service said the elimination of the Elwha Dam was the largest such project in U.S. history. Many salmon runs continue to decline, which environmentalists blame on dams, Mallory said, and her office is leading multi-agency efforts to restore abundant runs of salmon to the Columbia River Basin. Mallory cautioned that the Biden administration is not endorsing any single long-term solution, including breaching the dams.

West Virginia

Huntington: The speed limit on two roads near Marshall University have been temporarily reduced while officials conduct a traffic study to determine if permanent changes are needed for pedestrian safety. Crews with the West Virginia Division of Highways installed new signs near the campus last week that reduce the speed limit on 3rd and 5th avenues from 35 mph to 25 mph, The Herald-Dispatch reports. The move stems from ongoing discussions among Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, Marshall University administrators and officials with the West Virginia Division of Highways following the death of a Marshall student last year who was struck by a vehicle on 3rd Avenue while crossing the street at the crosswalk. Days after Coxs death, Williams asked the Division of Highways to conduct a traffic safety audit on the streets around Marshalls campus. The study is ongoing, and officials are reviewing possible safety measures. Depending on the recommendations from the study, the speed limit will be evaluated.

Wisconsin

Madison: A key Republican leader in the state Assembly has decided to resign early to head to a private-sector job rather than wait until his term ends. Majority Leader Jim Steineke announced in January that he wouldnt seek reelection. He announced Monday that he will resign July 27. He said the Legislatures two-year session ended in March, and lawmakers arent coming back to do anything before the new session starts in January, so it makes sense to enter the private sector now. The Kaukauna Republican was first elected to the Assembly in 2010 and just months later helped pass Act 10, then-Gov. Scott Walkers plan to strip most public workers of their union rights. The GOP caucus made him assistant majority leader in 2013 and majority leader in 2015. Republican Reps. Mike Kuglitsch and Tyler Vorpagel also resigned early after announcing they wont seek reelection. Michael Best Strategies announced it had hired Kuglitsch on June 14, about a month after Kuglitsch announced he wouldnt run again. Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin officials announced June 6 that they had hired Vorpagel, just five days after he announced he wouldnt seek reelection. Republican Rep. Samantha Kerkman resigned June 7 after she won election as Kenosha County executive in April.

Wyoming

Jackson: Citing earthquake safety, workers at the Teton County courthouse say theyre worried about themselves and the public inside the 1968 building, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reports. In March, a consultant presented county commissioners with the results of an engineering study that found the structure not sonically sound. In addition to judicial facilities, it also houses offices for local first responders, according to the newspaper.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pig heart transplants, nuclear siren scare: News from around our 50 states
Scott Gilman

An administrator from San Mateo County was hired Tuesday to direct Ventura County's mental health and substance use programs following a national search.

Scott Gilman, 56, was chosen as director of the county Behavioral Health Department at a salary of $246,573, officials said. He holds the same type of job in San Mateo County, where he oversees behavioral health and recovery services.

Gilman is scheduled to assume his new position Aug. 21. He will oversee a staff of more than 800 employees and a budget of $254 million in the department that treats people with serious mental illness.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors chose Gilman unanimously in concurrence with the county's interim CEO Sevet Johnson, officials announced after the appointment in a closed session meeting of the board.

Gilman stood out because of his leadership experience in Michigan, Johnson said.

The Midwestern state has already moved in the direction California is headed in terms of consolidating mental health and substance use services, she said in a brief interview Tuesday.

"He's done a lot of great work," she said.

Gilman is credited with more than 30 years of experience in health care, from on-the-ground work with patients to serving as CEO of a community health center in Michigan. In San Mateo County, he directs an agency providing outpatient, inpatient, residential, rehabilitative and other services.

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The board discussed the appointment of the next county CEO in the same closed session Tuesday and has scheduled a special session in a few weeks to take a deeper look at the candidates.

Johnson directed the local Behavioral Health Department for several years before she was promoted earlier this year to chief deputy of the county Health Care Agency. She was about to start moving into her new job when county supervisors picked her to become interim CEO while they conducted a search for a permanent administrator.

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She assumed the top-level post when CEO Mike Powers retired suddenly. He stepped down in early March after an investigation supported an employee's claims of sexual harassment that he denied.

Johnson declined to say Tuesday whether she had applied for the permanent spot. She said in March that she would not be a candidate but now says she has given the idea much more thought.

If the board asked her to be CEO, she may accept, she said.

Kathleen Wilson covers the Ventura County government, including the county health system, politics and social services. Reach her at kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0271.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County's new mental health chief picked
In a written statement Wednesday, China said its military had driven away a U.S. destroyer that sailed illegally into territorial waters near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea the previous day, an accusation Washington swiftly pushed back on.

The U.S. Navy said the destroyer asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.

The U.S. military frequently conducts such Freedom of Navigation operations as part of a program China does not recognize, which allows U.S. military vessels to travel international waters.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Southern Theater Command accused Washington of purposely stoking tensions by illegally entering its waters. The move seriously violated Chinas sovereignty and undermined regional peace and stability, according to a Southern Theater Command spokesperson, Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli.

The Southern Theater Command organized sea and air forces to follow, monitor, warn and drive away the U.S. vessel.

Later on Wednesday, the Navy released a statement calling Chinas claims false, and the latest in a long string of PRC actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims at the expense of its Southeastern Asian neighbors in the South China Sea.

The United States is defending every nations right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us, according to the statement.

The tit for tat comes as tensions between the U.S. and Chinese governments continue to simmer over Beijings increasing pressure campaign and threats against the independent Taiwan, which it sees as its own territory.

China is constantly involved in territorial disputes over the South China Sea, waters that carry roughly $3 trillion worth of vessel-moved trade cargo annually.

Beijing claims nearly the entire body of water and has built up artificial islands in some areas, though Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim sections of the sea, sometimes overlapping.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) defended a public service announcement Tuesday with survival tips for a nuclear attack the city sent out to citizens this week.

The 90-second video tells citizens to get inside and stay inside, to shower if they were outside during the attack and to keep up with news and officials to know when it is safe to go back outside.

When a reporter asked Adams if he thought the video was overly alarming, the mayor said he didnt think so, but that these are just smart things to do.

After Russia attacked Ukraine, people raised concerns about nuclear weapons and the fighting that was happening in Ukraine around nuclear power plants. The mayor claimed those concerns prompted the video, despite its release months after the Russian invasion.

The citys office of emergency management took a very proactive step after Ukraine was attacked, Adams said.

He explained that there are no imminent threats to the city that we know about but that the area is still one of the top terrorist threats.

The NYC mayor and the citys Office of Emergency Management emphasized the importance of being prepared for an attack on the city, even in the absence of a specific threat.

We always have to be prepared as New Yorkers, Adams said.

New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol released a statement following the videos release, directing New Yorkers to a multitude of free resources to prepare for emergencies.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, it is important that New Yorkers know we are preparing for any imminent threats and are providing them with the resources they need to stay safe and informed, Iscol said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
LeBron James. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Images

LeBron James criticized the US response to Brittney Griner's detainment in Russia.

"How could she feel like America has her back?" he said in an episode preview of "The Shop."

Griner pleaded guilty last week after being arrested at a Moscow airport on drug charges.

LeBron James questioned why Brittney Griner  who has been in Russian captivity for five months  would want to return to the US after she's released.

"How could she feel like America has her back?" James asked in a preview of season five, episode five, of "The Shop" after noting she had been detained for more than 110 days.

"I would be feeling like, 'Do I even want to go back to America?'" he said in the clip.

James later clarified via Twitter that he "wasn't knocking our beautiful country" in his comments on "The Shop." Instead, he said, he "was simply saying how she's probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage she's been in for over 100+ days!"

"Long story short #BringHerHome," he added.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after authorities said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Last week she pleaded guilty to large-scale transportation of drugs  a move observers say could help expedite her return home.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist has plenty of incentive to return to the US as soon as possible. Sources have told Insider that Russian prison is not a pleasant place for anyone but is an especially hostile environment for Americans.

Plus, as Jonathan Franks  a hostage-negotiation expert who helped negotiate for the freedom of a Trevor Reed, another American detained by Russia  previously told Insider, a 6-foot-9 Black woman is "kind of rare in Russia." And given the state's hostile stance toward LGBTQ people and their lack of legal protections against discrimination, her status as an out lesbian makes her a target for ridicule.

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Brittney Griner being led to a hearing in a Russian court. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

"It's almost like they're putting her out there to be guffawed at," Franks said. "I think that's shameful and says it all about this regime and their system."

He added that the US government needed to do "whatever it takes to bring her home" along with a fellow American detainee, Paul Whelan. "I've already explained my particular concern about Brittney as a Black LGBT woman," he said. "I don't trust that regime with LGBT people."

The Biden administration has been in touch with the Russian government to try to help facilitate the WNBA star's release. President Joe Biden has written a letter to Griner in detainment and has talked to her wife, Cherelle, on the phone.

The WNBA superstar Sue Bird, right, with Cherelle Griner during a press conference before the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Sources have repeatedly told Insider the two-time Olympic gold medalist's best chance of returning stateside anytime soon involves a prisoner exchange with Russia. Several experts explained that an unorthodox two-for-one swap involving Whelan and the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout could be the key to Griner's freedom.

Even Bout's sentencing judge  Shira A. Scheindlin, who was a federal judge at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York when she gave Bout a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison  told Insider she didn't "think it would be wrong to trade him" in exchange for Griner and Whelan.

"I'm not saying he's an innocent guy, don't get me wrong," Scheindlin said, adding that the 11 years Bout had served so far nevertheless represented "a pretty hefty amount of time in a person's life."

"The US interest in punishing him has been satisfied, in my opinion," she said.

Brittney Griner competing at the Tokyo Olympics. AP Photo/Eric Gay

As Griner's fight for freedom wages half a world away, the WNBA is in the middle of its 2022 season. Over the weekend, 22 of the league's top players traveled to Chicago for this year's All-Star Game. The superstars vowed to use every tool at their disposal to help urge the Biden administration to act  including wearing Griner's name and number on their jerseys during Sunday's contest.

"We are the most unified league in the world, and wearing the jerseys was a statement to show that we are BG," the 2022 WNBA All-Star captain A'ja Wilson said Sunday. "Yes, we have the shirts and the pins, but BG is one of us. She's our sister."

The WNBA All-Stars Brionna Jones, left, and Skylar Diggins-Smith wearing Brittney Griner's name and number on their jerseys. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

"And at the end of the day, we are going to do whatever we can to amplify the platform that we have to make sure that everyone is doing what they need to do to make sure that she gets home safely," the 2020 league MVP added. "It's hard. It's hard for all of us. It's not easy."

"Not a day goes by that I'm not thinking about Brittney Griner."

Read the original article on Insider
Main Street Enterprise Director Mariah Montgomery encourages everyone to everyone advantage of much-needed relief from tough economic times and enjoy shopping local during a festive tax-free weekend starting Friday.

Enterprise has joined the State of Alabama in declaring July 15-17 as the 17th Annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday. State and local sales taxes have been waived for items such as clothing, school supplies, books and certain computer equipment needed by students as they prepare for the upcoming school year.

Main Street is excited to partner this year with All-In Credit Union to host this years Back-to-School Bash! Montgomery said. Come downtown July 15-17. Enjoy music on Saturday and take advantage of the in-store promotions all during the tax-free holiday.

Downtown merchants will be extending hours, offering giveaways and discounts throughout their stores and helping students go back to school with the latest fashion trends, she said. Shopping local helps to support small businesses. The Enterprise businesses are likewise happy to be able to participate in the tax-free holiday with their own sales in order to help ease the financial burden on parents this time of year.

The music and other activities planned for this weekend also help provide a festive atmosphere in beautiful downtown Enterprise as shoppers go about their mission of finding the needed clothing and school supplies.

The tax-free weekend begins Friday at 12:01 a.m. and ends at midnight Sunday. Exempt items include clothing priced at $100 or less per article, school supplies valued at $50 or less per item; books that cost $30 or less per book; and tablets, laptops, computers and printers with a selling price of $750 or less.

The sales tax holiday offers parents a way to save on back-to-school needs, said Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown. Saving money for consumers while stimulating sales for stores is what this weekend is all about.

He said although the sales tax holiday targets back-to-school shoppers, any consumer can benefit from the savings offered during the weekend. A wide range of items are exempt during the holiday, so there is a reason for everyone to shop.

For more information, go to the Alabama Department of Revenue website or the Alabama Retailers Association website.
Rep. Lauren Boebert says she was 'MAGA from day one' and ordered a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump: memoir

Rep. Lauren Boebert said she was "MAGA from day one" and bought a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump.

But she also told him he "hadn't done the best job of defending our gun rights," she wrote in her new memoir.

She said she once touched his arm in the Oval Office "and said a short prayer as he closed his eyes and nodded."

Rep. Lauren Boebert said "I was MAGA from day one" because she believed Donald Trump was an "outsider" in 2016 who stood up for working-class Americans.

"I even ordered a full cardboard cutout of him wearing a MAGA hat," the Colorado Republican wrote in her new memoir in "My American Life," released on Tuesday.

In her book, Boebert wrote about being worried that the nascent politician "weakened his stance" on gun rights when he became president by showing support for "red flag" laws and banning bump stocks for guns after mass shootings.

Boebert is a gun enthusiast and Second Amendment activist who drew the attention of the DC Metropolitan Police Department by vowing to carry her concealed Glock pistol around the Capitol campus and initially balked at going through the metal detectors placed outside the House chamber following the deadly attack on January 6, 2021. She wrote that she believed Trump had "taken some bad advice" on the issue from RINOs (Republican In Name Only) in Washington, DC. Friends and customers at her restaurant Shooters Grill were "ready to hop off the Trump Train if he didn't defend their gun rights," she added.

"The president was on a path to losing a very important part of his voter base and might not have even realized it," Boebert wrote.

She wanted to score a meeting with Trump "to straighten him out on all this."

That chance would come when Trump called after she won her GOP primary in 2020. "The conversation shifted to my carrying a gun and the importance of the Second Amendment," Boebert wrote. "Somehow, I found the brass to tell him he hadn't done the best job of defending our gun rights and encouraged him to never allow them to be taken away."

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Still, she wrote that "you can never overstate the sheer thrill and excitement of receiving a phone call from the President of the United States."

She later visited Trump in the Oval Office with two other newly-elected representatives after she won her election and he lost the 2020 presidential election.

"Though the President was welcoming, cordial, and seemingly happy, you could tell the weight of his own election issues was undoubtedly present," she wrote.

As he gave them a tour of the Oval Office, she told him "part of my faith is that believers will lay hands on people for good blessings. So, I placed my hand on his arm and said a short prayer as he closed his eyes and nodded."

Meanwhile, Boebert's penchant for paling around with political stand-ins apparently crosses party lines.

Last summer, Boebert tweeted out a video of a field trip she took to Trump's unfinished border wall. Her companion was a cutout of Vice President Kamala Harris, which she left behind.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) June 8, 2021

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo credit: Marta Perez

Upon moving into an circa-1860 Italianate farmhouse in Tecumseh, Michigan, Angie Lane dove into a critical kitchen and bath remodel, leaving the primary bedroom in limbo. "It was a mattress on a platform frame and not much else," confesses the designer, who finally committed to sprucing it up to shoot for the cover of her book, Midwest Modern Manifesto. "I ran with the idea of the room as an abstract version of a landscape painting," she explains. Across the floors, wall, and 10-foot ceilings, she painted a red band, "which creates a 'frame,'" and then within that leaned into nature motifs for the accents and furnishings.

Photo credit: Angie Lane

The backdrop to a gallery wall of woody treescapes is Nuvole, the iconic cloud pattern by Fornasetti for Cole & Sons. "The majority of the budget went into the wallpaper, and it was so worth it. Its so beautiful close-up and so subtle from a distance," says Lane.

Centering the bed on the wall between two windows, the designer then added a custom paneled headboard by altering a door she'd made for a showroomthis way it didn't go to waste. Thick velvet curtains add some verticality and drama, while a punchy floral duvet keeps the playful vintage vibe alive.



Photo credit: Marta Perez

Q&A

House Beautiful: How does the space function better now?

Angie Lane: Since I am the client, I can firmly tell you it was a game-changing transformation. It feels like a real room now, and beyond that, its so comforting to be surrounded by things you love while having that sense of being within something, which is what that red frame creates.

HB: How did you create the headboard?

AL: I had designed an elaborate, large panel door for a showhouse space and just couldnt part with it. Then had the idea to repurpose it into a headboard. The panel had to be cut down and reconfigured, and the openings in the door were upholstered to be solids instead of voids (my first time reupholstering anything!). Figuring out how to mount it was a whole other storythere was definitely a large amount of profanity involved. Finding studs in an old plaster wall is difficult, and we were also dealing with clearing the existing window casing so it was a bit of a puzzle. We ended up doing a French cleat which allowed us to hide the mounting detail while letting us be flexible with the thickness of the cleat to clear the window trim.



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Photo credit: Marta Perez

HB: How much of it did you DIY?

AL: Ah, yes. I hate DIY because Im not good at it, but this one was 100% DIY. The repurposed door panel for the headboardthat was all me. I also upholstered the two Facebook Marketplace vintage side chairs. I painted the floors, the walls, and even did the wallpaper (which was so much less daunting that I thought it would be). For the nightstand lamp, I had the lamp base and covered a shade from a broken lamp with fabric. My husband wired the light but, literally, everything was me.

Photo credit: Marta Perez

HB: Whats your favorite part of the space?

AL: My favorite moment in the space is the notch created by the two different size pieces of the headboard and the artwork within that space. I drew that temple and I just love that shade of blue. Theres something about how all those elements and colors come together right there; the geometry of the lines of the headboard, the softness of the floral upholstery and the cloud wallpaper, and the bright blue of the artwork.

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LONDON  The storied British tailor Gieves & Hawkes is looking to sell its U.K. business, as well as its Greater China operations and licensing agreements, after failing to find a buyer when its parent company Trinity Group went into liquidation last year.

Bloomberg broke the news Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter that advisers this week started to formally solicit bids for the Savile Row brand.

More from WWD

Its understood that Trinitys liquidators, which now also own Kent & Curwen and Cerruti, aim to find a buyer for Gieves & Hawkes in the third quarter of 2022. Sources told The Telegraph that there was no definitive deadline for a transaction.

Previously owned by Shandong Ruyi, the company said earlier this year that FTI Consulting and R&H Services have been appointed as joint liquidators to assess the financial position of the group and consider the opportunity of a possible restructuring.

According to Companies House filings, Gieves & Hawkes secured a credit facility last month for an undisclosed sum from restructuring specialist Hilco.

Earlier reports speculated that Marks & Spencer, which bought Jaeger out of insolvency last year, and which has been adding third-party brands to its growing online platform, was exploring how it could incorporate Gieves & Hawkes into its business.

The other potential buyer was the entrepreneur Touker Suleyman, owner of high-street tailoring brand Hawes & Curtis, womenswear label Ghost, and several clothing factories in Turkey, Bulgaria and Georgia, in the former Soviet Union, according to market reports.

Ruyis financial woes also caused companies in its portfolio, like Israeli menswear brand Bagir and Japanese apparel firm Renown, to file for bankruptcy protection in 2020. British trenchcoat maker Aquascutum, another of its brands, has ceased trading in the U.K. after closing its Regent Street flagship during the pandemic.

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In June 2020, Ruyi Group lost its key backer, the state-owned Jining City Urban Construction [Investment] Co. Ltd., which then promised Ruyi Group a 3.5 billion renminbi, or $495 million, investment.

This led to worsening financial difficulties for the Shandong group. Faced with mounting debt, Ruyi has seen its credit rating downgraded several times by Moodys.

Once promising to become the LVMH of China, the fashion manufacturer embarked on a shopping spree in 2015, including SMCP, Aquascutum and Gieves & Hawkes. In 2018, it offered to acquire Bally for $600 million, but Ruyi never completed the transaction.

Earlier this year, besides putting Trinity Group into liquidation, representatives of Ruyi were removed from the SMCP board, after Ruyis Luxembourg-based European TopSoho defaulted on 250 million euros worth of bonds, igniting the ire of shareholders like BlackRock and Carlyle, which have united under the name of Glas. Glas owns a 29 percent stake in SMCP and 25 percent of its voting rights following the default.

Last month, a group of lenders, including Lindeman Asia, Lindeman Partners Asset Management, Tor Investment Management and China Everbright Ltd., took over American textile fiber manufacturer Lycra, after Ruyi defaulted on a $400 million loan.

Gieves & Hawkes and FTI Consulting could not be reached for comment at press time.

Related:

Chinese Textile Giant Shandong Ruyi Transfers Lycra to Creditors

Gieves & Hawkes, Cerruti Owner Trinity Group Falls Into Liquidation

SMCP Dismisses Shandong Ruyi Board Members

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Click here to read the full article.
As a trauma specialist and orthopedic surgeon in the western Ukraine city of Uzhhorod, Andriy Buchok has grown used to the frequent 24-hour shifts that make him feel like he lives in the hospital where he works, routinely skipping his supposed days off.

Harder than that is the lack of medical equipment required to treat some war injuries, which can mean the difference between a patient keeping a limb and having it amputated.

Sometimes when I speak with doctors from the USA or Europe or big countries, they dont understand how we can do part of an operation without some instruments, without some equipment, without specialized power tools, Buchok said by phone. Sometimes we use building instruments, like Metabo or DeWALT, non-medicine instruments.

Even in the relatively peaceful western part of the country, a population surge of displaced Ukrainians and the need for specialized care for some of the wounded make for extremely adverse conditions for medical professionals such as Buchok, who encounters injuries he never saw before the war.

An American health care network tries to help with an innovative approach, providing the expertise of its vast roster of specialists to several Ukraine medical centers while donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplies.

Ukrainian orthopedist Andriy Buchok sometimes has to use construction tools while performing surgery because of a lack of medical equipment.

Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York state, incorporates the telemedicine system it developed through the COVID-19 pandemic to offer free consultations to medical workers in Ukraine on a 24/7 basis.

Medics on battlefields, clinicians in war zones or providers caring for wounded soldiers and civilians elsewhere can reach Northwells experts through web-based platforms, including Whatsapp and Telegram.

Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, director of Northwells Center for Global Health, said no other system in the USA  and possibly the world  provides this level of telehealth support.

GRIM OUTLOOK: 'They behave like barbarians': Ukraine's chief war crimes investigator sees few prospects for reconciliation with Russians

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Based on his experience working 24-hour shifts every Monday during the pandemic surges, which would leave him mentally fried, Cioe-Pena said much of the value in the consultations is getting input from an expert with a fresh perspective. The war scrambled the health care system in Ukraine and made such talks a rarity. Northwell started filling the gap in April and, after initial skepticism, found a receptive audience, he said.

We had these front-line surgeons who were doing surgeries for something like 29 hours a day and were exhausted, Cioe-Pena said. And in some of the more complicated cases, they really wanted to be able to phone a friend and talk through the case with a well-rested Northwell physician to figure out the best way to do it. It took off pretty quickly.

'They just sit down and cry for a little while '

The consultations, conducted through an interpreting service when language differences become an issue, have led to some of the physicians from both countries forming bonds. The discussions can also take an emotional toll.

In a Northwell video promoting the service, pediatrician Shari Sheflin talked about the anguish she felt after some calls and the difficult juxtaposition of attending her childs school event shortly after taking a call about a kid who was very sick in Ukraine.

Hospital workers in Ukraine received medical supplies to allow them to perform their jobs.

Cioe-Pena said he found looking at the CAT scan of a Ukrainian whose face was completely crushed from a blast impact and another one with white phosphorus burns very impactful.

Most of our physicians have said this: They get off the phone, having dealt with a case, and they just sit down and cry for a little while, because its just been such an emotional thing, he said.

Buchok, 32, doesnt have time for much contemplation amid the steady stream of patients who come his way. In addition to the rising number of civilians who sought refuge in the Uzhhorod area  on the border with Slovakia  some injured soldiers are transferred there after getting emergency field care and possibly making a stop at a military hospital away from the war zone.

A health system under 'severe pressure'

Patients can get reconstructive surgery at the Uzhhorod City Clinical Hospital where Buchok toils, and hes grateful for the guidance he receives from Northwell specialists on complex cases in which he lacks experience. Buchok talks to them once or twice a week.

When I use telemedicine, I have one more tactic for treating our patients, and its very good in choosing the (right approach), Buchok said. Its very nice to speak with other orthopedists from USA and get help in tactical treatment of my patients.

FULL COMMITMENT: Biden vows US, NATO allies will stand with Ukraine 'for as long as it takes'

But its hard to apply the advice without the necessary orthopedic implants and other medical devices and equipment that are in short supply in some parts of Ukraine.

In a report June 3, the World Health Organization said the countrys health care system is under severe pressure from increased need and reduced ability to offer services, partly because of Russian attacks on medical facilities.

Numerous organizations have tried to fill at least part the void. The WHO, which estimated the health response in Ukraine from March to August will cost $80 million, arranged for the delivery of supplies and the deployment of medical teams. The Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) said it sent four planes with 350 tons of medical supplies. Many others have contributed.

The Ukrainian health system was in no condition for the onslaught of the Russian invasion; it lagged its European counterparts even before the war began Feb. 24.

That realization struck Chandra Hassan, director of bariatric surgery at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, during the three trips he made to Ukraine starting in November 2021.

Even though Ukraine is in the geographical heart of Europe, the lack of facilities in public hospitals was simply unbelievable, especially coming from the U.S., Hassan said. They have excellent surgeons. They do heart surgeries, and theyre very skillful, very talented. But the lack of facilities was like what youd find in a very poor, underdeveloped country.

Volodymyr, 66, was injured in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on July 7.

Hassan noticed that soon after arriving last year to perform bariatric surgeries in Lviv, a western city close to the Polish border with a population of more than 700,000 before the war.

The sight of so many amputees 'kind of a shocker'

Hassan returned in April and May this year, first to Lviv and its surroundings to identify medical needs caused by the conflict, and on the third trip to Odesa in the south to provide training in CPR, applying tourniquets and other lifesaving skills.

The second trip was kind of a shocker, said Hassan, who saw dozens of young men with amputated limbs or severe injuries requiring physiotherapy thats largely unavailable.

I know were sending them so many weapons and these people are fighting daily to defend values that are dear to us, but once they get wounded, theyre not getting anywhere near the care of our wounded soldiers, he said. These were normal people like you and me a few months ago, and now theyre severely disabled on the path to being permanently disabled. Thats very hurtful.

Yevhen Liulka, a cardiovascular surgeon in the central city of Poltava, said the country instituted medical reforms about five years ago to move closer to the health care models in Europe and the USA, focusing on modern hospitals and high-tech equipment.

Still, medical supplies typically didnt arrive until a year after they were purchased, even before the war. Now, the need for them is bigger and more immediate.

The WHO said theres unmet demand for mental health services  Buchok said the problem predates the war and obviously has increased  and for training to treat effects from combat, including trauma surgery.

The overworked Buchok said, Our medical system was not prepared for so many people with these types of injuries.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American doctors help Ukraine through telehealth, but needs still huge
HOME FOR AFGHAN KIDS: Acknowledging the complex environment in Afghanistan following last years takeover of the Taliban party, the OTB Foundation has once again teamed up with Nove Onlus to support a public orphanage in Kapisa, a region northeast of Kabul.

Offering shelter to around 50 orphaned children and kids whose parents and relatives are unable to take care of them, the unit, recently reopened after the Taliban shattered it, provides education, food, clothing and personal care goods, helping prevent children from being exposed to abuse, mistreatment and exploitation. With the OTB Foundations support the orphanages operators are regularly paid.

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Its absurd that we have to choose which humanitarian emergencies to support globally. There are too many, said Arianna Alessi, vice president of the OTB Foundation. Afghanistan represents a special commitment. Weve been present in the country for years thanks to associations spread and linked with the area, which continued to work toward female emancipation, the protection of young women and children and we actively contributed to handle the emergency following the Talibans reprise of power helping the disadvantage people and families fleeing the country, she added.

According to the U.N., 97 percent of the Afghanistan population lives below the poverty line, with reportedly 13 million children in need of humanitarian help.

Children at the Kapisa, Afghanistan orphanage supported by the OTB Foundation. - Credit: Courtesy of OTB Foundation

Courtesy of OTB Foundation

This is not the first time that the charity arm of the OTB Group, established in 2008 by OTB founder Renzo Rosso, is channeling its efforts toward the war- and poverty-torn country. Last year it linked with Nove Onlus to fly some women it had been supporting since 2019 out of Afghanistan and into Italy as part of the Pink Shuttle program launched by Nove Onlus and supported by the foundation.

The charity arm of the OTB Group, the parent company of brands including Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni, Jil Sander and Viktor & Rolf, has supported about 300 international projects focused on social development with an impact on the lives of 300,000 people.

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(Independent)

The United States would use force to prevent Iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons if all other options fail, President Joe Biden has said.

Mr Biden said the US would use its military to prevent Irans nuclear program from succeeding in bringing about a working nuclear weapon during an interview with Israels Channel 12 news.

After his interviewer raised prior comments in which Mr Biden had said hed do anything to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, she asked if that meant he would use force against Iran.

Mr Biden replied: If its the last resort, yes.

The president also defended his administrations push to restore the Obama-era agreement which had briefly halted Irans nuclear program. The Biden administration has been in negotiations with Tehran in an attempt to bring back the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name of the deal negotiated between Iran, the EU, and the five permanent nuclear weapons states, the US, the UK, China, Russia, and France.

The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is the Iran with nuclear weapons, Mr Biden said.

He added that he believes it was a giant mistake for the Trump administration to back out of the agreement because Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon now than they were before, but he also said he is committed to keeping Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps on the State Departments list of foreign terrorist organisations, even if it kills any chance of rebooting the agreement.
Infections of Covid-19 that were contracted during earlier waves will provide little to no protection against the current subvariant, BA.5, dominating US cases, Dr Anthony Fauci said.

Omicron as a broad category has been particularly problematic, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Tuesday during a White House briefing on the spread of a variant that now accounts for more than 60 per cent of cases in the country.

Each successive variant has a bit of a transmission advantage over the prior one, Dr Fauci said, adding that if you were a person who contracted the virus during the first or even second waves, you really dont have a lot of good protection in this current wave.

Health experts from across the globe have been warning in recent weeks of the new Omicron subvariant, labelling it a stealthy strain for its capability to reinfect people within weeks of contracting the virus.

What we are seeing is an increasing number of people who have been infected with BA.2 and then becoming infected after four weeks, said Andrew Roberston, the chief health officer in Western Australia, during an interview with News.com.au.

BE AFRAID!



Fauci Says Those Who Were Infected with Omicron Variant BA.1 Do Not Have Good Protection Against Variants BA.4 and BA.5 pic.twitter.com/ZYq5ra2o5A  Paul Prosise (@PaulProsise) July 12, 2022

The Australian infectious disease experts remarks were echoed by Dr Fauci during Tuesdays address, who warned that new variants will continue to pose a threat to society so long as the virus continues to spread unchecked.

Variants will continue to emerge if the virus circulates globally and in this county. We should not let it disrupt our lives, but we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with, he said.

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Part of whats driving the new subvariants ability to infect people at a more virulent rate than previous iterations of Omicron, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, was because it substantially evades the antibodies from both vaccination and prior infection.

People with prior infection, even with BA.1 or BA.2, are likely still at risk for BA.4 or BA.5, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky added during the briefing.

Despite the seemingly dire warnings about this most recent subvariant, both Dr Fauci and health experts across the country seem to believe that vaccinations and boosters will provide partial immunity and can still significantly protect against potentially more severe infections and help keep the risk of hospitalisation at bay.

Our data suggest that these new Omicron subvariants will likely be able to lead to surges of infections in populations with high levels of vaccine immunity as well as natural BA.1 and BA.2 immunity," said Dr Dan Barouch, an author on a paper, published with the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that there was a three-fold reduction of neutralising antibodies from vaccines and infection against BA.4 and BA.5, which was substantially lower than BA.1 and BA.2.

It is likely that vaccine immunity will still provide substantial protection against severe disease with BA.4 and BA.5, Dr Barouch said to CNN.

Cases across the US have continued to hover at around 100,000 daily, but most health experts agree that this is a grossly underreported figure as most people testing positive these days are relying on at-home tests and many states have dropped or significantly reduced the number of facilities offering public testing.

Hospitalisations, according to The New York Times, have shot up by 18 per cent over the past two weeks in the US.
Then-Sen. Joe Biden appears at the White House to discuss gun control measures in 1997. Courtesy: C-SPAN

President Joe Biden and current Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer's comments on guns in 1997 still apply today.

There have been more than 300 mass shootings in America so far this year.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act failed to revive the federal assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004.

When then-Sens. Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Chuck Schumer in 1997 addressed media about the dangers of assault weapons, they had little idea their comments would almost entirely hold up a quarter-century later.

"It's harder to get something passed than it is to prevent something good from repealed," said Biden, then a senator from Delaware, to reporters gathered on the White House lawn.

"So I think if you take away these big clips, then you reduce the firepower and if you have a big clip and a high velocity weapon, you have a real, real problem," said Feinstein in 1997, now the longest-serving senator in California history, over 25 years before the Uvalde shooting.

Schumer, then a congressman from New York, echoed the sentiment, telling reporters: "Until we do something real on guns, the tragedies, whether it be at the Empire State Building in New York, or in Los Angeles, or wherever, as long as criminals can get guns more easily than they can get a car, there are gonna be lots of killings."

Schumer then added: "Here we are in Washington, DC, tough gun laws. But as we're speaking, there's someone who's driving in a car up from Florida, or North Carolina, or South Carolina, and in the trunk of that car are 50 guns and they're gonna sell them on a street corner on Washington, DC."

There have been 112 homicides in Washington, DC, during 2022 through July 13  more than all the homicides the city recorded for the entire year of 2014, according to DC Metropolitan Police Department crime statistic. Most are gun-related.

New York City leads other metro areas with 87% of all gun and 92% of handgun recoveries originating out-of-state, according to a 2016 report by the New York Office of the Attorney General that analyzed the city's aggregate crime gun trace information from 2010 to 2015.

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This year, gruesome killings this year in Highland Park, Illinois; Buffalo, New York; and Uvalde, Texas; have received considerable international attention. The 18-year-old gunman responsible for the mass shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 elementary school children and two teachers carried two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles, at least one of which he is reported to have bought soon after his birthday.

But across the nation, there have been an average of more than 10 mass shootings each week this year  the Gun Violence Archive has counted more than 300 in the US so far in 2022.

Furthermore, a February poll by the Pew Research Center found that the total gun deaths in 2020 represent a 43% increase from a decade prior.

Since 1994, Congress had been unable to advance major gun safety legislation, until last month. Then, Congress passed, and Biden signed, a bipartisan, but limited gun-safety bill.

To the disappointment of Democrats, the bipartisan gun control bill Biden signed last month did not revive the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, enacted in 1994, that included a sunset clause that automatically repealed the ban in 2004.

The bill also does not include more sweeping measures to restrict high-capacity ammunition magazines. Republicans said they refused to consider any mandatory waiting period for gun sales or a license requirement to purchase an assault weapon, as reported in the New York Times.

"Until you have a national law, you can't accomplish anything," Schumer, now the Senate majority leader, said in 1997.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Vladimir Putin lashed out at Western leaders Thursday after he was mocked for his habit of going shirtless while enjoying outdoor activities.

"It would be a disgusting sight" if his counterparts stripped down, the Russian president told reporters while visiting Turkmenistan, AP reports.

Putin's slam came after leaders gathered for the three-day G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany, joked about his relatively frequent bare-chested appearances.

The Russian leader has famously been seen shirtless amid majestic Russian landscapes while riding a horse, fishing, hunting and swimming with dolphins over the years in photo ops designed to portray him as powerful, masculine and healthy.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Says Putin 'Was Very Sexist Towards Me' and Would 'Manspread for Effect' in Front of Press

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia

Alexsey Druginyn/AFP via Getty Images

"Jackets on? Jackets off?" U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday, according to video of the meeting, as he and his G7 colleagues, including U.S. President Joe Biden, took their seats in Bavaria, where they discussed Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"Can we take our clothes off?" Johnson continued. "We have to show that we're tougher than Putin."

U.S. President Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, Charles Michel, President of the EU Council, Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD),on the last day of the three-day G7 summit.

Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

"We're going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replied.

"We've got to show them our pecs," Johnson added.

Biden smiled during the banter but didn't make any comments about Putin or taking off garments.

RELATED: Biden Calls Putin a 'War Criminal' as Aide Says He Was 'Speaking from the Heart'

"I don't know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist," Putin said Thursday when asked about the gibes, according to AP. "But I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case."

The Russian leader also offered his advice for looking good in less clothing,

"It's necessary to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits," he reportedly said, "do physical exercise and take part in sports."
Corning Inc. announced Friday it would expand its operations in Monroe County to produce equipment needed by major semiconductor manufacturers to expand their chip production. The $139 million investment, which includes state and local support, will create at least 270 new jobs at its advanced optics facility in Fairport, according to the announcement.

The company also plans to establish a new laser optics production facility in the town of Gates by the end of 2023. Corning CEO Wendell Weeks unveiled the expansion plans at the company's Fairport location in front of a gathering of workers and elected officials.

"Semiconductors are fundamental to virtually all technology we interact with today, from smartphones, to cars, to household appliances," Weeks said. "Corning has helped advance the semiconductor industry for more than 50 years, and our expansion will continue to keep us well-positioned to support nearly every step of the chip manufacturing process as we respond to growing customer demand."

Wendell P. Weeks, Corning Incorporated Chairman and CEO, talks about the importance of expanding during a press conference at Corning Incorporated in Fairport Friday, July 8, 2022.

Cornings semiconductor and optics products are embedded and critical at nearly every step of the chip manufacturing process from metrology instruments to laser optics used for the precision assembly of semiconductor chips and more.

Empire State Development is assisting Corning with the planned expansion by providing up to $5 million in performance-based tax credits in exchange for job creation and investment commitments. Monroe County and Greater Rochester Enterprise are also assisting with the projects.

Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke of the importance of boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing, calling it both an economic issue as well as a national security issue. Corning's investment comes at a crucial time when there is a global shortage of semiconductor chips, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hochul said that she was committed to making New York state the national hub for semiconductor manufacturing to help end the reliance on manufacturers based in China and Taiwan.

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"Nobody has laid claim to this industry," Hochul said. "I'm laying down the marker and saying 'we'll do that.'"

Governor Kathy Hochul talks about the importance and history of Corning to New York during a press conference at Corning Incorporated in Fairport Friday, July 8, 2022.

Sen. Charles Schumer said that Rochester and the Finger Lakes were already a world-renowned hub for the optics, photonics, and imaging industry with over 150 advanced OPI companies employing an estimated 17,000 local workers. He said that Cornings investment will spark the further growth of this growing industry locally.

270 new, good-paying jobs and a historic $139 million investment by Corning will supercharge Monroe County, positioning the Finger Lakes as a continued global leader in laser optics and further cementing upstate New York as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. Rochesters powerhouse workforce is second to none and ready to build the future of American manufacturing, Schumer said. I applaud Corning for this major investment that will help drive Monroe County and Americas economic future in tech manufacturing. Rochester is unquestionably already a world leader in the optics industry and this new expansion will lay the foundation to create more jobs, to better secure U.S. supply chains, and to boost the countrys competitiveness for years to come.

Headquartered in Corning (Steuben County), the company has more than 7,000 employees across the state and approximately 62,000 worldwide.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Corning Inc. to expand in Fairport and Gates, create 270 jobs
JERUSALEM  President Joe Biden will be extending his warmest greetings  but not necessarily his hand  to leaders hell be meeting with during his four-day Middle East trip.

The tactile politician, who shook hands and interacted closely with lawmakers and their families at a White House picnic before departing Tuesday for Israel, is taking extra precautions against COVID on the trip, according to the White House.

"We're in a phase of the pandemic right now where we're looking to increase masking, reduce contact to minimize spread," Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, told reporters on the flight to Israel. How exactly that plays out in any given interaction is something that we'll see unfold.

When Biden landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, he bumped fists with many officials but shook hands with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sullivan had been asked about reports that Biden will not be shaking hands with Israeli officials during the trip.

President Joe Biden greets President Isaac Herzog, left, after arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, in Tel Aviv, as Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, center, looks on.

Setting that standard could help Biden avoid a difficult situation when he flies to Saudi Arabia on Friday. The leaders Biden will meet with there include Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who U.S. officials believe ordered the killing of a Washington Post columnist. Biden will likely want to avoid a photograph showing him shaking hands with bin Salman.

A signal of 'impunity'?: Biden's trip to Middle East pits human rights against geopolitical reality

Presidential visits are as much about optics as substance sometimes, Marti Flacks, director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said last week during the center's preview of Biden's trip. And so I'm looking very closely in this visit as to how they approach the issue of the president's meeting with the crown prince.

Asked whether Biden is changing his behavior because of the upcoming meeting with bin Salman, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred to the rise in new COVID variants that are highly transmissible.

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We are saying that we're going to try to minimize contact as much as possible. But also, there are precautions that we are taking, because this is up to his doctor, she said. We want to make sure that were taking those precautions to keep him safe and to keep all of us safe."

Biden in Israel: Biden's visit to Israel starts with security issues as US officials fret about Iran's threat

President Joe Biden visits with guests at the White House Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Washington.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's COVID measures in Israel, Saudi Arabia may mean few handshakes
monkeypox

Getty Monkeypox

As monkeypox cases rise across the country and worldwide, experts who have studied the virus are criticizing the response from health officials, claiming the current global outbreak was avoidable.

Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA epidemiology professor who spent two decades in the Democratic Republic of Congo studying monkeypox, spoke to NPR and detailed the missteps from world leaders, stating there was only a global response to monkeypox when it spread beyond Africa.

"This virus has been spreading in marginalized and vulnerable populations [in Africa] for decades, and we've done nothing about it," Rimoin told the outlet. "We have known that monkeypox is a potential problem for decades."

There are currently 9,200 confirmed monkeypox cases across 63 countries, according to the World Health Organization. As of Tuesday, there are 929 confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak Global Map. However, Rimoin said there is likely an undercount due to a lack of testing.

The virus is named monkeypox because it was first identified in 1958 in colonies of monkeys. The first human case of the virus was found in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the CDC.

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monkey pox

BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images

RELATED: CDC Issues New Guidance on Monkeypox Symptoms as Cases Rise in the United States

Cases have mostly been concentrated in the Congo  which typically sees thousands of monkeypox infections a year  and Nigeria, where there have been more than 200 suspected and 500 reported cases since 2017, according to WHO. In the Congo, around 1 in 10 people who contract monkeypox die, but that is not the case in the U.S., where no one has ever died due to the virus.

Rimoin said there should have been more efforts to address the virus in rural Africa earlier on due to possibilities it could easily spread through travel.

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"If we do want to get in front of emerging infectious diseases, we are going to have to prioritize dealing with emerging global disease threats at the site where they are spreading early on," Rimoin said, per NPR. "We are totally interconnected by trade and travel, population growth, population movement, and we cannot make the mistake again of thinking that an infection that's happening somewhere in a remote area of the world isn't going to affect us right at home."

"We will continue to be chasing behind them, and always be paying the price for not doing what's needed ahead of time," she added. "The good news is we have vaccines, we have therapeutics, we know a fair amount about this virus. The bad news is now we have to get the logistics together to be able to confront it head on."

Monkeypox first causes fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and swollen lymph nodes, and after one to three days patients develop a rash that spreads over the body and turns into fluid-filled lesions. The rare virus can spread through respiratory droplets, but is most likely to transmit from touching body fluids or the rashes.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced vaccinations will now be available to anyone with presumed exposure to the virus, in addition to individuals with known exposure who were already being offered immunizations.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the department will release 56,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine immediately, with an additional 240,000 doses being made available in the coming weeks. In total, 1.6 million doses of the vaccine are expected by the end of the year.
Jessica Simpson is facing criticism online after her three-year-old daughter was pictured using a pacifier during a family vacation. Now, fans are hitting back at the mom-shamers.

On 10 July, the 42-year-old mom shared a series of snaps from her familys vacation in Lake Austin, Texas, where she spent time with her husband Eric Johnson and their three children  Maxwell, 10, Ace, nine, and Birdie, three.

In the Instagram post, Simpson is seen lounging on a boat with her children as they celebrated the July Fourth weekend. The lake life, she captioned the post.

However, in one image that seemed to draw attention from fans and critics alike, Simpsons three-year-old daughter Birdie is seen using a pacifier while sitting with her father on the boat. The image sparked much criticism from users who believed Birdie was too old to be using a pacifier, with many claiming it could cause major dental issues in the future.

Birdies a little old for a binkie dont you think, one person commented.

Passy needs to be gone. It messes up their teeth so bad, another user wrote. My friend is finding that out, his kid has major dental issues.

That is just lazy parenting, said a third critic. Isnt Birdie like 4? And she still has a pacifier? Not good.

For many children, pacifiers are used as soothing tools for babies. They can help relieve stress, assist in bedtime, and even reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). But if a child continues to use a pacifier past a certain age, it can lead to a few issues down the line  including increased dependency. However, it is unlikely that a pacifier will cause permanent damage while a child still has their baby teeth, according to the Mayo Clinic.

It didnt take long for fans to rush to the comments and defend Jessica Simpson from all the mom-shamers.

So many snarky comments. You and your family seem so sweet and amazing, said one defender. Please dont let these comments get to you. Love seeing you live your beautiful life with your family.

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Your kids are so cute, another person wrote. So many judgy comments about Birdies paci, I know the struggle. My youngest was so hard to break from hers & then she switched to her thumb.

Please stop mom shaming, a third user said. Jessica has gone through so much in her personal life. Read her book. She is in a better place than where she was. Jessica, God love you and keep shining your bright light in the world. You are loved.

Simpson isnt the only celebrity to have faced criticism for their childs use of a pacifier. Back in 2015, David Beckham hit back at The Daily Mail after an article claimed his then four-year-old daughter Harper was well beyond the age that health experts would recommend the use of a pacifier.

The soccer star issued a rare response to the article with an Instagram screenshot accompanied by the caption: Why do people feel they have the right to criticise a parent about their own children without having any facts?

Everybody who has children knows that when they arent feeling well or have a fever you do what comforts them best and most of the time its a pacifier, he wrote. So those who criticise think twice about what you say about other peoples children because actually you have no right to criticise me as a parent.
Grab your binoculars: A comet that has fascinated scientists for five years approaches its closest distance from Earth this week  and you might be able to catch a glimpse.

Theres a chance of spotting the C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS comet, also called K2, on Wednesday or Thursday as it makes it final pass through the solar system, said David Jewitt, an Earth, planetary and space sciences professor at University of California, Los Angeles.

But not with the naked eye: Experts say people will need at least a small telescope or binoculars to see it.

At a distance of about 170 million miles from Earth, Jewitt warned stargazers that the K2 comet will still be quite far away. For reference, the sun is about 93 million miles away, he said.

That's one heck of a long way," Jewitt, who has studied the comet since 2017, told USA TODAY.

In May 2017, astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) in Hawaii first spotted the comet known as C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS at a whopping 1.5 billion miles away between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. The Hubble Space Telescope was enlisted to take close-up views of the comet.

Here's what to know about K2 and how you can view it.

When was K2 first discovered?

The C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS comet caught the attention of experts at the Hawaii-based Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System on May 21, 2017. Experts said pre-discovery images of the comet from 2013 were later found.

It had been traveling for millions of years from the frigid depths of the solar system, according to NASA, when it was discovered between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus about 1.5 billion miles from the sun.

K2 was the farthest active inbound comet ever seen when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured it. It was observed at 17 times the Earth-sun distance, Jewitt said. Scientists announced in June 2021 that C/2014 UN271, or the Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet, surpassed it as the farthest-observed comet on record.

Scientists say K2 comet came from Oort Cloud

K2, a frozen city-sized snowball of ice and dust, as NASA calls it, is thought to have come from the solar systems most distant region where many comets are believed to have originated: the Oort Cloud. NASA experts said the cloud is a giant spherical shell made of icy pieces of space debris the size of mountains or larger.

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Astronomers located K2 in a part of the solar system where sunlight is only 1/225th its brightness as we see from Earth and where temperatures are minus 440 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.

The comet "is packed with materials that have been frozen since the beginning of solar system time," Jewitt said. "When we study these comets, we're trying to look at material has been preserved from the beginning of the solar system."

HEADING TO TEST THE MOON'S ORBIT:NASA restores contact with $32.7 million spacecraft Capstone

How close will K2 travel to Earth?

K2 will reach its minimum distance from our planet, about 170 million miles away, Wednesday night, said Italy-based astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, director of the the Virtual Telescope Project.

K2 is the brightest comet in the sky right now, he said.

In July, the overall speed of the comet relative to the Earth is an average of 21 miles per second, Masi said. When K2 reaches its minimum distance around 11 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, he explained the comet's speed relative to Earth will be 0 miles per second.

This image taken June 26, 2022, comes from the average of 15 120-second exposures, unfiltered, remotely collected with the Elena (PlaneWave 17+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS.

Why K2 fascinates scientists

What makes K2 intriguing to scientists is that it was coming in from the Oort Cloud at an unusually large distance, Jewitt said. Telescope data shows that K2 became active at an unprecedented 35 astronomical units, which represent the average distance from Earth to the Sun.

K2's close-approach distance of approximately 170 million miles Wednesday night is equivalent to 1.8 au, according to data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies, part of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Neptune is 30 times the Earth-sun distance, Jewitt said. Its really active really far out, and that's why it's scientifically interesting, because that allows us to study whatever process it is that drives the activity at very large distances and very low temperatures.

Experts believe frozen carbon monoxide has kept K2 active at extremely large distances from the sun, Jewitt said.

HOW TO WATCH: A supermoon, aka buck moon or thunder moon, to rise in evening sky Wednesday

K2 views won't be 'spectacular' but here's where to look

On Thursday, the Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project plans to host a live feed starting at 6:15 p.m. ET for spectators who don't have a telescope.

Jewitt noted there are "probably hundreds" of comets that have come closer to Earth than K2 and that it won't be a "spectacular" viewing for the general public. Masi also noted that the full moon will be in the sky on K2's flyby date, which could make it "significantly" harder to view, he explained.

But both experts agreed that you'll be able to see K2 with binoculars or a small telescope.

The comet will be visible in the Ophiuchus constellation from the Northern and Southern hemispheres, Masi said.

"A dark sky would offer the best sight," Masi said. He recommends observing K2 over the next few nights as the moon leaves the evening sky. Looking up earlier in the evening before moonrise will afford the best view, he added.

Small telescopes will show the comet for several months to come, he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: K2 comet approaches Earth on Wednesday and Thursday: Where to look
Jul. 13LISBON  The Town Council voted 5-1 Tuesday evening to approve a moratorium on new marijuana businesses such as medical and adult use dispensaries until further notice.

Councilors also authorized purchasing new Sig Sauer P320X handguns for the Police Department and a Jaws of Life extrication tool for the Fire Department.

At the top of the meeting, Kevin Kimball, organizer of the Maine Blues Festival on Father's Day weekend, was honored with a framed collage of this year's flyer, along with photos taken at the event. Members of the public and the council extolled the festival as a success. Twenty bands took part in the festival. A total of 2,200 tickets were sold and numerous businesses in the area reported positive results from the crowd, according to a presentation.

The council approved a total of $2.58 million in payments: $859,182.71 for municipal accounts; $252,023.62 for municipal payroll; $691,011.78 for school accounts; and $779,281.19 for school payroll.
Jul. 13One of the defendants from Maine charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 entered a not-guilty plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Joshua Colgan, 35, of Jefferson, a town in Lincoln County, pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanor charges, via a videoconference, according to court documents.

Colgan pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Colgan, who is free on personal recognizance bail, is scheduled to make his next court appearance Sept. 12. Colgan will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C.

The FBI arrested Colgan on Monday, May 2, and charged him with four criminal counts in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Colgan has been charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Colgan, who is represented by Washington, D.C., attorney Paul Enzinna, is one of five men with ties to Maine charged in connection with the insurrection.

The alleged rioters include: Kyle Fitzsimons, 37, of Lebanon; Glen Mitchell Simon, 30, a former Minot resident who moved to Georgia; and Todd Tilley, 61, of South Paris. Nicholas Hendrix, 35, of Gorham, pleaded guilty last month to participating in the attack, admitting in a federal plea deal that he "willfully and knowingly" entered the building with other rioters on Jan. 6.
Jim Haberman

Archeologists recently announced the discovery of previously unseen mosaics on the floor of an ancient synagogue in Huqoq, Israel. The discovery is important, not only because the mosaics themselves are so striking, but also because they contain the earliest known images of biblical heroines Deborah and Jael in ancient Jewish art. These women appear in the biblical book of Judges, where they play pivotal roles in the military success of Israel. Recent biblical scholarship suggests that these women have been wildly misunderstood.

The excavations into the late fourth-early fifth century synagogue, which are in their tenth season, have been progressively uncovering the remarkable mosaic that adorned the floor of the structure. This seasons excavations focused on the southwest portion of the building. The archeologists, led by Jodi Magness the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, have previously discovered mosaics showing Samson, Alexander the Great, Jonah and the large fish, the parting of the Red Sea, the construction of the Tower of Babel, Noahs Ark, and a Zodiac cycle.

The newly discovered floor mosaic shows an episode from Judges 4, in which the Israelite forces are led to (eventual) victory over the Canaanite army by Deborah, a prophetess and one of the Judges for which the book is named, and Barak, an Israelite military commander. According to the story, Deborah summons Barak and tells him that God plans for him to meet the Canaanites in battle. Barak accepts Gods call, put only on the condition that Deborah accompany him. Deborah agrees, but prophesies that it will be a woman, and not Barak, who will defeat the Canaanite general Sisera. After the battle, the Canaanite general Sisera sought refuge in the tent of Jael (or Yael), a Kenite woman who was married but whose husband is absent from the story. Sisera did not find it: after inviting him into her tent, Jael killed him by hammering a tent peg through his temple as he slept.

Though the mosaics are fragmentary, the story is "told" in three registers (horizontal strips of mosaic) on the floor. The uppermost register shows Deborah, under a palm tree (Judges 4:4), looking at Barak, who holds a shield. In the Bible this is an uncomfortable scene. Dr. Karen Britt, of Northwest Missouri State University, and Dr. Raanan Boustan, of Princeton University the historians producing the official publications and initial interpretations of the mosaics, told The Daily Beast that the top register beautifully [captures] this tense encounter (Judges 4:5). The middle register is damaged, but may show Sisera seated. The final, lowest register shows Siseras bleeding on the ground as Jael drives the stake into his head.

Britt and Boustan told me that the sequence parallels another set of panels in the southeast portion of the synagogue, which shows scenes from the Samson cycle (Judges 13-16). Essentially the two sets of stories from Judges mirror one another on the synagogue floor. This kind of contrapuntal symmetry between thematically related panels they said is characteristic of the Huqoq mosaics. Whoever was involved in conceptualizing and making the mosaics produced a thoughtful and richly complex artistic program.

While theres no single theme dominating the mosaic program, Britt and Boustan said that one element of the new mosaics that fits with others in the synagogue is the explicitly violent nature of the lower register. In the case of the Deborah narrative, they said, the violence is committed against the Canaanites, a foreign enemy of the people of Israel. In a recent publication on this subject, Britt and Boustan discussed the fact that, many of the mosaics in the synagogue seem to reflect an interest on the part of the synagogue community in the long history of foreign threats faced by the Israelite or Jewish peopleand their ultimate victory over these enemies (implicitly or explicitly with the aid of their God).

The discovery is sure to be of interest to biblical scholars, who have been discussing the violent nature of these stories for some time. In assessing these women, we have to read between the lines. Dr. Rhiannon Graybill, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis and the author of several important books on gender and sexual violence, told me, Its easy to portray Jael as a femme fatale or to slot her into the women who kill plot, but its more complicated than that. Sisera the general, comes in from war having killed many people already. Jael is vulnerable. She is married but her husband is nowhere to be seen. Sisera, said Graybill, is probably a rapist  both because rape is common in warfare, and because his mother says he is late to return home because he is out capturing women. The language Siseras mother uses, says Graybill, is a more vulgar term, something like wombs, which makes clear these women are intended for sexual abuse.

When Jael invites Sisera into her tent she is at risk and we fear the worst for her, but then in a shocking reversal she stabs him to death with a remarkably phallic object. If you saw that coming, its only because Deborah tipped you off. Its a subversion of the more typical stories of sexual violence we encounter in the Bible. The story, said Graybill, resembles a horror film.

For readers of the story in Hebrew, other elements are also startling. Jael, said Graybill, is a highly unusual biblical heroine. The text identifies her as a wife, but she has no husband. Moreover, she has a masculine name and Sisera addresses her using a masculine pronoun. Some scholars, like Dr. Deryn Guest, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, UK, and the author of When Deborah Met Jael: Lesbian Biblical Hermeneutics, have suggested that Jael is a queer, trans, or nonbinary character. Jael, writes Guest, is a figure who unsettles and destabilizes Jaels gender is not-man/not-woman.

Whatever else we can imagine about their relationship and genders, writes Guest in the Queer Bible Commentary, the story is typical of the way women are represented in the Bible. The two have been deliberately kept separate to suppress the excess of anxiety about the powerful results that can accrue when two women act in harness with each other. In other words, the narrators of the Bible suppress the reality of female intimate friendship to promote the more conventional idea of women as wives, mothers, and competitors with one another. Ultimately, said Graybill, the story fails the Bechdel Test, but it was disquieting to later readers.

However we interpret the biblical narrative, its intriguing that the Huqoq mosaic decided to celebrate female heroism alongside panels that celebrate the military valor of men. Britt and Boustan noted that inclusion of Deborah and Jael is highly significant in light of the fact that (roughly contemporaneous) rabbinic sources were by and large uncomfortable with the figure of Deborah as a prophet and leader and sometimes undercut her status and authority. In including Deborah perhaps those responsible for the mosaics were bucking a trend? Its too soon to draw conclusions. Britt and Boustan cautioned that we are still a long way from understanding what this contrast between the Deborah panel and the rabbinic textual tradition can tell us about the religious profile of the Huqoq community.

What we can and should recognize, they told me, is how much the Huqoq mosaics challenge and enrich what we thought we knew about Jewish visual culture in late antiquity and about late ancient Jews and Judaism more generally. We should be humbled by how much new discoveries can change our knowledge and understanding of the past.

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A pregnant woman's protest of a ticket she said she received for driving in the high-occupancy vehicle lane of a Texas highway is raising new questions about the rights of fetuses in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Brandy Bottone, 32, of Plano, Texas, said she was driving by herself on a highway near Dallas on June 29 when she decided to get into the HOV lane due to heavy congestion on the road.

"I drove by the sign that said, 'HOV(2),' and here's one, there's two," Bottone, who was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, told "Good Morning America," pointing to herself and her stomach.

Shortly after merging into the HOV lane, Bottone said she was pulled over by a sheriff's deputy who asked her if she had any passengers in her car, referring to the state's requirement that vehicles in the HOV lane must be "occupied by two or more people."

PHOTO: Brandy Bottone, 32, of Plano, Texas, is pregnant with her third child. (KW Photography DFW-Krista Wagner)

Bottone said she told the officer that she counted herself and her unborn baby as the two passengers, to which she said he replied that it had to be "two bodies outside of the body."

"I kind of sat back and said, 'Okay, well, I'm not trying to make a political stance here, but with everything that's going on, you realize that this is definitely a baby and that counts as a person," said Bottone, referring to the June 24 decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, giving power back to states to determine abortion rights.

In Texas, most abortions were already banned after six weeks of pregnancy under SB8. After the Supreme Court's ruling, the state Supreme Court ruled Texas can now enforce a decades-old law that makes performing most abortions punishable by prison, according to the Associated Press.

In addition, the Texas legislature last year passed a separate trigger law that bans abortion except in cases when the mother's life is in danger. The law which defines life as beginning at fertilization, is set to go into effect later this summer.

At the traffic stop, Bottone was issued a $275 ticket for being a single occupant in an HOV lane. She said she's retained legal counsel and plans to contest the ticket in a court hearing scheduled for next week.

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PHOTO: Brandy Bottone received a $275 ticket last month after she claimed her unborn child as a passenger when she drove in an HOV lane in Texas. (WFAA)

The Dallas County Sheriffs Department, the department that issued Bottone's ticket, has not commented.

"You see this as a life. I see this as a life," she said, referring to her unborn baby. "I don't understand why the two laws aren't speaking. You can't have your cake and eat it too."

Bottone, whose story was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, said the laws she is referring to are the Texas Transportation Code, which does not specify an unborn child as a person, and the state's laws banning abortion, which refer to life as beginning at conception.

Bottone described herself as "pro-women" in the abortion debate, saying, "If that woman feels she needs to make a decision on her body, then thats her prerogative. I have no rights to tell any woman what to do with their bodies.

As her story has gone viral, Bottone said it was not her intention to open a "can of worms," but added she's glad her case has sparked a national discussion.

PHOTO: Brandy Bottone received a $275 ticket last month after she claimed her unborn child as a passenger when she drove in an HOV lane in Texas. (WFAA)

"There is a lot of ambiguity ... and that will have to be answered in some sort of fashion," she said, adding of lawmakers, "They really need to take the time to sit down and make sure that things are thought through when passing all these laws. It's a domino effect."

The 'tip of the iceberg' in the fight for rights

Since 2003, Texas has included fetal personhood language in its penal code, which recognizes an unborn child as being an individual at every stage of gestation."

Amy O'Donnell, director of communications for Texas Alliance for Life -- an organization that supports restrictions to abortion access and supported the law that added fetal personhood language to Texas's penal code -- said that under the code, if a pregnant woman is in a car accident and their unborn child is killed, the death could be prosecutable.

In Bottone's case of contesting an HOV ticket due to a pregnancy, O'Donnell said that while she recognizes Bottone's unborn baby as a person, she does not necessarily see it as a second passenger because of the "intent and purpose" of the HOV law in the state's transportation code.

"Each code covers different areas of the law," said O'Donnell. "Is it still an unborn baby in both situations, absolutely yes. We recognize that. But the purpose of an HOV lane is to carpool, vanpool or ride-share so does that unborn child currently fit within the realm of the law, not at this point in time in Texas."

O'Donnell said this case in particular opens the door to what she described as a "slippery slope."

"If we go down this road, if a passenger in an HOV lane that's riding in its mother's womb counts as a separate passenger, what does that mean for other passenger areas such as on plane," said O'Donnell. "If that pregnant woman gets on a plane and we want to recognize that unborn baby in the womb as a second passenger, does she then have to buy a ticket?"

According to O'Donnell, the purpose of giving personhood to unborn babies in state laws is to "protect unborn babies from injury or homicide."

"Life begins at conception and a body within a pregnant woman's body is not that woman's body," she said. "It's a unique being with separate DNA, unique fingerprints and, as such, it is very much a person beginning at conception and worthy of protection."

Texas is one of around one dozen states in the U.S. that includes fetal personhood language in legislation restricting or banning abortion, according to Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), a nonprofit organization that supports abortion rights.

Giving a fetus the same rights as a person is something that has long been used in the effort to limit abortion rights, according to Sussman. She said that now post-Roe, laws recognizing those rights will be able to be implemented for the first time.

"I think we are in a place where there are sort of untold and unknown applications of these laws," said Sussman. "Some of them rewrite not only the criminal code but also the civil code, so we're talking about issues surrounding child custody, taxes.

"I just think that there are so many potential ramifications for this that lawmakers did not even contemplate," she said.

Sussman cited examples such as pregnant people being able to be charged with things like child abuse both criminally and civilly before a child is born, or a pregnant person having to obtain permission to travel in the case of a custody dispute.

MORE: Overturning Roe v. Wade raises stakes for patients who need IVF, experts say

"Let's say a pregnant woman who has been charged with a crime is granted a public defender, a court appointed attorney, which is her right, does the fetus also get one as a separate and unique entity entitled to the same rights," said Sussman. "Who's going to pay for that? Is the state going to pay for a public defender for the fetus and for the pregnant woman?"

According to Sussman, between 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was enacted, and 2020, there have been over 1,700 cases in the U.S., in which fetuses were considered "victims of crime" by applying laws for things like child abuse, child neglect, murder, manslaughter and feticide.

"We've seen a dramatic increase in cases in recent years even before the [Supreme Court] decision," said Sussman. "And part of the reason why we're seeing that is because of the rise in the concept of fetal personhood and the ideology surrounding fetal personhood."

Mary Ziegler, a visiting professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and author of "Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present," said she sees the HOV case in Texas as the first of many such debates.

"This HOV lane case is really like the first example I've seen, but it's the tip of the iceberg. We're going to see a lot more of this," she said. "These laws are just beginning to go into effect."

In other examples, Ziegler said under some laws, fetuses could be included in the census count and as dependents on tax returns.

Both Ziegler and Sussman cited infertility treatments as one area that could also be impacted.

MORE: What the overturning of Roe v. Wade could mean for birth control access, maternal care

"There could be certainly IVF implications if every embryo is a separate and unique entity entitled to full constitutional rights," Sussman said. "That includes the right to life potentially. That includes bodily autonomy. So what does it mean for embryos that are frozen or are discarded? There are a lot of questions surrounding that."

Ziegler said it's important to remember the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade does not include an "explicit guarantee" about rights. Instead, just as states now have the power to determine abortion rights, they can also decide whether to implement so-called fetal personhood rights in laws.

"States can ban abortion and say nothing about fetal rights," Ziegler said. "Some states may just say, 'Okay, we're going to ban abortion [rights] and then we're just going to quit. We don't want to open this Pandora's box about fetal personhood.'"

Pregnant woman's HOV ticket protest highlights legal challenges post-Roe originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Warning: This column contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence against women, men and children.

"This is how an 11 year old boy sees the world after having been raped by #Russia soldier in front of his mother." That was the caption above a photograph of chaotic swirls of black marker on a white background painted by a Ukrainian child tweeted by that country's lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko.

There are many more equally horrific reports, too many to detail here.

As Russian dictator Vladimir Putin continues the onslaught of Ukraine, and this week, as Bosnian Muslims remember the massacre at Srebrenica 27 years after it happened, the unlearned lessons from the horrors of Balkan war scream out at us: "What can we do better?"

The answer isn't as elusive as it might seem. In fact, it has been proposed by international criminal law and human rights experts for years.

'Sexual violence can be used strategically as a method of warfare'

Rape has been considered a war crime since the 1949 Geneva Conventions. But it has not been prosecuted like other war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It wasn't until 1993 that the United Nations Security Council officially recognized mass rape as a weapon of war, and made it eligible for prosecution in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Bosnian refugees carry bags of relief aid near the besieged town of Srebrenica in 1993.

Catherine Dunmore specializes in international criminal law, human rights law and sexual and gender-based violence. She has served on legal teams that have investigated and prosecuted war crimes, including conflict-related sexual violence.

I reached out about her work investigating sexual violence as a war crime. She said, "The vast majority of victims of conflict-related sexual violence are women and girls, although it's also perpetrated against men, boys and the LGBTIQ+ community in many settings."

"Sexual violence" Dunmore said, "can be used strategically as a method of warfare, for instance as a deliberate tactic to undermine the opposition or strike fear in civilian populations."

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She also pointed out that sexual violence can be committed by any party to the conflict, including humanitarian actors.

What is Russia doing in Ukraine?

Over the past five months of conflict, Russia has carried out repeated, deadly assaults on civilian targets, including a shopping mall and apartment buildings.

Last week, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told USA TODAY that the number of cases of war crimes is likely more than 10,000.

As of June 3, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights' monitoring team had received over 120 reports of alleged conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine.

On July 5, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet reported that her team had "verified 28 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including cases of rape, gang rape, torture, forced public stripping, and threats of sexual violence. The majority of cases were committed in areas controlled by Russian armed forces, but there were also cases committed in government-controlled areas."

An independent investigative organization

While investigators inside and outside Ukraine work to collect evidence of war crimes with the hope of eventually prosecuting those crimes, additional options have long been proposed.

A protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, on May 16, 2022.

In an interview on National Public Radio in May, British lawmaker Arminka Helic talked about her work to "create a permanent, independent and international body to investigate and prosecute rape and sexual violence as war crimes," reported Leila Fadel.

Helic explained, "If we had a body that is funded, in existence, that has forensic trauma and medical experts already available to be deployed or to be approached by the investigators in Ukraine, we would have by now had an opportunity to collect this evidence, either from the internally displaced people or from the people who have crossed the border."

My late mentor, the godfather of international criminal law, M. Cherif Bassiouni, had been proposing the same idea since the Balkan war.

The knowledge of a swift, efficient and powerful investigative body charged with the full U.N. authority might also serve as a deterrent to potential war criminals. For instance, fighters would be on notice that it would be much harder to get away with the evidence of their crimes, including the so-called silent ones like rape. Perhaps they would think twice before joining in on the criminal sadism.

We've known for decades what we need to do  it's about time we call on world leaders to make it happen.

Carli Pierson, a New York licensed attorney, is an opinion writer with USA TODAY and a member of the USA TODAY Editorial Board. Follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq

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: Russia using rape as a weapon of war in Ukraine. What can be done?
Danny Santulli's family won't be satisfied unless the Boone County prosecutor charges all officers of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at the University of Missouri with felony hazing, their attorney said Wednesday.

Santulli, a freshman pledge of the fraternity also known as Fiji, was the victim of hazing at the fraternity house in October, resulting in alcohol poisoning that caused severe brain damage. He's home with his family in Minnesota but can't see, walk or talk and requires around-the-clock care.

Former Fiji members Ryan Delanty, of Ballwin, and Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield, were indicted last month by a Boone County grand jury with felony hazing. Shultz was vice president and treasurer of the fraternity. Delanty was designated as Santulli's "pledge dad," a mentor role.

Danny Santulli, 19, was rushed to a Columbia hospital after he became unresponsive following an alleged hazing incident at a Phi Gamma Delta party at the University of Missouri last October. Santulli suffered brain damage from alcohol poisoning and remains unable to walk or communicate.

Delanty's next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 15. Shultz's next hearing is set for Aug. 22.

More: Judge denies MU motion to suppress subpoena in Danny Santulli Fiji criminal hazing case

MU has banned the fraternity from operating on campus and punished 13 Fiji members. The university can't provide details about the punishments due to federal law, said spokesman Christian Basi.

"All of the officers in the chapter played a significant role in planning and carrying out the event," said Santulli family attorney David Bianchi. "They're all responsible."

Their responsibility is laid out in the civil lawsuit that he filed, he said. The lawsuits against all 23 defendants have been dismissed after they reached settlement agreements with the family.

"What about the rest of the officers who planned this and carried it out?" Bianchi asked about criminal charges.

Attorney David Bianchi

More: Felony charges filed against two former Mizzou Fiji brothers in Danny Santulli hazing case

At Florida State University, fraternity members involved in a hazing death were charged within 60 days and are all in jail, Bianchi said.

A Justice for Danny Santullli online petition seeking felony charges against fraternity members now has more than 100,000 signatures.

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The petition organizer, a family friend of the Santullis, also placed a full-page advertisement in the Tribune on Wednesday.

"Almost all of the frat brothers responsible for Danny's hazing are still out living their lives like nothing happened," the advertisement states.

More: Petition drive seeks justice for Danny Santulli and felonies for Mizzou Fiji members

The prosecutor doesn't need a grand jury indictment to file charges, Bianchi said.

"It's not acceptable for the prosecutor to say 'no comment,' because the people of the community have the right to be told," Bianchi said, adding, "It's just arrogant for the prosecutor not to address what the community's concerned about."

The Boone County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday didn't respond to a phone call and an email from the Tribune by press time.

Roger McKinney is the education reporter for the Tribune. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Santulli family attorney: Felony charges needed against Fiji officers
A smuggling ring had bribed Coast Guard officials with VND2 billion ($86,000) per month to bring gasoline from Singapore to Vietnam.

According to a verdict heard at an ongoing trial in Hanoi, Phan Thanh Huu, the leader of a ring accused of smuggling gasoline from Singapore, and his son have since September 2019 met with a series of officials and offered to pay them monthly bribes.

One of the first officials they came to was Colonel Nguyen The Anh, who was working as head of the Border Guard in the southern province of Kien Giang. Anh had known Huu for eight years by then.

Anh agreed to receive VND100 million ($4,300) per month from Huu. During the time when he was covering the operation of Huu's ring, Anh held many important positions, including deputy office chief of the National Steering Committee for Anti-smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud.

Colonel Nguyen The Anh (R), who used to work as head of the Border Guard in the southern province of Kien Giang, stands trial in Hanoi for taking bribes from a gasoline smuggling ring. Photo by VnExpress

Later, Huu struck a deal to give Major General Le Van Minh, 57, commander of the Coast Guard Zone 4, which oversees the waters in southern Vietnam, VND300-450 million per month.

Later, Huu raised the sum to VND500 million per month.

Within September 2019, Huu traveled to southern Tra Vinh Province to meet with Colonel Nguyen Van Hung, head of the Truong Long Hoa Port Border Guard, Colonel Pham Van Tren, head of Tra Vinh Border Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Phuong, deputy head of Tra Vinhs Traffic Police Department, and Pham Ho Hai, chief representative of Can Tho Port Authority based in Tra Vinh.

Thanks to those connections, none of Huus ships had been inspected when entering Vietnamese waters.

Colonel Hung had even instructed subordinates to inspect Huus ships twice but did not take any legal measures. The inspections occurred so other functional forces in Tra Vinh would spare Huu's ships, said the verdict.

In March 2020, with his business going smoothly in southern Vietnam, Huu expanded the rings operation to the south-central region.

He applied the same method and approached more officials, including Major General Le Xuan Thanh, commander of Coast Guard Zone 3, and Major Luu The Duc, deputy commander of Reconnaissance 2 under the Vietnam Coast Guard.

In 18 months since Huu started operating his gasoline smuggling ring until February 2021, Huu had spent VND38 billion to bribe Coast Guard and Border Guard officials.

By the time of the trial, only VND17.8 billion had been recovered. The trial, which opened Tuesday, is expected to last three days.

Huu and 72 others in his ring were prosecuted early this month for smuggling. They were not investigated for paying bribes as they reported it before being discovered.

The ring smuggled more than 204 million liters of gasoline between March 2020 and February 2021, making hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong in profit. Huu himself pocketed more than VND105 billion, the court heard.

Vietnam has disciplined nearly 168,000 Communist Party members in its 10-year anti-corruption campaign since 2012. High-ranking officials including ministers and military commanders, and business tycoons have been jailed.
Wave, an African fintech that offers mobile money services in Senegal and Ivory Coast, laid off about 15% of its workforce last month. TechCrunch first got a whiff of the layoff news on LinkedIn, where Jessica Chervin, a former Andela executive who joined Wave as an expansion lead in March, wrote that she was leaving the company.

Like many tech companies, Wave is adjusting rapidly to the jarring changes in capital markets in recent months and like the best of them (and importantly, as a financial institution), it has had to make very hard calls in order to ensure that it can continue to serve customers in existing markets now and long into the future, Chervin, who is also an angel investor, wrote. This vital shift in strategic priorities means that I and many others are leaving Wave far earlier than anyone had hoped.

TechCrunch reached out to Wave for comment on the matter and a spokesperson confirmed that close to 15% of the companys almost 2,000 staff were let go. Thus, the layoffs affected almost 300 employees, most of whom worked in Waves new markets: Burkina Faso, Mali and Uganda.

According to a statement Wave released to its employees on June 30, the company said it was scaling back its teams in these markets as part of efforts to make sure it doesnt have to depend on new funding at a time when investors around the world are cutting back.

Wave said its decision to pull out from newer markets will help it double down on Senegal and Ivory Coast, core markets where we are market leaders in mobile money with growing businesses, as it continues to serve its new markets.

In 2020, Wave officially spun off from Sendwave, a remittance platform that WorldRemit acquired for about $500 million in cash and stock. The company, which operated a stealth launch two years prior in Senegal, has since raised more than $290 million in equity and debt capital funding to date. The firm, run by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, was valued at $1.7 billion at its last fundraise last September after it raised $200 million, the largest Series A in Africa. It was led by Stripe, Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital. The startups other investors include Sam Altman and Partech Africa.

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Waves platform is akin to PayPal (with mobile money accounts, not bank accounts). It runs an agent network that uses cash on hand to service customers who can make free deposits and withdrawals and get charged a 1% fee whenever they send money.

The company is disrupting the mobile money industry dominated by banks and telcos with its app-based solution, cheaper fees and QR-based tech. And despite its continuous squabble with these incumbents due to eating into their market share, Wave claims to serve more than 10 million users monthly across its operating markets.

Wave is the first unicorn out of Senegal and the overall Francophone Africa region. However, its staff cuts across its five markets, Tunisia, Kenya, the U.S., Germany, Nigeria and the U.K. The company's spokesperson said that a small percentage of the released employees operated remotely across these countries.

The people were parting ways with are some of the smartest and most dedicated in our industry. Letting them go is one of the hardest decisions weve ever had to make as a business, the remainder of the statement read. We regret the impact on employees and their families, but we feel strongly that the best way to honor these colleagues is to ensure their contributions last. Wave is offering enhanced benefits and packages to all affected employees to express our deep appreciation for their valuable contributions, hard work, and dedication.

Layoffs have become the norm as rising interest rates and an extended bull run that swept across private and public markets over the last couple of years, among other factors, combine to make life difficult for tech companies. Amidst recession fears, investors are being stringent with their money, mainly toward growth- and late-stage startups. As a result, startups have had to cut costs and trim down workforces to survive; those who have had some success raising capital have had to adjust to pre-pandemic valuations.

Big Tech companies have fired (Microsoft) and hinted at firing (Meta) employees. Small- to large-sized startups in various sectors, such as Substack, Hopin, Coinbase, Bolt, Byju, Twitter, PayPal and Tesla, have downsized too. And though it seemed, at first, that the knock-on effect would take a considerable amount of time before reaching Africa, news of layoffs from mobility startup Swvl and healthtech company Vezeeta made the rounds last month.

However, just as the situation wasnt dire for Swvl and Vezeeta, it isnt for Wave. The Senegal-based startup likely has enough money in the bank for the next few years, and last week, it secured a 90 million syndicated loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Lendable, Norfund and other lenders in one of the largest debt deals on the continent. The loan, Wave said, will help it increase its customer base and grow operations in Senegal and Ivory Coast.
New York police have arrested a suspect who they say stabbed three men experiencing homelessness while they slept, killing one of them.

Officers took Trayvon Murphy, 40, into custody Wednesday morning in Upper Manhattan after someone noticed him sitting at a bus stop, wearing the same shirt and shoes in the photos that police released of him the day prior, New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a news conference.

"Once again, this is a story we have told many times before," Sewell said. "This suspect should not have been on our streets."

Murphy was already convicted in Tennessee and was wanted on an outstanding warrant after violating his probation, according to Sewell. Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny of the police department's detective bureau said Murphy was homeless himself and staying in a shelter.

A 34-year-old man died in one of the stabbings, officials said. Police said they identified the man who was fatally stabbed, but declined to release his name at a Wednesday news conference.

Meanwhile, gun violence in the city also made national headlines as police reported five homicides within hours on Tuesday night into Wednesday.

'LIKELY WON'T BE THE LAST TIME': NYC, DC shootings yet another stressor for homeless men

3 separate stabbings

The first stabbing took place on July 5 when a 34-year-old man lying on a bench said he awoke to pain in his stomach, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. The man then crossed the street, and a passerby called 911.

The man was taken to the hospital, where he died of a stab wound, Essig said.

Surveillance video showed a suspect in a black hoodie picking up the victim's bike, riding it around the block, then returning to stab the man. The suspect also took the victim's backpack, which was recovered nearby, Essig said.

On Friday, surveillance video showed a suspect sitting on a bench and staring at a sleeping 59-year-old man for about 30 minutes, Essig said. The suspect then put on a COVID-19 mask, walked over to the man, and stabbed him one time before walking away.

Story continues

The victim reported the stabbing to police on Sunday,after trying to self-treat his injury. He is in stable condition, police said.

A third victim was stabbed Monday at a Manhattan playground, where he was lying on the ground of a basketball court. The victim said he felt a punch to his side and chased the attacker but was "unable to pursue due to his wounds," Essig said.

According to authorities, the victim was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.

All three victims in these cases were people experiencing homelessness. These are photos of the suspect taken in the confines of the @NYPD6PCT. Any info? DM @NYPDTips, or call 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/TZqcyWQrxz  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 12, 2022

Police: Suspect had 'numerous encounters' in New York shelters

Kenny said the police investigation has revealed the suspect is "familiar" with the New York City homeless shelter system. He was homeless himself and has had "numerous encounters" in New York shelters, Kenny said.

Murphy violated his probation after being convicted on a narcotics charge in Tennessee, and will be extradited due to an active warrant there.

The 40-year-old was also due to appear in New York court later in July after he attacked his roommate at a shelter in Queens in April. Just as with the other three victims, Murphy attacked him while asleep.

SHOOTINGS TARGET HOMELESS MEN: Man arrested in fatal shootings of homeless men in DC, NYC ordered to remain in custody

He used the same knife in all three July stabbings, which was in his pocket when he was arrested Wednesday. Kenny said police are still investigating Murphy's motive for the crime.

"The commonality is that all three victims were homeless and all three victims were sleeping at the time of their attack," he said.

Has this happened before?

In March, a man was arrested after police said he carried out a string of shootings of men experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C., and New York. Gerald Brevard, 30, was accused of shooting three men in Washington, including one fatally, before traveling to New York to shoot two men, including one fatally.

"Every New Yorker, regardless of housing status, deserves to feel safe in our great city," Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins said Wednesday.

Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NYPD arrest man accused of stabbing 3 homeless men in Manhattan
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Strong winds near Dinh Cau Temple on Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietnam, July 2022. Photo courtesy of Hoang Trung Khai

Thousands of tourists stuck on Phu Quoc Island for days due to bad weather are struggling to return to the mainland with suspended ferry services and limited flights, leaving them anxious.

As of Wednesday, over 40,000 tourists are now stuck in Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, as ferry services to the mainland are suspended due to rough seas and strong winds.

Sarah Loxley from Australia is among more than 2,000 foreign tourists stuck in the island.

"Lots of rain," she said.

Loxley lost her temporary residence card in the chaos and is waiting for her passport from Da Nang so that she could fly home.

Many visitors like her are seeing their trips exceed their expectations.

Nguyen Hong Vu, 36, feels lucky that he and his wife did not bring their children along for this stormy trip.

According to the original schedule, their group would have left Phu Quoc on Wednesday on a high-speed boat to Rach Gia Port and continue to Can Tho where they would visit the Cai Rang floating market.

However, all ferries and high-speed boat services connecting the mainland in Ha Tien and Rach Gia to Phu Quoc Island have been suspended from Monday morning.

Their group would cancel their visit to Can Tho and are waiting to fly back to Ho Chi Minh City but regular flights to and from Phu Quoc are limited until the weather calms down.

Pham Tran Quoc Bao, a tour guide of Moc Tam Phan Travel Company where Thuy and Vu booked tours said that travel companies are passive as airlines cut flights because of the weather, leading to expensive ticket prices at about VND3 million per person.

"Travel companies are straining to arrange air tickets," he said.

Duong Van Khon, director of Phu Quoc Today travel agency, said his companys 130 tourists who planned to visit Phu Quoc are also stranded in Rach Gia Town due to travel disruption.

The company is arranging for tourists to visit a few spots in the town and continues to monitor the weather situation.

Nguyen Vu Khac Huy, director of Vina Phu Quoc Tourism Co., Ltd., said that tourists stuck in Phu Quoc will be provided with accommodation and if costs incur, his company would negotiate with tourists.

Those stuck in Rach Gia can cancel their tours or wait for the weather to stabilize.

Huynh Quang Hung, chairman of Phu Quoc, ordered all accommodation facilities to consider offering discounts to affected tourists so that they can rest assured to stay in the island.

Phu Quoc, famous for its long sandy beaches and luxury resorts, has entered the peak summer travel season, but May-October is also the rainy season there.

Under the influence of an intertropical convergence zone and a low-pressure area, the country's southwestern coast has been hit by heavy rains, strong winds and rough seas since Sunday.

Phu Quoc received 1.4 million tourists in the first half of this year, or over 70 percent of its full-year target.
YORK  It was only a few years ago when the city acquired the parcel of land west of Division Avenue which is bordered by Epworth Village (south side), the Nebraska Public Power District operations center (west side) and Highway 34 (north side).

The reason for the citys acquisition was to hold it for industrial development for the purpose of economic growth. The land was purchased at a time when all the lots in the citys industrial park were quickly being sold to private owners and the need to hold more for development became obvious.

That venture proved to be worthwhile, as it has all already been spoken for.

In early April, the city sold a good chunk of it to BginUSA for its new $8 million data mining complex (on the north side).

And now, the city is in the process of selling the remainder of land there to two, separate other companies.

This past week, the city council approved both sales.

We have 17 acres left out there to sell and these purchases will take all of it, said Mayor Barry Redfern.

The first sale approved was for seven acres on the south side of the area, to WyAd Enterprises.

The next sale was for the remaining 10 acres, in the middle of the city-held area, to Sukup Manufacturing Company.

This will now clear the citys ownership of that land (and put it on the tax rolls) while putting it in the hands of two local businesses.

Also during this past weeks city council meeting, the city also sold a parcel in the Mansfield Subdivision to Brandon Skelton. Redfern explained that this parcel of ground is in the area of 10th and Greenwood Avenue where there used to be a city well. The property will now be used for the location of a residence instead.
The new generation Hyundai Tucson has been unveiled for the Indian market, and the SUV brings fresh design and features on offer for consumers. Based on the information, the new SUV will be launched in the Indian market on August 4. The new SUV will be one of the multiple new SUVs from the South Korean automaker. It is to be noted that a while back, Hyundai launched the Hyundai Venue facelift as one of its models in the SUV market and has now come up with this new contender. Moreover, the Hyundai Tucson is one of the prominent SUVs of the Korean automaker and is already on sale in the international market.

Hyundai Tucson: Design

The Hyundai Tucson comes with a fresh design on offer for the Indian market. The front fascia features a newly designed 'parametric-jewel' grill with integrated LED DRLs completing the modern appeal of the new SUV. Moreover, the headlamps are mounted vertically on the bumper of the SUV. Moving on to present the SUV with a sleek design it gets sharp cuts along with newly designed alloy wheels. The modern design language continues to the interiors of the SUV

Hyundai Tucson: Features

Hyundai Tucson comes with loads of modern features like 60 plus safety features which include 6 airbags, ESC/ VSM, Hill start-stop assist, and Level 2 ADAS suite. It also gets a Hyundai Bluelink system, which supports voice commands. Moreover, the interiors also get a 10.25-inch touchscreen, 360-degree camera, ventilated seats, electronic parking brake, wireless chargers, and other features.

Also read: Nissan Magnite RED Edition launched in India with styling updates, prices start at Rs 7.86 lakh

Hyundai Tucson: Powertrain

The all-new Hyundai Tucson will be offered two engine options in the Indian market. It gets a new Nu 2.0 Petrol Engine with a 6-Speed automatic transmission and a new R 2.0 Diesel engine with an 8-Speed automatic transmission. Moreover, the engines work with an all-wheel-drive system making the SUV capable of navigating its way through tough terrain.

Hyundai Tucson: Price

Although the price of the Hyundai Tucson has not been revealed yet officially and is scheduled to be announced on August 4 upon launch. But speculations are that the new Tucson will be priced around Rs 23 lakh. The SUV will be competing against models like Jeep Compass, Volkswagen Tiguan, and others in the Indian market.
Talking on the phone while driving a car or riding a bike is a traffic violation. However, this rule is often overlooked by commuters. Taking it up a notch, a picture of a man using a laptop while riding a motorcycle has gone viral on the internet. The incident took place in Bengaluru, based on the social media post where the man was working on a laptop during his commute. The picture of the incident was shared by Harshmeet Singh on LinkedIn and has been receiving lots of comments and reactions from the netizens.

The video on LinkedIn was captioned saying, "Bengaluru at its best or worst? 11 pm, Bengaluru - One of the busiest flyovers in the city, and here is a pillion rider working on his laptop. If you as a, Boss have been able to terrorize your colleagues to meet the deadline at the cost of their own safety, it is time for you to think again. Let's use the phrase 'IT'S URGENT' and 'DO IT ASAP' more carefully, especially if you are in a position of power. You have no idea the impact these words have on the lives of your subordinates."

The picture has garnered 40k likes on the social media platform. However, as with many posts on any social media platform, the netizens are divided on the incident. Some of the people on the internet are appreciating man's work ethic while others are totally against it, opposing the dangerous act.

Also read: Nissan Magnite RED Edition launched in India with styling updates, prices start at Rs 7.86 lakh

One of the social media users commented on the post saying. "I believe safety is everyone's responsibility. It has to be ingrained within the company's DNA and so it will percolate down to all the employees. Putting your life in danger is not an option for anything. As leaders, it's our duty to ensure our subordinates are following safe practices.."
MG Hector helped the British-owned Chinese brand set its foot rather firmly in our market. The carmaker made its entry in India with the Hector in 2019, followed by a series of other products. Currently, the Hector is available in its facelift avatar along with the Hector Plus, which is a three-row iteration of the SUV. However, new spy images of the Hector facelift have surfaced on the internet. In new pictures shared by Car Blog India, the Hector can be seen without any camo whatsoever. Also, this particular example seems to be based on the Wuling Almaz RS that is on sale in foreign markets.

In case you arent aware, MGs parent company SAIC sells the Hector in various markets with different names - Chevrolet Captiva, Wuling Almaz, and Baojun 530. Well, the model snapped this time is the Wuling Almaz RS, which thankfully has the MG badge on both ends.

Styling-wise, it looks largely similar to the Hector, save for a few changes, like the new front radiator grille, revised headlamp clusters, and red highlight on the front bumper. From the side and rear profiles, it looks identical to the outgoing model. Therefore, it wont be incorrect to assume that MG might also be looking at launching a spicier Hector RS in our market. Although, mechanical would remain the same. Also, the updated version will come with ADAS tech on board.

Also read - Maruti Suzuki Jimny 5-door finally caught on cam - Here's everything about upcoming Thar rival

Currently, the SUV is sold with two powertrain options - a 1.5L turbo-petrol and a 2.0L oil burner. While the former of the two puts out 143 PS of peak and 250 Nm of max torque, the latter develops 170 PS against 350 Nm. A speed MT is standard across the range, but the petrol variant can be had with a CVT as well. Talking of pricing, the Hector starts from Rs 14.15 lakh and tops out at Rs 20.11 lakh, ex-showroom.
A few days ago, Indias first trans pilot Adam Harry from Kerala accused the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of declaring him unfit for a commercial pilot license. However, DGCA today issued a clarification on reports of Harry, undersigned by YS Dahiya, Group Captain, Directorate of Medical Services (Civil Aircrew), which clarified that Harry has never been denied a commercial pilots license by DGCA.

The aviation watchdog said there are no restrictions on transgender people in obtaining a license, subject to the individual ensuring compliance with relevant provisions of age, educational qualifications, medical fitness, and knowledge experience among others as specified in Aircraft Rules, 1937. Medical fitness is a mandatory requirement for obtaining a license.

Transgender personnel may also be issued a fit medical assessment, provided there are no associated medical, psychiatric, or psychological conditions. The use of hormonal replacement therapy is not disqualifying if the applicant has no adverse symptoms or reactions. However, flying duties are not permitted while the dose of hormonal treatment is being stabilized or until an adequate physiological response has been achieved and the dose no longer needs changing, it said in the statement.

In the case of Harry, towards ensuring the medical assessment, even in the absence of a specific policy for transgender personnel, the process was undertaken in line with the worlds best practices. It said DGCA has followed the process as specified in FAAs Guide for Medical Examiners. This is owing to the case being a first of its kind in India. It is pertinent to mention that the world over a methodology of handling such scenarios on a case to case' basis is being followed.

It also clarified that the DGCA prescribed form for medical examination does not contain any field for gender. Additionally, the gender of an individual is auto-fetched from the registration aspect of e-Governance of Civil Aviation (eGCA), which provides a transgender individual to register as Transgender. Harry has not yet registered himself on the eGCA platform which is in place since Dec 2019.

Media reports alleged that Harry has been declared unfit on the grounds of gender dysphoria undergoing hormone therapy and that the same lacked scientific medical basis and is not in line with the practices followed in other countries. Reacting to the allegation, the statement clarified that the procedure for evaluation of transgender at DGCA is the same as the one followed by FAA.

Also read - Indigo, Go First sick leave protest to be resolved shortly: DGCA

Further, it said to obtain a Commercial Pilots Licence, an applicant has to undertake necessary flying by utilizing the privileges of a Student Pilots Licence, which Harry has not undertaken. Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology, an approved FTO, has indicated that Harry was not issued a Student Pilots License owing to inadequate attendance for ground classes.

Lastly, the statement said that since Harry is due for renewal of his current medical assessment at an Indian Air Force boarding center, he has been informed to undertake a few procedures for obtaining a fresh medical assessment.

It asked harry to apply for the name change from Ms. Aisha TS to Mr. Adam Harry, as per the procedure laid down in the Medical Circular 01/2015 on Amendment of Personal Details in the records, register on eGCA as Transgender so that the basic detail gets replicated in all the deliverables of DGCA (including medical assessment), and then apply for Class-2 medical renewal through eGCA (as the previous assessment is valid till 23 Aug 22).

(With inputs from ANI)
New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has searched Chinese smartphone Oppo's Indian unit and unearthed customs duty evasion of Rs 4389 crore by Oppo India.

"During the course of investigation, searches were conducted by DRI at the office premises of Oppo India and residences of its key management employees, which led to the recovery of incriminating evidence indicating wilful mis-declaration in the description of certain items imported by Oppo India for use in the manufacture of mobile phones. This mis-declaration resulted in wrongful availment of ineligible duty exemption benefits by Oppo India amounting to Rs 2,981 crores. Among others, senior management employees and domestic suppliers of Oppo India were questioned, who in their voluntary statements accepted the submission of wrongful description before the Customs Authorities at the time of import," said a DRI release

The DRI further said that investigation also revealed that Oppo India had remitted / made provisions for payment of Royalty and Licence Fee to various multinational companies, including those based in China, in lieu of use of proprietary technology/brand/IPR license etc.

"The said Royalty and Licence Fees paid by Oppo India were not being added in the transaction value of the goods imported by them, in violation of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, read with Rule 10 of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules 2007. The alleged duty evasion by M/s Oppo India on this account is Rs. 1,408 crores," DRI added.

After completion of the investigation, the DRI has issued a Show Cause Notice to Oppo India demanding Customs duty amounting to Rs. 4,389 crore.

Last week, ED carried out searches at 48 locations across the country belonging to Vivo Mobiles India Private Ltd and its 23 associated companies such as Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), and so far, 119 bank accounts of various entities with gross balance to the tune of Rs 465 crore, including FDs to the tune of 66 crore, of Vivo India, 2 kg gold bars, and cash amounting to approximately Rs 73 lakh has been seized under the provisions of the PMLA.
New Delhi: The widely celebrated Guru Purnima festival is marked this year on July 13. Also, known as Vyasa Purnima - this day is dedicated to paying tribute to your Guru or a revered spiritual entity. Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa or Ved Vyasa, who wrote the epic Mahabharata was born on Guru Purnima, therefore it is also his birth anniversary.

WHY GURU PURNIMA IS IMPORTANT?

Guru Purnima is celebrated in the country in different ways. Marked on the full moon day, known as Purnima as per the Hindu calendar of Ashadha month, on Guru Purnima, devotees pay obeisance to the Guru or teacher on this day, thanking them for all the knowledge and life-lessons.

IMPORTANCE OF VYAS PURNIMA

The day is celebrated with utmost fervour by Buddhists as it is believed that Gautam Buddha, after denouncing worldly attachments and being enlightened, served his first sermon at Sarnath on this day. Also, it is said that on this day, Lord Shiva became the Adi Guru - the first Guru and imparted knowledge to the Saptarishis.

GURU PURNIMA CELEBRATED BY JAIN COMMUNITY

Guru Purnima is of great significance for the Jains too. On this day, the 24th Tirthankara  Mahavira  made Gautam Swami (earlier known as Indrabhuti Gautam) his first disciple. He thus became a Guru and hence the day is observed as Guru Purnima.

Guru Purnima is a day to pay ode to the selfless contributions of a Guru. Interestingly, the Sanskrit word Guru itself means one who removes ignorance (Gu meaning ignorance and Ru means remover).

GURU-SHISHYA BOND:

In India, the Guru-Shishya bond is seen as a pure connection that helps the student achieve greater heights. The Sanskrit verse  Mata Pitah Guru Daivam  clearly positions the role of a teacher before that of God. In India, the teacher is referred to as the Guru (the one who sows seeds of knowledge and eliminates darkness).

On this day, students thank their teachers for nurturing values, morals and instilling the sense of right and wrong besides imparting education.

In ancient India, parents entrusted the responsibility of their children to the Guru because they knew only a teacher could help a child evolve holistically. The Guru-Shishya Parampara which was wonderfully woven in the social fabric witnessed a beautiful bond between the teacher and a student.

Moreover, the importance of a Guru has also been clearly established in our great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The bond shared by Sage Vishwamitra and Lord Rama or Arjuna and Dronacharya is classic specimens of the Guru Shishiya Parampara.

Happy Guru Purnima to all!
New Delhi: In a big relief to the common people reeling under high price rise, the government has announced free LPG cylinders every year for Ration card holders. The move is aimed at giving respite on the kitchen budget that has been dented due to rising price of commodities. Eligible persons can get 3 gas cylinders for free in a year.

The Uttarakhand government had in May this year decided it will give three free LPG cylinders to Antyodaya card-holders every year. The state government will bear a total burden of Rs 55 crore for the free LPG gas scheme. Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had said that a total of 1,84,142 Antyodaya card-holders will benefit from the decision. The cabinet had also decided to continue giving a bonus of Rs 20 per quintal to farmers on the purchase of wheat like previous years, he said.



Eligibility to get three LPG cylinders every year for free

In order to get free LPG gas cylinders, it is mandatory to fulfill certain conditions laid by the Uttarakhand government.

- It is mandatory for the beneficiary to be a resident of Uttarakhand.

-Also the eligible beneficiary must be an Antyodaya ration card holder

- Antyodaya ration card holder has to be linked with the gas connection card.

How to get free LPG cylinders every year under the Uttarakhand government's scheme

If you want to avail benefits of the scheme run by the Uttarakhand government, then get your Antyodaya card linked by this month itself i.e. in July. If you do not link both of them, then you will be deprived of the scheme of free gas cylinders of the government. The Uttarakhand government has completed all the ground-works related to the scheme. The state government has prepared a district wise list of Antyodaya consumers list and has sent the same to the local gas agencies. Hence the ration card holders of Antyodaya card holders must link it to their gas connections.
The Cuban regime has condemned over 550 protestors to more than 4,000 combined years of prison or other punitive measures since the historic July 11, 2021, protests, noted Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a recent tweet. Recent changes to the Cuban criminal code punish criticism of the government, its representatives and socialism.

The latest victims are Maykel Osorbo Castillo, a well-known rapper, who was sentenced to nine years in prison and visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara who received a five-year sentence. Both men were tried in May behind closed doors.

Castillo and Otero Alcantara are members of the San Isidro Movement, a group of dissident artists and academics that has challenged the lack of freedoms in Cuba and inspired peaceful protests against the government. The police arrested Otero Alcantara on July 11, 2021, after he announced he would join the massive protests that day.

Castillo and Otero Alcantara took part in a music video for the freedom anthem Patria y Vida or Fatherland and Life, which went viral in February 2021. Castillo was beaten by state security agents two months after the videos release. Castillo and the other performers of Patria y Vida won the Latin Grammy for song of the year and best urban song. Patria y Vida, is a twist on Fidel Castros phrase Homeland or Death and became a popular song for the July 11 protesters.

Amnesty International condemned the trials of Castillo and Otero Alcantara, saying they are a shameful example of the human rights crisis caused by the Cuban governments decades-long policy of repression.

In an interview in December 2020, after having staged a hunger strike, Otero Alcantara told the Miami Herald newspaper, We live in a totalitarian regime that violates our rights, and they have control of the information. We live in a dictatorship. Who can believe in the regime when it abuses you?



As the July 11 anniversary approached, Secretary Blinken, in a tweet, called for those protestors who remain detained to be returned home to their families. Blinken also said in a statement on July 11, One year after the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba, the United States recognizes the determination and courage of the Cuban people as they continue to fight for respect for human rights and persevere through repression during a historic year. We celebrate the Cuban people and commend their indomitable determination in the face of oppression.
To accelerate the deployment of 50,000 electric buses on Indian roads by 2030, the state-owned Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) with the help of the World Resources Institute India (WRI India) has begun deliberations. After the success of the Grand Challenge that helped discover the lowest-ever prices for electric buses (e-buses), CESL, supported by WRI India, kick-started deliberations to expedite the deployment of 50,000 electric buses (e-buses) on Indian roads by 2030.

Under the Grand Challenge, the CESL has begun the deployment of 5,450 e-buses across five cities: Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Surat. This tender, based on a gross cost contracting model, discovered rates that were 27 percent and 23 percent lower than those of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses respectively (without national subsidy).

NITI Aayog, the government think-tank, has mandated CESL to scale up the scope of the Grand Challenge and leverage the benefits of demand aggregation to procure 50,000 e-buses over the next seven years.

Also read: Tata Nexon EV Prime electric SUV with added features launched, prices start at Rs 14.99 lakh

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has also requested CESL to design a program for scrapping over 30,000 ageing buses across 25 states.

In the Grand Challenge -- the world's largest tender for procurement of e-buses -- the demand for e-buses was homogenised and aggregated across the five cities, the statement said.

(With inputs from PTI)

Live TV
Los Angeles: Reality series 'Indian Matchmaking' starring Mumbai's top matchmaker, Sima Taparia, is returning with its second season. The eight-episode second season will premiere on August 10 on the OTT platform Netflix, reports 'Variety'. The new season will have hour-long episodes during the course of which Taparia will work with millennials around the globe to search for their perfect match. Taparia will once again draw from her decades of experience and traditional methods, to help lucky singles find the one.

Sima told 'Variety', "The love I've gotten from the fans of the show has been wonderful. Matchmaking is my passion, and it's a joy to share my work with audiences around the world. Sima from Mumbai is back!"

Academy Award nominee Smriti Mundhra, creator and executive producer of the series, added, "The response to Season 1 of 'Indian Matchmaking' was overwhelming, and we're thrilled to be back with more episodes that explore the rollercoaster of emotions and tough conversations on the journey to finding love."

'Variety' states that in March, Netflix announced that the franchise is expanding with a new series, 'Jewish Matchmaking', coming soon. The spinoff will follow singles in America and Israel who seek a Jewish matchmaker using the traditional practice of shidduch to help them find their soulmate.

Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman and J.C. Begley also serve as executive producers on the series, which was nominated for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program at the 2021 Emmys. 'Indian Matchmaking' is produced by the Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), a part of Sony Pictures TV.
New Delhi: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti bashed the BJP-led government after she along with other political leaders were not allowed to visit 'Martyrs Graveyard'. Reacting to this, Mehbooba said, "We have never seen such atmosphere and condition in Jammu and Kashmir, I am sure no one has after we got freedom in 1947. The government is using NIA, ED and CBI to harass people of Jammu and Kashmir."

Mehbooba Mufti questioned the government's arrangements of Amarnath Yatra. She said the government had made Amarnath yatra by making it a political agenda.

Also Read: Mehbooba Mufti lauds security forces as 2 terrorists surrender during encounter in Jammu and Kashmirs Kulgam

She further said, "Amarnath Yatra is a message of happiness for all of us. When we were kids, we used to wait for it. The Yatra has been made now a problem for the locals and pilgrims too."

"It used to be a great way of brotherhood between communities. BJP has made it a political issue as if they have to conquer Jammu and Kashmir. Its become such a big problem for people living in south Kashmir." Mehbooba said.

Mehbooba held the administration responsible for what happened after the cloud burst at the holy cave. She alleged that the causalities are much higher what government reported.

Mehbooba said, "They have called thousands of pilgrims for Yatra this year, and when the cloud burst happened they couldn't handle the crowd. Now, they are not giving out all details. They are saying 15-16 were killed, but several people are missing. The way motorcycles, dead horses are coming out of the debris, and many people are still missing, it seems there is a huge loss, more than what they are saying."

She added, "It's all because of their ego."

Mufti also claimed that the ruling party does not consider J-K as India's party and think they are a 'neighbouring country's part'.

"They dont consider the accession that we signed with India, but they are applying Ghar mein gus kar maro as they claimed have done in Balakot strike. But we cant give up. If we dont fight for our rights, our identity will finish."

Mehbooba Mufti said, "The youth of this place has a power, and to suppress that they have kept 10 lakh forces here. There are only 100-150 boys who have picked up gun, thats what they say. Then what are they scared of? They are scared that we should not raise our voice for our rights."

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Jammu and Kashmir: Amarnath Yatra has begun from both the Sonamarg and Pahalgam routes after being suspended for four days. 16 pilgrims perished as a result of a cloud burst that caused a flash flood in the area, and even though many more are still missing, the Amarnath Shrine Board has not released any information regarding the missing Yatri even though the Indian Air Force claims that 80% of the rescue effort is complete. According to the officials, rescue efforts are being made at both the flash flood location and the river that runs from Amarnath cave to Baltal base camp. There are extremely slim possibilities of discovering any survivors, according to the officials.

"I believe a significant effort has already been made. They have already completed clearing the yatra's entrance once more. We anticipate being able to evacuate the region in a day or two, according to Air Commodore Pankaj Mittal of the Air Force station in Srinagar. ALSO READ: Amarnath Yatra Cloudburst: 15 dead, 40 missing

According to reports, more than 30 persons may be lost among the wreckage left behind by the nearby flash floods. Furthermore, no information on the missing people in the vicinity has been revealed by the Amarnath Shrine Board authorities to yet.

There were no camping sites allowed near the Amarnath cave till the area of 5 kms, but in the last few years the tents and community kitchens are allowed to pitch tents close to the Amarnath Cave. Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir has called for a probe into the incident.

"We hope the administration will clarify what actually occurred and a commission will be established to look into the matter. It should be looked into why were the tents put up at such a risky place and should be investigated. The question is that, I don't think the tents were ever placed at the location before this. It is the first time for tents have been placed at this location It should be investigated, and It can also be a human error, '' said Farooq Abdullah, Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

There are questions raised about the failure of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for Yatri's. The government and Shrine board had claimed that every Yatri taking the pilgrimage would be tracked all through the routes with the help of technology and these RFID cards. But according to the reports they have not found a single missing Yatri with the help of these RFID cards. However, the Indian army was seen using sniffer dogs, high tech radars and avalanche trans receivers to look for the bodies under the rubble.

People from all around are concerned that the authorities have not yet disclosed information on the people who are missing at the flash flood site. People are more concerned as the authority remain silent on the issue.
New Delhi: People in the 18-59 age group will get free precaution doses of the Covid vaccine at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive likely to begin from July 15, official sources said on Wednesday. The drive, aimed at boosting the uptake of Covid precaution doses, will be held as part of the government's Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's Independence, they said. So far, less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose. However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose, an official source said.

"A majority of the Indian population got their second dose over nine months ago. Studies at ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and other international research institutions have suggested that antibody levels wane around six months after the primary vaccination with both doses... Giving a booster increases the immune response," the official said. "The government is therefore planning to start a special drive for 75 days during which individuals aged between 18 and 59 years will be administered precaution doses for free at government vaccination centres starting from July 15," he said.

The Union Health Ministry last week reduced the gap between the second and precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccine for all beneficiaries from nine to six months. This followed a recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).

To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government initiated the second round of the 'Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0' across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

Also read: Lancet study finds symptoms of long-covid in 46% children post infection, details here

According to government data, 96 per cent of India's population has been administered the first dose of Covid vaccine while 87 per cent of the people have taken both doses. On April 10 this year, India began administering precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years. The countrywide vaccination drive had rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year. On March 1 last year, Covid-19 vaccination began for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

Vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years began on April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against Covid from May 1 last year. Inoculation of those in the age group of 15-18 commenced on January 3 this year. The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Congress leader Ajoy Kumar kicked up a storm when he said NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu represents a "very evil philosophy of India". This led to the BJP reacting angrily with Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda demanding an apology. "Ajay Kumar shows his anger in not being able to do anything. The entire Congress should apologize to the country for this statement. Tribal society has lived with a proud history before independence and has been continuously struggling after independence as the tribes were not recognized by Congress even after being in power for a long time," said Munda.

Draupadi Murmu controversy: What did Ajoy Kumar say?

Ajoy Kumar kicked off a controversy with his comment that NDA's presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu represents a "very evil philosophy of India" and should not be made a "symbol of Adivasi". "It's not about Draupadi Murmu. Yashwant Sinha is also a good candidate and Murmu is also a decent person. But she represents a very evil philosophy of India. We should not make her a symbol of 'Adivasi'. We have President Ram Nath Kovind, Hathras happened. Has he said a word? The condition of Scheduled Castes has become worse," Kumar said.

Congress-led Opposition parties have fielded former union minister Yashwant Sinha against Murmu for the presidential elections on July 18.

BJP slams Congress

Munda also said that the opposition is shocked by the fact that a woman from a tribal society has been presented as a Presidential candidate. "Ajay Kumar said that Murmu should not be the face of tribals, it should also be noted that Kumar himself is not from a tribal community. He has exposed himself," Munda added.

If elected, Draupadi Murmu will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President. She was the first woman governor of Jharkhand (from 2015 to 2021). Born in a poor tribal family in a village in Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances.

Also read: Presidential Election 2022 - Shiv Sena to support Draupadi Murmu

Murmu was a national executive member of BJP's ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP's ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009.

(With ANI inputs)
A 22-year-old woman was allegedly kept confined to a hotel room here by two men, thrashed and sexually assaulted by one of them, police said on Wednesday. The woman from West Bengal was unemployed and lured to the hotel room in sector 46 by one of the accused, who was known to her, on the pretext of getting her a good job.

The woman was held captive for two days and one of the accused also tried to rape her, she told police. On Tuesday night, she tried to escape but was caught by the duo who bundled her into their car and tried to leave the hotel only to find a police van at the exit gate.

The accused panicked and fled leaving the car and woman behind, police said. Police has nabbed one of the accused while the other is absconding, they said.

The two have been booked under sections 323 (causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354-B (sexual assault), 376/511 (rape attempt), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, they said.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday greeted people on 'Guru Purnima' and described it as a day to express gratitude to all exemplary teachers who have inspired and mentored humankind. "Greetings on Guru Purnima. This is a day of expressing gratitude to all exemplary Gurus who have inspired us, mentored us and taught us so much about life. Our society attaches immense importance to learning and wisdom. May the blessings of our Gurus take India to newer heights," PM Modi tweeted.

Greetings on Guru Purnima. This is a day of expressing gratitude to all exemplary Gurus who have inspired us, mentored us and taught us so much about life. Our society attaches immense importance to learning and wisdom. May the blessings of our Gurus take India to newer heights.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 13, 2022

The Prime Minister also extended his wishes on the occasion of 'Ashadha Purnima', a sacred day especially for Buddhists.

"Greetings on the sacred occasion of Ashadha Purnima. We recall the noble teachings of Lord Buddha and reiterate our commitment to realise his enlightened vision of a just and compassionate society," he said.

Greetings on the sacred occasion of Ashadha Purnima. We recall the noble teachings of Lord Buddha and reiterate our commitment to realise his enlightened vision of a just and compassionate society. pic.twitter.com/tvB99Rp460  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 13, 2022

The Buddha is believed to have delivered his first sermon on this day after attaining enlightenment. The prime minister also posted a video clip that included his previous remarks paying tributes to the Buddha.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state. A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the matters were filed long back but were yet to be listed for hearing. "The girls are losing out on studies and have been facing difficulties," Bhushan said.

The bench said, "Two benches are not functioning. So, we have to re-distribute. It will be listed sometime next week before an appropriate bench." Prior to this, the appeals against the March 15 verdict of the high court, which had dismissed petitions seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom, were mentioned for urgent hearing on April 26 as well.

Several petitions have been filed in the apex court against the Karnataka High Court verdict holding that wearing of hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. The high court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom.

The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, the high court had said.

Also read: Karnataka govt makes uniforms compulsory for PU students after HC upholds 'hijab ban'

In one of the pleas filed in the top court, the petitioner said the high court has "erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience."

"The high court has failed to note that the right to wear hijab comes under the ambit of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that the freedom of conscience forms a part of the right to privacy," it said.

The plea said the petitioner had approached the high court seeking redressal for the alleged violation of their fundamental rights against the state government order of February 5, 2022, issued under Sections 7 and 133 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983.

The high court had maintained that the government has the power to issue impugned order dated February 5, 2022, and no case is made out for its invalidation. By the said order, the Karnataka government had banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges, which the Muslim girls had challenged in the high court.

Challenging the February 5 order of the government, the petitioners had argued before the high court that wearing the Islamic headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and an Essential Religious Practice (ERP) and not a mere display of religious jingoism. The petitioners had also contended that the restriction violated the freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(A) and Article 21 dealing with personal liberty.
New Delhi: Former Vice President Hamid Ansari on Wednesday refuted the allegation that he had invited to India a Pakistani journalist who has claimed to have spied for ISI, and said a "litany of falsehood" has been unleashed against him in sections of media and by a BJP spokesperson. In a statement, he also rejected the allegation, made by the BJP citing comments of a former RAW functionary, that he had compromised national interest as India's ambassador to Iran.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had at a press conference earlier in the day asked Ansari and the Congress to come clean on the claims of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule and passed on sensitive information collected here to his Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

Bhatia cited Mirza's purported comments that he had visited India on Ansari's invitations and also met him, but the former vice president rejected the claims.

In his rebuttal, Ansari said, "It is a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are on the advice of the government generally through the Ministry of External Affairs.

"I had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism, on December 11, 2010, the 'International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights'. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him," added Ansari, who was India's vice president between 2007-17.

The former vice president said his work as ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the government of the day.

He said he is bound by the commitment to national security in such matters and will refrain from commenting on them. "The Government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth. It is a matter of record that after my stint in Tehran, I was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. My work there has been acknowledged at home and abroad," Ansari said.

Live TV
A town hall meeting for the Eureka community is slated for 5:30 p.m. July 13 at the Eureka Opera House, hosted by i-80 Gold Corp., which will be providing an update on the Ruby Hill Mine on the outskirts of the town.

Our commitment to the community is to give an update as a company four times a year, said Allison Anderson, community and government relations manager for Reno-based i-80 Gold. We had one in April, and we will host a community mine tour in August.

The company will be outlining progress and plans at the July 12 meeting for Ruby Hill, where exploration is under way for potential underground mining. New administrators at Ruby Hill also will be introduced, Anderson said. There also will be pizza and popsicles.

They are in the process of drilling with the potential to mine in a couple of years, Anderson said.

Currently, i-80 Gold is leaching residual gold ore at Ruby Hill while the exploration is ongoing, with plans to process refractory ore from the potential underground mine at the companys Lone Tree facility along Interstate 80 once that facility is operational. Oxide ore would be processed at existing facilities at Ruby Hill.

Surface mining at Ruby Hill ended earlier this year.

According to a July 12 announcement from i-80 Gold, initial step-out drilling to test the southern extension potential of the Ruby Deeps deposit intersected multiple zones of high-grade mineralization and drilling shows that ground conditions are very favorable, and intersection widths met or exceeded expectations.

It is extremely encouraging to see multiple zones of high-grade mineralization developing in the southern portion of the Ruby Deeps zone, continuing to demonstrate the propertys potential to host a world-class, Carlin-type gold deposit, said Ewan Downie, chief executive officer of i-80 Gold.

In addition to successfully expanding mineralization in the primary target zones, significant alteration and mineralization has been observed in multiple exploration targets that have been tested, he said. The footprint of the alteration system at Ruby Hill is comparable to Nevadas most productive gold districts.

He said that he has been fortunate to have been a part of several significant discoveries and the delineation of major deposits, but perhaps have not participated in a project with the upside potential we are seeing at Ruby.

Additional drilling is being completed in the southern portion of the deposit and success has led to an expansion of the drilling program to aide in the development of the underground mine that would be accessed via a ramp from the Archimedes open pit, i-80 Gold reported.

The town hall invitation lists topics that also include sustainability strategy, community engagement, corporate giving and project updates that may include other i-80 Gold efforts besides Ruby Hill.

The company is already underground mining at its Granite Creek operations in Humboldt County, and it is continuing to develop an underground project at McCoy Cove south of Battle Mountain, as well as getting the Lone Tree process facilities ready for operation and planning surface mining in the Lone Tree area.

The two open pit projects at the Lone Tree property, Buffalo Mountain and Brooks, will be oxide, heap-leach mines.

Earlier this year, i-80 Gold, which was created in April 2021 when it was spun off from Equinox Gold, also acquired a land package from Baker Hughes at Argenta to provide water rights and a rail heading.
New Delhi: The 16th round of Corps Commander-level meeting between India and China is likely to be held on July 17, sources said on Wednesday. They said talks would be held with the objective of discussing disengagement from friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

India will be represented by Fire and Fury Corps Commander Lt Gen A Sengupta in the talks. The 15th round China-India Corps Commander-Level Meeting was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side on March 11 this year.

During the meeting, the two sides carried forward their discussions from the previous round held on January 12 this year for the resolution of the relevant issues along the LAC in the Western Sector. They had a detailed exchange of views in keeping with the guidance provided by the State Leaders to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.

They reaffirmed that such a resolution would help restore peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the Western Sector and facilitate progress in bilateral relations. The two sides also agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector in the interim. They agreed to maintain dialogue via military and diplomatic channels to reach a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.

India and China have been engaged in a standoff since April-May 2020 over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including the Finger area, Galwan Valley, Hot springs, and Kongrung Nala.

The situation worsened after violent clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020. The talks have led to disengagement from some areas including North and South Bank of Pangong Tso and Galwan but some friction points remain.
New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday lauded the Centres move to provide free booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive from July 15. The Union Health Minister said that the decision will further strengthen the countrys fight against Covid-19. Mandaviya also urged all eligible citizens to get their precaution dose at the earliest.

The decision will further strengthen India's fight against #COVID19 and add an extra layer of safety! I urge all those eligible to get their precaution dose at the earliest, Mandaviya said.

The free booster dose drive will be held for the next 75 days as part of the government`s Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India`s Independence and to boost the uptake of Covid precaution doses, he said.

"Under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, a 75-day free vaccination campaign will be conducted from July 15, in which all citizens above the age of 18 years will be given free vaccination doses at government centres, Mandaviya said in a tweet. The Health Minister also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision.

As part of #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav celebrations, free COVID-19 Precaution Dose will be administered to all the citizens above 18 years of age at Government vaccination centres, from 15th July 2022 till the next 75 days.



I thank PM @NarendraModi Ji for this decision. pic.twitter.com/cCMmpLeWHN  Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) July 13, 2022

Less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose, as per a source. The initiative has been undertaken to increase the uptake the precautions doses.

However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose. To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government also had initiated the second round of the `Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0` across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing controversy over the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra's remarks on Goddess Kali, her party colleague Babul Supriyo on Tuesday (July 12, 2022) attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asked it to stop doing childish things. Taking to his official Twitter account, Mamata Banerjee's MLA said the saffron party thinks that the "Bengalis are fools".

"They are doing childish things on Maa Kali," he said.

Babul Supriyo, a former BJP MLA, who switched over to TMC after being dropped from the Union ministry last year, also hit out at West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for assuring a delegation of monks of taking all steps in his capacity as per law over the issue of comments on Goddess Kali by Mahua Moitra.

"It is a matter of great shame that, under the grace of the Hon'ble Governor, the Raj Bhavan is becoming the 'stage' of their political drama," he said.

On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who held a framed photo of Goddess Kali, was part of the delegation which met the governor at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.

"I will do whatever is possible in my capacity as per law," Dhankhar assured them.

Dhankhar reportedly told the delegation that the consciousness which is seen in Bengal about Goddess Kali is revered by the whole country, and the law needs to take steps on the comments made on the deity.

The governor, who has been at loggerheads with the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government since assuming office three years ago, said that he is pained by the situation in the state.

"The Constitution says that everyone is equal ... Such views do not exist here. Appeasement will dent democracy in this state," he said and claimed that only one section of the people are given relief, assistance and financial empowerment in the state.

Registering their forceful protest at unacceptable ignoble affront and outrage against Goddess Maa Kali #MAAKaali Sadhu Sant Samaj 200+ Delegation accompanied by President, Mecheda Sankhanad Temple @SuvenduWB submitted a representation to Guv seeking exemplary intervention. pic.twitter.com/9OEuGurfuS  Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) July 12, 2022

Holding that in the event of death of a person, his or her caste, creed or colour is not seen in providing relief, the governor iterated that he is seeing it is the other way round in Bengal.

"Problems arise when one is neglected, while the other is given all kinds of assistance. This is a big challenge to governance," he said.

Moitra had said at a conclave on July 5 that Kali, for her, was a "meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess", a comment which has drawn flak from many quarters. Since then, several police complaints have been made in various states against Moitra for the remarks.

(With agency inputs)
On July 1, Mamata Banerjee took a liberal stand on Draupadi Murmu, saying that the situation would have been completely different if she had known about the NDA's candidature in advance. Mamata Banerjee had said, "If we had got the suggestion about the BJP candidate earlier, we could have discussed it in the all-party meeting. BJP had contacted us but did not tell about the candidate." The West Bengal Chief Minister had said, "If we had known that they were planning to field a tribal woman or someone from the minority community, we could have considered it. We have great respect for tribals and women. We had agreed on Abdul Kalam. There are 16-17 parties in our alliance and I can't step back unilaterally. There are other parties too."

Presidential Election 2022 Date

Voting for the presidential election is on July 18 and the result will be out on July 21. President Ram Nath Kovind's term ends on July 24 and according to the Constitution, the election of the new President should be completed before that.

liberal Stand of Mamata Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee has played an important role in making Yashwant Sinha the opposition candidate. Now the liberal stand of Mamata Banerjee regarding Draupadi Murmu is being discussed. Two reasons are being given for this:

The tribal population in West Bengal and the BJP got a big victory in the tribal areas in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The second reason is that Draupadi Murmu is a woman and Mamata herself says that she is insistent about women.

It is being said that due to this remark of Mamata Banerjee about Draupadi Murmu, the MLAs and MPs of her party are in an uproar.

West Bengal BJP leaders Subhendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar have written to Mamata Banerjee seeking support for Draupadi Murmu. However, the Trinamool Congress has not formally responded to the request of the BJP leaders.

APJ Abdul Kalam VS Pranab Mukherjee

This is not the first time that Mamata Banerjee has changed her stand in the presidential election. Nearly a decade ago in 2012, the Trinamool Congress chief had demanded another term for APJ Abdul Kalam. But Abdul Kalam had made a condition that if all the parties agreed to his candidature, then only he would again become a candidate in the presidential election. In such a situation, Mamata Banerjee supported Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee. When Pranab Mukherjee came to West Bengal for the first time after becoming the President, Mamata Banerjee had organized a party to welcome him.

Tribal Vote Bank in West Bengal

It is not yet clear whether Mamata Banerjee's liberal stand on Draupadi Murmu is due to tribal vote bank or some other issue. According to the 2011 census, the tribal population in West Bengal was 6%. This population is concentrated in South and North Bengal. It was Mamata Banerjee who started the campaign to unite the opposition in the presidential election. She had come to Delhi and had a meeting with representatives of 17 opposition parties on June 15. Congress was also involved in this. On June 21, on the same issue, instead of Mamata, her nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had attended the opposition meeting.

Break-Up of Shiv Sena

After the break-up of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Eknath Shinde of the rebel camp forming the government with the BJP, many feel that Mamata Banerjee is no longer interested in the presidential election. Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra fell after Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister with the support of BJP. It is to be noted that less than a week is left for the presidential election and Yashwant Sinha has not gone for an election campaign in West Bengal.

Other Party Leaders Reaction

Regarding Mamata Banerjee's remarks on Draupadi Murmu, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had said, "It was DIDI who was mobilizing the opposition in the presidential election. It was she who forwarded Sinha's name. Now she is trying to run away from her responsibilities. If she is taking U-turn, it means that she must have got a call from BJP. She must have been under the pressure of Prime Minister Modi. In this way too, she has a good relationship with Modi. Congress is with its ideology and that's why we are opposing BJP."

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said, "She was absent when Yashwant Sinha filed her nomination. On the other hand, during the nomination of Draupadi Murmu, PM Modi, Amit Shah and other big leaders of BJP were also present. Mamata is now giving such a statement because she knows that defeat is certain. Mamata Banerjee works only for popularity. BJP had announced Murmu's name after Yashwant Sinha.

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty has said that no one had asked Mamata Banerjee to bring the entire opposition on one platform in the presidential election. Chakraborty said, "She did everything with her heart and is now trying to keep the opposition happy along with the BJP."
Kolkata: In order to communicate better with the people of the Darjeeling hills in north Bengal, who are predominantly Gorkhas, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to learn the Gorkhali language. She expressed this wish while addressing a function on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Nepali poet, Bhanu Bhakta. She said that she has already found a way to learn Gorkhali.



"One of my nephews is getting married to a girl who is a resident of Kurseong. Both of them are doctors by profession. I have decided to learn Gorkhali from her after the marriage," the chief minister said. Speaking on the occasion, she referred to the life of Bhanu Bhakta and said this great Nepali poet never believed in creating division among the people. "We in Trinamool Congress speak of unity among people. We believe that one can become a true leader only if he or she works among the people," the chief minister said.



On Wednesday morning, Banerjee moved around the streets of Darjeeling and interacted with the people, especially the children. She gifted chocolates to the children and also attended photo sessions with them. Incidentally, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were also in Darjeeling. On Wednesday, the governor invited the chief minister of both the states for tea. After the tea, the chief minister said that it was just a courtesy call and there was no discussion on politics. When asked whether there was a discussion between her and Biswa Sarma on the forthcoming Presidential polls, the chief minister said, "How is that possible since we are from two different parties?"



She refused to comment on the controversy over the new look of the national emblem. "I need to study that matter first and before that, I will not make any comment," she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has prepared a road map for the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, scheduled to take place in 2023. In order to strengthen the party in the state and to overthrow the KCR government, the party is holding many programs. From July 21, it will undertake a motorcycle journey in 15 different places under the name of `Palle Gosa - BJP Bharosa`, said an ANI report. The party workers will highlight the failures of the KCR government and make the people aware of the BJP government.

BJP Telangana in-charge Tarun Chugh told ANI, "BJP is fully prepared for the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections and for that booth strengthening program is going on. In the coming days, 30 Union Ministers will also come to Telangana," adding "The people of Telangana have made up their mind to overthrow the KCR government and this is the reason why lakhs of people of Telangana participated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Sankalp Yatra."

According to him, BJP`s recently concluded national executive meeting in Hyderabad also had a positive effect on Telangana, emphasizing it boosted the confidence levels among the party`s leaders and cadre in taking on the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the next elections. BJP`s state president Bandi Sanjay and about 30 other senior leaders are likely to join the `Palle Gosa - BJP Bharosa` program rally which will start on July 21.

Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay along with 30 other leaders will take part in the awareness rally, while the third phase of Praja Sangrama Yatra will start on August 2, wherein around 1000-2000 people are expected to join it. Three-four hundred people join the Sangram Yatra on the first day. The BJP leaders will reportedly organize bike rallies to find out about the problems in the villages and a key leader has been planned to go to each constituency.

Also read: BJP gears up to intensify 'Mission South' to oust 'parivarvaadi' regional parties from power

Taking a dig at Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Press Conference, Bandi Sanjay said that the political days of KCR are numbered and `there are several Eknath Shindes in TRS`. "How does CM KCR knows, what happens in the BJP National Executive Committee meeting. You are a state Chief Minister who is saying that the BJP doesn`t have any strategy. If the BJP doesn`t have any strategy then how can it be in power in 18 states. The language CM is using is very shameful, ANI quoted Bandi Sanjay as saying.

Undeclared 'Emergency' in India, says KCR

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said that an "undeclared Emergency" is on in India, adding "Indira Gandhi was bold enough to declare `Emergency`. But today there is an undeclared Emergency in India." Addressing the media, KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, made it clear that he is going ahead with his own plans for a national political party.

He said, "The Narendra Modi government should go and a non-BJP government should come," while welcoming the Supreme Court's recent observations on former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma`s plea. "Justice Surya Kant and Justice (J.B.) Pardiwala, I am saluting you. Please keep the same spirit to save India. The judiciary has to save the country from these traitors, demons, and dictators," IANS quoted him as saying.

He took potshots at the Prime Minister and recalled his pre-poll promise to get back black money stashed away in Swiss banks, adding "Instead of reducing black money, today there is far more money in Swiss banks."

BJP eyeing a southern surge in 2024 LS elections

The BJP appears to be aggressively reaching out to the southern states of the country, including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala. The BJP is currently a major player in Karnataka, emerging as a serious player in Telangana, a marginal player in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and almost non-existent in Kerala.

Despite being seen as a largely north and western Indian political party, the BJP successfully extended its footprint to the eastern parts of the country. The recently held National Executive at Hyderabad have amply indicated that the party is moving to tap this region in time for the next general elections in 2024.

Coming after 18 years, the event led to a lot of traction in Telangana where the party is positioning itself as the principal opposition to the ruling TRS led by KCR and his family. The BJP top brass also discussed the Southern strategy in great detail at the Hyderabad meet.

Last week, the central government`s list of Rajya Sabha nominees included one personality each from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Telugu states. Something unheard of till now, the development created a lot of buzz in public and political circles.

The south, with 131 Lok Sabha seats (including Puducherry and Lakshadweep) on offer is the only place where the BJP can look for new seats after establishing itself in its traditional strongholds of North and West India. When the BJP swept to power in 2014, it bagged just 22 seats from the region. In 2019, the BJP tally marginally increased to 30 seats from the south, of which 25 Lok Sabha victories were from Karnataka alone.

In 2024, the party will have to increase the tally substantially, a BJP leader told IANS. With the Congress which is its main opponent having almost lost relevance in majority of the southern states, the BJP is jumping in for the kill in states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Of the five states, Karnataka, and Telangana offer the most promise for the BJP.

With 28 and 17 Lok Sabha seats respectively, the BJP has been a beneficiary of rising communal differences in the two states which have substantial minority populations. In Tamil Nadu with 39 Lok Sabha seats, the prevailing Dravidian sentiments have so far prevented the BJP from making its presence felt, but with growing proselytisation activities of Christian groups and the rising Muslim fundamentalist activities, the party is garnering support in some parts of the state.

Although the state of Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha seats at stake, the BJP has never been able to make noticeable inroads here. Here too, prosylitisation has been the main target of the BJP with the party often targeting chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is a Christian, over incidents of temple vandalism.

The BJP has so far been content to play second fiddle to dominant regional player TDP which had parted ways ahead of the 2019 polls. In 2014, the BJP won two seats in alliance with the TDP and Jana Sena Party. It drew a blank in 2019 fighting on its own. Currently, the BJP has tied up with actor Pawan Kalyan`s Jana Sena Party and is expecting the three parties to get together ahead of the 2024 polls.

Of the 130-odd Lok Sabha seats at stake in the south, the BJP tally has so far not crossed 30 seats. Aiming for a third shot at power, and winning big in the southern states would make a lot of difference for the BJP in 2024.

(With ANI/IANS Inputs)
New Delhi: Seeking a smooth functioning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning July 18, the government has called an all-party meeting on Sunday morning, while the presiding officers of the two Houses will also meet the floor leaders of various parties. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has convened the meeting of floor leaders on Saturday, while Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu will meet the floor leaders of various parties on Sunday evening.

According to sources, the customary meeting of all parties has been called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi on Sunday morning to discuss the agenda and seek their support for the smooth functioning of the Parliament session. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may attend the meeting as he has done so in the past. They said that Birla has invited floor leaders of various parties for a meeting on Saturday evening at 4 pm. Naidu has convened the meeting on July 17 at 6 pm.

The Monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 18 and will continue till August 12. This will also be the last session for Naidu in his current term which is ending on August 10.

The notification for holding the election to the vice president's post has been made and the last date for filing nominations is July 19. Both the ruling BJP and the opposition are yet to name their candidates.
Fourteen Chinese nationals, including a woman, were detained on Wednesday here for allegedly staying in the country illegally since 2020, police officials here said. They all worked for a private company in Noida's Phase 2 and possessed valid passports but their business visas had expired, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Rajesh S said.

"The 14 Chinese nationals were detained by the Sector 49 police station team. The local intelligence unit had information that their visas had expired in 2020 but they had overstayed," the officer said.

The DCP said these detained people are not linked to a recent case in Greater Noida where another Chinese national who was staying illegally in India since 2020.
CSIR UGC NET Registration 2022: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has begun the registration process for the National Eligibility Test of the Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the University Grants Commission (CSIR-UGC NET). From July 11, 2022, interested candidates can apply for the CSIR UGC NET 2022 through the official website. Applicants have until August 10, 2022 to complete the application form.

CSIR UGC NET Registration 2022: Important Dates

Online registration and submission of Application Form through NTA Website: July 11, 2022.

The CSIR UGC NET Registration 2022 ends: August 10, 2022

Last date for successful transaction of Examination fee: August 10, 2022 (upto 11:50 pm)

Correction in the Particulars of Application Form online only: August 12 to 16, 2022

Downloading of Admit Card by the Candidate from NTA Website: to be announced soon.

CSIR UGC NET Registration 2022: Mode and Duration of Exam

Visit the official website csirnet.nta.nic.in

Click on the link that reads, Registration for Joint CSIR UGC NET June 2022 available on the homepage.

For new users, click on the new registration option.

Enter the registration credentials.

Once registered, log in again using the system-generated ID and password.

Fill out the CSIR UGC NET 2022 application form.

Upload the necessary documents.

Pay the application fee.

Download the CSIR UGC NET 2022 Application form.

Take a printout of the submitted CSIR UGC NET 2022 form for future reference.

CSIR UGC NET 2022: Registration Fee

General/EWS: Rs 1,000

OBC(NCL): Rs 500

SC/ST/Third gender: Rs 250

PwD: NIL

The Joint CSIR UGC NET is a test that is being held to determine the eligibility of Indian nationals for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Lectureship (LS)/Assistant Professor in Indian universities and colleges who meet the UGC eligibility criteria.
BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday accused the BJP of confusing people on the issue of Population control and deviating from real priority. She was apparently referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement on Monday, who said that population "imbalance" in the country can lead to anarchy.

"At a time, when the people are limiting their needs and are forced to lead a stressful life singed by extreme poverty and rising unemployment, is it wise of BJP to confuse people with long term issues like population control"" said Bahujan Samaj Party chief in a tweet in Hindi from her official handle. "Population control is a long-term policy issue, which needs more awareness than law, but instead of paying attention to the real priority of the country, the BJP governments are choosing devious and controversial issues.

"In such a situation how can the best of public interest, the country's interest be possible" People are sad and restless," she said in another tweet.

In an apparent reference to the Muslims, Adityanath had on the World Population Day said that population control programmes must not lead to an "imbalance."

Several BJP leaders have spoken against the rising population of the country, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in one of his Independence Day speeches, had suggested taking measures against what he then termed a "population explosion."

According to the UN, India's Total fertility Rate (TFR) has come down from 5.9 children per woman to 2.2 children per woman in 2020, just shy of 2.1 replacement level fertility. Replacement level fertility is the TFR at which population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, without migration.
Signal Peak Mine opponents have asked the nations top surface mine enforcement agency and the U.S. attorney for Montana to pause activity at the southcentral Montana coal operation until it can be investigated for compliance with federal mining laws.

The groups cite the federal governments own data about criminal activity at the mine, as well as a leaked U.S. State Department cable about stakeholder Gunvor Groups alleged ties with Russia. An Ohio bribery scandal involving the mines other major stakeholder, First Energy, was also referenced. The point of the letters, opponents argued, is that when making enforcement decisions, federal officials must consider what they know about the operator and its owners.

The meat of the argument centers on the federal governments successful prosecution of Signal Peak for environmental and safety violations in 2021. That prosecution resulted in an admission of guilt by the company, which was placed on probation for five years and fined $1 million. The violations included pumping mine waste into abandoned sections of the mine without preapproval from federal regulators.

The U.S. attorney has an obligation to investigate, said Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center co-director. The office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement also has an obligation to investigate. Nobodys done it and its just mind boggling that this mine has gotten away with what its gotten away with for as long as it has, she said. Everyone, I think, is hoping somebody else will take care of the problem.

MEIC, Billings-based Northern Plains Resource Council, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, Western Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice are the groups asking OSMRE and the U.S. attorney to act. Specifically, the groups ask OSMRE to perform a federal inspection within days of receiving the complaint, which is backstopped by the enforcement requirements of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

Contacted for this article, Signal Peak chose not to comment, as the company is involved in ongoing litigation with the petitioning groups over the expansion of the underground mine, located roughly 26 miles north of Billings.

In April, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Department of Interior under President Donald Trump greenlighted the expansion without effectively considering the greenhouse gasses released when the coal was eventually burned. The ruling, in which the justices were divided, remanded the case to U.S. District Court. In late June, the Department of Interior, Signal Peak, and 15 state attorneys general, Montanas included, asked the 9th Circuit Court as a whole to reconsider the panels decision.

Attempts to reach OSMREs regional office for this article were unsuccessful. The U.S. Attorneys office for the District of Montana said it had received the letter, but declined further comment at this time.

The requests for closer scrutiny by the U.S attorney, are sorted into three categories of previous investigations and suggests that federal investigators have shown the mine and its owners have a disregard and disrespect for the law.

The first category, concerns the environmental and safety violations at the mine, as well as the criminal activity of previous mine managers, namely Larry Wayne Price, former vice president of surface operations and former Signal Peak President Brad Hanson. Price was convicted in 2020 of stealing roughly $40 million from Signal Peak and private investors. In the process, he aided Hanson with a scheme of overbilling and fake equipment sales at the mine. At his sentencing, Price told the court he had told Signal Peak founder Wayne Boich, Jr. about Hanson defrauding the mine, but that the comment was ignored. The Gazettes reporting of the sentencing is cited in the letter to U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.

Prices case made headlines, first because the Tazewell, Virginia, man attempted to fake his own kidnapping, hiding with a waitress from a restaurant he owned before eventually surrendering to law enforcement. He alleged a motorcycle gang was behind the abduction. Later, it was revealed that an $11 million stone castle built by Price in Billings was an asset caught up the scam and was seized by creditors.

Price was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Hanson, 59, died at his home in Nokomis, Florida, and was never charged.

After Price was convicted in 2020, Signal Peak officials distanced the mine from the years of illegal activity under Hanson and Price, saying that with new management the activity had ended.

The second category concerns global commodity trading company Gunvor Group, which became a Signal Peak owner though a subsidiary in 2011. One of Gunvors founding owners, Russian Gennady Timchenko, was identified in March 2014 by the U.S. Treasury as providing material support to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the period in which Russia took Crimea from Ukraine. Treasury identified Putin as having investments in Gunvor and possibly access to Gunvor funds.

It worth noting that the same month as the Treasury announcement, Gunvor announced that Timchenko had sold his interest in the company in anticipation of sanctions, which never impacted Gunvor.

The petitioners also referenced a more recent instance in which Gunvors name surfaced in the federal prosecution of Raymond Kohut, convicted in July 2021 of a bribery scheme to secure petroleum contracts in Ecuador. In Kohuts case, Gunvor told the Associated Press it was cooperating in the investigation and described Kohut as a former agent. The company hasnt been charged in connection to Kohuts crimes.

The third category raised involves FirstEnergy Corp. a Signal Peak corporate founder. In a 2019 bribery scheme concerning the Ohio Legislature, FirstEnergy admitted, in a deferred prosecution agreement, to funneling tens of millions of dollars to then Ohio House speaker, Republican Larry Householder, and a chairman of the state utility commission, who in return advanced a law creating a customer-funded bailout of aging nuclear, and coal-fired power plants. Two other energy companies were involved in the scheme. The case against Householder is ongoing.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on July 26 the plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking a direction to the Centre to declare the 'Ram Sethu' as a national heritage monument. Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of Swamy that it was an urgent and "small matter" that needed to be listed for hearing.

On a lighter note, the CJI told Swamy that let it be listed "after my retirement". The CJI then listed it for July 26. On February 23, Swamy had also mentioned the plea saying that it has not come up for hearing for the last many months and that it be not deleted from the cause list. Swamy had mentioned his plea for an urgent hearing on April 8 last year as well.

On January 23, 2020, the apex court had said it will consider Swamy's plea after three months. The BJP leader had submitted that he had already won the first round of the litigation in which the Centre accepted the existence of Ram Sethu. He further said the Union minister concerned had called a meeting in 2017 to consider his demand but nothing happened subsequently.

Also read: Ram Sethu will not be damaged for Sethusamudram project: Centre tells SC

The BJP leader had raised the issue of declaring the Ram Sethu a national monument in his PIL against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government. The matter reached the apex court, which in 2007 had stayed work for the project on the Ram Sethu.

The Centre later said it had considered the "socio-economic disadvantages" of the project and was willing to explore another route to the shipping channel project without damaging the Ram Sethu. "That the Government of India intends to explore an alternative to the earlier alignment of Skeletomuscular Ship Channel project without affecting/damaging the Adam's Bridge/Ram Sethu in the interest of the nation," the affidavit filed by the ministry had said.

The court had then asked the government to file a fresh affidavit.

The Sethusamudram shipping channel project has been facing protests from some political parties, environmentalists and certain Hindu religious groups. Under the project, a 83 km-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of limestone shoals. The apex court had on November 13, 2019 granted six weeks to the Centre to clarify its stand on the Ram Sethu. It had also granted liberty to Swamy to approach the court if the response of the Centre was not filed.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday took a jibe at External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's current visit to the state, to which the External Affairs Minister said, "People should not feel so insecure." Vijayan indirectly said that this tour is being done keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Jaishankar said that he visited the southern state to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground. He hit back at the Chief Minister and said that if he thinks this is politics then our political motivation is completely different from him.

In his address at an event in Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayan particularly referred to the recent incident of the External Affairs Minister inspecting the under-construction Kazhakootam flyover on National Highway-66. He said that, "real intention behind the trip is well understood." Vijayan said, When it is said that a minister, who has been assigned the task of looking after global affairs, has gone to Kazhakootam to inspect the flyover, the people of the state can understand the real intention behind it. We must understand that this visit was not just to take stock of the flyover."

The Chief Minister smiled and said that after 10 to 18 months elections would be held across the country and it has been heard that the responsibility for the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in this Lok Sabha seat has been entrusted to Jaishankar. Asked about the chief minister's statement, Jaishankar said, "People should not feel themselves so insecure."

Jaishankar arrived on a three-day visit to Kerala on Sunday. Responding to a question from reporters, he had said there were "many reasons" for his visit to Kerala. The External Affairs Minister had said that he wanted to spend some time with his party colleagues in Kerala and understand how they were doing and what was happening here.
New Delhi: India on Wednesday (July 13, 2022) categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the travel of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane amid widespread protests against his government for mishandling the country's economy. "The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka said.

"It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework," it said in a tweet.

as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values , established democratic institutions and constitutional framework.(2/2) July 13, 2022

73-year-old Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards, left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane for Male, the capital of the Maldives. In a brief statement, the Sri Lankan Air Force confirmed that under the Constitution granted to an Executive President, Rajapaksa was flown to the Maldives onboard an Air Force plane Wednesday morning.

"On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Sri Lanka Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake international airport for the Maldives in the early hours of July 13," the statement said.

Rajapaksa, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, is believed to have wanted to flee abroad before resigning to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.

Earlier on Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees. Sri Lanka, an island nation of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

(With agency inputs)
Hyderabad: Due to the forecast of heavy rainfall in the State for the next three days, as well as the continued heavy rains and flooding in many parts of Telangana, the State government has declared that educational institutions in the State will be closed this week. They will reopen on Monday. The decision was made during a meeting called by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday afternoon, which included Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and Education Department Secretary V Karuna, among others.

ALSO READ: CBSE Board Results Date 2022 LIVE UPDATES: Board expected to declare Cbse class 10th, 12th results on THIS Date

The State government had previously declared holidays for all educational institutions from July 11 to 13 in response to the heavy rains that had lashed the state. ALSO READ: CISCE Result 2022 LIVE UPDATES: ISC, ICSE results to be declared THIS WEEK- check date and time here

The IMD in Hyderabad has issued a flash flood warning for North Telangana, with moderate to high risk in districts such as Asifabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, Rajanna Sircilla, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, and Mulugu until Monday morning. A holiday has been declared for Telangana Schools and Colleges until July 18, 2022, in order to protect students, teachers, and school staff.

ALSO READ: Bihar DElEd 2022: DELED First-year exam to be commenced from THIS DATE- check date and schedule
New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the government over price rise, rising unemployment and debt and the fall in the value of the rupee. "When 'Egonomics' trumps 'Economics'...," he said in a tweet citing figures of government debt, unemployment and the value of the rupee.

Congress MP shared a chart sharing such details and said while the government's debt in 2014 was Rs 56 lakh crore, it is Rs 139 lakh crore in 2022. Similarly, he said unemployment is at 7.8 per cent in 2022 against 4.7 per cent in 2014 and the LPG price is Rs 1,053 against Rs 410 in 2014.

The Gandhi scion also claimed that the per capita debt in 2022 is Rs 1,01,048 against Rs 44,348 in 2014 and the trade deficit now is USD 190 billion against USD 135 billion in 2014.

The chart also stated that the value of the rupee in 2014 was Rs 59 per US dollar and it is Rs 80 per dollar. Rahul Gandhi and Congress have been extremely vocal about Narendra Modi governments key policy decisions and stand on various issues of national importance.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi had on Saturday said people are now telling the prime minister that the obstacles "created by him" such as the LPG price hikes, fuel prices breaking all records, the "Gabbar Tax loot" and the "tsunami of unemployment" have exhausted them and he must stop now

Under the BJP rule, the prices of domestic LPG cylinders went up by 157%, fuel prices broke all records and the "Gabbar Tax loot" and a "tsunami of unemployment" hit the country, he alleged.

"In fact, the public is telling the prime minister -- these obstacles created by you have exhausted us, now stop," the Congress MP said.
Mumbai: A seven-year-old girl in Maharashtra's Palghar district has been found infected with the Zika virus. The health department has informed that the said girl is a resident of Ashramshala in Jhai of Palghar district. "Preventive and control measures in terms of surveillance, vector management, treatment and health education efforts are being taken," the Maharashtra Health Department said.

Zika Virus was previously detected in THESE states

Zika virus, which was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2016, has been detected in Gujarat (2017), Tamil Nadu (2017), Rajasthan (2018), Madhya Pradesh (2018). In 2017, Zika virus cases were detected from Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

What is the Zika virus?

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that spreads through the bite of an infected Aedes species of mosquito, which bites during the day. Symptoms of this disease include mild fever, rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or a headache. Notably, the virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus and can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people infected with the Zika virus can also transmit the disease to their sex partners.

What are the symptoms of the Zika virus?

- Malaise or headache

- Mild fever

- Rash

- Muscle and joint pain,

- Conjunctivitis

The incubation period of the Zika virus is estimated to be 3 to 14 days and the symptoms typically last for 2 to 7 days, as per experts. Though, most people do not develop any symptoms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).



Zika virus: What's the treatment?

Though, there is no specific medicine or vaccine for Zika virus heres what to do if diagnosed:

- Immediately, treat the symptoms

- Get an ample amount of rest

- Stay hydrated - drink enough fluids

- Take medicine such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) to reduce fever and pain.

- Do not take aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) until dengue can be ruled out to reduce the risk of bleeding

- If you are taking medicine for another medical condition, talk to your healthcare provider before taking any other additional medication

Also read: Covid-19 booster doses to be given for FREE for 18-59 age group at govt centres: Officials
Washington: With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. And its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy. The Kremlin's main pillar of financial revenue oil has kept the Russian economy afloat despite export bans, sanctions and the freezing of central bank assets. European allies of the U.S. Plan to follow the Biden administration and take steps to stop their use of Russian oil by the end of this year, a move that some economists say could cause the supply of oil worldwide to drop and push prices as high as $200 a barrel.

That risk has the U.S. and its allies seeking to establish a buyer's cartel to control the price of Russian oil. Group of Seven leaders have tentatively agreed to back a cap on the price of Russian oil. Simply speaking, participating countries would agree to purchase the oil at lower-than-market price. High energy costs are already straining economies and threatening fissures among the countries opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine in February. (Also Read: Russia-US talks over Ukraine tensions remain inconclusive amid Moscow's military buildup on its border)

President Joe Biden has seen his public approval slip to levels that hurt Democrats' chances in the midterm elections, while leaders in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy are coping with the economic devastation caused by trying to move away from Russian natural gas and petroleum. The idea behind the cap is to lower gas prices for consumers and help bring the war in Ukraine to a halt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently touring Indo-Pacific countries to lobby for the proposal.

In Japan on Tuesday, Yellen and Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi said in a joint statement that the countries have agreed to explore the feasibility of price caps where appropriate. However, China and India, two countries that have maintained business relationships with Russia during the war, will need to get on board. The administration is confident China and India, already buying from Russia at discounted prices, can be enticed to embrace the plan for price caps.

We think that ultimately countries around the world that are currently purchasing Russian oil will be very interested in paying as little as possible for that Russian oil, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told The Associated Press. The Russian price cap plan has support among some leading economic thinkers. Harvard economist Jason Furman tweeted that if the plan works, it would be a win-win: maximizing damage to the Russian war machine while minimizing damage to the rest of the world. And David Wessel at the Brookings Institution said an unpleasant alternative is not attempting the price cap plan.

If a price cap is not implemented, oil prices will almost certainly spike due to a European Union decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia. The EU also plans to ban insuring and financing the maritime transport of Russian oil to third parties by the end of the year. Without a price cap mechanism to reduce some Russian revenues, "there would be a greater risk that some Russian supply comes off the market. That could lead to higher prices, which would increase prices for Americans," Adeyemo said.

A June Barclay's report warns that with the EU oil embargo and other restrictions in place, Russian oil could rise to $150 per barrel or even $200 per barrel if most of its sea-borne exports are disrupted.

Brent crude on Tuesday was trading just under $100 per barrel. James Hamilton, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, said garnering the participation of China and India will be important to enforcing any price cap plan.

It's an international diplomatic challenge on how you get people to agree. It's one thing if you get the U.S. To stop buying oil, but if India and China continue to buy" at elevated prices, "there's no impact on Russian revenues," Hamilton told the AP. The less revenue Russia gets from selling oil, the less money they have to send these bombs on Ukraine," he said. (Also Read: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Ukraine's envoy to India, other foreign ambassadors)

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, said during a Monday news briefing that if it turns out that countries are imposing their own price cap and it is a substantial denial of revenue to Russia in terms of their ability to sell oil, that is not the failure of sanctions. That's actually the success of economic pressure because it is driving down revenues for Moscow. One possibility is that Russia could retaliate and take its oil off the market completely.

In that case, the main question is will countries have enough time to find alternatives" to prevent massive price increases, said Christiane Baumeister, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who studies the dynamics of energy markets. With five months until the end of the year, when EU bans begin to take effect, a Russian price cap plan would likely need to be in place and operating effectively to avoid further spikes in gas prices that have frustrated U.S. Drivers. Biden has warned that high gas prices this summer were the cost of stopping Putin, but prices could climb to new records and lead to economic and political pain for the president. Without the price cap, if the EU import ban goes into effect together with the insurance ban, Baumeister said, the impacts will be passed onto consumers through gasoline prices.
Srinagar: Terrorism in Kashmir will not end until the government wins the hearts of the people in the Valley and seeks a solution by talking to Pakistan, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Wednesday. Condemning the killing of a police officer by terrorists on Tuesday, he said people will keep on dying till a solution to the Kashmir issue is found.

The caravan of terrorism will not end. Their (BJP) ministers and other leaders issue statements that it has ended, but I want to tell them that this will not end till you do not try to win the hearts of the people of Kashmir and seek its solution after talking to our neighbouring country, Abdullah told reporters at party headquarters Nawa-i-Subah' here.

Abdullah, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, condemned the killing of assistant sub-inspector of police Mushtaq Ahmad in the Lal Bazar area of the city.

His son was killed in 2020 by military (in an encounter). It is unfortunate that he (Ahmad) was killed by militants. We do not know who the killer is and who the saviour of the people here is. This is strange. We all condemn it and pray for him. We also pray for the family to bear this loss, he said.

The NC president sought a handsome compensation from the administration for the slain policeman's family so that they live with dignity. Asked about the situation in Sri Lanka and whether something like that can happen in India, Abdullah said anything can happen.

God save us. We pray that we do not have to face such a situation. We also pray for the people of Sri Lanka that God take them out of these difficult times they are in. Also, may God let this government understand the situation so that they take steps to avoid it here, he said.

In response to a question on family planning, Abdullah said whether the government targets a particular community or anyone else, it should understand that India is a country with diversity.

This is a diverse country. Nothing is similar between Tamil Nadu and Kashmir -- not food, not culture, not language, not even weather -- but what keeps us together is that we have to progress together, and remove poverty, diseases and adversity.

The biggest aim was unity of India. We have to make diversity stronger, then only will there be unity. If we try to break this diversity, then this country will fall into misery and it will be very difficult to take it out from there, he added.

Abdullah took a dig at the administration for not allowing political parties to pay homage to July 13, 1931 martyrs.

It is unfortunate that they not only cancelled its holiday but also stopped people from paying their tributes. This is a huge mistake, he said. Asked about the controversy over the national emblem, the NC president said all this will happen in slavery.

They can even run a road roller tomorrow. Pharaoh (an ancient ruler of Egypt) also did this. What had Pharaoh done? He persecuted people. But what happened then? So, let them do it, how much they want to. God is there and He will remain. He belongs to everyone and He is watching all this. A time will come and He will act, Abdullah said.
Chennai: Tamil star Vikram has showered praise on the Mozart of Madras, A.R. Rahman, calling the ace music director who has scored music for his upcoming film 'Cobra', a living legend.

Participating in the audio launch event of the film in Chennai, Vikram jokingly said, "I shouldn't place my hand on my chest for there is a good possibility that people might say that I have suffered a heart attack."

Referring to a section of the media that had wrongly reported that he had suffered a heart attack, Vikram said, "I saw lots of wrong information out there. Some said I had suffered a heart attack and that I was lying at a hospital. There were some who photoshopped my face onto some poor patient."

To the delight of his cheering fans in the audience, he added: "I feel that I have seen lots and that this is nothing. When my family, my fans, my friends and people like you support me, nothing can happen to me.

"That is because you all know that I suffered an accident when I was 20 years old and that I faced a situation where my leg had to be amputated. When I have recovered from such a situation and come back, all this is nothing."

Vikram went on to clarify, "I only had a small chest discomfort and that was blown out of proportion. Thank you."

Stating that he had always lived for cinema, Vikram said: "A long time ago, I did an advertisement when I hadn't come to cinema. I played a Chola king in an ad for a tea brand. A cameraman called Chang, a technician called Subramani and a musician named Dilip worked on it as well. Today, I have played the role of the Chola king Aditya Karikalan, that too in an epic film like 'Ponniyin Selvan' under the direction of my dream director Mani Ratnam.

"The man who was Dilip then, has won two Oscars and is known the world over and is present before us today as A.R. Rahman sir. What this shows is that if you have a dream for yourselves, if you have a goal and if you work for it, whoever you are, you can reach heights that you never imagined. Rahman sir is a big example of that. I have to thank you sir for giving such a great honour to our country," Vikram said.

He went on to add, "Rahman sir is a living legend. Be it 'Ponniyin Selvan' or 'I' or 'Ravanan', I get a fresh burst of energy when I act in his songs because I have loved his music and I am such a great fan of him."
New Delhi: Garena Free Fire releases redeem codes on everyday basis. The 12-digit redeem code consists of alphabets and numbers. Players can get rewards such as skins for in-game weapons and characters to improve their gaming experience.

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(Also read: Shocking! Ex-Amazon Web Services engineer hacked data of 10 crore customers)

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ELKO  Another round of lightning on Wednesday sparked multiple fires in the Elko District, including one near a youth camp about 60 miles south of Elko.

Cowboys Rest provides a non-denominational Christian camping experience at a ranch in the Ruby Mountains along the White Pine County border. An initial estimate of the fires size was eight acres.

Another fire started around 3 p.m. in the Cedar Ridge area west of Jiggs. It burned about 10 acres before it was contained. There have been multiple fires in the wilderness study area in recent years.

Lightning began starting fires around 1:30 p.m. in eastern Elko County, where a blaze near the Gamble Ranch burned about 20 acres. Another fire about 10 miles northwest of Wendover burned a tenth of an acre.

Wednesdays fires followed a dozen that broke out during thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon. The combined burn areas were estimated at just over 100 acres.

Firefighters continued to hold a blaze that started south of the Elko County line on July 9 to just under 6,000 acres. The Becky Peak Fire is the largest so far this year. It is estimated to be 40% contained, with full containment anticipated by Monday.
Washington: Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quick enough to react to a lawsuit filed against him by Twitter for breaching the USD 44 billion contract. Minutes after news surfaced online that Twitter has sued him, Musk took to the microblogging site and just simply tweeted, "Oh the irony lol."Without mentioning anything about the lawsuit, It`s somehow clear that Musk has referred to the ongoing controversy, especially considering that, back in April, Twitter reportedly did not even want to go through with the deal.

As per The Verge, the lawsuit was filed in Delaware`s Court of Chancery on Tuesday, accusing Musk of hypocrisy."Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions," Twitter wrote in the lawsuit.The lawsuit marks the beginning of what could be a protracted legal battle as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to his deal to pay USD 54.20 per share for the company.

Twitter, which is being repped by M&A powerhouse law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, alleged that Musk looked for an escape from the deal, which required a "material adverse effect" or breach of contract."Musk had to try to conjure one of those," the lawsuit stated.

Musk announced the termination of a USD 44 billion Twitter purchase deal in a letter sent by Musk`s team to Twitter last week. Musk decided to suspend the deal due to multiple breaches of the purchase agreement.In April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at USD 54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately USD 44 billion.

However, Musk put the deal on hold in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter`s claim that less than 5% of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.

Back in June, Musk had openly accused the microblogging website of breaching the merger agreement and threatened to walk away and call off the acquisition of the social media company for not providing the data he has requested on spam and fake accounts.

A few days ago, Musk ridiculed Twitter for initiating a legal battle to force him to purchase the company. Musk tweeted four images of him laughing, "They said I couldn`t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn`t disclose bot information. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot information in court."
KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the appeasement politics of the Mamata Banerjee government in the state, which, he alleged, was destroying the essence of the democracy. The governor also alleged that there is "no space available in the state for political activity of opposition parties". Dhankhar also claimed that it will create a "serious imbalance" in society.

Dhankhar claimed that development and empowerment have been "communalised" in the state in terms of finance and government jobs. "Communalised patronage is antithetical to democratic values. We are witnessing extreme appeasement ..... This appeasement will destroy our democracy," he said at the Bagdogra airport.

Our state has serious problems of governance. I appeal to civil society and intelligentsia to speak about this serious problem of governance. We are witnessing extreme appeasement and this appeasement will destroy our democracy: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar pic.twitter.com/RREdhrPi1Y  ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022

The Governor also alleged that the Mamata-led government has turned the bureaucrats into puppets of the ruling party.

Although the spat between the Governor and the Mamata Banerjee government is nothing new, this is the first time that Dhankhar has launched such a direct attack against the bureaucrats. The governor also said that it was high time that intellectuals and members of the civil society came out and protested against the existing bureaucratic and administrative setup of the state government.

"The bureaucrats have become puppets in the hands of the state`s ruling party. There is no space for the opposition voice in the state. Unless we work hard this system will never change. I am saddened by the silence of the state`s intellectuals and members of the civil society. My question to them is that can appeasement be allowed in the bureaucratic system. This is actually against the basic essence of democracy," Dhankhar said after landing at Bagdogra Airport in North Bengal on Wednesday afternoon. Thereafter he left for the hills in Darjeeling.

According to him, often the media remains silent under pressure about the functional flaws in the system. "We have heard of tall talks of investments in the state for the past three years. But in reality, no such investment has materialised as yet. Unless we open up against the system the future generation will never forgive us," the Governor said. He added that he was determined to change this system.

Reacting to the Governor, Trinamool Congress secretary-general and the state commerce & industries minister Partha Chatterjee said, "The governor has only two tasks now, which are unnecessarily criticising the state government and issuing Twitter messages. If he behaves like a representative of a party, he will lose his respect as the Governor of the state."

West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee too criticised the Governor. "The Governor House is losing its honour because of the biased behaviour of the current Governor. Even we are saddened by the manner he is using the Governor House," Banerjee said.

(With Agency Inputs)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday (July 13, 2022) was appointed as acting President after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. Wickremesinghe then declared a state of emergency in Sri Lanka as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo.

"The prime minister as acting president has declared a state of emergency (countrywide) and imposed a curfew in Western Province," Wickremesinghe's media secretary, Dinouk Colombage, told Reuters.

Western Province includes Colombo.

The speaker of parliament said Rajapaksa had approved Wickremesinghe acting as president, invoking a section of the constitution dealing with times when the president is unable to fulfill his duties.

As news of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's flight to Maldives spread, thousands of people gathered at the main protest site in Colombo chanting "Gota thief, Gota thief", referring to him by a nickname.

#WATCH Sound of gunshots fired in the air heard as protesters gather outside Sri Lankan PM's residence in Colombo pic.twitter.com/mB3oBBCHJQ  ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022

Sri Lanka crisis: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees to Maldives

Amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis and ahead of his expected resignation, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday. Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards, left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, the air force said in a statement. The president would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, Reuters reported.

Rajapaksa, who has not been seen in public since Friday, was due to step down as president on Wednesday to make way for a unity government. He had taken the decision after thousands of protesters stormed his and the prime minister's official residences on Saturday, demanding their ouster.

Parliament, notably, is scheduled to elect his replacement on July 20.

Sri Lankans blame Rajapaksa family for current problems

The Rajapaksa family, including former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has dominated the politics of the country of 22 million for years and most Sri Lankans blame them for current problems.

The tourism-dependent economy has been hammered badly by the Covid-19 pandemic and a fall in remittances from overseas Sri Lankans. The Rajapaksas brought in populist tax cuts in 2019 that affected government finances while shrinking foreign reserves curtailed imports of fuel, food and medicines.

In the island country, petrol has been severely rationed and long lines have formed in front of shops selling cooking gas. Headline inflation hit 54.6% in June and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70% in the coming months.

Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister in May

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president's elder brother, resigned as prime minister in May after protests against the family turned violent. He reportedly remained in hiding at a military base in the east of the country for some days before returning to Colombo.

Protests against the government have simmered since May but erupted afresh last Saturday when hundreds of thousands of people surged into Colombo and occupied key government buildings and residences.

Earlier on Tuesday, immigration officials prevented another of the president's brothers, former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, from flying out of the country. He resigned as finance minister in early April amid heavy street protests against fuel and food shortages and quit his seat in parliament in June.

(With agency inputs)
Shanghai: China reported 338 new COVID-19 infections on July 12, of which 98 were symptomatic and 240 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That is compared with 424 new cases a day earlier, 107 symptomatic and 317 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. There were zero new deaths, the same as a day earlier, keeping the nation`s fatalities at 5,226.

As of Tuesday, mainland China had confirmed 226,909 cases with symptoms. China`s capital Beijing reported no new local symptomatic cases, compared with none a day earlier, and no local asymptomatic cases versus zero the previous day, the local government said.

Shanghai reported five new local symptomatic cases, compared with five a day earlier, and 50 local asymptomatic cases versus 54 the previous day, local government data showed. All Shanghai cases were reported in quarantined areas.

Nagging COVID outbreak damages Shanghai economy

Anxiety levels rose along with temperatures in Shanghai on Wednesday, as medical workers sweated beneath their hazmat suits while administering compulsory mass testing for COVID-19 in a city that recently emerged from a painful two-month lockdown.

China`s commercial hub is battling an outbreak that has seen dozens of new infections recorded daily for the past week, and though the numbers are relatively low it has unnerved many among the city`s 25 million people, who suffered during the lockdown in April and May.

And daytime temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104F) added to the febrile atmosphere among a population that dreads the psychological and financial costs of another such ordeal.

Ying Jie, a personal trainer, said that even if Shanghai avoids another lockdown, he intends to close his gym for good, just one year after opening it, as he can no longer cope with the uncertainty.

Gyms in some areas of the city, including Ying`s, were ordered to suspend operations this week due to the outbreak. "We were open from July 1 to July 10," Ying said. "I can`t not pay rent, but I can`t open. If I open in secret and there are positive cases connected to my gym, I`ll lose my license. The risk of getting fined is too great."

While most other major countries are choosing to live with the virus, China has adhered to a "dynamic zero-COVID" policy that aims to eradicate outbreaks early, but its economy is paying a price.

The authorities` hopes of success lie in relentless screening and targeted isolation orders, which have so far been issued to hundreds of residential buildings and business venues.

Lockdowns in Shanghai and elsewhere earlier this year have battered the world`s second-largest economy, with ripples felt across global supply chains and international trade.

Although China`s foreign trade grew in May and June after a drop in April, the outlook remained unstable, Li Kuiwen, a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, told reporters.

ESCAPE PLANS

City authorities have repeatedly dismissed talk of broader curbs, even as they warned about risks posed by the highly-transmissible Omicron BA.5.2.1 subvariant. All the 55 new local cases reported for July 12 were discovered among people already under isolation orders.

But many residents are stocking up on basic supplies, preparing for the worst. "There are no signs that they will lock down our neighbourhood right now. But there were also no signs the first time," said Omri Hephner, an Israeli business consultant. "I will escape Shanghai as soon as I can this time, regardless of the signs I see," Hephner said, adding that he intends to go to Beijing, then home to Israel, and will only return to China once COVID policies are relaxed.

Overall, mainland China reported 261 new domestically-transmitted COVID infections on July 12, versus 347 the previous day. Nomura analysts estimate more than 30 cities are facing COVID curbs.

In the northwestern province of Gansu, which reported 69 local cases on July 12, the city of Lanzhou with over 4 million residents said on Wednesday that for the next seven days, only one person per household can leave residential compounds to get groceries. Non-essential workers are banned from going to offices.

In the central province of Henan, key urban areas in the city of Zhumadian entered a three-day lockdown from Tuesday, with residents only allowed out for COVID tests, hospital visits and shopping for basic necessities.

The rules came after the town of Qinyang, which is under Zhumadian`s jurisdiction, imposed an indefinite lockdown from Sunday on its nearly 700,000 residents. Infections have also been detected in the southern province of Guangdong, the eastern provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu and elsewhere.
New Delhi: "A picture is worth a thousand worlds," Google said on Tuesday (July 12, 2022) as it celebrated the deepest infrared photo of the universe ever taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope with a special Doodle. The American space agency on Tuesday released the first full-color, high-resolution pictures from the largest, most powerful observatory ever launched to space, designed to peer farther than before with greater clarity to the dawn of the universe.

The debut photos, which took weeks to render from raw telescope data, were selected by NASA to show off James Webb Space Telescope's capabilities and foreshadow science missions ahead.

Are we alone in the universe? Howd we get here?



The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope help us #UnfoldTheUniverse & answer the questions above



Todays #GoogleDoodle celebrates the deepest infrared photo of the universe ever taken  https://t.co/pMopFK62KE pic.twitter.com/CIuvEiBT1z  Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) July 12, 2022

Nearly two decades in the making, the $9 billion infrared telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, and reached its destination in solar orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth a month later. With Webb finely tuned after months spent remotely aligning its mirrors and calibrating its instruments, scientists will embark on a competitively selected agenda exploring the evolution of galaxies, the life cycle of stars, atmospheres of distant exoplanets, and moons of our outer solar system.

It's time. #UnfoldTheUniverse with us, and join the global watch party for the first full-color images from the world's most powerful space telescope, @NASAWebb. https://t.co/iLDER3c8k6 https://t.co/iLDER3c8k6  NASA (@NASA) July 12, 2022

The crowning debut image, previewed on Monday by US President Biden but displayed with greater fanfare on Tuesday, was a "deep field" photo of a distant galaxy cluster, SMACS 0723, revealing the most detailed glimpse of the early universe recorded to date.

James Webb Space Telescope shows galaxies of SMACS 0723

The SMACS 0723 image below shows a 4.6 billion-year-old galaxy cluster whose combined mass acts as a "gravitational lens," distorting space to greatly magnify the light coming from more distant galaxies behind it. One of the older galaxies appearing in the "background" of the photo - a composite of images of different wavelengths of light - dates back about 13.1 billion years.

Underscoring the vastness of the universe, the thousands of galaxies appearing in the SMACS 0723 image appear in a tiny patch of sky roughly the size of a sand grain held at arm`s length by someone standing on Earth.

At least one faint galaxy measured among the thousands in the image is nearly 95% as old as the Big Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set the expansion of the known universe in motion some 13.8 billion years ago, NASA said.

Among the four other Webb subjects getting their closeups on Tuesday were two enormous clouds of gas and dust blasted into space by stellar explosions to form incubators for new stars - the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, each thousands of light years away from Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope's image of Carina Nebula

The new Carina Nebula photos expose contours of its massive clouds never seen before.

James Webb Space Telescope's image of Southern Ring Nebula

The image of the Southern Ring Nebula below shows the dying stellar object at its center was a binary pair of stars closely orbiting one another.

James Webb Space Telescope's image of Stephan's Quintet

The collection also included fresh images of another galaxy cluster known as Stephan's Quintet, first discovered in 1877, which encompasses several galaxies NASA described as "locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters."

Apart from the imagery, NASA presented Webb's first spectrographic analysis of a Jupiter-sized exoplanet more than 1,100 light years away - revealing the molecular signatures of filtered light passing through its atmosphere, including the presence of water vapor. Scientists have raised the possibility of eventually detecting water on the surface of smaller, rockier Earth-like exoplanets in the future.

James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope, which is built to view its subjects chiefly in the infrared spectrum, is about 100 times more sensitive than its 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which operates mainly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. The much larger light-collecting surface of Webb's primary mirror - an array of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal - enables it to observe objects at greater distances, thus further back in time, than any other telescope. Its infrared optics allow Webb to detect a wider range of celestial objects and see through clouds of dust and gas that obscure light in the visible spectrum.

All five of Webb`s introductory targets were previously known to scientists, but NASA officials said Webb`s early imagery proved it works as designed, better than expected, while literally capturing its subjects in an entirely new light.

The Webb telescope is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies.

(With inputs from agencies. Picture credits: NASA)
New Delhi: Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapakasa fled the country, said reports citing the Island nation's PM's office. Military personnel uses tear gas shells to disperse protestors who scaled the wall to enter Sri Lankan Prime Minister's residence in Colombo.

According to an ANI report, hundreds of furious protestors entered the premises of the Sri Lankan PM's residence in Colombo as they breach the security deployment amid tear-gas shelling.

#WATCH Protesters face to face with military personnel deployed outside Sri Lankan prime minister's residence in Colombo



Ranil Wickremesinghe is a failed prime minister, says a protester. pic.twitter.com/6TtfT9wvky  ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022

Former Advisor to Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry told ANI, "We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns the PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in."

Sri Lanka | We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in: Former Advisor to Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry pic.twitter.com/Q7Xf4K3Ahf  ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022

Notably, military personnel were deployed outside Sri Lankan prime minister's residence in Colombo.

#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Air patrolling being conducted by security forces as protestors storm Sri Lankan PM's residence in Colombo pic.twitter.com/HlOjmvFUNf July 13, 2022

According to media reports, 73-year-old Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards, left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane for Male, the capital of the Maldives. Sri Lankan Air Force confirmed that under the Constitution granted to an Executive President, Rajapaksa was flown to the Maldives onboard an Air Force plane Wednesday morning.

"On government request and in terms of powers available to a President under the Constitution, with complete approval from the ministry of defence, the President, his wife and two security officials were provided a Sri Lanka Air Force plane to depart from the Katunayake international airport for the Maldives in the early hours of July 13," the brief statement said.

India, however, denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the travel of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane. "The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka was quoted as saying.

"It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework," it said in a tweet.

(With Agency Inputs)
Kyiv: Ukraine said on Tuesday it had carried out a long-range rocket strike against Russian forces and military equipment in southern Ukraine territory it says it is planning to retake in a counter-offensive using hundreds of thousands of troops. The strike hit an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and killed 52 people, Ukraine`s military said. It came after Washington supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems which Kyiv says its forces are using with growing efficiency.

The town`s Russia-installed authorities gave a different version of events. The Russian TASS news agencies reported they said that at least seven people had been killed in the attack and around 70 injured. A Russian-backed official in Kherson said at least seven people had been killed and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

The area Ukraine struck is one that Russia seized after launching on Feb. 24 what Moscow called "a special military operation" in its fellow ex-Soviet neighbour and is of strategic importance with Black Sea access, a once-thriving agricultural industry and a location just north of Russian-annexed Crimea.

Ukrainian government officials have spoken of efforts to marshal up to a million troops and of their aim to recapture southern parts of the country now under Russian control. "Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), and Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armoured and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka," Ukraine`s southern military command said in a statement.

Unverified videos posted on social media showed smoke and sparks, followed by an immense fireball erupting into the night sky. Images released by Russian state media showed a wasteland covered in rubble and the remains of buildings.

An official from the Russian-backed local administration said that Ukraine had used HIMARS missiles and that they had destroyed warehouses containing saltpetre, a chemical compound which can be used to make fertilizer or gunpowder. A large explosion resulted. Russia`s TASS news agency reported later that the fires were extinguished.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the kind of weapon used. "There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed Kakhovka District military-civilian administration, was quoted by TASS as saying. He said that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

COUNTER-ATTACK PLANS

The conflict has blocked access to Ukraine`s grain and cooking oils, exacerbating a global food crisis. More than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in silos at the key Black Sea port of Odesa. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey would meet U.N. officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukrainian grain.

"We are working hard indeed but there is still a way to go," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters.

As Russia blockades Ukraine`s main Black Sea ports, Ukraine Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov said grain shipments via the Danube River had increased with the reopening of the Bystre canal, which provides access to small inland river ports.

Ukraine expects monthly grain exports to rise by 500,000 tonnes as a result, Vaskov said. Ukraine is also negotiating with Romania and the European Commission about increasing shipments through the Sulina canal, he said.

Russia has accused Ukraine of shelling its own people in the territory where it has lost control. Ukraine says it evacuates as many people as possible from areas seized by Russian forces in what it and the West have cast as an attempted imperial-style land grab by Moscow. Kyiv and the West say Russia`s own strikes have been indiscriminate, killing civilians and levelling city districts.

Moscow denies targeting civilians but many Ukrainian population centres have been left in ruins as Europe`s biggest conflict since World War Two grinds towards the five-month mark.

The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that 5,024 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began, adding that the real toll was likely much higher.

Russia has tried to introduce the rouble in Kherson and is offering Russian passports to locals. Russian-installed officials say they also plan to hold a referendum on the region becoming part of Russia but have not yet set a date.

Ukraine is itself bracing for what it expects will be a massive new Russian offensive in the east where Moscow says it is determined to take control of all of the industrial Donbas region.

Russian forces, which earlier this month completed the capture of Luhansk province in the Donbas, have for weeks been shelling parts of neighbouring Donetsk province.

Regional Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said there was a significant buildup of Russian troops, particularly in the Bakhmut and Siversky areas, and around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

The entire front line in the region was under constant shelling as Russian troops tried to break through but were being repelled, he said. Ukraine says ships pass through Danube rivermouth

Ukraine sparked hopes Tuesday for an increase in grain exports despite Russia`s blockade of Black Sea ports, noting that ships had started to pass through an important mouth of the Danube river. "In the last four days, 16 ships have passed through the Bystre river mouth," Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov was quoted as a saying in a ministry statement. "We plan to maintain this pace."

The ministry said the 16 vessels were now waiting to be loaded with Ukrainian grain for export to foreign markets, while more than 90 more vessels were awaiting their turn in Romania`s Sulina canal.

Only four ships could be received per day along the Sulina route, he said, while a rate of eight per day was needed. But Ukraine was negotiating with Romanian colleagues and European Commission representatives about increasing the rate of crossings, he added.

If such conditions were met, and with the opening of the Bystre, he said Ukraine expected this ship congestion would end within a week and that monthly exports of grain would increase by 500,000 tonnes.

Before Russia`s invasion, the ministry said, sea ports accounted for about 80 per cent of Ukraine`s export of agricultural products, but food exports are now restricted to Danube ports, railways and roadways to the west.

Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Ukraine said it had carried out a long-range rocket strike against Russian forces in southern Ukraine, killing 52 people. Pro-Russian forces said the strike hit civilian infrastructure, killing seven and injuring around 70. The United Nations said more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in the war.

FIGHTING

* A Ukrainian assault on an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region killed 52 people, Ukraine`s military said. It came after Washington supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems which Kyiv says its forces are using with growing efficiency.

* Nova Kakhovka`s Russia-installed authorities gave a different version of events. The Russian TASS news agencies reported they said that at least seven people had been killed in the attack and around 70 injured. A Russian-backed official in Kherson said civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

* At least 12 people were injured in shelling of the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, the regional governor said. In the northeast, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine`s second city, told Ukrainian TV that it was under constant Russian shelling.

* The death toll under a collapsed apartment block in the Donetsk region town of Chasiv Yar has climbed to 43, with rescue work still not over four days after the building was hit by Russian rocket fire, emergency services said.

* Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts.

ECONOMY/DIPLOMACY

* The European Union has so far frozen 13.8 billion euros ($13.83 billion) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow`s war against Ukraine, the bloc`s top justice official said.

* Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet U.N. officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukraine grain from the major Black Sea port of Odesa as a global food crisis worsens. More than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in silos in Odesa.

HUMAN IMPACT

* The UN human rights office said more than 5,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, adding that the real toll was probably much higher.
ELKO  Northeastern Nevada is under another red flag warning Wednesday following a series of 10 lightning-sparked wildfires Tuesday afternoon in the Elko District.

The largest blaze was estimated at 25 acres at Izzenhood north of Battle Mountain. A fire near the Bottari Ranch northeast of Lamoille burned 20 acres.

A fire near Ruby 360 Lodge and another in Taylor Canyon each burned 10 acres.

Smaller fires were reported at Trout Creek, Cedar Ridge, Hot Creek, the ONeill Basin, Ruby Valley and Dry Creek.

A trace of rain fell in Elko during Wednesdays storms. Eureka received .22 of an inch.

The National Weather Service is predicting highs around 100 degrees and gusty winds up to 25 mph in the Elko area Wednesday, along with a chance of thunderstorms.
ELKO  Connecting with flights in Salt Lake City will be easier when SkyWest changes the timing of its commuter flights in and out of the Elko Regional Airport beginning Aug. 1.

The City of Elko and the Elko Regional Airport are excited to announce a significant change to the daily flight schedules operated by SkyWest Airlines, city officials announced Tuesday. Effective Aug. 1, new schedules have been introduced that will arrive into Elko at 5:27 p.m. with the return flights to SLC departing at 6:10 p.m.

The new schedule is effective until Sept. 11.

The new timing of these daily flights will allow for ideal connections to and from two of Deltas strongest banks of connecting flights, nearly doubling the number of connections available to Elko travelers, the statement continued.

In February, SkyWest reduced operations to one daily flight out of Elko Regional airport, arriving at approximately 2 p.m. and departing about 40 minutes later to Salt Lake City.

Advantages of flying out of Elko Regional Airport includes, local convenience, inexpensive parking, less drive time, no overnight stays in Salt Lake City, and less hassle, the city stated Before driving to Salt Lake City, please check www.Delta.com or www.Flyelkonevada.com to book a convenient, comfortable and now well-timed flights from your hometown airport.

The Elko City Council approved a third version of a transportation services agreement for one year and a maximum liability of $950,000 with the regional Delta carrier on April 12. Two previous versions approved by the Council were not executed by SkyWest.
A contest on the history of Vietnam and Laos launched by the Party Central Committee Commission on Popularization and Education

According to the article, since the past, the two countries have had strong neighborly relations. The solidarity between the two peoples has created a brotherhood. This strong relationship has its roots in the two countries' struggle for liberation from a common aggressor. In all circumstances, the people of the two countries always stand shoulder by shoulder.

Chairman Kaysone Phomvihane once assessed that in the history of world revolution, there have been many shining examples of proletarian international sentiment, but never and nowhere has there existed an especially long-term and comprehensive solidarity like the Laos - Vietnam relationship.

The Geneva Agreement on Laos, signed in 1962, created conditions for the two countries to officially establish diplomatic relations on September 5, 1962.

After Laos gained complete independence in 1975, the two countries signed the Laos-Vietnam Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1977, which facilitated post-war recovery and improved people's lives.

According to the Vientiane Times, 2022 is the year the two countries celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Laos-Vietnam Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. This is an opportunity to reminisce about the Ho Chi Minh route running along the western slope of the thousands of kilometers long Truong Son mountain range, which passes through 5 provinces of Laos.

President Kaysone Phomvihane once concluded that the Ho Chi Minh Road created favourable conditions for the liberation of South Vietnam and gave impetus to the Lao revolution. Vietnam reunified the country in April 1975 and Laos was liberated in December 1975.

The article concluded that the new generations of Vietnam and Laos cherish the special relationship and are always assured of a strong future rooted in this neighborly relationship. This is a legacy of the sacrifices of revolutionary seniors, the wisdom and foresight of President Kaysone Phomvihane and President Souphanouvong of Laos, and President Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam./.
At the talks (Photo: VGP)

Vietnam is Argentina's third largest trading partner in Asia and a key partner in South-South cooperation, while Argentina is Vietnam's third largest trading partner in Latin America.

At the invitation of Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina Santiago Andres Cafiero visited Vietnam from July 9-11.

At the talks held on July 11, the two sides informed each other about the situation of each country, exchanged and agreed on directions and measures to strengthen the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Argentina, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.

Minister Bui Thanh Son expressed his joy and appreciation for Mr. Santiago Cafiero's first visit to Vietnam as Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina. The Minister affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to the traditional friendship and the Vietnam-Argentina Comprehensive Partnership, and hopes that the cooperation will continue to develop in depth, on the basis of the potentials and strengths of the two sides.

He spoke highly of the two countries coordination and support at international organisations and multilateral forums, suggesting they step up collaboration at the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation and South-South cooperation.

The minister said that as Argentina is holding the rotating presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), it should promote its cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which Vietnam is a member.

Santiago Cafiero noted that the Argentine government hopes for stronger relations with Vietnam, and agreed that the two countries should maintain close coordination to consolidate and expand cooperation, both bilaterally and multilaterally, for the sake of their people and to contribute to the settlement of global challenges, including food and energy crises, and climate change.

The ministers shared the view that the bilateral comprehensive partnership has been consolidated and strengthened, and the two sides have effectively maintained existing cooperation mechanisms, as well as in-person and online meetings at all levels amid COVID-19.

They reached a consensus on measures to deepen cooperation in a range of areas, from politics and diplomacy to economy, trade, agriculture, science-technology and culture-sports-tourism; and also concurred to expand the collaboration in other potential areas like oil and gas, renewable energy, space research and maintaining supply chains, especially in food and foodstuff.

The two sides will also effectively maintain political consultation at a deputy ministerial level, and the Vietnam-Argentina inter-governmental committee on cooperation in economy, trade and investment, while coordinating to organise activities marking the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (October 25, 1973).

After the talks, the ministers signed a cooperation agreement on fighting trans-national organised crime, and another on human trafficking prevention, control and investigation, and victim support and protection./.
Delegates at the program (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

This has been an annual event of the school for the past 10 years, but it was suspended 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brazilian students went to the Vietnamese Embassy to learn about Vietnam and ask for support with materials and ideas to prepare for this event.

With the slogan "Protect the common house", the students spent a week preparing decorative models imbued with Vietnamese culture such as fairs, Buddhist beliefs, Tet festivals, and terraced fields, Cu Chi Tunnels, Ha Long Bay and Da Nang Dragon Bridge from recycled items such as plastic bottles, jars, paper and paperboard.

The typical Vietnamese hat dance performance was also excellently performed by the Brazilian students and received high praise from the judges.

The Board of Directors of La Salle Aguas Claras High School thanked the Vietnamese Embassy for their enthusiastic support, bringing great success to the program./.
Vietnamese lychees on sale at a supermarket in Japan. (Photo: baodautu.vn)

Currently, import-export turnover between Vietnam and Japan ranks fourth, after partners China, the United States and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

According to the latest information of the General Department of Customs, in the first 6 months of 2022, Vietnams export turnover to Japan totalled 11.38 billion USD, up nearly 13% over the same period last year, equivalent to 1.3 billion USD. Vietnams export goods are quite diverse, from agricultural products to processing and manufacturing goods.

During the period, 3 groups of export goods with the value of more than 1 billion USD include: textiles and garments, with nearly 1.67 billion USD; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts, 1.364 billion USD; and means of transport and spare parts, 1.2 billion USD.

In addition, many commodity groups have turnover of hundreds of millions of USD, such as: seafood (800 million USD); computers, electronic products and components (603.7 million USD); phones and components (538.7 million USD); footwear (495.8 million USD); and plastic products (386 million USD).

Meanwhile, imports from Japan in the six months of the year reached 12 billion USD, up 10.6% year on year, equivalent to an increase in turnover of 1.15 billion USD.

Similar to exports, during the period , 3 groups of imported goods hadwith turnover of more than 1 billion USD, including: computers, electronic products and components, with more than 3.5 billion USD; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts, 2.14 billion USD; and iron and steel, more than 1 billion USD.

In 2021, bilateral trade between the two countries reached 43 billion USD, of which Vietnams exports were valued at 20.13 billion USD and imports were worth 22.8 billion USD./.
The Ukraine Recovery Plan, the draft of which the government presented at a conference in Lugano (Switzerland), should present businesses with more favorable conditions for work than they were before the war, the business ombudsman, Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine (2014-2019) Roman Vaschuk believes.

"There are certain signs of this in the prime minister's presentation. I would like to hear more clearly what the government's new accents are in providing a favorable business environment, primarily for Ukrainian business," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

As Vaschuk stressed this will determine how much foreign business wants to be a partner of Ukrainian business in massive injections into the country for post-war reconstruction.

At the same time, the business ombudsman expressed confidence that this is possible. According to him, in Lugano he talked with a man who manages a project of the Austrian company Head.

"They have resumed the construction of the world's largest ski factory since April. There is investor confidence, there are people in Ukraine who are ready to make it a reality, and construction continues," Vaschuk said.

According to him, projects are also being implemented to relocate and expand office space in western Ukraine.

"The question is how to make their life as easy as possible, so that they can launch projects and complete them, so that normal taxes and turnover enrich the economy. Not to wait for an imaginary, magical end (of the war), since it is not known whether it is so sudden  any day - or, conversely, it will be a little protracted process. So ensuring the success of businesses in an uncertain situation is a big challenge, but it is necessary," Vaschuk stressed.

According to him, in the regions of Ukraine where there are no hostilities now and the situation has more or less returned to normal, business is trying to mobilize and work, but problems that existed before February 24 are again arising in communication with government agencies.

Speaking about the current work of the business ombudsman's office, he said that so far there are obstacles to the implementation of all regulatory acts, but the office operates as an online helpline.

"We accept applications, consider and try to decide," Vaschuk explained.

He added that as part of proactive work, the office, together with the State Tax Service, also held six webinars to explain all the changes and innovations to businesses and remove possible questions.
The main result of the conference on Ukraine recovery in Lugano, Switzerland, was to bring together the countries and institutions that will help Ukraine, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said.

"I think the main result of the Lugano conference was to bring together these countries and institutions including international financial institutions that will help Ukraine. It was a show of solidarity. Money transfers are nice and pledges and statements by individual politicians, leaders who come here and those who President [of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelensky addresses via video links  it is of course all nice, fine and necessary but it's also very good to get together in one room (thank God we can do it again after Covid) and feel this solidarity. This I think was the main achievement," he said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.

Some recovery is already ongoing including with the EU assistance, the diplomat said.

"Still small but there is a fund where EU member states pay in to restore the electricity lines for instance. When you say recovery, reconstruction then you sort of automatically think  when the war is over and Ukraine will have won. Actually reconstruction needs to be done simultaneously and Ukraine is doing this pretty effectively, restoring bridges," Maasikas said.

He added that several countries, partners and institutions like the EU Commission made their pledges during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano.

"This is also very important. Prime Minister [of Ukraine Denys] Shmyhal presented Ukraine's preparations  also very important, because it will have to be done by Ukrainians, it cannot be anybody else. Financing comes from where it comes from but the work will be done here and a solid Ukrainian structure needs to be in place. It seems to us that Ukraine is pretty well ready for that," the EU Ambassador said.

He also stressed that the principles of transparency must be observed.

"Whatever are the circumstances the taxpayers of the countries that will come to help will want to know that corruption risks are down and transparency, normal competition comes in building back better and greener," Maasikas said.

At the same time, he said it is only fair that the aggressor must pay for recovery of Ukraine and Russian assets that have been confiscated should be put to this purpose.\

"It is only fair that the aggressor must pay. Russian assets that have been confiscated across your partners should be put to this purpose. It's a very straightforward principle  not that easy to implement here. As far as the EU is concerned different national legislation comes in. Italy for instance who has the experience of confiscating people's money in its fight against the mafia has a solid legal framework in place, other countries may not have this," the diplomat said.

Maasikas stressed that on top of that how much ever this brings  contributions will be needed by the countries, institutions, financial institutions.

"These discussions are still open: how will this look like, how will the money be channeled, through how many different platforms or funds. The truth is also that the amounts, the needs are growing every day, but we are talking in any case of the hundreds of billions of Euros. Managing these very different sources and very big money - it takes expertise that is not really there because the case is so unique. So this all still takes time," he said.
The Ukrainian World Congress has filed a lawsuit with a demand to declare that the decision of the Canadian government to grant permission to Siemens Canada which allowed the return of repaired Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany, is unfounded and unauthorized, and to issue an order to cancel such permission, according to the Congress website on Wednesday.

"Over the past several days, the Ukrainian World Congress together with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has been pleading with the Government of Canada to revoke the waiver provided to Siemens Canada which allows the return of repaired Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany. We have also called upon the Government to ensure that all sanctions that have been imposed by Canada on Russia remain in place and are significantly enhanced," the report notes.

"To date, our efforts have been unsuccessful, and we have had no choice but to take legal action. Today in the Federal Court of Canada, the Ukrainian World Congress has filed a notice of application for judicial review together with Daniel Balik, a Canadian citizen, practicing lawyer, and current resident of Ukraine," the report says.

The application states that the decision to grant the permit was not reasonable, transparent, or properly authorized.

"Canada's decision to break sanctions and send the Siemens' turbine back to Russia is a grave mistake with dire consequences. This exemption to the sanctions regime against Russia is totally unacceptable. There are real alternatives to Germany's gas needs, including buying through Ukraine's pipeline. We cannot supply a terrorist state with the tools it needs to finance the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people. This is not just about a turbine or possible many turbines to support Russia's energy exports, this is about continuously succumbing to Russia's blackmail," Paul Grod, President and CEO of the Ukrainian World Congress, said

He also noted that people and businesses that believe in freedom, democracy and human rights could and should come together to find breakthrough solutions to the energy crisis created by Russia.

"If the court decides that the decision to grant the permit was unreasonable, it can quash the permit, effectively upholding the sanctions regime" Monique Jilesen, Partner at Lenczner Slaght and legal counsel to the co-applicants, said.

"The legal action taken by the UWC is meant to set the precedent that remaining Nord Stream 1 turbines should not be serviced on Canadian soil and sanctions in place should not be waived. Instead, this application for judicial review should set the stage for all parties involved to find a solution which does not trade turbines for Ukrainian lives," the Ukrainian World Congress said.
Negotiations on grain exports are in the final phase, it is necessary to resolve security issues related to Russia's position, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"We are two steps away from an agreement with Russia. It is necessary to resolve security issues related to Russia's position. We are in the final phase and now everything depends on Russia. If they really want to, grain exports will begin soon. If they use this to continue playing their Hunger Games, they will continue to insist on the importance of negotiations," Kuleba said in an interview with El Pais, the European Pravda says.

The minister stressed that the truth is that Russia is not interested in Ukraine exporting grain, because it will receive income from international markets, and this will make it stronger.
As a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, 349 children were killed, more than 652 were injured, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) reports.

"As of the morning of July 13, 2022, more than a thousand children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation. According to the official information of juvenile prosecutors, 349 children were killed and more than 652 received injuries of varying severity," the report says.

These figures are not final, as work is underway to establish them in the places of active hostilities, in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories.

On July 12, two boys aged 2 and 17 were wounded in the town of Siversk, Donetsk region, as a result of shelling. A two-year-old child is in serious condition.

Due to the bombing and shelling by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, 2,126 educational institutions were damaged. Of these, 216 were completely destroyed.
The temporarily occupied city of Melitopol suffers a critical shortage of blood products as it is impossible to supply them from Zaporizhia, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has said.

"The thermal and climate delivery chain for blood products is rather complicated. And we are unable to support it due to the fact that the Rushists open all containers and refrigerators at the checkpoints. As a result, we deliver blood that cannot be used. There is a critical need for it today. I can tell you more: the temporarily occupied territories are out of some blood groups," he told a press briefing hosted by the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center on Wednesday.

At the same time, Fedorov said the efforts of volunteers still make it possible to supply city hospitals with essential medicines.

He stressed that around 50% of civilians stay in Melitopol today.

"According to estimations, 60,000 to 70,000 people stay there as of today. Around 45-50% of the city population stay in the territory of the temporarily occupied city," the mayor said.
South Africa: Drive to avert water shortages in Nelson Mandela Bay intensified

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), in conjunction with Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM), has embarked on a public water saving campaign to ensure that there is adequate water for everyone in the area.

The municipality launched a public water awareness campaign on Wednesday to encourage residents to use water sparingly in order to push back 'Day Zero'.

During the campaign launch held at 12 of the busiest intersections in the city, which dominated morning traffic, motorists and pedestrians were implored to reduce water consumption immediately and utilise 50 litres of water per person per day.

A total of 90 water ambassadors employed by the city put up 70 hanging boards and disseminated approximately 40 000 leaflets containing information, such as 'We have a problem; together we can turn it around; #EveryDropCounts; # SaveWaterNow; #PushBackDayZero and 50 litres per person per day'.

Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Eugene Johnson, who also joined the team of water ambassadors in conscientising residents about the water crisis in the area, urged water users to adhere to strict water saving measures.

We are faced with a dire predicament and we all need to come to the party. If we dont save water now, our taps are soon going to run dry. Let us do our utmost to keep our water utilisation to a maximum of 50 litres per day per person, Johnson warned.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation, the metro has not experienced any significant rainfall for the past seven years and this has led to water levels dropping alarmingly low.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian tactics of strikes on peaceful cities, deportations and economic pressure should not become a global norm and world order should be restored.

He said this while addressing the participants of the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul.

"Some 100 days that have passed since my appeal to your parliament [Korea] fully showed the tactics of Russia. Every detail of it. This is terror," he said.

Zelensky said "the Russian army organizes its offensive so that its cannons and missile artillery can hit ordinary residential areas of ordinary cities."

"The second point is missile terror. Some 2,960 missiles this morning, that is how many missiles Russia managed to launch at our cities. The key target of the missiles is civilian facilities," he said.

"The third point is deportation. Just imagine this number  two million people. So many of our people have already been taken to Russia. Several hundred thousand children. No one will name the exact figures now  all these taken away people are deprived of their means of communication, their documents are taken away, they are intimidated and they are tried to be transported to remote regions of Russia so that it would be as difficult as possible for them to return home, to their homeland," the president said.

He also called "economic shock" one of the elements of tactics. "Look at just one example  the events in Sri Lanka. A shocking increase in food and fuel prices led to a social explosion. Nobody now knows how this will end. However, you all know that the same explosions are possible in other countries affecting the food and energy crises," Zelensky said.

According to him, the fifth point of Russian tactics is propaganda. "Perhaps no other state in the world has spent so much money on the deliberate spread of disinformation, conspiracy theories, anti-scientific conspiracy theories, including vaccines, as Russia does," he said.

"Russian tactics should not become a global norm and world order should be restored... I am sincerely grateful to the Republic of Korea, which understands that this is exactly the situation. That we need to act together," Zelensky said.
The appointment of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) is technically the simplest of the EU recommendations, Brussels is waiting for further steps from the Ukrainian authorities, EU Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said.

"The nomination committee of the Special anticorruption prosecutor had finished its work in December already. So indeed if ask me of this list what is technically the easiest then definitely this should be one. We are waiting for Ukrainian authorities' further steps there," Maasikas told Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, when asked how critical this is for Ukraine and the EU's support for Ukraine, the ambassador said that he would not like to establish a link between EU assistance and concrete steps.

"I would not want to put this kind of link as you seem to imply in question. I do not want to put this kind of link between EU assistance and concrete steps. We do not want to and we do not have to operate with our Ukrainian colleagues in a way that 'if you don't do this - then this assistance will not be forthcoming.' No, that is not the way our cooperation works," Maasikas said.
Russian S-300 missile shot down in Kharkiv region, its pieces collected as evidence of Russia's war crimes  police

The police investigators have found pieces of the Russian S-300 missile, which was shot down by the missile defense system in Kharkiv region on July 13 at night, Deputy Chief of the Main Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region Serhiy Bolvinov said.

"The shell detonated and fell into pieces. The investigators found the nose and the tail sections of the missile as an evidence of the war crime. All necessary investigation procedures are being conducted," he said on Facebook.

A part of the unexploded missile was removed and handed over to the explosive experts of the State Emergency Service. There were no casualties.

Earlier, Head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov said that the Russian occupation forces tried to mount a missile attack on Kharkiv from the territory of Belgorod region on July 13 at night.
Discussions on providing macro-financial aid to Ukraine up to EUR 9 bln taken longer than usual, but EU to deliver on promises including this  ambassador

Discussions on providing Ukraine with additional macro-financial assistance in the form of loans of up to EUR 9 billion have lasted longer than in some cases, but the EU will fulfill its promises, including this, EU Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said.

"The European Commission in May proposed granting Ukraine additional macro-financial assistance in the form of loans of up to EUR 9 billion still in 2022. Normally the Commission only puts forward a proposal and these are the member states who collectively take the decision consulting the European parliament and other bilateral and multilateral international partners, including the G7. And the truth is that these discussions have taken longer than in some previous cases. But I am 100% sure that the EU will deliver on its promises including on this one," Maasikas told Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that since the Russian aggression started, the EU has mobilised around 4.1 billion to support Ukraine's overall economic, social and financial resilience in the form of macro-financial assistance, budget support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid. Military assistance measures have also been provided under the European Peace Facility, amounting to a total of EUR 2 billion, that will be used to reimburse Member States for their in-kind military support to Ukraine, Maasikas said.

"Between March and May 2022, EUR 1.2 billion in macro-financial assistance have been disbursed to Ukraine. The EU is also providing additional grant support of EUR 120 million to help state and resilience building. Some EUR 348 million has been made available for humanitarian aid projects to help civilians affected by the war in Ukraine. This includes EUR 335 million for Ukraine and EUR 13 million for Moldova respectively, to provide assistance to people fleeing the aggression. This EU humanitarian aid provides food, water, healthcare, shelter and helps cover people's basic needs," the diplomat said.

In addition, according to Maasikas, all EU projects in Ukraine have been repurposed to support Ukraine's resilience.

"As for the EU's normal assistance we, at the Delegation, have a portfolio of EUR 250 million yearly  all EU projects. They all have been allowed to repurpose to support Ukraine's resilience. Take the EU's flagship program EU anticorruption initiative (EUACI). People who before February 24 had been fighting corrupt judges in March were purchasing bullet-proof vests and helmets for the same judges in order to help Ukraine's resilience," he said.
The Ukrainian leadership is doing a very good job so that the war against Ukraine does not disappear from the radar, said EU Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas.

"We are in situation that a nuclear power in Europe attacks its neighbor without any reason, any cause with clearly stated aim to tear up its territory. That is too big and too grave as a threat for whole Europe security to be forgotten just like that. Indeed, Ukraine's leadership does a very good job in keeping the Ukrainian issue, war against Ukraine on the radars not to be forgotten and so far did it very successfully," Maasikas told Interfax-Ukraine.

The ambassador said he does not feel tired of Ukraine, the Ukrainian crisis among some countries.

"No. I know that for Ukraine's leadership this is one of the calculations, one of the fears. Indeed, humans are incredibly adaptable and it is in human nature that humans get used to many things. Even in times of war people also fall in love, get married and pursue their lives. This also means that something that yesterday was considered as absolutely unacceptable and unprecedented becomes part of the reality now," he said.

Maasikas also drew attention to the fact that one of the main reasons for granting the candidate status to Ukraine was public opinion in the EU member states, and so far there is definitely support for public opinion.

"It is not secret to you that one of the main reasons if not the main reason of decision to grant candidate status to opening EU's door for Ukraine was the public opinion in EU member states - of course not only that, the political class, political leadership feel and understand the gravity of the situation and gravity of the threat to their own countries. But it was public opinion, in all but one EU countries more than 50% were of the opinion that Ukraine should be an EU member state and that helped. So far the support in terms of public opinion is clearly there," the ambassador said.
US Senator Brewer arrives in Zaporizhia to assist, debunk myths of Russian propaganda about war in Ukraine  city council

U.S. Senator Tom Brewer has arrived in frontline Zaporizhia to study the situation in detail, provide assistance and debunk the myths of Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine, secretary of Zaporizhia City Council Anatoliy Kurtiev has said.

According to him, Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer, who has served in the U.S. Army for more than 36 years, is touring Zaporizhia region, as well as other regions, to write a report on the war in Ukraine and provide effective assistance.

"The senator believes that the world should know the truth about the full-scale war in Ukraine, so he studies the real situation on the ground in detail and works to debunk the myths of Russian propaganda," Kurtiev said.

Brewer paid attention to the defense system of Zaporizhia, located not far from the frontline. To date, the regional center has three lines of defense, which makes it unlikely that the enemy will want to approach the city by land.

At the same time, air threat remains in Zaporizhia.

According to Kurtiev, in response to Senator Brewer's question about the current needs of Zaporizhia today, local authorities replied that the city, as well as the region and all of Ukraine, especially needs heavy weapons.

Brewer said that based on the results of his trip, he plans to raise a number of important issues in the United States about assistance to Ukraine  from military to humanitarian.
In order to fulfill the EU recommendations, Ukraine does not need historical innovations, they can be implemented during the war, EU Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said.

"I do not say that not much should be done but we know very well that the EU is there to assist you and Ukrainian authorities know what needs to be done. No historical groundbreaking innovations are needed in delivering on those recommendations. I am very proud that at my meetings now after June 23 with Ukrainian leadership, ministers and Zelensky's advisers the understanding of the urgency and a sincere wish to deliver on these recommendations is there. It will be maybe even bigger challenge in some areas on the EU's side to keep the pace to be able to as quickly start discussing the details on some of those recommendations but on most we have the details as well in place," Maasikas told Interfax-Ukraine.

He said there were no special problems on this list that would make it possible to argue that this was not possible during the war.

"Of course war not only kills people but also complicates a lot of things. That is clear. One may with justification say that: 'How can we reform the security service while the war is ongoing?' One of the huge achievements of Ukraine during this war is keeping the government running and keeping Ukraine's democracy working. So even in March in the very difficult days, first weeks Verkhovna Rada was meeting and adopting reforms and laws. That gives me hope and confidence that the issues that I entailed in the recommendations can be dealt with. To my mind on that list there are no particular issues that one could argue that it's not doable during the war," Maasikas said.

The ambassador drew attention to the fact that this list is not a requirement, but a recommendation to Ukraine, which is a sign of confidence in the country.

"If I had drafted this decision, I would have used the word trusting that work is being done in these seven areas. It is a show of trust towards Ukraine. You know that normally it works the other way round, as by the way the method that was applied to Georgia: first you do this, this and this  then we consider a candidate status. The trust towards Ukraine is so high in the EU at the moment that our leaders were able to take decision this way round. Again I am very proud of that," he said.

Maasikas said that none of this would have been possible without the Association Agreement that actually triggered the Revolution of Dignity and also was the reason that Putin started the war against Ukraine in 2014.

"The implementation of the agreement over the 5 last years has brought us closer together, has taught us to work together and also has helped Ukraine to move in the EU direction on several areas," he said.

The ambassador said that in all these areas that are now in these recommendations work has been done already, things are under work.

"Take the judicial reform. Last summer two groundbreaking laws were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada: on High council of justice and High qualification commission of judges which actually provide for complete overhaul of the judicial system. It is an issue also personally close to my heart, I worked very closely to with several Ukrainian politicians and leaders to achieve these laws. Implementation had started and now the implementation must be completed. I am very proud that the High council of justice has restarted very quickly after the outbreak of the war, also the High qualification commission of judges has announced re-launch of the work," the official said.
Dozens of Ivorian soldiers held in Mali and accused of being mercenaries have been charged with attempting to harm state security and remanded in custody, judicial sources told AFP on Sunday.
Israeli occupation forces said they had killed a Palestinian man who allegedly tried to stab their officers during a raid on his home in east Jerusalem early Monday.
Expectations were raised Friday that the first U.N. grain transport ship could soon be leaving Ukraine for Africa, while more Russian shelling struck the east of the country, shifting the war between hope and despair on Friday.
Press Release

July 12, 2022 STATEMENT OF SENATOR AQUILINO "KOKO" PIMENTEL III ON POLYMER BANKNOTES Pimentel urges Senate to investigate BSP for 'impractical' P1,000 polymer notes, hasty changes in the design of banknotes and coins. Opposition Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to stop the issuance and the production of the P1,000 polymer banknotes amid mounting complaints about its practical use as a legal tender. At the same time, Pimentel has filed a resolution urging the Senate to conduct a legislative inquiry on BSP's inclination to constantly change banknotes and coins at the expense of Filipino taxpayers. Pimentel said the BSP's decision to use polymer instead of the indigenous abaca (also known as Manila hemp) in its new P1,000 bills is not only detrimental to the livelihood of local abaca producers but is also very impractical to many Filipinos who are used to storing their bills on their pockets, purses, or their trifold wallets. "The issuance of these polymer bills to replace our old banknotes is absolutely absurd. Our bills should be designed in such a way that they can withstand a minimum amount of abuse like crumpling and folding. Parang gusto pa yata nila ilagay sa frame yung bills para kunwari matibay. The BSP should suspend the production of these banknotes ASAP," Pimentel said. Pimentel said that while polymers are supposed to be sturdier than abaca, it does not have the needed flexibility to allow people to safely store their bills in their pockets, purses, money clips, or even small wallets. Polymers are also very sensitive to chemicals. Pimentel also expressed concern that the replacement of the abaca as a material for producing the P1,000 banknotes could impact negatively on the country's US$ 97.1 million per year (from the exports of abaca fiber and manufactures) abaca industry. According to the Department of Agriculture, the Philippines dominates the global abaca trade as the country supplies about 87.5 percent of the world's abaca fiber requirements, and Ecuador and Costa Rica the remaining 12.5 percent as of 2016. In 2016, abaca was planted on 180,302 hectares (ha) with production reaching 72,000 metric tons (MT). Pimentel also questioned BSP's "rather arbitrary and hasty changes in our monetary design for the purpose of crafting legislation on this matter." In his resolution, Pimentel added that there is a need to find out the answers to the following questions whenever the BSP changes the design of our coins and notes: 1. Who else or what other agencies or offices are involved or consulted whenever a decision changing the monetary design of the Philippine Peso is made by the BSP? 2. How much is the cost to the Filipino taxpayers whenever banknotes and coinage designs are changed? 3. What were the problems encountered by the BSP when the New Design Series was demonetized? 4. Whether or not there have been complaints from the public? 5. What are the reasons behind the BSP's decision to change the current 1,000 banknote, said to be the most difficult to counterfeit, to be "improved" by the new 1,000 polymer note? 6. Whether or not the new 1,000 polymer note is truly a "limited series" considering that the BSP announced that around 500 million copies of this new polymer note, or five hundred billion pesos (500,000,000,000.00) in total worth, will be printed?
Egypt increased fuel prices Friday in its latest round of subsidy cuts under a reform package agreed with the International Monetary Fund, Egyptian authorities said.

Gasoline and Diesel fuel prices increased by 1.25 LE per litre. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Petroleum, the 95 octane gasoline cost hiked to LE 9 from LE 7.75 per litre. The 92 octane gasoline saw an increase from LE 6.75 per to LE 8 per litre, whereas the gasoline 80 cost increased to LE 6.75 from LE 5.5 per litre.

Diesel fuel price increased from LE 5.5 to LE 6.75 per litre, while a meter of natural gas for vehicles increased to LE 3.5 from LE 2.75.

Cooking Liquefied Petroleum Gas prices increased by 30 percent, hiking from LE 50 to LE 65 cost for the cylinder.

The latest cut in fuel subsidies is a condition of a $12-billion loan secured from the IMF in November 2016. It is the fifth and final hike in petrol prices as Egypt prepares to receive the last $2-billion tranche from the monetary body.

The Washington-based body commended Cairo in April for its "substantial progress".



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Egypt and Saudi Arabia discussed on Monday ways of boosting bilateral ties in different domains as well as cooperation on a host of regional and international issues of mutual interest.

This came during a meeting held in the Saudi capital Riyadh between representatives of the Egyptian-Saudi Follow-up and Political Consultation Committee, according to a statement released by the Saudi foreign affairs ministry.

The meeting was co-chaired by Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Alaa Moussa and Saudi Assistant Minister for African Affairs Sami bin Abdullah Al-Saleh and a group of officials from both countries.

The committee's last meeting was held in Cairo in December 2021 between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Saudi counterpart Faisal Bin Farhan, in the presence of officials from both countries.

The meeting witnessed exchange of views concerning regional and international issues as well as the stances of both countries regarding threats against stability and security in the region.

In joint press conference between the Egyptian and Saudi foreign ministers, Shoukry said that Egypt was working closely with Saudi Arabia to achieve the security and stability within the region.

The committee was founded as per a memorandum of understanding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia in June 2007 to promote coordination and cooperation between the two sides.

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US President Joe Biden, preparing for a trip to Saudi Arabia amid criticism of its poor human rights record, defended his decision in a newspaper opinion piece, insisting that he had long supported reforms and sought to ``reorient but not rupture'' relations with a longstanding strategic partner.

In the article posted online Saturday night by The Washington Post, Biden pointed to developments in the Middle East that he contended had made the region more stable and secure than when the Trump administration ended, among them intense diplomacy as well as military action against state-sponsored attacks.

But his framing of the Saudi relationship in particular appeared defensive, especially with some in the US demanding that he not lend legitimacy to the government with a visit.

Biden linked US strength and security to countering Russian aggression and competition from China, then argued that engaging directly with countries like Saudi Arabia could help promote those efforts.

The president said he aimed to strengthen a US-Saudi partnership ``going forward that's based on mutual interests and responsibilities, while also holding true to fundamental American values.''

``I know that there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia,'' Biden wrote.

``My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank.''

It was notable that Biden's op-ed appeared in the Sunday opinion section of the Post, whose writer Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents in 2018.

On that issue, Biden contended he had responded with sanctions against the Saudi forces involved in the killing and issued scores of visa bans for anyone found harassing dissidents abroad.

* This story has been edited by Ahram Online

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Expanding joint action to counter Iran will top the agenda during US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday, urging a "decisive" response to Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Addressing his second cabinet meeting since taking office on July 1, Lapid called Biden, who is due in Jerusalem on Wednesday, "one of the closest friends that Israel has ever had in American politics".

The visit "will focus first and foremost on the issue of Iran," said Lapid, who is serving as premier and foreign minister of a caretaker Israeli government until elections scheduled for November 1.

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency report that emerged over the weekend, Iran has informed the Vienna-based watchdog about enhancements in its uranium enrichment capacity.

"Yesterday, it was revealed that Iran is enriching uranium in advanced centrifuges in complete contravention of the agreements it has signed," Lapid said Sunday.

"The international response needs to be decisive: to return to the UN Security Council and activate the sanctions mechanism at full force," he added.

Israel opposes the restoration of a 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers that offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

The US walked out of the deal in 2018 under then president Donald Trump, who proceeded to reimpose biting sanctions on Tehran.

Many in Israel cheered that development, which prompted Iran to step away from many of the nuclear commitments it made under the accord.

Negotiations seeking to restore the deal, including indirect talks with the US, took off in Vienna in April last year, but have been at an impasse since March.

Beyond Iran's nuclear programme, Israel has sounded growing alarm about Tehran's support for the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which this month sent drones towards an Israeli Mediterranean oil rig that Beirut claims is in disputed waters.

The Jewish state has also accused Iranian agents of plotting to kidnap or kill Israelis in Istanbul.

"Israel will not stand idly by while Iran tries to attack us," Lapid said. "We will discuss with the president and his team expanding security cooperation against all threats."

The White House's National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Thursday said "greater collaboration" on issues such as air defence, particularly with regards to countering Tehran, would be on Biden's agenda during the Middle East trip.

Biden's tour also includes a stop in Saudi Arabia, Iran's main regional rival.

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Israel's prime minister expressed hope Sunday that his country will establish formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, days before President Joe Biden visits the two countries as part of a regional trip.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic relations, but have shared clandestine security ties over a mutual enmity of regional arch-rival Iran. The kingdom is widely believed to be among a handful of Arab states weighing open ties with Israel.

``Israel extends its hand to all the countries of the region and calls on them to build ties with us, establish relations with us, and change history for our children,'' Prime Minister Yair Lapid said during a weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said Biden will carry ``a message of peace and hope from us'' when he embarks for Saudi Arabia.

Israel's ties with Arab states have grown since normalizing relations with four Arab states in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

Defense cooperation has tightened since the Pentagon switched coordination with Israel from US European Command to Central Command, or CENTCOM, last year.

The move lumped Israel's military with those of former enemy states, including Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations that have yet to recognize Israel.

Biden is set to arrive in Israel Wednesday for three-day trip that will also include meetings with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank. From there, he will fly directly to Saudi Arabia.

Formal ties with Saudi Arabia would be a major diplomatic coup for Israel. The kingdom has been publicly reticent about acknowledging cooperation with Israel.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has been a longtime supporter of the Palestinians and their desire to establish an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Israel captured all three areas in 1967, though it withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005.

The kingdom has long conditioned the establishment of full diplomatic ties with Israel upon a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians. Israel and the Palestinians have not held substantive negotiations in more than a decade.

But recent years have seen signs of a shifting attitude. Saudi Arabia has allowed flights between Israel and Gulf states to cross through its airspace.

In 2020, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and last week several Israeli defense reporters visited the kingdom and published news reports about their welcome.

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US President Joe Biden lands in the Middle East on Wednesday for a trip that will see Israeli leaders urge tougher action against Iran, before a delicate stop in Saudi Arabia.

The 79-year-old president's visit to Jeddah on Friday will be the focus of the tour, after Biden branded Saudi Arabia a "pariah" over the alleged 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi.

Air Force One -- which has left the United States and is expected to land at 1230 GMT in Tel Aviv -- will also make an unprecedented direct flight between the self-proclaimed Jewish state and the conservative Gulf kingdom that does not recognise its existence.

Before that, Biden will meet Israeli leaders seeking to broaden cooperation against Iran, and Palestinian leaders frustrated by what they describe as Washington's failure to curb Israeli aggression.

The persistent frustrations of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy are nothing new for Biden, who first visited the region in 1973 after being elected to the Senate.

Iran and Israel were allies then, but Israel now considers Tehran its top threat.

Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who took office less than two weeks ago, has said talks "will focus first and foremost on the issue of Iran."

Jerusalem to Bethlehem

Moments after Biden touches down, Israel's military will show him its new Iron Beam system, an anti-drone laser it claims is crucial to countering Iran's UAV fleet.

Israel insists it will do whatever is necessary to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, and is staunchly opposed to a restoration of the 2015 deal that gave Tehran sanctions relief.

Israel says it is raising 1,000 flags across Jerusalem to welcome the US leader, who has not reversed former president Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognise the city as the capital of the Jewish state.

Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital and, ahead of the visit, have accused Biden of failing to make good on his pledge to restore the United States as an honest broker in the conflict.

"We only hear empty words and no results," said Jibril Rajoub, a leader of the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Biden will meet Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday, but there is no expectation of bold announcements towards a fresh peace process, meaning the visit may merely deepen Palestinian frustration.

Israel is also mired in political gridlock ahead of elections on November 1, the fifth vote in less than four years.

Normalisation steps?

US-Palestinian ties have recently been strained by the May killing of prominent Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations has concluded the Palestinian-American national was killed by Israeli fire, something Washington found was likely but said there was no evidence the killing was intentional.

Abu Akleh's family has voiced "outrage" over the Biden administration's "abject response" to her death, and the White House has not commented on their request to meet the president in Jerusalem.

Biden's trip to Saudi Arabia is seen as part of efforts to stabilise oil markets rattled by the war in Ukraine, by re-engaging with a country that has been a key strategic ally of the United States for decades and a major supplier of the fuel.

But Israel hopes the visit will also signal the start of diplomatic ties between the country and Riyadh.

Israel expanded its regional reach with US backing in 2020, when it formalised ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco -- breakthroughs that came after its peace accord with Jordan, in 1994, and Egypt in 1979.

While there is no expectation of Saudi Arabia recognising the Jewish state in the immediate future, a senior Israeli official said Tuesday that Biden's visit marked an important step.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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Alexandrias Central Department for tourism and beaches ordered a swimming ban in the governorates Agami beaches following repeated drowning incidents and the warnings of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority ETA of high waves and strong wind in the North coasts.

Alexandrias Central Department for tourism and beaches ordered a swimming ban in the governorates Agami beaches following repeated drowning incidents and the warnings of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority ETA of high waves and strong wind in the North coasts.

The ban order came after at least 7 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea due to the strong waves and wind in the past 48 hours in Agami beaches, West of Alexandria

The authorities also ordered the beaches on the Western side of Alexandria to raise the red flag to warn the swimmers till further notice following the drowning incidents.

The beaches on the Eastern side of Alexandria to raise the yellow flag to raise the attention of the swimmers to be careful while swimming in the Sea.

Agami beaches especially the infamous Palm Beach earned a deadly reputation following several drowning incidents especially a mass drowning incident in 2020. Despite the attempts to close down the beach, it still attracts swimmers and visitors who ignore its rocky jetty and fast-moving waters.

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Morocco's navy has intercepted 257 migrants at sea in four days, state media reported Tuesday, two weeks after at least 23 migrants were killed in a border stampede.

"Navy coast guards on maritime patrol in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, rescued... 257 people attempting irregular migration, having attempted a perilous crossing aboard makeshift boats, kayaks and even swimming," said the unnamed military official, quoted by the official MAP news agency.

Most came from African nations, but also included an Afghan and a Yemeni, it reported, adding that they were brought "safely" to shore.

They included both men and women as well as children.

Last month, at least 23 migrants died trying to climb border fences into the Spanish enclave of Melilla, on Morocco's Mediterranean coast.

Non-governmental organisations say at least 37 migrants died, a toll higher than the official figure.

The victims were among around 2,000 migrants, many from Sudan, who staged a mass storming of the barrier, according to Moroccan authorities.

It was the worst recorded death toll in years of attempts by migrants to enter Ceuta and Melilla, the two main land borders between Africa and the European Union.

Migrants, often fleeing violence and food insecurity at home, have also continued to try to reach Spain by boat.

More than 40,000 migrants, mostly from Morocco, arrived in Spain in 2021 by sea, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.

Over the first five months of 2022, arrivals increased by 12 percent compared to 2021, it said. But the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco has led to a decrease in recent weeks.

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China's monthly trade surplus soared to a record $97.9 billion in June as export growth picked up after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai were lifted and shippers moved a backlog of cargo.

Exports rose 17.9% over a year ago to $331.2 billion, up from May's 16.9% growth, customs data showed Wednesday. In a sign of Chinese economic weakness, imports rose just 1% to $233.3 billion, pushing up the trade surplus by 90% from a year ago.

Imports from Russia, mostly oil and gas, rose 56% over a year ago as Beijing took advantage of price cuts offered by the Kremlin after Washington and Europe suspended most of their own purchases to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

China's trade already was depressed by weak global demand before Shanghai, site of the world's busiest port, and other cities shut down starting in late March. Cargo handling is back to normal, but economists warn the shock will be felt abroad for months.

``Exports rebounded strongly as shipping bottlenecks eased,'' said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report. ``But we think this may be the last hurrah for China's pandemic export boom before shipments drop back on cooling demand.''

Weak import demand reflects a slump in construction, a major customer for foreign iron ore and other raw materials, after the government launched a crackdown on debt that has chilled the vast real estate industry.

Forecasters have cut estimates for China's economic growth to as low as 2% this year, well below the ruling Communist Party's target of 5.5%.

China's economy grew by a weak 4.8% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in March. That was an improvement over the 4% rate in the final three months of 2021.

Some believe it shrank in the quarter ending in June before beginning a gradual recovery. Surveys show that might be under way as manufacturing and service activity accelerates.

If that lasts, ``the outlook for the second half of 2022 is for stronger imports,'' Rajiv Biswas of S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a report.

Exports to the United States surged 19.3% over a year earlier to $56 billion despite lingering tariff hikes in a trade war over Beijing's technology ambitions. Imports of American goods edged up 1.7% to $14.6 billion.

China's politically volatile trade surplus with the United States widened by 26% from a year earlier to $41.4 billion. It was among irritants that prompted then-President Donald Trump to launch the trade fight and hike import taxes.

Envoys from the two governments have talked by phone and video link but have yet to announce a date to resume face-to-face negotiations.

Exports to the 27-nation European Union rose 17.1% from last June to $50.5 billion, while imports of European goods climbed 9.7% to $25 billion. China's trade surplus with Europe widened by 65% to $25.4 billion.

Imports from Russia rose 56% over a year ago to $9.7 billion.

China's growing purchases of Russian energy are irritating Washington and its allies but don't violate sanctions on Moscow.

Beijing declared ahead of the attack that it had a ``no limits'' friendship with Moscow. It criticizes the sanctions but has avoided helping Putin for fear of losing access to Western markets and the global banking system.

The Biden administration last month accused five Chinese companies of dealing with the Russian military before the Feb. 24 invasion. They added them to a trade blacklist but officials did not say if they were accused of supplying goods after the attack.

Last year, China bought 20% of Russian crude exports, according to the International Energy Agency.

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A spate of wildfires is scorching Western Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that authorities are linking to climate change.

In Portugal, Civil Protection commander Andre Fernandes said that multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people, one civilian and one firefighter, suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.

Water-dumping planes helped 1,300 firefighters combat the worst of the blazes in the nation's central area, while another 1,000 worked to bring other fires under control.

The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France.

More than 800 firefighters battled two wildfires in the region outside Bordeaux in southwest France, according to the regional emergency service. The fires began Tuesday near the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and firefighters hadn't been able to contain them by Wednesday morning.

About 6,500 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and villages in the forested area. The number of injuries is unclear. The two fires have destroyed more than 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of terrain, the emergency service said.

Images from firefighters showed flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland, fanned by strong winds, and smoke blackening the horizon.

The regional administration banned activity in forested areas at risk. Several regions in southern France are on fire alert because of hot, dry weather and high winds. Wildfires swept through the Gard region in southeast France last week.

Portugal has long experienced fatal forest fires. In 2017, wildfires killed more than 100 people. No one has died from a wildfire since then as Portugal improved its forest management and firefighting strategies.

Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds are driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs.

The Atlantic country, which has been on alert of wildfires since last week, is sweltering under a spike in temperatures that is forecast to send thermometers in the central Alentejo region to 46 C (115 F) on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said that 96% of the country was classified at the end of June as being in either ``extreme'' or ``severe'' drought.

More than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) had been consumed alone in the district of Leiria, just north of Lisbon, Mayor Goncalo Lopes told Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.

Neighboring Spain is likewise set for highs of 42 C (107.6 F) in the southern cities of Cordoba and Sevilla. Over 400 people were evacuated on Tuesday because of a wildfire in western Extremadura, a region of Spain that borders Portugal.

European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.

Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spain's national weather forecaster, said that the ``unusual'' heat wave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.

``These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which when you add to that some wind, you have have guaranteed propagation,'' he said.

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Press Release

July 13, 2022 HONTIVEROS FILES RESOLUTION TO PROBE ALLEGED ABUSE, HARASSMENT IN PHSA Senator Risa Hontiveros has asked the Senate to investigate the reported culture of abuse, harassment and violence at the Philippine High School for the Arts. Hontiveros filed a resolution directing the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the alleged gender-based sexual harassment, emotional abuse and other violence experienced by alumni and students of the said government-run boarding school, as well as to look into possible violations of the Safe Spaces Act. "It is imperative that the Senate, exercising its oversight powers, initiate a thorough but expeditious investigation on the matter to ensure that PHSA and other educational institutions are safe spaces, especially with the upcoming blended/face-to face-classes in August," the resolution stated. Hontiveros, principal author of the Safe Spaces Act, earlier expressed her support for the victims who came forward and revealed their harrowing experiences. The senator's office met with some of them and was informed that a PHSA student, a minor, has formally filed a complaint against a PHSA non-teaching staff after being catcalled in November 2019 in campus. According to a report, there were already other complaints filed but they were "downplayed by the PHSA Administration, brushed off as hearsay and were not entertained for failing to comply with the "format required under existing Civil Service rules." Worse, survivors of abuse claimed to have been victim-blamed, silenced, and neglected by the PHSA administrators. Under the Safe Spaces Act, schools are required to provide a gender-sensitive environment and confidential mechanism for the reporting and redress of grievances on matters of sexual and gender-based harassment. The resolution pointed out that, "If the accounts are accurate, the repeated failure of PHSA administration to address the violence and abuses is a blatant violation of the Safe Spaces Act and a flagrant disregard of the interests of PHSA students -- interests they are duty bound to protect and promote as persons reposed with special parental authority." The Senator also underscored the "urgent need to review the reporting protocols and the procedures of the Committee on Decorum and Investigation of the educational institutions tasked to investigate and address complaints of abuse and harassment." The inquiry also seeks "to determine the lapses and to propose corresponding reforms to improve implementation of the Safe Spaces Act and other child protection policies." "Pangalawang tahanan ang turing sa mga paaralan kaya dapat ligtas at panatag tayong mga magulang kapag ipinagkakatiwala natin ang ating mga anak. Educational and training institutions should be our children's safe spaces. Walang puwang dito ang mga mapang-abuso," Hontiveros concluded.
Military delegations from Russia and Ukraine held their governments' first face-to-face talks in months Wednesday as they tried to reach an agreement on a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea.

Turkish military officials and U.N. envoys also took part in the meeting in Istanbul focused on finding a way to get millions of tons of grain sitting in silos amid the war in Ukraine shipped out of the country's ports toward the Mediterranean.

The Russian and Ukrainian officials, dressed in civilian clothes, faced each other as the delegations were seated around a large square table. Turkey's Defense Ministry announced later the talks had ended about an hour and a half after it confirmed that they had begun, but did not provide details.

Ukraine is one of the world's largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russia's invasion and war has disrupted production and halted shipments, endangering food supplies in many developing countries, especially in Africa, and contributing to higher global food prices.

Turkey has offered to provide safe Black Sea corridors and worked with the U.N., Russia and Ukraine to reach an agreement. The U.N. would establish a center in Istanbul to control the shipments, Turkish officials have said.

Speaking before the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that grain exports from his country's ports won't resume without security guarantees to ship owners, cargo owners and Ukraine as an independent nation.

Any agreement needs to ensure that Russia ``will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles,'' he said.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have traded accusations over the stuck grain shipments. Moscow claims Ukraine's heavily mined ports are causing the delay. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Moscow wouldn't use the corridors to launch an attack, if the sea mines were removed.

Ukrainian officials have blamed a Russian naval blockade for holding up exports and causing the global food crisis. They remained skeptical of Putin's pledge not to take advantage of cleared Black Sea corridors to mount an attack, noting that he insisted earlier this year he had no plans to invade Ukraine.

Ahead of the talks, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow was willing to ensure safe navigation for ships to carry grain from Ukrainian ports but would press for its right to check the vessels for weapons.

Pyotr Ilyichev, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department for ties with international organizations, said Russia's military had repeatedly declared its willingness to allow safe shipping corridors in the Black Sea.

Seventy vessels from 16 countries have remained stuck in Ukrainian ports, Ilyichev said, alleging that Ukrainian authorities had barred them from departing.

``Our conditions are clear: We need to have a possibility to control and check the ships to prevent any attempts to smuggle weapons in, and Kyiv must refrain from any provocations,'' Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ilyichev as saying.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has worked for months to secure a deal that would allow Ukraine to export wheat and other commodities from Odesa, the country's largest port, and also enable Russia to export grain and fertilizer to global markets.

Asked about Wednesday's talks, Guterres said Tuesday: ``We are working hard, indeed, but there is still a way to go.''

The war has trapped about 22 million tons of grain inside Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. U.N., Turkish and other officials are scrambling for a solution that would empty the silos in time for upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain is being transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is small compared with sea routes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says the war is endangering food supplies for many developing nations and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people.

Russia isn't able to transport its grain either. Moscow argues that Western sanctions on its banking and shipping industries make it impossible for Russia to export food and fertilizer and are scaring off foreign shipping companies.

Complicating the negotiations are accusations that Russia is shipping grain that was stolen from lands in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador last week after Turkish authorities briefly detained a Russian ship suspected of transporting stolen grain but allowed it to leave and return to a Russian port. A Turkish official said authorities were not able to determine that the ship carried stolen grain.

NATO-member Turkey has retained its close ties to both Moscow and Ukraine. Since the war started, it has hosted a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers, as well as talks between the two countries' negotiators.

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The Ukrainian foreign minister says grain exports from his country's ports won't resume without security guarantees for ship owners, cargo owners and Ukraine as an independent nation.

Military officials from Russia and Ukraine were set to hold their governments' first face-to-face talks in months Wednesday. They planned to meet in Istanbul to discuss a United Nations plan for getting blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea.

Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said any agreement needs to ensure Russia ``will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles.''

Kuleba also told the AP on Tuesday that Ukraine's military is ``planning and preparing for full liberation'' of Russian-occupied cities and towns near the country's Black Sea coast. Ukrainian forces already have stepped up their activity to retake territory in the south as Russia concentrates on eastern Ukraine.

Asked about the likelihood of negotiations to end the war that started when Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the foreign minister said peace talks were unlikely to happen soon.

``Russia continues to be in the war mood, and they are not seeking negotiations in good faith. They are seeking a way to make us implement their ultimatums, which is not going to happen,`` Kuleba said.

Moscow is attempting a de facto annexation of Kherson, Mariupol and other seized cities by introducing a Russian school curriculum, doing business in Russia's currency and offering Ukrainians Russian passports, he said.

``I'm pretty confident that once these territories are liberated, the vast majority of people will burn their Russian passports quietly in their fireplaces,`` Kuleba said.

In the meantime, Ukraine is insisting upon a full withdrawal of Russian forces as a condition for ending the conflict, he said.

``We are fighting for our freedom, for our territorial integrity, and we want peace. This war was imposed on us. This was not our choice,`` Kuleba told the AP.

He stressed that while Ukraine appreciates the support it has received from the United States and European nations during the war, the country needs Western weapons deliveries to speed up as the fighting drags on into a fifth month.

``As long as there is not enough to win, we will keep asking for more,`` Kuleba said. ``You know, until you win, there are never enough weapons.''

The foreign minister acknowledged that Ukraine suffered significant troop losses as the Kremlin concentrated its military offensive in the Donbas, an industrial region near the Russian border where Moscow's forces have gradually gained ground.

Ukraine nevertheless has enough people willing to join the armed forces, he said.

``The only goal that we pursue in this war is our survival. When you are fighting for your survival, you have no choice. You have to fight,`` Kuleba said.

Ukraine's top diplomat credited U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Turkish government for facilitating Wednesday's talks on grain shipments. A Turkish delegation and U.N. representatives were scheduled to join the discussion between Russian and Ukrainian military officials.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. has said a Russian naval blockade stranded about 22 million tons of grain inside Ukraine, a country known as the ``breadbasket of Europe'' for its exports of wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

With shipments stalled because of the war is endangering food supplies in many developing nations and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Kuleba said he was hopeful the talks in Istanbul would yield a deal on creating safe shipping corridors.

Ukraine's future, as well as his own, is still uncertain, the 41-year-old minister said.

``There were numerous wars between the Ukraine and Russia in the last 300 years. But all of the leaders of these efforts, on the Ukrainian side, in the end, they were either killed, or they wrote their memoirs in exile,`` Kuleba said. ``So my personal ambition is to write my memoirs in Ukraine. And it will be a memoir of victory and a memoir of a person who belonged to the generation that changed history.''

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In televised statements aired on Sudan's state television, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan also promised that he will dissolve the sovereign council that he leads after a new transitional government is formed. The council has governed the country since the military took power in a military takeover last year.

Since the military takeover, the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union and the eight-nation east African regional Intergovernmental Authority in Development group have been trying to broker a way out of the political impasse.

But talks have yielded no results so far. Pro-democracy groups have repeatedly said they will not negotiate with the military, and have called for them to immediately hand the reins to a civilian government.

Burhan did not specify any dates or who would replace the military at the negotiating table. He said that after the ruling council is dissolved, the army and the powerful paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces will be placed under a new governing body that will be responsible for the country's defense and security.

Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since the military takeover upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by former strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government were removed by the military in a popular uprising in April 2019.
While lawmakers agreed late Monday to elect a new president from their ranks on July 20, they have not yet decided who will take over as prime minister and fill the Cabinet.

The promised resignations brought no end to the crisis, and protesters have vowed to occupy the official buildings until the top leaders are gone. For days, people have flocked to the presidential palace almost as if it were a tourist attraction -- swimming in the pool, marveling at the paintings and lounging on the beds piled high with pillows. At one point, they also burned the prime minister's private home.

Rajapaksa had agreed to step down under pressure. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would leave once a new government was in place. Lawmakers agreed to elect a new president next week but struggled Tuesday to decide on the makeup of a new government to lift the bankrupt country out of economic and political collapse.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

The new president will serve the remainder of Rajapaksa's term, which ends in 2024 -- and could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament. The prime minster is to serve as president until a replacement is chosen -- an arrangement that is sure to further anger protesters who want Wickremesinghe out immediately.

Corruption and mismanagement have left the island nation laden with debt and unable to pay for the import of basic necessities. The shortages have sown despair among the country's 22 million people. Sri Lankans are skipping meals and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel.

Until the latest crisis deepened, the Sri Lankan economy had been expanding and growing a comfortable middle class.

The political impasse added fuel to the economic crisis since the absence of an alternative unity government threatened to delay a hoped-for bailout from the International Monetary Fund. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement.

In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from neighboring India and from China. Asked whether China was in talks with Sri Lanka about possible loans, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official gave no indication whether such discussions were happening. "China will continue to offer assistance as our capability allows for Sri Lanka's social development and economic recovery," said the spokesman, Wang Wenbin.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka's religious leaders urged protesters to leave the government buildings. The protesters have vowed to wait until both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe are out of office.

After the storming of the government buildings, "it was clear there is a consensus in the country that the government leadership should change," said Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a think tank. Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

The protesters accuse the president and his relatives of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksa's administration of hastening the country's collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajakpaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown.

The president had not been seen nor heard from since Saturday, though his office issued statements indicating that he continued to carry out his duties.
Ukraine said Tuesday 52 Russians were killed in a long-range missile attack on an ammunition dump in southern Ukraine. Moscow disputed the claim, saying seven civilians had been killed.

Kyiv said the attack in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region came after the United States supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Ukraine said its forces were using with greater accuracy.

"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), a Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka," Ukraine's southern military command said in a statement.

The region Ukraine hit is one that Russia seized after launching its invasion on Feb. 24. With access to the Black Sea, the area is of strategic importance. A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events, saying at least seven people had been killed and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Russia's TASS news agency quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed, Kakhovka district military-civilian administration, as saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack and about 60 wounded.

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Leontyev said in the TASS account. He was also quoted as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.
President Yoon Suk-yeol paid his respects at former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's memorial altar at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday.

He also dispatched a delegation to the funeral in Tokyo as the fractious neighbors struggle to improve relations.

Yoon was met by Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi and then prayed in front of the altar standing with a picture of Abe.

"I pray for the repose of the soul of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who dedicated himself to the prosperity and development of Asia. I also send deep condolences to his bereaved family and the Japanese people," Yoon wrote in the condolence book. "I hope that Korea and Japan, the closest neighbors, will cooperate closely with each other in the future."
It took 12 minutes to wrestle them across the border and hand them over to North Korean authorities.

The pictures suggest that the two desperately resisted crossing the military demarcation line. One of them appears to be screaming when he spots North Korean soldiers in front of him, and the other man is banging his head against a wall until his face is covered with blood.

The two fishermen were photographed in the border truce village of Panmunjom on Nov. 7 while they were blindfolded by South Korean officials and handed over to North Korean border guards.

The Unification Ministry on Tuesday released several photos supporting claims that two North Korean fishermen accused of murder were forcibly repatriated to their repressive country in November 2019.

The Moon Jae-in administration, which at the time was desperate to appease the North amid a flurry of summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed the fishermen had murdered their captain and fellow crew and had no intention to defect.

But the photos support allegations that the government was lying. "It seems that the North Korean refugees took extreme actions for fear that they would be executed in the North," a ministry official said Tuesday.

The ministry commonly films repatriations for the record, but it is rare for it to release photos to the press.

The two had in fact expressed their intention to defect to South Korea in their handwritten statements during a government investigation, but the government ignored their request and hurriedly wrapped up the investigation. The Moon administration then told the press the fishermen were common criminals who had murdered 16 fellow crewmembers on board their trawler.

On Nov. 5, just three days after they were captured by the South Korean Navy, the government already promised to hand them and the boat over to North Korea.

The same day, Moon sent a letter to Kim inviting him to the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit in Busan and adding he would repatriate the fishermen. Suh Hoon, the then National Intelligence Service chief, has been accused of ordering officials expedite the investigation in a bid to curry favor with the North Korea regime.

Last week, President Yoon Suk-yeol called for an investigation of the incident to figure out who was responsible.
By Dahee Kim, KYODO NEWS - Jul 13, 2022 - 08:55 | Arts, Feature

It takes fewer than five seconds for an infant to be retrieved from a "baby hatch" located at a church southeast of Seoul, with nearly 2,000 babies pushed through the door since it was first installed in 2009.

Lee Jong Rak, the senior pastor of Jusarang Community Church, says about 10 employees work on rotation around the clock at the facility located atop a hillside in an old residential district. They check on the baby's wellbeing once it has been placed through the hatch and counsel the parent who put it there.

"For example, if a single mother brings her baby here and turns the handle of the door, the sensor of the knob triggers an alarm. Then, the employees whose job is to take care of the baby go straight to the baby box, while those whose job is to give counseling head outside to meet the mother," Lee said.

Unlike in most countries, the South Korean baby drop-off box -- which operates on donations without any public support -- prioritizes counseling single parents. Many of the mostly mothers who use the box say they have no choice but to abandon their babies, but the service helps them rethink the consequences of such a monumental decision.

About 75 percent of those who brought their babies to the box have received counseling from Jusarang Community, 16 percent of whom later decided to take their babies home to raise themselves after being convinced not to give up on parenthood.

"During the counseling, we commend them for deciding to bring the baby here to be saved, instead of just abandoning it somewhere else to die," said Lee, adding he wants his church to be a refuge for not only the babies but also their parents.

Thanks to the 67-year-old pastor's efforts to protect as many babies as possible, 1,990 infants had passed through the hatch as of July 4 at the church, which inspired Japanese movie director Hirokazu Koreeda's hit film, "Broker."

Lee recalled Koreeda's visit to his church two years ago when he came to hear from the pastor and single mothers who had left infants in the baby hatch.

Koreeda, in the first public screening of the movie held in Seoul in May, opens the film with a scene of a mother who brings her infant to a baby hatch, and a police detective who witnesses her doing so reacting negatively to her decision.

"Whether I could change the negative thoughts (the police detective) had toward the mother in a two-hour-long story was important," Koreeda said.

The movie, which casts doubt on the idea that mothers should be held primarily responsible for abandoning their babies, won the Best Actor Award for the role played by Song Kang Ho at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival amid a 12-minute standing ovation. It was released on June 8 in South Korea and June 26 in Japan.

"I only know about the situations in South Korea and Japan, but when talking about such facilities the (people) who are criticized the most are the mothers. What we need now is to question where the responsibility really should lie," Koreeda said.

Lee, in his interview with Kyodo News, also agreed with Koreeda, quoting the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child."

"To raise a child, the government should give full support. Laws, systems, public affairs, welfare and culture should all work together within a country," Lee said, emphasizing the need to introduce new laws to help build a safer environment for mothers to give birth.

The impetus to launch the baby hatch came in April 2007. A newborn was found on a chilly morning shivering inside a cardboard box in front of the church. Lee thought of a way of protecting such abandoned babies and set up South Korea's first baby box, having been aware of one at Jikei Hospital in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture.

There were more than 250 babies a year dropped at the church in 2013 and 2014, but in recent years the numbers have fallen slightly due to the opening of an online consultation desk.

Most visitors are unmarried women, 60 percent of whom are in their teens to 20s. In many cases, the women give birth in isolation without being able to contact the man involved or consult with parents or their schools.

Young mothers come from all over the country carrying babies they have birthed in public toilets with umbilical cords still attached or infants soiled with dirt they had tried burying in the mountains before having a change of heart.

"You have come this far because you want your baby to live," Lee says he tells mothers who come with their infants. "You haven't abandoned them. You've saved them."

After babies are placed into temporary custody, the government decides on adoption or foster care facilities, but Lee says his focus is on childcare support for the actual parents.

Although cases of baby death by abandonment are still prevalent, there is a growing recognition that "we are saving babies' lives instead of the government which has been unable to find any countermeasures," Lee said, pointing to a recent survey in which 80 percent of respondents support the baby hatch.

Even so, there is still a deeply rooted negative viewpoint that the church is facilitating the abandonment of babies. Lee counters, "There are no parents who give birth (with the intention) to abandon their babies."

South Korea, in its move to encourage domestic adoption, introduced tighter laws in 2012 to make the process of a child's transfer more transparent. Under the law, parents must register their babies if they want to give them up.

Despite its intention, Lee argues, the law rather caused a surge in the abandonment of babies who cannot be documented, which is why he has been working with experts from various fields, including lawyers and professors, to create a law that could protect mothers and infants who might slip through the cracks.

Four years ago, Lee suggested to lawmakers that they create legislation enabling parents to anonymously register their unwanted babies and track fathers that ran away and refused to support the mothers, but the effort failed.

He hopes "Broker" can play a role in changing the negative public perception of the operation of baby hatches in several countries, including Japan.

"It's actually a life-box for abandoned babies. They are born again there," Lee said.

Related coverage:

Japan director Koreeda, others push for film industry support body

South Korea's Song wins best actor at Cannes for Koreeda film "Broker"
KYODO NEWS - Jul 13, 2022 - 21:19 | World, All

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday, a government official said, just days after protesters stormed his official residence as the island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis since independence.

The president, who was due to resign the same day, boarded a military transport plane with his wife and others and flew to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, the official said, drawing to a close the lengthy Rajapaksa family rule.

Rajapaksa has already signed a resignation letter dated Wednesday, according to local media. The selection of a new president is planned for July 20.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe on Wednesday declared a state of emergency across Sri Lanka as acting president, Reuters news agency reported.

Last Saturday, several thousand demonstrators entered the president's official residence in the country's largest city Colombo and seized the compound, demanding he step down.

The protesters managed to enter the residence despite police attempts to stop them by using tear gas and water cannons.

Rajapaksa tried unsuccessfully to leave for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. His attempt was thwarted at airport immigration. There is speculation he feared losing immunity from arrest after no longer being president.

In April, Sri Lanka said it would default on its external public debt pending a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund due to critically low foreign exchange reserves.

It was the first debt default announced by the country of 22 million people since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.

The South Asian island had been saddled with heavy borrowings from China for unsustainable infrastructure projects, in what has become known as debt-trap diplomacy. Its economic crisis deepened when its cash-earning tourism sector was wracked by the coronavirus pandemic, followed by a surge in energy prices in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Sri Lankan citizens are experiencing a severe lack of fuel, which is mostly imported. Long queues have formed at gas stations in Colombo, with very few cars seen driving on well-maintained toll roads.

The Rajapaksas have ruled the South Asian country for much of the last two decades, with the president's elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, serving previously as president and prime minister.

When his younger brother was elected president in 2019, Mahinda Rajapaksa became prime minister again. But he was forced to step down on May 9 after growing public discontent with the Rajapaksa family's rule amid economic difficulties.

Following the resignation, Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Wickremasinghe, a former prime minister, as the new prime minister.
KYODO NEWS - Jul 13, 2022 - 22:36 | All, Japan

A Tokyo court on Wednesday ordered former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay the utility some 13 trillion yen ($95 billion) in total damages for failing to prevent the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The ruling in favor of shareholders who filed the lawsuit in 2012 is the first to find former TEPCO executives liable for compensation after the nuclear plant in northeastern Japan caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The Tokyo District Court's Presiding Judge Yoshihide Asakura said the utility's countermeasures for the tsunami "fundamentally lacked safety awareness and a sense of responsibility," ruling that the executives failed to perform their duties.

If tsunami resilience work had been conducted to prevent flooding of main structures, TEPCO could have prevented the disaster, in which power was lost and reactor cooling functions were crippled, causing reactor meltdowns, according to the ruling.

Related coverage:

Court orders TEPCO to pay 73.5 million yen over Fukushima crisis

Japan's top court rules state not liable for Fukushima disaster

Residents of Fukushima village allowed to move back in after 11 years

Among five defendants -- former Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro, former President Masataka Shimizu and former Managing Director Akio Komori -- the court found all but Komori liable to pay the damages.

"It's a historic verdict that deserves lasting praise," Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the shareholders, said in a press conference. "It showed company executives have such a heavy responsibility and could even be held liable for damages if an accident occurs."

The damages of over 13 trillion yen are likely be the largest ever in a civil lawsuit in Japan, though it would be realistically difficult for the company to collect them from the former executives.

Nearly 50 shareholders had sought a total of around 22 trillion yen ($160 billion) in damages.

TEPCO declined to comment on the ruling, saying it will refrain from responding to matters related to individual lawsuits.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno reiterated the government's policy to continue to use nuclear energy despite the disaster, saying, "We will make safety our top priority and make utmost efforts to resolve the Japanese people's concerns."

The focal point of the trial was whether the management's decisions on tsunami countermeasures were appropriate after a TEPCO unit estimated in 2008 that a tsunami of up to 15.7 meters could hit the plant based on the government's long-term earthquake assessment made public in 2002.

The shareholders said the government's evaluation was the "best scientific assessment," but the management postponed taking preventive steps, such as installing a seawall.

The former executives' lawyers said the assessment lacked reliability and the accident occurred when the management was asking a civil engineering association to study whether the utility should incorporate the evaluation into its countermeasures.

The court judged that the government's assessment was reliable enough to oblige the company to take measures against tsunami. "It is extremely irrational and unforgivable" to put off a decision to act on the government study, the ruling said.

In a criminal trial in 2019, defendants were acquitted on the grounds they could not foresee a giant tsunami triggering a nuclear disaster.

Yukie Yoshida, 46, who was forced to evacuate her home near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, said, "My life won't change even if the damages are paid to TEPCO," adding, "I just want to go back to my home as soon as possible."

More than 15,000 people lost their lives after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami caused widespread damage in the country's northeast and triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear complex.

Some 38,000 people still remain displaced as of March due mainly to the aftermath of the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

There is still a no-go zone near the Fukushima plant where decommissioning work is scheduled to continue until sometime between 2041 and 2051.
Press Release

July 13, 2022 Legarda Files Bill to Increase Wages of Public School Teachers and Education Personnel The veteran lawmaker recently filed SBN 4, which seeks to increase the minimum wage of public school teachers and non-teaching personnel, highlighting the need to provide adequate support and compensation to address the increasing cost of living. The proposed measure seeks to increase the salary grade level of public school teachers from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15. Teaching personnel or instructors in public universities and colleges will also be granted an increase from Salary Grade 12 to Salary Grade 16. The salary for a regular entry-level position in government service shall not be less than Sixteen Thousand Pesos (P16,000) a month. "We must recognize the significant role of our teachers and personnel in nation-building. Our educational frontliners who have remained steadfast in our goal to provide the best for the Filipino children. With the increasing cost of living, it is high time we raise their salary," Legarda stated. As former Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, Legarda introduced and sponsored vital amendments for the education sector, such as funding for free tertiary education, free tuition for medical students in SUCs, and free WIFI in all SUCs, among others. It was also through the Senator's intervention that the chalk allowance was increased from P1,000 to P1,500 per teacher in 2015. It was raised to P2,500 in 2017 and to P3,500 in 2018. In 2019, all public school teachers also received, for the first time, a P1,000 World Teachers' Day incentive after Legarda allocated 800 Million Pesos (P800M) in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). "Hindi natin maikakaila na ang daming dalang hamon ng COVID-19 pandemic lalo na sa sektor ng edukasyon, ngunit dahil sa dedikasyon ng ating mga guro patuloy nating naitataguyod ang hangaring mabigyan ng dekalidad na edukasyon ang bawat batang Pilipino. Saludo po ako sa inyong walang pagod ninyong paggabay sa ating mga kabataan." Legarda added. Legarda has also filed the Magna Carta for Private School Teachers and the Magna Carta of Public School Teachers to institutionalize support for education personnel.
Photo taken on July 12, 2022 shows the Grand Pacific Hotel, the venue for the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting in Suva, Fiji.

The 51st Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting focusing on the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent (2050 Strategy) started in Fiji's capital Suva on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

SUVA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting focusing on the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent (2050 Strategy) started in Fiji's capital Suva on Monday.

Speaking at the Pacific Group of the African Caribbean Pacific Leaders' Meeting early on Monday, Fiji's Prime Minister and PIF Chair Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama said as they celebrate 50 years of Pacific regionalism, they are also setting the course for the future of their Pacific regionalism through the 2050 Strategy.

The 2050 Strategy sets the vision and direction for the Blue Pacific region and provides a framework for all their development partners to align their cooperation with them, he said.

The prime minister also called on member states to be steadfast and firm when it comes to genuine partnership for regional development.

According to the prime minister, they will consider the implementation arrangement to the new partnership agreement between the organizations of the African, Caribbean and the Pacific States and the European Union, which is expected to be named as the Samoa Agreement.

Meanwhile, speaking at the opening of the Blue Pacific Leaders' Ocean panel on Monday night, Bainimarama said ocean sustainability is critical to the Pacific's development and regional leaders need a unified voice to echo their concern for ocean preservation.

The region, together, can leverage far greater accountability from the rest of the world, he added.

Fiji and the Solomon Islands also inked an agreement concerning maritime boundaries.

The signing of the agreement by Bainimarama and his Solomon Islands counterpart Manasseh Sogavare has been hailed as a milestone made possible by the dedication of both countries to see through the mapping, legal drafting, and diplomatic negotiations required to formally establish the boundaries.

During the four-day meeting, which will end on Thursday, PIF leaders will launch the 2050 Strategy and discuss other issues such as regional development and socio-economic challenges.

Founded in 1971, the Pacific Islands Forum is the region's premier political and economic policy organization. 

Participants pose for a group photo during the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting in Suva, Fiji, July 12, 2022.

The 51st Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting focusing on the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent (2050 Strategy) started in Fiji's capital Suva on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

Photo taken on July 11, 2022 shows the Grand Pacific Hotel, the venue for the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting in Suva, Fiji.

The 51st Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting focusing on the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent (2050 Strategy) started in Fiji's capital Suva on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)
Romania's Foreign Minister Bodgan Aurescu (R) and visiting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto attend a joint press conference in Bucharest, capital of Romania, July 12, 2022. The foreign affairs ministers of Romania and Hungary discussed here on Tuesday ways to increase the interconnection capacity of the two countries' gas distribution networks. (Photo by Cristian Cristel/Xinhua)

BUCHAREST, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The foreign affairs ministers of Romania and Hungary discussed here on Tuesday ways to increase the interconnection capacity of the two countries' gas distribution networks.

Access to energy is a major concern for both countries, Romania's Foreign Minister Bodgan Aurescu told a joint press conference with his visiting Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, emphasizing that "we must continue to increase our interconnection capacity ... we must strengthen our storage capacity."

Szijjarto said that Hungary's aim was to increase the interconnector's throughput capacity from 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to over 3 billion cubic meters.

The interconnector can currently transport 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Romania and 1.7 billion cubic meters per year to Hungary.

According to Szijjarto, this increase in gas import capacity via Romania will strengthen Hungary's security of supply and provide a route for possible future imports from Azerbaijan.

The two ministers also highlighted the importance of finding alternative energy sources focusing on renewable and nuclear energy.

Romania is less dependent on Russian energy sources. Its share of imports from Russia is currently 15.5 percent for natural gas and 37 percent for crude oil. Hungary imports about 85 percent of its gas and 65 percent of the oil it needs from Russia. 

Romania's Foreign Minister Bodgan Aurescu (R) and visiting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto attend a joint press conference in Bucharest, capital of Romania, July 12, 2022. The foreign affairs ministers of Romania and Hungary discussed here on Tuesday ways to increase the interconnection capacity of the two countries' gas distribution networks. (Photo by Cristian Cristel/Xinhua)
An air freighter taxis at the Ezhou Huahu Airport in Ezhou, central China's Hubei Province, March 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China reported significant recovery momentum in the number of air trips and volume of mail and cargo in the first half of 2022, the country's civil aviation authority said Tuesday.

Nearly 118 million passenger trips were made from January to June, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The number of passenger trips recorded in May and June jumped 53.2 percent and 82.2 percent, respectively, month on month, with the single-day passenger trips exceeding 1 million on June 29, CAAC data showed.

The number of trips in June was about 46.2 percent of the number recorded in the same period in 2019, indicating a steady recovery, the CAAC added.

The volume of mail and cargo stood at about 3.08 million tonnes in the first half of the year, with the volume in June recovering to 89.7 percent of the number recorded in the same period in 2019, according to the administration.

Last month, the volume of international air cargo increased by 1.8 percent year on year, said the CAAC, pointing out the high market demand for civil aviation international cargo. 
Villagers walk in Jiabang terraced fields in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China will hold the World Conference on Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in the eastern Zhejiang Province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Tuesday.

The conference will be held from July 17 to 19 by the ministry and the Zhejiang provincial government, Sui Pengfei, director general of the ministry's international cooperation department, told a press conference, noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s GIAHS initiative.

The conference aims to tap traditional agricultural value through effective protection of globally important agricultural heritage and better promote sustainable agricultural development and rural prosperity, Sui said.

At present, agricultural ministers from 13 countries, FAO Director-General, diplomatic envoys from 19 countries to China and senior representatives from seven international organizations have been invited to the conference, Sui added.

He said that the ministry and local authorities will support the establishment of institutionalized exchange platforms to enhance the protection of agricultural heritage as well as promote the realization of UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 
TOKYO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition ally Komeito scored a sweeping victory in Sunday's upper house election, with the LDP alone securing the majority of contested seats, results confirmed Monday.

The LDP's sweeping win may open up the possibility of a revision to the country's pacifist constitution, but a number of issues, from political division to public opposition, remain in the way of changing the supreme law.

Voting was bolstered by a sympathetic public following the shocking and brutal assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down by an ex-Maritime Self-Defense Force worker while delivering a campaign speech in Nara, western Japan on Friday.

Abe's murder, according to experts on the matter, contributed to the ruling LDP's clear victory in Sunday's election, as the death of the party's revered former leader and head of its biggest faction, just days before the triennial election, likely swayed swing voters and drove disinclined voters to the polls out of sheer shock and sympathy.

"The brutal assassination of Shinzo Abe has shocked the nation on the eve of national elections," Jeff Kingston, professor of History and Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, told Xinhua. "The LDP's thumping victory was helped by a sympathy vote following the tragic assassination of Abe."

The LDP won 63 out of the 125 seats up for grabs, while its junior coalition partner Komeito landed 13 seats. In all, the LDP and Komeito secured a total of 76 seats, comfortably retaining a majority of the seats being contested.

The former prime minister's death will "leave a void in his party," Kingston said of Abe, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020 before stepping down due to health reasons, securing the place as Japan's longest serving prime minster.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday vowed to build on the legacy of the former prime minister and work to achieve Abe's career goal of revising the constitution.

Prior to Abe's death, there had been a notable lull in the former leader's concerted, yet unsuccessful campaign for the LDP to dominate the upper house and call for the constitution to be amended.

The issue had been largely sidelined as Japan had to contend with the coronavirus pandemic, ensuing economic tailspin and social inertia.

Though the result of Sunday's election has strengthened pro-constitutional amendment forces, which have retained the two-thirds majority needed in the upper house to re-heat a tepid push towards revising the constitution, there remains a far higher hurdle yet to be cleared.

Pro-constitutional amendment forces are not ironclad. There are differences among them on the specific content of the amendment. For example, Natsuo Yamaguchi, Komeito's leader, said on Sunday night it is not that the Self-Defense Forces cannot do their job without a constitutional amendment, and there is no need to amend the first and second items of Article 9 of the constitution.

Meanwhile, after Abe was shot dead, the cohesion within the LDP has come into question, thus affecting the party's agenda of constitutional amendment.

In addition, a significant number of Japanese people remain skeptical and opposed to constitutional amendment.

Some Japanese media pointed out that the amendment is a "huge gamble with one's political life" for the prime minister, as the national assembly will have to hold a referendum after passing the constitutional amendment motion. If the motion is vetoed, the cabinet will be forced to resign.

Atsushi Kouketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University, pointed out that the only way for Japan to restore trust in the Asia-pacific region is to abide by the spirit of the pacifist constitution and reflect on its history of aggression and colonial rule against Asian countries.

Takakage Fujita, director-general of a civil group dedicated to upholding and developing the well-known Murayama Statement, said Article 9 of the constitution was Japan's post-war public pledge to the international community to be reborn as a peaceful nation.

It is because of the existence of Article 9 that Japan can win the trust of other countries, and Japan should stick to it, he said. 
Residents exercise outdoor at a residential area in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, April 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Chang)

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China will relax the restrictions for urban household registration in the 2021-2025 period, said a plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Tuesday.

The country will lift all limits on household registration in cities with less than 3 million residents and ease those in cities with populations of 3-5 million.

The point-based household registration system will be streamlined for megacities with over 5 million residents. The plan also encouraged these cities to scrap their annual residency quota.

China will likely see a steady rise in the urbanization rate among its permanent resident population by 2025, with urban public services accessible to all permanent residents, including those without registered household status.

By then, the human carrying capacity of city clusters nationwide will improve notably, while the construction of major metropolitan areas will see marked progress, according to the plan.

The NDRC said that more efforts would go into promoting the free flow of factors and the appropriate allocation of resources between urban and rural areas amid the country's urban-rural integrated development.

China's urbanization rate of permanent residents reached 64.72 percent in 2021. The urban-rural income ratio narrowed to 2.5, official data showed. 




UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday stressed the critical role of strategic communications in UN peacekeeping.

Strategic communications is critical across the spectrum of UN peacekeeping mandate and crucial to achieving the mission to protect civilians and prevent violence, to secure cease-fires and safeguard political settlements, to investigate and report on human rights abuses and violations, to advance the women, peace, and security agenda, and to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers and the communities they serve, he said.

The landscape in which UN peacekeepers operate is more hazardous today than any time in recent memory. Geopolitical tensions at the global level reverberate locally. Conflicts are more complex and multi-layered. International discord often translates into heightened tensions on the ground, with warring parties disincentivized from making the necessary concessions for peace, he told a Security Council high-level debate on the key role of strategic communications for efficient peacekeeping.

Peacekeepers are facing terrorists, criminals, armed groups and their allies -- many with access to powerful modern weapons, and many with a vested interest in perpetuating the chaos in which they thrive. The weapons they wield are not just guns and explosives. Misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech are increasingly being used as weapons of war. The aim is clear: to dehumanize the so-called other, threaten vulnerable communities, as well as peacekeepers themselves, and even give open license to commit atrocities, he said.

"Strategic communications -- credible, accurate, and human-centered -- is one of our best and most cost-effective instruments to counter this threat. And more than just defusing harmful lies, engaging in tailored two-way communication itself builds trust as well as political and public support," said Guterres. "It strengthens the understanding amongst the local population of our missions and mandates, and in return, strengthens our peacekeepers' understanding of the local population's concerns, grievances, expectations, and hopes. It can create a safe space for reconciliation and peacebuilding to work and provide women, young people, and civil society with greater access to peace processes."

But to be effective, it must be grounded in evidence, based on verified data, open to dialogue, rooted in storytelling, and delivered by credible messengers, he added.

The United Nations must play a more deliberate role as an information actor in conflict environments. It must be seen as a trusted source of information by providing engaging, factual content, facilitating inclusive dialogue, demanding the removal of harmful speech, calling leaders to account, and promoting the voices of peace and unity, he said.

Member states, particularly those present on the ground alongside UN peacekeepers, are crucial partners in this critical effort, he said.

"Access to information is a human right. In the places where our peacekeepers operate, it can be a matter of life and death, and the difference between peace and war," he said. "I look forward to working with this (Security) Council to strengthen our peacekeeping operations through improved strategic communications, and to pursue our shared goal of peace." 
Photo taken on July 13, 2022 shows the Coral Princess ship docked at the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. A COVID-19 stricken cruise ship docked in Australia's most populous city Sydney on Wednesday morning, adding fear to the state of New South Wales (NSW), which is already battling with a new wave of the infections. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

SYDNEY, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A COVID-19 stricken cruise ship docked in Australia's most populous city Sydney on Wednesday morning, adding fear to the state of New South Wales (NSW), which is already battling with a new wave of the infections.

The Coral Princess ship, which departed from the state of Queensland, docked at the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay, a central Sydney transport hub. There were more than 2,000 people on board, and more than 100 passengers and staff tested COVID-19 positive. Those on board who tested positive have been isolated on the ship.

Other passengers wishing to disembark were required to have a negative result on a rapid antigen test and will be advised to wear masks while off the ship, according to a Wednesday statement from NSW Health (ministry of health).

"The vast majority of COVID-19 cases on the ship are currently in crew members. All COVID-positive people and their close contacts are isolating and being cared for by the onboard medical team," said an NSW Health spokesperson.

Despite this, a number of passengers have reported their negative rapid tests were not checked upon disembarking on Wednesday morning. The ship is scheduled to stay in Sydney for one day before returning to Queensland's capital, Brisbane.

The incident has elicited memories of Australia's first super spreader event which happened on board a sister ship, the Ruby Princess cruise liner in March of 2020.

Some 2,700 passengers were allowed to disembark in central Sydney without sufficient screening, and at least 900 people later tested positive and 28 people died.

Chair of Biostatistics and Epidemiology University of South Australia, Professor Adrian Esterman told Xinhua on Wednesday that the difference this time was that the cruise required all crew and passengers to be fully vaccinated.

He said that despite the requirement of negative rapid antigen tests when boarding and disembarking, the poor accuracy of the tests would limit the ability to sufficiently screen those on board.

"If all passengers and crew had to have a rapid PCR test before embarking and disembarking, I think that this would make cruising much safer," he said, referring to a rapid PCR test that has just been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia's federal medical regulatory agency.

He added that with the high rates of COVID-19 in the state, any positive passengers from the ship would make little difference in the scheme of things.

NSW reported 10,622 new COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths in the 24 hours to 4:00 p.m. local time Tuesday. There were 2,023 hospitalizations and 61 patients with the virus in intensive care units.

Health authorities have warned that the state is at the beginning of a third Omicron wave from the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which they have predicted would peak in late July or early August. 

Photo taken on July 13, 2022 shows the Coral Princess ship docked at the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. A COVID-19 stricken cruise ship docked in Australia's most populous city Sydney on Wednesday morning, adding fear to the state of New South Wales (NSW), which is already battling with a new wave of the infections. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

Photo taken on July 13, 2022 shows the Coral Princess ship docked at the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. A COVID-19 stricken cruise ship docked in Australia's most populous city Sydney on Wednesday morning, adding fear to the state of New South Wales (NSW), which is already battling with a new wave of the infections. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

Photo taken on July 13, 2022 shows the Coral Princess ship docked at the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. A COVID-19 stricken cruise ship docked in Australia's most populous city Sydney on Wednesday morning, adding fear to the state of New South Wales (NSW), which is already battling with a new wave of the infections. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- When commenting on the progress of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Collen Vixen Kelapile said, "Let us make the implementation aspect as equally inclusive."

"We must be mindful that in 2015, when these goals were put together, it involved very serious and very comprehensive consultations with all diverse stakeholders, including civil society, including our own people," he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"If we are to achieve the SDGs, it cannot be done by governments alone," he told Xinhua on the sidelines of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which kicked off on July 5 and will conclude on Friday.

The SDGs Report 2022 released on July 7 reveals that intersecting global crises are threatening the SDGs, and the convergence of increased fighting, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the long-term climate crisis could push an additional 75-95 million people into extreme poverty this year -- compared with pre-pandemic projections -- and jeopardize the SDG blueprint for more resilient, peaceful and equal societies.

The ECOSOC chief said that the report bears the message that "we act now or lose the opportunity to reach the goals in the next eight years," urging everyone to stay the course and take meaningful actions despite the various challenges and difficulties ahead.

"We'd better accelerate the implementation of those (goals)," stressed the ECOSOC's 77th president, who was elected on July 23 last year and who is also the permanent representative of Botswana to the United Nations.

Speaking on the lessons drawn from COVID-19, Kelapile said that the pandemic has revealed how many things have really not been done so well in the world, citing vulnerable health systems and the economies.

Referring to indispensable tools in advancing the SDGs, Kelapile said technologies and innovations play a crucial role, which was evident in the speed of COVID-19 vaccine research and production.

The ECOSOC chief called for efforts to bridge the technological gap that is still existent between the Global South and the Global North.

Regarding obstacles to SDGs, Kelapile said, "we need really to reset our multilateral system," urging the global community to "get united" and "speak with one voice" and "act together."

"Otherwise, all the commitments we are making will all be in vain in terms of what we really need to get there," he added.

Besides COVID-19, Kelapile took climate change as another major challenge, thus calling for efforts to "fix our climate crisis in order to prevent the related issues of conflicts, of a shortage of land, which might result in even too many conflicts for scarce land."

Commenting on the prospects of the SDGs, Kelapile said that he has been following the presentations of 44 voluntary national reviews (VNRs) at this year's HLPF.

This year's forum will reflect on how recovery policies can reverse the negative impacts of the pandemic on the SDGs and move countries on to a path to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda. Twenty-one out of 44 countries that present VNRs this year are from Africa, a fact Kelapile deemed "truly inspiring."

"I do get a sense that despite all the challenges that we are facing today, the fact that Africa showed up in such a strong number gives me hope," said the ECOSOC chief.

Closely following member countries' VNRs presentations at the forum, Kelapile said that their determination gives him optimism that "we stand a chance, making the difference in order to close the gap that exist in the implementation process of the SDGs."

Recalling his commitment to ensuring inclusivity when assuming office last year, he stressed that a strong partnership with the private sector, civil society and even youth is needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda. 
Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the upper left, and one toward the bottom. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, July 12 (Xinhua) -- NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe.

Webb's first observations tell the story of the hidden universe through every phase of cosmic history - from neighboring exoplanets to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, said NASA.

"Today, we present humanity with a groundbreaking new view of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope -- a view the world has never seen before," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The images released by NASA include detailed spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere; Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star which is approximately 2,000 light years away; Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Pegasus; Carina Nebula, the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled another image produced by Webb, galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.

"These images, including the deepest view of our universe that has ever been taken, show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don't even yet know to ask; questions that will help us better understand our universe and humanity's place within it," Nelson said.

The release of Webb's first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb's science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within the solar system to the early universe using Webb's four instruments, according to NASA.

Webb was launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec. 25, 2021, to probe structures and origins of the universe.

After completing a complex deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science.

Webb is NASA's largest and most powerful space science telescope ever constructed. With a 6.5-meter primary mirror, the large infrared telescope will study every phase of cosmic history, from within the solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, according to NASA. 

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (L) speaks with Assistant Director of Science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Michelle Thaller at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows a side-by-side comparison of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light (L) and mid-infrared light (R) from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

The image captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope of the star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula is seen on a screen at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Taylor Mickal/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows Stephan's Quintet, a collection of five galaxies, as seen by MIRI from James Webb Space Telescope. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows a composite image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, created with James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam and MIRI. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA James Webb Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Communications Amber Straughn speaks about the infrared image of the star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula as it is shown on a screen during a broadcast releasing the telescope's first full-color images at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Untied States, on July 12, 2022. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

Image released by NASA on July 11, 2022 shows galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Handout via Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden (2nd L) attends a preview event to release one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a preview event to release one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson describes the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 11, 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images in a preview event at the White House on Monday.

This first image from Webb is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date, NASA said.

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, which have appeared in Webb's view for the first time, said NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)
LEGARDA FILES MAGNA CARTA OF BARANGAY HEALTH WORKERS AS HER TOP PRIORITY BILL

Four-term Senator Legarda has been heeding the call to attend to the pressing issues on the compensation of Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) for years. The COVID-19 pandemic has further magnified their importance as one of the country's frontliners.

Legarda has filed Senate Bill Number 5, which will provide a comprehensive set of compensation, incentives, and other benefits in acknowledgment of the services these health workers render to the people.

"BHWs suffer due to a lack of effective support mechanisms and insufficient funds from the local government units. The deplorable state of barangay health programs and services is due to the current shortage of volunteers, the BHWs, whose numbers seem insufficient to address the growing needs of barangays," Legarda said.

Legarda recognizes BHWs as "true heroes" of our health delivery system and has continuously repeated her call to address this concern.

"The nation's healthcare delivery system will falter at the grassroots without the dedication and hard work of barangay health workers," Legarda added.
ISTANBUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Military delegations from Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine met with a United Nations delegation in Istanbul on Wednesday to find ways to deliver Ukrainian grain to global markets.

The meeting kicked off in a Turkish army compound behind closed doors at around 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT), according to CNN Turk broadcaster.

The delegations also held bilateral talks before the meeting, it said.

The meeting came at a time when global food prices have soared with growing concerns about food shortages due to the prolonged crisis in Ukraine.

The Turkish Defence Ministry reported earlier that during the meeting, the delegates would work on creating a safe corridor on the Black Sea to transfer grain from Ukrainian ports.

Turkey expects Istanbul to become the operational hub where the entire shipment process will be conducted. 
Aerial photo taken on May 6, 2022 shows a view of the Longtan Container Terminal of Nanjing Port in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade of goods jumped 9.4 percent year on year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about 2.94 trillion U.S. dollars) during the first half of the year, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports rose 13.2 percent year on year to 11.14 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.8 percent from a year ago to 8.66 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

"The growth of foreign trade picked up significantly in May and June," said Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC.

As the epidemic prevention and control situation improves and pro-growth policies are taking effects, foreign trade enterprises have resumed work and production in an orderly manner since May.

"In particular, the rapid recovery of imports and exports in the Yangtze River Delta led to a marked rebound in the overall growth of China's foreign trade," Li said.

China's foreign trade growth accelerated to 14.3 percent in June, compared with 9.5 percent in May and 0.1 percent in April. 
NAIROBI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health and the UN children's fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday commenced deployment of ready-to-use therapeutic food to four drought-stricken counties to help avert severe malnutrition among children.

The consignment of highly nutritious food commodities valued at 30 million shillings (253,915 U.S. dollars) is part of joint efforts to mitigate the adverse impact of the current drought cycle on children's health and nutritional security, UNICEF said in a joint statement issued in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

Among the semi-arid counties to benefit from the supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food to prevent childhood malnutrition includes Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, and Isiolo, located in northern Kenya and grappling with an acute dry spell.

Through UNICEF funding, the ministry of health has been able to procure, warehouse and provide last-mile delivery of highly nutritious and ready-to-use food items such as milk to 25 counties grappling with childhood malnutrition.

Terry Ramadhani, the CEO of Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), said the provision of life-saving therapeutic foods sourced from local manufacturers will help reverse stunting among children in the current drought cycle.

Ramadhani added that Kenya has leveraged partnership with multilateral institutions to boost nutritional support for children in 23 arid and semi-arid counties currently affected by drought.

She disclosed that since 2015, the medical supplies agency has distributed UNICEF-supported food commodities to over 2,200 health facilities in arid lands, realizing zero childhood deaths due to malnutrition.

According to Ramadhani, the last distribution cycle of therapeutic foods recorded a more than 75 percent cure rate for previously malnourished children in arid and semi-arid counties.

Kenya's acute malnutrition rate has also reduced from 26 percent in 2016 to the current 20.1 percent in the semi-arid counties due to the availability of life-saving food items, Ramadhani said.

Statistics from National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) indicate that as of June, 4.1 million Kenyans were in dire need of food assistance amid escalating drought occasioned by four consecutive failed rainy seasons.

In addition, 942,000 children aged 9 to 59 months were acutely malnourished in the drought-affected counties, while 134,000 pregnant and lactating women in the drought hotspots were severely malnourished and requiring treatment, according to NDMA. 
A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

ZAGREB, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023.

The introduction of the euro in Croatia will make the country's economy more resilient and it will improve the living standard of Croatian citizens, Plenkovic said in a statement.

"For a long time, we have worked hard on this project because we firmly believe that joining the eurozone is in the national interest of Croatia," Plenkovic said.

Boris Vujcic, governor of the Croatian National Bank, said the adoption of the euro will make Croatia more attractive for foreign investments and safer in times of crisis, thus bringing concrete, direct and lasting benefits to Croatian citizens and entrepreneurs.

Earlier on Tuesday, the ECOFIN adopted the three final legal acts that are necessary for Croatia to introduce the euro next year. The country will be the 20th member of the eurozone. 

A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

A pedestrian walks near a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

A vehicle runs past a poster writing "Welcome to the Euro, Croatia!" in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric (L) and European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde attend a signing ceremony on adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric poses for a photo holding a model of a euro coin at a signing ceremony on adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric speaks at a signing ceremony on adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric speaks at a signing ceremony on adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric poses for a photo holding a model of a euro coin at a signing ceremony on adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2022. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to integrate Croatia into the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
A staff member selects goods ordered online at Jiamei Supermarket in Sixian County, Suzhou City, east China's Anhui Province, July 4, 2022. East China's Anhui Province, which is combating the latest COVID-19 resurgence, has taken a range of measures to guarantee the supply of daily necessities. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland Tuesday reported 57 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 16 in Guangdong and eight in Gansu, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.

Altogether 204 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified in 11 provincial-level regions.

A total of 76 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Tuesday, said the commission.

The total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals after recovery reached 220,601 on the Chinese mainland as of Tuesday.

Tuesday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll at 5,226. 
Meet a group of rangers in China's Xinjiang, who have overcome desolation and loneliness for years on the "No man's land" to preserve the site of the ancient Loulan, dubbed "Oriental Pompeii."





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




This file photo taken on Aug. 19, 2018, shows former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome delivering a speech in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome has said that the China-proposed Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa (HOA) to support regional countries in addressing security, development and governance challenges is highly appreciated.

ADDIS ABABA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome has said that the China-proposed Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa (HOA) to support regional countries in addressing security, development and governance challenges is highly appreciated.

"The move and the initiative China has taken is highly appreciated," the former Ethiopian president told Xinhua in a recent interview, as he commended China's facilitating role to bring about lasting peace and stability in the region.

The First China-Horn of Africa Peace, Good Governance and Development Conference was held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, from June 20 to 21. The high-level regional peace and development conference brought together ministers and senior government officials of HOA countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Djibouti, who were joined by Xue Bing, the special envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"It was a Chinese initiative to bring countries to talk about and discuss peace and security in our region. Of course, African countries, especially our region of IGAD member countries, have to own the agenda," Teshome said.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is an eight-member east African bloc, bringing together Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.

The former Ethiopian president emphasized that peace and stability are important for any country to develop, as he singled out China's peaceful development experience as a prime example.

"The success stories of China, the continuous economic development in China, was due to the fact that China was peaceful - peaceful with itself and peaceful with its neighbors," he said. "We need a peaceful and stable society. In the absence of peace and stability, we can not have any investment."

He said countries in the Horn of Africa "are convinced that we need peace and stability" in the region, in which China's efforts to facilitate and bring together the neighboring countries to discuss peace, security and development "is very important."

"I hope China will continue in encouraging our region to talk about peace and stability. If Ethiopia and its neighbors are peaceful, we benefit from that," he said.

Teshome emphasized that peaceful coexistence is a mainstay in order to have mutually beneficial development projects between countries in the region.

Participants attending the two-day conference in Addis Ababa last month concluded their engagement by issuing a 12-point joint statement stating that participants conducted in-depth discussions on regional peace, development and governance in an atmosphere of unity, candor, pragmatism, and mutual respect.

Teshome, who was the president of Ethiopia from October 2013 to 2018, has served the East African country in different high-level capacities, including as Ethiopia's Ambassador to China.
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday detailed measures to stabilize and expand employment.

Calling for multi-pronged efforts to boost consumption, the meeting specified measures to shore up the consumption of green and intelligent home appliances. 
TEHRAN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday stressed that Washington's language of coercion doesn't work on Iran, and Tehran will not back down from its "rightful and logical positions," according to the Iranian presidency's website.

The U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign has "failed miserably," Raisi said at a cabinet meeting, advising the Americans to "see the facts and learn from the past instead of repeating the failed experience of maximum pressure on the Iranian nation."

"It is not possible to speak to the Iranian people with the language of coercion. It is strange that they still want to speak with the same literature that will definitely not bring them any results," he added.

Regarding the talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Raisi said the Americans said that Iran must return to the accord, but the fact is that Iran has never withdrawn from the JCPOA and it was the United States who violated the deal.

In the nuclear talks, Iran has always acted rationally and put forward its logical demands, he said, stressing that the Iranian negotiating team has not presented any demand outside the existing frameworks.

Turning to the U.S. President Joe Biden's Middle East visit, Raisi stressed that the Islamic republic is closely monitoring all regional developments and has recurrently warned that any action against Iran's territorial integrity will receive a decisive response.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.

After a three-month pause, the talks resumed recently in the Qatari capital of Doha, but failed to result in any agreement to settle the remaining differences.

Biden began his four-day Middle East tour on Wednesday. 
LONDON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Eight candidates have been nominated to enter the race to be the leader of the Conservative Party and replace outgoing Boris Johnson as prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK), the party's backbench 1922 Committee said on Tuesday.

The eight contenders who successfully enlisted the required backing of at least 20 Conservative lawmakers are: Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak; Foreign Secretary Liz Truss; International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt; backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat; Attorney General Suella Braverman; newly appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi; former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch; and former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The first round of voting among Tory lawmakers will be held on Wednesday and only those contenders who receive at least 30 votes can enter the second ballot, which is to be held on Thursday, according to the rules set by the 1922 Committee, which runs the leadership contest.

The number of contenders will be whittled down to two through more rounds of secret ballot, before British parliamentarians break up for the summer recess on July 21.

The final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will be announced on Sept.5, becoming the new Tory leader and the UK's next prime minister.

The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to bow to the inevitable on Thursday by an avalanche of resignations of cabinet ministers and other junior government officials in protest against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson continues to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.

Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the Partygate scandal and the Chris Pincher scandal related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party deputy chief whip. 
Press Release

July 13, 2022 Sen. Joel Villanueva on DBM's proposal for rightsizing government agencies We support moves from the national government to improve its efficiency and institutional capacity to deliver public service. But before we start discussing the issue of rightsizing of the government bureaucracy, we need to discuss two pressing questions: First, why is it that roughly 1 out of 10 (or 178,128 out of 1,899,925) authorized positions in the national government remain unfilled? We want to know how these unfilled positions will be filled up. There should also be a comprehensive study of the staffing pattern of government agencies to determine whether some existing plantilla positions are already obsolete, redundant or unnecessary. We have been calling the attention of the Executive on this issue since 2016, but unfortunately, this remains unaddressed. Second, why is there a significant number of government workers under Job Order (JO) or Contract of Service (COS) positions in the government, when there are a lot of unfilled positions? Based on data from the Civil Service Commission as of August 2021, there are 100,895 JO and COS positions in the national government and more than 40,000 additional JO/COS positions are in GOCCs and SUCs. By addressing these two issues first, DBM can identify which agencies can be rightsized and this could mean an efficient way of delivering public services in the most economical way. In any case, the government should be prepared with its employment generation program, in the event that it determines, after a comprehensive study, that there is really a need to let go of some people. In fact, we filed a bill institutionalizing the National Employment Recovery Strategy to become the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) to ensure that the government will have a concrete and achievable job generation strategy in the coming years. The Senate is always ready to work with the Executive department in finding solutions about these issues.
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee (3rd R, front) meets with President of the Legislative Council (LegCo) of the HKSAR Andrew Leung (4th R, front) in Hong Kong, south China, July 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

HONG KONG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Led by John Lee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), a team of top government officials of the HKSAR attended the first antechamber exchange session held in the Legislative Council (LegCo) of the HKSAR on Wednesday.

Lee, together with six secretaries and deputy secretaries of departments, exchanged their views with some of the legislators on different topics during the exchange session held before Wednesday's LegCo meeting.

The new antechamber exchange sessions foster mutual understanding and create opportunities for legislators and officials to have dialogues and exchange ideas, Lee said.

Lee said that the frank and sincere exchanges during the meeting made him feel more confident about the antechamber exchange sessions.

Under the region's executive-led system and the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong," the executive-legislature relationship in the HKSAR will reach a new level, Lee noted.

President of the LegCo of the HKSAR Andrew Leung said that it is a new norm and new element of a good executive-legislature relationship for legislators to exchange views directly with the chief executive and the secretaries of departments.

Lee had previously made the suggestion to hold monthly sessions in the LegCo to enhance communication between HKSAR government officials and lawmakers, to establish a close and collaborative executive-legislature relationship. 

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee (R, front) meets with President of the Legislative Council (LegCo) of the HKSAR Andrew Leung (L, front) in Hong Kong, south China, July 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang)
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, representing their respective countries, signed the early harvest arrangements for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) via video link on Tuesday.

The two officials also announced the beginning of FTA negotiations between the two countries.

On the same day, Wang and Laureano Ortega Murillo, adviser to the Nicaraguan president, signed a memorandum of understanding to officially establish an economic and trade cooperation mechanism between the two governments.

The signing of the early harvest arrangements, together with the beginning of FTA negotiations, is an important outcome in bilateral economic and trade cooperation since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.

The moves will help cement and invigorate relations between the two sides, Wang said.

China and Nicaragua have made significant progress on bilateral economic and trade cooperation. From January to May, Nicaragua's exports to China increased by 128.9 percent year on year. 
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed at the Velana International Airport in the Maldives early Wednesday, according to the Maldivian media.

Rajapaksa had earlier informed the speaker of parliament that he would resign from the presidency on Wednesday. This year, Sri Lanka has been suffering a severe economic crisis which has led to public protests.

Sri Lanka's Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has said political party leaders have decided to elect a new president on July 20 through a vote in parliament.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
GENEVA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian concerns should always prevail over political ones, and unilateral measures may only be taken with due account of the rule of law, a United Nations (UN) human rights expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The majority of today's unilateral sanctions, imposed mainly by the U.S.-led western powers, do not fall within the scope of international law, according to Alena Douhan, special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) on the enjoyment of human rights.

"I would say that around 98 percent of the unilateral sanctions taken today violate the international obligations of states," she said.

Douhan took up her functions at the UN on March 25, 2020. She is a professor of international law and director of the Peace Research Center at the Belarusian State University.

During her recent visit to Zimbabwe, she was told that unilateral sanctions had forced some students there to change from continuous to periodic learning -- as if they were tourists. When these students came back for exams, they had to sleep on the streets.

"We have clearly observed that the use of unilateral sanctions and unilateral coercive measures is affecting the right to development and impeding the achievement of every single sustainable development goal," she said.

Among all the negative impacts of UCMs, Douhan mentioned that the right to health is severely affected, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as she has observed during her recent visits to Venezuela and other countries.

In Venezuela, due to the absence of gasoline, it is extremely difficult for women to get to hospital for basic medical assistance, as the transportation fee could be equal to their monthly salary.

She said the mortality rate among women and newborn babies has kept growing as many hospitals -- due to sanctions -- lacked the facilities to take care of new moms and their babies.

In a report on her official visit to Venezuela last year, the special rapporteur concluded that the targeted sanctions exacerbated the pre-existing economic and social crises and had a devastating effect on the entire population.

She stressed that these sanctions, imposed mostly in the name of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, undermine those very principles, values and norms.

She cited relevant survey findings as saying that due to the sharp increase in UCMs, the general mortality rate in Venezuela increased by 31 percent between 2017 and 2018.

Another special concern for the UN expert is extraterritorial secondary sanctions and threats of sanctions resulting in overcompliance with existing sanctions regimes, which prevent the sanctioned states and their people from purchasing essential goods.

According to one of her reports, the obstruction of the purchase of vaccines has exposed approximately 2.6 million children in Venezuela to the risks of meningitis, rotavirus infection, malaria, measles, yellow fever and influenza.

During a 12-day visit to Iran, she learned how unilateral sanctions had deprived patients who suffered rare diseases and disabilities of the medicine and assistive equipment they needed.

"I am gravely concerned about the life-threating consequences of the high costs and in certain cases complete absence of specialized medicines and medical equipment due to sanctions-induced trade and financial restrictions," she said.

She pointed out that even in situations when humanitarian exemptions are applicable, natural and legal entities like banks and ships are reluctant to be involved in transactions for fear of responsibilities, and this results in overcompliance with already massive sanctions regimes.

She cited the example of a Chinese businessman, who wanted to donate masks and other urgently needed medical protective materials in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started to wreak havoc across the globe. The shipment, however, could not reach its final destination as the carrier, a United States company, refused at the last minute to deliver the goods citing United States sanction regulations.

"We started to face a new tendency of secondary sanctions and overcompliance. ... The world starts to be ruled by fear," she said. 
Yang Xiaodu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and chairman of the National Commission of Supervision, addresses a virtual BRICS anti-corruption ministerial meeting on July 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday called on the BRICS countries to jointly safeguard multilateralism and build a fair and reasonable international anti-corruption governance system.

Yang Xiaodu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and chairman of the National Commission of Supervision, made the remarks when addressing a virtual BRICS anti-corruption ministerial meeting.

Noting that combating corruption is a common task faced by all countries, Yang called on BRICS countries to build political consensus and jointly implement the BRICS Initiative on Denial of Safe Haven to Corruption.

Yang said BRICS countries should deepen mutual learning to jointly improve anti-corruption governance capabilities, and work together to create a clean business environment.

"We should uphold multilateralism, jointly build a fair and reasonable anti-corruption international governance system, and make further contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind and a global development community," Yang added. 
LONDON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Seeking to keep its position as the world's hegemonic power, the United States is trying to divide the world, a strategy that is very dangerous and misguided, a renowned economist told Xinhua.

The U.S. strategic doctrine is that no country should challenge U.S. dominance, said Professor Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University in New York.

"Of course, other countries, including China, do not want a U.S.-dominated world," Sachs said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently.

"This doesn't mean other countries want to dominate the world instead, only that they resent U.S. arrogance in deciding global policies, and in launching U.S.-led wars, such as in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere, while telling other countries that they must abide by U.S. demands," he added.

In the process of trying to protect its hegemony, Sachs said, the United States is expanding NATO, both eastward in Europe, and now even in Asia, by inviting Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to cooperate closely with NATO.

"This is a typical American strategy to try to divide the world. It is very, very dangerous and misguided. It is also sad that (some) countries go along," the economist said.

Sachs has warned of the consequences of the U.S. strategy on multiple occasions. At a conference hosted by the Spanish think tank the GATE Center in mid-June, he said "the United States has a mindset that it is still the world leader, which is rather preposterous given global realities, but it leads to tremendous mistakes, a failure of diplomacy, a failure to negotiate, a very harsh line against China, which is completely contrary to the actual needs of the planet, because we need cooperation everywhere."

In the interview with Xinhua, he also pointed out that the United States failed to acknowledge that its arrogance and provocative NATO policies raised tensions and militarization in Ukraine, and now it is using the conflict in Ukraine as an excuse to expand NATO even further, which is "a terrible mistake and potential disaster."

Since early 2010s, the United States has been escalating its containment efforts against China, which include unilateral trade measures, technology, investment and financial barriers, and new military alliances such as AUKUS, Sachs said.

"These are unilateral and provocative actions that are dangerously raising tensions between the United States and China. The goal of the United States is to weaken China and to mobilize an alliance against China. This is a huge mistake and very dangerous," he added.

"We need a world of peace, in which war is not used as state policy, and a world in which all countries abide by the UN Charter," he said. 
UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has allocated 5 million U.S. dollars in emergency aid for victims of last month's flash flooding in Bangladesh, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths approved the UN Central Emergency Response Fund disbursement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Flash floods in northeast Bangladesh on June 15 swept away homes and inundated farmlands of more than 7 million people, displacing almost 500,000 families, the office said. Access to drinking water and sanitation facilities was affected and 90 percent of health facilities flooded.

"The United Nations is supporting the government's response by delivering food assistance, drinking water, cash, emergency drugs, water purification tablets, dignity and hygiene kits to the affected families and education support," OCHA said.

The office said the UN Children's Fund provided aid, including water, nutrition and protection services, to nearly 1 million people and the World Food Programme distributed 85 tons of fortified biscuits to 34,000 households. The World Health Organization provided 250,000 water purification tablets, and the UN Population Fund helped pregnant women to access hospitals and positioned midwives to provide emergency obstetric support. 
UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday identified four areas where efforts are needed to promote strategic communications in UN peacekeeping.

Strategic communications can help the world know more about peacekeeping, and help peacekeeping better serve the world. The UN secretary-general's Action for Peacekeeping initiative includes strategic communications in the toolbox, which is an important measure to enhance the safety and security of peacekeepers and improve the performance of peacekeeping operations, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

China believes that to enhance strategic communications, there is a need to work on four areas, he told a Security Council open debate on the key role of strategic communications for efficient peacekeeping.

First, creating stronger partnerships.

The United Nations should enhance communications with the host country, troop- and police-contributing countries, and regional organizations, so as to share information, align goals, and coordinate activities. Of all the stakeholders, the host country is the most important one. The United Nations should continue to improve communications with host countries, heed their opinions, address their concerns, and seek their support. The Security Council should create the mandate of a peacekeeping mission in a reasonable manner based on the needs of the host country. Missions should also improve their communications with local communities to gain public understanding and support.

Second, better protecting the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Peacekeepers are faced with more and more serious safety and security challenges. There is a need to enhance security information exchanges between missions and host governments and improve the situational awareness and risk prevention capacities of missions. In areas where many forces conduct operations, the host governments could consider creating an information-sharing mechanism to avoid misunderstanding or misjudgment.

Third, facilitating effective mandate implementation for peacekeeping operations.

Restoring peace in the host country is the primary responsibility of a peacekeeping operation. A mission should, based on thorough communications with the parties concerned and relevant regional organizations, promote the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and communication. Military means alone cannot fulfill the mandate to protect civilians. Missions should improve communications with local communities so as to be able to detect and address security risks as soon as possible to effectively prevent conflicts and better protect civilians.

Fourth, improving strategic communications capacity-building.

The UN Secretariat will soon update the strategic communications public information policy. China hopes that the Secretariat will take this opportunity to integrate strategic communications into all components and units of peacekeeping operations, and in the process, keep close communications with stakeholders. The Secretariat should include strategic communications in the training for peacekeepers to help them get a deeper understanding of local cultures and the situations of the host countries so as to more closely facilitate the implementation of the priority national policies of these countries.

As the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget and a major troop contributor, China has always been committed to peace through concrete actions. China has included strategic communications in its training system and has provided peacekeepers from dozens of troop-contributing countries with targeted training. China will continue to work with peace-loving nations to contribute to the maintenance of world peace and security, said Zhang. 
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) visits Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on July 13, 2022. Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, starting his first visit to the Middle East as president, during which he will hold talks with officials of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. (Olivier Fitoussi/JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, July 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, opening his first visit to the Middle East as president, during which he will hold talks with officials of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia.

Biden was welcomed in an official ceremony at the Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv by Israeli President Issac Herzog, Prime Minister Yair Lapid, ministers and lawmakers.

He received a security briefing at the airport on Israel's anti-rocket Iron Dome system and Iron Beam, a newly-developed laser-based air defense system.

In joint remarks, Lapid said that Biden is "one of the best friends Israel has ever known."

"We will discuss building a new security and economy architecture with the nations of the Middle East, following the Abraham Accords," Lapid said, adding "we will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear program."

For his part, Biden said the connection between Israel and the United States "is bone-deep," adding that he will work during his trip to advance Israel's integration in the region.

He will later go to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, for a wreath-laying ceremony to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust during War World II.

He will spend two days in Jerusalem before traveling to the West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday.

On Friday afternoon, he will fly to Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi officials, where he will also participate in a summit with officials from regional countries.

Israel hopes that the visit will help to warm up ties with Saudi Arabia amid growing concerns over Iran's activities in the region and its nuclear program.

Biden is also expected to try to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase oil production amid the crisis in Ukraine. 

U.S. President Joe Biden (1st R, Front) attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on July 13, 2022. Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, starting his first visit to the Middle East as president, during which he will hold talks with officials of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. (Olivier Fitoussi/JINI via Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden (Front) attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on July 13, 2022. Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, starting his first visit to the Middle East as president, during which he will hold talks with officials of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. (Olivier Fitoussi/JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli President Issac Herzog (L) and Prime Minister Yair Lapid (R) welcome U.S. President Joe Biden at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2022. Joe Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday afternoon, opening his first visit to the Middle East as president, during which he will hold talks with leaders of Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. (Gideon Markowicz/JINI via Xinhua)
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade of goods jumped 9.4 percent year on year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about 2.94 trillion U.S. dollars) during the first half of the year, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports rose 13.2 percent year on year to 11.14 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.8 percent from a year ago to 8.66 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

"The growth of foreign trade picked up significantly in May and June," said Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC.

As the epidemic prevention and control situation improves and pro-growth policies are taking effects, foreign trade enterprises have resumed work and production in an orderly manner since May.

"In particular, the rapid recovery of imports and exports in the Yangtze River Delta led to a marked rebound in the overall growth of China's foreign trade," Li said.

China's foreign trade growth accelerated to 14.3 percent in June, compared with 9.5 percent in May and 0.1 percent in April.

In the first half, China's trade with its top three trading partners -- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States -- expanded by 10.6 percent, 7.5 percent and 11.7 percent from a year ago, respectively.

From January to June, China's trade with Belt and Road countries and members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership soared by 17.8 percent and 5.6 percent year on year.

In terms of types of goods, imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products expanded by 4.2 percent to account for 49.1 percent of the total.

Private enterprises posted strong performance as their imports and exports grew 13.6 percent year on year in the first half, outpacing the country's overall growth.

China's exports of labor-intensive products increased 13.5 percent to 1.99 trillion yuan, while imports of energy products including crude oil, natural gas and coal surged 53.1 percent, customs data showed. 
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ISTANBUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Military delegations of Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, along with UN officials, meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the safe shipment of grain waiting at Ukrainian ports.

Turkey seeks to broker a grain corridor from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of a UN-backed effort to avert a global food crisis.

Turkey controls maritime traffic to and from the Black Sea through its Bosphorus Strait.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, has been acting as a mediator between them since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February.

Turkey has said it is ready to take on a role within an "observation mechanism" if a deal is reached.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (6th L) attends the Regional Ministerial Meeting on Environmental Cooperation for a Better Future in Tehran, Iran, on July 12, 2022. Raisi on Tuesday slammed Western countries for having played a major role in global environmental destruction over the past centuries. (Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua)

TEHRAN, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday slammed Western countries for having played a major role in global environmental destruction over the past centuries.

"The hegemonic approach of Western governments during the past centuries and their unlimited encroachment on natural resources ... has been one of the main factors of environmental problems," Raisi said at a regional meeting on environmental issues held in the capital Tehran.

The West should "take more responsibility in environmental protection," he said, urging the Western countries to avoid using the environmental factor for their "new colonialism" in the technology field.

Raisi also pointed out some regional environmental challenges, including the crisis of increasing dust storms, climate change, and pollution of biological resources.

The president stressed that the solution to the problems requires regional and global determination, saying that "the mechanism for solving environmental issues depends on regional cooperation and convergence."

The Regional Ministerial Meeting of Environmental Cooperation for a Better Future was held in Tehran on Tuesday with the participation of the ministers and other officials from 11 regional countries. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks at the Regional Ministerial Meeting on Environmental Cooperation for a Better Future in Tehran, Iran, on July 12, 2022. Raisi on Tuesday slammed Western countries for having played a major role in global environmental destruction over the past centuries. (Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua)
Military delegations of Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, along with UN officials, meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the safe shipment of grain waiting at Ukrainian ports.

Turkey seeks to broker a grain corridor from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of a UN-backed effort to avert a global food crisis.

Turkey controls maritime traffic to and from the Black Sea through its Bosphorus Strait.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, has been acting as a mediator between them since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February.

Turkey has said it is ready to take on a role within an "observation mechanism" if a deal is reached.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
In 1969, aged just 15, Xi Jinping left Beijing for Liangjiahe as an "educated youth." He would spend the next seven years living in the small village in northwest China. There, he encountered five challenges... What were they, and how were they overcome? Click to find out!
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and two others were wounded on Tuesday after a shootout between police officers and alleged criminals in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second-largest city, police sources said.

The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police said the event took place in the favela of Manguinhos in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro Tuesday morning when a group of agents were shot at as they passed nearby.

When police reinforcements arrived at the scene, a fierce shootout ensued, with at least six dead and two wounded, which also caused the interruption of train service in the area.

The Manguinhos favela is very close to the headquarters of the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police. 
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate has ordered the arrest of Liu Hongwu, formerly a senior official in Guangxi of south China, for suspected bribe-taking, an official statement said Wednesday.

The case was transferred to procuratorial authorities for prosecution following an investigation by the National Supervisory Commission.

Liu was formerly vice chairman of the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. 
UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution to extend the ban on the illicit export of petroleum, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, from Libya, for 15 months, till Oct. 30, 2023.

Resolution 2644 also extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the Libya Sanctions Committee till Nov. 15, 2023.

It decides that the panel shall provide to the Security Council an interim report on its work no later than March 15, 2023, and a final report to the council no later than Sept. 15, 2023, with its findings and recommendations.

The resolution calls for full compliance by all UN member states with the arms embargo, the travel ban and asset freeze, and further calls on all member states not to intervene in the Libya conflict or take measures that exacerbate the conflict.

It calls on all parties to implement the Oct. 23, 2020 cease-fire agreement in full and urges member states to respect and support the full implementation of the agreement, including through the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya without further delay. 
Alena Douhan, United Nations Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, speaks at a press conference in Harare, Zimbabwe, Oct. 28, 2021. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

The majority of today's unilateral sanctions, imposed mainly by the U.S.-led western powers, do not fall within the scope of international law, according to Alena Douhan, special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) on the enjoyment of human rights.

GENEVA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian concerns should always prevail over political ones, and unilateral measures may only be taken with due account of the rule of law, a United Nations (UN) human rights expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The majority of today's unilateral sanctions, imposed mainly by the U.S.-led western powers, do not fall within the scope of international law, according to Alena Douhan, special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) on the enjoyment of human rights.

"I would say that around 98 percent of the unilateral sanctions taken today violate the international obligations of states," she said.

Douhan took up her functions at the UN on March 25, 2020. She is a professor of international law and director of the Peace Research Center at the Belarusian State University.

People hold placards during an anti-sanction protest in Harare, Zimbabwe, Oct. 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara)

During her recent visit to Zimbabwe, she was told that unilateral sanctions had forced some students there to change from continuous to periodic learning -- as if they were tourists. When these students came back for exams, they had to sleep on the streets.

"We have clearly observed that the use of unilateral sanctions and unilateral coercive measures is affecting the right to development and impeding the achievement of every single sustainable development goal," she said.

Among all the negative impacts of UCMs, Douhan mentioned that the right to health is severely affected, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as she has observed during her recent visits to Venezuela and other countries.

A woman protests against the U.S. refusal to invite leaders of countries such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela in Los Angeles, the United States, June 10, 2022. (Xinhua)

In Venezuela, due to the absence of gasoline, it is extremely difficult for women to get to hospital for basic medical assistance, as the transportation fee could be equal to their monthly salary.

She said the mortality rate among women and newborn babies has kept growing as many hospitals -- due to sanctions -- lacked the facilities to take care of new moms and their babies.

In a report on her official visit to Venezuela last year, the special rapporteur concluded that the targeted sanctions exacerbated the pre-existing economic and social crises and had a devastating effect on the entire population.

She stressed that these sanctions, imposed mostly in the name of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, undermine those very principles, values and norms.

She cited relevant survey findings as saying that due to the sharp increase in UCMs, the general mortality rate in Venezuela increased by 31 percent between 2017 and 2018.

Another special concern for the UN expert is extraterritorial secondary sanctions and threats of sanctions resulting in overcompliance with existing sanctions regimes, which prevent the sanctioned states and their people from purchasing essential goods.

A batch of COVID-19 vaccine donated by China arrives at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Dec. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

According to one of her reports, the obstruction of the purchase of vaccines has exposed approximately 2.6 million children in Venezuela to the risks of meningitis, rotavirus infection, malaria, measles, yellow fever and influenza.

During a 12-day visit to Iran, she learned how unilateral sanctions had deprived patients who suffered rare diseases and disabilities of the medicine and assistive equipment they needed.

"I am gravely concerned about the life-threating consequences of the high costs and in certain cases complete absence of specialized medicines and medical equipment due to sanctions-induced trade and financial restrictions," she said.

She pointed out that even in situations when humanitarian exemptions are applicable, natural and legal entities like banks and ships are reluctant to be involved in transactions for fear of responsibilities, and this results in overcompliance with already massive sanctions regimes.

She cited the example of a Chinese businessman, who wanted to donate masks and other urgently needed medical protective materials in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started to wreak havoc across the globe. The shipment, however, could not reach its final destination as the carrier, a United States company, refused at the last minute to deliver the goods citing United States sanction regulations.

"We started to face a new tendency of secondary sanctions and overcompliance. ... The world starts to be ruled by fear," she said. 
JERUSALEM, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel increased 1,500 work permits for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, as part of the measures affecting Palestinians ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's arrival in Israel.

The move announced on late Tuesday was described as one of "a series of measures for building confidence between Israel and the Palestinian Authority" by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the unit under the Israeli Defense Ministry responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.

With work permits, the Gazans will be allowed to leave the enclave to work in Israel. After the added 1,500 work permits, the total number will reach 15,500, it said.

Besides, Israel would legalize the status of 5,500 undocumented Palestinians and foreigners living in the West Bank and Gaza, said the COGAT.

Israel would also open the Salem crossing in the northern West Bank to facilitate Arab Israelis to enter the Palestinian city of Jenin.

Other measures announced by the unit included approving six Palestinian housing projects in Area C of the West Bank.

According to the interim peace agreements signed in the 1990s, Area C under full Israeli control accounts for 60 percent of the territories of the West Bank, while Area A, administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA), comprises approximately 18 percent, and Area B, administered by both PA and Israel, occupies 22 percent. Figures from the UN and Israeli authorities show roughly 330,000 Palestinians and 450,000 Jewish settlers live in Area C.

For some Palestinians, working in Israel is beneficial to their livelihood. According to data released by the World Bank, their average wage inside Israel is around 75 U.S. dollars a day, twice the rate in the West Bank. In Gaza, where the unemployment rate hovers at 48 percent, tens of thousands lined up for work permits in Israel.

Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled to travel to the West Bank on Friday to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before flying to Saudi Arabia. 
CAPE TOWN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)'s news section in a report has praised the win-win relationship that's growing between China and Africa, citing all-time high trade, poverty alleviation cooperation, and economic stimulation in Africa.

Despite all the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, China-Africa trade managed to reach an all-time high in 2021, and China has maintained its position as the largest investor in Africa over the past 10 years, read an opinion article published in July on the website of SABC News.

This comes when the continent is in dire need of direct foreign investment and job creation, it said.

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs of China, the total trade between China and Africa in 2021 reached 254.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 35.3 percent year on year, among which, Africa exported 105.9 billion dollars of goods to China, up 43.7 percent year on year.

The article further said China-Africa cooperation contributes to job creation in the continent, creating 18,562 jobs a year in Africa. This led to the reduction of unemployment, improvement in poverty alleviation efforts and drastic promotion in investment, said the article, adding that it also created "tangible evidence" in Africa's industrialization as well as gross economic development across various sectors.

China has lent support to Africa in terms of railways, roads, ports, dams, industries and digital connectivity, which has scaled down the global digital divide, and the country has close cooperation with Africa in science, education, culture, health, and other fields, it said.

According to the article, the win-win relationship is beneficial to each African country at the bilateral level. While Western countries continue their sanctions against Zimbabwe, the government of China aided Harare to develop its infrastructure in the sectors of telecommunications, energy and agriculture, it said.

"China's foreign policy stance to forge a win-win political and economic relationship with the continent has uprooted many African communities out of abject poverty," it said.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, China-Africa relations are blossoming," the article said. 
COLOMBO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country, hours before his resignation is expected to be announced.

"The Prime Minister's Office confirms that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country," the Prime Minister's Media Division said in a statement.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said in a separate statement that it had arranged an air force flight early Wednesday for President Rajapaksa and the First Lady along with two security officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport to fly to the Maldives.

The Maldivian media reported earlier that a military aircraft carrying Rajapaksa landed at the Velana International Airport in at around 3 a.m. local time.

Rajapaksa had informed the speaker of Sri Lankan parliament that he would resign from the presidency on Wednesday. Sri Lanka this year has been suffering a severe economic crisis which has led to protests.

Sri Lanka's speaker of parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said political party leaders have decided to elect a new president on July 20 through a vote in parliament. 
COLOMBO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said a committee, comprising the chief of defence staff, military commanders, and the inspector general of police, has been appointed to control the situation in the nation after protesters took over the Prime Minister's Office.

In a televised speech, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as the acting president by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said that the committee had also been instructed to ensure the security and the safety of the citizens during the ongoing protests.

Protesters surrounded the Prime Minister's Office in Colombo on Wednesday, calling for the resignation of Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.

Rajapaksa, who left for the Maldives earlier on Wednesday, was expected to hand in his resignation from the presidency later in the day amid a severe economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe, as the acting president, on Wednesday declared a nationwide state of emergency and a curfew in the Western Province including in the capital Colombo. 
COLOMBO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday declared a nationwide curfew effective until Thursday morning.

The order directs that no person shall be on any public road, railway, public park, public recreation ground or other public ground or the seashore in such areas till 5 a.m. on Thursday, except under the authority of a written permit granted by relevant authorities.

Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe on Wednesday informed Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a prime minister who is acceptable to both the government and opposition.

Protesters surrounded and entered the Prime Minister's Office in Colombo on Wednesday, calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.

Rajapaksa, who left for the Maldives earlier on Wednesday, was expected to hand in his resignation from the presidency later in the day amid a severe economic crisis. 
MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Moscow highly values its relations with Riyadh and hopes U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia would not be used to create hostility against Russia, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

"We highly value our interests, our relations and our cooperation with Riyadh," local media reported citing Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"We hope the building and development of Riyadh's relations with other countries will in no way be directed against us," he said.

The comment comes ahead of Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia this week. The visit aims to enhance the historic bilateral relations and strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia, according to a statement from the Saudi Royal Court. 
KIEV, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the European Union (EU) to grant Ukraine a new aid package of 1 billion euros.

The aid, which was approved by the finance ministers of the EU member states earlier in the day, would help Ukraine to maintain financial stability amid the conflict with Russia, Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine also plans to attract up to 200 million euros on preferential terms from Italy, Shmyhal said.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said that Kiev has received a grant of 1.7 billion dollars from the United States and will use it to cover state budget expenditures for medical services under the medical guarantee program.

Kiev plans to raise 20 billion dollars in international aid from its Western partners by the end of 2022, said Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko at a public event last month. 
A quartet meeting is held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul, Turkey, July 13, 2022. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that an agreement was reached in Istanbul's meeting on the basic principles and several technical issues on resuming exports of Ukrainian grain.

The statement came after a quartet meeting was held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul. (Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- First round of the discussions between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations aiming to deliver stranded Ukrainian grain into the global market concluded in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The Turkish Defence Ministry announced the end of the talks on Twitter without disclosing any immediate results or whether the talks will continue.

The meeting came at a time when global food prices have soared with growing concerns about food shortages due to the prolonged crisis in Ukraine.

The ministry reported earlier that during the meeting, the delegates would work on creating a safe corridor on the Black Sea to transfer grain from Ukrainian ports.

Turkey has long been playing a role of mediation, seeking ways to establish a mechanism that will prevent a food crisis by allowing Ukraine to export its grains to the global market via sea routes.

Ankara also expects Istanbul to become an operational hub where the entire shipment process will be conducted. 

A quartet meeting is held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul, Turkey, July 13, 2022. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that an agreement was reached in Istanbul's meeting on the basic principles and several technical issues on resuming exports of Ukrainian grain.

The statement came after a quartet meeting was held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul. (Xinhua)

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar speaks during an interview after a quartet meeting held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul, Turkey, July 13, 2022. Akar said on Wednesday that an agreement was reached in Istanbul's meeting on the basic principles and several technical issues on resuming exports of Ukrainian grain.

The statement came after a quartet meeting was held by the delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul. (Xinhua)
Pakistan:

A British woman who is accused of ordering the murder of her husband and is currently on death row in Pakistan claims she was beaten by the authorities every day in an effort to force her to confess.

Yasmin Kausar 64 claimed that I was held at a police station for two weeks, where I was hit every day. They tried to get me to confess but I refused to say something that wasn't true.

Bradford resident Kausar has expressed her relief at being granted bail. She was released in June after spending since April 4 in a Pakistani prison.She was held after the charred remains of her 23-year-old husband were discovered in a car at a garbage dump in Rawalpindi, Punjab.The 65-year-old Mohammad Farooq was allegedly killed by a 23-year-old man who worked for his family and was allegedly hired by Kausar.

A British real estate company with hotels in Leeds and Pakistan employed Farooq as its director. After the passing of his younger brother his wife subsequently moved in with him in the countryside. Her lawyer later submitted a bail application while adamantly defending her innocence but the sessions court in Rawalpindi rejected it. However after an appeal was filed with the Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadeem granted bail.

In his ruling the judge drew attention to weaknesses in the prosecution's case against bail including the lack of any direct evidence linking Kausar to the alleged crime.

Following her release from prison last month Kausar has been residing with family members in Pakistan including her cancer-stricken daughter Saima who travelled there from the UK to support her.

The trial for Alleged Women will begin next week. Speaking for the first time since her release from prison, she expressed her hope to be found not guilty.

Mr. Farooq was allegedly strangled at his family's home, according to Pakistani police, who then drove the body to a landfill about 27 miles away and set the car on fire. His burned child was discovered on April 1 at the Morgah dump close to Islamabad.

Police believe Abdul Waheed, a 22-year-old mechanic employed by the family, and Kausar were having an affair. Abdul Waheed allegedly wanted to flee to the UK with the older woman. He was taken into custody along with Abdul Idrees, 24. According to local media, police claim that the group plotted to kill Kausar's late husband.

10-year-old Kamran stabbed to death, ate fruit without asking

Christian mechanic in Pakistan was found guilty of blasphemy sentenced to death

Pakistan's economy is in crisis.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's government has made innumerable pledges to its occupied region of Kashmir (PoK) in the past but never fulfilled any.

The promise to give it complete "freedom" from its clutches, to develop infrastructure, education and healthcare facilities and so on., have always ended in a sham.

The same Pakistan is now busy trying to sell Kashmiris in India the ideal of "independence and self-determination," even as its own so-called "Azad Jammu-Kashmir" region is parading the streets at home and yelling, "We want freedom, Pakistan Army go back."

It is well known that the government of Pakistan has disregarded the fundamental human rights of the occupied Kashmir region. The purpose of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), which is still being defended to the world through a web of lies and deceit, is to win sympathy for a cause.

Since the beginning, "Azad Kashmir" has solely contained the word "Azad." The rest of it is a string of misfortunes, neglect, and oppression. The terrible cycle of drug misuse, unemployment, and poverty is commonplace here. 90% of suicides in Pakistan are blamed on the colonised state of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is referred to as the "suicide capital" of Pakistan.

Pakistan's ISI has implemented a strategy to render the young of PoK ineffective by driving them into a drug misuse spiral out of concern that they could foil its wicked agenda.

Pakistan's economy is in crisis.

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Islamabad: A sensational incident has come to light from Pakistan's Punjab province. A 10-year-old boy in Lahore was so tortured for eating fruit without asking that he succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The child worked as a domestic helper in a high-class society in Lahore. According to the agency, 10-year-old Kamran worked as a domestic helper in a Lahore house with his 6-year-old younger brother Rizwan. The two brothers were brought with him a year ago by Nasrullah, who lives in the posh Defence Housing Authority. In Nasrullah's house lived with his wife, two sons and his daughter-in-law.

Mohammad Yusuf, the policeman investigating the case, said, "On Tuesday, Kamran and Rizwan took out fruits from the fridge and ate it without asking Nasrullah's family. When Nasrullah's family got into a tizzy about it, they tortured both the children. Knives were also used to harass the children." According to the police, when the condition of the two children started deteriorating, Nasrullah rushed them to the hospital and fled from the spot. Kamran died on arrival at the hospital. At the same time, Rizwan's condition remains critical. The police have arrested the five accused, including Nasrullah, and registered a case of murder against them.

Dozens of deep wounds were found on the bodies of Kamran and Rizwan during the interrogation. Investigating officer Yusuf has informed that Nasrullah's family used to torture both the children over petty things. The accused told during interrogation that the two children were tied to a rope for eating the fruit without asking. At the same time, Punjab (Pakistan) CM Hamza Shehbaz has taken cognizance of the incident and sought a report from the concerned authorities. He has instructed the concerned authorities to provide better medical facilities to Rizwan. Human rights activists in Pakistan have also strongly condemned the incident. Human rights activist Sheriar Rizwan has said that the killers of innocent children should be given the strictest possible punishment. The Government should make such an arrangement that the criminals cannot be exempted under any circumstances.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, a day after the U.S warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.

Putin will participate in a trilateral summit with the leaders of Iran and Turkey on Syria next Tuesday while visiting Tehran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. This summit would follow the so-called Astana format.

The U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, will be followed by Putin's visit to Iran. Iran's nuclear programme and "malign operations" in the area will be a major topic of discussion. According to Peskov, Putin will meet separately with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his trip to Tehran.

Erdogan facilitated negotiations between officials of Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, in March. According to Peskov, a fresh round of these conversations was not under consideration. The White House stated on Monday that it thinks Iran is helping Russia obtain "hundreds" of drones, including those that can supply weapons, for use in Ukraine.

Although it is unknown whether Iran has already given Russia any of the vehicles, according to U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Iran is reportedly planning to train Russian personnel to operate them as early as this month. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones as they are also known, are being prepared by the Iranian regime to give Russia up to several hundred of them, including weapons-capable UAVs, according to information we have, Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday.

In remarks on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Iranian foreign minister, Nasser Kanaani, did not refute the American assertion.

Russia shuts off the gas pipeline as part of 'routine maintenance'.

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Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, secretly left the country, an emigration officer confirmed to local media in the early hours of Wednesday. This was done in the face of intense public opposition and an ultimatum to resign from protestors who violently occupied the President's House on Saturday.

President Rajapaksa flown to the Maldives with his wife and bodyguard from Katunayake, closer to the capital, the officer said, seeking anonymity. Immigration officers stopped Rajapaksa from escaping early on Tuesday with his brother, the former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa. However, the source stated that he left the nation in an Antonov-32 aircraft belonging to the Sri Lankan Air Force that took off from the main international airport.

The two Rajapaksa brothers were to leave for the UAE to go to the US on Tuesday morning, but immigration officers at the VIP lounge protested and declined to serve them. The Rajapaksa brothers had left the airport, amidst protests, and Gotabaya is said to have taken refuge for almost a day at an Air Force base adjoining the airport.

On July 9 (Saturday), protesters entered Rajapaksa's official residence, symbolically forcing him out. Gotabaya had previously stated that he would step down on Wednesday but is now said to have changed his mind, saying that he would not step down if his family members were denied permission to leave the country.

Protesters had issued a deadline of Wednesday at 1 p.m. for the President's resignation and threatened to call large crowds to Colombo if he broke his word.

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TEHRAN: The Iran Foreign Ministry has said that the technological cooperation between Russia and Iran dates back to the days before the Ukrainian crisis. The comments were made by Nasser Kanaani, the ministry's spokesman, in response to a question regarding Jake Sullivan's assertion that Iran is getting ready to give Russia hundreds of drones, including ones that can fire weapons, as per the Xinhua report.

He said Iran's position on the Russian-Ukrainian war, which started in late February, is "very obvious and has been formally proclaimed time and time again."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian mentioned recently that the NATO military alliance's expansion into Russia's frontiers and its provocations against Moscow are to blame for the Ukrainian conflict. The minister stated that diplomacy and negotiation should be used to address the conflict in Ukraine. Iran's stance on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which broke out in February, is absolutely clear and has been declared time and again officially", he noted.

In addition, Kanaani charged that the US and EU have turned nations, especially several in West Asia, into "an arsenal of their numerous destructive armaments."

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly gave the military orders to "retake occupied coastal areas that are essential to the country's economy," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said earlier.

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During the delivery, a doctor raped the pregnant woman. The incident was recorded on a secret camera. Thereafter, he was arrested. It is now feared that on the same day he may have sexually abused two more women who had come for delivery. Investigation into these incidents is going on.

The incident took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A pregnant woman who had come for delivery at the Hospital da Mulher here was knocked unconscious by the doctor. Thereafter, she was raped by the oral. The 32-year-old criminal doctor's name is Giovanni Quintela Bejra. During the delivery, the woman's husband was asked to leave the room. He got the news of the incident at home when he saw the news of the doctor's arrest on television. Barbara Lomba, the delegate in charge of the investigation, said: "I have never heard of such a case before.''

The woman told the family that when the criminal doctor was attacking her, she thought it was only her illusion. Bejra had completed her medical training for anaesthesia 2 months ago. The hospital staff had installed a secret camera to check on Bejra to find out if he gave the right dose of medicine to patients. In the video, Bejra is seen raping a pregnant woman. That too when other doctors were performing c-section surgery on the patient just a few feet away on the other side of the surgical curtain. Now strict action is being taken by the police in the case.

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US: Twitter has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk for breaking the terms of the 36.5 billion deal to purchase the social media platform. According to a court filing the tech company has asked a Delaware court to mandate that the world's richest person complete the merger at the agreed-upon $54.20 per Twitter share.

The Tesla CEO terminated the acquisition in a letter to the board of the social media company, according to a statement released last Friday. He had previously agreed to purchase Twitter in April, but last week he said he intended to back out of the agreement.

Additionally, he claims that Twitter's dismissal of two top managers and the reduction of its talent acquisition team by a third violated the acquisition agreement.

Under these conditions, Twitter might have pushed for a $1 billion break-up fee. Instead, it appears to be prepared to engage in litigation over the transaction, despite board approval and CEO Parag Agrawal's insistence that he wants to close it. Twitter's board has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, according to the company's chair, Bret Taylor, in an effort to "hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations.

The majority of the drama has occurred on Twitter, where Musk, who has over 95 million followers, has complained that the service isn't doing enough to promote free speech. Friday saw a 5% decline in Twitter stock, dropping to 36.81 dollars from Musk's initial offer of 54.20 dollars.

Tesla's stock, meanwhile, increased 2.5% to $752.29 per share. Musk claimed in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission that Twitter "failed to comply with its contractual obligations" under the terms of the agreement, specifically by failing to provide him with enough data to "make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter's platform."

Musk, whose estimated net worth is 214 billion had pledged to keep Twitter a place for free speech.

He later added in a statement: "A healthy democracy depends on the right to free speech, and Twitter is the virtual town square where people debate issues that are important to the future of humanity.

"Additionally, I want to improve Twitter by adding new features, making the algorithms transparent to increase trust, eradicating spam bots, and authenticating every single user. Twitter has a lot of potential, and I'm excited to work with the business and the user base to realise it.

Musk also declared that after being banned from Twitter, he would reinstate Donald Trump's account.Musk previously threatened to scrap the entire agreement because he wanted more information on spam bots. The company has stated in regulatory filings for years that it thinks 5% of the platform's accounts are fake.

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ADDIS ABABA: The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance have signed a third-party implementation agreement for the restoration of infrastructure projects in the northern Tigray area of the East African nation.

According to a news release from the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the deal is a component of the World Bank-funded Response-Rehabilitation-Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities in Ethiopia Project, a nationwide recovery programme for the Ethiopian government.

As per their agreement with UNOPS, the agency will carry out the projects listed under "rebuilding and strengthening access to essential services and climate-resilient community infrastructure."

As per ministry of finance, UNOPS will carry out actions related to delivering quick response services to communities in Tigray in consultation with communities as part of the agreement, as per reports.

Along with supporting community-level social institutions in Tigray, the UNOPS will also rebuild the basic service-providing infrastructures that have been damaged by the violence in conjunction with the local populations. A USD 715 million financial assistance agreement was inked earlier in June by the World Bank and the MoF to aid Ethiopian communities impacted by violence and drought.

The rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government have reached an agreement on a conditional pause of hostilities and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into the Tigray region. A 20-month struggle between the TPLF and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, supported by allies, has reportedly resulted in thousands of fatalities and millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid.

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Canada allowed not one, but six Nord Stream turbines to be returned to Russia 13 July, 07:20 PM Pipes of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, March 8, 2022 (Photo:REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

The Canadian government made an exception to repair not one, but six Nord Stream turbines, for Germany, The Globe and Mail reported on July 13, citing two sources in the government.

Canada's decision to return a turbine for the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany has turned out to be a wider exception than originally thought.

The exception to the sanctions will be valid for another two years, and during this time it will be possible to bring up to six turbines to Canada for maintenance and take them back.

 

According to the publications sources, the agreement with Siemens allows the Canadian government to withdraw permission to ease sanctions at any time.

The maintenance schedule restarts for a limited amount of time. However, the madam minister can revoke the permit at any time," said spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Adrien Blanchard.

Turbines for the Nord Stream pipeline will be sent for repair to Canada through Germany, which will allow the country to say that it is not violating its own sanctions.

Earlier it was reported that the World Congress of Ukrainians asked to cancel Canada's permission to transfer a turbine to Germany for the Russian Nord Stream pipeline.

Canada formally agreed to return a sanctioned turbine for the Russian Nord Stream pipeline to Germany, despite objections from Ukraine on July 11.

After that, Canada's charge d'affaires was summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and stated that the decision undermines Euro-Atlantic unity in the application of international sanctions against Russia. Canada was urged to reconsider the decision.

Siemens turbine was sent to Canada for repairs, where it got stuck due to sanctions against Russia's oil and gas industry following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On July 11, Russia stopped the Nord Stream gas pipeline for scheduled maintenance. According to the schedule, it should last until the morning of July 21.

Read also: Germany could nationalize part of Nord Stream 2 pipeline

After that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned Canada's charge d'affaires and stated that Canadas decision undermines Euro-Atlantic unity when it comes to using international sanctions against Russia. Canada was urged to reconsider the decision.

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DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Radiodermatitis Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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The global radiodermatitis market reached a value of US$ 464.4 Million in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 579.5 Million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.76% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Radiodermatitis, or radiation dermatitis, refers to a skin condition caused due to radiation therapy used for the treatment of cancer. It generally occurs as a side effect during cancer treatment or after interventional radiology in patients with cancers of the breast, lungs, skin, neck, head or perineum region where the skin is part of the target field.

Some of the commonly used products to treat radiodermatitis include topical antibiotics, corticosteroids, hydrophilic creams, hydrogel and hydrocolloid dressings, silicone-coated dressings, silver-leaf dressings, oral analgesics, and anti-inflammatory agents. In recent years, radiodermatitis treatment has gained traction as it helps reduce discomfort, minimize pain and prevent interruption in ongoing therapy while improving the overall quality of the patient's life.



The widespread prevalence of cancer and the rising adoption of radiation therapy as a treatment option represent the primary factors driving the market growth. Besides this, the increasing geriatric population across the globe and the growing need to counter the adverse side effects of radiation therapy are augmenting the demand for radiodermatitis treatment.

Additionally, numerous governing and non-governing agencies are taking favorable initiatives to spread awareness regarding the available radiodermatitis treatment and management products.

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This, in confluence with the rising public and private investments in the ongoing research and development (R&D) activities in the field of life sciences, is catalyzing the market growth. Furthermore, the leading players are focusing on developing innovative product variants to expand their product portfolio and gain a competitive edge.

Moreover, the rising number of clinical trials, favorable government policies, increasing consumer expenditure capacities, improving healthcare infrastructure and easy availability of generic drugs are some of the other factors creating a positive market outlook.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 3M Company, Bausch Health Companies Inc., Bayer AG, BMG PHARMA S.p.A., Charles River Laboratories International Inc., ConvaTec Group plc, Helsinn Healthcare SA, ICON plc, Integra LifeSciences, Molnlycke Health Care AB and Stratpharma AG.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global radiodermatitis market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global radiodermatitis market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the distribution channel?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global radiodermatitis market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Radiodermatitis Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product

6.1 Topical

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Key Segments

6.1.2.1 Corticosteroids

6.1.2.2 Hydrophilic Creams

6.1.2.3 Antibiotics

6.1.2.4 Others

6.1.3 Market Forecast

6.2 Oral

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Dressings

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Key Segments

6.3.2.1 Hydrogel and Hydrocolloid Dressings

6.3.2.2 No Sting Barrier Film

6.3.2.3 Honey Impregnated Gauze

6.3.2.4 Silicone Coated Dressings

6.3.2.5 Others

6.3.3 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Distribution Channel

7.1 Hospital Pharmacy

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Retail Pharmacy

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Online Pharmacy

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 SWOT Analysis



10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Market Structure

13.2 Key Players

13.3 Profiles of Key Players

13.3.1 3M Company

13.3.1.1 Company Overview

13.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.1.3 Financials

13.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.2 Bausch Health Companies Inc.

13.3.2.1 Company Overview

13.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2.3 Financials

13.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.3 Bayer AG

13.3.3.1 Company Overview

13.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.3.3 Financials

13.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.4 BMG PHARMA S.p.A.

13.3.4.1 Company Overview

13.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5 Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

13.3.5.1 Company Overview

13.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5.3 Financials

13.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.6 ConvaTec Group plc

13.3.6.1 Company Overview

13.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.6.3 Financials

13.3.7 Helsinn Healthcare SA

13.3.7.1 Company Overview

13.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8 ICON plc

13.3.8.1 Company Overview

13.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8.3 Financials

13.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.9 Integra LifeSciences

13.3.9.1 Company Overview

13.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.9.3 Financials

13.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.10 Molnlycke Health Care AB

13.3.10.1 Company Overview

13.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.10.3 SWOT Analysis

13.3.11 Stratpharma AG

13.3.11.1 Company Overview

13.3.11.2 Product Portfolio



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6fnfy4

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Attendees Can Interview, Receive Offers on Site

EIGHTY FOUR, Pa., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 84 Lumber, the nation's largest privately held building materials supplier, is recruiting for 10 immediate openings at its truss plant location in Franklin, IN, as the company's business continues to expand nationwide. Interested job seekers can interview for open positions at a hiring event on July 20, 2022, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the company's Franklin location (1850 N Graham Road Franklin, IN 46131).

84 Lumber (PRNewsfoto/84 Lumber)

"At 84 Lumber, we are on the leading edge of the ongoing rise in residential construction across the nation," said Mark Vinson, area manager at 84 Lumber. "Greater demand for our products means a need for more motivated, dedicated employees who want to take advantage of the phenomenal growth opportunity in our industry. If you have a strong work ethic and are eager for something new, you could be the perfect fit for us."

Hiring event attendees will participate in job interviews and learn more about 84 Lumber's company culture. Some attendees may receive a job offer on site.

Production associates perform essential functions behind the scenes  from the management of supply shipments to the operation of equipment. Associates work in the manufacturing processes to verify dimensions of precut parts and the accuracy of assemblies, engineered wood products, trusses, and components. Starting compensation for production associates is $17.50 per hour for first shift and $17.50 per hour plus shift differential for second shift.

"As a family-owned company, 84 Lumber is committed to helping our employees build a long-term career with us. We are proud to say that 95% of our store managers started in our manager trainee program," Vinson said. "We believe that a wide variety of candidates can find a home with the company and open doors for themselves  a person with no construction experience but a desire to learn, military veterans ready to open their next chapter, or someone simply ready to make a fresh start. We'll give every one of them the tools to grow."

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Candidates interested in participating in the Hiring Event should pre-register online and complete the form. Registrants will then receive an email from 84 Lumber with the link to apply for the desired position. To save time, Vinson strongly encourages candidates to apply for positions online before they attend the event.

On-site pre-employment drug screening will be available for applicants at the hiring event. Candidates who advance in the process will also be required to pass a background check prior to employment.

To learn more about 84 Lumber, follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

ABOUT 84 LUMBER

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, 84 Lumber Company is the nation's largest privately held supplier of building materials, manufactured components and industry-leading services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings. The company operates nearly 250 stores, component manufacturing plants, custom door shops, custom millwork shops and engineered wood product centers in more than 30 states. 84 Lumber also offers turnkey installation services for a variety of products, including framing, insulation, siding, windows, roofing, decking and drywall. A certified national women's business enterprise owned by Maggie Hardy Knox, 84 Lumber was named by Forbes as one of America's Largest Private Companies in 2018 and one of America's Best Large Employers in 2019. For more information, visit 84lumber.com or join us at Facebook.com/84lumber and linkedin.com/company/84-lumber .

Contact: Jeff Donaldson, BLD Marketing Email: jeff.donaldson@bld-marketing.com Phone: (412) 347-8039 Photos: http://www.bldpressroom.com/84lumber/franklin-hiring-event

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The global aesthetic medicine market size was worth USD 105 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach USD 245 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period (20222030). North America is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 9.5% over the forecast period, reaching USD 83,875 million in 2030.

New York, United States, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cosmetic treatments, also known as aesthetic treatments, are non-surgical methods used to reduce the effects of aging, rejuvenate, and replenish the skin. Aesthetic Medicine primarily focuses on changing a person's cosmetic appearance to their preference. It's commonly used to cure scars, fatty tissue, hyperpigmentation, skin laxity, moles, and wrinkles, among several other things. Invasive, minimally invasive, and non-invasive cosmetic procedures are used in aesthetic medicine. The global medical aesthetic market is expanding as elderly individuals become more aware of such therapies, and innovative treatments become more widely adopted.





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Increasing Practice of Minimally Invasive Treatments to Boost the Global Aesthetic Medicine Market

Aesthetic procedures are becoming more popular, while reimbursements for conventional insurance-based medicine are decreasing. Medical Aesthetic practices, such as conducting aesthetic trials in their offices or practicing in medical spas, are becoming increasingly popular among doctors. In comparison to invasive surgeries, minimally invasive surgeries have smaller incisions, shorter hospital stays, faster healing of wounds, very little pain, lesser surgical injuries, and reduced associated complications.

Minimally invasive operations are rapidly replacing invasive surgeries. Non-invasive/minimally invasive fat reduction procedures accelerated by 7% in the United States between 2016 and 2019, as per the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). In 2021, nearly 13.2 million cosmetic procedures , both minimally invasive and surgical, were accomplished. As a result, the development of the aesthetic medicine market is being driven by the increasing implementation of minimally invasive surgeries and access to a broader spectrum of minimally invasive treatment options.

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Report Scope

Report Metric Details Market Size USD 245 Billion by 2030 CAGR 9.8% (2020-2030) Historical Data 2019-2020 Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Procedure Type,By Non-Invasive Procedures,By Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, LAME and Rest of the World Key Companies Profiled/Vendors Evolus Inc.,AIVITA Biomedical,Ellman International, Inc.,Genesis Biosystems, Inc.,Lumenis Ltd.,Sciton, Inc.,Wells Johnson Company,Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc. Key Market Opportunities Advancements in Technology Key Market Drivers Increasing Adoption of Minimally Invasive Treatments

Growing Population Aged Between 25 to 65

Buy Now Full Report @ https://straitsresearch.com/buy-now/aesthetic-medicine-market





Impact of COVID-19

The aesthetics industry suffered massive setbacks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns in several countries led to the closure of beauty clinics, med spas, dermatology centers, and retail stores because many cosmetic procedures were not medically necessary. Healthcare professionals were urged to cancel non-emergency appointments by government officials and hospital administrators worldwide. COVID-19 had a detrimental effect on the invasive aesthetic treatment market in the first half of 2020, according to Springer, due to regulations on elective aesthetic treatments and overall hospital strain. Aesthetic surgeons were more concerned with maintaining cash flow to manage their expenses.

According to a survey conducted by Hamilton Fraser Cosmetic Insurance Company in the United Kingdom, COVID-19 had a significant impact on their operations, with 86% reporting a decrease in revenue and 72% stating that they had no contingency plan to deal with the pandemic. Due to increased online purchases, the cosmeceuticals (self-care) market saw a low impact during the pandemic. In contrast, invasive and minimally invasive needs, such as aesthetic surgeries, saw a significant influence due to the closure of aesthetic amenities and the temporary suspension of appointments.





Market Recovery Timeline

During the pandemic, demand for home skincare devices has increased. For example, sales of Philips' at-home Intense Pulse Light (IPL) hair removal system have increased, with solid demand in APAC. Many dermatologists believe the lockdowns will help patients return after the pandemic. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the number of first-time dermatology clinic visitors increased by 78 percent following the lockdowns.

According to the report, the requirement for surgical cosmetic procedures is anticipated to grow as patients have more flexibility and freedom to recover from systems due to social isolation and working from home. Rhinoplasty, facelifts, neck lifts, eyelid surgery, and eye lifts have increased significantly in popularity.

According to an Allergan survey conducted in April 2020, 95% of respondents said they planned to use a neurotoxin filler treatment once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. A similar report reveals that 86 percent of private aesthetic clinics in China reopened in the third quarter of 2020, with a 52 percent increase in patient traffic. This indicated that the market was on the rise.





Regional Analysis

The global aesthetic medicine market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11% to reach an expected value of USD 64,155 million in 2030. With the increase in the demand for antiaging and antipollution products, rise in the standard of living, and growth in disposable income in Asia-Pacific countries, the aesthetic medicine market is expected to grow during the forecast period.

The aesthetic medicine market in North America is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 9.5% over the forecast period, reaching USD 83,875 million in 2030. The United States accounted for the largest share of the North American aesthetic medicine market. A Spike in the number of reconstructive surgeries is propelling the demand for aesthetic medicines in North America.

Key Highlights

The Global Aesthetic Medicine Market was worth USD 105 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach USD 245 billion in 2030, with a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period (20222030).

By procedure type, the global aesthetic medicine market is divided into invasive and non-invasive procedures. The non-invasive procedures are dominant over invasive procedures. They are expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period, to reach an expected value of USD 140,520 million in 2030.





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List of Top Aesthetic Medicine Market Companies

Evolus Inc.

AIVITA Biomedical

Ellman International, Inc.

Genesis Biosystems, Inc.

Lumenis Ltd.

Sciton, Inc.

Wells Johnson Company

Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc.





Global Aesthetic Medicine Market: Segmentation

By Procedure Type:

Invasive Procedures

Breast augmentation,

Liposuction

Nose reshaping

Eyelid

surgery

Tummy tuck

Others

Non-Invasive Procedures

Botulinum toxin type A

Soft tissue fillers

Chemical peel

Laser hair removal

Microdermabrasion

By Regions:

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Central and South America

The Middle East and Africa





TABLE OF CONTENT

1 Introduction

1.1 Market Definition

1.2 Market Scope

2 Research Methodology

2.1 Primary Research

2.2 Research Methodology

2.3 Assumptions & Exclusions

2.4 Secondary Data Sources

3 Executive Summary

4 Market Overview

4.1 Report Segmentation & Scope

4.2 Value Chain Analysis: Aesthetic Medicine Market

4.2.1 Vendor Matrix

4.3 Key Market Trends

4.3.1 Drivers

4.3.2 Restraints

4.3.3 Opportunities

4.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.4.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.4.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.4.3 Threat of Substitution

4.4.4 Threat of New Entrants

4.4.5 Competitive Rivalry

4.5 Environment & Regulatory Landscape

4.6 Forecast Factors & Relevance of Impact

4.7 Macro-Economic & Geopolitical Scenario

4.8 Parent Market Overview

4.9 Technology Landscape

4.10 Market Share Analysis

4.11 Potential Venture Analysis

4.12 Regional Price Trends

4.13 Raw Material Trends

4.14 Cost Structure Analysis

4.14.1 Labor Cost

4.14.2 Consumables

4.14.3 Maintenance Cost

4.15 Covid-19 Impact Analysis:

4.15.1 Pre and Post Covid-19 Market Scenario Analysis

4.15.2 Market Recovery Timeline and Challenge

4.15.3 Measures Taken by Top Players

4.15.4 Quarterly Market Revenue and Growth Forecast till 2021

4.15.4.1 North America

4.15.4.2 Europe

4.15.4.3 Asia-Pacific

4.15.4.4 Central and South America and the Caribbean

4.15.4.5 The Middle East and Africa

5 Procedure Type Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 Market Size & Forecast (Value & Volume)

5.1.2 General Purpose Credit cards

5.1.3 Specialty and Other Credit Cards

6 Regional Overview

6.1 Introduction

6.1.1 Market Size & Forecast (Value & Volume)

6.2 North America

6.2.1 Economic Overview

6.2.2 Market Scenario

6.2.3 U.S.

6.2.4 Canada

6.2.5 Mexico

6.3 Central and South America and the Caribbean

6.3.1 Economic Overview

6.3.2 Market Scenario

6.3.3 Brazil

6.3.4 Argentina

6.3.5 Colombia

6.3.6 Rest of Central and South America and the Caribbean

6.4 Europe

6.4.1 Economic Overview

6.4.2 Market Scenario

6.4.3 Germany

6.4.4 France

6.4.5 The U.K.

6.4.6 Italy

6.4.7 The Rest Of Europe

6.5 Asia-Pacific (APAC)

6.5.1 Economic Overview

6.5.2 Market Scenario

6.5.3 China

6.5.4 Japan

6.5.5 India

6.5.6 Australia

6.5.7 South Korea

6.5.8 Rest Of APAC

6.6 Middle East

6.6.1 Economic Overview

6.6.2 Market Scenario

6.6.3 South Arabia

6.6.4 The UAE

6.6.5 Qatar

6.6.6 Oman

6.6.7 Turkey

6.6.8 The Rest Of Middle East

6.7 Africa

6.7.1 Economic Overview

6.7.2 Market Scenario

6.7.3 Nigeria

6.7.4 South Africa

6.7.5 The Rest Of Africa

7 Competitive Landscape  Manufacturers & Suppliers

7.1 Competition Dashboard

7.2 Industry Structure

7.3 Evolus, Inc.

7.3.1 Business Overview

7.3.2 Financial Performance

7.3.3 Recent Developments

7.3.4 Portfolio

7.4 AIVITA Biomedical

7.5 Ellman International, Inc.

7.6 Genesis Biosystems, Inc.

7.7 Lumenis Ltd.

7.8 Sciton, Inc.

7.9 Wells Johnson Company

7.10 Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc

8 Conclusion & Recommendation

9 Acronyms & Abbreviations





Table of Content and Figure @ https://straitsresearch.com/report/aesthetic-medicine-market/toc





Market News

In March 2021 , Solta Medical announced the launch of the Clear + Brilliant Touch laser, its next-generation Clear + Brilliant laser, in the US.

In February 2021, Galderma announced that the US. FDA approved Restylane Defyne to improve mild-to-moderate chin restoration for adults over 21 years.

In January 2021 , Candela Medical announced the launch of the Frax Pro system, a dual-depth skin resurfacing procedure in the US.

In October 2020 , Hologic's Medical Aesthetics Subsidiary Cynosure expanded its TempSure 300-watt platform with the introduction of FlexSure in the U.S. and Canada.

In May 2020 , Abbvie completed the acquisition of Allergan Plc for USD 63 billion. The move significantly expanded and diversified AbbVie's revenue base and complemented existing leadership positions in immunology.

In January 2020, Revance Therapeutics announced a US distribution agreement with Swiss hyaluronic acid (HA)-based dermal filler manufacturing company, TEOXANE SA. The partnership will help Revance gain immediate and exclusive access to Teoxane's Resilient HA (RHA) fillers in the US.

News Media

Aesthetic Medicine Market to Thrive at an Astonishing Healthy CAGR During Forecast Period

World's Top 10 Brands In The Oral Hygiene In 2022

Botulinum Toxin Non-Surgical Aesthetic Procedures to Escalate the Market Growth





Have a Look at the Related Research Report

Europe Consumer-Use IPL Hair Removal Services Market : Information by Service Provider (Beauty Clinics/Salons or Aesthetic Centers, Dermatology Clinics) and Region  Forecast till 2027

Cosmetic Dentistry Market: Information by Product Type (Dental Systems, Dental Implants, Dental Bridges, Dental Crowns, Orthodontic Braces, Dental Veneers), and Region  Forecast till 2029

Halal Cosmetics Market : Information by Product (Skincare, Hair Care, Hygiene Products, Makeup, Fragrance), Distribution Channel (B2B, B2C), and Region Forecast till 2029

Medical Aesthetics Market : Information by Type (Surgical Procedures and Non-Surgical Procedures), End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Ambulatory Centers), and Region  Forecast till 2030

Cosmetics ODM Market : Information by Application (Skincare, Makeup, Haircare, Others), and Region  Forecast till 2026



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ST. LOUIS, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cookies, the most globally recognized cannabis company, announced today a new partnership with 3Fifteen Primo to open its first Cookies Dispensary in Missouri.

Cookies St. Louis Dispensary

Located at 11088 New Halls Ferry Road in St. Louis, the new dispensary will open its doors to the public with a Grand Opening event on Saturday, July 16, 2022, at 10 am CST.

Grand opening festivities will include live music, food, giveaways, and more for all registered patients. Additionally, one lucky visitor will have the chance to win a month of Cookies on Grand Opening Day and 15 others will be chosen for an exclusive event with Berner on August 6th.

"We feel honored and excited to be the first cannabis company in Missouri to bring the iconic Cookies brand retail store to our patients here in the show me state" said Jason Corrado, Co-founder and CEO of 3Fifteen Primo Cannabis. "Cookies was born in California, has grown international, and today boasts a huge brand following, due to their innovative products and proprietary strain genetics library. We look forward to supporting this thriving community by bringing this well-respected and top-selling cannabis brand to Missouri."

At the new location, Cookies patients can choose from a large selection of THC and CBD products available in a variety of consumption methods. In particular, the store will open with a new menu of exclusive strains. The Company's portfolio of in-house brands includes Lemonnade, Collins Ave, Runtz, Minntz and more.

In addition to Cookies latest location, the Company also serves patients in Detroit, Oklahoma City, Denver, Las Vegas, Portland and more.

For more information regarding Cookies product offerings in Missouri, along with openings and hours of operation, please visit cookies.co .

About Cookies

Cookies, founded in 2010 by Billboard-charting rapper and entrepreneur Berner and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai, is the most globally recognized cannabis company in the world. Cookies values the power of the plant and focuses on creating game-changing genetics. The company offers a collection of over 70 proprietary cannabis cultivars and more than 2,000 products. Cookies also actively works to enrich communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs through advocacy and social equity initiatives. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company opened its first retail store in 2018 in Los Angeles, and has since expanded to over 45 retail locations in 17 markets across 5 countries. Cookies was named one of America's Hottest Brands of 2021 by AdAge; the first cannabis brand to ever receive this accolade. Learn more at cookies.co

Story continues

Cookies, the most globally recognized cannabis company, announced today a new partnership with 3Fifteen Primo to open its first Cookies Dispensary in Missouri. Located at 11088 New Halls Ferry Road in St. Louis, the new dispensary will open its doors to the public with a Grand Opening event on Saturday, July 16, 2022, at 10 am CST.

Gary Payton Strain

All Time High Strain

Apples and Bananas Strain

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SOURCE Cookies St. Louis
TORONTO, July 12, 2022 /CNW/ - At a time when every government across the country is contending with a severe nursing crisis that is putting our health-care system and Canadians' health at risk, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is calling for an immediate increase in the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), with strings attached, following this week's meeting of the Council of the Federation (COF) the nation's premiers, in British Columbia.

"With health-care costs increasing rapidly, driven largely by inflation and a growing and aging population, the federal share of total spending on health care will be down to just 20 per cent by 2030," says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun. "The federal government must urgently increase its share of health-care spending to 35 per cent, with the condition that provinces and territories address the severe nursing crisis -- as the only way to strengthen timely access to health services across the health continuum, nationwide."

Grinspun notes that "health care was always meant to be a shared responsibility in our country. However, the steady decline in federal contributions to health-care funding has left the provinces paying more than 75 per cent of the bill today." She adds that "federal stewardship is required to maintain and enhance a public health-care system oriented to health and wellbeing  and to silence the voices of those benefiting from a crisis and calling for privatization and for-profit gain in health care."

"Without the investment in health care, Canadians will continue to face long wait times in our health system, closures of emergency rooms, delays in accessing procedures and surgeries, and compromised long-term care and home care," says RNAO President Dr. Claudette Holloway. "In addition, more nurses will reach their breaking point and will continue to leave the profession. This is why RNAO calls on the Council of the Federation to engage urgent action by the federal, provincial and territorial governments to ensure we retain and recruit nurses  especially RNs who are moving south of the border  and deal with the deepening nursing crisis facing Canada."

As noted in RNAO's detailed report Nursing Through Crisis: A Comparative Perspective, more than 75 per cent of Canadian nurses were classified as burnt out with higher percentages among hospital and front-line workers. Sixty-nine per cent of nurses said they planned to leave their position within five years. And, among those who indicated they wanted to leave their position, 42 per cent said they were planning to leave the profession altogether and seek opportunities elsewhere or retire.

"Nurses play a central role in the lives of Canadians and they deserve to feel valued and respected in our country," says Holloway. "It is imperative that the CHT go up to 35 per cent from the current 22 per cent. And, we are asking that at least 10 per cent of the increase be targeted at retention and recruitment initiatives to combat the nursing crisis, with strings attached to achieve results," she urges.

On July 11-12, premiers from across Canada met to speak about the funding shortfall facing our health system. They reiterated their unanimous call for the federal government to increase its share of total health-care spending across Canada from 22 per cent to 35 per cent through the CHT. The premiers also stressed their commitment to addressing priorities  especially health human resources, long-term care, home care, and mental health and substance use. They emphasized that an increase to the CHT will ensure long-term stable funding from the federal government. RNAO supports these demands. At the same time, RNAO supports the federal government's demand that strings be attached to these increases.

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contribution to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public we serve. For more information about RNAO, visit RNAO.ca or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

SOURCE Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario

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BANGALORE, India, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Drone Services Market is segmented by Type - Fixed wing Drone, Multirotor Drone, by Application - Aerial Photography & Remote Sensing, Data Acquisition & Analytics, Mapping & Surveying, 3D Modeling, Disaster Risk Management & Mitigation, Inspection & Environmental Monitoring, Product Delivery, Others. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Transportation & Logistics Category.

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The global Drone Services market size is projected to reach USD 51270 million by 2028, from USD 3696 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 45.3% during 2022-2028.

Major factors driving the growth of the drone service market are

The drone service market is primarily being driven by the increased use of drones in a variety of industry sectors, including agricultural, landscaping, military & defense, as well as a rise in the demand for high-quality and real-time data collection.

The worldwide drone service market is also anticipated to grow as a result of greater innovation, falling drone prices, and the advancement of automation technology. As new technologies are used and integrated into more industries, drone services become more accessible.

Browse The Table of Contents And List of Figures At https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Othe-1K243/global-drone-services

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE DRONE SERVICE MARKET

The increasing use of drone services in the construction industry is expected to drive the growth of the drone service market. In the construction business, a drone is mostly utilized for surveying and inspection tasks. Drones have downward-facing sensors like RGB, multispectral, thermal, or LIDAR, and they can quickly gather a lot of airborne data. Autonomous flying aircraft are being used by contractors to capture photos and videos that help with anything from grading operations and plans to spot variations between as-designed and as-built site plans. Thermal cameras and other accessories, such as GPS systems and mapping tools, can make them more helpful.

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Drones are useful at the beginning of the agricultural cycle. For early soil investigation, they create exact 3-D maps that are helpful for organizing seed planting patterns. Drone-driven soil analysis after planting gives information for managing nitrogen levels and irrigation. A field's dry spots or areas that require improvement can be found by drones equipped with hyperspectral, multispectral, or thermal sensors. Drones also make it possible to calculate the vegetation index, which describes the crop's relative density and health, and to visualize its heat signature, or the amount of energy or heat it releases, once it has begun to grow. Such applications of drones in agriculture are expected to drive the growth of the drone service market.

The drone services market is anticipated to rise as a result of an increase in the use of drones for photo and video shoots and other media-related activities. Compared to other industries, this one has adopted commercial drones the most. For photographers as well, the concept of using inexpensive equipment from wide angles is quite appealing. Drones can deliver imagery from previously unreachable regions without endangering a pilot because they are much smaller than helicopters. Drones are increasingly being used by production companies in the media sector to capture pictures that call for action sequences, realistic birds-eye views, dramatic panoramas, or 360-degree views of subjects. This cutting-edge drone technology is the starting point for growing a media company or career and moving it forward.

The drone service market will be further stimulated by favorable government laws. Operators of drones must comply with the nation's aviation regulatory procedures before they may fly. Due to the advantages that drones offer, such as low energy consumption, less air and noise pollution, and reduced traffic congestion, regulatory organizations have decided to include drones in their framework for supporting the growth of drone services.

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DRONE SERVICES MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on industry, the drone services market's infrastructure category is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate. This is due to the expanding usage of drones in the infrastructure sector for a variety of services, including mapping, surveying, and remote sensing as well as aerial photography and photography.

Based on region, North America is expected to be the most lucrative. The expansion of drone service in North America is facilitated by the increase in drone service use in construction, energy & power, logistics, and other industries.

Based on type, the rotary wing segment is expected to be the most lucrative segment. Due to their beneficial design for a variety of uses, including transportation and drone deliveries, there is a growth in demand for these drones in the commercial sector.

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Market By Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Key players

Airware

Aerobo

Cyberhawk Innovations Ltd.

Sky-Futures Ltd.

Sensefly Ltd.

Unmanned Experts Inc.

Sharper Shape Inc.

Dronedeploy Inc.

Prioria Robotics Holdings Inc.

Phoenix Drone Services LLC

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- Air Cargo Containers market size is estimated to be worth USD 256.5 Million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 323.5 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 3.9% during the review period.

- The global Contract Logistics market size is projected to reach USD 242510 million by 2027, from USD 180100 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 3.9% during 2021-2027.

- The global Shipping Software market size is projected to reach USD 2845.2 million by 2027, from USD 1675.6 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 7.9% during 2021-2027.

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- The global Same-day Delivery market size is projected to reach USD 123050 million by 2027, from USD 11620 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 38.5% during the forecast period 2021-2027.

- The Latin America logistics market was valued at USD 542.40 Billion in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 784.60 Billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 6.2% from 2020 to 2027.

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- Global Reverse Logistics Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027

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The collaboration includes a global survey of 3,000 researchers across Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia

New York --News Direct-- Elsevier

Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, has today announced the launch of a global collaboration that will include new, independent research led by Economist Impact. The initiative aims to assess the drivers of confidence in research, examine how researchers have experienced the increased public attention on science during the pandemic, and the implications this has had on the academic research community. It is also looking at changes in the ways in which researchers communicate their findings.

A main focus of the initiative will be a landmark global survey conducted by Economist Impact, experts in helping to identify critical and actionable insights, of 3,000 researchers across Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

The insights will be published in a free report in Autumn 2022, and be used to create a set of actionable commitments and recommendations that will support researchers in their efforts to advance knowledge that benefits society.

The initiative sees Elsevier partner with Sense about Science, which has pioneered wider engagement on the reliability of research internationally, to bring together world-renowned experts to advise and inform the collaboration via a Global Advisory Board tasked with shaping the primary research, and a Global Expert Panel that will drive the co-creation of actionable insights and recommendations to benefit the research community.

Elsevier is also working in partnership with leading science and research organisations in six regions:

Chinese Association for Science of Science and Science & Technology Policy (China)

Korber Stiftung (Germany)

Japanese Association for the Advancement of Science (Japan)

Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen - Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Netherlands)

Sense about Science (UK & global)

Research!America (US)

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These organisations will bring unique perspectives from their respective countries, and co-host roundtables with Elsevier to explore the findings and discuss potential recommendations the collaboration will put forward.

Anne Kitson, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Cell Press and The Lancet, Elsevier said: Ensuring quality research can accelerate progress for society is at the heart of what Elsevier does. Science is making extraordinary advances at an accelerated pace, but amid this change lie new challenges for researchers. Were privileged to partner with and bring together some of the worlds leading experts to consider these challenges, and work towards recommendations that we hope will help researchers to navigate this fast-evolving scientific landscape.

Tracey Brown, Director, Sense about Science, said: This work builds on our long-standing collaboration with Elsevier to support initiatives that improve understanding of research quality and accessible findings. If researchers have questions about the reliability of research on which to build, then these are also questions for the public and how we more broadly place confidence in findings. We are looking to this initiative to provide more of an evidence base on which initiatives can be developed and benchmarked.

Jonathan Birdwell, Regional Head of Policy Research & Insights for EMEA, Economist Impact said: 2020 was a landmark year for scientific research. The development of Covid-19 vaccines marked an extraordinary achievement for science and global scientific cooperation. The pandemic turned previously unknown researchers into household names, with politicians, business leaders and the general public more invested than ever before in the outcomes of the scientific process. But the pandemic also appears to have accelerated a number of longer-term trends affecting the research community, including the speed and volume of research published and the role of social media. What impact has the pandemic had on how researchers produce and communicate their research? How do researchers experiences differ by geography, gender identity and career stage? What types of tools and resources do researchers need to produce and communicate research effectively? Our research hopes to answer these questions and identify solutions that could help researchers navigate this changing landscape with confidence.

The collaboration comes as Elseviers Research Futures report reveals that the most cited red flags for researchers to engage with and trust research was the source of data being unclear (60%), the journal being of low quality (57%) and the research not being peer reviewed (55%). The report, which surveyed over 1,000 researchers globally, also found that the most stated challenges to effective communication of research were pressure to publish to advance your career (63%), the sheer volume of articles being published (51%), and the growing emphasis on demonstrating novelty in research (47%). Researchers also reported an increase in their use of sharing sites, academic community platforms, and publisher websites.

---

Notes to editors

Global Advisory Board members include:

Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Vice-Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda

Dr. Cary Funk, Director of science and society research, the Pew Research Center

Dr. John Grove, Director of Quality Assurance for Norms & Standards, World Health Organisation

Dr. Heide Hatheckmann, Senior Advisor for Transdisciplinarity and Global Knowledge Networks, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship of the University of Pretoria and Interim Director for Future Africa.

Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-chief, The Lancet

Dr. Reiko Kuroda, Professor at Chubu University, Japan and Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo

Dr. Nick Perkins, Board Member, International Science Council

Dr. John Pham, Editor-in-chief, Cell

Dr. Wim van Saarloos, Chair of the Energy Programme, European Academies Science Council (EASAC); Professor of theoretical physics, the Instituut-Lorentz, University of Leiden

Dr. Michael Saliba, Professor and Head of the Institute of Photovoltaics, University of Stuttgart and Co-chair, Global Young Academy

Dr. Karla Soares-Weiser, Editor-in-chief, Cochrane

Dr. Jack Stilgoe, Professor of Science and Technology Policy, Dept of Science & Technology Studies, Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences, University College London

Dr. Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

About Sense about Science

Sense about Science is an independent non-profit that promotes the public interest in sound science and evidence. It produced the first public guide to peer review, I Dont Know What to Believe over a decade ago, and has since produced the first international guide to data science, co-created with user groups around the world. With its AllTrials campaign, with patients, doctors and researchers, it has achieved major changes in international regulation and compliance on the publication of clinical trial results.

Sense about Science will chair the Global Expert Panel, to develop plans for improving scientific practices and helping researchers and the public to navigate research outputs. It will represent UK-based stakeholders as the local Regional Convening Partner, to draw people into a discussion of what actions and interventions researchers, scholarly publishers, universities, funders and others can make to improve confidence in research in the UK.

About Economist Impact

Economist Impact combines the rigour of a think-tank with the creativity of a media brand to engage a globally influential audience. We believe that evidence-based insights can open debate, broaden perspectives and catalyse progress across three core areas of expertise and leadership including sustainability, new globalisation and health. The services offered by Economist Impact previously existed within The Economist Group as separate entities, including EIU Thought Leadership, EIU Public Policy, Economist Events and SignalNoise.

Our track record spans 75 years across 205 countries. Along with creative storytelling, events expertise, design-thinking solutions and market-leading media products, we produce framework design, benchmarking, economic and social impact analysis, forecasting and scenario modelling, making Economist Impact's offering unique in the marketplace. Visit www.economistimpact.com for more information.

About Elsevier

As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems.

In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions and funders.

Elsevier employs 8,700 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,700+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 43,000+ eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com

Contact Details

Andrew Davis

andrew.davis@elsevier.com

Andrea White

a.white@elsevier.com

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View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/elsevier-launches-global-collaboration-to-understand-the-impact-of-the-pandemic-on-confidence-in-scientific-research-384999169
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union told member states that sanctioned goods transiting from Russia are not prohibited if theyre moving by rail, in a move that may calm tensions with Moscow over its Kaliningrad exclave.

Most Read from Bloomberg

National authorities still have the right to conduct checks -- including on rail cargo -- for sanctioned military and dual-use goods, which are banned regardless of the mode of transport, the bloc said. Member states need to ensure transit volumes are in line with previous years to ensure there is no circumvention of sanctions. The EU also reaffirmed that sanctioned goods may not be moved by road.

This guidance confirms that the transit of sanctioned goods by road with Russian operators is not allowed under the EU measures, the EU said in a statement after Lithuania sought clarification on the issue, which affects the transit of goods to Russias Baltic territory. No such similar prohibition exists for rail transport, without prejudice to member states obligation to perform effective controls.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova welcomed the EU statement as a show of realism and common sense, the state-run Tass news agency reported. She said Moscow still has questions about the details and will monitor implementation closely.

Lithuanias Foreign Ministry said the blocs original guidance was acceptable and understands that the newer language may give the unfounded impression that the EU is softening its approach.

Sanctions agreed unanimously by the blocs member states prohibit banned goods from transiting between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia through the EU, and it falls on member nations to ensure that the measures are enforced by carrying out checks, the European Commission said in a Q&A document last month.

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The EUs executive arm had stated through its chief spokesperson that Lithuania was correctly implementing the restrictive measures that have been imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

In its new guidance, the EU said member states must also ensure that sanctioned goods that have illegally arrived in any part of Russia cannot be transported onwards via EU customs territory. National authorities are under the legal obligation to prevent all possible forms of circumvention of EU restrictive measures.

For that purpose, it is necessary for member states to continue monitoring the two-way trade flows between the noncontiguous parts of the Russian Federation, the guidance says.

The vast majority of trade flows, including the free transit of people, non-sanctioned goods and essential items such as food, is unaffected by the restrictions and continues to move freely.

Retaliation Threat

Still, Moscow had threatened to retaliate if the restrictions, which include steel and luxury items, were not reversed. Bans on the transit of more sanctioned goods, including coal, gasoline and diesel are due in the coming months, further raising concerns of an escalation and a push by some to defuse the standoff.

Bloomberg had previously reported that a number of nations and officials were concerned that Lithuania was being pressured into effectively ignoring the sanctions and allowing banned goods to pass through its territory.

Lithuania has accused the Kremlin of waging a propaganda campaign over the issue, saying the restrictions tied to EU measures involve only a small portion of trade. Kaliningrads geographic position between Lithuania and Poland leaves its population cut off from Russias main territory, though shipments still arrive by air and sea.

(Updates with Russian reaction in fourth paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
MSNBC anchor Katy Tur says she is worried by the prospect of former President Trump returning to the White House after the 2024 election.

He is an anti-democracy candidate, Tur told The Hill. He tried to overthrow the 2020 election.

The anchor added: I think you have to ask yourself, do you want somebody who is anti-democracy in that office again, holding all of that power? I would be worried as a citizen, certainly.

The former president is reported to be edging toward a 2024 bid, with aides rushing to put a campaign apparatus in place in case Trump makes an announcement soon.

Trump leads most 2024 polls of Republican voters by a wide margin. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has emerged as a serious rival. DeSantis caused a stir last month when he bested Trump in a poll of New Hampshire Republicans.

Tur, who hosts an afternoon show every weekday on MSNBC, first came to national prominence covering Trumps 2016 bid from the campaign trail.

Asked whether she thought Trump would run again, she responded:

The question that sticks in my head is, does he want to hand over the power as the titular head of the Republican Party to somebody else? Does he want to hand it over to Ron DeSantis, who seems like the front-runner right now? And from what I know of Donald Trump, my mind says no.

Tur, who wrote a best-selling book about her 2016 experiences, spoke with The Hill following the publication of a new book.

Rough Draft, a memoir, ranges across several topics including Turs tumultuous relationship with her father.

Her father, Zoey Tur, is transgender, having made a gender transition within the past decade.

Years prior to the transition, during Katy Turs childhood and adolescence, the MSNBC anchor says her father was physically and verbally abusive.

In the book, Katy Tur recounts an incident in which she intervened when her father, then Bob Tur, was verbally abusing her mother, Marika Gerrard.

Her father allegedly responded by punching his daughter in the mouth. Katy Tur was in her senior year of high school at the time.

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I remember the taste of blood, she writes.

It was difficult to write about, Tur told The Hill. There had been episodes of violence or threats of violence earlier than that. And this was kind of a crescendo.

Zoey Tur has previously told CBS that Katy Tur looked up to me, and I failed her. No father wants to fail their daughter.  Throwing batteries? Probably, yeah. Punching walls? There were a couple.

Katy Tur also writes in Rough Draft about a conversation in which she pressed her father to discuss the earlier abuse and that her father denied the behavior.

Zoey Tur has given several interviews on the topic of her gender transition and has, at times, accused Katy Tur of being unsupportive and transphobic.

The anchor denies this was ever the case. She says the real knot in her relationship with her father is the latters refusal to own up to the earlier alleged abuse.

I didnt want to drag my dad down the way I kind of felt my dad was dragging me down, she told The Hill.

I just didnt want to reveal the real reason  which was that we didnt get along because my dad was abusive.

Her father, a pioneering helicopter journalist alongside Gerrard in the 1990s, could also be a caring and even heroic figure, Tur emphasizes.

He was a hero, but he was also the harm, she says. In some cases, he would be fixing you up after he hurt you.

On less intimate topics, Tur expresses worry about the current state of journalism, noting the widespread public distrust of the media.

Even as she fears a future Trump presidency, she believes the media damaged its reputation during the 45th presidents time in office by failing to be more discerning about which of his actions merited the most amped-up coverage.

Blowing everything up in a nuclear way made it seem like we were only out to get Donald Trump, she said. And I think that hurt our credibility in the long run.

Tur also is disturbed by a growing tendency in political news  one in which audiences seek reaffirmation of their existing opinions rather than anything that might challenge those views.

Its very depressing and I think its a big problem, she said.

She has deleted Twitter from her phone, in part because so much of it voices crude views and a guttural rage that she deems unhelpful.

Asked if cable news isnt also a vector for some of the same forces, she says it is a fair question.

MSNBCs primetime shows have a clear ideological lean. Tur, while not criticizing any colleagues, differentiates the opinion-heavy evening line-up from the dayside schedule of which her show is a part.

The important thing Im trying to do with my show, and that we try to do in the dayside hours, is not have an opinion, she said. And thats not to say not be honest [or], you know, give both sides equal weight when maybe both sides dont deserve equal weight.  But its to establish credibility, as in not just saying one party is all good or one party is all bad.

She adds: If you are always attacking one side relentlessly and thats the only position you take, you lose your credibility on that. You lose your credibility, period, because youre just seen as somebody whos out to get the other side.

Tur is now the mother of two young children and married to CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil.

Becoming a mother, she says, has meant that she suddenly physically felt some of the stories that I was covering. For instance, Uvalde. I physically felt the pain that I imagined those families were feeling.

More generally, she adds, We cover very dark stuff in succession and it seems like its getting darker and darker, and it can be hard on your mental health.

The grating, attritional effect of all those factors has at times pushed Tur close to quitting journalism.

People dont trust us, they dont believe us and it makes me wonder if this job, as Im currently doing it, is effective, but if its doing more harm than good. I dont have a good answer for that. So those thoughts linger in the back of my mind, she said.

They linger, though, because I do love it. And I do think its important. And Im hoping to find a way to better communicate with people.

Rough Draft by Katy Tur, published by Simon and Schuster, is out now.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE PHOTO: People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in Warsaw

By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - The first female chief judge on Delaware's nationally known business court will oversee Twitter Inc's lawsuit that seeks to hold Elon Musk to his agreement to buy the social media platform for $44 billion, according to court records.

Kathaleen McCormick took over the role of chancellor, or chief judge, last year after the retirement of Andre Bouchard on the Court of Chancery, a favored venue for large corporate disputes.

Among McCormick's first decisions will be a request by Twitter to hold a four-day trial in September, an incredibly tight time frame for such a complicated case.

McCormick's final ruling on the merger can be appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Twitter accused Musk of a long list of violations of the merger agreement in the lawsuit it filed on Tuesday. It said the world's richest man wanted to back out in part because of a downturn in the stock of Tesla Inc, the electric vehicle maker where he is chief executive.

Musk accused Twitter of breaching the merger agreement because it refused to share information on spam accounts, made misrepresentations and strayed from its normal course of business by firing executives.

McCormick is also overseeing a case by shareholders of Tesla who are seeking to void Musk's $56 billion compensation package from the automaker. She scheduled an October trial in that case.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del.; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Bettendorf, July 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bettendorf, Iowa -

John Cornish - Mortgage Lender, based in Davenport, Iowa, wants to inform everyone that he can help home buyers, especially those who are first time home buyers, get the home they want with the VA residential home financing program. John Cornish is considered to be one of the experts when it comes to finding financing assistance for the purchase of real estate properties. He began his career of helping with home financing after he completed his degree from St. Ambrose University in 2003. Thus, he has accumulated an experience of over 18 years in home financing, allowing him to assist over 2,300 families in obtaining the financing they needed to purchase a home or for refinancing their home. He has already received more than 250 reviews on Google with an overall rating of 5.0 stars.

It is important to note that the VA home financing program can only be used by veterans, service members, and surviving spouses who are eligible. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is able to offer a home financing guaranty and other housing-related programs to assist veterans and those in active service when they want to purchase, construct, retain, repair, or adapt a home for personal occupancy. The funds for the VA home programs come from private financing companies but it is the VA that provides the guaranty, which allows the home buyer to benefit from the low interest rates, no down payment, no home financing insurance, and more.

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Meanwhile, those who are interested in getting to know more about John Cornish can take a look at the latest article about him. Those who have used the services of John Cornish have been leaving highly positive reviews about the service they received. For example, Nathan M. has recently given him a five star rating and said, Goes above and beyond standard mortgage lenders. Made the loan process simple with proactive communication and very responsive to any questions/concerns. They also helped with communicating with several sellers to make our offer more appealing. In another recent five star review, Eric T. said, John and his staff are very caring and always ready and willing to help. No matter what time of day they went the distance to make sure all our questions were answered and made it very understandable through the whole mortgage process to meet our standards.

John Cornish - Mortgage Lender has already provided assistance to over 2,300 families in getting the financing they required to purchase a new home during the past 10 years. The result is that he has developed the reputation as a real estate financing expert in the Quad Cities. He has 18+ years of home financing experience, which allow him to offer the best possible service for home buyers, his realtor partners, and the community. He always takes the time explain the important aspects of the home financing alternatives that are available to each of his clients. He will perform an in-depth analysis of his clients goals with regards to owning a home. And for those who already own a home, he can help them evaluate the various refinancing choices.

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A financial service platform for a better financial decision making

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Malaysian online loan comparison and services platform LOANPANDA has successfully raised nearly USD295K (RM1.3 million ) from equity crowdfunding (ECF) as it looks to transform the financial services ecosystem in Malaysia.

Co-Team of LoanPanda, On the right in the first row is the Founder and CEO of LoanPanda Mr. Nicholas Lim Tze Khai

Valued at USD1.8 million (RM8 million), LOANPANDA's campaign hit its minimum target of RM500,000 in 1 hour, and by the end of the campaign, the funds have exceeded more than 100% of the initial target to achieve RM1,251,000 in funding. A total of 176 investors have contributed to the funding.

The ECF campaign was hosted by MyStartr, an ECF platform licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia since 2019. As an ECF platform, MyStartr assists startups to scale faster and grow bigger via hosting ECF campaigns that connect startups with investors, while also offering retail investors a chance to participate in innovative startups at an early stage. In the past 3 years, MyStartr has successfully helped more than 52 startups to secure more than USD18 million (RM80 million) of the total crowdfunding amount.

During the 2 years of the pandemic, the Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises were badly affected. Nicholas, the CEO and founder of LOANPANDA, recalled, "One of my acquaintances, Mr Tan, was having a dilemma due to the cash flow problem. In his attempt to seek financing, he had a hard time understanding the banks' financing information. Not knowing how to compare his financing options, he contacted a so-called 'banker' for help but to find himself in a more helpless situation after knowing he was scammed out of his money."

Disappointed by the unfortunate experience, Nicholas was determined to put an end to online loan fraud.

Drawing on his financial knowledge and experience, he gathered a group of like-minded partners to establish LOANPANDA as the Malaysian online loan comparison and services platform to create an ecosystem where "Everyone Can Loan" as its tagline suggests.

Story continues

LOANPANDA aims to create a more transparent and accessible financial services platform for people to easily understand, compare and choose the best financial products on the market that best suit their needs. It seeks to help people make better financial decisions by providing professional analysis and financial calculator comparison tools.

In addition, the platform also offers personalised financial consultation services to help customers create financial plans tailored to meet their financial needs or goals. The consultation service will be supported by its network of affiliated financial consultants - whose credentials and experience have been carefully vetted and verified before they are allowed to join LOANPANDA's network.

Nicholas said LOANPANDA intends to use the funds to further enhance the platform's technological capabilities (20%), expand its user base (50%) and support its operation and growth (50%) for the next 12 to 18 months.

For more information about LOANPANDA, please visit their website at:

https://loanpanda.com.my/

SOURCE MyStartr Sdn Bhd
South Africa: Presidency refutes Senzo Meyiwa trial involvement

The Presidency has strongly denied allegations made by former Senzo Meyiwa trial counsel, Advocate Malesela Teffo, that President Cyril Ramaphosa was involved in alleged harassment of the advocate for his role in the trial.

The Presidency has noted and strongly refutes the false claims made by Advocate Malesela Teffo that the Presidency is behind his alleged intimidation and subsequent decision to withdraw from the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial.

The Presidency finds these unsubstantiated and baseless claims mischievous and harmful to the standing of the office of the President, a Presidency statement issued on Wednesday read.

The Presidency asserted that it does not participate in criminal investigations or trials and is not involved in any perceived or actual harassment of Teffo.

As an Officer of the Court and a professional in the legal fraternity, Advocate Teffo must appreciate the level of veracity that is necessary to support such claims about any institution or individual.

The Presidency espouses the values of our Constitution and cherishes the protection, safety and justice for all, the Presidency said.

In court on Tuesday, Teffo told the court that he was withdrawing from the case based on the harassment that I am receiving from the State and from the court and allegedly, from the highest office in the land.

On the 28th of April when I was arrestedthat was the plan and the plan was hatched in the office of [President Ramaphosa]that I am a problematic advocate; I am interfering with the plan that has been hatched; that my client should take the responsibility of the murder of Senzo Meyiwa despite the fact that they were innocent, Teffo said on Tuesday.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-07-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
by B. Skanthakumar

13 July 2022

Sri Lankas citizens movement known as the Janatha Aragalaya (Peoples Struggle), notched its most significant victory yet, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced through the Speaker of Parliament that he would quit on 13 July, mid-way through his presidency. His admission of surrender, after resisting for months the central demand of public protests  #GotaGoHome  in the political fallout of the islands devastating economic crisis [1], followed mass protests on 9 July.

Symbols of State

These demonstrations across Sri Lanka, were capped spectacularly in Colombo, by the occupation of three symbols of state authority: the Presidents office (under siege by protestors for three months); his official residence (which he fled the hours before to reportedly take refuge on a naval ship); as well as the Prime Ministers official residence (unoccupied since early May but heavily fortified), breaking through metal barricades and iron fencing, and state security personnel. [2]

More than 100,000 people, cutting across class, gender, ethnicity, age, religious and political beliefs, converged on the commercial capital, overcoming through sheer numbers and resolve, at least 20,000 military and armed police who fired tear gas, shot water cannon, and unleashed live rounds and physical violence, which left three protestors critically injured with gunshot wounds and at least 105 hospitalised.

Later that night, the Prime Ministers private residence was gutted through arson under suspicious circumstances. An enraged mob surrounded it, likely provoked by social media alerts and live broadcast of brutal assaults by paramilitary police on journalists filming peaceful protests near his home. The Prime Minister had resisted demands for his resignation. He believed he could secure his position or even assume the Presidency following Gotabaya Rajapaksas removal. Wily as he is, he miscalculated.

UNP Leader

Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader-for-life of the opposition United National Party (UNP) and its sole parliamentarian after a humiliating wipe-out in 2019, was appointed Prime Minister by Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 12 May, despite lacking majority support in the legislature  controlled by the Presidents party  and more importantly, popular legitimacy.

This manoeuvre followed the resignation of the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa (the Presidents older sibling and two-time President), and political instability within the government, as realisation dawned on governing party parliamentarians of the deep-seated economic crisis and the growing unpopularity of the Presidents family (four of whom were Cabinet Ministers).

Mahinda Rajapaksa had summoned his supporters to Colombo on 9th May for a show of support to secure his position as Prime Minister, during a period of emergency rule. These local agents of parliamentarians were mobilised to physically attack the protestors camped for weeks outside the Prime Ministers official residence (Temple Trees) and the Presidents office (Secretariat).

There was immediate outrage and solidarity from the public, who spontaneously flocked to fight back against the thugs as the latter began leaving the city to return to their towns and villages. This localised counter-violence soon spread across the country, as the homes and other property of 78 pro-Rajapaksa parliamentarians, provincial and local government representatives, were set ablaze. Ten people were killed including a ruling party legislator, while over 200 were injured.

During the violence on the afternoon and night of 9th May, the security forces passively watched the assaults and destruction but subsequently, over 2,500 persons were arrested including non-party affiliated protestors and cadre of the left-wing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVPPeoples Liberation Front), simply from name lists furnished to the local police force by the Presidents aggrieved partymen.

Ranil Wickremesinghes astonishing ascension to the post of Prime Minister, which he had occupied five times until then since 1993, was denounced by the core of the citizens movement as well as the parliamentary opposition, for deflecting the campaign to oust the President and be rid of his family.

Sections of the middle-class, big business, liberal and right-wing civil society, diplomats, and donors, hailed Wickremesinghe as Sri Lankas saviour, bringing the missing political stability and credentials to carry forward deferred neoliberal economic measures; conduct negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for reprieve from the foreign exchange crisis; and begin restructuring external debt with private and bilateral creditors posed by Sri Lankas first post-independence sovereign default on 12 April. [3]

The misgivings by the citizens movement were entirely justified. There was a decline in the scale and intensity of daily public protests. The protests were presented as having run their course, and turning detrimental to economic stability, that requires order and social peace to reassure international creditors and incoming tourists and investors. There were several attempts to co-opt sections among the protestors and to publicise dialogue with those claiming to represent what is an amorphous group independent of political parties and charismatic personalities.

Instead of paving the way for the early removal of the President, Wickremesinghe appeared content to govern alongside him for the foreseeable future. He secured defections from opposition parties to bolster his new Cabinet headed by the President. He did not introduce the constitutional changes demanded by the people to drastically limit the executive powers of Gotabaya Rajapaksa so long as he remained in office, as an interim measure towards abolition of the all-powerful Executive Presidency. Neither could he ease the misery of the common people, whose livelihoods and lives are being hammered by an economic crisis of unfamiliar proportions and pain. [4]

Political Advantage

The events of 9 July have succeeded in regaining the political advantage from the short-lived Gotabaya Rajapaksa-Ranil Wickremesinghe dyarchy.

The massive crowds overcame many obstacles. The Police Department warned of a possible terrorist attack in the run-up to the mobilisation, aiming to sow fear among the public. The Inspector-General of Police unlawfully slapped an indefinite curfew banning public movement on the night of 8th July but was forced to rescind it within hours on the following morning, in response to denunciations from opposition politicians and lawyers groups. However, the intended damage was done as trains and public buses were cancelled from operation, denying protestors those modes of transport. Meanwhile, the only fuel company with stock-in-hand suspended distribution, also with the intention of disrupting mobility.

In a remarkable demonstration of will, people made their own way from the deep south, the central hills, and along the western coastline. Those who had gathered at railway stations in Avissawella, Galle, Kandy and Matara commandeered available trains, adorning the front with anti-government banners, for travel. Others found any private bus, truck, tractor, van, or other vehicles that still had diesel or petrol, that they could squeeze into. A large number cycled in the blazing heat while others walked for tens of kilometres throughout the 9th of July to somehow make their way to Colombo. They came dressed in black, waving the national flag, holding home-made posters, and chanting anti-government slogans and messages that have travelled far and wide.

The day before, students from state universities were mobilised to travel to Colombo by the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF), sleeping in the rough overnight. The protests on the 9th were not restricted to Colombo. In every major town and many smaller places, people took to the street, beating pots and pans, waving flags, and voicing their anger and demand for political change, from Sinhala-speaking majority Galle in the South to Tamil-speaking majority Jaffna in the North and Batticaloa in the East. There were also solidarity demonstrations of the Sri Lankan diaspora (mostly from the Sinhala community but also Muslims and lesser numbers of Tamils, reflecting fractures and distrust) in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Western Europe, on the same day.

Unthinkable

How to register what was unthinkable even a few short months ago: the toxicity of the Rajapaksas? What is the character of the citizens movement, and the place within it of organised labour and the Left? What are cleavages and contradictions that colour the responsiveness of the Tamil nation and the Muslim ethno-religious community towards the Janatha Aragalaya? What happens now, if and when, the President and Prime Minister do indeed make their exit?

What has been achieved by the citizens movement in a matter of months, prolonged and exhausting as it feels to those who have passed through it, needs to sink in. It was unimaginable last year that Gotabaya Rajapaksa would not complete his full term as president, nor that his successor if he did not contest (and likely win) again, would not be another Rajapaksa. Neither was it conceivable that at least for another generation, the Rajapaksas are substantially damaged and unable to directly make a bid for power anytime soon. The deep fear attached to criticism of the first family, and its extra-legal methods of dealing with dissidents, has dissipated.

Since Mahinda Rajapaksas first presidential victory in 2005, mega-infrastructure projects financed by foreign borrowing, defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 concluding 26 years of protracted internal war, and consolidation of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism which has been the state ideology since independence after 443 years of European colonialism, he has been beloved within the Sinhala nation (comprising almost 75% of the nearly 22 million population).

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, though lacking in his older brothers magnetism and shrewdness, was associated with these achievements as unofficial Defence Minister and the bureaucrat in charge of resettlement of the urban poor, and the beautification of Colombo through their removal, and the development of commercial and leisure spaces. His profile as an outsider to party politics and a no-nonsense doer endeared him to the business community, professional groups, the middle class and public officials fed-up of inept politicians profiting from their office and meddling in state administration.

When the novice candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa won election to the presidency with over 52% of the popular vote (6.9 million) in November 2019; the only question to be asked was by how large a margin the recently founded Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPPPeoples Front) led by Mahinda Rajapaksa would win in parliamentary polls in August 2020. In fact, the SLPP scooped 59% of votes cast, winning 145 seats in the 225-member legislature, just short of the 2/3 majority that it sought to effect constitutional changes to strengthen the powers of the President. This amendment did follow, with the support of allies, weakening the independence of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet as well as that of oversight institutions.

However, his record in office coinciding with the COVID19 pandemic, has sorely disappointed his core constituencies. Although Sri Lankas vaccination drive was successful within the region, his reliance on serving and ex-military men (of whom he is one) to manage civilian functions antagonised career civil servants. His inability or unwillingness to curb the venality of governing party legislators including from his own extended family disappointed the public. Above all, his mismanagement of the economy  including a ban on chemical inputs in agriculture [5]  aggravating a crisis in the making for decades, has punctured the myth of technocratic efficiency cultivated by his erstwhile backers.

Citizens Movement

What is the nature and identity of the citizens movement that knows itself, and is known in society, as the Janatha Aragalaya? It is extremely vigilant in being recognised as non-party (nirpakshika), that is unaffiliated to any political party or indeed ideology. This is novel in a society where political parties across the ideological spectrum have been vehicles of social protest or quick to appropriate such protests. In fact, its point d honneur is that it rejects all parties represented in parliament, as to blame for lost opportunities over 74 years since decolonisation in 1948. It takes pride in being non-violent (samakami)  not insignificant in terms of popular acceptance when Sri Lanka has thrice experienced armed youth uprisings since 1971. From the beginning there have been clear messages of opposition to racism, understood belatedly and still incompletely, as having been used by the ruling class to divide people on the basis of their ethnicity (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim) and religion (Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian).

It has no dominant leader or identifiable spokesperson, coalescing a variety of backgrounds and interest groups bound by their distaste for Gotabaya (Gota) Rajapaksa and his family; but also their determination to effect what they call system change  correcting structural defects in the political system including the concentration and centralisation of power in the presidency; the nomination and election of political representatives; and a new constitution to replace the 1978 one based on vesting executive powers in the office of the president.

It is neither critic nor advocate of capitalism or even neoliberalism. At most, there is attachment to the free health and education services and social programmes that are what remains of Sri Lankas welfare state. But mostly, the movement mirrors the mainstream in its adaptation to, and normalisation of economic liberalisation: deregulated markets, prices fixed by cartels, privatisation, foreign capital, and export-driven growth.

Often described as middle-class and of youth  and not positively  these categories are not exact in their application in Sri Lanka, nor accurate in all contexts. The social composition of the main permanent site of protest known as GotaGoGama (GotaGoVillage) adjacent to the Presidents Office) is largely Sinhala and Buddhist, their ages ranging in the main from the early 20s to the early 40s, and drawn from the self-employed and aspiring professionals, but also working-class youth and students from lower middle-class homes. It is mostly male but with better representation and visibility of women than is to be found in trade unions and on the Left. Volunteers and visitors are drawn from all ethnic communities, genders, sexualities, and faiths, and older people including long-time activists energised by this unique and unprecedented movement.

This citizens movement does not begin and end where it is most concentrated and visible at Galle Face Green in the heart of British colonial-era Colombo. There are also permanent encampments in other cities and towns: Anuradhapura, Badulla, Galle, Gampola, Jaela, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara, Monaragala, Negombo and Ratnapura. Beyond these, this movement includes the way in which it began: small scale protests by people who gather every evening or weekly in their neighbourhoods to hold placards, wave the national flag, and chant anti-government slogans. In each place, the crowd varies by class, ethnic and religious origin.

Its beginnings are from late February, when a handful of co-workers and friends in a suburb of Colombo, fed-up by lengthening power-cuts and shortages of essentials, staged small silent candle-lit vigils for an hour or two each evening. Inspired by this example and looking for ways of expressing their frustration with the government, more people from around Colombo joined this action. They were encouraged to begin similar ones in their own neighbourhoods.

By late March, there were many such vigils taking place, attracting media attention, and following the same format of holding candles or flashing torchlights to symbolise the darkness in homes from power outages; and with self-made placards blaming the government and especially then Finance Minister (and younger brother to the President) Basil Rajapaksa as well as then Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal for their mismanagement of the economy.

One of the most consistent demands has been to Give Back Our Stolen Money, directed mainly at the Rajapaksas who are believed to have accumulated considerable wealth while in government that is secreted away overseas, as the state treasury began to run dry in 2022 limiting imports including coal and diesel for electricity.

In plusher parts of Colombo, some held signs that read Go to the IMF. Since last year, there has been a groundswell among economists, business associations and the upper middle class, that only the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can bail-out the economy, institute necessary policy reforms, and facilitate Sri Lankas access to new borrowing from the international money market. This belief that recourse to the IMF is not only unavoidable but even desirable has become common-sense within political and civil society. There has been no serious debate on how Sri Lanka fell into a debt-trap (USD51 billion in a USD80 billion economy); nor whether those debts should be repudiated as illegitimate. It is only recently that stray voices calling for an audit of the debt have been heard.

The turning-point for the movement came on 31 March when a routine genteel protest near the Presidents private residence in a middle-class Colombo suburb, spontaneously swelled with youth and others angered by power-cuts increasing from 10 to 13 hours, shortages of fuel and medicines, and spiking food prices. Violence ensued, as the police defended the Presidents home. Gotabaya Rajapaksa who had been evacuated earlier, was shifted by his security detail to his fortified official residence where he was to stay with no public interaction until another hasty departure last week  in the first reversal of his fortunes.

Far from discrediting the citizens movement, the viciousness of the police and attempt by governing politicians to liken it to the Arab Spring triggered a wave of public sympathy. More people began taking to the streets on subsequent days and new sites of protest emerged across the island. To bring together these disparate actions, some organisers began coordinating with each other through online meeting and messaging platforms, but without structure or form. Preparations began for a massive march to converge and amplify their protest.

As they could not get near the President, they opted to march upon his office. The Presidential Secretariat faces the Indian Ocean  where ships in the distance wait to dock at Colombos harbour  and the Chinese-built Colombo International Financial City rises from the sea, as a zone of exception for global capital free from taxation and regulation of money flows.

The demonstration on 9th April exceeded all expectations in size and militancy. Some of the youth participants decided to make their protest continuous (#OccupyGalleFace) by refusing to leave the site. Others contributed by providing tents for shelter, distributing cooked food and drinks, sourcing sound equipment to broadcast their anger. Soon, a small community began developing with its own kitchen and drinking water supply, toilets and first aid, library, and solar-powered mobile phone charging facility, later joined by a cinema and multiple performance and teach-out areas for drama, dance, music and spoken word.

As the physical site (#GotaGoGama) like the citizens movement is an open space to all who share the same core demand for the removal of the President and his family, diverse groups began staking space at the same site ranging from the deaf community to disabled ex-military, Buddhist monks and Christian clergy, the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, good governance campaigners, human rights defenders, and many more.

The organised Left, principally the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVPPeoples Liberation Front) and its breakaway Peratugami Samajawadi Pakshaya (PSPFrontline Socialist Party) is also present but strategically not through party organisations but rather their youth (Socialist Youth Union and Youth for CHEnge respectively) and student (Socialist Students Union and Revolutionary Students Union respectively) wings. Another consistent presence in the movement on the Left has been the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF), once controlled by the JVP but now non-affiliated though perceived as influenced by the PSP. Throughout the course of this struggle, it has electrified the movement through regular mobilisation of students in demonstrations and rallies, political intransigence, and bold actions such as blockading the Parliament in Kotte and the Presidential mansion in Colombo, braving police batons, tear gas and water cannon and court orders.

In the early months of 2022, the passivity of the working class was palpable. There appeared no appetite for confrontation with employers and the state, despite the pressure on their living standards from the economic crisis. For the daily-waged, the restrictions and lockdowns over the preceding two years of the pandemic have been unbearable on their incomes and survival. There have been sectoral struggles these past few years of plantation workers, export processing zone workers, schoolteachers, health workers, farmers, and the like, but isolated and uneven. Trade union density is low and declining except in the public sector. Working class consciousness is also fragmented and diluted by decades of defensive struggles often ending in defeat, the weight of market ideology, Sinhala Buddhist nationalism and racism, the experience of state terror during the war and the second JVP-led insurrection, and the inability to forge durable trade union coordination.

The major private sector trade unions, like their public sector counterparts historically linked to mainstream political parties, were initially suspicious of the citizens movement, which is seen as anarchic and inchoate. Smaller independent and left-wing unions such as the Ceylon Bank Employees (CBEU) and the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers (CMU), along with the Ceylon Teachers (CTU) and others were more sympathetic, joining the demonstrations and engaging with the protests.

As the momentum grew over April, ad-hoc coalitions of trade unions and other organisations spanning the public and private sectors and including the JVPs National Trade Union Centre as well as the La Via Campesina affiliate, the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), conducted two highly successful national shutdowns: the hartal (stayaway and shutdown) of 28 April and the first general strike since the stunning rout of July 1980, on 6 May. [6]

The government was shaken by these actions which achieved widespread support from public sector workers in the administrative, health, transport, and postal service  usually loyal to the government of the day  as well as small business operators and workers, rural traders, farmers and fishers, and women workers from the export processing zones. The power of the working class to cripple commercial activity and disrupt normalcy, was a greater immediate threat to the state than the occupy protests. Its response was to impose emergency law and slap essential service orders to make strike action illegal. However, this did not daunt the unions nor dent success.

Where are the Tamils?

Both those sympathetic to, and critical of, the citizens movement, have raised concerns as to its inclusivity and limited resonance  outside of urbanised and Sinhala majority regions in the island  and especially in relation to Sri Lankas Tamil nation that has historically inhabited the North and East of the island. This is fair. The core demands of the Aragalaya and its assimilation of the origins and contours of the crisis are bounded by the identity and consciousness of the Sinhala nation.

Within the citizens movement, outside of small pockets and spaces, there has been no reckoning with the systemic roots of Sinhala supremacism, nor the historic injustices meted to Tamils. It is beyond difficult for the Sinhala majority to acknowledge that they were not the primary victims of the war. There is no generalised recognition, even 12 years later, of the continuing hurt of family and friends who are not allowed to publicly mourn and memorialise those who did not survive, and those who were disappeared and are still counted as missing, including combatants; of their dispossession from arable and residential land under occupation by the military; of the oppressive presence of the military and its intervention in civilian affairs in the war-affected region; of ongoing attempts to unsettle Tamil (and Muslim) claims to land and sea and their religious sites; and of the ever-present threat of the Prevention of Terrorism Act against critics of the state.

It is not that Tamil people in the North and East are indifferent to the aragalaya. How could they be when they have consistently voted for the main opposition candidate to the Rajapaksas in every presidential election since 2005? For many, there is little or no empathy with the Sinhala nation which is perceived as having created the monster that it now wishes to destroy. Is it only because of power-cuts and shortages of fuel and medicines, that there is opposition to the Rajapaksas now, they ask? These scarcities are not unfamiliar to those who lived through the economic blockade on the North during the years of war. They did not see their suffering, which includes but is also beyond socio-economic deprivation, represented in this citizens movement.

However, a struggle of substance invariably alters the consciousness of its protagonists. In the course of only a few months since the aragalaya took off and began taking shape, as rights activist Ambika Satkunanathan has observed:  there is growing awareness and space to speak of issues previously thought not possible. Militarisation, war crimes, the Channel 4 documentary [video evidence of crimes against humanity by Sri Lankan security forces in the final stages of the war in 2009], racism. One hears people say, if they are doing this in the South, imagine what they must have done in the North and East. [7]

None of this would have been possible without the formative experience of this movement, which includes the patient efforts of progressive Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil activists to inform, educate and reason for attention to grievances and goals of citizens from the minorities. In fact, among the most recent demands (on July 9th) of well-known activists of the movement are the release of political prisoners (which is a reference to LTTE suspects in detention since before and after the end of the war); and justice for families of victims of extra-judicial killings and disappearances (which includes Tamil political and civil representatives, journalists and human rights workers, and LTTE cadre). [8]

And it is not that non-Sinhala peoples are absent from the agitations outside of the North and East. Muslims, who define themselves in Sri Lanka as an ethnic and not only religious community, have been at the receiving end of Islamaphobia following the conclusion of the war in 2009. In addition to periodic violence against their homes, businesses and places of worship and education; they were collectively targeted following the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist violence; and underwent the agony of forced cremation of COVID19 deaths, against their religious practices. In the initial stages of the citizens movement, they were cautious in their participation, fearing racism from protestors or repression from the state. But since April, they are visible and vocal. Meanwhile Tamils resident in the populous Western Sri Lanka, whether of Northern or Eastern or Hill Country origin, also participate in the aragalaya. There has been increased visibility of the Tamil language in the banners, placards, and signage of the movement, even if it is not heard much in slogans, chants and speeches.

What now?

At time of writing, Sri Lanka swirls with rumours of attempted flight by Gotabaya Rajapaksa before he is due to formally resign on the 13th. [9] Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremesinghe attempts to salvage a political future for himself, ideally in the Presidency which he has long coveted. Formal discussions and backroom meetings are feverishly underway among parliamentarians and fixers. What comes next will be a transitional arrangement: another cohabitation between the parties that were formerly in government and those that are presently in the opposition. How long it will last is uncertain.

The demand of the Janatha Aragalaya has consistently been for the formation of an all-party government, after the resignation of the President and Prime Minister, which should focus on providing economic relief to the people and to enacting a new constitution that abolishes the presidential system of government. There is no certainty that this will be respected by politicians, which is why activists have proposed the creation of a Peoples Council drawn from its number, to co-govern with Parliament. In some quarters there is anxiety whether there will be a putsch by the military: in concert with or autonomous from parts of the ancien regime. Much is murky. The need is to remain vigilant and mobilised. The Rajapaksas have tumbled. The system that spawned them has not.

Colombo  11 July 2022

[The above article from International Viewpoint is reproduced here for educational and non commercial use]
The Insight Partners

Medical Terahertz Technology Market size is expected to grow from US$ 135.29 million in 2022 to US$ 349.00 million by 2028; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.1% from 2022 to 2028.

New York, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Insight Partners published latest research study on " Medical Terahertz Technology Market Forecast to 2028  COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis  by Type, Application, and Geography," rising demand for noninvasive techniques for the early detection of cancer and increasing use of terahertz technology in dental care are driving the medical terahertz technology market.

Download PDF Brochure of Medical Terahertz Technology Market Size - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis with Strategic Developments at: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPMD00002019/

Medical Terahertz Technology Market Report Scope & Strategic Insights:

Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in US$ 135.29 million in 2022 Market Size Value by US$ 349.00 million by 2028 Growth rate CAGR of 17.1% from 2022 to 2028. Forecast Period 2022-2028 Base Year 2022 No. of Pages 190 No. Tables 111 No. of Charts & Figures 37 Historical data available Yes Segments covered Type and Application Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; MEA Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends





Medical Terahertz Technology Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments

Acal BFi Limited, Advantest Corporation, Teraview limited, Toptica Photonics AG, Terasense Group Inc., Microtech Instrument Inc., Menlo Systems GmbH, HUBNER GmbH & Co. KG, Luna Innovations Inc., and Insight Product Company are the key companies operating in the medical terahertz technology market.

Inquiry Before Purchase: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/inquiry/TIPMD00002019/

In April 2022, Advantest Corporation introduced a new 3D image viewerEuclidfor its Hadatomo series of photoacoustic microscopes. The device easily creates tomographic images, and displays 3D images by superimposing data by a Hadatomo tool about skin melanin, vascular network, and skin structure. The product is used in dermatological research for beauty and healthcare.

In April 2022, TeraSense announced its new IMPATT-based generator, a powerful wave source at 94GHz with the output power ranging from 0.08 W to 1.8 W.

In October 2021, Menlo Systems opened its subsidiary, Shanghai Menlo Systems Quantum Laser Technology Co., Ltd., branch in China. This will strengthen its position in the flourishing photonics market in China. Menlo Systems provides ultra-stable lasers, terahertz systems, and femtosecond lasers.

In July 2021, the Hadatomo Z photoacoustic microscope of Advantest Corporation, a leading semiconductor test equipment supplier, received a Laser Industry Encouragement Award at the 13 th Industry Awards, sponsored by the Laser Society of Japan.

In June 2021, Terasense introduced its patent-protected terahertz imaging technology, which is a safer tool used for diagnostics purposes in dentistry and dental applications.

In March 2021, Menlo Systems, a provider of ultra-stable lasers, terahertz systems, and femtosecond lasers, opened its Japanese subsidiaryMenlo Systems K.K.in Hamamatsu in Japan.

In March 2020, Toptica announced TeraFETs, with enhanced performance with the help of TeraScan, the next-generation terahertz detectors.

In February 2020, Menlo Systems announced opening of a new regional office in Huntington Beach, CA. This will strengthen its presence in North America.

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Terahertz technology is also used for diagnosing dental disorders. As per the CDC, in 2019, in the US, 13.2% of children aged 5-19 years and 25.9% of adults aged 20-44 have untreated dental caries. The presence of major market players in the country offering medical terahertz systems is likely to favor market growth. For instance, Terasense Group Inc. is a leading manufacturer of innovative portable terahertz (THz) imaging systems, Terahertz imaging cameras, THz sources, and THz detectors. It offers a cutting-edge technological product portfolio and several competitive advantages.

Have a question? Speak to Research Analyst: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/speak-to-analyst/TIPMD00002019

Spain, Italy, the UK, France, and Germany have been the worst affected European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Medical Device Regulation in the EU requires manufacturers to perform Post Market Clinical Follow-ups to study the performance of medical devices. The COVID-19 outbreak delayed the clinical trials and disrupted supply chain processes. The healthcare & medical device industry faced severe challenges due to sudden movement restrictions and substantially reduced industrial activities. The manufacturing of medical devices was reduced to 60%. Further, the production of medical devices decreased, which hampered the medical terahertz technology Germany. During the first quarter of 2021, the medical device market fully recovered due to the relaxation of lockdown. Moreover, research indicates that terahertz spectroscopy has the potential to diagnose COVID-19 infection, which boosted the growth of the medical terahertz technology market.

The growing demand for biomedical diagnosis techniques that can offer morphological, chemical, or functional information for early, noninvasive, label-free detection has facilitated hard collaborations between various scientific fields. With gradual advancements in technologies, numerous new contemporary diagnostics systems are being researched and verified as complementary biomedical approaches to the traditional ones.

Avail Lucrative DISCOUNTS on Medical Terahertz Technology Market Research Study: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/discount/TIPMD00002019/

Medical Terahertz Technology Market: Segmental Overview

Based on type, the medical terahertz technology market is bifurcated into terahertz imaging and terahertz spectroscopy. The market for the terahertz imaging segment is further segmented into active and passive. On the other hand, the market for terahertz spectroscopy is further bifurcated into time domain and frequency domain. Terahertz imaging is one of the most promising techniques in biomedical science. THz imaging of biological tissues is more favorable than other methods because THz waves are sensitive to polar compounds, such as water, in biomolecules. The spatial resolution of THz imaging can reach several tens of micrometers. Its powerful penetrating capacity can be utilized in the tomography of biological systems.

Directly Purchase Premium Copy of Medical Terahertz Technology Market Growth Report (2022-2028) at: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPMD00002019/

Browse Adjoining Reports:

Terahertz Technology Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Component (Terahertz Sources, Terahertz Detectors), Type (Terahertz Imaging Systems, Terahertz Spectroscopy Systems, and Terahertz Communication System), and Application ( Medical and Healthcare, Defense and Security, Food and Agriculture, Industrial, Semiconductor, and Others), and Geography

Near Infrared Spectroscopy Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product Type (Benchtop Spectroscopes, Portable Spectroscopes, Others); End-user (Healthcare, Chemicals, Food and Beverages, Others) and Geography

X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and Forecast by Product Type (Monochromatic X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Non-Monochromatic X- ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy); Usage (Element Detection, Contamination Detection, Density Estimation, Empirical formula Determination, Others); Application (Healthcare, Aerospace, Automotive, Others), and Geography

Terahertz Imaging Detection Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Type (Passive Terahertz Imaging, Active Terahertz Imaging); Application (Transportation and Public Safety, Industrial, Medicine and Biomedicine, Others) and Geography

Infrared and Terahertz Spectroscopy Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Spectrum (Near-Infrared Radiation (NIR), Mid-Infrared Radiation (MIR), and Far-Infrared Radiation (FIR)); Usability (Semiconductors, Homeland Security, Non-Destructive Testing, and Research and Development (Biomedical)); Technology (Benchtop, Microscopy, Portable and Handheld, and Hyphenated); End Use (Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology, Industrial Chemistry, Food and Beverage Testing, Environmental Testing, and Other), and Geography

Terahertz Body Scanning Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Technology Type (Standalone, Integrated); Scanner Type (Fixed, Portable); Application (Public Places, Airport Checkpoints, Train Stations and Subways, Others) and Geography

About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

Contact Us:

If you have any queries about this report or if you would like further information, please contact us:

Contact Person: Sameer Joshi

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Phone: +1-646-491-9876

Press Release: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/pr/terahertz-technology-market




Contract offers easy access to critical medical supplies for 300 school districts across Washington

SEATTLE, July 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--bttn, a technology company digitizing medical supply distribution, today announced it won a competitively awarded contract with WSIPC, a non-profit cooperative that negotiates pricing and procures contracts to secure its members substantial discounts on products and services. WSIPC members include K-12 public, private, charter and tribal schools in Washington as well as regional educational entities, including libraries. WSIPC represents 300 districts and 1,000,000 students.

bttn was selected as a vendor for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). WSIPC members simply click on the bttn logo from the awarded vendor page for PPE and order directly from the portal, enjoying negotiated cost savings. bttn also offers a dedicated resource to support WSIPC members in their sourcing needs.

"Were thrilled to award this competitive contract to bttn, a Washington-based company making a real difference in our community," said Marty Daybell, CEO and Executive Director, WSIPC. "As Washington schools continue to navigate the implications of COVID-19, we are committed to helping them find quality products at fair prices to keep students safe and healthy. bttn is a welcome addition to vendors that support our school districts."

"Educating students is the highest priority of schools nationwide. To keep the doors open, schools need access to medical supplies that mitigate the challenges to in-person education posed by COVID-19 and other infectious diseases," said JT Garwood, CEO and Co-Founder of bttn. "bttn makes shopping for medical supplies fast, easy, and cost-effective. We welcome the opportunity to be a valued partner to the WSIPC network and are confident that our platform offers efficiencies over-burdened administrators will appreciate in their quest to keep students, teachers, and staff safe."

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bttns vision for the future of healthcare distribution is winning the business of more customers each day as it digitally transforms the entire healthcare distribution ecosystem. bttn is thrilled to add WSIPC to the list of Washington associations, including the Washington Association for Community Health, Washington State Dental Association, and Washington State Hospital Association that trust bttn for medical supplies.

About bttn

bttn is building the future of medical supply with an easy-to-use e-commerce solution that supports customers of all sizes. bttn saves customers money on their medical supply bill while delivering faster than typical medical supply channels. Choose bttn to automate your medical supply today. bttn is headquartered in Seattle, WA, and is growing rapidly and hiring.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005022/en/

Contacts

RH Strategic

bttn@rhstrategic.com
DUBLIN, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "European Market for RTA Furniture" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

The report provides a detailed analysis of the ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture sector in Europe, with a focus on 15 countries (Belgium-Lux, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) selected by their representativeness in terms of production and consumption of RTA furniture within Europe.

This report aims to provide information on the following topics:

The value of the RTA furniture consumption and production (2016-2021) in each market and in Europe

The main features shaping the competitive system of each country: leading manufacturers for RTA furniture production, sector concentration, mergers & acquisitions operations

The main supply features of the industry in terms of product type, support materials, finishing

The analysis of the distribution system for RTA furniture: breakdown of the market by distribution channels and listing of leading RTA furniture retailers (large-scale furniture chains, DIY, e-tailers)

Report Structure:

The first part of the study shows the main sector figures of the European RTA furniture industry (production, consumption, exports, imports), highlighting the most important features affecting the industry in terms of competitive system and distribution channels.

Production and consumption of RTA furniture in Europe:

Demand drivers, the value of the RTA furniture consumption from 2016 to 2021, and an overview of the European RTA furniture market through tables, graphs, and maps for Europe and by country.

Value of the European RTA furniture production and by country, with a comparison between the RTA furniture sector and the fully assembled furniture industry.

The competitive system analysis identifies and analyses the Top 50 European RTA furniture manufacturers, ranked by values of RTA furniture production, exports, and the number of employees. A list of leading players' major M&A operations from 2003 to 2021 is also provided.

The supply structure analysis deals with the type of products (product segment, support materials, and finishings) produced by the European RTA furniture manufacturers, with tables and information on companies operating in each segment.

The distribution channels analysis includes a breakdown of the European RTA furniture market by distribution channel (large-scale furniture chains, DIY, e-tailers), with profiles of the main RTA furniture retailers in Europe.

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Country Analysis

For the Top 15 countries for the RTA furniture industry (Belgium-Lux, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom):

RTA furniture production and consumption values

Rankings of the leading RTA furniture manufacturers (excluding Norway and the Netherlands)

Profiles of the leading players

Distribution system: breakdown of the RTA furniture market by distribution channel (excluding Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic)

Rankings of leading RTA furniture retailers by total turnover

Around 200 RTA furniture manufacturers are considered in the report.

Products Covered:

RTA furniture as defined in the report is the group of furnishing products which, according to the country of reference, are defined as flat-pack, ready to assemble (RTA), knockdown (KD), DIY (do it yourself), self-assembly or kit furniture that comes in flat-packs and includes all the hardware and instructions necessary for assembly.



Products considered: Living/dining room furniture (including sets for living/dining room, bookshelves, tables and chairs); bedroom furniture; children furniture; furniture for office/home office; kitchen furniture; other furniture (occasional furniture, bathroom furniture, outdoor furniture, etc.). Soft furniture (upholstered furniture and mattresses) is excluded.

Geographical Coverage:

European Union (27)+UK+NO+CH with detailed analysis for 15 countries (Belgium-Lux, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom)

Companies Mentioned

3B

Alsapan

BRW Black Red White

Burstadt

Composad

Crown Products

Fabryki Mebli Forte

Friul Intagli

Gautier

Gyllensvaans Mobler

HTH Kokkenner

IKEA

Kvik

Media Profili

Meubles Demeyere

Nolte Mobel

P3G Parisot

Rauch Mobelwerke

SBA Baldu

Stokke

Szynaka Meble

Tvilum

Vivonio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/we55kh

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ready-to-assemble-furniture-market-in-europe-focus-on-large-scale-furniture-chains-diy-and-e-tailers-301585611.html

SOURCE Research and Markets
Red Light Holland will be the exclusive provider of natural Psilocybin products at the festival estimated to host approximately 15,000 people

Red Light Holland will proudly sell their iMicrodose and Maka products and feature their technology Wisdom VR and Wisdom Truffle at Psy-Fi

Red Light Holland will provide educational workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2022) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTC Pink: TRUFF) ("Red Light Holland" or the "Company"), an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth, and sale of a premium brand of magic truffles, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of Psy-Fi festival, one of the largest international festivals in the Netherlands which attracts thousands of visitors each year. Psy-Fi offers a large variety of music, arts, and space for personal growth.

As a lead sponsor, Red Light Holland will be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival, including featuring the Company's iMicrodose and Maka Brands. As part of the offerings to the festival, Red Light Holland will deploy its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom, which explains how Psychedelics influence the brain (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1561720/Wisdom/). Red Light Holland will also showcase their innovative meditation device, designed by world famous structural designer Karim Rashid, The Wisdom Truffle (www.WisdomTruffle.com). Red Light Holland will further provide preparation and integration workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics. These efforts will be led by Jeff Hamburg, Red Light Holland's therapist and expert psychedelic guide and Sarah Hashkes Red Light Holland's Chief Innovation and Technology Officer. The Psy-Fi festival will take place in The Netherlands, September 14th-18th, 2022.

"This is a huge opportunity for us to connect to a worldwide audience that shares the same values of increasing legal access to naturally occuring Psilocybin. We are thrilled to collaborate with such a well-known and respected festival that is known for its safety-first practices as well as its care about the environment," said Todd Shapiro, CEO, and Director of Red Light Holland. "We're excited to show the world our Rec & Tech approach with our branded psilocybin products, technology devices and our educational and responsible use messaging aiming to bring people a lot of joy and connection."

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"Psy-Fi 'Guardians of the Gala' is set up to be one of the bigger Psy-Trance festivals in Europe. Our team is very pleased to be able to be such a big part of a beautiful and fun festival," said Hans Derix, Red Light Holland's President and Dutch Native. "We will be displaying and selling our Maka and iMicrodose products via our wholly owned company SR-Wholesale to thousands of people affordably and responsibly. And our intention is to have a big Brand presence. You should come down to our amazing country in September and check it out," added Derix.

To learn more about the festival or purchase tickets go to: https://www.psy-fi.nl/.

Red Light Holland releases Data on Psychedelic Concert

Red Light Holland releases a report with data analysis around the success of the Company's Psychedelic concert event on April 16th, 2022. During this event participants chose to consume between 1 to 8 grams of Red Light Holland's premium Psilocybin truffles after an intake discussion with therapist and expert psychedelic guide Jeff Hamburg. After the event participants were sent a survey and the facilitators were interviewed for the report. A small number of participants replied, but with positive results.

91.7% of the attendees in the survey reported they would be interested in attending another event, 75% reported they enjoyed the music more than usual

41.7% reported they felt connected to the group in a meaningful way

33.3% reported lasting benefits beyond the event itself

The long-term benefits included the release of negative emotions and a lasting "Uplifted mood". Some participants also gained insight that helped them in their personal or professional life. No significant negative effects were reported or observed.

The report with detailed statistical analysis conducted by statistician Yoav Blonder, has been sent to Oregon Health Authority representatives and members of the Washington Psilocybin service workgroup, as well as other government officials around the world Red Light Holland is connected with, to help promote regulations and best practices for group psilocybin services.

While there is no statistical significance due to the small sample size Red Light Holland sees the potential of these events in increasing affordable and equitable accessibility, especially for newcomers to the psychedelic community, as newcomers might be more interested in trying psychedelics in a safe environment supervised by experts.

The Company can not make medical claims regarding the use of psilocybin.

To read the full report: https://redlight.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Psychedelic-Concert-Report.pdf.

About Red Light Holland

Red Light Holland is an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale (through existing Smart Shops operators and an advanced e-commerce platform) of a premium brand of magic truffles.

For additional information on the Company:

Todd Shapiro

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Tel: 647-643-TRIP (8747)

Email: todd@redlight.co

Website: www.RedLight.co



Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward- looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the details of the planned psy-fi festival September 14-18, 2022; the ability to sell Maka and iMicrodose products at the Psy-Fi Festival; comments with respect to the data discovered assisting Red Light if and when the final regulations in Oregon are approved; details with respect to Measure 109; Red Light's plans to conduct further research in the Netherlands, statements regarding Red Light's involvement in Psy-fi festival; the intended outcomes and effects of Measure 109; statements regarding the implementation of Measure 109 by the Oregon Health Authority; details regarding the sponsorship organzied by Red Light Holland including the ability to be the lead supplier of Red Light products at Psy-Fi Festival; Red Light's expectations of obtaining the consent of concert-goers and participants to collect and analyze data on best practices on using psychedelics and the company's products; Red Light's plans to be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival and the company's ability to deploy its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom and the company's mediation device, The Wisdom Truffle; Red Light Holland; Red Light Holland premium psilocybin truffles being available for concert goers at the event; that sponsoring the event will enable Red Light to advocate for a program that helps a wide range of Oregonians; that the data provided from the past group microdosing event will illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as help form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the belief that the report on microdosing services can benefit people or the inability for the report to represent medical claims; the company can not make medical claims; that the report and small sample size of the data will influence Oregon, Washington State Authorities to help with regulations; that the report is a small sample size and therefore is just a small sample of participants and not used for the purposes of medical advice.

Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: Red Light's ability to carry the sponsorship and be the exclusive provider of Psilocybin Truffles for the festival; Red Light Holland setting up and deploying its suite of technology products including the VR experience, Wisdom and their innovative meditation device, The Wisdom Truffle. Red Light Holland will further provide preparation and integration workshops to promote the responsible use of Psychedelics discussed in this news release, or at all; the ability of the past group microdosing event and the subsequent report to yield the expected information to assist Red Light with legalization efforts described in this new release, or at all; the report will not affect the Measure 109 being implemented; Red Light Holland's ability to continue as a going concern; the continued commercial viability and growth in popularity of psilocybin products; continued approval of Red Light Holland by the relevant governmental and/or regulatory authorities; the continued growth of Red Light Holland; details regarding the event organized by Psy-Fi Festival organizers, including the live performances; Red Light's continued expectations of obtaining the consent of facilitators, concert organizers and participants including concert goers to provide psilocybin truffles; Red Light Holland premium products of psilocybin truffles being available for concert-goers at the event; that the report on the group microdosing event will illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as help form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the inability of the report to be received, read by, or acknowledged by Oregon Authorities, Washington State Authorities and other Government agencies and officials around the world.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the potential inability of Red Light to carry the sponsorship of Psy-Fi festival on the terms and timelines described in this news release; the potential inability of Red Light Holland to continue as a going concern; the risks associated with the psychedelics industry in general; increased competition in the recreational and medical psilocybin markets; the potential future unviability of the psychedelics industry; public opinion and perception of the psychedelics industry; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of expansion plans and various transactions; risks associated with potential governmental and/or regulatory action with respect to the psychedelics industry; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial and stock markets; and risks related to infectious diseases, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; the event not proceeding as detailed and no longer organized by Psy-Fi festival organizers, including the cancellation of all the performances at the festival and/or the planned and concurrently ability to offer of the company's products during the event Sept 14-18 2022; the risk that Covid-19 could result in the canceling of the Psy-Fi festival, Red Light's inability to sell products and promote best practices on usage of the company's products; Red Light's inability to sell products and promote best practices on usage of the company's products at the Psy-Fi festival; Red Light Holland premium iMicrodose and Maka psilocybin truffles being unavailable for concert goers; that the report on the group microdosing event will not illustrate a working model to help the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and the Oregon Health Authority to refine psilocybin regulations as well as not helping form the Washington's Psilocybin Wellness Workgroup; the belief that the statistics provided on the microdosing event can become integrated into people's daily life not come into fruition; the report does not represent a medical diagnosis; the report represents a very small sample size and does not represent any statistical significance.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect Red Light Holland's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. Red Light Holland undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130750
Update: The companies have confirmed the news here. ironSource is being valued at $4.4 billion in the all-stock deal. Part of the transaction will also involve Silver Lake and Sequoia, the two largest Unity shareholders, investing $1 billion in Unity in the form of convertible notes after the transaction closes.

The companies expect the detail to close in Q4, and "is expected to generate a run rate of $1 billion in Adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2024," Unity said.

We believe the world is a better place with more successful creators in it. The combination of Unity and ironSource better supports creators of all sizes by giving them all the tools they need to create and grow successful apps in gaming and other consumer-facing verticals like e-commerce, said John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity, in a statement. This is a step further toward realizing our vision of a fully integrated platform that helps creators in every step of their RT3D journey. We look forward to welcoming Tomer Bar-Zeev, the CEO of ironSource, and the rest of ironSources talented team into the Unity family.

The deal underscores a definite shift in the industry. The Israeli ecosystem produced 52 new unicorns during the first half of 2021, said Avihai Michaeli, an investment banker and startup adviser, but those who proceeded to IPO have since lost some 50%-70% of their valuation this year due to the downturn, a trend that inevitably also laid pressure on ironSource (which indeed went public last year). "ironSource will not be the last," he said of the deal-making that the current climate is spurring.

Original story from earlier: The downturn in tech valuations is leading to some significant M&A activity, and the latest development on that front looks like it is coming from the world of gaming and perhaps more specifically, interactive developer ops. Unity, the massive games and other interactive content development platform, is planning to merge with ironSource, an app monetization platform that provides tools for ads, cross-channel marketing, distribution and more.

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The news is not yet official, but a source tells us that it will be announced formally as early as later today. A spokesperson for ironSource did not deny the deal when I contacted the company to ask for comment; she only said that she would be sending me a comment when she could later. We're continuing to ask questions and will update this story as we hear more.

The move would bring together two powerhouses in their respective fields -- interactive development and app monetization. However, both companies have something else in common: They are publicly traded and have seen their stocks decline in recent months, in line with the larger downturn in the technology sector. That's leading to pressure from shareholders, on top of the companies' wider strategies to continue growing and diversifying themselves as businesses in what is shaping up to be a challenging climate.

In ironSource's last quarterly earnings, reported in May, the company noted a healthy revenue jump of 58% to $190 million, but its guidance for the next quarter and full-year were less robust: It adjusted down its expected FY figures to a range of $750 million to $780 million, versus previous guidance of $790 million to $820 million. The company operates in the black, with a net income of $13.8 million in the previous quarter. The company was one of the wave of businesses that went public via SPAC during the COVID-19 pandemic. (In its case it went public in 2021, when it was valued at over $11 billion.)

Meanwhile, Unity's quarterly earnings, announced in the same month, reported revenue of $320.1 million for the quarter, up 35% on the year. Yet it also adjusted down its guidance for the next quarter and the full year, citing "challenges with monetization products that we expect to impact 2022." (Cue buying more assets to help with, yes, monetization.) It said it expects to make between $290 million and $295 million next quarter, and between $1.350 billion and $1.425 billion for the year.

And importantly, despite its size and market traction, Unity is operating in the red: It posted a net loss last quarter of $177.6 million compared to $107.6 million in the quarter a year ago.

The deal has been described to me by a source as a merger, but one company is definitely bigger than the other. ironsSource's market cap at the time of writing is $2.3 billion, but that figure has dropped drastically in the last six months. Unity is currently valued at $11.8 billion, although it has similarly been weathering a pretty rough financial storm: Its stock has lost nearly two-thirds of its value in the last six months.

Pursuing M&A as a route to product and user growth has long been a strategy for larger tech companies, but the last several months have seen a number of M&A deals surface among smaller players, too, as funding sources become less free flowing, performance targets are tightened and valuations drop.

Both of these companies are no stranger to that trend. ironSource's last acquisition was picking up Tapjoy in January for $400 million. Unity in the same month acquired Ziva Dynamics to expand the tools that it offers to games and other interactive developers, for an undisclosed sum.

And as we got ready to hit publish on this story, it looks like the Israeli press -- ironSource is traded in the U.S. but was founded out of Tel Aviv -- is also starting to report the news.

More to come.
COLOMBO, July 13 (Reuters) - The Sri Lanka Air Force confirmed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife left for the Maldives on Wednesday.

"Under the provisions of the Constitution and on a request by the government, the Sri Lanka Air Force provided a plane early today to fly the president, his wife and two security officials to the Maldives," the statement said.

The Indian High Commission in Colombo said on Twitter it "categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka". (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Only 15 out of 359 Australian funds outperformed the last 20 years of booms and crashes: the "Fierce Performers"

This outperformance amounts to ~$411k more for the average Australian by their retirement

The largest outperformance occurred in the 'Sustainable' investment category

Index funds also outperformed active funds, and lower-fee funds outperformed overall

SYDNEY, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wealth advice platform and social enterprise Super Fierce has launched Australia's first index to capture 99.8 percent of the entire market, based on 2,069 investment options across 359 superannuation funds.

The Super Fierce "Fierce Performance Index" (FPI) is also the only index to accurately measure not just performance, but also consistency of performance across multiple market cycles and across multiple investment options.

This is compared to other options which are often biased due to involving a "pay-to-play" component (the funds sponsor the research in some way), are not designed for Australian consumers, only cover one investment option in each fund, and suffer from recency bias due to a limited time period selection process.

As an example, ratings agency rankings suffer from recency bias and, worse still, are also often incomplete and biased due to funds having to pay to be included. The Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) comparison tool also has many current perceived weaknesses which are addressed by the FPI, which:

analyses performance of various time periods since 2003, not just YFYS's single period of eight years ending at the most recent financial year end, which can skew results if markets have recently been particularly bullish or bearish;

looks at consistency of performance across different risk options and for lifecycle and sustainable investing options;

adjusts for the differences in strategic asset allocation (market risk) across funds, rather than relying upon the funds' inconsistent self-classifications;

adjusts for biases by measuring performance in good, average, and bad market conditions

reduces the risk that "past performance is not indicative of future performance" by measuring consistency year after year and across all investment options;

assesses resilience of relative performance by looking for funds that are persistently above 50th percentile year-by-year; and

includes all fees on a consistent basis, addressing the criticisms about YFYS's handling of administration fees.

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This makes the FPI Australia's first ever non-biased, comprehensive, and highly accurate mathematical analysis and reporting of super fund performance helping Australians maximise their retirement savings.

Trenna Probert Founder and CEO of Super Fierce and Craig Swanger Cofounder Investments

Trenna Probert, Super Fierce founder & CEO said: "Identifying the highest-performing superannuation fund through basic comparisons is a daunting and complicated task for the average Australian consumer.

"We created the Fierce Performance Index to provide all Australians with an affordable way to find and select a super fund that will suit their individual needs, leaving them substantially better off in retirement.

"Rankings, ratings, and the multitude of other sources of information are difficult to find and understand, and they are of course not tailored to an individual's circumstances or preferences. With the current state of the financial advice industry further exacerbating this, we knew Australians needed a better way to select the right fund for them."

Craig Swanger, Super Fierce Co-Founder and Head of Product and Investments said: "APRA's Your Future, Your Super does what it is meant to do by highlighting the poorest performing super funds. But it was never designed for everyday Australians looking for guidance on choosing a fund that is likely to perform well in the future.

"This is because, to date, we haven't had any proof that historical performance can reliably predict future performance. But our data has uncovered that past outperformance can be a predictor of future performance - so long as you analyse a fund's performance across multiple market cycles and investment options."

Customised FPI recommendations are included in the free Statement of Advice that any consumer can access on the Super Fierce website .

Fierce Performance Index: 2022 results

Performance data to 30 June 2022 demonstrated:

Australia's top 15 super funds (the "Fierce Performers") outperformed in all categories: High Growth, Growth, Balanced, Moderate, Conservative, Australian Shares, Global Shares, Ethical and Indexed

The largest outperformance was in the Sustainable (1.70% p.a.), Indexed (1.31% p.a.), Balanced (0.92% p.a.), and Growth (1.03% p.a.) options, which are the four most popular options

But the performance advantage of the Fierce Performers was so large that investors could drop a whole category of risk (e.g. from Growth to Balanced), and they would have still outperformed

Fierce Performers had higher performance with lower fees, again across every category. The biggest difference in fees is in the Balanced (the most common) category

Index outperformed active: Across 220 Balanced funds (60-75% in growth assets), indexed funds outperformed actively managed funds by 1.66% p.a. over the past ten years

Sustainable investing outperformed normal funds over the past ten years

Lifecycle funds underperform by around 0.65 per cent per annum. These funds are the option now used by more than 5 million Australians through employer selected defaults.

The FPI "index score" runs from 0 (lowest possible) to 100 (highest possible), allowing for useful comparisons:

- the Fierce Performers (the 15 funds who passed every test) achieved an average index score of 86

- this is compared to the 13 funds that were named and shamed by APRA's MySuper Product Performance Test last year, which achieved an average index score of just 31

- yet 39 other funds that were not named by APRA last year actually scored a lower average index score than this, foreshadowing that the Test will likely capture several more funds over the next few years

Fierce Performers 2022

The following 15 funds passed all of the tests of consistent outperformance. This is NOT a ranked list, but rather an alphabetical one:

Australian Retirement Trust

AustralianSuper

Australia Post Super (now merged into Australian Retirement Trust)

Care Super

CBUS Super

Energy Super

equipsuper

HESTA

HostPlus

Vision (Local Authorities Super Fund)

Mercy Super

MyLifeMyMoney Super

NGS Super

Public Service Super*

Qantas Super**

Unisuper

*Public Service Super accumulation funds only. FPI does not include Defined Benefit funds.

**Qantas Super is yet to report June 2022 performance, but were strong enough by the end of May that failing the FPI tests after June 2022 performance would be statistically impossible.

Fierce Performance Index: Methodology

The 2,069 super fund investment options are grouped by investment strategy into the following categories:

Diversified:

All Growth (96%-100% in Growth Assets)

High Growth (86-95%)

Growth (76%-85%)

Balanced (61%-75%)

Moderate (41%-61%)

Conservative (21%-40%)

Capital Stable (0-20%)

Lifecycle:

All Growth (96%-100% in Growth Assets)

High Growth (86-95%)

Growth (76%-85%)

Balanced (61%-75%)

Moderate (41%-61%)

Specific Strategy:

Ethical Diversified:

- High Growth

- Growth

- Balanced

Equities:

- Global

- Australian

- Ethical

- Indexed

Real Assets:

- Property

- Infrastructure

The performance for each fund is then adjusted for fees where some fees had not been deducted from performance by the super fund, and compared over 5 year (2006-11, 2011-16, 2016-21), 7 year (2004-11, 2009-2016, 2014-21), 10 year (2004-14, 2011-21), and 15 year (2006-2021) periods to rank relative performance compared to like-for-like funds within the above categories.

Finally, where available, the year-to-year standard deviation of fund options' performance was calculated, to indicate whether the fund typically had more or less consistency (or average consistency where annual fund data was not provided).

The process effectively eliminates funds in stages:

First, historically outperforming funds are selected (the top 33% of performers over past 15 years, or top 25% if a fund has less than 15 years' track record), resulting in 97 of 359 funds in the database.

Then funds that outperform only by taking more risk are removed, adjusting returns based on their strategic asset allocation. This reduced the list to 58 funds.

Then funds that are not consistently above average in good markets and bad are removed, leaving just 20 funds.

Finally, funds that were only strong in the MySuper category but not other investment options are removed. This leaves 15 funds with persistent performance.

These 15 are the "Fierce Performers" used in our personal advice.

All 359 funds are then indexed from 0 (poorest) to 100 (strongest) based on the z-score results from these tests.

Super Fierce ( www.superfierce.com.au ) is a wealth advice platform and social enterprise that helps women close the gender wealth and retirement gap. It provides a scalable advice platform that compares 500+ super funds and assists in switching to save fees and maximise returns.

This is critical as the average Aussie woman could save around $100k over their working life just by cutting pointless super fees.

Super Fierce also runs Fierce Impact , which aims to donate $100 million to Australian women living at the margins of society by helping 1 million women to save on super. For every person that uses Super Fierce to switch, $100 is donated to the foundation.

SOURCE Super Fierce
(Removes Al Aamriya and Yakov Gakkel after they leave port, Changes expected arrival date for Al Gharrafa and Stena Crystal Sky) July 13 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN LNG River Orashi 143,000 July 16 Nigeria Isle of Grain Gaslog Genoa 174,000 July 13 Spain Dragon Pearl LNG 156,000 July 20 Peru Milford Haven Al Mayeda 262,000 July 21 Qatar South Hook Al Gharrafa 212,000 July 24 Qatar South Hook BELGIUM Umm Al Amad 206,000 July 13 Qatar Zeebrugge Al Aamriya 207,000 July 16^ Qatar Zeebrugge Al Zubarah 136,000 July 18 Qatar Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Gaslog Westminster 156,000 July 12 United States Gate Flex Endeavour 173,000 July 14 United States Gate Stena Crystal Sky 173,000 July 20 United States Gate Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date calculated using www.searates.com at an average speed of 13.5 knots (Reporting by Marwa Rashad)
TruStone Financial Credit Union

Lori Bonin, Associate Director

Newly Elected TruStone Board of Directors: Lori Bonin, Associate Director

Jennifer Whitlock, Director

Newly Elected TruStone Financial Board of Directors: Jennifer Whitlock, Director

PLYMOUTH, Minn., July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TruStone Financial Credit Union reported on another successful year at their 83rd Annual Meeting held in May. Board Chair John Christenson and President and CEO Dale Turner led the presentation, which included a recap of financial performance, credit union member engagement, and community involvement initiatives.



Additionally, Chair Christenson announced the election of four members to the TruStone board of directors. Among them was new board member Jennifer Whitlock, who brings over 40 years of financial services leadership experience, and recently retired from her role as the Head of Global Supply Chain for an international digital payments corporation. Whitlock, a 30-year member of TruStone Financial, joined re-elected incumbents Tom Alagna, Kevin Crane, and Bruce Whitmore, all of whom will serve three-year terms.

Following the credit union annual meeting, the Board appointed TruStone member Lori Bonin to an associate director role. Bonin has over 30 years of experience in operations and finance leadership and previously served on the credit unions Supervisory Committee.

Christenson commented, TruStone board members are volunteer representatives of our 200,000 members. They have diverse backgrounds and expertise, and dedicate considerable hours to guide our overall strategy. Most importantly, they drive and promote our mission -- to engage, educate and inspire our members to achieve lifelong financial well-being.

About TruStone Financial

TruStone Financial is a full-service credit union that has worked to improve the financial well-being of its neighbors since 1939. Having been founded as a teachers credit union, education is driven into the mission. It has 22 branches across Minnesota and Wisconsin and is Minnesotas second largest credit union, with assets of $4.3 billion as of June 30, 2022 and a mortgage servicing portfolio of more than $2 billion. To learn more about TruStone and its Board of Directors, visit TruStone.org/Leadership.

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Contact: Marty Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer

Phone: 952.736.5000 Marty.Kelly@TruStone.org

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/675fcc1e-4d09-4d94-af95-55b08857b2d5

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c054e87b-1a51-4633-90ab-a2f4ee44e6d9




FILE PHOTO: Pipes at the landfall facilities of the 'Nord Stream 1' gas pipline in Lubmin

(Reuters) - A group representing the Ukrainian diaspora said on Tuesday it was seeking a judicial review of the Canadian government's decision to return a repaired turbine to Germany that is needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

The Canadian government on Saturday said it was issuing a "time-limited and revocable permit" to exempt the return of turbines from its Russian sanctions as Europe seeks continued energy flows until it can end its dependency on Russian gas.

Ukraine's energy and foreign ministries said on Sunday the decision amounted to adjusting sanctions imposed on Moscow "to the whims of Russia" and called for it to be reversed.

Russia last month cited the delayed return of the turbine, which Germany's Siemens Energy has been servicing in Canada, as the reason behind its reduction of flows to 40% of capacity through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

"This exemption to the sanctions regime against Russia is totally unacceptable," the Ukrainian World Congress said in a statement. "There are real alternatives to Germanys gas needs, including buying through Ukraines pipeline."

The Ukrainian World Congress said it had filed a notice of application for judicial review to the Federal Court and was requesting "a declaration that the decision to provide a permit to Siemens was unreasonable and unauthorized and an order quashing the permit."

Canada's defense ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; additional reporting by Denny Thomas in Toronto; Editing by Leslie Adler)
CCTV: The US Department of State on July 12 released a fact sheet on the outcomes of the 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, which mentions that the US publicly condemned Chinas human rights record. Do you have any response to this?

Wang Wenbin: This fact sheet might as well be called the USs violations of human rights rather than outcomes of human rights. Under the false pretext of genocide and forced labor, the US has slapped sanctions on businesses and individuals in Xinjiang to cut Xinjiang off the global industrial chain and inflict forced unemployment, forced poverty, and forced decoupling on Xinjiang. This has seriously undermined the right to employment and development of the Uyghurs and people from other ethnic backgrounds in Xinjiang. The US fact sheet also criticizes human rights in Afghanistan. This is ironic and preposterous. Isnt the US the main cause of the human rights tragedy in Afghanistan? When will the US bring the killers of innocent Afghans to justice and return the $7 billion life-saving money to the Afghan people?

What the US should release is a report on its own human rights. It should give people like George Floyd their freedom to breathe back, keep American children away from the fear of being shot, and save American lives struggling under the pandemic.

AFP: It has been reported that the Chinese and US leaders may hold a virtual meeting soon. Can you confirm this?

Wang Wenbin: I dont have anything to announce on that at the moment. It is important to maintain exchanges between Chinese and US presidents. Any specifics would need to be discussed and determined by both sides through diplomatic channels, and enabling conditions and atmosphere would also need to be created for such exchanges.

Global Times: John Bolton, former White House national security adviser, said on July 12 in an interview with CNN that he had helped plan coups in foreign countries. Reuters noted that it is highly unusual for US officials to openly acknowledge their role in stoking unrest in foreign countries. Have you taken note of the reports and do you have any comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: This is no surprise. The admission simply shows that interfering in other countries internal affairs and overthrowing their governments have become standard practice of the US government. This is very much part of the US rule book. Such rules will only be rejected by people around the world.

AFP: US Vice President Kamala Harris announced at the Pacific Islands Forum that the US will establish two new embassies in the region and pledged $60 million per year in investment and assistance for the Pacific Islands. Whats Chinas response?

Wang Wenbin: First I would like to say that over the past half-century, China and Pacific Island countries (PICs) have witnessed sound growth of bilateral relations and fruitful cooperation in various fields. As a dialogue partner of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), China has maintained sound cooperation with PIF.

We are happy to see PICs receive more support for its development and vitalization from countries willing to do so. This has always been Chinas position. At the same time, we believe that all countries, when pursuing cooperation with PICs, should follow the principle of openness and inclusiveness and not target any third party or harm their interests, instead of pledging openness and inclusiveness while secretly ganging up and forming small circles. I noted the statement of a US official that the US doesnt ask PICs to choose between China and the US and its cooperation is not about countering China. We hope the US will deliver on its statement.

I have seen reports claiming that China had not been invited to the PIF meeting. I need to set the record straight. Based on the information we received from the meetings host, no dialogue sessions with dialogue partners have been scheduled for this years PIF Leaders Meeting. US Vice President Harris was invited to attend a meeting on fisheries under the PIF framework. Chinese representatives have been invited to attend relevant meetings and events.

NHK: The Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Philippines said in a statement released yesterday that the award of the South China Sea arbitration is final and indisputable. Whats Chinas comment? China always advocates upholding the authority of the UN and international principles, why then does it reject this ruling?

Wang Wenbin: Besides the statement from the Philippines, I also noted a statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the same day, which expressed support for the so-called ruling of the arbitral tribunal. I would like to state that Chinas position on the South China Sea arbitration is consistent and clear. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on its position on July 12, 2016. The so-called award of the South China Sea arbitration seriously violates international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is illegal, null and void. China neither accepts nor recognizes it and will never accept any claim or action based on the award. By doing so, we are upholding international rule of law. Chinas position has received broad understanding and support from the international community. Those who attempt to infringe on Chinas sovereignty, rights and interests by implementing this illegal award will not succeed. China will respond to such attempts in accordance with law.

The US, as a non-regional country, has been ignoring the history and facts of the South China Sea issue and violated and distorted international law. It has broken its public commitment of taking no position on sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, and sought to drive a wedge between regional countries and undermine peace and stability in the region. This is extremely irresponsible. We urge the US to respect Chinas sovereignty, rights and interests in the South China Sea, stop stirring up trouble and stop using the South China Sea issue to sow discord between regional countries.

I would also like to say that China and the ASEAN nations are fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and working actively to advance the consultations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea. It has been agreed by all sides that the South China Sea issue should be handled following the dual-track approach, namely, maritime disputes should be handled properly by countries directly concerned through dialogue and consultation and peace and stability should be jointly safeguarded by China and the ASEAN countries.
By Phuong Nguyen and Anshuman Daga

HANOI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Vietnam carmaker VinFast said it has tapped Credit Suisse and Citigroup to raise at least $4 billion to build its planned electric vehicle factory in North Carolina and fund its U.S. expansion.

Wednesday's announcement marks the most significant development for the company, which is betting big on the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with electric SUVs and a battery leasing model.

Vingroup said in a statement that it had appointed Credit Suisse to arrange the issue of offshore securities to raise $2 billion for VinFast or its subsidiaries globally, while Citigroup Global Markets was tapped as an advisor on transactions with the same value.

Each agreement "could include debt or private placements of equity," the statement said, without elaborating.

Credit Suisse and Citi declined to comment.

The news of the funding arrangement comes after Vinfast's parent Vingroup JSC warned earlier this year that an initial public offering for VinFast might be delayed until next year due to market uncertainty..

Vingroup is Vietnam's largest listed company with a market value of $11.4 billion, with businesses in retail, real estate and resorts. It established VinFast in 2017, with its first conventional combustion-engine cars hitting the streets two years later before switching exclusively to EVs in 2021.

VinFast is preparing to launch its first overseas model and roll out a network of showrooms in the United States and Europe.

The North Carolina factory, covering an area of 800 hectares, will initially produce 150,000 electric vehicles a year, the company said.

VinFast has promised to create 7,500 jobs at the factory and said it aimed to start production by 2024.

The company said it is due to open its first overseas showrooms in California in coming days, including a flagship store in Santa Monica.

For the North Carolina factory, it has also been seeking support from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for potential financing through a fund for advanced-technology vehicles.

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In addition, VinFast has filed for an IPO in the United States through a shell company in Singapore that now legally holds almost all of the startup automaker's assets.

Despite its cold start in an increasingly crowded market for EVs, VinFast has won support from suppliers, some analysts and the Biden administration in part because of the perception that it is a rising national champion in Vietnam.

In late March, Biden tweeted that VinFast's then just-announced U.S. investment plans were "the latest example of my economic strategy at work."

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Anshuman Daga in Singapore; Writing by Khanh Vu; Editing by Ed Davies)
VistaJet International Ltd

VistaJet Private World

Recommendations now include a Beyond Picasso exploration, with stops across Europe; and the GoldenVines wine masterclass in Florence.

VistaJet Private World on a Global 7500

The aircraft of choice for passengers who enjoy not only its luxurious and spacious interior but also its unrivaled range for non-stop, comfortable travel  its record-breaking performance has opened new and incredible travel opportunities.

As Summer travel embarks

London, July 13, 2022: VistaJet, the first and only global business aviation company, has announced a new expansion of its Private World portfolio.

Onboarding a new set of travel and brand partners, VistaJet will provide its Members with even more opportunities to engage with unique experiences in many of the worlds most admired and intriguing locations, whether on a single or multi-stop trip.

Since the launch of Private World in 2020, VistaJet has strived to ensure its passengers enjoy an exceptional and comfortable journey at every stage, as well as curate past itineraries of highly sought-after experiences at incredible destinations.

From relaxing in the most luxurious accommodation  such as private retreats, suites, yachts, and historical estates  to engaging with the most incredible individuals from admired brands and houses, VistaJets Private World collection of partners has evolved to become an essential element of the Member experience, complementing the companys commitment to service excellence and its capacity to deliver the most seamless flying services anywhere in the world.

In just two years, the Private World partnership network has grown more than 10 times, and today it encompasses 595 partners across 43 categories. The growth of the program has been motivated by continually rising demand for private flights among global travelers  for both business and leisure journeys.

In the last 12 months, according to Google Trends, worldwide online searches for information about private flights have risen by 18%.*

VistaJet has seen a rapid increase in global flight hours across the world, which were up 64% year-on-year, and expects this to only rise further as it welcomes up to a total of 17 Global 7500 aircraft by the end of 2022. Recent non-stop journeys on this groundbreaking aircraft have included Sao Paulo to the Maldives (16 hours flight time), Dubai to New York (15 hours 10 minutes), and Los Angeles to Hong Kong (14 hours 50 minutes).

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The worlds largest and longest-range business jet, the Global 7500 has fast become the aircraft of choice for passengers who enjoy not only its luxurious and spacious interior but also its unrivaled range for non-stop, comfortable travel  its record-breaking performance has opened new and incredible travel opportunities.

Matteo Atti, EVP of Marketing and Innovation at VistaJet, said: VistaJets promise has always been to allow our clients to go anywhere, anytime. Through Private World, we want to help our Members pursue their passions in the easiest, most direct ways, continuing to provide the ultimate service in aviation. It is not just about the places  its about the people, the opportunities, and the learning that only thoughtful travel can bring together.

As VistaJet Members seek once-in-a-lifetime adventures across the globe, trips that seem impossible, and memories that will last forever, its collection of Private World recommendations now includes a Beyond Picasso exploration, which includes stops across Europe; and the Golden Vines wine masterclass in Florence.

Beyond Picasso

with Ariodante

Explore the life and work of one of the greatest artists of all time on a trip like no other. Discover privately the depths of Picasso through several world-class museums, private collections, and places not accessible to the public. See the great artist through the eyes of fellow artists, art collectors, and those who were closest to him  including his family. This bespoke luxury three-week trip across France and Spain will give you ultimate access to Picassos legacy surrounded by luxury. Spend a week at the sea sailing on a yacht and stay in signature five-star suites in Paris, Antibes, and Madrid. The Beyond Picasso experience is a handcrafted work of art, a magical experience designed for each traveler. Start in Paris, to delve into the years Picasso lived in the French Capital, then venture towards the Mediterranean coastline of his beloved French Riviera. Barcelona will be the next stop, to explore the young Picassos blue period, before visiting Malaga and finishing in Madrid. Throughout, incredible gastronomic and leisure experiences will take place, while discovering the secrets of a great of the art world like never before.

Masterclass, with the worlds best winemakers

with Liquid Icons

Learn from the best and experience exclusive masterclasses from the world leaders in the wine industry. Golden Vines Florence 2022 will bring together the worlds best winemakers and domaines to compete in Italy on October 15th. At the 16th Century Baroque palace Palazzo Capponi, Gabriele Gorelli MW, Italys first Master of Wine will discuss his wine expertise with special guests. That is just one of many fascinating masterclasses to experience in the heart of Italy  a captivating Dom Perignon masterclass with Vincent Chaperon, the Chef de Cave of Dom Perignon, will be followed by Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, Hennessys Cellar Master, who will impress with a Hennessey cognac masterclass. VistaJet Members will also have the opportunity to get their own cellar curated by Golden Vines founder Lewis Chester, to ensure the wine experience does not stop.

For more information, please visit vistajet.com/privateworld

Information

VistaJet | press@vistajet.com

*Google Trends Data

Search term: private flight

Sourced 6 July 2022

About VistaJet

VistaJet is the first and only global business aviation company. On its fleet of silver and red business jets, VistaJet has flown corporations, governments and private clients to 187 countries, covering 96% of the world.

Founded in 2004, the company pioneered an innovative business model where customers have access to an entire fleet whilst paying only for the hours they fly, free of the responsibilities and asset risks linked to aircraft ownership. VistaJets signature Program membership offers customers a bespoke subscription of flight hours on its fleet of mid and long-range jets, to fly them anytime, anywhere.

VistaJet is part of Vista Global Holding  the worlds first private aviation ecosystem, integrating a unique portfolio of companies offering asset-light solutions to cover all key aspects of business aviation.

More VistaJet information and news at vistajet.com

VistaJet Limited is a European air carrier that operates 9H registered aircraft under its Maltese Air Operator Certificate No. MT-17 and is incorporated in Malta under Company Number C 55231. VistaJet US Inc. is an Air Charter Broker that does not operate aircraft. VistaJet and its subsidiaries are not U.S. direct carriers. VistaJet-owned and U.S. registered aircraft are operated by properly licensed U.S. air carriers, including XOJET Aviation LLC.

About Ariodante

Ariodante are travel alchemists that create travel dreams. An Ariodante experience is more than a mere trip. It's a work of art, imagined and carefully crafted exclusively for clients. It's an adventure for those who value rarity in its most authentic form and want to travel beyond luxury. It's for those seeking magic.

Created to challenge the travel industry and to raise the bar when it comes to luxury, exclusivity, and creativity, Ariodante has built a solid reputation over the years for achieving incredible money cant buy experiences that seem impossible for others.

A key part of every trip is to leave a positive impact. Their trips help to support projects, people, and places of cultural or natural significance, preserving them for generations to come and believe that "Nothing should cost the earth". From protecting our planet, to protecting traditions and culture, Ariodante believes that travel should be beneficial for all. From their 200% Carbon offset program to their stance on single-use plastics, they believe that the world should be better off after a trip.

For more information, please visit ariodantetravel.com

About Liquid Icons

Liquid Icons, the organiser of the Golden Vines Awards, is a company founded by the late, great Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and his good friend, Lewis Chester DipWSET. Liquid Icons is a wine research company and original content production company. Liquid Icons produces the annual Gerard Basset Global Fine Wine Report, a definitive fine wine report compiled from data obtained by hundreds of fine wine professionals globally. For 2022, 950 fine wine professionals globally contributed to the Report, which will be released in October 2022, including Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, sommeliers from Michelin Star restaurants, wine merchants & brokers, wine press & media.

For more information, please visit liquidicons.com

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Nphz4f9oY]

Rocket Lab is attempting to demonstrate its speediest launch cadence yet, with two back-to-back missions for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) scheduled to fly 10 days apart. The first mission, dubbed Wise One Looks Ahead or NROL-162, is due to launch no earlier than July 12 at 1:00 AM EST (5:00 AM UTC) from Rocket Labs Launch Complex on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

The quick cadence is due, in part, to the completion of a second launch pad at the launch facilities. That will enable Rocket Lab to launch this first mission from Pad A (LC-1A) and the second mission from Pad B (LC-1B) no earlier than July 22. Rocket Lab announced the completion of the second launch pad in February. Including the companys launch site at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which has yet to be used, Rocket Lab now has three launch pads at its disposal.

What were doing here with Pad B is essentially doubling our launch capacity, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a video about the new infrastructure. He added that the three pads give Rocket Lab launch capacity from both terrestrial hemispheres, which for our commercial customers and some of our government customers, they have the flexibility to choose which pad they want to go out and which pad suits their schedule the best.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ntnOtJDbw]

Not much is known about the satellite payloads, though thats by design -- Rocket Lab is launching them on behalf of the NRO, a government agency that builds and operates sats used for intelligence and national security. We do know that these satellites were developed in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence, part of a broader alliance between the two countries.

These two launches by Rocket Lab are part of a larger contract with the NRO. The contract model, called Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR), is designed for NRO to work with commercial partners for quick launches at-scale. The first two launches under Rocket Labs RASR contract flew in 2020.
Chase Buchanan Wealth Management Services

Chase Buchanan, the international private wealth management company has further expanded local presence with a new office in Javea, Spain supporting the growing demand from UK nationals living abroad.

Chase Buchanan Wealth Management Open 2nd Spain Office

Chase Buchanan, the international private wealth management company has further expanded local presence with a new office in Javea, Spain supporting the growing demand from UK nationals living abroad.

Paphos, Cyprus, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This is the second Spanish office for the growing regulated advisory firm and brings the total number of wealth management advice hubs to eight globally, with recent additions in the US, Canada, Belgium and Malta. The offices are located strategically to support advisory services to UK expats and foreign nationals living abroad.



Opening the new Javea office is qualified and regulated private wealth manager, Nicole Sandler who has accrued a vast level of global financial services experience over the last 15 years, including a comprehensive understanding of the Spanish tax system and how it directly affects British Nationals living in Spain. In particular, Nicole is a cross-border specialist who has been helping clients move to Spain and those already living in Spain with their investment, retirement planning, tax and estate planning needs.



Group Chief Executive Lee Eldridge said: Spain has become an important country for us on the basis of simple demand. UK nationals now living in Spain are actively seeking reliable and trusted advice, which is one of Chase Buchanans core values.

Private Wealth Manager, Nicole Sandler said: I am delighted to be opening the new branch for Chase Buchanan in Valencia. This allows me the opportunity to continue advising expatriates and international professionals in a region I know and love.

Chase Buchanan Private Wealth Management pride themselves on providing trusted advice in its clients best interest. They provide financial advice for expats in Spain from their Javea and Marbella offices, and have offices and local advisers across the globe including Cyprus, Portugal, Malta, Belgium, USA and Canada.

Story continues

Chase Buchanan supports British expats and foreign nationals living abroad with trusted financial advice, made simple.

Media Contact:

Natalie Karr

Woya Digital

hello@woya.co.uk

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GAINESVILLE, Fla.  Sophomore defenderearned the IWLCA Community Awareness award for her service to the Gainesville community and surrounding areas.The individual Community Awareness Award recognizes those student-athletes who have contributed significantly to their community in a given academic year. These students have given their time and energy to support and develop athlete-community relations and have distinguished themselves from their peers.Lortz undertook several service efforts during her sophomore year at the University of Florida. She was instrumental in the planning of the Special Olympics Race for Inclusion this past December and contributed to Gator Tracks, an initiative that helped wrap and deliver shoes to kids at Williams Elementary and Lake Forest Elementary.Alongside her lacrosse family, Lortz has adopted a young lady battling cancer through the Friends of Jaclyn Program. She has selflessly devoted her time to helping others such as loading pallets at the Ukraine Humanitarian Drive, setting up a security system at St. Johns Church, and participating in the Gators Lunch Buddies Mentor Program where she had lunch and mentored students at Lake Forest Elementary.Lortz also cheered on and interacted with individuals with special needs during the drive-thru Night to Shine Prom event this past February.On the field, Lortz saw action in 11 games during her sophomore campaign, serving as a member of Florida's defense that finished 10th in the nation and first in the conference, allowing only 9.45 goals per game.She caused her first collegiate turnover against Arizona State on March 27 and tied her career-high in groundballs twice this season (Kennesaw State and Stetson).Lortz is the first Gator to earn the award in program history.#FLax
The Stafford County School Board will retain its membership in the Virginia School Board Association, despite two board members voicing concerns about the organizations.

Board members Maureen Siegmund and Alyssa Halstead, who both joined the board in January, requested that the discussion about VSBA membership be placed on the agenda for a work session held Tuesday afternoon, prior to the boards regular monthly meeting.

Siegmund said she was concerned when she learned that membership in the VSBA is by school board and that individual board members cant decide whether or not to be members.

She said she wonders what the board is getting for the cost of its VSBA membership, which is $12,891.75 per year. The dues amount has remained the same over the past three years, according to Stafford County Public Schools.

VSBA membership dues are calculated based on a multi-factor formula that takes into account the school divisions annual funding, based on information included in the Virginia Department of Educations Superintendents Annual Report.

Siegmund said she feels there is a lack of transparency about what services the VSBA provides for its fees, especially since the association last fall announced that it was ending its membership in the National School Board Association effective June 30.

According to a letter sent Nov. 19, 2021, to member school boards by VSBA president Janet Turner Giles and executive director Gina Patterson, the decision to withdraw was not made lightly.

The decision to end membership with NSBA effective June 30, 2022, was made in response to a persistent pattern of dysfunction within the NSBA organization and among those charged with its governance, the letter states.

In April, VSBA announced to its members that it was forming a new organizationConsortium of State School Board Associations, or COSSBAalong with 21 other state school board associations that also recently left NSBA.

Siegmund said she is not comfortable with the fact that COSSBA is a new organization with no staff and that it isnt yet clear how it will work with VSBA.

I know [VSBA membership] is a small-potatoes kind of purchase, but we expect a lot more information from other organizations we give our money to, Siegmund said. It doesnt sit well with me. I do not like the lack of transparency and whos running what were paying for.

According to its website, VSBA provides its member school boards with a range of professional development and legal services, including governance training, policy services, strategic planning services, superintendent search assistance and collective bargaining services.

VSBA also lobbies and advocates for public education at the local, state and federal level. Legislative positions are identified and recommended to the VSBA Board of Directors by local school divisions and then voted on by representatives of all local school boards at the annual convention each fall.

Approved positions and policies then become part of the VSBA Legislative Positions Handbook.

Siegmund said Tuesday that she doesnt use the VSBAs services and gets board member education through an alternate organization. She did not state the organizations name or respond Wednesday to questions about what organization she uses.

Halstead questioned the political agenda of VSBA, which touts its nonpartisan nature.

We have a lot of issues surrounding associations and secondary agendas behind primary mission statements, she said. I agree with [Siegmund] that I read a lot of [VSBA] stuff and I didnt find it to be nonpartisan.

Halstead did not specify Tuesday what VSBA positions she finds to be partisan, and did not respond Wednesday to questions seeking clarification.

All other board members said Tuesday that they have found VSBA membership to be valuable and helpful to them during their tenures.

Sarah Chase said she has appreciated VSBAs summary of education case law and hot topic briefings about about specific legal issues, such as what elected officials can and cannot do on their official social media platforms.

I learned that if I remove peoples comments or block them, as an elected official, I could be sued, she said. That was useful for me to learn.

Susan Randall said shes been able to network with school board members from across the state at VSBA conferences and can draw on the associations staff members when she has questions.

She added that she finds it valuable to be exposed to different political opinions through membership in the association.

If there is something said against what you feel politically, thats OK. You dont want to hear educational information that keeps you in a silo, Randall said.

Board Chair Patricia Healy said the value of membership in VSBA comes from its state-specific services, not from what broader national network it is a part of.

To me, its not relevant whether its NSBA or COSSBA. The value for me is with the VSBA, and as far as I know, that hasnt changed, Healy said. To me, its not politicalits What does it provide to Stafford?

Healy said staff would explore whether it is possible for Siegmund and Halstead to put out statements indicating that they do not wish to be affiliated with VSBA.

VSBA executive director Gina Patterson said in an email that to her knowledge, there are no local school boards in the state that are not members of the association.
AS VIRGINIA school

teachers begin to slowly

shift from summer to back-to-school mode, its worth stepping back and seeing where we are on the latest effort to reform Virginias schools.

Gov. Glenn Youngkins and Education Secretary Aimee Guideras promise to fix our public educational system, which theyve routinely criticized since January, rests on well-worn approaches. The answers theyve offered are little more than a rehashing of both standards-based solutions (think, Standards of Learning and high-stakes testing) and school-choice solutions (think, charter schools), the dominant reform models employed nationwide over the past two decades.

Though both approaches can point to some measured success stories, neither has significantly moved the needle on issues like closing the academic achievement gap between whites and minorities, and ensuring students are more ready for college and/or work when they graduate high school.

Theres little reason, therefore, to suspect that Youngkins and Guideras continuing to push these approaches will produce better results.

Both leaders, however, have added a new dimension to school reformaggressively injecting the culture wars and the parental rights movement into the discussion.

Neither issue is about improving education; rather, theyre deeply personal, oftentimes cynical, and deeply emotional arguments over who controls a students educational and moral path.

Locally, weve seen the destruction these battles can inflict. The poster child for dysfunction, of course, is the Spotsylvania County School system. From threatening to ban books, to outcries over critical race theory and gender issues, the district is a hot mess at the moment. Barring some rapid and significant changes, the countys schools are in for rough waters this August when students return.

Orange County and Stafford County schools have also taken stands on critical race theory, but to date weve not seen the kind of all-consuming hysteria that has engulfed Spotsylvania.

Meanwhile, other districts are investing more heavily in their public schools. In Fredericksburg, a new middle school has been approved, and in King George the county has significantly upped the amount of money its putting into its system, following years of underfunding.

That Youngkins culture wars and parents rights issues are burning unevenly across the school districts in our region and in the commonwealth is the most interesting story no one is talking about.

How to explain it? I suspect the answer can be found, partially, in our diversity.

The common characterization that America is split between two realitiesone blue, one red; one pro-abortion, one antiabortion; one urban, one ruralglosses over the enormous range of ideas and people in the nation.

The greater Fredericksburg region is a microcosm of that diversity. From Staffords growing high-tech industrial base to Carolines rural countryside; from agricultural King George to commuter-oriented Spotsylvania; and from defense heavy Dahlgren to town-and-gown Fredericksburg, we are a region that defies simple categorization.

And the way we attack our problems reflects that diversity. The obsessive behavior that has engulfed parents in Spotsylvania Schools may find some supporters in Fredericksburg. But that obsession pales compared with the space issues and high levels of poverty the citys schools face.

Screaming about parents rights does nothing to help King George retain the teachers it needs to keep its schools open and ensure its students get the education they deserve. Finding the money to properly fund the schools will.

Rage, we are learning, is limited in the number of Virginias citizens it can reach.

Another explanation lies in our bureaucracy.

Youngkin has the luxury to light fires, then travel around the country to test his message for a possible run at national office in a few years. Our bureaucracy, however, is squarely focused on ensuring that our governmental bodies do what they are obligated, both legally and morally, to do.

Schools must operate a certain number of days. Classroom sizes must be kept below certain levels. Curricular benchmarks must be met. And diplomas must be awarded.

At some point, that reality will tamp down even the most enflamed person.

The 2021 school year was an enormously trying one. And whats becoming increasingly clear is that Youngkins stoking fear and paranoia did nothing to improve education in the state.

Its also clear that those districts smart enough to keep focused on what matters most are better positioned to face the challenges the 2022 school year is about to deliver.

The governor said at his inauguration, Lets get to work.

Most of the school districts in the Fredericksburg area are ready. Is Youngkin?
The past year has been successful but also challenging for Lincoln's two HobbyTown stores.

Demand and sales have been strong, but the stores have also had to deal with ongoing supply chain issues that at times have left them without certain products, said local franchisee Dan Schmidt.

But Schmidt and his staff have persevered, and their hard work has been noticed.

Schmidt and his two stores have been named among this year's America's Retail Champions, an honor Schmidt called "pretty cool."

"It's fun to kind of see the hard work we put in getting validated," he said.

The National Retail Federation annually honors small retailers who are exceptional champions for retail and the communities they serve.

There were 34 named this year, including two from Nebraska.

The other honoree was Master's Hand, a candle and gift shop in Tekamah.

Owner Susie Robison said she started the business in her kitchen in 2003 and moved to the current location in 2008.

"What an honor," she said of being named a retail champion. "I'm humbled and I'm blown away."

Rich Otto, vice president of advocacy for the Nebraska Retail Federation, said the fact that Nebraska had two retailers honored out of the 34 "is testament to the innovation, creativity, and plain hard work of Nebraska retailers."

"Just surviving COVID was a heavy lift," Otto said. "These two represent many retailers in our state who have come through even stronger than before."

Schmidt and Robison both get to go to the National Retail Federation's Retail Advocacy Summit on July 27-28 in Washington, D.C., where the finalists will vie for the ultimate title of America's Retail Champion.

Robinson, who's never been to the city, said she's both "excited and terrified."

"I'm just a country girl going to the big city, so I hope I don't get lost," she said.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the European Union have discussed the creation of a working group in the sphere of investment identification, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during the meeting between Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Director for Eastern Neighbourhood and Institution Building at the European Commission Lawrence Meredith.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed investment opportunities and potential projects in the private and public sectors.

"During the meeting with Lawrence Meredith (@LMeredithEU), director for Eastern Neighbourhood (@eu_near) and Institution Building at the European Commission, we discussed cooperation with the #EuropeanUnion, creation of a working group in the field of #investment identification, as well as investment opportunities and potential projects in the private and public sectors," Jabbarov wrote on his official Twitter page.

The EU and Azerbaijan have cooperation in different sectors of the economy. The EU invested over $21.5 billion in Azerbaijans economy from 2012 to 2021. Azerbaijans trade turnover with the EU amounted to $9.3 billion last year, which is 38 percent of the countrys foreign trade. The Delegation of the European Commission to Azerbaijan was opened in Baku in February 2008.

Azerbaijan started commercial gas supplies to Europe through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) on December 31, 2020.

A joint statement on energy cooperation with the EU was signed more than ten years ago. The EU-Azerbaijan energy cooperation has reached a new level and is still ongoing within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor. The EU places a high value on energy supply diversification, and the Southern Gas Corridor is particularly important in this regard. In 2021, European countries purchased 8.2 billion cubic meters of gas, with an increase in volume expected in the coming years.

Additionally, the European Union is preparing to sign an important memorandum on energy with Azerbaijan on July 18.
Fremont Police are alerting the public to an active shooter training exercise from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 21 at Fremont Middle School, 540 Johnson Road.

The drill will involve an estimated 60 people, including law enforcement, school and hospital personnel.

We want everyone to be aware that if they see an incident going on at the middle school on July 21 at 8:30 in the morning, not to be alarmed. It is a training exercise, said Fremont Police Chief Jeff Elliott.

The public is asked to avoid this area, because those not involved in the drill could hamper the important training taking place, he said.

Fremont Drive around the middle school will be shut down. Security will be at various sites.

We dont want other people getting involved in this, Elliott said. This isnt a show for people to come watch. Its for us to try to be prepared for a real event, God forbid that it ever happens.

Fremont Police will participate in the joint active shooter drill in conjunction with the Dodge County Sheriffs Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Fremont Fire and Rescue Department, Methodist Fremont Health and Dodge County REACT.

My main goal as Chief of Police is to have my people respond to the situation and get out there and realize that they cant wait to go in  that theyve got to go immediately, Elliott said. If I can get that out of it, I will consider it a success.

Elliott said the law enforcement portion will take place in the morning. Police, sheriffs and State Patrol officers will be in their cruisers on the street as usual when a call will come over their radios.

A specific radio channel will be used.

Officers will respond to the middle school from wherever they are and when they get there, they will be faced with an active shooter scenario, Elliott said.

They will walk through the drill.

Fremont fire and rescue personnel will be dispatched to the scene.

In the afternoon, Fremont Public Schools will participate in a reunification drill.

Elliott said when an active shooter situation takes place in a school system, the idea is to get students out of a dangerous area and put them in another building and reunite them with their parents.

Kevin Kavan, coordinator of safety and security for Fremont Public Schools, is orchestrating this aspect of the drill.

Elliott said law enforcement agencies have had previous training and FPD officers are sent, almost on a yearly basis, to active shooter training. The State Patrol and sheriffs office does the same thing.

This is different.

Its a drill more than a training session in that weve all been trained in this, but we havent worked jointly. All of these agencies have never worked together to address this, Elliott said.

Elliott cites the importance of having the agencies communicate and work together.

We anticipate that were going to run into a number of issues and we will try to work through those issues and come up with solutions or better ways to address these things as we see what kind of problems we run into, he said.

A debriefing with the entities involved will take place after the exercise, discussing what went well, what went wrong, and what needs to be changed in the future.

Elliott said the drill is taking place in the wake of the May 24 shooting in Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

Clearly, the situation in Texas brought this to everyones mind and we want to be as prepared as possible to deal with one of these situations, Elliott said. I dont think anyone is actually 100 percent prepared for a situation like occurred in Texas, but we want to be as prepared as we can be.

Although officers will be in training, the police department still will have a different group  a full shift of officers  on the streets, responding to calls.

We hope, in the future, to repeat this drill on a yearly basis and, maybe, add to it as we become more proficient at running these training scenarios, Elliott said. Right now, this is a major undertaking, trying to coordinate all the agencies and all the people involved in this and make sure nobody gets hurt and nothing goes wrong.
Four Midland University students competed at the Professional Business Leaders National Leadership Conference, held June 24-27 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Those four students combined for seven awards, including a runner-up finish.

PBL students from across the country competed against each other by completing tests, giving presentations, solving case studies, and role-playing in various events covering various business topics. Awards were given to the top 10 finishers in each category, both for teams and individuals.

In all the years Ive taken students to this conference, Ive never had a year where each of them came back with multiple awards, so that was really awesome to see, said Rita Bristol, Associate Professor of Business and PBL advisor at Midland. It was the first time for each of them to attend this event, and they had the opportunity to meet students from all over the country.

Riley Herring and Bridget Praest teamed up for a second-place finish in the desktop publishing category. Herring also finished third in public speaking and fourth in small business management, while Praest took fifth in social media marketing. Praest also teamed with Burton Brandt to finish sixth in marketing analysis & decision making.

Brandt and Scott Tatum placed third as a team in management analysis & decision making, while Tatum finished fifth in hospitality management.

It was the first time the event was held in person since 2019, affording students from many different institutions the opportunity to not only meet and greet each other, but to converse with numerous business professionals as well.

I absolutely loved the conference and the memories I made, Tatum said. I got the chance to tour Chicago and make friendships that will last a lifetime. In addition to competing, I was also able to attend lectures and further my education on a business level.

Herring serves as Vice President of Communications for Nebraska PBL. The in-person event allowed her to connect with other Nebraska officers, as well as students from several different states.

Its the first time weve been able to connect in person, and not only did we make friends and valuable connections from Nebraska schools, but from schools in places like Arizona, Kansas, South Carolina, and more, Herring said. Its great to be a part of an organization that truly impacts your career and gives you the confidence for these jobs at such an early stage.
The State of Nebraska has funds remaining through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).

The ERAP funds are available to eligible individuals who need assistance paying prospective rent, back rent, and certain utilities  including gas, water, sewage, electricity, and internet assistance. The program will continue to accept applications through Sept. 9, 2022.

Renters and landlords with tenants who are unable to make rent can apply for assistance. Funding is available for up to 15 months of rent and utilities incurred between April 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2022, but applications must be submitted by Sept. 9, 2022.

Funding is available to residents statewide.

To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit coronavirus.nebraska.gov or call 1-833-500-8810, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A plane has arrived in the Netherlands with a 181 Afghans who had fled their war-torn country, the Dutch government said on July 13.

The refugees on the flight from Pakistan were the latest group of Afghans to fly to safety following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year after the pullout of Western troops.

Most of the group left Afghanistan by crossing the land border into Pakistan, where Dutch diplomats and the International Organization for Migration helped them reach the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistani authorities allowed the Afghans, who did not have valid travel documents, into the South Asian nation so they could travel on to the Netherlands.

The Netherlands has pledged to evacuate Afghans who assisted Dutch diplomats and military personnel before the Taliban seized power.

The Dutch government said on July 13 that it hopes to evacuate as many eligible people as possible from Afghanistan who are able to make it to Pakistan.

The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry said earlier this year that it had brought 1,801 Afghans to the Netherlands since late August 2021.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Unidentified armed men have abducted a Pakistani military officer in the country's restive Balochistan Province.

Military and intelligence officials confirmed that the officer, Lieutenant Colonel Laeeq, was abducted late on July 12 near Ziarat, a tourist town frequented by locals and officials during the hot summer.

Local sources told an RFE/RL correspondent the armed men set up a roadblock and were stopping and searching vehicles. They stopped Laeeq's car and after learning his identity they asked him to get out of the car.

He was then abducted by the armed men. The women and children family members traveling with him were let go.

There has been no comment from the Pakistani military and no claim of responsibility.

Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, chief minister of Balochistan Province, has condemned the abduction and ordered an investigation. In a statement, he said an operation had been launched to ensure a safe recovery of the officer.



Local officials said a massive search operation was under way using helicopters and personnel of the Special Services Group to track down the abductors.

Balochistan Province borders Iran and Afghanistan has been plagued by sectarian violence, attacks by Islamist militants, and a separatist insurgency that has led to thousands of casualties since 2004.

Most of the attacks are claimed by the separatist ethnic Baloch or sectarian groups that target the minority Shi'ite Hazara in the area.

The province is also the recipient of a major chunk of the more than $60 billion investment from China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor program, a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Timothy Hurst Gov. Jared Polis, center, shakes hands with minority leader Sen. John Cooke after signing the HB22-1326 Fentanyl Accountability And Prevention bill on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/The Denver Gazette)
Sweet strawberries are available year-round in grocery stores, but theres no better time to enjoy them than when they are at their peak, from
The Colorado Springs City Council unanimously approved a wildfire evacuation planning ordinance Tuesday that residents said did not go far enough and did not incorporate any of their requests.

The new ordinance requires the city fire staff to divide the city into evacuation zones based on roads, topography and other factors and educate the public on those evacuation zones. The city has already purchased the software needed to split the community into evacuation zones and does not need to have an ordinance to do the work outlined in the law, Councilman Bill Murray said.

Several wildfire safety advocates were highly disappointed after the vote that none of their suggestions were adopted, since their advocacy sparked the ordinance in the first place.

"Basically what you have been given is a brand new shiny bicycle with no wheels," resident Donna Strom told City Council.

Fire Chief Randy Royal said the ordinance would ensure the current standard and work the department is currently doing would continue into the future.

Most of the council praised the ordinance as success that could be built on in the future.

"What I believe is that this is better than what we have," Councilman Wayne Williams said.

Residents have advocated for better evacuation planning because they are concerned about the length of time it could take to leave their homes west of Interstate 25. Some involved in advocacy were caught for hours in traffic fleeing the Waldo Canyon fire and worked with experts who presented models to the City Council in November showing how long it could take to evacuate certain westside neighborhoods. For example, it could five hours to evacuate the Broadmoor area, including tourists at local attractions, said Mike Robinson, associate research professor at Old Dominion University, a modeling expert. The Broadmoor area, with its narrow and winding roads, could be a worst-case fire scenario for the city.

Residents asked for an ordinance that requires the city to model how long it could take to leave neighborhoods and designate evacuation routes for hazards coming from all four directions. The draft measure would require the city to post evacuation times and routes online. Their proposal would also require the city to evaluate how new developments could increase evacuation times and require that longer times be addressed through design changes or added roads.

Council President Tom Strand asked the city Public Works Director Travis Easton if he could evaluate a free tool that residents have asked the city to use to estimate how long it could take residents to leave their homes. Easton agreed, but said he was uncomfortable using the tool because it would be outside the bounds of the standard traffic criteria. The council did not vote on or otherwise formalize Strand's request. The free tool is paid for by the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

Mayor John Suthers spoke against the measures residents proposed, saying those who choose to live in the wildland-urban interface should be aware of the risk of fire. But if the city evaluated development projects based on how it could impact evacuation times, that could create property rights and equity issues.

"We understand that while the risk can be mitigated it can never be eliminated," he said.

He noted people rebuild in high-risk areas because they want to live there.

The city spent $74,000 on Zonehaven, a new system the fire department can use to alert residents about evacuations via text, social media and traditional media outlets. Through the new system, which will cost $36,000 annually, the city has identified potentially more than 600 new zones that could be individually evacuated. The city expects to launch a campaign for residents to know their zone starting in August. Smaller evacuation zones can help prevent road congestion.

Residents said they were not opposed to Zonehaven. But a zone-based system, not related to Zonehaven, did have problems during the Camp fire in Paradise, Calif., that killed 85 people, they said.

A Los Angeles Times investigation of the Camp fire showed most of the city's zones never received an order to leave because the "loss of fiber-optic lines and cell towers shut down the warning system completely." Paradise also never modeled how long it could take to evacuate the whole town.

Paradise did not have a contract with Zonehaven at the time of the Campfire. The company is now pitching a solution to Paradise that will include long-range speakers equipped with with solar power, battery backup and satellite connections. It's an option for communities that are prone to cell tower or internet disruptions, said Steve Sickler, a spokesman for the company.

Westside Watch founder Dana Duggan called on the city to assess its road network particularly because the evacuation times presented by the experts in November could be much worse in a chaotic fire.

"We are not anti-development, but we are anti-burning in cars," she said.

Councilman Dave Donelson asked if public safety officials had ever asked for a change to the road network following a fire.

"I cant think of a scenario where a change was made in response to an evacuation," City Engineer Todd Frisbie said.

Another Westside Watch advocate, Bill Wysong, showed a photo of an evacuation choke point during the Waldo Canyon fire and noted that the FLEET software can identify such choke points ahead of time.

"Codifying processes and procedures is fine, but it's not enough," he said in an interview following the vote.

This story has been updated to explain neighbors expressed concerns about about zone-based evacuation protocols in Paradise, not Zonehaven.
A University of Colorado at Colorado Springs student who was charged with several crimes while being a frequent attendee of some Colorado Springs protests avoided jail time after accepting a plea agreement on Tuesday.

Charles Johnson, 22, was considered a central figure in numerous Colorado Springs protests in 2020 and 2021. Johnson was charged with several crimes in connection with those protests including theft, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and more.

In total, Johnson had three separate cases against him in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court. In court on Tuesday, Johnson pleaded guilty to charges in two of the three cases.

Johnson first pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a highway or passageway in connection to a June 30, 2020, Black Lives Matter protest that stretched across Interstate 25, stopping traffic.

As part of the plea agreement, Johnson will have to pay a $150 fine.

The second charge Johnson pleaded guilty to was a federal count of attempted theft in which Johnson attempted to take the phone of someone who confronted him during a protest.

"It was in the heat of the moment," Johnson told the court.

One of the victims of the incident spoke in court Tuesday to Judge Marcus Henson.

"We don't want to ruin his life," the victim said. "Hopefully, this will teach him... he doesn't have the right to interfere with my right to travel to protest."

As part of the plea agreement, Johnson won't be sentenced to any time in jail, but was given a two-year supervised probation, as well as 100 hours of community service.

Judge Henson noted that if Johnson were to have taken the case to trial and was found guilty he could have faced up to 18 months in jail.

If Johnson remains in compliance with his probation, judge Henson said he could have the cases cleared from his record entirely along with a chance to appeal to have the cases sealed.

The third case, where Johnson faced four misdemeanor charges including third-degree assault and resisting arrest, was dismissed by the district attorney's office as part of the plea agreement.

"There's a way to protest that ... won't put people's lives in danger," the prosecution said to the court. "There's a right and wrong way to do it."

Prior to a judgment from Henson, Johnson's attorney Alison Blackwell spoke to the court in full support of her client.

"Everyone in my office has never said anything but that he's a completely respectful man," Blackwell said. "I strongly support Charles (Johnson). ... I still support him expressing himself."

Johnson thanked Henson for hearing his case, and to say that the past two years of hearings and court appearances won't deter him for fighting for the rights of people of color.

"This gives me another chance to fight for my people," Johnson said. "I'll make better decisions, there's better ways to express yourself."

Johnson is a sophomore at UCCS studying media and communications.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Georgia have discussed prospects of cooperation in trade, economy, transport and transit, investment, energy, and other spheres, Azernews reports.

The discussion occurred during a meeting between Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov and Governor of Georgias Kvemo Kartli region Giorgi Dokhturishvili, who is on a visit to Baku.

During the meeting, the parties expressed satisfaction with the development of friendly relations between the two countries in various directions.

The parties emphasized the important role of cooperation between cities of the two countries in expanding the bilateral ties. In this regard, the importance of memorandums of cooperation to be signed between the cities of the two countries during the visit of the Georgian delegation was emphasized.

Azerbaijan and Georgia are collaborating in a variety of economic sectors. The two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements in 2021 as part of a meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.

Simultaneously, as part of the trilateral business forum held in Baku in December 2021, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey signed five memorandums and agreements on cooperation.

In 2021, the two countries' trade turnover totaled $763.6 million, with exports accounting for $661 million and imports accounting for $102.6 million.
A couple arrested in June after their child died of a fentanyl overdose had three referrals cited against them to the El Paso County Department of Human Services prior to his death, records obtained by The Gazette show.

On Nov. 12, Joenny Manuel Astacio, 36, and Kira Lee Villalba, 29, found their 15-month-old son Cairo Astacio dead, according to arrest records. Cairo Astacio's name was redacted from the affidavit, but Colorado Springs police later made it public.

Initially, Villalba  whose name was also redacted from the affidavit but was later identified by police  thought Cairo Astacio had suffocated when she woke up from her nap and found she had rolled on top of her child while she was asleep.

The couple called the police and the 15-month-old was transported to the children's hospital, where he was declared dead.

Police were initially concerned with the couple's behavior when the "parents took longer than to be expected to arrive to the hospital," the affidavit states. A clinical social worker on scene informed detectives that Cairo Astacio was "pretty dirty" and his diaper was not on correctly.

Detectives received a search warrant for Joenny Astacio and Villalba's home on Nov. 12 and found significant amounts of drug paraphernalia there, which they later determined was heroin, cocaine, marijuana and a fourth substance that was redacted from the affidavit.

Detectives said there was such a high volume of items received they were unable to test everything, records show.

Due to the presence of drugs found in their home, Joenny Astacio and Villalba were both subjected to drug testing, despite both claiming in interviews they hadn't used illicit drugs recently, according to the affidavit.

Their drug test results were redacted from arrest records, but a release from the Colorado Springs Police Department stated both Joenny Astacio and Villalba were under the influence of fentanyl and allowed their child to die of an overdose.

El Paso County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Leon Kelly ruled Cairo Astacio's death an "accident," according to the affidavit.

The couple's substance abuse issues were not new nor unknown to authorities at the time of the incident. The affidavit states the local Department of Human Services had been notified over concerns about the couple on three separate instances before their son's death.

The first referral came two days after Cairo Astacio was born, on Sept. 26, 2020. The referral alleged Villalba used both heroin and methamphetamines during her pregnancy, as late as her second trimester.

The second referral came on Oct. 6, 2020, and again alleged substance use by both Joenny Astacio and Villalba. The referral alleged the couple both used methamphetamines and heroin, and that Joenny Astacio specifically was a drug dealer.

The affidavit also noted that in 2006 Joenny Astacio was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., accused of attempting to smuggle 1,125 grams of heroin through security.

The final referral was placed a few days later, on Oct. 12, 2020 for emotional abuse, injurious environment and substance allegation. The referral claimed the couple was not bringing their child in for physician visits consistently, and when they did they were "over an hour late for their appointments."

"A referral is essentially a report that comes in from our hotline," April Jenkins, the El Paso County Department of Human Services' children, youth and family services intake manager, explained. "Then those reports are reviewed and evaluated."

Jenkins said referrals are the first step in the process the department takes when interacting with families. If Human Services determines the referrals are concerning enough, the family is assigned a case manager who works with them to provide a safer living environment for the child.

If the case worker determines a child may be in immediate danger due to their living situation, it can become a dependency and neglect case where steps are taken to potentially remove the child from the living situation, Jenkins said.

Jenkins noted the final decision to move a child away from a home isn't made by Human Services, but rather a county attorney and judge who evaluate if legal action can be taken to remove a child from their current living situation.

Because Cairo Astacio's death is an open case, El Paso County Department of Human Services spokeswoman Kristina Iodice said she could not provide information about whether Joenny Astacio and Villalba had progressed past just receiving referrals.

An interview police conducted with a neighbor of the couple also cited their frequent drug use, telling detectives she observed "blatant and overt use of narcotics to include cocaine and the possible manufacturing of cocaine," records show. The neighbor stated she noticed the behavior as early as spring 2020.

Drug abuse allegations continued to follow both Joenny Astacio and Villalba after their son's death. The affidavit claims on Dec. 19  two months after Cairo Astacio died  the couple was with a 13-year-old girl when she was sent to the hospital after overdosing.

She survived, but a few months later in February the same girl overdosed again and survived. She told authorities Joenny Astacio and Villalba were responsible for giving her a substance, the name of which was redacted, and that she had smoked another redacted substance with the couple.

The same incident was discussed briefly in a bond hearing for Villalba in June, when prosecutors said she was involved in the overdose of a 13-year-old girl.

Joenny Astacio and Villalba are currently being held in El Paso County jail on bond  Joenny Astacio on a $200,000 bond and Villalba on a $100,000 bond. Both face one count of reckless child abuse causing death and three counts of controlled substance possession.

Joenny Astacio and Villalba will both make their next court appearances in the 4th Judicial District Court on July 20, their preliminary hearings.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

World-famous pianist Honorary Artist Isfar Sarabski will perform at the Jazz a Sete jazz festival in France, Azernews reports.

Since 1985, the festival invites acclaimed jazz musicians to perform on the majestic stage of Theatre de la Mer. This year the festival will take place on July 15-21.

The Azerbaijani musician will perform as part of the festival on July 20. He will share the stage with Herbie Hancock, a 14-time GRAMMY Award winner and one of the most prolific jazz pianists of the XX century.

Isfar Sarabski has previously toured Europe to promote his latest album "Planet" (2021).

The music album "Planet" was recorded in collaboration with Warner Music Group. It was released on International Jazz Day, which is celebrated on April 30.

As the musician says, the music album fully reflects his feelings and worldview.

The musician pays special attention to the major events that have affected humanity over the past years. Through his music, Isfar Sarabski engages in dialogue with listeners.

The album "Planet" was originally an electro album. But it gradually turned into an acoustic album. Furthermore, music pieces included in the album were performed with an orchestra.

Moreover, the musician signed a contract with Warner Music Group for the release of two albums. He became the first Azerbaijani jazz musician to join Warner Music Group.
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Swire Coca-Cola USA has opened the doors to a massive, eco-friendly new facility in eastern Colorado Springs.

A grand opening on Tuesday celebrated the new sales center and warehouse at 1935 Cygnet Heights. The new facility is on 17 acres near the Colorado Springs Airport that would allow for expansion.

Utah-based Swire is the Coca-Cola bottler for Colorado and 12 other Western states. The new Springs facility doubles the warehouse space for the 800 products and 50 brands it provides to 1,200 local businesses. The facility is one of eight in Colorado and 52 total across the dozen Western states.

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers was at the opening ceremony to recognize Swire Coca-Colas commitment to the city. I am always very pleased when a company that has roots in our community not only decides to stay here but decides to expand here, and thats exactly what Swire has done, and expand in a big way, he said.

Construction on the facility began in April 2021 by Colorado Springs-based contractor Colarelli Construction. Despite supply chain constraints, the 145,000-square-foot building is open and operational 14 months later.

Swire vacated its former center in a 55,980-square-foot building that it leased a mile away from the new facility.

The new location has office and meeting spaces and a 120,000 square-foot warehouse, which holds approximately 200,000 cases of Coca-Cola and other beverages at any given time, said Eric Larsen, sales center manager. Swire employs around 150 people at the new facility.

Summer is the busiest time for Swire Coca-Cola, particularly over the recent Fourth of July holiday weekend. When people are hot, they drink more, Larsen said.

The warehouse has 15 docks to receive supply from outside carriers and distribute to the community with 27 trucks and approximately 30 drivers.

The warehouse in the old facility only had nine docks.

The west-facing office and meeting spaces have an open- floor concept and glass facade to allow in sunlight and natural warmth. Larsen said that in the four weeks since the company moved operations into the Cygnet Heights location, he has used natural light to work in his office.

I have a light switch but havent really had to use it yet because I have so much natural light, he said.

The building will be powered by a 900-killowatt solar array that is set to be installed on the buildings roof, moving Swire closer to its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2026.

Xeriscaping around the building also helps reduce water usage on the property.

Coca-Cola has been distributed and sold in Colorado Springs since 1919. We would like to continue to grow this community and give back to the community. We are here to stay and were so pleased to be a member of this community, said Craig Hagler, Rocky Mountain Division vice president for Swire Coca-Cola.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The Union of the Azerbaijani Cinematographers has hosted an extended meeting of the board of directors in anticipation of the union's tenth anniversary, Azernews reports, citing the Cinematographers Union.

Chairman of the Azerbaijani Union of Cinematographers People's Artist Shafiga Mammadova, who holds state orders Shohrat, Sharaf and Labor, spoke about the upcoming projects at the meeting timed to the union's decennary.

The meeting participants discussed the details of holding the National Cinema Day, National Film Award established by the Union for the contribution to Azerbaijani cinema, various awards, and prizes to famous filmmakers as well as the 10th-anniversary celebrations of the Cinematographers Union.

It was also told about the implementation of a number of projects in honor of Azerbaijan's victory in the Second Karabakh War.

At the meeting, reports were heard from the Board members, People's Artists Ogtay Mirgasimov, Vagif Mustafayev, Honored Artists Ayaz Salayev, Jamil Guliyev, Mushfig Khatamov, Honored Cultural Workers Nariman Mammadov, Ayaz Guliyev. People's Artist Rafig Nasirov, Honored Art Worker Rafig Gambarov.

People's Artist Rafig Nasirov, Honored Art Worker Rafig Gambarov, People's Artist Abdul Mahmudov, laureate of international film festivals Shamil Aliyev took an active part in the discussions and new members were admitted to the union.

The Azerbaijani Union of Cinematographers was established in 2012. This decision was accepted during the event themed "Cinema and Conceptual Problems".

The union's main activities include the promotion of the national films in the international arena, their shooting, organization of international symposia and conferences, and formation of cinema's infrastructure.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani and Israeli musicians have delighted the audience with a chamber music concert, Azernews reports citing Trend Life.

Laureate of international competitions, talented pianist Saida Tagizada (Azerbaijan) and violinist Evgenia Epshtein (Israel) gave a joint concert at the Chamber and Organ Music.

The chamber music concert was rich and varied: music pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, Edvard Grieg, Francis Poulenc, and Fikrat Amirov sounded at the concert.

The idea to hold such a concert among the musicians was born a long time ago, but the pandemic has made its own adjustments to their plans.

"Before the 2nd Simurg Music Festival, whose task is to expand the knowledge of children and adolescents in the field of musical art, Evgenia Epshtein was recommended to me as an excellent teacher and a wonderful musician. We met and agreed that she would come to Baku and conduct master classes for the festival participants. Unfortunately, all plans were postponed for a long time as the pandemic began. Evgenia Epshtein managed to visit Azerbaijan only this year. So, we have prepared an interesting program for fans of classical music, which, I hope, will resonate in their hearts," said Saida Tagizada before the concert.

Evgenia Epshtein also shared her thoughts about her first concert in Baku. Israeli musician was captivated by the beauty of Baku.

During the concert, she performed a music piece by Fikrat Amirov, one of Azerbaijan's best-known 20th-century composers. Evgenia Epshtein expressed her hope to perform classical masterpieces by Azerbaijani composers more than once.

The violinist plans to hold master classes in Baku and share her experience and knowledge with young talents.

Despite the fact that for Evgenia Epstein and Saida Tagizada the concert was their first joint performance, their tandem turned out to be very harmonious and caused an enthusiastic reaction from the listeners.

The concert program was organized by the founder and director of the Simurg Music Festival Saida Tagizada, Arts Council Azerbaijan, with the support of PASHA Holding as well as the Azerbaijani Ministries of Culture and Education.

Saida Tagizada studied at the Bulbul Secondary Special School and the Baku Musical Academy.

She is a laureate of prestigious international competitions. The pianist has successfully performed in many countries.

The musician performed in New York's Carnegie Hall and gave solo concerts in Japan.

Evgenia Epshtein was born in Russia, started learning to play the violin at the age of six, and graduated from a school for gifted musicians.

In 1990, she emigrated to Israel, where she studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. Evgenia Epshtein received a master's degree from the Rotterdam Royal Academy.

The musician is a co-founder of the Aviv String Quartet. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras from different countries and participated in various festivals.

Evgeniya Epshtein is an assistant professor at the Split Academy of Arts, professor of violin and chamber music, and artistic director of the Summer Con Spirito summer school in Trogir (Croatia).

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az.
Come with questions on Wednesday, July 13, about the upcoming Highway 122 feasibility study.

The City of Mason City will host a public information meeting on Wednesday to discuss the proposed feasibility study on Highway 122, stretching from Lark Avenue to Winnebago/Cerro Gordo Way in Mason City. The study was completed through the partnership of the Iowa DOT and WHKS according to a release.

All those who are interested are invited to attend this meeting between 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The meeting is being held in the Mason City Room at the Mason City Public Library. The meeting will be conducted utilizing an open forum format. The city, Iowa DOT, and WHKS staff will be present to review the corridor and informally discuss the study.

The meeting space is accessible for those with disabilities. Attendees will be asked to sign in as they enter the meeting room and will also have the opportunity to leave comments with staff or in writing on a provided form.

Any comments or questions prior to the meeting may be submitted by phone or email. Submit those to Mark Rahm at mrahm@masoncity.net or calling 641-421-3605.
Because this section is free of charge, community events are subject to run based on available space. Religion items are published on the Saturday church page. Email events to news@registerbee.com.

TODAY, JULY 13

FREE FOOD GIVEAWAY: Danville Public Schools and God's Final Call & Warning will hold a free food giveaway for the Danville community and surrounding areas from 4 to 7 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson School, 1005 North Main St. Participants must bring bags, wear face mask and and follow social distancing. Children must be accompanied by parents.

BOOKWORMS-TWEEN BOOK CLUB: Talk about the book of the month with fellow bookworms from 4 to 5 p.m. at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space for grades five to eight. A free copy of the book will be given out to the first newcomer to register a month before the meeting. Snacks provided. The book for July "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera. Register by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY, JULY 14

MUSIC AT THE MARKET: Free music at the Danville Community Market from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at outdoor stage. Bring chair, blanket, picnic basket. In event of rain, the concert will be moved inside of market. Define Jazz will perform. For information, call 434-793-4636.

DRIVE-IN MOVIE NIGHT: For ages 11 and under at the Ruby B. Archie Library auditorium from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Supplies and popcorn will be provided. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

FRIDAY, JULY 15

DINO TEA PARTY: Invite prehistoric stuffed animals to teatime to sip iced tea, snack, dance and play games from 11 a.m. to noon at the Ruby B. Archie Library auditorium. For ages three to 10. No fee. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195.

SATURDAY, JULY 16

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 434-793-5644.

MUSEUM MEETS MARGARITAVILLE: Annual fundraiser at Danville Museum lawn, 975 Main St. from 5 to 8 p.m. Cookout, DJ-beach music; silent auction; parrot head gear competition and more. Tickets at Karen's Hallmark; Gingerbread House; Danville Museum and eventbrite.com

HARVEST JUBILEE CONCERT: Concert at Carrington Pavilion at 6 p.m. featuring Justin Moore with special guests Desert City Ramblers and Matt Boswell. For tickets or information DanvilleHarvestJubilee.org or call Danville Welcome Center at 434-793-4636.

YOUTH DUNGEONS & DRAGONS-EPIC ENCOUNTERS: Learn the basics of Dungeons & Dragons. All experience levels are welcome at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and noon to 1:30 p.m.; grades six to 12. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195. No fee. (register for one session only)

PANCAKE BREAKFAST: The Sons of the American Legion Squadron 325 will hold an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. at the Post 325 home. The cost is $6 and open to the public.

MONDAY, JULY 18

MAKER MONDAYS: Put makers caps on to build, explore, tinker and create fun hands-on projects. Each session will have different activities to try and problems to solve for ages seven and up from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. No Fee. Pipe Cleaner Critters. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195.

TUESDAY, JULY 19

LIBRARY SCOUTS: Become a Library Scout. Join the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space to take part in explorer-themed activities and crafts, and complete service projects while making new friends from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. For ages seven and up. No free. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

THE WRITE STUFF-ADULT WRITING GROUP: All genres and writing styles welcome at the Ruby B. Archie Library Auditorium writing group from 6 to 7 p.m. for ages 18 and up. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20

OVERBOOKED: TEEN BOOK CLUB: Meet new friends and discuss a great book at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space from 4 to 5 p.m. for grades nine to 12. A free copy of the book "The Librarian of Auschwitz" by Antonio Iturbe will be given to the first newcomer to register a month before the meeting. Register by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY, JULY 21

RIVERWALK READERS-WALKING BOOK CLUB: Join readers in the community for a walk on the trail to discuss the books you've been reading, exchange suggestions and get some exercise. From 6 to 7 p.m., Anglers Park, ages 18 and up, no fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY PADDLE: Meet at the Abreu-Grogan Boathouse to paddle the Dan River with kayaks, paddle boards or canoes from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150.

MUSIC AT THE MARKET: Free music at the Danville Community Market from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at outdoor stage. Bring chair, blanket, picnic basket. In event of rain concert will be moved inside of market. Performing tonight will be Rivermist (Two-hour concert). For information, call 434-793-4636.

LIBRARY CAMPOUT: For ages 4 and up at the Ruby B. Archie Library auditorium a campfire for a night of stories, songs and crafts from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

SATURDAY, JULY 23

5PARK STUDIO: Westmoreland Park from 10 to 5 p.m. Music groups, art, music poetry. Bring a picnic blanket.

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

BINGO: Pelham Community Center, 161 Community Center Drive, Pelham, North Carolina will hold bingo from 6 to 9 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Game cars are 25 cents each, sold in $5 and $10 packs and individually. Cards for special games are $1 each. Special games include a 50/50 game and several special prizes. Do not bring in food; there will be hot dogs, drinks, popcorn and candy for sale benefit the center.

SUNDAY, JULY 24

NO KIDDING SOLUTIONS-YOUTH VIOLENCE: The "a carnivalesque" style event will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Main Street in Danville's River District and will feature free school supplies. It's organized by a number of like-hearted community rooted groups for the purpose of igniting conversations of substance that spur those gathered to seek out applicable and impactful solutions for many of the problems that plague our inner city youth.

MONDAY, JULY 25

FORMS IN CLAY CERAMIC STUDIO CLASSES: Jonathan Scollos classes at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St., Session 4:July 25-Aug. 29. Swanson Studio is equipped for hand-building and wheel throwing, and utilizes an electric kiln for firing. For information, call 793-5644.

ADVENTURE CAMP II: Adventure Camp II from July 25-July 29 at 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for ages eight to 14 at cost of $130. Register by July 20. For more information, call 434-799-5150.

TUESDAY, JULY 26

THE CRAFTING CABIN: Try painting on tiny canvases and building living houses out of sponges and grass seed in this throwback to camp crafts from 5 to 6 p.m. at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space/Auditorium for ages 12 and up. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195. No fee.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27

MOONLIGHT PADDLE: Kayak the Dan River from 9 to 11 p.m. Paddlers will be provided with headlamps; previous paddling experience required. For ages 12 and up, cost of $14. Meet at Abreu-Grogan Boathouse. Registration required by calling 434-799-5150.

SUMMER TALES: Listen to stories, sing and dance and complete a craft in the summer story time series on Wednesdays at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space for all ages from 5 to 6 p.m. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY, JULY 28

MUSIC AT THE MARKET: Free music at the Danville Community Market from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at outdoor stage. Bring chair, blanket and picnic basket. In event of rain concert will be moved inside of market. Performing tonight will be Emerald Empire Band (two-hour concert). For information, call 434-793-4636.

DOODLES AND THINGS: DRAWING 101: Learn the basics of landscapes and figure drawing in these introductory drawing sessions for ages 10 and up from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. No fee. Figure Drawing. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

SATURDAY, JULY 30

5PARK STUDIO: Doyle Thomas Park from 10 to 5 p.m. Music groups, art, music poetry. Bring a picnic blanket.

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

FREE COMMUNITY HOT DOG LUNCH: Trinity United Methodist Church, 409 Arnett Blvd., will hold a free community hot dog lunch with pick up available from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

KAYAK THE DAN: MAIN STREET TO ANGLERS: A swift paddle from Main Street to Anglers Park from 2 to 4 p.m. Cost is $14. Registration required by calling 799-9150. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

SUMMER TALES: Listen to stories, sing and dance and complete a craft in the summer story time series on Saturdays at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space for all ages from 11 a.m. to noon. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

MONDAY, AUG. 1

LEGO BRICK ENGINEERS: Bricks provided, imagination required. All Lego models will be displayed in the children's department at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. Held from 4 to 5 p.m. for ages 5 and up. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 3

BLAST FROM THE PAST: CLASSICS BOOK CLUB: Dive into the classics this summer from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. A free copy of the book "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, will be given to the first newcomer to register a month before the meeting. For grades nine to 12. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY, AUG. 4

MAD SCIENTISTS: Put on goggles and lab coats and explore component of STEAM through hands-on demonstrations, experiments and crafts from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. For ages eight and up. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY PADDLE: Meet at the Abreu-Grogan Boathouse to paddle the Dan River with kayaks, paddle boards or canoes from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150.

FRIDAY, AUG. 5

ATTIC SALE: Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, members only from 5-7 p.m. (wine and cheese).

CAMPFIRE UNDER THE STARS: Campfire under the stars for ages five and up at Ballou Park Shelter No. 10 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Parents must stay with children. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5150.

SATURDAY, AUG. 6

ATTIC SALE: Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History attic sale from 10 to 4 p.m.

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

TUESDAY, AUG. 9

STORYTELLERS: CREATIVE WRITING 101: Tweens can explore and foster creative voice through writing prompts and exercises. Covering short stories, poetry, prose, non-fiction and more, writers will be able to share their work and collaborate with others in a relaxed workshop environment from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. For grades 6-12. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 10

TUBING THE DAN: Float the Dan River from the movie theater to Camilla Williams Park from 3 to 5 p.m. One or two person tubes are available; PFDs are provided: close-toed shoes required; ages 12 and up. Cost is $15. Registration required by calling 799-5150.

MOONLIGHT PADDLE: Kayak the Dan River from 9 to 11 p.m. Paddlers will be provided with headlamps; previous paddling experience required. For ages 12 and up, cost of $14. Meet at Abreu-Grogan Boathouse. Registration required by calling 799-5150.

THURSDAY, AUG. 11

GLOW ZIP: Light up the night at the zip lining at Dan Daniel Park Skate Park from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Limited number of glow sticks will be provided. For ages eight and up at cost of $12. Registration required by calling 799-5150.

SATURDAY, AUG. 13

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

YOUTH DUNGEONS & DRAGONS-EPIC ENCOUNTERS: Learn the basics of Dungeons & Dragons. All experience levels are welcome at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; grades six to 12. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195. No fee. (register for one session only)

MONDAY, AUG. 15

GENEALOGY 101: Learn how to get started researching and documenting your family history at the Ruby B. Archie Library auditorium from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For ages 18 and up. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 17

BOOKWORMS: TWEEN BOOK CLUB: Talk about the book of the month with your fellow bookworms from 4 to 5 p.m. at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space for grades five to eight. A free copy of the book will be given out to the first newcomer to register a month before the meeting. Snacks provided. The book for July "The Castle of Tangled Magic" by Sophie Anderson. Register by calling 434-799-5195.

THURSDAY, AUG. 18

THURSDAY PADDLE: Meet at the Abreu-Grogan Boathouse to paddle the Dan River with kayaks, paddle boards or canoes from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150.

SATURDAY, AUG. 20

5PARK STUDIO: Coates Park from 10 to 5 p.m. Music groups, art, music poetry. Bring a picnic blanket.

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

MONDAY, AUG. 22

MAKER MONDAYS: Put your makers caps on to build, explore, tinker and create fun hands-on projects. Each session will have different activities to try and problems to solve for ages seven and up from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space. No Fee. Tech 101. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24

MOONLIGHT PADDLE: Kayak the Dan River from 9 to 11 p.m. Paddlers will be provided with headlamps; previous paddling experience required. For ages 12 and up, cost of $14. Meet at Abreu-Grogan Boathouse. Registration required by calling 799-5150.

THURSDAY, AUG. 25

GLOW ZIP: Light up the night at the zip lining at Dan Daniel Park Skate Park from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Limited number of glow sticks will be provided. For ages eight and up at cost of $12. Registration required by calling 799-5150.

SATURDAY, AUG. 27

5PARK STUDIO: Pumpkin Creek Park from 10 to 5 p.m. Music groups, art, music poetry. Bring a picnic blanket.

FREE TI-CHI: Free Ti-CHI at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the lawn of Danville Museum of Danville Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. For information, call 793-5644.

WENDELL SCOTT CHARITY RIDE: Southside Buffalo Soldiers MC will hold a Wendell Scott Charity Ride starting at Danville Otterbox, 302 River Park Drive. Registration at 11 a.m.; kickstand up at 1 p.m. For information, www.bsmc-ssva.com; www.nabstmc.com or www.wendellscott.org or call 229-630-0435; 434-825-2811 or 804-931-4796.

MONDAY, AUG. 29

GAME ON AT THE LIBRARY: A night of fun and games at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space from 4 to 6 p.m. for ages 11 and up. Snacks provided. No fee. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195.

ONGOING

MALE CANCER SURVIVORS NEEDED FOR A SOCIAL SURVEY: Virginia Commonwealth University and the Cancer Research & Resource Centers is conducting a survey about social networks and experiences as a male cancer survivor in rural Virginia. Anyone is eligible if they are a male prostate or colorectal cancer survivor, age 21 or over, completed cancer treatment and reside in rural Virginia. Participants will receive a gift card. If interested, contact the Cancer Research & Resource Center in Danville at 434-791-5205.
Units of the Armenian armed forces along the border with Azerbaijans Kalbajar region shelled positions of the army, Azernews reports per the website of the Defense Ministry.

On July 11 in the evening, units of the Armenian armed forces from positions in the direction of Zarkand village of Basarkechar region of the state border using various caliber weapons subjected to fire the Azerbaijan army positions in the direction of the Damirchidam settlement of Kalbajar region, the report says.

As a result of the proper retaliatory measures by units of the Azerbaijani army, the opposing side was suppressed.
Danville Public Schools has been looking to hire 60 teachers and some of those positions have been filled.

The purpose of the effort is to have class sizes low, said Danville Public Schools spokesperson Lanie Davis.

We are trying to continue to do this while extra funding is available, Davis said, referring to CARES Act funding that will pay for some of the positions.

The school system has 44 open positions listed on its website, including 31 teaching slots, Davis said. Some of the 31 jobs are included in the 60 additional positions school officials are looking to fill.

Some of the 60 positions are newly created and others were existing positions left vacant.

Danville Public Schools has a little more than 1,100 employees, and slightly less than 500 are teachers.

One Danville City councilman has expressed concern about teachers leaving the school system. Sherman Saunders said teachers have told him they cannot wait until their contracts end or that they are resigning sooner than planned or retiring.

Im hearing those kinds of things, Saunders said. I want to know why.

Saunders discontent with the school system led him to vote against approving the city of Danvilles $280 million 2022-23 budget, because it he did not support the $22.8 million in local funding for the school system. That amount is far above the state-required minimum for local funding.

During his statements at the June 21 Danville City Council meeting, Saunders said he felt disrespected and ignored by school board members and administration after repeatedly asking for a multi-year plan from school officials over the past several years.

That way, every 12 months were [City Council] not arguing or debating about how much to give schools, Saunders said during an interview last week.

Danville Public Schools Superintendent Angela Hairston called Saunders a leader in the community and a personal hero of mine, and said school officials plan to present a multi-year budget to City Council this fiscal year.

Councilman Saunders wants transparency, Hairston said. He is protecting the right of taxpayers to know where the money is going.

Danville Vice Mayor Gary Miller said he would like to see a plan for improvements including reduction of dropout rates and increasing attendance.

We just need to communicate with each other, Miller said. Were all working toward the same goal to improve education.

The school system has a memorandum of understanding  as well as a corrective action plan  with the Virginia Department of Education, Hairston said. Those came as a result of deficiencies identified during an extensive academic review conducted by the department in the spring of 2020.

The board has been focused on the divisions improvement efforts and the Corrective Action Plan over the past two years, Danville School Board Chair Crystal Cobbs said in a prepared statement. We have been working with both the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia School Boards Association, and their feedback on our progress has been favorable. As we continue these efforts, we will also continue to communicate and collaborate with Danville City Council, as we know that is essential to our school system and citys success.

Hairston said the school system is in the first full year of implementing the corrective action plan and will continue it over the next three years.

The school system is also getting $140 million in improvements, including renovations and construction of the upcoming new location for Galileo Magnet High School. The facility will also house Danville Public Schools central office.

George Washington High School is also undergoing $80 million in renovations and construction of a new running track.
According to their page on the Inter-Fraternity Council of the University of Virginia, the local chapter of Phi Gamma Delta prides itself on friendship, knowledge, service, morality, and excellence.

According to UVas spring Hazing Misconduct report, the fraternity also cajoled new members into a binge-eating race of food crates filled with milk, bananas, soda, mayonnaise, and broccoli until at least one new member vomited.

The fraternitys pledge educator also instructed new members to put on blindfolds and sit against the basement wall while several brothers threw eggs around them and loud music played. One pledge was struck in the eye by an egg but no medical assistance was offered even though he complained of pain.

Phi Gamma Delta, also known as FIJI, is one of two fraternities that are being tossed off Grounds for hazing incidents and one of five fraternities and sororities written up in the schools hazing report for violating university regulations.

Those incidents and violations were detailed in the hazing report, which is required under a new state law.

Kappa Alpha Order was the other fraternity removed from Grounds.

As a result of these findings, the chapters operating agreement with the university was terminated, the misconduct report announced. The chapters national organization may petition to re-colonize at the university after four years.

In FIJIs case, the agreement was not only terminated but five members were also referred to the University Judiciary Committee for other punishments.

Following UVas decision in June, FIJIs national organization moved to close the chapter for violating its laws and policies, said Rob Caudill, executive director of Phi Gamma Delta.

Kappa Alpha Order is disappointed by UVas decision, according to a statement provided by the national office, which is based in Lexington.

Our chapter at the University of Virginia has enjoyed an impeccable reputation and has not had any known conduct violation in recent memory, the statement read. This unfortunate outcome could have been avoided and instead resulted in a positive collaborative and educational effort.

Established in 1873, UVas Kappa Alpha chapter is one of the oldest fraternities at UVa.

National office staff said they worked with the UVa administration during the investigation process.

The chapter leadership has been forthcoming and has confirmed the accuracy of some of the published claims, officials said. KA staff and alumni were denied access to decision-makers to offer alternative educational and restorative sanctions. At this time, while we hope to work with the university, we are required to consider all options for the future of the chapter.

According to the report, Kappa Alphas transgressions included requiring new members to carry cigarettes, lighters, condoms, beef jerky, chewing tobacco and smokeless nicotine patches on their person at all times. New members were banned from using the frat house bathroom or furniture.

One incident included new members confined in a bathroom and smoking all the cigarettes included in pledge packs and a team race to drink 30 cans of beer.

UVa spokesman Brian Coy said the UVas dean of students made the decision to remove the two fraternities from Grounds.

Upon receiving reports of these particular incidents, UVa Student Affairs immediately opened an investigation to determine the facts and evaluate the need for disciplinary actions, he said. University officials also moved quickly to offer the affected students supportive resources.

University officials declined to comment further on the cases in order to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

The university is strongly committed to keeping our students safe and to acting swiftly in response to reported incidents of hazing, which is a violation of university policy and, if it results in bodily harm, a violation of Virginia law, according to the statement.

Earlier this year, Virginia lawmakers adopted an anti-hazing bill known as Adams Law following the death of 19-year-old Adam Oakes, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. Oakes died of alcohol poisoning and nearly a dozen men connected to VCUs Delta Chi chapter were charged in connection with his death.

The law requires hazing prevention training for all current, new and potential members of student organizations. The training should include extensive, current, and in-person education about hazing, the dangers of hazing, including alcohol intoxication, and hazing laws and institution policies, according to the bill summary.

Additionally, the bill requires universities to provide immunity from disciplinary action for students who report an incident of hazing that causes injury to a person.

Per state code, UVa will update its hazing misconduct report 10 days before the start of the fall and spring semesters and maintain the information for 10 years.

According to UVa records, only one Greek organization had its operating agreement terminated in the last five years. The Sigma Phi Society was removed in fall 2017 after the chapter failed to comply with university standards regarding alcohol and new member education, according to UVa. The chapter was conditionally reinstated the following spring.

Fraternity Theta Tau and sorority Delta Delta Delta will face university judicial action in the fall for their actions during spring, according to the report.

Theta Tau required its new members to perform favors such as picking up food or coffee, attending a brothers intramural game, following/liking content on social media, and swiping a brother into a dining hall. Failure to do so resulted in a variety of punishments, including collecting signatures in a public setting for a fake petition.

Delta Delta Delta sisters held a pledge mixer in February during which alcohol was served and a slideshow shown.

During the slideshow, a Tri-Delta sister ran into the room and said someone in the pledge class reported them for an alcohol violation. She then announced she was going to take a picture of the pledge class, and that someone needed to disclose who had reported them, the report states.

After time passed, the Tri-Delta sister returned to the room to explain the situation was a joke. The events purpose was to scare the pledges.

Fraternity Phi Kappa Psi received an abbreviated 10-day new member education period and a mandatory hazing prevention program for all members of the chapter. The report indicates that university investigators doubted the veracity of chapter members interviewed during the investigation.

They did not believe new members were fully truthful, transparent, or forthright in the investigative process, the report states. Investigators based this concern on the multitude of inconsistencies in statements provided by new members and the chapter president that go beyond what a reasonable person would consider to be normal variances in memory or experience of a shared event.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin in an interview Sunday wouldnt say whether he would move to protect the legality of same-sex marriage in Virginia if the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court overturned a ruling protecting it nationwide.

During an appearance on CBS Face the Nation, Youngkin was asked whether he would take any steps to codify same-sex marriage in Virginia law. Youngkin said: We actually do protect same-sex marriage in Virginia. Thats the law in Virginia.

Virginias constitution, however, includes an amendment banning same-sex marriage, which the states voters approved in a 2006 referendum. If the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, unions between LGBTQ couples would no longer be recognized by the state. Same-sex couples account for about 1 in every 26 marriages in Virginia.

Either he is ignorant of the status of gay marriage in Virginia or chose to lie, said Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, who introduced a resolution for a new constitutional amendment to repeal the language in the Virginia Constitution. A GOP-controlled House subcommittee blocked it earlier this year.

The governor should be aware because it was his own party that stopped the constitutional amendment from being repealed and replaced, Ebbin said.

A spokesperson for Youngkin, Macaulay Porter, said in a statement that Youngkin will continue to abide by and enforce the law which, right now, recognizes same-sex marriage. Porter said legislation enacted in 2020 repealed prohibitions on same-sex marriage, but the legislation does not supersede the state constitution.

Asked whether Youngkin supports the effort to repeal Virginias constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, Porter said Youngkin has no formal role in that since the legislature controls the process before a referendum reaches voters.

In 2021, when Democrats led the legislature, the House and Senate had backed the proposed amendment to repeal the language. A proposed state constitutional amendment must pass in consecutive years before going to the states voters in a referendum.

Youngkin was mum on the issue when Republicans in the House shut down efforts to repeal the language this year. Democrats resolution would have repealed the provision in the state constitution that defines marriage as only a union between one man and one woman. It would have declared a fundamental right to marry.

Youngkin said during his Sunday interview that he is supportive of the U.S. Supreme Court returning the rights to states to make these decisions, pointing to the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision. He said the move by the court is consistent with the U.S. Constitution.

Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade, said the court should follow the same path to overturn its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Marriage equality is still legal in Virginia/states with legacy unconstitutional amendments [because] the [U.S. Supreme Court] ruled so  wrote Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, on Twitter in response to Youngkin. Dont act like its not under threat.
Donald Trump's planned appearance in Greensboro has been postponed, organizers say

STAFF REPORT

GREENSBORO  Former President Donald Trump's scheduled appearance Friday in Greensboro has been postponed, according to an email from the organizer.

"We are very sorry that due to unforeseen circumstances we are rescheduling the American Freedom Tour stop in Greensboro, NC," an email from the organization said. The email goes on to say that the tickets, which are nonrefundable, may be used at any American Freedom Tour event in America.

Ticket prices ranged from $9 for a spot in an overflow room to $3,995 or more for seating closer to the stage, though the venue not announced when tickets went on sale. Once the new date for Greensboro has been confirmed, ticketholders will be notified by email, American Freedom Tour said.

It was unclear why the appearance, which was to include other high-profile conservatives, was postponed.

U.S. Marshals nab double-homicide suspect in Lexington

WES YOUNG

U.S. Marshals captured a man wanted in connection with a June double homicide in Lexington on Saturday, according to WGHP/Fox 8 News, the news gathering partner of the Journal.

The station reported that Marlon Tyrone Anderson, 48, was located by officers in a house in Lexington and placed under arrest without incident.

U.S. Marshals had been looking for Anderson since June as the suspect in a Kannapolis double homicide. Anderson allegedly entered a home and shot and killed Sharon Chambers, 61 and her 49-year-old nephew.

Anderson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, WGHP reported.

Alamance deputies say Burlington woman, 38, was arrested after swinging machete at victim

STAFF REPORT

ELON  A Burlington woman accused of swinging a machete at someone while trespassing at a residence Friday night was arrested on multiple charges, Alamance County Sheriff's officials said in a news release.

Deputies responded at 8:23 p.m. Friday to a disturbance at a home in the 700 block of Walker Road, where the residents said Laura Leigh Capps was trespassing and swinging a machete at the victim, according to the news release.

Capps, 38, had also entered the victims vehicle and attempted to flee prior to the arrival of deputies, officials said in the news release.

Deputies said they detained Capps and secured the machete before taking her to the Alamance County Detention Center. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree trespass, breaking and/or entering a motor vehicle, and larceny of a motor vehicle.

She was jailed on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
A man with symptoms of monkeypox and many reasons to think he had the virus began calling a number of medical providers to get a test on July 1.

His primary care doctor. County, state and federal health officials. An urgent care clinic. A hospital emergency room.

After a week, he still hadnt been tested.

Fifteen days after he first noticed lesions on his face  a signature of the viral illness  he found a provider willing to order a test, which came back positive.

It seems absurd, said the Durham man, who The News & Observer is not naming for privacy and safety reasons.

The mans ordeal reveals enduring gaps in North Carolinas preparedness for the latest infectious disease outbreak, according to public health experts.

Clearly what has happened is providers are not reading our guidance, not paying attention and not on the same page, the states top health official, Kody Kinsley, told the man in a phone call Tuesday, according to a recording provided to The News & Observer.

Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at the UNC School of Medicine, said North Carolina still doesnt have an effective way of making sure that frontline workers get crucial information about how to respond to emerging threats two years after COVID-19 exposed a host of problems with the state and nations public health response.

All this matters because delays in diagnosis and intervention help a virus spread.

****

From reading the news, the 29-year-old man knew that he had risk factors. He had recently returned home from Norway, where there was a confirmed outbreak. He also is a man who has sex with men.

Although monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease, it is transmitted through close physical contact and recent spread has affected the LGBTQ community.

He first noticed sores at the corners of his mouth. A few days later, other symptoms were noticed: a fever, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes.

He called Duke Family Medicine, his primary care practice, on July 1, the man said. The person he reached on the phone said the practice did not do tests and referred him to the Durham County Health Department, he said.

The health department referred him back to his primary care practice.

Frustrated, he called the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But his dismay only grew.

The person on the phone recommended that the man seek a test from either his primary care doctor or the county health department, he said. With both his primary care practice and the health department referring him to each other, he wasnt sure where to turn.

And his symptoms were worsening.

****

On July 2, while out of town visiting family, he made an appointment with an urgent care clinic. A physicians assistant ordered tests for COVID-19, strep and flu  all of which came back negative.

A physicians assistant told him the sores on his mouth were not signs of monkeypox, the man said.

He also recalled the assistant saying: Monkeypox isnt a real threat yet. Were going to have to confront it soon. Its just not here.

But state officials had announced the first case of monkeypox in North Carolina more than a week earlier. Not only does the virus makes people sick, in an estimated 1% of cases it can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The man left the clinic with a prescription for antibiotics although he was not diagnosed with anything.

Two days later, with his fever spiking higher, he went to the emergency department at Atrium Health Kannapolis. There, he was tested for herpes, and those results came back negative too, he said.

He left with instructions to take Tylenol to treat the fever.

Having read that monkeypox tests and vaccines were available, the man kept making calls. Each morning at 9 a.m., he said he called the Durham Health Department, but couldnt get a test arranged.

He eventually spoke with a state epidemiologist, who let him know that a Wake County resident who tested positive for monkeypox had obtained a test through the UNC System.

On July 8  a week after first trying to call medical providers  he was finally tested after three hours in the UNC clinics waiting room.

The man told Kinsley during the phone call he recorded that the delays made him especially concerned for people less informed and less proactive than he is.

Im concerned that for friends of mine who might not have the level of information that I do, they might be up a creek without a paddle, he said.

****

State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore on Tuesday said all of the clinicians the man encountered could and should have sent a swab to the state for testing.

In early June, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo to all of the states clinicians that detailed the symptoms of monkeypox and instructions for collecting specimens. Any suspected cases should immediately be reported to the local health department, the memo instructed.

Furthermore, Moore said the state lab had no shortage of tests available.

Theres ample availability of testing, he said.

Wohl said the lesions around the mans mouth should have immediately raised suspicions about monkeypox  especially in light of the outbreak. The fact that so many providers did not test him points to systemic problems with the handling of infectious diseases, he added.

With limited resources, DHHS did what they could, Wohl said. The agency sent memos and posted guidance. The problem is that DHHS doesnt have a good way of making sure the information reaches medical providers.

Early diagnoses are crucial during infectious disease outbreaks like this one, Wohl said. Identifying close contacts and vaccinating them could mean the difference between keeping the virus contained and allowing it to spread into the community.

Though most people recover from monkeypox on their own, there are some patients with compromised immune systems who could benefit from treatments early in their illness or others who could benefit from a vaccine shortly after their exposure, he said.

Unfortunately, the Durham mans experience likely indicates that there are others who have had similarly difficult times getting tested, Wohl said.

Can we realistically think there are not other people who had a lesion and saw a provider who didnt suspect monkeypox? he asked. Of course there were.

The states largest health systems and county departments are now mobilizing to address the growing threat monkeypox poses. Ten cases have been detected in the state and 929 cases have been reported nationwide as of Wednesday.

UNC began transforming a clinic in Chapel Hill to handle monkeypox testing. A spokesperson for Duke Health said on Tuesday that all of its clinics are able to collect specimens and send out tests.

Still, the state and federal government may have missed its window for containing this virus yet again. Experts now believe that monkeypox is likely spreading through the community undetected.

It should never have been as hard as it was for you to get access to testing, Kinsley said to the Durham man. Unfortunately, its an example of how broken the health care system can be.
CHARLOTTE  When you think of cleaning a building, you might think of people hanging out of a lift to reach windows many stories above the ground. You might think of the force of a power washer.

Lucid Drone Technologies wants you to forget all that.

Instead, Lucid co-founder and CEO Andrew Ashur says the future of clean buildings is not in humans  but drones.

Ashur and two friends founded Lucid in 2017 while studying at Davidson College. The idea came after they saw workers washing windows high above the ground, their platform swinging back and forth in the wind.

It seemed like an obvious thought, Ashur said. How could we leverage technology to make that a safer, more efficient job?

At first, Ashur and his co-founders, tried making their drones by modifying ones they bought. They spent about $50,000 on three drones made by another company, Ashur said, but technical issues prevented them from building the product they envisioned.

They would have to make their own.

I essentially locked myself in this attic above a garage for three months where I taught myself the ins and outs of the mechanical, electrical and software engineering to build our first drones, said Ashur, who studied economics and Spanish  not engineering  at Davidson.

Money was tight, and Ashur said he sometimes skipped meals to save up enough to buy drone parts.

He was eventually able to build a drone that could perform simple automated maneuvers. Before long, Lucid was accepted into Y Combinator, a startup acceleration program in Silicon Valley that helped launch companies like Airbnb, DoorDash and Reddit.

Lucid now employs about 20 people, 15 of them full-time. In October, the company outsourced manufacturing to Mecklenburg County-based Harrah Enterprise, which makes race car transmissions and other high-end robotics.

Lucid drones have six propellers and connect to a hose on the ground. Theyre authorized to fly up to 110 feet  about 10 stories  and hold two batteries, each of which can power 15 to 20 minutes of flight.

Theyre controlled with a hand-held remote, much like a video game.

The drones use a technique called soft washing. Instead of power washing, which can damage some surfaces, the low pressure alternative can be used just about anywhere.

Ashur said clients have used the drones to clean country club buildings, residential roofs, church steeples and college campuses.

Lucid sells primarily to cleaning companies, not to the owners of buildings in need of a wash. Their pitch is simple, Ashur said: We want to help you do more jobs in less time with less liability.

That pitch seems to be working. Lucid is approaching 100 clients in 15 states, including Cape Fear Community College and several washing companies in North Carolina.

The Southeast is Lucids main market because the heat and humidity make mold growth more widespread. But Lucid has sold drones to companies as far away as California.

Lucids basic package costs $29,000, with higher-end plans customized for each client. The company provides the training operators need to be certified to operate the drone.

During the height of the pandemic, with few people working in office buildings and even fewer willing to pay to wash those buildings, Lucid turned its attention to stadiums. Carrying an onboard tank, Lucid drones disinfected seating at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Kyle Field stadium at Texas A&M University, among others.

The cleaning drone returned to service in April 2021  and business has been growing since then, Ashur said.

Next, he hopes to expand to painting buildings with drones. Much of the technology Lucid already uses for cleaning would stay the same, Ashur said, and he doesnt think itll be too big of a jump to spray a building with paint rather than cleaning solution.

Thinking about all those opportunities is really exciting, he said.
A meeting of the Azerbaijani-EU Cooperation Council will take place on July 19 in Brussels, Azernews reports.

The Cooperation Council between the European Union and Azerbaijan will hold its eighteenth meeting on July 19, 2022, in Brussels.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell respectively will lead the delegations at the talks.

The Cooperation Council will discuss the state of play and next steps of the EU-Azerbaijani bilateral relations, focusing on the EU-Azerbaijan Partnership Priorities and Sectoral cooperation, the Eastern Partnership and the implementation of the Economic and Investment Plan, the report adds.

The Cooperation Council will then exchange views on political matters, including regional issues, democracy, rule of law and human rights.
During the 2022-23 school year, the East Helena school district will not be continuing a program that provided free school meals to all students during the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of income.

A form will need to be filled out and returned to school for students to receive free or reduced-priced meals based on individual need.

According to the report State of Childhood Obesity: Prioritizing Childrens Health During a Pandemic released in October of 2020 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an American public health philanthropic organization, about 30 million U.S. children participated in the National School Lunch Program and about 15 million U.S. children participated in the School Breakfast Program prior to COVID-19.

Due to this number, Congress passed the $3 billion Keep Kids Fed Act to ensure all students had access to proper nutrition during the school year and summer. On June 24, Congress extended the program through the summer but added more limitations for the upcoming school year.

In the fall, low-income students above the poverty line will pay a reduced price for their meals instead of getting them free.

The food program has more flexible nutrition guidelines to cope with supply chain issues and staffing problems. There is also a higher reimbursement rate per meal for schools.

The school district is also acquiring a larger number of at-home COVID-19 test kits for students, faculty and staff during the 2022-2023 school year.

The school district's COVID-19 emergency declaration is still in effect. However, once this declaration ends, all policies (1900-1999) associated with the handling of COVID-19 will also come to an end.

The board voted to have Lewis and Clark County and the state conduct the school elections for School District #9 for fiscal year 2023. This takes much of the election work off of Kim Aarstad, the clerk/business manager for East Helena Public Schools, who stated she may have had to hire on more help if it was not voted by the board for the county to administer elections.

During the Hear The Public section toward the beginning of the board meeting, a resident brought up his concern about accommodating furries in schools.

According to furscience.com, furries are a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers and role players. Most furries create for themselves an anthropomorphized animal character (fursona) with whom they identify and can function as an avatar within the community.

The board noted the concern about furries would be addressed in a later meeting.

The East Helena Public School Board will meet again on Aug. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the East Valley Middle School library.
People gawking at the sky late Tuesday were entertained by what is believed to be a piece from an old Russian rocket reentering the atmosphere.

Social media lit up after 10 p.m. with people asking if it was a meteor, space junk or some other phenomena from infinity and beyond coursing across the Montana skyline.

Ryan Hannahoe, executive director of the Montana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry, said the exact time of the citing was 10:08 p.m. and he received a text from SpaceWeather.com explaining what happened.

"This may have been the fuel tank of an old Russian rocket, the text stated. Shortly before the explosion over Montana, the U.S. Department of Defense Space Track website issued a Trajectory Impact Prediction (TIP) message for an object called "BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)."

The above video was provided by Ryan Hannahoe, executive director of the Montana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry.

According to their alert, a Breeze-M fuel tank would fall into Earth's atmosphere "on July 13th at 04:06  52 minutes UT. That fits the timing of the Montana explosion," the text stated.

The fuel tank had been orbiting Earth for almost 10 years. It was part of a rocket that launched Russia's Yamal 402 geostationary communications satellite on Dec. 8, 2012, SpaceWeather.com, which titled a posting about the incident "Space junk over Montana," said in its text. They said that recent increases in solar activity accelerated its orbital decay, finally bringing it down in a fiery display."

Hannahoe said he had not heard reports of the tank making a rough landing on Earth.

Thankfully most of the Earth is water so it lands in ocean, he said.

He said the Montana Learning Center was able to capture the flaming image as it flew by. He said they have a seven-camera system that points skyward and the image was caught on three of the cameras.

The spectacle was reportedly seen pretty much throughout the state as people in Helena, Billings, Great Falls and Missoula weighed in on social media as well.

But not everyone, as at least one person on Facebook was disappointed she missed it.

Man, I picked the wrong night to go to bed early, she said.
With the former bureau chief of licensing and his 17 years experience now leading Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, we're left surprised and disappointed in how FWP's drawings and regulations have been administered lately.

First, turkeys were being killed a week before the spring season and wardens were turning a blind eye because there was a typo on FWPs official website that suggested the 2022 season opened a week before it did. Law-abiding turkey hunters were penalized with lost opportunities because of a mistake by FWP, and unlawful harvests went unpunished.

Then came the elk and deer draws.

Because of FWPs drawing mistake, hunters whove waited years to draw limited-entry permits now must share the elk woods with 10% more hunters above and beyond the quotas.

Then licenses started hitting mailboxes.

Archery-only permits arrived with misprinted dates making them appear valid through the general rifle season. This could add even more crowding and confusion to the elk woods and take the "limited" out of limited-entry areas.

On June 1, FWP admitted they accidentally mailed an additional 1,200 elk and deer combo tags to unsuccessful nonresidents, for free. FWP asked hunters to return these voluntarily, but what recourse will wardens have this fall if someone is caught hunting with a seemingly valid tag? If our spring turkey season is any barometer, the remedy will be nonexistent.

And now, were learning that because of FWP's blunders, resident elk hunters are losing out while nonresidents are cashing in.

Permit 417-21, for example, has a quota of 300 either-sex elk permits. This permit is first choice only, which forces hunters to burn bonus points in lieu of collecting any. In previous years, hunters could have selected second- and third-choice permits in case they werent successful with their top pick.

But the language changed this year from first choice only to first and only choice, causing confusion. The system allowed hunters to properly apply for "first choice only" permits while also putting in for backup options. Nothing prevented this. Hunters  through no fault of their own  were kicked out of the draw by FWP afterwards.

FWP issued an extra 10% of permits to make amends, but theres more to the story. Of those 300 permits in 417-21, 90% of those (270) are supposed to go to residents.

However, since 85 residents were wrongfully kicked out of the draw, only 221 permits were awarded to residents. Only 10% of permits (30) are supposed to go to nonresidents, yet 79 nonresidents drew.

Why?

Nonresidents are limited to the 10% cap only in situations where the number of resident applicants exceeds the number of permits. Since FWPs system wrongfully kicked out 85 resident hunters, there appeared to be more permits available than there were resident applicants, so all those "extra" permits went to nonresidents.

Even after Director Worsech awarded 30 more permits, there are still 19 residents who should have gotten permits and did not; those went to nonresidents, which is how nonresidents ended up drawing 26% of those 300 permits in 417-21.

And this is just one permit type in one hunting district.

Resident hunters find this unacceptable.

We encourage FWP to issue elk permits to those first-choice resident applicants who would have drawn an elk permit in the first place, and to revoke permits that were issued to nonresidents by mistake.

And we also suggest a legislative fix so if there are leftover opportunities (like those created by FWPs mistakes), those permits automatically go into surplus drawings for residents to have a second crack at rather than giving them away to nonresidents.

Mistakes happen. But one error after the next, like what we have seen this year, and the inability of FWP to remedy the situation and uphold legal hunting regulations  thats inexcusable.

Montanans expect more from FWP, especially with this much licensing experience at the helm.
During July, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will kick off its Build America, Buy American month of action to highlight the administrations commitments to Americas small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups and highlight the benefits of the presidents bipartisan infrastructure law that will create opportunities for small manufacturers and contractors.

As Montana and the nation recovers from the pandemic, and supply chain issues, the federal government must begin to level the playing field for small manufacturing firms wanting to scale up, expand, and compete globally. As I visit local communities throughout the Rocky Mountain region, I am seeing more jobs, more hope, and something else more important: the rebirth of pride that comes from buying American.

Montana is a hub for small manufacturers. One example is Hi Country Snack Foods, which is based in Lincoln. Hi Country is the largest employer in the county employing 50 full-time people. The business started as a beef jerky company 40 years ago, but under the ownership of Travis Byerly the business has expanded into new products lines including a variety of flavored jerky and specialty seasonings. Byerly also operates the Hi-Country Trading Post which is packed full of made-in-Montana products.

The SBAs mission is to assure there is an equitable federal procurement strategy that prioritizes small, disadvantaged businesses which will increase competition and rebuild our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. The SBA is collaborating with an array of federal agencies to take shopping small to a whole new level by transforming how the U.S. government  the worlds largest buyer  spends more than $560 billion of Americas tax dollars on goods and services each year.

To assist businesses with planning, strategy and contracting, the SBA has various partners including local Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACS) to assist small businesses. President Biden laid out his vision to open more doors to federal contracting with an ambitious goal: Increase the share going to small and disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2025. Buying from small and disadvantaged businesses will leverage the federal governments purchasing power to reestablish domestic supply chains and American made products  using market growth opportunities to strengthen our nations industrial base.

Included in these reforms is an effort to make certain that category management, a government-wide initiative to strategically source commonly purchased goods and services, does not shut out small businesses. We want to make it easier for more small businesses owned by people of color, women and veterans to do business with the federal government. The administration has directed over 40,000 federal contracting officers across government to spend tens of billions of dollars more with small, disadvantaged businesses.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts $1.2 trillion created an enormous opportunity for small construction and service firms. The SBA stands ready to support these businesses with bonding capacity, access to capital, and the ability to subcontract with large businesses to get their fair share of the contracting pie. We must ensure all taxpayer dollars are being used to fortify entrepreneurship, innovation and domestic supply chains, and in the process strengthen our democracy by creating equitable pathways to the American dream.

Today, we are more committed than ever to ensuring the federal government shops small to help our nation build back better following the pandemic. For more information on SBAs programs and services, please visit sba.gov and remember to follow us on Twitter @SBArockymtn.
DECATUR  A Decatur woman is jailed on a preliminary charge of committing a hate crime after police said she used her car to knock down an employee of a city liquor store.

A sworn affidavit from Decatur Police said the woman, who was identified as African-American, had rammed the worker at 22nd Street Discount Liquors and yelled out I hate white people as she drove off.

Decatur Police Officer Rydick Braden, who signed the affidavit, said the male employee suffered abrasions to his head and right elbow in the incident, which happened about 10 a.m. June 20. Braden said the 24-year-old woman was found and arrested Monday night.

The officer said the trouble started when the woman, a customer of the liquor store, left her vehicle parked so it blocked the main drive. The employee said he reminded the bartender that it's company policy not to serve anyone associated with a vehicle that obstructs the driveway.

The employee told police he was immediately confronted by the woman. (He) stated she yelled something similar to 'Why the (expletive) do I have to move my car?' as she walked out to the vehicle, said Braden.

The employee said he was walking to his own vehicle and was struck by the woman as he crossed in front of her car. He said she did not attempt to stop after hitting him and yelling her hate comment, and then fled south on North 22nd Street.

Braden said he reviewed surveillance video of the incident and said it matched the victims version of events.

The woman was booked on preliminary charges of committing a hate crime and battery.

A check of Macon County Jail records Tuesday showed she remained in custody with bail set at $30,000, requiring her to post a bond of $3,000 to be freed. Prosecutors had asked for bail to be set at $75,000. If she does post bond, she is ordered to stay away from Discount Liquor.

All preliminary charges are subject to review by the state attorneys office.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday appointed a professor from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to lead the state Department of Public Health as highly contagious coronavirus variants have emerged and made clear the pandemic is far from over.

Dr. Sameer Vohra, a pediatrician and founding chair of the SIU medical schools Department of Population Science and Policy, will join the public health department on Aug. 1, the governors office said.

Vohra, who earned both medical and law degrees from SIU and a masters in public policy from the University of Chicago, oversees a department at SIUs Springfield medical school that works to improve health outcomes in central and southern Illinois.

In a statement, Vohra said he is humbled by his appointment to lead the states public health department, a job where hell make $185,673 a year

Governor Pritzker, along with the dedicated staff of IDPH, have served our state admirably during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Vohras appointment is subject to approval from the state Senate.

Vohra takes over the permanent directors role from Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who became a fixture for many Illinois residents during the early days of the pandemic and left the post in March.

The public health department under her leadership was the subject of a scathing audit of the states response to a deadly COVID-19 outbreak in November 2020 that killed 36 veterans at a state-run home in LaSalle.

Reporting by the Better Government Association also raised questions about whether Ezike violated the states revolving-door law by taking a job as president and CEO of Sinai Hospital hospital system, a safety-net health care provider that receives state grants. An attorney for Ezike told the BGA that she sought legal counsel before accepting the new job.

Amaal Tokars, the departments assistant director, has led the agency on an interim basis since Ezikes departure and will remain as second in command.

Vohra steps into his new role as doctors are warning that two new strains of the coronavirus appear to be able more easily to evade antibody protection from prior infections.

As of last week, 28 of the states 102 counties, including suburban DuPage and Lake counties, met the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions definition for high community levels of COVID-19, reflecting both the prevalence of cases and the strain on the local health care system. In places with a high community level, the CDC recommends masking in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

Over the past week, the state has averaged nearly 5,000 new cases per day, the highest level in more than a month. At the height of the omicron surge in January, the state was averaging more than 32,000 daily cases.

Due to the proliferation of home testing, case counts are no longer the most reliable indicator of the prevalence of the virus, but the number of severe cases also has been rising of late. During the week ending Monday, the state averaged 145 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units per day, the highest level since early March.

The state Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday reported a recent rise in COVID-19 cases at the state-run veterans home in Quincy, where 16 residents and 10 staff members have come down with the virus. All the residents had received at least two vaccine doses and 11 of them had received all recommended boosters, according to the department.

Most are experiencing mild symptoms, though four residents were taken to the emergency room, the department said, with two remaining hospitalized Tuesday for unrelated conditions.

Since the start of the pandemic, 35 veterans at Quincy have died from COVID-19, with the most recent death recorded in mid-March, according to the department.

Last month, the state reported an outbreak at the veterans home in Manteno.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. High 98F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
The EU will provide additional 4.25 million euros to Azerbaijan to support demining of the liberated territories, Azernews reports with reference to a tweet by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

"Pleased that EU as the largest donor is providing additional 4.25 million to Azerbaijan to support demining through the project `Supporting safe return of IDPs through Capacity Building of Mine Action Agency of Azerbaijan.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  A plan to build a 12-court pickleball park in Bristol, Tennessee is becoming a reality.

The Bristol Tennessee City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to enter a public-private partnership and lease agreement with the owners of the Bristol SportsPlex, a move which will allow the city to build the park on a two-acre parcel of land on Bluff City Highway adjacent to the SportsPlex.

Terry Napier, the citys parks and recreation director, said the hope is for the SportsPlex and the pickleball park to occasionally host national-level tournaments and regional tournaments monthly. With the combined capabilities of the SportsPlex and the new park, the entire complex could be able to host a 28-court pickleball tournament, making it a regional destination for pickleball players.

When this is finished (we could) be one of the largest pickleball complexes in the state for a tournament, Napier told the council Tuesday.

In a June briefing, SportsPlex owner Matt Lavinder presented to council renderings of a proposed patio expansion on SportsPlex property next to the pickleball park that would include an outdoor bar with a social space and stage that would be operated by the SportsPlex. The pickleball park will be built by the city and maintained by the city, as detailed in a 30-year lease.

The council also approved an agreement with a third party to develop concept plans and for other construction-related services in order to move the plan forward. Once the design and pre-construction phase is complete, the council will award a construction bid.

Napier estimated in June that the parks construction will cost the city approximately $750,000, money that has already been budgeted for this fiscal year. Park construction will include the 12 courts with lighting, restrooms, car access and parking. The park will be free for public use, while paid programming will be offered through the SportsPlex.

Councilwoman Lea Powers called the project another step towards building a vibrant community.

Napier said last month the park could be completed as soon as spring 2023.
Washington Countys Board of Supervisors urged the Virginia Department of Transportation on Tuesday to consider an alternative to a roundabout at the junction of U.S. 58 and U.S. 11 in Abingdon.

The board passed a motion in favor of realigning those two major highways at the busy junction near I-81s Exit 19.

Supervisor Dwayne Ball said his constituents do not want a roundabout.

Board Chairman Saul Hernandez said the board had studied this intersection for years and a roundabout should not be an option.

In other business, the board approved rezoning land near the Russell County border on U.S. 19/58-A (Porterfield Highway) for a pet crematory and human crematory at a six-acre site affiliated with Frost Funeral Home.

We need this to grow our business, Jack Frost, who represented the funeral home at the meeting, said.

At this time, Frosts pet crematory is in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Supervisor Randy Pennington made the motion to approve the crematory, seconded by Vice Chairman Mike Rush, who said, Jack Frost is a man of character.
Investigators with the Burke County Sheriffs Office, Catawba County Sheriffs Office and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation were on the scene at a home on Curleys Fish Camp Road looking for clues in connection with the case.

Burke Sheriff Steven Whisenant said the missing person was believed to have last been seen at the Burke property. Authorities did not release the persons identity.

He said investigators were executing a search warrant in an effort to find any evidence the person had been at the home, which now is vacant.

Reporters could see investigators digging in various areas around the property, and while authorities would not confirm whether evidence had been located, reporters could see an evidence marker on the ground.

Authorities said they expect to be on the scene throughout Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. They said there is no threat to public safety.

Nou Khang, who owns a business around the corner from the property, said he didnt know what to think when he saw the law enforcement presence there. He said he heard gunshots coming from the property on a weekly basis.

I hope its not something that bad, Khang said.
There is a new Little Free Library at a church in Claremont, thanks in part to the work of Jose De Jesus.

De Jesus is a retired pastor and a member of Bethany United Church of Christ. He said he found the Little Free Library online and he designed the churchs own with plywood, acrylic and shingles. He said he wanted to make the library resemble a tiny church.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to build community, inspire readers and expand book access to readers of all ages. Each Little Free Library is registered and users can navigate an entire global network of small community libraries through the website, littlefreelibrary.org.

The congregations reaction to the Little Free Library has been good, DeJesus said. Members of the congregation started bringing in books long before the library opened.

De Jesus said the church is planning to add a sign for the little library so that community members will know where people can pick up free books. The library is located at the churchs drive-thru circle so people can pull up and select a title from the collection of books.

De Jesus, who is from Puerto Rico, said he learned to build items, such as the little library, from techniques passed down by his father who worked in construction. De Jesus also enjoys woodworking, leather work and computer programming. He said that it makes him happy to see something he built being used by the community. I love when people find anything I do useful, De Jesus said.

Bethany UCC Pastor Kathy Naishs granddaughter was the first library visitor. Naish said the library offers books that appeal to all ages.

Congregation member and retired school librarian Norma Boggs said she wanted to look into partnering with local schools to get book suggestions for young readers.

Congregation member and Little Free Library steward Karen Gentle said community members can donate books to the churchs collection. Since the Little Free Library is a community book exchange, anytime someone wants to donate a book, they can leave it in the library for someone else to enjoy.

For larger donations, community members can leave books at the door of Bethany UCC.

Gentle said she loves the sign that welcomes community members to the library because of the little phrase it includes: Read it, Love it, Share it.

Boggs said that she refills the library at least once a week, and she makes sure that all books include a bookmark that gives information about Bethany UCC.
A murder suspect wanted in Warner Robins, Georgia, was apprehended by U.S. marshals in Hickory on Tuesday.

Reggie Roberts Jr., 20, was charged in connection to the death of Shamair Quylan Mitchell. He was arrested at the Fox Ridge Apartments on Fourth Street Drive Northwest in Hickory on an outstanding warrant for murder. The warrant was issued by the Warner Robins Police Department in Houston County, Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release.

Mitchell died during an altercation in a parking lot in Warner Robins. Roberts fled the area following the altercation, U.S. marshals said in the release.

Roberts was taken to the Catawba County Jail, where he will be held pending his extradition hearing, U.S. marshals said.
The four candidates running in the competitive Hickory City Council races shared their views on a range of issues at Tuesdays forum organized by the League of Women Voters of the Catawba Valley and the Hickory Daily Record.

The topics ranged from gun violence to the collapse of the Hickory arches and what if any role the city has in supporting education.

Gun violence

When it comes to recent shootings in Hickory, Mayor Hank Guess said the citys primary role is to ensure the Hickory Police Department is properly trained and equipped and to build relationships with community leaders.

Drawing upon his more than 40 years in law enforcement, Guess said, I realize that the biggest thing we can do is be out in the community and be effective by being part of the community and working with the community on a daily basis.

Guess challenger Al Hoover said he wants to work with Hickory Police Chief Thurman Whisnant to focus on the bad areas, were going to go in there and straighten it out.

I want them to go in there and I want them to do their job legally but I do want to go after the gun violence, Hoover said, adding that he wanted to stay closely involved with the work of the police department by riding along with officers.

Ward 5 candidate Chris Simmons said there needed to be short-term and long-term efforts aimed at providing a sense of hope, stability and a path forward for young people in particular as alternatives to criminal activity.

He also noted that many shootings tend to happen in the poorer areas of Hickory while also pointing to actions undertaken by the city in the past which had left lasting marks in Hickorys Black community and contributed to destabilization.

Hickory ripped the heart out of Ridgeview in the mid-1960s when it closed Ridgeview High School, which was the heart and soul of that community, and then demolished it in the middle of the night, Simmons said.

Councilman David Zagaroli, who is running for reelection to the Ward 5 seat, said the city police department is being proactive through its drug diversion and homelessness assistance programs but the department still faces many challenges, including hiring difficulties.

Were constantly working and helping the people in the Ridgeview area and all of the other areas. And its just, its a big job and we just dont have enough hours in the day or the financing to really do a bang-up job, Zagaroli said.

Racial disparity

A 2021 report from the Western Piedmont Council of Governments revealed two trends: A growing diversity in Hickory, particularly in the Hispanic and Asian American communities, as well as stark racial disparities in areas such as income and education.

Responding to this situation, Hoover said: I would like to change that with the council and look at everybody as a human being because thats what they are.

Guess said the city has a goal of ensuring the workforce in city government reflects the demographic makeup of the community. He also said the city is supporting efforts by groups such as the Hickory NAACP and is looking through data to find other ways to address the problem.

Zagaroli said he felt there was not much the city could do to address those problems because of its inability to set educational policy as well as what he described as unwillingness of people to work. I think its a whole problem that we as a city council cant address, Zagaroli said.

Simmons said that addressing the disparities will require buy-in from the private sector and programs providing support for people at earlier ages to be truly effective.

City Walk arches

The city of Hickory is involved in a lawsuit against three companies and an engineer over the collapse of the 40-ton, $750,000 City Walk arches.

Candidates were asked if they thought elected officials owed any explanations or additional accountability measures beyond the lawsuit.

Guess said the city has been as transparent as the law will allow us to be regarding the collapse. He reiterated that he believes the city will be fully compensated for the loss. While Guess called the fall of the arches unfortunate, he said the citys focus needs to be on economic development and improving amenities.

Hoover said he thought city leaders had handled the arch collapse appropriately. I think theyre doing a good job because theyre suing the people.  Theyre suing that contractor, so I think thats the right direction to go, Hoover said.

Zagaroli echoed Guess sentiments regarding the arches, particularly the point about the city receiving restitution for the loss.

Simmons said it was difficult to gauge the citys response as an outsider, though he said he was not sure that the city should have built the arches in the first place.

Education funding

During the Hickory City Councils annual retreat in May, Hickory Public Schools Superintendent Bryan Taylor asked city officials to consider funding expanded pre-K.

Even though funding education is outside the purview of cities, Taylor argued it could be a good way of closing achievement gaps by providing more support at an earlier age.

Taylors proposal did not find much support among the candidates on Tuesday.

Guess said it was not the citys place to get involved with school funding. We need to stay in our lane, thats what I think about it, Guess said, adding the city contributes to education through its public libraries.

Hoover said it would be something to look into but he focused most of his remarks on the use of lottery funds for education and his desire to work with the governor to learn more about use of lottery funds.

Simmons initially said yes before adding it would depend on the nature of the program. He expressed skepticism about the school systems ability to effectively run such programs. What I see happening in the school district in the last year causes me to struggle with having confidence in preschool programs being rolled out by this district, Simmons said.

Zagaroli also said he opposed city funding for the initiative. I think its a can of worms once we get into that, were into some other areas thats not our responsibility, Zagaroli said.
VAS Connect Summit

I just want to be able to leave it better than it was yesterday.

Kristyn Mensonides shared that quote about her farm during a panel discussion of young farmers at this years Connect Summit, but each of the producers sitting on stage with her illustrated the same sentiment as they described their farms and the ways they are working to move them into the future through processing, technology, people development, and connection.

Mensonides manages both the cows and people at her familys dairy in Washington, and when she looks toward new efficiencies for the farm, she keeps employees top of mind. She wants new technologies to be easy to train people on, but more importantly, she wants her team to be part of the decision-making process.

We can get caught up in thinking were the boss, Mensonides said. The reality is that the tools must be useful for the people implementing them to work well, so she encourages development of the farm by ensuring all of its members feel valued.

For Mike teVelde, leaving the dairy industry better than it was involves using data from his cows to improve his business. A self-described nerd who studied computer science before ending up back in agriculture, teVelde brought activity monitors to his familys Mira Farms in Colorado because, If were not getting more efficient, were getting less efficient.

TeVelde knows, though, that technology for the sake of technology is not useful for the farm or valuable to his employees. He focuses on information that provides actionable insights for the dairy, and like Mensonides, he is sure to communicate that value to the people who carry out the tasks every day. Its about making the people around him smarter, he explained.

The customer side

Panelists Traci ven der Ploeg and Evelyn Leubner described that the future of their farms is connected to sharing their business and products with their consumers.

Ven der Ploeg farms with her husbands family in New Mexico, and last year they opened a coffeeshop to market their milk, yogurt, and butter as well as other regional products. We didnt want to go big in one thing, ven der Ploeg said, describing that they instead wanted to be able to offer their community a variety of local foods  including plenty of dairy.

The diversification has been very beneficial for ven der Ploeg and her husband as they looked to add something of their own to the familys farm, she shared. And she views coffee as a useful way to reach customers with their local dairy products and the story of their dairy farm, creating an opportunity for conversation.

The operations of Leubners family farm in New York are regularly shared with consumers of all types through the social media channels she and her two sisters run, @NYFarmGirls. The farm also hosts a pumpkin patch in the fall, and she said that is another great opportunity to connect with people unfamiliar with farming.

The oldest of the three, Leubner has been back on the farm after college for a year and a half now and is excited to keep bringing that education to the operation. Her goals are to continue advancing the operation to something her family can be proud of, she said, and her advice for creating change was to be consistent in presenting new ideas.

Although they use slightly different approaches, Mensonides, teVelde, ven der Ploeg, and Leubner all illustrate the innovation that young dairy farmers are using to ensure their operations can thrive for them and beyond. That vision is whats necessary to leave their businesses better than they found them.

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

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2022

July 11, 2022
Ann Street United Methodist Church335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. at Ann Street Church. Sermon: Directions for Singing. Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11.

Bethpage United Methodist Church109 Fellowship Ave. at West C Street, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Gary MacDonald. Christian education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. As an act of caring for yourselves and others, you can choose to wear a mask during indoor worship; however, at this time, mask wearing is not required. Sermon: Called to Connection. Scripture: Luke 10:38-42.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church1775 Flowes Store Road E., Concord. Pastor: Eric Shaver. Adult Bible study at 9 a.m. Worship in-person or on Facebook at 10 a.m. Childrens Reading: Open Your Eyes and You Will See by Cameron Sullivan. Opening reading: Psalm 53. Sermon: Looking Deeper. Scripture: Amos 8:1-12. YouTube: If Women Had Hubby-Vision.

Calvary Lutheran Church950 Bradley St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Debbie Frye. In-person worship at 8:30 a.m. (casual worship) and 11 a.m. (traditional worship). Masking optional. Childrens area and nursery available. All services livestreamed and available anytime on the Calvary Lutheran YouTube channel  access easily through the website at http://www.clconcord.org. Also on Sundays, 10 a.m. Sunday school. All are welcome.

Center United

Methodist Church1119 Union St. S., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Tony Allen. Sunday school for In Betweens and young adults at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. Nursery is provided during the worship service. Masks are optional. Website is www.centerumcconcord.org. Join us for our service.

Crossroads Church220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Crown Pointe

Baptist Church703 Tennessee St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Doug Crawley. Join us this Sunday at 10 a.m. as we welcome guest speaker, Pastor Jeff James, of Village Chapel. We are so excited to have Pastor James visit with us and share Gods word. Then Sunday evening at 6 p.m., Brother Don Greer will lead us in worship!

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In-person services: Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Worship services at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Bill Roberts. Church has reopened its 10 a.m. worship service for attendance. Epworth UMC continues to follow the appropriate COVID-19 social distancing guidelines as outlined by the N.C. governor and the CDC. Join us in worship. Sermon: When Jesus Comes Calling. Scripture: Luke 10:38-42.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship at 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups at 10 a.m. Traditional worship at 11 a.m. Both the contemporary and the traditional worship services will also be livestreamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc.

Harmony United Methodist Church101 White St. NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Join us for Sunday school at 10 a.m. followed by our worship service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sermon: Dont Get Bogged Down. Scripture: I Thessalonians 5:1-11; Revelation 19:13; Isaiah 63:1-4. We welcome all to join us in worship. Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch. We welcome all who are unable to join us in person to worship with us online. For more information, call the pastor at 704-791-2883 or the church at 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Worship at 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service. Series: Old Parables in a New Light. Sermon: Are We Asked to Do the Impossible. Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13.

Kirkwood

Presbyterian Church900 Klondale Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Dennis B. Craft. Worship at 11 a.m. in church sanctuary on Sundays. No mask restrictions. Sermon: Reconciliation.

McGill Baptist Church5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterward. Sermon: Guest Speaker. Scripture: Amos 8:1-12; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42.

Midway United Methodist Church108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10:30 a.m. for worship. Our service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC. Sermon: The Good Portion. Scripture: Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42. Suggested Hymns: TFWS 2128, Come and Find the Quiet Center; UMH 370, Victory in Jesus.

Mt. Mitchell United Methodist Church6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school at 10 a.m. (adult and children classes.) Worship at 11 a.m. in person or on Facebook. Masks are optional and social distancing recommended. If you have not taken the COVID vaccine, wear a mask. Sermon: A House of Prayer for All People: An Opportunity for Godly Living. Scripture: Isaiah 56:1-8. Event: Youth Skit.

Multiply Church Concord150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. 8:30 a.m. service held at 280 Concord Parkway S., Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead

Reformed Church2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. 9:40 a.m.: Bible study. 10 a.m.: Childrens Bible school. 11 a.m.: Inside worship, Facebook worship, drive-in worship at 1600 AM radio.

Oak Grove

Baptist Church200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. 10 a.m.: In-person worship service and Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Sermon: Suffering to Advance Gods Grace. Scripture: II Corinthians 12:6-10.

Second

Presbyterian Church1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Pastor: Sue Black, minister. Rev. Aaron Price, assistant minister. Worship at 11 a.m. in sanctuary and on Facebook Live. Sermon: Where Is Your Brother? Scripture: Genesis 4:1-9.

St. Johns

Reformed Church901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. 9:30 a.m.: Sunday school for all ages. 10:30 a.m.: Worship service (in-person or online at www.ourstjohns.org). 4 p.m.: Adult Bible study. Sermon: Jesus Concludes His Sermon. Scripture: Matthew 7:13-19.
MATTOON  Former state Sen. Dale Righter has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the Mattoon school board until the next regular board election in April 2023.

The Mattoon school board voted at its meeting Tuesday night to appoint Righter to the seat previously held by Susan Braun, who stepped down from the board on July 1. Before voting, the board went into closed session to interview applicants for this seat. Superintendent Tim Condron said the newly appointed member will be sworn in at the board's next regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 9.

Its an honor to be appointed to the school board that oversees the district where I went to school and where my two boys attended, Righter said in a press release from the district. Mattoon has a great school system and I look forward to being a part of making it even stronger for our students and community.

Righter, who spent more than 20 years as a state legislator, was appointed in 1997 to fill a vacancy representing the 106th District in the Illinois House of Representatives and was subsequently elected to this post. He later won election to the newly redistricted 55th Senate District and took office there in early 2003.

He announced in 2019 that he would not seek re-election to the senate and concluded his final term on Jan. 13, 2021. Since then, he has opened a law office in Mattoon.

On behalf of the Mattoon school board, we are pleased and honored to welcome Dale to the school board and believe he will be a valuable asset to the district, said board President Michelle Skinlo in the release.
Protest Signs dont tell the whole story. If only Steve Jobs was still with us, he would certainly come up with an iProtestSign that rolled over to reveal its full message.

Im into this tirade because I saw a Protest Sign that simply read...

Abortion Is a Human Right

I think we need further explanation about whose Human Right we are talking about...

Is it the right of the mother with the Human inside herself to kill the Human inside herself?

This cant be right because the Pro-Abortion People claim that the something inside the mother is not a human...yet.

They say it is not a human until it becomes viable to live on its own.

When does the Not Yet Human Thing inside the mother become viable to live on its own?

It certainly is not viable after the Not Yet Human Thing inside the mother is outside the mother because that Thing still needs to be fed, cleaned, educated and cared for for a very long time.

Lets be honest, the Thing cant be put into a bassinette and left there until it is ready to go to college.

To me it looks like the Thing inside the mother, after it is outside the mother, becomes viable at about 18 years of age.

Does this mean the Thing inside the mother, which is now outside the mother, can be aborted up until its 18th birthday?

Is anyone going to stand up and say the thing inside the mother has a right to be aborted?

This whole issue has gotten wild and crazy but I dont think anyone will ever stand up in Congress and say that the Thing inside the mother has a right to be aborted...Or will anyone?

(I wont waste another bullet on this one.)

Is it the right of the Abortion Clinic to abort Things otherwise it would not have the income they need to pay its expenses?

(This one does not get even the first bullet.)

OK, Im gonna stop. Somewhere above I crossed over from Foolishness to Silliness and dont you just hate when I do that?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Another sign that confused Fella is the one that reads...

We have a right to a Safe Abortion!

I think the About To Be Aborted Baby would also be confused if it was told, Good morning, little fella, today is your big day! You are about to be a very important part of a Safe Abortion.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

In 2022, Azerbaijan marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the subjects of international relations - both individual states and international organizations.

Azernews, the nation's first English language media outlet, has launched a new project, designed to cover the major points of the 30-year-long diplomatic ties between Azerbaijan and individual states and organizations.

This time the United States of America is on the agenda.

This year Azerbaijan and the United States also mark the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties. The cooperation between the two countries in the energy, security sectors, and in the fight against terror is particularly strong.

For 30 years, the two states have worked together to promote European energy security, expand bilateral trade and investment, and combat terrorism and transnational threats. Moreover, the U.S. is pursuing lasting peace in the South Caucasus region.

And for the convenience of our readers, we are trying to shed light on specific aspects of the relations in a Q&A format.

Q: When did Azerbaijan and the United States establish diplomatic relations? What do we know about the history of ties?

A: The United States recognized Azerbaijans independence on December 25, 1991. The countries established their diplomatic relations in the same year.

On March 6, 1992, Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Washington, and on March 16, 1992, the United States opened its embassy in Baku, with Robert Finn as Charge dAffaires ad interim. Secretary of State Baker visited Azerbaijan on February 12, 1992.

The United States has provided over $125 million to IDPs in Azerbaijan since 1992 and remains committed to supporting this community. According to the current US ambassador to Azerbaijan, Lee Litzenberger, this assistance has included targeted support for children, such as the construction and renovation of schools, capacity-building programs for youth, and English language programs for IDP communities.

Q: What is the current state and spheres of economic cooperation between the two countries?

A: The economic relationships between the United States and Azerbaijan have primarily developed in the context of the Caspian energy resources and their transportation to western markets. The U.S. companies are actively involved in the development of Caspian hydrocarbons in offshore Azerbaijani oilfields, and the U.S. government actively supported the BakuTbilisiCeyhan pipeline as the primary route of transportation for Caspian oil. Notably, Azerbaijan and U.S. have become strong partners in promoting European energy security.

Talking about an abundance of accords signed between the two states, one of those was the bilateral trade agreement, signed in 1995, which granted Azerbaijan the status of a "most favored nation. Similarly, the bilateral investment treaty named Azerbaijan a beneficiary country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program in 2008. The GSP program provides an incentive for investors to produce in Azerbaijan and export selected products duty-free to the U.S. market.

Crude oil is the single largest import from Azerbaijan to the United States. U.S. companies are involved in offshore oil development projects in Azerbaijan, export aircraft and heavy machinery to Azerbaijan, and are considering opportunities in agriculture, telecommunications, tourism, transportation services, and other fields.

Furthermore, the U.S. also supports Azerbaijan's application for accession to the World Trade Organization.

The two states periodically convene the U.S.-Azerbaijan Economic Partnership Commission to discuss bilateral cooperation to promote trade and investment.

USAID contributes to the social and economic development of Azerbaijan through activities that further develop the agricultural sector and strengthen citizen participation in rural communities. USAID assistance focuses on activities that directly benefit the lives of the Azerbaijani people, create economic opportunities, and expand partnerships to enhance civil society at the grassroots level.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and U.S. amounted to $517.5 million in 2021.

Q: What is the United States view of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict?

A: The year 2022 not only marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Azerbaijan and the U.S. but also the 30th anniversary of the infamous Section 907 that was passed against Azerbaijan by Congress, influenced by the Armenian lobby.

Congress passed the notorious amendment to the Freedom Support Act, Section No. 907, which deprived Azerbaijan of direct military assistance.

And we, the affected country, were essentially discriminated against. The rationale behind it was that Azerbaijan was blocking Armenia. Just imagine - Zangilan, Gubadli, Lachin, and Kalbajar regions are occupied. And this is described as a blockade of Armenia, Aliyev said in an interview with Russias Natsionalnaya Oborona magazine.

However, the administrations of George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush opposed Section 907, viewing it as an impediment to impartial U.S. foreign policy in the region and an obstacle to the U.S. role in the Karabakh conflict mediation efforts.

Consequently, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the amendment to the Act adopted by the Senate on October 24, 2001, provided the president with the ability to waiver Section 907. And this year the amendment was once again extended.

In view of Azerbaijan's contribution and support for the US military operations in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush waived the section in January 2002 and President Barack Obama further extended that waiver.

Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to join the global anti-terror coalition assembled by the U.S. government. Azerbaijan opened its airspace to the allied forces and assured its agencies would cooperate and provide information that would assist in American-led efforts.

In November 2011, the United States Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus met with the Azerbaijani president and defense minister announcing the military ties between their countries would expand. The U.S. State Department already offered Azerbaijan $10 million to enhance its security structures in the Caspian Sea earlier that year.

Despite the notorious amendment, the U.S. has been actively involved in the attempts to resolve the conflict since 1992. Today, the country is in direct dialogue with Azerbaijan and Armenia to support the peace process. Moreover, it is providing humanitarian demining assistance in Karabakh.

In the recent report, titled 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom under the section Armenia, U.S. State Department highlighted that hundreds of sites, including most mosques, shrines, and cemeteries used by the regions ethnic Azerbaijani communities  approximately 400,000 people  were looted, vandalized, desecrated, and/or destroyed while under Armenian occupation.

Q: How do the two countries cooperate in political, international, educational, and other spheres?

A: Throughout these years, Azerbaijan and the United States of America have maintained stable high-level political dialogue that is ensured through regular meetings of top officials.

Furthermore, the two countries have a strong connection in the sphere of education. This way, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan works to foster mutual understanding between the United States and Azerbaijan through international educational and training exchange programs. The department brings U.S. scholars and researchers to Azerbaijan, as well as sends Azerbaijani students, educators, and professionals to the United States annually for a variety of programs.

Education USA is one of those programs that offer information about opportunities to study at accredited postsecondary institutions in the United States.

To conclude, the bilateral relations between the two countries are well-rounded and have the full potential to evolve further.
SPRINGFIELD  In the wake of a July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more injured, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is calling for a ban at both the state and national levels on military-style assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

The governor made those calls on national cable television and at the White House in recent days.

While I support an assault weapon and high-capacity magazine ban at the state level, we urgently need federal regulation on the weapons of war and high-capacity magazines that are used only for mass murder, Pritzker said in a statement released last week. Illinois is not an island, and even with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, our state is only as safe as the state with the weakest laws  many of which border Illinois.

The weapon used in the Highland Park shooting has been identified as a Smith and Wesson M&P 15, a semi-automatic rifle that holds 30-round cartridges of 5.56mm ammunition. The alleged shooter, Robert Crimo III, reportedly used three such cartridges during his attack on a Fourth of July parade, firing off more than 80 shots in a matter of just a few minutes.

Although the letters M&P stand for Military & Police, it and others like it have been widely available to civilians at sporting goods stores throughout the country.

The weapon used in Highland Park is also similar to guns used in other recent mass shootings, including the May 24 shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead, and the May 14 shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store that killed 10 people.

All those weapons are modeled after the Colt AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle originally designed for the military.

On Monday, Pritzker and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering were at the White House for an event with President Joe Biden marking the recent signing of the Safer Communities Act, the first significant federal law addressing gun violence in nearly 30 years.

We had a number of conversations immediately after the attack in Highland Park and I've been impressed with the way they've handled things. It's been extraordinary, Biden said. And as the three of us have discussed, we have more to do.

Later in the day, Pritzker appeared on CNNs State of the Union, and he repeated his call for additional measures to control gun violence.

I think that there are probably three things that need to be looked at here: One is changing some of the verbiage in the law on red flags so that something could have been filed that would have prevented the FOID card from being issued. That's one, he said. Two is that we need to ban assault weapons, not just in the state of Illinois, but nationally. And then third, high-capacity magazines.

A bill pending in the General Assembly would make it a felony to buy or sell assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines. House Bill 5522, by Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, would also require existing owners of such weapons to register them with the Illinois State Police, and it would prohibit those owners from selling them in-state to anyone but a federally licensed firearms dealer.

Hirschauer, a first-term lawmaker and organizer of a local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, introduced the bill in January, but it was never considered in a substantive committee. Since the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park, however, 50 more lawmakers, all Democrats, have signed on as cosponsors.

I think that my colleagues have been moved by the tragedy in Highland Park, but also moved by the gun violence that affects the entire state, and constituents all over Illinois have been reaching out to their state representatives and state senators, telling them how important this bill is, Hirschauer said during a phone interview.

Gun rights advocates, on the other hand, argue that eliminating one type of gun from society will not address the underlying causes of gun violence.

We certainly understand the emotional response of anti-gun politicians in light of the evil and violence the world witnessed in Highland Park  just like the equivalent of 47 Highland Park shootings that have taken place in the city of Chicago year to date, Richard Pearson, director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said in an email. Evil and violence do not lie in an inanimate object but in the hearts of people. At some point politicians must tackle the Why of violence instead of the easy way out by trying to ban inanimate objects.

Lawmakers had planned to convene a special session this summer, primarily to respond to the U.S. Supreme Courts decision striking down a constitutional right to abortion. Before the Highland Park shooting, however, those plans were put on hold and no special session has yet been scheduled.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey also called for a special session last week to repeal a criminal justice reform bill passed in January 2021 and convene a mental health task force consisting of doctors, first responders, patients, home caregivers, parents, teachers, and churches.

The Pritzker campaign, in turn, blasted Bailey for voting against gun safety bills and state budgets that increased mental health funding.

The next scheduled meeting of the General Assembly is Nov. 15 when the regular fall veto session convenes.
CHICAGO  Mourners shared memories and tears Tuesday during the funeral for the mother of a 2-year-old boy who lost both his parents in the attack on a suburban Chicago Independence Day parade, and they pledged to care for young Aiden McCarthy and ensure he shares in their memories of his mom and dad.

Irina McCarthy, 35, and her husband Kevin McCarthy died on the parade route in Highland Park on July Fourth.

Strangers cared for their young son in the chaotic hours following the barrage of gunfire that killed seven people and wounded more than 30. A photo of the boy's round-cheeked face spread online, helping authorities to eventually reunite him with his mother's parents who had lost their only daughter.

Irina McCarthy's friends who spoke during the funeral in Wilmette, Illinois, remembered her as a big-hearted, dedicated woman who cherished her relationship with her parents and threw herself into marriage and motherhood.

Each speaker pledged to remain a part of Aiden's life and make sure he hears stories of his parents, noting his own cheerful approach to life that echoes his mother's smile and can-do attitude.

Family friends recalled Irina McCarthy as her mother's best friend and their own children's favorite babysitter, who calmly read aloud the definitions of "various unmentionable words" as the kids giggled endlessly.

"(Aiden) will be cared for by all of us," said Vic Lichtenberg, a friend of Irina's parents. "He will have a family, a home and he'll thrive and grow with us. Every moment, every time I look at that child, I see Irina."

Brittany Chisum recalled meeting her friend in second grade. Irina was a bold, loyal girl who loved traveling abroad with her parents and became a devoted wife and a loving mother who once described herself and her husband as "obsessed" with their young son.

"I promise to always be there for Aiden ... We, as your closest friends, are going to spend the rest of our lives honoring your memory so Aiden knows what amazing parents he had," she said tearfully.

Details of services for Kevin McCarthy, 37, have not been publicly announced.

Lake Country prosecutors charged Robert E. Crimo III with seven counts of murder last week and said they plan to follow up with attempted murder charges for each person wounded in the attack.
Authorities identified a 17-year-old from South Carolina as the second suspect in the shooting death of a convenience store employee in Montgomery County last month.

Darlington, S.C., police took the teen into custody Monday on an unrelated attempted murder charge, the State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

The teen will be transferred to Montgomery County, where he will be charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon in the death of Laura Lynn Whitman, the SBI said.

The charges stem from an incident that happened at 10:08 p.m. June 25 when a man entered the Quik Chek convenience store at 231 S. Main St. in Star, a town in eastern Montgomery County, the SBI said.

The man showed a handgun, then jumped behind the counter with Whitman, who worked at the store, the SBI said.

Whitman opened the cash register and the suspect went through it, the SBI said. The suspect then turned toward Whitman and fired multiple shots at her. Whitman died at the scene.

The suspect then stole more money from the cash register before leaving the store, the SBI said.

On July 9, James William Ward Jr., 57, of Brewer Road in Winston-Salem was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon in Whitmans death, the SBI said.

Investigators identified Ward as the driver during the robbery and the shooting, SBI said.

Under North Carolinas felony murder law, a defendant can be held responsible for a death if they were an accomplice to the crime that led to the death, according to the UNC School of Government.

Ward was arrested by Winston-Salem police.

Whitmans daughter, Courtney Rodriguez, told FOX8/WGHP that her mother was 53 and had been working at the Quik Chek in the nearby town of Candor before transferring to the store in Star.

Rodriguez said that her mother was a loving person who enjoyed talking with customers, the television station reported.

She was sweet, Rodriguez said. Everybody loved her.
Sen. Deb Fischer cheered the arrival of a former legislative colleague and "one of my dearest friends" to a seat in Nebraska's five-member congressional delegation Tuesday as Mike Flood of Norfolk was sworn in as a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Flood, who won a special election last month to fill eastern Nebraska's vacated 1st District House seat, took the oath of office, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi conducting the ceremonial swearing-in and Fischer on hand to celebrate the moment along with Flood's family and about a dozen friends.

In addition to his wife, Mandi, and two sons, Brenden and Blake, the new congressman's father, Dan, and sister, Sara Armbruster, were there.

Fischer and Flood served in the Nebraska Legislature together for eight years; Flood was speaker from 2007 to 2013. Fischer was successful in securing a breakthrough allocation of additional state funding for highway construction during her tenure.

Flood has all the tools to be a productive and successful congressman, Fischer said during a telephone interview from Washington, and he arrives with the "great perspective" of being from Norfolk while "having an understanding of Lincoln as well."

The 1st District includes Lincoln and Norfolk along with Bellevue, Columbus and Fremont and encompasses 10 counties and portions of two more.

"I'm excited for the state," Fischer said. "It's nice to have him here.

"I'm looking forward to working on issues together. He will add a lot to the delegation."

Asked if Flood will encounter a difference in working in a partisan Congress after being a member of Nebraska's unique, nonpartisan, one-house Legislature, Fischer suggested that "the Legislature is a partisan body if you look at voting patterns."

Working in a bicameral system is "a lesson that he will need to learn," she said.

Fischer said she and Flood have "a good bond, a good partnership and family ties" developed over their time together in the Legislature.

His accomplishments during his 10 legislative years demonstrate "how effective he is," she said, "as do the accolades he has received from both sides."

"I look forward to working together on issues, as I have worked with Adrian (Smith) on essential services and a lot with Don Bacon on Omaha and Offutt (Air Force Base) issues," Fischer said.

Smith, who represents western Nebraska's vast 3rd District in the House, is also a former state senator. Bacon is metropolitan Omaha's 2nd District congressman.

Flood defeated Democratic nominee Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln, another state senator, in a June 28 special election to select a House member to serve the remaining six months of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's ninth term.

Fortenberry resigned from Congress last month after his conviction on charges of lying to federal officials about an illegal foreign contribution to his 2016 reelection campaign.

Flood and Pansing Brooks will meet again on the Nov. 8 general election ballot after winning May primary election nominations to serve a full two-year term in the House beginning in January.
As those of us who have long supported reproductive rights contemplate the future of abortion care without the protection of the U.S. Constitution, we should look back on what motivated us to take action when Roe v. Wade was first threatened.

On July 3, 1989  33 years ago  the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Missouri case of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services that a state law imposing some restrictions on abortion was not unconstitutional, and the state did have an interest in regulating certain aspects of abortion care.

This decision set off alarm bells at many levels. In Nebraska, a group of us met to plan a political response. If a state now could begin chipping away at what had been the impenetrable wall around the protections afforded by Roe, our state, with its lively and loud anti-abortion crowd, would certainly be wielding a hammer and chisel.

So, we formed Nebraska Voters for Choice to recruit and support pro-choice candidates for the state Legislature, publicly endorsing 12, and candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in the May 15, 1990, primary election.

Meanwhile, on the national level, Planned Parenthoods membership, represented by its affiliates throughout the country, met in 1989 in San Diego (I was a delegate from Planned Parenthood of Lincoln) to authorize the creation of a political arm: The Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

But Planned Parenthood nationally had not fully geared-up for the 1992 election cycle, so Nebraska Voters for Choice raised money and again endorsed legislative candidates who would support reproductive rights. We were heartened by the election of pro-choice Bill Clinton to the presidency.

By 1993, the national Planned Parenthood membership had stepped up its advocacy efforts to allow local affiliates to create political organizations to endorse local candidates and make independent expenditures in their behalf. The Nebraska Planned Parenthood Action Fund was formed and helped elect supportive Lincoln school board candidates and a 5-2 majority on the City Council.

In 1995, as a delegate from Lincoln to the annual Planned Parenthood membership meeting, I presented a resolution to the body to OK the creation of a federal Planned Parenthood PAC and allow local affiliates to create PACs to support state and local candidates. It passed, and one was formed in Nebraska.

Over the years, because of affiliate mergers and scarce resources, pro-choice political activities in Nebraska have had mixed success at the statewide level. But due to hard work, key 2020 electoral endorsements and some strategic organizing, enough legislative victories were produced to stymie this year the bill to ban abortions in the state. Abortion care is still available in Nebraska.

Its the Wild West now. The efforts of reproductive rights advocates must double or triple: Support candidates at all levels who believe that a woman should have control over her own body and pregnancy not be criminalized. Give money to Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska. But most of all, register and vote. Yesterdays gone. Start thinking about tomorrow.
His name is unknown to most, but few have done more for higher education than the late Claiborne Pell, a six-term senator from Rhode Island.

It was Pell who sponsored a 1972 bill that reformed the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, which provides financial aid to American college students. Eight years later, the grant was given Pell's name in honor of his work in making higher learning accessible to everyone.

Fifty years later, there are thousands of Nebraskans who have benefitted from the Pell Grant and the opportunities it afforded students who might not have otherwise been able to afford to go to college.

The current funding of the Pell Grant  about $5,600 per semester  pays the full tuition rate for in-state colleges and would cover additional costs of those students. The money does not have to be paid back.

According to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education and published through the College Scorecard, roughly 36% of students attending Nebraskas public and private colleges and universities received a Pell Grant in the 2019-20 school year.

Now consider how many students both in Nebraska and nationwide who have benefitted from Pell Grants. That list includes UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green, who received financial assistance when he enrolled at Virginia Tech University in 1979.

Journal Star higher education reporter Chris Dunker wrote last week that the grant, when combined with other scholarships, helped Green graduate with no college debt.

I didnt work a lot when I was in college  I worked some as a student worker  but I was able to go full-time as a student and not have to worry about 20-30 hours of workload a week, he said. I was able to finish in 3 years instead of five or six years.

The world was different four decades ago, particularly when it comes to the cost of higher education. Student debt has become a fact of life -- an unavoidable curse -- for many students, but Pell Grants still serve a valuable role in reducing that debt.

The average debt University of Nebraska-Lincoln students graduate with is roughly $24,500, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, which is below both the state average of $30,500 and the national average of $32,700.

That's a bigger hole than we'd like to see young people saddled with as they enter the workforce, but that kind of debt is at least manageable.

We can thank Pell Grants for that. Without this financial aid, there are thousands of Nebraskans who would have entered the workforce immediately out of high school, perhaps without the skill-sets necessary to run some of the firms and industries that help us to maintain the Good Life.

Even worse, consider the thousands of students who might have been forced to leave school without a degree because such funding wasn't available to them.

Fifty years later, Claiborne Pell deserves a long overdue tip of the cap for making a difference.
RACINE  The cost to taxpayers for the City Attorneys Offices five-year battle over a PowerPoint slideshow could grow by tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.

City Attorney Scott Letteney said last week that $201,312.83 has already been spent in legal fees in the case, paid to a Milwaukee law firm handling the case on behalf of Racine.

There is no telling when the case might conclude. More appeals are still possible.

Mark Hinkston, the attorney representing former Alderman Sandy Weidner in the case, said he plans to file a motion on Sandys behalf effectuating a release of the PowerPoint per the (July 6) Court (of Appeals) order and asking for an order that the City pay Weidners attorneys fees, as allowed in a successful open records case, in an email to The Journal Times.

Weidner told a Journal Times reporter last week that she has spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees on the case, but she did not have an exact estimate. The Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel reported that Weidner estimated her lawyer fees thus far to be about $40,000.

Additionally, Hinkston said he plans to seek having the PowerPoint in question fully released to the public. I dont believe theres an open to some but not to others concept under the Wisconsin Open Records law, Hinkston wrote in a text message to a reporter Tuesday. From our perspective, a record cannot be a little bit public or a little bit open ... It either is or is not.

Hinkston said he also plans on requesting a couple other items from the city, but that he will not go into what those items are at this time.

The PowerPoint in question was shown by Letteney to the City Council in a closed-door meeting in August 2017, while Weidner was still an alderman. Reportedly, the PowerPoint contains more than 70 slides depicting communications between the City Attorneys Office and aldermen that aldermen then shared with constituents. The City Attorneys Office claims that those messages should have been considered confidential and aldermen were wrong to share them with the public.

Weidner has said that the majority of the slides were directed at her communications specifically. She later requested the PowerPoint from the City Attorneys Office, which rejected her request, claiming that the PowerPoint could not be shared because of attorney-client privilege, even though she had already seen it.

Weidner challenged that rejection in court. The case was initially sealed but later became partially public.

On July 6, a Court of Appeals decision stated that, essentially, the City Attorneys Office was wrong to reject Weidners initial request on the grounds of attorney-client privilege. That decision could pave the way for the PowerPoint being released, but that remains to be seen.

Hinkston has been allowed to view the PowerPoint in camera  a legal term meaning essentially for attorneys eyes only  but Weidner still reportedly has not seen the PowerPoint since it was initially shown in August 2017.
Laura Ann Walker, the attorney for the teen against whom charges were dropped, told the Journal Times it appeared a witness had been untruthful in identifying her client as being involved in the crime. The prosecutor then "did what she is supposed to do as a prosecutor and that is to speak the truth, Walker said. So kudos to her. However, Walker did express concern about the rush to charge her client. I wish they would spend more time investigating prior to issuing the criminal complaint."
By Azernews

By Orkhan Amashov

The legal air enveloping the presence of the Russian troops in Karabakh, Azerbaijan, is not one of explicit clarity, but of constructive ambiguity. However, it seems improbable that this state of affairs will change in a measurably discernible way before the spring of 2025, when Baku will be able to exercise its veto right.

Furnished with a foundational legal basis by virtue of the 10 November 2020 trilateral declaration, the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast has been bedevilled with two legitimacy issues, at least.

It does not correspond with the definition of a traditional peacekeeping operation in line with UN logic. Its reference point - the trilateral ceasefire deal signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Armenia - sets the bare minimum without elucidating its mandate.

International law

The criteria for maintaining a peacekeeping contingency perfectly legitimate in the eyes of international law is not a widely and wondrously varying framework. In the present case, the question "what law says" could be answered by reference to the UN-approved norms and the standards articulated by the OSCE, whose beleaguered Minsk Group, despite being nothing but the acme of insipid vacuity, deserves mention to this effect.

First of all, there should be a mandate authorised by the UN or another relevant international organisation. Secondly, this mandate must clearly stipulate its responsibilities, rules of engagement and accountability provisions.

Thirdly, peacekeepers are to be drawn from countries that are not party to the conflict and thus, in this particular instance, the OSCE co-chair countries and regional actors were excluded. Fourthly, its presence should entail a commitment to a certain political settlement.

None of the conditions hitherto specified have been fully satisfied in the case at hand. The UN has not issued a statement retrospectively ascribing 'peacekeeper status' to the Russian troops operational in Karabakh, but in a statement made by the Secretary-General's office in the aftermath of the 10 November ceasefire deal, it was suggested that Russia and its ''peacekeeping troops' must be tasked to fulfil a range of humanitarian issues.

This may be interpreted as an acknowledgment of two principle points and a refutation of one. The statement accepts that the Russian presence is not without legitimate grounds and is authorised by the conflicting sides and that, by the trilateral declaration, the troops are defined as 'peacekeepers'. However, what it does refute is reference to them as 'international peacekeepers in accordance with international law', and understandably so.

Paul Goble, former advisor to the US Secretary of State, told me that Russia does not satisfy the requirement of "being impartial', because it is a party to the conflict and has hitherto operated not as a peacekeeper, but as an ally of the truncated remnants of the Armenian separatists. In his view, if Azerbaijan had managed to ensure the involvement of third countries for the purpose, this would have been a gargantuan success for Baku and a guarantor of long-term peace.

Unspecified mandate

The trilateral declaration does not specify the exact rubric of tasks pertaining to the peacekeeping contingency and the entire concept remains shrouded in constructive ambiguity. The normative framework is of a nature to allow a wide range of mutually exclusive interpretations to be made.

The ceasefire agreement stipulates the bare minimum without going into extensive details on the nature and functional scope of the peacekeepers. The overwhelming sensibility is that the lack of a clearly stipulated mandate is attributable to the fact that the parties did not come to a common understanding and the suggested specification modes have militated against the interests of at least one of the actors.

Baku does not want to concur with any agreement that may remotely or potentially endanger its sovereignty over Karabakh. Moscow seems to be relatively satisfied with the present sway it has over the facts on the ground and has no appetite for facilitating a new arrangement that would have enabled Azerbaijan to exercise de facto control over the sovereign territories that are currently within the zone of responsibility of the Russian contingent.

However, the concern in Armenia seems to be that any new arrangement leading to gradual retrenchment of the Russian presence in Karabakh will be a blow to its contrived and forlorn hopes for the resuscitation of the remnants of the so-called illegal and unrecognised "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR)".

Future design

The 20 months following the trilateral declaration and deployment of the Russian peacekeepers have not been completely devoid of problems. Although Baku, on the whole, praised Moscow's role in the trilateral format, its attitude towards peacekeepers has been measuredly critical.

It is generally assumed that the rapid turnover of mission heads was instigated by virtue of Azerbaijans disapproval. Russia's somewhat cavalier approach to the limitations imposed by Article 3 and the exercise of some self-granted autonomy have not gone unnoticed in Baku.

Since the peacekeepers are stationed in the internationally-recognised territories of Azerbaijan, the latter's red lines and their implications for the mandate dilemma must be duly evaluated.

First of all, Baku does not want to alter the present "temporality" of the peacekeeping contingent. The terminological attitude adopted favours the expression "the temporary zone of the Russian peacekeepers", which is quite apt, as it reflects the "5+5" formula and the veto right as to termination. Incidentally, the word "temporary" is not always present in the language employed by Russian officials, a semantic issue with seismic implications.

Secondly, Baku does not seem to be inclined to give the peacekeepers a more formal status or treaty-based legitimacy. The 10 November declaration is a ceasefire agreement and not a peace treaty. Article 4 of the trilateral declaration has not been fully implemented, as the remnants of the so-called "NKR" are still present in Khankandi. The fear is that a more entrenched Russian presence in Karabakh, without Baku's direct involvement, will involve corollary risks.

Thirdly, Baku may sign a document specifying the exact mandate only on a bilateral basis with Russia. Although the trilateral declaration  the current basis of the Russian peacekeeping mission  is signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, it is apparent that because the Russian peacekeeping mission zone is on sovereign Azerbaijani territory, Baku does not believe Yerevan should be a direct party to a legal instrument, specifying the peacekeepers' mandate.

The likely probability is that the constructive ambiguity that currently pervades will remain unaltered in the immediate future. A clear legal mandate is possible if Baku obtains a measurable amount of effective control in what is now the temporary area of the Russian contingent.

One could assume, albeit tentatively, that the fate of the peacekeepers will be decided upon closer to 2025 - the deadline when Azerbaijan may exercise its veto right. At present, chastened in Ukraine and under international pressure, it is unlikely that Russia will aspire to gain more leverage than is currently the case. Given the peacekeepers' track record, which has not exactly been perfect, Azerbaijan's present and considered calculation does not seem to favour agreement to a clear mandate.
KENOSHA  Police responded to a call of a potential bomb threat at Carthage College Tuesday afternoon, however, upon investigation, the threat was unfounded.

The incident occurred shortly after 3 p.m., according to Carthage officials.

The college was was notified by the Kenosha Police Department that its dispatch center had received a bomb threat directed toward the Carthage campus, said Elizabeth Young, the colleges associate vice president for marketing and communications.

Although it was quickly determined that the threat was not credible, out of an abundance of caution, all campus buildings were evacuated while Kenosha police cleared all facilities. Faculty, staff, students and campus guests were temporarily relocated for a short time, she said. Kenosha police confirmed that the campus was safe shortly after, and campus operations resumed as normal.

A notification of the incident also appeared sometime between 4 to 5 p.m. on Yik Yak, a local social media board.

Several officers investigated and did not find any credible evidence to support the claim, said Lt. Joseph Nosalik, the Kenosha Police Departments spokesperson. There was no threat as a result of of the report.

He said, however, the case remains open and detectives continue to investigate the incident.

If someone is identified, they will likely face charges of terrorist threats, which is a felony, Nosalik said.
RACINE  Local activist Kejuan Goldsmith, 20, did not let his arrest on June 26 deter him from leading another pro-Roe demonstration in Downtown Racine on Sunday. Now facing criminal charges filed more than two weeks after the arrest, Goldsmith still doesnt plan to slow his activism.

Sundays protest, organized by Goldsmith through his newly founded organization We the Change-makers, once again demonstrated on Monument Square in opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that officially overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24.

The Supreme Court ruling officially removed the requirement that all states must allow some abortions to be legal, returning the decision to the states. As a result, abortion became illegal in Wisconsin.

Goldsmith said he plans to fight the criminal charges. The charges are for obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct. They were filed Wednesday. The maximum combined penalty would be for one year of incarceration and $11,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, a sergeant reported seeing protesters in the street on city cameras. Upon arrival, the sergeant used his squads speaker to address the protestors by telling them to move out of the street and that they were able to protest on the sidewalk. The majority of protesters complied.

The sergeant reported that Goldsmith stayed in the street and started the chant Whose streets? Our streets! The sergeant reported that he yelled to Goldsmith that he was going to be arrested if he continued to block traffic.

Goldsmith denied ignoring orders from police and said he moved to the sidewalk when he was told to. Video taken by other protesters shows Goldsmith being arrested within seconds of him stepping onto the sidewalk.

The complaint stated that Goldsmith attempted to walk around the sergeant while still ignoring (the sergeants) verbal commands at which point Goldsmith was arrested.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Goldsmith said the police narrative is inaccurate. He said he was complying with the officers initial orders to walk toward the sidewalk, and the officer approached him as he complied and then arrested him.

I would describe my arrest as quick and effortless, Goldsmith said in an interview. There was never any resistance from me.

Xavier Simmons, another Racine-based organizer who witnessed the June 26 arrest, said in a text to a reporter that day: They (the police) told him (Goldsmith) to get out of the street. He got out of the street and they still handcuffed him.

Goldsmith said that when police initially showed up at his June 26 protest, they told him he did not have a permit to protest on the street.

The arrest, Goldsmith said, really motivated me to fight even harder for this fight.

He was bonded out of the Racine County Jail within hours. He said his $600 bail was paid by an anonymous donor.

Inspiration

Influenced by the nonviolent and steadfast protest methods that became synonymous with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Goldsmith said he started We the Change-makers in hopes to reenergize young people.

It was designed to empower the youth and its voices and to ensure that we create an equal and just society. The future is young, bright and equal. The future is ours. Lets take it and own it, Goldsmith said. Our main goal is to find young potential leaders and give them the resources they need to be successful.

When The Journal Times asked Goldsmith if he had any reaction to the charges being officially filed by the Racine County District Attorneys Office on Wednesday, Goldsmith replied in a text, When our rights are under attack, we stand up and fight back!

In a Facebook post, Goldsmith wrote You guys they have officially charged me with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct!!! This is War! The Facebook post was later edited to remove This is War!

An initial appearance for Goldsmith is scheduled for 2 p.m. on July 27 in the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.
TOWN OF WATERFORD  For the second time in recent months, town officials are coming under question for possibly violating the state law regarding conducting government business in public.

Robert Ulander, a former Waterford Town Board candidate, has filed complaints with both the Racine County district attorney and the Wisconsin attorney general about a Town Board meeting held behind closed doors on June 22.

Ulander alleges that the Town Board violated Wisconsins open meetings law by holding a closed-door executive session to discuss town business that should have been discussed in public.

The Town Board similarly was criticized by open meetings experts this spring for using private emails rather than public discussion to decide a way forward on filling a vacant seat on the board.

In both instances, Michael Dubis, town attorney, might have given Town Board members poor advice that violated at least the spirit of the open meetings law, Ulander wrote to law enforcement officials.

Taken together, Ulander wrote of the boards conduct, It begins to illustrate a pattern of questionable choices and guidance by the individual entrusted to ensure compliance with Wisconsins laws.

Contacted at his office, Dubis defended the June 22 board meeting by saying that none of the issues discussed behind closed doors were voted on. Dubis declined to address whether closed-door discussions had taken place in violation of the law.

Theres nothing to complain about, he said, because no action was taken.

The states open records law restricts when elected officials can discuss public business in private, regardless of whether votes are taken or decisions are made.

Racine County District Attorney Tricia Hanson said her office is investigating Ulanders complaint.

Ulander, a commercial airline pilot who also has a law degree, finished in third place this April in a four-way contest to fill two seats on the Town Board.

Voters re-elected incumbent trustees Teri Jendusa Nicolai and Tim Szeklinski.

Officials at the Wisconsin attorney generals office could not be reached for comment.

Any member of a governmental body found to have violated the open meetings law is subject to civil penalties of up to $300 for each violation.

Town Board member Dale Gauerke said trustees acted on the advice of their attorney, and that the attorney is cautious about keeping board actions within the limits of the law.

Gauerke said he believed the board was correct in how it handled the June 22 discussions.

I dont think there was any problem with the meeting that we had, he said.

Town Chairman Tom Hincz and other board members either declined to comment or could not be reached.

The open meetings law requires elected officials to hold meetings in public, with limited exceptions allowing closed-door meetings for specific reasons, such as hiring an employee, setting strategy in a lawsuit, or buying or selling real estate.

The five-member Town Board on June 22 cited two exceptions for its planned executive session: one involving a hiring decision in the towns public works department, and the other involving competitive concerns in police and fire contracts.

Ulander sent the Town Board a letter in advance urging board members to meet in public in the interest of transparency, and he cautioned them that their rationale for meeting behind closed doors did not fulfill the states requirements. He then submitted complaints to both the district attorney and the attorney general, alleging that the town board had violated the law.

Instead of discussing hiring or evaluating a public works employee, he alleged, town board members emerged from their closed session and discussed posting job listings for a mechanic and seasonal snowplow drivers. And instead of discussing police or fire contracts, he stated, they discussed promoting police sergeants to lieutenants and giving them pay raises.

This was not an issue of personal employment contracts, but one of reorganizing the police department, Ulander wrote. No indication of competitive or bargaining issues that necessitated a closed session was given.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels once led an organization that fought a proposal to get tough on people who were living in the country illegally, but hes campaigning as someone opposed to illegal immigration.

Michels, a co-owner of the construction company Michels Corp., is in a tight battle with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in the Republican primary race for governor. The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will advance to face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday on Michels positions on immigration.

When Michels was president of the board of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association during the 2007-08 legislative session, the groups lobbyists opposed an Assembly bill that would have prevented companies that employ illegal aliens from getting government contracts, tax exemptions and loans. The bill died in committee.

Michels spokesman, Chris Walker, said Michels was unaware of the lobbying being done by the group, which represents road builders in Wisconsin.

To Tims knowledge, the associations position on every single one of the bills introduced every legislative session is not brought to the board of directors, Walker said. Tim is against illegal immigration.

Michels, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running multiple television ads detailing his opposition to illegal immigration.

Tim Michels blueprint to stop illegal immigration, one ad says. No drivers license, no benefits, and no tuition. Sign now if you agree!

Kleefischs campaign criticized Michels over the inconsistency, also referring to Michels ties to groups that had advocated for higher gas prices. Her campaign is running two ads attacking Michels over the gas tax, including one that launched this week and features former Gov. Scott Walker.

Tim Michels wont take responsibility for his companys campaign contributions for a higher gas tax, and now he wont take responsibility for a group he was president of lobbying to allow illegal immigrants to work on government contracts, said Charles Nichols, Kleefischs campaign manager.

Michels also said he supports Wisconsins 2015 right-to-work law, which places a ban on requiring non-unionized workers to pay dues to their workplace union. But Michels Corp. was part of the Wisconsin Contractor Coalition that opposed the states right-to-work law. The construction companys employees were also a part of protests against that proposed law at the time.

We cant speak for Michels Corporation, but when with them, he never specifically encouraged or granted time off for Michels employees to protest for or against anything, including right-to-work, said Walker, the Michels spokesman. How employees express their First Amendment rights on their own time is up to them.
1. Yes. The new high school has made it a must. Thousands of people are impacted..

2. Yes. Even if it means revising some budgets, these entities must move on the project.

3. No. Its been known for years that the road was a problem.. Why the urgency now?

4. No. If prioritizing the road means more taxes, forget it. The project will just have to wait.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say until school has been in session for a few months.

Vote

View Results
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

President Ilham Aliyev has stated that there is good potential to boost economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

Aliyev made the remarks while receiving credentials of the newly-appointed Czech ambassador to Azerbaijan, Milan Sedla?ek, the report adds.

The president lauded the good potential for extending economic cooperation and raising the amount of mutual trade, citing the significance of high-level visits, including frequent interactions between delegations from the two nations, to the development of bilateral ties.

Underlining the two nations' energy cooperation, Aliyev highlighted the good potential for collaboration in the industry, agriculture, and innovative technologies, and stressed the importance of issues related to transportation infrastructure challenges.

Given the increased volume of freight movement from East to West going through Azerbaijan, the president stressed that there is potential for collaboration in this area as well. Aliyev also underlined the significance of establishing corporate partnerships and identifying prospects for mutual investment.

The ambassador extended Czech President Milos Zemans greetings to the president, adding that the Czech president instructed him about the extension of cooperation, notably economic relations with Azerbaijan.

Sedla?ek expressed his country's eagerness to collaborate with Azerbaijan in the energy sector, mentioning other initiatives, such as the Czech Republic's strong interest in the Alat Free Economic Zone and the reconstruction work being done in the liberated regions.

The sides exchanged views on prospects for cooperation in humanitarian, scientific, educational, and tourism sectors.
KEARNEY  A lawn mower is believed to have started a porch on fire Tuesday night in east Kearney.

At 9:35 p.m. the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department was called to East Lawn Mobile Home Estates No. 55 for a structure fire. When firefighters arrived they found heavy fire on the wood porch and into the house.

Firefighters extinguished the fire, a KVFD news release said, and entered the house where they extinguished the fire in the interior.

The owner, Ron Matson, and an adult woman were inside the house at the time and were alerted to the fire by neighbors, the release said. They safely left the house and were uninjured.

The Nebraska Fire Marshal determined the fire started from a push lawn mower that had been recently used and was parked under the attached wood deck.

The house sustained extensive smoke and heat damage estimated at $8,000.

Three KVFD engines, two tankers, two utility vehicles and 36 firefighters responded.
KEARNEY  A longtime critic of Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and a former U.S. Senate candidate awaits prosecution after he allegedly trespassed at the state GOP convention in Kearney on Saturday and tackled a security guard.

Matt Innis, 51, of Crete was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault and second-degree trespassing, both misdemeanors. The incidents were reported around 10:55 a.m. Saturday at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney.

According to a news release from Kearney Police Chief Bryan Waugh, the department received a radio call for a disturbance at the conference center at 416 Talmadge Saturday morning. When officers arrive they contacted members of a private security company who were providing security for the Nebraska GOP Convention.

Several of the security officers were off-duty police officers, Waugh said.

And yet they let me back in (later in the day), Innis told the Hub when reached Tuesday evening.

KPD officers were told Innis had previously been barred from attending the event by organizers and attempted to force his way inside the conference center, pushing a security officer to the ground, according to police.

According to Omaha World-Herald report, the Nebraska GOP convention credentialing committee sent letters barring six party members from attending the convention, including Innis, ahead of Saturdays event. Innis said he had been contacted by party members to return to the convention on Saturday, where a vote would be held whether to let him in.

When I tried to walk around (the security guard), he pushed me and he ended up on the ground, Innis said. He ended up on the ground after pushing me. I had not laid hands on him. Then he gets up and starts claiming I assaulted him. I didnt know how fragile he was.

The news release said according to the involved security officer and witnesses, Innis allegedly approached the security guard at the main entrance to the conference center demanding entry. The security guard attempted to block the entrance at which time Innis tackled the security guard to the ground. Additional members of the security team, including off-duty police officers, assisted with placing Innis in custody. Additional witnesses were interviewed, with similar accounts of the incident, Waugh said in the release.

Based on the investigation, statements from the victim, and witnesses, probable cause was established and Innis was arrested. Innis was transported to the Buffalo County Jail where he was later released on bond. Police reports in the incident have been forwarded to the Buffalo County Attorneys Office for review.

They cuffed me, took me in, made me sign a paper that said Id be arrested if I returned, said Innis, saying that later in the day he was invited back in without incident.

The Nebraska Examiner reported that after being released from Buffalo County Jail, Innis walked into the convention hall to applause from the crowd.

People like Nancy McCabe (formerly the 2nd District Chair for the Nebraska GOP) and the old leadership tried to keep people from supporting me and that gave me more support, he said.

Oh, I had a fun time (at the convention), I really did. Everbody was angry at the cops for arresting me. I said they dont know whats going on (with the division in the state GOP), theyre just doing their job. (The police) treated me great.

Innis said hell fight the charges.

Absolutely. Im shocked they havent attempted to drop them, he said. We have all the evidence on our side, and they know it.
Jason Soules came out about five years ago as a transgender person. In that time, he has transitioned and has had a lot of support throughout the process. His family and friends have been with him from Day 1 of the transitioning process.

Im one of identical triplets. So I was born out of a set of three girls, and Im best friends with them, he said. Theres 10 kids in the family. So I just kind of grew up thinking youre a girl, youre a girl, Im a girl and didnt question certain things.

But Jason said the family has been really supportive and loving throughout his journey  a journey that includes founding Transforming The Valley, an organization that seeks to better the lives of those in the transgender and gender-nonconforming community.

Before starting Transforming The Valley, Jason spent some years at Eau Claire North High School teaching band and advising the gender and sexuality alliance clubs as an out lesbian from the age of 25 to 30.

When I realized what was going on with me, I quickly came out, he said. I was very confident, and it was what I deserved to do. And I just did it.

Jason said he spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to approach the school before going to his administrators to explain that he was going to transition. He wasnt sure how to handle coming out as a school teacher, he said.

I told them what was going on, and we all agreed we wanted to handle it as gracefully as possible so that we got the information to the students and parents and everybody, but we didnt make a big deal out of it, he said. They had lawyers look over everything so it was a little bit delayed more than I would like, but nobody had a bad reaction.

Jason had a positive experience coming out to family, friends and his community, he said. He said he came out publicly in January 2017.

I came out to my staff, students, the whole world on social media, he said.

He kept teaching for another year-and-a-half before leaving the job for unrelated reasons.

Since then, hes become a well-known figure in the transgender community, including through speaking engagements and mentoring as much as possible.

Because of my teaching background, it just lent itself really well to that, he said.

Jason said he had top surgery a little over a year ago and has been on hormones for about five years.

Theres no looking back.

Jason was lucky that his family, friends and workplace were accepting and supportive of his transition. But not everyone is so blessed.

There is a lot of focus in the LGBTQ community on everything but the T. And so a lot of times, we kind of get put off till the end, he said.

Jason wanted to make sure that every transgender individual had the support they needed on their journey  regardless of what that might look like or how long it might take.

I was kind of underwhelmed with some of the support in the area, and really wanting more for people and already connected to a lot of people, he said. So I started the organization Transforming The Valley late last summer. We started running support groups right away and trying to develop into some other things that we could do.

Transforming the Valley is a volunteer organization in the Chippewa Valley that works to improve the quality of life for those in the transgender and gender-nonconforming community (including non-binary, gender fluid, intersex, etc.), as well as their family, friends, and neighbors in the Chippewa Valley. It educates the community, advocates for trans rights and offers supportive services and resources for those in need.

Jason said the organization is growing fast. It offers support meetings weekly and four clothing drives per year, which are run out of String Theory Studio in Chippewa Falls.

People can come shop for free clothes, jewelry, makeup, that sort of thing, he said. So then they dont have to feel so anxious going out there, trying to collect resources. So when people come out, they know where to go.

Transitioning is expensive. Jason had to buy new clothes and toiletries to match his identity.

Everything that changed from womens to mens, all those things cost money, he said. Going and getting new clothes for me, from being female to male was cheaper, actually, in a lot of ways, because girl clothes are more expensive. But the hormones, the surgery, the therapy  its very expensive.

Jason said he was lucky to have about $5,000 donated to him through fundraisers, which helped pay for transitioning, including his top surgery last year.

I have very generous friends and family in the area that helped make sure I didnt have to pay to be me, he said.

Jason said his life has changed for the better thanks to his transition. Theres a lot of rewarding moments in his life now, he said. Hes found that the transitioning process has been cathartic and loves helping others learn from his experience. But above all he loves himself.

I just have a much better understanding of who I am and why Im here, he said. I think that the confidence is totally different  the self-worth, being able to live that means that others can see it and be inspired by it.
This summer Viroqua Area Schools offered an Outdoor Adventure summer school class for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students, which allowed them to take daylong field trips over four weeks.

The 30 students, who were led by fourth-grade teachers Kim Cade and Marie Schneider, visited Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center Thursday, June 30.

While at the nature and heritage center, the students were divided into four groups to experience hands-on activities throughout the morning and afternoon. The students did activities with Blueberry Jack, toured the Bekkum Homestead to learn about how Norwegians lived when they first arrived in the area, hiked in the woods and experienced some hands-on bluegrass music with GrassRun Band.

In addition to visiting Norskedalen, the class went to the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota, Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center in Lansing, Iowa, Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, Spook Cave and Pikes Peak State Park in McGregor, Iowa, Grandad Bluff and the La Crosse Queen in La Crosse, Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge in Trempealeau, Blackhawk Park near De Soto, Sidie Hollow County Park near Viroqua, International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Myrick Park Reptile Roundup in La Crosse, Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center in La Crosse, Genoa Lock & Dam 8 and Esofea County Park, Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien, the mining museum in Platteville and Henry Vilas Zoo. Some days they visited more than one site. Summer school ended Friday, July 1, with students swimming at Chapparal Campground in Wonewoc.

Some of the activities were teacher-led, while others were led by environmental educators. Students also read about the locations they visited and topics related to the daily trips. They also journaled about their experiences.

During their 17 days of field trips, students had the opportunity to use binoculars to see nature close up and use field guides to assist in identifying Wisconsin birds and mammals. They were introduced to the binoculars on their first day of summer school, which was held at Viroquas Eckhart Park, Wednesday, June 8.

Earlier in the spring, Cade and Schneider worked on getting funding for the binoculars. Through a grant, donations from local organizations and donations from individuals, the teachers were able to purchase 36 binoculars for students to use.
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Katrin Goring-Eckardt, Vice President of the German Bundestag, will visit Azerbaijan on July 18, Azernews reports, citing the German embassy in Azerbaijan.

It was reported that in addition to formal meetings, Goring-Eckardt is expected to hold discussions with civil society, journalists, and human rights advocates as part of her visit.

Germany is one of the nations with which Azerbaijan has been developing strong ties as a trusted European partner. Official Baku attaches special importance to German support in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration and close cooperation with the European Union. As a country that plays an important role in the world economy and politics, the Federal Republic of Germany supports the expansion of cooperation with Azerbaijan in all areas.

Over the 30-year-long period of diplomatic relations, the two countries have been able to build strong ties based on partnership in the economic, cultural, and education spheres.

Azerbaijan is one of Germanys ten most important suppliers of crude oil. The key exports are machinery, motor vehicles and components, iron and steel products, and production facilities.

According to the Azerbaijani Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Germany amounted to $1.2 billion in 2021. In addition, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $377.5 million from January to April 2022.
There is a little under a month to go until Wisconsins Aug. 9 primary, and on that ballot will be the battleground race for the states 3rd Congressional District.

Four Democrats and one Republican are officially on the ballot, and the primary will narrow down one from either party to face off in Novembers general election.

The Tribune sent the candidates a series of questions. Below are the candidates biographies and responses to the fourth and final question.

Rebecca Cooke, D-Eau Claire

Age: 34

Family: Single

Job: Small business owner of Reds Mercantile and founder of nonprofit Red Letter Grant

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Board member and secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, 2019-2021

Education: Degree in marketing and public relations from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

Email or website: CookeForWisconsin.com/info@CookeForWisconsin.com

The next representative for the 3rd District will fill the shoes of longtime Rep. Ron Kind, who has served for more than two decades. If elected, how would you plan to establish yourself and what committees are you interested in serving on?

Just as Ive done throughout my life, I am running for Congress to better serve communities across Wisconsin, put people first and provide more opportunities for success, and be a relentless fighter for our way of life. I am committed to showing up, listening, asking the tough questions, and learning all that I can to ensure that the people know they have someone who has their back, working hard for them.

I am interested in serving on the House Committee on Agriculture, House Small Business Committee, and the Committee on Education and Labor  committees in line with my background and call to service on behalf of our communities.

Mark Neumann, D-La Crosse

Age: 68

Family: Married, two adult children and one in high school

Job: La Crosse Common Council member, District 13

Prior elected office: La Crosse Common Council, 2021-present

Other public service: Previous congressional candidate in 2020, and politically active on Democratic campaigns and issues since 2017. Member of La Crosse County Democratic Party, Our Wisconsin Revolution, Citizen Action Wisconsin, Physicians for a National Health Program. Member of the Franciscan Order from 1976-1996, where he served for six years as a foreign medical doctor in Zaire, Africa.

Education: Bachelors degree from University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn; MD from University of St. Louis Medical School; Pediatric residency at University of Chicago; Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship at UW-Madison

Email or website: markneumannforcongress.com/mark@markneumannforcongress.com

The next representative for the 3rd District will fill the shoes of longtime Rep. Ron Kind, who has served for more than two decades. If elected, how would you plan to establish yourself and what committees are you interested in serving on?

I believe, as many do, that our federal legislature underperforms given the risks before our people. We need to legislate a more effective and vigorous response to climate change. We need to relieve Americans of the cruelty of their healthcare financing system. We need to codify human rights into law, rather than expecting our court system to do it.

I believe that the underlying reason for our congressional underperformance is due to corruption. Powerful special interests, greed, and selfishness control the legislative process through corrupt campaign finance practices and interference. Voices of power with the most wealth control the actions of legislators who remain in perpetual campaign mode. There is no time left over to do the work of writing and enacting laws for the common good.

My most important role in Congress will be to refuse corruption. I have a vision for promoting our common good. I will carry that vision into my assigned committee work, and I will work hard to move legislation in the direction of the common good whenever possible. I will vote my conscience for the benefit of all Americans and not just the few, the wealthy and powerful special interests class.

Deb McGrath, D-Menomonie

Age: 61

Family: Married, three children, one step daughter, two grandchildren

Job: Former U.S. Army Captain, retired CIA officer, mother

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Voting Assistance Officer, U.S. Army Installations and U.S. Embassies, Interims, 1988-2008; Volunteer in various humanitarian operations during world-wide assignments; League of Women Voters, 2018-present

Education: Masters in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pa.; Masters degree in public administration from the University of Kansas; Bachelors degree in American government from the University of Virginia; Certificate in executive leadership from the University of Notre Dame; Certificate in theology from Princeton University; Currently pursuing a certificate in organizational development from Harvard University

Email or website: debmcgrathforcongress.com/info@debmcgrathforcongress.com

The next representative for the 3rd District will fill the shoes of longtime Rep. Ron Kind, who has served for more than two decades. If elected, how would you plan to establish yourself and what committees are you interested in serving on?

I got into this race because I love the families, farmers, businesses, and communities of western and central Wisconsin. Service is core to who I am, and if elected, Ill establish a strong constituent services program to ensure responsiveness to the citizens of this district. I care deeply about our district, and this is my top priorityIll always listen to and support those in our district.

I have received more federal endorsements than any other candidate in this primary. The Elect Democratic Women Coalition along with Representatives Seth Moulton, Abigail Spanberger and Lois Frankel have influence and wisdom in Washington. I will work alongside others to get important legislation passed to support Wisconsin. I will work with our Senator, Tammy Baldwin and the other Democrats in our party to gain support for Wisconsins families, farms, businesseses, trade, and economy. I will fight for our rights. I am uniquely qualified to work across the aisle to solve problems and institute change.

I hope to serve on the following committees, with focus on subcommittees of substantive impact on the District. In Congress, I will always fight for Wisconsins fair share and open opportunity.

Education and Labor, Veterans Affairs, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture Committee

Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska

Age: 54

Family: Married, two children

Job: Wisconsin State Senator, District 32

Prior elected office: Wisconsin State Senate, 2020-present

Other public service: State executive director and national deputy administrator for Wisconsin Farm Service Agency (USDA), and Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture

Education: Masters degree in public administration from George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., and a Bachelor of Science from UW-Green Bay

Email or website: bradpfaff.com

The next representative for the 3rd District will fill the shoes of longtime Rep. Ron Kind, who has served for more than two decades. If elected, how would you plan to establish yourself and what committees are you interested in serving on?

I am honored to have Congressman Kinds endorsement. We have long worked on rural and agricultural policy together and Im ready to hit the ground from day one. I would like the opportunity to serve on Agriculture, on Transportation and Infrastructure, Budget, and Financial Services.

Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien

Age: 52

Family: Married, four children, eight grandchildren

Job: Retired senior chief, U.S. Navy SEAL

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: United States Navy, 26 years, Navy SEAL Teams, 21 years

Education: Bachelor of Science from Excelsior College

Email or website: vanordenforcongress.com

The next representative for the 3rd District will fill the shoes of longtime Rep. Ron Kind, who has served for more than two decades. If elected, how would you plan to establish yourself and what committees are you interested in serving on?

The only committee I have been focused on joining is the Agriculture Committee. We are an agricultural district and it is about two decades late for our Congressional Representative to be on that committee.

Career politicians have been campaigning on getting internet, particularly broadband, into the district for years but have not done much to actually make that happen. Rural development is the purview of the Agriculture Committee, and I plan on getting there to actually fix problems, not just campaign on them. 75% of the family farms that were open when Ron Kind took office are now out of business, that is a terribly high number and we have to reverse that trend. If the people of the 3rd District see fit to send me to Congress, I will work tirelessly to represent them and our Wisconsin values in D.C.
The La Crosse County Board is continuing to explore multiple possibilities to support child care initiatives using federal COVID relief money.

On Wednesday morning, the Executive Committee reviewed and acted on three proposals that would support child care providers and school districts throughout the county, though at this time its unclear which ones  or if all of them  will eventually be funded.

At the meeting, the committee approved moving forward with a $696,000 proposal from the School District of La Crosse to develop a neighborhood child care center that would serve school staff and low-income families.

Additionally, the committee voted to postpone a $2.9 million proposal from child care providers and another plan that reserves $1 million for other school districts in La Crosse County to operate child care centers similar to La Crosse schools. Those items would come back in August for action.

Since this spring, the board has been navigating how it should spend $3.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to bolster child care in the community. Thats a dollar amount the board originally earmarked for the cause, among a number of other categories.

Debate has largely centered around making sure existing child care businesses in the county arent hurt by other initiatives.

That remains the concern of some when it comes to the proposal from the School District of La Crosse.

On Wednesday, some supervisors still felt helping the district open up its own child care facility would take employees away from existing businesses in the community that are already struggling with workforce issues. But others disagreed, saying the exact impact cant be assumed.

The La Crosse district is specifically asking for help to open up a daycare in targeted neighborhoods, where half of the children served would be from low-income families, and the other half would be children of school district staff.

This would be a three-year pilot program, and it would be operated out of existing district facilities, though some remodeling is needed.

La Crosse schools first proposed the project in April. And with the approval of the Executive Committee, the proposal now heads to the full County Board next week for the third time.

The past two referrals were largely to allow for child care providers in the area to present an idea of their own, which was presented by a group last week.

The providers argued that without first building a sustainable way to increase and retain child care workers, adding more daycares would only cause them harm.

In their much larger plan, which has been given the title Building a Sustainable Workforce, the county would help pay for one-time employee incentives, training and development grants.

On Wednesday, officials said they still had many questions about the proposal, specifically on the size and scope of the project, and on who would administer the program.

I cant endorse it as it is now, supervisor Randy Erickson said, describing it as a complex proposal.

Some supervisors suggested breaking the proposal apart and doing independent grants for different pieces of it.

County staff said they similarly had questions about the process of executing the proposal, but said so far, the plan fits within the ARPA spending guidelines.

At $2,968,600, this project would eat up most of the allocated funds.

The proposal was referred unanimously by the Executive Committee for 30 days.

The third project the committee reviewed was a plan to reserve $1 million for other school districts in La Crosse County to essentially replicate the School District of La Crosses child care plan.

Although no other district in the county has expressed interest to the board in pursuing such a project, the funds would be ready for any that do. Interim county administrator Jane Klekamp described it as a chicken and egg proposition.

The school district would need to have a physical location to operate the child care program at, and half of the families served would need to be receiving state subsidies for child care. Additionally, those working at the school child care center would need to be making at least $15 an hour with benefits, and the district must develop a plan to make the program sustainable.

Some officials expressed worry about the financial implications of approving this funding without knowing if the other child care proposals would be approved.

If the full $1 million isnt used, staff said, the county could reallocate the funds to another project that fits within the spending guidelines of the ARPA funding.

Additionally, Klekamp emphasized that the Executive Committee will serve as the oversight for these programs, meaning even though the funding was approved, the details of how it was spent will still get another round of review.

Everything will come back here, and if something isnt working, you can change it, Klekamp said.

Still, the committee voted to refer the proposal for 30 days as well.

All three proposals would exceed the countys original $3.3 million allocated for child care, meaning if all three were approved, either ARPA funds would need to be shifted or other funding sources identified.

In other action

Other ARPA items the Executive Committee took action on:

It was approved to reserve $2 million for a Stormwater Infrastructure Grant Fund, which will help municipalities improve stormwater systems. This was identified as a need because of the increasing amount of heavy rains that current infrastructure cant sustain.

In order to give staff more time to get accurate estimates, an allocation of $1.5 million to install solar panels on county buildings was denied. The plan isnt squashed, and instead, staff is expected to return next month with updated figures. It will come back bigger and better sometime soon, board chair Monica Kruse said. Additionally, the county is ditching the addition of installing geothermal technology because its not expected to have an impressive return on investment.
The La Crosse County Board is considering joining a statewide push for another referendum on marijuana legalization in Wisconsin, meaning voters may once again get to weigh-in on the issue.

A resolution was approved by the countys Executive Committee on Wednesday that would put an advisory referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Voters would be able to vote yes or no to the following question:

Do you favor allowing adults 21 years of age and older to engage in the personal use of marijuana, while also regulating commercial marijuana-related activities, and imposing a tax on the sale of marijuana?

This would be the second time in four years Wisconsin voters cast opinions on the legalization of marijuana after a 2018 referendum, and it comes soon after Minnesota became the latest neighboring state to legalize certain amounts of the drug.

La Crosse County Board chair Monica Kruse, who is a public supporter of legalization, told the committee on Wednesday that this was part of an effort with counties across the state to reemphasize that Wisconsinites support legalizing cannabis. The results would again be used to encourage the state Legislature to take up the issue  something they have so far been reluctant to do.

We are signing on to an effort statewide. These resolutions look substantially the same from county to county, Kruse said.

The resolution specifically lays out the criminal and economic impacts that not legalizing marijuana has, including the disproportionate impact marijuana-related charges has on people of color.

The goal with this round of referendums, Kruse said, is to have a concerted, statewide effort.

In 2018, 63% of voters in La Crosse County were in favor of full legalization of marijuana, joining an overwhelming statewide voice that supported the move.

So far, similar referendums have been introduced in Milwaukee County and the city of Green Bay, and Kruse said more are expected to appear in the next month.

The referendum is expected to cost $5,000 for preparation and notices.

The committee approved the referendum with all voting in favor except Supervisor Kevin Hoyer. The full board will vote on the referendum July 21.
Citing threats and harassment to election workers in Madison, city leaders on Tuesday announced the introduction of an ordinance that would create a new penalty for disorderly conduct targeting election officials.

The total forfeiture listed on a citation under the proposed ordinance for disorderly conduct against election staff would be $691, compared with the total forfeiture of $439 for typical disorderly conduct citations, according to a Tuesday memo. The memo says the maximum forfeiture would be $1,000 for disorderly conduct against election officials, the same as for other types of disorderly conduct.

Here in Madison and elsewhere, too many election officials have suffered serious threats and continued harassment just because some people disagree with the results of the last election, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said at a press conference Tuesday.

Whats important here is that we are seeing a pattern of our clerks and our election officials being harassed for doing their job, she added.

The proposal  which Rhodes-Conway, Ald. Patrick Heck, City Council President Keith Furman and Vice President Jael Currie plan to introduce July 19  came just days after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled ballot drop boxes are illegal. The ongoing battle over the use of drop boxes has persisted since the 2020 election, due in part to unfounded claims of election fraud by former President Donald Trump, who lost Wisconsin to President Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.

The majoritys decision to take away a voting option that allowed more flexibility for voters, more options for city clerks and a greater path toward people participating in a democratic process underscores why we need to make sure that these election poll workers and those in our communities are kept safe, said Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell, whos running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat opening next year.

Almost two of every three local election officials nationwide believe false information is making their jobs more dangerous, according to a March poll by the liberal Brennan Center for Justice. The biggest reason retiring clerks didnt want to continue in their jobs was too many political leaders are attacking a system that they know is fair and honest, the poll found.

Madison officials on Tuesday did not provide specific examples of harassment or threatening behavior toward local election officials, but referenced reports that such behavior has been increasing generally.

Response to ruling

Rhodes-Conway said the city would leave its drop boxes locked in place but not use them, adding that she would comply with the law.

She slammed the state Supreme Courts decision, saying it tossed a safe and secure voting method out the window, simply to legitimize fears of fraud that have repeatedly proven to be false.

She said the ordinance is, in part, a response to the Supreme Court ruling on drop boxes as well as a response to the progression that we see of the continuing attacks on our democracy.

Republicans in many states have for years sought to add photo ID requirements and other hurdles to voting, and most recently have sought to tighten voting procedures that were loosened to make voting accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when public health officials were warning against large crowds, such as at polling places.

At the same time, states have increasingly adopted early voting hours so that people can cast ballots prior to Election Day and turnout in presidential elections has remained about the same or increased over the last 13 presidential elections.

Separate violations

Under the proposed ordinance, each instance of disorderly conduct would be charged under a separate violation, a city press release states. And if the conduct is repeated or poses a significant threat, law enforcement could refer the matter to the district attorney, according to the press release.

The idea behind the disorderly conduct ordinance is to increase accountability for those who harass or threaten local election officials because of their job, City Attorney Mike Haas said Tuesday.

Asked how the city would distinguish between disorderly conduct and First Amendment-protected speech aimed at government, Haas said that some actions categorized under disorderly conduct include violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct that tends to cause or provoke a disturbance or has the intent of harassing or annoying the recipients.

As everybody knows, free speech is not unlimited, Haas said. Its a responsibility.
A Madison doctor has bought two clinic buildings in Rockford, Illinois, with plans to offer pill abortions at one site as early as this week and surgical abortions at the other within six months.

The moves come after the U.S. Supreme Courts decision last month overturning federal abortion rights, which led abortion providers in Wisconsin to halt procedures as courts determine whether the states 1849 law banning nearly all abortions stands.

Dr. Dennis Christensen, an obstetrician-gynecologist who has provided abortions in Madison and Milwaukee and is now mostly retired, said he is part of a group trying to revive abortion services in Rockford to serve women in that area and from Wisconsin.

Abortion remains legal in Illinois, where Christensen said some clinics have waiting lists as patients from Wisconsin and other surrounding states with abortion bans seek procedures. Abortion is also legal in Minnesota.

We feel like its absolutely essential for us to get open as quickly as possible, said Jeanne Bissell, of Fitchburg, president of the newly formed Rockford Family Planning Foundation, which is preparing the second site in Rockford for surgical abortions and other care.

Last month, Christensen purchased a former acupuncture office at 611 Auburn St. for $75,000 and the former Animal Emergency Clinic of Rockford at 4236 Maray Drive for $350,000, according to the Winnebago County Recorders Office in Illinois.

Christensen said he plans to offer medication abortions, involving the pills mifepristone and misoprostol, at the Auburn site as soon as Friday. He said the plans were delayed after the city of Rockford condemned the building following an inspection, leaving a note citing an open sewer. Anti-abortion activists have protested outside of the building.

Christensen said Tuesday the situation seems to be resolved. Nelson Sjostrom, Rockfords building code official, said Tuesday that permits for work at the property have been pulled but follow-up inspections for compliance havent been conducted yet.

Second site

Bissell, a former board member of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said she and others with the new Rockford foundation are trying to raise more than $500,000 to hire staff and prepare the Maray site to house the Rockford Family Planning Center.

She said the facility, expected to open in three to six months, will provide surgical and pill abortions, along with birth control, testing, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and related care.

Many of the patients expected to use the clinic have low incomes, she said. Financial support will be available, such as from the Womens Medical Fund, which has helped pay for abortions since 1972, including for 1,500 people last year.

Were not going to turn anybody away, Bissell said.

Christensen said the Auburn site might close or stay open when the Maray site opens, depending on demand.

Dr. Douglas Laube, who performed abortions at Planned Parenthood in Madison and is former chair of obstetrics and gynecology at UW-Madison, is also part of the group working with Christensen, Bissell and others on plans to offer abortions in Rockford.

Past practices

Christensen, who for many years provided abortions in Madison, also operated the Northern Illinois Womens Center in Rockford for several years, selling it in 2010. Two years later, it closed.

More recently, Christensen, who lives in Madison, has owned Affiliated Medical Services in Milwaukee. Until the Supreme Court ruling last month, Affiliated was one of three places in Wisconsin providing elective surgical abortions, along with Planned Parenthood clinics on Madisons East Side and in Milwaukee.

Planned Parenthood also provided pill abortions in Sheboygan, and some hospitals performed abortions if the fetus had a lethal condition or the mothers life was at risk.

Risk to the mothers life is the only exception to Wisconsins abortion ban adopted in 1849, the year after the territory became a state. Late last month, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit challenging the law, arguing that 1980s statutes supersede the ban and it has been dormant so long it should be unenforceable.

District attorneys in Dane and Milwaukee counties have suggested they wont enforce the law, while the Sheboygan County DA said he would. Republicans vying to run against Evers this fall have said they would fire DAs who dont enforce the ban.
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) defused 315 mines and unexploded ordnance in the liberated land on July 4-8, Azernews reports, citing the agency.

During the demining operations, the agency discovered 46 anti-personnel, 5 anti-tank mines, and 264 unexploded ordnances in Tartar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan regions, the report added.

A 586-hectare-area was cleared of mines and unexploded ordnances during the reported period.

Recently, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar stated that the organization will provide an additional 4.25 million to support Azerbaijans demining efforts on the liberated territories.

"Pleased that EU as the largest donor is providing additional 4.25 million to Azerbaijan to support demining through the project `Supporting safe return of IDPs through Capacity Building of Mine Action Agency of Azerbaijan, Klaar wrote on his Twitter account.

Armenia alleged it handed over to Azerbaijan all minefield maps of liberated territories following the talks through the mediation of the Russian Defence Ministry on December 4, 2021.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that the low accuracy of Armenia's minefield maps of Azerbaijani liberated territories slows the mine-clearance process.

"The demining operations are underway, but people are still losing their lives. From the end of the 44-day Second Karabakh War to the present, over 200 people have become victims of mine explosions in liberated lands," Bayramov said at that point.

He added that the high mine contamination of the liberated territories hinders the return of former internally displaced persons to their native lands.

ANAMA, along with partner countries, is carrying out demining activities on its liberated territories. Moreover, the State Border Service and the Defense Ministry are also engaged in demining activities in the liberated lands.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.
By Trend

Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a document on environmental cooperation, Trend reports citing IRNA.

The document was signed on Tuesday between Iranian Vice-President and Head of the Department of Environment Ali Salajegheh and UAE Minister of Climate Change and the Environment Mariam Mohammed Saeed Al Mheiri on the sidelines of a top-ranking regional meeting on environmental issues in the Iranian capital.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, the Head of Iranian Department of Environment said that environment is a shared commitment between regional countries that can bring them closer together.

Salajegheh said that the successful holding of the meeting in Tehran indicated that the friendly and brotherly Muslim countries can cooperate in many issues so as to solve their issues without reliance on alien counties.

The UAE minister, for her part, thanked Iran for hosting the regional meeting.

Some 11 ministers and other senior officials from regional countries attended a regional meeting on environmental issues in Tehran were the participants discussed different environmental problems including the dust storms.
A drug company has asked the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to sell a birth control medicine over the counter. That means it can be bought without providing a doctors order, or prescription.

HRA Pharma, a French company, sent the FDA a written request Monday.

HRAs hormone-based drug comes in pill form and prevents pregnancy. Such contraceptive medicine was introduced in the 1960s and has become the most common form of birth control for women in the U.S. But, it has always required a prescription for purchase. The pill can lead to blood clots in some users, although this is rare.

HRAs request to the FDA argues that users can measure the risks on their own and use the pill successfully.

For a product that has been available for the last 50 years, that has been used safely by millions of women, we thought it was time to make it more available, said Frederique Welgryn, HRAs chief strategy officer.

The HRA medicine is called Opill and is not sold in the U.S. The FDA could approve it for sale by next year. Many womens health and reproductive rights supporters want other prescription contraceptives and abortion pills to make the move to over-the-counter.

The FDA action could guide many other decisions about womens health care in the years to come. Reproductive freedom is a major issue in the country. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established the constitutional right to seek medical abortions.

In 2006, the FDA approved the emergency contraceptive pill, called Plan B. The medicine, progestin, prevents ovulation from taking place. It does not end an established pregnancy. Last year, the agency removed other limits on mifepristone, permitting patients to get the medication by mail after meeting with a doctor virtually. The medicine, mifepristone, blocks the body from producing a substance needed to maintain pregnancy.

Abortion opponents disagreed with those decisions.

Democratic Party lawmakers were urging the FDA to consider over-the-counter contraceptive requests even before HRAs announcement on Monday.

In a letter from March, 50 members of the House of Representatives Pro-Choice Caucus called on the FDA to consider over the counter birth control pills without delay and based solely on the data.

Many of Americas common over-the-counter medications were once prescription-only drugs, including some pain and allergy medicine. For each medication that made the change, drug companies had to show that users understand the labeling on the bottle, can judge the risks, and can not only use it safely, but effectively without medical care from a doctor.

HRAs research includes seven years of FDA-required studies and a drug trial of 1,000 women.

Over-the-counter birth control pills are available around the world, including countries in South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

HRAs drug was of special interest to womens health advocates because they say the pill has fewer safety issues than other similar medicine. This is because the majority of other birth control pills contain a combination of the body substances progestin and estrogen. The estrogen can make womens monthly periods lighter, shorter and consistent in timing.

But estrogen can also increase the risk of blood clots, especially in women who may have heart problems, who smoke and are over the age of 35. The progestin-only pill is advised for use in people who may be at higher risk for blood clots.

HRA received financing for its research through The Oral Contraceptive Over-the-Counter Working Group. This 20-year-old group includes womens health researchers and advocates. They want to make contraceptives easy to get.

Kelly Blanchard is the president of Ibis Reproductive Health, a group member that supports increased availability of abortion and contraception. She said, A lot of our research has been about making the case to help inspire and support a company to take this work on.

Many medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association support over-the-counter contraception.

But some groups like the nonprofit National Center for Health Research disagrees. They say that the safety risks of possible deadly blot clots are not worth the benefits.

The FDA continues to examine the safety of birth control pills. Last year, the FDA placed a hold on a study of over-the-counter contraception by Cadence Health, another drugmaker. It said Cadence needed to expand blood pressure checks on study subjects.

Before the FDA approves HRAs application, it requires a public meeting to consider the safety concerns and the overall request.

A decision is likely to come in the beginning of 2023, HRA leaders said.

Supporters like Blanchard hope that pill will be the first of many to be approved. "Once we see the approval of this product, it will demonstrate that it's possible and that the data is strong. Hopefully, we'll see the process speed up from here, Blanchard said.

Im John Russell.

And Im Faith Pirlo.

Matthew Perrone wrote this article for The Associated Press. Faith Pirlo adapted it for Learning English.

_____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

hormone  n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

contraceptive  adj. or n. able to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant; a drug or device such as birth control pills or a condom that is used to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant

blood clot n. a mass of dried blood that stops the flow of blood in the body and that can cause serious health problems

strategy  n. a detailed plan for achieving success in situations such as war, politics, business, industry, etc.

abortion  n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

ovulation  n. the time during a womens cycle when the body releases an egg for fertilization

virtually  adv. to describe something that can be done or seen using computers or the internet instead of happening in a physical placeMaintain

allergies  n. the bodys reaction to something that it is sensitive to

consistent  adj. always behaving in a similar way

inspire  v. to move (someone) to act, create, or feel emotions

__________________________________________________________________

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A new United Nations report says that India will pass China as the world's most populous country in 2023.

The world's population is estimated to reach 8 billion by November 15, the report said. The report also said that number could grow to 8.5 billion in 2030, and to 10.4 billion in 2100.

India's population was 1.21 billion in 2011. That number is from Indias official population count, or census. The census is carried out once every 10 years. The government delayed the 2021 census because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The world's population was growing at its slowest rate since 1950 and fell below 1 percent in 2020, UN estimates showed.

In 2021, the average fertility of the worlds population was 2.3 births per woman over a lifetime. That is down from about 5 births per woman in 1950. Worldwide fertility is expected to decrease further to 2.1 births per woman by 2050.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement, "This is an occasion to celebrate our diversityand marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates."

Guterres noted that a growing population was a reminder of a shared responsibility of care for the planet. He added that we should "reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another."

The UN report said worldwide life expectancy at birth fell to 71 years in 2021. That is down from 72.8 years in 2019, mostly because of deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Nations said more than half of the expected increase in worldwide population through 2050 will be centered in eight countries. Those countries are India, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and the Philippines.

The population of 61 countries is expected to decrease by 1 percent or more between 2022 and 2050 because of a decrease in fertility levels.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Manoj Kumar reported on this story for the Reuters news service. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English.

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Words in This Story

fertility  n. the birth rate of a population

diversity  n. the condition or fact of being different

marvel  v. to feel astonishment or wonder

dramatically  adv. done in a sudden or extreme way

maternal  adj. of or relating to a mother

reflect  v. to think seriously and carefully about

________________________________________________________________

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to honor the 2016 decision that overruled its territorial claims in the South China Sea. The top American diplomat added that the U.S. is required to defend the Philippines if its forces, ships or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

Blinkens statement was released Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Manila. It came on the sixth anniversary of a 2016 ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by a court based in The Hague.

In 2013, the Philippine government complained about Chinas increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters. The courts ruling rejected Chinas claims over almost all of the South China Sea. But China refused to be a part of the hearing and rejected the courts ruling.

Blinken said, We call again on the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law and cease its provocative behavior. PRC stands for Chinas formal name, the Peoples Republic of China.

We also reaffirm that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, he added.

There was no immediate reaction from China. But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Malaysia that China is speeding up talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. We will oppose bloc confrontation and Cold War mentality, Wang said. He did not take any questions.

In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have territorial claims in the busy waterway. An estimated $5 trillion in goods passes through the South China Sea each year. And the sea is believed to be rich in undersea gas and oil resources.

The U.S. does not make any claim in the disputed waters. But it has deployed Navy ships and Air Force planes in the waterway for many years to protect freedom of navigation. That has brought angry reactions from China, which has accused the U.S. of interfering in an Asian dispute and warned it to stay away.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sought closer relations with China and criticized U.S. security policies. In 2019, Duterte said he finally asked Chinas President Xi Jinping to honor the ruling. But he was told that China will not drop its claims.

New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office on June 30 after a large electoral victory.

The new Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said Tuesday that the U.N. ruling will be an important part of his new governments policy and actions in the disputed area. We firmly reject attempts to undermine iteven erase it from law, history and our collective memories, said Manalo, who did not directly name China.

Marcos Jr. has said that he would not permit even one square millimeter of Philippine waters to be violated. But he said in January before winning the presidency that since China has refused to recognize the ruling, Dutertes policy of dealing with the issue diplomatically is really our only option.

On Tuesday, a group of activists and workers protested in front of the Chinese Consulate in Manila. They asked China to respect the U.N.s ruling and for Marcos Jr. to defend the countrys territorial rights in the South China Sea.

Im Jill Robbins.

Jim Gomez reported this story for the Associated Press. Hai Do adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

abide by v. (phrasal) to accept or to be guided by

obligation n. something that must be done because of a rule, law or promise

provocative adj. causing discussion, thought or argument

vessel n. a ship or large boat

bloc n. a group of people or countries that are connected by a treaty or agreement

navigation n. the act of traveling by ship over an area of water

option n. a choice or a possibility

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You have probably seen those little boxes with a pattern of black marks on products in stores, on signs or in many other public places. The designs are called QR codes. That is short for quick response code. They are a kind of bar code that a machine can read.

You might not know that teachers are finding QR codes make it easy to send messages to students on a mobile device or laptop computer.

So, in todays program, we will show you how to use QR codes and the many uses QR codes have for teaching English. In the second part of the program, we will show you how to make different kinds of QR codes using free services.

How to read a QR code

To read a QR code, simply open the camera on your phone and point it at the code. When the phone has read the code, a web link appears over it.

Touch, or tap it with your finger and a new window will open with the online material. If this does not work on your phone, you can find a free QR code app to download. They are available in the app store for Android or Apple Products. You can also use the camera on a laptop computer. If you are using a computer without a camera, you can right-click or control-click on the code and choose how to open the material.

Using QR codes for web links

The basic use of a QR code is to share a website address. For example, this code will take you to the Education page of VOA Learning English.

In the classroom, the web link may go to presentation files, listening or reading materials, research resources, or learning games. An important reason for using a QR code is that it can be shared on printed material. Students do not need to type a long and complex series of letters into their tablet or phone to go to a web address.

The codes can also show images for students who are not yet reading. With one touch of a finger, the code opens a player, so the student does not have to hunt for the correct application.

Some teachers use QR codes in several places around a classroom called learning centers. At one center, students might find a list of new words. On a card at this center is the QR code for the Learning English Word book. A student can scan it and look for the meaning of any unknown words.

Using QR codes for media files

Another learning center might have a choice of story books. A QR code can take the student to the sound of someone reading the story. This code takes you to a public librarys collection of story books:

Teachers can use existing videos or create their own with messages to students. If you are online, watch this on how to share a video with a QR code:

Learning with songs can be enjoyable and a nice break from schoolwork. A teacher can create a QR code for a song and print it on the same page as the songs lyrics, or words, for students to listen and sing along.

One new idea in education is project-based learning. A teacher may create a QR code to link to a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation can include spoken instructions so students can hear and read the instructions again whenever they need to.

How to make QR codes

To create QR codes, there are a number of services you can find by searching for QR code generator. Take care to register for the free version of the service you want. If you do not, you may have to pay to keep the codes that you make active past a trial period.

Once you have chosen a service, look for the choices available to share a web link, a document, image, social media message or video. Simply copy the link you want to share and paste it into the box the service provides. Follow the instructions to save the code onto your computer. You can print the QR code or add it to a document that you plan to share electronically.

Make audio QR codes

To share the pronunciation of a word or a spoken message, create a QR code for a sound clip. The code above is an example of a sound clip made on the service Vocaroo. It says, Welcome to Voice of America Learning English.

Make QR codes for images

You can share any images or documents you want students to see by uploading them to a cloud service like Google Docs. For example, the file linked to this code is a Google Slides presentation.

Getting started with QR codes requires a little time, but once you have set up an account, you will probably have many more ideas on how to use these funny little squares.

I'm Anna Matteo.

And Im Greg Stachel.

For more ideas, see the links below.

Jill Robbins wrote this lesson for Learning English.

More Ideas:

Five Ways to Use QR Codes for Second Language Development

How Teachers Are Using QR Codes in the Classroom to Enhance Learning

Twelve Ideas for Teaching with QR Codes

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Words in This Story

pattern n. a repeated form or design

bar code  n. a patterned set of vertical lines printed on consumer products, mail, and the like to be read by a machine

app (application) n. a computer program that carries out a specific job

click  v. to press and release (a button on a computer or phone)

scan  v. to read with an electronic device

clip  n. a short selection from a longer piece of a work

What do you think of the use of QR codes? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works:

Write your comment in the box. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with D on it. It is free.

Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them.
Children lined up, chickens in hand, gingerly spreading their feathers to show off their wings. A man with cowboy boots and a microphone peppered them with questions as the remaining birds clucked and squabbled behind the white curtain.

Hands shot up in the air to answer how many days it takes to hatch an egg.

One contestant confidently answered, 21 days!" But then questions at Linn County Fairs 4-H competition took a turn for the more difficult.

Hunched over a textbook, 18-year-old Luke Milburn of Albany ran his finger over a lengthy list of breed names, quizzing his younger brother, Max, 11. In the days leading up to the competition, he had helped all three of his brothers study.

Lukes favorite part is helping other kids, his mother, Jennifer Milburn, said proudly from the bleachers. The family lives on a farm. She snapped photos of Max on stage as a 6-week baby goat squirmed in her lap.

At Linn County Fairs 4-H event, kids separated into various age divisions competed with animals they raised: rabbits, goats, turkeys. But Tuesday morning, July 12, it was all about poultry.

Its all about building character and getting kids to be self-starters, said small animal superintendent, Adrienne Lulay. Kids practice public speaking skills and taking responsibility. The animals that are later sold to auction often are put into college funds, she added.

It's time for the community to give back, she said.

For Lita Hayworth, its an innocent obsession," as the 12-year-old phrased it herself. She's been raising chickens for three years after receiving some egg-laying chickens and a book that went through the process of egg hatching. She stood smiling in braids and tied her large purple prize ribbon to her chicken Hennys cage.

Many of the competitors were from local farms in Albany and the surrounding Linn County area. And for many, like the Millburns, its a family affair.

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Luke demonstrated how to hold the chicken to Max, to display the anatomy to the judge. They took turns holding the bird and he snuck in a few more questions before the competition started. Even though he is getting older and his 4-H days are numbered, he enjoys passing on the tradition.

It feels good that they will carry it on after me, Luke said.

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The state forestry department has opened the possibility for restrictions on campfires and power tools after declaring fire season began Monday, July 11.

An early-summer deluge pushed back the start to fire season compared to previous years, bringing uncharacteristically heavy rain to the state in May and June, according to an Oregon Department of Forestry news release.

The department prohibits burning debris, exploding targets, fireworks and tracer ammunition on some 16 million acres of federal, private and state land managed or covered by forestry department rulemaking and firefighters, including much of rural forested western Benton and eastern Linn counties.

Its getting hotter, its getting drier and fire is more likely, Oregon Department of Forestry spokesperson Jessica Prakke said.

Each year, the department clamps down on how people can use open flames or other potential ignition sources for forest fires. The department increases restrictions and expands fire bans with risk peaking between August and September, when dry lightning storms historically have ignited brush and trees dried by hot summer months.

We can implement restrictions regarding campfires  anything that reduces human-caused fires, Prakke said.

The department also requires commercial and industrial users, such as loggers, to assign workers to watch for and extinguish fires ignited by their work after putting much of the state under a scaling set of closures, called Industrial Fire Precaution Levels.

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As the threat of fire rises along the scale from Level I to Level IV, ODF may limit hours of operation or ban power saws.

U.S. Forest Service managers follow state industrial levels, also announcing IFPL I on the Willamette and Siuslaw national forests that encroach on the mid-Willamette Valley.

Urban Benton and Linn counties are covered by municipal fire departments and both counties permit a burning season, March 1 to June 15 and Oct. 1 to Dec. 15, during state-authorized burn days rather than issue burn bans.

No restrictions were in place on U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands according to a district website, but BLM lands are protected by ODF in Oregon.

Department of Forestrys South Cascade district that includes much of eastern and southern Linn County declared fire season July 6. The district spent five days in 2021 with total bans on fire-causing activity at Industrial Fire Precaution Level IV and 47 days at Level III over a total fire season of 111 days.

The western slopes of the cascades were at average risk for forest fire in July, according to a National Interagency Fire Center forecast, lower than in recent years after the June rains.

Southwest Oregon and the Cascade foothills are likely to see above-normal risk of wildfire by August as temperatures increase and forests dry out, according to the Fire Center forecast.

About 100 fires, fewer than one-third the average number of fires, had been reported across Oregon and Washington by early July, according to the Fire Center.

About 30.1 acres were on fire in four burns around Oregon on July 12, according to a state website. The Willowcreek Fire, the largest fire in the state this season, burned more than 42,000 acres of mostly grass near the states border with Idaho by July 1.

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By July, managers typically are trying to find enough teens who can staff the lifeguard tower at Lebanon Community Pool.

This year however, after voters rejected a $20 million bond measure that would have paid to replace sagging concrete and rusty cast iron, theyre wondering how theyll find the money to keep the thing running.

The Lebanon Aquatic District doesnt have a definite time frame for when it would cease pool operations. But repair and replacement costs at the pool will eventually exceed the districts revenue, board chairperson Peggy Snyder said.

At some point, thats just the way anything goes, Snyder said. Thats going to happen with a 55-year-old pool.

Whats at stake

The Lebanon Community School District had sought $20 million on the ballot in Oregons May 17 primary. Half of that was earmarked for improvements at the pool building.

While the aquatic district employs staff, organizes swimming and repairs or maintains equipment at the pool, the building ultimately is a school district property.

Lorlee Engler, executive director at Lebanon Aquatic District, estimated the district would need at least $1 million to replace the concrete-lined basin of the pool that has settled and tilted. Water doesnt sit flush, too low to reach roughly two thirds of the gutters meant to skim debris from the pools surface.

Beneath that basin, the district wanted to replace cast-iron pipes that could rust through and rupture  likely will disintegrate, Engler said.

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The need for renovation has not changed. Thats for sure, Engler said.

Without a massive infusion of funding, the aquatic district must triage costs as they come in. Engler said the pool is kept running from maintenance and reserve funds.

Those funds are necessary for weeks like that of July 4, when workers put in a new heat transfer coil at a cost of $21,000, Engler said, for custom-made aluminum parts and labor.

Then a motor quit working on the ventilation and conditioning system that moves air around the building  another $10,000 to $15,000 by rough estimates.

And that just happened this week, Engler said. If every week Im paying that, I cant afford that.

The pumps, motors and pipeworks that move air and water around the building just keep aging. And as they do, they become more prone to failure.

That means problems at Lebanons only public swimming pool will snowball.

Theyre all super costly and theyre all interconnected, Engler said.

Whats next

Snyder said the aquatic district Board of Directors will push to place its own bond before voters. While officials at the school and aquatic districts can definitively say why the May bond failed, Snyder said the school district's public image on unrelated topics may have hampered fundraising efforts.

The school board had to close down public discussion around a proposed school-based health center in January, ending a meeting early when commenters went over time allotments and became argumentative.

Those interactions probably hung over part of Lebanons voterbase  the aquatic districts taxbase, Snyder said.

There was just so much negativity, she said.

Engler said the aquatic district had sought funding options for two years and agreed to roll its request in with the school districts bond measure after polling in late 2021 showed mostly favorable responses. Poll respondents at that time wanted to support their public swimming pool.

Then the price for fuel skyrocketed, and the school district had to contend with beleaguered meetings, she said.

A lot changes in five months, Engler said.

With Lebanon Community Schools including money for the pool in its bond request, voters would see one measure instead of several measures competing for their attention and tax dollars.

Nobody wants to be nickeled and dimed, Engler said. Every year, some agency has got a bond up, and that can be frustrating to the voters.

A little more than one-third of Lebanons registered voters turned out in May. They rejected the bond 4,818 to 3,477, a spread of 16 points.

Snyder said the district could foot its own bond proposal in the next couple of years.

Without the tax funding, Engler said, the pool is out of options.

How do you fundraise $15 million? she said. Sadly, there isnt a Phil Knight in Lebanon. Its not like Nike building a new stadium.

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CORTLAND  Lindsey Oellings dream of owning a vintage-themed bakery with family and friends working by her side, 1920s jazz music and customers yearning for a taste of nostalgia became a reality after 10 years of work.

Oelling, the 31-year-old owner and main baker of Paper Moon Pastries, recalled her grandmother, Jean Oelling, baking classic Czech kolaches as far back as Lindsey could pick up a spoon to stir the batter. Lindsey continued to bake as she completed schooling and became a therapist.

Surprised to learn how many Cortland residents were in their mid-30s, Oelling decided to renovate an old hair salon into a bakery after moving back to the small Gage County town six years ago.

I've lived here forever, and I didn't meet many people because there's no place to go, Oelling said. So I thought, Well, if I'm going to do this anywhere, this would be a cool place.

Oellings team included her parents, Lori and Kent Oelling; her sister Hannah Gubser and Hannahs husband, Skyler Gubser; Lindseys boyfriend, Ben Huenemann, and friend Sean Flattery.

Oelling said she and Hannah are close, as sisters and in regard to where they live.

She bought a house just a block down the street from me, Oelling said. Its kind of nice, because we get to hang out whenever we want to, and then we can get away from each other.

Hannah Gubser is a full-time nurse and helps Oelling on Saturdays with filling customers' orders and throughout the week will help wrap pastries.

Working full time herself, Oelling said she's only able to open the pastry shop on Saturday mornings. She's working toward expanding hours and hiring employees.

For now, the bakery offers kolaches, cinnamon rolls, pies made by Lori, cakes, Rice Krispies treats, Sleepy Bees coffee, tea and lavender syrup and Oellings signature moon bars made with salted caramel, peanut butter, chocolate, dark chocolate and marshmallows all mixed with Rice Krispies.

Oelling said the name of Paper Moon pastries, which opened May 21, came from the movie Paper Moon and its diner scene.

I wanted to see a vintage bakery somewhere, and there's nothing around here, she said. So I thought, well, I guess I'll just make it.

Paper Moon Pastries is supposed to be a place for everyone, Oelling said. She cant have gluten or dairy so she experiments with gluten- and dairy-free recipes.

Oelling said she has memories of her dad making cookies, her mom making pies and her grandmother making kolaches. She said she craved those items and wanted to make sure people who couldnt eat certain ingredients could have something as well.

It's homestyle, Oelling said. Part of what I wanted to do was just remind people of those comfort recipes that you used to get from your grandparents, because it turns out a lot of people don't make kolaches or cinnamon rolls as much anymore.
DAVID CITY  Theres an angel looking over David City.

Located in front of the home of Bryon and Mary Forney, the angel is what's left of a maple tree that dates back more than 100 years.

According to Bryon, strong winds associated with an ice storm that hit David City last year knocked the tree onto the roof of their home.

The cost of getting her (the tree) out over the wrought-iron fence was phenomenal. So we decided to have her carved into an angel, Bryon said.

The top of the tree was removed but the bottom portion of it was kept and carved into an angel by 3 Timber Studio. The Lincoln business specializes in custom woodworking, crafting one-of-a-kind chainsaw carvings, hardwood furniture and home decor.

It was either get a hired crane to get the whole thing out of there, or do something with it, Mary said.

The 17 1/2-foot-tall angel took artist Nate Hall about two weeks to complete. The base of the tree is 4 feet in diameter. Byron noted Hall worked five-hour days until the weather got too hot.

He drew it up on a schematic and then interlaid it in the tree so he had an idea of how he was going to carve her, Bryon said. "Something that big, you make one mistake you're done. You can't go back."

The weekend of June 25, the angels face and hair were finished and the carving was covered in Australian oil as a finisher.

Bryon noted that while the angel was being crafted, he wasnt quite sure how it would turn out as he didnt see the vision yet.

When he got the backside of her wings, then I could actually start to see the angel, he added.

Bryon said it was Marys idea to carve an angel, instead of typical woodcarvings like eagles and bears.

I collect angels and fairies and I just thought Well, that would be something different nobody has, Mary noted.

The angel is named Kimberly Debra, after two good friends of the Forneys who are battling cancer.

Those who look closely at the angel may see two imperfections that show what the angel has gone through.

On her shoulder there's a spot where it's torn. And there's one on her wrist and what that's from is when the big storms came up, it twisted the tree, Bryon said.

The carving may be finished, but Bryon said he has more planned for Kimberly Debra.

My intentions are is I'm going to put two little LED lights the size of an ink pen in between her wings in the back, so during the nighttime she has a little glow up through the wings and over top of her, he said.

He noted that there has been a steady stream of people driving by to see the angel.

Everybody says how beautiful she is, Mary added. One guy stopped and said they talked about her during church.

Bryon said the angel is for their two friends but also all of David City. He noted that the angel is here to stay for a long time.

We did count the rings of the top of the tree that we took off and there were over 100 rings, he said. I'm hoping that she stands there for another 50 or 100 years.
By Trend

Military delegations from Turkiye, Russia and Ukraine and a delegation from United Nations will meet in Istanbul on July 13 to discuss the safe export of Ukrainian grain, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said, Trend reports citing Hurriyet Daily News.

The talks they carried out within the scope of the diplomatic works and directives of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an for the solution of the food crisis developed positively, Akar said in a statement on July 12.

Reminding that he also held talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov within the scope of the work on grain export, Akar said the contact between Turkiye, Ukraine and Russia, which is described as the red line in public, was realized.

A delegation from the Turkish Defense Ministry met their counterparts in Moscow, which followed a visit by the Ukrainian military delegation to Ankara, Akar said.

After all these meetings tomorrow, the grain waiting at the Ukrainian ports in Istanbul will be safely shipped to international markets by sea. The military delegations of the Russian Federation and Ukraine defense ministries and the United Nations delegation will hold talks, he said.

Ukraine is one of the biggest wheat producers, and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has prevented the necessary shipment of grain products from this country.
LEXINGTON  An Elwood man accused of discharging a gun and injuring a deputy with a knife while being arrested has been moved to the Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln and has not yet appeared in court.

Jeremy Bendler, 36, has been charged with assault of an officer, a Class 2 felony, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, Class 2 felony and a second subsequent offense of resisting arrest, a Class 3A felony.

In a separate case, he is charged with use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, Class 2 felony, terroristic threats, Class 3A felony and criminal mischief, a Class 3 misdemeanor.

Reception and Treatment Center (RTC) Public Information Officer Tammy Kluver appeared virtually in Dawson County Court during a hearing for Bendler and said he was transported to Lincoln for protection and could not be safely brought to the hearing.

Public defender Kenneth Harbison asked for a continuance to allow time for RTC staff to work with Bendler.

Judge Jeffrey Wightman noted Bendler has not yet made a first appearance in court and set an arraignment, via Webex, for July 19 at 11:30 a.m.

On Tuesday, June 21, deputies with the Dawson County Sheriffs Office arrived at a residence located at Plum Creek Canyon Dr. 12C with a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Bendler, according to court documents.

Chief Deputy Greg Gilg said deputies had approached Bendler regarding a criminal mischief complaint from June 19. However, when they made contact with Bendler at his home, the situation escalated and they ended contact and obtained the search and arrest warrants.

Arriving at the home, Bendler was observed on the front porch, naked, according to deputies.

The deputies approached the south side of the residence and stacked up as an entry team, some equipped with shields. They entered the house through an unlocked door and found Bendlers bedroom door, which was locked.

The door was kicked down and the deputies observed what appeared to be a person on the bed, under a bed sheet. This was pulled back and revealed Bendler, allegedly with a gun in his right hand and a knife in his left.

One of the deputies pinned Bendlers right arm down using a shield and he allegedly refused several commands to drop the gun and the knife, according to court documents. Bendler discharged the gun several times before it was taken from him.

During the struggle for the knife, Sgt. Edd Albrecht sustained 1.5 inch and .5 inch lacerations to different parts of his left hand.

Bendler was tased and after visible weapons were taken from him he was placed into handcuffs and moved to a patrol vehicle. Bendler complained of feeling light headed and head pain and was transported to Lexington Regional Health Center.

After being cleared from the hospital, Bendler was transported to the Dawson County Jail.
As the sun was rising on June 14, 1897, a group of soldiers in southwest Montana straddled their bikes and turned their handlebars east.

They were about to spend the next 41 days, 1,900 miles and endless hardships -- mountain sleet, Nebraska heat and tire-sucking Sandhills -- trying to prove their young lieutenants point:

That, by the turn of the last century, the bicycle was an effective way to transport U.S. troops.

The 20 Black members of the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps -- Buffalo Soldiers, they were called -- along with two officers and a reporter rode up and over the mountains of Montana, across Wyoming and Nebraska and all the way to St. Louis, where they were met by an estimated 1,000 civilian cyclists and accompanied to a parade in their honor.

Their lieutenant was pleased. His so-called Iron Riders had averaged nearly 56 miles a day and more than 6 mph, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

But it hadnt been easy. Fully loaded, their single-speed bicycles weighed nearly 80 pounds. They battled bad weather and bad water and roads that were rocky, muddy, sandy or non-existent.

They suffered in the Sandhills after they left Alliance.

Indeed, our experience in these hills was the stuff of which nightmares are made! the lieutenant wrote. It was impossible to make any headway by following the wagon road in loose sand  and we therefore followed the railroad track for 170 miles before getting out of the sand.

After one of those hard days, as his soldiers were waiting for their meal, the lieutenant heard one declare: Oh Lord, if I only live through this, Ill have something to talk about as long as I live!

More than a dozen decades later, Erick Cedeno is living through it, and plans to talk about it Wednesday in Lincoln.

The 48-year-old cyclist from California left Missoula, Montana, at 5:40 a.m. on June 14 -- precisely 125 years after the Iron Riders -- with plans to roll into St. Louis July 24.

He started making cross-country trips more than a dozen years ago -- Vancouver, British Columbia, to Tijuana, Mexico; Miami to New York; retracing the Underground Railroad.

At the time, he also started thinking about, and researching, early long- bicycle explorers near the last turn of the century.

They were all white.

And then I came across this history of the Buffalo Soldiers, he said Monday, taking a break in Grand Island before pedaling to York. I got fascinated as a person of color, because I hadnt seen anyone of color traveling by bike back then. That didnt mean it didnt happen; it just wasnt documented.

The Armys effort was recorded, though, so he was able to gather enough details to plan to retrace their trip.

He took a year off from the road in 2021 -- he and his wife had a son -- but he told her he wanted to honor the soldiers this year, the 125th anniversary of their expedition.

And she said, You must, because their legacy must continue. Youve got to tell their story, and its part of your legacy, too.

He has it easier than the Iron Riders. His bike weighs a fraction of what theirs did, and he has gears, and pavement beneath his tires.

Hes dealt with similar weather -- cold in the mountains, heat on the Plains -- but he can get a motel room when he needs Wi-Fi, or when he doesnt feel like making camp.

Still, he can imagine what they endured. It's one thing reading how grueling it was, but its another thing doing the ride. What they did was almost superhuman; as strong as a rider I am, I probably wouldn't have been able to do that under those conditions.

Cedeno spoke about the expedition at a museum in Wyoming, and has talks planned in Lincoln and Missouri. But even after the ride, his research will continue, he said.

All of the documented accounts are told through white perspectives -- by the two officers, and the journalist.

He wants to give voice, and due credit, to the Iron Riders who volunteered for the trip and helped prove their lieutenants point.

It was a sense of pride to know these Black soldiers in 1897 did this amazing trip. I want to pass that history along, and not let it die.

Learn about the Iron Riders, meet the man retracing their trip

* 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, JuJus Vegan Cajun and Creole Cuisine, 1247 S. 11th St. Eat, meet and greet with Erick Cedeno, aka the Bicycle Nomad.

* 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Malone Community Center, 2032 U St. Free food, bounce houses, music, dancing, address by Cedeno.

* To follow Cedenos trip, go to facebook.com/bicyclenomad
What about your crushes? Your exes? Your feelings? What's on your mind? Send a letter to [email protected] or use this form .

We politely and subtlety flirt with each other over instant message, and we have talked on the phone quite a bit. He's in Toronto and I'm in Chicago. Another part that makes it complicated is that he is a coworker. Even though I don't see him in person, I still interact with him virtually. I guess my question is, how will I know when it's the right time to take the online relationship we have into a real meeting to see how we actually feel/interact in person? Also how do I keep this professional without ruining the friendship we already have?

I've been building a friendship for over a year with a coworker, and I'm just starting to realize I'm catching feelings for him.

I keep thinking of a "Simpsons" episode where a character calls Chicago "The Miami of Canada." Maybe it is. There are many reasons to travel to Chicago from Toronto. But I don't know that people in Boston, let's say, would be desperate to start a romance with someone in Miami. It's really far away.

Unless the vibes here are so strong that you're both texting all the time and figuring out ways to communicate outside of work, on weekends, etc., it would be really difficult to jump to planning a real-life meeting, unless work provides that opportunity.

Can you put a pin in this crush until there's a real reason to be together for work? If that's never going to happen, that's something to note, too. This just seems ... really difficult.

You say you're not a risk taker, which makes me wonder whether this man is appealing because he involves little risk right now. He's far away, and even if you try something, he's still out of reach.

I'm not saying this will never happen. Maybe you can get to a point where there's an out-of-work Zoom. You could ask for that, I guess  a post-work online drink  just to take a step in a new direction.

But please consider Chicago and all it has to offer. Imagine falling for someone there. That's the risk that seems worth taking.

 Meredith

Readers? Thoughts on how to take a step in this relationship? Am I wrong to say it'd be better to focus on what's in Chicago?
By Trend

NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data on Tuesday, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Webb's first observations tell the story of the hidden universe through every phase of cosmic history - from neighboring exoplanets to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, said NASA.

"Today, we present humanity with a groundbreaking new view of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope -- a view the world has never seen before," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The images released by NASA include detailed spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere; Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star which is approximately 2,000 light years away; Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Pegasus; Carina Nebula, the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled another image produced by Webb, galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which is filled with thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.

"These images, including the deepest view of our universe that has ever been taken, show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don't even yet know to ask; questions that will help us better understand our universe and humanity's place within it," Nelson said.

The release of Webb's first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb's science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within the solar system to the early universe using Webb's four instruments, according to NASA.

Webb was launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec. 25, 2021, to probe structures and origins of the universe.
Daniel Harawa (Washington University School of Law) has posted Lemonade: A Racial Justice Reframing of The Roberts Courts Criminal Jurisprudence (California Law Review, Vol. 110, No. 681, 2022) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When it comes to the Supreme Courts criminal jurisprudence and its relationship to racial (in)equity, progressive scholars often focus on the tartness of the lemons. In particular, they have studied how the Court often ignores race in its criminal decisions, a move that in turn reifies a racially subordinating criminalization system.

However, the Court has recently issued a series of decisions addressing racism in the criminal legal system: Buck v. Davis, Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, Timbs v. Indiana, Flowers v. Mississippi, and Ramos v. Louisiana. On their face, the cases teach that history matters. Government actors who discriminate must be held to account. Accepted institutional practices can no longer perpetuate racism. And courts must assume an active role in addressing the racism endemic to the criminal legal system. At least tonally, these cases are a marked shift for the notoriously post-racial Roberts Court

But if you dig a little deeper, it is clear that the cases have severe shortcomings. The cases reflect that the Court acknowledges only the most egregious examples of racism, and it fails to see the invidious ways race taints the criminal legal system. The cases also demonstrate the Courts failure to connect past racial practices with present racial disparities, a failure that in turn paints a false picture of discontinuity of the past from the present. When viewed critically, these seemingly race-aware cases fall neatly in line with the post-racial critiques of the Roberts Court. From a racial justice perspective, the cases could be viewed as lemons.

Even so, this Article attempts to make lemonade. The Article shifts the narrative about the Courts criminal jurisprudence by arguing that these recent cases can be helpful tools in the fight for racial justice. This Article asserts that the cases can be deployed not only to make specific antiracist legal arguments, but also to push for policy changes and to encourage more open discussions about racism in the criminal legal system. In the end, the Article urges a reclaiming of the case law to help unwind the corrosive relationship between race, crime, and punishment in America. This intervention is necessary now, for the millions of Black and Brown people shuffled through the system each year.
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Huntington water study hopes to reduce potential harms for immunocompromised residents

JOEL ANDREWS/The Lufkin Daily News The city of Huntington water plant is at 1950 Old Homer Alto Road.

While many cities are looking forward to 2025 or 2030, the city of Huntington is looking to 2050  at least according to Chris Feriante, a foresight scientist and law faculty member for the University of Houston.

As a foresight scientist, Feriantes skillset is in looking at weak indicators for what will become major influences on the future. The goal is to determine the baseline for what a city may want in the future and to see what could get in the way.

Huntington wants healthy residents who have access to high-quality drinking water. But current water treatment standards fail to make the water safe for more of the population  those who, for some reason or another, cannot fight off the effects of bacteria or chemical agents, Feriante said.

We also want to be proactive in providing an opportunity for an outstanding facility, specifically the University of Houston, to continue researching possible innovative treatment processes that will focus on removal of nitrates and/or nitrites, safely achieved by chemical reduction, from public water systems, Huntington city manager Bill Stewart said.

Huntington recently permitted Feriante to conduct Phase 2 of his grant-funded public water quality project to confirm the discovery of an eco-friendly breakthrough nitrification control technology for use by water distribution systems. The project seeks to resolve certain issues within water distribution systems that potentially endanger immunocompromised individuals.

Results of this study will aid in the elimination of bacteria, germs and microbes in drinking water, Stewart said.

The technology behind the new treatment is something Feriante hopes addresses the problems of the future and can set a new standard for the treatment of public-distributed water across the U.S.

Its time, the technology is here, but we just have to go step-by-step, he said.

Current standards are a minimum, and many systems struggle to meet even those, he said.

Looking at city websites across the state, many state that immunocompromised individuals should not drink the water. Across the U.S., an estimated 17-20% of individuals are immunocompromised, and the water needs to also be safe for them, he said.

What wed like to do, one of our objectives is, wed like for people to trust their public water again. But they dont, Feriante said. Look at all these plastic bottles going around.

The status quo

The current water-treatment standards rely on the use of chlorine and ammonia for disinfection, Feriante said. It was a treatment option used since the early 1900s with little improvement or change, he said.

Chlorine is amazingly powerful when it is used to disinfect things like public water, he said. It pulverizes the bacteria. But it also allows the innards of the bacteria to explode out into the water system, forming the trihalomethanes.

When chlorine comes in contact with organic carbon, such as bacteria, in the water supply, it forms trihalomethanes, Feriante said. Trihalomethanes are carcinogenic.

Huntington violated the states standard for total trihalomethanes in 2020 with 89 parts per billion of trihalomethanes found in samples. The max contamination level is 80 parts per billion.

Trihalomethanes also are more easily absorbed through the skin than through drinking them, meaning they cannot be escaped simply by not drinking the water, Feriante said.

Communities began adding ammonia to the treatment, as well, in hopes of mitigating the creation of trihalomethanes in the water. But it resulted in bacteria growing stronger that are capable of eating the ammonia instead of dying.

So current treatments do not always result in water that is free of organic carbon, including bacteria. This results in system operators adding more chlorine to knock out any problems, Feriante said.

Nitrification

Feriante met the patent-holder for the nitrification system he is using a while back and later learned about the system and how it had been used by the U.S. Department of Defense to protect service members from anthrax, sarin and more. Feriante asked if it could be used in a public water supply system and ultimately received approval.

What it is is a pathogen control, Feriante said. If you can neutralize an anthrax bacteria and keep it from forming the density it needs to turn virulent, you just save people right? If you can do that with all kinds of other bacteria that can be deadly to humans, I figure so much the better.

On June 2, Feriante installed the injection point, where the 12 gallons of the product is injected into the water per day. The product includes an insignificant amount of sodium hypochlorite  which is commonly referred to as bleach, according to The Chlorine Institute. It is diluted at a ratio of 20,000 -to-1, Feriante said.

The product augments the electromagnetic field of the water and this makes it possible for the product to permeate the membrane of bacteria and oxidize the insides to nix the creation of trihalomethanes.

What researchers have found, though, is it also eliminates mold, fungus, viruses, algae, spores and cysts.

The project has worked already at the Houston VA Medical Center, the city of Timpson and the Huber Rural Water supply.

In Houston, it successfully controlled the spread of Legionnaires Disease. In Timpson, the water was yellowish-brown before treatment but turned clear with a low level of trihalomethanes and is seeking permission to use it permanently.

In Huber, the product clarified the water and resolved several issues. The city has stopped using the product, though, and Feriante will watch the changes to the water system without the product.

There were some anomalies in Huntingtons water system, which required Feriante to request additional time to study the effects of the product on local water.

Were working with the city to fine tune it, which is great, he said.

And he is looking at other communities where the product may be applied on different scales to test its abilities.
Inside the newly renovated lobby of one Downtown Madison insurance business, a 25-foot wall of 360 marble gray tiles displays the companys diversity, equity and inclusion statement  but not in a way the viewer might expect.

Etched into the 18x8-inch tiles that adorn National Guardian Lifes entrance are what award-winning Black architect Michael Ford called a hieroglyphic-like alphabet that he conceptualized using computer software and his artistic intuition.

Fords mosaic wall, which the company plans to unveil with events in July and August along with its soon-to-be-completed renovation project, deconstructs the diversity and inclusion statement letter by letter, using a process Ford created that converts music lyrics into architecture based on syllable counts, rhyme schemes and other mathematical information that can be extracted from the text.

Valuing diversity of thought, background and beliefs are key to living our cultural values of integrity, dependability, collaboration, compassion and growth, the wall reads. Its vital to our promise of helping customers face lifes challenges with confidence, dignity and grace. We strive to create an environment free of racism, discrimination and intolerance  fostering equal opportunities and promoting belonging and inclusion.

The designs etched into each tile, which are a half-inch thick, loosely resemble a West African type of writing known as adinkra, whose geometric symbols are classically used in fabrics, pottery and logos to convey messages of wisdom, Ford said. Some of the tiles feature straight horizontal lines, while others depict jagged edges and circles.

But Ford also wanted to create something new and original, he said. Known as Madisons Hip Hop Architect and founder of architectural firm BrandNu Design, Ford seeks to increase the diversity of talent in his industry. In 2019, jut over 11% of architects in the U.S. identified as a racial or ethnic minority, according to research by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Renewed mission

National Guardian Life, founded in 1909 with 300 employees, has in addition to the art piece been on its own mission to become a more inclusive workplace since the 2019 hire of CEO Knut Olson, said Jessica Grann, chief culture and communications officer, adding thats demonstrated in a remodel thats meant to promote the well-being of workers, as well as updates to benefit offerings and customer policies.

The 2020 killing of George Floyd, which spurred racial justice demonstrations all over the world, furthered that objective, she said, adding that National Guardian Life is best known for offering customers all over the U.S. with preneed life insurance, which covers the cost of funeral expenses.

The company is also making moves following a Madison Region Economic Partnership survey that late last year said employers in the Dane County region are at a starting point in creating a welcoming environment for workers. The proportion of both women and people of color in top leadership positions has increased by an average of 2.5% each year from 2016-2021, the survey said.

The remodel project (roughly $10 million-plus) has transformed the interior of the companys headquarters, which is just blocks from the Capitol, Grann said, adding that the motivation was to aid an increasingly remote workforce. The wall itself cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, she said.

All seven of the companys floors received upgrades, Grann said. Madison architect Strang helped National Guardian Life update its building to include open offices, collaboration and conference space, quiet rooms, a cafeteria and access to natural light and views of James Madison Park  and with a color palette of teals, burnt oranges and grays to complement the art piece.

The business intends to lease its fourth and fifth floors to tenants, Grann said, adding the company could host community events there as well.

She said National Guardian Life is looking to get its WELL certification. The International WELL Building Institute uses a set of specific criteria to determine how well a company is promoting the health of its workers. Grann didnt provide a specific timeline for when the certification may happen.

Beyond the art

Grann said some employees recently underwent training to better understand implicit bias, which includes attitudes people harbor toward others without conscious knowledge. Implicit biases can influence hiring and retention decisions in the workplace, various studies show.

Employees have also within the last few years received eight weeks of paid parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child, said spokesperson Maria Lubick, adding that National Guardian Life through an independent agency also conducted a staff survey to see how the company could improve in terms of diversity and inclusion.

The results of that survey were not released.

Another goal of National Guardian Lifes is to better support its Spanish-speaking customers, Grann said of the ways the company is looking to accommodate diverse clients.

One of the companys largest preneed organizations is based in California, where large populations of Hispanic people reside. A few possible routes for supports are translation services and marketing materials printed in Spanish, Grann said.

I hope the wall will be a visual reminder to all of us to stay on (this inclusion) journey throughout the course of our daily lives, Olson said in an email statement.
"We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys" by Erin Kimmerle; William Morrow (241 pages, $27.99)



Its fitting that Erin Kimmerles memoir begins not with her carefully removing skeletal remains from a long-forgotten grave but with her steeling herself for a news conference.

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys recounts in engrossing and moving detail the University of South Florida associate professors work as a forensic anthropologist at the infamous reform school in Floridas Panhandle, where her team searched for, found and identified the bodies of more than 50 people who died there, bringing comfort to families who had wondered about the fates of their lost sons and brothers for as long as 80 years.

But to get the chance to do that work, she had to battle politicians, Marianna residents, university administrators, fellow academics, and lawyers. Facing the press, as scary as it was, would be the easy part, Kimmerle writes.

Its not surprising that a lot of people did not want the history of the school dug up, metaphorically or literally. Founded in 1900 as the Florida State Reform School for Boys, the rural campus near Marianna housed boys as young as 5, many of them Black. The schools dormitories and other facilities were segregated for most of its existence.

Some of the boys had committed serious crimes, but the majority were sent there for such minor transgressions as petty theft, running away and the catchall delinquency; some were orphans who werent charged with any crime. In some cases, they were sent there without trials and without specific sentences.

It was less a school than a replacement, like the Panhandles infamous turpentine camps, for slavery. The boys served as unpaid labor for the schools printing press, brick factory, farm and other enterprises, as well as being rented out to neighboring farmers and businesses as workers.

Almost from its inception, the school was investigated and criticized for the exploitative and brutal treatment of its child inmates. A state senate investigative committee found boys shackled in irons and called the school nothing more or less than a prison. That was in 1903, three years after it opened.

Over the years, the horrifying reports leaked out, newspapers wrote about them, politicians vowed to reform the reform school, and the cycle repeated. Finally, more than a century after the school opened, a series of stories in the then-St. Petersburg Times detailed the terrible physical and sexual abuses recalled by men who had been inmates there decades before  and their memories of other boys who did not survive that treatment.

The stories drew national attention. Times reporters Ben Montgomery and Waveney Ann Moore and photographer Edmund Fountain were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for the series.

The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys closed permanently in 2011.

Kimmerles work would begin not long after, driven by reports that there were undocumented burials on the school grounds, more than those buried in Boot Hill, a small cemetery on the property with 31 marked graves. Records of who was buried there and how they died were sketchy at best. Who might be buried in unmarked graves, and how they died, was unknown.

Kimmerle had worked on the excavation of wartime mass graves in the Balkans as part of a U.N. investigation and learned there that forensics could be used for human rights work. She was also deeply moved by the stories she heard from survivors of boys who died at Dozier, families who werent even notified their child had died until after he was buried, who got stonewalled when they sought details.

But getting permission to investigate was a formidable task. Just figuring out which state entity controlled the property was a challenge; Kimmerle describes an astonishing chain of buck-passing among the Florida bureaucracy.

Local resistance was fierce. The school had been a major employer for Marianna, and some of the men accused by survivors of the worst crimes still lived there. Kimmerle discovered that Jackson Countys infamous history of racism wasnt history  when she began holding meetings to keep local leaders informed, a white farmer told her she needed to have two separate meetings, because white people wouldnt come to one for Black people. (She didnt take his advice.)

On her side, Kimmerle had the determined families of the vanished boys, and continued media coverage that carried the story around the world. (The story would also inspire author Colson Whiteheads Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys.) Eventually her team found support from a bipartisan group of politicians ranging from former Sen. Bill Nelson to former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The team finally got permission to survey the areas where burials were believed to be. When they found evidence of 50 graves, not 31, they went to round 2, fighting for permits to excavate.

Kimmerles description of the excavation, carried out by dozens of volunteers  students, anthropologists, law enforcement personnel and more  is filled with interesting details about the process but also offers wrenching human moments.

We found a boys remains bunched up near the top of a casket, with an arm over his head, lying not on his back, like most, she writes. The team and I stopped working one day and stood around a grave to look at a perfect white and burgundy stone marble we found in what would have been the pocket of a little boys pants.

The DNA yielded by the bones in those abandoned graves identified many of the boys and, finally, answered some of the questions their anguished families had asked for years.

But, Kimmerle urges the reader, their families should not be the only ones to remember the boys. Our history was uncovered with their graves, and even the worst parts of our history have something to teach us all. We carry their bones, indeed.
FICTION: A white American teenager who wishes to identify as a Black African navigates the complexities of his racial identity.

"Harry Sylvester Bird" by Chinelo Okparanta; Mariner Books (310 pages, $27.99)



Nigerian-American writer Chinelo Okparanta hardly shies away from contentious matters. Her first novel, "Under the Udala Trees," deftly tackled gay love in Nigeria against the tragic backdrop of the Biafran War. When the book came out in 2015, writing about homosexuality appeared to be taboo among Nigerian writers. Today, it is almost trending, explored by prose and poetry writers in books and literary journals.

Likewise, Okparanta's latest novel, "Harry Sylvester Bird," is a curious forerunner of sorts, entering, with seemingly little trepidation and a lot of satire, into the unwieldy, tumultuous territory of racial reassignment. In this case, the protagonist, whose early-stages transition is more psychological than physical or cultural, goes from identifying as a white American to more of a Black African.

When we first meet Harry, the book's 14-year-old protagonist from Pennsylvania, it is December 2016, and he has just arrived at a resort in Kizimkazi, Tanzania, with his parents, Wayne and Chevrolet. Yes, Harry's mother, referred to as Chevy throughout the book, is named after an American car brand. This peculiar naming, coupled with the fact that Harry calls his parents by their first names, signals a departure from the norm. It turns out that they are a white American family so arrogant and devoid of self-regulation in belief and behavior that we wonder why we should even bother with them.

Parody or not, the book insists on revealing the absolute worst of its white characters' main traits. For example, as the family settles into a room at the resort, Chevy admonishes Harry for coming too close to hand over a menu. "As if I were not her very own child," Harry, the novel's sole narrator, says, "as if I were not the flesh of her loins, as if I were instead some foreign pathogenic prototype." Wayne is even worse; he makes racist jokes about the dark skin of the Africans who try to accommodate their stay in Tanzania.

Harry, on the other hand, becomes so utterly taken by the kindness and appearance of a safari guide, "the man with the darkest of skin  the softest of eyes," that we see the stirrings of Harry's dissatisfaction with his white self, which is only accelerated by disgust at his parents' behavior.

Back in Pennsylvania, in a country now run by the very conservative, xenophobic Purists, "a third party said to have splintered off from the Republicans," Harry and his parents muddle through sad lives punctuated by job loss, infidelity, a pandemic, saving a burnt town called Centralia, more provincialism and eventually a mental breakdown that marks a split from the past  a past which Harry associates negatively with his white identity.

College-bound, Harry chooses to sever all ties and move to Manhattan, where he renames himself G-Dawg, starts attending psychotherapy on not identifying as white and falls madly in love with a Nigerian student, Maryam. At times cringeworthy, at times lovingly tender, Harry and Maryam's interracial relationship has its ups and down until a semester-abroad trip to Ghana forces a major reckoning.

In this oddly affecting novel that attempts to deploy exaggeration as an engine for social awareness and redress, Okparanta has laid bare some of our most vexing issues on race and identity, most notably those involving extremism and intolerance. Her unorthodox approach invites us  at our own risk  on an offbeat journey at once rattling and revealing.



Angela Ajayi is a Minneapolis-based critic and writer.
TUESDAY, July 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The White House is weighing whether to offer a second COVID-19 booster shot to American adults younger than 50 years. The new push comes in response to the latest, highly contagious omicron variants, which have increased hospitalization rates and raised new concerns about waning immunity in people who were vaccinated six or more months ago.

Expanding eligibility requirements for a fourth dose of the vaccine would require regulatory approval. Discussions with both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are slated for the near future, The New York Times reported.

In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved second booster shots for adults 50 years and older, along with immunocompromised young adults. But Anthony Fauci, M.D., White House chief medical adviser, has forcefully argued that all younger adults should be eligible for a second booster. Ashish Jha, M.D., the White House coordinator for the pandemic response, is also in favor of the approach, The Times reported.

In an interview on Monday, Fauci said that while the clinical data to support a second booster shot for those younger than 50 years is not there, many in this age group got their last booster shot six or more months ago and their immunity is likely dwindling. The final decision is up to the FDA and the CDC, but Fauci said, "I think there should be flexibility and permissiveness in at least allowing" a second booster for younger adults.

But others in the federal government are still waiting on more data to justify the decision, The Times reported. Some argue that the White House is not working hard enough to persuade Americans to accept the original round of COVID-19 vaccines, rather than pushing to boost immunity among groups that have already received at least one dose and are more protected.

Others worry that in the attempt to promote booster shots now, new omicron-specific booster shots will be a tough sell in the fall. On June 28, the FDA recommended that the vaccines be redesigned for the latest fast-spreading omicron variants of the disease, BA.4 and BA.5. As of July 2, the variants accounted for just over 70 percent of all U.S. infections.

The White House plans to hold a briefing Tuesday on the threats posed by the new variants, which have driven up hospitalization and death rates in Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, and Israel, The Times reported. Still, rates fall far below those seen last winter when the original omicron variant took over the world.
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

In keeping with the annual combat training plan, the Azerbaijani armys mechanized units have conducted practical fire and driving training exercises, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

During the drills, the driver-mechanics improved their combat vehicle management skills, while the gunner-operators boosted their shooting abilities from various types of weapons.

All prescribed duties were effectively completed as part of the practical training exercises, which were held to increase the mechanized units combat readiness, the ministry underlined.

Azerbaijan periodically holds drills to improve its military personnels combat readiness.

The drills also aim to improve interaction and combat coordination between the servicemen during operations, as well as to develop commanders' military decision-making and unit management skills.




Drivers have been arrested this week for their ninth, seventh and fifth OWIs this week, the Dane County Sheriffs Office reported.

On Sunday shortly before 10 p.m., Kirk D. Bonner, 53, of Sun Prairie, was stopped after crossing the center line near Portage Road in the town of Buke, and following field sobriety tests, was arrested for a seventh offense of OWI and operating after revocation, Sheriffs Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer said in a statement.

On Tuesday at about 2:45 a.m., Jason A. Cox, 50, of Cottage Grove, was stopped for speeding near the intersection of Dyerson Road and Highway 51 in the town of Dunn. Cox eluded deputies for a short distance before exiting his vehicle and running on foot until he was arrested for a ninth offense of OWI and eluding, Schaffer said.

On Wednesday shortly after 12:30 a.m., deputies stopped Martell L. Tucker, 37, of Madison for an expired registration at Grandview Boulevard and Thames Trail in the town of Madison. Tucker, who also had a revoked license, was arrested for a fifth offense of OWI, pending other open cases, and bail jumping, Schaffer said.
A federal judge in Madison sentenced a Darlington man Tuesday to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting two girls and using them to create child pornography.

Josiah Creasey, 35, assaulted the girls between 2017 and 2019 beginning when they were 9 and 10 years old, and took videos and photos of the assaults, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. He also placed a hidden camera in a bathroom to capture nude images of the girls, along with one other girl.

Creasey was arrested in March 2021 after police received a tip that he uploaded more than 40 images of child pornography to the internet. He pleaded guilty in April to using minors to produce child pornography.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson told Creasey that with the sentence, he wanted to send a message to the public and the victims that he takes the crime seriously. Peterson also said Creasey is a risk to re-offend because of his sexual attraction to children, and said Creasey lacks self-understanding.

The 20-year sentence will be followed by a life term of supervised release.

In a sentencing memorandum, Creaseys lawyer, Alex Vlisides, asked for a 15-year sentence, the minimum recommended under a plea agreement, writing that Creasey is himself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who needs sex offender and mental health treatment, which would best protect the public.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Sun Prairie School District in a lawsuit filed by two Black parents and their children over a middle school assignment that asked sixth-graders how they would punish a slave in ancient Mesopotamia.

The parents, Dazrrea Ervins and Priscilla Jones, claimed that the assignment, which coincided with the first day of Black History Month in February 2021, violated their civil rights and those of their children, Zavion Ervins and George Brockman.

The social studies assignment at Patrick Marsh Middle School gave students learning about Hammurabis Code the following prompt: A slave stands before you. This slave has disrespected his master by telling him, You are not my master! How will you punish this slave?

An internal investigation at the district found that the prompts were not part of the districts official curriculum on ancient Mesopotamia and that three teachers came up with the assignment on their own.

The three teachers were put on administrative leave after the incident and later resigned.

Along with complaints about the assignment, the lawsuit accused the district of discriminating against Brockman for his learning disability and failing to protect him from racist bullying. The parents lawsuit was filed in June 2021.

But Ervins and Jones failed to show evidence that the ordeal violated their civil rights or those of their children, concluded U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson of the Western District of Wisconsin.

A reasonable jury certainly could find that its content and timing were offensive, insensitive and justifiably upset students and their families, Peterson wrote of the Mesopotamia assignment in an opinion handed down on July 1.

But a hostile environment claim requires much more than a single upsetting episode, he said.

The district also didnt single out the two children or treat them differently because of their race, Peterson said.

In the suit, Ervins further claimed that teaching Hammurabis Code violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution since it was against her morals and religious beliefs.

Nothing in the Mesopotamia materials endorsed Hammurabis Code, Peterson said. It was presented as part of a history lesson, not as a moral code to guide the students lives.

The district insisted that neither Ervins nor Jones had standing and fought to keep the two childrens testimony out of court.

After the assignment and an apology from teachers over Zoom, Brockman  who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and dysgraphia  attempted to harm himself and eventually went to a therapist, according to the suit.

The district did not deny that teachers kept the boy in a locked room away from classmates on three occasions, or that classmates for years routinely called him racial slurs or taunted him. But ultimately, the plaintiffs in the case didnt provide evidence that the racism or the districts inaction had any impact on Brockmans education.

Following the incident, the district held mandatory training sessions on harmful curriculum content, reviewed its social studies curriculum and had a districtwide equity assessment.

With a decision on the case in federal court, complaints that the district violated state law will now go back to Dane County Circuit Court, where the two parents filed a lawsuit in April 2021.
Alliant Energy is looking to its customers for help keeping the electrical grid in balance.

The Madison-based utility is rolling out a suite of programs to offer cash rewards in exchange for giving up occasional control over thermostats and water heaters.

Under one new program, customers with internet-connected thermostats can receive $25 a year for allowing the utility to adjust the temperature in their homes by a few degrees up to 20 times per year, typically on hot summer afternoons when electricity use peaks.

According to regulatory filings, Alliant aims to enroll up to 7,000 households over the next two years, which the company says could provide up to 5 megawatts of capacity that could be called on instead of generators.

The utility says it may also use it to manage gas flows during winter months when utilities growing reliance on gas to generate electricity competes with home heating needs.

Smart thermostats give customers more control over their energy use and make it easier than ever to reduce their energy bills, said Kari Gehrke, Alliants manager of demand management. Our Smart Hours program allows customers to personalize their temperature preferences and increase the flexibility of their heating and cooling systems.

Customers can opt out of individual events (by simply re-adjusting their thermostats), but they can only do so three times a year and still receive the $25 incentive.

Those without eligible thermostats can get a $50 discount through the states energy efficiency program. Alliant says installing a smart or programmable thermostat can cut energy bills by about 10%.

The company has developed a similar program for internet-enabled electric water heaters and is testing the concept with a pair of refrigerated warehouses.

Altogether, Alliant expects the Smart Hours program will cost ratepayers about $1.4 million a year, including incentives and administrative costs.

Such demand management programs can offset the need for additional generation, storage and distribution equipment, lowering overall costs and avoiding the pollution produced by burning fossil fuels.

A 2020 report by M-WERC, a nonprofit group focused on economic development for Wisconsins energy, power and controls sector, identified thermostat control programs as one of the most cost-effective ways utilities could rescue emissions while creating jobs.

Other utilities, including Madison Gas and Electric and Xcel Energy, offer similar thermostat programs, though Alliant would be the first to use it to manage gas usage.

Statewide about 100,000 customers are enrolled in some type of demand management program, providing about 6% to 7% of the states historic peak demand, according to the Public Service Commission. But less than half of that capacity was actually dispatched over the past four years, primarily because most are used only in emergencies.

That could change under a recent order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will allow a utility or other company to aggregate demand response capacity into a single resource that can participate in wholesale power markets. However, the Midwest grid operator, MISO, does not plan to implement that policy until 2030.
The states bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission on Tuesday failed to issue any guidance to the states more than 1,800 election clerks on absentee ballot drop boxes following the Wisconsin Supreme Courts ruling banning use of the boxes.

At the same time, comments made by the Supreme Courts conservative justices expressing doubt in the results of the 2020 presidential election have former President Donald Trump and gubernatorial candidate Timothy Ramthun again calling on state Republicans to decertify the results of the 20-month-old presidential election, despite no evidence it contained widespread fraud.

The court also ruled that absentee ballots must be delivered by mail or in person to a local clerks office or designated alternate site, but did not rule on whether voters can have others take their ballots to the mailbox. While state law says absentee ballots shall be mailed by the voter, federal laws allow disabled voters to get assistance delivering their ballots.

On Tuesday, the commissions three Republican and three Democratic members deadlocked on a handful of votes related to drop box guidance. Republican members proposed guidance solidifying the courts decision, while Democratic appointees said that would only confuse clerks less than a month before the Aug. 9 primary.

The commission left open the possibility of revisiting the issue at a future meeting.

Writing in the court's decision, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley took aim at guidance issued by the Elections Commission in early 2020 to allow election clerks to use their discretion when determining whether to make use of drop boxes. State statutes do not address the use of ballot drop boxes.

Bradley wrote that hundreds of ballot drop boxes have been set up in past elections, prompted by the memos, and thousands of votes have been cast via this unlawful method.

The failure to follow election laws is a fact which forces everyone ... to question the legitimacy of election results, she wrote.

Writing in dissent, liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley noted that the Election Commissions guidance was adapted from resources provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Drop boxes were apparently secure enough for the federal Department of Homeland Security, yet the majority/lead opinion still contends that they cause people to lose faith in our elections, she wrote.

Ramthun briefing

Hours before the commissions meeting, state Rep. Ramthun held a press briefing at the Capitol to once again call on state lawmakers to take up his resolution seeking to decertify the states presidential election results  something experts and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have described as a legal and constitutional impossibility.

Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, said he updated the resolution after the Supreme Courts ruling. He alleged the ruling means any ballot dropped into one of the secure, free-standing drop boxes in the 2020 election should be deemed null and void. He also suggested that local law enforcement may need to seize ballot drop boxes, voting machines or other equipment.

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am not, Ramthun told reporters. This is not going to go away until somethings done.

Supporters of Ramthun attending the briefing responded with Amen.

Ramthun said his resolution only applies to the presidential election, and not the dozens of other races, including his own, on the 2020 ballot.

Recounts and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in the battleground state by almost 21,000 votes in 2020.

Speaking to reporters in Green Bay on Tuesday, Michels said he would need to see more details when asked if he would sign a bill to decertify the 2020 presidential election results, according to WKOW.

GOP gubernatorial candidate and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch has said the 2020 election was rigged, but has not called for decertifying the results.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has also made claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but has opposed decertifying the election.
Wisconsin reported more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, the highest daily total since June 2, as health officials expressed concern about highly transmissible new versions of the omicron variant.

Meanwhile, Dane County reported its second case of monkeypox, the third in Wisconsin in a multination outbreak that reached the U.S. in the spring.

With Wisconsins 2,006 new COVID-19 cases, the state had a daily average of 1,584 cases, the highest since June 10, according to the state Department of Health Services. As of Wednesday, 427 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, matching the figure from Friday, which was the highest since March 5, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

Florence County, in northern Wisconsin bordering Michigans Upper Peninsula, has a high COVID-19 community level, meaning people should wear face masks indoors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fifteen counties, including Dane, have medium levels, meaning people at high risk should talk to their doctors about wearing masks. The rest of Wisconsin has low levels, the CDC says.

Coronavirus levels in sewage systems are up recently in Ashland, Brookfield, Kenosha, La Crosse, Monroe, Portage, Viroqua and Watertown, but have shown no significant change in Madison. As people get tested for COVID-19 less at labs and turn more to home tests, for which results typically are not publicly reported, health officials are looking at wastewater to monitor virus trends.

With the new omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 accounting for most coronavirus spread in the U.S., health officials this week urged people who havent received booster shots to get them. Currently, many Americans are undervaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director.

Another new omicron variant, known as BA.2.75, is raising concern in India and the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

Monkeypox, a different type of viral illness, does not spread easily from person to person and has a relatively low risk of widespread transmission, health officials say.

Most people with monkeypox report close, sustained contact with others who have the infection. Many of those affected are men who have sex with men, but anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox can get the illness, the CDC says.

People with monkeypox typically develop a characteristic skin rash or lesions. Additional symptoms such as fever, chills and swollen lymph nodes can also occur.
By Trend

The Azerbaijani government pays special attention and care to martyr families and Karabakh war veterans, MP Javid Osmanov told Trend.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev instructed all state agencies with solving the challenges facing the mentioned vulnerable group.

"Considerable efforts are being made to improve the living conditions of martyr families and people with disabilities, provide them with houses, cars, rehabilitation services, and modern prostheses, as well as to solve self-employment problems," the MP said.

Osmanov outlined the establishment of the YASHAT Foundation after the 44-day second Karabakh war, which was supposed to address the problems of martyr families, wounded soldiers, and the second Karabakh war participants.

Meanwhile, loads of orders and medals have been established, numerous servicemen have been awarded following the Presidential Decrees on the occasion of the victorious outcome of the second Karabakh war, the MP said.

"A state program providing housing for martyr families, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable groups from 2021 through 2025 by the relevant order of President Ilham Aliyev. More than 13,000 people have been provided with housing thus far. At the same time, the country is taking serious measures to improve the quality of health care for veterans, providing them with modern prostheses, and psychosocial rehabilitation services," Osmanov said.

He noted that as the country's economic power grows, the size of social welfare payments increases.

"In this regard, over the past two years, President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly signed relevant decrees. In accordance with these orders, the amount of payments for martyr families, war veterans, and vulnerable groups has been increased," Osmanov added.
TWIN FALLS  Juvenile justice in Twin Falls County, much like the rest of the state, has gone through some big changes in the last dozen years.

One big change came at the start of this year when Snake River Detention Center relocated from its site on Wright Avenue, where it had been since the 1990s. Another change is the one-time allocation form the Legislature for assessment and diversion resources.

Kevin Sandau is the director of Juvenile Probation recognizes the changes.

In the old days you could get in trouble for sassing your mom and somehow end up in detention, Sandau said. Thats changed.

Sandau got his start on the detention side in the 90s. He worked at the Wright Avenue facility, where the 24-bed facility housed some 30 kids. At the time, it was the only place to take kids who got in certain kinds of trouble.

These werent your oppositional-defiant, mean, criminal kids, Sandau said. They were kids that had a lot of mental health and family disfunction and it was not getting resolved and therefore they were ending up at our highest level of care in our institutions in the state.

Quote In the old days you could get in trouble for sassing your mom and somehow end up in detention, Sandau said.

Now, as the director of Juvenile Probation, Sandau said that more effort is being made to address the causes of behavior issues and provide diversion away from the courts, directing individuals to resources that might help them address the issues that led to behavior issues.

The goal is to keep them out of the justice system and to keep them out of the child welfare system, Sandau said. Were trying to get them involved in resources to change the dysfunction, the problematic behaviors theyre seeing.

As a result, the population at juvenile detention is as low as it has ever been.

Kids that are in the states commitment, its the lowest its ever been in the states history, Sandau said. Its amazing to think what it used to look like, and what it looks like today, and it should completely different than this.

We should be dealing with thousands of kids. And were not.

Detention has a more therapeutic face

In its new facility on the third floor of the Twin Falls County West building, Snake River Detention has attempted to create more of a therapeutic environment, where the rooms resemble a treatment facility, rather than a jail with steel doors and bubble-block windows.

Detention Manager Paul Shepherd started at the detention center in 2003. When the state began using clinicians to assess detainees was when the population started going down.

I was a supervisor working during that time, Shepherd said. Before that even our detention population was about 32 kids and we were a 24 bed facility.

And then the detention clinician started in 2008 and we started seeing a gradual reduction, he said. And then diversion kicked in and we started seeing even more (reduction).

The population dropped to the point where he said he worried if he would even have a job managing the detention center much longer.

Weve had a condensing of the population over the years, he said. Diversion has been instrumental in bringing that population down, because theyre diverting kids from detention that dont need to be in detention.

The kids who find themselves at Snake River today are there because there is nowhere else to take them. Most have mental health requirements, are facing more serious charges, or, for one reason or another, probation is not an option.

The kids that were holding, that are coming in, theyre pretty challenging kids. Nobody else can work with them, so we have to provide that care. With that, theres a lot of issues that we encounter. Were finding ways within this environment with what were doing to try to be more therapeutic in our response with them, because theyre very challenging and everybody else cant deal with them, so we have to find the ways to deal with them.

The center also holds kids from Jerome, Elmore, Gooding, Lincoln, Blaine, and Camas counties.

Expanding assessment

When detention centers started using clinicians to assess juveniles, it showed the impact mental health issues have on behavioral issues.

Kids were getting in trouble for a myriad of reasons, but, in the eyes of the courts, they were summarized by the list of infractions, with not a lot of context for why they were having challenges, Sandau explained.

The addition of the clinician to detention center meant a different professional perspective could help inform the court about how to deal with these kids.

It also showed that the kids showing up in the corrections system had been exposed to a much higher degree of trauma over their lives than the kids who were not landing in the system.

In the years since, assessments have played a more important role in how the county handles juveniles, Sandau said.

A three-year grant now nearing its end allowed for a licensed masters social worker to assess all the kids that came in on status offenses. A status offense is something only a person under 18 can commit, such as truancy, curfew or alcohol offenses.

According to Sandau, based on these assessments, Juvenile Probation diverted more than half of the kids away from the formal court process. Thats about 360 kids who were given an alternative to detention.

This year the Idaho Legislature made a one-time $11 million funding allocation to the Department of Juvenile Corrections to establish youth crisis centers around the state. A portion of that money, $6.5 million, was put toward assessment centers.

The program had shown success, so it made sense to expand it.

The purpose of us wanting to work with the assessment center is to even progress the diversion even more Sandau said. Were getting pretty close to the place where were working so well as a community to utilize the rich resources available, and were doing it more efficiently.

One of the people who connects youth and families to resources is Josselyn Smith, Youth Services Coordinator/Restitution Coordinator. You would need to use both hands to count the ways Smith contributes to kids and families to help diversion be successful.

Ive found that, sure, theres a reason juvenile probation is here, from the court perspective, Smith said. My goal is to help any way that I can to reduce the strain that might lead to further involvement. So even something as simple as finding clothing that they dont have to pay for.

Other ways she supports success in diversion is by mentoring clients, taking them around the community and modeling positive relationships. She also assists people with obtaining employment, helping with resumes, and prepping for interview process. For people with housing insecurity, she helps with rental applications, sponsors application fees. Shell also dive in to the donations closet and find cloths or goods for people.

Smith generates partnerships with orgs in town that are already doing that work, as a connector to other agencies and resources that provide services that may be useful..

Im always discovering new resources, Which I find really exciting, Smith said.  I know theres some hesitation in duplicating efforts, but I think theres great value in being able to partner with the vast amount of orgs within the community, and so for me I think its a great strength to have all of these options, Smith said. Its kind of nerdy maybe, but Im always really excited when I hear about new agencies and resources.(tncms-asset)7f96bac4-0224-11ed-951c-472f6915b669[2](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)ac8d67ba-6cf0-5bb1-be8f-fd226fa60d7a[3](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)fe49c1dd-5d64-5a39-a85b-1c674cf404db[4](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)fe49c1dd-5d64-5a39-a85b-1c674cf404db[5](/tncms-asset)
Congressman Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, should phone home  immediately.

Hes badly out of touch with the people who sent him to Washington, D.C.

Case in point: He has co-sponsored a bill that will undermine the way Idaho sportsmen have been paying for hunting, fishing and wildlife programs since President Franklin D. Roosevelts second term.

Now targeted for elimination is the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937. That measure applies an 11% excise tax on hunting firearms, ammunition and bows and arrows, as well as a 10% tax on handguns.

In the last 85 years, it has generated more than $15 billion for such things as hunter safety programs, shooting ranges, conservation easements, elk and deer management and restoration of areas damaged by wildfires. Since 1937, it has provided $263.5 million for Idaho programs. Last year, it generated $21 million  or about 16%  of Idaho Fish and Games revenues.

Georgia Republican Andrew Clyde would replace those excise taxes with no more than $800 million from federal oil and gas leases. Thats a drastic cut from the $1.1 billion Pittman-Robertson raised in fiscal year 2022.

Its also less reliable. Until passage of the Great American Outdoors Act last year  which Fulcher voted against  Congress routinely raided oil and gas royalties earmarked for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

And it means that non-hunters would have a seat at the table on deciding where the money goes.

Not content with Pittman-Robertson, Clydes bill also plays mischief with the DingellJohnson Act, the 1950 law that uses excise taxes on fishing equipment to fund sportsman programs. Last year, it generated $7.35 million for Idaho  about 5.7% of Fish and Games budget. Clyde would cap excise taxes on fishing poles at $10, reduce the rate on tackle boxes from 10% to 3% and cut the tax on electric outboard motors from 10% to 3%.

Fulchers not listening to his constituents.

Nor is he listening to a wide spectrum of groups that include not only sportsmen such as the Boone and Crockett Club and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but also conservation groups such as the Wildlife Society and none other than the National Rifle Association. On May 17, more than 40 of these organizations contacted Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as well as the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, urging them to leave the user pays-public benefits system alone.

Fulcher also is ignoring his regional colleagues, such as Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. With the exception of Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale, no member of the House delegations from Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada or Wyoming has joined Clydes 56 co-sponsors.

Instead, its the crowd that has led Fulcher into making some awful choices  from trying to decertify President Joe Bidens Electoral College win in the midst of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection to opposing $40 billion in aid to Ukraine. Among them are the five Republicans who sought former President Donald Trumps pardon for their role in the Jan. 6 attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power  Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Add to that list of Fulchers fellow co-sponsors the likes of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.

Talk about a gang that cant shoot straight. Theyre aiming at the wrong law. This isnt about Pittman-Robertson. Its about the National Firearms Act of 1934.

That measure imposed what was then an expensive excise tax on machine guns, short-barrel rifles and shotguns, as well as silencers as a means to keep them out of distribution.

Congressman Don Beyer, D-Va., wants to use the same approach on military assault weapons by raising the excise tax to 1,000%  pricing those weapons specifically but no others beyond reach of most young adults. Its a blunt instrument. But because its a tax measure, Democrats could pass it on reconciliation  in other words, without any Republican votes.

So what is Fulchers response to Beyers plan?

Does he engage in meaningful efforts to seek middle ground on the issue of gun violence?

No. He holds his own Idaho sportsmen hostage.

Then he threatens to shoot the hostages.

If Fulcher can become that ideologically delusional in less than four years in office, what can we expect in five?

Or six?
TWIN FALLS  The city has received an excellent score from a nationwide financial services company that assesses risk and assets and issues investment ratings for government entities.

City Manager Travis Rothweiler informed City Council on Monday that Twin Falls had received an Aa2 rating from Moodys. The score is just two steps below a perfect Aaa rating, and puts Twin Falls in strong position while sourcing lease agreement for Fire Station No.2.

According to the financial advisors, this would kick us into the excellent category for a financial rating for a city our size, Rothweiler said. Its a credit to the team that works hard and manages the citys money.

This is the first time the city has requested a score. In order to follow through with the lease plan for Fire Station No.2 the city was required to request a credit score.

According to Moodys assessment, the prime-1 rating was awarded based on the citys strong, growing tax base that serves as a regional economic center in south-central Idaho with below-average resident income levels.

Factors such as household incomes that are below national average prevented the coveted Aaa rating.

The rating further reflects a strong financial profile that is expected to remain stable. The rating incorporates a modest debt burden and manageable pension liability. Governance is a key driver of the citys initial ratings, incorporating managements focus on maintaining strong reserves and solid capital replacement policies.

Rothweiler likened the announcement of the citys scores to an individual checking their credit scores to find they scored a 780 out of a possible 800.

Overall we were super pleased with the rating, Rothweiler said. A stronger rating means that, should the city choose to go out and sell bonds in the future at some point in time, we will be able to receive the best rate that we can for our citizens.
President Joe Biden apparently hopes Americans wont detect the air of hypocrisy that is certain to waft through his entire trip this week to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Biden faces the difficult task of upholding long-cherished Democratic Party principles regarding the defense of human rights while avoiding any public mention of them as he glad-hands with leaders of two notorious rights-abusing nations.

Biden will have to thread a particularly difficult needle on his first stop, in Israel, as he tries to square a policy he inherited from the Trump administration recognizing Israeli sovereignty over land its military seized by force in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Golan Heights.

Then-President Donald Trump overturned decades of U.S. policy, honored by Republican as well as Democratic administrations, by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem and moving the U.S. Embassy there. He declared that Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are no longer regarded as a violation of international law. And he formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The United States has long upheld U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning the seizure of territory in war and has gone to war repeatedly to force occupiers out of territory they seized, including the Iraqi seizure of Kuwait in 1990.

Thats the basis for Biden to justify sending billions of dollars in military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russias ongoing invasion. But by upholding Trumps policies regarding Israel, he sends a tacit greenlight to Russian President Vladimir Putin to carry on.

In Saudi Arabia, Biden plans face-to-face talks with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdoms de facto ruler. The United States has long tolerated Saudi Arabias egregious human rights record, particularly its oppression of women. But Biden has insisted he would not allow the Saudis to sidestep responsibility for the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and contributor to The Washington Post. U.S. intelligence agencies say the crown prince played a direct role in the killing and coverup.

In a 1,400-word Washington Post op-ed on Saturday, Biden devoted two entire sentences to the Khashoggi case. He steadfastly avoided mentioning the crown princes name in reference to Saudi harassment of dissidents and the 76 visa bans Bidens administration has issued against known human rights abusers. Thats a far cry from his insistence in 2019 he would make Saudi Arabia pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are over Khashoggis killing.

The problem is that midterm elections are coming in which support for Israel and the price of oil are certain to factor heavily. For a president who claims to stand on bedrock principles, Biden risks looking a lot like his predecessor  someone with no principles at all.
The Dubai government has approved $11.98 million worth of new social benefits for Emiratis with disabilities in the emirate, state-run agency WAM reports.

The benefits will be available for those under 60, who have physical or mental impairments and require support from others.

The benefits, the agency also noted, cover devices and technology, the adjustment of vehicles and the cost of equipping the workplace to accommodate people with disabilities.

The allocation also compasses fees for kindergartens, schools, university programs, and training and rehabilitation centers within specialized institutions, as well as the expenses for teachers, caregivers, personal assistants and sign language interpreters. It is hoped more people will benefit from the allowances as the Dubai government continues to expand its coverage, the agency added.
The Tunisia-Africa Business Council, TABC, will hold a summit in September in Togo, a West African country considered as an opportunity hub for investors.

The Conference, one-off for the West African country, will take place 11-15 September.

TABC, in a statement said, the gathering is organized jointly with Togolese Ministry of Investment Promotion, the Investment Promotion Agency and the Free Zone, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Togo.

The West African country boasts a GDP sitting at 5.3 per cent and the most vibrant banking sector of the region.

Togo is one of the leading regional hubs with political stability and the largest banking sector in West Africa, the council said.
More than 28 years after the extermination of the Tutsis in Rwanda, the former Rwandan prefect was sentenced on Tuesday 12 July by the Paris Assize Court to twenty years of criminal imprisonment for complicity in genocide.

Laurent Bucyibaruta, 78, who was appearing free, left the courtroom escorted by the gendarmes, leaning on his cane. He had time before that to talk with his lawyers and a relative on a bench. Behind him, the sobs of his supporters could be heard.

The former senior official was found guilty as an accomplice to genocide and an accomplice to crimes against humanity. These charges relate to killings committed at the Murambi Technical School, the parish of Cyanika, the parish of Kaduha, the Marie-Merci school, in particular, as well as at the level of the barriers of the province of Gikongoro, where he was prefect. The prosecution had requested life imprisonment on Friday.

Laurent Bucyibaruta was however acquitted of the charges of genocide and crimes against humanity as the perpetrator, particularly for the acts committed at Gikongoro prison and the parish of Kibeho. For the latter massacre, which occurred at the beginning of the genocide, the court considered that it lacked information on the extent of the genocidal project at that time.

This was a huge disappointment for the civil parties, as 40,000 people perished on this site. But tonight, Laurent Bucyibaruta is in prison, where he should have been for 20 years, said one of them.

His defence had pleaded for acquittal on Monday 11 July, calling on the Paris court of assizes to choose courage. In his last words to the judges and jurors before they retire to deliberate, the former senior civil servant had made a point of addressing the survivors of the genocide. I would like to tell them that it never occurred to me to abandon them to the killers, Laurent Bucyibaruta said, wearing a beige jacket over a light blue shirt and a surgical mask under his chin.
Cote dIvoire on Tuesday asked Mali to release without delay its 49 soldiers who were unjustly arrested on Sunday at Bamako airport and accused by the authorities of being mercenaries.

No Ivorian soldier of this contingent was in possession of weapons and ammunition of war, said a statement from the Ivorian presidency issued after an extraordinary National Security Council (CNS).

Cote dIvoire, which has always worked within sub-regional, regional and international bodies for peace, stability and respect for the rule of law, cannot be part of a logic of destabilization of a third country, the text added.

According to Abidjan, the presence of these soldiers in the framework of logistical support operations for the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma) is well known to the Malian authorities.

Ivorian soldiers have been present at Bamako airport since July 2019 and the signing of an agreement with the United Nations, the statement said.

Since that date, seven contingents have taken turns periodically on this site, without any difficulty, added the Ivorian authorities, who said they had sent a copy of the mission order to Bamako.

On Monday evening, the Malian authorities had said that the soldiers arrested the day before were illegally on the national territory of Mali () in possession of weapons and ammunition of war, without a mission order or authorisation.

The fateful intention of those arrested was clearly to break the momentum of the rebuilding and securing of Mali, as well as the return to constitutional order, said government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga. Mali, a landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, has seen two military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. It recently adopted a transition timetable to allow for a return to civilian rule in March 2024.
The president of the Constitutional Court of Benin Joseph Djogbenou has resigned from his post, the institution announced on Tuesday, six months before the legislative elections of January 2023.

The vice-president of the Constitutional Court has received the letter of resignation of Mr. Joseph Djogbenou in his capacity as adviser and consequently as president, said the press release published on the courts website.

The day before, Mr. Djogbenou was received in an audience by Beninese President Patrice Talon in Cotonou, without making any statement at the end of this meeting.

This former personal lawyer of Mr. Talon was at the head of the institution since June 2018 and his mandate ended in June 2023. The communique does not specify the reasons for his resignation.

According to Beninese political analyst Moise Dossoumou, this close associate of Mr. Talon may have resigned in view of a future participation in the January 2023 legislative elections.

A senior official of the Progressive Union party (UP, presidential majority) who requested anonymity shares this view: do not be surprised to see him soon at the head of our party and in the running for the legislative elections, he said.

A lawyer by profession, Joseph Djogbenou was elected deputy in 2015, then appointed Minister of Justice after the election of Patrice Talon in 2016.

With this resignation, it is Razaki Amouda, current vice-president who takes the head of the institution.

In Benin, the Constitutional Courts mission is, among others, to control presidential and legislative elections as well as referendums, to ensure the constitutionality of laws and to deal with complaints of human rights violations.
Vietnamese, Korean foreign ministers hold phone talks

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Korean counterpart Park Jin held talks over the phone on July 13, as the two nations are celebrating the 30th founding anniversary of their diplomatic relations (December 22, 1992-2022).













Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Expressing their delight at the robust growth of the bilateral ties, the ministers agreed to coordinate with each other to promote the exchange of delegations and meetings at all levels in various flexible forms; as well as activities to celebrate the 30th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties.



They consented to focus on promoting practical cooperation in defence, security and bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms; and implementing effective measures to fulfill the goal of raising bilateral trade to 100 billion USD by 2023, and 150 billion by 2030 in a balanced and sustainable manner, in which increasing the volume of Vietnam's exports to the Republic of Korea (RoK).



It is also necessary to encourage Korean enterprises to invest more in Vietnam's spearheaded industrial fields and transfer technology to Vietnam, the diplomats said, adding that the countries will further cooperate closely in science and technology, including the implementation of the second phase of the Vietnam  Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST) project.



Strengthening collaboration in health, especially in disease prevention, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, is also important, they noted.



Son affirmed his willingness to coordinate with the RoK's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring the two countries' strategic cooperative partnership to a new height; and suggested the RoK's Government continue to maintain and increase big loans with preferential conditions for Vietnam, and offer more support for Vietnamese citizens living, studying and working in the country.



Lauding Vietnams achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control and socio-economic development, Park affirmed that the RoK considers Vietnam a leading important partner in the region and wishes to develop strongly the bilateral relations in the coming time.



He suggested the Vietnamese Government further create favourable conditions for Korean businesses, especially Korean financial institutions and banks, to expand investment in Vietnam.



The two ministers agreed to continue to closely cooperate and support each other in solving international and regional issues of mutual concern; and to coordinate to help Vietnam successfully undertake the role of coordinator for ASEAN-RoK relations for 2021-2024.



They also agreed to maintain peace, stability, security, safety, cooperation and development in the East Sea; continue to support the building of a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) that respects the interests of relevant stakeholders in the East Sea in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).



Son took this occasion to invite the Korean minister to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time in the future and thanked Park for his invitation to make a trip to the RoK.
By Trend

The extradition of a person accused of committing a crime related to illicit trafficking in psychotropic substances from Poland to Azerbaijan was ensured, recently, Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice told Trend.

Ministry also added that the location of two more persons accused of fraud by breaching the trust of people were located in North Macedonia and Poland and were extradited to Azerbaijan.

According to the ministry, persons have been extradited to Azerbaijan from Germany, Poland, Turkiye, Iran and Ukraine in recent months, put on the international wanted list on charges of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, participation in a criminal group, giving bribes, abuse of power and fraud.

Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice also added that it continues to take the necessary measures in this area.
Coast guards of the Royal Navy, on maritime patrol in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, have rescued, during the period of Eid from July 9 to 12, 257 would-be immigrants, who had attempted a perilous crossing on board makeshift boats, kayaks and even by swimming, a military source said.

The rescued people, mostly Sub-Saharans, including women and children, an Afghan and a Yemeni, were transported safely to the nearest ports of the Kingdom, after receiving the necessary care on board the fighting units of the Royal Navy, according to the military source.

Last week, Morocco, Spain and the European Union agreed to renew their partnership in order to work together to tackle human smuggling networks, in particular following the emergence of new, extremely violent, methods adopted by such criminal networks.

In the 1st half of 2022, Morocco prevented over 26,000 illegal migrants from crossing into Spain and dismantled around a hundred criminal trafficking networks.
People walk under the state Capitol rotunda during the annual legislative session on Feb. 2, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. A legislative panel on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms. Credit: AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File

Physicians and researchers are urging New Mexico legislators to allow the use of psychedelic mushrooms in mental health therapy aimed at overcoming depression, anxiety, psychological trauma and alcoholism.

A legislative panel on Tuesday listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms.

Oregon is so far the only state to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin.

Recent studies indicate psilocybin could be useful in the treatment of major depression, including mental suffering among terminally ill patients, and for substance abuse including alcoholism, with low risks of addiction or overdose under medical supervision.

Physician Lawrence Leeman, a medicine professor at the University of New Mexico, urged legislators to move forward without waiting for federal decriminalization or regulatory approval to expand responsible therapies using doses of psilocybin.

Leeman and other advocates outlined emerging psilocybin protocols, involving six-hour supervised sessions and extensive discussions about the experience in subsequent counseling. He warned legislators that public interest is spawning illicit, underground experimentation without safeguards.

"I do think there is a lot of promise from these medications," said Leeman, who also directs a program providing prenatal and maternity care to women with substance abuse problems. "If this does go ahead, let's do this really safely, let's make sure we have people who are well trained (to administer the psychedelics) ... Let's make sure that people have counselors to see afterward."

It was unclear whether any New Mexico lawmakers will seek legislation for the medical use of psychedelics, which are still federally illegal. The Democratic-led Legislature convenes its next regular session in January 2023.

The study of psychedelics for therapy has made inroads in states led by Democrats and Republicans alike, including Hawaii, Connecticut, Texas, Utah and Oklahoma. And psilocybin has been decriminalized in the cities of Washington and Denver as well as Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Oakland and Santa Cruz in California.

In several states, military veterans are helping to persuade lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use in addressing post-traumatic stress.

Currently in New Mexico, lawful access to psilocybin-assisted therapy is available mostly through clinical trials.

Yale University psychiatrist Gerald Valentine said that leaves out people with low incomes and severe afflictions. He said the University of New Mexico is expanding its expertise in psychedelics-based therapies, and that a supportive environment can be found in communities such as Santa Fe, known as a progressive hub for healing and the arts.

"These questions are starting to be answered about who might benefit from this therapy," Valentine said. "I just feel very fortunate to be in a position to really bring this forth into real world situations."

Classic psychedelics include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and ayahuasca. Plant-based psychedelics have long been used in indigenous cultures around the world.

At least one New Mexico church group uses hallucinogenic ayahuasca tea from the Amazon as a sacrament. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision ensured access to ayahuasca imports for a temple on the outskirts of Santa Fe affiliated with the Brazil-based Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal.

Explore further Little evidence on how psilocybin therapy interacts with existing psychiatric treatments, review finds

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Identification of studies included via databases. Credit: Integrative Cancer Therapies (2022). DOI: 10.1177/15347354221103275

For years, cancer survivor studies have touted the positives of mind-body interventions such as mediation, yoga, mindfulness, massage therapy, acupuncture, tai chi and qi gong to improve cancer survivors' mental health, sleep quality, physical fitness, pain management and lifespan. Together such practices are known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions.

But a new study from the University of Houston College of Nursing has found that while African American cancer survivors (AACS) have interest in such mind-body modalities, these practices often are inaccessible to them because of cost, geographical location, low socioeconomic status and lack of knowledge or awareness.

In a survey of primarily African American cancer survivors, only 22% reported awareness of CAM practices, indicating AACS may not be aware of or have access to participate in other forms of mind-body practice.

It is the first review to explore the use of mind-body interventions specifically for African American cancer survivor populations using both clinical trials and qualitative studies.

"These findings draw attention to the lack of mind-body interventions that have been offered for AACS, despite qualitative studies and surveys that discuss AACS interest and use of mind-body medicine and other complementary and alternative therapies to address physical and psychological concerns," reports Pinky Shani, assistant professor of nursing, in the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies.

In her study, Shani reviewed 284 articles, published from 2016 through 2021 and clinical trials which included CAM intervention.

"Results indicate that African American cancer survivors have expressed receptiveness to interventions incorporating mindfulness, meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other mind-body or complimentary/alternative medicine interventions. Still, few studies have offered such interventions exclusively to African American cancer survivors," said Shani.

Additionally, the study revealed that African Americans prefer to use CAM practices that are spiritual or meditative, and previous interventions thus far have not included spirituality or meditation as a primary component.

"As a nurse, Dr. Shani's work embraces the significance and importance of body, mind and spirit care provided by nurses to all people," commented Kathryn Tart, founding dean for the College of Nursing.

"Future studies seeking to offer a mind-body intervention for AACS may consider including measures that address spirituality from the beginning," said Shani.

"Despite a growing interest in mind-body interventions, African American communities are often unaware of opportunities to engage in these practices in their communities, and mind-body practices are inaccessible due to cost or geographical location. Additional research that offers such interventions specific to African American cancer survivors is warranted," she said.

Explore further African American breast cancer survivor cardiovascular disease risk high but knowledge low

More information: Pinky Shani et al, Acceptability and Use of Mind-Body Interventions Among African American Cancer Survivors: An Integrative Review, Integrative Cancer Therapies (2022). Pinky Shani et al, Acceptability and Use of Mind-Body Interventions Among African American Cancer Survivors: An Integrative Review,(2022). DOI: 10.1177/15347354221103275
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While depression is a common problem for people who have had a stroke, some people may have symptoms of depression years before their stroke, according to a study published in the July 13, 2022, online issue of Neurology. Researchers found that, in people who developed a stroke, symptoms of depression preceded the onset of stroke and further worsened after the stroke.

"Depression is among the most pressing problems in people who have had a stroke and it is so common it is referred to as post-stroke depression," said study author Maria Blochl, Ph.D., of the University of Munster in Germany. "But our study found depressive symptoms not only markedly increase after stroke, it found people already had developed some depressive symptoms before the stroke even occurred."

For the study, researchers looked at 10,797 adults with an average age of 65 and without a history of stroke at the start of the study. Participants were followed for up to 12 years. During that time, 425 people had a stroke. They were matched with 4,249 people who did not have a stroke but were similar in their age, gender, racial or ethnic identity, and other health conditions.

Participants took a survey every two years asking whether they experienced symptoms of depression in the past week, including: feeling depressed; feeling lonely; feeling sad; everything was an effort; and restless sleep. The more symptoms participants had, the higher their score.

Researchers found that six years before the time of the stroke, people who later had a stroke and those who did not had scores roughly the same, about 1.6 points. But at about two years before the stroke, scores of people who had a stroke started increasing, on average by 0.33 points. Following stroke, depressive symptoms increased an additional 0.23 points for this group, reaching a total of about 2.1 points and they stayed that high for 10 years after the stroke. In contrast, the scores of people who did not have a stroke remained roughly the same throughout the study.

When evaluating whether people could be considered clinically depressed, scoring three points or higher on the scale, researchers found a slightly different pattern of results emerged. At the assessment before the stroke, 29% of people who were about to have a stroke met the criteria for having probable depression, compared to 24% of those who did not have a stroke. But at the time of the stroke, 34% of the people who had a stroke met the criteria for having probable depression, compared to 24% of those who did not have a stroke. Those numbers were about the same six years after the stroke. "This suggests that increasing symptoms of depression before stroke are mostly subtle changes and may not always be clinically detectable. But even slight increases in depressive symptoms, especially mood and fatigue-related symptoms, may be a signal a stroke that is about to occur," noted Blochl.

"Depression is not only a post-stroke issue, but also a pre-stroke phenomenon," said Blochl. "Whether these pre-stroke changes can be used to predict who will have a stroke is unclear. Exactly why depressive symptoms occur pre-stroke needs to be investigated in future research. Also, the study underscores why doctors need to monitor for symptoms of depression long term in people who have had strokes."

A limitation of the study was that researchers did not have enough data on treatments for depression. So, it is possible that some people received antidepressants that could have improved their symptoms of depression following stroke.

Explore further The severity of depressive symptoms over time may help predict stroke risk
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Children who were born preterm are at heightened risk of lower academic achievement in math, reading and other skills and are also at greater risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But a new study suggests that an intervention in the first weeks and months of a preterm infant's life may lead to better neurodevelopmental outcomes in later years. In a study that followed preterm infants for seven years, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital together with collaborators at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute found that children who received greater quantities of maternal milk both during and after time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) had greater academic achievement, higher IQs and reduced ADHD symptoms. Results are published in JAMA Network Open.

"Our study finds that there may be long-term neurodevelopmental benefits to providing maternal milk to preterm infants," said corresponding author Mandy Brown Belfort, MD, MPH, of the Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine. "A lot of families are dedicated to the idea of providing maternal milk but may face steep challenges. Our findings emphasize the importance of providing support for initiating and sustaining lactation because maternal milk at this early age can provide benefits years later."

Belfort and colleagues looked at neurodevelopmental outcomes for 586 infants born at less than 33 weeks' gestation at one of five Australian perinatal centers. Children were evaluated at age 7 (corrected for prematurity). The team looked at data on maternal milk dose (volume of maternal milk infants received each day) and maternal milk duration (how long parents continued breastfeeding) predicted several neurodevelopmental outcomes. These outcomes included academic achievement, Verbal and Performance IQ, symptoms of ADHD, executive function, and behavior.

Overall, the team found that higher maternal milk intake was associated with higher Performance IQ and higher reading and math scores. Parents also reported fewer ADHD symptoms for children who consumed more maternal milk during infancy. Duration of maternal milk intake (up to 18 months corrected age) was also associated with higher reading, spelling and math scores. The researchers controlled for confounders, including clinical and social factors. These beneficial associations were stronger for infants born at the lowest gestational ages, particularly those born below 30 weeks of gestation.

The authors note that their study is observationalthey cannot determine causality as there may be other, unaccounted factors that influence both the ability to provide maternal milk and academic achievement. The study's strengths include its large size, the range of outcomes examined, and that the researchers could assess school-age outcomes. Other studies have only followed children through preschool age, making it difficult to assess the full range of neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Overall, Belfort sees the team's findings as an affirmation of guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization, both of which recommend maternal milk for infants.

"Our study confirms recommended strategies for supporting parents to provide maternal milk for preterm infants," said Belfort. "And it strengthens the call for health policies and parental leave policies that support rather than work against parents. As a society, we need to invest in familiesit's an investment that will continue to benefit children when they reach school age."

Explore further Receipt of breast milk increases with gestational age at birth

More information: Associations of Maternal Milk Feeding With Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 7 Years of Age in Former Preterm Infants, JAMA Network Open (2022). Journal information: JAMA Network Open Associations of Maternal Milk Feeding With Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 7 Years of Age in Former Preterm Infants,(2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.21608
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The Netherlands announced on Wednesday it has become the latest country to detect a case of the COVID Omicron subvariant BA.2.75, as experts expressed concern about the strain's rapid spread.

The subvariant, nicknamed "Centaurus", first emerged in India in May and has since spread to around 10 countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Australia.

It "has also now been identified in the Netherlands," the Dutch National Institute of Public Health said in a statement.

"Little is known about BA.2.75," the institute said, but it "appears to more easily bypass the defences built up against SARS-CoV-2 through small, specific changes".

The World Health Organisation's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said last week that the UN agency was closely tracking the strain, but there were "limited sequences to analyse".

"This sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor binding domain of the spike protein... so we have to watch that," she said in a tweeted video.

She added that it was "too early to know" how well the strain can evade immunity or how severe it was.

Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, told AFP that BA.2.75's spread in India indicated it could be more transmissible than the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, which has been driving waves in Europe and the US.

"It seems to be becoming the dominant strain in Indiathe question is will it become the dominant strain all over the world?"

Flahault added that previous dominant strains, like Delta, had first taken over the country they emerged in before spreading across the world.

But he said there was a "margin of unpredictability," pointing to how BA.2.12.1 became dominant in the US but BA.5 "succeeded" when the two came in direct competition.

Flahault added that successive variants made developing a vaccine to fight them more difficult, because by the time one jab targeting them was ready to be rolled out, newer strains had taken over.

It was far too early to know about the severity of BA.2.75, he added.

The Dutch sample was collected in the northern region of Gelderland on June 26, the institute said, adding it was "closely monitoring the situation" there.

Earlier this month, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control listed BA.2.75 as a "variant under monitoring".

Explore further Omicron 'sub-variant' throws up new virus questions

 2022 AFP
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Developed by researchers at La Trobe University in Melbourne, SENSe therapy (Study of the Effectiveness of Neurorehabilitation on Sensation) has already helped hundreds of survivors of stroke improve their ability to undertake tasks such as cooking, dressing, eating and driving.

A unique partnership program, launching todayinvolving universities and health care providers across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, and 100 newly upskilled health professionalswill see SENSe therapy extend to thousands more patients.

Program lead, Professor Leeanne Carey from La Trobe University, said although one in two peopleor more than 200,000 Australiansexperience a loss of touch sensation after stroke, it's largely a hidden problem.

"We may take touch sensation for grantedbut for someone to suddenly not have this skill can erode confidence, independence and the ability to live a full and happy life."

"Family members may see the person walking and talking and assume they can easily return to their everyday life, including tasks such as cookingbut this is often not the case," Professor Carey said.

Professor Carey said making SENSe therapy more widely available is critical to enabling survivors of stroke to regain use of their hand in daily activities and improve quality of life.

"We now have four specialist SENSe therapy centers established in Melbourne, Adelaide and Newcastleand a further 100 physiotherapists and occupational therapists upskilled to roll the therapy out across eight health care networks in Victoria and NSW," Professor Carey said.

"Thanks to this new partnership, people can more easily access this highly effective, evidence-based therapy which has been in development for yearswhether they recently had a stroke or have been struggling with everyday tasks for years."

Professor Carey said most survivors of stroke who have been through the six-week program say the therapy has changed their life.

"SENSe therapy helps to reprogram the brain so that people again know when they are touching objects, can recognize textures, and know where their hand is in space," Professor Carey said.

Robert Morgan, who had a stroke in 2002 as a 56-year-old, said he quickly learned not to use his right dominant arm due to the loss of sensation that impacted the fine motor skills in his hand and greatly reduced movement and control of his arm.

"I taught myself to sign my name left-handed and decided that my left hand would have to be my dominant oneit was the only way I could get around the loss of touch and control. This was also a major contributing factor to the end of my 35-year career with Holden," Mr. Morgan said.

"Since the therapy my life has improved in many ways. I no longer need to use my left hand to fully compensate for the right hand in everyday situations such as tying up my shoelacesand using my right hand 'as normal' to operate the turn signal switch in my car has naturally made me a safer driver."

The partnership involves four specialist SENSe therapy centersbased at the Florey Institute/Austin Hospital, John Hunter Hospital, Alfred Health and UniSA Healththat will offer SENSe therapy for survivors of stroke living in the community. People who have stroke and sensory loss can self-refer.

Another 100 therapists at eight healthcare networks in both metro and regional areas are trained to deliver SENSe therapyincluding at Austin Health, Barwon Health, Bendigo Health, Epworth HealthCare, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St John of God Frankston, St Vincent's Health and Western Health.

"We know that getting functionality back after stroke is a significant step in the recovery journey, and the SENSe therapy trials have already been transformational for so many survivors of stroke. We are looking forward to seeing so many more people have this opportunity," Ms. McGowan said.

"There are 445,000 living with the impact of stroke in Australia and no one person will have the same needs in their recovery journey. That is why new innovations like SENSe therapy are so important, and we congratulate Professor Carey and the team behind this really important work."

About SENSe therapy:

SENSe therapy exploits the brain's capacity to adapt and learn new skills. Researchers now know that brain is plasticit can change its function, even in adults who have had an injury to the brain such as stroke.

The focus of the SENSe training approach is on rediscovering the sense of touch in the arms. It has been designed to assist survivors of stroke to improve functional sensory skills and be able to apply these in everyday tasks.

SENSe has been successfully conducted by trained occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Therapists need to be specifically trained in the SENSe training program.

SENSe therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial conducted by Carey et al (Neurorehabilitation & Neural Repair, 2011). People who have experienced sensory loss after stroke and participated SENSe therapy highlight the differences this new therapy has made to them (Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2019).
Tanzania has dispatched a team of doctors and health experts to investigate a mysterious disease that has claimed the lives of three people, the government said Wednesday.

Symptoms of the illness include fever, headaches, fatigue and nosebleeds, the government's chief medical officer Aifello Sichalwe said in a statement.

So far, 13 cases have been reported in the southeastern region of Lindi, including the three people who died.

Sichalwe said the patients had tested negative for Ebola and Marburg, as well as COVID-19.

One of the patients had fully recovered while the others were being isolated, he said.

"The government formed a team of professionals who are still investigating this unknown disease," he added, calling on people in the area to remain calm.

Ghana last week reported two suspected cases of the Marburg virus, which belongs to the same family as Ebola and has symptoms including high fever and internal and external bleeding.

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Tuesday the "strange" disease reported in Lindi may have been caused by "growing interaction" between humans and wild animals as a result of environmental degradation.

Explore further WHO: Ghana reports 2 suspected cases of Marburg virus

 2022 AFP
WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Preterm infants who are breastfed do better in school and are less likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), says a new study.

Preemies have a higher risk of doing poorly in math, reading and other academic skills, previous studies have shown. They're also at greater risk for ADHD.

But starting them off with lots of breast milk appears to blunt this risk and leads to better brain outcomes in later years, researchers report July 13 in JAMA Network Open.

The study looked at data for 586 babies born at less than 33 weeks gestation at five Australian birth centers. The researchers reviewed the amount of breast milk the babies were fed each day, as well as how long parents continued breastfeeding.

Overall, the research team found that higher intake of mother's milk was associated with higher performance IQ and higher reading and math scores by age 7.

Parents also reported fewer ADHD symptoms for children who drank more mother's milk as preemies.

Moreover, longer duration of breastfeeding -- up to 18 months -- was associated with higher reading, spelling and math scores.

"Our study confirms recommended strategies for supporting parents to provide maternal milk for preterm infants," said researcher Dr. Mandy Brown Belfort. She is director of clinical research with Brigham and Women's Hospital's Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine in Boston, and an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

"And it strengthens the call for health policies and parental leave policies that support rather than work against parents," Belfort continued in a Harvard news release. "As a society, we need to invest in families -- it's an investment that will continue to benefit children when they reach school age."

Because the study was observational, it cannot actually prove that breastfeeding led to academic benefits. The authors acknowledge that other factors may have come into play, too.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about the benefits of breastfeeding.

SOURCE: Harvard University, news release, July 13, 2022

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TUESDAY, July 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Citing federal law, the Biden Administration on Monday said that if a pregnant woman's life is in danger, hospitals must provide her with care, including abortion services.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) applies to providers in all states, U.S. health officials said, including those that now ban abortions following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that overturned Roe v. Wade.

"Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care -- including abortion care," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care. Protecting both patients and providers is a top priority, particularly in this moment. Health care must be between a patient and their doctor, not a politician. We will continue to leverage all available resources at HHS to make sure women can access the lifesaving care they need."

Under the law, medical facilities must determine whether someone seeking treatment may be in labor, may face an emergency health circumstance, or may have a health situation that could develop into an emergency. Then, they must provide treatment.

"If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment," the agency's guidance reads. "When state prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person -- or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA's emergency medical condition definition -- that state law is preempted."

Situations where this might come up include an "ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features," the HHS guidance adds.

"Under federal law, providers in emergency situations are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with an emergency medical condition, including abortion care if necessary, regardless of the state where they live," said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks LaSure. "CMS will do everything within our authority to ensure that patients get the care they need."
TUESDAY, July 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- More than 80 percent of Americans have a widely used herbicide detectable in their urine, a new government study suggests. The chemical -- glyphosate -- is "probably carcinogenic to humans," the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer has said. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, a well-known weed killer.

The U.S. National Nutrition Examination Survey revealed the herbicide was found in 1,885 of 2,310 urine samples that were representative of the U.S. population. Nearly a third of the samples came from children ages 6 to 18 years. Traces of the herbicide have previously been found in children's cereals, baby formula, organic beer and wine, hummus, and chickpeas.

"Children in the U.S. are regularly exposed to this cancer-causing weed killer through the food they eat virtually every day," Alex Temkin, a toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement issued Monday. "The Environmental Protection Agency should take concrete regulatory action to dramatically lower the levels of glyphosate in the food supply and protect children's health."

German pharmaceutical company Bayer purchased the Roundup brand when it bought the agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018, CBS News reported. In 2020, the EPA determined that the chemical was not a serious health risk and "not likely" to cause cancer in humans. However, a federal appeals court ordered the EPA to reexamine those findings last month.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected Bayer's bid to shut down ongoing lawsuits over whether the herbicide causes cancer. The justices also let a $25 million judgment on behalf of a California man stand. In that case, the plaintiff said he developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma from decades of using Roundup on his property, CBS News reported.

So far, Bayer has won four cases in state courts where plaintiffs alleged that Roundup caused their cancer, CBS News said. The company continues to assert that the herbicide is safe, but plans to replace it in Roundup intended for residential use beginning next year. The chemical will still be included in products meant for professional and farm use.
Following a three-day trial in federal court, a jury convicted a former Missoula man of transporting, distributing and receiving child porn online and on social media.

Taurean J. Weber, 39, was found guilty on Wednesday of eight charges, including four counts of transportation of child pornography, three counts of distribution and one count of receipt of child pornography. Weber now lives in Littleton, Colorado.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

According to a U.S. Attorney's Office press release, from September 2016 to July 2020, Weber used Dropbox and Instagram to transport and distribute child pornography.

An investigation began in October 2019 after Instagram reported sexually explicit material involving children on its site to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The center then sent "CyberTips" to members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for further investigation, the press release stated.

Subpoenas and search warrants found evidence indicating Weber was the creator and user of the social media accounts.

Law enforcement served a search warrant on his house. They seized numerous computers and storage devices containing videos and images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the press release stated.

Webers distribution of child pornography perpetuated the sexual exploitation and abuse of children for his own gratification," U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said. "It was wrong and disgusting. We are committed to protecting children from this horrible crime and will be resolute in our efforts to hold those who prey on them accountable."

He thanked the prosecutors and investigating agencies involved in the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cyndee Peterson and Karla Painter are prosecuting the case. It was investigated by Missoula Police Department Detective Katie Hall, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and FBI.

Weber faces a mandatory minimum five years to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Sentencing is set for Nov. 18 in Missoula.
Decades of signatures live inside the steel bomb bays of two 80-year-old airplanes that landed on Missoulas tarmac on Monday. Whether new or faded, each draws back to the great air battles of World War II, when thousands of Americans took to the skies.

Now parked at the Museum of Mountain Flying, volunteers are bringing those signatures  and accompanying stories  back to life this week through tours and flights of the last historic bombers left in the world.

Bringing the aircraft gives people a real life experience of the sacrifice these flyers made for us, said Bob Gates, flight crew chief for the planes. Our Air Force veterans feel safe to relive their time when they are here.

Two planes made the journey from Arizona as a part of a summer tour: the B-25 Maid in the Shade and the B-17 Sentimental Journey. The metal giants will stay at the Museum of Mountain Flying next to Missoula International Airport through Sunday.

The B-17 is one of five bombers still running from the original 12,000 manufactured during World War II. Nicknamed the Flying Fortress, the high-altitude bombers are known for dropping a majority of bombs during the war.

Sentimental Journey, manufactured in California during late 1944, did not see active combat, but continued service as a test bomber for nuclear trials in the Pacific Ocean.

Afterward, fire teams retrofitted the plane to dump fire retardant onto burns across the northwest U.S. The Commemorative Air Force, an all-volunteer education nonprofit, bought the plane in 1978, restored it, and began touring the country.

Maid in the Shade is one of 30 or so remaining B-25s. Its known as a Purple Heart plane after flying 15 combat missions in Italy and Yugoslavia. On some missions, volunteers said Maid in the Shade was the only plane to survive.

After the war, the B-25 was used for training and then sold for spraying pesticide in the South for decades. When the owners were ready to scrap it, the Commemorative Air Force bought it, restored it over 20 years, and put it back in the air in 2009.

The air group is an educational organization that started to keep historic aircraft alive and tour them to places across the country. Based in Arizona, volunteers fly and maintain the planes.

The two relics rolled into Missoula from Kalispell on Monday. A small crowd of 20 greeted the great, heavy machines, which roared from the car-sized propeller engines. Inside, the interior looks just like it did in the 1940s. Photos of Sentimental Journeys original crew cover the radio station desk. Even the chain guns used to deter fighter planes have live ammunition in them.

Lana Gates, flight coordinator for the Commemorative Air Force, said this is one of the first times the two planes have gone on tour together.

The planes travel the country each summer to give a real-life look at the tragedy and triumph of the tens of thousands of aviators who flew during the war. Some reports say up to 50% of American pilots didnt survive the war.

We are trying to keep that inspiration alive, Gates said. It is truly an honor to be near and experience these aircraft.

And with years of service, the all-volunteer Air Force has dozens of stories about the original men and women who filed the planes. Missoulian David Thatcher, who was an engineer/gunner on a B-25 during World War II, was one of the members of the Doolittle Raid  the first attack by the U.S. on Japanese soil.

Another Missoulian, Ken Taylor, flew a B-25 during the Korean War, Gates recalled six years ago in Missoula when the flight crew asked him to sign Maid in the Shade.

He was on the brink of tears and shaking when he signed his name. He was so emotional that someone else finished it for him, Gates said. You could tell how much it meant to him. That's why we do it.

Other signatures come from Rosie the Riveters, women who joined the war effort as manufacturers. First started as a government campaign to get women into defense industries, the nickname was popular for women working jobs left open by men at war.

More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, which was 65% of the total workforce, according to History.com. One signature in Maid in the Shade is from Betty Hayes, who built B-17s in Long Beach, California.

Crew members said Hayes could have built Sentimental Journey during the war, too.

Chris Bennett, who recently retired after 29 years in the Air Force, said he had to stop and tour the planes after dropping his daughter off at Missoula International Airport. He and his family looked closely at each message in the B-17. Above, the flight crew slowly unpacked their belongings from the main cabin.

The veteran said it felt surreal after flying the same routes as the plane when he was stationed in England. He said more people should be familiar with World War II.

Its easy to forget history, Bennett said, noting the last surviving member of the Doolittle Raid died in 2019. "We need to give it up for the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
I struggle to fill my gas tank just like everyone else, and only fill to a half tank most weeks. Instead of filling my shopping cart at the grocery store with any food item I wish to eat like I did two years ago, I only pick what is essential. Extra trips are eliminated. Shopping for new clothes is out of the question.

Life dramatically changed when our nation stopped being energy independent and turned its back on the oil and gas producers in Montana and throughout the USA two years ago. All aspects of our daily lives are linked to energy. Without energy, we do not have food production, healthcare, or products delivered.

As we entered the July 4 holiday, a small local group with backing from a national Washington, D.C., group, claiming to be fiscally conservative, filed a lawsuit against the Missoula Election Office in Montanas 4th Judicial District Court of Missoula County. This lawsuit undermines confidence in voting and costs the taxpayers who are already struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table. We the taxpayers pay to defend the Election Office even after a late March 2022 recount of 71,924 election envelopes from the 2020 November election showed that only 71 envelopes were not located  a difference of .00098%. This is such an insignificant difference that it makes one wonder what the real purpose is behind this lawsuit?

The March 2022 recount was funded by the Missoula Republican Party with private donations, not at the expense of taxpayers. A bipartisan group joined with other voters  Republican, Democrat and Independent  in their desire to put to rest any concern regarding the November 2020 election. I was one of those 14 volunteer observers that spent two full days watching the election workers recount all 71,924 envelopes and am confident that the Missoula Election Office staff did a fair and honest job. Key leaders from this small local group who are now suing the Missoula Election Office at taxpayers expense did not show up for the March 2022 recount or the first recount in 2021 that this group demanded from the Missoula Election Office at taxpayer expense.

Voters need to elect men and women who will reduce gasoline prices at the pump, reduce the price of food in the grocery store, reduce crime on our streets and our businesses, reduce regulation against businesses, and reduce the flood of illegal drugs pouring into Montana and our nation from the southern border.

The November 2020 election results are certified and finalized and need to be left alone.

Your vote does count and in Missoula the Election Office did a good job. Voters need to elect candidates to represent you on November 8, 2022, that will make your lives better. It is also up to us to watch the election process from start to finish, not complain about it unless we are there to watch.

A vast majority of us want to live our lives in peace, support our families, stay safe, and do good things for our families, friends and community. I for one want to make Missoula a better place to live and know the best thing we can do is vote for people that accomplish those worthy goals.

Crossroads look forward.
Gradiant, a global solutions provider and developer for cleantech water, said it has acquired WaterPark Environment Corp (WaterPark), a design and construction firm based in Taiwan focused on water technologies for advanced manufacturing in the high tech industries of semiconductor and microelectronics.

Announcing the strategic move, Gradiant said the acquisition strengthens its portfolio of proprietary technologies and applications expertise in industrial water, specifically high-rate biological wastewater, advanced oxidation, and ultrapure water.

Gradiants full range of technologies and end-to-end solutions will also become accessible to the leading manufacturers of Taiwans advanced industries that WaterPark serves.

Existing semiconductor and microelectronics clients of the combined business include the worlds most established brands such as Global Foundries, Micron, Intel, TSMC, UMC, AUO, and Chimei.

On its key partnership, Chief Operating Officer Prakash Govindan said: "It will help semiconductor and other advanced industries achieve the purest water at the highest yield while meeting environmental discharge limits and recovering precious resources that would have otherwise been wasted."

"For global industries under pressure from the supply chain shortage, climate change, and rising material costs, our technology innovations are essential to meet business needs for operational continuity, sustainability, and cost," stated Govindan.

"We are experiencing a prolonged global shortage of semiconductors that are required to control everything from automobiles to smartphones to appliances. As the semiconductor shortage persists, manufacturers face increasingly greater pressure to adopt sustainable and efficient practices in their water operations," he added.

WaterPark Chairman Huey-Song You said Taiwan leads the world in regulating industrial water reuse and wastewater discharge. The island is the worlds centre for semiconductor manufacturing and currently holds 65% of the global market share."

"Driven by strategic interests for risk management in the supply chain and self-sufficiency, semiconductor manufacturing is extending to new regions that are leveraging Taiwans best practices in water management in their production," noted Song You.

WaterPark is a spin-off from ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) and since its inception in 1973, its proprietary technologies solve the range of water challenges of industrial clients throughout Asia Pacific using advanced biological, chemical, and physical processes.

"Combining our proprietary technologies and industry expertise with Gradiants total water and digital solutions, we will help advanced manufacturing facilities worldwide best manage their water," he added.

Gradiant was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to deploy sustainable water treatment solutions. Today, with 450 employees, it operates from the global HQ in Boston, regional HQ and global technology labs in Singapore and offices in 12 countries.-TradeArabia News Service
**** Not much food in this post, just a revisit and a quick visit to Heritage Park

Over the pandemic it seems that I've been spending much more time in the Old Town area, exploring various sights, and sometimes grabbing something for breakfast before checking things out. In my opinion, things are kind of getting better for locals in Old Town, be it ever so humble.

On occasion I will grab a coffee from one of my three neighborhood coffee spots, then head on over to Old Town; there's always parking early in the morning, where I'll pick up an arepa from the Congress Cafe. Then walk on over to what has become one of my favorite spots; Heritage Park where I'll head up the drive and sit near the Coral Tree.....

Across the wonderful green open space, amongst the beautiful Victorian structures that were moved here. That's the Christian House below.

I'll have my arepa; usually the Pabellon on the bench along with my caffeine fix for the day.

I must say that that the Congress Cafe has been getting the fillings into a more harmonic balance for my taste. The nicely seasoned beef, the earthy black beans, the slightly milky cheese, and the sweet and starchy plantains. Yes, it's a calorie bomb; but heck, it's nice every once in a while. Plus, the staff at the Congress Cafe are so nice and welcoming.

The Congress Cafe

3941 Mason St.

San Diego, CA 92110

Hours:

Mon - Fri 8am - 2pm

Sat - Sun 8am - 3pm

For some reason, maybe word hasn't gotten out, Heritage Park is almost always empty when I visit. Once in a while I'll see dogs frolicking in the grass area, or perhaps a wedding rehearsal going on in the Temple Beth Israel.





Which was San Diegos first synagogue. This is one of the two structures on site whose interior has been restored. The other being the Senlis Cottage.

I found something interesting stated on the sign in front of the building.

Stating that the temple also "became temporary quarters for many religious groups before establishing churches of their own." I went and took a look at the wonderful Heritage Park Tour Guide on the SOHO site and found this excerpt:

"Over time, the temple was used by other faiths, including the Biblical Institute of Spiritualism, the Volunteers of America Mission, and the Fraternal Spiritualist Church."

Which I found inspiring in light the divisive times we live in. If they could do it........

You can read about the other structures and the history in SOHO's Heritage Park Cultural Tour Guide.

Some of the other structures.

Senlis Cottage.

The very distinctive Sherman-Gilbert House.

The Bushyhead House.

The McConaughy House.

The Burton House.

All mine for the price of an arepa.

Though on occasion I've brought a banh mi and/or cha gio here. And after Barrio Donas opens in Old Town....well, I'll have a bit more variety for my Old Town breakfasts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Alfred Degrafinreid II will succeed Cathy Cate as the next president and CEO of Leadership Tennessee.

Cate, current president and founding executive director, announced in January that she would be leaving the organization on June 30.

Leadership Tennessee is a nonprofit organization that connects the three divisions of Tennessee by educating and connecting community leaders about challenges and opportunities across the state.

Alfred Degrafinreid II will be the new President and CEO of Leadership Tennessee starting this July 1.

The program was an initiative of Lipscomb Universitys College of Leadership and Public Service. Last August, it became a nonprofit, and Cate became president.

For subscribers: Corner to Corner's Academy program helps turns passion into a paycheck

Read this: New Tennessee law expands Black history requirement amid debates over teaching race in schools

During her time in the organization, Cate helped expand Leadership Tennessee with recognition and the number of members involved. Currently, there are more than 400 alumni and 2,000 yearly community contacts.

Degrafinreid is a native Tennessean who received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Tennessee State University before getting his law degree from Indiana Universitys Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Degrafinreid is currently getting his doctorate in education from Vanderbilt Universitys Peabody College. He has served on multiple boards in Nashville.

Tiffany and Alfred Degrafinreid attend the Conservancy Gala.

As a Class VII graduate of Leadership Tennessee, it is an honor to lead this organization because of its commitment to promoting collaboration, non-partisan dialogue, and creating opportunities to effectuate lasting change across the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee, Degrafinreid said in a statement. Cathys leadership has been transformative for Leadership Tennessee and its hundreds of graduates. I look forward to continuing this ripple effect to empower leaders and, in turn, accelerate progress across the state.

Degrafinreid will start in his new position on July 1.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Leadership Tennessee unveils new president and CEO, to start July
CHARLOTTE  U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. sentenced to prison three South Carolina men for a scheme that defrauded Lowes of more than $450,000, announced Dena J. King, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

During the scheme, the three defendants made purchases at local stores in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, Lincoln, Cleveland and Iredell counties in North Carolina, as well as stores in South Carolina and Georgia.

King was joined in making this announcement by Ronnie Martinez, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

Cogburn ordered Bobby Cherry, 58, of Manning, South Carolina, to serve 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Russell Leroy Calvin, 43, of Sumter, South Carolina, was ordered to serve 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and Michael Marcel Montgomery, 48, also of Sumter, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition to the prison terms imposed, the defendants were ordered to pay more than $450,000 jointly and severally as restitution. All three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to filed documents and the sentencing hearings, from August 2019 to March 2020, Cherry, Calvin and Montgomery engaged in a conspiracy to defraud Lowes stores in the southeastern United States. The defendants and other co-conspirators created business accounts for fraudulent landscaping and home improvement companies at Lowes stores, passed fictitious and worthless checks to fund the fraudulent accounts, and then purchased expensive landscaping equipment, such as zero turn mowers, and other items using the account funds. In total, during the course of the scheme, the co-conspirators opened more than 30 such fraudulent business accounts which they used to obtain more than $450,000 in fraudulently purchased goods.

In making the announcement, King thanked HSI and CMPD for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Bozin, of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.
Butte police reports

Sound asleep

Officers got a call early Tuesday morning about a suspicious vehicle parked in the 1300 block of Holmes Avenue. When they arrived, a black Ford Fiesta was parked with all the doors open as well as the trunk.

The driver, Timothy Edward Miller, 41, of Butte was asleep inside the vehicle. In plain view, there was reportedly a hypodermic needle with a liquid substance in it, along with a BB gun. Both were taken before an officer woke Miller up.

Miller told officers he had a flat tire and was waiting for a friend to come help him. Instead, he was booked into the jail around 3:30 a.m. for the felony offense of possession of dangerous drugs and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Misdemeanor warrant

Officers were investigating a disturbance between a man and a woman on Trinity Loop at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The man was nowhere to be seen but the woman, September Marie Brown, 31, of Butte was reportedly sitting in the grass. She was arrested on a misdemeanor Montana Highway Patrol warrant.

Child endangerment

A trooper with the Montana Highway Patrol arrested Shannon Stoddard-Warnick, 53, of Monroe, Washington at around 6:30 p.m. Monday as she was traveling on I-90 near Butte.

The Washington woman was jailed for misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (first offense) and felony child endangerment.

Parole violation

A call came in Monday morning about a suspicious male on Beef Trail Road.

Turns out the man was Robert Burgess, 45, of Butte who was arrested for felony parole violation

Miscellaneous crimes

A catalytic converter was stolen Monday afternoon from a work truck in the 3700 block of Wynne Avenue.

A call came in about 6:30 p.m. Monday about a woman trying car door handles in the 700 block of South Montana Street. She was gone when police arrived.

A break-in was discovered Monday night in the 1400 block of Hobson Avenue. Items stolen include three televisions, tool boxes, DeWalt tools, a saw, a ladder and some cash.

Just before 10 p.m. Monday, a man and woman were screaming at each other in the 1700 block of Grand Avenue and a nearby neighbor called the police. The pair decided to tone it down and told officers they would call if they needed anything.
From cutthroat trout to grizzly bear, Montana is home to some of our nations most cherished fish and wildlife. But right now, more than 120 species across the state are at heightened risk of extinction and need our help, as they face threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, prolonged drought and intensifying fires. Its part of a larger national trend where more than one-third of Americas wildlife are edging toward extinction.

Fortunately, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help save Montanas incredibly rich biodiversity through a bipartisan bill in Congress called the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act. The bill is designed to fund proactive, collaborative, and locally-led efforts to help recover at-risk fish, wildlife, and plant species. Montana will receive more than $28 million annually. Its a solution that matches the magnitude of the wildlife crisis.

The Recovering America's Wildlife Act has incredible bipartisan momentum. The House passed the bill in June, on a bipartisan basis. The bill has 35 cosponsors in the Senate, including 16 Republicans. With Senator Tester as a current co-sponsor, we need support from Senator Daines to get it across the finish line.

Heres why the bill makes sense for Montana: We can build upon the locally-driven and collaborative successes that have been the hallmark of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. For decades, the agency has done innovative work with the fees and taxes paid by hunters and anglers to restore game and fish species, like elk and arctic grayling.

With 16 species in Montana already federally listed as threatened and endangered and dozens more headed that way unless we act, we need collaborative recovery successes more than ever. Prolonged drought and raging wildfires coupled with Montanas growth and the accompanying increase in water use require new innovative solutions to keep Montanas fish and wildlife thriving.

Thats where the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act comes in. It prioritizes proactive, local collaboration and innovation to save the full diversity of wildlife, rather than waiting until species decline until the point where primarily federal regulation is needed. Its the ultimate ounce of prevention.

The $28 million annually for Montana would unleash a new era of conservation for westslope cutthroat trout, sage-grouse, and dozens of other species. Further, the bill will also provide funding to Montanas twelve federally-recognized Tribes, who are responsible for managing millions of acres but have never had dedicated resources.

This collaborative, non-regulatory, locally-driven approach of the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act should appeal to the common-sense conservatism of Senator Steve Daines. Were hopeful that he will co-sponsor the bill and support it once it is on the floor.

After all, what would Montana be without its wildlife? Outdoor recreation thats largely dependent upon healthy wildlife populations contributes more than $7 billion annually to Montanas economy. The state has awe-inspiring public lands and waterways, but it's majestic wildlife that truly brings them to life.

Inaction is the ally of extinction. We urge Montanas leaders to seize this incredible opportunity to save wildlife through collaboration by helping pass the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act.
In his July 5 op-ed, Kendall Cotton attributed this line to James Madison: The right to property is rooted in the right we have to the free use of our own mind and talents, which it is governments job to protect. Cotton claimed this line was in Madisons famous essay the Federalist, No. 10.

The op-eds headline, America  a country that was originally made possible by property rights, accurately summarizes the centrality of the purported Madison quote to Cottons thesis.

However, the direct quotation that appeared in Kendall Cottons column does not appear in the Federalist 10.

It does appear, verbatim, as the introduction to an abridged version of the Federalist 10 on a web page titled "Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class and Justice in the Origins of America by Thomas G. West." The quote seems to stand as a summary of the Federalist 10, and is followed by the initials of its author, TGW. Clearly, this quote is not what Madison wrote; its what Thomas G. West says Madison had in mind when he wrote the Federalist 10.

Thomas G. West is a professor of politics at Hillsdale College, which calls itself a classical liberal arts college. I do not know why Kendall Cotton is quoting Hillsdales faculty in an op-ed, and passing it off as the words of James Madison, but I do think the readers of Cottons op-ed should be made aware of the actual source of these words, and of the connection of that source to an institution that has designs on teaching its version of the nations founding to schoolchildren.

The web page featuring Professor Wests treatment of the Federalist 10 contains only about a third of Madisons essay, and leaves out these critical lines entirely:

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.

Professor Wests quote may be a reasonable paraphrase of one-half of the thought expressed by Madison above, but Wests explanation stops short of the last part of these lines, where Madison begins to connect property to political interest.

If Wests readers had the advantage of the entire text of Madisons essay, they would see that Madisons mention of property connects to his belief that political opinion and political will are wrapped up in divisive factions that naturally evolve out of individuals connection to the economy, i.e., how they make their money.

Everyone from Wikipedia to the Federalist Society agrees that the Federalist No. 10 is about faction, not property rights. Madison painstakingly defines faction to include self-interested majorities empowered in a democratic republic to pass laws that deprive citizens in the minority of their rights, or to act against the permanent and aggregate interest of the community.

Ironically, Professor West, Hillsdale College and the Frontier Institute, of which Kendall Cotton is CEO, appear to be exactly what James Madison was talking about in the Federalist 10, groups of people united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.

Last year Hillsdale College produced the 1776 Curriculum, which it describes as free K-12 instructional materials designed to teach the truth of American history.

Though Hillsdale claims to have no agenda with its 1776 Curriculum other than offering a classical education to U.S. students, the curriculum appeared simultaneously with attacks from conservatives on The New York Times 1619 Project. Hillsdale itself boasts that the curriculum is the product of genuine scholarship, not some slap-dash journalistic scheme to achieve a partisan political end through students.

Educating anyone about the values held by the people who framed the U.S. Constitution is a difficult business. Like Americans today, the framers of the Constitution held many different positions about what good government looked like and how good citizens behaved. When examining these values, a strict adherence to the actual text is a good idea.
MUSCATINE  Around Muscatine, John Dabeet serves his community through several different roles  from community college professor to school board president to president of Muscatine Sister Cities.

But for as much as he enjoys serving Muscatine, Dabeet also takes time to help advocate for his home country of Palestine and the relations between it and the U.S. Last week, he was able to use his skills on a national level.

On July 6, Dabeet attended a meeting with Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor for the Biden Administration, at the White House in Washington, D.C. Dabeet, alongside several other people from across the nation, used this meeting to discuss issues relating to Israel and Palestine ahead of President Joe Bidens visit to these countries, which began on July 13.

Dabeet admitted he hadnt been expecting to attend this meeting, having only being invited to it the day before it happened. But despite getting caught off-guard by the invitation, he still appreciated the opportunity, describing the chance to see the White House in-person as an amazing experience.

I was honored and humbled to be selected among only nine people from all around the United States to participate in such a high-level meeting like that, Dabeet said, attributing his reason for being selected to his work at the state-level and his status as the President of the U.S.-Palestinian Council.

Each attendee at the meeting had the chance to talk about one important Palestinian issue that they were concerned about and later ask the National Security Advisor one question regarding their concerns. As a collective, the group was also able to speak up about additional issues, such as the recent assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist.

We know for sure that you cannot get the answers, make a difference or change what has been done in Palestine in one meeting," Dabeet said. "We know we cannot change President Bidens vision in one meeting either. So we hope to continue with meetings like this one in the future in order to make a difference for the Palestinian people who have been living under brutal Israeli occupation for over 70 years and to share the Palestinian story and narrative.

When it was his turn to speak, Dabeet decided to discuss the newly proposed COGAT laws.

I have been working on this particular issue with the state department and we have had many meetings  including one with the U.S.-Palestine Sister Cities Network, he said.

Through these laws, any Palestinian person who has a dual citizenship with another country is not allowed to visit or move around Palestine without first receiving permission from the Israeli government.

Palestinian education is also impacted by these laws, as they restrict the number of Palestine university professors who come from outside Palestine, reducing the countrys professor number to only 100. The number of foreign students that are allowed to study in Palestine is also restricted through these laws, only allowing 160 students per year.

Although these issues are very personal to Dabeet as both a dual citizen and an educator, he emphasized that he doesnt just think about himself when fighting for the rights of Palestinian-Americans and instead thinks of all those who would be affected if these laws go unchallenged by the U.S.

Our approach is that its time to act, its time to do something, Dabeet said. I want to encourage everybody to learn about the conflict in the Palestine region and to learn about and listen to the Palestinian narrative side of the story. I want everybody to stand up for human rights anywhere in the world, not limiting it to only one country.
MUSCATINE  A preliminary for a Muscatine man charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse and lascivious acts with a child has been set for 9 a.m. July 18 in the Muscatine County Courthouse.

John Robert West, 47, of Muscatine, remains in the Muscatine County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He was arrested June 28 and charged with six counts of second degree sexual abuse, each a Class B felony which can bring up to 25 years in prison, and lascivious acts with a child, a Class C felony that can bring up to 10 years in prison. The arrests stem from a continued investigation into Wests activities after a Jan. 25 arrest for third degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony, lascivious acts, a Class C felony, and false imprisonment, a serious misdemeanor. Investigators from the police department have reason to believe that during 2020 West allegedly committed several sex acts with a child under the age of 12.

According to court records, West allegedly performed multiple sexual acts on a juvenile male victim under the age of 12. The exact location of the acts is unknown and took place throughout the United States while travelling in a commercially operated tractor-trailer semi. The court record said the origin of the acts took place in the jurisdictional prosecution radius of the Muscatine County Attorneys office. No plea has been made yet.

According to court documents, the Jan. 25 charges stem from an incident where West allegedly committed a sex act on a child while inside a motel room. The charges also state he restricted the childs freedom by deception. The report says West was responsible for the temporary custody of the child, which was known to the childs parent. It says West fabricated a reason to maintain custody beyond the agreed time, causing the child not to be returned to the parents. West also allegedly maintained possession of the childs cellphone, restricting the child from having contact with the parent.

No-contact orders have been issued for the alleged victims.

The Muscatine Police Department is asking anyone who may have information relevant to the prosecution of West to contact Lt. David OConnor with the Muscatine Police Investigative Unit at 563-263-9922 ext. 608. Callers may remain anonymous.
Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE Federal export credit company, has signed an agreement with University Luiss Guido Carli, a leading Italian University, to facilitate knowledge and expertise sharing. The topics covered include credit risk management and trade finance between the two entities.

This collaboration came in the wake of the UAE Governments sweeping residency and entry reform, which was aimed at attracting top talents and outstanding students and graduates.

Under the partnership, ECI will provide its expertise and acumen in the field of geopolitics, trade credit insurance, and financial risk, as part of its effort to help Luiss Guido Carli enhance its internationalisation and innovation programmes and provide its graduates a springboard to the real world of international trade and investment in the fast-growing Middle East.

Forging an intersection

With the goal of forging an intersection of knowledge and experience as well as developing a new generation of business leaders, the Federal Company will also provide internship opportunities for degree students.

In turn, the University will assist the UAE export credit agency in developing a top-notch training and exchange programmes to improve the management skills of young Emirati, as well as in attracting quality talents from Luiss Guido Carli, which has recently entered the top 100 in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2022 in the field of Social Sciences and Management.

Commenting on this collaboration, Massimo Falcioni, CEO of the Federal Company ECI, said: In line with the UAEs remarkable step towards a knowledgebased economy and strategy to attract top talents, we are committed to help equip the young generation across the world with the requisite knowledge, skills, and new approaches in terms of credit risk management and trade finance. This agreement with Luiss Guido Carli will give ECI a great platform to share our bespoke expertise with some of the brilliant young minds in one of the best business schools not only in Europe but also in the world.

Effective collaboration

Prof Andrea Prencipe, Rector of Luiss Guido Carli, said: Were always on the lookout for effective collaborations with world-leading business entities to provide our students advanced skills and expertise to excel in the highly competitive marketplace. We are therefore happy to sign an agreement with Etihad Credit Insurance, to further strengthen our outreach.

The agreement emerges from ECI's vision to establish an Academy in order to improve the core competencies of entrepreneurs and the knowledge of professionals engaging in export business. It provides them with the necessary training by partnering with locally and globally acclaimed education and training providers.

This initiative strongly believes in honing young minds and starting them early. It is for the same reason why ECI has partnered with local universities to reach out to potential students who can be part of ECIs growing team.

ECI Academy

The first phase of the ECI Academy began four years ago in collaboration with UAE Local government education bodies such as Zayed University, Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Sharjah University and Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG). It provided postgraduate students with the opportunity to learn the purpose of ECI and its solutions to the SME sector during their internship programme with ECI.

The second phase of this initiative was launched this year by extending its reach to the international level. With world-leading universities and business schools as education and training providers, ECI Academy comes up with programmes that will cater to the varying needs of the business community, especially SMEs, as they constitute the major contributors to the global economy.

The Academy will also give MBA students in global universities significant exposure to the UAE market through internship programmes at ECI. At the same time, ECI employees will attend the universities to undergo business training or work on projects with the export credit agencies of the countries from whose universities they will receive the training.-- TradeArabia News Service
A new exhibit in the Putnam Museum showcases items and information on communities and cultures that have made their way from across the world to the Quad-Cities.

The Putnam Museum and Science Center has opened an exhibit within its World Culture Gallery focused on West Africa, called "Akwaaba: West African Cultures." It will be on display through the fall until it is rotated out to feature a different international exhibit within the World Culture Gallery.

After the Putnam was renovated to better connect its theater annex and vault section in 2021, Putnam President and CEO Rachael Mullins said they felt it was time to create a dedicated space for showing artifacts from world cultures found in the Quad-Cities.

"There was always a passion to get back to some of the international connection, and especially with the growing international community here in the Quad-Cities," Mullins said. "It was time to have a dedicated space for that work."

Eleven West African cultures are represented in the exhibit, Mullins said, and they are not separated by country. Everything from contemporary clothing to instruments to art pieces is on display, a majority coming from the Putnam's permanent collection. West African immigrants and refugees living in the Quad-Cities have also loaned some items to the exhibit.

Former ambassador Richard Kauzlarich and Anne Kauzlarich donated their collection to the Putnam after living in Togo, a West African Country bordered by Ghana and Benin, in the 1960s and '70s.

Nana Ouro-Agoro, vice president of the Quad Cities Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, co-curated the exhibit with the Putnam, helping to place artifacts and provide interpretive text that were appropriate and culturally sensitive. As an immigrant from Togo, Mullins said Ouro-Agoro was excited to see her culture represented at the museum.

"Last year, I got a chance to visit Putnam Museum with my children and was amazed, delighted and in awe to see the display of West African artifacts," Ouro-Agoro said in a statement. "I was overwhelmed and joyful to get to show them to my children."

She was the one to name the exhibit, with Akwaaba meaning "welcome" in the Akan languages, calling back to her feeling of being welcomed by the community.

Mullins said part of the Putnam's mission was to inspire people to learn and care about the world, and all the people in it. "Akwaaba: West African Cultures" offers the opportunity for people to explore cultures they haven't before, that's living closer by than they think.

"This is an integral part of that mission, to make sure that we're not only exposing Quad-Citizens to new cultures that they may not be aware of, but also to introduce them to cultures that may be living right next door," Mullins said. "These are our friends and neighbors that are a part of our community. And yet, very often not much is known of their heritage, and the culture that they bring with them from far away."
DES MOINES  Going through the states court system remains the preferred strategy for enacting restrictions on access to abortion in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Reynolds said she was disappointed in the Iowa Supreme Courts recent rejection of her request that the high court rehear an abortion case in order to establish legal standards for future restrictions on abortion access in Iowa.

However, Reynolds said she remains undeterred in her belief that it is the proper strategy to continue pursuing legal remedies to a pair of abortion restrictions already passed into law by her and her fellow Statehouse Republicans.

Reynolds wants the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear a case involving the law that requires a 24-hour waiting period between the first doctors appointment and when a pregnant person has an abortion, and wants the district court to lift the injunction on a 2019 law that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which often is before most individuals know they are pregnant.

Were going to fight this in the courts, Reynolds told reporters Tuesday. And were going to stick to that course until we have run that, and then well step back and see what to do next. But for right now, thats the strategy that were going to implement.

By seeing those laws through the courts, Reynolds punts the possibility of calling a special session of the Iowa Legislature in order to pass new legislation that would restrict access to abortion.

Reynolds has not yet officially made the request to lift the injunction on the six-week law, according to state court records online. She said Tuesday that is the next step in her offices strategy.

Reynolds said she prefers going through the courts because that strategy employs two pieces of legislation that have already been approved by the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature and received her signature. And she said it would be futile to pass new legislation that would restrict access to abortion without first knowing how the state courts will assess the constitutionality of any new law.

(The previous law) is on the book, so we wouldnt gain anything by doing anything different, Reynolds said. So we have to go through the process that we have in front of us, and that is the legal process.  And then, depending on where that ends up, then well reassess what the next steps look like.

The legal landscape for abortion restrictions has been wiped clean after recent rulings by the U.S. and Iowa Supreme courts that essentially revoked a pregnant persons right to abortion access.

For now, abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The 24-hour waiting period law is now in effect.
The state agreed Monday to a $7.5 million medical malpractice settlement after a 41-year-old Davenport man suffered severe life-limiting impairments following care at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for a bleeding brain tumor.

The State Appeal Board approved the settlement, the first of the new budget year that began July 1. Although Iowa's Attorney General Offices assigned 75 percent of the payment to UI Physicians  a UI-based medical and surgical practice  the group has a $5 million cap per claim. Thus, the state is paying $2.5 million from its general fund toward the $7.5 million approved to cover injuries to Christopher Dolan and his wife, Wendy Dolan.

In lawsuit-related settlements for the budget year that just ended, the state paid a total $22.3 million  including $6.1 million involving Iowa Board of Regents institutions, like the UIHC.

According to the new settlement, Dolan  now 47  is in a wheelchair and requires 24-hour care. "His speech, motor, bowel and bladder functions are compromised, and his right leg and arm are spastic and paralyzed," the settlement reported.

His family has incurred bills for care, medications and life-supporting equipment. His wife, an oncology nurse, has had to cut her work hours to care for her husband, according to a lawsuit she filed in August 2020.

'Major neurological deficits'

According to that lawsuit against the state for its governance of the UIHC, Christopher Dolan went to the emergency room at Trinity Medical Center in Bettendorf on Dec. 26, 2016 with a monthlong temporal headache, nausea, vomiting, right eye pain, weeks of visual blurring and light sensitivity.

A CT scan showed a probable tumor, and Trinity arranged a transfer to the UIHC. It offered an ambulance, but the couple opted to drive and Dolan was admitted to the UIHC emergency room that afternoon. Labs indicated a pituitary tumor, and an MRI revealed a mass. UIHC discharged Dolan with instructions to follow up with UIHC neurosurgery in two weeks. But the next day, according to the lawsuit, Dolan was back at the Bettendorf emergency room with a worsening headache and vomiting.

Trinity discharged him with prescriptions and directed him to UIHC if symptoms worsened. They did, according to the lawsuit, and he returned to UIHC the night of Dec. 27, 2016, with a severe headache, vomiting, double and blurred vision and eye pain.

Another CT scan reconfirmed the large pituitary mass, "with a concern of elevated intracranial pressure and a rapid expansion of the tumor to bleeding," according to the lawsuit.

But UIHC discharged Dolan early Dec. 28, 2016, and told him to follow up with neurosurgery.

The next day, after calling UIHC about worsening symptoms, Dolan went to again to the UIHC emergency room with a "temporal headache rated 10/10 directly behind his eyes and extremely sharp," according to his lawsuit. He couldn't keep food or medicine down, and an MRI showed the tumor had grown and begun to hemorrhage. Dolan was admitted to UIHC, which scheduled surgery to remove it for the next morning, according to the lawsuit.

Dolan went into surgery the morning of Dec. 30, 2016, and four doctors performed a "transsphenoidal resection of the pituitary tumor." While removing the tumor, physicians determined it had destroyed Dolan's sellar region bone and filled his left sinus.

"The tumor was removed in piecemeal fashion," the lawsuit said.

Dolan was nonresponsive in recovery, and an MRI of his brain demonstrated damage. "Christopher thereafter had a stormy postoperative course with altered consciousness and gross neurological deficits," the lawsuit said. "He required a tracheostomy, feeding tube, and suffered multiple complications due to his severe neurological injury."

He ultimately was discharged from the UIHC more than a year later, on Jan. 17, 2018, "with ongoing major neurological deficits," including speech disturbance, paralysis, and other limitations.

Responding to the lawsuit, UI and state attorneys in court filings called the allegations an "incomplete summary of the extensive and detailed medical records"; suggested the Dolans failed to exhaust administrative remedies; and said something else could have contributed to Dolan's problems.

"Plaintiff may have failed to mitigate damages," according to the state's answer. "And any recovery by plaintiff should not include any loss which could have been prevented by reasonable care and diligence."

The state suggested Dolan's injuries "may have been caused by forces, acts, omissions, events, preexisting conditions, or causes outside the control of defendant."

By agreeing to pay $7.5 million, the state did not admit liability and settled the suit before it went to a jury.

'We did not defend her'

The State Appeal Board also approved Monday a settlement involving a pair of lawsuits over allegations that a neonatologist working in pediatrics at the UIHC "impermissibly and repeatedly" viewed another employee's medical records "with no legitimate medical purpose."

Brenda Heddens, who was working as a UIHC neonatal nurse practitioner, in May 2019 sued UIHC neonatologist Erica LeClair for accessing her medical records from 2014 to 2018 without permission. She also sued the state for negligence.

LeClair in August 2019 asked the state to seek to dismiss the case and asked a judge to find she was acting within the scope of her employment.

The Iowa Board of Medicine in October 2020 alleged 42-year-old LeClair "inappropriately accessed the medical records of patients who were not under her care while practicing medicine in Iowa City" and issued a citation, warning and $5,000 civil penalty. LeClair fulfilled the terms of her order in 2021 and has been cleared to practice medicine in Iowa.

This week's approved settlement totals $90,000  but the state agreed to pay only $32,250 to Heddens for negligent supervision. LeClair must pay the remaining $57,750, the settlement said.

"We did not defend her or her conduct," a state attorney said during the Appeal Board meeting.
South African Reserve Bank (SARB) deputy governor Kuben Naidoo says that the public should not expect a big bang of cryptocurrency regulations with a fully-formed regime launching at once.

Instead, there will be a steady and consistent influx of regulatory measures within the coming months as the industry regulation begins to take shape.

This will begin with the finance ministers amendment to Schedule 1 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.

After that, it would take over a year to get all the necessary regulations in place.

It will probably still take us around 1218 months to get all of our ducks in a row; to get everything in place, Naidoo said during the most recent PSG Think Big webinar.

In the meantime, regulators could get some basic measures in place.

We can start to have some Know Your Customer rules; we can start to license exchanges; we can start to get basic [exchange control] information collected, he said.

One of the first ports of call would be to bring crypto-assets into South Africas regulatory regime under the auspices of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

In November 2020, the FSCA proposed declaring crypto assets a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act.

However, due to broader developments surrounding the regulation of crypto-assets unfolding, including proposals to include crypto-asset related activities holistically within the scope of the [Conduct of Financial Institutions] Bill, the draft declaration was placed on hold, the FSCA has said.

In its three-year regulation plan published at the start of July, the FSCA said the declaration was postponed until it obtains further clarity on these broader developments, including envisaged timelines for implementing proposals.

In the interim, the FSCA initiated further work in understanding the crypto-asset landscape, and in particular in the advisor and intermediary environment, it stated.

As such, the FSCA issued a survey (Request for Information) to Financial Services Providers to identify the involvement of existing advisers and intermediaries in the crypto asset environment.

The FSCA said the surveys outcome would be considered in conjunction with the broader developments surrounding crypto-assets and will ultimately inform a decision regarding whether it would proceed with the FAIS Act declaration.

Naidoo said that the SARBs thinking on cryptocurrencies has evolved and now views it as a type of asset  and should be regulated as such.

However, he elaborated that SARBs role as it looks to regulate the industry is not to pick winners and losers or help users mitigate market risks.

The ups and downs of the market fall outside the concerns of the regulatory framework in a free market, and investors are free to choose which assets to invest in.

Instead, South Africas central bank is primarily concerned with implementing a regulatory framework that ensures anti-money laundering legislation and exchange controls are adhered to, similar to investment and trading in other financial assets.

Naidoo does not see cryptocurrencies as a likely challenger to the authority of the Reserve Bank, as the technology is still developing and digital currency is still too volatile to be widely used as a means of payment.

However, the use of crypto for money laundering and other illicit activities is a source of concern.

He stated that 90% of transactions involving cryptocurrency in the US are for the purchase of opioids or gambling tokens.

Another unfortunate reality is that crypto is being used by cybercriminals to demand ransoms, and to fund cross-border kidnappings and other international crimes.

Therefore, the SARB and Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group are actively considering taking two immediate steps to reduce the risk of cryptocurrencies being used to evade existing regulations.

The first is to bring crypto-assets under the purview of the FSCA, and the second is a regulatory framework for exchanges and platforms that includes FICA-like Know Your Customer protocols, and exchange controls and the applicable taxation laws.

In addition, cryptocurrencies should come with a health warning.

This should indicate that South Africans must take the potential to lose money seriously and that owning cryptocurrency is not the same as making a bank deposit.

According to Naidoo, this approach is welcomed by most of the industry, with many players indicating that greater crypto regulation will help legitimise the use of the technology.

In Naidoos opinion, it will also go a long way in curbing the impact of money laundering and helping platforms build safe and trustworthy systems.

Now read: Luno assures Bitcoin savings accounts safe as lending partner faces massive losses
Embattled stated arms manufacturer Denel has informed employees that their tax certificates are not ready for distribution.

It has also failed to comply with a court order to pay employees, resulting in assets being seized for auction.

The first of several auctions will take place at Denels Centurion campus on Friday, 15 July.

The South African Revenue Services (SARS) deadline for employers was 31 May 2022, and Denel failed to meet it.

In a letter from interim chief financial officer Thandeka Sabela that MyBroadband has seen, Denel warned employees that they could not submit their tax returns.

We regret to inform you that Denel Dynamics, Denel Properties and Corporate office has not met their own tax obligation by submitting the annual reconciliation documents accurately and timeously, Sabela wrote.

SARS uses the submitted annual reconciliations to prepopulate auto-assessments and personal income tax returns.

Sabela assured efforts were underway to correct the issue.

We are working tirelessly to secure the necessary experienced individuals to assist the current personnel update the SAP Payroll System to do the submissions as well as the reconciliations, stated Sabela.

This latest setback from Denel staff comes after the weapons maker failed to pay R636 million in salaries.

For two years, the company has struggled to pay employees despite executives suspended for corruption continuing to receive their salaries.

Labour union Solidarity obtained a labour court order at the start of the year, forcing Denel to pay R90 million in outstanding salaries.

However, Denel has failed to pay employees the ordered amount and Solidarity has obtained permission to seize assets and auction them off to cover the amount.

Solidarity has also informed staff that Denels bank accounts have been attached as part of a labour court order.

Solidarity also previously revealed that most Denel divisions had not paid employees income tax to SARS, despite deducting it from their salaries.

Denel is one of the state-owned companies the Zondo Commission of Inquiry found suffered severely under state capture by the Guptas and their cronies.

Corruption and mismanagement have gutted the once-proud arms manufacturer, which made great products like the Rooivalk attack helicopter and the G6 self-propelled howitzer.

Its revenue plummeted from R8.2 billion in 2015/6 to R2.4 billion in 2019/2020. It also recorded irregular expenditure of R3.2 billion during the last financial year.

Denel has not released an annual report for the 2020/21 financial year.

Solidarity defence and aerospace sector coordinator Derek Mans said that Denels failure to render pay-as-you-earn income tax to SARS wouldnt affect employees.

However, not being able to claim their tax returns is yet another major financial blow for staff.

Members may not be able to file their tax returns timeously, which may affect their ability to claim on annuities, medical aid, and home office utilisation expenses, Mans explained.

He said this comes at a time when such additional income is required to substitute wages which are either not being paid in full, or at all.

Asked for his views on Denels explanation that a skills shortage is the problem, Mans said the real issue is probably, once again, cash flow related.

I think it is more the inability to pay SAP rather than a shortage of skills, he told MyBroadband.

Denel still has personnel within its payroll departments to fulfil these administrative obligations. The problem is much bigger.

Denel did not respond to a request for comment.

Now read: Denel munitions factory explodes into fireball
This week's mailbag is light, which is just as well since I have a new hammock that's beckoning me with great urgency. Lemonade, a book, and decent weather  I'm not hard to please.

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Daisy Clothing Boutique is holding a Sweet 16 celebration from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Celebrate the stores 16th birthday with bubbles and bites, drawings and discounts. And whats this I hear about live models in the windows? Be sure to drop by and give your best to Noreen Fetzer.

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Its apparently a rough year at the St. Helena Peach Farm, where unfavorable weather and lack of pollination have resulted in a light crop. The peaches will need more heat before theyre ripe, so the fruit stand wont open until July 23 at the earliest. Keep an eye on sainthelenapeachfarm.com for updates.

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Did you catch the photo of the patriotically decked-out balloon man on Page A8 of last weeks Star? Holly Rogers, manager of the Saint Helena Community Band, identifies him as Steven Treder, a former St. Helenan and a founding member of the band. He played bass trombone and established the bands librarian and equipment manager positions. He was a key figure in the bands early years whos since moved on to a career in enology. Thanks for coming back to town, Steven!

***

Whoever said the dog days of summer are supposed to be idle never alerted Nimbus Arts, which is offering a full slate of classes and camps to keep kids and adults busy. Ro Sham Bo, Clay & Play, Foundations in Clay, Paint & Sip, Bladesmithing and Basic Blacksmithing are a few of the offerings. Visit NimbusArts.org for the full schedule.

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The St. Helena Police Department and St. Helena Parks and Rec are hosting a family-friendly National Night Out at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, at Lyman Park. Expect a scavenger hunt (with prizes, of course), music, food, games, and lots of fun activities.

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Editor Jesse Duarte passes on a rave review of the Vallejo Festival Orchestras Wagner concert last Saturday, conducted by Napa resident Thomas Conlin. Jesse says Maestro Conlin kept the tempos brisk (but never hasty) and wisely chose excerpts that demonstrated how exciting and dynamic the music can be. Jesse says hes surprised the roof of the lovely Empress Theatre is still intact after soprano Othalie Grahams powerhouse performance, which drew the nights biggest applause. Jesse was also pleased to see a few familiar St. Helena faces in the crowd.
With style for days, the 1911 Pope-Hartford once chauffeured visitors and locals around the upper Napa Valley.

A century later  and still looking as dandy as ever  the luxurious seven-passenger touring car once again rolled through downtown St. Helena on Monday, catching admiring eyes and telling a story of local history in the early days of horseless carriages.

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The car once belonged to Philo Grant, whose St. Helena-based Grants Auto Stage Line once boasted a fleet of 27 vehicles, including school buses and an ambulance.

Equipped with brass fittings, the 1911 Pope-Hartford was one of only 693 manufactured by the Pope Motor Car Co., which left the automotive business a few years later.

Its a fantastic car  even back then it would have been a thrill to drive, said its current owner, Ted Bowers.

Companies like Grants thrived in the days when most people didnt have their own car or a drivers license, which California started requiring in 1913.

Even back then, the Pope-Hartford stood out for its luxury and refinement. It sold for $3,250 new, equivalent to about $100,000 today and almost five times the price of a Ford Model T.

With a maximum speed of 80 mph, the Pope-Hartfords 50-horsepower engine was strong enough to climb Howell Mountain with ease at a time when visitors flocked to Aetna Springs Resort for rest and recreation.

Bowers said the Prest-O-Lite acetylene gas headlamps had to be manually lit with a match, although they've been modified to run on electricity.

When you turn them on, you light straight down the road but you also light the tops of the trees, he said.

After Grant sold the car in the mid-1940s, it passed through a series of owners, including the casino magnate Bill Harrah, who restored it twice and took it on various tours. After Harrah died, it changed hands a few more times and was restored at least once before its current owners, Ted and Celeste Bowers of Huntington Beach, bought it in 2020.

As part of its latest tour, the car arrived Monday afternoon at the St. Helena Historical Societys Heritage Center. Among those on hand to greet it were the Sharpsteen family, who once owned a nearly identical Pope-Hartford that had also belonged to Grant.
We got hit hard in 2020. We got lucky in 2021.

Whether St. Helena suffers a catastrophic wildfire in 2022 is at least partly in our hands.

Communities throughout the western U.S. are taking an active approach to wildfire defense. Fires may be unavoidable in this era of drought and climate change, but were no longer sitting back, waiting on Cal Fire and hoping for the best.

We recently talked to Chris Warner and Jeff Farmer, the co-leads for the St. Helena Fire Safe Council, and came away optimistic that residents and property owners are taking responsibility for fire prevention.

The council is part of the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation, which is administering $10 million for large-scale hazard mitigation  fuel reduction, shaded fuel breaks, tree limbing, access roads for firefighters and evacuees, and other tactics that prevent fires from spreading quickly.

Multiple agencies are involved in these efforts. The city recently cleared an area of Spring Street past Sylvaner Avenue and secured a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to fund more comprehensive work next year around the perimeter of town.

The NCFF is offering grants to help property owners in the 94574 (St. Helena) and 94515 (Calistoga) ZIP codes clear defensible space around their structures. To find out if youre eligible for up to $2,000 in 50-50 matching funds, go to Napafirewise.org/dspace.

Meanwhile, the St. Helena Fire Department is offering free inspections to help identify vulnerabilities like propane tanks, low-hanging tree limbs, and flammable bushes adjacent to structures. If you live near the edge of town, call 707-967-2880 and check your eligibility.

The Fire Safe Council is working with the St. Helena Police Department to encourage emergency preparedness at multi-unit residential properties like Hunts Grove Apartments, Stonebridge Apartments and Woodbridge Village. Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park got ahead of the curve by staging a full-scale evacuation drill last year.

Members of the Fire Safe Council also walked the bed of Sulphur Creek with Department of Fish & Wildlife representatives, looking for environmentally sensitive ways to prevent the riparian corridor from turning into a conveyor belt for a wildfire.

If there are jurisdictional squabbles between Cal Fire, Fish & Game, and city and county officials, were not hearing about them.

The spirit of collaboration seems to be extending to the neighborhood level. Warner and Farmer say most of the people they talk to are eager to make their properties more fire-safe  and point out neighbors who have some work to do. If you want to join the councils mailing list, email chrisjwarner52@gmail.com or jfarmer@seedgrain.com.

St. Helena voters are making prioritizing fire prevention too. Unfortunately, the same cant be said for Napa County at large.

According to Warner, the unsuccessful Measure L sales tax for wildfire prevention, which needed 66% support to pass, got 72% yes votes in St. Helena, 71.6% in Calistoga, 68.1% in Yountville, 53.4% in Napa, 59.4% in American Canyon, and 54.5% in the unincorporated areas. It got only 56% overall.

For an election taking place at such an economically precarious time, those arent embarrassing numbers. Theres a solid base of support that we can build on for a future ballot measure.

But for now, lets focus on the short term. From our own backyards to the Mayacamas Mountains and Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, there are plenty of ways to become more fire-safe.

We might not be able to prevent wildfires entirely. But lets give ourselves a fighting chance.
Lets start with a scary number: Its going to cost at least $175 million to maintain and upgrade St. Helenas infrastructure over the next 20-plus years.

But instead of wallowing in despair at the magnitude of this problem, lets talk about how to solve it.

Last week City Councilmembers Eric Hall and Lester Hardy gave us an excellent rundown of the citys long-term financial problem. The $19 million Measure H bond is a good start, but its not a panacea. Were going to need more money for more projects, and were going to need staff to manage those projects  and staff costs money.

Theres cause for optimism. The high level of support for Measure H shows that the community conversation has shifted from Does the city need money? to How much money does the city need?

Its not just voters who are paying attention. A grassroots group called Spotlight St. Helena has launched with the mission of helping citizens track and measure the work of St. Helena government and improve transparency and understanding of civic issues, especially the citys failing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a capable and farsighted council is directing city staff to take a step back and approach the budgeting process from a multi-year perspective. Hall gave us a five-page summary that offered the clearest account weve seen of the citys long-term revenue puzzle.

Hall and Hardy are confident that incoming City Manager Anil Comelo will bring a long-term strategic approach to city operations and work with the council to build up the administrative infrastructure necessary to manage roughly 140 projects over the next three decades.

St. Helena is lucky to have a smart, well-informed council at this critical time. Yet we couldnt help but notice that most of our discussion with Hall and Hardy concerned expenses, with only brief mentions of the revenue we will need to cover those costs. They correctly noted that we cant tax our way out of the problem given St. Helenas modest size. But they were admittedly short on solutions.

We encourage Hall and Hardy  and the rest of the council and city staff  to prioritize revenue.

The success of Measure H demonstrated that St. Helenans know theres a revenue problem, so let's foster an ongoing public discussion about it.

St. Helena is full of bright people with experience raising and managing large amounts of money. Lets bring that community brain trust to bear on the citys infrastructure challenges.

Weve seen spirited council discussions about how to divvy up city grants among nonprofits. Lets spend just as much time and energy brainstorming revenue opportunities and prioritizing the most promising ones.

Along those same lines, we hope the city takes an active role in working with Ted Hall and the developers of the Farmstead hotel. City officials should do everything possible to help them get shovels in the ground.

The city has discussed the concept of hiring an economic development czar who reports directly to the city manager and has enough authority to nudge other city departments to help new businesses produce revenue quickly. Were eager to see whether business development will be part of newly appointed Assistant City Manager April Mitts portfolio.

The $175 million number is frightening  even moreso because its a product of outdated cost estimates that are probably on the low side.

Lets do what we can to nail down the real number. Then lets work together to find the money.
Bahrains exports of national origin jumped 43% reaching BD1.351 billion ($3.59 billion) in the second quarter of 2022, compared to BD943 million for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The top 10 countries in terms of the value of exports of national origin purchased from Bahrain accounted for 71% of the total value, with the remaining countries accounting for 29%, according to the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA).

Saudi Arabia tops

Saudi Arabia ranked first among countries receiving Bahraini exports of national origin, importing BD245 million worth of products from Bahrain. The US came second with BD206 million and UAE third with BD112 million.

Unwrought aluminium alloys ranked as the top products exported during second quarter 2022 with BD474 million, agglomerated iron ores and concentrates was second with a value of BD222 million and unwrought aluminium not alloyed third with BD83 million.

The total value of re-exports increased by 12% to reaching BD184 million during second quarter 2022, compared to BD164 million for the same quarter of the previous year. The top 10 countries accounted for 83% of the re-exported value, while the remaining countries accounted for the 17%. The UAE ranked first with BD41 million, Saudi Arabia second with BD35 million, and Singapore third with BD34 million.

Aircraft engine parts top re-exports

Parts for aircraft engines were the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD29 million; in the second place came parts for wrist watches control with BD11 million, and parts for other gas turbines came third with BD10 million.

The trade balance, the difference between exports and imports, recording a decrease in the value of the deficit totaling BD63 million during second quarter 2022 compared to BD141 million for the same quarter of the previous year, an improvement of the trade balance by 55%.

The value of imports increased by 28%, reaching BD1.598 billion during second quarter 2022 compared to BD1.249 billion for the same quarter of the previous year. The top 10 countries accounted for 70% of the value of imports, with the remaining countries accounting for 30%.

China tops in imports to Bahrain

According to the report, China ranked first when it came to imports to Bahrain, with a total of BD234 million, Brazil was second with BD171 million, and Australia was third with BD160 million.

Non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates ranked as the top product imported into Bahrain with a total value of BD209 million, while aluminium oxide was second with BD147 million, and four-wheel drive cars third with BD42 million.-- TradeArabia News Service
Napa County is facing its own version of the well-publicized conifer die-offs that previously hit the southern Sierra Nevada and is now striking the northern Sierra Nevada and North Coast.

Douglas firs and ponderosa pines are dying locally in significant numbers, researchers said. They blame bark beetles that infest trees weakened by drought and warm weather.

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Thousands of trees are dying in Napa County, said Michael Jones, a forest adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension. The numbers will reach the tens of thousands before the infestation runs its course.

That's much less than the more than 130 million trees killed in the central and southern Sierra Nevadas during the 2011-15 drought. Jones called the local situation a "mini-version."

"The point I'm really driving home is, there is nothing we can do about it at this point," Jones said.

But there are things the county can do to deal with dead trees and to help create healthier forests, he said.

Western pine beetles, Douglas fir engraver beetles and other types of beetles the size of match heads are attacking drought-stressed conifers. The trees don't have the moisture to produce compounds such as resin to kill or repel the invaders.

"In 2021, as you know, we had a lot of really dry, hot conditions," said Christopher Lee, a Cal Fire forest health specialist. "The dry, hot conditions made it difficult for conifer trees to produce their normal defenses."

Also, some Douglas firs and ponderosa pine forests are at the edge of their ranges on marginal sites. For example, the Angwin area has many places with shallow soils 1 to 2 feet deep, researchers said.

On Tuesday, the Napa County Board of Supervisors heard from researchers on the conifer die-off situation.

Supervisor Diane Dillon a few months ago went with Cal Fire officials in a helicopter for an aerial survey. She saw the dead and dying conifers, especially in the mountains northeast of St. Helena.

"This is focused in Angwin. But it is happening all over the county," she said.

Someday, people will look up at the hills and see significant numbers of dead trees and want to know that happened, Dillon said. She wants the county to be prepared to give answers.

Tree woes have been coming for some time. In 2015, a U.S. Forest Service aerial survey found forests south of Clear Lake in neighboring Lake County hit hard by bark beetles amid a previous drought. A few areas with dead trees showed up in Napa County.

Even then, some local officials told the Napa Valley Register that drought could bring conifer mortality problems to Napa County.

Lack of rainfall isn't the only issue, Lee said. Higher average temperatures draw moisture from soils and trees at a faster rate.

"Even if we have more precipitation, that's going to be an ongoing struggle and challenge for our trees," Lee said.

Jones had suggestions for the short term. He recommended removing declining trees to reduce the beetle population, removing and destroying beetle-infested materials and removing dead trees that could help fuel wildfires.

Then there are long-term steps, such as thinning out forests to reduce resource competition.

"Maintaining healthy forest ecosystems is the only way we can prevent bark beetle outbreaks at the landscape scale from happening," Jones said.

The county will have to be aggressive and work with its neighbors to obtain state money. It can't address the problem only with local resources. Lake County declared a tree mortality emergency to help obtain funds, he said.

"It's not going to be easy. You've got be very dogged," Jones told supervisors.

Napa County might ultimately have less conifer forest land. Jones said some areas that are marginal for conifers might become oak woodlands.

The Napa County Resource Conservation District on May 31 held a tree mortality webinar for property owners. Go to the Napa Communities Firewise website at https://bit.ly/3IBbPYc to learn more and view the webinar.
Napa Countys property tax assessment roll had its biggest growth year ever.

The roll grew by $3.25 billion, to a total of $48.8 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year that began July 1. Both are county records.

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Even COVID-19 and devastating 2017 and 2020 wildfires that destroyed 1,300 homes couldnt stop the countys property tax juggernaut. The county last saw its assessment roll value fall in 1978 amid Proposition 13 restructuring.

Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk John Tuteur put that $3.25 billion increase in perspective.

We grew in one year what the entire county was worth 40 years ago, he said.

He and his assessor colleagues across the state were surprised by how much their rolls grew, Tuteur said. He cited such local factors as remote work leading people to seek out less-urbanized areas, driving up residential real estate prices. Wineries and commercial properties sold.

Plus, the city of Napa had its largest year ever for non-residential new construction at $134 million. So did American Canyon at almost $72 million, he said.

The total of $305 million in non-residential new construction for the entire county was second only to 2009.

Napa County cant compete with far more populous California counties for total assessed value. But the county ranks fourth among the states 58 counties on a per capita basis, behind San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties.

Tuteur zeroed in on Santa Clara County. Napa County narrowly outdid Santa Clara County in per-capita growth, even though Santa Clara Countys assessed value increased in one year by almost as much as Napa County's entire roll.

The two counties decades ago chose very different growth policies. Napa County decided to preserve agriculture and became a world-famous wine country, while Santa Clara pursued urban growth that turned it into a world-famous tech capital.

I want to point out there are two models here, Tuteur told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. And both are doing in assessed value pretty much OK.

Proposition 13, passed by state voters in 1978, caps property tax increases on homes and other properties that dont change hands at 2% annually. Properties that sell are assessed at market value.

Tuteur noted that 1,454 properties have values lower than their Proposition 13 base-year values. Part of this is related to the impact of the pandemic on certain hospitality and retail properties.

The increase in assessed value for Napa County as a whole was 7.12%. The unincorporated county grew by 5.9%, the city of Napa 7.45%, American Canyon 7.54%, Calistoga 14.34%, St. Helena 6.81% and Yountville 18.09%.

The gaudy numbers are more than bragging rights for Napa County. Higher assessment values mean more property tax money for the county and its municipalities.

On the flip side, Tuteur has repeatedly said the job of his elected office isnt to seek high values to bring in more taxes. Rather, he must make certain local property owners receive fair values that reflect market conditions.

County appraisers reviewed every single family residence and condominium on less than 5 acres. Owners received fair values reflecting market conditions as of Jan. 1, Tuteur explained.

The county also reviewed commercial and industrial properties when owners supplied current income and expense information, he added.

I encourage property owners to compare their 2022-23 value notices to their 2021-22 property tax bills to understand the nature of the change, he said.

People with questions should notify the assessor division for an informal review before Nov. 15. Email questions to john.tuteur@countyofnapa.org or call 707-253-4459.

One aspect of Napa Countys agricultural preservation efforts is approving state Williamson Act contracts for farmland. Owners pledge to keep farming the land for at least 10 years. In return, the land is taxed at agricultural value if that's cheaper than Proposition 13 or market value.

Williamson Act contracts on 925 parcels covering 84,216 acres will cost the county about $10.4 million in property taxes in 2022, county data shows. Since 1989, the total is $142 million in tax income.

The 2017-18 grand jury criticized Williamson Act policies in the county as subsidizing a lifestyle for wealthy farmers. It said this comes at the expense of tax money going to schools, the county and cities.

Napa County responded that a sound and secure system for preserving agricultural land and open space is far more valuable to future generations than short-term gain.

Napa County contains some of the most valuable farmland in the country, but urban development can be worth five to 10 times more on a per-acre basis, said the official county response from 2018.

In the case of vineyards, owners with Williamson Act contracts often receive Proposition 13 values because these are less than the agricultural values.

An exception is if a vineyard under a Williamson Act contract has been recently purchased. Then the agricultural value would likely be the least expensive tax option. The 2017-18 grand jury said those most able to afford to pay market-rate tax values benefit.

Many of the farmland owners who receive Williamson Act values own grazing land, county officials said.

Out of the 925 parcels under Williamson Act contracts this year, 375 owners will receive Proposition 13 values and 550 will receive contract values.
ST. HELENA  The St. Helena City Council has awarded more than $2 million in contracts associated with moving City Hall and the police department into the Napa Valley College Upper Valley Campus.

Once completed later this year, the improvements will enable all city departments, including the police, to be housed under the same roof. Staff have been spread among three sites since smoke damage forced city workers to abandon the old City Hall in late 2019.

The council last month approved the following contracts:

 $1.2 million to Murray Building Inc. for construction of tenant improvements, plus change orders of up to 10% of the contract amount;

 $219,000 to Marin IT to relocate and set up information technology systems;

 $424,000 to Vesta Modular for a five-year lease of a portable locker room for the police department;

 $45,000 to Noll & Tam for construction administration services;

 $70,000 to Greystone West Company for construction management services.

The construction contract with Murray includes accessibility improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and enhanced security infrastructure necessary for St. Helena Police. Construction is set to take about two months.

The city and NVC signed a five-year lease in August 2021 to occupy part of the college campus, with an option for another two years. The college will retain use of the culinary arts building and two classrooms in the main building.

A few councilmembers said that given the substantial investment in tenant improvements, the city should pursue talks with the college about either buying the building or extending the lease.

This amount of cost, to me, does not make sense unless we have that lease extend out farther than we currently have, said Councilmember Anna Chouteau. Its important that we recognize this kind of investment our city is making in this very important space.  We need to make sure we get the value out of everything that were investing.
According to information published by the U.S. DoD on July 13, 2022, the Ronald Reagan, Carrier Strike Group is operating in the South China Sea for the first time during its 2022 deployment.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (Picture source: U.S. DoD)

The carrier strike group includes the Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), the embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, and embarked staffs of Task Force 70 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, as well as the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76).

While in the South China Sea, the strike group is conducting maritime security operations, which include flight operations with fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, maritime strike exercises, and coordinated tactical training between surface and air units. Carrier operations in the South China Sea are part of the U.S. Navys routine operations in the Indo-Pacific.

The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. Several countries have made competing territorial claims over the South China Sea. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia's most potentially dangerous point of conflict.

About the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered supercarrier in the service of the United States Navy. She was built at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, and was commissioned on 12 July 2003.

The aircraft carrier has a length of 1092 feet (332.8 m), a beam of 252 ft (76.8 m), and a draft of 37 feet (11.3 m). She can reach a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).

The USS Ronald Reagan can carry a total of 90 fixed-wing helicopters. The weapon systems of the CVN-76 include 1624  RIM-7 Sea Sparrow air defense missile and Phalanx CIWS for defense against airborne threats such as anti-ship missiles and helicopters or RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile.
According to information published by CNA on July 12, 2022, the Taiwanese Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) is expected to be launched in September.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Model of the future Taiwanese Indigenous Defense Submarine (Picture source: Chaoyisun)

The Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) Program is a Taiwanese project to develop and construct a class of attack submarines domestically for the Republic of China Navy.

The first indigenous diesel-electric submarine is scheduled to start operations in 2025, and it will be followed by seven others. They will replace the four aging submarines the country received decades ago.

Taiwan has put an emphasis on the domestic development of a variety of weapons systems, from missiles to vehicles, to strengthen its defenses against Chinas increasing aggressiveness.

The external design appears to resemble Japan's Soryu and Oyashio-class SSKs by having an X-form rudder. The boats will be assembled using Japanese construction techniques in Taiwan.

Reportedly, a version of the AN/BYG-1 submarine combat management system, used in US Navy nuclear submarines, is being offered to Taiwan. Also, some influence in design is thought to have come from Dutch submarines currently operated by Taiwan. The vessels are estimated to be in the 2,500-ton class and 70m in length.

The armament of the first Indigenous Defense Submarine will be MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced heavyweight torpedoes and UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles.
Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet U.N. officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukraine grain from the major Black Sea port of Odessa as a global food crisis worsens, Reuters reported.

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced the meeting on Tuesday. Turkey has been working with the United Nations to broker a deal after the war in Ukraine stoked global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer.

According to diplomats, elements of the plan being discussed include Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through mined port waters; Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move; and Turkeysupported by the United Nationsinspecting ships to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling.

Ukraine and Russia are key global wheat suppliers, while Russia is also a large fertilizer exporter, and Ukrainea significant producer of corn and sunflower oil.

Russia's sea blockade of Ukraine has stalled exports, leaving dozens of ships stranded and more than 20 million tons of grain stuck in silos at Odessa.

The coming harvest is also at risk as Ukraine is now short of storage space due to the halt in exports.

Even if a deal is struck to resume Ukrainian exports, diplomats say shipping and insurance companies will then require assurances to restart tradegiven the risks in navigating mined waters. Ukraine fears that de-mining its ports would leave it far more vulnerable to Russian attack from the Black Sea.

The United Nations is also working to try and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer exports, which Moscow says have been hindered by Western sanctions.

The United States says Russian grain and fertilizer are not sanctioned and has offered to give written assurances to shipping companies and importing countries.
YEREVAN.  Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The day before, an official document was publicized on the NA [(National Assembly)] website in the form of a draft, according to which the [ruling majority] CC [Civil Contract] Faction [of the NA] decided to call a session of the NA Council to petition to the Constitutional Court on the matter of depriving all deputies of the 2 opposition factions of [their parliamentary] mandates.

After a short time, the draft was removed from the website, but that matter is on the agenda of the ruling CC.

The NA Council will hold a session on the last day of the set period: on July 14.

It is also noteworthy that at the CC, according to some information, the session was scheduled for the evening hour. The NA Council will have a few hours to make a decision on the matter of depriving the opposition [MPs] of their [parliamentary] mandates.

The thing is that the parliament will go on vacation as of July 15, and [therefore] the MPs can no longer carry out activities and make decisions [after that].

() the 33 [opposition] MPs, it turns out, have exceeded the permissible threshold of absences [from NA sessions], and on that basis they [i.e., the CC] will attempt to deprive them of their [parliamentary] mandates.

That is, [NA speaker] Alen Simonyan will call a session of the NA Council on July 14, inform the opposition [MPs] in writing, and the NA vacations will begin on July 15.

In an interview with us, Tatul Soghomonyan, head of the secretariat of the NA staff, said: "Yes, the NA president is obligated by the [NA] regulation to convene a session of the council within a week of receiving the notification. If the opposition MPs do not come [to this session], the matter is postponed for a week, then they [i.e., the CC MPs] can discuss [the matter] without them. But here, yes, there is a problem that I don't know how it will be interpreted. Parliament will go on vacation. This means that if the members of the NA council went on vacation, or if onethe NA presidentremained, it is natural [that] they cannot do a council session because they are on vacation."
Musk plans to build at least 1,000 starships to send groups of pioneers to Mars

Russian DM: Ukraine is preparing large-scale provocations near Zaporizhzhia NPP

Rescuers find another body from rubble of Surmalu shopping center

Deputy Minister: Tomorrow it will be known when we can finish rescue work near Surmalu shopping center

FBI and DHS say threat grows after search of Donald Trump's residence

Armenian Emergency Ministry updates list of citizens missing in Surmalu explosion: Six Iranian and one Russian citizen

Modi says they must transform India into developed country in next 25 years

Ministry of Emergency Situations denies information about pregnant woman and her son found

Myanmar Military Court hands down second sentence to Aung San Suu Kyi

Head of Emergency Ministry unable to confirm another survivor has been pulled out of rubble

German Chancellor: Visa ban for Russians must be discussed

Rescuers hear sounds under rubble of Surmalu shopping center

Emergencies Ministry: 22 people missing in Surmalu shopping center

Bloomberg: Recession risk in eurozone has reached highest level since November 2020

Investigation into explosion in Surmalu shopping center continues

Georgia's tourism revenues have exceeded pre-pandemic levels

French Embassy expresses condolences to families of Surmalu explosion victims

CSTO Secretary General sends condolences to Armenian Prime Minister over Surmalu trade center explosion

Hungary and Turkey plan to launch joint drone production

Russian-Armenian Humanitarian Response Center joins work to eliminate consequences of explosion in Surmalu

Tesla has produced more than 3 million cars since company was founded

Rescuers find another body under rubble of Surmalu shopping center

Ministry of Emergencies presents new list: 21 people are missing from Surmalu shopping center

Electricity bills in Germany will rise by another 480 euros year because of gas surcharge

12 injured in Surmalu shopping mall explosion remain in hospitals

Media: Russia signs contract with Iran to buy 1,000 drones

Armenian DM attends opening of Army 2022 exhibition at Patriot center near Moscow (PHOTOS)

Former Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan released from jail

China sends 30 aircraft and five warships to Taiwan

Russian and Iranian citizens among those missing in Surmalu shopping center

Lawlessness continues: Shots fired again in Yerevan

India's prime minister promises that in 25 years India will be developed country

Artsakh Internal Affairs Minister expresses readiness to assist colleagues from Armenia

Court in Netherlands to rule on MH-17 case on November 17

Putin invites allies and partners to participate in military exercises

Karabakh President: Protection of new corridor will be carried out by Russian peacekeepers

Dollar rises, euro falls in Armenia

Specialists say those injured in Yerevan market explosion are in satisfactory condition, health minister says

Yerevan explosion: We have report about 19 confirmed missing, emergency ministry spokesperson says

Yerevan explosion: One of the missing is Iran citizen

Yerevan market explosion: 56 injured, 18 others considered missing

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff chief on new weapons: We choose what our army needs

Yerevan explosion: Search-and-rescue dogs found certain track, emergency ministry spokesman says

Iran MFA: International borders need to be preserved

Armenian member of Turkey parliament expresses condolences to people of Armenia

Putin condoles with Pashinyan regarding Yerevan market explosion

Yerevan explosion: Turkish special representative extends condolences to Armenia

Yerevan market explosion: Emergency minister dismisses terrorism claims

US embassy charge d'affaires expresses condolences regarding Yerevan explosion

Georgia MFA extends condolences to Yerevan explosion casualties families

1,713 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia past one week

Yerevan explosion: There is real danger building collapsing, says emergency minister

Yerevan explosion: Firefighting continues since Sunday (PHOTOS)

Artsakh president on Yerevan market explosion: Armenian people must arm themselves with fortitude

Yerevan explosion: All 6 casualties identified

Yerevan explosion: We are dealing with highly flammable materials, Armenia official says

Yerevan explosion: 21 injured continue to be treated at hospitals

Yerevan explosion: 2 of 6 casualties not identified yet

Yerevan explosion: 15 people found as result of search

Yerevan explosion: Death toll climbs to 6 (PHOTOS)

Yerevan explosion: PM Pashinyan arrives at scene

Yerevan explosion: Ensuing fire not put out yet

Yerevan explosion: 4 of 5 causalities identities are known

Yerevan explosion: Emergency ministry reports about 5th casualty

Yerevan explosion: Death toll reaches 4

Garden of Eden in Iraq now looks like a desert

Yerevan explosion: Identity of 3rd casualty is announced

Armenia emergency ministry: Information about explosive devices was false

Yerevan explosion: Six considered missing are found

Catholicos of All Armenians on Yerevan explosion. We pray for the peace, tranquility of the casualties souls

Switzerland may join EU energy saving initiative

Germany asks Brussels to exempt from paying VAT on gas

Explosion in Yerevan: Rescue work will continue all night

Yerevan blast: Rescuers found another body

Germany must cut its gas consumption by a fifth to avoid a serious gas shortage

Newsweek: Volodymyr Zelensky increasingly reveals his true nature

Brazilian central bank chief says credit cards will soon cease to exist

Armenian soldier dies

Saudi Arabia's state oil producer Aramco reports 90% profit growth

Yerevan blast: 20 citizens reported missing

Europe looks to SpaceX to bridge launch gap caused by tensions in Russia

Yerevan blast: Rescuers remove 10 people from rubble

Iran wants to strengthen defense cooperation with Iraq

Armenian Defense Minister leaves for Russia

Yerevan blast: Fire and rescue work continues in Surmalu shopping center

Vietnam is considering building a $58.7 billion high-speed railway

New bomb alerts in Yerevan

Yerevan blast: 51 people hospitalized after explosion

The global world order is changing - has the US finally lost control?

At least 34 people injured in Yerevan blast

Yerevan blast: 11 minors taken to hospital

Rishi Sunak: UK energy crisis will push millions into poverty this winter

Yerevan blast: Building is in danger of collapse

Washington hastens to assure that US"will not go anywhere from the Middle East

Yerevan blast: Kid, 5, is in intensive care unit

Yerevan blast: Citizens are at scene looking for relatives

Blast in Yerevan: Number of injured rises to 30

Yerevan blast: Warehouse caught on fire was fined days ago

Egypt church fire kills 35, most of them children

China issues red alert for heat wave
President Joe Biden is set to sign two directives that would allow the U.S. Department of Defense to invest in its hypersonic weapons production base as adversaries demonstrate advanced capabilities, Defense News writes.

China and Russia are advertising recent progress in developing hypersonic weapons that have the unique ability to maneuver above Mach 5. The Pentagon wants to address potential supply chain disruption in key technology areas.

Michael White, chief hypersonic director in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Development, said the presidential directives will allow the Pentagon to invest funds to support hypersonic engines and supply command and control subsystems.

The department's five-year spending plan for hypersonic programs is just under $25 billion for efforts ranging from early research to prototyping and field testing.

The White House expressed concern about the hypersonic industrial base and also acknowledged its importance to national security. In February 2021, Biden signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to conduct a comprehensive review of the supply chain in four areas, including kinetic capabilities such as hypersonic. And earlier this year, the administration updated its list of critical technologies to include hypersonic capabilities.
The 7th edition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in La Rioja, an autonomous community and province in northern Spain in 2023.



This new edition was presented at the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture, with the participation of Concha Andreu, President of the Government of La Rioja; Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism; and the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili.



The Conference has become a leading international forum on trends, tools and opportunities to advance wine tourism. It provides an opportunity for experts and professionals, as well as consolidated and emerging destinations in this tourism segment to exchange knowledge and experiences.



During the official presentation, which was hosted at the Vivanco facilities in Briones, Pololikashvili highlighted the potential of wine tourism as a driver of the growth of local economies and as an engine of social change.



This is a sector that can lead a positive change, especially in many rural communities, creating jobs and opportunities in the most depopulated areas, boosting economic growth and preserving the natural and cultural environment, he said.



This is a sector that can lead a positive change, especially in many rural communities, creating jobs and opportunities in the most depopulated areas, boosting economic growth and preserving the natural and cultural environment



The minister stressed that wine tourism contributes to economic, social, environmental sustainability, adds value, de-seasonalizes product offerings and allows us to visit the rural environment.



The President of La Rioja, for her part, pointed out the recognition that the holding of the Conference implies for the tourist development of the region: La Rioja possesses a unique and diverse heritage, both material and intangible, related to wine as food and as a product, and, in turn, that heritage constitutes a leading tourism offering that can and should be further enhanced.



The 2022 edition the UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in Alba, Italy, from 19 to 21 September.  TradeArabia News Service
As I earlier announced, regarding the use of special means by RA policemen on June 3 I had urgently addressed my international colleagues, Ambassadors accredited in Armenia. Nonpartisan Taguhi Tovmasyan, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (RA), wrote this on Facebook. She added as follows:

I voiced about the alarms by the specialists according to which the expiration date of the used special means had already been over and in congruence with the professionals reviews the expired ammunition appeared to be a reason for the severity of the injuries of protestors and policemen. I also informed my colleagues that as oppositionists confirm, the police didnt inform the protestors about the use of special means in advance.

I requested to hold the mentioned pressing issues under special attention, make public comments on the inadmissible operations by the Police of Armenia against people raising their voice of protest, as public word could have a preventive influence.

I got the next reply from the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, H.E. Lynne Tracy, who informs: The United States is a staunch supporter of freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest. At the same time, we condemn provocative actions and threats against law enforcement officials, as well as excessive use of force by the latter. We welcome reports the government has begun investigations into some cases of excessive use of force. It is important that such investigations continue and that those responsible for abuses are held to account.

I can only hope the initiated investigations will not be formal in nature and law enforcement taking illegal actions, using violent force will be punished. Otherwise it will turn out that [PM] Nikol Pashinyans authority welcomes initiation of criminal cases to close the eyes of the international community, and thus statistics is provided but we don't see results. In its turn, a formal penalty is meaningless.
The Council of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia on Thursday will hold a special session regarding the matter of petitioning to the Constitutional Court with a request to terminating the parliamentary powers of most opposition MPs.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30pm.

The respective draft has already been posted on the NA website.

This matter concerns 33 members of the opposition "Armenia" and "With Honor" Factions of the NA.

But Taguhi Tovmasyan from the "With Honor" Faction and independent MP Ishkhan Zakaryan, who has left that faction, are not on the respective list of opposition lawmakers.

The NA Council will debate on the matter of each of these opposition MPs separately, which means that the NA Council might decide to petition to the Constitutional Court with a request of not depriving all of these opposition lawmakers of their parliamentary mandates.
Stepan Mikayelyan, a member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) of Armenia, has been summoned to the Investigative Committee as a witness for questioning within the framework of the criminal proceedings on the audio recording publicized by former SJC chairman Ruben Vardazaryan. Vardan Tadevosyan, press secretary of the Investigative Committee, told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this.

To note, Mikayelyan was present at the meeting between Vardazaryan and Gagik Jhangiryan, the now former member and acting chairman of the SJC, the audio recording of which has been made public.

The press secretary of the Investigative Committee, however, did not say whether Jhangiryan was questioned as well.

Ruben Vardazaryan was questioned by the Investigative Committee, but he refused to present the full version of the aforesaid audio recording to the investigator.

During a press conference on June 20, Ruben Vardazaryan publicized a controversial audio recording of a conversation between him, Gagik Jhangiryan, and Stepan Mikayelyanand which had taken place on February 20, 2021. In that recording, Jhangiryan was attempting to "persuade" Vardazaryan to step down as chairman of the SJC.

And based on the aforesaid recording, the Investigative Committee of Armenia launched criminal proceedings.


Several journalists pointed out that journalist and fact-checker Mohammad Zubairs arrest is part of the ongoing targeting of Indias Muslims.

Nikita Jain | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  The arrest of journalist and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair by Delhi police on June 27 under the charges of hurting religious sentiments has raised questions over the targeting of journalists belonging to the minority Muslim community.

Many have pointed out that Zubairs arrest is part of the ongoing targeting of Indias Muslims and other minorities.

38-year-old Zubair is the co-founder of AltNews, a fact-check news organisation started in 2017 by former software engineers Pratik Sinha and Zubair.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi police in connection with a tweet of his from 2018.

While the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) based in Washington D.C. called Zubairs arrest another low for press freedom in India, his arrest has raised pressing questions about the persecution of Muslim journalists in India and how his identity played a role in his arrest.

Zakir Ali Tyagi, an independent journalist from Uttar Pradesh, told TwoCircles.net that Their identity is the reason why they (Muslim journalists) are attacked.

Journalists are being targeted based on their identity. This persecution based on identity has increased two-fold since 2014. , said Tyagi, who faced sedition charges in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 for allegedly joking about the criminal record of then newly appointed chief minister Yogi Adityanath in one of his Facebook posts. Booked under the Information Technology Act, Tyagi spent 42 days in jail.

Speaking about his 2017 case, for which he has to attend hearings, Tyagi said anyone trying to raise their voice against the ill-doings of the government will be arrested, especially those belonging to the Muslim community.

Tyagi pointed out the case of Siddiquie Kappan, who has been in jail for more than a year, facing charges that include sedition, conspiracy to incite violence, outraging religious feelings and sundry terrorism charges. Kappan was arrested while on his way to cover Hathrass rape incident.

Meer Faisal, a journalist with Maktoob Media who was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) last year, told TwoCircles.net that Zubairs identity was the main reason why he was being persecuted.

There are other journalists who are also doing good work, but Zubairs level is different. He is also being targeted because he is a Muslim. This fact of being Muslim will also affect him. Whether people believe it or not, this is the truth, Faisal said.

Faisal was booked under UAPA by Tripura Police for tweeting about the violence in the state last year.

Twitter has become a platform where it has become easy to highlight major issues. I was slapped with UAPA and Delhi Police also filed an FIR against me. All this happened because I highlighted some issues through Twitter, he said.

Kaushik Raj, an independent journalist, who has been covering hate speech against minorities in the country, called Zubairs arrest a dangerous time for journalism.

Agreeing that Zubairs identity played a major role in his arrest, Raj said that his arrest has become a dangerous precedent for journalists who are exposing the hate spread by the state. Zubairs arrest means anyone can be arrested now for merely doing their job. No one is safe now.

Raj said that Zubairs arrest has left many journalists in peril.

Zubair is a news studio in itself. If he breaks a news story, it will become the biggest news in the evening. For the right-wing, silencing a voice like him was very important, he said.

Raj alleged that a proper mechanism is used to target those who have been exposing hate speech and violence on social media.

The social medias external machinery first marks you, which happened with Zubair after he brought the Nupur Sharma controversy. Then they started bringing out his old tweets claiming that he has insulted Hindu gods. This is a pattern and full machinery at work, he added.

Faisal said that young journalists are being targeted for using social media to inform people about issues that are being ignored by the mainstream. They are trying to scare off the journalists and these people want to set Zubair as an example, he said.

Tyagi is of the view that the criminalisation of journalists should stop.

If there is any journalist who spreads lies, they should be punished legally and not be slapped with fake cases. There should be no criminalisation of journalists based on that, Tyagi said.

Nikita Jain is an independent journalist based in New Delhi. She tweets at @nikita_jain15
Russian President Vladimir Putins attempts to deepen ties with Iran amid the Ukraine conflict represents a profound threat, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The day before, Sullivan said that Iran was allegedly preparing to supply Russia with several hundred drones. The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the information.

Putin plans to visit Tehran next week, where he will meet with the presidents of Iran and Turkey.

Sullivan called the timing of Putin's trip "interesting." Russia deepening an alliance with Iran to kill Ukrainians is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat, Sullivan said.
Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has softened the state of emergency in Karakalpakstan amid mass unrest.

"Taking into account the stabilization of the situation in Karakalpakstan and the return of life of the inhabitants of the region to its normal course, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan has decided to soften the state of the emergency regime imposed on the territory of Karakalpakstan..." Mirziyoyev's press service said.

A new curfew will be in effect from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. local time. Earlier, curfews were kept from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

In early July, residents of the capital of the Republic of Karakalpakstan came out to a rally against the proposed constitutional amendments. They were outraged by amendments to articles 70-75 of the country's main law, according to which their region would lose its current sovereignty and the right to secede from Uzbekistan.
Avetik Chalabyan, a member of the "Unification" movement, activist and politician has been under custody for two months already. The politically motivated prosecution, the practice of custody as a preventive measure toward Chalabyan raised concerns among a wide range of public groups.

According to the reports, Avetik Chalabyan's detention is in the center of attention of international human rights organizations and the press, in the context of the decline of democracy in Armenia, as a case of silencing the opposition leaders through the use of fraud and deprivation of liberty.

Taking into account the public importance of the Chalabyan case and the accountability of the process, we present the reaction of the public figures of the last few days regarding the Chalabyan case.

"Nikol has something to report to Aliyev today. Avetik Chalabyan will remain in custody. There is one reason why he remains in prison: in Artsakh, he was very active in the field of defense and was one of the thorns in the side of the enemy... and the prosecutors, investigators, judges will one day try to justify themselves, but there will be no one to listen to them, they will have seconds to think silently before the wall of dishonor. it will be late... and the story of the president of the CP student council is separate..." said RA Member of Parliament Gegham Manukyan.

"Two days ago, the investigative committee announced that the preliminary investigation of Avetik Chalabyan's case has been completed. Today, the prosecutor returned Avetik Chalabyan's case materials to the preliminary investigation body and a new motion was submitted to extend the detention. The goal is to keep him in custody as long as possible. (Let me also remind you that from July 1st, the act he was accused of should have been decriminalized and Avetik should have been released from custody, but they made a subtle change to keep that article). I had a chance to say it, I'll repeat it again: the purpose of this circus is to keep any figure away from entering politics. This is a demonstrative punishment for all those who might think of entering politics and threatening Nikol's power, even if only theoretically," said Karen Vrtanesyan, director of the "Razminfo" specialized website.

"I have always said that Nikol Pashinyan's key enemy is the brains and willpower. Avetik Chalabyan is one of those people with a brilliant mind and strong will, therefore he is one of the main targets of Nikol Pashinyan. If Nikol Pashinyan decides so, they will organize a trial in three seconds, and they will change the Criminal Code of RA in order to sentence Avetik Chalabyan to life imprisonment. Avetik Chalabyan is a political prisoner, and I'm surprised by the silence of the international community, which seeing Armenia's decline into a total dictatorship, continues not only to keep silent but also applauds Pashinyan", a former deputy of the National Assembly of RA, activist and politician Naira Zohrabyan.

"The authorities understand very well that, in any case, the possible leaders of the movement should be constrained, isolated, unable to realize their goals. It is in that context that the case and the case of the promise. It is obvious that there could not be a criminal prosecution against him, but it is not enough that the prosecution was carried out, they are constantly changing things. As you know, the article with which he was charged and was the basis for detention was not supposed to work under the new Criminal Code from July 1. But they hastily got together and passed a law to keep Chalabyan in custody," said Zaruhi Postanjyan, a former member of the National Assembly of RA.

"It was not at all necessary that Chalabyan be detained as a preventive measure during the preliminary investigation. Avetik Chalabyan could have been free, if a preliminary investigation had been carried out, a different regime would have been applied. Let's say, not leaving by signature as a deterrent, because with his behavior, he never gave any law enforcement agency, including the investigator, a reason to think that being a liberty, he could hinder the course of the preliminary investigation, influence the behavior of other subjects undergoing preliminary investigation, etc. Such a thing did not happen, there is no such evidence that his being in liberty would be any risky for the investigation," said Edgar Ghazaryan, former head of the staff of the Constitutional court of RA, ambassador, politician.

"For me, it is the biggest mystery for the modern period of Armenian politics. Why is Avetik Chalabyan kept in custody? I'm also interested in that question, because I don't see any logic for that. I can assume that someone has personal problems with him, thats why. I can assume various things, but all that does not fit into the logic of what is happening in Armenia now," said Karen Kocharyan, a political technologist.

Earlier, former RA Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan announced that Avetik Chalabyan should be released immediately. "The criminal prosecution and detention of Avetik Chalabyan took place on the basis of an obviously provocative recording, the evidentiary significance and admissibility of which give rise to strong doubts. Moreover, he was detained for two months for the act provided for by the article of the Criminal Code, which in 2022 will no longer be punishable under the Criminal Code, which will come into force on July 1. Therefore, Avetik Chalabyan should be released immediately," he said.

Human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanyan reportedly said that Chalabyan's case reminds him of 1937. "That person specially recorded the conversation and was sure that a criminal case was initiated against Chalabyan on the instructions of the authorities. What right does he have to record the private conversation? Perjury is encouraged by the authorities. Remember the case of opposition MP Armen Charchyan," said Avetik Ishkhanyan.

The HRD Office of the RA, led by Kristinne Grigoryan, also requested clarifications from the Prosecutor's Office regarding the case of Avetik Chalabyan. The case of Avetik Chalabyan was also addressed by the editor-in-chief of "Aravot" daily Aram Abrahamyan in the article "Then they came after me..."

Let's remind that he is charged with the act provided for by Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code, which came into force on July 1 (coercion to participate in meetings). "I was arrested in a fictitious criminal case, in which there is no real crime and whose only real purpose is to put undisguised political pressure on me and my friends. Everyone who knows me knows very well that I have not committed any illegal act or even any action that could be against our value system. Any political pressure, any criminal case based on obvious machinations cannot divert me from the struggle for our country and statehood," Avetik Chalabyan said in his statement from the prison.

Public groups and activists have been fighting for the freedom of Avetik Chalabyan for months for now, calling for the release of Avetik Chalabyan through mass protests, petitions and all means prescribed by law. Five members of the RA National Assembly, "Arar Foundation" and former RA Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Vache Gabrielyan submitted letters of recommendation for the change of his restraining order. More than 5000 citizens signed a petition, among which number of public figures, scientists, chairperson and the members of the Parliament of Artsakh, the president, the spiritual leader of the Diocese of Artsakh, calling for the release of Avetik Chalabyan.
One year after Haitian president Jovenel Moise was assassinated, there are few signs that the perpetrators of the crime will be brought to justice. Meanwhile, the beleaguered country plunges into further economic and political uncertainty.

What puzzles us Haitians is that one year after the assassination of the president, there is not even a beginning of a process that would lead to prosecution of the masterminds of the crime, said Louis Herns Marcelin, professor of anthropology at the University of Miami and founder of Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED).

The Haitian judicial system does not show any capacity to take charge of this investigation, the Haitian native added.

Forty people were arrested after the July 7, 2021, murder of Moise, who was killed in his home. Some of those included high-ranking police officers, informants for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and a group of former Colombian soldiers. But for a multitude of reasons, four of the judges appointed to lead the prosecution of the crime have stepped down, said Marcelin.

The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that a group of approximately 20 Colombian nationals and a group of Haitian Americans participated in a plan that ultimately resulted in a plot to kill the president, according to news reports. The U.S. holds three prisoners accused of participating in the crime.

In another troublesome development, Ariel Henry, the current prime minister of Haiti, fired government officials who summoned him for questioning in the presidents assassination. His phone records show that he had been talking to a man accused of masterminding the assassination, The New York Times reported. Henry has denied any wrongdoing.

In the meantime, the country has become a land without rule of law, Marcelin pointed out, dominated by gangs that lead turf wars and terrorize neighborhoods. Everyday lifealready difficult and compounded by the COVID-19 pandemichas become untenable.

The social instabilities that we had before the president was assassinated have compounded into further fragmentation of Haitian society, said Marcelin. We have corruptive forces that prevent Haitians from leading daily lives. They cannot go from one neighborhood to the other without fear of kidnapping, he added.

All this makes young people want to fly, Marcelin continued. They want to flee the country to go anywhere else by any means necessary.

In desperation, thousands of Haitian migrants have taken to the sea in the hopes of reaching U.S. shores. Others have made their way to Latin American countries and made the trek to the U.S. southern border.

In an ongoing study published by INURED, a Haiti-based research institute, it was estimated that 380,000 Haitians fled the country since the devastating 2010 earthquake.

About 20 percent of those who fled were the cream of the crop of Haitian societyyoung people aged 18 to 29, who had higher education degrees, according to Marcelin.

The brain drain of educated Haitians is one of the biggest tragedies that has affected the country, he said. At first, many of these young people settled in Chile and Brazil, taking jobs in the agricultural field.

But during the beginning of the pandemic, when Haitian migrants began experiencing racism and ostracism in the Latin American countries, many tried to cross the Mexican border into the U.S, Marcelin noted.

He said that he believes Haitian migration will continue even though the Biden administration has repatriated thousands of Haitians in the past two years. Many of these individuals did not receive legal protection and an opportunity to apply for asylum, said Marcelin.

Many Haitians feel troubled by the continued U.S. support of Henry, given his implication in Moises murder and the delayed elections, said Marcelin.

Haitians will continue to come, he said. The U.S. must articulate its foreign policy toward Haiti clearly. It is not good for the U.S. to maintain the situation as it is, because it is a danger for this country. For security reasons, it cannot have Haiti drifting away.
PLA 'drives away' US destroyer from Xisha Islands

The People's Liberation Army says the USS Benfold's actions seriously violated China's sovereignty and security. File photo: AFP

Beijing said the Peoples Liberation Army has driven away a US destroyer that had illegally entered Chinese territorial waters by sailing near the Xisha Islands.



The USS Benfold's actions seriously violated China's sovereignty and security, the PLA said in a statement.



"The PLA's Southern Theatre Command organised sea and air forces to follow, monitor, warn and drive away" the ship, it said, showing pictures of the Benfold taken from the deck of the Chinese frigate, Xianning.



The facts once again show that the United States is nothing short of a 'security risk maker in the South China Sea' and a 'destroyer of regional peace and stability, it added.



The US Navy, for their part, said the Benfold asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the archipelago  which they call the Paracel Islands.



It claimed the Chinese statement on the mission was "false" and the latest in a long string of actions to "misrepresent lawful US maritime operations. The United States is defending every country's right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, and nothing China "says otherwise will deter us", it added.



Foreign Minister Wang Yi had recently told a news conference in Malaysias administrative capital of Putrajaya that China is speeding up talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to come up with a nonaggression pact called a code of conduct to turn the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation.



We will oppose bloc confrontation and Cold War mentality, Wang told journalists after meeting his counterpart in Malaysia, the last stop in his five-nation swing through Southeast Asia. (Agencies)
Protesters in Sri Lanka on Tuesday declared a deadline for a peaceful resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid rumours that he would not step down from his post if his family was not allowed a safe passage from the country. The protesters have demanded, through social media announcements, that Rajapaksa must resign by 1 p.m. on Wednesday and warned that the people would be summoned to Colombo once again if he retracts the promise he has given to quit. A representative of the protesters, who occupied the entrance to the President's House for over three months, has urged public to gather at the main protest site by 1 p.m. As people took over the President's official residence on Saturday despite heavy deployment of police and military who fired water cannons, tear gas and even used life bullets, injuring over 100 people, Rajapaksa announced that he would resign from his post. However since Saturday, his whereabouts are unknown as the Speaker once announced he was out of the country and in a neighbouring nation but later withdrew his statement. Protesters have announced that they would hand over the President's house as soon as Rajapaksa resigns. They who have occupied Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's official residence, the Temple Trees, also have demanded the exit of the PM together with Rajapaksa. Early on Tuesday, the President's brother and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa tried to leave for the US but was prevented from leaving the country through the VVIP lounge of the main airport in Colombo. Rajapaksa was forced to leave the airport thereafter. The south Asian island nation is going through a unprecedented economic crisis, which the public blames on the Rajapaksa family who reigned over the country for most of the last two decades. --IANS sfl/vd ( 316 Words) 2022-07-12-23:10:02 (IANS)
Reports suggest farming and trading of wheat in Ukraine have been impacted ever since Russia's invasion of the country earlier this year.

In its June report, the US Department of Agriculture projected the country's wheat crop at 21.50 million tonnes.

Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat and its global prices have risen substantially in recent months. Prices in India too are buoyant and are currently trading above the minimum support price.

Wheat production in major supplier India is expected to decline 3.3 per cent in 2022-23 to 106 million tonnes from 109.6 million tonnes in 2021-22, the report said.

However, wheat production for India has been kept unchanged from its June report.

To manage the overall food security of the country as well as meet the needs of the neighbouring and other vulnerable countries, India amended the export policy of wheat by putting its export under the "prohibited" category.

After a ban on exports of wheat grain, the Centre has now put restrictions on the exports of wheat flour (atta) exports and other related products like maida, semolina (rava/sirgi), wholemeal atta, and resultant atta with effect from July 12. (ANI)
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): JEE Mains 1st phase results were declared on July 11, 2022. NTA would declare final results after the 2nd JEE Mains. From Prime Academy, out of 145 students, more than 108 students scored JEE Advanced eligible score. 11 of them got swashbuckling 99 percentile and more than 30 crossed 98 percentile mark. "For any reason, if a student couldn't do well in 1st mains, s/he must work hard on selected topics and take as many mock tests as possible before the 2nd mains. There have been cases where students jumped from 60 percentile to as high as 98 percentile in subsequent JEE mains by pursuing marks-oriented studies," said Lalit Kumar, B.Tech IIT Bombay, CMD Prime Academy. Those with more than 97 percentile should entirely focus on JEE Advanced and appear for JEE Mains just to gain experience. If the percentile is not even 90, then the focus should remain on JEE Mains only. Topics like Thermodynamics, Modern Physics, Electrodynamics, and Coordinate geometry are relatively easy and frequently asked in JEE. Analysis of the previous year's JEE Mains paper will be beneficial to understanding the trend and level of the exam. Prime Academy is conducting a crash course for JEE Mains and Advanced. In the crash course, a few critical topics are polished from the examination perceptive, and students develop examination temperament by undergoing a series of mock tests. Prime Academy's faculty team is a group of IITians teaching here for over a decade and instrumental in producing one of the best success percentages in JEE from Maharashtra. "Professor Lalit was one of the best teachers that I have studied under when preparing for IIT JEE. I am sure many others will benefit from his dedication towards students," said Sushant Sachdeva, the only All India Rank - 1 from Pune till date. Prime Academy is enrolling students for various courses like JEE, NEET and Foundations. For JEE and NEET, 2-year, 1-year, Crash Course and Rank Booster course is available. The Foundation course is offered to the students of 8th, 9th and 10th classes. For more information, please visit primeacademypune.com. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], July 13 (ANI/TPT): Tushar Kumar, an Australia-based actor who will soon be seen in Bollywood music albums, is all set to be seen in the 'Racism It Stops With Me' campaign film on Tuesday, July 12th 2022. The video is a part of Australia's 'Racism It Stops With Me' campaign. It urges more Australian residents to take control and fight against racism. Thousands of Australians are committed to making racism disappear from the roots of the country. The campaign also acknowledges the work of First Nations communities and others who lived the experience of racism. The Australian Human Rights Commission recognized Tushar's efforts and appreciated him by sending a token of appreciation. The campaign against Racism in Australia has been seen regularly in media through TV commercials, movies, or some campaigns. Tushar Kumar, who was a significant part of this campaign, is also an actor who has appeared in Bollywood music albums 'Teri Bewafai' and 'Pyar Na Hove' released in big music labels. His recent music videos 'TeraSaaya' and 'Jism' were shot in Jaipur recently. His career began with a beauty pageant in Australia where he bagged the title of 'Mr. Intelligent'. After that, he got into the film industry and his first movie 'Dum Maaro Dum' was premiered in Nova Cinemas Carlton, which was highly appreciated. Talking about his perspective on racism, Tushar Kumar stated, "Nelson Mandela has always been one of the epitomes I look up to when it comes to my ideologies. Racism is a horror to the human consciousness. The notion that any person is inferior to another just because of their skin colour is problematic. This has already caused a lot of suffering in humanity. So I wanted to do something to help the fight against racism, and that is why I decided to be a part of the 'RacismIt Stops With Me' campaign." In the year 2022, his music videos with Mishti (Kanchi fame) will be released. Another of his projects is a short Bollywood film 'Dastak' directed by Rajiv Ruia, is also to be released by year-end. Apart from being an actor Tushar Kumar also works for Bank and is an alumnus of BITS Mesra and IIM Bangalore. This story is provided by TPT. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/TPT)
New Delhi [India], July 13 (ANI/TPT): Disrupting the traditional concepts of advertising, a new-age visual storyteller - Kanha Patnaik, known for filming engaging TVCs for BIG brands across Odisha, is now in media attention for his recent Ad-film featuring Veteran Bollywood Actor Kiran Kumar. The ad film created by Kanha Patnaik for the reputed real-estate brand MEGA BUILDERS is garnering much appreciation from industry veterans and touching the heart of million of viewers over social media. The strong emotions shared between a father and a daughter while buying their dream house have been the catalyst in making the ad film super-engaging. But this is not the first time for the young Odia Ad-film maker, he has been doing tremendous work in the domain of TV Commercials and Digital Media Advertising for a long time. He has founded an award-winning advertising agency in Bhubaneswar named Limeli8. With an amazing team of creative talents and a fully-equipped visual studio, Limeli8 is currently ruling the commercial advertising and digital marketing space in Odisha. Recently, Limeli8 has won the Best Advertising Agency Award for the year 2021-2022 from one of the top awards shows in Odisha - the 2nd Ollywood cine award. Because of his unique perception and ability to bring concepts into life through visual storytelling techniques, he has done projects for many brands from diverse business backgrounds in the last 4 years. A few big names include SCABIGON, PRAGATI MILK, ODISSI JEWELLERS, COHEN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ETC. Speaking about his work experience Kanha said, "Understanding the audience's mindset and their media consumption behaviour has helped us a lot in creating successful advertising campaigns. Every commercial AD Film we have made, tells a compelling story!! Be it through emotions, music, or cinematography, we know how to connect and engage with audiences in real-time. Personally for me, blending the essence of branding, communication, and product integration in the right ratio has been game-changing when making ad films for brands." FYI, Kanha Patnaik is an MBA-Grad and has been associated with Odia TV and Cinema fraternity for more than 12 years. In his initial career days, he used to be a vendor of graphics and print-media collaterals. He has worked as an associate producer for super-hit Odia music videos that have over a million views on Youtube. He is also good at organising glamorous events for corporate houses and big fat Indian weddings. Indeed, a creative genius with hands-on experience in a lot of things related to Media, Films, and Events. When asked about his future plans, he added, "Limeli8 is growing and gaining good traction among the local brands. It's a good sign! But we do not want to limit our creative services to the local market only, rather we have expanded to Hyderabad recently. We will thrive and do advertisement & branding projects featuring popular celebrities across India. In the near future, we are planning a conceptual ad campaign with one of the popular action heroes of Bollywood. Also, there are three more ad films in our pipeline which are going to be released on the occasion of Rakhsya Bandhan. This story is provided by TPT. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/TPT)
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday issued a clarification on reports of Adam Harry, India's first trans pilot from Kerala, who has been declared 'unfit' by the regulator on medical grounds. The DGCA has issued a statement, undersigned by YS Dahiya, Group Captain, Directorate of Medical Services (Civil Aircrew), which clarified that Harry has never been denied a commercial pilot's licence by DGCA. In fact, the aviation watchdog said there are no restrictions on transgender people in obtaining a license, subject to the individual ensuring compliance with relevant provisions of age, educational qualifications, medical fitness, and knowledge experience among others as specified in Aircraft Rules, 1937. Medical fitness is a mandatory requirement for obtaining a license. Transgender personnel may also be issued a fit medical assessment, provided there are no associated medical, psychiatric, or psychological conditions. The use of hormonal replacement therapy is not disqualifying if the applicant has no adverse symptoms or reactions. However, flying duties are not permitted while the dose of hormonal treatment is being stabilized or until an adequate physiological response has been achieved and the dose no longer needs changing, it said in the statement. In the case of Harry, towards ensuring the medical assessment, even in the absence of a specific policy for transgender personnel, the process was undertaken in line with the world's best practices. It said DGCA has followed the process as specified in FAA's Guide for Medical Examiners. This is owing to the case being a first of its kind in India. It is pertinent to mention that the world over a methodology of handling such scenarios on a 'case to case' basis is being followed. It also clarified that the DGCA prescribed form for medical examination does not contain any field for gender. Additionally, the gender of an individual is auto-fetched from the registration aspect of e-Governance of Civil Aviation (eGCA), which provides a transgender individual to register as 'Transgender'. Adam Harry has not yet registered himself on the eGCA platform which is in place since Dec 2019. Media reports alleged that Harry has been declared unfit on the grounds of gender dysphoria undergoing hormone therapy and that the same lacked scientific medical basis and is not in line with the practices followed in other countries. Reacting to the allegation, the statement clarified that the procedure for evaluation of transgender at DGCA is the same as the one followed by FAA. Further, it said in order to obtain a Commercial Pilot's Licence, an applicant has to undertake necessary flying by utilizing the privileges of a Student Pilot's Licence, which Harry has not undertaken. Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology, an approved FTO, has indicated that Harry was not issued Student Pilot's License owing to inadequate attendance for ground classes. Lastly, the statement said that since Harry is due for renewal of his current medical assessment at an Indian Air Force boarding center, he has been informed to undertake a few procedures for obtaining a fresh medical assessment. It asked harry to apply for name change from Ms Aisha TS to Mr Adam Harry, as per the procedure laid down in the Medical Circular 01/2015 on 'Amendment of Personal Details in the records', register on eGCA as 'Transgender' so that the basic detail gets replicated in all the deliverables of DGCA (including medical assessment), and then apply for Class-2 medical renewal through eGCA (as the previous assessment is valid till 23 Aug 22). (ANI)
New Delhi [India], July 13 (ANI/TPT): Leading real estate brand, Ashar Group has entered the Ghatkopar micro-market with its luxury Project Ashar Titan - a Premium retail and residential tower that offers customizable 2,3 and 4 BHK luxury abodes with ritzy lifestyle amenities. As part of the launch, Ashar Group is organizing a short film contest with the tagline "Ghatkopar-Titans of Suburbs". The contest will offer a unique platform for amateurs and professional filmmakers to showcase their filmmaking skills. Ashar Group is also installing a giant LED Screen near the site office of Ashar Titan to spread awareness about the rich culture, tradition, and history of Ghatkopar. Ayushi Ashar, Director at Ashar Group says, "The recent infrastructural development along with the connectivity that Ghatkopar offers through expressway, freeway, railways, and metros has made it one of the most sought-after real estate micro-markets of MMR. At the same time, we also felt that many stories about Ghatkopar are missing. So, we have come up with the idea to create a platform that will tell the stories of Ghatkopar, not just from the lens of a fast-emerging suburb but from its experimental cultural scene, its social life, and its open and honest approach to its history of being the first and immediate suburb of the financial capital. "When knowledge of your city and the art of filming combine amazing things can be achieved. That's the philosophy behind this contest. We are confident that Ghatkopar- Titans of Suburbs short film contest will offer a unique platform for budding filmmakers to use their knowledge of Ghatkopar through the art of film," she added. The prize money stands as Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50 thousand for the first, second and third positions, respectively. Moreover, an independent Jury Panel comprising filmmakers, directors, writers, and producers has been constituted to judge the various entries on the cinematic parameters which include cinematography, storyline, editing and direction. There is no entry fee or bar on the number of films sent by an individual/group for participation in the contest. However, participants will have to send each film separately with the duly filled-in application form. The short films may be in any Indian language with subtitles in English and the duration of the short film should not be more than 3 minutes. Ashar Group is one of the leading real estate brands with over 7 million sq. ft. completed projects in residential, commercial, and retail space. Moreover, the Group has over 10 million sq. ft. development prospects across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in Bandra, Ghatkopar, Thane, Mulund, Vile Parle and Nasik. Adding to its rich portfolio is - a township project in Dombivli, a super-luxurious bungalow scheme at Lonavala, and a few more projects in Pali Hill, Thane and Khardi. With an enviable portfolio matched by very few of its competitors, Ashar has emerged as one of the most preferred real estate brands with zero RERA complaints and the fastest project execution time of 3 years. The brand is known for its uncompromising values, customer-centric attitude, robust engineering, and transparency in business operations. This story is provided by TPT. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/TPT)
Surat (Gujarat) [India], July 13 (ANI/PNN): With the investor interest in startups as investment continues to grow, Surat is fast solidifying its position as Gujarat's startup investment hub. It was evident when over 300 investors from across the country participated in the first-of-its-kind 'Startup Investment Summit 2022' organised on the theme 'Angel Investing Simplified' at Hotel Marriott. The goal of the Startup Investment Summit 2022 was to strengthen the country's fast-growing startup ecosystem, encourage new entrepreneurs through investment, and recognise their contribution to the growth of the country's economy. The summit themed on Angel Investing Simplified was attended by more than 300 Angel Investors, Industry Leaders, and ecosystem partners. Vineet Rai, Founder and Chairman of Aavishkaar Group, spoke to a group of investors and new entrepreneurs about his experiences investing in startups over the past 20 years and how his group manages assets worth more than USD 1 billion with a focus on how their investments help the startup ecosystem. Kashyap Pandya, Co-Founder of Unisync Angels, a global angel investment platform that provides startups with the capital they need to grow said, "Investing in startups is not only aimed at wealth creation but also for supporting innovative business ideas that can have a positive impact on society as a whole." CA Mayank Desai, the Co-founder of Unisync Angels, talked about how investors' attitudes are changing from traditional asset classes like real estate to new-age asset classes. Desai also said, "Surat is quickly becoming the startup investment capital of Gujarat, as more people want to invest in startups." Unisync Angels (http://www.unisyncangels.com/ ) is a global investment platform started in Surat with the help of 15 well-known chartered accountants. Its primary focus is on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Truecaller, the world's leading global communications platform, today launched a brand new app for safe, secure and private audio conversations: Open Doors. The app is a labour of love, built over many months by a dedicated international team. After building Truecaller that safeguards people in their digital lives, and the free app Guardians for personal safety, the Swedish company is now setting sights on a new target: enabling fun, impromptu, global private conversations. Open Doors will be completely free to use and available globally on the Google Play Store & Apple App Store. The app works seamlessly across both smartphone platforms. "Thanks to Truecaller being 13 years in the business, we've spent a great deal of time learning about how people communicate," said Nami Zarringhalam, Co-founder of True Software Scandinavia AB. Our new app Open Doors was born out of a simple question - how can we help people make new connections without being intrusive? And this is what we want to do: to bridge the world using the most natural form of communication, our voices." How Open Doors Works: Open Doors has a simple onboarding process. If you are already a Truecaller user, you can sign in with just one tap. If you're not a Truecaller user, your phone number will be verified using a missed call or OTP. The app needs only two permissions: contacts (so that you can share Open Doors, or connect with people in your contacts who also have Open Doors) and phone permission (needed to have audio conversations). Participants in a conversation can not see each other's phone number. As a user of Open Doors, you are in complete control at all times. You can start a conversation and leave at will. Your friends can join conversations when they get a notification or by clicking on a link you share. At launch, the app interface will be available in English, Hindi, Spanish, Latin and French, with more languages to be added later on user demand. Once your friend joins the conversation, their friends will be invited too. Through the network effect, you can be joined by a large number of people very soon. Do keep in mind that conversations are real-time and moderated by the community, just like Truecaller. They are not stored anywhere and neither can someone listen in without you knowing. We expect participants to foster a safe, inclusive and respectful environment during conversations. Based on user feedback, we will keep innovating and adding more features to Open Doors. Some innovations that are already in the works, thanks to a small beta tester group, are the ability to set a close circle of contacts (so that others in your contacts who have Open Doors will not always get a notification when you start a conversation), the ability to react to what people are saying and precise control over how the app notifies you of new conversations. Open Doors is a brand new app that enables safe, global conversations in real time. It is owned and developed by True Software Scandinavia AB, the makers of Truecaller - the world's most trusted and accurate Caller ID and spam blocking service. Open Doors is free, available globally, works seamlessly on both mobile platforms, and is designed with privacy and ease-of-use in mind. True Software Scandinavia AB is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The company was founded in 2009 by Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam. To download Open Doors, please visit: open-doors.app For more information, please contact: press@truecaller.com. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Trichy (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Omega CSR, in collaboration with UNNATI and the HOPE Foundation, has designed an industry-focused flagship skilling programme with the aim of reaching 10,000 beneficiaries in Tiruchirappalli. The programme will be inaugurated by various key stakeholders at a launch event in Red Fox Hotel Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu on 14th July from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Through this programme, the team will create sustainable income enhancement opportunities for 10,000+ first-generation earners in the focus geography of Tiruchirappalli, employing skill training in industry-led domains. The programme assures placement of at least 75% of candidates post-training. Omega CSR has adopted a research-driven approach for holistic community transformation by gathering insights on the geography and skilling landscape, identifying potential partners and delivery models, collating data & insights to validate primary research insights, and defining the target geography, beneficiaries & program outcomes, etc. The skilling programme has been developed based on industry requirements in the region and therefore empowers underprivileged youth while bridging the skill gaps in key sectors. "Today, there is a dire need for concerted long-term efforts towards strengthening skilling in India. Our research has revealed that only 2 per cent of the workforce in India has formal vocational training, with 1 in 5 graduates being unemployed. While there is a need for formal employment, there is also an industry-wide shortage of skilled workers. By 2025, Tamil Nadu expects a 48% shortage with 38 lakh skilled workers needed across Education, IT/ITeS, Healthcare, Manufacturing & Construction sectors. Through our flagship programme - Project 10k, we aim to solve both these challenges by providing industry-relevant technical skills with a special focus on employability skills to first-generation earners," says Sunanda Rangarajan, Head - CSR, Omega Healthcare. "We are looking to invest approximately Rs. 5 crores in Project 10K in the next five years, and expect to reach 10,000 beneficiaries," she adds. As one of the most industrialized districts in Tamil Nadu, the team chose Tiruchirappalli as the central point for the intervention and identified a potential need for skill training in the district's services industry. While the Service industry contributes to 60% of the district's Gross Value Add (GVA), only 2.4% have undergone vocational training (lower than the national average of 3%). The programme will promote opportunities in service sectors such as upcoming retail, hospitality and IT/IteS for marginalized beneficiaries, hereby bridging the demand and supply gaps. "Such a programme can potentially target 10,000 first-generation earners in Tiruchirappalli, coming from underserved sections of the society," says Kannan Sugantharaman, Chief Financial Officer, Omega Healthcare. "We are adopting a youth-centric and inclusive approach with a mandatory women representation of up to 30-40%. Our youth aspiration study revealed an aversion for blue-collar jobs and a strong preference for white-collar jobs, and our programme thus aims to provide opportunities for the same," he adds. The launch event will feature various stakeholders of the Tiruchirappalli ecosystem with dignitaries from Omega and their implementation partners in attendance. It will offer insights into the programmer's implementation pipeline, expected outcomes and beneficiary success stories. The event will also feature a panel discussion on the skilling ecosystem with various key stakeholders from Omega, consulting partners and implementation partners. Sunanda Rangarajan, Head - CSR at Omega, Ian Correa, CEO of HOPE Foundation, Ramesh, CEO of UNNATI and Santosh Abraham, Associate Principal of Sattva as panelists. Omega CSR was started in 2014 as an opportunistic funder. Several years later, in September 2021, Omega CSR, along with OMEGA's leadership and key stakeholders, set the CSR's vision and mission. We have now set up a formal strategy to execute our CSR policy. Our mission is to transform the lives of 100,000 individuals over the next five years. This will be executed by providing access to education, healthcare, skill development, and women's empowerment. Our vision is to proactively raise social and economic equity and other human development index metrics in our target communities. We have partnered with various organizations and NGOs and witnessed many success stories this past year by just collaborating and bringing together all the stakeholders. In FY 2021- 22 we have touched 32,401 lives through Education, Healthcare, skill development and Women empowerment. Under the skilling program, we plan to give employment and invest in 21st century skills to make 10,000 youth employable. To date, we have provided opportunities for about 300 youth. Founded in 2003, Omega helps payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies eliminate administrative burdens, accelerate cash flow, and reduce health management costs while enhancing patient care. The company streamlines medical billing, coding, and collections processes and provides clinical services, including triage, care continuation, clinical documentation improvement, and re-admittance avoidance. Combining the largest medical coding staff in the world with proprietary technology, analytics, and automation capabilities, Omega provides the most comprehensive outsourced solutions in the industry and is ranked among the top revenue cycle management business process services by industry analysts. For more information, please visit www.omegahms.com. Backed by the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Everstone Group, Omega Healthcare has more than 26,000 employees across the United States, India, and the Philippines. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Dholera (Gujarat) [India], July 13 (ANI/BusinessWire India): SmartHomes Infrastructure is a leading developer in Dholera SIR and has been presented TIMES awards multiple times for its dedicated work in Dholera SIR & surroundings. Currently the company is developing multiple residential and commercial projects and owns a considerable chunk of Commercial, Residential and Industrial Land Parcels in Dholera SIR and surroundings. Dholera Greenfield Smart City, a self-sustainable city: Dholera SIR will be a role model for the next 25 years and will lead the rest of India. Being developed on barren land it has been identified approximately 70 kms (using the new expressway NH 751) far from Ahmedabad, where there is huge scope of development, where no development has ever happened in the past and everything has started from zero. Dholera is aimed at enhancing industrialization, manufacturing and creating jobs. Dholera has been selected as a Greenfield site for several reasons, such as its large areas of government land and strong transport links. The Smart City brings together eco-friendly elements and highly developed infrastructure, thus blending both sustainable development & the next level of human habitation. Dholera Smart City is Bigger than Delhi and Mumbai and is conceived like international cities Frankfurt and London. Dholera Smart City is all set to give exponential returns on investment to its investors. At the present moment, Dholera is in the early development phase and the development of Dholera is also happening as per the Master Plan designed. Dholera SIR is spread across 920 sq km, however, the developable area will be only 420 sq km and rest of the area has been kept for nature and for renewable energy generation, parks, green spaces, tree plantations, water reservoirs, solar parks, etc. Today Frankfurt is one of the best examples of a sustainable city as half of the city is just green. Similarly, Dholera is being conceived which is going to make it the most sustainable smart city on this planet. Current status of the development: Currently, multiple activities have been initiated over the last decade for the development of Dholera SIR. 1. Activation Area 2. Expressway from Ahmedabad to Dholera SIR 3. International Airport 4. Town Planning Initiative 5. ABCD Building 6. DSIRDA in Gandhinagar Following facilities are being developed for this world-class industrial smart city: 5000 MW largest dedicated solar power park for Dholera Smart City. Four-way (Road, Rail, Sea, Air) connectivity for the city with dedicated international Sea & Airport to connect with the rest of the country & world. Self-sustainable model of a city with different land use zones satisfies all requirements of citizens including food, job, recreation, and all modern & smart lifestyle utilities. A real model of a smart city, having smart infra, smart utility, smart technology, smart mobility & smart connectivity. With the mission & vision of 8 lakh skilled jobs, to be created through NextGen industries like Aerospace, Defence, Robotics, EV & Solar power batteries the Special Economic Region is going to generate skilled jobs. Dholera SIR will host 20 lakh global citizens at its peak. Dholera SIR will help to retain top young brains in the country who want the best infrastructure and living atmosphere, hence a big tool to stop Brain-Drain. 1000-acre land allocated to special education zones in any city in India. World's most efficient Water Treatment Plant with only 5% water loss. Activation Area and Linear development: Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway The activation area is of 22.5 sq km which has been already developed with trunk Infrastructure. It is spread across Town Planning Scheme 2A & 4A. The area has around 72 kms of roads, with road widths varying from 12m to 70m. Activation area has been developed by L&T and is approximately 5.25% of the total developable area of Dholera SIR. It can cater to a residential population of 1.2 lakhs with an employment of approximately 80,000 persons after completion. Linear Development has 11 sub TP's on both sides of the expressway and now is under development along with the Expressway. Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway is 109 km Expressway (NH-751) developed by NHAI and is an under-construction four-lane access-controlled road, with a route alignment connecting SP Ring Road near Sarkhej and Dholera SIR via Dholera International Airport at Navagam. Initially, it is designed as a 4-lane expressway and later on, it will be extended to 6 lanes and Metro Trains are also planned parallel. With the development of Expressway 751, Villages of Dholera Taluka will only be 60 kms away from Ahmedabad and travelling time will be only 40 mins by Expressway from Sarkej of Ahmedabad to Pipli village of Dholera. Dholera Greenfield smart city as a Multi-Trillion Dollar City: Already many Greenfield smart cities have been developed globally with new roads and urban expansion happening regularly. It is common for Greenfield cities to be built in countries like Dubai and the United Kingdom, but it is the first time that India has transformed a barren country into a high-tech city and become a livable country. SmartHomes Infrastructure estimates that Dholera SIR will be worth a multi-trillion dollar in land value by 2042. The value of land, currently around Rs. 3,500 per square meter in Dholera SIR, is expected to reach Rs 2,00,000 per square meter by 2042, with hundreds of millions of square feet of buildings to be developed in the City Center Zone, Knowledge & IT Zone, High Access Corridors, Residential Zones, and tourism & resort zones of Dholera SIR. In the next 20 years, the company expects that the land appreciates to today's rate of land in Ahmedabad which is around Rs. 2 Lakh per sq meter on average and if today's rate of Ahmedabad Land value is applied to Dholera Smart City's developable area of 420 square KMS inside SIR and 100 square KMS approx on the border and outside SIR, then the total 520 square KMS will be valued at more than 1 trillion USD and this does not include the value created from development of buildings and infrastructure. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
Patna (Bihar) [India], July 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Bihar Museum, a veritable jewel of art history, tucked away in Patna, a historic town in India, celebrates its foundation day on 7th August 2022 by unveiling 'Women and Deities', an art exhibition that pays an ode to feminine power, her innate beauty, her seamless strength of character. Bihar Museum is a dream project of the visionary Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar which was brought to fruition by Anjani Kumar Singh, Director General Bihar Museum is planned to precision by Canada-based consultancy firm Lord Cultural Resources. This sprawling space is the creation of Japan-based Maki & Associates and its Indian partner POLIS, Mumbai. The completed museum is spread over 5.6 hectares, having 24000 square meters of built-up area. The museum's nine permanent galleries house art and artifacts that are eclectic not just in their vintage but also their artistic disposition. Stone, terracotta, and bronze sculptures from ancient kingdoms of Bihar, folk art as practiced to date in rural regions of Bihar, a gallery reflective of the Diaspora and a richly curated collection of art by contemporary artists fill the well planned galleries. Art reflecting women through the ages is one of the many strong aspects of the museum, which also reflects the Bihar Government's strong support for women in Bihar. A sentiment that leads the Director-General, Anjani Kumar Singh to flag off a women-centric show Women and Deities on its Foundations Day. Women and Deities also resonates with the various initiatives designed to empower the women in the State of Bihar by the Chiel Minister of Bihar. "Women of Bihar have been integral to any progressive policies initiated by the government. Our CM is of the belief that women have provided enormous support for most of the State's key areas of progress and in the nurturing of civil society. This exhibition is a salute to their quiet force." Curated by Dr Alka Pande, the exhibition Women and Deities will showcase stone, terracotta, and bronze sculptures as well as art from the reserve and contemporary art collection. An eclectic mix, the exhibition comprises of 154 art objects (43 terracotta, 24 bronzes, 29 stone images, and 56 paintings). The artworks capture women through the ages, ranging as back as the 2nd century, with a rich inclusion of contemporary art. The first terracotta of the dancing girl, 8cm tall, belonging to the second century before the Common Era. Says Dr Alka Pande, "What makes this exhibition even more unique is the fact that for the first time ever a museum show will showcase is reserve collection." The richly illustrated catalogs which will be launched on the day of the opening will have additional 26 images from their display collection, this will include the sculpture Didar Ganj Yakshi is the jewel in the crown of the museum. What is interesting to note in this exhibition is that in addition to the antiquities on display there will be a dozen art objects from leading contemporary artists like Arpana Kaur, Jayashri Burman, and Anjolie Ela Menon amongst others. The Exhibition begins on 7th August, 2022 and Will continue for two month. It can be viewed by the public from 10:30 AM to 5:00 P.M. Tuesday to Sunday. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Private sector lender IndusInd Bank said on Wednesday the Enforcement Directorate has been investigating a few entities and some employees of the bank in cases related to financial irregularities. The Directorate of Enforcement, Chennai Zonal Office (ED) has been investigating a few entities inter alia for certain alleged irregularities in remittances for import transactions conducted during the year 2011 to 2014, IndusInd Bank said in a clarification sent to the stock exchanges. The Bank said it had suo moto filed Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) with the regulatory authorities during the relevant period for many of these entities. The Bank had also filed complaints with the police authorities in 2015 against some of the unscrupulous entities. Incidentally, the matter was subject of scrutiny by the RBl in October 2015 and a penalty was levied on the Bank which was intimated to the stock exchanges vide the Bank's letter dated July 28, 2016. As part of the investigation, the ED has filed a First Information Report (FIR) dated July 9, 2022 with Chennai CCB-1 Police Station against some of those entities and a few employees of the Bank, most of whom have already separated from the Bank. "A complete copy of the FIR along with the annexure is being retrieved. There is no credit exposure of the Bank to these entities," IndusInd Bank said. "The Bank continues to extend full cooperation and assistance to the Law Enforcement Agencies and is duty-bound to take appropriate action against any of the named employees if found to have deliberately facilitated/abetted the conduct of any illegitimate transaction," it added. (ANI)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 13 (ANI/PNN): The Board of Directors of Star Housing Finance Limited (Star HFL) have announced Q1 FY'2022-23 financial results for the period ending on June 30, 2022. Operational Highlights: Highest Quarterly Disbursement: Q1 FY2022-23 disbursements stand at Rs. 22.56crs (highest quarterly disbursement to date). Expansion across operational geographies in the form of physical offices with induction of employees across functions and locations enables growth. Looking forward to growing the AUM with a CAGR of 100% and a significant increase in the Company's market cap. Business strengthened through Co-Lending: Star HFL has operationalised co-lending tie-ups with Capital India Home Loans and Singularity Credit Pvt Ltd, resulting in AUM growth across its centres. AUM stands at Rs. 116.32 Cr with an annualised growth of 23% in Q1 FY2022-23. Discussion with select banks and financial institutions for co-lending tie-up is underway. Strengthening of Debt Profile: Star HFL has strong relationships with public sector banks (SBI, BoB, UBI, and IOB) and has received credit lines from the NHB. A strong funding pipeline from private sector banks, public sector banks and financial institutions developed to cater to the growth aspirations. Continued Strengthening of Net Worth: Star HFL continues strengthening its net worth. Post capital raise in Nov 2021, the Company now has board approval to raise fresh capital through preferential allotment on a private placement basis. This capital is to be infused post shareholder's approval in the ensuing AGM on July 16, 2022, and other approvals. Enabled Employee Ownership: ESOP I scheme for eligible employees to get vested from Aug 5, 2022, thereby enabling ownership and accountability. ESOP II scheme to be announced soon post getting necessary approvals from the board. Shifted Base to Mumbai: Now headquartered in the country's financial hub, Mumbai. The registered office shifted to Mumbai post receiving all clearances. Star HFL now engages with all stakeholders, including bankers, rating agencies, business associates, and vendors from its Mumbai headquarters. The presence in Udaipur is now at new commercial premises considering the business requirements and growth planned in the South Rajasthan region. Speaking on the performance of the Company, Ashish Jain, MD of Star HFL, said, "Star HFL is now set to grow. This is validated by our business performance in Q1 FY2022-23 and the same getting translated in terms so financial numbers. We are happy to have registered action in terms of traction across locations, progress on funding, and both debt and equity. We are continuing to invest in creating capacity, including location expansion, manpower onboarding and digitisation. We look forward to build-up and sustaining the momentum of Q1 into the remaining quarters. We see our capacity getting utilised to the fullest through FY'2022-23. We look forward to expanding across our business areas from hereon. We shall invest in technology to develop one-click digital lending capabilities. We shall continue to strengthen our funding machinery through debt/equity and make the Company ready for institutional equity from domestic/international market." Speaking on the performance Natesh Narayanan, CFO of Star HFL, said, "Our fundraising efforts continue to get strengthened as we now engage with private sector banks, public sector banks and financial institutions and have developed a strong funding pipeline for the year ahead to complement the planned AUM growth. Strengthening of the net-worth subject to shareholder's an approval / other approvals would further poise the Company well in its efforts to get re-rated by the stakeholders." Company Financials for Q1 FY2022-23 (Figures in Lakhs): Star Housing Finance Limited (Star HFL) is BSE listed housing finance company. The Company has been operational in the affordable housing finance space since 2009. Star HFL provides long-term housing finance assistance to EWS/LIG families towards the purchase/construction of low-cost housing units (affordable housing) in its operational geographies. Star HFL is a professionally managed Company with a presence across the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Star HFL is registered as a Primary Lending Institution (PLI) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and has received a subsidy for its qualified customers under the CLSS scheme. Star HFL has its Registered & Corporate Office in Mumbai, Maharashtra This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 13 (ANI/PNN): When we talk about Hindi films based on road trips, you can easily count such films at your fingertips. The names which come instantly to our minds are films such as Dil Chahta Hai, and Zindagi Milegi Na Dobaara, which were loved by masses and critics alike and both films are still remembered by audiences. Now, another film based on a road trip is ready to hit the theatres on 5th August 2022. Titled Miami Se Newyork, the film is a road trip consisting of four friends who one day decide to hit the roads from one city (Miami) to another (Newyork). During their journey, they take help from a handsome young boy to reach their destination. Though Maimi Se Newyork is a road trip movie, it has a beautiful love story at the centre of its heart which will strike everyone's heart and make you smile in unimaginable ways. Four friends, Nihana Minaz (Anshu), Nikhar Krishnani (Shaina), Janelle Lacle (Millie) Rohini Chandra (Asha), one day decide to go on a road trip for which they take help from Arjun Anand (Ravi). As the long road trip unfolds at its own pace, many aspects of their friendship and relationship with the young boy come to the fore, making the film more engaging and interesting. Announcing the release date of the comedy/adventure film, which will be widely released on the 5th of August, the producer of the film Raakesh U Saakat says, "Though there have been few films based on road trips which became cult in their own ways, our film Miami Se Newyork is different from all such films. I am very sure that audiences will enjoy this ride with a unique storyline made with fresher and younger talents." Cinematographer Parixit Warrier has beautifully captured the story for celluloid. Made under the banner of Prissha Films, Miami Se Newyork has been directed by Joy Augustine, whose filmography consists of films like Tere Mere Sapne, Paagalpan, etc. Joy is a prolific filmmaker, also known as a writer, producer and ad filmmaker. In his career spanning more than 30 years, Joy Augustine has also made many highly and critically acclaimed ad films. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)